This discourse elucidates the profound fulfillment of Joel's prophecy in relation to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, as chronicled in Acts 2. We meticulously examine the implications of John 14-16, which unequivocally delineate the specific role of the Spirit as a guiding force exclusively for the Apostles. Furthermore, we engage with the teachings of John the Immerser in John 3, highlighting the dichotomy between the baptism of the Holy Spirit, an endowment of divine empowerment, and the baptism of fire, signifying severe judgment. It is imperative to recognize that while the promise of the Spirit was monumental for the Apostles, it does not extend universally to all believers. Thus, we seek to comprehend the distinctiveness of this divine guidance, which was integral to the Apostolic mission in the first century, and to elucidate the nature of its fulfillment as recorded in sacred scripture.

This episode focuses on Acts 2 and the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy, and the promise of the Spirit to the Apostles both of which were fulfilled in the first century.

We look at John 14-16 to illustrate that the language is clearly applied to the apostles.

Takeaways:

• The fulfillment of Joel's prophecy is evidenced in Acts 2, marking a significant event in the first century.
• The promise of the Holy Spirit given to the apostles served a specialized purpose unique to them.
• John the Baptist distinguished between two baptisms: one of the Holy Spirit and one of fire, applicable to different groups of that day.
• In John 14-16, Jesus clearly communicates the unique role of the Holy Spirit in guiding the apostles specifically, not universally.
• The apostles' role as witnesses was contingent upon their receiving the Holy Spirit, which empowered their testimony.
• The miraculous events at Pentecost were intended exclusively for the apostles, establishing their authority and the divine origin of their message.

Well, good morning and thank you for tuning in with this study on as we understand the nature of God's people and their work today.

I've often asked, what does the people of God?

What do they look like in any community?

Today I want to begin a series of lessons on the Holy Spirit.

Now, I spent a lot of time in a book that I have written that some of you have have it already, and if you don't, you can get it on Amazon.

But this, this is going to be a little bit different, though.

We'll cover some of the same material.

I mean, we can only talk about what the Bible has revealed about the subject.

And it's not an extremely a large amount or volume of information.

One can go through it rather quickly, actually, if you just want to read through what the Bible says about it.

But we want to look at some comparisons, for example, between Acts 10 and Acts 2 and to note the purpose of the Holy Spirit and his role in the first century.

Let me just say on the very outset that I don't mean to make anybody upset with me, but I hope you'll not tune me out.

Just listen carefully to the things that are said, and perhaps we can even get together sometime and study about these things privately or with a group of others who maybe have the same interest.

But in recent years, it has been a lot of emphasis that have, you know, been, I guess, a lot of Pentecostals, I guess you could say it that way, are emphasizing a lot of the things that you read of in Acts chapter 2 as pertaining to their work and their role today.

I believe that that which was spoken through the prophet Joel and Acts or Joel Chapter two is something very different than we see today.

I'll not get into all of that, but I do want to talk first of all about the promise made by John the Baptist.

And then, of course, the Lord makes the same promise again in Luke 24, when Luke records Jesus saying, tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high.

The Holy Spirit then would empower the apostles.

And we'll find that's the last chapter of Luke 24, by the way.

And then in the first chapter, Luke picks up where he leaves off, and there they're in the city waiting for that power.

And we'll pick that up in just a moment.

But let's back up to Matthew chapter three.

In Matthew chapter three, you'll recall that John the Baptist, speaking about the Messiah when he comes, that he would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

That's chapter three, verse 11.

Now, not everyone in John's audience was promised the same baptism.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit and in fire are two different things.

I do not believe he's talking about the same thing.

Some would be threatened with fire, that is a reference to judgment.

Others would be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

The baptism of fire is a baptism for the wicked.

In fact, in the sermon that Peter preaches, after he had already delivered it and said, God made this same Jesus whom you've crucified, both Lord and Christ, he said many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, save yourselves from this perverse, crooked generation.

You see, there's a judgment coming.

And in fact, when you look at Joel 2:28, the promise of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in those days, he says, it was before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.

So the Holy Spirit's arrival would precede, but sort of signal what was coming.

And that is God's judgment.

We'll not really talk too much about that in this series, except just to say, just to kind of set the setting and the frame of reference for our study.

So John is talking about a fire that references some judgment.

Not everybody would receive the same immersion, so to speak.

Some with fire, some with judgment, and some with the Holy Spirit.

Now, we can learn from that that something referred to as an immersion in the Holy Spirit was promised.

But the passage sort of leaves us in dark, at least at this point with respect to that promise.

John just doesn't give us too much information on the extent of its application, the nature of its fulfillment, or.

Or even to its purpose at this juncture.

These must be learned a little bit later on.

Now, John's prophecy is comparable to so many of those in the Old Testament, which can best be understood in the light of their application.

When you come to the New Testament, you begin to see their meaning as they are said to be fulfilled.

But with the ascension of Christ, he meets with his apostles.

He had told them before his ascension that he would send another comforter, another that is another of the same sort.

And this comforter would be the Spirit of truth.

In fact, he says, I have to leave in order for me to send him to you.

I'm leaving and I'm going to prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may be also.

But in the interim, he's sending the Holy Spirit another comforter.

During this time, while he's away from them, when he comes, he will guide them into all Truth.

When you come to Acts 1:1:5, you have there this fulfillment of John's promise was getting near.

He further tells them that they were to be his witnesses.

But we're not to begin giving that testimony until the coming of the Holy Spirit.

And I think that's the means by which they could be clothed with power and would be his witnesses.

They would be witnesses first at Jerusalem and then throughout the world.

You'll find that in Acts 1, beginning at about verse 6 through 8.

Now, Luke's God gospel had already said something about that in Luke 24, that the gospel would go forth from Jerusalem beginning at Jerusalem.

And so we're picking that thought up again in Acts 1.

It's starting in Jerusalem.

That's where they are.

And that's where they would be endued with this power from on high.

The apostles were witnesses of Christ in a special sense.

I know sometimes we talk about being eyewitnesses and testifying, but in this particular context, the consideration is of a special work given to the apostles.

No one else is or could be a witness of Christ in this sense.

And you can study this in Acts chapter one, I think, and come up with that conclusion.

In fact, in verse 21 there is Judas, who was one of the 12 was to be replaced by another that they would choose.

Actually, the Holy Spirit would choose them.

But he said in verse starting in verse 21 and 22, that this one would become a witness with us of his resurrection.

Now, notice he would become a witness.

We're going to select him.

He's going to become a witness with us.

So he's not already being a witness.

We're selecting him so that he might become with us a witness.

Now, that might seem strange to you when you realize that no one was even to be considered for this work who had not been with Jesus from the baptism of John under the day that he was received up.

That's one of the requirements in order to be one of these witnesses.

You had to have started from John's baptism unto his ascension.

So all such men would be witnesses of the risen Lord in that sense.

They saw his appearances.

Now, there were a lot of people who had seen the risen Lord, So they could witness in that sense.

In one sense, they could do that.

A great many people had seen Jesus after his resurrection.

In fact, in First Corinthians 15, as many as 500 brethren at once.

Paul would.

Would reveal, and so they had seen him.

But now we have Peter saying that one must become a witness, one who had seen the risen Lord must now become a witness of his resurrection.

Well, why wouldn't the 500 have testified?

Why wouldn't they also be witnesses?

Why wouldn't the one who was being selected that day, why wouldn't he have already been a witness?

Well, in one sense they would be all witnesses, but not in this special sense.

As I say, this one would become a witness.

He had not yet started that role because he had not yet been selected as an apostle.

There is no mistaking Peter's meaning here.

He was referring to this special role that one was to feel as an apostle of Jesus Christ.

So he must become a witness with us.

Peter said, and he's referring to the apostles.

Verse 25, I think, puts it beyond all doubt.

What was wanted was to replace Judas.

And then he says, in this ministry and apostleship, that's another alternative expression for being a witness of the resurrection.

In verse 22, Matthias was the man chosen by the Lord and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

He would replace Judas in the ministry and the apostleship.

And what would they be?

He would then become a witness with us of the resurrection.

It can hardly be clearer.

The word witness in the Context of Acts 1 is used in this limited sense.

Applied of the apostles refers to their office as witnesses in chapter one, Verse eight clearly uses that verb.

They would witness beginning in Jerusalem.

They would not begin this, even start this work to exercise this role before the coming of the Spirit.

So we have to look back a little bit if we're going to understand this role that they would begin would be as a result of the coming of the Spirit.

Take a little closer look.

Now let's look at verse 4 and 5 of Acts 1 and observe with me that the promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit was something the apostles had already heard from Jesus.

Jesus had already told them this back in John 14.

Actually chapter 15 and 16 also those three chapters together was the Lord sort of preparing his disciples, his inner 12 for their work.

What they had heard from Jesus was mostly communicated in private conversation between he and the apostles in these chapters.

Observe the similarity here between that passage and this one.

Respecting the language used to describe the work of the Spirit.

These chapters in John they show the reason Jesus didn't want the apostles to begin their work as witnesses before the coming of the spirit.

In John 14 you can pick it up at about verse 16.

Jesus said that the Spirit would come to them as another comforter.

Coming down about verse 25 of the same chapter, he tells them that he would bring to their memory all that Jesus had said while abiding with them in person.

Now, that statement, you can't make that a general application.

He's going to bring to their remembrance what he had taught them.

It has to be applied to the apostles as men who had heard Jesus speak during that personal ministry.

You obviously weren't there and you didn't hear him speak.

So you can't hardly.

The Spirit couldn't remind you of something you didn't hear.

You weren't even there.

So obviously he's talking about the Holy Spirit's role in reminding the apostles what they had heard Jesus teach in the past.

Such statements are not of general application, my friend.

You can't make a general application of that.

Jesus is speaking.

And while he taught them during his personal ministry, now the Spirit's going to come along after the fact and remind them of the things that he had taught them.

And you'll also see in chapter 15 and in verse 27, and I'm doing the same thing with these passages in John as we've done in Acts 1.

He says, Ye also bear witness.

Here's the word, just like in Acts 1, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Now, does that describe you?

Have you been with the Lord from the beginning?

Have you been with Him?

Starting from the baptism of John and his ascension?

You must compare the language this from Acts 1, 21 and 22, and compare that with chapter 15 of John.

Look at verse 27 in particular.

All right, hopefully you've written that down to look at that a little bit later.

The apostles were to bear witness not only with the aid of the Spirit in guiding them and reminding them and teaching them all things.

Jesus had told them also that he had many things to tell them, but they weren't able to bear it now.

But when the Spirit of truth comes, he would guide them into all truth.

He would teach them, remind them, guide them, equip them, and that would then qualify them to bear witness of Christ without making any errors at all.

Now, that's one thing that's interesting to me, is that when you have someone who is being guided by the Holy Spirit, teaching by revelation directly from the mind of God, you have no mistakes, friends.

There are no mistakes.

It is perfection.

It is.

There isn't any error in that because it's guiding by the Holy Spirit.

It's divine guidance.

If you compare this Also to chapter 16, you can do the same thing with any of these descriptions.

And then skipping to 16, you can compare the language found in verse 12 through 15.

Now, the reason the apostles had to wait for the baptism of the Spirit before beginning their testimony can be understood or misunderstood.

If you hear a lot of people helping you misunderstand, just look at the text, work it through.

You don't need anybody.

No commentary, just read it for yourself.

The purpose of the baptism of the Spirit was to equip the apostles for their work as witnesses of Christ.

And as they spoke, they would be guided by the Holy Spirit, reminding them of what Jesus had taught them and giving them new revelation they had yet to hear.

And for that reason, until he came, they were not to begin their testimony.

They couldn't begin without it.

And that leads us to an extremely useful conclusion Here.

We have seen that the word witness is used in the Context of Acts 1 with special reference to the role and work of an apostle.

And the purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit then was to qualify the apostles for that special work, one might say for the office itself, for the work itself, to be a witness and to be an apostle.

There they are, one sent by Christ, authorized as an apostle of Jesus Christ, ambassadors, if you please, to give testimony, flawless testimony and proof that Jesus was raised from the dead and that they are witnesses of that.

The purpose of that gift shows that the.

The experience and in Acts 2, with the Holy Spirit coming upon them was not intended to be a blessing of general application, intended for all men or even all Christians.

Now, I know we've been.

We've heard people say that, but.

But just look carefully at the text and think about this, please.

It was for the apostles.

They were to stay in Jerusalem.

They were to be endued with power from on high.

And they were the ones that spoke with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

It was not intended to qualify all people for some work of preaching and teaching, but it was intended to be for the apostles.

I think we can conclude that those who pray for such a Pentecostal experience today really don't understand the purpose of what happened on Pentecost.

And to those who claim that they have had such an experience, I believe, my friends, you may have been mistaken.

You may have been misled.

It is certainly possible that we can have an emotional frenzy and experience of happiness and joy and emit great feelings of rejoicing.

All of that's very true.

It is possible that they are ever so sincere who believe that.

But it is certain that we need to give attention to John's counsel In First John, Chapter four, verse one, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they be from God.

The very ones claiming such an experience are fraught with error and confusion.

And their sermons and their messages are full of mistakes.

Do you expect the Holy Spirit to have such mistakes?

Did the apostle Peter, when he spoke in Acts 2, did he make any mistakes when Paul said he got it by Revelation in Galatians chapter 2 and in Ephesians 3, whereby you read it, you can understand my knowledge.

Did he write it by mistake?

Did he do anything guided by the Holy Spirit with mistakes?

Did he make misapplications of truth?

Did he misquote Scripture?

Did he?

No, sir, no.

Because he was guided by the Holy Spirit.

So when you.

When you got such claims like that today, I would encourage you to do what John told his the disciples.

Then in First John 4, try them.

See whether they're from God.

They'll reveal whether they are or they're not.

Just listen to them a while.

In Acts 2, you have the fulfillment of the promise.

The first Pentecost after the ascension of Christ found the apostles waiting in Jerusalem for the coming of the Spirit.

They were to be eyewitnesses.

Acts 2 tells us what happened.

The coming of the Spirit was attended by something heard and something that was seen.

A sound was heard.

It wasn't the wind, it said.

It was the sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind.

And tongues were seen, not tongues of fire, but like as of fire.

And the tongues divided and were distributed to each one.

And the Bible says, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Some people think that the miracle was on the hearer rather than the speaker.

But I believe there's more evidence in the text to suggest otherwise.

The Spirit gave them utterance.

He didn't give them, the hearer, some miraculous ability to hear their own language from the language that was being spoken, but rather the Spirit gave them the Spirit.

The tongues were tongues, languages that were heard in their own native tongue.

I want to get to that in just a minute.

That's an important point.

This unintelligible babble that passes for tongue speaking today is related to this phenomenon in the New Testament.

And yet the tongue speaking of the New Testament were languages understood by hearers, not by all.

Obviously not everybody understood them because that was a different language.

But the miracle was from the fact that here were some Galilean fishermen, ignorant, uneducated men who could now speak a language they'd never studied before.

And that's why they marveled and amazed, saying, how do we hear every man in our own language?

Wherein we were born part Parthians and Medes and Elamites and dwellers in Mesopotamia, we do all hear them speak.

Well, from who?

These Galileans.

How can that be miraculously bestowed on them by the Spirit of God?

Nobody could question that.

But verse six says every man heard them speak in his own language.

This wasn't some in unintelligible gibberish.

Some would want to conclude though, that's the today, that's the language of men and of angels.

Well, even if that were true, which I don't think that's the point being made in the text, even if it were true, all languages that were spoken were intended to be understood by the hearer.

And so it identifies that the tongues, my friends, they were just languages.

Again, if you don't prove, look at verse eight.

Not only does verse six said we heard them speak in our own language, but verse eight puts our own language, some versions have it our tongue and identifies actually the king.

The.

The English translations forget the Greek for the moment.

If you look at verse six, them speaking in his own language.

Verse eight puts our own language where verse 11 has our tongues.

Even the English translations identifies the tongues as languages the apostles were miraculously empowered to speak, languages which they had not known before, but which could be understood by those whose mother tongue, notice it says, wherein we were born.

They were speaking language that people understood, their own native tongue.

The modern practices today, however you may explain them, are not the same.

Now, I'm not going to condemn or say any more about that.

They shall cast out devils, they shall speak in tongues.

And he goes on and talks about a number of things that would would describe them.

And then he says, and these signs will follow.

Notice that these signs will follow them that believe.

In other words, it wasn't just the apostles.

There were others who would receive the power of the Holy Spirit.

Going back to Joel 2 upon all flesh, young men, old men, women and men, slaves, daughters, sons.

I mean, it was an outpouring that was never seen before or ever would be seen.

It was an extraordinary outpouring, as if someone was just kept on putting the water over a filled vessel and just kept on overflowing that's the sense of it.

And so it was.

If you notice, verse 20 of Mark 16, it says, and the Lord.

And they went everywhere preaching the Word, the Lord working with them by signs that followed.

Confirming the word by signs that followed.

The text says, well, so what was the purpose as stated in Mark 16?

It was to confirm the message.

What do you mean, confirm it?

Confirm it as being from God.

Giving proofs, evidence, substantial evidence, that these men who were speaking were speaking by divine revelation.

Nobody could doubt that.

If they could, if they saw the miraculous powers of the Spirit working through them, it would cause, just like it did in Acts 2, it would cause people to take notice and marvel.

And in fact, about 3,000 souls accepted what was taught on that day.

And they were pricked in the heart and said, men and brethren, what shall we do?

So it had the effect.

3,000 souls.

That's a lot of people.

Now, I understand there's probably as many or not more who did not accept the truth on that day.

But the evidence, the sign was there.

The tongues were a sign.

And if you look at other passages, you can see that it was tongue speakers was a sign to the unbeliever.

Also, these signs signified something.

Signs are intended to do that.

In Acts 2, it was to signify that the ones speaking were speaking.

By revelation, the Spirit was telling them what to say.

No one could speak these languages without having heard them unless his mind was supernaturally endowed.

And so the tongue served as a sign of the inspiration of the message.

Now, modern tongue speakers are not apostles.

They have not been sent by the Lord to be a to witness, because they have not been with John from the beginning of John.

They've not been with him from the beginning, nor were they a witness to his resurrection.

They did not see him ascend.

They did not see him alive after his death, and they do not speak in tongues.

This said Peter refers to the events, referring back to the events on Pentecost.

When Peter was speaking, he said this.

What you're seeing is that which was spoken through the prophet Joel.

Now, that's Acts 2:16.

Joel's prophecy is found in Joel 2.

But the modern Holy Spirit movement is not that.

It is something quite different.

And it was not poured forth from above, verse 33, because this was that which was spoken by the prophet Joel in the last days.

You see, the Spirit would be poured out upon all flesh, your sons and daughters, and so on, so forth.

So we've got a different setting, a different context.

I hope that as we go through these things and study them that you will give some attention to them.

If you have any questions, hopefully that you'll be able to get a hold of me.

We will continue this study.

Hopefully you'll have a great day today and a good week.