GOD POURS OUT HIS HOLY SPIRIT (Outline)
June 12, 2011 -
Pentecost -
JOEL 2:28-32
INTRO: On the day of Pentecost the Lord poured out his Holy Spirit in a very special way. The Holy Spirit has always been involved with mankind since the very beginning of time. Without the Holy Spirit there is no faith. The most precious gift of the Holy Spirit is faith. Old Testament people had faith which wss the gift of the Holy Spirit. We do not want to have the mistaken view that the Holy Spirit only arrived in this world on Pentecost. "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters" (GENESIS 1:2). The Holy Spirit is eternal. The Holy Spirit is God. The prophet Joel speaks about the Holy Spirit.
GOD POURS OUT HIS HOLY SPIRIT.
I. God’s gracious gift for all flesh. II. God’s glorious gift for salvation.
I. GOD POURS OUT HIS HOLY SPIRIT AS A GRACIOUS GIFT FOR ALL FLESH.
A. Verse 28a. The Lord God describes a great and miraculous change to take place among his people.
1. Prophets, priests, judges, and kings were the ones who had a special outpouring of Holy Spirit.
2. Soon the Holy Spirit would come upon all people. The Hebrew is “flesh”. What a change!
B. Verse 28b. God would make no distinction among believers concerning vital matters of faith.
1. Men, women, young, and old would have faith to hear, know, and believe God’s word.
2. Prophesy means to proclaim God’s word. Prophesy rarely refers to foretelling the future.
C. Verse 29. Even servants, not generally Jewish people, would be given faith to know and believe.
D. The gracious gift of the Holy Spirit that our loving Lord pours out on us is faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. On our own we are lost and condemned creatures. We are born as the very enemies of God. We cannot come to the Lord on our own nor by our own reasoning or choice. It is the power of the Lord God Almighty that chose us first. This is what makes our faith so miraculous. Our faith is just like many other gifts. We do not earn our faith. We do not even deserve our faith. In spite of all that the Holy Spirit gifts us our saving faith. "Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit" (1 CORINTHIANS 12:3). To recognize Jesus is a gift. Those who curse Jesus must first recognize him.
E. On this anniversary of the first Pentecost we joyously remember and celebrate God’s gift of faith to each and every one of us. Again, the miracle of faith is seen in the very fact of our presence in worship. Many of us attend regularly. It is our blessed Sunday habit. We may not think much about it. But we all know how Satan would try to stop us from hearing the word of God. We know how easily Satan stops us from daily reading and studying God’s word. God’s power is greater than our own disobedience. God pours out his Holy Spirit on all flesh as a gracious gift. "This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus" (EPHESIANS 3:6). All were once outside God’s kingdom but now we are God’s children.
F. What makes faith God’s gracious gift is the fact that our Lord God Almighty wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. As we look around in this world we do not see much mention of God as the Creator. We discover our world would rather have God removed from interrupting their lives. Without God people live lives that are also without hope. You can see the utter hopelessness on the faces of those who suffer loss or disaster. They often think there is nothing else left but despair. "To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (COLOSSIANS 1:27). Christ lives in us by faith. May our hope shine!
GOD POURS OUT HIS HOLY SPIRIT.
It is the gracious gift of our Lord God Almighty for all flesh.
II. GOD POURS OUT HIS HOLY SPIRIT AS A GLORIOUS GIFT FOR SALVATION.
A. Joel is God’s prophet. God’s prophets proclaimed what God spoke. They preached God’s word.
1. Verse 30. These words describe future events. Jesus used these words concerning judgment.
2. Notice there is no timeline given. Hundreds of years have come and gone.
3. Verse 31. Will the Last Day come in another hundred years? One hundred days? Seconds?
B. Verse 32a. Note the great change among God’s people. Salvation would be for all who call on God.
1. Those knowing God would be those who have faith – God’s gracious gift of the Holy Spirit.
2. This saving faith was not only for Israel. Faith and salvation was meant for all nations.
C. Verse 32b. The temple was located on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. Today God’s church has grown.
1. Mount Zion refers to God’s church. God’s church is in our whole world (= Jerusalem).
2. Note again it is the Lord who calls people to be members of his kingdom as believers.
D. The gift of the Holy Spirit is faith. This simple yet powerful truth needs to be emphasized over and over again. Selfishness characterizes our society today. People are concerned more with themselves, their feelings, and their accomplishments only for selfish reasons. “Me, myself, and I” is the theme for many people today. When it comes to eternity and salvation we cannot think that we can ever save ourselves. Our eternal salvation is so very important that God does not entrust it to our efforts. Just look at Adam and Eve. They lived in a perfect world. They still sinned. In our sinful world we have even less hope of living perfectly. Thankfully God pours out his Holy Spirit as his glorious gift for our eternal salvation. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" (EZEKIEL 36:26). We are born with cold stone hearts of sin. God changes our stony hearts into flesh. God plants his word in our hearts. It takes root and grows, glorious.
E. We ought to thank God every day for the gift of faith that he has graciously poured out upon us by his Holy Spirit. Our faith gives us hope in a hopeless world. Our faith is the solid rock foundation in Christ crucified, risen, and ascended for us. There are more and more in this wicked world of ours that do not have such a hope. All too many live for the here and the now without one thought about eternity. The wickedness of the world will only get worse. "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved"(MATTHEW 24:12, 13).
F. Where are the believers today? How do we know? God knows. Believers that confess Christ are those who will faithfully gather around the word of God. Faith comes by hearing. God’s invisible Christian church is wherever believers in Christ assemble. "That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (ROMANS 10:9). Churches that still proclaim God’s word and use God’s sacraments correctly faithfully feed God’s flock.
CONC: The gift of the Holy Spirit is faith. Rejoice believer that God pours out his Holy Spirit. We still receive and enjoy God’s gift whenever we hear, read, and study the living and active word of God. The prophets and the disciples proclaimed God’s word. They did not speak about themselves or their thoughts or ideas or interpretations. From those few God’s church has almost extended to the ends of the earth. "But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth" (2 THESSALONIANS 2:13). God’s word is the truth. GOD POURS OUT HIS HOLY SPIRIT. This is God’s gracious and glorious gift to us and for us and to share with others.. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
PENTECOST rdgs: JOEL 2:28, 29; ACTS 2:1-21; JOHN 16:5-11; (PSALM 51)
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