Pentecost and Babel

Some my students recently asked me what it was like to preach in front of a church. I told them that it was an awesome responsibility and that you had to take it very serious.
Winston Churchill was once asked, "Doesn’t it thrill you to know that every time you make a speech, the hall is packed to overflowing?"
"It’s quite flattering," replied Sir Winston. "But whenever I feel that way, I always remember that if instead of making a political speech I was being hanged, the crowd would be twice as big."
Well I hope youre not here this morning to hang me and I hope I never offend anyone to that point.
This morning I want us to turn our attention back to Acts chapter 2
Last week we looked at the background of Pentecost and how that feast was fulfilled in the story in Acts 2.
We saw that Pentecost celebrated the giving of the Law and the 2nd Harvest of Barley.
In Acts 2 we saw how the tongues of fire and mighty rushing wind took the people of that day back to the time when the same things happened to Moses on Mount Sinai.
New Law- New life – New Covenant is the key to understand this passage.
Today we are going to focus how the Pentecost event of Acts 2 was a time for God to start putting humanity back together.
Mankind had been fractured by sin and division and hatred but now God’s Spirit is trying to put us back together again.
This is a timely message of Love and Community because we are losing this idea in our country.
Robert Putnam is professor at Princeton University and is also a student of American culture, particularly trying to understand American communities today.
Several years ago, he wrote a remarkable book entitled Bowling Alone. The title of the book is taken from a recent sociological phenomenon. More and more Americans are bowling alone.
Now, traditionally, bowling has always been a group activity. Traditionally, most people who
bowl do so in leagues. Today, as Putnam notes, more and more people come to bowling alleys alone.
But Putnam’s work is not just about bowling.
His research shows that we are becoming increasingly disconnected—from family, from friends, from neighbors and from our communities. This is certainly true in the church.
Putnam’s research on the church today shows that, whereas traditionally many people looked to the church to provide community, today people are withdrawing from group activities.
They are bowling alone.
There are two Scriptures that form the basis of the sermon this morning. The first is taken from Genesis, chapter 11. It is the story of the building of the Tower of Babel.
The narrative is part of a larger framework, Genesis chapters 1-11, which forms the prelude of the history of salvation. These early chapters of the Bible explain the universal nature of our faith.
They speak of Creation (Genesis 1 and 20), the stories of the Fall (Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel) (Genesis2-4), the great flood (Genesis 6-9), and this story of the building of the great tower of Babel.
Lets turn our attention to the OT scripture this morning from
Genesis 11: 1-9
1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel--because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
The Genesis’ account of the Tower of Babel tells us that after Noah’s Flood everyone in the world spoke the same language.
As the population began to grow people moved to new areas.
A group of people moved to the Plain of Shinar. We know it as Babylonia or part of Iraq.
There they decided to build a tower that would reach to the heavens. They wanted to make a name for themselves and they also did not want to be scattered to other areas of the earth.
Some scholars think that these people remembered the Great Flood of Noah.
Apparently they did not believe that God would keep his word. They did not believe in the covenant of the rainbow.
That God promised to not destroy the world again with water. To create a means of escape, they began to build the tower with baked bricks that were sealed together with tar.
Perhaps they were trying to build a stationary type of a Noah’s Ark. They may have been trying to outwit God and escape judgment for their sins.
Other scholars think the Babel People thought they could build a tower and reach to Heaven and somehow become gods.
To become equal with God. How many lost souls do you know who are trying to get to Heaven in some way other than God’s way?
No one comes to the Father except through faith in Jesus Christ the Lord.
Remember Adam and Eve were misled by Satan that they would become like God.
Part of the judgment that God allows sinful humans to endure is to allow them to become their own gods.
On our own man is never good enough, powerful enough, smart enough, creative enough, loving enough, holy enough…to become a god and save himself.
The second story is taken from the New Testament. It is the account of Pentecost that is found in Acts, chapter 2.
On the day of Pentecost, the disciples received a remarkable outpouringof the Spirit of God.
There were tongues of fire. Moreover, each person heard the speech of the disciples in his own tongue.
Peter explained to them that the gift of the spirit was prophesied in the Old Testament book of Joel in chapter 2 verse 16
Acts 2: 1-8
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?
Before the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, Pentecost for the Jews was a time to celebrate God giving the Law to the Jews.
The Law on tablets of stone. Pentecost for the Christian is a time to celebrate God placing the Holy Spirit into the hearts of believers.
Pentecost was the beginning of the church age.
There is the “BC Pentecost,” that Jews still celebrate today.
Today, we enjoy the “AD Pentecost,” where God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, writes His law of love in our hearts.
The Holy Spirit enables man to keep Jesus’ new command to love our fellow humans as Jesus loved.
It is helpful to look at the differences between the good and the evil, the spiritual and the earthly, the godly and the ungodly…
Let us look for a while and compare Babel and Pentecost.(
These two stories (the tower of Babel and Pentecost) are related in a very intimate way.
The story of the Gifts of Tongues at Pentecost is the reverse of the story of the Tower of Babel.
One is the story of human pride; the other is a witness to the wonderful works of God.
I. BABEL DISPLAYED THE SPIRIT OF ARROGANCE AND PRIDE. PENTECOST DISPLAYED THE POWER OF LOVE.
The Babylonians were so proud that the Lord said they thought that they could do anything that they wanted.
He destroyed the tower to remind them that He was sovereign. They wanted to become gods.
At Pentecost the 120 in the Upper Room wanted to become like Jesus. From that time till now, the church has been characterized by love.
Reinhold Niebuhr saw human sinfulness primarily as pride. For Niebuhr, humans are anxious because they know they are finite.
So we try to deal with our finiteness by pretending to be more than we are. Wealth, power, and knowledge are just some of the ways that we seek to insulate ourselves from our finiteness.
For Niebuhr, pride is always the temptation to see ourselves as good when we are evil.
God Desires a Contrite Heart:
Shortly after the events of September 11, 2001, there appeared in the New Yorker
Magazine an article by John Seabrook entitled “The Tower Builder.” The story related some of
the discussion that took place about the collapse of the World Trade Center in the attacks of that
day. A number of structural engineers had been interviewed concerning the construction of the World Trade Center, when it was built in the 1970’s.
Almost all of the engineers agreed that the building had been built in the best possible way and that the engineers involved in the building had tried to anticipate what would happened if a plane hit one of the buildings.
However, none of them could have imagined the impact of planes the size of the 757 and 767 planes that would one day be built.
The article went on to relate an event that took place in November of 2001. The structural designer of the World Trade Center was attending a conference in St. Louis.
During the question and answer period a questioner asked this engineer if he had any regrets about the design of the building.
When asked this question, the chief structural engineer broke down and wept, saying, that the wished that somehow they had made the buildings stronger.
If only, he said, the buildings could have lasted another hour.
To me, it was refreshing to hear a person express that kind of contrition.
No excuses, no long apologies explaining why he had not done everything he could have.
He just said that hewished the buildings had been stronger.
One of the things that God’s spirit does in our lives is to give us the power to admit that we are sinners.
We make mistakes. “All have sinned” writes Paul to the Romans, “and come short of the glory of God.”
II. BABEL DIVIDED MEN THROUGH LANGUAGE. PENTECOST UNITED MEN THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT PROVIDED GIFT OF LANGUAGES/TONGUES.
The Babylonians were using their common language to empower themselves and to escape the judgment of God.
Today, there are hundreds of language and dialect groups on the earth.
On Pentecost the Holy Spirit enabled the early church to speak in the languages of all of the people who had come from all over the ancient world to celebrate Pentecost.
The language of the Babylonians was being used to build an earthly kingdom of crafty, evil men.
The languages of Pentecost were used to tell the world that Jesus was the Lord, the Messiah
(The languages the Believers spoke were real languages. See verses 4,6,8,11.)
Believers spoke in languages that all could understand and explained that the Promised Holy Spirit had been given to all who would believe. They told the crowd of the need for them to believe in Jesus.
III. BABEL BROUGHT CONFUSION. PENTECOST BROUGHT PEACE.
Our world is filled with people who are confused about the truth.
Many are trying to teach our children that there is no real truth. Jesus said that he was the way, the truth and the life and that man can only come to God on God’s terms.
Those terms include belief in, faith in Jesus. He promises a peace that the world does not give.
The early church and we live in a world that is full of war, unrest, confusion… In the heart of a Christian is a peace that passes all understanding.

IV. BABEL SHOWS US MAN FULL OF HIMSELF. PENTECOST SHOWS US MAN FULL OF GOD.
As it was in Babylon, the spirit of rebellion, selfishness, greed, and all manner of sin is very strong today.
Man wants to do things his way.
To take things into his own hands.
In the Upper Room the early church obeyed the teaching of Jesus to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit and for power.
When will this world ever learn that there will be no real peace, and justice and mercy for all, until the world begins to do things God’s way?
The Spirit filled church changed their world and continues to change the world, one person at a time.
As Peter preached his famous Pentecost Sermon, individual believers witnessed to individual crowd members of the saving story of Jesus the Messiah.
Babylonians wanted to further their power. Christians wanted to spread the power and love of the Lord.
V. BABEL BROUGHT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TOWER. PENTECOST BROUGHT THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH.
The people who lived on the Plain of Shinar had to have known of the story of Noah.
They had to have know that there were certain things that God had forbidden.
Yet they did their own thing and tried to get away with their sin. As a result, God poured judgment upon their works.
He changed their language and scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
On the day of Pentecost, God began to build his church on the Rock, Christ Jesus.
He is our Foundation. He is our Rock.
The Babylonian Tower and the Jewish Temple had been built with hands.
Constructed by man.
On Pentecost the believers in Jesus became temples of the living God. Temples not built with hands.
Their hearts were just as full of the Spirit of God as the Holy of Holies in the Temple was full of the Spirit of God.
On the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, the veil of the Temple was torn apart from the top to the bottom. God reached down and symbolically said,
“Through my beloved Son, Jesus, man can come into my presence.”
Through Jesus, and only through Jesus, man may become holy. Jesus is our sacrifice and our high priest.
VI. BABEL SCATTERED MAN OVER THE FACE OF THE EARTH TO TELL THEIR CHILDREN OF GOD’S POWERFUL WRATH. PENTECOST SCATTERED BELIEVERS OVER THE FACE OF THE EARTH TO TELL THE WORLD OF JESUS AND HIS POWER TO SAVE.

Can you imagine those who lived in Babylonia telling their children about how it used to be and how God had brought judgment?
Telling them of the Flood’s destruction and the destruction of the Tower?
Most people know about the wrath of God and are afraid to meet Him as Judge. Few know His love.
God is love. He wants to have a personal love relationship with you.
After Pentecost the resident believers stayed in Jerusalem, the rest scattered back to their home lands, to the uttermost parts of the earth.
On the trips home and when they got home, they told everyone in languages that they could understand, of the prophecies, love, miracles, teachings, sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
They told people that he would one day come again and that they needed to repent, believe, love, and be ready to meet Jesus.
They told the God-fearing of their need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Have you been filled with Him?
The people of the Tower did not want to be scattered.
The early church did not want to be scattered either: But when they were, they took the gospel story with them and shared it with all that they met
.(Many were scattered by persecution.)
Willingly they sent out missionaries, teachers, evangelists, and pastors. Out of their fearlessness the church was built and is being built.
Application:
1) Our language - God used the symbolism of speech to show unity among humans as well as disunity.
How do we use the gift of speech today?
A father’s two daughters were begging him for permission to see the latest movie, which happened to be rated "R," with their friends. When he denied their request, their pleading only intensified.
"It’s only rated R because it has just a little bad language and just a few scenes that are bad," they reasoned.
Later that night, the father baked some brownies for his daughters. They dug in and commented on how much they enjoyed them.
"You like them, huh?" he responded. "Oh yes. They’re great," answered his daughters. "That’s interesting because I used a new recipe," he said, matter of factly.
"Oh yeah? What is it?" they asked.
"Well, I’ve always heard that, if you add a little dash of dog droppings to the brownies that it gives them a distinct taste that people love," he answered, straight-faced.
The daughters immediately stopped chewing and their faces transformed from enthusiastic smiles to panicked looks of confusion. "You’re kidding!"
cried one as she spat her brownie out on her plate. "What in the world are you thinking?" complained the other.
The father explained that he would never serve such a dish because even just a small amount of some things is completely unacceptable.
He went on to explain that God views sin in much the same way. It doesn’t matter how little it is, it still is so distasteful that God cannot look upon it.
The girls agreed with their father that rated "R" movies were not for them.
God has given us a new language to speak – this new language is based on His Word
Ephesians 4: 29
29 Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying as the need may be, that it may give grace to them that hear
Our speech is under the dominion of God – nothing corrupt should come from our mouths.
We should speak only to edify and give grace to others.
Our speech should only be the type that builds up our brothers and sisters but doesn’t tear down.
It is amazing the wonderful gift that God gave us in our speech and the question we must ask, is our speech bringing division like Babel?
Does our speech show our autonomy before God or do we even submit our speech to God.
James tells us a good bit about our speech.
James 3: 3-10
3 Now if we put the horses' bridles into their mouths that they may obey us, we turn about their whole body also. 4 Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by rough winds, are yet turned about by a very small rudder, whither the impulse of the steersman willeth. 5 So the tongue also is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how much wood is kindled by how small a fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire: the world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beasts and birds, of creeping things and things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed by mankind. 8 But the tongue can no man tame; [it is] a restless evil, [it is] full of deadly poison. 9 Therewith bless we the Lord and Father; and therewith curse we men, who are made after the likeness of God: 10 out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
The question comes up this morning, is the same mouth that we sing praises to God with spewing curse words and foul language during the week.
If this Is so, then we must stop this.
James tells us that this is absurd to think that blessing and cursings should come out of the same mouth.
How do we honor God with our speech?
Are we praising God with it?
Are we speaking love and edification to each other?
Are we preaching the gospel with it?

Acts 2 Pentecost

It’s Thanksgiving Day & the aroma of roast turkey fills Charlie Brown’s house.
Snoopy, outside, lying on top of his doghouse, smells that aroma, & he is thinking, “It’s Thanksgiving Day. Everybody eats turkey on Thanksgiving Day.”
So he lies there, watching the back door, eagerly awaiting his Thanksgiving dinner.
Finally, the door opens & here comes Charlie Brown with a bowl of dog food, & he puts it on the ground.
Snoopy gets off his house & stares at the dog food with a forlorn look on his face. And he thinks, “Just because I’m a dog, I have to eat dog food on Thanksgiving Day.”
Then the next square shows him looking at the dog food more intently, & he is thinking, “It could be worse. I could be the turkey.”
Today we turn to the Book of Acts in a special time. We are going to see something big happen in the History of God’s dealings with man on a special day.
This holiday is Pentecost.
I will propose to you that many great Biblical events follow the feasts and holidays of Israel.
Have you ever wondered why God opened the doors of His Church on the day of Pentecost?
Why would God start this work on this day?
What we forget is that the earliest Christians were Jews- for the first few years of the Church the Church is 100 percent Jewish.
They will know the holidays and they will know the significance of these days.
The day of Pentecost in Hebrew is the word Shavout. That would the word that you would have heard in Jerusalem during that time
So we are going to pick up at the end of Acts 1 and going into Chapter 2.
Pentecost was counted from the ending of Passover.
Remember that Jesus crucifixion and passion was during Passover.
Maybe having a good idea of the Jewish Calendar and how Jesus was fulfilling that calendar will make sense to you this morning as we go into Pentecost.
There were seven feasts of the Jews and there are Eight if you counted Hannakuh which is the feast of lights that is celebrated around Christmas.
Passover is the 1st feast of the Jews and it celebrated God’s liberation from Egyptian bondage. Jesus was crucified on the day that the Passover lambs were slaughtered.
Paul tells us in [1 Cor. 5:7]
“Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us."
2nd Feast – Unleavened Bread – (Late March or Early April) Israelites plant grain in the ground and pray for God to bring the harvest. This would happen at the conclusion of Passover.
This would have occurred when Jesus was in the grave on that Saturday or Sabbath.
He was crucified on Friday as the true Passover Lamb and was put in the tomb on Friday.
On Saturday he was in the heart of the earth.
On this very day he was in the earth the Jews were celebrating a time looking forward to a great harvest. They planted expecting God to bring forth a harvest.
3rd Feast – First fruits – (Late March or Early April) This feast celebrates the first fruits of the harvest in the Promised Land. They celebrated the Harvest that God brought forth.
This feast would have been celebrated on that Sunday. On Saturday that celebrate the feast of Unleavened bread by planting grain in the ground but on that Sunday they would celebrate the first fruits.
Remember that is the same Sunday that Jesus was raised. They day Jesus came from the grave the Jews were celebrating the first fruits festival.
Jesus is literally the first fruits of those that will be raised from the dead.
He is God’s advanced sign for what is coming for all of us. Because Jesus was raised from the dead the rest of us have that hope.
4th Feast – Pentecost (Weeks) (Mid to late May)– Celebration of the Law being given and late harvest – second harvest
This would celebrate the Barley Harvest in the land. The second harvest.
2 themes dominate Pentecost – Celebration of the 2nd Harvest or Late harvest and also the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai.
So this morning to understand what the Jews thought about Pentecost we need to know that those two themes will be in held in their minds.
Celebration of the Law given to Moses
Celebration of the 2nd Late Harvest of Barley.
We see in the book Exodus 12 to 19 – We have an elapsing of 50 days between the leaving of Egypt and the Beginning of the Exodus and the arriving at Mount Sinai.
It took them 40 days to arrive and the Law would be given on Day 50 after the Passover began.
This is where we get the term Pentecost.
Pentecost – great celebration – God has given His very word or law at Pentecost.
Mount Sinai was the place where God speaks His will to man in great detail. Before that time God had relationship with some of the Patriarchs like Abraham but with the Law given to Moses God speaks very specific to what He wants.
This will be the very place that God will speak his word to man. This will be the place where God starts trying to reshape fallen humanity back into the image that we were intended to be.
This is the beginning of what some would call God's household rules. God was calling Israel to be His Family – His children.
Exodus 20:18 – Not sound of trumpets – but voice of the trumpets- They saw the voice – Rabbis and Josephus called the voice of God at Sinai as 'tongues of fire'
God said all these words - Decalogue – Literally 10 words – 10 words or ten commandments
The Hebrew of the Exodus account literally states that the Israelites Saw the words of God and to the Hebrews they saw the word of God in the form of fire from the Mountain.
There was a group of Jewish puritans that lived during the 1st century called the Essenes.
The Essenes believed that God would come and purify the Temple with fire on the day of Pentecost.
In Jewish thinking Pentecost was tied together with the idea of God’s fire and presence.
This was part of the Mount Sinai experience.
It is interesting that when the Peter and the apostles just 50 days after the Passover are in the Temple celebrating Passover we see something similar occur.
We see in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost that celebrating the giving of the Law – the Torah – we see the coming Holy Spirit come with power on the Apostles.
At Pentecost the people would enter the Temple through the Southern steps. This is important that we understand the location of this Pentecost account because there 48 Mikveh’s – Baptistries.
Do you think God had a plan – 3000 people will be baptized and God provided a location with tons of baptisteries. 48 baptismal areas capable of full immersion baptism.
The Pentecost story probably happened right there, at the House at 9:00 a.m. when all the worshippers were at the temple for Pentecost.
Peter tells them in Acts 2:15 that it was the third hour when he began to preach – that is 9 AM.
This is significant because at 9 AM is when there would be the most people at the Temple engaged in Prayer.
So you see that God has the right place, and the right timing.
The Pentecost passages are Exodus 19 and 20, Ezekial 1-2, Habakkuk 3, and Ruth.
The Holy Spirit comes down on Pentecost and we compare this to Moses coming down after receiving the Law.
When Moses comes down 3000 disobey, when Holy Spirit comes down 3000 obey.
The language used to describe the Holy Spirit coming upon the apostles and the Upper Room would remind one of the description of Sinai and the fire and noise.
2nd harvest of those that obey – Jesus was the first fruits to come back from the dead but the Holy Spirit will come and make the new Christians at Pentecost the 2nd harvest that is to come.
Hosea 6:11 prophesies that there will be a time of Harvest for God’s people
Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, When I restore the fortunes of My people.
God’s Shekinah came out in fire, just like in the stories.
The very day that the Jews celebrated the giving the Scriptures through the breath of God, Peter and the apostles have a supernatural experience.
Pentecost Sunday –
Acts 2: 1-13
“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance
So three big ideas come flowing out of this account
1) It begins with Redemption – Pentecost cannot come without redemption
The Jewish Pentecost did not come until God lead them out of Egypt – Redemption
But God now redeems us from Sin with Christ’s sacrifice.
Jesus frees us from the slaver from Sin. This is paramount in importance before a day like Pentecost can happen in Acts 2
One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry.
He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door.
Instead of a meal, he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry and so she brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly, and then asked, "How much do I owe you?"
"You don't owe me anything," she replied.
"Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness." He said, "Then I thank you from my heart." As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strengthened also.
He had been ready to give up and quit.
Years later, that young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease.

Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, he went down the hall of the hospital to her room.
Dressed in his doctor's gown, he went in to see her. He recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day, he gave special attention to the case.
After a long struggle, the battle was won. Dr. Kelly requested from the business office to pass the final billing to him for approval.
He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge, and the bill was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all.
Finally she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill. She read these words:
"PAID IN FULL WITH ONE GLASS OF MILK....
(Signed)
Dr. Howard Kelly."
2) Renewal of Convent and Renewal of Purpose
We need to understand that at Pentecost we see a renewal of the Covenant that God made with Israel.
This covenant will be called a new covenant and it is at Pentecost we see the enacted New Covenant.
Moses then descended down the Mountain, out of the smoke and cloud, to give the Law of God to the people.
This imagery would not have been lost on the Jews in the time of Acts.
Jesus, we learned earlier in Acts 1 had ascended into Heaven and now, just like Moses, he would send His Covenant seal in the form of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost marked a time of renewal to the covenant and was a reminder of God’s promises.
It was the usual time of Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs for Jewish boys and girls as they made their vows to God to be faithful Jews. It was a time of renewing the covenant.
The prophets in the Old Testament Prophesied that there would be a time of great renewal of the Covenant with Israel.
This covenant would be a new covenant that is not like the covenant made with Moses – it will be new.
It will go straight to the heart of the person and bring about renewal of that person.
Jeremiah 31: 31-34
31 " Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. 33 "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, " I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 "They will not 4 teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
This covenant renewal will involve forgiveness of sins.
God’s grace will be extended to all nations – this will be important for our sermon next week – this forgiveness of sins will be very important.
In Acts 2 we see many of the parallels from the Exodus account. We witness sound from Heaven and fire. Literally tongues of fire upon the apostles.
We can start to draw out exactly what the Bible is telling us.
In John's account of the giving of the Spirit, we witness Jesus breathing upon the Disciples.
John 20: 21-23
21 So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you." 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 "If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."
This passage parallels the Genesis account
Genesis 2: 7
7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living being.
God formed man and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils
We see that Jesus breaths the breath of new life into the Apostles.
This fits right into the picture that Paul gives us of Scripture
2 Timothy 3:16
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness ;
Paul tells us that the Scriptures are Theopneustos – or Literally Breathed out by God.
The very breath of God that brought life to man has now been breathed into the Scriptures.
The Scriptures are live giving because they come from the very breath of God.
Now lets tie all of this together.
At Pentecost we see the Israelites celebrate the giving of the Torah or the word of God.
The same God that spoke the universe into existence with His very word has now given the Israelites his words in the Scripture.
Just as God’s word was given to Moses on Mount Sinai the Apostles will be given the Holy Spirit to help guide the Church.
We see later in Acts 2 that the new Christians will devote themselves to the teachings of the Apostles.
It will be the Apostles that will speak the authoritative message of God. Just as the word of God came at Sinai now at this new Pentecost – God’s word will come from the Apostolic teaching and Apostolic writings of the New Testament.
3) Renewed Humanity
Just as I mentioned before Jesus breathed upon His disciples to renew them.
Now this message of renewal will start at Pentecost.
God has called His people to be a kingdom of priests. We are not called to our priestly task.
We see at the original Pentecost in Exodus that God established the Levitical priesthood because of the rebellion of the People.
3000 men rebel against God and make the Golden Calf and it is the Levites that kill the disobedient and it was the Levites that were obedient.
Now in Acts 2 we see at this new Pentecost – 3000 people obey God – Now the priesthood will reach its original purpose – all men will become priests of God.
We are to be renewed people –
Paul calls us ambassadors of Christ – we are being sent to the world to reflect God’s teachings.
In the eleventh century, King Henry III of Bavaria grew tired of court life and the pressures of being a monarch. He made application to Prior Richard at as local monastery, asking to be accepted as a contemplative and spend the rest of his life in the monastery.
"Your Majesty," said Prior Richard, "do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience? That will be hard because you have been a king."
"I understand," said Henry, "The rest of my life I will be obedient to you, as Christ leads you." "Then I will tell you what to do," said Prior Richard. "Go back to your throne and serve faithfully in the place where God has put you."
When King Henry died, a statement was written: "The King learned to rule by being obedient."
This is what it means to be called to a vocation to serve God. People have misshaped the word vocation to mean your job.
Your vocation is to serve Christ in whatever capacity you find your self. Henry the III found that he could best serve Christ as being a King obedient to the true King.
That is really one of the true tasks of the Church today is to teach Christians to fulfill this vocation and call. To remember that it is not your job that shapes who you are but Christ. In other words we work in our jobs explicitly to represent Christ and show Christ to others.
If we want Christ back in our schools – then teachers must go to work everyday for the specific purpose of working for Christ first and then the board of education second.
If we want more godly business working people must first be an ambassador for Christ first and then run their business in that way.
We must constantly ask the question about our jobs, If God were in charge of this world what would it look like?
If God were in charge of our workplaces what would they look like?
This our challenge to Bring God’s kingdom rule to every aspect of society.
This message cannot stay in the Church house. This message challenges everything.
The Government would like for you to keep your faith in the Church.
Satan wants you to keep your religion here at the building because if we do that then he can carve up the world how he wants to.
But God has called us to go out and teach and transform this world.
That means you will offend people sometimes – that means that you will be persecuted.
Why do you think in the book of Acts we will see the Church persecuted?
It is because the left their assemblies and brought God’s wisdom to every part of life and some people didn’t want to hear it.
They don’t want to hear about truth because they like the darkness.
People practicing evil don’t like it when you come in and flip on the light switch and reveal to the world that what they are practicing is evil.
We are called to bring God’s light to the world – to bring light in dark places.
History records for us an interesting footnote. It was during the dark winter of 1864.
At Petersburg, Virginia, the Confederate army of Robert E. Lee faced the Union divisions of General Ulysses S. Grant.
The war was now three and a half years old and the glorious charge had long since given way to the muck and mud of trench warfare.
Late one evening one of Lee’s generals, Major General George Pickett, received word that his wife had given birth to a beautiful baby boy.
Up and down the line the Southerners began building huge bonfires in celebration of the event. These fires did not go unnoticed in the Northern camps and soon a nervous Grant sent out a reconnaissance patrol to see what was going on.
The scouts returned with the message that Pickett had had a son and these were celebratory fires.
It so happened that Grant and Pickett had been contemporaries at West Point and knew one another well, so to honor the occasion Grant, too, ordered that bonfires should be built.
What a peculiar night it was. For miles on both sides of the lines fires burned. No shots fired. No yelling back and forth.
No war fought. Only light, celebrating the birth of a child. But it didn’t last forever. Soon the fires burned down and once again the darkness took over. The darkness of the night and the darkness of war.
The light of the Gospel and the fire that was started at Pentecost is one that cannot be extinguished.
We are called today as Christians to ignite that fire and illuminate God’s path for all men to follow.

A culture of Life

An old man went to the Doctor complaining that his wife could barely hear. The Doctor suggested a test to find out the extent of the problem. “Stand far behind her and ask her a question, and then slowly move up and see how far away you are when she first responds.”

The old man excited to finally be working on a solution for the problem, runs home and sees his wife preparing supper.

” Honey” the man asks standing around 20 feet away “whats for supper?”

After receiving no response he tried it again 15 feet away, and again no response. Then again at 10 feet away and again no response.

Finally he was 5 feet away “honey whats for supper?”
She replies “For the fourth time it’s lasagna!”

Have you ever realized that you might be part of the problem.

One thing I think that I have issues with some times is overcomplicating and issue when it is really very simple.

Vince Lombardi was one of the most outstanding coaches of
the Green bay Packers.

Due to his success each year the winner of the Super Bowl receives a trophy called the Lombardi Trophy.

Each year Vince would start each summer camp the same way.

He would get h is players together in a locker room and grab a football, hold it up in the air and say, “Gentlemen, This is a football.”

Then he began his training teaching the basics and fundamentals of the game of football.

When John Wooden would start basketball practice he always started with instructions on how to tie your shoe laces.

Each great coach left nothing to chance – he started with the very basics and then added detail.

MY BACKGROUND -

I want to share with you something from my background and I rarely do stuff like this. I know that it is not about me and I know that this pulpit is a sacred trust.

You let me speak to you and that is a special thing and I am mindful of that it is not my bully’s pulpit but let me share with you something from my background that will help you understand.

I grew up in a church setting – my Dad many of you know. I went to church every time the doors were opened. Every meeting, every service, every gospel singing. Church camp, Lad’s to Leaders you name it.

I knew my Bible pretty well because my Dad thought that was very important. That base would get me through some tough intellectual times.

When I went to college at UAB my faith was assaulted and it was not subtle.

UAB is known for its math and science dept and that is where I spent most of my time.

It is also known for its secular worldview and faith was not championed there. I learned early on that the beginning of our universe was a cosmic accident.

Humans were evolved from a primordial guu that produced life over millions of years.

Psychology class taught me that religion was part of the evolutionary process that man developed over time to cope with the world around him.

I had one professor tell me that I would not be a good science teacher because I was a Christian.

I had my advisor who was supposedly a Christian tell me that in his professional life he did not bring his religion to work that he taught evolution as truth.

He believed that he worshiped God a Church but in the real world evolution reigned supreme.

I would say that I was not prepared. I was reeling after a 2 years because I am wired to have to know truth. I have to investigate something all the way through to know it is right.

I set out to determine the question DO I believe what I believe because it is true or because my parents told me.
Do I have to put my intellect to sleep to be a Christian?

At this time God was so gracious to me. I started going to Palisades Church of Christ. It just so happened that the preacher at that church was one of the smartest men I have ever met.

He gave me some books. He gave me a stack of books and tapes by a man named Francis Schaeffer.

Schaeffer founded what was called the LAbri fellowship. This was thinktank in Switzerland that would invite the most hard core scientist and atheists to his home to discuss faith.

Schaeffer would prove to these men that the Bible was truth for all parts of life. Schaeffer brought many hard core scientists to faith in Jesus.

One day in class at UAB my professor came to my desk and asked me about a book I had under my desk. It was Schaeffer’s book a God who is there and is not silent.

I was terrified because I thought I was about to be intellectually assaulted about religious propaganda.

My professor’s face lit up and told me the story of how Schaeffer brought him to Christ. My professor went to LAbri and met Schaeffer and others.

He then started bringing me all types of materials that showed how the Bible answered these basic questions.

Now why did I share that with you? It is high time we start answering these questions with the Bible and stop shying away from it.

It is time we answer with truth and quit worrying about who we are going to offend.

We owe it to our young people because we better get them ready for the assault on their faith.

WE better start teaching this stuff or someone else will teach them something that is not the truth.

I believe there is something basic about the message of Judaism and Christianity that has been lost on our times.

Today I want to talk about an issue that has really come to the forefront of our national debate and conversation over the past 2-3 months.

That subject is the sanctity of life – what some call the Abortion Debate.

Does the Bible teach about that? Did the Early Church deal with this issue.

This is a big deal today and we need to decide as Christians where we stand. There are some things coming down the pike that will make you swallow your bubble gum they are so zany and scary.

The Sanctity of life is so very important to our faith. The worth of every human being is so critical to who we are as Christians.

You may think that this subject is not worthy of a sermon or that this issue is too political.

I will tell you that our early Christian brothers and sisters would vehemently disagree with you on this if you think that.

Let me share with you a study that came out of Oxford University – these guys are either current or former professors of medical ethics at Oxford University in England.

2 of these professors actually teach at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

This article was recently published in the Journal of Medical ethics. This is a very reputable journal and is really taken with great credence in intellectual circles.

In this article – these men and woman who are professors of ethics have proposed that we as a society should move to a point that it is okay to kill infants.

Their reasoning is the same that is used for abortion.

They claim that if abortion is the killing of a fetus that is not a human person then we can make the argument that a human infant is not a person yet.

They want to define a human person as someone that can contribute to their own success and survival.

Now if you take that current definition to its logical extension you come to the conclusion that you could kill invalid people and the very old.

In Europe the euthanizing of the very elderly has already been proposed. There are mobile assisted suicide stations in the Netherlands now.

The reason that drives all this is economics.

Maybe you keep up with politics and the current health care debate in Washington DC.

Recently Kathleen Sebelius the director of our National Health and Human Services department had a hearing before Congress.

This hearing took place on Thursday of last week and some of her comments were chilling to say the least.

She stated that one of the goals of this new health care initiative is that Americans will have less children and therefore lower the cost of insurance on insurance companies.

They want to have greater freedom in providing abortative contraception as well as contraception in general.

The article I mentioned earlier from the Journal of Medical Ethics wants to call this killing of infants Post-Birth Abortion.

Now I know that probably makes your blood boil but we are living in a time when common sense has gone out the front door.

You may think there will never be a day when we as a society will sanction the killing of infants but you know what they said the same thing about abortion.

We will never see a day when abortion on demand is legal but then we got Roe vs. Wade.

So what is our answer as Christians?

Here is the good news – the early church dealt with this problem head on. IN Rome in the 1st century Infanticide was widespread.

It was very common for families to kill unwanted babies and it was societally acceptable.

By 315 this practice was totally gone in Rome. When Constantine became Emperor and Christianity became the main religion of the Roman Empire Infanticide stopped because Christians did not allow it.
So lets get into the meat and potatoes of our argument against abortion as Christians and why this issue is so important.

I. OUR PRESENT DAY HOLOCAUST
A. On September 11, 2001 over 3500 lives were extinguished do the bombing of the world trade towers in New York.

In that crowd of people there were potential doctors, scientists, preachers, future leader whose lives were taken due to evil terrorists.

B.What did not make the headlines on September 12, 2001,

The very next day, was the 4000 lives that were extinguished by what is called pro-choice.
It happen again on September 12, 13, 14 etc.

Each day since 1973 approximately 4000 unborn babies are aborted each day, 28,000 each week, 112,000 each month, 1,460,000 each year.

1. One September 11, 2001 Terrorist killed over 3500 people, and the out cry for justice was heard around the world. There was swift and action as it should be.

2. 4000 unborn babies are being taken every day, but I see no weeping, no anger, and no outcry for justice.

3. The penalty for killing an unborn eagle in this country is a fine of up to $5000 and up to five years in prison

But, the killing of an unborn baby is not considered a crime at all, as long as the mother approves.

4. One in four women have an abortion and one in ten women in the church have an abortion.

5. AMERICAN WAR CASUALTIES
REVOLUTIONARY WAR 25,324
CIVIL WAR 498,332
WORLD WAR II 407,316
KOREAN WAR 54,246
VIETNAM WAR 56,655
GULF WAR 293
WAR ON THE UNBORN 31,000,000 since abortion was
legalize in 1973.
(6 times the number of casualties in all the wars combined)
C. Psalms 139: 13-16 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mothers womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be”

Does the Bible mean what it says? Does medical science back up this passage? God is specially involved in the development of the baby in the womb.

Does medical science back up what the Psalmist says in this passage. Let me give you an example of what I mean.

Many times scientist make claims against the Bible and then we always find out that the Bible was right all along. For example scientists claimed for the longest that the Universe did not have a beginning but had always been here.

Then they prove that the universe had a beginning and basically all time, space and energy had a starting point – just what the Bible had always said. So in this abortion argument we see that the Bible teaches that God is active even in the womb.

To God Person hood is when you are conceived. What does medical science tell us about the development of a baby?

1. Within 21 days the baby’s backbone, spinal cord, and nervous system are forming.

A small heart is present and beating. At one month arms and legs are present.

There is a head with rudimentary eyes, ears, mouth, and brain. The digestive system has begun.

The baby is still only one-fourth of an inch long, but he is ten thousand times larger than when he began.

2. At 2 months the baby is fully formed. He will try to grasp a tiny instrument with his tiny hand.

He "swims" or moves about in the amniotic fluid. He has fingerprints.
By the end of the 3rd month, as one observer notes, "he can kick his legs, turn his feet, curl and fan his toes, makes a fist, move his thumb, bend his wrist, turn his head, squint, frown, open his mouth," swallow, and breathe.

WE MUST STAND ON THE TRUTH THAT HUMAN BEINGS ARE SPECIAL AND SPECIAL TO GOD.

The Bible shows that God considers us human beings when we are in the womb.
Jeremiah 1: 5
5"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations."

Before God sent Jeremiah out as a prophet he had plans for Jeremiah before he was even born.

In Luke chapter 1 we read of John the Baptist leaping in the womb of Elizabeth at the sound of the greeting of Mary.

If Babies in the womb don’t matter to God, why would this story be in the New Testament?

a.The lack of value for life today is the result of godlessness.

Many of our universities and schools have taught our young people that human beings are nothing more than highly organized, animated slime.

b. Our children are taught that they are cosmic accidents, nothing more than time + chance + matter.
Our society has rejected the belief that HUMANS HAVE INTRINSIC DIGNITY BECAUSE THEY ARE CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD

1. The Psalmist tells us, “Behold, children are a gift from the Lord.” (Ps.127:3) God is the power behind barrenness, and the power behind conception

2. Listen to Moses’ words in Exodus 4:11: “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

3. Did you know that you are God’s crowning creation?
Did you know that you’re the greatest thing that God every created?

4.You Were Created in God’s Image.

Do you know why you’re so valuable to God?
Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in His own image.
We are not worthless but we have purpose because God has a purpose for all of us.
6. You aren’t an accident. You weren’t mass-produced. You aren’t an assembly-line product.

Bob Hope was one of the great comedian of the last century. As he was getting along in years, he once commented that he’d been reading and was astonished to discover:

“Today my heart beat over 103,000 times,

my blood traveled 168 million miles,
I breathed 23,400 times,

I inhaled 438 cubic feet of air, ate 3 pounds of food, and drank 2.9 pounds of liquid,

I perspired 1.43 pints… gave off 85.3 degrees of heat… generated 450 tons of energy,

I spoke 4,800 words, I moved 750 major muscles,

and I exercised 7 million brain cells.

It’s no wonder I’m tired all the time.”
It is amazing what our bodies can do – we are not junk But we are special made in God’s image.

You were deliberately planned, specifically gifted, and lovingly positioned on this earth by the Master Craftsman.”

Psalm 100:3, “Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”

MAN WANTS TO PLAY GOD – WE WANT TO CALL IT CHOICE WHEN GOD CALLS IT EVIL:

At Ohio State University, Ravi Zaccharias did an open forum on a radio talk show. The host was an atheist. From the start, the callers were antagonistic. "I could feel the tension as soon as the lines lit up.

One angry woman caller said, “All you people have is an agenda you’re trying to promote.” Referring to abortion, she said, “You want to take away our rights and invade our private lives.”

Abortion had not even been brought up.
“Just a minute,” I replied, “we didn’t even raise the subject.”
“Ok,” she said, “what is your position on abortion then?”

I said, “Can I ask you a question? On every university campus I visit, somebody stands up and says that God is an evil God to allow all this evil into our world. This person typically says, ‘A plane crashes: 30 people die, and 20 people live. What kind of God would arbitrarily choose some to live and some to die?’”

I continued, “But when we play God and determine whether a child within a mother’s womb should live, we argue for that as a moral right.

So when human beings are given the privilege of playing God, it’s called a moral right. When God plays God, we call it an immoral act. Can you justify this for me?”

APPLICATION: WHAT MUST WE DO?? WHAT SHOULD WE DO??

CANT BE SILENT:

Martin Niemoeller, a German pastor imprisoned for opposing the Nazis, illustrated the gravity of remaining silent:

"In Germany, the first came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."

So let me ask you today- Do you think that God considers life to begin in the womb at conception?

We can see from the Bible multitudes of examples of babies being called children in the Scripture while they were in the womb.
Are YOU CONVINCED THAT ABORTION IS THE MURDER OF CHILD???
Imagine how God feels about the killing of innocent children in this country?

If the early church had the courage that they had to change the world for Christ, why cant we have the same courage?

We live in a façade of a free country that is just but we allow rampant injustice to happen to the unborn because it is out of sight and out of mind.

We must take action and there are many ways to do this.

1) Pray – Pray- Pray for our leaders – pray that God will send us leaders that have courage to take this issue on.
Pray that God will change the mind of Barrack Obama and convict his heart of this great evil in this country.

2) Preach the Gospel – until we change the hearts and minds of people nothing will change.
We have the gospel – we sale it short- we need to lead people to Jesus and bring our country back to God.

3) Be active in the political process and know where candidates stand on issues of life.
Know if they believe in a culture of life or a culture of death.
Let me ask you this question, do you think how you vote on the issues really matters to God? When you go into the voter’s both are you still a Christian?

Would you vote for a candidate that stood for something that you considered outright evil?

For example would you vote for a pedophile? Would you vote for someone that believed that drugs should be legalized?

Would you vote for someone that would not punish criminals for very bad crimes?

Of course you would not, but there are many Christians today that vote for candidates that whole-heartedly endorse abortion. As we head into an election season I encourage you, beg you, implore you to think about this.

Can you in good conscience as a follower of Jesus Christ cast a vote for someone that endorses evil and the killing of the unborn?

4) Love the young girls that are in trouble – love them as Jesus loves them and tell them that there is another way to go.

We must reach out to those that may fall into the trap of evil organizations like Planned Parenthood, we need to be there giving help and support to these girls, not planned parenthood.

Give them support – the Church should step in a provide an alternative to death – to live life more abundantly.

5) Adoption – we need more Christian parents interested in adoption – could you imagine anything more beautiful than adopting a child, loving them and leading a child to Christ that may never have heard of the gospel before.
James tells us that pure and undefiled religion is to take care of the widows and orphans.
Most of all – we need to show the world that Christianity is about Life – whole life – spiritual life, physical life and the sanctity of the life of a human being.
We must become a culture of life that stands against a culture of death.