Why We Are A Pentecostal Church

Text:

Acts 2:1-4

Acts is the only connecting link between the Gospels and the Epistles:

Matthew (28:6) ends with Christ’s resurrection

Mark (16:19) ends with Christ’s ascension

Luke (24:49) ends with promise of the Holy Ghost

John (21:22) ends with promise of Christ’s second coming

Acts 1:1-11 links all four themes to the New Testament church.

PENTECOST:  means “fiftieth” – held fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits

·        Passover – deliverance from Egypt, death of the Passover Lamb

·        Firstfruits – start of barley harvest, waved first sheaf of grain, entire harvest belonged to the Lord

·        Pentecost – end of wheat harvest, waved two loaves of leavened bread, in thanks for entire harvest

·        Passover – Jesus died as the Lamb of God

John 1:29  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

1 Corinthians 5:7  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

·        First fruits – Jesus was the first of the “harvest” to rise from the dead

1 Corinthians 15:20-23  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

·        Pentecost – Formation of the church, comprised of both Jews and Gentiles

Ephesians 2:13-16  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

·        It was at Pentecost that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, the Tabernacle plan, and laws for the priesthood and sacrifices.  The Jews refer to this day as “The Birthday of Judaism.”  After they arrived in the Promised Land, Pentecost marked the Wheat Harvest, a great time of rejoicing.

·        It was Pentecost that the Lord had in mind when he gave Moses this message for Pharaoh:

Exodus 5:1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.

·        It was at Pentecost that the nation of Israel was established as “the church in the wilderness.”

Acts 7:38  This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

·        The Old Testament “church” was formed at Pentecost; so is the New Testament church!

·        Pentecost in the OT  –  Giving of the Law by Moses

·        Pentecost in the NT  –  Law written in Hearts by the Holy Ghost

2 Corinthians 3:3  Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

OLD TESTAMENT PENTECOST	NEW TESTAMENT PENTECOST
Fifty days from Waving of Sheaf of Firstfruits	Fifty days from the Resurrection of Christ
Mount Sinai	Mount Zion
Thunder & Lightning Clouds & Fire God speaks from Heaven in a loud voice Fear & Trembling	Mighty Rushing Wind Tongues of Fire God speaks through Church in other tongues Conviction
Oldness of Letter (Law) Ministration of Condemnation Ministration of Death	Newness of Spirit (Grace) Ministration of Righteousness Ministration of the Spirit
Glory on the face of Moses Face veiled so people could not behold Glory Glory to be done away	Glory in the face of Jesus Faces unveiled so we can be changed into Glory Glory that remains
Waiting For Moses to Return Worship of the Golden Calf Three Thousand People Slain	Waiting for the Promise of the Father Worship of Jesus Three Thousand People Born Again
Ten Commandments Tables of Stone	Two Commandments Fleshy Tables of the Heart

AND WHEN THE DAY OF PENTECOST WAS FULLY COME …  (Acts 2:1)

·        “was fully come”  –  literally, “was being fulfilled”

·        The Pentecost outpouring fulfilled the Feast of Pentecost  –  HOW?  Deuteronomy 16:9-12

Deuteronomy 16:9 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.

·        The number 50 in Scripture always represents liberty or deliverance.  This is seen in the Year of Jubilee.  Every 50th year in Israel, slaves were set free, debts were cancelled, families were reunited, and liberty was proclaimed throughout the land by the Jubilee trumpets.  Even the fields had rest!  Priests also were at liberty to cease from Tabernacle service at the age of 50.

Leviticus 25:10  And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

Numbers 8:25  And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more:

·        Pentecost (giving of the Holy Ghost) was connected to the Feast of First fruits (resurrection of Christ)  –  Jesus rose so we could have His resurrection life!

·        Old Testament Pentecost celebrated deliverance from Egypt; New Testament Pentecost celebrates deliverance from the world!  We are free, not in oldness of the letter, but in newness of the Spirit!

Deuteronomy 16:10  And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:

·        Pentecost involved individual and collective sacrifice.  Acts says the NT church met daily (2:46), cared daily (6:1), won souls daily (2:47), searched the Scriptures daily (17:11), and increased in number daily (16:5).  Almost every chapter in Acts mentions prayer!

The Wave Offering presented on the Day of Pentecost offers us a beautiful picture of the church:

Leviticus 23:16-17 16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. 17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

Leviticus 23:20  And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

1.     They were to offer a meal offering baken with leaven.

·        This ceremony was not fully understood by the Jews, for it seemed to be a contradiction of the previous commandments of the Lord.  In Passover leaven was absolutely forbidden on pain of excommunication.  Nothing leavened could be offered with blood upon the altar.

·        Leaven is always a type of sin and evil.  Jesus was our perfect Unleavened Bread.  So, why does the Lord command the very opposite at the Feast of Pentecost?

·        Passover speaks of Jesus Christ who is sinless; Pentecost speaks of the Church which has not yet attained to sinless perfection.

·        We still render imperfect service to the Lord so we must seek to grow to maturity in Christ.

2.     They were to offer two loaves which the priest would wave before the Lord.

·        The truth of dual offerings is seen throughout the Levitical system:  two birds in the cleansing of the leper, two trumpets in the Feast of Trumpets, two tables of stone for the ten commandments, and two goats on the Great Day of Atonement.

·        On Pentecost the two ethnic divisions of Jew and Gentile were brought together.

Corinthians 12:13  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

Ephesians 2:14-15  14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

3.     They were to bake the loaves using two tenth deals of fine flour.

·        The truth of the two tenth deals is found in Israel on several significant occasions:

·        They were to gather two tenth deals of Manna on the sixth day, double the amount for a normal day to sustain them over the sabbath.  (Ex. 16:22, 36)

·        The twelve loaves of Shewbread in the Tabernacle were to be made of two tenth deals of fine flour.  (Leviticus 24:5)

·        The Ten Commandments of the Old Testament were fulfilled in the Two Commandments of Jesus.  (Matthew 22:37-40)

·        This speaks of the DOUBLE PORTION belonging to the New Testament believer.

4.     The two wave loaves were to be baked with fine flour.

·        Wheat must be crushed and ground to become fine flour.  This speaks of our trials, temptations and sufferings which must be endured to make us useful for His service.

5.     It was to be a new meal offering.

·        The NEW meal offering speaks of the church which has a NEW covenant, receives a NEW name, speaks in NEW tongues, and is bound for the NEW heavens, the NEW earth and the NEW Jerusalem, where God will make all things NEW!

Deuteronomy 16:11  And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there.

·        Pentecost involved rejoicing and being gathered in His name!  God’s presence always produces a physical reaction.  God rejoices over our praise and worship (Zephaniah 3:17).

Deuteronomy 16:12  And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.

·        Pentecost involved thankfulness for deliverance!  We keep God’s law because we are free!

Pentecost can be “fully come” (fulfilled) any time God’s people get together “in one accord”!

Phrase used six times in Acts  –  1:14, 2:1, 2:46, 4:24, 5:12, 15:25