The Descending of the Holy Spirit

Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
21th June, 2009
Posted By Teresa Han

Acts 2:1-13
Main Idea: The great impact of the Holy Spirit among the early disciples.
Objectives: a. To show the great impact of the Holy Spirit among the early disciples. b. To show that we need the impact of the Holy Spirit as well in GMC.

A. Introduction
- Oswald Sanders says, “A great deal of our ineffectiveness can be attributed to ignoring the Holy Spirit.”
- From Acts 12:2 we know that Herod beheaded the apostle James, brother of John, but do you know the rest of this story? According to tradition, James was the first apostle to suffer death after the martyrdom of Stephen. Although Herod was the authority that took his head, James’ fate started when a nameless individual brought charges against him before the tribunal. When the case was over and James had been condemned to death, the man who had instigated the trial was deeply moved by the behaviour and continence (the ability to control oneself especially the bodily desires and feelings) of the apostle. James was so filled with the Spirit of God that on the way to the place of execution the one who had initiated the charges against him made a confession of faith in Christ. When he asked James to forgive him, the apostle said, “Peace be to you, brother.” James then kissed him and both men were beheaded for their faith in 36 A.D. A spirit-filled life may lead to physical death, but more importantly, it always leads to eternal life.
- D. L. Moody, the American evangelist, once used a glass as an object to teach that the love of God overcomes our evil nature and controls lives. He asked his audience, “How can I get the air out of this glass?” One person said, “Suck it out with a pump.” But Moody insisted that this would create a vacuum and break the glass. He listen to a couple of other suggestions and then picked up a pitcher of water and filled the glass. “There”, he said, “all the air is removed. We cannot overcome evil and enmity, bitterness and temptation, simply by fighting against it. We must let the Holy Spirit fill our hearts, let Him pour in love until it overflows.”
- To all these disciple of Jesus, the person of the Holy Spirit is very real. Is He real to you? To the early disciples the Holy Spirit was very real to them. In fact, the Holy Spirit was so real to the early disciples that you can see the work of the Holy Spirit all over the pages of the book of Acts.

B. How real was the Holy Spirit to the early disciples?- The passage today really opens our eyes to see that the Holy Spirit was so real that the disciples could see and feel Him. This is recorded in verses 1 to 5.
- When the days of waiting called by Jesus were over, the Holy Spirit came upon the assembled group of disciples in a new way, accompanied by supernatural signs and causing them to burst out into the praise of God in languages other than their own.
- It is also fufilling the prophecies of prophet Isaiah 32:15, “till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field,...” and prophet Joel also said in 2:28 -32, “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions...And evryone who calls on the name of Lord will be saved...”
- The promised “Holy Spirit” by Jesus and the prophets of Old Testament came during Pentecost. Pentecost is the New Testament name for the feast of weeks, when the wheat harvest was celebrated by a one-day festival during which special sacrifices were offered (Ex 23:16; Lev 23:15-21).
- Now, how real the Holy Spirit to the disciples then? The Holy Spirit was like the blowing of a violent wind (verse 2). It was something they could feel. Then, in verse 3, it says that they saw with their own eyes what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of the disciples.. Not only that, they experienced something spectacular, in verse 4, we were told they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Holy Spirit enabled them. The sound of the violent wind and the tongue speaking must have been so loud that they caught the attention of the God fearing Jews nearby their place of prayer. In verses 5 and 6, they say they come in a crowd in bewilderment.

C. The impact of the Holy Spirit (verses 6-13).
- Personally, I see it the amazing power of the Holy Spirit at work. The work of the Holy Spirit was so powerful; and we cannot explain how He worked then. I think nobody can because it is such a mystery. In verses 6 and 7, we were told that these God-fearing Jews discovered the disciples were speaking Galileans and the crowd understand the message of the disciples in their own language, native language.
- I believe the author Luke really wanted to show the power and impact of the Holy Spirit in evangelism for all nationalities, he deliberately spell out the list of nationalities in the crowd who were present.You can find the list in verses 9-11, it began with 3 countries to the east of the Roman Empire in the area known as Persia or modern Iran, and then moves westward to Mesopotamia, modern Iraq, and Judea. Next come various provinces and areas in Asia Minor, (modern Turkey), and then Egypt and the area immediately westwards, followed by Rome.
- In verse 11, Luke told us that all these nationalities heard the wonders of God in their own language. Brothers and sisters, I do not doubt at all the record here is for the purpose to show that God made use of this great miracle to bridge the language barrier in order for these different nationalities to go back to their hometown or countries to witness to their own people so that at the end of the day the gospel will spread.
- The wonderful impact of the tongue made people amazed and perplexed (verse 12) and some people eve made of it and commented that it was drunkenness (verse 13). Of course, people who did not understand the work of the Holy Spirit will interpret as such. Including like us today, sometimes, we do not understand the work of the Holy Spirit, we may even be scared when it happened.
- However, for me today, in the name of Jesus Christ, I preach to you today that when the Holy Spirt moves, God works through the channel of language. It was impossible for anybody to understand the phenomenon. How can the Galilean disciples speak in the language understood by other nationalities? The Holy Spirit must have converted the original language into their own native language. It was a great miracle to ensure that the Gospel.
- That is why I preach to you with all conviction, as far as mission, evangelism, are concerned, helping people to understand God is concerned, we do not need to worry about the language. We can use our limited abilities in Chinese dialects, Iban language, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, etc; we can invite the Holy Spirit to fill us and empower us to use our limited language abilities to preach the gospel. The Holy Spirit will convert whatever language you speak into the language your audience can understand. It is all God’s idea for people to be saved and become Jesus disciples. Otherwise, we cannot make disciples of all nations.
- However, I do not rule out the need to learn the language and master it in order to give long term attention to a group of people, like the Penan people in Belaga. Sister Elsie Wong Hia Ching must polish her broken Bahasa Malaysia in order to make disciples among the Penan people.

D. Applications.
- Now, with this understanding of the great passage about the descending of the Holy Spirit, can we now see how the descending must impact us in a real manner.
- (a). How real is the Holy Spirit to you? Now, please do not get me wrong. We cannot make the Holy Spirit real to us. In other words, you cannot force the Holy Spirit to behave like you request. You cannot say to God that you want to speak in tongue now; and you ask him to fill you with the Holy Spirit to do it. Just in case, you misunderstand me, you must understand today’s passage in the context of the bible or at least the New Testament. Speaking in tongues is a gift, it is given by God to individuals for spiritual purpose. So, it is not for everybody. However, what is more important is, have we been experiencing the reality of the Holy Spirit? Yes, you cannot make the person of Holy Spirit real to you. But, have allowed the holy spirit or appropriate the Holy Spirit to work in you. If you do, then, the Holy Spirit must be real to you. When you receive the prompting of the Holy Spirit to do something like to say sorry to someone; to greet someone you do not like; to help someone; to say a prayer for someone; to sign up for a mission trip; to come for prayer meeting; to give to support church ministries; to love your children, your wives, your husband, etc, do you respond? If you do, you experience Holy Spirit. If not, then, you miss His work.
- I am very sure that these are the works of the Holy Spirit, because the person of the Holy Spirit always guide you into the truths, into obeying what is taught in the scripture. John 16:13, “... the Spirit of Truth, comes, he will will guide you into all the truth...” This is the greatest task of the Holy Spirit.

- (a). How has the Holy Spirit impacted your relationship with God? We cannot carry our bible us all the time. We do have mentor, pastor, or strong Christians beside you all the time. Praise the Lord, for Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinitarian God, He is with us all the time. Because He is a person, God the Holy Spirit can be personal to you; and you can build a personal relationship with Him. Because the Holy Spirit is a person, He can speak to you (Acts 28:25); teach you (John 14:25); convicts you of your sin; comforts you (Acts 9:31); helps you in your weakness (Romans 8:26), etc.

E. Conclusion: Don’t seek the Holy Spirit for experience sake.