may 28 2023
May 28th 2023, Pentecost Sunday
Old Testament: Numbers 11:24-30
Psalm: Psalm 25:1-15
Epistle: Acts 2:1-21
Gospel: John 7:37-39
Sermon Text: Acts 2
Sermon Title: “I Believe in the Holy Spirit”
Grace to you and peace in the name of our Triune God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today, we will deal with these words from the Apostle’s Creed. “I believe in the Holy Spirit”. We will leave the rest of the Third Article; “the Holy Christian Church, the Communion of Saints” etc,; for another day; but on this Pentecost Sunday, we will speak of the person and work of the third person of the Holy Trinity; the Holy Spirit. (Questions # 154-168)
Now, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity and has always existed and His work is spoken of in the Old Testament; already in the account of the creation in Genesis chapter 1; “The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters”. (Genesis 1:2b) The Psalmist also declares; “Where shall I flee from Your Spirit”. (Psalm 139:7a)
We know that the Holy Spirit is true God for many of the same reasons we know Jesus is God. For example, the Holy Scriptures clearly call Him God. In a sermon of Peter’s recorded in the book of Acts, he asks Ananias, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit … You have not lied to men, but to God”. (Acts 5:3a, 4b) (Lying to the Holy Spirit and lying to God are one and the same thing.) The Apostle Paul also wrote to the Corinthians, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and God’s Spirit dwells in you”? (1st Corinthians 3:16)
The Holy Spirit also possesses divine attributes. The Spirit is all knowing for Paul wrote “The Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God”. (1st Corinthians 2:10) The Holy Spirit is also eternal as the writer of Hebrews confirms, calling Him “the eternal Spirit”. (Hebrews 9:14a) The people of Israel were also said to have “rebelled against and grieved His Holy Spirit … and He fought against them”. (Isaiah 63:10)
The Holy Spirit also does divine works that only God can do; such as participating in the creation as we already mentioned, and the work of our salvation as is mentioned in Paul’s letter to Titus, “He saved us … by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit”. (Titus 3:5) “You were justified … by the Spirit of our God”. (1st Corinthians 6:11) That is the main work of the Holy Spirit is to point us to Jesus Christ as the only means of our salvation.
This He does through the preaching of the Word and the sacraments. Therefore, we confess in the Small Catechism, I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in my Lord Jesus Christ or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel and enlightened me with His gifts”. (Third Article, explanation, par. 1)
On this day of Pentecost, the people were filled with the Holy Spirit so that each could “hear in their own tongues the mighty works of God”. (Acts 2:11b) This is what Jesus had promised to the disciples, “When the Helper comes … the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father; He will bear witness about Me”. (John 15:26) “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth”. (John 16:13a) Jesus said, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”. (John 3:5)
Lutherans often are accused of not focusing enough on the person and work of the Holy Spirit, but I do not believe this to be true. It only seems as if we ignore Him because the job of the Holy Spirit is to point people away from Himself to Jesus. This is why we confess that He has “called us by the Gospel”; the Word of God and the Holy Sacraments; “for faith comes by hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:17) and “He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit”. (Titus 3:5) We know the Holy Spirit is at work wherever the Gospel of Christ is proclaimed faithfully. Or to put it another way; there is no such thing as a “Spiritless Word of God/Gospel”.
So, the Holy Spirit first makes us holy by bringing us to faith through the preaching of Jesus and Holy Baptism; where God poured out the Holy Spirit on us. “This promise (given in baptism) is for you and your children”. (Acts 2:39b) Then, through the same Word, He gives us the power to strive against and resist sin and lead a godly life. The Apostle Paul declares, “if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation”. (2nd Corinthians 5:17) The fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit in us is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control”. (Galatians 5:22-23)
Next, the catechism asks, what is a good work in the sight of God? It is “everything that a child of God does, speaks, or thinks in faith, according to the Ten Commandments (Word), for the glory of God, and for the benefit of our neighbor”. These good works/fruits flow from faith in Jesus Christ. As the writer of Hebrews said, “without faith, it is impossible to please God”. (Hebrews 11:6)
These are done in accordance with the various jobs and vocations we have in our lives and are spoken of frequently in Holy Scripture. Jesus said, “whoever abides in Me and I in him; he it is that bears much fruit” (John 15:5) and “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments”. (John 14:15) Paul also wrote, “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the Father thru Him”. (Colossians 3:17)
The Holy Spirit gives His saving and sanctifying gifts “according to His good pleasure”. Therefore, not all believers will have all the same gifts as others. In particular, in the early church, the Holy Spirit worked many miracles thru the Apostles; such as healing and speaking in tongues. We hear about these things frequently in the book of Acts, but these are not universal and not for all times. These are not the norm for our Christian lives today.
The real point of Pentecost is not all the miracles, but rather the Gospel going out into all the world. “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit (So that others) would hear them telling in their own tongues, the mighty works of God … that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord would be saved”. (Acts 2:4a, 11b, 21b)
Therefore, when the Charismatic churches insist on speaking in tongues or a “baptism in the Holy Spirit” as a sign of saving faith, they are (in the name of the Holy Spirit) leading people away from the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins and faith in Christ. Others think they can tell if the Holy Spirit is at work in a church by outward things, such as numbers of people attending or a joyful “feeling” they get when they are at church. But these are not signs of the work of the Holy Spirit, Again, we know the Holy Spirit is at work wherever the Word is preached faithfully and the sacrament administered rightly.
It is the Holy Spirit who “calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, (through Word and Sacrament) and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith”. (S. C. 3rd Article explanation) For the Word of God promises, He who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion, in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ”. (Philippians 1:6) “He is able to guard until that day, what has been entrusted to me”. (2nd Timothy 1:12b)
Does the Holy Spirit want to do this in the lives of all people? This is another way of asking, does God desire all people to be saved? The answer, of course, is yes. The Holy Scriptures and our confessions clearly teach, “The Holy Spirit most certainly wills to be present, effective and active through the Word as it is preached, heard, and considered”. (Formula, S. D. par. 39) For “God desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1st Timothy 2:4) and “the Lord is patient … not wishing any to perish, but all to reach repentance” (2nd Peter 3:9) and the Lord says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked”. (Ezekiel 33:11)
If God so desires the salvation of all, why then does the Bible also clearly teach that not all will be saved; that in fact most will be damned? The short answer is that they reject the Word of God and the Holy Spirit who desires to bring them to saving faith. God does not force anyone to believe. Sometimes, we like to flatter ourselves and think that we can convince the unbeliever to faith with our knowledge or persuasive words, or our general all-around niceness; but Scripture declares that this is the work of the Holy Spirit alone, working through the Word; so those who reject the Word are at fault for their own unbelief.
As Jesus said to the unbelieving Jews, “How often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings; but you would not” (Matthew 23:37) and “You refuse to come to Me that you might have life”. (John 5:40) Just before he was stoned to death, Stephen said the same thing to those stoning him; “you stiff necked people … you always resist the Holy Spirit”. (Acts 7:51) They resisted the preaching of Christ and so today most also resist the preaching of the Word, by which Christ gives us His gifts even today. As the writer of Hebrews warns, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts”. (Hebrews 4:7b)
Still, the Word of God goes forth, calling all people, everywhere, to repentance and faith in Christ alone; who has atoned for the sins of all by His death on the cross and won the victory over all of our enemies. As Luther wrote, “God has caused the Word to be preached (and baptism to be administered), in which He has given the Holy Spirit, to offer and apply to us this treasure of redemption”. (L. C. Third Article, par. 39)
In his large catechism, Luther asks, the question; “what are the ways and means by which the Holy Spirit makes us holy? Answer; through the Holy Christian Church, the Communion of saints, the forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting”. (L. C. Third Article, par. 41-42) We will deal with some of these in more detail in a couple of weeks, but for now it is enough to encourage us/we who believe in Christ, to make use of these means of grace that the Holy Spirit uses; to gladly hear His preached Word and receive the Supper. Amen.
The peace of God …