1. My message today will be about how the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost.
2. Pentecost was an important event in the Jewish calendar, going back 1,500 years to Leviticus 23.
3. Regarding Acts 2, John Phillips says, "The day of Pentecost had come fifteen hundred times before.  Now it was fully come.  It had come and gone, come and gone, ever since Moses instituted the feast.  Now it had come to stay" (Exploring Acts).
4. I like that statement, especially these words: "Now it had come to stay."  We often fail to appreciate that the blessings of Pentecost are here to stay.
5. The Day of Pentecost was sometimes called the feast of harvest, and on the Day of Pentecost the apostolic church began to reap a great harvest of souls.
6. This morning for us I want to consider the effects of the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.

I. THE IMMEDIATE EFFECTS OF THE OUT-POURING

1. There was a sound as of a rushing mighty wind (2:2).
2. The sound came from heaven, and it came suddenly. It was not a wind. The Bible says, "There came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind..."
3. The sound filled all the house (2:2).
4. It was quite fitting that the Holy Spirit should come from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, because the Holy Spirit is often represented in Scripture as, as a breath or wind --  powerful, though invisible (cf. John 3:8).
5. “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire” (1:3). It appeared to sit upon each one of them. These were not tongues of fire, but rather, cloven tongues like as of fire” (1:3).
6. Fire is used in various ways in Scripture. Fire often represents the judgment of God. For example, the first mention of fire in the Bible is in Genesis 19:24. Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven."
7. Oftentimes, fire represents the presence of God.  Exodus 13:21 says, "And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night."
8. The pillar of fire which led the children of Israel was the visible representation of the invisible God. The pillar of cloud by day, and pillar of fire by night is a beautiful picture of the Holy Spirit.
9. Fire is powerful and can be a great blessing, but it also can be very dangerous.  In Leviticus 10, we read that Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, "offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.  And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD" (Lev. 10:1, 2).
10. Another miraculous effect on the Day of Pentecost is found in verse 4 --  the disciples "were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (2:4).
11. For the last one hundred years, speaking in tongues has caused much debate, and much controversy, and much confusion, and much division among Christians.
12. Since it is taught in Scripture, we should be careful to make sure our views and our practice line up with the Bible.  Remember, the Bible says there is much deception in the spiritual realm.
13. First of all, the tongues were languages, not some nonsensical gibber-gabber (2:4-11).
14. We do not have the time to do an in-depth study on the subject of tongues this morning, but it should be emphasized that God has laid out strict guidelines for speaking in tongues (I Corinthians 14:27, 28, 34, 35).
15. First Corinthians 13:8 says, "Whether there be tongues, they shall cease."   It is an undisputed fact that the gift of tongues did cease for about 1,800 years.  A little over 100 years ago, tongues-speaking broke out among various heretical groups but many Christians are convinced it was not the Holy Spirit, but a false spirit.
16. For example, people in the Mormon cult speak in tongues!   Roman Catholic nuns speak in tongues!  Spiritualists speak in tongues!
17. The modern tongues movement began in the late 1800's and early 1900's with a man named Charles F. Parham. Mr. Parham was arrested in 1907 in San Antonio, Texas on charges of committing homosexual acts with young boys.
18. That is why the great evangelist R.A. Torrey said the Pentecostal movement was "emphatically not of God, and founded by a sodomite."
19. Let me say one more thing about this before we move on.  Charles Parham taught, and I have heard many people say, that tongues are the evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit.  This is not taught anywhere in Scripture, and in fact it contradicts Scripture.
20. Trace this through the book of Acts. In Acts 1:8, the emphasis is on power to witnesses.  Tongues are not mentioned.
21. In Acts 4:8, Peter was filled with the Holy Ghost, and he preached the Gospel. Tongues are not mentioned.
22. Acts 4:31 says, "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness." Tongues are not mentioned.
23. Acts 6:3 and 7:55 says Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit, and tongues are not mentioned.
24. In Acts 9, we see that Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit after he received his sight, but tongues are not mentioned (9:17).
25. Acts 11:24 says Barnabas was full of the Holy Ghost, but it does not say he ever spoke in tongues.
26. Acts 13:9 says Paul was filled with the Holy Ghost, and he rebuked Elymas the sorcerer.  Tongues are not mentioned.
27. Acts 13:52 says, "And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost." Tongues are not mentioned.
28. I used to watch Jimmy Swaggart on television, and I heard him say he spoke in tongues because he was filled with the Holy Spirit.   Then I read in the newspapers he was caught running around with prostitutes!
29. He was caught twice -- in 1987 and in 1991.
30. In fact, this type of immoral behaviour is widespread in Pentecostal churches.
31. There is a carnal and worldly Christianity, and there is genuine and Biblical Christianity.  May God give us discernment to recognize the difference!
32. The disciples had waited according to our Lord’s command (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8).  They were now endued with power from on high just as our Lord had promised.
33. They were endued with power from on high in order to proclaim the Gospel all over the world (1:8).
34. At the tower of Babel, God confounded the language of men because of sin (Genesis 11). On the Day of Pentecost, God in His mercy reversed Babel and enabled every man to hear the Gospel in his own language.
35. These men who heard the Gospel then took the Gospel back to their own people (2:8-11).

II. THE SPIRITUAL EFFECTS OF THE OUT-POURING

1. There is a difference between receiving the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit.
2. Ephesians 1:13 says every believer is were sealed with the Holy Spirit the moment he accepts Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour.
3. Ephesians 4:30 says we "are sealed unto the day of redemption."
4. Every true child of God is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  First Corinthians 6:19 says, "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?"
5. Romans 8:9 says, "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."
6. We are never commanded to be sealed or indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but Ephesians 5:18 says, "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit."
7. That is a command.   This fullness is experienced when we yield in absolute obedience to our Lord. The result of His filling is victory in the Christian life and power in our Christian witness.
8. The difference between receiving the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit is one of degree rather than of kind.
9. When Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit they are enthusiastic and they are bold. People said the energy and enthusiasm of the 18th and 19th century British pastor Rowland Hill was overwhelming.
10. Once when preaching he said: “Beware! I am in earnest; men call me an enthusiast, but mine are words of truth and soberness. When I first came into this part of the country, I was walking on yonder hill; I saw a gravel pit fall in and bury three human beings alive. I lifted up my voice so loud, that I was heard in the town below, a distance of a mile. Help came and rescued two of the poor sufferers. No one called me too enthusiastic then; and when I see eternal destruction ready to fall upon poor sinners, and about to entomb them irrevocably in an eternal mass of woe, and call on them to escape by repenting, and fleeing to Christ, shall I be called too enthusiastic?”
11. Being enthusiastic when proclaiming the Gospel will always be one of the effects of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 2:13-15).

III. THE EFFECT OF THE OUT-POURING UPON THE GREAT COMMISSION

1. Acts 2:37 says, "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
2. Acts 2:41 says three thousand souls were added to the church in that one day.
3. Acts 2:47 says the disciples were "praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."
4. Acts 4:4 says, "Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand."
5. Acts 17:6 says the apostolic church turned the world upside down.
6. Frank E. Allen says, "Almost everything seemed to be arrayed against the success of the early church. The enemies of Christ, it seemed, had triumphed and what was to hinder their triumph again? What was to hinder their continued opposition to the Christian church until they had silenced her witness? The tradition of the Jews was against them; the prejudice of the people was against them; the influence of the rulers was against them; the weight of great numbers was against them; in fact everything human was against the success of the early church" (The Acts of the Apostles).
7. Humanly speaking, almost everything was working against the apostolic church.  But they had the power of the Holy Spirit.
8. Many things are working against us today: there are two mosques here in our neighborhood; and the JW's and Mormons are out in the streets every day recruiting people into their diabolical cults.
9. The majority of people in this area are Roman Catholic and seem to have little interest in the Bible.
10. Here in the great NYC Metro area there are many atheists, agnostics, humanists, evolutionists, skeptics, communists, homosexuals, and various other God-haters.
11. There are people involved in witchcraft, Santeria, voodoo, Scientology, the new age movement, and many other Satanic cults and religions.
12. Here in NYC there is much drinking, and drugs, and pornography, and prostitution, and gambling, and all sorts of sinful behaviour.
13. But we have the power of the Holy Spirit.
14. And we have the promise of our Saviour.  He said, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen" (Matthew 28:20).
15. Our Lord said in Acts 1:8, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
16. In many ways, we have a great advantage over the apostolic church. They had no (complete) Bibles or Gospel tracts, and no hymn books. They had no printing press and no computers and no telephones and no automobiles.
17. But they had the power of the Holy Spirit, and that same power is still available today.  But this power must be appropriated by faith.
18. Our Lord said in Luke 11:13 that God gives the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.  This is referring to the fullness and the power of the Holy Spirit.

CONCLUSION:

1. My message this morning is about how God poured out His Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.
2. There are many Scriptures dealing with this great subject, and we have looked at many of them.
3. Before we conclude I would like for us to look at a couple more.
4. Isaiah 44:3 says, "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring."
5. Notice, the Bible says, "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty..."
6. You have to first recognize that you are thirsty.
7. In John 7:37, Jesus said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.  (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive..."