Pentecost Reveals God Gifting His Children with His Power

Brethren, in a world around us, we are witnessing a great deal of chaos, a great deal of darkness.

Excuse me. But one of the things we've got to be so glad about, so we're so happy and we rejoice about, is that God has a tremendous plan of salvation. Today, we are looking at one of the steps of that plan. But each one of the steps builds upon each other, revealing a progressive level of that plan. With the Passover, we have the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, so that our sins would be obliterated, so that death is conquered, so that we have an opportunity to be in the family of God, in the kingdom of God. We are blessed in that through Passover, we are given newness of life in Jesus Christ, a new life in Jesus Christ. There's power in that statement. Let's take a look at Romans 6, verses 3 and 4.

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, or Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ is raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. Newness of life. Again, there's power in those words. We've got the Days of Unleavened Bread. The picture how we are to remove sin out of our lives, how we are to bring in the righteousness of God into our lives. And again, there's power in that thinking, power in getting rid of sin and bringing in the righteousness of God. The Days of Unleavened Bread teach us how we are to walk in that new life that we have in Jesus Christ. Let's take a look at 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. 1 Corinthians, chapter 5, verses 7 and 8.

1 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 7 and 8.

For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Let us keep the feast not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and witness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Notice so carefully, brethren, we are to purge out the old leaven, get rid of the sin, and we are to keep this feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Once again, there is power in those thoughts. Tremendous power in those thoughts. That brings us to today, the day of Pentecost, a day in which two of the most thrilling and dramatic happenings in biblical history took place.

Our Father is one who knows how to make a point, and make a point very dramatically. And He did so in the Old Testament, and He did so in the New Testament. And He's done that for your betterment and mine. He shows a great deal of power in what took place in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, and is continuing to take place right now. Let's take a look at 2 Timothy 1 and verse 7. 2 Timothy 1 and verse 7.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Brother Naves, you may be able to ascertain. Today, I want to talk about power. Power. You may feel powerless when you see what's happening around the world. You may feel powerless when you see what's taking place in our nation, which every day seems to be a different place than which I was born into. But there's one thing that is for sure. Jesus Christ is coming. We'll talk about that on the next holy day. He's coming with power. He's coming to establish the kingdom of God on earth. And all the chaos, and all the darkness, and all the things we're seeing today, those things will be no more. But there's something we also want to take note of very specially today. And this is the theme for my sermon today. If you like to take notes and you want to put down a theme on your paper. Pentecost reveals God gifting His children with power. Pentecost reveals God gifting His children with power. In the Old Testament was the children of God, the children of Israel, the church in the wilderness, the Old Covenant church. And of course we see in Acts 2 the New Covenant church, the New Testament church. Brethren, our God offers us spiritual power that can transform our lives. He does that because of the tremendous love He has for us. He offers us a spiritual power because of His deep desire to at least begin to share His level of life with us. Now obviously we're not spirit beings. Right now we're just getting a taste of the power in the Spirit of God. At the time of the resurrection more fully we will be fully spirit beings. Now we're just getting a taste. But this day of Pentecost reveals two very important things that I want to discuss today. I've only got two points for you today. Number one, God has gifted His children with His royal law, a law of power. Now I don't know if you've ever thought of it that way. As I was putting my thoughts together I certainly was seeing that the Ten Commandments given on Pentecost at Sinai, those words were far full of power, tremendous power. Let's go back to Exodus 19.

There was some preparation that needed to be done before God would give His law. Let's take a look at that. Exodus 19, starting in verse 9. Exodus 19, verses 9 through 12.

And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you and believe you forever. So Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. Then the Lord said to Moses, Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their clothes. Let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.

So God is preparing the people. He's preparing their minds. He wants them to have certain bounds there. He's not doing that because He doesn't want to be close to the people. He's doing that for their protection. He's doing that to demonstrate His power, and so they have a proper fear and an awe of the great God. So preparations are made. They're told to wash themselves and so forth to get ready. We drop down to verse 16.

Then it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunderings and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of the trumpet was very loud so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. I mean, we're seeing some things here. We're reading some things here. Try to put yourself in this setting. I'm sure they all had seen and heard thunderings and lightnings in the past, but this was something special. This was something unique.

This was something out of the ordinary. This was frightening to the people. And then there was this thick cloud of smoke, and then the earth was trembling. Verse 17, Moses brought the people of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Verse 18, now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire. It's smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace in the mountain quaked greatly.

A number of us have been through earthquakes. I've been through several earthquakes when I lived out in California. And once you've been through one, it's an experience you don't forget. I remember when I was a kid, as I've told you in the past, God called me when I was a kid, 15 years old, and didn't travel much. My family didn't travel much. The first time I got in an airplane was to go to Pasadena, California.

There it was on February 9, I believe it was, 1971, freshman in college. It was early in the morning. My alarm was set to go off at 6 o'clock. But at 5.59, that earthquake hit. At the time, it was the 10th worst earthquake in California history. 60 people died. But it felt like there were four strong men, one on each corner of my bed, trying to get me out of the bed.

And I fell out of the bed. A few feet away, there was the restroom and the lid to the toilet flew off. And then there's cracks going down the walls. Of course, you've always got to have some comedians. In my dorm, there was one guy who just decided to lay between two beds and say, the end of the earth is coming. And another fellow was in taking a shower. He took a bath mat, wrapped it around himself, and went running out into the wild there. But you don't forget power like that.

And that's what God is doing here. God is demonstrating His power to the people. He's not like the gods of Egypt who had no power at all. He's a god of tremendous power. And what He's about to gift these people is the power of the Ten Commandments, the power of the law of God. Verse 19, and when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. The Lord came down from Mount Sinai on top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

You drop over now to chapter 20, verse 1. And God spoke all these words. God spoke the words with that powerful voice that wrung in their ears. It wasn't Moses who was doing the speaking here. It is God who's doing the speaking here. Now you know from John, chapter 5, and verse 37—I'm not going to turn there—that no one's ever seen or heard the Father. And yet we see here in chapter 20, verse 1, God spoke. So obviously the God that's speaking here is the one we come to know as Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the one who gave these commandments. He personally is interacting with this whole nation to give them the law. And He wasn't about to rescind it in the New Testament. It wasn't the Father's law versus Jesus' law. All along, this is what Jesus was giving to the people here. So Jesus Christ begins to loudly proclaim these words, these laws. Let's look at Exodus 31, verse 18.

Again, here at this point just showing Christ's involvement, God's involvement with the nation.

Exodus 31, verse 18, And when he had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone written with the finger of God. So not only did God discuss this or give these commandments orally, verbally, He's now writing it with His own finger. Chapter 34, verse 1, of Exodus. Exodus 34, verse 1. Then the Lord sent Moses, cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. And I'll write on these tablets, the words that were on the first tablets, which He broke. So here we see Jesus Christ, or God, rewriting these laws.

Now, I've made a point of talking about how the giving of the law, the law of God, the Ten Commandments, are laws of power.

Many, many years ago, a man by the name of Thomas Jefferson, on a number of occasions, made the comment that knowledge is power. He made that in reference to the university founded the University of Virginia. Knowledge is power. Is that just a nice platitude? Is that just so many words that sound powerful, being strung together? Is there biblical truth behind that statement? Well, let's take a look at 2 Peter, chapter 1. 2 Peter, chapter 1.

2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 3.

2 Peter 1, verse 3. As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue. So, yes, there is biblical basis for what Thomas Jefferson wrote on several occasions.

As His divine power, and then later on in the verse, through the knowledge of Him. So there is power. There is knowledge that brings about power. Bible knowledge commentary regarding this verse says this, and intimate knowledge of Christ is the source of spiritual power and growth.

Let's go back to Exodus, chapter 20.

Exodus, chapter 20, starting here in verse 2. 2 Peter, chapter 20, verse 20.

Brethren, when I say the Ten Commandments are a law, is a law of power, why do I say that?

When we look at these first four commandments, we see the power to know and how to love God. And there's power in that. Think of all the misery in the world caused by false religion. Think of all the misery in the world caused by the worship of false gods, based on false teachings, false premises. And think of how beautifully blessed we are, that we can cut through all of that, because God, working with our minds, with His Holy Spirit, to help us to see what the true to true God is, and how to properly worship Him, and how that's going to powerfully affect our lives.

Exodus, chapter 20, verse 2.

Iniquity of the fathers upon the children of the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. But showing mercy to thousands to those who love me, and keep my commandments.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, who takes His name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shall you honor, shall you labor and do all your work. For the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not work. You nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor the stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth the sea and all that is in them. And rest of the seventh day, therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Again, each of those commandments—and I don't have the time to go through those individually, but as a group, how much power is there for us to enjoy, to learn from, and to base our life upon?

When you take a look at the second set of commandments, starting in verse 12 and going through verse 17, you see the power to know how to love mankind. Is mankind—is mankind of that power today? Are we a world full of love? Our nation is one of the most enlightened nations on the face of the earth. And it seems to me that with each passing day, we're at each other's throats more and more. As opposed to, you know, people talk about, you know, elect me and we'll have all this healing. Well, where's the healing? I see a lot more division taking place in our nation. I see a lot more people trying to make war with this group or that group.

It's an awful thing to have to witness. Exodus 20, verse 12, Hallo your father, or honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God has given you. You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house, his wife, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. Is covetousness a part of our nation today?

Do our people have the power to sidestep that? No, they don't. But, you know, God's not working in their lives at this time. There's a holy day down the road to discuss as one he will. That's why these days are so beautiful. But now God has given you and I this knowledge about not murdering, and we'll see later on, or we could see later on in the New Testament, where we don't even hate. And that is power. That is power. Why would we ever want to do away with a law that is so powerful and so good? Well, God doesn't want us to do away with it. He never did that.

Let's look at Colossians 2 by way of contrast. Colossians 2 2 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. Beware, the Scripture says, of people who would cheat you, people who would sidestep the powerful law of God with philosophies of men, with empty deceit, with traditions of men, versus the powerful law of God given on Pentecost at Mount Sinai. Let's take a look at some other ways I believe the law of God shows its tremendous power. Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 4.

Deuteronomy chapter 4, verses 5 through 8.

Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 5 15 13 And note, in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. One aspect of the power of the law of God is that we are a light to the world as we obey God's law. As people see the beauty of the way of life we're living, that we avoid so much of the headaches around us. Because we're side-stepping as best as we can with God's help, the sin of the world. Verse 7, for what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments, as there in all this law which I set before you this day? So again, part of the beauty of the law of God, the Ten Commandments, is its power for us to live by them and be a light to the world. One last aspect, and I'm not saying that this is the last aspect, and all its last aspect I thought I ever wanted to convey to you today, is found over in Matthew 19. Matthew 19, verses 17 through 21.

Matthew 19. Here we see another aspect of the power of the law of God, and that is, it's the power to enter into life. The power to enter into life. Now, obviously, we need the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We need the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit. We'll talk more about that in a few minutes. But we need to live a certain way, don't we? Verse 17. Matthew 19, 17. Well, let's go to verse 16. Now, behold, one came and said to him, Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

He asked the question about eternal life. What is the response from Jesus Christ? Verse 17, so he said, And why do you call me good? No one is good, but one that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.

Yes, we've got Christ as our Savior. Step one in that plan of salvation. But step two, we've got to get sin out. And then we've got to bring God's righteousness in. And this helps us understand what that righteousness is. We need to be living by the holy, righteous law of God. Christ then begins to enumerate them. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. We know what law this is. This is no secret what Jesus Christ is talking about here. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. He goes through the six dealing with mankind. Now, does that mean we don't have to keep the first four? Well, of course not. We see that that alluded to starting here in verse 20. The young man said to him, All these things I have kept from my youth, what do I still lack? And Jesus said to him, If you want to be perfect, go and sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me.

Well, riches were this man's particular idol, his particular God. And if he wanted to enter into life, he had to come and follow Jesus Christ and get rid of his particular God, which was wealth. So, brethren, we've taken a look just at that first point here that God has gifted his children. In the Old Testament, and of course us as well, with his royal law, a law of power, the power to know and love God, the power to know how to love our fellow man, the power to be a light to the world, and a power to enter into life. Let's take a look at the second point that I have for you today. Number two.

God has gifted his children with the Holy Spirit of power. God has gifted his children with the Holy Spirit of power.

Our God is a giver. Our God is a giver of good things, beautiful things, wondrous things. He's gifted us with his law. And now he's gifted us with his spirit so he can better understand and keep that law.

Let's go back to Deuteronomy, in this case Deuteronomy chapter 26. Let's take a look at what God's desire has been for his Old Testament church and his New Testament church. Deuteronomy chapter 26.

Deuteronomy 26 verses 18 and 19.

Also today the Lord has proclaimed you to be his special people.

Just as he promised you that you should keep all his commandments because they are a special people, they will keep the commandments.

And then he will set you high above all the nations so they could be an example, a light to the world.

He will set you high above all the nations, which he has made, and praise in name and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as he has spoken.

It has always been God's desire for his church, Old Testament church, New Testament church, to be a light, to be an example, to live by the law of God, to live powerfully. Now, let's compare what we saw here in Deuteronomy with what we can see over here in 1 Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter chapter 2 verses 9 and 10.

And notice the thinking here and the thought here and how close it resembles what we just read in Deuteronomy chapter 26. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness, into his marvelous light. And notice the connection, brethren, always with God. He empowers us with his law. He empowers us with his spirit so we can be a light to the world.

So we can be a light to the world.

Who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who have not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Yes, we are the salt of the earth. We are the light of the earth. We are the light of the world. Now, I didn't have a chance to listen to Mr. Bradford's sermon from yesterday. I took a quick peek online, and I'm sure he may have covered what I'm about to cover with you, but that's fine. We're on the same page, I'm sure. I just want to take a look at just a couple of ways, just a couple of ways that God gives his children with his Holy Spirit of power. Just a couple of ways. And there's so many. I'm sure Mr. Bradford went through a number of them. Yesterday, and we're grateful for that.

God's Holy Spirit of power is the Spirit that helps us overcome.

We don't want to be like the world we're witnessing. We don't want to be like the nation that our nation is becoming. It grieves me to see what's happening to our nation. It grieves me to see what people are wanting to do with the education in this nation. And I don't want to go on and on about that, because it's depressing and discouraging. I was listening to a telecast just the other day. It was actually a school board meeting, I believe, in Loudoun County, Virginia. Loudoun County, Virginia, is the richest county in America. And some of the parents there finally had had enough of what was being taught in their schools. And they stood there with the books, and they started reading to the Board of Education, which they were hoping to... dethrone or whatever, get them out of their seats. They started reading what was in these books, and it was just hurting my ears. The one lady was talking about, well, here's the literature that is a signed reading for my fifth grader. And it was nothing more than written pornography.

And then the one parent talked about, well, here's the history they're teaching to my kid. And here's the book. I'll read out of the book. The various things that...

I don't know where they feel they get this as history, but it's nothing more than a lie.

They didn't get into the math aspect of it. There's this now... this new ethnomath. You've heard of ethnomath? You know, math's math. Two plus two should equal four. We're not talking philosophy here. But no, with this new ethnomath that's being in Oregon and California, they want to make this a part of the curriculum. I guess it's maybe more of an elective right now. But in ethnomath, you don't want the right answer. You don't want to show your work how you came to the right answer. Because that smacks of white privilege.

Now again, this stuff makes me mad. But you know what? I'm so glad I'm in God's church. Because I know Jesus Christ is going to take care of all this. I can't do anything about it. Some parents are trying to do some things about it. But we want to overcome what we're seeing in this society. And we can't do it on our own. We don't have the power. I don't care how bright we think we are. We just don't have the power. We need God's power to overcome what's in this world. Let's take a look at Romans.

I think our sermonette fella, Mr. Sequehla said we need to be reading in Romans on Pentecost. I would hardly agree. Romans 8, verse 26.

Romans 8, verse 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. The Spirit helps our weaknesses.

It helps us as we pray. It helps us to make that connection with our powerful Father and elder brother. It helps us to understand what we need to be doing, how we need to be doing it. That's the job of God's Holy Spirit. Now, it's our job to—you know, we can have all of—like we've said in the past, you can have the most powerful vehicle in the world.

But unless you put that vehicle in the gear, it's not going to do you any good. It might look nice sitting there. But until you put it into gear, to make it move, to make it operate, it does you no good. Well, the same thing with God's Holy Spirit. We need to put it in gear, but God gives us this power. The beautiful thing. Philippians 4, verse 13.

Philippians 4, verse 13. Where it says, I can do all things by myself, because I'm so smart, I'm so talented. No. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Christ, who gives me the power. You know, the Holy Spirit is also known as the Spirit of Christ. Christ dwells in us. We have to have that power to be able to overcome.

Romans. Let's go back to Romans. We certainly want to heed Mr. Seqala's words here.

Romans, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. How is that done? It's not done because you read some self-help book. No. It's done because you have God's Holy Spirit. You are transformed by your obeying God. And as you obey God, God helps us to see the beauty of what we're doing, and change helps to transform our mind and our character. That you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, not the will of mankind, what mankind is doing.

One other thing I want to make mention of in terms of what the Holy Spirit does, which helps us to overcome. The first thing, the second thing is, God's power of the Holy Spirit helps us develop godly fruit. Helps us develop godly fruit. And again, brethren, you and I can't do that on our own. We simply can't. Jeremiah 17.9, our heart is desperately wicked. What is it? Isaiah 64.6, is it? All of our righteousness is as filthy rags? That's what we are.

No, we want God's Holy Spirit so we can produce godly fruit. The fruit we're seeing in this age all around the world is bitter fruit. Deadly fruit. Awful fruit. We don't want that. We want the fruit that can be born from God's Holy Spirit. Let's look at Galatians chapter 5.

Of course, you know where I'm going here. Galatians chapter 5.

But the fruit of the Spirit—ah, this is what we want. That powerful Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is love. Listen at first because God is love. Joy. Jesus Christ talked about the joy He was giving to His disciples. He talked about how He was going to give them the joy He had. And He was making mention of that just hours before He was about to be crucified. Now, I don't know about you, but if I knew that at 5 o'clock today I was going to be crucified, I don't know that I've got the conversion to have that kind of joy. Christ obviously did. He had that kind of joy because He realized what His sacrifice meant for you and me. It means that you and I have the opportunity for eternal life.

That we will be His brothers and sisters for all time. And that gave Him joy. That gave Him peace. We have long suffering that's produced by God's Spirit. Kindness. You know, kindness in the Scriptures, generally speaking, is talking about how we do something good for somebody who's done ill to us. We overcome evil with good. We're going to be kind. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self-control. Each and every one of those fruits are beautiful fruits. Cardinal man can't develop those on his own. We need the power of God's Holy Spirit. What does man develop on his own? Look at verse 19. Now, the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, and fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, evil, murders, drunkenness, revelries. Yeah, that's where man is coming from. We read Colossians 2 and verse 8 about the principles of the world. I just have two more scriptures for you. We'll conclude early today. But let's take a look at John chapter 15.

John chapter 15.

Verses 4 and 5. John 15 verse 4 and 5.

Abide in me and I in you. How do we abide in Christ? How do we abide in God? We keep that law of power that we read about that was given on Pentecost through the church in the wilderness. Abide in me and I in you. How does he abide in us? Through the Holy Spirit of power. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. So once again, we see the words in red letters here in my Bible from Jesus Christ, we have to abide in Christ to be able to produce godly fruit. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.

We can do nothing on our own. We need the power of the law of God helping us. We need the power of God's Holy Spirit in combination. That's why this day of Pentecost is such a beautiful day for those of us who name the name of Jesus Christ. Last scripture, Jeremiah 17.

Jeremiah 17, verses 7 and 8. Jeremiah 17, verse 7. Blessed is a man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters. By the waters, representative God's Holy Spirit, which spreads out its roots by the river, by the waters. It will not fear when heat comes or when trial would come, but its leaf will be green. It's developing the proper kind of fruit. It will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit, nor will cease from yielding fruit. Notice God's beautiful portrayal of his people as flourishing fruit trees because of their understanding of the laws of God and because of their use of God's Holy Spirit of power. So, brethren, today is the day of Pentecost. Pentecost does reveal God's gifting his children with power, the power of his law and the power of his spirit.