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Sermon for the Feast of Pentecost
John 14:23-31 + Genesis 11:1-9 + Acts 2:1-21
We have entered the period of time known as “the last days.” As Peter quoted from the prophet Joel, “In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.” These are the last days. They began on Pentecost and will conclude with the great and glorious day of the Lord when he comes to judge the earth. From the Day of Pentecost until the last day, the crucified, risen and ascended Lord Jesus, seated at the right hand of the Father, pours out His Spirit into the world to rescue sinners from everlasting destruction and condemnation.
How are we to know this Third Person of the Holy Trinity? How are we to see Him in the world? We can’t see Him. Spirit means “breath” or “wind.” You don’t see the wind. You don’t see breath. But you can see people breathing and living as a result of the breath they breathe. And you can see trees swaying in the wind or dust moving across the sky or whole forests being wiped out as the wind drives the fire from one tree to the next. You know the wind by its effects. And so it is with the Spirit of God.
The Spirit was known by His effects on the Day of Pentecost. No one saw the Spirit. But they heard the sound of the rushing wind announcing the arrival of Him who is the wind. They saw the tongues of fire on the disciples’ heads and heard the Gospel of Jesus from the tongues of men, in all the languages of the people gathered in Jerusalem that day, announcing to the world that this is how the Spirit of God will blow across the face of the earth and kindle the fire of faith—through the tongues of men, through the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus.
And what is the Gospel? That men have earned nothing from God but his wrath because of their sins. But that God loved the world and sent His Son to redeem it; that men rejected the Lord of glory, whom the Father sent, and they crucified Him; but that God raised Jesus from the dead, seated Him at His right hand and made Him both Lord and Christ.
Now, there is this great treasure for mankind seated there at God’s right hand. There is salvation. There is peace for the sinner. There, in the Person of Jesus, every benefit for mankind is piled up: forgiveness of sins, eternal life, salvation, adoption as God’s children, an eternal inheritance in the new heavens and the new earth. How does any sinner have access to that treasure?
The Spirit divvies it out. The Spirit brings it down to us from heaven, brings us Jesus with all His benefits. He brings it in the preaching of the Gospel. “You have sinned against God with your idolatries and adulteries. Be saved from this perverse generation! Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, for the forgiveness of sins.”
See the effects of the Spirit. See the effects of Pentecost. 3000 unbelievers became believers in Christ that day and were baptized. Millions more have joined the ranks of baptized believers since then.
See the effects of the Spirit. You have joined the ranks of Christians around the world who call on the name of Jesus. You have gathered here around His Word and Sacrament—sinners who deserve nothing from God, and yet here you are receiving the outpouring of His forgiveness and life and salvation.
See the effects of the Spirit. Families like yours who have just as many struggles as any other family in the world are consoled by the Holy Spirit with joy and peace, even in the midst of hardship. See the effects of the Spirit. In defiance of the multitudes to whom baptism—and especially the baptism of an infant—is just plain foolishness, one more Christian family has brought a child to the waters of holy baptism today, adding his name to the names of the 3000 who were baptized on that Day of Pentecost long ago.
Here is the Spirit’s miracle. Here is the Spirit’s building, the Church of God, not this structure of stone or wood or stucco, but the one made of living stones, people who actually believe the words of this Bible to be literally true, people who call on the name of the Lord to be saved, sinners who have been saved by no worthiness of their own but by faith alone in Christ, men and women and children who love Jesus. See what the wind has done. See the effects of Pentecost.
Is that you? Do you love Jesus? I don’t mean, “Do you think he’s really awesome?” I mean, are you devoted to Him because of the great devotion He showed to you in giving His life as a sacrifice for your sins? If so, you have the Holy Spirit to thank for it, because by nature, no one loves Jesus, and no one can. The Word of God that tells of Jesus’ love is still foolishness and ridiculous to the flesh. But see the effects of Pentecost! The Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh in the words of the Gospel. He is in the word. He is working powerfully through the Gospel, in all who hear. Those who resist Him and cling to their sins have only their own stubbornness to blame. Those who are brought to love Jesus through the preaching of the Gospel have the Holy Spirit to thank. Love for Jesus is one of the effects of Pentecost.
And as Jesus said in the Gospel, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
See the effects of Pentecost. If anyone loves Jesus, who is devoted to Jesus, will keep Jesus’ Word, will believe Jesus’ Word, will hold onto it as something dear and put it into practice. He doesn’t need commandments to whip him into shape. The Spirit doesn’t rule in the hearts of Christians by force or by threats. “You’d better keep Jesus’ Word if you want to be saved!” On the contrary, the Spirit has taught you to love Jesus freely, and that love produces the fruit of willing obedience and works of love in those who love Jesus, so that we gladly hear His Word, gratefully receive His Sacrament, and serve our neighbor in humility.
But all this is the work of God in us. And as we love Jesus and keep His Word, so we also have Jesus’ promise that “My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” How do Father and Son make their home with the one who loves Jesus? Through the Spirit of God. Paul said to the Corinthians, “You are God’s temple. Your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.”
See the effects of Pentecost. See what God gives in Holy Baptism! God, the Maker of all things, His only Son who gave His life for you on the cross, the Spirit of God who brings Jesus to you in Word and Sacrament has now made you His home until he brings you safely to your home in heaven with Him.
In the same way, Jesus says, Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.
Where there is no love for Jesus, there is no keeping of His word. When a person doesn’t love Jesus, he intentionally doesn’t come to church to hear Jesus’ word. He intentionally stays away from the Sacrament of the Altar. He lowers the priority of Jesus’ Word in his home. He does no good works at all, as far as God is concerned, because good works only flow from love for Jesus. Where there is intentional sin against Jesus’ word, there is no love—no devotion to Jesus. Where there is no devotion to Jesus, there is no faith, and where there is no faith, there is no salvation.
Can a Christian fall into that? Fall out of faith? Absolutely. It’s a constant danger. And so the Christian life is lived under this constant tension, this constant bouncing back and forth between despair on the one side and self-confidence on the other. We see sin and lovelessness in ourselves, because of our flesh, and are frightened by it; or we grow self-secure in our forgiveness so that we no longer watch out for temptation or worry about falling away.
And once again, we are brought to our knees in helplessness. And once again, we see the effects of Pentecost as Jesus, God’s own Son, makes this promise:
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Here comes the Helper, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. God has sent Him to you again today. Listen to Him! He speaks of Jesus and brings Him to you now with all His mercy and comfort. If you were living self-secure, he calls you back to repentance and calls on you to seek your security only in Christ. If you were living in despair, he calls you back to repentance, and reminds you that Jesus’ blood has swallowed up your sin and washed it away, that, as long as it is called today, if you hear His voice, if you hear this Gospel, it is meant for you and He wants you to be saved.
To the secure sinner, Jesus has nothing more to say. But to every troubled sinner, Jesus says, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
That’s your Savior talking to you. That’s the Spirit of God bringing His voice to you, and His peace. Peace I leave with you, Jesus said before he turned His face toward the cross, in loving obedience to the Father, to suffer and die. Not, “Anger and bitterness I leave with you,” but “peace.” “My peace,” Jesus says. And what other peace matters—either for eternity or for today? Jesus does not give as the world gives. There is no price to His peace, no cost. To the world, peace is given when all the problems are taken away. But when Jesus gives peace, he gives it to the heart even though the world may be crumbling around you.
Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. See the effects of Pentecost in yourself as the Holy Spirit burns His way through your troubles and through your fear and brands the image of Christ onto your heart, Christ crucified for you.
All of this—all the benefits of Christ are yours in this Word of Christ. This is how it works in the New Testament. Jesus cares for you today and tomorrow and until your dying day by sending you His Spirit, by speaking to you through the tongues of men. And in this Word of Christ, spoken from the pulpit and from the altar, the Helper is present with the same power he displayed on Pentecost. See the effects of Pentecost in the peace of sins forgiven. Amen.
