THE PENTECOSTAL HEART

 THE PENTECOSTAL HEART

Acts 2:14-26 (KJV)

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:

Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:

 

We are about to reach the holiday season of 2020 and we have some special things happening next Sunday, so the pressure is on for me to wrap up the series of messages I’ve been bringing called, “Where Is Your Heart?”

 

That little bit of pressure, that time crunch, in part motivated me to combine three separate passages describing the heart into this one message.

 

But it is, I am convinced, not just an issue of timing, but under the direction of the Lord, that I preach to you this morning out of Acts chapter 2 on the subject of “The Pentecostal Heart.”

 

The subject of the heart is found three times in Acts chapter 2 and in the message Peter preached on the day of Pentecost.

 

I want to begin toward the end of the message when the Bible says that heard the message were pricked in the heart.

 

I. THE PRICKED HEART

Acts 2:36-38 (KJV)

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

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?

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

 

I just want to say that I don’t think there is nearly enough being pricked in the heart going on in American Christianity today.

 

·   Sometimes people are made to feel guilty

·   Sometimes people are pressured into making commitments

 

But often in the context of American Christianity even those are avoided in favor of just making people feel satisfied.

 

The truth of the matter is, if there were no need to be pricked in the heart, there would be no need of Christianity at all.

 

Everything that a believer is, he is because he is first of all, a sinner who has offended God.

 

Peter looked this congregation in the eyes and told them

·   God made Jesus Lord and Christ and

·   You crucified Him

 

The Bible is filled with descriptions of one offense against God after the other.

 

Adam and Eve ate fruit

In in disobedience and offense against God.

 

Cain killed his brother

In rebellion and offense against God.

 

The sons of men imagined evil in their hearts in offense against God.

 

Sodom and Gomorrah committed sodomy in pride and offense against God.

 

The children of Israel rejected the messages of their prophets in offense against God.

 

The mob stood before Pilate when he asked, “What shall I do with Christ?” and in offense against God cried, “Crucify Him!”

 

God had provided for the people, at the time of Pentecost, 4000 years of world of opportunities to repent and turn to Him.

 

·   He had warned them

·   He had preached to them

·   He had blessed them

·   He had been merciful to them

·   He had promised them a coming Saviour

 

But when the Saviour came, the people offended the very God of heaven by crucifying His Son.

 

It’s been just over 2000 years since then.

God set Israel aside and began a fresh new work with the Gentiles, and in the church of Jesus Christ.

 

In these 2000 years

·   God has warned people

·   God has preached to people

·   God has been merciful to people

·   God has been gracious to people

·   God has blessed people and

God has promised that Jesus is coming again.

 

Is it not true that most people you know have no saving interest in Jesus Christ?

 

Is it not true that most people in the world do not believe Jesus is coming again?

 

And even among you and me, 

Is it not true that we are far too influenced by the things of this world and not the things of Jesus Christ?

 

We need to be pricked in the heart today!

 

Now here’s the thing

·   It would do no real good for me to make you feel guilty and

·   I know it would help nothing if I pressured you into conforming to my way of thinking.

 

What I have asked the Lord to help me do for 36 years now, is to simply preach the Bible so that the Holy Spirit of God will prick the hearts of the people who hear.

 

I want to turn now to the message itself and notice what I will call now,

II. THE REJOICING HEART

Acts 2:22-27 (KJV)

Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:

Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:

Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

 

This is the day of Pentecost.

Suddenly, the Bible says, “there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

There are a lot of strange ideas about what happened right there.

 

I think it is as simple as this, they began to witness about Jesus.

 

I believe that because that’s is what Jesus said would happen in Acts 1:8.[1]

The supernatural part of the thing was that they did so with boldness and they were able to witness to people from all over the world, with all sorts of different languages.

 

When all of the people were amazed, confounded and in doubt about what was happening[2] Peter seized the opportunity and immediately began, from the Scriptures, preaching Jesus Christ.

 

Notice what Peter said about Jesus:

A. He was approved of God

Through the miracles and wonders and signs that Jesus did He proved Himself to be the promised Messiah, the Saviour the Jews had been looking for.

 

B. He came and was delivered by the “determinate counsel of God.”

·   Jesus was God’s plan, God’s Saviour.

·   Jesus was sent by and given to us by God

 

C. You killed Him

You took Him and with wicked hands crucified and slew Him

 

D. God raised Him up again

Because it was impossible for death to hold Him

 

E. King David prophesied of all of this

As does, by the way, the whole of the Old Testament.

 

It was because of this truth that the Bible says of David, “therefore doth my heart rejoice.”

 

Allow me just a little bit of grace while I jump up to Acts 2:21 (KJV)

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

 

I’m taking nothing out of context and only a little bit out of order to tell you that 

·   the pricked heart becomes 

·   a rejoicing heart when 

·   that heart 

calls upon the Lord to be saved.

 

Remember the response of the pricked heart?

 

What shall we do?

 

Peter said, Acts 2:38 (KJV)

…. Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

 

But he could have said, as he had already said, “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

 

·   Burdened by sin

·   Empty and confused

·   Questions with life

·   Angry at the world

 

But when whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord and is saved. Suddenly:

·   Their flesh can rest in hope

·   Their tongue is glad and

·   Their heart is able to rejoice in the Lord

 

Now notice one final mention of the Pentecostal heart,

III. THE SINGLE HEART

Acts 2:46-47 (KJV)

And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

 

The Bible says that after Peter delivered this sermon 3000 souls were saved, baptized, and added to the church.[3]

 

And of those who were added, the Bible then says that with singleness of heart:

·   They continued daily with one accord

·   They ate their meat with gladness

·   They praised God and had favor with all the people

·   And the LORD added to the church daily such as should be saved

 

Singleness means simple and plain.

 

There were 

·   no ulterior motives,

·   no underlying goals.

 

These people wanted to purely live for Jesus.

 

I think another word that might describe it would be transparent.

There was nothing feigned, unreal or hidden about their faith.

 

Conclusion

The thing I think I want as much as anything else, while I live this life, is to have a Pentecostal heart. 

 

A heart that has been pricked, and can still be pricked about sin, so that I am quick to repent.

 

A heart that rejoices because I know I am saved and because I live in the hope of Jesus’ return.

 

And

A transparent heart that wants nothing other than to see souls saved and live in one accord with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

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[1] Acts 1:8 (KJV)

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.

[2] Acts 2:12-13 (KJV)

And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?

Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

[3] Acts 2:41 (KJV)

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

It is, by the way, no small issue that they were added. The church already existed BEFORE the day of Pentecost.