The Promise is for all whom God calls

June 8, 2025

Preacher: Andrew Love

Series: Special Services

Passage: Acts 2:1-21, 39

Service Type: Sunday Morning

Introduction

We were looking at the Sermon on the Mount and have come to the end of the Lord’s Prayer
Today is Pentecost
- Why the tradition?
- Christmas and Easter
Pentecost
- The work of the Holy Spirit is to magnify Jesus Christ
- Central in the story of redemption – the birth of the Church
  - The New Testament people had become the temple of the living God
  - The message of salvation to go to all nations
- Prophesied in Joel 2
  - Certain individuals in the Old Testament were given the Holy Spirit
  - Now poured on all flesh – sons and daughters, men and women
  - The Holy Spirit now indwelling all the people of God
- Ezek 36:27 – " I will put My Spirit within you…"
- Jesus sends the apostles/disciples the power of the Father
  - The Holy Spirit would be poured out on them
  - Visible signs – tongues of fire, speaking multiple languages
- The disciples preaching powerfully the word of God
  - Peter speaks boldly and without preparation – he quotes from Psalm 16
Looking at one verse – Acts 2:39 "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call"
Overview:
- What is the promise?
- Who is it for?
- How is it received?

The promise of the Father – of God Himself
The Trinity
- God is the Holy Spirit
- A lie against God is a lie against the Holy Spirit
The Spirit is Holy
- Yet He has come to dwell in the hearts of sinners [saved by grace]
  - We all have a God shaped hole in us
  - Have you known God / the Holy Spirit in your life?
He gives life to the dead
- We need to be born again – we cannot cause our own birth
  - It is a work of the Holy Spirit
He has come to cleanse us
- We are polluted because of sin
- He has come to apply the finished work of Christ on the cross and to cleanse us
He enables us for the Christian walk
- He gives us all the resources we need – life and godliness
The works of the Holy Spirit – examples
- He will instruct us in the Scriptures
He is at work in the lives of those who hear the gospel
- The people hearing Peter were cut to the heart – Acts 2:37
- The Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin
The Holy Spirit brings transformation – examples

"To you and to your children, and to all who are afar off"
To you
- Each are called to salvation
- The message of the gospel – is primarily to you
- At the time – mainly to the Jewish nation
  - To repent and be baptised
    - Baptism does not bring the forgiveness of sins
    - Baptism is a sign of the forgiveness of sins
    - Matt 12:41
    - Salvation is a free work of God
  - It was a big statement to renounce the Jewish faith and believe in Jesus Christ
    - Have you believed in Jesus Christ?
    - Have you followed Him through the waters of baptism?
    - Have you repented of your sin?
- Repentance and faith go together
To your children
- The Jews would pray and hope for their children
  - Yet they had to accept for themselves
  - Those who were baptised at Pentecost were those who received the word (Acts 2:41)
- Pray for your children
  - 1 Cor 7:14 – children of believers are privileged, but still need to believe for themselves
  - Deut 6 – be faithful to teach your children the word of God
  - Eph 6 – bring up your children in the training of the Lord
  - Example from Ezra
  - Psalm 78:4, 6-7
To those who are "afar off"
- Eph 2:13, 17 – the Gentiles, the non-Jews, the nations
- Acts 1:8 – to the ends of earth
- Examples
- "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved"
Have you called on this promise?