Sermon: This is That

This is That 

Acts 2:14-18:  But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.

·        Peter is saying, “This is that.” He was saying that this outpouring of the Holy Spirit was the Promise from the Old Testament. This was the power that had been promised by Jesus.

·        It’s important for us to see that this Promise did come alive in the human experience. The Promise of the Father had left the pages of the scrolls and entered into the hearts of believing men and women.

·        Maybe we need to take a look at our “this” which is our present experience and compare it with “that,” which God promised we would have.

·        I think we are missing something wonderful in our lives.

·        Some think that this promise was only for their “time and not ours.” But history shows there have been multitudes of saints over the centuries for which “this was that.”

·        There were many even into the twentieth century such as Smith Wigglesworth, Aimee Semple McPherson, and Katherine Kuhlman.

·        Why the huge difference in our experience compared to theirs?

·        Now, nothing comes without cause. We’ve got the same words in our hands that the mightiest saints had. And most of us believe as the apostles believed… so what causes this lack of experience?

1.     Inward vs. outward:  The “outward” is my accepting the historic truths of what happened at the cross. And many believe that that’s enough without the inner experience.

·        Most haven’t learned how to make the word come alive in their inner experience and there’s “no expectation” of anything more…so we get nothing more.

·        It’s like looking in the window of a bakery without ever being able to eat. The window separates us. We sing songs about it, we read books about it… but the big chocolate donut is never within our reach. We need some reformers to teach us how get past the window and enter through the door to eat the good stuff!

2.     Loss of basic morality:  There has been enough “cheap grace” taught in churches that has led many to accept Christ as our Savior without any real changes in behavior.  Just attending church is enough to satisfy them… there’s no faith for more.

3.     Misunderstanding of the gospel: So many preach the good news of the gospel in order to get people to say a prayer of salvation, but there is very little discipleship after that. These are like poor sheep that have no one to shepherd them into the Promised Land… so they’re camped out on the outside looking in.

2 Timothy 2:14-15: Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

·        Part of our lack of New Testament Christian experience is the fault of leadership.

·        They have argued over their denominational differences so much that they’ve become little more than modern day, “scribes and Pharisees.”

·        We now rely more on commentaries and scribes than the inner voice of the Spirit.

·        “Textualism” assumes if we have scripture for something then we have that thing itself. If it is in the Bible, we already have the experience. In this new textualism, the written word is out of balance with the inner spoken word.  

·        But unfortunately textualism can never lead us into experience.

·        Many Christians are rebelling and seeking the real thing.

·        But so many have thrown out the baby with the bath water and became unhitched from the word. This has led to a new liberalism in the church which is unequal to anything since Israel made the “golden calf.”

·        The modern church has brought the world into the churches with musical entertainment like Hollywood, no fault divorces, prosperity, worldly toys, homosexuality, and earthly pleasures, in an effort to remain relevant to the culture.

·        Their churches got their bookstores, their swag, t-shirts, and their coffee shops; they’re merchandising the sheep: the devil must be laughing.

·        It’s not dangerous to be a Christian because we are not a threat to the world’s culture.

·        Christians were once revolutionaries—moral, but not political. But now Christians can have it all; heaven and the entire world too. Now let’s look at the sheep: 

Psalm 63:1-3: O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. 3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.

·        Why are Christians like other people when we should be ablaze with the God’s Spirit?

·        Perhaps it’s our lack of strong desire. David never reached the point where he could say that he had enough of God. His thirst for more was so intense that it affected him physically.

·        The “intensity of our experience” is directly related to the “intensity of our desire.”

v When there seems to be a difference between “what we have from God and what we want from God” perhaps there is a difference in desire in what we want from God and what we want from something else.

·        If you think there is a difference between your desire for God and other things…repent and take it to God.

·        Ask Him for the thirst, ask Him for the desire, and stay at it until the flame of desire begins to grow. It won’t take long; our God is faithful in these things.

Genesis 32: 24-26: Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”

·        Jacob knew he was missing something with God. He had been lazy, he had been a schemer, he had relied on his own abilities, but it wasn’t working for him.

·        He was finally willing to face his failures… so he got alone with God, and would not leave until he got what he wanted. He was willing to repent!

·        Jacob cried out to the Lord until His Presence showed up, he hung on to the Lord and would not let go until he received the experience of the promise…blessing!  

·        We’re going to have to reject everything that hinders our progress, so we’re going to have to take an honest inventory of everything in our lives that does not line up with the truth of New Testament Christianity.

·        Those things become a veil separating us from experiencing the fullness of God.

·        We must pick up our cross and let go of everything that so easily binds us, we must reject all of those worldly things that are fleshly indulgences.

·        We must surrender many things to God. And turn to the life in the Holy Spirit.

·        It’s the only way that our “this may become that.” 

2 Corinthians 3:4-6: And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

·        The Word without the Spirit is dead and the Spirit without the Word leads to great error. Praise the Lord we have the Spirit, and we have the Word.

·        The “textualists” use their minds to teach and study the word. They are intellectuals that teach about the historical authenticity of the text, and maybe break it down in the Greek meaning, but it soon becomes apparent that they have not experienced… “this is that!”

·        It’s very similar to someone who has studied all about a city or country. They can give you a lot of facts and figures and may even know more facts about it than some of the locals. But it’s dry, not a living knowledge.  It’s without experience.

·        Now you compare that with someone who has just visited, spent some time there and got to know many of the locals… and they return all excited about the experience they had. One is a dead knowledge and the other is living. This is very similar to our Christian experience… which kind do you want?

·        It’s important for us to understand that the Word is living with the Holy Spirit, so we must approach the written Word in such a way that we can touch/experience the spoken Word.

·        We must see the Word as an entry point or a door to receive the Word from off of the page into our hearts…to have a “this is that” experience. 

John 6:56-64: He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” 61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.”

·        We must become eaters of the Bread of Life. This is not only speaking of receiving the “communion elements,” but Jesus takes it right down to His word. We can find life in His words and we can commune with Him in His word. This is where the rubber meets the road.

·        Paul give us a little insight in how to eat the Bread of Life:

Ephesians 6:17-19:  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.

·        The Spirit and the Word are One; therefore we must experience the Spirit when we read the Bible.

·        How do we take this Word? We must take it in and consume it deeply.

·        We are told here to take the Word of God "by means of all prayer and supplication in the Spirit."

·        This is pray-reading. We must not take the Word of God by merely reading, but by prayer. This opens the eyes of our heart to the Word… where it becomes a living thing. We pray in conversation with the Lord about the Word so that our experience is not just one way but both ways.

·        We have the Holy Spirit in our spirit, and we have the Holy Word (the Bible), in our hands. These should not be two things, but two ends of one thing.

• One end is within us… is the Spirit; the other end outside of us is the Word. When the outer end (Word) enters our spirit it becomes the Spirit, and when the inner end (Spirit) is expressed from our mouth it becomes the Word.

·        You see, the Spirit and the Word, the Word and the Spirit, are two ends of one thing.

·        Let me say it differently: when the Word comes within us with the Spirit, the Word will exit us with the Spirit. This is often called with the “anointing” or the power of the Spirit.

·        Christ today is the Spirit and is in the Word.

·        Forget about religion.

·        Forget about doctrine, teachings, forms, rituals, rules and regulations.

·        Contact Christ as the Spirit and in the Word, and take Him “all the way in” as you would eat a most delicious piece of bread, and your “this will become that!”