The first sermon.
Apost. 2, 1-14.
And when the day of Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all with one accord. And there came a swift sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they sat. And there was seen in them the dividing of tongues, as if they were fiery. And he sat upon every one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to preach with other tongues, after that the Spirit had given them utterance. Now there were Jews dwelling at Jerusalem, men who feared God, of every nation under heaven. When this voice was heard, the multitude came together and were confounded, for every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed, and said one to another, Behold, are not all these that speak of Galilee? How then hear we every man his language, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and we who dwell in Mesopotamia, and Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, Egypt, and at the ends of Libya near Cyrene, and foreigners from Rome, Jews and fellow Jews, Cretans and Arabs; we hear them speaking with our tongues the great deeds of God. They were all disgusted, and went astray, and said one to another: What will this be? But the others had their mockery, saying, They are full of sweet wine.
From the feast and Holy Spirit.
1. the little word "Pentecost" is not German, but taken from the Greek, they are called Pentecost the fiftieth.
Day. For the day of Pentecost is the fiftieth day after Easter, and was a peculiar feast among the Jews, because they feasted on the fifth day of Pentecost.
The first day after they ate the paschal lamb in Egypt and went out of Egypt, they received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sina. Because this is a great blessing, that God Himself revealed His will to them from heaven, so that they could know whether God was pleased or displeased with what He wanted or not: Therefore, God commanded that such fiftieth day after Easter be kept holy, that such benefits be remembered, and that they learn to do God's will all the more diligently when they hear and remember with what earnestness God has opened His will, and that they, on the other hand, have pledged themselves to keep such will with diligence, as the history in the other book of Most in the 19th and 20th chapters shows. and 20th chapter.
2 Now in the histories of the Old Testament, as Paul says, 1 Cor. 10:6, we see what happened to the Jews, that it was all a model of the stories that were to happen in the New Testament in the time of grace. Therefore, just as in the New Testament we have a different and better paschal lamb to eat (for there in Egypt the blood of the lamb helped to coat the posts, only so that the angel, the destroyer, would not harm the body and kill the firstborn fruit: (Whereas the blood of our paschal lamb, Christ Jesus, is for our deliverance out of the right Egypt, that is, out of the tyranny of the devil, from sin and eternal death): so also in the New Testament we have another and better Pentecost than that which was in the Old Testament.
They received the Ten Commandments at Mount Sina. This in itself is a good, necessary, delicious sermon, since one should thank God for it. But such preaching does nothing to help us against the devil's kingdom, sin and death; rather, the law only helps us to become even greater sinners, and our own consciences accuse and blame us against God, because we do not fully do what we are commanded to do.
004 Therefore, as there was a terrible appearance in mount Sina, when God spake, and there were lightnings and thunderings by one
The law still does this: where it strikes the heart, it frightens and makes one stupid and timid, so that one does not know where to stay because of fear. For to know what God wants and to feel that one has not kept it is impossible, so that it should not challenge a man or make him fearful. For what God threatens the transgressors of His word, that is before our eyes, namely, eternal death and all misfortune. Therefore, such Pentecost for the Jews and Pentecostal preaching is a terrible, unkind Pentecost and preaching, where there cannot be much joy. For it has had a horrible, terrible appearance beyond measure, so that the Jews themselves had to say and ask: Oh, speak thou with us; for if the Lord should speak with us, we must die.
5 What kind of Pentecost do we have in the New Testament? An exceedingly glorious and friendly one, where there is no terror, but only joy, gladness and joy. For thus the evangelist says, as your love has now heard in the text, that on the day of Pentecost, when the Jews were going about giving thanks for the Ten Commandments and praising the story at Mount Sina, the apostles and other Christians were with one another in one house. Suddenly there arose a roar from heaven like a mighty wind, and filled the whole house, so that everything sounded against each other. And next to such a blowing and roaring were seen divided fiery flames, like the flames of fire blazing above them; so that the Holy Spirit let himself be heard and seen publicly. For in the roaring he was heard, and in the flames of fire he was seen; as Christ had promised before, and John the Baptist also prophesied, that they should be baptized with the Spirit and fire.
(6) Now this has its special meaning and cause, for the tongues signify the ministry of preaching, which is not to be in vain; it is to blow on the hearts and kindle a new light or fire in them, as we will say later. Soon after such roaring and flaming, the Holy Spirit sits upon each one of them, and
so sets their hearts on fire, he softens them that in a moment they know God and his Son Christ, and understand all the Scriptures, and have such courage that they cannot keep such understanding to themselves, but may freely confess it in public. And there is also the marvelous miracle that they can speak all kinds of languages, when they could only speak their mother tongue before this moment. For it had to begin at Jerusalem, but not remain there; but, as the prophets had foretold, the gospel would soon go forth and sound in all languages at the first beginning. The Holy Spirit taught the apostles all languages to testify that it would not remain in the Jewish land, but would be preached in all the world and in all languages. This is our Pentecost in the New Testament, when one knows God rightly, when one is not frightened before God, but becomes joyful and a good conscience overcomes one, with such courage that one is not afraid of anything, and suffers everything gladly for the sake of Christ, as can be seen in the apostles.
(7) Not only Christ prophesied of such a Pentecost in his last sermon, but also the prophets David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Zechariah, and others. Therefore we want to spend this day preaching about the Holy Spirit, what He is, what His work and ministry is, and how we should prepare ourselves if we also want to come to such blessed Pentecosts and receive the Holy Spirit.
8 For the first, your love should not think as if the Holy Spirit was not before in the church and among the people. For he is eternal, almighty God, as Christ says: He proceeds from the Father. Therefore, he must be of the very nature and essence that the Father is. Thus we have certain testimonies that he, the Holy Spirit, has always had his effect in people, enlightened their hearts, governed and guided them according to God's will. For Christ himself says, as does Peter, that the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets. Thus the evangelists testify of the old Simeon, of Hannah, of Zacharias, Elizabeth and Johanne that the Holy Spirit dwelt in them.
(9) Therefore we must think and believe here of the Holy Spirit just as we do of Christ, the Son of God: he was from eternity, and soon after the first promise in paradise he began his work of opposing the devil and trampling on his head. The Son of God then publicly completed this work, which he had begun long ago and always practiced, when he became man, died on the cross and rose again on the third day. Thus, the work of the Holy Spirit has been in the world forever, leading people's hearts to faith through the Word of God, enlightening them, strengthening them, comforting them and guiding them into all truth.
(10) But on this holy day of Pentecost he first did this work perfectly and publicly, so that it was no longer done secretly as before; but everyone who saw it felt and confessed the Holy Spirit and his miracles. For that there are some here who think it is not an effect of the Holy Spirit, but say that the apostles are full of Moses, this is a deliberate lie. Their heart convicts them that foreign, unknown languages cannot be learned when they are full of the Spirit.
(11) And what cause is there that such a manifestation of the Holy Ghost is delayed until this day of Pentecost? None other, than that we should learn how we have such treasure only through our Lord Christ, who has purchased such gifts for us, and through him alone are they given to us; as your beloved heard on the day of his ascension, from the 68th Psalm, v. 19, that he ascended on high, and received gifts for men. For so Peter himself interprets this saying in today's sermon, saying, "Now that Christ is exalted by the right hand of God, and has received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he has poured out these things which you now see and hear."
This is the first thing we should learn, that the Holy Spirit did not begin his work and ministry on the day of Pentecost. He has always practiced it in his church, but only publicly on the holy day of Pentecost.
and with special power; so that we may learn from this revelation what a wonderful treasure our dear Lord Christ Jesus has acquired and earned for us through His death and resurrection.
(13) Secondly, we must also learn that just as the Scriptures give a special name to the Lord Christ and call him the Word of God, so they also give a special name to the Spirit of God and call him the Holy Spirit, who soothes hearts with his grace and sanctifies them when they were previously unholy and in sin. Such a name is very comforting to Christians, for they see that they are too weak for the devil and cannot always resist his influence. Just as they are terrified by the fact that they have the evil spirit against them, they are comforted by the fact that through Christ they have the Holy Spirit, who forgives their sins and drives them to right obedience to God.
14 But how the Holy Spirit works these things, your beloved heard John in the sixteenth chapter, v. 8: That he would punish the world through the gospel for sin, for righteousness, and for judgment. For thus the works of the Holy Trinity are distinguished in our faith, for the instruction of the young and simple, that God the Father has given us body and life, and created us for His kingdom. But when our parents fell into death through sin and inherited such punishment upon us, the Son of God became man, and by His death brought back such fall and redeemed us from sins and eternal death. This redemption is presented by the Holy Spirit to all the world through the holy gospel, and it so purifies the hearts that they accept and believe it; that is, they take comfort in the fact that Christ died for them, and they do not doubt that they are thereby reconciled to God, that He no longer remembers their sins, but wants to remit and give them for Christ's sake. This means to sanctify the hearts, or as St. Peter calls it in the stories (Apost. 15, 9.): to purify through faith.
(15) Wherefore if there be forgiveness of sins by faith, that, though one have already
Nevertheless, we do not despair, but take comfort in the death and resurrection of Christ, which is followed by another sanctification of the Holy Spirit, that He also sanctifies our bodies, so that we no longer lie in sins, nor have pleasure and love in them as before, but abstain from them, and on the contrary, make every effort to do what is pleasing to God. As Paul teaches, Eph. 4, 28: "He who has stolen, let him steal no longer, but let him labor, and with his hands let him create something righteous, that he may have something to give to the needy" etc. Such is the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit, that He raises up in us a new, right and heartfelt obedience to God, and we resist sin, and kill the old Adam, and through faith receive forgiveness of all sins.
16 But such sanctification is not so perfect as the first, which, if it were not there, we could not get on with it. For flesh and blood is too weak; so the devil is too strong for us; also we have received only the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit: therefore this obedience cannot be perfect. But what such imperfect obedience and sanctification lacks, that is made up for by the first sanctification of faith, that we believe forgiveness of sins, and are thereby justified and sanctified perfectly; for what sin and filthiness is still in us, that is forgiven as if it had never been there. So you see why the Holy Spirit has this name, namely, that he should and will sanctify believers, that is, awaken faith in Christ in us through the Word, so that we may obtain forgiveness of sins through him.
(17) In addition to this work of sanctification, the Holy Spirit has other works as well, just as he has other names. For Zechariah calls him a spirit of prayer, because he stirs up the hearts, so that they turn to God for all good things and cry out to him for help in all troubles. Christ calls him a Comforter, who encourages hearts to suffer all things gladly and willingly, and not to be afraid of any calamity, as your beloved heard in the Gospel of the next Sunday. Item, he calls him a spirit
of truth, which comfort is not only true and certain, but which will also protect us from lies and heresies, and keep us in pure word and right faith; otherwise the devil, through our reason and false doctrine, would lead us into error and put us in lies. These are the works of the Holy Spirit, besides the fact that he adorns believers with all kinds of virtues and gifts, and is such a comforter, as Christ says, who abides with us forever, since otherwise all the comfort of the world is only a temporal comfort that does not last.
18 Therefore, because the Holy Spirit is to work such glorious and great things in us, it is also necessary that we learn how to obtain such a gift, and how to obtain the Holy Spirit, so that He may also work such things in us, and that we may be sanctified and blessed by Him. Of this our dear Lord Jesus Christ himself teaches us, Luc. 11, where he says v. 13: "So then you who are bad can give good gifts to your children; much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him." Notice very well this saying, that first of all God alone gives the Holy Spirit, and gives Him to those who ask Him for it, and sigh for such a gift, and would gladly have it. Therefore, if your heart now opens up and you think: Oh God, give me the Holy Spirit too, continue with such thoughts and prayers, and do not doubt that this is the nearest and best way for you to come to the Holy Spirit. For Christ himself teaches that you should do this and ask the heavenly Father.
19 Now this prayer, like others, must be made in the name of Jesus alone: that we ask God to give us such a gift for the sake of Christ, His Son and our Savior. There we have a special great advantage, as your love heard on the day of Christ's ascension, namely, that Christ went to the Father and ascended into heaven to receive such a gift from the Father and to send it down to us. We can ask for this without doubt. For there is not only the command and the promise that we should ask for the Holy Spirit; but there is also the will that Christ should therefore be at the right hand of the Father.
God is seated, that He will bestow such a gift upon us; for He also received it from the Father, as it says in Psalm 68, v. 19, not for His own person, but for the people, that He might give it to them and bestow it upon them.
20 Nevertheless, prayer alone is not enough. For if you sit down in the corner and ask for the Holy Spirit, and at the same time do not diligently attend to the Word and the holy sacraments, prayer would slowly bear fruit. Cause, the Holy Spirit wants to have its effect only through the word and the holy sacraments. Whoever would keep away from such things, the Holy Spirit would never come to him. Therefore, we are baptized, we go to the Lord's Supper, we hear God's word, we seek absolution; for we know that all these are the instruments through which the Holy Spirit does his work in us. As the examples show. The three thousand souls whom Peter converted with the first sermon to this day would not have been converted in their lifetime if they had not first heard the word. But when they hear the word, and their hearts are smitten thereby, then they are also baptized. For so Christ commanded. So the chamberlain of the queen in the land of the moors could not obtain the Holy Spirit; Philip must preach to him and expound the Scriptures. Since the heart was struck by the Holy Spirit through such preaching, the Holy Spirit did not want to carry out his ministry, so Philip also had to baptize the eunuch with water.
Therefore, if you want to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, you must first of all ask for such a gift in the name of Jesus the Father, and then diligently attend to the Word, earnestly remembering your baptism, what God promised you there and what covenant He made with you through baptism, and often going to the Lord's supper, seeking absolution etc. For through Word and Sacrament the Holy Spirit wants to set our hearts on fire with the new light of faith, so that we not only hear the Word, as the hardened Jews heard it, but also understand it, and
thereby become other people and get new hearts.
(22) Besides this, the third thing must be that we do not hinder the Holy Spirit in his work or drive him away from us through reckless, wild, desolate fiefdoms and through wanton sins. For the Holy Spirit cannot dwell where the devil dwells. Therefore, when the devil attacks you with avarice, anger, fornication, and other sins, quickly keep to prayer that God will protect you from them and keep you in His obedience. For if the Holy Spirit is to come to you or remain with you, you must beware of such outward sins; or if you have fallen through weakness, you must pick yourself up again and stand up, and not remain in such sins. Then the Holy Spirit will come to us and, as we pray, help us to fight against the devil and the flesh along with sin. On the other hand, those who willingly burden themselves with sins become more and more possessed by the devil, and outside of repentance can never come to the Holy Spirit, whose work is, as I said above, first to sanctify us through faith and forgiveness of sins, and then to help us resist sin and live in obedience to God.
23. but above your love has also heard that we are only the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit.
and on the other hand remains flesh and blood and lives as long as we live. Therefore, even those who have the Holy Spirit are weak and fall very often; so that no one may be offended here and think, as the Anabaptists did, that he who has the Holy Spirit cannot fall. True, if we followed the Holy Spirit always, we would not fall; but this is impossible: the devil is too strong, the world too evil, and our flesh and blood too weak. Therefore, we must always pray that God will not take His Holy Spirit from us, that He will graciously keep us in His grace, and that He will increase such a gift of the Holy Spirit every day, and, as we pray in the Lord's Prayer, that He will forgive us our sins. For without such guilt even the saints cannot live. But through faith in Christ they are forgiven and shall not be harmed.
(24) So your love has the true Pentecost, which we Christians should rejoice in with all our hearts, as it is far more glorious than the Pentecost of the Jews, because the Holy Spirit was poured out on all flesh through Christ, so that we may know God through the gospel and become holy and devout in soul and body through the Holy Spirit, if we want to do otherwise in a truly Christian way with prayer, hearing the sermon and an unruly way of life. May the Holy Spirit help us to do this through Christ, amen.