Sermon -- Pentecost (May 24, 2026)

THE HOLY SPIRIT MAKES GOD KNOWN.

ACTS 2:1-21

In the name + of Jesus.

     How do you know where to find God?  People have crafted many ideas about where and how to find God.  Some tell you to look within yourself to hear the voice of God, either through meditation or trusting your feelings.  This is appealing because we end up crafting God in our own image.  Others tell you that you can see the face of God in a newborn baby, in a homeless person, or in any stranger.  These are objects of our compassion, but they are not God.  You may be told you can find God in the beauty of creation.  If you can marvel at the grandeur of a mountain range, at the serenity of a brook, or at the vastness of space, they say, you can catch a glimpse of God.  While all created things bear witness to God’s existence, they are not God.

     God, however, has made himself known; and he tells us where to find him.  In the Old Testament, God was quite specific about this.  He spoke to Moses and told him, “(The Israelites) are to make a sanctuary for me, so that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8).  He promised that that is where the people would find him.  Eventually, King Solomon constructed a permanent dwelling for the Lord.  Once again, God gave a promise about Solomon’s Temple: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house for sacrifice.  …Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer from this place.  I have chosen and consecrated this house for my Name to be there forever.  My eyes and my heart will be there every day” (2 Chronicles 7:12,15,16).  The Lord had made it clear where he would be found.  He fixed one place where he put his name, where he would meet his people, and where he would bestow his favor upon them.

     Even though the Lord was very clear about where he would be found and how he was to be worshiped, people still proved themselves sinners and turned to their own inventive ways.  They did not come before God as he had directed.  They wanted God to be the way they thought and felt.  God had first created man in his own image.  But men became sinners and chose to craft God in their own image.  This invented god is not God.  There is no life or mercy or hope in any fabricated God.  To find those, you need to know who the true God is and cling to him.  To find God, God must reveal himself to us.  The Holy Spirit makes God known to us. 

     God is made known most vividly in Jesus of Nazareth.  He is God in the flesh.  In him, we see how God speaks and acts.  In Jesus, we see how God interacts with other people—in mercy on those in need, in patience with sinners and those slow to understand, and in diligently upholding God’s commands—both in his life and in what is expected of us.  We see it especially in his redeeming love in which he gave himself as the ransom payment for our sins.  Jesus rescued us from the consequences of approaching God according to our desires, of crafting a god who is just like us, and of living to please ourselves rather than God.  Jesus delivered us from the curse we deserve.  He bore our curse and revealed God’s blessing.  He has won our place in the kingdom of God.

     After completing his work of paying for the sins of the world and conquering death by his resurrection, Jesus ascended to heaven.  So, it’s not like we can travel to one place to find Jesus and to see the face of God.  We cannot meet Jesus to receive his blessing and his benefits.  So, how does he deliver those to us?    

     In the second part of the Apostles’ Creed, we confess who Jesus is and what he has done to save us.  The Apostles’ Creed does not get to the blessings that Jesus won until we get to the Holy Spirit.  It is the Holy Spirit who imparts the blessings Jesus won.  So, our confession about the Holy Spirit includes these things: “the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”  Jesus won those benefits, but they are delivered you to by the Holy Spirit. 

     When the day of Pentecost came, the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised was poured out upon his apostles.  The signs of his coming were obvious—the sound of a violent wind which filled a house, the flames of fire resting upon their heads, and the ability to speak in many unlearned, foreign languages.  The crowds who heard the violent wind also acknowledged the languages.  They also acknowledged the content of the apostles’ preaching: “We hear them declaring in our own languages the wonderful works of God” (Acts 2:11).   This is where the Holy Spirit was at work.  This is where life in God’s kingdom is given.  This is where the Holy Spirit makes God known. 

     The day of Pentecost produced a seismic shift in where God said he would be found.  In the Old Testament, God confined himself to one location where he put his name.  There, the sacrifices were made.  There, God listened to his people’s cry for mercy. The day of Pentecost changed where God would be found from one place to many places.  If God wanted to have his disciples lock into one place on earth, he would not have blessed the apostles to speak in languages which were spoken around the world.  Rather, he would have converted all the people to speak Hebrew so that they would find him in one location—his temple. 

     But now, the Holy Spirit makes God known wherever his word is preached.  Through that word, the Holy Spirit makes God known to all people.  And the Holy Spirit does more than impart knowledge.  Just knowing Bible facts does not save anyone.  Rather, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21)—whether they call upon the Lord in Hebrew, Russian, Hindi, German, or English.  God has chosen to bless all languages to carry the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.  As St. Paul declared, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).  The message of Christ was given by the Holy Spirit to the apostles and prophets.  They wrote it so we can hear and read it.  The Lord does not tell us that we have to learn Hebrew or Greek if we want to know what God has to say.  Rather, God’s word has been translated into almost every language on earth so that everyone can call upon the Lord in their own native language and be saved.  Through the word, whether in Greek, Farsi, Finnish, Urdu, or even in Braille, the Holy Spirit makes God known to all people. 

     While the Holy Spirit does not draw attention to himself, you cannot get far into the Bible before you find him at work.  You have to make it to verse 2.  “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was undeveloped and empty.  Darkness covered the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2).  The Holy Spirit was connected with the waters.  The Holy Spirit plus water results in a new creation.  And isn’t that what happened to you?  When you were baptized, the Holy Spirit connected to the water made you a new creation. 

     Not only did he change your status from sinner to saint, but the Holy Spirit also took up residence within you.  As a result, you are now the temple of God.  St. Paul wrote: “Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit lives in you?  If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him.  For God’s temple is holy, and that is what you are” 1 (Corinthians 3:16-17).  So, rather than command you to go to one place where God has placed his name, such as the temple in Jerusalem, now God has put his name upon you.  God dwells in you and is with you at all times and in all places.  That means that God’s favor always rests upon you.  Your sins are continually forgiven.  Your place in God’s kingdom is certain and constant.  There is nothing for you to fear—not war or pestilence, not loss of health or wealth, not unfaithful friends or bitter enemies, not death or the devil.  You are the Lord’s and the Lord is yours.  The Holy Spirit has made all of this known to you.

     As we had considered earlier, it is not merely the knowledge of God and the Bible that saves you.  It is by faith that you are saved.  It is through faith that you receive the forgiveness of sins, new life, and salvation.  And to sustain this faith, you and I gather together where the word is preached and the sacraments are administered.  This is where God is found to strengthen and sustain us in this saving faith.  In order for anything to remain alive, it needs to be nourished.  If you stop providing nourishment, whatever is living will starve and die.  Consider a bouquet of flowers.  When they are delivered to you, they look and smell beautiful.  You can put them in a vase, and that will keep them looking and smelling beautiful for a while.  But since they have been cut off from their root, it will not be long before they wither.  They dry out.  Their petals fall off.  Eventually, they are tossed in the trash.  Faith is the same. 

     St. Peter assured the Pentecost crowd, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21).  Those who do not hear the word of the Lord and who are not fed by the body and blood of the Lord will eventually stop calling upon the name of the Lord.  It does not mean they forget who Jesus is.  Knowledge won’t die, but trust in the Lord and in his promises fades and dies when it is not being nourished.  You neglect God’s word and sacrament at the peril of your faith and your salvation.  St. Paul declared, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).  That is a present tense.  Faith comes.  It continues to come and it grows and it is strengthened, because the Holy Spirit comes through the words he gave to the apostles and prophets.  That’s how he makes God known to you.  This is where God is found for your benefit.

     The Holy Spirit has enlightened you to see Jesus as your Savior.  The Holy Spirit has called you to know God as a merciful and faithful Father.  The Holy Spirit has gathered you and people from around the world with their various languages into the kingdom of God.  The Holy Spirit has set you apart from sin and death and sanctifies you for lives of godliness and holiness.  For, the Holy Spirit does not only make God known to you, he works in you the desire to live according to the word of the Lord.  In this way, the Holy Spirit also makes you known as God’s people.  Thanks to the Holy Spirit, God is known to you.  You are known to God.  God is yours.  You are God’s.  And you will be forever.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.