Pentecost Sermon — May 24, 2026
Pastor Chris Warneke
Scripture: Acts 2:1–21
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Since Good Friday and Easter Sunday until now, we have seen the disciples of Christ in a lot of different states. We’ve seen them terrified and running away on Good Friday. We’ve seen them hiding in terror before they had seen their risen Lord. Then we saw them encouraged and enlightened by their resurrected Lord standing in their midst and declaring peace to them.
We have seen the disciples encouraged by Jesus’ promises that even after He ascended into heaven, He would be with them always, to the end of the age. Now today, we receive the full fulfillment of Christ’s promise to send the Holy Spirit.
What is the result for the disciples? They are enlivened. They are emboldened both in their faith and understanding of the Scriptures and in their proclamation of what Christ has done.
Think about that contrast for a second: Peter denying Jesus, cowering, being in the upper room locked for fear of the Jews, and then here on Pentecost, in that same city of Jerusalem, declaring Christ with boldness and confidence. How can this be? This is only something that could happen through the power of the risen and ascended Lord Christ. This is something that could only happen through the power of the Holy Spirit, whom He promised to them.
And dear friends in Christ Jesus, if we listen to Peter’s sermon on that Pentecost day, we know that it is that same Spirit who enlivened the disciples who now dwells in you as well. It is that same Spirit who has given you faith to believe that Christ is risen and reigning. It is that same Spirit who keeps you in the one true faith.
Even though on this Pentecost it may not be as dramatic as tongues of fire resting on everyone’s head and preaching in all different kinds of languages, the Holy Spirit’s work among us is still miraculous today. He creates faith in you, strengthens that faith in you, and gives you boldness to declare what Christ has done for you throughout all the world.
That is the message our text has for us today: the Holy Spirit comes upon the apostles on Pentecost so that they can proclaim that salvation is for all people.
Before Pentecost, Jesus had already promised His disciples that they would receive the Holy Spirit.
In Acts 1, Jesus says:
“And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, ‘you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’”
This was Christ’s promise to His disciples: that they would receive the Holy Spirit.
Then in Acts 2, that promise is fulfilled:
“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
The Holy Spirit is manifested among the disciples in this mighty and miraculous work. Tongues of fire rest upon them, and they begin proclaiming the mighty works of God in languages they had never learned.
Everyone who heard them could understand in his own native language. This was something that could only be accomplished by the power of God.
We have to understand that Pentecost was originally an Old Testament festival. Because of this festival, many Jews from the diaspora — people scattered throughout the world after the Babylonian captivity — had come back to Jerusalem to be near the temple during the feast.
That is why there were so many different languages represented in Jerusalem on that day.
Acts says:
“Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?’”
This was a great sign of the Holy Spirit’s power among them. God showed that the apostles’ message was true and mighty.
Peter then preached to the crowd that this was not random confusion or drunken babbling. This was the fulfillment of God’s promise through the prophet Joel.
Peter quotes Joel chapter 2:
“And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”
These are the words from Joel chapter 2 that were fulfilled on that Pentecost day and continue to be fulfilled through Christ’s Church on earth until the day when He comes again, because the Holy Spirit is poured out upon each and every one of us through the preaching of the Word.
This is what St. Paul says in Romans 10:17:
“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
We talked about this a couple of weeks ago, but like we say in the Small Catechism in the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to call us to faith. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to enlighten us in the faith, enlighten us in the truth, gather us around the truth, sanctify us, and keep us in that one true faith.
Because we cannot believe by our own reason or strength. It has to be worked within us by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit does not pour Himself out only on a few people or certain kinds of people. The Holy Spirit is poured out through the Word of Christ on all flesh.
That means people of all nations. Men and women. People of different statuses in society. Joel even says:
“Even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.”
God’s salvation is for all. God’s Spirit that brings faith is for all people.
And God’s Spirit is living and active, working within us to keep all of us in the faith until the day comes when Christ returns to bring us home to be with Himself.
This is the result:
“Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Through the Gospel, God Himself is pouring out His Spirit.
We live right now in the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy and Peter’s proclamation on Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is gathering into Christ’s Church people from all nations — sons and daughters, old and young, servants and maidservants. They all receive the Spirit of God.
In the Church today, it may not look exactly like that first Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. We may not possess some of the same miraculous signs that the apostles displayed throughout the book of Acts.
But the Holy Spirit is still working miracles every day.
He brings people to faith. He brings us closer to God. He keeps us in the faith by giving us Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper and by bringing us to Christ in Holy Baptism.
These are the miracles the Holy Spirit continues to work in His Church even today, with the result that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
This is the message of everything Christ has done throughout this Lent and Easter season.
Christ died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. Christ rose from the dead so that we can have life in Him.
All of it is so that you may believe and be saved.
Receive the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus. Receive life everlasting in His name. That is what is promised to you, and that is what is given to you through faith given by the Holy Spirit.
He has made you His own so that on the Day of Judgment you will be called holy and righteous before Him because of His blood shed for you.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit who came down on Pentecost and who continues through His Church to be poured out upon you to give you faith and life.
That is why St. Paul says in Romans chapter 8:
“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
I want to close with this for you to reflect on:
That same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead now dwells in you to enliven your bodies which were dead in sin, and give you the life of faith to believe in Christ.
That same Spirit who was poured out on the apostles at Pentecost is poured out on you in the Church so that you may believe.
That Spirit is living, active, working, and powerful. He is living, active, and working to keep you in the faith until the day comes when Christ returns to bring us home to be with Him forever.
Amen.
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