Once again, it's so good to be
here and be with you. It's an opportunity to hear God's
Word, to sing great hymns of the faith, and to appreciate
what God has done for His sheep. Would you join me this morning
in our study, the continuing study, of the book of Acts? And
we're going to be in Acts chapter 2 this morning. In your bulletin,
there is a piece of paper that has Acts chapter 2 and Joel chapter
2, so that if you wanted to have it open in front of you, it would
be side by side, and we're going to be in both places to some
degree. In the book of Acts chapter 2,
we're going to begin reading with verse 14. Peter, but Peter,
standing up with the eleven, and I have to say right here
that Matthias has been completely accepted by the rest of the disciples
as one of the apostles. So he's going to be one of the
ministers that day or this day. He's going to be one of the preachers.
He's going to be one of those that's going to be declaring
Christ as we find that the apostle Peter brought up an Old Testament
scripture and they took care of that. Peter spoke with a loud
voice, and we find that there's gonna be a whole host of people
here, and it's the day before there's electronics. So there
had to be some loud voices. I've been in a number of churches,
and they said, do you need a microphone? And I said, why? Why should I? It's a responsibility
to speak up. And when you're done, shut up.
All right, Peter standing up with the eleven lifted up his
voice and said unto them, Ye men of Judea and all ye that
dwell in Jerusalem, be this known unto you and hearken to my words.
Now it appears from this passage of scripture that the Apostle
Paul, excuse me, the Apostle Peter has been given this group
of people to speak to this day. Now there's going to be a number
of other peoples that are going to hear the gospel. There are
other nationalities and they're going to hear the gospel in their
own language. But the Holy Spirit has seen
fit, as we find here in this passage of scripture, ye men
of Judea and all ye that dwell in Jerusalem. Now, there's a
whole bunch more people than that. But these seem to be the
ones that the Apostle Peter has been called on by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit has assigned folks of various languages to
speak that language to the people that are hearing that. Now, the
Holy Spirit has So much to do with this very subject. It tells
us, if you keep your finger right there, turn with me to the book
of 1 Corinthians, chapter 12. 1 Corinthians, chapter 12. You know, we find out that the
Holy Spirit is sovereign. I was listening with a preacher
one day, and he said, I believe in the sovereignty of God, but
I don't believe in the sovereignty of Christ. I said, how in the
world can you say that? They are one in all capacities. Well, the Holy Spirit is the
same. And here in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and
there in verse 11, we read these words. But all these worketh
that one and self same spirit, dividing to every man severally,
assigning severally, as he wills, as he will. Now the Holy Spirit
assigned several sovereignly, according to the divine purpose
of almighty God on that day, those languages that we're going
to hear the gospel from these 12 preachers of righteousness
and the group that the apostle Peter has been assigned is those
that he's the most familiar with, those in Jerusalem and those
in Judea. Peter heads off, we notice going
back to the book of Acts chapter two, Peter heads off the notion
here that these people are speaking that are drunk. Notice there
in verse 15, for these are not drunken as ye suppose. Now remember,
he's still doing it with a loud voice. He's doing it with authority. He's speaking because God has
called on him to speak and he's gonna head off this issue right
away. Peter heads off this notion that
he and the other speakers are drunk. He addresses the unreasonableness
of their accusations. It's but the third hour of the
day. It is but the third hour of the
day. We find out through Josephus, he says this, the hour of the
morning sacrifice before which you now, none who have any regard
for character will allow themselves so much as a taste of wine. It was not their custom to have
even the taste of wine before the offering of the morning sacrifice. Now we can say they feel themselves
under some law, that's okay, but the Apostle Peter uses it
to the advantage of God to say this is unreasonable consideration
that these people that are preaching the gospel in other languages
are under the influence of alcohol. they much less to drink any large
quantity of it whereby they would be rendered incapable of attending
the service of the temple and especially at such a time as
the feast of the Pentecost. So this is just an unreasonable
thing and it goes on to tell us And Josephus writes that on
the feast days, the Jews seldom ate or drank anything till noon. So these people know about that.
Those constituents that are out in front of him know about this.
This is an unreasonable accusation that is brought up here. And
we find out that it is still an interesting statement that
they bring up, that they adopted the theory that strong drink
can teach language. Now, I've been around some drunks
and they have another language, but it's not a language that
honors God at all. And to have these whole host
of people come up and say, these guys are drunk and that's why
they're speaking in another language, you know, if that be true, we'd
all be alcoholics. I want to learn Spanish, don't
you? So it's just fallacy. They bring it up. They're going
to throw up all kinds of things here. And that's what people
do that don't know the gospel. They're going to throw up all
kinds of accusations. They're going to criticize personality. They're going to criticize character.
And very seldom do they have the courage to go back to the
Bible and read what has been read to them. They don't have
the courage. It is going to share with them,
you are making a terrible mistake. Well, it doesn't stop there with
that accusation. We find in fact in verse 16,
but this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel. A literal translation from Greek
to English, literal translation, But this is the thing having
been spoken through the prophet Joel. This, what is happening,
has been spoken by the prophet Joel. Chapter two, we'll look
at that in just a moment. Peter's mind has, like over there
early in chapter one, where it was discovered that they needed
someone else to take Judas's place, the Holy Spirit revealed
unto him a passage of scripture in the Old Testament, this man
must be replaced. He must have part of this ministry
with us. And here we find that the Holy
Spirit again brings the Old Testament scriptures to mind. In the book
of Joel, 800 years before this event, Joel is writing by the
Holy Spirit, by the inspiration of God, about this event that
the Apostle Peter is given the grace of God enough to know this
is what's happening right here. We're witnessing this. Peter's
mind is now opened by the Holy Spirit to understand the messianic
prophecy and the fulfillment right before his eyes. And you know what? That's for
us too. I just love reading where we find in the New Testament,
an Old Testament passage of scripture is brought to our mind and the
interpretation or the meaning of that passage of scripture
is given to us. So there's no guesswork in this. I don't have
to go guessing what this means. Now, I may have read the Prophet
Joe and say, I wonder what this is talking about. Well, in our
day and time, we know exactly what it was talking about because
the Apostle Peter is given the information by the Holy Spirit
to bring this to mind. How blessed it is that the Holy
Spirit would lead Peter or lead any preacher or anybody at all
to see the truth of God in the scriptures, the truth of the
gospel in the scriptures. So Peter brings this up, this
is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. Now if you would turn with
me back to the book of Joel, chapter one, and that's the second
book after Daniel. You had your finger in Daniel,
move over two books. The book of Joel, chapter one,
verse one. Now this is an important statement
when we start looking at the prophecy of Joel with regard
to what is taking place on the day of Pentecost. This verse
of scripture shares with us that the word of the Lord came to
Joel. He's not speaking on his own.
He is in that great host of people that are mentioned, that holy
men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. It
was not of some private interpretation, but the Holy Spirit gave them
utterance. Holy Spirit gave them the words
in the original language. So this is the word of the Lord
that came to Joel, the son of Peniel. Now, Have you noticed
there that that word Lord is in capital, so we have Jehovah
speaking here in this verse of scripture. Well, the whole prophecy
of Joel is of the Lord. And if we turn over, if you would,
to the book of Joel chapter 2. Joel chapter 2. In Joel chapter
2, Peter is shown, it is revealed to him by the Holy Ghost of what
Joel wrote in Joel chapter 2 verses 28 through 32. was being fulfilled in front
of his eyes. That the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit and the effects of that outpouring, that these people
were speaking in tongues that they were not commonly speaking
in. And they were not, I went down to Guadalajara, Mexico one
time, and I had two classes up at the college in Spanish. And
you know, I'm gonna use it. I don't know the first thing
about the tenses of the verbs. I'm so thankful that the people
I was talking to were merciful with my butchering their language.
I just, you know, it was amazing. They overlooked that because
they wanted to make a sale. So they overlooked a lot of things.
Well, when we get to this passage of scripture, In the book of
Acts chapter 2, these people, these apostles that are preaching
the gospel, are not stammering about the language. They have
complete control of that language given to them by the Holy Ghost,
and they're able to talk about such things as Christ and Him
crucified. that he is the substitute for
his people. He is the propitiation for our
sins. He is the ambassador of the covenant. He's the servant of the covenant.
He goes all through this. As we look at Peter's preaching
about it, we're going to find the others too. And they're not
stammering and stumbling. The people are not going to say,
I wonder what he meant by that. They understood what they were
saying by that. So here it tells us That Joel,
he's in the midst of that great host of people, 66 writers, 66
books of the Bible, and here he is in the midst, and he is
here speaking by the prophet Joel. And Joel's prophecy was
about 800 years prior to what's happening on that day of Pentecost.
And I don't think that the Apostle Peter had a lot of information
about what that prophecy meant until, I'm sure he read it, how
many times have you read scripture and went over and said, I wonder
what this means? I wonder what this is about? And the Holy Spirit
either reveals it, somebody comes along and preaches on it, and
they say, oh my goodness. I wish I'd have seen that. Well,
thank God now we can see that. He opens up our heart and our
understanding to see those things. So here the Holy Spirit opens
up the Apostle Peter's heart to understand that. And I very
seldom ever do this, but I do want to bring up three different
various explanations about the prophecy of Joel that are mentioned
in the world today. Number one, The Bible sheds a
lot of light on commentaries. I have found that out. I can
read a commentary and I say, how could they ever come to that
conclusion when the Apostle Peter himself said, this is that which
was spoken by the prophet Joel? How could anybody misunderstand
that unless you have a preconceived idea of what you want it to mean? Now if you look at the scriptures
honestly and straightforwardly, they speak honestly and straightforward. I was visiting with a friend
of mine, and he's been talking to a friend of his about the
gospel, and the guy keeps bringing up these, doesn't agree with it. And he
says, what is the problem? These are only two and three
syllable words. It's not the definition of words
that's the problem. It's the heart. The heart is
the problem. And the heart, we find out, the
apostle Paul wrote about, that the natural man receiveth not
the things of God, for they are spiritually discerned. It is
an impossibility to open their mouth and put a funnel in it
and pour in God's word and they come to an understanding about
it. It is impossible to take your hands on their wrists and
twist it up behind their back and cause them to confess anything
about Jesus Christ. They cannot understand it. And the only one that can give
us an understanding is Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit
when he gives us the new birth. And as we heard read this morning,
we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. It took the same power
to convert us, the same power to give us the new birth as it
did to create the heavens and the earth. We are a new creation. And God tells us that once he
does that for us, he will cause us to understand his word. And secondly, we will quit arguing
with it. We will not go to bed and say,
I don't believe it, I don't believe it. I just told my friend I believed
it, but I don't believe it, I don't believe it. We're gonna go to
bed and say, thank you, Lord. I don't understand it, but I
know it's the truth. It is the truth. All right, the
first thing about Joel chapter two, some believe that Joel's
prophecy was not fulfilled in any part on the day of Pentecost.
And I scratched my head. And you know the reason for that
is? They do not believe God. That's the only reason. You could
come to that conclusion. When the Apostle Peter said,
this is that which was given by Joel the prophet. The second
is, others believe that the prophecy of Joel was completely fulfilled.
And we've watched this, we can see it. And I believe it is in
continuously fulfillment as God reveals the truth to people.
There's a continuous fulfillment, but it was fulfilled on that
day. And then there are others that say it's all future. All
future, it's out there in the future. When I was in Bible school
for those five months down in Dallas, Texas, one of the professors
brought this up and he said, Joel looked at like a mountain
range. And he could only see the tops
of the mountain, but he couldn't see down in the valleys. He could
only bring up the tops. He could only present that part.
And you know, that sounds good until you find out where in the
world can you get that from? There is not another passage
of scripture in the Bible that you would ever interpret that
way unless you had a preconceived idea about it. And then you push
that into that. And now I got, okay, we're going
to see a little bit of this here, but we're going to see the rest
of it over here. I think we're going to see that the Apostle
Peter was correct, led by the Holy Spirit to say, this is fulfilled
in our hearing. God's working this great work.
It was completely fulfilled in Christ in the preaching of Christ
and Him crucified. As we go to, let's go back to
the book of Acts chapter Acts chapter two again, if you
would. Acts chapter two, verse 17. And we found out, we looked at
the other day, And you can find out that we've been in the last
days. We've been in it for 2,000 years. That's what the Bible tells us.
This is the last days. John brought up, this is the
last days, and there's going to be an Antichrist. In fact,
there's many Antichrists. So we don't have to discuss that.
That's just what the Bible has to say. And he says, it came
to pass, and Peter says there, Verse 16, but this is that which
was spoken by the prophet Joel, and it shall come to pass in
the last days, saith the Lord. Now, if it's coming to pass on
Pentecost, about 34 AD, and Peter calls it the last days, I'm gonna
leave it at that, because that's what he said about the prophet
Joel. It shall come to pass in the last day, saith God, I will
pour out of my spirit upon all flesh. This would be better translated
upon all mankind. We find out in Revelation chapter
five, would you turn there with me? We'll be right back here,
but turn with me to Revelation chapter 5, and we find here the
group of people that God has purpose to save. He shall pour
out his spirit upon all mankind. Now it would be very easy just
to stay there in the book of Acts and find out how many different
nationalities that he's going to have hear the gospel that
day, and how many out of those nationalities are going to be
saved that day, 3,000. But turn with me to the book
of Acts, Revelation chapter five, verse nine, it says, and they
sung a new song, saying, thou art worthy to take the book,
now this is to the Lord, to open the seals thereof, for thou was
slain and hast redeemed us, past tense, to God by thy blood. Now notice the group. Out of every kindred. Now he didn't say he's gonna
save every kindred, but out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation. and has made us into our God,
kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. So out of
these four different descriptive words, we find that the Lord
is gonna call out his church, gonna call out his lost sheep,
he's gonna bring them out of that, and that's who the Holy
Spirit falls on. That's who the Holy Spirit deals
with upon all mankind, not without exception of numbers, but because
they are in and among different groups of people. Redeemed us
out of that, and out of pouring of, without regard to, well,
let's go back here to the book of Acts. He tells us in this
verse 17, that he's gonna pour out his spirit and it doesn't
gonna have anything to do with your age. It tells us there in verse 17,
I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and daughters
shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your
own men shall dream dreams. Now, what does that mean? Well,
the sons and daughters without distinction of sex, old men and
young men without reference to age, and servants and handmaids,
which in the next verse, and on my servants and my handmaids,
and if you look that up in the original, that's male slaves
and female slaves, literally or figuratively. On my handmaids, I'll pour out
in those days my spirit and they shall prophesy." What do we find
here? It doesn't matter whether you're
old or young. It doesn't matter whether you're
bond or free. And that's what we find in the
book of Galatians chapter three and verse 28. Let's go over there
and read that passage of scripture. And while you're over there,
we're going to go to the book of Colossians. In the book of
Galatians chapter three, verse 28, The Apostle Paul is used
to sum up so much about the gospel and who it applies to, and he
tells us in this passage of scripture, there is neither Jew nor Greek. That's what the Bible says. There
is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female. For ye are all one in Christ
Jesus. It doesn't matter. The most liberating,
most freedom place there is, is in the church of the living
God. There is absolutely and total
equality there. It is not legislated by some
legislature. It is legislated by God Almighty. I don't look at people as old
or young. I don't look at people as male
or female. And I don't look at people as bond or free. I save
my people from their sins. In the book of Colossians, would
you look there with me for just a moment? The book of Colossians
chapter 3 and verse 11, we read these words, where there is neither,
now it's turned around, Greek or Jew. In Galatians, it was
Jew or Greek. Circumcision or uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian. We got all kinds of groups mentioned
here. And then he says, bond nor free,
but Christ is all and in all. So it's the same Christ to everybody
that he ever saves with the same proportion, all in all. He gives all of his saints all
of Christ. He doesn't withhold one bit of
the greatness of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to anybody.
And he doesn't say, I'm going to give you half and see how
you do. I'll give it all because I know how you will do. I'm leading
you. I'm carrying you. You will finish
the course with success because I am the savior. If you have your paper out, go
with me back to the book of Joel chapter two. Verse 30. And I will show wonders in the
heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into
darkness, the moon into blood before the great and terrible
day of the Lord come. And then the last verse of this
prophecy, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be delivered, for in Mount Zion
and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, and in
the remnant whom the Lord shall call. So we have the remnant
mentioned here. We have what God is going to
do, give people the ability to believe. Now turn with me, if
you would, back to the book of Acts. And there in verses 19,
it says this. Acts chapter 2, verse 19. And I will show wonders in heaven
above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor
of smoke And the sun shall be turned into darkness and the
moon into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord.
And it shall come to pass, whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Now we're gonna find out as we've
traveled down through this, ye men of Israel, verse 22. Ye men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you, now notice what it says, by miracles and
wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you as
ye yourselves also know, Now, the prophet Joel said there's
gonna be wonders and signs, and here we find the Lord Jesus Christ
was demonstrated as the Son of God, the Anointed One, by being
approved of God and doing wonders and signs and miracles. No, no
one else could do what Jesus Christ did. There's no one else
like Jesus Christ. There's nothing to compare him
to. He is one of a kind. And he has performed all of the
tasks of the covenant to 110%, if you please, and has left nothing
undone. He has done it all. If we looked
at Isaiah chapter 53, as many want to look at the book of Joel
chapter 2 and the prophecy that is given here and look at it
from a literal standpoint, can you imagine what it would be
for us to come to a conclusion when it says that he came as
a root out of dry ground? If we interpreted that literally,
we would have a mess on our hands. But we know what it means. It's
talking about him spiritually. He's a root out of dry ground.
There's no form or commonness about him. He was not born and
raised up in the palace. He was born and laid in a manger. He was of no reputation. He was
hated by the people. He's Almighty God. He can calm
a storm. He can bring peace to a heart.
He can heal a leper. He can open the blind eyes. He
can open the deaf ears. He can cause somebody to speak,
and yet he hungers and thirsts, and he does all that we know
about having this frailty of the flesh. but he still is God,
he is a root out of dry ground, and he is the savior that saves
his people from their sins. We hear Peter beginning in the
same place and preaching Christ Jesus to these folks. And he
uses that text in the book of Joel chapter two as a stepping
stone to tell these people about someone who came to take care
of all of that prophecy. We have the Holy Spirit poured
out on those disciples, but you know what? God has reserved that
everyone he ever saves will also be given the Holy Spirit of promise
and it will be sealed. We will be sealed by the Holy
Spirit of promise. We have the down payment already
made with the assurance that it will be carried out to the
end and everyone that God ever saved shall be presented spotless. He never has required anybody. After he saved them, he's never
required anybody to pay for their sins. Now, if that's required,
he never paid for them. And since he paid for them, that's
not required. Now, he does ask us, Lord, forgive
me. But you know, when we go to the
Lord with that kind of language, we have been given the information
that he has already taken care of it. It's taken care of at
the cross. We're not begging for it to be
taken care of, just reveal more about that being taken care of.
When we ask Lord, I have sinned. Oh, John said there in 1 John,
my little children, I would that you sin not. But when we sin,
we have an advocate. It would be absolutely wonderful
if today was the last day we ever committed a sin. One preacher said we should wake
up every morning and say, Lord, help me from sinning today. But
we do. It's our nature. We have this
old flesh that we're going to carry along until the Lord takes
us out of this world. But when we sin, we have an advocate. Nobody can lay a charge against
one of God's elect. Who is it? Who is it that protects
God's people? It's God. He's put a hedge about
them. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Not one sin can be nailed at
their door because it is God that justifies. He's made his
people whole. They are going to be presented
spotless. They are not going to have any charge held against
them at that great day when they stand before the Lord. They spoke
another language. They were not stumbling and stammering
and carrying on and trying to figure things out. But the great
extraordinary gifts were not wasted on self-promotion. Have you ever seen that on TV?
Oh, I've got a gift and I'm so proud of it. Let me tell you
about it. The gifts that God gives to his
people is not for self-promotion. The gifts that God gives to his
people, they're not for self-edifying. The gifts that God gives to his
people are not for self-praise. We should be as the Holy Spirit
was shared by the Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples. When
he is come, he will testify of me. And when we get to that spot
that we're doing all of that, we have forgotten that we are
the chiefest of sinners. And maybe we never knew it. If
we've never known it, then we will probably self-grandize ourselves
about what we know. So these preachers here on this
day are not praising themselves, they're praising God. They're
not looking for themselves from some glory, they're just fishermen. You know, it tells us early on
in this chapter two that they were Galileans. And you know,
if you look that up, that was not a very good thing to say
about somebody. Galileans. They were from Galilee. That's, oh, you know, that's
on the other side of the tracks, folks. Well, God saved them and
brought them to Christ. In 22, Acts chapter 2 and verse
22, you men of Israel, hear these words. A man, Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs
which God did by him in the midst of you, as you also know him
being delivered by the determinate counsel." You know, there's a
number of deliverances here when it came to Christ being delivered. Did you, you read their word.
How much would you pay me if I delivered him to you? And they agreed on 30 pieces
of silver. Judas delivered him. They came after him one evening
and they said, Jesus said, Jesus of Nazareth said, whom do you
seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, I am. And they're all in the dust. He's demonstrating, you're not
taking me, I'm giving myself. So they all stood up again and
they said, whom seeking? He said, Jesus of Nazareth, I
am. And then it says they bound his
hands and delivered him to Pilate. Pilate's involved. He delivered
him to the cross, to crucifixion. And in all of it, He was delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God in the covenant
of grace to do exactly what was required and that is he must
be crucified. He must go to the cross. He must
pay the debt for the sins of his people. And so he was delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. He have
taken by wicked hands and have crucified and slain. What do we say? As the Apostle
Paul once said, we preach Christ and Him crucified. He got to
the subject matter quite quickly after bringing up that Old Testament
prophecy of Joel, chapter 2, and sharing with the people,
this is that which was prophesied by Joel. There are 800 years
before today he prophesied this, And here it is fulfilled in your
ears, and he said, and the subject, the finality of this is Christ
and him crucified. That's the only thing that will
deliver him. Not the law, not circumcision, not a sinner's
purgatory. prayer, not memorizing some things
about God. Oh, yeah, I believe God. He sent
his son and his son died for me. Do you agree with that? Yeah,
I agree with that because I don't want to go to hell. Memorizing
or attesting to some Bible facts is not salvation. Salvation comes from God. You
know, we'll have a confession then. Thou art the Christ, the
son of the living God. Flesh and blood hath not revealed
this unto you, but my Father, which is in heaven. So things
will be changed. Let's read verse 36 of this chapter
and we'll stop and we'll come back to this next time. Therefore,
let all the house of Israel know assuredly. You know, I can just
hear over here, we got another apostle. he's preaching in another
language and he's saying almost the identical things because
they all had the same message. They're saying in this language, therefore let all the house of
the Scythians know, therefore let all the house of this tribe
know, and all the house of that tribe know, that God hath made
that same Jesus, whom ye crucified, both sovereign and is the Messiah,
both Lord and Christ. He is the promised Messiah. He is the fulfillment of the
Old Testament. He is the fulfillment of the
words of the prophets. He is the Messiah that was promised
to come, and he is also the sovereign Lord of all. God hath made him the same Jesus
whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Nathan, if you'll
come.