Okay, now we're good to go, I
guess. We're in Acts chapter 2 once
again, and we've had several lessons over the course of several
months in Acts chapter 2, and there's all familiar with the
book of Acts and how things are, and it's titled The Acts of the
Apostles. Indeed, it's a wonderful book
about God's people preaching God's Word, and as always in
all of the scriptures, the reactions that from the two groups of types
of people around the world, those that are gods that eventually
in his time will give a new life and that the preaching of the
gospel is to them a joyous thing and a wonderful thing, and to
others that, as we'll see today, are mocking or worse about the
preaching of the word. And this part of it, we're going
to be in Acts, and we're going to read parts of chapter 2, verses
14-36. And I've kind of titled this,
The View at Pentecost. And remember that it started
out in chapter 2 that there were those that were gathered together
and the Spirit came on those men that were, the eleven that
were there, and they spoke in various languages as the Spirit
gave them utterance to people there. And they were hearing
and amazed, the one group that was amazed, they were hearing
the wonderful works of God in their own language. not just
a noise to them. And there were those who were
mocking, as we'll see, and said, these guys are drunk. And that's,
I mean, that's the reaction that the natural man has to the preaching
of the Word, is it's confusing, or it just makes no sense. And they might as well have been
speaking in a language they didn't understand, because in a spiritual
sense they did not. But we're going to We're going
to look at this. It takes place after they just heard the wonderful
works of God, as it says. And I'd like to read starting in verse 11 in just
a couple of words, and it's after a list of all the languages that
they were speaking in, of chapter 2, verse 11. It says, Cretes and Arabians,
we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of
God. And they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one
to another, What meaneth this? Others, mocking, said, These
men are full of new wine." There were those that were amazed. This is not the normal gathering
that we would have of these people, and we hear their wonderful works.
And others, mocking, said, In Luke, where Mike has been, the
two groups are shown out. The ones that, on the one hand,
their reaction and what they are like. Christ spoke to that,
and then he says, but you, speaking to the sheep, there's a difference
here. They're not the same. And their
reaction outwardly is as we see here. others mocking, and that's kind
of a concise view of what we'll see on in the book of Acts and
other places. They do a lot more than just
mock. They're in the reaction from everything from this type
of thing to stoning Stephen and the reaction that natural man
has to the preaching of the word and what it does. And verse 14, says, But Peter, standing up
with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye
men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known
unto you, and hearken to my words. For these are not drunken, as
ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But
this is that which is spoken of by the prophet Joel, and we're
going to look at that, and we're headed towards Peter's sermon,
but there's a, I told Mike, there's probably a half an hour parenthesis
here that we're going to have between that. But Peter, and standing up in
that, and his sermon will begin, but note that in 12 and 13, as
we said, verses 12 and 13 here, two very different effects and
results upon the minds of these two groups of people. When the
Gospels proclaimed it is even and ever the same, one group
of men were struck amazed at having and hearing the wonderful
works of God in their midst, in their own language. Both groups
heard the same physical words, and yet one praised God and the
others mocked the word spoken. the great working of God to enable
men to speak in any language and many languages, fluently
of our God turned to scorn in them." And this, in this particular instance,
that's not the only instance of this. And also, as we know,
that, That's always been the case when
the Word of God's been declared, that that's the two reactions
to it. And the same divided results
happen. It just is. There's no middle
ground, I guess, as it were, in a sense, because if it's not
God's Word, and as we hear it, if you're neutral, you're not
for it, if you're neutral. There's no, I'm equally down
the middle. And the same thing, the preaching
brings the message to those who rejoice and praise God, and to
those who doubt, mock, or scorn. The only difference between the
joyous and the mockers here at Pentecost is the grace of the
Almighty to His own. And God's people, until He opens
their eyes, and as we'll see later, God's working in His people,
they have the same reaction. Look at Paul had. He not only
scorned about it, but he was in the bad camp as far as the
believers of that day were involved in thought. And Paul said he
was doing God quite the service to take care of these these Christian
heretics, you know. And so we know that there's no
difference outwardly, and even in our mind, no difference outwardly
until God reveals himself to his people. That's all that can
affect a change in men is the sheep of God may score in the
gospel, and they will for many years maybe, like the thief on
the cross, until right at the last moments. But the day will come
to the sheep, all of them when the Spirit will cause them to
hear, as those said, the wonderful works of God in the gospel. And before we get to Peter's message, we're going to look
at a few passages that speak to these things. in Peter's sermon, he says these
things, and it's pretty neat. The rest of the chapter is pretty
neat. He goes in and talks about what
Joel said, and he's going to say, this isn't this, but this
is the coming about what Joel said would take place. And we'll
get to that part. But first, I'd like to look at
Acts 7. We're going to read just a, look
at a couple of passages that speak to these things that they
were seeing there, those that saw the wonderful works of God
and were really amazed about it, and those that just mocked
and meant nothing to them. In Acts 7, down towards the end
of the chapter, starting with verse 51, And these were here that Stephen was speaking to, and
this is definitely, he got a reaction. It says in verse 51, you stiff-necked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the
Holy Ghost as your father did, so do ye. Which of the prophets
have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which
showed before of the coming of the just one, of whom ye have
been now the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by
dispossession of angels, and have not kept it. When they heard
these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on
Him with their teeth. But He, being full of the Holy
Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, saw the glory of
God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said,
Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on
the right hand of God." And so this, reaction they had, and
as he says to them here, he's stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in hearts and ears. You do always resist the Holy
Ghost. And it said the prophets that
showed before of the coming of the just one that they have now
betrayed and murders. They did not want to hear those
things because Stephen's message is a pretty good message and
it goes in the history of all the past many years and things,
and what God had done, and how many of Israel-their reaction
to that, no different than what it's coming down to here. As
he says, you guys killed the prophets, and they were telling
you of the Holy One that was coming. the only hope that we
have, and that's your reaction to it. And
as you said, the natural man, that's about the best you can
come up with. In 1 Corinthians, turn over to 1 Corinthians in
the first chapter. And we spent some time ago now
in 1 Corinthians and 1 chapter, speaking of the many wonderful
promises and things that the gospel speaks to God's people. But in 1 Corinthians 1, starting
with verse 18, It says, For the preaching of
the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which
are saved it's the power of God. For it's written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require
a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ
crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God stronger than men. For
you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world,
and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh
should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, He that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord." And indeed here, saying the same
thing, that not foolish preaching, but foolishness to natural man
is what preaching is. And by that, but God's people
see that, the gospel, and Christ has the power of God, power of
salvation to His people. It's not, the cross is not foolishness
to God's people, it is foolishness to those, it says, that perish.
But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God." And
those wonderful works of God those people were hearing in
their own tongues, I dare say weren't feeding the 5,000 of
those type of things. They weren't physical wonders
that we're seeing, but it was the gospel that there is There
is redemption, sanctification, wisdom, and redemption in the
Lord for His people. And that was good news to those
that recognized it as good news, and there were others that it
was foolishness to them. And at best, it says, a stumbling
block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. In Romans 1, And these are all things that
God's people have been down that same road. They've been from
whether it was scorning or whatever terms we want to look at, what
the gospel meant to us before the Lord gave us a heart of flesh,
it was the same type of thing. We may not have been the worst
people outwardly, as far as persecuting people or killing them or that
type of thing, but the reaction to the Word and the disregard
for that was no different. By God's grace, we did not and
have not maybe done as bad of things as we could have. But
the same, the result's the same. Without God's power working in
us, we have the same thoughts of it. In 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians. My fingers will work. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. It says. Sorry, the verse 1,
it says, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus unto the church of
the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God
always for you all, make a mention of you in our prayers, remembering
without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. in the sight of God and our Father,
knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. For our gospel
came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men
we were among you for your sake. and ye become followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with
joy of the Holy Ghost, so that ye were in samples to all that
believe in Macedonia and Achaia." For from you sounded out the
word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also
in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad, so
that we need not speak to anything. For they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned
to God from idols to serve the living and true God. And to wait
for his Son from heaven, whom he hath raised from the dead,
even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." And
as he's saying here that preaching, the Word came to those people
with power, and there was a change in those people. And they indeed,
where the gospel came in the Holy Ghost, it says, in much
assurance of the honest preaching of the Word to them. And then
down here in verse 9 and 10, this is common to all of God's
people. This is the same This is the
same result, and same results, and same things that show forth
for all of God's people. It says, For they themselves
show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye
turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and
to wait for His Son from heaven, whom ye raised from the dead,
even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. And that's
the result of it. It's not a turning from one religion
to another in a mental assent to these things. These are people
that just heard this and thought that that sounded like a good
deal. As it said before, this was the doing of the Holy Spirit
that caused this. There are many men, I'm sure,
that turn from one type of religion to another and think now they've
found the good deal, and they they go along with those things.
Many of us sat in church maybe, and maybe in the right and good
churches for some time maybe before the word was used in us
by the Spirit and then anything. And yet we agreed to it, but
that's not the same thing as it says here, waiting from Him
from heaven, especially with the assurance of the Spirit. It's not just another good thing
we do and makes us feel right and makes us feel good, but it's
the doing of the Spirit that makes the difference. And without
that, we may be good people sitting in a good place, but that's not
the same as God delivering us and turning from God to serve
the turning to God, serving the true and living God from idols,
whatever those idols may be. And that's one of the true differences. The Spirit of God indwelling
is all the difference. Those of God who are in the eternal
everlasting covenant will be born of the Spirit at God's time
and bidding. Maybe, like the thief on the
cross, it may be down a long road and at the very end, or
it may be forever along the way, but God's sheep and God's people
that are in the everlasting covenant will be born of the Spirit. They must be, they have to be,
or God is not who He says He is. And He says, they are mine,
they're going to be mine, and they're going to be taken care
of. In Ezekiel, We like Ezekiel. We like a lot of places, but
Ezekiel has... if you look in Ezekiel, several
places, and underline just the words, I will, that God is speaking
about with you. There's a whole lot of them,
that God will do, God does to His people and in His people.
And in Ezekiel 36, start with verse 24, and that's
not where this starts of God working in His people, but this
is where we're going to read today. Verse 24 and on a bit,
it says, For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather
you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.
Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean
from all your filthiness, and from all your idols. I will cleanse
you, a new heart also will I give you, And a new spirit will I
put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit
within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you
shall keep My judgments and do them." And that portion right
there is common to God's people, all of God's people. It must
happen. This is speaking also in a national sense to some of
those at this time. But all of those, we know all
of those that He brought in and brought finally to the Promised
Land how many died off in the wilderness because of unbelief. Many of them, many of them. And
also the ones that he was speaking to in a physical, purely physical
sense of doing what he said he'd do physically. all the people
that maybe gained from some of that, all their hearts weren't
changed. A lot of them came in. And as Paul says, all of Israel
is not Israel. National Israel is made up of
sheep and goats. And they may all go by the same
name, but it was ever that way. It is now, and it was in this
day. And, but these promises here in the spiritual promises
are what God does in His people, and that is the fact of the matter. If He does not, if God does not
do these things, and it says, I will, the Lord God saith this,
it says, if He does not do this, it's not going to get done. can't
take out the heart of stone and put in the heart of flesh, and
how many people wish we could do that, man can't do it. You can honestly bring what the
Scripture says and teach and preach that and read what the
Scripture says and That's where we have to leave it. We have
to leave it and commend it to God to do His work. And like
I said, in His sheep, the day will come. The day will come
in His sheep. And the time that at God's timing
and His bidding, then as Lazarus, when God calls His people, that's
a wonderful picture of calling all of His people from the spiritual
dead into spiritual life is at Lazarus. And he wasn't mostly
dead. He wasn't just resting. He was
dead, dead. And the Lord called him forth,
and he came forth. And that tremendous physical
miracle done there. But as Norm and others have said
and we've seen, that's just a shadow of the reality of the miracle
of spiritual life given to people. And the miracle that it takes,
the power that it takes to change the nature of who God's people
are into parts of flesh and not parts of stone. that's ever the case of the preaching
and bringing forth of the gospel is we can, as it says, you read
it, and you make the sense of it, and you explain the meaning
or the reading of the words, but that's as deep as we can
go, and we can relate to what Scripture says about Scripture,
and God has to be the one that does the work. We can't do that work. That's what God's working is
by His Spirit is doing that. Now to verse 14 in Acts 2. Let me go the right way. We're not going to read all this,
but I'm going to read parts of this that says here, the beginning
of Peter's sermon, the day of Pentecost, verse 14 of Acts 2,
it says, But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up
his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that
dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words.
For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but
the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken
by the prophet Joel." And here where it says, these are not
drunken, as you suppose, being it's the third hour of the day,
that would have been nine o'clock in the morning, at that time,
that was the time of the prayer and in the morning there. And at that time, it wasn't lawful
for them to eat or drink things until that was accomplished.
So in a religious sense, these guys couldn't have been drunk
because it was not It was at 9 o'clock in the morning,
but it was not something that they would have been, as Jews,
been doing at that time. It points again to how those
men that said that perceived what was being said. They, I'm
sure, heard in their language words just like the rest of them
did. I don't think they heard gibberish, but in a spiritual
sense, it made no sense to them. The preaching of the gospel,
just because it's in your language, that in itself doesn't get any
farther than the ears. there's people that I know that
I equate myself with that the gospel is, you know, they might
as well say you're drunk, you know, if you mention anything
like that. They don't only not want to hear it, it makes no
sense to them. And naturally speaking, they
can understand the words of it. They might have a philosophical,
yeah, that's good for you to do, or that's good, makes good
people and stuff. But other than that, they have
no sense of it. And it's an honest, I guess,
assessment of what they were hearing by how they understood. They knew they weren't drunk
in that sense, because like I said, they were speaking in those languages,
that they all understood the words of it. That's as far as they-it meant
nothing, and they were as good as drunk. And he says, this that
they saw, the Spirit working in those men and speaking in
those languages that they understood, it said, this is what was spoken
of by the prophet Joel. And so the prophet Joel Joel brings the Word of God to
the people with lamenting the condition of things. A lot of
the prophets, they lamented the condition of things. And Joel
laments the condition of a lot of things, in the natural sense
that they had going on there. Calling to repentance and turning
to the Lord. He tells of coming day of the
Lord. Therefore also now saith the
Lord, turn ye even unto me with all your heart, and with fasting,
and with weeping, and with mourning, and rend your heart, and not
your garments. God will deliver all his own."
That's what Joel was saying. We're going to look at a part
of that in specific. is it says, with all your heart,
turn unto you, with all your heart, and rend your heart and
not your garments. That was what was needed. Running
the garments didn't, in that sense, meant nothing and didn't
do anything. But in Joel, just before Amos, isn't it? Joel. Turn to the book of Joel, chapter
two. And Joel starts off with saying
all things are in ruin. Things are not in good shape.
And in chapter 2, starting with verse 28, just a part of this,
That was verse 13 up there where he says, verse 13 of chapter
2, I'm going to read that. It says, And rend your heart,
and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God. For He
is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness,
and repenteth Him of the evil. Who knoweth if He will return
and repent and leave a blessing behind Him, even a meat offering
and a drink offering unto the Lord? But in chapter 2, verse
28, a piece I'd like to read, it says, And it shall come to
pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old
men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.
and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids. In those
days will I pour out My Spirit, and I will show wonders in the
heavens and the earth, blood and fire, and pillars of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood
before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. And it
shall come to pass that whosoever shall call in the name of the
Lord shall be delivered. For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant
of whom the Lord shall call." And a couple of some key things
in here that are said through here that things that, these
things would happen, by the pouring out of my Spirit," it says. My
Spirit poured out on these things. And then it says down here in
the end, and not to minimize the rest of the words here, but
it says that, 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 hath
said, and in the remnant of whom the Lord shall call." In the
key there, the remnant, who the Lord shall call. And those... that shall call on the name of
the Lord is by the doing of His Spirit, that recognizes that
there's anything to call on the Lord for. And the gospel is only
wonderful to those that have an issue, that have a problem,
that see what their righteousness is compared to that robe of righteousness
that God places on His people. And the Spirit's the only thing
that can open the eyes to those things. Otherwise, we're doing
pretty good if I don't steal from the neighbor and those type
of things. Otherwise, I don't look too bad. I'm pretty clean. And he told
them, You clean the outside of the
plate, but the inside of it looks pretty nasty. And the tombs,
they're all white and clean and looking like that. But he said,
look what's in them, dead men's bones. And boy, that was a direct
picture of them, not just how they were doing housekeeping
in the cemetery. They look good and full of dead inside. In religion, that's all that
we can boast on is dead inside and maybe look pretty good outside. But those things are there, and
these come to pass, that the remnant is going to be called.
But Peter says, this is what Joel's talking about. Spirit
of God caused this to take place. The Spirit of God is that which
made that those things that were being said to some the wonderful
works of God. There's hope. He's got-there's
grace and mercy with the Lord, and that is only by God's Spirit, and God's Holy
Spirit working. And they indeed were seeing that
in the midst of them. And it says there that the Holy
Ghost sat on them as it were tongues of fire. And I think
that was probably, in a physical sense, there was a sign of showing
that to those that may not have had any other Understanding those
that saw the wonderful works of God understood that what was
going on by His Spirit opened their eyes, and the others, it
just was noise and drunk guys making no sense, making no sense
at all. Man's reaction to the gospel
does not alter the truth or working of God's Holy Spirit in the heart
of his own. Natural man can only react as
his nature allows, until and but God. That's all. And down through here in in Acts chapter 2. Go back to
Acts chapter 2 for just a couple of minutes. And then, verse 20, down to 17 through 21, or that section that
we read in Joel. And then in verse 22 of Acts
2, it says, "...Ye men of Israel, hear these words, 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 ye yourself also know,
Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because
it was not possible that he should be holden of it. For David speaketh
concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for
he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore
did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also
did my flesh rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, and Thou shalt
make me full of joy with Thy countenance." Men and brethren,
let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David. that
he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto
this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn
with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according
to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne,
he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that
his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and
hear. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit
thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom
ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." And the summing
up of the gospel there to them after the things, but that's
what he talks and says what David had to say, and what Joel just
said. This is what was being talked about, that he was speaking
about this beforehand, and what David was speaking beforehand
of the Lord Himself, and that He has now made that same Jesus, whom you
have crucified, both Lord and Christ. and could have said,
and if this be true, you guys are not in a very good spot.
And then we know what happened, that they didn't like what was being
said a whole lot, but it said that Verse 37, and we're going
to close with this particular verse, Now, when they heard this,
they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, and to the
rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? And
he said, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost. And he goes on and speaks, and
we're going to look at that next week some. But here, the title
here of the view at Pentecost, what men saw at Pentecost from
both hands, as it were, and the blessed thing to God's people
is that We didn't all left in that same spot with mocking.
We may have been in that spot until God changed us and revealed
himself to us. But the blessed thing is God
has a remnant and he is about the business through the gospel
of delivering his people. And that's the good news to His
people. It means nothing to those until
God reveals that to them, but thank God He does have a people
and He does reveal Himself to us. And that was a pretty neat
spot there in Acts about the speaking to the people and those
that saw it as a wonderful thing. And thank you for being with
us this morning. And as Mike says, be free. I pushed the stop button. Does
that mean it stopped? Probably.