May it please God to bless us
together as we have assembled for worship. May he bless his
words as we meditate upon it this morning. Let us turn to
Psalm 118 and we'll read verse 24. Psalm 118 and reading verse
24. This is the day which the Lord
hath made we will rejoice and be glad in
it. There are in the Word of God
many we might term special days, days which stand out that the
Lord hath made, days which bring rejoicing and gladness into the
hearts of those who were involved in those situations and also
into our hearts today. Well, one of those days surely
is the day of Pentecost. It's a good and wonderful blessing
that we're able to remember it. It is a wonderful day and it
is a blessed day. We think, do we not, very often
of the the day of the resurrection, and we think what a wonderful
day it was, and of course it was. It was a glorious day. But,
my friends, the day of Pentecost was also a wonderful day. Now, this day didn't, of course,
occur by chance. It wasn't some random day. It
was a special day ordained by Almighty God, and it had a very
definite reference to the Old Testament. We know that the Saviour's
death upon the cross had a very clear reference to the Passover,
and what a wonderful truth that is. Now, the Day of Pentecost
was to follow that time of the Passover, the time that Christ
indeed died upon the cross at Calvary. It's perhaps well worth
me just reading to you some of the facts that relate to Pentecost
because it would give us a better understanding and it would show
us something of the wonder of God's work. The day of Pentecost,
the word Pentecost is a Greek word signifying the 50th part
of a thing or the 50th in order. Among the Jews, It was applied
to one of their three great feasts, which began on the 50th day after
the Passover. This feast was reckoned from
the 16th day of the month, Abed, or April, or the second day of
the Passover. The Paschal Lamb, you remember
the Paschal Lamb, the Passover was slain on the 14th of the
month at evening, And you can read in Leviticus 23 verse 5,
on the 15th day of the month was a holy convocation, the next
day. The proper beginning of the feast
on the 16th day was the offering of the first fruits of the harvest. And from that day they were to
reckon seven weeks, that is 49 days, to the feast called the
Feast of Pentecost, so that it occurred 50 days after the first
day of the Feast of the Passover. This feast was also called the
Feast of Weeks, from the circumstances that it followed in succession
of weeks. And you can read of that in Exodus
34, 22, Numbers 28, 26, and Deuteronomy 16, 10. It was also a harvest
festival and was accordingly called the Feast of Harvest. And it was for this reason that
two loaves were made of new meal offered on this occasion as the
first fruits. And so this day of Pentecost
was 50 days from the Passover. Remember, it was the second of
those three great festivals in the Jewish church when all the
males of Israel were enjoined to appear before the Lord. You
see, it was a very solemn occasion. This was the feast which was
to be observed before the people began their harvest, it being
unlawful to enter upon their harvest until this feast to the
Lord had been observed. This was the sacred day which
God the Holy Ghost was pleased to appoint for the more open
manifestation of himself to the Church. And as God the Son in
our nature made the voluntary offer of himself in sacrifice
at the Jewish Passover, the first great feast among his people,
being our Passover, and the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. So God the Holy Ghost consecrated
this second feast to the gracious purpose of assuming in a more
open manner his almighty ministry in his church by coming down
in a visible manifestation on his apostles. And from that hour
to the present, and through all ages of the Church, to the consummation
of all things, the Lord the Spirit carries on all the efficiency
of grace in the hearts of the people until grace is finished
in glory. In this ever-memorable and blessed
day, the Apostles And it is possible the 70 or so who were sent out,
or possibly the whole 120 that were spoken of in Acts 115, formed
the complete assembly, were all with one accord, met together,
waiting in expectation, the sure promise of Jesus. And we can
read that, we will in a minute, in Acts 1.5. And here was, they
were here to contemplate the sacred hour and the holy solemnity
of such a congregation. Oh that the Lord would cause
the review of such a season and such an assembly to operate upon
the minds of the Lord's people that wherever two or three are
met together in the Lord's name they might wait in humble frame
of sure expectation of the Lord's presence. Well, what a blessing,
my friends, if you and I were found waiting today like that. You know, these apostles and
those with them, they'd been waiting. The Lord had told them,
when he was ascending into glory, to wait in Jerusalem until they
were being endued with power from on high. They weren't to
know how long that was to be. In actual fact it was 10 days.
Because Christ ascended from the earth 40 days after he was
crucified. And so after 40 days he was taken
into heaven and he left with them this instruction to tarry
in Jerusalem until they were empowered with that blessing
of the Holy Spirit. Now they weren't to know, were
they, what that was. And yet there was the promise
of God. And we can see they were expecting it. And in the Acts
of the Apostles, in the first chapter, we read, For John truly
baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost
not many days hence. Well, it was going to be ten
days. When they therefore were come together, they asked of
him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the
kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is
not for you to know, the times or the seasons when the Father
hath put in his own power, but ye shall receive power after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses
unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in all Samaria,
and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. And so we have
before us then this great and glorious account of this day
of Pentecost. And we read, and when the day
of Pentecost was fully come, It was now in being. It had now
come about. And we read they were all with
one accord in one place, waiting for the promise to be fulfilled,
waiting for the blessing of this Holy Spirit to come upon them,
something they hadn't experienced before. Their faith was in exercise,
no doubt. The last words that Jesus spoke
and therefore they were very important to them, very relevant
to them, and no doubt they were resting upon them. What a good
thing if you and I today are resting upon the Word of God,
the truth of God's Word. We don't count it as something
of no value, of no significance. We may not always understand
it, we may not always know when it will be accomplished. but
nonetheless to be found like these apostles were, they were
waiting upon the Lord, waiting for the promise to be fulfilled.
And so we are called upon today in our lives to wait upon the
Lord, to wait for his promises to be fulfilled. And there was
this sudden, sudden outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them.
And so we read, and suddenly, There came a sound from heaven
as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where
they were sitting. And there appeared unto them
chosen tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." What an amazing
scene that must have been. They were all filled with the
Spirit of God. and that Spirit of God was revealed
to them as cloven tongues like as fire. And it had such an effect
that they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave
them utterance. And so here were these apostles
then greatly blessed in this way, the Holy Spirit having come
upon them. And then we read, and there were
dwelling in Jerusalem Jews devout men out of every nation under
heaven. Now when this was noised abroad,
the multitude came together. And we have a big list in this
chapter of all those places where these Jews had come from. And
if you look on a map, you will find that it is a wide area. It's really a complete circle
of a very large area. as far as Rome on the one side,
yet right across, it wasn't just a local area. These people had
come from far and wide. Do we not see the wonderful ordaining
of Almighty God, causing these people to come from all that
wide area, so that they would observe this wonderful and gracious
outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God, and they would then be
able to take this great message far and wide. You see, they were
told They were witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea
and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Well, here
was a good commencement. These people were spread far
and wide and they were able to spread out and take the good
news of the gospel to many, many people. Now of course, As always,
there was those who doubted the work of the Spirit of God. My
friends, still today, we will find those who doubt the work
of the Spirit of God. But my friends, bless God, that
work still does go on. And we read, and they were all
amazed. It is amazing to see God's work,
to see His Spirit appearing. It is an amazing work. It is
a great work. It is a glorious work to observe. And it's wonderful if you and
I can have observed God's work in our hearts, in other people's
hearts, to the honour and glory of God. And they were amazed. And they said, what meaneth this? What does it mean? Well, they
weren't really aware at that time what it meant. And there
may be situations in our lives when there may be blessings and
we may not understand what it means. The Lord will reveal the
meaning to us. He will reveal the truth of God
to us. So we may be able to then rejoice. Well, here was this case, others
mocked, saying, these men have new wine. full of new wine. Well, Peter responded. Peter
stood up. We're thankful, are we not, for
the Apostle Peter. We saw, we've seen how he was
left himself and became weak and under the temptation, denying
his Lord and Master those three times. But we see from that time,
you see, he was, as it were, greatly blessed and enabled,
therefore, to stand up and speak with the realisation that he
wasn't the greatest person out, he denied his Lord and Master.
And sometimes we see the Lord sees fit to call those who cannot
claim to be great people, he calls those who perhaps have
denied their Lord and Master. So they have to then go only
in the strength of the Lord God. They can't go in their strength,
like Peter did on that previous occasion. Now, you see, he has
to go in the strength of the Lord God. And may you and I go
only in the strength of the Lord God. And so, therefore, Peter,
standing up with eleven, he lifted up his voice. He didn't whisper. He lifted up his voice, and it's
good to know that in the preaching of the Gospel, it's not a question
of shouting, but it's a question of lifting up our voice so that
people do hear the truth of God. And so here it was, you know,
we're all today, we all have all these microphones and loudspeakers,
but you know, you think in the days of Spurgeon, when he preached
to thousands of people, There were no microphones or loudspeakers.
He clearly lifted up his voice and spoke and the people heard. Well it's good if God gives us
that voice to speak so the people hear. And therefore he comes
and he speaks to them and he says, All ye men of Judah and
all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you and hearken
to my words. He had a message to proclaim. He had something to speak about.
God had given him the Word of God to declare and he stood up
and here he was speaking then. Tells them first of all that
the people weren't drunk. And then secondly, refers them
to the prophecy of Joel. And again, it's wonderful, is
it not, to remember here was a prophecy given in some detail
in the second chapter of Joel. You can read it, end of the chapter,
and you can read this prophecy. And here the Apostle reiterates
those things which were prophesied, and so they'd come to pass. And
the Apostle recognized it, was able to preach it, was able to
declare it, And what confirmation there was that this was the work
of God. This was not the work of man,
it was the almighty work of God and so he tells us. But this
is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, and it shall come
to pass in the last days saith God. I will pour out of my spirit
upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall
dream dreams. And all my servants and all my
handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and
they shall prophesy." Well, that was the wonderful fulfillment
of that which had been prophesied hundreds of years previously,
hundreds of years before, this specific day had been pointed
out and here was the fulfilment of it. And so the apostle having
directed them to that which had now come to pass, it wasn't something
unexpected, it had been prophesied and now was the fulfilment And
as he was able to proclaim this truth, he then comes and says,
ye men of Israel, hear these words. And what are the first
words? Jesus of Nazareth. The whole
purpose was to direct them to Jesus of Nazareth. And surely
the whole purpose of our gathering for worship is to this end, to
direct us to Jesus of Nazareth. Important thing indeed whenever
we gather for worship to be directed to Jesus of Nazareth And he tells
us 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 yourselves
also know were they many of them had observed, but what had occurred? Many have been told what had
occurred But a wonderful favour it was if they realised it was
a sign from Almighty God. And so then he tells them, him
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. This wasn't again something which happened by chance. Christ's
death, crucifixion, was so clearly prophesied. And so here the apostle
refers to it, and he tells them, ye have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. He points out to that which had
occurred and points a finger at them all, making them understand
that they were guilty. They were those who caused the
Lord of life and glory to be crucified upon that cross. And
the apostle moves on, whom God has raised up, having loosed
the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holding of it. It was not possible that the
Saviour should not rise from the dead, otherwise there would
be no hope for you and me today, no hope for the Church of God,
but can we bless God for the risen Saviour today? And then
he again speaks in the prophecy about David, how David had prophesied,
how David had spoken about the Lord Jesus Christ. And he then
says, this Jesus, hath God raised up, whereof we are witnesses. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this, which ye now see
and hear." And so he says, Therefore, let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have
crucified, both Lord and Christ." Well, he preached to them the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, crucified, raised from the dead,
raised from the dead, that they might be blessed. Now, what was
the effect? This was the glorious effect
on this preaching on that occasion, and it was the work of the Holy
Spirit. Peter was the same man, but it
was the work of the Holy Spirit through him preaching this great
truth that had such a glorious effect upon the multitude of
people that were gathered together. We don't know how many it was,
but it was many thousands who were there hearing what the Apostle
spoke up and preached, and the effect was they were pricked
in their hearts. and said unto Peter and to the
rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Well, what a blessing it is.
If you and I have come to that situation where we have heard
the truth of the gospel, we've heard what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done, his great and glorious work. And as the apostle, he
condemned the people for causing that. Why? Because of their sin
it was necessary. And the result was the Spirit
of God pricked their hearts. It moved them. It moved them
to such an effect that they said, what shall we do? We're guilty. Why the Spirit's work, my friends,
do we know that in our hearts today? Has our heart been touched
by the Holy Spirit of God? It wasn't Peter's words, Peter
spoke the words, but it was the application of those words by
the Holy Spirit that entered into those people's hearts, which
caused them to say, what shall we do? We don't know what we're
going to do. We're guilty. We know that we
are condemned. What shall we do? Well, if you
cried out to God, what shall I do? What shall I do? It's a very blessed situation. Not very comfortable for us. Because, you see, we feel and
realise there's no hope for us. We're lost and we're condemned. We come and say, what shall we
do? What shall we do? Well, the Apostle
had the answer. My friends, the Word of God has
the answer. The Word of God always has the
answer. If ever we need an answer to our situations, Let us read
the Word of God. We'll find the answer there.
The answer might not be just what you're looking for, just
what you hope for. You'll find the answer though. The answer
might be a different answer to what you were hoping for, perhaps
what you were expecting. But you'll find the answer. The
answers to our needs are in the Word of God. And so here was
the answer that Peter gave to this vast multitude on this wonderful
day of Pentecost. 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. Now, just going back to what
I commenced with, the 50 days passed and they had to bring
two loaves to signify the beginning of harvest. They weren't allowed
to commence harvest until this had been brought before them.
And so we see here, here was the day of Pentecost. And what
is beginning? Beginning is the harvest of the
souls of so many. What a wonderful outpouring there
was of the Holy Spirit of God. And so the apostle tells them,
what must they do? Repent and be baptised. What did they realize? They realized
they were undone. They realized they were guilty. They realized they were sinners.
What must they do? And so the apostle tells them,
repent and be baptized. In other places we read, repent
and believe the gospel. The first words that the Lord
Jesus spoke in his ministry was to repent. What does that mean? It means that as we stand guilty
before a holy God, to be blessed with that spirit to be sorry
for our sins. Yes, to desire to turn away from
them. Repentance means to go in an
opposite direction. not to follow on in the same
sinful way that we have been perhaps living. These people
have been living in a sinful way without God, because they
hadn't believed on that which had occurred. But now, through
the blessed work of the Holy Spirit of God, they were convicted
of their sins. They cried out, what shall we
do? And the apostle spoke to them
and said, repent. And how needful that is for all
of us today. to repent of our sins. Oh, my
friends, have we, have you and I been truly sorry for our sins? Have we come before God seeking
for his mercy, seeking he will look upon us, seeking that he
will forgive us of all our sins? You know, no sinner unsaved,
unforgiven can enter into glory. Unless we are blessed with the
forgiveness of our sins, unless we've repented of our sins, then
we shall end up with all those who are unforgiven in that terrible
place of torment hell forever and ever. Well, here we have
the gracious gospel invitation to come to our God. You know,
these people, they were suddenly convicted, weren't they? Here
they were on this day. They heard the preaching of Peter.
Their ears were open. They'd been listening. They'd been listening to what
Peter was saying. It's good, you see, when we listen
to what is being said, what is being spoken. They were listening
and the effect was that their spiritual eyes were opened to
observe themselves, to observe their true condition before a
holy God and made them say, What shall we do? You know, further
on in the Acts, the jailer said, what must I do to be saved? And our religion comes to that
condition. It is a personal thing. It's not a general thing. These
people came individually and said, what shall we do? They
were in desperate need to know what to do. And so the apostle
said, Repent and be baptized, every one of you. Every one of
you, all of us, needs to repent of our sins. And my friends,
what a blessing if all of us are also blessed with that desire
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ example and to be baptized in
his name. To be a true follower, not someone
who follows afar off. The effect here was so great. upon these people. They didn't
say, oh well that's alright, I'll just carry on now, I'm thankful
for that. No, you see, we read in this
account that they were baptised and they that gladly received
his word were baptised. They were baptised. They didn't
ignore that which the Apostle Peter said, they didn't say,
well, I think I'll repent and that'll be enough. What was the effect? I'll tell
you. They were made willing in the day of the power of God.
My friends, what a blessing it is for us, if that day comes
in our lives, when we're made willing to hear the Word of God
and to obey the Word of God. You see, there was no backwardness,
was there? They'd been convinced of their
sin. They'd been directed to the Lord Jesus Christ as their
only Saviour. And the effect of that was to
follow the Lord Jesus Christ and to be baptized. Then they
that gladly received his word. Do we not gladly receive the
word of God? I hope we do. I hope we all this
morning gladly receive the truth of God's word, to realize that
Jesus came, the Holy Ghost came on this occasion, and influenced
by his spirit, the preaching of the apostles, and the movement
of the hearts and souls of those that heard the word, and they
rejoiced. They rejoiced at the good news.
They gladly received the word of God. Well, do we gladly receive
the Word of God? Do we bless God that we're in
a country where the Gospel is freely preached? Do we bless
God that we can come and hear the Gospel preached? Do we love
to come and hear the Gospel preached, or do we do it so, well, I've
got to go and hear it, I suppose. No, my friends, these people,
they rejoice. They gladly receive the Word
of God. Gladly. Do we gladly receive the truth
of God's word. It was changing their lives,
wasn't it? It was changing their lives.
There they were, Jews under the law, and now they were Jews under
the gospel. It was a complete change in their
lives. They've been fulfilling all the laws carefully before
and now. They run to the Gospel, their
life has been completely changed. And my friends, every child of
God's life is changed when the Holy Spirit enters in. And what
a good thing it is if it's changed like this, so that we gladly
receive the Word, the Word which speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ,
speaks of His great salvation, speaks of what He's done to redeem
our souls, so that we rejoice in that great work The Lord Jesus
came to seek and to save that which was lost. He died upon
the cross at Calvary to redeem our souls, to save our sins,
to shed his most precious blood that all our sins might be washed
away. You see, without shedding of
blood, there's no forgiveness. Blood had to be shed and it was
shed. And here was the apostle telling them about the Lord Jesus
Christ had died for the remission of sins. Yes, they might be forgiven. Oh, how attractive that was.
They were sinners. You and I are sinners. Is the
remission of sins attractive to us? And therefore, is Christ
attractive to us? Do we love to hear about the
Lord Jesus Christ and his great and glorious finished work, to
believe that our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness? Oh, do we gladly receive his
word? This is a day the Lord hath made. We will be glad and rejoice in
it. Well, said the psalmist. Did
we say that this morning? We're blessed to be able to come
before God and to be able to utter those same words. Yes,
oh how blessed it is to be able to come and speak in those words. And then they, therefore that
gladly received his word, were baptised. Yes, they were baptised. They didn't stop, they didn't
stay away. They were a true follower. It
was a blessed effect of the work of the Spirit of God. And let
us not forget the truth of scripture which tells us those that honour
me I will honour, and those that despise me shall be lightly esteemed."
And there weren't just a handful, there was about 3,000. And the
effect was such to these saints that they continued steadfastly,
steadfastly. They didn't forget what they'd
heard. They didn't go out from this meeting and forget what
they'd heard. They received the Word, and they continued steadfastly
in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of
bread, and in prayers. In just a few words, we really
have the whole concept of a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. glad in receiving his word, continuing
steadfast in the doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of
bread the Lord's Supper, and in prayers." What an example,
a very concise example of that which shows forth a true Christian's
walk. One who has been called by the
grace of God, one who has been converted by the Holy Spirit
One who's been under the blessed influence of that Holy Spirit,
which has touched the heart and moved them in this way. Yes,
what a glorious statement it was. What a simple thing. What
a glorious thing. And fear came upon every soul,
and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles, and all
that believed were together. And then all things come. They didn't wander off in different
directions. They wanted to be together with the Church of God.
My friends, that's a great testament, isn't it? There's a union, there's
a drawing. Because what do we see? We see
Christ in one another. We're drawn to one another. We
want to be together. We don't want to go and forget
about the things of God. We want to be together and enjoy the
truths of the Gospel. Fear came upon every soul. And
many wonders and signs were done by the apostles, and all that
believed were together, and had all things common, and sold their
possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man
had need. And they, continuing daily with
one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to
house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the
Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Well,
when the day of Pentecost was fully come, what a day that was. What a blessed day it was. What
a glorious day it was. And my friends, many days have
passed since then. but have we days in our life,
as it were, days of Pentecost, days of blessing, days where
we really can rejoice in what God has done and to praise him
from our hearts and perhaps be able to say, as the psalmist
did, he said, this is the Lord's doing. It is marvellous. in our eyes. This is the day
which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. Amen.