Let us turn again to God's Word. I'll read the opening four verses
here in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Acts
chapter 2, reading verses 1 to 4. And when the day of Pentecost
was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
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 cloven tongues like as of fire,
and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with
the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as
the Spirit gave them utterance. And in particular, taking for
our text the first verse of the chapter, to say something then
with regards to the Day of Pentecost or the Day of Weeks. It's 50 days after the Passover. Remember how previously here
in the opening chapter of the Acts we're told after His resurrection
the Lord Jesus showed himself alive to his disciples for 40
days there in that third verse to whom also he showed himself
alive after his passion by many infallible proofs being seen
of them 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the
kingdom of God so it's Subsequent to that, that we read of the
Lord ascending into heaven, the end of chapter 1, and then some
10 days later, 50 days after the Passover, we come to the
day of Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks. They were to count seven weeks, a week of weeks
from the Passover to the Pentecost and that's 49 days of course
and then the 50th day is the day that's being spoken of here
in this first verse when the day of Pentecost was fully come
they were all with one accord in one place now Pentecost would
mark the fullness of the harvest back in the Old Testament in
exodus 34 22 thou shalt observe the feast of weeks it says the
feast of weeks of the first fruits of wheat harvest and the feast
of in gathering at the year's end and as Pentecost marks the
harvest so here when we come to the New Testament We have
the first fruits really of a spiritual harvest throughout the world
through the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus. So this message is to go out.
as the Lord says to his disciples there in chapter 1 verse 8, you
shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you
and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all
Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
The glorious spiritual in-gathering which would really be the fulfillment
of all that was typified in the day of Pentecost associated with
the first fruits of the harvest and then the full harvest. And
it's interesting what we read here in this text when the day
of Pentecost was fully come. The word that we have there rendered
fully come literally means completed. when the day of Pentecost was
completed, when it was fulfilled. What we have here really is the
fulfillment of the day of Pentecost. What a remarkable day it was
and it's associated of course with the coming of the Holy Spirit
who is going to make application of that work that the Lord Jesus,
the Eternal Son of God, God manifested in the flesh, He had come, He
fulfilled all the goodwill and pleasure of the Father, He'd
been obedient to that work that the Father had given to Him in
the Eternal Covenant, He had made the great sin atoning sacrifice
and He's in there, the Spirit who comes to make application
of that blessed work. But it's interesting, isn't it,
because it's not so much that the chapter is taken up with
the Spirit, but the chapter is more especially
taken up with the preaching of the Lord Jesus. Yes, we read
of the coming of the Spirit here in the opening part, up to verse
13, some 13 verses, give us a record of that, the way in which the
Spirit comes and the Apostles of the Lord are able to speak
to all these who are gathered there for this Jewish feast at
Jerusalem and they can speak in the languages of these who
have come from various parts of the world. And it's an amazing
sight really. It's the preaching of the Gospel
and they understand what these men are saying because they're
speaking of the wonderful works of God in their own tongues. In many ways we might say it's
a reversal of that terrible judgment that God had visited upon the
world back in Genesis chapter 11. Remember there the Tower
of Babel and the confusion that God sent upon that wicked world. Now here is the gospel you see.
And these men, unlearned men, are able to preach this wondrous
message concerning Jesus of Nazareth, the Saviour of sinners, and they
understand the words. As I say, the first 13 verses
record the effect of the coming of the Spirit upon these men.
But then we have the record of the sermon that is preached by
Peter on this occasion, and that runs from verse 41, rather, runs
from verse 14, I should say, through to verse 40. And the
record of the sermon is really twice as long as what we have
in the opening 13 verses concerning the effects of the Spirit's descent. And the sermon is full of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But as we saw this morning, when
the Lord speaks of the promise of the coming of the Spirit,
His ministry is to testify of Christ. He doesn't come to speak
of Himself. His ministry is so self-effacing. He takes of the things of Christ.
He reveals the things of the Savior. And so we have much more
detail concerning the preaching than what he said concerning
the spirit in the opening 13 verses and then of course right
at the end from verse 41 following we see the effects the remarkable
effects and such a glorious ingathering 5,000 converted on that occasion
now we can say that there are some four parts to the sermon
and each of the part opens with a personal address. As Peter begins to preach in
verse 14 he says, Ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem.
He addresses these people in particular. Again then, the next
section begins at verse 22, Ye men of Israel, he says. verse 29 he addresses them as
men and brethren and then finally at the end verse 36 he says all
the house of Israel let all the house of Israel know there's
something to be known concerning this man Jesus of Nazareth who
was indeed the promised one the Messiah the Christ of Gods. At the beginning of the sermon
here at verse 14 and we see how the preaching centers upon an
exposition of those words that we read at the end of Joel chapter
2. Verse 14 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 it shall come
to pass in the last day, 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 on my servants and on my
handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit and they
shall prophesy and I will show wonders in heaven above and signs
in the earth beneath blood and fire and vapor of smoke the sun
shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before
that great and notable day of the Lord come and it shall come
to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved." Oh, this is the message you see. And what
is the message? It's the day of the Lord that he's speaking
of. It's the day of Pentecost. It's a fulfillment of all that
had been prefigured. Back in the Old Testament, that's
type. as it was Pentecost or the Feast
of Weeks, the fulfillment of it now with the coming of the
Spirit. And as we consider that theme
then, the day of Pentecost, I want to divide what I say into some
three parts. And first of all to see how here
he is speaking very much of the last days. We have the word there in verse
17. He's quoting from the prophecy of Joel. It's interesting to
draw a comparison. We read the passage back in Joel
2. Joel says afterward, I will pour
out of my spirit upon all flesh. But Peter doesn't just quote
Joel under the inspiration of the spirit he interprets. he
expounds he explains Joel he doesn't say afterward but he
says the last days 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. So to think for a
little while of what we're to understand by this reference
to the last days. It's very much God fulfilling
His words. It was spoken by the Prophet
Joel. But it is God who is really speaking. It shall come to pass in the
last days saith God We're reminded, aren't we, of that very basic,
that simple truth that those prophets of the Old Testament,
they were the Lord's messengers. They were speaking the words
of God. Those holy men of God, they spake as they were moved
by the Spirit of God. Born along by the Spirit. And
so, here we read of the of the last days. What are we to understand
of the last days? It's the fulfillment, as I say,
of that passage, that short passage at the end of Joel 2 and it is
marked by a beginning and an end. It's Christ's first coming
that ushers in these days and it's his second coming that will
bring the consummation of these last days. It's spoken of in
the Old Testament, it's interesting, the last days increasingly, or
always I should say, spoken of in terms of a specific period
of time between the two comings of the Lord Jesus. And The language
that's used, and we see it there certainly in Joel's prophecy,
the language, some of it clearly applies to the first coming,
and other parts of it apply to the second coming. The first
coming of course is that that has already occurred. In the
fullness of the time God sent forth his son made of a woman
made under the law to redeem. That great work of redemption
has been done. But that same Jesus is to come
in like manner as these men had seen him ascending into heaven
as we see at the end of chapter 1. But then he will not come
to accomplish the work of redemption, he will come then to sit as the
judge and to make the final separation between men. Now, as I say, the
prophets when they speak of Christ's coming, they speak of it in a
sense as a single event. but we have language that applies
often to the first coming and in part to the second coming,
and we see it even when we come to the very last of the Old Testament
prophets. Who was the last of the Old Testament
prophets? Well, it's John the Baptist. John the Baptist, the greatest
of all the prophets of that old dispensation. and remember how
John is there preparing the way for the coming of the Messiah
and he speaks of the ministry of Messiah just as the other
Old Testament prophets would speak of that ministry and the
language that John uses in Matthew 3 he says there at verse 11 I indeed
baptize you with water unto repentance But he that cometh after me is
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Here is John speaking
of Pentecost. And he continues, his fan is
in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor and gather his
wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable
fire. He's speaking of the ministry
of the Lord Jesus, And yet the language in part belongs not
only to the Lord's first coming, but also to his second coming.
Certainly he is speaking, is John the Baptist, of a ministry
that is imminent. The Christ is about to appear.
His fan is in his hands. And his ministry, of course,
was a separating ministry. And the imagery that we have
is the floor after the harvest has been gathered in. And it's
the weaning, the separating the chaff from the wheat. And the
Lord does that by and through the ministry of the gospel throughout
the day of grace. But John also speaks of the end
of that period. He's going to gather the wheat
into the garner, he's going to burn up the chaff with unquenchable
fire. And that's how the prophets speak.
They speak of the period, it's called the last days, it begins
with Christ, he's coming to do the great work of redemption,
it ends with Christ returning as the judge to make the final
separation. And so the last days is the whole
period between those two comings of the Lord. It's the very day
in which we're living. We are blessed to live in such
a day as this, the Gospel day, or the blessed dispensation of
the Holy Ghost. But now, Interestingly here,
the language that is employed is one in which we see Old Testament
terminology. We see Old Testament terminology
being employed, describing the effect of this coming of the
spirits. Verse 18, the words of Joel, I'm my servants and
I'm my handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my spirit,
and they shall prophesy." This is a quotation from Joel there
in the Old Testament. And isn't it a fact that in the
Old Testament, prophesying was a sign that one had the Holy
Spirit. we're told, aren't we, concerning
King Saul how the Spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied. A prophet then was a man who
had the Spirit of God upon him. A prophet therefore was a spiritual
man. And we see how those words are
used as synonyms in Hosea chapter 9 and verse 7. We have these
words in that verse from Hosea, the prophet is a fool, the spiritual
man is mad. The prophet and the spiritual
man, that's one and the same person. The mark that a person
has the Holy Spirit there in the Old Testament then is the
fact that he would prophesy. And prophesying there is identified
with dreams and visions. As we see here, I will pour out
of my Spirit upon all flesh, your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men
shall dream dreams. This is all Old Testament terminology
that's being used. Numbers 12 and verse 6, if there
be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto
him in a vision and speak unto him in a dream what is it that
is being said here in the sermon as Peter makes this quotation
from the book of Joel in verses 17 and 18 he is referring to
the the spirit and the anointing of the spirit and the effect
of that anointing and there were certainly in the
New Testament church we know that there were those gifts that
were quite extraordinary gifts and those extraordinary gifts
they really very much mark the days of the apostles, the apostolic
age. Now in Hebrews 2 doesn't Paul
make the point that their ministry was confirmed by signs and wonders
and miracles not just the ministry of the Lord Jesus, but the ministry
of the apostles was also confirmed. We have miracles being performed
throughout this book of Acts. These men have an extraordinary
anointing of the Spirit, but that is something quite peculiar
to that day, the apostolic age, because the church is built upon
the foundation of the apostles. and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone, that's the foundation of the
church. But once the apostles are gone,
why then the foundation has been laid? But there's still that ministry
of the Spirit, because as we sought to say this morning, His
ministry is that that continues, It's something that is perpetual
throughout these last days. Remember what we were considering
there at the end of Isaiah 59, the new covenant. This is my
covenant with them, saith the Lord. It is the Father addressing
Him who is the Redeemer of God's elect, the Christ. This is my
covenant with them, saith the Lord, my spirit that is upon
thee, and my word which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart
out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out
of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth
and forever. Oh, it's continuous, isn't it?
It's perpetuated throughout these last days. It's in thy mouth,
it's in the mouth of thy seed, it's in the mouth of thy seed's
seed, from henceforth and forever. It is the last days. And that,
I say, is the day in which we are living and we're not to lose
sight of the fact that it is the dispensation of
the Holy Spirit. The glorious coming of the Spirit. We refer this morning to those
words in John 7.39 how the Holy Ghost was not yet given because
Jesus was not yet glorified. All but as Christ has now ascended
and that's what we have of course in chapter 1. Ascending to heaven he sheds
abroad the Holy Ghost upon them. And this is the day of the Spirits
and how we need that blessed ministry, how we need to know
the Spirit how we must be careful never to grieve the Spirit of
God not to quench the Spirit of God or that we might love
Him and delight in Him because He comes to us as that One who
is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ the last days thinking
of the day of Pentecost it is ushered in the last days the
great day of the Lord but then here we also read of a great and notable day. In verse 20. Reading verses 19
and 20. Again, this is all from Joel.
Here is the promise I will show wonders in heaven above and signs
in the earth beneath blood and fire and vapors of smoke the
sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before
that great and notable day of the Lord come. Interestingly,
these are events before, it says, before that great and notable
day of the Lord come. What is this particular day?
Well, it is a reference to the end, the end of the last days,
the end of time. The phenomena that we have mentioned
here in these two verses, isn't it that it's associated with
the second coming of Christ? When the Lord comes to the end
of His ministry in the Gospels, He'll speak to His disciples
concerning the signs of His coming again, His return. We have a
great section there in Matthew 24. And what does the Lord say? Verse
29 of that chapter. Immediately after the tribulation
of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall
not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the
powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear
the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the
tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and
he shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet
and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds
from the one end of heaven to the other isn't there some association
between what the Lord is saying there and the words that we have
here in Acts 2 and verses 19 and 20 It is that day that the Lord
will come as the great judge and separate forever the sheep
from the goats and send them to their own appointed place. Oh, what a day is that, the day
of the Lord's return. It is the notable day of the
Lord's And so it's spoken of here at the end of verse 20,
that great and notable day of the Lord. It is a day yet to
come. And it's very much Christ's day.
Oh, how He came the first time and He humbled Himself. And He
humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. Oh, but then there's something to be deduced from
that. He that humbles himself is exalted, wherefore God also
hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bear,
things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth,
and every tongue shall confess that he is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father." Every tongue is to confess that blessed truth. Even the lost must confess that
he is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Or the hymn writer
says, we now believe but soon shall view the greatest glories
God can show. The coming of the Lord Jesus,
what a blessed prospect it is for believers. Remember how Again,
the Apostle speaks of that coming again, doesn't he, to the Thessalonians
there in 1 Thessalonians 4, in the latter part of that chapter.
And how does he conclude? He says, comfort one another
with these things. Or do we comfort one another
with that prospect? A great day, a remarkable day,
a day of great rejoicing for those who are in the Lord. But
what a dreadful day. What a dreadful day that will
be for the unbelieving, when we come to the end of this period,
this day of grace, and that notable and great day of the Lord comes. And we read, of course, of these
things in the last book of Scripture, and I'm sure you're aware, and
the language that we have there at the end of Revelation 6. The kings of the earth and the
great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty
men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the
dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains
and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that
sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the
great day of his wrath is come and you shall be able to stand."
It's the great, the notable day of the Lord. Or the day of grace
is now, yes, and it's the day of the Lord Jesus. It's the year
of our Lord Anno Domini. You know, they don't like using
that expression there, do they? You observe that. We used to
speak about time B.C. before Christ and A.D., Anno
Domini. the year of our Lord. But what
do they say now, these so-called academics? They speak of BCE,
before the Common Era, and they speak of this as the Common Era.
All our men, you see, they want to cut Christ out. But what then
in that great and notable day of the Lord? What of those men
who deny the Lord Jesus Christ? It's fearful to contemplate.
Fearful to contemplate. But there is a day coming. And surely the fact that Christ has fulfilled those prophecies,
He has come the first time to bring in the day of grace. Will
He not come the second time to bring the day of grace to its
glorious consummation? His first coming is the guarantee
of His coming again. And that same Lord Jesus who
ascended into heaven, the angel says, is to come in like manner
as these apostles saw Him ascend into the heavens. But then, we've
spoken of this great, this notable day of the Lord, We've spoken
of, we'll try to identify what we're to understand by this reference
to the last days. That's the way Peter interprets
the words of the prophets. It shall come to pass in the
last days. But I want finally to say something
with regards to an expression that we often use. We often speak
of today as the day of grace. we say this is the day of grace
and what a day it is and see how Peter addresses these men
as he comes to the conclusion of his sermon how the spirit is at work they
are pricked in their hearts and they cry out to Peter And to
the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?
And Peter says, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promises unto
you and to your children and to all that are afar off, even
as many as the Lord our God shall call. the promise comes down
the days, down the generations it's to you, it's to your children,
it's to those who are far off and it comes even to us in this
day in which we're living it's still that blessed dispensation
and what do we read here in verse 21 it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord Jesus shall be saved.
Oh, what a promise is that. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord Jesus shall be saved. It's as simple as that, salvation.
It's calling on the name of the Lord. He that calls shall be
saved. Ye shall seek me, says God, and
you shall find me when you call after me with all your hearts
the Lord Jesus says in the course of his ministry ask it shall
be given you seek and you shall find knock it shall be opened
unto you everyone everyone that asketh receiveth and he that
seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened why
it's all shalls and wills isn't it it isn't you know ifs, buts,
maybes, possibilities, probabilities, no it's it's the promise of God
and all the promises of God in Christ Jesus are yea and in him
are men this is the language of the gospel you see these last
days, this is the day of grace indisputable this is the day
of grace. It shall be, says God. Ezekiel chapter 16 and verse
62. I will establish my covenant
with them and they shall know that I am the Lord. I will, they shall. That's what God says.
I will establish my covenant with thee and thou shalt know
that I am the Lord. That is the language of the Gospel.
The I wills and the thou shalts. It's the day of Christ's power.
It's the day of the Holy Ghost. But what do we have here in verse
21? whosoever whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be saved isn't whosoever a great
gospel word remarkable gospel word whosoever he says here at
verse 17 I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh all flesh Oh, it's those out of every kindred,
and tongue, and people, and nation. There's no restrictions. So different
to what we have in the Old Testament. God says to Israel in Amos, his
prophecy, you only have I known of all the families of the earth.
But what does he say in the Psalms? He showeth His word unto Jacob,
His statutes and His judgments unto Israel. He hath not doubt
so with any other nation. As for His judgments, they have
not known them. But how different it is now.
This gospel, you see, is to go to the ends of the earth. Oh
yes, it begins in Jerusalem. And what a place
to begin, the very place where Christ was crucified, Jerusalem's
sinners. Doesn't Bunyan have a sermon
on that? The Jerusalem sinner saved. The Jerusalem sinner saved. The very place where Christ was
crucified. All those sinners, those Jews.
They're the very ones, you see, who are hearing this message. They cried out, crucify Him,
crucify Him. and now they are hearing this
blessed message or they with wicked hands had crucified they'd
slain the Lord of glory and yes the gospel comes to them verse 23 him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have
taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. And those
God-slayers, because that's what they were, the Gospel comes to them. It's beginning at Jerusalem.
It's in all Judea. It's in Samaria. It's at the
ends, the uttermost parts of the earth, it says, this Gospel
message. and it's whosoever and as I said it's the undoing
of the judgment that came in Genesis 11 with the Bible of
tongues and now they're all hearing this gospel message in their
own tongue it's for all sorts of sinners it's for whosoever
will the spirit and the bride say come and let him that heareth
say come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will,
let him take of the water of life freely." Aren't those really
the final words that we have in Holy Scripture there at the
end of Revelation 22? Whosoever will, let him take
of the water of life freely. There's such a fullness. of salvation
in Christ. There's such a freeness of salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the day of grace. That's
the day in which we're living. He saith, I have heard thee in
a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored
thee. Behold now is the accepted time. Behold now is the day of salvation. It's the day of Pentecost. Over. It has fully come. It's
completed. It's all fulfilled. It's the
blessed day of the Holy Spirit when the day of Pentecost was
fully come. They were always one accord in
one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of
a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the place where they
were sitting and there appeared unto them clothed in tongues
like as of fire and it sat upon each of them and they were all
filled with the Holy Ghost oh have we ever known anything of
that at Pentecost as of Pentecost passed over your soul and we
need to know this blessed spirit. It's the only way of salvation.
No man can say that Jesus Christ is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. O God, we thank for this gift,
this blessed donation. The Spirit of the living God,
might we know Him. Or that you might come and apply
all the truth of the Gospel to our souls. May the Lord be pleased
to bless His word to us. Amen.