This morning, I am going to attempt
to do some Pentecostal preaching. Now, many, if not most of you,
when you heard the word Pentecost, immediately thought of tongues,
signs, wonders, miracles, and so forth. Well, I want to tell
you what went on at Pentecost and try to preach the same things
the apostles declared at Pentecost. In Acts chapter 2, where this
story is told, it reads this way. Acts chapter 2, beginning
with verse 1, says, And when the day of Pentecost was fully
come, they were all with one accord in one place, the apostles
and other disciples, fellow believers, those who had one Lord, one faith,
one hope of their calling, they were together with one accord,
or that is, one purpose, one mind. Those who, as Paul said
in Philippians 3, worshipped God in spirit, rejoiced in Christ
Jesus, and had no confidence in the flesh, well, these believers
were gathered together this day. And verse 2 says, And suddenly
there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind,
and it filled all the house where they were sitting. This is the
Holy Spirit, no doubt. This Spirit, which John 3 says,
bloweth where it listeth, the sovereign Spirit, filled this
place, it says. And the Holy Spirit is always
present wherever God's people are met. to worship in spirit
and in truth, and Christ is the truth in his name. That is where
the spirit is present. All right, verse 3 says, "...and
there appeared unto them," under these disciples, "...there appeared
cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them,"
or this wind sat upon each of them, these cloven tongues. Now,
this was not a vision or a visible object as many suppose. But I
want you to look at each word with me. It says cloven tongues. Cloven meaning divided. And tongues, the word tongues
always in the Scripture, especially here in Acts, 1 Corinthians 14
and other places, means languages. It is not talking about this
member. of flesh in our mouth, but it's
talking about languages. Tongues means languages here. And what happened here? It says,
divided languages appeared upon them. The Holy Spirit divided
or distributed among these disciples different languages for the preaching
of the gospel, as we shall see in a moment. Now they are about
to be sent out all over the world to preach the gospel, to preach
the gospel to people of different languages. And the Holy Spirit
miraculously gives them the ability to speak and understand these
languages without going through lengthy studies in schools and
so forth. So that's what happened here.
He gave them this ability to speak and understand different
languages. Look at what these following
verses say. Look at verse 6. It says that
the people who heard them heard them speak in their own language. Verse 7 and 8 says they were
all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not
all these which speak Galileans? Are these not Jews? Well, how
here we every man in our own tongue or language wherein we
were born. And he speaks of Parthians and
Medes and Elamites and so on. And down in verse 11, the Cretes
and Arabians said, We do hear them speak in our tongues or
languages the wonderful works of God. And they were amazed.
So that's what happened here. The Holy Spirit gifted these
disciples with various languages in order to preach. Well, preach
what? Well, Paul told Timothy, preach
the Word. Be instant, or that is, consistent,
or always about the business of preaching. He says, do it
in season or out of season, Timothy. Preach the Word. And plain preaching
of the Word is out of season today. I believe we're living
in the time that Amos prophesied of. The last days, which he said,
they would be a famine, not of bread, but of the hearing of
the word. Paul said that to Timothy. They
would turn away their ears from the truth and be turned unto
fables. Well, the word here, the word
is this fire spoken of in verse 3. It says, cloven tongues, or
divided languages, like as of fire. Listen to this. God said
in Jeremiah 23, is not my word as a fire? And Jeremiah said
in the same book in chapter 20, he said his word, God's word
was in my heart as a burning fire. And do you remember when
the Lord spoke to two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus?
They said after hearing him speak, did not our hearts burn within
us as he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us
the scripture? So the Holy Spirit, that wind,
miraculously bestowed different languages upon these disciples
in order to preach the word. And more specifically, Peter
said, this is the word which by the gospel we preach unto
you. the word of truth, or the truth
as it is in Jesus Christ. Well, these Galileans speaking
in other languages caused quite a stir among the people who heard
them. And this whole event in the purpose of God was leading
up to Peter's message here in Acts chapter 2, where Peter stood
up to preach and 3,000 people were converted. That's what this
whole story leads up to. And in verse 14, it says, Peter,
standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said,
Peter stands up to preach or declare something unto them.
Now, for the sake of time, we cannot read every verse here.
But Peter goes on to quote Joel, chapter 2, verses 28 through
32. And he says that what happened here is a fulfillment of Joel's
prophecy. But look down at verse 20. Let's
pick up there in verse 20. And it says that before the great
and notable day of the Lord come, verse 21 says, it shall come
to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved. Peter said, These things are
a fulfillment of that prophecy, before the great and notable
day of the Lord shall come. And whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. But Paul said later in
Romans 10, Paul said, How shall they call on him in whom they
have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? Well, Peter is going to preach Him whom they'd not
heard before or believed, the Lord. And perhaps someone today
has not heard this true Lord I'm about to declare. Now, all
these people had heard of Jesus of Nazareth. Look at verse 22.
Ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God. They'd heard of the man Jesus
of Nazareth, but Peter says he's a man approved of God. There's
never been a man ever approved of God. All have come short of
the glory of God. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. There's none righteous, no, not
one. Well, this man was the righteous one, the holy one, the holy man. And he says here, he's 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.
Jesus Christ did what only God can do. He healed the blind,
the deaf, the dumb. He raised the dead. And the most
notable miracle of all, He forgave sins. Pharisees one time said,
Who can forgive sins but God? That's right. And this Jesus
of Nazareth is none other than God manifest in the flesh. In verse 23, Peter goes on. being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain." Peter says, although you took
him and crucified him, you did what God predetermined or predestined
to be done. All these men and women did what
they wanted to do, yet they did what God purposed for them to
do. The scripture says the lot is
cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.
And though men and women appear to do as they will, scripture
says it is God which worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. Scripture says it is God which
worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Well,
Peter said Though you men and women took Him and crucified
Him, it was God the Father who bruised Him, who killed Him.
And He did it because Christ was the substitute for His elect. He was a sin offering for His
people. He's the Lamb slain or the blood
atonement for the sins of God's chosen people. And Peter went
on to say He didn't stay dead. And he quotes from Psalm 16.
Look at verse 27. David wrote, Because thou wilt
not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer, thine holy
one, to see corruption. Verse 31, Peter says, David was
speaking of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell. David wasn't speaking of himself,
but speaking in prophecy of Christ. Verse 32, Peter says, This Jesus
hath God raised up. whereof we all are witnesses.
We've seen him after he came out of the grave. Because you
can't kill God, that's why. Christ said it, no man taketh
my life from me. I lay it down of myself. You
don't kill God. No, no. Verse 33, and Peter goes
on to say, 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. He hath done this which you now
see and hear." This Jesus is right now reigning and ruling
and controlling this whole event, this whole episode. This Jesus,
you thought to be only a man, is right now at the right hand
of God. He's not in your hands. No, no. We are in His hands. Look down
at verse 36. He goes on to say, "...let all
the house of Israel know assuredly." that God hath made that same
Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. And the
message is the same today. This one whom men call Jesus,
whom they think to be nothing more than a man or no greater
or more powerful than a man, that he's in man's hands. No,
no. We're in his hands. And we don't
make him Lord. The Scripture says God hath made
him Lord. Peter's message at Pentecost,
or the gospel, is not, what will you do with Jesus, as many preach
today? No, no. His message was not,
He's in your hands, or won't you make Him Lord? No, no. Pentecostal,
or gospel preaching, is this. Jesus Christ is the sovereign
Lord seated on the throne, reigning, ruling. who gives eternal life
to as many as God gave him, to all he died for, and sends his
Holy Spirit to effectually sanctify and call and reveal Christ to
them. All flesh, all devils even, are
in his hands to do with as he pleases. The question is not,
what will we do with him? The saving question is, what's
he going to do with us? And that's the message that pricked
the hearts of all that heard it that day, and they went away
that day, not talking about signs and miracles and wonders, but
talking about this sovereign Lord seated on a throne. And
they called on Him, and they repented, and they believed,
and they confessed Him in baptism that day. This is the message
at Pentecost, and this is the gospel of a sovereign Lord in
Christ seated on a throne. Thank you. Thank you. I don't know what that is. Okay.