Pentecost. You know, I don't think many
people that were there that day, those who had come to observe
the Passover before that and then Pentecost afterward, they
did this every year. I don't think many people really
understood what Pentecost was. why God, what it was all about,
nor do I think many today understand what this was all about, what
really happened there. I'm going to tell you in a minute
what Pentecost was, what God, how God ordained the feast of
Pentecost. In our story, in this story,
there were miracles, there were signs, there were wonders that
happened. There's no doubt about that. But when this was all over, no
one went home, no one went away talking about the miracles and
the signs and the wonders and the wind and the fire and the
languages or tongues or the preacher or the powerful service. or even
the Holy Spirit. But thousands went away talking
about the sovereign mercy and grace of God through the Lord
sitting on His throne, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior
and Redeemer of His people. They all went away. That is,
thousands, whoever the Lord called, they went away worshiping, praising,
thinking on the Lord Jesus Christ. And from that day forward, that's
all they thought about. And that's all they did. And
we'll look at that Wednesday night. How they got together
every time to hear the same thing. They wanted Peter and the apostles
to preach that same message. And that's what they did from
then on. They didn't talk about the languages and the tongues
and the miracles and so forth. I don't simply want to do a narrative
of this story. We read it. I want to preach
the message of Pentecost. The preaching of Christ and Him
crucified is the power of God and the wisdom of God. You know
that the Lord God still uses the same message to do the same
work, to prick the hearts, to save the souls of men, women,
and children today. The same Holy Spirit still moves,
though not on such a large scale. The same message. This is the
message. Pentecost. The word Pentecost
means fifty, just for your information. Fifty days after Passover. Seven Sabbaths or forty-nine
days and then the last day afterward is fifty. Pentecost was ordained
by God, Jehovah. He said, it's unto me, this is
to be unto me, a feast unto me. And he said, you're to offer,
sacrifice, not everyone but the high priest, seven lambs, one
bullock, two rams, one goat, two lambs with the meat and drink
offering. Meat and drink. Does that sound
familiar? Someone stood and said, my body,
my blood is meat and drink offering. And the Lord said this was to
be an offering made by fire, a burnt offering. And he said
it would be a sweet savor unto the Lord, a sweet savor, a sin
offering for the people to God, a peace offering. Pentecost. What's it all about? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's what the whole observance
of Pentecost was to be about. Fifty days after Passover, after
the Lamb was killed and the blood shed, and God said, when I see
the blood, I will pass over you. Who's that? What's Passover?
Jesus Christ and him crucified. Pentecost, what's that? Lambs,
bulls, turtledoves, goats, meat, drink, it's all Jesus Christ
and him crucified. All the types, symbols, shadows
are pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Lamb, who John
in the latter day, the last of the prophets said, We don't need any more lambs.
We don't need any more goats, scapegoats. We don't need any
more meat and drink offering. Behold, the Lamb of God. Yes, God has provided Himself
a lamb for a burnt offering. And there He is, Jesus of Nazareth. He's the Christ, the Lamb of
God, who by the sacrifice of Himself, by his own precious
blood was the sin offering, the substitute, the peace offering
of God's people. Jesus Christ, by the sacrifice
of himself, obtained eternal redemption for his people. And
he took the wrath and punishment of God that should have been
upon his people because of their sin. But he took it away because
he's the substitute. That's what Pentecost is all
about. That's why God said, observe
Pentecost. And so the day of Pentecost was
coming. But you know what? I don't read
anything. I don't see anything or hear
anything that even remotely hints of one animal being sacrificed,
do you? There's no, apparently, there's
no indication of any sacrifices being made, no fire being lit,
no lamb being brought forth, no blood being shed. A lot of
religious people got together, devout, it said, Jews, to do
what they thought was But there was no blood. Two thousand years earlier, even
before God set forth Pentecost, Abraham, the father of the faithful,
by God's choice, Abraham was talking with his
son Isaac. And they were walking up a mountain
called Moriah to worship the Lord, to go up there and worship
the Lord. And what the Lord told Abraham
to do was to take his son, his only son, Isaac, whom he loved,
and offer him up there on that mountain as a burnt offering. unto the Lord. And so they were walking up that
mountain, and Isaac, the young lad, twenty years old or a little
older perhaps, was carrying the wood for the fire, a burnt offering. There will be fire. And he's
carrying the fire, his father was carrying the fire, and he
said to his father this question of questions. He said, Here's
the wood. Behold the wood and the fire. He said, But Father, where is
the lamb for the burnt offer? And Abraham said these wonderful
words, these gospel words. He said, My son. And you know,
this is his hope. He's about to kill his boy. His
son is going to die if he doesn't have a substitute. He said, Son,
God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt altar. Fully believing. And so he took his son and bound
him and put him on that altar. And
he took that knife and was about to shed the blood of his only
begotten well-beloved son. But God said, Abraham, Abraham,
touch not the land. And it says, Behold, Abraham
looked, and behind him a substitute. caught in the thicket by his
horn, a male sheep, a lamb grown up, a male sheep,
a ram caught by his power, by his horn, in the thicket. And
Isaac saw him too. And the father unbound loosed
the son, and they both laid hold of that substitute. And Abraham
said, Son, you don't have to die. This lamb's going to die in your
stead. That's what Jesus Christ did. That's the message, he said.
That's what Peter preached at Pentecost. Oh, yes, he did. Yes, he did. Look at it. Look
down in verse 22. He says, Amen of Israel. Hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved of God, like that lamb of old who was to be observed
for fourteen days, remember, to see, to make sure it was without
spot, without blemish. God said it must be perfect.
And they observed him for thirty years, thirty-three, and the
Lord said, Who convinces me of sin? None. He's the sinless one,
the altogether lovely Son. approved of God, a man, for his
righteousness. To hear these words, the only
one who's ever been among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves know.
A preacher came to him by night
one time, came to Christ and said, we know you've come of
God. Nobody could do what you do except God be with you. God was not just with him. He
was God. He is God manifested in the flesh. God manifested. Hear these words
now. Verse 23, Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Delivered.
That means sent. Anything ever been delivered
to you? Huh? Delivered doesn't mean it asks
for your acceptance. It's delivered. Sent by God. Delivered. Paul said in Romans,
he was delivered for our offenses, raised for our justification.
God delivered, he that delivered him up, sent by God, provided
by God for our offenses. God's Lamb, verse 23, him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, according to God's will and purpose, his eternal will
and purpose. Before the world began, God Almighty
purposed all of this, this great salvation, and put it all in
and upon Jesus Christ, His well-beloved Son. And He was called then and
there the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Before
there was ever a sinner, God in this council said, You're
going to be the Savior. And then reign and rule over us. Verse
23, he says, "...him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain." Peter was preaching to people who were
actually there when Jesus Christ was crucified. There were thousands
around that cross that day. He was preaching to men and to
women who actually said with all the mob, kill him. What shall I do with Jesus, Pilate
said. And they all said, thousands
of them said, crucify, crucify, crucify. They were there. And Peter's
preaching to them. He said, you with wicked hands
have taken and crucified this Lord of glory. What about us? Someone says, I wasn't there. Unbelief and indifference to
Jesus Christ is the same as saying, I don't care if he ever lived
or died. I don't care who he is or what
he did purportedly. Indifference and unbelief. How
long did you and I hear the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
not caring? Everyone in here heard it for
years. Yes, ye. They, ye, we. He was despised and rejected
of me, of you, was He, for years, not caring. What's that song we sing? Years
I spent in vanity and pride. Caring not, my Lord was crucified. Knowing not, it was for me He
died at Calvary. Yes, ye, with wicked hands. It's more than just, oh, he just
doesn't understand. He doesn't believe the doctrine.
He don't. No, no. But then Peter, in verse 24,
preached a crucified and risen Christ. He said, This one that
ye have taken by wicked hands and crucified and slain, verse
24, God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because
it was not possible that he should be holding of it. Let's go down
to verse 32. He quoted Psalm 16, didn't he? That's what we looked at Wednesday
night, Psalm 16, where the Lord said in those verses, I will
not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one
to see corruption. Christ was buried, yes, but his
body did not corrupt. He's incorruptible. He's sinless. And Peter said,
David wasn't talking about himself. You go dig up David's grave,
you'll find bones there, as you will ours. But not, if you find
the tomb of Jesus Christ, you won't find anything there. He's
not here, the angel said. He's risen. Why do you seek the
dead? I mean, the living among the
dead. He didn't die. He did, but he
didn't. He is life. You can't kill God
who is life. A man died named Jesus, yes,
but God, the God-man, lived. Verse 32, Peter says, This Jesus,
hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. We've seen
him. We've touched him. John said, We've handled it.
Life. We didn't believe it at first. Thomas said, I won't believe
unless I see the nail prints in his hand, unless I touch that
scar on his side. I saw the soldier take a spear
and cut his side open, and out came blood and water, and his
life, his body hung there lifeless. I saw them take him down and
put his body in a grave. He was dead. And Thomas said,
I won't believe he's alive until I put my hand on that very side. I saw that soldier rip open.
And when he cried three days later, he said, Thomas, let me have your hand. And he hit the dirt and said,
My Lord and my God. More than a man. This Jesus. Paul wrote, We see Jesus. Everybody believed Jesus. And
a man lived named Jesus, made a little lower than the angel,
meek and lowly. We see him for the suffering
of death. A man named Jesus did die on
a cross, seemingly in weakness. John, he's like Isaac. Isaac didn't have to lay down
on that altar. Isaac didn't have to bear that
burden of wood, that wood up on his back going up that mountain.
He did it willingly, didn't he? Christ said, no man takes my
life from me. I do it willingly. I lay down
my life. I submit for the joy that's set
before me. I will endure the cross. I will,
for my love to the Father and my love to the people, I will
endure this crucifixion on behalf of my people. Nobody takes my
life. No, no, no, no. He seemed to
be in weakness, but Barbara, he's an absolute authority and
power of the whole situation, the whole scene. We see him,
yes, for the suffering of death. He's not dead now. He's not hanging
on a cross now. He's not a baby in a manger now.
Paul said he's crowned with glory and honor. This is what Peter
preached. We see Jesus. You see, this is
the message. God hath raised up. Well, we
are all witnesses. We've seen Him. We watched Him.
They all went out to the Mount that day, the Mount of Olives. They all went out there. And
after He gave His final orders to them, He said, a cloud received
Him out of their sight. And they all looked as he ascended. Where did he go? Up into the
heaven. Up! Further than that. Into the
heavens of the heaven. Further than that! To the right hand of the Majesty
on High, to heaven itself, the Holy of Holies, where he sat
down on the right hand of the Majesty on High, where he sits
right now. Sits, mind you. Right now, reigning
and ruling. Peter said, we saw him go up.
Exalted, read verse 33, exalted, having received of the Father
the promise of the Holy Ghost. Christ is the one that said this.
He said, when I leave, I'll send my Holy Spirit. The Father will
send the Holy Spirit. And what will he do? What did
Christ say the Holy Spirit would do? said he would take the things
of mine and show them to you, that he would convince you of
sin. What's that? Because they believed not on
me. Righteousness and judgment. Isn't
that what happened here? That's exactly it. And he's exalted.
Read on. And the Holy Spirit has come
and shed forth there. Verse 34, David's not ascended
into heaven. He spoke of Christ. The Lord
said unto my Lord, God said to Christ, sit thou on my right
hand until I make no ifs, ands, or buts, or maybes about it.
I will make. Every knee will bow. Every tongue
shall confess. We'll come to the feet of this
one who sits on the throne. Therefore, let all the house
of Israel know, the whole world know this is an absolute fact,
assuredly, that God hath made this Jesus both Lord and Christ." And he
sat down. No altar call. No invitation? No. Now won't you accept it?
Oh, no, no, no. Now as the choir sings, don't
anybody... No, sir. That's not the Holy
Spirit. You see, faith comes now by hearing. And it says here in verse 37,
when they heard this, what did they hear? They heard of a sovereign Christ,
Christ the Redeemer, Passover lamb, Pentecost, true Pentecost,
and now sovereign, successful, satisfied, seated Savior and
Lord on a throne, reigning and ruling over all flesh, the armies
of heaven and, yes, the inhabitants of the earth, having done whatsoever
he hath pleased, then, now, and forevermore, the Lord Jesus Christ."
That's what they heard. That's who they heard. That's
who they hurt. And their hearts, it says, their
hearts were pricked. Not their heads, but their hearts
were pricked. Over what? Sin, guilt, unbelief
concerning Christ. Here's what they thought then,
and here's what men and women, here's what happens now. Same
thing. They said, we thought Jesus was
just a man. He's God, isn't He? They said,
we thought that He was asking us to accept Him. For years,
I thought He was asking us to accept Him. You know what? I
know now we've got to ask Him to accept us. They said, we thought
we had free will. You know what? We understand
now He's doing according to His will. We thought we must let
Him into our hearts. We know now we've got to knock
on His door and ask Him for mercy. We thought we would meet Mama
in heaven. We now know we've got to meet
that Lord and stand before His sovereign throne for Him to do
with us as He pleases. And the fear of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They've been worshiping so-called
all the days Some God they didn't even know. Now they know the
living and true God who is God. They know His Christ who He's
submitted all authority to. And they're in His hands to do
it as He pleases. And they said, Peter didn't have
to tell and repeat anything. Peter didn't have to say, oh
no, they said, they cried out. Three thousand people cried out. Men and brethren, what are we
going to do? We've sinned against God and
against Him only. We've rejected His Son who owns
everything. We're in His hands. Do as He
pleases. Salvation is by mercy and grace. As far as we know,
we're under the wrath of God, not the love of what shall we
do. That's what happened at Pentecost.
And that's what happens today in the heart of every single
person whom God Almighty deals with through the preaching of
Christ the Crucified. What did Peter say? Look at it. Verse 38, Peter said, Repent. Repent. What's repentance? Sue for mercy. There used to be an old saying
that old preachers used to say, Sue for mercy. It means beg for
mercy. Oh, but we don't have to beg.
Oh, yes we do. Lord, be merciful to me. You
know, everybody that a beggar ends up a prince. You know that every beggar on
the dunghill ends up seated with princes. You know that? He that humbleth himself shall
be exalted. You know, every dog goes to heaven. Every dead dog, like old Mephibosheth,
ends up being the king's son. Sitting at the table, not crumbs
but eaten. Angels food. Repent. Well, that's an old-fashioned
word, isn't it? It's still the same today. It's
still the need today, isn't it? There's no preaching today of
a holy and a righteous and angry God. We will by no means clear
the guilt. There's no preaching of sin,
the guilt. Man's guilt is greatest need.
What's our need? Why did Christ come? There's
no preaching of the need for repentance, to ask God for mercy. This is the message. Really,
the title should be The Message. This is the message at Pentecost. And now, John, this is the message.
Repent, he says. Repent means to deny yourself. Repent means to turn. Repent
means everything about me is wrong. Everything about me is
sinful. Everything about me, what I thought,
what I did, is all wrong. That God is right and I'm wrong.
That God is true and I'm a liar. That God is holy and I'm unholy. That God is God and I am not. Repent. What is repentance? It's
repentance toward God, and it always ends up in faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. God said, This is my beloved
Son. This is the only way. This is
the truth. This is the life. This is the
mercy of God. All the mercy of God is in Jesus
Christ. He said, repent, read on, and
be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Why didn't he say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? They already did. That's why
they said, John, what are we going to do? That's why the fear was in their
hearts. They just heard Christ preached exalted. That's why
they say it. Oh, what shall we do? They believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ seated on a throne. They were in his
hand. And they said, what are we going to do? We rejected it. We killed it. Repent. Ask God
in Christ to forgive you of rejecting his son and confess him. Baptize. Be baptized. What is
baptism? We'll look more Wednesday. But
what it means is, I deserved to be crucified. Not Christ.
I deserved the death. That's the wages of my sin that
Christ took. I deserved to be killed under
the wrath and judgment of God. I deserved to be buried and put
out of sight. But thank God, in his mercy and grace, he's
quickened me together with Christ. Raised me together. with Jesus
Christ. I'm now seated with Christ in
the heavenly but that's what baptism is all about. Wash away,
I renounce, all my former religion, they weren't baptized before.
These Jews weren't being baptized before. And now it's saying just
dunk it all. Just take it all, all I've ever
known, all I've ever done, all my religion, all me, take it
all and put it under the grave. And out comes this new person
creating the image of Christ, worshiping Christ, walking in
newness of life, faith in Christ. That's baptism. That's baptism. And he said, you'll receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost. What's that? That's Christ. That's Christ. That means you'll be taken up
with Christ from then on, the Holy Spirit that makes you, gives
you repentance and faith and leads you and causes you to look
to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the Holy Spirit does. And He said, the promise is to
you, your children, to all. Verse 39, look at this quickly.
The promise is to you and your children. You know what? As the
pastor preached on the radio this morning, you know, today
is the day of salvation. It really is. Today, not tomorrow. Young people, well, I'll put
it off until I get a little older and get college. No, sir. Oh,
you don't know what tomorrow may bring. There may be no tomorrow.
Right? Somebody you know today may be
gone tomorrow, mightn't they? Today. You see, now, come now, it's
to you, your children, and all that are far off. Oh,
but you don't know. You don't know how bad I am. He'll bring you nigh by the blood
of Christ. And as many, he says, he quotes
the rest of Joel 2.32. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved, as it is written in Jerusalem, in the remnant whom the Lord
our God shall call." That's who the Lord came to save, God's
elect. You see, these people, now that
they know God is God, they don't have any trouble believing in
election. As many as the Lord, Peter said,
Barbara, he said, as many as, who's going to repent? Who's
going to do this? Who's the promise to? As many
as the Lord our God has chosen and called. Whom he did foreknow,
he did predestinate. Whom he predestinated, he called.
That's who will repent and who the promises are for. They didn't
have any trouble believing this now. They know God's God. They know Christ is Christ. Oh
no, we don't choose him. No problem there. And he said,
with many other words, verse 40, he preached a long message. Many other words did he testify
and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Come out from among them. All
this religion going on today, Peter said, come out from among
them. Let us go therefore unto him,
Christ, and Christ alone, outside the camp, bearing his reproach." This untoward generation, this
generation is not headed toward God. They're untoward. They're
going the other way. There's a way that seems right.
It did to you, Peter said. You thought this. You thought
you, Peter said, I thought. Paul said, I thought. But that's
not like we thought. It's like God said. Save yourself. How do you save yourself? Come
out from among them. Come thou with us, Peter said.
And sadly they all did. Every one of them did. You'll
find them from then on with the people of God. Doing what? Same
thing. Worshipping Christ. Rejoicing
in Christ. Come out from among them. Now
that was the message. at Pentecost. That's what happened. You know, there were 3,000 baptisms. Peter said, Repent and be baptized. Three thousand. Ain't that amazing? Why? Ezekiel, can these dry bones
live I don't see how. Preach Ezekiel. Peter, stand
up. Preach the message. And stand
back and watch. Three thousand. Isn't that amazing?
Huh? Isn't that amazing? You know
what? I'm just as amazed when one person hears this. and renounces their
faith and believes and falls down. One who hated God, one
who hated Christ, not interested in Christ, one prodigal son comes
home. I'm just as amazed when one person,
who all their lifetime was religion, gets in that pool right there
and says, don't me. I'm a nothing and a nobody. Jesus
Christ is now my all. have just as many. May God give
us one.