Where is he? Try and find him. I'm waiting for him. Ready, my love, I will be. Open my heart and let it be. Spirit, raise me up. Acts chapter 2 now. Acts chapter
2. Our Lord said an evil and adulterous
generation seeketh after sin. We are living in an evil and
adulterous generation. It's quite obvious, isn't it?
These are the things that people are taken up with today. The Pharisees, they said to Christ
in his day, back when Christ was on this earth, they said
to him, Moses parted the Red Sea. Moses gave us water out
of the rock. Moses, Moses, Moses. Moses didn't
do any of that. But nevertheless they gave him
the credit. Moses gave us manna from heaven. What do you show up? You show
us a sign. What can you do better than that? Top that and we'll
follow you. Our Lord said, you remember his
reply to them? He said, No sign shall be given.
An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, but no
sign shall be given but. The sign of the prophet Jonas,
whereas Jonas was in the belly of the whale three days and three
nights. So shall the son of man be in the heart of the earth,
the belly of the earth, three days and three nights. So what
our Lord was saying there, in other words, the greatest miracle
of all, and the greatest sign and wonder of all, and the one
thing that men really need to believe and be taken up with
and be concerned about. and want to hear about over and
over again, and the one thing they need to see is Jesus Christ
and Him crucified in the gospel. That's what he was saying there.
That's what people need to be concerned with. Now, Pentecost
was not about signs and wonders. We're going to look at this day
of Pentecost here. Pentecost was about the preaching
of the gospel. It was not about the Holy Ghost. People at first were taken up
with this wind and so forth that they heard, and the signs, and
the tongues, the languages. And the apostles, they were taken
up with these men themselves. But when it was all over, they
weren't talking about any of these things. It was all said
and done. When the message was said, Word
of God was proclaimed, they went away from there talking about
Christ. Convicted of their sins in reference to Christ, right?
Just as our Lord said in John 14, they were convicted of sin,
righteousness, and judgment after they'd heard the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, not saw the sign. All right, now look at it. Let's begin in verse 1 of chapter
2. When the day of Pentecost was fully come, They were all
with one accord in one place. This time of Pentecost was one
of the feast days back in Leviticus 23, I believe it was. Yeah, Leviticus
23, a feast day. Pentecost is the word meaning
the 50th day from Passover. It was one of the feasts. It
says, when the day of Pentecost, or when this time was come, fully
come, they were all with one accord in one place. simply meaning
that there was a large gathering of people. It doesn't mean they
were all believers there, as it says in another place, that
the people were of one accord in prayer and so forth, but they
were all gathered together because after this was over, those who
were unbelieving were saved. So they were all a huge gathering
of people. In verse two, 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 this is a real
and a supernatural phenomenon. I will not try, I will not spiritually
explain this away. This really happened. Doesn't
it say that? There came a sound from heaven
as of a rushing, mighty, roaring wind. This really happened. a real and supernatural phenomena
that no one knows anything about, and I will not attempt to explain
it, except to say that's what's said. All right, a sound from
heaven. I've never heard this duplicated
in any Pentecostal meeting, have you? All right, verse two, and it
says there was a sound of a mighty wind from heaven that filled
the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them
cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. It appeared, there appeared unto
them, unto them. Who's the them? Well, verse seven
explains who the them are. Not all people that were there,
but upon the apostles. Verse seven says they were all
amazed or the rest of the people were amazed and marveled saying
one to another. Behold are not all these which
speak Galileans. So you see who is talking about
that. Those that were filled with the Holy Spirit and the
cloven tongues of fire sat upon were the apostles all Galileans
which speak these things and Peter. later gets up with the
eleven verse fourteen says the same thing. Peter who was standing
up there on the podium or whatever whatever with the eleven. OK. We've been at limit bias was
one of them. All right. And. So these were the ones who
were speaking and it says there in verse three that cloven tongues
of fire. Appeared upon them. sat upon
them. Cloven tongues. Cloven means
a separation or a differing or various languages. Anytime you
see the word tongues in the scriptures it means languages. Specific
languages. It says here fire. Tongues like
as of fire. Now this was not literal fire. Of that I am quite certain. It
is not literal fire speaking here, but fiery speech, fiery
language, like a fiery tongue preacher. That's what it was
like. Do you remember? Well, turn over
to Jeremiah 23. I want you to look at this and
see what I mean by this. Jeremiah 23, what is it which
is fire in the mouth of a preacher? Jeremiah twenty three verse twenty
nine. What did you what is it that
burns this fire that consumes that that burns away the draws
and so forth. Look at verse twenty nine is
not my word like as a fire sayeth the Lord. It's the word of God. The word of God which God uses
as a fire in Luke twenty four did you do you remember when
the disciples on the road you may use what they said about
our Lord's preaching afterward remember that our hearts. Within us the word of the Lord
from the tongue of the mouth of God's greatest preacher ever
burned in the hearts of his people, and you've experienced the same
things, haven't you? Upon hearing the gospel preached
under the power of the Holy Spirit, your hearts have burned until
you got heartburn and didn't want to get rid of it. It's a good type of heartburn.
sent by God himself. And Isaiah 6, do you remember
when Brother Pledger opened that up unto us? When the Lord took
a coal from the altar and laid it upon the lips of Isaiah? And
he likened that unto the altar or the sacrifice of Christ, the
gospel. He took a coal, and when a man
gets ahold, lays hold on the gospel, or gets ahold of him,
and fills his heart and fills his mouth, you're going to hear
some fiery preaching. I'm certain of that now, that
there was not literal fire. It says, like as a fire, doesn't
it? Like as a fire and sat upon each
of them. And it says in verse four, let
me say this. The Spirit filled the house where
they were sitting and was upon these men. And verse four says,
and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Or that is that
the apostles were. They were filled with the Holy
Ghost. And these languages or fiery tongues or speech or preaching
was the language or the preaching of men on fire for God. Preaching
the gospel, not gibberish. The gospel, not gibberish. Christ. What does the scripture say about
Christ concerning the Holy Spirit? In other words, Christ had the
Spirit without measure. Right. Without measure. There's
no indication anywhere in the Bible that Christ preached in
any other language except the Hebrew tongue, is there? What's
wrong? Didn't he have enough gifts of
the Holy Spirit? There is no indication whatsoever
that Christ spoke in any other language of the Hebrew time,
and there is certainly no indication that he ever spoke in a undiscernible
tongue or language or incoherently. No, he spoke very simply, very
simply, very plainly, and it says it's a common peep word
in Latin. Verse three, it says it sat on
each one of the apostles, that is. And they were all filled
with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other languages
as the Spirit gave them utterance. They began to speak with other
tongues. It doesn't say unknown, does
it? 1 Corinthians 14. is the chapter
which the Charismatics and so-called Charismatics and Pentecostal
people get most of their false doctrine. Where they corrupt
the Word of God, which they corrupt to their own, they twist and
corrupt to their own use. The word unknown, I would take
you there, but I don't have time. The word unknown throughout that
1 Corinthians 14 is not in the original Language unknown is
an italics you'll notice that if you go over there sometime
the word unknown is not there simply because. The languages
that they spoke in the terms the languages were not unknown.
They were certain definite languages they were unknown to the apostles.
At the time, in other words, they were languages which the
apostles had not learned. They were unlearned language
unknown to the apostles, unstudied by the disciples. They say, how
did they do this? Verse four, this is what the
Holy Spirit did as the spirit gave them utterance as a spirit. This was a supernatural gift
by the Holy Spirit to the apostles and the early leaders of the
church. for basically one reason. Not to show off. Not to have
a big crowd. I'm going to turn over to Mark
16. This is the great commission
our Lord gave the disciples in Mark chapter 16. I'm not going
to keep you long tonight. I've talked out between last
night and today. I'm not going to keep you long
at all. So give me your undivided attention, OK? This is very instructive. I'm not going to holler either.
I'm hollered out. I'm just going to instruct you
a little bit from the scriptures regarding this day of Pentecost,
teach you some things. Mark 16, 15, our Lord gives the
great commission here. He said in verse 15, go into
all the world, go to Media, Mesopotamia, Asia, Egypt, Libya, Persia, Italy,
Arabia, Pontus, Cappadocia, and so forth. Go into all the world
and do what? preach the gospel. Every creature
preach the gospel, not to entertain and not to see how many people
you can get. I mean, I mean, so you can win how many big buildings
you can build, how much money you can take in. Well, what does
he say to do? Preach the gospel, preach the
gospel. Not another, the gospel, the
gospel of God's glory, the gospel of God's grace, the gospel that
exalts the person and work of Christ and him alone as the only
way in salvation. Preach the gospel. Go preach
in all the world. Go preach, the Lord said to the
apostles here. Well, they would have said, perhaps
I hear them say, how? Go to Egypt? We don't know the
language. Don't worry about it. Don't worry
about it. Read on. He says in verse sixteen,
he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow
them that believe. In my name shall they cast out
devils. They shall speak with new tongues,
or that is, languages they had not learned, but they're new
to them. In another place, our Lord said, take no thought what
you shall say. You remember that? Take no thought. what you shall say in that day,
I'll be with you. It should be given unto you in
that day, what you shall say. You remember that when our Lord
said that? Well, these fools today, sorry, but they are fools. Somebody admonished me for calling
people fools. These fools today, Take that
to mean that you don't have to study to break. And it's very
obvious when they get up to do so. They have not studied. That's not what the Lord was
saying when he said, take no thought for what you should say,
you better. The Lord said to Timothy, he said, study, didn't
he? To show yourselves approved.
Give heed to what was his exact word and had to turn to it. Give
attendance to reading, to agitation, to doctrine and so forth. give
attendance, study it, show yourself the proof, rightly divide the
word of truth, rightly understand it, and so forth. So that's what the Lord was saying
when he said, don't be concerned about it. You go into all the
world, I'm going to send you out there, I'll give you the ability.
At the time, when the time comes, open your mouth and I'll fill
it. I'll fill it with the language you had not hitherto forelearned. The language you not learn a
back to. Back to the text. So the Lord, he confirmed, or
no, would you see verse 20 there? I'm sorry, verse 20 in March
16. It says, so they went forth and preached everywhere. The
Lord working with. And italics is there in India.
With power, I believe, and confirmed what confirming the word. the word with signs. What was
the reason for the signs in the first place? To confirm the word. Because they had no Bible back
then. You see? These were credentials. These
signs, languages, unlearned languages, and healings and miracles and
so forth were credentials which confirmed the message. Barnard
used to say, if you show me a man that's really preaching the gospel
who's doing some healing, then I might go listen to him. A man who's really preaching
the gospel and is healing some souls, healing some bodies. I
might listen to that man, but I've yet to hear one yet preach
the gospel. Have you? No, they're taking
up the signs and wonders and they're giving glory to themselves.
When they say give Jesus a hand, who's standing out on the stage?
Who's the one with his arms lifted high? The preacher. So, these
were credentials. The audience, the people who
heard them preach, had no Bible. Now, can you fathom this? They had no Bible, as you have. They were sitting there and here
a man was standing up, here a man was standing up and saying all
of these fantastical things. God said this, God said that. Nobody had a Bible. How do we
know what you're saying is true? Well, God confirmed it with these
signs and things that nobody had seen before. Would you believe
something? Somebody said this fantastical
is the things that they were saying about that a man rising
from the dead and so forth. Would you if you didn't have
about you? But the Lord confirmed it in
that day with these signs and wonders and miracles and so forth,
confirmed the message, confirmed the message. All right. Otherwise, I just have to take
these men's work for. All right, back to the text,
chapter two, verse four, it says they were all filled with the
Holy Ghost and began to speak with other languages as the Spirit
gave them utterance. They were filled with the Holy
Ghost. What was the reaction? Upon these men and upon. People
throughout the scriptures. When they were filled with the
Holy Ghost, what happened? When the Holy Ghost moved. back then and we're hearing a
lot of talk. A lot of claims today about the moving and the
feeling of the Holy Spirit right. Well what happens when the Holy
Spirit moved back then let me show you a certain in March after
five March after five. And this mirrors what is going
on today. what they say is the feeling
of the spirit it is a feeling of a spirit. But it's not the
holy one. Mark chapter five you remember
this story don't you of the man who was demon possessed man that
the gathering demoniac the demon from gather the gathering to
look at verse five through six it says when Christ came across
the ocean and. came to the land of the gathering,
verse five and six, and this man came to meet him, this demon-possessed
man, verse five, and always, night and day, he was in the
mountains and in the tombs, crying or hollering or carrying on, cutting
himself with stones. Now, look at this. This is so
significant. When he saw Jesus far off He
ran, he jumped a few pews, ran down the aisle, and what does
it say? Worshipped him. He worshipped him. He worshipped
Jesus, he ran, he cried, he did all of these things. Sounds much
like a Pentecostal meeting today, doesn't it? All the crying and carrying on
and running down the aisles and claiming to worship Jesus. He
wasn't worshipping Jesus. Was he worshipping Jesus to the
saving of his soul, to the glory of God? No. He was demon-possessed. He was demon-possessed. Look
at verse fifteen. And they came to Jesus. And our Lord healed
this man. The Spirit of Christ subdued this man. And how did
the people find him once the Spirit of God had come upon him?
Verse fifteen. They came to Jesus and they saw
him that was possessed with the devil. and had the Legion sitting,
clothed, and in his right mind. He was sitting, clothed, he had
a coat and tie on, sitting on the front row with his Bible
in his lap. I'm spiritualizing here. This
is what the Lord does now. Sitting in his right mind, or
that is the mind of Christ, sitting carefully, worshipfully, listening
to Christ preach and speak. That is the feeling of the Holy
Spirit. That is the feeling of the Holy
Spirit. What they're calling the feeling
of the Spirit today is exactly the opposite of that, isn't it?
Rolling and writhing on the ground. Rolling and writhing on the ground.
Have you seen those on TV? It's hideous, isn't it? It's
another spirit. Well, look back at the text now. So the filling of the Spirit
subdues men and women, causes them to sit, to be still, and
know that he is God. Yes, there is rejoicing. Yes, there is a lifting up of
the voice, but it's when they hear the gospel. There's not
a lot of carryings on and goings on about nothing, much ado about
nothing, much ado about signs and wonders and miracles and
so forth, but there's a lot of praise and glorifying God when
they hear the gospel of their salvation, so great salvation.
Yeah, there'll be some amens. Yeah, there'll be some rejoicing,
maybe even some hands lifted, but it's all concerning the preaching
of the gospel, the hearing of Christ. Verse five and it says
there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews devout me out of every nation
under him devout me these were serious studious seeker. Now what is it about me these
were men who are not readily or easily impressed or fooled
by shenanigans and so forth. These were devout me Jews perhaps
some of them had studied the Old Testament scripture And I
say this, no one with any sense at all is fooled by all of this
stuff that's going on today. No one with any sense is going
to be fooled by non-sense, right? No one with any sense will be
fooled by non-sense. Devout men came and they were
listening, they were hearing the messages by the apostles.
Now read on, verse six. Now when this was noised. And
when this voice was made, when it was noised abroad, when they
heard this fiery preaching, the multitude came together and were
confounded or troubled in mind because that every man heard
them speak in his own language." Doesn't that clear that up? It
was not another or an unknown language. but their own language,
and it says they were troubled by all this by the sound sound
of this wind by the display of the powerful preaching by unlearned
man. They got to understand they knew
who these disciples were. It had been voiced abroad that
these Galileans were nothing but fishermen. You remember another
time the it was at the Pharisees that said how do these men men
know letters or how do these men speak with such eloquency,
if you will, or such knowledge when they've never learned letters.
These are old fishermen. These are old fishermen. And
it says they heard them speak in their own language. Now read
verse 7 and 8 together. And they were all amazed and
marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which
speak Galileans? Well, how do we hear every man
in our own language wherein we were born? How do we hear? Behold, are not
these all Galileans? How do we hear every man in our
own tongue wherein we were born? They were all amazed and marveled,
it says. At first, and let me spiritualize
here a little bit, make an application, use this as a type. At first,
these men were taken by the sights and the sounds. At first, they
were taken by the sights and the sounds. Or that is, they
were amazed and they marveled by what all they saw, or maybe
what they didn't see. Let me illustrate that. Most people, when they come into,
when they enter into a grace church, they see a striking difference. Right? They look around, and
they're amazed and marveled, not by all of the beautiful paintings
on the ceilings, but the lack of them. not by the stained glass,
but the broken ones, or the no curtains on the window. Not by,
you know, the beautiful choir and cantata they hear, but the
lack of one, right? Not by the road with the preacher,
but, well, he doesn't even have a coat on. Not by all the goings-on,
but the lack of it. You know that? People are amazed. People are taken aback by the
marvels of it. What is this? A cult? There's
no idols. There's no statues. Right? There's no pictures. There's
no robes. This can't be religion. No, this
is true religion. See, true religion doesn't have
to have all those things. Those are outward things. True
religion is in the heart. You don't need all the trappings
of religion. All you need is a book and the Holy Spirit to
reveal it. A book and a preacher and the
Holy Spirit to reveal it. So at first people are taken
in by these, or amazed by these things, and then they hear a
man preach and they say, what is this? They hear him preach
like they heard these fellas. Same thing. And they're taken
back. like the people were taken back
when they heard the disciples, when they heard the Lord Himself
preach. Why, He speaks as one having
authority. That man says that there's only
one way, only one gospel, and everybody else is a hooter. Well,
they're taken back. They're marveled, aren't they?
They hear this man's preach, and they hear him use the Bible. We've never heard that before.
What is that? It's the Bible you're hearing. I'm quoting the
Bible. I know you've never or haven't
heard much of it. Me and they actually use the
Bible there in these great churches. I mean, they actually open it
and read it. They don't just, you know. They need to be made fun of.
You seen them? I bet they go through a Bible a week, not reading
it, but tearing it to pieces. I don't treat my Bible like that.
Not only does it cost a lot of money, but I consider the very
possession of this thing a precious prize. I don't treat it with
such contempt and such foolishness as that. I lay it in my lap. I treat it very carefully. I
appreciate this book. You don't understand what I'm
trying to say. Don't use it as a prop. That's
all we're using it as in this thing. A prop. A religious prop. We believe the Bible. We'll sit
it down and start preaching it then. Read it to us. Don't flash it. Read it. Right? And people really, when they
come into a grace church, they're taken back by this. What if we
don't see all of this? What's all this, or what's all
the lack of this? Where is everything? And what
is this newfangled message that I'm hearing? It could be about Cyrene and
strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians. We do hear
what? We hear them speak in our language
the wonderful works of God. You see that? That's so clear
to us, isn't it? We hear them speak in our language,
and when people come into a grace church, they're going to hear
men stand up and speak like a man, not like this, you know, with
a silly, with his hands folded, not try to act like an angel
or some pious, you know, you've seen them. dress like a woman
and sound like an idiot. No, they're going to hear a man
speak in their own language. They're going to hear him speak
down to earth, down to earth, the language of a man. Right? On their level. Not high and
lofty terms, but down to earth. And this is what they're going
to be preaching. The wonderful works of God. Not what wonderful
things you can do for Jesus. Not what God wants you to do,
the wonderful works of God. I'm not splitting hairs here,
I'm merely saying what this book's saying right here, Acts 2.11. We do hear them speak in our
language the wonderful works of God. In other words, they're
preaching God as God. Those people down there Those people worship, they believe
God is God. I can't believe that. Can you
imagine the audacity of those people? That man got up and said,
God is God and can do what he will with whom he will. That's
right. The wonderful works of God. Those
people down there are actually worshiping God. They seem to
be sincere about this stuff. They seem to really be worshiping
God and not playing religious games. I don't hear all the carryings
on, and goings on, and this and that and the other, and bragging
on the flesh, and calling on people to do that. They're worshiping
God. Well, there must be something to that.
They're not playing religious games. They're preaching a holy,
sovereign, all-powerful God who does wondrous works, who's not
dependent upon man. They're preaching a Christ who
actually saves people, and all that come to Him will be saved.
The wondrous works of Christ. That's what they're preaching.
We heard it. Verse twelve. And they were all
amazed. They were all amazed. And in
doubt. And so will everyone who hears
the gospel of God's grace for the first time, won't they? I
don't understand this. What's the meaning? What's this
all about? What is this message of sovereignty? What is this
message of election? What is this predestination all
about? What is this effectual call and redemption? We've never
heard it on this wise before. Well, that's the only way it
is. That's the only way it is. You need to hear it. You need
to hear it from the heart, in the heart. What meaneth this,
they say? What meaneth this? Well, here's
what some others say. Well, they're drunk. That's what
that some conclusion, verse thirteen. They're drunk. That's a cult. Never heard one single message. This is what they say out there,
don't they? That's not of God. Never heard
one single message, never sat in one service, have they? They're
drunk. That's what some of them said.
But Peter, verse fourteen. Peter, standing up with the eleven,
lifted up his voice and said unto them, You men of Judea,
all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known unto you. Hearken
to my words. We're not drunk. It's only nine
o'clock in the morning. We're not drunk. It's only the
third hour of the day. But this is what is going on,
verse sixteen. This is that which was spoken
by the prophet Joel. Now, verses seventeen through
twenty-one. and I'll quit. Verses seventeen
through twenty one are a nearly exact quotation from Joel two
verse thirty or twenty eight through thirty two. Now I want you to turn back there
OK and let's read the original. This is an exact near exact quotation
from and perhaps one that one not a little phrase, but a very
big one was left out through the translation. Maybe perhaps
it was left out. I'm certain it was the Holy Spirit
left it out on purpose so that we might search the scripture.
You ever thought of that? When you see something not exactly
quoted in the New Testament as it was in the old, it may be
that we might be like the noble Bereans in search. the Scripture
and go back and see for ourselves and in Joel two verses twenty
eight through thirty two. This is the prophecy that was
that Peter quoted there at Pentecost to the people. He said this is
what is happening here people. Read with me verse twenty eight
and it should come to pass afterward. that I will pour out my spirit
upon all flesh. All right. Does that mean every
single individual without exception? It sounds much like what we read
this morning, the world, that all flesh. If there's a little
bit understanding, no, she's not talking about every single
individual, all flesh, but what he's talking about is every nation,
every kindred, every tribe, every tongue, every language. pour
out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy." Well, there you see, preacher, women can
be pastors. Now, let's read that again. I
don't see that there where it says that, do you? And, I'll
pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy. The word prophesy here means
basically it means testify. Testify your sons and your daughter. It does not say. Pastor of churches. Or become church leaders or teach
publicly or usurp authority over me. When that being direct contrast
to the rest of God's Word would not be direct contrast to God's
law which he handed down in Genesis. to Adam and Eve, concerning the
order of man and woman. It's not talking about holding
offices in the church at all. It's talking about testifying,
or testifying or preaching, if you want to use that word, the
gospel to some. Now, I've heard some of the best
messages I've ever heard from my wife. Not from the No, I is the preacher
in the family of the pastor anyway, not her. But many times we've
been sitting around the table or whatever, and she has gone
over with me her lesson. She taught the children. I thought,
man, give me that outline. Wait a minute. I've got to have
this. I'm going to preach this. I'm going to give you credit
for it, but I'm going to preach it. It doesn't matter anyway. And I've heard the same thing
from the likes of some of you ladies. Sitting across the lunch
table or sitting talking to some of you ladies, I've heard glorious
things. You have preached to me. And
you testify to other people. You speak, you testify, you witness,
preach, if you want to use that word, to other people. That does
not even imply at all that they're to hold any position of leadership
in the church, does it? No position of authority and
leadership in the church. God decided the order of things
in the garden after the fall, didn't he? And that's what Paul
was quoting in 1 Corinthians chapter fourteen, 1 Corinthians
fourteen, when he says, does not the law even tell you that
it's a shame for a woman to speak? But she's to be in silence, not
to usurp authority over the man. Right because he said Adam was
not to see that the woman being to see was in the transgression
and was not and he was thinking back to the fall when God said
God gave handed down the order of man and woman male and female.
Which also was a type of the church type of Christ in the
church see the church doesn't speak when Christ is present.
Who's going to be speaking in heaven. We all get turned to
preach. In their ridiculous Christ is
going to do all the talking. We're going to do all the listening.
I'm not going to speak. I'm not going to give our two
bits. But our Lord, in the beginning, God said the woman, that her
desire will be to the man. Or that is, if she's going to
learn anything, that's what Paul said in 1 Timothy, chapter 2,
verses 12 and following. If the woman is to learn anything,
let her learn from her husband at home. Because her desire shall
be to him, and he shall have the rule over her. Right? And
that's not in order that man may lord himself over her be
a macho man over her. But it is more than anything
it's a type of Christ in the church. And when we. Violate that time we've done
a great harm. We blaspheme God's gospel God's
order thing. All right. Is that clear. That clear. All right, go on,
let's read on. It says here, and they, your
old men, shall dream dreams, shall dream dreams, and your
young men shall see visions. And also upon the servants, and
I'm not going to go into detail, I'm going to quit here. Also
upon the servants, upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out
my spirit, and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth,
blood and fire and pillars of smoke. I don't see any of this
duplicated either. I've yet to see any of this in
a Pentecostal meeting. Wonders in the heavens, blood,
fire, pillars of smoke, the sun darkened the moon and turned
into mud. Before the great and terrible
day of the Lord come, and it shall come to pass, verse thirty-two,
and Paul quotes this in Romans ten, verse thirteen, part of
it. It shall come to pass that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered or saved. That's true. Whosoever should
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved, shall be delivered. Who's going to call? Who's going
to call on the name of the Lord? Well, read on. For in Mount Zion,
or that is in the church, that tells me you're going to have
to hear the gospel. And it's generally in a church context,
context of a church. In Jerusalem shall be deliverance. As the Lord has said, and in
the remnant, now that tells me that there's an elect people
that's going to hear it. Isn't it? The remnant. Who's
going to call? Whom the Lord shall call. Whom
the Lord shall call. There are very few people quoting
Joel 2.32, aren't there? They quote Romans 10.13, but
not Joel 2.32. So Pentecost was a remarkable
and supernatural event, no doubt about remarkable supernatural
event when God poured out his spirit upon a crowd of people,
but it all had to do with preaching the gospel. Preaching the gospel,
as we're going to see next week, Peter stood up in the very next
verse in Acts two and said, Men of brethren, you men of Israel,
hear these words. And greater words could no man
speak than what Peter said. tune in next week, hear these
words, hear these words, and he went on to preach a glorious
gospel message, a glorious gospel message. And as I said at the
outset, these people, when they first came, they were taken in
by the sights and sounds. Well, this is different. as most
people are. This is different. What is this?
And they were confused. I've never heard this before.
What is going on here? What's this all about? Well,
those are unlearned men. Where did they learn all this?
Well, they're using and hearing all this and seeing the lack
of all of it and so forth, and then hear a gospel message. And
those people, they went away from that place not talking about
the Holy Spirit, not talking about the languages, not talking
about the fiery tongues, not talking about the wind, the sounds
they'd heard, not talking about the men. What were they talking
about? Christ, weren't they? They were convicted of sin, righteousness,
and judgment as concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that clear
to you, Henry Soren? It's as clear as a nose on your
face. Janette, pardon the illustration, but it's as clear as a nose on
your face. Yes, it is. It's clear. Why? Blessed are your eyes. You've
been given spiritual eyes. You've been given spiritual ears.
You've been given spiritual understanding. And these poor other people,
and they are poor people, poor ignorant people, poor ignorant
fools, are taken in by all this foolishness. God is not chosen
by the preaching of foolishness. The acting of foolishness to
save him, believe he's chosen by the, what the world calls
the foolishness of preaching sovereign grace. You mean he
doesn't get excited and wave his hands and carry on and talk
in gibberish? No, he's got the Bible open.
He goes verse by verse. So that's foolishness. We don't
need that. We need some excitement. No. No, you need the word of
God, but you know, that's what God meant. All right. I hope
there's a help to you. I hope it was instructive. I
believe it was. He heard it. Stand with me. I'll dismiss this
in prayer. Our heavenly father, we so indebted
to you. For your. Marvelous mercy and
grace to us poor, pitiful people, no better No better at all than
anybody else. Everything we have, we have received
from above by your grace, by your sovereign grace. We thank
you, Lord, for this gospel. So great salvation. We thank
you for what little understanding we have of it. It's all owing
to you. And we thank you. And we ask
for a more understanding of it, an increase in knowledge that
we might grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver
us from this untoward and evil and adulterous generation, the
six-letter sign. Let us, our hearts, be established
with thy word, with thy word. And then we shall be able to
answer, we shall be able to stand up for all that goes on today,
all the falseness. Teach us, Lord, teach us. In Christ's name, amen.