Okay, thanks for being here today. Good to see everybody. Last week,
we were in Acts, and we're going to be in Acts again this week,
in Acts chapter 2. We looked at some things. Let me get there. in Acts chapter 2, and that the
mighty works and wonderful works of God were preached to a great
number of people of different languages, and there was those
that were amazed that they were hearing the wonderful works of
God in their own language. And there were those that mocked
it. And as we said, ever the gospel is preached or discussed
or brought out, there's only the two responses to it or the
two reactions to it. And one of them is that God reveals
Himself to His people. And it is indeed wonderful works.
And those that could care less. And even if it's not a, as will
later on in the book of Acts and others that were persecuted
or killed because of that, the reaction may not be that strong,
but it's nonetheless that same reaction to the gospel. And there were those that said
here that mocked. And we're going to pick up in
chapter 2 of Acts, starting with verse 14, And in response to this, it says,
and we're going to read a few verses here to start with, starting
with verse 14. It says, But 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
you 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 will I pour out in those days of my Spirit, and
they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the
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
whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Ye
men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which
God hath did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourself know.
Him being delivered by the determinate counsel, and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain."
Now, that we just read there, that part of that was what Joel
said, and then in after that in verse 22 is what Peter was
saying in response to some of that to them about this. But
I'd like to look at-let me turn the page here. Hey, Mike, we can't hear
you on our end. Uh-oh, just a second, Lisa. You're not muted, but we
just can't hear you. Uh-oh. Can you hear me, Lisa? Evidently not. We have a... Lisa, can you hear me? Still can't hear you. Can't,
no, okay. I don't know what happened. It
went out during the song and then usually, but that's pretty
typical, but then it just never came back. Okay. Let me see here. Okay, Michael, work on that. We're going to look at some of
what Joel said. In the book of Joel, Just a minute here. Come on, Joel. OK, in the book of Joel. I love
it. in chapter 2 of Joel, starting
with verse 12. And before this, there are some
plagues and some warnings and some lamenting that Joel does,
and he speaks about the coming of the day of the Lord here.
But in chapter 2, verse 12, it says, Therefore also now, saith
the Lord, turn ye even unto me with all your heart, and with
fasting, and with weeping. and with mourning, and rend your
heart and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God.
For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return
and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meat offering
and a drink offering unto your Lord?" And then, skipping down
to verse 28 of Joel 2, And this is specifically where
Peter was referring to in this particular spot. It says, And
it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit
upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your old men shall see dream dreams, and your young men shall
see visions. And also upon the servants and
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, the sun shall be turned into darkness
and the moon into blood before the great and the terrible day
of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered.
for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the
Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call." And
this indeed was part and parcel of what the wonderful works that
those people were hearing there on the day of Pentecost. And they were hearing these things
take place, and part of that, and Peter said, this is what
Joel's talking about. And he wasn't just talking about
speaking in tongues and stuff, but the wonderful works of God
would be preached and would be... the good news is repent, and
the call is to repent and rend your hearts and not your garments.
And then over here where it says that the Spirit shall be outpoured
on His people and stuff, and there would be prophecies and
different things, part and parcel of that is the preaching of Jesus
Christ and what the gospel is. And those things didn't just
stand on their own. Those men that they heard preaching
in their own language, they were preaching what had been of old
been preached. There wasn't any new thing that
they were hearing, and it wasn't a new religion coming out or
a new gospel being preached. It was those things. And think
about what the Lord spoke to those two on the road
to Emmaus and others, but when he referred to the Old Testament
and all those things concerning himself. And that was the gospel
from day one as far as when man came on the scene, and that there
would be a a Redeemer. And that has always been the
core of what the gospel is to His people. And it says here
in verse 32, and it came to pass that, "...whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. For in Mount Zion
and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in
the remnant whom the Lord shall call." And we're going to look
at a couple of verses later where it specifies and talks about
that, those that, the remnant whom He shall call. So this wasn't
new things that were being preached. And when He said, this is what
the prophet Joel's talking about, they undoubtedly were familiar
with what Joel had to say. they may not have connected it
to what was taking place. And that's what is valuable about
the part where Peter says, this is what he's talking about, what
you've seen and heard. The Spirit, and we looked at
that in a couple times past, that the Spirit coming on those
men in that day was the same that takes place whenever the
preacher of God's gospel by the Spirit takes that forth and uses
that in His people, that's the same thing that they were seeing
being done. And we saw the results of that,
of the Spirit in God's people using that message that was brought
forth. There were those that said, man, this is great news. This is wonderful works of God.
And he wasn't talking about part in the Red Sea. He was talking
about there is There is redemption. There is redemption. And there
is a Redeemer. And that's only revealed by the Spirit
to God's people. And we saw what the others said.
There were those mocked and said, these guys are drunk. And he
said, they're not drunk. It's 9 o'clock in the morning.
And it's on Pentecost. And that's not even legal at
this time for them to eat or drink. that didn't hold any water. They weren't drunk. Those men
that mocked, what they heard would be the same thing as people
coming into wherever the gospel is brought forth now and hearing
it and saying, that's just, I don't buy that. That's just, that's
nonsense. Well, without that taking place
of God rending the heart and doing the change by the Spirit,
that's the best that man can come up with is either mocking
or just saying, well, that's nice, you know. And that's the only, that's the difference
is the Spirit coming on God's people. Joel brings the Word of God to
the people, and he's lamenting what the condition of stuff is.
If you read the first chapter there of Joel, and he's calling
to repentance and turning to the Lord, which we read that
in verse 13 there, and it tells of the coming day of the Lord.
Therefore," and quoting here, this is from, this is Joel, "...therefore
also now saith the Lord, Turn ye even unto me with all your
heart, and with all your fasting, and with your weeping and mourning,
and rend your heart, and not your garments. and God will deliver
His people. And it's not a, as we've seen
before and we'll see again, this turning with all your heart is
not, can't be done. It's asking the impossible of
natural man. And Barring the spirit working in
a person, you can decide to be a better person. You can kind
of renovate yourself in some ways, but spiritually, it's not
possible to do that. what Joel said, and also that
he's talking about, is that, verse 28, And it come to pass
that I'll pour my spirit out on all flesh, your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and
your young men shall see visions. And upon the servants and upon
the handmaidens of those days will I pour out my spirit, And
I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth. And it says,
blood and fire, pillars of smoke. Then the sun turned to darkness
and moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the
Lord. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call the
name of the Lord shall be delivered. And we know that that that calling
on the Lord is not walk the aisle and sign the card type of thing.
It's not a decision that's made. It is God's people call out for
God after He reveals the issue and the Savior. And other than
that, man will not, man can't rend his heart. Man can't rend
his heart. And I've got to look at two pages
here. And back in the book of Acts,
in chapter 2 again, and let's... here it says, verse
21 says, 2 and 3, it says, And it shall come to pass that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And He says
in verse 22, Ye men of Israel, hear these things, these words,
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles
and wonders and signs which God did by Him in the midst of you,
as ye yourselves know, Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel And for knowledge of God ye have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain." Now he got down, now he hit the
nail on the head with that. It's speaking of the Lord Himself
that Jesus of Nazareth, it says, a man approved of God by miracles,
wonders, signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as
you yourself know, Him, Christ, being delivered by the determinate
counsel for knowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. they're going to have a pretty
strong reaction to that. And like I say, when Stephen
does his next sermon that we have a little farther on, it
says they gnashed on him with his teeth. I'm not sure what
that meant, but they took the big rocks to him and killed him
over that. And he told them the very same
thing. The Prince of Glory and the Holy One, you guys crucified
Him and killed Him. they didn't like to hear that
one bit. But here in...turn to John 6 while
we're right here in this particular spot. John 6, And we're going to be in John
some here. There's an awful lot in the book
of John that the Lord Himself speaks to us. But here in John
6 and verse 40, this whole passage, you just
can't hardly jump in the middle of it. But I would like to start
at verse John 6, verse 38. And it says, For I came down
from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that
sent me. This is the Father's will which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of
him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and
believeth on him, They have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up
at the last day. And that indeed, again, is the
gospel. And this is Him, the ones that
were given to Him, He's not going to lose any, and they will come
to Him. It's not a... He has a bunch of people, and some of them He's
going to take care of. only time will tell in a person's
life, whether it is early on or like the thief on the cross,
that as it were the last second of time that the Lord opened
his eyes and rent his heart and called him
to himself. And this is what takes place. Verses in Acts, there again it
says, in verse 22-23, Jesus, a man approved of God by miracles,
wonders, signs, which He did in Him. And then we're going
to look at several places. In John 17, as the book of Hebrews and other
places our commentaries and open to us some of the, a lot
of the Old Testament sacrifices and priesthood and that type
of thing. There's a lot in the book of John from the Lord's
mouth Himself on Him, who He is, His people, what He has done
and does for His people. It's just a wonderful book. And any place that our Lord speaks,
obviously, is special to us. But all of the Scripture we have,
as Peter was speaking there, and those other men, that is
the Lord speaking to us through other people. But those words
are just as much inspired as the red ones that we have. But
in John 17, starting with the first verse
of John 17. It says, These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his
eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy
Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God, And Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished
the works which thou sent me and gavest me to do, which thou
gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me
with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was." And these directly, those things that that
we have a real insight by the Lord Himself
of this between God the Father and Him, that in the eternal
covenant, those things that are eternal and vital to God's people here, It says in verse three and four,
this is eternal life that they might know thee the only true
God and Jesus Christ whom thou sent. I have glorified thee on
the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And where it says a man approved
of God by signs and wonders and those things which he did by
him, by God, and by Christ, that he's approved. He did the work,
as he said in another place, it's finished. I finished that
work. by the resurrection, we know
that we are justified by his resurrection, but that also,
the sign that the sacrifice was accepted of God, he did indeed
accomplish that, what he was sent forth to do and had, by
covenant, had to do for his people. And also in John, back up to
chapter four for just a minute, just for, a verse there in John 4. It says
in John 4, Jesus said unto them, My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me, and to finish His work." And we know that,
as we saw, that He did indeed say that in John. And then turn
over to John 6, keeping that in mind. Let's start with verse 35 of
John chapter 6. It says, I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth
on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that ye also
have seen me and believe not. Verse 37, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. For I am come down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all
which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. And that work has been accomplished
in his words himself. And people have issue with some
of the points of the gospel, one of them, eternal security
or perseverance of the saints. It's not the saints that persevere,
it is the Lord himself that does the keeping, as it says here,
that he's not gonna lose any of them. And it's not a keep
a stiff upper lip, because as we know through the scripture,
we see of God's people, what they're like, they are flesh.
And as Paul said, the flesh profits nothing. So anything that we
have of the flesh that's going to profit or make us persevere
or add anything to it we know is not of the gospel, it's not
correct. But it says here, he shall not
lose any of them. He's the one that is the perseverance
to the end. we benefit from that, and we
indeed can rest in what he says here in these passages. He's approved of God, and he
indeed is the one that carries that out. And then back in Acts
chapter 2, and he says here, okay, in verse 23, And 24, it says, him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have
taken him by wicked hands, have crucified and slain. Verse 24,
whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because
it was not possible that he should be holding of it. For David speaketh
concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for
he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore
did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also
my flesh shall rest in hope." And then, In also in the book of Acts in
chapter 3, just over a little bit, and then a couple other
spots dealing with these couple of verses, it says, It's speaking about here and
further on, and him dealing with them, and after he deals with
the, in chapter three, the lame man that's healed, and again, saying along the same
lines, but verse, starting with verse 14 of Acts chapter three,
Peter says again, But ye denied the Holy One unjust, and desired
a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of
life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. And his name, through faith in
his name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see now. And
know, yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect
soundness in the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I
want that through ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers.
But those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all
the prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled."
This, as Peter said to them, it doesn't change the fact of
the matter or where he brought with this, but it said that you
have taken by wicked hands. This is by the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God that this took place. And again he
says that over here, which God had showed by the mouth of all
his prophets that Christ should suffer, hath he so fulfilled. It was determined that this isn't
as others that, those two on the road to Emmaus. Perfect example
of those, they thought that the man, he is here, we have the
Messiah. So he gets crucified, died, buried. They thought, oh
man, now it's done, you know. The show is over. They're headed
home, and they're not too happy about this because when Christ
comes on, they said, you're a stranger? You don't know what's going on
here? And he relayed to them, and Christ said, after he talks to them a little
bit, he opens a Scripture to them of all those things in the
Scriptures concerning himself. This would have been one of those. Atenites to Christ have suffered
and then entered into his glory. And as he told them, he said,
shouldn't this have taken place? God said it was going to take,
it was told that it was going to take place. And here it says
that, by the mouth of all of his prophets that he should suffer
and so fulfilled. And that's part of the good news
of the gospel is the only way of righteousness for his people
was substitute had to be offered. The Lamb of God had to be sacrificed
and had to be accepted. And this is foretold. And this
is part of the good news is that that did take place. He did die and rise again for
our justification, for our righteousness, that that took place. And then, In Isaiah 53, and we're very
familiar with Isaiah 53 and a lot of the parts of that, but
I'd like to look at just in particular, Isaiah 53, starting with verse
4, and not to slight anything else, but just to pick this thought
up. It says, Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a
lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before a shearer is dumbed,
so opened he not his mouth." But here, up here, in verse 5
in particular, he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised
for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and
with His stripes we are healed." But this whole of this psalm
speaks about the Lord and His work, and what it took to redeem
a people, and those things that He did on our behalf, and that
we could wear that robe of righteousness, is just because of these things
that He did for for His people. But it's a wonderful psalm. There's
other places, but it's a wonderful spot here in Isaiah. And then one more about the same
thing here, back into Acts 7. Acts 7. starting with verse 51. Again, building on what Joel
said in Peter's sermon there, it says, verse 51 of Acts 7,
You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always
resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do ye. Which
of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they
have slain them which showed before of the coming of the just
one, of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers,
who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and
have not kept it." pretty stern talking to the Jews
in particular and the religious ones there that, as it said,
stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. And that's
by nature what not just those Jews, but what all men are by
nature are stiff-necked and uncircumcised. And there where Joel says, circumcise
your heart and rend your heart and not your garments. And that's
the impossible part of that, that we cannot do that. We just can't do it. This is
Stephen talking here in Chapter 7. And that's the picture of religion and religious man
and those people he was taught by at the time, whenever the
gospel was brought by the prophets, they were persecuted. They didn't
want to hear it. It wasn't a popular thing to hear. They didn't like
that. They reacted in those ways many
times as did they, and they said, as it says here, which of the
prophets haven't your fathers killed? And that's a pretty good
recommendation for the prophets coming to those guys. But that's
the same picture we have here as we had in the beginning there
of Acts 2 when those men preached the gospel, and there were those
again that rejoiced and see that, and that was good news to them
because the Spirit revealed that to him. And there are those that
mocked in the same, that's a pretty mild word for what happened in
Stephen. They were more than mocking and
killed him in that. But that's the, again, was the reaction
to that. And then I'd like to read starting at verse 33 of Acts
chapter 2. And read the rest of this sermon and passage through here,
because we're hitting parts of it, but read the rest of that
on your own. I just recommend it. Starting with verse 33 of Acts
chapter 2, it says, 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 which ye now see and
hear. For David's not ascended into
the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said to my Lord, Set
thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool.
therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God
hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord
and Christ." And that's kind of the bottom line of that. Part
of that is, the one that they knew of, the one that was crucified
and slain, he's putting it together with what Joel and the rest of
the prophets had said. This is going to take place.
And they didn't they could not see that. They could not see
that this was the true Messiah when He did come. And when He
talked to them about things, about what the kingdom of God
was, and what those things, they did not want to hear that. They
didn't... they stopped their ears to that. And that And I guess some of the part
of this I'd like to say in finishing up is man's reaction to the gospel. does not alter the truth or working
of God's Holy Spirit in the hearts of His own. Natural man can only
react as his nature allows until and but God." And it's ever the
same, and it will be the same until the Lord comes. that no
matter what man thinks of it, or how man views God's truth,
or working of-unless the Holy Spirit works in the heart of
man, we can only react as our nature allows. And we see the
results of the Spirit making gospel life to His people in
Acts 2, verses 11 and 12. And then two Actually, one place to look and
then one thought. In 2 Peter, turn to 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter
3, 2 Peter 3, starting with verse
9, it says, "...the Lord is not slack concerning His promise,
as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,
in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise,
and with elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth
also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." seeing then
all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought
ye to be in all holy conversation of godliness, looking for and
hasting unto the coming day of God, wherein the heavens being
on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. Nevertheless, we according to his promise Look
for new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be
diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot
and blameless. And account that the long-suffering
our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul, also
according to the wisdom given to him, hath written unto you.
As also in his epistles speaking to them these things, in which
are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned
and unstable rest, as they do also other scriptures, unto their
own destruction. Ye, therefore, beloved, seeing
ye know these things before, beware, lest ye also, being led
away with the air of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
In verse 18, But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and
forever. And here we look, as it says,
we look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwell the righteous
according to His will. promise to us. And that, and
looking forward to that, and growing in grace, and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and then again
remember back, as I said earlier, the Lord speaking to those two
on the road to Emmaus, that all those things that they knew of
was speaking of Him. And Joel, as Peter says, he's
speaking of these things happening. and the Spirit coming and doing
that. And it's an assurance to God's
people that the Spirit does the work and has done the work and
will do the work, that it takes a big load off our shoulders
if we have to procure the righteousness and the steadfastness and the
belief and the rending of the heart. We're done. We're doomed. But
thanks be to God that He has a people, as He said, that He's
about the business of delivering those people. And with that,
be free. Thank you.