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Clay Curtis

The Pure Language Given

Acts 2:13-21
Clay Curtis June, 25 2026 Video & Audio
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Acts 2026

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All right, brethren, Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. We ended last time, and we saw that Christ sent the Holy Spirit, and he gave the ability for our brethren, the apostles, to preach in languages that they had never learned. Verse 6, there it says that they were confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own language. Verse 8, they said, How hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born? And then we read in verse 11 what they preached.

We hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. When the Holy Spirit is given, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus. He makes us his witnesses. and he makes us speak of God, our Father, and his works, and the works of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus. That's what the Spirit of God makes us bear witness to. Not some so-called unknown tongue that's gibberish. He makes us speak the works of God.

Christ said, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, Christ said, for he shall receive of mine, and he shall show it to you. Christ said that he would give the Holy Spirit, he said, and he would give the Holy Spirit the message And then the Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth, into Christ the truth. And he would glorify Christ in the new spirit that he gives to us.

Well, in verse 13, this is where we're gonna pick up. And others mocking said, these men are full of new wine. They're full of new wine. If the Parthian spoke, Northern Iran that's that was northern Iran so he spoke that language and when he heard the Apostle preaching the gospel to the Egyptian in the Egyptians language To him it sounded like a foreign language because it was and so he accused these men of being drunk and Peter verse 14 Peter standing up with the 11 lift up his voice and said unto them you men of Judea and 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. Peter said, they're not drunk with wine, but brethren, the Lord does give us the wine.

It's the old wine, as old as eternity. And it cheers our heart like wine. And it's the wine of God our Father, choosing his people freely by his grace, setting his love on us without a cause in us. It's the wine of Christ's precious blood of knowing he came and laid down his life for his people. And this is, cheers our heart by the spirit of God, revealing Christ in us and making us hear and understand what the Lord has done for us. And it's not anything in us or by us. It's entirely the Lord.

And when we speak, we do speak a foreign language to unregenerate sinners. When we speak, it's just like what they heard that day. I'm talking about they can understand English and we're speaking English, but it's a foreign language to a man who is unregenerate. The Lord said, He said, I will turn to the people a pure language, a pure language that they may call, all call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one consent. My subject is the pure language given. We're going to see how the Lord gives that pure language and brings his people to speak that pure language. It's the pure language of the gospel.

That's what we're gonna be looking at. And he has to give a man the spirit. He has to teach a man for him to be able to speak this pure language. We couldn't speak it. Just like they were calling them drunk. I've heard people say we're a cult. I've heard people say that we're crazy. I've heard people say, you think you're better than everybody else. And we're preaching just the opposite of that. We're saying, no, we're the worst of all sinners. God didn't choose his people because there was any good in us. It's sinners, he came to say.

But when you hear those accusations and you hear folks like they were doing that day, mocking, You remember how that they said, oh, these men, they're drunk with wine. Remember that, because that's how people hear the gospel, without the Spirit of God teaching. That's how we heard it.

But Peter said this, verse 16, this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And we're not gonna turn to Joel. Peter quotes the Lord's word in Joel, almost word for word. So I'm not gonna turn there, We're gonna take this phrase by phrase because everything that Peter declares here is the word of the Lord. It's what the Lord gave Joel to write. And so this is the word of the Lord. This was the promise made through the prophet Joel.

And that's what was coming to pass. Now look, let's begin in verse 17. The first thing that we need to understand and the point of that prophecy And everything that we're gonna look at right here, Peter's just declaring what that scripture says. That's what he's declaring. And the point of it is, is that it would be the risen, triumphant Lord Jesus who would pour out the Spirit. He would be the one to pour out the Spirit.

Now let's look at each phrase here, verse 17. And it shall come to pass. Now, that's very important. This is God's word. God promised, it shall come to pass. Did it? Did it come to pass? Way back there in Joel's day, God said, it shall come to pass. And here we see it coming to pass. See, whatever God promises, God brings to pass.

He never says anything and does not bring it to pass. We have to say, if the Lord will, we will do such, such, He is the Lord. He says, it shall come to pass. He said, I'm God and there's none like me. He said, I declare the end from the beginning, from ancient times, before the world was made, I declare things that are not yet done. That's when you know God's sovereign, when he tells you what he shall do, and then he does it. He said, my counsel shall stand, I will do all my pleasure.

He declares the end from the beginning, then he does it. And he sent Christ from a far country, that's who Cyrus pictured. And Christ came and redeemed his people like as Cyrus went and redeemed them out of Babylon. Christ redeemed his people out of Babylon. God promised it, God did it, it came to pass.

He said, I've spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also do it. Now, do you hear God speaking? Do you hear that that's who God is? That's what God says he will do? Well, listen to the rest of this from Isaiah. The next word he says is this, hearken unto me.

Ye stout-hearted that are far from righteousness. Anybody that doesn't believe on Christ, anybody that's not trusting Christ entirely, that's the description. They're stout-hearted and they're far from righteousness. I don't care how religious. He said, hearken to me, you stout-hearted that are far from righteousness.

I bring near my righteousness. He said, I bring near my righteousness. It shall not be far off. And he said, and my salvation shall not tarry. I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory. Right here. In this text, we're gonna see there's some stout-hearted people that were far from righteousness. They're in Jerusalem going through all these religious ceremonies, but far from righteousness, because Christ is God's righteousness. But just like he said, he's not far off. He's placed salvation, Christ Jesus, at his right hand in Mount Zion, and he did it for Israel, his glory. And he's about to, in this text, he's about to place salvation in the hearts of some people that are his and make them know Christ. Are you one of those? Are you somebody Christ died for? Do you believe him? Do you trust him? I'll tell you what, those that he saves, they're not gonna be ashamed to trust him. Look over to Romans 10 with me real quick. Look at Romans 10. Speaking about him not being far off, look here, Romans 10. Romans 10, verse 8. Here's the word we preach. What does it say? Romans 10, 8.

The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, Thou shalt be saved.

For with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness. We don't work unto righteousness with the heart. It's a spiritual work. We believe unto righteousness. And with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. That's not going before a priest and confessing all your sins, because you don't even know them all. That's going before the Lord and confessing Christ. He said, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, for the scripture says, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. When he gives you a heart, you won't be ashamed to confess him in believer's baptism. You won't be ashamed to confess him before men.

These men are gonna stand up on the day of Pentecost, and they're preaching Christ to the very people that nailed Christ to a tree. And they're not ashamed to do it. Because the spirit of the Lord gave them that heart. He gave them that heart. But you see here, it came to pass. And what we're seeing in this text is the Lord Jesus arose triumphant, and He's the one who gave the Holy Spirit. And He's the one who gave them the message to preach. He's the one who pricked the heart of these folks and revealed Christ in them. That's what we're gonna see here.

That's what way back in Joel's day, that was the message. It shall come to pass. My son's coming, he's gonna redeem my people, he's going back to glory, he's gonna pour out the spirit, and all his people are gonna bear witness of him, and he's gonna save his people. Now, let's read the next word, Acts 2 17, and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God. Now, last time I read to you Hebrews 1. If you wanna look there with me, it's very important, because this is the message of Joel.

God said, Hebrews 1.1, God who at sundry times and in different manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days. That's what God promised. And he said it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God. When was that? When Christ came. When the Son of God came down and took flesh, that's when the last days started. And this is what God promised.

He spoke to us in these last days by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sin, sat down at the right hand of God. You see, by pouring out the Spirit on this day of Pentecost, That's what's being declared. It's being declared that God is speaking no other way now, but by Christ his son, through the gospel, through the Holy Spirit, into the new spirit that he gives. That's how he's gonna speak to his people. That gift of the Holy Spirit was a temporary gift as far as being able to speak in foreign languages and work miracles to show that they were truly the apostles. until the word was finished.

And now that the word's finished, we don't need those extra gifts. And they were the only ones that could lay their hands on somebody and pass that gift to them. But the person they passed it to couldn't pass it to anybody. So when those last of those people died out, the gift died out.

But we don't need it now because we got the word. We have the word. Christ is gonna make that word speak into the new spirit he's given by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel. That's the way God's speaking now. That's the point. That's how he's speaking now. Now let's pick up the next phrase.

Verse 17, it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit. God the Father, and Christ his Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one. We have, there's three persons in the Godhead, but it's one God. And I like what it says right there. In Joel, he said, God said, I will pour out my spirit. Here, God said, I will pour out of my spirit. And here's the point I'm trying to make.

It's a sweet blessing when you think about this, Being born of God and being able to believe Christ, we have the Holy Spirit within us. We have the Holy Spirit of Christ within us, the Spirit of God within us. Like Peter said, we've been made partakers of the divine nature. I've heard men mock that and say, oh, you're saying you're like little gods. No, what we are saying is if you have spiritual life, It's only because of Christ, and Christ is that life in you. Christ in you is the hope of glory. That's why you have a hope of glory. It's because Christ is the life within us. Paul said, I live, yet not I, Christ lives in me.

But, so this is all of the spirit. Now last time, we saw this was when the Lord baptized the church into the spirit. He brought his church into the realm of the spirit. And when we're born again and given faith in Christ, he makes us to know you're not in the flesh now, you're in the spirit, because the spirit of his son dwells in you. And that's the union we have. Our flesh has nothing to do with it. It's a union between our Lord and the new man he's created, the new spirit he's given, and it's the spirit of our Lord communing with us, having made us one in him. And he told Nicodemus, we must be born again. He said two things is a must. We must be born of the water, that's the water of the word, that's the gospel. And we must be born of the Holy Spirit.

So God's prophecy through Joel declares that it's gonna be the Lord Jesus, risen triumphant, victorious, that's gonna send the Spirit and he will do the calling. He'll get the glory, he'll do the calling, and he'll give faith, and he will do it through the gospel, and he'll do it through the Holy Spirit. Look down there, well let me give you this, I will give you this from Joel, because there's one thing in Joel that's not said here, but it is, it is said here, it's just said in a different way.

In Joel 2.32, at the end, It says, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. See, now at that day at Pentecost, they were in earthly Mount Zion and earthly Jerusalem, but that's not the point. The point is Christ from heaven's Mount Zion, from heaven's Jerusalem, gave the Holy Spirit, he sent them the gospel, declaring how he had redeemed his people, how he's risen and reigning as the Lord and Christ of his people, the Lord and the Savior of his people, and by gifting them with faith through the Spirit, he called them to believe. Now, that's exactly what Peter declared when he preached the gospel. He preached the gospel to them, and he said this, Let's just read it in Acts 2 and look at verse 22. He said, you men of Israel, hear 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 you yourselves know, him being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, you've taken and by wicked's hands have crucified and slain him.

And you might be sitting here tonight saying, I didn't do that. You know, when the Hebrew writer said, when we don't believe on Christ, we crucify him afresh by not believing on him. And if you're his, you and me that believe him, we certainly did. We're the reason he went to that cross.

But they crucified, but they did what God determined to be done. But look at this good news, whom God hath raised up. having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holding of death. He pleased God. Death can't hold him. He conquered death. Death can't hold him. He put away the sin of his people. He fulfilled the law. Death can't have any claim on him. It cannot hold him. That's why he arose.

And he's always been the gospel and his scriptures always concerned him. He said, David speaketh concerning him. See that? The Psalms, it's not that just some of the Psalms are Messianic Psalms, they're all Messianic Psalms. Christ is speaking. And that's what was so, when David said, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, that's Christ speaking. He's on my right hand that I should not be moved, therefore did my heart rejoice, my tongue was glad. That's Christ speaking. And that's what Peter says, look at verse 29. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David.

He's dead and buried, Peter said. His sepulcher's with us to this day. But he was a prophet, and knowing God swore with a oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he'd raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell. Now listen to what Peter says. Here's the point, and this is what the message was through Joel.

This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we're all witnesses, 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 you now see in here. You see, before this, before that day, every sinner that's ever been saved has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. given faith by God, by his grace, to look to Christ and hear that Christ is the salvation of his people. God's never saved a new way. But that day that this took place, a marked change took place. God is declaring, I'm only speaking through my son now, no other way.

And it's gonna be through the preaching of the gospel, through these scriptures, by the Holy Spirit into the heart he's given. And it's Christ who gets the glory for this work. That's why we don't back away from this is because just like Christ is the high priest and he's the lamb who shed his blood and by his blood redeemed us and by his blood entered into the holiest of holies and who is before God interceding for us, just like all of the work of redemption is his, this work of sending the gospel and calling his people through the Holy Spirit is Christ. He's the prophet. He's the bishop and shepherd of our soul. So he has to get the glory for this work just like he did for his work on the cross.

That's why we preach this. Now here's the next thing back here. Now look back at Acts 2 and verse 17. And the point here is this, not only Does he have a people among the Jews? He has a people among the Gentiles and all kinds of sinners. Now you listen to the words I emphasize because this is what to latch on to. People latch on to the wrong thing and miss the whole point.

Here's the point, Acts 2 17. 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 dream. And on my servants and on my handmaidens I'll pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy.

The point of that word of the Lord given through Joel is Christ has a people throughout all the world. All flesh, does that mean everybody? No, it means not just the Jews, but also among the Gentiles, all flesh. And not only is it gonna be, well, listen to Peter, look there at Acts 2 and verse 39. Peter said, for the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are far off. Now he's gonna qualify. Does he mean everybody? All men without exception?

He said, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Peter's preaching the message in Joel. He didn't use the exact same words that the Lord used in Joel, but he's preaching the same message. This promise that God gave back there in Joel, through Joel, it's to you, it's to your children, it's to all that are far off, Gentiles, you and me. And he said, even as many as the Lord our God should call. What is this promise? We saw this in Galatians. Remember the promise God gave to Abraham? He said, in thy seed, in Christ, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Our Lord has a people scattered in every nation. that he bought with his precious blood, and he shall get the glory for calling them out of darkness to his light, for giving them faith in him.

They're going to be sons and daughters. There's going to be from the old men to the young men. He's got some people. It said there even going to be my servants and my handmaids. the lowest class of folks that the upper crust looks down on. He said, I got some people among them too, my servants and my handmaid. See what he's declaring? This was new to most of these folks. Look at the end there, verse 21.

And it should come to pass, Acts 2.21, it should come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, I like this because sinners get mad when you preach the doctrine of election and declare that God chose a people by his grace, they get mad. They say that closes the door. They get mad when they hear Christ laid down his life for his sheep. That closes the door. Brethren, the doctrine of election, God's divine election, God choosing a people and Christ saving a people opens the door to heaven.

Without it, nobody would be saved, because we all sinned against God. And without Him sending us this good news and giving us hearts to believe, nobody would believe Him. And it's not just the Jews, and He's got some people among the Gentiles. We wouldn't believe if that wasn't the case. It's all by His grace. Here's the real rub, though, and you need to get this now. Here's the rub. That grace and that love of God And that salvation of God is in his son, Christ Jesus. It's in his son.

The Lord Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, no man comes to the Father but me. That's the real rub, that's really why sinners get angry, because it's not of a man's works. It's not because you were anything special, we were nothing. Brother Robbie just read what Job said. How's a man gonna be just with God? The only way is Christ. We couldn't be justified any other way.

How are vile, corrupt, sinful, dead sinners like us going to be clean in God's sight? The heavens aren't pure in His sight. How are we going to be clean in His sight? Only by Christ sending the Spirit, creating a new spirit in us that we did not have.

It's all of the Lord, brethren. Our Lord said, enter ye in at the straight gate. He's that gate, he's the door. Not only did he open the door, he is the door. Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat. But straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

This whole world's going the I thought of this one time, somebody was talking to me about Broadway. They were going to Broadway. And just think about that. That's the description of the false way, the broad way. That's the way everybody's going. And I hate it when I hear people saying, oh, you know those folks that preached, you got to walk the straight and narrow. The straight and the narrow is Christ.

You can't get into God's presence if you got anything but Christ. You can't have nothing else. You can't enter in with anything else. You have to come in Christ only. He said, I'm the way. That definite article means there is no other. That's what Peter said. There's no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved. We must be saved, this one way. Now look at this next thing here. Here's a solemn warning now.

For anybody that rejects Christ, it's not gonna be Christ's fault. God just lets the sinner have what he wants and do what he wants. He can talk a good game all he wants to about having a free will. He will not let go of his false hope and his false works and come to God in Christ only. Listen now, here's the warning, verse 19.

I will show wonders in heaven above, 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. That's figurative language, but in about less than 70 years after this day right here, the Lord completely destroyed Israel. He completely destroyed it in judgment because they rejected Christ. and hung on to their temple and their ceremonies and their works and would not trust Christ only. That's why he destroyed it.

But listen to what Christ said. Luke 19, 41. He came near and he beheld the city and wept over it. And he said, if you had known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to your peace, but now they're hid from your eyes, For the day shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee. That's what he's talking about in that prophecy of Joel. The Romans came up and they cast a trench about thee. They're gonna come past thee around, and they're gonna keep thee in on every side, and they're gonna lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

Christ preached to him. He's preaching to you now. Over and over he preached the gospel to him. He over and over. Some of you sitting here have not believed him and you've heard the gospel over and over. And there came a time when he said, you won't believe, you can't believe.

Your house is left to you desolate. And a little less than 70 years from this day, he wiped it off the map. But listen, here's the good news. The Lord has a people that he bore justice for, that he laid down his life for, and they're just like every other sinner, just like those that died in Jerusalem in 70 AD that would not believe on Christ, that loved their works and would not trust Christ.

We were no different from them, but God chose us Christ redeemed us, and he sent the gospel, and even when we were saying no, even when we were hearing that gospel and saying, that's a foreign language, they're drunk, they're crazy, that's a cult, even when we were doing that in our hearts, the Lord wouldn't take no, and he sent the spirit and gave us a new heart and brought us to believe on it, all by his grace. And you know what now we say? Lord, thank you for giving me this pure language. Thank you for making me here The tongue I couldn't hear before. Thank you for making me hear the wonderful works of God and know it's all of God. Because here's what we know now.

If he hadn't done this for us, we'd have never believed him. We'd have never believed him. None of us would. So it's not his fault that somebody doesn't believe. He preached and preached to them. They saw him. They saw him work miracles. Some of them saw him call Lazarus up from the dead. Didn't faze them. You see how dead we are by nature? We have to have the Lord save us, brethren. But look at verse 21. This is how free his grace is. It shall come to pass that whosoever... The Jews don't have a special... Lying on this that nobody else can get in on. Whosoever. Are you a whosoever?

He said, Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's the Lord's promise. That's His promise. Is that you? It's some of us by His grace. He gave us hearts to say, Lord, save me. I'm a sinner. I can't come any other way. And he saved us. If you can come begging mercy, you're going to get mercy. Because if you can come begging mercy, you already got mercy. That's the only way you're going to call for mercy, is he already showed you mercy and drew you. But he will save you.

And we've been calling on him, and we're still calling on him, and we're going to be calling on him until the day we draw our last breath. Because we don't have salvation in any other but him. I need him today as much as I needed him the first hour. I know it better now that I need him. And the more I see myself and what I am, the more I see, Lord, I need you to be all. I need you to be my all and only acceptance with God.

And that's what he is for his people. Call on him and believe on him, and you shall be saved. That's the word of God. That's his word. And for us that he's brought to call on him, He has saved us. He has delivered us. He said there will be deliverance. He pricked 3,000 in their heart that day and delivered them. Brought them to believe him. And he continued to do it right up to the day he called you and me. He has delivered us. He is delivering us. And he shall yet deliver us. You keep calling on the name of the Lord. No other name whereby we must be saved. Amen. All right, Brother Adam.
Clay Curtis
About Clay Curtis
Clay Curtis is pastor of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church of Ewing, New Jersey. Their services begin Sunday morning at 10:15 am and 11am at 251 Green Lane, Ewing, NJ, 08638. Clay may be reached by telephone at 615-513-4464 and by email at claycurtis70@gmail.com. For more information, please visit the church website at http://www.FreeGraceMedia.com.

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