If you would open your Bibles
with me to Acts chapter 2. Acts, the second chapter. As
you're turning, let me remind you, you see in the bulletin,
we're having our church lunch today at Patty's and Pint's in Ironton.
The details are on the bulletin board. I hope you all can attend.
We're trying to do things to make it where we can all spend
more time together and be with each other And this will be,
I think, a very good time for us all. So I hope you can attend.
Acts chapter 2, we're going to end up reading this whole chapter.
I'll read the first 21 verses now, then the rest of it later,
and then Lord willing, attempt to preach on this chapter. Acts
chapter 2, verse 1. And when the day of Pentecost
was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
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
there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and
it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with
the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit
gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem
Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when
this was noised abroad, The multitude came together and were confounded,
because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another,
behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear
we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthenians,
and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia,
and in Judea, and in Cappadocia, and Pontus, and Asia, Virgia,
Pamphylia in Egypt and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene and
strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians. We do hear
them speak in our tongues, the wonderful works of God. And they
were all amazed and were in doubt saying one to another, what mean
of this? Others mocking said, these men are full of new wine.
But Peter standing up with the 11 lifted up his voice, and said
unto them, you 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 ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the
day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And
it came to pass in the last day, saith God, I will pour out 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 all my servants and all my
handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my spirit and
they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven
above and signs in 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 whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord, shall be saved. We'll end our reading there and
pick up there in just a few minutes. Let's all stand together as Sean
leads us in singing our call to worship. My God, the covenant
of love abides forever. And in its matchless grace I
feel my happiness secure. Since Thou the everlasting God,
my Father art become, Jesus my Savior and my Lord, and Heaven
my final home. Welcome all Thy sovereign will,
for all Thy will is come. And when I know not what Thou
dost, I'll wait for life above. Through all eternity to Thee,
a joyful song I'll raise, Okay, if you would, turn in your
hymnal to song number 459, He Lifted Me. 459. In lovingkindness Jesus came,
my soul in mercy to reclaim. And from the depths of sin and
shame, through grace He lifted me. From sinking sand, He lifted
me. With tender hand, He lifted me. From shades of night to planes
of light, O praise His name, He lifted me. Before I heard, before my sinful
heart was stirred, but when I took Him at His word, forgiven He
lifted me. He lifted me with tender hand. He lifted me from shades of night
to plains of light. Oh, praise His name. He lifted me. His brow was clear. Many a thorn His hands by cruel
nails were torn When from my guilt and grief forlorn In love
He lifted me From sinking sand, He lifted
me. With tender hand, He lifted me. From shades of high to plains
of wide, O praise His name, He lifted me. plain I dwell, and with my soul
I note his will. Yet how or why I cannot tell,
he should have lifted me from sin. He lifted me with tender
hand. He lifted me from shades of night
to planes of light. Oh, praise his name. He lifted me. Bibles back now to Acts chapter
two. We'll continue our reading, picking
up in verse 22. Ye men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, the 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 also know. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain, 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 to my heart
rejoice, and my tongue was glad, Moreover, also my flesh shall
rest in hope, because thou will not leave my soul in hell, in
the grave, neither will thou suffer thine holy one to see
corruption. Thou hast made known unto me the ways of life. Thou
shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren,
let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that
he's both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto
this day. Therefore, being a prophet and
knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit
of his loins, according to the flesh, he would 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,
neither his flesh did seek corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this, which ye now see
and hear. For David's not ascended into
the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou on my right hand until I make thy foals thy footstool. Therefore,
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus, whom you've crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, when they heard this, they
were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest
of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter
said unto them, repent and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you
shall receive the gift of the Holy ghost for the promises unto
you and to your children and to all that are far off, even
as many as the Lord, our God shall call. And with many other
words did he testify and exhort, saying, save yourselves from
this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized. And the same day there were added
unto them about 3,000 souls. And they continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of
bread and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul,
And many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all
that believed were together and had all things common and sold
their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every
man had need. And they, continuing daily with
one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to
house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
praising God and having favor with all the people. And the
Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. All
right, we thank God for his word. Let's bow before him together. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverend is your matchless name. And Father, we only dare
come before your throne of grace in the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ, pleading his obedience as our only righteousness, pleading
his blood as the only cleansing that there is for our sin. And
Father, how thankful we are that we can come before your throne
of grace boldly, confidently in the Lord Jesus Christ, confident
that his obedience has made all of his people perfectly righteous
in him. Confident that the blood of his
sacrifice has cleansed all of his people from all of their
sins and washed us white as snow. confident that we will be accepted
in the beloved. Oh, how thankful we are. And
Father, I beg of you that this morning, that the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ would be lifted up and exalted, that your people
would see nothing but him. That each one of us gathered
here today would see no one else and nothing else but Christ our
Savior, and that you'd be pleased to grant each heart here faith
in Christ, cause us to truly believe on our Lord Jesus Christ,
just like our brethren did here in our text so many years ago.
Father, we beg this awesome, mighty gift of your grace, that
you'd be pleased to bestow it on us here today, and we ask
it for the glory of Christ, that Christ our Savior may be exalted
and glorified in how he is redeemed and called his people, called
them out of the world, called them away from self and called
them to faith in him. Father, we're thankful to have
such a Savior to preach and to believe and to worship. And Father,
we thank you for this place, how we thank you for a place
that you've provided where we can meet together peace and unity
with one heartfelt desire to worship Thee. Father, we're so
thankful. Pray that you would protect it and preserve it for
many, many years to come. And Father, we dare not forget
to pray for your people here and in other places that you
brought into deep waters. Father, we pray you'd comfort
their hearts with your presence. We pray that you would heal and
deliver as soon as it could be thy will, but that above all,
you give them, while they're in the furnace of trial, a special
portion of your presence to comfort their hearts. Now, Father, all
these things we ask, and we give thanks in that name which is
above every name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's for
his sake and his glory, we pray, give thanks and ask these blessings,
amen. All right, now I've titled the
lesson or the message this morning, The Miracle of Pentecost. A Pentecost
is one of three feasts that were observed by the Jews under the
law. There's the Feast of the Passover,
you're very familiar with that. There's the Feast of the First
Fruits that they would celebrate when they got the first fruits
of harvest in the time of harvest. And then there's the Feast of
Pentecost, where they celebrated the giving of the law at Sinai,
the receiving of the first five books of the Bible. That's the
Feast of Pentecost, and that's why so many people were in Jerusalem
at this time. They came from all over the place
to Jerusalem to celebrate this feast. Now let me ask you, what
is it that you think about when you hear about Pentecost? What
goes through your mind? More than likely, what goes through
your mind are the cloves of fire, the mighty rushing wind, and
the apostles speaking in tongues. Isn't it? More than likely, 3,000
people say, more than likely, that's what goes through your
mind. And do you know, that's not the point of Pentecost at
all. Not at all. I believe I can show
that to you as we look through this this morning. What I want
us to look at first is the message of Pentecost. and then I want
us to see what is the miracle of Pentecost. So let's start
out with the message of Pentecost in verse 22. Peter begins preaching
to them and he says, you men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, the 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 also know. Here's what Peter's telling them,
Jesus of Nazareth, is God. That's what he's saying. He's
the God-man. Only God could do the miracles
that the Lord Jesus did. He raised the dead back to life.
He healed people from diseases that there was no cure for. He
healed lepers and made them white as snow. He healed those who
were paralyzed, been paralyzed from their birth, been paralyzed
for many years. He healed them so that not only
did they walk, they leaped and jumped up and down and shouted
for joy. He made the dumb speak. He made
the deaf to hear. I mean, his miracles, he turned
the water into wine. I mean, the miracles that he
did. Nobody but God. could do those miracles. I mean,
when he changed water into wine, that was his first miracle. And
that shows what all the rest of the miracles are about, what
salvation is all about, what Christ came to do. He made matter
change. I mean, it's nature change from
water to wine. That's what he came to do for
his people and to give us a new nature. He did these miracles
only God could do. And even his enemies didn't deny
he did them. I mean, they had to say, yes, he performed these
miracles. Now, they tried to say he did
it by the power of Beelzebub or some other power. They didn't
want to admit that he was God. But they could not deny that
he did these miracles. The earthly ministry of the Lord
Jesus. In that earthly ministry, the
Father showed us that the Lord Jesus Christ is God and that
He is the Savior that the Father sent to save His people. Everything
the Savior did fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies of the
Messiah. This is Him. This is the Savior. He's the one who was chosen by
the Father to save His people from their sins. Now He's God. He is God in human flesh, come
to save His people from their sin. then there is absolutely
no reason for anybody here to doubt him. There's no reason
for anybody here this morning to leave here not believing on
him and trusting him. He's God and human flesh come
to save his people from their sin. And since he's God, he's
got the power to save, doesn't he? He's got the power to cause
you to be born again with a brand new nature. His blood is pure. Powerful, powerful enough to
pay for all of your sin debt, to wash you white as snow. And
he's got the character to save. He's got the love, like we looked
at in our lesson this morning. He's got the love to save sinners. He's got the grace and the mercy
to save sinners. Because in his person, he can
satisfy justice for those people and make it right for God to
be gracious and merciful to them. That's who he is, since he's
God, and there's no reason that any of us should not trust him. The second thing that Peter shows
us here is that the cross, these people who were here were some
of that very group that took the Lord Jesus and put him to
death. But that act was not an act of
man, it wasn't the outpouring of man's will, it was God's will
being done. Verse 23. Him being delivered
by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, you've
taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Don't ever
think that the cross took God by surprise. The cross was the
eternal purpose of God, the eternal will of God. It's the whole reason
that Christ came in the flesh, to go to the cross and suffer
and die. to satisfy God's justice against
the sin of his people, to put their sin away. The only way
that can happen is through the death of a substitute. See, our
death, it's not gonna amount to a hill of beans. Our death
certainly couldn't put away sin, ours or anybody else's. But Christ,
because of who he is, the God man, if he's your substitute
and he died for you, he put your sin away. That's how God always
determined to save his people from their sin, and he filled
the Old Testament with pictures of it. How many sacrifices do
you read about in the Old Testament? There's so many of them. They're
all pictures of Christ dying as a substitute for his people. Now the cross, in one way, is
the greatest act of justice that's ever taken place. That's true,
isn't it? And there's also a sense in which
the cross is the greatest miscarriage of justice that's ever happened.
At the cross, men put on full display the nature of man. That they would put a man they
knew was innocent and put him to death. Man at the cross did
everything to God that we could think of to do. to torture him
in the most painful ways we could think of, to humiliate him in
his death in the most shameful ways that we could think of,
to make him die a death that everybody who knew anything about
the Jewish religion and the Old Testament scriptures, if he died
on the cross, he's dying a cursed death. We wanted him to be cursed. That's what that cross was all
about. We wanted him to be cursed. At the cross, men continued to
do, try to do, what Adam tried to do in the garden, take God
off the throne, take the throne ourselves. That's what was happening
at the cross. That was man's will and what
they wanted to accomplish at the cross. Everybody agrees with
that, don't they? But what did they do? They didn't
accomplish their will. They accomplished God's will.
This is something that Peter revisited. Look over in Acts
chapter four, verse 26. The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child, Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, the father anointed
him to be king, anointed him to be the savior. Both Herod
and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were
gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done. Everything that was done at the
cross happened according to God's eternal will and purpose. And
in the Old Testament, the father spelled out what would happen
at the cross. And these men who are such students
of the scriptures never realized it was like they were following
the script of a play and saying, okay, what should we do next?
What did the scriptures say we should do next? You know, we
should beat him, we should mock him, we should strip him naked,
we should nail him to a tree. They fulfilled everything that
happened in the scriptures to show us it wasn't man's will
that was accomplished at the cross. It was God's will. The message of the gospel and
the message here at Pentecost is this, that the salvation of
God's elect was fully accomplished at the cross. This was God's
eternal will of how he's going to save his people from their
sin and Christ got the job done. Now quit your working, quit working,
trying to make God happy with you and rest in Christ. Trust
in Christ alone. He's the one who pleased the
father. Then Peter told him that Christ is the God-man. He's the
Savior ordained of old, sent by the Father to save his people
from their sins, and he's the successful Savior. 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. The Father
raised Christ from the dead for this reason. The death of Christ
put away all the sins. that was charged to him. It was
gone. What's the reason for death?
It's sin, isn't it? It's the only reason anything
dies is because of sin. Well, Christ put the sin of his
people away, then it's not possible that death hold him. He must
be raised from the dead. And when Christ was raised from
the dead, he wasn't raised as a private person. He's the second
Adam, representing all of his people When Christ was raised
from the dead, all of his people were raised from the dead in
him. Just like we were in him when he obeyed the law, we were
in him when he died, we were in him when he was buried, and
we were in him when he was raised from the dead. And I tell you
what that means. We're justified in Christ. He
was delivered for our offenses. It wasn't his sin, he was delivered
for our offenses. And he was raised again for our
justification. He was raised again as the proof.
His death justified, made all of his people without any sin. He's the mighty successful Savior
and the resurrection is the proof of it. The resurrection is so
vitally important. We have no salvation to preach
without the resurrection of Christ from the dead. That's why the
apostles insisted on it. That's why they gave their lives
as martyrs. They would rather die than say
Christ did not rise from the dead. Because if Christ didn't
rise from the dead, you and I have no hope. But when the father
raised Christ from the dead, he showed us he's the successful
savior. And everyone who trusts him has
been justified by his death, his burial, and his resurrection.
Everyone. Then why haven't you trusted
him? Oh my goodness, this is the successful Savior that makes
salvation sure for his people. Now beg God to give you faith
in him. Oh, he's a successful Savior.
Christ is also the Savior that was prophesied of throughout
all the Old Testament scriptures. Verse 25, Peter says, for David
speaketh concerning him. I foresaw the Lord always before
my face, for he's 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, because thou will not leave my
soul in hell, neither will thou suffer thine holy one to seek
corruption. Christ did not seek corruption even in the tomb for
three days because there's no sin. There's no sin in his body.
His death put it away. Thou hast made known unto me
the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy
with thy countenance. Now, men and brethren, let me
freely speak unto you of the patriarch David. He's both dead
and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore,
being a prophet and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to
him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh,
he would raise up Christ to sit on the throne. He, seeing this
before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. See, David, when he prophesied
of this, he's not talking about himself. David is not raised
from the dead, not yet anyway. His bones or dust or whatever
is still in the grave. He wasn't raised from the dead,
not yet. David wasn't talking about himself. He's talking about
the son of David. He's David's talking about the
one who he trusted. This is the one he trusted for
all of his salvation. The Lord said unto my Lord, his
savior, sit here on my right hand till I make your enemies
your footstool. David prophesied of the resurrection
of Christ. because this was to show us this
is God's eternal will. It's the death, the burial, and
the resurrection of Christ that earned, that purchased salvation
for all of his people. Then Peter tells us this savior,
he is gracious. Oh, he's so gracious. His grace can't be told, can
it? He's so merciful. Oh, he's so merciful to the miserable. This man, Loves sinners, my goodness. He's holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, but he loves them, my goodness. But
don't you ever forget this, he's king. He's the sovereign savior. Verse 32, 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 has shed forth this, which
you now see and hear. For David's not ascended into
the heavens, not to sit on the throne of God, he's not. But
he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit 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 you crucified, both Lord and Christ. The gospel
declares the sovereign savior, a sovereign God. And by sovereign,
I mean this, he saves whom he will, when he will. And whom
he will, he passes by. And you know what? He's right
either way. Whatever he does is right. If
he saves us, if he saves a sinner, The life of Christ, the death
of Christ, the resurrection of Christ made it right for God
to be merciful and save that sinner. He's giving that sinner
what Christ purchased for him, it's right. And if God passes
someone by, he doesn't reveal himself to them, he doesn't send
the gospel to them, he does not give them faith in Christ, he's
right to do it. Because that's what that person's
sin deserved. They don't want Christ. If they
want their own way, God lets them have it. It's right either
way, isn't it? He's the sovereign savior. Now, where does that leave you
and me? Instead of arguing about it, instead of arguing, no, no,
I deserve my chance. No, I don't deserve anything
but wrath from God. I don't want what I deserve from
God. You ought not to either. It's
not that I deserve my chance and I'm going to argue with God
about how he saved sinners and who he's going to save and who
he's going to send his son to die for. If I'm going to argue
with God, like, well, you know, you should send your son to die
for me. What a statement. I mean, I'm so full of myself.
Who could possibly think you deserve for the son of God to
die in your place? No, we can't argue with God about
this. I'll tell you where this leaves
us. Christ is the sovereign savior. He completely utterly saves whom
he will. Tell you where that leaves you
and me, at his feet begging for mercy. That's exactly where it
leaves us. Now I tell you, let's go to the
feet of Christ. Let's put our face in the dust,
let's humble ourselves, and beg Him to have mercy on us even
though we don't deserve it. Lord, have mercy on me. Save
me for Christ's sake. Not because of anything I've
done, but for Christ's sake. You read this book through. This
is the Word of God. This is everything Almighty God
has to say to a sinner. You read it through. You won't
find one example of a sinner humbling himself and begging
God for mercy that didn't get it. Then why aren't we at his feet,
begging for mercy? He's the sovereign, successful
savior. This gospel, the message of Pentecost,
tells us it's the gospel of Christ, who he is, his person. What did
he do? Why did he do it and where he
is now? Peter says he's exalted on the throne of heaven. That's
who he is. The message of Pentecost is Christ and him crucified. What he accomplished in his death.
That's the message right now. Let's look at the miracle of
Pentecost. And I'll just tell you from the get go, here is
the miracle of Pentecost. Somebody heard and believed the
gospel of Christ when it was preached. That's the miracle.
Look here. at verse one, here's the miracle. God sent a preacher, a man, and
enabled him to preach Christ. Verse one, when the day of Pentecost
was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty
wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And
there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as a fire, and
it sat upon each of them, And they were all filled with the
Holy Ghost. And they began to speak in other tongues as the
Spirit gave them utterance. Now here, the apostles are gathered
together, a bunch of other folks, and the Holy Spirit, that mighty
rushing wind they heard, that's the Holy Spirit. Like the Lord
told Nicodemus, blowing where he listeth. The Holy Spirit blew
through. He came in power. And he enabled
the apostles to speak in languages that they'd never heard, that
they'd never learned before. They didn't learn, what's the
app you can download to teach you how to babble or something? For dummies, there you go, for
dummies. They didn't study that and learn how to speak these
languages. They never learned them, but they're speaking them
so fluently. You know, today, when people
say they speak in tongues, they're talking gibberish, aren't they?
Nobody can back them up. and say, is that a real language
or not? That's not speaking in tongues.
That's not what these men did. They were speaking in known languages,
the languages of people who were gathered there together, languages
that they'd never learned. Now, these gifts, you know this,
but I can't go on without saying it. These gifts of tongues and
all the other miracles that the apostles did, those gifts were
temporary. They were temporary. Don't try
to emulate the miracle of Pentecost today, because it can't be done,
not legitimately it can't. Those gifts were temporary, so
that when they performed these miracles, people would know,
God's with this man, I better listen to him. Now, today, if
we want to know, well, does a man, is he preaching the gospel? Is
God sending him with a message for me? We check the scriptures. See, at this time, the apostles
were still writing the New Testament scriptures, weren't they? All
they had was Old Testament scriptures. Now, we just check a man out
by the completed word of God. If his message matches this word,
then he's God's servant. He's sent from God. We don't
need a man to speak in tongues to tell us today whether he's
sent from God or not. But even though we don't hear
people legitimately speak in tongues today, Do you know every
person here has seen a greater miracle than the miracle on this
day at Pentecost? You've heard a sinful man of
the flesh, a man of like passions just like you, you've heard many
of them, enabled by the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel of
Christ to you in a heavenly language, a spiritual language, and what
they're saying is true. What they're saying is true.
A man who's born a dead sinner is enabled by the Holy Spirit
to preach the Word of Life. Isn't that something? That's
a miracle. I'll tell you, any preacher you
ever talk to will tell you this. Brother Henry said, well, I remember
hearing he was preaching along. I mean, he was preaching. I mean,
he was hammering at it, buddy. And he stopped and he said, I
know when I'm preaching. There are times before you know
you've been preaching. And it's a miracle. I mean, you're
amazed. How'd that happen? The Holy Spirit
came and gave you utterance the same way he did the apostles
here. Here's the second miracle of Pentecost. God, the Holy Spirit,
enabled sinful men and women to hear. and to believe. Verse
five. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem
Jews, devout men of every nation under heaven. Now, when this
was noised abroad, the multitude came together and they were confounded
because every man heard them speak in his own language. And
they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, behold,
are not all these which speak Galileans? Where'd they learn
my language? How here we every man on our
own tongue, wherein we were born. Parthenians, Medes, Elamites,
dwellers of Mesopotamia, in Judea, Cappadocia and Pontus in Asia,
Virgia, Pamphylia, in Egypt and in parts of Libya about Cyrene
and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians,
we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of
God. Sinful people heard the gospel
in a language that they believed, or that they understood, and
they believed on Christ. And it looks to me like, looks
to me like, that as they heard the gospel being preached, they
quit being as much amazed that they're hearing a language that
they can understand. Looks to me like here at the
end of verse 11, they're starting to be amazed at something else.
I'm hearing the wonderful works of God. It's not so much I'm
hearing somebody speak a language that they never learned. What's
starting to amaze me is this, I'm hearing the wonderful works
of God. My goodness. And I know that
they heard and believed, because look what it says in verse 37. Now, when they heard this, they
were pricked in their heart. in their heart. They weren't
just hearing with these ears. They heard in the heart. They
were pricked in the heart. And I tell you what made them
afraid is they heard, I've sinned against God. I'm guilty. Me coming to this feast and trying
to earn a righteousness before God. I've come to this feast
because I'm obeying the law, I'm observing the ceremonies,
and I think that makes me righteous before God. All this religious
stuff I'm doing is the worst sin that I could commit. I'm
guilty before God. And they heard and believed in
their heart. Hold your finger there. Look at Hebrews chapter
four. I'll show you that's what this
is talking about here. Hebrews four, in verse 12. For the word of God is quick
and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. The writer of the Hebrews says
this sharp two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder.
The word pricked back in our text means pierced. Their heart
was pierced. Not with Peter's and the other
apostles' oratory. Their heart wasn't pierced because
they heard these guys speak in tongues and languages. It was
the word of God that pierced their heart. It pricked their
heart. And it's a two-edged sword. That's
the sword that Peter's preaching, the word of God. One side of
that two-edged sword kills, cuts off the flesh, doesn't it? And
the other side gives life. gives life to the spirit. That's
the sharp two-edged sword of the Word of God. And that's what
these people heard and they believed. They believed. They heard and
they believed. I mentioned that Babble, that
thing you can download, you know, to learn new languages. Here
in Acts chapter two, the Lord undid the confusion of Babel
and he made people hear and believe the gospel. These folks believing
the gospel when they heard it preached is a greater miracle
than anybody speaking in tongues. It really is. And you know, all
of this happened. It is no surprise. Way back when
the prophet Joel was alive and writing, how many years ago that
was before this time, he told everybody this would happen.
Look at verse 12 back in our text. They were all amazed and they
were in doubt, saying one to another, what meaneth this? Others
mocked, saying these men are full of new wine. There's always
mockers, aren't there? And you know why these people
mock? They don't know the word of God.
They haven't been taught it. They don't know it. They don't
realize what it's saying. And that's what Peter tells them
in verse 14. But Peter, standing up with the
11, lifted up his voice and said unto them, you men of Judea and
all you that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you. And you
hearken to my words, for these are not drunken, as you suppose,
seeing as it's but the third hour of the day. It's just 9
a.m. 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 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 all my servants and all my handmaidens,
I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall
prophesy, and I'll show wonders in heaven above, and signs in
earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke, The sun shall
be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great
and notable day of the Lord come. Now, why is the Lord gonna do
all of that? Joel prophesied of it, and this
is what happened on the day of Pentecost, isn't it? Now, why
did the Lord do all that? Why did he pour out his spirit
and enable these men to speak in languages that they never
heard preaching the gospel of Christ? Why did the Lord do that?
Verse 21, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be saved. See, the Lord prophesied
through Joel that all of this would happen, that the speaking
in tongues and all these things, you know, I guess the darkness
and the sun and being dark and refers to when our Lord was being
crucified, all these signs and all this thing happened exactly
the way that God prophesied it would happen. And it's just like
everything else God does. Everything God's doing, whether
we understand it or not, is working together for one purpose. To
save his people from their sin. For the glory of his son to reveal
his son to his people. That's why God does everything
that he does. So these people would hear of
Christ, they'd believe him, and they'd call on his name, Lord
save me. Lord have mercy, would you please
have mercy on me. This is the great miracle of
Pentecost. The gospel was preached by sinful
men and sinful men and women heard it and they believed. And boy, when they heard the
gospel, suddenly They're not talking about tongues anymore.
I bet they didn't notice any cloven fire and they're not being
amazed at somebody speaking in tongues anymore. Now they're
interested in something else. The wonderful works of God. Oh,
how wonderful is everything that God does, especially for his
people. How wonderful is it? How wonderful
is it that God has provided for his people salvation by grace?
Not by trying to keep a law that we can't keep, but by his grace. How wonderful is it? God made
us unrighteous by the disobedience of one, but he made us righteous. He made his people righteous
by the obedience of another. Oh my. Isn't it, how wonderful
is it that the son of God would come in the flesh to obey the
law for you? Oh, it's wonderful. What a wonderful
work. How God forgives sin, injustice
to the death of a substitute. That's so wonderful. A human
mind could never dream that up. Only God could do that. It's
so wonderful. It's wonderful in its wisdom.
It's wonderful in its grace and pity and love for sinners. Justification
by the death and the resurrection of Christ. We never would have
thought that up. Only God did that. That's so
wonderful. Tell me more about that. These wonderful works of
God, speaking in tongues, doesn't compare to it any more than a
birthday candle compares to the light of the sun. It should never
be discussed in the same breath. Salvation, what we should be
concerned with is the salvation of our souls and nothing else. Speaking in tongues and the mighty
rushing wind and the close of fire, That don't amount, that
don't mean anything without the salvation of our souls, without
God revealing Christ to us. And that's what happened when
Peter got done preaching. Suddenly people weren't concerned
with the speaking in tongues. They were concerned with their
souls. Verse 37. Now, and they heard this, they
were pricked in the heart and Peter and said unto Peter to
the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? We're in trouble. What are we
going to do? You know, there is an answer to that
question. There is an answer. What are
we going to do? Now the gospel plainly tells us, I can't do
anything to save myself. I can't do anything to make myself
righteous. You can't either. I can't do anything to make God
pleased with me. There's not one thing I'll ever
do that'll make God pleased with me because everything I do is
sin. But that doesn't mean there's nothing I can do. There's an
answer to that question, and Peter gives it, verse 38. Then
Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized, every one of
you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and
ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise
is unto you and to your children and all that are far off, even
as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words
did he testify. He told them about Christ, who
he is, and he exhorted them, saying, save yourselves from
this untoward generation. Here's the answer. Men and brethren,
what shall we do? Peter says, number one, repent.
And that word repent, it doesn't mean be sorry for what you've
done. It means change your mind. Change your mind about yourself.
Change your mind about yourself You're not a good little boy
and girl. You're a sinner. You're dead in sin. You cannot
save yourselves. You don't deserve for God to
give you anything but wrath. Change your mind about yourself.
If you change your mind about yourself, you become a mercy
beggar, won't you? But we won't start begging God for mercy until
we change our minds about ourselves and realize who and what we are.
And then change your mind about God. God's holy. God's just. God's not going to
just have mercy on me because he's this kind old grandfather
that just can't stand to punish me. No, God's holy and God's
just. God saves whom he will and passes
by whom he will. I better change my mind about
who God is. If I do, I'll beg him for mercy. I need to change
my mind about how God saves sinners. It's not by my works of the law,
my morality and what I do. It's in Christ. That's the only
way I can be made righteous. Repent. Turn, it's a radical
turning. Turn 180 degrees away from your
idols to trust Christ and Christ alone. That's what you can do.
And I know you can't make yourself do it, but you know what you
can do? Lord, would you give me the gift of repentance? Beg
God for it. And then Peter says, be baptized.
You know, being baptized doesn't mean be baptized in order to
be saved. You be baptized confessing what
Christ has already done for you. This is how God saved me. It's
by the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. This
word for that Peter uses, be baptized, in verse 38, be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins. Peter doesn't mean you be baptized
and then you'll receive the remission of sins. That word for, it's
a very poor translation. That word for means because of
an action that's already taken place in the past. You be baptized
because God's already saved you. He's already given you the remission
of sins and you confessing. You confess this is my Savior.
That's what Peter's saying. And that day, 3,000 people believed. Now, that's a big group. That's
a big group. But do you know what a miracle
it is when God saves just one? Someone comes here usually for
years, and then they finally hear, God finally saves them. They're born again, and they
come and ask me to baptize them. That's as great a miracle as
3,000 on that day. I tell you this. It's a greater
miracle to you if God saved you. I promise you that. And you know the evidence that
somebody has really heard the gospel? Is they trust Christ
and they follow him and they keep following him. And you know
where you find them? With other believers. They're
flocking together with other believers to worship God together. That's what happened here, verse
41. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. The same
day, there were added unto them about 3,000 souls, and they continued
steadfastly. They didn't quit, they continued
steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and in fellowship,
and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon
every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles,
and all that believed were together. And they had all things common
and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all
men as every man had need. And they continuing daily with
one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to
house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
praising God and having favor with all the people. And the
Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. And
that's where you find God's people today. They continue. They continue in the gospel.
They continue. They're constantly wanting to
hear more of Christ. Tell me again. Tell me I'm hungry.
Tell me again of Christ. And they're together with God's
people. They're gathering together around the preaching of the gospel
to worship Christ. And that worship, that public
worship, that's how God adds to his church daily, such as
should be saved. And it is my constant prayer.
that the Lord be so gracious that he do that for me and you.
And maybe he would. Maybe if the Lord keeps us faithful
to preach his word, he just might do it. It'd be like him, wouldn't
it, Gary? It'd be just like him. All right,
let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for this passage of your word that demonstrates this great
miracle of the gift of faith, that you give this gift of life
and faith to your people through the preaching of the gospel,
the gospel that's preached through the stammering, fleshly lips
of another sinner to the ears of another sinner. But Father,
that you apply to the heart. Oh, how we thank you. Father gives us great hope. It
gives us reason to bow at your feet and beg of you. What you've
done for your people in the past, would you be pleased to do for
us here? That you might be pleased to move in power, call out your
sheep, save your people. And Father, to keep us, to keep
your people, to keep us close to thee, to keep us faithful
to the preaching of the gospel. that this might continue to be
a place where sinners can come and hear the Savior. Father,
it's in Christ's name, for his glory, for the glory of the sake
of his name, we pray and we give thanks, amen. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would, turn in your
hymnals to song number 442. and stand as we sing Praise Him,
Praise Him. 442. Praise Him, Praise Him,
Jesus our blessed Redeemer. Sing o'er earth His wonderful
love proclaim. Hail Him! Hail Him! Highest Archangels in glory,
Strength and honor give to His holy name. Like a shepherd, Jesus
will guard His children in His arms. He carries them all day
long. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. For our sins He suffered and
bled and died. our rock, our hope of eternal
salvation. Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the
crucified. Sound His praises, Jesus who
bore our son. wonderful, deep, and strong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portals clad with Hosanna's
ring. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever
and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, prophet
and priest and king. Christ is coming. over the world victorious. Power and glory unto the Lord
belong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song.