All right, we're continuing in
our study in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 2. And we have finished
where Peter is compelled to speak to what has been a magnificent
revelation on the part of God towards 15 nations. And we are
at verse 14. And in our outline, we have entitled
this first point in our PowerPoint, Jerusalem being the center point
of the new covenant blessings. Jerusalem being the center point
of the new covenant blessings. To really understand the impact
of what's taking place here, it's important for you to know
that what Peter is privileged to do is explain the coming of
the kingdom of God into the Old Testament system and dynamically
announcing the rule of Jesus Christ by his spirit, establishing
a whole new order and a whole new covenant in the midst of
that which was and is often today still viewed as the center and
footstool of God's glory, Jerusalem. the idea of Jerusalem for many
people, even in Christianity, but certainly among the Jews. And this has been held in the
minds of Islam, our Muslims as well, that the geographical place
called Jerusalem is somehow such a special, special place that
if a person could get control of Jerusalem, you would have
control of the universe. This is Jewish thought, Jewish
ideology a Jewish eschatology that he who rules Jerusalem rules
the world and of course the Bible has had a lot to say from the
Old Testament to the new about Jerusalem and in fact when you
read the last chapter of the book of Isaiah it actually describes
eternity in terms of Old Testament paradigm about new moons and
feast days and Sabbath days and coming up to the temple and worshiping
God and the Gentiles will come and you will see those who are
on the outside of the kingdom suffering the ravages of the
language that Jesus used in the Gospels of where the worm dieth
not and the fire is not quenched, describing hell. But if you put
your thinking caps on and you reason through the whole idea
of eternity and you take the language of Isaiah chapter 66,
where it's describing new moons and feast days and Sabbaths,
you have to understand that what Isaiah is using is typological
language from the Old Testament to describe what really is eternal
reality. for in eternity we will not be
dealing with new moons or feast days or Sabbath days because
eternity will be beyond time as we know it. So the device
in Isaiah chapter 66 describing what the world will be like when
the new Jerusalem and the ultimate Eschaton comes in is really simply
accommodating Old Testament typology about things that you and I really
cannot describe. How can you describe eternity?
But that device needs to be understood as distinctive of an ideal. So
I'll see it like this as we work our way through Acts chapter
two in this very pivotal event that took place at Pentecost.
Jerusalem has to be comprehended as an ideal. Jerusalem, physical
Jerusalem, has to be comprehended as an ideal. What is Jerusalem
in terms of its ideal? Well, Jerusalem is the city of
what? God. It's the city of God. It's the foundation of peace. That's what the term literally
means. Foundation of peace and foundation of righteousness. Hence, our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the high priest of the New Jerusalem, takes on the order
of Melchizedek and not Aaron and not the Levites, because
Melchizedek's name, by interpretation, means King of Peace and King
of Righteousness. Being a high priest in Jerusalem
for Jesus then is not meaning that he is a high priest in the
Middle East, in the Palestinian area of what we call Israel now. He is the high priest of an ideal
kingdom that God had in mind even before the world began.
This is why Paul could say in Galatians chapter four, there
is an earthly Jerusalem that is in bondage with her children
even now. And then there is a heavenly
Jerusalem, which is above, who is the mother of all believers,
of whom every citizen of that kingdom is free. So there is
this earthly Jerusalem, then there is this heavenly Jerusalem.
You guys remember that language? The earthly Jerusalem, the heavenly
Jerusalem. Ladies and gentlemen, then what's
taking place in Acts chapter 2, is that the heavenly Jerusalem
is now come down in the midst of the earthly Jerusalem with
a power that Christ promised would occur when he took his
seat on his father's throne. What you see in Acts chapter
2 is the presence of the new Jerusalem in the midst of the
old Jerusalem. Hence, there are several things
that I want you to mark. A king has now been seated in
Jerusalem. That's our first point. There
is a king in Jerusalem. What's his name? Jesus Christ. There's a king in Jerusalem.
And so the Hebrew writer tells us in Hebrews 12, 22 through
25, that we have not come to Mount Sinai, but we've come to
Mount Zion. We've come to an innumerable
host of angels. We've come to the church of the
firstborn. We've come to a citizenship where
the spirits of just men are made perfect. That's Hebrews 12, 22
through 25. And quite interestingly enough,
the writer to the Hebrews, in that text is writing to Hebrews,
letting them know that the earthly Jerusalem that they are inclined
to drift back to is not the place where God wants them to go. He
wants them to experience the power of the new kingdom or the
new Jerusalem where Jesus Christ is ruling where Jesus Christ
is reigning and from which kingdom, which is in heaven, Christ is
pouring out now the blessings and power of that kingdom. So
I want you to visualize or comprehend Christ in glory. We saw that
in Acts chapter one, he was taken up in a cloud, received up into
glory. The language of Acts three, the
language of first Timothy chapter three is he was received up into
glory. And so what the church is going
to be announcing in the book of Acts all the way through is
that God hath made him both Lord and Christ. What we are seeing
in Acts 2 with the outpouring of the Holy Ghost under several
powerful images and signs is the Lordship of Jesus Christ. What we are seeing in Acts two
is the outpouring of the third person who is announcing the
Lordship of Jesus Christ. And Peter is compelled in Acts
chapter two, verse 14, to explain to the brethren why it is that
they have been drawn away from the earthly temple, from that
Pentecost feast. into the presence of 120 people
who are experiencing and manifesting the presence of the power of
the promise of God in the spirit of God. In reality, they have
been shifted from the earthly Jerusalem, the earthly temple
to the spiritual Jerusalem and spiritual temple in the 120 people
who are now representing the kingdom of God. Do you guys see
that? This 15 nations, which were thousands of people, are
attracted by a phenomena of which we're going to talk about here
from the typological pattern of the Old Testament feast days
of which they derive no real spiritual benefit because those
were promissory notes that would only be fulfilled when Christ
came, they're moving from a physical feast to observe with their own
eyes and ears a manifestation, a manifestation of the Spirit
of God in the life of 120 people who are serving as the foundation
of the New Jerusalem. So we're dealing with juxtaposing
the Old Jerusalem with the New Jerusalem. We're juxtaposing
the Old Temple with the new temple. Do you guys see that? The old
temple is adjacent to where these 120 believers are and these people
are attracted to these 120 believers. These 120 believers are the temple
of God. They are the immediate representation
of the new dynamic. the new presence, the new power,
the new promise that God said he would bring about and Peter
is compelled to explain it. What's happening in Acts chapter
2 is what Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter 2 verses 1 through 3.
I want you to go there and see the imagery. Isaiah said it in
Isaiah 1, 3 and often people look at this language and consider
it as eschatological or end-time language or language that is
to be reserved for what is called the millennium, but I would beg
to differ. I would say that Acts chapter
2 verses 1 through 3, I'm sorry, Isaiah 2 verses 1 through 3 is
being fulfilled in our ears in Acts chapter 2. The word that
Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. The word
that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
Mark those two words, okay? Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall
come to pass in the last days in the last days is peter going
to be talking about the last days It shall come to pass in
the last days that the mountain of the lord's house Shall be
established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted
above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it Do you see
it? And all nations shall flow unto it. What's happening at
pentecost. The nations are flowing into
the presence of this nucleus of the new Jerusalem called the
church of Jesus Christ and are observing in that church a manifestation
and outflow itself. And many people shall go and
say, come, let us go up into the mountain of the Lord to the
house of the God of Jacob. Now watch this. And he will teach
us of his ways and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion,
that's a synonym for Jerusalem, shall go forth the law and the
word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Ladies and gentlemen, the manifestation
of the tongues that was taking place in the life of the 120
correspond with this prophecy of Isaiah chapter 2 verse 3,
where the law is going forth from Mount Zion. And the word
of the Lord is proceeding from Jerusalem. It was that sound
that began to emanate out to all those ethnic groups that
drew them where they began to proceed or move forward to see
what this sound is. They are hearing the word of
the Lord. You and I have already been taught that the language
is how here we each every man, the them declaring the wonderful
works of God in our own language. So what's taking place I believe
is the fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 2 verse 3 and it goes
on to say we'll walk in his paths out of Zion shall go forth the
law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem and he now I want
you to mark this and he shall judge among the nations and he
shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords
in the plowshares and their spears in the pruning hooks nation shall
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
anymore. What is he describing? The unity
and the harmony and the oneness and the fellowship that occurs
when we all are one in Christ. when the spirit of God brings
about the kind of unified regeneration in the heart of multiple ethnic
groups, so that they are saying the same things about the same
person walking in unity, even though they are individually
different nations. Nations who before would have
been at war with one another, would have been killing one another,
destroying one another, bringing each other into bondage and captivity.
They are now going to be going back to their own homes with
the same gospel, declaring the same Lord to every one of those
different nations that they are a part of. I submit to you that
what's taking place according to Acts chapter 2 and verse 1
through 14 is what I said last week in John chapter 12 verse
32, Jesus said, if I be lifted up, if I be lifted up, I will
draw all men unto me. And that prophecy, that promise
would take place by the destruction of Satan, by the fulfillment
of the will of God in Christ Jesus on Calvary Street and at
the resurrection. So on this day, do we have a
nucleus of the fulfillment of what we have already said was
the anti-Babylonian type. The Babylonian tower was the
scattering of the nations. Acts 2 is the gathering of the
nations. Isaiah 2 is a prophecy that this
would occur. Now, I'm sharing that with you
as a person who fully believes in the crystal centric, cross
centered, hermeneutic in theology that the Bible demands. And what
I mean by that is this. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the fulfillment of prophecy, that the heart of all prophecy
is centered in his person and in his work. that when we diminish
who Christ is and diminish what he did in his coming, his incarnation,
his death, atonement, and resurrection, when we diminish that, we set
ourselves up for a faulty hermeneutic or set of interpretations that
lead us down another path. What I don't want you to do as
we deal with chapter two and work our way through it is to
minimize the significance of this event. Because this event
is not merely about the pouring out of the Holy Ghost. This event
is about the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It's about the rule of
God through Christ. And it's about the manifestation
of that third phase of the kingdom we talked about. We have gone
from the patriarchal stage under Noah, Abraham, Adam, through
the monarchial stage of the children of Israel and the kingship to
now the church age or the ecclesiological stage where the kingdom of God
is manifested in the church of which Jesus said in Matthew 16,
I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail.
Are you guys following what I'm saying? So that as you as the
text unfolds itself acts chapter two Don't fail to maintain in
your mind that what's taking place and peter is going to enunciate
this very clearly What's taking place? Is the rule of christ? Penetrating this world with his
kingdom starting in jerusalem So remember what he said? He
says, tarry ye in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from
on high. And from there you shall be my
what? From there you shall be my witnesses. And what you and I are going
to enjoy and learn as we work our way and ferret our way through
the scriptures in the book of Acts is a battle of Christ's
Lordship in the midst of the old system called Judaism Failing
to recognize that what Christ said would occur Hereafter you
shall see the Son of Man come with great power and great glory
That's what's taking place here in our text. The third point
is a fountain is now opened a Fountain is opened Zechariah chapter 13
verse 1 describes that fountain this way if you go there and
I believe that this prophecy is being fulfilled as well, a
fountain is opened. What does Zachariah describe
this fountain as? In that day, there shall be a
fountain open to whose house? The house of David. And to what
inhabitants? The inhabitants of Jerusalem.
For what? Sin and uncleanness. Remember what Jesus told the
disciples? Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel, declaring unto men and women repentance
for the remission of what? Sins. The pouring out of the
Holy Ghost then is an announcement that the fountain is open for
sinners to come and to have their sins washed away finally and
permanently through Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God is announcing
to these 15 nations and even to Israel that the place to which
we go in order to have our sins washed away is no longer to the
temple in Jerusalem, but to the Lord Jesus Christ himself and
that through the gospel. This is where Peter is going
to be able to explain it and open up, open it up fully. Fourthly,
a river is flowing. A river is flowing. I want you
to grasp that imagery briefly. A river is flowing. See, I am
comprehending Jerusalem and I'm comprehending the temple. And
you remember how the disciples were so enamored with and just
taken up by the beauty and gaudiness of that Herodian temple before
Jesus had finally left. He left for the last time. He
turned to the temple and to his disciples. He said, you guys
take a good look at this temple. Not one stone shall be left upon
another. This temple will be annihilated. It will be demolished. Your joy
and your confidence in Jerusalem as you know it is going to be
completely annihilated. Please understand, disciples,
that God's ultimate objective was not for a physical temple
in a physical Jerusalem for a limited period of time. It was merely
typological of the true Jerusalem the true temple, and the true
river of life. So we have in Ezekiel chapter
40, verses 40, chapters 40 through 48, a description of what they
call the Ezekiel temple, the Ezekiel temple. And in Ezekiel
chapter 43 or 47, I want you to read with me in Ezekiel 47,
verses one through 13, a description of the outflowing of a river. Do you guys remember that? Ezekiel
receives a vision of the restored temple Again, it often is described
as the temple that will be rebuilt in the millennium But there are
a lot of theological dangers with that assumption of which
we've talked about before And I simply want you to see in this
account of Ezekiel chapter 47 verses 1 verses 1 through 17
of the language of of an outflowing of a river.
And I, I, I dare to conclude that that river is a representation
of the spirit of the living God of which Jesus promised would
take place when he sent him, it would proceed from the throne
of God. It would start in Jerusalem.
It was spread through Judea, then Samaria and the uttermost
parts of the world. This is what's taking place in
acts chapter 2 a fulfillment of the lordship of jesus christ
Giving the reality of god's river in the life of those who are
being called to it. Listen to the language Afterwards,
he brought me again unto the door of the house behold waters
issued out from under the threshold of the house What is the house
here the temple? eastward For the forefront of
the house stood toward the east and the waters came down from
under the right side of the house at the side of the altar." Now,
do you guys have the vision of a river flowing through the temple? You guys got that? Now, you know
we're conflating imagery, right? But this is protology as well
as eschatology. This is the end time vision of
the renewed Edenic scenario as a consequence of God already
having a perfect Eden, a perfect Jerusalem in his mind before
he created the new heavens, or before he created the worlds.
In his own mind, God has a Jerusalem. Then he created the heavens and
the earth and he started with the Garden of Eden. And if you
remember in the garden of Eden, there were four rivers that flowed
out of the garden into the world to water the world. This is always
the way that God works. He tells us the end from the
beginning. Protology is his knowing what
he's going to do before he does it. And when he created the world,
when he created the garden, the garden was a temple type. It
was a Jerusalem type. And I might even argue, although
this gets back into our biblical theology class, so I'm cheating
a little bit, that where Adam and Eve were when they were first
created in the Garden of Eden was really Jerusalem. OK, because
Jerusalem is an ideal. It's not a mere geography. And
so the temple of God is where Adam and Eve were serving their
God until they were expelled. But what flowed from that temple,
the garden, were four rivers. Ezekiel sees that same river
flow. It's the river that Jesus said
in John chapter 7, if any man thirst, let him come unto me
and drink. As the scripture says, out of
his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And this is what's
happening in Acts chapter 2. Can you see it? the work of the
Spirit of God, the third person starting right there at Jerusalem.
Here's the language. Then he brought me out of the
way of the gate northward, led me about the way without unto
the other gate of the way that looketh eastward and behold there
ran out waters on the right side. And when the man that had the
linen line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand
cubits and he brought me through the waters and the waters were
to the what? That's how it was at the beginning. A thousand
cubits out, the water's at the ankle. And he measured another
thousand and he brought me through the waters and the waters were
to the what? That means the waters are what? Increasing. Increasing. And his own experience as Ezekiel
is leaving the temple, out of the temple, the waters are not
diminishing, they are increasing. They are increasing. And this
is his own experience, his own empirical experience in the vision
of the the profuse and abundant nature of the water that's proceeding
from the temple. Mark it now. And again, he measured
a thousand. He brought me to the waters and
the waters went to the loin, verse four and verse five. Afterwards,
he measured a thousand and it was a river that I could not
pass over for the waters were risen waters to swim in a river
that could not be what Ezekiel's experience was the outpouring
of the spirit of God in such a way that it overwhelmed everything
he could possibly conceive as having limitations. In his mind,
there was no place where the river did not have its influence. And what he is speaking to is
the impact of the spirit of God through the gospel upon the nations. Watch how he goes on to describe
it. And he said unto me, son of man, Have you seen this? Of course he did. He just described
it all. Then he brought me and he calls
me to return to the brink of the river. So now he's on the
shore. You know how we used to do it in the country, right?
Some of y'all don't know that. Now, when I have returned, behold,
at the bank of the river were very many, what? See how we're
dealing with the Edenic language again? Eden is an ideal in the
mind of God. It describes God's abundant blessings
and eternal riches that he gives to his people when they are in
his favor. So we are in Jerusalem, we have
the same river paradigm as the Genesis account, now we're dealing
with the trees. And ladies and gentlemen, you
know this is the last chapter of the last book of our Bibles,
Revelation 22, right? So he goes on to say, and it
came to pass, I'm sorry, verse five, then he said unto me, these
waters, no, verse seven, now when I return, behold, The bank
of the river were many trees on one side and on the other
and then he said unto me these waters Issue out toward the east
country go down into the desert and they go into the sea Which
being brought forth into the sea the waters shall be what?
Now what are the seas a metaphor as the book of revelation has
clearly informed us the nations of the world are The seas represent
the nations of the world. Revelation chapter 17. Isaiah
chapter 60 says that the Gentiles are the isles and the seas. So
the seas become a representation of the nations of the world because
the metaphor here is that of the ministry of the Holy Spirit
in evangelism. The outreach of evangelism will
take place by the church as it goes out in the ships, preaching
the gospel, casting out the dragnet, bringing in the fish. The kingdom
of God is like a dragnet. It's cast into the sea, bringing
in good and bad. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? That's the imagery that's going on here. This is the imagery
that Ezekiel is describing, and I am asserting to you that it
is having its initial and foundational revelation in our Acts account,
and we'll see it reverberate throughout the 28 chapters. Listen. He came to pass that everything
that liveth which moves whether it's over the river shall come
Shall live and there shall be a very great multitude of what
what does that mean? salvation Sinners who are represented
by fish being brought into the net of the gospel and experiencing
the salvation of the Lord You guys got it See the picture and
there shall be a very great multitude and there shall be a very great
multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither, for
they shall be what? Healed. Everything shall live
wherever the river comes. What is he describing? He's describing
the recovery of fallen humanity dead in trespasses and sin, as
sick fish of all kind, living in murky waters that are destructive,
of which when the Spirit of God entered into those waters, it
brings about such a healing that the fish recover. They begin
to populate and grow, describing the nature of the impact of the
gospel as it was spread from country to country to country.
Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel making disciples
of all nations. Do you see the picture? What
I am asserting to you, and I want you to grasp this then, because
when we go back and listen to Peter, Peter is going to explain
this to us. Because the Spirit of God has
revealed it to him. He's going to be very clear that
what we are experiencing is biblical prophecy concerning the Messiah's
rule over the world with the objective of the church being
the vehicle by which the kingdom goes into every nation. Only
we are using imagery here. The imagery of the river flowing
out. And it shall come to pass, verse
10, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Indigee even unto
Inglium, and they shall be even a place to spread forth what?
What is it describing? Preachers of the gospel, evangelists,
witnesses, churches, fellowships, casting forth the net, drawing
in lost sinners for the glory of God in Jesus Christ as we
are learning in evangelism. Follow me, follow me, and I will
make you fishers of men. That's the goal of the church.
That's the goal of the church. That's what Christ came to do.
That's what he taught his disciples to do. That's why he saved you
and I, that we would be witnesses together of his glory and of
his lordship by the power of the spirit as a unified group.
Listen to it. And it shall come to pass that
the fishers from all of these places shall cast forth their
net and their fish shall be according to their kinds as the fish of
the great sea exceeding many. This is the promise of the success
of the gospel as it has been to this day, 2000 years. One more, two more verses. But
the miry places thereof and the marshes shall not be healed. They shall be given to salt.
You have to accept the imagery because the imagery deals honestly
with us. And you'll see this in the book
of Acts, Mark verse 11. Not everyone who gets the witness, will yield
to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and be healed. Some of them will
remain Marsh places and suffer the curse for rejecting the presence
and power of the Spirit through the gospel. There will be Marsh
places. There will be some places that
won't be healed for verse 12. and by the river upon the banks
thereof on this side and on that side shall grow what all trees
for me whose leaves shall not fade neither shall the fruit
thereof be consumed it shall bring forth new fruit according
to his month because their waters they issue out of the what and
the fruit thereof shall be for meat in the leaf thereof for
what See again, we're dealing with that neo-edenic imagery
that has its final culmination in Revelation 22, where it says
in Revelation 22, John says, and I saw the throne of God.
That's the same thing as the temple. I saw the throne of God,
and I saw the Lamb who was slain sitting at the right hand of
God, right? That's the Father and the Son. And I saw a river
of life proceeding from the throne. That's whom? The Holy Ghost.
All three persons are described in Revelation chapter 22 verse
1 as the synodal of Jerusalem. For chapter 21 said, and we saw
the new Jerusalem come down out of heaven from God, having the
glory of God adorned as a bride for her bridegroom. And then
chapter 22 gives us the regional. blessed experience of that Edenic
state where all things are new, the curse is removed, there's
no sun, there's no moon, there's no timekeepers. So the imagery
advances into eternity, although it's still using that Edenic
terminology to let us know we are in what is called full restoration
mode. But never forget this, what John
saw in Revelation 22 verse one was very clear. I saw a throne. That means the Lordship of God
Almighty and a lamb, which means the basis and reason for which
you and I can be sure that eternal life and restoration will take
place is because of the atoning work of Jesus Christ. See, God
closes out his Bible focused on Christ as the basis of the
covenant blessings. And it's important for you to
know that when you as a Christian are to contemplate biblical truth
and think about the promises of God and think through, pull
up Revelation chapter 22, verse one and two, and think through
God's everlasting promises, never forget that they are all centered
in Christ. They are all centered in Christ.
To the degree that you and I leave Jesus Christ out, we are in trouble. And he showed me a pure river
of water of life. Same river as in Ezekiel. Clear
as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and of the
Lamb. You know what we could do with
Revelation 22-21? We could go back to John chapter 14, 15 and
16, where Jesus says, I will send another comforter to you.
He shall come from my father. I will send him, my father will
send him. He will proceed from us. All three persons then are
intricately involved in the redemption of sinners. The Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. And for me, what's absolutely
gratifying is that what God would have me to comprehend is all
eternity with all of the blessings of its promises are built upon
and based upon the lamb that was slain, to take away our sins
and to open up the eternal covenant so that all of the blessings
of God are poured out upon his people because of him. And I'll
stay with me now. And the essential blessing that
starts all the other blessings is the spirit of the living God.
The essential blessing critical to every other blessing is the
third person himself. The essential blessing that the
Son of God sends as a promise of the Father by which every
other blessing is secured in our life is the third person. Are you guys getting what I'm
saying? The Spirit of God then becomes a critical reality in
the unfolding of the blessings. For He becomes the resident,
the resident executioner of the covenant in our life. You know,
when you have a covenant, somebody has to execute that covenant.
You know who that is? The Spirit of God. Christ is
the mediator of the covenant. The Father drew up the covenant.
The Holy Ghost dispatches the blessings of the covenant. You
got that? He's the executioner of the covenant.
He's the one giving gifts unto men. He is the immediate presence
of God, the immediate presence of Christ, by which you and I
become thus qualified to share this glorious gospel with men
and people around the world. You know what's interesting to
me? God is excited about his own gospel. More excited than
his people are. You and I should just be elated
by the imagery. It should take us up with just
absolute wonder. Because see, God knows what he's
talking about by lisping. He's humbling himself, talking
to us little babies in imagery language, in symbolic language,
in typological language, because eye has not seen, ear has not
heard, neither has it entered into the heart of men. Those
things that God has really prepared for us that are too grand for
us to be able to articulate, as Paul said, I was caught up
to the third heavens whether in the body or out of the body
I cannot tell but such a one was caught up to paradise and
I saw and heard things that I cannot lawfully utter because if I were
to utter them first and foremost you wouldn't get it no way because
you cannot have a legitimate correspondence between heavenly
things and earthly things This is why understanding biblical
principles of interpretation are critical. When God talks
to us in human language about eternal things, he is actually
condescending. He's reducing his language so
that he can accommodate our comprehension. And so we might not understand
that when God uses earthly temporal things to describe eternal realities,
that we are mixing categories. But we have to be able to see
that one category is simply a device to talk about another. The category
of temporal things is designed to talk to us about heavenly
and eternal things of which until we get on that side and God gives
us a mind to be able to comprehend those things. He has to talk
to us in baby language, but you know how good God is. He started
in the Genesis account with the same language and finishes in
the book of revelation with the same language. Which means this
I don't care how old you are in Christ until you leave this
earth and are glorified Totally you are a baby and God hasn't
talked to us at babies Because we can't comprehend the mature
Revelation of what God has for us so long as we are not yet
glorified Am I making some sense? You know how you talk to your
grandbabies? That's how God talks to us that's what he's doing
This is extremely limited speech, but because we are children waiting
for that ultimate adoption of our bodies, and therefore our
physical minds, we are to laud and glory in the fact that God
would list or condescend to talk to us in such language. Don't
ever be bored with God's imagery. Don't ever be bored with typology
and symbolism. It's the bridge between heaven
and earth. spiritual and carnal God in us. It's the only way we can get
to him. Am I making some sense? Okay, so let's go back to our
text. Uh, Acts chapter two, cause I want to get into Peter's discourse.
So a river is flowing. A witness is established. Is
that's to a witness. We're going to see that that's
Matthew's 28 verse 19. Go you into all the world and
preach the gospel as a witness. Acts chapter two is a witness.
Those 120 in the upper room are God's witnesses. The 15 nations
that have come to see and hear what they are hearing are hearing
God's witness. As we learned last week so profoundly,
how here we every man in our own language, verse eight, how
here we every man in our own tongue, that's language, dialect,
where in we were born. In verse 7, And they were all
amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all
these which speak? What? This is the thing that
they're struggling through and Peter's going to explain and
we're going to learn something about how God works. How God
takes rude, simple, lowly things to confound the wise. They're
asking the question and the question again is raised over in verse
12, And they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one
to another, What means this? Then we have a caveat that that
actually provokes Peter to speak verse 13 others I want you to
mark that the persons that are raising the question in verse
7 and In verse 8 how here we every men in our own tongue wherein
we were born and in verse 12 And they were all amazed and
in doubt saying one to another what mean is this are different
than the folks in verse 12 You you need to understand that because
what we're getting ready to build is a grid of and a framework
that's gonna be essential to a thorough investigation of this
issue called tongues. So what we're doing now is building
a grid and a framework because this is the first place that
tongues in the scriptures are being utilized. It's going to
be a framework and a grid by which we can examine the deep
and profound and complex issue, isn't it? tongues in order for
you to be able to use this as a grid to into Analyze and interpret
properly what takes place at least four times in the book
of Acts and then this unique Experience in the Corinthian
Church. You've got to get first mention, right? First mention
is in Acts chapter 2 right before our face The framework is here. Are you hearing me? The framework
will be the premise upon which we launch into the question.
What are they doing? Why are they doing it? What implications
does it have? What are the consequences? What's
God up to? See, here's what I'm saying.
Before I get into Peter's, uh, expression, you really can't
be an honest exergy of the book of acts and avoid the tongue
issue. You really can't. You can concede
and say, I don't understand. Well, you don't get to teach
this book. Did you hear me? You don't get to teach the book
because whatever conclusions you draw about the tongues, you
have to admit that it is a featured new event with specific purpose
that got used to usher in the kingdom of God. Right. So I don't get to avoid it as
if it was insignificant. Are you kidding? It is critically
significant. So we will be devoting at least
two weeks to a full development of the doctrine of tongues under
many categories, because it will help you understand what the
book of acts is about and why Paul put massive regulatory principles
on the practice in first Corinthians chapter 14. Okay. I say then
in verse 13, others mocking are not the same category of people
who were simply wanting to know what's going on. You have two
different categories. And the one to whom Peter is
going to be speaking most specifically, listen to me, ladies and gentlemen,
are the mockers. The mockers will get an explanation
of what's taking place. because the markers are on the
outside of the blessing of what took place. You got it? It's important for you to know.
So then point number two in our outline, because we can jump
past, his knowledge is in all the earth. The new Jerusalem
above is on its way down. You can contemplate those for
yourself. It's spreading. Point number two in our outline,
the second graph in our outline, second PowerPoint, Peter is privileged
to pre-tune. Listen, when you don't preach
Christ, you haven't preached. It doesn't matter what you're
saying, preaching is about a person and that person is Christ. And
what you're about to see is Peter used the keys, the keys, the
keys that were given to him by prophecy of his Lord in Matthew
chapter 16. Remember, I give unto you the
keys to the kingdom. Which if you open no man can
shut if you shut no man can open Whatever you have bound on earth
will have already been bound in heaven Whatever you loose
on earth will have already been loosed in heaven. You're gonna
see Peter now use the keys Listen the keys to open up the kingdom
He's going to use the keys to open up the kingdom 15 nations
had a free prophetic revelation of the gospel given to them without
the necessity of interpretation. They heard clearly the exaltation
of Christ in their own language. There's another group sitting
right here mocking who did not hear what those other folks heard.
They were excluded from what they heard because the tongue
has a specific prophetic device behind it. of which I'll give
you one of the principles that you must grasp. If a tongue is
declared publicly in the presence of the people and there is no
interpretation, it's a curse. If a tongue is declared in the
presence of the people and the people are left without interpretation,
it is designed according to the law of God all the way from Deuteronomy
running through as a curse. Because it is a prophecy that
is unrevealed Are you hearing what I'm saying? This is a law
that will show itself As part of our contemplation beginning
perhaps next week if I can get through all my points tonight
Peter's privileges to preach Christ the keys to the kingdom
So what does Peter do? He begins to explain some things
and I want you to grasp them verse 14 Peter standing up with
the 11 lifted up his voice and said unto them Who? Ye men of
what? Who were the ones mocking? The
folks of Judah. That's our category. The Judahites
are the target. The men of Judah are the target
of Peter's discourse. They are the target. Peter is
not compelled to explain to the other 15 nations what's going
on. He's speaking directly to Judah. That's Isaiah chapter
2. They were all drawn. Judah and Jerusalem were drawn.
The men of Judah are going to be the men who once again are
going to be confronted by God Almighty through Jesus, who is
the Messiah. to let them know they are in
danger because they are rejecting the Messiah. Now listen to the
language. You men of Judah and all that
dwell at Jerusalem be it 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. So now what you and I know that
verse 15 does is explains to us that the mockers were responding
to what they saw by saying that these men were full of new wine,
right? They were saying that they're full of new wine. The
word new there is the term glucose in the Greek from which we get
the term sugar or sweetness. And it implies a wine that can
make you intoxicated really quickly. And so they were simply saying
that they were drunk. I won't expand on that fully
now. We will in time. view of these men of Judah as
they observed the speaking of tongues that is the foreign languages
of each of these ethnic groups that was articulated by the hundred
and twenty Galileans of which those ethnic groups clearly understood
the only people that did not understand him was these folks
in where Judah These Judahites now are being told by Peter,
first and foremost, these folks are not drunk. We know you don't
understand what they are saying, but they are not drunk. Your mocking is an indication
of another problem. Got that? Your mocking is an
indication of another problem and it goes way back to the book
of Deuteronomy But this is that now what he's about to do according
to Peter is is declare prophecy fulfilled And I want you and
I to investigate this under at least the three and four points
that we have in front of us Listen to what he says ladies and gentlemen
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel It shall
come to pass in the last days saith God I will pour out, pour
out, pour out. This is why I took the time for
us to go through the imagery of the river, the river. I will
pour out, gush out, lavishly pour upon you my spirit, upon
all flesh, upon all flesh. Did you see that? In your outline,
point number B, all flesh equals what? Every nation, not every
single person. We want you to help you properly
interpret scripture. This is going back to our PowerPoint.
It's important for you to know that when, um, terms that appear
to be absolutes in the scriptures are given. It's not for you and
I to think in terms of universal absolutes, like be careful that
when you read your Bible, where it talks about all, all has to
be understood in its context. All does not describe in every
context, all people everywhere in the world, obviously all has
to apply to the context. Isn't that true? So if a context
is that all of the people that were in the room were filled
with the Holy Ghost, doesn't mean that all of the people in
the world were filled with the Holy Ghost. It just means that
all in the context that it is being used up and it's very important
for you to know. So now watch this. He says, and
I will pour out my spirit upon what? What we mean is every ethnic
group. Obviously the spirit of God is
not poured out upon every human being. Do I have to waste my
time on Friday night explaining that? Obviously the spirit of
God does not save, regenerate, quicken and give to articulate
prophetically every human being. So when he uses the term all
flesh, he's talking about breaking out of that unique nucleus called
national Israel and touching the Gentiles. You guys got that? That's critical to your theology.
It's the same way when the scripture says he's not only our Savior,
but the Savior of the whole world. It doesn't mean he's the Savior
of every individual. It means he's the Savior of humanity
in the sense that the ethnic groups who will come under the
gospel will experience the blessing of Christ's Saviorhood. But he's
not everybody's Savior in the experiential sense. You guys
got that? It'll help you properly interpret
the scriptures. You can read it for yourself
in John chapter 12. They came to the rulers saying
that, you know, Jesus fame is going abroad and all men seek
him everywhere. This is John chapter 12. Well,
we know that all human beings don't seek Jesus. We have to
rightly divide the word. Context is very important, correct?
Or else you will set yourself up for contradictions that are
untenable in terms of sound doctrine. So it goes on to say, Shall come
to pass he'll pour out his spirit upon all flesh and your sons
and your daughters shall what? Now I want you to keep that I
told you that we are developing a formula here, right a grid
a prism by which we can properly Interpret this whole issue of
tongues. So we know that the spirit is the spirit of prophecy
It's important for you to know that the spirit of prophecy and
he is a causing them to prophesy through the agency or the gift
of, in this case, what? Tongues. You got it? What they
are declaring are the wonderful works of God, which is equivalent
to prophecy. It's through the mechanism or
instrumentality of languages. So be careful because we are
actually setting up a grid. How important is prophecy? It's very important. And the
questions that follow the implications of a prophetic utterance are
very important, aren't they? If someone comes to you and says,
I'm a prophet. God speaks to me. He speaks through
me. I have a prophetic word for you.
They open their mouth and they prophesy. You have to say, wait
a minute, I need to write that down because I have to add that
to the Bible. How privileged am I to hear God
add an extra word to his Bible from you? Since you call yourself
a prophet, receiving the word directly from God to give to
me. In other words, if you open your mouth and say you are a
prophet, you better be ready for the serious, far reaching
ramifications of that statement. Because if God is still speaking
in the same way he spoke back then, He is adding to his word
necessarily. That's why we warn people. You
better be careful what you say, but we'll deal with that a little
later on down the line as well. Um, it goes on to say here in
verse, uh, 16, um, for, I'm sorry, verse 17, it shall come to pass
the latter part. They shall prophesy. Your daughter
shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions.
Your old men shall dream dreams. and all my servants and all my
handmaids will I pour out in those days of my spirit and they
shall what? The emphasis is prophecy. The
emphasis is the proclamation of God's word. The emphasis is
them occupying the office of prophecy under the unction of
the spirit declaring God's word. That means they are speaking
authoritatively in a manner in which they are disclosing revelation
to God's people concerning God's will. This is a very important
matter. What this also means is they
can't be liars. They can't be speaking from their
own human idiosyncrasies. They can't just simply be as
a whim saying, thus said the Lord. They've got to be right. This is serious business, isn't
it? So I'm saying that we're actually developing a grid and
a framework for how to understand The usage of it in the other
accounts as well as dealing with first corinthians 13. We'll deal
with that in the future He goes on to say in verse 19 because
I want to help us understand that there is a two-fold Objective
in the ushering in of the spirit of god called the spirit of prophecy
The first objective is clear, to announce the good news of
the gospel of Jesus Christ through that nucleus to the 15 nations
who have been coming to Jerusalem under the auspices of the typology
and they are now receiving the reality. They get to go back
home for the last time to their country and tell them the Christ
that we have been looking for is here now. He's on his throne. He has dispatched his spirit.
We have received his spirit. We are vessels of the spirit.
We can take the spirit back with us to our own country. God can
pour out of us into other people, the spirit of the living God,
because we are now vessels, receptors of his true. You guys got that? We no longer have to go to Jerusalem.
Jerusalem from above is coming to us. We get to declare the
finished work of Jesus Christ, the totality of his redemptive
work, and the blessings of the new covenant opened up to us.
People get to experience the river in Libya, the river in
Egypt, the river in Persia, the river in Babylon, the river in
Rome. Because Christ has poured out
the gift of the Spirit of God, who now becomes the executioner
of all of the blessings. That's one side of it. But here's
the other side that we're going to give ourselves to for 10 minutes,
and then we'll take this up next week. Prophecy, biblical teaching,
is always, when authentically done, a two-edged sword. Always. It has always been, and
it will always be. The word of God cuts to life,
and it cuts to damnation. The word of God cuts the light
on and men bow the knee to that revelation and receive the blessings
promised in it. And the word of God also exposes
the rebels who perish under the damnation and curse of that very
same sword. What you and I are going to contemplate
now is the Lordship of Christ over his own nation as he has
prophesied time and again before he actually came that Israel
will reject his Lordship and suffer the consequences thereof,
even in this New Testament era. We will see that division all
through the book of Acts. All through the book of Acts,
some will believe and some will not. Some will experience the
blessing of the revelation of the gospel. Others will be blinded
and judged. Are you guys following me? And
this will be a pattern that did not start in the New Testament.
It started all the way back in the days of Moses. This is going
to be part of the explanation of the right purpose of tongues. He goes on to say, and all my
service on my handmaids will I pour out my spirit in those
days and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders where,
and I will show signs in the earth beneath blood, fire, 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 stop right
there What did Peter just do he quoted Joel? Chapter 2 and
in quoting Joel chapter 2 verses 28 through 32 Joel described
two things Joel described the blessing of people becoming instruments
by which God's revelation advances and and also the prophetic judgment
of Christ's Lordship over the nation that will reject the gospel. He is actually describing what
he said would take place in the last days. Isn't that what it
says? In the last days, I will show signs, where? In the heavens. And this is the previous verse. I will show signs in the heaven
and in the heavens above and signs in the earth beneath. Leave
that up there for a second. Now, when did the last days start,
you guys? When Christ came. Not when he
died. When he came. Let's enjoy this
now. Do you know how important it
is for the Son of God to have come into the world? How important
was it? It was the creator of the universe
who came. Scripture is being fulfilled
when Christ assumes the human nature. Isn't that right? The
heavens are rejoicing when Mary is conceived of the Holy Ghost.
Is that true? And more specifically, when Jesus
is born, immediately upon his birth, manifestations of his
messianic person takes place. Signs and wonders occur. What happened the day that Jesus
was born? Signs in the heavens. Signs in
the heavens. The heavens open up. The angels
declare his glory. Signs in the heaven. The star
that the wise men follow from the east over the house where
Jesus is born. Signs in the heaven. Signs in
the heaven. Signs in the earth took place
all through Christ's ministry. This is called the messianic
age. All through Christ's ministry, he did the signs that only Messiah
could do. See what I'm getting you to understand
is, when Jesus came, all of those prophecies that Joel is talking
about, Isaiah is talking about, are all now being fulfilled.
I know when you read through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
you fail to be impacted by how powerful his presence was and
his impact on nature. But nature was manipulated wherever
God wanted it to be manipulated as he went about healing, as
he went about manifesting his power over the sea, as he went
about revealing his sonship by his conversation with his father.
The heavens open up and God says, this is my beloved son. Is that
not a sign? Is that not a wonder? Is that
not a marvel? Jesus is healing. He's raising
the dead. He's opening the eyes of the blind. Only Christ could
do what He did. So when we read this text, and
I will show signs, show wonders in the heavens above and signs
in the earth beneath, all of that hallmarked our Master's
ministry. You guys got that? The whole
of creation was at the beckoning hand of the Son of God wherever
He needed it. Do you remember what took place
when he hung on Calvary's tree, Matthew chapter 26, 27? As the sun hung there, the text
tells us, and the sun was darkened, the whole earth was darkened
for three hours. Do you guys remember that? What
I am declaring to you is that the prophecy of Joel, as Peter
is now enunciating it, is not something that was describing
miracles and signs and wonders that would take place in our
last days, but in the last days of that old covenant system when
Messiah himself would show up to affirm the fact that he alone
was Messiah. See, it still centers around
the person of Christ. Prophecy and signs and wonders
mean nothing if they don't have their ultimate culmination in
your Messiah in mind. You'll notice nobody believed
the gospel just because of signs and wonders. No one. And yet Jesus raised the dead. He turned the water into wine. He stilled the ocean. The father
spoke from heaven. The brethren saw angels. Are
you hearing what I'm saying? How many more signs and wonders
you need in order to know this is the real deal? Joel is saying
all this was going on while Christ was here. And then here we are
on Pentecost. Don't tell me this was not a
sign and wonder day. The sound of a mighty rushing
wind from heaven. Tongues of fire on their head.
Here's another sign and wonder the gospel being proclaimed by
Galileans to 15 nations in their own tongue. That's huge Am I
making some sense and we will see that this was a prophecy
in the scriptures Concerning the way that God deals with his
stubborn hard-headed rebellious sons when they reject the plain
revelation With men of stammering lips and another tongue. Well, I speak to this people
The Galileans were country bumpkins with stammering lips, of which
these very rulers said in John chapter seven to Nicodemus, are
you a Galilean? Nicodemus should have said, yeah,
I am now. Are you hearing me? The signs and the wonders that
are being performed here are the fulfillment of the prophecy
concerning not only Christ's coming, but now his rule from
heaven. These are critical, critical
prophecies. Point number three, in your PowerPoint. Peter privileged to preach Christ
the keys to the kingdom. I'll stop here. A prophetic ministry
to every believer. A prophetic ministry to every
believer. Look at what it says. And it
shall come to pass that whosoever shall call, verse 21, shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall what? This is absolutely phenomenal. So here's what Peter does. Peter
declares that the gift of the Spirit of God was given to these
120 male and female. It's a new paradigm. And these
120 are the nucleus of the new church. 15 nations will receive
the cup of blessing called the Holy Ghost, take it back to their
country and churches will be established. On this day right
now in front of you and I is a test. The test is for the men
of Judah. who have been told for three
and a half years by Jesus that he was the Messiah. Before Jesus,
his cousin John said, all right, there's one coming who's shoelaced. I am not worthy to unloose. He will baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire. There's your two edged sword.
There's your two edged sword. The sword is manifesting itself
hanging over the heads of these Judites right now You know what? They're about to get not only
the prophecy of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost Out of the
mouth of Joel to come upon the children because see the children
received the kingdom but then the warning as Joel said and
there shall be blood and There shall be vapor of smoke and the
Sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give its light
And all of that is apocalyptic language of the judgment of nations. Are you hearing me? It's not
the end of the world. It's Old Testament prophetic
language that says when God comes to a nation and tells it to repent
and it doesn't, he cuts their lights out. The two-edged sword
here that's getting ready to work through the whole book of
Acts as we unpack the gospel is that Judah will constantly
receive a testimony of the lordship of Jesus Christ and in rejecting
that testimony. God's going to cut the lights
out. Did he cut the lights out on Israel? Do you know your Bibles? Do you understand that Israel
ceased to be used by God as the nation by whom the gospel would
go into all the world because they rejected the testimony of
Jesus? This is where we are right here. So Peter is getting ready
to now go into another aspect of the proclamation. He goes
from explaining the prophecy of Joel with reference to the
outpouring of the Holy Ghost. And now he pointedly, pointedly,
pointedly deals with the rulers. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you. Now watch this. This here is
the affirmation of what we said earlier by miracles, wonders
and signs. which God did by Him in the midst
of you. Watch this, as you yourselves
know. He's affirming all that I've
said to you for the last 15 minutes, haven't I? That God came in the
person of Christ with signs, miracles, and wonders. Undeniable
incontrovertible evidence of his Messiah ship from heaven
to the earth the waters Everything was at his beckoning call nature
served its creator To testify that he had come in the human
nature and the rulers now have to reckon with that testimony
You know what Peter said as you will know They're stuck because
the Holy Ghost is here and There was a major sign that took place.
I You know what that sign was? All the other nations can hear
the gospel unimpeded. And you yourself are still on
the outside to whom Messiah had come first. What will you do? Let's pray. Thank you, Father,
for this word. Thank you for your truth. Help
us to understand the importance of it as we go through it from
week to week. We do thank you that we are among those who,
by your goodness and mercy, subdued us, broke our hearts, caused
us to believe and accept the truth as it is in Jesus. We could
have been like these hard-headed, stubborn Jews, no different by
nature, rebellious against the testimony. Hardening our hearts
against the revelation of your word against the examples that
you set for us Throughout our lifetime through many many believers
and many many proclamations of biblical truth But you subdued
us you caused the word to speak clearly to our soul. We heard
your voice and We came to know you as Lord and Savior, and we
thank you for that. We pray that be the case for
everyone in this room. May no one in this room be on
the outside of the clear message of the gospel and not able to
hear the voice of the Son of God, which says, come unto me,
all ye that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. May
we all know that rest in this place as we go our way tonight,
we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Blessings to you guys.
Blessings to you.