You'll turn back with me now
to Acts chapter 2. This is Peter's sermon on the
day of Pentecost. Pentecost was one of the feasts
of the Jews. If you want to read this afternoon
and do some Looking back and some refreshing of your mind,
you can find it back in Exodus chapter 23 and then again in
chapter 34. Pentecost means 50th. That's what the word means, 50th. From the 16th day of the Jewish
month, Nisan, or the second day of the Passover, Seven weeks
were to be reckoned of the Jews. That is, seven weeks, seven seven-day
periods, 49 days. And wherein was all sorts of
various things and feasts and different things that were accomplished
during those days. There were 49 days. On the 50th
day was the day of Pentecost. Thus the name, Pentecost. And
Pentecost was to commemorate the grain harvest. And the new
corn of the completed harvest and two lambs were to be taken
and weighed. They were to make two loaves
of bread. They were to take that new grain
out of that completed harvest and beat it small. And they were
to make two loaves of leavened bread. Not unleavened, leavened
bread. And two lambs and they were to
wave it before the Lord. Now, it's on this day as it's
fulfilled by our ascended priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our
lamb who appears before God and offers himself as the firstfruits
before God. And at this, the Holy Spirit
of God is poured out upon his church. Now I want to give you
five things this morning that I see in this. And this is a
model sermon. I recommend that you study this
message of Peter. You've got to kind of cut through
all the things that man has taken and just taken way out of context. And we're going to get into some
of them this morning. But you've got to kind of cut
your way through that. But if you do and you look at
it, it's a model sermon. It's just a model sermon. And
I see five things in here this morning that I want to bring
to your attention. The first thing I see here is
that the gospel he preached to those who were gathered there
to hear him was based on the Old Testament scriptures. Now,
this is very important. Turn with me to 1 Peter 1. I
want you to look at two passages on this subject with me here
this morning. And the first of them is here in 1 Peter 1. And we'll begin reading here
in verse 10. Of which salvation? Now, if you
want to know what he means by salvation, he declares it before
he gets to this verse. He declares it in the first nine
verses. You go back there and read, and you'll find out we're
led according to the foreknowledge of God, begotten again to a lively
hope, and so on and so forth. but of which salvation the prophets,
that is Moses and Joshua and David and Isaiah and Jeremiah
and Ezekiel and Daniel and so on, of which salvation these
prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of
the grace that should come unto you. Peter said, these men's
ministry and prophecy that God has gathered together into a
book. There was no New Testament at
this time, just an Old Testament scripture. That's all there was.
These parchments. And he said, these writings of
these men that God anointed and inspired to write was a testimony
of the grace that was coming to you. That's what he said.
A grace that was coming to you. Searching what or what manner
of time the Spirit of Christ that was in them did testify
or signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of
Christ and the glory that should follow. Now these men saw these
things and they knew that those things weren't for this time. They knew that these things were
not for these people. And yet they looked forward to
that Christ and by faith were saved the same as we look back
to the Christ. or look to the Christ who's enthroned
in prison. Christ is Christ, whether He's
Christ in eternity or Christ as a man or Christ on the throne.
Christ is Christ. He's unchangeable. He's never
changed. He just manifested things throughout time and showed that
eternal glory that He had with the Father. You know, in His
high priestly prayer, He said, now, Father, glorify Me now with
that glory that I had with You before the world was. of which salvation these prophets,
Moses and all these men, they searched diligently and prophesied
of that grace that should come unto you, searching what or what
manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify. when it testified beforehand
the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow,
unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto
us they did minister the things which were now reported unto
you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." Now, isn't that what Peter's
doing on this day? That's exactly what Peter's doing on this day.
The Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, fell on him, and he stood
up among them and preached this message of Christ. And he preached
it from the Old Testament Scriptures. I'm telling you this, we have
no way of knowing anything about Christ except as God has set
him forth in the Old Testament Scriptures. You don't even know
what sacrifice means apart from the Old Testament Scriptures.
You don't know what a priest is apart from the Old Testament
Scripture. You don't know what redemption is apart from the
Old Testament Scripture. Why I talk to men and women today
about the Old Testament is as though it didn't even exist.
That's why you're so ignorant of the work of God. That's why
we're so ignorant when we first, because we don't know anything
about the Old Testament Scriptures. Through the prophet Isaiah, God
declared His Christ to come through the womb of a virgin. Through the womb of a virgin.
And we're going to call His name Emmanuel. You can read about
that in Isaiah chapter 7 and Matthew chapter 1. You can read
the fulfillment of it. We have no way of knowing anything
about this Christ apart from the Old Testament Scriptures.
The prophet Micah said that Christ would be born in Bethlehem of
Judea. That's in Micah chapter 5 verse
2. Matthew chapter 2 verses 5 through 6 tells you the fulfillment of
it. King Herod sought to kill Christ and his parents was warned of
God to flee into Egypt that Hosea's prophecy might be fulfilled in
Hosea chapter 11 verse 1. You read about it in Matthew
chapter 2 verse 15. And it said, out of Egypt have
I called my son. How would we have any way of
knowing that apart from the Old Testament? You wouldn't. You
wouldn't. And so on and so on throughout
the Old Testament scriptures, the gospel is proclaimed. Everything
we preach and believe has a firm foundation laid in the Old Testament
scriptures. Now turn with me over to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. Let me show you another one.
1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse
1. We live in a day of an iffy gospel, but it's not the first
time it ever happened. Paul was dealing with the same
thing over here. People saying, well, you might
be saved, you might not, this might be, this might not, you
might be just. It was a maybe, if, probably,
maybe, you know. Listen, I'm telling you the truth.
All you got to do is turn the radio on and listen. That's what's
being preached in our day. Listen to this. 1 Corinthians
15, verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have
received, and wherein you stand, by which also you're saved, if
you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain. For I preached unto you, first
of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures. What Scriptures? Huh? It wasn't the New Testament,
was it? Paul said, I preached the Gospel
unto you, and it's the Gospel by which you'll be saved, if
you keep in memory what I preached unto you, because I preached
to you that Christ died for our sins according to the Old Testament
Scriptures. That's what he's telling them.
And that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according
to the Old Testament There wasn't anything in his day except the
Old Testament Scriptures. God honored his word throughout
the history of man at the appearing of his son, in the work he accomplished,
in his resurrection into glory. Will he now depart from it and
go use some other means? No. He tells us that we're built
on the foundation of the prophets and apostles. The New Testament
is that light shed by the appearance of Christ and by His work and
by His resurrection and His ascension into glory and His priestly intercession
for us in glory. It's the light of those things
that illuminate that Old Testament. And we see the basis of it. We
see all of these things in the Old Testament Scripture. He's
not moved on to something else. I tell you, men look at this
thing today and they talk about reading the Old Testament Scriptures
like it's some kind of an option and you'll get some kind of an
added blessing by reading it. I'm telling you, it's vital for
you to read the Old Testament Scriptures. It's vital for you
to do it. And then the second thing I see
here in this message, Peter just took them over to the Old Testament
Scriptures and he began to talk to them about David. He just
found something in the Old Testament. He found David here and some
words that David said and he applied those things straight
to Christ and went on to preach the Gospel to them. Just like
I do for you on Wednesday evenings when we go through the book of
Genesis and now going through the book of Exodus. But the second
thing I see here in this opening address to the New Testament
church, is he tells them now Christ sits enthroned, having
accomplished His work. He sits on a throne. This is not just a matter of
prophecy anymore. Isaiah prophesied of the coming
Redeemer. Micah prophesied of the coming
Redeemer. He prophesied all of these. I
read it to you out of Peter. about this grace that should
come. But now grace and truth has come. And it has accomplished what
God sent it to do. And now it sits enthroned at
the right hand of God. It sits enthroned. Now, listen
to this, Acts 2.32. This Jesus, this man, Jesus of
Nazareth, hath God raised up whereof we are all witnesses.
Being by the right hand of God exalted. Does God exalt failures? I don't think so. I don't think
so. Does God exalt those who wanted
to but couldn't? Does God exalt those who begin
something and can't finish? No, He exalted His Son because
He finished the work that He gave Him to do. And he honored
God in all that he did. And God honored him and raised
him up, exalted him, and set him at his own right hand. To
sit on God's right hand is to sit in a highly favored place. To sit at the right hand of omnipotence. You think of that. Sit at the
right hand of God. To sit on God's right hand is
to sit in the seat of power. He said, all power is given unto
me in heaven and earth. Who's it given to? Him that sits
at His own right hand. To sit on God's right hand is
to sit in the seat of the heir. Righteousness and redemption
are not things yet to be done. They're fully accomplished in
the life and death of Christ. Listen to this. Paul said in
1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, But of Him, that is, of God, are
ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. He was delivered for our offenses,
raised again for our justification. All for whom Christ died, would
be called and brought to repentance and faith. Peter knew that. He
could see that now. He had eyes to see and ears to
hear. Peter understood those things
that he heard and was ignorant of, those mysteries. Now they
were unraveled and he could see them in the glorified ascended
Christ. And he preached those things.
He preached Christ seated on the throne. The third thing I
see here that Peter declares to the church is that this crucified,
risen Redeemer was delivered by the determinate counsel of
God. God delivered Him. You know, some of them were walking
along the way on the road to Emmaus. They were walking along
there just totally disappointed and discouraged. And Christ came
to them and He appeared to them, but He didn't let them know who
He was. And he baited them with some questions. And they said,
well, we thought this was the Christ. They were disappointed. They were disappointed. But he's
not disappointed now. Now he's come to know something
about this ascended Christ. And he's come to see this, that
he was delivered by the determinate counsel of God. Back then he
could see man's hand over him and man's will over him. And
he feared those things and he saw those things and was confused
by those things and his faith was hankered by those things.
But now he sees in those things, he sees God's hand in those things. And he tells these people twice,
within two chapters, he tells them twice about the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God and God's counsel and all
that were involved doing exactly what God determined to be done. He didn't appear into this world
at the behest of men, nor was His work in any way hampered
by men, nor was it accomplished with the assistance of men, but
of Himself alone. God in Christ. That's what Paul
preached. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself. God was in Christ. Man didn't
have any part of it. He was the one over there kicking
and scratching and biting and trying to resist it. Man. That's what man does today. He
does everything in his power. God saves men against their will
with their full consent. God comes in and makes men willing.
There's no man willing. Is that right? No man is willing. You can't make him willing. He
can't make himself willing. God has to make him willing.
Now, He's not going to save you by some other Jesus, some other
Christ, and some other gospel, by some other spirit. He's going
to save you by this glorified, resurrected King-Priest, the
Lord Jesus Christ. You're going to come to believe
on Him as God has set Him forth in His office and in His greatness
and in His majesty. And you're going to bow to Him
or you're going to go to hell. That's right. God saves men in
spite of what they do. You read through this message
and see if I ain't telling you the truth. He said you, with
wicked hands, took him and crucified him, but you did it because God
delivered him into your hands by his determinate counsel and
full knowledge. You did it. Boy, they thought
they was doing something. They went back there in secret
and said, now here's what we're going to do. We got him now.
We got him. We're on a roll. We're going
to do this thing. We're going to say this. We've
got some false witnesses here. And we paid this man so many
pieces of silver and he's going to lead us. We got him. We got
him. We're going to get rid of him once for all. Peter said,
that's exactly what you did. And when you did it, everything
you said and everything you did was exactly what God determined
before to be done. And it's exactly the words that
the Old Testament prophets said that you'd say. And you did exactly
what they said you'd do. And in the end, all that you
accomplished was the will of God. And God took his son and
raised him up and set him on the throne. He was delivered by the determinate
counsel of God. And I tell you, nothing more
convinces me of God's absolute sovereignty than the person and
work of Christ. who appeared in this world as
the God-man and accomplished everything He was willing to
accomplish, everything that God determined to be done, He did
it. And He did it with relative ease. Christ wasn't upset and
angry and mad and frustrated. You read about Him in the four
Gospels. He went about business as usual every day and accomplished
the work of God and then gave Himself into His hands. They
crucified the Lord of glory, but He was put into their hands
by the determinate counsel of God. And if you want to, you
can add to that word determinate counsel. It says and foreknowledge,
but men like to run off with that foreknowledge and start
talking about telescopes of time and all kinds of foolishness.
What God foreknows, God foreordains. That's right. Anything God says
He foreknows, He foreknows it because he foreordained it. It'll
take me a little while, but I can show you that in the Scripture. And he foreordains it because
nothing can stay his hand or change his course. And he foreknows
exactly what's going to happen. The fourth thing I see in this
sermon that God blessed, He blessed this message, William, to the
saving of 3,000 souls. Wish Gary would preach it. Afraid
somebody's going to run us out of town. Peter stood up and preached
this and God honored it and saved 3,000 men at one time. And here's the fourth thing I
want you to see here. Is that his success was being
evidenced by things immediately taking place. Immediately. Listen to this.
God poured out His Spirit as He promised He would in the Book
of Joel, didn't He? Peter preached to the Parthians,
and Medes, and Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, and
Judea, and Cappadocia, and Pontius, and Phrygia, and Egypt, and folks
from Libya, and Cyrene, Rome, folks from Crete and Arabia,
all over. There were devout men of the
Jews gathered there from every known place in the world to come
there and attend these feasts. They were all there. They all
spoke in different languages. They all heard this message in
their own tongue. But a greater miracle than that
was taking place. They all heard and understood
the Gospel. Didn't they? They didn't hear
it when Christ preached it. They heard it when Peter preached
it. Wasn't time for them to hear
it yet. God has a time for men to hear. Yes, He does. He's saving a particular people. Who are they? I don't know. That's
why I preached to everybody. That's why Peter preached to
everybody. There was way more than 3,000 souls there that day,
but God saved 3,000 out of that multitude. And they all understood
what he preached. And it was totally contrary to
everything that they ever believed. This was a great miracle. They
all heard and understood the gospel and the power of God's
Spirit being born again. And those who are born of God
hear the word of truth. And this hearing is an evidence
of the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is the evidence
of the success of the resurrected Christ. He said, if I don't go
to the Father, the Holy Spirit is not going to come to you.
But if I go, I'll send Him. I'll send Him. He said, it's
expedient for you that I go away, John 16, 7. If I go away, the
Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I'll send
Him unto you. And when He's come, He'll reprove
the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. He'll convince
them when He comes. Didn't say He might. Said He
would. To me, it's the greatest evidence
of the reigning Christ in glory. How do I know that this man,
Jesus of Nazareth, was the Christ, and that what he did was accepted
of God, and that he now sits enthroned at the right hand of
God, dispensing the riches of his glory and grace on all who
believe? How do I know that? Acts chapter
2, verse 32. Because this Jesus hath God raised
up, whereof we are all witnesses, and therefore being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which you now see
and hear." There's folks here this morning that see and hear.
Did you know that? What evidence do I have that
Christ sits on the throne? I'm looking at it. Here's the
evidence. Right here. Right here. You see
and hear what I preach. If you didn't, you'd be somewhere
else. But you hear. Huh? Is that not an evidence?
That's what Peter's saying. I'll tell you how I know that
Christ is enthroned, because he shed forth this which you
now see and hear. Everybody there didn't experience
these things, but 3,000 of them did. 3,000 of them, the heart was broken.
Great evidences of our ascended king priest is the Holy Ghost. And these men and women, according
to Acts 2, verse 5, I want you to hear that they were devout
Jews. I don't even know if you've ever thought about this. These
weren't fence straddlers here. You know what a fence straddler
is. He's half in, half out. These weren't fence traps. These
were devout Jews. These were men and women who
traveled half a continent to be where they were at this feast.
You look, go back and look at them. You can read all the places
where they're from. Go back and look at them on a
map. They traveled and had no planes. Went on about sailboats,
walking, horseback, camelback, traveled half a continent to
get over here to this feast. They were devout Jews. They were
men and women steeped in the customs and ceremonies, and men
and women who were zealous of the tradition of their fathers.
And to evidence their sincerity and their zealous motivations,
the way they manifested that was that they crucified the Lord
of Glory. This was the same outfit. This
was the same people. You ever think about that? These
people Peter stood up and preached to were the same ones that were
down there crying, Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Same ones. Same crowd upon which the blood
of Christ still lingered to whom the Holy Ghost was poured out.
Same ones. Upon the hardest of the hardened
hearts, upon the guiltiest, reddest men in this world, how do we
know if Christ sits on the throne where this book declares that
he sits. How do we know he actually reigns and rules over all? Because
he shed forth this, Peter said, which you now see and hear. Hearing is the evidence of the
invincible spirit of God. Hearing is the evidence of the
enthroned Christ. Not just hearing, but a hearing
by those who most despised him. Oh, how they despised Him, once
rejected Him, once would not have Him. Look at this over here in 2 Corinthians
chapter 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. The evidence of the enthroned
Christ is the Holy Ghost who accompanies God's preachers,
anoints their words, and irresistibly calls out the sheep of Christ.
His sheep, He said, My sheep, hear My voice. He told them he
was the bread and they murmured. He said, don't murmur. Nobody's
going to come to me except the Father draw him, except the Father
teach him. He ain't coming. Listen to this. Verse 19. For the Son of God,
Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and
Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay. It wasn't a maybe. It wasn't an if. But in Him,
yea, for all the promises of God in Him are yea and in Him,
amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now He who establisheth us
with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God, who hath also sealed
us and given to us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
That's the work of God. That's the evidence of the success
of the ministry of Christ. The real evidence of this victorious,
seated, accepted Savior is a broken and a contrite heart. Their hearts
were pricked. They weren't pricked when the
Lord was down there dying on the cross. They weren't pricked
back when He preached daily and walked among them for three and
a half years. Their hearts weren't pricked. But their hearts are
pricked now. and their hands yet dripping
with the blood of Christ. And now they come to know by
the power of God's Spirit that this same Jesus that they crucified
was seated at the right hand of God. And this was that long
prophesied Christ that should come. They all heard and they all cried
with one voice and said, what are we going to do? 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 will receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost. Repent of your disgusting ideas
and rebellion against the Lord's Christ and believe on Him. Embrace
Him as the Christ of God. You know, when I stand up and
preach this Christ and try to describe Him as the Scriptures
describe Him. And I read to you those things
that God has said about it. This upsets men. They get upset
with that. My God wouldn't do like that.
Barnard said, I expect you're right, but the God of the Bible
will. Repent, he said. Repent of what? Repent of what you are and what
you believe. Repent of those things. Embrace
Him as the Christ of God. Accept Him. I hate to use that
word, but that word is incorporated in believing. We accept Him as
He is. That's the only way you can accept
Him. That's the only way you can receive
Him as He is. Anything less is a compromise
of the character of God. And be baptized, be buried with
Him, risen with Him. Well, the promise is unto you
and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many
as the Lord our God shall call. And then very quickly, here's
the fifth thing. Acts 2, verse 36. Therefore,
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Let all the house of natural
Israel And all those represented in them, all those steeped in
tradition and ceremony, and all those steeped in some kind of
a priestly religion, let all the house of natural Israel know
this. God hath made him both Lord and
Christ. And let all the house of spiritual
Israel hear this, let them know this assuredly that God has taken
this man, Jesus, and set him upon the throne of God as absolute
Lord over everything that flies, wiggles, crawls, and walks. He's
Lord. He's Lord. His Lordship's not
talking about his essential sovereignty as God's son, but as Christ,
the representative of his people. As Christ appointed for the salvation
of His people, God hath given Him this lordship, given Him
this right. As thou hast given Him power,
John 17, 1 and 2, power over all flesh, that He should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him. It's an earned,
it's earned as well as an appointed office. Paul wrote to the church
at Rome, and he said, none of us lives to himself. He said,
be careful about judging people. Be careful about your harsh judgments.
Because he said, none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to
himself. To his own master he'll stand
or fall. For whether we live, we live
unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether
we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord. I talked to a man
one time and his wife. We've been talking for hours.
And we got over on this subject of the Lordship of Christ. And
I was talking to him and he said, now, the Bible says over in the
book of Romans that we're supposed to live unto the Lord. I said, where does it say that?
And he said, well, it says over in Romans chapter 14. I said,
let's go over there and look at that, because I don't believe
that's what that says. Oh, yes, it is. He said, it says right
there, we're supposed to live unto the Lord. And we're supposed
to live our whole life and then die unto the Lord. That's what
we're supposed to do. I said, that ain't what that
passage says. We turned over there and read it. And what it
says is, whether we live, we live unto the Lord. Didn't say
anything about supposed to, does it? Those two ain't even in it. See, whether you live or die,
we are the Lord's. Well, he's just talking about
saving people. No, no, no, no, no, no. He's talking about every
living thing on the face of God's green earth. Everything that
has life, that dies, lives, and dies unto the Lord. They're in
His hands. They're in His hands. The heart
of the King is in the hand of the Lord. He turneth it withersoever
He will. Huh? See, we've been listening
to this little feminist Jesus so long, we don't understand
anything at all about the sovereign Christ who sits in throne. Peter
preached a sovereign Christ. He's not here in his humility
anymore. In his humility, he was delivered
for our offenses. And God raised him for our justification. And he gave him all power in
heaven and earth. And now he sits in throne. And
your peewee lie sits in his hand. And he can turn it this way,
or he can turn it that way. Whether we live, we live unto
the Lord. How long am I going to live until
God gets done with me? Huh? How long are you going to
live until God gets done with you? When you're going to die,
when God says you're going to die. You can take all the medicine
on the top side of God's green earth, you ain't going to live
one day. Which of you who have taken thought can add one thing
to this statue? You can't do it. Will we live
or will we die? We're the Lord's. We're the Lord's. That's the Christ. Do you believe
on that Christ? Do you embrace that Christ? Oh,
I sure do. But I see that Christ not in
the light of a cruel dictator who sits on the throne for no
other reason than to dispense of things. I see that Lordship
and that rule in Christ to the salvation of His elect. That's
right. All power is given unto me in
heaven and earth." Now you go preach. Well, I wouldn't drive
across the street knowing what I know now and preach to anybody
if I didn't think God's Holy Spirit was going to do something
in their heart. What good would my words do? None. Oh, I tell you, even this
message that he preached was so simple. Wasn't anything complex
in it. It's so simple. Peter, just a
common fisherman, stood up under the power of God's Spirit and
took one example, old David, and took what he said. And he
said David wasn't talking about himself, he was talking about
Christ. Talking about Christ. Said his soul wasn't going to
be left in the ground. His soul wasn't going to be left
in hell. His soul wasn't going to be left in torment and torture.
But he received of what this man did in his death, and he
accomplished what God sent him to do. And God raised him up
and set him at his own right hand. And he said, David saw
that. And David declared his resurrection,
and I'm declaring it to you. Now this same Jesus that you
despised, God set him on his throne and
made him Lord. You better be careful what you despise.