We're in Acts chapter 2, and
last week we looked at the first 13 verses. This morning we're
going to look at verses 14 through 36, and basically what we have
here is Peter's sermon at Pentecost. So we're going to look at his
message on that wonderful day of Pentecost. Because contrary
to what a lot of religionists think, there was more to Pentecost
than just a bunch of people speaking in their own native tongues.
The Lord does nothing by accident. He does nothing for show, but
He does what He does for His glory and for the promotion of
his son and his gospel. And so, as the people were coming
into Jerusalem, as we noted last week, they're coming in on the
day of Pentecost, which was one of three feast days. The Feast
of Tabernacles, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, you had the
Feast of Pentecost. So, there was a multitude already
in Jerusalem And that was the day that the Lord, the Holy Spirit,
the third person of the Trinity, chose to show Himself in a more
direct manner by giving His people tongues, and that is simply languages,
that is not gibberish or babbling like we have today. People say
that they're speaking in tongues and you can't understand what
they're saying. That is so far from scriptural truth that it's
not even worth mentioning. But we noted at least 15 different
recorded, documented languages that were present, people from
different nationalities, different locations in that region and
they heard everybody in their own tongue, whether it was French
or Malaysian or Indonesian, that's what they heard, and specifically
we saw what they heard. Verse 11, we hear them speak
in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And that's what
we talked about last week, is it wasn't just vain gibberish,
it wasn't just babbling, it was a specific message, the wonderful
works of God. And then Peter, as they were
preaching that, There was people standing around and like there
always is, even when the gospels preached today, you had people
mocking and making fun of the message. And that's what they
said in the verse 13 closing comments last week. Others mocking
said, these men are full of new wine. Oh, they're just drunk.
That's why this is all this is going on. And then Peter stands
up and we have Peter's rebuke. And we have his message. So that's what we're going to
look at this morning. But Peter, standing up with the eleven,
lifted up his voice and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and
all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken
to my words. For these are not drunken, as
you suppose, seeing as but the third hour of the day. But this
is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, and it shall come
to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out My Spirit
upon all flesh, your sons, excuse me, and daughters shall prophesy,
your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams,
and on my servants and on my handmaidens will I pour out in
those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy, and I will
show wonders in heaven above, signs in the earth beneath, blood
and fire and vapor and smoke. The sun shall be turned into
darkness, the moon into blood, before that great and notable
day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Stop right there. We're going to go all the way
down to verse 36. But this is the first portion
of his message. He stands up before him and he
gives him this rebuttal. He gives him this rebuke. as
he starts to preach his introductory comments into his message. And
the first point that I have here is that rebuke or rebuttal must
be backed by Scripture and not by opinion. People sit there
and they thought what they thought, as they do when this gospel is
preached. Well, that's just your opinion.
That's just the way you've been taught. Oh, that's just of that
denominational persuasion. That's just of that thing. And
I'm glad that's why we call ourselves Sovereign Grace Church. We talked
a little bit about Bible class. I didn't say anything because
I mentioned it probably too many times, but it does bear repeating
one more. I was speaking to one of my co-workers. Months ago and he you know, he
was talking church this church that I do this I do this and
all these different things But he didn't say anything about
the gospel didn't say anything about Christ. It's always Church, you
know notice when you talk to Religious people it's usually
church this church that but no substance So he says I just sat
there patiently and he says Well, where do you go to church? And
I said Sovereign Grace Church Sovereign Grace Never heard of
that." And I thought, well, I know by what you've just said, you
don't know what the gospel is. What is that? I've never heard
of sovereign grace and sometimes simplicity. I said, sovereign
is who God is and grace is how He saves. Sovereign, He's on
His throne. He's in complete control. He
holds the universe in His hands. He does as He pleases in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, is
what the Scripture says, and He does whatsoever He pleases.
He does according to the good pleasure of His will. That's
what Ephesians tells us. And grace, that's how He saves. That's only how He saves. That's
ever how He's only saved. That is not by the works of our
decisions, not by what we believe or don't believe, but by what
He has done for us through Christ. That's grace. And Peter, they're
saying, well, These men are just drunk. We see what's going on
and we hear what's going on, but we're just not going to believe.
So, Peter, what do you say about that? Our only true reason to
believe Christ and His gospel message is in this, the bare
naked Word of God. You and I must tell lost perishing
sinners that their only hope is to throw their entire life
and soul upon the one whom this book declares to be the Son of
God, to be God incarnate in the flesh. If what we believe and
what we preach is not found in this book, then it's not worth
anything. Turn to Isaiah chapter 8. Isaiah
chapter 8. I've had many people say, well,
that's not how I've been taught, that's not how I learned, etc.,
etc. And really, that's all mute.
It doesn't matter. What does this book say about
who God is and how He saves? Isaiah chapter 8, and look with
me at verse 20. To the law and to the testimony,
if they, whoever they are, if they speak not according to this
word, it's because there's no light in them. Now, I can call
myself a preacher, I can call myself a deacon, I can call myself
an elder, a Bible school Sunday school teacher, it doesn't matter.
If I speak and say I'm speaking for God, I better understand, and this book
better has been opened to me, I better understand what the
book says, and I better be preaching from the book. Not responsive
readings, not in the back of the hymnal, not in all these
things, but I better find Christ in the text. So, Peter's message
should be like our message. Well, why do you believe the
things you believe? Is it because it was the way
you were raised? Is it because the seminary you
went to? And I'm not saying these things
are necessarily bad or wrong. If your parents are believers,
if your parents are godly and they teach you things, they're
going to teach you out of the Scriptures. But there are so
many false and just make-belief things concerning God that's
just, you know, it's amazing when you hear people talk about
who God is or what they think He is. It just has no basis in
the Scriptures at all. And that's, people are very good
about making things up. Because people want God to be
like themselves. But He's not. Peter says, men
these these men are not drunk as you suppose he said this verse
sixteen this is what uh... which which was spoken by the
prophet joel and then he quotes out of joel chapter two you can
look at a star verse twenty eight we will go there but he he specifically
is quoting and as we go further in the message he brings up david
which they all knew respected Just like Christ would bring
up Abraham, he would bring up Moses, and he always kept on
saying, all these prophets, minor or major, all the patriarchs,
he said, they testified of me. They testified of me. In the
giving of the law, whether it was the Levitical law, the moral
law, or all that, how we separate, God's book does not separate
civil law, moral law, it's law. But all the laws given, you go
through Leviticus, you go through all those things, they all point
to Christ and His Gospel. So the first part, or introductory
comments, or part, however we want to break it down, of Peter's
message was that he backed what he said by Scripture, not opinion. We can be as bold as the book
reveals. I'm not saying be haughty, I'm
not saying use this book for divisive reasons, but we speak
the truth in love and thereby refuting the ignorance that's
in our religious day. We also must realize that God
is honored mostly when we tell of Him and His glorious works
out of this book. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
2. Paul understood this. 1 Corinthians 2, verses 1-5, Paul
tells the Corinthian brethren, he says, I brethren, when I came
to you, I came not with excellency of speech. Melinda says, at times I get
excited, I get loud, she says I speak too fast, so I've got
to remember these things. But Paul says, when I came to
you, I wasn't so concerned about dotting the I's and crossing
the T's. I've been around people who you
can't teach them anything, they know too much. And I do not like
to preach in front of critical hearers. I'm not saying Berean
hearers. If I don't speak according to
this book, then you don't need to listen to me. But if the gospel
is being preached and Christ's word is being declared, you should
submit, just like when I opened this book, submit to the authority
of this book. Submit to me as your pastor and
I don't have any problem with that. I'm just saying this because
of Problems that I've seen years ago. We'd have people come in
and they knew more than the preacher did It couldn't be taught and
they just they would just sit there and listen so critically
Not design Lord teach us and I love when we get when the men
were out there praying and the person read scripture and they
pray and they say Give our pastor give drew the words we need to
hear Because I need to hear Him as well. When I'm preaching,
it's what the Lord has dealt with me, and then I just proclaim
the message, and He has His way. But Paul says, when I came, I
didn't come to you with excellency of speech. There are some preachers,
some people, it's all about pomp and show. Well, our preacher's
got five degrees. Our preacher knows Greek and
Latin and Hebrew. Well, all I know is in which
we'll get there in the book of Acts the men who were religious
They said they'd know they noted the Apostles. They said they
were ignorant and unlearned men But they'd been with Christ and
when I died, that's why my stone that's fine enough with me. I
Don't care about the degrees. I don't cared about the diplomas.
But have you have I have we been with Christ? I because He's going
to do you good, not my fancy, unintelligible, undiscernible
words of wit and wisdom." Actually, when we go through this message,
you'll see no illustrations, you'll see no fancy rhetoric.
He just gets right to it. The Word, and in the bulk of
everything else He says, is concerning Christ. You want to know that
the issue I have with most preachers today, not preachers that we
know, but most other preachers, they're more worried about their
denominational ties. They're more worried about what this
person says or that person says. They're more worried about political
situations. They're more worried about fundraisers.
You hear nothing. of Christ. I don't care if they've
got Christ in their name or the church, nothing about Christ.
And we're going to see by examples as we go through this whole book
of Acts, message after message after message, there's just a
central theme. God's on the throne, Christ is
the Redeemer. Matter of fact, I'll say this
ahead of time, there is no direct wording that says anywhere in
the whole book of Acts, in any message, smile, God loves you. It's not there. But when you
preach Christ in Him crucified, the believer says, He does love
me. But as far as the most preachers
today, that's all they want to talk about is John 3, 16. And
as we go through the book of Acts, It isn't there. That wording
isn't there. So for me to stand up here and
make those kind of statements is not scriptural. Smile, God
loves you. But we'll see His love and His
grace in each one of these messages. So, He says, I didn't come to
you with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto
you the testimony of God. He says, for I determined not
to know anything among you, says, we're back in 1 Corinthians,
I determined not to know anything among you except or save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling. This preacher standing before
you here right now has the same struggles that you have every
day. Same thing. Same struggles, same weakness,
same fears, same difficulties. I am not some super saint or
someone that's to be held in high esteem for the office perhaps,
but I'm a sinner preaching to sinners. That's what Paul was
saying. And he says in verse 4, And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of men's wisdom. That would be a
good theme to declare or to label what's been going on in most
pulpits today. Most preachers preach with enticing
words of men's wisdom, trying to twist people's arms to get
a decision made or to make them feel good about themselves. Paul
says, It was not with enticing words
of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and a power Why
verse 5 that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God And that's why Christ said False preachers
are making their hearers twice full the children of hell as
themselves why because when you hear the false gospel and When
you hear a soothing message, makes you feel good about yourself
and not the glory of God, it glorifies man and not God. What
that does is that takes that faith that you think you have
is in man's wisdom, not in the power of God. If you come to
Christ because he's drawn you, That's the power of God. You're
going to be fine. And nothing that I can do or
say or whatever is going to change that. Well, turn back one page
to 1 Corinthians 1, verses 17 and 18. Paul says, "...for Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
But the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness."
But unto us which are saved is the power of God." The preaching
is very, very important. It's not something that I take
lightly. It's something that I get nervous about because I
realize that I'm standing before you going to have to give an
account of the message and for your souls, is it the truth? Based on what I've seen in this
country, there's a lot of preachers. It's going to be a scary thing.
It's going to be a scary thing deceiving millions of people. Peter stood up and he had to
rebuke and he had to make a rebuttal because they were mocking the
gospel. And he said, no, this is what this book said was going
to happen. So that was the first thing. And the best interpretation
of Scripture is Scripture. So Peter goes right at the truth
and tells them all that was going on was of God as He had before
spoken by His prophet thousands of years before. So then Peter's
first point was that he spoke of the Scriptures and used them
to form the foundation of his sermon. Secondly verses 22 through
36. He speaks of Jesus of Nazareth
verse 22 you men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth
a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs
which God did by him in the midst of you all as Ye yourselves also
know him that is Christ being delivered by the determinant
counsel and for knowledge of God You have taken by wicked
hands and have crucified and slain whom God hath raised up,
having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that
he should be holden of it. For David speaks concerning him,
I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right
hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice,
and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh shall
rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast
made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full
of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, says Peter,
let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that
he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto
this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and
knowing that God had 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 see 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 is 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 foes thy footstool and Therefore let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus
whom you crucified both Lord and Christ That's the end of
the message Now if you just read that it doesn't it didn't take
that long and like I said, it's straightforward to the point
uses plenty of scriptures, quotes from Psalms, quotes from Joel,
tells everything he's saying is based on what God had before
Toad. The body and bulk of Peter's
message was, as ours should be concerning Jesus the Christ,
a man approved of God. I've got three or four points.
First, Christ is a man approved of God. Secondly, Christ is one
who is determined, before determined, or predestined by God. Third,
we see the resurrection of Christ and glory of Christ by God. And
lastly, Christ is exalted by God. Verse 22, you men of Israel,
hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God. That means
he was accepted by God, authorized by God. He was one to speak for
God, received by God. Literally, the word approved
means to show off, accredited, or to demonstrate. To demonstrate. That is, in the person of Jesus
Christ, God has demonstrated how God Himself can be both just
and yet justify the sinner who believes on the Son. God, in
and through Christ, has demonstrated how holy He is. He has demonstrated how strict
and just God is, how straight and narrow the way is, but yet
how merciful He can be in and through the substitute Jesus
Christ. How full of grace and truth God
is to sinners in Christ. and how redemption shall be accomplished
through blood, the blood of Christ, and through the righteousness
of Christ." So, when Peter stood up, he spoke about Jesus Christ,
a man approved of God. But not only was he approved
of God, he was predestined of God to suffer the things he was
to suffer, bleed for those he was to die for, and raise again
for our justification. Verse 23, Him, that is Christ,
being delivered by the determinant counsel and for knowledge of
God. Now, when I used to read those
words, they bothered me because it took me out of the equation.
But This too is part and parcel of Peter's message concerning
Christ. He was slain by responsible men,
yes, yet all this was done and it was determined before to be
done by God himself. Now there's comfort. This world
and the things that are going on is not spinning out of control.
Rather, God is on the throne. Nothing is outside of the power
and scope of God's supreme rule Him Christ being delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. I Was reading one of
the old writers Robert Hawker, and when I read it, I just had
to call some of the other preacher brethren and just say, and I
read it, I said, have you seen this? And we just reveled in
the beauty of it. But basically what Hawker was
saying is that there's these basic two marvelous anchors of
hope for dead and dying sinners like you and I. That is Christ's
blood and righteousness, and God's determinate counsel. Christ
had to die because our sins are against us. Christ had to die
because God's law was against us. Christ had to die because
we could not save ourselves. And the fact that Christ died
and gave us His righteousness and His perfection, the fact
that He did those things was all determined beforehand by
the purpose and counsel of God. That means that your salvation
is absolutely immovable, absolutely unshakable. It's not going anywhere. Ages
to come, millennium to come, if you're in Christ, it's because
Christ died for your sins, gave you His righteousness, and all
that was determined before the foundation of the world. Now,
to the believer, when he knows that, that just wants to make
you just go run down the streets and just leap for joy. If you
hear something like this, because we've had charges against us,
just like Peter had charges and Paul had charges against them,
people tell me, well, if I believed that, I could go do whatever
I wanted to and wouldn't worry about that. Then you don't understand
the gospel and you haven't heard the gospel. Because when God
does these things for His people, He causes us to rejoice and love
Him. Well, you all don't browbeat
people. You all don't beat them over
the head with the law. You don't make them feel guilty. No, because
that's not what I'm supposed to do. I stand up here and preach
the gospel. And if God does something for
you, you're going to love Him and worship Him and do what He
wants you to do. Now, I know we still sin. I know
we still stray. But that's why we have the book.
That's why we have Christ. Again, I go back time and time
again to the marriage relationship. If you're in a marriage and if
you're only in it because of the paper that you signed, if
you're only in it because it's a preacher marriage, if you're
only in it for the insurance, whatever it might be, you're
in trouble. But if you're in that relationship
because you want to be. If things go up and down, we
fuss and fight and whatever, that's all part of a family relationship. But you're going to stick through
it. And you don't want it any other way. You don't want it
any other way. Part of this message that Peter
preached was he preached about the resurrection and the glory
of Christ by God. Verse 24 and forward. Whom God
hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it
was not possible that he should beholden of it. Well, the resurrection
isn't very important. Well, let me tell you this. A
buried redeemer is not a redeemer at all, but a slain and risen
substitute is one full of joy and completion and hope. The
fact that He rose from the grave, when you bury this, when my body,
when I am no more, when you see my face no more, it's not the
end of it. It's the beginning. One day,
we will reunite in glory, worship and singing His praises. It is
not the end. We're not reincarnated into something
else. We're not this and that. As Christ
rose from the dead, He was our leader, He was the first begotten,
and we will raise in Him. One day, since death has no more
sting, we shall see Him face to face, and that will be a happy
day. there'll be no more tears, there'll
be no more pain, there'll be no more aches, there'll be no
more sorrow, there'll be no more trouble. I tell you what, the
things of this earth, it's just, this stuff's just troublesome.
Now I do enjoy being here, there's things in this world that I do
enjoy, I do love, I appreciate you all and love you all, and
thank you for the things that you've done for Melinda and I,
and all those things. And I do, and I enjoy that. I look forward to many years
of that. But if not, that's okay, because
with this world comes pain and trouble and sorrow and all these
things. And then one day, that's not going to be anymore. Now
again, if your hope is in a weak, spineless, wants to God or Jesus,
you're in trouble. But if you rest and trust in
a sovereign, majestic, sweet and lovely, able Redeemer, if
He's done something for you, then you can have peace, even
in this troubled world. Lastly, verses 33 through 36,
we see a man, one, we saw a man approved of God, one, a man predestined
by God, resurrected by God, and lastly, exalted by God. Verses
33 through 36, 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
is not ascended unto the heavens, but he said 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, Lord and Christ." The way most people
talk about is Jesus is going to be Lord someday. He's Lord
right now. He is on the throne right now.
He is exalted by God right now. So lastly, Peter's message, Christ
is now seated at the right hand on the majesty on high. Far above
all things, Lord above all things, relaxed and in control of all
things. I know this is election year
and everybody's all concerned about what's going to happen.
Our Lord is not. Whoever gets elected to office
was before determined to be there. Whether we like it or not, the Scripture says the powers
that be are ordained of God. That's a direct quote from this
book. The word exalted in verse 33
means a couple things. It means to be elevated, to magnify,
to promote, and it has the connotation of nobility. Now, I know we don't
understand nobility in this country, But we magnify and promote our
noble Christ. That's what we do when we preach
the gospel. That's what you do when you honor
and glorify Christ in your life. You promote, exalt Him. So we preach, like Peter, like
all the prophets and even David, we preach the man of God, Christ
Jesus, sovereign, majestic, ruling, reigning, the substitute who
voluntarily submitted to the whores of wicked men and vile
corruption, took a people's place and completely saved and cleansed
them, delivering them from the law and sin by the sacrifice
of himself, proving himself to be the only way of eternal life
by signs and wonders and the purpose of God, and then again
fulfilling all things written by the sweet and glorious resurrection
from death to life whereby Christ, that is He, has guaranteed life,
everlasting life for His people who are called the remnant according
to the election of grace. In closing, may our message,
our sermon, are speaking to our neighbors, our friends. Be scriptural,
be about Christ our Lord, and give all glory due His exalted
name. So may our message be simple,
singular, and straightforward. A writer of old said this, The
gospel that we preach must be declared plainly, without disguise,
fully, without concealment, firmly, without doubt, and authoritatively,
without fear. May the Lord bless the preaching
of His Word. Matt, would you close us please?