Okay, Acts 2. When the day of
Pentecost was fully come, verse 1, they were all, that is the
apostles, the disciples, they were all with one accord, and
they were all in one place. Now, I'm taking the title for
the message from what is said all the way down in verse 12.
Chapter 2, verse 12. They were all amazed and were
in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? That's the title. What meaneth
this? I could have also given it this
title. Verse 11, speaking of the wonderful
works of God. The wonderful works of God. What
meaneth this? Now, what happened on this special
occasion known as the Day of Pentecost? Something very special
happened on this Jewish feast day, as we read from Leviticus
23, that day that they were told to remember throughout all their
generation, They were told to remember the gospel, and when
they came together to remember that feast day, the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ was preached by these apostles with such power
and such clarity in a language that was known of the people
in their native tongue, and by the power of God the Holy Spirit,
that 3,000 souls heard the gospel and were Gloriously saved by the grace
of God and added to that local congregation in one day. They
went from 120 souls. Look over at Acts chapter 2 verse
39. For the promise is unto you and
to your children, to all that are far off, Even as many as
the Lord our God shall call, and with many other words he
did testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward
generation. Then they that received his word
were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them three
thousand souls." And here they went from 120 to 3,000 souls,
look, in the same chapter, chapter 2, verse 47, and they were praising
God, having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to
the church daily such as should be saved. Now, what is this day? What meaneth this? What is the
Day of Pentecost all about? was given liberty and opportunity,
a door of utterance was opened, and he preached the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we're going to see that in
the weeks to come. Now there has been much confusion and much
misunderstanding about this special day known as Pentecost. Some have even named their churches
and their denominations after this name. They say that they
have the Pentecostal power. Or they say that we have, in
our church, we have Pentecostal preaching. That is a power to
speak in some unknown gibberish, some unknown language. That's what they say we speak
in tongues. Well, what is the day of Pentecost
all about? Do we have the Pentecostal religion
as some folks say they have? Well, we shall see that the apostles
spoke the gospel and preached the gospel not in a gibberish
that no one knew what they were saying, but they clearly and
powerfully preached the gospel in a known language. These Jews
from all over the known world heard the gospel in their own
native tongue. Notice what it says in verse
6, they were devout men out of every nation, verse 5, and when
this was noise abroad, the multitude came together and they were confounded
trouble because that every man heard them speak in his own language. So it's not some gibberish or
some unknown tongue. It was a language that these
apostles did not go to school to learn, but could fluently
speak the gospel in the native tongue of those people who were
there. For example, it would be like me if I had this gift
like the apostles had, I could go to China. I could catch a
plane in the morning and fly to China and speak to those people
in their native Mandarin language, something that I never went to
school to learn that, but if I had that gift, I could preach
the gospel in their language. Now, why is it important that
sinners hear the Word of the Lord. Why is that so important? Why did these men, devout Jews
out of every nation, why did they need to hear with clarity
words that they could understand? Well, faith comes by hearing
the Word of the Lord. There is a necessity in hearing
the Gospel. Without faith, It is impossible
to please God. How shall they hear without a
preacher? These men were sent to preach
the gospel unto them." Now what happened in that day is still
happening in our day. Preacher, have you gone off the
end? No, I haven't. What happened in that day is
still happening in our day. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is preached by sinful men. We preach not ourselves.
but the Lord Jesus Christ." That's what Peter did. He stood up and
preached Christ. God the Holy Spirit is still
blessing the preaching of the gospel to the salvation of sinners. God the Holy Spirit is still
using the preached word in the quickening of dead men to life
by the power of God the Holy Spirit. you hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins." God the Holy Spirit is
still revealing Christ to the heart of the elect by His Spirit
through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember our Lord
said, when the Spirit of truth has come, He'll take the things
of Christ and reveal them unto you. God has not changed. And his gospel has not changed
either. God has not changed the method
nor the message. He still uses gospel preachers
sent with his message to preach the gospel, to lift up Christ,
and God the Holy Spirit is still blessing that message to the
heart of his people. Israel of old, on this day, this
day of Pentecost, Israel of old were there to observe this feast
day. We read about that in Leviticus
23. There was the day of Passover,
the Passover feast. Remember, that goes all the way
back to the Egyptian deliverance from bondage. There was the feast
of firstfruits, and then this feast of Pentecost. Now, all
three of these feasts, are types and pictures of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. For we know that Christ, our
Passover, is sacrificed for us. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the first fruits from the dead. And his resurrection is
a guarantee of our resurrection because he lived, we shall live,
and then this Feast of Pentecost. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
paid our sin debt and bought us with his own blood, God guarantees
that not one soul for whom Christ died can perish. That is, all
the elect of God will be harvested, and that's what this Feast of
Pentecost was all about, thanking God for the harvest that came
in. All the elect of God will be
harvested to glory, not one sheep will be missing. Remember, He
said, all that the Father hath given to me, they will come to
me, and those that come to me, I will in no wise cast them out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And
this is the way of him that sent me, that every one he hath given
to me, I'll raise him up again at the last day." Who can lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justified,
it is Christ who died. How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Our Lord said this, or it said
of him, he will thoroughly purge his floor, he will gather his
wheat into the garner, and he shall burn up the chaff with
unquenchable fire. Now that's what the Lord's going
to do. He is the shepherd of his sheep, and he will bring
his sheep home to glory. Now the Feast of Pentecost was
the 50th day from the Feast of Passover when the harvest for
the crops was over. Israel of old, when they were
settled in the Promised Land, would remember and rejoice in
the Lord's blessings to them in giving them this harvest.
What a fit day, then, is Pentecost for the Lord to begin the harvest
of souls from the field of this world by the power of God. Like
in this day, there were Jews devout out of every tribe, kindred,
nation, and tongue. And we read in the Revelation
that God has an elect out of every tribe, kindred, nation,
and tongue under heaven, redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. With that introduction, let's
take a look at some of the details here in Acts chapter 2 verse
1 down through verse 3. When the day of Pentecost was
fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, and
suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty
wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. Here's
a wind that came inside the house. And there appeared unto them
cloven tongues like as of fire, and it set upon each of them,
and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. and began to speak
with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Now, what
happened on this special day? Exactly what the Lord had promised
earlier. Look back at chapter 1, verse
4 and verse 5, And being assembled together with them, the Lord
commanded that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait
for the promise of the Father, which saith he, You have heard
of me. For John truly baptized with
water, but you shall be baptized with a Holy Ghost not many days
hence. So exactly as God promised, He
brought it to pass. His promises cannot fail. Here
we see an open and deliberate manifestation of the absolute
power of God in symbolic things that came to pass, wind and fire. Notice it says in verse 2, suddenly
there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. Suddenly this wind came upon
them Sovereignly this wind came upon them. Now, it was not a
wind, but like the uncontrollable force of a mighty wind, like
a whirlwind. It wasn't an actual wind. It
was the breath or the Spirit of God that was upon them. Now,
wind is used in Scripture as a symbol of His deity, power,
and His presence. For example, in Ezekiel 37, The
Lord said, prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and
say to the wind, thus saith the Lord, God, come from the four
winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may
live. So wind is often used as a symbol
of the power and presence and breath of God. Breathe on them
that they might receive life. In Job 38, the Lord answered
Job out of a whirlwind, and said to Job, Who is this that darkeneth
counsel by words without knowledge?" Now hold your place there, and
let me show you another example of this, how wind is used as
a symbol of the Spirit of God. John chapter 3, turn over there,
you remember the story of Nicodemus, and the Lord said, Except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3, And
Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be
born? And the Lord said to him, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Now the water
there, I believe, is speaking of the Word. That which is born
of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit
is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you,
you must be born again. The wind blows where it will. The wind is sovereign. And you
hear the sound thereof, but you cannot tell from whence it cometh,
nor whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit of God. The wind is controlled sovereignly
by God. And He sends it where He will,
when He will, to whom He will, so it is with the Spirit of God. Sovereign, uncontrollable by
us. And God blesses that to whom
He will, sovereignly. And then it mentions here, secondly,
in verse 3, not only the wind from heaven, the sound from heaven,
and then He mentions here fire. clothed in tongues, like as of
fire, set upon each of them." Again, fire is a symbol of His
power, presence, and the deity of God. The Lord said this in
Matthew 3, I indeed, or John rather said this, I indeed baptize
you with water unto repentance. But he that cometh after me is
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. God appeared to
Moses in a burning fire, a burning bush, you remember? He said,
I am that I am. The children of Israel were led
in the wilderness by a fiery pillar that protected them and
enlightened them in their way. In Hebrews 12, God is called
a consuming fire. And then our Lord says this,
as we studied in Luke chapter 12, I am come to send fire on
the earth, what will I if it be already kindled? Now, like
fire, God the Holy Spirit enlightens our minds inspires our hearts,
warms our affection, purges our conscience from dead works to
serve the living God, causes us to speak with new heavenly
language about the gospel of Christ, giving him all the honor
and glory, about the wonderful works of God. How do you know
if someone is preaching the gospel and the power of God, the Holy
Spirit? Do they tell the truth about
God, the truth about sin, and the truth about salvation? You
see, they speak about the wonderful works of God, as it says down
in verse 11. The Crete and the Arabians and
all these people, we do hear them speak in our own tongues. Pentecostal preaching is about
the wonderful works of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, when the Holy Spirit
enlightens our minds and our affections and gives us life
in Christ, He causes us to hear the wonderful works of God. He
motivates us to serve Him out of love and gratitude. I have
not seen, ye have not heard, neither hath it entered into
the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him, but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For
the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God."
That fire, that wind is sovereign, and it blows that fire of God's
Word in our heart, and we see the beauty and glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ. So, what happened on that day
of Pentecost is still happening among the Lord's people today.
They hear the gospel and are blessed to believe it. Now, look
at verse 4. Acts chapter 2 verse 4, And they
were filled with the Holy Ghost, that is, these apostles, and
they began to speak the wonderful works of God with other languages
that they didn't learn, but the Spirit gave them understanding,
or the Spirit gave them utterance, the Spirit caused them to declare
the wonderful works of God. Now, they were filled up and
totally taken up with the power of God the Holy Spirit upon them. We read in John of his fullness,
have we all received grace for grace. They were filled with
comfort, assurance, an influence of God's mercy and grace and
love in the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of God shines in the
face of Christ. They were filled with His love,
shed a blood in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. What happened
to them in that day is still happening in this day. When God
fills us with Himself, He fills us with the comfort of His love,
the assurance of faith, He gives us a mind to set our heart, our
affection on things above. They were made ready and prepared
by the power of the Holy Spirit upon them to speak in a clear,
known language. to all these different people
that had gathered there on this day of Pentecost to remember
the Lord's blessings and His mercies to them. And there they
began to speak the wonderful works of God. Now, when I think
of the wonderful works of God, I can't help but think that His
name is called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father. They were ready to preach the
wonderful works of God or God who is the wonderful God, our
Savior. They were ready to preach Christ.
As Paul said, I'm determined to know nothing among you but
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Notice verse 6 in our text. And that every man heard them
speak in his own language, down in verse 8, How hear we every
man in our own tongue where we were born?" Their own language. Now, again I come back to this
question, why is hearing the gospel with language that we
can understand, why is this so important? Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of the Lord. Now, turn over just one
book, to the book of Romans, and we see that God has ordained
the preaching of the gospel to the salvation, the calling out
of His people. In Romans chapter 10, Notice
verse 13, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. How then shall they call on him
in whom they've not believed? How shall they believe in him
of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. and bring
glad tidings of good things, but they have not all obeyed
the gospel. For Isaiah had said, Who hath believed our report?
Verse 17. So then, faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. Now, the very fact of the necessity
of hearing the gospel has not changed. Yet please God, by the
preaching of the gospel, by the foolishness of preaching, to
call out His people. That very fact has not changed.
Sinners today need to hear about the wonderful work of God, the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But not just with ear only, but
also with the powerful influence of God the Holy Spirit upon your
heart. Now let me show you what I'm
talking about. Turn over here to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1.
1 Thessalonians chapter 1. We need to hear the gospel, but
not in just word only. We need to hear it in the power
of God. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Verse 4. Knowing, brethren beloved, your
election of God. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit,
and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were
among you for your sake. And you became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction,
with joy of the Holy Spirit." So we hear the word, But not
just only hearing in word only, we hear with power and understanding
as God takes that seed of life and blesses it to grow in us
to bring forth fruit unto God to His glory. Of His own will
begat He us with the word of truth. Now, look down to verse
11, Acts chapter 2. We do hear them speak in our
language, in our tongue, and what did they speak about? The
wonderful works of God. The apostles preached the gospel
of Christ, called here the wonderful works of God. Now, that reminded
me, don't turn, let me just read this to you, that reminded me
of this over here in Matthew chapter 7. Now listen to this. The Lord said, not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name we have done many wonderful works. And the Lord will profess unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. These false prophets talked about the wonderful things
they had done. What did the preachers of the
gospel preach about? The wonderful works of God, what
He had done. Now, there's a big difference.
I mean, this is darkness and light. This is night and day
difference. God's preachers preach about
the wonderful works of God, what God has done for us. We know that salvation is of
the Lord. We know that salvation is the
work of God for us and the work of God in us. God who has begun
a good work in you will complete it. We know it is the wonderful
and glorious work of the grace of God to a guilty sinner to
cause us to believe the gospel of His saving sovereign grace. When we talk about the wonderful
works of God, we could talk about this for the rest of our life.
in our ministry, because that's what all, that's everything that
we talk about is the wonderful work of God, what he has done
for us. His wonderful work of creation,
created all things by the word of his power. We are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus. That's a wonderful work of God,
is it not? His wonderful work of providence.
How did you bump into the gospel? How did you run into the gospel?
Was it just an accident? No, God and His providence arranged
everything in your life to bring you to hear the gospel of God's
sovereign, saving, great, the wonderful works of God. And that
was all of His providence of Him and through Him and to Him,
all things to whom be glory. And then when we talk about the
wonderful works of God, we talk about our wonderful Savior, our
wonderful Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. We talk about His
wonderful person. He's altogether lovely. We talk
about His wonderful redeeming work. He redeemed us with His
own precious blood. He obtained for us eternal redemption
with His own blood. Salvation that He purposed in
eternity, He comes and He bought us with His own blood. And then
in time, He tells us that He bought us with His blood when
we hear of the wonderful works of God. And that's the gospel. It's another name for the gospel,
the wonderful works of God. And we're talking about God our
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to see in our study
through the book of Acts how all the apostles, turn to Acts
chapter 5, let me give you an example. Acts chapter 5, we're
going to see in our study of the book of Acts how the apostles
went everywhere preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts chapter 5 verse 41-42,
And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that
they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name, this is Peter
and John, and daily in the temple and every house they ceased not
to teach and preach, what? Jesus Christ, the wonderful works
of God. Now, I'll give you another example.
In Acts chapter 8, and we're going to see this all the way
through, how the apostles went preaching the gospel. In Acts
chapter 8, notice verse 1, Saul, this is Saul of Tartus, was consenting
unto his death, that is the death of Stephen, And at that time
there was great persecution against the church, which is at Jerusalem.
And they were scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea,
Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen
to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. For Saul
made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and hailing
men and women, arresting them, and committing them to prison.
Look at verse 4. They that were scattered abroad,
therefore they that were scattered abroad, scattered abroad through
what? Persecution. They went everywhere preaching
what? The Word. Preaching the Word. I'll give you another example.
Turn to Acts 13. Paul, this same one we read about
a moment ago, Saul of Tarsus, later became the Apostle Paul
when God revealed the Gospel to him. And he says in Acts 13,
38, Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. What
is that? The wonderful work of God, is
it not? And by him all that believe are
justified from all things which it could not be justified by
the law of Moses. were justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in closing, look back to
Acts chapter 2. So they preached the wonderful
works of God, setting forth the person and work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and we're going to see more of that. as we study Peter's
sermon on this day. And they were all amazed, verse
12, and were in much doubt, saying one to another, what does this
mean? What meaneth this? And others,
mocking, said, oh, these men are drunk. They're just drunken.
They're full of new wine. Yes, they were. They were full
of the wine of the Holy Spirit, preaching the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, in verse 12 and verse 13,
some believed and some did not believe. Some mocked, said, these
men are drunk. And some were given faith to
believe the gospel. We know that 3,000 of these men
were converted and were granted faith to believe the gospel.
Now, turn to Acts 13.38. Some believed and some did not
believe. What made the difference? Who
made the difference? Acts 13, verse 38. Back to Acts 13. When the Gentiles
heard this, they were glad, verse 48, and glorified the word of
the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life, they
believed the gospel. Others mocked and were left to
their own wicked, foolish heart. Turn to one other scripture.
Turn to Acts 28. Acts 28, the last chapter. Some believed and some mocked. Acts 28, verse 23. And when they
had appointed him a day, There came many to him and his lodging,
to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading
them concerning Jesus both out of the law of Moses and out of
the prophet from morning till evening." Now this is Paul the
Apostle in Rome, in jail, about ready to be executed, sitting
on death row, and expounded to them and testified about the
kingdom of God, the wonderful works of God, persuading them
out of the law and out of Moses and the prophets from morning
to evening, that is, he preached the gospel, the wonderful works
of God. Now notice what happened. Some believed the things that
were spoken and some did not believe. Some were granted faith,
faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of the Lord, and
some did not believe. Same is true today when the Gospel
is preached. When we set forth the wonderful
works of God in the saving of sinners through and by the blood
and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, to some it's a
saver of life unto life, to others, It's the saver of death unto
death. Now, don't turn. I'll just read
this to you. To those who are perishing, 1
Corinthians 1, for the preaching of the gospel to them that are
perishing is foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is
the power and glory of God. For the Jews require a sign,
the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling block. Unto the Greeks is foolishness,
but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God and Christ the wisdom of God. We see in Christ
crucified the wisdom of God, the power of God, we see the
wonderful works of God manifested in Christ and Him crucified as
He accomplished all of salvation for us by His glorious sacrifice.