Pentecost - Revelation of Sovereign Grace

In the second chapter of Acts, verse 1, begins this way, And
when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with
one accord in one place. When the average person thinks
of Pentecost, what does he think of? The average person thinks
of Pentecost. Well, I thought about that and
I decided the first thing that the average person, and I guess
I'm an average person, he thinks of revival, wouldn't you say?
Pentecost, Pentecostal revival. We pray for another Pentecost.
I hear people praying this way, Lord, send us another Pentecost,
another great revival. Then I think secondly, When Pentecost
is mentioned, the average person thinks of an outpouring of the
Holy Spirit. In fact, there's a song written
about that. Lord, send the old-time power, the Pentecostal power. The floodgates of blessings on
us throw open wide. So secondly, I would say when
we mention Pentecost that the average person thinks not only
of revival, but he thinks of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Then thirdly, I think when a
person, the average person, thinks of Pentecost, he thinks of many
conversions, or the ingathering of souls, or the calling out
of people to faith in Christ. And the rest of that song goes
this way, Lord, send the old-time power, the Pentecostal power,
that sinners be converted in thy name glorified. I don't suppose
there's a thing in the world wrong with that. But the second
point is this, just exactly what was Pentecost? Now, when we think
of Pentecost, we think of revival, we think of the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit, or we think of a great ingathering of souls,
a great number of conversion. But what was Pentecost, and where
did it originate? And why were they observing it? This revival was not called Pentecost,
but Pentecost was already going on when the revival came. The
Holy Spirit's coming was not called Pentecost. They were there
to observe Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit was given. All right,
let's go to Leviticus chapter 23, and let's see what what we
can find out about Pentecost. Now, I'll be honest with you.
I don't expect you in the five minutes I'll be on this particular
point to come away with a lot of answers about Pentecost, but
I'll tell you, I've looked at it today a whole lot, and I looked
at it prior to today a whole lot, and I'm just not totally
satisfied that I can define this Feast of the Firstfruits, the
Feast of Pentecost, like it ought to be defined, but I'll take
a shot at it, in Leviticus 23, beginning with verse 4. Leviticus
23, verse 4. These are the Feasts of the Lord,
even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the
first month, at even, is the Lord's Passover. That's the feast
of the Passover. All right? We know something
about the Passover. Let's stop there a moment. There
can be no feasting. There can be no satisfaction.
There can be no peace. There can be no joy to the heart
until the Passover is sacrificed. That's the first feast. That's
the important feast. We must understand this great
truth of the Scripture. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. That's what the Passover is all about. Israel was in Egypt,
and God was going to come through that night and strike the firstborn
dead in every home, even to the cattle on the hills. But he told
Israel, slay a lamb, a lamb to a house, and the house too small
for a lamb, let two houses go together. But slay the lamb and
put the blood on the lintel and on the doorpost, and I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. That's Passover. And every year
after that, on the 14th day of the first month at even, the
Passover was observed, all the way from the time they left Egypt
till our Lord observed the Passover with his disciples. And we know
that Christ is our Passover. In other words, the Passover
stands for the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.
He is our Passover. His blood makes atonement. His
blood cleanses our sin. His blood holds back the judgment
and wrath of God, for his blood justifies us before the Lord
God. Christ is our Passover, and that's
the Passover feast. Now, our Lord observed it with
his disciples. He said, where shall I eat the
Passover? They asked him, where shall we prepare the Passover?
And then he instituted the Lord's table. We don't, on the 14th
day of the first Jewish month, that evening, keep the Passover,
because the Lord Jesus Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed And
now we observe the Lord's table with the unleavened bread and
wine, which represents his body broken for us and his blood shed
for us. All right, verse 6. Here's the
second feast. And on the 15th day, that's the
next day, of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread
unto the Lord. Seven days you must eat unleavened
bread. In the first day you shall have
a holy convocation You shall do no servile work therein. You
shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days.
And the seventh day is a holy convocation. You shall do no
servile work therein. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When
ye be come into the land, which I shall give you, I give unto
you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring
a sheep. This is called also the waving
of the sheep. feast of the waving of the barley
sheep. You shall wave a sheep of the firstfruits of your harvest
unto the priest. You shall bring it to the priest,
and he shall wave the sheep before the Lord to be accepted for you
on the morrow after the Sabbath." That's on Sunday. On Sunday,
after the Passover Sabbath, on that next Sunday, on the next
Sunday, then you take the sheep of barley and wave it before
the Lord and so forth. Now what this is saying, this
feast, this is what its meaning is and what it's saying, that
every product of the soil and all the results of man's work
and labor is of the Lord. It's all of God. And it all comes
from God and it all belongs to God. That's what it's saying.
We wave the barley sheet before the Lord when the first harvest
has taken place on Sunday. It's the first day of the week
following the Passover Sabbath. And that's saying that all of
our work, all of man's labor, is the result of God's mercy
and blessings, and it's from God and belongs to God. Now,
what connection does this have with Christ? It was on this day
that our Lord rose from the grave. It was on Sunday following the
Passover Sabbath. And it was on this day that he
became the first fruits of them that slept. His work of redemption
finished. His resurrection for our justification. And the results, this is saying
the results of all of his work is not only given by God, applied
by God, accepted by God, Of God, but it belongs to God. Saying
the same thing. Christ is the waving of the barley
sheep. He is the firstfruits of them
that slept. And then here's the third feast.
Now verse 15. And you shall count, unto you
from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought
the sheep of the wave offering, seven Sabbaths. Seven Sabbaths. seven Saturdays. Even unto the
morrow, after the seventh Sabbath, shall ye number fifty days, and
ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. Ye shall bring
out of your habitations two wave loaves of two-tenth deals, they
shall be of fine flour, they shall be bacon with leaven. They
are the firstfruits unto the Lord. This is called the feast
of the firstfruits And this is Pentecost. This is Pentecost,
that's what it is. And this is what they were observing
in Jerusalem fifty days after the Lord arose, seven Sabbaths.
That's what they were doing together on that particular day. Now,
you say, well, what is the meaning of this feast of Pentecost or
the feast here of the firstfruits? Well, in fifty days, This is
what a writer said in his summarization, I guess as good as anyone's.
In fifty days, Israel was fully out of Egypt. They were totally
out of Egypt. They were not yet in the land
of promise, but they were totally out of Egypt. They were far out
into the desert. They were delivered from Pharaoh's
army, which had been destroyed. On this fiftieth day, they held
a great holy convocation renewed their vows unto the Lord and
dedicated all that they were and all that they had to God. And then after that, each year,
they held this same holy convocation, this same Pentecost, this same
feast day. Now, on this day, the Holy Spirit
was given. There was the Passover. Christ,
our Passover, was sacrificed for us. There was then the feast
of the waving of the barley sheaf, and Christ, the firstfruits of
them that slept, came forth from the grave. Then fifty days later,
seven weeks, seven Sabbaths, there was this Pentecost, the
feast of the firstfruits, and the Holy Spirit was given to
the Church and was followed by a great revival that continued
for a long time, even until almost every nation had heard the message
of the cross of Jesus Christ. They were met together. The day
of Pentecost had fully come, and people were there from everywhere. The disciples were there, and
people were there from all nations. And the Spirit of God came upon
the disciples. And we look at this tremendous
revival during the Feast of Pentecost, and we wonder, well, what really
took place? How did this revival come? What
was the cause of it? I wonder if we could have one
like this today. Well, there are four things that
I would like to say in preparing to answer that. The disciples
were there at this particular feast. It was a religious holy
day, and people were there from many nations and countries. The
Holy Spirit was there. He came upon the disciples with
great and most unusual power, and men heard preaching. Peter
did some preaching, and people heard the preaching of Peter,
and they all heard it in their own language, their own tongues.
That's what amazed them. They heard the gospel preached
in their own tongues, but the answer is not in these four observations. The disciples were there, but
that didn't bring revival. They'd been other places. It
was a religious holy day, and people were there from everywhere,
representing every country and nation. And you know, we have
church convocations today. We have the World Council of
Churches and the Federated Council of Churches, and these great
associations meet and conventions meet. There's not much than preaching. They have preaching, too. There
was preaching here and preaching there. And the Holy Spirit was
there, and I'm sure the Holy Spirit is wherever God's people
are. But the answer to this whole
revival is not in the fact that it was a holy day. It was Pentecost.
We could observe Pentecost whenever it comes. I don't know, but we
could observe it right here and wouldn't have revival. What was
the answer? I'll tell you what I believe
the answer is. The answer to the whole revival was it was
a revelation by God of the sovereign Redeemer. That's what I believe
brought the revival. Christ was revealed at Pentecost
in his sovereignty, in his lordship, in his exalted kingship, in his
redemptive glory. Yes, the disciples were there,
and they preached. But they didn't preach about
themselves. They didn't talk about the great meetings they'd
had prior to this day, and the many thousands that had heard
them preach, and the many thousands that had been healed, and the
many thousands of letters and calls they'd gotten, and the
reviews they'd gotten in different places. They didn't talk about
those things. The disciples at Pentecost preached the Sovereign
Christ. That's what they preached. Today
you listen to so-called great preachers and the first 30 or
45 minutes is spent talking about the meetings we've had, the meetings
we're going to have, the places we've been, the places we're
going to be, the thousands we've seen converted, the thousands
we expect to see converted. Talk about all of the recognition
and renown that has come our way. The disciples here, Peter
preached the sovereign Christ. He did not speak of himself,
he spoke of Christ. And then the Holy Spirit was
here. But the Holy Spirit didn't speak for himself. Peter didn't
ask them, have you been filled with the Spirit? Have you given
your lives to the Spirit? Have you been empowered by the
Spirit? Have you been baptized with the Spirit? Peter preached
Christ in the power of the Spirit. Oh, our Lord said the Holy Spirit
would come. He turned to John 16. Our Lord spoke of this day. He
spoke of this day. He said in John 16, verse 13, How be it when He, the Spirit
of Truth, is come? John 16, 13. When He, the Spirit
of Truth, is come, He'll guide you into all truth. He shall
not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He
speak. He will show you things to come.
And here's the key four words. He shall glorify Me, for He shall
receive of Mine and show it to you. You want to know the secret
of this Pentecost revival? I'll tell you the secret. The
answer is right here. Through Peter's preaching and
the Holy Spirit's power, our Lord Jesus Christ revealed Himself
in His sovereign, redemptive glory and Lordship. And it literally
crushed those people. It smoked them. It tore the pride
from out of their hearts and the false foundations from under
their feet and pricked them to the very core of their being.
They found out who Jesus Christ is. That's what made them crowd. What shall we do? We're on the
wrong side of the fence. What shall we do? We're enemies
of God. What shall we do? We've sinned
against the Holy God. What shall we do? We crucified
his son. What shall we do? Preaching today is aimed not
at exalting Christ. It's aimed at getting rebels
to make commitments that they don't intend to keep to a little,
weak, frustrated Reformer for whom they have no respect. The people heard that they heard
Christ exalted. They didn't hear about a weak,
feminine-type little fellow that was doing his best to get into
their hearts. They heard about a sovereign
king. Look at verse 22. Peter said, You men of Israel,
you 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, as you yourselves also know. Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and ordination of God, you have taken,
and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." Verse 36. Therefore,
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that
same Jesus, whom you crucified, Lord and Christ. That's who he
is. You've got the blood of the King
on your hands. And any great work that God's
ever done for any generation, any great revival that's ever
come among men of any generation, any great outpouring of God's
presence upon men has been and will be now and must be the result
of the revelation of a sovereign Christ. When revival comes, men worship,
and they worship the living God. When revival comes, men bow in
submission and they submit to the living God. When revival
comes, men are broken at the feet of a sovereign king. That's
revival. Decisions to reform, that's not
revival. Professions of faith, that's
not revival. Additions to the church, that's
not revival. Revival comes when God Almighty
visits in his sovereign power. He brings men down in the dust
as he did Saul of Tarsus. And that will only be done as
we preach, as we begin to preach, as men are inclined to preach
and motivated to preach who is Jesus Christ. Now, men today
have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.
They know little or nothing of the power of God in Christ, the
power, the infinite, immutable, eternal power of God in Christ. The power to conquer, the power
to subdue, the power to recreate, the power to quicken, the power
to make alive, the power to make all things new. Our Lord said
you do err, you don't know the scriptures and you don't know
the power of God. Men today claim they know the
scriptures, and they do at least in their heads, but they do not
know the power of God. And men today preach of Jesus.
Little or nothing is said of the living, sovereign Lord of
heaven and earth. Who is Jesus Christ? What's your
conception of Jesus Christ? What's your idea of Jesus Christ? Well, when I hear the average
preacher, my conception of Jesus Christ is he's a weak, frail,
frustrated, defeated reformer who waits upon the will of the
creature and has no will or power of his own. He'd sure be much
obliged if you'd let him save you. Men are exhorted from the
average pulpit, let Jesus have his way, let Jesus save you,
let Jesus come into your heart. Nothing is said of the royal
claims of a king. Nothing is said of our bowing
at his throne and worshiping and reverencing the name of the
king. That old publican in the temple,
he caught a glimpse of His glory, and he cried, God, be merciful
to me. You don't hear that today because
that God's not preached. God, be merciful to me. The thief
on the cross caught a glimpse of that redemptive glory and
that Lordship, and he turned and said, what I'm getting I
deserve. But Lord, you're coming into a kingdom. You're not going
to stay dead. Remember me. Would you remember
me? If there had been an evangelist there, he'd have tried to get
a decision out of that fellow to let God save him. Let Jesus
come into your heart. Won't you make your decision
now for Jesus? This old thief already made his
decision. He knew he was going to hell.
He deserved to go to hell. He ought to go to hell. If God
gave him what he deserved, he'd send him to hell. But he said,
Lord, you've got a kingdom, and you're coming into the kingdom.
Would you just remember me? That old leper, he caught a glimpse
of that glory when our Lord came down from the mountain from the
presence of his Father. That leper came and fell on his
feet. fell at his feet, fell on his
knees, fell on his face before Christ, and he said, Lord, if
you will, you can make me clean. You ever heard a sinner in 1970,
in the 1970s, cry that? Lord, if you will, you can save
me. If you will, you can change me.
If you will, Lord, you can make me clean. If you will, Lord,
you can make me whole. If you will, Lord, you can justify
me." No, we've got this thing backwards. We've got the sinner
on the throne and Jesus down here begging him to let him come
into your heart. Won't you let me into your heart?
I'd sure like to do something for you if you'd let me. That's
the reason we don't have revival. We haven't had and we're not
going to have. The Canaanite woman came to the She recognized
His sovereign Lordship, and she said, Lord, have mercy on me.
And He said, I'm sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
I've got no dealings with you. You're a Gentile dog. And she cried out to Moher, and
she said, that's true, Lord. But the dogs eat the crumbs that
fall from their master's table. And our Lord turned, and He said,
woman, I hadn't found faith like that in Israel. You go your way,
your daughter lives. Your daughter lives. Men today
have a form of religion. We've got religion. Ashland's
full of it. It's a form of religion that
consists in programs and organizations and emotions and entertainment. Everything but honor and glory
to the King. Everything but worship and prayer. Everything but true honor and
devotion to King Jesus. He's not a king. To this generation,
he's a beggar. But I'll tell you this, I know
who the beggars are. They're clothed in their self-righteous
rags, their filthy garments of self-righteousness, and God Almighty
is just putting up with them until the cup is full, and then
he's going to dispose of them. In Romans chapter 9, turn over
there just a moment, let me read you some pertinent scripture
here. Romans chapter 9, verse 15. You
listen to it, do with it what you want to. But verse 15 of
Romans 9 said, he said to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the Scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will heal heart, thou wilt
say then to me, Why doth he yet find fault? Who hath or who can
resist his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
unto honour and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing
to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath, pitted, made up for
destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His
glory, the riches of His grace, the riches of His mercy on the
vessels of mercy which He had aforeprepared unto glory? I'll tell you this, if we have
a work of the Spirit today, if we have an outpouring of God's
Spirit today, if we experience what some of us would like to
see, revival, I guarantee you, I promise you, I'm as certain
of it as I'm standing here, it will not come, it will not come
as a result of the anemic, weak, God dishonoring, Christ dishonoring,
emotional preaching that we have in this day. If we have revival,
it's going to come when God is pleased to send somebody, some
man, some prophet, some preacher, who will dare to tell this world
who Jesus Christ is. And then God will send revival. Sovereign, the sovereign Christ,
not the weak reformer, not the defeated, disappointed, disillusioned,
helpless son of Mary, but the powerful, almighty Son of the
living God who said, I have all authority in heaven and earth. That's who Christ is. Who said
to his disciples, because I have all authority in heaven and earth,
you go preach the gospel to every creature. who said when he prayed
to his father in John 17, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy
son that thy son may glorify thee. Thou hast given me power,
authority over all flesh that I should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given me. That's the Christ that we must
praise. You go back and listen to Peter's
sermon. And I'll let you read it later for yourself, but this
sermon brought conviction. This sermon brought a pricking
of the heart. This sermon, in the power of
God, put those hearers in fear. They quit debating about what
they're going to let God do. They started thinking about what
God might do. Oh, what must we do? We've crucified
the Lord. Our hands are dripping with the
blood of the Son of God. We're miserable, wicked, wretched
enemies of God under His judgment. What are we going to do? What
kind of preaching did that? First of all, in verse 22, Peter
said Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, was a man, a man ordained of
God. No ordinary man, a man appointed
of God. No ordinary man, a man proved
by God to be of God with signs and wonders and miracles that
you saw. You beheld his works and you
heard his words. And Nicodemus, one of your own,
said no man could do these miracles except God be with him. Yes,
he was a man, but he was no ordinary man. He was no ordinary man. He was
a man ordained, a man appointed, a man chosen, a man sent by God. And then verse 23, he said that
man Jesus Christ was delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. You crucified him, but all that
Christ did was ordained in eternity past. Everything you did with
your wicked hands and wicked minds and wicked tongues, God
Almighty ordained it and brought it to pass. That's what he said. His death was testified in the
Scriptures. The Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. His death was declared by the
forerunner, the Lamb of God. His death was affirmed by Christ
himself, for this cause came out of this hour. His death was
preached by his apostles. But you rejected him. You crucified
him. He came unto his own, his own
receiving him not. He said, you will not come to
me that you might have life. His blood is on your hands. God
sent him, and you turned him away. Oh, he was ordained of
God to come. And what you did was ordained
of God, and your rebellion was ordained of God. There may be
those in this congregation tonight who in their pride and arrogance
and prejudice are resisting and rejecting him whom God has sent,
but let this be clear to you. While that is motivated by your
own wicked will, you were like Judas Iscariot, ordained to this
condemnation. That's right. Whereunto God said
they were appointed. It's no accident when men are
saved. And it's not unknown to God when
men rebel. He's still the God of the dead
and the living. He's the first cause of all things. He said, I create the light and
I create darkness. I make good and I make evil.
You're not on your own. in the hands of God. Even that
man who drove the nails into the very hands of God's Son himself,
the power that he had to raise that hammer was of God, was it
not? The breath he drew that gave
him the strength to plunge that nail into the hands of the Son
of God was by God himself. I don't want to be a vessel of
wrath. The wrath of man shall praise
the Lord. God hath made all things for
himself. What kind of God are you preaching?
I'm preaching the King. I'm preaching the kind of preaching
that will bring revival if we ever have it. And quit trying
to make people feel sorry for Jesus and put their pity where
it belongs, upon themselves. Christ turned on his way to the
cross to those women who wept and lamented. And he said, don't
weep for me. Don't waste your tears on me.
Weep for yourselves and for your children. That's what it said
right there. Don't weep over the remedy. Weep
over the disease. Don't weep over the cure. Weep
over the cause. Don't weep for me. Weep for yourself. God hath made all things for
himself, yet even the wicked for the day of evil. Almighty
God will exalt and magnify His grace, and I'll tell you this,
He's going to exalt and magnify His justice. I don't want to
be fuel for the flames of His justice. I want to be a trophy
of the riches of His grace, and I'm going to bow down. I'll bow
down somewhere. I'll bow down here in hell, but
every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that He's
Lord, right? If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth Jesus to be Lord, and bleed in thine heart, God raised him
in power from the dead, thou shalt be saved. But you're not
going to be saved feeling sorry for Jesus, or going to church
because your wife wants you to go to church with her, or going
to church so you can meet Mama in Hinton. God's not going to
save you on those principles, on those conditions. God will
meet you as a humble, broken beggar, suing for mercy at the
feet of Christ. bowing to his Lordship and owning
God, I'd be much obliged if you'd remember me when you come into
your kingdom. Now, he'll meet you on those grounds. That's
what Peter preached. Look at verse 24. And he preached
this Jesus was raised from the dead. God raised him up. God
raised him up. having loose the pains of death,
because it was not possible that he should be holden by death.
Not possible that death could hold him, or the grave could
hold him, or the forces of evil could hold him. What makes you
think you can hold him? What makes you think you can
resist him? He said in John 10, 16, "...other
sheep I have, which are not of this foal of him I must bring."
And they shall hear my voice. My sheep hear my voice. These
Pharisees came and said, if you be the Christ, why don't you
tell us? He said, I told you. But you didn't believe me. You
didn't believe me because you're not of my sheep. That's why you
didn't believe me. Why can't we see? You don't have
eyes. Why can't we hear? You don't have ears. Why can't
we understand? You don't have hearts to understand.
That's why you're not sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and they
follow me. My sheep have two brains, one
on the ear and one on the foot. They hear my voice and they follow
me. And I give them eternal life. That's kind of preaching and
bringing revival. That's what he preached here. Death couldn't
hold him. Hell couldn't hold him. The grave
couldn't hold him. Satan couldn't hold him. The
Roman Empire couldn't hold him. Christ goes where he wants to
go. The Son quickeneth whom he will. He will save whom he will
too. That's what Peter preached. And
then in verse 25 through 32, Peter preached that he was the
promised Messiah. He was the prophesied Messiah.
He was the typified Messiah. He's the one David talked about.
Of his loins, God would raise up the Messiah, the King, the
everlasting King to reign over true Israel. And old Peter said
David wasn't talking about himself when he said, Thou shalt not
leave my soul in hell, my body in the grave, while he said David's
still in the grave. But Jesus isn't. He's risen. He's risen. And when he wound
this sermon up, he said, I'm telling you this, verse 33, Therefore
being by the right hand of God exalted, and that's where Christ
is, and I'm telling you this, He's not walking the floor, He's
not wringing His hands. The Scripture says He sat down.
He's not very worried, is he? I'm a floor walker. Things don't
go on time. I start... You had me walking
the floor today, Ruby. I thought y'all was gonna be
late. I was back there in the vestibule, walking back and forth, looking
out the door. I'm a floor walker. My Lord's not. He sat down, Charlie.
He sat down. That's what it says in Hebrews
10, verse 11 through 14, by one offering, he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified, and second, expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. Brethren, let me tell you something.
As far as the purpose of God is concerned, as far as the covenant
of grace is concerned, as far as what God's going to do to
glorify his Son is concerned, it's already done. And he sat
down and he's waiting till God the Father's pleased to wind
it up. He's not begging anybody to do anything. That's right. That's what Peter's preaching
here. He's exalted at the right hand of God and has received
to the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost. He has shed for
this which you see and hear. Now verse 36. The Lord, verse
34, the Lord said to my Lord, you sit right here on my right
hand. that I make every one of your enemies your footstool.
Your people I'm going to exalt. Your people I'm going to throw.
Your people I'm going to enrich. But your enemies, I'm going to
make them your footstool. And you just sit right there
until I get the job done. On the merits of your righteousness,
on the merits of your sacrifice, He died that He might be Lord
of the dead and the living. And then Peter wound it up and
he said, Therefore, let every one of you know that this Jesus
whom you have crucified, that same Jesus that you don't have
time for, that you don't have any use for, that you don't have
any reverence for, that you don't have any concern about, that
you don't have any regard for, that you don't have any worship
for, let you everyone know God's made him Lord and Christ. in the name of the Lord and Christ.
And I'm telling you, when they heard that, they was in trouble. Do you know
anybody in trouble? I don't know anybody in trouble.
Everybody hears me preach and they says, that's a good sermon.
Likes to talk. What gets me is when folks look
at me and say, heard you on TV. That's all. What am I supposed
to say? Thank you? They didn't say anything.
They said, I heard you. I saw you. Boy, when they heard
Peter, they said, under God, what are we going to do? When
they heard Peter, they're shaking, they're trembling, they're pricked
in their hearts. They said, we're in a mess. Can you offer us any
help? And now we get through with the sermon. And we got to
have the organist start playing right on cue. The choir starts
singing because nobody's disturbed, nobody's upset, nobody's concerned,
nobody's in trouble, nobody's trembling, no knees knocking
together. So we do our own Holy Ghost work. You know, we say
the Spirit's there, but He's 90 miles from there. And we say
now, everybody bow your head and close your eyes. Now anybody
here that don't want to go to hell, you don't want to go there,
would you raise your hand and let me pray for you? Come on now,
raise your hand. Come on, anybody here, you don't
want to go to hell, do you? We have somebody put, hey, God
bless you, I see that hand. That's all you know. Now, if you mean business, why
don't you come down here and tell us about it? And they just
stand there. Why don't you come tell us about
it? They stand there. Somebody walks
over and puts their arm around them, you know, and starts talking.
Why don't you go tell us about it? It makes me want to cry. And then we finally sing 24 verses,
and finally somebody comes, and that starts it, you know. Then
they all come. They rededicate, re-consecrate, family altars,
promise to tithe, accept Jesus, hear all that. Holy Ghost, man!
Praise the Lord. Holy Ghost is not anywhere around
there, Jack. When we preach a sovereign Christ and the Spirit of God
is there, men are going to get in trouble. And nobody is in
trouble. They'll run in trouble. And when
they get in trouble, when they get concerned, they're going
to get on the phone, they're going to call for help. Or they're
going to come down after the service and take a picture by
the arm, not let him get away. Tell me, is there any hope? Is
there any hope? That's what discourage. You talk
about witnessing, that discourages witnessing. I don't know. We're
trying to force me and Bruce into the kingdom of God, and
they don't want to go in. They don't want to go in. We may be in a day of famine.
I don't know. We may be in a day of desertion by God. We may be. I don't know. Israel
stayed down in Egypt 400 years. God never made a sound. But I do know this. Revival will
come when God is pleased to give a revelation of His sovereign
Son. And we realize who He is, where
He is, what He did, and the guilt on our souls as a result of our
attitude toward Him, somebody's going to hit the dust, and they're
going to cry for mercy. And it may be, I don't know,
it may be God will show mercy. It may be. I'd like to live to
see it, and I know you would too. But when people are brought
to Christ that way, then you don't have to beg them to come
to church. You don't have to beg them to
worship God. Our Father, we're grateful for the Word, the powerful
Word of the living God. It would be power in the hands
of thy Holy Spirit, not in my hands, in the hands of any man.
But it can be in the hands of thy Spirit.

Pentecost - Revelation of Sovereign Grace

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Pentecost - Revelation of Sovereign Grace

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