I'm speaking to you this morning
from the book of Acts. I'd like you to take your Bibles
and follow along with me, please, as I read one verse of Scripture.
In the second chapter of Acts, verse 36, we read these words,
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God
hath made that same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and
Christ. Now, the title of this message
is Pentecost, A Revelation of the Sovereign Christ. That's
the title of the message, Pentecost, The Revelation of the Sovereign
Christ. Now, this chapter, Acts, the
second chapter, begins with these words, When the day of Pentecost
was fully come. When the day of Pentecost. Now,
when you think of the word Pentecost, What do you think about? Well,
most people think about revival. There are synonymous terms almost
in this day, Pentecost and revival, and we pray that God will send
us another Pentecost, and we mean by that we want God to send
revival. And another thing we think about
when we hear the word Pentecost, we think about the coming of
the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit did come at Pentecost. Our Lord promised his disciples
that he would send the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit of the living
God came upon the apostles with great power at this Feast of
Pentecost. And we have a song that goes
something like this, Lord send the old time power, the Pentecostal
power, the floodgates of blessings on us throw open wide. So when we think of Pentecost,
we think of the coming of the Holy Spirit. And then I believe
thirdly, when we think of Pentecost, we think about conversion. For
thousands of people were converted to Christ at Pentecost. And another
part of that old song goes like this, Lord, send the old time
power, the Pentecostal power, that sinners be converted and
thy name glorified. So when we think of Pentecost,
and that's the way this chapter begins, when the day of Pentecost
was fully come. When we think of Pentecost, we
think of revival, we think of the coming of the Holy Spirit,
and we think about many conversions. But just exactly what was Pentecost? If you had to explain what these
people were doing here, what the disciples were doing at this
particular place, what was Pentecost? What was the origin of the Feast
of Pentecost. Why were these people all assembled
in this particular place at this time? People from every nation
were there. Well, you'll find the story in
Leviticus chapter 23. If you later, we don't have time
on this telecast to read all of these verses. Leviticus chapter
23, verse 4 through 21. And you'll find there are three
definite feasts. given by God to Israel in this
chapter of Leviticus, and Pentecost was one of them. But there were
three. The first feast was the Passover feast, which originated,
of course, in Egypt. Israel had been in Egypt, I think,
something like 400 years. They'd been in captivity and
slavery, and God promised to deliver them. And you remember
he sent Moses down into Egypt to deliver Israel out of Egypt
and out of slavery. He sent Moses down to take them
out of Egypt and lead them into the land of Carmath, Canaan.
And Pharaoh wouldn't release the people, wouldn't let them
go. And God sent several plagues upon Egypt. You remember some
of the plagues. The river turned to blood. The
plague of lice and frogs and flies and all of these different
things were brought upon Egypt. And then the final plague. Moses
told Pharaoh and he told the people of Egypt and he told Israel.
that at midnight, God would come through the land of Egypt in
judgment, and that he would strike dead the firstborn in every home,
even to the cattle on the hill. And of course, the Egyptians
did not believe this prophecy. Israel did believe it. And God
gave Israel a feast to keep, gave them the Passover feast.
He said, take a lamb, the firstling of the flock, and slay that lamb
and put the blood on the lintel and on the two side posts of
the doors. And when I see the blood, I'll pass over you." That's
where it started. That's the origin of the Feast
of the Passover. And this is one of the feasts
mentioned in Leviticus 23, the Feast of the Passover. It was
kept on a certain day every year after that. Every year after
they were delivered out of Egypt, they kept the Passover. And this
is a picture. The Passover stands for the sacrifice
of Christ our Lord. It is a picture of the death
of Christ our Lord. In one of his epistles, Christ
is our Passover. The Passover has a message. The
Passover is a picture. The Passover is a type. It has
a message. It declares Christ is our sacrifice. Christ is our atonement. His
blood puts away our sins. God says, when I see the blood
of Christ, I'll pass over you. When God comes through in judgment
and wrath and condemnation, That judgment and wrath and condemnation
does not come upon us because Christ is our Passover. We were
in captivity. We were in slavery. We were in
the land of sin, like Israel was in Egypt. And they killed
the lamb and put the blood on the doorpost. And that blood
kept God's judgment and wrath from that household. And that's
what the Passover is. And our Lord ate the Passover
with his disciples before he went to the cross. Now, after
the cross, there is no Passover feast to keep. Our Lord instituted
the Lord's table. After the Passover, he gave the
disciples the bread and the wine. And he said, this is my body
broken for you, and this is my blood shed for you. This is symbolic
of my body broken for you and my blood shed for you. You eat
the bread and drink the wine, and you show my death until I
come. So we don't keep the Passover every year, as Israel did after
they left Egypt. But we do observe the Lord's
table. We observe the table of our Lord
in remembrance of Christ. Now, that's the first feast.
And then there's a second feast. And you'll find that in verse
10 and 11 and 12 of Leviticus 23, and it's called the waving
of the sheep. Israel was instructed, now the
Passover, after the Passover Sabbath, the seventh day, Saturday,
on Sunday, on the next day after the Passover Sabbath, Israel
was to take the barley, a handful of barley, from the first harvest,
and they were to wave it before the Lord. It was the waving of
the sheep, or the handful of barley, and that's what the feast
was all about, the great convocation before God. And this is what
Israel was saying. They were saying that every product
of man's labor, every product of the soil, and all the result
of man's labor is a gift of God. It's from God, it's of God, and
for the glory of God. That's what they were saying.
On this Sunday morning, after the Passover supper, they took
the handful of barley, the sheaf of barley, and waved it before
the Lord, saying that the first fruits of every harvest belong
to the Lord, and all the results of man's labor and efforts and
all the products of the soil are of God and from God, a gift
of God. Now, it was on this day that
our Lord arose from the grave. The Lord Jesus Christ came forth
from the tomb, the first fruits of them that slept. And this
is saying this, just like that waving of the barley, it is saying
this, that the results of his sacrifice, his work of redemption,
the resurrection of his body, and the resurrection of the body
of all his people is of God, the gift of God, the work of
God, the power of God. That barley came forth from the
ground, and they took it and waved it before the Lord, saying,
It's all of God. Our Lord came forth out of the
tomb, the first fruit of them that slept. Now, that feast was
on Sunday morning after the Passover Sabbath. Now, the third feast,
they were to number seven Sabbaths after the Passover, or 50 days,
seven weeks, which is 49 days, and then one other day, which
is 50. And then they were to observe, they were to hold a
Holy Convocation before the Lord. On this 50th day, they were to
hold a Holy Convocation before the Lord. They were to renew
their vows. They were to dedicate all that
they were and all that they had to God. This was the Pentecost,
the Feast of Pentecost. It came 50 days after the Passover. And Israel, in 50 days after
the Passover, they were well out of Egypt. They were well
on their way to the Promised Land. They were well delivered
from Pharaoh's forces, and Pharaoh's threats, and Pharaoh's army,
because they'd been drowned in the Red Sea. And now they were
out there, completely delivered from Egypt, on their way to the
Promised Land, and now they held the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast
of the Firstfruits. And they held this holy convocation
before the Lord, and dedicated, rededicated, renewed their vows
before the living God. On this day, the Holy Spirit
was given. on this Feast of Pentecost, as
promised by our Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit came with power
upon the apostles, and there followed a great revival that
continued until almost every nation had heard the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And at Pentecost, when the day
of Pentecost was fully come, and the disciples were assembled
in one place, and all of these people with our many nations,
the Spirit of God came upon the disciples, and they preached
and thousands of people came to the knowledge of Christ. Now,
could we designate a single factor that brought about this revival?
Could we designate a single factor that was most dominating in this
great revival, this great outpouring of God's Spirit, this great visitation
of God's power upon the sons of Adam, where thousands embraced
the Lord Jesus Christ, received him, submitted to him, and crowned
him Lord. Well, let's see. First of all,
the disciples of Christ were there at Pentecost. These men
who had been with Christ for three and a half years, Peter,
James, John, these men had been with the Lord. They were there
at Pentecost, and they preached. But now you note this. They did
not preach themselves. They didn't speak of themselves.
They didn't talk about their great office. which they hailed.
They didn't call themselves men of God, or apostles, or disciples
of Christ. They didn't talk about their
work. They didn't talk about the places they'd been, and the
crowds to which they'd preached. They didn't talk about the number
of people that had been converted to Christ as a result of their
books, or their sermons, or their revival meetings, or their evangelistic
campaigns. They didn't talk about themselves.
Their names were not in bold letters up above the platform.
Their names were not in the newspapers of Jerusalem. They didn't preach
themselves, but they preached Christ. They preached the sovereign
Christ. They talked about the sovereign
Christ. You read Peter's sermon there in the second chapter of
Acts. We'll talk about it in a moment. But you'll find him
preaching Christ, talking about the man Christ Jesus, delivered,
ordained, anointed, sent of God, and how David talked about Christ,
and how Christ was the fulfillment of the prophecies and the types
and the shadows. and that how Christ died and
was buried and rose again and is now at the right hand of God.
These men preached Christ. They didn't preach themselves.
They said that. They said, we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus, the Lord. And then the second thing. The
disciples were there, but the Holy Spirit was there. The Spirit
of the living God was there. The mighty third person of the
blessed Trinity was there, the Holy Spirit. But he didn't talk
about himself. He didn't talk about how they
needed to be filled with the Spirit or baptized with the Spirit. He didn't talk about his gifts.
He didn't talk about his power. These men spake. They preached
the gospel in other languages. But they didn't call attention
to the fact, hey, we're speaking in another tongue. Hey, everybody
listen to us. We're speaking in another language.
Have you ever heard anything like this? No, they didn't call
attention to that. The Holy Spirit didn't call attention
to himself. He didn't call attention to his
gifts. He didn't call attention to his power at all. He didn't
call attention to the miracles. He called attention to Christ.
The Holy Spirit spake of Christ. In fact, our Lord said in John
16, verse 13 and 14, when he, how be it, when he, the Holy
Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth. He
shall not speak of himself. Now when you hear preachers and
groups of people who always talk about the Holy Spirit, who always
magnify the Holy Spirit, who always talk about the gifts of
the Holy Spirit, you better be careful. Because the Spirit of
the Living God, and the Bible says try the spirits whether
they be of God. The Holy Spirit of the Living
God does not speak of himself. He does not brag on himself.
He does not glorify himself. He does not call attention to
himself. I warn you right along this line.
He speaks of Christ. Christ said, He shall not speak
of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak.
He will show you things to come. Now listen to these next words.
He will glorify me. He will take the things of mine
and show them to you. So the Holy Spirit was at Pentecost.
But the Holy Spirit called attention, not to himself, but to Christ.
He didn't say, you need the Holy Ghost. He said through the apostles,
you need Christ. You need a Redeemer. You need
a mediator. You need an advocate with the
Father. I tell you, the people were there. There was a crowd
of people there. You talk about a great crowd. There were people
there from everywhere. But these people, listen, they
were not entertained by celebrities. They didn't go out and get the
different celebrities and the players from the theater and
the Greek Olympic stars and bring them there to Pentecost. and
put on a show for this great crowd. The disciples didn't do
that at all. They didn't go out and round
up some celebrity to get a crowd. These people weren't entertained
by a lot of special music. The disciples didn't go out and
get a bunch of quartets and trios and solos and choirs and have
special numbers to entertain these people. And they didn't
go through a lot of ritualism and candle burning and ceremonialism. These people heard a sermon.
They heard Peter preach the word of God and preach the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what they heard. You talk
about Pentecost. What was the dominating factor
that brought the power of God and brought conviction of sin
and brought conversion of sinners and brought men and women to
know the living God? I'll tell you what that dominating
factor was. It was a revelation of the sovereign
living Christ. Yes, the disciples were there.
but they preached Christ. Yes, the Holy Spirit was there,
but he preached Christ. Yes, there were thousands and
thousands and thousands of people there, but they didn't put on
a show and they weren't entertained. They heard a sermon. They heard
the gospel preached in the power of the Holy Spirit. In other
words, the dominating factor at Pentecost was a revelation
of the sovereign living Christ who lived on this earth. who
died for our sins on the cross of Calvary, who was raised from
the grave, who ascended to the right hand of God." In other
words, the disciples preached who Christ is. They preached
what Christ did. They preached why he did it.
And they preached where he is now. My friends, you can be sure
of this. You say, Preacher, do you believe
that we can have another Pentecost today? And when we say Pentecost,
we don't mean a feast of the first fruits. But we mean a revival,
an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, mighty conversions. Do you believe
that we can have such a thing today? Yes, sir, I certainly
do. But not under present-day preaching, not under what we're
listening to in this day. Any great outpouring of God's
mercy, any great outpouring of God's grace, any great revival
that God sends among the sons of Adam, any great work of salvation
among men will come as a result of the preaching of a sovereign
Christ, of the living, reigning Christ. That's right. God will
bless the preaching of Jesus Christ, who he is, what he did,
why he did it, and where he is now. Not another Jesus. This
revival is not going to come as a result of the preaching
of a weak, frustrated, disappointed, disillusioned Reformer named
Jesus. Paul talked about that. 2 Corinthians
11, 4, he warned those people, don't listen to those who are
preaching another Jesus and another gospel and another spirit. I'll
tell you, I listen to preaching today, and you know what it is?
It's a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. We have a religion today that
consists of programs of reform, traditions, emotion, entertainment,
and everything in the world, but glory and honor to the King
of kings and the Lord of lords." And what we're hearing today
is not what God has done, but what man ought to do. We're not hearing who Christ
is. We're hearing men try to tell folks that God is sitting
over there waiting to see what they're going to do. And this
kind of preaching is not going to bring revival. Let's look
at the message of Peter. He preached the sovereign Christ.
The Christ to whom the leper came who cried, Lord, if you
will, you can make me clean. He preached the Christ to whom
the woman of Canaan came when she cried, Lord, have mercy upon
me. He preached the Christ to whom
the thief cried on the cross, Lord, you're not going to stay
there. You're coming into a kingdom. Remember me when you come into
that kingdom. He preached the Christ to whom
the centurion came, who wanted his servant healed. And Christ
said, well, I'll go with you down to your house. He said,
you don't need to do that. I'm a man of authority. I have
servants under me. I know what power is. I say to
this servant, go, and he goes. To this servant, come, and he
comes. All you have to do, Lord, is just say the word. You don't
have to go to my house. I know my servant will be healed.
Our Lord said, I haven't seen faith like that in Israel. Go
thy way, thy servant liveth. Yes, that's the Lord. That's
the Lord. And then the Lord to whom the
harlot came, and knelt at his feet, and washed his feet with
the hair of her head, with her tears, and dried his feet with
the hair of her head, and sued for mercy, and pleaded for peace. That's the Christ, the King of
kings, the Lord of lords, the sovereign Christ. We must have
some preaching that exalts Christ, and does not exalt men. We must
have some preaching that brings glory to God, and not glory to
the flesh. And that's the kind of preaching
that will bring revival. Now listen to this sermon by Peter.
First of all, in verse 22, he said, Jesus of Nazareth, a man,
a man, approved of God, appointed of God, sent of God among you. And he was a man. Christ Jesus
was a perfect man. Yes, he was bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh. He was sent of God. He was the
son of God. His Godhead was proved by his
miracle. He raised the dead. He calmed
the sea. He knew men's thoughts. He caused
the blind to see. He forgave sin. He's the God-man. And that's where Peter started.
He said, Jesus of Nazareth is a man, but he's the God-man. He's a man sent by God, anointed
by God, appointed by God, ordained of God to be the Redeemer, the
Savior, Son of God, Son of Man. All right, notice the second
thing in verse 23. Peter said him, this man, this God-man,
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have crucified and slain. In other words, all that Christ
did was foreordained from eternity. That's right, him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. You did what God determined
before to be done. That's what Peter said. Everything
Christ did was foreordained from eternity. His virgin birth, a
virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call
his name Immanuel. His tribe, the scepter, shall
not depart from Judah till Shallow come. His family, he will be
of the seed of David. His betrayal, 18 pieces of silver
by one of his disciples. His crucifixion, read Psalm 22. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? But Peter says this man, this
God-man, sent from God, you rejected. He was a root out of dry ground,
despised and rejected of men. He was in the world, and the
world knew him not. He came into his own, and his own received
him not. But, what's the third thing? Verse 24, God raised him
from the dead. You crucified him, you buried
him, but God raised him from the dead because, now listen
to this, It is not possible that he should be holden by death.
There's no power can hold him. There's no force can hold him.
He has all authority in heaven and earth. He says that. Told
his disciples, he said, all authority is given unto me in heaven and
earth. He could not be held by death because he's life. He could
not be held by darkness because he's light. He could not be held
by hate because he's love. He could not be held by sin because
he's righteousness. He cannot be held by men because
he's God. Some of the Pharisees came to
him and said, now, if you be the Christ, tell us plainly.
He said, I told you, John 10, 24, but you didn't believe me. You didn't believe me because
you're not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which
gave them is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand. He said to Pilate, you could
have no power over me at all, except it be given you from above.
All right, follow this message. The man, Christ Jesus, the God-man,
sent of God. You with wicked hands have crucified
and slain, but God raised him up. And then verse 25, and he
says, this Jesus is the one David spoke concerning. Look at verse
25. David spoke concerning him. The
prophet spoke concerning him. In Acts 10, 43, it says to him,
give all the prophets witness. We don't preach any new salvation,
any new gospel, any new way of salvation. Christ said, Abraham
saw my day and was glad. Moses wrote of me, everybody
whom God has ever redeemed, forgiven, pardoned, and saved has been
saved by Christ and by his sacrifice. Those in the Old Testament by
looking to the coming Lord who died and those during our day
look back to the Lord who did die. David wrote concerning him,
now look at verse 33, and he is exalted to the right hand
of God where he sits. Expecting, Paul said in Hebrews,
till his enemies be made his footstool. And in verse 36, Peter
finished that message with these words, God hath made that same
Jesus, whom you crucify, Lord and Christ. He's not a doormat
named Jesus. He's not an insurance policy
named Jesus. He's not a fire escape named
Jesus. He's not something to grab hold
of just before you die and hope he'll take you to heaven. He's
the King. He's the Lord. God hath made this same Jesus,
whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. When our Lord was
on his way to the cross, the women wept and lamented him. And he turned to them and he
said, don't weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your
children. So my friends, if we have a Pentecost today, a revival,
It will not come as a result of the weak, anemic, emotional
preaching of a powerless Reformer. It will come when men stand in
the power of God's Spirit and preach Jesus Christ, King of
Kings, Lord of Lords. It will come when God Almighty
is pleased to give us a revelation to our hearts of a sovereign
living Lord who is able to save to the uttermost them that come
to God by Him.