So, this is Stephen Wellham. I think a lot of you have met him before. This is, how many times have you made it to Ireland now? A lot? Six or seven? Eight. Six or seven, wow. Okay. So Stephen has become a dear friend to us and we look forward to his teaching next week. Where's your home? Where do you come from?
Well, I live, right? I'm considered home Louisville, Kentucky in the United States. Okay. But I grew up in Canada and I'm now in the United States. Okay. And what do you do? What's your day-to-day work?
Day-to-day work is to teach at the seminary, Southern Baptist Seminary. So, teach in the area of theology, so helping students and then also try to get things published. Okay. Some writing.
Writing too, yeah. Yeah. And tell us a little bit about your family. Your wife, Karen.
Yes.
She's coming next year.
Yeah, on Saturday. So, my wife, Karen. So, it's our 40th anniversary this year.
Congratulations. Wow.
And five adult children. So, and then five grandchildren and two more grandchildren coming in July.
Wow. So, Karen's coming at the end of the week and you're heading off somewhere?
That's right. So, we'll celebrate our 40th by going just over to the UK and doing a little trip. And then I have to be in Glasgow on June 24th to 26th at a conference there.
Okay. Well, we're delighted you're here with us today and thank you for being here.
Thank you, John.
And, yeah, there'll be opportunity to chat with them afterwards over to you and come. Thank you.
Well, great to be with you this morning. And Johnny mentioned Acts 2, so you can turn there.
If you follow, not that you have to or anything, but if you follow the church calendar.
Today, you can probably guess if we're in Acts 2 and it's Pentecost.
June 8th is Pentecost Sunday.
So, I thought, look, that's a perfect day to spend our time looking at Acts 2, right?
So, we'll look at this passage and really we're looking at how this passage demonstrates that Jesus is both Lord and Savior.
A lot of times when we think of Pentecost in Acts 2, we just think it's debates over whether we should speak in tongues or not, right?
And that's often where it gets reduced to, but that's really not its point.
Its point really is a demonstration that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, right?
So, often Pentecost is neglected.
Often the ascension of Christ, these two events, Acts 1, records the ascension of Christ, Acts 2, Pentecost.
We often forget them that they are part of Christ's work, right?
We remember Christmas for all kinds of reasons, but we think of the incarnation.
And then we then come to Good Friday and Easter Sunday and we have celebration of the Lord's death and then his resurrection.
And then after resurrection Sunday, we generally just go on with our life until Christmas comes around again.
And then we have Easter.
But, right, Christ's work is not complete in his first coming without these two events, the ascension and Pentecost.
Christ's work in his first coming does not end with the resurrection.
Ascension is 40 days after Christ's resurrection.
And that's what, if you have your Bibles, right, Acts 1 is recounting for us.
So, here's the historical account of the ascension where Jesus, from the resurrection to this event for 40 days,
appeared and disappeared with his disciples, right?
We're told that in 1 Corinthians 15, he appeared during this time to even 500 people at one time.
And during this time, he was teaching the disciples about all that had occurred in terms of his death and resurrection,
preparing for his departure, which would occur at the ascension,
and preparing them for Pentecost, for the coming of the Spirit.
So, Acts 1, you have that as Luke begins the book of Acts.
So, Luke, Acts go together.
He mentions there in the former book, in verse 1 of Acts 1,
Theophilus, whoever that is,
He's writing to him about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until he was taken up into heaven.
After instructions to the Holy Spirit, to the apostles, he has chosen.
So, for this period of time, he's meeting with them.
After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.
He appeared to them for a period of 40 days, spoke about the kingdom of God.
And during this time, they then said to him, right, he says to them in verse 4,
Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.
Right, so already in his ministry, he mentions here,
For John baptized with water, but in a few days you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Right, so all the way back in the Gospels, right, John is the one who is the forerunner of Christ.
He announces him, and then he says,
Jesus will be the one who will baptize you in the Spirit.
And Jesus is then saying, right, I have died, I've been raised, I'm going to ascend.
Wait here until that now is going to occur.
And he's preparing us for Pentecost.
And they are then asking him, even at this time in verse 6,
Lord, when are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?
And then he tells them, which is really what unfolds in the book of Acts.
He says to them, it's not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set,
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.
And of course, that's going to then just take place in 10 days, right?
And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
Of course, that's the book of Acts, isn't it?
They are going to wait.
They're going to receive the Spirit.
They're going to preach the gospel first in Jerusalem.
And then that gospel will then go to Judea.
The Gentiles, Cornelius, will be brought in.
That's all about Acts 10.
All the church will expand.
Where does the book of Acts end?
Ultimately, it ends in Rome, right?
The capital of the world where Paul then takes the gospel there.
So Jesus, right, in his life, death, resurrection, his 40 days of appearing,
is then reminding them of all that he's done, preparing them for his departure,
which then takes place in verse 9 in Acts 1.
After this, he was taken up before the very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They're looking at him, wondering all that's gone on.
And the angels then appear in verse 10 and say,
Why are you looking?
Here he has now departed.
Don't expect him to show up again like he's been doing for 40 days.
He is now seated, and of course the ascension, our focus this morning isn't on that,
but the ascension is such an important event where he leaves.
He is then seated at God's right hand.
He is now ruling over history, orchestrating everything to its final end.
And these angels then say, Stop looking up.
Get busy.
Go and wait for the giving of the Spirit, as he told you.
And then ultimately you will take the message of the gospel to the ends of the earth.
And he will then come back, just as you saw him depart,
he will come back publicly and bring everything to its end.
And so here's really the age that we live in, right?
All of after his ascension, after we'll see at Pentecost,
and now living in this age until he comes again.
And then in chapter 1 you have the description there of choosing a new disciple.
Judas is deaf.
And then chapter 2 opens on this day of Pentecost.
We'll come to that just in a moment.
Where they're waiting, right?
So 10 days after he's departed, they're now waiting in an upper room.
And then the great event of Pentecost occurs.
So we're going to look at Acts 2, given that it is Pentecost Sunday.
And because this event is often neglected, right, we want to see what it teaches us.
And first and foremost, how it reveals to us that Jesus Christ truly is Lord, Savior.
He has done his work in his first coming.
It's complete.
And then we now are about the business of seeing the church taken to the ends of the earth,
the gospel message, and awaiting his coming.
So that brings us to Acts chapter 2.
We've already sort of set the context of it.
But now we'll look at Acts 2 in terms of its breakdown.
In the first 13 verses, you have a description of what occurs on this 50th day after the resurrection.
And that's in verses 1 through 13.
And then you have the interpretation of it, right, or the explanation of it.
So you have an event that occurs.
It's not obvious to the people all that's happening.
They see it as something perplexing, right?
Something strange is occurring here.
How do we understand this event?
And then in verse 14, we have the first sort of gospel message of Peter, right?
He stands up, proclaims to the people there in Jerusalem what now has occurred on Pentecost,
and interprets that event for us.
And all of his interpretation we'll be looking at here is this is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.
All the Old Testament prophets look forward to this day,
and it now has come because Jesus is Lord and Savior, right?
He is crucified.
He's been risen.
He now has ascended.
And then he calls them to faith and repentance.
So we'll look at sort of three aspects of this passage.
First, the description of the event, verses 1 to 13, its explanation in 14 through 36,
and then just think of some of its application to us, verses 36 through 41.
So if you have your Bibles, I apologize.
I've got this old NIV Bible from 1984.
And the reason I do that, I know most are reading ESV or something like that,
is because I've got too many notes in my Bible, and to change it and all that is just too difficult.
So I just follow along.
It's very similar to what you will have.
So Acts 2, verses 1 to 13, a description of the event.
So here they are in the upper room when the day of Pentecost came.
They were all together in one place.
Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven
and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Now there were, staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
When they heard this sound, the crowd came together in bewilderment,
because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
Utterly amazed, they asked,
Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?
Then how is it that each of us hears them in our own native language?
Parthenians, Medes, Balaamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus in Asia,
Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and parts of Libya near Cyrene,
visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism,
Cretans and Arabs, we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues.
And they asked,
Amazed and perplexed, they asked,
What does this mean?
How should we understand what's going on here?
Some, however, made fun of them
and said,
They've had too much wine.
So there's the description of the event, right?
And then Peter will stand up and say,
They haven't had too much wine.
This is the meaning of the event.
And we'll come back to that just in a moment.
But the description of the event, right?
The focus here is on the place, right?
They are meeting in this upper room in Jerusalem, right?
And the time is so significant, right?
Luke tells us this is on the day of Pentecost, right?
This was a familiar event from the Old Testament, right?
So the Old Testament has all kinds of feasts and events and places of remembrance.
And Pentecost was an event that celebrated what was called the Feast of Weeks, right?
You'll find that if you were to go back to Leviticus.
Leviticus chapter 23 describes this feast.
It was 50 days.
And it was 50 days.
Pentecost is 50 days after the Exodus, right?
So it's a very, very important event, right?
So in the Exodus in the Old Testament, you had the Passover that brought about the Exodus
where Israel then is taken out of Egypt.
So this Passover Exodus event.
And 50 days later, you then have the celebration of Pentecost.
And it also reminded, right, that this is the time where they were taken into the wilderness
at Mount Sinai, right?
So this is a crucial event in the life of Israel.
And what's happening here is this is now being celebrated in Jerusalem, right?
And all these Jewish people are gathered, people from all over the world.
And now this is when the Spirit of God comes on this day.
Now, this very fact that it happens on this day is not accidental, right?
So just as, right, if you work through the Bible, right, just as Passover and Exodus brought
about Israel's redemption, right?
They are delivered from bondage to Egypt.
Well, in a far greater way, right, the Old Testament Passover and the Old Testament Exodus
in God's plan looked forward to a greater Passover, right?
A greater deliverance.
And, of course, that gets all picked up in terms of the Gospels, isn't it?
On the night Jesus is betrayed, he's celebrating the Passover, right?
And in his celebration of that, he says, the Passover now is going to be fulfilled in me, right?
I'm the Passover lamb, right?
And what does he then do in his death and then ultimately his resurrection?
He brings about redemption, right?
The very language of redemption is Exodus language, right?
And so Jesus then is the great Passover.
He's the one who truly delivers us in a far greater way than happened to Israel in Egypt.
He delivers us from sin and redeems us from sin.
And now, just as Israel celebrated 50 days later after their Exodus, now in the true fulfillment
of redemption, the true Passover, now 50 days later, the Spirit of God is poured out.
And, of course, that's not insignificant, right?
Jesus now is fulfilling all of these events from the Old Testament, right?
And that's why this day of Pentecost is such a significant day built off the Old Testament.
Now, as Luke describes the event, he describes sort of three features that could be natural,
but they're clearly supernatural, right?
So, Luke describes that when the Spirit comes, they hear this mighty sound.
Right?
And we're told that in verse 2.
Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind, right?
So, it seems natural.
You hear the wind blow.
You can hear the sound of it, right?
And that's there.
There's something is now happening.
And now this sound occurs.
And then they have a sight.
They see a sight of what seemed to be, right?
So, sort of over their heads is like this tongues of fire.
They're seeing there.
So, they're hearing this sound.
They're seeing this sight.
And suddenly, as a result of this, they are now able to speak in languages they did not know, right?
And these are not unknown languages.
Very clearly, as we read this, right?
The languages they're speaking in are known languages.
And they're reflected by all these people.
This crowd is an international crowd.
And what's going on here is these are Jewish people.
God-fears.
God-fears were those who came under Israel, right?
They may be Gentiles, but they were those who worshipped the God of the Old Testament.
But these are primarily Jewish people that lived outside of Israel, right?
Outside of Jerusalem.
They were those who then would come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover and celebrate the Pentecost.
And in their languages, they were spread out all over the world.
And you have this description here of verses 9 through 11, all of these nations, right?
This is picking up from the Old Testament, very much alluding to Genesis 10.
Genesis 10, if you know that passage of Scripture, is the table of nations, right?
So Genesis 10 and 11, these two go together.
And this is what is taking place here.
In chapter 10, you have this table of nations that come out of Noah, all the different nations of the earth.
And then you have, in chapter 11, the Tower of Babel, right?
Where all the languages are dispersed.
Well, this is now, right, a kind of reversal of that.
So here you have these Jewish people coming from the nations.
And it speaks here of them, every nation under heaven, right?
This doesn't mean every single person was from there.
It's a representation of them, right?
They represented all these places, right?
And they're now gathered in Jerusalem.
And they see now and they hear of these people speaking their known language.
And they're amazed because they say, aren't these just Galileans, right?
So we've been talking at the Campbell House about different accents.
Well, the Galileans in Israel would have had a very distinct accent.
It wouldn't have been same as those in Jerusalem.
And then they hear them speaking in languages with perfect accents, right?
And they're wondering, what on earth is going here?
These men have not known these languages.
They're speaking these languages perfectly.
And they're speaking of the wonders of God.
And they're just now perplexed, right?
They're amazed.
They're, what is going on here, right?
And the whole context here is, again, set within Old Testament understanding, right?
The nations are now coming, right?
This is what Jesus said in Acts 1.
Wait for Jerusalem, and you will see the kingdom of God now come to Jerusalem,
to the uttermost parts of the earth.
And this is now the beginning of it, right?
These nations are coming.
These Jewish people, they're now hearing in their own languages the mighty wonders of God.
But still, they are perplexed, right?
You see that in verse 12.
Amazed, perplexed.
It's not obvious to them why this is occurring, right?
They're hearing this.
They're seeing this.
They're wondering, what on earth is happening?
This is not normal.
This isn't just sort of a normal phenomenon.
Something supernatural is taking place.
And then, of course, as you have always in a crowd,
you have some who are wondering what's happening,
and then you have others who are the skeptics, right?
The cynics.
And you have that in verse 13.
Ha!
Some are making fun of them.
All they are is drunk, right?
Well, of course, being drunk doesn't mean you can speak in tongues.
That doesn't explain anything.
But you have the diverse interpretations, right?
You have some.
What is going on?
And so they're asking, in some sense,
give us an explanation of this event.
That's where we move to verses 14 through 36, right?
Peter now will stand up,
and this will be the first message that he gives,
and he's going to interpret this event, right?
They're seeing this phenomena.
They're wondering what it means.
Peter will stand up and say,
this is what this event means,
and this is why you need to take this very, very seriously, right?
And so here we have the explanation of Pentecost.
Now, Peter says a lot here.
There's a lot in this message that he gives,
but there's two main points that just come through very strongly, right?
The first point is, he says to this crowd,
what you're seeing here is the fulfillment of the prophets, right?
This is rooted in Old Testament expectation that now is happening, right?
What we've longed for for years and years and years
now is taking place right before your very eyes, right?
And the second point he's going to make, I've already said,
is that the reason this is all now happening
is because Jesus lived, he died, he was raised,
he's ascended to the right hand of God,
and he is the one who's poured this out, the spirit out.
He's the one, if you want an explanation
of why all these people are speaking this way,
is because he is the savior of the world,
and he is the Lord of all things, right?
And that's where he's going to go,
and then he's going to call them to faith and repentance.
So let's look at what he says,
first in terms of this fulfillment of the Old Testament,
and we primarily have that in verses 14 through 21.
So, verse 14, Peter stands up with the eleven,
raised his voice and addressed the crowd,
fellow Jews and all you who live in Jerusalem,
let me explain this to you,
listen carefully to what I say.
You're amazed, you're perplexed,
some of you are skeptics,
let me address you, right?
Then he says, verse 15, he takes on the skeptic.
These men are not drunk, as you suppose,
it's only nine in the morning.
No.
If you want to know the meaning of this event,
you've got to go back to Joel, right?
The prophet Joel.
This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.
Then he quotes from Joel chapter 2.
In the last days.
Of course, that's Joel looking to the future, right?
God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people.
Now that all people is going to be significant.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions.
Your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my spirit in those days.
They will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the heaven above,
signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness,
the moon to blood,
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Now he quotes that first to say,
this is what is now happening, right?
If you want an explanation of the event,
go back to the Old Testament and he quotes Joel.
Now, Peter could have quoted a whole number of things, right?
And these messages don't think that that's all he said.
I don't know how long he spoke,
but he has put together a whole number of passages here
and he's got some other ones as well.
But in appealing to Joel too,
appealing to Joel as a prophet,
he's reminding them about God's promises from the Old Testament.
We don't have time to walk through all those promises,
but in the end, what he's saying here is,
if you read the Old Testament all the way back to Genesis,
God has been promising a coming of a Redeemer.
And that Redeemer,
seed of the woman, he mentions in Genesis 3.15,
that seed of the woman as you walk through the Old Testament
will come through Israel.
And he will come as the great Davidic king.
And he will come and usher in a new covenant, right?
All of that is Old Testament.
And as you get to the prophets, right?
You get those major writing prophets,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
you get Joel as a minor prophet, right?
They begin to look to the future of when the Messiah comes,
he brings this new covenant.
Bound up with the new covenant
will be the pouring out of the Spirit, right?
And so all the prophets begin to look to the future and say,
when this Messiah comes,
and all the hope of Israel was to see the coming of this Messiah,
the Christ, right?
And when he brings a new covenant,
he will pour out the Spirit.
He will pour out the Spirit by transforming the people.
And I think here of Ezekiel 37 and so on,
these passages where in the promise of the coming of the new covenant,
God says, I will sprinkle water on them and they'll be clean.
I'll clean them from their impurities.
I'll give them a new heart.
I'll put a new spirit in them.
I'll remove their heart of stone.
I'll give them a heart of flesh.
I'll put my spirit in them, right?
So this is all part of what Peter is appealing to, right?
So with the coming of Messiah,
which is, of course, where he's going to move with Christ,
in the coming of the new covenant,
God is going to pour out the Spirit.
He's going to transform the people, right?
Joel is picking that up,
but he's also picking up this theme
that when the new covenant comes,
he's not just going to transform the people,
he's going to gift the people.
He's going to empower the people.
And that's really the emphasis here in Joel 2.
I will pour out my spirit on all people,
sons, daughters, young men, old men.
I will pour out my spirit.
They will prophesy.
Now, anybody reading this from Joel
would also think of earlier stories in the Old Testament, right?
In the Old Testament, often the Spirit of God
came upon various leaders of Israel, right?
Prophets and priests and kings, right?
We see this particularly in Numbers 11.
Numbers 11 in the Old Testament
is when Moses needs some help
governing the nation of Israel,
and so 70 elders are set aside,
and the evidence that they are empowered by the Spirit
is that they then are given the Spirit
and they prophesy.
And that's this notion here that Joel's picking up.
But that only happened to a few people, right?
Moses, even in Numbers 11, will say,
I wish that all of God's people
would have the Spirit who would empower them
and gift them,
and that they would all prophesy.
Well, later on in Old Testament, Joel says,
well, coming in the future,
that's going to exactly happen, right?
All people, and here the all people
is referring to the covenant people,
and it's not referring to everybody out there.
All those in the covenant,
not just prophets, priests, and kings,
but all the people will not just be transformed,
but they will be empowered.
They will be gifted.
They will prophesy,
which is another way of saying
they will have the Spirit, right?
And Joel looks to the future
and says,
that is going to happen,
and Peter is saying,
it now has happened.
What you now see and hear
is precisely what
all of us have been looking forward to,
anticipating.
The Old Testament promises
are now coming to pass.
What Joel anticipated is now here.
The new covenant has now dawned, right?
The Spirit has now been poured out,
and so on.
Now, as he gives that,
he then moves to this area here,
then in verse 22 and following,
of tying it to Christ.
This fulfillment of the Old Testament
didn't happen accidentally.
It happened because of Jesus.
It happened because Jesus is the Messiah.
Jesus is the one who,
and then this is where,
in verse 22 and following,
he just basically walks through
the life and ministry,
death and resurrection of Christ,
and arguing here that it's Jesus
who lived, who died,
who's been raised,
who's ascended,
has now poured out the Spirit.
So what you're seeing here
is the fulfillment of the Old Testament
because Jesus
is the King of Kings.
He is the Savior.
He is the Lord.
The one you crucified
is now the one
who is sitting at God's right hand,
who's poured out the Spirit,
and of course,
then he's going to call them
to faith and repentance.
So in verse 22,
you can see how this is going to work here.
He says,
men of Israel,
so he quotes Joel 2,
the fulfillment of the Old Testament
is now occurring.
It's occurring because
of Jesus.
Men of Israel,
he says,
listen to this,
Jesus of Nazareth
was a man accredited by God to you
by miracles,
wonders,
and signs.
You know that.
He was among us for three years
doing ministry,
and you saw all those things,
right?
God did among you.
You yourselves know.
This man,
though,
was handed over to you
by God's set purpose
and foreknowledge,
and you,
with the help of wicked men,
put him to death
by nailing him to the cross,
right?
So here he is.
He did his ministry among you,
but you crucified him.
Now,
of course,
eventually,
they're going to say,
oh,
we have done a wicked thing,
right?
And of course,
he tells them that.
God raised him from the dead,
though,
right?
You crucified him,
you wicked men,
but God raised him from the dead,
freeing him from the agony of death
because it's impossible for death
to keep a hold on him.
And then he quotes
what we read earlier
in the service,
Psalm 16,
right?
David said of him,
and you have that quotation
from Psalm 16,
right?
I saw the Lord before me,
verse 26,
my heart is glad
because you've not left
your Holy One to decay,
right?
And then in verse 29,
he comments on that passage,
brothers,
I can tell you confidently,
because that was a Psalm of David,
that David died
and was buried.
Obviously,
he's seen decay,
right?
He is in the tomb,
right?
But he was a prophet,
and he knew that God
had promised him on oath
that he would place
one of his descendants
on his throne.
So he's appealing back
to the whole promises
of the Old Testament.
Seeing what was ahead,
he spoke of the resurrection
of Christ,
that he was not abandoned
to the grave,
nor did his body see decay.
God raised this,
Jesus,
to life,
and we are witnesses
of it,
right?
So again,
what is he doing here?
He's walking through
life and ministry,
his death and resurrection
of Christ,
and of course,
the explanation of Pentecost
is because of who Jesus is,
right?
And then he mentions here
the resurrection.
Verse 33,
he mentions ascension,
which is chapter 1,
exalted to the right hand
of God,
he has received
received from the Father
the promised Holy Spirit
and has poured out
what you now see and hear.
So here's,
right,
they're asking,
what's the meaning
of this event?
What's happening here?
And he says,
I'll tell you
what's happening here.
Jesus is the one
who in his life,
death,
resurrection,
his exaltation,
sitting at God's right hand,
has now,
from that position
of authority,
he now,
from the Father,
has poured out
the Holy Spirit,
what you now see and hear.
So you want to know
why they're speaking
the way they are?
You want to know
why the Joel 2
is now being fulfilled?
It's because Jesus
is now seated
at God's right hand.
By his life,
death,
and resurrection,
he has accomplished
our salvation,
and he now,
from that position
of authority,
has poured out
the Spirit,
so that what you see
is because Jesus is,
and of course,
this is where he moves,
in verse 36,
therefore,
let Israel be assured
of this,
God made this Jesus
whom you crucified,
both Lord and Christ.
It's because Jesus
is the Lord,
and he is the Savior,
he is the Christ,
that everything
that you see
around you
is now happening.
Right?
And even then,
he quotes
another passage,
Psalm 110,
right?
The Lord says
to my Lord,
sit at my right hand
until I make
your enemies
a footstool
for your feet.
Right?
So here is his point,
right?
Pentecost
isn't some
just strange event.
It is,
in some sense,
the last great event
of Christ's first coming.
Right?
It's evidence
that Jesus
did a work,
life,
death,
and resurrection.
resurrection.
He's now ascended
to God's right hand.
He is the ruler
of all things.
He has brought salvation,
and now
he has finished
that first coming work
by pouring out
the Spirit
so that what the prophets
looked forward to,
the giving of the Spirit,
the coming of the
new covenant age,
is now here.
Right?
Jesus is Lord
and Savior.
He is King.
That's the explanation
for all of what
has transpired
and what
has occurred.
Right?
Now,
as they hear this,
they get the
implication of this.
Right?
So we read in verse
36
where he says,
he made him
Lord and Christ.
But you remember
he's speaking to
many of them
who are the ones
who said,
crucify him.
We don't want him.
He has nothing
to do with us.
Right?
Well,
now they've just
discovered
they were quite wrong
in their assessment
of Jesus.
Right?
He's the King of Kings.
He's the Lord of Lords.
He's the one
who's now
at the right hand
of God.
He is the one
who is the judge
of all the earth.
He is the one
who rules
and governs
their lives.
And so,
verse 37,
when the people
heard this,
they were cut
to the heart.
Yeah,
I guess they would be.
We have,
we're the wicked ones
that have stood
opposed to God.
We have the ones
who've denied
the Christ.
We're the ones
who now judgment
will fall on us.
What are we to do,
Peter?
We have done
what's wrong.
We were misguided
in our understanding
of Jesus.
They're cut to the heart
and they say,
what shall we do?
And Peter then
gives them good news,
doesn't he?
Right?
Peter doesn't just say,
you're in trouble,
you're done.
Right?
He says,
repent,
be baptized,
another way of saying,
repent,
believe,
come under the rule
and reign of Christ.
Repent,
be baptized,
every one of you
in the name
of Jesus the Messiah
for the forgiveness
of your sins.
Right?
Of course,
the promise of the new covenant
is the forgiveness of sins.
And he says,
you can now experience
the forgiveness of sins.
Repent,
turn from your ways,
come to faith in him,
believe,
trust in him,
and you will receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit.
What Joel anticipated
of the new covenant
people of God
that they would not only
have a transformed heart,
but they would be empowered
by the Spirit
can be true of you.
Right?
Which is so gracious
for these people
who are rebels,
you can now
put down your rebellion.
You can come
to be part of
his covenant family.
The promise is for you
from Old Testament promises
and to your children
and for all those
who are far off.
Right?
Anyone who repents
and believes
now can come under
the rule and reign
of King Jesus
and not experience
judgment.
Right?
That's the message
he gives.
And with many other words
in verse 40,
he warned them,
he pleaded with them,
save yourselves
from this corrupt generation.
Those who accepted
his message.
Right?
There were those
the Lord opened their heart
and says,
yes,
we repent of our sins.
We believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ.
They heard the message.
They were baptized.
About 3,000
were added.
And of course,
this is now
the beginning
of the church.
Right?
Well,
here is Pentecost.
Right?
What's the point
of Pentecost?
Well,
it's not,
which we've turned
it into.
Right?
Let's just debate
over whether tongues
continue.
Let's debate
over charismatic.
That's not what
this is about.
Right?
Pentecost is,
in many ways,
probably the greatest
proof that Jesus
is Lord and Savior.
Right?
We could look at
his Lord and Savior
work in terms
of his resurrection.
Often we appeal there.
And of course,
that's crucial.
He's raised
from the dead.
But his work
would be incomplete.
From the Old Testament
perspective,
it would be incomplete.
Unless he not only
was raised,
but he is seated
at God's right hand
and he pours out
the Spirit
just like the Old Testament
promised.
Right?
And now that
that occurs,
right,
this is now evidence.
Jesus truly is Savior.
He truly has fulfilled
all those promises.
He truly has brought
the New Covenant age.
The evidence of it
is Pentecost.
Right?
And he now
is not just Savior.
He's the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords.
He's the one who sits
at God's right hand.
And of course,
its application to us
is the same
as it is to them.
Isn't it?
Right?
This is telling us,
Pentecost is telling us
everything about
who Jesus is.
A lot of confusion
regarding who Jesus is.
Well,
this makes it very clear.
He's not just some
mere remiss figure.
Jesus is the Savior.
Right?
Jesus is the Lord.
He is the King.
He is the one
who now rules
over all things.
And of course,
just as he calls them
to faith and repentance,
so he calls us
to faith and repentance.
Our views and ideas
of Jesus,
right,
have to be
according to Scripture.
He alone is Lord.
He alone is Savior.
He reminds then
these people
who do come under
his saving work
that he is the one
who has brought
all of God's promise
to pass.
What encouragement
that would be
as they come to salvation
in him.
In Christ,
God has kept his promises.
He has fulfilled
all that he's done.
We now are part
of his family.
That would be
a great encouragement
to them.
And the response
that they are to have,
right,
is to come under
his saving reign,
be part of the church,
and then,
of course,
be part of that ministry
until he comes again
where the gospel
is then taken,
right,
Jerusalem,
Judea,
Samaria,
to the uttermost parts,
and we're now
the uttermost,
right,
parts of the earth
where the gospel
then continues
until Christ comes again
to then expand
and grow.
It's taken to every tribe,
nation,
people,
and tongue
because Jesus
is now orchestrating
history.
He's governing his church.
He's sending his church
into the world
so that we see
the multiplication
of that church
which we are a part of.
All of that
we're a part of
because Jesus
poured out the Spirit,
right?
He came,
he lived,
he died.
He is now Savior
and Lord.
That's what Pentecost Sunday
is all about,
right?
So the great event
of ascension
and Pentecost,
don't forget them,
right?
And particularly
don't forget Pentecost.
Great event,
that is a demonstration
Jesus Christ
is Lord.
He is Savior,
right?
And he must then
be our Lord
and Savior,
right?
We cannot neglect him
and we are then
part of his people
that have a work to do,
a ministry to bring about
and he is the one
that we can trust
to bring that about
because he has already
brought about
God's promises
and he will fulfill
that completely
in the end.
Well,
that's Pentecost Sunday,
Acts 2,
glorious passage
made and give you
encouragement
even this morning.
All right,
let's pray.
Heavenly Father,
thank you
for Pentecost.
Thank you that
it's a demonstration
that Jesus Christ
is indeed
the Savior of the world.
He indeed
is the Lord,
the King of Kings.
Oh,
may even as we
reflect upon
Pentecost Sunday,
may it encourage us,
strengthen us,
may we find in Christ
our hope and salvation,
may we be part
of his people
that our desires
to see his name
adored and glorified,
the gospel taken
to the ends
of the earth
for his sake
and for the good
of your people.
And it's in Jesus' name
we ask these things.
Amen.
Thank you, Steve.