Sermon Tone Analysis

Preaching Christ (1): The Introduction

(Acts 2:14-21)

June 6, 2021

Read Acts 2:12-21 – So, here’s Peter who profanely denied Jesus 7 weeks ago in fear of his life, standing to his feet in this same city surrounded by the same enemies and boldly preaching Jesus in one of the greatest sermons of all time apart from those of Jesus.

Amazing turnaround!

Why? Two reasons.

He’s seen the resurrected Jesus, and he’s been filled with the HS.

Those divine encounters have changed his life, just as they change all who come to Him.

So here’s the first sermon on the new era.

First sermons can be intimidating.

At Spurgeon’s Preacher’s College one test was giving students a text, having them to preach it then and there to Spurgeon and other staff.

That’s pressure!

One student got Zacchaeus.

After due consideration he arose: “Zach was of little stature; so am I. Zach was up a tree; so am I. Zach came down; so will I.”

And down he sat!

Smart man.

Probably had a great career.

But as a pattern for all sermons to come, Peter’s is incomparable.

1) It is Scripturally based.

He quotes authoritatively from 3 OT passages (Joel 2, Psa 16 and 110).

2) It is Christ-centered.

Not about what we can do, but what He already did.

3) It’s inviting -- compelling unbelievers to turn from sin to Christ.

It shows the worst of all sins, killing Jesus, can be forgiven based on His sacrificial death.

Wonderful preaching – putting Jesus front and center.

This morning we examine the introduction.

Peter starts by explaining the sound of the HS’s arrival and the apostles’ speaking in various unknown languages.

What is this all about?

It’s never been seen before.

So Peter preaches Christ.

The HS always point to Christ, never to Himself.

But Peter begins with where his audience is – questioning what they are seeing/hearing!

I. What Pentecost is Not

It’s not a drunken frenzy.

Pagan religions often included drunken orgies where people, trying to connect with the spiritual, and under the influence of alcohol, might break out in unintelligible speech.

Such exhibitions no doubt prompted Paul’s comparison when he wrote in Eph 5:18: “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.”

His point was not that one might have ecstatic experiences either way.

His point was being under the influence of alcohol was a waste – having no redeeming value to man or God.

But being under the influence of the HS would lead to the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, etc – flooding that life with godly meaning and power.

The focus is on influence not ecstatic experience.

So, Peter denies the disciples are drunk: 15) “For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.”

“It’s 9:00 in the morning.

No one drinks wine before lunch and that’s three hours away.”

He might have added, “When was the last time you saw drunk people suddenly speaking in dialects unknown to them?”

It was a foolish accusation, but the best the mockers could raise on short notice.

It wasn’t that they had intelligent reasons for making this accusation, but that they didn’t want to believe anything supernatural was going on, so any natural explanation would do.

Many claim to reject Jesus on intellectual grounds.

Miracles and resurrections don’t exist!

But even honest skeptics realize rejecting Christ is a decision of the heart, not of the head.

Harvard biologist, Richard Lewontin admits: “We have a prior commitment – a commitment to materialism.

It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori commitment to material causes to create material explanations, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated.

Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.

Straight from the skeptic’s mouth!

We reject God not because we are intellectually compelled to do so, but bc we choose to do so, something God knew: Psa 53:1: “The fool says in his heart there is no God.”

Mockers will always find an excuse; that’s why it’s so important to listen closely before rejecting the Savior.

Pentecost, and by extension the church today, is not explainable in natural terms.

.

II.

What Pentecost Is

To explain Pentecost, Peter appeals not to personal opinion, but to Scripture.

He quotes Joel: “And in the last days it shall be.” “Last days” was used 15 times in the OT to describe Messiah coming with His kingdom.

Isa 2:2: “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established . . .

and all the nations shall flow to it.”

This was the intrepid expectation of the Jews, and why the disciples were confused about the kingdom right up to the last moment.

What they did not see, nor did any in Israel, was there would be not 1 but 2 comings of Messiah – that the last days would extend over an extended period of time.

In quoting Joel, Peter is in effect saying, “The last days we’ve been waiting for – well, guess what?

They’re here.”

Often, we today, think of the last days as yet future.

But not true.

They arrived with the 1st coming of Christ and extend to His 2nd.

Heb 1:1-2: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2) but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”

The last days were launched with the coming of Christ.

I Pet 1:20: “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you.”

We don’t have to wait for the last days; we are living them.

Been in them for 2,000 years.

John says in I Jn 2:18: “Children, it is the last hour.”

Heb 9:26b: “He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

We’ve not seen the end of the last days; but we have seen their beginning.

Jesus’ presence not only divided human history BC and AD.

It also divides theological history.

Everything before points forward to Him; everything after point back to Him.

Peter gives 2 proofs the last days are here.

A. Last Days Evidenced by the Spirit of Life – Here’s what Pentecost is: 16) But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17) “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.”

What they’re seeing is the outpouring of the HS on all believers first promised by God through Joel 800 years before, a promise renewed by Jesus in His last days on earth, and now, on this very day, being fulfilled unmistakably in the lives of these first NT believers.

Wow!

What a start to a sermon!

What you’re seeing and hearing -- 16) “But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel.”

It’s here, Folks.

This speaking in other languages shows the HS has arrived as promised – full time – to all God’s people.

Other signs will follow – prophesies, visions, dreams.

They flow throughout Acts.

Apostles and prophets reveal NT truth to people without Bibles.

A vision sends Ananias to Paul after his conversion (Acts 9:10) to prophesy about his future ministry.

A vision sends Peter to take the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10:3).

A vision sends Paul to Europe instead of Asia (Acts 16:9), forever changing the history of the world, and probably the only reason you and I are here today.

Paul and John both visited heaven by vision.

So, should we expect these same kind of visions, dreams and prophecies?

Let me answer this way.

We must never put God in a box.

He can do anything He wants to, anytime He wants to.

The question is how does He generally work in this church era.