Untitled Sermon (17)

Acts 2:16-21 Peters Sermon on Pentecost through Joel’s eyes

Acts 2:16–21 (CSB)

16 On the contrary, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 And it will be in the last days, says God,

that I will pour out my Spirit on all people;

then your sons and your daughters will prophesy,

your young men will see visions,

and your old men will dream dreams.

18 I will even pour out my Spirit

on my servants in those days, both men and women

and they will prophesy.

19 I will display wonders in the heaven above

and signs on the earth below:

blood and fire and a cloud of smoke.

20 The sun will be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood

before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.

21 Then everyone who calls

on the name of the Lord will be saved.,

So Peter stood up like we've talked about and he begins to tell the crowd what they have just witnessed. He says they're not drunk better yet this is what the prophet Joel prophesied about several hundred years ago. So I thought we would dissect this from the eyes of Joel who prophesied these very words several 100 years prior to Pentecost.After the restoration Joel spoke of previously in the chapter, there will come a time of ultimate restoration and blessing. This latter time will be marked by an outpouring of God’s Spirit on all flesh – not only selected men at selected times for selected duties.

The Old Testament has a rich record of the work of the Spirit, but He was not poured out on all flesh under the old covenant. Instead, certain men were filled with the Spirit at certain times and only for certain duties. It was rather selective:

. At first, any Jew would scoff at the idea of 120 followers of a crucified man being filled with the Holy Spirit. Based on their understanding of the Old Testament they would think, “These 120 people are not kings or prophets or priests; God only pours out His Spirit on special people for special duties. These are common folk, and God doesn’t pour out His Spirit on them.” Peter uses the prophecy of Joel to show them that things are different now, just as God said they would be. Now, the Holy Spirit is poured out upon all who believe and receive, even the common folk. Now God offered a new covenant relationship, and part of the new covenant was the outpouring of the Spirit for all who receive in faith. Do you know what this means? It means that the same spirit from the Old Testament that was reserved for kings, prophets and priest is now poured out on every one of us. What it means is that the same spirit that came upon Elijah and then enabled him to perform miracles the enabled him to raise a boy from the dead and heal Naaman of leprosy now lives in you the same spirit that enabled Elijah to stand to stand bold in the name of the Lord when he was facing the profits of bail now lives in you. The same spirit that filled Joseph in Genesis when Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find [such a one] as this, a man in whom [is] the Spirit of God?" the spirit that filled the Craftsman who built the Tabernacle in exodus chapter 31 verse 3 where it says; “And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all [manner of] workmanship that same spirit now lives in you if you're a blood bought son or daughter of the most high God. The same spirit that enabled Joshua to be Moses’ right hand man, the same spirit that enabled Gideon to blow that trumpet, the same spirit that enabled Samson to kill a lion with his bare hands and army with a jawbone lives in us, we can’t forget David who had a anointing also. What I'm trying to say is that all it says is that the spirit will be poured out on all flesh but what it means is so much more. It means the the same spirit that we just talked about that made all these people, people who were worthy to be written about in the Bible people who did mighty things for God now lives in us. See God doesn't just want us to be mundane boring Christians God wants to use us like he did all of these people that I just mentioned the same spirit that enabled these people is the same spirit that lives in us and enables us. You see that spirit was reserved for kings and priests and prophets and what God is telling us is that the veil has been torn and we are now the temple of God and in order to be considered the temple of God we have to have the spirit of God dwelling within us that very spirit of God makes us kings gives us the fruit of the spirit which makes us prophets and priests it makes us more than conquerors and it gives us the chance to do something amazing with and for God but most importantly that spirit allows God to do things through us.

When Peter was filled with the Spirit of God in the midst of miraculous signs and wonders as he had never experienced before, what did he do? He said, “Let’s open up our Bibles to the book of Joel.” He had a Bible study, one that both taught the 120 disciples (they better understood their experience according to the Scriptures) and called the lost to salvation.

We also notice that Peter’s application was exactly the same as the application made by the prophet Joel: repent. Joel said, “Now, therefore,” says the LORD, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God.

Joel 2:12–13 CSB

Even now— this is the Lord’s declaration— turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the Lord your God. For he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and he relents from sending disaster.

Peter said, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).

And also on My menservants and on My maidservants: In this latter time, all the servants of the LORD will be filled with His Spirit in this unique and powerful way. Under the new covenant, every believer can receive the full measure of the Spirit and be used in a special and wonderful way. Which is just reaffirming the point made about the Spirit being poured out on all people.

I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: This time of great outpouring of the Spirit of God will conclude with cataclysmic signs in the heavens and the great and awesome day of the LORD.

On the day of Pentecost, the prophecy of Joel was fulfilled, but not completed. Peter rightly saw that this was a remarkable outpouring of the Spirit of God, given freely upon all who believe and receive, as was promised in the new covenant. The book of Ezekiel speaks of the new covenant promise in detail. Lets take a short detour and look at what Ezekiel says about the New Covenant.

Ezekiel 11:19 CSB

I will give them integrity of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone from their bodies and give them a heart of flesh,

In the provisions of the New Covenant God will put in the new spirit and take out the stony heart. Moral renewal comes through the expulsive power of a new affection. Sanctification is both positive and negative. God gives a new affection as he takes out self-love: I will put … within … I will take … out. When God renews the inner niches of the soul, man will be enabled to walk in the divine way and will be privileged to enjoy the divine fellowship. Maturity grows out of purity. Promised by the prophets and established in Jesus Christ, the Wesleyan message of heart purity is rooted in the New Covenant.

‘For I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25 I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances. 28 You will live in the land that I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

The work of grace comes through four great acts of God: (1) restoration (v. 24); (2) regeneration (v. 25); (3) sanctification (v. 26); and (4) purification. These correspond to the great works of grace in Christian salvation.Restoration is closely related to conversion. Israel is to be taken from among the nations, and brought into your own land. In the same way, the Christian is taken from the world and brought into Christ. He lives in the new realm of the Spirit

Galatians 5:24 CSB

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

.Regeneration is the new birth. The promise, I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean, recalls the ceremonial washings of the law, especially purification by sprinkling with water mixed with the ashes of a red heifer. The New Covenant fulfills this in “the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” spoken of by Paul (Titus 3:5, 6). The new birth is a cleansing from the sins of the past, from all your filthiness, and from all your idols (cf. 1 Thess. 1:9–10).

Sanctification is the work of God in the depths of the heart, spoken of by the prophet as, A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. Sanctification is both negative and positive. Negatively it is the elimination of the old: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. Positively it is the addition of the new: and I will give you a heart of flesh. Adam Clarke comments:

Here is the salvation that God promises to give to restored Israel; and here is the salvation that is the birthright of every Christian believer; the complete destruction of all sin in the soul, and the complete renewal of the heart; no sin having any place within, and no unrighteousness having any place without.

Purification, says the prophet, is the work of the Holy Spirit: And I will put my Spirit within you. In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit empowered believers; in the New Testament age the Holy Spirit purifies believers from sins and from sin (1 John 1:9; 1 Thess. 4:3–8). The purity and power of the Spirit enable the believer to walk in the statutes of God: and cause you to walk in my statutes. The Hebrew for cause you to walk is a strong word meaning, “I myself will bring it about that you will be enabled to walk.…”

The believer’s walk is sustained by three gracious promises: (1) I will be your God (v. 28); (2) I will save you from all your uncleanness (v. 29); and (3) I will multiply the fruit of the tree (v. 30). Fellowship, purity, and fruitfulness are the divine blessings of restoration, whether it is the restoration of Israel from the land of captivity, or the restoration of the sinner from the captivity of sin.

Man’s response to the gracious salvation of God is expressed in verse 31: then shall ye remember your evil ways. God’s saving activity for the believer results in a life of humility lived in the spirit of repentance. The divine initiative in salvation is met by the irrepressible gratitude of man. One who is truly forgiven can never forget the depths from which he was delivered. Can you see how deep this Bible is yet? We are studying Acts but Ive preached it from something written hundreds of years prior the book of Joel which then lead us to Ezekiel that was written at least 70 years before but its speaking in detail about whats taking place on the day of Pentecost.

The prophecy of Joel was also especially appropriate because the day of Pentecost ushered in the last days, with the beginning of the church as understood by the New Testament. Since that time, the church has not been rushing towards a distant edge that represents the consummation of all things. Instead, on Pentecost the church came to the edge – and has run parallel to the brink for some 2,000 years. Its so so important that we understand what happened on the day of Pentecost. It's important for us to know that the coming of Jesus Christ could happen at any second of any day of any month of any year. We've got to understand how important the spirit of God living inside of us making us the temple is we have to understand that God in the Old Testament reserved that spirit for kings and priests and prophets and he took that same spirit and put it in each one of us wanting us to do something miraculous and amazing with it and the amazing thing to me is how we can have people who have and claim the spirit of God living inside of them but have no power have no boldness have no authority that God has given them they don't use it they don't understand it but yet God continues to pour it out and it's up to us to take hold and tell others!