Acts 2:14-21

Introduction:

Joel 2:28–29 (NASB95)

28 “It will come about after this

That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;

And your sons and daughters will prophesy,

Your old men will dream dreams,

Your young men will see visions.

29 “Even on the male and female servants

I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

Acts 2.

Day of Pentecost

Holy Spirit comes in great power

Sound of a mighty rushing wind.. like an earthquake

Tongues of fire

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues

Acts 2:13–18 (NASB95)

13 But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.”

14 But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words.

15 “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day;

16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:

17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says,

‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind;

And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

And your young men shall see visions,

And your old men shall dream dreams;

18 Even on My bondslaves, both men and women,

I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit

And they shall prophesy.

Peter says: This is that… what Joel spoke, over 800 years before, has now come true in your hearing!

I came across a book… Augustines confessions… 401 AD

Oh! for Thy mercies' sake, tell me, O Lord my God, what Thou art unto me. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. So speak, that I may hear. Behold, Lord, my heart is before Thee; open Thou the ears thereof, and say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. After this voice let me haste, and take hold on Thee. Hide not Thy face from me. Let me die—lest I die—only let me see Thy face.

Narrow is the mansion of my soul; enlarge Thou it, that Thou mayest enter in. It is ruinous; repair Thou it. It has that within which must offend Thine eyes; I confess and know it. But who shall cleanse it? or to whom should I cry, save Thee? Lord, cleanse me from my secret faults, and spare Thy servant from the power of the enemy.

In reading this book, and reading God’s word… I’ve come to realize that as a human I’m not where I need to be. I may be saved by the grace of God, but I don’t deserve it nor do any of us here.

The only thing, the ONLY thing we can do… is seek the face of our Lord.

Today we aren’t left empty-handed. Jesus is in heaven, yes… but the promised Spirit of God has now come.

Verse 17: I.. WILL.. POUR.. OUT.. MY SPIRIT.. ON.. ALL.. PEOPLE

“I” will pour out my Spirit on all people

I—the sovereignty of God.

Will—the determination of God.

Pour Out—the generosity of God.

My Spirit—the person of God.

There may be no greater statement in all the Bible!.. I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

One man cannot do this for another… I cannot do it for you, you cannot do it for me.

Coming to Church will not do it

Being baptized ALONE will not do it

You can go to religious services till the cows come home! It will do you no good.

I think thats what Luke is getting at in this whole BOOK!

It is MORE than just EMPTY religious RITUAL that we must have, we must have an encounter with the living God… come to him relationally, personally!

Was that not the problem with the Pharisees? Who put on a facade of righteousness but it didn’t MATTER for they knew not God!! John 8:55.

Mark 8:36 “36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?”

God… poured out His Spirit on all flesh.

God has granted us ACCESS to Him!!

He poured himself as an offering upon our SINFUL flesh!!

And it’s by His mercy we HAVE the Spirit of God today!!!

It’s important to know that in Acts 2, although every believer receives the Spirit of God as his inheritance (Eph 1:14)… that I understand this passage to be in reference to the miraculous work of the Spirit in the first century… so lets take a look together at these verses.

Acts 2:14

Acts 2:14 (NASB95)

14 But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words.

Now you must remember… backtrack about a month and a half, a man named Peter denied the Lordship of Jesus not just once, twice, but THREE TIMES.

Matthew 26:69–74 “69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant-girl came to him and said, “You too were with Jesus the Galilean.” 70 But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.” 71 When he had gone out to the gateway, another servant-girl saw him and said to those who were there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” 72 And again he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man.” 73 A little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Surely you too are one of them; for even the way you talk gives you away.” 74 Then he began to curse and swear, “I do not know the man!” And immediately a rooster crowed.”

Here he is, standing in front of the horde of people, a great crowd of Jews… and proclaims the truth about the man called Jesus.

This wasn’t just the message of a man… but the message of 12 men filled with the Spirit of God in their voice

So Peter took his stand with the 11 and raised his voice!

Acts 2:15-16

Acts 2:15–16 (NASB95)

15 “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day;

16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:

I think with a touch of humor Peter says: Hey listen… it is 9am in the morning okay? No one here is drunk.

Their answer?? Joel 2

Now… as mentioned before it seems that this is talking about the miraculous gifts of the Spirit,

Quickly, I think its clear that the following verses describe this “fantastical experience” that would happen in their time.

“Sons and daughters shall prophesy”

“Young men shall see visions”

“Old men shall dream dreams”

Of course one of the 9 gifts of the early church was prophesy (1 Cor 12:8-10)

Visions & dreams were used by God throughout the OT and the early church as ONE way that God communicated to His inspired prophets.

And the promise that the Spirit will be poured out on all mankind is true… both Jews and Gentiles. But certainly not every person puts their faith in Christ and receives the Spirit!

So thats important to bring up. But now lets look a little deeper.

#1 This is a promise for the last days

Joel had prophesied and said: It shall come about after this that I will pour out my Spirit

What he’s saying in the context is, after God judges the unbelieving people of Judah… He will send the blessing of His Spirit.

800 years later Peter quotes Joel and “THIS is THAT which the prophet Joel spoke of.” and says: “In the last days.”

Now if the Spirit was poured out, in the last days… what does that tell us about WHEN, this happens?

Well it happened in Peters time! In the LAST DAYS.

You could say its in the last days of the Mosaic covenant, thats true...

But the meaning of the last days is clear… we’ve been in the last days for 2000 years now!

Peter says it’s happening NOW! Beginning at THAT moment they were in the last days… the last age… the last dispensation.

John would say his gospel: “It is the last hour”

Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1 “but he has appeared to you in these last times”

Hebrew writer said “in these last days”

Paul wrote “in these last days”

James wrote “it is in these last days”

And these “last days” has gone on since the church age BEGAN!

And it’s what Joel predicted would come to pass.

This is the key to Peter’s whole message… that for the Jews, their Messiah has now come and gone. But the SPIRIT of God, is now here!

And it answers their question of: “Well what’s happening, what going on, are they drunk, I don’t understand”

“In the last days… I will pour forth of My Spirit”

“men and women shall prophesy… young men shall see vision old men shall dream dreams.”

Now as mentioned before, prophesy was one of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit in the 1st century.

To prophesy just means to speak for God… but the only way you can speak revelation from God is by the inspiration of the SPIRIT!

And so it seems that the fulfilling of Joel 2 was show the Spirit of Truth has COME, and has been poured out on eventually both Jews and Gentiles that they may witness accurately for Christ.

Now Joel never stated that these gifts would remain throughout the entire church age… so even with the ceasing of miraculous gifts after the successors to the apostles, that doesn't make what Joel said untrue.

So, with all that being said… It was in their lifetime, that the Spirit of truth bore witness through the apostles, and the ones they laid hands upon… to proclaim the message of Christ to all mankind.

And now, here we are today.

We have never been closer to the return of Christ than this moment.

Indeed we are in the last days. Shouldn’t our actions reflect that?