Is There a Word from the Lord?

Acts 2:13-41

HOOK- Ball of Confusion (Temptations)

One, two, one, two, three, four, ow

People moving out, people moving in Why, because of the color of their skin Run, run, run but you sure can't hide

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth Vote for me and I'll set you free Rap on, brother, rap on

Well, the only person talking about love thy brother is the preacher And it seems nobody's interested in learning but the teacher Segregation, determination, demonstration, integration Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to our nation

Ball of confusion Oh yeah, that's what the world is today

I know I just took some of you all back and went over the rest of y’alls heads

But the world has been that and continues to be that on many fronts

But regardless of what the masses are saying, The Temptations remind us that if anybody is talking about love and the things of God, it should always be the preacher

This in essence is what Peter does on the Day of Pentecost

Big Idea: The Gospel brings clarity to life’s confusing situations

Trans-

Peter’s Sermon Intro: We are Not Drunk (vv.13-21)

This is not to be explained by new or scarcely fermented wine—it’s too early

Kenneth Gangel sees humor in Peter’s address:

Acts C. Prophecy of the Spirit’s Coming (vv. 14–21)

He sounds rather like a pastor saying to a crowd gathered outside the church, “Our deacons aren’t drunk yet—it’s too early for that

Were they acting apart from the norm—sure, but not every anomaly in life can be explained by what’s in someone’s cup, glass or bottle

Can getting a hold to the wrong thing make you act out of your mind—certainly

But be very careful that you don’t become one of the ones who takes an outside view of what’s happening inside the kingdom of God

This instead is what God said would happen—it’s called prophecy

Prophecy in the Bible occurs when God calls or momentarily employs one to speak explicitly on his behalf in foreseeing the future or foretelling what is certain to happen

This is one of the features that makes the Word of God unique, but more important that it fulfills what it promises

To me one of the profoundest arguments for the unique inspiration of the Scriptures is the truth of prophecy, the fulfilment of prophecy. Knowing the Times, 342

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Welsh Preacher and Writer)

iii. Deuteronomy 18:15–22 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you—from your fellow Israelites; you must listen to him. This accords with what happened at Horeb in the day of the assembly. You asked the Lord your God: “Please do not make us hear the voice of the Lord our God any more or see this great fire any more lest we die.” The Lord then said to me, “What they have said is good. I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command. I will personally hold responsible anyone who then pays no attention to the words that prophet speaks in my name. “But if any prophet presumes to speak anything in my name that I have not authorized him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. Now if you say to yourselves, ‘How can we tell that a message is not from the Lord?’—whenever a prophet speaks in my name and the prediction is not fulfilled, then I have not…” (READ)

(1) God says I will raise him and put words in his mouth (non-interpretive)

(2) The self-proclaimed prophets who speak out of pride or rebellion will be put to death (communal responsibility)

(3) You test his validity by whether or not his prophecy come to pass

c. Joel 2:28-32

i. Peter interprets Pentecost as the partial fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy

ii. The outpouring of the Spirit signals the last days—or the beginning of the end

iii. The Spirit will not be the selective property of prophets, kings and priests, but will be given to all people groups

iv. And those who typically don’t prophecy will prophecy—sons, daughters

v. The Spirit’s coming signifies God shaking the foundations of creation and life as we know it—there about causing cataclysmic events and celestial anomalies

d. But don’t miss the goal of the Spirit’s out pour noted in verse 21

i. It will be for the purpose of people calling on the name of the Lord and receiving salvation

2. Peter’s Sermon Subject: Jesus was Crucified but He Got Up (vv.22-28)

a. Peter wants to talk about Jesus (v.22)

i. I don’t think this is foreign to you, but every Christian sermon/teaching that you spend your precious God-given time listening to should say something about Jesus

(1) Who He is

(2) What He’s done

(3) What He’s going to do

(4) And what He can do for you

ii. Because anything else is only a self-help message, cloaked in a few moralisms, with two sides of entertainment and performance

b. Notice the parallel story lines that are not opposed

i. Jesus was delivered according to the plan and knowledge of God (v.23)

ii. Yet you crucified him and are still responsible

iii. Here is the theology in this passage; just because God wills it, does not mean we are not response-able for it—meaning, God’s sovereignty in the world is ongoing, but I also have a part in his plan in my response to his work: Philippians 2:12–13 “So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort—for the sake of his good pleasure—is God.”

c. However, God raises him up again (v.24) teaching the world two things

i. The agony of death has been defeated

ii. It was impossible for IT (what is the it?)—death to hold him

iii. Here is the part that never gets old—if the Jesus Christ that we have committed to has defeated death because it was impossible for it to hold him, then the age old question that God asks Abraham after Sarah laughs—is there anything too hard for the Lord?

i. Peter’s Proof Text (Psa 16) Septuagint Translation

(1) David (the second king of Israel) who God had made a covenant with and gave a promise to was allowed to see into the future and what did he see?

(2) He says that the he saw the Lord always in his presence which produced these things

1. Courage (v.25)

2. Gladness of heart (v.26)

3. Audible rejoicing

Trans- But watch how Peter interprets this

3. Peter’s Interpretation: Jesus is Lord and Christ (vv.29-36)

a. David died and was buried

b. Though he was primarily a king, functioned at times as a prophet

c. Here’s the takeaway: God allows David to not only see the coming Messiah, but to understand something about the resurrection and this is what causes him to rejoice

d. And if David can rejoice for what God would do in the Resurrection, what does that say about you and I being able to rejoice looking back to the Resurrection

i. There ought to be courage in place of fear

ii. Gladness instead of being sad all the time—lift your head up

iii. And then learn how to part your lips and rejoice

e. But then Peter offers us another vision of David found in Psa 110

i. I love this passage because it gives us a scene of victory while waiting for official proceedings

(1) Sitting at the right hand indicates a privileged position and authority

(2) But sitting down itself represents finished work

1. Furniture in the Tabernacle—no chair

2. Hebrews 1:1–3 “After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

(3) Sit and wait until I make your enemies your footstool

1. He’s talking about the Father speaking to the Son

2. But it says that God has that kind of power

3. So I ask you why are you up at wee hours of the morning?

4. Why are you crying yourself to sleep at night?

5. Why are you overly jittery, nervous and having to give yourself pep-talks everyday before you walk in to that office building?

6. No NEED, the God you serve has the Power to make your enemies your footstool AND has made Jesus Lord and Christ!

4. Peter’s Exhortation: Repent (vv.37-41)

a. The Word properly exegeted ought to have a certain effect, as they say “what must we do?”

i. Can share something with you—when preparing to teach and preach, I take my time—I sometimes make a few people sweat

ii. Because I never want this to be automatic—that’s how disengagement comes

iii. Those that know me will tell you I am very well acquainted with theory method and process, but 10 steps to a sermon won’t produce life change, and even though God can use presentations in-spite of, the vessel through which the Word comes will be empty and unaffected if it is never broken before the Word of God

iv. And so I take my time, and ensure that I am always standing under the Words I preach so that I can be changed too

v. It was said of Billy Sunday, that former baseball player turned evangelist, that people would go to watch him set himself ablaze: “One witness said, I may not believe everything he says, but he believes it, and I like watching someone fervently talk about what they believe”

b. Here is the proper response to the Gospel

i. Repent- turn (change of mind) around with the intent of moving away from where you were based upon the message Christ

ii. Be Baptized - make it public so that you have encouragement and accountability

iii. Receive the Spirit- he says and you too will experience the power that you have just witnessed

c. Do this and be saved from this (σκολιᾶς) crooked generation

Trans- Not picking on them, because every generation goes through something like this

TOOK- Gen Z Generation

A Gen Z journalist named Rikki Schlott wrote an essay to explain her generation to parents of Gen Z children. She called the essay “her best shot to explain the malaise of my generation.”

Gen Z has inherited a post-hope world, stripped of what matters. Instead, we have been offered a smorgasbord of easy and unsatisfying substitutes. All the things that have traditionally made life worth living — love, community, faith, work, and family — have been “debunked.”

“These are the sentiments I hear often from peers”:

Love — “Monogamy is so outdated.”

Community — “I have enough friends online.”

Work — “I’m quiet-quitting.”

Family — “I’m not bringing kids into this melting world.”

Faith — “My parents are such naive Bible thumpers. By the way, what’s your star sign?”

Everything that matters has been devalued for Zoomers, leaving behind a generation with gaping holes where the foundations of a meaningful life should be. They’re desperately grasping for alternative purpose-making systems, all of which fall short.

I’m not saying all Zoomers should become church-going office drones who churn out babies . But our dismal mental health records and the scars on our wrists seem to indicate that becoming faithless digital vagabonds is just not working out for us.

The Gospel will transform your understanding and show you that

Love can exist beyond circumstance

Community is more than a “like” or a sub-200 charcter response

Work can be rewarding when you understand purpose and connect it to who God has created you to be

Family can be people you are not blood related to but those who Christ has bled for

And the only way we make it is through faith—we’ve come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord!