Acts 2-14-40 Peters First Message
Acts 2:14-39
Peter’s First Message
I. A.G. When we last saw the disciples they were baptized in the HS who was sent by Jesus because He had prayed to the Father and ascended into heaven and He was sent. Jesus had told them to go to Jerusalem to wait for the promise. THEY WENT. THEY WAITED. THEY RECEIVED.
a. Application - We noticed that God always comes through with His promises. God had shared this prophecy
b. As the HS came there were divided tongues as of fire that came and sat upon each of the disciples and they all began to speak in other tongues.
c. As they spoke in other tongues we discovered a few biblical facts about being baptized in the HS and the gift of tongues:
i. When God fills you with the HS, He doesn’t transgress your will and your ability to exercise self control. God doesn’t cause you to act in strange ways and attribute it to His HS.
ii. Tongues Defined - It is a gift of God which is a heavenly language that’s directed toward God by which a believer can communicate to God in a way which human language is incapable.
iii. It is one of the manifestations of being baptized by God’s Holy Spirit, but not the only manifestation and not all believers who are baptized in the HS do have the gift of tongues.
1. 1 Corinthians 12:29-31 - "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way."
iv. It is a gift that is given primarily for self edification and not necessarily for the church as a whole.
1. 1 Corinthians 14:23 - "Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind?"
d. The Reaction – There were 16 nations represented at this point. We also know that at the end of the message there were 3,000 that gave their lives to Jesus Christ of the total who heard the message. How many then were there?
i. Imagine – Can you imagine the scene? There was this crowd that had gathered for the feast of Pentecost. They had heard this incredible rushing might wind sound, they ran to go check it out. They hear these Galileans speaking in their native tongues proclaiming God’s praises, and now they are standing there scratching their heads wanting to know what to make of all this.
e. The people responded by saying, “whatever could this mean?”
II. Intro. Today we are going to look at the first Gospel message of the church. We are going to look at Peter’s response to the crowd in being able to explain what God was doing.
III. Preview
a. Outpouring of the Holy Spirit (14-21)
b. Jesus’ Resurrection (22-36)
c. Crowd’s Reaction (37-39)
IV. Body
a. Outpouring of the Holy Spirit (14-21)
"But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. “For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.’"
i. These are not drunk as you suppose. It could mean: These men are not drunk as you’re suggesting. Or these men are not drunk in the way that you think.
1. Ephesians 5:18 - "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit," (Ephesians 5:18, NKJV)
ii. Peter’s Quotation – Peter quotes from Joel 2 in his instruction to the Jews that are present. Peter didn’t have to look into a reference or a study bible in order to share what was going on with the crowd. He was able to share with them from what Jesus had taught him. He had hidden God’s word in his heart.
1. Application – If we want to be people who desire God to use us, we need to be men and women of the word. We need to pour over its pages. We need to hide it within our hearts that we may not sin against the Lord. Peter here shows that he had spent quality time with Jesus in that he seems to have a mastery of God’s word.
2. One of the first characteristics of the man/woman God uses is that:
a. They are a person of prayer – these all continued with one accord in prayer.
b. They are a person of the Word –
3. Peter’s example of expository teaching - He goes to the word and reads it. After he reads, he explains it. And after he explains it he gives the application and exhortation. And we try to make it applicable to our lives.
iii. Imperative Principle – this is what was spoken –You should always be able to say, “this is what was spoken” when there is a particular experience we have. This is where many in the body have greatly erred. When we see these type of things we need to ask these brothers and sisters, “Where do you see this in the Bible?” We should be careful that we don’t try to make the Bible subjected to our experiences, but our experiences should be subjected to the word of God.
1. Criteria - It should always meet the criteria of being found in the gospels as taught by Jesus; practiced in the book of Acts, and expounded on by the apostle Paul.
2. Poor Excuses - “Well you have to realize that more can be cooked up in the kitchen than appears on the menu.” This means that there are more things that aren’t found in the Bible that can be experienced by Christians. As Christians we should be able to say to one another, “where do you see this written in the bible?” There is enough in this book to keep me busy until Jesus comes back.
3. We must be able to say like Peter, “this is what the bible says”. If not we shouldn’t even be practicing it.
a. The lack of this is why we have so many Christians asking what is God’s will for their lives.
b. The lack of this is why we are tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine as Ephesians 4:14 says for Christians individually and for many churches.
c. There are churches that will wait to catch the latest and greatest trend that comes through the building. If you and I know that our experiences in the Christian life are validated by the word of God we wont need strange experiences and we will be able to validate when God is doing something in our lives like Peter’s experience here.
4. Peter answers their questions – God has placed you and I in our various areas of work or school or family so that as we get to know Jesus better we will be able to answer the questions people have about what God is doing in our lives.
iv. Joel’s Prophecy – In context this prophecy of Joel’s was for the last days. However Joel carries it right on to the second coming of Jesus Christ.
1. Question - When the HS came upon the church in the upper room, did we see blood and fire and vapor of smoke?
a. Did the moon turn into blood?
2. God’s Spirit was poured out on all the believers in the upper room.
3. Joel’s prophecy meant that the people who received the outpouring of God’s Spirit would precede the day of the Lord and subsequently be living in the last days.
a. You and I are living in the last days. The next event on God’s prophetic calendar for you and I before the Day of the Lord; before Jesus returns with us His saints when He sets up His kingdom, is the rapture of the church.
4. The empowering of the Holy Spirit wasn’t limited to just a short period of church history. It was to continue throughout church history right unto Jesus’ second coming.
v. TRANSITION - SO NOW WE GO FROM SHARING ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT’S OUTPOURING TO JESUS’ DEATH, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION
b. Jesus’ Resurrection (vs. 22-36)
"“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; “whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it." (Acts 2:22-24, NKJV)
i. He sums up the life of Jesus (22), He shares about the death of Jesus (23), He shares about the resurrection of Jesus (24). In about 30 seconds he has shared the gospel with these folks.
1. Verse 22- Jesus of Nazareth is one of the titles of Jesus Christ used 7 times throughout the Bible.
a. Philip used this (John 1:45).
b. Demon Posessed Man – “what have we to do with you”(Mark 1:24)
c. Triumphal Entry – (Matthew 21:10)
d. Garden of Gethsemane – “who are you seeking” (John 18:7)
e. Pilate’s Inscription on the cross – Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. (John 19:19)
f. Resurrection – Angel at the tomb. “Whom have you come to see?” Jesus of Nazareth (John 18:7)
g. Disciples on the Emmaus Road – (Luke 24:19)
h. Peter is the 8th reference. The number 8 stands for new beginnings. The new beginning for the church.
2. A Man attested by God to you – GK. “proved to be of God”. He was approved to be of God by the miracles, signs and wonders.
a. John 14:11- "“Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves."
b. Peter is showing that the works Jesus did prove that He was from God.
3. In verse 23 we see the argument about the Sovereignty of God vs. the free will of man. When Peter refers to the cross, he doesn’t refer to it as some sort of horrible accident as though God was taken by surprise. The cross was prophesied in the OT.
a. Psalm 22 – they pierced my hands and my feet
b. Isaiah 52 lifted up – a term used for crucifixion.
c. Isaiah 53 – death of Jesus prophesied.
4. Passion of the Christ Movie – Mel Gibson invested 25 million dollars of his own money in order to make a movie that caused so much controversy. Hollywood did their best to produce so much criticism about whether the movie was anti-Semitic or not. You had this Jewish group coming up and saying it was a horrible movie because it showed the Jews as the cause for the death of Jesus. This sparked the debate over who was responsible for the death of Jesus Christ. It is a mistake to blame the Jews for the death of the Messiah.
5. Application – Who Killed the Messiah?
a. International Peace Conference in Jerusalem - Pastor Chuck went to Israel and gave a speech where He said, “if you want to blame anyone for the death of Jesus Christ, blame me. It was my sin that put Him on the cross.”
b. Mel Gibson inserted himself into the movie by playing the part of the man who drove the spike into Jesus’ hands, thereby showing his responsibility in the death of Jesus.
c. This is something that needs to stay in the forefront of all of our minds. You are responsible for the death of Jesus Christ. I am responsible for the death of Jesus Christ. If we didn’t sin Jesus never would have needed to come and die for our sins, however, we needed a redeemer. We need to not lose the sting of how we used to be before we came to know Jesus. We need to remember how great the price was that was paid by Jesus.
i. Question – Do you remember how sinful you used to be? Do you remember what your life was like apart from Jesus Christ?
ii. Sometimes we lose touch and forget both how great a price Jesus paid and how great our sin was before God. This is why we have communion each month. Jesus said, “As often as you drink this cup and eat this bread, do so in remembrance of Me.” We need to remember how great the price paid by Jesus for us.
iii. When was the last time you simply said, “thank you” to Jesus? When was the last time you showed Him how much you love Him for all that He has done for you?
6. God’s Plan – It has always been God’s plan to have Jesus pay the penalty for the sin of mankind, but mankind was the vehicle through which Jesus had to pay the penalty. There is a point where God exercised His sovereignty and man also exercised his free will. We look at that and say, “huh?” How is that possible? We need to remember if God was small enough for me to figure out, He wouldn’t be big enough for me to worship.
7. Peter does a great job in one sweeping sentence in both highlighting God’s sovereignty and points the finger at his audience, the Jews. From this sentence you see, the Jews, God’s people have endured so much persecution throughout the centuries. They have been called Christ-killers and endured so much torture from the Middle Ages to the Holocaust in Auschwitz in Germany, they have been a target of Satan for a very long time (Revelation 12:1-6).
8. Peter said that God raised Jesus from the dead and it was not possible that He could be held by death because he committed no sin.
a. Romans 6:23 – “the wages of sin is death…”Jesus committed no sin; therefore, death could not hold him.
b. He died in my place and He died for you personally.
“For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’" (Acts 2:25-28, NKJV)
ii. Peter quotes another Psalm. In Psalm 16 we see David is speaking as a prophet, but in reality it is Jesus who is doing the speaking through David.
1. Although David was saying this it was the words of Jesus Christ. This speaks of the time when Jesus was crucified and died and went into Hell. This is a record of Jesus’ thoughts and feelings for 3 days and 3 nights.
2. When Jesus went into hell, He preached to the souls that were in prison.
a. Isaiah 61:1 - " “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;"
b. Prior to the death of Jesus Christ it was not possible that the OT saints could enter into heaven. The OT sacrificial system couldn’t was or cleanse their sins, it could only cover them. Throughout the OT they spoke of a better sacrifice that was to come.
i. Hebrews 10:4,9 – For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins…then he said, “behold I have come to do your will, O God’. He takes away the first that He may establish the second.
ii. Hebrews 11:39-40 - "And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us."
3. When Jesus died, He preached to those who were held captive by death. Paul said in Ephesians that He who also first descended is He who also ascended and led captivity captive. Those who were waiting with Abraham came with Jesus when
"“Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. “Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, “he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses." (Acts 2:29-32, NKJV)
iii. Peter’s Interpretation – Peter shares with the people that David wrote this under the inspiration of the HS. And when David died his flesh saw corruption. He didn’t escape the decay process, but David was speaking of Someone else. David’s tomb was probably on the south side of Jerusalem near the pool of Siloam.
1. being a prophet – David was a prophet. He was someone who spoke on behalf of God. Over half of the Psalms are David’s and he speaks prophetically many times.
2. God had promised with an oath…He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, - In Psalm 132:11 and 2 Samuel 7:15-16 God had promised David that the Messiah was going to be ruling and reigning on the throne of David.
iv. Peter’s Persuasive Preaching – Peter is doing a great job in sharing the scriptures with these people.
1. This is the one who was untrained and uneducated as observed by the Sanhedrin. What turned this foot in mouth oriented fisherman into a well spring of truth? He had taken in the word of God.
2.
"“Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord (God the Father) said to my Lord (Jesus), “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’ ’Therefore let al the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:33-36, NKJV)
v. Peter quotes from Psalm 110 - During late Judaism these references always gave Jewish interpreters some trouble because they were hard to understand. They knew it was a Messianic psalm but couldn’t put the pieces together properly.
1. Why would David call his descendant his lord? What does this mean? This implies that Jesus is more than just a descendant, He is the Son of God. In Jewish customs, you would never call your son or grandson, “Lord”. They would call you Lord.
2. Matthew 22:41-46
a. 3 groups of people ask Jesus 3 types of questions:
i. Pharisees and Herodians challenge Jesus politically. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?”
ii. Sadducees – challenge Jesus theologically. They try to trap Him with a question about the resurrection. Jesus puts them to silence.
iii. Scribe (lawyer) – challenge Jesus about a question in the law.
iv. They ask Jesus 3 questions to stump Him, but when Jesus gets a crack at it He only needs one question for them:
1. What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is he? They said, “the son of David.” He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord’ saying: The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make your enemies your footstool’”? If David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son? And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor form that day did anyone dare question Him anymore.
2. Jesus has established Himself as the political, theological, and ethical authority in front of all these leaders of the people.
a. Application - Jesus is the authority on everything. Sometimes it is interesting that we find it difficult to come to Jesus and give Him our tough questions (not in the same way that the religious rulers of His day questioned Him). Coming to Jesus isn’t something where we have to check our brains at the door as some people suppose. Jesus already knew where the religious leaders were coming from.
b. It is wrong for us to think that God can’t handle the questions we have for Him sometimes. As though in our honest seeking of an answer, God would be offended. The problem many times is not in asking God the question, but in us being prepared for the answer. “You can’t handle the truth”
i. Jesus said, “come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Jesus wants to take all questions, concerns, and critical spirits that we possess and give us His rest.
c. He already knew the answer to their questions and was able to handle them beautifully. He already knows your questions also:
i. Why is there so much grief and evil in the world?
ii. Why do bad things happen to “good” people?
iii. Why is this situation this way?
iv. Did Adam have a bellybutton?
v. James 4:2b Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
vi. TRANSITION – NOTICE THE REACTION OF THOSE WHO HAD THEIR QUESTION ANSWERED BY GOD THROUGH PETER
c. The Crowd’s Reaction (37-40)
"Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “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. “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.”" (Acts 2:37-40, NKJV)
i. The First Message of the Church – These people are in trouble and they know it.
1. Imagine – These people have heard this unusual rushing mighty wind. They have heard Galilean fishermen speak in foreign tongues praising God, They have heard Peter preach in a powerful way using the scriptures in such a way that cut them to the heart, and now they stand there realizing their involvement in the life and death of Jesus Christ
2. “What shall we do?” They were made aware of their guilt.
3. Repent and let everyone one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus-
a. Jesus Only (Oneness Pentecostals) – When I was a new believer I had a co-worker give me a Bible and tell me that I needed to make sure I read it and made it a part of my life, that I would get baptized as soon as possible and make sure that when I got baptized I should make sure that I got baptized in the name of Jesus only. He said that those who are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and of the HS are null and void and it didn’t count. The only baptism that counts is the baptism in Jesus name.
b. The interesting point about that is the word should actually be translated “into” the name of Jesus. Into a relationship with Jesus Christ. It implies something more than a baptismal formula.
c. John the Baptist’s Response – When John the Baptist came people responded to him by saying the same thing, “what should we do?” John’s response:
i. Luke 3:10-13 - "So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?” He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.”"
ii. John’s response consisted of “do, do, do”. With Jesus He said, “it is finished”. It is already done.
d. Peter’s Response – Repent
i. He said repent. Repent simply means to change directions. These people once thought that Jesus was a heretic, a blasphemer, and a radical. Now Peter is saying, “you need to change your mind, repent.” The resurrection proves that Jesus is who He says He is.
ii. Death couldn’t hold him, David prophesied about Him. How much more evidence is needed?
iii. Application - For some in here this morning you need to do the same thing. You used to think one way about Jesus. You used to think that He was just a crutch, He was just a good man. But instead you have seen that He was more than a good man, He is the God-man. You need to repent. You need to change your mind about Jesus. He is who He claimed to be.
1. The Gospel is not based on people cleaning up their lives or getting their act together, but it is about changing your mind about who He is. For some He was a curse word. For others He was a political revolutionary. Still others thought, “peace, love, and acceptance. Jesus is cool” We were all in one place or another in what we thought about Jesus Christ. But one day we were pricked in our hearts. We heard the word, we saw the power, whether it was in someone else’s life or read about in the word and we saw the power of God, and we repented and asked Jesus to come in.
V. Conclusion
a. Man/Woman God Uses – Maybe God has been convicting you about being a man or woman God wants to use. You have had a desire, but there has been a lack of being in God’s word and in prayer. God can pull out of you what has never been put in.
b. Jesus As Authority - Maybe you haven’t recognized Jesus as your authority in all things. You haven’t given Him your everything. There have been issues you have held within and God wants you to come to Him this morning. You haven’t fully surrendered to Jesus as the authority in your life.
c. We Put Jesus on the Cross – God’s determined counsel with our sin put Him there. We need to remember this.
d. Maybe you need to turn (repent) from the way you looked at Jesus before. You have recognized that He is who He says He is and He proved it with many infallible proofs.