The First Sermon

Introduction

Last week we started our study of Acts by looking at the last days of Jesus on the Earth. We noted that the last words of somebody are very important- they usually convey the most important or pressing desire of the person leaving. Jesus’ last words to His disciples were, “Stay here until the Holy Spirit comes down on you.”

We looked at the need to be empowered by the Spirit of God in that time, and noted how much more important it was to have that Holy Ghost in this day and age.

When we left off, the Holy Spirit had come upon them and they began to speak in tongues and some people were amazed, while others mocked them.

The New Church

This week we pick up with Peter addressing the crowd:

Acts 2:14–15 NKJV

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.

So peter, along with the other disciples of Jesus, stands and addresses the crowd. Here’s the first thing he says that I find interesting. “these are not drunk- as you suppose.”

The Greek word for suppose is ὑπολαμβάνω hypolambanō and is also translated as to take up; support; reply. A great translation would be as you have judged, or in the manner in which you have taken it. The word support implies that there is some sort of evidence for the assumption that they were drunk. So Peter, in essence is saying, “These folks are not drunk even though they look like it. It’s only 9 in the morning!”

But what does it being the third hour or 9:00 a.m. have to do with anything? Well, Jews did not eat before the third hour on holy feast days, and as we learned last week, the Holy Spirit came on… the day of Pentecost. So 9:00 a.m. was a little early for a Jew to be drunk, now later on in the evening maybe…

So clearly, there was something about the way they were behaving that made them seem drunk. If you were around after service on Sunday, you saw our sister receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, what happened? Something clearly happened, she appeared to be drunk. She lost the feeling in her legs and she crumpled straight down to the ground, but she was not drunk-at least not the way we understand drunkenness. Many Charismatic and Pentecostal Christians call that being drunk with the Holy Ghost. That exact phrasing is not in the bible, but as you can see, the concept is. J

So then Peter continues, preaching his very first sermon and really the first sermon ever preached in the brand new Christian church. And he starts out by quoting the prophet Joel.

Acts 2:16–21 NKJV

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.’

We don’t really know much about the prophet Joel except the name of his father, and the fact that he was prophesying to Israel, right after a plague of locusts had obliterated the land. In fact, most prophets prophesy some sort of indictment against the people, explaining why the Lord has sentenced them to this or that judgment, but not Joel. He does however, tell the people back in the 2nd chapter to return to God with all their heart, to rend their hearts and not their garments.

Joel 2:12–14 NKJV

“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, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him— A grain offering and a drink offering For the Lord your God?

Now, look at the first part of verse 14, and this is key.

Who knows if He will turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him—

Remember what Jesus said?

John 14:25–28 NKJV

“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.

What a blessing Jesus left behind indeed! Look at what it says, in verse 26. Now look at Peter in Acts 2:14 STANDING! So? So.. remember Peter before this time? Let me remind you.

Luke 22:54–60 NKJV

Having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the high priest’s house. But Peter followed at a distance. Now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. And a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat by the fire, looked intently at him and said, “This man was also with Him.” But he denied Him, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.” And after a little while another saw him and said, “You also are of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” Then after about an hour had passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, “Surely this fellow also was with Him, for he is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are saying!” Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.

Peter was not a preacher to get in front of people. He was a foul-mouthed fisherman, and on top of that he was a coward. He trembled even at the accusations of a little servant girl, yet here he was with words in his mouth and a boldness in his heart. And what a boldness it was!

Acts 2:22–24 NKJV

“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.

Wow! He is calling them lawless and he’s pointing fingers at them, and you know, the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead didn’t give him this boldness, something else did, and it wasn’t just a one-time thing, and it wasn’t just for Peter.

Acts 4:29 NKJV

Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word,

Acts 4:31 NKJV

And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

Acts 9:27 NKJV

But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

Clearly the boldness came from the Holy Spirit! But the Holy Spirit also told him exactly what to say. Think of it, I spend hours preparing a sermon to bring to you every Sunday. I make my best effort to take a scholarly approach and pray about what the Lord wants to reveal to His church, and I believe for the most part God shows up and we all learn something- well at least I do. But on Tuesday nights when some of our most powerful times together happen, I do not prepare notes, and I’m telling you, I think I preach better when I have nothing prepared. Why? Because at that particular moment in time, I am flowing entirely by the Holy Spirit. Now I’m not saying that sermon preparation is a bad thing. Paul tells Timothy that he should “study to show himself approved”, so clearly a well thought out and put together teaching is important, but the point that I’m making is that the Holy Spirit speaks through us and gives us boldness to spread the message of God’s love and salvation.

How many times have you been speaking to a friend, and didn’t have your bible present but the word of God just poured out of your mouth like a fountain? I mean, perhaps you couldn’t quote chapter and verse, but you could certainly tell them what the Bible specifically says. Well, if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, that is exactly what Jesus was talking about, and what we are seeing Peter experience as he preaches.

This is not just about getting people saved, in this day and age people are broken and hurting. They need to hear from God. Are you ready to give a word?

Proverbs 25:11 NKJV

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold In settings of silver.

Gone is the cowardly fisherman, here is a bold Fisher of MEN!

Acts 2:25–33 NKJV

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.’ “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. 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.

Here Peter is laying out the Messianic nature of Christ. Jesus is Messiah! And that was the thing the crucified Him for- because He claimed to be the son of God, but here, Peter is providing the proof from scripture to indict them of murder!

He brings up David says that David prophesied about Jesus, and indeed he did. But David knew something else, and Jesus Himself had called them out on it and David quoted Him:

Matthew 22:41–46 NKJV

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They said to Him, “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 then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

The people that Peter was addressing would remember that run-in with Jesus, and would not be able to answer this additional teaching by Peter. Having stumped them, just as Jesus had, he is free to continue- He’s got their attention so he goes in for the coup de force.

Acts 2:36–39 NKJV

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 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.”

Therefore… whenever we see it in the bible we need to figure out what it is there for. In this case it is for all the things about which we’ve spoken. Peter has dealt with two major pieces of the puzzle. First, who is the Holy Spirit and why has He manifest in the manner? Second, who is Jesus? By answering the objections that the crowd would have had about this, Peter has basically set up the gospel message.

Jesus is Lord and Christ! The people realize that they are powerless- they are saying “we can’t!” But the simplicity of the Gospel is- “He CAN!” He tells them to get saved and then to get baptized in the Holy Spirit, because the promise is for them, their children and their children’s children to all who are far off.

Putting it all Together

Will you stand with me? Many men have gone to great effort to try to prove that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not for today, but the church was founded on it and birthed by it. The very first sermon ever preached was all about it, and it ended with the promise of His continued habitation with man.

We need the Holy Spirit now more than ever, and God knew that. We need in the midst of the persecution that the church suffers to day- that ability to speak His word boldly. We need the ability to speak the right words to the broken hearted. What do you tell a man or a woman in crisis? I don’t always know, but God does.

Let’s pray.