What Just Happened?: A Look at Peter's First Sermon on Pentecost

Main Point: The New Covenant and the giving of the Holy Spirit has always been God’s eternal plan of salvation and Peter models a way for us to proclaim this good news.

What Just Happened?

Today we are going to look at the first part of Peter’s first Spirit-infused sermon. It is THE mother of all sermons that initiated all the other sermons we see in scripture that was given on the birthday of the Church.

But before we dive in, I want to set the stage for us today. Remember, we are in first century Jerusalem, where Rome is the global superpower and the Jews have limited authority over their own affairs.

Jews from the surrounding region have journeyed into Jerusalem for the Feast of Firstfruits

There is an eager anticipation for the Messiah promised in the Old Testament

Over 400 years have passed since the final book of the Old Testament had been given.

The event of Pentecost has just happened

There is now a captive audience of at least 3,000 people waiting to hear what Peter is about to say, many of which were among the crowd who called for Jesus’ crucifixion

The anticipation is palpable!

There are many ways we can slice this text up, but I thought it would be best to view our passage today through 2 different lenses:

1 Wide-angle lens [to see God’s eternal plan of redemption]

1 Zoomed lens [to see Peter’s method of evangelism]

For the Wide-angle lens, we will see the continuity of scripture and understand through Jesus, John the Baptist, and the Prophet Joel how the giving of the Spirit has always been in God’s eternal plan.

For the Zoomed lens, we will see Peter’s methodology in 3 sections:

This week we will see how he answered the people’s question by appealing to and applying scripture.

Next week, we will see how he focused the conversation solely on who Jesus is.

Two weeks from now, we will see the call to repentance.

So, why hone in on Peter? Because Peter delivered the sermon? Yes. But also because most of us can relate to Peter. We can relate to his ‘ready-shoot-aim’ personality. He often put his foot in his mouth. We can see ourselves in the way he has failed (denying the Lord three times), and we all desire to be restored the way he was (three times directly from Jesus). We all want to have the elements of our checkered past all come together to fulfill what we will do in the near future.

This is the way fiction writers are trained to develop the plot of their stories. If you are familiar with the 3 Act structure, then you know that the plot has multiple crisis points that bend and form the protagonist. The first crisis point typically happens to the hero, but then the other points happen as a result of the decisions of the hero, all of which lead up to the climax of the story where it all resolves.

That is why Peter is such a good model for us. He’s complex. He’s passionate, loyal, but flawed. He is the one who is on this journey to fulfilling his purpose, which for him, is to lead the disciples in the age of the New Covenant in their witness to the Jews.

Praise God we are not stuck in our failures and shortcomings. If you have failed Him in the past, it doesn’t mean he won’t use you powerfully in the future.

How did he achieve this?

He was filled with the Spirit (as we discussed last week - the wind was in his sails)

He knew scripture. He had no notes and was without preparation to speak, het he quoted directly from Joel and understood that Pentecost was its fulfillment.

Outline

Through the 2 lenses, we will see:

Peter Answers the crowd’s question

Joel’s Prophesy - Part 1

Joel’s Prophesy - Part 2

The Application

Sermon Text

Acts 2:14–21 ESV

14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, 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 male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20 the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

It is interesting that the Jews accused the 120 of being hammered at 9am. The crowd thought they were under the influence of alcohol. The irony is that they were under the influence of two controlling agents: The person of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, and scripture exhorts us to follow suit:

Ephesians 5:18–19 ESV

18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,

Colossians 3:16 ESV

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

The same goes for you and I today. The command of scripture is to be filled with the Spirit and the Word of God if we are to be of any use as a witness to his glory.

Now, with that foundation laid, let’s get into the text.

Peter answers their question with scripture

Some Jews asked - What does this mean?

Some Jews stated - these guys are drunk.

Peter said - Nope. Not that. Rather, this is actually a fulfillment of a prophecy that you know.

Wide-angle Lens: This was always God’s plan

...But other spoke into this same event before Joel:

Jesus spoke directly to this reality in John 15 & 16 when he said:

John 15:26 ESV

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

John 16:14 ESV

14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

As we saw last week, John the Baptist also spoke to it when he said:

Matthew 3:11 ESV

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

And then, we have a portion of Joel’s prophecy, found in 2:28-32

It is unclear when the book of Joel was written, but it was 100s of years BC and spoke of Israel’s judgement and restoration (as was the pattern for many prophetic books).

Zoomed Lens - without preparation, Peter points to scripture to answer the question, “What does this mean?” and to refute the claim that they were drunk.

Joel 2:28–32 ESV

28 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. 30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Joel’s Prophecy - Part 1

Zoomed lens: Peter changes some verbiage to make it applicable to this audience

The Last Days

This was modified from Joel’s original “and it shall come to pass afterward.” Why? Because Peter was making it abundantly clear that, while this was a long way off for Joel, this was being fulfilled before their very eyes.

Now, this prophecy also has apocalyptic themes in it as well, so it isn’t just referring to what happened at Pentecost. Rather, it is explaining the era of the New Covenant: the time between Jesus’ 1st and 2nd coming. Otherwise known as The Age of Grace or The Age of the Church.

This will be poured out on all flesh

This doesn’t mean that the Spirit will indwell every person on planet earth. This means that the citizenship of the Kingdom of God is open to all: the young and the old, men and women, slave and free, Jew and Gentile.

This first section is framed with this phrase- at the beginning and at the end. Reiterating something like this is the author’s way of highlighting its significance. They didn’t have highlighters or word processors to make text bold or italicized. They had to do this through repetition.

Like a waterfall during the rainy season, God’s Spirit will be generously poured out onto people from every nation, tribe, and language and will never deplete. Did you get that? The full communion with the God of creation is with you and will continue to be with you… filling up your sails… and allowing us to enter into the treasure-house that is God’s continual presence and grace! Just like Jesus said, living waters will well up from within you!

Surely Paul had this in mind when he encouraged the Colossian church when he said:

Colossians 3:11 ESV

11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Prophecy, Visions, & Dreams

we often think of the gift of prophecy as just being a gift that allows a person to give a word about the future, but that isn’t the main thrust of the word.

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume προφήτης, προφήτις, προφῆτις, προφητεύω, προφητεία, προφητικός, πσευδοπροφήτης

the original sense in Greek is “one who proclaims,” although soon the idea of “one who predicts” also occurs.

Lexham Theological Wordbook προφητεύω

to prophesy. The act of revealing something that is hidden, disclosing the will of God, or foretelling the future.

So, what prophecy can mean is:

proclaiming God’s word

foretell future events

to speak under divine inspiration

Function - to be God’s spokesperson

In the Old Testament, we see the prophets being God’s mouthpieces, making His will known to His people. We see this gift repeatedly in Acts.

Acts 19:6 ESV

6 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

Acts 21:9 ESV

9 He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied.

Before Paul decides to go to Jerusalem where he will likely be arrested and handed over to the Jewish leaders, a man named Agabus prophesies his capture by taking Paul’s belt and using it as an illustration.

Paul even gives instructions on how to use this spiritual gift in his letter to the Corinthians.

In like manner, then, God’s people are given the gift of seeing visions and dreaming dreams. We also see this in the book of Acts. Peter has a vision of the blanket filled with animals coming down from heaven, where he is told to kill and eat. During one of Paul’s missionary journeys, he has a vision or dream of a Macedonian man begging him to come.

All of these things happened then and can happen today.

We don’t see a lot of the more miraculous things taking place today in the US, because we depend on our wealth as a nation, we are distracted, and we have free and abundant access to the scriptures. I have hundreds of books and resources that are all interlinked through Logos Bible Software. You and I have access to more resources than any other person at any time in history, and therefore have no excuses to remain ignorant of biblical truths. None.

But that is not the case for everyone. There are still countries that are hostile to the gospel and forbid christian writings; places where other religions like Islam or Hinduism are the ruling religion, and in those places, there are reports of people having visions of Jesus and coming to the faith. How? Because nothing will stop the gospel from getting out, and if the rulership of man prohibits scripture, God will use other means.

The point to be understood by Peter’s audience is that:

In the Old Covenant, only select prophets could speak on behalf of God to make His will known.

Now, in Christ, we are in a New Covenant, where ALL God’s people can be spokesmen for God, because His Spirit lives within, guiding us ALL into all truth and the knowledge of His will. As the author of Hebrews puts it:

Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Then, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit so that we too can know and proclaim God’s will.

Do you want to make known to people the mysteries of God? You can!

Colossians 1:26–27 ESV

26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

This is not to diminish the gift of prophecy, which the Spirit gives to select people as He wills. All gifts from Him are equally as marvelous and valuable, and we can discuss the GIFT when we get to 1 Corinthians. But, it is clear from the text that this is an empowerment for all flesh… beyond any distinction, whether it is gender, age, or social status. And as we saw, the main thrust of the word is to make God’s will known to all, and this is an empowerment we all have.

That is the first part of the prophecy, but there is a second part that is quite distinct from the first.

Joel’s Prophecy - Part 2

Signs of the End Times

Joel’s prophecy begins with the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, but it ends with the terrifying Day of the Lord. This is what is described in Revelation when God will pour out His final measure of judgement on this world.

This is also know as:

‘the day of our Lord Jesus Christ’ in 1 Cor. 1:8

‘the day of the Lord Jesus’ in 2 Cor. 1:14

‘the day of Christ Jesus’ as found in Phil. 1:6

or ‘the day of Christ’ from Phil. 1:10; 2:16

…all speaking to a future event that will bring completion to God’s plan.

So again, Peter is helping the Jews gathered in Jerusalem to understand what had just happened. They had just witnessed the initial fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy that will continue until the very end. There will be no stopping the Spirit of God from achieving his eternal plan. From the Day of Pentecost until the Day of the Lord, God will continue to fill His children with His Spirit to achieve His purposes. Amen!

The Application

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved

Who is the everyone that is being talked about?

What would the Jews have understood? They would have seen this through the lens of Israel being God’s covenant people, so any JEW who called on the name of the Lord would be saved.

Wide-angle lens

However, as the story of Acts will show us through the wide-angle lens, this gift of salvation is opened up to man and woman, young and old, slave and free, Jew and Gentile. Everyone can leave their life of sin behind and be adopted as sons and daughters of the King.

Zoomed lens

We can help others see this same glorious truth by answering their questions by pointing them to scripture and applying those truths to their own lives.

But, as the text says, they must call upon His name, which is another point that this crowed completely misunderstood. They knew God as the loving Father… as Yahweh, the one true God… as Adonai, the only Sovereign King. But, they did not know Him as Jesus, the Son of God… the eternal second member of the Triune God.

And as we will see next week, Peter will make sure there is no mistaking who Jesus is moving forward.