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I. THE VARIED REACTIONS OF THE CROWDS.
A. They were filled with amazement.
B. They marvelled that these Galilleans were speaking in the various recognizable dialects of the wonderful works of God.
C. They had questions as to what this meant. "What does this mean?"
D. There are always mockers in the crowd, and this crowd is no different. They were saying that they must have found some new wine.
II. PETER'S MESSAGE TO THE CROWD.
A. He did not speak in tongues, but spoke in a common language to all.
B. His message was revellent to the question that were in their minds. "What does this mean?"
1. It is sad, but there is much preaching that is totally irrelevant to the issues that people have in their minds.
2. Much preaching raises more questions than it answers.
3. Preaching should seek to answer questions that are on the minds of the people.
C. Peter began by calling the people to attention. "I want to tell you something, listen to me."
1. He first dismissed the mockers' suggestions. "These men are not drunk as you suppose, it is only nine o'clock in the morning."
2. This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.
D. He gave to them a biblical basis for the spiritual phenomena that they were observing.
1. We say that we believe that the Bible is the final word of authority for all of our faith and practice.
a. It is important that we hold to this position.
b. There are those who say that God is greater than His word, and that certainly is true.
c. They say that God is not limited by His word, and that also is true.
d. However, to pose these truths to try to say that anything goes as far as supernatural experiences are concerned is dangerous and leads to excesses and fanaticism.
e. Though God is greater than His word and not limited to His word, He has chosen to reveal to us all that is necessary for the life of godliness through the exceeding rich and precious promises.
f. The moment that you accept experience as the validation for truth, you are in big trouble. For there is no end to experiences.
g. Before long you will have people barking like dogs, or roaring like lions, or shaking uncontrollably, or vomiting demons into kleenex tissues, or gold dust falling.
h. The Mormons testify of the burning heart to validate the authenticity of the Book of the Mormon.
E. I am not interested in any spiritual phenomena for which there is not a solid scriptural basis.
F. Peter points them to their scriptures, the prophecies of Joel.
Act 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Act 2:18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
Act 2:19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
Act 2:20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
Act 2:21 And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
G. Let me make a few observations concerning this passage.
1. Peter does not pull out a scroll to find this passage in Joel, he evidently quotes it from memory showing that he had a good working knowledge of the scriptures.
2. It is a prophecy of the last days.
a. The prophecy takes you through the times of the Great Tribulation right up to the Second Coming of the Lord. "There shall be blood and fire, vapor of smoke, the sun turned into darkness and the moon in to blood before the great and notable day of the Lord come. Which is a reference to the second coming of Jesus to the earth with His church to set up the kingdom of God. This corresponds to the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians where Paul speaks of the gifts will no longer be needed when that which is perfect is come. That which is perfect referring to the coming of Jesus. Not the full canon.
3. Thus this gift of the Holy Spirit upon the church was certainly not to be limited to the early church and cease with the death of the apostles, but was to continue till the return of our Lord. As Peter said, "For this promise is unto you, and to your children, and to those who are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."
4. That means that it is for us today.
III. THE BEGINNING OF THE WITNESS OF JESUS IN JERUSALEM.
A. Peter declares seven things about Jesus.
1. Jesus of Nazareth
2. He was proved to be of God.
3. They had crucified Him.
4. He rose from the dead.
5. He ascended into heaven.
6. He was now sitting at the right hand of God exalted.
7. He has sent the Holy Spirit as He promised.
B. What does the coming of the Holy Spirit mean? "What meaneth this?"
a. It means that Jesus lives, and is at the right hand of the Father exalted.
C. Jesus of Nazareth.
1. This is to identify Him. Jesus was a very common name among Jewish boys. It was the Greek for the Hebrew name Joshua. Every village probably had a boy named Jesus, for Joshua was a popular hero.
2. The name means, Jehovah is salvation, Jeshua.
D. A man who was proved to be of God by miracles, wonders, and signs.
1. When Nicodemus came to Jesus he said, "We know that you are a teacher come from God for no man can do the things that you do except God be with him."
2. We read of John the Baptist:
MAT 11:2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
MAT 11:3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
MAT 11:4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
MAT 11:5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
3. Jesus said to the people:
JOH 5:36 But I have greater witness than [that] of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
4. John tells us:
JOH 10:23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.
JOH 10:24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
JOH 10:25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
5. When Philip said to Jesus, "Show us the Father and it will suffice us." Jesus answered Philip.
JOH 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
JOH 14:11 Believe me that I [am] in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
E. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.
1. As Peter looks at the crucifixion of Jesus he sees it as the fulfillment of God's plan.
2. Because of the many prophecies in the Old Testament of the suffering and death of the Messiah, this was an easy point to prove. It was the plan of God that He should die for our sins.
3. Jesus had taken the disciples through the scriptures and had shown them the prophecies that related to the crucifixion.
LUK 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.
LUK 24:44 And he said unto them, These [are] the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and [in] the prophets, and [in] the psalms, concerning me.
LUK 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
LUK 24:46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
4. Daniel spoke of the Messiah being cut off.
5.
Psalm 22 spoke of His death on the cross.
6. Isaiah spoke of Him:
ISA 50:6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
ISA 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
ISA 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
ISA 53:5 But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
ISA 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
ISA 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
ISA 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
7. Zechriah prophesied:
ZEC 11:12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give [me] my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty [pieces] of silver.
ZEC 11:13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
ZEC 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his] only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
8. Speaking of the day that Jesus would be crucified Amos prophesied:
AMO 8:9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
AMO 8:10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only [son], and the end thereof as a bitter day.
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Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
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