Sermon Transcript — June 4, 2006
Have you ever thought, or wondered, what it would be like to able to hear one of the great men of God from the Bible that we have recorded in the Bible give us a sermon at a Holy Day? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hear Paul or to hear Abraham give a talk about some of the things that he'd gone through, and lessons that he had learned?
Well, today, I am going to propose to you that we listen to a sermon by the Apostle Peter. Now, obviously, we're not going to listen to Peter directly. We don't have a cassette or an MP3 recording of Peter's sermon, but we do have quite a significant portion of a very key sermon that he gave. We have almost a transcript of it, recorded for us in the book of Acts.
As I was thinking about this I thought, you know, this would be kind of a creative way to introduce a sermon. Instead of saying, "the sermon by Joel Meeker," let's say…I'll ask Mr. Evans to say, "The sermon today will be by the Apostle Peter." Thankfully, my wife talked me out of it! She saves me from excessive creativity sometimes; that is why I run these things by her beforehand! But, in a sense, we are going to have a sermon by the Apostle Peter today. We are going to read through Peter's sermon that he gave, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
But, before we do that, I would like for us to take a moment to do something that I have found very helpful myself and that is to slowly imagine the scene that had taken place prior to Peter rising and giving this sermon.
Sometimes when we read through passages that we know well, we end up reading through them so quickly that we recognize all the words and we know what's there, but we don't have a clear mental image of what was occurring.
So, just listen for a moment and, if you want to find the scriptural references for the things that I will be describing to you, you can look in the first couple of chapters in the book of Acts and the last few chapters of each of the Gospels.
But, this is the scene as the Bible recounts it to us. Let's imagine ourselves back in the year 31, on the Day of Pentecost, and you are a part of a group of about 120 disciples who have gathered together in what the Bible calls, "the house." We don't really know exactly what that house was or where it was; there are different theories. Some scholars believe it was actually part of the Temple complex. In other words, the "house" would have been the House of God because the disciples tended to group together there, it says in Acts 2:46. Or, perhaps it was in the "upper room" mentioned in Acts 1:13, where they also gathered from time to time.
In any event, you're there, probably seated, part of a group of 120 extremely dedicated and decided people who have closely followed Jesus Christ during His ministry. You traveled with Him, you lived alongside Him during His ministry for years at a time, and you are convinced that He was the Messiah.
Many others in Jerusalem are not so sure. They don't believe quite so certainly; in fact, many of them are rather confused. They don't know exactly what to believe about this Jesus of Nazareth. He had preached for three and one-half years. He'd done many miracles and hopes were rising that, perhaps, He was the Messiah that was going to throw off the yoke of the Roman occupation and re-establish the kingdom to Israel once again.
But then, just as hopes were rising, He was accused of blasphemy and crucified by the Romans with the complicity of the religious authorities of the Jewish nation. Then, of course, there were these stories of Him being resurrected. Many people, especially the Pharisees and the Priests vigorously disputed that! They said that was all wrong. Nothing of the sort ever happened.
On the other hand, a number of people who were known to have been dead already and buried at the time of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection were seen walking around the streets of Jerusalem! They couldn't explain what happened, why they woke up in their tomb and were alive once again. Nor could anyone else.
So, perhaps the idea of a resurrection wasn't so far fetched, after all, and this was all the buzz on the streets of the city of Jerusalem.
Some of the 120 in the room in the house said that they had actually seen the resurrected Jesus. Some had even touched Him. He'd appeared to them at surprising times, walked along with them, explained scriptures out of the Bible to them, ate with them and then, suddenly, He would disappear and not be there anymore.
And they explained that their "hearts burned" when they walked with Him and when He talked to them, but they couldn't completely grasp what He was telling them. It was like there was still a blockage there. They felt something inside, when He was there with them, but their minds still couldn't comprehend everything that He was telling them. There was this blockage there.
Of course, all of that had happened nearly two months ago. Jerusalem, though, was still buzzing with all the discussion and the rumors and the arguments that different people at different schools were having about what had really happened.
And as they were sitting in the room…the windows are open, it's rather hot, you hear the bustle in the streets outside because the city of Jerusalem is filled to overflowing with Jews and proselytes who have come to keep God's Feast of Pentecost…then, suddenly, while perhaps discussing some of those things amongst ourselves in the room, there's a deafening sound that begins to approach and we start hearing it far away and we can tell that it's coming from up above and it sounds like a windstorm. It's coming from heaven and suddenly it fills the room; the sound of air rushing in all directions, perhaps shaking the building or rattling the clay roof tiles on top of the house! It's so loud that people outside the room can hear it and people start running from all directions, coming to see what's causing this strange sound of a storm on a bright and sunny day in Jerusalem.
Then, suddenly, without this being expected at all, God gave the gift of His Holy Spirit to the 120 who were in that room and they become truly and fully Christians. They're astounded Christians! They're astounded because, suddenly, their understanding of the Scriptures opens up before them like they had never known before. God's Plan comes stunningly clear to them in an instant. Things that they had talked about, the Scriptures that they had studied, things they had heard Jesus explain in His various teachings and sermons suddenly made sense in a way that they never had before. They could see connections between Old Testament prophecies and the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. They could see God's great Master Plan becoming clearer in their minds than it ever had been before.
And, at the same time that they were trying to come to grips with this new understanding and this expanded awareness that they had to mark the miracle that He was accomplishing, God did something very visible. Appearing in the room, apparently over their heads, was a large…something that looked like a flame of fire. Apparently, at the start of it, it was just one large flame or something that appeared to be a flame, and some in the crowd probably were wondering, "Is this something like what God did in Israel when He guided them by a pillar of fire at night?" They were thinking of biblical examples of this sort of thing and wondering what this might mean. And then, that one large flame split up into many small flames or tongues of fire and it came down to rest on each of the disciples that were gathered there, the 120.
About this time, the Jews and the proselytes who had heard all the commotion were rushing into the room and wondering what all of this meant. What could all of this mean? And they were dumbstruck! Rushing winds, flames of fire and suddenly these men, most of which were without much formal education, began speaking foreign languages fluently. Languages that they had never been able to speak before, but they began speaking foreign languages.
Now, some of the 120 were from Galilee; in fact, probably quite a few of them were. Galilee had a reputation for being a real backwater, not a lot of very educated people there. How are all these Galileans suddenly speaking languages from all over the known world? It would have been quite an amazing thing.
The Bible indicates that there were people there, part of those who had rushed into the hall to see what was going on from the outside; there were people there from what is now known as Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey, Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the Island of Crete, and every one of them heard disciples speaking in their own native, mother tongue.
They said, "How can this be?" and "What does this mean?"
"How are these uneducated men praising God in my native language?" But, apparently, there were also some there who didn't speak any of those foreign languages and to them it sounded like gibberish and they said, "They've all been drinking!" All this noise going on here, these men are drunk!
And, that was the scene when the Apostle Peter, as a sort of first among equals of the Apostles, stood up and gave the very first sermon of the New Testament Church age under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In that sermon, as ministers try to do today, he gave "meat in due season," he spoke about the significance of the Day of Pentecost and how things were going to change now as a result of these miracles that God was accomplishing.
So, now that we've set the scene, let's turn to Acts 2 and let's begin reading what the Apostle Peter said in his first (we could say first in one sense) Pentecost sermon of the New Testament era, the New Testament Church era. Pretty much what I've described to you up to now came from Acts 2:1-13, with a few references from some of the Gospels; but now, we're going to begin reading what Peter said and it's quite interesting. I think you'll find this very, very interesting, intriguing, and informative also, to see what Peter would have said when he spoke on the Day of Pentecost because, in fact, that is what he did here.
Verse 14 — "Peter, standing up with the eleven," perhaps they all stood up as witnesses of what had occurred, "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:' (I've something important to tell you because you've just witnessed something earthshaking.)
Verse 15 — 'These are not drunk, as some of you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.' It's 9:00 in the morning.
Verse 16 — 'But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:'
Verse 17 — 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh: your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams:'
Verse 18 — 'And on my men servants and my maid servants I will pour out my Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy:'
Verse 19 — 'I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor and smoke:'
Verse 20 — 'The sun shall be turned to darkness, the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and notable day of the Lord:'
Verse 21 — 'And it shall come to pass, that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'"" Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
This was a prophecy that had existed already in the Old Testament. The time would come when God would pour out His Spirit on multiple people because in the Old Testament period, basically, it was one at a time. You'd have, maybe, one person in a whole generation who would have God's Spirit. The Patriarchs, pretty much, were one at a time. There was a little bit of overlap there. The Judges, some of the Kings…David, Solomon…they had God's Spirit but it was, you know, one in a generation. There was a prophecy, though, that God was going to pour out His Spirit on multiple people at the same time and what Peter is saying, his first point is: the prophecy is now fulfilled. On the Day of Pentecost, God has poured out His Spirit on the Church. This is a new beginning. God has poured out His Spirit on the Church and that's one of the lessons that the Day of Pentecost teaches us and reminds us of from year to year.
Some of this has been dealt with in, at least partially, sermons either yesterday or today, but I'll just mention…I'll add another illustration or another example that came to my mind.
We sometimes ask the question: Why is it that God only gave His Spirit to one or two people at a time in the Old Testament? Why didn't He give His Spirit to all Israel? As I was looking through some old sermon notes recently that I took when I was an Ambassador College student twenty-some years ago, in a Pentecost sermon, Mr. Armstrong asked and answered that question very directly. The answer he gave was because God has a plan and God's plan rolls out in steps. There are different steps in His plan. According to His plan, different missions must be accomplished at different times and God gives His Spirit to those who have a specific job to do, now, before the return of Christ. After the return of Christ it will be available to everyone, but now He only gives His Spirit to those to whom He has given a particular mission.
The Patriarchs had to work with Israel. They had to write the Bible for us, as God did through Moses, for example. They were also types of things to come. King David was a type and a precursor of the Messiah who was promised to come. Elijah was a type of the Messenger that would come before Christ's second coming. Israel, on the other hand, had a different kind of job, if you will, and it didn't require them having the Holy Spirit. In fact, it required them not to have the Holy Spirit because Israel's job, and it did it quite well, was to prove that without God's presence inside of someone, simply having God's law would not do the trick. They had God's law, they had His instruction, they had all the rules necessary to have a successful, fulfilling life and to become an exemplary nation, but without God's Spirit they did not have the strength of themselves to be able to succeed.
In Exodus 24:7, I'll just quote it to you:
Verse 7 — "After hearing of the covenant that God offered to make with them, all Israel said, 'All that the Eternal has said, we will do.'" But, they didn't because they couldn't. Every once in awhile when some great catastrophe had happened or a great leader, a great example was there, they would manage to do it for a generation. During the time of this king Israel followed God, but it didn't take very many generations, usually the very next one, or sometimes two, and they would be off going their own way again, abandoning God's law because God's Spirit was not in them. That's why their job required, if you will, to put it in those terms, required that they not have the Holy Spirit because it was to be an example of how absolutely imperative it is for someone to have God's Spirit in him, or her, in order to have the right relationship with God.
The relationship that Israel had with God was an exterior relationship. God was outside of them. They envisioned God being in one place outside of them. He was on the mountain. He was in the bush. He was in the tabernacle but He wasn't inside of them. They had an exterior relationship with God and they tried to keep their covenant with Him, but they couldn't. What we learn from that is that what humans truly need in order to be able to have a relationship with God--they need God to be inside them not outside of them. On the Day of Pentecost, God poured out His Spirit and it went in a group of people. It wasn't just an exterior relationship. It was an interior relationship.
Prior to the Day of Pentecost…and I would suggest that you put the ribbon of your Bible, if you've got one, in Acts 2 because we'll be coming and going a little bit…once you do that, please turn with me to John 14.
Verse 15 — "If you love me," Jesus said, "keep my commandments."
Verse 16 — "And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Helper, that he may abide with you for ever;"
Verse 17 — "Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him: but you know him; for (note this) he dwells with you, and he shall be (or will be) in you."
God had put His Spirit with the disciples. It was, if you like, outside of them, around them, working with them up to a certain level, but the Holy Spirit was not yet in them. It was outside of them. It wasn't yet in them.
When God calls someone, He puts His Spirit with them and He works with the person to bring them to the point that they can make the baptismal commitment and then the Holy Spirit can enter that person and begin working on the inside. Our children and our young adults, who are not yet baptized, need to realize that God's Spirit is working with you. He's working with you. He's helping you understand certain things, at least up to a point. He's made available to you everything you need to be able to understand God's plan and what He's offering you and the relationship He wants to have with you and bring you to the point where you can understand the baptismal commitment and say, "I accept; I want to do that; I want to be a part of that; I want to have God's Spirit in me." God comes and works in us through His Holy Spirit. As we read yesterday in the East congregation, He reminds us of things, He teaches us things; He allows a full and complete comprehension of spiritual things that we need in order to be able to have that kind of relationship with God.
This was a revolutionary occurrence! Something that had been prophesied hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years before and here was the time when God actually began pouring His Spirit out on a group of people. It's vitally important for us to realize that for us to have the proper relationship with God we must have His Spirit in us.
That was the first point that Peter wanted to clear up in his sermon. This (what you're seeing here, all of those manifestations), all of this, is to show you that God is putting His Spirit in human beings now. As a group, He is creating a Church that has His Spirit so that those who are part of it can have a true and right relationship with God. That was Peter's first point, if you will.
Now, let's go back and pick up and see what he has to say next.
And as we're reading through here, see in your own mind if you can elucidate what the points are. What's Peter's point when he says this? What are we supposed to learn from this section here? Why is he saying this? What does this have to do with the Day of Pentecost and what does it have to do with me?
Verse 22 — "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 (you saw Him, you heard Him):"
Verse 23 — "Him, being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death:"
Verse 24 — "Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be held by it."
Verse 25 — "For David says concerning him (another prophecy fulfilled here now), 'I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken:'
Verse 26 — 'Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad: moreover my flesh will also rest in hope:'
Verse 27 — 'Because you will not leave my soul in hades, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.'
Verse 28 — 'You have made known to me the way of life; you will make me full of joy in your presence.'
Verse 29 — "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."
Verse 30 — "Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn 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;"
Verse 31 — "He foreseeing this spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul was not left in hades, nor did his flesh see corruption."
Verse 32 — "This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses."
Verse 33 — "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."
Verse 34 — "For David did not ascend up into the heavens: but he says himself, 'The Lord said to my Lord,' "Sit at my right hand,"
Verse 35 — "Until I make your enemies your footstool."
Verse 36 — "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
Verse 37 — "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?'" What shall we do?
If you noticed, in verses 27-28, we see here the prophecy that David had given about the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and that it was through Him that salvation was going to be made possible. Let's read verses 27-28 again.
Verse 27 — "'Because he will not leave my soul in hades, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.'
Verse 28 — 'You have made known to me the ways of life;' because of that, through that process, through the death and the resurrection of the Messiah, 'You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of joy in your presence.'"
So, Peter's second point here, especially concentrating on verses 27-28, was that the prophesied salvation that comes from Christ's death and resurrection is also now open to the Church. The salvation that comes about as a result of Christ's death and His resurrection is also open, now, to the Church, to those whom God calls. See, that was only available to a very few with whom God worked in the past. Now, it was available to a group of people with whom God was working. It is the death of Christ that pays the penalty for our sins, and it is His resurrection which allows Him to work with us through the Holy Spirit; and that is how the way of salvation is now open to the Church.
We may have read this passage earlier, either yesterday or this morning, but let's look at it again in Romans 8.
As I was sitting in Cincinnati East hearing the sermon yesterday and listening this morning, I was struck by how many of these themes intersect, coming at them from different angles, in a way, but many of the same themes and ideas, which is often a sign that God is inspiring what is occurring.
Verse 11 — "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit who dwells in you."
The fact that God's Spirit is in us and working with us, that Jesus Christ is guiding the work of the Spirit in us, that's the proof that God is reserving eternal life for us. If that's happening in us, then the same God who resurrected Jesus back to life will do the same to our bodies in the resurrection. That's the surety that God has given to us.
Drop down to verse 16 now, please.
Verse 16 — "The Spirit himself, bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:"
Verse 17 — "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together with him."
Verse 18 — "For I consider that the suffering of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."
Verse 19 — "For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God."
Verse 20 — "But the creation was not subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope,"
Verse 21 — "Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."
If we have God's Spirit in us, then we have the surety of the resurrection. We will inherit all things. We will participate in God's incomprehensible creation and all that is left to do in the universe and in creation that has not been finished yet. It's been left to corruption awhile, until the revelation of the sons and daughters of God.
This, also, was an amazing, new development that people in 31 A.D. needed to understand about what the Church meant. Being part of the Church of God means salvation has been opened to you. That was another part of Peter's message. It had been prophesied in the past. The realization had just arrived.
Turn back with me now, once again, to Acts 2 and let's continue listening in on Peter's sermon here. Let's read verses 37-38.
Verse 37 — "When they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?'" They were convicted! Yes, they had had a hand in the death of the Messiah. There was blood guiltiness on them and they said, "What must we do now that we understand this?" "How can we be a part of what you're talking about?"
Verse 38 — "And 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.'"
You see what's happening here with the 120 ? That can be opened to you, if God has called you! "'Repent, and… be baptized… for the remission of sins'" and you can receive God's power in you also. You can receive power also.
So, Peter's third point — you've probably summed this up already — we must respond to God's offer by repenting and that must become a way of life. Repentance must become a way of life. For God to live in us through His Holy Spirit, there must be a radical change of direction in our lives. There must be a radical change of direction. In fact, change of direction is basically what repentance means: to repent. To repent means to go a different way. It implies active energy to change and to live our lives differently; to live them in a way that we did not heretofore. It means being willing to let go of things that keep us from achieving the will of God.
There's a story that's told of a little boy in a rather wealthy family who got his hand stuck in a priceless vase. You know, kids have to experiment with things. Well, his hand was just stuck in this very expensive, historical vase. Of course, his parents panicked and they tried everything that they knew of. They got some soapy detergent. Maybe that would loosen it up enough for him to be able to get his hand out. That didn't work. They got cooking oil and smeared it all around his hand and tugged on it gently, trying not to break the vase. That didn't work either. It wouldn't come out. Finally, his parents were resigned to the fact that it seemed like the only thing to do was to break the vase to free the little boy's hand and, just as they were about to do that, when they came over with a hammer, the boy saw the hammer and it scared him a little bit and he said, "Well, would it help if I let go of the penny?" Yeah, it would!! He was holding on to something that was creating a big problem and sometimes, brethren, we hold on to things that create problems for us, too, don't we?
We've all been through that before. We hold on to habits. We hold on to ways of thinking about things. We hold on to a wrong sense of priorities that prevent us from progressing. We have to be willing to give those things up. That's the way of repentance. We've got to let go of them. So, we can all ask ourselves, "Am I holding on to any pennies?" "Is there something I really should be letting go of to get over a weakness or a problem or to make myself useful in the hands of my God?" That's a question we all need to ask ourselves. Repentance means a radical change.
The Russian writer, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, wrote in The Gulag Archipelago: "If only there were evil people somewhere, insidiously committing evil deeds, and if only it were necessary to separate them from the rest of us and to destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being, and who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"
Very thought provoking. A line that divides good and evil runs through the heart of every human being, and who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? Who indeed?
A very difficult thing to reach down to the core of who we are and say, "You know, this has gotta' go." This part here is offensive to God. That needs to change. The old man has got to die. I've got to become somebody new. There's a big part of me that's gotta' go because it's not right with God, and that's a hard thing to do, but that's the path that's required if we want to have that kind of relationship with God.
Turn over with me, please, to II Corinthians 7. We have a wonderful description here of what repentance is. Signs of true, godly repentance, the kind that you don't get over, that you don't renege upon.
Paul had had to castigate, correct pretty severely, the Church in Corinth because there were some pretty bad things going on there and, to their credit, they repented wholeheartedly; and Paul praised them. He rejoiced with them to see that God's Spirit had been working in them and had led them to this kind of repentance. So he said, in II Corinthians 7:9
Verse 9 — "I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance: for you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing."
Verse 10 — "For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation not to be regretted: but the sorrow of the world produces death." Because it doesn't last, it doesn't actually effect a true and profound and permanent change.
Verse 11 — For observe this very thing, that you were sorrowed in a godly manner, what diligence it produced in you," when we have a repentant frame of mind and attitude, we're diligent, we want to work hard, we concentrate and we keep after things that we need to keep after.
"What clearing of yourselves." Oh, I've been doing something wrong, but that's going to stop. I'm going to clear myself of that; that's not going to happen anymore.
"What indignation." Ever felt indignant about a sin? Ever felt indignant about, perhaps, a sin that you committed yourself? I can't believe I did that again. I promised God and myself I wouldn't and, there, I went and did it again. Indignation.
"What fear." We recognize the seriousness of what sin is. Sin isn't something to joke about like it so often is in our 21 st Century world today. Most of the humor on television or in movies is about breaking one of God's laws somehow. People laugh at it. We should have a proper respect for the seriousness of that matter.
"What vehement desire," a strong desire to be right, to accomplish God's will. Zeal is part of it. "What vindication," that is, making changes, even trying to, sometimes, make up for bad things that we did. Not only am I going to stop doing it — but if I can help make things better for mistakes that I've made in the past, that's a kind of vindication, and that's part of the attitude of true repentance.
"In all things you have proved yourselves to be clear in this matter." Paul congratulated them! Even though they had a big problem before, he was enthused and encouraged to see the kind of repentance, active repentance, that was present there and that's the kind of attitude we should want to seek in our lives; that attitude of repentance because, remember, Peter's third point was we must respond to God's offer by repenting and that repentance has got to turn into a way of life of seeking God's will and turning away from everything that is against God's will.
Let's go back to Acts 2.
Acts 2:39 has a number of points in it that are important to understand. This was also part of Peter's sermon. Things he wanted to underscore for the audience that was listening to him there.
Verse 39 — He said at the beginning of verse 39, "For the promise is to you, and to your children." Point four in Peter's sermon: The promise is to us and to our children. This teaches us that God works through families. He respects the parent/child relationship. He respects even our extended family relationships. God works through families.
If you have accepted God's calling, if you have become a converted Christian, then your children also have an open invitation to accept God's offer, as well, to participate in His plan. The door is open. They're not forced to go through the door but the door is open and parents can help them make it to the door. They'll have to make their own decision, eventually, but we can help them find the way. We have that privilege to be able to impact our children. Now, there are no guarantees. Everyone makes their own decision, ultimately, but we do have the privilege of being able to help, of being able to make the way a little easier for them, a little less difficult.
A verse we often turn to when we are discussing parent/child relationships and responsibilities.
Verse 1 says children are to obey their parents; that's a child's responsibility.
Verse 4 — Verse 4 says, "Fathers, don't provoke your children to wrath," and that can be a challenge for, I think, probably fathers especially, mothers too sometimes. "Don't provoke them to wrath: but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord."
God wouldn't tell us to do that if it wasn't going to make a difference. He didn't say, well, this is kind of a futile exercise because, you know, they're going to go the right way anyway but, you know, you've got the time so "bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord." No, He tells us to do that because it makes a difference to train them, to help them find the right way.
Admonition means enticing them to go the right direction. Here, let me show you this. Look how this works. See how it's been in my life. Notice these examples. "The nurture and admonition of the Lord."
Nurture means "instruction" and admonition means "calling to their attention or warning." It means gentle correction. Gentle correction. God anticipates that our children can understand and respond and that should make a difference in the way we parent. We need to point our children in the right direction. We need to be teaching them God's ways, talking of it "when we rise up and when we lie down" and when we go in and when we come out. We need to help them make right decisions when the time comes. Sometimes that means, in fact, it always means we've got to have a relationship of trust built with them so that they'll hear us when we have advice to give. That's not always a given either.
It reminds me of a story of a little boy who was frightened by a thunder and lightning storm. It was a dark night and he woke up and he was afraid and he called out to his father, "Daddy! Daddy, come, I'm scared." His father came in and said, "Son, God loves you and He'll protect you." "He'll look out for you." The little boy looked at the lightning through the window and heard the rumbling and he said, "Well, I know God loves me, but right now I want somebody with skin on." Children aren't necessarily ready immediately to have a personal, intimate relationship with God. They pass through a period in their lives when parents, to a certain extent, are in God's place. You represent God to your children until they reach a point of maturity when they can transition and have a personal relationship themselves with God; and that's happening little by little, but it's up to us, as parents, to help our children reach the point where they can make that relationship, that commitment to God, also.
Paul is encouraging Timothy here. This was probably a trying time for Timothy because Paul had just explained to him he didn't think he was going to live very much longer and he was going to be martyred and so here is, kind of, some parting encouragement for Timothy.
Verse 14 — Paul said, "As for you, continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them;" just do what you've done all your life. Continue in the way that your parents and grandparents taught you. You've known these things from your youth -- in fact, that's what he goes on to say.
Verse 15 — "That from childhood you've known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." You knew them from your childhood. No, you didn't understand every single detail or every application of it when you were a child but you learned the principles and your understanding of it grew over time. So, remember your roots, stay grounded where you began because Timothy had the wonderful blessing of growing up in the household where there were members of the Church of God.
Your children have that privilege, as well, so we need to make sure that they profit from that privilege. We've got to take advantage of the wonderful opportunity that we have, as parents, to help our children to inherit the same things.
Let's turn back to Acts 2 now. We're still in verse 39, but we're going to be coming to point five now in Peter's sermon.
Verse 39 — "This promise is to you, and to your children," we just read about that, God works through families, if He's working with you He'll work with your children, if they'll allow it, "and," notice this part now, "to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." So it's not everybody yet, it's open to "as many as God will call."
God does not call everyone now. We've already heard some of that principle, a very vital principle, discussed a little bit earlier. God works with different people at different times. He will offer this opportunity to everyone but He doesn't do it to everyone at the same time.
We read in James 1:18 this morning so I won't turn there but let's turn over to I Corinthians 15, which is another passage that talks about this key understanding that today is not the only day of salvation. Everyone can't come to God right now, only those whom God calls.
Verse 22 — "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
Verse 23 — See, salvation will be made available to everyone but verse 23 says: "Each man in his own order." There's an order, there's a different timeframe for different people. People can be made alive in Christ at different periods in history, not everyone comes at the same time. "Each man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward those who are Christ's at his coming" and that's not everybody, that's just those that have been called to be Christ's now or in this age, prior to His return.
Verse 24 — "Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father; when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power."
Verse 25 — "For he must reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet."
Verse 26 — "And the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."
God has worked with different people at different times in history and He is not working with everyone today. God gave His Holy Spirit to the prophets because they had a particular role to play in God's plan. God has given you and me and our brethren around the world His Holy Spirit because we have a particular role to play in God's plan. He didn't just call us because He liked us better than others and He decided, well, I'm going to give you a shot before everybody else. I kinda' like you. He does like us but that's not what it's all about. If we get called now, it's because we've got something to do and we better be doing it.
I remember Mr. Armstrong hammering that in classes. He underlined it so much that I wrote that in my Ambassador College Bible on the front page -- signed my name in it so someone would know who it was -- and he hit that so hard I never wanted to forget it and I wrote it, inscribed it on the front page of my Bible: "God doesn't call anyone as a favor, He calls them because He has something for them to do." I've never forgotten that.
Really, none of us should forget that. We have something to do and it's playing a dangerous game to say, well, I'm just gonna' take my salvation…work out my own salvation with nobody…I don't have to worry about anybody else. I don't need to be a part of a work. I'm just gonna', you know, stay home. I'll be a Christian. I'll get my salvation.
It's very clear in the Bible that God gives His Spirit because people have a role to play. We have a job to do. We've got to be working together to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God to the world as a witness. That's something that requires cooperation as a group. The only way that it can go out in a big way is to work together.
Of course, there is an individual aspect to what we do as well.
Revelation 5:10 talks about people who enter the Kingdom of God, who receive the reward from God at the return of Christ and "they sing a new song" it says in verse 9 and that song entails, in part, verse 10.
Verse 10 — "You have made us kings and priests to our God: we shall reign upon the earth."
Are you ready to reign upon the earth now? I don't think I am. I think I've got more training and preparation that I need and I hope we all feel that way. There's growth, there's overcoming, there's character development. We're in preparation for that now. We're preparing to teach others the way of God and that means learning it and living it and it means learning how to work together to accomplish every bit of the will of God for His people, doing the job that we've been called to do.
That was Peter's fifth point: Not everyone is called now and if we're called it's because we've got something to do and it's vital that we be about that work.
Back to Acts 2:40 now.
Now, from here on we don't, sort of, have the actual transcript like it appears that we do prior to this point. Now, we just have a…kinda' of…a resume of what comes afterwards. It gets summed up for us, but we do have another quote from Peter.
Verse 40 — "With many other words he testified and exhorted them saying," and here was the message, here was his sixth point, 'Be saved from this perverse generation.'"
"Be saved from this perverse generation." Now, that's a warning to us. Do we live in a perverse generation? The perversion is getting grosser and grosser by the day and probably the older you are the more it strikes you because you have former times to compare with. I'm not that old, but I can remember my childhood being very different. The entertainment was very different. Morals were very different. Behavior of young people was very different. It was starting to get bad, but it was nothing like it is today and we are affected by the society that surrounds us.
Problems we see in the world end up affecting us in the Church. Some of the problems we see out in the world we also see in the Church of God. It shouldn't be that way but we're all struggling with our human nature, we're struggling to overcome the influences that have formed us, but Peter said, "Be saved," because you can get lost, you can get lost in this perverse generation. If we are to be God's people, we must be different from people who don't know God. If we are to be God's people, we must be different from people who don't know God. That's sometimes a hard thing…I think it's especially a challenge for our young people who don't have such a long history to compare with.
Turn over, please, to II Corinthians 6:14.
Please understand, young people, I am not pointing a finger at you. You just have a rougher job, I think in some ways, because the world is a worse place now than it was when your parents grew up. And it's going to get worse as time goes on. We feel for you, we pray for you, we asked God's help and strength for you, that you will be able to overcome all of that. We understand what a challenge and what a trial that can be.
Verse 14 — Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers:" don't get yourself in a tight, contractual kind of relationship with people who have different values than you and don't know God. "What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? What communion has light with darkness?"
Verse 15 — "And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?"
Verse 16 — What agreement has the temple of God with idols? You are the temple of the living God." There should be a purity; there should be a separateness. There is an appropriate separateness for Christians.
We're supposed to be separate from what's wrong in the world. Now, it doesn't mean to go live as hermits. Paul explained that in another passage. Don't keep company with fornicators, but he said, of course, I'm not talking about every fornicator, otherwise you would have to leave society because there's a lot of that going on now. I'm talking about someone called a "brother" who is guilty of that sin. You're not supposed to hang around with people like that.
There is an appropriate separateness. There is an appropriate purity in the Body of Christ and that's something that we need to maintain.
This is talking, "unequally yoked," about certain business relationships, probably. Many commentators believe so.
Virtually everybody agrees it's talking about marrying outside the faith. Even people who are not in the Church of God understand that that is what that means. To have someone whose whole life is built around following God and accomplishing God's will in his life, to link him or herself as intimately as two human beings can be in a marriage relationship with someone who has totally different values doesn't work. It certainly doesn't work well.
And, perhaps, some people are thinking, "Well, I know somebody and it seems to have worked out okay." All right. For every example you give me like that, I could probably give you five where it hasn't. It's all a question of what our priorities really are.
The "yoke" that we're supposed to take is Christ's yoke. He's really the only one that we're supposed to be yoked to other than, perhaps, our mate, if you will.
Please look at Matthew 11:28.
Verse 28 — "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Verse 29 — "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me: for I am gentle and lowly in heart: and you will find rest for your souls."
Verse 30 — "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
You know what a yoke is -- something that's placed over the necks of two cows to get them to be able to work together, to pull in the same direction. We're not supposed to be yoked with unbelievers. That's unequal when that happens. The yoke we put on is supposed to be with Jesus Christ. We want to be pulling the same direction that He is and we want to have Him pulling along side of us.
That's the yoke we need to take on, but we human beings have herd instinct. We do. We don't like to stand out in a crowd. Instinctively, we like to be like others. We have a powerful desire to conform and subconsciously we feel like if most people are doing it, whatever "it" is, then it must be the thing to do. Three hundred million Americans can't be wrong, right? Yeah, they can...spiritually, very wrong.
I read about a practice that used to occur in some slaughterhouses for sheep. The sheep had to walk in from their large pens as they were going to the slaughterhouse and they needed to be channeled up a kind of chute and then they would turn right and once they went through the door on the right side that's where they were taken and killed and slaughtered. Well, sheep are frightened easily, they like to kind of huddle together in a group. They have a real herd instinct as well. And so, the slaughterhouse would use what they called a Judas-goat. This was a goat that they trained over and over again to go up the ramp. They had trained this goat after a certain amount of time to do certain things so, when this new flock of sheep got into the pen, they would put the goat in there with them and the goat would kind of hang around with the sheep for awhile and they got used to the goat being there. Then, I don't know if they had a signal or what, but the goat would very confidently walk up the chute and he'd stop halfway up there and he'd turn around and look back at the sheep. The sheep were all watching the goat, you know. Well, if the goat's doing it that must be okay, then they'd start going up, following the goat up the chute and when he got to the top, the goat knew he didn't turn right, they had kind of a secret door on the left side, he'd slip through the door on the left side and the sheep, you know, well, momentum is just carrying them on. By that time, they're getting pushed from behind and they would go through the door on the right to their death. Probably you can see all sorts of analogies there.
There's a lot of bad momentum going on in the world. There are a lot of Judas-goats out there. They get paid a lot of money to make a certain way of life look very enticing, very cool, the "in" thing. And, of course in the long run, they're not really going to duck out. They'll have to go the same way everybody does, but we want to be careful about that. We need to be "saved from a perverse generation."
I Peter 2, please.
Verse 9 — "You," Peter's talking to the church and this is the same Peter who gave the sermon on Pentecost that we're looking at today, "You," members of the Church of God, "You," converted Christians with God's Spirit in you, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people:" that shouldn't really make us feel proud. It should make us feel very humble because we didn't do anything to deserve it. It was God's selection. It was His Spirit. We can just be very humbly thankful and grateful that He's called us to this.
Do you know that God considers you to be His own special people? Shouldn't that mean something really important to us?
Verse 9 — "That you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:"
Verse 10 — "Who once were not a people," we come from all sorts of different nations around the world in the Church of God today, "but now the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."
Verse 11 — "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;" there are things out there that war against your life.
Verse 12 — "Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles; that, when they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation."
We must continue to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. This is a continual challenge; but it's part of what identifies us as being among those who have repented and are repenting, and that is a condition for us to continue to be a part of the Church of God. We can't get lost back in the world again. "The salt can't lose its savor."
There are things out there that "war against the soul," that fight to take our spiritual lives and that's something we confront every day of the week.
Back to Acts 2.
Now, what follows here is not technically part of Peter's sermon but I believe it is, in part, a result of what happened when people responded to it and allowed, accepted, what God was offering them, allowed God's Spirit to begin working in their lives. Let's just read what happened because the same should be true in our lives, if God's Spirit is really actively working there.
Verse 41 — "Then those who gladly received the word were baptized: and that day about three thousand souls were added to them."
Verse 42 — "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." They prayed, they fellowshipped together, they spent time together -- there was unity in the Body.
Verse 43 — "Then fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles."
Verse 44 — "Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common;"
Verse 45 — "And sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need."
Verse 46 — "So, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,"
Verse 47 — "Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."
What do we learn from those verses? Well, the result of God's Spirit working powerfully and actively in individual members of the Church is that there should be and there will be a real sense of unity and brotherhood among the leaders in the Church of God, as it progresses under God's guidance, as the Church moves forward. There should be a sense of unity and brotherhood that really binds us together.
You see, it said there was great unity and then it said God added a lot of people. He added those who should be saved day after day. Is there a link, do you think, between the fact that there was unity and harmony and mutual respect and love, and the fact that the Church progressed powerfully? It appears to me that there was because one is mentioned right after the other. There was this wonderful spirit of unity and pulling together and harmony and "God added to the church those who should be saved." There was progress and, at that time, progress meant signs and wonders and miracles and people. Today it might mean something else but there would be more progress, I believe. The more we can be this way, the more we can allow God to work powerfully in us individually, the more unity there will be in the body and the more progress and success there will be in the work of the Church.
Acts 4:32 — Point Seven
One last passage here.
Verse 32 — "Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart," that's a stunning statement, isn't it? They all had one heart. They were all interconnected. They felt for one another. They felt the same things. They were pursuing the same things, the same values; not only did they have one heart, they had one soul, one life, they had one heart, thoughts, feelings, mind. They had one soul, spirit, attitude, and essence of what they were. That's the kind of unity that existed after that first Pentecost.
Verse 32 — "Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own; but they had all things in common." That was a particular time; it called for particular things. Later on in the New Testament we find that that wasn't the way the Church always was but, at that time, that was what was required and people stepped up and said, "Yes, if that's what it takes, if that's what's needed, here I am, I'm ready!"
We need to work toward that also. The closer we are to God and the more actively His Spirit is working in us, the more fellowship and fraternity we're going to feel amongst ourselves, as members of the Body of Christ. And, the more that's there, the more powerful the work of the Church will be.
This is what the Apostle Peter taught on his very first Pentecost sermon of the New Testament Church era.
I believe these are things that are every bit as important today as they were in 31 A.D. They are important things for us to understand and things on which we should meditate. They are keys to our own spiritual growth and ways for us, individually, to advance the work of God today and in the future, right up the time of the return of Jesus Christ, and to help us prepare for what's going to come next in the wonderful world tomorrow.
So, let's remember theseven lessons pointed out by Peter's sermon. The Holy Spirit is available to the Church today. Through that Spirit, available through Jesus Christ, the way of salvation is open to those God calls. We must respond to God's offer through a life of repentance. Our children are included in those promises and that gives us privileges and responsibilities. Not everyone is called now. We are called now, not just for salvation, but because we have work to do in preparation for the coming Kingdom of God and we've got to be about that work. Christians must save themselves from the perverse world around them and it's going to get more perverse as we go on. And, finally, we need to feel a deep sense of love and appreciation and brotherhood for one another and those feelings need to be shown through actions.
The more we apply these things, brethren, the more effective the work of God will be in our own lives and in the Church of God as a whole.