Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: "

'In the last days, God says,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

your young men will see visions,

your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above

and signs on the earth below,

blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood

before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls

on the name of the Lord will be saved.'^[3]

"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,^[4] put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him:

" 'I saw the Lord always before me.

Because he is at my right hand,

I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave,

nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence.'^[5]

"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,^[6] that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

" 'The Lord said to my Lord:

"Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies

a footstool for your feet." '^[7]

"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call." With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

(Act 2:14-47 NIV)

I can’t help but think of what an amazing day this must have been for the devout that had made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem this year. This had to have been the 2 weirdest months of their lives. 50 days ago the sky had turned dark in the middle of the day and the rumor mill would have had stories of people seeing their dead relatives walking around again. This as a culmination, so they had thought, of a 3 year series of intrigue involving the top religious leaders, political figures and some amazing miracles surrounding a young man from Galilee of dubious origins. Probably some were anxious to be getting on the road so they could tell everybody back home about it. With the final day before them, the last feast until fall, they brought their sacrifices to the temple. It was the third month of a brand new year, the wheat harvest had come in, the fruits were arriving. If there were people like me in the crowd, there would have been thoughts turned towards the coming year and the journey home. For some it would have meant a long boat ride, for some camels… for others, they were already home and it was about time the people went back to where they came from.

Alright, this is a lot of creative license, I’ll admit. None of this is essential to what I’m going to teach, so don’t get too involved with the picture. But I want you to get into the habit of thinking of the people in these stories as being real, because they were. It was just men and women doing men and women things in a real town called Jerusalem. Put yourself there in that crowd on that day, and now watch as a group of people from the boonies come rushing out of a house with the sound of a violent wind and begin speaking to you in your native language, which you know they don’t speak, and besides, the guy standing next to you speaks Arabic, and he’s hearing it in his language, too. Maybe you would have been in the “whatever could this mean?” crowd, maybe you were in the “new wine” crowd. Maybe you were struck dumb and couldn’t manage 2 coherent thoughts in a row. In all of this, a single voice emerges above the others and begins by addressing you with a word of warning.

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning!

(Act 2:14-15 NIV)

(From my years of drinking I can say that the only people who you will hear exclaim that it is ridiculous to think they are drunk based solely on the hour of the day are people who are habitually sober.)

And now that Peter has our attention, Having directly addressed the scoffers among us, he begins with the Bible

'In the last days, God says,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

your young men will see visions,

your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above

and signs on the earth below,

blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood

before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls

on the name of the Lord will be saved.'

(Act 2:17-21 NIV)

By quoting these verses from the prophet Joel, he is immediately identifying with his audience. These were Jews waiting for the messiah to come. The Jews were very good at educating their youth. Synagogues were established in exile to make sure that the knowledge of the Old Testament wasn't lost through the generations. The crowd would have instantly known this verse the way we know when someone is quoting Revelation. Remember, people in this crowd were probably there on the day Jesus entered Jerusalem shouting "Hosanna in the Highest!!" They were familiar with prophesy in the same way we're familiar with prophesy. Some of us more than others, but we ALL know when we hear it.

and then again, the plea:

"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.

(Act 2:22 NIV)

Again, let me emphasize that NOBODY in this crowd was at all confused as to what Peter was talking about. All of the problems of relating to the crowd and putting the Bible in context were entirely absent at this moment. They knew the players, they knew the circumstances, they knew the scriptures. Peter could speak to them on an intimate level that I don't think I could recreate. Some in this audience would have been there on the day the Sanhedrin worked up the crowd to shout "Crucify Him!!" NONE of what he said next would have lost ANY of its impact.

This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,^[4] put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

(Act 2:23 NIV)

People of Israel, Let's talk about prophesy... This man Jesus, God revealed Him, you knew Him, God delivered Him, you killed Him. The greatest crime that man commits against man is the death of an innocent, yet even the youngest of children are born in sin... Jesus wasn't. The greatest crime that man commits against God is open, armed rebellion. When man had God in his hands, he murdered Him. Peter addresses this audience and presents them with the evidence that they are guilty of the 2 greatest crimes man is capable of committing. Is God defeated then? Has man doomed Himself? Is there now no hope? Remember, God is in charge here, and He's an infinitely wise and powerful God, He's not going to leave a little thing like sin out of His plans, in fact... He's going to include it and use it to His purposes.

But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

(Act 2:24 NIV)

and then he quotes Psalm 16:

David said about him:

" 'I saw the Lord always before me.

Because he is at my right hand,

I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave,

nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence.'

(Act 2:24-28 NIV)

The interesting thing that I found in my studies this week is how odd I thought the choice of scripture was. The quote from Joel appears to me to be talking about the Last Day that hasn't happened yet, and when I read the quote from David, I was just sure that David was talking about Himself. I guess it was the use of the first person. Peter correctly points out to us how ridicules that thought is, though... check this out....

"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.

(Act 2:29 NIV)

David was dead, you could go to his grave, This Psalm can't be talking about him.

But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

" 'The Lord said to my Lord:

"Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies

a footstool for your feet." '

(Act 2:30-35 NIV)

Joel, David... what was Peter talking about? Why even bring it up... There was this movie that I saw way back by Monty Python. The movie's title was "Life of Brian." If you haven’t seen it, don't... it’s filthy, but it did see a lot of reaction from the Christians in this country and in Europe because it was seen as a blasphemous portrayal of the life of Jesus. I saw an interview with Terry Graham, who was the director, when they asked him about that. It was interesting what he said. They had, in fact, started out to make a movie to make fun of Jesus, figuring they had made fun of everything else. So they each took a copy of the Bible home and were going to meet back with some material. In the end, Graham said, they discovered that what Jesus had said was really amazing and they really couldn't make fun of it, so they decided to do a movie on the times surrounding Jesus. So they started off the movie with the Three wise men coming to Brian's manger and giving his disrespectful mother the gifts which she rudely takes. They leave, only to come back and take back the gifts because they see the real King of Kings in the manger down the street. Brian is even seen overhearing Jesus' Sermon on the Mount... but he ends up being mistaken for the Messiah by a crowd that just won't listen to reason. It’s quite funny. And though it really wasn't that bad, the times really were like that. People claiming to be messiah had already come and gone, some requiring Roman intervention in the form of soldiers. The literature of the time was full of Messianic messages of deliverance. Specifically, they were waiting for the throne of David to be retaken and the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord to arrive and sweep all the gentile, read Roman, nations unto Judgment.

Peter quotes David to them, and tells them that David was expecting the Christ to rise from the dead as well. That would have blown them away. I didn't even recognize that when I read it the first time, and I know about the Resurrection. Again, he quotes David and says that David was expecting the Lord to ascend into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father until He had made Jesus' enemies a footstool for His feet. The whole Old Testament points to the day when the Christ would suffer. Isaiah said, "By His stripes we shall be healed." Even Joel shows that events had to happen BEFORE the Great and Terrible day of the Lord. Peter points out that Jesus was the Christ that David was looking forward to, that He ascended the way that the Prophets said He would, sat down at the right hand of the Father just like David said He would, and just like Joel, and a bunch of others, said He poured out His Spirit on us, which you are now witnessing.

Ultimately, Joel prediction will be fulfilled on THE LAST DAY, if you'd like more details on that day open your Bibles to the book of Revelation and read all about it. But if you read the prophesy carefully, you will see that in it is a progression of things that will come in the last Days, which will be initiated by the Holy Spirit being poured out, which started on the day of Pentecost and continues to this day.

But really, this is not the main point, this is all just context. Remember, "The main things are the plain things, and the plain things are the main things." It takes a little work to get at the main thing in this case, but only because so much time and space has passed.

"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

(Act 2:36 NIV)

this is one of those clever sayings that I love so much, "if you see a therefore in the Bible, find out what its there for." All of this context is just there to show the crowd these two points.

1) God made Jesus both Lord and Christ.

2) You killed Him.

Here we have the first Sermon of the First Church of God, Jerusalem, and look at it.

It’s all about the Bible. Peter's points are made entirely from scripture. He didn't even mention the fact that He was speaking in a common tongue or that there were flames on His head or that, I'm a man of God, can't you hear the noise. This had to have been a very sensory loaded event, but Peter doesn't even seem to bring the subject up except to point out where this is just a fulfillment of prophesy. And when he wants to back up what his interpretations of those scriptures are, he quotes the Bible.

It’s hard hitting. Peter doesn't pull any punches with this crowd. He stands there accusing everybody within hearing distance, in their own native language, that they killed the Promised One, the one they were waiting for. He mentions it in the beginning to set up his point, and then in conclusion, he mentions it again.

It was Christ exalting. The whole sermon was about Christ. How He was predicted. How He fulfilled prophesy. How He was Lord.

Is this our message to the world? That God made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Have we fallen in love with current trends which tell us that whatever you do, don't accuse people. Don't tell them that they've "sinned", you might offend them. When we talk to people do we mention that Jesus is Lord and therefore we are required to serve and obey Him? I know we always mention the Christ part and how we can be saved, but from what? Have we mentioned that their sins have crucified and murdered the only Son of God? Do we mention that we are living in the last days, and there are no more chances after this? And what are our theories on all this? I mean, we certainly can't accuse Peter of having an off day; he was still being enabled by the Spirit to speak to the crowd in their native tongue...

When the people heard this,

(Act 2:37a NIV)

The same people who were wondering what this can all mean, were the same people hearing what Peter was saying. No, this is the sermon that the Holy Spirit spoke. If you've ever asked the question "What would Jesus preach?" then here's your answer. He went up to heaven, sat down at the right hand of the Father and poured His Spirit out on the 120, and this is what at least one of them spoke in response. The truth of God is not an easy truth to hear. Its full of man being totally undeserving of even the air that we breathe and how we are completely powerless to change anything significant about ourselves and our surroundings. Contrast this to what the TV teaches every time it has anything of import to say. The prevailing philosophy of the day is how you are a beautiful little snow flake that is deserving of every happiness. We're taught from birth that we are entitled to... whatever. When we get to the touchy feely part of every film or story, we're taught that with enough of whatever ingredients are being highlighted, courage, love, determination... even some nameless faith, then YOU can accomplish it, whatever IT is. We're talking polar opposites. It wasn't any different in Peter's day. The men that Peter was speaking to were rule keepers. They were good people, honest, God fearing people and Peter accuses them of the most heinous Murder. Do we have the courage to stand up and say: "Men of Myrtle Beach, GOD has made this Jesus, who you, by your continual pursuit of your own pleasures and your open rebellion against the almighty, have crucified, God has made Him both LORD and CHRIST.

And these people were cut to the heart (verse 37) and they asked the 120 "What should we do?" We see that at least 3000 people had no questions about their need for savior. Peter's sermon had slammed them to the ground. The power of the Holy Spirit had shown these people that they weren't on any kind of solid foundation with their own righteousness and they asked the only honest question that can come from Biblical preaching... when confronted with the awful reality of the enormity of my sin, the very blood of Christ on my hands, what then am I to do?

"Accept Jesus into my heart?"... no.

"Pray this little prayer?"... no.

"come to our church?"... no.

Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call."

(Act 2:38-39 NIV)

This is the promise, the one given to the whole world. Repent and be baptized, in Christ, for the forgiveness of sins (not personal enhancement), and you shall receive, as a free gift to you, the Holy Spirit. God has given us nothing less than Himself. Why are we trying to add to that or, worse, subtract from that?

With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

(Act 2:40-41 NIV)

Not a bad number, but considering the city had over a million people in it, and God Himself had shown up in the form of tongues of fire, I'm not sure if that number was meant to impress us.

Verses 42-47 really should be handled on their own and not thrown onto the end of this lesson, but this is kind of a high altitude tour of the book of Acts and I can't slow down enough to really do this section justice. So let me just say this:

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

(Act 2:42 NIV)

Saved people go to church. They go there because that's where other saved people are. I don't want to stretch the point to far, but up to this point in the text its been all "God did, God did, God did". Now we see "They did". I believe that the natural response of the new creation is to search out other new creations so they can be together and together feed on spiritual food, which is the Word of God. Theirs was everyday. In China, it’s whenever they can meet, usually as often as possible. For us it’s Sunday morning, Wednesday evening and Friday night.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

(Act 2:46-47a NIV)

We've been called to pass on a message, not hand down a judgment. Peter accused, but mostly he lifted up Christ. He did point out the awfulness of their crime, but then He pleaded with them to turn. Remember, were it not for the grace of God, we'd all be going to Hell, too.

And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

(Acts 2:47b NIV)

This really is the more impressive bit of information. Daily the Lord added.

Preach the Word, Love the Brothers, Praise God, be nice...

Preach the Word, Love the Brothers, Praise God, be nice...

Preach the Word, Love the Brothers, Praise God, be nice...

I think if we could get that down, we'd be all right.