We'll begin with a word of prayer and then we'll dig in and get started. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this day, this opportunity to gather together. Lord, we pray most of all that you would meet with us. That you would attend your word. We would be encouraged, we would be challenged, we would be comforted. throughout the day as we receive from you, help us to be a blessing to others as well. And Lord, just thank you for your word that holds all that we need. And I pray, Lord, that you help us gain insight today or just be reminded of things today from your word to strengthen our walk with you. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. All right. We are embarking on this new series that. Brother Jimmy introduced last week in the Book of Acts, we're going to be considering the sermons and speeches that are given so we can understand what the teaching was of the apostles and the or the apostolic teaching of the first century church. What did they teach? Even how did they teach? and gain some great insight into these things. So this morning, we're gonna consider the first message, which is in Acts chapter two, specifically verses 14 through 40. This is Peter's sermon of explanation of what has taken place on this particular day of Pentecost. As I was studying and thinking about this, this is the first sermon preached. After the church. Has received the Holy Spirit. So it's the. First sermon of the church. So maybe it's important. what was said and how things were said and what happened or what took place there. So the day of Pentecost. The day of Pentecost was the Feast of Harvest that took place 50 days after the Passover. So people would gather from all over the world that were Jewish or interested people in the Passover. And so they would come for the Passover. They would observe that then A lot would linger for the 50 days until Passover to celebrate that feast as well. So it was a annual normal celebration of the Jewish religion. But this particular Pentecost was going to be much different. Than those of the past, because it was a dawning of a new day. The true Passover has come. So all the Passovers of the past are now over. Because the ultimate lamb of God has been slain. And so this Pentecost is going to be different. So let's lay out what gets us to the message. Jimmy laid this foundation last week in chapter one. They received instructions from the Lord on what they were to do. They were to wait in Jerusalem. They were not to depart from Jerusalem. Stay in Jerusalem. Wait for the promise of the father. Stay in Jerusalem. until you receive or to you're endued with power from on high to wait the promise of the father. Remember, Jesus told the disciples that I'm not going to leave you comfortless. I'm not going to leave you without help. I'm going to send the spirit. He said you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So they received these instructions. They're waiting in Jerusalem and Of course, you know, the end of chapter one or the second part of chapter one, they elect a new apostle to take Judas's place. And so we're getting ready for this, what they are waiting on. So here's the purpose that Jimmy emphasized last week as well, that this is what's going to happen when you receive the Holy Spirit or you receive this power, you will receive power to be my witnesses. You will be witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ. You will do it here in Jerusalem. You will do it in all Judea and all Samaria. And to the end of the earth of the uttermost parts of the earth, so they're going to receive the spirit They're going to be endued with power on high to be witnesses Of me of jesus to all the world So the day of pentecost comes There is a sound now that They're gathered in the upper room, remember, and they're waiting there. And it tells us that there's about 120. Disciples, the apostles, and then 120 disciples that get that are gathered there, and there's this sound. As of a rushing mighty wind. It fills the house. There's tongues as of fire. and they receive the promise. The Holy Spirit comes and they begin to speak in other tongues. Let's think about this a moment. So there are people there from all over the known world then. that have come for the Passover. They've stayed for the Pentecost, the Feast of Harvest. And they hear this sound. They're all over the city. There's 120 gathered in the upper room. They hear this sound that something's happening. And so they begin to gather to see what is going on. And it appears that the 120 disciples of the Lord begin to speak to this crowd. They're all over the world, all different languages. It's like. The opposite of Babel. Where God confounded the language. Now he's brought all these languages together. And the disciples are speaking probably in the language that they were just speaking, but everyone's understanding them in their own language. God wants this message that Peter's about to preach to go out. And so they're like, what is going on? How is this happening? And so we see some things that They begin to question. They are amazed. They're perplexed. What does this mean? They're drunk. So the Holy Spirit, of course, is doing his work here for all these people are gathered for this message. that Peter's about to preach. Remember, they said, these are Galileans. These guys are from up north. They've not been, they've not gone to school. They're not trained. What's happening? And so all this confusion is taking place to set the stage for Peter to stand up and give the explanation, tell them what's happening. So he begins his sermon by explaining some things, by answering their questions in the sermon. He says, they're not drunk. It's just the ninth hour or what was it? The third hour. It's just nine o'clock in the morning. People don't start. Some people might nowadays start drinking before nine o'clock. But in this day, they didn't drink before nine o'clock and especially on a feast day, which was the day of Pentecost. So there's no way they're drunk. So he explains that in his kind of his introduction. It's only nine o'clock in the morning. And then he quotes Joel. 228 through 32, he quotes Psalm 16, he quotes David two times, Psalm 16, 8 through 11. And then in verses 34 through 35, he quotes Psalm 110 verse one. So here's this first sermon. He gets up, he gives the introduction, and then he begins to preach the word of God. He preaches the word. That's what we're told to do, right? To preach the word. And we're going to see what he does preach. And this. Prophecy. Let me let me go back, let me see. Yeah, OK. This pouring out of the Holy Spirit. You remember when they set up the tabernacle? And they offered to sacrifice. Then every year they would do this on the Day of Atonement that would become or was the Passover, what would happen after the offering of the sacrifice? Anybody know? Something spectacular would happen. You don't know. The Shekinah glory of God would come down. And they would see this glory of God receive the offering and they would know that their sins were forgiven for another year. Then they set up the temple and the same thing happened. The Spirit of God showed up. So no longer in the tabernacle. No longer in the temple. Remember what Jesus told the woman in Samaria? Not in this mountain, not here, but yeah. So now The Lamb of God has been offered. We see the coming of the Holy Spirit no longer in a tabernacle, no longer in the temple, but now the Holy Spirit inhabits his church. The coming of the Spirit upon the church was the sign that the church is now the dwelling place of God. and that God had accepted the ultimate offering of his son as the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. So then he begins to give the explanation. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. I will pour out my spirit. Now, let's run through some things. So the day of Pentecost. Was. The promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit that was fulfilled. It was to prove. That Jesus. Was truly. the Son of God and that God had accepted the sacrifice. And that now. He is both both Christ. And Lord. He is Lord. The coming of the promised spirit, God dwelling with his people in the person of the Holy Spirit. Prove the death and resurrection was the work of God, which is what? And this is what Peter preaches. The gospel. He preaches the gospel. Prove that God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ. So there's the three purposes that I'm going to give you for this sermon. There's a lot more there, but that's the main things. And so let's begin to build this foundation or this wall that cannot be broken. I mean, the gates of hell cannot prevail against this. So let's look at the text. Let's run through the text. Peter says this a couple of times or something along these lines. Let this be known to you. Give ear to my words. But Peter, standing up with the 11, lifted up his voice and addressed them, men of Judea and all you who dwell in Jerusalem. So you people who live here in Judea, then all you people that are dwelling here for the Passover, let this be known to you and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is but the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on my male servants and female servants in those days, I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs on earth below, blood and fire and vapor and smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before that before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Men of Israel, hear these words. Listen to me. Give ear. Hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with many mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know. You've seen this man. He was amongst you. You've seen his miracles, his wonders, all these things. He was attested to you by God with mighty works, wonders, and signs. You crucified and killed. This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up. loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. The grave could not hold him. Amen. The grave could not hold him because he had no sin of his home of his own. And then So he quotes, he preaches from Joel. He says that it was determined by God. It was his plan, according to his foreknowledge. You crucified and killed by lawless hands, yet God raised him up. Loosing the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. And then he begins to lay out the case from David for David says. Concerning him. I saw the Lord always before me. For he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad. and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell in hope for you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your holy one see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence. Brothers, I say to you with confidence about the patriarch, David, that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day. David wasn't talking about himself. He died, he was buried. Here's his tomb. He's still dead. He's still in the grave. being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ. You see in the gospel? You killed him. He was crucified, but God has raised him up, according to the very prophecy of David, He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus. God raised up. And of that. We are all witnesses. All of us standing here today, he said. We and some of you. 500 brethren at once. know that he has been resurrected. This Jesus, verse 32, this Jesus God raised up, and of that we're all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend to the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. The very first sermon. Preached by the church. After being empowered by the Holy Spirit. was the very gospel of Jesus Christ. He was crucified. He was buried. God raised him up, seated him at his right hand, and now he has sent forth his spirit as he promised, as he said he would do. Let all the house of Israel, verse 36, let all the house of Israel. Therefore, no for certain. God has made him. Both Lord and Christ. This Jesus. Whom you crucified. God has set the stage. God has prepared his people. God has brought people from all over the then known world. Jesus had promised his disciples, I'm going to send you the spirit. Wait in Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. Where was Peter just a few weeks ago? Denying the Lord Jesus Christ. Hiding in the upper room. I'm going fishing. Timid. Scared. Now where's Peter? He's the man of the hour. Not in himself. Because in himself, he's what he was before, but now he's in dude with power from on high. And he stands up and he begins to explain what has taken place on that day. Why has it has taken place on that day? And then God has set forth the preaching. In this very first sermon and what preaching should be all the time. The preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That this Jesus, whom you crucified, God has raised up. He is seated at the right hand of God. And now He has sent forth His Spirit so that you know, there is no denying, I can say this with confidence, that He is both Christ and He is Lord. So it's the Holy Spirit that has empowered Peter and all the others who had been speaking, and now Peter specifically, preaching forth this message. The Holy Spirit had set the stage and set Peter up for that. The Holy Spirit had set the stage and set the people up for that. What must we do? Oh, the conviction that has come upon the people that many of them, part of the process that brought about the very death of Christ, they know he's talking to them. They know what they've done. And now with the power of the Holy Spirit upon them, this conviction falls. What must we do? Now when they heard this, verse 37, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, 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. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. And with many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying, save yourself from this crooked generation. So those who received the word were baptized and they were added that day about 3000 souls. God approves the message. By the salvation of 3000 souls. Now, let me give you this in closing. This set the precedent for the spirits coming. The spirit came on the day of Pentecost upon who? The believers, those who were already believing, received the Holy Spirit. Now, what we've just read, Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you'll receive the Holy Spirit. So now, those who believed received the Holy Spirit, who were already believing, and now those who now believe receive the Holy Spirit. And this is, When do you receive the Holy Spirit? When you believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. When you're saved. Now we see other incidents, maybe we'll look at those where people receive the Holy Spirit, something like what happened here on the day of Pentecost because they were already believers. But those who now become believers all throughout to you, your children, yourselves, Verse 39, for the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off. Everyone whom the Lord God calls to himself receives the Holy Spirit and we're saved. How are we saved? What must we do to be saved? First and foremost, you must hear the gospel, the gospel must be preached. And now I need to quit. But now we're going to see that all throughout the book of Acts. What is the church doing? Well, they're fellowshipping. They're doing those things. They're preaching the word. What this brought a new, not that I didn't know it, but it brought a new, oh man, the preaching is so important, isn't it? It's the preaching of the gospel. We can't put enough emphasis on the preaching ministry of the church and the preaching of the gospel. We all have varied kinds of problems. Varied kinds of things going on. And the answer to them all is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for your word, for this message, how so much more could be said from this awesome passage. But we see the gospel is being proclaimed. Help us, Lord, as a church to Know that we can say words, we can even say the gospel, we can get up in a pulpit and proclaim the gospel. But where's the spirit? We must have your spirit, Lord. Even today, as your word is preached, Would you come in your spirit to empower the preacher to preach? But Lord, give ability for the people to hear. And Father, if anyone's going to be saved, it must be the work of the spirit. In Christ's name we pray.