“ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE LAST DAYS”
ACTS 2:14-21

I. Introduction
What was the first thing that the first pastor of the first church did on the first day of its existence? He preached a sermon! It was an expository sermon. That is to say that the preacher began with a particular passage of Scripture, investigated it, explained precisely what it meant, and then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, applied it to each one who heard it. He did so in such a manner that it had a profound impact on each of their lives.

How could his sermon have such a profound impact? It was because the preacher – in this case the Apostle Peter – spoke with authority. He didn’t use psychology. He didn’t use some clever form of human wisdom and persuasiveness to try to impress his audience. He didn’t even use his own speculations or ideas about something and then search for a verse or passage to attempt to support his ideas. On the contrary, the Apostle Peter spoke with the AUTHORITY of “Thus saith the Lord.”

Neither you, nor I, nor Peter, nor anyone else can speak with authority unless we speak God’s words. That’s because the only absolute authority is God’s Word. Today, as we enter the twenty-first century, most of the church has all but abandoned expository preaching. As a result of that abandonment, the church has lost the authority of “Thus saith the Lord.” Far too many preachers have wrapped themselves in various forms of psychology, human wis-dom, persuasiveness, and vain speculations. And too many churches have committed their ministries to a futile attempt to be culturally relevant, i.e., “all things to all people.”

Let me be as clear as I can so that there is no misunderstanding. Small groups, music pro-grams, dramas, youth seminars, marriage seminars, financial seminars, exercise classes, self-defense classes, baby-sitting services, clothing drives, food drives, walks for the hungry, walks for the homeless, walks for the helpless, neighborhood clean-ups, and mowing lawns and shoveling snow for senior citizens are all good things. Not one of them is wrong or harmful. All of them – and countless other programs, services, and activities that local churches are involved in – all of them may coax a lost person to visit the church.

But none of those things carry with them the authority of “Thus saith the Lord.” It is only when God’s Word is proclaimed that the lost are convicted of sin, repent, trust Christ, and come to saving faith. It is only when God’s Word is taught that true Christians, those who have already come to saving faith, grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus.

There just aren’t any short cuts. No amount of programming, psychology, religious specula-tions, or sermonizing, can replace the exposition of God’s Word. In fact, the clear and con-cise declaration of God’s Word is the only thing God has promised to bless. Listen to God as He speaks through the Prophet Isaiah…
*Isaiah 55:10-11
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
11 so shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”

Unless and until God’s Word is preached and taught, all of the churches’ activities in the world will come to naught.

This morning we will look at the beginning of Peter’s first sermon. In Acts 2:14-21 he will address unbelievers. He will tell them that, whether they believe it or not, they are witness-ing the fulfillment of prophecy. And he will tell them that this is the first day of the last days, and that they still have time to “…call on the name of the Lord.” This was the mes-sage on that first day in the new Church of Jesus Christ. It is still the message today. There is still time to call on the name of the Lord.

Next Sunday we will hear the heart of Peter’s first sermon as he proclaims Jesus Christ as Lord and speaks of His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of God in glory. Then in two weeks we will see the results of such preaching.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

II. Review
How have Jesus’ disciples come to this point? It has been fifty days since His resurrection from the dead and ten days since His ascension to heaven. It is the Day of Pentecost and the church has just been born.
*Acts 2:1-4
1 And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

In this one moment of time the Holy Spirit of God not only baptized every true believer who was present at the time, but also filled each one of them with the power of God. Although Jerusalem was filled with Jews from all over the known world, each one of them heard the disciples speak in their own tongue. Needless to say, the crowds were amazed. Their response was, “…how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born…What does this mean?” (Acts 2:8, 12)

The unbelievers who were present mocked them, and in Acts 2:13 they said, “They are full of sweet wine,” meaning that they were drunk. But, of course, they were anything but drunk – they had just been filled with the Holy Spirit. And that brings us to this morning’s text.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

III. Text
It sets the stage for the rest of the Book of Acts which is all about the establishment of the church through preaching the gospel and the teaching the Scriptures.
*Acts 2:14-21 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
14 But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judah, and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give heed to my words.
15 “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day;
16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth My Spirit upon all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even upon My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit and they shall prophesy.
19 ‘And I will grant wonders in the sky above, and signs on the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.
20 ‘The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the LORD shall come.
21 ‘And it shall be, that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’”

Preaching the gospel and teaching the Word is, has always been, and must always be the message of the church. The opposition the church faces today is nothing new. Almost as soon as the church was founded the religious leaders began to persecute the believers.
*Acts 4:1-3a
1 And as they (Peter and the other apostles) were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees, came upon them,
2 being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaim-ing in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
3a And they laid hands on them, and put them in jail until the next day…

*Acts 5:41-42
41 So they (the apostles) went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.
42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
After Stephen was martyred in Jerusalem, the Christians scattered. Peter, John, and Philip took the gospel north to Samaria and preached in many villages there. And when Saul was converted on the road to Damascus, he joined the ranks of those who were preaching Christ.
*Acts 9:20-22
20 …and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
21 And all those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, “Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?”
22 But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

Preaching the gospel and teaching the Scriptures was central to the early church. They were following the Lord’s lead. When John the Baptist was arrested, Jesus began His ministry. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all report it.
Matthew 4:17
17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Mark 1:14-15
14 And after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preach-ing the gospel of God,
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Luke 4:43
43 …He (Jesus) said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”

There it is! Jesus came to this earth to preach the gospel, the good news of salvation. Thus His church, indwelled by and filled with His Spirit, is called to do the same thing. The apos-tles knew that. Therefore, they preached and they taught. Preaching and teaching were the most important things they did. The lesson for us is clear, is it not? Preaching and teaching is the most important thing we do! Listen to Paul…
*1 Corinthians 1:17-25
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in clever-ness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void.
18 For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” (Isaiah 29:14)
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe?
20 (cont.) Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
22 For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness,
24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

So again I say that preaching and teaching are to be the centerpieces of the church. All the peripherals – as valuable as they may be – are not the reason we’re here. We’re here to pro-claim God’s Word. It was the proclamation of the Word that led to the Protestant Reforma-tion. Men like Martin Luther and John Calvin, were instrumental in changing the world. In the 18th century the Great Awakening was driven by the preaching of men like George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards. In the 19th century evangelists like D. L. Moody and preachers like Charles Spurgeon stood up, opened their Bibles, and preached the Word.

But today the wisdom of men seems to prevail. Today the church tries to engage the lost of the world by using the wisdom of the world. And we wonder why the church has lost its power. It has been rightly said that “When the church becomes like the world, the world no longer needs the church.”

John MacArthur speaks to the issue of proclaiming God’s truth. He has said, “A godly man, gifted by the (Holy) Spirit to preach the Word, has no equal in the presentation of God’s truth. It is the God-ordained method for evangelism and edification. The weakness of the contemporary church is largely due to the decline in powerful biblical preaching.”

Why is this happening? It is happening because too much of the church is allowing the wis-dom of men to supersede the wisdom of God. Listen once more to the Apostle Paul.
*1 Corinthians 2:1-5
1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of (human) wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.
4 And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
Thus the power of God comes through biblical preaching. Biblical preaching does two things. First, it proclaims the truth. Second, it explains the truth. And that is precisely what the Apostle Peter is about to do as he takes up his role as the first pastor of the first church on the first day of its existence. He preached a sermon! Why would we do anything less?
*Acts 2:14-15
14 But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judah, and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give heed to my words.
15 “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day…”

On this first day of the church Peter takes “his stand” as the acknowledged leader of the apostles. He speaks to the unbelief of the mockers clearly and confidently. His response is bold and without ambiguity.

Albert Barnes was a well-known and respected 19th century American theologian and preacher. Here is his take on Acts 2:14-15. “Peter did not intimate that this was a doubtful matter, or one that could not be explained. His address was respectful, yet firm. He pro-ceeded calmly to show them their error. When the enemies of religion deride us or the gos-pel, we should answer them kindly and respectfully, yet firmly. We should reason with them coolly, and convince them of their error. (Proverbs 15:1 says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”)”

Years later Peter would write…
1 Peter 3:15-16
15 …sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
16 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

Here, in Acts 2:14-15, on the very day that Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit, we see the miraculous change in him. Less than eight weeks earlier he was a prideful and boastful man, who, when faced with the reality of Jesus’ death, denied Him and fled as a coward when the Lord needed him the most. But now Peter has been changed; now he is a completely differ-ent man. And now God is going to use him in a marvelous and exciting way. “No,” says Peter in Acts 2:15, “these men are not drunk…” It’s only 9:00 o’clock in the morning.
*Acts 2:16-21
16 “…but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth My Spirit upon all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even upon My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit and they shall prophesy.
19 ‘And I will grant wonders in the sky above, and signs on the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.
20 ‘The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the LORD shall come.
21 ‘And it shall be, that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’”

Acts 2:17-21 is a direct quote of Joel 2:28-32. How does Peter respond to skepticism, cyni-cism, and outright unbelief? Does he argue with them? No, he does not. Does he attempt to overwhelm them with wit, logic, or human wisdom? No, he does not! He quotes Scripture. He gives them the Word of God.

Do we truly understand that the Word of God is all we have to give to a lost a dying world? Nothing else has the power to convict them. Nothing else has the power to save them. This should be a tremendous lesson for all of us.

Those of you who’ve come to saving faith here at Lighthouse Bible Church haven’t done so because of me or all the nice people here at LBC. If you came to saving faith somewhere else, it wasn’t because of that preacher or those nice people there either. And regardless of where or when you came to saving faith, it most certainly wasn’t because you applied your own wisdom and logic to the situation and decided to “get saved.” No, you came to saving faith because you were convicted of your sin, you repented, and you trusted Christ when you heard the Word of God!
Galatians 3:2, 5 (Paul asks two rhetorical questions.)
2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
5 Does He then, who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

Romans 10:17 (Paul answers them.)
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

In Acts 2:17 Peter quotes from Joel’s prophecy to show all of the people who are hearing him (whether they’re believers or not) that they are witnessing the fulfillment of OT prophecy. Or I should say that they are witnessing the beginning of the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy.

In order to rightly apply this passage, we need to understand that this Day of Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection and ten days after His ascension to heaven, is “the first day of the last days.” The term “the last days” from Joel’s prophecy is a common OT term that speaks of the Messiah’s coming to bring in the kingdom of God. The Jews knew that, and they expected that.
What they neither knew nor expected was that their Messiah would come twice – once to suffer and die, and once to judge and take His glorious seat on David’s throne. But they should have known it. Isaiah 53 is about the Jewish Messiah’s first coming when He would be “smitten of God, and afflicted…pierced through for our transgressions (and) crushed for our iniquities (vv. 4-5)” And Isaiah 9 is about the Messiah second coming when He would appear as “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace (v. 6).”

So the OT expression “the last days” refers to the entire Church Age. At the beginning of the Church Age the NT writers knew that they lived in the last days.
Hebrews 1:1-2a
1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
2a in these last days has spoken to us in His Son…
1 Peter 1:20-21a
20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you
21a who through Him are believers in God…
1 John 2:18
18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last hour.

Thus the Day of Pentecost, the day that Peter preached his first sermon, was “the first day of the last days,” and the Glorious Appearing when Jesus will return to establish His Millenni-al Kingdom will be “the last day of the last days.” Joel’s prophecy speaks of those final days immediately before Jesus’ return. Only then will the entire prophecy be fulfilled.

Look at Acts 2:17-18. God will pour out His Spirit on all mankind, but since He does not pour out His Spirit on unbelievers, this cannot happen until the dawn of the Millennial King-dom. It will happen then because all of those who survive the Great Tribulation and enter the kingdom will be believers.

Look at Acts 2:19-20. These things didn’t happen in the first century, did they? But they’ll happen soon. They’ll all happen during the Great Tribulation. John details them for us in the Book of Revelation when he speaks of wonders in the sky, and fire and smoke. In Acts 2:20 and Joel 2:31 the term “the day of the Lord” speaks of judgment. The judgments we read of in Revelation stagger the imagination. Fully one half of the human race will die horrible and violent deaths before Jesus’ returns in power and glory.

But what Peter is saying in Acts 2:21 is this: There is still time. If you have not yet called upon the name of the Lord, there is still time. God in His mercy is still waiting for you to turn to His Son. But God’s patience, while long, is not without limits.
Tragically, everyone who has passed from this life without Christ is irretrievably lost. They have no hope. They face the wrath of God and the eternal judgment that must follow. But if you are here, if you are hearing these words, if your heart is still beating, there is hope.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

IV. Conclusion
Next Sunday we will continue with Peter’s first sermon. He will tell his hearers who Jesus Christ really is and what He has done. But I want to close today by turning to Romans.

In it Paul reminds us that all people are lost in sin; that there is a penalty to be paid for that sin; that Christ has already paid that penalty, and that eternal life awaits all those who will repent and trust in Him for their salvation.
Romans 3:23, 6:23, 5:8
3:23 …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sin-ners, Christ died for us.

How do you apply Christ’s death for yourself?
*Romans 10:9-14, 17
9 …if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved;
10 for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him;
13 for “Whoever will call upon the name of the LORD will be saved.”
14 How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.

And that takes us back to the beginning. Someone has to proclaim the truth of the Word of Christ. Someone has to explain the truth of the Word of Christ. Finally, someone has to hear the truth of the Word of Christ. “How shall they hear without a preacher?”

Listen, Christian – you could be the only preacher that your loved one, your friend, or your neighbor will ever meet. You have the power and the authority of “Thus saith the Lord.” “Faith comes from hearing…” Tell them!

~ Pray ~