Peter's Sermon at Pentecost - Part 1

Alright, if you would, take your Bible, turn to Acts chapter 2. Please take your Bible and turn back to Acts chapter 2, and I say back to Acts chapter 2, because that's where we have been in our last two messages. Now, we have already covered, some of you know this, some of the most misunderstood, some of the most abused, and also some of the most important verses in all of the Bible, from verses 1 to 13, we study the outpouring of the promised person of the Holy Spirit upon and in those apostles and those 120 or so believers who were waiting, just like Jesus had commanded.

Now, I titled those last two messages, "The Baptism of the Holy Spirit," and I got that title from John the Baptist in his prophecy. And I encourage you, if you've not gotten those messages, make sure that you do that. Now, I thought about this often as I was studying in those messages and presenting those messages. It may be less confusing to title those messages, excuse me, and those passages, "The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit." That is because of how much confusion there can be with the language of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Now, you can be the judge of what title is better, but I did explain all of those things thoroughly, so I don't think there should be any confusion there. Now, before I move on, let me address something that I just said. Actually, three things. Verses 1 to 13 are some of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible. Think about it. This sound of the mighty, violent, rushing wind that we see in those verses, tongues of fire coming down upon those believers, and this speaking in other languages are tongues. How many have misunderstood those verses?

How many within the church have misunderstood what those verses mean, and even the purpose and purposes of those things? There's a lot of misunderstandings there. And these verses are some of the most abused in the New Testament. How many use these verses to support their way off doctrine and practice of speaking in tongues? How many have faulty views of revival, and they use these verses to somehow believe that we can have another Pentecost today? How many ignore these verses because of all of the crazy charismatics and what they do with the abuse of these verses?

You do realize to ignore these verses is just as sinful as abusing these verses. But we must see that these verses are some of the most important in the Bible. Here in verses 1 to 13, we have the outpouring, the giving, the filling, the empowering of the Holy Spirit upon those early believers and in those believers just as was prophesied and promised. And because of these events, we have the birth of the New Testament church. And this is important because at this point in time in the history of God's work on earth, we have the inauguration of a new age in the kingdom of God on earth.

Because of these events, we have the Holy Spirit empowering these believers for great commission work. And this is important because we can actually see how the apostles and these believers were able to go out into the world and to do what they couldn't do, but what they were empowered to do. Now there's a lesson here. We must not run from the hard verses of the Bible. I think you know me by now that I do not run from the hard verses of the Bible. And we must not run from the confusing verses of the Bible either. I think you know that I'm not going to avoid the confusing verses.

And I will add to that by saying that we must not run from the difficult doctrines of the Bible either. I think back to a conversation that I had with one of the men of our church. This week, about two hours worth of conversation about doctrine and difficult doctrine. And it was well worth it because we were talking about those things and I was helping him walk through those things. But here we find ourselves in verses 14 to 36. And we have what took place after the Holy Spirit came upon and came into these believers at Pentecost.

So although we're not going to cover all of these verses, verses 14 to 36, I do want us to read them and it will be good for us to read all of them. So let's look at our copy of God's Word and let's read these verses. Acts chapter 2 verse 14 on down to verse 36. "But Peter, standing with the eleven," that's the apostles, "lifted up his voice and addressed them. The them were all of the thousands of Jews who had gathered there because of the sound of the mighty rushing wind. And he said, 'Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words.

For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.'" That's about 9 a.m. "But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on the male servants and female servants, in those days I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke.

The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood 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. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know. 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, loosening the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

For David says concerning him, "I saw the Lord always before me, and 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.

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 therefore he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ that he was not abandoned to Hades nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up and of that we are 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 into the heavens, but he himself says, "The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool." "Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him," that's Jesus, "both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." Now there's quite a bit here. Starting in verse 14, we can see that we have a lot of ground to cover. But notice, we have Peter defending what's just happened. That's in verses 14 to 15. We have Peter explaining what had just happened. That starts at verse 16 on down to verse 21.

Then we have Peter preaching all of these things, about all of these things in verses 22 to 36. Then we have the work of the Spirit. We didn't read these verses through Peter's preaching so that about 3000 souls were saved and that starts in verse 37. Now I've already said it. We're not going to cover all of this tonight. We'll cover the rest in a part two. But let's get started. Number one, I want us to see Peter's defense. We see that in verses 14 to 15. Now we know what has taken place in verses 1 to 13. We covered those things thoroughly. And if we have heard those messages and paid attention, I think we have a grasp of verses 1 to 13.

But on the day of Pentecost, God the Holy Spirit had fallen on the apostles and those early believers as they were gathered together just as Jesus had commanded. And as a part of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, God used the sound of a mighty rushing wind to gather thousands of Jews to that place where the believers were staying. Of course, there were Jews in Jerusalem who were, of course, the Jews were in Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost. And although these believers were all Galileans, God enabled them to speak of the mighty works of God in the languages of those who were gathered from all over the world where the Jews lived.

If I remember it right, one of the sources that I studied said that there were 15 or so languages represented in those peoples. Well, as a result of those miraculous and mysterious events, some of those Jews were genuinely curious and they asked what these things were all about. But others were scoffing and they were accusing and they were accusing those believers of being drunk. So starting in verse 14, we have Peter's defense and his explanation of these things. Now, notice what we see here. First Peter stepped forward. Here we see that Peter stepped forward and notice what we have here. There's one word, leadership.

Peter stood up and he stepped forward as the leader of the apostles and the believers, 120 or so. And this should not surprise us. We saw this back when they were waiting as they were commanded and a part of that waiting was God raising up and establishing Peter as their leader. He was instructing the believers from the Word of God concerning all the things that had happened with Jesus. And those other apostles and believers saw his leadership. They recognized his leadership as valid and they submitted to his leadership during the waiting and now. So it was only natural that Peter stepped forward in these events like he did.

But then second, the other apostles stepped forward. Notice that the text says Peter standing with the 11 and this can be overlooked, but this is very, very important. Here we see that Peter was standing as the obvious leader of the apostles and the believers and the other apostles were standing as leaders as well. And they were standing with Peter and behind Peter. You see it? Now, there is a lesson here. We must understand that in the book of Acts we see the church in its infancy. Right here we see the churches as being born. And as we progress through Acts we see the church in its infancy.

But later on we see the church as it's more fully developed. I'll give you an example in Paul's writing to Timothy, 1 and 2 Timothy. That was when the church was more developed. That's why we see some further teaching. But what I'm trying to show you is this. Here we have a plurality of leadership. Peter wasn't alone. In the early days the apostles led the churches. Then later on we see God establishing elders like Timothy to lead the churches in the apostles' footsteps. Timothy was not an apostle, no. We don't believe in apostolic succession. But we have a foreshadowing of what was to come and that is a plurality of leaders.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is this. We don't have a pope in the church today. No. Scripturally we see that there is a pastor, a lead pastor. We can make a case for that. And other elders who are leaders. But then third, Peter spoke up. Now here in verse 14 the English standard says Peter lifted up his voice. The New American, the legacy standard said Peter raised his voice. Now this can be overlooked but there are two things we need to see here. One's practical and one's spiritual. Practically we see that Peter spoke up. This word raised as Peter raised his voice.

It means to speak up, to raise your voice, even to put oneself forward in speaking up. So this is obvious and simple. Peter stood up. He put himself out and up to speak up. But then spiritually we see that Peter spoke up under the leadership and the power of the spirit. And we know that because this same word was used earlier in Acts 2-4 when the apostles and the believers were given Holy Spirit inspired utterance or Holy Spirit inspired speech. So notice what we have here. Peter stood up and he stepped forward as the leader of this early band of believers along with the other apostles alongside him and behind him.

And he stepped forward and he raised his voice and he spoke up and he spoke out in and with the Holy Spirit. He was inspired of the spirit and empowered in the spirit. Now notice what we need to see here. This is what biblical preaching is. Biblical preaching is a man of God, a God called man, stepping out and stepping forward in raising his voice in and with the Holy Spirit. It is a man of God stepping forward and being inspired and empowered by the spirit so as to declare the word of God. And this is what we should expect in the life of our church and this is what we have. I've heard this kind of illustration before. You probably have too.

But I have heard people explain it like this. The old country fella said they don't know what this is but they know what it ain't. I know what it is when someone steps forward and preaches as they are led and inspired and equipped with the spirit. I know what it is and that I can identify it but I can't quite explain it because it's mysterious. But I certainly know what it ain't. It's sad. I've seen many people step up to preach and preach and they do it year after year and it's not Holy Spirit empowered. Now church I want you to notice the standard here at Grace Life. When I preach as the pastor, God does this. It has nothing to do with me.

They are men that are far more talented than I am, far more gifted than I am, far more studied than I am. But God does that in me and through me. God does that when brother Keith preaches. He will preach like an associate pastor. He says that he comes alongside the pastor. But you see that God does that through brother Keith. God does that through brother Tommy as he preaches. Jared as he preaches. Travis Crotwell as he preaches. As God has equipped other men to preach. You see that God feels them, powers them and enables them to preach and to teach God's word. Again, you know what it is and you know what it's not.

I don't want to use "ain't too much, my mother will get me". Fourth, Peter defended what was happening. Now actually Peter's defense was actually a rebuttal. He was refuting those that were before him. He simply tells these Jews both the genuine and the scoffing that they were not drunk. He tells them that it was only 9 o'clock in the morning so that really wasn't possible. Now notice what we have here in these verses. Verse 14 to 15. Some scholars break down Peter's sermon and some scholars call this the apologia section of Peter's sermon and that wasn't is the case.

Peter's sermon started when he stood up and when he spoke out under the leadership and the feeling and the power of the Spirit. And he started out by defending what had taken place. And this is called the apologia section of Peter's sermon because that is exactly what it was. Apologia means a defense especially of one's opinions, position and actions. Now before we move into the next section of Peter's message, there are a few lessons we need to see here. Notice that we have a lesson in how God called leaders are seen and recognized. Let me repeat that.

Here we have a lesson in how God called leaders are seen and recognized and we see this as one call seen in three ways. Let me unpack it and explain it. First we have the upward call of God on a man's life. We see that with Peter. We have the upward call of God on a man's life. We know that God called him to be a disciple. We know that God called Peter to be a disciple and an apostle. We know that God called Peter to be the leader of this first band of believers. And ultimately we will see that he was the leader of the first church there in Jerusalem. So this was a call from God, an upward call.

Second, we have the inward call of God on a man's life. We see that in Peter. We have the inward call of God in Peter. He spoke of, he acknowledged and he lived in such a way that he declared that he had this inward call of God to be a disciple and apostle and the leader of the Jerusalem church. And then third, we have the outward call of God on the man's life. We see that in Peter. He had an outward call of God on his life. The other apostles, this first band of believers, about 120 or so, they saw God's call on Peter and in Peter. And they all affirmed that by following him.

And we see this demonstrated later on in a great way as he was the leader in the church of Jerusalem. Now notice how this applies to us on our day. When a man says that he is called of God to pastor or to be an elder, he is saying that he has received an upward call which is from God. He is saying that he has received and he possesses an inward call of God in his heart and life that comes from God. And those things are affirmed and they are exalted by God's people, the church. So there is an outward call on the man's life from the church.

This is not in my notes but we will see this in Acts chapter 13, the beginning of Paul's missionary journeys. We see that there is an upward call from God as the Holy Spirit of God said, "Set apart Saul and Barnabas." They received the inward call of God and then after they prayed and fasted, the church recognized it all and they laid hands on them and sent them out. And notice the great affirmation of these things.

Church, if God uses that man through the preaching of his word, through his pastoring and his shepherding abilities, through his leadership of and in the church to reach the lost and to grow the saints and then to move the church forward, that is affirmation of all of these things. I never forget when God was calling me into the ministry and I was counseling with my home church pastor, Brother Dennis. He basically told me that if you have this ability that can only come from God, he said, "You'll always have a place to serve God, God will always make sure you do." And I've seen that.

And I'll be honest with you folks, if a man is pastoring and he can't tell you and articulate that God's called him to do it, I'm always suspect. I'm always suspect. A man should never pastor unless God's done this work. And it's one thing for one to say that they got the call but it's another thing for the whole church to say and see and demonstrate that they have that call. But let me move on. This is Peter's defense. Number two, let's notice Peter's explanation. We see this in verses 16 to 21. Now I'm not going to go back and look at those verses because of time.

But at this point, starting in verse 16, we see a shift in Peter's approach in two ways. First, we see Peter move from being negative to being more positive. Second, we see Peter move from being defensive to being more explanatory. But before we get into Peter's explanation, we need to understand something about context that is critical. Just like when we came to see that this wind and the fire and God-inspired speech, that those were not random things, but those things were connected to the Old Testament and how God worked in Old Testament times, here we will see some Old Testament context that will help.

Simply, Peter defended what took place and he declared that these men were not drunk. And he explained that these mysterious and supernatural things that had just happened were spoken of through the prophet Joel. So we see that all of these things were tied to and they were a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. And for those Jews, all those things were tied to and they came out of the Old Testament and they would have understood and recognized those things, you see? But for us, what is seen here in Joel's prophecy is anything but simple and easy to explain and understand. Now let me explain what I mean.

First, we must understand that this prophecy had and has two applications. First, there was an immediate application that Peter makes clear. Second, there was and is a future application that is eschatological. You need to know that word. Eschatological or pertaining to the end times. And that is what we see here and these things are difficult. Now, let's look at this prophecy, Joel's prophecy two ways. First, the application in this immediate context. Now, notice what Peter does here. He defends what is taking place and he refutes the accusation that they were all drunk.

And then he explains what had just taken place by declaring that these things were a fulfillment of what was spoken of through the prophet Joel. We see that in verse 15 to 16. But notice what Peter did not do. He did not give an exegesis of Joel's prophecy. Nor did he give an explanation of Joel's prophecy. Nor did he give any specific application of Joel's prophecy to how these things relate to what had just happened. Simply Peter said, and I'm putting it in my words, all that has just happened here was predicted by and spoken of by the Old Testament prophet Joel. And that was it. That's all he said.

But then second, notice the application for the future. And here's where we get into the debates that pertain to eschatology. Now, I'm not going to get into the different eschatological views here and how this prophecy relates to those Jews. When we come back to these verses in our part two of Peter's sermon here on Pentecost, I will get into some of those views. But the point I want to make here is this. This certainly is an application of Joel's prophecy for the future. So many of these things are yet to come, but they will. So notice what we see here in verses 16 to 21.

Peter's explanation of what has just taken place as the Holy Spirit of God was poured out and on and in these believers came out of the Old Testament scripture. Peter quoted and named Old Testament prophet and prophecy that these Jews all knew. And he simply explained that these mysterious and supernatural things that had just happened before them was spoken of in this mysterious and supernatural prophecy given by Joel. And notice what Peter's goal was here. Yes, he wanted to defend and explain what had happened when the Holy Spirit was poured out. But he was showing them that these events were biblical.

He was showing them that all that had happened was from God. He was wanting to bring them to a place where they would say, and I'm putting it in my words, "Oh, I see now. I get it." All these mysterious things that I've just witnessed and seen and heard, they come from the Old Testament. Now, let me ask you a question. When I'm preaching or someone else is preaching, do you ever have a moment where you say, "Oh, I get it now." Do you ever have a moment where you say, "Oh, it makes sense now." Well, that should happen. And it does because many times you tell me that.

You see, as the people of God, when the Word of God is explained, there should be a work of God in us where the Holy Spirit of God enables us to see and to understand spiritual things. Well, that's what took place for these Jews on that day, not all of them, but some. When he explained, "Wait a minute. These things that you've just seen, they're spoken of in the prophecy of Joel. We're going to see that some of them said, "I get it now. It makes sense." There's a phrase that I have used before. It goes like this. The Bible fits together. What I mean is this.

So many of the mysteries that are seen in the Old New Testament can be explained in light of the Old. And we'll get to some of those as we continue in the book of Acts. So, we see Peter's explanation of these things. Now, just like when we were covering verses 1-13, we do not have time to cover the rest of these verses. So, this is what I'm going to do. Tonight, I will touch on just a few things from this next section of Peter's sermon, verses 22-36. Next time, I'm going to revisit more of Peter's explanation, and I will get into the eschatology and those different views, and then we'll finish out this sermon.

So, number 3, Peter's sermon, or a part of that sermon. Now, let's go back and look at the verses. I'm not going to read all of the verses because of time. I just want to read verses 22-36, Acts 2, 22-36. Notice what he says. "Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders, and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.

This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men, but God raised him up, loosening the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it." And that's where I want us to stop right now. Now, this is what I want to focus on in these verses. I want to point out four things that we see out of verses 22-24. First, we see what these Jews knew. Look at verse 22. "Men of Israel, hear these words.

Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders, and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know." Here Peter clearly stated that Jesus was attested to them by God. In this word attested here, it means to point out, to point to, to expose, to declare, to show. And what Peter was and is saying is this. He was telling all these Jews that God had pointed to and exposed and declared to them Jesus. Now, how did he do this?

Peter says God showed them and pointed to and declared to them that Jesus was, in fact, his promised Messiah through mighty works, wonders, and signs that he, that's God, did through Jesus. The Amplified says this and explains this well. Listen to the Amplified. "Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man accredited and appointed out and attested to you by God with the power to perform miracles and wonders and signs which God worked through him in your very midst, just as you yourselves know." And notice how confident Peter is here.

He says to them, and I'm putting it in my words, God did all these things to you and in you and around you to demonstrate to you the fact that Jesus is the promised Messiah and you know these things. So notice what Peter makes plain here. All these Jews were not ignorant, nor could they claim ignorance. They knew full well of Jesus. It was just that they loved their sin and they wanted to stay in their sin. Now, there's a lesson here for us. People are not as ignorant as you think. People in your family, people in your workplace, lost people that you're witnessing to, they're not as ignorant as you think.

They know more of the Bible than you think. They know more about who Jesus is than you realize. They know more truth than you realize. They've seen more gospel than you realize. They've heard more gospel than you realize. They're not as ignorant as you think. Then second, notice what these Jews did. Look at the second part of verse 23. He says, "You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men." Here Peter plainly and clearly tells them to their face that they were guilty. They were guilty of crucifying and killing Jesus. But I've got a question. Who actually killed Jesus? The Jews or the Romans? Who actually killed Jesus?

The Jews or the Romans? Somebody said it. The answer is yes. Actually, it was the Romans physically who crucified Jesus. You see legally, the Jews did not have the authority to carry out capital punishment in that day. So it was actually the Jews. So it was actually the Romans who crucified Jesus. But notice, Peter truly and actually held the Jews responsible for crucifying and killing Jesus. That is because they handed Jesus over to the Romans and they pressured the Romans to do the dirty work. Now, I don't think anybody was innocent. Both the Jews and the Romans had motive and motives here. So we see what the Jews did.

They crucified and killed Jesus. Third, notice what God planned. Look back at verse 23. He said, "This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men." Here we see that Peter clearly and plainly explains that the death of Jesus was not an accident, nor was it a plan of man and man. Here he clearly and plainly states that the crucifixion and the death of Jesus was in fact the predetermined plan of God. It was truly God's will and His plan to crucify His very own Son. Now, notice what we have here.

The great mystery of God using sin and wicked men to accomplish His good and perfect will and plan. But a question. And this is one that lost people definitely will ask. Is this a violation of God's sovereignty? God's sovereign. And is this a violation of God's character? God using the Jews and the Romans? And their sinfulness? Well, the answer to those questions is no. You see Romans 8.28 says, "And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for the good, for those who are called according to His purpose." And the point I'm making here is this. All things surely include all things.

And all things mean the cross and the death of His Son at the hands of sinful men. I think back to our study in Genesis. We've been studying Joseph. Joseph was wronged horribly, starting with his own brothers, was he not? But then when we get to the end of the story, when he looked at his brothers, he said, "The sinful things that you did, God ordained." At that moment in time, he understood how God used sinful things for His purposes. So there's a couple of lessons here. God uses all things in our lives for His good and His purposes. Even sinful things. Now, some of you have endured horribly sinful things.

Some of you have endured sinful things in family, with friends. Some of you have endured and been affected by sinful things in the work and workplace. But you have to get to the place where you understand that God even uses sinful things in your life for good. And if you do not get to the place where you embrace all things in life for His goodwill and plan, you will be stuck. And you will not make the spiritual progress that you should. But continuing. Fourth, notice what God did.

Verse 24, "God raised him up, loosening the pains of death, because it was not possible for him," that's Jesus, "to be held by it." Here Peter clearly and plainly states that Jesus did not remain in the grave. He was raised up again by the power of God. And notice, just like these Jews certainly knew of Jesus and His life, they certainly knew of Jesus and His death, and they knew of the resurrection. But notice Peter's point here. He was declaring and preaching the resurrection of Jesus, which was a major theme in apostolic preaching, as we will see, all through the book of Acts. Now, notice one detail Peter points out.

He says it was impossible for Jesus to stay in the grave. Impossible. Well, why was that the case? I like how William Macdonald answers that question. First, the character of God demanded His resurrection. He had died the sinless for the sinful. God must raise Him as proof of His complete satisfaction with the redemptive work of Christ. Second, the prophecies of the Old Testament demanded His resurrection. This is the particular point Peter was pressing in these verses. So, notice what we have here in verses 22-24, which is only a part of Peter's sermon.

Here Peter boldly and clearly preached to these Jews that their sure knowledge of Jesus and all that God did in and through Him to clearly declare and demonstrate that He was in fact the Messiah, He boldly and clearly preached to these Jews that they were in fact guilty of putting Jesus to death. But this was in fact all a part of God's predetermined plan, and God had proved that Jesus was and is His promised Messiah by raising Him up from the grave. Now, there are a few lessons here for us in regard to preaching and witnessing. First, we must always preach Christ in our preaching. But we must preach all of Christ.

We must preach the person of Christ, the cross of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the lordship of Christ. And second, we must always make personal application in our preaching. Notice what Peter said, "You are guilty." He used the personal pronoun "you." He stood up and he raised his voice. He said, "You are guilty." That's not how you gain friends and win influence, but it's God's way. And the point I'm trying to make here is this. We must expose sin. Peter exposed their sin. A person's guilt in regards to sin. Peter exposed their guilt in regard to their sin.

And we must always expose a person's guilt in regard to their rebellion against God. That's exactly what Peter did here. Right here Peter would have failed the Dale Carnegie classes. Some of you know what I'm talking about. Now as I begin to close, notice what we have here in these verses. Here we have Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. After all of these events took place that are recorded in verses 1 to 13, Peter stepped up, he stepped forward, and he preached what can be accurately called the first New Testament sermon.

Now I know that we have not gotten very far in the sermon, but notice the great Holy Spirit success that came out of the sermon. James Montgomery Boyce calls this sermon the sermon that won 3,000 souls. And that's what it certainly was and is. But tonight this is what I'm calling Peter's sermon at Pentecost. Of course this is a part one. And notice how this can very simply be broken down. We have Peter defending what had just happened, verses 14 to 15, the apologetic portion of the sermon. We have Peter explaining what had just happened, verses 16 to 21, and notice he used the Old Testament. Remember they were Jews.

He's basically saying, "This shouldn't surprise you." Then we have Peter preaching concerning all these things in verses 22 to 36. Of course we only covered a little of that. And we will finish up these verses the next time we are in our study through the Book of Acts. Now I want to end by reminding you of the series title. This is all about the acts of the Holy Spirit, sometimes called the acts of the apostles. This is the acts of the Holy Spirit. We see the Holy Spirit as the main character here. These are the acts of the Holy Spirit in and through the apostles, and specifically we see Peter here.