Acts 2:1-41 The Birth of the Church
Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 2. This is a momentous day in our study of the book of Acts, it’s the birthday of the Church! This was the day that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the gathered followers of Jesus, and what better way to inaugurate the church than with a gospel sermon! Peter preached five sermons recorded in the book of Acts and this one is one of my favorites. I’d say at least top five!
Let’s pray
Today we are going to look at Peter’s first sermon on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-41, page 909 in the pew Bibles.
Because our text for this morning is so long I’m not going to read the whole thing to start out like usual but we’ll look at it one bite at a time.
To give some background, all of Jesus' Jerusalem disciples had gathered together, about 120 people. Peter had just presided over selecting Judas' replacement; but while Peter was the chief of the Apostles, he was not the leader of the Jerusalem church, that was left to Jesus' half brother James. (Not John's brother James the son of Zebedee, but Jesus' half-brother James, the son of Joseph)
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
What marks this day as the birthday of the Church with a capital “C” is the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Now, by faith in Jesus believers throughout the ages are filled with that same Spirit.
The coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was marked by the Apostles speaking in tongues. But these were not unknown tongues, these were different natural languages and dialects that the Apostles themselves did not know but all the people that heard them from different countries could understand.
And it was because Pentecost was one of the Feasts of Israel, there were Jews from all over the known world in Jerusalem at that time.
Pentecost, in the Old Testament is known as the Feast of Weeks. It was kind of like the Jewish Thanksgiving, celebrating the completion of the harvest season. It was the second major feast in which all able bodied Jewish males were required to go to Jerusalem to attend. The others were Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles.
The term “weeks” referred to the time period from the grain harvest to the barley harvest and finally to the wheat harvest.
It is called the Feast of Weeks because God specifically told the Israelites that they were to count seven complete weeks from the Feast of First Fruits, then on the next day to observe this feast.
How’s your math?
Seven weeks adds up to forty-nine days, the feast of Weeks is observed on the next day which brings the total number of days to fifty. Pentecost was to be observed precisely fifty days after the Feast of First fruits. The word "Pentecost" simply means “fifty.”
Anybody know what significant event took place on the Feast of First fruits that year, fifty days before this?
Jesus' resurrection! Jesus is the First-fruit from the dead!
In the midst of all the excitement, all kinds of people declaring the wonders of God in languages and dialects that were not their own, in the face of amazement, perplexity and accusations of public drunkenness, even at nine in the morning, Peter steps up and addresses the crowd. Look at verse 14.
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “ ‘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; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20 the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
Peter is backing up the fact that the whole Old Testament points to the person and work of Jesus. He quotes the prophet Joel here because Joel described hundreds of years before this day how the Holy Spirit would be poured out on His children, meaning, everyone who trusts in Jesus.
The scholars are divided as to whether or not the prophecy of Joel was fulfilled that day or if he was prophesying about the entire church age that began at Pentecost and will continue until Jesus comes back. It's kind of unclear but either way this pouring out of the Spirit was clearly predicted.
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—
Jesus proved Himself to be Messiah by all of the miracles He performed and a lot of these people had witnessed them. According to Peter, Jesus' miracles were one way of verifying who Jesus was.
23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
The crucifixion of Jesus was no accident, He was not murdered, He gave Himself up as a sacrifice according to the plan and foreknowledge of God the Father and was killed by the hands of the Romans, men who were not under the Law of Moses. But make no mistake, the was the plan from the beginning.
24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
This is another proof that Jesus is Messiah, even death could not hold Him down!
Verses 25-35 include four proofs of Jesus' resurrection and ascension:
25 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; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
29 “Brothers, I may 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. 30 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, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
So here are the four proofs:
PROOF #1 Peter quotes the prophecy of Psalm 16:8-11 and points to the presence of David’s tomb. Some scholars believe they could actually see it from where they were standing at the time, that it may have actually been in the lower parts of the building they were in at that moment. You can actually go to this spot in Jerusalem today, at least you could when I was there almost thirty years ago.
32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.
PROOF #2 Those 120 disciples were actual witnesses of Jesus’ Resurrection, they had seen and heard Him after He had been raised from the dead.
33 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.
PROOF #3 The supernatural events of the Day of Pentecost lined up with the prophecies about Jesus and His followers
34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’
PROOF #4 Peter quotes Psalm 110:1 which predicts the Ascension of David’s greater Son. Since King David was dead and buried he could not have been referring to himself in that Psalm.
See, even Peter didn’t like three point sermons!
Peter wraps up his sermon with a cutting condemnation for the congregation:
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Peter used the same word for "Lord" here that he used earlier referring to the Father. Peter is testifying to the fact that Jesus is not only the promised Messiah but also to the fact that He is God made flesh!
And of course, what sermon would be complete without an altar call? Only this time the preacher didn't give one, the people did! It happened often in the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit gave Peter and the disciples the power, the opportunity, and the boldness to share the gospel but the Holy Spirit also gave the response!
And the people were desperate with their question!
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
They realized that they had killed Messiah, what could they possibly do now? They pleaded with Peter and the apostles, what hope could there possibly be for them?
Peter's answer was simple.
38 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. 39 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.”
Peter answers with the grace of God. Repent, turn from your wicked ways, turn to God, turn to Jesus and your sins will be forgiven.
Friends, if God can forgive those who brutally killed God's chosen one, His precious Son, He can certainly forgive us of our sin, He can certainly forgive anyone! His grace is greater than all our sin!
All the people needed to do was recognize their sin and sinfulness and turn to God, and that's all anybody needs to do, it's all you have to do if you haven't before. Admit that you are a sinner and you need God's grace to forgive you of your sin and He will forgive you. Not only that but He will give you the gift of the Holy Spirit.
After the sermon was over Peter continued to talk with the people, pleading with them to put their faith in Jesus.
40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Three thousand souls responded to this Old Testament based gospel that day, they received The Lord and were baptized and the church was born!
If you haven't ever truly responded to this gospel, admitted you are a sinner in need of God's grace, and accepted that Jesus died for you, then you can do that right now, right where you are by simply admitting to God that you are a sinner and you need His forgiveness.
And if any of you have responded in faith to the gospel, today or some other time, but you, have not been baptized I pray that you will come talk to me about doing that so that you can follow Christ in obedience to His example and His Word.
Amen.
