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The Pentecost Story, Part 3

What shall we do?

Acts 2v16-39

17th June 2016

As we've been reading in Acts Chapter 2, the Holy Spirit came upon the 120 remaining believers, and they began to speak in tongues. The multi-ethnic crowd outside heard them, and understood what they were saying. Some people, looking for an explanation that excluded God, accused them of being drunk, which made no sense at all. Then Peter stood up and preached to them - without notes.

Peter explained that they were witnessing the fulfilment of a prophesy given through the prophet Joel, more than seven hundred years before:

Acts 2v16-18
No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all [kinds of] 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."

Sometimes people ask me if I think we're living in "the last days". I answer, "Yes, we've been living in the last days for two thousand years". Peter said, "This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel", so the last days started no later than Pentecost 30 AD. Ever since, all who want the Holy Spirit can receive the Holy Spirit, and they'll see visions, and dream dreams and prophesy.

I struggle with the idea of spiritual gifts, because I've see too many false ones, but real spiritual gifts are, well, real, and they're gifts from God. And Jesus said, "Don't do anything until you receive them", so they're important.

Peter then repeated the next part of Joel's prophesy:

Acts 2v19-21
"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."

There are three ways to interpret these words. Some believe that these signs were given on the day of Crucifixion (read Luke carefully). Others believe that they'll be given around the time of the Second Coming. A third group believe that they're meant symbolically, and mean that God will judge the earth, and save the elect, during the church age.

Peter described Jesus as "a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs" and then accused the crowd of His death saying, "you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross" (verses 22-23). And then Peter proclaimed that God raised Jesus from the dead (verse 24) and quoted the words of King David, who lived a thousand years before Christ, in Psalm 16:

Acts 2v25-28
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."

When David said, "nor will you let your Holy One see decay", he wasn't talking about himself. He died and was buried and, as Peter says, "his tomb is here to this day" (verse 29). David's tomb is in Jerusalem, so the crowd knew where it was.

David was talking about Jesus. Jesus died and was buried, but his body never decayed. He rose from the dead, pushed the stone away from the entrance to his tomb, and appeared to his disciples for forty days afterwards. He proved the power of God, and the same power is available to all who receive the Holy Spirit.

(Peter quoted Joel and David without notes, which shows that he knew his Bible)

Peter then got in the faces of the people in the crowd. He said,

Acts 2v36
"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

Some of the people in that crowd would have been amongst those who stood before Pilate's palace, shouting, "Crucify Him! Crucify him! Let Barabbas go and crucify Jesus!" Some would have been there at Calvary, mocking Jesus and shouting, "If you're the Messiah, come down from the cross and prove it!" But now they've witnessed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church, and they've realised how grave their sin was. They crucified Jesus.

But before we point the finger at them, let's remember that Jesus died for my sin, and for yours. So we could say that we crucified Jesus. If it wasn't for our sin, he wouldn't have gone to the cross. So Peter's in our faces too. The Christ who we crucified is Lord.

The people were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles,

Acts 2v37b
"Brothers, what shall we do?"

I think they were asking how they could make amends: "Terribly sorry, we didn't mean to crucify God. What can we do to make up for it?" The answer to that, of course, is "Absolutely nothing". You can't pay for your sin.

But there is something you can do:

Acts 2v38
"Peter replied, Repent and be baptised, 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."

Peter promises us that all who repent and are baptised will receive the forgiveness of sins. You can't really ask for forgiveness if you're going to carry on living in the same old way. You do have to repent.

Baptism is a symbol of the washing we receive through the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. And it's also an act of discipleship, saying we receive that cleaning, we receive that forgiveness, and we're going to live in the benefit of that forgiveness.

Then, Peter said, "you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit".

Every Christian has the Holy Spirit, but when Peter talks about the gift of the Holy Spirit, I think he's talking about the sort of spiritual power that was demonstrated that day. If we repent, and if we're baptised, and if we believe what the Bible says, then we too will see visions, and dream dreams, and prophesy, and speak in tongues, and heal the sick.

We won't all get all the gifts, but we can all receive some of the gifts, and together we can receive all of them.

Peter said:

Acts 2v39
"The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call."

The promise is for you. No sin you may have committed will disqualify you. The people in the crowd that Pentecost morning had been involved in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. St Paul was, by his own admission, the worst of sinners (1 Timothy 1:16). The gift of forgiveness and grace and power in the Holy Spirit isn't particularly for nice people - it's for sinners like me, and sinners like you. Nobody has so offended God that he will not forgive and empower with his Holy Spirit all who repent and are baptised.

And the promise is for your children. Those of us with children can take that promise and pray it through.

And the promise is for all who are far off - for everyone the Lord our God will call. There is no Christian that God doesn't want to empower with his Holy Spirit - it's for all. If you're a Christian, the power of the Holy Spirit is your birthright. And it's a major part of the means by which you will make a difference.