WWUTT 2551 I Will Pour Out My Spirit (Acts 2:16-21)

Peter proclaims at Pentecost that the day of the Lord is coming, and the only way to be saved from judgment on that day is to call on Jesus for salvation, when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary that we may be equipped for every good work in Jesus Christ our Lord. Please tell others about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost and Joel’s Prophecy

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Acts, we come back to chapter 2, reading this sermon from Peter at Pentecost. And I'm going to pick up reading in verse 14. We'll go through verse 28. Hear the word of the Lord.

But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them, Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is the third hour of the day.

But this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel. And it shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour out my spirit on all mankind. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

Even on my male slaves and female slaves, I will in those days pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will put wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke.

The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it will be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Men of Israel, listen to these words.

Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know, this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put him to death.

But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for him to be held by its power. For David says of him, I saw the Lord continually before me, because he is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exalted. Moreover, my flesh also will live in hope, because you will not forsake my soul to Hades, nor give your holy one over to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life.

You will make me full of gladness with your presence. And we'll stop there. We have two Old Testament references already in just this section. We have Joel 2 and then a reference from David in the Psalms as well.

The Fulfillment of Joel 2 at Pentecost

We're going to look mainly at this reference in Joel 2 today, seeing how what is happening at Pentecost is a fulfillment of what had been prophesied by the prophet Joel. And that's exactly what Peter says here in Acts 2 .16.

What you are observing was spoken through the prophet Joel. And once again, what the people are seeing or what they're hearing, observing, are the apostles speaking in tongues, speaking in various languages.

And all the people, all the nations that are gathered there at Pentecost are hearing the gospel spoken in their respective languages. And Peter is explaining to them the wondrous works of God that the rest of the apostles are proclaiming and what all of this means.

These men are not drunk. They're not crazy. What you are seeing is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel. And it's pretty obvious that they're not drunk. The people that are there, that are making such an accusation, they're just trying to push to the side that this has anything to do with me or that this is relevant and I need to pay attention to it somehow.

Really, what they are witnessing is very disconcerting. It's alarming for the Jews, the people there at Jerusalem, to observe these apostles speaking in other languages this way. They recognize that something miraculous is happening here.

But to just kind of push down or suppress that they feel unnerved by this in any way, they try to excuse it as, well, these men are just drunk. That's all that's going on. And when Peter references the prophecy from Joel, he is showing to them, no, this is a great sign that is being shown to you.

It is the fulfillment of exactly what the prophets said would take place. It's happening right now in your midst. Acts 2 .17, where he quotes from Joel in Joel 2. And it shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour out my Spirit on all mankind.

And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Let me go that far for now. So to give you kind of a little bit of context as to what's happening in Joel 2, that this prophecy is made to the Jews through the prophet Joel.

There was a famine that had come upon the land, and this was further judgment that God brings upon this people because of the wickedness that they continue to do, because they rebel against God, because they, even when punished, do not repent of their sins and return to the Lord.

So this famine has come upon the land, and the famine is talked about there in Joel 2. But God promises, just like we've been reading in Jeremiah, that even though this judgment is coming upon you now, there is deliverance that will come for you also.

And that deliverance is spoken about, as Peter references in Acts 2 .21, as how everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And by the way, that reference to Lord there, if you go to Joel 2, you'll notice that it's Yahweh.

Now, if you're reading it in the English Standard Version, it would be capital L-O-R-D, which is a reference to the Tetragrammaton, which is, in Hebrew, the letters Y-H-W-H. We would translate that in English.

The Legacy Standard Bible translates that as Yahweh. So this is Peter saying that whoever calls on the name of Yahweh will be saved, but who specifically are they calling upon to be saved? Well, at the end of the chapter, it's Jesus Christ.

So this is another one of those Bible references that you can use to show how Jesus is Yahweh. This reference to Joel 2, where it says everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh will be saved, and then you see in Acts 2 .21 that it's everyone who calls on the name of the Lord, and at the end of the chapter, they're calling on Jesus to be saved.

So this is another one of those cross-reference passages that you can use to show Jesus is Yahweh. So there in Joel 2, just like we've had in the book of Jeremiah, judgment is coming upon the Jews, but a promise is given that they will be delivered.

And that prophecy is fulfilled here, with the Holy Spirit being poured out on all who will be followers of Jesus Christ. And so, as Peter says, I will pour out my Spirit on all mankind, and all mankind saying that it's not just Jews.

Even though just the apostles are demonstrating it here, and certainly the others that were gathered in the upper room, they have received the Holy Spirit also, but the apostles are demonstrating the Holy Spirit in power.

And they, even they themselves, have not yet witnessed the fulfillment of this prophecy that God will pour out His Spirit on all mankind, not just Jews. That won't happen until chapter 10, when Peter goes to the house of Cornelius, and the Jews who are with him even see the Holy Spirit poured out on them, and they also begin speaking in other languages.

So though Peter is proclaiming it here, he is referencing back to Joel, even he doesn't get this yet, because he will even argue with Jesus in Acts 10 about whether or not he should be going to a Gentile's home and sharing the gospel.

Lord, I've never eaten anything unclean. I've never put myself in a position to eat anything unclean. And the Lord's saying to him, do not call defiled what the Lord calls common. Jesus had said back in Mark 7 that all foods are clean.

And so some of these things have yet to come to the apostles' understanding, but they will see it later on. So even Peter is proclaiming here, I will pour out my Spirit on all mankind, but all that's being observed here, at least at this point, is the Holy Spirit of God being poured out on the Jews.

Now, of course, the gathering of the Jews there in Jerusalem is the Diaspora. So that's the scattering of the Jews all over the different parts of the world, and not just in the region of Judea or even the Roman Empire, but even to the east of there, like in Mesopotamia and Medea and Parthia.

So that's a region that did not belong to the Romans. But as we've seen the different Jewish groups that have come to Pentecost to celebrate, not all of them are from within the Roman Empire. Some are even further east.

These are all Jews that are there, of course. So it's yet only the Jews that are witnessing this pouring out of the Holy Spirit, but eventually it's going to go out all over the place. And even when they get back to the places from which they've come, as the Gospel goes out, there are more who will come to faith, and more will receive the Holy Spirit.

And as Peter continues to proclaim, your sons and your daughters will prophesy. So this is to say that it will be generational. It's not just something that is happening right here before your very eyes, but there are many others that are going to be demonstrating the same kind of power.

And it's later on in the book of Acts that we see Philip's daughters that are prophesying. So that being a fulfillment even of what Peter is proclaiming here. Your young men shall see visions. We have Stephen who sees a vision of Jesus in heaven.

John the Apostle himself also seeing visions and proclaiming what he saw in the book of Revelation. And your old men shall dream dreams. These different ways that God is going to show his power and prophesy through his people.

Verse 18, even on my male slaves and my female slaves, I will in those days pour out my Spirit and they shall prophesy. Now there are many who will take this passage to be a continuous promise. It is a promise even down to this very day that we are exercising and proclaiming all these things.

I would agree with that to a certain extent. Like I am one of these prophets. I still continue to prophesy to this day. Many great preacher friends of mine that I know likewise are prophets. But not a prophet in the sense that God is showing us some great vision or revelation of the future.

And then I am proclaiming to you what that revelation is. I'm not seeing these great visions. At least not in the way that God is giving me some unique vision or some new revelation. But what I proclaim as a revelation is what has already been revealed in Scripture.

And this is still accomplishing something. God is still sending forth his Word to do something. When you hear the Word of God, you are being sanctified. It is working on your heart and your mind to conform you to Christ.

It is sanctifying you. It is filling up in you hope for the future. Knowing what it is that God has promised for us in eternity. There are, of course, parts of the New Testament that haven't been fulfilled yet.

So when you go into Revelation and you see the promise of what God is going to do with delivering his elect and pouring out judgment on the reprobate and destroying Satan and his angels. And we have the gathering of the nations at the great white throne of judgment.

And great books being opened up. And people are judged by what was written in the books. All of these things have yet to take place. So whenever I preach on that, that's prophecy. It's not that God has given me a new revelation in the sense that I'm being shown something that nobody else has seen.

But I am proclaiming something that is a revelation. It is the revealing of God's plan and purpose according to his word. So even to this very day, people continue to prophesy. And that is a work of the Holy Spirit.

When I proclaim the scriptures. When I preach the word in my church. And somebody in my congregation is changed or impacted by that word. They're filled up with hope. They're convicted of sin. They turn from wickedness or even unbelief to the Lord Jesus Christ.

All of these things are spiritual works. The Spirit is working in that person to bring about some change that happens as a result of the proclamation of his word. Prophecy is not always foretelling. It's also forth telling.

And Paul even describes it that way in 1 Corinthians 14. Yes, prophecy can include revelation of things that have yet to come to pass. But prophecy is most often a proclamation of the word of God that has been given.

When we read in Jeremiah. When we're doing our Old Testament study in Jeremiah on Thursday. What Jeremiah proclaims, of course, is a revelation of God to Jeremiah. But he is prophesying a word to the people that they're supposed to listen to and obey and follow.

And every time that I preach the word. Every time I preach the Bible. And I give application to it. There is a prophecy or a proclamation that is happening there that God's people must obey. Or they would be ignoring his word.

They would be going against his word. Paul even gave strong warnings to the church in Thessalonica. If anybody does not receive this word that we have given. Take note of that person and have nothing to do with him.

John even gives a warning in, what is it? Third John. About diatrophies. This guy that had been speaking wicked nonsense about him. And would not receive the word of the apostles. And so that would be.

There would be judgment that would come upon him because he would reject the word of God. And so it is with anybody. Even to this day. If a preacher is preaching from the word. From the scriptures. From the word of God.

He is prophesying something that people must listen to and must pay attention to. And so that work of the spirit is still continuing to this day. Even though it may not be new revelation. Which we are not receiving.

So everything that we can know about God. And what he is accomplishing through his church. To the very end of the age. Has been completed for us in the scriptures. Doesn't mean that we won't see miraculous things.

I do believe that the Holy Spirit will still work miracles. But it isn't normative. According to what we are reading here in Acts 2. This that we're observing in Acts 2. Is not happening in every charismatic church around the world on a Sunday morning.

It's just not. So those that are claiming to speak in tongues. But they're really just speaking gibberish. They're not demonstrating the kind of speaking in tongues. That we're seeing happen here in Jerusalem at Pentecost.

According to Acts 2. So then going on into verse 19. And I will put wonders in the sky above. And signs on the earth below. Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood.

Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. I can't even begin to tell you how many commentaries I read on this. That described that moon turning into blood. The sun turning into darkness. They are obviously eclipses.

And that's just not it. That is not what Joel was talking about. It's not what Peter is proclaiming here. The sun and the moon can't eclipse at the same time. Because you have to have the sun and the moon and the earth.

All in alignment for an eclipse to happen. So if the moon is in between the sun and the earth. You can have a solar eclipse. But you can't have a lunar eclipse. Those things can't happen at the same time.

Anyway, this is not talking about eclipses. It is talking about something that is happening that everyone will observe. And everyone will see. And these references to the sun turning into darkness and the moon into blood.

Are always references to judgment. Old Testament, New Testament. These were references that even pagans used to talk about judgment. If the sun were to go out or the moon were to be lost or turn to blood.

That was a negative omen. Even according to pagans. Whenever a great army would come in and conquer a territory. And they would set the cities on fire. What do you think the sun looked like when the cities were burning on fire that way?

Or the crops and the fields would be set on fire. So that the people's food supply would be gone. You have the smoke rising into the air. And it blacks out the sun. And same with the smoke rising up into the air at night.

It turns the moon into blood. It makes it a blood red. And so this is talking about judgment that is going to come upon the people. And so what is that great and awesome day of the Lord that's going to come?

Well, for the Jews at this particular time. It was going to be the judgment that Jesus had foretold in the Olivet Discourse. It was going to be the judgment that would come upon Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans.

In the Jewish-Roman War. And the destruction of the temple that would happen in 70 A .D. So that's at least the micro-fulfillment. We could look at that and still understand it to mean the final judgment that is to come.

When God pours his wrath out upon the earth. That certainly comes into play as well. But at least for the immediate context. And how it applies to these people that are being prophesied to at Pentecost.

This is the warning of the judgment of God that is coming. Jesus proclaimed it. It is going to come. The people are unnerved by what it is that they are observing. With the apostles speaking in these various languages.

And so they're being warned a day of judgment is coming. And how do you escape from that judgment? Verse 21. Once again, it will be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Everyone who calls on Yahweh.

Everyone who calls on Jesus Christ. Will be saved. And that is certainly a truth that comes down to us. To this very day. Everyone who calls on the name of Christ. Will be saved. Paul repeats that in Romans chapter 10.

It is just as true of every person today as it was for those who were standing there at Pentecost. And hearing Peter proclaim this. For all of us there is a day of judgment that is coming. And the only way to be saved from that day of judgment.

Is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That our sins would be forgiven. That we would be reconciled to God. That we would have laid up for us eternal reward in heaven. For those who believe in Jesus.

Listen to this prophetic word. All of us who have come to faith in Jesus Christ. We have nothing to dread of that day. But it will be a terrible day. Even as it's translated here in English. Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

Peter quotes specifically the Septuagint rendering of that passage. And it's great and terrible day. So that's what it is that the Jews would have heard Peter say. As he proclaims this. Before that great and terrible day of the Lord comes.

It will be a terrible day for those who do not know God. But a day of great rejoicing. For all of us. Who have called upon the Lord to be saved. Heavenly Father we thank you for what we have read. And I pray that these reminders come into our hearts.

That we understand the call for all of us to turn from sin. We would not continue in that sin any longer. Because everyone is going to have to give an account of himself before God. As said in Romans 14.

Everyone is going to have to stand before the Lord. But we know that we have nothing to fear of judgment. If we have called on the name of Jesus. If we believe in him and we have followed him. Our sins are forgiven.

We've been clothed in his righteousness. And so Lord may we walk in those things that are pleasing to you this day. Putting off every weight and every sin that so easily entangles. And running the race that is set before us.

Looking to Jesus. The author and the perfecter of our faith. It's in Jesus name we pray.

Amen.

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