Lesson
8
Peter
Preaches Christ/God's Plan For Us
II. Peter
Preaches Christ/God's Plan For Us
A. The Day of
Pentecost
The feast of Pentecost
was a holy day in Israel, fifty days after the Passover. Jews from all over the
world were gathered at Jerusalem. The news spread through the city of the
events that had taken place in the upper room. A great multitude gathered to
see what was happening. The disciples were still rejoicing and speaking in
tongues under the intoxicating influence of the Spirit. Jesus had promised the
disciples in John 16:22-24, that the day would soon come when their hearts
would be filled with a joy that no man could take from them. The Baptism of the
Holy Ghost was the fulfilling of that promise. The Apostle Peter later
described it as "joy unspeakable and full of Glory" (I Peter 1:8). As
the disciples continued to rejoice, suddenly amazement rippled through the
crowd like a wave. The multitude of Jews began to hear the disciples praising
God in their own native languages. They knew the disciples had no way of
knowing these languages on their own. Some reacted by asking the question,
"What meaneth this?" Others dismissed the whole event by accusing the
disciples of being drunk.
B. Peter Preaches
Peter heard their
false accusations of drunkenness and immediately stood up in the disciples
defense. It was not the same fearful Peter who had cowardly denied his Lord as
Jesus was being led to His crucifixion. It was a strong Simon Peter who stood
and addressed the crowd that was gathered to see this marvelous
event. It was a Peter who had been given "power from on high" through
the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. It was the Peter that Jesus foresaw when He
declared unto him, that He would give Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
Peter was now ready to use those keys. First he was to preach to them about the
same precious Lord whom he had denied. This time his words were not words of
defeat and cowardly denial, but words that rang forth with victory.
C. Peter Preaches
with Power
He preached with power
that only the anointing of the Holy Spirit can give. The other eleven apostles
stood with Peter in full agreement as he preached the very first sermon of the
newborn church of Jesus Christ. His message was: "Ye men of ludea, and all
ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
for these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of
the day" (Acts 2:14-15).
1. Fulfillment of
Joel's Prophecy
Peter declared that
the outpouring of the Holy Ghost was the fulfillment of Joel's wonderful
prophecy, that in the last days God would pour out of His Spirit upon all flesh
(Joel 2:28). A worldwide outpouring of the Holy Ghost, with the accompanying
initial sign of speaking in other tongues, would be God's blessing upon
humanity throughout the church age. He preached to them the death, burial and
resurrection of Christ, and told them that their own wicked hands were guilty
of His death on Calvary.
2. The Exalted
Christ
Peter climaxed his
sermon by declaring that God had made that same Jesus, whom they had crucified,
both Lord and Christ. Conviction gripped the hearts of the people as Peter
preached his inspired sermon. In desperation and heartfelt sincerity, they
cried out to Peter and to the rest of the Apostles, "Men and brethren,
what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37).
D. God's Plan of
Salvation
An honest question
deserves an honest answer. This is especially true when man's destiny in
eternity is at stake. They asked, "What shall we do?" This was an all
important question. They wanted to know how they could be saved. The
responsibility rested squarely on Peter's shoulders to deliver to the multitude
the proper New Testament plan for salvation. Peter had been given the keys to
the kingdom. For the first time he was about to use those keys to unlock the
door of salvation to those present. Without hesitation and with the full
support of the other apostles, Peter's voice boomed
forth the answer to the thousands of hungry listeners before him.
"Then
Peter said unto them, repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
lesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:38).
How beautiful! By
simply obeying God's command to repent of their sins, and be baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ, they were promised the same glorious baptism of the Holy
Ghost that the one hundred and twenty had received that same day. In the next
verse Peter extended the promise of the Holy Ghost to all believers throughout
the church age, until Jesus comes again.
"For
the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:39).
Peter
spoke many other words, exhorting the crowd to save themselves without delay.
By the time Peter was finished, the Word of God had done its work. Three
thousand souls presented themselves for baptism in Jesus Name. We know that God
fulfilled His promise and baptized them all with the Holy Ghost. The mighty
blessings of God were falling in Jerusalem.