“They Believed in Spirit-Filled Preaching”
Acts 2:14-41
In the last message from Acts we saw that the Apostles and first church believed in the Holy Spirit. They had waited for what the Father had promised, the indwelling and infilling of the Holy Spirit. There was no way they could or we can do all that Jesus ever began to do and teach without the Holy Spirit.
As they were filled with the Holy Spirit they began to speak with other tongues {Acts 2:1-4}. Remember now, they were not speaking in an unknown tongue, they were speaking in their own language and the people groups gathered there that day, about 13 different groups, were hearing them praise God in their own tongue.
Many were amazed and perplexed and were asking what this must mean, while there were others that mocked and accused them of being drunk {Acts 2:12-13}. Whenever you seek to live out the Spirit-filled life there will be those who just do not understand and will mock and criticize you.
In vs. 14 Peter takes his stand with the other Apostles and begins to deliver the first sermon ever preached by the church. In vs. 15 He tells those listening that those praising God were not drunk. It was just the third hour of the day. You and I may not understand this but the Jews gathered would have, they knew that no one drank wine before 9:00am and even then it was almost always only with meals. He then began to explain with vs. 16 just what had taken place.
He begins to preach a Spirit-filled sermon that was filled with the power and presence of God. I think it’s interesting that not until Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit that he began to preach. No preacher, should ever seek to preach without having been filled with the Holy Spirit. I also think it’s interesting that He did not preach until the church had worshipped and praised God. Praise and worship prepares both the heart of the preacher and the heart of the listener for what God has to say.
From these Scriptures {vs.14-41} we can define what Spirit-filled preaching is.
1. Spirit-Filled Preaching is Biblical Preaching.
What I mean is that Spirit filled preaching is always centered on the Bible. When we read Acts 1 we see Peter quoting the Scriptures. He quoted the Old Testament, they didn’t have the New testament as we do today. He, and most likely the other Christians gathered together before Pentecost had read, studied, and knew the Scriptures. Now, being filled with the Holy Spirit He and they not only knew the Scriptures but could understand and interpret the Scriptures. I can imagine that Peter had spent hours reading, studying, meditating, and memorizing the Word. When he, with the other eleven stepped up to preach He and they were filled with the Spirit of God and the Word of God.
This is good place to say that the preacher is called of God to preach the word of God concerning the Son of God as he is filled with the Spirit of God. {2 Timothy 2:1-5 NASB}
1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. 5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Paul charges Timothy with preaching the word in season and out of season. As a pastor we are called to do so many things but our primary calling is to preach and teach the Word. We are to reprove and rebuke {correct} and to exhort {encourage} the body with great patience and instruction. This is precisely why God gave the church deacons. A deacons primary ministry {service} is to care for the physical and emotional needs of the body so the pastor can give his time to prayer and study of the Word and thereby be filled with the Spirit when he preaches or proclaims the Word. {Acts 6:1-7}.
Did you know that the 3 or 4 point sermon that we preachers and you listeners hear today is a new thing. During the days of Charles Spurgeon, over a hundred years ago, it wasn’t uncommon to preach a sermon that was four or more points and each point would be expounded throughly. The sermon part of the worship service might have lasted an hour or more.
If we go back to the days of the puritans {500 years} it wasn’t uncommon for a sermon to have 8 to 12 points, each point expounded, and the sermon lasting for hours. If we go all the way back to Paul it was not uncommon for people to sit all night listening to the word preached {Acts 20:7}.
The sermon over the years has been shortened because we are not capable of sitting and listening to the Word of God at great length. It’s interesting to me that we are a generation known for knowledge. We know more about the world today than any generation before us but we know less about the Word of God than any generation before us. We are a generation that has seen knowledge grow expendentially and yet we are a generation that knows not the bible.
As Peter begins to explain what has taken place at Pentecost He does it by using the Scriptures. He begins with Joel 2:28-32 {Acts 2:17-21}. It is a text that was written during a time of great disaster upon Israel. In the midst of gloom and doom, God through His prophet, tells the people that a day is coming, latter days, when God will bless the people. He says;
Acts 2:17-21; 17'And it shall be in the last days,' God says, 'That I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; 18 Even upon My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit And they shall prophesy. 19'And I will grant wonders in the sky above, And signs on the earth beneath, Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. 20'The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. 21'And it shall be, that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' NASB
Peter uses this text primarly because it clearly prophecies the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit in the latter days. All that was happening that day at Pentecost was the fulfillment of prophecy.
He next quotes the King and prophet David {Ps.16:8-11}
Acts 2:25-28; I was always beholding the Lord in my presence; For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. 26'Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; Moreover my flesh also will abide in hope; 27 Because Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades,
Nor allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay. 28'Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; Thou wilt make me full of gladness with Thy presence.' NASB
David could not possibly have been speaking of himself, vs. 29, he did die, his body did decay, and his tomb was with them even to this day, they could have walked over to his grave and dug up the bones if they wanted. So, what was David speaking of: He was speaking of Jesus Christ and His resurrection. Jesus would die, His body would be buried, but it would be preserved and raised incorruptible.
Peter next uses Ps. 110:1 {Acts. 2:34-35}
Acts 2:34-35; 34 "For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, 35 Until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet. "' NASB
This prophecy is used over twenty five times in the New Testament. “The Lord said to my Lord” would be translated “Jehovah the self-sufficent self-existent God said to my Adonai, the Lord of my life and the Savior of my soul.” This Scripture is prophecy concerning both the person and the ascension of Christ.
Peter backs up all his preaching with Scripture. It is the spirit-filled, bible based preaching that moves the hearts of men. James Montgomery Boice noted that half of Peter’s message was Scripture quotations. In other words half of his message was cititation and half was exposition. Like most other preachers today, I use stories and analogies to try to push a truth through. There is nothing wrong with it but we must make sure that we preach His word and not ours. Spirit-filled preaching is first and most of all biblical.
2. Spirit-Filled Preaching is Christ Centered. {22-24; 30-33; 36}
It was Pentecost, the church has just been indwelt with and in-filled with the Holy Spirit. You think Peter would give a message on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, His gifts, His works, His purpose, it just makes sense. But, that is not what He does. His whole message is centered on Christ, not the Holy Spirit.
Jesus teaching His disciples said:
John 15:26; "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me, NASB
John 16:13-16; 13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 "He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you. 15 "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you. 16 "A little while, and you will no longer behold Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me." NASB
The purpose of the indwelling and infilling of the Holy Spirit in our lives is so that we, all of us, especially preachers, may powerfully and boldly proclaim Christ.
My pastor used to say and you’ve heard me quote it before; “all preaching has some teaching and all teaching has some preaching but whether we are preaching or teaching there will always be the gospel.
Look at how Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit expounds on the prophetic Scriptures:
Acts 2:22-25; 22 "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 performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — 23 this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24 "And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. NASB
Acts 2:29-34; 29 "Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 "And so, because he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants upon his throne, 31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. 32 "This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33 "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. NASB
Acts 2:36; 36 "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ — this Jesus whom you crucified." NASB
Any preaching that does not have as its end a glorified, resurrected Christ is not Spirit-filled preaching. Put another way, “Spirit-filled preaching cannot help but exalt a risen glorified Christ.
3. Spirit-Filled Preaching is Invitational.
Acts 2:37-40; 37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" 38 And Peter said to them, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself." 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation!" NASB
Paul says it this way:
2 Cor 5:20-21; 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. NASB
I know pastors who do not give invitations and believers who do not believe in inviting, begging, pleading, and actively witnessing for others to come to Christ. When I consider the consequences of not coming to Christ I cannot help but give the invitation.
Look at vs.40 again; And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting {encouraging and pleading} them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation.
The context of the verse suggests that Peter didn’t just lay it out there and he was done with it. He kept on pushing forward begging these people to come to Christ.
4. Spirit-Filled Preaching is Transformational.
Acts 2:41; So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls. NASB
Peter preached the word of God as he was filled with the Spirit of God. He preached the Bible, He kept Christ at the center, and He pushed the invitation and three thousand souls were saved and baptized.
Now, I want to be very clear here. I don’t want you to go away thinking that souls saved is always the result of spirit-filled preaching. The end of what any preacher does is not to save souls. The salvation of the lost is so important but it’s not the end of our preaching. The end of all Spirit-filled preaching like the Spirit-filled life is the glory of God and exaltation of Christ. Soul-saving is the Holy Spirits business and any preacher who is filled with the Spirit and walking with the Lord is going to want to see souls saved but that is not the end of Spirit-filled preaching.
The point I want to make is that Spirit-filled preaching will transform lives. It will take what is dead and bring new life into it. It will take what is blind and cause it to see. It will take what is broken and bring healing. It will take what looks hopeless and bring great hope. And it is not the preacher or his preaching that does it, it is the Spirit, Holy Spirit, that indwells and in fills the preacher.
I close with this, a few weeks ago we looked at just what it means to be filled with the Spirit. It is not speaking in tongues or miracles or healing as some would suggest. Every where you find the church in Acts filled with the Holy Spirit there was always a bold and powerful witness to everything that Jesus ever began to do and teach.
