Open http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JceziOFRwQ (First 59 seconds… fade out sound)
What you’ve just seen is a pyrotechnic display at a Paul McCartney concert. It’s become almost common place for big name performers to have displays like this in their shows.
Can you imagine what it would have been like to be in that crowd when McCartney 1st did that? It would pretty wild, wouldn’t it?
But why would McCartney (and other big name stars) do things like this? Isn’t their music enough for their fans?
Well, yeah… but these performers are looking for something more. Something that will catch the attention of their audience… something they'll remember.
Now here in the book of Acts 2, we find God doing a little “something more”.
He puts on a little pyrotechnic display all His own.
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Acts 2:1-4
Can you image what it would have been like to be in THAT church service?
Can you imagine the surprise you’d have felt as you heard the sound of a violent wind, and then there’s this tongue of fire that entered the room and it the fire splits into sections and one of those sections sits on YOUR head. And you begin to praise God in a language you’ve never learned.
Next couple verses tell us that “Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.”
So, not only have you heard the wind, seen the flames, spoken in a language you’ve never learned BUT now you’re being understood by thousands of people on the street. They hear you declaring the wonders of God - and praising Him - in THEIR language.
That would be pretty wild, wouldn’t it?
I mean that would be cool!!!
(PAUSE) But WHY would God want to do that that way?
Because… He wanted something that would catch the attention of the crowd. He wanted something they'd remember for a really long time. In fact, God was so intent on this particular event that He even prophesied it 800 years before by the prophet Joel.
Peter declared: “…this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel” Acts 2:16
Now, there are some folks that get all tied up with the pyrotechnics of this event. They get all excited about the attention getters and fail to understand that that was pretty much what it was.
The wind, and the flames, and the tongues were all just window dressing for the real message that God wanted to get across that day.
Because once God’s got the crowd’s attention Peter gets up and begins to preach.
And there’s no wind/ no flame, no speaking in tongues.
It’s just a wild and powerful sermon that does more than those spectacles could ever have accomplished on their own.
And Peter preached a powerful message.
His message was comprised of 4 major components
1st - God sent Jesus to mankind
“Jesus of Nazareth was a man ACCREDITED BY GOD TO YOU by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.” Acts 2:22
2nd – not only had God sent Jesus to them, but many in this crowd had had Jesus put to death.
“This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; AND YOU, with the help of wicked men, PUT HIM TO DEATH by nailing him to the cross.” Acts 2:23
3rd – not only had Jesus been sent to them, and they had crucified Him… but He didn’t stay dead – He rose from the grave.
“God RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” Acts 2:24
And 4th - now Jesus is seated at the right hand of God to rule and reign
(He’s been) “Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” Acts 2:33
Throughout his sermon, Peter quoted prophecies from the Old Testament to prove his points.And had he wanted, Peter could have been up there all day… because there are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament – and that’s not even mentioning all the imagery and object lessons God planted throughout the Law and the Prophets that told who Jesus was, and what He had come to do.
This was some pretty wild preaching.
Nothing like it had ever been declared before, because THIS wasn’t just “theology” – this was a declaration that God has done something different. God had stepped down out of heaven, stripped Himself of deity and allowed Himself to die on the cross for our sins.
In fact this was such a wild and powerful message that when Paul & Silas preached it in Thessalonica many people complained that "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. Acts 17:6 (NKJV)
ILLUS: There is a story told of an evangelist who preached on that very text (Acts 17:6). And he began by saying,
“First, the world is wrong side up.
Second, the world must be turned upside down.
Third, we are the men to set it right.”
(From an illustration by A.B. Simpson)
But what was it about the message that convinced the world that it is “WRONG side up”?
Well, it’s the one thing in the Gospel message that never sets well with some folks.
In Acts 2:36 Peter declared: "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom YOU CRUCIFIED, both Lord and Christ."
THEY had crucified Jesus.
In fact, this was a repeated message for Peter and Paul and any other person who preached.
Jesus died… and YOU put Him on the cross.
It was so much a part of the message that the Sanhedrin got angry about it. They said to Peter and James: "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name… Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to MAKE US GUILTY of this man’s blood." Acts 5:28
The Gospel message is this:
You and I are sinners.
We deserve to go to hell.
BUT… Jesus died in our place.
He died because of our sins.
OUR SINS put Him on the cross
ILLUS: That’s offensive. And many people object to that message. The famous singer Billy Joel got upset and said: “There's a guy... nailed to a cross and dripping blood, and everyone's blaming themselves for that man's torment, but I said to myself, 'Forget it. I had no hand in that evil. I have no original sin. There's no blood of any sacred martyr on my hands. I pass on all of this."
Well, Joel CAN’T do that.
He can’t pass on this.
He’s as filled with sin as the rest of us.
His sins DID put Jesus on the cross.
But the idea of being called a sinner angered and annoyed him. He didn’t like being talked to that way. He was way too important for that.
ILLUS: There was a famous evangelist named Peter Cartwright. One day when the President of the United States, Andrew Jackson came to church the elders warned the preacher not to offend the President. You see – back in those days, the President could seriously influence a denomination and the elders of that church had no desire to have President Jackson angry at them. So, they insisted that Cartwright must not offend the President Jackson.
Cartwright got up to speak, the first words out of his mouth are these,
"I understand that President Andrew Jackson is here this morning. I have been requested to be very guarded in my remarks. Let me say this: Andrew Jackson will go to hell if doesn't repent of his sin!"
And the entire congregation gasped in shock.
This was no way to talk about the President of the United States.
After the service, Andrew Jackson met the preacher at the door - looked at him in the eye and said "Sir, if I had a regiment of men like you, I could conquer the world!"
Jackson was impressed!!!
But why?
Because he’d just heard a preacher speak the truth to him, as nobody had ever done before.
He might have been the President of the United States… but he still needed Jesus.
That’s pretty wild preaching, because that’s a pretty wild message.
But the results of that message was even wilder.
When did Peter preach this sermon? What day was it? (Pentecost)
That’s right: Pentecost. Pentecost means the 50th, because it was a special holy day observed by the Jews 50 days after the Passover. This specific Pentecost is the last one ever mentioned in
And how many people responded to Peter’s sermon?
How many repented and were baptized? (3000)
This was the LAST Pentecost ever recorded in Scripture.
If there was a last Pentecost, there had to be a first Pentecost. And the first Pentecost would have been 50 days after the first Passover.
When did Israel celebrate their FIRST Passover feast? (in Egypt before they left their slavery)
So, if Israel was leaving Egypt the day after they celebrated the first Passover… where do you think they were 50 days later? (at the Mountain of God). When they arrived at that mountain, Moses went up to receive the 10 Commandments. But when he came down he discovered that Israel had made a golden calf to worship and were apparently engaged in certain behaviors that were offensive.
God’s mad. Moses is mad
Moses breaks the 10 commandments, storms into the camp, seizes the golden calf and grinds it to powder and puts it into the camp drinking supply and commands the people to drink from it.
Now, the Bible doesn’t say, but the story seems to indicate that there were certain people who rebelled against Moses. I get the impression they told him to go take a hike – they weren’t drinking that water.
Moses says “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me” – and all the tribe of Levi come to him. Essentially, Moses tells them, “go strap on your swords boys, cause we’re going to go clean house!” And they went and killed all who refused to repent.
Guess how many people died around the first Pentecost? (3000)
How many were saved at the last Pentecost? (3000)
Do you think that’s a coincidence?
I don’t.
I think God left that for us so that we’d see and marvel at the intricacy of His Word.
And in that simple truth, God drove home the truth that He revealed to us in 2 Corinthians 3:6
“the letter (of the Law) kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
But wait… there’s more.
Not only was the message wild, and the results were wild… but so was the invitation.
There was an offer made at the end of the message that was unlike anything anyone had ever heard before.
Think about this for a minute.
Imagine you were in the crowd that morning… and you know you were ALSO in the crowd that called for Jesus to be crucified. You were there when the Pharisees and the Chief Priests whipped the crowd into a frenzy and your voice joined the others as you demanded:
“Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
And you said it over and over, again and again and again.
And NOW you find out that you were a party to the execution of the Messiah, the Son of God.
Think about that.
You’ve killed the Son of God.
What would you think God would do about that?
I mean, if somebody killed YOUR son/daughter… what would you want done?
ILLUS: Now, Jesus actually told a parable about that in His ministry. He said:
"There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.
Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
"But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him & threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
"Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"
"He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time." Matthew 21:33-41
A wretched end?
He’s gonna kill them!
Because that’s what they deserved.
Now these folks at Pentecost have killed the Son of God.
What do you think THEY deserved? (Pause)
And so, in holy fear, the crowd erupts with a cry “WHAT SHALL WE DO?”
And Peter’s reply is so wildly simple and direct and undeserved that many people still can’t believe it.
"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.” Acts 2:38
That’s it?
Repent? Just admit that you’ve sinned and determine not to live like that anymore?
Yeah, that’s it.
That’s all?
Be Baptized? Just allow yourself to buried in a watery grave?
Yeah, that’s all.
Because Jesus’ death on the cross was not just their fault (and ours)… it was God’s plan.
“This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” Acts 2:23
Your sins (and mine) may have been the reason Jesus was nailed to the cross, but it wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been God’s plan and purpose for Him to be there. This idea that God would so freely forgive us is hard for many to understand. But once people are confronted by the blood stained savior… it can change their lives forever.
CLOSE: I recently talked with a man who remembered how Jesus’ death had affected him.
He was in Sunday School and the teacher was telling about how Jesus had died for our sins. He says he can distinctly remember where his chair was at (2nd row, 2 seats from the cement wall in the basement of the church building).
She brought a picture of Jesus on the cross. He’d seen pictures like this dozens of times before, but this time he saw it in an entirely different way. He could see the blood from the wounds, and he could sense the pain Jesus must have endured. And his mouth dropped open.
He’d been in Church and Sunday school ever since he could remember. But he’d never seen Jesus quite like that before.
He realized HIS sins were the reason Jesus was on the cross. And it shook him so powerfully that all he could do is just stare at the picture in amazement.
Jesus did this for HIM.
Jesus had died on the cross for HIS sins.
And He’d faced this terrible punishment and death… because He loved this young man.
INVITATION.
