It's wonderful to be here with all of you this morning.
We have a an excellent crowd and has been mentioned.
We have visitors that are among us and we want you to know you
are our honored guest and we welcome you.
Thank you for being here with us and please come back anytime you
can. We're continuing our series this
morning on the Day the Kingdom Came, and the title of our
lesson is Peter's Masterful Sermon Part 1, and in
particular, Joel's prophecy. Now I'm just going to say at the
very outset, there's a lot of deep things in this prophecy
that we have to methodically go through and sometimes they can
be a little confusing. Sometimes there's various
opinions regarding what Joel was actually referring to when he
wrote the prophetic words and also when Peter was quoting that
on this day that the Kingdom came in Acts chapter 2.
So I'm going to ask you to do this.
First of all, I'm going to do my best to describe these things
methodically in ways that are understandable and simply as I
can, I'm going to ask you to saddle up and ride with me.
Stay with me and let's go through this together.
Maybe we can have a better understanding of what Joel's
prophecy in this sermon actually was talking about.
The passages before us are found in Acts chapter 2, beginning in
verse 17. And it shall come to pass in the
last day, says God, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.
Your sons and your daughters shall prophecy.
Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall
dream dreams. And on my men, servants and my
maidservants, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they
shall prophecy. I will show wonders in heaven
above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and
vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned Into
Darkness, and the moon in the blood before the coming of the
great and awesome day of the Lord.
And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the
Lord shall be saved. As an introduction, very
briefly, last time we talked about the fact that Jesus
promised the apostles that they would receive power from on
high. They were to wait in Jerusalem.
That came in the form of the baptism of the Holy Spirit that
came to the apostles on Pentecost.
They were able to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them
utterance, and we studied that those things were not gibberish.
It was not ecstatic Babble that nobody could understand.
It was not their own private prayer language or angelic
language. It was actually normal languages
that were understood. In fact, the people that were
listening there on that day, it says there were Jews, devout men
gathered there out of every nation under heaven.
And it says that somebody said, aren't all these that speak
Galilean? And yet we hear them speak in
our own tongue or language, which means dialect, even the
dialect in which they were born. Did they understand?
They certainly did because it says that they heard them speak
the wonderful works of God. Now here's their response in
Acts chapter 2, beginning in verse 12.
So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one
another, whatever could this mean?
But notice, isn't there always this guy?
Others mocking said, these guys are full of new wine.
These guys are drunk. There's always the sarcastic
person that mocks what's going on.
They already recognized that what they were hearing was the
wonderful words and wonderful works of God.
And yet others were mocking and they said, these guys are full
of new wine. Peter's sermon now begins and he
begins with his response to them.
And this is what he says. But Peter, standing up with the
11, raised his voice and said to them, Men of Judea and all who
dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known unto you, and heed my
words. For these are not drunk as you
suppose, For it is but the third hour of the day.
Now a Jewish day began at 6:00 AM.
That was hour number one. So hour number three is 9:00 AM.
The first thing that Peter says in response to their saying
these guys are drunk, is he saying he's appealing to their
logic. This is kind of what you might
call an attention getter. Somebody says something
absolutely ridiculous and they got to get their attention.
He says, wait a minute, these men aren't drunk like you're
talking about. It's 9:00 AM in the morning.
Why is that significant? Even the Bible says First
Thessalonians 5 and seven for those who sleep, sleep at night,
and those who get drunk are drunk in the night.
So the first thing he says is getting to their attention.
He appeals to their logic and he says they're not drunk.
It's 9:00 AM in the morning. Oh, but there's more.
And very significant then he says this.
But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.
In other words, one of their Jewish prophets, one of the
things that one of the people that they would have understood,
he refers to prophecy. And by the way, you can read
these almost exact words verbatim in Joel chapter 2,
verses 28 through 32. All right?
So they would have understood that, you know, this prophecy
can be summed up really in three words.
And I got to tell you, these 3 words are very, very much
misapplied today. So you're going to hear me do
this again. You know me.
Those of you that do know me, we're going to go to context of
the scripture so we can have the proper application.
You can sum up this prophecy in three words here.
They are prophecy, visions and dreams.
And these three things are often misunderstood and
misinterpreted. So what we have to do is we got
to find out when were these things that Joel's talking about
going to take place? Well, all we got to do is look
to the very next verse and Joel and the Bible's going to tell
us. Joel was going to tell us.
Joel did tell us in prophecy and Peter quoting him tells us
again. Here it is.
It shall come to pass in the last days.
I don't have time to go into all the things that this does not
mean, but I will say this, It is absolutely imperative for us to
understand what the phrase the last days mean by Joel to
understand when this prophetic prophecy and promise was to be
given. Let me tell you what it doesn't
mean. It does not mean the end of
time. It does not mean there's just a
few days left. It doesn't mean the end of time
is coming. These are the last days.
Very important for us to understand what the last days
mean. The last days is referring to
the Christian dispensation or the final spiritual arrangement
that God will have with man on the earth.
That is encapsulated in a phrase called the last days.
All right, if you look in the Bible, there were three
dispensations of time. And I'm going to be very brief.
Some of you, this is review. Others of you may, this may be
new to you, but there's been 3 dispensations of time.
By the way, dispensation, fancy word for spiritual arrangement.
God's had three spiritual arrangements #1 the patriarchal
age, or the age of the family spiritual arrangement where God
dealt with the heads of families, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, for example. Then there was the Mosaic age,
and that was under the Law of Moses.
It was a national spiritual arrangement where God dealt with
the nation, the nation of Israel.
Then there wasn't something else.
Jesus took the old Law of Moses, according to Colossians, and he
nailed the old Law of Moses to the cross.
And I'm so thankful for that because guess what?
Now we've got a chance, now we've got hope, and now we've
got grace. Now we have things that they
never had under the law of Moses.
I'm so thankful for that. Jesus died, shed his blood on
the cross, nailed the old Law of Moses to the cross to usher in
the very last dispensation that will ever happen.
And that is the Christian age that we are in today.
Why is it called the last days then?
It's called the Last Days because there's not going to be
another. I'm grateful.
You know what happens after this eternity?
Eternity. There's not going to be another
dispensation on the earth. It's going to be a reward in
heaven one day for the child of God in the Christian age or
Christian dispensation. By the way, let me just throw
this in. How about all those that lived
before Jesus died on the cross? The Bible says in Romans 3 and
Hebrews 9, the blood of Jesus took care of the sins of those a
full time. In other words, if they live
before the Christian age and they were faithful, they were
obedient to God, they were good and righteous in the eyes of
God, then the blood of Christ went back.
Even though they're dead and gone, it went back and covered
their sin too. In the future, it covers our
sins when we become a child of God, and that will be later on
in our lesson. Very briefly, but notice the
Christian age. When did it begin?
It began in Acts Chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost in about AD
33. That's when the last days begin.
Guess what? We're in the year 2025.
We're still in the last days. If the Lord wills and the time
shall be that the world stands in 2026, If we see a new year,
it's still the last days. If the world stands for another
1000 years, it's still the last days that began in Acts 2IN
Pentecost when the Christian age was brought in the day the
Kingdom of Jesus Christ came. The Hebrew writer speaks of the
last days as this Christian spiritual arrangement too God
who at various times Hebrews one beginning in verse 1 and in
various ways spoken time past to the fathers has in these last
days spoken to us by his son who may as appointed heir of all
things through whom also he made the world's.
So the last days are the Christian age.
What's going to happen in the Christian age?
So let's methodically stay through this.
Now, what did God say? God says in the Christian age I
will pour out my spirit. What does that mean?
I will pour out my spirit. The pouring out of the Spirit is
indicative of the beginning of the miraculous age of the early
New Testament church. It is talking about a miraculous
age that began on Pentecost. On that day.
I've already noticed with you that the apostles received the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. OK, so that phrase that plays
there in the last days when the Christian dispensation begins in
Acts 2, when the Kingdom came, I'm going to pour out my Spirit.
Now, why would they do? Why did they do that?
It was necessary to confirm the Word of God because the Word of
God wasn't written yet to confirm, to reveal and confirm
the word of God as the beginning of Christianity, the
establishment of Christianity. And we already studied that
those things of the miraculous period would last until the word
of God was complete. First Corinthians 13 beginning
in verse 8. Love never fails.
But notice, please, whether there are prophecies.
This means miraculous prophecies, OK, they will fail
whether there are tongues. And by the way, that's this
where the Holy Spirit gives you the ability to speak in a
language you didn't study. OK, there's a time for that.
It's going to cease when there is knowledge.
That's miraculous knowledge given directly by God.
What's going to happen with that?
It's going to banish away for we know, impart miraculously, we
promise. I impart miraculously.
And by the way, impart means temporarily.
These things were temporary, but notice when that which is
perfect has come, then that which is in part would be done
away. And we already studied what that
was. That which is perfect is the
Word of God. James 125 is the perfect law of
liberty. So in other words, the
miraculous age that began on Pentecost would last until the
Word of God was completed. OK, notice this please.
And this is sometimes misunderstood.
God said, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.
That has to be qualified, OK? That has to be qualified.
It has to be restricted. Remember this number one, OK?
It is exclusive to the age of Miracles.
We've already shown that. That's number one.
Therefore, this particular thing regarding the pouring out of the
Holy Spirit does not apply to us today.
I want to say a little side note here, OK, Holy Spirit does
wonderful things in our life today.
The Holy Spirit is working in our life today.
The Holy Spirit is a benefit to the Christian today.
That's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying he doesn't do
anything. I'm saying the miraculous age of
the Holy Spirit is over. That's what I'm saying.
Now later on in this masterful sermon, he talks about the gift
of the Holy Spirit. And I mentioned that a few
lessons ago. And we may get into some of the
benefits of what we get with the gift of the Holy Spirit in a, in
a lesson down the road. So all that means said what you
think I'm taking a shot of the Holy Spirit?
What I'm saying is the miraculous Holy Spirit is a time
that once had and was for a reason and is no longer in
existence. Therefore, all flesh cannot
refer to you and I today. Why?
Because these things are referring to the miraculous age.
That's number one. Number two, I heard this the
other day. Oh, the Bible says the Holy
Spirit's pour down on the animals too.
It says all flesh. No, it has to be restricted. 1st
Corinthians 1539 All flesh is not the same flesh.
There is one kind of flesh of men, another kind of flesh of
animals, another kind of fish, and another a bird.
So the phrase means all flesh is referring to Jews and Gentiles.
By the way, I don't know everybody in this audience, but
I would imagine, and maybe I'm talking out of school, but I
don't think so. I think everybody here is a
Gentile, and a Gentile is anybody that's not a Jewish
person by blood. I'm grateful for this promise
here. Notice here in the age of
miracles, God poured out His Spirit.
Joel prophesied it would happen. It would be among all flesh,
which included the Jews, which by the way, like I said before,
happened to the apostles on the day of Pentecost, That's the
Jews. It happened also in the baptism
of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 10 in the household of
Cornelius. That's the Gentiles thus
fulfilling this specific prophecy of the Holy Spirit, the
baptism of the Holy Spirit being poured out on all flesh.
Now the underlying theme here is wonderful.
We don't have the miraculous direct operation of the Holy
Spirit with us like they had them.
But because it weren't the Jew and Gentile, the blessings and
Christianity in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ are for everyone.
Whether you're a Jew or a Gentile.
It doesn't matter. And Ephesians chapter 3 says it
was always God's plan that Jew and Gentile alike would be
together in one body in the Kingdom, beautiful, all because
of Jesus. Isn't that great?
Now, why is this significant? It's significant because up
until this time, the Jews were the only people that had favor
with God. Pentecost, Acts 2 would change
everything, and now the gospel would also go out to the entire
world, as we just noticed. OK, specifically then what else?
Again, we're talking about the age of Miracles, keeping
context. And by the way, by the way, if
you missed the context, you missed the applications.
We've got to stick to the context.
It's in the age of miracles. We've already talked about.
That would last until the word was completed.
The word is completed. So this doesn't apply.
What were they going to be able to do?
Also, your sons and daughters shall prophecy.
Your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream
dreams. Now Joe in this prophecy was
mentioning other blessings that come as a result of the pouring
out of the Holy Spirit. Three things.
One, your sons and daughters shall prophecy.
Now the word prophecy actually means to speak forth.
The mind of to speak, excuse me, signifies the speaking forth of
the mind and counsel of God. According to West Evine, that's
what it means. And by the way, this is
miraculous. Now, you can say that there we
prophecy when we take the Word of God and speak the word of
God, we do that, but that's not miraculous.
We do that from the word of God. In this case, this promise was
to prophecy miraculously. What else?
Two other things. This is where people get all
that little bit out of whack. Notice, please, visions and
dreams. I got a good buddy of mine.
Good. He's one of my roping partners.
He calls me on the phone. He goes, oh man, he said it must
be the last days, the end of times coming because I'm having
these dreams. Had a great study with him about
that. He was relieved because he
thought the dreams he was having meant the end of time.
Last days is not talking about the last few days of life
context. And these were talking about
specific things that happened during the age of miracles that
don't exist today. So let me sum up.
Visions and dreams refers to the way in which God has revealed
himself to the prophets in times past.
That's how God revealed himself in the old days to the prophets.
Visions and dreams. How many times can we read about
that? The Angel of the Lord said, and
so forth and so on. Visions and dreams.
Here's what God is saying in this prophecy through Jehovah.
The indication is that God intends to continue to reveal
His will to man. But now there's no partiality as
to Jew or Gentile, male or female, young or old, or bond or
free. OK, and something else
specifically too, to add to that.
Verse 18. And on my men, servants and my
maidservants, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they
shall prophecy. In other words, the Holy Spirit
who brings these miraculous measures of power will bless
others with miraculous gifts such as the gift of prophecy.
The reception of these gifts though will be through the
laying on of the apostles hands. And that examples in Acts
chapter 8 and verse 18. Philip had already gone there
and preached the word of God, but it wasn't enough.
They had to call for Peter and John to come and lay their hands
on them because they were apostles.
So, by the way, when the Word of God was completed, the
Revelation letters completed, the last apostle died.
That was John. Then so did the miraculous
measure of the Holy Spirit that also died too.
OK, three points of emphasis and interest in this prophecy #1
Joel's promise of the miraculous outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
That's number one. Number two, the Spirit would
also be miraculously poured out without distinction.
It would even go to old men and young men and #3 it would be
without social distinction. Even servants would get it to in
Joel's prophecy. Again, this emphasizes the
blessings of the gospel age is without distinction, Jew or
Gentile. This covered the entire
miraculous age of the early New Testament church when the
apostles passed on miraculous spiritual gifts on the ones
mentioned in this prophecy. So all that being said, if all
these things were in the miraculous age, then none of
these things apply to you and I today in our life.
OK, all right, let's move on. But then verses 19 and 20, I
will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth
beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
The sun shall be turned Into Darkness and the moon into
blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the
Lord. OK, now I'm going to ask you to
really TuneIn, because here we go.
A lot of stuff here, and there's a lot of speculation regarding
what are these verses talking about #1 for example, is Joel
referring or literally describing what is to shake
heaven and earth? Or is it a fearful omen to
describe the coming destruction of Jerusalem, which, by the way,
Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24 and that happened in AD 70?
Or is these passages talking about the end of time and the
final judgment of men OK? Some people believe the entire
passage is talking about when Jesus was on the cross.
Some scholars say that the entire passage is referring to
the destruction of Jerusalem that happened in 8070.
And some people believe that the entire passage is referring to
the end of time. So in my very in depth study of
this, let me take you through what I believe these passages
are referring to. First of all, we're going to
pull out phrases here. The number one phrase I want to
pull out is the sun shall be turned Into Darkness and the
moon into blood. Here's a good question for us.
Was this an eclipse? Was this an eclipse?
You can read commentators and they say it was an eclipse.
And by the way, I got to tell you, I remember as a kid, I, I
don't remember what grade I was in, but I was going to Fred L
Williams Elementary School. I remember there was an eclipse
and you really had to build those boxes and that thing as
you go see it and all that. It was kind of a big deal.
It was kind of cool, right? Not so much in the ancient
Mesopotamian world. I did a little research
regarding the concept of eclipses, for example, and I
found out some very interesting things and I want to share that
with you. In ancient Mesopotamian society,
they actually considered an eclipse as a bad omen #2 they
thought it was a sign that a Kingdom was going to be
destroyed, or a king was going to be removed, or something
really bad was going to happen to a king himself.
That's what they actually believed.
And it brings up the concept, by the way, of substitutionary
rights. Now, if you go back to the Old
Testament, I'll just say this. We understand about
substitutionary rights, and really substitutionary rights
were ordained of God in a spiritual perspective.
This is what God said. Under the Law of Moses, the
Israelites provided substitutionary atonement for
wrongs, ordinarily through the animal sacrifice.
In other words, they would take the blood of animals and the
high priest would take the blood of animals for the atonement of
the sins of the people. God ordained that.
And by the way, all of those animals represented the blood of
Jesus that would be shed later on on the cross way down the
road, right. But let me tell you what society
did society, not God took it a step further and we and brought
in the idea of a substitute king.
In other words, human substitution was much rarer.
One example is the substitute king known from the Mesopotamian
text, with most examples from the time of the Assyrian king
Esther Hadden. That was in the early 7th
century BC. What in the world does all that
mean? The concept of the substitute
king OK was precipitated stay with me by the omen, generally
an eclipse that predicted the demise of the king.
In order to save himself from this fate, he temporarily
removed himself from the throne and informed an expendable
substitute enlisted for that purpose.
Further, in some cases the substitute was someone
considered of no significance and perhaps even mentally or
physically impaired. He was then exalted to a high
status of office for as long as 100 days, though often for a
shorter period. And during this time, the real
king was kept in relative isolation.
It was a virtual exile, participating in numerous
purification rituals. Meanwhile, guess what happened?
The substitute king went through the motions of sitting on the
throne, and during that time all of the so-called bad omens were
passed on to the substitute. I'm going to let that sit for a
minute. The substitute will be on the
throne. The bad omens will be passed to
the substitute who did nothing wrong, that was completely
innocent. All the while the other king,
the real king, was safe. You know what they actually
called the substitute king? You can't make this stuff up.
You know what they called him? A shepherd, yeah, you know
what's coming. But you know what he really was?
He was a lamb about to go to the slaughter.
At the end of the period, the substitute was put to death so
that the evident design of the quote UN quote gods would be
accomplished. As one text read, he died to
save the king and the Crown Prince, but his sacrifice is
also understood to accomplish redemption of the people.
And so the substitute king and his queen were put to death,
carrying the fate of the real king upon himself.
So I believe this first phrase, the sun shall be turned Into
Darkness and the moon into blood.
That phrase I believe, is referring to our substitute
Jesus Christ on the cross, who was sacrificed for our sins.
Only this was not a natural eclipse.
It was a prophetic miracle according to Bowls and Zerah.
Wow. In Luke chapter 23, beginning in
verse 44, that's what happened. It was about the 6th hour and
there was darkness over all the earth until the 9th hour.
Then the sun was dark and then the Bale of the temple was torn
into. That's what happened.
Now let's notice these other two phrases, please.
So I think this phrase here is with reference to our substitute
Jesus Christ on the cross. What about the other two
phrases, blood and fire, vapor and smoke, and then this phrase
here before the coming and great and awesome day of the Lord.
What is that talking about? Well, first of all, some
commentators say that blood and fire, vapor and smoke, or even
in reference to the Passover with all the Passover lambs that
were shed during that time, they were killed, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, and all the ideas, they have some merit, but
I think in context, what makes the most sense.
This is what happened to Jesus, blood and fire, vapor and smoke,
and before the coming of the great and awesome day.
Those two phrases I believe are talking about the destruction of
Jerusalem and it happened in AD 70.
The destruction of Jerusalem was also a prophetic type or a
picture of the end of time. How do I know that?
Well, first of all, let me just say this.
Blood suggests, as one scholar said, the bloodshed that would
occur. And fire suggests the burning of
the city that could have produced billows of smoke.
Now, let me talk about the destruction of Jerusalem.
You might say. What in the world was that?
The destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus foretold about it in
Matthew 24. I've said a lot of things to you
about the destruction of Jerusalem in the past.
This is not what I've said to you before.
This is something else. And the destruction of
Jerusalem, it was marked by both blood and fire.
By the way, this is all history. You can just you can look it up
too. Accounts describe widespread
bloodshed from mass killings and the temple of the city being
engulfed in flames. As described by the historian
Josephus, Roman soldiers intentionally set fire to the
temple and the rest of the city, burning it to the ground.
Archaeological evidence confirms a massive fire, with reports of
the flames reaching extreme temperatures.
Now, historical accounts describe the Roman soldiers
killing of the Jews indiscriminately, even those who
begged for their lives. The historian Josephus noted
that the number of the slain were greater than those of the
slayers, and the streets flowed with blood.
So in context, the great and awesome day of the Lord refers,
I believe, to the destruction of Jerusalem in context.
But notice, here's my reason. The very next verse allows us to
know their salvation in the midst of such a terrible
calamity. Verse 21 And it shall come to
pass that whoever calls in the name of the Lord shall be saved.
This verse restores hope. In the midst of turmoil there
still can be found salvation. The Jews who became Christians
were spared in the destruction of Jerusalem.
Remember Jesus gave them 5 remote signs, Matthew 24 and 1
immediate sign. And the immediate sign is when
you see the armies come and get out and go to the mountains.
They knew. The people of God knew, they
understood, and they waited and they got out.
And Josephus, a Roman historian, said when they came to destroy
the entire city, and when that happened, Rome pulled back and
every Christian got out. Christians got out.
Now in addition, all humanity going beyond this has the same
hope in Jesus before the end of time, that whoever calls on the
name of the Lord shall be saved. In the days before the
destruction of Jerusalem. They would be saved in the
destruction of Jerusalem and also eternally saved.
The Christian today that lived way longer and after the
destruction of Jerusalem like us today, guess what?
Still the same hope, whoever calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved. Isn't that great?
My question is this though. What's it mean?
What's it mean calling on the name of the Lord?
I'm going to prove this to you, I promise, and I'm going to give
you a Bible. Calling on the name of the Lord
does not just mean speaking the Lord's name.
It also does not mean, and it's also not exclusive to confessing
your faith in Jesus either. That's not what calling on the
name of the Lord means either. It involves those things, yes,
but more than that. What did Jesus say?
I'm a name drop. I'm a name drop.
The master. What did you say?
Not everyone says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the Kingdom of
heaven, but he that does the will of my Father, which is in
heaven. What did Jesus also say?
He says, Why do you call me Lord Lord and do not do the things
that I say? So calling on the name of the
Lord to be saved is a promise, right?
It has to be more than just calling on His name.
So what does it actually mean to call on the name of the Lord?
Well, first of all, the word call means to invoke adore,
worship the Lord, IE Christ. It is the same Greek word for
calling that's found in a very familiar passage in Acts 2216,
where the context shows that calling on the name of the Lord
for salvation means to obey His commands.
And that fits exactly what Jesus said.
Why you call me Lord. Lord, don't do the things I say.
Jesus says if you love me, keep my commandments.
He also said, if you love me, keep my words.
And if you keep my words, you will abide in my love as I've
kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
So calling on the name of the Lord is obeying what the Lord
said in Acts chapter 22 and verse 16.
Very interesting, very familiar passage.
The apostle Paul was converted. Jesus appears before him.
He blinds him dead in his tracks.
He said, why are you persecuting me?
He said, who are you, Lord? He said, I'm Jesus who you are
persecuting. It's hard for you to kick
against the goads. He said, what do you want me to
do, Lord? You think he believed?
Yeah, he believed. Oh, he believed.
He said, what do you want me to do?
He said you go into Damascus and you go down to the street, which
is called straight, and it'll be told to you what you're going to
do. He prays for three days, Three
days. Was he saved?
Let me ask you something. If he couldn't pray his sins
away in three days, how does a person today think they could
pray their sins away in one little sentence prayer this
notice what happened. He already prayed for three
days. He was a chosen vessel of Jesus
to be an apostle. This was going to be the Lord's
right hand guy and this is what happened after he prayed for
three days. Ananias says what are you
waiting? Arise and be baptized and wash
away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
I already said that calling on the name of the Lord is obeying
the Lord's command. The first thing you got to do is
obey the gospel. That's what He commanded us to
do. What is that?
To be baptized for the remission of our sins.
In this passage it says be baptized to wash away your sins.
That's what calling on the name of the Lord is from the
Scriptures. So on the day the Kingdom came
in, Acts 2, Peter began his sermon with the words of the
prophet Joel. OK, Peter after this preaches
Jesus. I love how he set it all up.
He went through the early miraculous age of prophecy.
Why did he do that? Because they said these guys are
drunk when they were speaking in languages they never studied,
when everybody was hearing them and they were speaking in their
own language. And by the way, there were Jews,
devout men gathered there out of every nation under heaven.
Scholars tell us there was probably over 1,000,000 people
there, and everybody there from their own dialect heard and
understood. So they said these guys are
drunk. Peter says, no, it's only 9:00
AM, and what you're hearing is the beginning of the miraculous
age. And one of your prophets, your
Jewish prophets, prophesied about that.
That was Joe's prophecy. Next he preaches Jesus.
That'll be my next sermon in this series.
Thank you so much for your kind listening.
I hope this was understandable. I hope it was clear.
I really do. If you have any questions,
please let me know afterwards. But but a lot of things here,
they're sometimes misunderstood and taken out of context.
And so I hope we have a better understanding about those
things. We never close a time when we
assemble and teach from the Word of God that we don't extend an
invitation to somebody that might be subject to the
invitation. The steps to become a child of
God are very simple. We touched on a little bit of
that, but first of all, Romans 10/17 says so.
Then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
In other words, the Word of God and the hearing of the Word of
God must produce faith. In fact, after you hear the Word
of God, you got a choice. Do you believe it or don't you
believe it? You got to believe with all your
heart. Hebrews 11 and 6.
Without faith it's impossible to please Him, for he who comes to
God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those
who diligently seek Him. Do you believe?
Surely you do. Then you got to repent of your
sins. And all that means is this.
I got to change my ways. I'm going in that direction.
I'm going to fall to the Lord today, that's all.
Am I going to be perfect? No, I'm going to fall down, make
all kinds of mistakes. I'm going to change my
direction. That's what repentance is.
It's a changing twenty of these times of ignorance God
overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.
Then what must I do? I must confess that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. Acts 837 And Philip said, if you
believe with all your heart, you may.
And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God. All of these steps point toward
the point of salvation. They are necessary.
They're part of the plan of salvation.
But then we must be baptized for the remission of our sins.
That is the point of salvation, where we contact the blood of
Jesus, have our sins washed away.
Jesus himself said in Mark 16/16.
He who believes that is baptized will be saved, but he who does
not believe will be condemned. Is baptism what saves us, or is
it just an outward sign of an inward faith or a confirmation
of what we already are? Let's go to one more verse and
I'm done. First, Peter 321 The LAX figure
where the even baptism does also now save us.
Not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of
a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. When you realize I'm a Sinner
and I'm away from Jesus, you know what you need?
You need an answer. Baptism for the remission of
sins is the answer. Are you here and you're not a
child of God? We can assist you in that.
We can baptize you for the remission of your sins.
Maybe you have, maybe you've drifted away.
Maybe there's something in your life you need to correct.
I don't know what it could be. If we could be here for you for
any way. Come forward while we stand,
while we say.