If you would, go ahead and take your copy of God's Word and turn to the book of Acts with me as we continue this study. Turn to the book of Acts, in particular, chapter 2, as we'll continue to move through this narrative. Well last week, if you recall, I opened with this idea of circumstances or situations in our life that most likely will happen. So things that most likely will happen that we have to wait on patiently. It's probable that these things will happen and we have to wait. And so continuing that theme or analogy to open this week, As you wait patiently, as you are right on the edge, if you want to say, as it's right there that this occurrence is going to take place, this event is going to happen, we attempt in those waiting times to prayerfully prepare and do what we can to be ready for whatever is going to come, to whatever we are anticipating. But we all know for all of us sitting here this morning that has any bit of life experience, man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps, doesn't he? You can plan and prepare, and we should. I'm not dismissing planning and preparing, except for some of you who may disagree with what I just said, but you plan and prepare. We're called to do that, but we know that usually we plan and prepare, and the way we think it's gonna turn out is not the way it usually turns out. And so you attempt to prepare for things like graduation from high school or college, and you plan out your future, but we all know majors change, events take place, you may step away and head in a completely different direction. In preparation for that gracious gift that the Lord's given us in that picture of marriage, you prepare, you hopefully seek counsel, you go through things like premarital counseling, which are good and right, but for married couples sitting here, we know there's a lot of on-the-job training, right? There's a lot of day-to-day training that, yes, principles drive our decisions and those day-to-days, but we aren't always ready. And then before, by God's grace, your first child. By God's grace, you have a child. And you try and read every single one of Paul Tripp's books or seminars you can get your hands on. You try and go through all of those things, but there's nothing like being in the middle of a grocery store and the two-year-old cripples you. And you're like, wait a second, I shepherded that child's heart. They should just listen to me right now. But it doesn't always go that way. And so we've come to a point in the narrative of God's unfolding plan and story of redemption where The 120 or so who are in this upper room, the wait is soon to be over. It's God's unfolding plan. So Jesus has been resurrected. He spent 40 days with the apostles, and then he left with the promise that we studied in Acts 1, where it said, and while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father. Which he said, you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. And so he promises them that not many days from now, not too long, they will receive this promised Holy Spirit, and then they will receive power in the promise of the Holy Spirit, and then they will go out from Jerusalem, and they will go out to the uttermost parts of the earth, to Judea and Samaria and beyond. And so we know the ascension took place. He takes off, he's gone in the clouds as they're looking up. The two angels come down and they look at them kind of like, what in the world are you looking at? Get to work. And so these 120 of them obey the command of Christ, and they head back. The apostles, the ladies, including Mary, Jesus' brothers, and other brothers and sisters and disciples of Christ. And they go to this place in Jerusalem, and they're staying in an upper room. They're worshiping, they're praising, they're praying, they're fellowshipping. At some point, we know they picked a replacement for Judas Matthias. And here they are. Here we are. The promise is gonna be kept, which is the title of our message today. We'll look at Acts chapter two, verses one to 13, under the promise kept. Under the first four verses, we'll look at the promise fulfilled. And then in verses five to 13, we'll look at the people respond. And with that said, let me go ahead and pray for our time in this text. Lord Jesus, you make promises, you've made promises, and you never, ever break them. Lord, we sitting here today, every single one of us, have made promises, and we continue to make promises, and we break them. We are unfaithful when you're faithful. you fulfill your promise every single time. And we will see that today. May we rest in, as we think through this text today, may we rest in your promises that are unfailing, they are unwavering, immovable. And so we trust you. And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, let's look at these first four verses under the promise fulfilled. Acts 2.1. When the day of Pentecost arrived, it's finally here, they were all together in one place. Remembering some of the principles of the foundations of the church, they're together in this one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. and divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." And so the not many days of verses 4 and 5 are here. They weren't given the exact day or the exact time, but here we are. They knew it was coming. And here it is, Pentecost, 50 days after Passover. The next great event in God's big grand plan of the story of redemption is right here. And Pentecost is another one of those one-time only major events in Scriptures. We must think of Pentecost, and I don't know if we always do, we have to think of Pentecost in much the same way as we think of these other major transitional events throughout the Scriptures. Of how God unfolds this story, and here is the theater. So we see God's creation, that one time event that took place. One time event, the fall of mankind, one time. The incarnation, God becoming flesh would never happen again. that one time. The death of Christ, right? The death of Christ. These are pivotal doctrinal pieces in the story that God unfolds from Genesis through Revelation. The resurrection of Christ, the hinge on which our hope is secure, that he rose Again, and then the ascension of Christ where Jesus made the promise to never leave them nor forsake them. He physically was leaving, but he would never leave them as the next promise, right? The next major event in this story is Pentecost. The promised Holy Spirit would come to dwell in his called-out church, and he would be with them forever. And so Pente, meaning 50, Pentecost, 50 days after that Passover feast. And we know the Passover was celebrated every year by God's grace. He brought his people out of bondage in slavery in Egypt. God sends that 10th plague. The Israelites were told through the sacrificial system to put the blood on the doorposts and God in His grace would pass over their homes and then He would enter them in due time to the promised land. In the Old Testament, Pentecost would have been correlated with that, what was called the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Harvest. Again, celebrated 50 days after Passover. And we could say this was kind of like a Jewish Thanksgiving for the Old Testament. It was a celebration. R.C. Sproul said this, it was also called the Feast of First Fruits. Because since the arid climate of Palestine has two rainy seasons, they had two growing seasons, a former and a latter. They would celebrate at the former rains and again at the later rains. People gathered for the thanksgiving event of Pentecost at the central sanctuary in Jerusalem to thank God for the harvest. And so consider that in God's plan and timing, they are already going to be there. A multitude of people will be in Jerusalem for this massive celebration that they partake in every year anyways. And so they are there, and obviously with these 120 or so in the upper room in one place. And it appears to me that just the flow of the text, they are still in the upper room. The 120 were still in that very same place they were last week. And as it stated, they were praising, they were worshiping, they were singing and fellowshipping. And so as they were waiting in this anticipation, there was really no way to fully prepare, though, for what was about to take place. They could not really prepare for this. As I stated, we think we can anticipate things, but usually they're much different than what we anticipated. This is about to be something the world has never seen, nor would it ever see it again. That's really crazy to think about. The world had never seen this and they will never see it again. You know, parents and grandparents and people older than you can tell you of a season of the past or an event of the past. And they can try to and attempt to explain things to you and give you wisdom in light of the present. I think that's in some ways why this pandemic was so unique. There was no one in this room that was living during the last pandemic. And so I think it was hard in some ways. The younger generation couldn't even seek wisdom from the older generation. No one was around. And so here's one of these one-time events, never again seen, never before seen, Pentecost. And the text says all of a sudden or out of nowhere. And the word suddenly here could be translated unaware. Now, although they were aware of the promise, they were unaware of when the promise would be fulfilled exactly and what it would be like when the promise was fulfilled. They know they're gonna get the Holy Spirit, but what is that gonna be like? And so as we look forward, in many ways, it's no different than when Christ is going to come back, right? We don't know. We know it's going to happen. We know he's going to return. We know it's going to be suddenly in the twinkling of an eye. But we don't know when. As we will see with this event, his people know it's going to happen. And when it happens, we'll know it's happening. But we don't know when it's happening exactly. And so what suddenly occurred? What is it that suddenly occurred? Well, you can look at verse 2b, it says, And then verse 3, And then verse 4a, And so before we get into this, we can't say this came out of nowhere. It came suddenly, but we can't say it came out of nowhere because it specifically says, and suddenly there came from heaven. It came from somewhere. It came from heaven. The out of heaven came suddenly is from the Father. The Father in heaven brought the came suddenly to them in the form of the Holy Spirit, And it would go into those disciples that Jesus had already promised. We see this in John 14, 16. It says, And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. And so here it's fascinating, you know, we talk about the word Trinity is not in the Bible, but here we see the Trinity on full display. The son promised his bride, the church, another helper, the Holy Spirit, once he leaves. The Father then sends the Holy Spirit into his people, and we will see the promised Holy Spirit then indwelling in them. And so you see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all at work here together. And so back to verse two again, look at this with me. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were. sitting. And so this was not a rushing wind. As you see there, it says, like a rushing wind. It wasn't a hurricane or a tornado. The language here kind of comes off like Luke is doing the best he can, obviously through God's gifting him, to analogize really an analogy that's almost impossible to describe what really was, but it was like a rushing wind. It wasn't a rushing wind, but it was like that. It was something though he had never seen before. It was from heaven. It was supernatural. It was the sound of all sounds. It was like this, but it wasn't that. And we do this all the time in an attempt to explain something to someone that's just amazing, or you're kind of taken back by it. You're astonished or you're bewildered. And we'll actually get to that phrase in this text. And we go to those who are around us who weren't there with us. And we say, you should have seen this. It was like this or that. You should have been there. It was as if this happened, but it wasn't like that happened. And so older generations always do this with younger generations as they weren't around for certain things. Like, imagine living during that time. It was like this. You have to understand there was none of this. And so it's kind of the picture will not do justice to what I'm trying to tell you. But I want to tell you. And Luke's doing the same thing here. You know, John did the same thing in Revelation as he says here in Revelation 1.10. He says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. It was, but it was like that saying, write what you see in the book and send it to the seven churches. like a mighty rushing wind. And we see this word here, this word equivalent in the Old Testament, and which usually seems to come off as this unexplainable, amazing event that took place. It's ruach, and it means both wind and spirit. wind and spirit, and this will be important, we see this kind of illogical event that takes place all the way back in Ezekiel 37. What's interesting is before we get to the event that you'll see on the screen, what's interesting is in the very previous chapter God makes this promise, as he does, and we know he's going to fulfill it because he always does, and he makes this promise to his people in Israel that one day he would take them, and this is going to be important later in the text, from the nations and from the surrounding countries and give them a new heart and a new spirit." Same word. "...will be placed in them and bring them to the promised land." And so just keep that in the back of your mind as we go through this text. He's going to bring these nations, it says in Ezekiel 36, But look at the very next text, or look at the end of Ezekiel 36 with me. It says, I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. I'll remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I'll put my spirit in you, within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Who's the cause? He is. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and you shall be my people and I will be your And then at the end of the chapter, he says, hey, by the way, I'm the Lord and I will do it. In other words, promise kept, promise will be fulfilled. Then in verse 38, the Lord says in doing this, they will know that I am God. And today, that's what we'll see. They will know that I am God based on what I'm about to do. Well, then we get to chapter 37 in the Old Testament. And Ezekiel's looking out at the results of this horrendous battle that took place, all the way back in chapter six, actually. And what he sees is this valley of dead corpses, dry bones lying all over the place from this bloody war that took place. And Ezekiel's account goes as this, verse one, the hand of the Lord was upon me and he brought me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley. It was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley. And behold, and if you want to question whether how dry they were, they were very dry." I love how detailed the Bible is. You want to question how dry they are? They were really dead. As if any second guess could ever happen, then look at verse three. It goes on, he says to them, son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, oh Lord God, you know. He said to me, prophesy over them, say to them, hear the word of the Lord. Verse five, thus says the Lord God to these bones, behold, I will cause breath, that same word to enter you and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin, they're not alive yet, and put breath in you and you shall live and you shall know that I am the Lord. He goes on here, and as I prophesied, here's a sound. There was a sound, and behold, a rattling. Just imagine the scene. Dead corpses, Ezekiel's looking out at these, very dry, and the bones came together, bone to its bone, and I looked, and behold, there were snus on them, and flesh came upon them, and skin had covered them. So he starts piecing these things together, but guess what? They're not alive yet. There was no breath in them, no life. They weren't alive. The bones and the tendons are back together, but there's no life. The same picture is God taking a rib out of man. He fashions it to the women, but there's not life yet. Verse nine, then he says to me, prophesied to the breath, prophesied, son of man, and say to the breath, thus says the Lord God, come from the four winds, oh breath, and breathe on these slain that they may live. And so I prophesied. As he commanded me, the breath came into them and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army." The Ruach. the breath of life, the spirit that gives life to dead corpses. Only the spirit can give life when there is no life. John 6, 63 says, it is the spirit who gives life. The flesh is of no help at all. You can't do it on your own. Those dead corpses can't stand up, I promise you. The words that I've spoken to you are spirit and life. And so without the spirit, there is no life. Without the spirit, there are but walking dead corpses. And that same life we see in Ezekiel is the same life that God himself breathed into his image bearers to give life. It's the same verbiage. It's the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. Same life, the same wind, the same ruach, the same spirit that gave life to the apostles and the disciples in this upper room. And it's the same spirit that gives life to us. Al Mohler said, the sound of a violent wind signals the advent of life, a life-giving spirit. And Luke makes this point explicit when he notes that those in the upper room were filled with the Holy Spirit. And so they heard something like, and now they see. Look at verse 3. divided tongues as of fire appeared sight to them and rested on each of them. And so he does another analogy here, analogy that doesn't fully do justice, but he attempts here. He does this analogy, divided tongues as of fire, not literal, as of. And these divided tongues of fire appeared and they rested on, and it's important that he put this little phrase in here, on each of them. Verse three in the NASB says that rested on each one of them, one by one. In the New King James version, it says, one sat upon each of them. And so just as those in the upper room would think back to the Old Testament appearance or occurrences of the sound of wind, now it's fire. The redemptive story had lots of wind and fire that the Lord used in his plan. We think back, it's very easy and quickly we can think back to where Moses in the burning bush, goes back to fire, the burning bush, or the Exodus 19, the fire at Mount Sinai. Or how about the pillar of cloud and fire that would lead them? It would be their sight to see and take them in the direction that they were to go. In Exodus 13, the Lord goes before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, to give them eyes to see, that they might travel day by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from them. He was with them the whole way. And so in our text, these flames of fire came to rest on each person individually. had no respect to male or female, apostle, disciple, Mary, Jesus' brothers, the disciples, the brothers and sisters sitting there in that upper room, each given on each one this Holy Spirit that rested. Matthew 3.11 says, I baptize you with water for repentance. But he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm unworthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Before we move on, I was just considering, it's amazing to think that in some ways Jesus's ministry started this way. If you consider with me that Jesus, before he set out on his three-year ministry, he went to the Jordan River, he was baptized, the heavens opened, and the Spirit of God descended on Jesus like a dove. And the same word here used, ruach, the Spirit rested on Jesus. And then his three-year ministry began. Well, what's about to begin with the church? Same spirit. Look at verse four with me. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Outside of their control, suddenly, All by the mighty act and sovereign work of God, they are filled with the Holy Spirit. The disciples were filled. There was no training. There was no book to be read. There was no conference that you had to go to. There was no coaxing or classwork or trying to figure out how to do this thing that they were going to do. They did it suddenly as the Spirit gave them utterance. important word, utterance, can be translated with the utmost clarity. It's plain language. It's simply. It's simple language. It's not strange. It's plain with great emphasis. It's clear. It's important, according to verse 6, as you jump down there and look at it, it's not unintelligible. It's not erratic. It's not obscure or this unclear speaking that was going on in this text. We'll see actually what it says is it was in their own native language in verse six. And we'll come back to that in a moment. But remember, Pastor Jared, and I think the opening message made a clear point that in the book of Acts, there are transitional times in the story of redemption. These one-time events in the life of the church, there are things that happen that are transitional from the old covenant to the new covenant in which God used supernatural signs and wonders and speaking to affirm the transition. And as we move through this book, we'll see times these supernatural abilities and tongues in the early church for the purpose of these two things. Thanks, Pastor Greg, for helping me out. One, testifying to the mighty power of God and to draw people's attention to prove the message being preached as the true message. These were supernatural to prove the message was true, transitional. Two, later we'll see this taking place to prove to the Jewish believers that God was also working in and bring salvation to the Gentiles in chapters 10 and 11. And so in this particular text, Pentecost, this being the special occurrence, this transitional time where they're filled with the Holy Spirit, to let his people know that without a shadow of a doubt, that what was happening, what was promised, is coming to fruition. There's no doubt that what was promised is now in them and it's confirming the message of them as speaking witnesses of King Jesus transitioning into the new covenant because Jesus is alive. Jesus has ascended to the right hand of the Father. He's at his right hand. The Holy Spirit was given and we now are his witnesses. He is in us and the church age just begun. The power that was promised as they would receive it would then, by God's power and might, enable them to do what? The Spirit-filled, empowering work of King Jesus that he leaves them to do. We'll see this quickly actually in a couple of chapters in Acts 4. You can see that on the screen. Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them. And so you got a picture of this. He's in this room with these big shots of that day. And through the Holy Spirit, Peter stands up and he says, rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means is this man been healed? Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel. This was a big statement to make. He stands up in the midst of these guys who are questioning King Jesus, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom, then he calls him out, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well." You remember that guy you killed at the cross? Well, that same man you killed at the cross is God, and he just raised this guy from the dead. And there is no salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And when they heard this boldness of Peter, it didn't make sense. And John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common made, they were astonished. These are just common folk. Who are they to stand up and tell me about this Jesus? The Holy Spirit filling them. And as this happens, Then being filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, native languages clearly, and surrounding, it starts coming in on them, these devout men, it says, from specifically 15 different regions and nations, and it leaves them speechless at Pentecost. Look at verse 5 with me as we'll see the people's response. And I'm going to read this whole text here. Now they were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound, the multitude came together. What's going on? And they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, are not all these who are speaking the Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, Bochus, and Proselytes, Cretans, and Arabians. We hear them telling in our own native language, our own tongues, the mighty works of God. I'm gonna take this section as one big large chunk because I think it's important to bounce back and forth through some of these verses to get the gist of what's going on here. Well, as I kind of stated at the beginning, due to the event that was taking place, the 50 days after Passover that was taking place, this was a major celebration taking place at that time in Jerusalem to celebrate with them. And there were many, it says, devout men from every nation residing or dwelling there, visiting there for a time. We don't know how long they've been there necessarily, but it says devout men from every nation. And again, specifically from 15. You can see them on the screen real quickly. I'm not going to get out a laser pointer here or point them out, but you can see the map here on the screen. And again, Parthians, modern-day Iran, Medes, the Elamites, which was also a part of modern-day Iran, Mesopotamia, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates, those rivers, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, again, those things in Asia Minor, Egypt, Libya, Cyrene, Jews and Gentiles in Rome, Cretans from the island of Crete, and Arabians. They're all there at this place. And at some point over time, they're encroaching on the vicinity of this upper room where the 120 were. And it appears based on verse six, we don't know exactly, again, how many of these people were, but they're approaching based on the tongues that they're hearing from these who, the Galileans. And it says they were bewildered and amazed. So the multitude comes together and they were bewildered, hearing them speak in their own language, their own native language. Now there was a local language of Jerusalem, but it says their own native language in which they came from the nations and surrounding regions. In other words, the tongues that they were speaking in verse four, of which the Holy Spirit had given utterance to in clarity was the tongues of their local language that they came from to then come to this feast. And it wasn't just what they were doing that was amazing. I mean, it was amazing enough that they were speaking in each of these 15 nations surrounding in their language that they could understand clearly. It was also who was doing it. Wait a second. You're telling me these people that are speaking these languages that we each can hear clearly, utterance, are Galileans? I mean, these are not the smart ones that I've been told I've grown up. These are uneducated people. They're strange in their talk. And that's not a knock to the Galileans. If you do any study of the Galileans, they had this really weird type of strange dialect. And it was typically hard for them to understand. Even just if you knew the language, it's hard. And so the Galileans are the same people or people group that John in John chapter one spoke of. And here's what we see in John one. Jesus calls Philip to follow him. Philip then runs and tells his buddy Nathaniel, hey, you got to follow this Jesus. And here's what's said though. Nathaniel responds and says, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Really? You want me to follow something that comes out of that place, which was in Galilee? And then later in John chapter 7, on the same day, by the way, of the Feast of Booths at that time, there was an argument over who Jesus was. Really? He's the King? He's the Christ? He's the Messiah? He's the Savior? Here's what some said. Is the Christ to come from Galilee? I mean, that can't be. The Messiah's not gonna come from there. And then you see later in John chapter 7, Nicodemus stands up. And he kind of does the same thing, but he actually wants to give Jesus this fair trial. He's like, well, let's at least listen to him. Let's hear what he has to say. You know what their response was? Are you from Galilee too? I mean, are you out of your mind, Nicodemus? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee. It's not going to come from there. It can't be. Galileans, uneducated. I mean, from the South, the Judeans were the smart ones. Galileans were the not very smart ones. In other words, you've got to be kidding me. These are the ones speaking these tongues? And it left them confused and bewildered, amazed, astonished. You know, on a little side note, Pastor Jared and I were talking this week and he brought to my attention that the soon to be model for kingdom work was the outworking of the gospel. In other words, Jerusalem, right? Judea, Samaria, ends of the earth. But before they go, in the first days of the church, what happens? The nations are actually brought to the gospel. By the plan and providence of God, the nations come to Jerusalem. And then we'll see over the next couple weeks, Peter preaches the first sermon there to those. And so the nations are brought together. all tribes and tongues, immediately you see this gospel going to the ends, but it's centralized. Matthew 28, 19, go therefore and make disciples of all nations. And we're gonna see that as the book of Acts unfolds. We'll actually see in chapters two to seven, the gospel in Jerusalem. Then you see in chapters eight to 12, the gospel in Judea and Samaria, and then to the utter ends of the earth. Same calling there, same calling for us. And so these Galileans, are the ones who are about to flip the world on its head. These Galileans. No way. I'm confused. And again, consider, unlike the Tower of Babel where God confused their language, God brings the nations together and brings this perfect unison as they proclaim the mighty works of God in their own native language. What did they proclaim? Look at verse where it says 11, the mighty works of God. That's what they were proclaiming in their own native language. They were shouting in their own tongues the glory of God, the creator, the king, And here's the response, verse 12, and all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, what does this mean? Others are mocking, saying, are they filled with wine? Are they drunk? What does it mean? Look at them, are they drunk? Are these a bunch of drunk guys? Which sounds ridiculous, by the way. So a bunch of drunk guys who they think aren't smart can somehow just speak in their own native language. That's absurd. What are they doing? What are these men who are saying they're drunk doing? Well, they're lying and they're trying to deflect what all of mankind must deal with. Who is King Jesus? Who is this Jesus? They don't want to deal with it. Oh, they must be drunk or something. And it's the same thing that happens when the gospel is presented, some will question, right? That happens today. And some will kind of think. Some will walk away still thinking. Some may be intrigued. But we see here mankind, no matter the supernatural phenomenon that takes place here, no matter what, will find a reason to deny until the Spirit of life enters the man. He gives life, they will find reasons to not believe. They will reject the evidence, even when it's overwhelming evidence. I mean, they're speaking in their native tongue. Until God in His grace, through the witnesses of the gospel, places the Spirit of God in the dead corpse of the sinner, mankind will deny the Savior every time. By God's amazing grace, there are many sitting here today that have the Ruach inside of us. And the gospel, by God's grace, isn't foolishness to us anymore. By God's grace, we don't think the gospel is foolishness. We have been given the Ruach. He's given us eyes to see clearly, ears to hear. We understand it. just as those did in the upper room as witnesses of the gospel. And we get to answer like Peter will answer over the next couple weeks, what does this mean? And he's going to stand up and in the middle of this sermon, he gives the kind of the essence or the climax of what this means, which is Acts 2.32, this Jesus God raised up and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. And the church age begins. The Ruach, the Spirit is in each of them and it's in each of us sitting here who know him as Lord and Savior. And we now are witnesses here and out there and to the ends of the earth. We're doing the same thing that they were doing in Acts chapter 2 by God's grace. Let's go ahead and stand and I'll pray and we'll praise the king this morning about his mighty axe. Lord Jesus, you, we declare, are amazing. You took Galileans, uneducated, to the world foolish, unwise, not smart people, and you put yourself in them, you filled them with the Holy Spirit in all these educated, Wise people of their generation were confused. Why? Because your gospel doesn't make sense. That Jesus would come and die in the place of ungodly, sinful people. He would take on the penalty. He who knew no sin would then take on sin. He would take on the wrath of you, the Father. And as we trust in you, we get to, as they did, speak on and of and sing about the mighty works of King Jesus. May we sing now in Christ's name, amen.