We're here in Acts chapter 2. So I'll read verses 1 through 41. This is Peter's great sermon at Pentecost. And this sermon is just loaded with wonderful, glorious truth. So my intention is actually to preach on this sermon this week and next week. from two different angles. So today, I want the main point of my sermon to be the main point of Peter's sermon, which is why the Holy Spirit has come. So we're really going to focus on Peter's argument, what he says about the Holy Spirit, its implications for us. Next week, we're going to narrow in more on what he says about Jesus in verses 22-36. we're to breeze past that section. And you should think, why would we breeze past that section? It's because it needs a sermon all on its own. So don't worry. Lord willing, we'll all be back here next week and be able to dive in further. There's a lot of references to go to in the scriptures today. And so get your Bibles ready. Get ready to flip around. Those of you that use digital Bibles, you are going to be so much faster than us with print Bibles. So, that's fine. We're going to get around to a lot of scripture, and hopefully we see and behold some of the glorious truth that God has given us here in Acts chapter 2. So, I will just read this through once and then make lots of references to it and read other parts a second time later. But, Acts chapter 2, starting in verse 1, says this. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in 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. Now they were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, 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 Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes, Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians. We hear them telling in our tongues the mighty works of God. And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, what does this mean? But others, mocking them, said, they're filled with new wine. But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on My male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out My Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above, and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor and smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says, concerning him, I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell in hope, for you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence. Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 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. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? Peter said to them, 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 for the promises for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. And, verse 40, with many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation. So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls. Let's pray. God, I ask that in one way you would overwhelm us with the glorious truth of what you have done in raising Jesus from the dead, seating him on the throne and sending the Holy Spirit God, this truth is not something small that we can package and take away in just a few minutes. It is big and glorious and wonderful, and our right response to it is awe and wonder. And so God, in the best sense, overwhelm us. And I pray to God that in the best possible way is in another sense that you would help us to grasp the logic that Peter uses, the argument he uses, and the truth, the truth that he is preaching. that we would love this truth and it would define who we are and how we live. So help us God at one sense to be overwhelmed and another to be informed. I ask this in Jesus name, amen. Amen, when you see the words you are here on a map, it's really helpful. Give you clarity on where you are, what you're supposed to be doing, where you're going. You are here. And so if you think as a Christian about trying to understand the purpose for your life and what God would have you to do and where you're supposed to go, the Bible does serve as sort of a map. It's full of truth and wisdom and instruction, but of course you need to know where you are so you can use the map rightly. You could think of the Book of Acts as a really big, you are here sign on the map of the Bible and the Christian life. Chapter two especially gives us clarity on where we are, where we're going, what we should be doing. So notice that Peter's sermon is bookended by two questions. In verse 12, the crowd asks, what does this mean? Peter explains. And then in verse 37, what shall we do? Those two questions are gonna frame our thinking through Acts chapter two today, as Peter explains not just what happened on that day, which we call Pentecost, Jewish festival Pentecost, coming of the spirit, Pentecost, but what Peter explains actually describes the world that you live in and has implications for our lives. You have to remember that the book of Acts was written to Christians. This was written to Christians that long after these events happened to establish and remind us of foundational truths, who we are and where we're going. And the big truth here is that Jesus is king. And his kingdom is advancing powerfully through the work of the Holy Spirit. And that's where we are. We are here. So let's pick it up again in verse four. Just read again. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in 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 a fire appeared to them, and rested on each one of them, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. You remember back in chapter one, Jesus told them to wait until the Spirit came, and here he is. Of course, this is a very supernatural event. The mighty wind and fire called to our minds images from the Old Testament when God appears. The tongues, though, that's a whole new thing. It's a whole new thing, and that's because the coming of the Spirit is a whole new thing. Now, it's true that the Holy Spirit is fully God. Therefore, the Holy Spirit has always existed. We can read in Genesis that the Holy Spirit was active in creation. And throughout the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is working in various ways. And then, of course, during the life of Jesus, the Spirit descends on Him at His baptism and is what empowers His miraculous ministry and powerful teaching. So this isn't as if the Holy Spirit has never been here. This is that something new is happening, a filling of the Holy Spirit. What's so new about this thing the Holy Spirit is doing? The answer to that question is the point of Peter's sermon. What is happening with the Holy Spirit? It's, of course, stimulated by these tongues. First, the fiery tongues over the disciples, and then, of course, the languages that they speak. Other people can hear the mighty works of God in their own languages. Why is that? Why this new sign of tongues? It's because the new thing that the Holy Spirit is doing and empowering, spreads through speaking. Everything that God is doing after the coming of the Holy Spirit, He does with the instrument of words proclaimed, and words proclaimed in the whole world. So it's appropriate that at this coming of the Holy Spirit, the supernatural sign that accompanies it is one of speech and diversity. That's why there's tongues in many different languages. This is evident in the very first years, right? Verse five says, they were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. They probably came for the Pentecost festival. As the Jewish people gathered or scattered, sorry, throughout the known world, many of them would return for major feasts like Pentecost. And so many of the nations listed in verses nine through 11 cover much of the Roman Empire. And so you can imagine that as those Jews spread, their languages change. They pick up trade languages and languages of other cultures, and then even their own Hebrew language or Aramaic or whatever they were speaking starts to morph into dialects. This is just natural how things work. There's also people who are not Jewish born, there's proselytes, which would be non-Jewish people who converted to Judaism, and so you've got a lot of languages represented all of a sudden, and they're surprised because they hear a noise, they hear speaking, but each one of them is hearing in his own language. How does this little group of disciples, who they all identify as Galileans from one little region in Israel, how do they know all these languages? I love the way they're described in these verses. In verse six, they're bewildered. In verse seven, they're amazed and astonished. In verse 12, they're perplexed. But you know, they're really, really clear on one thing. Look at verse 11. It says, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. So this is not babble. This is a taste of heaven. They are getting clarity and understanding and it's leading them to exaltation. We're hearing about the mighty works of God. So it's worth just pointing out, as we work through Acts chapter 2, that what we see here is radically different than the modern experience often described as speaking in tongues. It's common among Charismatic and Pentecostal groups. What we see here is actually a unique event where the tongues are human languages and the message is clear. Of course, this sparks a, I think, heartfelt curiosity. Verse 12 says, their question is, well, what does this mean? That's really the right question. Something monumental is happening. We need to understand it. And of course, the Galileans have an answer. It's good news to those who will hear it, but there are some who will not hear it. They simply mock. We're gonna see this in the book of Acts, not just chapter two, but throughout the book of Acts and right up to today, that when the mighty works of God are told, some will believe, some will want to know more, and other people will mock. There's a bunch of drunk Galileans, nine o'clock in the morning. Of course, I would push you, and you should think about the people in your life. Which one are you? Do you hear about the mighty works of God through Jesus and want to know more and understand more? Or are you beginning to mock? Do you know people who mock? If you think about it, the claims that we're making as Christians will sound silly to modern ears. See, we believe in a poor man who died a criminal's death and then rose from the dead, and we declare that that is the eternal son of God who took on human flesh. And oh yeah, after he rose from the dead, he ascended into the clouds, where we think he's seated next to God. And he's actually coming back someday. He's gonna come back to this world in his body. But he's working right now through an invisible spirit. And we're making this claim that these little groups of people that he's gathering are the place of love and peace. And I can understand why somebody might look at us as Christians and say, that's just ridiculous. Are you guys drinking? Unless it's all true. And if it's true, wouldn't you want to know more and understand the mighty works of God? That's what Peter gives us. Pick it up in verse 14. But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them. Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words, for these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it's only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel, and in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Now this is where you gotta put on your thinking caps. There's a really long extended argument here that we're gonna follow. So follow the logical thread, and I'm gonna repeat this a lot so we can really nail it down. So first, the Spirit fills the disciples. They tell them writing works of God in other languages. The crowd asks, what does this mean? And Peter answers, this is God pouring out His Spirit on all flesh. So he's quoting from the prophet Joel. And you can look this up later. This is from Joel chapter 2 verses 28 through 32. It's basically quoted in Acts, and so we'll just stick with the Acts passage for now. Here's what it says. This is what Joel promised, and Peter says this is what's happening. In the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even all my male and female servants, in those days I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, in some ways, the rest of Peter's sermon is explaining what he says in Joel 2. So we'll go back and reference that a lot. But first, I want you to notice three features of this prophecy. First, it's that the Spirit is poured out from God. Peter's saying what you're hearing and seeing is something that comes from God on people, with the implication that it will continue to pour out, as it's going to go to sons and daughters and old men and young men, and as you'll see later at the end of the chapter when Peter says, this promise is for you and for your children. So Pentecost, this whole event, is the beginning And from that beginning, the spirit is continued to be poured out on all sorts of people. And that's the second feature of this prophecy. I want you to notice it's on sons and daughters and old men and young men and slaves, both men and women. The reach of the Holy Spirit and this new thing that God is doing is for all sorts of people, young and old, boys and girls, slaves and free. And the third feature is that it anticipates the end. Notice Peter, quoting Joel, says, this is the last days. In the last days it shall be, verse 17, God declares, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. So Peter's putting a marker on our calendar and on the timeline of history. At the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, the last days have begun. And here we are 2,000 years later, and we're saying those last days have stretched quite a ways. That's fine. This event, the pouring out of the Spirit, anticipates the end. And it will last until, notice how all this passage kind of progresses, verse 20 of Acts chapter 2, until the day of the Lord comes. So everything that starts at Pentecost is moving towards the end. And at the end, everyone who is called on the name of the Lord will be saved. Nobody lost. Nobody lost that has looked to Christ in faith. So he's looking to the last, the end result of all that God is doing. So interesting, this new thing that's happening in Acts chapter 2 is actually the last thing. What is that new thing then? How would we describe it? It is the kingdom of God. This is the language Peter uses. So the spirit fills the disciples who tell the mighty works of God in other languages. It's not logic. The crowd asks, what does this mean? Peter answers, this is God pouring out his spirit on all flesh. And then there's sort of an implied question, well, what does that mean? What does it mean that God is pouring out his spirit on all flesh? Why is God doing that? Here's the answer. It means that Jesus is king and his kingdom is here. So again, we're going to leave a lot of 22-36 next week. I'm just going to summarize this. So put your eyes on 22-36 and see if you can kind of follow along. The first thing Peter proclaims is that Jesus died and rose again. That's verses 22-24. Then Peter says, this death and resurrection fulfills Psalm 16, which is what Peter quotes in verses 25-28. Again, death and resurrection in fulfillment of what David wrote in Psalm 16. Now the next point in Peter's argument, Psalm 16 wasn't about David. That's verse 29. David died and still is in the tomb. We know where his grave is. But, now we're in verse 30, David was a prophet. And David was speaking about a king in his line who would rise from the dead and rule forever. Psalm 16 was not David writing about David. It was David prophesying, looking towards a future resurrected king in David's line who would rule forever. And Peter's claim is Jesus is that king. David wrote about one whose soul would not experience corruption, he would not be abandoned to corruption, and that's Jesus because he rose from the dead. which, again, follow Peter's argument, is fulfillment of God's promise in 2 Samuel 7. Now that's where in verse 30, yeah, 30, that God had sworn to him in an oath that he would set one of his descendants on his throne. That's from 2 Samuel 7. So Peter's bringing a lot together in a very short amount of time. Sorry, we're gonna come back to this next week. So where God promised to put an eternal king on the throne of David, which would be the great hope of Israel, which is where God would restore the nation to peace and prosperity with a son of David on the throne, Peter is claiming that's happened. King Jesus is resurrected and enthroned. So look at verse 33. We'll read this one. being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ. this Jesus whom you have crucified. Peter is just making massive claims. He's saying that Jesus right now is ruling over Israel and the world because God raised him from the dead. Now, it's hard for us. We can try as best as we can to put yourself in the shoes of Jesus' hearers. The hope of a king in David's line to rule over the nation of Israel was a thousand year old hope. David lives a thousand years before Christ. So this promise of peace and prosperity and restoration for Israel that all of the prophets testify to and looking for a son of David to sit on the throne of David, Peter's saying it's here. And what's the evidence? I mean, if you're a Jew at that time, you're going, I see Roman soldiers everywhere I'm looking. Like, what's the evidence? The evidence that the kingdom of here is the presence of the Holy Spirit. That's Peter's whole argument, that's why he quotes Joel. Just a little review, it's been a while since I preached through Joel. Maybe it's been a while since you've read through Joel, I don't know. Joel is a prophecy of God restoring the kingdom of Israel. So the book is first about a devastating plague of locusts wiping out all the crops. And the people humble themselves before God, and they plead with God to spare them and their crops, and He does. He restores them. And then we get the sense, and we're reading through Joel, that it's an illustration of a spiritual condition. Like, we are ravaged by sin. and by the enemies of God, and Israel was too. And so when Israel, in their sin, cries out to God for restoration, he comes and gives it to them through the pouring out of a Holy Spirit. That's what Peter says. You are here. The time has come. God is restoring by pouring out the Spirit. And that's really the good news of the gospel. Like, the good news of the gospel is that the time of restoring the world to God has come. Part of the challenge for us, though, and for Israel at that time, is that it comes in ways that are unexpected, and it comes in ways that are gradual, yet they're glorious. Like, don't we typically want things that are immediate and tangible? That's not what Jesus does, though. You'd want, to know that King Jesus is King, you'd want the Romans overthrown, you'd want abundant fields of grain and grapes to harvest, all those promises from the Old Testament. It's not quite how Jesus restores his people. Rather, Jesus is building a kingdom through forgiveness of sin among ordinary people who live as strangers in this world. But his kingdom is also a kingdom of love that's poured out on us. His kingdom is a kingdom of mercy that abounds to us. His kingdom is a kingdom of peace that meets us in our most difficult of trials. His kingdom is a kingdom of truth that guides us. God has begun the change. His kingdom is here and it is advancing. But it is gradual and it's unexpected. And yet it's glorious. You might think of it like this. God has begun the change. So if you drive around town and you see a building that has changed hands and businesses that are changing their names, one of the first things that happens is the old signs come down and the new signs go up. They paint it a different color. It's kind of this evidence that, like, there's not a new business here yet. Like, the end is not here, but it's coming. We're preparing for it. Like something visible and tangible to show us that something new is coming, something final is coming. That's exactly what we see here with the gift of the Holy Spirit. The evidence that the kingdom of God is here and spreading is the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Like we would call this, another name for this whole kingdom of God here and spreading is the new covenant that God makes with his people. And guess what the sign of the presence of the new covenant is? It's the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Like this sign is not just in Joel. Joel's a great passage for Peter to use. But there's other evidences in the Old Testament that when God establishes his kingdom and begins the process of restoration, it happens with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Let me show you one from Ezekiel 36. And I think that Ezekiel 36 is such an important passage in explaining how God is building his kingdom. Like what it's like for us, his citizens, Ezekiel 36 is a great place to go. So let me read Ezekiel 36 verses 22 through 29, a bit of a longer passage, because I think this is in the back of Peter's mind when he's preaching at Pentecost as well. This is the kingdom of God described in Ezekiel 36, 22 through 29. God says, therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, it is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them, and the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and you shall be my people and I will be your God. and I will deliver you from all your uncleanness, and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you." At Pentecost, Peter is saying, Jesus died, Jesus rose, Jesus is exalted, Jesus is pouring out His Spirit, and you're here. The Kingdom of God is here. Now take a deep breath, because that's a lot packed into a small space. Matter of fact, I think verse 40 of Acts chapter 2 tells us that Peter took a lot more time to explain this. So if you've got the basic argument of what Peter's doing, let's think about a couple of implications, what this means for us. Peter is telling us, you're here, the kingdom of God has come, the evidence is the Holy Spirit. We kind of want to know, well, what are we supposed to do with that? Where do we go? So I'll give you two implications. Let's just, again, review the logic. The Holy Spirit fills the disciples who tell the mighty works of God in other languages. The crowd asks, what does this mean? Peter answers, this is God pouring out his spirit on all flesh. Well, what does that mean? It means that Jesus is king and his kingdom is here. Therefore, first implication, the kingdom of God is advancing to all the peoples of the earth. Yes, Jesus is enthroned as king of Israel. This is the fulfillment of God's promises. It's the beginning of a restoration process. But it's also a kingdom for the whole world. Remember, that's what Jesus said. Look back at chapter 1, verses 6 through 8. They said, Lord, is this the time to restore the kingdom of Israel? He said, it's not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has fixed in His own authority, but You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. The big pointer that the kingdom of God is spreading to the ends of the earth is the disciples preaching in other languages. It's the tongues of fire. It's the scene and hearing of people from all over the earth. It's the promise for the children of Israel and for, according to verse 39, those who are far off. That's us. You are the evidence that the kingdom of God is spreading through the whole world. Somebody told you that Jesus died and rose from the dead. Somebody told you that he is Lord and Christ, and you believe. and on believing you received the Holy Spirit. And now here we are telling the mighty works of God in English. You know, English wasn't even invented at the time of Acts chapter 2. God is not done pouring out His Spirit either. We are now witnesses. our commission from God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to testify to the world of Jesus' death and resurrection and the presence of His rule in this world until He comes. Which comes with the implied application of go and tell. We need to tell everyone that Jesus is King, that He's gathering His citizens, that He's pouring out His Spirit, and that He's guiding us in a life of heavenly joy and peace. Like the first big implication that the kingdom of God is here, and that it's spreading to all peoples, is that you and I need to then tell everyone. It's exactly what Peter's doing. But I mentioned that Jesus is a guide of heavenly joy and peace. And I say heavenly and not earthly. And this is one of the tensions we feel with the presence of the kingdom of God. Is that though we may be citizens of the kingdom of God, we certainly don't feel at home here on earth. Our greatest satisfactions, Christians, do not come from the things of this world, but from the promise of heaven. Now, at times, our lives on earth will seem like we're experiencing something of the peace and prosperity of heaven, and we should praise God for those times. Those are good gifts of the Lord. But the New Testament indicates to us that most of the time, as citizens in the kingdom of heaven, we're gonna feel like strangers in the kingdoms of the earth. Like, to the extent that we would look around us and say, is the kingdom of God really here? Like, are we just kind of crazy to say that right now Jesus is reigning over the earth and advancing his kingdom? I think that's a really valid question, right? Because of course, the world doesn't really look like it. Now, so this kind of leads to our last implication. So just review the logic. Spirit fills the disciples who tell the mighty works of God in other languages. The crowd asks, what does this mean? Peter says this is God pouring out His Spirit on all flesh. Okay, well what does that mean? It means that Jesus is King and His kingdom is here. And therefore, the kingdom is advancing to all the peoples of the earth and therefore, Jesus' enemies are falling. Notice Peter quotes in verses 34 and 35. He quotes from Psalm 110. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at your right hand until I make your enemies a footstool. Right, so Jesus' enemies are being put under his feet. As a matter of fact, that's what Joel chapter three is all about. You can go read Joel chapter three. It's what follows what Peter quotes in Acts chapter two. And I actually read it in Ezekiel 36. God is gonna conquer all those nations whereas people have been scattered. It's what Acts chapter 2 verses 19 and 20 and quoting Joel 2 is all about. I will show you wonders in the heaven and signs in the earth, blood and fire and vapor and smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. It's a picture of the enemies of Jesus falling before and until the final day. Now, I understand if you look around the world right now and you say, I don't see the enemies of Jesus falling. How can this world possibly be a place where the kingdom of God is advancing? The fear of world war is probably increasing every day. Look around culture and you see immorality and idolatry abounding. We've noted in the West, that apathy towards God is epidemic. As Romans 1 would say, people are foolish, faithless, heartless, and ruthless. But they are not hopeless. The great hope for the world is that Jesus died and rose, and that the Spirit of God is here, and that God is gathering people and changing people, and along the way, God is often changing the world for the better. The evidence that the enemies of Jesus are falling are little white church buildings on the corners of Thirds and Quincy's. The evidence that the enemies of Jesus is following is the gathering of Christians from massive church halls in America to little huts in the jungles. Christians gathered in churches, spread throughout the world, are like little signposts that Jesus is really the king. You know, when you, in Jesus's day, when they were under Roman rule, the Romans would send various groups of Roman soldiers to lots of little towns so that everybody knew that they were under Roman rule. Depending on how big the town was, you might have a bigger group of soldiers. But that, like, Roman soldier walking around your little town in, say, Galilee, was a reminder. Rome is in charge. That's very much how Christians function in this world. Like, you could look at, it doesn't really matter who's in the White House, right, or who's got the key to the big red button, or who controls the money, or who controls the narrative. Like, the kings of this earth take counsel against God and against King Jesus, and God laughs at them, and the evidence that Jesus is king. Little groups of Christians. filled with the Holy Spirit, following Christ, reminding this world, it doesn't matter how powerful those enemies look, there is one true king. The real kingdom is here, and it's advancing. And we're telling people that it's a good kingdom with a good king. Our king forgives sins. Our king loves. And he can be known, and you can know them too. As people believe in Jesus, the enemies of Jesus are falling. Guilt is forgiven. People are set free from the bondage of sin. The devil flees when people profess faith in Christ. Families are transformed for generations when one generation believes the gospel and passes it on and on and on and on. Story after story can be found where entire villages, racked with idolatry, know the one true God and are changed forever. And then don't forget you, you're here. You were once an enemy of God, lost and hopeless in this world, in your sin, and then by faith in Jesus, you've become his child. That's the enemies of Jesus falling day after day after day. We get so caught up in the evil of this world, and it is an evil world, that we forget that Jesus is actually out conquering. And the implication being that as Christians, like, let's get on the side of Jesus and be part of the conquering. Because we tell people the good news of the gospel. Sure, there will be people who will mock us, people who don't believe, but there will be people who believe. And every time that happens, the enemies are being destroyed. And all of this will progress gradually, often unseen, until someday Jesus will defeat the last enemy. Let me just read to you from 1 Corinthians chapter 15, where Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, 25 quotes from Psalm 110 again. Sorry, this is 1 Corinthians 15, 25. He, Jesus, must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. And then verse 26, the last enemy to be destroyed is death. See, what this kingdom is progressing towards is a kingdom where the people of Jesus are alive with Jesus forever. There will be a future resurrection where you will be given new bodies, free from sin, free from corruption, free from decay, and you will live in his perfect, peaceful, prosperous presence forever, never to die. Peter says you're here at the beginning of it. Those who see that reality, and hear that reality, and believe that reality ask, what should we do? If Jesus is king, and his kingdom is advancing to all peoples, and his enemies are falling under his feet, what should we do? I think the question arises from people who realize they might be the enemies of Jesus. After all, Peter tells them, you crucified him. So they're going, Oh, we're the enemies that Jesus is gonna put under his feet. What should we do? And Peter answers with an answer of hope. Repent, verse 38, 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 for the promises for you and for your children and for all who are far off and everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. And many do believe, many do repent. Verse 41 says 3,000 that day. And that's a drop in the bucket. It's the kingdom of Jesus that he's been building now for 2,000 years. So what does it mean then to repent? It means a complete changing of mind that leads to a change of action. That word, we actually, another word we might use is conversion. What peter's calling people for is you've got to see that jesus is king and now live as if jesus is king Leave the old behind be loyal to him Peter mentions that if you turn to jesus, he will forgive your sins and pour out his spirit on you And that's the same message that we proclaim today Turn to jesus He will forgive your sins and pour out his spirit on you and you are now promised his forever kingdom Now notice, though, in verse 38, it's not just repent, it's repent and be baptized. Why be baptized? Why does Peter put those two together? Baptism perhaps signifies washing, cleansing. We read those words in Ezekiel 36. That's part of why I think Peter's got Ezekiel 36 on his mind. We think of baptism as dunking under the water. Well, baptism is a visible sign of an invisible reality. So when you're baptized, it's a reaction to what God has done. It's a tangible demonstration that God has cleansed you and given you new life. It's the marker of the citizens of his kingdom. So I think I'll probably talk a little bit more about baptism next week, but I would just encourage you, just think about this for a moment. If you've been baptized, that event serves in your life on your map as a little you are here. Jesus is your king. Your baptism reminds you that the Holy Spirit has been poured out on you, and you are now raised with Jesus to testify to his resurrection in this world. You're marked as a citizen of the kingdom. So if you're a Christian who isn't baptized, you really should be. We could talk more about that. Now, one last thing I want to say about this passage. I pointed out last week that there are events in the Book of Acts that are meant for the beginning, but we don't repeat them or expect them to be repeated. I called those the material of a foundation, right? It's what belongs at the bottom, at the beginning, and everything else then changes afterwards. And then there's events that are patterns, things that we can expect and repeat. The whole event of Pentecost belongs to the material of the foundation. There's a very unique event where God pours out His Spirit in special ways that communicate a special message, but we don't expect this to be repeated. That doesn't mean the Holy Spirit isn't being poured out, though. Notice how Peter changes things when he gets to verse 38. Repent and be baptized. He says, 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. See, the Holy Spirit is now poured out, not on a select group of disciples who are first going to declare the coming of the Holy Spirit, but now the Holy Spirit is poured out on everybody, on ordinary people, sons and daughters, old men and young men, male servants and female servants, poured out on ordinary people who hear the good news of Jesus and his kingdom. and repent and are baptized in his name. Yes, people like us, you're here. The Holy Spirit is here. Jesus is king, which means we have a mission now as citizens, and it is to go and tell in our language and any other languages we might know the mighty works of God until every last enemy is put under his feet. Let's pray. God, I pray that you would help us to understand what you've done. Sending Jesus, God, by your plan and predestination, putting him to death, and then rising him from the dead, and exalting him in the heavens, and giving him the spirit which he's pouring out on us, massive things that you have done, God, I pray that you would give us better understanding so that, God, we would live as the joyful citizens of your kingdom. God, so that as we marvel at what you've done in Jesus, we would speak of this mighty work. And God, even with that, I pray too that you would give us hope In a world that often just seems like there is no hope for a better tomorrow. Keep our eyes fixed on the heavens where Jesus is sitting on a throne and pouring out his spirit on the earth. There is hope for tomorrow. There's hope that our neighbors could come to Christ, our family members who have rejected Jesus would repent and be baptized in his name. And there is hope. that the evil of this world will be overthrown someday when Jesus finally destroys death and sin and the devil forever. So set our hope on Christ, we ask in Jesus' name, amen.