The Last Days

Introduction

Try to imagine that you were a bystander, an eyewitness, to the events that transpired in Jerusalem when God opened the heavens and poured out the Spirit on His church.  Where God, through the Holy Spirit, enabled the Apostles to speak in languages in which they were unskilled, so that people from all over the world could hear their proclamation in their native tongue.

Acts 2:14-41

Context/Story

• first recorded sermon from one of the disciples.  Never before have they taught, up until this point, they have only learned.  In fact, they have been fairly useless.  Jesus didn’t need them for anything He did in His earthly ministry.  He could have done it all alone.  
  • The Same is true for us. God has no need for our help to accomplish His purpose, yet still He invites us to take part.  To live a life of significance in the span of eternity.  Our God is a patient teacher.  He cares enough about us to give us the privilege of sharing in His work.  
    • This mission should never be seen as a burden, but an honor.  For what more valuable and important thing could we do than be a part of the grand story of God?
  • God could have spoken down from the heavens and given this sermon, but He gives it to Peter instead.  
• 3 Key Characteristics of Peter’s Sermon
  • Biblical
    • He pulled from multiple old testament scriptures to explain and prove his argument.
  • Christ Focused
    • In the course of this sermon, the Apostle Peter took people unapologetically to the person and work of Christ. Christ is at the center of the sermon.  It was Christocentric.
  • Fearless
    • easy to be bold when preaching to the choir. It is easy for a preacher to be bold when he is in his own pulpit, among friends. But when there are hostile people whispering threats, as Stephen was soon to find out, the preacher takes a great risk.

People were confused, “what does this mean?”, others were mocking. God had done a miracle, something unexplainable.  And as is almost always the case with miracles in the scriptures, they set the stage for the truth to be proclaimed.  The miracle pointed to the validity of the message. 

He did not go into an elaborate defense against the charge of drunkenness; he simply mentioned in passing how ridiculous it would have been to see 120 pious Jewish men assembled at nine o’clock in the morning, all of them drunk.  Rather, he took them immediately to a biblical explanation of the miracle that had just occurred.  Peter’s focus immediately shifts from the Miracle to the Message of Jesus.

Understanding the Times (Vs 16-21, 25-35)

• • Signs of the Last Days

• The Prophet Joel

• • • • Pour Out His Spirit on all.
        • Men, Women, Servants, Everyone who was a part of the Flock.
        • R.C. Sproul – “There is no such thing as a Christian who has not been anointed by the Holy Spirit for ministry.”
      • Prophecy, Visions, Dreams
      • Signs and Wonders
        • Blood, Fire, Smoke
        • Sun to Darkness, Moon To blood
      • These are indications that the day of the Lord is coming
        • It is a magnificent day…. Why?  
          • Because All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved!

• King David

• • • Psalm 16:10 – For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.
    • Psalm 110:1 – The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool. 
      • About whom was David speaking?  David is king, Yet he is referring to the lord saying to his lord”  How could someone who is the seed of David, a son of David, Also be the Lord of David?
        • Peter wanted the people to consider who David was speaking about. 
          • Vs 29-31 – 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. 30 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, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 

• Understand the Times

• • • Israel – we would be crazy to not wonder about what is happening in Israel right now.  But the best thing I can say is maybe.  And that we should not see signs of the end as ways to predict His return, but only THAT he is returning.
    • People have tried to predict the coming of the Day of the Lord for a very long time.  Time and again, people have set dates, sold possessions, quit their jobs, and stocked up on doomsday supplies.  And every single time, they have been wrong.  
      • Accusations about the Antichrist are just as prevalent.  Here is a quick list of people throughout history who have been accused of being the antichrist:
        • Nero, Pope Gregory VII (and every pope after him), Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Henry Kissinger, Vladimir Putin, Jerry Seinfeld, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Gates, Prince Harry, and Barney the Dinosaur.
  • Prove
    • Matthew 24:36-39 – But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
      • Stop Trying to Predict the future.
        • We are not supposed to know when exactly it is going to happen.  Stop Trying.
          • But we are given signs such as the ones in our passage for us to know it is near.  Each time we see one of these signs, we must remember that time is short. 
    • See what is coming and get to work.

• Don’t be so heavenly minded that you are of no earthly good. 

Jesus Is Lord (vs 22-25, 36)

• • This all comes to a climax in Vs 36
  • During the first century, Emperor worship spread throughout the entire roman empire.  The most powerful of the emperors was likely Octavian who renamed himself Caesar Augustus.  

• August – transcendent majesty and eternal glory.

• • • During the first century, all roman citizens were required to take an oath by saying, “Caesar is Lord”  
      • But the Christian community would not say it. They were willing to offer their emperor honor, but not Lordship. And their refusal cost many Christians their lives. But the Christian confession is, “Jesus is Lord”.  Peter says it at the conclusion of His sermon at Pentecost. 

• The Story of Jesus

• • Attested to you, by mighty works, wonders, signs. 
    • Stuff no one else has ever done (imagine a funeral, and Jesus walks in)
  • Delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.  You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
    • Who Killed Jesus? (The Jews?, The Romans?, The Father?, Jesus Himself?, Us?)
      • All are true,  but no one takes Jesus’ life from Him, He lays it down of his own accord, And it says that the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
  • Was raised from the dead, Because it was impossible for Jesus to be held by it.
• Apply
  • Lordship Salvation Controversy – One can accept Jesus as Savior without accepting Him as Lord. 
    • We use this language all the time…“I invited Jesus to be Lord of my life” – What was he before that moment?  You see Jesus doesn’t need your invitation to be Lord. It is a matter of objective reality. 
      • Whether you accept His lordship or not, He rules.  Jesus was already Lord of your life before you ever submitted to Him.  He doesn’t need your permission.  And you will bow the knee to Him.  The only question is when?  Because a day is coming when every knee will bow.
  • Jesus is already Lord, But Salvation is his offer.  

What Shall We Do? (Conclusion) (Vs 37-41)

• When we hear stories like this, it is our tendency to identify ourselves with the good guys.  To see ourselves among those who received the outpouring of the grace of God and welcomed it, rather than those who remained skeptics and cynics
  • But I think that we are just like the people who heard the message at Pentecost.  They did not want someone making ultimate demands upon their lives.  Their necks had become so stiff and hard that they had crucified the son of God.
• Vs 37-41 – 
  • Jonathan Edwards – The gospel is never truly proclaimed unless it is done against the backdrop of the serious warning to those who love their sin, and have hard and unrepentant hearts.
  • In our day and age, we look down on any preaching that talks about fire and brimstone, or suggests to people the notion of hell.  But almost every book of the new testament gives that exact warning. 
  •  When we read about salvation, we have to ask, salvation from what?
    • From low self esteem? From a mediocre life? From your hardships? NO – Salvation from Hell itself.
  • I don’t want to scare anyone. That is not my desire… But
• Far too often, we have stone hearts, Calcified, hardened and calloused against God’s call.
  • God was pleased that day, by His Word, to cut into that stone and to pierce the heart. Has that ever happened to you? Has the Word of God ever come to you in such a way that, when you heard it, you knew the arguments were over, and you cried out, “What can I do?” If that has not happened to you, then you have missed the Redeemer. Genuine repentance is provoked when the excuses and rationalizations fall away, and we say, “Oh God, my God, what have I done?” That is what happened that day. “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (v. 37). Peter told them what to do. He said, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (v. 38).
  • Turn to Jesus.  It is not too late.
    • Joel 2:12-13: “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.”  Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.