Peter first quotes from Joel 2:28-32 showing the impact of the Holy Spirit to empower, purify, reveal, and unify. The main point that Peter draws from Joel is that the promise is now fulfilled in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Keep watching as the Holy Spirit empowers, sanctifies, reveals, and unifies. These are all actions of the Holy Spirit and that how we “see” Him. Like the wind. When you see tree leaves moving you don’t think they are moving apart from the wind. Some children who are untaught think that when trees move that they make the wind blow. We can make a similar mistake if we see spiritual power, a life that is holy unto God, doctrinal fidelity to Scripture, and unity in Christian fellowship and assume that makes the Holy Spirit move. We actually have the cause and effect backwards because of our self sufficiency.
I don’t like admitting that. I’d like to think that anytime we want to do it then we could have a revival. Some false teachers over the last couple of hundred years have argued that is the way it is. However, having seen little sparks of the real thing, they may as well try to convince me that the trees make the wind blow. Jesus told the disciples that, “the poor in spirit” were blessed because they would have the “kingdom of heaven.” The poor in spirit are beggars. The word actually means crouched over. It is to be bent over in humble supplication. We are lousy beggars. The reason we are lousy beggars is because we beg like Pharisees. Since we were children we were taught all the errors of the Pharisees and we would never fall into their errors … or would we? We don’t tell God that we can’t go on without the Holy Spirit. Do we wake up and in our quiet time tell God that if he doesn’t empower us then we must stay home? Do we seek to make every part of our lives holy unto Him? Or do we forget about Him of hours or days at a time? Even a minute is too much. If the main reason for my existence is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever then how long can I forget about Him and it not be counted as sin? When some teachings of Scripture are difficult is it OK to avoid thinking of them? As I asked last week, would it be OK to call your wife by the wrong name or complement her on a hair color she doesn’t have? Doctrinal fidelity to Scripture is evidence of intimacy. To say of God what He has said is true is evidence that you are His. Christian unity is not an optional extra bonus. We don’t break unity over preferences. It is a hard thing to walk out because even redeemed sinners drive redeemed sinners crazy. There are times to separate ourselves from other folks over doctrine but in our age, doctrinal ignorance makes that a relatively rare action.
So when we enjoy the benefits of the Holy Spirit in our fellowship then we can try not to argue that the trees made the wind blow. We can at least assume the role of a beggar. Or maybe you can pray to be willing to be a beggar. Or willing to be made willing? At whatever point we are we can, by the grace of God, see the path God has laid out for us.
Peter had been made a beggar. He wasn’t looking at the leaves moving and thinking that they were driving the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:22 … “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—Peter points out why Jesus did miracles. They were a testimony of God to confirm the ministry of Jesus. Many of these folks saw the miracles and they were all aware of the signs and wonders that had been sent to say, “This is the Messiah!” and yet they had ignored the message and killed the messenger.
Acts 2:23-24 … this Jesus, 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.Last week we talked about the work of God in three persons as the Father plans, Jesus acts, and the Holy Spirit applying salvation. God saves sinners. Peter acknowledges the sovereign rule of God in the crucifixion but makes it clear that the sinful liability remains with the men who did this thing.
Chapter 5 Paragraph 4 of the 1679 Baptist Confession of Faith says, “The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God, so far manifest themselves in his providence, that his determinate counsel extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sinful actions both of angels and men; and that not by a bare permission, which also he most wisely and powerfully boundeth, and otherwise ordereth and governeth, in a manifold dispensation to his most holy ends; yet so, as the sinfulness of their acts proceedeth only from the creatures, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.” ( Romans 11:32-34; 2 Samuel 24:1, 1 Chronicles 21:1; 2 Kings 19:28; Psalms 76;10; Genesis 1:20; Isaiah 10:6, 7, 12; Psalms 1:21; 1 John 2:16 )So our Baptist ancestors were careful to agree with Scripture as Peter says this same thing by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is a key to trusting God with our lives. If we affirm Scripture then we will affirm that even “lawless men” are bounded, ordered, and governed by God’s multiple methods of bringing order to this world. This is not a small point when we see evil prosper in this world and have our faith shaken. It is His providence that has me teach on this topic for the 10th anniversary of the events of Sept 11, 2001. God is sovereign in every detail. There is no atom in the universe outside His sovereign bounding, ordering, and governing. That is a hard thing to affirm when we see evil but it is harder to deny Scripture. In fact, as we’ve discussed before, if you think there is one atom outside God’s sovereign control then you really, fundamentally, don’t believe in God. Fundamentally, it makes you an atheist … you’re not really believing in God. You do not believe in a god just because you just believe in a really powerful being. The Romans were in this situation and we’ll see Paul hit some of these problems head on … as did some of the early martyrs.
Peter affirms God’s omnipotence and omniscience in the work of Christ. First Peter points out that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was promised and then that Christ was crucified according to the plan of God by lawless men. Now he will establish that these things had occurred because of prophecy.
Acts 2:25-31 … 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.’Peter continues to preach with this portion of Psalm 16 as his second set of Scriptures. With this crowd, Peter only has to point out that David wrote the Psalm but that it must be prophecy because David is dead, buried, and if you want to see how decayed he is then go check out his tomb. David believed God’s promise that he would have a descendent perpetually on the throne.
“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.
We also live in a sure hope supported by the resurrection. David looked forward and prophesied that the Holy One would not see corruption. We look back and see that the Holy One did not see corruption. For both Old Testament and New Testament saints we say together as in Psalm 16:1-2, “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” And in Psalm 16:5-6, “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” The faith in Christ alone for our salvation without clinging to anything else is our foundation. The expressed joy in the portion we have is beautiful. We have it all because of the Holy One.
Acts 2:32-36 … This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are 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.”
Peter witnesses to the resurrection and the central role it has in confirming that Jesus was the Holy One, the Messiah, and that His sacrifice was accepted on our behalf. Peter is also explaining the events of Pentecost. Here Peter’s third Scripture reference is to a verse (Psalm 110) that Jesus used to trouble the Pharisees (Matthew 22). Who is Lord with the Lord says to my Lord? It can’t be David. Peter, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, builds from the promise of the Holy Spirit, through the signs and wonders, to the death, resurrection, and ascension to the witness that Jesus is the Holy One. He is the Messiah.
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