WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:02.000 Take your Bible and go to the Book of Acts. 00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:04.240 The Book of Acts in chapter 2. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:21.519 On the morning of January 8th, 1815, a British army moved across the cane fields just below New Orleans to meet up with Andrew Jackson's line. 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:26.000 The battle lasted for only about a half an hour. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:35.200 But when all of it cleared, some 2,000 British soldiers were either dead, wounded, or missing. 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:40.560 And on the American side, 13 were killed. 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:54.799 The tragic part about that, in that War of 1812, is that all of those men who fought and fell on that battlefield that day were fighting for a war that had already been over. 00:00:56.320 --> 00:01:10.799 Fifteen days before, in Ghent, Belgium, a treaty had been signed, and the news that the war was over was on a ship, and it would take six weeks for it to come to the United States. 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:19.120 Those men fell on that day, and they had never heard that news. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:25.920 They were fighting for a battle and a war they thought was still raging, but it was already over. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:30.879 They weren't cowards, they weren't fools, they were doing what soldiers do. 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:35.840 But what made it tragic is they didn't know what day it was. 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:44.400 And I say I share that this morning because it's possible to live exactly like that, even as a believer. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:49.439 It's possible to live our life in a way that we affirm the resurrection. 00:01:50.319 --> 00:02:00.000 We can even talk about it clearly to others, but and we can sing about it on a Sunday, but we don't live like it on a Monday. 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:06.480 We don't live in light of the truth that the victory's already been won in Jesus Christ. 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:12.560 And then there are others who are not spiritually drowsy, but awake. 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:23.599 Awake to the diagnosis that's just come, awake to the trouble that's ahead of us, awake to the relationship that's broken, awake to a world that looks like it's falling apart. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:28.080 And we can take all of our anxieties and pour them into our trouble. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:39.439 And some of us can even call our anxiety vigilance by tracing the line of the 24-hour news cycle, thinking that by keeping up with it, we're actually being vigilant. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.159 And those two postures have something in common. 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:53.759 Those who are spiritually drowsy and not living in light of the victory are acting as though as nothing good has happened. 00:02:54.240 --> 00:03:01.840 And those who are living in anxiety about the troubles that they're facing are living as though nothing good is happening. 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:17.120 Both of them, just like those men in 1815, are still out in the field, still aiming, still firing, not realizing a victory has already been had. 00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:22.800 The passage that we're going to look at this morning talks about something called the last days. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:24.719 The last days. 00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:36.319 And a lot of people, when they hear that phrase, the last days, thinking about it like we we did just a few days ago, that there was a tornado warning and it's there's a tornado out there and it's headed our way. 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:43.280 We look at that phrase, the last days, as though it's something that we have to brace for. 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:48.319 What if we had it backwards? 00:03:48.960 --> 00:04:07.680 What if the last days weren't about something to fear, but rather something to expect, something to be excited about, something to claim as victory, a victory that Christ has been raised, and that Christ rules. 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:19.439 And if it is true that He has and is, and it is true, then the question is: are we living in the light of that victory? 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:22.959 Let's look at Acts chapter 2. 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:28.879 So we come into this passage that we'll be looking at, and we'll start in verse 14. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:34.480 Jerusalem is crowded that day with pilgrims from every corner of the known world. 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:40.959 The spirit has just fallen on a room of ordinary men and women, and the sound has drawn a crowd. 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:49.519 And the people have come together with questions, astonished and perplexed and wondering, what does all of this mean? 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:55.040 And some of them have already started sneering, these men are drunk on new wine. 00:04:56.160 --> 00:05:00.959 But Luke gives us a sermon inside of a story here. 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:04.959 Peter stands up and tells us what happened. 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:15.120 And we get to sit in Jerusalem for the next few minutes and listen to the first Christian sermon that was preached. 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:16.399 Let's hear it. 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:17.839 Verse 14. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:31.120 Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed to them, Fellow Jews and all you residents of Jerusalem, let this be known to you and pay attention to my words. 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:37.759 For these people are not drunk as you suppose, since it's only the nine in the morning. 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:44.160 On the contrary, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel. 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:48.639 And the rest of this part of the sermon is a quote. 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:56.160 And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my spirit on all people. 00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:11.120 Then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams, and I will even pour out my spirit on my servants in those days, both men and women, and they will prophesy. 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:26.079 I will display wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and a cloud of smoke, the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:31.759 And then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:35.439 In the face of the question, what does this mean? 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:43.600 And in face of the statement, oh, they're just drunk on new wine, Peter stands up and notice what he doesn't do. 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:49.439 He's not panicking, he's not speculating, he's not trying to give a better argument to the crowd. 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:57.519 He opens up the scriptures and he tells them that the spirit's arrival that morning is not chaos. 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:02.959 It's actually the fulfillment of a promise that God had given long ago. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:09.040 And that promise was that the Spirit would come in the last days. 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:15.199 And he uses that phrase to declare that a promise is being fulfilled. 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:20.240 And he leaves us no question as to why that promise has happened. 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:24.079 Just take a look for a second down at verse 32. 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:29.439 God has raised this Jesus. 00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:32.319 We are all witnesses of this. 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:49.040 And then in verse 33, therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God, and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear. 00:07:50.480 --> 00:08:10.959 That noise of a mighty wind, that fire in the streets, those languages that are spoken by people declaring the glorious things of God, Peter is saying, is all because Christ is raised from the dead, and all because he's seated in the place of authority. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:15.600 So here's the message in one sentence. 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:20.720 Live like people that know what day it is. 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:24.720 Live like people that know what day it is. 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:27.920 This is the last days. 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:34.080 And because it is the last days through the risen Christ, there are three things that we should do. 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:38.240 First of all, we should live awake to his word. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:42.559 And second, we should live active in his mission. 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:46.480 And third, we can live assured by his promise. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:49.519 So we're going to move through each of those this morning. 00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:54.720 We're going to look, first of all, that we are to live awake to his word. 00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:57.840 The crowd is here. 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:04.879 They're looking at the very act of God and they're calling it something completely different. 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:06.639 These men are drunk. 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:14.480 And the only thing that's going to correct them is when Peter stands up and shares the scriptures with them. 00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:22.480 They're reading everything at that moment before they hear Peter on a surface level of their own assumptions. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:25.440 Something all of us can do. 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:32.080 But notice the moment when they're told something different. 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:38.480 Scripture interrupts them and tells them exactly what's happening. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:44.879 And so Peter says to them in verse 15, these people are not drunk as you suppose. 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:47.919 They'd already drawn that conclusion. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:52.960 And he wants them to know that look, this isn't what you think it is. 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:58.720 And their assumption seemed logical to them. 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:02.000 They're not silly people or stupid people. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:04.240 Pardon me. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:16.879 And they're thinking these guys have just come out of a rave party or something. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:20.399 Maybe they've been up partying all night. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:24.879 And Peter says, look, it's not that at all. 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:32.559 And then he tells them that only the word can give them an understanding of what they're looking at. 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:34.159 Take a look at verse 16. 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:37.440 Everything hangs on this phrase right at the beginning of that. 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:39.919 On the contrary. 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:47.679 Peter's not offering a competing theory, he's contradicting them flatly. 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:57.360 And what he's telling them is that the arrival of the Spirit here is because of something God promised many, many years ago. 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:05.039 And he brings the word to them and tells them exactly what they're looking at from scripture itself. 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:08.240 Notice how he deepens this. 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:15.360 Thank you, Brian. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:18.799 Look at verse 17. 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:30.559 In verse 17, he says, Joel had prophesied that in the last days God would pour out his spirit on all people. 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:43.919 And so he combines together this occurrence of the Spirit falling on the people, and all of them speaking out the mighty acts of God with the coming of the last days. 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:52.000 The Spirit's arrival is not incidental to the last phrase, it's the actual marker of the last days. 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:59.919 And Peter is not predicting something about the future, he's announcing something about the present. 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:03.360 The clock has already started. 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:08.559 Peter is saying we're in the last days now. 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:12.000 Joel had promised it. 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:21.679 When the Spirit is poured out, when salvation is offered to all in the name of the Lord, you will know that the last days have arrived. 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:25.679 Listen to how Hebrews describes it, and we read this verse. 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:38.559 Long ago God spoke to the ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways, but he has in these last days spoken to us through the Son. 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:40.399 Hebrews chapter 1. 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:44.320 So what is this telling us? 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:48.720 What is the teaching that's underneath all of this? 00:12:49.440 --> 00:13:01.840 It tells us that the last days are not about a chart that somebody might bring up and talk about some distant future and start talking about lions and tigers and bears. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:02.799 Oh no. 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:07.600 The last days are not about a chart. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:12.480 You see, the last days are not a chronological question. 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:17.919 The last days are a monarchial question. 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:22.799 The last days don't answer the question, when will this end? 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:28.720 The last days answer the question, who is ruling? 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:32.960 That's the question that the last days are answering. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:36.240 And the answer is Jesus. 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:38.639 That's who's reigning. 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:40.639 You think, wait a second. 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:43.519 Well, as we get into this, you'll understand that more and more. 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:47.279 But just think of it for a moment when you wake up bright and early in the morning. 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:51.120 And for those of you who are teenagers, that means before noon, right? 00:13:54.320 --> 00:14:03.919 You get up in the early morning and most of the sky is dark, but there in the eastern horizon, the light is already starting to move. 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:13.360 Brian McLaughlin and I used to get up very, very early in the morning and go cycling in the dark, and we would watch that night turn to day, and it was a beautiful thing. 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:15.200 What's that saying? 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:25.919 The dawn is already hit the horizon, and soon the sun is going to dispel every whisper of darkness, and it will be gone. 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:33.519 And this is exactly that first day, the first day of the dawn of the last days. 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:39.120 The sky is looking dark, but don't be mistaken. 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:44.080 Christ is reigning and he's doing his work. 00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:48.159 So what does all of this look like in this first point for us? 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:50.639 To live awake to his word? 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:56.879 What does it look like for us on the next week that has a Tuesday in it? 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:00.000 Not the kind of weeks my dad would warn me about. 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:03.279 He'll knock me into the second Tuesday of next week. 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:08.159 But what about those regular weeks that we have? 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:11.279 Those regular weeks that are filled with disappointments. 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:17.360 Those regular weeks where we draw an immediate conclusion about somebody's character or competency. 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:24.240 Those weeks in which we go through what is the beginning of a long, difficult season. 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:31.679 Those weeks in which we continue to hear the silence from somebody we love. 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:39.039 Well, it's easy for us to be certain and make assumptions about things. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:47.759 It's easy to draw conclusions, just like this crowd mistakenly looked at what they were seeing and draw conclusions. 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:56.879 And Peter is telling them look, you need an answer to your question, but your answer is not going to come from your surface level assumptions. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:02.080 Your answer is going to come by scripture and God's revelation. 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:04.639 And it's no different from us. 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:09.759 When we go into situations, we too need a perspective from God. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:23.120 And without biblical data, we can bring an interpretation based upon our past experiences, our past hardships, and answer the moments already packaged with those presuppositions. 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:30.240 Listen to how James talks about it in James chapter 1. 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:36.559 When you experience various troubles, what are you to do? 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:43.039 Well, just two days, two verses later, he says, Ask the Father for wisdom. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:17:01.360 When you go into situations that are difficult, and when they're hard and troubling, the first thing to do is not to interpret them based upon your own history or your own presuppositions, but to ask yourself, does God have something to say about what I'm entering into? 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:08.319 And the wonderful thing is, is if we ask God for wisdom, he graciously gives it. 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:32.640 And so this week, take your moment, your hard conversation, the person you're already judging as incompetent or without character, or that situation that's filled with trouble, or that season that you're just entering, or perhaps deeply into already, and ask yourself does God have wisdom for me in the middle of that moment? 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:35.119 This is what Peter's doing. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:40.720 He's bringing the light of scripture to people's presuppositions. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:47.839 He's bringing an answer to their sneers, he's giving them God's wisdom in the face of their foolish reply. 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:51.519 But I want us to see something different here. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:18:01.839 Not only are we to live in a light of being awake to God's word, but we're also to live in a way that's active in his mission. 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:07.039 Notice how Peter describes this in verses 17 and 18. 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:22.240 There he says that God was going to have his sons and daughters prophesy, his young men see visions, his old men dream dreams, his servants, both men and women, are going to have the Spirit poured out on them. 00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:32.400 Just think about the categories here: sons, daughters, young, old, male, female, servants, all. 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:38.480 Every category of people that a first century listener could have dreamt up. 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:42.160 And notice the verb. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:45.359 They're going to prophesy, everyone. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:53.680 Now, prophecy in scripture is not primarily about telling the future. 00:18:54.640 --> 00:19:04.480 Prophecy in scripture is primarily about standing up and speaking out God's word to someone who needs to hear it. 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:10.240 And this is exactly what they're doing in Acts chapter 2. 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:21.920 In every language that could could that was there, people were standing up and speaking a language that they did not learn, the mighty acts of God. 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:28.799 They were speaking the things of God to people who needed to hear it. 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:39.440 Something else we can learn from this passage is that God and access to God is not run through a middleman here. 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:44.079 This is something really different than the old covenant economy. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:49.759 This is not just a modest expansion of the ministry either. 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:58.079 This is not like some churches and denominations who think they need to reproduce the Old Testament priesthood. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:05.279 And you come through the mediation of their ministry to God and to his grace. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:07.759 It is not like that at all. 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:12.559 Here, everyone has the Spirit. 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:20.319 Everyone can stand up and speak out the very word of God to the people who need to hear it. 00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:23.039 Because they already have it. 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:29.039 And so we have an end of the need for an earthly high priest. 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:39.440 We have an end for the need to have a mediator on earth, because there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. 00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:41.920 There's no middleman. 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:49.039 But it also means, and this is why the second point means to be active in his mission. 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:51.200 There are no spectators. 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:52.480 Okay? 00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:54.000 Do you hear that? 00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:57.440 All right, there's no spectators. 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:02.400 God has given this work to all of his people. 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:06.400 Take a look at verse 17 again. 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:24.000 I will pour out my spirit on all people, and your sons and your daughters, and your young men, and your old men, and the servants, both male and female, and they will all speak out. 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:26.960 What is he saying here? 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:34.160 In the new covenant economy, God has called out every one of us to be a representative of him. 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:45.119 Every single one of us are given a responsibility to be messengers of God to people who need to hear it. 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:48.079 There might be some who need a word of comfort. 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:50.799 There might be some people who need a word of encouragement. 00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:53.279 There might be some people who need a word of warning. 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:58.079 There might be some people who need the invitation of the good news of Jesus Christ. 00:21:58.319 --> 00:22:00.960 There might be some people who need Teaching. 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:03.680 There might be people who need rebuke. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:10.400 There might be some people who need to hear you speak out the glorious promises of God. 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:12.960 Every single one of us. 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:17.920 And this is what God's people have been longing for for a long, long time. 00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:21.119 All the way back in the book of Numbers. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:31.359 Moses says out loud these very words if only all of the Lord's people were prophets, and the Lord would place his spirit on them. 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:34.720 Well, Moses, it's happened. 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:45.119 In Ezekiel, the promise in its most intimate form is, I will place my spirit within you. 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:46.880 Within you. 00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:26.079 Moses wished for it. 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:31.440 Jesus promised it, when I go, another comforter will come. 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:41.200 And here, Peter is standing up in a street in Jerusalem, and he's announcing it that it's happened. 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:48.480 So the church is not a people who gather to spectate. 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:57.519 The church are people equipped by the Spirit of God to be his representative all, every single one of us. 00:23:57.759 --> 00:24:17.680 And when you read 1 Corinthians 12, when you read Ephesians chapter 4, when you read 1 Peter chapter 4, when you read all of these passages that talk about body life, there's not a single passage in there that says, defer to that ordained guy over there, and the rest of you just sort of sit back and wait till he tells you everything's okay. 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:24.319 It says we all minister together, every single one of us. 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:31.519 Verse 39, Peter says it again, as many as the Lord will call. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:43.119 Because the same grace that brought us to grace is the same grace that puts us into active ministry in his mission. 00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:49.519 There's a term that we use, every member a minister. 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:52.880 And it's an important word. 00:24:54.799 --> 00:25:07.440 Let's be specific about that because it's easy to nod at that and to ignore it, or to nod at that and carry our presumptions and our assumptions and our expectations with us. 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:24.480 Consider noticing perhaps someone who hasn't been here for five or six weeks, well past a good vacation, and you call them and say, Hey, I just wanted to pray for you. 00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:25.920 I've missed you. 00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:28.079 What's happening? 00:25:28.319 --> 00:25:31.039 Every minute, every member of ministers. 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:36.640 Or someone's ill and you go visit them. 00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:39.680 Every member a minister. 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:47.359 Or someone looks dejected and you side up to them in the pew and say, How's it going this week? 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:48.960 Can I pray for you? 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:53.119 Every member a minister. 00:25:54.480 --> 00:26:03.279 Or you hear that there's a number of children who are longing to hear the word of God, and you go up to Ethan and say, Can I be in the rotation to teach? 00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:05.519 And he'll talk to you about what that might look like. 00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:08.240 Every member a minister. 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:14.559 Or you see that there's no toilet paper in the women's bathrooms. 00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:18.799 And you go, Vic, how can I get this filled? 00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:21.440 Let me go downstairs and get into the stock. 00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:22.640 I'll do that. 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:25.519 Every member, a minister. 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:38.000 Or if we're in a fellowship luncheon and we've run out of forks, and instead of going, I wonder who's going to fill this up, every member, a minister. 00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:41.440 We meet the need, every single one of us. 00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:54.799 And so let me encourage you this week, not this month, not this year, but this week, find someone who might need a word of encouragement, or maybe the gospel. 00:26:56.240 --> 00:27:02.400 Or find a need in the church that's standing in a gap and you recognize it. 00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:05.519 Be the one who fills that gap. 00:27:05.839 --> 00:27:09.119 Be the one who preaches that gospel. 00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:11.920 Be the one who gives that encouragement. 00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:15.039 Be the one who steps into that kitchen. 00:27:15.599 --> 00:27:20.000 Be the one who comes alongside that discouraged one. 00:27:20.160 --> 00:27:20.960 This week. 00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:25.680 Just prayerfully ask the Lord to have you move toward that. 00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:32.880 So God has given us the risen Christ, and it is the last days. 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:37.039 And because it is the last days, we're to live awake to his word. 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:40.160 We're to live active in his mission. 00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:44.079 But last of all, we're to live assured by his promise. 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:46.400 Assured by his promise. 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:50.079 And I want you to see verses 19 to 21. 00:27:50.480 --> 00:27:53.839 And again, this is a quote from the book of Joel. 00:27:54.480 --> 00:28:03.440 And you might be looking at this and thinking, well, you know, Joel, Peter's just quoting Joel because he wants to get to the very last part of this in verse 21. 00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:08.240 And, you know, he's he's got to quote this, but it's not really for those guys he's preaching to. 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:10.480 And it's probably not even for us. 00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:13.039 And um, you know, let's just get to verse 21. 00:28:13.119 --> 00:28:15.839 Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 00:28:16.079 --> 00:28:18.640 Don't think like that, please. 00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:20.480 This is very important. 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:35.039 And Peter's quoting Joel because he sees these verses as as imperative and as applicable to the people that day as they are to ours, as they will be in the very last day. 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:40.559 We are to live assured by his promise. 00:28:42.799 --> 00:29:01.440 And so he says this, speaking from Joel, I will display wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and a cloud of smoke, the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. 00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:07.359 And then everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 00:29:09.200 --> 00:29:14.079 One of the questions we all carry into this life is how is it all going to end? 00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:16.559 How is it all going to end? 00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:18.960 And Peter answers it. 00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:21.519 He says, We're in the last days. 00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:29.680 And what Peter does is he gives us the front door and the back door of the last days. 00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:33.359 But he also gives us everything in between as well. 00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:37.599 Now, watch what happens as he's quoting here. 00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:46.880 He talks about blood, he talks about fire, he talks about smoke, he talks about a darkened sun and a red moon. 00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:51.519 Peter's calling us to capture all of that imagery. 00:29:54.079 --> 00:29:56.079 And what is he telling us? 00:29:57.680 --> 00:30:02.160 He's telling us the last days from the dawn to the dusk. 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:05.359 He's giving us the scope of it all. 00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:14.000 And notice how he describes it in verse 20 before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. 00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:24.000 He gives us the front door of the last days when he said, This is what was spoken. 00:30:24.640 --> 00:30:29.200 And the Spirit's arrival is the first day of the last days. 00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:33.920 And then he mentions the sun going dark and the moon turning to blood. 00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:38.720 And he said, This is the last day of the last days. 00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:45.119 And so he straddles all of that in this quotation. 00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:47.279 Part of it landing at 9 a.m. 00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:52.400 in the morning in Jerusalem, and part of it landing still out ahead of us. 00:30:53.279 --> 00:30:58.319 But in between is also covered every bit of it. 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:02.400 So he's telling us what day it is. 00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:04.319 It's the last days. 00:31:04.559 --> 00:31:06.720 But listen closely to this. 00:31:07.599 --> 00:31:15.839 What he's also telling us through the sky that's coming apart is that he's telling us what kingdom is coming down. 00:31:16.799 --> 00:31:17.119 Okay? 00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:20.000 And I'm going to prove this from scripture for you. 00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:26.000 And I think you'll understand this a whole lot better than simply saying, where was that chart? 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:29.680 Where did I put this clearance larken chart at? 00:31:32.079 --> 00:31:34.640 I want you to hear something about this language. 00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:38.880 Every single person hearing Peter speak is a Jewish person. 00:31:39.759 --> 00:31:44.799 Every person listening to him speak had already read the book of Joel. 00:31:45.200 --> 00:31:49.519 They had already read about all of this darkened sun and red blood. 00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:52.400 And they had read other scriptures as well. 00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:56.240 They knew what prophetic poetry was all about. 00:31:57.119 --> 00:31:59.680 Listen to prophetic poetry. 00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:05.599 This is Isaiah speaking about the fall of Babylon to the Medes. 00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:07.920 Isaiah 13, 10. 00:32:08.559 --> 00:32:14.000 The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shine. 00:32:15.039 --> 00:32:18.880 Listen to Ezekiel announce the fall of Egypt. 00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:21.759 Ezekiel 32. 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:27.359 I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. 00:32:28.319 --> 00:32:36.240 Listen to Jeremiah speak about the destruction of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in Jeremiah 4. 00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:44.559 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void, and to the heavens, and they had no light. 00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:56.000 Jeremiah is saying that the destruction of Jerusalem is akin to the pre-creation chaos in the universe. 00:32:57.759 --> 00:33:03.440 Listen to Isaiah 34 speak about the judgment that will fall on Edom. 00:33:04.319 --> 00:33:10.160 All of the hosts of heaven shall rot away, and the skies will roll up as a scroll. 00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:15.680 All their hosts shall fall, for my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens. 00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:19.519 Behold, it will descend for judgment upon Edom. 00:33:20.400 --> 00:33:22.079 Did you hear all of that? 00:33:23.519 --> 00:33:35.599 Babylon falls, Egypt falls, Jerusalem falls, and Edom falls, and the sun comes up the next day. 00:33:37.039 --> 00:33:41.519 So this language is not just language about astronomy. 00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:50.160 This language is about the collapse of an order of rebellion that was sure it was going to stand forever. 00:33:50.559 --> 00:34:12.079 Babylon and all of its arrogance, Egypt and all of its pride, Jerusalem and all of its rebellion, Edom and all of its connivance against the people of God, all these kingdoms thought that they were sure that they would stand, that they could be strong in the face of the God of heaven. 00:34:12.400 --> 00:34:20.719 And God says, You will fall, and your fall will be just like the whole creation crumbling. 00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:24.639 So what's happening here? 00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:27.679 Now don't mistake me. 00:34:29.199 --> 00:34:32.000 Joel is speaking about a real day, also. 00:34:32.639 --> 00:34:35.199 This is not just figurative language. 00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:41.440 God will do what He's promised to do with the very Son we look at every day. 00:34:42.159 --> 00:34:44.239 Peter himself speaks about it. 00:34:44.480 --> 00:34:56.320 The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will burn and will be dissolved, and the earth and its works will be disclosed. 00:34:56.639 --> 00:35:03.760 It's not just a figure of speech, it is talking about the very last day of the last days. 00:35:04.159 --> 00:35:15.840 But I want you to grab something more significant here, because what's happening here is not just a statement about that very last moment of the last days. 00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:32.800 This is a declaration to the people in Jerusalem and a declaration to the whole earth to this very day that there's a kingdom that's been brought down that lived in arrogance, thinking that it would constantly rule and reign. 00:35:33.199 --> 00:35:47.199 And here what is happening is Peter is using prophetic poetry from the book of Joel to indicate that in these last days a new kingdom is rising, and an old kingdom is falling. 00:35:49.119 --> 00:35:57.599 What's happening here is that there's a tearing down of one kingdom and a replacement of it by another. 00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:00.559 And do you know what that new kingdom is? 00:36:01.840 --> 00:36:05.440 For we have received the spirit of life. 00:36:07.119 --> 00:36:09.440 It is the new creation. 00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:13.599 If anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation. 00:36:13.840 --> 00:36:16.800 The old is gone, the new has come. 00:36:17.679 --> 00:36:22.559 In theological terms, we call this the already and the not yet. 00:36:23.039 --> 00:36:26.559 That there is already the reign of Christ. 00:36:26.719 --> 00:36:29.519 There's already the new creation. 00:36:29.760 --> 00:36:34.480 And by the Spirit of God, that new creation is living inside of people. 00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:39.440 This is why we live by the fruit of the Spirit. 00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:46.320 Love and joy and peace and patience and gentleness and meekness and kindness and perseverance and self-control. 00:36:46.639 --> 00:36:47.760 What is all of that? 00:36:48.400 --> 00:36:57.679 That's the eternal future kingdom punctuating itself into this king, into this kingdom, showing us that there is already a kingdom of life. 00:36:57.920 --> 00:37:01.679 And the spirit reigns within people already. 00:37:20.320 --> 00:37:26.000 Peter is crying out to the people in Jerusalem that a new day has dawned. 00:37:26.239 --> 00:37:28.400 It's called the last days. 00:37:28.719 --> 00:37:39.119 But he's also saying there's an old kingdom that's been put on notice, that it's about to fall, because there's a new king on the throne, and his name is Jesus. 00:37:39.360 --> 00:37:43.760 It's no longer sin and darkness, it's no longer the devil. 00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:48.000 It is God in Christ who reigns. 00:37:50.079 --> 00:37:58.480 So the sun is going dark, and it's the end of the kingdom of darkness. 00:37:59.599 --> 00:38:21.360 So when Jesus rose up out of the tomb, when he showed himself alive to all of these men and women for 40 days, and when he ascended into the heavens, and ten days later sent his spirit, he's putting this dark world on notice that Jesus reigns. 00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:31.679 And he's putting this dark world on notice that the kingdom of darkness is falling, and the gates of hell will not prevail against the kingdom of God. 00:38:32.320 --> 00:38:34.159 That's what he's saying. 00:38:35.119 --> 00:38:48.880 And so he's speaking here the very words of the resurrected and ascended Christ, who put the words into Joel to speak about these days, that this world is coming to an end. 00:38:49.599 --> 00:38:55.440 And the world of Christ is dawning, and his people are coming alive. 00:38:56.800 --> 00:39:02.639 Now, let's take a look at this just a little more deeply, and this is where it gets personal for all of us. 00:39:04.079 --> 00:39:16.480 How this day lands on us, whether it is going to be a glorious or a terrible day, all falls down to one name. 00:39:17.440 --> 00:39:18.400 Jesus. 00:39:31.119 --> 00:39:34.800 And take a look at verse 20 with me while I do it. 00:39:35.679 --> 00:39:38.000 This is how the Hebrew puts it. 00:39:45.760 --> 00:39:48.000 What does it say in verse 20? 00:39:49.280 --> 00:39:50.719 Great and what? 00:39:51.760 --> 00:39:53.039 Glorious. 00:39:54.639 --> 00:39:55.920 It is both. 00:39:57.199 --> 00:40:02.800 The last days are both terrible and glorious. 00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:08.000 The Jerusalem crowd had grown up hearing the scriptures in Greek. 00:40:09.199 --> 00:40:11.920 And they were hearing an invitation. 00:40:12.880 --> 00:40:15.920 Something new about what that day would look like. 00:40:16.559 --> 00:40:20.480 It would be perhaps a glorious day for them. 00:40:20.800 --> 00:40:29.039 But if they didn't heed the warnings and the words and the invitation of Peter on that day, it would be a terrible day. 00:40:29.599 --> 00:40:35.360 And that's why he says at the very end of this sermon, flee from the wrath to come. 00:40:40.239 --> 00:40:42.719 Peter reads those verses. 00:40:45.119 --> 00:40:49.920 He talks about that great and terrible and that great and glorious day. 00:40:50.079 --> 00:40:56.239 And he pulls them both together because the day of the Lord is both terrible and it is glorious. 00:40:56.480 --> 00:41:00.480 And Paul writes about it in 2 Thessalonians when he says this. 00:41:06.480 --> 00:41:29.840 When he takes vengeance with flaming fire on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, and they will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord's presence and from his glorious strength on that day, when he comes to be glorified by his saints, and to be marveled at by all those who have believed. 00:42:17.280 --> 00:42:21.920 The only way it can be glorious is not by becoming a church member. 00:42:22.880 --> 00:42:29.599 The way it can be glorious is not by saying, I want to turn over a new leaf and do my life a little different than I've done it. 00:42:30.159 --> 00:42:40.800 The only way to be delivered on that day and to find it a glorious day and not a terrible one is whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. 00:42:41.599 --> 00:42:42.639 That's how. 00:42:43.360 --> 00:42:45.039 The judgment is real. 00:42:45.199 --> 00:42:51.679 And Peter doesn't strike out a single syllable of how terrible that judgment is. 00:42:52.320 --> 00:42:55.199 But the judgment is not the only message. 00:42:56.239 --> 00:42:58.239 There's an invitation here. 00:42:58.960 --> 00:43:08.800 An invitation to change your allegiance from self and sin and to follow the Lord by calling out on his name. 00:43:09.039 --> 00:43:16.079 And this is why Peter, later in this sermon, says, Repent, every one of you. 00:43:16.880 --> 00:43:22.480 Turn away from your allegiance to that kingdom that's been put on notice, that it's about to die. 00:43:23.199 --> 00:43:28.159 Turn away your allegiance from the kingdom of darkness that it's going to be destroyed. 00:43:28.400 --> 00:43:40.960 Turn away your allegiance from the disobedience that is sin, because that will be brought to an end on that day, that terrible day, if you still cling to that kingdom. 00:43:42.239 --> 00:43:44.880 And go to the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:43:45.280 --> 00:43:49.760 And on that day, you will join the new kingdom. 00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:55.519 And on that day you call upon him, you will become a member of the kingdom of light. 00:43:55.920 --> 00:43:59.760 When you come into that kingdom, you will be filled with a spirit of life. 00:44:00.239 --> 00:44:02.079 And the promise of eternity. 00:44:02.320 --> 00:44:11.920 When you enter that kingdom where Jesus is Lord, your life will be transformed and you will start to feel the power of that kingdom. 00:44:12.239 --> 00:44:14.960