3.Acts 2:14 – With the apostles standing beside him, Peter preached the first sermon of the church dispensation. 4.Acts 2:15 – Peter showed the irrationality

Panorama of the

New Testament

Peter’s First Sermon

3. Acts 2:14 – With the apostles standing beside him, Peter preached the first sermon of the church dispensation.

4. Acts 2:15 – Peter showed the irrationality of the accusation of drunkenness by suggesting that people do not get drunk at nine in the morning.

5. Acts 2:16-20 – Peter launched his first sermon from a text found in the book of Joel.


a. Acts 2:16a – Even though Peter recited Joel 2:28-32, he taught the literal fulfillment of only one part of the prophecy, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

b. Acts 2:16 b– Peter focused on the coming of the Holy Spirit. None of the other prophesied events in Joel 2:28-32 were fulfilled that day.


c. Acts 2:17 – The Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost but not on all mankind, only on the believers in the Upper Room. Acts 2:1-4

d. Acts 2:18a – The pouring out of the Holy Spirit on these believers of the church fulfilled the Lord’s promises in John 14:16-17, 15:26-27, and 16:7-15.


e. Acts 2:18b – All people were not prophesying, seeing visions, or dreaming dreams.

f. Acts 2:19 – On Pentecost, signs and wonders did not appear in the sky or on the Earth.

g. Acts 2:20a – The moon did not turn to blood, and the sun was not darkened.


h. Acts 2:20b – These judgment events in Joel’s prophecy will occur during the Tribulation, the time period that starts the Day of the Lord. Zephaniah 1:14-18

Like a Jewish DayRapture

NIGHT

DAYBREAK

HIGH NOON EVENING

DARKNESS

Daniel’s 70th Week

KINGDOM

Modified from Ron Merryman’s chart


1) The Day of the Lord can be likened to a Jewish Day (sunset to sunset).

2) The Day of the Lord will begin with the sunset (darkness) of the judgment associated with the Tribulation. Malachi 4:1

3) Then will come the majestic sunrise associated with the revelation of the Lord and His 1,000 year Millennial Kingdom. Malachi 4:2-3


4) The Day of the Lord will conclude with the final sunset before eternity and Satan’s last rebellion at the end of the Millennial Kingdom. Revelation 20:7-10

Like a Jewish DayRapture

NIGHTJoel 2:28-31

DAYBREAKJoel 3:9-16

HIGH NOON

Joel 3:17-18

EVENING DARKNESS

Daniel’s 70th Week

KINGDOM

Modified from Ron Merryman’s chart


6. Acts 2:21 – Peter used this last quote from Joel to emphasize the Jews’ need to believe in Jesus Christ by calling to Him for salvation.a. Peter quoted Joel but only applied one

point of similarity, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

b. Peter explained that their speaking different languages was actually the beginning of a new ministry associated with the coming of the Holy Spirit.


7. Acts 2:22 – Men of Israel, listen to these words… Peter exhorted the people of Israel to listen to him. His gospel was the same gospel Paul preached in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. Christ [the God-Man] died for our sins and rose again on the third day.a. Jesus was a human being. Jesus the

Nazarene, a man… Peter was about to tell them about the man from Nazareth named Jesus, the subject of the Gospel.


b. Jesus was also divine. …attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs… Jesus’ miracles proved that He is God.1) …which God performed through Him…

God performed these miracles (signs, and wonders) through Jesus.

2) …in your midst, just as you yourselves know…Israel could not deny Jesus’ miracles because they saw them and were told everything He did.


8. Acts 2:23 – Jesus died for our sins.…this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God… Jesus finished all that God the Father planned for Him to do. 1 Peter 1:20a. …you nailed to a cross… Peter used this

fact to convict Israel of her rejection of the Messiah. Peter, a Jew, was not being anti-Semitic.


b. …by the hands of godless men and put Him to death… Although others crucified Christ, God the Father planned His death for the redemption of us all.


9. Acts 2:24 – Jesus rose again from the dead.…But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death… Through the resurrection, God the Father showed His approval of Christ’s work on the cross. Romans 1:4, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Romans 4:25

10.Acts 2:25-32 – Since Israel struggled against believing in the resurrection, Peter focused on the resurrection, quoting from Psalm 16.


a. Acts 2:25-31 – In Psalm 16, David prophesied Christ’s resurrection.

b. Acts 2:32 – Peter and the other disciples saw the resurrected Christ.


11.Acts 2:33 – Peter quoted Joel because of the one point of similarity (receiving the Holy Spirit) that resulted from Jesus’ ascending to the right hand of the Father and asking Him to give us the Comforter. John 14:16a. The coming of the Holy Spirit as Jesus

promised verified that He truly was resurrected and seated beside the Father.


b. Just as people saw the manifestation of the Spirit on Pentecost, so also the disciples had seen the resurrected Christ. Both events were verifiable.


12.Acts 2:34-35 – Peter’s many Old Testament quotes emphasize that we must understand the Old Testament in order to properly understand the New Testament.

13.Acts 2:36 – Since Israel struggled against believing in the deity of Christ, Peter repeated His identity.a. For a second time, Peter showed the

people of Israel their error in rejecting Jesus and ordering His crucifixion.


b. God put forth His Son as both Lord and Christ. The coming of the Holy Spirit proved Christ’s authority as Lord because Christ sent the Holy Spirit.


14.Acts 2:37 – Those listening to Peter humbly recognized their need to be saved by the resurrected Christ and asked what they should do.

15.Acts 2:38a – Peter commanded every Jew to repent.


a. Repent is a second person plural verb that is grammatically connected to the plural clauses for the forgiveness of your sins and you (all) will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.


1) When we teach the truth about salvation, that truth produces a change of thinking (repentance) from trusting self or some religion to trusting Christ.

2) When any person changes his mind and trusts in Jesus Christ for salvation, he immediately receives the forgiveness of sins and is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:13-14


b. …for the forgiveness of your sins… Peter told them to repent (change their minds and believe in Christ) for (EIS entering into the state of) the forgiveness of your sins.

c. …and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. All those who repent (change their minds about Christ and believe in Him) receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.


d. Two verses help clarify what happened when they repented (changed their minds) about their rejection of Jesus Christ.1) Acts 2:41 So then, those who had

received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. John 1:12

2) Acts 2:44 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common.


16.Acts 2:38b – As individuals, those who changed their minds (repented of their unbelief and believed in Christ) were commanded to be baptized. a. …and each of you be baptized… Peter

stated that any individual who had a change of mind (repented and believed) was to be baptized (third person singular verb) in (EPI on the basis of) the name of Jesus Christ.


1) This water baptism has nothing to do with God’s giving a new believer either salvation or the Holy Spirit!

2) In water baptism, the individual believer publically identifies himself with Christ as testimony to others and absolutely not as part of his salvation.


b. Therefore, Peter used the singular verb (be baptized) when he commanded individual believers to be baptized. Matthew 28:19-20

Acts 2:38

17.Acts 2:38 Verse analysisa. Repent – The second person plural, aorist

active imperative of METANOEO, meaning to change one’s mind, was directed at every Jewish listener.1) What was Peter instructing them to

change their minds about?

Acts 2:38

2) The context clearly indicates that they needed to change their thinking about both Jesus Christ as Savior and the salvation God accomplished through Him.

Acts 2:38

b. Peter’s command to be baptized was for the person who had already changed his mind about Jesus as the Son of God.1) …be baptized in the name of Jesus

Christ. The small preposition in EPI (upon or resting upon) indicated that each new believer was to be baptized by resting upon the authority of Jesus Christ to forgive his sins.

Acts 2:38

2) In Acts 2:21, Peter used the same preposition on EPI to indicate that salvation rests on the name of Jesus Christ. …everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.

3) In Acts 9:42, the same preposition in EPI indicated that everyone’s faith for salvation rested on the Lord. …It became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

Acts 2:38

4) In Acts 16:31, which used this same grammatical construction, Paul clearly stated that faith for salvation must rest upon Jesus Christ. Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…

Acts 2:38

c. The textual evidence clearly indicates that forgiveness of sins rests upon the name of Jesus Christ, not on water baptism. The name of Christ describes His person (His perfect character) and work (His life with a focus on the cross).

Acts 2:38

1) Acts 10:43 – While preaching the Gospel at Cornelius’ home, Peter stated that salvation is based solely on faith in Jesus’ name. Peter never mentioned water baptism as a requirement for salvation because it is not.

Acts 2:38

2) Acts 10:44-48 – Peter commanded those who were saved and already had the Holy Spirit to be baptized in water. Ephesians 1:13-14

3) 1 Corinthians 1:17 – The Bible never teaches that water baptism is necessary for salvation or for the forgiveness of sins. Water baptism is absolutely not part of salvation. Salvation comes at the moment one believes in Jesus Christ as Savior.

Acts 2:38

4) Acts 2:38 clearly encouraged these Jewish hearers to repent concerning Jesus Christ and then trust upon His name for the forgiveness of their sins.

Acts 2:39

18.Acts 2:39 – Peter pointed out that God promised both salvation and the Holy Spirit to all who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior.a. Peter again referred to the promise of

Joel 2. Joel promised salvation to all Israel’s descendants. …even among the survivors whom the LORD calls. Joel 2:32

Acts 2:39

b. Though Peter was speaking to a Jewish crowd, Gentiles were not excluded from salvation. Jesus said in Acts 1:8 that His disciples would be witnesses to the entire world. Not until Acts 10 did Peter preach directly to Gentiles.

c. God calls people to Himself by means of the Gospel. John 3:14-15, 12:32

Leviticus 8-10Drawing Near to God

Drawing near to God is only possible through the divinely appointed sacrifice – Hebrews 10:20-23.

God draws all men to Himself by the message of the grace Gospel – John 3:14-15; 12:32.

Acts 2:40

19.Acts 2:40 – Peter exhorted the Jews listening to him so they could be saved out from among the generation of Jews that rejected Messiah.a. The generation of Jews that rejected

Messiah had fallen under a special judgment because they blasphemed the Holy Spirit through their rejection. Matthew 12:30-32

Acts 2:40

b. Only the Jewish generation that rejected Jesus during His time on Earth could commit this unique sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:68, 19:40-44; Matthew 13:14-15; John 12:35-36

First Converts

C. Acts 2:41-47 – Many believed Peter’s salvation message.1. Acts 2:41 – Three thousand believers were

added to the number of those who had waited for the promised Holy Spirit in the Upper Room.

2. Acts 2:42 – The believers of the early church devoted their time to learning God's Word.

First Converts

a. Fellowship among believers was based on learning the truth. 1 John 1:4-9

b. Fellowship included communion and prayer.

First Converts

3. Acts 2:43 – God allowed the apostles to perform miracles that verified that their message did, indeed, come from Him.

4. Acts 2:44 – These first three thousand Church Age believers shared their possessions, supporting those believers who were in need.

5. Acts 2:45 – Many of them sold whatever was necessary to provide for the needy.

First Converts

a. By Acts 6, this practice of shared possessions had ended.

b. The Gospel was preached, and many were saved by believing in Jesus as Savior.

First Converts

6. Acts 2:46 – These believers all understood the Gospel of Jesus Christ and, therefore, shared great joy in their fellowship.a. The temple was still a central place of

worship for believing Israel. b. Believers were not getting together by

compulsion or manipulation but in the sheer joy of their position in Christ obtained through faith alone in Christ alone.

First Converts

7. Acts 2:47 – Through evangelistic preaching of the message of Christ, the Lord added more people to the infant church. He continues to use evangelism to grow His church.

Transitional Nature of Acts

D. Repetition of the transitional nature of Acts1. In Acts, Luke recorded the early days of the

church dispensation, emphasizing the process of transitioning from the dispensation of the Law to that of the church.


a. During the time of Moses, God transitioned from the dispensation of promise (the Patriarchs) in which the father was priest for his family to the dispensation of the Law in which Israel had a specialized priesthood.


b. In a similar manner, in Acts, God shifted from working through Israel and the specialized priesthood to working through the church and the universal priesthood of all believers.

c. Often during the transition between two dispensations, God used one-time or rare events. Leviticus 10:1-3

Inn

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God’s Plan for Human History

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Genesis2-3

Genesis4-8

Genesis9-11

Genesis12-50

Exodus 1-John 19

The Gospels

Acts 2 –Rev. 3

Rev. 20:1-9

Rev. 6-19

About 6,000 years of human history


2. In Acts, Luke’s second letter to Theophilus, he completed the historical narrative of the life of Christ and recorded about thirty years of church growth after Jesus’ ascension.a. This historical narrative followed the

development of the early church in and around Jerusalem and described events that showed its spread throughout the Roman world.


b. The early part of Acts is Jewish in nature and emphasized the ministry of Peter, the apostle to the Jews. Peter often focused on the kingdom since Israel needed to understand that Christ was not establishing it at that time because of their rejection of Him. Acts 1:3, 6-7


c. Luke ended Acts by focusing on Paul, a newer leader of the church and God’s apostle to the Gentiles. In this section, Luke emphasized the universal nature of the church.


1) The church was a new entity that Christ was focused on forming. I will build My church… Matthew 16:18, Ephesians 2:11-22

2) The church was made up of both Jews and Gentiles.


d. Thus, the book of Acts is a bridge that provides the historical account of the transition from the gospels to the epistles.

Bridging the Time Gap

God used one-time rare events during transition periods – Leviticus 10:1-3; Joshua 3-7


3. Early in Acts, the church was composed of Jewish believers who followed a synagogue style of meeting together.a. Although the Lord commanded these

early Christians to go out into the entire world, they primarily focused their Gospel message on Jews in Jerusalem and nearby areas. Acts 8:4, 11:19


b. Not until later did they realize that the church is an entity with no ethnic distinctions. Ephesians 3:1-6

c. Jewish believers were slow to understand the administration of God's plan for the church as evidenced by Peter’s struggles with believing Jewish leaders who resented having Gentiles receive the Gospel. See Acts 11 and Acts 15.


d. Acts is historically descriptive, providing fascinating details of the development of the early church. Luke’s purpose was to write a historical account for Theophilus (Acts 1:1-3), not to provide guidelines for the established church to copy.

e. Today, many believers attempt to base Church Age doctrines on the experiences of the early church.


f. Actually, the Book of Acts is a historical document about the early church’s experiences. We should not have as our goal the duplication of the same experiences since many were unique to this transitional period. Acts 5:1-11, 15

g. God provided the epistles, not Acts, to instruct the church (both the universal and local body of Christ) on its establishment and function. 1 Timothy 3:14-15


4. Historically, Acts transitions from the gospels, which taught a kingdom message to Jews only, to the Church Age, which teaches a Gospel message with a global scope (as observed in Acts and taught in the epistles). Acts 1:8

Documents

3.Acts 2:14 – With the apostles standing beside him, Peter preached the first sermon of the church dispensation. 4.Acts 2:15 – Peter showed the irrationality