You'll notice in the outline which is provided for you in the order of worship that it's a little bit different that instead of simply having the Roman numerals 1, 2 and 3, I'm actually divided into two parts which obviously is intentional and the reason being there are two or I have two distinct purposes this morning. The first part is going to be, and this is the greater portion of the sermon, straight exposition of these verses. No frills to speak of, no bells and whistles, not a lot of illustrations, it's just going to be straight exposition taking these words that Peter uses and discerning what does he mean when he explains to his audience the meaning of pinnacles. Then the second part will be taken up with not straight exposition as much as straight talk. Straight talk between, what say between me and you but really between you and the word of God, taking Peter's explanation of what pinnacles mean and applying it to our day. What do we mean by the word or by the event of pinnacles? It's a very simple sermon really and it serves as a foundation for the next three or four sermons again with Peter's sermon. So part one is an exposition of Peter's explanation to his audience of what pinnacles means. You remember that there were those in his audience who were amazed at what was going on, there were many who were bewildered, there were some who were troubled and we learned that there were the skeptics as well. They were very troubled by the strange phenomenon but it's in verse 13 when those skeptics accused the 120 of being drunk at 9 o'clock in the morning that Peter in a sense has enough is enough. And he hits his feet and at that point he becomes the spokesman for the group and he refused their accusations. He refused their skepticism and he does it very clearly and he does it with great authority. I want you to notice first in verse 14 physically that Luke tells us that Peter standing up with the 11. Now Jesus had told the disciples when he was gone once they were ordained to their office as apostles that they wouldn't be rabbis. Rabbis were teachers sat down to teach. They wouldn't be rabbis. He told them you will be heralds and when you teach you proclaim and when you proclaim you stand up. So he said you don't sit and teach like a rabbi, you're a heralds and you preach it to them. Notice it says raise his voice. You can only imagine an open air preaching, 3000 plus individuals there. And then notice it says he said and said to them the word said means declared. The Greek meaning is to enunciate clearly and the idea is that Peter not only spoke, not only preached this sermon, particularly but he did in such a way that every man there could hear him and every man could understand what he was saying. And then even to the point where it says he said to them, to them he preached to them. Unlike many pulpits in our day where ministers simply present a speech and they simply preach before the people. That's not Peter. Peter is preaching to the people. G. Campbell, Morgan used to say that creatures had lost the art of realizing that when they're in the pulpit they're actually in combat. And that they are wrestling with the souls of other individuals and it's their job to compel those that are listening, compel them to obedience. I don't know if you've noticed in my preaching that I used the word you a lot. I was actually talking to him that you shouldn't use the word you. You should say we and us. But I had mentors that I listened to that I believe that they said that's not true. When you preach you say you do say you. And I want you to understand that about me if you've not picked up that about me that and I want you to understand that. That when I come and when I stand in the pulpit I have already dealt with the passage. It's already now used this terminology a lot with you but it's already gone through my soul. This passage in the applications I give you have already put me on the carpet. It's already dealt with me. So hopefully and prayerfully I come to you as a herald then of God's message prayerfully a broken herald. So that when you know and I want you to understand it's about me when I in essence point the finger and I'm saying you need to do this. It's not me pointing the finger at you. It's God. It's His message, His Word. It's saying you should do this. And you should not do that. And I hope that prayerfully again by God's grace that will be a characteristic of the preaching that comes from this pulpit. And that's physically then let her be mentally the second part of verse 14 where it says men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem let this be known to you and hate my words. He says let this let this where we say well let what well you go back to verse 12 when they had asked him what is the meaning of all of this. They're saying what's the meaning of all this the fire the tongues of fire what's the meaning of the sound of this of this wind. What's the meaning of this not only praising and singing praises to God not only telling us the actual God but actually telling us in another language. And we're actually hearing it in our own language so that we understand it and it's coming from men who had never studied this language before. What in the world is the meaning of all this which is really a very honest question. It's a very cropper question. I mean they're confused and I didn't mean to give the wrong impression when I said that when Peter said enough is enough I didn't mean to say to Peter is angry or that Peter's even put out. I think he's simply answering their question he's simply saying let me tell you what this means. Maybe to put some strength into it would be decided Peter just knew it was time to take a stand. It was time to explain to them what this was all about and you already got he takes them back to where they're familiar. He takes them back to things they already knew things they already believed and he said this is what your prophet Joel said was going to happen. Look at verse 6 and he says but this as I've already said what's the meaning of this he just answering their question he says but this is what was spoken of the prophet Joel. Literally Peter is saying this is that this phenomenon that you are witnessing with your very eyes is that which the prophet Joel spoke about 500 years ago. This is a biblically prophesied phenomenon that's what he's explaining to them and in March the beginning of a new era which really been served as the content of Peter's explanation in verses 16 and following let's say a closer look now at the actual message in these verses and I want you to see first that he's going to teach them that tenet calls signals the advent of a new era. It marks the beginning of a new age look at verse 17 where it begins and it shall come to pass in the last days. In other words the outpouring of the Holy Spirit marks the beginning of the last days prior to this the world had not been in the last days now it is. So you might say that the final chapter of human history began with the ministry of Jesus Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. There's much talk about the last days in our day that this is the last day we would say well I agree it is the last day it's been the last day for the last 2000 years. It's been the last day since pinnacle since the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 19 1920 says I will show you wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath blood and fire and vapor of smoke the sun shall be turned into darkness in the moon in the blood before the coming of the great and notable day of the Lord. There are those who will tell you that this cosmic upheaval is a reference to the cross. Others believe that it was a reference or is a reference to the last of the final day the end of time when Christ comes again. There are those who say no it's a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem. I've been in that camp personally and it's not that you can't apply these things to those events because they certainly saw some of that and probably will see some of that in the future if that's the interpretation of it. But then there are others who would say it's a reference to pinnacles and we're going to say with just the text itself so we would say that's what Peter is saying. We're not going to disagree with Peter. We're not going to disagree with the inspiration of Scripture. He is allowing Scripture to interpret the event and Scripture interpret Scripture. And he's saying pinnacles is archival. Pinnacles is a decisive corner in human history that was turned. This is if Peter is saying that pinnacles was of such significance that it is if the heaven themselves were being shaken. It doesn't really matter what interpretation you say I don't always say that but there are times when you can say it really doesn't matter what interpretation you say. As long as you realize that Peter is making it clear that human history has indeed been in the home stretch since the outlawing of the Holy Spirit since pinnacles were in a new era. And we're in that era. This is the era that he's talking about. We're still in that era, the era of the church. Second way to pinnacles would signal the presence of a new dynamic. The dynamic of the Holy Spirit. Again, look at verse 17. It shall come to pass in the last days as God that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And all my men servants and all my maid servants will pour out my spirit in those days and they shall prophesy. Now, it's not as if the spirit was not around in the Old Testament. If you thought that, change your thinking because the Holy Spirit has always been around. The Holy Spirit was very active in the Old Testament. It's always been the Holy Spirit that gave individuals belief in Jehovah, in belief that they would come to the Messiah. There was the Holy Spirit's job always to give wisdom and to grant guidance and to empower service. Let me just give you a few examples. God says through Hagia, the prophet, and this is to a discouraged people in Hagia 2. Verse 5, it says, my spirit is abiding in your midst. I say, ask on behalf of Forsaken Israel in 63 verse 11, where is he that put his Holy Spirit within them? So they knew of the Holy Spirit. Data cleaved with God in 5 Psalm 51 verse 13. Take not die Holy Spirit from me. Ezekiel in 10 verse 5, the spirit of the Lord fell upon me. Micah 3 verse 8, truly I am full of the power of the Spirit of the Lord. It sounds New Testament, isn't it? But it's Old Testament. And then even in Luke, he tells us that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. The difference between the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and the New Testament is not quality, it is quantity. And the Old Testament looks with this great anticipation that there would be this greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And we know that we see it, we should see it in our own lives. But we certainly see it even in our Texas morning. It's very plain that the people of God obviously had taken on a new power. Three thousand conversions in one sermon. Guess how many of you will be converted in a second sermon? Two thousand. Five thousand conversions in two sermons. Look at Peter's life. Peter towered before that little slave girl in the eve of the crucifixion. Now look what he's doing. He's standing up and he's proclaiming the gospel. And is the audience in his audience? The very men that put his Lord to death. It's fearless, preaching. Because of the Holy Spirit. He has this confidence in the midst of his enemies. And that's what we're going to see throughout the book of Acts. Stephen, before his enemy, sang away in chapter 6. Even in the face of death in chapter 7, Stephen had this holy ghost power. The seven deacons in chapter 6, Paul in chapter 13 and chapter 9. Barnabas in chapter 10. And the Ephesian elders in chapter 20. And we learn in chapter 4 and chapter 13 that the whole church was given this power of the Holy Spirit the life of which had never been seen. And is because of the power of the Holy Spirit that they were able to proclaim the gospel fearlessly to their friends and to their neighbors, to those that they worked with. And we learn as well in that that those individuals in that church had continual joy. It was a mark of the Spirit. The brother, you know, that's our prayer. If that's not been your prayer in the past, it certainly has been in the last week. And I hope it's going to be for the future. This is the very thing we want to see happen in our church. And a whitening, a revival of sorts, if not a revival itself. It's our hope, it's our surety that the Holy Spirit will come and give each of us individually such power that we will fearlessly make known the gospel. So our friends, not only from the pulpit, but in the workplace and in the home and on the phone with our relatives and whomever, but that we tell them the gospel. And it's only the grace of the Holy Spirit that's going to cause us not to scribble off, not to power like Peter did, but then it might be a sign that we don't have the spirit if we're afraid of the world. But it would be because of the Spirit that we will defy the world in the name of Christ and then and only then you'll have what so many of you desperately want and that's joy. When you have the Holy Spirit, you will have continual joy in your life. And then thirdly, Pentecost signals the proclamation of a new message, verse 21, it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. The message is for whoever, whoever calls on the name Jesus shall be saved. And that's the message, that's our message. The salvation is found in none other than Jesus Christ. So what is the meaning of Pentecost according to Peter? How does he explain it to his audience? He's telling them, look, Pentecost means that we're in the final decisive era of church history, the era of the Spirit, the era of Jesus Christ, the era of the church. This is the final era. He's also telling them that Pentecost means that there's a new power at work in the world and it is the irresistible power of the Holy Spirit. And he's also telling them, his audience, listen to me, Pentecost means there's a new message and it's the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. And that's what leads then to the second part of this sermon, which is an explanation of what it means to us. We're just like the original audience. We want to know this. We're asking the same question, what does Pentecost mean? And what you're really asking is, are these verses, are these texts that we're going through, are they just narrative or are they normative with the Christian life today? Is this to be the experience of every Christian today and answers will range from everything, from the Pentecostals, who will tell you that this entire Pentecost is normative for every Christian, you need to be seeking a second blessing, you need to be speaking in tongues and all of that gets really down a little bit more to the charismatic movement. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to speak in tongues, but there's the emphasis they sort of pick and choose from these passages. And then we come to our view, our camp you might say, the reform. And in fact, if you're familiar with this terminology, the dispensationalists, we agree with the dispensationalists at this point that it is not normative. We emphasize from Pentecost the filling of the Holy Spirit, the filling of the Spirit without all the outward manifestations. Our tradition, our reformed tradition has basically said that what happened at Pentecost was unique. It was irritable. You're not going to hear the wind anymore. You're not going to see the framing tongues resting on people. You're not going to see the gift of languages, and you're not going to see a second blessing. There's only one true outpouring of the Holy Spirit that ends welling only one baptism. That's the correct word. Baptism of the Holy Spirit, it happens in conversion and it's true for every Christian. Every Christian has been baptized in the Holy Spirit. And that's really letter A. And this is the answer A, B, and C. Well answer, well then what do we in the Presbyterian Church believe is normative? What should be the experience of every Christian? What should be the experience? A is this indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And that's what really intends to emphasize when he talks about these tongues of fire. It says they read it on each one of them. And it meant all of God's people would receive the Holy Spirit. I'll pour out my Spirit. He says in our text, on all mankind. Sons and daughters and young and old and slave and great, all Christians. Just don't forget that. Learn it. All Christians are baptized with or by the Holy Spirit. And you don't have to attend a special meeting to get that. You don't have to jump through hopes to get that. You don't seek for that. There's none of that in Scripture. Scripture does not encourage us to do that. What we are encouraged to do, which is what's going to come out in Peter's sermon, is repent. Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Well, have you, that's the question. Have you been baptized by the Holy Spirit? Have you given your life to Jesus Christ? Have you submitted your life to the Holy Spirit? Know that Jesus Christ is the only Savior center and that you're a center. And you need forgiveness. You need a Savior. You're born that way. We're all simple. We need the Savior, Jesus Christ. And when you have Him, He gives you His Spirit. It's a necessary, it's a necessary, what's the word? How come I do that almost every way? Mark. A necessary mark of a genuine believer that you have the Holy Spirit. Letter B. What's normative for the Christian is a filling of the Holy Spirit. Do you know it is possible to be indwelt by the Spirit and not be filled? Filling of the Holy Spirit made a surrender myself to Him. I am under the Spirit's control. He is my governor. I'm in submission to Him. He empowers me when one is filled with the Spirit. He is, the Spirit is, the controlling influence in your life. He's the captain of your ship, you might say. He's the driver of your car. However you want to put it, but you are under the control of the Spirit. He is your peace in the midst of sorrow and conflict. He is your strength in the midst of weakness. He is your joy in the midst of sorrow. He is your fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, love and joy and peace, patience, kindness and goodness. Faithfulness and self-control. When you don't have the Spirit, you don't have the firms. You have no peace. When you don't have the Spirit, you are continually falling into sin. It's one spiritual failure after another. You ought to be asking, how can I be filled? We ought to listen to Peter's sermon on the edge of our Satan. You are asking, how can I be filled? How can you be filled? You submit yourself to the Spirit. You surrender all that you are, all that you have, all of your decisions. You ask for Him. You ask God to send you the Spirit in your life, into your heart, into your soul and you pray. You pray broken prayers before God. You spend time with Him. You come to worship like this. You're here on Sunday evening. Come to Wednesday night. Be with the fellowship of believers. You live your life in His presence, quorum day out before the face of God. And then finally, what we see as normative is an anointing of the Spirit. I wonder how much of this we really know. I mean, this has been my struggle. A struggle is we study it, but really a struggle in my own life. Because I know there is such a thing as an anointing of the Spirit. It is a special feeling of the Spirit. It's a special empowerment that the Spirit gives to an individual. And he does it for a special task. I know I want to see it in my life. I know you want to see it. We want to see it in our church. I believe there will be no room for doubt when it happens. It could be as simple as the Holy Spirit giving us gifts. And we use those gifts to His glory. It's a certain boldness that the Spirit would give you to state the truth. Even when you're in the midst of intimidating circumstances. It's a boldness to stand firm when you're being persecuted. It's a boldness to challenge anything in your life. It's not all God and space the truth. It might even be a real bonafide revival. And we want it to happen right here. We want it to start right here in our midst. Rather, we're not looking for second blessing. Well, you might say we're looking for a third, fourth, and fifth. That's what we want. We want the blessing. We want to seek after the Spirit. We want to look for Him. We want to bask in the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We want to exercise our gifts. If every member of this church only exercises the gifts that the Spirit has given you, we turn Montgomery upside down. We have enough in this church because that's the way God doesn't. He will equip the church if we would only use our gifts. And if we would and we were surrendered to the Holy Spirit, then we will see a supernatural power come in and empower us in power, the ministry of Trinity Christ between church like we've never seen before. And it's not that we're going to be looking for 120 to speak in tongues. We're going to look for 3,000 Montgomery to ask us, what do I have to do to be like you? What do I have to do to be saved? And you boldly will proclaim to them the truth you'll say, return of your sins and be baptized and be saved through Jesus Christ along. And we so we should all succumb Holy Spirit, come, and enable us and empower us and annoy us and convict us and even revive us as we pray together. Our God, we pray that you will bless the preaching of your Word in our lives that you take our stubborn hearts and you cause us to be like flesh that you give us hearts that are salt. We pray for anyone and hear this morning or possibly listening on the radio who have never called on the Lord to be saved from destruction. I pray now that you send your spirit into that desperate situation, into that heart that has no peace. And you would fill that individual this very moment with yourself. I pray they wouldn't leave this room without full assurance that you have indwell them with your spirit. And if they were to die tonight they can know for certain they're going to heaven. Only through the blood of Christ. Oh God, spread your gospel and start right here with us and we pray it for Jesus sake. Amen. Our closing hymn is also a prayer much like the song that we were singing earlier, Spirit of the living God, that I encourage you to make this your prayer. And then try to thank if we'll sing it. I guess we will. If the closing response will sing again twice because I'd like to do that second one again without accompaniment. And again, make it your prayer. We'll stand together and sing hymn number 334.