In this sermon, Trent Moody discusses the biblical interpretation of the Day of Pentecost as described in Acts chapter 2. The sermon focuses on the response of the crowd to the events of the day, Peter's defense against mocking, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on all flesh, and the role of women in prophesying. The sermon emphasizes the importance of proper interpretation and understanding of the Spirit's work. It also addresses the context in which women should exercise the gift of prophecy.

Please turn in your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 2 and we will be considering, I'm going to begin in verse 12 and then read down to verse 21, 12 to 21. Acts chapter 2 and verse 12. We ended last week with this verse and this wonderful question and thus says the word of the Lord. So they were all amazed and perplexed saying to one another whatever could this mean. Others, mockings, said, they are full of new wine.

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and heed my words. For these are not drunk as you suppose since it is only the third hour of the day, but this is what was spoken by the Prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days says 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 servant and on my maid servants I will pour out my spirit in those days and they shall prophesy I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord and it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Let's pray.

Father in heaven we thank you for these wonderful words of life and Lord just considering that last declaration of whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Lord that is our great design. Lord one of the greatest things that we would pray for not only first and foremost that your name would be glorified but that your name would be glorified through the saving of souls. Lord it is that act upon which brings you such glory and Lord we desire for that glory to be revealed today that Christ would be seen as the Savior of the world and we ask it in Jesus name. Amen.

You may be seated. So this morning what I design and what I desire is to show you what the book of Acts is teaching us regarding these questions and these responses to the Day of Pentecost. So if you will, a title would be this, a biblical interpretation of the Day of Pentecost and somewhat of a subtitle would be Understanding the Work of the Holy Spirit. Because no doubt in our day and age and throughout all ages, whenever the work of the Spirit of God has taken place, there has been confusion about what is taking place. And this morning, we really have such an excellent example here of one of the Apostles interpreting the great work of the Holy Spirit of God when he came on the day of Pentecost.

So that's really what he is doing. Last time when we looked here and so I began in verse 12, so last time we closed out our time in considering some of the crowd and how they understood and how they interpreted and this question that they had in verse 12 and it says so they were all amazed and perplexed saying to one another whatever could this mean? What a really good question as I mentioned last week, that's really a great question. Those who may be in ignorance of understanding of something and perhaps this morning there could be someone here who is in ignorance and I don't mean that in an ugly way of just they don't know, they don't understand what is being said, they don't understand the Holy Spirit, they don't understand the work of Christ, they don't understand about the Word of God and the authority of God's Word over our life, they don't understand that Jesus came to save us from our sins. And so these men and women these people here asked this great question whatever could this mean?

This was a good and honest question that sought to understand the truth about what they were witnessing. They were seeing things that they did not understand and so they asked that all-important question whatever could this mean. However, they were not the only ones in the crowd that day. They were not the only ones who were there. There was another group of people, much like almost every time a crowd gathers, even within the four walls of this building, there could be those here like this.

They were not alone. There were others, as there always are, others who were not honestly seeking the truth. Why have you come this morning? I pray you've come as the people in verse 12 and not as the people of verse 13. In verse 12 we have those who were asking an honest question and desiring an honest answer.

In verse 13 we have those who are seeing something they don't understand and their conclusion is that they must be drunk. They're out of their mind. You see first thing that we see in verse 13 and the first point that I want to make to you and help you to see is the world's interpretation of the Spirit's work is always faulty. The world's interpretation of the Spirit's work is always faulty because they are spiritually discerned, they do not understand the things of God because they do not have the Spirit of God. And so Peter who is here filled with the Holy Spirit of God is going to give us an interpretation and we'll look at that in our second point but in this first point here in verse 13 we have those others mocking saying they are full of new wine.

It's a wrong interpretation of the things of the Spirit of God. This is typical though. This is how it is whenever there's a manifestation of the Spirit's work in the midst of people who do not have the Spirit of God. You will have some of those with a sincere heart seeking those seeking the truth of what God is doing who are genuine and you will have others who are not genuinely seeking the things of God to understand. To truly come with a humble and sincere heart whatever could this mean.

They were asking a question in verse 12, could you tell us what this is? We don't understand this, we need to know what this is, we need to know what it means. And then you have others who are mockers it says, others mocking said. One of the things that we should understand as Christians, one of the things that's really been promised to us is that there will be mockers and there will be scoffers. We learned this in 2nd Peter as well that in the last days there will be scoffers coming saying where's the promise of his coming for all things continued as they were from the beginning of creation.

There will be scoffers who come and they will regard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit as something that is nothing more than an influence of a narcotic, a spiritual crutch if you will, something unusual that they don't understand but they really don't want to understand. There was once a man who was being witnessed to a watch this video of this man and this other man was sharing the gospel with him and he finally stopped because he was so antagonistic that he just stopped and he said, if I could prove to you beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He came to save you of your sins, would you believe? His answer? No. Because He didn't want to know.

He didn't have a heart to want to understand. If that's the truth, he wants to be ignorant. If that's the truth, they don't want to know it. These are mockers, these are those who are saying, they are full of new wine, they're crazy, they're out of their mind. One commentator noted that this word mocking means to deride.

If you look up that word mocking it means to ridicule, to mock, to jeer at, to scoff at, to make fun of, to poke fun at somebody, to laugh at them, to hold them in ridicule, looking down upon them and seeing them for only natural means of being full of new wine. It occurs in the New Testament in one other place in the book of Acts 17 32 which says this, and when they heard of the resurrection of the dead some mocked. This is the way it always is. You will have two groups of people, one with a true and genuine understanding or desire to understand and you will have others even when they see things beyond their explanation will only mock. He goes on and says this was an effect that was not confined to the day of Pentecost as we know this today.

Some of us have experienced this mocking, some of us have been mockers in the past and we have seen also people who mock. He goes on and he says, there has seldom been a revival of religion, a remarkable manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit that has not given occasion for profane mockery and merriment. One characteristic of wicked people is to deride those things which are done to promote their own welfare. Let that sink in. Those who are wicked, those who have rejected, those who are mocking, they mock at the very thing that would deliver them from all of their troubles.

It would deliver them from the wrath of God, it would deliver them from their own sin and yet all they can do is mock. Hence the Savior himself was mocked. He was often derided and he was often even said to have a demon. He was often said to be drunk and you know Jesus the Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, behold a glutton and a wine bibber. Don't be surprised if they say the same of you.

Isn't it amazing that the response of the lost is often to mock at the very thing that would lead to their greatest joy and salvation? It truly shows, brothers and sisters, it truly shows the depravity of the human heart that those who so desperately need deliverance mock at the very thing that would be their deliverance. So if you're here this morning and perhaps you've come with a skeptical mind, maybe you've come with some sense of mockery, I pray not. I pray that you come in the spirit of verse 12. Those who ask the question, whatever could this mean?

I pray that you will consider the Word of God, consider that this is not the the words of man, this is what it is in truth, the very words of God, this is the truth of God, this is what God has done to deliver people from their sins. He goes on in giving us some help in this and it's interesting because those who mock at God will find in the end and this is a bit heavy let me just say this this is a bit heavy those who mock at God if they continue in their mockery, in the end they will find that they are the ones who will be mocked. In Psalm 18, 26, God's Word says this, with the pure, you will show yourself pure. And with the devious, you will show yourself shrewd. And hence he says to the wicked in Proverbs chapter one in verse 22, How long you simple ones will you love simplicity?

For scorners delight in scorning and fools hate knowledge. They turn at my rebuke, surely I will pour out my spirit on you, I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused. I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded. Because you disdain all my counsel and would have none of my rebuke, I will also laugh at your calamity.

I will mock when your terror comes. When your terror comes like a storm and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you, then they will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me, because they hate knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way and be filled to the full with their own fancies.

For the turning away of the simple will sway them and the complacency of fools will destroy them but whoever listens to me will dwell safely and will be secure without fear of evil." you see such a contrast here between those of verse 12 and those of verse 13? You see, those of verse 12, as we will see, they will receive the mercy of the Lord. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But verse 13 is, whoever mocks at the Lord will be mocked by the Lord. So I pray that if you're here today with a mocking spirit that you will listen to the Proverbs and understand, humble yourself and turn from this mockery and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is your deliverance. The Bible tells us, blessed are you when men revile you. So brothers and sisters We need to understand that when we are reviled because of the things of God we are blessed. You know their thoughts were that these men were full of new wine, these men are drunk, and in times of revival of religion men will have some way of accounting for the effects of the gospel, and the way is commonly about as wise and rational as the adoption on this occasion. One Dr.

McLeland notes this, he says, in their minds to escape the absurdity of acknowledging their own ignorance, they adopted the theory that strong drink can teach languages. Isn't it amazing the hoops that unbelievers will jump through to deny the truth that is right before them. Throughout history and in our day as well, this has been the case. As one man noted, when people fail an argument, it is common to attempt to compute a doctrine or bring reproach upon a transaction by giving it an ill name. Children do this all the time.

When they don't understand something or if they're making fun of something, they come up with little names for people and for things. And the lost do the same thing. Have you ever heard of the word Puritan? That was not a compliment. Methodist?

That was not a compliment. Quaker? Even though they're wrong, that was still not a compliment. Christian, that was not a compliment. That began as a mockery.

It first began as a derision to account for some remarkable effect upon of a religion that it had upon these people and in Acts 11 26 and when he Barnabas had found Paul he brought him to Antioch and so it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. They were being made fun of but it ended interesting that with the people of God sometimes when the lost make fun of us with words they don't mean to but they can speak such truth. Christian, little Christ's. To be like Christ would be actually their mockery turned into one of the greatest things that we could attribute a strive to that we would be like Christ. So now we we wear their mocking name with with pride in a holy and humble way that I would be like Christ.

What a glorious thing. Compare this to Matthew 11, 19. The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, look a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners, but wisdom is justified by her children. So brothers and sisters, I say this to encourage you, not to discourage you, when you are mocked for the cause of Christ, Just remember that at the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God on the day of Pentecost, the believers were mocked by some and saying it is the result of being drunk with new wine or sweet wine. Yet in reality and in truth, it was the work of the Holy Spirit.

The book of Acts shows us that we should keep in mind that mockery is the first but not the last step in the enemy's arsenal against us. In Acts 2 13 we see here that the world begins with mocking. In Acts 4 7 the world proceeds to questionings and then to threats in Acts 4-17, then to imprisonment in Acts 5-18, and then to the inflicting of stripes in acts 540 and then finally to murder in acts 758. Note the Lord's answer to Jeremiah the prophet when he complained about the wicked prospering and what the wicked were doing. The Lord said this to Jeremiah, if you have run with footmen and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses?

And if in the land of peace in which you trusted they wearied you then how would you do in the floodplain of the Jordan? This may not come as a clear understanding to you but basically what he is saying there is if you cannot withstand the mockery of the enemy in the land of peace what will you do when they want to throw you in jail, beat you, and kill you? We are in the land of peace and I thank God for it. I thank God that it has given us great opportunity to spread the gospel, to send missionaries and to do all sorts of things. But brothers and sisters being in the land of peace often does one thing to us it makes us very soft.

But I want you to understand that these men even though they had somewhat relative peace they were getting ready to find out that the Holy Spirit of God even though they are being mocked here at the very outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God, that these brethren would be strong and as bold as lions because of the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives when it comes to threatenings and beatings and imprisonments and even in the face of death. And the same Holy Spirit of God that was in them is in you and can equip you and enable you to stand in that day if it be the Lord's will. So take encouragement in that knowing that the Lord is with us. Next we see in verses 14 and 15 and part of verse 16 is this, we see the Apostles boldness to defend the Spirit's work. We see here Peter, but Peter standing up with the eleven raised his voice and said to them.

We see here Peter's boldness in the Spirit. I don't want to give Peter too much credit here because we understand that his boldness was not based upon some internal fortitude that he finally decided that he read a good self-help book that made him courageous. That's not what happened. The Holy Spirit of God was poured out upon the disciples and the Holy Spirit of God filled the disciples and the result of that feeling took this man who was once denying that he even knew Christ to being a man who was standing with boldness to proclaim Christ. That's what the Spirit of God does.

You see, one of the things that struck me in this verse is just how Peter went from what he was to what he is here in this passage. He went from being cowardly in a sense to now being a man who stands to proclaim with authority the truth of God. He says to them, this is not what it is, this is what it is. Let me interpret for you what you're seeing. These men are not drunk with new wine, these men are filled with the Holy Spirit of God just like God's Word says.

So this here was Peter the one who a few days prior had denied even knowing the Lord when a servant girl asked him, you too are one of his disciples. No. But now he's standing up before a crowd and he's telling them boldly, let me tell you what this is. This is what was promised. It's amazing to me to see what the Spirit of God can do in a man, a weak man's life, it gives me encouragement and courage to stand before you this morning to tell you of the beautiful words of life.

But here we see him and again note this, he's not standing alone, It says that Peter standing up with the 11 raised his voice. You see this is the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit of God to declare the truth of the gospel. But we should not marvel at Peter's boldness but we should marvel rather at the work of the Spirit of God and an ordinary man to be an ambassador of the most high God in the face of his enemies. That's what the Spirit of God can do. It's the boldness of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the gospel clearly and with authority, not our own, but the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But we see also in the second part or the middle part here verse 14 this unity of the disciples as I've mentioned before he stood up with the 11 that There was a unity among the apostles, these early disciples of Christ, and they stood up together. Can you imagine what this body language was communicating to the crowd? These men are unified in this message. This is not just one man who's drunk and on a rampage. This is the unity of the disciples and the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ and they're saying the same thing.

Can you imagine what this unifying stance said and communicated to the crowd? I'm sure it's much like what we saw in Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 4 regarding Ezra when he stood up to proclaim the Word of God he said he had six men at his right hand and seven men at his left hand when he was proclaiming the word of the Lord to the people. You see they were bold and they were unified and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. You know, as a side note, often times when we talked about Matthias last week, or last time, unfortunately he gets a bad rap sometimes where like, I just don't know what he's really supposed to be, an apostle, we really never see him again. We actually do.

Here he is and he's standing. Matthias, we don't hear his name mentioned again. Throughout history we don't see and hear of the great works which he did but I want to encourage you that this man stood. He stood in unity with all the disciples, he stood with unity in the message of the gospel, he stood in unity with his brethren. And may I say to you individually here this morning, you may never be remembered in history for the work that you've done in the gospel or that you will do.

Are you still willing to stand? Are you okay with being forgotten? So long as Christ never is. I hope that that's your heart and my heart that it doesn't matter what men remember of me if they don't remember my name if they don't remember my life may they remember one thing the Lord Jesus Christ saved this center and he changed radically changed my life and may that be our heart that we would be willing to stand for the name of Jesus Christ. But next in verse 14, the last part of verse 14, we see this.

We see this bold call of the Apostles and this call is to obedience. He says, let it be known to you and heed my words. I love that word, heed. Years ago I was preaching and there was this young boy and I asked this question in my message I said, what does heed mean? And I was somewhat asking it rhetorically, but he shouted, he says it means to listen with a heart to obey.

Wow, he was like eight years old. I was amazed, I was like man, that is a wonderful, that is a wonderful definition of what it means to heed and that's what Peter's doing. He says heed what I'm saying to you. I don't want you just to hear it. I want you to heed it.

I want you to hear it. Let it go into your ears but don't let it stop in your ears. Let it go right down into your heart and give you that desire to obey the Word of God. And that's what Peter is calling these to do, they're mocking but he says men and brethren you need to listen with a heart to obey what God says. I'm gonna tell you, I'm going to interpret for you what you're seeing here and when I explain it to you I want you to obey it.

That's what my desire is every time I stand and preach. I want to tell you things and I hope want to give you some insight into some things but at the end of the day if that's all it is it doesn't do you much good. I want you to take that Word of God and I want you to let it sink down into your soul and I want you to go and I want you to act upon what you learn and what you hear. That you would grow thereby, that you would be bold, that you would be obedient to the words of life. So Peter and the apostles, they were not asking the crowd to consider the gospel as an option.

They were not reasoning with the crowd to coexist with other religions of the day, and believe me there were plenty. No, they were boldly calling the men of Judah and all who dwell in Jerusalem to know that what they were seeing was the powerful working of the true and living God. They weren't putting the bumper sticker on their chariots and saying coexist. They were saying no there is only one God and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear him.

Believe him. Trust him. Follow him. Obey him. I was listening this week or last week to this commentator and he was interviewing this man who formerly was a musician.

He was a singer, was pretty popular. He had a great tragedy in his life in losing a child to drowning in their pool. And this thought of this drowning and just that he felt like he was so negligent in his responsibility as a father and it was eating him up. He was literally to the point of taking his own life because he could not deal with what he termed this scene going through his mind. The real wouldn't stop.

And one night in desperation when he was at this very at the very end of his rope and he literally was going to take his life and a last-ditch effort if you will of needing and desiring and calling out for help he just cried out, Lord Jesus save me! And immediately he said the real stopped. And he says at that point I was converted. And he said as he was, he said it was just amazing his life transformed at that moment because everything changed for him. And so He was listening, he wanted to understand, he said I grew up in cultural Christianity like many of us having this idea and understanding of what you know, we know the name of Jesus, we understand people go to church and these sorts things, but he said I understood that I didn't truly know Jesus until that moment that I cried out to him but I needed to know him.

If this God could make that image stop and deliver me from all of this guilt that he felt, I need to know this man. And so he went on the search to know Jesus Christ. He said he was listening to a sermon and in the sermon the preacher was talking about this, if you love me you will keep my word. And he said I don't know his word, I need to know his word. And so he went on this journey and I think he even went to seminary and Bible college and all these type things and he's reading and he said, I got rid of my self-help books, I got rid of all this nonsense and he said, I begin just to read God's Word because he says here this Jesus who delivered me from my sins and from this terrible situation, I begin to understand that he says that if you love me you'll keep my word.

That's like what Peter is saying here. You need to hear what I'm saying and you need to obey what I'm saying. And he went on this journey and in fact now what this man has done, this musician, he is giving up his career because he says I don't want to, he said I cannot find a reconciliation of me giving my life to something that only gives bolster to my own name when in fact what I should be doing is bringing glory to his name. Wow. Praise the Lord.

And brothers and sisters that's how we should be living. We should be living in such a way that our desire is to bolster the name of Jesus Christ, to lift up his name. It's not about our name, it's all about his name. You see we know this because what he tells us here in verse 21 and I'll get there in a minute but I want to hit it in passing because it's so glorious. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

This is the call to listen and to obey and to heed that Peter was saying. Listen to my words, heed them, heed them. But I want you to see also in verse 15 the ridiculous reasoning of those who mocked the work of the Spirit of God. He says in verse 15, for these are not drunk as you suppose since it's only the third hour of the day. It's 9 a.m.

It's not time to get drunk. This is not the result of being influenced by intoxicating drink. What was it? Peter's going to interpret it for them. You see these verses definitely do not describe someone who is drunk.

It's interesting that there are other places in which the Bible compares and contrasts drunkenness and the work of the Spirit of God, it's kind of interesting. How do these things compare and contrast? How are they different? How are they alike? One such place is in Ephesians 5 18 and do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation but be filled with the Spirit.

That's interesting. How is there a relation there that we could learn from? Don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. So I don't want to spend too long on this except to say a couple of things. In what way is drunkenness and being spirit-filled comparable?

Alcohol lowers inhibitions. In other words, Both alcohol and the spirit override our feelings of self-consciousness and influences us to act in ways that we would not normally act. Believe it or not, Believe it or not, as a child and a young person, I was terrified to stand in front of people and talk to people. I was terrified and self-conscious of being in front of people or in front of a crowd. I was very self-aware of my failures and of my awkwardness and I was often swayed by others because of the pressure of peers.

We all have felt this in some form or fashion. However, since the Lord saved me, the Spirit has done a work in my life like He did in Peter's life to help me, and it's not perfect, it's helping me to be more influenced by the Holy Spirit than by the fear of man. This is not to say that I don't ever fear, it's not to say that Peter didn't ever fear. If you remember in the book of Galatians, he had to be rebuked by the Apostle Paul because of basically the fear of man. But the Spirit of God helps us and enables us to overcome fear so that we may stand and proclaim his word.

Alcohol likewise lowers inhibitions, however, the difference here, this contrast here is this, when alcohol lowers your inhibitions, it does it towards ungodliness. And when the Spirit of God does it, it moves us towards godliness. You know, our desire is to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. There are times that I would say that I've spoken things and I've done things that I believe were as a result of the Spirit of God in my life and I want you to understand I've never regretted it. I never woke up the next day and said, I can't believe I did that.

Not true with the other. The Spirit of God also in another area, this relationship here to some extent, there was a reason, Even though it was faulty reasoning that these people mocked and said they're full of sweet wine. They're full of new wine Why was that the thing that they said? So this comparison and contrast in a sense I want to be very respectful here to the Spirit of God, but I believe there is a comparison contrast. There are those under the influence of alcohol that have a pretense of joy and being carefree in a sense.

And one of the fruit of the Spirit is joy. I have more joy in the midst of God's people when we are singing hymns and songs and spiritual songs and when we're talking about the things of the Lord. It produces joy in my heart but it's a joy that brings with it no regrets. It only brings delight, it only encourages me for more of it. There's no regretting the things of the Spirit of God that He has produced in me and when I see Him producing things in you, you will never regret being filled with the Spirit of God.

But I promise you, you may very well regret being under the influence of alcohol. So our desire is not to seek the liberty that alcohol brings, but we should understand the liberty that Christ brings when he fills us with the Holy Spirit of God. That should be our great design. And lastly this, Peter's interpretation of the Spirit's work, in other words he's going to explain to them and interpret for them Joel's prophecy of the Spirit's work in verses 16 through 21. I'm not going to get into all of this there's so much here that we could grasp onto and we could look at and interpret but there are a few things that I want to talk about that I believe would be helpful for us.

Some of them not popular, imagine that, but I believe helpful. We see first here in this passage in verse 16, he says, but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. He's telling them that this is the fulfillment of prophecy. This is what was spoken by the Prophet Joel. You want to know what this is?

This isn't being drunk with wine. This is the fulfillment of the word of God. That's what this is. This is that. What you're seeing is what God said through the Prophet Joel.

In the last days he says, and it shall come to pass in the last days. Well, very quickly, what are the last days? I believe the last days were everything from Christ until the end of time. These are the last days. There's no other dispensation that we're gonna live in, and I'm not talking about dispensationalism, I'm talking about time periods.

There's no other time period until when Christ comes and he consummates all things and he brings all things to an end and we did study about that in 2 Peter as well. These last days are this, from the time of the Messiah to the closing of The final dispensation of God's kingdom on earth He's bringing it all the way to an end So in these last days So I think that we can see these things that he's about to mention and it shall come to pass in the last days says God and then he describes what we will see in the last days. He says first and foremost and really the most important is this, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. I will pour out my spirit on all flesh." This really is the most dramatic and the most important thing that we read here in this prophecy in contrast with the mere drops in all the preceding times of we see a working of the Spirit here and we see it over here and we see it over here. This God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.

And what does he mean by this? We're going to talk about exactly what he means about all flesh here in just a minute but first let's understand this that the Spirit will now be poured out in abundance. The Spirit of God will be poured out and that's exactly what we see in the latter part of chapter 2 of Acts. In chapter 2 verse 41 The Bible tells us that about 3,000 souls were added to the church in a day. That's a pouring out of the Spirit of God and the work of God.

The Lord would do that again, that we would see thousands come to the Lord, not for numbers' sake but for souls' sake. I pray that the Spirit of God will be poured out this morning in this building because I believe there are those here this morning who have not trusted in Christ. They are somewhat maybe they're not mockers but they are definitely not believers and I pray that you would trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and hey I'm gonna tell you how easy it is for all those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Isaiah spoke of this day in Isaiah 44. He says, Yet here now, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen.

Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you. Fear not, O Jacob my servant, and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen, for I will pour water on him who is thirsty and floods on the dry ground. I will pour my spirit on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring upon all flesh," Peter says. What is this all flesh? I take this as one of those instances where all does not always mean all.

We've heard many preachers say that all always means all. One example of it not always meaning all is when it says in Luke chapter 2 and Caesar Augustus sent a decree that all the world should be taxed. He did not tax the American Indians, he did not tax those in south, he didn't tax a lot of people, he's talking about all within this group of the Roman Empire. So when he speaks, the Bible speaks of all, we have to understand the context of what all is. And so in this understanding he will pour out his spirit on all flesh.

He's not literally saying that every single person is going to be saved. He's not saying that every single person of all time will now have the Spirit of God. He's talking about all peoples, he's talking about all people groups and he kind of goes in to explain that. He says your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. On my men servants and on my maid servants I will pour out my spirit in those days." He's spreading this thing out, he's showing that God's no respecter of persons.

It's going to be young people, it's going to be old people, it's going to be servants, and it's going to be masters. And in Book of Acts here what we read just last time, he lists here these 15 or so different people groups that have come to Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost and they were all speaking different languages and he's pouring out his spirit on all of these people. They're hearing these things, the wonderful works of God in their own language and what did they do with those wonderful works of God and the things that they saw. They took it back to where they went, back to their homes and again the gospel spread forth. You see God's Spirit is not hindered.

It is a foretaste of this going into all people groups. We see it in the book of Revelation in chapter 5 of every tribe and tongue and nation we see a slight little foretaste of that even right here in this congregation how God's gonna pour out his spirit on all people, all flesh. There are no people groups who will not receive this pouring forth of the Spirit of God on your sons, on your daughters, on your young men and old men, servants and handmaids without distinction of sex, age or rank. It is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God on all peoples. Praise the Lord.

Not to the Jew only but also to the Greek. This next part I want to take just a little time more time on then maybe I should but I think that it is important especially in our day to get a solid understanding of proper biblical interpretation. He says in verse 17 and 18 and I've read this already about pouring out his spirit, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your men servant and maid servant. So what is this understanding, what should we understand about sons and daughters specifically daughters prophesying? Now there are different, we need to understand three things.

What does it mean to prophesy? What does it mean for women to prophesy? And what is the context of that prophesying? Am I the only one wondering about this? I think it's important.

So there are two or these three main questions that I want to address. This is where we must take the whole counsel of God, we must look at what theologians have called the perspicuity of Scripture. Basically that means it's clearly expressed and easily understood. Whenever you come to a passage of scripture where there's a difficulty, where you don't know what to do with it, you don't get your doctrine necessarily from that passage, unless it's the only one, which I don't know of any that it's the only one. We're given helps in other places.

You go to the passages that are more clear. You see, you look through the clear glass to understand what you can't see through the dim glass. For instance, imagine if I had binoculars, gave you, had two sets of binoculars. One was out of focus and one was in focus. And I said, let's look at this object together.

And you look at them through the out of focus binoculars. And you can tell there's something there, but you're not exactly sure what it is. I hand you the clear binoculars, and you look through those. And man, crystal clear. How unreasonable would it be to say I'm going to interpret what I see out of the fuzzy binoculars.

Wouldn't make a lot of sense. We go to the clear. That's the perspicuity of Scripture is that we look at the clear passages of Scripture to understand those that are a little more foggy if you will that we can't see quite as clearly on and this passage may be one of those that's a little unclear how do we reconcile this with other passages of scripture? So let's do that. So first, what does it mean to prophesy?

This word prophesy is used in great variety of senses. The context will usually help us to understand what that is and how it's being used. There's four or five things here I want to mention about prophecy. It means first to predict or foretell future events. We see this in Matthew 11 and Matthew 15.

We see it in other places as well. Secondly it means to divine, to conjecture, to declare as a prophet might. Matthew 26 68 prophesy, they said to Jesus when they blindfolded him and they smote him, prophesy who smote thee. There's the use of that word. Thirdly to celebrate the praises of God being under a divine influence.

We see this in Luke 1 67. This seems to have been a considerable part of the employment in the ancient school of the prophets that they were explaining or telling forth the wonderful things of God. That's really what I want to do here this morning. I want to proclaim to you and as Peter did the wonderful works of God. And we see here in Acts that the gift of tongues and this gift of prophecy was really working hand in hand because these people said in verse 12, so they were all amazed and perplexed saying to one another whatever could this mean.

In verse 11, we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. That's a type of prophecy. Fourthly it means to teach as no small part of the office of the prophet and then also we see it in the office of elders are to teach the doctrines of religion. And so in Matthew 7 22, have we not prophesied in thy name? They said we've taught in your name and Jesus says I never knew you.

And then lastly it denotes in general to speak under divine influence whether in foretelling the future events, in celebrating the praises of God, or in instructing others in the duties of religion, or in speaking foreign languages under that influence that we saw here in the book of Acts. And it denotes to those who are miraculously endowed with the power of the Holy Spirit in speaking, the gift of speaking through the Holy Spirit. We see here in this prophecy of Joel that Joel says and Peter says that your daughters shall prophesy. Now we need to understand what does it mean, this is my second question to try to answer for us, what does it mean for daughters or women to prophesy? This will not be exhaustive I promise but I hope it'll give us the really big chunk that we need.

We know that the Bible is clearly telling us that there were women who were called prophetesses. That in Exodus 15, Miriam is called a prophetess Isaiah calls his wife a prophetess in Luke 236 Anna was called a prophetess We see in acts 21 8 through 9 that Philip's daughters his four virgin daughters prophesied We cannot deny that women have prophesied or else we deny the scriptures. It's clear. So this is the extent of what we know for certain regarding women prophesying. We do not have examples of this like seeing this is the case in the new test But we just know that Phillips daughters were they prophesied.

It's what we know So we don't want to base too much of our doctrine on what we don't know because that's dangerous You know, we as one person said, you know when you read between the lines what's there? It's a lot of blank spots. You don't want to base your doctrine on what's in between the lines we want to look at what is clear to our understanding. So what is the context? This is my third question.

What is the context of their prophesying and I believe that we get an answer to this question when we look at the clear passages of scripture in the New Testament. This is where The New Testament does not give us actual examples of women doing it, but it tells us where they don't. So let's practice the perspicuity of Scripture by looking at 1st Corinthians 14. Turn there with me 1st Corinthians 14 and verse 33 1st Corinthians 14 33. Again here this is order in the meetings of the church that Paul is laying out for the church at Corinth and if you'll know one thing about the church at Corinth, Paul is almost the entirety of the book is him correcting things that they were doing wrong.

It amazes me one time I was driving down actually two places this has happened one in Virginia and one here driving down a road and I saw a church named Corinth Baptist Church and I thought, wow, hopefully a second Corinth Baptist Church because that first Corinthian Baptist Church, I don't know why you'd name your church that, but who knows, maybe they have a great reason that I just don't understand. 1st Corinthians 14 33, For God is not the author of confusion but of peace as in all the churches of the saints, that's important, as in all the churches of the saints. Let your women keep silent in the churches for they are not permitted to speak but they are to be submissive as the law also says. And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home for it is shameful for women to speak in church. And then he goes on down to verse 38 verse 36 or did the Word of God come originally from you or was it you only that it reached if anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord.

There's another important point. And then verse 38, but if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant. So we have here in 1st Corinthians Paul giving a very clear context of speaking in the meeting of the church. We know that the gift of prophecy is a speaking gift. We know very clearly that women were not to do that in the meeting of the church.

That's clear. That helps us to interpret what Acts chapter 2 is talking about and Joel chapter 2 is talking about. That's clear. Not only is that clear but 1st Timothy 2, 8 through 15. You can turn there 1st Timothy 2, 8 through 15.

And while you're turning there I will say if you're interested in more study on this B.B. Warfield has a very helpful article on this subject and I'll be glad to send it to you if you want to send me an email or text later I'll be glad to get that to you that's helpful Not long but helpful in understanding this. First Timothy 2, 8 through 15. He says, I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. And like man are also that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but which is proper for women professing godliness with good works.

Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man but to be in silence and then he gives us a reason for this it's not cultural it's creation for Adam was formed first then Eve and Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived fell into transgression. Nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with self-control." So our takeaways from these two passages, again, I don't have time to go into the depths of this but I wanted us to get a clear focus on what it's telling us where they're not to exercise this gift of speaking and that would be in the meeting of the church and also in participation with men in in that setting. So number one the prophesying of women is not to function in the meeting of the church. This was not just at the church at Corinth but what I showed you earlier he says as in all the churches of the saints.

This is not something that's local, it's not something that was only happening at Corinth, this was universal. Secondly, a wife's theological questions should be directed towards her husband at home, very clear. He doesn't muddle words. Why is that? Because God created your husband to be your head, not some other man.

So go to what God says and I believe you'll be blessed by it. Hey, you may say, but my husband, I'm more theologically astute than he is. Maybe, but maybe you need to learn humility and submission. Maybe you need to learn to encourage your husband to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's one of the reasons why we have men's meetings so men will come and that we can talk about the things that we're gonna be preaching about and that your husbands can have an answer for that.

And husbands, guess what? You have resource. Come to spiritual men in this church come to your elders We would love to talk to you about these things to help you to be able to answer those questions for your wife And we don't have all the answers either, but we'll go to God's Word to find them. Okay. This is God's order.

It's not mine Thirdly anytime something is described as shameful. We should take note Fourthly these are the commandments of the Lord. Fifth, God's design is for men to lead teaching and preaching in the meetings of the church and praying. And then six, this is based on God's order in creation and the woman being deceived. She was deceived by the devil.

The man says was not deceived. He was disobedient, but he was not deceived. And then seventh, this gift in women according to Scripture is limited in context so based on what we know for sure we have to conclude that this gift in women seems to be very limited in the number of women, we only see very few mentioned that have this gift, who have received it and it is limited to a private setting. I think we may, I don't know for sure, We may see this in Priscilla when she spoke with Apollos. I'm not saying that she was prophesying because the Bible doesn't say she was, but I think that could be a context for something like this.

Now, let's get to the wonderful works of God in this prophecy. Look at that last verse in verse 21 and we'll close with this thought. We've learned a lot this morning about Joel's prophecy. He's helped us with interpretation and I just don't have time to go into the sun turning dark and the moon turning to blood don't get tripped up over that. God's in control of the sun and the moon and the stars and everything else but for time's sake there's something much more important and much more pressing than the sun turning dark and the moon turning to blood.

What could that be? Verse 21, and it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Much more important. You may be wondering, you may be recognizing your great need for this salvation that has been spoken of this morning. And I want you to know something that the Lord is very clear about this.

There are no hoops that you jump through, there are no works that you must do, But it is this, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. There are some of you here this morning who are getting into your young adult years who have never done this. And my heart is for you. And I want you to know that if you will call upon the name of the Lord you shall be saved. Don't delay, don't be trapped in this sense of cultural Christianity or thinking hey I've been here almost my whole life I'm enjoying my time and I don't have a problem with this.

Listen, if you do not repent and turn from your sins and trust and call upon Christ you will not be saved. Call upon the name of the Lord. You see to understand by what authority or by what name he tells us very clearly whoever calls on the name of the Lord what does this mean? In Acts 4 7 through 12 we read of this and he says, and when they had set them in their midst they asked, by what power or by what name have you done this? Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified whom God raised from the dead by him this man stands here before you whole this is the stone which was rejected by you builders which has become the chief cornerstone stone nor is there salvation in any other name for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must we must be saved Jesus Christ has the authority and it is by His name that we can be saved not only from our sins but from the penalty of sin and we can be delivered from death to life.

And so I call to you if you have not trusted in Christ, if you've not called upon his name, do that today. Call upon the name of the Lord and listen to this promise that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. You don't need to doubt that. You don't need to wonder, will he save me? I'm too bad.

The Lord Jesus says, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and you can take that to eternity. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, Salvation is of the Lord. We acknowledge that you have all authority in heaven and on earth. You told us that in the great commission in Matthew.

And Lord, by the authority that you have, I pray, Lord, that you will bring to life any who are dead here this morning. Lord, that you would move them in such a way to call upon your name and to all those Lord that call upon your name, you will in no wise cast them out. And of all that the Father has given to you, you will lose none of them. I pray, oh God, this morning would we see it again, the work and the power of the Holy Spirit of God to convert a dead soul to a living soul, would you do that work, oh Lord? We ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.