Peter Addresses The Crowd - Acts 2:14-36 - Comments by Mike Kines

Peter and the apostles speak to a crowd after the Holy Spirit is poured out. They explain that this is the fulfillment of prophecy and that the people should call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Peter emphasizes that even though evil men killed Jesus, it was part of God's plan for salvation. He concludes by declaring that Jesus is the Messiah and urges the listeners to respond and be saved. And we're in Acts chapter 2, beginning with verse 14. We're looking at verses 14 through 36 today. After the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Peter and the other apostles stand up to speak to the crowd of people that have gathered and to tell them what's going on. And they correct them and say, you know, these people are not drunk, as you suppose, but this is the fulfillment of the prophecy that is in the prophet Joel when he talks about the Holy Spirit being poured out in the last days, being poured out on all people so that people prophesy, young men will see visions and old men will dream dreams, and the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh. So we see here that he's taking a leadership role in the early church, he's standing up and he's declaring the gospel here. He goes on to tell them that even though they were evil and killing the Lord Jesus, this was according to the prophecies in the Old Testament. I'm always reminded of the words of Joseph, where Joseph said, you know, what you intended for evil, God intended for good to bring about this great salvation. And that really is a good summary of the gospel, that even though Satan wanted to destroy the Lord Jesus and men wanted to crucify and kill Jesus, God intended it for good to bring about salvation. It is not God's will that anybody should perish, but that all people should come to repentance into the knowledge of salvation. So we see here, even down there in verse 21, I think here Peter's still quoting Joel, but he says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And that's a scripture verse that I like to always quote and to remember that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The gospel and salvation is not a complicated matter. It's just you have to get to the point where you humble yourself and you call upon the name of the Lord and you let go of your own ideas and you call upon the name of Jesus. Peter goes on, he lays out the gospel message here, he concludes his sermon by telling everyone in Israel that Jesus is the Christ, that he is the Messiah. And so my interpretation today is that today is the day of salvation. Listen to the words of the Apostle Peter and call upon the name of the Lord today so that you too can be saved. May the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you.