The Lord’s Message:  Pentecost: God’s Plan for Salvation is Revealed!

The Lord’s Message:  Pentecost: God’s Plan for Salvation is Revealed!
Date:  June 7, 2026
Where:  Tilghman Methodist Church
Scripture Reference:  Acts 2:22-28

            Last week, we started a three-part sermon series looking at the Message that God gave Peter on Pentecost.  We first looked at Peter.  Peter was the defacto leader of the disciples.  He could be a man of great faith and then be a failure.  For instance, he told Jesus that if all the other disciples deserted Jesus, he would stay fast to Him.  Yet, Peter denied knowing Jesus three times for fear of his life.  We concluded that we are a lot like Peter.  We next looked at the crowds.  These crowds were devout Jews who had come from all over the known world.  They came from southern Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor, and Palestine.  They spoke 15 different languages.  They had come to observe the Pentecost feast, which is one of three feasts that God commanded they observe.  Peter gave them a Bible study starting with the prophecy from the Book of Joel.  We learned that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 

            Let us pray.

            We pick up the Message with Peter saying that “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God.”  There had been many people saying that they were the Messiah.  The one sent by God to bring salvation to the people of Israel, but only Jesus could do the miracles, wonders, and signs. By this time, Jesus’ popularity was known far and wide, “as you yourselves know.”  These devout Jews had heard about the miraculous things that Jesus had done, curing people of all illnesses, the lame were able to walk, the mute able to speak, and the dead were raised.  They could not deny that these things did happen.  They also could not deny that these were miracles from God. 

            Let me take a step back, before we go any deeper in this.  I want us to observe the place where this sermon is being spoken.  We are most likely on the temple grounds with the Priest quarters to your left and the Roman garrison, Antonia Fortress, to your far-right corner.  In the Antonia Fortress, you would have had 500 to 1,000 soldiers.  The temple would be in the middle.  Peter is probably standing somewhere in the courtyard area preaching to a large crowd of over 3,000 people.

            Peter does not hesitate to tell them the truth.  Look what he says in verse 23.  “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge.”  It was all part of God’s plan that His only Son, Jesus, be turned over to men.  Jesus knew that this was all part of God’s plan.  In Mark 9:31, Jesus tells His disciples this. 

            Peter goes on to say, “and you, with the help of wicked men.”  The Jews could not carry out the death sentence without the Gentiles, the Romans.  The High Priest knew this.  So, they came up with trumped up charges on Jesus.  Pontius Pilate could see right through their scheme, but in the end, he was helpless to stop them.  When the crowds started to shout crucify Him, crucify Him.  I wonder if the ones in the crowd on Pentecost, were the same ones in the crowd on Good Friday?  Pilate had Jesus crucified, “put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.”  Can you imagine Peter saying this in the temple courtyard area, where this message would be carried out to the priests and the Roman soldiers?  Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit.  It is the Holy Spirit speaking through Peter.  In Luke 12:11-12, Jesus says this is what the Holy Spirit does working through us.  Peter is unconcerned about the Message which the Holy Spirit has given him to say.

            Peter goes on to say in verse 24, “But God raised Him from the dead.”  It was all part of God’s plan for Jesus to suffer and die at the hands of evil men, so that God could raise Jesus from the dead. 

            The next part of the Message that Peter is giving is about David’s tomb, which is located just south of the temple mount.  I imagine Peter pointing to the South and quoting Psalm 16:8-11.  In this Psalm, David goes from pleading to God for protection in a crisis to declaring ultimate joy, security, and eternal hope in God.  At the end of this Psalm is the prophecy that the Messiah, the Holy One, will not be forever dead. 

            Peter says in verse 29, you know that David died and was buried.  You know where his tomb is.  Therefore, David could not have been speaking about himself when he wrote, “nor will you let your Holy One see decay.”  Instead, God had revealed to David what would happen to Jesus, so that David could be confident that when he died, he would not be “abandoned” to the grave.  This is confirmed in verse 31 that Jesus would be resurrected from the grave.  The Good News is because Jesus lives, we who believe in Jesus will also live forever. 

            Peter goes on to say in verse 32 that “we” (120 men and women that were gathered in the Upper Room and over 500 witnesses who saw Jesus alive the 40 days between His Resurrection and His Ascension) “are all witnesses of the fact.”   

The fact of the matter is that this was all part of God’s plan to save you and me.  God did not keep it a secret but predicted it long ago.  God’s son would be born as one of us but did not sin.  Jesus would be turned over to evil men, first the Jewish Sanhedrin and then the Romans.  Jesus would be crucified on the cross to pay for your and my sins.  Jesus would die on the cross and be placed in the grave.  Jesus would be resurrected, and the stone rolled away to confirm His resurrection.  God had told David about this.  David wrote it down in Psalm 16.  More than 500 people confirmed this.  God was the one who orchestrated the plan.  God was the one who sent His only Son to carry out the plan.  Jesus was obedient to God and carried out God’s plan.  The Holy Spirit is revealing this plan to all the people gathered in Jerusalem, it continues today with us, and to the ends of the earth. 

So, let us continue to listen to God and do what He says.  Amen.