For to you is the promise, etc.

I. Consider it as the NEED of man, and the fulfillment of that whole dispensation of mercy under which man was placed when he fell.

1. Trace it through the bestowments of the Old Testament, and show that while God was ever bestowing his Spirit, both in special manifestations as in the inspiration of his messengers, and in individual life, yet the requirement of man was that in connection with a larger communication of truth and redeeming love there should be the lifting up of humanity itself, of the spirits of men by Divine gifts.

2. Show that such is God's method always. With gifts from without he sends gifts within. The gifts of science and discovery accompany an elevation of the mind and life of the world. Moreover, it is a Divine gift to be able to speak for Christ.

II. Consider the EXTENT AND APPLICATION of the promise.

1. Apart from all restrictions of human merit. To the crucifiers of Jesus - for God is merciful; to the Jew, notwithstanding his abuse of special privileges; to the Gentile, notwithstanding ignorance and degradation.

2. Apart from all restrictions of age. To the children as well as to the adults; to the families as well as the heads of households: for though the word "children" does not necessarily denote infants, it does not exclude them, and in such ways as by the analogy of Scripture we can interpret the "promise to the children," the word applies to the youngest. The Jew might well understand it as a covenant, which, like that of circumcision, was applied in its signs to the infant.

3. Wider than the utmost limits of human knowledge and belief. It is not for us, as it was not for the Apostle Peter, to say "whom the Lord our God should call." He has no respect of persons. He calls those whom we should not call. Peter himself was soon taught that God's purposes cannot be judged by man. The universality of the Spirit is the basis of all missionary efforts - the bond of the true Church. - R.

Concerning salvation, we need only preach one sermon by way of explanation, but men need ten sermons by way of exhortation.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Let the word of God be like one who, during the great flood in America, rode on a white horse down the valley, crying out, as he rode along, "To the hills, to the hills, to the hills!" The waters were following fast behind him, and he would have the people escape to the mountains, lest they should be destroyed. Oh, precious Book, thus bid me seek the hills! Ring the alarm bell in my ear, and compel me to flee from the wrath to come. Day and night, wherever I may be, may a word from the oracle of God sound in my ears, and keep me from sleeping on the bank of the abyss! May no enemy be able to steal upon us when sleeping in false security, for it is high time that we awake out of sleep, and this Book tells us so.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

? —

1. Because of the danger in which every unforgiven sinner stands.

2. Because ample means have been provided for the salvation of every one.

3. Because the providing means are unavailing unless we use them.

4. Because in this important matter each one must act for himself.

5. Because if you suffer yourself to be lost it will be deliberate spiritual suicide.

(J. Z. Tyler.)

Untoward is said of anything which will not go toward, that is straight onwards, but will go now on this side, now on that, making a crooked path. The beast that rebels against the hand of its driver, pushes now in this direction, now in that, instead of that in which he is required to go. The slimy serpent that crawls along, never in one line, but from this side to that side. The man who knows not his road, takes a path now to the right hand, now to the left, and goes not straight forward. The drunkard who reels and staggers from side to side, instead of going forward. All these are examples of untowardness. And now is not sin untoward? The path of the commandments of God leads straightforward, but their transgressor is not found in that path. He has the wilfulness and rebelliousness of the beast that will not be driven. He is a true and close follower of the crooked ways of the old serpent, and walks in his slime of sin. He is ignorant and blind with vanity, and chooses:his own crooked road. He is drunk with pride and evil desires, and cannot keep the straight paths of godliness. Such is the character of an untoward generation. In it are found the drunkard, the unchaste, the swearer, the Sabbath-breaker, the thief, the covenant-breaker, the forswearer; and not only these, but all who hold not the truth in righteousness, all who abide in any practice which (they know) is not according to the will of God; all who continue in the neglect of any known duty, all who give God but lip-service instead of life-service, all the careless, all the indifferent, all the selfish.

(R. W. Evans, B.D.)

I. PETER'S ATTESTATION. What is a generation? All that are contained in one list of time — fixed: Seridas under reckons it at seven years, but the ordinary rate is a hundred (Genesis 15:16) — uncertain; so Solomon, "One generation passeth, another cometh." It is with men as rasps: one stalk is growing up, another grown, a third withered, and all upon one root. You see your condition; there is no staying here. Make no other account, but with David to serve your generation, and away. An untoward generation is one froward, perverse, crooked. Let us note —

1. A negative fowardness.(1) No matters of belief. This is what our Saviour rebuked the two disciples for. The stiff neck, the uncircumcised ear, the fat heart, the blinded eye, the obdurate soul, are expressions of it. If these Jews, then, after the manifest proofs of Christ's Messiahship disbelieved and rejected Him, most justly are they a froward generation. And so is any nation that follows them in their peevish incredulity, shutting their eyes to gospel light, like that Indian tree, which closes itself against the beams of the rising sun, and opens only to the shades of night. It is neither shame nor wonder for those to stumble who walk in darkness, but for a man to stumble with the sun in his face is so much more hateful, as the occasion is more willing.(2) In .action, i.e., when a nation fails palpably in those duties of piety, justice, charity, which the royal law of their God requires.

2. Positive. In matter of faith maintaining impiety, heresy, superstition, atheism, and whatever other intellectual wickedness; in matter of fact maintaining idolatry, violation of God's day and ordinances, drunkenness, thefts, or any other actual rebellion against God. Whatever succession of men abounds in these is an untoward generation. That which makes a man untoward makes a generation so, for what is a generation but a resultarian of men? But let not our zeal make us uncharitable. Never time was so bad but God left some gracious remainders. But these few, if they give a blessing to the times, cannot give a style.

3. Let me commend three emerging considerations.(1) The irreparable wrong and reproach that lewd men bring upon the times in which they live. It were happy if the injury of a wicked man could be confined to his own bosom; but his lewdness is like some odious scent diffused through the whole place where he lives. There were worthy saints in St. Peter's time, yet the apostle brands them with being "an untoward generation." It is not in the virtue of a few to drown the wickedness of the more. If we come into a field that hath plenty of corn, notwithstanding the poppies, etc., we still call it cornfield; but if we come upon a barn floor, where there are a few grains among a heap of chaff, we do not call it a corn heap. Thus it is with times and nations, a little good is not seen amongst much ill; a righteous Lot cannot make his city to be no Sodom. A wicked man is a perfect contagion to his age. Hear this, then, ye glorious sinners, who brag that your heads, purses, hands, are pressed for the public good — are your hearts godless, your lives filthy? Your sins do more disservice to your country than yourselves are worth. "Sin is a shame to any people."(2) The difference of terms in respect of the degrees of evil. Never generation was so straight as not to be distorted with some powerful sins; but there are degrees in this distortion. In the first world there were giants (Genesis 4:4) which, as our mythologists add, "bid battle unto heaven." In the next there were mighty hunters and proud Babel builders; after them followed beastly Sodomites. It were easy to draw the pedigree of evils through all times; yet some generation is more eminently sinful than another; as the sea is in perpetual agitation, yet the spring tides rise higher than their fellows. Hence Peter notes his generation with an emphasis of mischief; and what age could compare with that which crucified Christ?(3) The warrant of the free censure of ill-deserving times. It is a peevish humour that aggravates the evils of the times, which, were they better than they are, would still be decried. But it is the warrantable duty of Peter and his successors when they meet with a froward generation to call it so, although we may be called querulous Micaiahs. Well might Peter do so: his Master did it before him, and the Baptist before Him, and the prophets on every page. And why may we not follow Peter? Who should tell the times of their sins if we be silent?

II. HIS OBTESTATION, "Save yourselves." The remedy is of a short sound, but of a long extent. The saving comprises in it three great duties.

1. Repentance for our sin. Surely those sins are not ours of which we have repented. The skin that is washed is as clean as if it had never been foul. The waters of our tears are the streams of Jordon to cure our leprosy, of Siloam to cure our blindness, of Bethesda to cure our lameness and defects of obedience.

2. Avoidance of sinners; not indeed in natural matters, such as breathing the same air, etc., nor in matters of business, nor in such spiritual matters as attending the services of God, but in their evil deeds (Ephesians 5. ff.). If we would save ourselves from the sin of the time we may not command it, counsel it, consent to it, soothe it, further it, share in it, dissuade it not, resist it not, reveal it not.

3. Reluctation to sin and sinners. We must set our faces against it to discountenance it, our tongues against it to control it, our hands against it to oppose it.

III. OUR DISSUASIVE FROM THE DANGER IMPLIED IN THE WORD "SAVE," for how are we saved but from danger. The danger here is that of —

1. Corruption. One yawning mouth makes many. This pitch will defile us. St. Paul makes that verse of the heathen poet canonical. "Evil communications corrupt good manners."

2. Confusion (Numbers 16:26). The very station, the very touch is mortal. If we share in the work, why not in the wages? "The wages of sin is death."

(Bp. Hall.)

A man ought not to be carried to hell by his surroundings. Many a man has lived in a crooked generation, and adapted himself to it most completely. And many a man has lived in a crooked generation, and kept straight all the way through it. If your generation is crooked, that is no reason why you should be. But if you would keep straight in this generation, or in any other, you have got something to do about it. Your responsibility is for yourself, in spite of your generation. If your generation is crooked, see that; you don't crook with it.

(H. S. Trumbull.)

Arabians, David, Elam, Elamites, Israelites, Joel, Parthians, PeterAsia, Cappadocia, Crete, Cyrene, Egypt, Jerusalem, Judea, Libya, Mesopotamia, Pamphylia, Phrygia, Pontus, RomeAppeals, Corrupt, Crooked, Entreated, Escape, Evil, Exhort, Exhorted, Exhorting, Generation, Kept, Offering, Perverse, Pleaded, Salvation, Save, Saved, Saying, Solemnly, Testified, Testify, Testifying, Untoward, Warned, Witness, Yourselves1. The apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, and speaking various languages,
12. are admired by some, and derided by others;
14. whom Peter disproves;
37. he baptizes a great number who were converted;
41. who afterwards devoutly and charitably converse together;
43. the apostles working many miracles,
46. and God daily increasing his church.

Acts 2:40

     5511   safety
     5694   generation
     5978   warning
     6130   corruption
     7754   preaching
     8211   commitment, to world
     8654   importunity, to people
     8737   evil, responses to

Acts 2:1-41

     7505   Jews, the

Acts 2:14-41

     7703   apologetics
     8712   denial of Christ

Acts 2:37-41

     8427   evangelism, kinds of

Acts 2:38-40

     8410   decision-making, examples

Acts 2:38-41

     7757   preaching, effects
     8407   confession, of Christ

Acts 2:40-41

     5547   speech, power of

November 25 Evening
Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall he saved.--ACTS 2:21. Manasseh did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, and he reared up altars for Baal. And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.--And …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

July 3 Evening
Things which are despised, hath God chosen.--I COR. 1:28. Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? Jesus, . . . saw two brethren, . . . casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me.--Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

March 4. "They were all Filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts ii. 4).
"They were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts ii. 4). Blessed secret of spiritual purity, victory and joy, of physical life and healing, and all power for service. Filled with the Spirit there is no room for self or sin, for fret or care. Filled with the Spirit we repel the elements of disease that are in the air as the red-hot iron repels the water that touches it. Filled with the Spirit we are always ready for service, and Satan turns away when he finds the Holy Ghost enrobing us in His garments …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Pentecost
Text: Acts 2, 1-13. 1 And when the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Pentecost Monday
Text: Acts 2, 14-28. Only the text, without a sermon, is printed in the edition of 1559 of Luther's works. This and the following epistle text are too long to consider here, as they contain so many beautiful quotations from the Old Testament, which should not be passed over too briefly. Hence their discussion is reserved for their proper place. …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Pentecost Tuesday
Text: Acts 2, 29-36. Only the text, without a sermon, is printed in the edition of 1559 of Luther's works. …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

The Name Above Every Name
'Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.'--ACTS ii. 36. It is no part of my purpose at this time to consider the special circumstances under which these words were spoken, nor even to enter upon an exposition of their whole scope. I select them for one reason, the occurrence in them of the three names by which we designate our Saviour--Jesus, Lord, Christ. To us they are very little more than three proper …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

A Fourfold Cord
'And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.' --ACTS ii. 42. The Early Church was not a pattern for us, and the idea of its greatly superior purity is very largely a delusion. But still, though that be true, the occasional glimpses that we get at intervals in the early chapters of this Book of the Acts of the Apostles do present a very instructive and beautiful picture of what a Christian society may be, and therefore of what Christian …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

A Pure Church an Increasing Church
'And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.'--ACTS ii. 47. 'And the Lord added to them day by day those that were being saved.'--(R. V.) You observe that the principal alterations of these words in the Revised Version are two: the one the omission of 'the church,' the other the substitution of 'were being saved' for 'such as should be saved.' The former of these changes has an interest as suggesting that at the early period referred to the name of 'the church' had not yet been …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

The Abiding Gift and Its Transitory Accompaniments
'And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

The Fourfold Symbols of the Spirit
'A rushing mighty wind.' ... 'Cloven tongues like as of fire.' ... 'I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh.' --ACTS ii. 2, 3, 17. 'Ye have an unction from the Holy One.'--1 JOHN ii. 20. Wind, fire, water, oil,--these four are constant Scriptural symbols for the Spirit of God. We have them all in these fragments of verses which I have taken for my text now, and which I have isolated from their context for the purpose of bringing out simply these symbolical references. I think that perhaps we …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

Peter's First Sermon
'This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. 34. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, 35. Until I make Thy foes Thy footstool. 36. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

The Historical and Spiritual Causes of the Death of Christ
"Him, being by the determined will and foreknowledge of God given up, through the hand of lawless men, ye affixed to a cross and slew."--ACTS II. 23. St. Paul places this in the very forefront of that gospel which, as it had been delivered to him, so he in his turn had delivered to the Corinthians, that "Christ died for our sins." Neglecting all, deeper interpretations of this, it is at least clear that in the apostle's mind there was the closest and most intimate connexion between the death of …
J. H. Beibitz—Gloria Crucis

The Necessity and Benefits of Religious Society
Eccles. 4:9-12 -- "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe be to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat; but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Among the many reasons assignable for the sad decay of true Christianity, perhaps the neglecting …
George Whitefield—Selected Sermons of George Whitefield

The Great Assize
[i.e., The Last Judgment -- GL] [21] "We shall all stand before the judgement-seat of Christ." Rom. 14:10. 1. How many circumstances concur to raise the awfulness of the present solemnity! -- The general concourse of people of every age, sex, rank, and condition of life, willingly or unwillingly gathered together, not only from the neighboring, but from distant, parts; criminals, speedily to be brought forth and having no way to escape; officers, waiting in their various posts, to execute the orders …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

The Means of Grace
"Ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them." Mal. 3:7. I. 1. But are there any ordinances now, since life and immortality were brought to light by the gospel? Are there, under the Christian dispensation, any means ordained of God, as the usual channels of his grace? This question could never have been proposed in the apostolical church, unless by one who openly avowed himself to be a Heathen; the whole body of Christians being agreed, that Christ had ordained certain outward means, …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Pricked in their Heart
Peter's discourse was not distinguished by any special rhetorical display: he used not the words of man's wisdom or eloquence. It was not an oration, but it was a heart-moving argument, entreaty, and exhortation. He gave his hearers a simple, well-reasoned, Scriptural discourse, sustained by the facts of experience; and every passage of it pointed to the Lord Jesus. It was in these respects a model of what a sermon ought to be as to its contents. His plea was personally addressed to the people who …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 35: 1889

The Baptism of the Spirit
And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind.... And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.' (Acts ii. 2, 4.) The Holy Ghost is the active force in all spiritual life. It is, therefore, important that we should realize the close connexion between the experience of Holiness and that 'Promise of the Father' for which the early disciples were to wait. All followers of Jesus should realize, as truly as the disciples did on that historic day, that their day of Pentecost …
T. H. Howard—Standards of Life and Service

The Promises of the Christian Home.
"The promise is unto you, and to your children." ACTS II., 39. "Parent who plantedst in the joy of love, Yet hast not gather'd fruit,--save rankling thorns, Or Sodom's bitter apples,--hast thou read Heaven's promise to the seeker? Thou may'st bring Those o'er whose cradle thou didst watch with pride, And lay them at thy Savior's feet, for lo! His shadow falling on the wayward soul, May give it holy health. And when thou kneel'st Low at the pavement of sweet Mercy's gate, Beseeching for thine erring …
Samuel Philips—The Christian Home

False Teachings of the Apostasy.
This is subject enough for volumes. There is scarcely a text in the Bible but what has been perverted by some one confused by the fogs of Babylon. Perhaps you can not find two individuals in the whole of sectism that see "eye to eye" upon the whole truth. To mention all the erroneous teachings of apostates would be almost impossible. However we believe it to be compatible with this work and to the glory of God to mention and refute a few of the false doctrines that have been most effectual in obscuring …
Charles Ebert Orr—The Gospel Day

How Does it Come?
How does the Filling of the Spirit come? "Does it come once for all? or is it always coming, as it were?" was a question addressed to me once by a young candidate for the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. There are many asking the same question. We have considered how the Fullness is obtained, but now we proceed to consider, How does the Fullness come? In speaking of the blessing of being filled with the Spirit, the New Testament writers use three tenses in the Greek--the Aorist, the Imperfect, and the …
John MacNeil—The Spirit-Filled Life

Its Effects.
Among the effects and benefits which in this life accompany and flow from being filled with the Holy Ghost, may be mentioned the following:-- 1. Courage. "Oh, I could not do so and so--I have not the courage," is a reply frequently made by Christian people when asked to undertake some piece of service or other for the Master. The first point to be settled is, "Is that the Master's will for me?" If so, lack of courage is a confession to the lack of the "Fullness of the Holy Ghost." The Spirit-filled …
John MacNeil—The Spirit-Filled Life

Every Believer's Birthright.
On every hand a lack of something is being felt and expressed by God's people. Their Christian experience is not what they expected it would be. Instead of expected victory, it is oft-recurring, dreaded defeat; instead of soul satisfaction, it is soul hunger; instead of deep, abiding heart rest, it is disquiet and discontent; instead of advancing, it is losing ground. Is this all Christ meant when He said, "Come unto Me"? Is this life of constant disappointment the normal life of the Bible Christian? …
John MacNeil—The Spirit-Filled Life

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