A Sermon on Pentecost
Text: Acts 2:1-40
Series: Restoration Sermons
Date:
Speaker: Ed Rangel
Location: Waupaca Church of Christ
Bible Version: NASB 1995
Sermon Type: Expository
Learning Objectives
By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:
- Identify the significance of Pentecost as a Jewish feast and explain why it was the appropriate occasion for the first gospel sermon.
- State the three fundamental facts of the gospel — death, burial, and resurrection — and identify them in the Pentecost sermon.
- Describe the composition of the Pentecost audience and explain why their presence in Jerusalem on that particular day was providentially significant.
- Walk through the list of what Peter could have said and explain how each item would have given the audience personal connection to the events of Jesus's life.
- Answer the closing question: Why were not all converted — and what does the answer mean for the person hearing this sermon now?
Thesis
The first gospel sermon was preached to an audience that had more personal connection to the events of the gospel than any audience since. They were eyewitnesses or near-witnesses of the birth, the ministry, the crucifixion, and the reports of the resurrection. Peter preached by the Holy Spirit to people who already had the raw material to believe — and still many did not. The question the sermon ends with is the question every hearer faces: How could anyone doubt? And why, knowing what you know, have you not responded?
Burden
The outline introduces the sermon with a question that functions as both historical observation and pastoral challenge: "Three thousand converted — why so few?" The Jewish crowd at Pentecost numbered in the hundreds of thousands (Josephus suggests the feast drew enormous pilgrimage crowds). The three thousand who responded were a fraction. The rest heard the sermon and did not obey. The sermon presses the hearer toward the same question it presses toward the Pentecost audience: given what you know about Jesus, how could anyone doubt? And if you cannot doubt, why have you not acted?
Introduction
"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place" (Acts 2:1). The disciples were assembled — one hundred and twenty of them (Acts 1:15) — in one of the most public seasons of the Jewish calendar. Pentecost was the Feast of Weeks, fifty days from the Passover, one of the three annual pilgrimage feasts that required every Jewish male to appear in Jerusalem (Deut. 16:16). The city was full of pilgrims from across the Roman world.
The first gospel sermon was preached by inspiration. Peter did not construct this sermon; he was filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4) and spoke as the Spirit gave utterance (Acts 2:4). The sermon is not a human composition — it is the apostolic deposit in its original form. And it converted three thousand people. Why so few?
I. Time of Pentecost
Pentecost: fifty days from the Passover feast (Lev. 23:15-18). The counting began from the offering of the firstfruits of the barley harvest — the day after the sabbath of Passover week. Fifty days later, the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) celebrated the firstfruits of the wheat harvest. It was one of the three pilgrimage feasts; it had been observed for centuries.
Pentecost was made memorable by this sermon — the first sermon of the Christian age, preached in the city where Jesus had been crucified fifty days before, to an audience that included many who had been present for those events. The feast that had previously marked the wheat harvest was now forever marked by the harvest of the first three thousand souls.
II. The Crucifixion
Jesus had been crucified at the Passover feast — the feast that preceded Pentecost by exactly fifty days. The sequence was deliberate: the Passover lamb was killed on Passover; the true Passover Lamb (I Cor. 5:7) was killed on the same feast. Fifty days later, the Spirit came and the preaching began.
The fundamental facts of the gospel: his trials, condemnation, death, burial, and resurrection. These are the events Paul defines as "of first importance" (I Cor. 15:3-4): "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." The Pentecost sermon moves through these facts explicitly: Peter quotes David's prophecy of the resurrection (Ps. 16:8-11), establishes that Jesus was raised bodily and exalted to the right hand of God (Acts 2:32-33), and presses the conclusion: "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ — this Jesus whom you crucified" (Acts 2:36).
III. The Multitude
Jews and proselytes from the entire world had gathered (Acts 2:9-11). Luke's geography is extensive: Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, visitors from Rome, Cretans, and Arabs. The pilgrimage feast had assembled the most geographically representative audience the first-century Jewish world could produce.
A great event had brought them together — not the news of Jesus, but the Passover. But the great event they came to commemorate was the Exodus; the great event they would leave having witnessed was the birth of the church. The providential overlap is precise.
Peter preached by the Holy Spirit. This is the emphasis: the sermon was not Peter's preparation applied to an opportunity. It was divine communication through a prepared instrument. The Holy Spirit gave him both the content and the form.
A record of part that he said (Acts 2:40). Luke's account includes Peter's sermon of about twelve verses (Acts 2:14-36) and a summary of the appeal (vv. 37-40), but notes that "with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them." What we have is a portion — the essential structure — of a longer address.
IV. What Peter Could Have Said
This section is the sermon's most rhetorical movement: The outline develops the personal connection the Pentecost audience had to the events of Jesus's life by listing what Peter could have referenced. Each item would have touched someone in that crowd:
Thirty-three and a half years ago a babe was born in Bethlehem. The census of Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1) had been Empire-wide; the birth in Bethlehem was not private. Some in the crowd were old enough to remember the events surrounding it.
Shepherds and wise men visited him. The shepherds' report (Luke 2:17-18: "they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it wondered") went out into the community immediately. Magi from the east asking "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?" (Matt. 2:2) arrived in Jerusalem — publicly, at Herod's court.
Herod's attempt to kill the babe. The massacre of the infants in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:16) was a historical event. Were any of your brothers or sons killed? The question is not hypothetical — it is directed at the audience's personal history. Someone in that crowd may have lost a brother to Herod's soldiers.
Were any of you baptized by John? John's ministry drew crowds from Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan (Matt. 3:5). Many in the Pentecost audience may have been baptized by John or may have heard his preaching. They would have heard him announce the one coming after him (Matt. 3:11).
Were you present when Jesus baptized? Or in the multitude he fed? Or when he raised Lazarus? Lazarus had been dead four days; his resurrection in Bethany (John 11:1, 17) — two miles from Jerusalem — was public and immediate news. "Is Lazarus in the audience?" is the kind of question that would have dropped the temperature in the room.
Did any of you hear the Sermon on the Mount? Were any of you present at the crucifixion? The crucifixion was a public event at a major pilgrimage feast. Many in the Pentecost crowd had been in Jerusalem for Passover; many may have been present at Golgotha.
How could anyone doubt? The cumulative weight of personal connection to the events — the birth, the miracles, the resurrection of Lazarus, the crucifixion, the reports of the resurrection — is overwhelming. The audience Peter addressed had more personal evidence than any audience since.
Why were not all converted? The question is not rhetorical; it has an answer. Luke records that some mocked (Acts 2:13); many listened without responding. The reasons are the same reasons they have always been: some were not pricked in heart (Acts 2:37); some refused to accept the conclusion; some delayed. The grace of Pentecost was offered to everyone present. The responsibility for responding — or failing to respond — was with each hearer.
Application
The Pentecost audience's advantage was the nearness of their evidence — they had personal connections to the events the sermon announced. The modern hearer's advantage is the accumulated testimony of two thousand years of Christians whose lives the gospel has transformed, the preserved record of the apostolic witness, and the personal knowledge of the Christ who is "the same yesterday and today and forever" (Heb. 13:8).
The sermon asks the modern hearer the same question it asks the Pentecost audience: How could anyone doubt? You have the full record of the events, the two-thousand-year testimony of the church, and the specific invitation of Acts 2:38. Why have you not responded?
Conclusion
"Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ — this Jesus whom you crucified" (Acts 2:36). That was the conclusion of Peter's sermon. The response was immediate: "Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brethren, what shall we do?'" (Acts 2:37). The question is the right one. It is the question the sermon is designed to produce. It is the question this sermon now places before the hearer.
Three thousand people obeyed that day. The rest had the same opportunity and did not take it. The question stands over their silence and over every hearer since: Why so few?
Invitation
"Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself" (Acts 2:38-39). The "far off" includes you. The promise is for you. The invitation is still open — not at Pentecost in Jerusalem, but here, now, from the same risen Lord whose name Peter invoked.
Believe in Jesus Christ as the Lord and Christ that God has made him. Repent. Confess his name. Be baptized for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38). And be added to the number — as three thousand were added that day (Acts 2:41).
Word Study
| English Term | Greek Term | Basic Meaning | Usage in This Sermon | Sermon Significance | Key Texts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pentecost | Pentēkostē | the fiftieth | the fiftieth | from pentēkonta (fifty); the name reflects the fifty-day count from Passover to the Feast of Weeks; the name itself marks the precise providential timing: fifty days after the Passover at which the Lamb was slain, the Spirit comes and the preaching begins. | Acts 2:1 |
| Pierced to the heart | katenyghēsan tēn kardian | to stab, to pierce sharply | to stab, to pierce sharply | the word describes a sudden, sharp, painful realization; it is not gradual conviction but the acute awareness of what one has done; the same root appears in the LXX (Gen. 34:7: "the men were grieved and very angry"); the prick is the beginning of the response. | Acts 2:37 |
| Proselytes | prosēlytoi | Gentile converts to Judaism | Gentile converts to Judaism | people who had left their native religion and adopted Judaism through circumcision and immersion; their presence in the Pentecost crowd means the first gospel sermon was preached to a genuinely multi-ethnic audience from the first moment. | Acts 2:11 |
| Added | prosetethesan | to place alongside, to add to | to place alongside, to add to | the passive voice indicates that it was done to them, not merely by them; the Lord added them (Acts 2:47: "the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved"); entry into the church is both a human response and a divine addition. | Acts 2:41 |
Scripture Interlock Table
| Theme | Boles' Outline | Supporting Scripture |
|---|---|---|
| Time of Pentecost — fifty days from Passover | I | Lev. 23:15-18 |
| Fundamental facts: death, burial, resurrection | II | I Cor. 15:3-4 |
| Peter's sermon — crucifixion to resurrection to exaltation | II | Acts 2:14-36 |
| "God has made Him both Lord and Christ — this Jesus whom you crucified" | II | Acts 2:36 |
| Jews and proselytes from across the world | III | Acts 2:9-11 |
| Peter preached by the Holy Spirit | III | Acts 2:4 |
| "With many other words he testified and exhorted" | III | Acts 2:40 |
| Thirty-three years ago — babe born in Bethlehem | IV | Luke 2:1-7 |
| Herod's attempt to kill the babe | IV | Matt. 2:16 |
| Were any of you baptized by John? | IV | Matt. 3:5 |
| Raising of Lazarus — public, two miles from Jerusalem | IV | John 11:1, 17 |
| Were any present at the crucifixion? | IV | Matt. 27:27-56 |
| "Pierced to the heart" — right response to the sermon | Concl. | Acts 2:37 |
| "Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins" | Invit. | Acts 2:38 |
| "The Lord was adding to their number those who were being saved" | Invit. | Acts 2:47 |
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Converted from H. Leo Boles, Outline 119. Primary text: Acts 2:1-40 (stated by Boles). OCR corrections: "Time-fif ty days" → "Time-fifty days"; "MULTITU DE" → "MULTITUDE"; ",vhy" → "Why"; "HA VE" → "HAVE." Doctrinal audit: the first gospel sermon retained as the primary standard for the plan of salvation; Acts 2:38 quoted in full as the authorized answer; "Why were not all converted?" answered honestly — some were not pierced in heart, some delayed, some mocked — without softening the individual responsibility of each hearer; "the promise is for you and for all who are far off" retained as the universal scope; invitation retains full obedient response (Acts 2:38).
