14 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. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
Verses 14-41 contain Peter’s Pentecostal sermon in Jerusalem. The core of the sermon rests on the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead (Acts 2:24, 32) and exalted Him (Acts 2:36). Also, a significant point of the sermon is that God poured out His Spirit, fulfilling the Joel prophecy of Joel 2:18-32 (LXX).
2:14
But Peter, standing up with the eleven,
All 12 apostles standing together indicates a unified testimony backing Peter’s sermon.
raised his voice and said to them,
Peter, who denied Jesus three times, now boldly proclaimed the gospel to the nation Israel.
“Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem,
Peter began to address the crowd that witnessed the manifestation of the coming of the Spirit.
let this be known to you, and heed my words.
Peter wanted the crowd to be clear about what he was about to say.
2:15
For these are not drunk, as you suppose,
Peter challenged the idea that those who spoke foreign languages without learning them were drunk.
since it is only the third hour of the day.
The idea here is that it was too early in the morning to be drunk. The “third hour” was 9 am. Instead of being drunk, the 120 experienced the coming of the Holy Spirit predicted in Joel 2, explained in the following verses of Acts 2.
PRINCIPLE:
Boldness is a requirement for declaring God’s message.
APPLICATION:
Many people today trim the gospel and other biblical doctrines. Their primary issue is to not offend others who do not believe the same as they do. There is a balance; we need wisdom to make the gospel appealing but it must be the real gospel. We need the challenge of Peter in 1 Peter 3:15.
Many in the church today have spiritually plateaued. Others never show any inkling of spiritual progress, yet they sit in church year after year. They have little biblical conviction, comprehension, or apprehension. They rarely, if ever, share their faith. Biases and prejudices about how to live their lives control these people.
