“ . . . we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God,” Acts 2:11.

There is nothing more misunderstood amongst the nations than the gospel of Christ!

This is despite the repeated expositions and declarations of just what the gospel is ALL ABOUT.

“And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,” Matthew 9:11-13.

“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain,” 1 Corinthians 15:1-2.

Here in our text we have a defining of the gospel by those who heard it preached in the power of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Please learn:

I. WHAT THE GOSPEL IS ABOUT.

“The wonderful works of God.”

1. Boys and girls, the religions of the world are all about the ‘works of man’! They consist of rules by which sinners, in obedience to them, try to work their way to ‘paradise’!

2. Like all counterfeits, there is a similarity to the TRUE GOSPEL. Yes, the truth of God has rules to be kept. We have the TEN COMMANDMENTS.

BUT we do not obtain heaven by the keeping of them. If that were so, nobody would ever be saved. “There is no man which sinneth not,” 2 Chronicles 6:36. NO, the Ten Commandments are rules for those who are SAVED to live by! Remember, they were given to a people REDEEMED by the Lord out of bondage and on their way to the promised land! 

3. The wonderful deliverance of Israel from the slavery of Egypt is a glorious foreshadowing of the redemption of God’s people by the blood of the LAMB, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The Gospel is ALL about the WORKS of God.

II. NOTE THAT IT IS ABOUT THE ‘WORKS’ OF GOD!

1. All that the Lord has done for His people cannot be numbered! “Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered,” Psalm 40:5.

2. Even those works we are aware of, we cannot grasp the greatness or the fulness of them. 

John 3:16 - ‘So Loved. . . that he gave . .” 

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God,” Hebrews 12:2.

3. How many are the works of God! Creation, providence (God’s administering of all things), redemption, pardon, atonement, justification, and salvation! All by the Saviour’s power and obedience. Redemption has come to us through His sufferings, and death, and also through His resurrection. Only in heaven will we be able to understand all the works of God!

III. ALL OF GOD’S WORKS ARE WONDERFUL!

The word “wonderful” appears in Luke 1:49. It is translated there as “great”. It is used by Mary to describe God’s mercy to her. “And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name,” Luke 1:46-49. 

If you are saved you ought to sing as did Mary as she was told of God’s mercy to her!

On the day of Pentecost, those who were gathered to hear the apostles preach ‘wondered’ at what they were told and that in such a clear, distinct, and powerful manner in their own language. This shows the Lord would have all people of every language HEAR the gospel very personally! What a powerful answer to the Jews who objected the Gospel being preached to the Gentiles! If that was so, why did the Lord miraculously enable the apostles to preach the gospel in the languages of the Gentiles??