We can turn in your Bibles to the book of Acts, specifically Acts chapter 2. While you are turning there, I do want to extend a heartfelt thanks to the church for the recent time off that I was given. It was a blessed time of refreshment and much relaxation, to which I thank our God and the goodness and the kindness of the church here, Free Grace Baptist Church. It's a blessing to be back.
I had mentioned to my wife the other night that I don't know that I'll be able to preach. She said, well, it's like riding a bike. And then I mentioned it to someone on Friday night, and he said the same thing. And they hadn't talked to one another.
So I really do hope it is like riding a bike. For those of you who are visiting with us, I've been out of the pulpit for the last six weeks on sabbatical. So as we look at Acts 2, our focus this morning is predominantly on Peter's preaching and the response of the hearers. We see that in verses 37 to 42.
It's a big section, so we will try to focus our attention on those verses, but I do want to begin reading in chapter 2 at verse 22 to set that section in its larger context. And again, this is the day of Pentecost. The Spirit of God comes upon the church powerfully, mightily, and Peter then stands up and interprets the situation by an appeal to the prophet Joel in chapter 2, verses 14 to 21. He says, what is occurring here is what the prophet Joel had prophesied concerning the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
And now Peter does engage in the proclamation of Christ and Him crucified. So I'll begin reading in verse 22. whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it. Where David says concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad.
Moreover, my flesh also will rest in hope, for you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of joy in your presence. Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, He, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. And with many other words, he testified and exhorted them saying, be saved from this perverse generation. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about 3,000 souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers.
Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Amen. Well, let us pray and ask God's blessing upon our time together.
Opening Prayer
Most high God, we gather on this Sabbath day and we come to rejoice in you. We come to the Father through the mediation of our priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that by the Spirit. We pray that the triune God would be all in all in this place. We thank you for the happy occasion, not only of worship, but of baptism.
We thank you that you, in your grace and in your mercy, affectionately call sinners out of darkness into marvelous light. We thank you that you grant the graces of faith and repentance and that baptism is a demonstration of what you have done inwardly. And our God, we pray that as we gather here, our hearts would be strengthened, that we would grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, that we would appreciate afresh the gospel of our salvation. And for any and all who do not know you, we pray that today would be the day of salvation.
We pray that Christ, Him risen, Him enthroned on high, Him having died, and those great truths associated with His life and ministry. We pray that sinners would hear these things and by the power of the Holy Spirit would receive the Word gladly. Do forgive us now for our sins and our transgressions and help us to glorify You. And we pray through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Introduction
As I said, this is a significant passage in the history of God's workings among man. It was prophesied of old and it comes to pass here in Acts chapter 2. If you look back for just a moment at Acts 1, it is important for us to see how this book as a whole functions. If you notice in verse 1, it says, the former account I made, O Theophilus.
Now Luke wrote Acts, so the former account refers to Luke, his gospel narrative. The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. The connection is simple. The book of Luke and the other gospel narratives record all that Jesus began both to do and teach.
The book of Acts tells us what he continues to do and teach. It really is the acts of the risen Lord Jesus. operating of course through the apostles, but he enthroned at the right hand of the Father is responsible for disciple making and church building and strengthening the people of God. And you see the specific emphasis on the day that he was taken up in Acts 1 verse 4, and then again in Acts 1.22. But then we turn to the book of Acts chapter 2 and notice the day of Pentecost.
So this day was taken up as identified in 1.4.1.22, the day of ascension, and then 2.1 tells us the day of Pentecost. I think Luke wants us to think this way. The Christ who was taken up on that day is the Christ who is behind the glorious things transpiring on this day. Some take this chapter, specifically the tongue speaking, and they see that as the focus, the centrality, that the people of God need to be speaking in tongues.
No, the emphasis in this chapter is on the supreme lordship and sovereignty of Jesus Christ. He is the star. He is the one that is demonstrating His power enthroned at the right hand of the majesty of God on high. So as I said,
Peter's Instruction to the Hearers
let's look first at the instruction given by the Apostle Peter in verses 22 to 39, and then we'll look at the response of the hearers to the Apostle Peter in verses 41 to 42.
The Gospel: Christ Proclaimed
In the first place, Peter's instruction involves the gospel. Verses 22 to 36, specifically the events associated with the Lord Jesus Christ. That word gospel is abused today. We call everything and anything gospel.
The gospel narrowly defined is that message about Jesus Christ. It's not about you. You may participate in it, be a partaker of it by God's grace through faith in it, but the gospel is primarily about Jesus, His life, His ministry, His death, and His resurrection. And this is precisely what Peter does.
His life and ministry in verse 22, His death in verse 23, His resurrection from the dead in verses 24 to 32, and then his ascension on high to the right hand of the majesty of God in verses 33 to 36. Peter doesn't come to proclaim a message of good advice. Peter doesn't come to try and apply a bit of humanistic therapy to his hearers. He doesn't come to try to make them feel a bit better about themselves.
He comes to preach Christ and Him crucified. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 1 says that Jews seek after signs, Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ and Him crucified. If this is the pattern, the paradigm, the example of the apostolic ministry, then why is the church lacking in this particular area? Gospel preaching must be preeminent.
That must be definitive of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, you come and you hear helpful messages on hopefully how to be a better husband or a better father. But the primary undergirding theme of all preaching ought to be Christ and Him crucified, Him resurrected, Him ascended on high, Him having led captivity captive, Him having given gifts to men, Him enthroned at the right hand of the majesty of God for the edification of His people and the salvation of sinners. You see, that's Peter's point, is setting before his hearers the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Law: Sin Exposed
But then secondly, part of his instruction includes the law. It doesn't say, well, here's first an exposition of the Ten Commandments, and here's why you need the Lord Jesus Christ. But he certainly appeals to the Sixth Commandment, because in two places he highlights the fact that you have crucified him. You see, as I was thinking about this particular section this morning, what is it that brings us together here?
It's not the Canucks. It's not a political party. It is our sinnerhood. It is our sinfulness.
It is our in Adam-ness. It is our wretchedness and our undone-ness, and we need the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need redemption through his blood. Well, Peter knows that.
Peter knows the reasons why Jesus lived, Jesus died, and Jesus was raised. Again, it wasn't to provide good advice, to provide moralistic therapy to people so they'd have a little bit better life. No, it's to deal with the sin issue. the sin problem. Notice what he says here in verse 36.
Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified. See, this is what necessitated the life and the death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. This is another element that somehow is lacking in churches today. We preach the centrality of the cross, but we must also highlight what necessitated that. the waywardness of man, the sinfulness of man, the guiltiness of man, the reality that we have broken the law of God.
And in this particular section, again, he refers to it in chapter 2 at verse 23, he'll refer to it again in chapter 3, and then again in chapter 5. What's he doing? He's highlighting the chief sin of these Jerusalem sinners. Why is that?
Because if men don't see their sin, they'll never see their need for Jesus. It's a very simple concept, isn't it? It's what our Lord taught in Matthew chapter 9. I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
So what does the church do? I'm speaking generically. Well, let's just preach on how to be a better you. No, we tell people they're sinners.
That's so negative. They won't like that. It doesn't matter what we like, it matters what we need to hear. Certainly, when somebody goes to the doctor and hears the diagnosis, you've got cancer, it's not nice, but it's necessary.
How do you find remedy without first finding the problem? How do you find a solution unless you know what the situation is? We are not to be tickling the ears of people on the way to hell. We are to be telling them sin.
We are to be telling them of their lawlessness. We are to be telling them of their wretchedness. And in this particular situation, Peter doesn't say, you know, you've got these few issues among you. He says specifically, whom you crucified." I love Thomas Manton.
He says this, loose discourses about sin in general do not affect the heart so much as the sound discovery of sin. And when that one sin is discovered, it bringeth others into the view of conscience. These loose discourses, these sort of vagaries, these sort of thoughts out there, you know, you're not as great as you ought to be. That's not going to convict anybody of their sin.
When they hear that they have crucified the Lord of glory, that one sent from God most high as Israel's Messiah, as Israel's champion, as the promised one according to the Old Testament scriptures, and yet you denied him, you by lawless hands crucified him, you delivered him up to godless men, and they pounded stakes into his wrists and into his feet, and ultimately a spear was plunged into his side, he bore that wrath for sin. You see, vagaries never do the job. We need to highlight where persons have sinned. And if you are here today and you are new to this whole thing, you need to think about this.
You're not a perfect man, woman, boy or girl. I know that your parents may think you are, your spouse may think you are. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. You're still wicked.
I'm sorry. You're still sinful. This is the point now where persons say, well, this is good for my ego. Perhaps our egos need to be bruised, broken, and battered, so we'll appreciate the bruised, broken, battered Savior that was raised the third day and throwned on high where He ever lives to save all who come to Him.
You see, your sin may not be directly the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, but the law of God is a wonderful place to go to sort of do a survey of your conduct before a holy God. The first two commandments prohibit idolatry. You're not supposed to have other gods before God. You're not supposed to make images of the true God.
That's a pretty easy litmus test to see where I stand before a holy God. In fact, this is the first and foremost commandment. You'll love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Are you an idolater?
You say, well, I don't worship Baal. I don't worship Molech. I don't bow to Asherah. Well, it may be something a little bit more respectable.
See, on this side of the Canaanites, we've become more respectable in our idolatry, at least outwardly. But it's still inwardly corrupt and wicked and vile. anything that we put in the place of God, anything that we want more than God. That's why that fundamental kingdom principle of Matthew 6.33 comes, hopefully, as no surprise to the people of God, but something very offensive to the non-people of God. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and then these things will be added unto you.
Don't worry about food, don't worry about what you're going to wear, Don't worry about all those particular cares or anxieties that you have. You seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then those things will be added to you. We're told in the scriptures that we're not supposed to blaspheme the name of God. We're not supposed to misuse His name, and yet it's done all around us.
It's done by us in our actions. When King David of Israel fell into adultery and then murder, the prophet Nathan says, by this you've given cause to the enemies of Yahweh to blaspheme his name. Sabbath-breaking. I mean, we could probably all just fall on the floor right now and confess our sin of Sabbath-breaking to God for the next several hours.
Who of us esteems God's day? Who of us says with David in Psalm 122, I mean, obviously, we should be recalling what is written there and encouraging our hearts to make those sorts of declarations. David says, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Were you glad to get the email last Saturday that we couldn't get the lot plowed?
Were you glad that the house of God was barred up by the white stuff and we weren't able to come? Are you glad on Sunday morning when the alarm clock goes off and you get to come to church? Or is it more like, I have to go to church? The fifth word, very particular to kids.
Do you kids honor your father and your mother? Do you obey them in the Lord? You see, one of the functions of God's law is to show us our need for Jesus Christ. The function that I am highlighting here shows us that we are wicked and we stand in need of Christ.
And this is how it functioned here on the day of Pentecost under the power of the Spirit, because they were cut to the heart. And having been cut to the heart, what do they do? They say, what shall we do? Now that's wrong-headed.
That's always the response of a sinner who's been found out. What shall I do? Shall I give money? Shall I pay tithes?
Shall I go here? Shall I do this? There's always that covenant of works orientation in an awakened sinner. I want to do something to get right with God.
We'll see in just a few moments how Peter answers that particular query. Murder. We may not be cutting throats or shooting people in the head, but we may hate people in our hearts and we may have bitterness and resentment and all manner of corruption. Adultery.
Jesus says if you've looked upon a woman or a man to lust, you've broken the commandment. It's not just externals that the law of God is concerned with. That's what the Pharisees thought. That's what the rich young ruler thought.
All these I have kept from my youth. What thing do I lack? That's why Jesus says, go, sell everything you have, give it to the poor, and then follow me. The law of God is internal.
This man was a covetous wretch. Just because he had externally not cut someone's throat, just because externally he had not lain with another man's wife, doesn't mean he is a sinless creature. And it doesn't mean that for any of us. The 8th commandment, you shall not steal.
The 9th, you shall not lie. The 10th, you shall not covet. All these things are utilized by the apostles in their preaching to highlight the need that persons have. You see, if you come to church and you don't hear your sin addressed, you're never going to see your need for the Savior.
It's just that simple. This is one of the challenges in the modern culture that we live in. We are witnessing or trying to witness to people that have very full lives. Imagine, we go to the neighbor's house and he lives in this massive house.
He's got boats and cars and summer homes and he's loaded rich and all that sort of thing. And we come to him under the guise of the modern evangelical message and we say, you need to come to Jesus so you can be happy. Happy? I've got this massive house, I've got a wonderful wife, I've got five beautiful kids, I've got boats, I've got homes out in other parts of the world so that when snow comes, I can get out of Dodge and bask on the beach of Tulum.
I have all that. What are you telling me? I need Jesus to be happy for. See, that is fundamentally flawed.
You don't need Jesus for your happiness. You need Jesus for your salvation. You need Jesus for your righteousness. You need Jesus for your deliverance.
You need Jesus for redemption through his blood. You need Jesus for reconciliation with a holy God. You see, this whole approach, add Jesus to your life and it will get fundamentally better. That just doesn't fly, brethren, and that's not how the apostles proclaimed the gospel.
Whom you crucified, he says. I love the words of J. Gresham Machen. He says, a new and more powerful proclamation of that law is perhaps the most pressing need of the hour.
Men would have little difficulty with the gospel if they had only learned the lesson of the law. So it always is. A low view of the law always brings legalism in religion. That's contrary to what most of us think.
Oh, that guy, he really loves the law. He's a legalist. Legalists hate the law of God. Legalists and antinomians are bedfellows with reference to the common opposition, which is God's holy law.
A low view of law is what brings legalism. A proper view of God's law does not promote legalism. It does not promote antinomianism. A proper view of God's law produces liberty, joy, thanksgiving, blessedness.
A proper view of God's law on the other side of Christ, the non-saved, produces the reason why we need Jesus Christ. Machen ends that bit by saying, a high view of law makes a man a seeker after grace. Pray God that the high view may again prevail. Amen.
So notice,
Conviction and the Question of the Hearers
they are convicted of their sin according to verse 37. Now, when they heard this, it could be the specific reference in verse 36. More likely, it is all that Peter has said concerning the man, his ministry, his death, resurrection, and ascension. Peter ends this sermon with that, therefore, verse 36.
Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly. You see, the Bible isn't something that might be true. The Bible isn't something that is possible. The Bible isn't something that is fairytale-like, as Pastor Porter pointed out recently.
Pastor Porter pointed out recently. There's some alliteration for you, sermon lovers. Pastor Porter pointed out recently that the Bible does not begin in a distant land. It doesn't begin or speak with the language of fable or fairytale, but know assuredly that this Jesus, whom you crucified, God has made Him both Lord and Christ.
They've heard this. They understand this. Now we're going to focus on something a little bit later, the reality that these are Jerusalem sinners. The very city of God, David's city, Zion, had lately become the bastion of apostasy, had lately become abominable, had lately become defective and utterly undone.
Why? Because they crucified the Lord of glory. Do you understand that? I'm going to refer to John Bunyan in a few moments, his message, or his sermon, or his discourse, The Jerusalem Sinner Saved, from Luke 24, 47.
Jesus says that this message of repentance and remission of sins needs to be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Now, there's political, theological reasons why that was the case, but practically consider it. You were just crucified by a wicked city. You've ascended on high and you've given command to your disciples.
Do you target that wicked city first? No, hit the other nations and then follow them up on the back end. They need to learn their lesson for what they have done to me. These were vile, corrupt, wretched people.
These were persons that really stood in need of all that the Redeemer had accomplished, and God the Spirit brings that conviction upon them right now. Verse 37, now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
Peter's Response: Repent
Now let's look at Peter's response. First of all, he tells them to repent. Why would he do that? Because they crucified Jesus, this man who is attested to you by God through signs, wonders, and miracles.
This man that you, instead of praising and worshiping and receiving and bowing and hearing and heeding, you crucify. You said, away with him, away with him, crucify him. Of course they needed to repent. They were certainly conversant with the Old Testament scriptures.
The Old Testament, Yahweh's always calling through the prophets to the nation of Israel to repent. He's not their big cheerleader up in heaven sending the prophets to give him a shot in the arm saying, you're doing a great job. No, return to me, says Yahweh. Look to me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other.
Let the wicked man forsake his ways. Let him return to God. You see, Peter's language here is appropriate. Repent, go from the place of having murdered Jesus to the place of believing on Jesus.
And you might apply that very specifically to your own place, your own station, your own breach of the commandments. You need to repent. Don't continue in idolatry, blasphemy, Sabbath-breaking, insubordination, murder, adultery, theft, lies, and covetousness. Don't perpetuate the sinfulness and the madness, but repent.
Now, repent fundamentally means to have a change of mind. The Bible envisions that when we have that change of mind, there will be a change of conduct that follows. There will be fruits of repentance. So you take the man who worships Baal.
Repentance is going to look simple. He's going to not worship Baal anymore, and he's going to worship Yahweh. Repent! That's the fundamental meaning there.
Bruce defines it as a spiritual about-face. Kids, you've seen soldiers marching in unison, and the drill instructor says, about-face, and they all turn and go back the other way they came. That's what it means. I think J.A.
Alexander helps flesh it out a little bit as well. Excuse me. He says, regret or sorrow is only one of its ingredients. You see, it's not just, I feel bad about that particular sin.
I feel bad that he mentioned adultery and I've been looking at porn. I feel bad that he mentioned murder and I've hated my wife or husband in my heart. I feel bad that such is the case. That's not all that's involved in repentance.
Alexander goes on, regret or sorrow is only one of its ingredients. Evangelical repentance in its widest sense is an entire revolution of the principles and practice of the heart and life. It's not piecemeal. It's not just a bit.
It's not just a little so that I can avail with God. No, it's a radical revolution. Look at Philippians chapter 3. Paul highlights what he once was and what he had become.
Look at any of the repentance in the scriptures. Matthew is sitting at the tax office counting his loot, and Jesus says, follow me. What does he do? He leaves it all and immediately follows.
Now, repentance is never perfect. Repentance is never absolutely complete. Repentance is not something that we do once and, well, tomorrow I won't have to repent again. No, that's not the case.
Well, we need to understand repentance and faith because we come to a reformed church and we hear about justification by faith a lot. It's almost hinted at times as if repentance is a work out in sort of other proclamation. When you look at the book of Acts, and we don't have time to do this now, the words belief, or believe, and repent, repentance, turn, those things are used separately in various contexts, and they are used together in various contexts. In fact, look at our particular context.
Peter says in verse 38, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Notice in verse 41, Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. So they're told to repent. We see in verse 41, they received the word.
Now notice the identifier in verse 44. Now all who believed were together. It's almost as if these terms are used interchangeably in the book of Acts. There's certainly a difference.
There's certainly distinction between faith and repentance. But for our point now, when Peter says repent, he's not prescribing humanism. He's not telling them behavior modification is where it's at. He's not telling them just to affect their morality enough to get things right with God.
No, faith and repentance go hand in hand. In fact, Thompson, I think, is right on when he says, repentance and faith are two sides of one coin. They are not identical, but where one is mentioned by itself, the other may be presupposed. You need to get that as you read Acts.
Well, did I repent properly? Did I believe? Those are two sides of the same coin. One of the Puritan authors says faith is penitent faith.
Belief is, or repentance is believing repentance. The two go hand in hand. Their grace is given by God by means of which sinners close with the Lord Jesus Christ. So Peter's words are very specific to them.
Repent.
Peter's Response: Be Baptized
Notice secondly, he tells them to be baptized. It's reflecting the Master's orders here in Matthew 28. Why is that tank filled, and why is Emma going to go into it? Because Jesus commands it.
There are churches that don't practice the sacraments. Why? Certainly some think, well, we're in heaven, so we don't need sacramental adherence anymore. That's just bizarre.
But then there are others, say the Salvation Army, I think, doesn't teach no baptism, no Lord's Supper. Why? Didn't Jesus say, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
So if we ask the question today, why is there water and why is Emma going into it? The primary answer is because Jesus commands it. Right? Well, because Emma's a great girl.
She is a wonderful human who needed blood to save her from her sins. We have a great master and he commands it. And this is what Peter says, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. It is important for us to understand here that this is not a oneness Pentecostal formula statement.
For those who don't understand what I just said, that's okay. There are some who teach that we're only to be baptized in the name of Jesus because that's what the apostles said. Look at what Peter says, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. It's not formulaic.
The formula is laid down for us by the Lord in Matthew 28. John Gill is a far more able expositor of God's Word than any oneness Pentecostal, and he explains in the name of Jesus Christ this way. But now, upon their repentance and faith, they are to be baptized in his name by his authority according to his command, professing their faith in him, devoting themselves to him, and calling on his name. That's what it means.
Faith and repentance, and the object of that faith and repentance is Jesus Christ. Be baptized in his name. Now, forgiveness is not obtained by baptism. There's others who teach, well, in order to be saved, you have to be baptized.
We don't believe that here. It's not obtained through baptism. It's not as if Emma goes into the water, and now God forgives her. No, it's signified by baptism.
When she goes into that water, it is an external attestation of what God has done inwardly. So in this particular context, repent and let every one of you be baptized. So that when they came to be baptized, these 3,000 souls that are added to the church, when they are baptized, this is an attestation that they, by God's grace, had repented, that they, by God's grace, had received the word, which means they believed it. That's what's in view here.
And then notice something that I mentioned earlier. Why are we here? It's not the Canucks. Not the liberal party, for sure.
It's because we're sinners that stand in need of God's forgiveness, isn't it? Why the gospel? Because you've sinned against a holy God. Why the gospel?
Because that holy God is going to rescue sinners. Why the gospel? Because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. Why the gospel?
Because Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. See, this is why these people gathered. This is why these people heard. This is why these people were cut to the heart by the Holy Spirit.
It was to bring them to this place, repentance toward God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, having received the word, washed in that precious fount. The prophets testified. Zechariah specifically said, in that day, there will be a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. Where is he talking about?
He's talking about Jerusalem. How is that fountain filled? It's drawn from Emmanuel's veins, as we sing in Number 188. You see, this is the point of the whole reason we exist.
Why do you go to church? Is it because you like looking down on everybody else? Why do you go to church? Because you're a self-righteous schmuck that's very mean to everybody.
I go to church because I'm a wretch who stands in need of blood. See, I think, brethren, that if we get our minds wrapped around that tight enough, then we might begin to be the Christian people we're supposed to be. We're not saved because we're better. I've used the illustration before.
I think it was Ted Turner, the founder of one of the networks, said that Christianity is for losers. He meant that as a put-down. That's actually too nice. We're not just losers.
We're a whole lot worse than losers. You come in last in a marathon, you can go home and have a wonderful night with your wife and kids. Well, you probably have to rest a few days, but life goes on. Losing isn't the worst thing in the world.
Sinning is. That's our issue. That's our problem. That's who Christianity is for.
Can I get a praise be to God on that one? It's not because we are good. It's not because we merit. It's not because we obey those 10 words.
It's because God, in Christ, is reconciling the world to Himself. And it comes as a result of His perfect life, in obedience to the Father, His death as a sacrifice and substitute at the cross, and His resurrection the third day. He was delivered up because of our offenses, and He was raised for our justification. That's the reality that Peter is setting forth in this particular section.
Notice,
The Promise of the Holy Spirit
Peter then promises them the Holy Spirit, verses 38 and 39. Now, there's a couple of things here before we proceed. I notice my voice isn't as strong. Six weeks out has been tough, but it's been six weeks, so if I go a little bit longer, nobody will mind, right?
I got six weeks of stuff. Just kidding. I already go long enough as it is, but notice what he goes on to say. He says, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Verse 39, for the promise is to you. Now that promise there is the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is conspicuous in the book of Acts. It's conspicuous in the context of the prophets.
It is conspicuous in light of Ezekiel 36, Ezekiel 37, the promise of the new covenant, the prophet Joel that has already been quoted, God is going to do something. God the Father is going to send the Spirit through the agency of the Son, according to verse 33, that will be unlike anything He had done up to that point. The age of the Spirit has dawned. The age of the Spirit, or the age, rather, of Messiah has dawned, and that is an age of the Spirit, where Christ enthroned at the right hand of God Most High, according to verse 33, having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
So you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Look back at Acts 1. It's important that we understand this, that in verse 39, the promise in view is the gift of the Holy Spirit. It's not a promise upon which we baptize our babies.
It's not a promise upon which we smuggle in infants. It's not a promise upon which we claim that this is the proof text so that we can sprinkle little ones. That's not what the promise of verse 39 is. It's the promise of the Holy Spirit that they had been taught to wait for in accordance with the prophet, the prophetic word of the Old Testament, and the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice in verse 4. And being assembled, this is Acts 1, together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you have heard from me. Notice as well, Acts 1.8, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And then again, we see it in Acts 2.33, I've already read that.
God, or being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see and hear." So we see that the Holy Spirit is the one promised by Peter to those who receive the word, those who by God's grace believe the gospel and repent of their sin. They received the Spirit. It's a beautiful thing. Now some interpret it as the gifts of the Spirit.
Well, the apostles spoke in tongues, and so what Peter is promising here is that they'll receive the gifts of the Spirit so that they too can speak in tongues. It probably means the Spirit has gifts. This is what you get courtesy of our Lord Jesus, enthroned at the right hand of God Most High. Certainly you got it in the Old Testament.
Believers were not devoid of the Spirit in the Old Testament. But there is a quantifiable difference in terms of God's dealings in this new covenant era through Christ, who is enthroned at the right hand, who sends forth His Spirit. This is what Peter promises. Now let's look at verse 39.
Now, for those of you who have been involved in any sort of church life, those of you who've been on either side of the baptism debate, you'll know that verse 39 comes up a lot. This, and to your children. It's sort of like the motto text for paedo-baptism or infant baptism. I don't want to get into all that this morning.
I want to encourage us with what Peter is actually doing. I don't think Peter here is giving us sort of a detailed statement on how we ought to regard infants in the New Covenant situation. I think Peter is encouraging his hearers with the scope of God's mercy. In other words, I might say to you, come over to our house this afternoon.
It's a bare invitation. But I might follow it up with, my wife made a pot of soup, and this soup is so delicious. It is so wonderful. Some of the kids are going to bring other items.
Everybody's going to show up at our house today. It's an encouragement, isn't it? It entices you. You've not only heard the invitation, but it's been highlighted, it's been punctuated.
That's how verse 39 functions. I'm not saying we ought not to refer to it in our polemics or discussions about baptism, but in the context, it functions this way. For the promise is for you, Jerusalem sinners. Christ murdering sinners.
God in His grace, God in His kindness, God in His goodness has sent His Son to die for that kind of sinner. It's also for your children. We know what this means because of our studies in Matthew 27. In Matthew 27, before Pontius Pilate, all Israel says, may his blood, the Lord Jesus Christ, may his blood be upon us and our children.
What's God saying through the apostle Peter? The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. So it's for Jerusalem sinners, it's for the children of Jerusalem sinners, and get this, it's for all those who are afar off. In other words, Gentiles.
See, the threefold outline of the book of Acts is in chapter 1. You're going to witness to me first in Jerusalem, then Judea, Samaria, and then, what? To the uttermost parts of the earth. That's precisely how the book of Acts flows.
And that's precisely how these outpourings of the Spirit flow. Acts 2 is not to be duplicated, at least some of it, in the modern church. We're not looking for Pentecost today. We see it in Acts 2, we see it in Acts 8 when they're in Judea, Samaria, and we see it in Acts 10 when the Spirit is given to the Gentiles.
So the Spirit is given in these particular instances to manifest God's fulfillment of the Old Testament prophets to empower and equip the church so that it can go out and preach Christ and Him crucified. The first message of the church ought not to be, you need to speak in tongues. No, you need to believe the gospel. You need to look unto Jesus and live.
You see, that's what Peter is saying here. It's an encouragement. The promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call. You see, that's the fundamental statement that we need to make sure we attach to the others.
It's for you. It's for your children. It's for all those who are far off, the Gentiles. But it's all modified by that statement, as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Not all of them without exception, but all of them without distinction. In other words, Jerusalem sinners, Chilliwackian sinners, Abbotsfordian sinners, Vancouver sinners, African sinners, Asian sinners, a whole host of sinners from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, a great multitude that no man can number. That is an encouragement, you see. That's what Peter's doing there.
He's not giving a polemic on the inclusion of infants in this new covenant era. He is telling the people to come. He is telling the people to repent, to believe, to come to this one who died for guilty sinners. And then he goes on to exhort them, be safe from this perverse generation.
Let's just look quickly at the response of the hearers to the apostle Peter, verses 41 and 42.
Salvation: Gladly Receiving the Word
41, we see salvation. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. If you got the ESV, they weren't glad. A particular manuscript gets rid of gladly.
Gladly should be there. When you got saved, okay, I'll come to the Lord Jesus. You know those people. They always look like they got a pocket full of lemons.
It's just scowl. It's unfortunate. I think I'm like that at times. I walk around with a big natural smile.
You get that sort of an idea with Christianity. It's all dour and sour and bad. Oh man, what is Jesus doing? Pulling teeth without novocaine?
I mean, what is it like being a Christian? Well, look at some believers. That's the way it might be communicated. Brethren, what floods the heart of those who receive the word of God?
Gladness. praise, joy, thanksgiving. We move from a state of guilt to grace, to gratitude. They're leaping, they're praising, they're joyous in the presence of the God who has saved them through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. They gladly receive the word.
If you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, it's not drudgery. It's not heartache. It's not a trip to the dentist. It's life, and it's life abundant.
Isn't that what Jesus says in John 10? I came to give them life, and that abundantly. It doesn't just miserly give us a little bit. What do we get from God when we come to Jesus?
Brethren, you can smile at this point, it's okay. Think about redemptive benefit. Think about the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with a few spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ.
If you perform well, you'll get the others. That's not what he says. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Yet we walk around like lemon-sucking sour pusses that are not good advertisements for the Christian religion.
I love Peter's statement in 1 Peter chapter 3. It says, always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within you. Do people know you have hope? Do people know there's something different about you?
If your plane is going down, are you flipping out with the rest of them, or are you saying, praise God Almighty, I'm entering into the New Jerusalem via this downed airliner? Brethren, there ought to be evident hope in the lives of God's people. Doesn't mean there's no sorrow, doesn't mean there's no depression, doesn't mean there's no hardship, doesn't mean there's no Psalm 42 or 43. Why art thou disquieted, O my soul?
But there's the hope thou in God. Jesus spoke to the disciples in the upper room discourse. He said, in this world, you will have tribulations. How's that for a salesman, brethren?
You go to some person, oh, it's only ever great. Jesus says, you're going to have problems. You're going to have issues. You're going to have hardships, but be of good cheer.
I've overcome the world. You see, brethren, there ought to be a gladness about our worship, a gladness about our singing. Does it just come out in rote? Does it just come out because we have to?
Or is there a joy and a thanksgiving that by God's grace we've moved from guilt to grace, and now we're going to express that gratitude to our Savior? They gladly receive that word. Now notice, they obey. then those who gladly received his word were baptized." I should stop for just a moment here. If you're a believer and you're not baptized, you're disobeying God.
You know, sometimes as pastors, we don't want to browbeat people, and we don't want to force people, and we don't want to threaten people. We don't want to actually tell them that it really discourages us when they don't come to meetings of the church. We don't want to tell them things like, it would be nice to see you on a Wednesday night once in a while. We don't want to do that, except when we passively, aggressively do it.
But if you are a believer in Jesus and you have not entered the water of baptism, you are disobedient. I don't know how you can get out of that. Make disciples and baptize them. In Acts 10, when Cornelius and his household come to the Savior, what does Peter say?
He commands that they be baptized. There may be some in this place that are believers in Jesus Christ that have not been baptized. You are disobedient to the master. These people repented.
These people gladly received the word. That means they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. All that Peter had said concerning the life, death, and resurrection of the Savior, his ascension on high, his current session, all that they believed. So they come and they are baptized.
You'll notice in the book of Acts, there's no altar call. There's no every eye bow, or every eye closed, every head bowed. Some of you have been to evangelical churches, you know, you just shoot up your hand and that gets you in. You know, the pastor tells you, bow your head, close your eyes, put your hand up if you want to receive or accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior today.
There's no altar call. You know what the altar call is? Believe on the Lord Jesus and then go get baptized. It always intrigues me, too, that there's not a six-month new member class before they get baptized.
I'm not knocking churches that do that. I guess I am, again, passively, aggressively doing that. Well, Peter, how do you know that all these 3,000? Because God's at work.
And God, in his grace, has actually given us a tool for those who enter in that aren't supposed to be in. It's called church discipline. It's called dealing with people. I know that's tough, but that's what we're supposed to do.
So they obey God, but the sovereignty of God is on display. It says, and about 3,000 souls were added to them. They weren't added by Peter. They weren't added by the apostles.
They weren't added by the agency of man. They were added by God. God the Spirit came that day. What's significant about the day of Pentecost?
God saves sinners. It's an amazing thing. Our charismatic and Pentecostal friends will say, well, the Holy Spirit and tongue speaking. Do you realize that 3,000 people went home that night justified by grace through faith in Jesus, heaven bound?
Who cares who spoke in tongues? I'm not disregarding the gift of the Holy Spirit in this particular instance. It was to communicate, not through gibberish, but through other languages, the great works of God Almighty. But if you're seeking after the gifts of the Holy Spirit and not the Holy Spirit, you've got problems.
The great miracle on the day of Pentecost, well, there are several, but one significant one is that 3,000 sinners were saved. Why is that not qualified? You know, as someone who believes in the supernatural gifts of the Spirit having ceased in the first century, we're often ridiculed. I don't believe the Spirit's at work.
Every time a God-hating rebel sinner comes to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, that is a manifestation of the supernatural power of God that cannot be matched. It's beautiful. What do I care if somebody's yammering on in tongues? Brethren, we need to make sure our significance is Peter's significance.
Now,
The Practice of the Church
let's look finally at the practice of the church. I think this bears out fruit for us. Now, I've been thinking that after the book of Matthew, we'll move into the book of Acts. It might be a sort of a nice way to see what happened after Jesus does ascend on high, goes back to the right hand of the Father, and we can kind of take up the narrative of what he continues to do through the apostles.
One of the things I'm pretty certain I'm going to say is that not all of the book of Acts is prescriptive. That means it's not all a prescription on how the church is to function. Much of it is description. When we read it as prescription, we get discouraged because we don't speak in tongues.
When we read it as prescription, we get discouraged because we're not able to work the great miracles that the apostles did. We're not the apostles. We need to keep that in our minds. but it's descriptive of what church was about in this early era. But if we had to pick out a section that was prescriptive, a section that does prescribe for the church what the church is supposed to be doing, I can think of no better place than verse 42.
What happens when these sinners gladly receive the Word, which as we've seen, involves repentance and faith, they've come to the Savior, they've been baptized, now what? How do we live? How do we conduct ourselves? What ought to be our practice?
Steadfast in Apostolic Doctrine
Note first their steadfastness. Their steadfastness, verse 42, they continued steadfastly. This is a good message for the snowflake generation. It's a good message for us weak and soft people.
We need to be steadfast. We need to be persevering. We don't kowtow to the prevailing wisdom of the age. We do what we're supposed to do.
It's not romantic, it's not exciting, but doing what you're supposed to do is what God calls you to do. And this steadfastness, the definition means to persist in something, hold fast to, continue in, persevere in something. So what do they continue steadfastly in? Now, mind you, they had just witnessed some amazing things.
They had witnessed the gifts of the Holy Spirit vis-a-vis tongue speaking. They had witnessed powerful preaching by the Apostle Peter wherein 3,000 souls are added to the church. I mean, this is a church body, a group of people that are ripe for those sort of polished kind of guys to come in and teach them on how to do this and that spiritual gift. They don't want gifts necessarily.
They don't want ecstasy. They don't want excitement. They certainly don't want entertainment. What do they continue steadfastly in?
The apostle's doctrine. Again, I think corporately, the church, I don't mean just ours, but the church ought to just stop in her tracks and say, you mean doctrine isn't bad? You get that, even still today, after all the good things that have happened to sort of disavow or disabuse people of that notion, doctrine is our life. We don't want doctrine, we just want Jesus.
You don't have Jesus without doctrine. Because if you have Jesus without doctrine, it's going to be a Jesus of your own making. but they continued steadfastly in it. Brethren, I think verse 42 is a powerful encouragement to the Church of Jesus Christ to do what she's supposed to do and not succumb to the prevailing wisdom of the age. To the Surreites and to my dear brother Michael Kirkpatrick, be faithful, continue steadfastly, don't change course.
Apostolic doctrine is what the church feeds on. Apostolic doctrine is what the church needs. Apostolic doctrine is what these people wanted. It was not just doctrine, it was fellowship.
And the fellowship here doesn't just mean going to a Canucks game together. Fellowship means mutual society. And that mutual society is reflected very powerfully in another dimension of that word, in their giving, their selflessness. They're donations to one another.
It's not communism that follows here. There's no state coercion when they share their goods and property. No, it's spirit coercion. It's the power of the spirit coming upon the people of God, and they're willingly and freely giving in an expression of fellowship.
But then in the breaking of bread, and the term has sort of a technical designation later on in the Book of Acts and in 1 Corinthians 10 and 11, it's the Lord's Supper. It's the Lord's Supper. I mean, why would he tell us they just got together and had breakfast together? They got together and they ate turkey.
They got together to break bread. You see, the initiatory rite or sacrament or ordinance, with reference to the entrance to the church, is baptism. You don't get baptized every week. You don't get baptized every year.
You don't get baptized every fifth year. But with the supper, that is God, who is the householder, serving to his weary pilgrim saints a necessary meal from time to time to encourage them on the way. and why weary saints don't always avail themselves of that, I will never understand. I will never understand why our service will be half this full tonight. But for those of you who are weary, those of you who are discouraged at times, those of you who are tired, those of you who want the householder God to serve you bread and wine, to remind you of your Savior, then come and eat.
And then finally, of course, prayers. What does a spirit-filled people do? They pray. When we gather together on Wednesday night, when we gather together on Sunday morning, they don't pause.
It's not a pause meeting. Sometimes I think that's what we should call it. Come to the pause meeting. There's this sort of awkward silence.
You all know that awkward silence. You're with somebody and you're silent and it just feels weird. Well, sometimes at a prayer meeting when nobody's praying, it just feels weird. Brothers, pray.
That's what spiritual people do, they pray. They want to pray. Well, I'm not good at, who cares if you're good at praying, pray. We don't have the language that brothers, that's not your concern.
Open your mouth and speak to God. God is very kind, he'll listen to you. Just like with us as parents, we don't tell our two-year-olds, don't talk to us until you're 15. I mean, we might be tempted to do that, We might have a desire to do that, but we don't do that.
You can formulate long sentences using the proper syntax, subject predicate. We don't do that. We love to hear our two-year-olds lisp out their requests to us. Yeah, sure, whatever.
Why do we think prayer meeting is any different? God's up there with a notepad saying, well, that guy doesn't pray that good. That's not the way our God functions, brethren. He hears the prayers of the upright.
If you are in Christ, you're upright, so pray. It's not a pause meeting. Well, in conclusion, we really do need to end. In conclusion, I just want to encourage Emma.
You know, sometimes our church or our sort of theological commitment has been identified as, oh, you practice adult baptism. No, we practice believer's baptism. That's not the distinction between us and others. It's not adult-infant.
No, it's believers. If infants believed, we'd have no problem baptizing them, but we don't know if they're believing. And also, there's no command in Scripture to baptize infants. If there was, I'd like to think we'd obey it.
Why wouldn't we? What is there? It's not like, wow, I can't get this kid wet. That's terrible.
Of course we would, if it's commanded. Sometimes, Emma specifically, we really value those who are saved out of the world, and we don't see the same sort of power of God affected when they're saved in a Christian home. And I think it can be a bit of a stumbling block to young people. I haven't done anything really bad.
You've done everything really bad. Maybe you didn't sell crack or use crack or visit prostitutes, but everything you've done up to the point where Jesus saved you is sin. But there is that in us. I mean, just face it.
The local church was going to advertise testimony night. Would you go to hear the guy that had been a bank robber, he had gotten shootouts, and in prison he was about to hang himself, and somebody witnessed to him, and God miraculously saved him. I mean, that's pretty sensational and pretty, you know, interesting. Or somebody says, yeah, I was brought up in a Christian home by the grace of God.
My parents restrained me. I didn't go out and rob banks. I never went to prison. I didn't almost hang myself.
I had a pretty normal, simple life. And one day, somehow, imperceptibly, I can't even pinpoint it on the calendar, I was believing in Jesus. Why is it the guy who was about to hang himself, we see more power of God than we see in the other? The power of God is the power of God.
The effectual call is the effectual call. I think Paul speaks to that encouragingly with Timothy when he says, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed a good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Gordon Clark says, we note the fact that God called Timothy out of his state of original unrighteousness into his present state of grace. Such effectual calling is obvious in spectacular conversions, such as Paul's, but is just as real and necessary for those who learn the gospel from their mothers and grandmothers.
Now, you may not know what I'm talking about, but I think this happens. Somebody is young. They are converted in the context of the Christian home. And at 18 or 19 or 20, I've never had this crisis.
I've never had this event. I've never had this sort of dramatic thing. Are you believing in Jesus? The same kind of thing when somebody says, I can't pinpoint on the calendar when I believed.
If you couldn't pinpoint on the calendar, or if you didn't have a birth certificate, you couldn't pinpoint on the calendar when you were born physically. Why is it that we attach all this sort of significance and superstition? The question for all of us is, am I looking unto Jesus? Secondly, we ought to observe in verse 42, and I don't want to pound this nail too hard, with reference to the practice of a spirit-filled church.
Just note verse 43, then fear came upon every soul. Now, there's a bit of difference in terms of interpretation. Some say fear came upon the city of Jerusalem when they saw what was happening in the church. Others suggest that it was the church, the people of God, that engaged in this practice, this continual steadfastness, then fear came upon every one of them.
But it is interesting to note that fear came upon somebody. Much of contemporary worship does not have that effect upon anybody, least of all the worshiper. One man made this observation with reference to contemporary worship. It creates a tone that is casual, comfortable, chatty, busy, humorous, pleasant, and at times even cute.
He goes on to suggest that if the seraphim assume this Sunday morning mood, they would be addressing God not as holy, holy, holy, but as nice, nice, nice. You see, if there is prescription in the book of Acts, it certainly must be verse 42. What's our task as the people of God? Continue steadfastly in apostolic doctrine, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread and prayers.
Well, it's just kind of boring, isn't it? If God says this is what is calculated to do our souls good, then it's not boring. And then finally,
The Glorious Grace of God
The glorious grace of God. I don't want anybody to miss this. The Jerusalem sinner saved. A message by John Bunyan.
This typical Puritan fashion, the titles of their treatises have more theology than many of the Christian books that are in Christian bookstores. Here's the title. I don't know if it was a sermon specifically. I think he preached this material, but he certainly wrote it out.
The Jerusalem Sinner Saved, Good News for the Vilest of Men, or a Help for Despairing Souls. You know what his doctrine is? that Jesus Christ would have mercy offered to the biggest sinners. Isn't that beautiful? You're a big sinner.
Yeah, exactly. And God offers mercy to big sinners. And this is the lesson of 2447 in the book of Luke, that you preach the gospel to all nations beginning at Jerusalem, this place that had murdered Jesus. God's design is to offer mercy to the biggest sinners.
If you're a big sinner here this morning, come to the Savior. Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Bunyan gives several reasons why this is the case. The biggest sinners have the most need.
When the biggest sinners receive that mercy, it redounds most to the fame of Christ's name. Others hearing of it will be more encouraged to come to him for life, because it is the way, if they receive it most, to weaken the kingdom of Satan. Because such, when converted, are usually the best helps in the church against temptations and fittest for the support of the feeble-minded there. I love that.
The biggest sinners serve a great encouragement to the rest of the sinners. God plucked him off and saved him. There's certainly hope for me. And doesn't Paul use this ethic in 1 Timothy 1?
Christ Jesus came into the world, sinners to save, of whom what? I am chief. I am foremost. If there's a biggest sinner list, then Paul is number one.
See, what ought that to do to you this morning? Don't get discouraged, don't despair, don't fret, don't say no, but rather receive the Word. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. This man, who was attested by God with these miracles, who ultimately died and who was raised the third day, this man who was ascended on high and exalted at the right hand of God Most High, this man will save the biggest sinners.
So come. believe, and live. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this record in the book of Acts, and we thank you for this opportunity that brings us together. And may you open hearts to receive the word of God, and may this be manifest through belief in the gospel, and repentance unto life, and baptism, to identify publicly with Jesus Christ the Lord. We ask these things in his most blessed name.
Amen.