fall we are exploring the beginnings of the Acts of the Apostles, the book of Scripture which describes the events that happened immediately after the resurrection of Jesus. Last week we read the defining story of the birth of the church – the day of Pentecost, when the believers were gathered together and the Holy Spirit came upon them, filled them, and sent them out in power to testify to the fact that Jesus is the resurrected Lord. They left the upper room, and were confronted by a crowd which had heard this huge commotion of the rushing wind and tongues of fire, and had come running to find out what was happening. They all heard the disciples speaking in their own languages, miraculously – we’ll pick up the story from that point.
Acts 2:11-41 (NIV):
…we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" 13Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine."
14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17" ’In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
22"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 25David said about him: " ’I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 26Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, 27because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. 28You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
29"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. 32God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. 33Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 34For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, " ’The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand 35until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." ’ 36"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
38Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."
40With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
The Sermon:
Luke has recorded for us a summary of Peter’s sermon, as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak to the people assembled. It is most likely not the whole sermon, and probably not verbatim, but definitely the basic content and the basic tone. And we’ll see the result…
We aren’t going to take it apart and analyze it all in depth; there is lots of great stuff there but in order to really figure it out we’d have to go back and get in the mindset of Peter’s audience, their world-view, and their experiences, and then see how Peter’s words were able to be so convicting. We don’t have time to do that this morning, so stay with me and we’ll do a really quick overview:
1. Peter gets their attention. This is where good communication starts! Peter stands up, yells for quiet, and then begins with the obvious miracle that everyone has noticed (the speaking in tongues), revealing how this has been God’s plan from a long time ago – to pour His Spirit out upon all the people.
2. To make this point, Peter quotes from the prophet Joel, amazing prophecies that are now being fulfilled. There is just one thing I want you to take particular note of: when the Spirit of God is poured out, all the dividing lines disappear, and people are equal. It is there in vs. 17, “on ALL people”, then there is no division between sons and daughters, old and young, men and women, because “EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (vs. 21).
3. Next, Peter preaches Jesus. In fact, the rest of the sermon is really all about Jesus – crucified, and resurrected. Peter uses two passages from the Old Testament to prove to the listeners that Jesus was the Messiah, the one they had been expecting, and he successfully counters the peoples’ belief that Jesus couldn’t be the Messiah because of how He had died a criminal’s death, by proving from Scripture that Jesus actually was the Messiah. This line of thought comes to a head in vs. 36: “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
4. Now, all the way through Peter’s sermon it is plainly evident that something else was going on – the Spirit of God was moving in the hearts of the listeners: convicting, making sense, grabbing hold of hearts and minds, and sinking the message in deep and powerfully. I wonder – can you remember a time when you experienced that? Maybe at a conference, or in church, or at YC – you were listening and you just knew, deep within, that what you were hearing was more than words, there was a power there, a presence of God there, it was a holy moment, and you knew in the depth of your soul that GOD was speaking… Can you remember what God said to you? What you were convicted of? What you decided as a result? I ask those questions for two reasons – first so we can relate to Peter’s audience in this passage of Scripture, as we’ve had the same experience of God speaking to us as well. But second, and far more importantly, because of this: we have just as much need to be reminded of the things God has already spoken into us as we do to hear something new. Did you catch that? Our culture downgrades the past, constantly preaches that value and importance of the “new”, drives us towards another experience. But in God’s Kingdom, I believe those profound experiences of God speaking are intended to shape the entire course of our lives, and so we need to be called back, to remember, to stand firmly and faithfully on the things God has spoken, and not be cast about. Now of course I’m not saying we shouldn’t want to hear God speak again, and shouldn’t continue to seek Him and listen for His voice – absolutely we should. But we must also remember what God has already spoken, and not let that get stolen away or pushed aside or squeezed out in the busyness of our lives.
The Response (vs. 37):
The story in Scripture continues and records the response of the listeners: “37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"”
At this point in Peter’s message, the crowd “gets it” – they killed the Messiah. Can you imagine that feeling? The Promised One, the Anointed One, the Sent One from God who was supposed to come and save God’s people, and they have just realized and come to believe that it really was Jesus, and they killed Him. Can you imagine what that would have felt like? I think maybe you can, because we all have those moments when we realize that we have been horribly wrong. Maybe it didn’t end in death for an innocent man whom we believe is the Saviour of the people of God, but we might know that sinking feeling. “I blew it… it was my fault… and someone else got hurt.”
I know that feeling. A few years ago I made a mistake driving, and rear-ended the car in front of me. We were at a yield sign, and I saw his brake lights go out and so I decided he had driven off, I turned around to look at the oncoming traffic and took my foot off my brake as well. Well he hadn’t driven off, and I drove right into his trunk and smashed his car. Everyone seemed fine at the site, my truck wasn’t even really marked but there was four thousand dollars damage on their car and they later sued my insurance company for more than a hundred thousand dollars for some apparent injury to the passenger. I felt sick – that feeling, deep in your gut, when you know you’ve done something wrong, it is entirely your fault, you can’t go back and undo it, and you are, in fact, guilty. My story is not on the same level as the one in Scripture, but it is the same emotion – guilt, helplessness, and a sense of lostness not knowing what to do. “37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"”
Is There Any Hope? (vs. 38-39)
Peter’s response to their question is a pivotal moment. Will it be a response of rejection, justice, or “tough luck – you had your chance and you blew it… now you’ll suffer…”? The Spirit of God has been at work, and the people are open and seeking. They know they deserve punishment and rejection, but instead they hear Peter’s words offering another chance: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Put simply, there is hope. There is forgiveness. There is even a gift – the most amazing gift imaginable, the fullness of God within us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The offer is made, and the way to respond expressed very clearly: “repent and be baptized”, and it is just as true today for you and me as it was on that day of Pentecost for the Israelites. When we are “cut to the heart” and cry out “what shall we do?”, God still says “repent and be baptized”.
Let’s start with repent. What is that? Let’s first recognize that repentance is not “feeling sorry” or “feeling bad” about something we have done. That is remorse, and while it can lead to repentance it can also short-circuit it. Feeling badly about our sin often leads us to ask for forgiveness, but if it is only remorse then our request for forgiveness is little more than a request to be “let off the hook”, to actually “get away with it” because we no longer want to feel badly about what we did. Remorse before God without repentance is an insulting abuse of God’s grace, and reveals an attitude that is still centered on us and not on the true impact of our sin on God, on us, and on others around us. So if repentance is not remorse, what is it? It is remorse that leads to a change in behaviour – a literal turning 180 degrees and living in the opposite direction.
Let me return to my car accident. I did feel terrible – the thought that my careless driving sin caused physical pain to another innocent human being ate away at me, and I was helpless to do anything about it. I was truly remorseful. But that was not repentance. To repent, I had to spend a lot of time replaying the accident in my mind, studying my driving habits, understanding why I did what I did. As I walked through that process I realized that I was impatient – instead of patiently waiting for the driver ahead of me to choose their spot and take it, I was assuming they would take the spot I thought they should take and in my impatient heart I would look away from the car in front and search for my spot, my turn, my hole, and while I did that I drove into the car in front. When I realized that, I chose to change how I drive. Now I discipline myself to not take my eyes off a car in front of me when I’m yielding – I don’t even look to see what traffic is doing until there is no car in front of me. I changed – in fact, I repented.
That is the central fact in Peter’s first response – we must choose to change course, to act differently, to live in the opposite way to that which we have been living which is wrong. And the way it works is this: once we make that choice, we are filled with the Holy Spirit once again, and thus empowered to live differently.
Peter’s second response is “be baptized”. This is an outward and public expression of our decision to acknowledge Jesus as Risen Lord and Christ (as Peter has just finished revealing). So plainly and bluntly, to all of you here who have not been baptized and made that public declaration, why not? If you’ve asked Jesus to be your Lord and Christ, and feel that is a mature decision that is going to rule your entire life, what’s stopping you? You don’t need to wait for some new voice from God, it is right here in Scripture. Maybe it is time for you to be obedient – if so, just come and tell me or Sue or Garret and we’ll set you on that path.
Bridge Into Communion:
We head now into communion, with those words of Peter ringing in our ears: “repent and be baptized”. Peter’s sermon has been all about Jesus – His death and resurrection, and then the people respond. We do the same – remember Jesus’ death and resurrection, and respond.
