Acts 2:37-41

 Acts 2:37-41

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “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. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

The Word of God, when accompanied by the work of God, will bring about the will of God.  As Peter spoke the Word of God to the people, the Spirit of God was working in their hearts.  As a result, many people were saved from their sin.  Jesus came to this earth to seek and to save that which was lost.  The Spirit is accomplishing that goal through the body of Christ.  When we are called to become disciples of Jesus, the Lord empowers us to be able to bear witness to re resurrection and exhort others to believe.  He gives us the privilege of sharing this good news with others.

GOD’S WORD BRINGS CONVICTION OF SIN: When the preaching of the Word of God is accompanied by the Spirit of God, conviction of sin will always be the result.  The thousands of people who heard Peter preaching realized that they were responsible for having rejected and crucified Jesus, the Messiah.  It is very likely that many of them were not even in Jerusalem when the crucifixion occurred.  However, they realized that they were sinners and that Jesus had died for their sin, so they were responsible.  We live a couple of millennia after the events described in this message occurred, yet we are responsible for the death of Jesus.  When the Spirit moves in our hearts, it is to draw us into a relationship with the Lord.  This can only happen when we become aware of our sin and trust in the work of Christ to forgive our sin.  Only the Spirit of God can bring about that conviction.  He causes the Word of God to cut us “to the heart” so that the heling work of the grace of Jesus can restore us and bring us back into a relationship with Him.

GOD’S WORK BRINGS REPENTANCE OF SIN: When the people asked Peter what they could do to deal with the conviction of sin that had come over their heart, his instruction was to repent.  Repentance simply means to turn from sin.  The work of the Holy Spirit not only confronts sin through the work of conviction, but it leads the person to repent of that sin.  This is more that mere sorrow for sin.  However, it does not mean the person will stop sinning.  It is a change of allegiance and direction in the life of a person.  God has promised that He will exterminate every aspect of sin in the lives of all who believe on Jesus for salvation from sin.  This does not happen immediately, but it will happen in eternity.  Repentance is simply a declaration that we want to be free from sin while faith is the understanding that only Jesus can grant that freedom.  It is dishonest to claim faith in Christ without a desire for freedom from sin.  It is unbelief to expect freedom from sin apart from faith in Christ.  Repentance and faith will always walk hand in hand when the Gospel is rightly understood.

GOD’S WILL BRINGS SALVATION FROM SIN: God’s promise and His mission is to bring those who are far from Him because of sin to be reconciled to Him through the forgiveness of sin.  He is drawing people to Himself and through the Word of God, the witness of God’s people and by the Holy Spirit.  The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus is a sin that God forgives because it was for that purpose that Jesus gave His life.  All who repent and identify with Christ through faith experience forgiveness of their sin.  Baptism is the outward sign of that inward reality.  The promise of the Holy Spirit is the demonstration of the reality of what God has done in the heart of those who are saved.  His indwelling is God coming close to those who were far away.  It is proof positive that our sins are forgiven.  This is the message that Peter gave and it is the message we are to proclaim.  We are witnesses to the reality of God’s work of salvation through forgiveness for all who repent and believe.  Our call is to witness to this truth to those around us and those who are far from us so that God might indwell those who are now far off.

APPLICATION: Be sensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit and His work of conviction in our lives.  Don’t be satisfied with just conviction of sin but be sure that it leads to a genuine repentance.  Understand that God’s forgiveness is graciously lavished on us by Christ.

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