Scroll down to see and play Audio.
Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
“What shall we do?”
That has been the burning question everyday, for almost all of us, for the past 10 weeks or so. How do we respond to the media reports, the government decisions, the medical advice, and our own deep desire to live life wisely, in these unprecedented times… no matter where you live in the world?
This question drives us to God, seeking His wisdom, His answers for life. Today, I invite you back with me to Acts 2 where we find them asking this very question!
It’s one of the most amazing moments in history. We’re in Jerusalem, which overflows with Jewish pilgrims from all over the vast Roman Empire, who’ve come for the “Festival of Weeks.’ But unlike previous years, this Pentecost day has exploded with excitement, as the Holy Spirit of God has come like fire upon 120 friends of Jesus, and they began speaking the wonders of Jesus in languages they had never learned. It’s a huge miracle, for thousands of people are hearing the truths about Jesus, in their native languages, which are spoken in cities and towns far from Jerusalem.
Yesterday we saw Peter stood up and quieted the crowd, then explained both through the writings of the old prophet Joel and also King David, that Jesus Christ was a God sent man and His death, burial and resurrection all took place according to God’s purpose! It was God’s Redemption Plan!
Also, Peter explained this resurrected Jesus had returned back to heaven, from which He had come, and from His position of authority, at the right hand of God, Jesus had sent the Holy Spirit, as He had promised. These people, who were speaking languages they didn’t know, were doing so as evidence of the power of God’s Holy Spirit unleashed in their lives! Peter had also accused the crowd of rejecting this God sent Jesus, and with the help of wicked men, crucifying Him! Finally, Peter made a very bold statement declaring the truthful IDENTITY of Jesus: “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” (Acts 2:36)
There was no possible way to misunderstand or distort what Peter had just said. Every Jewish person listening was profoundly convicted. God had spoken to them, just as clearly as He had spoken to their ancestors at the trembling Mount Sinai, when fire fell from heaven on the mountain, and God spoke His 10 Commandments to the people, declaring them to be His special people whom He now expected to live according to His standards. On this Pentecost day, in Jerusalem, God had once again sent fire, and His Holy Spirit had empowered these 120, who had fully trusted Jesus to be their Messiah and their Savior from their sin! Peter was challenging this Jerusalem crowd to do the same… to recognize and trust Jesus as their God sent Savior and their God promised Messiah!
The people were shaken to their very core! Luke records it this way: “When the people heard this,they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other Apostles ‘What shall we do?” Look very carefully at Peter’s response: “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. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38,39)
It’s important we look closely at how Peter was giving them the answers Jesus had taught His disciples.
WHO are these words of hope intended for? Peter had said… “The promise is for you and your children and all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Remember Jesus had told them clearly “No one comes to Me unless My Father who sent Me draws them.” (John 6:44) Peter’s bold message was God’s call to the people of this crowd.
Repeatedly, many times, Jesus had said ‘whoever’ or ‘anyone’ or even “the world” when describing who He had come to save. John 3:16 or 5:24 or remember this in John 6:40 “My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Ok, so that meant everyone in this crowd was eligible, but what did they need to DO?
Peter told them “Repent and be baptized everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins.” Repent of course is actually two steps. First it’s CONFESS, which means “I agree with God’s truth” about Jesus and about me. I need a Savior, and I can’t save myself!
Then the second step is TURN away from sin, from my trusting in myself or anything or anyone else to save me, and turn TO Jesus only, fully trusting in HIM and His death and resurrection to be sufficient for God to extend forgiveness to me for my sin. It’s a very personal decision, for I alone am responsible for my sin.
Then as God does the miraculous inner work in me of applying the atonement work of Jesus, His death and resurrection, to my sin condemnation, and God declares me forgiven because Jesus has paid my sin price (Eph. 1:7)… then I am ready to obey Jesus and declare my allegiance to Him through baptism. That act of baptism does not save me, Jesus saves me. My baptism is my tangible act of publicly declaring my allegiance to Jesus Christ as my Savior, my Lord, my King! Remember Jesus had urged the apostles to baptize those who would trust in Him and then teach them all they had learned from Jesus. (Matt. 28:19,20)
Friends, as with any vital doctrine of our Christian faith, it’s important you take all the Scriptures about that doctrine, putting them together, to gain a full perspective of God’s truth in that doctrine.
Do you notice Peter’s promise in the very center of his answer?
“And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus had promised He would send the Holy Spirit, after His return to heaven, to all who believed in Him for their salvation from their sin. Every person who that day stepped forward in repentant response to Peter’s bold message, and trusted fully in Jesus Christ to be their Savior, was then baptized in their public declaration of allegiance to Jesus, and received the Holy Spirit from God. Luke records it this way: “Those who accepted Peter’s message were baptized and about 3000 were added to their number that day.” (Acts 2:41) To whom were these 3000 added? Well of course to the 120 followers of Jesus who’d been together for those 10 days and upon whom the Holy Spirit had first come.
So by the end of this remarkable day of Pentecost, there were now about 3120 followers of Jesus, whose lives were being powerfully changed by the Holy Spirit of God who was alive within them! Please notice we have no record that these 3000 also began speaking in languages they didn’t know. But can you imagine the uproar in Jerusalem as that remarkable day drew to a close!
As the next day dawned, what do you suppose these 3000 new followers of Jesus did? Luke tells us in Acts 2:42 that they did not rush to leave Jerusalem. In fact it appears many extended their stay for several days, maybe weeks, and they gathered together everyday to learn about Jesus and how their lives should change. This hunger was one of the evidences of the authentic work of transformation the Holy Spirit was doing in these 3000 new followers of Jesus. Watch that friends… the same is true today! “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles…”
The apostles, of course, were those men who had been with Jesus everyday for many months, and they were now very busy, every day, telling the story of what Jesus had done and said. They were His eye witnesses and He had told them to tell those interested to know, everything the Holy Spirit would help them remember. Jesus had also promised the Holy Spirit would empower them to do some of the miracles He had been doing. (John 14:12)
In addition to listening to the apostles teach them about Jesus, these 3000 also spent many hours with the 120, getting to know them. Since they had all experienced the same saving work of Jesus, and they’d expressed their allegiance to Jesus through baptism, and finally they all had experienced what Jesus called ‘the baptism of the Holy Spirit’. (Acts 1:5) They had a shared experience which united them, even though they were from many different parts of the Roman Empire, many different ethnic backgrounds. They shared meals together, and they prayed together, and shared what we call Communion together, as they celebrated Jesus death, burial and resurrection… the centerpiece of their faith which now bound them together as followers of Jesus. Can you imagine what this was like in the days immediately following the Pentecost miracle?
Let’s just pause here for today and be amazed. Jesus had promised “I will build My church…” (Matt. 16:18) and this is what He was talking about… the tsunami of humanity being set free from sin bondage and transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit of God was beginning. And 2000 years later, it continues my friends, all around the world, and if you are part of this great movement I urge you to celebrate today! As exciting as it was in Jerusalem, have you ever thought about how exciting it was in heaven as God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son were responding to the spiritual hunger of 3000 people in Jerusalem? Luke tells us Jesus had once said “I tell you the truth, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10) So I wonder… what is God seeing as He looks at the cities and town where you and I live today, my friends?
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.