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Read Acts 2:36-37
The Point: God’s church has always been built around worshiping Him and sharing His gospel.
At times we take the book of Acts for granted. As Christians and the church, we don’t realize how important and special this book truly is. It gives an accurate, reliable and historical account of how the church functioned. It also teaches us how the gospel went from Jerusalem to Rome and all over the land.
“Imagine what it would be like if the Book of Acts wasn’t in the Bible. You pick up your Bible and see the ministry of Jesus ending in the Gospel of John; next you read about a man named Paul writing to the followers of Jesus in Rome. Who was Paul? How did the gospel get from Jerusalem to Rome? The Book of Acts answers these questions. “A great New Testament scholar has said that the title of Acts might be, ‘How they brought the Good News from Jerusalem to Rome.”
--William Barclay
John Calvin wrote that the Book of Acts was “a kind of vast treasure.” D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones called Acts “that most lyrical of books…Live in that book, I exhort you: It is a tonic, the greatest tonic I know of in the realm of the Spirit.”
Last week we looked at how the Holy Spirit gave Spirit Baptism and the sign of that was many men speaking in tongues of different languages.
“When the day of Pentecost arrive, they were all together in one place…And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now they were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven, and at this sound the multitude came together and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.”
--Acts 2:1,4-6
God equipped these Jewish men with the gift of Holy Spirit tongues which allowed them to speak in different languages. The Spirit literally equipped them to share the gospel of Jesus around the world. This was a specific event that tells us of how God works, how God outpours The Holy Spirit to equip His people in sharing the gospel with the world. This is a descriptive event not a prescriptive event meaning we shouldn’t try to replicate this event over and over again, rather we must come to God and worship Him—God will outpour The Spirit again and again and give Spirit Baptism when He wants to and in His timing.
1. The Holy Spirit changes the hearts of the crowd when they hear the Gospel proclaimed.
The response of the church after Peter preaches the gospel, after 3000+ people are saved, after massive revival is deemed to not only be descriptive but rather perspective too. This means that the church’s first and only model can be found in Acts 2:36-47—this is how the church should and must function. These eleven verses tell us of what a healthy church does and how it operates.
“Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. 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? ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…”
--Acts 2:36-38
The word “cut” or a better translation of that word from the NASB 1995 Bible is “pierced” is defined as:
κατανύσσω: 2 aorist passive κατενύγην (Buttmann, 63 (55)); to prick, pierce; metaphorically, to pain the mind sharply, agitate it vehemently: used especially of the emotion of sorrow; κατενύγησαν τῇ καρδία (τήν καρδίαν L T Tr WH), they were smitten in heart with poignant sorrow (A. V. literally, pricked),
When this crowd heard the gospel, they were filled with sorrowful conviction, they were “smitten in heart with poignant sorrow.” Of their sinful nature, their sinful ways. Remember, Peter had just reminded them who they killed, they killed Jesus Christ, God Himself and these people were filled with this sorrow, cutting or piercing in their hearts.
Yet, what is the answer to that sorrow?
Peter says: “repent and be baptized everyone one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.” Vs. 38
Peter boldly stands up and proclaims the bad news of sin and the good news of Jesus’ salvation from sin. Look at how he explains the gospel of Jesus:
“Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Vs. 36
Jesus is Lord. Jesus is God. Jesus is Man. Jesus died but He didn’t stay dead, unlike the patriarchs or prophets from ancient Israel. Jesus came back to life, defeated death and offers true forgiveness for our sins. Jesus offers new life, He offers life transformation and will save His people, Christians, from Hell. Christians are born again and are given a new life through the resurrection power of Jesus.
Peter instructs everyone as after they experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit:
“But Peter standing with the elven [disciples], lifted up his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel.”
--Acts 2:14-16
From Vs. 14-37 Peter then proclaims the gospel as the Jewish men and people would understand reminding them that this outpouring of the Spirit is a fulfillment of the prophecy found in Joel 2:28-32 and he compares Jesus to David who would have been celebrated as a King, Prophet and patriarch of Ancient Israel.
“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day…he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection fo the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses.”
--Acts 2:29-31
Peter is making it very clear that Jesus is the promised Messiah from ancient Israel. The messiah who was prophesied about at least eleven times in the Old Testament. Jesus has resurrected himself, lived a sinless life, is 100 percent God / man all the time and the fulfillment of God’s promised salvation for His people and the world.
Another great summarization and articulation of the gospel is found in 2nd Corinthians:
“From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
--2 Corinthians 5:16-21
The good news of Jesus changes lives. It must be heard. It must be proclaimed. It must be shared all over the world. It must be preached in our churches. It is the foundation of the church.
2. The world needs to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ
People may not know it yet, but they need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Clearly there was a house full of people (and they only counted men in ancient times so the number 3,000 is 3,000+ because of the women and children being saved in this revival). The preaching of the gospel sparked a huge revival, the birth of the modern church as we know it today.
“For the promise is for you and for you 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 for this crooked generation.’ So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”
--Acts 2:40-41
Peter was empowered by the Holy Spirit and filled with boldness to preach the gospel in a house full of Jewish men. Let me remind you that later in Acts, Stephen will preach the gospel in front of Jewish men and they will execute him, they will stone him to death. (Acts 7). The Jewish high council was on a manhunt for Christians—they wanted to kill and persecuted this “new movement about the resurrected Jesus.”
This is why in Acts 4:23-30 the early Christians or believers of Jesus pray for BOLDNESS after being released from custody for being followers of Jesus.
“And, now Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness…”
The early church knew how important it was to share the good news of Jesus Christ—nothing could stop them from sharing the gospel. Nothing scared them into retreat rather they pushed forward with truth, mercy, hospitality and love.
“That expansion [of the church] from Jerusalem to Rome is a remarkable story. Humanly speaking, [Christianity] had nothing going for it. It had no money, no proven leaders, no technological tools for propagating the gospel. And it faced enormous obstacles. It was utterly new. It taught truths that were incredible to the unregenerate [lost] world. It was the subject to the most intense hatreds and persecutions.”
--James Montgomery Boice
If you are a Christian here tonight, if you have your faith in Jesus Christ and have confessed that He is true then I want you to hear this loud and clear—you have a testimony to tell. You have an obligation, to proclaim the gospel to those around you, you have a testimony to share that will impact someone and win them to the love, grace, mercy, truth and beauty of Jesus Christ.
If you are not a Christian, or you are a lukewarm Christian where you are both serving Christ and serving the world at the same time, I want you to hear this loud and clear—repent, turn from yourself, turn to Jesus Christ, the giver of new life, the forgiver of your continuing sin and the saviour of your soul. God loves you so much that He has given His life so that you can be born again in Heaven with Him after you die here. Put your faith in Him, confess that He is true, and be saved from your sin, saved from Hell and brought into eternal life with Him.
Jesus will change your life.
“Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! Sing to the LORD, bless His name; tell of His salvation from day to day, Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.”
--Psalm 96:1-6
The Point: God’s church has always been built around worshiping Him and sharing His gospel. This church has and always will be built around worshiping Jesus and sharing His gospel.
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