Acts 2:40-47

Presented to the Pacesetter class on September 24th, 2006

This morning, for the sake of clarity of thought, we pick up with Acts 2:40-47, but I wanted to touch on some things from last week. Remember that the preaching being done here, in many languages, is to the Jews. These are people who clearly know of the Father, men familiar with the OT and the words from which Peter cites for his sermon.

What Peter is declaring then, is the truth that the prophets spoke of Jesus, as he says in v. 31, “foreseeing…they spoke of the resurrection of the Christ…”. In other words, God granted these men of old the ability to look into the future, not a possible future, and see the atonement! In vs. 34-35 Peter declares w/out a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is God! Note the word “therefore” in v. 36.

To what does that word refer? The OT quote from the Psalms!
In other words, he cites those verses as text proof for his declaration in verse 36 (read) that Jesus is Lord and Messiah!! This is the name sure to strike all Jews with awe! Messiah, their Anointed One! Peter says that Jesus is the one they’ve rested all of their hopes on…all of their fervent prayers for a Deliverer were answered in Jesus! And then, Peter reminds them that this Jesus is the very one “whom you crucified.”

Note the power of Peter’s words in verse 37...”they were cut to the heart.”

Brothers and sisters…the Holy Spirit used the words of Peter to bring conviction upon the hearers…the scales over their eyes were taken off and they saw with new eyes…and so they ask, “what shall we do?”
Brothers and sisters…the point of preaching is to bring this reaction about in the hearer…”what shall we do.”
We must realize this: these blind men were made to see and were seeing now with eyes that were made open; these deaf men were made to hear and were hearing now with ears that could understand, and they realized the severity of their sin and their culpability in the death of Christ…and they want to know how to escape the punishment that they deserve!

Note carefully Peter’s response to them:
Repent)
Turn away in sorrow from your sin.

Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ)
Not only were they to go through such a radical thing as baptism…they were to do in it the name of Jesus Christ, thereby showing their acceptance and submission of Him as Lord and Messiah.
We can take “for the remission of sins” to mean that they received forgiveness through baptism or we can take it to mean that the remission of sins was meant as a tie in of what baptism meant…an outward sign pointing to the repentance which was expressed and for which remission of sins was given.
Likewise, the gift of the Spirit can mean that the Spirit was received upon baptism or that the Spirit is the gift to those who repent.

Remember that the audience here is the Jew. Those who were familiar with the Father and even the Spirit…so while they had some faith and trusted in the promises of God…when the fulfillment of the promises arrived in the Person of Jesus they did not believe and so had to repent of this unbelief. They had to profess Jesus as Christ and be baptized...this baptism symbolizing their obedience, they received forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Spirit not upon the act of baptism but upon the repentance of sin, all of which was to be publicly declared through that act of baptism.

Finally though, an application: When we are given the privilege of being used by the Spirit to bring someone to Christ, we must make certain that our response to “what must we do” is always for them to repent. One of my criticisms of modern evangelistic methods is that we tell people to enter into a relationship with Christ but we don’t always tell them on what basis!

The basis of the relationship between God and man is repentance!
Repentance meaning expressing sorrow for their sin and turning away from it!

God alone knows how many people walk around certain of their salvation because they prayed a prayer and that prayer did not change their lives…but they prayed it so they are saved! Shame on us if we become enablers of such tactics and don’t share with the fallen the truth of what salvation really is.

Well unless there are any questions or comments, let us proceed to our text for today.

Read Acts 2:40-47

I don’t have very much to say on this passage, and we have already discussed verses 40-42, so let us jump right into verse 43.
“…fear came upon every soul…”
What caused this “fear” to come upon every soul?
And whom is “every soul” being referred to here?
Albert Barnes says the word fear refers to awe and amazement. The people being referred to are all of those who saw and heard of the events just described.
I personally think that while it included this awe and amazement…perhaps it also refers to a fear of the work of God. To those not moved by the Spirit, the events occurring before them were a frightening thing…a terrible thing. Here were a people behaving in ways that could not be explained by someone who had not shared in the event.

And this brings me to the next thing I wished to discuss here.

Note again verses 44 through the first part of verse 47. Last week a brother made a comment and brought up a sentiment that I have often shared.
Let me say this first: I bear much responsibility because of my own personality: However, it is also true that it seems we as Christians, even with other Christians, turn inwardly and refuse to make room for our brothers and sisters. Why don’t we break bread with one another more often…outside the church….why don’t we share what we have with others, why don’t we give sacrificially when there is a need among us?

I walk on thin ice here, but I say what I have to say: Discuss the “Unequal giving/equal sacrifice” banner so often hung in the sanctuary of Central Valley Baptist.

Now I know that we will not solve this dilemma right here right now…but it is important for us to face up to the truth. To acknowledge it and admit it is hopefully the first step in us attempting to shape and mold our lives into what is described here in Acts. Those of our brothers and sisters who are of the Reformed faith use a motto from the age of the Reformation…the Latin semper reformando…always reforming…this means that we are always willing to change our practices, our beliefs, our doctrines…not on what feels good at the moment but upon what the Scriptures teach. The Scripture is our final authority…not Pastor Clint, not the President of the SBC…certainly not either of your S. school teachers! We reform our behavior and our beliefs by the conviction of the Word and we do not reform the Word based on our stubborn desire to believe as we have always believed.

Note at the end of verse 47 that we are told God added to His church daily.
Many churches today focus so much on growth because of this verse. A large church, they believe, is a successful church. I tell you that is not true. A large church that is dead is a useless church!!
What should we be focusing on above all?

Worship: worship Him in spirit and in truth…obey His commandments…and He will give the increase or He will not. But our task is to worship Him and spread His good news.

We cannot nor should we dare to see large numbers as signs of success, otherwise the Mormons and the Muslims and the Jehovah’s Witnesses are far more successful than we are!

We need to be obedient in the preaching of His Word and then responsible in the discipling of His people! And brothers and sisters, if we do this…the church will grow in the right way…in a way that gives Him the full honor and the full glory…

But another thing that is important to me about this verse is that it shows how much God loves His church. Jesus gave His life for the church…He loves us!!

Think about that!! As wickedly sinful as we are…as totally undeserving of His grace as we are…as poorly as we obey Him…Christ loves His church!!

Ephesians 1:22 says that God “put all things under [the feet of Jesus], and gave Him to be head over all things to the church…” Then in Ephesians 1:23 we are told that we, His church, are “His body, the fullness of Him…” Brothers and sisters, because of this, we “are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens…and members of the household of God…” Ephesians 2:19

God loves His church.

Is there anyone in this room who believes the church will ever die out? God forbid anyone professing Christ as Lord should believe so!!!!
Why, then, do we come up with strategies for increasing the sizes of our congregations instead of focusing on being obedient to His word? Is it not because in some way we think it is we who are ultimately responsible for adding to the church? Before I stop, please don’t leave this room thinking I am against churches growing. Nor am I against changing HOW we present the Gospel in order to reach different people. What I mean to do by saying what I have said is to warn us against changing the substance of the Gospel. If we preach the Word, if we study our Bibles, if we believe what we read…then our churches will grow not because Starbucks is in our lobby but because people will look at us and wonder what makes us different!!

Let us close with prayer!