Witnesses are important. Ask any attorney, and they will be quick to tell you that an eyewitness can be absolutely critical in establishing an alibi, refuting faulty testimony, or shedding light on what actually took place.

      We’ve all seen this happen, right? At a key moment in a trial, the prosecution or defense will call a powerful witness to the stand. Based on that person’s knowledge and experience, the verdict of the case is often determined. Having a credible witness adds a great amount of weight to the case.

      This is nothing new, of course. As far back as the Old Testament, the testimony of two witnesses was required in order to convict a person—and if the testimony was found to be untrue, the punishment was then enacted on the false witness! It still requires the presence of two witnesses to be legally married in the state of Kentucky. And everyone from police officers to news reporters line up to interview eyewitnesses, to get a statement of what happened.

      It’s the same thing we see in Acts 2. The apostles had just been witness to the single most important event in human history: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The people who were in Jerusalem were about to be witnesses to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and we are invited to be witnesses to these events as well through the written Word, inspired by God and preserved for us through the ages.

      The book of Acts is, in some ways, a sequel to the Gospel of Luke. They share the same author (Luke) and are written to the same person (Theophilus). Where the Gospel focused on the life and ministry of Jesus, the book of Acts begins with Jesus returning to Heaven and focuses on the ministry of the Spirit as He builds the Church.

      That’s what is really happening in the book of Acts. From a surface-level reading, you might come away thinking that it’s a book about a group of men and all they did to keep the message of Jesus going strong. But any closer look will reveal that this is a book about the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who enables these men to believe the truth about Christ, who empowers them to share that truth boldly in the face of persecution, and who encourages them as both they and the kingdom grow in Christ. These men rely on the Spirit for help, as they should, since Jesus said the Spirit would be their Helper. (see John 16:5-15) 

      That’s the same thing we see Jesus telling His apostles at the beginning of Acts. As this book opens, Jesus is giving His final words to His friends—but they aren’t exactly final, are they? Firstly, He will see them again one day. Jesus is alive and at His Father’s right hand; our deaths only serve to usher us directly into His presence. So although Luke tells us what Jesus said right before He ascended (see Acts 1), that won’t be the last conversation He has with His friends. Christ is alive, He has ascended, and He is coming again.

      Secondly, they aren’t final words because Jesus is going to continue to be with His people in this life through the person of the Holy Spirit. The very same Spirit of God that was with Jesus during His earthly life is now given to all those who are found to be in Him. That means that Christ is still with His people—not in an earthly, bodily way but in a very real way nonetheless.

      So Jesus ascends to the Father and tells His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for this gift of the Spirit. And that’s exactly what they do. The disciples wait, but keep in mind that waiting doesn’t mean ‘doing nothing.’ Instead, they all devoted themselves to prayer, declared the Scriptures among one another, and depended on Christ’s continuing leadership (as seen in His selection of Matthias to take Judas’ forfeited spot).

      What Luke has been doing in Acts 1 is laying the groundwork, or giving an introduction for what’s about to come. The preparation is complete and now the appointed time has come for God to act is a very big way. That’s where we find ourselves as we begin Acts 2, where we will be witnesses to God’s acts.

      And like any good witness, we want to pay careful attention to what we will see and hear. We want to make certain that we note what is important, for as witnesses, we will be called to testify to these things later. When we take the stand, so to speak, we want to be confident in our testimony. We want to be sure that we are speaking the truth. And what is this truth we are to testify to? The first thing we witness is:

1. The mighty power of the Spirit [2:1-13]

1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

      One of the things that becomes obvious from spending time in the Scriptures is that God has a perfect sense of timing. Nothing happens by chance or accident. Things we might be tempted to paint as ‘happy coincidences’ are, in reality, part of His eternal plan, but in effect “before the foundation of the world.” [Ephesians 1:4]

      So, for instance, when we see that the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ took place surrounding the Passover feast, we are supposed to notice the similarities between what happened in the deliverance from Egypt centuries earlier and what is taking place in the deliverance from sin and death now. When we read about the way that an innocent lamb’s blood was needed to serve as a barrier between the plague of death and God’s people, we should be thinking of how Christ’s blood was required to undo the curse of death forever. When Paul refers to Christ as “our Passover Lamb” [1 Corinthians 5:7], he is making a connection that God always intended for us to make.

      We can trace the ways that God revealed Christ all throughout the Old Testament, starting with creation, moving through the Fall, the Flood, and so on. There are numerous examples of how God was using people and events in the Old Covenant to foreshadow the reality of Christ and what He was going to do. [NOTE: This is what we did in our 14-week series called “Road to the Resurrection” at Parkwood between the beginning of the year and Easter Sunday in 2010.]

      So when we read, in Acts 2:1, that these events take place in the midst of Pentecost, we ought to immediately figure out what Pentecost is and see if there is a connection between that festival and what God does in this passage.

      Pentecost was the second of the annual Jewish harvest festivals, starting 50 days after Passover. Like Passover, many people would travel to Jerusalem to take part in this festival. In Old Testament times, it was an agriculturally-based festival, where people offered some of the “firstfruits” of their crop in thanks to God. By the time of the New Testament, it had become more focused on God’s creation of and goodness toward His people. So, basically, this is a chance for people to get together and celebrate God’s provision—in terms of food, life, and all other good things He has given. It’s a time to focus on the gifts of God for the good of His people.

      Now you don’t have to be a Biblical scholar to see an obvious connection between the purpose of this festival and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself is referred to as the “firstfruits” on what is to come (see Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15); He is the ultimate sign of God’s goodness and provision. Not only that, Jesus has referred to the Holy Spirit as the coming gift of the Father, and there is no better gift for the good of His people than His own Spirit coming to join them to Him eternally.

      That’s what we see in Acts 2:1-4, as the Holy Spirit comes powerfully and mightily upon the disciples. Jesus had once described the work of the Spirit as like the wind (see John 3:8) and just as wind can oscillate between a light breeze and a gale force blast, the Spirit sometimes blows by gently and other times—like this one—makes His presence known in a declarative way.

      Luke describes the Spirit by saying “tongues as of fire” came and rested on all who were there, which was most likely the 120 believers mentioned in chapter 1. Why did the Spirit look like fire? Well, in Scripture fire is often associated with God’s purity and presence (see Exodus 3:2, Isaiah 4:5, and Ezekiel 1:4). Deuteronomy 4:24 and Hebrews 12:9 both refer to God as a “consuming fire” which will forever burn up all that is unholy. So the Spirit comes on that day like fire, mainly to show God’s power.

      Another side-effect of the Spirit’s visible arrival is the creation of eyewitnesses to His coming. If He had invisibly entered the hearts of the disciples, His presence would not have been any less real nor would His power have been diminished in the slightest. But by choosing to come in a bold, undeniable, and visible manner, He also provided a frame of reference for these disciples in the days ahead. If they ever began to have seeds of doubt, like “did the Spirit really come?” or “maybe we just imagined it” they could easily remind one another of the day when they heard the sound like a mighty rushing wind and saw the fire of the Lord descend upon them. They were witnesses of the mighty power of the Spirit.

      And what is the Spirit’s power? The Bible has a much to say about the role that the Holy Spirit plays in the lives of God’s children. (And please note that the Bible refers to the Spirit with the personal pronoun ‘He’ and not the impersonal ‘it’ that we often mistakenly ascribe to Him.) The Spirit is called the “Spirit of truth” and therefore He will “guide you into all the truth” [John 15:26 & 16:13]. In other places of Scripture He is said to teach, comfort, speak, grieve over sin, convict, help God’s people in prayer, determine the distribution of spiritual gifts, provide believers assurance of salvation, and—above all—to bear witness to and glorify Christ.

      But in this moment, on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit was working in an uncommon way: He gave the disciples the ability to speak all languages. We don’t know all the details of how this miracle worked, but we do know a few things that aren’t true. Firstly, this isn’t the “gift of tongues” that the Bible sometimes talks about when it refers to a person who speaks an unintelligible language that requires an interpreter. The outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost was more a “gift of languages” as their words could be plainly understood—which was the point of the miracle to begin with.

      Secondly, this gift of languages isn’t something that happens to every Christian…as any of my Spanish teachers would be happy to verify! It was given to these disciples (and certain others) solely at the discretion of the Spirit, and always in order to take the Gospel message to people who otherwise would not have heard it. Their tongues (perhaps explaining why the Spirit appears in a tongue-like manner) were transformed as they spoke so that the words that came from their mouths were heard by the listeners in each of their native languages.

      Of course, you can imagine the reaction this got. Some of the people who heard the apostles assumed they were drunk, even though it was only 9:00am! Peter says that people don’t get drunk that early in the morning—which is generally true, but there are certainly exceptions to that rule. And I can’t imagine a person who was drunk at 9:00am saying anything other than “I’m not drunk!” when questioned. So, other than Peter’s word for it, what evidence do we have that these men were not drunk?

      Well, on the one hand, they weren’t stumbling all over themselves or falling down on the street. They weren’t acting drunk. Secondly—and more importantly—being drunk usually has the effect of slurring someone’s speech, making them harder to understand. You don’t gain extra skills and abilities when under the influence of alcohol; you actually impair whatever skills you do have! In this case, however, no one was confused about what they were saying. The confusion was in how each person could understand it.

      You know, in one way, the accusers were right. The apostles were under the influence of something. But it wasn’t wine; it was the Spirit of God. And that influence didn’t slow them down or slur their words. Instead, the influence of the Spirit caused them to speak louder than before; to boldly proclaim the praises of God in a miraculous way (“as the Spirit gave them utterance” in 2:4).

      But don’t miss this: the main point of what’s happening here isn’t the miraculous languages. No, it’s not how they were speaking but Who they were speaking about. This is what the Holy Spirit does: He testifies to Christ; He magnifies Christ; He glorifies Christ. When you are filled with the Spirit—genuinely filled by the Holy Spirit—you will also testify to Christ. Maybe in foreign languages, maybe just in English, but you will testify to Christ. That is what the Spirit’s power enables us to do.

      So the apostles and first disciples were witnesses to the mighty power of the Spirit, and so were all those in Jerusalem for Pentecost. The same Spirit that was present at the creation of the world; the same Spirit that was present at the Incarnation, Baptism, Transfiguration, and Resurrection of Christ has now been given to His people as a “guarantee of our inheritance.” [Ephesians 1:14]

      The Spirit has been at work for all eternity, and we certainly see Him active in the pages of the Old Testament, but things are different in the New Testament. Why? Because of Christ. When He offered Himself, we understand that two exchanges were taking place: He was taking our sin upon Himself and offering His righteousness in exchange. He was also giving His innocent blood on our behalf and taking God’s full wrath and judgment against our sin. Because God accepted His sacrifice as a sufficient payment for the wages of sin, those who are in Christ are declared innocent in His eyes. So the Bible tells us “since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God…let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” [Hebrews 6:14-16]

      We have access to God’s very throne—not because of any merit on our part, but because of Christ’s atoning sacrifice made in our place. The Spirit allows us to take our prayers to God, to have confidence that He will hear and answer those prayers. Certainly He will answer them in the way and manner of His choosing, but our prayers will be heard and they will be answered. We can trust that He will provide grace and mercy to help us in our time of need.

      All of this is possible because of Christ. His finished work means that the Holy Spirit can now make His home among God’s people—because they are credited with the Son’s righteousness. The Spirit is within you, believer. His work is how you first came to Christ and His work is how you are able to deny sin and grow in the image of God’s Son. He bears fruit in your life—the fruit of a new life brought about by Christ.

      So the Spirit is our helper, meaning that we need help doing something, and we need the help that only He can provide. Earlier we mentioned that even though Christ was no longer with His people in a bodily way, He was still with them in a real way. Well, we may have understated that. Christ Himself said that it is to our advantage that He is gone and that the Spirit has come (see John 16:7). We might often wish for a flesh-and-blood Jesus to be in the room with us, but Jesus says that our current arrangement is the preferable one! The Holy Spirit produces an internal change that transforms from the inside out. He starts by regenerating new life within us and then by constantly renewing that life through His ongoing work of making us more and more like Christ.

      You can resist temptation. Do you know why? Because of the Spirit. Or did you think that you suddenly, in your own awareness and strength, realized the destructive power of sin and overcame the full force of your Adversary all alone? No, friends, we are not that strong. We are weak. But it is in our weakness that God’s power is on display; we can have victory—because of Him! (see 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 and Ephesians 6:10-20)

      You can have assurance of your salvation. Do you know why? Because of the Spirit. If you try to base your confidence on your own sincerity at the time of your conversion, or (even worse) your own understanding of the depths of the Gospel at that time, that will result in no confidence at all. In the moment of doubt and despair it will be revealed for the thin illusion it is. So how can we know we are saved? By the deposit placed within us; the Holy Spirit is God’s ongoing promise that “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” [Philippians 1:6] Friends, God does not put His Spirit within you without reason! And God is not in the practice of abandoning His children or casting off those who are His! Your assurance is based on His promises, which are guaranteed to you by His Spirit.

      So we are witnesses of the Spirit’s mighty power, both in the way He came at Pentecost and the way He works within the lives of Christians, helping us “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives.” [Titus 2:12] We have all seen it and many of us have lived this first-hand, having been transformed by the ongoing work and power of this same Spirit in our own lives.

      You have read about the mighty power of the Spirit in the past and you have seen His mighty power at work in the present. We are witnesses to this. But that is not all. We also become witnesses to: 

2. The message about Christ [2:14-36] 

14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, 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. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20 the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him, “‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

29 “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. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33  Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.’ 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

      Almost without exception, we see that miracles in the book of Acts are presented as occasions for the proclamation of Christ. The basic pattern is this: a miracle happens, people’s attentions are drawn together, and the apostles use that moment as a God-given opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

      That’s exactly what happens here. There’s a strange sound (“like a mighty rushing wind” in 2:2) that people heard. Perhaps even some saw the tongues of fire. Either way, they all heard the disciples praising God in their own native languages. Some marvel at these things, others mock them, but everyone has heard them and has given their attention to them.

      Peter, no doubt under the influence of the Spirit (not of wine), sees this crowd and seizes the opportunity. He responds to the onlookers in Acts 2:14-36. Since that’s such a long passage, we’re going to break it up into sections:

A. The true identity of the Lord [2:14-21]

      Peter uses a passage from the book of Joel to make an important point. He refers to the “last days” but he realizes that he now lives in them! They aren’t some far-off days, they are all the days between the inauguration of Christ’s kingdom and its full restoration at the end of human history. Peter knows that Christ’s resurrection started things, and the gift of the Spirit is yet another sign from God that the final stages of His redemptive plan have begun to unfold.

      Notice that Peter ends this section of his sermon, this quotation from Joel, with a key phrase: “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” [Acts 2:21] Now, every devout Jew listening to this would have heard this passage from Joel many times before in school and in the temple and they would have understood that the title “the Lord” in this verse is referring to God. And it is. But Peter is going to reveal that the “name of the Lord” is Jesus Christ. He is God, and salvation is found in no one else.

B. The testimony of Christ’s works [2:22-24]

      Jesus’ identity as Lord isn’t some outlandish claim that Peter happened to pluck out of the air on a whim. It’s something he can testify to as an eyewitness. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see a man who was blind from birth suddenly be able to see? Or a paralyzed man get up and walk? Or a seriously ill woman who had reached the limits of both medicine and finances be instantly and totally cured? Or to see Lazarus walk out from his tomb after four days?

      The miracles of Jesus aren’t His way of showboating or grandstanding. He doesn’t do these miracles to awe the crowd but to announce His identity. God did powerful things in and through Jesus; things that many of the people listening to Peter also saw first-hand. Peter is asking them: “Remember all the amazing things Jesus did? Well, what do you think that was all about? Why did He do them?”

      The answer is to give credibility to His message and validate His claims of Lordship. The miracles of Christ (while not enough to convince someone in and of themselves) are God’s way testifying about His Son.

      And don’t miss what else Peter reveals: God planned the ministry and miracles of Jesus—including the miracle of the resurrection—from eternity past. Christ was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” [Acts 2:23]

      Yet this does not let the men who betrayed and murdered Jesus off the hook of their sins. Just as the miracles of Christ gave testimony about His true nature, the sinful acts of “lawless men” [2:23] reveal the depth of their sin and depravity. The crucifixion revealed the wickedness of men (brutally killing the only totally innocent person) but the resurrection revealed the wonder of Christ, our Risen Lord!

C. The triumphant King of Kings [2:25-36]

      Finally, Peter makes a contrast between David and Jesus. Now David was one of the ‘heavyweights’ of the Jewish faith. There were certain people whose names you did not just throw around lightly when making comparisons: Abraham, Moses, and David were three of the main ones.

      David was the greatest king in the history of Israel. He certainly wasn’t a perfect king by any stretch of the imagination, but God calls him “a man after His own heart” [1 Samuel 13:14] and makes a covenant with him, promising that “your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before Me. Your throne shall be established forever.” [2 Samuel 7:16]

      So David is the king. And, amazingly, God promises David that his descendants will rule forever. David wrote Psalm 16, which Peter quotes in his sermon: “For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.” [Acts 2:27]

      Peter reasons (by the power of God’s Spirit within in) that since David did actually die, he must have been referring to someone else. That someone else is one of his offspring, whom we know to be Jesus Christ. David is in his tomb, Christ is not in His. David’s body did not ascend into heaven, yet Christ’s did.

      It is Jesus who fills the role of King, now and forever. He is the One who was “raised up” and “exalted at the right hand of God” and “this Jesus whom you crucified” is most certainly “Lord and Christ.” [from Acts 2:32-36].

      God pours out His Spirit as a sign that the New Covenant has begun: a covenant brokered in the blood of Jesus. Jesus Christ is the Messiah, as His life and death and life again testify to, and He is the forever King of Kings. The apostles were witnesses to this, as were the people of Jerusalem at Pentecost, and so are we.

      Before we move on, can we make an observation about Peter? This was a man who, less than two months prior, not only denied Christ three times in one night but who was hiding in a room with the other disciples because they were afraid of being identified as Christ’s followers. And here is this very same man, with no discernible outward differences, standing in front of a crowd that would have undoubtedly included some of the same men he was scared of before, boldly proclaiming that Christ is Lord.

      Friends, that is the mighty power of the Holy Spirit. There is no other explanation. And when the Spirit works His power in your life, you will join the likes of Peter in proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ. When you witness these things in your own life, you will profess them plainly and boldly to others.

      Or do you think the Gospel is something that only preachers and ministers should share? That is an idea Scripture considers to be ridiculous. God’s Word speaks plainly of a clear commission and ministry that all Christians have been given (see 2 Cor. 5:16-21). What concerns me even more than this, however, is the underlying attitude toward the Gospel.

      The degree that we assume it is the responsibility of others to share it, then it is probably to the same degree that we have failed to grasp it. The message of Christ is a message of redemption, forgiveness, and hope. You could not save yourself, and yet you are saved by Christ. You were an enemy of God—think of it!—and powerless to change your standing, and yet He has made it possible for you to not only be forgiven of your crimes but welcomed into His family with the full rights of a son. How could we not share this? How can we keep silent when we think of the magnificence of what God has done for us through Christ? If He has saved you, you will speak of Him, just as those first disciples did—without fear and without exception.

      We are witnesses of these things: the mighty power of the Spirit and the message of Christ, and we also are going to witness:

3. The means of God’s salvation [2:37-41]

37 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?” 38 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. 39 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.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

      Luke tells us in verse 40 that Peter used “many other words” to witness to the people, so we only have part of his sermon recorded for us. But we know the heart of his message: the Jesus you crucified is the Christ of God, and salvation is found in Him alone. The people who hear Peter are “cut to the heart” [2:37] by this truth.

      Is that the response we have? Many of us hear the truth of Christ and the gospel so much that we have become somewhat numb to it. We know that Jesus died for our sin, but do we feel the weight of that? Does it cut us to the heart to know that our lying, gossiping, stealing, speeding, cheating, jealous, bitter, lustful, greedy sins demanded the death of God’s only Son for their forgiveness? Does it cut us to the heart to know that God the Father had to watch His only Son be tortured and murdered—and for what? For us? We are hardly worthy of such an act; and yet, this is what He did.

      Friends, there are many things in life we can be flippant about. You may not like the way your basketball team plays defense or think the new design for the iPhone is lacking or get irritated when people drive too fast or wonder why more people don’t drink the kind of frappuccino you like, but we must not ever become flippant about the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ for the atonement of our sin. It must cut us to the heart time and time and time again. We never outgrow the Gospel or our need of it.

      Now when we are cut to the heart in this way; when the horror of our sin is revealed to us and the helplessness of our situation is laid out before us on the table, how do we respond? When you realize that you need to be saved and at the same moment realize that you can never save yourself, what is your first reaction? It’s the same one the people in this passage had: “Brothers, what shall we do?”

      When the people ask Peter how to be saved, he says “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.” What he means here is important to understand, and this is where we have to take the entire context of Scripture in the balance. Baptism, as an act of being put under the water, is not a prerequisite for salvation. You don’t need to be baptized in order to be saved. However, public identification with Jesus is something that all genuine believers will express, and baptism is the means by which God has chosen for all Christians to symbolize the rebirth that has taken place.

      The emphasis here is not on the baptism itself, per se, but on the baptism “in the name of Jesus Christ.” To be baptized in a person’s name (much like the command Jesus gives in Matthew 28:18-20), in a biblical sense, “represents the person's character, everything that is true about the person. To be baptized into that name is a sign of identifying with that name and taking on Christ's character, as well as committing to live one's life from that point on as a representative of that name.” (from ESV Study Bible, note on Acts 10:48).

      Genuine salvation, then, comes as a result of forsaking the sin-dominated life of our past and resting in the Spirit-dominated life from this point on. It’s quite literally a transfer from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, from being found ‘in Adam’ to being found ‘in Christ’. (see Romans 5, Galatians 5, and Colossians 1)

      How does this transfer occur? Well, according to Peter, it’s the work of God.

      Much is often made of the supposed conflict between the sovereign election of God in choosing who He will save and the free will of man that suggests we have the ultimate say in whether or not we respond to Christ. We won’t attempt to delve into these mysteries in the limited time we have today, but there is one point we must make clearly from this text: Peter sees no conflict at all between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility.

      We can tell this by what he says. First, he tells his hearers to “repent and be baptized,” clearly implying personal action. But almost immediately he says that the promise of God’s Spirit is only for those “whom the Lord our God calls to Himself.” Now you can do all sorts of clever things to this text, trying to get it to affirm view or the other, but at its most basic, clearest reading, Peter is telling us that God draws people to Himself and so they are saved by His doing and that we must each repent and turn to Him in faith.

      If you want another clear example of this, we need only turn to the apostle Paul. Here was a man who believed fully and confidently in the election of God. He wrote about it in his letters (as seen in Ephesians 1, etc.). He even experienced it. Paul was not seeking Christ when Christ came to him; he didn’t desire to know Christ on the road to Damascus. Quite the opposite, in fact. Yet Christ came to him in that very moment and Paul was saved.

      But what effect did this have on Paul’s evangelism? The fact of God’s election didn’t shut him up or cause him to say “well, if God’s going to save them I guess He will somehow no matter what I do” and sit on the sidelines. No! Paul literally gave his entire life, devoting it to the ministry of the Gospel, pleading with people to be reconciled to God. He spent year after year traveling the world, enduring hardship and persecution, refuting false teaching, establishing churches, mentoring other disciples, and encouraging people to persevere in the faith. For Paul, there was no conflict between God’s sovereign control over all things (including his own salvation) and the Gospel call of “repent” going out to all people.

      That’s why, in his final letter, Paul writes this amazing statement to Timothy: God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” [2 Timothy 2:19] God is sovereign: He knows those who are His. At the same time, if you name the name of the Lord, you must depart from iniquity (or, in other words, repent of sin). Both statements are equally true.

      There are obviously layers to this mystery that our finite minds cannot grasp. Our purpose this morning isn’t to explore (much less explain) them all, but to focus on the truth we can know: Scripture affirms both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of humans to respond to Him.

      What this means for us today, is that we mustn’t be caught up in an academic debate over theology, but rather heed the call of the apostle: ‘put your faith in Christ’. Genuine faith always involves repentance, and vice versa. Repentance includes a change of mind so that now it has faith in God. The two are flip sides of the same coin.

Is God, through His Spirit, working in your heart right now? Is He convicting you of the message you have heard?

      Remember, we are witnesses to these things. And all witnesses are called to give an account of what they have seen and heard. Each of us will likewise give an account—and we will declare that Jesus is Lord. We can choose to accept that truth now, place our absolute faith in Him, and hope confidently in His promises. Or we can wait until His return, in full glory, and be humbled at the sight, confessing the truth in that moment but too late to alter our eternal destiny.

      We don’t know how many people heard Peter’s sermon that day, but 3,000 of them responded in faith. I don’t know how many people are in this room right now, but you have just heard the same Gospel. You have witnessed the same things: the mighty power of the Spirit, the message about Jesus and the means of salvation that God provides. On that day, 3,000 were saved. On this day, how will you respond?