The Results of Peter’s Sermon

Published by Stanley Pouw in 2016 · 10 January 2016

What is discussed in Acts 2:37-42 is the question: how is a man saved? By what act and by what method and through what person? There have always been those people who promise to save the world and free man from all of his trials and there are endless solutions offered to man's problems. But none of them succeeded. So how will man know that he or she is saved forever? What do I have to do to inherit eternal life?

There are many answers coming from everywhere. The legalist says keep the law, that is how you are saved. The moralist says have your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds. The Universalist says don’t be concerned, we will all go to heaven. The ritualist says you have got to do the right rituals to go in. And some say you have to be descendants of the right person to go to heaven. And they take Scripture out of context to prove their point.

That is why we have to compare Scripture with Scripture to make sure that we are accurate. Now that makes this passage important because it is one that is used by ritualists to defend the baptismal regeneration viewpoint which says that to be saved you have got to be baptized. That salvation is not simply by faith. They say it is by faith and baptism in water. But there is much more to this passage than that.

Now this passage deals with the end of Peter's sermon. And it's a very important to look at what happens in response to Peter's preaching, because we are gaining principles here for our own witness, for our own evangelism and preaching. Now let me review a little what we have learned from the book of Acts so far. From John, we learned that Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to equip the church.

And on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God came. The Holy Spirit then baptized all of those disciples gathered there in Jerusalem into the body of Christ, then filled them with the Spirit. In the meantime, there was a sound like a great rushing wind which gathered these people and there were several hundred thousand pilgrims in Jerusalem at that time.

And as they came together to where all these disciples were speaking the wonderful works of God in the native languages of all these outsiders who had traveled to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost, they were astounded. So the Spirit of God had gotten the crowd there by advertising a sound like a wind. But then there was this sign, the miracle of speaking the wonderful works of God in another language, which prepared them for the sermon that was coming.

So God directed their attention to what Peter was going to say. But the Spirit of God had gathered the crowd, had opened their minds by the sign and the fact that they were speaking in different languages the wonderful works of God that every Jew knew. This made it hard for them to deny that this was of God. Because there are only two supernatural sources for the Jew, God and Satan. And Satan surely would not be proclaiming the wonderful works of God.

So Peter stands up and explains to them what is going on. There are four parts to this sermon: the introduction, the theme, the appeal, and the results. The introduction is explaining Pentecost. Peter uses the illustration that the Holy Spirit has provided for him. The second is the theme exalting Jesus. The third is the appeal exhorting the people, and fourth is the results examining the effect.

So Peter begins to preach with a beautiful illustration, explaining to them that in Joel what they are seeing is the beginning of the fulfillment of Messianic times. Joel said that in the last days God would pour out the Holy Spirit. They are beginning to see a preview of what will come in the kingdom. Now we know that these last days have already lasted for over 2,000 years. So Peter is saying that you are seeing the beginning of the end. Their Messiah had arrived. Their anointed king had arrived.

And Peter moves immediately in verse 22 to introduce the Messiah as Jesus of Nazareth. Now that is very startling, because they have just executed Jesus of Nazareth as a blasphemer. They had actually killed the one they had been waiting for, for a long time. And this is what Peter convicts them of. This great sin. And now he wants to prove to them that Jesus is the Messiah.

First, by describing the life of Christ and say that because He did miracles, wonders, and signs, He was being accredited by God as the Messiah. In verse 23, he describes the death of Christ and says the death of Christ was no accident. Jesus was no victim, but this was ordained by God fulfilling explicit prophecy. Then he takes the resurrection of Christ, in verses 24-32 and says, Jesus Christ is the Messiah because of His resurrection.

And Peter shows how the Old Testament prophet David, even says He was a prophet right here in this passage. Verse 30, that David predicted Messiah would be a resurrected individual. And Jesus had done that fulfilling of David's prophecy so He must be the Messiah by life, death, resurrection.

Then he goes on to show that He is Messiah by virtue of ascension in verses 33 to 35. Jesus was exalted to the right hand of the Father, they stood there, were eyewitnesses and saw Him go to heaven. The conclusion then of his theme is in verse 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.”

By now Peter has really indicted them as executioners of their own Messiah. And he goes right to the core of the problem. You see the most blatant sin that a man commits is not lying or cheating or committing adultery. The blatant sin for every sinner is the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ. And that is the cardinal sin that the Spirit convicts. John 16:8-9 says, "And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me.”

Now look at his appeal beginning in verse 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?” Now whenever you go into any kind of sale, you are taught to “close” at the right moment, the purpose is get them to sign on the dotted line, right? Just sign here and you are in indebted from that moment on.

What shall we do? That is a great question. That shows that they are desperate. That is where the Holy Spirit wants to convict every man. Now notice it says they were pierced in their heart, it means as if to penetrate with a sharp knife. It carries the idea of suddenly jamming a dagger into somebody’s heart.

What affected them so much? Number one, the sorrow that the Messiah had been put to death. Here they have been waiting for the Messiah for centuries and finally when He gets there, they put Him to death by the hands of the Romans. They were convicted because they saw the Messiah themselves and yet they executed Him. But secondly, because they had a deep sense of guilt that they themselves had actually done it.

And then thirdly, Peter announced to them that there were multiplied witnesses to prove that this same Jesus who had been crucified was now alive. And so they were afraid of His wrath. Because Peter said in verse 35 that God was going to make Jesus’ enemies His footstool. There will be judgment on the enemies of the Messiah. So they realized the fearful action of God toward His enemies. What they did was the worst possible sin in all of the universe.

Fourthly, they were also grieved to the heart because they could do nothing to change what they did. They had nothing to turn to. Well, that is just the kind of hopelessness that Jesus Christ can meet. And as long as man thinks he can do it on his own, he can never experience real salvation. It is all by grace, Paul said. Until man is desperate and has nowhere to turn, then at that point God intervenes with saving grace.

The apostle Paul also came to that point on the road to Damascus in Acts 9:6, Paul was “breathing out threats and murder” verse 1 says. On the way the Lord stopped him. And a voice out of heaven in verse 5 says, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting." You know that Paul was instantly blinded and for three days he did not eat or drink. He was scared as well as convicted. But God changed him totally and after Ananias laid hands on him so that he could see, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

But perhaps even more impressive is the illustration of the Philippian jailer. In Acts 16, Paul and Silas, were shackled and put in the inner prison for healing a slave girl. And as they were singing and praising God, suddenly there was a great earthquake such that all the prison doors opened and everyone's bands came loose. The keeper of the prison, knowing he would have to pay for the escape of prisoners with his own life, woke up and seeing the prison doors open, drew out his sword and was about to kill himself.

But Paul in verse 28 cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” You see God allowed fear to bring that man to a trembling state. He brought fear into the heart of Paul. He brought fear into the heart of these Jews over what they had done in rebelling against their own Messiah.

And they came to that point where they had a deep sense of guilt where they feared the justice of God and the retribution of His Messiah. A desire to be saved from that brought them to the place where they said to Peter what do we do. And it is just that state in which the soul is prepared to receive the Savior. If conversion is real it is the offspring of conviction.

Conviction is the key in the hand of the Holy Spirit that opens the heart to salvation. And the tool of conviction is the Word of God which is illustrated in Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

In Zechariah 13:1 it says, "On that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin.” In other words, once conviction comes, it is followed by cleansing. And Peter replies in verse 38: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Notice, he hasn't said anything positive until that final statement in verse 38.

His message is based on the fact that they have no right to exist as a rebel against God. What does repent mean? It means a 180 degree turn. It is the absolute opposite. Jesus Christ is not an addendum to your activity. He is not a little divine salt on your diet of human activity. It is total commitment. Repentance is more than fear of consequences. True repentance dreads sin itself. True repentance hates sin because of what it is; it is an affront to God.

You see, salvation is not a question of education. Salvation is not a process; it is an act that happens in a moment. So Peter calls on them to make a change that is dramatic. Then he adds this, “repent and be baptized.” Is baptism critical? Absolutely, yes it is very critical. Peter does not tolerate a secret disciple. If you really believe, don't only change just your attitude, you have to openly change who you associate with.

Now notice verse 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.” He made that clear because in Judaism there were all kinds of washings. Wow, this meant that their families and all the rest of their world would count them as dead. Because the most despicable thing a Jew could do would be to follow Jesus Christ who was a blasphemer they had executed.

But Peter says, I want you to be baptized because that is a symbol of your union with Christ. Well, it says repent and be baptized. Do you have to be baptized to be saved? The Word of God does not teach that. Water does not save anybody. It only shows you’re your commitment is total which is really the meaning of salvation. It is a public sign of what has gone on inside your heart. And the Spirit of God doesn't come as a result of water baptism, but of repentance.

Every believer receives the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation; 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, we are all baptized by the Spirit into the same body. That is salvation. And it is important that baptism should follow salvation immediately as an act of obedience. Some people have been Christians for a long time and never followed baptism and thus not publicly declared their union with Jesus Christ. They are not obedient.

Notice verse 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.” So this is a promise not only for Israel but for Gentiles. Verse 40, “And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation.” Yield yourself to the salvation provided freely in Jesus of Nazareth, your Savior.

Well, how many believed? If there were several hundred thousand people there, look in verse 41, “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” Compared to the thousands of people, that is really not very much. But do you know what, they baptized all three thousand. That means those three thousand people were really saved. Verse 42, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

You see, it is not who comes to the front that the angels rejoices at, but it is those who are still there when it is all over. If your evangelism is right, you will save a lot of tears for the church. Don't be involved in bringing tares into the church. And the first day that little church began, that church had well over three thousand people in it and they were together for real and they were about to change the world. Let's pray.