Friday, July 28, 2017
This text is the end of Peter’s Pentecost Sermon. Jesus has been crucified, buried, resurrected
on the third day, and ascended to the Father in Heaven. Peter has just told the crowd that Jesus,
Messiah, had come to love us and we crucified him:
Peter’s words
pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles,
“Brothers, what should we do?” Peter
replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit. Acts 2:37-38(NLT)
Why
repentance and baptism? How does that
speak to the unspeakable misery of humankind around the world? The group listening to Peter got the point,
even if we in the 21st century have largely missed it. Repentance and baptism is how you get right
with God.
About three
thousand folks responded to the promise of Joel (2:28) by calling on
the Lord, repenting of their sin; they were saved, and then baptized.
How would
you describe the events of September 11, 2001?
Was it Satanic or evil attack, Jihad, Islamic holy war, or just plain schizophrenic
madness of a cult? Any of those can be
debated; what cannot be debated is that God speaks to us in that misery and
carnage; He calls out to us to call upon His name to be saved.
God calls to us saying, See, I have
better things in mind for you. God calls to us saying, Men may lie in
wait to destroy, I will love you. God calls to us saying, Without My
forgiveness you will hate just as much as the ones who attacked you.
Leslie
Williamson lives in Nevada. Her 7 year
old son was baptized in Lake Tahoe . She watched with tears as he came up out of
the water.
Do you feel any different she asked.
Yeah, Mom, I do, he
replied. Now I have water up my nose![ii]
Repenting
and calling upon the name of the Lord, and then following Him in believer’s baptism
isn’t about whether you feel different, better, wiser, or even saved. It is all about obedience to God whether you feel
like it or not – whether you question God or not.
For You Today
Obedience
brings joy.
And when
you make up your mind to obey God, you will find He has a wonderful plan for
encouraging you along the way.
NOTES
[i]
Title Image: By U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication
Specialist Scott B. Boyle [Public domain], via Wikimedia
Commons
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