FEBRUARY 2, 2025 - "Repent" Acts 2:14-41

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You're listening to an audio recast of this past week's service.

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God bless.

If you have your Bibles, this morning we'll be in Acts, chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Last week in Acts we looked at how the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles in the upper room and how there was a sound of a mighty rushing wind and divided tongues of fire stood over them and they began to speak in different languages.

And it ended last week.

It was amazing.

In verse 12 and 13, it says this, and all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another what does this mean?

But others, mocking, said they were, they are filled with new wine, so so basically, here's what's going on.

People are walking by and they're seeing what's happening and they're astounded, they're confused, they're not real sure what's going on.

Some Some are saying, wow, what's happening?

This must be the spirit that Jesus promised to send to us coming on the apostles.

Others are saying, no, they are drunk, it's Cuda Brown, like they don't know what in the world is happening.

So they're just perplexed by this.

It reminds me even good times.

We get this way, though.

Perplexed by this.

It reminds me even good times.

We get this way, though, when we went to Costa Rica.

We've been several times as a church on a mission trip, and when you go to Costa Rica, they pray out loud or they pray when you're praying.

They'll ask somebody to lead.

But everybody prays out loud and while it's a beautiful thing, it's a beautiful picture, if you're not used to it, the first time it happens it's kind of like, oh, what in the world is going on?

They warned me the first time I went.

They warned me hey, listen, when people pray, everybody is going to pray out loud and I thought, ok, that'll be cool.

And then it actually happened.

And you're like, oh, what's going to pray out loud?

And I thought, okay, that'll be cool.

And then it actually happened.

And you're like, oh, what's going on?

So now, when we go, not only do I warn people, but we practice which, just so you're not shocked.

Well, well, when and while praying out loud is a beautiful thing, and and really when you get that group group of believers in Rica, when we go, and a lot of times we'll deliver food to homes and what we do is, after we deliver food, we pray for the home, and it's a beautiful picture and it's a beautiful thing, if you're not used to it you're shocked.

Well, that's what's happening here, with these people as they're walking by and while the spirit coming on the apostles is a great thing.

They're shocked, they're perplexed and they just don't know how to to move on from that.

And so, at this point, peter who becomes the spokesperson for the apostles for the next several chapters, kind of Peter stands up and he begins to speak or, as I like to say, he begins to preach.

He stands up and he begins to preach and explain what is going on and and so what.

What he is doing is Peter witnessed about Jesus, because that's what Jesus has called, called us to do, and he's called them to do.

Remember, you will be my witnesses.

And so Peter is standing up as a witness and he is witnessing about Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit, and what we're going to see is a whole lot of people came to Christ because of it.

And and for us, the challenge for the, for us, what we need to do today is is we need to hear Peter's message.

We need need to listen to the message that Peter has and pray that it will convict and challenge us so that we will respond to the movement of the Holy Spirit.

So the question that we want to answer today is this well, what did Peter preach, if it's a message that we need to respond to.

What did he preach?

So we're going to read today this sermon and then I'm going to preach about the sermon.

I know that sounds crazy, right, I get it.

But yeah, we're going to do that.

If you'll stand with me this morning as we give honor to the reading of God's word.

It's Acts, chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

We're going to start reading in verse 14.

Chapter 2.

We're going to start reading in verse 14.

Suppose, since it's only the third hour of the day.

But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel.

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, even on my male servants and female servants.

In those days, I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesyesy, and I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below.

Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.

The sun shall be turned to darkness, in the moon to blood.

Before the day of the Lord comes, this great and magnificent day, it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

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, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.

You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

God raised him up, losing the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

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.

Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced.

My flesh also shall dwell in hope, for you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let the Holy One see corruption.

You have made known to me the paths of life.

You will make me full of gladness with your presence.

Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with you to this day.

Being, therefore, a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on the throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

This Jesus, god raised up and of that we all are witnesses, 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.

And David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says the Lord said to my Lord, the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do?

And Peter said to them repent, 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, 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.

Let's pray together.

God, we thank you for today and we thank you for how you love us, and we thank you for all you've done for us.

God, we come today and ask you to lead us and guide us in all truth, in your truth, convict us, challenge us, exhort us, god, move among us, change our lives for all eternity.

Jesus, it's in your wonderful name that we pray.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So, again, the question is what did Peter preach?

And I know it's kind of crazy to think.

Well, peter preached.

Why are we preaching on a sermon?

And I know it's kind of crazy to think.

Well, peter preached.

Why are we preaching on a sermon?

But here's why Because there are some things that Peter said in his sermon that we may not fully grasp.

Okay, so first let's look at what Peter preached.

The first thing we see here, really the first major point, is Peter described how Scripture pointed to what was happening.

Scripture pointed to what was going on, that the spirit was going to come upon them.

Scripture tells about this and Peter talks about that.

But first, before he got to the scripture, he had to dispel a rumor.

What was the rumor?

That they're drunk, that they're full of new wine.

Peter says no, they're not drunk.

It's only as it says here in verse 15, for the people are not drunk.

As you suppose, it is only the third hour of the day, that's 9 am.

Ok, it's 9 am and customarily in the Jewish religion, 9 am was an hour of prayer.

So probably for most people what would happen is they would wait until after this hour of prayer even to eat.

So they haven't eaten, they haven't done anything.

Especially, remember what time it is.

It's the celebration of Pentecost, remember that's a huge Jewish celebration.

It's the celebration of Pentecost, remember that's a huge Jewish celebration.

So most of the festivities for Pentecost would happen at night and in the evening, so that morning they're not working.

It's also called the festival of weeks.

They don't work for that week and so they're staying up and celebrating at night, sleeping in in the morning.

They're not drunk, they're not drunk, they are filled with the spirit.

And then he goes into and he quotes here from the prophet Joel, joel, chapter 2, verses 28 through 32.

Joel 2:28–32

He quotes there and he quotes from the Septuagint and almost uses the exact same language.

So before we, to help us understand, let's see what Joel was talking about In the prophecy of Joel when he is.

When Joel is prophesying, here's what's happening in Israel.

So there is some debate about when the prophet Joel prophesied.

Most give it a pretty early date, before Israel had gone into captivity or anything like that.

And so, joel, what had happened is in Israel, locusts had come and they had ravaged the land.

They had eaten everything.

All the crops were destroyed, everything was done.

It was really bad.

And in Joel, chapter 2, where Peter is quoting from.

Joel 2 · chapter mention

He is talking about how God is going to come and God is going to restore what was taken.

But a big theme throughout the prophet of Joel is this the day of the Lord.

Joel, in his short book, he is going to talk much about the day of the Lord.

So when he says the day of the Lord, so when he says the day of Lord, what is he talking about?

What is he describing?

Well, there's several things.

I don't know if you realize this, but a prophecy can.

Some will call it a double prophecy, some will call it well, you could almost say a quadruple prophecy here, and so you can see the fulfillment of this prophecy several times.

But first when he is talking about in Joel, when he is talking about the day of the Lord here, he could be talking about when all the crops come back, the people repent and turn back to God and the crops are restored, their wealth is restored.

Here is fulfillment of the prophecy and that happens.

He could be talking about when he's talking about the day of the Lord.

He could be talking about when Jesus comes and pours out his spirit and, just as in the Old Testament, they are connected to God.

Through the Spirit he connects them to God.

He could even be talking about when Jesus comes again and we fully understand the kingdom.

See, there is a slight discrepancy in Peter what he says, as opposed to what Joel says In Joel 2.28,.

Joel says and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.

Well, in Peter he says this, and in the last days it shall be God declares that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.

So there's a slight difference in what they say.

And why would Peter do this?

Why would he say this?

I think there's several things going on here.

I think one is again, he is talking about the day of the Lord and for many of the Jews that are there in that audience, they think it's happened.

They think it happened back in Joel because they were restored.

But as Peter comes and he says in these last days he could be saying hey, no, look, here's again fulfillment of prophecy.

But not just that.

In these last days we talked about this a couple weeks ago.

We live in a different reality, almost of a present, not yet reality of the kingdom of God.

Here's what that means when Jesus came the first time he brought the kingdom of God, he inaugurated the kingdom of God.

We saw that All the signs and miracles that Jesus did demonstrate how he had brought the kingdom of God with him.

He demonstrated his power over sickness and death.

Even he demonstrated his power over nature.

He demonstrated how he was in control and in power over everything, and so he brought the kingdom of God with him.

So it is present, but we also understand that it is not yet, because we still deal with sin natures, we still deal with consequences of sin and destruction and death.

But when Jesus comes back he will fully institute the kingdom of God and we will fully live in the kingdom of God.

We have this present, but not yet.

And when he talks about these last days, we understand that.

But I want us to hear this and I want us to see in this another thing Peter believed.

Peter believed that it was the last days, that the return of Christ was imminent, that it was going to happen at any point.

And we need to understand that in these last days we live in that place that the return of Christ is imminent for us.

It could happen at any moment.

But see here's what happens to us.

I think I'm so afraid of church and not just church in the world.

Here's what happens Because Jesus has not come and it's been about 2,000 years because that has not happened, we get lulled into apathy and we lose a sense of urgency.

I remember one time sharing the gospel with a guy and he said Grant, I know I need to do that, but I want to do a little living first.

Listen, there is no sense of urgency, but we need to understand.

We are in these last days.

We don't know when the return of Christ will come, we don't know when it will be, and we must be ready in these last days.

And then the quote that he ends with in Joel from his quote from Joel says this in verse 21.

See, peter is preparing and he understands that salvation came through the Jews Because Jesus was Jewish and it was first offered to the Jewish people.

But he also understands, while it came through the Jews, it was always meant for the whole world.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

So as Peter comes and he preaches and he talks about these quotes and Joel, all these signs and wonders that have been fulfilled, that they see, although not all of them they're going to see here.

I mean, they don't see on the day of Pentecost, they don't see the moon turn to blood, they don't see the sun turn to darkness Again.

That's why I think he could also be talking about later, because guess where?

We do see that In the book of Revelation.

Listen, peter is saying we must be ready.

This is true, this is happening.

God foretold this happening.

They're not drunk.

The Spirit is being poured out and you need to listen, and church, hear me, we must listen, we need to understand this sense of urgency.

So then, peter, he moves on and from this first point he talks about how Scripture pointed to the Spirit coming.

This is his second point.

Here is how Scripture pointed to Jesus, who is the Messiah.

That Jesus is the Messiah.

Listen to what he said.

He says, 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, he's calling them.

Look back at Jesus's life.

Think of the signs and wonders that he performed, how he called people from the dead, how he calmed storms, how he healed the blind and the lame, how he healed lepers.

See all of the signs and wonders that Jesus did.

Even in the gospel of John, we see Jesus telling, telling people look, if you don't believe the words that I'm saying, just look at the signs.

They are all pointing to me being the Messiah.

And what Peter is doing is point doing the same thing he said.

Look at the signs and wonders that Jesus performed.

These are all pointing to him being the Messiah.

You saw these.

And not only did they see all of those signs.

Guess what sign they have seen now?

They have seen Jesus resurrected, conquering death and ascending to the right hand of the Father.

Look at these signs.

They are pointing to Jesus being the Messiah.

And then he goes on in verse 23 and he says this Jesus delivered up.

According to the listen to this definite plan and foreknowledge of God.

Hear me, hear me.

Jesus's crucifixion was not a surprise to God.

Jesus' crucifixion was not plan B.

Jesus' crucifixion was not God saying, well, they delivered him up, they're going to crucify him.

Let's see what I can do now.

That is not what happened with the crucifixion.

The crucifixion happened.

Jesus was delivered up by the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.

It was the plan from the beginning.

He talks about it from on and on.

Peter is even going to go on in 1 Peter, in that letter 1 Peter, chapter 1, in verse 13, he writes this Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.

But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in your conduct.

Since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.

And if you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the feudal days with inherited ways, and from the feudal ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, with, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb, without spot or blemish.

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in these last times.

For the sake of you who, through him, are believers in God, who raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God before the foundations of the world.

The call is for for us, is for for Israel at that point, for for them to be holy.

But when Peter is writing this letter, he's writing to the church and the call is for us to be holy, but we can't.

It is impossible for us to be holy.

So he is called and he says so.

So what must happen is Jesus is going to die and he's going to arise so that we can receive his holiness and that and that find salvation and relationship with God.

It is the, it is the God's sovereignty and the plan.

But not only that, though.

Don't take away our responsibility, because listen to what he says Right there, following that, in verse 23.

After he says the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.

Listen you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men While Jesus' death was the plan of God.

Do you know who bears the burden of lawless men While Jesus' death was the plan of God?

Do you know who bears the burden of guilt?

Not God.

Lawless men, and that includes us, that's right.

We are lawless people, sinners, who deserve death.

But Jesus, in his great love for us, came and died in our place.

He is the Messiah.

He goes on and quotes here from Psalm.

From Psalm chapter 16 verse.

Psalms 16 · chapter mention

Psalm chapter 16, verses 8 through 11.

Psalms 16:8–11

He says I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.

Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced.

My flesh also will dwell in hope, for you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let your holy one see corruption.

You have made known to me the paths of life.

You will make me full of gladness in your presence.

And then what Peter does is he quotes David and then he talks about David.

He explains it.

He says I may say with confidence that the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day.

Here's the thing with David.

Notice.

He's going to say you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will you let your Holy One see corruption.

Here's the problem.

David died, he was buried and his body is decaying.

At that point it's probably gone.

So David couldn't have been talking about himself, he had to be talking about someone else.

So he goes on and he says he in verse 31, that's David foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

This, jesus, god, raised up and of that we are witnesses.

See, there was not a lot of debate.

If Jesus resurrected, too many people saw it.

After the resurrection, there wasn't a lot of people going on.

Do you think Jesus resurrected?

Most believed it because he was seen by way too many people resurrected.

Most believed it because he was seen by way too many people.

The debate at this point was not did Jesus resurrect?

The debate was was he the Messiah?

Look at the signs, look at what has happened, look at how he is the fulfillment of prophecy.

Look at how his soul did not see corruption.

His body did not see corruption.

His soul was not abandoned to hell, but he was exalted to the right hand of the father.

Hebrews chapter 10, verse 12, tells us that he is not like any other high priest offering sacrifices daily for sins, but jesus, when he offered one sacrifice for all time, he sat down at the right hand of the throne of the father.

Hebrews 10:12

That's where Jesus is, because he is the messiah who died for us.

He goes on and quotes from psalm 110, verse 1, and he says the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

Psalms 110:1

Basically, david is saying this God said to my Lord, not me.

David's not saying God did not say to me sit at my right hand.

God said to my Lord Well, who David is?

The greatest king Israel has ever known?

There is only one that David would call my Lord, and that is the descendant of promise, that is, jesus Christ.

Jesus came, he lived, he died, he arose and he is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He is the Messiah, the Messiah.

So Peter has come and he has showed how scripture pointed to the Holy Spirit being poured out.

Just like he said, peter has pointed out how scripture has pointed that this Jesus, who was crucified and arose, is the Messiah.

Now listen to what happened to the people.

It says in verse 37,.

Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart.

They understood what had happened.

They understood what had happened.

They understood that they were the lawless men who crucified Jesus.

They understood that it was because of them that Jesus died and they were cut to the heart.

So they cried out to Peter and the other apostles and they say what do we do?

And Peter says repent, repent and be baptized.

He says 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.

So let's understand what Peter is telling them that they need to do.

First, he says repent.

We understand what that is as we went through the gospel of John.

We said it over and over right Repentance is more than just saying I'm sorry.

Repentance is a repudiation of the direction that we are traveling and turning and going the opposite direction.

Repentance is as MacArthur says repentance is to change one's purpose.

It is to change one's purpose and so before we repent, before we submit to God and his leadership, we are going in our own direction.

And when we repent, we change our purpose from going to our direction to going to God's direction.

And Paul says repent.

Then he says this be baptized.

We're going to come back to that, but that's kind of a clause right there in the middle of a phrase.

Here's what he says Repent for the forgiveness of sins.

Repent for the forgiveness of sins.

Here's what repentance gives to us.

When we repent and change our direction and turn our hearts and lives towards God, the forgiveness that Jesus offers us because he died on the cross for us becomes ours.

His righteousness becomes ours.

He said repent.

Let's go back and see that.

He says be baptized.

As we read this, it almost sounds like he puts baptism on the same level as repentance.

There's an issue with that, though, because Luke in Acts he doesn't do that anymore.

Never again in the book of Acts does he put baptism on the same level of repentance In the book of Acts.

From here on out, it's repent, repent, repent.

Baptism is never supposed to be.

Bring us on the same level.

As you look at this, he says Repent and be baptized Every one of you In the name of Jesus Christ that word and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, that word and be baptized every one of you.

It could be translated and most would say it means actually this Be baptized on the grounds of, on the basis of Repent, and be baptized on the have been forgiven of your sins.

Baptism is an act of obedience.

It is what we do because Jesus told us to do it.

There's so much symbolism in it, and there's symbolism in how we are washed, cleansed of our sins.

We are washed, cleansed.

There's symbolism in how we are buried with him in baptism and raised to walk in newness of life.

There's symbolism all in it and Jesus commands us to do it.

And one reason that we see here is because we need to make sure the world knows whose we are.

It is a public pronouncement that I am Jesus Christ, I belong to him and see that is going to have to happen in the early church, because they are going to face persecution after persecution, after persecution, and the world needs to know that they are Jesus, they belong to him, repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins and receive the holy spirit.

I've been telling you this.

The holy spirit came different, as he had, differently than he had ever come in the old testament, when he comes in Acts, chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Because he comes and he stays.

And hear me now, when we repent and receive forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit comes to us and he empowers us and he stays, he remains.

He remains because we are witnesses to Jesus Christ and what he has done for us.

And then he says in verse 41, those who received his word.

Here's what happened.

Here's the gospel message Peter presented, the gospel that Jesus, out of the foreknowledge of God, came, and at the hands of lawless men because of what they had done and because of their sin, including Pilate, including the high priest and including you and I.

He was crucified and he died and then he was resurrected and his death took for us our punishment that we deserve because we are lawless men.

Us our punishment that we deserve because we are lawless men.

He took our sin and he removed, moved them and he placed on.

Now he places on us, his holiness, when we repent.

He presented that gospel message to them.

They heard that gospel message and 3,000 of them believed.

I said I don't know where you are today.

Maybe this morning you need to hear that message.

You need to understand why Jesus died.

He died because God appointed him to die in our place.

He died because we are lawless men and he died because of our sins.

Maybe this morning you need to understand that he died because of our sins.

Maybe this morning you need to understand that he died because of your sins.

And if you have never trusted in him this morning, here's the call for you Repent, repent, receive the forgiveness of sins, be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit of sins.

Be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit If you never trusted in Christ today.

I pray that today will be the day of salvation for you If you have.

Here's the challenge for us.

Here's the challenge Bear witness.

He calls us to be witnesses.

We will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us and we will be his witnesses.

I've said it before.

Hear me say it again we aren't to become witnesses, we are witnesses.

The challenge for us is to stand, like Peter, and present the gospel message.

You say, grant, I could never speak.

How big was this crowd that Peter spoke to?

It must have been huge.

If 3,000, at least 3,000 came to Christ.

Fine, don't stand and preach to that, but listen, go like we're gonna see Philip do.

At least 3,000 came to Christ.

Fine, don't stand and preach to that, but listen, go like we're going to see Philip do in a few weeks and speak to the Ethiopian eunuch.

One Share with your co-worker, share with your family member.

The call is not necessarily to stand before crowds and preach Although for some of you it may be but the call is for us to be witnesses of Jesus Christ and tell of his mighty words.

Listen, maybe this morning you haven't been living in that truth and you need to repent.

I don't know where you are, but here's what's going to happen.

We're going to stand, we're going to sing a hymn of invitation and, if God is calling you to salvation, we are inviting you to come.

Let us pray with you.

We have counselors who will take you out and share with you how you can trust Christ.

If not, if you need to just repent because you have not been living in the power of the Holy Spirit, we encourage you to come.

We would love to pray with you, but there is steps here that you can make an altar.

You can come and pray over them.

If you're looking for a church home, we would love to have you come here and unite with us.

We're going to see even next week that our salvation is not to make us better individuals.

Our salvation is to unite us with the body of Christ.

If you don't have a place that can be your body, where you can be united with, we would love to have you here.

However, god is moving in your life.

As we sing this hymn of invitation, we invite you to come.

Let's pray.

God, thank you for how you love us.

Thank you for all you've done for us.

Jesus, thank you for dying, for rising, for ascending and pouring your spirit out on us.

I pray this morning for those who have never trusted you.

I pray that today will be the day of salvation.

I pray for those who have, but they are not living.

They're not living the life that you have called us to live.

I pray that today will be the day of repentance and confession.

God, I pray, as you are moving and you are working whatever decision needs to be made this morning that you will give us the faith that we need to make those decisions.

Jesus, it's in your wonderful name that we pray.

Amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.

If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at desotohillscom.