Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayer for attention to the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2, and reading from our text, three verses, verses 37 through to 39. From verse 37, Now when they heard this, They were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Acts chapter 2 verses 37 through to 39. convicted sinners, God's word to them. It's good for us to identify and clearly see parts of scripture that is God's word to a specific person or specific character. And this word, is to convicted sinners. What they had just heard was Peter preaching to them concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who he truly was, that they had taken him, they'd crucified him, They made out that he was a deceiver. They had said, away with him, away with him, crucify him. When Pilate had washed his hands of the matter, they said, let his blood be on us and on our children. They took full responsibility for what they were doing. They made out they knew what they were doing.

And here, Peter, after the Holy Spirit had descended and given the wonderful sign of the miraculous speaking in tongues that could be understood by those native dwellers. You know, even if we were to learn another language, and certainly some of us A native one of that language would very quickly pick that we were not fluent in it. They would realize some things were pronounced wrong. But here were natives of all these other countries, and they saw those Galileans, they heard them, not just speaking, but speaking the wonderful works of God in their own tongue.

This is what of course is still being carried on throughout the world. It is necessary in our Lord's commission go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature that there be those that are called by grace, that do know personally the things of God and also are skilled in other languages and especially those that can understand the Hebrew and Greek and translate the Word of God into those languages or from those languages into the native tongues of the world. That is still going on. The Trinitarian Bible Society is still doing that work and many other societies as well. And we have friends like some of our Dutch friends who they know seven or more languages, they're able to write and speak in Hebrew. And the Lord has given to men those skills like he gave with Bezalel, the skills to be able to go off the pat and God gave to Moses to make the tabernacle. So he's given to men also those skills to be able to spread the word.

At Babel, the confusion of languages was the means of spreading people over the earth. At Pentecost, the confusion of languages by the gifts of knowing languages, that was to break down that barrier and the means of spreading the word was through persecution. And that is still the same way now. So those that were, that came together to hear these things, they not only heard the preaching of Peter, they'd heard these Galileans not just speak anything, but the wonderful works of God. And they had heard the words so clearly set forth that they were convicted, they were sure, they realized what great mistake they had made, that they had indeed crucified the Lord of life and glory. In one way, the word that is spoken here, they were pricked in their heart. You know, if we did have a prick in the heart, literally, that would be fatal. But it's hard for us to really realize what they must have felt.

To realize that they had the Messiah, the Christ, the one that had been promised from the foundation of the world. He'd been in their midst, they'd heard him, and they'd crucified him. They'd said the things that they'd said, they'd done the things that they had done. The feeling must have been Tremendous, overwhelming. It hardly describes it really. They were pricked in their heart. Real conviction of sin.

And really this is a prerequisite to the message of our text. To all that is spoken, it is to those that are convinced of sin. And I would use Even the illustration here to point out, this you might say is at the pinnacle of a sin or what one could be so pricked at as what they'd done. Not every conviction of sin is the same weight or same severity. David was convicted of his sin of murder and of adultery against thee, the only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. The Apostle Paul was convicted of sin of thou shalt not covet, and he was convicted also of the sin of hailing men and women to prison who called upon the name of the Lord, and that remained a lifelong sorrow to him. that he'd done that.

The jailer that had treated Paul and Silas so badly held their feet fast in the stocks and laid stripes upon them. When there was the earthquake, after he'd heard them singing and praising to God, he was convicted of his sin. What must I do to be saved? And there is a measure, but the measure that we need is that measure that will bring us in as a sinner needing a saviour. One of our hymns says, sinners can say none but they, our precious is the saviour. It is not what depths we go into of sin, it's not what heights of experience, but it's what is actually necessary to see that heavenly physician. What is necessary for one to leave off their own righteousness, one to see that they're guilty, one to feel that they need, one to deliver them and save them,

and really the The situation here, you could hardly think of one that wouldn't have any hope like this. With them viewing what they had done, how could there be hope for such a one? They are truly convicted of sin. And I do want to dwell a little on this, thinking on this, because the rest of the message all depends. Do we know our sin? Do we feel our sin? The Jews, they crucified the Lord, but he was crucified to bear all of the sins of the people of God. The prophecy is, they shall look upon him whom they have pierced. and they shall mourn for Him. They shall be in bitterness for Him. He's saying in that beautiful hymn where it speaks of pardoning them and punish me.

And it is when we see the sighs, the cries, the pains, the wounds, that which the Lord went through, think this is for my sins. if we were to see it in a very direct way. If we had something that we were to endure, maybe to be lashed or striped or punished, and another said that they who were innocent would take it instead of us, and we actually stood by and saw them in pain, taking the punishment, It was due to us. That is how it must be in realising what our sins have done to the Lord Jesus Christ. These here, they realise their actions have resulted in the pains, the death and the crucifixion of Christ. The Jews in the Old Testament, when they had sinned and then they brought a lamb, and that lamb then had to be slain and offered for their sin, they had to lay their hand upon the head of that lamb. They identified with it that it was their sin that was the cause of that innocent lamb being slain.

Abraham and Isaac, Isaac would have seen the ram put upon the altar and that slain in his place. he would have realized that Ram was dying, not for anything in itself, but to take his place. And it is this conviction of sin, the reality of sin, sin is the transgression of the law of God, sin entered into the world, and death by sin. Sin is against God, and we must remember that.

I often think of Psalm 51 with David. Against thee, the only, have I sinned. And I think, well David, the action that you did, you violated Bathsheba, you killed her husband, you caused, as God says, a great reproach in Israel. Is it only against God? What about Uriah, and what about our Sheba, and he's right about this. But David is identifying sin, not what has hurt others, he had hurt others. But sin is not the transgression against man, it is against God. And that is what needs to be atoned for. That is what we need to be convicted of, that it was against the Lord. and that it is His law that is broken, and that it is that that needs to be atoned for.

So this message is for sinners. Sinners that feel sorrow for their sin. Sinners that may feel that there's no hope for them because of their sin. Sinners that are pricked in their hearts that His touch not just their minds, but actually their hearts. Those times when it comes in unexpectedly. You're going about your work and you're not even consciously thinking about something, and suddenly it comes in, what you've done, what you've said, and it hits you like a bolt and you think, and it makes you sink down as you remember what it is. Or maybe in the night, you wake up in the night and suddenly these things come to your remembrance, those things that you've done.

The psalmist says that he wanted the Lord to forget the sins of his youth. Remember, not against me, the sins of my youth. Those sins may have been forgotten for years like Joseph's brothers, but when they came, Joseph was dealing hardly with them. They became convicted of their sin and they were even remembering what Joseph had said and how he pleaded with them. They've got good memory 20 years back, that sin is like that. Sins you thought that had been buried and others had forgotten, you may have got away with things, but God brings it back to remembrance. And then it's a piercing sword.

So this is the word then for sinners, for convicted sinners, for those who are sorry for their sin. Those that feel the guilt of their sin, not in a prescribed measure, but for those that is real to them. So there's four things I want to look from this text that is the message to convicted sinners. It's God's word to you. The first one is a way forward, a way of hope. The second is a word of direction. This comes in two parts, in repentance and be baptised. The third is a word of promise. And the fourth is to whom the promise is made unto. All these things are in these verses, which is the message of God to a convicted sinner. The first then is a way forward, a way of hope. We read in verse 37, now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? They're in a situation. How can they ever get out of that? They can't undo it. Is there any hope for them? What can they do? From this point, from this point of conviction, this point of brought in guilty, what now? And what transgrides, what goes on from this point is not despair, it is hope. And that's what I want to convey under this point. For those under conviction of sin, there is hope. There's not despair. There is a way forward.

Now the apostle says, forgetting those things that are behind and pressing forward towards that which is before, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The apostle didn't forget his sins, he still humbled him. but it didn't stop him from going forward. Satan will always do that. He'll always say, because you've done this, there's no hope for you. Because you walk this path, there's no mercy for you. There is no way forward. And he'll do everything he can to stop up the way of a sinner from going forward in the things of God and looking to the Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the blessed, the most precious, Graces that God gives under the gospel is that of hope. Instead of hopelessness, there is hope. A hope raised up, a good hope through grace. And if the Lord has given you that, you might not have assurance yet. You might not know even what way to go yet. You might not have many answers to prayer. But if the Lord has raised up a hope, don't cast away that hope.

You think of the psalmist. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted? Within me hope thou in God. For I shall yet praise him for the help of my countenance and my God. Hope is like an anchor of the soul. It holds the soul. and stops it from going on the rocks or shipwreck, and it is that which is brought in the heart by the Holy Ghost. It's God's work to raise up a hope.

Outside in this world, there's so many young men, so many people that take their own lives, and they take them because they haven't got any hope. They're just empty. They don't see any purpose in life. They've nothing to live for. But the Gospel sets forth hope, hope to the violence, the worst of sinners, a way forward and not backward. And that is the first message to any convicted sinner. There is a way forward. There is a way of hope.

And it is the Lord himself, it is the work of God to convict of sin, to make that effectual, is not something that we're born with. And men don't like to be told the truth and won't receive the truth. But when it is received, when it is felt, it's to be identified as what it truly is, a blessing from heaven.

Well, secondly, there is a word of direction. They said, what shall we do? Then said Peter unto them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. The first message was repent, same message as John the Baptist, same message as our Lord Jesus Christ. It means to change, a change of direction. For them, the way that they'd had been going had been to call the Lord a blasphemer, an imposter. They had been fully complicit and willing in his crucifixion. But now there's to be a complete turn around, not just staying in a neutral ground, but they were to be ones that fully believed and fully realised and supported and walked in the ways of the Lord, the commands of the Lord.

It's like the Apostle Paul, Saul as he was, what a great turnaround that was, from persecuting the men and women that were calling upon the name of the Lord He turned and he was calling upon the name of the Lord. And he in turn then was persecuted for what he was doing. So he didn't just stay neutral, he turned from one side to the other side. A very definite change. A real change. That is what repentance is. And it is the spirit of repentance.

the willingness to hear the Word of God and bring our lives in accord with it. We have our Lord insisting, be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only. In other words, when you hear the Word, it's going to direct how you act and what you do. James is saying the same, faith without works is dead. You must be a doer of the Word.

The Lord says to those that believe, In John 8, he said to them, if you continue in my word, you shall be my disciples indeed. Or if you continue, change, turning away from your own ways and turning to my word. You shall know the truth. The truth shall make you free.

I think it's one of the children's books, once a young maid was asked for some evidence of repentance or a change in her life. And she just gave a simple illustration, and she says that, before I was converted, I only cleaned the areas that could be seen, but now I clean the other areas just as thoroughly. She was mindful that the Lord saw her, and she was working as unto the Lord, not just unto man. And it is that spirit of repentance.

And it will be different for each one, you might say, according to the sin. We think of John Baptist, as each came to him, he was saying to the publicans, don't exact any more than what is your due. He says to the Roman soldiers, do violence to no man and be content with your wages. And they're very practical things that they would turn about. You think of Zacchaeus, when the Lord said, I have come down, I must eat at thy house today. And he immediately was willing. He said, if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, no doubt he had, that he'd restore it full-fold. Immediately the desire was to change, to turn. And this is what Peter is saying to them.

In one way, the reality of the conviction is known by the repentance. I think of the Lord when there was the young lawyer, I think it was, came to him and asked what he might do to inherit eternal life. The Lord directed him to the commandments. He said, all these I've kept from my youth on. And the Lord said to him, well, go sell all that thou hast and come and follow me. And he went away very sorrowful because he had much riches.

The Lord says, how hardly shall they that have riches or that love riches inherit the kingdom of heaven. He couldn't turn away from the worldly love of the world and riches and things of it to the things of God. He had not got that high view of eternal life and the blessings that were in store in heaven. And so that change, a turning, the grace of God, the work of God, makes a real change in a person.

We think of how the apostle puts it when he writes to the Ephesians, and he says of them, such were some of you, you hath he quickened or made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. among whom also we all had our conversation in time past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ."

And he's speaking of a people that were like this, but now they've changed. Now they're not walking according to the course of the air. Now they're not following Satan. They're not following his spirit. Now they are obedient. They're walking in obedience. And so the repentance, it goes with the conviction of sin.

Then we have the direction to be baptized. That is to make an open profession. The Lord Jesus Christ was baptized, John Baptist was. The command to go forth into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned.

And again, it's a public profession of a change, of a direction, that in effect we would say we want all the world to know this is the direction that I'm going in. I'm not going in the way of the world, not going in the way of sin, I desire to go in the way that the Lord has set his people to go in, and in a public way. And this is the way that Peter answers those with this conviction. And he says it is for the remission of sins. It is in the name of Jesus Christ.

We do not believe that baptism itself is washing away sin, but it's symbolic of being united with Christ, buried with him by baptism into death and risen again in newness of life. It is symbolic of the washing of regeneration and is God's own choice. and Jesus's command for those that believe to go through it.

And as this was set before them, later on in verse 41, we read, then they that gladly received his word were baptized. In the same day, there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. And so the convicted sinners asked what they had to do, They're told what to do, and those that gladly receive the word, they did what was said to them.

And this is the word to convicted sinners. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. That is the word of direction, and I hope The Holy Spirit will lay that upon the hearts of each one that is convicted of sin. That he is the word of God, is the word of direction to such characters.

But then there's also a word of promise, our third point. And the promise is, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now it was already the Holy Ghost's work that had convicted them of sin. They were already regenerated, had already been given eternal life. The effect of the Spirit's work is already there. But this is something that is intended more, more given to them.

And again, going back to Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 1 this time, and verse 13, where we read this, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel or good news of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, he was sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. So they had believed, and that is the work of God, the work of the Spirit, but after that, he was sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest, or token, of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. under the praise of glory until God takes our souls home or till the last resurrection day. The token God gives with his people is, as Paul writes to the Romans, the spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. All those that have followed in the way of baptism, they have the answer of a good conscience toward God, that they have been obedient, they have walked in the way that he'd have them to go. Every believer does have the Holy Spirit dwelling with them, his graces, the comfort as the comforter is with them. He is their teacher, their instructor.

We are exhorted to grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, which is within you, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. We should be mindful of this. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. He comes and dwells in his people and walks with them. And we are not to make the temple or the Holy Spirit partaker with us in evil or wrongdoings. The Holy Spirit is a blessed, blessed inhabitant. of the people of God. And this is the promise that Peter brings as added to the directions to repent and be baptized. You shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. This is then a word of promise.

But who is that promise to? I want to look at this in our last point. In verse 39, we read, for the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. I want to just think of the last clause there first. The promise is to as many as the Lord our God shall call. This includes them, includes those others, and we'll look at them in a moment. But the emphasis is on this. However broad the description might be as to various types of people, every one of them are called by God. Those are with the Lord, they're called, they're chosen, they're faithful, And our election is known by our calling.

Effectual calling is one of the doctrines of the Calvinistic faith. Irresistible, effectual calling. He added in our first hymn, the sinner refusing to hear, walking their own ways, going their own ways at first, but then the word being Effectual, glory to God, they ne'er shall road beyond the limits of his love. Fence with Jehovah's showers and wheels, firm as the everlasting hills. The appointed time rolls on apace, not to propose but call by grace, to change the heart, renew the will, and turn the feet to Zion's hills. A beautiful summary of what a call is. It deals with the heart, the actual, not a pumping heart, but our very inward being, our very direction of what we want to do and what not to do. And the will be made willing. And then our feet, where we're gonna walk, how we're gonna, it affects our whole life. It affects our thinking and our feet, our life. And this is, Affect your calling, it's God's work.

As many as the Lord our God shall call. He instigates, my sheep shall hear my voice and they follow me. We have those beautiful instances of the call or the new birth or conversion or regeneration. It all, they all mean the same. Our Lord says in John 6, that none can come unto me except the Father which sent me. Draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. This is the work of God, that ye believe in him whom God has sent. He insists to Nicodemus in John 3, that except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And then in John 4, he gives four examples of the new birth He gives a woman at the well of Samaria who he deals at length with. Then she goes and tells the Samaritans, and there's some that believe on her word alone. And there's some that hear her word and go and hear him, and then they believe. And then there's the centurion who believes. Each one is different.

We have in the Church of Philippi the jailer. And we have then Lydia. and they're each different. The Lord is dealing with them differently, but they each have been called out of nature's darkness into his marvellous light, called to follow the Lord, called to hear his voice, to have a hearing ear.

That's one thing absolutely vital for a call, isn't it? That we have a hearing ear. Our Lord's parables, he that hath an ear, let him hear. How vital it is. Mine ear hath he opened. And when I hear his voice, then I follow, I obey, I do what he says.

So that is the overarching. Who the promise is to, is to as many as the Lord our God shall call. But he identifies three others. He says, the promise is unto you. How vital for that, for these. These ones that had crucified the Lord of life and glory. The promise is to them. How necessary that they should know that.

If we were in their place, if we were the convicted one, we were the guilty one, what a blessing to be told. The promise is for you. But then what about their children? Remember what they said when Pilate washed his hands? That his blood be not only on us, but on our children. What about them? And what a comfort this must have been to hear Peter saying the name of the Lord, not just to you, but unto your children.

What a weight must have been lifted off them. that what they had said, that that would not be so. There would be those that would be called, would be quickened, even though they had brought that curse upon them. And then we have, to all that are afar off.

No doubt pointing also to the Gentiles, but also to those that feel afar off. And often where the Lord does begin and where they feel their sinnership, they feel far off, far off from God. The prodigal son, when he is brought into concern, he was a far off. We're told that, we know that. Because it was when he was yet a great way off that his father saw him and had compassion upon him and ran and embraced him.

God sees those that feel afar off. He sees those that have wandered far away, and he sees when they're inclined to turn, and when they do turn, and when they come back, he receives them, he welcomes them, to all, not some, But all that are far off, the whole message of the gospel is to bring nigh, brought nigh by the blood of Christ.

Sin separates the gospel and Christ's blood brings nigh. It draws near. And those are precious times when the Lord, through the ministry, through his word, draws sinners to the word. They're attracted to it. Their ear is open to it, their heart burns like the two on the way to Emmaus. They're those that the Lord is effectually calling.

And this promise then encompasses the you and your children and all that are afar off. Right through these verses, there's specific characters in there. The convicted ones are pricked in their hearts. They're you, your children. Those are far off.

I hope it is so that you and I can find our name, our character in these verses and also be found walking in the ways that the Lord through Peter set these to walk in. Amen.