Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Acts chapter 2 and reading
for our text, verse 39. Verse 39, 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 and verse 39. This chapter is a very, very important
chapter for the Church of God. We would think of the first chapters
in the Holy Scriptures in Genesis, and how many truths are laid
up there in those first few chapters. that are foundation truths that
are built upon later on, right through the scriptures. The creation,
the formation of man, the giving of the law, the breaking of the
law, marriage, we have the Sabbath day, we have many, many foundation
truths in those chapters. And then we have the beginning
here of the Church of God, the first acts of the Apostles, the
first things that happened after the Holy Spirit was given, and
the giving of the Holy Spirit, which is here in this chapter. And so it is a real vital chapter. We have the promised Spirit first
coming. I will pray the Father, He shall
give you another comforter which shall abide with you forever,
even the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, which the world cannot
receive. They were bidden to tarry at
Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high." And
this chapter records that power, and it fulfills that which Peter
identified from Joel as well, foretelling the time that is
recorded here. It must have been a wonderful
thing for those men, and sometimes we would think of them almost
as more than men, but they're just like you and I, and for
them to realise that in their lifetime, and that their eyes
had seen, had seen the Lord of life and glory, their eyes had
seen the effect of the Holy Spirit given, they had seen the fulfilment
of promises and the scriptures of thousands of years before.
And the Lord had so ordered it that it was in their day and
their generation, they were actually seeing it and witnessing it and
being part of it. You know, when they were born,
when they were growing up as young men, they would not have
realized what was yet laid up in store for them in their lives. And we know, of course, there
will be a generation They shall see the Lord's coming
again. They shall see the end of the
world. They shall realize that as the disciples' lot was to
see and know what they knew, their lot was to see the coming
of the Lord again. And so we have then in this chapter
the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. We have Peter standing up and
preaching and speaking to them. So clearly charging upon the
people of Jerusalem here, the death of our Lord Jesus Christ,
while at the same time ascribing it to the counsel and foreknowledge
of God. Verse 23, Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have
taken and by wicked hands crucified and slain. Now a very verse. What an interpretation that is,
of not just that event at Calvary, but of all that happens in the
world. Men are accountable, they are
responsible, they are charged here with their wicked hands
doing it, but it's done by the determinate counsel and full
knowledge of God. No kingdoms arise, no men arise, All that's happening in the world
today is all under the Lord's control and purpose. It doesn't
excuse the wickedness of wicked men, but it does show the Lord
is in control. And so a very important chapter,
an important part there, and then testifying of our Lord's
raising up and His ascension and pointing again to the scriptures
that had foretold of this. Also it's a very clear pattern
for the Church of God. Those that are converted under
the preaching of the Word, they're brought to be charged and brought
in guilty as that their sins were that which crucified the
Lord. they shall look upon him whom
they have pierced. Every one of God's children for
whom Christ died will have in a greater or less a measure a
realization that it was their sins that pierced him and that
it was because of their sins that he died. And we have that
picture here. Those that were pricked in the
heart, those that were slain by the law, brought in as sinners,
and then They are encouraged in the Lord
Jesus Christ and they are pointed to the promises. They are pointed
as they are pricked in their hearts. They are pointed to repentance,
to turn away from their hatred of Christ, their rejection of
Christ, to embracing Christ, to believing in Him and trusting
in Him for the remission of sins. And there's given the promise
of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then we have the exhortations
to these same people, those that were convicted, those who were
brought to believe, and a description of those that were baptized. Verse 41, then they that gladly
received his word were baptized. The same day were added unto
them about 3,000 souls. And we have the picture of the
order, the entrance into the Church of God. And what did they
do when they were baptised? They continued steadfastly in
the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread, the
Lord's Supper, and in prayers. It was those things that followed.
They weren't temporary believers. It wasn't a temporary impression. It was a lasting impression. Fear came upon every soul, what
an effect it had, even on those that viewed these things. How
it loosened their hold of the things of this world, so that
they sold their possessions, and those that had to give to
those that had not. And then there's that continuing,
not just every now and again, but continuing daily. there's
the picture of the church, the last verse, and the Lord added
to the church, day these such as should be saved. In other
words, we're saying this is how there's additions to the church
of God in this chapter, in the pattern, the things that transpired
in this chapter. Just in one chapter, there's
many things that later on, there's further and more developed, but
it's quite concise. description of how the Lord adds
to his church, his visible church, and how that he calls his people
and how that he brings them together. Then we have with the word of
our text what Peter adds to those that he has exhorted to repentance
and baptism, remission of sins, those who were pricked in their
hearts, 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. So on to look with the Lord's
help this evening. Firstly, the promise. For the promise is unto you. But then secondly, to whom the
promise is unto, It is unto you, and to your children, and to
all them, all that are afar off. And then we have, lastly, how
the receipt of the promise is known. And it is by calling. Even as many as the Lord our
God shall call. But firstly, there is the promise. It's spoken here of the promise. But throughout the word of God,
there is many, many promises. And we're told that all the promises
of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. That they will come to us through
him. And in the epistles of John,
in 1 John chapter 2 verse 25, we read a clear statement, and
this is the promise, that He hath promised us even eternal
life. And we have set before us that
that life is in His Son. We have this morning. In John
10, I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of mine hand. We go back
to those first chapters in Genesis, when there is given the first
promise of the seed of the woman that should bruise the serpent's
head. That singleness of promise in
Christ is also repeated to Abraham to Abraham were the promises
made. And it's put as promises because
there were many promises. The promise of the sun, promise
of the promised land, promise of Christ himself. But the promise
was unto you and your seed, not as seeds, which is many, but
seed, which is one. Paul says to the Galatians, which
is Christ. So again it was pointing to Christ. And we would say without Christ,
without the coming of the Lord, without His sufferings, without
His death, there would be no giving of promises, there would
be not receiving anything at all. It is the Lord that said
He would pray the Father and give you another comforter and
He shall abide with you forever. And in the previous verse, the
exhortation to repent and be baptized, every one of you, in
the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, is added to
with the promise, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost. You might say they'd already
been partakers of the Holy Ghost, in that they'd been pricked in
their heart. been there, the disciples, they had spoken in
tongues, but there's also the work of the Spirit in the sealing
of the people of God. So Paul takes it up in his epistle
to the Ephesians, and he says to them in this first chapter,
in verse 12 and 13, in whom ye also, that we should
be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ,
in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed,
ye were 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 his glory. We are the purchased
possession of Christ. The time of redemption is at
death when the Lord will come and take his people at the end
of the world, when he will gather his people together, those who
are mispurchased, those who he wills to be with him in heaven. The blessing of the Spirit is
evidence, Paul refers to it with the Thessalonians, that the word
came unto them, not in word only, but in demonstration of the Spirit
and of power. And it was this that the apostles
had to wait for at Jerusalem, for the Spirit. And the office
of the Holy Spirit, our Lord said, He shall not speak of himself,
for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. It
is through the Spirit that is the author of the new birth. In John 3, our Lord insists she
must be born again and then tells us that it is the Spirit that
is quickening and He comes so gently like the wind, you can't
tell from whence it cometh or whether it goeth. So is every
one that is born of the Spirit. And it is the Spirit that quickeneth
the flesh, profit of nothing. And so the promise that is spoken
of is all centred in Christ, but in Christ there is many other
promises. He has promised grace, my grace,
shall be sufficient for thee." There is saving grace, by grace
you're saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God. But then there's grace to live
and grace to go through trials. He giveth more grace. He giveth
grace for grace. He gives the spirit of grace
and supplications And then that sinner prays, and the Lord then
gives the answers to that prayer, and blessing upon blessing that
he gives his people. And so again with the spirit,
is the spirit that is the author of the new birth, but then later
in the lives of his people, the spirit is active. Walk in the
spirit, says the apostle, and you shall not fulfill the lusts
of the flesh. His life and peace to be calmly
minded is death. As the body without the spirit
is dead, so faith without works is dead also. And in a spiritual
way, we must have the Holy Spirit to come and He indwells in the
people of God. Know ye not that your bodies
are the temple of the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in you? And so
this promise is in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the giving of the
Holy Spirit, in the quickening of the new birth. It's also of
the promise of a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness, and Peter speaks of those exceeding great and
precious promises, those promises of eternal life, the promises
to be with the Lord Jesus Christ the promise of every blessing
through our Lord Jesus Christ. And so this is what is said before
them here, 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. So unto, not then. Secondly,
and the persons to whom the promise is unto. There's three categories. The
first is unto you, these that had been first hand in the crucifixion
and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now the Apostle Paul, he says
that he obtained mercy to be as a pattern to them afterwards
that should believe. He refers to himself as the chiefest
of sinners. Well, here we have an example
of those who have been first-hand in crucifying our Lord, and there's
the assurance that the promise is even unto them. And what an
encouragement this is to those who maybe feel that they've sinned
against all light and goodness, that they cannot possibly be
saved. The Lord cannot possibly save
them. And our attention is drawn to
this people that had had miracle upon miracle done before them
by our Lord. He taught them, He told them,
they rejected His words, they blasphemed, they crucified Him
as a malefactor and numbered Him with the thieves. And here
they were then, convicted of that. And the apostle says, there
is hope. There is a turning, even for
you. Now sometimes the devil will
say, when we're convicted of our sin, well, there's no hope
for you. It's too late to turn. It's too
late to change. It's too late to desire to stop
now, because you're already damned. You're already sentenced to death. But the Apostle doesn't say that
to these. In fact, our Lord upon the cross,
he said, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. The great token and evidence
here is that conviction and pricked in the heart. And so Peter says,
you, those that had been first-handed this, Those that were pricked
in their heart, the promise is unto you. The expectation is
unto you. If you were to come to them then
and say, have you really been called? Have you really been
converted? Are you a real believer? Are
you really saved? But the apostle recognises it,
and he recognises it in their conviction, in their owning of
it, in their desiring, asking, what shall we do? And so this
is the way that he directs them, and it's with the expectation
that they walk in that way, there is yet the blessing that is to
follow, and we may say, As in this way the Lord does call his
people. He calls them and brings them
to repentance and to Godly sorrow for sin. So the first is to them,
to you. May that be a word to each of
us here and those that are listening tonight. The promise is unto
you. If this is your character described,
If this is your inquiry, what shall we do? If this is your
heart pricking, for sinning against the Lord Jesus Christ. Dear David
says in Psalm 51, Against thee the only have I sinned, and done
this evil in thy sight. But then it's to their children
as well. Why do they mention that? Because
if we were to go back, if we were to go back to Matthew, and
we hear the solemn words that they said in Matthew 27, verse
25, then answered, because Pilate had said, he said he took water
and he washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent
to the blood of this just person, see ye to it, But then the Jews
answered, then answered all the people and said, His blood be
on us and on our children. What a solemn thing. And when
they're pricked in their heart, when they hear these words, they
must no doubt have thought, what have we said? What have we put? be upon them. And so Peter says,
the promise is unto you and to your children, those that you
brought this curse upon. I wonder how many parents that
maybe have departed from the ways of the Lord, and then brought
up their children as heathens, and then brought to be convicted
themselves. and then realised what they've
put their children in that path of evil. I know, reading in the
life of John Newton, and when he was called by grace and changed
from that blasphemer and slave freighter, that he remembered
all those that he brought in that path of ruin and led along
in the path of destruction. That's all I've thought. But here is a promise even to
them. There's a great encouragement
for parents, a great encouragement for the people of God and their
offspring. But then is added a third, and
that is to all that are afar off. Again, when Paul writes
to the Ephesians, he speaks to them, they were Gentiles. They
were those that were far off and he says to them in chapter
2 that at that time they were without Christ, being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But
now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath
made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of petition
between us. Those that are far off, maybe
tonight, there's how you feel. Is that how you feel? Far off,
separated, banished, sins separated, In your thoughts, in your feelings,
you thought perhaps months, years ago, you were seeking the Lord,
you seem to never get any closer, but further and further away,
and further and further from any hope and expectation of blessing. But we read here that that promise
is, not to some, but all that are far off, and I can't help
That feeling that especially this is to those that feel are
far off. Those that feel so separate. Do you think of how Ruth, how
she felt, even though she loved Naomi, brought into the land
of Israel, brought next to Boaz and in his field. She says, why
does thou take knowledge of me? seeing I am a stranger, though
I be not like one of thine own handmaidens. And this is a language
of one that doesn't feel like the people of God, feels a misfit,
feels not to really be like them at all. How do they feel? With Christ, there is hope for
those far-off sinners. I think it's a lovely thing,
recorded in Luke 15, with the prodigal son. Now he was brought
to be convicted of his sin, to be in want, to long to be back
with his father. And as he began to go back, as
he resolved to go back, we read, while he was yet a great way
off, his father saw him, had compassion on him, and ran to
him. It's a beautiful encouragement.
You might think we're so far off and such a long way back,
but that picture is just as soon as there is a beginning, the
Lord comes for his dear people, He is wrought in them that desire
to return. Thou only hast wrought all our
works in us. Want to look then, thirdly, how
receipt of the promise is known. At the end of our text we read,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call. That is what determines as many
children as many of those here, as many as those are far off, that determines who shall be
saved. It's as many as the Lord our
God shall call. And in one sense, what we've
already said about the conviction under the preaching They're desiring
what shall we do. They're being pointed to repentance
and baptism and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. These are the marks of calling. They're marks of God's work,
not man's work. And at the end of our text, it's
clearly The Lord who calls, as many as the Lord our God shall
call. In John 10, the Lord says, my
sheep, they hear my voice, and they follow me. He calls them. Those of you who've perhaps seen
a shepherd calling his sheep, or like I saw my father calling
his cattle, how to sight they were. didn't respond to my voice,
I couldn't bring them. As soon as he called, then they
responded, then they came. We need to keep close to the
scriptural definition of calling. Mine ear hast thou opened, And
that which they hear is the word of the Lord. I have given them
thy word, and the world hath hated them. The mark of the Spirit
as well. In John 16, the disciples puzzled
how it was that he should reveal himself unto them, but not unto
the world. And he said it was because The
world could not see the Holy Spirit, but they did, because
He was to come and indwell in them. The secret of the Lord
is with them that fear Him, and when the Lord calls, He gives
the people to know that secret, and the fear of the Lord, which
is the beginning of wisdom, and to be open to hear the word of
the Lord, as many as the Lord our God shall call. This is one of the beautiful
shells of scripture. It should really encourage us
to pray, continue to pray for ourselves, for our children,
for those that are far off, because salvation is of the Lord. We
would remember it as when Jonah was praying even in the whale's
belly, The Lord heard him. Jonah was able to say salvation
is of the Lord. And the Lord delivered him from
the whale's belly. And so we have a beautiful word
here, promise. Promise of every blessing in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And how those blessings first
are conveyed to a sinner. To us we know, some of us know
what it is to be brought first to have a concern for us all.
First to realise that we are a sinner by real feeling and
conviction. It's not the amount, it's not
how much we know, but the reality. Remember the Apostle Paul only
speaks of being convicted concerning one sin. And it really is. If we are brought in guilty for
one sin, then we shall need as much the precious blood of Christ
and His redemption to save us from that one sin as if we were
convicted of every sin. And so, very often the Lord does
work in that way. I mean, you may have read some
accounts of the Lord's people The various things the Lord has
used. Sometimes it has been the Sabbath
breaking, and the Lord has used that to convict of sin. Other things it's been, other
individual things or some, there's been a general sense of the great
sinnership in everything we do, in thought, in word, in deed,
to feel that sin is mixed with it all. But the extent or the
depth It varies so much with the people of God. The important
thing is, does it lead us to Christ? Does it bring us to Christ? Does it take us away from ourselves
with the thought of redeeming ourselves or working our way
out of the need? That's a test of the reality
of any conviction, that Christ be the one thing there be a realization
I, without him, perish must. To whom can we go, says Peter,
thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are
sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. May this word be an encouragement
and a blessing to us here, for the promise is and to your children,
and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our
God shall call. Amen.