Thank you for that song, ladies.
That's one of my very favorites, and beautifully, beautifully
done, wasn't it? All right, if you would, open your Bibles back
to Acts chapter two, the passage Brother Wayne just read for us.
I've titled the message, What Shall We Do? In verse 37, now
when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart. It said
unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren,
What shall we do? We're in trouble. What shall
we do? Now, what is it that prompted
this question? Well, it's Peter's preaching,
the preaching of Christ and him crucified on the day of Pentecost. It wasn't the mighty rushing
wind. It wasn't the flames of fire. It wasn't just speaking
in tongues. It was Peter's preaching of Christ
and him crucified that prompted this question. You know, the
theme of Peter's message on that day of Pentecost, and every time
he preached, I'm sure, is this, that God is sovereign in salvation. That's so, isn't it? God's sovereign
in salvation. And this is also true, man is
responsible for his own sin. Peter preached Christ crucified
by the eternal will of the Father. The sacrifice of Christ is the
way that the Father determined from eternity that he would put
away the sin of the people that he chose to save. See that verse
22? Ye men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst
of you, as yourselves also know. Him being delivered, why? By
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. It was the will of the
Father that Christ die as a sacrifice for the sin of his people. That's
why Christ died. It was the father's will. But
Peter tells them you're guilty of murdering him. Read on there
verse 23. You have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. You put Jesus Christ to death
because that's what you wanted to do. You hated him so much
you wanted to murder him. You wanted to put him to death
in the most Painful humiliating way possible. That's what you
wanted to do. You did everything that you wanted
to do you murdered him But God raised him from the dead See
this was you did what you wanted to do But this was God's will
God raised him from the dead because the sin that had been
charged to him Was put away by the precious blood of his sacrifice
And we know that that was God's eternal purpose because David
prophesied of it in the Old Testament Verse 24 says, whom God hath
raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it is
not possible that he should be holding of it. For David speaketh
concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for
he is on the right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore
did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also
my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to seek
corruption, Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou
shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. And men and
brethren, let me speak freely unto you of the patriarch David.
He's not speaking of himself. He's both dead and buried, and
his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore, being a
prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him,
that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would
raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He, seeing this before,
spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not
left in hell, neither his flesh did seek corruption. This Jesus
hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore,
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed
forth this, which you now see and hear. For David's not ascended
into the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my
Lord, said thou, on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy
footstool. Therefore, let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus
whom you've crucified, both Lord and Christ." Now, Peter tells
them David prophesied that even though Christ would come and
he would die, his body would not decay. The body of our savior
did not decay as he lay in that tomb for three days because there
was no sin in his body. All of the sin of all of God's
elect had been taken into his body on the tree. And all of
that sin had been washed away by his precious blood. So his
body did not decay because sin was gone. And after three days,
the father raised him from the dead. He raised Christ from the
dead because Christ could not stay dead. Because the sin that
three days ago had demanded his death was gone. So now he must
be raised from the dead. God's justice demanded that Christ
die for sin, didn't it? That same justice demanded that
Christ rise from the dead because sin was gone because of his sacrifice. And when the father raised his
son from the dead, He ascended back on high, where right now
he sits on the throne of heaven, ruling over everyone and everything
in God's creation. He just waiting to his enemies
be made his footstool till he puts his boot in their throne.
And when time is no more, that one who you crucified is gonna
be the judge of all. He's gonna be the judge of all. Now remember who Peter's preaching
to on this day. These men gathered there this
day were men who had taken part in the crucifixion of the Lord
Jesus. Some of these men there that
day, they helped plot and scheme. They came up with lies and traps
and tricks to get the Lord Jesus convicted so that he'd be put
to death. Some of these men were in that
mob that came to take the Lord in the garden. Some of these
men were there hearing Peter preach this day. Some of these
men were the witnesses that were willing to lie so that they'd
see the Lord Jesus put to death. Some of these ones here that
Peter's preaching to were the very ones that just three days
ago were shouting, crucify him, destroy him, and give us Brabus. Some of these men may have been
the very ones driving the nails into his hands and his feet. These were undoubtedly the very
ones who stood by the cross and mocked the Lord as he suffered
in such agony. And Peter tells them, that man
that you treated that way is Lord in Christ. He's king over
all, and he's the savior of sinners. Not only is this one who you
murdered, not only is he your king, not only is he your judge,
he's your only hope of salvation. He's the Christ, and there is
no other Christ. He's the Savior, and there is
no other Savior. If this man who you murdered,
who you tortured, who you treated this way, if this man is not
willing to show mercy to you, he's gonna send you to hell.
Now, what do you think he'll do with you, huh? What do you
deserve that he would do with you? Now, these men were in serious
trouble. I'm sure earlier, before Peter
started preaching, they were pretty taken up with miracles,
don't you reckon? They were taken up with the mighty
rushing wind and the cloves of fire and the speaking in tongues. They were all pretty impressed
with that. And after Peter preached Christ and him crucified, they
forgot all about the miracles. And they started seeking mercy.
Men and brethren, what should we do? Is that Peter, is there
any hope for us? Preacher, is there any hope for
us? I want to apply this to us here
sitting here this morning, 2,000 years later. Do you know the
same charges that Peter leveled against those men can be rightly
leveled against us here this morning? Each one of us is guilty
of sinning against the Lord. Not only have we violated God's
law, we've broken the Ten Commandments and all the rest of God's law,
but you and I are guilty of rejecting and hating the Son of God, the
only Savior of sinners. You and I today are more guilty
than these men on the day of Pentecost because you and I have
sinned against greater life. You know, when those men crucified
Christ, the gospel of Christ and Him crucified wasn't preached
to them like it is to us today. I mean, it was preached to them
in type and picture and ceremony. But you and I have heard the
gospel of Christ and Him crucified, of the only Savior of sinners.
We have that message preached to us from the completed word
of God like those men never did have. So you and I are in a worse
fix than these men were on the day of Pentecost. Because we've
sinned against greater light. And we should cry with more urgency
than those men cried. Men and brethren, what shall
we do? I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. I see what I deserve. I'm on the very brink of hell
and God ought to shove me in. That's where God ought to cast
me in. I tell you, I love to preach to somebody who's in trouble. If the Lord ever gets somebody
in trouble, the Lord's giving me a message of hope for them.
The Lord's giving me a message of mercy and grace for them.
I hate preaching to somebody that's lukewarm, that does not
need the gospel. It's just hard to preach to somebody
that ain't listening to you. But if somebody's in trouble,
they're hanging on every word. And if you're in trouble this
morning, I've got good news for you. God's given me a gospel
of good news. What shall we do? And do you
know any time in scripture that a question like this is asked?
I read about that Philippian jailer to open the service because
he said, man, what should I do to be saved? Any time a question
like this is asked in scripture, what shall we do? The answer
is never. Well, there's nothing you can
do. You just got to wait and see if you're one of God's elect.
That is never the answer. Now it's true. There's nothing
we can do to save ourselves. That's true. There's nothing
we can do to put away some of our sin and make ourselves less
sinful. So God's more likely to save us. Nothing we can do
to get God to save us. That's true, but that does not
mean there's nothing you can do. And Peter gives us a plain
two part answer of what we can do. Are you in trouble? Peter gives us his two-part answer,
repent and be baptized. Verse 38, 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 you shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now let me give you a little
bit of detail here of what Peter means by these two things, repent
and be baptized. Number one, repent. Repentance. is more than sorrow. I am sorry
for my sin. I'm so embarrassed by my sin. I'm so embarrassed at looking
back on my past. I'm so embarrassed at looking
at myself today, the day we call the Lord's day, coming together
to worship. I'm so embarrassed. Oh, I'm so
sorry for my sin, I am. But that sorrow, won't help me
put away any of my sin. And I tell you what I've learned
over the course of almost 60 years, that sorrow won't make
me quit sinning either. It doesn't help me. I'm sorry
that I used to sit under the gospel of God's free and sovereign
grace, preached by the greatest preacher of our generation, and
I still trusted in the idol of myself and my works and my rags
of righteousness. I'm so sorry I did that, I'm
so sorry I wasted those years doing that, but that sorrow won't
save me. Repentance is more than being
sorry. Just like I said, I'm sorry for my sin, but I just
keep sinning. I can't quit. I can't quit it. Repentance means
to turn away from what I used to trust in. The word repent
that Peter uses here means to change one's mind. It means a
radical change. It doesn't mean change your mind
a little bit. It means a 180 degree turning, turning away
from everything that I used to think. Now, after God's given
me the gift of repentance, I believe in and I trust in the exact opposite
of everything I used to believe and everything I used to trust
in. I used to think that my religious works were good enough. to please
God. I really did. I mean, I'm not
just saying that. I really did. I really did think
that my religious knowledge of the truth of the gospel and the
scriptures, I really did think that was enough to save my sorry
soul. Now I know that all of my works and everything about
me is a filthy rag and I never want God to see me dressed in
the filthy rags of my works. Never. Oh, I long to be seen
I long to be clothed in his righteousness. Without me adding one thing to
it, I long for that. I used to think I wasn't that
bad. I mean, you know, I'm a good
Christian and never got caught into too much serious stuff anyway,
you know. Now I see myself as the chief
of sinners, as the chief of sinners. What can be worse than for years of your life here
in the gospel, here in Christ and crucified and refusing to
believe on him? Can't be anybody worse, can't
be. I used to think I was pretty self-sufficient. I mean, you
know, I don't really need Christ. I mean, a little help would be
nice, but I don't really need Christ. Now I see myself as totally dependent
on him. I'm totally dependent on Christ.
I can't do one blessed thing without it. And I wouldn't want
to. You know, one of my great, great, great fears is to get
up here. Stand behind the Bible and try
to preach Christ to you and God, leave me alone. Oh, I don't want
that. I can't do one thing without
him. And I tell you, I'm real glad to be totally dependent
on you. Real glad. I used to I used to believe in
God's grace, and here's what I mean by that. I need God's
grace to fill in what I couldn't do. Leave the part, you know,
there's some of this I can do and some I can't. If God's grace
would just finish the part that I can't do, you know, I'll be
in good shape. Now I know this. I need God's grace. I need salvation
to be by grace from beginning to ending. I need God to choose
me. I need God to redeem me. God's
only one who can. He's only one who has the price
sufficient to redeem my soul. I need God to give me life. I'm
dead and I need God to give me life. I need God to save me and
I need God to keep me saved. And I need God to be the one
to see me through this life. And glorify me. When this life
journey is done. If God does not do that for me
by his grace. I'll perish. I'll perish. I know that, and I tell you,
I am completely satisfied with depending on God's grace alone.
Because the only hope of redemption, the eternal life I have, is found
in God's grace. It's the only hope. The only
way I can be saved from my sins is if God does something for
me that I do not deserve. I've repented. I think the exact
opposite of everything I used to think And Peter tells us specifically
here about repentance. Change your mind specifically
about the Lord Jesus Christ. You men, Peter says, used to
think he was an imposter. He's saying he's the son of God.
He's not the son of God. Well, we're going to stone him
for saying he's the son of God. You and I are guilty of the same
thing. We've heard the gospel preached, and you know what?
We just think this is a fairy tale. It's like Aesop's fable,
you know, it's got a nice ending. It's a heartwarming story. It's
a fable tale, fairy tale. But now, after I've repented,
I've changed my mind about Jesus of Nazareth. I see him as the
miraculous savior of sinners. He's the God man. He's God, so
he can be holy and righteous. He's God, so he can pay the price
that my sin deserves. And he's a man, so he can be
my substitute. who can suffer and die for me.
He's a man so he could shed his blood to put away the sin of
a sorry wretch like me. I changed my mind, now I believe
that's who he is. We used to think of Jesus maybe
as a reformer, or as an example to be followed. You know, wear
that around your wrist. What would Jesus do? Well, what
does it matter, because you can't do it anyway. We used to think
with Nicodemus, he's just a good teacher. He got some good advice
for us on how to live. But now, after I've repented,
I see him as the savior to be believed, the savior to be trusted
in, and the king to be bowed to. You see, repentance doesn't
earn us salvation. Repentance is the result of salvation. Anytime somebody repents and
turns to Christ like that, I'll tell you why it is, it's because
God saved them. Nobody's saved because they repent. That would
be a work, wouldn't it? That's making a work out of repentance.
We repent because God saved us. You know why we change our mind
about Jesus Christ? Because God's revealed Christ
to us. Oh, once I see him, I change my mind about him. See, repentance
and faith always go hand in hand. They always come at exactly the
same time. I repent and trust Christ because
God gave me faith in Christ. They come hand in hand. I can't
make myself believe on Christ. I spent years trying, never could
do it, never could make myself believe on Christ. I can't make
myself turn to Christ for my idols either, but I sure can
ask God to give me the gift of faith. Lord, make me believe. I sure can ask God, give me the
gift of repentance and make me turn to Christ. You know, everybody
here knows faith is the gift of God, don't they? I'll quote
that verse or read it so often from Ephesians 2, by grace are
you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. What is it?
It's the gift of God. Do you know repentance is a gift
of God too? Look over a couple of pages of
Acts chapter 5. Acts 5 verse 31. Him. Hath God exalted with his right
hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance to Israel
and forgiveness of sins? It's a gift, it's what God gives
to his people. Look over a few more pages, Acts
11. Acts 11, verse eight. 18, excuse me, verse 18.
When they heard these things, they held their peace, and they
glorified God, saying, then hath God also to the Gentiles granted
repentance unto life. Repentance is a gift. It's something
that God gives. It's granted to us. It's a gift
in the heart, just like faith. It's the heart that turns to
Christ. It's the heart that believes Christ. Now, we all know that,
right? This is a matter of the heart.
Now I want to say this very carefully, but it's true and it's something
we need to hear. Repentance is a heart matter. It's in the heart. But repentance affects more than
the heart. Repentance goes further than
just faith in the heart. Repentance changes the believer's
walk. Just like it changes what we
trust in. We turn 180 degrees to trust in the opposite of what
we used to trust in. We used to trust in ourselves.
Now we trust in Christ. Can you think anything more opposite
to that? But repentance also changes the believers walk, so
our conduct is different than it used to be. It won't be perfect. Please understand I'm not trying
to put a burden on you. It won't be perfect, but it will be changed.
It will be. And we need to strive for that.
If God's granted me repentance. I've changed my way. I've changed
my way from my way to God's way. I changed my way from the way
of this world to the way of the kingdom of God. Look at verse
40 in our text. Isn't this what Peter tells them?
And with many other words, he did testify and exhort saying,
save yourselves from this untoward generation. Change your way. And you know, they did look at
verse 41. They that gladly received his
word were baptized. In the same day, there were added
unto them about 3,000 souls, and they continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine, in fellowship, and in breaking of
bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul,
for many wonders and signs were done by the apostles, and all
that believed were together. They weren't just separate, they
were together, and they had all things common. They sold their
possessions and goods and parted them to all men, as every man
had need, and they, continuing daily with one accord in the
temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their
meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having
favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church
daily, such as should be saved. These people that Peter was preaching
to, they repented, didn't they? and their lives were changed.
No longer did you find them in this self-righteous religion
that hated Christ and his righteousness. Now you found them together with
the people of God, praising God, praying, worshiping him, hearing
his word. And you know, that's exactly
what a person who has repented will do. Their walk will change. Look at Acts chapter 26. If there's repentance in the
heart, it will be seen in our walk. Acts 26 verse 19. Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I
was not disobedient under the heavenly vision, but showed first
unto them of Damascus and at Jerusalem, and throughout all
the coast of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should
repent and turn to God. That's what repentance is, it's
turning to God, isn't it? and do works meet for repentance. Now, what on earth is Paul talking
about there? What are works meet, fit, fitting
repentance? Well, they're acts of faith.
They're labors of love. It's putting what's in your heart
into action. Now, you can't look at the outward
actions of someone and determine if God saved them. You take a
snapshot of any of us at any given time, and people would
be 100% certain there's a reprobate. I say that a lot, a David, a
Peter, and a Frank. That's true. The only evidence
of salvation that there is is faith in the heart. But this
is also true. Faith that does not act is dead
faith and won't save anybody. It won't. If God the Holy Spirit
has put saving faith in my heart, it will be seen in my actions.
Let me show you that in James chapter two. James chapter two, verse 14. Now what doth it profit, my brethren?
Though a man say he hath faith, and hath not works? Can faith,
can that kind of faith save him? Faith that does not work, can
that kind of faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked
and destitute of daily food, and what of you saying to them,
oh, depart in peace and be ye warmed and filled? Notwithstanding,
you give them not those things which are needful to the body.
What doth it profit? What doth your love, what of
your compassion profit if you don't clothe them and feed them?
Even so, faith, If it hath not works, is dead being alone. Yea,
a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy
faith without your works. I'll show thee my faith by my
works. Thou believest that there is
one God? Thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble.
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? If a person says, Oh, I have
faith, and I'm all doctrinally straight, And I can quote you
all these things and show you all got all this doctrine, you
know, down cold. I have faith. But they don't
have any works of faith. Their faith is dead. Their faith
can't save anybody. And James gives us a good example
here, verse 21. Was not Abraham our father justified
by works? We had offered Isaac, his son,
upon the altar. seest thou how faith wrought
with his works, and by works was faith made perfect. And the
scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God,
and he was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called
the friend of God. You see then how that by works
a man is justified, and not by faith only. Now, you know good
and well James is not saying our works justifies us. What
he's saying is that by our works, our faith is justified, proved.
before men. Now we all know, we've read this
in scripture, we talk about him all the time, Abraham. Everybody
here knows Abraham believed God. He's the father of the faithful.
We know Abraham believed God. God promised Abraham, I'm gonna
send the Messiah through your son Isaac. How do I know for
sure Abraham believed God? I mean, I know scripture says
it, so that settles the matter, doesn't it? How would somebody
that maybe doesn't believe God, how would they know for sure
Abraham believed God was gonna keep his promise and send the
Messiah through Isaac? How do you know that for sure?
Because Abraham was willing to offer his son Isaac on the altar.
Abraham was willing to kill his son, draw and quarter his body,
and burn it to ash. Abraham was willing to do that.
You know why? Because Abraham believed God's promise could
not be stopped by Isaac's death. The writer to the Hebrews tells
us Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead.
God's gonna do whatever it takes to keep his promise. If Abraham
killed Isaac, God was gonna raise Isaac from the dead so that the
Messiah would still come through Isaac. When Abraham showed he
was willing to sacrifice his son, he showed true faith in
the heart, didn't he? Now, Lord willing, God's not gonna
call on any of us. Matter of fact, I know this is
so. God's not gonna call on any of us to sacrifice one of our
children. That's not gonna happen. So how can I show, by my actions,
faith in Christ? Let me give you three examples.
Look first at 1 Thessalonians 1. The church at Thessalonica is
a good example of this. 1 Thessalonians 1, verse four. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. I know that you've been elected
of God. Here's how I know that. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power, and the Holy Ghost, and
in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were among
you for your sakes." Now, how did Paul know that his gospel
came to them, not just in word, but in power, so that it reached
their hearts, and saved their souls, and gave them faith in
Christ? How did Paul know that? It's the works that came from
their faith. Look at verse six. You became followers of us, and
you became followers of the Lord, Having received the word in much
affliction, affliction didn't make you stop believing it, and
with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that you were examples to all
that believe in Macedonia and Achaia, for from you sounded
out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia,
but also in every place your faith to God were to spread abroad,
so that we need not to speak anything. Paul knew that God
had saved him, because they put their shoulders to this thing
of the gospel, to have it preached so that other people would hear
of Christ and believe him and know him same way they did. They
wanted others to know of Christ. They had a love and a care for
people. They wanted them to know Christ and they were gonna do
whatever it took to make that gospel go out so people would
hear it. Acts of love and of faith. Second illustration I
thought of is Zacchaeus. Boy, oh, Zacchaeus, he was a
mess, wasn't he? And Lord came there to Zacchaeus' house that
day. He called Zacchaeus down from that tree. And Lord told
everybody there that day that salvation had come to Zacchaeus'
house. Salvation had come to Zacchaeus.
And you know, Zacchaeus' actions proved that was true. Zacchaeus
had been a greedy man. I mean, he must have been more
greedy than most publicans. He was so greedy, Now he gave
half of his goods to the poor. Zacchaeus had been a dishonest
man. I mean, he cheated people and skimmed off the top before
he sent those taxes to Rome so he could be rich. He cheated
people and overcharged them and their taxes. And now he told
the Lord that he's gonna restore fourfold anything that he took
dishonestly. Now, I don't know about the math
of that, but it sounds to me like a man who's given half of
his goods to feed the poor and then restoring fourfold anything
he took by dishonesty means he's gonna be kind of penniless, I
believe. But repentance in the heart came through in his actions,
didn't it? I mean, what could make such
a greedy man so generous? It's Christ in the heart. And
then the third example, Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus was
the most self-righteous man in Israel. I mean, this man was
a Pharisee of the Pharisees. I mean, he looked down on the
other Pharisees. I mean, outwardly, this man was perfect. He was
so self-righteous. I mean, can you imagine how difficult
it was to be around that man? But after God unhorsed him and
put him in the dust, the apostle Paul, was one of the greatest
preachers of salvation by grace through faith without man's works
who ever lived. Saul of Tarsus hated the gospel,
he hated Christ, he hated those who believed Christ so much,
he wanted to imprison and then put to death anybody of that
way who believed in Christ. And the Apostle Paul, he was
willing to give his own life to preach the gospel to sinners.
It seems like Paul spent as much time in prison as out of it after
he trusted Christ. Repentance in the heart came
through in his actions, didn't it? In his love and care for
people. It wasn't that Paul wanted to
be known as this great preacher, that he did all these things
and did it better than other apostles. Paul was willing to
sacrifice everything he had, even his own life, because he
loved Christ. and he loved sinners. He wanted
to preach Christ to them, do anything it took to do it. Now
I know no one's repentance will be perfect. Our change of walk
will not be perfect any more than our faith is perfect. I
love what Brother Henry said so often, we've got to repent
of our repentance. But now you listen to me. Don't let the fact that you can't
do it perfectly, make you do nothing. You got that? Don't think, well,
gosh, Frank's making me feel so bad about myself because I
don't do enough. I don't do it right. I can't
do it perfectly. Don't let the fact that you can't
do enough make you do nothing. Do what you can. Do what you
can. Ask the Lord to give you the
grace to do more if you want, but do what you can. Remember
when Mary came and anointed the body of the Savior with that
precious ointment? And then Judas got to all the
disciples grumbling all that could have been sold for much
money. You know what the Lord told them? Leave her alone. She's done what she can. She's
done what she could. Do what you can and God bless
it. Do what you can. You know, you
can't expect to do this perfectly because the best state any of
us can ever hope to be in this life is a sinner who's saved
by grace, a sinner who's kept by grace. But if there are no
works of faith, I seriously doubt that there's faith in the heart.
If there's no fruit of the spirit, there's no love. There's no joy,
there's no peace. You know, somebody that's always
unloving and they never have any peace around them, I'm telling
you, I seriously doubt that the spirit dwells in them. But if there's love in the heart,
it's gonna reach out to people. If it's real, it will. If it's
real, it will. Janet hates when I use her as
an example, but now listen, I want to tell you. I don't care how
many times I tell her I love her. If I don't reach out and
love on her and acts of love and do things to show her that
I love her, if her birthday comes and I miss it and never buy her
a Christmas present, well, never give her a Mother's Day present.
She's not my mother after all. Just downgrade everything she's
doing. She's going, no, I don't love her. I don't care how much
I say it. love acts just like faith it acts and reaches out
to people all right that's repentance i won't be so long on the on
the second one is be baptized that's what peter says 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 ghost now what peter's talking about here is water baptism
and you know what water baptism says It lets us confess Christ
in a way that gives a picture to tell everybody they're watching,
I repent and this is what I believe. I believe Christ. Now Peter says
be baptized for the remission of sins. Don't anybody here ever
be baptized wanting to wash your sin away in the water? The water
that we put in our pool comes from the bathroom and it'll run
through a garden hose. It's not gonna wash away your
sin. Baptism has never washed a single sin away from anybody.
But baptism is a confession of how I received remission of my
sins. Baptism is a confession of how
my sin has been washed away. That's what Peter says when he
says, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. You be baptized
in confessing that the Lord Jesus Christ is my Savior. And here's
how he accomplished my salvation. It's by his death, his burial
under the water, his burial under the ground out of sight, and
his resurrection when he was lifted up out of the grave. Christ
died the death that I deserve. He died because he took my sins
into his own body on the tree. He died the death that my sin
deserves. And then Christ rose from the
dead because his bloody death washed away all my sins. My sin
is forgiven and there's no sin left can be charged to me because
the blood of Christ took it away. I am such a vile sinner that
the only way I could be saved is if the Son of God came in
human flesh and died in my place. It takes the very blood of God
to pay for my sin. That's how God saved me. Now
the Lord's commandment, anyone who has believed on him is you
be baptized and publicly confess Christ. And I want to tell you,
if God saved you, sooner or later, you're going to be baptized in
obedience to the command of our Savior. And you'll wish you had
done it a long time ago. What a joy to be able to confess
that Almighty God saved me. by the sacrifice, the death,
the burial, and the resurrection of my son. That's the most amazing
thing that ever will happen to me. Now just like works of faith,
I seriously doubt somebody's confession of faith if there
has not been obedience to confess Christ publicly in believer's
baptism. But you know, this confession,
this confession of Christ, you know that's not just a one-time
thing. It's not just you. You don't only have one chance
ever in your lifetime to confess Christ when you're baptized.
The believer confesses Christ. By our way of life. By our way
of following him by our way of loving our brethren and being
with them and being a help and encouragement to one another
by supporting the gospel, wanting the gospel to go forth so other
people will hear him. You know it's a way of life.
And that's what will do. If God saved us. If the preacher
saved you, you know, you'll come and go. But if God saved you,
you're going to follow Christ. Sure as shootin' you will. All
right. I hope that'll be a blessing to you. And let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for this blessed time that you've given us to be together and to
look into your word and hear one more time the glorious story
of Christ and him crucified. the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished
by his death upon Calvary's cursed tree. Father, how we thank you. How we thank you for your mercy
and your grace. You've been so merciful. Paul,
you've been so merciful to the people of this congregation.
You've called so many to Christ. You've given so many the gift
of faith and repentance. Father, we thank you. And Father,
I pray you continue to do so, that you continue to Bless your
people by the preaching of Christ crucified, that you continue
to encourage our hearts and feed our hearts and instruct our hearts,
that you would continue to call out your people through the preaching
of Christ. Apply it to their hearts, we
pray. Father, it's in Christ's name, for his sake and his glory,
we pray, amen. All right, now after Jonathan
leads us into closing in, if some of you men would put up
our three tables and the vestibules so we got to place for snacks
on Tuesday night after the New Year's Eve service, I'd appreciate
it.