Acts chapter 2, let's begin reading
at verse 36. We ended last week with this
message. The message last week was verse
36, "...therefore let all the house of Israel know, Assuredly,
most assuredly, that God has made that same Savior, Jesus,
the one whom you put on a cross, the one whom you with wicked
hands have murdered, the Son of God, the Prince of Light,
you've crucified, and he is both Lord and Christ. That was Peter's charge against
them. Verse 37, when they heard this,
they were cut to the heart. They were brokenhearted and said
unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what
shall we do? Then Peter, verse 38, said unto
them, repent and Confess Christ, that's what baptism
is. Every one of you have heard the
gospel, repent, change your mind about God, about sin, about yourself,
and confess Him, every one of you, and do so in the name that's
above every name, the name that God hath highly exalted, the
Lord Jesus Christ, before the remission of sins. Now, be baptized,
confessing the way of salvation through our sin being remitted
by the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, because of
the remission of our sin. Now, let's be clear. Water baptism
does not put away sin. And this verse is not teaching
that water baptism puts away sin. Peter is telling these people
to confess the Lord Jesus Christ, upon being granted the gift of
God's repentance that he gives to his people, that he grants
to his people, and do so because the Lord Jesus Christ has taken
care of the sin question. Sin is put away by the blood
atonement of Christ, and he said, you shall receive this gift. Notice it doesn't say gifts.
It's singular. What is the gift of the Holy
Ghost? I'm going to ask you that question.
You think about it. What is the gift of the Holy
Ghost? So the title of the message taken
from verse 38, repent and be baptized. Repent and be baptized. It was the same message the Lord
Jesus preached when he began his ministry in Galilee. We read it a moment ago. The
time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. Repent and believe the gospel. Now, what a miracle of grace
that any sinner would repent. and confessed the Lord Jesus
Christ in believers' baptism. That is a miracle of grace. The
same Lord Jesus Christ is continuing to add to his church and to build
his church exactly the same way and the same promise he gave
unto Peter. In Matthew 16, he said, Peter,
upon this rock, what is that? Peter, your confession, Jesus
is the Christ. I'll build my church and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Look down at verse
47 in Acts 2. praising God, having favor with
all the people, and the Lord added daily to the church, such
as should be saved." Now, the rock of salvation is the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is the gospel of Christ that
the power of God unto salvation. Isaiah writes about it, "...therefore
thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for foundation
of stone, A tridestone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation,
he that believeth shall not make haste." Peter, in his epistle,
if you want to turn there with me, you can. If not, just sit
and I'll read it to you. Peter, in his epistle, 1 Peter
chapter 2, he says, Verse 6, "...wherefore also it's contained
in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect and precious. He that believes on him shall
not be confounded unto you therefore which believe he is precious."
So Peter confessed that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. He
tells these people here in Acts chapter 2 that Jesus is the Christ
to repent and believe the gospel, and then he writes about it in
his epistle also. Peter did exactly what the Lord
commanded the apostles to do, go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Turn to Acts 17. Acts 17. God commands all men everywhere
to repent, believe, and confess Christ in baptism. Acts 17, verse
30. The times of this ignorance God
winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent,
Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men that he raised him from
the dead. repent and believe the gospel. Now, we looked at the sermon
that Peter preached last week from Acts chapter 2 verse 22
down to verse 36, and I tried to repeat what Peter had said,
how the Lord Jesus Christ had fulfilled all the scripture in
accomplishing our salvation. For he came to do, he said, the
will of him that sent me. Now we see the pattern and method
of the grace of God calling out sinners from darkness to light,
from death to salvation, from ignorance to saving faith and
saving knowledge in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he does so
through the preaching and ministry of the Word. Our wise God and
Savior has not changed his pattern, Or his method, or his means,
how he saved sinners through the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Turn over here to Acts chapter
4, we're going to see this confession of Peter again. In Acts chapter
4, verse 11, this is the stone which was set at Nod of you builders,
that's the same rock, the same foundation, which has become
the head of the corner. He is Lord, neither is there
salvation in any other, for there was no other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. We know from the record
of Holy Scripture That salvation is all of the Lord. It's God who saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
God's own purpose and grace, given us in Christ before the
foundation of the world. Now, when God grants saving faith,
two things we know happen when he grants saving faith. We are
convinced in our heart that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of
God, number one, and we confess by God-given faith that Jesus
Christ is all and in all. He's everything that we need.
In Him dwells all the fullness of a Godhead bodily, and in Christ
we stand complete. Now, verse 37. When they heard
the message, how Jesus Christ is Lord, how he died for the
sin of his elect according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God, how they had taken and by wicked hands have murdered
the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 37, when they heard this,
They actually heard the message and they were pricked or cut
in their heart with the sword of the Word, which is the power
of God and the salvation, and said unto Peter and the rest
of the men, the apostles, men and brethren, what are we going
to do? What can we do? These sinners
were blessed to hear the gospel. They were blessed to hear the
gospel. Notice verse 41, "...then they that gladly received the
word were baptized." These sinners were blessed to hear the gospel,
the word of their salvation, and they were convicted in their
heart of their sin against God. They were convinced that they
were sinners. They were pierced in the heart,
and we know that salvation is a heart work. That's where God
does business with sinners in your heart. God, who has begun
a good work in you, he will perfect it. He will produce it. He's neither unto them of a broken
heart. He saved us such as be of a contrite
spirit. Turn to Romans 10, and this is
a heart work. This is a heart work. When they
heard the Word, and they just didn't hear some sad story. They
just didn't hear some tradition. They heard the Word. They heard
the Word of the Lord. And when they heard the Word
of the Lord, God the Holy Spirit cut them to the heart. Romans
10 verse 6, the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on
this wise, say not in thy heart who shall ascend into heaven,
that is to bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend
into the deep, that is to bring up Christ again from the dead,
but what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the word of faith, which we
have preached, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, or Jesus to be Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith," and
this is going back to Isaiah 28, "...whosoever believeth on
him shall not be ashamed." They heard the gospel, and they were
convicted in their heart, and they said, they confessed their
guilt in saying, We're guilty. What can we do? We have murdered
the Son of God. What can I do to be saved? Turn to Acts 16. The Philippian
jailer, you remember his saying unto Paul when he was convicted
of his sin? When he was about to take his
life, Acts 16. Verse 28, "...but Paul cried
with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all
here. Then he called for light, and
sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and
Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do
to be saved?" Pretty good question. Notice the answer that Paul gives. It's the same that Peter gives.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe on him. And if you read
on down in Acts, in the book of Acts there, if you read on
down in Acts 16, And he took them the same hour
of the night and washed their stripes, and was baptized, he and all
his house straightway." They heard the gospel, they believed
the gospel, and they confessed Christ in believers' baptism. What shall I do to be saved? What shall you do to be saved?
Now, let me say this as clear and emphatically as it can be
stated and needs to be declared. Salvation is not accomplished
by something the sinner does. It's not. Salvation consists
totally by what God has done for his people through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Salvation is by his doing, his
will, his work, not ours. Now that needs to be stated,
being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. It's not by works of righteousness
we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. Salvation
is not a cooperative effort between me and the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is not Christ doing his part and me doing my part. Salvation
is all of Christ at no time. Is salvation dependent on the
sinner, or determined by the sinner, or salvation accomplished
by the sinner? It is always, that is, salvation
is always dependent, determined, and accomplished by the Lord
Jesus Christ. The God-man mediator, through
his substitutionary work, through his redeeming blood alone. This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation, that the Lord Jesus Christ came to save
sinners. Paul said, I'm the chief one.
Because of our sinful and depraved nature, we think that there is
something we must do that is in a way of accomplishing our
salvation or how that we can fix our own problem. We can't
fix the problem. There's nothing we can do to
accomplish salvation. We cannot work our way into heaven. Now, faith, that's the gift of
God, not of work that any man should boast. Faith, even though
that's given of God, and it serves God's means as to receive Christ
as all of our salvation. But let's do me carefully. Faith
is not our Savior. Faith does not put away sin.
Faith receives the Lord Jesus Christ who did put away sin. Repentance is the gift of God.
He was exalted to the right hand of God to give us repentance. But repentance is not our Savior. If you're trusting your repentance
for salvation, you're lost. You're lost. Repentance and faith
both acknowledge that salvation is of the Lord. Faith that's
the gift of God, the faith of God's elect, it acknowledges
the truth of God, that salvation is all of grace. Repentance also
fully acknowledges that salvation is of the Lord and of Him only. Now, where does faith come from? Not of yourselves, it's a gift
of God. Where does repentance come from?
It is the gift of God. Now, Peter, in verse 38, what's
he going to say? What's Peter going to say? The
question, what shall we do? What shall we do? Peter said
unto them, repent. and be baptized, every one of
you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You come in his
name, upon his authority, in his merit, in his righteousness,
come in his name because, that word for, because or concerning
the remission of sin by his blood atonement, and you shall receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit. What shall we do? Peter gives
the inspired answer from the throne of God. He says, don't
work, repent. Now the word repentance or repent
means to change your thoughts. and believe, trust him, repent,
and believe the gospel. It's the same thing the Lord
said in Mark chapter 1 that we read a moment ago. You cannot,
when you have repentance that's given, of God, through the Word
of God, and faith that comes by the Word of the Lord. When
you have faith and repentance, they both come at the same time.
You cannot believe without repenting, and you cannot repent without
believing. They're both given by God, and
they both come at the same time, and they both look alone to the
Lord Jesus Christ. A true repentant heart says,
Christ is everything in salvation. You see, faith doesn't look to
faith. Repentance doesn't look to repentance. Faith and repentance
look to the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the author and finisher
of our faith. Paul, when he went preaching,
preached repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. True repentance is not born of
worldly grief or sorrow. That which is born in the storm
dies in the calm. I don't believe in funeral sorrow
repentance. As soon as that-I've seen it
too many times-as soon as that grief goes away, and they, for
a while, they have some kind of sorrow, and it's oftentimes
mistaken for true repentance, but it's not. True repentance
is not born of worldly grief and sorrow. True repentance is
not even born, or given, or comes from the wrath of God. Did you
know that? In Revelation chapter 6, when
the wrath of God was revealed on those ungodly kings of the
earth, they didn't cry out for mercy. You know what they said?
Hide us from the wrath of the Lamb. And again, when we read
of this same thing found in Revelation chapter 16, turn over there,
Revelation 16. The same thing, verse 8, "...the
fourth angel poured out his vial upon the son, and power was given
unto him to scorch men with fire." That's the wrath of God, the
judgment of God. "...And men were scorched with
great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God, which had power
over these plagues, and they..." What? They repented not to give
him the glory. So, worldly sorrow does not produce
true repentance, nor does the wrath of God produce true repentance. What does? You interested? Turn to Romans 2 and I'll show
you. Romans chapter 2. Look at verse 4, "...despises
now the riches of his goodness." Romans 2, verse 4, "...forbearance
and longsuffering, knowing not that the goodness of God leads
you to repentance." What is it that leads a sinner to repentance?
His mercy, his grace, and his love. It's not the wrath of God. It's not the judgment of God.
It's His goodness that leads us to repentance. His love, His
grace, His mercy. So then, don't work, confess
the Lord Jesus Christ as all your salvation in believers'
baptism. Now, believers' baptism and water
baptism does not put away sin, but what baptism is a symbol
of That does. What is baptism a symbol of?
His death, burial, and resurrection. Neither faith, nor repentance,
nor baptism remove sin or make atonement for sin. His blood justifies us alone. Believers are to be baptized
because their sin has been remitted by the blood atonement of Christ.
He appeared once in the end of the age to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. This is what baptism is a picture
of. His death, His burial, and His
resurrection. We have a good hope through grace.
Water baptism and water, think about it, Water does not put
away sin. Water does not put away sin.
It can be the best, cleanest spring water from the Rocky Mountains. It will never put away sin. Nor
will the muddy waters of Jordan. You can go to Jordan and be baptized
in the Jordan River, in the same place where John baptized the
Lord Jesus Christ, and you will not put away one sin against
God. True repentance confesses that
Christ has put away our sin. True faith confesses that the
Lord Jesus Christ has put away our sin. And when we publicly
identify with the Lord Jesus Christ in believer's baptism,
that's what we're confessing, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there
are many people who have taken Acts 2.38, and they tried to
funnel all the scripture into this one verse. They try to make
all the Word of God fit in one verse, and they do that to satisfy
their own wicked theology. And they go so far with this.
They say that they're the only ones who have the authority and
power. It's just not that you're baptized,
you must be baptized by them. That's wicked. Now, I grew up
with that. That's the same thing the Mormons
believe, and many around here in these different places call
themselves churches. They preach the same thing. In
Ephesians chapter 1 it says, "...in whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace." 1 John 1, 7. If we walk in the
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sin.
And then Peter, when he writes his epistle, he said, we are
redeemed, not with corruptible things, but with the precious
blood of Christ. So if water was a real key issue,
why do they keep talking about justification through the blood
atonement of Christ, through what he has done? We are redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ. Now, go back to the text. Peter
said, repent. Where you have true repentance,
you have true faith. They come together. Repent and
believe the gospel, and then confess the Lord Jesus Christ
as all of your atonement for your sin. And then with this
promise, you shall receive the gift Now, I asked you earlier,
what is the gift of the Holy Spirit? The Lord Jesus Christ. That's the gift. He's the gift. You shall receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit. We had on the radio this week
and last week the same message due to my failure to send another
message to the radio station, but it's a good thing that this
message was repeated because it says the message, thanks being
to God for his unspeakable gift. Now I know the reason why I didn't
send another message. So it would remind me of this
unspeakable gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is that unspeakable
gift. You shall receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit. What is the gift of the Holy
Spirit? Christ. the revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ to your heart. Now, what is this gift? Salvation
in Christ. Every good gift and every perfect
gift comes from God, right? The wages of sin is death. The
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Faith
is the gift of God. Every good gift God gives He
gives us in Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the unspeakable
gift of God's love. God so loved this world that
he gave the best he could give. He gave himself. God so loved
the world that he gave his beloved Son. Here is love, not that we
love God, but He loved us, and He sent His Son to be the sacrifice
for our sin. So this gift of the Holy Spirit
here, it's not... The ability to speak in tongues.
It's not the ability to see dreams and vision. It's not these other
gifts that people say they have. Oh, we have the gifts of the
Holy Spirit. You know, we do this and we do that and we heal
the sick and the lame walk and all this. That's not what he's
talking about. When He, the Spirit of Truth,
has come, He'll take the things of mine and show them to you."
The Holy Spirit always shows us Christ. The Holy Spirit doesn't
preach about the Holy Spirit. He preaches Christ, Christ, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it's interesting that the
folks who want to camp on Acts 2.38 never read the next verse. For this promise is unto you,
and to your children, and to all that are far off. He hath
the kindred, the redeemed of every tribe, nation, tongue,
under heaven, even as many as the Lord our God shall, oh, call."
What about this call? Now, You remember over here in
Acts chapter 2 verse 21, And it shall come to pass that whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And Peter
picks up the rest of that verse from Joel chapter 2 verse 32 and verse 33 and brings it in
right here. As many as the Lord our God shall
call. Now let me quote that verse from
Joel chapter 2. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered.
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord
has said and in the remnant who the Lord shall call. What's this
remnant stuff? Who's he talking about? The remnant
in whom he shall call. Well, in Romans chapter 11, there
is a remnant. There's a remnant. Turn to Romans
11. Let's take time to look at this. Romans 11. Even so, verse
5. Romans 11, verse 5. Even so,
then, at this present time, there is a remnant according to the
election of grace. This is the grace of God. This
is the electing love and grace of God. And if by grace it's
no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be
of works, then it's no more grace, otherwise work is no more work.
You cannot have both. It's either all of grace or all
of work. As many as the Lord our God shall
call. Now, turn to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13, as many as the
Lord our God shall call. Now this call of God is not what
we call or say the old timers talked about a general call.
A general call when the gospel is preached. And then there's
that effectual, irresistible call. This call here that he's
talking about is that irresistible, effectual call of grace. Now
notice Acts 13, verse 44. The next Sabbath day came almost
a whole city to hear the Word of God. But when the Jews saw
the multitude, they were filled with envy, and spake against
those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed
bold and said it was necessary that the Word of God should first
have been spoken to you, but seeing you put it from you and
judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles." Verse 47, "'For so hath the Lord commanded us,
saying, I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles.'" Isaiah
49, "'That thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends of
the earth, And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and
glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed the gospel." Now, we see, we've got
to preach all the counsel of God, not just, just, just not
we're going to pick out one verse and build a whole denomination
and doctrine upon one verse. You see, all the Scripture, all
the counsel of God. Turn back to Acts 2. For the
promise is unto you and to your children. The promises of God
cannot fail. To your children, to all that
are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
The promise of salvation is certain and sure to all the seed of Abraham,
his elect, It is of faith that it might be by grace that the
promise might be sure to all the seed, Jew and Gentile. Saving faith is persuaded that
all God's promise, God is able to do. This call of God that's
mentioned here, the Lord our God shall call. This call of
God is a personal call. It's a powerful call. It is a
perpetual call. God doesn't call you once and
then quit. He keeps calling you all the
time. And it's effectual. That is,
thy people shall be willing in the day of His power. We read
in Mark chapter 1 when he ran in by the providence of God into
Peter and Andrew who were out fishing, and the Lord said, fold
them up, boys, follow me. And they followed the Lord Jesus
Christ. Same with James and John. When
he met Matthew at the receipt of customs and said, Matthew,
follow me. He closed his books, went out
of business, and followed the Lord Jesus Christ. When he told
Zacchaeus up that Sycamore tree, come down, make haste, today
I must abide at your house, he came down. And the Lord said,
I come to save you. I came to save sinners, came
to seek and to save the lost. When the Lord Jesus Christ walked
in front of the tomb of a man who'd been dead four days, His
name was Lazarus. He walked in front of the tomb
and said, Lazarus, you know, if you want to, if you will,
it'd be a good thing. It'd make Martha and Mary happy
once you just get out of that grave. He did. Martha and Mary even said, you
know, he's so dead he stinks. A graveyard dead. But the Lord
Jesus Christ, that was not a hindrance to his call. He said, Lazarus,
come forth. And he that was dead came forth. You see what I'm talking about?
This is the call of God. And that's what he does with
the gospel. He called and quickened dead sinners to life. You have to be quickened who
were dead. This call of God cannot be successfully
resisted. It is a call out of darkness
into God's marvelous light. Peter writes this in his epistle.
He said, you are a chosen generation, you're a royal priesthood, you're
a holy nation, You a purchased people that you should show forth
the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light." Now, who called you out of darkness? Who translated
you out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear
Son? Let's be honest. Salvations of the Lord. And with many other words, back
to the text, I'll wind this up. With many other words did he
testify and exhort, saying, save yourself, deliver yourself
from this untoward wicked generation. He closes here with a word of
warning. God gives us warnings lest we
presume and promises lest we despair. Separate yourself from
this perverted religious generation that's warped, crooked, and dishonest. This religious generation is
dishonest with men. They would make you think God
needs you. He doesn't need you. He doesn't
need me. They would make you think that
salvation depends on you, but on Him. Salvation is of the Lord. Come out from among them, this
perverted religious generation. Don't believe their lies, partake
of their foolishness, or agree with their methods of salvation
by what you do. Be done with that. Get out from
among those people, have nothing to do with their message and
their methods of salvation by works.