Hear These Words, Turn and be Saved!

Acts 2:22-47

22 "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. 25 For David says concerning Him:

I foresaw the LORD always before my face,
For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.

26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad;
Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.

27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

28 You have made known to me the ways of life;
You will make me full of joy in Your presence.'

29 "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.

34 "For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:
'The LORD said to my Lord,
"Sit at My right hand,
35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."'

36 "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."  37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

A Vital Church Grows

40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.

46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

Peter continued speaking after quoting the prophecy of Joel that had been realized at that first day of Pentecost after Jesus died nd rose from death to life.  He told the listeners to hear these words of the life and death of Jesus as the Messiah who would rise from the grave after being handed over to die as a sacrifice for sin by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God who set all these things in motion and wrote of it long before it happened to demonstrate it was all His work from beginning to the end.  The people unwittingly handed Him over to be killed on a tree of the curse of the Law to save themselves in doing this lawless thing to an innocent man because He claimed equality with God (John 5:18, Philippians 2:6-8).  But God raised the Son of Man, Jesus, back to life because He was the divine Son of God as well who could never be held by the corruption of death.  Peter quoted more scripture from Psalm 16:8-11 that predicted the Christ was sitting at the right hand of power with His Father and would defeat all enemies of God and man, including death itself (1 Corinthians 15:25, 2 Timothy 1:9-10) as it had transpired before their own eyes as indisputable truth of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:6).   The apostle then spoke plainly that they had crucified was indeed the Christ and the divine Lord God who ruled over them all.  This truth convicted them in their hearts as sharply as the nails that pierced the hands and side (Psalm 22:16, Zechariah 12:10, 13:6) as He took on the curse of sin for them to conquer the penalty of sin which is eternal spiritual death.  These who were cut in their hearts in knowing what they had done asked the apostles what they should do in light of hearing all these things.  They were told to respond to the gospel to receive Christ (John 1:12) by true repentance of turning away from the desire and acts of sin to trust in and receive Him as that Son and Lord God to save them from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10) by taking away their sin’s penalty and that they would in place of their old man receive new life by God Holy Spirit taking up residence in them to enable them to do what God commands (Jeremiah 31:33, Ezekiel 36:27, Isaiah 59:21, Hebrews 10:16-17).  These turned from sin to Him and were filled forever with His Spirit which moved them to be saved from the present evil age of perverse hearts of the fallen.  They responded with love in action for one another (1 John 3:11, 23, 4:7, 12-13) by the enabling of that same Spirit.  They continued in their worship and service to each other with great gladness and a powerful loving testimony to God’s redeeming grace to all around them.  This led to many more doing the same and being added to the church by God’s working and their testimonies.  May we likewise be salt and light by word and deed to be used by God to draw His called ones to Himself!  Our message is also, “Hear these words of the gospel, turn and be saved.”