Acts 2:22-24 CSB – the preached, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
Acts 2:36-41 CSB – Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Believe in Jesus for Salvation
Acts 2:37 CSB – Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
“Evangelism” = eu (good) + angelos (message)
John 3:16 CSB – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Romans 3:10 CSB – None is righteous, no, not one;
Romans 3:23 CSB – …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
22 different words for sin in the NT, alone.
Hamartia = to miss the mark.
Martin Luther, “The Problem Fit for God”
Ephesians 2:8 CSB – For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 CSB – Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures
2 Peter 1:16 CSB – For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
“Only those who believe obey…and only those who obey believe. The soul of the believer knows that when we believe we will obey and when we obey we believe. If we believe but do not obey, the believer is laid open to the danger of cheap grace. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Acts 2:38 CSB – And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Repent to Follow Jesus as Leader
Repent = metanoia
Repent = a complete revolution in thinking
Acts 17:30 CSB – we’re told, The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
What Does Repentance Look Like?
there are many people who are somewhere in between. But the point is that there’s such a thing as being asleep, and there’s such a thing as being awake.
And it’s important to tell the difference,
and to be sure you’re awake by the time you have to be up and ready for action…
–N.T. Wright, British New Testament scholar
Genuine Repentance = Conviction
Psalm 51:3-4 CSB –
my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
Genuine Repentance = Contrition
Psalm 34:18 CSB – The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
Genuine Repentance = Change
Acts 2:38 CBS – Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Respond to Jesus in Baptism
Baptism meets our need for an expression of faith
Baptism meets our need to mark a new beginning
Romans 6:1-4 CSB – What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Galatians 3:27 CSB – For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Questions
- Is it possible to elevate baptism too much?
Mark 16:16, Jesus said, Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.
“I was baptized as before I understood. Do I HAVE to do it again?”
Acts 8:34-39 CSB – And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
