What Shall We Do? - Pastor Tom Loghry
After Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, the people who heard his message respond with the question “What shall we do?” Peter’s tells the people to repent and be baptized, a call that still applies to us today.
Transcript:
Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and forknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. Acts 2: 22- 24.
I introduced last week's sermon by reflecting on how signs prompt us to ask for meaning. We see the check engine light and we ask, what does this mean? Once we find out what's wrong with our vehicle, another question comes up. What shall we do? Will we repair the car ourselves, or pay someone else to fix it?
Will we repair the car at all, or just have it towed to the junkyard? Understanding meaning leads to action, to doing. We respond to what we now know. We see just this kind of development on the day of Pentecost. Peter is preaching to a crowd gathered in Jerusalem, a crowd that has been astounded by the miracle of tongues - the Galilean believers speaking in the native tongues of all the devout Jews and some Gentile converts visiting Jerusalem for this holy day. They ask, what does this mean? And last week we saw that Peter began his explanation by pointing directly to the work of the Holy Spirit. The believers have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, this is the work of his presence, as anticipated by the prophet Joel, recorded in Joel 2. From pointing out the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, Peter is now going to direct the crowd's attention to the person of Jesus. So we begin. In Acts 2, verse 22, now looking at verses 22 through 24 that have been read, we see that Peter makes reference to the ministry of Jesus Christ.
That he was accredited to the people by God by everything that he did, the miracles, the wonders, and the signs. All of this wasn't just party tricks. Rather, there were things that the Jewish people would have realized were signposts revealing that Jesus was the Messiah. And this is why there's a great deal of excitement around Jesus' ministry.
There's excitement among His disciples that He was this Messiah, the promised King that was to come, that was to restore Israel, and that he was going to bring with him the kingdom of God and establish it. Now, those hopes kind of got shattered for many of the people when Christ was crucified on the cross, because they didn't see how that figured into what the Messiah was going to bring.
And yet, we still had these signs that seemed to be all indicating that he was, in fact, this Messiah.
Now, Peter says that the fact that Jesus died on the cross was no accident, that it was in fact part of God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge. God knew all along that this was going to happen, and in fact it was working together what he wanted to accomplish in Jesus, which was more than just a mere political restoration, because the human problem runs deeper than just mere politics.
So everything that happened went according to God's plan, and yet we still have this dual reality in play that Peter testifies to. He says, yes, that this man, Jesus, was handed to you, over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge. But it says, and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
You see, there is no conflict between God's divine foreknowledge, his predestination, his plan, and human responsibility. Now, albeit it is a mystery, it is a paradox for us to wrap our minds around, that God has a particular plan. God planned that Judas was going to betray Jesus, and yet Judas did so willfully.
In accordance with his will, he did that. He did exactly what he wanted to do. And so Judas was responsible for his betrayal of Jesus and all of the people were responsible for Christ's crucifixion. Now we can imagine among the crowd, there may have been some people who were in fact there that very day when Christ was crucified, maybe they were among the crowd crying, crucify him, crucify him.
Others may not have, though. Remember, there's people that are gathered here, all together, from across the Mediterranean. This just goes to show that Peter's notion of responsibility here is not mere individual responsibility, but a collective responsibility on the part of the nation that they rejected their Messiah.
So the people rejected their Messiah, despite all these signs which were given. But Peter says in verse 24, But God resurrected Jesus. God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. Now it's interesting that it says God resurrected, God raised Jesus from the dead.
When we see that, we might suppose, okay, maybe there's a difference here between Jesus and God. If we're saying that God raised Jesus. So maybe Jesus isn't God. But in fact, we see the testimony elsewhere in the New Testament makes it clear that Jesus is in fact God. And when we're talking about God raising Jesus from the dead, we're talking about a triune work, a work of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Where all three persons are inseparably operating together in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Galatians 1: 1, Paul says that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead. In Romans 8: 11, it says that the Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. And then in John 10: 18, Jesus says, I have the authority to lay my life down and the authority to take it up again.
So we see that all three persons are involved in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. So when it says that God raised Jesus from the dead, we are in no way denying the full divinity of Jesus Christ. And in fact, I think we have some indication here of Jesus's divinity by the fact that death was not able to keep its hold on him as it is able to keep its hold on all the rest of us.
Now, Peter says that it's impossible for death to keep its hold on him. Why does he say that it was impossible? Well, we could point to that divine nature that I was just talking about, but Peter says it's impossible because of what the scriptures promised. Continuing on in verse 25. It says, David said about him, Jesus, I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. My body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead. You will not let your holy ones see decay. You have made known to me the path of life. You fill me with joy in your presence.
Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet, and knew that God had promised to him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, and that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses.
Peter points to the word of David in Psalm 16, eight through 11, in which it is, he says that it's foretold that this Messiah would not be given over to decay. Now, the reason why he says this is speaking of the Messiah is because. It cannot possibly fit the profile of David. Because, as he says, David's dead.
David was given over to the corruption of death. I mean, to just put it bluntly, the worms got to him. He turned to dust.
David was not speaking of himself. He was speaking of the son that was to ascend to the throne. And we see that Jesus fits the profile of what David prophesies here. Because Jesus was raised from the dead. Yes, he did die. But his body, quite literally, did not decay away. His body was still intact three days later, and he was raised from the dead. Now, thinking back earlier to what Peter has talked about with regard to the Holy Spirit and what is being witnessed among these believers and their speaking of tongues, we have to ask, what does Jesus have to do with this outpouring of the Holy Spirit? Continuing in verse 33, he says, Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.
For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this, God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah. You see, when we're talking about what Jesus did, we don't only say that Jesus was born a man.
We don't say he only died, we don't only say that he rose from the dead, we also say that he ascended into heaven. And Christ's ascension is probably one of the most overlooked components of the work of Christ. Because we're so excited that Christ laid down his life for our sins, and that he conquered death and his resurrection, but his ascension clinches everything. It's like, Christ's ascension to heaven is like Jesus running into the end zone. It's like, that's when you get the points. He's done all this, and now he enters into heaven, and he presents himself as this sacrificed Christ for our sakes, and he takes the throne at the right hand of the father.
So he ascends and he intercedes on our behalf and he ascends. And as a result, as Jesus has talked about, he told the disciples, go wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the father. He pours out that promised Holy Spirit.
And this is all related to his authority that is his.
Peter says in verse 33 that he has been exalted to the right hand of God. Now, again, we might ask, you know, is Jesus in some way inferior to the Father, then, if he must be exalted in this manner? The answer is no. He's not inferior to the Father. What we need to understand here is this, is that Christ has two natures.
He has his divine eternal nature, which has existed from eternity past. The Son has always existed. And he also has his human nature that he assumes in the incarnation. And so when we talk about Christ's exaltation, what we are seeing here is an extension of exaltation to his human nature. Christ is lifting up humanity into the glory of himself by taking on human flesh.
Now, if we, if we just wanted just an easy, like, you know, proof text to just point out, like, Jesus really is God. Don't get it twisted. A great verse to kind of highlight in your Bible is John 1, verses 1 through 4. Where the Apostle John says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word here is talking about the Son, it's talking about Jesus, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made. Without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. That's God stuff right there. And John is saying, that's Jesus. That applies all to Jesus. So Jesus, as far as he is the son of God, has always enjoyed that divine exaltation.
But now, that's been, humanity has been incorporated into his person, and that too now has been exalted and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Now, regarding this authority, Peter quotes another psalm here. He quotes Psalm 110: 1, and Saying that the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Now this psalm that he quotes, he quotes for the purpose of saying, well David did not ascend to heaven, but Christ has ascended.
And so this applies to Jesus. In fact, this is a passage of scripture that Jesus himself uses to demonstrate who he is. It's interesting to see Jesus quoting scripture. He does it quite frequently, but it's like Jesus shows his disciples, these are the scriptures you should point to when trying to explain to people who I am.
In Matthew 22, verses 42 through 45 Jesus says, what do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he? The son of David, they replied. He said to them, how is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him Lord? For he says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.
If then David calls him Lord, how can he be his son? Very interesting point that Jesus is, is making here. He's saying it would seem weird David to call one of his sons his Lord. We can think about in our own parent children relationship, grandparent grandchildren relationship, to call your child or grandchild Lord, it'd seem a little inappropriate.
Like why, you would think, you would, you would be possessing a little bit more honor in the scale of family relations here. But in the case of, you know, One that David is speaking of here, he does possess a higher authority. And the reason why he possesses a higher authority is because he is not a mere man.
He is, in fact, the Son of God, come in the flesh. And so he rightly refers to him as his Lord. I think also we see here a little glimpse of the Trinity in the Old Testament, a doctrine that doesn't come into full view and until we get into the New Testament. Because it says, the Lord said to my Lord, well, you're talking about two persons there at least.
So we're having all this anticipation that's pointing the way to Jesus. Now Peter's culminating point here is seen in verse 36 says, therefore, let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Messiah. Now, this certainly sounds like good news. Jesus is the Lord.
He is the Messiah, but we shouldn't miss the bad news. That certainly wasn't missed by the crowd. Yes. Jesus is the Lord. He is the Messiah, but they crucified him. They crucified the promised one. And even if many people in the crowd were not personal accomplices to his crucifixion, a collective guilt hung over the people, as a whole, for letting this happen.
It's kind of like, you just had one job. You were supposed to receive the Messiah, and accept him, and embrace him, and follow him. And instead of doing that, you crucified him. So this collective guilt hung over The people of Israel. And in fact, we could say that this collective guilt hangs over all humanity.
It seems, like in the garden of Eden, we have fallen again. Now, as we see here, the people don't make excuses like we so often do. You see, you cannot escape the truth. No, instead they believe Peter's testimony. And in verses 37 through 41, Luke records that when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, Brothers, what shall we do? Peter replied, 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. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off.
For all whom the Lord our God will call. With many other words he warned them; and and he pleaded with them, save yourselves from this corrupt generation. Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3000 were added to their number that day.
In light of their guilt, the guilt that they can see, and in light of who they see Jesus to be, the people ask, what shall we do? What shall we do? And Peter gives them a two part instruction. He says, repent. Repent. If you are truly cut to the heart, repent. Turn your back on your sinful ways. And turn to the Lord.
Now, if mere repentance was sufficient, well, Jesus would never have had to come. Because there's been calls for repentance all across Scripture in the Old Testament. We can repent all day, but we'll fall again, and again, and again. And this is why we needed Jesus Christ to come, in order to be our sacrifice.
To make amends for the wrong that we've done, and to offer His life to the Father, and introduce a new humanity in himself so that we could truly be redeemed and restored. But the question is, is how do we have access to that? So we repent, but what's next? Well, you have to believe in him. And when we're talking about believing in Jesus, we're not talking about just a rational assent to Jesus being who he is.
James says, even the demons recognize that. Now, when we talk about believing in Jesus, we're talking about putting our faith in Jesus, pledging our allegiance to Jesus, and trusting our lives to Jesus. And the way that this happens is in baptism. Now it's interesting here because what Peter says is repent and be baptized.
He doesn't say believe, but belief and baptism go hand in hand. And so whenever you're in the New Testament specifically and you're seeing for a call to belief, understand that there's also a call to be baptized there. It's all implicit. If there's a call to be baptized, there's a call for faith. And this is why in our church, in our tradition, we baptize adults.
Because we believe that there needs to be an act of faith in association with baptism. Now, we don't force people to be re baptized because we believe that by God's grace, if someone's been baptized in infancy, and if they express their faith in Christ, well, it's all held together. But there needs to be faith, and there needs to be baptism.
In baptism, we are joined to the person of Jesus Christ. His righteousness becomes our righteousness. His sacrifice is the sacrifice for our sins. And so we are forgiven.
Peter says, Be baptized everyone in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Believe and be baptized and be forgiven. I mean, it doesn't get more gospel than that. That's good news. To know that everything that you've done wrong in your life, simply by faith in Jesus Christ, can be forgiven.
You can begin anew.
But also notice this. This is part of the good news as well. You'll be forgiven of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now if I was going to give a critique of the American Gospel, I'd say, often times I think we miss out on this part. We're very good about the forgiveness of sins part, and that's central, I mean that's huge, that's awesome.
That's awesome. But don't miss out on this. This is part of the good news too. You received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now why is this so awesome? Why is it so awesome to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit? Because when we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit, the person of God, this person of God dwells within us.
And yes, we receive some fantastic gifts. In the case of the believers here, they were able to speak in tongues. Some of us receive awesome gifts of being able to teach, or be able to show extraordinary mercy, or things along these lines. In some cases, being enabled to offer healing to others by the power of God.
But fundamental, is that when the Holy Spirit resides within you, He creates within you a new heart. And in fact, the only reason why we turn to Christ at all is because of the work of the Holy Spirit that's kind of paving the way for him to take up home in our hearts. When we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, we receive a new, the work of new creation in our lives, so that when you are baptized, you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
You walk out of the waters. You're literally walking into a new life. You're walking into the rest of your life that will continue on into eternity. So that you can begin to have a taste of eternity even here today. You can have a taste of who you are going to become in the end, here and now, bit by bit, as you walk forward.
And so as I meditate on that, and as I contemplate that, that makes me want to progress even more. Not to earn my salvation. Forget that. There's no earning your salvation. The reason why we want to progress in righteousness is because we want to become all that God created us to be. And the good news is, is you don't do it by your power.
You don't have to struggle by your strength. It's possible because of the power of the Holy Spirit who is now within you. That's good news. That real change is possible by the power of God. What's also good news here is that this is a promise, not just for the people in Peter's immediate audience here, but he says in verse 39, the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off.
For all of whom the Lord our God will call. We are those who are far off, 2000 years off. We are all who are far off. Peter is saying, this is for us, this is for us today. Luke goes on to say that Peter is pleading with them that they would turn to Christ, that they would save themselves from this corrupt generation.
Basically what Peter is saying is, don't look at what everyone else is doing. We know it's a corrupt generation, they crucified Jesus, don't look at what everyone else is doing. Turn to Christ. And that could apply to us just as easily today. Don't look at what everyone else is doing. Don't look at what everyone else is prioritizing.
Don't look at what they say matters. Look to Jesus. Follow Him. In response to Peter's message, it says that 3, 000 people were added today. Now that's an awesome response, isn't it? You'd love to see that. Now there's a bit of a parallel here that I think God intends. Now we've talked about how this is 50 days after Passover.
And yes, this aligns with the feast of Pentecost. It also aligns with the fact that 50 days after Passover, the people of Israel are at the Mount of Sinai and they received the law there. You might, if you know your Bible well, you might also know that when Moses was up on the mountain, the people got impatient.
They said, hey, let's make a golden calf. And worship that instead of the one true God. Well, the fallout from that, is that a bunch of people were punished with death. In Exodus 32: 28, it says, The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about 3, 000 of the people died. Notice the parallel there. The 3, 000 people died that day.
It was a bad day. Now, on this day of Pentecost, in parallel to that day when they were at Mount Sinai, 3, 000 people are saved. God is making all things new in Jesus Christ.
In light of Peter's testimony, we who live today should also ask, What shall we do? What shall we do, given all these signs that Jesus is the Messiah? He did works no one else could. He taught with authority, stripping away all the superficiality of religion, teaching us the true meaning of righteousness, striking at the heart.
And then he lived it out, being obedient to the point of death on a cross, because he loved the Father. And he loved us and was willing to lay down his life for our sakes. And yet, he did not stay dead. His body did not molder and decay away. The authorities couldn't find his body because he was raised from the dead.
The apostles saw him with their own eyes and were willing to put their necks on the line to testify that he is truly alive. He ascended to heaven. And we know that Jesus is there because he promised to send the Holy Spirit. And here he is. The Spirit is in our midst, working wonders. What shall we do in light of this?
What shall we do in light of the other truth, that we are sinners in need of a Savior. We are all guilty. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We are all like sheep who've gone astray. You look at yourself in the mirror, and you and I know the truth. We don't measure up to who we're supposed to be.
We can't fool ourselves. We wouldn't have done any different than Adam and Eve. And when they went to crucify Jesus, do we really think we would have been among the faithful few? It seems more likely crucifixion with the mob, or denying we knew him like Peter, or ignoring him altogether because we had places to be and things to do.
However, we'd stand on that day on the final day, we know that we'd all come up short when everything is told.
We're completely guilty and we're completely broken. So what shall we do? Our sin is great. But greater still is our Savior, Jesus Christ. He came not to condemn, to just kind of double down and make sure we were burying ourselves completely. He did not come to condemn. He came to save. He invites us to come clean, to admit that we're sinners and denounce that way of life.
The Apostle John tells us in 1 John 1: 8- 9, If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Jesus offers us forgiveness. He offers us a new life in the spirit.
Sin has made its mark, but God now offers to purify us from all unrighteousness. We accept this invitation by faith revealed in baptism.
So if you have not repented, if you have not believed, this is what God offers you in Jesus. A new and everlasting life in Him. And all you have to do is confess that you're a sinner. Turn your back on sin. Turn your back on sin. And trust your life to Jesus Christ. And be baptized. And if there's anyone here who's never been baptized, I'll baptize you next week, if you want to be baptized.
And if you have already believed, please, please, please, remember your baptism. Remember this new reality, which is now yours. Your sins are forgiven in Jesus Christ, and the spirit inhabits you. You are alive and free from the power of sin and free from the fear of death. Live your life in light of this.
Live in alignment with your faith. Let us pray.
Father, we thank you for Peter's testimony on the day of Pentecost. Of how he so boldly, by the power of the Holy Spirit, testified to the reality of who Jesus is. That Jesus is, in fact, the Son of God. God come to us in the flesh. That he is, in fact, our Messiah, revealed by the wonders which he did.
Foremost among them, Father, this wonder that even as he offered his life up freely to death on a cross in accordance with your plan, he was also raised from the dead and has ascended and now intercedes on our behalf and has sent the Holy Spirit to bring new life to us.
Father, make this more real to us than everything else crowding into our minds and the news cycle and social media and everything else. Father, make this more real to us and more important to us because it is. It is more real. It is more important.
Produce repentance in our hearts, Father. Give us faith, Father, and lead us in the life of the spirit which you offer us to Jesus, in Jesus if we just receive him by faith. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we continue our series The Spirit and the Church. It's our joy to welcome you into our community.
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)