Acts 2:22-41
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Transcript
Good morning. My name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. It's good to see y'all this morning. If you will grab a Bible, go to Acts chapter two. We're working our way through the book of Acts. It's on page 1054. If you have one of these black Bibles, if you grab one out of the seat in front of you. Sometimes you're at work, y'all got the radio on, or you're at the house, TV's just playing, and then there's this moment where broadcast just stops, gets quiet for a second. Maybe that gets your attention a little bit, but then you hear, and when that is over, I'm all ears. They got us. We're all listening. If you're at a work site, it's like, hey, shut up. And you're listening. You're waiting for that robot to come on and tell you whether or not this is a test of the emergency broadcast system or the emergency broadcast system broadcasting some sort of emergency. You're listening. You're
waiting to see what's happening here. It's got your attention. It works perfectly. It's the best set of noises for getting our attention. We're trained to listen. And there's this moment where we're all ears, and that's what's happening right here in the book of Acts is that the Holy Spirit fell on 120 believers, men, women, different ages, and then began to speak through them so that they are proclaiming the mighty acts of God in a language that everyone's understanding. And it tells us that people are bewildered. They're amazed. They're astonished that this is happening. And then they're asking, what is going on? And in this moment where everyone's eyes are on them, when all they've closed their mouths, they're listening, they've given them full attention. Peter begins to preach and he's going to tell them, here's what's happening. And so we kind of stopped midway through last week and
we're picking back up where Peter has said that what's going on is the Spirit has come, prophecy is being fulfilled, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And then he's going to point at Jesus and say, this is the message. So what we're seeing this morning as we walk through this is the message of Christianity. That's what Peter's about to proclaim. So, church family, if you're like, I don't know how to share the gospel with people. I don't exactly know where to start. I don't know how to walk through that. Peter's about to walk through exactly how to proclaim the gospel, how to tell people the good news of Jesus. And if you, this is your first Sunday with us. Your friend's been saying, you should come, you should come, you should come, you should join me in my group. You should come to this thing. You should come to this. You finally showed up. This is what they
want you to hear. Because Peter's about to tell you exactly how to be saved. He's about to tell you how to come to know the Lord. If you've been checking things out for a while and you're trying to wrap your head around, what is this all about? This is what it's all about. So we're going to walk through this morning. And in some ways, what Peter's going to do is he's going to tell them what is going on. He's going to tell them the what of the issue. Then he's going to tell them why. And then he's going to tell them what they should do with that. So in some ways, this is going to flow with what, so what, why does that matter? And then now what, what do we do with that? And so we're going to walk through that kind of in this sequence, and we're going to hear the gospel, which is the message that the church has to proclaim. Pray with me for a moment as we begin. Lord, we ask that as the
gospel is proclaimed, as it was proclaimed and received on Pentecost, that it would be proclaimed and received this morning, and that your spirit would go to work and that you would help us to hear the essentials, hope of Christ. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so he just got done saying, all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. And that's verse 22. He says, men of Israel, hear these words, 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. So he begins with the life and ministry of Jesus. That's the starting point. He says, Jesus, who y'all know, Jesus, who, you know, God attested to him. God co-signed Jesus by performing miracles. So this first bit of the what is the life of Jesus, that it's through Jesus and his ministry on earth that they see that God is at work in him,
that he raised the dead, that he gave sight back to the blind, that he cleansed the lepers, that he ministered and healed and cast out demons. And he's saying, y'all know about this. And y'all, we do. Jesus globally is known as a prophet, as a teacher, as a healer, as a miracle worker. He comes to us through history that way. That's how contemporary historians, that's the contemporary historian Josephus, who was writing his Jewish antiquities in 90 AD, wrote about him. He refers to him as Jesus. He says he was a doer of wonderful works. He writes about him as a person that they understood had performed miracles. And so that's where Peter starts. He says, as you all know, y'all all know, Jesus traveled around. And for many of these people who were Jewish people who would have come, Jesus would have been around to their town. They would have gone out to him. They would have known somebody
who had been healed by him. They may themselves have been healed by him or interacted with him. So he says, y'all know. So he starts off with the life of Jesus. Then he goes to the cross. Verse 23, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. So he says it was the definite plan and foreknowledge of God that God was working out his sovereignty in it. He holds up the sovereignty of God in the crucifixion of Jesus. And at the same time, he says, you did it at the hands of lawless men that they handed him over to the Romans. So the men who aren't under the law, the Jewish law. So he holds up human agency, human culpability and God's sovereignty. And that's the way the Bible holds that up all the time. Just so you know, people are like, well, is it God's will? Does God oversee everything? Is God
sovereign? Yes. Well, then am I responsible? Did my choices matter? Yes. Well, how does that work? I don't know. The Bible just holds those up as true. It works in a way that God understands how it works. He oversees it. But Peter holds up both of those and says that Jesus was crucified, that he was dead. He's been delivered over and crucified. So he says this Jesus that you know about, he was crucified. Y'all killed him. Verse 24, he goes from life to cross to resurrection. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. Death could not keep Jesus. It was not possible for Jesus to be held by death. I read a quote that I thought had vivid imagery. I want to share with y'all when I was reading this earlier. It's by George Bertram. He says, the abyss can no more hold the redeemer than a pregnant woman can hold the child in her body.
Couldn't keep him if it wanted to. Jesus rose from the grave. So he proclaims, Jesus, who y'all know about, you know about his life, you know about his ministry. He was crucified and then he rose from the dead. He's going to keep going. It was not possible for him to be held by verse 25 for David says concerning him. As soon as you can quote King David in the Psalms, he says, I saw the Lord always before me for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell in hope for you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life and you will make me full of gladness with your presence. He says, brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day. So David writes,
you're not going to abandon me to Sheol. You won't let me see corruption. He reads that and he goes, um, I can confidently tell you that David is dead and that you can go visit his grave. And he's still there. So he's going to say, David can't be talking about himself. Verse 30, being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up. And of that, we are all witnesses. So he says, David was just speaking prophetically. It's Jesus that wasn't left in Sheol. It's Jesus who didn't see corruption. He says, I can tell you about two graves right now. I can tell you about two tombs. One of them has King David still in it. The other one had Jesus for a little while and
is not there anymore. You can go visit both. One of them will be empty. That's what he's saying. He's saying this is prophetic proclamation and we've seen him. We saw him alive. So Jesus Christ who God co-signed through miraculous works was crucified, was dead, was buried and rose again. That's what he said. But then he doesn't stop there. He says, and he ascended to heaven. Verse 33, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the father, the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. So he says, Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God. And Jesus is now the one who has sent the spirit, meaning that Jesus has been brought level with God. Verse 34, for David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies, your footstool. So
he says, Christ has been glorified. He's been exalted. He's at the right hand of God. He will rule and reign from that position. That's the what, when they say, what is going on? What is happening here? He says, listen, y'all know Jesus, you know, his ministry, you know, his life, you know, his miracles, you know that you killed him. Well, he rose from the dead. He's ascended to the right hand of the father. He is now lifted up, exalted in the heavens. And he is the one who has sent the spirit to empower the church right now. And as they're watching the spectacle, it's co-signed by the work that's happening through the spirit. Something miraculous is happening. And he is saying, I'm telling you where that's coming from. It's coming from Jesus. Who's raised to the right hand of the father, who's sent the spirit to perform this. Jesus. That's the what. But now he's going to answer the, so
what, what, why does that matter? And he says, verse 36, let all the house of Israel, therefore know for certain that God has made him from both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. We wrongly act in our culture like atheism is neutral. Like that's the default position for humanity. So that atheists a lot of times will kind of hold this like, well, of course I can be an atheist in the political sphere. I can be an atheist in the public sphere because that's neutral, but you're trying to push some idea on me. But the reality is the vast, vast majority of all humans in human history. And even on the planet now believe that there is a God believe that there's some sort of some other thing going on, believe that there's some kind of a creator. And he is saying to these Jewish people, God has made him both Lord and Christ that Jesus is now in the position of Lord and Christ. That's
the, so what, that he's Lord and Christ, meaning as Lord that he rules. He's in a position of authority. He's King. And as Christ, he's the hope of salvation. So let's consider those for a second. If someone declares themselves to be King, you don't, just by the nature of that declaration, you don't get to remain neutral. Like if a King and an army rolled in and said, I am now the King of these lands, you couldn't go, Oh man, that's neat. Like good for you, but I'm not like really political. That's not my thing. Like I'm busy. I got kids. I'm not really paying attention to that kind of stuff. So like, you just go be King, just King it up with these other people or whatever. And like, but let's just consider me Switzerland. I'm not involved. It's not how Kings work. You don't get to be neutral. You can be in rebellion or you can surrender. Now, if you meet someone at McDonald's and they
tell you they're King of the world, go ahead and rebel. You know, I wouldn't submit to that one. Show me a little, like do something first, prove it a little bit, buy me a cheeseburger. Well, that'll be a good start. Like, so you can look at Jesus and just go, I don't believe he's Lord. I don't. And Peter's declaring that he is. Peter already said that the day of the Lord is coming. He positioned us between the hope of salvation and the day of the Lord. He's saying one day you'll know if you want to say, well, I'll wait and see. You can wait and see. That's what he's saying, but you'll find out that he's Lord and that you were wrong and it'll be too late at that point. But Jesus has declared himself as Lord, which means that our response to him is to surrender or to rebel. There's not a neutral position. He's either your King or you're running out of his kingdom. You're trying to fight
your way out of it. There's no middle ground. And you actually, if you'll think about it, you'll see that that's how a lot of people approach Jesus. They have Lordship issues with him. So maybe you've been talking to a friend or maybe heard somebody on a YouTube video or whatever, and they'll say things like, well, I don't like this part about Christianity. Or they'll ask you, what do y'all believe about this? You'll say, hey, come to my church. They go, what's your church believe about this? And what they're having a discussion with you about is there's an area where I am in charge. And if God agrees with me, then I might come listen and participate. But if he doesn't agree with me, then I'm Lord and I don't have to listen to him. That's what that is. Culturally for us right now, sexual sin is a big one in that category. Most people in our culture are fine with the stuff Jesus says
about money. They like that. He says, be generous. They like that. He says, be good to the poor. They like that. He says, be open-handed. They might not practice it, but they're fine with it. They don't ever go. What does he say to be? Does he say to be nice to the poor? And you're like, yeah. And he's like, I'm not coming. No, people don't do that. Now they might show up and not be kind to the poor. They may keep a hold of their wallet and that's a different issue. It's a different obedience and lordship issue. But what happens a lot in our culture is someone goes, what's he say about this sexual sin? What's he say about this orientation? What's he say about this? What's the Bible have to say about that? And what they've held up is I'm not willing to surrender there. But can I help you out? If Jesus rose from the grave, if he actually is seated at the right hand of God, the creator,
that's the first thing to answer. That's the first question to ask. If that didn't happen, you don't need to submit at all. If he didn't rise from the grave, if he's not seated at the right hand of the father, then you have the, you don't need to even ask any of the other questions about where he stands on things. But if he rose from the grave and if he's seated at the right hand, then everything is surrendered and you have to find out all the stuff, but you follow it. We walk in obedience with all of it. We don't get to pick and choose. That's just how it works. We trust him with all of it. We surrender all of it because he's Lord and we do what he commands. But he's not just Lord. He's Lord and Christ. Christ means he's our hope of salvation. He's the Messiah. He's the one who came to rescue. He's the one who came to give hope for people. How beautiful is it that when Peter gets
everybody's attention, he doesn't say, I'm so glad you're here. Let me give you the five keys to living. Let me give you the threefold path. Let me tell you the 10 rules you need to follow. That's what happened at Mount Sinai was the 10 commandments came. The law was given, but that's not what happens here. He proclaims the work of Jesus, the person of Jesus. This comes to us as news about something that Jesus did, not something you're supposed to do. If the primary point of Christianity was for you to be a good person and for you to get your life together and for you to do what's right and for you to fix yourself, that's what would be proclaimed here. That's not what's proclaimed. What's proclaimed is y'all know Jesus? He died. He rose. He's King. He's pointing us to a person and the work that Jesus has done. And Christ means he's the hope of salvation. He's the one who paid for sin so
that we could have rescue. He's the one we go to. So yes, he's Lord, but if he wanted to just be Lord, he would not have died. He can roll in and kill everybody. He tells Peter that when he's getting arrested, Peter tries to fight and he, he stops him and he's like, dude, if I wanted to fight, I would not use you. I have 12 legions of angels that will do what I say to them at this exact moment. 12 legions. That's like 72,000 angels. In the old Testament, one angel killed 184,000 people in one night. If that angel was average, Jesus looked at Peter and said, if I just let angels do it, they could kill everybody on earth in about 30 minutes. That's not what I'm here for. He's not just Lord. He's Lord and Christ, meaning that it's through him that we have a hope of rescue because he went to the cross first to pay for sin, to pay the debt. He did this on Passover when the Jewish people for
years had celebrated that there was a Passover lamb that saved them from death, that they were not clean on their own. They had to have blood that stood between them. They had to have a sacrifice on their behalf and they would paint this on their doorframe and they would stay behind it so that the, the, uh, angel of death would pass by. That's what happened in Egypt. And that's when he, Jesus dies as this picture of it's his blood that stands between us and death. He's the Christ. He's the hope for salvation. He says this, this is verse 36, let all the house of Israel, therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. If you want to know how to know God, if you want to know how to have salvation, it is through Christ. It's through Jesus who is Lord and Christ. That's the way to the father. And he says this Jesus whom you crucified. Now
not all of the people here practically participated in the crucifixion of Jesus, but he holds them all guilty. And I think that still applies to us that Jesus died for your sin. That's what Paul says that he, he gave himself up for me. He died for your sin, for the lies that you've told for your pettiness, for your angry outbursts, for your theft, for your wickedness, for your depravity, for the things that you've looked at online. He died for that so that you might have a hope. He says he was, you crucified him. And so the other thing that we need to know is personal guilt. Understand that without Jesus, you stand guilty. That's the so what? Why does it matter? It matters because he's Lord and Christ and you're guilty. That's why it matters. Verse 37. Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what should we do? Which
is the question. It's the question you should be asking. Well, if that's true, if he really did come live that life, if he really did die that death, if he really did rise, if he really is at the right hand of the father, and if really he is Lord and Christ, what do I do? How do I respond to that? And it says they're cut to the heart. And I just want to point out that if your approach to Christianity has only ever been in your head, like it's a set of rules to follow, like it's some precepts you learn. If it's only ever been in your head, it's like a cultural thing. You grew up in it. Your family grew up in it. You're Christian by default. You hear somebody say sometimes, yeah, I was born Lutheran. I don't know what that means. Yeah, I've been Presbyterian my whole life. You've been in a Presbyterian church your whole life, and I guess you can be Presbyterian, but are you a Christian? I
talked to someone one time. I said, I'm a Christian. I was talking to people being a pastor. He said, oh yeah, I'm a Christian. My uncle used to be a deacon in a Baptist church. What? Did he cough on you at Thanksgiving? What are you talking about? It's in you. There's been a time when you suddenly saw your sin, and you knew you needed Christ, and that without him you were hopeless, or you don't have it. Because it's not just something we mentally approach. It's something that we surrender to Jesus as king, and he welcomes us and rescues us, and it's personal, deeply personal. It is the most personal thing that will ever happen for you. And they're cut to the heart, and they say, what should we do? And so Peter's going to tell them, now what? What do you do with this? 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. So he tells them to repent and be baptized, and then he tells them that Jesus will forgive their sins. He just told them, you killed Jesus. He says he'll forgive you. That's why he died. That's what he came for. He'll forgive your sins, and you'll receive the gift of the Spirit. Meaning that he'll come dwell with you. He'll come claim you. He'll come keep you. He'll come make you his own. That if you'll repent and be baptized, you'll place your life in Jesus, and he'll take you, and he'll forgive you. It's not earn something. It's being forgiven of something. It's surrender. It's lay your arms down. It's come be rescued. So what's repent? Repent means to turn, to surrender, to quit following your own way, to quit making your own choices, to quit assuming that you're right about things, to quit following after sin. It means to
change, and to go to Jesus and surrender. And it's not a work. You're not fixing yourself. You're laying everything down, and you're coming and saying, I need forgiveness. I need mercy. And then he says, be baptized. baptized. Which if you've ever seen a baptism, if you've ever seen one here, we put up a portable baptismal right there. But in Christian baptism, someone who's already a Christian baptizes you. You go down backwards. In Jewish baptism, what they would have understood was, there was a baptism, but it wasn't for Jewish people. It was for proselytes. It was for people who were coming in from the outside. And they would wash themselves. So they would come in, they'd wash themselves, and they'd say, I'm cleaning myself up. I'm going to start being Jewish. I'm going to, it was kind of an entrance rite. But it was only for those who were outside. It wasn't for Jewish people. He
looks at them and says, you need to be baptized, which to their ears would be, you're on the outside, but you can come in. You're outside, but you can come in. And Christian baptism, you don't baptize yourself, because you didn't clean yourself. You didn't wash yourself. He washed you. So you go backwards because you're dead and buried with Christ. And you rise again as someone helps you, because it's Christ. The church is a stand in for Jesus, that you're dead and buried with him, and that he pulls you back up to life, and that you didn't wash yourself, but it's something that happened to you. So they say, you need to be baptized in repentance, and in the name of Jesus, that you can be welcomed in. If there was someone there that morning who said, I'm already in. I'm good. I don't need it. Then they're out. Those who come to Jesus and say, I'm in, are out. And those who come and say,
I'm out, I need you to let me in. All of them get to come in. So if you think you're good enough, if you think you're holy enough, if you think you're right enough, if you think you've already done it, and you don't need Jesus, then if you say, I'm in, you're out. But if you'll come to him and say, without you, I'm so far. I'm so gone. I'm so lost. I'm out. I need you to bring me in. Then everybody gets to come in. That's what baptism is. It's that you get to come into Jesus. You get to be washed. You get to be made new. You get to rise to new life. And you get to follow Jesus. And every single one of them is supposed to do it. He says, repent and be baptized, every one of you. So if you're in this room and you've never repented, you need to repent. And if you're in this room and you've never been baptized, you need to be baptized. Because it's the thing that everyone is supposed to do.
verse 40. Oh no, verse 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. If you're in here this morning and you're going, I'm so far away from this. I'm so far away from following Jesus. I'm nowhere close. He says that's who it's for. It's for all who are far off. If you're like, I've been so out, I've been so angry, I've been in so much sin that you don't understand how far away I am. I couldn't be further away. He says, yeah, that's who it's for. And what I would ask is, do you feel him calling you? Do you hear it? Do you want to come? Do you want to be clean? Do you want to be forgiven? Do you want to be rescued? Do you want to be right with God? Then you can come. And there is no too far away. He says it's for all who are far off. Who the Lord calls to himself. Verse 40. And with many other words, he
bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation. I want to take a moment to consider that many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them. I've heard people say before, I don't know why sermons take so long. Look at how short Peter's sermon was in the book of Acts. And it's like, he didn't read the rest of it. He said a whole lot of other stuff they didn't write down. He used many other words. But what I want to point out is that if you're a Christian, now this is the gospel, this is the whole thing. The life of Jesus, his ministry, the cross and death, the resurrection, the ascension, he's Lord and Christ, you're personally guilty, you need to repent and be baptized, that's it. You can take the book of Acts, if someone says, what do you believe? How does someone become saved? How does someone become a Christian? You can say,
let's go to Acts chapter two. I'll walk you right through it. And you can use many words and exhort the people around you to believe. Sometimes we have this idea that I'll be a good enough person. They'll see my life and they'll come to know Jesus. Honestly, they might look at you and go, well, if that person can do okay, then I can do okay. And they'll think somehow it's in you. It's not in Jesus. You've got to point them to Jesus. Some of you think, I'm so messed up, I can't tell people about Jesus. Y'all, that's one of the best times to point people to Jesus. That's the whole reason I follow him. If he doesn't forgive sinners, I wouldn't be here. If it was about me being good, I wouldn't trust him. My hope is in him. Some of you say, well, I told him one time and now, it's like, no, many words. Exhort them, encourage them, say, I want this for you. I want you to believe this. I want
you to know this. I want you to trust him. We're supposed to tell people this and trust the spirit to work and trust the father to call, but we're supposed to talk. And sometimes it takes many words and sometimes it takes exhortation. And he also said, save yourselves from this crooked generation. And I want you to know we exist in a crooked generation. We're surrounded by sin. We're surrounded by anxiety. We're surrounded by despair. Some of you, that's all you live in is anxiety and despair. All you live in is depression. All you live in is sin, sexual sin, financial sin, consumerism. We are, our culture is anti-Jesus. And if you're stuck in that right now, save yourself from it. Run to Jesus. Ask for rescue. Ask for help. Don't stay stuck in the cultural current where he says, wide is the path that leads to destruction and narrow is the way that leads to life. Come to Christ. The
reason it's narrow is because it's only through him. Don't continue to head towards destruction just because that's what everybody else is doing or just because that's the path you're already on or just because that's the easiest thing to walk in. So those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about 3,000 souls. 3,000 people believe, trust in Jesus, repent, and are baptized. The day that the law came, 3,000 Israelites died because they were in rebellion and the law bore down on them. And the day that the gospel is proclaimed, 3,000 are brought into eternal life because there's a hope of forgiveness and there's a call to life. They responded. I'm going to pray and then the band's going to come back up and we're going to take a moment to respond to this this morning. Father, we ask for your mercy and we ask for a move of your spirit that we would trust you and
that we would respond. That we would not ignore your call to repentance, ignore the call to life, and that we would not harden our hearts against the move of your spirit that we would listen. You'd give us ears to hear that you would soften us so that we might not stay in our sin, stay in our despair, stay in our anxiety, stay in our own lordship, but that we would surrender and that we would find life and hope. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. As the band comes back up, there's going to be some people who are going to stand around the room, around the back and around the sides. We've got a couple of ways that we're going to respond together. Father, if you would say that you're a Christian, but you can't remember the last time you told anybody about Jesus, if you'd say, I'm a Christian, but you can't remember the last time you cared to share the hope of an eternal life with those
around you who are perishing, I want us to repent. In a moment, I want you to respond. I don't know if that's right where you're at, if that's taking a knee there, I don't know if it's coming up to the front, I don't know if that's going and talking to somebody, but I want you to talk to the Lord and say, Lord, there's people I know that need to know this and help me. Help me to be a witness to the hope of the gospel and not keep this to myself. Help me to not hold on to excuses as to why I can't or why it won't work. Help me to trust the work of the Spirit. But if you belong to Jesus, let's be people who tell others about Him. Let's not be ashamed of Him. If you would say, I'm a Christian, but there's areas in your life where you just aren't surrendered to the Lordship of Christ, you've just told Him you can't come here. You don't get to deal, you don't get to deal, you don't get to
tell me how to talk. You don't get to tell me what to do with my anger. You don't get to tell me what to do with my money. You don't get to tell me what to do with my love for another person. You don't get to tell me this relationship is off limits. You don't get to tell me if there's a spot where you've looked at Him and just said, hey, look at me. I'm in charge. You need to repent. You need to get on your face and say, you're King. My only hope is in you. And if you've never trusted in Jesus, if you've never come to Him and said, I need forgiveness, I need you to save me. If that's never been something where you've gotten on your face and you said, I need you to take me and make me yours, pay for my sin, I need to rescue. Peter says, all those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. That anyone who comes to Jesus and says, I need your help, He will not let you down. He will not
let you go. He will keep you. You will be forgiven and you will receive the promise of the Holy Spirit. If you've never repented and been baptized, you need to do that. So in a moment, there's going to be a few people standing around the room. If you need to go talk to somebody, go talk to them. If you need somebody to pray with you, go pray with them. If you need to grab someone from your group or your group leader, but we're going to respond. We're going to do what these 3,000 did where they heard it and they listened and they responded. If the Spirit is calling you, if you feel the Father drawing you, don't fight that. Come. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that your Spirit would be at work and that we would respond. That you would help us to listen to you right now. We ask this in Jesus' name. I don't know what you need to do, but respond.