Pentecostal Results Series

A pastor was telling his visiting grandchildren a fascinating bedtime story. They listened to him

breathlessly, but when he was finished one of them took a deep breath and said, “Grandpa, was that

a true story, or were you just preaching?” This attitude could be learned by a child in contemporary

Christianity because preaching has been degraded as being powerless today. Many churches have

played down the preaching ministry and have increased the role of liturgy. The intelligent

unbeliever finds this hard to distinguish from paganism, and so they dismiss the organized church as

irrelevant in our society. It is hard to argue with them, for they are right. If the church does not

have anything to offer but form, it will never change lives. God has ordained that the power of the

church would come through proclamation of truth and not performance of rights.

Right from the first we see that the Word of God was the center of attraction, and it was

through the foolishness of preaching that the church multiplied and spread. Peter at Pentecost

preached a persuasive sermon on how Jesus had fulfilled Old Testament prophecy, and of how He

now reigned on the throne of David as Lord and Christ. The logic and eyewitness testimony of the

120 was more evidence than any Jew could ignore, and so when Peter finished they responded in

great number with belief.

Several weeks earlier Peter wielded a metal sword and succeeded in cutting off a man’s ear, but

now by the Sword of the Spirit he had penetrated thousands of ears and caused them to respond to

God. Here is the power of truth over the power of force. Our primary task is to persuade men by

the power of truth. The situation at Pentecost was unique and the opportunity it presented. We can

see why God planned for the Holy Spirit to come upon them in power just at this time. The cross

was fresh in everyone’s mind. The news of the resurrection would have spread everywhere. Jews

would have many questions as to the meaning of recent history. When Peter explained the meaning

of it all, they were stricken in their conscience. They stood self-condemned as guilty of high treason

against God.

Peter didn’t even give an invitation. There does not appear to be an invitation given anywhere

in the early church. People were so moved by the Holy Spirit that they cried out for conversion.

When men saw the power of God, as did the Philippian jailer, they cried out, “What must I do to be

saved?” So it was at Pentecost, and there was no need for singing 5 stanzas of a hymn as they were

being urged to come. They believed and stood guilty for killing their own Messiah. We cannot

imagine the mixed emotions that must have gone through the crowd that day. They had fear at what

they had done, and yet great joy because of the offer of forgiveness in Christ.

In verse 38 Peter did not say that you cannot do anything, but that it is all by faith. Just by faith

never implies an inactive part played by the justified. Man does need to respond to God in

obedience. Action is essential, and so Peter gives them instructions. First they were to repent. This

means that repentance is an act of the will. It is not just the emotion of feeling sorry. A Sunday

School teacher asked what repent meant, and a little boy said, “Feeling sorry for your sins.” A little

girl responded, “No, its being sorry enough to quit.” She was right, for repentance can never be

fulfilled by an emotion alone. There must be an act of the will by which one turns from course of

action or attitude to another, which they recognize to be God’s will. The action Peter urges them to

take is to be baptized. Some of these may have already been baptized by John the Baptist, but here

it is to be in the name of Jesus Christ. In other words, prove your belief in Jesus as Lord and

Messiah by a public baptism in His name.

In this unique historical situation the repentance and act of baptism was really necessary for the

forgiveness of their sins. They could only be released from the guilt of killing their Messiah by a

commitment of their lives to Him. Baptism was the required method of making that commitment,

and breaking with the Jewish official position which rejected Jesus as Messiah. We can see how the

act of baptism was essential to forgiveness, for to refuse would be to doubt that He was the Messiah.

It would be an unwillingness to identify yourself as His servant. The symbol and the reality were so