Bringing in the Net
(Acts 2:37-40)
1. I have been a juror a number of times. Although I do not look forward to the time commitment, I have found my experiences interesting.
2. I have noticed, however, a variety of qualities in the cases prepared by both the prosecution and defense. Sometimes I wished we had more information and more testimonies.
3. Because the Jewish culture has been so engrossed in the Torah, the Instruction of Moses, many Jewish people developed a legal way of thinking that gave rise to a significant number of attorneys who were Jewish.
4. In a sense, Peter was a great lawyer. Peter had prosecuted his case like a tried and tested professional attorney. He has offered solid evidence that Jesus was, in fact, the promised Messiah. He argued that instead of receiving Him, most of that crowd has passed Him by and some were actually party to His crucifixion.
2. A crowd of thousands gathered when they heard the noise of Pentecost. These were Jews, individuals prepared by God for generations to respond to the Messiah.
3. vs. 40 implies that this was a long sermon; we only have highlights. Yet we have enough to get the just of Peter’s preaching.
4. At this point, he is about to "draw in the net." As "fishers of men," Peter and the apostles
Main Idea: Although the people had rejected their Messiah, a path back was possible. They had to change their attitude, become followers of Jesus, and enjoy the blessings of salvation if they were to align themselves to God’s will for them.
I. A CHANGE in Attitude
A. The people REALIZED their wrong (37a)
1. Most of us did not hate Jesus before we were saved; we probably respected Him and perhaps would have called ourselves believers…but we had not received Him personally by faith…
2. Before we came to know Christ, we probably figured that God graded on a curve, and as long as we were as good or better than the average person, we thought we were okay with God. Some of us may have thought we were accumulating brownie points by attending church or helping little old ladies across the street.
3. But then the Holy Spirit latched onto us; we realized that our hearts are sinful, and that the standard is not how everyone else behaves, but rather God’s revealed will. God doesn’t judge on the basis of some cosmic curve: His standard is perfection. And we came to see that we fall short of that standard. We understood, perhaps for the first time, that we were lost sinners. We saw that we do not simply make mistakes, but we can be incredibly selfish, bitter, controlling, and ill-minded.
B. They wanted to MAKE it right (37b)
1. The guilt and conviction of the Holy Spirit so overwhelmed them that they had to do something to address their wrong. Please note they did not explain, rationalize, or temper their guilt. Their plea was "guilty," because God the Holy Spirit had pierced their hearts.
2. Their pride was no longer relevant. For the first time, they saw how they were under the wrath of God.
3. Folks, this sense of conviction is counter-intuitive and supernatural. All pretense and image is gone. They were ready to do business with God, no matter where that might lead.
C. They asked, "What should we DO?"
D. The questions was not as specific as "What must I do to be SAVED?" In Acts 16:30-31, the Philippian jailor asks the more specific question, and Paul’s answer is, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved."
E. APPLICATION
Have you come to God as a sinner who realized he can do nothing to make up for his sins? Have you ever faced your lost, helpless condition apart from Christ?
II. God’s Will: Become A FOLLOWER of Jesus (38a)
A. REPENT
The fact that they wanted to do something about their rejection of Jesus evidences that they had indeed, repented. At least those who spoke up. Others were probably considering repenting, which means reversing their rejection of Jesus and accepting Him as Lord and Savior.
B. Be BAPTIZED as a TEST of repentance
There is no baptism in magic; it is used, rather, as a visible sign of invisible repentance; baptism assumes repentant faith, which saves us. Peter makes this clear:
1 Peter 3:21, "and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God…"
To baptize means: "to dip, immerse, or sink" in the original Greek, and is based upon the Jewish custom of Mikveh, ritual washing.
1. To baptize means "to dip" or "to immerse" in the original Greek, and is based upon the Jewish custom of Mikveh, ritual washing.
2. John Stott comments: "Peter replied that they must repent, completely changing their mind about Jesus and their attitude to him, and be baptized in his name, submitting to the humiliation of baptism, which Jews regarded as necessary for Gentile converts only, and submitting to it in the name of the very person they had previously rejected." (Romans, p. 78).
3. Norris Harris makes this comment: "Being covered symbolically in water signifies you have come under the Protection of His Name. Therefore, the Wrath and Penalty and Curse and Consequences of your Sinfulness will be Canceled in a Watery Grave." [Norris Harris, Sermon Central]
4. Other tests of faith and repentance include confessing with the mouth and good works
5. Visible or verbal realities can be seen or heard; faith is invisible, thus confessing Christ, good works done in the Name of Jesus, or baptism are its outward symbols.
C. CONFESSION that forgiveness comes from Jesus
Mark 8: 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels."
D. Emphasis: DISCIPLES, not professions of faith
E. APPLICATION
Some people want to spend eternity in heaven; they certainly prefer it to hell. But they do not want God in their lives; their hearts are cold toward Him.
If your only concern is being saved from God’s wrath and you have no interest in knowing God, you may as well forget it. If you want to do the minimal required to be saved, believe, but you have no interest in developing a relationship with Jesus Christ, you have not repented. Whether you understand baptism the same way I do is not the issue. The issue is what Peter suggests: an inward desire to be right with God.
III. The BENEFITS of Salvation (38b)
A. Forgiveness of SINS
Micah 7:18-19 reads, "Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea."
Do you get the picture here? God is smashing our sins like they were empty coke cakes and then he flings them into the sea.
B. Reception of the HOLY SPIRIT
Unbelievers do not have the Holy Spirit living within them; with forgiveness of sin comes the indwelling of the Spirit.
That is not to say all believers experience the Spirit’s power, but they have that potential.
One New Year’s Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The amusing thing was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. With its vast oil resources, its truck was out of gas. [Sermon Central]
C. APPLICATION
When God forgives, He forgets in the sense that He no longer takes your sin into account as far as your relationship to Him. It is gone.
Many of you struggle with guilt; guilt is a good thing. But once we have seriously repented, done what we can to make it right, and found God’s forgiveness, we no longer need to punish ourselves.
Jesus died for our sins. He atoned for them. We cannot atone for our own sins, and it is futile to attempt to do so.
IV. The RECEPTION of the Message (39-41)
A. Offered to all being CALLED (39)
Here we see a hint at God’s Sovereign grace, that He calls some to salvation but not others. Luke is even more foreceful in …
Acts 13:48, "When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed."
Sovereign Grace, the idea that God chooses people to believe apart from their merits, is taught by Jesus in John 6:37ff, by Peter in our text here, by Luke in Acts 13, cited above, and by Paul in I Thessalonians 1 and Romans 9, among other places.
B. Yet involving our WILLS (40)
God’s sovereignty works to coax our wills along so that we also make a choice for Him. The Bible appeals for every individual to believe.
C. Response: Three Thousand CONVERTED (41)
This was one excited bunch, forming the nucleus of the Church of Jesus Christ, the pillar and support of the truth.
D. APPLICATION
Right now, there are thousands of radio stations broadcasting through the air all over the U.S. Some have news shows, others play a variety of musical styles; commercials are blaring while other stations broadcast sporting events. But if you do not tune in, those radio signals bouncing off our atmosphere do you no good. The same is true with the Gospel. Unless you tune into it and receive it, it does you no good!
