OPEN: How many people were baptized into Christ at Pentecost? (about 3000 souls)
That story in Acts has inspired many churches, evangelists, missionaries and 1000s of others to attempt to reach as many as they can to bring more and more people to Christ.
One such church was one from New Jersey that held a series of evangelistic meetings back in the 1800s. They put up posters, handed out handbills, invited everyone they could to come to the meetings where a well-known evangelist gave powerful messages. At the end of the service a number of people came down front at the invitation and one of the first persons to walk down the aisle was a prostitute who was well-known in the community. It was obvious she was truly repentant, and she was weeping openly. And the audience was pleased to see the change that was taking place in her… but then it became apparent that she wanted to join their church and the sanctuary became deathly quiet as everyone realized what this meant. This was a prostitute… a woman of low repute. They didn’t mind her coming to Christ. They just didn’t want her coming to their church.
Our text for this morning ends with these intriguing words: “And THE LORD ADDED to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Acts 2:47
Did you notice that I emphasized that phrase: “the Lord added to their number”
As I read that phrase it occurred to me that this idea that GOD ADDED to the church signaled that something mystical was going on here. This early church was not going to be a mere mortal organization. It wasn’t going to be like the Elks or the Eagles, or the Masons, or any number of other civic groups out there. When the Bible tells us God added folks to His church… it’s telling us that God intended to RUN His church.
Now granted, as a local congregation, we need to make decisions about what directions this church should go, and how money should be spent. But when you get right down to it… this is not OUR church.
Whose Church is it? (GOD’S)
That’s the reason the Elders, the Staff, the Deacons, the Sunday School Teachers - that’s why each and every one of us need to ask ourselves - whenever we do anything here – “What would God have us do?”
ILLUS: I saw this take place here about 8 or 9 years ago. It was about that time that we had just enough money in the bank to hire a builder to construct this worship area we’re meeting in now. This had been a dream of our congregation for years before I was even hired here, but about that same time, the nation experienced a recession and many people were struggling financially. The Elders talked long and hard about the fact that it wouldn’t seem appropriate to spend the money we had in the bank on a new sanctuary when that same money could be used to help those in need in our congregation. A couple Sundays later we our church annual meeting and one of the leaders stood up and announced the decision of the Elders that we weren’t going to build right then. The money was going to be used for the needs of the congregation. How did the congregation react? They applauded. It was then that I really knew what kind of church I’d been honored to serve. This church saw the money in the bank as GOD’S MONEY, and they saw this congregation as HIS CHURCH. And it told me that you folks realized that even if this building were destroyed… God’s church would still exist.
When a church belongs to God it makes decisions like that. It reveals that it understands that it is intended to be a mystical organization… not a mortal one. This was a God OWNED body of believers.
ILLUS: At the beginning of the sermon I told you the true story of the conversion of a prostitute. If you’ll recall, when she came down front… the church was initially pleased by her decision. But then they realized she intended to join THEIR congregation… and things got suddenly quiet! I'm not sure any churches do this nowadays, but back then (in that church) they VOTED on whether or not outsiders could become members. And nobody wanted to vote this woman into their church.
In that same congregation was a man named Samuel Colgate. Colgate was the founder of the Colgate business empire and he was a devout believer in Christ. He watched this little drama unfold before him and it angered him… so he stood up and said the following words:
“I guess we blundered when we prayed that the Lord would save sinners. We forgot to specify what kind of sinners. We'd better ask Him to forgive us for this oversight. The Holy Spirit has touched this woman and made her truly repentant, but the Lord apparently doesn't understand that she's not the type we want Him to rescue. We'd better spell it out for Him just which sinners we had in mind.”
The people got the hint. Immediately, a motion was made and unanimously approved, and the woman be accepted into membership in that congregation.
My point is this: there’s lots of churches and Elders and Preachers and Deacons who struggle with who the church belongs to. And it can happen to any church and to any believer. The only way to protect ourselves from this sin is to remember WHO adds to the church and WHO owns the church.
Now – God ADDING to our number also means something else…
ILLUS: A couple years back I attended a revival at a church where a friend of mine attended. This congregation was not part of our brotherhood but their revivalist had a reputation for being an effective soul winner. As I listened as the Revivalist it soon became obvious that he was very good at manipulating his audience. I hate that. I hate it when I realize someone is deliberately trying to manipulate me. As the man preached it was obvious that he was bragging about the number of people he’d brought to Christ. And it sounded (to me) like what he was saying was “I ADDED THESE PEOPLE to the church”. It was all about HIM!!! Not the LORD…
Back in I Corinthians 1:11-15 Paul wrote:
“… it has been reported to me … that there is quarreling among you, my brothers… one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name.”
Paul was concerned that people would be baptized into HIS name. That he (Paul) would take the place of Christ in the affections of new believers, so avoided baptizing many people while he was there. You see, that’s one of the reasons its important to remember what it says in Acts 2:47 "THE LORD added to their number." When people get saved. they aren’t baptized into the preacher, and they aren’t baptized into a church.
WHO are they baptized into? (JESUS)
It’s the Lord that adds people to His Kingdom. Not ME… and not YOU.
But now wait a minute – HOW exactly did God add people to the church? I mean – Peter did the preaching. And it seems that the Apostles did most of the baptizing. I can see what THEY did but I can’t see what Lord did. What exactly did God DO to add people to the church?
Well – 1st - He primed the pump. Jesus promised that “… (when the Holy Spirit came, he would) convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” John 16:8
What that means is that probably before Peter even got up to preach, the Spirit was at work among those in the crowd convicting them of their sins, and of their need of God’s righteousness, and of the fact there’d be a coming judgment. That’s why, when Peter got to the part of the sermon where he told them they were guilty of crucifying the Messiah, they interrupted his sermon: “…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?’” (Acts 2:37)
Peter couldn’t convict people like that. Only the Spirit could do that. I can’t convict people that. No righteous man on the face of the earth can do that. ONLY the Spirit of God can do that because it is God working in the hearts of men to bring them to repentance.
2ndly – God was also the only one who can add us to His church because He provided the ONLY way that we could be saved. Romans 5:8 “God showed his love for us IN THAT while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus’ death on the cross was God’s way of showing His love for us. And Jesus’ death on the cross was God’s way of supplying the only WAY we could be saved.
That’s why Peter said that you were “baptized… in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” Acts 2:38. You can’t be baptized into anything else and be saved.
ILLUS: A mother looked out a window and saw Johnny playing church with their three kittens. He had them lined up and was preaching to them. The mother smiled and turned around to do some work. Suddenly she heard the kittens meowing and scratching on the door. She went to the window and saw Johnny baptizing the kittens. She opened the window and said, "Johnny, stop that! You'll drown those kittens." Johnny looked at her and said: "They shoulda had thought about that before they joined MY church."
ILLUS: Years ago I visited with a man I was talking to about coming to church. Somewhere in the conversation he brought up the issue of being baptized. He said “Do I have to get baptized AGAIN.” I said “Again? You mean you’ve been baptized before?” “Yes”, he replied. “Five times.” “FIVE TIMES! Why did you get baptized 5 times?” It seemed that every time he changed churches they baptized him all over again. In the churches he’d attended, baptism wasn’t to become a Christian… it was to join a church, so every time he joined a different church – rebaptized him. I couldn’t believe it! These folks were requiring more of this man to belong to their church than they did for him to belong to Christ. It was absurd!
So I asked him – “were you ever baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, to belong to Christ?” “Oh yeah, once” he replied. And so I told him - “Well, that’s all we need. If you were baptized to belong to Jesus that’s all we ask."
You see, this isn’t MY church and it isn’t YOUR church. You can’t get baptized in the name of THIS congregation and receive forgiveness of your sins. And you can’t get baptized in MY name and receive forgiveness of your sins (or in the names of Peter, Paul or John). THE ONLY WAY you or I will ever receive forgiveness is by being baptized in the name of Jesus. That’s why Peter said that you were “baptized… in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” Acts 2:38
Jesus is the ONLY way for us to be saved. And because God supplied that only way, ONLY THE LORD can add you to His church.
LASTLY, when Acts 2:47 says “The Lord Added To their Number” there’s something else going on here. When it comes to salvation… people have all kinds of bizarre ideas. Some folks believe that because their parents were Christians… they’re Christians. Others believe that IF they live good lives… they’ll go to heaven. Others believe that they can decide for other members of their family to be saved.
And Scripture says: No, don’t think so.
John 1:12-13 “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood (Can’t be born of a Christian and be a Christian) nor of the will of the flesh (You can’t just decide you’re good enough to be saved) nor of the will of man, (you can’t make the decision for someone else) but of God.”
So let’s take that one step at a time:
1. You cannot be born a child of God because of BLOOD. In the Old Testament – a Jew became a child of the covenant simply because they were born of Jewish parents.
But in NEW Testament that doesn’t happen anymore. You can’t coast into the kingdom on your parent’s coattails. You can’t slide into salvation because they were saved. The only way into heaven is to be born of God and the only blood that matters is the blood of Christ.
2. You cannot be born a child of God because of the will of the flesh. You can’t decide YOUR flesh is good enough to get you in the door. As Isaiah 64:6 says - compared to God’s righteousness “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags”
ILLUS: If you were to go down to the clothing store and buy a brand new white shirt and then compare it to a white shirt you’d bought 2 or 3 years ago, you’d see the older white shirt isn’t nearly as white as you thought it was. In the same way, the righteousness we THINK we have in our lives is a dreary gray compared to the righteousness of God. There’s no comparison. It's like comparing a white garment (God's righteousness) to filthy rags (our righteousness).
ILLUS: Years ago, USA Today conducted a survey several years ago and asked Americans who were in the top 1% income bracket how much they would be willing to spend on three intangible items: Great intellect, true love, and a place in heaven. To their credit they were willing to spend more on heaven than the other 2 times. The super wealthy would be willing to spend an average of $407K for great intellect, $487K for true love, $640K for a place in heaven!
But the Bible tells us… there’s not enough money in the world to buy a place in heaven. Even if all these wealthy people pooled all their cash… not ONE of them could have gotten in. In short, you can’t be born of God because simply because you THINK you’re good enough. The only way to get into heaven is to be born of God by the blood of Jesus.
And 3rd - you can’t become a child of God by the will of man. I can’t decide for you and you can’t decide for me. You can’t make that decision for your spouse and you can’t make that decision for your children.
ILLUS: Rod Cameron was the previous camp manager for our local church camp in Converse.
Before that, he’d been a very effective missionary in Africa. He once told of the time when a man he’d been working on for some time but the man refused to consider giving up control of his life to anyone, let alone God.
But then he encountered a hive filled with killer bees. Rod said that many believed this was the only man to have survived being stung as many times as he had by this violent insect. For a long time the man couldn’t leave his bed, but once he could he came to Rod and said it was time to get right with God. So he came to Rod to get baptized. But he didn’t just want to get baptized… he wanted Rod to baptize his wife and 2 year old boy.
Now… of course, we don’t baptize babies, but Rod decided to let the man decide that. He said “Well, that’s a great idea! I tell you what, let’s not stop there. You’re a big strong man, and I’m a big strong man… why don’t we just go through the village and drag everyone down to the river and get them all baptized?”
The African thought about for a moment and then slowly said “That wouldn’t be right.” Rod asked “Well, why not?” “Well, because they probably wouldn’t WANT to be baptized.” “Oh…” said Rod. “Does your baby boy want to get baptized?” There was no more talk about baptizing the baby.
You can’t be born of God because somebody else made the decision for you. If you personally decide to belong to God – you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, you’re willing to repent of your sins, you’re wanting to confess that Jesus will now be the Lord and Master of your life, and you’re willing to allow yourself to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins - you can count on getting in the gates. YOU have to believe and act on that belief… to be born of God.
And that’s why it’s so important for the Lord to add us to those who are saved. If it was up to a church, or a group of theological scholars, or a ecclesiastical hierarchy, or some council of experts … somewhere along the line they’d mess it up. They’d make up THEIR OWN entry requirements. It’s like they can’t help themselves, they just have to add to the things God has said in His book.
People do that all the time. That’s why there’s so many different kinds of churches. There’s so many different churches, because people tend to make up their own rules. The best thing to do is to listen to God … and follow to “His way” to belong to His family. And when it comes to salvation, God’s Word simply says:
“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.” Acts 2:38
INVITATION
