(Acts 2:36-41) “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Messiah—this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.”
Introduction:
On the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem a 120 born again believers in the Messiah our Lord Jesus were drenched with the power of the Holy Spirit from heaven. In the Second chapter of Acts we are told that this rather small band of Messiah’s followers were sitting in an upper room where they had all joined together constantly in prayer. Among them were the twelve apostles, the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and His brothers (Acts 1:12-14). Before He left to ascend to heaven after He had risen from the dead, the Messiah our Lord Jesus told His disciples that they were not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon them as a believing community. They were to wait until they were baptised with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5).
The apostles themselves had spent three and a half years in Bible School with the best ever Bible teacher our Lord Jesus. They had not only received sound theological teaching founded upon the teaching of Torah but had experienced hands on experience in learning how to preach the gospel of the Kingdom in the short term missionary trips that had given them a foretaste of what their life’s work and ministry would be like. They were waiting in anticipation of the spiritual power promised to come to them to enable them to witness and work effectively for God,
They were all born again and had the Spirit living on the inside of them because we are told concerning the apostles that the Lord Jesus had breathed on each of them personally and imparted to their inner spirit man the person of the Holy Spirit as a spiritual well of the living water of eternal life (John 20:21-23). The New birth was available to all who believed in the Lord Jesus (John 4:10-14). The New Birth was the spiritual experience of all who believed in both Testaments.
When the Lord Jesus was speaking with the religious leader Nicodemus, a teacher of teachers in Israel, He said to him that he needed to be born again if he would see, perceive and be able to enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:3). In Fact He said to Nicodemus that being a Jewish theologian he should have known about this experience equated in the Old testament with e circumcision of the heart by the Spirit (John 3:9-10). This was the mark of all true Jews who believed in God in the Old Testament and in the Lord Jesus in the New Testament (Romans 2:28-29).
This experience from the Holy Spirit was not the Baptism with the Holy Spirit which was a deeper empowering work of the Holy Spirit for witnessing to the whole world about the Lord Jesus, His life, His atoning death for sin and His physical resurrection and ascension to His father in heaven (Acts 1:8). The New Birth is the Spirit indwelling as the source of eternal life and the Baptism with the Holy Spirit the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for witnessing and service. On the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit dwelling in the 120 overflowed out of their inner regenerated spirits as well as falling upon them from above (John 7:37-39). The Lord Jesus poured out upon His followers the same anointing of the Holy Spirit that had rested upon Him for His ministry (Acts 2:33).
Now after the Spirit of God had fallen upon the 120 and saturated them with His power for witnessing, which had grabbed the attention of a huge crowd, Peter then stood up and addressed the crowd who had assembled there and who were all Jews, many of them Religious and Torah observant Jews. In His sermon He used the Word of God. His sermon was the Word of God from beginning to end. It was no soft selling sermon, no seeker- friendly type of fireside chat as it were; it did not appeal to the emotions of his listeners or seek to make them feel better about themselves or to boost their self-esteem. It was not even open for discussion. It was the scripture alone that Peter used with no embellishments. Peter showed them from the Old Testament that the Lord Jesus was the prophesied Messiah who had bled and died for their sins, the one they had crucified, who had risen from the dead and had ascended to heaven to sit at God’s right hand and had poured out His Spirit upon His followers and that they could have the same experience. He directed his sermon to their conscience and the blessed Holy Spirit did his convicting and converting work.
In fact we are told that “when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” It was not Peter that convicted them of their unbelief in Jesus and of their need for salvation; it was the Holy Spirit who did the work (John 16:8-11). The Word “heard” is “to be endowed with the faculty of hearing and not deaf to hear, to consider what is being said, to have perception and understanding of what is being announced or proclaimed.” In their case it was a supernatural impartation of spiritual truth of God’s Word illuminated by the Holy Spirit. It was not what they heard with their physical hearing but what they heard deep down in their hearts on the inside. While they heard the mighty works of God in their own languages it was the Spirit-breathed sermon preached in no uncertain terms and with no holds barred by Peter that the blessed Holy Spirit drove home with great force into the minds and hearts of those listening to Peter.
Consequently we read that they were “pierced to the heart.” The word “pierced” describes; “a sharp prick that causes an immediate reaction, to agitate with a vehemence producing an emotion of sorrow to the point where one wants to have a change of heart.” It was a conviction that evoked a response! It went directly to the seat of the affections, thoughts, passions, appetites, desires and the conscience itself and affected the will. Peter’s message was no “soft sell!” Immediately they said to Peter and to the others “what shall we do?” There was a sense of urgency in what they said. It was not a casual response!
Now Peter did not tell them to go and talk to a fellow priest or rabbi, he did not tell them to try to live better, he did not tell them to turn over a new leaf in their life, he did not tell them to do good works, or to read a book on philosophy, or to seek counselling, or seek to make them feel better about themselves emotionally, or appeal to their self-esteem or self-worth. Peter told them directly by the forceful power of the Holy Spirit what they needed to hear and to do to be reconciled to God and to be saved and did not pull any punches with them, knowing that being fellow Jews they could be very stubborn. As mentioned before Peter just used the Word of God, He did not try to prove it was the Word of God, or improve on what it plainly said. Peter just used it as the Word of God without any embellishments or without seeking to water it down or to make it more palatable to their feelings. It was no seeker friendly, seeker sensitive, take it or leave it discussion. What did Peter tell them to do? Let’s now look further at the text itself…
Exposition:
“Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.”
“Repent,” This was the first thing Peter said they needed to do. If you look at the preaching of the prophets in the Old Testament, the ministry of the Messiah our Lord Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament the first and foremost proclamation they made was that people should repent.
The word “repent” in the Greek language means “to change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins, to change from a Messiah hating Messiah rejecting attitude and way of life to a Messiah loving, Messiah accepting attitude and way of life.” There is a story told of a teacher in a Sunday school class who asked the children what it meant to repent? A little boy put up his hand and when asked what it meant he replied “to feel so sorry for doing something wrong that you stop from doing it.”
In the Hebrew language of the Old Testament it meant; “to grieve and to lament over one’s wrong doing to the point where you desired with all of your heart to stop doing it.” Often the outward expression was to wear sackcloth and sprinkle oneself with ashes as the outward sign of the inward desire to change. While repentance involves the emotions its primary emphasis is on the action of the will.
While the Holy Spirit does His convicting work and shows the unsaved the goodness of God towards them in leading them to the place of repentance, and wanting all men to repent and come to a knowledge of the truth found only in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit will not do the repenting for the unsaved man or woman under conviction of their sin, this they must do for themselves. While the blessed Holy Spirit will give them the capacity to repent He will not do the repenting for them. Repentance is the lost word in much of modern day preaching from church pulpits today.
Just feeling sorry or a sense of remorse does not mean that one having such feelings has repented. Judas Iscariot was full of remorse for what he had done to the Lord Jesus when he betrayed him but Judas did not repent. Esau, Jacob’s brother grieved over selling his birthright to gratify his fleshly appetite and after when he sought it with a remorse he never repented. As the author of Hebrews writes; “that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears” (Hebrews 12:17).
It is interesting to note that all of the men God used in the Bible and down through the history of the Church such as John Wesley, George Whitfield, William Booth and many others too numerous to name whom God used, firstly gave men the Law of God and what He desired from them and the eternal consequences in hell and the lake of fire, and that without a true repentance there could be no forgiveness of sin or an escape from hell and the lake of fire. Once the unsaved saw their predicament and hopelessness and eternal destiny and cried out to be saved, then they were given the grace and mercy of God. This was the pattern of apostolic preaching and of all true and faithful preachers of God’s Word in the Bible and down through the history of the Church.
On the Day of Pentecost those listening to Peter’s sermon knew that their religious activities and efforts to keep the law of God were in vain because they could not save themselves. The conviction of their sin of unbelief in the Messiah as their Saviour, Lord and as their Passover Lamb sacrificed for their sin, caused them to cast themselves upon God’s mercy and in their extremity actually said “what must we do?” Repentance was the first thing Peter said God required. As the Lord Jesus Himself said “Except you repent you will perish.”
The word “perish” does not imply a ceasing to exist or annihilation. It means something is cast aside because it can no longer be used for the purpose for which it was created but it still exists. The Bible does not teach annihilation. Heaven and Hell are real and tangible places. If the unsaved never have a revelation of the awful nature of their sin and its eternal consequences they will never appreciate the mercy and undeserved, unmerited favour and love of God. Now what comes after repentance?
“…and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins”
Baptism is the outward ordinance or declaration of the spiritual change that has occurred deep down on the inside of the person who has repented and been baptised (Romans 6:1-7). While it is not specifically mentioned faith in God is part of repentance. The two go together. While the act of baptism does not save you if you have been saved then you should be baptised. It is a command, not an option for every born again New Covenant believer. The word “baptised” is not the word used for sprinkling. The word describes “to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge or to plunge into water such as a sinking ship plunges into the sea, it implies “to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one’s self, bathe and to overwhelm or be overwhelmed or inundated by the water.”
Biblically and spiritually it demonstrates outwardly to others that the one baptised and having exercised saving faith in Messiah has died to their old life of habitual sin and risen to a new life in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:1-10). It signifies that one has repented towards God and has exercised faith in the Lord Jesus (Acts 20:21), that one has turned from a life serving sin and turned to a life serving God (Romans 11-14). Baptism demonstrates that one has become a new spiritual creation deep down on the inside that has changed their outward lifestyle (2 Corinthians 5:17). They now love the things God loves and hates the things God hates.
Baptism can be defined as a death and burial and a rising again to a new way of life. Infant baptism is not taught anywhere in scripture. Dedicating an infant is not the same as infant baptism. In scripture children were dedicated to God. A baby does not have the capacity to repent or to cognitively exercise faith. Repentance and faith are power twins that cannot be separated from each other even though they are distinct parts of the salvation process. We are not saved by Baptism but if we are saved then we will want to be baptised once we understand its spiritual significance scripturally.
Added to this baptism is not an outward cleansing but an outward mark or pledge of a conscience purged by the blood of Messiah. As Peter writes; “And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Messiah “(1 Peter 3:21). As the author of Hebrews writes; “…how much more will the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death (or lead to death), so that we may serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:14). And then we read…
“…in the name of Jesus Messiah” This does not negate the command of the Lord Jesus to baptise new converts in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit which is what is involved with Biblical Baptism as taught in the New Testament. In this context here in Acts Peter used the name Jesus because it identified the one being baptised with the Lord Jesus Israel’s Messiah. Peter was addressing the Jews and the Jewish religious leaders concerning the true nature and atoning work of the Messiah and identifying Him as their Messiah, and that God had placed in that name all of His authority as the one through whom they could be saved. As Peter later declared before the Sanhedrin; “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts4:12).
“…for the forgiveness of your sins” Before there is forgiveness there must first be repentance, faith and baptism being inseparable components of the work of salvation. When one approaches God in this way then forgiveness of sin is bestowed freely and in abundance once there has been repentance from sin and faith exercised towards God. As we read in the prophet Isaiah; “Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely (abundantly) pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7). Forgiveness for sin is bestowed because of the redeeming power of the blood of Jesus. As we read in Ephesians; “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding” (Ephesians 1:7-8).
When we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness by the blood of Messiah (1 John 1:7-9). There is awesome spiritual power in the blood of Messiah and Satan and all the dark powers of Hades know this to be absolutely true. When you or I as a New Covenant believer declare openly by faith what the Bible says the blood of Jesus does for us then its power is released and the devils flee! Satan has no power over us when we plead over our lives the blood of Messiah (Revelation 12:14). Once we have repented, believed, been baptised and received the forgiveness of sin then we can go head and ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit. And so Peter continues…
“…and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” We need to keep in mind that Peter was preaching to unsaved people who did not have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of them as a well of eternal life, but that they were now able to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in His fullness as the 120 had received. In the case of the 120 they were already indwelt by the Spirit, having been born again and also baptised or immersed into His full power for witnessing and service for the Lord Jesus (Luke 24:49) (Acts 1:8; 2:4). What Peter was telling them was that now that the Holy Spirit had been given in His fullness of power that they could get the full and complete spiritual package deal! They could repent, believe, be baptised and by faith reach out and receive the Holy Spirit in all of His fullness of power.
The phrase “to receive” itself does not imply a passive waiting on the Holy Spirit to do something, but an action of the will that reaches out to embrace Him, to invite Him, and to take hold of Him as the one who has already been poured and who is to be received by faith (Galatians 3:2). The meaning of the phrase “to receive” means “to lay hold of something, to apprehend something offered, to reach out for it, to receive it and not to refuse or reject it, to appropriate to one’s self.” Now we also need to know that the Holy Spirit is not someone we can get hold of and use as we will, but He is God the Spirit who wants to get hold of us and use us according to His infinite, perfect, good, loving, sensitive, wise and divine will as the third person of the Trinity within the Godhead. We also know that when one is baptised or filled with the Holy Spirit, the first of many subsequent fillings to come (Ephesians 5:18), that there will be power in testimony and in service for the Lord Jesus (Luke 24:45-49) (Acts 1:8).
The overflow of the Spirit’s power will see the one baptised with Him speaking boldly for the Lord Jesus and testifying to the works of God (Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 9:17-20; 10:44-48; 19:1-7). Some will prophecy; others will speak in a language they have not learnt, while others will find adequate words to express in their own language which they were not previously able to do. The one common factor will be boldness in witnessing for the Lord Jesus accompanied by a supernatural power to work for Him. Through the new birth we are enlisted into the Lord’s army. The baptism with the Holy Spirit furnishes us with the weapons and armour we need to fight the spiritual battle that awaits all who are baptised with the Holy Spirit. The baptism withe the Holy Spirit launches us into the arena of spiritual conflict and He will give differing gifts according to His will and not ours and that are in line with the avenue of service and ministry God has foreordained for us (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) (Romans 12:6-8) (Ephesians 4:11-13). And then we read what else Peter said to his hearers…
“For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” The promise was the gift of the Holy Spirit promised by God the Father (Luke 24:49). The gift of the Holy Spirit was for “you” being the Jews gathered there that day at Pentecost, “for your children” being their physical offspring, “and for all who are far off” being the Gentiles to be saved and baptised withe the Holy Spirit, “as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself” being every New Covenant believer in every age up until the Second Coming of Messiah which of course as yet has not happened.
What the 120 experienced on the day of Pentecost can be experienced by those who repent, and believe in Him who shed His blood to atone for their sins, are baptised, and who reach out by faith and receive the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised to give to those who surrender their lives completely to Him without reservation (Luke 11:13). And then we read what Peter also said to them and he did not mince his words but told them in no uncertain terms what they were to do next. It was not a motivational speech as such!
“And with many other words he (Peter) solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, be saved from this perverse generation!” So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.” Once Peter had told them the steps they needed to take in order to be put into a right standing with God he did not give them smooth soft words of comfort but admonished them to remain faithful to God. Peter “solemnly testified” and did not engage in some kind of benign emotional mollycoddling exercise but with an imperative command, with a sense of urgency in it, kept on exhorting them. The word “exhorting” has multiple meanings and describes “to admonish, to entreat, to comfort, to instruct to beg, to entreat, to console, to beseech, to strive, to encourage, to strengthen to instruct and to teach.” Salvation is no light matter but an experience that saves a person from the clutches of the devil, from the power of sin and yes it is the only fire escape from hell, and that also produces a life that pleases God with real meaning and purpose that ultimately leads to spending an eternity in His presence instead of cut off from Him in perpetual darkness and abject despair forever. In fact scripture tells us why the Son of God Himself was revealed to men. “
The apostle John wrote; “Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Messiah is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning (habitually), because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:7-9).
Peter was telling them “to be saved” the word describes “to be kept safe and sound, to be rescued from danger and destruction, to be saved from perishing, to be made well from disease and to be restored to health, to be preserved from danger and destruction and to be rescued” to be saved from, or out of, or to flee from “this perverse generation!” The word “perverse” can be described as something that is “crooked, curved, wicked, arrogant, domineering, sullen, obstinate, perverse and wilfully disobedient.” Such is the unsaved world and one who is truly saved will not have their life being squeezed into the world’s mould but into God’s mould revealed in the scripture. Peter’s hearers were to flee from the wicked and perverse or crooked generation in which they all lived.
Today we live in a generation that is wicked, perverse, rebellious towards God, and filled with lust, greed, violence, sodomy, gross spiritual deception and every other kind of evil you can think of. Just as it was in the days of Noah before the flood so this generation is just like it was in Noah’s day as the Lord Jesus said it would be before God’s judgement swept away the wicked (Matthew 24:36-41). Salvation is that inner deep spiritual and supernatural work of God’s Spirit deep within the human soul made possible by the one “who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Galatians 1:4-5). A salvation that leaves a sinner in their sin is not Biblical salvation. In the work of Biblical salvation we are set free from slavery to the grip of sin by the blood of Jesus the Messiah (Revelation 1:5b).
The apostle Paul makes this clear when he writes; “But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness” (Romans 6:17-19).
And now finally we read in our text here in Acts; “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.” When the Holy Spirit does His convicting and converting results it is always powerful and effective and souls are saved. Having said this it was not the result of the sound of something akin to a violent wind that came from heaven that filled the house where the 120 were sitting, or what seemed to be tongues of fire that individually rested upon the 120, neither was it the manifestation of languages that arrested the attention of the great crowd that caused them to be saved, but it was the preaching of the Word of God accompanied by the convicting and converting work of the Spirit of God that was the means of their salvation. In the New Testament miracles, signs and wonders followed the preaching of the Word but were never substitutes for it (Mark 16:20) (Acts 2:43) (Acts 4:29-31).
When you look at the ministry of the Lord Jesus in the gospels healing the sick and the driving out of demons in huge crowds these always accompanied and followed His preaching of the scriptures but were never substitutes for it. A person may be physically healed but if they are not saved through the preaching of the Word of God then they will still end up in hell. Saving faith and spiritual growth in faith come when the Word of God becomes an inner spiritual revelation deep down on the inside because scripture says that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). So it was the preaching of God’s Word that caused repentance and through the power of the Holy Spirit produced faith to believe and to be baptised and receive the Holy Spirit in His fullness of power. To be saved one must repent, believe in the Lord Jesus as their personal saviour and Lord, be baptised and by faith receive the Holy Spirit. This is what Peter told that great crowd on the day of Pentecost and 3,000 were saved in one day!
Epilogue:
We live in a time when the final apostasy is well under way within wider Christendom and where in most churches in the western democracies the gospel of the kingdom has become a watered down and somewhat sanitized message. Many have an emotional spiritual experience that does not go deep down on the inside of them and they continue to live as the world lives which is fostered by the hyper faith prosperity, have it good in this world teachers and the Kingdom Dominion advocates. The subjects of hell, heaven, judgement, the need for righteousness, the power of sin and spiritual deception, the danger of apostasy, the Biblical warnings about not being conformed in our living to the pattern of the unsaved world, and of the Second Coming of Messiah and the wicked and perverse conditions in the world preceding it, are truths sadly neglected and in many cases ignored or sanitized to the point where there is no conviction of sin and the serious need of Biblical repentance. While Bible prophecy itself can be a very powerful and effective spiritual weapon in evangelism it is sadly neglected in so many pulpits today. Everyone wants to know about the future and the Bible is the perfect weapon to use in this matter. When you read both Testaments you see Eschatology and righteous living connected.
Many into the miracles, signs and wonders and prosperity, hyper faith and have things good in this world and taking kingdom dominion do not exegete the scriptures or are capable of rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Feel-good sermons, motivational talks laced with scripture and emotional stories that appeal to self-esteem and that scratch the itching ears of those who do not want to hear the truth, but only hear what they want to hear from their preachers, and not what they need to hear, is a conspicuous mark of multitudes of churches today in the post Christian nations in the west today that are now neo-pagan ones!
As Paul writes to Timothy his protégé in the faith once delivered to the saints; “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:2-5).
C.H. Spurgeon the great expositor of scripture who lived in the nineteenth century made a prophetic statement when he said; “A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats!” When you look at modern Christendom in the western democracies today traditionally associated with Biblical Judeo- Christianity historically which today are neo-pagan, you can clearly see the last great apostasy or falling away from the Biblical faith once delivered to the saints. The Lord Jesus Himself said that at the end of this age which we are now living that because of the increase of wickedness on earth that the love of most professing Christians will grow cold but he who has endured to the end will be saved! (Matthew 24:12-13).
While millions are being saved in third world countries today where there is daily persecution, affliction, marginalization from society, imprisonment, martyrdom and hardship because of their loyalty first and foremost to the Lord Jesus and to the Word of God, and where they continue to proclaim the uncompromised Word of God, by contrast in the west you have seeker-sensitive, seeker-friendly, kingdom Dominion, faith prosperity, ecumenism and un-Biblical doctrines and practices where the truth of God’s Word is masked and filtered and in many cases just simply laid aside and replaced by the religious traditions, and commandments of man and in the euphoria of seeking miracles, signs and wonders, visions, dreams and supernatural manifestations of one kind or another. All kinds of counterfeit miracles signs and wonders we see today are paving the way for the revealing of the man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).
Dreams and visions have their place within the wider Body of Messiah (Acts 2:17), however nothing can replace the preaching of God’s Word anointed by the Holy Spirit. As God Himself said through the prophet Jeremiah; “Let the prophet who has a dream retell it, but let him who has My word speak it truthfully. For what is straw compared to grain?” declares the LORD. “Is not My word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that smashes a rock?” (Jeremiah 23:28-29). Many so called ‘prophets’ (profits) today are having dreams and visions of one sort or another, and they always need to be tested by the Word of God, and we are instructed in scripture to test all things including prophecies (1 Thessalonians 5:21) (1 Corinthians 14:22). There is nothing to compare with the nutritious spiritual grain of God’s Word to spiritually feed the soul and spirit. It is only the power of God’s Word fuelled by the Spirit of God that can burn up the dross of sin and smash the rock hard stubborn hearts of men and women enslaved to sin.
When you look at Peter’s sermon we have a Biblical Revelation of Apostolic Preaching. Right throughout scripture repentance always came first before anything else that was preached. When you look at the ministry of the prophets, the Lord Jesus, the apostles and men and the Spirit-anointed preachers down through Church history they all gave men and women first of all the Law of God and the judgements to come and then after that the love and mercy of God. Unless men and women see the awfulness of their sin and rebellion against a righteous and just God, the coming judgements, and an eternity facing them in the lake of fire, and see that they cannot keep God’s laws but have violated His laws and stand guilt before Him, they will never appreciate the grace, the mercy, the forgiveness of sin and the love of God for them, and the salvation He has provided for them through the cross of the Messiah our Lord Jesus whose shed blood has fully atoned for their sins. This sermon from the Apostle Peter was indeed Apostolic Preaching!
