Acts 2:22-41: The Church Is Born

Acts 2:22-41: The Church Is Born

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of Acts, and today the next passage we come to is Acts 2:22-41 as the passage upon which today’s message will be based. Acts 2:22-41:

22 “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— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him, “ ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ 29 “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. 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, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 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. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’ 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.” 37 Now 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?” 38 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. 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.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

We’ve been going through the book of Acts passage by passage, and today the passage we come to is Acts 2:22-41. And let’s pray before we go any further. [Prayer]

One of the tendencies that we have in this modern age is that we’re always looking for better ways to do things—ways that are easier and more effective and more efficient. And that mentality has certainly served us well in many areas. I know that I, for one, am very glad, for example, that washing machines have been invented so that I don’t have to rub my clothes on a washboard in order to get them clean. I’m glad that indoor plumbing has been invented so that I don’t have go to an outhouse to use the facilities in the middle of winter. I’m glad that the assembly line has been invented so that cars are in a price range that most people can afford. And to bring things more up-to-date, I’m certainly glad for the smartphone that—at least for me—seems to connect to virtually every part of my life—making it all more efficient and more convenient. So there’s no question that innovation has changed our lives in some incredible ways. We’ve been quite successful in figuring out better ways to do things—ways that are much easier and more efficient. 

Yet, unfortunately, there are many who have taken this mentality and applied it to the church in a very unhealthy way. One area where we see this is in a movement often known as liberalism. And I’m not talking about political liberalism but rather theological liberalism. It started back in the 1800’s when a growing number of theological scholars began to view certain biblical doctrines as…well…inconvenient to believe. For example, modern people don’t really want to believe in miracles any more, so let’s just stop believing in miracles. And of course, in order to do that, we’re going to have to stop believing in the inerrancy of the Bible—that the Bible is truth without any mixture of error. And on and on they went—trying to eliminate all of the doctrines that people might find difficult to believe. Perhaps a good word for what they thought they were doing was optimizing. Kind of like someone might optimize their computer by getting rid of a bunch of junk files and unnecessary programs, these liberal scholars sought to optimize Christianity. The only problem is that the doctrines they thought were unnecessary hindrances to Christianity are actually the central tenets of Christianity itself—so that without those doctrines the whole edifice of Christianity falls to the ground. That’s theological liberalism in a nutshell. In their quest to optimize Christianity, they’ve ended up losing Christianity. 

Yet they’re not the only ones who have taken our modern mentality of innovation and applied it to the church in an unhealthy way. Another movement has done that as well—one that I’ll call pragmatism. This movement doesn’t usually deny the central tenets of Christianity, but it certainly downplays many of them, especially those that are more offensive. The problem is often not so much what they do say but rather what they don’t say—the foundational Christian truths that are downplayed such as sin and judgment and the need for repentance. Instead, they prefer to keep the conversation almost exclusively focused on people’s felt needs—the desires people have for things like peace and joy and fulfillment in their lives. They’ve also taken advantage of the fact that people like to be entertained, so they’ve made their Sunday gatherings very entertaining. In some cases, one might even get the impression that entertainment is the main reason many people go to these churches. As a result, the ministry of these churches tends to be a mile wide and an inch deep. So that’s pragmatism. 

And there’s a common element that both liberalism and pragmatism are missing. These two movements are different from each other in many ways, but they’re alike in that they’re both missing one critical element: the gospel. They’ve either denied the gospel outright or downplayed the gospel more subtly, but either way, the gospel’s often missing to a large degree. Other things have been substituted in its place. And I feel l have to ask the question, could this be why Christianity in our society is so weak? Could this be why the influence of Christianity has been waning for quite some time now? You kind of have to wonder about that. 

Yet here in our main passage of Acts 2, we see something quite different. To set the context, Jesus has just commanded his disciples in chapter 1 to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in the surrounding regions around Jerusalem, and to the ends of the earth. Then two weeks ago, in the first half of chapter 2, we saw that the Holy Spirit came upon the early Christians and brought about some very unique phenomena such as the sound of a rushing wind and tongues of fire and the early Christians speaking in languages they didn’t even know. And here in Acts 2:22-41, the events that have been unfolding reach their climax. Peter preaches the gospel, and the church is born. That’s the main idea of this passage. Everything happening here can basically be boiled down to that. Peter preaches the gospel, and the church is born. And if that sounds simple, that’s because it is. The simplicity of that statement reflects the simplicity of the text. The church came into existence through the simple, straightforward, no frills, no gimmicks, apparently even spontaneous preaching of the gospel—and that from a simple fisherman. Imagine that, right? This simple fisherman named Peter just preached the gospel, and the church was born. 

And by the way, what a difference we can see here as we compare the Peter of Acts 2 with the Peter from before Jesus’ crucifixion. Back in Luke 22, we saw Peter behaving in a rather cowardly manner. When Jesus is arrested, Peter denies even knowing him. And he does that not once but three times. And one of those denials was even in a conversation with a servant girl—one of the lowest people in the social order of ancient society. Yet Peter’s so scared of her that he won’t even admit to her that he’s one of Jesus’ followers. But here in Acts 2, Peter’s basically a brand new person, isn’t he? Cowardly Peter is nowhere to be found, and instead we find a Peter who’s courageous and who boldly testifies to a crowd of thousands about Jesus. And of course, that difference is a result of the coming of the Holy Spirit. What a difference the Holy Spirit makes in a person’s life! No wonder Jesus told his disciples back in chapter 1 not even to attempt their mission of spreading the gospel until the Spirit came. What we’re seeing here in Acts 2 isn’t Peter. It’s the Spirit working through Peter in a truly marvelous way. And may he be pleased to work through us as well. 

So what did Peter talk about in his sermon? Well, you may remember from a couple weeks ago how the crowds that were present asked the question in verse 12, “what does this mean”? The sound of a rushing wind came from heaven and tongues of fire rested on the Christians and the Christians were speaking languages that they had never learned. So the people who saw all of this want to know, “what does this mean?” So Peter spends the first part of his sermon—verses 14-21—answering their question. He explains that what’s happening is a partial fulfillment of the prophecy in Joel 2:28-32, where Joel speaks of various signs that will mark “the day of the Lord.” “The day of the Lord” is actually an era that begins when Jesus ascends into haven and concludes when he returns once again to the earth—an event that we’re still waiting for today. And according to Joel, this “day” is one where God’s Spirit is poured out on all flesh (verse 17) and one where “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (verse 21). So these unique phenomena of Acts 2 are intended to be signs that the day of the Lord has come. God’s doing something big. 

And Peter explains it in verses 22-23: 22 “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— 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 Jesus is the genuine Messiah that these Jews have been waiting for. This national hero who was prophesied throughout the Old Testament is finally here. The many miracles Jesus performed attest to that, Peter argues. And yet, his ministry was quite different than what people were expecting. This hero who was expected to lead God’s people to throw off the shackles of Roman oppression and usher in a new golden age of prominence and prosperity for Israel actually ended up being executed in the most painful and shameful and humiliating manner—crucifixion. 

Yet, according to Peter, this was all according to God’s plan. Jesus was “delivered up [to die on the cross] according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” Because, you see, our sins required a sacrifice. Somebody had to endure the punishment our sins deserved. And of course, typically, that “somebody” would be us. But Jesus endured the punishment we deserved. He endured not just the physical agony of crucifixion but the full fury of the wrath of God the Father against sin. He drank the cup of God’s wrath until there wasn’t a drop left. 

Yet that wasn’t the end of it. As Peter explains in verse 24, “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” Then Peter quotes Psalm 16:8-11 in order to show that this is precisely what David predicted. And Peter actually spends a total of nine verses explaining Jesus’ resurrection and showing how it’s a fulfillment of David’s prophecy. And that level of emphasis on the resurrection is actually pretty normal for apostolic preaching in the book of Acts. And you might wonder, why? Why would Peter spend one verse talking about the crucifixion and nine verses talking about the resurrection? Of course, we want to keep in mind that Luke is providing us with a summary of Peter’s sermon, but still—assuming this summary accurately reflects the emphases of the original sermon—why such a focus on the resurrection? And I believe the answer is tied to the fact that Jesus’ resurrection served to vindicate him and show that he really was the Messiah. That would have been a hard pill to swallow for these Jews since they were expecting a Messiah who was quite different than Jesus—a Messiah who would lead them to political and military triumph, not one who would die the shameful death of a criminal. Such a suggestion would have sounded scandalous to the ancient Jewish mind. Yet Jesus is vindicated by his resurrection. His resurrection showed that he was indeed the genuine Messiah sent from heaven to rescue God’s people—though not in the way they expected to be rescued. 

Peter then explains in verses 33-35 that Jesus was exalted to the Father’s right hand, where he now sits ruling and reigning over this world. Then Peter brings it all together in verse 36.  Everything he’s said throughout his whole sermon leads us to this one truth: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Jesus is “Lord” in the sense that he’s the Master of this entire universe—the one with all authority and dominion and power. And he’s also the “Christ,” which literally means “Messiah” or “Anointed One”—the one sent by God to rescue his people. 

So there you go. That’s the message Peter preached. That’s the gospel. And it’s the only gospel that has the power to save—as we’re about to see in the subsequent verses. But first, let’s just pause and take note of something. Notice what the gospel’s not. First, the gospel’s not rules for moral living. It’s not about how we can be a good person or how we can earn God’s acceptance and favor through our own moral efforts. Strictly speaking, the gospel actually isn’t even about us at all—it’s about Jesus. It’s a message not about us and what we should be doing but about Jesus and what he’s already done on our behalf. 

Also, in addition to that, the gospel’s not merely the message that God has a wonderful plan for your life and that you can enjoy great joy and peace and hope and personal fulfillment if you’ll embrace that plan. Of course, there’s nothing false about that statement, but that statement never quite makes it to the gospel. It’s like a rocket that’s trying to take off and there’s a lot of smoke and noise and everything else, but it never really achieves lift-off. And the reason it doesn’t achieve lift-off is because our main problem of sin is never explained—nor the judgment that goes along with our sin—and God’s remedy is never explained either—how Jesus atoned for our sins on the cross and then rose from the dead to secure our rescue. So, if you don’t have the problem and you don’t have the remedy, then we have to conclude that you don’t have the gospel. 

So Peter’s sermon is quite valuable because it defines the gospel for us—both what it is and what it isn’t. And continuing on in Acts 2, look at how Peter’s audience responds to his gospel preaching. 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 shall we do?’” Think about that phrase, “cut to the heart.” They were grieved—devastated, in fact. They realized, for the first time, that they had killed their Messiah. His blood was on their hands. And guys, there’s a very real sense in which we’re not all that different from them. Even though we may not have been the ones literally calling for Jesus’ crucifixion, it was our sins that made it necessary for Jesus to die. It’s not at all comfortable to think about, but you and I are just as culpable as they were. And until you feel the weight of your sin that way, you’re not ready to be saved. 

I’ve heard it said that “conviction is the key used by the Holy Spirit to open the heart to salvation.” In order to be saved, you first have to be convicted by the Holy Spirit of your sin. It’s kind of like a prerequisite course in college. Just about all colleges require prerequisites for certain classes. Like in order to take Biology 301, you first have to take Biology 201. And obviously, that’s because you’re not going to understand most of the material in Biology 301 without taking 201 first. It just wouldn’t make sense. And likewise, spiritually, the good news of the gospel won’t make sense to you if you haven’t first grasped the bad news of your sin. You have to grasp the fact that, no matter how good you’ve viewed yourself up to that point, you’re actually not good at all. The Bible says that you’re actually quite vile and that God views even your best works and your best moral achievements as nothing but filthy rags. That metaphor comes from Isaiah 64:6. And until you come to terms with that and begin to view yourself in that way—being “cut to the heart” as it were—you’re just not ready to be saved. You’re not ready to embrace the gospel. Because you can’t understand the solution without first understanding the problem, and you can’t appreciate the cure until you’ve first come to terms with the diagnosis. And that’s what we see happening here in verse 37. 

And in their distress, these people ask Peter the most important question anyone can ever ask: “What shall we do?” That’s the only question in life that really matters in any ultimate sense. “What shall we do?”—that is, what shall we do in order to be saved from our sins? 

And we see Peter’s response to that in verses 38-39: 38 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. 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.” So that’s what Peter tells them. The key phrase there, of course, is to “repent and be baptized.” Repentance means not just feeling sorry for our sin but actually turning away from our sin. It refers to a change in direction, where instead of running toward sin, we’re running toward Jesus. And repentance is the response to the gospel that’s consistently called for in the book of Acts and is always—either implicitly or explicitly—linked with faith in Jesus. Sometimes you find the Apostles calling for repentance without explicit mention of faith, and sometimes you find them calling for faith without explicit mention of repentance, and then sometimes you find them mentioning both. And that reflects the fact that repentance and faith are really two sides to the same coin. They’re inseparably intertwined. Faith should be read as a repentant faith, and repentance should be read as a faith-based repentance. 

And then, Peter says, not only do they need to repent, but they also need to be baptized. And this is a verse that’s been wildly misunderstood in some circles, unfortunately. Some will point to this text and argue that water baptism is necessary for salvation. Yet, not only does that contradict the clear teaching of Scripture in other places—passage after passage after passage in the Bible that teaches that we’re saved through faith alone—it’s also not the way the context of Peter’s statement here in Acts 2 leads us to interpret his statement. 

So what is Peter saying then? Well, the Greek word translated as “for” in this verse can mean “on the ground of” or “on the basis of.” You can find a very clear example of it functioning in that way in Matthew 12:41. That verse says of the people of Nineveh that “they repented at the preaching of Jonah.” The word “at” there is the same Greek word translated “for” in Acts 2:38. And obviously, in Matthew, the preaching of Jonah was the basis for their repentance. Their repentance didn’t bring about Jonah’s preaching; his preaching brought about their repentance. Likewise in Acts 2:38, the people’s baptism didn’t bring about their forgiveness; rather, their forgiveness led to them being baptized. So in summary, Peter here is calling on his hearers to repent, which is the means by which forgiveness will be granted to them, and then to be baptized to show or display or symbolize the forgiveness of their sins. Peter expected his converts to be baptized as a symbol of their forgiveness and as a way of making it public, not as a means of obtaining forgiveness. 

And that’s probably something that several people here this morning need to take into consideration. If you’ve become a Christian, you need to be baptized. Although baptism isn’t necessary for salvation, it is necessary to be obedient to the Lord. So if you haven’t yet been baptized by immersion after conversion, that’s something you need to do. I mean, look throughout the book of Acts. There’s no such thing as someone who becomes a Christian and isn’t baptized. 

Then moving forward in Acts 2, we find Peter’s final exhortation to his hearers in verse 40: “And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation.’” Think about that. “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” Guys, let me tell you something: every generation is crooked. And so, if you’re going to be a Christian, then you’re always going to be swimming upstream. You’re going to face the daily choice of whether to live for the approval and applause of society or for the glory of God. You know, it says of many of the Jewish religious leaders in John 12:43 that “they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” And that’s what kept them from embracing Jesus. “They loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” Don’t let that be true of you. Don’t let what was true of them be true of you. Your eternal salvation depends on your willingness to renounce “the glory that comes from man” and leave behind all concern about what this world thinks of you. Instead, you’ve got to be like Lot in Genesis 19 as he fled for his life from the city of Sodom. He had to flee without a second look back—and so do you. 

Then, returning to Acts 2, we see the incredible result of Peter’s sermon: 3,000 people come to faith in Jesus. Verse 41: “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” Imagine that…3,000 people! So the simple progression of this chapter is that the Holy Spirit comes, Peter preaches, and thousands are saved. It’s through the simple preaching of the gospel that the church is born. And I know this might sound like a radical idea, but how about we keep doing that? Why don’t we strive to be a church that relies not on gimmicks or on entertainment or on putting on a show for people but rather on the simple, unadulterated preaching of the gospel to sustain and grow the church? You know, we talk a lot about being gospel-centered around here. And part of what that means is that we don’t just affirm an accurate view of the gospel in our doctrinal statement but that we actually put our confidence in the power of the gospel to reach people. The gospel is Plan A, and we don't have a Plan B. Either God blesses our proclamation of the gospel, or this ship is sunk. Either the wind of the Holy Spirit blows and draws people to Christ through the faithful preaching of the gospel or nothing happens.

And we’re obviously not the biggest church in town or the fastest growing, but I think it’s nevertheless fair to say that God’s blessed our approach. Not only have we seen the gospel change people in radical ways, but our church is also the kind of church that—for me at least—is such a joy to be a part of. For example, I remember back when our church first started, the couple who was leading music for us very suddenly and unexpectedly wasn’t able to do that anymore. And, at the time, we didn’t have the resources we do now, so our options for getting someone else to lead music were pretty limited. So we went for 10 months without anybody leading music. A few of you probably remember that. Our music program was me pushing play on the Amazon Music app on my phone with an empty stage. That went on for 10 months. Yet, during that time, not a single person left. We actually saw some people join the church during that time. And I’ll tell you what: that season was obviously a very difficult one, but at the same time, it was such an encouragement to me—because it showed that the main attraction at our church was Jesus. People were coming because they loved Jesus, and they kept coming because they wanted to hear more about the glories of Jesus and the wonders of the gospel. And I’ll just say, what a blessing it is to be a part of a church like that. 

Also, for those who are Christians, let me encourage you in your own life and your own missionary efforts to put your confidence in the power of the gospel to make an impact on people. It’s not about how smooth you are or how smart you are. Just share the gospel, and trust that the Holy Spirit is going to use that. You don’t have to have a lot of personal charisma or be able to speak with eloquence or know all of the answers to questions people might ask. None of that is really necessary. Remember the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5: 1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. So it’s not about you and your eloquence or intelligence or sophistication but about the power of God working through the gospel. Let that be the source of your confidence. Kind of like swinging a hammer. When you swing a hammer in the proper way, you’re not the one doing most of the work, are you? No, it’s the weight of the hammer that’s doing the work. And similarly, when you share the gospel, just put your confidence in the power of the gospel itself—as the Spirit uses it—to do its work in people. We can plant and water with the confidence that God will bring the growth.