Sermon Tone Analysis

Acts 2:37-41

Faith of the Baptists — Believers’ Baptism (Part 1)

 

When they heard [Peter’s command] they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

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.

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.”

And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.[1]

Ask at random any dozen people what Baptists believe and it is almost guaranteed that each will tell you that Baptists believe in baptism.

This is not quite accurate.

Baptists are Biblicists; Baptists believe all that the Bible teaches, beginning with the revelation of Christ as Saviour and Lord of life.

Baptists are convinced of the fallen condition of mankind, the grace of God revealed through Jesus our Lord, and salvation through faith in Him who gave His life as a ransom and rose from the dead.

Consequently, we believe that each one who believes in Him should openly confess his or her faith through identification with Him in His death and resurrection.

We do not believe that one should perform a ceremony to coerce God into accepting him or her.

The biblical model for the initial confession of faith for any believer is baptism.

Though one should be cautious about developing a doctrine solely based on the historical account of the apostolic churches, certain elements of the ancient practise are seen to have been commonly and universally practised among the early churches.

If we desire to be identified as a New Testament church, we will make every effort to bring our own practise into line with the standard observed among those first churches.

One such practise that has been substantially altered among contemporary religious societies is baptism.

What should be evident from even a casual reading of the New Testament is that baptism was never meant to be slavific—it was intended as a means of identification and not as a means of redemption.

What should also be immediately evident is that only those who were saved were called to baptism, and baptism was conducted immediately for those who did believe.

I invite you to explore the purpose for this ordinance through considering the response of those who listened to the Apostle’s salvation message on that momentous Day of Pentecost.

The Question — Brothers, what shall we do?

The modern pulpit is dysfunctional.

Doctrine is seldom preached, and consequently, few people know what Christianity is.

A little boy asked his father, “Daddy, what is a Christian?”

The father explained carefully the biblical teachings of mankind’s sin and of Christ’s sacrifice for sin.

He spoke of the transformation that occurs in the life of one who is born from above.

When the little guy heard what a Christian should be, he asked, “Do we know one?”

Consider what Peter said to prompt his listeners’ response.

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 … you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it…

This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.

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…

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified [*Acts 2:22-24, 32, 33, 36*].

Let me put Peter’s sermon into concise, contemporary terms.

We are sinners.

We are responsible for the death of Christ.

As surely as though we drove the nails into His hands ourselves, we are the cause of His death, which was a sacrifice because of sinful people.

However, He did not remain dead, but He raised from the dead.

And now, God has poured out His Spirit on all who willingly accept this Jesus as Master of life.

Peter charged those listening to his message with deicide—God-murder, murder of the long-anticipated Messiah.

I question whether we can actually grasp the horror generated in the hearts of those hearing his words.

The Jewish people had awaited the advent of Messiah for centuries.

That hope had sustained them through exile, oppression and occupation by foreign troops.

Yet, when He appeared, the people rejected Him and murdered Him.

Peter was charging those listening with exalting their own distorted religious values above God’s offer of a Saviour and Lord.

Something like that has happened in our modern world.

We have adopted in the place of the Christian Faith that once prevailed what one set of researchers identify as Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, sociologists at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) have written a book entitled “The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers,” (Oxford University Press).[2]

After interviewing 3000 teenagers, these social scientists summed up their beliefs.

* A god who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.

* God wants people to be good, nice and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.

* The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.

* God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.

* Good people go to heaven when they die.

What these researchers describe is a reflection of the predominant religious views of society as a whole.

What the teens expressed is in fact simply a synthesis of the teaching of essentially all major religions—Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish and Christian.

Perhaps “Chicken Soup for the Soul” theology makes the adherent feel good about himself or herself, but it really has no basis in truth other than a vague feeling that it is right.

The message Peter delivered is the message that is still required today, and it is the message that is still rejected by those who are convinced that they can somehow justify themselves.

The Word of God is quite clear that,

 

None is righteous, no, not one;

no one understands;

no one seeks for God.

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one.

[*Romans** 3:10b-12*]

 

This truth is related to another dark truth that the wages of sin is death [*Romans 6:23*].

Because we face death, we know that there is an inherent flaw in our existence.

As one trained in the medical sciences, I know that the system is so designed that it should never wear out, and yet, we die.

Despite feedback mechanisms and repair systems built into the biochemical structure of each cell, the human body and all its associated systems grinds inexorably toward self-destruction and ultimately death.

What shall we do?

Each individual should ask this question.

What should we do concerning our sinful situation?

What should we do to honour God?  What should we do because we are sinners?

What should we do because we must give an answer to God who gave us our being?

What shall we do?

The Answer — When Peter’s listeners became his interlocutors, he responded to their query with one word—repent!

Turn around.

We have been thinking one way; we need to think another way.

We have attempted to be religious, to be good, to do things as we think best; now, we need to be saved.

What we cannot do ourselves—make ourselves acceptable to God—we must permit God Himself to do for us.

When Peter declared that first and foremost those asking what should be done were to repent, he was but repeating the message he had heard Jesus deliver.

Jesus was preceded in this declaration by John.

Mark’s Gospel begins by stating, John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins [*Mark 1:4*].

As Jesus began His ministry, His message was identical to that of John.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” [*Mark 1:14, 15*].

The word “repent” is a military term that meant, “About face.”

Originally, the word meant an “afterthought.”

In time, the word came to signify a change of heart and a subsequent change of actions.

Often the second thought leads to rejection of the first thought; but simply thinking right is not enough, one must also do right.

Repentance must involve both a change of mind and a change of action.

A man may change his mind and come to see that his actions were wrong but be so much in love with his old ways that he will not change them.

A man may change his ways but his mind remains the same, changing only because of fear or prudence.

True repentance involves a change of mind /and/ a change of action.

However, doing right is impossible until we are empowered to do so, and that is what God does for us when we “turn around.”

When we repent, He empowers us to do right.

We cannot go to church enough to make ourselves righteous.

We cannot do enough “good deeds” to make ourselves acceptable to God.

Though we may try ever so hard, we cannot be good.

We need someone who will set us free from all condemnation.