Sermon Tone Analysis

Back to the Basics

acts2

The Church can be a confusing place, especially for those new to the Faith.

This is not only the place where we come to gather and worship God by singing and hearing Gods Word preached.

We gather to pray together, receive communion together, grow in our faith and understanding by studying Gods word together in community groups and men’s and women's ministries.

We practice Baptism, we give generously to both the church and to world missions, we practice membership which is a means of accountability.

we have devotional times of private prayer and bible reading, and we view those around us in our local church as true family members.

The church is more than a place we come, a building, or a thing we do, singing giving serving and listening...

We are the Church… we are those who make up the church as those who God has called to himself by the preaching of the Gospel and the Power of his Spirit.

And we can’t really come to him unless we are willing to Repent of sinfulness and publicly identify with Christ in his death burial and resurrection.

Being a Christian is not a once or twice a week thing… it is not a western religion… Rather it is a wholistic way of life that starts now and continues through eternity.

It is based on the finished work of Christ!

Salvation is received by Grace alone, through Faith alone, in Christ alone, to the Glory of God alone and all this is found in Scripture alone!

And it can be complex… yet it is truly simple.

Today as we look at the text my desire is to show us that we need to return back to the basics when it gets too complex...

Many have tried to look at the early church found in Acts and have made statements about how we should be now, and they put all the emphasis on Miracles, signs and wonders, or try calling the church to be a home church model, or even use it as a reason why we can’t have material things if we want to be Christians.

I would assert to you that all these thoughts are out of balance and not what we truly see happening in the early church.

There are Basics to our beliefs that we must see and continue to practice.

May our hearts be prepared to return to the basics of the church in an effort to see it continue until the Lord himself shall come back for her.

Lets look at the text!

acts2.37-

For those of you who were not here last week and didn’t get to listen to it online yet, what we saw is that Peter preached the Gospel to this large crowd and he preached a Crucified and resurrected Jesus.

we shared the the Gospel doesn’t just Grow you, First the Gospel wins you...

It was a reminder to Preach the Gospel and evangelize this world as part of the mission of God.

What we see before us today is what the response to preaching the Gospel brings.

the Basics of becoming a Christian.

So what are they?

In vs 37 we see that they Hear the Gospel being preached… Let’s not assume the obvious.

The Gospel is not a thing to do, but a Message to be Proclaimed

If we are preaching a gospel that declares we need to DO things, then it isn’t the Gospel.

The Gospel is a message that Screams DONE! Christ did for us what we could not do for ourselves… And the reward of HIS work is freely given to those who believe it!

And this is because God is good not be cause we are good.

In Fact the Bible tells us that we are sinful and we are not good, yet Christ dies for us while we were still sinners!

This is Good News and it is the message of the Gospel!

Let us never assume the Gospel… What I mean is lets not pretend that everyone knows this and that we ever need to move on from it, as if it is only the message that saves us but then we move on to deeper things.

there are not deeper truths than the God who saves his undeserving people by pure Grace.

Tim Keller says it best this way… “The Gospel is not the A,B,C’s: Rather it is the A-Z’s of our Faith”

We never move away from the Gospel!

So in Vs. 37 we see that they Hear the Gospel and this causes them to be “Cut to the Heart”, meaning they are truly broken over their sin!

If you heard the Gospel and were indifferent to it, you probably didn’t receive it, you just agreed with it.

Becoming a Christian means first become broken over your sin and seeing that you are in need of a Savior.

They were “cut to their hearts” and this caused them to ask, “what must we do”.

When the Gospel is preached people will almost feel hopeless because their need is so great for God’s forgiveness… Yet there is nothing we can do… we cannot do anything to earn a right for our sins to be forgiven… But we must acknowledge that.

We need to be honest about our Sin.

Sin is the bad news.

We are guilty of Sinning against God.

Yet the Gospel is good news.

So how does this work together???

The Bad news is the backdrop to the Good News

Only Sinners need a Savior… and God has provided one for them in Christ!

We can be forgiven in Christ when we believe on him and in his work on our behalf when he was crucified.

So what must we do?

what must you do? what must they do, when they first hear the Gospel being preached?

REPENT!

Turn from your sinful ways and turn towards Christ!

Forsake your former life and receive a new life in Christ!

Vs 38 say to Repent, meaning publicly acknowledge your sin and need for Christ and by Gods Spirit empowering you, no longer live doing the same sinful things.

Repent and be Baptized.

Baptism is a command for believers that signifies Several things

Baptism signifies a cleansing and remission of sins, it signifies us being made new or regenerated by the Holy Spirit, it signifies us publicly identifying with Christs death, burial, and resurrection, being adopted into the family of God, and being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

In Short Baptism is one of the Signs of the New Covenant God has made with us through the work of Christ.

We are commanded to be baptized by scripture and this is an act of obedience by people who profess Faith in Christ.

Baptism itself does not save, Only Jesus saves… But Baptism is a sign of us accepting this salvation and identifying publicly with Christ.

“We do not need to be baptized to be saved, but if we are saved, then we will get baptized.”

Al Mohler

Now for some in this room there is some tension because you come from a background or tradition that baptizes babies or young children.

I would first say to you that you are very welcome in this church even though we practice what is called Credo-Baptism is the practice of Baptizing only those who are able to make a credible profession of Faith.

It is also called believers Baptism.

While Living water is a church that practices CredoBaptism you are welcome here and even into membership if you are PaedoBaptist, as long as you have been baptized or are willing to get baptized.

Living water is a Credo Baptist church but we are paedo-baptist friendly… meaning we do not teach or practice paedo baptism...but we will not place someone under discipline [for holding that view].

It’s a significant doctrinal issue, but secondary.

And though we view it as a secondary matter, some brothers and sisters might be very uncomfortable sitting under teaching that is decidedly believers-baptism-only and where their church leaders refuse to baptize infants.

So they they were instructed to Repent, Be Baptized.

The understanding they are given is that they should do this because Jesus is God and he forgives sin, and when sin is forgiven and we are made new, the Holy Spirit dwells in us… This is a promise given all through scripture that is now fulfilled and this is for all that God would call to himself.

I would also be quick to point out that while you can see some of the doctrines of Grace here, things like the doctrine of election - all those who God calls to himself, Limited atonement - the forgiveness of sins, etc...

there is no need to push these to forefront of our evangelizing.

These teachings can come later in discipleship as one is made new and starts to understand HOW God saves us and keeps.

The important thing to see is that the Gospel call goes out and those God saves will have a response.

acts2.40

Notice that Luke, the writer of Acts, is telling us that Peter’s sermon was longer than what we have before us here in scripture but this is exactly what we need to know about what he said.

All of what we have is important to the Gospel message and one other thing...

Save yourself from this crooked generation… Now to be sure Peter was not saying that there is something we can do to Save ourselves outside of repenting and believing in Christ.

What he is saying here is that there is a difference from God’s children he saves and this world that is a crooked generation.

This becomes a common phrase meant to show contrast between gods people and those who reject Gods grace.

It was first seen in the OT when moses is giving his final address to the children of Israel in

deut32.5

Moses says people Gods creation is now corrupt and twisted, they are blemished by sin and now crooked.

this is a sentiment that Paul repeats in his teaching to the Philippians about being different from the rest of the people in the world.

So when Peter is saying they save themselves from this crooked generation, he is appealing to them to cry out to Jesus in making them different from the rest of this broken world.

Peter is simply pointing out the sinfulness of all of humanity and the hope they can have to be saved!

acts2.41-

Now we have no indication that everyone who was there believed and was baptized, but rather only those who recieved his words.

And of those who were there… 3,000 believed and were baptized.

Gods church is now being established as it expands from 120 to 3,000 in just 10 days and an instant.

What should these new believers now do?

what will be the norm for the church, and what are the basics that must be started for this newly founded body of believers???

acts2.42

From this one verse we can see 4 ways that the church can be healthy and stable.

these are foundations and basics to Christianity and the Church.

What do we see here?