Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

What is Christian conversion?

When we tell our friends, our family, and our co-workers the gospel… aiming to persuade them to believe… what should we try to persuade them to do?

Once a person is converted… once they’ve crossed over from spiritual death to spiritual life, from sinful rebellion against God to glad submission, from lost to saved… what then?

Is that it?

Is conversion all there is, or does Christianity make a difference in a person’s life the day after they’ve “surrendered all” to Jesus?

And what’s God’s role in all of this?

During our last time together in the book of Acts, we considered the concept of “the day of the Lord.”

At Pentecost, the Apostle Peter told the crowd that what they were seeing and hearing was what the Old Testament prophet Joel had said would take place at “the day of the Lord” (Joel 2:1, 11, 31; cf.

Acts 2:20).

On Pentecost, in first-century Jerusalem, the great and awesome “day of the Lord” was upon them; and that meant both judgment and salvation.

Judgment for Israel’s sin and rebellion against God’s covenantal laws, but also salvation for those who looked to Jesus as both Lord and Christ (i.e., King and Savior), even the same Jesus they had crucified.

There is no doubt that the book of Acts (as well as the Gospels before it) means to tell us that ethnic Israel (those under the Mosaic covenant) was finally facing God’s unleashed judgment for centuries of idolatry and wickedness.

Though God’s old covenant people had been given a multitude of chances and warnings, they consistently disobeyed the only true God.

They adopted the same corrupt practices and pagan deities as other nations, and they even wrapped it all up in what they thought was a righteous bow.

But Peter’s message at Pentecost was clear… The bill has come due, and the collector is at the door.

There is also no doubt that the Bible means to tell us that the judgment that did fall upon Israel way back then is something of a microcosm of the judgment that will fall ultimately upon the whole world… when the “day of the Lord” arrives in full… for all of us.

Just as Israel repeatedly and heinously sinned against God, so too does all humanity.

Every one of us (with a little honest introspection) must admit our own horrific indifference towards God and His laws.

Throughout our lives, we have willingly overstepped and arrogantly neglected the reasonable obedience due to the God who has made us and who sustains us every second.

And we are not unique as sinners… the whole world is full of sinners just like us.

So, Peter’s warning of impending judgment and his offer of salvation are basically the same for us (and everyone else) today.

But the questions I want to consider with you now are the ones I asked a moment ago.

These are the questions I think are answered for us in our passage this morning.

The book of Acts begins with a small band of confused disciples, and by the time we get to the end of chapter 2, we have a thriving mega-church with meaningful membership and even a basic structure of teaching and discipling.

How did that happen?! What did they do?!

And how might we implement their strategy in our own context?

Lord willing, we will see that it’s actually not that complicated… and we will see that God expects us (as well as every Christian before and after us) to do exactly as they did, all the while trusting in God’s wisdom and power to build His New Covenant people (among numerous local churches) in whatever way He sees fit.

Let’s turn now to Acts chapter 2. I’m going to begin in v36 (overlapping a little with our last reading, so we can pick up properly), and I’ll read through the end of the chapter.

Scripture reading

Acts 2:36–47 (ESV)

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.

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Main point

Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, God creates a New Covenant people, marked off from the world and united by shared devotion.

Message

1.

The Heart of Christianity

The heart of Christianity is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we see Peter’s gospel presentation come to its climactic point in v36, the first verse of our passage this morning.

Peter said that all the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob could “know for certain that God [their God – the God of the Bible – Yahweh God] has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus…” (v36).

It may or may not be clear to you but ascribing these two terms (“Lord” and “Christ”) to Jesus is a summary of the gospel… at least for anyone who understands what the Bible means when it uses such words as “Lord” and “Christ.”

“Lord” is the title given only to God in such a context as we’re reading here.

The word translated “lord” in the Bible (κυριος or אֲדֹנָי adonai) can refer to anyone who is a ruler or master, but in the biblical worldview there is only one divine“Lord.”

Now, from the OT perspective, there was an anticipation of a supreme earthly “lord” (as distinct from the one divine Lord), but the earthly “lord” could only refer a descendent of Israel’s king, the rightful heir of God’s kingdom on earth (Psalm 110).

“Christ” is basically a transliteration of the Greek word χριστος, which is a translation of the Hebrew word מָשִׁיַח or messiah.

Christ and Messiah both mean the same thing, which is simply “anointed one.”

Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets spoke of one who was to come, one who would be the“Christ” or the “Messiah” who would restore God’s people (Daniel 9:25) and reign as King over all the earth (Psalm 2).

Either of these titles (“Lord” or “Christ”) ascribed to Jesus would be an obvious claim to His identity as the culmination of all God’s promises of “blessing” for everyone who “takes refuge in him” (Psalm 2).

But the combination of these words, both simultaneously given to Jesus, is an unmistakable announcement.

Jesus is “both Lord and Christ” (v36), but what does that mean for those hearing such an announcement?

Well, as we talked about earlier, it means that both judgment and salvation come through Jesus… That was true for Israel then, and it’s true for us now.

Jesus confronts us in our sin, reminding us that there is coming a day when He Himself shall return to “repay each one for what he [or she] has done” (Revelation 22:12).

And Jesus offers sinners like us grace and mercy, having given Himself as the atoning sacrifice under God’s wrath.

The Bible teaches us that “the righteousness” [i.e., the moral perfection] of God Himself comes to “all who believe” in Jesus Christ, because Jesus was “put forward” at the cross “as a propitiation” [i.e., a means of forgiveness] “to be received by faith” (Romans 3:22-25).

This is the very thing Peter promised his hearers on the day of Pentecost.

Look at v38.

Peter said that those who repent and believe will have “forgiveness of sins,” and – more than that – they will “receive the Holy Spirit” (v38).

As we’ve said many times before, this means full restoration of all that was lost in Genesis 3! Man’s sin no longer counted against him, and God no longer distant and incensed… All is reconciled, and God is with man!

This is glorious, to be sure… This is the promise of the gospel!

But there’s still one more promise or result of this gospel which I want to highlight in the passage.

v41 tells us that “those who received [Peter’s] word [i.e., they believed the gospel I’ve been explaining here] were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”

To what were these 3,000 people added?

They were added to the existing number of Jesus’s disciples (about 120 [Acts 1:15])!

They were added to the New Covenant people of God!

They were added to the young church that was just begun in Jerusalem!

This is what I meant when I said (in my main point), through the gospel of Jesus Christ, God creates a New Covenant people…

But how does God create a New Covenant people throughor by the proclamation of the gospel?

He does it by saving or transforming or converting some of those sinners who hear the gospel for what it is… as supremely good news.

2. Christian Conversion

When the gospel is proclaimed, some people will ignore it.

Others will think it foolish.

And still others will hate and oppose it.

But sometimes, the hearer of the gospel will be convinced that the message is true.

And they will come to believe/trust/have-faith-in not only the message but the Savior and Lord who is the substance of that message.

Why do some people believe the message of the gospel, while others reject or ignore it?

Why did some of you respond to Jesus Christ with faith and repentance, even though your lost family members and friends have not?

Are you smarter than non-Christians?

Are you more sincere?

Are you just more spiritually in-tune than those who do not now believe and follow Jesus?

I hope you know that there’s nothing originating in you that makes you better or more deserving or more capable of Christian conversion than anyone else.

The Bible makes it clear that God is the one who grants spiritual fools the gift of spiritual understanding (1 Corinthians 2:12-14); God shines glorious light into dark and blinded minds of unbelief (2 Corinthians 4:3-6); God, “being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved [sinners like] us,” brings to spiritual life those who once were “dead in their trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1-5).

Praise God that He not only calls to sinners in a general way, urging us to repent and to believe… but He calls forth life from the depths of our dead souls… and creates within us what wasn’t there before!

…That’s what it means to be converted!

But that’s Christian conversion from cruising altitude… It’s like looking down from a theological height that gives you a sort of God’s-eye-view of conversion.

What about Christian conversion on the ground?

What does it look like up-close, when a spiritually dead sinner hears the gospel and somehow comes to life?

How are believing Christian converts marked off from the world of unbelievers?

In our passage, Peter called his hearers to do two things explicitly, and a third thing implicitly… and all of these are features of Christian conversion.

Let’s look at them.

In v37, we read the heartfelt plea of some of Peter’s hearers that day.

They asked, “what shall we do?”