"What Shall We Do?": Responding to the Gospel

On the day of Pentecost, the audience who witnessed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit were perplexed. When Peter explained what had happened and how Jesus Christ, whom they had crucified, was in fact the Lord and Messiah, they were convicted. Perplexed and convicted. What do you do with that mixture of feelings?

            Among humankind’s greatest needs is the need to have God’s forgiveness. We carry a ton of guilt, even if we don’t always know its source. In the heart of every person is a sense of falling short, not measuring up, failing to be who they are supposed to be for themselves and others. They don’t know it, but the reason for this discomfort is the absence of relationship with God. Typically, individuals would not identify their need as God’s forgiveness, but that confession would heal the torn soul. 

            Telling someone that God forgives them may earn you a quizzical look. Sharing with them that Jesus died for the sins of the world will garner admiration. But revealing that we all put Jesus on the cross with our sins and that God forgives us by means of that cross will get a mixed reaction.          

            For those who “get it,” who understand that Jesus’ death is both our guilt and our salvation, they may wonder what to do with this good news. As with the audience on the day of Pentecost, they ask, “What shall we do?” How do you respond to the gospel?

 

“Cut to the Heart” – Conviction of Sin

 

Before we look at the response to the gospel, I want to unpack this phrase “cut to the heart.” This is the crowd’s response to Peter’s sermon "Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart…”

            If you remember, this is the same crowd that was present for the Passover, possibly the same people who shouted for Jesus’ crucifixion and callously watched him die on the cross. They were here again 50 days later for the feast of Pentecost. Now we read that they were “cut to the heart.” What changed? They saw Jesus heal the sick, preach the good news, and raise Lazarus from the dead. Nothing changed then, so why now?

            To be cut to the heart is to pierce or to stab at the heart. It doesn’t sound good. In the metaphorical sense, the audience was devastated by the news of what they had done. As Jesus said while he hung on the cross, “They don’t know what they are doing.” Was it enough that Peter explained it to them?

            A passage from Ezekiel gives us a clue of what happened "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh," (Ezekiel 36:26). This is something called regeneration. It refers to something being renewed. God initiates this regeneration. Just as Ezekiel said, God takes the heart of stone and renews it, gives it back its sensitivity to spiritual truth. Regeneration precedes faith since we were dead in our sins, and we could not respond to God’s voice. Dead people cannot be cut to the heart. 

            But when Peter preached the good news of Jesus to the crowd something happened. Coupled with our sharing the good news is the work of the Spirit reawakening the human spirit. The crowd hadn’t done anything yet, and still their heart went from stone to flesh. 

            For regeneration and the conviction of sin to happen, we bear witness to Jesus as Lord, and God shines a light on the darkened mind so that people can see Jesus. 

 

“Repent” – Changing Our Minds About Jesus

 

With their hearts awakened to the reality of Jesus’ blood on their hands, the audience asked Peter and the apostles, “What shall we do?” 

            Repentance has been analyzed for centuries. What does it mean to repent? The classic answer is that the person who realizes their sin before God makes a 180 degree turn in life. They were walking away from God; now they turn around and walk towards God seeking his grace and forgiveness. Sinclair Ferguson puts it eloquently, “Repentance is returning to a spirit of creatureliness before the Creator, in recognition of his mercy to penitent believers.” 

            Louis Berkhof, in his Systematic Theology (486), proposed that repentance has three elements. An intellectual one: a change of view regarding guilt; an emotional one: a change of feeling in which a person feels sorrow for sin; and a volitional one: a change of purpose where a person chooses to turn away from sin and seeks God’s pardon. 

            Berkhof was also known to say that repentance and the knowledge of sin precede faith that yields to Christ in trusting love. One repents and then believes. Well, he’s wrong. In scripture we see that faith and repentance are inseparable gifts of the Spirit. The words “repent” and “believe” are used interchangeably in the NT (Mk 1:15; Mt 3:2; Acts 2:38; Jn 3:16). In other words, when Peter tells the audience to “repent,” the response is that the people believe. Repentance is always believing. They cannot be separated. 

            But I propose that something more specific happened on Pentecost. When Peter told the people to “repent,” it was more than turning away from sin and turning to God. I think Peter meant for them to change their mind about Jesus. Where once they thought of Jesus as a Messianic pretender who threatened the status quo with his threats to change the temple and change the law, Jesus was now seen as the true Messiah, his body the temple, and the fulfilment of the law. Now they saw Jesus as the hope of Israel, their Lord and Christ. 

            To repent, then, means that we not only acknowledge our sin, but we also acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God. And if he is Lord, then our whole lives are forever reoriented so that when we bring our work, our relationships, our homes, and our ambitions under his mastery. 

 

 

“Be Baptized” – Declare Your Allegiance to Jesus

 

I am taking apart and analyzing pieces of what is a whole movement. Acts 2:38 is one command so that repentance and baptism go together, as Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…” 

            However, if you go over this too quickly, you may perceive that a person is only forgiven their sins if they are baptized. That’s not what is meant. Peter was not saying that they would only be forgiven their sins if they get baptized. We are forgiven only by God’s grace through faith in Christ, not by anything we do. 

            There are several instances in Acts where baptism is not mentioned as a requirement for forgiveness (3:19; 5:31). Peter tells Cornelius and his household, “…everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name,” (10:43). Then the Holy Spirit fell on them and THEN they were baptized with water. Paul told the Philippian jailer“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…” (16:31). Baptism follows belief but is not required for salvation. 

            What is baptism then? Is it necessary? The idea of an unbaptized believer is foreign to the apostles because it was part of Jesus’ last command (Matt 28:19). It was a natural consequence to believing. But what does it do? Baptism is a very decisive act. It is a pledge of allegiance to Jesus. It is an outward act of the inward reality that you have declared Jesus to be the King of your life. You are telling others that you are a follower of Jesus. It is in itself a testimony of your faith. Baptism is a natural response to believing in Jesus.

            When Philip explained the text on Isaiah 53 to the Ethiopian eunuch, the eunuch believed. And no sooner had the man believed than he saw water and asked to be baptized. 

            In Acts 2:38 then, Peter viewed repentance and baptism as a package, with baptism being the fruit of repentance. Baptism follows belief as a sign of what has taken place in one’s heart. 

 

“Receive the Gift of the Spirit”

 

The final part of the package is the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the people in the audience on the day of Pentecost, these elements came in one event. Believing in Jesus as the Messiah is the key to repentance, baptism, forgiveness and receiving the Holy Spirit. What I am saying is that this all-in-one experience was unique to them. 

            For you and I, in our experience, repenting and believing may have come some time before being baptized. But when you believed, you received the Holy Spirit. Receiving him is not dependent on being baptized. 

            What we know from Peter’s Pentecost sermon is that God promised through the prophet Joel to “…pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy…” (2:17). There are no boundaries concerning who God will pour out his Spirit. Men and women, young and old, everyone who believes will receive the Spirit. Peter further preached, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses,” (2:32). According to Peter’s logic, this pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost proves that Jesus is exalted with the Father, for it was only after such time that the Spirit would be poured out. 

            To sum up, the Spirit is given to everyone who believes in Jesus; the Spirit testifies to the risen Christ; thus, the Spirit empowers us to be witnesses for Jesus. 

            Paul affirmed this in his letter to the Ephesians where he wrote, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance…” (Eph. 1:13-14)

 

 

How do we respond to the good news that God forgives us in Jesus Christ? 

            The first step is repentance, changing our minds about Jesus. Where once we regarded him as an impressive human being and teacher, or some historical figure of note, we now regard him as Lord, the Lamb of God, the one who takes away sin and sits at God’s right hand. 

            The follow up to this confession and profession is baptism. I believe that we have made getting baptized difficult. We expect public speeches from many who are not public speakers. We want to see them shake with nervousness as if it were proof of their commitment. I told my son when he was baptized to tell it straight: I believe in Jesus because he saved me from sins. A biography is not necessary. Baptism is not preceded by testimony in the Bible, the baptism is the testimony. 

            From baptism forward, the next step is the Spirit-empowered life of discipleship. Living for Jesus in every moment of your life until your final breath. 

            What shall we do? This is our response. If you have repented and believed in Christ, I encourage you to receive the sign of baptism and testify through that action that you belong to him.

AMEN