What Must I Do | Ep8

What is Meditating On The Word?

Join Wayne Burger each week as he explores various topics and scriptures and challenges listeners to meditate on God's Word more deeply.

The question, "what must I do", is a great question when we face a crisis.

It's often asked when a person faces a critical health issue, such as cancer, and they say, what should I do? It may be asked when facing a financial crisis, what should I do? It should be asked when elderly people think about their future life on earth. Maybe they need to move, what should I do? But the greatest time to ask this question is when we're thinking about our relationship with God. This question is important because it determines what kind of relationship we have with God today, but more importantly, asking this question will determine where we will spend eternity.

The question was first asked by the people who heard Peter preach the first gospel sermon that's recorded in Acts 2. If you have a Bible, we're going to turn to Acts 2 and look at it there. The background of Acts 2 is this. Jesus had died, was buried, and arose on the third day.

Then he spent 40 days with his apostles, giving them more instruction, and then he ascended back to the Father. He told the apostles that they were to not leave Jerusalem, but to wait there until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Acts 2, the chapter, begins with that account.

He said, now when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were altogether one accord in one place, and there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind. And he filled all the house where they were sitting, and they appeared to them cloven tongues like as a fire, and sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now those were the apostles upon whom the Holy Spirit came to empower them.

Jesus had said earlier in Acts 1 in verse 8 that you'll receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and then you'll be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria. So now was the beginning. Now then the old law had been removed, the new law was taking place.

Jesus was sitting at the right hand of the Father, ready to carry out and serve as the king of the kingdom, and he pours out the Spirit. The Holy Spirit was going to enable the apostles to remember everything that Jesus had taught them. The Holy Spirit was going to reveal to them some things that Jesus had not revealed to them while on earth.

And so they now are ready, and this is on Sunday, the first day of the week, because Pentecost always fell on the first day of the week. And as this was noised abroad, a crowd came together. Then Peter spoke to these people.

And we have in this message, in this chapter two, the sermon that he preached. I want us to look at it as we go through here and think about the question that was asked. He begins in verse 22 by addressing them by saying, men of Israel, listen to these words.

Jesus, the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God, miracles and wonders and signs as God performed through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know. So he's going to begin preaching about Jesus. And he speaks of this, he said, this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross for the hands of godless men and put him to death.

Jesus knew that he was going to die on the cross. God's plan to send Jesus to this earth, he knew that his son was going to be crucified on that cross. It was not a surprise.

Peter is simply recording, here's what happened, you did that. But verse 24 says, but God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for him to be held in its power. So he gives a summary statement that says, yes, Jesus died, but God raised him up.

And then he quotes Psalm 16, 8 through 11, about something that David wrote where he said, I saw the Lord always in my presence, for he is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue exalted, over my flesh also will live in hope, because you will not abandon my soul to Hades or allow your Holy One to undergo decay. You have made known to me the ways of life, you will make me full of gladness with your presence.

So he quotes David in Psalm 16, 8 through 11, it's going to be applied to Jesus. And he said, moreover, my flesh also will live in hope, because you will not abandon my soul to Hades. When Jesus died, he went into the Hadrian realm, and his body went into the grave.

But he said, you didn't abandon my soul there, and you didn't allow my flesh to decay. But you made known to me the ways of life, you will make me full of the gladness with your presence. And then in verse 29, Peter applies that and says, brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

And so, because he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrect of Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh suffer decay. You see, way back in 2 Samuel 7, 12 through 16, when David wanted to build God a house, God told David, no, I'm gonna build you a house, and it's gonna be through your descendants that someone's gonna sit on that throne and while you're in the grave. And so, Peter is quoting these passages from Psalms and 2 Samuel, and he says he looked ahead to Christ.

And now then in verse 32, Peter said, this Jesus, God raised up again, which we're all witnesses. God raised him from the dead, and God also raised him up into the heavens, that he would sit there with God in his right hand. Verse 33, therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father, the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this which you both see and hear.

For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Again, he's now quoting Psalm 110 verse one, and he begins by saying, the Lord, God the Father, said to my Lord, that's Christ, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Jesus Christ is on the throne today.

He is sitting at the right hand of the Father, and the world is going to be his footstool. And then Peter brings that sermon to a close by saying, therefore, that all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. That was sort of his concluding statement.

That was his sermon purpose, was to bring them to faith. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him Jesus, both Lord and Christ. He is Lord, which means he's the master, he's in charge.

Those of us who serve Christ, recognize that we're the slave and he's the master. And not only does he call him Lord here, he calls him Christ. Christ means anointed.

It is that same word that the Jews used in the Hebrew and the Old Testament being the Messiah, the anointed. In the Old Testament, three offices were anointed with oil, prophets, priests, and kings. And Jesus Christ is the Messiah.

He's the anointed one. He has been anointed so that he is our prophet, he is our king, and he is our priest. And so when he said this, notice the reaction that happened.

Verse 37, now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? That's the question we're looking at right now. What shall we do? They were convicted of sin. They recognized that they had killed Jesus.

He had said, you have taken and with wicked hands have crucified the Lord of glory. They had killed Jesus, the Son of God, and they were convicted by that. And they said, what shall we do? They wanted to know how they could be forgiven of that sin.

So verse 37, now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? Peter said to them, repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The question was, what shall we do? What shall we do to have forgiveness of our sins? Peter's answer was repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. Notice Peter gives two commands along with two promises.

The two commands are repent. Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change in action. Just changing our mind is not repentance.

We may feel guilty, but don't do anything about it. We regret what we did, but we don't do anything about it. Unfortunately, the greatest example of this is Judas, who betrayed Christ.

He threw the money back to the people who gave it to him. He was sorrowful that this had happened, but he went out and hung himself. You see, he changed his mind, but he didn't change his life.

He simply ended his life. Repentance involves both a change of mind and a change of action that must be carried out. And so Peter says, you've got to repent.

You've got to change your mind and your action. We understand the value of repentance by looking at 2 Corinthians 7, verse 10. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

I want us to notice in this verse, the progression. You see, first off, he says that sorrow, King James calls it godly sorrow. Here it says the sorrow that is according to the will of God.

Godly sorrow will produce repentance. Godly sorrow is not repentance. It will lead us to repentance.

But again, repentance isn't salvation. A person may repent of his sins, change his life and live differently, but he's not saved because he still has that old record. And so repentance will then lead us to salvation.

So notice the verse as it explains that progression. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation. If a repentance is not salvation, repentance leads us to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

Godly sorrow brings about repentance. Whirly sorrow is simply the idea that I'm sorry I got caught. I'm sorry that it happened.

I'm not sorry that I did it. I'm just sorry that you know about it. So that's what Peter is talking about when he says, I want you to repent.

And then the rest of that verse says, repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ means that they had to do this by his authority. Jesus had said in the Great Commission that he that believes in his baptized should be saved, Mark 16, 16.

And he simply says, you need to be baptized by the authority or in the name of Jesus Christ. And notice what else he says. For the forgiveness of your sins, the purpose of baptism looks forward to what that baptism will bring from God.

It is not something that's looking backwards. It is something that looks forward. And so he says, for the forgiveness of sins.

For is a little Greek word ace and it's used 1773 times in the Bible. And it always points to the future. It never points to anything that happened in the past.

And so he simply says, you need to repent and you need to be baptized for the purpose of looking forward to being baptized for the forgiveness of your sins. Those were the two commands, repent and be baptized. And the two promises were, you will have forgiveness of sins and you will have the gift of the Holy Spirit.

When Peter said that, the people reacted. Verse 41, so then those who had received his word were baptized and that day, there were about 3000 souls added. You see, what must we do? What must I do? That's what these people ask.

That was the answer that Peter gave them. And that was the result that they came about when they were baptized for the forgiveness of their sins that day. Let's think about it again as we close out.

What happened? They heard a message. It was not a direct operation of the Holy Spirit on their heart, but it was the Holy Spirit working through the message to convict them. You see, the Holy Spirit does not work directly on a person's heart.

The Holy Spirit always works through the medium of the word of God. That's the reason Paul said in Ephesians 5.17 that taking the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, the Spirit sword pierces our heart, convicts us. What is that sword? The word of God.

So the Holy Spirit works indirectly, not directly upon us. So they were pierced. And so that caused them to ask, what must we do? And Peter's answer was, repent and be baptized.

As we close our thoughts of this, you know, it wasn't just those people's sins that put Jesus on the cross. The sins that you and I have committed also put him on that cross. And that's the reason we ought to ask the same question they ask, what shall we do? The answer Peter gave them is the same answer he gives us today.

The real question is, have you done what Peter told them to do? If you have not, you have not obeyed the gospel, you're still lost in your sinful condition. We urge you to be obedient to the command and ask the question that they ask. And we urge you to obey the commands that Peter had, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

Thanks for joining us this week and spending time in God's word. Special thanks to Mac Graham, John Kachelman and Lightway Media for recording, producing and making this podcast possible. If you're ever in the Littleton, New Hampshire area, we'd love to have you join us for worship and Bible study on Sunday afternoons at four at the Senior Center.

You're always welcome. For more information about this podcast, visit lightweightmedia.com/meditating-on-the-word. You can find the link there to email me to subscribe to my free weekly newsletter with more information you can use in your personal Bible study.

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Until next week, keep meditating on the word.