6th February, 2011
AMC
Written By Rev Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
Acts 2:14-24
14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 “‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’[c]
22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,[d] put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
Main Idea: Jesus saves
Objectives: a. To challenge the congregation to be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit like apostle Peter to reach out people for Christ. b. To teach the congregation that Jesus saves mankind from their sins and hell.
A. Introduction
- What is more precious than a human soul? A human soul is so precious because it exists for eternity. Once it comes into being, it goes on for eternity. The great question, the ultimate question every human must answer is where his soul or her soul going to spend his or her eternity. Hell or heaven?
- Nothing is more precious than a human soul. What can compare the worth of salvation of a human soul which spends his eternity with Jesus in heaven? What is more valuable than the salvation of human souls with Jesus? Whatever you can see and touch on earth; whatever position, wealth, status, and fame, qualification, education and knowledge, your children, etc you have worked so hard all this while, does not worth anything by themselves when it comes to comparison with eternity. This is because you cannot bring anything into eternity with you but your soul last for eternity!
- Therefore, the most important business in this world must be the business of salvation of souls. Our most ultimate concern is whether souls are saved or not, not any other things. Yes, all other things are important for living. But if you are not preparing yourself for the day that you will enter into eternity and you still focus on all the worldliness as the top priority in your life now, when the day comes later on, you will only be filled with regrets of all kinds. Some regret that they now do not know where their souls will go because they are never prepared for it. Some regret that they have spent their lives on wrong priorities and they do not do much to bring with them into eternity.
- Praise the Lord for Jesus who makes all the difference for the purpose of our salvation for eternity! Apostle Peter even quoted the Old Testament prophet, Joel, who prophesied about the plan of salvation of God through Jesus, in verse 21, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Let us study the context for such quote. I pray that you will be challenged to call on the name of the Lord and find Jesus so real in your life and you will keep getting others to do it also.
B. Peter’s explanation of the phenomenon of the Holy Spirit (verses 14-21)
- Peter and the 11 apostles were very sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Since there was a great crowd who assembled around them as a result of the mighty manifestation of the Holy Spirit, he grasped the opportunity to explain and preach on the person of Jesus Christ. The crowd was made up of Jews and those who lived in Jerusalem (verse 14b).
- Appealing to logic, he explained that the 120 disciples of Jesus could not be drunk because it was 9 o’clock in the morning (verse 15). As the disciples were Jews and they did not eat and drink so early in the morning. They could not be drunk!
- Then, Peter appealed to the authority of the Old Testament and quoted the relevant prophesies by Prophet Joel (verses 17-21).
- He needed to appeal to the Old Testament for the Holy Spirit phenomenon as the Jews in the crowd needed it for the purpose of authentication. Apostle Peter attributed the disciples’ ability to preach and declare the wonders of God in different tongues from their own mother tongues as the work of the Holy Spirit sent by God through Prophet Joel.
- I believe a lot of Jews were later on convinced and believed that it was the work of the Holy Spirit as some of them were cut to their hearts and asked what needed to be done after listening to Peter’s sermon (verse 37). They called Peter, brother.
- After appealing to the Old Testament, he got his perspective of the Holy Spirit, now, with all convictions, empowered by the Holy Spirit, he preached on the person of Jesus Christ. This was the person whom he and the rest of the disciples and apostles banked on for salvation of mankind.
C. Basis of Christ’s authority as God (verses 22-24).
- I strongly believe that, by now, Peter, being filled with the Holy Spirit, he was ready to preach with all the fire, convictions, courage, without fear of death, to tell his audience especially the Jews where his authority of preaching was coming from.
- Before the Pentecost he was such a timid, when his master, Jesus, was arrested by the soldiers, he denied his relationship with Him 3 times, now, because of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, he was a completely different person, apostle.
- With all the courage, he spoke right into the face of the Jews in the crowd and literally told them this Jesus of Nazareth whom they had crucified had been sent from God as He had done miracles, wonders and signs witnessed by them. And raised Him from the dead, and now there was no way for death to defeat Him. He has defeated the death (verses 22-24).
- He really desired to tell the audience Jesus Christ was God sent and He is God.
D. Explanation of verse 21
- No wonder apostle Paul quoted Prophet Joel in verse 21, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” After experiencing the reality of the resurrected Christ, who proved He was sent by God and justified everything He had taught the apostles in His lifetime, Peter now went out all the way without fear of death to preach, Jesus saved man from his sins. With excitement and all conviction he quoted Prophet Joel, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
- Brothers and sisters, how much weight and belief you put into this authoritative word of God, Jesus saves? Save from what? Of course, sins of mankind! This is exactly the reason for the coming of Jesus. We have no power to overcome sin, unless we turn to Jesus and humble ourselves to allow Jesus to forgive our sins, be cleansed by His blood and repent.
- I strongly believe in the power of Jesus to forgive sin. When you call on Him with all sincerity and genuineness, Jesus exercises His grace and power to forgive your sins and the sins of mankind! My belief and conviction are very much illustrated by this true story!
- A prostitute came to this church and genuinely repented and became a Christian, a child of God. As she served in the church, the pastor’s son fell in love with her and desired to marry her! It was a big news in the church. The church leadership disagreed with his decision and they called for a church committee to deliberate on the case! During the meeting, they discuss all about the implications of the marriage and the social stigmas that came along with it. The pastor son stood up and said his piece, “What is being tested today is the blood of Jesus! Can the blood of Jesus cleanse the sins of my fiancé?” Brothers and sisters, how much do you believe in the power of Jesus and His shed sacrificial blood on the cross to cleanse and forgive our sin?
- My challenge to you is this: If you are forgiving towards peoples’ mistakes and sins (like hurts and pains that they caused you), you prove your conviction and belief; when you see others need (who may have rebellious children, marriage crisis, unforgiveness, hatred, etc ) Jesus very much in their lives, you lead them to Christ, you prove yourself of the power of Jesus’ blood. Otherwise, your talk about Jesus is just lip service.
- Calling on the name of Jesus is not just here said! It is not just a matter of calling only. When a person, like you and me call on Jesus, it includes faith, strong belief that Jesus can forgive our sins; strong trust that He forgives. It is not the kind of lip service that Jesus taught his disciples and people in Mathew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven.’
- Therefore, calling on Jesus is not a matter of mentioning the name only. You call on Jesus and be saved by doing God’s will. If you call on Jesus just for the name’s sake and show no sign of repentance, sorry, you cannot be saved!
- Let us now apply this passage into our Christian life.
E. Applications
- Let me ask you before the applications. Do you find that God’s word is so good and so real? Do you have this hope and desire that you also want to experience the reality of the truth of the word of God. In short, you just want to experience God, Jesus in a personal manner!
- A lot of Christians do not realize that experiencing God is not just finding an experience with God. Some asked God when they would get a miracle and then, they would believe Jesus and accept Him. Some Christians asked Jesus for a miracle, then, they would grow in their faith. We got the order all wrong. Yes, you can always ask for a miracle, in fact, you pray for whatever you want. However, spiritually, when it comes to our God, in the person of Jesus, when it comes to experiencing Him, the order is to obey Him, to practise His word, first and foremost, then, the experience will come, miracle will come.
- Take for instance; when you obey Jesus in forgiving someone, you experience how God set you free from bondage of unforgiveness and bitterness; and you experience joy. When you experience how real is Jesus when you receive an answer in prayer from Him on how to solve a problem. When you are willing to live a righteous life and do the will of Jesus, Jesus will help to see lots of impossible things to become possible.
- I pray that now you see the importance of applying word of God after every sermon.
- The first point of application for today is this: since Jesus is so powerful in overcoming our sins, then, we should feel the need for Him in our lives. Most of the times, when we ended in sins, we turned to all the so called human wisdom and even sinful methods to solve our problems. How many of us use a lie to cover up a lie? We dare not confess we have lied! So, before God and man, we lied! How do you expect the powerful Holy Spirit whom apostle Peter to fill and empower you to witness for Jesus! When we face a situation of choosing the truth or the sin, and lots of personal interests and pride are at stake, we must, by all means feel the need for Jesus and quickly turn to Jesus for an answer. Always ask Jesus what need to be done now. I pray that Jesus will show you His authoritative word and you know what to do next.
- Secondly, if Jesus can save, then, by all means, we must be instrumental in helping others to find Jesus. Look around you and see the people who need Jesus. They can be the poor people; people in great financial loss; people who are in illness; people who are in jail; widow or widower who are struggling with their children; people who have marital trouble for the mistakes they made; the divorced; people who are addicted to pornography; people who are depressed, etc. They need love, will offer the love of Jesus to them. Will you buy them a lunch; invite them to a small group; invite them to church?
- We need to see that if people are not saved from their sins, and repented from their sins, eventually they face the eternal judgement in hell! Where worms will not die, fire will not goes off.
F. Conclusion
- Can yourself first and foremost, come to Jesus and feel the great need for Jesus to forgive your sins and repent? Then, I pray that you will find Jesus is so real in your life as you are transformed by His word as you obey Him, you will not be able to hold your joy that you will be so excited to help others to call on the name
