E5 The Prophet Joel’s Last Days Prophecy
Acts 2:14-47
We come to the part of the Pentecost story where it becomes necessary for Peter to address the crowd and take charge of the occasion. We read that Peter raised his voice and said …
Let’s read beginning with verse,
14 ¶ But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.
15 “For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
Peter is addressing the crowd, but not the ones referred to as ‘devout men, from every nation under heaven.’ The people, the devout Jews, from the nations around Israel are not the ones who are accusing the disciples of being drunk. They understand perfectly the wonderful words of God in their own native languages. It is the local Jews who have moved closer to the disciples to hear what all the activity was about. And they cannot understand the words at all. It sounds like so much gibberish or nonsense. It is what they would expect from a drunk person.
This means that God, the Holy Spirit, has intentionally failed to interpret the words into the language that this local crowd could understand. Why? Because their hearts are not right with God. They are familiar with the events of a few weeks ago. Jesus of Nazareth was condemned to die. Many in this local crowd were present shouting “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
So in a loud voice Peter explains to these unbelievers,
16 “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
We believe the 120 disciples had been speaking in small groups all over the temple courtyard. But now it is all eyes on Peter. God has given him some insight that he wants to share, not with those who are hearing the works of God in their own languages, but rather, Peter wants to address the local crowd. He wants to explain what is really going on. He quotes prophet Joel.
Peter boldly states … this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel
Joel’s prophecy was given … years earlier. It contains some very specific and graphic language. Most of the words of this prophecy seem to apply to the end times. And yet Peter says that this miracle of languages is part of Joel’s prophecy and it was being fulfilled right then and there.
Can you imagine yourself being in a situation where something in your world happens … and in your experience and knowledge of God’s word you recognize that what you just saw was clearly predicted, and you announce, “This prophecy just came true!” Some would listen and read the word for themselves to check out if what you said was true. Others would dismiss it, thinking, “Not in our time. Maybe this looks like a fulfilment but, there have been other similar events and there will be others. No, this is not it.” But we are living in the days that are very close to the second coming. We can expect certain prophecies to be fulfilled in our own personal experience. So we need to know the word in advance.
Peter reminds these people of a prophecy that they have surely heard before.
17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
21 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.’
So the ‘wonderful words of God’ that were being spoken by the 120 disciples are being called ‘prophesying’. Just to avoid being confused about the meaning of the phrase, ‘to prophesy’, let’s define it. Rather than think that it always means to predict the future, we need to realize that it more accurately means to speak forth words from God. Why have we come to think of it as predicting the future? Because in so many cases the words coming forth from God were doing just that. They were predictions. But the words of God can also be commands or instructions. So if God tells us to say, “Repent and believe the gospel!” and we obey and repeat those words … We are prophesying. When a preacher gets before an assembly and asserts, “God is telling us right here to …” he is prophesying.
Joel’s prophecy mentions the last days. Peter does not emphasize that part. Perhaps he wonders if they may be in the last days. Perhaps he has forgotten that Jesus had told Peter that he would get old and die a martyr's death. At this point in his life Peter is likely not much more than 30 years old. But at any rate, Joel mentions the last days. Our ears should perk up at this.
Peter is referring to only one part of Joel’s prophecy, and that is the part that says, And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.
This was indeed part of the fulfillment. So this means that the last days started way back then. The writer of Hebrews looked at it that way as well when he said, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. Hebrews 1:2
There were four thousand years of history that preceded the first coming of Jesus. All the years from Jesus onward are looked at as being the last days. However, that is a generality. The apostle Paul was being more specific when he said to Timothy, ¶ But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2Ti 3:1. Peter also looked at the last days as being off in the future. He wrote in his second letter, ¶ knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 2Pe 3:3
The miracle of languages is not actually mentioned by Joel. As far as the wording of the prophecy goes, the 120 disciples could all have just spoken in Greek or Hebrew and it still would have been a fulfillment. The words of God were being poured into all of these ‘sons and daughters’ all on the same occasion. The fact that each language group could hear it in their birth language was a bonus … and an evidence of the power of God.
Much of Joel’s prophecy is still in the future.
19 I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
Some of this is to be literal and some descriptive. Specifically I would say that the fire and vapor of smoke would be literal. I would say that the moon will not actually be blood … but appear to be LIKE blood. The darkness of the sun would be literal. I would think that when these things happen they will be global and be very dramatic. So far these are not happening to my knowledge.
But Peter included the last part of Joel’s prophecy.
21 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’
Peter is doing the work of an evangelist here. This is the first public open air crusade. Let’s read and consider Peter’s message.
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know --
23 “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;
Notice that Peter shows both sides of this. Jesus came to die. But the responsibility for his death is on them.
24 “whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.
25 “For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the LORD always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
The word Hades is not a word specific to a particular place. In other words, it does not refer to a place of eternal fire, but it can refer to that at times. Literally the word Hades means ‘place of the unseen’. So, when we apply the proper meaning to Hades … it can merely mean the grave, since once a person has been put in a casket, they are in the place of the unseen. But it can also mean the center of the earth where the ‘Rich Man’ that Luke tells us about went when he died. But the eternal destination of the wicked after judgment day will be the Lake of Fire. The Hades at the center of the earth will, one day, be cast into the Lake of Fire.
The scripture that Peter is quoting is talking about Jesus, whose body will be in the place of the unseen (the Sepulchre/Hades) and His spirit went to the center of the earth (also a place of the unseen/Hades) and spoke with individuals there. There is no reason to interpret this scripture that Jesus’ soul went to the place of the unseen/Hades/the fire in the center of the earth. Some denominations teach that. But that goes against Jesus’ words on the cross, “It is finished”. It is wrong teaching to say that Jesus had to go from the cross to the hot part of Hades in order to finish paying the price for our sins. The passage goes on,
28 You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’
This is the end of the text that Peter was using, and now he addresses this crowd.
29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30 “Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,
31 “he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.
32 “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
This would have been a very powerful point. He is pointing out, “We … who have just miraculously been used by God to speak His word in multiple languages … have something in common … We have all seen Jesus alive after His death.
33 “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
The Psalm from which Peter is quoting is written in such a way that a reader might think that David is referring to himself. Peter is attempting to make it clear that David is referring to the Christ that they were all waiting for.
34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand,
35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’
So now that Peter has made it clear that this scripture was referring to Jesus, he brings his message to a very pointed conclusion. He says,
36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
“You killed Him. God raised Him up.” (and implied is: “and now you are in serious trouble!”
Peter did not actually give an invitation or make what is normally termed an ‘altar call’, but the response of these listeners is very remarkable.
37 ¶ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
Thankfully Peter did not simplify the gospel or ‘dumb it down’ to make things easy for them. All too often an overly simplistic gospel is presented these days. I think the result is far too often a pseudo conversion.
Luke, the writer, tells us that these individuals were ‘cut to the heart’. We rarely hear anything like this in our day. I am convinced that we do not wish to make people ‘feel bad’. The words, ‘cut to the heart’ imply pain. We don’t like to hurt people.
Genuine salvation requires repentance from sin. If a person fails to see their sinfulness, they will see no reason to repent. A person said to me recently, “I have never thought of myself as all that much of a sinner”. What would it take for such a person to feel ‘cut to the heart’? Unless they do feel that pain, they will have no motivation to repent of their sin.
And so we ‘hurt people’ intentionally, for their good. The apostle Paul said, godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation,. 2Co 7:10
So how do we bring a person who doesn’t see themselves as ‘not that much of a sinner’, to the place where they are ‘cut to the heart '? First of all, I would hope that we are being sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit as we are speaking with the person. And then, using the creativity that God has given us, speak to them directly without ‘mincing words’, or softening our approach, or speaking to them ‘apologetically’. Look at how direct Peter was on this occasion.. He said, “this Jesus, whom you crucified”.
“You killed God’s Son!”. But did they really? The Romans nailed Him to the cross. The Jewish leaders, the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin court were the ones who dragged Him to Pilate. These people to whom Peter is speaking could have been part of the crowd of onlookers. Some of them would have joined in the chant, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”.
But, just as easily we can almost expect some of these people to respond to Peter, saying, “We didn't do it. The Pharisees are the ones who really hated him. They did it.”
But the Holy Spirit is at work here. Jesus had promised that He would send the Holy Spirit. “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
And then He tells us some of what the Holy Spirit’s ministry will include. 8 “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: John 16:7,8
This is exactly what is happening to this crowd. They are feeling the conviction of their sin. But they did not feel it until Peter said the words, “You killed Him!”
We need to use words like that. With wisdom. If you are speaking to a sensitive child who is asking about salvation, you might use different words. But when you are speaking with a person who says, “I don’t really see myself as all that much of a sinner.”, then you would need to say, Excuse me … what? You killed Him. You are saying that you really did not need Him to die for you? You would dare to tell God that giving His Son to die for you was a wasted action? That is equivalent to spitting in God’s face!
The crowd to whom Peter is speaking responded with, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” And Peter was ready with the answer. 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins;
Repent of what? Do you picture each of them, in their own way, personally taking stock of their lives and evil things that they had done .. and then seeking forgiveness for these things? Perhaps some of that was happening. But the true repentance that is taking place has to do with what they had done to Jesus. Their lack of owning up to the fact that their unbelief in Jesus as the very Son of God, was the sin that killed Jesus. That is what they are being sorry for. That is what cut them to the heart. That is what Peter is telling them to be sorry for.
And being sorry for their unbelief is only part of it. It is the motive that would make them do the next thing. And that is to step out into the open with their new admission that they were wrong and sinful to have dismissed their need of His death. They must publicly ‘about face’. They must say, in word and in action, …”I believe! Yes, He is the Son of God … and He died for me! Yes, I believe!
And Peter implies here, ‘And you need to show it. Include in your actions the willingness to step forward and be identified with Jesus and His followers. Be baptized. Show in your actions that you were as good as dead. Bury that old life … the life that said, I don’t need Jesus. I am not that bad. Bury that. Bury it, symbolically, in water and come up into a new life with Him. Your wicked sin of unbelief will be gone!’
But let's not get confused here. It is not the baptism of water that washes sin away. But is the action that goes all the way through the baptism that shows that real belief has just taken place in the heart. When a person comes to Jesus … genuinely, when they see their sin of unbelief as wicked as it really is, there will be some kind of an evidence. Always. Faith (belief) without (some kind of) work is dead, says James.
As Peter told them how to respond, how to repent, he also told them what to expect.
and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.”
Peter, we read, used many other words also. We must be willing to take the time to explain things properly. Don’t be tempted to take the easy way and offer a simple, brief 4 steps to salvation, type of pamphlet. These may be good to start someone thinking, but true and genuine conversion to Jesus is the biggest decision a person will ever make in their entire life. The decision needs to be real. Not coerced. Not minimised as something simple quick and easy,
What happened after Peter’s talk? 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
So the end result was nothing short of amazing. Three thousand persons were added to the church. I will just point out by way of reminder …, this number likely includes the people who were already devout believers, but needed to hear the words that the Messiah indeed had come, and that His coming was to bring salvation from sin through His death on the cross. This is an essential update for them. Now they are not only followers of God, devout believers, but they are followers of Jesus. They will become known as Followers of the Way.
But a part of this group of three thousand are brand new believers. They had not been true and devout followers of the Old Testament gospel. But now, realizing that their callous or cavalier attitude about their self-righteousness was the sin of all sins, they are cut to the heart, repent of their sin of unbelief, submit to baptism and identify themselves as a follower of Jesus, and as a part of the group of followers of Jesus. This is the power of the Holy Spirit in action. This is the work of the Holy Spirit today. My prayer, please join me in praying that the gospel presentations of our churches will come back to being as direct and clear as the message of Peter in our study of Acts. We are living in the age of the Holy Spirit.
And we are living in the days of Joel’s prophecy being fulfilled before our very eyes.
Let’s read beginning with verse,
14 ¶ But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.
15 “For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
Peter is addressing the crowd, but not the ones referred to as ‘devout men, from every nation under heaven.’ The people, the devout Jews, from the nations around Israel are not the ones who are accusing the disciples of being drunk. They understand perfectly the wonderful words of God in their own native languages. It is the local Jews who have moved closer to the disciples to hear what all the activity was about. And they cannot understand the words at all. It sounds like so much gibberish or nonsense. It is what they would expect from a drunk person.
This means that God, the Holy Spirit, has intentionally failed to interpret the words into the language that this local crowd could understand. Why? Because their hearts are not right with God. They are familiar with the events of a few weeks ago. Jesus of Nazareth was condemned to die. Many in this local crowd were present shouting “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
So in a loud voice Peter explains to these unbelievers,
16 “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
We believe the 120 disciples had been speaking in small groups all over the temple courtyard. But now it is all eyes on Peter. God has given him some insight that he wants to share, not with those who are hearing the works of God in their own languages, but rather, Peter wants to address the local crowd. He wants to explain what is really going on. He quotes prophet Joel.
Peter boldly states … this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel
Joel’s prophecy was given … years earlier. It contains some very specific and graphic language. Most of the words of this prophecy seem to apply to the end times. And yet Peter says that this miracle of languages is part of Joel’s prophecy and it was being fulfilled right then and there.
Can you imagine yourself being in a situation where something in your world happens … and in your experience and knowledge of God’s word you recognize that what you just saw was clearly predicted, and you announce, “This prophecy just came true!” Some would listen and read the word for themselves to check out if what you said was true. Others would dismiss it, thinking, “Not in our time. Maybe this looks like a fulfilment but, there have been other similar events and there will be others. No, this is not it.” But we are living in the days that are very close to the second coming. We can expect certain prophecies to be fulfilled in our own personal experience. So we need to know the word in advance.
Peter reminds these people of a prophecy that they have surely heard before.
17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
21 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.’
So the ‘wonderful words of God’ that were being spoken by the 120 disciples are being called ‘prophesying’. Just to avoid being confused about the meaning of the phrase, ‘to prophesy’, let’s define it. Rather than think that it always means to predict the future, we need to realize that it more accurately means to speak forth words from God. Why have we come to think of it as predicting the future? Because in so many cases the words coming forth from God were doing just that. They were predictions. But the words of God can also be commands or instructions. So if God tells us to say, “Repent and believe the gospel!” and we obey and repeat those words … We are prophesying. When a preacher gets before an assembly and asserts, “God is telling us right here to …” he is prophesying.
Joel’s prophecy mentions the last days. Peter does not emphasize that part. Perhaps he wonders if they may be in the last days. Perhaps he has forgotten that Jesus had told Peter that he would get old and die a martyr's death. At this point in his life Peter is likely not much more than 30 years old. But at any rate, Joel mentions the last days. Our ears should perk up at this.
Peter is referring to only one part of Joel’s prophecy, and that is the part that says, And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.
This was indeed part of the fulfillment. So this means that the last days started way back then. The writer of Hebrews looked at it that way as well when he said, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. Hebrews 1:2
There were four thousand years of history that preceded the first coming of Jesus. All the years from Jesus onward are looked at as being the last days. However, that is a generality. The apostle Paul was being more specific when he said to Timothy, ¶ But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2Ti 3:1. Peter also looked at the last days as being off in the future. He wrote in his second letter, ¶ knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 2Pe 3:3
The miracle of languages is not actually mentioned by Joel. As far as the wording of the prophecy goes, the 120 disciples could all have just spoken in Greek or Hebrew and it still would have been a fulfillment. The words of God were being poured into all of these ‘sons and daughters’ all on the same occasion. The fact that each language group could hear it in their birth language was a bonus … and an evidence of the power of God.
Much of Joel’s prophecy is still in the future.
19 I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
Some of this is to be literal and some descriptive. Specifically I would say that the fire and vapor of smoke would be literal. I would say that the moon will not actually be blood … but appear to be LIKE blood. The darkness of the sun would be literal. I would think that when these things happen they will be global and be very dramatic. So far these are not happening to my knowledge.
But Peter included the last part of Joel’s prophecy.
21 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’
Peter is doing the work of an evangelist here. This is the first public open air crusade. Let’s read and consider Peter’s message.
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know --
23 “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;
Notice that Peter shows both sides of this. Jesus came to die. But the responsibility for his death is on them.
24 “whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.
25 “For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the LORD always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
The word Hades is not a word specific to a particular place. In other words, it does not refer to a place of eternal fire, but it can refer to that at times. Literally the word Hades means ‘place of the unseen’. So, when we apply the proper meaning to Hades … it can merely mean the grave, since once a person has been put in a casket, they are in the place of the unseen. But it can also mean the center of the earth where the ‘Rich Man’ that Luke tells us about went when he died. But the eternal destination of the wicked after judgment day will be the Lake of Fire. The Hades at the center of the earth will, one day, be cast into the Lake of Fire.
The scripture that Peter is quoting is talking about Jesus, whose body will be in the place of the unseen (the Sepulchre/Hades) and His spirit went to the center of the earth (also a place of the unseen/Hades) and spoke with individuals there. There is no reason to interpret this scripture that Jesus’ soul went to the place of the unseen/Hades/the fire in the center of the earth. Some denominations teach that. But that goes against Jesus’ words on the cross, “It is finished”. It is wrong teaching to say that Jesus had to go from the cross to the hot part of Hades in order to finish paying the price for our sins. The passage goes on,
28 You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’
This is the end of the text that Peter was using, and now he addresses this crowd.
29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30 “Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,
31 “he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.
32 “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
This would have been a very powerful point. He is pointing out, “We … who have just miraculously been used by God to speak His word in multiple languages … have something in common … We have all seen Jesus alive after His death.
33 “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
The Psalm from which Peter is quoting is written in such a way that a reader might think that David is referring to himself. Peter is attempting to make it clear that David is referring to the Christ that they were all waiting for.
34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand,
35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’
So now that Peter has made it clear that this scripture was referring to Jesus, he brings his message to a very pointed conclusion. He says,
36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
“You killed Him. God raised Him up.” (and implied is: “and now you are in serious trouble!”
Peter did not actually give an invitation or make what is normally termed an ‘altar call’, but the response of these listeners is very remarkable.
37 ¶ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
Thankfully Peter did not simplify the gospel or ‘dumb it down’ to make things easy for them. All too often an overly simplistic gospel is presented these days. I think the result is far too often a pseudo conversion.
Luke, the writer, tells us that these individuals were ‘cut to the heart’. We rarely hear anything like this in our day. I am convinced that we do not wish to make people ‘feel bad’. The words, ‘cut to the heart’ imply pain. We don’t like to hurt people.
Genuine salvation requires repentance from sin. If a person fails to see their sinfulness, they will see no reason to repent. A person said to me recently, “I have never thought of myself as all that much of a sinner”. What would it take for such a person to feel ‘cut to the heart’? Unless they do feel that pain, they will have no motivation to repent of their sin.
And so we ‘hurt people’ intentionally, for their good. The apostle Paul said, godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation,. 2Co 7:10
So how do we bring a person who doesn’t see themselves as ‘not that much of a sinner’, to the place where they are ‘cut to the heart '? First of all, I would hope that we are being sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit as we are speaking with the person. And then, using the creativity that God has given us, speak to them directly without ‘mincing words’, or softening our approach, or speaking to them ‘apologetically’. Look at how direct Peter was on this occasion.. He said, “this Jesus, whom you crucified”.
“You killed God’s Son!”. But did they really? The Romans nailed Him to the cross. The Jewish leaders, the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin court were the ones who dragged Him to Pilate. These people to whom Peter is speaking could have been part of the crowd of onlookers. Some of them would have joined in the chant, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”.
But, just as easily we can almost expect some of these people to respond to Peter, saying, “We didn't do it. The Pharisees are the ones who really hated him. They did it.”
But the Holy Spirit is at work here. Jesus had promised that He would send the Holy Spirit. “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
And then He tells us some of what the Holy Spirit’s ministry will include. 8 “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: John 16:7,8
This is exactly what is happening to this crowd. They are feeling the conviction of their sin. But they did not feel it until Peter said the words, “You killed Him!”
We need to use words like that. With wisdom. If you are speaking to a sensitive child who is asking about salvation, you might use different words. But when you are speaking with a person who says, “I don’t really see myself as all that much of a sinner.”, then you would need to say, Excuse me … what? You killed Him. You are saying that you really did not need Him to die for you? You would dare to tell God that giving His Son to die for you was a wasted action? That is equivalent to spitting in God’s face!
The crowd to whom Peter is speaking responded with, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” And Peter was ready with the answer. 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins;
Repent of what? Do you picture each of them, in their own way, personally taking stock of their lives and evil things that they had done .. and then seeking forgiveness for these things? Perhaps some of that was happening. But the true repentance that is taking place has to do with what they had done to Jesus. Their lack of owning up to the fact that their unbelief in Jesus as the very Son of God, was the sin that killed Jesus. That is what they are being sorry for. That is what cut them to the heart. That is what Peter is telling them to be sorry for.
And being sorry for their unbelief is only part of it. It is the motive that would make them do the next thing. And that is to step out into the open with their new admission that they were wrong and sinful to have dismissed their need of His death. They must publicly ‘about face’. They must say, in word and in action, …”I believe! Yes, He is the Son of God … and He died for me! Yes, I believe!
And Peter implies here, ‘And you need to show it. Include in your actions the willingness to step forward and be identified with Jesus and His followers. Be baptized. Show in your actions that you were as good as dead. Bury that old life … the life that said, I don’t need Jesus. I am not that bad. Bury that. Bury it, symbolically, in water and come up into a new life with Him. Your wicked sin of unbelief will be gone!’
But let's not get confused here. It is not the baptism of water that washes sin away. But is the action that goes all the way through the baptism that shows that real belief has just taken place in the heart. When a person comes to Jesus … genuinely, when they see their sin of unbelief as wicked as it really is, there will be some kind of an evidence. Always. Faith (belief) without (some kind of) work is dead, says James.
As Peter told them how to respond, how to repent, he also told them what to expect.
and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.”
Peter, we read, used many other words also. We must be willing to take the time to explain things properly. Don’t be tempted to take the easy way and offer a simple, brief 4 steps to salvation, type of pamphlet. These may be good to start someone thinking, but true and genuine conversion to Jesus is the biggest decision a person will ever make in their entire life. The decision needs to be real. Not coerced. Not minimised as something simple quick and easy,
What happened after Peter’s talk? 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
So the end result was nothing short of amazing. Three thousand persons were added to the church. I will just point out by way of reminder …, this number likely includes the people who were already devout believers, but needed to hear the words that the Messiah indeed had come, and that His coming was to bring salvation from sin through His death on the cross. This is an essential update for them. Now they are not only followers of God, devout believers, but they are followers of Jesus. They will become known as Followers of the Way.
But a part of this group of three thousand are brand new believers. They had not been true and devout followers of the Old Testament gospel. But now, realizing that their callous or cavalier attitude about their self-righteousness was the sin of all sins, they are cut to the heart, repent of their sin of unbelief, submit to baptism and identify themselves as a follower of Jesus, and as a part of the group of followers of Jesus. This is the power of the Holy Spirit in action. This is the work of the Holy Spirit today. My prayer, please join me in praying that the gospel presentations of our churches will come back to being as direct and clear as the message of Peter in our study of Acts. We are living in the age of the Holy Spirit.
And we are living in the days of Joel’s prophecy being fulfilled before our very eyes.