"Positive and Encouraging"

Acts 2:22-24, 29-33

When I was in school, we had to read a message by the man pictured to the right. This is Jonathan Edwards. One of his most famous messages is titled, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". His preaching led to the beginning of the First Great Awakening. It was a time of revival and turning back to God.

As I read Edwards' sermon, I remember thinking, "I don't like this". It seemed harsh and hateful. It was a far cry from the God of love that I grew up hearing about. Don't get me wrong, I have heard my share of Hellfire and brimstone messages, but nothing quite like Edwards' message. Interestingly enough, the tone of Edwards message has a lot in common with Peter's message on the day of Pentecost.

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“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—Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it...“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. 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, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 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.

Acts 2:22–24, 29-33

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Peter does three things in his message. First, he tells the people who Jesus is. Jesus was sent by God to be the promised Messiah to Israel. It wasn't just a flippant decision by God. It was the "determined purpose and foreknowledge of God". Peter wanted the hearers to understand that Jesus coming to the world was the eternal plan of God. It was a big deal!

Second, he tells them that they killed God's Son. Peter said, "you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death". Peter let them know that they were guilty of sin against God. It is not enough to know who Jesus is. It is not enough for us to believe in God. We must understand that we are all guilty of sin against God.

The third thing Peter did was to tell them that Jesus was now alive and seated at the right hand of God the Father. He told the people that Jesus was in the presence of God and equal with God. As such, Peter began directing the people towards hope.

Following his message, the people asked Peter what they needed to do. He told them to repent and be baptized. Repentance was/is turning from our sins. It is the work of salvation and can only be done by the work of the Holy Spirit of God in us. Baptism is our confession. We confess that we believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and we profess our own death to sin, burial of the old self, and resurrection into new life in Jesus. Paul said it this way in Romans 10:10, "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation".

Peter didn't preach a nice message that was positive and encouraging. It was condemning and convicting. Yet, he did not simply point out their sinfulness and leave them. The centrality of his message, the focus he kept coming back to, was Jesus. That is what we need to do as well. Our words and our actions should be such that they constantly bring people's focus back to Jesus. Love us or hate us, they should know for whom we live.

Father, give us the words to speak that will draw people to you. Give us to words that will convict them of sin and so that they will see their condition before your righteousness. Give us words that will also point them to the hope of the cross and the need for a Savior.