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The four Gospel accounts produce faith in Jesus as the Saviour. Matthew,
Mark and Luke all end with Jesus telling the Apostles to preach
salvation to the whole world. And the epistles — Romans through
Revelation — are written to those who've already obeyed the Gospel that the
Apostles preached. Only one book shows what the Apostles taught sinners to do to be
saved. That's the book of Acts.
If we want to know what to do to be saved today, we've got to look at Acts — the book of conversions. The book of Acts begins where the Gospels leave off. Jesus has been raised from the dead. He has appeared several times to His disciples over a period of forty days, teaching them about the kingdom of God. Then He leads them to Bethany outside of Jerusalem, and He ascends up to heaven. Acts chapter one overlaps with Luke 24. In Luke 24, Jesus tells the apostles that they will preach His death, burial and resurrection after they receive "power from on high." In Acts one, just before He ascends, Jesus tells them to go back to Jerusalem and wait for the power. The eleven apostles go back, choose another apostle to take the place of Judas, and wait. The record continues in Acts chapter 2 with the arrival of Pentecost. This was one of three annual feasts that required all adult male Jews to be at Jerusalem. That means there was a huge audience for what was about to transpire. The 12 apostles are gathered together, still waiting on the power. Then it comes. The first four verses of Acts 2 tell us that a sound fills the room where they are. It is described as "a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind." There also appeared "cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat on each of them." Verse 4 says the 12 apostles "were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and "began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." This was the power that Jesus promised — the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It enabled them to speak the words of Christ, Who was already in heaven. A crowd gathers and is amazed at what it sees and hears. These Jews have come from many foreign countries, but they hear the Apostles speaking in their own languages. They don't understand what's going on, but Peter stands up and explains that what they are seeing and hearing is the fulfillment of prophecy. Then Peter quotes from Joel chapter two about God's Spirit being poured out, wonders being performed, and salvation being made possible for all who call on the name of the Lord. Jesus had told the Apostles to preach salvation after the power came, and that's just what they are doing. After Peter explains what the audience is seeing and hearing, he preaches Christ in verses 22 through 36 of Acts two. He reminds the crowd what happened to Jesus about 50 days earlier — that they had Him crucified. But he tells them that God has raised Jesus from the dead, and quotes from Psalms to show that David had prophesied this very thing. Since David's grave was still there, and since David was still in it, their former king couldn't have been talking about his own resurrection. As Peter states in verse 31, "He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ." Since God has raised Jesus from the dead, as witnessed by the apostles, Peter concludes in verses 32 and 33 that Jesus is sitting at God's right hand and reaches the dramatic climax of his sermon in verse 36 when he says, "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Peter accuses God's own people of killing their Messiah promised in the Old Testament — the One they have been anticipating for years. They have murdered the Man God sent to save them, but He is not in the grave any more. He is at God's right hand, reigning as both Lord and Christ. Some of those Jews knew they had done wrong in helping put Jesus to death. They were convinced that Peter was telling the truth, and they wanted to know how to make things right. "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37) "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38). Peter and the other apostles did what Jesus told them to do. They waited for the power of the Holy Spirit, then they preached a crucified and resurrected Savior. They preached the Good News of salvation for the first time. And sinners were told what to do to be saved for the first time — they were told to repent and be baptized. Acts 2:41 says that those who received this word were baptized and therefore forgiven of their sins. The two terms that Peter uses in Acts 2:36 are significant. Peter tells the Jews that the Father in heaven has made Jesus "both Lord and Christ." The term "Lord" means "ruler." That's why Jesus Himself said in Matthew 28:18 that He had all authority, because the Father made Him Lord, or ruler. That means we must listen to Him and submit to His will. The term "Christ" is the Greek form of the Old Testament word "Messiah." It means that Jesus is the anointed one — the Savior. Put the two words together, and they mean that Jesus is the one we must obey, and He is the one Who can save us from our sins. And that's why Peter tells the Jews to be saved from their sins by submitting to Jesus by repenting and being baptized. That is still how men must be saved today. Everyone must do what Peter commands in Acts two in order to have their sins forgiven. It's not enough to believe what Peter taught about Jesus' resurrection. It's not enough to repent. Peter says repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins. Until you do this, you are still lost in your sins. |