When the people heard this, they were greatly hurt, and they said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter replied, “Repent, every one of you, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you and for your children and for all who are afar off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Acts 2:37-39
cut and comfortable
When the apostle Peter preached to the crowds in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, he did not soften his message. Peter said, “You crucified him.” They had rejected the Savior whom God had promised and sent to save them. And people felt it. Luke says that his “heart was cut out.”
This is what the Word of God does. This does not suit us. It doesn’t tell us that we’re basically okay. It tells us the truth. Our sin is not small. This is not someone else’s problem. Left alone, it separates us from God. When that truth is revealed, the question arises: “What should we do?”
This is the most natural question in the world. When you realize something is broken, you want to fix it. When you realize you are guilty, you want to make it right. But Peter’s answer is not, “Try harder.” It’s not, “Do better next time.”
He says, “Repent and be baptized… for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Notice how active God is in that sentence. Forgiveness is granted. The soul is given. The promise has been made.
We bring sin. God brings rescue. This is how trust begins. God’s law cuts so that His gospel can be healed. He shows us our hopeless situation so that we can see how desperately we need Jesus.
And then he gives it to us. Through His Word, through baptism, through the message of the cross, God implements what He has done. Not partially. completely. Not because we earned it. Because Christ did. The same God who exposes our sins also washes them away. The promise is for you.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit, take away my ego and self-reliance. Then console me with the complete forgiveness received from Jesus. Amen.
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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used with permission from Zondervan. All rights reserved world wide.
