Bentley Baptist Church Sermons

How to Be Saved

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Acts 2.37-41 | Ps Alex Huggett | 21.7.2024
Part of a series on Acts

© Bentley Baptist Church Inc.
www.bentleybaptist.org

Speaker 1:

We are going to be reading from Acts continuing on. We've been spending quite a bit of time on this day of Pentecost and we're going to spend a couple of more weeks there, so I'm going to read from Acts, chapter 2, verse 41, just the sorry verse 36, the end of our reading from last week and into the next section. So Acts, chapter 2, verse 36. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah. And when they heard this, the crowd was pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles Brothers, what should we do? And Peter replied Repent and be baptized, each of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord, our God, will call. With many other words, he testified and strongly urged them, saying Be saved from this corrupt generation. And so those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day, about 3,000 people were added to their number. Well, as I said, it's the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit has been poured out and in response, the mocking and bewildered crowd of onlookers hear this sermon from Peter that convinces them in a turnaround that Jesus is Lord. And as part of his sermon, he accused the listening crowd of killing the Messiah. Literally, some of the people who were standing in the crowd may well have been baying for Jesus' blood at the foot of the cross. Maybe they were ridiculing him as he hung there. The crowd had been laughing at the disciples moments ago, but now they're convicted, as they realize the terrible sin they've committed and the act of deepest betrayal as Israelites they could make in killing the very one God had sent to save them. And how do you come back from that, Brothers? They cry out. What should we do? It wasn't only the baying crowd that put Jesus on the cross. It wasn't only the soldiers that put him there, it was you and it was me.

Speaker 1:

The psalmist in Psalm 14, verses 2 to 3, declared the Lord looks down from heaven on the human race to see if there is one who is wise. All have turned away, all have become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one. And so in his letter to the Romans, chapter 1, verse 18, paul said God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who, by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth. Pretty depressing stuff, isn't it? Without a saviour, we're all lost.

Speaker 1:

The idea that all of us are guilty before a holy God is really quite offensive to many people. Today, american politics is filling our headlines. It's like we're the 51st state or something. So I'll pick on them as an example and, depending where you stand, maybe you resonate with one of these and will hate me for the other. But it's only Trump and his supporters with their xenophobic policies who are evil if you vote Democrat, or Biden and his supporters with their baby-killing policies that are evil if you vote Republican. But God is on our side. And then I heard one independent say if Biden gets in, we're screwed, if Trump gets in, we're screwed. Sounds like everyone's in a pickle.

Speaker 1:

Look, we like to poke fun at American politics, but isn't this exactly what we all do on some level? We maximize the sin of those we disagree with and we minimize our own. Well, I may not be perfect, but at least I'm not as bad as them. But the psalmist says all have become corrupt. And so Isaiah in chapter 53, verse 5, foretold In chapter 53, verse 5, foretold he, speaking of Jesus, was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities. Punishment for our peace was on him and we are healed by his wounds. We all put Jesus on the cross, and so the crowd responds to this.

Speaker 1:

But it wasn't only to the accusation of murdering Jesus that they respond to. It was a response to the promise of the Holy Spirit that they perceived they were missing out on. As Jews, they had been waiting for this event for generations and now it was here and it seemed to be passing them by and they wanted in Brothers, what should we do? And Peter's response to them is very clear and very simple, and you know we sometimes complicate the gospel and the response to it. But there were just two things that Peter told them to do. The first was repent.

Speaker 1:

Repent. It was actually the same message he'd heard Jesus preaching for the last three years. Repent, for the kingdom of God is near, jesus said. And the Bible is clear we can't be saved without repenting from sin. Now we usually associate repentance. It's an old-fashioned word and we associate it with stopping sin, and it is that. But the Jewish understanding was broader than that. It involved turning around, a change of direction. The Old Testament prophets didn't use the word, but they were constantly calling people to repentance. Stop following the ways of the pagan nations, turn around and follow God, be faithful to God and his covenant. And to put it in language that we use at Bentley to repent is to start following the ways, the words and the works of Jesus, To believe what he said, follow his example and do what he did. So let's put some legs on this. I'll probably poke the bear a little bit here.

Speaker 1:

It's not meant to upset anyone, but the late Richard Foster noted three great temptations of our age, and perhaps any age actually, and these were money, sex and power. Not that these are evil in themselves, of course, but they are spiritual battlegrounds. Everyone wants more of these, don't we? Money, sex and power they're tools for exploitation, ideological battlegrounds and objects of desire. And in response to the corruption that can arise in these three areas, foster suggested three spiritual practices that serve as counter-cultural examples of repentance, because repentance is always going to be counter-cultural examples of repentance, because repentance is always going to be counter-cultural.

Speaker 1:

And these were the practices of poverty or simplicity, chastity and obedience. So poverty is about depending on God. For my needs. It's instead of chasing wealth, and perhaps simplicity is a more relatable term for us. Today. We live in a very wealthy society. Most of us don't live with the sort of poverty that was around in Jesus' day and in many parts of our world still today. And simplicity is about practicing generosity and just being content with what I have, with a simple the basics. It's avoiding the chase for more. Chastity is about understanding that sex is a holy gift from God that's reserved for marriage and, I need to add, the biblical vision is for monogamous heterosexual marriage, which really pokes at our society today. And obedience is about submission to God, his word and, dare I say, his community, the church.

Speaker 1:

Now, how did you react? As I listed these? Because they're quite antithetical to our culture and even considered evil in some spheres. And as I've been preparing this and preaching it, there's one in particular that keeps poking me. So you're not alone if you're feeling poked. Consider should we be advocating contentment when there's a cost of living crisis that stems from inequality and perpetuates inequality? A lot of people would say no.

Speaker 1:

The concept of chastity is often scoffed at, if it's not considered a social evil by many people, and, of course, it also touches on identity politics and personal rights and so on, and obedience goes against the power of victim narratives that have become normal in our culture. And, of course, as a white religious male, I'd advocate for obedience because I'm at the top of the pile. Again, if you're like me, you're probably uncomfortable with one or more of these categories and perhaps you even feel something of a violent reaction against something I've said. So my question to you this morning is where is that coming from? And yes, these things poverty, chastity, obedience can be abused, and they sometimes are abused in the church. And again, I'm very aware of that as a white male religious leader, and again, I'm very aware of that as a white male religious leader.

Speaker 1:

But could our reactions, if we've had them, indicate an area that we need to practice repentance, in that we need to stop thinking like the old self or like the world and align ourselves with the values of the kingdom of God, because we can't be saved, we can't enter the kingdom of God without repentance, without agreeing with the king of the kingdom and his values and turning from sin to godliness. We just can't do it because the kingdom is antithetical to sin. That's what repentance is and that's what Peter called the crowd to do in order to be saved. But Peter said not only must we repent and this is interesting he said we must be baptised. Now, as a Baptist, this, on the surface, presents a problem to me. Is Peter saying I need to be baptised in order to be saved, because that's not something we teach in Baptist churches? Well, some churches would actually say, yes, you do need to be baptized to be saved.

Speaker 1:

In 1 Peter 3.19 to 21, we read In Noah's ark only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism. That now saves you also, not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Well, that sounds like baptism is necessary for salvation. But we don't believe that for salvation. But we don't believe that. We don't believe that we're saved by what we do, by trying to be good enough or by any religious right.

Speaker 1:

A Christian, by definition, is someone who follows Jesus, and that does involve certain practices. We've just talked about repentance. But Jesus is the gateway into the Christian life. Christian practices themselves are not the gateway. They sort of stand on the other side of the gateway. Peter says baptism saves you, not by the water itself, but by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, of Jesus Christ, jesus saves. Baptism clears our conscience before him, peter says and in Galatians 3, verse 27, paul says for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. And so in baptism we radically identify with Jesus and his resurrection, we enter into his covenant and we express our faith in him.

Speaker 1:

Baptism is also the initiation rite for entry into his church, the early church. If someone had come up and said I'm a Christian and not baptised, they would have what. That's not even possible, and so, like most churches, you can't actually be a member of Bentley Baptist unless you're baptized. This is also why you can't baptize yourself, and I don't think we should be casual about who we let do the baptizing. The Bible doesn't make a whole lot of rules around it, but it's a solemn thing. So again, do I need to be baptized to be saved? That's kind of the wrong question.

Speaker 1:

Let me put it this way Fletcher responds to the gospel and the call to baptism. In fact he's all in on Jesus and he's so keen that as soon as he gets saved he wants to be baptized and we're like right, we can see the Holy Spirit is on you, let's go down to the river and do it right now. But sadly, on the way he gets hit by the proverbial bus, poor Fletcher. Does Fletcher go to heaven? I think so. I don't think he's not going to heaven because he wasn't baptized.

Speaker 1:

Alternative universe Fletcher he makes a decision to follow Jesus, but he's got some stuff to sort out. Weeks and months go by, the church has a baptism service or two, but he's not quite ready. Then, tragically, one night at youth group he chokes on his Taco Bell. Does Fletcher go to heaven? Well, here's my question Does that sound like someone who had repented from his sin and trusted Jesus and was trusting and following Jesus? And I mean, really, what kind of person eats Taco Bell? Anyway, look, at the end of the day, the Bible is clear that baptism is not optional.

Speaker 1:

Jesus practiced it and he commanded it, and we follow his ways and his words. According to Paul, it's how we identify with him. According to Peter, it's the pledge of a good conscience before God. And the call that Peter makes here to repent and be baptized stands in parallel to Jesus' call to repent and believe If you claim to be a follower of Jesus and are not baptized. I want to ask you today why not? Now?

Speaker 1:

There's a whole question here as Baptists about what about infant baptism and so on, and people have different opinions on that. We do not practice infant baptism. We practice believer's baptism. But for the sake of unity, we recognize infant baptism. So we're not getting into that today. But have you been baptized one way or the other? And if not, why not? Why won't you identify with Jesus in this way? Why won't you obey God's word in this? Because baptism is the way we express faith in Jesus and enter into his covenant Be baptized. So Peter promised that when the people repented and were baptized, his listeners would receive the Holy Spirit. We're not going to tackle that today. If you want to hear more about that, you'll have to come back in a couple of weeks. We have a guest speaker next week and we'll pick this up the following week.

Speaker 1:

But let me echo the end of Peter's message, because Luke says, with many other words he testified and strongly urged them be saved from this corrupt generation. Be saved from this corrupt generation or, as the NIV says, save yourselves from this corrupt generation. How are we saved. We repent and are baptized in the name of Jesus. We stop following the ways, words and works of this world and we follow the ways, words and works of Jesus. We follow his example, we obey his words, we do what he did.

Speaker 1:

So I want to ask you this morning, if you haven't yet, will you repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins? Let's pray, father. We thank you for your gift of salvation, lord. As we can see clearly around the world, it is broken in so many ways, and when we examine our hearts, we know we're broken as well, and we thank you that you have offered a way to be saved, to be put back together and made right with you, with one another, and one day you'll make the world right as well. And so, father, we, lord, I pray that you will help those of us who have already said yes to Jesus to follow him faithfully and if there's any here today who haven't, father, that you'll bring a conviction to them, a conviction of your love for them, but their need for you and your salvation. In Jesus' name, amen, and if you would like to talk about that, I will be available after the service. Thank you.