SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/3/2017 8:02 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Appeal”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 2:37-40
Message of the verses: “37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" 38 Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, and “Be saved from this perverse generation!"”
In our last SD we looked at several reasons why these
people were overwhelmed with anguish, despair, remorse, and guilt, after all
they were partly responsible for the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ a few
weeks before.
In response to Peter’s sermon and their anguish “they
said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do?” Perhaps they thought they could do something
to appease their guilty conscience, but the answer that Peter will give them is
probably different than the answer they thought they were going to hear. Perhaps they were looking for a way to not
have to be confronted by the Messiah’s wrath.
We will see latter on in the book of Acts that they were at the same point
that Paul was at when confronted by the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to
Damascus when he cried out “What shall I do, Lord?” Also later on when Paul and Silas were in the
Philippian jail and the Lord brought about an earthquake that allowed all the
chains to fall off the prisoners and as the jailor was about to kill himself
Paul told him that none of the inmates had escaped, and as a result of him
hearing what Paul and Silas were singing and talking about he said to Paul and
Silas “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
The people listening to Peter’s sermon were convicted in their hearts
and needed an answer as to what to do about it, and this is a great place to be
in. We can be assured that the Holy
Spirit was using the sermon that Peter was preaching to bring about their
troubled minds as they were being convicted by their sins and needed an answer
as to what they should do now. Perhaps
we could say that this was the very first altar call in the church age. John MacArthur writes that “Such a conviction
of sin is a part of every genuine conversion.”
Let us look at a couple of verses from the prophet
Zechariah who actually prophesied the first step in the restoration of Israel
which was the conviction of sin: “10 "I will pour out on the house of David
and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication,
so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for
Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like
the bitter weeping over a firstborn.” I
realize that perhaps this verse and also 13:1 will happen during the second
coming of Jesus Christ, but what Zechariah writes about did seem to happen at
this time in Israel. ““In that day a
fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.”
MacArthur writes that “Conviction is the key used by the Holy Spirit to
open the heart to salvation.”
People have to realize that they are lost before they
realize that they need a Savior and although this is the work of the Holy
Spirit the message given to lost souls is the job of every believer as they set
about witnessing the message of salvation to the lost. Many people think that they are all right
with the Lord, but don’t realize that they are lost and on their way to a
Christless eternity in hell. I suppose
that you could put the Pharisees in this boat.
John MacArthur writes “Genuine conviction is produced by the Spirit of
God, in conjunction with the Word of God, which is ‘living and active and
sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of the
soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and
intentions of the heart’ (Heb. 4:12).”
We will look at the answer that Peter gives them as far
as what they should do in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am thankful that the Holy Spirit convicted
me of sin in January of 1974, something that changed my life forever.
My Steps of Faith for Today: My
prayer is that the Lord will use the Spiritual Diaries that I write to have His
Spirit convict people who read them of their sin and the need of trusting the
Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.
My prayer is also that the Spirit of God use these Spiritual Diaries to
cause believers to grow in grace.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Macedonia” (Acts 16:9).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who had four daughters who
were prophets?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/3/2017 8:40 AM
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