SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/7/2017 8:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-6 “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, "Be saved from this perverse generation!"”
In our last couple of Spiritual Diaries we have been
talking about baptism, and now today we want to talk about the phrase “forgiveness
of your sins.” I have mentioned in many
earlier Spiritual Diaries that in order for one to have their sins forgiven
they have to first of all realize that they are a sinner. We have also mentioned the phrase “total depravity,” and I
think that a good description of this term is that “a person is not as bad as they can be, but as bad
off as they can be.” We are all
born that way, as bad off as we can be, and so in order to receive forgiveness
of our sins we must first realize that we are sinners, and the Bible tells us
that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” To have forgiveness of sins is a subject that
fills the pages of Scriptures of the New Testament. Matthew 26:28 tells us “for this is My blood
of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.” Luke 24:47 “and that repentance for
forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations,
beginning from Jerusalem.” This verse
teaches us that this proclamation of forgiveness of sin should be told around
the world. Ephesians 1:7 “In Him we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to
the riches of His grace.” Paul writes
the following to the Colossians in Col. 2:13 “When you were dead in your
transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together
with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions.” I assure you that this is not a conclusive
list.
Now we next want to look at what Luke then writes that Peter told his listeners “and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Now according to Joel 2:28-29 these listeners were waiting for the gift of the Spirit “28 "It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. 29 “Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.”
John MacArthur writes “Dorea (‘gift’) refers to that which is free and unmerited. Contrary to much contemporary teaching, Peter
attached no condition to receiving the Spirit except repentance. Nor did he promise that any supernatural
phenomena would accompany their reception of the Spirit. I should be noted as well that the gift of
the Spirit does not come through water baptism (Acts. 10:47).
“The marvelous gift of the Holy Spirit was not merely for those
in Peter’s audience that day. ‘The
promise’ of the Holy Spirit, Peter informs them, ‘is for you and your children,
and for all who are far off.’ They and
their children, the nation of Israel, would receive the Spirit, as the Old Testament
promised (Isa. 44:3; Ezek. 36:27; 37:14; Joel 2:28-29). They would share that blessing, however, with
those ‘who are far off’—the Gentiles (cf. Eph. 2:11-13).”
Peter tells who would receive the Spirit as a gift when
he says “the Lord our God shall call to Himself” as this describes God’s
sovereignty at work in salvation. This is a part of the twin
truths of salvation, first that God calls those who will be saved, and those He
calls will accept this calling and receive the salvation that the Spirit offers
them.
Dr. Luke then adds “with many other words [Peter] solemnly testified
and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” This tells us that Luke did not include all
of what Peter was preaching during this first sermon of the church age. The word perverse in the Greek translates skolios and this means bent, or crooked
and therefore evil and unrighteous.
When our Lord was teaching months before Peter gave this
sermon He also spoke of the wickedness of that generation. This is the generation who had the very
second person of the godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ take on human flesh as
prophesied by the OT Scriptures. He came
to His own, but His own received Him not as they were looking for a conquering
King and not a gentle Savior to pay for their sins. Jesus stated that because this generation did
not recognize the time of His coming and because of what they did to Him that
many would die and in 70 AD this prophecy came true as many hundreds of
thousands from that generation met their death at the hands of the Romans. Moses wrote of this generation that they
would offer themselves as slaves, those who were not killed and no one would
buy them. This happened as the slave
market had too many slaves at that time.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: There were many
signs and prophecies that told when Christ would be born and that generation
missed all of them. There are signs that
Christ will return to take His bride back to heaven before the tribulation
comes and many in this generation are missing those signs too.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to led me in the way He wants
me to go.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Dumb” (1 Corinthians 12:2).
Today’s Bible
question: “What does Peter say they did
with Jesus after He rose from the dead?”
(Hint Peter was speaking to Cornelius.)
Answer in our next SD. 8/7/2017 9:14 AM
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