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I'd like you to take your Bibles and turn to Acts chapter two. This morning, the text that God has brought before us in our ongoing study begins in verse 37. This morning, we will look at verses 37 through 41. Let me read this passage to you. Acts chapter two, verse 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?'

"Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

"'For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself.'

"And with many other words, he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, 'Be saved from this perverse generation!'

"So then, those who had received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3000 souls."

I confess that I grieve every week when I think of how many 1000s of people respond to evangelistic invitations and do so without really understanding what the gospel means. People that walk aisles and repeat prayers and accept Jesus into their heart and therefore become convinced that they are heaven-bound, that they are citizens of the kingdom of God; yet, when they die, they will go straight to hell. They fill churches. They teach Sunday school classes. They sing in choirs. They fill pulpits. They write books. They do all kinds of religious things, thinking all along they belong to the Lord, when in fact they do not. No doubt, some of you tragically are in this category. Jesus warned about this great tragedy. He said in Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord!' will enter the kingdom." He went on to say, "'Many will say to Me on that day,'" referring to that day of judgment, "'"Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name performed many miracles?"' And then I will declare to them, '"I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness."'"

No doubt, you ask the question, "How can this possibly happen? How can so many people be so badly deceived?" And the answer, in the short form, is basically this: They have been misinformed, and many gladly so, because they really don't like the truth of the gospel. They prefer another gospel. They do not understand the truth about the gospel of Jesus Christ, nor do they understand the truth about genuine repentance. And thus, I have titled my discourse to you this morning "The Nature of Genuine Repentance." I think of Mother Teresa, the Roman Catholic missionary to India - the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, an icon to very many people around the world of a selfless, sacrificial person - yet she believed and taught the gross deceptions of Roman Catholicism, which is basically a merry cult. She believed that salvation comes ultimately through Mary, combined with faith and works. She even believed that the sacraments of Hinduism - that vile, wretched pagan religion - combined with moral living would ultimately lead a person to salvation. It's sad. 10 years after her death, secret letters have been discovered revealing, according to Time Magazine, in an article entitled "Her Agony", maybe you've read it. If you haven't, you should. It's this month, September 2007 magazine. These letters reveal that she spent almost 50 years without sensing the presence of God in her life. The article reveals that she felt no presence of God quote, "neither in her heart nor in the Eucharist." Her letters bemoan dryness, loneliness, and torture. The article goes on to say she compares the experience to hell, and at one point says it has driven her to doubt the existence of heaven and even of God. She is acutely aware of the discrepancy between her inner state and her public demeanor. The article goes on to say, quote from her, "The smile," she writes, "is a mask or a cloak that covers everything." Similarly, she wonders whether she is engaged in verbal deception. Let me read something that she wrote, that is found in this article, and I quote Mother Teresa: "Lord, my God, who am I that you should forsake me, the child of your love, and now become as the most hated one, the one you have thrown away as unwanted, unloved. I call, I cling, I want, and there is no one to answer, no one on whom I can cling. No, no one alone. Where is my faith? Even deep down, right in there, is nothing but emptiness and darkness. My God, how painful is this unknown pain! I have no faith. I dare not utter the words and thoughts that crowd in my heart and make me suffer untold agony. So many unanswered questions live within me, afraid to uncover them because of the blasphemy. If there be a God, please forgive me. When I try to raise my thoughts to heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul. I am told that God loves me, and yet the reality of darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul." She concludes. by saying, "Did I make a mistake in surrendering blindly to the call of the sacred heart?" And I would answer, "Yes, you did. You should have surrendered to the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ."

Jesus made it clear that such horrific self-deception would define the majority of people who would call themselves Christians, who profess Christ and yet really do not know him. In Matthew seven, Jesus makes this very clear. You may recall that he warns that we will face two options, both of which say this way to heaven. One will be true; the other will be a lie. The lie will be the one, the false way that most will choose. The truth will be very hard to enter, and few will even be able to find it. We must choose, according to Matthew seven, Jesus says, between two gates, the narrow and the wide; between two ways, the narrow and the broad. There will be two destinations: life and destruction. There will be two groups: the few and the many. And the many will be likened to two kinds of trees. I should say, the few and the many will be likened to two kinds of trees: the good and the bad. Two kinds of people will profess Christ: the sincere and the false. There will be two kinds of spiritual builders: the wise and the foolish. And Jesus says there will be two kinds of religious foundations: the rock and the sand. There will be two kinds of houses of faith. One will stand the storms of final judgment, while the other will collapse in a heap of eternal disappointment.

In our text this morning, we have a glorious example of those who heard the truth of the gospel of Christ and chose to enter through the narrow gate of genuine repentance. My prayer, my goal this morning, is to help each of you see the nature of genuine repentance through this powerful example. And by God's grace, some of you will be smitten with horror as you examine your heart and and admit with brutal honesty that you really don't know Christ, your sense of guilt will be so painful that you will fall on your face before a holy God and beg for mercy, perhaps for the first time in your life.

As we examine this text, we will see four elements of genuine repentance, which is the very heart of the gospel of Christ. Four crucial attitudes that will always accompany genuine conversion - genuine saving faith - truths that tragically are missing in most gospel invitations in most churches these days; truths that are utterly non-existent in the lives of the vast majority of people who call themselves Christians. We will see four things: the pain, the price, the promise, and the product of repentance. The pain, the price, the promise, and the product of repentance.

And I must also hasten to add, dear friends, that what you will hear today is painful for me to preach, but I pray that it will be even more painful for you to hear, especially for those of you who are living in self-deception, I pray that the result of this message this morning will produce a sorrow according to the will of God, producing a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, as Paul said in Second Corinthians seven and verse 10.

Now let me remind you of the context once again. Peter's divinely inspired sermon has presented a compelling argument to the Jews, blasting away at their prejudices and their resentment of Jesus Christ. The Jews, as you know, were astonished by the supernatural events that they saw surrounding Pentecost. The evidence was overwhelming. They were guilty of murdering Jesus of Nazareth, their Messiah, and were now thereby objects of divine wrath. He said in verse 23, "You nailed him to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death." Indeed, the Jews were the ones that cried out, "Crucify him!" Therefore, his blood was on their hands. In verse 36, he says, "Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ - this Jesus whom you crucified."

Now we come to verse 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?'" What shall we do to somehow escape the wrath of God for what we have done, for our sin and our wickedness and our rebellion? And friends, here we see, first of all, the pain of repentance. Notice the text says they were "pierced to the heart." What a graphic description of what they felt. The word in the original language indicates an experience of something suddenly stabbing you in the heart, producing a severe pain. Everyone who has truly been born again knows what this feels like. Certainly, many of those Jews that day did. This describes, my friends, the experience of unmitigated guilt. This describes the brokenness of heart when we recognize our sin; this depicts the sharp sting of profound, overwhelming conviction, and this will inevitably lead to bitter tears of repentance and the pleading for forgiveness. My friends, this is the stuff of the gospel of Christ, and this caused him to desperately cry out to Peter and the rest of the apostles' brethren, "What shall we do?"

Now, in truth, I would submit to you that few who profess Christ have ever experienced anything close to this. In fact, most have no feelings at all concerning the heinousness of their sin or the inconceivable offense of their sin to a holy God. "Yes, but Pastor, I did not crucify Christ as they did." Oh, really? I would submit to you that your guilt and mine is no different because you, like me, have denied him. We have rebelled against him. We have rejected him. We have blasphemed him. We have ignored him. We have disobeyed him. Consider the condition of your heart for a moment, now or perhaps even in the past, have there not been times when you really thought to yourself, "You know, this whole thing of sin-it's really not that big of a deal. Quite frankly, I don't see myself as really that bad of a person." Obviously, you have never been pierced to the heart. With such an attitude, Christ's death on the cross is a meaningless absurdity to you. So you choose to neglect him altogether. And my friends, such contempt for the Savior makes you as guilty as anyone who drove the nails in his chest. "Oh, Pastor, I'm not that bad." Oh, really? Do you love him with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength? Does the center of gravity of your life orbit around your passionate commitment to give God the glory in everything that you do? Do you seek to honor him? Are his words precious to you? Do you find them to be the very nourishment of your soul, or do you, quite frankly, give little regard to the Word of God? You're content to hear it every now and then on a Sunday, but during the rest of the week, his voice is rather meaningless to you.

Do you love yourself and the world far more than Christ? Do you have a secret devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, or is he somewhat of a byproduct in your life? Do you have a passion to send time in communion and prayer with him, or is that simply not a priority for you? Do you find that you want to submit to his authority, or do you reject him even as those early Jews and Gentiles did? Or perhaps, since guilt may have many different faces, perhaps you are the type that will smugly agree with certain doctrines in the Word of God, but ah, there are others, when you come to them, you will reject them categorically because they do not fit into your preconceived ideas of theology and your personal preferences, and you still say you are better than those of that day. And yet, as we look at Scripture, we see that there are many who will be this way? And yet, isn't it interesting that we want to think, “Well, the many certainly couldn't include me. It must include those Roman Catholics, or those Mormons, or Jehovah's Witnesses, or the liberals, or whatever."

What about you who once walked in close fellowship with the Lord? Maybe you remember those days, and yet now you really don't have a whole lot to do with Him. You are backslidden, which denotes the idea of a cow or a horse sitting down on his back haunches and digging in his feet, refusing to yield to authority. Your character therefore screams your neglect of the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet the text says God has made him both Lord and Christ. Now think of this: Our King, our Savior, the sovereign ruler of the universe, deserving our utmost praise and obedience and worship, and yet we act as though he doesn't even exist at times. Our private life is filled with materialism, deception, immorality, deceit, anger, revenge, laziness. Friends, what a mockery it is if this is true in your life, to call yourself a Christian. What ingratitude! What hypocrisy! I pray that we will all examine our hearts and weep bitterly over our wickedness and be restored into fellowship with the Lord. So don't say for one minute that somehow, we were not as guilty as those early sinners.

Certainly, the Spirit of God brought overwhelming conviction to many of those Jews, and that was evidenced by the pain of conviction of their sin and the horror of the thought that somehow they stood guilty before a holy God, and his wrath was now abiding upon them. That's why it says they were "pierced to the heart." Now here is where most are tragically misinformed. Most are never confronted with the heinousness of their sin, nor are they confronted with the utter helplessness that is a part of their character, their total inability to in any way contribute to their salvation. So they feel no helplessness, no desperation, no sense of guilt, no sense of shame. They have no fear of divine judgment. There's nothing, quite frankly, in most gospel invitations today that would cause anyone to have their heart pierced; for most sin has been so sanitized that it seems rather ludicrous for man, not to mention God, to make such a fuss about it. In fact, if you read the most popular evangelical pastor of our time, you will discover that the essence of his definition of sin is simply sin includes all those things we think and do that rob us of fellowship with God and steal away the happiness he wants us to enjoy. Boy, there's not much there to pierce your heart. You see, with that kind of definition that so many would agree to, the good news of the gospel becomes nothing more than God loving us so much that he sent His Son to save us from our unhappiness. How silly! And his best best-selling book, this particular pastor invites people to quote, "quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity," and here it is: "Jesus, I believe in you, and I receive you." Then he goes on to say, quote, "If you sincerely meant that prayer, congratulations! Welcome to the family of God. You are now ready to discover and start living God's purpose for your life." End quote.

My friends, this is the antithesis of what happened at Pentecost, and this is the antithesis of any genuine gospel invitation. Such an invitation trivializes sin and makes no call for repentance. When we consider the various biblical terms for sin and the different concepts that we read in the Word of God that depict sin, we can ultimately define sin as the failure to conform to the moral character and desires of God. The failure to conform to the moral character and desires of God. No matter how morally upright we may be, we still will stand guilty by that definition. This is something infinitely more serious than those things we think can do that rob us of fellowship with God and steal away the happiness he wants us to enjoy. And by the way, the Jews certainly understood the hideous consequences of sin in their lives. In a book that I am writing on sin, I say, and if you will forgive me for quoting myself here, but I felt I could say it more succinctly if I do,

"No one can ever appreciate the glorious gospel of Christ apart from understanding two essential truths. They must have a profound mourning over the depths of their depravity and a solemn appreciation of the holiness of God. They must fear God, for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge that fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7). No sinner can be saved until he understands that he has violated the law of God, offended His holiness, and stands condemned. A sinner must comprehend that he needs to be reconciled to God, to be to be made holy by the imputed righteousness of Christ, to be set apart from sin unto God. As religiously incorrect as it may be in our culture, the truth is simply this: any gospel presentation that excludes these fundamental truths eviscerates the very heart of the gospel, thereby robbing God of His glory by disregarding His holiness and trivializing the sufferings of Christ." End quote.

My friends, if you have never felt the pain of your sin that put to death the one whom God says is both Lord and Christ, all I can do is plead with you to examine your heart, and I pray that by the power of the Spirit of God and the two-edged sword of his word, that he will pierce your heart with the truth. So this is the pain of genuine repentance that those early sinners that became saints experienced.

Secondly, notice the price of repentance in verse 38, "Peter said to them, 'Repent and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.'" Now, the word "repent" essentially, in the original language, means to change the mind and purpose. It means to turn from one direction and go in another. Now I want you to understand, this is not reformation. This is not some resolution to do better, to kind of turn over a new leaf. That's not what repentance is. Nor is it contrition, merely feeling sorry for the bad things that we have done, but it is a voluntary change in a sinner by which he turns from sin toward God, and it involves the entire man. It involves our intellect, where we understand the truth about our sin and the Savior, where we understand the gospel of Christ. It involves our emotions, where we experience a profound hatred of our sin and a genuine love for the truth, and also when we experience the fear of a holy God. It also involves our volition, whereby we decisively commit to change the purpose of our life, and we deliberately choose to follow Christ and to seek pardon. You see, a truly repentant person will say something like this: "Oh God, as I look into my heart, I see the horrors of my sin, and I recognize that I stand guilty before your holiness. I recognize that there is nothing about me that conforms to your character and your desires. I acknowledge that in my life I have denied the Lord Jesus Christ. I acknowledge that I have blasphemed his name by criticizing his person and his work. And God, I admit that by my ridicule of His word and my refusal to follow him. I have rebelled against you. My heart has been callous. My will has been obstinate. My life has been wasted, and I stand justly condemned in your presence. And God, all I can do is say that I loathe my sin, and how I long for your tender mercy and for your forgiveness, and I beg you to save me."

Such is the pain, my friends, of genuine repentance, and all of this results in genuine conversion. Which, interestingly enough, in the original language, has a similar definition to repentance. Conversion literally means to turn, a turning away from sin and turning toward God, and it also results, therefore, in faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, regardless of the cost, regardless the price. And notice the price. He said to them, "Repent and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins." You see, after genuine repentance and faith in Christ comes baptism.

Let me digress just for a moment. There are many who believe a heresy that claims that you cannot be saved apart from baptism. That basically baptism saves you, and some will go to this text. But the preposition "eis" which is the word "for," be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins," can also be translated "because of" or "with reference to." In other words, you must understand, all through the New Testament scriptures we see that repentance and faith, not baptism, results in salvation. You see, to be baptized for these early Jews was to signal publicly that they were now renouncing Judaism, that they were willing to pay the price of their repentance. What he's saying to them is repent and let each of you publicly declare your renunciation of Judaism. Let each of you publicly acknowledge to your Jewish friends and your family that you are confessing your sins and you are placing your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that Jesus of Nazareth, whom you crucified. Prove your repentance. He's saying, "Tell the world that you now identify with the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ." And friends, can you imagine the cost that those early saints paid? Do you realize in that culture for someone to do that in that day, even as in today, that it meant that you would be completely ostracized from your family. It was the rejection of the worst sort. You would become homeless. You would lose your income, your job, your finances. In fact, most families would consider you dead. My friends, the reason why so many profess Christ but do not possess him is because they have never truly repented, nor have they ever hated their sin so much that they were willing to abandon it regardless of the cost; nor were they willing to depend solely upon the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to save them. People just simply aren't willing to pay that kind of a price, and since that kind of preaching doesn't fill churches, many people never even hear it.

Remember in Luke 13, an unnamed inquirer noticed all the multitudes, but yet recognized that none of them were really seeking salvation. They were seeking all the goodies that Jesus would be handing out. So in verse 23, he asked, "Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?" Of course, the Lord knows that numbers isn't the issue, so he just completely ignores that question, and instead he answers, saying, "'Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.'" Oh, wait a minute! Wait a minute! I thought this...I thought this thing was easy. I thought I all I had to do is sign the card. I thought all I needed to do is accept Jesus into my heart. I was told that all I need to do is quietly whisper the prayer that will change my eternity. Jesus, I believe in you and receive you." What's the striving stuff? The word in the original language, strives - "agōnizomai" - it means to fight, to engage in hand-to-hand combat. It was used to describe one that would engage in an athletic contest that would require great intensity, an exhausting effort. What's this fighting? What's this hand-to-hand combat? And what is this? "'Many, I tell you, will seek and will not be able." I thought this deal was easy. No, friends, that's what Satan would have you to believe.

There's a wide gate and there's a broad way, but that's not the way Jesus invites us to come. My friends, salvation is far more than just reaching out and accepting some free gift, some whispering some prayer; there is a striving. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 7:13 "'Enter through the narrow gate.'" Narrow - "stenos" - it's the idea of something that is restricted, something that is compressed. It comes from a root word that literally means to groan. I want you to enter through that gate that requires you to groan to get in. In other words, you don't enter into Christianity with great ease. The point is, there will be intense pressure resulting from a conscious, deliberate choice; a determined, purposeful decision requiring strenuous effort. That's why in Luke 16:16 the Lord says, "The gospel of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it." The idea again of vigorously forcing, pressing your way into the kingdom. And Jesus said in Luke 9:23 "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself." Literally, this is a reference to Gentile believers. Paul makes this clear in Ephesians 2:13. He describes Gentile believers as "those who are far off, who have been brought near by the blood of Christ." But Peter goes on to say, "This promise is for you and your children, for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself." Here's another passage denoting God's sovereignty and salvation, a truth that must always be held in tension with man's responsibility, as Peter also stated in verse 21 earlier, where he exhorted them, saying, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

So these promises of undeserved mercy and grace, my, how they must have been a drink of cool water to these thirsty parched souls standing there this day, recognizing their sin. Again, think of it. What terror must have gripped their hearts, knowing that now they are the objects of God's wrath, and I hope we have all been at that place once in our life.

Now, obviously, the promise of forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit applies to all who truly come to Christ in repentant faith. That's again why he says, "As many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself." You see, friends, those whose sins have been forgiven, those who are genuine repenters have the indwelling Spirit now dwelling within them, and he performs many works. He is the one Jesus said that convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment. I'm glad, by the way, that he is the one responsible for that, and not me, because I could never do it, nor could you. All I'm to do is to provide the instrument by which he works that wonderful work of regenerating grace, and that is the preaching of his word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So the Spirit of God convicts; He regenerates. He's the one that breathes spiritual life into our spiritual cadavers. He is the one that empowers us with supernatural ministry abilities called spiritual gifts. He guarantees our salvation. He seals us for the day of redemption. The Word of God says that he intercedes for us. He is the one that dwells within us and restrains us from sin. He comforts us. He unifies us as a body of believers. We even read in the Word of God that he is the source of our love and communion with God. And I might add, this is what was missing with Mother Teresa, because she did not have the indwelling Spirit of God within her, because she did not know Christ.

We read in Romans 8:16 the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit, that we are children of God, and also the spirit of God produces spiritual fruit. You see, this is part of the great promise of repentance. He is saying, if you will repent, the promise of the Spirit of God will fall upon you. The outpouring work of the Spirit of God will begin to manifest itself in you and through you, and I've just given you a slight sampling of all that he does.

You see, when we see a professing Christian who bears no spiritual fruit, that is a sure sign that genuine repentance has never occurred because they have no Holy Spirit, and sadly, I interact with people on a weekly basis whose lives are characterized by all manner of wickedness, and yet they call themselves Christian. And then when you confront them with the truth, it's like water rolling off a duck's back. I've said before, I'll say again, over the many years of working with people, I have found a great, great difference between people. The non-Christian, despite what they might profess, will hear truth. Will hear what God would have them do, and as I say, it'll be water off their back. What will they have an impact? The genuine Christian will hear the truth, and it will break his or her heart. And you almost have to give them mouth-to-mouth resuscitation of grace-that's the difference. Unlike these broken-hearted Jews at Pentecost, who felt the pain and paid the price of repentance and received the promise of repentance. These are the type of people who claim to know Christ but really don't, but Jesus described in Matthew seven who chose to enter through the wide gate and go down the broad way that leads to destruction. In fact, Jesus said in verse 20 of Matthew seven, "You will know them by" what? By their "fruits."

So Peter confronted them with the truth in verse 40, "And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "'Be saved from this perverse generation!'" Clearly, we see here Peter's sermon extended far beyond what Luke has recorded for us, and evidently, by the phrase "he kept on exhorting them," there must have been some kind of of interplay between the crowd and Peter; there was probably some kind of Q and A going on. Don't you wish you could have heard that? Be saved from this perverse - "skolios" - in the original language. It means bent. It means crooked. It means twisted. This twisted generation, and indeed they were twisted. Now catch this: they were very religious, but they were twisted, not at all unlike the religious culture in which we find ourselves. And again, I hope you notice this is very different than the neo-evangelical invitations of our day that will go to great lengths to embrace the culture and assure seekers that they will have nothing to give up when they follow Christ. But friends, the truth is, the fountain of grace will only be opened up to sinners who repent in great pain and agony and mourning, and who deny themselves.

In the vast majority of ostensibly evangelical churches today, God is presented basically as a fun-loving, kind of a jovial, permissive, lenient Santa Claus, that hands out goodies. Whether you've been naughty or nice, it doesn't really matter. And friends with such a blasphemous perception of God, sinners are thereby emboldened to presume upon his grace and to live lives with reckless abandon because they have no fear of God, and unless the full weight of that reality-that God is a holy God and we should fear Him and we should cry out to Him for mercy-unless that reality grips the heart of a sinner, that person will never approach a holy God with the kind of terror that is necessary for genuine repentance. Nor will they ever bow before His holiness and say, "God, I am going to make a decisive commitment to change my life to go in a different direction, but I can only do that by Your transforming grace." My friend, if this is you, I solemnly warn you that the wrath of God abides upon you, and you will perish in your sins unless you repent and place your faith in Christ.

That was Peter's message that day, and again, they these people felt the pain of repentance. They were willing to pay the price of repentance. They were willing to forsake everything in their culture and their family, and they longed for the promises of repentance, namely forgiveness of sins and the power of the indwelling Spirit.

And finally, we see the product of repentance. In other words, the results of it, the fruit of it. In verse 41, "So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and there were added that day about 3000 souls." Isn't that precious? Notice, he says, "those who had received his word were baptized." In other words, those who heard the truth and believed the truth were willing to publicly renounce Judaism, to publicly say, "I am going to follow Christ, regardless of what the world will say, regardless of the consequences, I will deny myself and follow Christ," because the truth of their sin and their need for the Savior pierced their heart, and that truth caused them to beg for undeserved mercy. That truth caused them to repent, change the direction of their life, jettison their sin, and follow Christ. That was the truth that motivated them to willingly separate themselves from their false religion and from their culture, even their family, knowing full well that there is absolutely nothing more precious in life than knowing and following Christ. And to the utter astonishment of the jeering majority - that were absolutely certain that nobody would buy this foolishness, that nobody would believe this insanity that Peter was presenting - to their utter astonishment, we read that there were added that day about 3000 souls. Why we serve a transforming God, do we not?

Well, some of you have never felt the pain of repentance because you have never admitted the horror of your sin. Consequently, you have never paid the price of repentance because, frankly, you love your sin more than you love the Lord. You love the world more than you love him. Moreover, you do not enjoy the promise of repentance because the Holy Spirit doesn't reside in you. So obviously, you do not manifest the product of repentance because you bear no fruit, because you have not received the Word; much less do you obey it. You know who you are. Whether you've done this in ignorance or with full knowledge, I humbly beg you to do business with God today. I plead with you as his servant to hear the truth of the gospel, my friends, and confess your sin, and repent and believe in Christ, to seek his pardon and deny yourself and follow Him and partake of the glorious promises of his gifts and of his grace and his blessing. Let's pray together.

Father, I pray that you would take these truths and use them to penetrate the heart of even the most recalcitrant sinner, and I pray, Lord, that many will be saved because of the truth of the gospel, and because by the power of your Spirit they repent. And Lord, for all of us who know and love you, but still sometimes fall back into the ways of the flesh, Lord, may we also repent, confess our sin, knowing that you are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Speak to our hearts this day that we might bear much fruit.