Sunday Worship: The Gospel Response

Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. We're going really good today. Five? Six through 11? Okay.

Good morning. We're going to get started. We're a little unorganized today, but we'll power through. Brandon's continuing in Acts today with Peter's sermon, and the crowd's question of what do we have to do to be saved? And Peter offers an answer of hope, and he offers an answer that was God's plan all along. And so, with that in mind, we wanted to read together Romans 5:8-11. And so, if you can stand, if you would stand with us, we'll read that together, and it will be up on the screen there. And just, I would just say, just kind of focus your minds on what Christ has done, what God's plan was all along, and how much He loves us, and how He saved us from our sins. And so, we're going to start in verse 8.

For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die. But God shows His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. God, we thank you that we're able to gather here today. We thank you that everyone that is here with us in person

has made it safely, and we thank you for those that are watching online, and the encouragement that not only the people here, but those watching are to us. And we just ask that you bless our service today, and may it glorify you. We thank you for your goodness, and your steadfast love, and your plans that are always better than anything we could even think about. And we thank you so much for Jesus who came to save us. In Jesus' name. Amen. Our first Song we're going to be doing today is "Who You Say I Am." And I don't have any words, so I'm going to be looking at the screen, too. But we're going to be reading a couple of verses from that. And we've done this one before, so we should know it. If not, just listen to the words and just find the hope that's in those.

Who am I that the highest King would welcome me? I was lost, but He brought me in. Oh, His love for me. Oh, His love for me. Oh, the sun sets free. Oh, it's free indeed. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. At last He has ransomed me. His grace runs deep. While I was a slave to sin, Jesus died for me. Yes, He died for me. Oh, the sun sets free. Oh, it's free indeed. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. In my Father's house, there's a place for me. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. Oh, the sun sets free. Oh, we're free indeed. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. In my Father's house, there's a place for me.

I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. The song before our prayer and share time is going to be "I Need Thee Every Hour." And if you're watching online, we will have a slide up. We do mute during our prayer and share time just because not everybody wants all their business all over the world. So that's one of the reasons why we mute during that time. In the next couple of weeks, we're probably going to try to play some music so it's a little less droppy. Oh, today as well. We'll be playing music today. So that way you still feel involved with what's going on. So if you have anything you need to share online, you can text that number or leave a comment and send us a message. And we would love to pray with you together on that. And so we're going to sing "I Need Thee Every Hour."

I Need Thee Every Hour. I Need Thee Every Hour, Most Gracious Lord. No tender voice like Thine can be served. I need Thee every hour. I need Thee every hour. I need Thee every hour. Most gracious Lord. No tender voice like Thine can be served. I need Thee every hour. I need Thee every hour. Most gracious Lord. No tender voice like Thine can be served. I need Thee every hour. Can peace afford. I need Thee. Oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour. Stay Thou, live I. Temptations lose their power When Thou art nigh. I need Thee, oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour. Enjoy all pain. Come quickly and divide. Oh, life is vain. I need Thee, oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour. Teach me Thy will. And Thy rich promises in me fulfill. I need Thee. Oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to Thee. I need Thee. Oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to Thee. I come to Thee. I come to Thee. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Thank you. Thanks, Russell. As we move into our time of communion, I just want to share a couple verses before our next song. We've read these together before, I think. It's from Psalm 103. It says, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's wings." The next song we're going to be doing is one that we learned a couple weeks ago called "Never Once," and it just talks about how we've never walked alone and we've never been without the Lord being close to us in the pit, in our diseases, in all of our iniquities in life, and that his steadfast love is what gives us the strength to continue in this life.

And so if you want to sing along, you can. If you just want to read the words or if you just want to focus on that and pray while we prepare for communion, I would just ask that you do that while we sing together. Let's pray. Let's pray.

Feeling on this battleground, seeing just how much you've done, knowing every victory is your power in us. Scars and struggles on the way, but with joy our hearts can save. Yes, our hearts can save. Never once did we ever walk alone. Never once did you leave us on our own. You are faithful, God, you are faithful. You are faithful, God, you are faithful. But with joy our hearts can save. Never once did we ever walk alone. Carried by your constant grace, held within your perfect peace. Never once, knowing never walk alone. Never once did we ever walk alone. Never once, did you leave us on our own. You are faithful, God, you are faithful. Every step we are breathing in. Every step we are breathing in your grace. Evermore we'll be breathing out your praise. You are faithful, God, you are faithful. You are faithful, God, you are faithful. You are faithful, God, you are faithful. You are faithful, God, you are faithful.

Evelyn wanted to share a verse with you this morning, so we're going to let her do that. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and these words which I command you this day shall be in your heart, and you shall speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the road, when you lie down, and when you rise up. Deuteronomy 6, 5, and 6. I don't know about you, but I require pretty regular reminders about a lot of things. And when Evelyn was asking about saying her verse, one of the things that I thought about, especially as we prepare to gather around the table, is the importance of being reminded. Being reminded of the greatness, and the goodness, and the holiness of God.

Be reminded of the cost of our sin. Be reminded of the salvation that we have in Jesus. The hope that we have in eternal life. And one of the things that I like about those verses that Evelyn just shared with us, is that it's not just a one-time acknowledgement, right? It's not just, you know, you should worship the Lord your God, right? But it's when you're sitting down, and when you're standing up, and when you're walking by the road, that there is a constant need in our lives to remind us of the things that are important. And as we gather around this table, and as we remember the cross of Christ, as we read this morning from Romans chapter 5, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This is a moment where we remind ourselves, where we preach the gospel, where God

nourishes us through the good news. He strengthens us, he encourages us, he convicts us, and he helps us. So we're going to pray, and then we'll read and partake together. Father in heaven, we thank you that you are good, and we stand in awe of your holiness and your righteousness. And we know that without Jesus, we would never be able to stand in your presence. And so we thank you this morning for the cross. As we break this bread, as we drink this cup, may we remember the sacrifice of your Son. May we remember the nails and the thorns and the mocking and the suffering. And may we remember that this was the cost of our sin, and may we remember forgiveness. May we be strengthened by hope. May we be encouraged to share the good news of the Gospel with the world. May this be

a moment where we are strengthened in our commitment to you and our resolve to follow you in righteousness. I ask that you bless this bread, and that you bless this cup, and that we proclaim your Son until He comes again. It's in His name that we pray. Amen. If you would, take your bread with me, and remember with me the words of Jesus. When He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Let's remember Jesus together. In the same way also, He took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." As we drink, let's remember the joy that is found in the new covenant.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Would you pray with me? Father, thank You for the gift of Your Son. We thank You for the empowering gift of Your Spirit. We thank You for Your mercy and Your grace and Your love that has been poured out so richly and lavishly upon us. And we thank You that we truly do not walk through this life alone, but that You care for us, that You have rescued us and You have prepared a place for us. Thank You for Jesus and for grace. It's in His name we pray. Amen. This morning's reading is from Acts 2. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized, every one 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 this promise is for you, and for your children, and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." And with many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." So those who received his words were baptized, and there were added to that day about 3,000 souls. This is the word of the Lord.

Let's pray before we dive into Acts chapter 2. Father in heaven, thank you for your word, for how it encourages us, how it convicts us, how it changes us, how it transforms us. We thank you for your spirit, who is at work in us to convict us of sin, to bring us to hope, to equip us for the ministry to which you have called us to do. We thank you for all of these good gifts. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I want to think with you just for a moment about surprise endings, and I guess it was 41 years ago, so I don't think I'm spoiling anything by talking about this movie with The Empire Strikes Back, 1980. And some of you will understand the surprise we're talking about, right? Luke and Darth Vader are in the midst of a lightsaber duel. Luke's hand gets cut off.

Darth Vader says, "If you only knew the power of the dark side, Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father." And Luke says, "No, you told me enough. You killed my father." And the surprising line, the villain says, "No, I am your father." And Luke says, "It can't be true," right? He's taken by surprise, and Darth Vader replies, "Search your feelings. You know it to be true." And one of the reasons we named Luke, Luke, was for the Apostle Luke, and also because I get to say, "I am your father. Search your feelings. You know it to be true," right? And evidently, and I wasn't alive in 1980, I wasn't alive in 1981, but in 1980, evidently this was a shocking moment, right? Luke, the Jedi hero, and Darth Vader, the twisted Jedi, turns out to be his father. It turned everything on its head.

In Acts chapter 2, in verses 37 through 41, I think we have a similar incident. Now, most of us don't feel the shock and the surprise because we become accustomed to it. Just like when we watch Star Wars with the kids, and we get to that scene where Darth Vader is revealed to be Luke's father, right? I was like, "Oh, I know what happened," right? And so many of us approach this text the same way. We say, "Well, I know what's happened," and we miss the shock and the surprise of this reaction, right? In these verses, everything turns upside down. So you have a crowd, and we've seen this over the past year, that when you have a large crowd, it can be a recipe for disaster. It can be a recipe for violence and destruction.

So the first ingredient that we have in this text is a large crowd. The second thing that we have is that this crowd is guilty. They are all guilty of the sin that made Jesus' crucifixion necessary. Some in this crowd have literally stood and said, "Crucify him." And so you have a large crowd. Emotions are running high. You have people who are guilty. And then what does Peter do? Most of us would say tactfully that we just don't say anything, right? We just kind of pretend like everything is okay. But look at what Peter says. "This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men." And so that seems like a recipe for a bad reaction, right? For anger, for denial, maybe even violence.

If I was reading this for the first time, I don't know that I would expect transformation. Verse 41 sums it up like this. So those who received his words were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls. So instead of a riot, instead of violence, instead of angry outcry over Peter's accusation, in fact, you see people coming to God. And in this text this morning, what we will see is God calling sinners to himself, and those sinners responding to the call of God. And so the first thing that we see is that brokenness of sinful men and women is revealed through the good news of the Gospel. And we see this in 37, the first part of 37. When they heard this, they were cut to the heart. And so what we're seeing here is a revelation of brokenness.

Now this word, cut to the heart, literally means to pierce deeply. And we probably understand this a little bit because there are cuts, and there are cuts, right? We probably all had a shallow paper cut, or we're prepping some food and we cut our finger a little bit. But then there are cuts. And I remember in college I was changing the brakes out on my car. It was before I realized that that's the job best left to professionals. And I had unhooked the emergency brake cable, and it had a little hook on it. It was under a whole ton of tension on the back brake. And I was trying to put it back on because I'd replaced the parts, and my pliers slipped, which was not the right tool for that job. And that hook just went right through my hand.

And not like a surface cut, but like a cut cut. It went deep. And the picture here is not a surface cut, right? This is not just a scratching the surface of emotion. This is a diving down deep. This is a surgical incision by the gospel to the center of their being. This is a deep wound. And you might say, "Well, why is this happening?" Why, to the people who some would call "Crucify him, crucify him," how are they all of a sudden cut to the heart? How do those who oppose Jesus desperately see their need for them? Does it just sort of simply come at random? Does Peter just somehow put together the perfect logical argument that just instantly convinces them? What you see happening in this text is that God's truth in conjunction with the power of the Spirit is what reveals their deep brokenness.

This is not an artificial response manufactured by some kind of manipulative argument, but rather this is the turning on of the light and the opening of the door, and the light of God shines in and reveals the mess of their lives in perfect detail. The writer of Hebrews says it this way, "The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joint and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and the intentions of the heart, and no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed in the eyes of him to whom we must give an account." And what the writer of Hebrews says is that when the Word of God is brought into our lives, that it helps us to see clearly, it cuts deeply, and it reveals our sin.

It uncovers us. It shows us as we truly are, not behind the mask that we have put up, not behind the front that we have put up to make ourselves look good or respectable, but it shows us as broken people. It cuts down deep. And I want to emphasize the power of the Word of God, right? This is not simple emotional manipulation. That's one of the things that has often happened with the declaration of the Word of God. I remember in high school, so I went to a Christian high school, and part of the high school we had sort of an orientation week before the school year started. And so they would take all the students, they'd load us all onto buses, and we would go to this camp for a week, and we would pick, you know, get our class schedules,

we would meet our teachers, we would do all these activities to get us to know our classmates. But because it was a Christian school, it was also kind of a revival meeting. And so I remember one year, very, very, very clearly, they brought in this guy who was a karate expert. And so what he did is, you know, before you sing your songs in the chapel in the evening, then he would do a karate demonstration, which was generally pretty impressive, like cutting a watermelon off the chest of your gym teacher while blindfolded, right? And then he would yell at you about Jesus. And so we get to the last night of school camp, and if you've ever been to any kind of church camp, you know that this is like the emotional around the campfire.

Everybody is, you know, changing their lives, and they're going to go back to normal on Monday. And so I stumbled into something before this that I should not have seen. And so I came around the back of our chapel building, getting ready to head down to the campfire, and there is the karate expert with one of the teachers, and he's got a list of names, and they're writing them on these wooden boards. So we get down to campfire, they do the devotion, read the Bible verses, and then he's like, "You need to come to Jesus, and if your name is Steve and you don't know Jesus," and he throws the board up in the air, cuts it in half with his hand, and throws it in the fire, you're going to burn in hell, right?

It was simple, emotional manipulation, and the worst part was they got a name of all the kids they thought weren't Christians, wrote their names on board, and then broke them in half and threw them in the fire in front of them. That is not what is happening here. This is not Peter somehow twisting and emotionally manipulating his audience in order to get some kind of great response to an invitation so he can go home and brag about it, right? This is the Holy Spirit of God, through the power of God, convicting people in the depths of their being. Paul says it this way, "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come to you proclaiming the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

And I was with you in weakness and in much fear and in trembling. And my speech and my wisdom were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith may not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Would that we knew this power. Would that we, as Christians and as a church, would dive into the Word of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, and to see our lives revealed in Him, and to be transformed. And so we move from this revelation of brokenness to the depths of their need. In verse 37 and 38, we read this, "When they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins,

and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Now, there are times when I come home, and there's a lot of things happening all at once. That's what happens when you have three kids. And I'll say to Rachel, "What do you need?" And she'll tell me exactly what she needs. And so, these people, they're coming, and they feel a deep need. And they're saying, "What do we do?" And before we talk about that, I want to talk about the need that they feel. What is it that drives them to this question? The second half of verse 38 tells us, right, they need their sins forgiven, and they need to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. You see, they needed forgiveness, and we need forgiveness. In verse 40, Peter will say it this way,

"And with other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, 'Save yourselves from this crooked generation.'" That word "crooked" literally means warped, that it should be straight, but it's not. And I remember the first time I ever went to pick out two-by-fours with Dad. We needed, you know, thirty-two-by-fours. I don't know if that was the actual number. So I start loading him on the cart, and he was like, "No, no, no, no." Make sure that they're not twisted sideways or bent sideways. And the problem here is that you and I, and Peter's listeners, our lives have been warped. They're no longer the way they should be. God sets the standard, and we have taken, and we have warped, and we have twisted the standard of God, and we have followed our own way.

Now, I want you to make sure you understand this. It's not just that we've accidentally gone off track, but this is an intentional twisting of God's design and God's plan that results in us being objects of the wrath of God and facing judgment. He says, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." And then, into the midst of the wrath of God comes forgiveness, that God no longer holds our sin against us. And it's not just that He pretends like He doesn't see it, but the psalmist will say this in the 103rd Psalm, "As far as the East is from the West, as high as the heavens are from the earth, so His steadfast love is toward those who fear Him. As far as the East is from the West, does He remove our transgressions from us?"

This is what we're talking about when we talk about forgiveness, right? So we can go to the North Pole, the northernmost part of the earth. And we can go to the South Pole, the southernmost part of the earth. And we can get there as a destination. But what happens if you go to the East Pole, right? There's no East Pole. You just keep going, right? You will go East forever. And what happens if you go to the West Pole, right? You go West forever. I don't think this language is accidental. As far as the East is from the West, so far does He remove our transgressions from us. He's talking about an infinite distance, right? You never get East. You can go East, but you'll never ever get to an East Pole. You can go West, you'll never ever get to a West Pole.

That's how far God removes our sins from us. He doesn't just pretend everything's okay. He doesn't just simply say, "I forgive you," and then bring it up in a fight later. What does He do? He literally separates us from our sins. And their desperate need, as they see their brokenness so clearly, and our desperate need, as we see our brokenness so clearly, is to have our sins removed from us. The second thing that is promised, that meets the depth of the need, is the gift of the Holy Spirit. And so the question has been about this text, what is this gift of the Holy Spirit, right? Are we talking about, in Acts 1:5, the baptism of the Spirit, or the empowerment of the Spirit in Acts 1:8, or the filling of the Spirit in Acts 2:4, or the indwelling of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 6?

And I think the answer to that, to what we need in regards to the Spirit, is yes, that God gives us His Spirit. Romans 8 says this, "You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If, in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him." And Paul will say, "Now there are varieties of gifts." This is from 1 Corinthians, but the same Spirit. There are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities, but the same God who empowers them in everyone. That God gives His Spirit to His people to help them live, to strengthen them, to equip them for ministry. Now, God does that in many different ways according to the need that is presented, but God gives His Spirit.

And this is such good news, right? God doesn't just clean out our sins and say, "All right, you're all set." I remember when Evelyn was first learning to ride her bike, her big mountain bike, and she just started going on two wheels, and she was doing so good. And she was new to hand brakes. She used to pedal brakes. So she's going down to the bottom of the parking lot, and here comes my truck sitting there, minding its own business. And here comes Evelyn, and you can see it happening. We say, "Hit the brakes." And in that moment of being new at bike riding, she hits the truck instead of hitting the brakes. And so what did we do? We got back up, and we tried again, right? Picked her back up, put her on her bike, and off she went.

And even though she was bleeding, and her lip was big, she was so brave. That's not what God is talking about here. He doesn't just sort of clean out your sins, set you on your feet, and say, "All right, get back on the bike, good luck," and let you go, right? That's not what this is saying. It's saying that God takes you, He picks you up, He cleans your sin, and then He gives you His Spirit so that you are not doing this alone. That you are empowered, that you are strengthened, that you are helped, that you are guided, that you are brought to repentance, that you are testified to of your salvation in Jesus. Through His Spirit we cry, "Abba, Father." This is such wonderful news. Verse 39 says this, "For the promise is for you and your children, and all who are far off, everyone to whom our Lord God calls to Himself,

and so God has called through His Word and through the power of the Spirit, and this call has an impact, and people are cut to their hearts, and they see their need, and the answer to that need is forgiveness and the gift of the Spirit." So what happens next? Peter says, "Respond with repentance." Repentance, and I think this is so important for us to understand, is more than simply knowledge of our sin, right? Because we know that there are things that we shouldn't do, and we do them anyway, all the time, right? Speed limit's 55, man, my car goes a lot faster than that, right? I shouldn't eat this, but I'm going to do it anyway. Repentance isn't simply knowing that what we are doing is wrong. Traditionally, repentance is not simply feeling bad about doing wrong.

And I've shared this before our previous dog, Rigby. Every time that she did something wrong, like helped herself to the remains of a pork shoulder out of the trash can, right? You could come home, and you could tell from her face that she had done something wrong. Her head was down, her little nub wasn't wagging, and she looked like the saddest dog in the world, and there was this sorrow over wrongdoing. But guess what? Next time we walked out the door and there was a pork shoulder in the trash, right? What did she do? Right back to it, right? Feeling sorry over our sin is not repentance. In fact, Paul will say this in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 as he talks about how he has had to correct the Corinthian church. He'll say this, "As it is, I rejoice not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting.

For you felt a godly grief, so you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death." And Paul says there's two kinds of grief. One is where you just feel bad about it. One where you feel bad, and you are grieved, and you do something about it. The word repentance literally means to turn from your sin. This past week on Friday, I was taking Evelyn to her little school group, and we were in the middle of a good conversation. We're driving along, and we're on the road, and I look over right as we pass the driveway where we're supposed to go, right? So now did I keep driving and say, "All right, well, sorry we missed it. That's it." Right? No? I pulled into the next driveway, turned around, and went back.

That's the picture of repentance. You understand, and you know your sin, you are grieved by it, and you turn around, and you go back, right? Repentance isn't simply knowing or feeling bad, but it's turning around and doing something about it. If you want another picture of repentance, in Acts chapter 26, where Paul is sharing his testimony, he gives us a glimpse of repentance in a little bit of a different language. And he does so talking about the mission that God has given them, that God has given them the mission to open their eyes. Now here's where you see repentance. "To turn from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me." And so God gives them this instruction. You're going to instruct people to turn around, to go the other way.

And so what Peter says is that we see our brokenness, we feel our brokenness, and we turn to God. And notice how they do that. They turn to God through being identified with Him in baptism. And before we talk about baptism just for a moment, I want to deal with, I think, two errors which tend to be prevalent in the church. One is that sometimes we tend to ignore the significance of baptism. And so a couple weeks ago we had a gift card to a restaurant, and I was ordering for delivery, and so as I was checking out, I had my burger and my fries, you know, the kids' chicken tenders, Rachel's food. And as I was checking out, I was like, "You want to add a Caesar salad for a dollar?" And I was like, "Of course I want to add a Caesar salad for a dollar.

When would I not want to add a Caesar salad for a dollar?" And so our delivery driver comes, the bag of food, and I meet him, and I take it inside. And about that, my phone rings, and it's the restaurant from which we ordered, and I answer. They said, "Is this Brandon?" I said, "Yes." "Did you make an online order?" I said, "Yes." "Did it get delivered?" I said, "Yes." They said, "Well, I hate to tell you this, but your Caesar salad is here at the restaurant." And I said, "Well, it was a dollar." Not a big deal, right? They said, "Well, we'll make a note, and the next time you come in." And I was like, "Well, if this service is any indication." You know. But our tendency sometimes is to say, "Well, it's really not that important." We can ignore that. We can not think about it.

That's not what Scripture tells us. The other side of this is we can become sort of tunnel vision focused on baptism. And I remember when I was first learning to drive, and you see the speed limit that says 55. And as a young driver, my thought was, "I am going to go 55," right? It doesn't matter if it's ice in the road. It doesn't matter if there are children in the road, right? It's going to be 55 miles an hour, and I am not going to move from that speed, right? It doesn't matter about the road conditions. If the car is in front of me, it says 55, I'm going to go 55. And there is a tendency among some Christians to do that same thing. To ignore faith, to ignore discipleship, to ignore all of these different things, and simply have tunnel vision on this one aspect.

I want to just briefly point you to the wonder of what is happening here. This is a remarkable event in these people's lives. And to understand how remarkable it is, we need to have a little bit of cultural context. And so if you were a Gentile, and you wanted to become a Jew, you were called a proselyte. And there are two different kinds of proselytes. There was the proselyte who simply was maybe known as a God-fearer, right? They believed in the God of the Bible. They might follow some of his commandments. And then there were the people who actually took the steps to follow him. And so what that required in the first century was, first of all, you would bring a sacrifice to the temple. And then if you were a man, you were circumcised, which is a big commitment.

And then third, after you had done all of that, you went into a pool of water, witnessed by the rabbi if you were a man. Rabbi stood outside the door if you were a lady, and you immersed yourself in this water. And in that moment, you signified that you left your Gentile way of life behind, and that you were trusting in the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and you were going to follow him with a new line. Now, we need to understand that New Testament baptism and Jewish ritual washings are not the same thing. But understand what this crowd is thinking, right? We're beginning anew. We're beginning afresh. They would have understood this as a life-altering commitment, a public commitment, saying that I am no longer going to follow this, but I'm going to follow Jesus.

And more than that, what does Peter say? That you'll be baptized in who? In the name of Jesus, the one that you called to be crucified, the one that you rejected, right? This is an incredible moment of humbling of pride. And what you find biblically is that just as you don't save yourself, you don't baptize yourself, right? So come, he says, surrender your life to Christ. And in baptism, you proclaim your faith in the good news of the gospel. In the death, burial, and resurrection, you proclaim your repentance. You proclaim your allegiance. This is a proclamation that my life has changed. It's a declaration, an unmistakable one, that my life is different. I love this text. I love it because we see the power of the Word of God. We see the power of the Spirit to convict and to call people to himself. We see our deepest needs met in forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And we're called to repentance and to proclaim our faith and our repentance and our allegiance to Jesus. For us as Christians, we need to be reminded. We tend to forget things. I forget things all the time. I'll wake up in the morning and Rachel will say, "Hey, did you remember?" I said, "I absolutely did not remember." And if you wouldn't have reminded me, I wouldn't have remembered at the end of the day when I had missed something important. As Christians, we tend sometimes to forget. We tend to take things for granted. And I would encourage those of us who are Christians this morning to not take the good gifts of God for granted. That we would be a people of the Word and we would dive into the Word, empowered by the Spirit to be transformed.

That we would be a people who see our forgiveness and are grateful of our forgiveness and proclaim our forgiveness through the power of the Spirit to the nations. That the church would grow and be added to. And that people would see salvation and respond with joy. Would you pray? Father, we thank you for Jesus and for grace. We thank you for hope. We thank you for forgiveness. We thank you for how you have called us. We thank you for how you have empowered us. Help us to live for righteousness. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's stand and sing our hymn of invitation. A song, a Revelation song. One that we're familiar with based on the description of Jesus in Revelation. That calls us to worship the goodness of who he is. The Lord is the Lamb who was slain. Holy, holy is he.

Sing a new song to him who sits on heaven's mercy seat. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings. You are my everything, and I will adore you.

Clothed in rainbows, all of a living color, flashes of lightning, rose of thunder. Blessing the dawn of strength and glory and power be to you the only wise King. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings. You are my everything and I will adore you. Jesus said, "Filled with wonder, o'er struck wonder, at the mansion of your name. Jesus, your name is power. Bread, the living water, such a marvelous mystery. Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. With all creation I sing praise to the King of Peace. You are my everything, and I will adore You. Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. With all creation I sing praise to the King of Peace.

to the King of Peace. You are my everything, and I will adore You. I want to thank you all for joining us, whether you are here with us in person or you are joining us online. We are thankful that you are here. We'll be back here Wednesday night, and that may be weather permitting because they're talking about some form of precipitation all week long. We're going to be wrapping up our study of the parables of Jesus, and so if you'd like to join us, you can do so here at the church in person or online, and then we'll be back next Sunday in the Book of Acts. If you haven't signed up for our email list, I would encourage you to do so. You can do that by giving me your email address or just going to our website right there on the center of the front page.

There's a place to do that, so I'd encourage you to do that to keep up to date with what's going on. We'll go ahead and have a word of prayer and sing the doxology. Father in heaven, thank you for your word and your church and your people, and thank you for the grace which you have poured out upon us. We thank you for your spirit who empowers us. We thank you that you have called us to yourself. We just ask that we would share this good news with the world that surrounds us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him, above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Thank you.