When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the

other apostles, Brothers what shall we do? Peter replied, 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. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are afar off for all whom the LORD our God will call. Acts 2:37-39 As Luke describes the first Christian sermon, preached by the Apostle Peter on the Day of Pentecost, he points us to the central meaning of the Gospel of the LORD Jesus Christ. Peter is answering the question phrased in Acts 2:12, What does this mean? He roots his answer to that question in the fulfillment of the promises of the Scriptures. At the heart of his answer is this one key thought, God is at work. This is in fact Gods means of redemption being worked out in real lives. It has as its foundation a deep conviction of sin and a call to genuine repentance. Such genuine repentance always produces the fruit of an obedient walk with God in Christ. Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert in their book, What Is The Mission of the Church: Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission (Crossway, Wheaton, Illinois, 2011, p. 89) ask a key question which, I believe, is at the heart of Peters sermon here in Acts 2. What we have seen in this short and admittedly incomplete survey of the biblical story is that the main tension of the Bibles story line seems to revolve around the question, How can hopelessly rebellious, sinful people live in the presence of a perfectly just and righteous God? Yes, there are other themes and emphases that we havent even mentioned here, but that question seems to drive the story at every point. The whole story is not, as one author suggests, about our becoming conduits for Him to bring healing to earth and its residents. It is not about our call to partner in a restorative work so that the torch of hope is carried until Christ returns. (*) The story is not about us working with God to make the world right again. It is about Gods work to make us right so that we can live with Him again. ((*) Lyons, Gabe, The Next Christians: How a New Generation Is Restoring the Faith, New York: Doubleday, 2010, p. 55) This question is the key to understanding Peters Pentecost message. How can hopelessly rebellious, sinful people live in the presence of a perfectly just and righteous God? Peter preaches and the Holy Spirit is poured out on the crowd. The consequence is that there is a deep conviction of sin. God in all of His awesome holiness has drawn near and each on is overcome by the depth of their lostness. If we truly meet God in all of His holiness we too will be overcome by the awareness of our corruption. What Peter proclaims here in the power of the Holy Spirit is a threefold message. 1) The proclamation of the Biblical Gospel leads to an encounter with the Holy God who deeply convicts us of our sin. 2) This then leads us to the Gospel which is Gods program of restoration through the cross of Christ.

3) What we are required to do in response is to repent and obey the Gospel. There is no other hope for us. Such is the depth of our brokenness in sin that we have no hope apart from the cross of the LORD Jesus Christ.