WWUTT 2557 The Promise is for You and Your Children (Acts 2:39)

When Peter addressed the people at Pentecost, he said, the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, all whom the Lord, our God will call to himself when we understand the text.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost and the Call to Repent

Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study of Acts chapter two, Peter's sermon at Pentecost, where he proclaimed that Jesus, who died and was buried and rose again, is the Christ who was prophesied about in the Old Testament that even David spoke of.

This same Christ, who Peter says to the audience, you crucified by the hands of lawless men. And having heard this, the people are cut to the heart and ask the apostles, what shall we do? And Peter says, repent and be baptized.

And I'm gonna read once again that section, verses 37 to 47, hear the word of the Lord. Now, when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men, brothers, what shall we do?

And 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. 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.

And with many other words, he solemnly bore witness and kept on exhorting them saying, be saved from this crooked generation. So then those who had received his word were baptized. And that day there were added about 3 ,000 souls.

And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. And fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common. And they began selling their property and possessions and were dividing them up with all as anyone might have need. And daily devoting themselves with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house.

They were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number daily those who were being saved.

So yesterday we look primarily at verse 38 where Peter said, 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.

Now, once again, as I mentioned yesterday, this is not about baptismal regeneration for we would be taking that verse at the exclusion of others that explicitly say it is not by any act that we do that we are saved.

It is simply by faith in Jesus Christ. When you look at the example that the apostle Paul puts forth in Romans chapter four, the example of Abraham, he was saved just by faith. He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness and Paul is sure to lay out that was before Abraham did anything.

Even before he was given the covenant sign of circumcision and was circumcised, he was already declared righteous even before he was circumcised. So it is the case with us that when we believe, when we have faith in Jesus Christ, we are already saved.

The rules of the game didn't change. It has always been by the grace of God through faith in Christ that we are saved. Now, of course, in the Old Testament, they didn't know the name Jesus Christ, but it was still faith in God for the promise that he was going to give.

And that was the savior who would come in the line of David and would fulfill all of these things. Dying on the cross as an atoning sacrifice or rising again from the dead so that all who believe have the forgiveness of sins.

Now, when we are baptized, we demonstrate by our baptism that we are joined with Christ in all of this, having been buried with Christ and risen again to walk in newness of life. So if someone denies baptism, if someone claims to be a Christian, but they reject being baptized, well, that may demonstrate from their heart that they're not truly genuine by their profession.

They don't have a work in obedience to God's command to demonstrate the fruit of that transformation that has happened in their heart. Again, baptism would not be something that itself saves, but it would be the evidence of one's salvation.

It would be one of the fruit that they should be producing if indeed their hearts have been transformed by their Holy Spirit. So repent each of you and be baptized. Share in Christ with his baptism and his resurrection for the forgiveness of your sins.

And we demonstrate in our baptism that that has been true for us. We have been washed clean by the Holy Spirit, or as we Baptists like to say, it is an outward profession of an inward faith. We are showing outwardly what has already transpired on the inside spiritually by the Holy Spirit.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

Now, we're gonna spend some more time in verse 39 today where Peter says, the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself. But let me make one more point that I didn't have time to make yesterday regarding verse 38, that regarding the phrase, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Now, even here, this is not about baptismal regeneration. It's not that we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit after we are baptized, but there was something unique about the giving of the Holy Spirit, especially at this time at Pentecost.

We've seen other occasions in Luke's writing. I'm gonna zero in on Luke here because I think that keeps things in context. There are certainly other cross-references I could make, but since Luke is the author of the Gospel of Luke and of Acts, I think it makes these things a little bit more clear to see the way that Luke writes.

In Luke's Gospel, the Holy Spirit is mentioned more often by that title, Holy Spirit. Okay, there are other places where the Holy Spirit is mentioned by other names, like the helper in the upper room discourse in the Gospel of John, but specifically being called the Holy Spirit, that name appears more in Luke's Gospel than in the other three, than in Matthew, Mark, or John.

And in fact, the Holy Spirit is named in the first two chapters of Luke six times, and that's more than the name of the Holy Spirit appears in Matthew, Mark, or Luke, or Matthew, Mark, or John, rather.

Now again, of course, the Holy Spirit is called by another name in John, the paraclete or the helper, but this is just to say the Holy Spirit title specifically, Luke is very fond of, and I get the impression that he writes of the Holy Spirit in that way in his Gospel because he's been witness to this outpouring of the Holy Spirit that has happened in the time of the apostles.

He's the one writing the Book of Acts. He's been an eyewitness to the things that the apostles have gone out and done, even being part of the Apostle Paul's missionary group. And so knowing the Holy Spirit himself, he's sure to draw more attention to the Holy Spirit than the other Gospel writers have.

And when you read in Luke one and Luke two about the Holy Spirit, you see the Holy Spirit coming upon very devout people. Like for example, Zechariah. Zechariah is the first one that we read about in Luke's Gospel.

Remember, Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, has gone into the temple to sacrifice at the hour of incense, or to burn incense, rather. It's not sacrifice, but burning incense. And this is during an hour of prayer.

And he goes in and the angel Gabriel appears to him and says that his wife, Elizabeth, though she is old in years, though she is incapable of having children anymore, she is gonna have a son, and he is going to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

So from the womb, John the Baptist is going to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Later on, still in that first chapter, the angel says to Mary that the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

And this is the announcement of the child that she is gonna be bear, who will be conceived by the Holy Spirit. Later on, Luke 1 41, when Mary comes to Elizabeth, it says that the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth.

And it has already been said in Luke 1 that Zechariah and Elizabeth were devout people. They were a man and woman of God. They were obedient to his commands, is specifically what Luke says. So this is a woman who already has the favor of God, but yet at this particular moment, there is a specific kind of filling of the Holy Spirit that she receives, because John the Baptist is in her womb, the mother of the Lord has walked in, and John the Baptist has leapt in her womb upon hearing the greeting of Mary.

So there is this unique filling of the Holy Spirit that comes upon her here. Now, later on, when John is born and Zechariah's tongue is loose, remember he was stricken mute because he did not believe what the angel Gabriel told him.

But once he is able to speak again, it says he's filled with the Holy Spirit and begins to prophesy. And then later in chapter two, we hear of Simeon in the temple. Simeon, who after eight days, eight days after Jesus was born, comes to the temple to be circumcised.

And Simeon is there and he is filled with the Holy Spirit upon seeing the child that God had promised he would see before he died. Simeon was a devout man of God. And yet we have this unique filling of the Holy Spirit that is granted to him in Luke chapter two.

So these are just some examples here of how Luke will write of the Holy Spirit. So when we have this here in Acts 2, verse 38, repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

I get the impression that this is a unique filling and outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It's not something that is necessarily true for every person. It is true for all of us that when we believe in Jesus, we are filled with the Holy Spirit.

When we are baptized, it's not like we get a second filling of the Holy Spirit. And I mentioned yesterday that the charismatics will twist this and they will apply it in incorrect ways. But this is something that is specific to the time of Pentecost, to these people who are here, that they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And oftentimes in Acts, upon receiving the Spirit, there is some outward sign that demonstrates that they have received the Spirit. So this is specifically in fulfillment of the prophet Joel. Remember that Peter had said earlier in his sermon, what you are observing here with the speaking of different languages that you see happening among these apostles, this is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that was prophesied by Joel.

And so now Peter saying this to them, to the crowds, you will receive the Holy Spirit also upon being baptized. And so they are. So this is a unique telling in that sense, not something that we should necessarily read and think that as soon as we come up out of the water, we too will be filled with the Holy Spirit.

As is often said about the book of Acts, narrative is not normative. So we're reading a narrative that's happening here from Pentecost onward in the time of the apostles with the spreading of the gospel throughout the world, that doesn't mean the things that we read about in Acts are normative to our day and experience.

Okay, make sense? So that being the understanding of you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, seeing how Luke writes of the Holy Spirit throughout the gospel and here in the book of Acts. Now onto verse 39, as I mentioned, we would look at today, 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.

The Promise for You, Your Children, and Those Far Off

And once again, here, I am going to appeal to Luke in understanding this particular passage. Now, how do you often hear this passage interpreted? In fact, I would say the vast majority of the church down through 2000 years of church history has translated this passage this way, that this means children are supposed to be baptized.

Well, I say 2000 years of church history, it hasn't really been that long. It really didn't start coming about until probably the middle part of the second century, as we don't have any record of any infant baptism taking place in the first century.

I mentioned the Didache yesterday, which is the oldest Christian document that we have that's extra biblical, that isn't included in the biblical canon. And when you read about baptism in the Didache, it sounds quite Baptist.

It does not sound like, this would line up very easily with a Paedo-Baptist tradition, that in order to, or before one is baptized, they're supposed to fast. And when they are baptized, they're supposed to be in living water and be completely immersed or have water poured on them three times.

Like it doesn't reflect Paedo-Baptist tradition at all. It's something that a Baptist could read and go, okay, yeah, see, I see where the Baptist tradition continues back for 2000 years. And there's a lot of church history that's written into this.

And there's not a clear time that we can see where Paedo-Baptism begins, but there's obviously an evolution to it. So it does not go all the way back to the first century. And I have heard some honest Paedo-Baptists say that they do struggle to find evidence of Paedo-Baptism in the early first century, or well, in the early second century, and especially in the first century.

Even they have to acknowledge there is a growing acceptance to this practice of Paedo-Baptism, which really kind of hits its peak and becomes normalized in the church at Augustine. So before that, the earliest church writer to mention it is Tertullian, and he speaks of it negatively.

The very first mention that we have of any of the early church fathers, writing of infant baptism, it's Tertullian, and he is saying that it should not be practiced. But then it just kind of gradually becomes normalized.

If I wanted to give you a history lesson on it, I mean, that would take the rest of the time. All that to say that the majority of church history has seen this verse as being an instruction to baptize your children, for the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off.

But, you know, now I'm reading the rest of it and putting it in context, but typically it's taken in isolation. It's just snipped out, for the promise is for you and your children, and they miss the rest of it, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.

The context gives us a little bit more to the story. So again, the promise is for you. This promise of the forgiveness of your sins is for you, Peter says. Now, why is that important? Why is that so significant that Peter would say that to this crowd?

Because remember, he has just said to them, verse 36, therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him, Jesus, both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. And so now the people cut to the heart are going, well, then what shall we do?

Be baptized, Peter says. You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the promise is for you. So though you have put the Son of God to death, even you will receive the forgiveness of sins by the grace and mercy of God.

And it's not just for you, it's also for your children. So that is to say, it's not just for this generation, it is for the generations to come. This is now the new covenant in the declaration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And it will be for you to receive by faith. It will even be for your children to receive by faith. So raise them up and the training and the instruction of the Lord. This is also for the next generation that comes after you.

Now, this was significant for Luke to mention because again, putting this in context, Luke has mentioned occasions in his gospel of children either being accursed or being blessed. In Luke chapter one, once again, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and told him that Elizabeth would be with child, this would be John the Baptist.

And one of the things that the ministry of John the Baptist would achieve would be to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children. That fathers will actually be thinking once again of the next generation, how might they be saved?

How might they come to the Lord? So that's mentioned in Luke chapter one. You also have in Luke chapter 23, that when Jesus was about to be crucified, when he's walking what's called the Via Dolorosa on the way to Calvary, there was a place in that journey where the women were mourning and lamenting him.

Do you remember this? This is Luke 23, verse 28. Jesus looks at those women who are mourning over him and says, daughters of Jerusalem, stop crying for me, but cry for yourselves and for your children.

For behold, the days are coming when they will say, blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, fall on us and to the hills cover us.

For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry? What's Jesus speaking of? He's talking about the destruction of Jerusalem that has been prophesied about a couple of times already in the gospel of Luke.

That 40 years from now, within this generation, Jerusalem would fall and the temple would be destroyed when the Romans come upon it. And this curse will be upon these people because they had rejected their Messiah when he was with them.

So again, daughters of Jerusalem, weep for yourselves and for your children. Luke 23, and here we are in Acts 2, with Peter saying the promise is for yourselves and for your children. How can you be saved?

Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And this is what is being said to those people that are there at Pentecost. This is not saying baptize your babies. You're reading way too much into that statement.

If that's what it is that you read, but rather you can be saved, your children can be saved. Any generation after you finds the forgiveness of sins by faith in Jesus Christ and being baptized with him and risen to walk in newness of life.

The promise is for you and your children, and not just them, but even Gentiles, all who are far off. That's what that's in reference to. It's Gentiles, those who are not even of the Jews, those who don't even know the oracles of God, those to whom Jesus did not come.

As said in John one, he came to his own, but his own did not receive him, but to all who did receive him, they were given the right to become the children of God. So even all who are far off may become children of God, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself through the preaching of the gospel.

And the first preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ has happened right here at Pentecost in Jerusalem. My friends, we are benefits of this very testimony. We have benefited from this. We are of those children.

We are of those who are far off, who have likewise come to Jesus Christ and are saved. And baptizing your babies won't save them. What will save them is sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with them, that they may be raised to understand that by faith in Jesus, I'm forgiven my sins and I have eternal life.

And what a precious blessing that is to see that this promise has come not just to ourselves, but that it might extend to our children also. If you are in a family, if you have kids in your household, you've got a mission field right there at home.

Share with them the gospel that they may believe and be saved. Heavenly father, we thank you for what it is that we have read. And I pray that indeed we would take this message of the gospel to others, that those who are far off may even be brought near to God, reconciled to God through the preaching of this word, because they were convicted of their sin, because they saw that Jesus Christ is the answer who takes away our sin and makes us right with God.

He is our fellowship with God. And so Lord now buried with Christ in our sins and risen to walk in newness of life, may we walk in that way everlasting that has been given to us in Christ Jesus. It's in his name that we pray, amen.

Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers and offering commentary on the church and social issues. You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com.

Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's word when we understand the text.