"Brothers, what shall we do?"

Last week’s reading was difficult. Jesus died. No, He was murdered. If the story ended there, we would not be talking about it today. If His body was still in the tomb, the story would be over. But it isn't and so we have something to tell our friends and neighbors. "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve." (1 Corinthians 15:3-5) The Bible calls it the gospel, the good news... Jesus died to take away our sin and its consequences. He was buried and remained in the tomb for three days to fulfill prophecy. He was resurrected to demonstrate His divinity and give us the hope of life after our own deaths. That is good news and it must be shared!

The Apostles stay in Jerusalem waiting for Jesus to send His Spirit. Fifty days after His resurrection, the Spirit arrives and the world is changed. (Acts 2) The day is called Pentecost, a time of celebration for the Jews. It is the celebration of "first fruits". I like that; on the day of the celebration of first fruits, the first fruits of the Kingdom of Christ are harvested. Jews from every nation are in Jerusalem for the party and the Spirit enables the Apostles to speak to each of them in their native language and they hear the story of Jesus and are confronted by their guilt.

They are guilty of His death even though many of them were not in Jerusalem at the time of His crucifixion. They were guilty the same as you and I are guilty.... their sin, our sin is what put Jesus on the cross. We bear the responsibility for His death. You and I and them, we all stand before the cross of Christ and see the consequence of our sinfulness. And just like them, if we understand our guilt, our hearts will be cut. And just like them, we must ask "Brothers, what shall we do?". (Acts 2:37) What shall we do about our guilt? What shall we do about our sin? What shall we do about our responsibility for  the death of an innocent man?

In the midst of this scene, people with broken hearts and guilty hands, Peter stands up to give them God's answer to their question, His remedy for our sin problem. For many, the prescription for the sickness is not acceptable. For many, Peter's words are not sufficient. And for some reading this today, you will not accept the simple way that we are to respond to the gut wrenching, heart rending gospel of Jesus the Christ. Here we go.... 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 far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38) That is it!

Our response to the gospel of Christ is to change our direction and start following Him; we must repent. And then we are to be immersed in water for the forgiveness of our sins. Of course the water doesn't remove the sin; I know that. Our obedience to God is the key here. He calls on us to repent and be immersed and in our obedience to Him, our sins are washed away and we receive the gift of the Spirit. Once we are cleaned up, our sins forgiven, God takes up residence in us. He comes to live with us. So there you have God's plan, we are to change our direction through repentance, we are to be baptized in water for the forgiveness of our sins and God comes to live in us. It is the plan revealed by Jesus before His ascension (Matthew 28:18, Mark 16:16). It is the plan revealed to Saul (before he was Paul) and the plan he obeyed (Acts 22:16). Take an hour and read through the book of Acts and look at the conversions. Same story, time after time. Repent and be baptized.

Many today reject that simple plan, substituting one created by humans. They call baptism a symbol, even though the Bible never calls it that. They tell us to pray Jesus into our hearts, even though the Bible never tells us that (not once). I don't know the outcome of all this; my hope is that all who love Jesus will be saved. That is my hope. The bigger question for us today is simply this... why not do what the Bible teaches? That is what they did for hundreds of years after His death, burial and resurrection. Take a moment to read the 6th chapter of Romans, the 2nd chapter of Colossians, the third chapter of 1 Peter. This is too important to leave to chance, this has eternal consequences. May we all be in prayer about this and seek to obey Him in all things.