Three Thousand Believe - Acts 2:37-41 - Comments by Mike Kines

In Acts chapter 2 verses 37-41, Peter preaches and many people are convicted and ask what they should do. Peter tells them to repent, be baptized, and believe in Jesus to receive the Holy Spirit. This promise of the Holy Spirit is not only for Israel and the people of that time, but for all, including the Gentiles. The Holy Spirit is received through faith in Jesus. Supernatural events and gifts accompany the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 3,000 people are saved and added to the church as a result of Peter's sermon. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to bring salvation and point people to Jesus. Acts chapter 2 verses 37-41 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many of the words did he testify, and exhort, saying, Save yourself from this unto our generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them three thousand souls. Now the part I like to zero in here is verse 39 where it says the promise is unto you. So what promise is he talking about? Well this is the promise that Jesus talked about. Jesus said that the Father promised to give us the Holy Spirit. And Jesus said when He ascended back to the Father that He would send the Holy Spirit. So the promise of the Father and the promise of the Son is the promise of the Holy Spirit. And we see here that we have received the gift of the Holy Ghost. It says for this promise is unto you and to your children. Whose children? Who was He talking to? He was talking to Israel. Who were Israel's children? The Jewish people. But then He goes on to say unto all that are far off. And who is that talking about? That's talking about the Gentiles. Even as many as the Lord our God shall call, that includes us even to this day. So this promise is not just a promise to Israel, it's not just a promise that was given to those people in that day. It was not just given to the Gentiles that lived during that time, but it is a promise that is given to us even unto this very day. If you are listening to the sound of my voice, this promise is for you. The Holy Spirit is for you. And so how do we receive the Holy Spirit? He tells us here. He says, and with many other words, He testified and exhorted them, saying, save yourself unto our generation. So we're living in a corrupt world system and we need to turn away from the world philosophies, the world religions, the world psychology, the way the people in this world think, and we need to turn to God and have simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ died for our sins and He was buried and He rose again on the third day. And God's calling us to simply believe the gospel, to believe His word, to receive the Lord Jesus as our Lord and Savior. And it says, then they that gladly received His word were baptized, and the same day were added unto them about three thousand souls. And in my comments here, I talk about the fact that if you're a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. And I know that not every Christian believes in speaking in tongues, and I know that not every Christian has the gift of speaking in tongues. But at the same time, when you read about the Holy Spirit and the promise of the Holy Spirit in the context of these scriptures, you cannot separate the supernatural events from the Holy Spirit in the Bible. Now I know that people are very, a lot of people are uncomfortable with that. And I'm not saying you have to speak in tongues to be a Christian, but I'm saying that in the context of the Bible, if you read this, these supernatural things were happening along with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And so I don't want to be one of those kind of people that try to pick and choose in the Bible what I think applies to Christians today. I think it all applies to us. I think many people are just scared because there are a lot of false prophets and there are a lot of false preachers and a lot of false teachers out there, and they are preaching a false spirit with signs and wonders, and it is of the devil. If the devil is out there counterfeiting something, then there must somewhere be a genuine article. People don't go around counterfeiting $3 bills. They counterfeit $100 bills. They counterfeit the real thing. So if there's a counterfeit, that means there's also a genuine article out there somewhere. And I do believe that the Holy Spirit is for us today and the gifts of the Spirit are for us today. So when you look at this, it says, the people who heard Peter preaching, they were convicted by the Holy Spirit. And immediately they wanted to know, what do we do about this? And Peter told them to repent, be baptized, believe in Jesus. And as a result, they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And so we want to remember that this is a supernatural event that are taking place. It is not just men making an intellectual agreement to Bible doctrines. There is a supernatural change that happens in the heart of men. Men become a new creation in Christ Jesus. They were born again by the Holy Spirit. Some of them received the gift of speaking in tongues. Some received maybe other spiritual gifts, as we see later on in Paul's letters to the churches. And as a result of this one sermon, 3,000 people were saved and added to the church. We see here that the purpose in the Holy Spirit here is for the salvation of souls. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is not to draw attention to yourself, not to make a spectacle out of yourself, but it is so that people can be saved, so that people can be brought into the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will point people to Jesus Christ. Amen. Well guys, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you. Amen.