Context No. 3462 of 4322 · Acts

Acts 2:36-40: in context

36“Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37Now 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?” 38Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.” 40With many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”

At the end of Peter's Pentecost sermon, the crowd is cut to the heart and asks the urgent question: brothers, what shall we do? The truth about Jesus, crucified but now made both Lord and Christ, has pierced them, and they long to respond.

Peter's answer is clear and full of hope: 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. Even those who had a hand in crucifying Jesus are offered forgiveness and the Spirit, if they will only turn. And the promise reaches wide: for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls. When conviction of sin pierces the heart and we ask, what shall we do?, the gospel's answer is: repent, receive forgiveness, and be filled with the Spirit. No one who genuinely turns is beyond the reach of that promise.

When the truth about my sin and about Christ pierces my heart, do I respond as the crowd did, turning to God in repentance to receive forgiveness and his Spirit?

Sources

Acts 2:37: "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said... Brothers, what shall we do?"
Acts 2:38: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
Acts 2:39: "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself."