5/14/23 What Shall We Do?

What Shall We Do?

Acts 2:37-41

One of the most gut-wrenching story endings of all time has to be that of the musical “West Side Story.”

The tragic love story of Tony and Maria (loosely based on Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo & Juliet’) is set in New York during the 1950’s.

Tony and Maria fall in love amidst the backdrop of racial and ethnic tension between two rival gangs – the Jets and the sharks.

In one of the final scenes, we are given the impression that Tony and Maria may actually be able to be together, but at the last minute, Tony is gunned down and he dies in Maria’s arms.

It’s a powerful story about the supremacy of love over the ugliness of hate and racism, and also about the profound regret that eventually affects everyone as they witness Maria’s emotional devastation following the death of her true love.

Maria’s final decision to choose love over hate, peace over violence, initiates a truce between the rival gangs as many of the young men begin to realize how their violent & senseless actions produce only tragic results.

Lisa & I have never seen the original musical but a few years ago we watched the remake directed by Steven Spielberg. We had no idea how the movie was going to end so when Tony gets shot and ultimately dies, we looked at each other and said “What? No!, this Cannot Be Happening!”

The ending scene was a gut-punch – or another way to describe it would be to say that it “Cut to the Heart.”

In a similar fashion, our passage for today from the second chapter of Acts contains a story about people who have been cut to the heart – but this time, it wasn’t a fictional musical, it was real life.

Our passage today takes place in Jerusalem following the Apostle Peter’s Spirit-Filled sermon that we covered in depth last week. In his sermon, Peter makes it abundantly clear to an audience of thousands (Mostly his fellow Jews) that just 50 days earlier, they had literally killed their own Messiah.

Like the tragic ending of West Side Story, man’s hate and jealousy yielded senseless violence and death. This time, however, death was imposed upon the Messiah himself - the savior of Israel.

Jealousy, pride, selfishness, and hatred (In other words, Sin) had blinded the Jewish people from seeing the Messianic truth surrounding Jesus’ identity.

Peter revealed to his audience that they had literally murdered their savior – and in verse 37 of today’s passage it says that the people were cut to the heart.

The King James describes it as being “Pricked in the heart” the NASB renders it as being “Pierced to the Heart.”

These words “Cut”, “Pricked”, Pierced” – they all convey the idea of emotional anguish, of deep psychological stress. Peter’s audience was experiencing a profound sense of guilt and sorrow over what they had recently done.

On Thursday I was in the hospital for just a routine procedure. Before the nurse began my IV, she told me that the needle might “prick” a little. I thought to myself, no big deal…I’ve been on the receiving end of needles before.

So the nurse sticks the needle in the back of my hand…no luck on hitting a vein. Then she pushes it in a little further…no vein. Then she gets this quizzical look on her face and says “Well, that’s weird…let’s go a little deeper!” So, then she pushes the needle in a little more - at this point I’m literally expecting to see the needle come out through my palm!

I think she finally hit bone which made her give up on that particular location. It has a happy ending though – she tried again on the inside of my elbow and immediately hit a pocket of high pressure – it was a geyser of red oil! (Kind of made me wonder why she didn’t start there to begin with….but then again, I’m not a nurse, so….)

Unlike the physical ‘prick’ that I received at the hospital, the members of Peter’s audience were pricked spiritually in the heart…and that needle went a whole lot deeper than mine!

The people were cut, pricked, pierced in the heart – they had begun to realize what they had done.

Keep in mind here that it wasn’t just the Pharisees and religious leaders who Peter is speaking to – he is letting the entire audience know that they were ALL responsible for the death of the messiah.

In Acts 2:36 (The final recorded sentence of Peter’s sermon) he doesn’t single out the Pharisees, or the Sadducees, or the Romans…he simply says “You”. In other words, “You All” ….or if you’re from the South, “Y’all”

Peter is saying “Y’all are at fault here!” Y’all are responsible! Even if you weren’t in Jerusalem 50 days ago when Jesus was put to death. Even if you weren’t in the crowd yelling for Barabbas’ freedom and Jesus’ crucifixion. Even if you were 100 miles away from Jerusalem when Jesus was being whipped, bruised, beaten, and put to death - you were still responsible.

Why? one word: sin.

Sin is a small word, but it has enormous implications and far-reaching  consequences.

The Sin of humanity (Our natural sinfulness) goes all the way back to Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden. When they made the decision to disobey God by partaking of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, something cataclysmic happened on a physical and spiritual level.

Because of sin, death had now entered the world where it had never previously been.

The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.”

Suddenly what was once perfect became flawed…what was once complete became broken…what was once harmonious became dissonant…and where there was once an uninterrupted relationship with God, it became broken.

Whether we like to acknowledge it or not, the stain of sin upon mankind (Original Sin) is why our world contains all of the negative elements that it does.

Sin is why there is pain, suffering, and death in the world.

Sin is why there is hatred, violence, and disease in the world.

Sin is why there is selfishness, jealousy, and persecution in the world.

Sin is why we need places like St. Jude’s Hospital

Sin is why fatal accidents happen like we saw near Reedsburg on Friday.

Sadly, there is absolutely nothing that we can do to lift the curse of sin that is on this world – it will remain until Jesus comes again when he will make everything new.

But you CAN do something. Scripture tells us that by believing upon the name of Jesus, you are able to mend your broken relationship with God, and you will receive forgiveness from your sins.

Many of you have 1 John 1:9 memorized: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness,”

Sin is a serious offense to God that required a serious solution. The God-Man Jesus Christ was (And IS) the eternal solution to man’s sinful depravity.

Man’s sin is why Jesus had to endure the cross – and each one of us had a hand in nailing his hands and feet to those rugged blood-stained timbers.

Someone recently told me that in the 2004 movie “The Passion of the Christ”, the hand that is seen driving the spike into the hands & feet of Jesus is that of director Mel Gibson. He wanted it to signify that – because of everyone’s sin, beginning with himself – we are all responsible for nailing Jesus to the cross.

Brothers and Sisters, when we meditate upon this reality, it should cut us to the heart. It should pierce our souls!

After the people were cut to the heart upon hearing the truth of Peter’s sermon, they respond with a question: “What Shall We Do?”

Or to put it more succinctly…”Now What”?

Overwhelmed with anguish, remorse, and guilt, Peter’s audience was desperately searching for a way in which they could make right what they had done.

This is the point that every sinner arrives at when they realize just how eternally damaging their sin really is – and they realize just how much of a chasm there is between themselves and God.

Paul asked a similar question when crying out on the Road to Damascus: “What Shall I do, Lord?”

In Acts 16:30 the Philippian jailer threw himself before Paul and Silas and said “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

In each of these situations, we see a deep sense of guilt and an equally deep amount of fear of God’s wrath.

Paul, the Jailer, and 3,000 individuals who heard Peter’s sermon at Pentecost all demonstrated a strong desire to be saved from God’s wrath, accompanied by a willingness to submit in obedience to God’s Will.

This is what the Bible refers to as conviction – conviction of sin.

Conviction is the first step in the process of coming to Christ. People need to be convicted of sin before they will see their need for a savior.

Conviction is administered by the Holy Spirit, which then leads to genuine repentance.

This is Peter’s answer in response to the audience’s question of “What Shall we Do?”…Peters’ answer….REPENT !

To Repent means to have a change of heart, it describes a turning away from sin and a turning toward God. It involves a change in one’s way of life – one’s actions, one’s thoughts, one’s speech, one’s disposition, one’s motives, one’s priorities.

Both John the Baptist and Jesus talked a lot about repentance and the importance of moving from selfishness to selflessness.

Repentance needs to be motivated by more than just fear of the consequences of God’s wrath – that’s not genuine repentance.

Anyone here have a house cat? I am convinced that cats and gravity are best friends…why?

Well, for one, cats always (Ok, USUALLY) land on their feet when falling from virtually any height.

And secondly, they enjoy conspiring with gravity in order to see if non-cat things can also land right-side-up…. especially breakable things that are left close to the edge of a counter or a table. Things like glasses, or cups, or anything made of porcelain, plaster, or clay!

I remember growing up we had a cat that would occasionally enjoy playing this fun game of gravity. One day I was lounging on the couch watching basketball on TV (A favorite pastime of young Andy) when I noticed Caterina jump up on a ledge where a small picture frame was on display. I looked over at her and said NO! Caterina moves a little closer to the picture…NOOO!

Caterina then looks at me, then looks at the picture, then looks back at me…SWAT!  - the picture falls 3 feet to the floor and breaks all to pieces.

I get up from the couch in a hurry (Back then I could actually get up quickly) and run over to the scene of the crime. I look Caterina straight in the eyes and yell something like “What is wrong with you?”

The cat shrinks back in fear as I continue bark at her and wave my orange Cheetos-coated hands around in a flurry of disgust.

Caterina is afraid because of my wrath, but I guarantee you, she was not experiencing true repentance – evidenced by the fact that she continued knock things off shelves in the not-so-distant future!

People who simply are fearful of God’s wrath with no intention of changing their behavior are not experiencing genuine repentance.

Commentator Albert Barnes puts it like this: “False repentance dreads the consequences of sin; true repentance dreads sin itself.”

Do you see the difference here? True repentance hates sin because God hates sin – and if we have truly been “transformed by the renewing of our minds” (As Romans 12:2 exhorts us) then we will be motivated to see the world the way God sees it. We will be motivated to love the things He loves and hate the things He hates….and God makes it clear in His word that He hates sin.

Therefore, as His followers, we ought to hate sin as well.

Peter tells the audience to repent and be baptized.

If you recall my sermon from about 7 weeks ago, we covered the topic of baptism.

We saw that baptism is an outward, physical proclamation of an inward change.

Peter is telling the audience to make their faith public.

We are told to do the same thing. We are told to make our faith public to everyone around us.

We are told in Matthew 28:19 to let others know about Jesus Christ – to go and make disciples. To baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Peter also tells his audience in verse 38 that through their repentance, they will be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The person of the Holy Spirit will give them strength to live in obedience, discernment to understand the gospel message, and joy in any and all circumstances of life.

Lastly, in verse 40 of our passage for today, Peter tells the 3,000 brand new believers to “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”

Peter is exhorting the people to “save themselves” through repentance and faith in Christ. Scripture reminds us that we human beings, in our natural state of sin, lack the power to spiritually save ourselves – salvation is entirely the work of God and God alone.

In case you haven’t noticed, we also live in a corrupt generation today – signs of it are everywhere: sin has saturated our schools, our government, our relationships, our attitudes, the media, the newspapers, and the list goes on and on – even the church!

There are churches that have embraced the ideology of man and elevated it above the Word of God. That is called corruption – and leaders of those churches will one day have to stand before God and explain their actions.

My promise to all of you has been (And always will be) that every instructional message you hear from this pulpit will be firmly rooted in the unchanging, inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God!

I will never take anything away from God’s Word and I will never add anything to God’s Word. There is no book of Andy – and there never will be.

Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us of how God’s ways are infinitely higher than our own “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Yes, corruption is everywhere around us. In fact, every generation from Peter’s time until now has been saturated with corruption.

We are born with a corrupt nature – and, sadly, the vast majority of people in every generation never repent and turn to Jesus Christ.

Jesus himself reminds us of this in the sermon on the mount when he says “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

Only a few find it. Let that sink in for a moment. We need to take our faith seriously.

Folks, corruption is all around us, and at one time, you were a partaker in it.

You were once on that superhighway to destruction rather than where you hopefully are now – the narrow hiking path to eternal life.

Now I’m not an AC/DC fan but, theologically speaking, they did get one thing right. The rock group had a song called “Highway to Hell.” They’re right – there really is a broad spiritual highway of unrepentant, proud, selfish, violent, greedy, apathetic people who will someday spend eternity apart from God – not because God wants them on it – but rather, it’s the road they want to be on!

God will never force you to get off the interstate and start hiking!

If you are on that wide and popular highway this morning…if you haven’t given your life to Jesus and truly become a follower of his – then I’m pleading with you to do so!  It will be a decision that you will never regret.

Like anything with value, it will require some effort and self-sacrifice. There will undoubtedly be some people who will no longer want to spend time with you because you will remind them of their own sinful condition.

There will be times that you may even find yourself questioning whether or not the relatively rugged terrain of the narrow hiking path is worth the sacrifice over the wide and flat comfort cruise of the interstate.

Well, let me tell you – It is worth it!

It is worth every single step as you climb that mountain of sanctification because you learn to depend on God – and he gives you the strength to keep climbing! He will never let you down.

…And then, once in a while, He leads you out onto an overlook and allows you to behold the awesome view. The view from God’s high-altitude path of faithful servitude is always so much more rewarding than the limited view from the interstate!

If you are cut to the heart this morning over unrepentant sin in your life and you want to know what to do next, follow Peter’s words in our passage for today: Repent …and tell the world that you are now on God’s eternal path of salvation!

Let’s Pray.