Transmission of Forgiveness, Life and the Spirit

Question for everyone, a poll today. Raise your hand if you've had the chicken pox. Holy cow, this is an old congregation.

I, they came out with a vaccine in 1995 for the chicken pox. So if you've had the chicken pox, you were likely born before 1995. I say old, that puts you over 30.

If you didn't get the chicken pox vaccine, just missed it. You were the closest. When I was, it was before I was even in school and I was just home all day with my mom.

You'd think that would have driven her crazy, but she, my brother came home from school and they saw some bumps on him and realized he was getting the chicken pox, so he was home for a week. In the midst of that week, I got the chicken pox and then my mom got the chicken pox and it was, it was a good time. Didn't have to go to school.

My brother got to be home. We hung out, except for the misery part of the whole thing. And hearing my mom's voice say, don't scratch, don't scratch.

I know it's hard, don't scratch. And they had, I don't even know what the oil was, but there were some capsules they got and we released some oil that we put on to hold that. And notice I've said on this Father's Day that my mom got it, my brother got it, and I got it, but who didn't get it? My dad didn't get it.

Why? He'd already had it. Well, the truth is my mom had already had it too. She just got to do it twice.

Wasn't that cool? And then my dad would tell us, you know, this is good for you because once you get it, then you probably won't get it later in life. But later in life, when I was around that 30, 31 age, I got something else. Shingles.

So that same virus comes back to haunt me in a whole different form, whereas on my forehead, I thought, oh my gosh, I'm 30 years old and I've got the biggest pimple I've ever had in my life. And I was working in accounting and the managing partner said, what's going on with your head? And I said, I can take that a lot of ways. And I said, I don't know, I think I have a pimple.

It's pretty embarrassing. That doesn't look like a pimple to me. And then as I felt here, I felt here and here and here and here, and there was a line of these painful things, these shingles.

And so even if you get the vaccine for chickenpox, they still recommend you get the vaccine for shingles later on in life, because it can help, but it's not totally preventable. Now, I bring that up because we are beginning a new face series. And we're going to kind of look at things like chickenpox and other viruses and things that are contagious to know.

When I was thinking about what to do, I usually, I've been doing a series that kind of lasts the whole summer. And I kind of wanted to go all through the book of Acts. And today is the only sermon out of the book of Acts.

But to, so we could become a church more like the book of Acts, more like, you know, in our scripture today, it says Peter preached and 3000 were saved. That's the goal. In that, what I want to look at is thinking about throughout this series, how faith is caught and not just more than taught.

Does that make sense? You can teach it, it can be in your head, but for it to be caught, it has to make its way down to your heart. And it's gotta be a head and a heart religion for it to make sense. The good news of Jesus Christ could be viewed as the good contagion.

We're gonna look at a lot of things in the next several weeks about the attributes of God that are given to us through the Holy Spirit, through the fruit of the Spirit and different things and about who God is and when God is working through us, all of us, that the world can be blessed and blessed with catching the contagion of the good news. And when they catch this contagion of the good news, it spreads. We don't wanna hold it up, we want it to spread.

Does that make sense? Like I said, in 1995, they came up with the vaccine for the chickenpox, but the world also believes that there is a vaccine for Christianity. There is a vaccine for God. There are things that the world can offer you.

And if you have enough apathy, enough pride, enough of a false sense of security, and there are so many things the world offers to fill the needs we have in ourselves. And when we do that, the world thinks of it as a vaccine. How many of you think it's difficult to go up to someone and share the good news? Part of that is our church background probably, because we weren't raised in, if you weren't raised in a more evangelical setting where evangelism was so big a part of it.

But the other part is seeing how people overdo it, where they kind of force someone and squeeze someone. Have you ever done this? Just say it, just say the words, just say the words and you can be saved. Or to make someone feel guilty and like, you know, the great line Christians like to use is I once was like you, not recognizing that we're all sinners and we need to be saved.

But there are things about the faith. I mean, there are difficult things about the faith. There are struggles, there are things with sanctification that are hard and growing closer to God and putting the things of the world aside and letting Christ into our lives that, and sometimes it's work and sometimes it's embarrassing to be different than the rest of the world.

And sometimes it just seems like whenever we talk about Jesus, we just hit a brick wall so we want to give up. But Peter, today we're gonna talk about how, just like with chickenpox, my brother transmitted the disease to me and one of us transmitted it to our mom. It was probably me, but I'm leaving him in there just in case.

And then we too, when we catch Christianity, when we catch the spirit of God, that we can transmit it to other people and it's a good contagion. And it's a contagion that is so powerful that if we just trust in God, that contagion can even overcome the vaccines the world thinks they have to block against Jesus, to block against God, to block against the Holy Spirit, to block against the Holy Scripture. And with that contagion, the multiplication Shell was talking about earlier, it's not gonna work.

Multiplication, if it's just up to me, what's anything times one? It's self. So we need more people so multiplication actually works. And we actually think beyond, okay, we need new members, we need new people, we need to fill the pews.

And we do need that. But more than that, we need kingdom to build, we need the kingdom to grow. And it's a mindset that was hard for me because even in the bigger churches I was in, there was this mindset of how they had shrunk for so many years, that it's about making members, getting people in the doors.

And that's important, but it's not number one. We have to have a kingdom mindset that's even more important, that we have to trust the contagion of the Holy Spirit that says, hey, we wanna make disciples, we wanna let the world know about Jesus, and it's up to God. And we'll see that in our scripture today to see what God does with all of this.

A lot of the work is God's. We just have to do what Jesus said he did in John, where he said, I see what the Father is doing, and I go there, I go work with him. We have to be open to see where God is working and trust in that as we seek to be contagious.

Let's look at Acts two. We're gonna go through 36 through 41 today. This is the end of Peter's speech.

Now, Peter has already, this is the first sermon that we know of, and Peter is very, aside from Jesus. Now, the other disciples, they would have all done this because Jesus sent out the 12, and they gave the good news, and they healed, and they prayed with people, and they brought him into the kingdom. And then he sent out the 70, and they did the same thing.

And with that, Peter, right after Pentecost, stands up, and if you read his sermon through Acts two, 14 through 41, where we're at, we see that most of his sermon comes from where? The Bible. Can you believe that concept? That when Jesus preached, first he preached from Joel, and to explain what happened with the Holy Spirit. Remember, we're going back a few weeks, but this is the setting of Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit came down, and remember, the big crowds formed around, wondered what was going on.

Some thought they were drunk. Some thought that they were just amazed that they could speak the gospel in their own language. And so Peter, looking at the prophecy in Joel, says, and in the last days, it shall be God declares that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.

And it talks about all the different things people will be able to do, and it ends with saying, and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. That the Messiah in Jesus Christ is bringing salvation, and then he closes before where we pick up by talking about David, and when he talks, when he lifts up Psalm 16, he says, for you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your Holy One see corruption. Now, some of that is pointing to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but then in that resurrection that we become a part of because Christ died for us, he says, our souls will not be abandoned to death.

We will be saved. So salvation is key through all of this. Will you stand as you are able? Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, 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 for the promises for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. And with many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation. So those who received his word were baptized and those were added that day were about 3,000 souls.

The word of God inspired by God for the people of God, thanks be to God, amen. You may be seated. Now in this section, Peter starts off by saying, let all the house of Israel.

Now remember the setting of Pentecost again that people were, he went through all the different places that the people were back for, something called the Shabbat or the Festival of Weeks. We call it Pentecost, the Festival of Weeks. So how many weeks in Pentecost? Do we all know that by now? I've said it about 50 times.

How many weeks between Easter and Pentecost? Penta, 50. So it's five, oh yeah, 50 days. Seven weeks, but if you go by that schedule, that is what they named it after.

It's the Festival of Weeks where they celebrated and people made the trek back to Jerusalem. That's why there was so many people there from other places and when they had all come together, when they all heard this noise of the Holy Spirit and they were all asking what was going on, Peter stood up and he started talking and he said as he continued with his sermon, let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him, who's him? Jesus, both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Now in there he says made him Lord and Christ, Lord and Messiah.

Israel expected a Messiah and that salvation was gonna be from Rome. Who knew that when he came, that salvation was actually from ourselves and that salvation was from our own sins. So he's Lord and Christ, it's both.

He's not just the Messiah who saves it, he's the Lord of our life. Does that make sense? Peter's very clear with both of those. Made him Lord of Christ and then he says this Jesus, not any other Jesus, not Jesus Barsabas who you let free so Jesus could die.

Jesus was a popular name. It was kind of like Bob which is not as popular now but it once was. And or I always had three or four Erics in all my classes growing up.

But Jesus was a common name but it meant the Lord who saves or Yahweh who saves. This Jesus, this Jesus that you turned on, this Jesus that you thought was not the Messiah because he wasn't doing what the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the whole Sanhedrin wanted to do, this Jesus, God has made him Lord and Messiah. This Jesus whom you crucified.

We sang that in one of those songs today that this Jesus was whom they crucified. And I say they but I really should say we. We crucified him.

Raise your hand if you think you could admit that you crucified Jesus. Why did we crucify Jesus? In the song it was how great the Father's love for us. Our sins held him on that cross.

He died so that we could be forgiven. He did it by his stripes we are healed. He hung on the cross for our iniquities.

And Peter tells them this, he's pretty direct. He doesn't say you're okay, I'm okay. You were born and you are perfect just the way you are.

He doesn't say you should get a trophy for just making it this far. He says you crucified him. Those are some tough words.

And the people heard it and they believed it because they had seen the miracles through the Holy Spirit. They had heard them praising God in their own languages. And with Peter's words of being, well, you know, it said the Bible says, the Bible, the word of God is a two-edged sword.

Cuts through the bone in the morrow, meaning that whichever way you look at it, you could read it Revelation to Genesis and it cuts deeply if you look at it. And it cuts deeply to heal us and restore us. In other words, this same Jesus means don't blame Rome, don't blame the Sanhedrin, blame yourselves.

We blame ourselves for what has happened because God did this for, you know, I spent eight days with Colin outside and it was so much fun and my body suffered more than I can even imagine. But God didn't do this just because it was great father-son time. Hey, hang on the cross, let's hang out together.

He did it for you. He did it for me. That's what the Father did for me.

That's how much God loves every one of us. Thinking of the best Father Day is possible, the best time on Father's Day is not only spending it with your father, but spending it with your heavenly father. I mean, that alone is good news that the world needs to know that God loves you so much that his one and only perfect son gave everything, even his last breath, so that you can live.

In verse 37, it goes on to say, because they heard this. Now, when they heard this, but basically it says, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart. They realized that God was real, that God they had been worshiping was real, and who Jesus is as the Son of God is real, and what Jesus had done is real.

And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? Now, on one hand, that's like a pastor's dream. If after the end of the sermon, you come up and you say, hey, what shall we do? What should I do about this? And on the other hand, I might be thinking, well, you didn't listen to the end of the sermon if you're asking me that, but it also can be scary. What if somebody asks you, what shall we do? Are you ready to give an answer? Like Peter goes on to say later in his letters that we should be ready in season and out to give a reason for our joy.

Oh, that's a sermon we're gonna do down the line this summer. Another fruit and attribute of God. When they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the rest of the brothers, what shall we do? Once someone knows they are in need, they may be in need.

Their need may come from knowing here to overcome sin. They may realize that they have internal suffering, internal emotional, spiritual damage that can't be healed any other way. They may have anger, bitterness, rejection.

So many things can lead us to the cross to understand what a gift this is. Once they understood the need for Jesus, they then could ask this question. Often today, people know the answer to the question.

I mean, most people you talk to and you say, what do you think you need to do to be saved? And they'll say, well, you'll say, I need to know Jesus or receive Jesus or repent and believe the good news. A lot of people know that much, but they wanna know why. Why should I believe in this God? And that's the contagion that comes out of us, that they can see something, something they wanna catch too.

Now, as we keep going on, Peter said to them this, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of the sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now, there is a lot in here. If we just leave that up there and look through this as we are talking about it.

Repent, repent doesn't just mean saying, I'm sorry. Repent means we turn and we do something about it. We turn and we go in a different directions.

Peter said, repent, you have been rebelling against God, now follow Jesus and Jesus is our direct connection to God. Jesus is the part of the Godhead who connects us to God directly. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of, repent and be baptized.

It seems strange to us that the first thing Peter says is be baptized. Like, we may not see enough new converts that being baptized is the first thing that comes to mind. But if you're talking about the Holy Spirit, when I was in college and I had grown up in the church, but once I read the Bible or I started reading the Bible, I mean, I didn't even get through the book of Exodus and something was catching in my soul, something huge.

And I just fell in love with Jesus. And sometimes I look back at that and I think of Jesus talking to the church in Ephesus and when he says, you've lost your first love because I was just in love with Jesus and wanting to read every book of the Bible to read more about him. And it was so amazing.

And I had a sense, even though I was baptized when I was a baby, I had a sense of wanting to get baptized. And I didn't do it because of my upbringing, but I remembered my baptism and I'd think about my baptism. Why is my baptism so important? What does it mean when the water washes over us? You know, the cleansing of the water on the inside is a sign of what the Holy Spirit is cleansing on us on the inside.

So I have a friend too that would go to jails and preach and so many of them, as soon as they were received Christ, they were asking him, can you baptize me? Can you baptize me? So there's something about the Holy Spirit that connects us with baptism and makes it so powerful. Once they understand, let's see. Okay, repent, believe, be baptized.

You have to believe you're a sinner. Repent and believe in the name of Jesus for what? What does God offer? For the forgiveness of your sins and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then if we go on to 39, the promise is for you and for your children, for those who are far off.

Now, meaning that it's for you. I'm talking to you, but I'm also talking to you being contagious with your whole family and for all who are far off. Everyone, whether it's in Jerusalem or the ends of the earth, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself, the pervenient grace that we have from God, that calling, that leading, that wanting to give our lives to Jesus, that wanting to repent and be someone different and be someone who trusts in God and be someone who receives the gift of God of eternal life.

That's something God does within our hearts. When we hear the gospel, when we hear the good news, when we hear the good contagion, the promise is for you, everyone who calls on the God calls to himself, all who hear God's call, all who recognize the pervenient grace. What do we do? We respond to the call.

We repent, we relieve, we are baptized. What does God do? God, through our contagion of the Holy Spirit, he transmits forgiveness, he transmits life, and he transmits the Holy Spirit. Now, when we have that contagion and we share with someone, now, these are three things that are important.

If anybody asks, what should I do? Or why do I have to suffer with this? Or why can't I just be happy? Or why am I not even getting a break in life? And if we share about Jesus, what does God give us when we repent and we believe? Forgiveness, life, the Holy Spirit. Those are three incredibly contagious things that the world needs. And when they understand how powerful those things are, the world will catch that contagion.

Now, sometimes when we share it, it's like planting a seed, but God can take even a dormant seed sometime down the road if it keeps getting watered and nurtured that it can grow too.