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" 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 ye shall receive the gift of the holy ghost." Acts 2:38 KJV
These are the words that came out of the mouth of the Apostle Peter as he addressed the crowd at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, AD 33. There was a representation of all nationalities of the Jewish people on that eventful day. This is the event that the prophets of old prophesied about, the Lord had given this prediction centuries before through them, and, here it is! The awesome work of the Lord as he was now indwelling mankind with the power of the holy ghost! This meant that
the suffering, death, burial and resurrection of the Saviour was completed, he had went back to heaven and now, returning to the earth in another form, the baptism of the holy ghost, and fire! Since the fall of man in the garden of Eden and the serpent beguiling Eve, and Adam's disobedience to God, chaos, confusion, war, violence, crime, hatred, wickedness, malice, envy, killings, and everything evil and ungodly immaginable, was the order of the day. The devil wreaking havoc on this world because of the sin curse put on all back in the garden. But, after centuries of waiting for the promised redeemer for all mankind we find here in this second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles that the day of deliverance and a fresh new hope is now being manifested! Praise God! All of the world is found guilty before God, for the scripture says this, " Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin: and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned: For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the free gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one: much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For if by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." ( Romans 5: 12 - 21 KJV ) Look at this! See how that Adam sold the entire world into sin through his disobedience, but the love of God for mankind through the obedience of Jesus Christ made it possible that man could be delivered from that curse, this is the amazing grace of God, how that even when we were in sin he still had mercy on us, and loved us enough to die in our place. Peter says the just for the unjust (us ) that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit.
( See 1 Peter 3:18 KJV ) The great creator, the God of the universe came down from his throne in glory and became us for the specific purpose to lay down his life to buy back, or redeem mankind from the bondages and clutches, shackles of sin. This is why it is of utmost importance that an individual come to the Saviour, and do what the Apostle Peter is telling the audience to do here on the day of Pentecost. If you go back and read the entire second chapter of the book of Acts, you will see how that he preached that dynamic message to the people, and it led up to their becoming convinced and convicted about the Lord that the rulers and the people rejected on the cross, Jesus. Through the inspiration of the holy ghost that Peter just received, he, the spokesman, stood up and let them know about their ways, and that brings me to the onset of this message, they asked Peter this question, " Men and brethren, what shall we do? ( Acts 2:37 KJV ) " 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 ye shall receive the gift of the holy ghost" This is, my friends, the answer for today's troubled world! All the woes of mankind, all the drug addictions, loss of sleep, insomnia over life's problems, frustrations, lack of inner peace, heartaches that seem unfixable can be remedied when an individual comes to the Lord with a true full repentant heart. Let's analize the situation; there is a part of every human being that is like God, which is the soul of man. This soul of man will try many things because he / she is looking for satisfaction in all of the wrong places, like drugs alcohol, women, men, marijuana, getting high, partying, having orgies and all things that the world will try and experience because they lack the experience that happened here on the great day of Pentecost. Now do not get me wrong, this is no quick fix, you as an individual must be willing to surrender you life to the Lord and be willing to change your life and mind, and let him be the "lord" or ruler of your life. No, you are not the boss of your own life, you do not have full control, you are not your own man or woman, you need the Lord to help you through the power of the holy ghost. Jeremiah 10: 23 KJV says this,
" O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." This means that man cannot be the "master of his own destiny" the Lord of heaven rules in the affairs of men, and governs and dictates their lives, for the book of Acts the 17th chapter tells us this, " And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and HATH DETERMINED THE TIMES BEFORE APPOINTED, AND THE BOUNDS OF THEIR HABITATION: THAT THEY SHOULD SEEK THE LORD, IF HAPLY THEY MIGHT FEEL AFTER HIM, AND FIND HIM, THOUGH HE BE NOT FAR FROM EVERY ONE OF US: FOR IN HIM WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING: AS CERTAIN OF YOUR OWN POETS HAVE SAID, FOR WE ARE HIS OFFSPRING.
( verses 26- 28 KJV ) There is not a person alive that does not rely on the Lord, as we just read above, in him we live and move and have our being. The gift of life is from the Almighty, everything that man possesses, is a gift from him, our air, water, fruits, vegetables, the shoes on our feet, the clothes that we wear, the weather, rain, heat, cool air, snow, hail, frost, ice and all wait upon the Lord. Look at what David the psalmist of Israel said about God's wise providence, " The eyes of all wait upon thee: and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfieth the desire of every living thing. Psalms 145: 15-16 KJV. Even the atheist and the agnostic is still in the tender care of the Lord, everything living expects God to give us fruitful seasons, rain to nourish the earth that it may produce, we drive our automobiles from the petroleum that the Lord has placed in the earth for the service of man, electricity works off of principles that he has established for us, there is not an individual that can cure cancer or any fatal illness. When the doctor tells a person that they will die, and God says, " live" he will keep them here, and on the other hand, when the doctor or physician says that man will live and God says, no, we die. There have been people that medical science have given up, but, miraculously, they lived, There have been people that have died
( clinically ) that the Lord allowed them to come back and be revived. Don't tell me that that's not a miracle working God, there is no problem, situation, circumstance that man can be confronted with that the gospel can't free you from. I'm not talking about some hocus-pocus, rabbit- in - the -hat,
televangelist professed miracle, throwing way your stick or walker method. I am talking about when an individual fully, truly repents, and changes his or her life to conform to the truth of the word of God. Chain smokers, pill poppers, junkees, sex- addicts, and chronic pedifiles, perverts, abusers of themselves with mankind, and all who, " can't help themselves " can find freedom from their obsessions through the message of repentance, water baptism in Jesus' name and receiving the holy ghost. Organized religion is not the answer, joining a church will not do it, shaking a preacher's hand won't do, nothing but YOU! YOU! YOU! Must be willing to repent, for this is the key to it all. Since man is a free- moral agent, and has his own will, the only way he can be free is when he wants to! He cannot be forced into this, he cannot stumble up on it by accident, he cannot, do it by himself, he cannot get a preacher to lay hands on him and instantly give to him / her salvation or just repeat words of a prayer or say the rosary, etc, He or she must repent, denounce your man- made religions, and self- righteousness, and do what the word says which is to repent! There is no substitute for repentance, and water baptism in Jesus' name, and receiving the gift of the holy ghost. That is the only thing that man can do to be totally free, and this is a continual process. Don't stop repenting even after you receive the holy ghost, keep repenting! Why, because being in this sinful,
corrupt, " vile" body as the scripture says ( See Phillipians 3:21 KJV ) and the ever-present battle and constant fight that the flesh will war against the soul, to try to victor and take control of again, if an individual does not walk according to the word of the Lord, our nature will overcome the new man! In closing, since we are in the state that Adam put us all in, and remember there will be no cure-all for everything that man has done or will do, we can gain the favor of the Lord God when we repent, so, let this be what you will do just as the word says, remember," Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the holy ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call "( Acts 2: 38-39 KJV ) In this generation, the same message that Peter preached, I am saying to the entire world today, Repent!
By Rodney Brooks
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