The Results (Acts 2:41)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/8/2017 9:21 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                              Focus: The Results

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                             Reference:  Acts 2:41

            Message of the verse:  “41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.”

            We looked at Peter’s appeal for the last six days and not we will look today at the results of what happened after his sermon was finished.  I first want to look at a couple of verses that seem to me to go along with what this verse in Acts has to say.  “2Co 3:6 It is he who makes us competent administrators of the new agreement, concerned not with the letter but with the Spirit. The letter of the Law leads to the death of the soul; the Spirit alone can give it life (Phillips).”  28 So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.”  I remember this illustration from many years ago and so what we see here is that Peter gives the very first sermon of the church age and the Holy Spirit is given to those whom God called to salvation, so what we have is the Spirit giving life to three thousand souls.  Exodus 32:28 speaks of the time that God gave Moses the Law, the Ten Commandments and while Moses was up on the mountain the children of Israel were “playing” as some translations say, and so the Lord tells Moses to go back down to care for this idol worship.  The result is seen in verse 28 and so the day that the Law was given three thousand people died, the Law leads to death, but the Spirit gives life.

            John MacArthur writes the following about verse 41 “As already noted, much present-day evangelism seeks to make coming to Christ as easy as possible.  Many today would be appalled that Peter made the cost of coming to Christ so high.  How could he expect them to turn their backs publicly on their culture?  How could he ask them to risk becoming outcasts among their families and society?  How could he demand that they accept as Messiah the very One their leaders had rejected and executed?  They would no doubt predict that the results of Peter’s sermon would be minimal.

            “Such was not the case, however. ‘Those who had received his word’ accepted the conditions and ‘were baptized.’  Further, they amounted to more than an insignificant handful; ‘there were added’ to the church ‘that day about three thousands souls.’  That a precise number was recorded suggests that they kept track of those who were saved and baptized.”

            Now as we think about how many were saved that day and what it eventually cost them to become Christians we can also think about what would happen later on during the Church age that was actually prophesied by our Lord when He spoke in parables after the people of Israel accused Him of doing His miracles in the power of Satan.  Jesus told the parable about the different kinds of soils and only one of the soils produced a good crop, none of the rest of them produced anything at all.  This shows us that during the church age that there will be people who are in these different kinds of soil, but as stated only one of the soils will produce any crop, produce those who truly have been born again.  Jesus told another parable about a farmer sowing seed, which was wheat, and during the night an enemy (the devil) sowed a similar kind of plant (darnel) that cannot be detected that it is actually weeds until the plant is fully grown.  So what we have is the Spirit sowing good Seed which will result in salvation and the devil sowing bad seed which will cause people to believe it and end up in hell.  Jesus told His servants not to pull up the bad seed until it had matured and then there would be no problem to see that it was not wheat.  This happens at the end of the age as the good seed and the bad seed will be separated, similar to when Jesus comes back to planet earth and separates the sheep from the goats.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-unless indeed you fail the test? (2 Cor. 13:5).”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Pray that I will have love along with knowledge.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “They ate and drank with him” (Acts 10:41).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said “it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”

Answer in our next SD

8/8/2017 9:53 AM