Spirit-Empowered Repentance | Acts 2:37-42 | June 7, 2026

Teacher: Jay O'Brien

Scarlet City Church - Columbus, OH

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Transcript

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I want to invite you to open your Bible to Acts chapter 2. Acts 2. And um speaking of Acts 2, today is a special day for some people because it's their birthday. Kayla and Stephanie. She's up there. She's waving from up top. She watches over us. Anyone else that you're it's your birthday and you want to raise your hand? So right now, I will sing a solo happy birthday for you. No, that that would no one would want that. But no, happy birthday. Praise the Lord. And speaking of birthdays, uh, there's a new Star Wars movie in the theaters. So I have these good translations. I've really worked hard and planned on. The Mandalorian, which is that even count as a Star Wars movie? No, I don't think it does. Star Wars has really been trying to recapture their old glory days that they haven't really had since the 70s and early 80s. Amen. The first trilogy of uh, you know, Han, Leia, what's that Darth Guy, Vader, and Luke, it was really a hero's journey. It was the story of Luke Skywalker, who in my mind is the Jedi, right? That Luke is the is the one. And it's a story of his journey, him beginning by recognizing his identity and who he is and having mentors in his life to help him along, a story of him addressing failure, and then a story of all ultimately him experiencing triumph. And and all along the way, he had these mentors who helped him, and he would recall what they would say. I mean, I think of in The Force Awakens, or no, no, I'm confused. What's the New Hope when he's shooting his lasers into the Death Star and blowing it up? Whose voice does he hear? Obi-Wan. What does Obi-Wan say? Any real Star Wars nerds here? Let it go, Luke. You know, trust the force. And then he has Yoda to mentor him, and he has to recall Yoda and what he said to him, ultimately confronting Vader and the Emperor and experiencing victory. Luke Skywalker is a hero's journey, people who had invested in his life, and then in the crucible moment, seeing him come through and experiencing some degree of victory after processing through identity crisis and failure. We're in the book of Acts. And we have Peter. Now, the past few weeks, we've been looking at this sermon, at this message he's giving, empowered by the Spirit to people in Jerusalem. And I can't help but imagine Peter as he's doing this, praying just before recounting Jesus' very words to him. Seeing how Jesus and his life and his teachings shaped his imagination. It reformed his whole perspective of who God is, what God is doing in the world, and what it means for him to live this out. And so now in this message that Peter has been proclaiming, he's first of all, he's empowered personally, we see, by the Spirit personally to speak to people in their own personal language and terms. And then he shares the gospel, and we looked at that last week, and now it's moving to this place of response as Peter is about to call to mind and invite them to receive the Spirit's conviction and to enter into repentance. And I can't help but Peter, his imagination about what repentance and repentance and what the invitation is all about may have been drawn to Jesus' words in Luke chapter 15. Josh just read for us from Luke 15 about the prodigal father and his invitation to go and meet his son, who was returning home and the grace of God and the love of God. And right before that we have another story in Luke chapter 15, where Jesus is teaching about the nature of repentance. Luke 15, verse 1. Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming to hear him, coming to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining. This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. Luke is framing the situation here. In Jesus' life and ministry, there seemed to be two camps. There were those who Jesus was associating with, breaking bread with, those called tax collectors and sinners, those who society said didn't belong. And this whole process was being criticized by the religious leaders, by the Pharisees and experts in the law. They looked at Jesus and they wanted to divide the world into the good and evil, to the righteous and sinners, and the righteous of which was them, because they kept the Torah, kept the law. And Jesus responds by doing what Jesus does. He tells them a story. In verse 3, so Jesus told them this parable. He says, Which one of you, if he was, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go and look for the one that is lost until he finds it. And then when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing. We see Jesus as the good shepherd who will go and find his sheep who is lost, put it over his shoulder and carry it home. And then returning home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, telling them, Rejoice. Let's have a party, let's celebrate. I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who have no need to repent. We looked at this last year in this passage, and we see Jesus is reorienting and redefining their concept of repentance. That the Pharisees had a very strict way of dealing with sin. One had to first confess it, one repented, one had to then keep the law, and one demonstrated their own grief and anguish by a public display of sorrow. And Jesus is reorienting, he says, all of us who are our sheep and we're lost, and the way back to the fold is not by earning our way back. It's not Jesus is a far way off and I am going to get to him. It is Jesus coming to discover the lost sheep. And the sheep who is meant to be all of us is merely aware of their lostness and willing to be found and carried back by their good shepherd. And I can't help but think that Peter might have this in mind as he's giving now, as Jesus, his king and savior and rabbi has taught him. And now Peter, after Jesus has ascended, is giving the gospel. And now in this message of the gospel, moving to this concept of repentance. And I can't help but think that maybe Peter is looking and he sees people just like himself, sheep who are lost, and the longing in his heart for them to be found. And so now we see the response, how the Spirit can invite us into the fold of God. How the Spirit can work, how it worked in the life of Peter, how it worked in the life of 3,000 people who on this very day will embrace faith in Jesus and their whole identity and future transformed. And how for many of it, how for many of us the Spirit has invited us into the fold of God. We see here in verse 36, Peter summarizes his whole message by with this. Peter doesn't close his message by saying, Look, you bunch of dummies. Peter appeals to their mind. He says, There's something to know, there's a conviction to have. And again, this odd who he's speaking to, he repeated all throughout. Luke is drawing our mind to the context. Jesus or Peter is in Jerusalem, and over and over, Peter says, brothers, men of Israel, he's speaking to uh first century Israelites. And they had a view, they had things they believed, and Peter is going to enter into their worldview. The worldview of his audience, they believed that the Torah and the Hebrew scriptures were God's authoritative view. And so Peter references and quotes the Hebrew scriptures. He's appealing to what they already believe to be true. And he is like a good what's called midrashic interpreter. He's taking the events of their time and showing how God's scripture interprets what they're experiencing. As they're seeing people, men and women prophesying in the spirit. Peter is going to reference Joel. He said, Look, don't be shocked. The prophet Joel, who you submit to as God's authoritative word, he predicted that this was going to happen. And then Peter's going to reference David from Psalm 16, where David says, Because you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor permit your holy one to expire decay. David seems to be referencing that he won't die. And Peter is going to pick that up. He's like, look, David said he wasn't going to die, and we can go and visit his grave. So he must have been speaking of someone else, and the someone else who he's speaking of is Jesus. Peter is entering into the worldview and showing how Jesus actually fulfills it. But he goes one step further. Peter is going to appeal to them as eyewitnesses when he speaks of the resurrection. You see, the Spirit's work in our life never invites us to just turn our brains off. It's not like a Star Wars concept of the force, which they never explain. Because what how could one explain that? There's just some degree of ambivalence, but a power. But that's not how the Spirit and God works. Spirit says don't turn your mind off. There's not something to know. Turn your mind on. Be aware of God and how He works and your longings and what you yourself see and experience. Christianity requires us, it invites us to think. Now, in my experience and connecting with people, I think many of us are on varying degrees on the spectrum of really struggling with knowing beyond a doubt. Some people seem to have a gift, and I think I can we can call it a gift. Some people have this gift that they just, the Bible says it and they believe it, and they're good with it. And that's awesome. I don't think there's extra degrees of holiness or maturity for just really wanting to ask the hard questions. For me, I wasn't really blessed with that gift. I'm by nature a skeptic and a little bit of a cynic. And so in my spiritual journey, I had to ask questions. And I am so thankful for the mentors in my life that didn't punish that or minimize it, but they made space for it. And I believe that honors God. Because when we look at the story of Jesus, it's how he related to his closest followers, to the Peters and the Thomases who followed him. Wherever you are on that spectrum of someone who just fully trusts and that comes natural or easy for you, or maybe you're someone who really struggles, I want you to know that the Spirit's invitation isn't to turn off your mind. It is to explore and to consider what's something you can know. For me, as I mentioned, I had numerous questions, and they really revolved around a few things. First of all, for me it was the trustworthiness of Scripture. Like, you know, we can say things like it's God's word, but why? And what do we mean by that? And on what degree can we trust it? I also had to deal with the problem of just evil and injustice in the world. I mean, the events of World War II, like, in what way can a world in which that happened also there be a good God? And then the behavior of Christians. People who claim affinity and to follow Jesus and to treat people in ways that clearly contradict how Jesus says we're to treat people. If you're someone with those questions, those are good questions. And the Spirit invites us to explore them. And we need mentors in our life who encourage space. The Spirit says there's something you can know. And then he continues in what we can know, verse 36. Know beyond a doubt that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Peter here is summarizing the message he's been proclaiming, the Spirit's message of the gospel. The Spirit invites conviction that Jesus is Lord and King. Now, this is the gospel, and there is long form and short form. And I I just, you know, I really enjoy the long form of thinking about the gospel. But I'm going to refrain from going into depth on it. But I will say this, you know, in Peter's message here, he references Jesus' life, he references Jesus' crucifixion and death, he references Jesus' resurrection, and he references Jesus' ascension, all for very important reasons. And Peter says that this is all according to the plan and foreknowledge of God. You see, Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and ascension was part of a larger story. A story that goes all the way back to Genesis, where God created the world and he created it very good. And sin enters into the human and creation story, separating us, separating us from God, separating us from one another, separating us from ourselves, separating us from creation. And eventually separating us from life itself, as death enters into the human story. And God is about the good and loving work of repairing all that sin has separated. Sin is in many ways a sickness that enfades us and all of creation. And Jesus and the Spirit are here to breathe the very presence and life and love of God to repair all that sin has separated. This is the long form of the gospel. But the short form is this: Jesus is both Lord and Christ. The Greek term here for Lord is curios, which is the way they translated the name of Yahweh, saying Jesus is God Himself and the Christos, the Christ, the anointed King. You see, the Spirit invites us and it illuminates our minds to embrace Jesus as Lord and the Messiah. But it doesn't end there. The Spirit invites not just something to know about God, but something to know about ourselves. The Spirit invites conviction of the heart. See, we need this king. We need forgiveness. Continues in verse 37. Now, when they heard this, when they heard Peter's message of the gospel, and when they heard that Peter actually got specific, he said, God made Jesus whom you crucified, they respond, they were acutely distressed. Now, this is a poor translation. Literally, it is they were cut to the heart. They hear Peter preach about Jesus, the Lord and the Christ and his crucifixion and their part in it, and they are cut to the heart. They feel a personal degree of conviction. You see, it moves from just a general sadness at wrongs being done to them feeling the weight of it. I think this is what Peter felt in his life when in Luke chapter 22, when Jesus was on trial, and Peter denied that he knew Jesus three times. And I'm sure when Peter did this, there's like a general feeling of a conviction, like he lied and he did something wrong. But Luke draws our attention in verse 61. And he went out and he wept bitterly. See, it's possible to have just a general sense of our wrongs or the wrongs of the world, but the spirit works in our heart to become aware that it's not just, you know, some infractions are a problem, but when we actually grieve, that this grieves God, Jesus looks at Peter and then it strikes him to his core that he didn't just do something wrong or break a ten commandment, but the person whom he loved, his very Lord, Jesus, is grieved at his action. The Spirit brings this sense of conviction and personalizes it. And then we see we continue in verse 37. Now, when they heard this, they were acutely distressed, they were cut to the heart. And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, a very natural question What should we do? What should we do, brothers? And Peter responds, Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This idea of repentance. And our mind and imagination can go back to Luke 15 when Jesus taught about repentance. What did the sheep need to do to make it to the fold? Peter doesn't say here's what you need to do. Repent and keep the law. Repent and don't kill God's son next time. Repent and be baptized. The Spirit invites trust. That our Lord and King is also our Savior. You see, he continues. Now, when they heard this, they were acutely distressed and said to Peter and the apostles, What should we do, brothers? Peter said to them, Repent, and each one of you baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. You see, ultimately the Spirit works in their heart, in their life, not on how they can just do better, but on what Jesus has done, and to trust in His work and His record for forgiveness. What must we do is one of the fundamental human questions. An ill religion would say, Don't worry about it. You do you, and others do them. And religion says, do better. Keep the law. It ultimately boils down scripture into the way of God to a list of rules. And like the Pharisees, if we keep them, then we're part of the fold of God. And we look down on everyone else who's in need, who can't keep the law like we do. But the gospel is different. The gospel says it's not about what you can do, it's about what's been done for you. And the Spirit leads to this degree of repentance and this trust that our shepherd is searching and can find us and can carry us back. The gospel is the good news of a good king and a good shepherd. And as a good king, his victory is our victory. And as a good shepherd, he finds us and carries us back. And again in verse 38, Peter he says to them, Repent and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Baptism signifying entering the family of God. It was the practice in first century Judaism where Gentiles, in order to join the Israelites, they had to be baptized. And John the Baptizer and Jesus himself, and now Peter and the early church are saying we all are in the same boat. You see, what leads us to the fold of God isn't going to be our ability to keep the law. It's not going to be our ethnicity and our heritage. It is for all people. It is merely us being willing to be found and to be carried back. Peter responds to their question. What do we need to do by saying, first be found, repent. Next, be baptized, join the fold. Also to receive the gift of the Spirit. The Spirit is for all people, men and women. Anyone who responds in faith. And lastly, the Spirit invites us to invite others who are far from God. Peter says, for the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself. I imagine Peter's imagination here is full of the good shepherd searching for his sheep and carrying them back. And then the celebration continues. The sheep who are found go and invite other lost sheep to join them. And this, brothers and sisters, is the church. This is our family. This is our history. Acts is a story of the Spirit working to awaken people to their need for Jesus and to invite them into the community of God, the family of God, wherever they are, and then empowering people to be witnesses to go and to invite others also. How has the Spirit been inviting you? How has the Spirit worked in your life? A few weeks ago at my grandmother's funeral, it was at the old, I think I shared this last week. It was at the old Baptist Church that she was a founding member at. And there's just something beautiful about that. And even though the church has changed a lot, they have, you know, like a big screen behind them. That's not what I, as a little kid attending this church, used to experience. Some of it hasn't. It was a good altar call message. And there have been times in my journey where, like I think for many of us as we're living our life, we experience some of what we grew up with a degree of like skepticism. Understandably. Maybe if you grew up in some of that tradition, I was raised a good Baptist, and I looked at that as like sometimes turning the mind off and just an emotional call. And the Lord had to work for me to say, no, actually, you can explore and ask questions, and God's not threatened by any of that. And so I think there's a part in just my own journey, and maybe this rhymes with yours. And in our journey where we have to maybe unlearn some things, and that's good, and a grace and a spirit work in our life. But in that moment, sorry. I just felt so thankful. Because I would never want to lose what truly is our heritage. That the Christian movement isn't about what you can do or even just what you've done. And it's not who you know or where you're from. It is about God's sheer grace and love. And it is always an invitation, and always an invitation to those who are lost. Can we ask questions? Absolutely. Should we ask questions? Yes. Does the spirit want to work in our mind to illuminate us to the way of God? A hundred percent. And the spirit wants you to be part of the community of God, to be welcomed to the fold. And you are always welcomed. And that is our heritage. And as we move forward and we see this spirit apply this gospel to this community of all new converts, just figuring it out, it becomes an absolutely beautiful reflection of the love of God. I want to invite us now to turn our mind and our heart to holy communion.