Transformative Power of Salvation Through the Holy Spirit

Christianity I say is this message and the power that accompanies this message, the power of the Holy Spirit, and its business is to do to men and women what was done on that occasion to those 3,000 people. Now let's look at them. What was your idea, I wonder, of Christianity? [00:01:11]

Christianity is meant to make people glad, to make them rejoice, to give them a great sense of peace, to give them a happiness that they've never known before. That is exactly, I've read the terms that are used about these people, gladly, gladness, and singleness of heart, praising God. [00:07:29]

The first thing obviously that accounts for the change is the preaching of the Apostle Peter, and I mean at this point not so much what he said as the way in which he said it. Peter stood up in the presence of them all, and he began to speak, and most of his sermon, as you notice, consists in quotations from the Old Testament. [00:09:23]

The message of Christianity is essentially and primarily individual and personal. I'm emphasizing this because the impression is so frequently given today that the message of Christianity is entirely social. You notice that the first sermon preached by the Christian Church was not a sermon to men and women telling them how to put the world in order. [00:14:16]

The New Testament teaches plainly and clearly that the world is a sinful and a doomed world. There is not a word in the New Testament to suggest that this world is gradually going to be improved or made better by the actions of men so that all our problems will be solved and we'll all be perfectly happy. [00:15:58]

The world in sin is under the judgment of God. Let's be perfectly clear and plain about this on this Whitsunday night. It is the great message of the Bible from beginning to end. God once judged the world in the flood. He is going to judge the world again. Every one of us will have to stand before God. [00:31:21]

The promise of the gospel is that we can be saved and delivered as individuals. That's the first thing. But then let me hurry to the second. Why must we be saved from this world? Why should we desire even to be saved? Why does Peter exhort them to be saved? Well, you notice he gives his answer. [00:18:01]

The Apostle Paul calls it a crooked and perverse generation, and he gives a terrifying description of them. You'll find it in the first chapter of his epistle to the Romans. If you want to know how crooked and vile and ugly that ancient world was, read there that first chapter, the second half of the first chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans. [00:26:42]

Repentance, realizing our sinfulness in the sight of God and our sin against God, hating it, desiring to turn from it and to be delivered from it, giving ourselves to Christ and going after him, coming out of the world, whatever it may do or say, it'll laugh at us, it will persecute us, what's it matter? [00:44:25]

Believe that, says the Apostle, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Believe that, said Peter, and you'll be made as happy as we are. And they were, you see, it happened to the 3,000. There they are, desperate and alarmed, they believe the message here, and then they receive the joy. [00:43:59]

The path to salvation is simple: repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. By believing in Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection, individuals can receive forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit, leading to a life of joy and peace. [00:42:02]

I beseech you, I would imitate Peter, I exhort you honestly, be saved from this untoward generation, receive the world gladly, tell God be receiving, cast yourself upon his love and mercy and compassion, and ask him by the Holy Spirit to make it more and more plain to you, and he will receive you and bless you. [00:46:52]