The Church Multiplying

Alright, well you know we're gonna be in the book of Acts and we're gonna be right back in Acts chapter two. So if you wanna take your copy of God's word and go ahead and turn to Acts chapter two, we're going to be picking up right at the end of Peter's sermon. We looked at just a portion of Peter's sermon last night and so we're gonna pick up right at the end of Peter's sermon. So we thus far have examined two early church principles that have given us application for modern church life. The first one, Sunday morning, the church waiting.

It showed us the necessity of the work of the spirit in the life, the power, the spread, and the sanctification of the church. And then of course last night, we looked at the church preaching, which demonstrated the necessity of clearly preaching the gospel by the church. And so tonight, as we look at what the sermon is entitled, The Church Multiplying, tonight as we look at this, we could maybe summarize what we see take place next in the book of Acts. And on one level, what we see in Acts two, 37 through 42 that we're looking at tonight is almost like a mathematical formula. Math two plus two always has the same outcome.

Two plus two always equals four. And on one level, you might could look at the first two sermons we have preached, we had those two things together and it equal to what we are looking at tonight. That formula might look something like this. The work of the spirit plus gospel centered preaching equals a multiplying church. The work of the spirit plus gospel centered preaching equals a multiplying church. Now, in reality, it's not that simple because the work of the spirit is not a math formula. The preaching of the gospel and the multiplication of the church is not a math formula.

The multiplication of the church is ultimately God's work that he alone can do. And we must be faithful to that which he has called us to do in the work of gospel ministry, but it is God who always brings the growth. In 1 Corinthians chapter three, verses five through seven, we see the apostle Paul teaching this principle to the church at Corinth. He says, "What then is Apollos?" Remember what was going on in the church at Corinth? They were divided over a number of different subjects, but one of the divisions they had there is they all had their own favorite preacher. They all had their own favorite speaker, if you will.

Apollos, Paul, some of them were so spiritual, they said, "Well, my favorite is Jesus." Those were the super spiritual people, I guess, you could say in the church at Corinth. And so Paul is addressing them and he says, "What then is Apollos?" And what is Paul? They're merely servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. He says, "I planted Apollos watered," but notice this, "but God was causing the growth." Paul and Apollos, yes, they were men of God, and yes, they had preached the gospel, but the growth that had been seen at the church at Corinth was brought about by God himself.

Verse seven of 1 Corinthians three, "So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters," speaking of gospel ministry here, "neither the one who plants or waters is anything "but God who causes the growth." In John's gospel in John three, five through eight, Jesus answered and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, "unless one is born of water and the spirit, "he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh "and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. "Do not be amazed that I said to you, "you must be born again." This is how he describes the work of the spirit in drawing men and women to himself.

The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it. But do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the spirit. So God's spirit works mysteriously at times. It is the spirit of God that gives growth to the church, that brings multiplication to the church, that adds people, we'll see in this text today, adds 3,000 people to the church. But church, we can't program the spirit. It's not a math formula. This is the reason that the study of how to do something like church growth seems so out of step with the scriptures.

Church growth and multiplication in many ways are as unpredictable as the weather. I was just mentioning earlier, I was just saying before she got out of town today, went over and did some mountain biking again. And I had told her last night, I said, "Well, it looks like the weather's coming in at nine o'clock. So we need to get up early and we need to get over there and we need to get on the trails." And you know what, we didn't have a drop of rain. I don't think until about 1130 or 12, I thought we could have slept later, we could have eased into the morning. It's unpredictable. Well, so is the work of the spirits.

But for some reason, particularly us as Baptists, we think that we can bottle that, package it, market it, and then teach everyone how to grow the church. I remember I was at a meeting with a number of pastors there in the Scholes area and we all had our name tags on and there was one pastor, he's a good man. I believe he loves the Lord. But on his name tag, it had his name and then it said below it, church growth specialist. And I thought, well, he must have figured out something that I haven't figured out. He must have a direct line to the Spirit of God.

If he is a church growth specialist, he must have a direct line to know how the Spirit is going to work and when the Spirit is going to work and how many the Spirit is going to call into himself. Now I have a degree from a Southern Baptist Seminary. I'm very thankful for the education that I got there. But you can actually get a degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary that I graduated from. You can get a master's degree in church growth. I don't take any of those classes. I hope what they are teaching there is that church growth is not programmable.

I hope what they are teaching there is that church growth comes, yes, through the Spirit and through the preaching of God's Word, but it's not something that you can program. I don't know if they are or not. Now I should say this, probably some of those things that they have and some of those things that those men have studied are probably not all bad. Shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. The children seem to start from a faulty foundation. Foundation that says, you know what, we as men and women can be smart enough, wise enough, culturally relevant enough to do this on our own.

What we'll see here from Acts is that's just not how it happens. Here in the days of the early church, we see the church multiplying in ways that have maybe never been repeated again in history. The genuine revival is seen among these people. Their church growth strategy was the Spirit of God plus the preaching of the Word plus prayer. And that brought about from a sovereign God, Spirit, Ralte, Revival. So again from our text, we want to say, what do we see in this early church move of God that is practical for us to apply in our modern church setting? We'll read our text for tonight and then we'll examine that question.

Acts chapter two beginning in verse 37. Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart or you might say wounded in their conscience. When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? Verse 38, Peter said to them, repent and each 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. For the promises for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.

And with many other words, he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them saying, be saved from this perverse generation. So then those who had received his word were baptized and that day there were added about 3,000 souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Let's pray. Father be with us tonight and once again, we pray that you would send the person of your spirits to work in us, to work among us.

Father as we think about wounded consciences tonight and as we think about being pierced to the heart, Lord maybe there are some here tonight who have never experienced that. And I pray that tonight would be the night, Lord that tonight would be the time of their salvation. As we think about repentance, as we think about baptism, as we think about the results of your spirit working and multiplying the number of souls that were welcomed into this Jerusalem church, I pray that you would, my work of your spirit, apply the word of God into each of our lives. I pray these things in your son's name, amen.

Point number one, wounded consciences in the multiplying church. Wounded consciences in the multiplying church. Verse 37, "Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart." Or as I said, you might say, wounded in their conscience. When we begin to look at the context of our verses of scripture, one thing becomes very clear. Church growth does not happen according to the wisdom of man. If you were to pull any number of pastors and said, how do you think it would work the best in order to multiply the number of disciples that are made by your church?

Probably very few of them would say, well, I'll tell you what, let's preach something that's just gonna pierce their heart. Let's preach something that's gonna wound their conscience. Probably in that group of pastors, that hypothetical group of pastors, if we were to talk to them about what it would take to see the church multiplying and to see the church growing here in Brookhaven or back in Muscle Shoals where I live, some of their answers would be things like this. Well, you've gotta have well-oiled programs in your church. And hey, by the way, I'm not against that. We strive for that at Grace Life Church of the Shoals.

We have student programs, we have children's ministry, we have preschool ministry. Praise the Lord for preschool ministry, right? Praise the Lord for whoever's watching the preschoolers down the hallway there. They're a gift from God. I pray God would grow their tribe if he needs to here at Grace Life of Brookhaven. He always needs to at Grace Life Church of the Shoals. So those things aren't wrong. What's wrong is when you begin to say, you know what, in order for us to grow the church, that's our first motivation. You've gotta have those well-oiled programs.

Or maybe they would say, in order to really grow the church, you've gotta have a dynamic staff, dynamic personnel. You've gotta have that charismatic leader that's a great orator and that's slick in his presentation. Maybe they'll say, you've gotta have exciting music. You've gotta have exciting multimedia packages that you can use. You've gotta have the best facilities in the community. And again, there's nothing wrong with many of those things. Grace Life Church of the Shoals, we strive for excellence in everything that the Lord has given to us. And we think it honors the Lord to strive for excellence in all of those things.

But again, what's wrong-headed about some of those things is that when you begin to say, you know what, that, those things, those programs, that staff, that personnel, those facilities, that's what is ultimately going to be used to grow the church. That's where you get off the rails. Those are the answers that come into our minds when we think about the church multiplying. And you and I would be prone to lean towards the wrong end of the biblical balance on what God desires from us as a local church. We would be thinking contrary to what the New Testament presents to us as the way to see the church multiplying. We've missed it.

Many have missed it today when it comes to seeing the church multiplying. Most churches grow, I don't know if it's this way in Brookhaven or not, but most churches grow because a big group from one church leaves to go across town to another church. Now I'm just giving you the testimony of how this happens in the Shoals. We'll have big groups of people that'll be at one church. And then a newer, shinier version of that church opens up down the road. And you know, here's what happens. A pastor's a little better speaker. Their building's a little nicer building. Their programs are a little more dynamic.

And so a large group from church A says, "You know what? "I like the shiny church B." And so they all move there, and for a while, church B is growing, and they're multiplying. And they're, "Look at what God is doing." Now the only problem is that at some point, church C takes what church B did, and they do it a little better. They're even cooler. They're even more hip. They're even more mod. Their facilities are even nicer, or their programs are even nicer. And you know what happens?

That same group that started at church A and went to church B, all of a sudden, it looks across town and says, "Look at what church C's got." And that same group goes to church C. And everybody says, "Oh, church C is growing. "They are multiplying." You know what? It's the same group of people usually. And they're just transferring from church A to church B to church C, and you know what? Sometimes it comes all the way back around. Church A gets wise and realizes, "Eh, we can play this game." And they roll all the way back around to church A. They start feeling the pews there.

Listen, brothers and sisters, when we see the New Testament church multiplying, it is not referring merely to transfer of memberships from one place to the next. Now that does happen from time to time, and I understand that. But when we look at the New Testament, what we see are not the transfer of memberships from one place to the next, but rather with transformation from one kingdom to another. That's the way the New Testament church is multiplying. They are transformed. People are being transformed from being citizens of this lost and dying world to being citizens of God. Paul in the letters of the Colossians words it this way.

And speaking of that gospel transformation, "For he God rescued us from the domain of darkness "and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son." That's true church growth. That's someone who's lost becoming born again, being transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. So what we learned here is that real church growth, the type of church growth that we're seeing in Acts chapter two takes place in the spiritual realm.

And we see it manifest as those who are born again and say from this perverse generation line themselves with the local church, but it takes place in the spiritual realm, transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. This is why the work of the spirits that we've been studying in each of our sermons is absolutely essential to see the church multiplying. What we wanna see is the church multiplying grow in a way that we can only ascribe and say God did that. We don't wanna be able to look and say, you know what, we did that.

Because we got a better pastor, because we got a better program, because we got a better this, or we got a shinier this or a newer this. And again, all that's not bad. Don't get it confused here. But what we wanna see, if our church is multiplying, is we wanna be able to say, you know what, God has just done something through the gospel. He's changed lives. And that's exactly what we see here in Acts chapter two, verse 37. It says, "Now when they heard this, "they were pierced to the heart." When they heard this, well, what had they heard? Well, we looked at some of it last night. They had just heard a gospel sermon by Peter.

Again, we read Acts two, 22 through 24 last night. They had heard this. Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know this man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. You nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. But God raised him up again, putting it into the agony of death, since it was impossible for him to be held in his power. They had heard that sort of preaching.

Verses 29 through 32, Peter went on, "Brethren, I may confidently say to you "regarding the patriarch David "that he both died and was buried. "And his tomb is with us to this day. "And so because he was a prophet, "and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath "to seek one of his descendants on his throne, "he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, "that he was neither abandoned to Hades, "nor did his flesh suffer decay.

"This Jesus, God raised up again, "to which we are all witnesses." Verse 36, "Therefore," here's the conclusion to his sermon, "therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain "that God has made him Jesus, both Lord and Christ, "this Jesus whom you crucified." So Peter's sermon here, delivered in the earlier parts of this chapter, was full of gospel truth. We saw that last night. It pointed people to Jesus as the sole Messiah, and to the reality of their hardness of hearts, and their evil deeds of putting Jesus to death. Peter was preaching by the power of the Spirit.

Remember in Acts 2.14, it said that Peter stood and raised his voice and declared to them, this gospel truth, and the Spirit worked. The Spirit of God came down there in Jerusalem, and worked through the powerful message of the gospel to do what? Bring piercings to their heart, to wound their consciences. In other words, conviction. Holy Spirit conviction came to these people's souls. They were wounded in their inner man and their inner woman. Scholars tell us here that this word pierced, when it says they were pierced to the heart. Pierced, it describes something sudden and unexpected. Brother and sister, isn't that how the gospel works?

Isn't that how the gospel works? Yeah, I told you a little bit of my testimony the other night when I was around 15 years old, and Brother Jonathan Sims came to preach at youth events. It was one of those student events we were doing where we were gonna meet at the church, and we were gonna have some preaching, and then we were gonna go back, kind of being our small group leader's homes. You know what that meant for me as a 15 year old boy? That meant a lot of NCAA football on the PlayStation. By the way, some of you don't know what that is, but they're bringing it back. Young people get NCAA football and learn how to play it.

We were just gonna have a good time, we were gonna eat pizza, and all of a sudden, John O. Sims opened the Word of God at 1 Corinthians chapter six, verse nine, and something sudden and unexpected happened in my life. You know what it was? Spirit wrought conviction. It was pierced to the heart. When Brother John O. Sims read 1 Corinthians six, verse nine, and said that some of you are unrighteous, for the first time I thought, wait a minute, I've never considered myself unrighteous, but the Spirit of God opened my heart to see that truth that night. I was pierced. I was wounded in my conscience.

Martin Lloyd-Jones had this to say, that the men and women standing there listening to an exposition of certain Old Testament scriptures, those men and women were in trouble. They were disturbed. You know, brothers and sisters, good preaching disturbs men's souls. I know this is what you get from Brother Chris and the other men that preach here, but you know what? If you're in a church for long, and you never leave with a disturbed soul, something's wrong. Good preaching disturbs our souls. That's exactly what it did here in Acts chapter two, verse 37.

That's exactly what the Lord had said the work of the Spirit would be in John 16, eight through 11. And he, when he comes, he's speaking of the Holy Spirit, will convict the world. Okay, so if you're in a church, and there's never any conviction brought upon your heart through the preaching of God's Word in your church, the Holy Spirit's not active in that church. Right? This is one of the functions of the Holy Spirit. He, when he comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin because they do not believe in me. Concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you no longer see me.

Concerning judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged. We mentioned this text here, that at first Thessalonians 1.5, Paul in describing the type of preaching, our gospel did not come to you in word only, but in power and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction. In Hebrews chapter four, verse 12, a familiar verse, describing the work of the Word of God. The work of God is living and active and sharper. You need two edges, so you know what swords do? They pierce, they cut, they wound. Piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Have you experienced that? Have you experienced that time where Brother Chris, or one of the other men are here preaching, and all of a sudden you feel like, "I've been watching my life." You know what this, that's Holy Spirit conviction. Holy Spirit piercing in your life. Brother Chris is not out there following you all around, he don't have time to do that, but that's the Spirit of God, working through the Word of God, to bring conviction into your heart. That's exactly what they were seeing here in Acts chapter two, verse 37. And church, this is why seeing the church multiplying is not according to the wisdom of man.

When men get involved, we tend to choose messages that would never offend. Messages that would never wound. Messages that would never lead to conviction. You know, there are actually some who consider themselves to be church growth gurus, because they actually do have really large buildings and really large followings, whether or not we can call them a church or not is debatable. But there are those who would say that if the church is to grow, we should not preach messages that make people uncomfortable, or that speak of sin, or that teach difficult doctrines, or that are confrontational.

And that is the exact opposite of what we see here in Acts, and throughout the scriptures. Peter was very direct in that sermon that he preached to them. It's as if he pointed his finger out there at him, and he said, "You yourselves know of who Jesus is. "You nailed Jesus to a cross. "You put him to death." Church, there will be no true multiplying of the church, apart from the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, because there can be no new disciples made, apart from the work of the Spirit that involves piercing and wounding.

And that growth, real gospel growth, comes through genuine, Spirit empowered, sin confronting, heart piercing, conscience wounding gospel preaching. So when they heard this, when they heard Peter's sermon, they were pierced to the heart. Point number two, what we see next are the entrance requirements in the multiplying church. The entrance requirements in the multiplying church.

So they've heard the sermon, they're pierced to the heart, and they turn to Peter and the rest of the apostles, and they say this, "Brethren, what shall we do?" "Brethren, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent, "and each 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." So at this point, the people have been listening to the sermon, they have been pierced to their hearts by the word, and you can almost feel their conviction, right?

They have been brought to see the reality of who Jesus is, and they have been brought to see the reality of their sin, their need of a Savior. The Spirit has done His work of causing them to think about their guilt before God and their rejection of the Lord Jesus. And then comes this wonderful question from the audience. "Brethren, what shall we do?" They are asking, "What shall we do to be saved?" They are saying, "What shall I do? "What must I do to be saved?" John MacArthur said this about that question.

The most momentous question anyone can ask is the question, "What must I do to be saved?" A wrong answer to that question is the path to eternal tragedy. You know, we're thinking primarily about the church, and this is the spring renewal, and it's a Monday night. And I know if you're here on a Monday night, that means you're at least as committed as you can be to Grace Life Church of Brookhaven.

But just for a minute, let me ask, just in case there are some of you who at some point, maybe it was yesterday, or maybe it's at some point over the last couple of months, or maybe it's at some point over the last year, maybe some of you have been pierced to the heart. Maybe some of you have been wounded in your conscience. And maybe it's time for you to say, "What must I do to be saved?" Maybe it's time for you to quit delaying following the Lord Jesus Christ. And maybe you're in this situation tonight. Maybe some of you are asking this question, "What must I do to be saved?" Maybe you've been a long-time church attendee, right?

Hey, that's my testimony. I was in church all the time as a 15-year-old, and all of a sudden, when the Spirit of God pierced my heart, I had to ask this question. Okay, so what do I do? I knew I was in trouble. I knew God was holy. I knew I was sinful. Lord, what must I do to be saved? And maybe that's you, or maybe you're not a church attendee, but I don't know most of you. Maybe you've never even been here before. This is the first time to hear the gospel, but maybe the Lord has begun working in your life, and you're thinking, "You know what? "What do I have to do to be saved?" It's a wonderful question to ask.

And we need to make sure that we answer it biblically. And so Peter gives the answer to this question very clearly, very directly. "Brethren, what shall we do?" Peter said to them, verse 38. And he says, "Repent." Repent. Let's be clear as to what Peter is telling them when he says for them to repent. Vincent, in his word studies, says this about repentance. He says, "It means to think differently after." Repentance is therefore primarily an afterthought that's different from a former thought, a change of mind which issues in regret and in a change of conduct. Repentance.

Throughout scripture, we see two primary definitions of repentance, one more of an Old Testament reference and one more of a New Testament reference. Let me give you just both of these in layman's terms. One definition of repentance that we see in scriptures, it means that you begin to see your sin as God sees it. You begin to see your sin as a great evil and offense committed against a holy God. I always think of King David as a prime example. David, at one point in his life, he had committed some very heinous sins against other people. You may remember he had committed adultery by Sheba.

He had had Uriah, her husband killed, so he committed murder. He had lied to his entire kingdom about what was going on. So he was a liar against all of these people. And yet when the Lord pierced his heart, David in Psalm 51 begins to pray his prayer for penance. He says this in Psalm 51. "Lord, against you and you alone have I sinned." It's an interesting phrase because we just saw that David had sinned against a lot of people. Bathsheba, Uriah, his kingdom. But when the Holy Spirit of God worked in his life, he said, "Lord, I see my sin as an evil "committed against you.

"Over and above everything else, "it is an offense against a holy God." He had begun to see his sin as God sees it. Second definition of repentance we see is that it involves a new purpose to forsake sin. Do these two things go together, do they not? We begin to see our sin as God sees it, as a great evil committed against God. And right on the heels of that, we begin to have a new purpose to forsake that sin. Hypothetically, if walking this way was sinful, when repentance was worked in our heart, we would see it as evil as an offense committed against God, and we would say, "I want to turn "and I want to walk away from sin.

"I want to walk toward obedience to the Lord. "I want to walk towards living a life "for God's glory instead of my own." Second Corinthians 5, 17, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. "Old things have passed away. "Behold, all things have been made new. "What must I do to be saved?" You must repent. You must quit making excuses about your sin. You must quit downplaying your sin. You must see it as God sees it. You must confess it to the Lord. Lord, I am every bit the sinner that you say I am. And you must purpose to forsake those ways.

Repentance was required of those who desired to be saved and follow Jesus, and it is still required of those who desired to be saved and follow Jesus today. John MacArthur describes it this way. It speaks of a change of purpose, of turning from sin to God. Sometimes people ask me, "Brother Matt, if I'm sharing the gospel with someone, "and after sharing the message of the gospel, "they say, 'What should I do?'" I say, "Well, just use the words that Peter used." Repent. Once said it this way, conviction is the key used by the Holy Spirit to open the heart for salvation. No one comes to the Lord without repentance.

No one gets to repentance without Holy Spirit conviction. Again, let me ask you tonight, are you feeling the Holy Spirit conviction of God in your life? Has your heart been pierced? Has your heart been pierced? Is the Lord beginning to show you your sinful ways? Let me just invite you tonight, repent of those sins. Turn to Jesus. Turn from your sinful ways and trust Christ. What must I do to be saved? First thing Peter says there is repent. He goes on in verse 38.

Peter said to them, "Repent," and then this, "and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ "for the forgiveness of your sins." Now here's a portion of this verse that has been taken and used wrongly by our friends in other denominations. I won't mention those denominations. I don't even know if they're prominent here in Brookhaven. They are fairly prominent in the shoals. There are some that use this verse to defend the notion that baptism does indeed save you, or is an essential part of what is necessary for you to be saved.

Now while we should, along with the rest of the scriptures, not make baptism out to be less than it really is, we also should strive not to make baptism more than it really is. Hopefully you are asking, "Well, if Peter does not intend "to mean that baptism is required "for the salvation of one's soul, "then what does he intend to teach us "here in this verse regarding baptism?" Now let me start by giving you some reasons for why baptism does not save. Why baptism does not save. Number one, let me give you an answer from hermeneutics, or the study of God's Word.

Sound interpretation of God's Word teaches us that when the Bible is interpreted rightly, no principle of scripture will contradict another principle of scripture. In other words, God's Word is always true. It never contradicts itself. This principle is known as the analogy of scripture. You interpret scripture with scripture. You interpret scripture by scripture.

So when you come to a point like this and you say, "Whoa, wait a minute, does that mean that baptism saves me?" What you begin to do, or at least what you should begin to do is say, "Well, let me look at what the rest "of God's Word teaches on this particular matter." Okay, so let's look at some other places in which baptism is clearly not said to be a part of God's salvation plan. First example we have is John 1, verse 12.

Here in John's gospel, here's what it said, "But as many as received him, those who believed on him, "those who received the gospel saw it as true, "to them he gave the right to become children of God." No baptism is even mentioned there. If baptism was something that absolutely saved you, you would expect to see it over and over and over again in the scriptures. We don't see it there in John 1, in Romans 10, 9 and 10. If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness.

And with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. Galatians 2, 16, "Nevertheless, knowing that a man "is not justified by the works of the law, "but through faith in Christ Jesus." How is a man justified? How has he come to be seen as innocent in the eyes of God? He is justified through faith in Jesus. Even we believed in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 from here, verses four by grace, "You have been saved through faith, "and that not of yourselves is the gift of God, "not as a result of works so that no one may boast." We could go on and on.

These and many more scriptures demonstrate that a repentant faith in the Lord Jesus is what is required of man to be saved, not baptism. That's one answer from hermeneutics. Secondly, let me give you an answer from Acts. In the book of Acts itself on why baptism is not a part of God's plan of salvation, of saving man. In Acts chapter three, verse 19, just a chapter over from where we are, they say, "Therefore, repent and return." Why?

"So that your sins may be wiped away, "in order that times of refreshing may come "from the presence of the Lord." You would think that just a chapter over, if baptism was absolutely something that saved man, they would have mentioned it there in Acts chapter three, and yet they do not. Acts 5.31, "He is the one whom God exalted, "speaking of the Lord, to his right hand, "his prince and his savior, to grant repentance "to Israel and forgiveness of sins." Again, forgiveness linked to repentance there, but not baptism. So even from the book of Acts, we don't see baptism being mentioned as something that saves man.

We give you an answer from grammar on this as well. Greek scholars inform us that the preposition for, where we read here in this verse, "Repent, "and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ "for the forgiveness of sins." Greek scholars tell us that it's probably better translated because of, or on the occasion of, so in reality, Greek scholars say that it should read this way, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of your sins. We have an answer from grammar.

Now the contextual answer on why does Peter command them to be baptized at this point is that Peter is telling them to identify themselves as a follower of Jesus through the act of baptism. This is why baptism is really the only biblical public profession of faith. I remember years ago, we don't do this at Grace Life anymore, but years ago, sometimes someone might come down to the front at the end of a service and they would talk with one of us and they would say, "You know what, God saved me." And sometimes we would present them and say, "Well, they're making their public profession of faith." You know what, we were wrong to do that.

It wasn't evil or anything like that, but the only public profession of faith, the only public identifying yourself as a follower of Jesus Christ is believers baptism according to the New Testament. And remember, Peter is preaching to the crowd that had literally asked for Jesus to be crucified on the cross. That's who's hearing this message. And so by being baptized and identifying themselves as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, these people would be publicly saying that their allegiance no longer was to the mob of sinners that mocked and ridiculed Jesus, but went the Savior himself. That's why baptism is a big deal.

When you are baptized, you are saying, "I am no longer identified with the world. I am no longer walking with the world. I now identify myself as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and as a new member of this local church, yoking myself together with other brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ." That's a big deal.

They were saying what Acts chapter two verse 40, when he exhorted them saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." When they were baptized, they were saying, "I have been saved out of this perverse generation and I now have a desire to walk a new way of life, a way of life that is associated with Jesus and with his church." Let me give you an example of maybe how this works. I'm not just a huge baseball fan, although I've seen some baseball uniforms here tonight. My boys don't want to play baseball, but I got a girl that plays softball.

So I am around ball field from time to time, but years ago, we were doing some mission work with a local church plant up in Chicago. We wrapped up the mission work for the night or for the week and they decided to take us to a Chicago White Sox game. It's good for me. I enjoy just sitting and watching baseball. I don't have any skin in the game when it comes to the White Sox or to the Cubs. This was Crosstown Rival. So we were at a White Sox game. And as you can imagine, since it was a White Sox and Cubs game, both teams located in Chicago, it was a packed stadium. And it was 95% White Sox fans. It was their stadium.

And there were just a few Cubs fans. But one of those Cubs fans was willing, was brave enough, was stout enough to stand up in the middle of an almost completely White Sox section and declare his allegiance to the Cubbies. I'd never been to Chicago and watched a ball game or anything, but it got ugly. I mean, I'm talking about the White Sox fans stood up and we can't repeat what was being said because there was a lot of words that were being used and words that we don't want to say, especially in our church service here tonight. But eventually they came and escorted that Cubs fan out. I kicked him out of the game.

I thought, man, this is a whole other level. This guy just stood up and cheered for his Cubs and the White Sox fans so hated him that they said, "Get him out of here." Now that's what baptism was for these people in Jerusalem, only on a much bigger scale. You see, they're right in the middle of the crowd. Some of them that were actually the ones screaming, "Crucify him." That's the context we've got here. And when they were pierced to the heart through the preaching of God's word and their consciences were wounded and they were painted up their sins, and then they said, "I tell you what I want to do.

"I want to be identified as a follower of Jesus." They were standing up in the middle of those people that hated Jesus enough to crucify him and say, "Baptize me because I want to be identified "as a follower of that man." Didn't save them, but it was a big deal. It's hard for us to see that. We don't always get that here in the southeastern part of the United States when you're baptized, but look, it could be that some of you tonight, it could be that God has pierced your heart. God has wounded your conscience. You have repented of your sins, but you might need to take this step and say, "You know what?

"I need to publicly identify myself as a follower of Jesus "and yoke myself to this local church "at Grace Life Church of Brookhaven." That may cost you something. I was telling your pastor just a few days ago that we just baptized a young man and it cost him something to identify himself as a follower of Jesus. His mom and dad actually said, "You'll need to find somewhere else to live "if you're gonna be baptized at Grace Life Church "of the souls." But you know what? God had done work in his heart. That's all he could do, was publicly profess his faith in Christ. Now, quickly, we're running out of time.

Point number three, results in the multiplying church. What are the fruits that we see here? They've heard the sermon, they've been pierced to the heart, they've asked this wonderful question, "What shall we do to be saved?" Peter has said, "Repent, be baptized in the name "of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins." They are publicly proclaiming that they've been saved from this perverse generation. We get down to verse 41.

"So then," I'm gonna summarize the phrase here, "So then those who had received his word," here's another thing about baptism, "they were baptized because they had received his word." So then, "Those who had received his word were baptized, "and that day they were added about 3,000 souls." That's church multiplication, but that's church multiplication done the right way. Verse 42, "They were continually devoting themselves "to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, "and to the breaking of bread, and to prayer." What is real church growth? Well, a few things. Real church growth, number one, is when genuine converts are added to the church.

Genuine converts. Genuine converts are those who had received the word. Humbly submitted themselves to gospel preaching. They had received the word, and because they had received the word, they were baptized. You know why I'm a Baptist? Verses like this. I'm not just a Baptist because I grew up in a Baptist church. I did grow up in a Baptist church, but I'm a Baptist because of verses like Acts 2.41. "Those who had received the word, "then made a public profession of faith in Jesus "through believers' baptism, "and were added to the church." That's the biblical mode and means of baptism. Genuine converts were added.

I know that you guys believe in this just like we do, but sometimes you might hear this terminology of believing in a regenerate church membership. What does that mean? It means we believe that church membership is for those who have been born again. For converts, genuine converts. That's real church growth. Real church growth is seen, number two, by a new way of life demonstrated by its members. A new way of life demonstrated by its members. Look at verse 42. What were these new converts, these genuine converts, these new disciples, the multiplied people that had been born again? What did their life look like?

Well, they were devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching, and fellowship to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. They had new devotions. New devotions. Not devotions as in the little Bible study books that you can buy at a bookstore, but a new devotion, a new commitment, new desires that characterized each of their lives. What were these new devotions? Well, first they were devoted to the apostles' teaching. You know what they had? A new love for Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine, they loved the Word of God.

You know, real church growth is not just people going from that hypothetical church A to hypothetical church B because they love the new builder, they love the new programs. Real church growth happens when someone is transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, and then it's manifested in that they have a new love for the Word of God. I hope that's what's part of what draws you here to Grace Life of Brookhaven. You know, this is a place that's gonna love the Word of God, it's gonna priest the Word of God, you're gonna study the Word of God, and you love the Word of God. You can't go anywhere else.

Had a love for doctrine, for Bible doctrine. They had a love for the fellowship of God's people. Notice there, they were devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship. No lie today, I texted your pastor, and I texted Pastor Jason Johns, and I know it was here last year, and I told both of them, I said, "What is so special and rare," and really we can only ascribe it to a work of God, is that I can come here to Grace Life Church of Brookhaven and I can have the same conversations with all of you, and I don't know, I know Chris, I know Christy, I know Keith, but I don't know most of you, but I can have the same type of conversations with you that I have with people that I've been in church with for 30 years at Grace Life Church of the souls, why?

Because we're fellowshiping around the same thing, and that's the gospel. That's the gospel. And we're devoted to that. We're devoted to fellowshiping with one another around those truths, around those doctrines. I said a new love for God's word, a new love for fellowship. They had a new love for prayer, a new love for prayer. You know, all of these things are essential to church life, are they not? You know, if you leave out doctrine in the church life, you know what you get? Relativistic religion. If you leave doctrine out, it just all falls apart.

If you leave out fellowship, you just get cold doctrine that doesn't affect the relationships. And that's not what God's word designed it for either. If you leave out prayer, you get merely lectures with no spiritual power. It's all of these things. It's doctrine, it's fellowship, it's prayer, all because of the work of the spirit, all because at some point in my life, and in your life, the gospel was preached. And it might've been preached over and over again, the gospel was preached. And the spirit of God pierced your heart, wounded my conscience. Something in you rose up and said, what must I do to be saved?

And the spirit of God led you to repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you ultimately said, I want to be identified as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ to make a public profession of faith through believers baptism. And you were yoked together. Now you are yoked together here at Grace Life Church of Brookhaven. And here's what I wanna tell you. There's nothing better in the world. Charles Spurgeon said it this way, you know, there is no perfect church. He said, but it's the dearest place on earth to me. Brothers and sisters, that's real multiplication in the church.

It's not about, we're not to be looking for 3,000 or 5,000. It's not about the numbers game. God's in charge of that. He'll give the growth. He tells us that in verse 39, the promises for you and your children, all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself. That's who he'll put here. That's a sovereign work of God. But when he does it, through his means, for his glory, for his local church, it's the best place on earth. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word.