HEAR AND BELIEVE

Hear and Believe - Trust and Obey

"And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us." 1John 3:23-24 (NKJV)

And this is his commandment -- singular: for faith and love are not separate commandments, but are indissolubly united. We cannot truly love one another without faith in Christ, nor can we truly believe in Him without love."
—Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary


1. "But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel."

a) God did speak by the prophets. Peter here at Pentecost quotes what God spoke through Joel about what would happen at the right time. This is the Day, Peter was saying. Perhaps 2-million Jews were gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost.

The prophecy is in Joel 2:28-32.

in the last days -- meaning, the days of the Messiah (Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1-2); the final dispensation of God's kingdom on earth.

pour out of My Spirit -- in contrast with the mere drops of all preceding time. upon all flesh -- hitherto confined to the seed of Abraham.

sons . . . daughters . . . young men . . . old men . . . servants . . . handmaidens -- without distinction of sex, age, or rank.

see visions . . . dream dreams -- ways in which the Holy Spirit operated in the Book of Acts.

b) Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Salvation was the result of God's Great Act in Jesus Christ to Save the World. Salvation has been brought down!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3:16-17 (NKJV)

HEAR. "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know-- Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it." Acts 2:22-24 (NKJV).

BELIEVE. "This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear." Acts 2:32-33 (NKJV)

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." Acts 2:36 (NKJV)

REPENT. "Godly sorrow worketh repentance." 2 Cor. 7:9-10. Repent = turn to God, reform. Both their repentance and their confession of faith is implied in what they did in response to Peter's challenge to them in v 36.

CONFESS JESUS. "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Acts 2:37 (NKJV)

BE BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST for the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

"Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." Acts 2:38-39 (NKJV)

"But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord," Acts 3:18-19 (NKJV)

"But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Titus 3:4-7 (NKJV)