Acts 2:37-38 ~ Now What? Step 1: Repent!

This week we began our examination of the response of the crowd to whom Peter was preaching in Acts 2:14-36. We enjoyed a lively discussion about evangelism and salvation. We agreed that it is the Holy Spirit who is consistently drawing people to the Lord. We discussed the first step towards salvation: Repentance.

Please Note:
This step assumes that the person doing the repenting has come to believe in his or her heart that Jesus is the Messiah.

>> Click to read this week’s passage in KJV, HCSB, ESV, NIV: Acts 2:37-41 <<

Now What? Repent! Acts 2:37-38

Hearts pricked. Teachable moment. Repent!

* Recorded: LIVE. This audio has been edited for class member privacy, time, and content.

PowerPoint:

Additional Resources:

• Here is a helpful article that more thoroughly explains the importance of repentance with reference to salvation:

https://www.gotquestions.org/repentance.html 

• Here is an interesting article about the origins of the “Sinner’s Prayer.” While it might feel unsettling, it contains some solid information about how and when this evangelistic methodology developed and increased in popularity. 
  

http://www.bible.ca/g-sinners-prayer.htm* 
* I disagree with the author’s proposition that all who have said it remain lost.

• Here is the commentary from which I quoted in the lesson:

• Here is the full quote from J.W. McGarvey’s commentary on Acts:

Forgiveness, pardon, is not an act which takes place within the soul of the person who is guilty; it takes place in the mind of the person who forgives, and it cannot be known to the person forgiven except by some medium of communication. This is obviously true when one man forgives another; and when it is God who forgives, it is an act of the divine mind in reference to the sinner, and not a change within the sinner himself. Furthermore, it is an act which, from its very nature, can not take place until there has already occurred within the sinner such a change of heart and purpose as can make it proper in God, even on the ground of atonement in Christ, to extend pardon. In other words, the whole inward change which the sinner is required to undergo, must take place before sin can be forgiven.”

• McGarvey, J.W. New Commentary on Acts of Apostles, Volume 1. (Lexington: Gospel Light Publishing Company, 1892), pp. 244-245.

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