"Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.""
{Acts 2:38} (NIV)
You might have been a member of a church for most of your life, but unless you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, you are not a member of the CHURCH. The CHURCH that our Lord spoke to Peter about is the CHURCH of the living God. This CHURCH is not Anglican, or Baptist, or CRC, or Alliance, or Presbyterian, or any other denomination. This CHURCH is a large and diverse group of people, spanning the globe and the history of the world, who will assemble one day with their Lord Jesus, and watch as the wicked are destroyed.
This CHURCH is the ark. You enter by faith, believing that the world will be destroyed, you enter through a single door which is Christ Jesus, and only God can shut that door! Peter knows that the door is wide open and so he gives the invitation to all who will hear him. Just as Noah turned his back on his neighbours, on his family and on his life, so we must repent, and turn our backs on our previous way of life. We must turn towards the Lord Jesus Christ, and make the good confession in front of those family members and neighbours that we believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Anointed Servant of God who died in our place for our sin and has been raised by God’s power to live forever and to reign at the right hand of God!
What better confession can we make than baptism? What better symbol of being dead to sin and alive in Christ? There is no better confession of what we believe about the Lord Jesus, than public baptism. Repent and be baptized, and you will receive the promised Holy Spirit.
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