{Prayer}
Back before there were computers, a little boy was watching his father, who happened to be the pastor, write a sermon. The little boy always wondered about his dad’s sermons so he asked him one day, “How do you know what to say?” “Well son, God tells me.” Little boy looked at the sermon, looked up at his dad and said, “Oh, then why do you keeping crossing things out?”
I can tell you, writing sermons is not an easy task. There have been times where I have written a sermon and then on Sunday morning I re-write most of it. There are times while I’m preaching that I think a sermon is absolutely horrible and I try to get out of it as fast as I can. It almost never fails, those are the sermons where someone will come up to me and say, “that is exactly what I needed to hear today.” God is most definitely involved when it comes to the writing and the reception of a sermon.
Take our reading from Acts 2 this morning. On Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead, Peter and the other disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter instantly gets up in front of the people and begins to address the crowd, he begins to preach to them. No notes, no outline, no flashcards or manuscript, no preparation. Moved by the Spirit within him, Peter gets up and starts preaching.
Every sermon has or should have a Scriptural basis to it. Pastors today have the whole Bible to use and make connections with. The apostles only had the Old Testament, that was their Scripture. The New Testament is being written by them and other eye witnesses as they live their lives. And yet, Luke, inspired by God, makes a very interesting connection back to something which happened hundreds of years prior recorded in Exodus 32. Luke writes, “With many other words, {Peter} warned {the people}; and he pleaded with them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day” (Acts 2:40-41). I want you to hold on to that three thousand number, we’ll come back to it.
But first, what is going on back in Exodus 32. Well, let me set this up for us. The Israelites had been delivered from Pharaoh through the parting of the Red Sea. The Israelites walked through on dry ground and once they were safely on the other side, God pulled back His mighty hands and the waters came crashing down, drowning ever last one of the Egyptians. The Israelites then travel to Mt. Sinai. It is here at Mt. Sinai where Moses goes up to meet with God. It is here at Mt. Sinai where Moses receives the Ten Commandments as well as many other laws from God.
Exodus 32 begins by saying, “When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. ‘Come on,’ they said, ‘make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt’” (32:1 NLT). So the people get Aaron to help them make a golden calf. The LORD tells Moses how disappointed He is with the people and how He is ready to destroy them. But Moses intervenes on their behalf and asks God to remember the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel about how their descendants would be as numerous as the stars (Ex. 32:13). God then decides to spare the people from total annihilation, but … there will still be consequences for breaking God’s law.
When Moses comes down the mountain he is not happy to say the least. Moses’ anger burned within him. He threw down the two slabs of stone containing the Ten Commandments, burns the golden calf, grinds it up, scatters it over the water and he makes the people drink it. Moses stands at the entrance to the camp and say, “Moses told them, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Each of you, take your swords and go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other. Kill everyone—even your brothers, friends, and neighbors.’ The Levites obeyed Moses’ command, and about 3,000 people died that day” (Ex. 32:27-28).
On Mt. Sinai, God gives His Law to the people. Just like back in the Garden of Eden, God gave Adam and Eve three rules: take care of the Garden, be fruitful and multiple, and don’t eat from the Tree of Knowledge and Good and Evil. They however broke that rule of not eating from the tree because the serpent helped them to see it as a means where they could be like God. Because of their sinful rebellion, they ate the fruit. Their consequence, they were rightly kicked out of the Garden of Eden, man had to work by the sweat of their brow, women were to have pain in baby delivery, and they would one day suffer death.
On Mt. Sinai, the sins of the Israelites were exposed, as they too wanted to be like God. They too wanted be in charge and so they made the golden calf, something they could control and manipulate. They worshipped the golden calf instead of the LORD, instead of One who delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh and who was going to lead them to the Promised Land. The result of their idol worship and other sins, was that death was brought about within the camp. Remember how many people died at the hand of the Levites? About three thousand people.
On Mt. Sinai, the Law was given. God gives us the Law to show us our sins, to show us the wrath of God which we deserve for not doing what we should be doing and doing what we should not be doing. The Law is to cut us to the heart and make us turn back to God asking for forgiveness. We see this with the Israelites and the golden calf.
With the disciples on Pentecost, they received the Holy Spirit so that they could share not only the Law, but also the Gospel. The Gospel shows us our Savior. The Gospel shows us what it is God has done and what He is still doing for each of us in Jesus. The Gospel brings us God’s grace and the favor of forgiveness of sins and the promises of everlasting life.
We see this with Peter’s sermon. He says: “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Very direct Law here. “You crucified Him! In your sinfulness of wanting to be God, wanting to be in charge, you murdered an innocent man! You murdered the Son of God!” Notice though what happens with the people. “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37). The Law made them realize their sin, what it was they did wrong. And now feeling the guilt of that sin, they want to know what they should do? How can they make this right?
Peter says, “‘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. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call’” (2:38-39). Confess your sins, be baptized, have faith in Christ and the Holy Spirit will live in you and you will be forgiven of your sins. And how many people came to faith that day? … About three thousand people.
You and I … we are no different than the Israelites of the Old Testament, we are no different than the people of the New Testament. Paul says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Each and every one of us deserves to suffer, to die, and to be eternally separated from God. Each and every one of us is in need of forgiveness. And this is not something we can do on our own. If we try, we’ll be scratching out the lines of our life and starting over, we will forever fall short and never be able to do enough. Thus we need someone outside of us. We need One who is perfect, One who has taken all sin upon Himself, One who has suffered for the full extent of God’s wrath according to God’s Law … we need Jesus.
And friends you have Him! He is yours! And you have been connected to Him! By baptism, by faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit lives within you and so you have been connected to Him in a very real, unique and special way. I love the way Paul puts it in Romans 6 when he talks about baptism and the Easter message of the resurrection. He says: “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (6:3-4).
Trusting in the presence of God within you, we go and live our life for God and others all to bring God glory and honor for all He has freely done for us. “And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work within you will bring it to completion in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.
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