Acts 2:40

And with many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation.

Many other words ... Thus Luke was giving a resume of this great sermon, and not a verbatim account of every word of it; and from this, we may be sure that where Peter is quoted, he is quoted accurately.

With these words Luke summarized the great message of Pentecost and, significantly, the initiative rested with men, not God. The promised Spirit had come; henceforth forever, until the final judgment, that Spirit would be in the world; the terms of accepting the gospel had been announced, and they would never be changed. Therefore the final word to humanity was:

Save yourselves from this crooked generation ... As Morgan said:

You say that you are waiting for the Spirit? Nothing of the kind ... The Spirit is waiting for you. No, we are not waiting for him; how often he is waiting for us![45]

Of all the wicked falsehoods ever devised by Satan and received by sinful men, the greatest is this: "There is nothing you can do to be saved!" The existence of this Satanic lie has been continuous throughout the Christian dispensation; but this verse is the total refutation of it. How does one "save himself"? Just as Peter said: "Repent and be baptized." Even in compliance with the God-given conditions, lacking which no man can be saved, the saved person does not merit, or earn, redemption; but he saves himself in the sense of fulfilling the conditions without which he can never be saved.

Note the following:

Take heed to thyself, and to thy teaching. Continue in these things; for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee (1 Timothy 4:16).

So then, my beloved, even as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).

The great teaching of these verses, taken in conjunction with what Peter said, is that man is himself responsible for whether or not he is saved. If he obeys the Lord, he will be saved, not as a matter of merit, but by the grace of God; but if he does not obey, not even the grace of God can reach him and redeem him. Nor is there any implication in those teachings that an absolutely perfect obedience is prerequisite to redemption, because absolutely perfect obedience does not lie within the province of man's ability. However, the initial obedience, such as Peter commanded on Pentecost, does lie within the area of what man is fully able to do, provided only that he desires to do it; and that is the basis of the conclusion that there can be no waiver of what Peter commanded on Pentecost. It will be bound in heaven. It is simply incredible that most commentators pass over this sentence with no comment: "Save yourselves from this crooked generation"!