Acts 2:37-47

Chapter 8

Prayer

Almighty God, we stand in thy wisdom and are therefore not afraid. In our hearts is the Spirit of thy grace, and great comfort have they that yield themselves to its sway. We come with open hearts, with mouths filled with prayer and minds aflame with sacred desire. We ask thee to receive our psalm of adoration, to listen to our hymn of praise, and to answer the request which is as a burden upon our souls.

How comfortable are thy words, how sweet is every promise of thine, bright with the dew which makes heaven itself glad. May we now enter into the meaning of thy word; may it be sweeter to our taste than honey, yea, than the honeycomb. Having tasted other words, may we desire thine the more. This is the living word, no other word can live. Help us, therefore, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost. "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, they will still be praising thee." One song shall follow another; one sacrifice shall prepare the way for a nobler oblation still, and as the days come and go, we shall be brought nearer heaven, through Jesus Christ our Saviour and Priest. For him how can we bless thee in words sufficiently tender; he is the heart of God; he is the only-begotten; the beginning and the end. He is all in all, the beginning of all beauty and music, all truth and wisdom, all grace and hope. In him our souls live; through him we pass from the bonds of death into the glorious liberty of immortality. Reveal his truth to us, we humbly pray thee; more and more as we look up do thou show us all thy stars; as we wait patiently for God may our patience be rewarded with great replies; may our loving waiting hearts be enriched with infinite grace. Take our life, we humbly pray thee, into thine own keeping. Preserve us from all evil, establish thy kingdom in the very centre of our life. When we lose thee may we cry like a child that is lost. When thou art standing afar off, may we cease to eat and drink because of weariness of heart. We long for thee. We say, without words, in many a trouble, yea, in helpless sighing, O Lord, how long? Thou art always coming, and thou art always coming quickly, yet because of our littleness and impatience we do not measure thy coming by the right standard. Forgive our very prayers; cleanse our very holiness from the corruption which degrades it. May our very waiting upon thee be not reckoned as an aggravation of our sin. Look in upon houses that are dull today, because familiar voices have ceased and familiar presences have passed away. Thou knowest the meaning of all this, though we cannot explain it. Thou dost tear the branch from the tree; thou dost suddenly, as by a great storm, unroof the house of plenty and comfort and peace, and lay it open to the great winds and rains and tempests; thou dost take away the delight of our eyes, and whilst we are looking upon the flowers thou dost cut them down, that where they grow our hearts may lie. This is thy way; how little do we see the thunder of thy power who can understand? Thou dost crush us like reeds that are already bruised; yea, thou dost lay upon us burdens which exhaust our strength; thou dost send night upon night of darkness upon our path of life, until our eyes are weary with the weight. Yet thou art not far away; thou dost suddenly lift the gloom and shine upon us, and in the smile of thy love we take heart again. We will not mourn, nor complain, for in mourning there is no end, and in complaining there is no satisfaction. Thy will be done; thy will is good; in it there is no bitterness, in it there is no death. True and perfect and unchangeable love is thine, therefore in Christ's name and through Christ's strength and by the infinite sufficiency of Christ's grace would we now say, "Thy will be done." Amen.

Act 2:37-47

37. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart [stung with remorse. The only instance of the word "pricked" in the New Testament] and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

38. Then Peter said unto them, Repent [the Hebrews express sin and punishment by the same word, and also repentance and comfort ] and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

39. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

40. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward [crooked] generation.

41. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls.

42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship [ Php 1:5 ]; and in breaking of bread, and in prayer.

43. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and. signs were done by the apostles.

44. And all that believed were together, and had all things common.

45. And sold [the verbs throughout this description are in the imperfect tense, as expressing the constant recurrence of the act] their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

46. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house [ at home ], did eat their meat with gladness and singleness [the only instance of the word in the New Testament] of heart.

47. Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added [the tense implies a continually recurring act] to the church daily such as should be saved [them that were made safe].

The Effects of Gospel Preaching

PETER having explained the events which happened on the day of Pentecost, an immediate effect was produced upon the people who heard him; that effect is stated in these very graphic words, "They were pricked in their hearts." So the Holy Ghost was poured out upon them as he had been poured out upon the assembly of the Church. We see here, therefore, the double action of the Holy Spirit. He is poured out upon the Church to sanctify and to confirm in the faith; and he is poured out upon those who are outside the Church that he may alarm and quicken and direct to right conclusions.

We must remember that this was the first Christian Sermon that had been preached. Jesus Christ was no longer present in the body. Christian revelation, so far as the bodily presence of Christ was concerned, had been completed, and his last word upon earth had been spoken. Now we are curious to know how the truth will make its way upon its own merits, apart from that singular magnetic influence which attached to the bodily presence and the audible voice of the divine Master.

Will the truth make its way by sheer force of its celestial beauty and grace, and comfort, or will it perish under other voices than Christ's own? So long as Christ was present, he could work miracles. His soul could look out of his eyes upon the multitude as the soul of no other man could look. Perhaps therefore any progress which the kingdom of heaven had made amongst men was owing entirely to the bodily presence and magnetic influence of the visible Christ. So we wait, we hear the discourse, and when it is concluded we read, that when the people heard this they were pricked in their hearts.

Observe the peculiarity of that effect. Not, they were awed by the eloquence; not, they were excited in their imagination; not, they were gratified in their taste; the result was infinitely deeper and grander. "They were pierced in their hearts." An arrow had fastened itself in the very centre of their life. In their conscience was inserted the sting of intolerable self-accusation. This was the grand miracle. Truly we may say this was the beginning of miracles of the higher, because the spiritual kind. Great effects are produced by great causes. A reflection of this kind would, however, have a very remote interest for us were it confined to an ancient incident. As a matter of fact, the Apostle Peter preached the only sermon that any Christian minister is ever at liberty to preach. This discourse of Peter's is not nineteen centuries old. It is the only discourse that any minister of Christ dare utter, if he be faithful to his stewardship. This is the model sermon. This the evangelical doctrine. No change must be made here or a corresponding change will be made in the effect which is produced. Men may be more eloquent, men may be more literary, men may be more technical and philosophical, they may use longer words and more abstruse arguments, but the effect will be like other talk, it will be pointless, and there will be no answer in the great human heart, no conscience will accuse, no eyes will be blinded with tears, from no multitude of men will there be extorted the cry, "What shall we do?"

Let us look at this sermon and see how it is made up. It is full of Scriptural allusions, and no sermon is worth listening to that is not full of Bible. The reason why our preaching is so powerless and pointless is that we do not impregnate it with the inspired word itself. Peter did not make the sermon. He quoted David and Joel, the Psalms and the prophets, and set these quotations in their right relations to what had just happened in Jerusalem, and whilst he was talking history he made history. Faithful to God's word, God's Spirit was faithful to him, and herein was that grand word eternally realised in all its beneficent tenderness "My word shall not return unto me void." Peter's word would have returned void, but God's word is as a sower going forth to sow, and in the eventide of his labour bringing back his sheaves with joy.

This discourse of Peter's was also full of Christ. But for Christ it never could have been delivered. From end to end it palpitates with the Deity and glory of the Son of God. It is also full of holy unction. It was not delivered as a schoolboy might deliver a message. The great strong rough frame of the fisherman-preacher trembled, yea quivered and vibrated under the feeling of the sacred message which the tongue was delivering. The sermon is also full of patriotic and spiritual tenderness, and all the while without art or trick or mechanical skill, it led up to a vehement and solemn demand. When that demand was thundered upon the people they were "pricked in their heart," and they said, "What shall we do?" They did not applaud the man, they were concerned about themselves; they were not pleased, they were pierced; and they were not gratified, they were convicted; they sought for no excuse; they asked for no great pleader to state their case in reply, they said with tears, What must we do?

But even this great sermon of Peter's does not explain the full result. The preacher must have had something to do with the effect. He had just received the Holy Ghost. The cloven tongue like as of fire still sat and burned upon him, and his whole soul thrilled with newly-given inspiration. An inspired doctrine demands an inspired ministry. The Book is inspired, but when uninspired readers read it they kill the very fire of heaven when it touches their reluctant tongues. What if we have an inspired Bible but an uninspired Church? It is there that the holy influence is lost. Inspiration inspires. It is simply useless for us to say that the Bible is inspired, if we who profess to believe it, do not share its inspiration. When the Holy Ghost is both in the doctrine and in the people who profess it, the mountains of difficulty shall be beaten with a new threshing instrument having teeth, and will fly away like dust upon the mocking wind.

Are we inspired? Do we read the word with the soul, or merely pronounce it with the lips? If with the lips only, what wonder if the people listen to the Bible with a very languid curiosity and are not unwilling that the broken and soul-less reading should cease?

Nor have we read the full account yet of the production of this mighty effect. The people themselves were in an anxious state of mind: they were prepared for vital statement; anything that was beautiful in nature or in music would not have satisfied them. They would have resented any discourse that bristled with merely clever allusions or curious conceits of expression. They were a prepared people. The fire fell upon prepared material, therefore the word of the Lord had free course and was glorified. How can we preach to a people unprepared to hear? The work is too great for any man. A prepared pulpit should be balanced by a prepared pew. "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." To the unthirsty man the Bible spring is without attraction as it rises and falls and plashes, unheard and unheeded. But to the thirsty traveller, sun-smitten and weary, how sweet, how tender, and delightful is the music of running brooks and streams!

A very solemn reflection occurs here. I feel no difficulty in laying down the doctrine that where the heart is unaffected, Christian service is more mischievous than beneficial. Let us understand and apply that doctrine so far as we may be able. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." If in our service, we touch everything but the heart, the service has done us more harm than good. What if our notions be increased, if our motives be left unbaptized with purifying fire? What if we have received a thousand new ideas into the intellect, if no angel has been received into the home of the heart? And what if we have been flattered and cajoled and "daubed with untempered mortar," if the word has not reached the very seat of the disease?

Pray for a ministry that shall affect the heart. We must have a heart-searching ministry. He who seeks after a comforting ministry only, and a restful one that shall give him no disturbance actually treats himself maliciously, and wounds his own life. Let us pray for a ministry that shall tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and leave the truth in the order of divine providence to make its own way in the intelligence, the affections, and the conscience of the world.

This great gospel revelation is an appeal to the heart; if your fancy has been titillated, or even your graver judgment satisfied, if your heart be left unpricked, untroubled, and untorn, the word has been in vain. Lay bare your hearts, say, in God's strength, "Let me hear the exact truth, yea, if it tear me to pieces and inflict upon me the severest cruelties, such piercing shall lead to a great joy." The effect was grand in every aspect. Three thousand souls were added in the city that day, unto them that were being saved. And this will be the effect of Christian teaching everywhere under the right conditions. People will be added to the Lord: the Lord's list will be enlarged every day, and there will be joy in the presence of the angels of God, over sinners that repent. Again and again we read that the people who heard the Apostolic preaching, "cried out." We have lost that cry: we have succumbed to the cold and benumbing spirit of decorum.

I read of men being carried away, forced into exclamation, of men, women and children coming together in common sorrow, and singing together in common joy; but today the Church may possibly have lost much in losing a healthy excitement. Christianity is not a picture to be gazed upon and admired as an instance of ancient skill. It is the fire of the Lord. It is the sword of the Spirit. It is a cry that can awaken a cry. And whilst it is perfectly true that there may be an irrational excitement which ought to be subdued and controlled, it is also true that there is a spiritual enthusiasm, a noble feeling, an absolute consecration without which the Church may be but a painted sepulchre.

This gracious effect having taken place, we find that the people continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and in fellowship, in breaking of bread and in prayers. That effect is just as remarkable as the other. The flock kept well together for fear of the wolf. Were we ourselves in heathen lands as Christians we should realize the joy of keeping closely together. We should want very often to see one another and to hear the voice of mutual instruction and encouragement. But living in a Christian land where Christianity has become a luxury, or in some instances even an annoyance, what wonder that we do not realize the primitive enthusiasm, and enter with delight into the original fellowship and union of the Church? The people continued in the right teaching. Until our teaching be right our life must be wrong. We must ask for the pure bread, the pure water, the undefiled Bible, and live on that; out of such nutritious food there will come proper results such as fellowship, sacramental communion, and common prayer. Therein perhaps some mistake may have been made. A man says, "I can pray by myself," that is perfectly true, but you should realize that you are something more than yourself; you are part of a sum total. A man is not at liberty in the Christian sense of manhood to detach himself from his race, from the common stock to which he belongs, and to live as if he had no relation to the great breadth of humanity.

Herein is the advantage of common prayer and common praise. "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together." There is inspiration in sympathy, there is encouragement in fellowship. It does the soul good to see the hosts gathered together under the royal banner stained with blood; to see the great army marching shoulder to shoulder under the blast of the great trumpet. Continue steadfastly to realize your relations to your fellow-Christians and to the whole Church. "No man liveth unto himself" who lives aright. We belong to one another; the Lord's family is not broken up into units only, it is constituted and consolidated into a sacred and happy household.

Other effects followed; they had all things common, "they sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need." This is the sternly logical outcome of true inspiration. But having regard to all the social conditions under which we live this mechanical form of union is impracticable, as it is understood from the reading of the mere letter. But having lost this form, which broke down under the eyes of apostles themselves, we still reserve the spiritual outcome and meaning. My contention is that today Christianity makes all things common, and that Christian society as it is constituted in a Christian land is the true expression of the spirit which formed itself otherwise in primitive days. My strength is not my own, it belongs to the weakest child that I may see groaning under oppression. If I interfere in the case of an oppressed man, and if the oppressor should say to me, What have you to do with this man he is not yours? Christianity obliges me to say he is mine. If you see an animal ill-used and ill-treated, though it be not yours in any technical or legal sense of the term, you are called upon to interfere by an earlier right, and by a diviner law. Whoever has strength owns it for the benefit of those who have none. Why give bread to that poor little child? the child is not yours. Yes, the child is mine by virtue of its necessity. It would not be mine in so tender a sense were it clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, but by its weakness, by its poverty, by its tears, by its homelessness, it is my child, and every man holds his possession as a trust, for every other man who is in respectable poverty.

So we must go to larger meanings, and no longer seek in little narrow definitions the whole meaning of the Christian revelation. This very thing, this high Christian socialism is now realized in Christian society, and society owes more to Christ in this respect than society is sometimes willing to admit. To me there is nothing good that I cannot trace back to the heart of the Son of God. Good thinking, true teaching, noble action, high motive, look where I may, I find the only satisfactory explanation of all these things in the priesthood, the doctrine, the life, the cross of the Son of God.

Christianity is followed always by the same effects. Do not let us give way to the mischievous suggestion that certain things happened in apostolic times which are impossible now. It is not so: that is where the Church has lost her inspiration, her weight and her spiritual philosophy. She is content to have a Christ two thousand years old. The Church is today defending the Christ of the first century instead of living the present Christ who is now praying for her. The historical argument will never cease to have its own proper value; documentary evidence must always be valuable in the very highest courts of Christian tribunal: but what we, the rank and file, have to do is this, to remember that Christ is but a day old as well as a thousand years old. Born today, as well as twenty centuries since; living today, as certainly as he lived when he walked in Jewry and did miracles in Galilee. But we have let him out of our grip; we have allowed him to pass us unnoticed. We are talking about ancient history instead of testifying to present experience. Let me call you I would I could do so in trumpet tones, yea, with the boom and solemnity of thunder itself to the realization of this doctrine, that Christ is now living, that his gospel is as mighty today as it ever was, that the human heart is unchanged, that the disease of the heart needs the exact remedy which is found in the gospel, and, if we faithfully and lovingly preach and live what we know of inspired truth, the hearts of men will own our call of God and our ministry by tongue and pen, and life shall not fall without some noble recognition and response.