A truth from 1 Peter and 2 Peter

Acts 2 Peter’s Sermon

¹⁴ But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. ¹⁵ For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; ¹⁶ but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:

²² “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— ²³ this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. ²⁴ But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. ²⁵ For David says of Him,

²⁹ “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰ And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, ³¹ he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. ³² This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. ³³ Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. ³⁴ For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says:

³⁶ Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”

The Ingathering

³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” ³⁸ Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” ⁴⁰ And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” ⁴¹ So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. ⁴² They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.⁴³ Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost is certainly one of the most effective sermons ever preached. Three thousand souls were saved that day. Let's take a look at this same Peter just about a month earlier.

John 15 Peter’s Denial of Jesus

²⁵ Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You are not also one of His disciples, are you?” He denied it, and said, “I am not.” ²⁶ One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, *said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?” ²⁷ Peter then denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed.

Peter had denied knowing or being with Jesus three times after Jesus' arrest. Jesus had told Peter this would happen when had Peter declared that he would never leave Jesus even to his own death.

So what happened to Peter to change him from the denier, we see in the account from John 15 above, to the leader and preacher that delivered the sermon on Pentecost, in the account from Acts 2 ?

He didn't go to seminary in that time. He didn't even take an online course. He didn't read a book on how to preach. Yet something was very different about Peter. The obvious answer is the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon Him. There is an anointing that can come over a believer, an extra measure of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, that enables ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Jesus promised this Holy Spirit power and now there was evidence of it.

I think though, that we need to also acknowledge another change that had happened between the time of these two accounts. Jesus went to the cross to pay the price for the sin of everyone. Peter, even though he walked with Jesus and new Him as teacher and Lord, still needed to know Him as His savior. Peter had recognized that Jesus was the Christ, but he still needed the power of the cross applied to his own life.

It's not enough for us to know Jesus, or even to believe that He is the Christ . We need to recieve Jesus. We need to place ourselves at the foot of the cross and recieve Jesus words of forgiveness. "Father forgive them, they know not what they are doing" When we believe and recieve we are free from the bondage of sin in our lives. Fears, doubts and everything that hinders us needs to be left at the cross.

Jesus said that He would abide in us. That's the promise of the Holy Spirit, the indwelling presence of God in us. Yet none of us nor all of us together, can contain the Holy Spirit. He is God, omnipotent and omnipresent, all powerful and present everywhere. The power and annointing of the Holy Spirit will enable us to do the greater works that Jesus spoke of, to empower us to preach, to disciple, to lay hands on the sick and have them be healed.

If we say we know Jesus but deny the freedom and power He has given to us, we are still like the old Peter. We need to believe, we need to recieve all that He has done for us and all that He desires to do with us.