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We will all encounter a myriad of questions throughout our lifetimes. Some of those questions will be foundational and life-changing, while others will be more trivial and incidental. i would, however, contend that there is one question that stands out above all the rest. It is a question that arises from the depths of the very soul with which we were created. Sadly, it is a question that too many have ignored or rejected. But even one’s failure to respond is in fact a response. It truly is the most important question any of us will ever face.

It was a moment unlike any other they had ever experienced. Only those gathered in the upper room that day were anticipating the arrival of the Spirit of God, and even they had no idea when He would arrive. Everyone else in the city was going about their planned activities. Many were in the city to celebrate the religious Festival of Harvest (Shavuot). With great pomp and ceremony, the Jewish pilgrims had traveled to Jerusalem with their baskets containing their first fruits.(1)

Others in the city were preoccupied with the day-to-day details of their lives – work responsibilities, pressing personal and/or family needs, relational disputes – perhaps some were even dealing with contentious conflict with the ruling Roman authorities.

Suddenly the events of the day were disturbed in the quarter of the city closest to the Temple by the sounds emanating from an upper room. A crowd made up of Jews from many nations assembled to investigate the cause of the disturbance. As they stood there looking up, they heard their own languages being spoken by a group they quickly recognized to be uneducated Galileans.(2)

Soon one of those Galileans stepped forward and began to speak with an unusual boldness. The words he proclaimed began to pierce many hearts. None of the listeners had foreseen the question that would be put before them that day. No one could have foretold it. But the more they listened to this man speak, the more they became consumed by the question – “what should we do?”(3)

Though they would not have yet described it as such, the listeners were being convicted of their sin by the Spirit of God. He was using the Word of God to bring conviction to their hearts through the spoken words of an uneducated fisherman. Only the Spirit of God can do that. Conviction is not brought about by eloquence of speech or the charisma of the messenger, rather through a working of the Holy Spirit. The words being spoken were not Peter’s words! Even Peter knew that!

Luke, the writer of this account in the Book of Acts, also knew that! Peter was simply the mouthpiece. He was the conduit. The Spirit of God was speaking through him. Don’t presume this fisherman had special training to deliver this message. Though he was the first to speak that day, it appears that the crowd asked the question of all the apostles which opens up the possibility that all of them may have spoken at some time throughout the day.

But even as it relates to all twelve, the only gifting they had was the presence of the Spirit of God. Yes, they had all spent quite a bit of time with Jesus. But their questions of Him on the night before He was crucified bear witness to just how much they had yet to understand.(4) The Spirit was given to equip all of those who repent and believe, not just those twelve, or your pastor, or your small group leader. He was given to equip and empower you.

And again, the words that the Spirit of God spoke through Peter – and the others – was the Word of God. “For the Word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”(5) It’s the Word of God – that two-edged sword – that “pierced their hearts.”(6) The message was not about what Peter thought; it was about what the Word of God says. The Word brought conviction that caused them to repent and turn from their religion and turn to Christ. Repentance means i am no longer walking in the way that i was. i have turned and am now walking toward God and with God by His grace. It’s a change of heart – from a heart filled with sin to a heart that has been made new by Christ.

Peter next told them that once they had repented, they must be baptized. Baptism is not part of repentance; it follows repentance as a testimony of the forgiveness we have received. Put another way: we are not baptized in order to be saved; we are baptized because we have been saved. A clear example that baptism is not a part of salvation, but, rather, an obedient act that follows salvation, is the new believers that came to faith in the home of Cornelius. Luke records that they had received the Holy Spirit before they were baptized.(7)

Again, baptism is an act of obedience. Jesus said we are to be baptized.(8) But it must follow repentance, otherwise all we did was get wet! It is an act of proof. It is an outward expression of the sincerity of our repentance and faith. It is an act of identification. Through baptism we are publicly identifying with our Savior and Messiah – bringing glory to Him, just as He did when He was baptized by John the Baptist.(9) It is an act of witness. Baptism by immersion reflects exactly what has occurred in our life. As we are lowered into the water we demonstrate that our sin nature has been put to death with Christ on the cross, and as we are raised back up out of the water, we demonstrate the new life in which we walk with the resurrected Christ.(10)

Three thousand new believers were baptized that day.(11) Did you ever wonder how they were able to baptize that many people in one day? In that day, as Jews prepared to bring their sacrifices into the Temple, they first needed to go through a purification ritual in a bath called a “mikveh”. Thus far, archaeologists have uncovered two hundred of those mikveh pools in and around Jerusalem, of which fifty are located on the southern side of the Temple Mount. Peter and the other apostles were preaching to the crowd on the southern side of the Temple. In His sovereignty, the Father had already arranged for pools to be in place for those baptisms long before anyone else knew they would be needed!

Lastly, Peter told the crowd that following their repentance they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.(12)The apostles had waited in an upper room for eight days to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, but that would no longer be the case. From that day forward the gift of the Holy Spirit would immediately be given at the point of repentance. And how much of the Holy Spirit would they receive? Remember, the Holy Spirit is a Person. He’s not an “it”. You don’t receive a portion of a Person; you receive all or nothing. And Peter said, “you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” – that’s the whole Person. The same Holy Spirit who empowered Peter to speak on that day indwells every believer – whether they have been saved for one second or one hundred years.

Hopefully, you, too, have experienced that moment when the Spirit of God convicted you of your sin and drew you to enter into a saving relationship with Jesus. i would expect that He came to you in the midst of a day in which you, too, were preoccupied by other things. But His conviction was undeniable. It led you to the same question – “what should I do?”

The answer to that question hasn’t changed in two thousand years. Repent, turn to God, and be baptized. Then you too will receive the Holy Spirit. “This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away….”(13)

We have been given that promise – not only for ourselves – but also to share! And having been given that promise, we all now know . . . what we should do!

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You can read about that day in Jerusalem in the Book of Acts, chapter 2.

The post is taken from chapter 8 of my book, Until He Returns. For more information about the book, click here.

(1) Acts 2:1

(2) Acts 2:5-12

(3) Acts 2:37

(4) John 16:17-18

(5) Hebrews 4:12

(6) Acts 2:37 (NLT)

(7) Acts 10:44-48

(8) Matthew 28:19

(9) Matthew 3:15