We're turning to the Acts of the Apostles, the chapter number two, Acts chapter two this evening. We're coming to the verse 14 to take a reading. You'll know that the events preceding verse 14, it is a day of Pentecost, and I trust that you're familiar with all that happens, and so we're coming to the verse number 14 of Acts chapter two. Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell in Jerusalem, Be this known unto you, and hearken to my words, for these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, that shall come to pass in the last days, saith God. I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams, and all my servants and all my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy, and I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vaporous smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and notable day of the Lord's come, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. You men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs. which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding off it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy and with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David. He is both dead and buried, and a sepulcher is with us until this day. Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne, he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. When they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promises unto you and to your children and to all them that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. With many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, save yourselves from this untoward generation. And they that gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. Amen. It's a lengthy reading tonight, but we trust that you'll keep the word of God open. As we come, seek the Lord in prayer, and then as we bring the word that God has given, let's pray together. O God, our loving Father, we leave ourselves in thy good hand tonight. Again, we pray for the help of thy Spirit. O God, come upon us, come among us, we pray, and do that which only the Spirit of God can do. Even to the saving of the soul, O God, send the old-time power that sinners may be converted, and thy name glorified. Help us, Lord, we pray. Guide us in all that we say tonight. We offer prayer in and through Jesus' precious and worthy name. Amen and amen. Cowering for fear, a group of about 120 people gather together in a room waiting for the next chapter of their lives to commence. The previous chapter had just come to a close with the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ back into heaven to take up his station there at the Father's right hand. Redemption's plan had been completed, atonement for sin had been made, and now the task of evangelizing the world with the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ was entrusted to this fearful band of disciples numbering about 120 souls. Those fathers of the Savior waited in anticipation for the promise of the Father, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and it wasn't long. They didn't have to wait long before that promise was fulfilled. Because we're told that just ten days after the Saviour's ascension, at the Feast of Pentecost, when this band of believers were gathered together with one accord and in one place, we're told in Acts chapter 2, and suddenly, verse number 2, there came a sound from heaven. as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them clothed in tongues like as on fire, and it set upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. That infilling of the Holy Ghost made those disciples so bold that they left now that upper room to go into the city of Jerusalem, a city that had just put to death and crucified their leader just a few days before. And now they go out to present the gospel of Jesus Christ, the risen Son of God. The multinational and the multilingual crowd that heard the disciples speak in their own language initially thought that these men were full of new wine. But Peter stands up and affirms that that was not the case. But rather they have just experienced what the prophet Joel had said would happen in the last days when God would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. Having established in the minds and in the hearts of his hearers that they were not listening to the silly babblings of drunken men, the apostle Peter, from verse 22 onwards, begins to speak directly to the congregation that is gathered before him. By the time he and his fellow apostles have concluded addressing the people, 3,000 souls have been converted to Jesus Christ. Just think of that. Let that figure, let that number just settle in upon your mind. 3,000 souls were converted to Jesus Christ. 3,000 souls had been brought to the new birth. 3,000 souls had become partakers of the divine nature. 3,000 souls had been added to the family of God and to the household of faith in one message. One message, the church expanded from 120 to at least 3,000 souls. I started to think about that message. It was preached that day, the summary points of which I believe we have before us in Acts chapter 2. I began to dissect its contents. I started to find its main themes, draw out the main themes within the message in an attempt to understand what kind of message leads to such a response. And I want us to consider my findings concerning this message that was preached on the day of Pentecost in a message that I've simply entitled, The Sermon That Led to 3,000 Conversions. The Sermon That Led to 3,000 Conversions. In the first place, the sermon which led to 3,000 conversions was a sermon that was centered on Christ. it was centered on Christ. Now as you read the inspired penman's summary of this message preached on the day of Pentecost, there's something very striking, something very obvious about it. It is Christocentric in its very nature. Now what I mean by that is simply that the person and the work of Jesus Christ is at the very heart of this message that Paul, or Peter, preaches on this particular day. Now it is true, reference is made to the actions of wicked and sinful man. when they crucified the Prince of Life. We understand that to be the case. But Peter's message focuses his hearers almost exclusively upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And I suppose that's where 21st century preaching has diverged from 1st century preaching. There has been a subtle shift of focus away from the Lord Jesus Christ and upon men. Preaching today is all about man's happiness, all about man's joy, all about man's satisfaction with Jesus Christ being put to the background. But any biblical preaching always keeps the Lord Jesus Christ at its very heart. The very circumference, the very core, the very center of any message that is preached should always be preaching up the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not your best life today. It is not seven easy steps to successful Christian living. But any preacher worth his salt should ever desire to exalt and uplift and glorify none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. We always like a quote from Spurgeon, he said this, The sermon which does not lead to Christ, or of which Jesus Christ is not the top and the bottom, is a sort of sermon that will make the devils in hell laugh, but make the angels of God weep. A message that has not Christ at its top and at its bottom, will make the devils in hell laugh, and will also make the angels of God weep. Now from the details that we have here in Acts chapter 2, it then seems to me that the sermon, the sermon that is the fullest of Christ, it is then that sermon that is most likely to lead to the conversion of souls. Messages that uplift, messages that exalt Jesus Christ, are messages that will lead to the conversion of the lost. Now Peter focuses his hearers on the Lord Jesus Christ and he does so by focusing or speaking of four aspects of the Savior and he emphasizes them to them. I want you to note firstly, note he preaches about the life of Christ. The life of Christ. Look at me at verse number 22. Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you as ye yourselves also know. Now Peter begins his message He begins his message by focusing on the humanity of Christ. He speaks about a man, a man approved of God. Now I believe that he's now infilled by the Spirit of God, and because he is, God by the Spirit is giving this man wisdom. Because don't forget, his main audience is a Jewish audience. These are individuals that did not believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. These were individuals that did not believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, the Anointed of God. In other words, Peter is being wise as he begins his message here, because he doesn't want to turn his ears off in the first sentence of his message. They did not believe him to be the Son of God. Now he is going later on in his message to affirm the deity of Jesus Christ. But he speaks about a man, a man called Jesus of Nazareth. They knew about him. They knew all about Jesus of Nazareth. They knew about his miracles, his wonders, his signs. They had been witnesses of them, those miracles and wonders. They were aware of his earthly ministry. They were aware of his death. They were aware of his supposed resurrection, at least in their minds. And so they knew about this man called Jesus. But although he was a man, these individuals could not deny the truth that he was an extraordinary man. His miracles, the signs, the wonders that he did, they proved that he was an extraordinary man. This is no ordinary man that we're considering. No, this is one that was sent from God. You think of Nicodemus. He has an interview with the Savior one night, John 3. What did he say in the earliest days, the earliest years of the Savior's public ministry? He said this about Jesus, he said, Thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. Those miracles the raising of the dead, the touching of blind eyes, the calming of the storm, the deliverance of the demoniac, the healing of lepers, all those miracles, those signs, those wonders, they were but affirmations that He was who He claimed to be, the very Son of God. They also affirmed that He was on a mission from God. What was that mission? He was on a mission to seek and to save that which was lost. Those miracles affirmed that he had been sent by God. He spoke about the life of Christ. Can I remind you, if you need it reminding, that the life of Christ is just as important as the very death of Christ when it comes to salvation? Do you understand that? Let me explain. The God of heaven demands humanity that they will obey, they must obey the righteous commands of God, perfectly conform themselves to the holy law of God and thought and word and deed. But because of our sinful nature, our inherent depravity, we are unable to perfectly fulfill the law of God in and of ourselves, therefore God in his wisdom and in his mercy and in his grace sent his own son made of a woman born under the law to redeem them or that were under the law that we might receive the very adoption of sons he takes our humanity he takes our nature a sinless humanity a sinless nature and yet our nature nonetheless he keeps the law of God on our behalf and thank God He gives or provides through that living a perfect righteousness to all who come to Him. I'm speaking about the act of obedience of Christ, His living. Because that alongside His passive obedience, His dying, played an important role in the satisfying of the demands of God's justice. I have reminded you on many occasions, sinner, that a transfer takes place. When you come as a sinner to Christ, and that transfer is a double transfer, yes, you're sin to Him, but He in turn, His righteousness to you. A righteousness that brings you into a right standing before God. And if Jesus Christ had not lived that perfect life of obedience, then He would not have been able to give to us a perfect righteousness. His life was as important as his death. The Savior's perfect life of obedience was just as necessary. what he did for us on the cross of Calvary because of this double transfer my sin to him ah that's dealt with by the death of Christ but this righteousness that I need oh that's provided for me by his life he has lived he has fulfilled the law he has obeyed every commandment in jot and tittle and as a result he can give to me his righteousness Sinner, you need a perfect righteousness. You need a perfect righteousness that a lifetime of moral living and a lifetime of religious observance will never secure for you, because daily you break the law of God in thought and word and deed. Thus you need someone to have obeyed that law for you perfectly, to give to you his righteousness. And it was this Jesus of Nazareth, this man, this God-man, this perfect man, it is this man that has earned this righteousness for you, that he is willing to give you tonight in the gospel. The question then is, will you forsake your own righteousness? Will you by faith receive the righteousness that is offered to you in the gospel? That's the question you need to ask yourself. He speaks about the life of Christ, but Peter moves on. He, remember, he's focusing on the person of Christ, the work of Christ. He now speaks of the death of Christ. Note his words in now verse 23. Him, speaking of this man, this Jesus of Nazareth. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel, and for knowledge of God ye have taken. and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." He now speaks of the Savior's dying for us. When Christ died, he died as a victim. He bore our guilt, he bore our shame, he bore our sin. He was punished as if he had have committed those sins. Yet all the time he remained the sinless Son of God. The death of Christ was no accident. Peter tells us here that Christ was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. It simply speaks in simplistic terms that Peter is informing his hearers that the death, this death, this dying by crucifixion, the slaying of the blessed Son of God, this is no accident. No, this has been ordained by God. This has been ordered by God, planned by God. Ah, from before time ever commenced, this plan of redemption was in place. This was determined by Almighty God. Yes, they had played some part of it, but in the sovereign purpose of God, God's overriding sovereign hand and His overriding sovereign plan was being fulfilled by these men. Peter here, He's doing what any preacher worth his salt should always be doing when they preach. He was preaching Christ and Him crucified. The Apostle Paul was of the same breeding, we would say, of a preacher as Peter was. He says to 1 Corinthians 1, verse 23, but we preach Christ crucified. Paul would also go on to say in the next chapter, for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Yes, He lives for us, but He dies for you, sinner. Sinner, He's dying for you. On the cross, He's dying for you. He's shedding His blood for you. He's enduring the darkness for you. Sinner, understand it. Christ is dying for you. His hands are being pierced for you. His side is being driven through with a spear for you. His feet are being kneeled to the tree for you. He's being crowned with thorns for you, for you sinner. Bring it home to your heart. Christ is dying, your sins are nailing Him there. Your sins are the hammer that's nailing Him to the tree. Your disobedience, your neglect of salvation, it is that which is driving in those nails, deeply into His hands and feet. Sinner, He's dying for you. He's crucified for you. Let me ask you, What does the death of Jesus Christ mean to you? Do you gaze upon the bleeding Son of God? Do you view him as simply a martyr for some worthy cause? Or do you see the crimson blood that flows from Hans' feet as the price of your redemption, the price of your salvation? It must be the latter. I say, sinner, it must be the latter. If you're ever to be saved from your sin, all you need to see him as dying for you, being crucified for you. You must come on to understand that what the Son of God is enduring upon the cross of Calvary is necessary to appease divine wrath and satisfy divine justice for you, for you. So I asked you, sinner, have you appropriated In other words, have you by faith reached out the hand of faith and made this redemption, Christ's work for you? Have you appropriated it to yourself? Can you say with the Apostle Paul, Galatians 2 verse 20, the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me. He gave himself for me. If I had have been the only sinner, he would have given himself for me. You know, if you can say that tonight, honestly, salvation is within reaching distance for you. Whenever you come to understand that he's dying not just for the sins of others, but that he's dying for my sins, salvation is just within reaching distance for you. But Peter does not end at the cross within his sermon, but he goes further. He takes them now to the empty tomb. The Savior died on the cross of Calvary, we know that. He was buried in a borrowed tomb. But he who died, Peter now declares, God. Notice verse 32. This Jesus hath God raised up. Whereof we are all witnesses. Verse number 24, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. The raising of the dead was only to be expected in light of David's prophetic words that we have in the Messianic Psalm of Psalm 16. And Peter takes time to quote from that Psalm as he preaches here, because any type of preaching ought to be biblically based. It's not about some book that some preacher has read in the last week or so, and they start to preach about that book. No, proper preaching is biblical. The Bible is the preacher's textbook. And Peter takes the Old Testament scriptures, and thank God he sees Christ in them. Ah, there's many an individual, many a preacher, and they can't even see Christ in the Old Testament. Oh, they can't preach the gospel from the Old Testament. The gospel is through the Old Testament. It's there in picture and in type. Thank God for that. But here, Peter preaches about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and folks, that's a vital element. It's a vital element in gospel preaching that many forget to preach, maybe even this preacher. And I say that if Jesus Christ was still in the tomb tonight, it would mean that God's wrath has not been satisfied. It would mean that the work has not been done. It would mean that we stand guilty before God. What does Paul say? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, 17, And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, and ye are yet in your sins. Now don't get me wrong. Resurrection of Christ does not accomplish our justification. No, the life and the death of Jesus Christ does that, but rather it assures us of our justification. Romans 4.25, the Son of God was delivered for our offenses and was raised for our justification. He was raised from the dead, and by His raising from the dead, it assures us that God the Father is satisfied with the work that He did to save us from our sins. Now the importance of believing in the resurrection is brought to us in those inspired words we have in Romans 10, verse 9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. I tell you, sinner, to deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ is to deny the work of Christ. Full stop. To deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ is to deny that His work for sinners has been accepted by God, because His resurrection is the proof of it. It's God's stamp of approval. What I sent my Son to do, He has done, and I will prove it to the world by raising Him from the dead. So will you do tonight what Paul says that you are to do, to be saved? Will you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus? Will you believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead? Because if you do, he says that you'll be saved, saved from sin, saved from hell. But Peter doesn't stop there. At the tomb, he goes right to the very throne of God. because he now speaks of the exaltation of Christ. Note the words in verse 32 and verse 34. This Jesus, whom God has raised up, whereof we are all witnesses, therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this which ye now see and hear. Peter declares, he who walked this earth, He who died on the cross, he who was buried in a borrowed tomb, has been raised from the dead and is now at the right hand of God exalted. He has been exalted as reward for his sufferings. He's the exalted one. The one who sits upon the throne. And sinner, Christ is exalted tonight. He's at the Father's right hand. His body does not lie corrupting in some tomb, but he's seated at the Father's right hand. He's waiting for that moment when the Father will send him again to this earth, not as Savior this time, but as Judge. Jude tells us what he's going to do. He's going to come to execute judgment upon all, to convince all that are ungodly among them of their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed. And if all their hard speeches with some godly sinners have spoken against him, he's going to judge. Sinner, you would be wiser to meet him as Savior than you would be to meet him as judge. Christ lived. Christ died. Christ was raised. Christ is exalted. a message that's centered on Christ, led to 3,000 souls converted. What think ye of Christ? That's always the question in the gospel. Not, what do you think of this preacher? Not, what do you think of this church? Not, what do you think of that individual that sits in front of you or behind you tonight? That's not the question. The question is, what think ye of Christ? Now, as I said, Peter focuses almost entirely upon the person of Christ. And I've taken up most of my time, not all, but most of my time speaking about this Christ. But I just want to bring a few brief comments on a number of other things with respect to this sermon that led to the conversion of 3,000 souls. In the second place, it was a sermon that was clear in its application. It was centered on Christ. It's now clear in its application. One English worthy said that a great many sermons were like carefully written letters dropped into the post office without any address written on them. They were not intended for anyone in particular, and so they never reached anyone. And how many a sermon is like that? We're sat in funerals, and we've listened to men preach, and we wonder, well, who are they applying this message to? And many a sermon is like that, but that certainly could not be said about Peter's style of preaching. Peter applied the ability that God gave him. He applied the message and its application to the consciences of his hearers by laying the guilt of Christ's death squarely at their door. Notice verse 23, notice Peter's words, "...him being delivered by the determined counsel and for knowledge of God, ye, ye have taken, ye have taken and by wicked hands, your hands, your hands crucified and slew the Son of God." Notice his words of verse 36. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath both made this same Jesus whom ye have crucified. You're to blame. That's what he said. You're guilty of the death of Jesus Christ. You're the ones who crucified him. Oh, no, no, no. It was the Romans that kneeled his hands and feet. Yes, but you stood under Pilate's balcony, didn't you? And whenever Pilate said, what then shall I do with Jesus, which is called the Christ, what did you say? Crucify him. Crucify him. That made them culpable of his death. Peter in his preaching exposed their sin, their Christ rejection, their Christ denial, and that's the type of preaching that leads to conversions. Preaching that is clear and preaching that is personal in its applications. But let me say, friends, that is not the type of preaching men and women want to hear today. They don't want to hear that type of preaching. People don't want to come to places where the preacher says that adultery is sin. Not because the preacher says it, because the scriptures say it. People don't want to come to hear a message, to hear the preacher saying that cohabiting with someone out of wedlock is sin. Do you want to hear that? They don't want to hear that sodomy is sin, that drunkenness is sin, that lying is sin, that disobedience against parents is sin, that covetousness is sin, that taking the name of God is sin. No, they don't want to hear that. They don't want to hear that celibate breaking is sin. And so what do they do? They go to some little pulpit puppet who will speak about sin generally. But never look a man or a woman eyeball to eyeball and speak about their sin. Your sin. Your treason against God. Your crimes against the Christ of God. No, no, no. As long as a man just speaks generally, all for preaching. where the truth of God is personally applied to the life of the sinner, yes, by the preacher, knowing, yes, that the Holy Ghost does the rest and brings it right into the soul. Ah, but we have a responsibility to make the message clear and plain and to apply the word and allow a man with his own understanding to understand, yes, I am the sinner. Sinner, I pray that you feel uncomfortable. I pray you feel uncomfortable in this house as you hear the gospel preached from week on week. I feel that you feel uneasy on your way home each night after hearing the truth of God declared from this pulpit. I pray that you don't sleep. I pray you don't sleep on a Sunday night. You're a child of wrath. You're going to hell. You need to waken up. You need to be saved tonight from your sin. I pray to God that insomnia does hit you because of what waits for you at the end of a life of sin. For that discomfort in the house of God and that uneasiness as you jump into your car. And that insomnia that you experience on your bed says something to me, that the Spirit of God is taking the Word of God and is applying it to your heart. He is applying it to your heart and to your conscience. May the Word's application lead to your salvation. Thirdly, quickly, the sermon that led to the conversion of 3,000 souls was convicting in its effect. Cast your eye down to the verse 37. Now when they heard this, when they heard what? When they heard Peter preaching, this type of preaching, Christ-centered applying it clearly to the consciences of men, bringing it home to them, this isn't general, this death of Christ, this isn't general, no, no, you were part of it, you're guilty of it, what happens now? Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and they said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? The word pricked, that might suggest in your mind a little prick that you get, you know, in your hand whenever you're maybe bringing in roses for your wife, you men. I'm sure you do that all the time, a little prick in the hand, a little thorn goes in. That's maybe what you're thinking whenever it has this word pricked here. That's not the word in the original. Do you know what the word in the original literally means? To stab thoroughly. That's what the word means. to stab right through. It can mean to sting to the quick. It can mean to pain the mind sharply. What was happening? Peter preached. His message was biblically based. The Spirit of God takes it now and applies it to the heart unto the conscience, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, is being wield, and it's piercing, it's thoroughly stabbing them through, it's causing them to sting. Oh, there's a sting in this message, because it's personal. And it leads them, it leads them to cry out, what shall we do? What shall we do? You see, these men knew that staying as they were was not the answer. They realized that something has to change. Something has to change. having been confronted with the Savior and now with their sin, they acknowledge that something has to change, something has to be done. And really, that is the outcome of preaching, that when the Spirit of God is convicting the soul, there's a realization that there needs to be a change in my life. Ah, sinner, do you see that tonight? There needs to be a change in your life. There needs to be a change of your direction. You're on the broad road that leads to destruction and to hell. There needs to be a change. I wonder, have you known the spirit convicting? Have you known the strivings of God? Are you kicking against the pricks? Oh, that the spirit of God would so work in your soul that your heart's cry would be, what shall I do? What shall I do? Is that not what the Philippian jailer said to Paul and Silas? What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And what are you to do? Well, you're to do what Peter told these men and women to do because there's no new message. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin. and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Verse 38, repent, repent, turn from sin. That's what you must need to do. There is one key element that must not be overlooked when thinking about the sermon that led to the conversion of 3,000 souls. It was centered on Christ. Yes, it was clear in its application. Yes, it was convicting in its fact. But in one final place, it was communicated by spirit-filled men. You can't miss out that element. These were men who were anointed by the Spirit of God. And because they were, they communicated God's message to the people on the Day of Pentecost. These were not career preachers. These were consecrated preachers, men who were sold out for God, men who were infilled by the Spirit of God. God's message, delivered by men full of the Holy Ghost, led to the conversion of a multitude of souls. And that is a preacher's desire every time they preach. That is their longing. to be infilled by the Spirit of God to such an extent that he may effectively communicate God's message to his hearers and leave then the rest to God. We need such men. I need to be such a man. And that will only come in answer to my prayers and to your prayers. It's a congregation. So let me ask you as I close, has God the Holy Spirit taken any of this message and applied it to your heart? Do you know Christ, this one that Peter spoke of? Do you know him, not intellectually, but do you know him savingly? Have you repented of your sin as Peter exhorted these people to do? Because folks, the only evidence that you have done that is that you are doing now what the converts of Peter's day did whenever they repented. You will be continually steadfast in the apostles' doctrine. And you will be involved in the fellowship of the saints of God. And you will be at the breaking of bread. and you will be at the prayers. You'll be in public and private prayer. That was the only evidence that these people had been converted. I wonder, have you those evidences in your life? If not, then you need to repent and believe the gospel. Oh, for such a day as this day in Acts chapter 2. This is a type of message that leads to the conversion of multitudes, a message that uplifts Jesus Christ, exalts Him alone, and is done so by men who are filled by the Holy Ghost. who applies the Word, and by the Spirit it convicts the soul and converts the soul to Jesus Christ. May you be saved tonight, and may, by His Spirit, God convict you of your sin and bring you to the birth, the new birth, for Christ's sake. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Our loving Father, We come to Thee in the Savior's precious name. We thank Thee, O God, for this day in the church's history, when God, by His Spirit, moved in such a wonderful way. O give us such a day, we pray, a day when men and women don't need to hear about anything or anyone else, that Christ is enough, save the church from adding to the message, help us to be faithful, just to follow the model, this pattern sermon that we have here, may we always preach about sin, about a Savior, and about salvation. O God, for the unconverted that are among us tonight, may they find and may they experience this pricking of heart, even by the Spirit of God. May they be drawn out of their sin and may they seek counsel even at the conclusion of this message. May the message bring them. May it bring them to faith in Christ. Answer prayer, and take that which has been offline, for we pray this in Jesus' precious name. Amen and amen. Thank you.