Subject One Hundred Twenty-two

WHAT SHALL WE DO?

Scripture: Acts 2:36-39

1. We should repent
   1. We are those who have turned our backs toward God and who live in sins.
   2. God wants us to turn to Him and be freed from sins.
   3. Repentance starts with the turning of the mind until the whole being is turned to God. Repentance in Greek means a change of mind. Originally your mind is toward sins and toward the world. Now God wants you to turn to Him, to turn your mind toward Him and then to turn your whole being to Him.
   4. We must confess that we have our back toward Him and must reject all our sins.
2. We should believe in Jesus Christ
   1. The word “in” in the phrase “in the name of Jesus Christ” means believing.
   2. To believe in Jesus Christ does not mean to agree, or to recognize, but to receive. To receive Him is to unite with Him. This word “in” has also the meaning of uniting.
   3. Jesus Christ is God as the Savior. God is Spirit. As the Spirit, He is omnipresent and available to us. Because we have a spirit within, we can use our spirit to receive the Spirit of God. When we confess that we are sinners, repent and turn away from sins, our spirit is opened to receive Jesus Christ to be our Savior. His Spirit then comes into ours to unite us with Him.
3. We should be baptized
   1. Believing in Christ is the inner reality, while baptism is the outward expression. With the inner reality the outward expression is still necessary. This means that in addition to the believing in Christ with the heart there is the need of the baptism.
   2. What baptism shows is firstly the severing of the relationship with sins and that we are being put into God. Secondly, it shows that we are being freed from ourselves and being immersed into God.
   3. Baptism is the declaration with a physical action that the former conduct and former person have altogether been concluded, have died, and have been buried. From now on there is no more former person and no more former conduct; but a uniting with Christ, a living out of Christ.
4. The result of such doing
   1. Having our sins forgiven. This includes being freed from the punishment and dominion of sins.
   2. Receiving the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is another form of Christ Who is the embodiment of God. Therefore, to receive the Holy Spirit is to receive Christ and to receive God. It is also to have the eternal life of God.