The Sword of Conviction

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah!” Acts 2:36

Often I’ve heard in some Christian circles that we are often better off to make friends prior to sharing the gospel. That somehow our friendship outweighs the sharpness of the word of God! I want to tell you brothers and sisters, that this just isn’t so! This is why I love the above verse which was preached in my church today. The apostle Peter makes no haste to tell the Israelites that they have essentially committed the most vial crime in the history of mankind.

Imagine for a minute, that you’re in Peter’s shoes and you’ve just spoken these very words “you crucified the Christ!” What does it take to say this? What does Peter’s life hinge on when in fact the man is practically offending EVERYONE in Israel. What kind of faith does Peter have?? Is this madness or some kind of insanity? No, it is neither madness nor insanity friends and the following verses prove the living faith that Peter has!

When they heard this, they came under deep conviction and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles: “Brothers, what must we do?” Acts 2:37

The house of Israel fell under deep conviction! They saw with open eyes the sin that had been dwelling in. The mockery against the Christ! The castings of slander “crucify Him!” They saw the vial hatred toward Jesus Christ and in a moment, their eyes were open. “What must we do?” They saw their conviction, and it led them to one of the greatest questions in the history of mankind “what must we do to be right with the Lord?” I could only imagine that at this stage the apostle Peter would have been holding back tears of joy!

“Repent,” Peter said to them, “and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38

Peter finishes by telling the Israelites to rest on Christ. Yes they had hated the Lord, yes they were under conviction but by the grace of our Lord they understood by a revelation. Friends this is what it means when unbelievers hear the true gospel! I’m not saying it will happen on the spot, but that we should abandon the idea that we need to make friends first in order to share the gospel! We should be trusting our Lord like Peter did. He brought such an offensive word to the Israelites; I would not have been surprised to read that he was the first martyr instead of Steven! Alas though, it is God who opens the eyes of the blind, and this is why we need not rest on the arm of our flesh but on Christ. Let us be convicted of scripture and be bold like Peter, humbling ourselves under the word of God and exalting our Lord by sharing the gospel! Let us be open about it, not confining the Lord’s word to our friends but to anyone and everyone who needs to hear this beautiful message! Let us have an unshakable faith like Peter, strong in the Lord with a firm trust in the risen Christ!