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Acts 2:40 THE DANGEROUS INFLUENCE OF THIS PRESENT GENERATION

 

    Introduction:

 

    In our text the Apostle Peter is still speaking to a large crowd of Jews

who had gathered around the Christians on the Day of Pentecost.  He sounds out a

warning  to them about the dangerous influence of that present generation of

people upon them and calls upon them to save themselves from that influence. 

 

I.  What had already taken place on that Day of Pentecost. 

 

    The Holy Spirit of God had already come upon the church at Jerusalem to

endue them with power from on high.  One result of that power from on high was

that when those Galilean Christians spoke, whoever heard them speak did not hear

them in their  Galilean dialect.  Rather, they understood them in their own

native language in which they had been born. 

    This mighty miracle had attracted a great crowd of people to the home in

which the Christians were staying.  The Apostle Peter had already preached to

them and told  them that they had crucified the Christ.  Peter had reminded them

of a promise that God had made to them through the prophet Joel.  That promise

was that whoever would call upon the name of the Lord would be saved.  That

promise spoke about the Christ.  Whoever would call on the Christ for salvation

would be saved and would go to heaven.  Peter had informed them that this

promise had been made to them and to their children.  Therefore, what these

people needed to do to get saved was to repent of their sin and call upon the

Christ for salvation.  Of course, after they get saved, they ought also to get

baptized and get into the Lord?s church and get to work serving the Lord. 

    Peter in his sermon had pointed out their need of salvation.  He had

pointed out to them the way of salvation whereby they could be saved.  He had

called upon them to repent of their sin and turn to the Christ.  Yet there was

great danger that these people would ignore his counsel and would follow the

influence of the majority in their generation.  In particular, there was the

great danger that those people would follow the influence of the Jewish leaders

who made up the Sanhedrin Council. 

 

II.  The many other things which Peter said to them

 

    V. 40, ?And with many other words did he testify and exhort...?     We are

to understand that not every word which Simon Peter said to them was here

recorded.  Many of the details of what he said to them are not recorded.  The

gist of what he said was recorded.  That is the essence of what he said was

recorded.  A summary of what he said was recorded.  Some of the details were

given, but not all of them.  This is true of the sermon which he preached to

them.  Not every word of his sermon was recorded.  This is also true of the

things he now says to them as he reasons with them seeking to persuade them to

repent of their sins and to call upon Jesus for salvation. 

    This same thing is true of the words of Jesus and His ministry.  Not

everything that Jesus said and did were recorded.  The Apostle John said in his

writings that he supposed that if everything which Jesus said and did had been

recorded the world  would not hold the books that would be written. 

 

III.  The warning which Peter sounded out to the his audience

 

    ?...saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.?  The people in

Peter?s audience had already been swayed by the dangerous influence of their

generation and particularly by dangerous influence of the Jewish leaders.  Let

me remind you that earlier when Jesus and His disciples had come to Jerusalem to

celebrate the Passover Supper, these very same people who now stood before Peter

had accompanied Jesus into the city of Jerusalem shouting to the top of their

voices proclaiming Jesus to be the Christ of God.  Right at that moment they had

been under the influence of the great miracle that Jesus had performed at the

village of Bethany.  Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the grave after Lazarus

had been dead for four days.  Right at that moment these people could see the

evidence that Jesus really is the Christ.  But a few days later they had been so

influence by the Jewish high priest and by the members of the Sanhedrin Council

that they joined right in with them and shouted to the top of their voices

demanding that Jesus be crucified.  When these people were out from under the

influence of the Jewish leaders then they were ready to crown Jesus as their

king.  But when they got back under the influence of the Jewish leaders, they

were ready to nail Him to a cross.  They were ready to mock Him.  They were

ready to beat Him in His face and spit in His face.  Let me say to you that the

Jewish leaders had a powerful influence upon the thinking and upon the actions

of those people. 

    They had a dangerous influence upon them.  Peter told them to save

themselves from the influence of such leadership.    If those people did not

save themselves from the dangerous influence of the Jewish leaders and from the

influence of the vast majority of people in Israel they would never repent of

their sin.  They would never call upon the Lord for salvation.  They would never

be saved.  They would never go to heaven.  They would go out into eternity

unprepared to meet God.  They would go out into eternity without ever being

forgiven of their sins.  They would  suffer for their sins throughout all

eternity. 

 

IV.  What Peter was not saying to them

 

    Now let me point out to you that when the Apostle Peter told them to save

themselves from that generation, he was not at all suggesting that they could

earn the salvation of their soul by their own good works.  The Bible clearly

teaches that salvation is not earned by the good works of the individual who is

lost.  In Ephesians 2:8-9 we read that salvation is by the grace of God and that

it is not obtained by one?s good works.  In Titus 3:5 we are told, ?Not by works

of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.? 

Peter was not telling those people that they had to work in order to save their

souls.  Rather he was telling them that they needed to save themselves from the

dangerous influence of the Jewish leaders and others of that whole generation.  

    Peter had already sought to make it clear to them that what they needed to

do for the salvation of the soul was to repent of their sin and to call upon the

name of the Lord asking Him to save their soul. 

 

V.  The warning which I sound out to you concerning the dangerous influence of

this present generation

 

    I say to you this morning that you, too, need to save yourself from this

untoward generation in which we live.  The word which in our King James Version

of the Bible is translated ?untoward? means ?Evil, crooked, perverse, wicked.? 

The great majority in this world are not traveling the narrow road that leads to

life eternal.  The great majority are traveling the broad road that leads to

destruction.  Yet they have a powerful influence upon all mankind saying to all,

?Come on and go with us.  Believe what we believe.  Do the things that we do. 

Go with us down this broad road.  There is room enough for us all.  There is

room enough for you.  If you do not go with us it is because you are out of step

with the majority.  You are an oddball.  You are a kook.?

    But I say to you that the great majority in this generation is traveling

on the wrong road.  They are headed in the wrong direction.  This generation is

headed he wrong direction morally.  The modern cry on moral issues is that all

moral boundaries ought to be abandoned.  You are free to do what you want.  You

live in a free country and you have the freedom to do what you please.  If you

want to have sex before marriage and if you have the consent of your partner,

then you are free to do what you please.  They say that even after you marry if

you want to have sex with somebody other than your marriage partner, you are

free to do so as long as you have the consent of the other person and if you

don?t get caught by your marriage partner.  They say that if you want to have

sex with someone who is of the same sex, then that is your business and you are

free to do what you please. 

    This generation is headed the wrong direction in honesty and truthfulness. 

The direction they are headed is down the road of dishonesty and lies.  They

think it is perfectly acceptable for the politician to lie to the public.  They

think it is perfectly acceptable for a business man to lie to a customer.  They

think it is perfectly acceptable for anybody to lie to anybody else.  Just don?t

get caught at your lie.   Cover it up as best you can even if that mans telling

another lie to cover up.  That is the way this generation is headed. 

    This generation is headed the wrong direction in language.  The use of the

four letter words are no longer unacceptable to them.  The use of the outright

profanity and taking God?s name in vain is no longer unacceptable to them.  To

them it is not only acceptable to use this kind of language in private

conversation, but they use it openly in public.  They use it in the presence of

women and little children.  They use it even on the radio and on the television

for all to hear.  The same is true with filthy language of all kinds. 

    This generation is headed the wrong direction in purpose of life.  They do

not look at life as a time in which to get prepared for eternity and a time for

service to God.  They look at life as a time to have as much pleasure as

possible and to gain as many worldly possessions as possible.  And they are not

willing to resort to that old-fashioned way of working to supply their needs and

desires.  They think that it is acceptable to resort to any means whatsoever to

get what they desire.  They lie, they cheat, they steal, they embezzle, they

deceive, they gamble, they rob at gun point and they even kill in order to get

what they want.  Their whole purpose in life seems to be to get one more dollar

and to have one more sinful fling.   

    Speaking of killing, this generation is headed the wrong direction with

regard to the value of human life.  This is made evident by the large number of

murders, drive by shootings, by the frequency of war and by the killing of

innocent babies. 

    This generation is headed in the wrong direction in its misuse of alcohol

and other drugs.  Alcohol is a very helpful chemical when rightly used, but it

is a very dangerous chemical when it is misused.  It is dangerous to strike a

match to alcohol.  It is just as dangerous to use alcohol as a beverage.  There

is no way of knowing how many homes have been broken, how many automobiles have

been wrecked or how many lives have been wrecked and ruined by the misuse of

alcohol.

    But in addition to its misuse of alcohol, this modern generation has gone

almost to the point of no return in the misuse of other dangerous drugs.  The

dangerous drugs which are commonly available to the public today are too

numerous for me to name in this message, but hardest of the hard-core drugs are

easily obtained today if you have the money.     They are not only available to

adults, but they are available to the children in our schools.  They are even

sold by little children in our schools. 

    This generation is also going the wrong direction spiritually.  They are

going the wrong direction in both the plan of salvation and in doctrine.  While

both the plan of salvation and doctrines are important, it is most important

that you not follow after the world by depending on the world?s plan of

salvation.  Most of the people of the world are not going to make it to heaven. 

They are going the wrong direction.  They are going to the wrong place.  They

are going where you most assuredly do not want to go.  It is vital that you

listen to the word of God and that you let God tell you through His word what

you need to do to get to heaven. 

    The Bible teaches that you must repent of your sin.  Jesus, Himself, said

that except you repent you would perish.  The Bible teaches that you must call

upon the Lord Jesus Christ and place your faith in Him to save your soul.  Jesus

said, ?I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but

by me.?  He said, ?He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.? 

    So in order for one to be saved, he must break from the plan which the

world follows.  He must break from the plans which depend of good works to get

to heaven.  He must turn to God?s plan and trust completely in the Lord Jesus

Christ to cleanse him from all sin and to take him to heaven. 

    Let me also say to you that even after you are truly save, even after you

are truly born again and after you are on your way to heaven, it is important

even then that you break from the lifestyle of this perverse generation in which

we live and pattern your life after the teachings of the word of God.  It is not

necessary for you to make this change in order to be saved, but it is most

certainly necessary for you to make this change in order for you to please the

Lord in the way you live your life. 

    So I am going to call upon each and every person in this congregation this

morning to save yourself from this untoward generation in which we live.  Do not

let the unsaved tell you how to get saved and do not let the unsaved tell you

how you ought to live after you are saved.  You are to live your life according

to the teachings of God.