Acts 2:37–47

Pentecost/confirmation

³⁷Now when they heard this, they were 1pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 2"Brethren, awhat shall we do?" ³⁸And Peter said to them, a"Repent, and let each of you be bbaptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹"For athe promise is for you and your children, and for all who are bfar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself."

We might ask ourselves, “What is the big deal about Pentecost?” I know what Christmas is and what it means; and I know what Easter is and what it means, but Pentecost? What is so special about Pentecost?

Let me tell you, brothers and sisters in Christ, that without Pentecost we would not be sitting here right now. Without Pentecost not one of us would have faith in Jesus Christ. Without Pentecost we would not receive the forgiveness of our sins. Without Pentecost there would be no church and not one person would be saved or have eternal life. The fact is, without Pentecost all that Jesus did for us, his life of perfect obedience, his suffering, his death on the cross and his resurrection would have been for nothing. Because without Pentecost there would be no way for us to receive all the blessings and gifts that Christ won for us on the cross.

Pentecost marks the coming of the Holy Spirit to unite us to Christ by faith and bestow upon us all his blessings. Therefore, without Pentecost, without the Holy Spirit, all of the treasures of heaven which God gives us through his Son, Jesus Christ, would be locked up forever, out of our reach. It would be like having a treasure chest full of gold and jewels, worth millions of dollars, but we lost the key and could not open it. There would be a great treasure but it would be locked and sealed so we could not access it. The great treasures of forgiveness and eternal life have been purchased for us by Christ, but without Pentecost they would be forever kept from us.

Why is this? Because we cannot have faith in God by our own reason or strength. For the things of God are spiritually discerned and only by the Holy Spirit are they revealed to us. Without the Holy Spirit, who came on Pentecost, the treasures of God are but a mystery, sealed from us for all time. The Bible says: “Natural man does not accept the things of God for they are spiritually appraised.” And Jesus says, “Unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

That is because we are by nature sinners and separated from God. We are by nature children of God’s wrath and without faith. We do not and cannot know God by our own reason. We are fallen creatures, children of wrath and we deserve only God’s judgment and condemnation. That which is born of flesh is flesh, that is, not spiritual. It has no relationship with God. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death. Eternal death and punishment. We were by nature separate from Christ, strangers to the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

We have committed great crimes and our guilt is too great for us to bear. That was the message of Peter to the people in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost. It is the message of God to us this morning in the proclamation of the law. The law accuses us of sin and crushes us under the weight of our own guilt. It tells us we deserve death and punishment. The people were pierced to the heart and cried; “What shall we do?” We are pierced to the heart by the message of the law and cried: “What shall we do?”

The Gospel brings us words of sweet comfort: “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin.” There is forgiveness for our sin. All the guilt and sin that weighs on us and crushes us is forgiven in Christ. Christ, by his death on the cross, lifts the unbearable load off our shoulders and frees us from its crushing weight. By his blood shed on the cross, Jesus redeemed us from sin; he purchased us from sin and death and made us his own; people of God. By taking our place in the fiery hell he atoned for our sin and gave us freedom from punishment. By his life of perfect obedience to his Father, he won righteousness for us.

And all these things he purchased with his blood: forgiveness, freedom from death, and perfect righteousness he gives to us as a great and wonderful treasure.

There is just one problem. Since we are by nature dead to God and unworthy of any of his gifts of love, we do not even have the power or ability to open the treasure chest to get the treasures for ourselves. Christ purchased the treasure for us and he gives it to us in a remarkable treasure chest filled to the brim and overflowing; but it is locked and sealed from us because we are unworthy of it. We are spiritually dead and a dead man cannot even reach out his hand and grab that which is placed before him.

But that is the miracle of Pentecost. On Pentecost the Holy Spirit himself comes and opens the treasure chest. The key is faith which the Holy Spirit himself gives us. Without the Spirit of God, the chest remains sealed to us and the treasure locked inside. But the Spirit comes on Pentecost and opens the chest by giving us faith.

That is the meaning of Peter’s word: “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Just as the Apostles were filled with the Spirit on Pentecost and began preaching the Word of God in many different languages, so in our baptism we are filled with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit who gives us faith and opens the treasure chest of forgiveness and eternal life. Our baptism is in essence a personal Pentecost. For when we are baptized, the Holy Spirit fills us, creates faith in us, and opens to us the treasures of God. Every time someone is baptized, Pentecost happens; an individual, personal Pentecost. Every person who is baptized, joins the Apostles at Pentecost, is filled with the Holy Spirit and is added to the church; another person added to the 3000 who were joined to the church on that first Pentecost.

Today we are about to confirm three people. Confirmation is nothing more than revisiting our baptism. Kyle, Tabi and Tina: when you were baptized the Spirit of God created faith in you and unlocked the treasure of God for you. It was your Pentecost, so to speak. You received the gift of the Holy Spirit of God who works all these wonders in you.

When you were baptized you did not know what was going on. You weren’t even aware you were being baptized, you just felt a little water being sprinkled on your head. But we know from the word of God that you did receive the Holy Spirit who gave you faith and unlocked all the treasures of heaven for you; forgiveness of sins, eternal life, all of God’s love and grace became yours. Now today, you are old enough to understand what happened to you then. At your baptism your parents and sponsors had to speak for you and confess your faith in God for you. Now today, you will confess that same faith with your own mouths and take the same vows before God to believe in him, follow him and to remain faithful to him forever. This time you will do the talking and confess your faith for yourselves.

Confirmation is a time for you and all of us to remember our baptism: as Peter said repent and be baptized. So confirmation is a time for all of us to repent and renew our faith. Faith in Jesus Christ who wiped away our sin on the cross and gave us salvation and eternal life. We remember that at our baptism we renounced the devil and all his ways. We confessed our faith in the Triune God. We took a vow before God promising to continue steadfast in the confession and doctrines of the church as drawn from Scripture. We promised to live our lives in accordance with the will and commands of God; and we took a holy vow before God to continue hearing and learning his word and receiving the Sacrament for the rest of our lives. It is good for all of us to remember what we vowed to God at our baptism and renewed in our confirmation.

Sometimes we forget and we become lax in our commitment. We forget that we took an oath to come regularly to his house to worship in word and sacrament. We forget that we took an oath to uphold his commandments and live in obedience to his will; which is to love him with all our heart and love our neighbor as ourselves.

Sometimes we forget our promise to confess Christ before the world. We let that slip and think someone else will do it for us. But as Christ was about to ascend back into heaven he told his disciples that when the Holy Spirit came to them they would receive power to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and in all the earth. That same power the Holy Spirit gives us in our Pentecost of baptism; to be his witnesses; to proclaim his message of forgiveness to all people; both at home and to the uttermost parts of the earth. That is why the Apostles spoke in many languages on the day of Pentecost: To drive home the point that the gospel is for all people and is to be preached to all nations and languages and tribes. That is our privilege; that is our mission. For in our baptism we became a nation of holy priests to proclaim God’s love with our lives of love and words of Gospel to all.

To all the world, for the promise of baptism is given to all; to us and to our children and to all whom the Lord calls through his Word. Who does the Lord call? He calls everyone who we tell about Christ. Each time we witness our faith; each time we tell someone about the forgiveness of sins; each time we invite someone to hear the word proclaimed in church, the Lord is calling that person to repent and be baptized and receive the blessings of forgiveness and eternal life.

The miracle of Pentecost comes to us in our baptism. For as we are baptized in the name of Christ, we receive the forgiveness of our sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We are sealed unto eternal life and will be raised together with Christ in the resurrection of the dead.

Amen.