Now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart.
The effects of gospel preaching
1. Peter having explained the events of Pentecost, an immediate effect was produced. “They were pricked in their hearts.” So the Holy Ghost was poured out upon them as He had been poured out upon the assembly of the Church. We see here, therefore, the double action of the Holy Spirit. He is poured out upon the Church to sanctify and to confirm in the faith; and upon those who are outside that He may alarm and quicken and direct to right conclusions.
2. This was the first Christian sermon that had been preached. Jesus Christ was no longer present in the body. Now we are curious to know how the truth will make its way upon its own merits, apart from that magnetic influence which attached to the audible voice of the Divine Master. Will the truth make its way by sheer force of its celestial beauty and grace, and comfort, or will it perish under other voices than Christ’s own? So we wait, we hear the discourse, and when it is concluded we read--that when the people heard this they were pricked in their hearts.
3. Observe the peculiarity of that effect. Not, they were awed by the eloquence, excited in their imagination; gratified in their taste; the result was infinitely deeper and grander. An arrow had fastened itself in the very centre of their life. In their conscience was inserted the sting of intolerable self-accusation. This was the grand miracle. Truly we may say this was the beginning of miracles of the higher, because the spiritual kind. Great effects are produced by great causes.
4. A reflection of this kind would, however, have a very remote interest for us were it confined to an ancient incident. As a matter of fact, the apostle Peter preached the only sermon that any Christian minister is ever at liberty to preach. This is the model sermon. No change must be made here or a corresponding change will be made in the effect. Men may be more eloquent, literary, technical, and philosophical; they may use longer words and more abstruse arguments, but the effect will be like other talk, pointless, and there will be no answer in the great human heart--no conscience will accuse, no eyes will be blinded with tears, none will cry, “What shall we do?” Let us look at--
I. The sermon and see how it is made up.
1. It is full of Scriptural allusions, as is every sermon that is worth listening to. The reason why our preaching is so powerless is that we do not impregnate it with the inspired word. Peter did not make the sermon. He quoted David and Joel, the Psalms and the prophets, and set these quotations in their right relations to what had just happened, and whilst he was talking history he made history. Faithful to God’s word, God’s Spirit was faithful to him, and herein was realised “My word shall not return unto Me void.” Peter’s word would have returned void, but God’s word is as a sower in the eventide bringing back his sheaves with joy.
2. It is full of Christ. But for Christ it never could have been delivered. From end to end it palpitates with the Deity and glory of the Son of God.
3. It is full of holy unction. It was not delivered as a schoolboy might deliver a message. The great strong rough frame of the fisherman-preacher quivered under the feeling of the sacred message which the tongue was delivering.
4. It is full of patriotic and spiritual tenderness, and all the while without art or trick or mechanical skill, it led up to a vehement and solemn demand. When that demand was thundered upon the people they did not applaud the man, they were concerned about themselves; they were not pleased, they were pierced; and they were not gratified, they were convicted.
II. But even this great sermon of Peter’s does not explain the full result. The preacher must have had something to do with the effect. He had just received the Holy Ghost. An inspired doctrine demands an inspired ministry. The Book is inspired, but when uninspired readers read it they kill the very fire of heaven when it touches their reluctant tongues. It is there that the holy influence is lost. When the Holy Ghost is both in the doctrine and in the people who profess it, the mountains of difficulty will fly away like dust upon the mocking wind.
III. Nor have we read the full account yet of the production of this mighty effect. The people were prepared for vital statement; anything that was beautiful in nature, or in music would not have satisfied them. They would have resented any discourse that bristled with merely clever allusions or curious conceits of expression. The fire fell upon prepared material, therefore the Word of the Lord had free course and was glorified. How can we preach to a people unprepared to hear? The work is too great for any man. A prepared pulpit should be balanced by a prepared pew, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” To the unthirsty man the Bible spring is without attraction, but to the thirsty traveller, sun-smitten and weary, how like the music of running streams! A very solemn reflection occurs here. Where the heart is unaffected, Christian service is more mischievous than beneficial. What if our notions be increased, if our motives be left unbaptized? And what if we have been flattered and cajoled and “daubed with untempered mortar,” if the Word has not reached the very seat of the disease? Pray for a ministry that shall affect the heart. He who seeks after a comforting ministry only, and a restful one that shall give him no disturbance, wounds his own life.
IV. The effect was grand in every aspect.
1. Three thousand souls were saved. And this will be the effect of Christian teaching everywhere under the right conditions. Again and again we read that the people who heard the apostolic preaching, “cried out.” We have lost that cry: we have succumbed to the cold and benumbing spirit of decorum. And whilst it is perfectly true that there may be an irrational excitement which ought to be subdued and controlled, it is also true that there is a spiritual enthusiasm, without which the Church may be but a painted sepulchre.
2. The people continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine, and in fellowship, in breaking of bread and in prayers.
(1) The flock kept well together for fear of the wolf. Were we ourselves in heathen lands we should realise the joy of keeping closely together. But Hying in a Christian land where Christianity has become a luxury, or in some instances even an annoyance, what wonder that we do not realise the primitive enthusiasm, and enter with delight into the original fellowship and union of the Church?
(2) The people continued in the right teaching. Until our teaching be right our life must be wrong. We must ask for the pure bread, the pure water, the undefiled Bible, and live on that; out of such nutritious food there will come proper results such as fellowship, sacramental communion, and common prayer. A man says, “I can pray by myself,” that is perfectly true, but you should realise that you are something more than yourself; you are part of a sum total. A man is not at liberty in the Christian sense of manhood to detach himself from the common stock to which he belongs. Herein is the advantage of common prayer and common praise. “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together.” There is inspiration in sympathy, there is encouragement in fellowship. It does the soul good to see the hosts gathered together under the royal banner stained with blood; to see the great army marching shoulder to shoulder under the blast of the great trumpet. “No man liveth unto himself” who lives aright.
(3) They had all things common. This is the sternly logical outcome of true inspiration. But having regard to all the social conditions under which we live this mechanical form of union is impracticable. But having lost this form, which broke down under the eyes of apostles themselves, we still reserve the spiritual outcome and meaning. My strength is not my own, it belongs to the weakest child that I may see groaning under oppression. If I interfere, and the oppressor say to me, What have you to do with him--he is not yours? Christianity obliges me to say he is mine. If you see an animal ill-used and ill-treated, though it be not yours in any technical or legal sense of the term, you are called upon to interfere by an earlier right, and by a diviner law. Whoever has strength owns it for the benefit of those who have none. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Evangelical preaching
Preaching has ever been the principal means used for diffusing a knowledge of Christianity. It was the method adopted and enjoined by the great Author of our religion (Matthew 4:17; Matthew 10:7; Mark 16:15). A striking instance of its early success is recorded in the chapter before us; and we are led by our text to inquire into the nature of that preaching which was so successful; and into the effects which followed such preaching.
I. The nature of the preaching may be understood from the context.
1. The subject was Christ. The preacher’s name evidently was to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah.
2. The subject was of the highest importance; it was perfectly suitable to the audience;
3. And the manner of treating it was excellent. The discussion was plain--concise--clear. The mode of address was courageous.
4. The preacher who thus conducted himself, demands our consideration. It was Peter, a late fisherman of Galilee, he was Divinely called to preach the gospel; and thus qualified, he preached; power from above attended the word.
II. And the effects which followed well deserve our attention. “They were pricked in their heart.” Hearers treat the Word preached with indifference; or feeling its force they resist it; or happily, like those whose case is before us, they yield to its convincing influence. The address was made to their understanding--their judgment--their conscience; and being accompanied by the power of Divine grace, they were rationally, Scripturally, and feelingly convinced of the error of their ways and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” We may consider this as--
1. The language of religious concern.
2. The language of religious distress.
3. The language of humble inquiry. Think on their former prejudices. Such was the preaching, and such were the effects.
Our minds are farther led to the following improvement.
1. Christ crucified is, and ever should be, the grand subject of the Christian ministry.
2. There is salvation in no other--there is no other name whereby we can be saved (Acts 4:12).
3. In religion, it is of the utmost importance that the heart be affected (“ they were pricked in their hearts”); See Genesis 6:5; Jeremiah 17:7; Joel 2:13; Mark 7:21; Proverbs 4:23; Psalms 51:10; Psalms 51:17. Sin hath its seat in the heart--there the change should begin.
4. Persons may be so affected on account of their sin and danger, that they cannot, in some cases, avoid strongly expressing what they feel.
5. The essential importance of Divine influence to render the word preached successful is another idea suggested by the circumstances connected with the text. (Theological Sketch-book.)
Conversion
I. Refers to what they heard. They heard--
1. An explicit statement of the truth.
2. Enforced by solid reasoning.
3. Brought home to their own Consciences with fidelity.
II. It describes what they felt--“They were pricked in their heart.” The expression denotes a sudden, deep, strong, anguished feeling.
1. Agonised astonishment--at this ignorance amid so much light--at the error committed against such evidence. They see that Jesus was no impostor.
2. Inexpressible conviction. They felt the guilt of rejecting a Divine Teacher.
3. Terrified apprehension. Could they forget their treatment of Jesus? Think of the alarm that now seizes them when the tumult of rage gives way to the conviction of guilt.
III. It records what they said.
1. What shall we do? This explanation is the utterance of concern--concern which it is not in the power of language to express.
2. It is the utterance of ingenuous confession.
3. It is the language of surrender. They abandon unbelief.
4. The language of anxiety for salvation. (Homilist.)
The effusion of the Holy Spirit
“Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation They will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto Me;… yet thou shalt speak unto them, and tell them, thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear;… and they shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.” Thus God formerly forearmed Ezekiel against the greatest discouragement that he was to meet with in his mission, I mean the unsuccessfulness of his ministry. For they are not only your ministers, who are disappointed in the exercise of the ministry: Isaiah, Jeremiahs, Ezekiels, are often as unsuccessful as we. In such melancholy eases we must endeavour to surmount the obstacles, which the obduracy of sinners opposeth against the dispensations of grace. If “the angels -of God rejoice over one sinner that repenteth,” what pleasure must he feel who hath reason to hope, that in this valley of tears he hath had the honour of opening the gate of heaven to a multitude of sinners, that he hath “saved himself and them that heard him.” This pure joy God gave on the day of Pentecost to St. Peter. In order to comprehend what passed in the auditory, we must understand the sermon of the preacher. There are five remarkable things in the sermon, and there are five correspondent dispositions in the hearers.
I. We have remarked in the sermon of St. Peter that noble freedom of speech, which so well becomes a Christian preacher, and is so well adapted to strike his hearers. How much soever we now admire this beautiful part of pulpit-eloquence, it is very difficult to imitate it. Sometimes a weakness of faith, which attends your best established preachers; sometimes worldly prudence; sometimes a timidity, that proceedeth from a modest consciousness of the insufficiency of their talents; sometimes a fear, too well grounded, alas I of the retorting of those censures, which people, always ready to murmur against them who reprove their vices, are eager to make; sometimes a fear of those persecutions, which the world always raiseth against all whom heaven qualifies to destroy the empire of sin; all these considerations damp the courage of the preacher, and deprive him of freedom of speech. But none of these considerations had any weight with our apostle. And, indeed, why should any of them affect him? Should the weakness of his faith? He had conversed with Jesus Christ Himself; he had accompanied Him on the holy mount, he had “heard a voice from the excellent glory,” saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Could he distrust his talents? The Prince of the kingdom, the Author, and Finisher of faith, had told him, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church.” Should he dread reproaches and recriminations? The purity of his intentions, and the sanctity of his life confound them. Should he pretend to keep fair with the world? But what finesse is to be used, when eternal misery is to be denounced, and eternal happiness proposed? Philosophers talk of certain invisible bands that unite mankind to one another. A man, animated with any passion, hath in the features of his face, and in the tone of his voice, a something that partly communicates his sentiments to his hearers. Error proposed in a lively manner by a man, who is affected with it himself, may seduce unguarded people. Fictions, which we know are fictions, exhibited in this manner, move and affect us for a moment. But what a dominion over the heart doth that speaker obtain, who delivers truths, and who is affected himself with the truths which he delivereth! To this part of the eloquence of St. Peter, we must attribute the emotions of his hearers; “they were pricked in their heart.”
II. A second thing which gave weight and dignity to the sermon of St. Peter, was the miracle that preceded his preaching, I mean the gift of tongues, which had been communicated to all the apostles. The prodigy that accompanied the sermon of St. Peter had three characteristic marks of a real miracle.
1. It was above human power. Every pretended miracle, that hath not this first character, ought to be suspected by us. But the prodigy in question was evidently superior to human power. Of all sciences in the world, that of languages is the least capable of an instant acquisition. Certain natural talents, a certain superiority of genius, sometimes produce in some men the same effects, which long and painful industry can scarcely ever produce in others. We have sometimes seen people whom nature seems to have designedly formed in an instant courageous captains, profound geometers, admirable orators. But tongues are acquired by study and time. The acquisition of languages is like the knowledge of history. It is not a superior genius, it is not a great capacity, that can discover to any man what passed in the world ten or twelve ages ago. The monuments of antiquity must be consulted, huge folios must be read, and an immense number of volumes must be understood, arranged, and digested. In like manner, the knowledge of languages is a knowledge of experience, and no man can ever derive it from his own innate fund of ability. Yet the apostles, and apostolical men, men who were known to be men of no education, all on a sudden knew the arbitrary signs by which different nations had agreed to express their thoughts. Terms, which had no natural connection with their ideas, were all on a sudden arranged in their minds.
2. But perhaps these miracles may not be the more respectable on account of their superiority to human power. Perhaps, if they be not human, they may be devilish? No, a little attention to their second character will convince you that they are Divine. Their end was to incline men, not to renounce natural and revealed religion, but to respect and to follow both; not to render an attentive examination unnecessary, but to allure men to it.
3. The prodigy that accompanied the preaching of St. Peter had the third character of a true miracle. It was wrought in the presence of those who had the greatest interest in knowing the truth of it. The miracle being granted, I affirm that the compunction of heart, of which my text speaks, was an effect of that attention which could not be refused to such an extraordinary event, and of that deference which could not be withheld from a man, to whose ministry God had set His seal. They instantly, and entirely, surrendered themselves to men, who addressed them in a manner so extraordinary, “they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
III. We remark, in the discourse of the apostle, an invincible power of reasoning, and, in the souls of his hearers, that conviction which carries along with it the consent of the will. Of all methods of reasoning with an adversary, none is more conclusive than that which is taken from his own principles. But when the principles of an adversary are well grounded, and when we are able to prove that his principles produce our conclusions, our reasoning becomes demonstrative to a rational opponent, and he ought not to deny it. Christianity, it is remarkable, is defensible both ways. The first may be successfully employed against pagans; the second more successfully against the Jews. It is easy to convince a heathen that he can have no right to exclaim against the mysteries of the gospel, because if he have any reason to exclaim against the mysteries of Christianity, he hath infinitely more to exclaim against those of paganism. The second way was employed more successfully by the apostles against the Jews. They demonstrated that all the reasons, which obliged them to be Jews, ought to have induced them to become Christians; that every argument, which obliged them to acknowledge the Divine legation of Moses, ought to have engaged them to believe in Jesus Christ. St. Peter made use of this method. What argument can ye allege for your religion, said they to the Jews, which doth not establish that which we preach? Do ye allege the privileges of your legislator? Your argument is demonstrative; Moses had access to God on the holy mountain. Do ye allege the purity of the morality of your religion? Your argument is demonstrative. The manifest design of your religion is to reclaim men to God, to prevent idolatry, and to inspire them with piety, benevolence, and zeal. But this argument concludes for us. Do ye allege the miracles that were wrought to prove the truth of your religion? Your argument is demonstrative. But this argument establisheth the truth of our religion. What, then, are the prejudices that still engage you to continue in the profession of Judaism? Are they derived from the prophecies? Your principles are demonstrative; but, in the person of our Jesus, we show you to-day all the grand characters which, your own prophets said, would be found in the Messiah. Close reasoning ought to be the soul of all discourses. I compare it in regard to eloquence with benevolence in regard to religion. Without benevolence we may maintain a show of religion; but we cannot possess the substance of it (1 Corinthians 13:1, etc.). In like manner in regard to eloquence; speak with authority, display treasures of erudition, let the liveliest and most sublime imagination wing it away, turn all your periods till they make music in the most delicate ear, what will all your discourses be if void of argumentation? a noise, sounding brass, a tinkling cymbal. Ye may surprise, but ye cannot convince; ye may dazzle, but ye cannot instruct; ye may, indeed, please, but ye can neither change, sanctify, nor transform.
IV. There are, in the sermon of St. Peter, stinging reproofs; and, in the souls of the hearers, a pungent remorse (verse 22). And who can express the agitations which were produced in the souls of the audience? What pencil can describe the state of their consciences? They had committed this crime through ignorance. St. Peter tore these fatal veils asunder. He showed these madmen their own conduct in its true point of light; and discovered their parricide in all its horror. “Ye have taken, and crucified Jesus, who was approved of God.” The apostle reminded them of the holy rules of righteousness, which Jesus Christ had preached and exemplified; and the holiness of Him, whom they had crucified, filled them with a sense of their own depravity. He reminded them of the benefits which Jesus Christ had bountifully bestowed on their nation. He reminded them of the grandeur of Jesus Christ. He reminded them of their unworthy treatment of Jesus Christ; of their eager outcries for His death; of their repeated shoutings. The whole was an ocean of terror, and each reflection a wave that overwhelmed, distorted, and distressed their souls.
V. In fine, we may remark in the sermon of St. Peter denunciations of Divine vengeance. The most effectual means for the conversion of sinners, that which St. Paul so successfully employed, is terror. St. Peter was too well acquainted with the obduracy of his auditors not to avail himself of this motive. People, who had imbrued their hands in the blood of a personage so august, wanted this mean. St. Peter quoted a prophecy of Joel, which foretold that fatal day, and the prophecy was the more terrible because one part of it was accomplished; because the remarkable events that were to precede it were actually come to pass; for the Spirit of God had begun to pour out His miraculous influences upon all flesh, young men had seen visions, and old men had dreamed dreams; and the formidable preparations of approaching judgments were then before their eyes. Such was the power of the sermon of St. Peter over the souls of his hearers! Human eloquence hath sometimes done wonders worthy of immortal memory. Some of the ancient orators have governed the souls of the most invincible heroes, and the life of Cicero affords us an example. Ligarius had the audacity to make war on Caesar. Caesar was determined to make the rash adventurer a victim to his revenge. The friends of Legarius durst not interpose, and Ligarius was on the point, either of being justly punished for his offence, or of being sacrificed to the unjust ambition of his enemy. What force could control the power of Caesar? But Caesar had an adversary, whose power was superior to his own. This adversary pleads for Ligarius against Caesar, and Caesar, all invincible as he is, yields to the eloquence of Cicero. Cicero pleads, Caesar feels; in spite of himself, his wrath subsides, his vengeance disappears. The fatal list of the crimes of Ligarius, which he is about to produce to the judges, falls from his hands, and he actually absolves him at the close of the oration, whom, when he entered the court, he meant to condemn. But yield, ye orators of Athens and Rome! Yield to our fishermen and tent-makers. Oh, how powerful is the sword of the Spirit in the hands of our apostles! But will ye permit us to ask you one question? Would ye choose to hear the apostles, and ministers like the apostles? Would ye attend their sermons? or, to say all in one word, Do ye wish St. Peter was now in this pulpit? Think a little, before ye answer this question. Compare the taste of this auditory with the genius of the preacher; your delicacy with that liberty of speech with which he reproved the vices of his own times. One wants to find something new in every sermon; and, under pretence of satisfying his laudable desire of improvement in knowledge, would divert our attention from well-known vices that deserve to be censured. Another desires to be pleased, and would have us adorn our discourses, not that we may obtain an easier access to his heart, but that we may flatter a kind of concupiscence, which is content to sport with a religious exercise, till, when Divine service ends, it can plunge into more sensual joy. Almost all require to be lulled asleep in sin. Ah! how disagreeable to you would the sermons of the apostles have been! Realise them. Ah! methinks I hear the holy man; methinks I hear the preacher, animated with the same spirit that made him boldly tell the murderers of Jesus Christ, “Jesus of Nazareth, a Man approved of God among you, by miracles and wonders, and signs, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” Methinks I see St. Peter, the man who was so extremely affected with the sinful state of his auditors; methinks I hear him enumerating the various excesses of this nation, and saying, Ye! ye are void of all sensibility when we tell you of the miseries of the Church, when we describe those bloody scenes, that are made up of dungeons and galleys, apostates and martyrs. (J. Saurin.)
The results of revivals not all known
A revival is as when a sportsman goes out with his gun, and sends its charge into a flock of pigeons. Some fall dead at once, and he sees and secures them; but others, sorely hurt, limp off and hide, to die among the bushes. The best part of this revival is, that while you can only see those who are shot dead, and fall down before you, there are, thank God, thousands in all parts of the land, being hit and wounded, to go off unnoticed to their own homes, and God heals them there.
Revival preachers
Revival preachers make their sermons like a lens, to concentrate the rays of truth, and exhibit them with unflinching hand, in near connection with the sinner, till they burn and inflame his heart. (J. Jenkyn.)
A sermon without an application
A sermon without an application does no more good than the singing of a skylark: it may teach, but it does not impel; and though the preacher may be under concern for his audience, he does not show it till he turns the subject to their immediate advantage. (Bishop Home.)
The operations of truth
Divine truth exerts on the mind of man at once a restorative and a self-manifesting power. It creates in the mind the capacity by which it is discerned. As light opens the close-shut flower-bud to receive light, or as the sunbeam, playing on a sleeper’s eyes, by its gentle irritation opens them to see its own brightness; so the truth of God, shining on the soul, quickens and stirs into activity the faculty by which that very truth is perceived. It matters little which of the two operations be first; practically they may be regarded as simultaneous. The perception rouses the faculty, and yet the faculty is implied in the perception. The truth awakens the mind, and yet the mind must be in activity ere the truth can reach it. And the same two-fold process is carried on in the whole subsequent progress of the soul. (Professor Caird.)
Awakened sinners
Peter’s hearers--
I. Were in a state of distress. “Pricked to the heart.” The Holy Spirit did this by means of--
1. What they saw; the wrong and folly of their action towards Jesus.
2. What they felt; that their folly and wrong-doing were sinful in the sight of God.
3. What they feared; that they might have to endure dreadful consequences.
II. Uttered a cry of distress, which meant--
1. That something must be done. The misery of self-condemnation must be ended by some means. It is a joy to an evangelist when hearers have this feeling.
2. That the apostles were able to tell them what to do. Peter had led them into that state, and it was natural to expect that he could deal with them in that state.
3. That they were ready to do what was required. The mark of true penitence is submissiveness. So long as a seeker lays down his own terms he is not fit to be saved.
III. Received an apostolic answer.
1. Turn from your sins. They were already convinced of sin and sorry for it, and were therefore ready for the direction.
2. Openly declare that you have turned from your sins. At this time baptism meant a great deal, viz., that the service of Christ was chosen at the risk of certain suffering.
3. Fulfil the appointed conditions of pardon. “Repent etc. with reference to the remission of sins.” So long as these are unfulfilled the sinner is morally unfit to receive pardon.
4. The Spirit who has given you this distress will give you joy. “Ye shall receive the gift,” etc. The fulness of the Spirit’s work always brings fulness of joy.
IV. Learned the ground of the answer. “The promise is unto you,” etc. How wonderful that their awful sin did not invalidate this promise. Who is not the subject of the Divine call? The call to repentance, faith and virtue comes by many means: by providence, the Word, the Spirit. Have you not heard it?
V. Receive a final direction (verse 40).
1. The generation was wicked. This had been abundantly proved. Is it not so with the present generation? What else mean the frauds, vices, and blasphemies of every class of society.
2. It was necessary for the followers of Jesus to be separate from the world. Reason, interest, and Christian philanthropy required it then and require it now. Jesus was separate from sinners; His kingdom is not of this world; and true Christianity and worldliness cannot coalesce. He, then, who wishes to be saved must renounce the world.
3. This direction, therefore, is properly the last to penitent inquirers. To leave the world is to give decisive proof of the genuineness of repentance and faith. (W. Hudson.)
The great question and the inspired answer
I. The questing.
1. To this question they were led--
(1) by the Spirit;
(2) by the Truth;
(3) by their conscience--a view of sin leading to a consciousness of many.
2. This question indicates their--
(1) feeling;
(2) condition;
(3) desire.
3. This question was--
(1) honest,
(2) searching,
(3) inspired.
II. A suitable and significant answer.
1. Consider who gives the answer--
(1) apostles,
(2) inspired,
(3) speaking with authority.
2. The answer urges to--
(1) repentance,
(2) profession of Christ.
(3) yielding to the Spirit’s control.
3. The answer rests--
(1) not on human wisdom,
(2) not on human goodness,
(3) not on human efforts,
(4) but on the promise of God (verse 39), which is as wide as the world.
III. To a right reception comes a blessed consummation.
1. In personal experience--
(1) peace,
(2) goodness,
(3) singleness of heart (verse 46).
2. Relatively--
(1) favours with God,
(2) and man (verse 47). (J. M. Allis.)
Rightly dividing the word of truth
1. The word had wounded, now the word heals. A little religion is a painful thing, but more takes the pain away. The word is a hammer to break and a balm to heal. Its first effect is to convince a sinner that he is lost; its next to make the lost rejoice in his Saviour.
2. It is important to keep these two functions distinct. To preach a healing gospel when there is no wound on the conscience is like pressing cold water on those who are not thirsty. There is nothing sweeter to the thirsty; nothing more insipid to the satisfied.
3. The apostle rightly divided the word of truth. Peter’s aim all through is to produce conviction of sin, and for this appeals to Scripture to bring home the guilt of the crucifixion. It was not with gladness that they received that word but with grief, shame, remorse. When the preacher saw that his first word had taken effect he delivered the second. He had succeeded in wounding; and at the cry of the suffering patient, he comes forward to heal. The old stem had been cut off and the tree was bleeding; he turns the knife, and with its other side inserts the new graft, that there may be a tree of righteousness the planting of the Lord. You pour some burning drops upon a sore; their first effect is to increase the pain; but knowing the sovereign power of the remedy you continue to pour, sparing not for the patient’s crying. At length continued application of that which caused the pain takes all pain away. When the word wounds, still ply the word until the sword becomes a balm. Then, in this second stage, the hearer will receive the word with joy. He who really receives the word receives it gladly, for those who do not, will not long continue to receive it at all.
3. The believers were immediately baptized. It is clear that regeneration was not the result of baptism, but vice versa. It was when they received the word with gladness they were baptized. The order of events is that which the master enjoined (Matthew 28:19-20). Peter and his companions first laid themselves out to make disciples. Then, when by the successive pain and gladness produced by preaching, they perceived that disciples were made, they baptized them. Lastly, the newly accepted members of the Church were taught to observe all the commandments, for they abounded in faith and love.
4. But a dash of sadness is thrown upon the happy scene. “Fear came upon every soul.” But this points to the outer circle. The conversions startled the onlookers, and they were smitten with a sudden fear lest they should be left outside and perish. From the apostles view point, however, this was a hopeful symptom. The example of believers had begun to tell. It is a good sign when those living without God begirt to be uneasy; especially when it is at the sight of multitudes pressing into the kingdom. When men are delivered from the horrible pit many shall see it and fear (Psalms 40:1-17.). The Christian community in the freshness of its first faith was suddenly thrown into society, and disturbed it by its unwonted presence. If a new planet should be projected into our system, it would make the old worlds stagger. Bodies in contact reciprocally affect each other, especially in respect of temperature. Pour hot water into a cold vessel; the water contributes to heat the vessel, but the vessel also contributes to cool the water. But if a constant stream of hot water is supplied, it will bring up the vessel to its own temperature. A process like this goes on continually between the Church and the world. Fervent disciples, particularly those in their first love, affect with their own warmth the society into which they are poured; but society, on the other hand, affects them with its own coldness, and being the larger body will soon cool the disciples’ hearts, unless they maintain constant contact with Christ.
5. A word to those who are without Christ, I confess that the Church in contact with you is more or less cold. The disciples are not so manifestly like heaven as to send a thrill of terror through you lest you should fall to join their company. But if you stumble over their coldness, to blame them for their lukewarmness will not save you when you are lost. A man on inspecting a new house he was having built found one of the men lighting his pipe in the midst of dry shavings. So he said to him, “If my house is burnt the blame will rest on you.” Thinking over what he had said, he added, “The blame will be yours, but the loss will be mine.” He saw the risk, and went away and insured his house. Go thou and do likewise. The Church deserves blame; but the loss is yours. Hide your imperilled soul “with Christ in God.” (W. Arnot, D. D.)
On being pricked to the heart
I. When we hear God reprove sin we should be pricked at the heart.
1. So as to be sensible of sin.
(1) The guilt of it (Psalms 51:3-4).
(2) Of our defilement with it (Psalms 57:5).
2. So as to be troubled for our sins.
(1) Their sinfulness.
(2) Their multitude. (Ezra 9:6).
(3) Their greatness; as being--
(a) Against knowledge (John 3:19).
(b) Against mercies.
(c) After judgments (Isaiah 1:5; Amos 4:9).
(d) Contrary to our promises.
(e) Against the checks of conscience (Romans 2:15), the motives of the Spirit, the reproofs of the word.
3. Uses: Be pricked at your hearts when sin is reproved considering--
(1) Who is it that reproves (Amos 3:8; Jeremiah 5:21-22).
(2) Reproofs without this effect do more harm than good (Proverbs 29:1).
(3) God may reprove no more (Ezekiel 3:26; Hosea 4:17).
(4) You must answer for all the reproofs you hear.
II. Such as are pricked to the heart should be very inquisitive what to do.
1. We are all capable of holiness and happiness (Genesis 1:26).
2. But full of sin and misery (Ephesians 2:3).
3. It is one part of our sin and misery that we are not sensible of
(1) sin. This appears--
(a) In that we have not grieved for it (Ezekiel 7:16).
(b) Nor fear to commit it (Psalms 18:23).
(c) Nor strive to get it subdued (Psalms 57:2).
(2) Misery. This appears--
(a) In that we rejoice in it.
(b) We do not strive to get out of it.
4. The first step to holiness and felicity is sensibleness of sin and misery.
5. There is none so sensible of this, but he will be very inquisitive what to do (Acts 16:30). This is essential because--
(1) Our everlasting happiness depends upon it.
(2) Unless we inquire we shall never know what to do.
6. Whom must we inquire of?
(1) God.
(2) The Scriptures (Luke 17:29).
(3) Ministers. (Bp. Beveridge.)
Being pricked to the heart
Whitefield was preaching at Exeter. A man was present who had filled his pockets with stones to throw at the preacher. He heard, however, the prayer with patience, but no sooner was the text named than he pulled out a stone, and waited for an opportunity to throw it. But God sent the Word into his heart, and the stone fell from his hand. After the sermon he went to Whitefield, and said, “Sir, I came to hear you with a view to break your head, but the Spirit of God through your ministry has given me a broken heart.” The man proved to be a sound convert, and lived an ornament to the gospel.
Heart-work God’s work
Heart-work must be God’s work. Only the great heart-maker can be the great heart-breaker. (R. Baxter.)
The gospel to be preached to the heart
“I have an ear for other preachers,” Sir John Cheke used to say, “but I have a heart for Latimer.” Here is a very clear and main distinction. Too often men hear the Word sounding its drums and trumpets outside their walls, and they are filled with admiration of the martial music; bat their city gates are fast closed and vigilantly guarded, so that the truth has no admittance, but only the sound of it. Would to God we knew how to reach men’s affections, for the heart is the target we aim at, and unless we hit it we miss altogether.
The truth the sword of the Spirit
It is not the drapery in which Divine truth may be clothed, nor the force and beauty of the illustrations with which it may be presented, but it is the truth itself--the bare, naked, unvarnished truth-that is the instrument of the Spirit’s power. That is the sword of the Spirit; and it is the sword that does the work, not the scabbard in which it is sheathed. The scabbard may be finely fitted, and beautifully embellished, bound with the finest gold, and glittering with jewels of polished diamonds; but it is not the garnished scabbard, it is the drawn sword which the Spirit wields, and which, when wielded by Him, is quick and powerful, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. (J. A. Wallace.)
A famous conversion
1. It is remarkable in the very first order of it. It is the first conversion that was wrought by the apostles in the Christian Church; the first-fruits of the gospel; the first handful of ripe ears of corn offered up to God to sanctify the whole harvest; the goodly bunch of Eskol gathered by these first spies, the apostles, betokening the Church’s fruitfulness.
2. It is remarkable for the time and season when these converts embrace the faith and profess religion. We all know it was a sad time of persecution.
3. It is remarkable in the condition and quality of the persons: a mixed, confused company of men, strangely disposed and affected before their conversion. They run together, and flock about the apostles, with no very religious purpose, but merely to gaze and wonder at them. Nay, worse than so, they fall a-scoffing and deriding the apostles. Oh, the greatness of God’s mercy that He would, and, oh, the power of Christ’s grace that it could, convert such converts as these!
4. It is remarkable in the great number and multitude of converts. Not a cluster, or two, but a plentiful vintage. Such was the power of religion in those primitive times; so mightily grew the Word, and prevailed.
5. It is remarkable for the complete, entire fulness of their conversion. They are troubled for their sins, “pricked at their heart.” They repent, believe, and are baptized. They are diligent in all the duties of God’s service, and worship (verse 24). Their religion is not confined to the Church only, but they are fruitful in all works of charity (verse 45). They live together in all Christian love (verse 46). Here is an exact pattern of a through-conversion, a complete and perfect frame of a holy Church.
I. The means that wrought this anguish and compunction. It is St. Peter’s sermon: “When they heard this.” The text tells us of a wound that was given them, that pierced their heart. Here we see both the weapon that made it, and the place where it entered. In bodily strokes, he that means to hit the heart must take another aim, not run his weapon in at the ear; but he that means to wound the heart spiritually, his directest passage is through the ear. In this case there is an immediate conveyance from the ear to the heart. Men may as well expect good corn on their land without ploughing and sowing, as true sorrow and repentance without hearing and attending. The passage and entrance, then, is the ear; but what is the weapon St. Peter uses to pierce and wound them?
1. God’s Word in the general, that is the means that works this compunction, that is the choice, sanctified instrument appointed by God for this sacred work. The speaking to exhortation and doctrine is the way to convince and convert souls.
2. It is verbum convictivum. St. Peter makes choice of that Word of God that was most fit to detect and convict them; and he doth manage it so that they could not avoid the edge of it. And this he does by a close application of it to their sinful condition.
3. It was verbum convictivum de his peccatis. He charges them in a special manner with these and these sins as those that are likeliest to perplex their soul and bring them to compunction. As, in course of law, general accusations will ground no action; if we come to accuse a man, it is not sufficient to lay to his charge that he is a malefactor, but we must charge him with particulars. So, would a sinner arraign his conscience before God’s tribunal, he must frame an indictment against himself of his more notorious and personal impieties. If we trouble and disquiet and perplex your souls, we have our warrant from St. Peter’s example. St. Peter was even now filled with the Holy Ghost, and so the first vent that it found is in this sharp reprehension. This kind of dealing is warranted by the great success that God gave unto it. Peter hath saved thousands with it, and Paul his ten thousands. This is to cast the net on the right side of the ship, as Christ directs Peter; he shall not miss of a plentiful draught. He that means to fish for souls, let him bait his hook with this worm of conscience, and he will take them presently.
II. The paroxysm itself, the anguish and compunction they were brought into.
1. It is exceeding sharp; their soul is embittered in them. The Scripture sets out this compunction of spirit in terms of extremity (2 Samuel 24:10; Proverbs 18:14; Romans 2:9; Psalms 51:17). And it is the sense of God’s displeasure causes this breaking by three apprehensions, as by so many strokes.
(1) As most deserved and due to us. We eat the bitter fruit of our works.
(2) As most heavy and unsupportable by us. Who knows the power of His anger? Who can dwell with everlasting burnings?
(3) As, of ourselves, unavoidable by us. How shall we flee from the wrath to come? A poor sinner, beset with these anxieties, tortures himself with these pensive thoughts: “What have I done?” “What danger have I run into?” “How bitter are mine anguishes?” “Whither shall I turn myself for ease and comfort?”
2. Consider the goodness of these men’s compunction; and it will appear observable for our imitation in these four respects:--
(1) Their compunction is the more observable, because it is wrought in them without the help and concurrence of any outward affliction, only by the dint of St. Peter’s sermon.
(2) Their compunction is the more observable because wrought into them by the hearing of one sermon of St. Peter; no sooner charged with sin but they are convinced presently, and cry cut for sorrow.
(3) Their compunction is the more observable as being wrought in them only by convincing them of sin, not by threatening or denouncing of judgments.
(4) This compunction is the more observable because, ye see, it is a full yielding to the accusation. St. Peter charges them with horrid sin, and, without more ado, they plead guilty to all, confess the whole indictment. They are not enraged against the apostle for this sharp reproof. They take no exception against the accuser. They make no defence of the fact. They excuse it not. They demur not. None of all these shifts, but they accept of the accusation; they confess themselves guilty, and, with sorrow of heart, acknowledge they are murderers of the Lord of glory.
(a) Such power and such strength was in the Word of God preached by Peter. His words are like sharp arrows in the hand of a giant: they return not empty.
(b) Such prevalency hath the Grace of God in the hearts of this people. Like a sovereign antidote that served to drive the poison of sin from the heart into the outward parts by an open confession. That is the second particular of the text--their anguish and perplexity; and it briefly affords us a threefold meditation.
(i.) It lets us see the outfall of sin; the issue and end of it is sorrow and vexation. It may be sweet in the mouth, but it will be bitter in thy bowels.
(ii.) It shows the inlet and first entrance of grace; it begins with sorrow and sharp compunction. The first physic to recover our souls are not cordials, but corrosives; not an immediate stepping into heaven by a present assurance, but mourning, and a bitter bewailing of our former transgressions.
(iii.) It shows us the downfall of despair. Are these converts, whom God means mercy to, thus sharply tortured? How bitter are their torments whom He plunges into perdition I
III. The course they take for ease and remedy. They repair to Peter and the apostles, crave their help and direction: “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” And this course of theirs is qualified with three conditions.
1. They take a speedy course. As soon as the wound is given and felt, they presently seek for help and direction. They put it not off till some other time, as Felix did when he felt the first shiverings and grudgings of contrition. Nor think they that they shall outgrow it in time, that their hearts are like good flesh that will heal of itself. No; delays in this kind breed a double danger.
(1) Good motions, if not cherished, will vanish away, and then the heart grows harder.
(2) Hath God pricked thine heart? Take the wound timely, lest it grow worse.
2. It was an advised and proper course they make choice of St. Peter and the rest of the apostles. And the wisdom, shall I say, or the happiness of this choice will appear in four particulars.
(1) They are spiritual men, physicians for the soul. A. wounded spirit cannot be cured but by spiritual means.
(2) They repair to the apostles. Why, Peter was he that wounded them! Best of all, none like him to cure them. What Hosea speaks of God is true of His ministers in a due subordination. “They have wounded, and they heal us; they have smitten, and they will bind us up.”
(3) They repair to Peter and the rest; they come to men of practice and experience. These apostles knew what it was to have a wounded spirit; these had crucified Christ; Peter had denied Him, the rest had forsaken Him, and it cost them dear ere they could be recovered. None like these to direct their conscience. They do it--
(a) more skilfully,
(b) more humbly,
(c) more tenderly.
(4) They are unanimous, all here in a joint consent and concurrence of judgment.
3. It proves successful, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” It discovers a threefold effect that this compunction hath already wrought in them to help forward their conversion.
(1) It represses their censoriousness. A man truly sensible of his own sins will have little lift or leisure to censure and judge, much less to reproach or slander others. It will make him judge himself, and condemn himself, and think worst of himself of all other men.
(2) This compunction and perplexity makes them reverent and respectful to St. Peter and the other apostles. God’s ministers are never in season with the world till men come to distress and perplexity. In the time of ease and jollity a minister is but a contemptible man; he and his pains may be well spared. But when sorrows surprise you, and your hearts are wounded, then one leaf from the Tree of Life to stanch the bleeding wilt be precious to you. This is the honour of our ministry to be able to help in such helpless times.
(3) It makes them inquisitive. “What shall we do?” Surely it is the voice of anguish and perplexity. They speak as men at a loss; they know not how to shift. But they were men acquainted with the law; nay, devout zealots of the Jewish traditions (verse 5); and yet we see they are now to seek how to ease themselves in that great perplexity. Whence arises this sudden amazement? Was it from the surcharge of sorrow that had overwhelmed their spirits and darkened that light which was formerly in them? It often proves so. It shadows out the insufficiency of the law to breed peace and comfort to us. It may perplex us, but it cannot quiet us; discover our sins, but not remove them. Or was it not they placed all their religion in some outward observations, without the life and piety of inward devotion. Rituals with substantials are the beauty of religion, but severed and divided will breed but cold comfort to us.
2. It makes them docile and tractable, willing and desirous to receive instruction. Compunction bores and opens the ear, and makes it capable of direction.
3. It begets a readiness to undertake any course that shall be prescribed for relief and comfort. In our ease heaven must fall into our laps, or we will none of it. If it put us to pains or cost it is toe dear a bargain for us to deal withal. But when our souls are in perplexity we will be glad to accept of mercy upon any terms; we will take heaven at God’s price then. “I will do anything, Lord, I will suffer anything to get hell out of my soul now, and to keep my soul out of hell hereafter.” (Bp. Brownrigg.)
Life-wounds
1. Peter’s sermon was not a fine display of eloquence.
2. Neither was it a very pathetic plea.
3. Nor a loud but empty cry of “Believe, believe!”
4. It was simple, a plain statement and a soberly earnest argument.
5. Its power lay in the truthfulness of the speaker, his appeal to Scripture, the concurrence of his witnessing brethren, and his own evident faith.
6. Above all, in the Holy Spirit who accompanied the Word.
I. Saving impression is a prick in the heart. To be cut to the heart is deadly (Acts 5:33): to be pricked in the heart is saving.
1. All true religion must be of the heart. Without this--
(1) Ceremonies are useless (Isaiah 1:13).
(2) Orthodoxy of head is in vain (Jeremiah 7:4).
(3) Profession and a constrained morality fail (2 Timothy 3:5).
(4) Loud zeal, excited and sustained by mere passions, is useless.
2. Impressions which do not prick the heart may even be evil. They may
(1) Excite to wrath and opposition.
(2) Lead to sheer hypocrisy.
(3) Create and foster a spurious hope.
3. Even when such superficial impressions are good, they are transient: and when they have passed away, they have often hardened those who have felt them for a season.
4. They will certainly be inoperative. As they have not touched the heart, they will not affect the life. They will not lead to
(1) Confession and inquiry, nor
(2) Repentance and change of life.
(3) Glad reception of the Word, nor
(4) Obedience and steadfastness. Heart-work is the only real work.
II. What truths produce such a prick?
1. The truth of the gospel has often, by the power of the Holy Ghost, produced an indelible wound in minds sceptical and opposed.
2. A sense of some one specially startling sin has frequently aroused the conscience (2 Samuel 12:7).
3. Instruction in the nature of the law, and the consequent heinousness of sin, has been blessed to that end (Romans 7:13).
4. The infinite wickedness of sin, as against the very being of God, is also a wounding thought (Psalms 51:4).
5. The exactness, severity, and terror of the judgment, and the consequent punishment of sin, are stirring thoughts (Acts 16:25-30).
6. The great goodness of God has led many to see the cruel wantonness of sin against Him (Romans 2:4).
7. The death of Christ as a Substitute has often been the means of revealing the greatness of the sin which needed such an atonement, and of showing the true tendency of sin in having slain One so good and kind (Zechariah 12:10).
8. The abundant grace and love revealed in the gospel and received by us are sharp arrows to wound the heart.
III. What hand makes these painful pricks?
1. The same hand which wrote the piercing truths also applies them.
2. He is well acquainted with our hearts, and so can reach them.
3. He is the Quickener, the Comforter, the Spirit helping our infirmities, showing to us the things of Jesus: His fruit is love, joy, peace, etc. We need not utterly despair when wounded by such a tender Friend.
4. He is a Spirit to be sought unto, who acts in answer to His people’s prayers. We turn for healing to Him who pricks.
IV. How can these pricks be healed?
1. Only One who is Divine can heal a wounded heart.
2. The only medicine is the blood of His heart.
3. The only hand to apply it is that which was pierced.
4. The only fee required is gladly to receive Him. Conclusion: Let us ask the question, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Let us then obey the gospel, and believe in the Lord Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Honest preaching
No doubt it is a high and difficult task to preach with success; far be it from us to teach that no pains should be used to gain men’s ears; but the preacher who gains their ears should use his conquest to reach their consciences--and it is his business to give them pain. They are sinners, and they know it, even better than the preacher. He will not become their enemy by telling them the truth, and so telling it that their ears will tingle with shame and their consciences cry out with remorse. At all events, enemies made in that way may become the preacher’s best friend; and if they do not, they will carry his credentials as stigmata burnt into their memories. A man riding with his friend past a country church fell to musing with himself, and presently said: “In that house, thirty years ago, I passed the most uncomfortable hour of my life. It seems but yesterday, and my pain seems as keen as it was then.” The other laughed and said: “I suppose it was some coquettish maiden.” “No. It was an honest preacher who got hold of my very soul.” Such memories in the hearts of sinners are the best credentials they can give to preachers of the gospel.
Reaching the heart
Jerome used to say, “It is not the clamour of praise but the groans of conviction that should be heard whilst the minister preaches.” And again, “The tears of the congregation form the highest praises of the pulpit orator.” The anecdote of Dean Milner and Rowland Hill here is apposite. Dean Milner had a great objection against extemporaneous preaching, thinking that it warred against the precise and orthodox mode. However, being attracted by the great fame of Rowland Hill, he was led to indulge his curiosity by once going to hear him. After the sermon the Dean was seen forcing his way, in much haste, to the vestry-room, when, seizing the hand of the preacher, in his enthusiasm, he cried out, “Well, dear brother Rowland, I perceive now that your slapdash preachers are, after all, the best preachers; it went to the heart, sir; it went to the heart, sir!” (Scottish Christian Herald.)
Powerful preaching
John Elias was called to preach a great association sermon at Pwllheli. In the whole neighbourhood the state of religion was very low, and distressingly discouraging to pious minds, and it had been so for many years. Elias felt that his visit must be an occasion with him. It may almost be said of that day that “he prayed, and the heavens gave rain.” He went. He took as his text, “Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered.” It was an astonishing time. While the preacher drove along with his tremendous power, multitudes of the people fell to the ground. Calm stood the man, his words rushing from him like flames of fire. There were added to the churches of that immediate neighbourhood, in consequence of the impetus of that sermon, two thousand five hundred members. (E. Paxton Hood.)
Only God can heal the wounds He makes
When a man is wounded with a barbed arrow, the agonies he suffers will cause him to toss about in pain; but the harder he strives to release the weapon from his flesh, the more does it become entangled in his sinews, the wound becomes enlarged, and the torture increased. When, by the power of the Holy Ghost, a man is wounded on account of sin, and the arrows of the Most High tear his soul, he frequently tries to pluck them out with his own hand, but finds that the misery becomes worse, and the inflaming wounds at last cause faintness and despair. Only the Good Physician knows how to relieve the pain without tearing and festering the spirit. (Handbook of Illustration.)
A true saving conviction of sin
I. The instrument by which it was produced, namely, the preaching of St. Peter. The Holy Spirit was the Author, but He employed the preaching of the apostle. It is by the Word of God, and usually by the preaching of that Word, that the heart is awakened, enlightened, and impressed. See why Satan is such an enemy to the preaching of the gospel. He knows that it is the appointed instrument for overturning his kingdom. He would, therefore, gladly prevent preaching, but when he cannot do this he tries to keep men from hearing.
II. The description here given of a saving conviction of sin. They “were pricked in their hearts.” The Word of God, in order to be of any real use, must reach the heart. It is not enough that it enlighten the understanding, or please the fancy, or warm the affections. Nor is merely reaching the heart sufficient. It must touch it. And what is the way in which it touches the heart? We read of some ‘who were “cut to the heart.” Their hearts were deeply affected; but instead of any saving conviction being wrought in them, they were only the more exasperatd and hardened against the truth. A prick in the heart, though a small wound, would be fatal.
III. The way in which such a conviction will show itself; namely, in an application for relief. Take notice to whom they made this application: to those very persons through whose preaching the wound had been inflicted. Not that the preacher, by his own power, can heal the wound, any more than he could at first inflict it. The same Holy Spirit, which alone produces conviction, can alone administer consolation. But in both eases He works by means. Attend, then, to the preaching of the Word, and you will find it a life-giving Word, mighty to heal as well as to wound, the power of God unto salvation.
IV. The humility produced by a saving conviction of sin. Such a conviction disposes men to use the remedy prescribed. “What shall we do?” indicates that they were not only in deep trouble as not knowing what course to take, but also that they were willing to follow any directions which the apostles might point out. To this question there is but one answer, that of Peter. (E. Cooper.)
We must preach to the consciences of men
Inspector Byrnes of New York says, “The great lieutenant of every police officer is that mysterious thing called conscience. You let a man try to deceive himself and lie to himself about himself, and that something comes knocking up against the shell of his body, and thumping on his ribs with every heart-beat, and pounding on his skull until his head aches and he wishes he were dead, and groans in agony for relief. It is the same conscience that makes a criminal ‘give himself away,’ if one only knows how to awaken it, or stir it into activity. I never let a man know for what he is arrested. He may have committed a dozen more crimes of which I know nothing. If I lock him up alone and leave him to the black walls and his guilty conscience for three or four hours, while he pictures the possible punishment due to him for all his crimes, he comes presently into my hands like soft clay in the hands of the potter. Then he is likely to tell me much more than I ever suspected.” So the conscience is the great lieutenant of every preacher of the gospel, and this is not a lesson for the pulpit alone, for one of the most suggestive features of the Pentecost revival is that the Church members were all preachers that day. This picture ought to lead us to have courage to expect immediate results from the faithful preaching of the gospel. One of the most dangerous errors that ever was propagated by the enemy of souls, an error that paralyses the tongue of the preacher and the prayer of the Church, is that Christianity is only a system of culture, and that souls are to be ransomed by gradual stages. (L. A. Banks.)