Acts 2:40 (ESV)
And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”
After all the salvation acts of God through Jesus Christ, why the caution to save ourselves? How else can we be saved if we had repent and baptized? Yes. Peter was rallying the people to repent and save themselves from the crooked generation. We need to repent to receive the remission of sins. Repentance is a weighty act. If we claimed to have repented, it is a solemn declaration to cut ties with the world, holding firming to Paul’s appeal in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world,”
Peter had too much to say on that day. Amongst those heavy words, he gave a strong warning to save themselves “from this crooked generation”. It is a strong pleading to cut ties and move away from perverse influences and the corruption of minds which was a threat in their society. We are not spared. In fact, this truth is so applicable to us as an “untoward generation” (KJV) – which means refractory and not easily taught or trained; or “corrupt generation” (NIV) – dishonest, depraved and adulterated. It is an immoral and amoral generation we are not to be conformed.
It is not just having God to save us eternally when we repent of our old ways but having been baptized in his name calls for a detachment from the carnality of the world. God saves but we need to “save ourselves” by making a choice and exerting with deliberate effort to break away from the crookedness and walk the straight holy path.
Matthew 11:16 warns, “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates” It is perplexing to know that the bible actually compares a generation with ignorant playful children. Isn’t this our world now? On the contrary, Philippians 2:15 exhorts us, “that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,” This Is what God expects of us but he forces no one. We need this progression in our walk, simplified in A.B.C.
Awakening => Breakaway => Consistency
Will you save yourself?
What are the areas you need to break away?
How can you be consistent to remain blameless and unblemished?
© Pr Selina Khoo Lim, Gateway City Church, Penang. 14 May 2020.