Save Yourselves from This Crooked Generation

Peter's command at Pentecost—"Save yourselves from this untoward generation" (Acts 2:40)—demands urgent action, not passive assent. Charles Spurgeon observed that while one sermon explains salvation, ten are required to exhort men toward it.

The word atopos (untoward) means literally "not going straight." Like a beast that rebels against its driver, veering left and right; like the serpent that crawls in curves rather than a direct line; like a drunkard reeling from side to side—so too the rebellious sinner refuses Yahweh's straight path. Sin is fundamentally untowardness: deviation from the commandments of God.

Peter's metaphor burns with urgency. Imagine a rider on horseback during America's great flood, galloping through the valley crying, "To the hills! To the hills!" The waters surge behind him. The oracle of God must sound like that alarm—ringing in our ears day and night, compelling us to flee the wrath to come, refusing to let us sleep on the bank of the abyss.

Why save yourselves? Because danger surrounds every unforgiven sinner. Because ample means have been provided. Because those means avail nothing unless you use them. Because in this matter each soul must act for himself. To refuse is deliberate spiritual suicide.

The straight path remains open. The hills await. Will you hear the cry?