The Necessity of Repentance
Acts 3:19-26
Father, we're so thankful that indeed it is true that You are our Shepherd, that You lead us gently, that You lead us to refreshing water even the word, You lead us to green pastures to feed. Father, we pray that we might indeed feast this morning upon Your truth. We pray in Christ name. Amen.
Turn in your Bibles to the third chapter of Acts. We're going to be looking at verses 19 to 26 continuing our study of the book of Acts going verse by verse as we always do in all of our book studies we find ourselves at the conclusion of Peter's sermon. His second recorded sermon in the book of Acts not too many days after the day of Pentecost. It is preached in Jerusalem in the temple courtyard in front of a multitude of people who been have/gathered by a miracle of the healing of the lame man. And Peter is preaching and exalting Jesus Christ and indicting Israel for the execution of their Messiah. And then he concludes his message with the words in verse 19, "Repent therefore and be converted". Now that's really the climax of his message. That's the great point to which he has come but it is not the end it is the conclusion in the sense of its appeal but there is more yet running clear through verse 26. Before we get to it, however, let's consider just a little background so we understand what's happening.
The Jews have crucified by the use of the Romans their own Messiah. And it would have been a very obvious thing for us to assume at that point God would have brought judgment upon Israel. Swift, terrible and final.
For, after all, had they not had prophet after prophet throughout their history and had not God now at this point sent His own Son, the very Messiah Himself and had they not rejected the Messiah as they had all the other prophets and would it not be fair and would it not have been justice indeed if God at this point had called a halt to all His responsibility to Israel and in tremendous judgment come down upon them. But that is not how God operates because God is a God of mercy and God is a God of great grace.
And even though they have earned the wrath of God and they have deserved the judgment of God He calls on them in grace in verse 19 to repent and God will forgive them blotting out their sins. A tremendous insight into the grace of God. Now Peter's message is very clear, it is very powerful but beyond all of the qualities of power and clarity that come in the first 1? verses the salient feature of this chapter is the statement at the beginning of verse 19. for that is God's grace in action. God is lovingly patient and God is forgiving and Peter says, "He is not willing that any should", what? "Perish" And He tenderly calls men to Himself even men who have been their whole lifetime long and nations who have been historically against Him He calls to Himself.
Now as I said, it would have been a very fair thing in some sense for God to have judged Israel at this moment finally but He did not. And it reminds me of the occasion in the life of Jeremiah, there were forty years of Jeremiah's ministry. And Jeremiah's ministry was a ministry of judgment He was announcing the destruction of Jerusalem and God kept delaying it for all these forty years in grace. And interesting that is a parallel of what we have here for Jesus being crucified judgment could have come but judgment didn't come for forty years later. It was not until 7O AD that Jerusalem was sacked and destroyed and Judaism as such was wiped out. And God gave the same period of grace that He gave in Jeremiah's day a period of forty years.
Now as we approach the book of Acts in this particular historical interval God is in that grace period of forty years in connection with Israel.
God has always operated by grace before and after that forty year period but in terms of His relationship to Israel He has not brought down judgment He has postponed it forty years and during that forty years He leaves open the option to Israel to come to Messiah. The book of Acts, then, not only because it covers those forty years or a good portion of it, the book of Acts not only then has much to say about the church but it also has much to say about Israel. And it has much to say about the kingdom promise to Israel. Even though the church has been born and it's begun to grow in Acts chapter 2, even though the church has already been formed its unique identity God is still dealing with Israel. There is an overlap of forty years and Jerusalem has not yet been destroyed and Judaism has not yet been halted. And God is really through Jesus Christ, through the mouth of His early apostles holding out the same offer He held directly through the mouth of Christ when He fir arrived when Jesus first came preaching "Repent for the kingdom is at hand"
a kingdom for Israel. John the Baptist came saying, "Repent for the kingdom is at hand", and in effect Peter in Acts 3 is saying the same thing, "Repent your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come". That the kingdom. The message really hasn't changed. Even though the Messiah had been rejected and executed God's grace is extended to Israel and the continued offer of the kingdom is still given here in Acts chapter 3. Now we say Peter's introduction to his sermon in verse 12 as he just kind of jumps off the miracle of the lame man. We saw the theme in verses 13 to 1? as he presents Christ and indicts Israel. And now in verse 19 we see hi; conclusion And he calls upon them basically to just do two things, repent and be converted. One is active one is passive. If they will turn around God will change them. If they will reverse their verdict about Jesus. If they instead of determining that Jesus is a blasphemer, a mocker and no Messiah at all will reverse their decision see Him as Lord, God and their Messiah God will change them, God will convert them. So Peter cries to Israel from the bottom of his heart and from the depths of the heart of God, repent.
Change your mind about Jesus. God is still gracious even though you've executed His Son, change your mind and repent and be converted. Now Peter doesn't leave it at that because in the remaining verses he gives them five reasons why they ought to repent. Five reasons for repentance. Why should Israel repent? There are five good reasons and these are exciting and I think you're going to learn some things this morning that perhaps you weren't familiar with, exciting truths.
All right, number one he says repent; and you have an outline there in your bulletin that you can use to follow along and take some notes if you desire. There are five things that will happen if Israel repents. Number one, their sin will be forgiven. Their sin will be forgiven. Now we saw that last time so I only want to review. Verse 19 says, "Repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out". Now we studied the word blot out last week and we found that it meant totally removed, totally erased.
The only way you'll ever have your sins erased and totally removed is when you repent. When you turn around and God changes you. David in the Old Testament prayed, "Blot out all mine iniquity" but it couldn't happen because there was no sacrifice provided that could blot out. Sacrifices in the Old Testament never blotted out anything it only covered them up. They only shoved it under the rug. Isaiah had said God can blot out and then Isaiah said in the next chapter 44, God will blot out and here we find in the coming of Jesus Christ God provides for that blotting out. And Peter says, if you'll only change your minds about Jesus you can have your sins blotted out, forgotten by God, I'll remember them no more. What a promise, total forgiveness. In Col. 2:13 the Bible says He has forgiven us all our trespasses. Total forgiveness, something the Old Testament believer never knew They never had a freedom from guilt. They never had a freedom from the besieging problem of sin because as soon as they offered a sacrifice they'd go out and sin again and they'd be in the same boat again. There was no liberty. There was none of that great freedom that we have without the burden of bearing the guilt of sin. So he says you can have your sins forgiven if you'll turn to Jesus. That's the first thing. That's the first reason.
Second reason. Not only will your sins be forgiven but the kingdom will come. Oh, what a promise this is. Look at verse 19, "Repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out"not when this is hoposon in the Greek it's what we call a purpose particle and it really cannot mean when it has to mean in order that. Let me read it that way. "Repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out in order that times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." The times of refreshing cannot come unless you repent and be converted. Now what are the times of refreshing? I believe that is a reference to the kingdom, the earthly millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ. Now you know that the Bible both old and New Testament indicates to us that Jesus will reign on earth for a period of a thousand years. Now in Revelation it clearly tells us it's a thousand years Christ reigns on earth. In the Old Testament it describes it in great detail we'll see that in a moment. II Samuel 7 David was promised that he would have one of his own seed who would sit on His throne in Jerusalem and reign in a kingdom. So there is promised on the earth a thousand year reign of Jesus Christ right here on this earth. Now this is that for which the Jews dreamed and hoped and waited all the long history of Israel.
They've always waited for when is Messiah going to come and when is He going to set up His kingdom? And they had waited and waited and waited and it never, never, never came. And then finally their Messiah came and they rejected Him and God said, That forfeits it, you cannot have the kingdom if you will not have the king. And so Peter says repent in order that the kingdom might come. You see, that's the point. They had to repent before the kingdom could come. And I want to take the term 'times of refreshing' for just a moment and show you what significance it has.
Look at the word times in verse 1?. The word times is kairos this has to do with a fixed, set or predetermined time. So whatever this phrase, times of refreshing, is it's not just some loosey‑goosey era it's a fixed, set, predetermined time. That's very important. In fact it's used in Acts you remember they said, ‑ When are you going to restore the kingdom? And Jesus said, It's not for you to know what? The times, or the seasons, the predetermined times that God has placed in His own economy. You see, it's a predetermined time. All right, so there's a predetermined time. It's interesting, isn't it, that God has predetermined the time and yet it depend upon Israel's repentance. That's the same paradox between sovereignty and human will that you find everywhere in scripture. Now it's called the times of refreshing. Now the word refreshing just means that. Refreshing, rest, respite. Now to the Jew that was so important. The Jew has been hassled throughout all its history. The Jew has been moved. Israel has been pushed and shoved all over the world mercilessly persecuted and abused, tragically treated. And even today, one of the most despicable things in existence is anti‑Semitism. The Jews have been mistreated all through the years partly due to the fact of their own failure to recognize God and so God has chastised them in this way. Which gives no right to any man ever to be abusive to Israel but rather to love Israel like the apostle Paul said, "My hearts desire and prayer is for Israel". But Israel has been under the judgment of God because of sin and they have been pushed and shoved and abused throughout all the years. And Israel is longing for the time when they can go somewhere and rest. They're in their land right now for the first time in over two‑thousand years possessing their own land but are they at rest? No, they are not at rest. There is such unrest in Israel.
The times of refreshing haven't come yet but they're longing for them.
Every Jew dreams of this. So what does this phrase mean then? It means there's coming a fixed time when Israel rests. What else could that be but the millennial kingdom, the earthly kingdom, the promise when Messiah comes and makes things right in the world and reigns and Israel has its kingdom? You say, ‑ What's that kingdom all about? Well let me just show you a couple of passages that are just really fascinating. The kingdom is the time when everything is changed. You'll notice that in verse 21 it say "the restitution of all things", it's the time when everything reverts back to what God meant it to be in the beginning. You know, God never meant this earth to be cursed? God never meant the whole thing to be so fouled up as it is. That's what happened when Satan took over. But someday God's taking over again and that's going to be the kingdom. Now listen to what the kingdom's going to be like, Isaiah chapter 11 describes a little of it. It's a wonderful description, I can't wait. You say, ‑ Well, is it only for Israel or are we going to be there? No, we'll be there too, all believers will be there. It's for Israel primarily in terms of their rest and in their land, all the special blessings of God but we'll all be a part of it for we'll be blessed in Israel. Listen to what happens in the kingdom, the reverse of the curse verse 6; The wolf shall dwell with the lamb. Imagine that? Then it says this;"The leopard shall lie down with the goat, the small goat the kid "The calf and the young lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them." The whole menagerie will be lead around by a little child. You see, the whole animal curse is reversed and natural enemies cease to be. "The cow and the bear shall feed their young ones shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox and the nursing child shall play on the hole of the asp and the weaned child shall put his hand in the snake's pit." And I always say my wife says kingdom or no kingdom my kids aren't playing in the snake pits,anyway verse 9 says, verse 9 says, "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse." Who's the root of Jesse? Jesus Christ. "Who shall stand for an ensign of the people, to Him shall the nations seek and His", what's the next word? "Rest shall be glorious", that's the kingdom it's called rest. That's why I say I think it's the times of refreshing is a direct reference to the kingdom.
Now in Isaiah 35, O what wonderful things we read there, you want to know what the kingdom's going to be like? Verse 1 of Isaiah 35, "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose". Can you imagine that? You know, the reason the desert is the desert is because it's cursed. "It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it the excellency of Carmel and Sharon." All those places are tremendously fertile places and the desert's going to become fertile like the most fertile places in Israel. And then he says, verse 5: "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped".
Everyone's going to be healed instantaneously at the beginning of the kingdom.
Then he says, "The lame man shall leap as an hart", that's a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing for in the wilderness shall the waters break out and streams in the desert." The whole curse is reversed. Deserts will no longer exist. "Parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water in the habitation of jackals where each lay shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And the highway shall be there and a way and it shall be called The way of holiness." He goes on to talk about that in verse 10, "And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads and they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." That's the kingdom and it's on earth. It's right here on earth. And it's what Israel's waited for and waited for and waited for. They're going to be regathered, restored and regenerated and exalted.
They're waiting for it. And Peter says it can't come until you repent. You can't have the kingdom unless you love the King. That's the point. And here is God and grace extending the same offer to Israel even after they've executed the Messiah.
Now notice verse 21 for a minute because there's a phrase there we want to pull out of that, "the times of restitution of all things". The times of restitution of all things has again to do with the kingdom. It has to do with the coming kingdom of Christ when all things are reverted back to their original owner. It is the very same word in the noun form that is used in Acts 1:6 when the disciple said, "When will thou restore the kingdom to Israel?" When are you going to give back what is ours? Here there is the time when things are given back. Not some things but what? All things are going to be given back to the God who rightfully owns them. That's the kingdom. And in the kingdom the curse is removed and all these things are placed back in the control of God. Now, that's the kingdom and he says it can't come until you repent. Now, one other statement about the kingdom in verse 1?, the end it says, "That it shall come from the presence of the Lord The kingdom is not political. It is not drummed up. It is not brought off by a cue. The kingdom comes from God. The presence is literally the face.
It comes from the face of the Lord God. God sends the kingdom. God sends His promised blessing. He will bring it to pass. But even though it is a sovereign thing from God's viewpoint, from Israel's viewpoint it depends on their conversion. Now when it says all things it means just that. There ar so many things going to be changed in this kingdom. I just jotted down about thirteen of them, maybe fifteen, I don't know, I don't count too well but anyway let me just tell you what's going to be in the kingdom. Everything' going to be restored to what it was, everything. The Bible says, and all or this is taken from scripture, the Bible says there will be peace and no war.
Now, that is something. The Bible says there will be joy, fulness of joy.
Holiness manifests everywhere, glory fully revealed, comfort. And the King will personally minister comfort to everybody. There will be justice, perfect justice for everybody and no injustice at any time to any body. There will be full knowledge. There will be instruction and the King will be the personal tutor of everybody. There will be no curse in the animal kingdom and no curse in nature. There will be no sickness for the King will heal everybody. There will be healing of all the deformed as we read. There will be preservation of life and protection by the King Himself. There will be freedom from oppression, nobody will oppress anybody else. There will be prosperity so that nobody in the entire world wants for anything and so forth.
That's the kingdom. That is all clearly spelled out in the Old Testament.
That's what Israel's been dreaming of. That's what Israel's been waiting for. That's what they've been crying for and when they tried to get Jesus and force Him to be a King that's what they wanted. Peter says, ‑ Well, I know you want the kingdom but you can't have it until you love the King. You've got to change your verdict about Jesus Christ.
Now it's all going to come back to God. Now if you want to read the story of how God's going to get it back read from Revelation 5 on. Remember the Father sitting on the throne in Revelation 5 and in His right hand He's got a scroll with seven seals and that scroll is the title deed to the earth And he says the angel looks around to find somebody worthy and there's nobody worthy to unwind the scroll and John begins to weep because there's nobody there to unroll it and see what it says. All of a sudden one of the elders stands up and says the lion of the tribe of Judah He is worthy, the lamb of God to unroll the scroll and Jesus steps up and takes the scroll out of the Father's hands and step by step He unrolls the scroll and step by step He takes back the earth. And the unrolling of that scroll is the record of the rest of the book of Revelation through chapter 19, all the events by which Jesus takes back the earth. And that, when you get up to 19 He's got it back and bang in chapter 2O the kingdom comes. So you see Christ is going to take it back, it's going to be restored to God. Now God knows when this is going to happen. It's all predetermined in His design and His will and y morally it is conditioned upon Israel's repentance. It can't come until Israel believes. And isn't it sad that many, many, many times Israel had the opportunity to determine the immediate course of world history and they blew it.
They could have brought the kingdom when Jesus arrived the first time. They could have brought the kingdom right here in Acts chapter 3. They didn't.
They had nobody to blame but themselves. Jesus came announcing Repent for the kingdom is at hand. Peter's still announcing it. They could have changed the course of the history of the world, they didn't. They forfeited it.
Now the first time they forfeited it by their rejection and their rejection still remains when Peter preaches. In Matthew chapters 1 to 12 Jesus is carefully announcing the kingdom to Israel. He's offering Himself as Israel's Messiah. But in chapter 12 everything starts to shift because we read about Israel's rejection. In chapter 12 verse 14, listen to this, tragic words, "Then the Pharisees", leaders of Israel, "went out and held a council against Him how they might", what? "Destroy Him" That was their conclusion. And then you read tragic, tragic words, listen to this; "But when Jesus knew it", listen to this, "He withdrew Himself from there". Isn't that sad? It's the beginning of the end of Jesus' call to Israel, His first call. And then in the next statement He makes in chapter 12 later on in verses 46 to 5O, the next one we want to look at He denies any natural connection to Israel. Listen to it, "While He was talking to the people, behold His mother and brothers stood outside desiring to speak to Him. And one said unto Him, behold your mother and brothers stand outside desiring to speak with you but He answered and said unto them that told Him, Who is My mother and who are My brethren?" You see, He's denying any kind of a natural connection. "And He stretched forth His hands toward His disciples and said Behold My mother and My brethren for whosoever", whosoever not a Jew, not anybody particular, "whosoever shall do the will of My Father who is in heaven the same is My brother and sister and mother". And Jesus said, all of a sudden, It isn't natural anymore it's just for anybody who obeys the will of God. And when Israel turned from Messiah, Messiah turned from them at that point. It's a sad thing. God is still gracious and even later on here in the book of Acts He comes back for a second invitation to Israel.
It's not a new offer. It's not a re‑offer it's just the same standing offer Repent and you can still have the kingdom even though you executed the King He took the execution of the King and turned it to glory anyway. Tragic thing that they forfeited. In Luke 1? there's an interesting thing that I just want to share with you quickly, Luke 19:42 it says: "If thou hadst known even thou at least this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they're hidden from thine eyes". O that is sad. He says, Israel, if you only knew, He's crying over Jerusalem. Verse 41 says He's sitting above Jerusalem crying, Jesus is. And He says, Oh, if you knew, if you knew the things that belonged to your peace but now they are hidden from your eyes.
"For the day shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee around and keep thee on every side and shall lay thee even with the ground", flatten, "and thy children within thee and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation". See. Israel, you if you only knew and because you didn't judgment. Verse 24 of Luke 21, "And they shall fall by the edge of sword and shall be led away captive into all nations and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."
In other words, Jesus said, If you only knew but since you rejected this thing, since you turned your Messiah away judgment is coming. But even wit the promise of judgment He still extends grace. He still extends grace. I don't know how the will of man in a gracious situation squares with the sovereignty of God in a prophetic utte