ACTS 3:18-26 REASONS TO REPENT2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Acts 3:18-26 Reasons To Repent

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. Well, this morning as we get started in the book of Acts, I'd like you to imagine that I was a billionaire. Just not you. Don't imagine that you were. Imagine that I was a billionaire. And I came to you as a billionaire and I said, you know,

I'd really like to make all of your financial problems go away. What would you say? What would you expect? And how would you receive that kind of offer for help? And so probably you would be excited and you'd say, absolutely. We don't even have to make an appointment. Just come over right now and yeah, make all my financial problems go away. And so I show up at your door and I pull out a piece of paper that looks something like this.

And I say, here you go. I'm going to make all of your financial problems go away by teaching you how to use a personal budget. And I'm going to teach you how to record all your income, teach you how to write down all of your expenses, and then teach you how to make sure that you don't spend more than you are making. And over time, all of your financial problems are going to go away as you

Record your income, record your expenses, and make sure that the expenses don't exceed the income. And you might say, well, that's nice, but I was really thinking, you know, you were just going to pay off all my bills and take care of all my debts and maybe, you know, deposit some extra large deposits into my bank account and you were going to resolve all my problems that way. Sometimes I think this is also how we will expect God or desire for God to work in our lives.

That we kind of have this idea, we have this hope that, hey, we have God in our lives and so he's just going to come over and then all our bills are going to be canceled. You know, everything's going to be resolved and things are going to be taken care of. All the issues of life and the struggles that we face are going to be dealt with immediately and we would much prefer that. But more often than not, God does do miraculous things in that way.

But usually in our lives, the way that he chooses to work is to give us a budget and say, here's what you need to do. Here's how to live your life and here's the steps to take. And over the process of time, all your life is going to be abundantly blessed. And it's not going to be an instantaneous thing. It's not going to be a God swoops in and just changes everything for us. He can change everything for us overnight.

But he also loves to involve us in the process and to get us to work out in our lives, well, the change that we want to see. God chooses to work together with us. He has a part in the plan, but he also allows us to have a part in the plan. And our part is called repentance.

Our part in God's plan to bless our lives is called repentance. And so this morning I've titled the message, Reasons to Repent. Reasons to Repent. This is what Peter gives to his listeners after he's done a miracle and people have gathered because this man has been healed. And as Peter preaches this message, he finishes up with the call to repentance and really gives them solid reasons to repent.

And of course, as we consider these things this morning, the first sin to repent of is wrong thinking about Jesus. To believe in Jesus, that's the first step of repentance, to accept who he declares himself to be and receive the forgiveness that he offers through his death upon the cross. But this morning, I would also remind you that repentance doesn't end there. It's not that this was a one-time event that we did a while back,

But repentance is really a lifelong process. And so it's appropriate for us to consider that today, whether or not we have done that initial repentance, but to consider and understand that there is repentance that God is calling us towards in each of our lives. In talking about repentance, Peter combines two words there in verse 19. He says, "'Repent, therefore, and be converted.'"

He uses the word repent and the word converted. Now, to repent, it speaks of a regret or a sorrow, but it's not just sorrow by itself. It's accompanied by a real change, a real change of heart towards God, a real change that takes place within.

Conversion or to convert also has that similar type of idea. It means to turn toward or to turn around. And in talking about converting to the Lord or converting to Christ, it's talking about turning towards him to live for him and to serve him. Really, these words can be synonyms. Either one can be used by itself or combining them together makes it very clear that

The idea of repentance that Peter is calling us to is to turn away, to stop practicing sinful behavior, and then to turn around and to do something else instead, to put in its place righteous behavior, things that are good, things that God desires for us. Repentance says, you're right, God. This behavior is destructive, and I need to stop it. I need to put an end to it.

Converting or conversion says I'm going to change and go forward differently. And so there is this combination of turning away but then also turning towards to live the life that God has called us to live. I think this is really clearly illustrated by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 28 where Paul says, "...let him who stole steal no longer."

but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need. There the Apostle Paul says, okay, here's the sin to repent of, stealing. So stop that, steal no longer. That's the repent, that's the stopping the sinful behavior. But it's not just stop stealing and then that's it.

Now, instead, he says, let him work with his hands so that he's able to give and to be generous. And so there's the replacement of the behavior. Instead of pursuing the sin of stealing or thievery,

Now pursue generosity and work hard, replace that behavior with hard work so that you would be able to give. And it demonstrates the heart that is changed as you see the stopping of one behavior and the engaging of a whole new lifestyle as a result of this repentance that is taking place.

Just around this verse here in Ephesians chapter 4, Paul also talks about stop lying and tell the truth. This is a common theme of repentance. It's the stopping of the sin and the instituting of new behavior that honors the Lord. That is what God wants. And so that's what repentance is.

Now, as we walk through this passage, Peter is going to give us some reasons to do it. Reasons to repent. Four reasons we'll be looking at together this morning. And the first one is found here in verses 18 and 19. Repentance brings forgiveness of sin. Repentance brings forgiveness of sin. Again, verse 18 and 19 says this. But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets, that the Christ would suffer, he has thus fulfilled.

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. As Peter preaches to this crowd, he has been pointing out their guilt in their rejection of Jesus. But here he switches up a little bit. He wants them to know that even though they're guilty of this behavior, it was also part of God's plan. In verse 18, he says, look, this is what God foretold.

God knew this was going to happen. He knew how you were going to reject Jesus. He knew how you were going to treat Jesus. He foretold it, and in that, the opportunity for forgiveness is there. The opportunity to be right with God is there because that was the provision. Jesus was the provision of that right relationship with God. And so he says in verse 19, "'Repent, therefore.'"

So therefore, because God foretold this, because Jesus' death, even though it was because of the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish people, it's the opportunity then to repent. Even though it was their great sin that brought about these events, and yet it was also at the same time their opportunity to repent because God foretold these things in making the way and giving them the opportunity to

to be forgiven and to have right relationship with God. Pastor David Guzik says, Peter makes repent a word of hope. You've done wrong, but you can turn around to get it right with God. And that's an important thing to understand about repentance. A good reason to repent that there is that opportunity for us to then be right with God, even though we've done wrong.

Even though we knew better and did wrong, even though, you know, we have violated his word or ignored his instruction, it's not too late. No matter what we might think about ourselves, no matter what we might think about our sin, there is still the opportunity, there is still hope right now to have a restored relationship with God. It's typical to think of repent as a word of judgment, right?

And it's connected to judgment because it's often as a warning, you know, repent because judgment is coming. And yet at the same time, we must not forget that repent is a word of hope, that there is still opportunity to be right with God, to be restored. Peter goes on to say in verse 19 that your sins may be blotted out. Here's the reason to repent, because your sins will be blotted out.

Your sins will be forgiven. You have the opportunity to be washed, to be cleansed, to have the slate wiped clean. This idea of having your sins blotted out or the blotted out portion of this, Albert Barnes, the commentator, describes it a little bit. He says it was describing the practice of writing on tables covered with wax and then by inverting the stylus, smoothing the wax again and thus removing every trace of the record.

This more entirely expresses the idea of pardoning than blotting does. It means wholly to remove the record, the charge, and every trace of the account against us. It's like taking the Etch-a-Sketch and shaking it until the slate is clean.

It's like writing all over the paper, you know, at the Italian restaurant, and then when you leave, they come take that off, and they put a brand new clean sheet of paper over the table. It's like erasing the dry erase board and having a clean slate. Now, you had all this record against you, all of these sins counted against you, but they've been blotted out when you repent. They are blotted out. They are removed. They're cleansed, and the slate is wiped clean.

The Apostle John later on in 1 John 1 puts it this way. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

If we confess, and this idea of confession and repentance go hand in hand. They're not different things or separate things. They're all part of the same thing. To confess, it means to agree with God. Again, it's that part of repentance that says, you're right, God. This behavior is wrong and sinful and destructive, and I need to put a stop to it.

If we confess our sins, if we acknowledge our sins and agree with God about our sins, the promise is he will cleanse us. He will blot out that sin, that record against us and wipe the slate clean. And so repentance brings forgiveness of sin. That's one really good reason to repent. And if there is sin that's happening in your life,

There's one good reason for you there to put a stop to it, to turn from your sin, to replace it with godly behavior that he's calling you to. But going on to consider verse 19 a little bit further, we get the second point this morning, and that is that repentance enables times of refreshing. Repentance enables times of refreshing. Again, verse 19, repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out.

so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Here, Peter goes on to say, not only will your sins be blotted out, but there's an enabling, there's an open door for times of refreshing that comes after repentance.

There's a refreshing that comes from the presence of the Lord. It's a spiritual refreshing. It's an inner refreshing that is brought about through repentance. Living in sin is exhausting. I'm sure you've experienced that. Although sin has its promises and it looks glamorous, yes, sin is fun for a season, but that fun runs out and then it becomes a great burden.

If you have lived or are living a double life and are trying to keep this side, this sinful behavior, this sinful side of your life hidden and secret, and so you're this person this way under these circumstances and trying to keep that separate and be different somewhere else, living that double life, it's exhausting. It's wearisome. It's burdensome. If you have got into the habit of

speaking lies. It's exhausting to try to keep all of your stories straight. What did I tell this person and what did I tell that person? And trying to keep this long interactive web of lies all intact, it's difficult. It requires a lot of focus, a lot of attention. It wears you down.

Living under that condition of being in fear of getting caught all the time, it's terrifying, it's exhausting, it's wearisome, it's burdensome. Living with guilt and just continuing out every day. You wake up and you go about your day and you try to ignore it as much as you can. You try to change the subject as much as you can in your head, but there's this overlooming presence and sense of guilt all the time.

It's all exhausting. It's wearisome. And so repentance brings this times of refreshing and the times of release from this sense of guilt. Recently, Kim and I were driving down the road and it just happened where there was a police car right in front of me. And Kim pointed it out. There's a police car right in front of you. And I said, yeah, and there's one right alongside of me too. And there is a police car here. There's a police car here. And so Kim asked me, do your legs hurt?

And that's an inside joke conversation because, well, back in the day when I was, you know, driving with all kinds of violations and suspended license and no insurance and expired registration, when I would see a police car, there would be this like violent reaction within me. I would be so tense. My legs would hurt. My gut would hurt. Like it was just, oh, it was terrible. Every time I was on the road, there was just always this sense of fear of getting caught.

This overwhelming dread that just loomed over me. And it was so nice and refreshing. Even though there's a cop car in front of me and beside me, my legs didn't hurt. My gut wasn't all turned around. I wasn't sweating. No problem. There was times of refreshing that came when I repented from that disaster. Even if you're in a situation where it looks like you got away with your sin, you're not

Where it looks like, hey, it's been resolved, it's been forgotten, you know, nobody was really too upset by it, it was just turned out fine. Sin and guilt weighs heavy upon us. The example, of course, for this is David after his sin with Bathsheba. Even though it seemed like his plan worked to cover it up and time had passed and seemed like he had gotten away with it, David describes his condition in Psalm 38 during that time of sin.

Sin without repentance, he said, He describes this weight, this burden. It's exhausting to live in sin, to live with the guilt. And we don't always realize how much it weighs on us. It's kind of like living with constant pain.

Where you kind of, you feel it, and it takes a toll on you, but you kind of continue to press through. You learn the new normal of life, you know, with this constant pain. But when it comes to sin and guilt, that's a constant pain that you don't have to live with.

Peter says, repent and be converted. Stop practicing that sin. Confess that sin. Turn and replace that activity with righteous behavior and open the door for yourself to experience times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. This spiritual, internal refreshing. It can happen even if you're experiencing the external consequences of that sin, but

At the same time, because your heart is repentant, there can be this refreshing from the presence of the Lord within. You know, sometimes we engage in sin as a means of escape, as a means of like trying to handle burdens and stresses. We're seeking refreshing by sin, and what we find is a further of our burdening and a furthering of our guilt. But when we turn...

When we believe God, what he says about sin and about our lives and about our responsibility to turn from that sin, it enables for us times of refreshing. It opens the door for God to do wondrous things within us, to renew us and refresh us within. Well, looking at verses 20 through 25, we get the third reason to repent this morning, and that is repentance prepares you for God's plans.

Repentance prepares you for God's plans. In verse 20, he says, Again, going back to verse 18, Peter was explaining Jesus' death was part of God's plan. It was part of the plan of redemption, part of the plan of salvation, right?

for us who would believe. But that wasn't the end of God's plan. God has more to the plan. And so here Peter alludes to the return of Jesus. He alludes to the restoration of Israel, the end of sin, all the things that are on the agenda as far as God is concerned, the things that he will still accomplish and his promise that he will do.

Now, as you look at these verses, we're not going to get into in-depth in these because there's a lot of details here that would distract us from what the Lord wants to say to us about. But just to summarize it briefly, here Peter is really calling the nation of Israel to repentance.

Saying that nation of Israel, if you will collectively turn to the Lord and believe, it will usher in the messianic kingdom. It will usher in the kingdom of God and Jesus will return. And Israel, of course, did not repent as a nation then, but they will in the future. During the tribulation period, there will be a returning of Israel to Jesus. They'll realize the Antichrist is not actually the Christ.

And they'll realize that Jesus is the promised Savior. And it will usher in the kingdom. Jesus will return and establish his kingdom upon the earth at that time.

Jumping into verse 22 through 25, it says, Moses truly said to the fathers, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever he says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. And so he looks back to this promise given through Moses. There would be this prophet, this Messiah. And he came the first time,

to bring about salvation for sin. But the next time he comes is going to be to establish his kingdom. And it'll be the fulfillment of all of these promises about the Messiah that are given throughout the scriptures. In verse 24, he says,

And so here he gives a couple examples. And he says, look, not only Moses spoke about these things, but all the prophets spoke

This plan of God is so important to God that anytime he sent someone to speak on his behalf, he spoke about the Messiah and the days that would come in his kingdom. This was an important subject for God. And so he always spoke of, and as you work your way through the Old Testament and see all of the prophets, you can see the emphasis upon the Lord's plan and the coming Messiah throughout.

And so Peter here is explaining here, this has been the plan of God. And part of that was the rejection of Jesus to bring about the means of salvation. But the plan's not done and he is coming back. He will establish his kingdom. And God's been saying this from the very beginning. I really like that part of verse 21. He says at the end of verse 21, God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

And that's interesting to consider. Since the world began, from the very beginning, God has been saying these things. God has been declaring these things. And I think it's one thing that is important to note. It's one thing that sets Christianity apart from other religions. Because any religion that didn't start at the beginning of the world doesn't provide salvation for all humanity. But this one began from the beginning of the world. And from the very beginning, God has been declaring that

the restoration that he will bring, the fulfillment of his plan. And so Peter here explains to the people, repentance, repent now because, well, it involves you and it engages you in the plan of God for the return of Jesus Christ, the establishing of his kingdom and all that he wants to do. Again, it was a national call of repentance primarily, but of course it extends to each of us individually and personally as well. God has his plans and they will be fulfilled in your life.

And just as he foretold his first coming and second coming, and man couldn't change it, and man can't sway away from it, God has his plans. And we cannot escape the plans of God. So the best thing for us to do is to prepare for them, to turn from sinful behavior, and to turn towards God, to allow him to say what goes and what doesn't go in our lives. Well, we're going to finish it up with the final point in verse 26. Here's point 46.

The fourth reason to repent, repentance is a blessing from God. Verse 26 says, He tells the Jewish people, You had the opportunity to repent first. Jesus came to you first.

Now the message of Christ has gone to all the world, and there is this opportunity to repent. But here it's really interesting. He says, God raised up Jesus and sent him to bless you. How does God bless you? Through Jesus. Again, do you picture blessings from God as God swooping in and resolving everything overnight for you? He does want to change your life, and he does want to give abundant life and to set you free from sin and

Sometimes he swoops in and does those overnight transformations. But many times, he pulls out the budget worksheet and he says, okay, here's what you need to do. The blessing that God gives to you is the blessing of choice. In Christ, you have choices that you have nowhere else. And choice is really important to God. You can see that in the Garden of Eden. He gave Adam and Eve, who had perfect fellowship with him, choice.

They could choose to stay in that perfect fellowship or they could choose to disobey him. And for you and I, outside of Christ, we didn't have choice. Even when we thought we had choice, we didn't have choice because, well, as Paul explains in Romans chapter six, we were slaves of sin. We were enslaved. We had no choice but to live in sin. Now in Christ, it doesn't mean that we don't have temptation to sin and it doesn't mean that we don't sin at all.

But it means now that we have choice. We have been set free from slavery to sin. And Paul asks us to think about what fruit did you have? You were enslaved in sin and the fruit of that sin, the fruit of that behavior, it's stuff you're ashamed of now. It wasn't what it promised to be. It wasn't as glamorous as the enemy or as temptation made it seem. But now you've been set free.

And so you don't have to continue to engage in behavior that you're ashamed of or that brings you more shame. Now in Christ, you have choice. You have the blessing of choice that you can repent and you can turn from sinful behavior. You can turn from your practice of sin and you can receive from the Lord forgiveness. Notice what he says. Here's how he came to bless you in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.

Here's the way that God's blessing comes to you. Here's the manner in which God's blessing comes to you. He turns you away from your iniquities and you have the choice, the chance, the opportunity to turn from sin, to get right with God, to confess and be forgiven, to have your sin blotted out. If you're trying to be blessed without turning away from iniquity, it won't work.

It will just continue to bring about the exhausting, burdensome lifestyle of sin and guilt. But if you'll turn from your sin, you will get to experience the fullness of God's plan for you. And all that he has, the forgiveness of sin, the times of refreshing, the fulfillment of all his plans in your life, repentance is a blessing from God. Don't look at it as a negative thing and God wants to ruin your life.

God wants to bless your life. And so he gives you choice. He gives you opportunity. You can call out to him. You can confess to him that he's right and turn from your sin. It doesn't mean you'll never sin again. But as often as you sin, that's how often you confess. As often as you sin, that's how often you repent. That's how often you turn back and get right with God and allow him to bring about the forgiveness and the refreshing that he has for you. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you.

for your word, which gives us great hope. Lord, even though we fail and we fall short, Lord, even though we are sinful, Lord, your grace abounds much more. And so we can repent. And in you, we have the agency, the opportunity, the power to choose, to choose to follow you, to turn from those things that you tell us are destructive to us. Lord, forgive us.

We pray for our sin. Forgive us for being caught into the marketing of Satan, Lord, and believing that these sinful practices will benefit us, will bring us peace, will bring us joy. Lord, we've bought into the lies of the enemy so many times. Help us to see the truth, to believe you at your word, to agree with you about sinful behavior.

Lord, whatever that may be, I know that you will speak to each one of us individually. And Lord, life is a long process of repentance as you speak to us and call us away from things that perhaps we knew about or perhaps we didn't know about. But Lord, you want to set us free from that exhausting life of guilt and shame. And instead, you want to refresh us. You want to give us a clean slate, new opportunities to walk with you.

and to be part of your work and your plan. And so, Lord, we accept this blessing. We accept your forgiveness. And we ask that you would enable us to live lives that honor you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.