Israel is Called to Repent & Return

Transcript

GR 1586
12/05/10
Israel Is Called to Repent and Return
Acts 3:17-26
Gil Rugh

We're in the book of Acts in your Bibles, Acts 3. And we are in the early days, weeks, months of the new church's life. The church began in Acts 2 and began with Peter following the coming of the Holy Spirit getting up and explaining to a Jewish audience exactly what had taken place, that the Messiah had come, been rejected by His people, been crucified, been raised from the dead, and exalted to the right hand of the Father. And He had sent the Holy Spirit to carry on a new and greater ministry. And you must turn from your sin and believe in the salvation that is in Christ. Had tremendous impact, that first sermon presented in Acts 2. The Jews were instructed to repent, be identified with Christ through water baptism and there were 3,000 converts. Then we were told at the end of chapter 2 something of the functioning of the early church in those days. And the Spirit of God is continuing to use the word of God to draw others to salvation in Christ. These would have continued to be Jews at this point. In these early chapters of Acts the outreach of the gospel is limited to Jews. When we get to chapter 8 we will begin to stretch out beyond the Jews to Samaritans, who are partly Jewish in their heritage and partly non-Jewish. In these early days it is a ministry to the Jews. God's offer of salvation began with the Jews, and then will ultimately reach the Gentiles in chapter 10.

Chapter 3 opened up with Peter and John, two of the apostles, going to the temple at the hour of prayer. So we saw that even in these early days, the apostles, there is no thought of a new and distinct church in their minds. They are continuing their Jewish pattern because the revelation of the church as a new work and a separate entity from the nation Israel has not been made clear yet. In fact that will wait until the coming on the scene of the Apostle Paul. So while they are proclaiming the finished work of Christ and salvation by faith through Him, telling people about the coming of the Holy Spirit and that, it's in a Jewish context. So as they go up to the temple at the appointed hour for prayers and so on, they confront a lame man who is there begging for alms. The result is Peter addresses the man and the man is miraculously healed. He goes into the temple with Peter and John and he is leaping and jumping. We noted his healing was complete and absolutely thorough and instantaneous in every way. A man over 40 years of age who had never walked in his own power, he was born with some kind of deformity that prevented him from walking. It was so severe that he had to be carried, remember, to the temple so he could beg. And after forty years of never walking he doesn't have to learn how to walk, he doesn't have to wait for his muscles to get strength and so on. The healing is complete to the point of the ability to function, to be able to leap, to dance around, to run around. Attention is drawn, the Jews recognize him. This man has been a regular at the temple for how long, how many years and these Jews passed him going in and out of the temple area. And have given him a donation and so on.

This provides the occasion for Peter to address an audience that has assembled at a certain spot in the temple, verse 11 tells us, in the area called the portico of Solomon, an area that allowed for quite large gatherings. It was a common assembly point for different sized Jewish groups that would assemble at the temple. Peter then begins to address this group who are wondering what has happened to him, what change has been brought about.

So Peter began addressing them in verse 12 as men of Israel. And he makes clear at the beginning; we didn't heal this man by our own power. There is not something great or unique about us or some inherent ability beyond the normal in us as mere men. Rather it was a work of God. And so verse 13, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, clearly identifying the God who is at work in the healing of this man is the God of Israel because it is important to make this connection in continuity in that sense from the God that you come to the temple to worship. He is at work. He has glorified His servant, Jesus. And he reminds them, I'm talking about the One that you delivered to Pilate, you disowned, declared that you had not king by Caesar. Pilate would have released Him; you would have none of it. So he impresses on them their guilt in this matter that the healing of this man has been an act of the God of Israel, the One who sent His servant, Jesus, the One whom you disowned. So he’s making it clear to them that you have stood in opposition to God, His work and His Messiah.

You disowned the holy and righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. We noted that by identifying Jesus as His servant in verse 13 and His holy and righteous One in verse 14, those are ways that the Messiah is identified in the Old Testament. He is identified as the Servant of the Lord in Isaiah 42:1; He's identified as the Holy On and the Righteous One in Isaiah 52:13 and Isaiah 53:11, that great prophetic passage on the suffering, death and glorification of the Messiah in Isaiah. Identified as the Holy One, the Righteous One. So these three ways clarify. When I talk about what the God of Israel has done with Jesus, Jesus is His Servant, the One prophesied and promised in Isaiah 42. He's the Holy One, the Righteous One that Isaiah spoke about in Isaiah 52 and 53. And you disowned Him. And you not only disowned Him but you traded the Servant of the Lord, the Holy and Righteous One for a murderer. You put to death the prince or author of life. What a contrast. You exchanged the One who created life for one who took life. Your Messiah, you put Him to death but asked for a murderer to be freed.

It's on the basis of faith in His name. Verse 16, in the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know. And the faith which comes through Him has given this perfect health in the presence of you all. The result of our faith in Christ, and now this man, I take it, has joined in that faith. Where does that leave you? I mean, what a terrible weight of guilt is placed upon you.

Now, brethren, he's ready to continue the message and verses 17ff to the end of this chapter, down through verse 26, Peter now comes to the point where he says forgiveness, cleansing from sin is available to you. Even from this sin of such magnitude. I mean, have the Gentiles been guilty of such a thing. Israel prided itself in the fact that the true and living God was the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the one who would give His Messiah to be the king of the nation and ultimately the king of the world. And you disowned Him? Turned Him over to crucifixion in exchange for the deliverance of a murderer? And now he is going to tell them, and you can be forgiven.

So now, brethren, and he is addressing them as Jewish brethren, obviously, not Christian brethren, but fellow Jews. I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did. Were all these people, every individual Jew hearing Peter now, were they present? But he joins them with their leaders in the guilt. The leaders may have taken the initiative, but the Jewish nation is responsible with them. So you acted in ignorance just as your rulers did. Now ignorance doesn't excuse them from guilt, but there is opportunity for salvation. So it’s important to keep the balance. We say they didn't know any better, they didn't know what they were doing; they didn't know that Jesus was the Messiah. But that doesn't excuse them from their guilt. But there is forgiveness provided for them.

Turn over to I Corinthians 1. It's not only the Jews who didn't recognize who Christ was, obviously. Pilate would have set Him free but not because Pilate really knew who He was. Pilate did not become a believer in Jesus, but he recognized His innocence. But he still assented to His crucifixion. In I Corinthians 2 Paul says, and we break into the thought here, that he is speaking wisdom. You know the Greeks wanted wisdom, he's writing to the church at Corinth amidst the Greeks, a Greek city where they admired wisdom. He is speaking, verse 7, God's wisdom in a mystery. Not the kind of wisdom the world is looking for, but true wisdom, the wisdom from God, God's marvelous plan of salvation. It's the wisdom, verse 8, which none of the rulers of this age has understood. So we see there they are all ignorant of the wisdom of God in the sense of an understanding of the plan and purpose of God and having His Son suffer and die to pay the penalty for sin. For if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. So in that sense there is ignorance, there is still accountability. But God in His grace recognizes that they acted in blindness, if you will. And while they are still accountable for their actions, He graciously offers them His forgiveness.

Perhaps a distinction here between man and angels. The angels who were created in the presence of God and spent their whole time in the presence of God, their rebellion against God was not in ignorance, but in the full display of His glory. For them there is no repentance or forgiveness offered, no Savior provided. But for man, even the most horrendous of crimes, what could be more serious than crucifying the creator of life? But you acted in ignorance; you didn't know who He was.

Turn over to I Timothy 1. Paul puts himself in this same position, as one who was acting in ignorance. He wasn't there at the crucifixion, but he joined in the persecution of the followers of Christ and became a key leader in that persecution. And in I Timothy 1:13, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor, yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief. That does not excuse his actions, but it does put him in a position to be a recipient of the mercy of God. I mean, I was a blasphemer. There is no excuse for that, but there is forgiveness for that. Important we maintain the distinction. I acted ignorantly in unbelief. In effect his unbelief had blinded his eyes to the reality of the work of God's salvation in Jesus Christ. We need to keep that in mind. We deal with people, and some of you work with people who are very profane. You almost feel defiled being around them. But what does the scripture say? There is mercy, there is forgiveness, there is salvation for them. That's how great the grace of God is and He puts us, perhaps, in a situation of extreme darkness, spiritually speaking, so we can bring to them the message of great light. There is forgiveness. I mean, how profane can you get? Paul says I was a blasphemer. What a high crime for a Jew. In effect he was guilty of blasphemy against the God of Israel and a persecutor and violent aggressor. I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly and in unbelief. And no matter what the crime of those that we are associated with in our business or our daily life, as unbelievers they are in ignorance. And it's not that we have to run and hide from them or get away from them. They must hear. We can't become like them, we've been redeemed from that. But we can tell them about the message, there is salvation for you. That's what Paul's testimony is.

Down in I Timothy 1:15, it's a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost of all. Can you be any greater sinner than I am? In Paul's mind, I was as bad as could be. Conviction of the greatness of his guilt. But he is forgiven and that reminder of God's grace in our lives and a reminder, when God puts us perhaps in direct contact, rubbing shoulders, perhaps day in and day out with people who are so profane and so on. We oughtn't to be thinking, I can't take this. We're here to bring the grace of God to them, there is forgiveness for you. That person is so bad, if anyone deserves hell it is he. But if anyone deserved hell, wouldn't it be those who put Christ on the cross in exchange for a murderer? Or Paul who was a blasphemer? There is forgiveness. That's how great God's grace is. We ought to be careful that we are bearers of that message, and that's what Peter is.

Come back to Acts 3. Remember what Jesus prayed on the cross? Luke 23:34, Father forgive them, they don't know what they are doing. They are acting in ignorance. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. They are acting in ignorance, they don't know who I am, they don't know I'm the Lord of glory, they don't know I'm the Creator of all things, they don't know that I am the Messiah of Israel. Forgive them; they don't know who I am. They are guilty for what they do, but Peter is going to tell them they have to repent. But it is ignorance.

Look at Acts 3:18. But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of His prophets that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. And we've been talking in Romans 9-10 about the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man and we saw it in Acts 2 in Peter's sermon. Here you see it again. Verse 17, you acted in ignorance as your rulers did; verse 14-15; you disowned the Holy and Righteous One. You put to death the prince of life. It is man's responsibility. But now in verse 18, the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of His prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. God's sovereignly revealed plan He has brought to fruition in the suffering and death of His Son. And you are guilty for crucifying Him, for being involved in the fulfillment of that plan. There is no attempt to resolve here, don't we have a conflict, the sovereignty of God and having prophesied it. Could they do anything else? Yes, they chose to crucify Him. But God had sovereignly determined that His Son would be crucified. Yes, that's right, He fulfilled what He said would happen hundreds and even thousands of years before it happened. I don't understand how that goes together. Well, you don't have to understand it, that's the way it is. So for the Jews this is acceptable. Of course God is sovereign; of course the prophets' prophecies will come true

Come back to Luke 24. Remember Luke the beloved physician was the human penman for the gospel of Luke as well as the book of Acts. Verse 25, Jesus appearing now to some of His followers after His resurrection from the dead and they are still in confusion and wondering. And they are talking about the women who went to the tomb, and they come back with the report that the tomb is empty and they said angels were there who said He is not here, He has risen. And we don't know what to make of that. What does Jesus say to them in verse 25? He said to them, oh foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. That's a rebuke. Why is it taking you so long to believe what the prophets spoke? Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory? This is not new information, men. It was necessary, a divine necessity for the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah of Israel to suffer these things and to enter into His glory. Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets He explained to them things concerning Himself in all the scriptures. To this point they still hadn't understood the beauty and clarity revealed so clearly going back into the Old Testament, beginning with Moses and on through. Repeated again and again and again, those passages that pointed to the coming of the Messiah, His rejection, His suffering, His death and the subsequent glory that would be His.

Come down to verse 44, and this is a follow-up appearance. Now He said to them, these are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled. Then He opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And He said to them, thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day. And the repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. We go back through, some of you have seen, and there is material in our bookstore; if you haven't you ought to get some of it and it will lay out all the prophecies through the Old Testament, anticipating the coming of Christ, His suffering and His death, His resurrection and subsequent glory. It was all there. Peter said, even the prophets who gave it, they couldn't put it all together but they did know they were prophesying about the suffering of a Messiah and the glory of a Messiah. But they couldn't figure it out. Now Christ is explaining it to His followers.

That explains Peter's clarity on the matter now that he didn't have the evening when Christ is arrested, explains the confusion of the disciples and the uncertainty. And after His death and resurrection we don't find them celebrating and running around and saying now we understand. They are hiding in a room with the doors locked; afraid the Jews will find them and arrest them. But during those forty days where Christ spends in instructing His followers after His resurrection the clarity is brought to them. The psalms are mentioned, Psalm 22, Psalm 34, Psalm 69, and on it goes. And the writings of the Old Testament. This is the fulfillment of scripture; this is what God had prophesied.

So you come back to Acts 3. The things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets that His Christ would suffer He had thus fulfilled. Important that we have this clear because we have talked about, nothing has changed in the plan of God. We've been talking about this in our study in Romans 9, 10, and it will carry into chapter 11. God's plan and purpose for Israel is right on track. All the promises, there is not a new way of interpreting the Old Testament now that Christ has come. I mean, what does Peter say? It is just as God had previously announced, these are things you should understand. And when their eyes are opened they do understand it. And the fulfillment of it was exactly as the prophets had said. He has thus fulfilled. You see the sovereignty of God in this, verse 18, He has thus fulfilled. It was God's sovereign work in using the sinful desires of men to accomplish His purposes. So in all situations, even in this.

Verse 19, what do you do now? I mean, you are in a terrible position, this is too serious for you to expect forgiveness, there will be forgiveness for some people but for you who joined with the leaders in crucifying Christ, what are you going to do? But there is forgiveness. Verse 19, therefore repent and return. Call to the people, two commands given, we call them aorist imperatives, strong and forceful commands. You must repent, you must return. Repent; change your mind and your actions regarding Jesus Christ, total revolution. You who disowned Him, refused to acknowledge who He was, you who would rather have a murderer than the author of life, repent of what you have done, turn from your ways. And you know what? You do this so that your sins may be wiped away. A complete change, I mean, conversion is a complete change—a change of mind, a change of action, a turning. Here translated a return, turn, the idea of a turning back to God. You've been turned away from Him; you've been going away from Him, now you turn to Him. That's why salvation involves a complete change of mind and action. It's not, I made a decision to trust Christ and I just keep on going. No, you turn from your sin. Paul will write to the Thessalonians later and talk about you turned to God from idols. I mean, you just don't, I trusted in God and I keep on with my sinful ways. No, true salvation will involved that you repent and return and you turn to Him.

So that your sins may be wiped away, in order that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Come back to Isaiah 1:18 and here is Israel's sin. Verse 4, alas sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who act corruptly. They have abandoned the Lord; they have despised the Holy One of Israel. They have turned away from Him, and on it goes. And then you come, verse 18, come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet they will be as white as snow, though they are red like crimson they will be like wool. We don't want to lose sight of that. God's salvation is for wretched, defiled, worthless sinners. I mean, somehow sometimes after we have been believers for a while it's easy for a certain kind of self-righteousness to settle in and we just can't understand how people can be so sinful, we just can't understand how they can be so depraved and how they can talk like they talk and act like they act. And it's just beyond our grasp. Well where did we come from? Remember Jesus said, I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Because people who think they are already righteous, they are in a hopeless state because the beginning of salvation is to recognize your wretched condition. So we want to be careful. We sometimes act as though God's salvation is for people who aren't so bad, aren't so terribly wicked. And these are the people we are bringing the gospel to, people like us that apart from the grace of God are every bit as sinful as anyone.

Come over to Isaiah 43 because we pick up a word here I want you to see is used in Acts. Here he says that you repent and turn or return to God, that your sins may be wiped away. Isaiah 43, a great chapter. Verse 25, I, even I, am the One who wipes out your transgressions, then this last statement, for My own sake. And I will not remember your sins. So the Jews again saturated with the Old Testament could pick this up. You must repent and return and the result of true genuine repentance and turning to God is that you sins will be wiped away, just as Isaiah said when God spoke through him. I even I am the One who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake. Now what does it mean when he says your sins are wiped out? I will not remember your sins, they are done, they are gone as far as the east is from the west. They are removed; they are out of the picture. I am clean before Him.

Come over to Colossians 2:13, when you were dead in your transgressions and the un-circumcision of your flesh. That is our condition, dead in sin. He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out. That word we have translated canceled out is the same word translated wiped away in Acts 3:19. Repent and return so that your sins may be wiped away. Colossians 2:14, having wiped away the certificate of debt, consisting of decrees against us which were hostile to us. He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. That picture like when Pilate crucified Christ. Why was he crucifying Him? From the Roman perspective He was a rival to Caesar. That's what the Jews said; we have no king but Caesar. Well then Pilate thought if I have to crucify Him, I crucify Him for being a rival king. That's what you said. I'm crucifying the King of the Jews. The Jews didn't like that.

All of our sins are there. Why is Christ dying? All of my offenses, sins, are wiped away, canceled out. When I repent I acknowledge my sin and guilt and turn from it, turn to God in faith in His Son. We would say the slate is wiped clean. What a beautiful picture, people who seem the most defiled, the most corrupt, how encouraged we ought to be to say we have a gospel to present to them that will wipe the slate clean for them. They are not beyond hope, they are not too depraved, and they are not hopeless in the sense that God can't bring them salvation. Don't forget, we were dead in our transgressions and yet God wiped the slate clean.

Come back to Acts 3. Now he is speaking to Jews. Peter's understanding has been clarified. Now I understand the Old Testament prophesied the coming of the Messiah, His suffering and death and resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the Father in glory, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Peter at this point does not have an understanding that the plan and purpose of God in salvation centering in a new group, the church, is going to take place over the next 2,000 years, reaching out beyond the bounds of Israel. So what does he have next? You repent and return so that your sins may be wiped away in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. And He may send Jesus the Christ appointed for you. I call you individually and as a nation to repent and turn to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, believing in His servant, the Holy and Righteous One, the author of life. Your sins will be wiped away. And what will happen when Israel turns to Christ and says, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord? The Messiah will come and the kingdom will be established. That's what he is announcing here, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. We are talking about the kingdom that is prophesied in Isaiah; particularly we always go to chapter 2, chapter 11, chapters 60-66 and the closing chapters of that great prophetic portion. Talk about the glories of the messianic reign and the other passages permeate the Old Testament, particularly much of the prophetic books.

Come back to Matthew 23. Jesus grieving over Israel, over Jerusalem the capital which represents the nation. Verse 37, Jerusalem, Jerusalem who kills the prophets and stones those who were sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold your house is being left to you desolate. For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. A quote from Psalm 118. What Peter is announcing. I call you individually and as the nation to repent, to return to the God of Israel, believe in His Messiah, His finished work. And the result of that will that the times of refreshing will come from the Lord. The kingdom. He'll send Jesus the Christ appointed for you. I mean, He is the Anointed One, the Christos, the Messiah. Whom heaven must received until the period of the restoration of all things which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. I mean, what is keeping Christ from returning from heaven, Peter says. Nothing. But your willingness to repent and turn to the God of Israel, place your faith in the Messiah He sent.

Some call this a reoffer of the kingdom. I have no problem with that, it is an offer, it is a call to the nation. It is going to be rejected because as soon as we get into Acts 4 persecution breaks out. The Jewish leaders and the nation will have nothing, as we are familiar, with this message of Jesus being the Messiah and the Savior. So 2,000 years later the nation continues under the judgment of God. What would have happened if the nation had turned? Times of refreshing could have come with the return of Christ to earth and the establishing of the kingdom. And just from the Old Testament there would be nothing that could prevent that because the church wasn't prophesied in the Old Testament anyway. Now don't misunderstand me, the plan of God includes the church and this period of time we are in. But from Peter's perspective and the understanding he had been given, that's the order of events. Paul will say in the book of Ephesians that the mystery of the church was not revealed with any fullness until it was revealed through him. So at this point there is no revelation from God on the place of the church in the plan of God. Everything that has been revealed to this point and that Peter has been preaching has been revealed in the Old Testament—suffering and death, resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the Father. This is all Old Testament revelation. And the subsequent return of the Messiah to earth when Israel is ready to say blessed is He who comes. Referring to the Messiah, the One who comes in the name of the Lord. Now they are ready to receive Him as the Messiah of Israel.

Heaven must receive Him because we saw it in the Old Testament; we saw it in Acts 2 in Peter's sermon. Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Where is Christ now? He is at the right hand of the Father. He sent the Holy Spirit, that the demonstration that He has ascended to the right hand of the Father, the events in Acts 2 with the coming of the Spirit.

So heaven must receive Him until the period of restoration of all things, about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient times. You'll note there is no reinterpretation of the Old Testament. It must be just as the Old Testament prophets said. And the restoration of all things, talking about the prophesied earthly kingdom under messianic rule. That will happen. So the picture here is your Messiah at the right hand awaiting the restoration of all things. Remember the prophets spoke about that from old times. So repent and return in faith to the Messiah that God has provided. And He can come and we can have the kingdom.

Then he quotes from Moses. Moses is the first of the prophets. Moses said, the Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. To Him you shall give heed to everything that He says to you. He is the first prophet in Israel. We have a prophecy before that but Moses is the first prophet in the nation Israel, identified as a prophet. The quote here comes from the book of Deuteronomy18:15 that the Lord would raise up a prophet like Moses.

Come back to Deuteronomy 18:15, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen. You shall listen to Him. Verse 17, the Lord said to me, they have spoken well, in the previous verse; we don't need to go into that. I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, I will put My words in His mouth and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which He shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of Him. So the coming of a prophet like Moses.

Come back to Acts 7, a little bit after the events that we are in, in Acts 3. Persecution intensifies. Verse 37, Stephen had been quoting from Moses, who will shortly be stoned to death by the Jews for preaching Christ. Verse 37, this is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. Come back to John 6, the miracle of Christ in multiplying the loaves and the fish had just taken place. Verse 14, therefore when the people saw the sign, the attesting miracle, it wasn't primarily geared just to satisfy physical hunger. This was given to demonstrate this is the Messiah of Israel; the One when He rules will meet every need, and so on. When they saw the sign that He had performed they said, this is truly the prophet who is to come into the world, referring to the prophet that Moses said would be raised up from among the Jews like me. So Jesus perceiving they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king. You see the connection they make. This is the prophet to come, He must be the king. But they are not truly believing in Him as their Savior, they are going to take Him by force and make Him king. Why? He feeds us. They are missing the point here. I mean, if this is the prophet and the One that will come as the prophet and as the Messiah, they should bow down before Him in faith, asking Him what they should do. Not take things into their own hands. So He withdraws from them.

Come back to Acts 3. A warning and we read this in Deuteronomy while we were there. It shall be verse 23, that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. What is he doing? That warning that Moses gave in his prophecy indicates something is going to take place here. And with the coming of that prophet and the ordering of everything, there is a reminder, anyone who does not believe in Him will be destroyed. All the Jews would have to agree to that. I mean, that's what Moses the prophet of God said. When the prophet that is raised up like Moses comes and speaks, anyone who does not believe what He says will be destroyed. That's Deuteronomy 18:19, from among the people. Remember what we are told in John 3:36, he who has the Son has life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides on Him. The same point. It's not new material and its material the Jews would have assented to. Of course, when the Messiah of Israel comes, anyone who does not obey Him will be crushed by Him. That's the message of John the Baptist. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And when the Messiah comes His winnowing fork is in His hand, and the chaff will be subject to the burning judgment. But what Peter is saying, you are under judgment, you are guilty of not obeying Him, you are guilty of rejecting Him. But there is still time to change, there is still time to turn, repent, place your faith in Him.

And likewise, verse 24, all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel. And Moses is the first prophet in Israel, but then Samuel begins the line of the prophets, though they'll refer to the fact that Moses the prophet referred, but the prophetic line, if you will, begins and follows on from Samuel in Israel. And in I Samuel beginning in chapter 13:14, then I Samuel 15, I Samuel 16, I Samuel 20, and we move on. The prophets begin a line of prophecies concerning the Messiah. They all announce these days, they prophesy a coming king, they'll prophesy about His rejection and the consequences of rejection, they'll prophesy about His reign. So Samuel and his successors onward announce these days. And it is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. People take this particular prophecy, and in Galatians Paul applies the singular seed to Christ, specifically. But that is not its only use, because here he is talking about the singular seed in a collective sense, that the Jews are the seed of Abraham, as his descendants. So he tells those who are listening to him, these Jews, you are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with you fathers, saying to Abraham, in your seed all the families of the earth will be blessed. You are in that line, as is the Messiah, of course. For you first God raised up His servant. There is that word again, His servant that he used earlier in this sermon we saw, it goes back to passages like Isaiah 42:1. It is for you first. Remember Romans 1:16-17, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

So here we are. For you first God raised up His servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways. When he says He raised Him up, picking up on verse 22, he's not talking about the bodily resurrection of Christ here, but he is talking about the prophecy of Moses—God will raise up a prophet like me, first and foremost. Of course He was raised from the dead but we are at that point in time of the fulfillment of Moses' prophecy here. God has raised up the Messiah and sent Him to bless you. And what you must do is turn. And He is going to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways. You see, are you going to fight against God? This is the work of God that you should believe in His Son. It's God's intention to turn you from your wicked ways to faith in His servant. You are the descendants of Abraham. He is first and foremost your Messiah, your Savior as Jews, Himself being the descendants of Abraham. It is for you first God raised up His servant, sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.

You know it is relentless. People don't like to use too much emphasis on sin today; they think that is not good evangelism. And people don't want to be told they are sinners. You'll note there is no pulling back. The Jews didn't like it any better than people like it today. Persecution is going to break out in chapter 4; we're coming right into it. But there is no softening. You are a sinner; there is not wiggle room here. You are guilty before God, in God's sight you are a depraved, defiled, unacceptable person, worthy of only condemnation, destruction in hell. But you are no worse than I am or anyone else on the face of the earth. That's our condition. But he doesn't pull back; he doesn't even try to soften it by spreading it out even to Gentiles. Let's talk about what you did, and your guilt. Until you come to grips with that there is no salvation because God's intention is to turn everyone from your wicked ways.

Peter is here. He understands something of the sovereignty of God. Yes, that has been involved in what he has preached in his first two sermons. He said it is God's intention to turn you from your wicked ways, every one of you. Everyone won't be saved, by God's grace some will. But we offer salvation to everyone, every one of you. How sad that even as Peter is preaching this sermon chapter 4 opens up and says, as they were speaking to the people the leaders come and have them arrested. There you have the response of the nation and the people, basically. The nation is made up of the people. If the multitudes of the Jews had turned, you would have had a national conversion. By God's grace there are numbers of Jews being saved, but by no stretch is the thinking that this is a national turning. But salvation is available.

What a model we have for carrying the gospel out. We go to tell the most wretched, vile, hell-deserving sinners that your slate can be wiped clean. You must repent and turn from your sin to faith in Jesus Christ, the Savior that God has provided. When you believe in Him the slate is wiped clean. No matter how vile or how guilty you can be forgiven. That ought to move us with the same passion that moved Peter to go to those guilty of the most horrendous sin and say, you can be forgiven because Jesus Christ died and rose again. He is alive and He is the Savior.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your salvation. Thank you, Lord, a salvation so great and so powerful that through the work of you Spirit that has brought your grace into our lives individually and personally. And Lord we would never forget that we were dead in our transgressions, we were guilty, vile, hell-deserving sinners just like the rest. It's your mercy; it's your grace that brings salvation. How marvelous that the slate can be wiped clean in your sight. We can be so forgiven that we are white like snow. We praise you for such a great Savior. Lord, may we be bold in carrying this message even as Peter did to those that we come in contact with, to those who seem so hopeless, so lost, so without interest, blinded and hardened in sin. But Jesus Christ is the Savior and you are the God of mercy and grace. We praise you in Christ's name, amen.