Acts 3:17-26
***NO WONBY ONE ON FRIDAY NOV 28!!!***
Hey ya’ll!!! Alright, now it’s time for the “skinny” version of this awesome passage of scripture!!!
Getting right to the point, the foundation of the passage is repentance!!! Peter let them know that their deeds were done in “ignorance”, which as we saw from other scripture is not a complement, nor is Peter saying that their deeds were justified, but he is instead continuing to convict them, though more so is shifting the direction of the sermon, because their sin can be forgiven! However, he doesn’t say, “Except Jesus into your heart”, or, “Say this prayer”, or ,”yadda yadda yadda”; instead, Peter tells them to REPENT!!! Both “repent” and “turn” (though translated “return” in the NAS) are in the language of command, with an increased sense of urgency! Also, both commands are in the active voice (active, in that they are carried out by you and me, though not in our own power).
There is no salvation apart from repentance! If anybody, and I mean anybody, tells you that you can get saved without repentance, they’re totally wrong! Peter isn’t trying to get these people to make a decision to become religious, or pray a prayer, or feel emotional; he’s preaching that they might see their sin, and turn from it! If you have assurance of your salvation, and you have never genuinely repented from your sin, your assurance is false. Sure, you may be moral, and religious, and try to act nice in the power of your own flesh, but if you have never repented from your sin (mourning over your sinful condition and turning from your sinful deeds of both thought and act, and turning to God for forgiveness and grace), you’re not saved. Jesus and the Apostles (as well as all of the OT prophets) are not dogmatic about repentance, they’re BULLDOGmatic about repentance! You cannot separate repentance from salvation, and ANY attempt to tell somebody otherwise a serious lapse in faithfulness to the word of God. Phew!
Now, we broke the text up into 6 parts: 6 reasons for the men of Israel to REPENT. Now heads up, listen up here folks, as we saw Friday night, the context is Peter’s sermon to the “Men of Israel”; therefore, he’s going to give them some reasons to repent that apply to us directly, and some reasons that apply to us indirectly, because they’re specific to Israel (as a nation). By the way, this is how we are to study scripture isn’t it, by putting things into their context. =)
Reason 1: Forgiveness of sin (v19). This obviously applies to us gentiles (non Jews) directly. “Wiped away” is referring to the TOTAL wiping away of our sin, that is, none left!
Reason 2: That the earthly reign of the Messiah would come (v19).
Reason 3: That the Messiah would return (v20).
Regarding both reasons 2 and 3, these are specific to Israel, as a nation. We looked at Zechariah 12 and 14, and saw that it is the time when the nation of Israel repents that the Messiah does return and establish His earthly Kingdom. We understand from scripture that this WILL happen in the future, but hasn’t yet. If you wish to study eschatology more, tell me! By the way “eschatos” in Greek means last, and “ology” is always added at the end of a word which means “the study of BLANK”; therefore, eschat-ology means the study of last things, or of the end times (feel smarter yet?).
However, just because these reasons to repent don’t directly apply to us, they most definitely do so indirectly! We talked a little about how great the earthly Kingdom (we called it the Millennial Kingdom because it lasts for 1000 years) will be, and how glorious life will be during that time! The earth hasn’t seen such life and purity since Eden! However, if you die having never repented (evidencing God’s saving work on your behalf), you won’t be there to enjoy it; instead, you’ll be in hell. And as we noted, the only hope that a sinner has in hell is that the previous 10,000 years of being there is only a point in eternity, and God’s judgment will be consistent throughout its entirety. As those who have repented will be in the Millennial Kingdom for 1000 years and then in heaven for all eternity, you will only be in hell, with a quick pit stop to appear before the throne of Jesus Christ to be forever cast into the lake of fire for the remainder of eternity.
Reason 4: To avoid God’s judgment (vv22-23). See above....enough said!
Reason 5: To receive all of the blessings of God (v25). Although Peter’s point to Israel here is that they are the sons of the prophets through whom God delivered this revelation, if you look closely at v25, you’ll see that “ALL the families (or nations) of the earth shall be blessed”. The “all” includes both Jews and gentiles (that’s us)!
Reason 6: Because we’re caused to (v26)! We know that no man can repent in his own power, but God instead has to sovereignly enable him to, and move his heart to. ALL salvation is only by grace, and only through faith in Christ alone! The gift of salvation includes (but is not limited to) both faith and repentance!!! We also noted that being blessed by being turned from our wicked ways was in fact a very wonderful blessing, because sin is so sinful! Sin is destructive temporally and eternally! Sin destroys lives, both now, and will in eternity! Sin is the leprosy that a man can’t rid himself of (Jer 13:23), or the vomit that dogs return to in order to eat it…YUCK (Prov 26:11)!. The Bible describes sin to be destructive, gross and totally contrary to that which is good for us now, and eternally. Being turned from it, is being saved from your own self destruction, as one follows Satan’s lies which only serve to give opportunity for delight in sin, and therefore one’s own destruction. Sinners are turned from their sin by the mercy, grace and love of God! =)
***NO WONBY ONE ON FRIDAY NOV 28!!!***
Hey ya’ll!!! Alright, now it’s time for the “skinny” version of this awesome passage of scripture!!!
Getting right to the point, the foundation of the passage is repentance!!! Peter let them know that their deeds were done in “ignorance”, which as we saw from other scripture is not a complement, nor is Peter saying that their deeds were justified, but he is instead continuing to convict them, though more so is shifting the direction of the sermon, because their sin can be forgiven! However, he doesn’t say, “Except Jesus into your heart”, or, “Say this prayer”, or ,”yadda yadda yadda”; instead, Peter tells them to REPENT!!! Both “repent” and “turn” (though translated “return” in the NAS) are in the language of command, with an increased sense of urgency! Also, both commands are in the active voice (active, in that they are carried out by you and me, though not in our own power).
There is no salvation apart from repentance! If anybody, and I mean anybody, tells you that you can get saved without repentance, they’re totally wrong! Peter isn’t trying to get these people to make a decision to become religious, or pray a prayer, or feel emotional; he’s preaching that they might see their sin, and turn from it! If you have assurance of your salvation, and you have never genuinely repented from your sin, your assurance is false. Sure, you may be moral, and religious, and try to act nice in the power of your own flesh, but if you have never repented from your sin (mourning over your sinful condition and turning from your sinful deeds of both thought and act, and turning to God for forgiveness and grace), you’re not saved. Jesus and the Apostles (as well as all of the OT prophets) are not dogmatic about repentance, they’re BULLDOGmatic about repentance! You cannot separate repentance from salvation, and ANY attempt to tell somebody otherwise a serious lapse in faithfulness to the word of God. Phew!
Now, we broke the text up into 6 parts: 6 reasons for the men of Israel to REPENT. Now heads up, listen up here folks, as we saw Friday night, the context is Peter’s sermon to the “Men of Israel”; therefore, he’s going to give them some reasons to repent that apply to us directly, and some reasons that apply to us indirectly, because they’re specific to Israel (as a nation). By the way, this is how we are to study scripture isn’t it, by putting things into their context. =)
Reason 1: Forgiveness of sin (v19). This obviously applies to us gentiles (non Jews) directly. “Wiped away” is referring to the TOTAL wiping away of our sin, that is, none left!
Reason 2: That the earthly reign of the Messiah would come (v19).
Reason 3: That the Messiah would return (v20).
Regarding both reasons 2 and 3, these are specific to Israel, as a nation. We looked at Zechariah 12 and 14, and saw that it is the time when the nation of Israel repents that the Messiah does return and establish His earthly Kingdom. We understand from scripture that this WILL happen in the future, but hasn’t yet. If you wish to study eschatology more, tell me! By the way “eschatos” in Greek means last, and “ology” is always added at the end of a word which means “the study of BLANK”; therefore, eschat-ology means the study of last things, or of the end times (feel smarter yet?).
However, just because these reasons to repent don’t directly apply to us, they most definitely do so indirectly! We talked a little about how great the earthly Kingdom (we called it the Millennial Kingdom because it lasts for 1000 years) will be, and how glorious life will be during that time! The earth hasn’t seen such life and purity since Eden! However, if you die having never repented (evidencing God’s saving work on your behalf), you won’t be there to enjoy it; instead, you’ll be in hell. And as we noted, the only hope that a sinner has in hell is that the previous 10,000 years of being there is only a point in eternity, and God’s judgment will be consistent throughout its entirety. As those who have repented will be in the Millennial Kingdom for 1000 years and then in heaven for all eternity, you will only be in hell, with a quick pit stop to appear before the throne of Jesus Christ to be forever cast into the lake of fire for the remainder of eternity.
Reason 4: To avoid God’s judgment (vv22-23). See above....enough said!
Reason 5: To receive all of the blessings of God (v25). Although Peter’s point to Israel here is that they are the sons of the prophets through whom God delivered this revelation, if you look closely at v25, you’ll see that “ALL the families (or nations) of the earth shall be blessed”. The “all” includes both Jews and gentiles (that’s us)!
Reason 6: Because we’re caused to (v26)! We know that no man can repent in his own power, but God instead has to sovereignly enable him to, and move his heart to. ALL salvation is only by grace, and only through faith in Christ alone! The gift of salvation includes (but is not limited to) both faith and repentance!!! We also noted that being blessed by being turned from our wicked ways was in fact a very wonderful blessing, because sin is so sinful! Sin is destructive temporally and eternally! Sin destroys lives, both now, and will in eternity! Sin is the leprosy that a man can’t rid himself of (Jer 13:23), or the vomit that dogs return to in order to eat it…YUCK (Prov 26:11)!. The Bible describes sin to be destructive, gross and totally contrary to that which is good for us now, and eternally. Being turned from it, is being saved from your own self destruction, as one follows Satan’s lies which only serve to give opportunity for delight in sin, and therefore one’s own destruction. Sinners are turned from their sin by the mercy, grace and love of God! =)
posted by Timothy Nash @ 12:42 PM
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