INTRODUCTION
John Newton said, "I am not what I was, I am not what I am going to be, I am not what I should be, but I am what I am by the grace of God." This is repentance. A deep an ongoing saving grace. One that is at the beginning of our conscious conversion. One that continues each day. One that is corporate in our covenant renewal in public worship. It contains a hope of being like our Lord, it contains a despising of the breaking of God’s law, and one which rests in the present in Christ alone.
TEXT
12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: "Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence (face) of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. 14 "But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 "and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. 16 "And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. 17 "Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 "But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 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, 20 "and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 "whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. 22 "For 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. 23 ’And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ 24 "Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. 25 "You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ’And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ 26 "To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities."
OUTLINE
1) THE APOSTOLIC KERYGMA (PROCLAMATION)
2) THE APOSTOLIC CALL - REPENTANCE
Acts 3:12 Seeing (this - the people gathering), Peter answered to the people, Men of Israel, - Peter would say later answer before the Sanhedrin, Paul would answer before Festus and Agrippa. Indeed Peter would tell us that we are to be able to "give an answer" to anyone who asks for an account of our hope.
This was an "answer" avpekri,nato to the occasion.
First note that this miracle was for the Glory of Jesus Christ and His Name.
12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: "Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
Matthew Henry points out that, "When he saw the people ready to adore him and John, he stepped in immediately, and diverted their respect from them, that it might be directed to Christ only." And, "Note, The instruments of God’s favour to us, though they must be respected, must not be idolized; we must take heed of reckoning that to be done by the instrument which God is the author of."
The Old Geneva Bible makes a good point against all of the Roman Catholic superstitions: "Miracles are appointed to convince the unbelievers, and therefore they wickedly abuse the miracles who, standing amazed, either at the miracles themselves or at the instruments and means which is pleases God to use, take an occasion to establish idolatry and superstition by that which God has provided for the knowledge of his true worship, that is, Christianity."
Through His Name
13 "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence (face) of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. 14 "But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 "and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. 16 "And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
A Name in Biblical though, strongly connoted the power and presence of a person.
You Denied Him whom God glorified
14 "But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 "and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. 16 "And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. 17 "Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
Peter is using the words of Isaiah: the Servant (Isaiah 42-53)
Isaiah 52:13 Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.
The Holy One and the Just
Peter would say later, 1Pe 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
You Denied Him who Fulfilled the Scriptures
17 "Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 "But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
The Foretelling of These Days - Times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets.
This is an interesting text:
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,
20 "and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,
21 "whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
Dispensationalism says: Stanley Toussaint of Dallas Theological Seminary said on "these days." "The Old Testament Prophets did not predict the church; to them it was a mystery 9Rom 16:235; Eph 3:1-6). But the prophets often spoke of the messianic golden age, that is, the Millennium."
Liberalism says; following Rudolf Bultmann, Jesus was sonsidered by the earliest believers to be "Messiah-designate" awaiting the future coming of the Son o fMan 9another than Jesus), who would then appoint Jesus to be Messiah in fact."
Restoration of All Things
avpokatasta,sewj pa,ntwn (APOKATASTASEOS PANTON)
FF Bruce is right in saying: "If Jesus must remain in heaven until this consummation, this is in line with Paul’s exposition of Ps 110:1 Christ must reign 9at the right hand of God) until all hostile powers are overthrown" (85).
John Gill says, " but here it regards his being sent, and his coming in the ministration of the word, and by his Spirit, to the comfort of their souls"
Peter supports this with an appeal to the Scriptures and the prophecies of Messiah
22 "For 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.
23 ’And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’
24 "Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.
The Prophet - (Deut 18)
First, if you really believe what Moses has said, you will believe what Jesus has said, because Moses is speaking of Jesus Christ, and second, to believe in Jesus is to stand in direct continuity with Moses, and is, therefore, to be a part of the true people of God, the followers of Jesus, which is the church.
John Wesley, said, "One cannot imagine a more masterly address than this, to warn the Jews of the dreadful consequence of their infidelity, in the very words of their favourite prophet, out of a pretended zeal for whom they rejected Christ."
You are sons of the prophets: Moses, Samuel
From Samuel the prophetic era commenced.
2Sam 7: 12 " When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 "He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
14 "I will be his Father, and he shall be My son
You are sons of the covenant
25 "You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ’And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
26 "To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities."
To the Jews first the gospel was to go. Christ sent his disciples first to the lost sheep of Israel, like the event with the Syro-Phoenician woman.
Mark 7:26 The woman was a Greek, a Syro_Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
27 But Jesus said to her, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs."
28 And she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs."
29 Then He said to her, "For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter."
Matthew 15:28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
Repent or Be Destroyed
"He encourages them to hope that, though they had been guilty of putting Christ to death, yet they might find mercy" (Henry)
2) THE APOSTOLIC CALL; THE DOCTRINE OF REPENTANCE
The text says, "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."
The familiar Greek Word is metanoe,w
meta&noe,w, f. h,sw, to change one’s mind or purpose, Plat., Xen.
2. to repent, Antipho, etc. Hence meta,noia
Used of believers: To the Church at Pergamos: Revelation 2:5 "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place __ unless you repent.
To the church at Sardis: Revelation 3:3 "Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
To the church at Laodicia: Revelation 3:19 "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
Be Converted is the Greek word EPISTREPHO.
It is used elsewhere in Luke-Acts:
Luke 1:16 "And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
24 And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. 25 So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: "The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, 26 "saying, ’Go to this people and say: "Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive; 27 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them." ’ 28 "Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!"
A.T. ROBERTSON says - Surely repentance will bring "seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord."
The problem of repentance is that sometimes we are not like that lame man who simply leaps up, rather we linger and feel fit to repent. The hymn Come Ye Sinners says it well:
Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness he requireth
Is to feel you need of Him:
This he gives you _
’Tis the Spirit’s rising beam.
Come, ye weary, heavy_laden,
Lost and ruined by the Fall;
If you wait until you’re better,
You will never come at all:
Not the righteous _
Sinners Jesus came to call.
Hear the Reformed Doctrinal Standards on Repentance:
WCF 15.1 Repentance unto life is an evangelical grace,(1) the doctrine whereof is to be preached by every minister of the Gospel, as well as that of faith in Christ.(2) (1)Zech. 12:10; Acts 11:18. (2)Luke 24:47; Mark 1:15; Acts 22:21.
WLC 76 What is repentance unto life? A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace,(1) wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit(2) and word of God,(3) whereby out of the sight and sense, not only of the danger,(4) but also of the filthiness and odiousness of his sins,(5) and upon the apprehension of God’s mercy in Christ to such as are penitent,(6) he so grieves for(7) and hates his sins,(8) as that he turns from them all to God,(9) purposing and endeavouring constantly to walk with him in all the ways of new obedience.(10)
WCF 15.4 As there is no sin so small but it deserves damnation;(1) so there is no sin so great, that it can bring damnation upon those who truly repent.(2) (1)Rom. 6:23; Rom. 5:12; Matt. 12:36. (2)Isa. 55:7; Rom. 8:1; Isa. 1:16,18.
WCF 15.5 Men ought not to content themselves with a general repentance, but it is every man’s duty to endeavour to repent of his particular sins particularly.(1) (1)Ps. 19:13; Luke 19:8; 1 Tim. 1:13,15.
WCF 15.6 As every man is bound to make private confession of his sins to God, praying for the pardon thereof (1) upon which, and the forsaking of them, he shall find mercy;(2) so he that scandalizeth his brother, or the Church of Christ, ought to be willing, by a private or public confession and sorrow for his sin, to declare his repentance to those that are offended;(3) who are thereupon to be reconciled to him, and in love to receive him.(4) (1)Ps. 51:4,5,7,9,14; Ps. 32:5,6. (2)Prov. 28:13; 1 John 1:9. (3)James 5:16; Luke 17:3,4; Josh. 7:19; Ps. 51. (4)2 Cor. 2:8.
Heidelberg Catechism: Q 56 LD21,What believest thou concerning the forgiveness of sins? That God for the sake of Christ’s satisfaction will no more remember my sins neither my corrupt nature against which I have to struggle all my life long but will graciously impute to me the righteousness of Christ that I may never be condemned before the tribunal of God.
All of this is just to say what we confess in ancient creeds: "I believe in the forgiveness of sins."
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, just as Jesus said, in Matt 18: 2, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. - and as the people at Solomon’s Porch were told by Peter we are called to repent. If you do not believe the gospel - if you deny that Jesus is Lord - then the call to repentance is that your turn from sin and self to a Savior - the only Savior; but as is the case with most of us, we need to take seriously the call to ongoing repentance and ongoing confession of sin. As believers, we should rejoice in what John, Peter’s companion would say later: 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
I believe that repentance for Israel at that time would bring kairos (season) of refreshment; I believe that for those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord, if they would repent, then they would know a true refreshment; Even so, I believe that mature believers, when they truly repent of their sins (few though they be), that we know real refreshment and real power. For the gospel is the power of God for salvation.
