Sermon Central
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Part 2 Of Peter’s 2nd Sermon Series
Contributed by James Lee on Nov 4, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: Dealing with a number of issues at EBC led me to a series by Pastor Jerry Shirley which God has graciously allowed me to revise and use to speak to our congregation.
Last week we looked at the first part of Peter’s sermon and if you remember he told the people that they had desired a murdered, they had denied the Lord and they must decide to repent!
In the second part of his sermon Peter makes 2 promises, if they will repent:
Look at verses 19-20
1. Their sins will be blotted out
2. Jesus will return and set up His earthly kingdom
The 2nd half of this 2nd sermon has 3 points, as did the first part. These points are the promises, the prophets, and the persecutions.
We’ll only have time to examine the promises this morning…
Don’t forget that Peter’s entire audience was Jewish and they were thoroughly familiar with the Old Testament therefore, Peter uses the Old Testament and preaches Christ to them!
Someone might say “but, Jesus isn’t in the Old Testament. BUT He is…He’s on every page!
In Gen. 3:15 the seed of the woman would come and crush the head of the serpent—that’s Jesus!
In Leviticus they were commanded to take male lambs with no spot or blemish and sacrifice them on the altar... 1Peter 1:19 NKJV - 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
There are many other passages…
Jesus Christ is found from Genesis to Revelation because the entire Bible is about Him!
Peter, here in Acts 3, shares some promises with the people: Look at verse 19 where Peter tells them “Your sins will be blotted out.”
What does “blotted out” mean? It means to wipe away, to eliminate, erase.
Did you know that this promise applies to you today? If you repent of your sins, the Word of God promises that you can have every last sin blotted out!
My question today would be; why keep running?
Jonah tried to run from his sin but the only thing he proved is that you can’t run fast enough or far enough to hide from your sins.
King David proved we can try but we can’t hide our sins.
Ananias and Sapphira lost their lives because they tried to lie their way out of their sins.
We can’t hide FROM our sin, we can’t HIDE our sin and we can’t LIE our way out of our sin.
God will NOT allow even the smallest sin into heaven and this is where our problem starts.
What can we do with our sin? We can’t run from them, we can’t hide them and we can’t lie our way out of them!
This is one question that many try to avoid today. It’s a question we don’t like to face.
It’s a question that many pulpits have stopped asking BUT I must ask it from THIS pulpit on THIS day!
What will you do about your sin!?
When I die my hunting stuff goes to Dalton, my fishing stuff to Aidin. In other words we make preparations and our heads are filled with questions. But the reality is that in less than 5 seconds after we die the only question that will matter, the only question God will ask you is; “What did you do with your sin?”
I saw this old photo of a woman with distress on her face. [Point to the screen] I wondered what she is worried about. Was it a financial crisis? Was it a sick or maybe dying husband or child?
You know those things are very important to each of us and I’m not minimizing any of the stressful situations you may face in the life; but when this life is over, the only thing that matters for you/me is, what did I do about my sin; what did you do about your sin?!
Peter didn’t say, repent, and you’ll be healthy and wealthy, as many of the prosperity preachers of our day promise. They don’t even mention repentance… What Peter promised was something better than that!
He promised that you can have your sins blotted out…erased!
I don’t know about you but I think that’s great news!
As a minister of the gospel, I can and do make you that same promise right now. This promise is not based on my own authority but on the authority of God’s Word! Repent and your sin WILL BE blotted out
There are many who are hungry for something that the world can’t offer. They know it’s found in Jesus but they believe they need to be perfect in order to be accepted by Him. How many of you are hungry for something better? Well I found a place that serves up a meal that you won’t believe!
I shook my head in disbelief. This couldn’t be the right place. After all, I couldn’t possibly be welcome here. I had been given an invitation several times, by several different people, and had finally decided to see what this place was all about. But, this just couldn’t be the right place. Quickly, I glanced down at the invitation that I clutched in my hand. I scanned past the words, "Come as you are. No jacket required." and found the location. Yes, I was at the right place. I peered through the window again and saw a room of people whose faces seemed to glow with joy. All were neatly dressed, adorned in fine garments and appeared strangely clean as they dined at this exquisite restaurant.
