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The Message Of Repentance (Acts 3:19-26)
I. The Forgiveness Of Sin
II. The Kingdom Will Come
III. The Blessing Is Still Available
Our text is taken from Acts chapter 3, verse 19–26. The apostle Peter had just preached to the Jews and his focus was on them as the covenant people of God, and he explained to them that Jesus was the glorified Son of God, and yet they denied him. Jesus was the holy one and the just, and yet they desired a murderer instead of him. Jesus was the prince of life, and yet they killed him. Why did Peter preach to the Jews about sins? Because he loved them and he wanted them to repent. This is what we want to learn for today's message, and the title is The Message of Repentance.
In almost every sermon, especially a gospel message, there ought to be a focus on repentance. God's servants throughout the Old and New Testaments, they had all called sinners to repentance. For example, Jeremiah the prophet said to the Israelites in Jeremiah 8:5, "Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return." Similarly, Ezekiel said to the Israelites in Ezekiel 14:6, "Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations."
In the New Testament time, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, saying, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." John was the forerunner pointing the people to the Messiah, who was the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he was arrested and put into prison, Matthew 4:17 tells us that from that time onwards, Jesus was preaching, and the message he preached was, "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Jesus preached exactly the same message that John the Baptist preached. So the message of repentance was preached in both the Old and New Testaments and even by our Lord Jesus Christ himself. Therefore, it was not surprising that when the apostles first established the New Testament church, they were also preaching the same message.
Peter’s first sermon
The first sermon that Peter preached in Acts 2:38, what kind of sermon was that? Peter said to the people, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Again, it was about repentance.
Now, fast forward to our time. Almost 2,000 years have come and gone, and we are still preaching the same message of repentance. Why? Because God wants the people to hear this same message, so that they would turn away from their sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But sadly today, people do not like to hear about sin and repentance, about hell and judgment. They want to hear about blessings, about love, about prosperity. That is why they will gravitate to the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel.
But in order to preach a message of repentance, firstly the preacher has to explain God's truth. God's standard of righteousness. He has to talk about sin and the consequences. Otherwise, why would the people want to repent when the preacher has faithfully done that? God in his sovereignty would use that message to create the sorrow for sin or the fear of judgment through conviction. And then in the hearts of these people, he will cause them to repent of their sins and believe in the gospel. Let us see how Peter preached to the Jews the message of repentance.
I. The Forgiveness Of Sin
Our first point is the forgiveness of sin. Peter said in verse 19, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." To repent is to change one's mind or purpose that will lead to a change of action or behaviour. The word converted means to return. It speaks of sinners returning to God. Basically, what it means is that the Jews needed to repent of their sins and turn around from their wrong understanding about Jesus Christ and put their faith in him. In other words, a person's conversion or salvation is predicated by repentance or unless he has repented, he cannot be converted.
Today there are people who teach that all a person needs to do is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ or just say those magical words. There's no need to repent. But true repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of behaviour. And that is true faith. The classic example is Judas Iscariot. He was sorrowful and remorseful. There's no question about that. But he was not true faith. There was no true repentance because it did not cause him to turn away from his sins and cling onto the cross. Instead, he returned to his old sinful ways. To ease his own emotional guilt, he turned to the tree and hang himself.
Jesus gave a most wonderful illustration about repentance. Matthew 21, verse 28–31. Allow me to read for you. Jesus said, "But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented and went. And he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you."
True Repentance
Why? Because they had truly repented. Notice the first son said he would not go, but afterward he repented. He had a change of mind, and that change of mind led him to make a decision that changed his action. He went and did what his father had commanded him.
Dear friend, there are many people who, like Judas Iscariot, are sorrowful and remorseful of their sins. Sometimes it is because they have been caught, like a husband who commits adultery and faces his wife, or a father who gambles all the money away and faces his children who have no money to go to school, or student who cheats in the examination and faces disciplinary action. There would always be guilt, consequences, troubles, disappointments that come with sin.
It is not good enough just to be sorrowful and remorseful. You need to hear God's truth about sin and the Saviour and what he did for you. Then you will repent from your sins and look to Jesus for salvation and be converted. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. It is a supernatural spiritual work and that is through repentance. It is not just a profession of faith. There is a change of action or behaviour.
Remember Paul said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 9–11, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
Past tense, which means some of the Corinthians were idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, and so forth. But they had repented and were converted. Paul said, "That was what you were in the past. Today – but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified by the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God." It does not mean that we will never fall into sin again. But at the point of our conversions, there would be a radical change. There would be a true commitment to repent of our sins and believe in Jesus Christ. Only when the Jews had experienced true repentance would their sins be blotted out.
Sin is blotted out
The original Greek word for blotted out is very interesting because it means wipe away. Like the wiping away of the ink from a document. You may ask how could they do that? In those days, the ink in the ancient world had no acid or alcohol content. Therefore, it could not eat into the materials like the papyrus. So all they needed to do was to use a wet cloth to wipe away the ink.
This is an amazing picture of how God wipes away the sins of the believers. They will be gone beyond the possibility of any reveals or recollections. Can you imagine even the horrible sin of rejecting and crucifying the Messiah could be wiped away, blotted out? That was why Romans 8:1 said, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus."
Dear friend, have you ever felt so ashamed of your sins? Some of the things that you have done in the past, horrendous, evil and wicked. No one knows but you know. Perhaps you tremble whenever you think of standing before God and being reminded of those sins. Well, do not worry. God said in Isaiah 43:25, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." Although God is omniscience, he knows everything and forgets nothing, yet he chooses not to remember our sins.
Psalm 103:12 said, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." God will not take our sins into account. That is what it means, because the precious blood of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ has washed away all our sins. So as true believers, if we have truly experienced the conviction of our sins and we made a commitment to repent and live a righteous life before God, we do not need to be afraid. For the Bible tells us that our sins are all blotted out, wipe away.
II. The Kingdom Will Come
Our second point is the kingdom will come. Look at the second part of verse 19. "When the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." The times of refreshing refers to the millennial kingdom. Why did Peter all of a sudden talk about the millennial kingdom? Well, the Israelites had been waiting anxiously for that kingdom. They longed to see the Messiah reigning personally on the earth and to have their enemies defeated.
But sadly when the Messiah Jesus Christ came to offer them that kingdom, they rejected him, and because of their rejections there was no peace for Israel. The first devastating divine judgment was in AD 70 when the Roman general Titus destroyed the temple and killed almost 1 million Jews. Ever since then, the Jews were the most persecuted people on the face of this earth.
No people in history had been more hated than the Jewish people. They had endured invasion after invasion, persecutions, deportations, the worst genocide. Hitler killed almost 6 million Jews. Although they are now back in their own land, their enemies still gave them no rest. Even as we speak, we hear of news every day that they are fighting their enemies on several fronts. Whether it be the Hamas, Hasbas, Iranians, the Syrians, the Houthis, and so forth. Yes, they had done wicked things along the way, but the main problem was because they had rejected the Messiah.
But one day there will be peace in the millennial kingdom. Ezekiel calls it a time of showers of blessing. Joel calls it a time of satisfaction. And here Peter calls it the times of refreshing. So Peter was telling the Jews to repent and be converted because when all Israel or the nation of Israel as a whole is saved, then the Lord Jesus Christ would return to establish his millennial kingdom.
Tragically, from the time of Peter until today, only some individuals believed. The vast majority, the nation of Israel as a whole, continues to reject God's gracious offer. That is why for almost 2,000 years they had no peace because they had rejected the prince of peace. They may try to look to the United Nations or the superpowers like the United States to give them some peace and security. But the times of refreshing will not come from human efforts or human powers. It can only come from the presence of the Lord.
Israel will be restored!
In other words, only when the Lord returns and with his presence, then Israel will have the peace that surpasses even the glorious times of David and Solomon. Therefore, verse 20 said, "And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." In other words, as long as Israel continues to reject Jesus as the Messiah, he would not return. But once Israel repents and is converted, there will be in the tribulation. He would come and the times of restitution of all things would take place. That is another reference to the millennial kingdom.
Restitution means restoration. Our Lord Jesus will return and restore all things. His millennial kingdom will be restored with peace, joy, holiness, God's glory, comfort, justice, and righteousness. There will be health, prosperity, and the freedom from oppression. Even the animosity within the animal kingdom will be restored. The curse on man and the world would also be restored.
This teaching was not invented by Peter or based on human speculations. It was by divine revelation because God hath spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets since the world began. 2Peter 1:21 said, "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." So it was God the one who spoke through the holy prophets.
Perhaps you may be wondering where did God speak through the prophets about the Messiah. Well, Peter gave an example and he said in Act 3 verse 22 “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.” this was a quotation from Deuteronomy chapter 18:15 when Moses spoke about the coming Messiah. The Jews respected Moses a great deal. But even Moses said to them that God would raise up a prophet like him, but with the capital P. And they must listen to everything he says. And what was the consequence of rejecting Jesus who was the Messiah, the prophet with a capital P?
According to Moses, Peter said in verse 23, "And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people." Whether Jews or Gentiles, when they reject the Messiah, they would be destroyed. And this was not only a reference to the physical death but the spiritual and eternal death. And it was not only Moses who spoke of the Messiah but all the other prophets who spoke about him.
Verse 24. “Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days." All those prophets of old had already prophesied of these things to come. Maybe at this point in time, the Jews will be wondering, "Oh, what have we done? We are condemned. We are eternally lost. There is no more hope for us." Well, Peter said, "In spite of your rejection, there is still hope." The blessing is still available to you.
III. The Blessing Is Still Available
This brings us to our third and final point. The blessing is still available. Verse 25. "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed." It was not because of the Jews per se, but the covenant God had made with their forefathers, especially Abraham.
Remember in Genesis chapter 12, God promised Abraham, "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Out of the seed of Abraham would ultimately come Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah. And through him and only him alone can all the families be blessed.
The Jews had rejected and crucified the Messiah. And because of that, as a nation, they were being set aside in a temporal sense while the gospel was preached onto the rest of the world. For the most part, the church is made up of Gentiles like you and me. But God has not permanently rejected Israel because he is a covenantal keeping God, and he remembers his promise, his covenant with Abraham. One day, Israel would be restored.
How do we know Israel was not permanently rejected by God? Verse 26. "Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." God has not forgotten Israel, nor has he forsaken her. He wants them to repent and be converted. Remember just before Jesus ascended into heaven, he gave this command to his disciples.
Maybe you can turn with me to Acts 1, verse 6 to 8. Acts chapter 1, verse 6. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" So the disciples knew that God will one day restore Israel. Notice Jesus did not say God will never restore Israel again. She has been permanently rejected. No, he did not say that. What did he say? "And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power." Which means God will restore Israel. But the timing is not for you to know.
Witness to the whole world
Well, when all Israel has repented and is converted, that is when God will restore her again. Therefore, what must you do now? He said, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Who were the people in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria? Primarily the Jews. In other words, after you have preached to the Jews first, then you go on to preach to the Gentiles.
That was what Peter was trying to do here. He preached to the Jews first. That was exactly what Paul did when he said in Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." So the Jews must first repent of their sins and believe in the gospel. Sadly, they did not do that. Therefore, for almost 2,000 years, millions and millions of them died and they were cast into outer darkness.
Dear friend, this is the same fate that awaits not just the Jews, but every man and woman in this world who refuses to repent and believe in Jesus Christ for salvation. And that includes our unbelieving loved ones, our grandparents, our parents, our children, our grandchildren, and our friends. That was why even though Peter knew the Jews would reject him, they would even persecute him when he preached to them such a message. But he could not help it because he loved them. They were his people and he wanted them to be saved, to repent and be converted.
What about us? Our unbelieving loved ones may reject us. They may not be happy whenever we evangelise to them. But will we still preach to them? Or do we just try to keep the peace, save the trouble, and not say anything about sin and the Saviour, about hell and judgment? Just keep quiet. God forbids. We cannot help it because they are our people. We love them. We want them to repent and be saved. As long as they are still alive, there is still hope. The blessing is still available.
We will share with them the message of repentance. No matter how difficult it may be, the moment they draw their last breath, it will be too late. So dear friend, let us take note of this message of repentance, where Peter emphasised the forgiveness of sin, the kingdom that will come. Jesus will return and he will establish his millennial kingdom, and the blessing is still available.
Though today we see the vast majority of the people, especially the nation of Israel, is unbelieving. But one day they will cry out to the one whom they had pierced, and they will call out to him the Messiah, and then Jesus will come. The blessing is still available. So I pray that as we minister to the people around us, we also take in that as long as they are still alive, there's still hope. The blessing is still available. And we will preach the message of repentance that they will believe in the gospel and be converted no matter how difficult it may be.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we give you thanks for this opportunity for us to consider this portion of Scriptures in Acts chapter 3, verse 19–26, where we see the emphasis is on this same message which was preached both in the Old and New Testaments, even by our Lord Jesus Christ himself. And this is the same message that we will continue to preach for as long as we would live on this earth. And it all pertains to the forgiveness of sins and that thy kingdom will come and the blessing is still available.
Help us, O Lord, that we will not be afraid, but be bold and courageous. For we know that many out there are still lingering in darkness, and they will be lost for all eternity. And we pray that thou would use us as thy instrument, whether as a church, as a family, as an individual. We want to be used by thee to share this same message which the holy prophets of old had also preached so faithfully. And may we be bold, encouraged, empowered by thy Spirit to do this spiritual work that souls may be saved. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.