Princeton Presbyterian Church

Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1591

June 11, 2023

Acts 3.12-26              Click Here for Audio Worship

Dr. Ed Pettus

 

“Repent Therefore, and Turn Back”

 

¹²And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? ¹³The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. ¹⁴But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. ¹⁶And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. ¹⁷“And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. ¹⁹Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, ²⁰that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, ²¹whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. ²²Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. ²³And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ ²⁴And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. ²⁵You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ ²⁶God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

 

 

• Power in the Name

 

In the first part of Acts 3, two disciples, Peter and John, are going to the temple. The story is told that they were going “at the hour of prayer”. I assume that means they were going to pray. They get asked by a poor lame fellow for some money. Peter responds (Acts 3.6), “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

This kind of thing always causes a commotion in the Bible, whether it is Jesus Himself or the disciples doing this in Jesus’ name, there is always amazement from some people and opposition from others. The same is true today whenever we mention the name of Jesus anywhere, some applaud and some are “offended”. Just the mention of Jesus’ name is problematic today, but that has always been the case ever since Acts 3 and even before that when Jesus first began His ministry. Whether the response is for or against, one thing is for sure, the name Jesus Christ of Nazareth carries power – power to heal, power to save, power to bless, and power to offend.

When the people around the temple saw what had happened to this lame man who was healed and began walking and leaping and praising God, they were amazed. At least this story carries a positive reaction. Peter sees everyone coming to see what had happened which is where we began our reading for today. Peter sees their response and takes advantage of the opportunity to speak. This is certainly a Jewish crowd, all at the temple for the hour of prayer, and all educated in the Old Testament. Peter uses that as a key part of his sermon, as we will see throughout his message.

First Peter asks them why they wonder at what has happened, the healing of a lame man. The question assumes that this should not be all that amazing, but the reason it should not be so amazing is because of the source of the healing. Peter and John know that Jesus’ name carries such power to heal. Everyone should come to know this! So verse sixteen, ¹⁶And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. It has nothing to do with Peter and John or any followers of Jesus, but it is all in the power of the name of Jesus.

See what Peter does in his sermon...he leads up to the authority of Jesus’ name by invoking the names of Jewish history that endorse the name. Verse thirteen speaks of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now when the Jews hear those names it is familiar to them that these are foundational names to the Jewish faith. These names carry weight in the faith because they are the faithful fathers. Those names give authority to the name of the Messiah for they served God faithfully and carried with them the blessing of God upon Israel. The same God whom Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob served is the same God who sent Jesus as Messiah, the Promised One. ¹³The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus.

That is not the only power behind the name, because Peter offers other titles for Jesus. Jesus is called the Holy and Righteous One (vs 14) and the Author of Life (vs 15). Peter is offering to the Jews evidence of the significance of the name - Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This is the long awaited Messiah, who fulfills the words of the prophets and all the promises of the Old Testament.

Peter is not just building an argument in a positive manner, but he also points out the sin of rejecting Jesus or denying the name. Beginning with verse fourteen, ¹⁴But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. What a powerful indictment. This same Author of Life that just healed a lame man is the same One whom they denied and killed by their rejection of what He had said and claimed and had done. Peter does not worry about offense. Peter does not have any concern about feelings. Peter boldly speaks the truth of the power of the Name because he knows the power of the One who is the Author of Life.

 

 

• Foretold by the Prophets

 

The disciples are brilliant in their preaching because they know their audience. Speaking to a Jewish congregation, Peter appeals to the prophets, just as he did with the three names of “our fathers”. Verse eighteen - God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Verse twenty-two [the prophet Moses], Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me…” Then Peter lays it all out…

²³And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ ²⁴And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. ²⁵You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ ²⁶God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

Luke, the author of Acts, also wrote in his Gospel the two accounts of Jesus tracing the prophets and their telling of the Messiah to come. On the Road to Emmaus in Luke 24,

²⁷And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

 

And later in the upper room,

⁴⁴Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

Now when any Jew heard about what the prophets had spoken, they would immediately have known Peter’s words were to be seriously considered. As we know some would come to believe that Jesus is the Christ while others remained skeptical and still others totally rejecting the notion. The Jewish leadership would arrest Peter and John in the next chapter. But the prophetic voice of the Old Testament brought many Jews to believe. It speaks to the power of how the Old Testament points us to Jesus and because of this, I find it difficult to understand why some high profile preachers want to exclude or have us ignore the Old Testament. We gain a greater understanding of the New Testament when we see Christ in the Old Testament. It is why I am an advocate of the study of the entire Bible, so that we can grow in faith and love and knowledge of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

 

 

• Repent Therefore

 

Peter, having shown the Messiah is Jesus, now turns to what the Jews can do to have all their sins washed away. Verse nineteen, ¹⁹Repent therefore… To repent is to turn away from sin, from the past sin, to forget what lies behind, press forward with a new resolve and new beginning in Christ. Verse twenty-six reiterates the same, ²⁶God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.” Repentance is for the forgiveness of sin, to turn from your wickedness. Repentance turns us away from what is evil in order to turn us to something else, which is to turn to God.

It is also important to consider the word “therefore”. Repent therefore. The “therefore” assumes sin, you have had your sin pointed out, knowing that you have fallen short...therefore, repent. There is a remedy for your sin – repentance. Turning away from, and as we will see in the next point, turning to God. Repentance is possible because of what Christ has done. Repentance is possible because God works in our hearts in a regenerative way. It is not always easy to stop the sinning, to turn our backs to the wickedness that has dominated our lives for a long time. But, with God’s help, we can overcome sin and the pull of temptations. It is not that we will never fall again, but it is that we do all we can, dependent on God’s Word and Spirit, to walk a new path. We may fail, we might sin in that way again, but we have a road to forgiveness when we confess and repent and renew our hearts toward a life worthy of repentance.

When we consider the tremendous sins of our culture, part of the growth of such sin is the failure of the church in general to proclaim repentance of sin. The liberal or leftist church is tolerant of sin, even promoting sin as if it were some special grace to be tolerate of what the Bible calls sin. It is clear in Scripture that sin, and particularly sin that is advocated as a lifestyle will prevent the inheritance of the kingdom of God. The proper way to love a sinner is to bid them to repent therefore, turn away from the sin and turn to God.

 

 

• Turn Back

 

¹⁹Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, ²⁰that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,

 

In the English Standard Version of the Bible (ESV), there has been, over its history, two editions (at least two, I think). In the second edition some minor changes were made and some other changes that were not major corrections, but sort a fine tuning from the first edition. So, for instance in this verse, Acts 3.19, one version presents this verse as “repent therefore, and turn back.” The first edition has “turn back” as “turn again”. Another version uses “turn to God” (NRSV), and still another version, the NKJV, translates it as “be converted”. Literally the term in the Greek is “to turn to, to revert”. All of these translations are appropriate to give the meaning of turning to God. For the Jews who had sinned by rejecting Jesus, they needed to turn back to God. It could also be said that they are to turn again to God. It builds the narrative of turning away from sin (repentance) and turning to God. That is the full movement of true conversion to Christ. This is another example of preaching to the particular understanding of the crowd of Jews. They would have heard the need to turn back to God. If this were a group of Gentiles, Peter would not say “turn back”, but “turn to”. Jews who have known God have to turn back. Gentiles who have no history with God have to turn to.

Today we have the same kind of distinctions, Jews to turn back to God, some Christians who have fallen to the ideology of the far left of the world need to turn back to God, but all others who have no history with God need to turn to God, that is, for the first time.

 

Two things occur when we turn from sin and turn to God. First, our sins are blotted out (19). This is the promise to all who confess their sins. 1 John 1.9, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. By the blood of Jesus, our sins are washed away. Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Here again is a great example of where the Old Testament gives us the fullness of what this means.

 

“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53.4-5).

 

Isaiah is one of the clearest prophetic words on Jesus Christ. Pierced for our transgressions and by His wounds we are healed. This is such a moving presentation of the cross of Jesus who cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

 

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. ‘Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool’” (Isaiah 1.16-18).

 

Here again we see something akin to turning away from sin and turning to God. Removing evil deeds in repentance and by turning to God our sins are cleansed, as white as snow.

 

There is a second blessing in turning away from sin and turning to God. It is refreshment. This is one of my favorite words in the Bible, refreshment. Acts 3.20, “that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Refreshment is that cool drink on a hot day. Refreshment is a good night’s rest. Refreshment is the children running through the water sprinkler to cool off. Refreshment is spending time with a good friend. The greatest refreshment is turning from sin, having that burden lifted from our shoulders and realizing that Jesus took that burden upon Himself even thought He never sinned. There are two other places in the Bible that I want to lift up about refreshment. The first is Proverbs 3.1-8 which is a passage I know many of us know well, but we might not have seen the refreshment included.

 

My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, ²for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. ³Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. ⁴So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. ⁵Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. ⁶In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. ⁷Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. ⁸It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

 

Imagine for a moment if we did not have the Old Testament book of Proverbs and did not have these wonderful words of wisdom and instruction. I find it interesting that refreshment comes as the end of this section. Healing and refreshment are the results of remembering God’s teachings, keeping commandments, and the commandments enable us to practice steadfast love and faithfulness. Healing and refreshment come with trust in the Lord, not leaning on our own understanding, acknowledging God, turning away from evil (repent). Refreshment comes at the end like a sigh of blessing and comfort. It is a release of tension and pain and not just about the spiritual life, but a refreshment to our bones. It reflects the physical wholeness in spiritual discipline. It is not that we will never get sick when we get right with God, but there is something deeper in our soul and our body when we trust in God.

The second place I want to mention about refreshment is Exodus 31.16-17, “Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’” After creating all things, God rested and was refreshed. I was taught that the Hebrew word here for refreshed is something like getting yourself back, your energy, fullness, your power that has been expended in work. It it amazing to think that God rested and refreshed, but even more important to our message today is that God commands us to practice the Sabbath for the sake of rest and refreshment.

 

Acts 3 promises in repentance and turning to God a refreshment like that we can know in Sabbath keeping and like that of trusting in God where our physical body is renewed with energy. I like to think of repentance and trust and Sabbath keeping as a cure for being tired. How many days, whether we are working a job or just trying to slow down in retirement, do we find ourselves exhausted? We can be exhausted by our work, or by our sin, or by the constant barrage of the news cycle and the craziness going on all around us. The only way to bring things to order and righteousness and refreshment is turning away from sin and turning to God. Peter knew that in Acts and we know it true today. Repent therefore, our call to a world is full of sinners, and turn back or to God, for the only way to end the absurd sin of the world is turning to the Savior, Jesus Christ. But it is also a call to us, that we might continue on God’s path to steadfast love and faithfulness. Forgiven and refreshed. Amen.