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[0:00] Well, I wonder if you can say that this morning. My boast is Jesus Christ. I trust you can.

[0:13] Well, what does it take to be able to make that confession? A Christ of your own making, but the Christ, the true Christ that's in the Scripture.

[0:35] We've been learning about Him a little bit, and we'll see Him again this morning. The true glimpse of the true Savior, it takes recognition of who He is.

[0:46] But then it also takes an honest look in your own heart, an examination. How does this true Christ address me? How does this true Christ address the issues of my life?

[0:58] How does the truth about Jesus confront the situation that I'm in? And it calls us out of the ignorance that we have had, and calls us to something that is clear, something that is defined.

[1:14] And by God's grace, it will call us to worship. It will call us to faith in Him. But God has to do a work in our hearts to draw out the truth for us, and to expose the ignorance of our hearts to lead us to that revelation, so that we can, in fact, say, my boast is Jesus Christ.

[1:35] Well, on March of 1974, a Japanese soldier named Hiro Onoda walked out of the jungle on Lubang Island in the Philippines.

[1:46] World War II had ended in 1945. This was almost 29 years later, he finally walks out of the jungle.

[1:58] For Onoda, the war had not ever ended. He had been sent to the island late in the time of the World War II. He was told, given instructions from his intelligence officer, not to surrender under any condition.

[2:16] So when the war ended and leaflets were dropped, messages about the war being over, members were sent and search parties would come, and families were sent to search for their loved ones.

[2:28] But Onoda did not believe the pamphlets that were dropped. He thought the messages were enemy tricks. He thought that they were the deception. He thought they were meant to convey a surrender that he should not follow.

[2:43] So he stayed in the jungle. He kept hiding. He kept fighting. He kept living as though the war was still raging. And for 29 years after the war was over, he lived in that pseudo-reality, a reality that he had made for himself.

[3:01] Japanese traveler ran into him and discovered that he was living under these conditions. And he called him to understand the truth of the war being over.

[3:14] But Onoda would not surrender. He said he would remain true to the orders he was given. Finally, after 29 years, the Japanese government would send his former commanding officer, who was now a fisherman, to meet with Onoda face-to-face and to dismiss those orders.

[3:34] Only then Onoda laid down his weapons. Only then Onoda would come out of hiding. And only then would Onoda understand the reality of the situation that was in front of him.

[3:48] The story is true of ignorance. The ignorance that rested on Onoda's heart is the same kind of ignorance that all of us are called to confront.

[4:00] You see, Onoda didn't accept the announcement. And because of living in ignorance, he continued to believe and exist as though the war continued. This morning in our passage, as we look at Acts chapter 3, and I would encourage you to turn there in your Bibles, if you would, Acts chapter 3.

[4:18] If you're using the Pew Bible, it's on page 911. The truth is that the audience that Peter was speaking to were also blinded by ignorance.

[4:32] They were unable to recognize Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, who was right in front of them. Jesus had ministered before them for three years in public, and they would not receive his message.

[4:48] We find at the beginning parts of Acts chapter 3, Peter and John who are making their way to the temple. This is the hour of prayer. This is the ninth hour, which would have been three o'clock in the afternoon.

[4:59] They're going there as was their custom. And you remember, they encountered this lame man. This man who had been lame from birth, we find for 40 years. He had been lame. And in order to make ends meet, he would ask those religious individuals who were coming to the temple for financial assistance.

[5:17] He would beg for help. On this day, he would pass Peter and John. He would ask for financial help. And Peter would say, I don't have silver and gold, but what I have, I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

[5:33] Rise up and walk. He takes the man by the hand. You remember, he raises him up. The man walks and leaps, and he's praising God as they walk together into the temple.

[5:46] Those in the temple are amazed. We saw that a couple of weeks ago. We saw the amazement of the crowd. They recognized this man, and they know that something significant had taken place.

[5:59] We find that this man had been healed. And in verse 9 and 10, we find the people saw him walking and praising God. They recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple, asking for alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what was happening to him.

[6:20] They recognized that a miracle had taken place. And they were filled with wonder and amazement. And a couple of weeks ago, when we talked about this, we recognized the significance of wonder, this marveling at what was taking place.

[6:37] But Peter wants to make sure that the hearts of those who are in front of him move from wonder to worship. And that's where all of us need to be. We need to move from just being amazed at the spectacular works of God.

[6:52] It needs to move us in, into devotion, into understanding of who God is, and ultimately into faith. Faith in Christ.

[7:04] Faith in the message of this gospel. And Peter will take this opportunity now, as those people have rushed together, to move their hearts from wonder into worship.

[7:15] That's his goal. In this second part of this sermon, that begins in verse 17. He wants them to recognize that, that wondering is good, but it's never meant to stay there.

[7:28] He says there in verse 12, why do you wonder at this? And throughout this discourse, Peter will direct the attention away from himself, and he'll direct attention of wonder to Jesus Christ.

[7:43] He wants them to understand the object of wonder, and the object of worship. Don't stare at us as if we did anything. Look to Christ.

[7:54] He's the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. He's the one you crucified. He's the holy one. He's the righteous one. He's the one you murdered. He's the author of life, who you denied.

[8:07] Look to Christ. And we find in verse 16 of chapter 3, it says this, And in his name, or excuse me, and his name, by faith in his name, he has made him strong.

[8:20] And the faith that is through Jesus has given this man the perfect health in the presence of you all. It's meant to lead you to faith.

[8:31] It's meant to lead you to worship. And at this point of the message, Peter's sermon becomes very hard-hitting. It does indict.

[8:42] It does accuse. It does condemn. Peter wants his audience to recognize the bad news before he can welcome them to enjoy the good news.

[8:52] The good news of the promises of God. And he does this in the sharpest way possible. We find that in verse 13. He wants his audience to recognize the seriousness of their crime.

[9:05] The God of your father Abraham glorified his servant, Jesus, whom you delivered over to Pilate. That's how bad it is. God sent his servant in the form of Jesus Christ so that you could see him and know him.

[9:23] But what did you do? You didn't receive him. You put him to death. And Peter makes this connection not to condemn them, but as we're going to see from verses 17 to 26, Peter makes this connection to invite them to something special, to invite them to faith.

[9:43] Because as we're going to see, God's promises still stand. His promises still stand. So turn with me, if you would, to verse 17. I'm going to read the first several verses of this and then we'll jump into our passage.

[9:56] It says this, And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.

[10:12] Repent, therefore, and turn back that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

[10:34] You see this invitation now. You see this tone that's beginning to shift. This indictment, this condemnation, this rebuke that Peter will bring at the first part of his sermon now turns to promise.

[10:49] And he begins by saying, receive the message of God's promise. That's the invitation. Receive this message of God's promise. And in order to receive this message, you need to come to terms with your own ignorance.

[11:03] The danger of ignorance. You need to recognize that your ignorant hearts have polluted the truth, have darkened your heart, and have caused this response to Jesus himself.

[11:17] And Peter begins this message back in verse 12. He begins with this tone. Men of Israel. He's addressing them. And now recognize the shift that's beginning to happen in verse 17.

[11:30] You see how he addresses them here? He says, and now brothers. And now brothers. Do you notice the tone? The tone that has shifted?

[11:42] Now this tone of invitation. Now this tone that we belong together. By using this word brothers, Peter is placing himself alongside them.

[11:53] And I wonder, even as Peter was speaking the words, you denied the servant, God's son. I wonder, even in the use of the word denied, Peter recognizes in his own heart, you know what?

[12:06] I deny the Lord three times. But it didn't disqualify me from being able to enjoy the benefits of the promise. It didn't keep me away.

[12:18] And so now Peter extends this invitation to these brothers, these men, who are there in front of him. He's drawing attention to their shared heritage, their shared relationship.

[12:32] He's also drawing attention to their shared responsibility. The first part of this message draws this attention to the seriousness of their rejection.

[12:42] But Peter is now going to invite them to the solution that they all share in Christ. This welcome invitation to enjoy the benefits of what Christ has accomplished.

[12:55] You acted in ignorance. This is the Greek word anoya, which is a compound word. The first part of it, ah, which is not. The second part of it is knowledge.

[13:06] So not knowledge. You acted without knowledge. You acted in a way that demonstrated you didn't understand what was taking place. And all throughout the scripture, whenever this word is used, it's always used to implicate the heathen.

[13:23] It's always used of those who are outside, who decide not to believe in God. This is not, by the way, the absence of information. Those who were standing there in Jerusalem had all the access of information.

[13:36] Jesus himself had ministered to them for three years. And not just the lack of information, but there was also this access to information. So that's not what we're talking about.

[13:48] But it does talk about the utter blindness of these individuals in their response to the truth that was right in front of them. It's similar to what the apostle Paul says in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 17 to 19, describing the condition of our hearts before Christ.

[14:05] He says, Now I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds. They're darkened in their understanding.

[14:16] They're separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. They have become callous. They have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

[14:31] What is this ignorance produced? Well, it's produced futility in their minds, darkening of understanding, alienated from God, hardness of heart, calloused in the way they respond, giving themselves over to all kinds of wickedness.

[14:48] In relationship to the spoken word, there is a total rejection of truth, a posture that has set itself aside from hearing and knowing and embracing the truth that they had access to.

[15:02] This is a perfect description of the ignorance that Peter is describing here. It's an ignorance, by the way, that was shared. Notice, ignorance that is present in you but also present in your rulers.

[15:15] You see that in verse 17. You acted in ignorance as did also your rulers. And that's important. You can't point the finger at the Roman authorities.

[15:27] You can't point the finger at those heathen people over there. No, there's shared culpability, shared responsibility, shared ignorance that's taking place that has rejected, wholesale, the wonder of the gospel of God.

[15:41] But now there's hope. And that's where we turn next. The hope of understanding that we see in verse 18. Notice this. It says, One of the most glorious words in the New Testament is one of the smallest.

[16:05] This word, but. But God. This contrastive word. The things which we deserve would lead us away from God, but God in his mercy.

[16:18] He welcomes us to something better. He welcomes us by his grace to experience the joy of what we're going to read in the remaining parts of this passage. But God.

[16:30] God changes the story. God offers hope when we deserve punishment. God fulfills promises in spite of human failure. God offers life even though we put his son to death.

[16:44] The author of life was killed, was murdered, and yet God continues to extend mercy, his grace. And even in this moment, Peter is trying to awaken in their minds an understanding of this hope.

[17:00] He calls these brothers out of ignorance, not to leave them with crushing judgment, but to welcome them to the hope that can be found in Christ. This message of what Christ accomplished.

[17:12] Notice, God foretold this by the mouth of his prophets, which means God knew this was going to happen. And we recognize as we look through the scriptures and even in Acts chapter 2, what does Peter say?

[17:28] Well, this happened according to the definite plan and purpose of God. God is not surprised by your rebellion. And we know that things happen by God's design.

[17:42] We find that as we work our way back to Isaiah chapter 46, what we see in Isaiah chapter 46, the character of God on display, set against the character of idols.

[17:54] To whom will you liken me and make me equal? To those who hire a goldsmith and make it into a god and then fall down and worship? They lift it up to their shoulder. They carry it. They set it in place.

[18:06] It stands there. It cannot move from its place. And here, the prophet Isaiah is describing the character of false gods.

[18:17] You have to do everything for this god. You make this god. You set up this god. You move this god. You set it in place. It cannot do anything for you. It offers no hope.

[18:29] But here's the character of our god. Remember this and stand firm. I am god and there is no other. I am god and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things yet not done saying, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purposes.

[18:50] I have spoken and I will bring it to pass. I have purposed and I will do it. God knows the end from the beginning and God knows what was going to happen from eternity past.

[19:03] He spoke it into existence. He doesn't just promise that it will take place. He makes it happen. I will accomplish my purposes. You see, what makes this beautiful is that God's character rests not on his ability to make promises.

[19:23] God's character rests on his ability to keep promises. We have a promise making and a promise keeping God. And that's what Peter wants his audience to understand.

[19:36] You, in ignorance, put your God to death. But that has not disqualified you from now being the recipients of those who are invited to enjoy the benefits of this work of Christ in dying for sinners.

[19:57] You see, anyone can make promises but those promises are empty if they don't happen. Only God can make promises and keep them. And we find from Isaiah chapter 53 what were some of these promises?

[20:10] Well, it was the will of God to crush his son. Why? Well, because in verse 5 of Isaiah 53, upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed.

[20:26] With his wounds we are healed. And that's what Peter is addressing in verse 18. God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer he thus fulfilled.

[20:38] This is captured by the prophets ages ago and this has now been fulfilled in God's servant his son, Jesus. Not that by his stripes you are punished.

[20:50] Not by his stripes you are condemned. Not by his stripes you are judged. But by his stripes you might be healed. Healed. And especially healed in a way that runs to the deepest parts of you.

[21:05] Your need for salvation. Your need for forgiveness. Your need for cleansing that Jesus offers through his crushed broken body. Through his stripes.

[21:17] You can be healed in the deepest way possible. So this is this contrastive word but it helps to know that we're being led somewhere.

[21:28] So receive the message of God's promise and then respond next here to the call for repentance. The call of repentance. We find that in verses 19 to 21.

[21:40] It says repent therefore and turn back that your sins may be blotted out that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Christ appointed for you Jesus whom heaven must receive until a time for restoring all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

[22:03] You need repentance. This is really the word for the need of a change of mind. That's kind of the definition of repentance. That's what they needed. They need to respond in repentance by changing their mind.

[22:17] Changing their mind because of what they know about about Jesus himself. This word repent is a compound word as well and it talks about the mind itself.

[22:29] And so while there was ignorance in their heart where they were without knowledge now they need to engage their mind in repentance and turn and change and redirect their life to Jesus.

[22:44] This change of mind is a change of thinking a change of truth change of posture a change of direction in life. It's something that must happen as we become aware of the truth of God's word.

[23:00] Repent and change your life turn back he says. Another Greek word that gives us the direction of this change there is a turn of mind but a redirection of life a turning back.

[23:15] I love the statement that's given here. Your father's Abraham understood the nature of this faith. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness.

[23:29] It's not that Abraham's faith was produced righteousness but it's that Abraham's faith was accredited as righteous. Not because Abraham brought righteousness to the table but because through Abraham's faith the object of faith Jesus was righteous.

[23:50] So we see in verse 14 of our passage it says you denied who? The holy and righteous one. Jesus is righteous and it's a righteousness that belongs to him and it's a righteousness that then is accredited to the account of those who believe in Jesus as the way to faith through repentance.

[24:12] You see true repentance is not just simply being sorry for bad things. True repentance is not just grieving over consequences or feeling embarrassed or feeling a sense of shame.

[24:25] It's not something that just happens one day and fades the next. True repentance involves faith. It involves a belief in truth. Repentance is a faith issue and that means that repentance is a worship issue and with this we come full circle right?

[24:46] We come back to where we started. Coming back to verse 16 and understand the significance of what Peter is saying here in calling his audience to faith. It's true faith in Christ that this man is healed and this invitation of faith is for you too.

[25:03] You must also believe. Come to terms with the seriousness of your sin, your rebellion against God and this begins to change your mind, your thinking about who he is and what you need.

[25:18] in verse 19. What is the result? Well, the result of this is that your sins will be blotted out. Blotted, which is a word to wipe away or to eliminate.

[25:31] See, it's a picture of a record that was recorded in some piece of paper. And in the ancient world, the ink that was used wouldn't bite into the surface of the papyrus and so it could often very easily be wiped away.

[25:49] So to be blotted out carries this image of this written record where that ledger is totally removed. The sin that was there, the indictment against you is removed in totality.

[26:04] Not just crossed away, not just overlooked, but it's replaced. There's an exchange that takes place there. That record no longer exists. It's because there's a replacement that's taken place.

[26:18] The righteousness of Christ is now accredited to your account. So have a change of mind. In verse 20, now Peter wants to invite this audience not just to a change of mind, but what are the results of that change?

[26:34] Well, there is an offer now of times of refreshing. Notice verse 20, it says, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Christ appointed for you Jesus.

[26:50] God offers to replace that ledger of condemnation with a record of refreshing. It's refreshing, which is a word for relief.

[27:02] It provides this picture of this cool breeze or this very refreshing water that is given to those weary souls. This time of refreshing that we can enjoy because of Jesus Christ.

[27:17] This is the only place it's found in the New Testament and it's not the kind of result we would expect. See, our minds are likely to follow when we think about being blotted out or purged away.

[27:31] Our minds often go to Psalm 51 and that's a good picture as well. In Psalm 51, the psalmist is saying, verses 1 and 2, have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love.

[27:43] According to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgression. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I will be clean.

[27:57] Wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Hide your face from my sin and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit, within me.

[28:10] It's the same language that Peter is using. Wash and blot and cleanse and purge. That's a picture of forgiveness, right? But it's the picture of refreshing is meant to go much deeper.

[28:25] That's still contained within what Peter is describing. There is washing, there is cleansing, but Peter wants his audience to know there is so much more.

[28:35] more. There's not just this temporary ledger that has been fixed. There is now this ongoing, these times of refreshing that we get to enjoy.

[28:47] And he uses this word, this Greek word, well, kairos, that's what it is. It's the word kairos, which is the word for seasons, not the word chronos, which talks about a very distinct time, a time signature.

[29:04] Peter wants him to know, these are refreshing times that you can enjoy for the long haul, because of what Christ has accomplished. It's refreshing that he offers, this forgiveness of sin, it's a different kind than Israel was familiar with because of the once for all sacrifice of Christ, this permanent refreshing, this permanent forgiveness, this permanent cleansing that Jesus offers now to those who are in Christ through faith.

[29:32] And this is the kind of refreshing that God offers and extends through his son. It's the refreshing that Peter refers to in Acts 2 23, he says, this Jesus, he was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed at the hands of lawless men, but he was appointed for you.

[29:57] He was appointed for you. The personal nature of what Christ accomplished, offered to those who were in front of the apostle Peter, those who desperately longed for refreshing, and Peter wants them to understand that the real refreshing that you need is found in Jesus, who was appointed for you.

[30:19] Whether you experience that through repentance and faith in him. And then this promise that we see of restoration in verse 21, notice, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

[30:41] Did you catch that? This embedded promise in this statement? Yes, Jesus is in heaven right now, okay? But that is not his permanent situation.

[30:55] He is there, but he is there, bounded by this word until, until the time for restoring. This word that is used here wants to help us understand there is a terminal boundary that is in place.

[31:11] He is there, it is just the waiting room for the final restoration he intends to give. The restoration hasn't happened yet. He is there waiting in the future for us to then enjoy this full restoration that he's promised.

[31:30] Him being in heaven is not the fulfillment. It's the waiting room. The until implies incompleteness. It implies that something remains outstanding.

[31:41] That something about restoration has not yet happened. There will be a time of restoration. It's yet future. It's not in the past. And the context is significant because for this Greek word restoration that is only used here in this verse, it's shared in a word family for restoration.

[32:04] And the only other time it's used in Acts, we find in Acts chapter 1-6. Notice. So when they had come together, they asked him, this is the disciples, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

[32:23] They were looking for restoration. They were looking for the Messiah. They were looking for a king. They were looking for Jesus to establish his throne in Jerusalem.

[32:34] That's what they were waiting for. And you remember that Jesus for 40 days before his ascension is talking about the kingdom and so the apostles want to know, okay, so when is it going to come?

[32:47] Remember, Jesus' answer was, it's not for you to know the times or the seasons. And now here we are in Acts 3 and Peter is not telling his audience, well, there's no more restoration that has passed because of your rejection of the Messiah.

[33:01] Rather, he says, no, there's a restoration coming and we're waiting for it. It's coming. It is in the waiting room. It's confirmation that there will be restoration that will take place.

[33:13] And that's what Israel longed for. You see, Israel's problem was not that they expected a kingdom.

[33:24] Israel's problem was they had the wrong timing. And they couldn't see that the suffering of Christ had to come before the glory. And that's what we find in 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 10 and 11.

[33:38] The prophets, it says, concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, they searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the spirit of Christ was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

[34:00] And here Peter wants his audience to know there are times of refreshing. Yes, you rejected your Messiah. Yes, you delivered him up to Pilate. Yes, you turned your back on the author of life.

[34:12] Yes, you put him to death, but that has not disqualified God's promises to you. The invitation is still open. The restoration is still waiting. Will you repent in turn in faith and enjoy the benefits of this promise?

[34:27] God's promise is still intact. We find this promise all through the scriptures, through the prophets that are speaking to us. So receive the message of God's promise and respond to the call of repentance.

[34:43] And then what we find in verse 22 and 23, listen to the witness of the prophets. Listen to the witness of the prophets. Verse 22, Moses said, the Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.

[34:59] You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people. And all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and those who came after him also proclaimed these days.

[35:18] So listen to the witness of the prophets. What did the prophets say? Well, this first prophet, the most prominent prophet, Moses, would speak. So listen to the witness of Moses, this prophet.

[35:32] God gave Moses to help build a sense of expectation. What sort of prophet, what sort of greater prophet would the people look for?

[35:45] Well, we see in Deuteronomy several clues of what this prophet would do. Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 18 we find that he will speak the words of God.

[35:57] I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put my words in his mouth. He shall speak to them all that I commanded him. What do you look for?

[36:08] Well, first you look for a prophet who speaks my words. He's going to speak for me. He's going to speak the truth. He's going to tell you what you need to hear.

[36:18] Those words are going to be coming from me directly. Second, you need to be looking for a prophet who speaks with God's authority. Verse 19, whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

[36:36] If you don't listen to the words of this prophet, then you're culpable. You are under obligation to obey the words that I've spoken.

[36:46] so he will speak with God's authority. Third, we're going to find that the true prophet will speak words that come true. In verse 22, it says this, when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken.

[37:09] The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. you need not be afraid of him. He's going to speak words that will come to pass. And finally, fourth, his life will match his message.

[37:22] We find that in Deuteronomy chapter 13 verses 1 and 3. If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder and that sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass and if he says let us go after other gods which you have not known and let us serve them you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

[37:54] There are going to be those false prophets and those false prophets may even get it right once in a while. But if you can find from the trajectory of their life that their life is out of sync with worship of the true God then don't follow them because the words of the true prophet will be in alignment with the testimony of scripture.

[38:17] His life will match his message. And so when people looked at the life of Jesus they knew here is a prophet he is one who spoke God's word he is one who spoke with God's authority he is one whose words proved true he is one whose life matched his message and because of the integrity of Christ's ministry the people thought this must be the true prophet we find that in John chapter 6 verse 14 after the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did they began to say surely this is the prophet who has come into the world and then in John chapter 7 verse 40 on hearing his words some of the people said surely this man is the prophet they knew that Jesus was the one they knew that he was the greater prophet and yet they still rejected him and we find as a testimony in this passage those who do not listen to

[39:21] Jesus shall be destroyed but that's not that's not God's hope God invites us to enjoy times of refreshing he doesn't want us to be destroyed he wants us to repent to turn away from sin to turn to Christ to enjoy the blessing that Christ intends to offer and then we have the witness of the prophets in verse 24 all the prophets who have spoken from Saul and those who came after him also proclaimed these days you have sufficient voices by the mouth of two or three witnesses a thing shall be established God has given you plenty of prophets you know exactly who to look for and they did and that they still rejected Jesus finally rest in the blessings of God's servant rest in the blessings of God's servant we find the blessings promised through Abraham in verse 25 it says you are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers saying to

[40:24] Abraham in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed in your in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed these were promises given to the sons of Abraham they were beneficiaries of the promise that God gave all the way back thousands of years 1500 years before the time of Christ and those promises stood and now Peter wants to direct attention to the fact that those promises still stand and you are still beneficiaries of those promises if you believe in Jesus those promises of blessing are intended to be carried through you not in spite of you your rebellion has not cancelled his promise rather your rebellion has established the need for God's solution and has given you the opportunity to carry that promise forward to establish once and for all that the promises to Abraham are secure and that's what God is working out through the gospel through the gospel of Christ you see it's through faith in the name of Christ that we get to enjoy the benefits of the promises originally given to Abraham we find that in Galatians chapter 3 6 it says just as

[41:53] Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith preached that gospel beforehand to Abraham saying in you all the nations shall be blessed so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith and now through the gospel it all comes together Jews and Gentiles enjoying the benefits of this original promise that was preached initially to Abraham and now extends to us that those who believe in Christ those who come in faith will enjoy the benefits of Christ's righteousness accredited to our account and finally we see this blessing fulfilled in Jesus in verse 26 God having raised up his servant sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness that's the blessing that Jesus extends to all of us all of us who at one time or the other have either rejected him denied him opposed him been an enemy of him whatever whatever sense of the term that you have been hostile to Jesus

[43:20] God offers this invitation this invitation for us to enjoy the benefits of blessing Jesus came to bless to pour out his blessing by turning us away from wickedness and that only happens when we repent in faith and turn to Christ we ask the Lord Jesus to undo our ignorance to undo the futility of our hearts and to draw us into truth and knowledge of him so that we can participate in faith in Jesus Christ what a wonderful picture this is that the Jews who were there in Jerusalem and likely were the ones to say crucify him are now the ones who can be the first beneficiaries of this promise and so I want you to understand whatever whatever your past or even your present hostility or sin towards God might be whatever whatever rejection of Christ in the message of the gospel that has been true of you whatever whatever skeletons are in the closet that you might have whatever things that you might be ashamed of the invitation is still there

[44:43] Jesus Christ will replace that wickedness with his righteousness as you confess your sin he is faithful and just to forgive your sin and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness not because you deserve it not because we deserve it not because we have merited favor with God but because of Christ's mercy and his desire to bless you and to invite you into times of refreshing have you experienced have you enjoyed the benefits of that refreshing that's the invitation that Peter ends with here and it happens through repentance it happens through faith in Jesus have you placed your faith in him asked for forgiveness for your sins and entrusted your life to him I trust that that's the case and when we do when you do God wants to lead us in the direction of being able to say all my boast is in

[45:45] Jesus not just privately but publicly we get to experience the benefits of God's work in our life and we can't do anything more than boast about can I just tell you what God has done for me that's that's what he wants to lead us to our boast is in him we talk about him we can't help but talk about him wherever we are our life is in the flow that direction has changed in our hearts and we delight in telling others about him let me pray God thank you for your son Jesus thank you that he is your servant who was crushed for our iniquities so that the chastisement that would offer us peace was put upon him so that by his stripes we can be healed and not just the physical things can be healed you have the power to do that but more importantly that the deepest needs of our life the need for forgiveness of our sin and the need for restored relationship with you that's what you offer and we thank you for that in Jesus name amen

[46:59]  God bless you good to see you have a great week