"Repent, then and turn to God"

Filled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer, repent then, and turn to god so that your sins may be wiped out. That times of refreshing may come from the lord and that he may send the Messiah who has been appointed for you, even Jesus. Heaven must receive him until the time comes for god to restore everything as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. For Moses said, the lord your god will raise up for you a prophet like me, from among your own people, you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.

In deed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken, have foretold these days, and you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant god made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, through your offspring, all peoples on Earth will be blessed. When god raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways. Let me pray, before we before we get into this. Fargo will be, it's been singing that your, your word is a fountain of wisdom that are what we need for life and lord, we just pray that as we as we look at this passage now, lord, we pray that you would be speaking to us.

You would help me to communicate your words that we may all have a clear vision of who you are when we place in Jesus' name, amen. So, we've been going through the life of the early church in our summer series. How Jesus has sent a spirit to equip his disciples to be his witnesses. As they speak out, the good news to the gospel, that will bring about this gospel community, the church. And, some weeks we've been looking at the gospel and what this means, and that's what we're gonna be focusing on more today.

In other weeks, we've been seeing, the community, the this gospel community of those living their lives together there in life of what Jesus has done for them. And at this time, god has been using these disciples to not only speak his gospel clearly and boldly, but also accomplishes accomplishing some eyes and wonders that point to the fact that they are carrying on Jesus ministry as the old testament prophecies have, have shown about him. We've we saw this last week with from Abri, in the first section of of acts 3. We have this this this this this lame beggar begins to walk. And we will see that actually the healing of of of that 40 year old Lane Beggar isn't just an end in and of itself, but it gives Peter this opportunity to speak to the crowd that has gathered that have been amazed at this miracle.

And like all like all miracles, they that we need to know is that that very often these miracles have a bigger purpose, and this supernatural event is no different. You see, it shouldn't just make the crowds wonder in amazement But it is to point them to god, and we will see from Peter's words that follow is to fix their eyes on Jesus himself. The 1 who who whom god has sent has has his ruling anointed king, the Messiah, and that is what we're going to be exploring together for the next few minutes. And if my prayer, we would not just be amazed by a man being able to walk again, but we would be amazed and have a bigger vision of who Jesus is. So we see in a section after this this miracle, to address this to crowd.

And where does he start? Well, actually, we sort of come halfway through his sermon. It will, I mean, I'm a I imagine you came in half halfway through here in my sermon. You probably wonder what I'm on about. You might be thinking that already.

But we we come we come halfway through Peter's surname, and and, and if you look at this 13 to 17, we didn't have it read, but you you see, Peter, showing the crowd about the cross. What has happened? They're they're in Jerusalem, and and this this is this has just happened. The the Jesus has just died on a cross. Peter to show the crowd that actually they were complicit in Jesus' death, them and, the leaders, the Jewish leaders.

But actually, even though they were complicit, even though they killed the author of life, We see in today's passage that it has always been god's plan that the Messiah was to suffer. We see that in verse 18. And Peter shows us what this means. What does it mean for the the messiah to suffer? And we actually get his application right at the start of what he's saying.

This is in first 19. This is the the key. First, really, for this passage, helps us to understand what he's saying. It says. Repent then and turn to god so that your sins may be wiped out.

That times of refreshing may come from the lord. And I think this is what the crowd and us have been urged to to turn to god to repent. That is leaving the old life behind, 1 that doesn't acknowledge god 1 that doesn't desire god, doesn't want to please him, living your life independent of him. And instead, repent, turn to god. And when we turn to god, we will see today that you will find a life of blessing And so let's look together about what it means to turn to god and to discover what is there when we do.

So the first thing we discover in turning to god is the satisfying knowledge that our sins can be dealt with. Did did you see that in verse 19? We get we get this picture of turning to god is that we will find refreshment. Turning to god means you can have a time we're refreshing and that your sins may be wiped out. If you just think about the crowd, there are twoest heroes in Jerusalem.

And if you ever been to Jerusalem, I had a the privilege of going, when I was younger. It's the epicenter of of this religious system. It's a place where where where man can meet with god. But it's also, reminded that that man cannot fully meet with god. Man is is separate from him.

And there's there's requirements for for for man and god to meet. And so we have the sacrificial system. Animals have to be sacrificed. And just imagine hearing that in the crowd, maybe you come to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice You're aware of your sin. You're aware of your sin that separates man and god, and and you've come to sacrifice.

And then you hear this liberating message of of of, of peace. 1 that liberates us from the rituals and the sacrificial system required to atone for our sin. And we can hear that our sins can now be wiped out. Listen to the right of the Hebrews we heard from Colin, the the great book of Hebrews, and showing us who Jesus is. It says in chapter 7 verse 27, Unlike the high priests, he, that is Jesus, did not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people.

He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he'd offered himself Do you see how refreshing this is? The sacrificial system in its current format has gone. Why? Why it's because it was god's plan for the Messiah to suffer on the cross, and we will see what that means more than a minute. But we need to know it's it's not a meaningless suffering, but it is 1, the suffering of Christ has made it possible for our sympathy wiped out.

And I'm sure you know what it means to be refreshed, don't you? Maybe it's a hot day, and you've been working hard in the 1, maybe in the garden with sweat dripping off your forehead. Maybe you stop and you you wanna have a nice cold can of coke, whatever you prefer. And as you drink it, you save every last drop. We love to be refreshed.

We've even got refreshments table there at the back. You see, but you see this ultimate refreshment here is having your in debt with. That is no longer a curse to us. No longer do we have the burden of the debt we owe god? Because actually, our sin is all that we have offended him by.

All that we have done wrong against him. He is the 1 who sees all and knowsful, even the deepest depths of our hearts, and he sees the sin there. And it's where we must 1 day, who we must 1 day give an answer to. And if we're honest, in reality, sin, sin never really messages, does it? And it never has.

Even in the garden, Adam and Eve looked at saying so that it was appealing, thought it was satisfied but in in truth, sin never does. For the good news of the gospel, this unsatisfying sin that offends god can be dealt with by Jesus. And this is glorious news. It's a bit like an occasion. This may be you, this may not be, but maybe I can only speak from personal experience, but you've broken the rules of school, maybe persistently causing disruption in the class room, maybe having an altercation with another people.

But what happens when bad behavior occurs? When it's really bad, you get sent to the head teacher, don't you? And you have to stand outside the the headteacher's office, maybe try and desperately to to think of a of a way of putting yourself in the best light. And as the headteacher opens the door and sees you standing there, and as he asks you to give an account for yourself while you're here. There must be a reason.

There was a note given to him stating that now all defenses have been paid for, and you can return to the classroom. Now this never happened to me, but what on occasion if it had. But the truth is, actually, we will all have to give an account of our sin before god. But we see here now in Christ, all our sins can be wiped away. There's no need for any further action, our record now is clean.

And I wonder, have you ever known the refreshment of knowing your sin has been dealt with? And the debt that you are God has gone. Maybe maybe you're becoming more aware of your sin. Maybe as you've come to hope church and sit on sit under the word of god, you'd be you've come more aware of your sin. Well, the good news is that in Christ, this can be dealt with.

So come to god, be refreshed. Just like Peter tells the crowd, repent and turn to god. So we also can come and turn to god and have our sins wiped out made possible for what Jesus suffered on the cross. Why not come to say, come to him to find the refreshing forgiveness for your sin. And Christian, have you been looking for other things to satisfy you instead of the refreshing walk with God, or can I encourage you to come back and repent again?

Because that is the Christian Life, turn back to him, and restored fellowship with God. Know the refreshment of what this means as we come and repent again. And I think it's important say as well that although our sins are wiped out, there there there may be consequences of sin this side of heaven. Maybe this week, maybe even the day you, you feel the hardship of sin, maybe you've been hurt bit by sin or you feel pain or you've been wronged. And it's right that we acknowledge this and that we seek to love each other and deal with these sins that affect us and other people.

But even in this passage today, we see a hope that there is a time coming in verse 21 where everything will be restored and we look forward to that day when there will be no more pain, no more suffering, no more crying, no more hardship, no more broken relationships. The day of ultimate eternal refreshment. So that's the first thing we see from Peter's sermon, is that we see a guard who we can be refreshed by as our sins are forgiven. Or what else do we see when we turn to god? We find the promised messiah.

When we turn to god, we find the promised messiah Now if you're in the crowd on that day hearing about the Messiah, as a as a Jewish person, maybe this would make you sit off, but maybe you wanna maybe listen more closely, maybe sit for in your seats if they if they were sitting down or, I know, telling their ave they're standing up. Did they say messiah? I'm sure he mentioned it before. I wasn't quite sure, but he's definitely said it again. You see, the the messiah is is 1 that the Jews people know about.

The 1 talked about in the old testament, the 1 who's who is to be set apart for a purpose like a king, 1 who's been sent 1 who is is anointed like a like a royal crowning. They've been waiting for this messiah to come. Do you do you remember in the gospels? Gee, are Jesus's questions and disciples about who the crowds say. They replied.

Some say John the Baptist, others say elijah, and still others, the 1 of the prophets of long ago has come back to life. But what about you, he asked? Who do you say I am? Pete, Peter Rancid, god's messiah. And if you if you look at the the context of those words, you'll see that I see Peter didn't fully grasp what that statement meant.

But as we've already seen in a series of acts, at the start of acts, we see Peter's vision has changed. His eyes have been opened to the glorious truth of who the Messiah is. His vision has got better. I mean, our vision very rarely gets better. Does it?

It goes down 1 way. His vision has got it? Do you see what he sees? Well, we're gonna look briefly at 3 things he sees about this messiah. And the first thing we see that sees more clearly is that the Messiah would suffer.

Jesus is the Messiah would suffer. We've we've touched on this briefly already that Jesus is the 1 that the Jewish people have been waiting for, but they've missed him and they killed him first 17. A tragic event, but even here we see that this is part of god's plan. If you know the story of of the Amaisse Road at this time as well, we have 2 of Jesus' disciples who I've seen all this happened. They've seen, their Messiah died on the cross, and they feel like their hope is gone.

But who appears with them on the on on the amazed road? It's the risen Jesus. There is a messiah And he says to them how foolish you are, how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken, did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory. I'm beginning with Moses and all the prophets. He explained to them, what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself.

What a great power study? Imagine doing that in your gospel community this week. May may maybe we should. We haven't got the questions yet. Maybe we should do that.

You might have to give yourself a bit of time. Probably need to start now. You see, the whole Bible speaks of Christ Messiah of the 1 who's anointed, the 1 who is the carryout of god's mission. That is why. And some of you parents may have the storybook Bible, written by, as a as a soluboy Jones.

And and the the whole point of that is is to see how every story the Bible whispers whispered whispers Jesus' name. He's there in the old testament. The the the the the promised messiah is there, written about. We all we need to do is read it it. But the shocking and very unexpected thing is that this promised anointed 1 would suffer.

But as we have already seen, this software has great purpose, and it achieves for us a way for us teams to be wiped out. The second thing that PeterC's more clearly is that the Messiah must return to heaven. So all things can be restored. I mean, I'm sure I could have said that a bit more briefly, but there we go. And we see this in verse 21, We see that Messiah did not come over to suffer, but 1 day he's coming to return a second time.

And what is gonna happen when Jesus comes to return a second time, all things will be restored. Do you see that? Heaven must receive him so that all things can be restored. And I I just reflected this week. Just a picture of heaven must receive him, but Jesus has completed his work on the cross, and he's he's he's, he's opened the the heavens are opened and they beckoning back in saying, well done, you've done your work there on earth.

Now wait for the next part of this great plan when the earth will be restored. Maybe this week, you felt that, this, this earth isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Maybe you're longing for the day for the earth to restore it says in Romans 8 that the the world is in decay. And maybe maybe you felt the the difficulties of life, and you longed for something later. Well, here we have this great hope, and we look forward to the day when Jesus will return, and we will see the earth restored.

We even get this glimpse here, don't we? This this man who was Lane, who was in this decaying world. We see him walk. What a amazing picture of. A restored world.

So how is your vision of the Messiah? Can you see him carefully yet? Well, Peter has 1 more image for us that hasn't he hasn't quite brought us into focus. And that is, Messiah is to be listened to. You see this as Peter quotes, Moses from June 20 15 in our acts 2 23.

For Moses says, the lord or god will raise up for you, a prophet like me, from among your own people. You must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people. Well, Peter is showing us that god has raised a profit from among his people and that he should be listened to. So here we have again.

This picture of the Messiah, the chosen 1, the 1 sent from god. And the question here is the question that Peter gives to the crowd. The question that we need to understand is how do we respond to him? Am I responding to Jesus and Messiah the right way? Am I listening to him?

Do I want to live under his rule? Do I wanna allow his word to take center stage in my life? So often people like the idea of having Jesus in their lives, didn't they? Maybe a little bit of Jesus, maybe, something someone to consult when when we feel like it's but do they listen to his voice? Or when there's something that we don't wanna hear, something that doesn't suit our plans, some something that doesn't suit our desires or our eye ideologies, something that goes against popular opinion.

So very often, we wanna stop listening to Jesus. We wanna, as a word, put our hands over our ears, and don't and we want to stop listening. And so often we listen to other things, don't we? What can I say to you this morning? Don't crowd our the voice of the Messiah, but listen well.

Listen expectantly. Listen seriously. This is so important Are we listening to Jesus to Messiah, the 1 said from god? Even here, we get this warning. If we refuse to allow his word to go down deep and take root in our lives, There actually is a consequence for not listening to Messiah.

There's a misseparation, a cutting off from his people. So can I encourage you to Be careful how you treat his words? It's actually a judgment for how you treat the messiah. There is a consequence for how well you listen to his words, and this consequence is far final, and this is complete, and it's what the bible calls help. It's a place reserved for those actually who refuse to listen and have refused to have no place for the voice of Jesus in their lives.

So are you listening to this promised messiah? Well, just like any prophet of god, we are to listen to him. And if you haven't started listening to him. Why not do that today? So we have seen when we turn to god, we we find this refreshing fact that he is white away all our sin.

When we turn to god, we find a promised messiah, and all that that means. And lastly, when we turn to god, we find a plan of salvation We all like to have a plan, don't we? May maybe maybe we've got a plan today. Maybe you're thinking about what what your plan is after this. Maybe you're thinking plan for the picnic or the plan for the prayer walk, or the plan for this afternoon, or the plan for this week.

Maybe you're thinking, what's the plan for my life? I even said it on Friday. What's the plan for the weekend? We like having a plan, don't we? A god has a plan of salvation.

And this plan is is magnificent. This plan plan goes on even before the creation of the world. This plan is throughout the pace of scripture. This plan has been going on for centuries and centuries and centuries. And we don't have time to look at all this intricacies of of the great salvation plan of god, but it is glorious.

In general 22. We get a a glimpse of god's plan. We get this this picture of of god speaking to Abraham. May maybe like a trailer to a film. We get this seen where god speaks to Abraham and announces his plan, he says, through your offspring, all peoples from earth will be blessed.

We see this rate plan. We see it here, don't we? At the end of this this passage versus 25 or 26. Through your offspring, all peoples on earth will be best. This is god's great plan of salvation.

And 2 things just to say about this plan is a blessing. This plan is a blessing We've looked at it already. The fact we have our sins forgiven, the fact that we will know 1 day of our life restored. This plan is a blessing. And if you're a Christian here this morning, your life is 1 of blessing.

You have left your your ways of wickedness, and you've been turned by my Jesus to him for blessing. And the second thing is that this plan is for all peoples. Do you see that? God raised up his servant, he sent him verse to you, that's the Jews. But where but where who comes next?

Or if you know the sword of the act, it's the whole world. You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem in Samaria, in Judea, and to the end of the earth. This is fantastic news, isn't it? That this gospel is truth that Jesus, the messiah is making it possible for for men and women are families to turn, to find blessing, to turn from their wicked ways. This is for the whole world.

And if if you stand here, sit here this morning in this room, And if you have turned to Jesus for salvation, if you've known this life of blessing, then this is about you. You have now the life of blessing, and it's because of what Jesus has done. All peoples on earth will be blessed. So as we close, can I ask you again how you turn to god in repentance? Do you have faith in the lord Jesus?

Well, if you do not yet know him, can I encourage you again to do that today? Know that your sins can be wiped out, know that you can have a life of refreshments. Listen to the promised messiah and wonder again all that he has done on the cross, know that He now is waiting in heaven for the time when everything will be restored and be thankful for the blessing of being part of the salvation of god.