WWUTT 2563 Peter in Solomon's Portico Preaches Repentance (Acts 3:17-26)

The Apostle Peter came into Solomon's portico and he said to the people there, this Christ whom you crucified is now the Christ in whom you must believe. Repent for the forgiveness of your sins when we understand the text.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Peter’s Sermon in Solomon’s Portico

Thank you, Becky. Okay, we're finishing up Peter's sermon that he delivered in Solomon's portico in Acts chapter 3. So let me pick up where we left off yesterday. I'll start reading in verse 17 and go through verse 26.

Hear the word of the Lord. And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer, he has thus fulfilled.

Therefore, repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time.

Moses said, The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. To him you shall listen to everything he says to you. And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.

And likewise all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and his successors onward also proclaim these days. It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

For you first God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways. And so there is that beautiful sermon as delivered by Peter in Solomon's portico. Remember all the people had come there listening to Peter and John because they had raised up this lame man at the beautiful gate, a guy whose legs had been shriveled and completely unusable.

And here he was leaping throughout the temple, praising God, clinging to Peter and John as the people came to them marveling. And so Peter has taken this opportunity after seeing this very miracle to preach to them the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Peter had preached at Pentecost, but many of the people that were standing right there listening to Peter either weren't convinced at Pentecost or they had not yet heard him because there were so many thousands of people in Jerusalem at this time.

So here there are thousands more that are coming to Peter and listening to this message where he is pointing to the Christ as the one who has fulfilled all the law and the prophets, even the prophecy that was made by Moses about a prophet who would come that was like him that the people must listen to.

And here's Peter saying that's about Jesus. We pick up today in verse 17. So after Peter has testified to Jesus being put to death and raised again to life and has been seated at the right hand of God, you put him to death.

Peter has said to this people, pilot was going to let him go. He is the holy one. He is guilty of nothing. You put him to death. And so then Peter says at verse 17. Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance just as your rulers did.

And also remember the words that Jesus prayed from the cross in Luke chapter 23. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And the apostle Paul had even said that he had acted in ignorance and unbelief when he was a persecutor of the church.

God had mercy on him, showed grace to him. Though Paul had been an insolent opponent. That was the way he described himself. He was certainly worthy of the judgment of God. If there was anybody that was worthy of the judgment of God, this is the way that that Paul would proclaim his own testimony.

If anyone deserved it, it was me. And yet God was merciful to me. And sent his son, as said in Galatians one. But when he who had set me apart before I was born and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his son to me in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles.

I did not immediately consult with anyone. Paul said, I did not go up to Jerusalem or to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia and returned again to Damascus. There, while he was in Arabia, he learned from the Lord himself for three years.

But God had set Paul apart before he was born and was pleased at the right time to reveal Jesus Christ to Paul. That he might know Jesus is the blessed one. The anointed one who was sent by God. The son of God who put on flesh and dwelt among us.

So Paul had talked about this in his own testimony. That he had been an opponent of Christ and his church. And yet God was gracious to him and saved him. And so now here's Peter. Preaching this very thing before this people.

You had acted in ignorance. Verse 18. But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer, he has thus fulfilled. Now you can't say you've been ignorant anymore.

You have heard the message of the gospel. It's been pointed out to you now. How Christ is the one who had fulfilled everything that had been said by the mouth of all the prophets. That Christ would suffer.

Isaiah 53. That he would be pierced for our transgressions. He would be crushed for our iniquities. And the chastisement that was upon him would bring us peace. Psalm 22. Where it talks about how Jesus would be pierced even in his hands and his feet.

Of course he's not named as Jesus there. But talking about how he would be rejected by men. He would even cry out. Oh God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The very thing that is said there at the start of Psalm 22 is what Jesus prayed from the cross.

As he died. All of these different Old Testament announcements. That talked about how the Christ would suffer and he would be raised again. Peter is pointing this out to them. That's happened with Jesus.

It was before your very eyes that these things took place. You know that he suffered, died, was buried, and rose again. Therefore, Peter says in verse 19, repent and return. So that your sins may be wiped away.

In order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Often times this word repent is used in place of believe or have faith. It's kind of the same thing. Or two sides of the same coin.

If you're telling someone to believe, you're telling them to repent. If you're telling someone to repent, you're telling them to believe. Because to repent is to turn from something. To believe is to turn to something else.

So as you turn to the thing in which you must believe. To the one whom you must believe in. You're turning away from that which you had previously been enslaved to. So as you turn away from your sin, you're repenting.

As you turn to Christ, you're believing. And this is why Jesus preached at the beginning of his ministry, Mark 1 15. Repent and believe the gospel. So it's turning from your sin to Jesus Christ. It's like the same action.

As you come to faith, you are repenting. As you repent, you are coming to faith. You can't just repent of your sins. You have to turn to something else. And so this is a call to believe. Even when we were in Chapter 2, and Peter had said to those who had been convicted by Peter's message, he said, repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

Now, as I mentioned to you last week, when we were in Chapter 2, there are many who take that to mean that Peter is ordering baptismal regeneration. If you're going to be saved, you've got to be baptized.

No, as a matter of fact, this is an argument for salvation by faith. We are justified by faith alone because Peter says, repent. That is the call to believe. You believe first, and then the actions that demonstrate the fruit of your belief will be that you are baptized.

So you must believe first, repent, and each of you be baptized. If you have repented and you believe in Christ, then you are going to show that you are a follower of Christ by being baptized with him in his death, risen again to walk in newness of life.

So this is the same sort of thing that Peter says here at Solomon's portico, where he says, repent and return. Turn from your sin back to the Lord. Now, it's not as if this people particularly had previously been walking with the Lord, and then they fell away, and now Peter is calling them back to it.

Now, this is a general command for the people of Israel, especially when you consider, so Peter says here, repent and return at the very end. Verse 26, Peter says, for you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.

So this is first for Israel. Remember John chapter one, he came to his own, but his own did not receive him. But whoever did receive him, he gave the right to become children of God. And then the command to the disciples, which we saw the commission that was given in Acts chapter one, was for them to go into Jerusalem and to Judea and Samaria and even to the ends of the earth.

So they go first to the Jews before they go out to the ends of the earth. The apostle Paul, even in his ministry, when he would go to a new city and would plant a church, where was the first place he went?

He went into the synagogue. He would preach first to the Jews and then go to the Gentiles. Romans 1 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

So this is in fulfillment of those things that have been said at the prophecies that were made in the Old Testament, the command of Christ himself to his apostles, that they would preach first to the Jews at Jerusalem.

Hence why Peter addresses them, men of Israel, back in verse 12. And he is saying here to them, repent and return. May this people return to God, which would happen through faith in Jesus Christ. All those who have faith in Jesus, they are those who have returned to the Lord against whom they had sinned.

And so Peter says, rest of verse 19, return so that your sins may be wiped away in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you.

So in other words, there's not another Christ that you are looking for. There's not another one that is to come. This is the Christ. He is the anointed one. This is the one in whom you must believe. And there is not another savior.

Now we see some other passages like this that will come up in the New Testament, even for Gentiles. So like in 1 John 2, 2, he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Now that's a verse that often gets thrown at me to argue for some sort of universal atonement that Jesus has actually provided this atonement for all people. All they have to do is be able to accept it.

After all, it said right there in 1 John 2, 2, he is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. But all this is saying is that there is only one savior for anyone in the world, and that's Jesus.

He's the propitiation for our sins, we who have come to believe, but not just for ours, for the whole world. There's no one else in the world, no other savior in the world that people can be looking to for the forgiveness of their sins.

Jesus wasn't a local savior. He wasn't a savior that was given to just the Jews or just the Roman Gentiles. No, everyone in the world, if anyone is ever going to be saved, it is going to be by faith in Jesus Christ.

He is the savior for them, for whoever would believe in him. And only by faith in Jesus is one saved. Typically, religion was a pretty regional thing. Wherever you were born, that typically had to do with the gods that you would worship.

But these kinds of statements that we see made throughout the New Testament clarify, specify that Jesus is the only savior. There's not a savior for this people and for that people and for those people.

No, there's only Christ. And if anyone is going to be saved, it must be through Christ, which is why the gospel must go out into the whole world so that whoever will be saved will hear the message of the gospel and believe.

And so, Jesus is the Christ appointed for you, Peter says to this people, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time.

Now, that's a confusing phrase. And there are different eschatological interpretations in this. So the post-millennials who believe that Jesus comes at the end of the millennium, I mean, I'm going to include both the amillennials and the post-millennials together in the same camp because they're both post-millennial eschatology.

So the post-millennials will look at this and they will say that the restoration of all things is as the gospel is going out into the world. Jesus says, behold, I am making all things new. That's what he says at the end of the book of Revelation.

So as the work of Christ is being done in the world, sharing his gospel and people are coming to faith, this is the restoration of all things. This is people being brought to Christ, just as Peter had said, here, repent and return.

So things are being renewed. As the gospel goes forth, the world is being Christianized. More and more people come into the faith. And this is, therefore, that period of restoration. Jesus will remain seated at the right hand of God until this period of restoration is complete.

Well, the pre-millennials will interpret this a different way. They will say that everything will be getting worse in the world. It will get worse and worse and worse. And then the period of a restoration of all things will just simply be when Christ returns.

And then, boom, when he returns, everything is finally restored. So that's how these two eschatological camps will interpret this particular statement. I tend to lean toward the former rather than the latter.

It is true that the world, there will be improvement in the world, and we have seen that. That's been going on for 2 ,000 years as the gospel of Jesus Christ is spreading. Evil will increase also. And evil will not overcome or overtake the spreading of the gospel because Satan has been bound and has been prevented from hindering the spread of the gospel.

He's still at work in the world. He just can't stop the nations from coming to hear the gospel and believe. So evil will increase, but so does the gospel increase. And this will continue as the gospel goes forth, restoring people unto relationship with God for those who believe in Jesus.

And this will continue until that period is complete, until that's done, until God says it's over and Christ returns and brings the saints to himself, ushering in the new heavens and the new earth. And so, verse 22, Moses said, The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.

To him you shall listen to everything he says to you. And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. This is Deuteronomy 18, verses 18 and 19.

And Peter is showing right here, that prophet that Moses was talking about was Jesus. There were probably those who thought that it was Joshua, Joshua who would succeed Moses. Another prophet will be raised up after me, and you will listen to him.

Now, Joshua actually shares the same name as Jesus. They're both named Joshua. But it wasn't about the Joshua that would succeed Moses. It was about the Christ who was to come. And verse 24,. And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also proclaimed these days.

When you read the prophets in the Old Testament, you know, you're talking about, well, Samuel being one of them. He was also a judge. But Samuel and then Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jeremiah, then all of the minor prophets.

Whenever you're reading the prophets, it's typically thought of that Samuel is the father of those prophets. He was the last judge, and then the next prophet that came from that point on, in a period of the age of prophets in which the prophets were communicating to kings what God was telling his people to do.

So Samuel is kind of the figurehead for them. But Samuel himself was one of those who proclaimed these days. Because you have in 2 Samuel 7, the Davidic covenant, the covenant that God made with David.

Now, Samuel was not alive anymore during that period of time, but it's still considered his prophetic works because it was his scribes and prophets that would continue to write those things down even after Samuel was gone.

So this was prophesied even in Samuel and his successors onward about these things that you would see fulfilled before your very eyes, as Peter points out to them. Verse 25, It is you who are the sons of all the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham,.

And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. For you first, Peter says, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways. And that's the very thing that Peter was calling them to hear.

Repent. Turn from your wicked ways to the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe in him and you will be saved. And my friends, it is upon us as well. I trust that the reason why you're listening to this broadcast is because you are a Christian and you want to learn more about the Bible and study the things that we have written down in Scripture.

And so you would listen to a podcast like this that would do an exposition of Scripture in this way. But in case I have anyone listening that would not be a Christian. Turn from your sins to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Repent and believe. It is only by faith in him that you will be saved from the judgment of God and have eternal life. For the rest of us, my friends, who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must walk in this faith that we have, turning from our sin.

Do not let sin reign anymore in your mortal body, as the Apostle Paul had said to the Romans. But instead, we would walk in the righteousness of Christ that we have been clothed in, doing those things that Christ has commanded us to do.

As I just read to my Bible class today, Colossians 3 .12, put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have read, these continued reminders of the gospel that we would keep our eyes fixed upon Christ, who has died for us, who rose again from the dead, and whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.

Help us to have clothes that demonstrate these compassionate hearts we must have in Christ. Kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, doing these things until the Lord's return, until this time of restoration is complete, and we are gathered to our Lord in glory.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.

Program Sign-Off and Schedule

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study When We Understand the Text.