Repentance and Restoration

Introduction

One of the hardest things in life to live out is forgiveness. Why is it so hard for us to forgive? Psychologists say that one of the reasons is because we want to avoid being hurt by others and whenever someone hurts us, the easiest way to not be hurt again is to simply avoid the person or not forgiving them. Think of a time in which you were hurt by someone else and how you responded? Choosing to forgive someone isn’t always the easiest choice, is it? Often times we are hurt deeply and it is harder to forgive than it would be to hold a grudge or simply remove the person from our life completely! Yet, we see in Scripture that we are tasked to forgive others.

Imagine if someone disrespected you, took something that belonged to you, stopped talking with you for a long period of time, and moved to a different place. You’d probably be pretty upset with this individual! In our social media dominant world, you’d probably “unfriend” that type of person because of the pain that they’ve caused you. But imagine if that person came back and apologized for the pain they caused you. They apologized for being disrespectful. They apologized for the suffering you experienced. They apologized for the disconnect they caused in your relationship. How would you respond? Many people in our world would respond by saying, “Thank you, but I don’t forgive you.” Or they’d say, “I forgive you but I don’t want anything to do with you.” Others would simply walk the other way and not give this person the time of day because they don’t want to be burned by them yet again.

Certainly there are some situations that are different and where a separation is 100% necessary, but in the Bible we see time and time again that forgiveness is important! Jesus gives the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32 and one of these days we will study this incredible story to see that the real issue in the story isn’t so much the younger brother but the older brother who wasn’t able to forgive the younger brother for all that he had done. Friends, forgiveness matters. It matters in relationships and it certainly matters to God! If something matters to God, it should matter to us as well!

So, why do we not forgive others? Why do we fail to repent whenever we make mistakes and why do we fail to seek to restore relationships if at all possible? Because it is harder to forgive than to hold a grudge. It’s harder to say, “I’m sorry, please forgive me” than to continue to live in sin.

In Acts 3, Peter and John have gone to the temple and a miracle takes place as Peter tells the beggar to get up and walk and sure enough, he does! After this point, Peter delivers a message and reminds the people who Jesus is and how we must have faith in Him. In the second half of his sermon, Peter shifts his focus to highlighting the importance of repenting. Repentance is crucial as we ask God to forgive us of our unrighteousness and we see that He promises to restore us whenever this transpires. We know that whenever we repent, God is faithful and just to forgive us! Because God forgives us, we are called to forgive others. They say that hurt people, hurt people and we see a clear picture in the New Testament: Forgiven people, forgive people. Have you been restored by the blood of Jesus Christ? If so, friend, let’s practice repentance and restoration today.

Acts 3:17–26 CSB

17 “And now, brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your leaders also did. 18 In this way God fulfilled what he had predicted through all the prophets—that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, 20 that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah. 21 Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning. 22 Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to everything he tells you. 23 And everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from the people. 24 “In addition, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, have also foretold these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, And all the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring. 26 God raised up his servant and sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”

Why Does Repentance Matter? (17-23)

Why is repentance so hard? Because we don’t like acknowledging the fact that we were wrong in the first place. Sometimes, in fact, we don’t think that we are wrong in the first place. If I’m not wrong, then I don’t need to repent for anything! Peter begins in this second half of his message by telling these Jews that they acted in ignorance. Are there times where we make mistakes due to our ignorance? Every single day. We say things that we don’t necessarily mean, we do things that we aren’t entirely sure of, we respond to things negatively, and sometimes we should do a little bit of research on our own and we don’t because it’s too much work and instead of educating ourselves, we are ignorant. Ignorance is simply a lack of information or knowledge. To quote Mark Twain, “Ignorance has something to be said for it. It gives rise to about nine-tenths of the world’s conversational output.” Maybe this is a stretch on the high side, but you get the point. We like to play the game that we’re aware but at the end of the day, there is much that we don’t know. Peter says that these Jews are ignorant, but what exactly are they ignorant of?

Last week we noted 4 truths communicated by Peter about Jesus Christ: how He is the servant, the Holy One, the Author of life, and raised by the Father. The Jews are ignorant because they did not realize that Jesus Christ was the Savior! Because they didn’t know who Jesus was, even though He told them and proved it to them through signs and wonders, they - along with the leaders are guilty of crucifying Jesus Christ and causing Him to suffer. While this might not be the news that they want to hear, we know that there is forgiveness available. The Old Testament tells us in the book of Numbers 15 that there is forgiveness for sins committed in ignorance

Numbers 15:27–29 CSB

27 “If one person sins unintentionally, he is to present a year-old female goat as a sin offering. 28 The priest will then make atonement before the Lord on behalf of the person who acts in error sinning unintentionally, and when he makes atonement for him, he will be forgiven. 29 You are to have the same law for the person who acts in error, whether he is an Israelite or an alien who resides among you.

If you make a mistake and sin unintentionally, it’s ok. You can be forgiven. We know that the Jews sin here as they kill Jesus but what do we see in Luke 23?

Luke 23:34 CSB

34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided his clothes and cast lots.

Jesus forgives them! He offers atonement even for this wicked sin. What is Peter telling them in these opening verses? That they acted in ignorance, but there is forgiveness available to them through Jesus Christ. What must they do, though?

They must repent! They must acknowledge their error, confess their sin, and turn to God in repentance. Through the suffering of Jesus Christ, we know that salvation has been brought to many as Mark 10:45 tells us that Jesus gave His life as a ransom for many. Just because they made a mistake in ignorance, doesn’t mean that they are too far gone or irredeemable: but they must repent.

If the Jews and leaders who crucified Jesus Christ were not too far gone to be forgiven by Christ, is anyone too far gone today? Absolutely not. If Christ could forgive the soldiers driving the nails into his hands, is there anyone who has done something so bad that we cannot forgive them whenever we rely on the Holy Spirit’s help? No. The examples is before us. As we rely on Christ’s power, we can forgive. As we rely on Christ’s power, we can repent of our mistakes and own them as we should.

As Peter tells them to repent, he says to turn back so that your sins may be wiped out. In the Greek, the word for turn back can also mean to return - this is what we are called to do. Like the story of the prodigal son, we are called to turn from our disobedience and to come home and live a new life of obedience to our Heavenly Father! Whenever we repent, several things happen, according to Peter in the text:

Our sins are forgiven

We will have rest

Christ will come again

Whenever we repent, we acknowledge that what we were doing or what we did was wrong. There is a change of mind that has to take place in this moment. For these Jews, they had rejected Christ and they had to turn and accept Christ. This is what people in our world must do today as well! Isaiah 53 says this

Isaiah 53:6 CSB

6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.

We have gone astray and we are called to acknowledge this reality and turn to God. When this happens, He forgives us of our sins. Think about this: even if you’ve lived in opposition to God for 70 years, you are one step away from being eternally forgiven. If you’ve done the most despicable of crimes, you are one step away from being eternally forgiven. Peter uses the phrase, “wiped out” in verse 19. In ancient times ink and parchment were expensive and if a scribe made a single mistake, they didn’t have erasers to keep on working. What would they have to do? They’d have to start over. This would be very costly! As a result, the scribe would sometimes use an acid-free ink that would allow them to use water to literally blot the mistake out and be able to use the piece of parchment. The mistake would be wiped away. Think of a dry erase board that has a running total of every sin you’ve committed - I pray that the board is big because there’s a lot of dashes that would be listed! Now you and I can’t do anything about those marks - we’ve made mistakes and regardless of how hard we try, we can’t undo the past. We can’t just make it all go away on our own. The weight of this burden and shame is too much for us to bear and we are powerless to make a change. Now, suppose someone comes in and wipes your board absolutely clean. This is what Christ does for us whenever we repent. It’s not our power that forgives us of our mistakes, He forgives us! We must repent, though. This is what we normally think of whenever we think of repentance: we are forgiven of our sins and this is a positive thing, but did you know that there are even better parts to being a Christian than simply being forgiven of your sins today?

2nd, Peter notes that after they repent, there will be seasons of refreshment from the Lord. Not only do we have our sins forgiven, but we are given something new. Many of us are in survival mode - we have a million things to do and busyness is almost seen as a beautiful thing. Whenever this is our everyday life, it can be easy to get burnt out and to fail to rest. Whenever we repent and we confess our sin, we have confidence that that sin is forgiven - it is wiped out - friends, what is the result of this? We have peace. We have refreshment. We have rest! Some people think of confessing our sin being a bad thing, almost as though we have a mask (pardon the pun) that we wear to church and we don’t want to let it down because we want people to think that we’ve got it all together and figured out. In reality, rather than keeping everything bottled in, what does the New Testament tell us?

Galatians 6:2 ESV

2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Does this just mean with our needs? No. This includes our struggles. This includes our sin. We need people in our lives whom we can go to and be transparent with regarding our sins and struggles. Do we repent and ask God to forgive us? Absolutely. But whenever we are honest with someone else, we have a brother or sister in Christ who is praying with us as we go through this struggle. Nothing helps more than having another follower in Christ help you strive to be more like Christ because you’re no longer in this fight by yourself. I was listening to The Gospel Coalition conference this past week and came across some sobering numbers regarding the pandemic. Barna research estimates that 1/5 churches will close as a result of this pandemic and that 2/5 pastors will no longer be in pastoral ministry by the time this pandemic concludes. Why is this the case? Stress and chaos play a role, sure, but larger than that is the lack of understanding and lack of dealing with situations properly. Friends, without solid friendships with people inside and outside of this church, this year would’ve been virtually impossible to get through! We need one another to communicate, yes, but we also need one another to lean on and to bear one another’s burdens. As we do this, we grow stronger and are reminded that our struggle is not eternal… That we have rest in Christ.

3rd, we see in verse 20 that Jesus will come a second time and restore all things. In a world where people try to get you to live your best life now, we as Christians know that our best life is ahead! Through repentance and trusting in Christ, we have the hope that there is something greater for us than simply the here and now. This is our ultimate hope as followers of Christ! Not simply having our sins wiped out here and now, but spending eternity with our Savior after He restores all things to Himself.

What does this all start with, though? Deuteronomy 18 tells us that Moses prophesies about a prophet being raised by the Lord and notes that the people must listen to what He says. Who is this future prophet that Moses says is coming? Who is this greater Moses, if you will? None other than Jesus Christ. Moses told the Jews that they must listen to everything this coming prophet says - and here are these Jews who didn’t listen to Jesus, in fact they killed Him! Moses said that everyone who does not listen to this prophet will be cut off from the people - Moses is sharing that if you don’t listen to this person, you’re spiritually as good as dead. Friends, if we don’t listen to Jesus, it doesn’t matter what your last name is. It doesn’t matter what all you’ve done or where you’ve been, if you don’t listen to Jesus Christ and repent and trust in Him, you’re spiritually dead. Now, the good news? There is forgiveness, this is Peter’s encouragement here! It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, you can repent and be forgiven! But if you don’t listen. If you continue to live in sin. Then you’re lost. You can’t reject Christ and call yourself a child of God - we must trust in Jesus.

[ So, why does repentance matter? Because we have not listened and we have fallen short, we must repent and turn so that our sins may be wiped out! ]

What is God’s Ultimate Plan? (24-26)

This is ultimately God’s plan - that we would listen to Jesus and share His Gospel to all the families of the earth so that they would be blessed as well! How does it make you feel to know that you are a part of something far bigger than yourself or even your family? You are a part of something that started before time even began! We see in the Old Testament how there are prophesies about the coming Savior and how He will bring about His Kingdom on earth and bless every nation, tribe, and tongue!

Practically, how does God bring about his plan on earth? In the Old Testament, we see that the Israelites were His chosen people and they were a light in a dark world. In a world where people worshipped multiple false gods/goddesses, sacrificed children, and practiced occult things, Israel stood out. They were monotheistic, they worshiped the One true God, they valued human life, and they were called to be holy and set apart. God’s plan has always been for His people to be like Him and being like God has always and will always stand out! How did the people know what to do and how to act, though? Through the Law - the Torah.

The preacher of Hebrews makes the argument, based on the Old Testament, that what Jesus does is He gives us a new heart and He writes the law on our heart rather than on tablets of stone - as Jeremian 31:33 tells us

Jeremiah 31:33 CSB

33 “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

We don’t have to run to the temple to see what we should be doing, we have the law written on our hearts because the Holy Spirit resides inside of our hearts! How does this happen? Through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross.

It’s all about Jesus! This has been Peter’s point - the prophets have been pointing towards Him. The law has been fulfilled by Him. The grave could not hold Him. The world has been eternally blessed by Him! Why is this the case? Because Jesus is the answer. Hebrews 1 shares with us that Jesus is the last and fullest revelation of God

Hebrews 1:2 CSB

2 In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him.

Jesus doesn’t just share truth, He is truth! Jesus doesn’t just give a way, He is the way! While Moses led an Exodus, Jesus as the greater Moses, leads an even greater exodus and serves as the redeemer of His people. How will the families of the earth be blessed, as verse 25 says? God promised Abraham, a man who didn’t have a child yet,

Genesis 12:2–3 CSB

2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Abraham is likely thinking, God what are you doing? You’re promising me that I’ll have a mighty nation and that all the earth will be blessed through me and here I am as a 75 year old without a single son! Do you know how crazy this sounds? What did Abraham do, though? He trusted in God’s plan. Fast forward some 1900 years later and here comes Jesus. Jesus, the promised descendant of Abraham, has come to bless the world and this is what He has done. Jesus has come to forgive people of their sin, to give them rest, and to be with them for all eternity.

We don’t find hope and blessing in a process, we find it in a person: His name is Jesus Christ. In Him all things have been created and by Him all things past, present, and future hold together!

[ That all the families of the earth will be blessed through Jesus Christ! That people would be restored! ]

Conclusion

This message first goes to the Jews as Acts 1:8 talks about. These Jews did a lot of things wrong as Peter speaks to in Acts 3. They handed Jesus over to the leaders, they asked for a criminal to be released in place of Jesus, they killed the author of life, they are ignorant as to who Jesus is, they don’t understand the Bible as they ignored what the prophets of the Old Testament said, and they are evil as verse 26 concludes with. This list could be a whole lot longer as well!

Think about your list of mistakes and failures. Think of your laundry list of sins and shortcomings. We could go on and on about the things on this list. Now, understand what Jesus Christ does. Jesus turns us from our wicked ways. Jesus changes us! Jesus makes us a new creation and flips things around inside our lives so that the things that we do and the way that we think is different than before Christ. Have you been changed by Christ today?

If not, understand what the Bible says about our sinfulness. We are sinners and we have fallen short of God’s standard! Something must be done as a result of this. Thankfully, Christ has paid the debt. He has done the work! We are responsible to repent of our wrongdoing and place our faith in Christ. We must turn from our sin and trust in Him. Have you repented?

If so, church, understand that you have been restored to your heavenly Father thanks to Jesus Christ. He has wiped out your sins - they are forgiven in full! Now, you can experience genuine rest. Not laziness or lethargicness, you can have peace, comfort, and joy that no one else can experience.

Whenever you understand that Jesus is in control over all things - as the Great Commission states that all authority has been given to Him - everything in our life changes. Is Jesus in control of your life? Has your life been changed? Have you been restored today? If not, repent, and turn to Jesus, the servant who for our sake, endured the cross.