Refreshed Part 1: Repent

Acts 3:19 (AMP) So repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins] and return [to God—seek His purpose for your life], so that your sins may be wiped away [blotted out, completely erased], so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord [restoring you like a cool wind on a hot day]; Acts 3:19 AMP

This verse gives us 3 steps to usher in Refreshin: Repentance - Change - Cleansing

Today we are going to talk about Repentance.

Let’s look setting in which these words were spoken:

Peter was preaching his second sermon. His first one was on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

God had just poured out his Spirit on those who needed a refreshing.

They had walked with Jesus and seen Him do incredible miracles. They themselves had gone out, sent by Jesus, and seen miracles done in His name as they went preaching the Kingdom of God.

They had seen and experienced the persecution that had risen against Christ, and had witnessed His arrest, mock trial, merciless beating and crucifixion. They had seen his body taken down and placed in Joseph’s tomb.

They had been hiding themselves for fear of reprisal against them for following Jesus.

They had heard the testimony of the women and seen the empty tomb.

They had walked with Him on the Road to Emmaus and had fish with Him on the shore of Galilee where Jesus had reissued His call for them to forsake all to follow Him. Peter, himself, had denied Jesus 3 times and had 3 times reaffirmed his love for and commitment to Jesus while eating fish on that shore.

He was so eager to see Him that he jumped out of the boat and swam to shore.

They had walked with Christ to the Mount of Olives and watched Him ascend into Heaven and heard the voice of the angel promising that He would come again.

The had gone back to the same Upper room where they had eaten the Passover seder with Jesus and tarried for a week waiting for the arrival of the Holy Spirit.

They were tired. They were weary. They were uncertain about what was going to happen next. They didn’t know how the commision that Jesus had given them was going to be carried out. They needed to be refreshed - like a cool wind on a hot day.

Then suddenly that wind of refreshing began to blow through that Upper Room and all 120 of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages so that people from 17 different all heard someone speaking in their own language the wonderful works of God.

Responding to the crowd’s accustation of public drunkeness, Peter stood up and delivered his first sermon. And 3000 people became believers and were added to the number of the disciples that day.

My first sermon was as a 12 year old boy and was delivered to the kids in Children’s church entitled, “Receive Ye the Holy Ghost.” Talk about knowing you audience! I don’t remember 3000 people getting saved. I think there were about 8 kids in the room. And no one dedicated their life to Jesus. I didn’t preach again until I had officially accepted the call at about 19 years old.

Talk about a refreshing! Peter the denier, the loudmouth, the only disciple Jesus ever referred to as “Satan” got refreshed by the wind of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 3 begins with the healing of the paralytic at the Temple Gate.

Silver and Gold I do not have but I do have something I can share: “In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk!”

That same refreshing wind of the Holy Spirit blew across that man’s crippled legs and his bones received supernatural strength.

It was that same refreshing wind that Ezekiel saw that blew into a valley of dry bones and turned the dead, defeated, soldiers that had been left to the elements in that valley into a powerful army ready for battle.

The man got up and began to leap about publically praising God.

While the man was still embracing Peter and John, an amazed crowd gathered to see what was going on. So Peter, like most evagelistic preachers, took advantage of the opportunity and began to preach his second sermon.

He assured everyone there that it was the power of Jesus Christ who had healed him.

Peter went on to say that anyone can usher that refreshing, changing redeeming wind in their own life if they repent, be changed, and be cleansed.

These were people who were in the temple. They obviously belived in God, yet they were surprised to see Him move.

That’s the same way it is in the American church today: We believe. We show up at the place of worship from time to time. But we are surprised when the One whose house we are in decides to visit His own sanctuary.

We desperately need refreshing, but we are not aware that we can usher it in ourselves if we meet the prerequisites.

It begins with repentence.

The word repentance involves three things: Humility, Confession and Turning Around

We see this principle introduced to the people of God in the Old Testament at the dedication of the first temple:

2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

The humilty and confession can be seen in Isaiah’s encounter:

Isaiah 6:1–2 NKJV

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

Isaiah 6:3–6 NKJV

And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar.

The turning around - taking a new direction - can be seen in the New Testament as well:

John 8:11 NKJV

She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

Luke 18:22 NKJV

So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

It’s not a popular word in the church at large today. One popular way of thinking is that since God is omniscient, He knows everything, He knows everything I am going to do anyway so there’s no way I can disappoint Him. God has forgiven me for all my sins, past, present & future, so there’s no need for me to repent once I am saved.

Yet scripture is clear on the subject of believers needed to keep repentance as a part of their Spiritual Formation:

1 John 1:9–2:1 NKJV

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

1 John 2:2 NKJV

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

Revelation 2:5 NKJV

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.

Revelation 2:1–4 NKJV

“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

Repentace for the believer is hitting the reset button.

Lets Look at it in the Amplified Version:

Revelation 2:1–5 NKJV

Confession without humility falls short of true repentance.

Luke 3:3–8 NKJV

And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ” Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

Confession without turning around falls short of true repentance.

“In English, the root of the word repentance is"penitence.” However, repentance in Christ is not merely a sorrowful act of personal recognition – a matter of hanging our heads in grief. Sorrow is only a first and minor part of the change….Let us not miss what is at stake in such repentance…In the original Greek, the word"repentance” appears as metanoia. Literally, this word means"to change the …deep center of the heart.” Repentance is thus to reform the inner core of ourselves.” (Dynamis 10/11/2014)

“…the Lord wants more from us than merely being sorry for our sins…the Lord asks everyone who comes to Him to pass through the door of repentance – to go beyond the"worldly sorrow” of feeling badly about our actions. He asks us to repent – to struggle against our sinful attitudes and actions. He wants a true and godly repentance.” (Dynamis 11/19/2014)

Acts 26:16–20 NKJV

But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’ “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.

Galatians 4:9 NKJV

But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?

True repentance requires a new way of worship.

Acts 14:8–18 NKJV

And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked. Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” And with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them.

Sometimes you have to sacrifice your way of worship. The preist of Zeus heard something big was happening. He couldn’t compete with the true move of God, so he decided to join in - his way. His intent was not to believe, to confess, or to repent. His intent was to seem to be a part of what God was doing without losing his position. He was going to worship - his way - and maintain his postion of control.

Much of our worship today is me-focused rather than God-focused. I am not just talking about singing. I am talking about everything we do in our Christian existence. Our lives are to be lived as worship: for his glory.

Colossians 3:17 NKJV

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Romans 12:1–2 NKJV

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Refreshing will only come after repentance.

Acts 2:37–38 NKJV

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

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