Times of RefreshingActs 3:16-20

Adapted from a Davon Huss sermonhttp://www.sermoncentral.com/

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Acts 3:16 NET And on the basis of faith in Jesus' name, his very name has made this man — whom you see and know — strong. The faith that is through Jesus has given him this complete health in the presence of you all. 17 And now,

brothers, I know you acted in ignorance, as your rulers did too.

18 But the things God foretold long ago through all the prophets — that his

Christ would suffer — he has fulfilled in this way. 19 Therefore repent and turn

back so that your sins may be wiped out, 20 so that times of refreshing may come

from the presence of the Lord, and so that he may send the Messiah appointed

for you — that is, Jesus.

For years, the opening of "The Wide World of Sports" television program

illustrated "the agony of defeat" with a painful ending to an attempted ski jump. The skier appeared in good form as he headed down the jump, but then, for no apparent reason, he tumbled head over heels off the side of the jump, bouncing

off the supporting structure.

What viewers didn’t know was that he chose to fall rather than finish the jump.

Why? As he explained later, the jump surface had become too fast, and

midway down the ramp, he realized if he completed the jump, he would land beyond the safe landing area, which could have been fatal. As it was, the

skier suffered a mild concussion from the tumble.

To change one’s course in life can be a dramatic and sometimes painful

undertaking, but change is better than a fatal landing at the end.

Children’s Song

Peter and John went to pray.They met a lame man on the way.

He asked for alms and held out his palms

And this is what Peter did say,

"Silver and gold have I none,but what I have give I thee,in the name of Jesus Christ

Of Nazareth rise up and walk.“

He went walking and leaping and praising God,

Walking and leaping and praising God.“In the name of Jesus Christ

Of Nazareth rise up and walk.”

Peter begins to speak a powerful message centered on Christ. He

immediately takes the people’s attention off of himself and John & put it on Jesus

Christ. What a great opportunity to proclaim Christ.

Acts 3:12 NET When Peter saw this, he declared to the people, "Men of Israel,

why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us as if we had made this man

walk by our own power or piety?

We should not boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Galatians 6:13 NET For those who are circumcised do not obey the law

themselves, but they want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about your flesh. 14 But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord

Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the

world.

15 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that matters is a new creation!

Peter would tell them about Jesus Christ, and about nothing else but Jesus

Christ.

Acts 3:13 NET The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our

forefathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and

rejected in the presence of Pilate after he had decided to release him. 14 But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One

and asked that a man who was a murderer be released to you. 15 You

killed the Originator of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this fact we are

witnesses!

16 And on the basis of faith in Jesus' name, his very name has made this man

— whom you see and know — strong. The faith that is through Jesus has given him this complete health in the presence of you all. 17 And now, brothers, I know you acted in ignorance, as your rulers did too. 18 But the things God foretold

long ago through all the prophets — that his Christ would suffer — he has fulfilled

in this way.

It is through the name of Jesus Christ that men are made strong.

Two fold thrust here:1. The messenger must have faith in the

Name. Matthew 17:19 NET Then the disciples

came to Jesus privately and said, "Why couldn't we cast it out?"

20 He told them, "It was because of your little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; nothing will be

impossible for you."

One politician said of a fellow politician, "That man will go far for he believes

every word he says."One of the reasons for the slow

progress, the lack of advancing in the church, is that the Church does not half

believe its own Gospel.

Many people are just going through the motions in the church. They do not really believe in the teachings of the

Bible. If they did, then the church would be on fire.

Many times God does not do great things because of our unbelief. Jesus

could not do great things in his hometown because of their unbelief. Are

we becoming this way?

2. The one hearing, the one asking for help, must have faith in the Name.

John 6:29 NET Jesus replied, "This is the deed God requires — to believe in

the one whom he sent."John 14:13 NET And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father

may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

We don’t know much about the lame man and his faith. Peter seems to

indicate that he had some faith in God. He was walking, leaping and praising

God. The Bible, the church, Jesus Christ, they are no good unless we have

a personal faith.No one inherits faith; it must be theirs

personally.

Acts 3:19 is the thrust, the challenge, and the invitation.

Acts 3:19 NET Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out,

The messages over the last month have been evangelistic.

This message is no different.

We see four applications or challenges to the non-Christian (and to the

Christian) in these verses.

And the first is this:

THE APOSTLE Told THEM to REPENT And TURN BACK

Repent: metanoeo met-an-o-eh'-o to think differently or afterwards, that is,

reconsider (morally to feel compunction)

Turn back: epistrepho ep-ee-stref'-o to revert (literally, figuratively or morally)

(Strongs)

To change one’s mind. "Repentance is to leave the sins we loved before, and show that we in earnest grieve, by doing so no more." Repentance is a part of conversion. Literally it means here to repent and turn, make a U-turn. We want to make a change from our sinful, old ways and become new. We have sorrow and feel bad for our sins. We want to change so we look to Jesus Christ, through His Holy Spirit at baptism, to help us to change our ways.

The apostle Peter, addressing the crowd, said to them, "Change your minds; be sorry for what you have done; forsake your old ways; be turned; become new men." Sometimes men’s sins find them

out. This is not so bad. It can lead to their conversion. However, there are

some people who have repentance but it does not lead to conversion. Think of Judas. He did not throw himself on

God’s mercy.

2 Corinthians 7:10 NET For sadness as intended by God produces a repentance that leads to salvation, leaving no regret, but worldly sadness brings about death.

Some people realize that they need to change but do not want to do it. Many

people are sorry that they were caught, they are sorrowful because of the

consequences of their sins, but they do not want to repent and turn to God.

This leads to death. It led to death for Judas. We have all heard of people who had reached this point and committed suicide. It doesn’t have to be this way.

No matter what we have done, if we turn to Jesus Christ in humbleness and with repentance, he will help us and change

us.

The first gospel message on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2:38 NET

Peter said to them, "Repent, and each one of you be

baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of

your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In the Christian Church we often tell people and remind

people of baptism and what it does and how it fits into the plan of salvation and what it

symbolizes, etc.

John Caldwell- I think that we are baptizing some people who are not

converted. Converted- to undergo a change

(syn: transformed, changed, renewed, improved)

I think that some people believe that the plan of salvation is some magical

formula, that if they do each step, then they have their ticket to heaven. Hear,

believe, repent, confess, and be baptized.

When we come up here and say the Good Confession, when we confess Jesus as Christ, we are saying we

believe and we want Him to be our Lord and Savior. Yes, we want Jesus Christ to come and wash us as white as the snow,

but to have him be our Lord, our example, our leader. That is a different

story.

Some people have never surrendered their hearts and their minds and their

lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. If our intention in being baptized was to

get our free ticket to heaven but we have no desire to surrender our very beings to Christ, if our intention is not to love

the Lord with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind, then all we

did was get wet.

This is the essence of repentance. To want to make a change and follow Jesus who will change us. This is an ongoing process that will not end until our death

or until the Lord returns.

There was a good reasonfor this command

Why? Because we have put Jesus to death. How? Every time you do what

God would not have you do, you do in effect, so far as you can, put God out of

his throne, and disown the authority which belongs to his Godhead; you do

in intent, so far as you can, kill God. That is the drift of sin—sin is a God-killing

thing.

Every sin is really an attempt to thrust God out of the world, that every sin is saying, "Let there be no God." Those

who go against the instruction of God. Let there be no God. Every sin is a real crucifixion of Christ, and a mockery of Christ, and a slaughter of Christ. Why did Christ come? "Look, the Lamb of

God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29b) Every time we sin, we are faced with the fact that we had a hand in

his death.

Jesus was such a good person and this is what sin does to goodness. It gets rid

of goodness. The crowd chose Barabbas. We chose Barabbas every

time we go in the way of wickedness. We want him as a friend rather than Lord.

It should make us repent to think that the one we want gone, the one who we would gladly see crucified comes to us and offers us salvation even though we have done terrible things to him. When

He was on the cross, I was on his mind. He knew me, yet he loved me. Who

nailed him there?

WITHOUT REPENTANCE AND CONVERSION,

SIN CANNOT BE FORGIVEN

Now, he that repents and is forgiven is, through the precious blood of Christ, so entirely forgiven, that there is no record

of his sin left.

On our documents, if we blot something out it is still there, but it is no longer noticed. However, we must hate our sins. We must confess our sins and

repent of our sins, and he will forgive us.1 John 1:9 NET But if we confess our

sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us

from all unrighteousness.

The Romans sometimes forced a captive to be joined face-to-face with a dead body, and to bear it about until the

horrible stench and decay destroyed the life of the living victim. Virgil describes this cruel punishment. "The living and the dead at his command were coupled

face to face, and hand to hand; Till choked with stench, in loathed embraces tied, the lingering wretches pined away

and died."

Without Christ, we are shackled to a dead corpse- our sinfulness. Only

repentance frees us from certain death, for life and death cannot coexist

indefinitely.Though your sins be as scarlet, they

shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as

wool."

The door is shut and fast bolted to every man who will keep his sin, but it is wide open to the biggest and greatest sinner, if he will but leave his sin and lay hold of

Jesus and put his trust in him.

Repentance and conversion are precious because times of

refreshing will come from the Lord.

Acts 3:20 so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and so that he may send the

Messiah appointed for you — that is, Jesus.

This talks about the peace that the Lord gives to those who have their sins

forgiven. Peace with God and peace in our souls. Refreshing of revival. Revival in the soul and revival in the church if these are practiced. How refreshing to see one come & give their soul to The Lord. How blessed it is to the church!

The Welsh Revival (1904–1905) was the largest Christian revival in Wales during the 20th century. While by no means the best known of revivals, it was one of the most dramatic in terms of its effect on

the population, and it had repercussions that reached far beyond the Welsh

border, triggering a series of revivals in other countries.

“The movement kept the churches of Wales filled for many years to come,

seats being placed in the aisles in Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Swansea for

twenty years or so, for example. Meanwhile, the Awakening swept the rest of Britain, Scandinavia, parts of Europe, North America, the mission

fields of India and the Orient, Africa and Latin America.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1904–1905_Welsh_Revival

After the rain, the ground is refreshed.Jeremiah 31:25 NIV I will refresh the

weary and satisfy the faint."Matthew 11:28 NET Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke on you

and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is

easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.”

Proverbs 11:25 NIV A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will

himself be refreshed.

The ultimate refreshing will be realized at the Second Coming.

After any activity in the summer, come in and take some refreshment. How

wonderful! The Lord will do this in a certain measure now, but how wonderful it will be to have ultimate refreshment in

heaven.Only way to get refreshments in the

Christian life is through repentance and giving our all to the Lord. We all want to be comfortable and refreshed; we don’t

want to be miserable for all time.