The Apostle Peter's 2nd Sermon, Pt. 2 Series

The Apostle Peter’s 2nd Sermon, pt. 2

Acts 3:11-21

Sermon followed a great miracle…

Read 11-19

3 pts.:

desired a murdered/denied the Lord/must decide to repent!

Continuing…

v. 19-20

Peter makes 2 promises, if they will repent:

1. Their sins will be blotted out

2. Jesus will return and set up His earthly kingdom

After talking about these promises, he talks about the prophets:

v. 21 and in vv. 22-25 he talks about the prophets

Then in ch. 4, he moves from the promises and the prophets to the resulting persecutions:

4:1-4 the invitation is given and what a response!

So, the 2nd half of this 2nd sermon has 3 points, too—the promises, the prophets, and the persecutions

[I do this not to impress you w/ alliteration, but to make it easier to understand/digest/remember!]

We’ll only take time for the promises this morning…

Please remember that Peter’s entire audience was Jewish/thoroughly familiar w/ OT…

So, Peter takes his OT and preaches Christ to them! [but, Jesus isn’t in the OT]…au contraire! He’s on every page!

Gen. 3:15—seed of the woman would come and crush the head of the serpent—that’s Jesus!

Exodus—Moses was to strike the Rock and water would gush out, and then speak to the Rock—a picture of our once-smitten Savior! [acc’d to I Cor.]

Leviticus—they were commanded to take a male lamb w/ no spot or blemish and sacrifice them on the altar

Numbers 21—children of Israel, as a form of judgment, were being bitten by fiery serpents, and Moses was commanded to fashion a brass serpent upon a pole for the people to look upon and be healed [still today the symbol of the medical profession!] Look to the cross and live!

Need I go on? Jesus Christ is all thru the OT! This Bible is a Him-Book, the whole thing is about Him!

Peter, here in Acts 3, shares some promises w/ the people:

v. 19

• Your sins will be blotted out

That promise applies to you today…repent of your sins and they will be blotted out!

We learn from Jonah that you cannot run from your sins

King David proved we cannot hide our sins

Ananias and Sapphira lost their lives as they tried to lie about their sins

No sin can be allowed into heaven…that’s our dilemma, so what can we do w/ our sin?

A question we ask today/a question we don’t like to face/5 seconds after we die it’s the only question that will matter! “what can we do w/ our sin?”

Ill--In a restaurant the other day, I saw old photographs of Decatur from the early 1900s/a man and woman w/ distress on their faces/wonder what they are worried about? Well, whatever it was, they aren’t worried about it now!/was it a financial crisis?/marital problems?/sick child?…those things are imp’t/not minimizing/but when this life is over, all that matters is, what about my sin?!

Peter didn’t say, repent, and you’ll be healthy and wealthy…he promised something better than that!

Your sins will be blotted out—that’s good news!

And on the authority of God’s Word, I can make you that same promise right now!

1st promise was made to individuals…

2nd promise:

[made to nation of Israel/a national promise]

• If they will repent on a national level, Jesus will come back and establish His earthly kingdom

This is Israel’s last chance to receive their Messiah.

They’ve already rejected the preaching of John the Baptist/Jesus Himself/now they have the preaching of the apostles, and they face a flood of lights in their faces! They are now facing the reality that Jesus is alive/rose from the dead, tho’ they killed Him…will they reject Him again?!

Acc’d to the Word of God, they did…tho’ there was a remnant saved [5k], that’s just a drop in the bucket to a nation numbered w/ the sands of the seas.

v. 20-21 Had the Jews not rejected their Messiah as a whole at this time, He would have returned THEN and set up His kingdom…but instead, it was postponed.

But Rom. 11 says that Israel’s failure was made a blessing unto the Gentiles.

That’s the doctrinal interpretation of these verses…but let’s get practical: now…

Notice the phrase in v. 19: “the times of refreshing”—what is this referring to?

Or, “the times of restitution” in v. 21?

This is talking about the millennial reign of Christ, the 1k year period where the Kingdom of God is set up on earth. Called the times of refreshing because this world at that time will be restored to how it was in the garden of Eden before sin came into the world.

During the Millennium:

1. Government will be purified

Jer. 23:5

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.