Will Israel Repent?
(Acts 3:11-26)
[Note: I only got halfway through this sermon in 1/2 hour; I ended up doing this in 2 parts; the "second part" is found in the next sermon in my "Jerusalem Jews for Jesus" series].
1. Have you ever wondered why Jews have such hesitations about Christianity? Partly because the Jewish people have suffered much at the hands of supposed Christians.
2. Here are just a few examples.
315: Constantine published the Edict of Milan which extended religious tolerance to Christians. Jews lost many rights with this edict. They were no longer permitted to live in Jerusalem, or to proselytize.
325: The Council of Nicea decided to separate the celebration of Easter from the Jewish Passover. They stated: "For it is unbecoming beyond measure that on this holiest of festivals we should follow the customs of the Jews. Henceforth let us have nothing in common with this odious people...We ought not, therefore, to have anything in common with the Jews... "
337: Christian Emperor Constantius created a law which made the marriage of a Jewish man to a Christian punishable by death.
339: Converting to Judaism became a criminal offense.
379-395: Emperor Theodosius the Great permitted the destruction of synagogues if it served a religious purpose. Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire at this time.
380: The bishop of Milan was responsible for the burning of a synagogue; he referred to it as "an act pleasing to God."
415: The Bishop of Alexandria, St. Cyril, expelled the Jews from that Egyptian city.
415: St. Augustine wrote "The true image of the Hebrew is Judas Iscariot, who sells the Lord for silver. The Jew can never understand the Scriptures and forever will bear the guilt for the death of Jesus."
418: St. Jerome, who created the Vulgate translation of the Bible wrote of a synagogue: "If you call it a brothel, a den of vice, the Devil’s refuge, Satan’s fortress, a place to deprave the soul, an abyss of every conceivable disaster or whatever you will, you are still saying less than it deserves."
489 - 519: Christian mobs destroyed the synagogues in Antioch, Daphne (near Antioch) and Ravenna.
528: Emperor Justinian (527-564) passed the Justinian Code. It prohibited Jews from building synagogues, reading the Bible in Hebrew, assemble in public, celebrate Passover before Easter, and testify against Christians in court. 3
535: The "Synod of Claremont decreed that Jews could not hold public office or have authority over Christians." 3
538: The 3rd and 4th Councils of Orleans prohibited Jews from appearing in public during the Easter season. Canon XXX decreed that "From the Thursday before Easter for four days, Jews may not appear in the company of Christians."
613: Very serious persecution began in Spain. Jews were given the options of either leaving Spain or converting to Christianity. Jewish children over 6 years of age were taken from their parents and given a Christian education
722: Leo III outlawed Judaism. Jews were baptized against their will.
855: Jews were exiled from Italy
1096: The First Crusade was launched in this year. Although the prime goal of the crusades was to liberate Jerusalem from the Muslims, Jews were a second target. 12,000 Jews in the Rhine Valley alone were killed in the first Crusade. This behavior continued for 8 additional crusades until the 9th in 1272.
1099: The Crusaders forced all of the Jews of Jerusalem into a central synagogue and set it on fire. Those who tried to escape were forced back into the burning building.
1179: Canon 24 of the Third Lateran Council stated: "Jews should be slaves to Christians and at the same time treated kindly due of humanitarian considerations." Canon 26 stated that "the testimony of Christians against Jews is to be preferred in all causes where they use their own witnesses against Christians." 7
It got worse later!
[Source: http://www.religioustolerance.org/jud_pers1.htm]
3. When you consider the history of supposed Christians and their relationship to the Jews, it is amazing that any Jews come to believe in Yeshua Jesus!
4. Jewish repentance and coming to faith in Jesus is the them of our text today.
5. After "Moshe" the beggar was healed, a large crowd gathered to hear Peter’s sermon.
Main Idea: God’s dealings with Israel provide us with an object lesson about sin, repentance, and responsibility.
I. Israel is Guilty of REJECTING Jesus (11-18)
A. The Focus is JESUS, not His servants (11-12)
Acts 10:25-26, "As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. ’Stand up,’ he said, ’I am only a man myself.’"
Revelation 19:9-10:
Then the angel said to me, "Write: ’Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ " And he added, "These are the true words of God."
At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
It is tragic when people are more excited about their church or their pastor than they are their Savior!
B. It is You Vs. GOD (13-16)
C. Contrast God’s PLAN and Your IGNORANCE (17-18)
[D.] Four points in Peter’s prosecution:
1. You handed Him over to be killed
2. You disowned Him before Pilate
3. You disowned the Holy and righteous one
4. You killed the Author of Life
What does it mean, "You killed the Author of Life?"
[E.] Peter focuses on the Jewish leaders and Jerusalem Jews who either approved the wrong their leaders did or acquiesced to it….not the Jews in general
Application: Guilt is a real entity. True guilt comes from doing wrong; false guilt from an overly-sensitized or traumatized conscience. It is better to admit to guilt, repent, and make restitution than it is to rationalize it, medicate it, or stuff it.
God’s dealings with Israel provide us with an object lesson about sin, repentance, and responsibility
II. God Will Fulfill His Promises to Israel When Israel REPENTS (17-23)
A. REPENT and turn to GOD (19a)
When Peter or Paul preach to Israel, there is a two-fold call to repentance
1. He appeals to the Jews as a group (for Israel’s promised blessings to be realized)
2. He appeal to individual Jews to experience individual salvation
3. When preaching to the Gentiles, there is no "national" call to repentance because the promises for national blessing are only for Israel
Define repentance and turning to God
OT Word, "naham" means "to Pant," "to Sigh" "to Turn" or "Return"
NT Word, "metamelomai" = "to Care," "Be Concerned" "to Change the Mind"--"to Turn Over,"
B. To Be FORGIVEN (19b)
C. For Israel’s KINGDOM Age (19c)
Isaiah 2:14: In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths."
The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
D. For Jesus to RETURN (20)
E. God will FULFILL all the promises made to Israel (21)
F. Jesus is the Great Prophet Predicted by MOSES (22-23)
"If the Israelites repent, they will be redeemed, but if not they will not be redeemed" (b. Sanh. 97b, R. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, A.D. 90),
"If the Israelites would repent for a day, the son of David (messiah) would come immediately" (p. Ta’an. 1:1 [64a]).
The connection to Zechariah, showing that all surviving Israel will believe and repent at the end of the Tribulation period:
Zechariah 12:9-10, 13:1, 8-9
"On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem. "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son…
"…On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.
"…’In the whole land,’ declares the LORD, ’two-thirds will be struck down and perish;
yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ’They are my people,’ and they will say, ’The LORD is our God.’ "
Deuteronomy 18:15-19, passim:
The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him…I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.
Application: God is in no hurry. God has plans for the nation of Israel that He has delayed for at least 2,000 years. Many lessons for us.
1. God does things His way, not ours; He does not compromise His sovereign timing
2. God is able to put things on hold as long as He wants; time is meaningless to Him
3. The Existence of the Nation of Israel is a testimony to God’s determination to carry out His plans… and God’s refusal to budge from both His commitments and His way of doing things…
God’s dealings with Israel provide us with an object lesson about sin, repentance, and responsibility.
III. Repentance Begins with the INDIVIDUAL (24-26)
A. God PREDICTED All These Things (24)
B. The Offer is to the JEW First (25)
Romans 1:16, "For 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."
1. Later on, we learn that the individual Jews who repent, along with the individual gentiles, make up the Body of Christ.
2. But even here, non-Jews are included in the quotations of vs. 25
C. The Choice Here: Judaism With or Without JESUS (26)
At this point, the Gospel had not yet penetrated the gentile community. But we need to recognize that true Christianity is a form of Judaism and that the early church was made up of Jewish believers. The foundation-layers of the church, the apostles, were truly unique: they were part of Israel and part of the Church, and they did not break from Judaism.
Application:
1. The church is the collection of Individuals who have personally covenanted with God and are brought into one body by faith in Jesus Christ, whether Jew or Gentile. Individual believers are rarely called "Christians" in the Scripture; the typical term for a believer is "saint," meaning a "set apart one" or "a holy one."
2. God has no grandchildren
3. God is the God of the remnant
4. American Christianity is noted to be fad-driven; we measure success by size and numbers, but God is the God of the faithful remnant.
5. Faithful to what? To a denomination? To a tradition? To a culture? Or to the Savior and His Word?
God’s dealings with Israel provide us with an object lesson about sin, repentance, and responsibility.
