The Book Of Acts | Astounding God Part 2 (June 7th, 2020) - Mike Armstrong

Well, good morning, Redemption.

It's so great to be in God's word with you here this morning.

I trust that you've gotten your Bibles open to Acts chapter three, which is a chapter in this book that has thrown an awful lot at us so far.

Right?

We have seen our astounding God perform an astounding miracle, which has caused the people who witnessed it all to unfold to be astounded, right?

And as this all takes place, Peter, of course, under the inspiration of the Spirit, jumps all over the chance to proclaim Christ, right?

To show this Jewish crowd that the God who healed this lame man is the God who sent Jesus to be their Messiah.

Okay, the very Messiah, it just so happens that they, you know, had denied and delivered over and had killed, which of course is, you know, kind of a problem, right?

And so in this extraordinary event in Acts chapter 3, okay, we see that God has done something astounding to elicit a response from the people, to bring them to the place, and really all of us to the place where we see that God is far more incredible than we had once realized, right?

Acts 3 · chapter mention

That we have rebelled against him and that we're to turn to him in repentance or face judgments, okay?

Which is, of course, where Peter goes next here in the conclusion of his sermon.

Now let me just challenge you.

I think some of us, you know, watching this, listening to this, uh need to take these words very seriously.

Really consider where you stand with the Lord in terms of a relationship with him, right?

And will you, you know, humbly, uh, joyfully even repent and receive the grace offered to you by your loving Creator?

Okay, or will you choose not to do that, right?

And will you continue to defy him and face the very real eternal consequences?

Now, those of us who are Christ's followers, right, saved by grace, okay, the events of Acts chapter three and and the force of Peter's words in his sermon here, you know, are just as much for us.

Right?

Though we have uh, you know, at one point surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus and been justified, right?

We're we're to continue to surrender to him in repentance daily as you know our sin comes to the surface and as it is exposed by the Holy Spirit.

Now, listen, that is to be a joyful thing.

Repentance is, right?

A joyful thing that we're to want to do.

Okay, but at the same time, it's something, you know, that does have certain consequences for us, even as Christians, should we choose not to repent and follow Him.

All right, so just like last week, you might remember, we're gonna ask ourselves a couple of questions here today, just to assess, you know, our response when God does the astounding.

So you're ready to read this?

I know that I am, and we're not just gonna read our verses today that we're gonna, you know, zero in on, but I thought we'd just read the entire chapter here to get, you know, again, our bearings and just remind ourselves of the entire story here.

So starting in uh chapter three, verse one, follow along.

It says, Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, and a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate, to ask alms of those entering the temple.

Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms.

And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, Look at us.

And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.

But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

And he took him by the hand and raised him up, and immediately, immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.

And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple, asking for alms.

And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Verse 11.

While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's.

And when Peter saw it, he addressed the people, Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when he decided to release him.

But you denied the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead.

To this we are witnesses, and his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong, whom you see, whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given this man, the man, this perfect health in the presence of you all.

And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

But what God foretold by the mouth of the prophets that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.

Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all things, about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

Moses said, The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers, you shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.

And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.

And all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and those who came after him also proclaimed these days.

You were the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, And your offspring shall all the and and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.

Father, as we come before you and uh read this awesome chapter from your word, Lord, I pray that our souls and our minds, Lord, would be stirred up with how astounding you are, Lord.

You are uh far more amazing than we often give you credit, Lord.

We confess that we so easily get our eyes turned inwards, we get our eyes looking out horizontally, but Lord, not vertically, where it's on you, where we are so taken aback by your awesomeness and your goodness.

And so, God, I pray that as we look at the conclusion of this sermon today, Peter's sermon, God, I pray that your Holy Spirit, Father, would work in our hearts.

God, that we would be stirred to repentance, or that we would consider the reality of uh of the consequences.

Should we not do that?

God, I pray that you would save somebody today.

Lord, I pray that you would help uh somebody who's watching this recognize that they are far off from you, Lord, in a relationship with you because of their sin.

Lord, I pray that they would see that Jesus paid the price for their sin and offers forgiveness for them should they repent and believe in him.

God, would you do that work?

Lord, I pray that you would build your church, build our church, we pray.

Lord, encourage us, inspire us, Father.

We pray that you would glorify the name of Jesus in us.

We pray this in your name.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, jumping right into the first thing here today.

First question When God does something astounding, does it persuade me to realize the immense joys of repentance?

All right, so so Peter, he has just made it incredibly clear that, you know, this crowd was complicit in the murder of their Messiah.

Okay, so he's just said that, and then he continues here, verse 17, take a look again.

It says, And now, brothers, speaking to the Jews, right, I know that you acted in ignorance, okay, as did also your rulers.

All right, so so Peter he recognizes here that the Jews, you know, didn't fully comprehend what exactly they were doing when they were, you know, clamoring for Jesus uh to be crucified.

Okay, their their self-righteous, you know, pride had really blinded them uh to the fact that that Jesus was in fact the Messiah that God had appointed uh and sent to them, promised in the scriptures, okay, which really reminds me of Jesus' you know own words uh on the cross, you know, in Luke chapter 23, when he said, you know, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, right?

Luke 23 · chapter mention

So so Peter understands, and certainly the Lord Jesus understood, that even that you know the sin that they had committed was was done in ignorance, as clearly part of what was going on here.

Okay, but but all of that being said, okay, it didn't excuse them either, you know, it didn't excuse their guilt or their culpability in the matter.

And neither did it show that you know God had you know must have somehow lost control of you know the situation when Jesus died.

Okay, not at all.

Okay, in verse 18 speaks to that.

Look, but what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.

Okay, so you see God's plan there, right?

God, God used Israel's ignorance in crucifying their Messiah to fulfill his sovereign plan to redeem humanity from their sin.

Okay, so so with their guilt being clearly established, Peter has worked well to do that.

He now tells them what they can do about that, you know, should they want to do something about that.

Okay, and he says there in verse 19 very clearly, repent therefore and turn back.

Okay, now you might remember uh from our time, it's just like a month ago, uh, in Acts chapter 2, right, we talked about uh repentance and we looked at that word, you know, and we saw you know the Jewish crowd respond to Peter's first sermon, right, when he pointed out to them their guilt in a very, very similar way, their guilt for killing Jesus.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And remember how they were, they were they were so convicted?

Remember how it said that, you know, they were they were cut to the heart, right?

And their response to that was brothers, right, to the apostles, brothers, what shall we do about this?

Like we have to, we have to make this right.

What are we supposed to do?

Right?

And Peter tells them, you know, there, just as he does here in verse 19, uh, to repent.

Now, again, back when we were looking at this word in in Acts 2, I showed you what I think is just a really great definition of repentance that I believe is worth looking at again.

And so we're gonna get that uh up there on the screen for you.

This is what Frank Stagg, a theologian, says.

He said, repentance is a summons to a personal, absolute, and ultimate unconditional surrender to God as sovereign.

Okay, what a sentence that is.

Okay, but look at this.

Though it includes sorrow and remorse, it is much more than that.

Okay, so though it includes, you know, a strong sense of guilt and godly remorse over those things, it's actually more than that.

It's certainly more than just some, you know, emotional feeling of, you know, I kind of feel bad about that, and then labeling that repentance.

No, it's it's it's more than that.

Look what it says.

He continues.

It says it is a call to conversion from.

You see that?

What does can what does conversion mean?

Well, conversion means to to turn, right?

Literally means to turn, to turn away from.

So he says it's a call to conversion from, to turn away from, look, self-love, self-trust, and self-assertion.

Okay, so just to just being all about yourself and your own desire, your own will, your own assertion, loving yourself, to turn away from that, okay, to, okay, see that word there, meaning, meaning not just repentance is not just turning away from our sin, but actually turning towards something else, to actually turn towards Jesus at the same time.

Okay, it says to turn away to obedient trust and self-commitment to now live for God and his purposes.

Yeah, I think that's one of the huge things missing in a lot of in a lot of Christians' lives as they, you know, try to repent.

They think it's just it's just all about turning away from their sin, turning away from my sin, turning away from my sin.

I'm I don't want to go there anymore.

But what we forget to do or we seem to forget to do is actually turn to Christ to embrace him, right?

To to do very practical things like I need to be in God's word more, right?

I need to open it up and establish regular times where I'm where I'm meeting with the Lord and I'm praying to him.

See how that is turning to Christ?

If you're just trying to stay away from sin, stay away from sin all the time, but you're not actually turning to Christ, it's not true repentance.

Okay, and so and so notice here that this is what Peter is urging the people in verse 19, right?

He says, Repent therefore and and turn back.

Okay, you see that those two words?

Turn back to God.

Okay, so again, repentance is to turn away from our sinful self-centeredness, okay, and also turn towards Christ in obedience and in commitment to Him.

Now, what I so appreciate here about these verses that follow is the positive light that Peter sheds on repentance.

Okay, because anyone who has ever felt that sting of conviction before, have you ever felt that before?

You're like, ooh, like I know that's not right, I know that's wrong, I could sense that the Holy Spirit is illuminating that and and pointing that out to me.

You know, anyone who's felt that that sting before, you know, and considered repenting has also had the thought cross their minds at the very same time, um, why should I do this?

You know, or or why would I do this?

Right?

This feels uncomfortable and and and and it's painful to consider these things and and to repent and and and to change my ways, that that that's hard.

And and all of this just seems you know overwhelming.

And and if I'm being real honest, it even seems scary to leave what I know, which is my sin, which is which I feel comfortable in, and to embrace something that feels a little bit unknown in following Jesus Christ.

And I think what's also going on there, you know, in our hearts, in that moment that we feel conviction, and yet, you know, we kind of fight against that and and and everything, is that, you know, again, if we're being honest, is, you know, I kind of like my sin.

Right?

I I enjoy it, and I'm really not too sure if I want to, you know, give that thing up.

Uh so again, like why, why would I repent?

Right.

I think that's what goes, you know, maybe in an instant, even through the heart and through the mind of a person, you know, who is you know feeling the sting of conviction, right?

And and that's really that just describes the war that goes on, you know, between our, you know, our sinful flesh, right, our our sinful nature that's so self-centered, you know, and and and constantly working to exalt ourselves onto the throne of our lives, okay?

And and then of course the Holy Spirit who is who is constantly working to exalt Christ as the one on the throne of our lives.

Okay, so you take all of that kind of into consideration here, you know, repentance, I think, can easily be viewed by by us as mostly this like, you know, terrifying, you know, kind of horrible experience that's just entirely uncomfortable and it's just you know kind of looms on us and it's this it's this heavy weight.

Okay, but but at the same time, we know that we're supposed to go there and and so we kind of feel guilty and we're you know we're fighting against the Lord, but we kind of want to, right, right?

It's a battle.

It's a battle of the heart and of the mind.

Okay, but notice here how how how Peter frames this up for us in in a different way.

So we look at repentance uh differently.

And he shows us just the immense joys, okay, that that we experience as we repent, right?

That we, you and I, we can easily forget all about, okay, or fail to realize our ours, because again, we get so you know kind of hyper-focused on on kind of the emotional turmoil, you know, part of repentance and and the difficulty of surrendering our pride.

Okay, so take a look at verse 19 again with me, and and I count three immense joys here that that Peter highlights for us, uh, starting again in verse 9.

He says, Repent therefore and turn back.

Okay, we read that part, that your sins may be blotted out.

All right, so there, right there is the is the first joy that that you and I receive, you know, when we repent, right?

It's that our sins are blotted out, okay, which literally means to you know to cause to disappear by by wiping away or erasing.

Have you ever paused to consider just the just the pure joy of knowing that God wipes away or or erases all record of our sin when we repent?

Right?

Have you stopped to think about how incredible that really is?

Right?

Because Christ took your punishment upon himself on the cross, right?

None of your sin is counted against you anymore when you repent.

Right?

That's that's amazing, right?

Psalm 103, verse 12 says, as far as the east is from the west, right?

Psalms 103:12

How how far is that?

How far is the east from the west?

Well, it's an infinite, you know, moving in either direction.

You're never gonna march east and be like, oh, okay, I've come to the end of going east now, or I've come to the end of going, you know, west.

No, it's it's an infinite direction.

It says, as far as the east is from the west, uh, a great distance, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Right?

That is right there, uh, our sins being blotted out, wiped away, erased, right?

I embrace the joy in that when we repent.

Okay, now now keep going here.

Here's the second joy, verse, uh, verse 20.

Okay, he says that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

Okay, how good is is that, right?

Refreshing means um relief, right?

It means it means relaxation uh from a burdensome circumstance.

I love that.

And and I also love this.

It means it means to give breathing room, right?

To give breathing room.

Okay, see, what we what we have to remember when when you and I are grappling with you know the pride in our hearts that fights against our repentance, right?

Is that what we have to remember is that our sin actually makes us miserable.

Right?

Do you ever stop and think about that?

Like, man, I'm actually miserable in my sin.

I'm I'm miserable and continuing to go back to that, to that empty or or muddy well in drinking that sludge, right?

Like I am, I am truly miserable in this.

Yes, of course, we know that there is, you know, certainly a degree of pleasure that we get from our sin.

Otherwise, we would never keep going to it.

Okay, but over time, what does sin do?

What kind of effect does it have on us?

Well, it it it it numb us, right?

It numb us to the things of God, right?

It it makes us just restless and uneasy because it doesn't, it doesn't satisfy us.

It you know, it makes us incredibly unhappy over time.

It it hardens our our heart, it it makes us joyless, right?

It really, really does.

Okay, but when we repent, notice in the verse here, it says that we experience what?

Times of refreshing.

Right?

I love that picture, right?

Where our hearts, you know, soften again and and our and our soul, you know, just comes alive because you know the Holy Spirit is bringing, you know, relief from our, you know, from our misery, from that burden of our sin, you know, and and gives us again that that that kind of breathing room.

He just he just he just opens up space for us to just relax and rest and and enjoy him and and be refreshed, right?

And That sweetness that comes from intimacy with the Lord.

Right?

Because notice how the refreshing there comes from the presence of the Lord.

You see how it says that?

Being near to him is what is best for us.

Right?

That's why, you know, my my life verse, or you know, one of them is Psalm 73, verse 28.

Psalms 73:28

It says, But but as for me, the good the nearness of my God is my good, right?

So hey, have you experienced the immense and the you know incomparable joy of your soul being refreshed in the intimacy of God's presence as you've repented?

Right?

Perhaps you've experienced that, but it's been a while.

Think back to what that was like, right?

The sweetness that began to flood your soul again, the ease of the burden coming off of your shoulders, off of your heart, as the Lord receives that, as he forgives you, as he blots it away, as he brings refreshing through the Holy Spirit back into your life.

Remember that.

Be thinking about that, long for that, ask Christ to bring that back into your life again.

I mean, there is just quite simply nothing like the refreshing that comes from the Spirit of God.

Okay, all right, third joy here uh that we see Peter uh mention in the text.

We're still in verse 20, partway through it.

It says, and that he may send, okay, that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, verse 21, whom heaven must receive.

Okay, so you remember that Jesus had ascended to heaven back in chapter one, right, which ushered in, you know, this period of time, you know, where where humanity is now given an opportunity uh to repent and turn to Christ.

It's a time that we are still in uh today.

Okay, so he said, whom heaven must receive, that's Jesus, until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

Okay, so this is a a reference to Christ's second coming.

And when you repent of sin and and you get saved by grace, you become the you know the beneficiary of the promise that that Christ is coming back for you and will restore all things.

I love thinking about that, right?

He's gonna be restoring a new heavens and in a new earth where you will receive your glorified body and victoriously enjoy a sin-free reality face to face with your Maker forever.

Right?

So um, like maybe a little bit of joy in that, yeah, like I think so, right?

Like a ton of joy uh to be realized for us um as we uh consider uh what God has promised us, okay?

Immense, immense joy.

And so listen, if you are, you know, you know, grappling with the Spirit of God right now, and he is kind of, you know, maybe gently or or or very you know firmly, he's he's pressing down on you, you know, and he and he's and he's bringing you to a place of of conviction, okay, and or or or repentance, but but you're kind of like you know, weighing out the costs and and the benefits, and you're trying to figure out am I, am I gonna am I gonna surrender to the Lord?

Am I gonna allow myself to be broken and submit?

Or am I gonna am I gonna chaf against that and continue to insist on my way?

Just remember here your astounding God who has done and continues to do astounding things, right?

Allow that to persuade you to realize, okay, that that true joy will only come by way of repentance, right?

Getting right with God.

That's what this is about.

Okay, and so if if you're not a believer and and you're kind of being struck with this for the first time today, you know, or or perhaps you've heard, you know, someone or me say it a number of times to you, um, can can I just say like get right with him now?

Right?

Would you embrace Jesus Christ as Lord?

Would you would you stop fighting against him?

And would you just relent?

And would you confess your sin and embrace Jesus Christ as Savior and as Lord?

And if you you are a believer, but again, you're kind of like stumbling around in sin.

Okay, repent today and and live in line with the truth of the gospel that you claim to believe, right?

And in the incredible knowledge that that he'll return to restore all things, right?

And and and bring you into eternity with him.

Allow all of it, all of that joy to draw you in to joyful repentance, right?

Where of course I want to submit to you, Lord.

Of course I want to confess this garbage that that still continues to plague me, Lord.

Would you take it?

Would you forgive me?

Would you blot it out?

Would you bring times of refreshing?

And would you remind me that you are making all things new and going to bring me to a place where I will where I will no longer suffer the consequences of these sins, nor will I sin against you, Lord.

Would you give me an eternal perspective in all these things?

Lord, lead me to joyful repentance.

Because listen, listen, the only other option, okay, is far less pleasant.

And that really leads us to this second question, final one.

Okay, when God does something astounding, does it cause me to examine the consequences of defying him?

Okay, so Peter next here, he he points them to the Old Testament, which again the Jews like held to fiercely, like they were all about the Old Testament.

And so as Peter in implores them to embrace Christ as Savior, he says next here in verse 22, take a look, he says, he says, Moses said, okay, so so Moses was the writer or or the author of the law, of the Torah, which we know as the first five books of the Old Testament, okay, Genesis to Deuteronomy.

All right, Moses was the author all of that.

So Peter goes there, he goes to Moses to prove that Christ is the fulfillment of what the law, you know, written by Moses, you know, has always said would happen.

And so what he does here is he actually quotes from two places in the law, Deuteronomy chapter 18 and Leviticus chapter 23.

Deuteronomy 18 · chapter mention Leviticus 23 · chapter mention

And this is what he says, okay, and this is Moses' words, okay.

Peter quotes Moses.

Okay, he says, The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me.

Okay, so Moses was considered a prophet, okay, and the prophet that Moses is speaking to, of course, it refers to a Christ.

Okay, so he will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers, okay?

You shall listen to him, okay, meaning obey him.

You shall obey him in whatever he tells you.

Okay, now verse 23, and it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet, again, that prophet being Jesus, shall be destroyed from the people.

Okay, that word destroyed there uh literally means to be to be cut off, okay, or or to be, you know, rooted up, uprooted uh from the people.

Okay, so so what Peter's doing here is he's underscoring the necessity of Israel embracing Christ through repentance, just as Moses said they would need to do uh all the way back uh in the law.

Okay, now verse uh 24, okay, it says, and all the prophets who have spoken, okay, from Samuel, who's considered the next prophet after uh Moses, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed or predicted these days, right?

The days of you know of Jesus and the dawn of the church age, which of course is what Acts is is all about.

Okay, so not only does Moses and the law, the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament speak of Christ, but so do all the prophets who who come after him.

Okay, in other words, the the rest of the Old Testament, okay, which again the Jews believe so fiercely, though they had rejected Jesus as the Messiah.

Okay, now verse 25.

He says, You Jews, Peter now says, you are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, okay, so now Peter quotes from Genesis 22, 18, he says, And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Okay, so so Peter's saying here, guys, uh as Jews, you are uh you guys are sons of the prophets.

You are sons of the covenant, in that you are heirs of the promises that God made when he established his covenant with Abraham, right?

Your father.

Okay, and so he is so Peter's saying, listen, receive the blessing, to receive the blessings of the of the new covenants, you know, in Christ's blood, I urge you, I admonish you as strongly as I possibly can, okay, to listen to, to, to obey the prophet that Moses and the rest of the prophets spoke of, right?

Who of course is Christ.

Okay, by repenting of your sin, so that you're not destroyed or or or cut off or uprooted from God's people.

Okay, so you see how how Peter is imploring uh his fellow Jews to repent and receive Jesus Christ, or else suffer the consequences.

Now, you know, as you've probably gathered here, as you've you know, even been reading these these last couple of verses here, there's quite a you know stark contrast in what Peter's saying, you know, here versus what he had said uh previously, right?

Before it was, I mean, we just talked about it, right?

It was all about the joys and and the benefits of uh of repentance, right?

He shed such a positive light on all of that and and and and and calling them to experience how awesome all of that is, and and and now he's kind of juxtaposing all of that with you know drastically against what happens if they if they don't repent, right?

If they don't embrace Jesus Christ as Savior.

He says, guys, listen, I don't want to have to say this, but God will He will cut you off, okay?

He will cut you off entirely.

And listen, understand that that God is entirely just, okay?

He He is well within His rights to do that, right?

Some of us will hear that, man, man, that God's harsh, right?

That's that's pretty cold of uh of God to do the Jews like that, right?

But but the reality, he is well within his rights uh as a holy, you know, pure, unblemished God dealing with a very unholy, impure, and very blemished people.

And I have to say that you know how how much I appreciate how how Peter just lays out the you know the extreme difference in these two options that God presents us all with.

It's like either you you repent and you experience the joy, right, the benefits of all that, or you don't and and you experience the awful consequences of defying him, which of course the Bible speaks at at length as eternity in hell.

Okay, now I am well aware, right, as I'm sure many of you are as well, you know, of the long-standing trend within you know some circles of evangelicalism where you know many people want to minimize you know discussion of all of that, right?

Of of wrath and and judgments and and hell and and all of it.

Okay, but honestly, how entirely pathetic, okay, and and and unhelpful and unloving and and flat out wrong is it to do that?

Okay, because because the truth is the scriptures tell us very clearly, right?

We we've all sinned, right?

We've all fallen short of the glory of God.

God is perfect.

We are not, we are, we are so broken and and and lost, right?

Because of that, it tells us uh also in Romans, in in chapter six, that that the wages of our sin is death.

Okay, so the wage that you earn through your sinning is death, right?

Spiritual death, physical death.

That is what you've earned, that is what you have deserved by your work of sin.

That is the wage, right?

The wage of sin is death.

Okay, Jesus, the one who we know was all loving and so gracious, you know, full of grace and truth, right?

Do you know that Jesus spoke about hell more than anyone else in the Bible, right?

And he mentioned it more often than he mentions heaven, right?

He talks about hell more than heaven, right?

And and hell is is described, you know, in the Bible, you know, in the New Testament alone, as a place of eternal torment.

It's a place of eternal torment, it's a place of unquenchable fire, it says, of, of utter darkness.

It's described as a place of weeping and and gnashing of teeth due to people's extreme anguish and regret.

It's a place from where there is no return.

It is it is forever.

It's described as Gehenna, okay, which which was a trash dump where where garbage burned outside of the walls of Jerusalem.

It was said that there were there were just maggots that infested that place.

I mean, that is what they used to describe uh the reality of hell.

The point is, loved ones, that that that the Bible never shrinks back from showing us the very real and very horrific experiences that that hell will be for those who do not repent.

It's okay.

You know, if you consider yourself not a Christian, right, and and you are watching this today or or or you're listening to it kind of later in the week, you know, somebody sent you the link and said, hey, check this out, right?

And as you kind of take in, you know, all of these things that we've been you know kind of talking about here uh this morning, and you know, how you've been a show, you've been shown through the scriptures how how astounding God is, right, right, right.

If if you are you know picking up on some of the astounding things that God you know does, right?

I mean, we just read the story of him healing the lame man, right?

As you as you kind of think about this and you absorb all of that, does it you know prompt you to sort of like you know consider this, like kind of take a step back and and just be like like wow?

Right?

Like that like that is that that's serious stuff, and and and and I need to think about this you know deeply.

Right, does it does it cause you to you know examine you know the consequences of of living your life in defiance of God?

Right?

The scriptures say that that your end is the furthest thing from pleasant.

Now, in that, if if that's kind of settling on you and hitting you, and maybe you're feeling kind of guilty, and you know, you know, some some things that are wrong in your life are kind of you know coming to light even in your mind right now, you might be tempted to think, you know, wow, I'm I'm I'm in real trouble here, and you know, I I better start, you know, today, you know, living a you know a scrupulously moral life so you know, so that so that I can you know get myself into God's you know good books, right?

If if that's what you're thinking, you need to know this right now, that you cannot do that, right?

You cannot get yourself into God's good books through your own works, through your own religious effort and piety and all of that.

Okay, okay, no one, not one person ever has been able to or will be able to please God with sheer moral efforts.

Okay, we will because the reality is, and the scriptures tell us, we're far too corrupt and broken, and and and we're in need of a total overhaul that only God can provide for us, give us, through faith in Jesus Christ.

And I love how how Peter ends his sermon here to these Jews.

Oh, yeah, I love how he ends it on such a hope-filled note, right?

It's not just heaviness, heaviness, heaviness.

There's hope in this.

Look at verse 26.

He says, God having raised up his servant, that's Jesus, the resurrection from the dead, right?

Having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, talking to uh about how that was, you know, Jesus, you know, came to save the Jews first, then the Gentiles, okay?

So he he sent him to you first to uh bless you by, okay, notice what he does, by turning every one of you from your wickedness.

Okay, okay, Jesus turns you around.

Okay, you can't do it.

You're completely inept and unable to repair yourself, to fix yourself, to to to adequately present yourself to God in a way that he is going to say, all right, you are clean enough, you are holy enough.

No, it's like it's like putting you know lipstick on a pig, so to speak, okay?

We can't pretty that up.

We need we need God through Jesus Christ to completely wipe away our sin and to give us Christ's righteousness.

Okay, would would you would you realize that here today, right?

He turns us from our wickedness as we repent and as we trust in the power of his name, right?

In in his saving grace.

Grace is a gift, he offers you salvation as a gift.

Like, listen, would you let him do that today?

Would you would you let him turn you towards him, turn you from your wickedness, from from the from the path leading to destruction, from from that path that will only lead you towards hell and have have him turn you away from that, towards his loving mercy.

Listen, you might be thinking, Pastor, how do I do that?

Like how do I embrace Jesus Christ as Lord?

Very, very simple.

It's recognizing that your sin has separated you from God.

So recognizing that your sin is against him, realizing that you can't fix that problem, right?

But recognizing that Jesus did, that's why he went to the cross, he paid the price for your sins, he absorbed the wrath of God for you.

He was raised to new life, defeating sin, defeating the power of death, that if you would trust in him, if you would believe that what he did on the cross and through his resurrection was for you, if you would trust that what he did was for you, you will be forgiven, you will be saved.

Would you do that today?

So if you have any questions about that and you want further explanation, or you're still trying to kind of, you know, put the dots together, uh, would you just reach out to us uh sometime this week?

Just send us a prayer request.

You can click the button on our website and and someone will reach out to you and love to connect through email or through a phone call or through a Zoom call and just walk you through uh what that is all about.

Now, as believers, you know, you know, hearing these words today in Acts chapter three, right, it should cause us to examine ourselves as well.

Right?

Are we, you know, are we defying him in certain ways?

Right?

And it's not that we should fear hell or or or being destroyed or cut off, okay, not if we're truly saved, okay, but what we should absolutely consider the you know the consequences of defying him, you know, as as Christians, right?

Like, you know, in things like a lack of intimacy with the Lord, right?

Uh as we've discussed already, right?

A lack of effectiveness in his hands as he builds his kingdom here, as he as he builds his church and wants to use you and I uh to work and serve and and love him and love other people as well.

I think those are you know just two consequences.

I think, frankly, you know, far too many, you know, so-called Christians, you know, seem quite fine experiencing.

Right, they're you know, no big deal uh deal.

I mean, just let just let me do my thing.

I don't really care about the consequences of lack of intimacy with God.

I don't really care about getting involved in other people's lives and you know, serving and and and seeing that God's kingdom is is built here.

I don't really care about that.

Just let me do my own thing, let me live my own life.

I prayed a prayer once, and you know, I'm a Christian, and now I'm just gonna live for self.

I'd say, okay, like you can do that, but but maybe that attitude, maybe that approach there says some things about where you truly stand, you know, uh as as a as a as a Christian, right?

With or with God.

Right.

And maybe it it's it's suggesting that maybe you don't really get it and and and you're not really a Christian.

The point is, we we need to examine ourselves as believers, right?

To consider.

The astounding God of Acts chapter 3, right?

Acts 3 · chapter mention

To think about his astounding works as we see it in the Bible, as we see him do astounding things in our lives too, and allow all of that to allow him to lead us to a place of joyful repentance and into a place where we're close to him in intimacy and that he is using us effectively in the furthering of his plans, of his kingdom.

Well, listen, I want to pray for us right now in these things, so why don't you join me?

God, we pray, uh, Lord, as we consider uh the text, Lord, and Lord, there is some heaviness in this, Lord, as we consider the potential of an eternity apart from you, Lord, is uh nothing short of awful.

But Lord, on the other hand, you know, as as challenging as repenting might be and is, and and and and the the pride that needs to be chipped away and needs to be broken, Lord, the the the joy that's found on the other side of that when we repent and the joy that's available to us for all of eternity, Lord.

I mean, in the contrast between these two things, Lord, I pray that your church would choose to follow you, Lord.

I pray that as believers, God, God, that we would confess daily the sin that pops up in our lives, Lord, not wanting anything to get between you and us, Lord.

Not that it's gonna send us away from you outside of a relationship with you, uh, no, Lord, but we want to be close to you.

Being near you is our good, Lord.

I pray that that that would be our heart's cry.

Father, I pray that for those, anybody who is watching this, listening to this, and and not yet a Christ follower, Lord, I pray that today would be the day of salvation, Lord, that they would bend their knee, Lord, that they would bow their hearts and in humble surrender to the King of kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, our Savior, Lord.

Would you be so good to do that, Lord?

Again, as we pray, as as we long for, as we so badly desire, God, build your church.

Even in these days, Lord, where we can't be face to face, and we can't be all together in the same room, Lord, Lord, grow us, sanctify us, glorify Christ in us.

We pray all of this in his name.

Amen.