Listen to this Sermon: 04082012Acts3.12-26

Download the Notes: 04082012Acts3.12-26

Conversion

Do you know what it means to be converted?

Acts 3.12–26

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • April 8, ad 2012

Prelude: 

  1. Every time you went to the temple in Jerusalem, 
    1. you saw a man over forty years old, who had been born lame, and
    2. he sat at the gate of the temple known as Beautiful.
  2. However, one day you saw him and 
    1. he was walking and praising God, and
    2. you recognized the man as the one who sat begging.
      1. What would you do?
      2. You would want to know what happened!
        1. Luke shows just such a picture in Acts 3.
        2. He continued to show us,

          11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed (Acts 3.11).
  3. These people had witnessed three and a half years of miracles by Jesus, but 
    1. they still wondered at such feats.
    2. However, the people looked at the two apostles as though they were something.
      1. Jesus had been among the people, and
      2. He was something.
        1. Perhaps then these men were.
        2. Peter uses that to preach a sermon to these people,
          1. who had also been guilty of turning Jesus over to Pilate, but
          2. Peter will show God raised Jesus from the dead.

Persuasion: 

  1. Acts 3.12 – Do Not Look to Men

    12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?” (Acts 3.12).

    1. Why marvel at this healing?
    2. Why look at some men, even apostles?
    3. Can any man’s power or godliness make a lame man walk instantly?
  2. Acts 3.13–15 – Do Not Deny the Holy One and Holiness

    13 “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. 14 But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses” (Acts 3.13–15).

    1. Do not deny Him whom God has glorified.
    2. Do not put evil men in the place of Jesus in your heart.
    3. You killed Jesus, Peter said, but God raised Him up.
  3. Acts 3.16 – Faith in Christ

    16 “And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all” (Acts 3.16).

    1. Faith is in the name of Jesus Christ.
      1. Not the church.
      2. Not in the church’s leaders.
    2. Root your life in Christ.
      1. He is the standard.
      2. He is our Model.
      3. He is our Teacher.
    3. Faith in Christ made a man strong and gave him perfect soundness.
    4. Faith in Christ makes you strong and gives you perfect soundness in the heart.
  4. Acts 3.17, 18 – Believe the Prophets

    17 “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled (Acts 3.17, 18).

    1. It is ignorance which leads people:
      1. To look to men.
      2. To deny Jesus.
      3. To honor evil men in their hearts rather than Jesus.
    2. Peter explained that the remedy is to believe the prophets,
      1. even as Jehoshaphat said in Second Chronicles 20.20
      2. which I believe presents spiritual 20/20 vision,

        20b “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper” (2Ch 20.20).
  5. Acts 3.19–21 – Repent and Be Converted

    19 “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3.19–21).

    1. Repent and be converted “that your sins may be blotted out.”
      1. Who has not sinned?

        9 Who can say, “I have made my heart clean,
        I am pure from my sin”?
        (Pro 20.9)

        1. The truth is,

          23 …all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3.23).
        2. What does that mean for us?

          1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened,
          That it cannot save;
          Nor His ear heavy,
          That it cannot hear.
          2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
          And your sins have hidden His face from you,
          So that He will not hear.
          (Isa 59.1, 2)
      2. Therefore, we need to turn back to our childlike state,

        3 “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 18.3).

        1. Repentance points us in the direction of childlike innocence.
        2. However, it does not erase the past sin.
      3. Here is what you must do:
        1. Faith displays your heart,

          9 …if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom 10.9, 10).
        2. Repentance displays your life,

          8 “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance…” (Luke 3.8).
        3. Baptism displays your relationship,

          26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Gal 3.26, 27).
    2. Then you will receive times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.
      1. You will wonder how you ever lived without Christ.
      2. You will learn what life is.
    3. Jesus Christ will be sent to you,

      6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” (Gal 4.6).
  6. Acts 3.22, 23 – Hear Jesus in All Things

    22 “For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people’” {Deu 18.15, 18, 19} (Acts 3.22, 23).

    1. Listen to Moses and listen to Jesus.
    2. Refusal to hear Jesus results in utter destruction.
      1. He is the Son of God.
      2. Luke 10 reveals the important thing in life.

        38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10.38–42).
  7. Acts 3.24–26 – Be Converted: Turn Away from Sin

    24 “Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. 25 You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ {Gen 22.18; 26.4; 28.14} 26 To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities” (Acts 3.24–26).

    1. Jesus epitomizes the message of the prophets, of the entire Old Testament.
    2. God sent Jesus to bless you by turning you away from your iniquities.

Exhortation: 

  1. Are you ready to do what the Scriptures tell you to do?