The Blessings Of Repentance

Repent, then, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ who has been appointed for you, even Jesus. You must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything that he promised long ago to his holy prophets. For most of that, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people. You must listen to everything he tells you.

Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from the Lord's people. Indeed, all the prophets but Samuel are, and as many as have spoken and foretold faith, because you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with Abraham. If you said to Abraham, Do your offerings, all peoples on earth will be blessed. When God raised up his servants and sent his first to you, he should bless you, because he sent you to be his sons and to do what he willed.

his church there in Jerusalem and seek to move them out into Judea and Samaria and the innermost parts of the earth. God's going to do that through a time of persecution. I believe this is also a wake-up call to the church today, for God is preparing to move his church again, to move his church out of this earthly scene and into his presence at the event known as the rapture of the church. And I believe that worldwide persecution will preclude that.

I don't believe in what's called a mid-trib rapture or a post-trib rapture. I believe that we will be taken out before the actual tribulation period, which is a specific seven-year period, which is inaugurated by the Antichrist signing a treaty with the nation of Israel, a seven-year treaty. The great tribulation begins with that signing of the treaty. But it doesn't say that before that happens, we're going to be able to live a cushy life and then all of a sudden just disappear.

As a matter of fact, quite the opposite is evident if you look at biblical history. You'll see that persecution always precludes the move of God. And the same thing is happening here in Jerusalem in Acts chapter 3. God is ready to move his church in a mighty way. And persecution is coming. And so as God has gotten the attention of the people through this healing of the lame

man, he is now telling them about repentance that's necessary to come to the Lord. I wanted to have a clear understanding of what repentance is all about as we come into this this morning, because I think often there are areas of our relationship with the Lord that we can misunderstand. What is repentance? What's involved in repentance? Have you ever repented?

Is repentance to be a one-time act simply to bring us into a relationship with the Lord? We need to have a clear understanding because it's real easy to use terms and different words that can mean something to one person and yet mean something totally different to someone else. About a century or two ago, the Pope decided that all the Jews had to leave Italy. Naturally, there's a big uproar from the Jewish community, and so the Pope made a deal.

He would have a religious debate with a member of the Jewish community, and if the Jew won, the Jews could stay. If the Pope won, the Jews would have to leave. The Jews realized that they had no choice, so they picked a middle-aged man named Moishe to represent them. And Moishe asked for one addition to the debate. To make it more interesting, he asked that neither side be able to speak.

The Pope agreed. On the day of the great debate came, Moishe and the Pope sat opposite each other for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers. Moishe looked back at him and raised one finger. The Pope waved his fingers in a circle around his head, and Moishe pointed to the ground where he had sat. The Pope pulled out a wafer and a glass of wine.

And Moishe pulled out an apple. The Pope stood up and said, I give up. This man is too good. The Jews can stay. The Cardinals gathered all around the Pope asking him what happened. The Pope said, well, first I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity. And he responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there was still one God common to both of our religions.

Then I waved my fingers around me to show him that God was all around us, and he responded by pointing to the ground and showing that God was also right here with us. I pulled out the wine and the wafer to show that God absolved us from our sins, and he pulled out an apple to remind me of original sin. He had an answer for everything. What can I do? Meanwhile, the Jewish community crowded around Moishe.

But out of that, well, I gave up. First he said to me that the Jews had three days to get out of here. And I told him that not one of us was leaving. And he told me that his whole city would be cleared of the Jews, and I let him know that we were staying right here. And then afterwards, I don't know, did Moishe, you took out his wine? I took out mine?

See, there has to be a clear understanding, or there can be a misunderstanding.

The word repent in the Greek means to think differently or to think afterwards. It means to reconsider. Thayer's lexicon says it means to change your mind. We have been called to repentance, and actually as we look at these verses in chapter 3, there is a blessing in repentance. Now, too often I think we think of a harshness. We think of the prophet in tattered clothes with a pointy bony finger that's pointing

and yelling repent, and it has an air of fire and brimstone in it. And so we think of it as a harsh thing, and it's a blessing. There is a blessing in repentance. We really need to understand what's involved and what repentance really is. So this is what I want us to see as we go through this section. God is calling us to repent. He's calling the people here in Acts chapter 3 to repent, because He's ready to move in

their lives. The first thing I want us to see as far as repentance is concerned is that there needs to be a realization of a need in our lives before we can truly repent. And let me ask you that. Has there ever been a time in your life where you repented? Has there ever been a time in your life that you came to Christ after a point of repentance, after a point of changing your mind about your life and your actions?

Or have you just grown up around the church? Have you just grown up around Christians? Maybe you grew up in a Christian home. You've always been in church. It's always been a thing to do. You've been through children's church or Sunday school. You've been through youth group. You've played on the volleyball team. You've played on the basketball and the softball team.

You've gone on mission trips. You sang in the worship group. But has there ever been a time in your life where you repented? The first thing that's necessary in repentance is realizing that you have a need. In verses 11 through 15, the people gather around Peter and John and the lame man that's now leaping and praising God. He's hanging on to Peter and John.

When Peter saw the people gathering around, verse 12, he said to them, Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we made this man walk? The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified his servant, Jesus. The first thing Peter does is he points the people to Jesus. Hold your finger here in Acts 3 and go back to your left to John chapter 10.

Acts chapter 3 happens in an area of the temple called Solomon's colonnade or Solomon's porch. And in John chapter 10, we see another event that happens at Solomon's porch. Remember the lame man was outside the gate beautiful. He was outside the east gate of the temple. He had not gone into the temple grounds ever. Now that he's been healed, he goes with Peter and John into the temple court

and off to the south side of the temple proper is the pillared building there that's called Solomon's colonnade or Solomon's porch. And in John chapter 10, Jesus is at Solomon's porch. In verse 22, for the feast of dedication for Hanukkah. It's winter, verse 23, Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's colonnade. And the Jews gathered around him saying, how long will you keep us in suspense?

If you're the Christ, tell us plainly. And Jesus said, I did tell you, but you don't believe. The miracles I do in my father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you're not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I've given them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand. Now Peter and John were there when Jesus made that statement.

And here they are again at Solomon's colonnade. And the people are coming to them, marveling at them. And Peter denies credit for this miracle and he points them to Jesus because he remembers that Jesus is the source of life. Jesus gives eternal life. In John chapter 1, it says that he lights the life of men. His light is the light that lights the life of men.

In Christ is life. Life comes out of him. Life does not happen because you have methane gas that's ignited by a gigawatt of lightning. And you have life. Life comes out from Christ. He gives life to us. He gives us eternal life. And Peter and John understand that. That Jesus is the source of life. And apart from Christ, you have no life. Has there ever been a time in your life when you've confronted that?

Has there ever been a time in your walk where you have realized that? That apart from Christ, you have no life. That need has to be recognized. There's a time in our lives, in our walk, before we come to the Lord where we feel an emptiness, we feel alone. There's a time where you try and fill that loneliness or that void with any number of things, from relationships with other people to stimulants, either drugs or alcohol or sex.

You try and fill that void and it always comes up empty. And it's because apart from Christ, there is no life. Those things are empty. They're meaningless. They're not satisfying. We have to come to that point before we can truly understand what repentance is all about. While we're here in this section in Acts 3, verses 12 and 13, let me encourage you in your own life to be quick to point people to Jesus.

God will bless you, has blessed you, will continue to bless you in certain areas of your life. Maybe He has gifted you in certain ways, with certain abilities. Maybe He's gifted you with people. Maybe He's gifted you with finances. Maybe He's gifted you with musical ability. Maybe He's gifted you with administrative ability and you can handle administration and leadership.

Somewhere in your walk, people will come to you and commend you for those abilities. They will laud praise upon you for those things that you have done. And it's at those times you really need to remember that it's the Lord that has given you what you have. It's God that's enabled you. It's God that's empowered you. It's God that's given you that gift or that ability or that talent to be used for Him.

And it's at those times that God is giving you an opportunity to point people to Jesus. It's real easy to want to hang on to the accolades. It's real easy to want to hang on to the praises. But it's at those times we need to humbly say, well, thanks, but that's just the Lord. And to not do it in some feigned humility that, well, that's just God. But to really be honest and say, hey, that's not, just like Peter and John said, it's not me.

I couldn't do that. That's just God. And He gets the credit, period. Because at the point where we begin to receive the praises, it's the point where we're ready for a fall. It's the point where we're ready to be crushed. So Peter and John point them to the Lord, emphasizing the need that's there, that apart from Christ, you have no life. Look at verse 13. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.

You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. And you killed the author of life. Now, I want to, I mentioned the prophet a while ago that's standing there in tattered clothes, pointing a bony finger. But I want you to, I don't think, you know, that was necessarily what was happening. But the emphasis of the reality of the situation was there in Peter's voice.

I went through and circled all the times the personal pronoun you is there. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. And you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. And you killed the author of life. Four accusations there that Peter makes to the people as far as revealing to them their desperate need, their desperate condition.

He says, you handed him over to be killed. He says, you handed him over to be killed. Now, it's, last week I mentioned when you read the word, put yourself in it, put yourself into the, whatever's going on. Put yourself into the story somewhere so that you can kind of try and gain a sense of what they must have felt when this was going on. Now, as you read this, it's probably easy to read it and go, yeah, they disowned him.

They handed him over to be killed. They disowned the Holy and Righteous One. They killed the author of life. I wasn't there. I wasn't born yet. One thing you have to realize is a goodly portion, maybe even a majority of the people that Peter and John are talking to, they weren't there either when Jesus was handed over. These are pilgrims that have come in from other countries for the Feast of Pentecost.

And they have now, many of them are still there. Many have come to Christ and are meeting with them in the temple area as well as from house to house. But a lot of these people were pilgrim travelers that had come in from outside of Jerusalem that were not there when Jesus was handed over. And yet Peter includes them. And I see a finger pointing out of the word at us.

We were there too. And I want you to see that because it helps make us aware of the desperate condition that we're in and the desperate need that we have. He says, you handed him over to be killed. Well, how did I do that? Well, you see, Adam and Eve rejected the Lord. They rejected God's goodness. They rejected His love. They rejected His fellowship. They rejected His trust when they followed Satan's lead and they partook of the fruit in the Garden of Eden.

And each person that's been born ever since in the world has been born with that particular seed of sin, that rejection of God's love and of God's trust and of God's provision. We've been born with that seed of sin within us. And it's that seed of sin that delivered Jesus over to be killed. That's why He came to this world. He came to go to the cross to take our sins upon Him and die for our sins that we could be freed from the bondage and the power of that sin.

So you and I literally handed Him over to be killed. For you and I He died for our sins. The second one, you disowned Him before Pilate, though he had decided to let Him go. Well, I never even saw Pilate. How could I have disowned Him before Pilate? Pontius Pilate here represents the law. The law looked at Jesus and determined that He was innocent. The law examined Him and determined that there was no fault.

There was no sin in Him, that He was indeed true as He said He was true. And Pilate made that declaration, I find no fault in Him. And yet they disowned Him before Pilate, though Pilate had decided to let Him go. Well, how am I affected there? How did I do that? Well, you see, before you came to Christ, now there was a point in time when that was the case. Some of you maybe were so blessed with such a godly home that you were led to the Lord at the age of four or five, a very young age.

But more of you, the majority of you, probably didn't come to the Lord until older. Many of you didn't come to the Lord until many years later. From the point of birth until the point that you received Christ, you had an opportunity to respond to God in various ways. Maybe from godly parents. The Bible tells us that the knowledge of Him, the understanding that He exists, is on the heart of everybody that's born.

It's on the heart of everyone. There is an understanding and a knowledge that God is. There is an understanding, the law of God, it says, is written on the hearts of every one of us. So when we do something that's wrong, we may not be able to put a finger on why, but we just know that's wrong. It's because God put that knowledge of His law in each heart, in every culture.

The Bible tells us in Romans 1 that the heavens declare the glory of God. That the firmament, creation itself, breaks forth, revealing to us the things that cannot be seen by the things that are. In other words, God's creation, even though it's been corrupted through the fall, still declares the fact of a loving creator, God. And as we look at the heavens, if you're ever out and have a chance to just stand and look at the sky when it's clear and see the stars, as you watch Tail Bop come through and every night you just kind of stand there and be able to see that with the naked eye, or if you're out when the meteor showers come and you watch all of that, you just stand there in awe and something is just crying out to you,

there is a God, there is a creator, there is a one who has put this all together. And you sense a love there. So see, before you and I ever accept Christ, there is everything in His creation, including your own heart, that affirms the fact that He is true. But we've rejected that from the point of birth until the time that we received Christ. That whole point in between, we rejected that truth.

And it's the truth of God, just as Pilate is saying, He's fine. And they disowned Him, so we too disowned Him. He says, you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. Well, I didn't do that. I mean, I didn't even know Barabbas. I didn't even know his name until, you know, I saw the play at Easter. How could I have? I didn't have any part in choosing a murderer.

Well, let's go back to that time between your birth and the time that you actually came to Christ. And maybe you're sitting here and you've never come to Christ. You have never really repented. You're just kind of hanging out in church. But from the time of your birth until now, or until that time you come to the Lord, again, God is revealing Himself to you through creation, through godly people around you,

through the law of God written upon your heart. And until the point of time where you come to say, I need Jesus and I choose Jesus, you have actually chosen the opposite, which is death. I didn't come to the Lord until I was 20. I was raised in a church. I had godly parents. I was there every Sunday. I went through confirmation. I memorized the 23rd Psalm and the Apostles' Creed and got my Bible when I was 12,

was baptized in front of the church when I was 12, but I didn't know the Lord. And I chose death. I went out and did all the stuff that you do in the world, to have fun in the world. And all that time I was choosing death. And it was no different than saying, Barabbas! I want Barabbas! God was offering His life to me through His Son, and I just kept saying, no, I want Barabbas.

I remember sitting in, I worked for a grocery store out in Denver, and a guy that was talking to me about the Lord there, and I was still rejecting because I was thinking, I'm a churchgoer, you know, I go, I know these things. And we'd get finished with stocking the shelves at 1 o'clock in the morning. We'd go out and sit in the car, sit in the back of one of the guys' truck, and we'd have a case of beer, and we'd just be sitting there drinking beer. And this guy named Ron, who led me to the Lord later, came walking out several times during the week.

And we'd holler at him, hey Ron, want a beer? You know, and we'd laugh because we knew he didn't. It was just kind of a way to tease him because we knew that he was religious. And I remember those times now that I mocked him, and my heart aches for those days that I wasted choosing death when life was handed to me. So I'm just as guilty as those that were standing there going, we want Barabbas!

We want Barabbas! We want death instead of life. And he says, you killed the author of life. Well, that's back to the first one. Our sins are what nailed him to the cross. His love is what kept him there. Our sins put him on that tree, and his love for you and me is what kept him there to endure the wrath of his father for our sins. So we killed the author of life.

And apart from Christ, we have no life, and we must realize then our desperate condition because not only are we apart from him and we have no life, we are the reason he died. We killed him. You and I are, before we come to the Lord, you and I are like the MERS space station, okay? No matter what they try to do to that sucker, they're not going to fix it. They need to just push it off into space and start over.

Before you and I come to the Lord, that's exactly how we are. No amount of attempts to fix us will ever fix us. We can't learn something or do some nice thing or pay some fee that will make us better or make us right. We need to just junk us and start over, and that's what the Lord did. 2 Corinthians 5.17 tells us that we have become new. Old things are passed away.

Behold, all things are become new. He has made you a new creation when you come to him. He doesn't just stick a patch on you or put a new computer chip in there to make it kind of work a little better for a while. You are new. He doesn't just want to be in Christ. He is a new creation. You ever come to that place where you realize that desperate need for the Lord,

that you are responsible for the death of Jesus Christ, that you are responsible because you've rejected all the testimony about him, all that the world has declared in its creation about him? You have literally chosen death instead of life. Have you ever come to that point in your life where you've done that? You realize that I am guilty? You realize that desperate need?

In the late 50s and early 60s, there was the big push to eliminate that feeling, to eliminate guilt. And so there was the birth of all these things, positive thinking, the power of positive thinking and all, and the phrase that emerged from that era was, I'm okay, you're okay. And really, when you come down to understanding what the Bible says about the desperate need for repentance, it comes down to he's okay, I'm a mess. And it's not until we get to that point that we realize we have a need, a desperate need, and that's what's necessary before we can come really to a repentance.

We realize a desperate need first, but secondly, and the text tells us here, we've got to realize we have a marvelous God with a marvelous ability. You handed him over to be killed. You disowned him before Pilate. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. Verse 15, you killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead,

and we are witnesses of this. And by faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It's Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

You've got to realize that we have a marvelous God and he has a marvelous ability. Two of the greatest words in the scriptures are there in verse 15. You killed the author of life, but God. Those are two of the greatest words in scripture. But God. You handed him over to be killed. You're guilty. You disowned him. You chose death. You killed the author of life,

but in spite of all of that, but God raised him from the dead. You see, in the midst of your desperate need, in the midst of our willing rejection of him, God had prepared a plan. Verse 16. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. Whose faith? Whose faith is he talking about here? By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong.

Well, you can tell me faith of the layman because that's what a lot of the false religious teachers teach today, that you've got to have faith. Why? If you're sick, if you're not prospering, if you're not walking in victory, it's because of your lack of faith. Well, let's go back to the first part of Acts chapter 3 and remember the faith that this guy had. Remember?

Peter and John came walking in. How many times did they pass him? Hundreds, probably thousands. He'd been there for a long time. Jesus probably walked by him several dozen times that he was in and out of the temple area. But on this one particular time, God prompts Peter and John to look at this guy. And he's looking at them, and that eye contact is a big thing.

He sees them looking at him, and Peter says to him, fix your eyes on us, look at us. And he does, and it says in the text to give him something. And as the text is flowing, and I see this happening just as they're walking up. I don't see him standing there. I don't see much time taking place at all here. I see them walking up, and he sees them. And as he sees them, Peter just says,

hey, fix your eyes on us. And the guy goes like this, and they're still walking up to him. And he says, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk. Now, how much time did that guy have to think about the faith that he needed to have in order to walk? Well, if you're anticipating something going a certain way, and it goes differently,

it takes my foggy brain a minute to figure out the change. If I'm coming up to you, and I'm expecting you to say something like, hi, and I say, hi, how are you? And I'm expecting a fine thank you. And I come up, and you just start off. I don't even get to say hi, and you don't say hi. You start saying something in a sentence. It takes me by surprise, and I almost often,

it just took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting you to say that, and I have to think about it for a minute. Now, here's this guy sitting here going, and he comes up and goes, silver and gold have I none, in the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk. He's in the air, you know, before he realizes, I'm in the air. And I mean, it's got to go, to me, he'd be thinking, what did he say?

And he's standing there before he knows it. So the lame man's faith had absolutely nothing to do with his healing. In the name of Jesus. Now, what does that mean? Well, it means they acted in his stead, in Jesus' stead. This is something Jesus wanted to do. Well, I wish I had that kind of faith. Listen, follow me through this. Remember, this all stems from the fact,

back in chapter 2, verse 42, that they devoted themselves to prayer. They were in a constant communion with the Lord. They had walked by this guy a zillion times, and never healed him. They didn't sit at home going, we need to do something really tremendous over there by the gate, beautiful. Let's go heal him. Let's believe God now for healing, and we'll go in there and we're going to heal him.

They didn't even click until they walked up, and they were so in tune with the Lord, God's saying, raise this guy up. I've got something to say. See, the miracle was not the key. What Peter's saying right now is the key. And God's saying, right now, raise this guy up. I've got something I want you to say. It was their faith in his name, in Jesus' name. Jesus was wanting that particular situation

done right there, right then. It was in his name for that to happen. You say, well, I could never do that. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. The times that you're at work or somewhere, and you move into this area, maybe it's a break room, maybe it's just the person that you're working next to, and God says, tell them about me. And they make a statement, and you realize all of a sudden the door is open,

and you've got to speak. That's the same faith. That's the same thing that happened to Peter and John with the lame man. That's the same faith. But where did that faith come from? Did you just sit there and say, oh, I'm going to have faith. I'm going to build myself up in faith. I want to have faith. No, that right then came from the Lord, because you've been in communion with the Lord.

And God says, speak to this person right now, because I want you to talk to them about me. You didn't work up any faith. God imparted it, and you responded and acted upon it in his name. You had faith in his name. You had faith that that was him and that was you. So, it's time to learn God's voice. There are times that you argue with God. I don't want to say that.

You feel like that's an issue, I don't want to say that. And your chest, you can't breathe, and it's like a clamp over it. You feel like you're going to die unless you say something, you know. That's you, because God's just saying, just speak. And you're wrestling with whether or not that's God's voice. When you have faith in his name, we see his witnesses,

and we just speak, and he gives us that faith to do it. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8-10, For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Go back to the beginning of that. It's by grace that you've been saved. How have you been saved? By grace. Well, how did that happen?

Through faith. Well, how did you get the faith? The faith to believe in his grace that's been given to you is also from God. Otherwise, you could say, well, I had the faith to believe. I'm saved because I had the faith to believe in God's grace. I mean, I don't know about you, but no, no man can boast. You've been saved by grace, and the faith to believe in God's grace,

even that was a gift. And so it is here, and so it is with us. We have such a marvelous God with a marvelous ability to redeem us and to sustain us. Now, brothers, verse 17, first, you've got to recognize your desperate need. I'm in a desperate need, Lord. I realize that there's no life apart from you, and I am apart from you. And I realize that I am the one

that delivered you up, that I'm the one that killed you, that I'm the one that chose death instead of life. I realize that, but then you need to realize now God's marvelous ability, even giving you the faith to believe in what he's going to do. He has the ability to deal with you. He has the ability to redeem you. And then it comes that he gives you to just trust in his ability

and that his timing for that change is now. And he gives you the faith to accept that process. Now, that's true when you first come to the Lord. And maybe you're sitting here this morning, you're listening on the radio or by tape. And as I share this, you are there again at that point where you've been questioning and you know that you've been brought to this point before

and that God is drawing you and tugging at your heart and you realize now the desperate need. He's asking you to realize now his marvelous ability. Now's the time for transformation. All you've got to say is, yes, Lord, I need you. And let him do that marvelous work in your life. And you say, well, but I've got so much. There's just so much. And there's so much I didn't realize.

I didn't realize I was doing all of this until now. How could he ever? How could he ever love me? How could he ever redeem me because I was so stupid? You look at verse 17, he says, how could he ever do that? Verse 18, but this is how God fulfilled what he foretold through all the prophets saying that his Christ would suffer. God prepared for that and had Jesus slain,

the Bible says in a verse that just I marvel at, I don't understand it, from before the foundation of the world. I don't understand that, but God prepared for my ignorance and my willful sin from before the foundations of the earth. And he just calls me to run to him and ask him to forgive me and to sustain me and to free me from unrighteousness. Now he says here that even the prophets have talked about this, about the suffering that would come.

Hold your finger here in Acts chapter 3. Go back with me to Numbers 35 quickly. Numbers chapter 35. At the beginning of Numbers 35, you'll see the first five verses deal with the cities that are given to the Levites to be able to live in. The Levites, the tribe of Levi used to be their inheritance. So the land was divided up between the other tribes and the Levites were given the Lord.

Their ministry was in the temple, in the tabernacle, and then ultimately in the temple. But they were given certain towns that they could live in. Now beginning in verse 6 in Numbers 35, you see that six of those towns that you give to the Levites will be cities of refuge to which a person who has killed someone may flee. Accidentally or ignorantly may flee.

When you, let's say, you were in self-defense, you were accosted and you killed someone, or anyone that was murdered, anyone that was killed by someone else, that family of the deceased was obligated to avenge the blood of the one killed. And so they would pick, and this mentions in that section, the avenger of blood from among them who would go out and they avenge his blood and so there would be an avenger of blood who vowed not to eat again until they had taken the life of the one that had killed their loved one. Now say you were involved in a self-defense kind of thing or you went to help someone and someone was fighting and you came over and you punched the other guy to get this guy off this other person and knocked him to the ground,

hit his head and you killed him. Well you didn't stand there to avenge his family member. So your only hope would be to flee to one of these cities of refuge. Once you came through the gates of that city you were safe. That's safe zone. And it says there if you leave that city at any time and the avenger of blood is out there and he catches you outside the city

he can kill you. But as long as you're inside that city you are safe. And they would have a court, a court would convene and you would be released. Not intentionally, not intentionally. You were given refuge in that city of refuge and you had to stay there until the death of the high priest. Now at the time of the death of the high priest you were set free.

You were released from that and you could then leave. The Bible says when I am afraid I will trust in you Lord. I run to you and I promise to you come unto me. Run to me as that city of refuge. Run to me as that high tower. You are safe there. Not only are you safe there but you are freed at the death of the high priest. And Jesus is our high priest who is also our sacrifice.

He has already died for you and been raised again so as you run to him for refuge you don't have to wait. You are released. You are forgiven and redeemed. God provided for that time of ignorance that his son might suffer for you and I and so Peter says in verse 19 repent then. Change your mind. It's time to realize you've chosen death. It's time to realize that you are apart from Christ

and there is no life apart from Christ. It's time to realize the marvelous God that you have and that times of refreshing may come from the Lord and that he may send the Christ who has been appointed for you even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. And then he goes on down through the rest of the chapter they're talking about the promises of the prophets and that you're an heir to the kingdom of God and that your sins might be wiped out.

Literally it means blotted, blotted away. In the New Testament times they didn't have inks and paper as we have it. They had animal skins, they had papyrus and the inks that they had didn't have the acids in them that would bite into those things so when they would write a letter to someone and the letter would say well the ink has been wiped out and the paper has been wiped out and the paper is not there anymore and the paper is not there anymore and the charges up against you the charges against you has been wiped out it's been blotted out it's not there anymore. Isaiah implies that, Isaiah 43 to 25 God speaking through Isaiah says I even I am he who blots out your transgressions those old pictures of what you used to be

and he tries to say this is you this is you, this is you and sometimes he gets us where that's concerned sometimes he punches that button and I go yeah that's me that's the way I was back then and I'm living as though I am now it's been wiped clean the blessing of repentance is that that's wiped clean God does not remember it God does not have anything written against you God you're not going to stand before the Lord and have Jesus at the cross and been cleansed you're not going to stand before the Lord and all those things before be brought up to you again he didn't say oh I wrote these down these are your sins and I erased them and oh they were invisible ink ha ha fooled you, there they are you're guilty, he doesn't do that

Satan would like to have you believe that one of the ways that Satan gets us is we have repented we've confessed and God has filled us and cleansed us and you weren't really serious when you asked God to forgive you and you know what he tries to do he tries to keep you from repenting again because he tries to make you think well you've just done this before, it's old hat you know what you're going to do you repent again, you're going to go out and do it again does you no good to repent and many times you end up feeling that way going I'm just a crumb, I'm just a creep I can't do it, I did that's right I did, I repented and I went right out and did it again you have a desperate need who knew your ignorance, who knew you repent

you'd come out and trip again he's planned for that he's in the process of removing that from your life he just wants you when you sin and you realize it to confess it and get that fellowship restored again I have had areas of sin in my life that I have repented of and turned to the Lord and it seems like I fall down again and I've gone through that process and I've tried to change things that I knew would affect it and I finally did it again and I do stupid things again and again and it's like God keeps bringing me back to I am a marvelous God I have a marvelous ability to transform and to change that you know the Lord has done that he's removed those things some things went immediately from my life some things he's taken years

of me going and tripping and falling confess, repent and come back and God has usually moved circumstances around where he just removes that in his time but it doesn't eliminate my need to continue when I know that I can't to agree with him I'm in desperate need I need your forgiveness Lord I need that wiping the slate clean second thing that happens is a blessing of repentance is realizing that his kingdom is coming his kingdom is coming that the times of refreshing may come from the Lord verse 20 and that he may send the Christ who has been appointed for you even Jesus he must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything until the visible coming of Jesus again one of the main blessings of repentance is ultimately being a part

of the literal kingdom when Jesus comes again to establish his kingdom upon the earth there's going to be a restoration that happens there's going to be a restoring of everything now there are those running around today who believe that we have to do the restoring or the kingdom can't come that's a false gospel there are those who believe that until we restore until we restore the families they believe God can't come that's a false theology that's heresy it's part of a group called Kingdom Now Theology you're going to hear more of it and just be aware of it pray where that's concerned because it's not going to be restored until Jesus comes back and he restores it but that restoration is going to be marvelous Isaiah talks about it in several places

chapter 11 verse 6 through 10 man's going to be at peace with nature the earth is going to be filled the earth is going to be moved we'll have direct access to the throne of God Romans chapter 8 tells us that creation itself groans for that creation itself longs for that time when it's freed from the bondage of sin and again has a chance to respond the way God initially created it it's a wonderful time a restoration that's coming and we are promised that it also says times of refreshing will come from the Lord the word times there in the Greek means a specific time it means that time when Jesus comes back and sets up his kingdom the word refreshing in the Greek means a breathing space or a break in the way things are going

ultimately that's when Jesus comes back and sets up his kingdom but literally that's fulfilled every time you repent every time we realize that area that has separated us from God that sin, that wrong action, that wrong thought the way we treated a spouse that word we said in haste that was cutting and we repent of that a refreshing that comes a time out, a break and you feel that lifting you feel that joy that comes from that refreshing and I'll tell you one of the sweetest and neatest times of that for me was this last weekend with promise keepers in DC and they're repenting and those guys on their knees and on their faces before the Lord repenting of the sin of our nation and I'm there on the radio traveling back from Oklahoma City

and it's a time of healing and a time of filling a time of realizing the ability to come right into the throne room of God that's a blessing you see because there's a feeling of being restored right then all the restoration's coming and I can't wait until we're here on a perfect earth and everything's the way it's supposed to be and there really is a purpose for spiders and snakes I can't wait for that I get to see what a mosquito really does that when our eyes have beheld that our hands have handled the Author of Life we've seen Him we've touched Him and we want to share this with you so that we can have fellowship together now if you're walking in a light if you say you're walking in a light but you have fellowship with darkness then you're lying

you can't have fellowship with light and with darkness but if you confess your sin He's faithful and just if you've been broken because of sin there's a need for repentance for restoration, for a break for that refreshing to come back and maybe you're sitting here today and it's been a while since you've repented it's been a while since you've taken time before God to just say God I'm in a desperate need I have a desperate condition I realize either I've never come to you and so I'm dead in sin I'm apart from Christ I'm the one that nailed you to the cross I'm in a desperate strain but other things now have taken precedent and you've been involved in all these other things and really haven't had time to spend with God

and right now as we're sitting here His Spirit's prompting you of those attitudes and actions and things that you've said and done that really are an affront to Him and you know that and you've been willingly staying in that and He's bringing to your attention that you haven't been in real strong fellowship there because sin has put a wedge in that fellowship you have a desperate need because apart from Him you're nothing apart from Him you are dead and you have to run into Him as that city of refuge to run into that high tower to repent change your mind and say Lord you're right I'm wrong I need you that's all it means and feel that time of refreshing feel that break now that pause that refreshes the true pause that refreshes

and let Him restore again that fellowship that joy that you've known Father help us this morning the persecution is coming today and you bring your church just as you did in Acts chapter 3 and you call your people to be ready to make ready for this time the Lord's moving is at hand you've gotten our attention Lord and you've told us there's a need to repent a need to realize that apart from you we can do nothing we have no life apart from you that we are as guilty of nailing you to the cross as those that were there and actually physically did it but we have a marvelous God in faith itself to believe you can do that and so Lord I pray for your people here this morning that are aching and in anguish and torn apart from the ravages of this world

that they would respond to your spirit this morning and just cry out to you Lord forgive me I changed my mind you're right I'm wrong heal me Lord bring that restoration bring that time of refreshing to my life through the blood of your Son restore me Lord bring me into that fellowship with you I pray