Acts 3:12
¶ And when Peter saw it, he
answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look
ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this
man to walk? 13 The God of Abraham, and
of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus;
whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was
determined to let him go. 14 But
ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto
you; 15 And killed the Prince of life,
whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. 16 And his name through faith in his name hath
made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath
given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. 17 And now, brethren, I wot that through
ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. 18 But those things, which God before had shewed
by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so
fulfilled. 19 Repent ye therefore, and
be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20
And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times
of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his
holy prophets since the world began. 22
For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God
raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all
things whatsoever he shall say unto you. 23
And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear
that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. 24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and
those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of
these days. 25 Ye are the children of
the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto
Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. 26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son
Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his
iniquities.
Peter takes this time to witness again for the Lord Jesus Christ
to these Jews who are amazed at what has been done. A soul could sin through
ignorance without understanding and an important principle is that one was
still held accountable for their sins, even those done in ignorance.
King David wrote;
Psalm
19:12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from
secret faults.
Peter stated that the people and their rulers murdered Christ out
of ignorance. As Jesus Himself said from the cross;
Luke
23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment,
and cast lots.
Judas acknowledged that he had betrayed innocent blood in Jesus.
First, from Psalms;
Psalm
94:21 They gather themselves together
against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.
Matthew
27:3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him,
when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the
thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed
the innocent blood. And they said, What is
that to us? see thou to that.
The rulers of the Jews had the opportunity to confess their sin
but they would not hear when Stephen confronted them and exposed it to them.
Acts
7:52 Which of the prophets have not your
fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming
of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: 53 Who have received the law by the disposition
of angels, and have not kept it.
54
¶ When they heard these things, they
were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
Peter says in verse 19 to repent and be converted. They are
synonyms by their usage here. These are, as Paul will say, fundamental
doctrines of Christ.
Hebrews
6:1 ¶ Therefore leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the
foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Dead works are the sins man commits in the flesh.
Hebrews
9: 11 But Christ being come an high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not
made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but
by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and
the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of
the flesh:14 How much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to
God, purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God?
Both involve turning to the Lord. God’s forgiveness blots out,
erases sin.
Psalm
103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he
removed our transgressions from
us.
Isaiah
43:25 I, even I, am he
that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember
thy sins.
When they stand before Christ, if they repent and are converted,
their sins will not determine their eternal destiny. The times of refreshing are when the heavens and the earth are restored
to God’s original intent, when a quantitatively and qualitatively new heavens
and new earth are created. See verse 21 for the
times of restitution of all things.
The importance of God blotting out our sins, our transgressions,
as we repent of being a sinner and of sinning, being converted to God, should
not be understated. It is mankind’s sin that keeps him apart from his Creator.
Isaiah
59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not
hear.
Notice what Peter says in verses 18 and 24. Peter learned a great
deal from Christ which he clearly did not know before he met the Lord. For
instance, many preachers like to say that while we look back at the Cross the
Jews looked forward to it. This is pure rubbish. Let me repeat what I said
regarding chapter 1.
No comments:
Post a Comment