Repentance begins at salvation and continues on through life, for, as Martin Luther said, the “entire life of the believer” is to be, “one of repentance.” How should we understand this repentance? What does it do in the lives of Christians? It naturally flows from salvation and then all life long it relieves sorrows, reconciles enemies and heals wounds. It soothes the soul and makes families and churches happy. In short, it refreshes.

Please open your Bibles to Acts chapter 3. I'd like to take you to the beautiful gate, Acts chapter 3. Hope your Bibles are open. In this passage, we learn that repentance is one of the most remarkable and beautiful gifts. We encounter Peter and John running across a lame man, and this incident explains really the doctrine of repentance and I I'm going to walk through this chapter but before I do I want to read what is the heart of this text I'm going to start at the top and walk through, but the heart of the text is here in verses 19 through 21.

And you'll notice in your program that we've identified Acts 3, 19 as a memory verse we just encourage you to memorize. It reads, 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, and that he may send Jesus Christ who was preached to you before, 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." And so this chapter and particularly this text explains the marvelous gift of Repentance it's a gift for the refreshing of mankind. God has made a way For the refreshing of the soul of mankind now this miracle that we encounter is the first Miracle after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts in Acts chapter 1 We find the promise of the power of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2 the spirit is out poured in Acts chapter 3 we see the the refreshment that comes from repentance and this this passage breaks down into two sections I'd like you to see First is the healing of the lame man at the beautiful gate versus 1 through 11 and then the doctrine that explains that healing and so we'll we'll be dealing with this and I hope your Bibles are open because I I want I just would pray that your eyes would rest on the words that are here in this text.

So let's take the first section, the healing of the lame man at the beautiful gate. Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer so it's Peter and John going out two by two just like the Lord Jesus instructed them they're two very different men walking together and the time of day is the hour of prayer it's the ninth hour It's I think this is very important The ninth hour is 3 p.m. And it is significant Jesus Christ was crucified at 9 a.m. On the third hour The sky went dark at noon at the sixth hour and then at 3 o'clock in the afternoon Jesus breathed his last and he declared it is finished and that was the ninth hour Peter and John are going into the temple at the hour of prayer at the same time that Jesus Christ declared it is finished and who is there verse 2 a certain lame a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried Whom they lay daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful to ask for alms from those who entered the temple so he was carried he could not get there on his own strength and he has been this way since he was 40 years old think about this man he never got to run around as a child, he never got to play and jump, he wasn't able to experience the joys of work or any of these graces that God has given mankind, but he was carried.

I think he is a picture of this fact that some people will never get to the house of God unless someone Carries them and brings them and in fact if you look at the many of the miracles of Jesus somebody brought them to Jesus and then He asked for money verse 3 Who's seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. There's no indication that when Peter and John were walking by, he was seeking Jesus Christ. He was thinking about money, but he got something else. And in verse 4, we see that Peter made eye contact with him, and fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, look at us. So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

And so, you know, if you've ever traveled to places where there are beggars on the street you know that if you if you look at that If you look at that beggar in the eye, there's an obligation. It pulls your heart, it pulls you right in. And so what most people do is they don't look. But they looked. They both looked.

The man was looking for something. Lloyd-Jones, in his commentary on this passage, asks us to notice that the man was looking for things that cannot heal him. He wants trivialities to satisfy him. The refreshment that he wants is not found in the things that he's looking for. He's looking for material things.

He's looking for trivial things. And Lloyd-Jones says that this is a picture of man, mankind lost in his sins. He looks for financial security. He looks for music. He looks for intellectual stimulation.

He looks to psychology. He looks to counseling. He'll look anywhere except to Jesus Christ for help but he looks for things he looks two things that cannot provide what he wants and this is this is the the terrible state of unconverted mankind And then in verse 6 we see that Peter spoke. And Peter said, Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

Now Peter wasn't necessarily saying he was penniless. We know that he had a wife and a mother-in-law and a house, but he was saying rather that his most valuable possession is that believing in Jesus Christ and him crucified and being born again is the most valuable possession. That's what he was saying. And then Peter takes him by the hand in verse 7. He takes him by the hand and and he lifts he lifts him up and the text says immediately his feet and ankle bones Received strength and you would expect this kind of description from dr.

Luke. He gives an anatomical physical description of what happened to this man. And he lifts him up, and the man stood up in verse 8, and what did he do? He, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them walking and leaping and praising God so now this man who's been sitting lame for 40 years is now walking and leaping and he's praising God in the temple. It was a spectacle, it was astonishing, and you can imagine the attention that it brought.

And God is using this imagery to explain the beauty of the refreshment that comes from repentance unto life. This is an illustration. This is a physical manifestation of a spiritual reality that takes place in people's hearts. And here, Luke wants us to understand that. And then in verse 9 through 11 we see that the people witnessed it and they were filled with wonder and all the people saw him walking and leaping and praising God.

Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the beautiful gate of the temple and they were all filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 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. So now this man has been walking and leaping and praising God, and the people are so struck, they, with a great force, they flood together to hear Peter and John in Solomon's porch and and so we have this great miracle now why miracles why this miracle two reasons first of all they are signs in the New Testament miracles stand as proofs of God's power to authenticate the message of the gospel. Secondly, they are parables, they are types. The miracles in the Bible are earthly pictures that bear witness to heavenly things.

And so the situation of this man being lame and then walking and leaping and praising God is a picture of man's paralyzed state in sin and you know in the same way that we are born again, that we were born with a sin nature, this man was born lame and he spent his entire life lame. He's a picture of everyone. He's a picture of every man who is born in sin. As David said, Behold, I was born in iniquity. In iniquity, my mother conceived me.

And we were born in sin and there are many effects of sin and this miracle is to help us to understand that. How sin disables us, it slows us down. And here this helpless man Represents the whole human race. He cannot conquer his own problems He's morally and intellectually and relationally crippled, and there's only one way to help him, and that is repentance unto life. Now there might be people walking by who will give him a few dollars, but they can't really heal him.

You can air condition this man's way to hell by giving him alms, but that's not what he really needs He needs something deeper. He needs something that will transform him and and It isn't just food and clothing and shelter and entertainment and trips that man needs he needs something deeper And so this healing is figurative of God's healing power of the soul, and particularly how God is reversing the force of the fall in sinners who are converted. Of course, all the sicknesses that we experience do come from the fall at their root. But all of the healings that Jesus Christ Does in his public ministry? They're all related to sin and they're all related to this one message is that God in Christ Jesus is reversing the effects of the fall And this man is before us to declare that without repentance unto life, that we are lame, we're the blind, we're the deaf, we're the mother-in-law who has fever, we're the leper, We're the woman with the flow of blood.

We're the demon possessed. We're the epileptics. We are the hopeless. But even worse, we're dead. We're dead in trespasses and sins.

And so these miracles bear witness to the work of God in the soul. And so, now that we've seen this healing in verses one through 11, then Luke gives the doctrine. He explains the healing in verses 12 through 26. And first of all, we see in verse 12 that it was the power of God. 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? And Peter wants to be very careful that the onlookers don't conclude that it was their power, that it was the power of God. He's saying, we're not the miracle workers. God is the miracle workers. We're not the one who can make the lame walk God and God alone is that one don't look to us look to Jesus Christ and and then Peter explains the miracle and he uses the backdrop of God's working throughout history and what Peter does here is is that he correlates the miracle to the whole message of the Bible.

He takes this miracle and he says this is really what the whole Bible has been talking about that you know that the lame will walk and you will be walking leaping and praising God that's what the whole Bible is about and so in verse 13 Peter goes all the way back to Abraham and he says 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. Verse 14, but you denied the Holy One and the just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And so what Peter is saying is this healing is a summary of the whole teaching of the Bible And Peter uses several terms here That the Jews have heard before He calls Jesus the servant of God in verse 13. They knew what that meant. They knew Isaiah 53, and they knew about the sovereign servant and the atoning sacrifice of that servant.

And they understood this term Holy One. He's the Holy One of Israel in verse 14. One of the most often repeated phrases in the prophet Isaiah is the Holy One of Israel. They understood what he was talking about, and then they called him, they said that the prophets called him the Prince of Life. In other words, this healing didn't come out of nowhere, it's what the Bible has always taught about Jesus Christ, and He has come, and He is in your presence now.

And verse 16, He even elaborates even more deeply, and He speaks of the matter of faith in Him. 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." So Peter is saying it's faith in Jesus Christ that has made this man well was he converted Yes, he's walking and leaping and he's praising God That's the change and he has faith. He has been converted and his his behavior after his conversion it just tells the story of what conversion is and what repentance is and his object of faith was Jesus Christ this lame man was looking for the prosperity gospel and he got the gospel what a blessing it was And then we read in verse 18 that this fulfilled the prophets. But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets, that the Christ would suffer, he has fulfilled.

This healing, this walking and leaping and praising God, this time of refreshment to this man's soul, is a fulfillment of the prophets. In other words, this healing tells the story of repentance that has been declared throughout the Bible you know I was preaching through Isaiah a few years ago and I was so stunned by Isaiah 35 where Isaiah talks about the lame shall leap like a deer and he's talking about this scene where the wilderness this wilderness wasteland becomes a glad the actual the wilderness becomes a glad and the wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them and their desire shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. And then he says, the eyes of the blind shall be opened. He's talking about Jesus Christ opening blind eyes. He says, the deaf shall hear.

He's talking about the occasions where Jesus Christ healed deaf people. And He says, the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, And the thirsty land springs of water in the habitation of jackals where each lay. There shall be grass and reeds and rushes.

It's a picture of these jackals, these despised animals, and they're in the wasteland, in the wilderness wasteland, and water starts coming up. And it's succulent, and they have life. And the picture is, the lame shall leap like a deer and the death here And the tongue of the dumb shall speak. This is the power of repentance. This is what God is trying to tell us about repentance and the heart of Peter's sermon is in verse 19 and there are two words that Peter uses That explain repentance and both of these words are consistent with the entire testimony of the Old Testament on repentance and there is this first word in verse 19 repent And he uses the Greek word metanoia which means to change the mind, to change the thought, to change the way you're thinking.

Remember, you're thinking in a certain way about something, your mind is going in a certain direction and you hear that voice, return to the root, return to the root. Change your mind, stop thinking that way. You know this morning I heard some of the most blessed preaching I've ever heard from my brothers and So many times I heard God's voice return to the root Return to the root It was such a help to my soul. But this is what is happening here. Repent, change the mind.

And then he uses, therefore, be converted. That word is another word for repentance. Epistrepho, change of direction. You're walking in one way, and you turn around and start going the other way. You return to the root is what you do.

And so these two pictures are here. And he gives reasons why we should repent and why this man repented, that your sins may be blotted out so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Repentance is a gift of God for times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. The Bible says that God is near to the brokenhearted and the humblehearted. The presence of the Lord is the greatest gift that anyone can ever have, and repentance is one of those things that touches off that intimacy that is there.

That your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing might come in. And this word refreshing is such a remarkable word That Luke uses and I'll just read from a Greek lexicon Times of refreshing what does refreshing mean? It describes a state of cheer and encouragement after a period of having been troubled or upset. It refers to being delivered from a state of unease and anxiety into a state of refreshing encouragement, recovery of happiness, so that times of encouragement will come from the presence of the Lord So this is time. This is refreshing, you know, and it is refreshing This is why the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts is Lichened unto a mighty rushing wind.

It's a breeze. That's why when Jesus Christ was speaking to Nicodemus, he said that the wind blows where it wishes. The refreshing of the Lord is like a refreshing breeze. That's what repentance is. It's like a refreshing breeze to the soul.

We should never be afraid of repentance. We should never run from it. As fearful as we might be to finally admit that remaining sin, the sweetest thing you can ever do for your soul is to feel the refreshing wind of the Spirit of God that comes as a result of repentance. David said that his sin was like the fever heat of summer, And it's like recovering from an oppressive heat. But also he says that this refreshing comes from the presence of the Lord.

And so there's this presence from the outside, outside of us. It's the presence of the Lord. The language that he uses is the language of the face of the Lord, that you're beholding the face of the Lord. And when you behold the face of the Lord, you're beholding the most refreshing face you'll ever behold. The face of the Lord is refreshingly present You know next year our conference is on the glory of Jesus Christ in the church and in the family And there's nothing more life-giving than beholding the face of Jesus.

Jesus has many faces He's the man of sorrows. He's acquainted with grief. He's the happiest face, says Hebrews 1.9, that he's more glad than all of his companions. But here's what you can know for sure, that there is enough healing in the face of the man of sorrows, for all of your sorrows. It's It's refreshing.

And that's what he's talking about here. And So he's saying here that the miracle is pointing to God's total plan for all of creation. And that's why we read in verses 20 and 21. The miracle isn't the important thing. What is important is what it points to.

And that miracle is an illustration of what God is doing what he's going to do in the universe is What he has done with the lame man. That's the message and you see that very clearly in verse 20 look at it with me and That he may send Jesus Christ who has preached to you before 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. He's saying, he uses this language whom heaven must receive. He's talking about the resurrected Jesus Christ. He's talking about that Jesus Christ has ascended into heaven.

The cloud received him out of their sight and he is seated at the right hand of God and what is he doing he's ruling he's interceding for all those who believe and he has all authority in heaven and in earth and what is he doing He's reversing the effects of the fall, just like he did with this lame man. God made the world with no death and disease. And then in the fall, there is death and disease. And now God, through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is reversing the effects of the fall in all those who believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ God is reversing the disease he's reversing death He's destroying the works of the devil. He's removing spots and wrinkles.

He's renewing minds. Paul says that we are being delivered from the bondage of corruption and decay in Romans 8 21. He's making all things new and he says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. And what We find here in the doctrine of repentance is the most refreshing thing that can ever happen to you. It's the restoration of all things.

And the whole universe will walk and leap and praise God. That's the message. The power of the fall will completely be rolled back. The lame will walk, the blind will see, the bleeding will stop, the tears will be dried, there'll be no more sickness and no more sorrow and no more death and no more tears and there won't be anything wrong at all and that's why this passage concludes in verse 25 that all the families of the earth shall be blessed and that brothers and sisters is the doctrine of repentance go to the beautiful gate Go to the place where Jesus Christ brings you the true silver and the true gold of this world and it is found in repentance. And he calls us all to repent our whole life long.

Why? Why would he do that? In order to bring you into some sort of sad morbidity, does he do it in order to destroy you? No, he doesn't, so that times of refreshing might come in from the presence of the Lord. The heart of the effect of repentance is refreshment from the presence of the Lord.

And these men who are gonna come and preach, they're all going to end up in that place at some point because this is the declaration of that marvelous gift of salvation. And here's the question, do you have it? Do you want it? Are you practicing penance and you thought it was repentance? Come to Jesus Christ, Come to the beautiful gate.

And I pray that all of us, as we hear the preaching at this conference, that we'll be taken to the beautiful gate, where the times of refreshing are from the presence of the Lord. And I want you to invite you to join me in that. You know, when I come to our national conference, I really don't have anything to do. I sit and I hear the preaching. I need to hear the preaching, I really do.

And I'm not busy. If anybody wants to talk, please come up. Don't say, oh, Scott's so busy at this conference. That's just not true. The team at the NCFIC knows that's not true.

I'm here to hear the Word of God and I'm here to speak and pray with anyone who would like to enter into those times of refreshing. Would you pray with me? Lord we pray that you would come and fulfill your will, that what you're doing in the whole universe would be known and felt by every person in this place. We pray, oh Lord, that you would come and help us with remaining sin. We pray that you would come and penetrate the heart of any person who's deceived into thinking that they have repented when they've only just felt bad and their hearts have not been transformed and refreshed from the presence of the Lord.

Oh Lord, send your presence into this place as we're together in Jesus name Amen