In his sermon, Trent Moody delves into Acts chapter 3, focusing on Peter's message about repentance and the significance of understanding the meaning behind the miracles. Moody emphasizes that the Gospel message was foretold by the prophets and fulfilled through Jesus Christ. He highlights the ignorance of the Jewish people and their leaders in recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, attributing their failure to spiritual blindness. Moody stresses the need for true repentance, which is inherently linked to faith, and warns against false repentance. He underscores the importance of turning away from sin and receiving the blessing of God. Additionally, he discusses the forthcoming reality of the Gospel, which will be fully realized during the restoration of all things. The sermon calls for self-examination and a heartfelt response to the Gospel message.

Alright, please turn in your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 3 and we will begin in verse 17 even though we have already touched on these verses we will do so again and we will read down through the end of chapter three. And as a theme, if you will, we've been talking a lot about the miracle and the message and what I wanna do today is help us to understand the meaning in the message. So thus says the word of the Lord verse 17, Yet now brethren I know that you did it in ignorance as did also your rulers but those things which God foretold by the mouth of all of his prophets that Christ would suffer, he has thus fulfilled. 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 of his holy prophets since the world began. 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. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people yes and all the prophets from Samuel and those who followed as many as have spoken have also foretold these days, you were 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. To you first, God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to bless you and turning away every one of you from your iniquities. Let us pray. Our Holy Father, we are so thankful that you have brought us to this moment, this moment of truth, that the truth of your Word would settle down upon our hearts, Lord, that it would correct us and instruct us.

And Lord, may these words that Moses spoke so many thousands of years ago, may we deal with those today, each of us, Lord, as we consider that those who would hear all the words of that prophet, our Lord Jesus Christ, and also, Father, all of those who will not hear that prophet. May we consider the end of that person. And Lord, I just pray that you would give us ears to hear. Lord, a heart that would truly desire obedience in the inner man. Lord, we ask you to please forgive us of our sinfulness and even as this crowd forgive us of our ignorance.

Lord, you have laid the truth right before us and Father, we need your help today. We're insufficient in ourselves but Lord you have given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness and so Lord now we pray that you would pour it out to the power of your Holy Spirit and we ask it in Jesus holy name. Amen. You may be seated. So as we consider today and ending through the chapter 3 of the book of Acts and the meaning of the message, the first message in this series was about a miracle and a message.

The second message in chapter 3 was a message of the miracle and not to get tongue-tied but the meaning in the message now that we really want to grab what it is that the Apostle Peter but really God through the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Peter wanted us to understand. One of the challenges in preaching verse by verse is that it's sometimes easy to get so down into the trees and you may even think down into the grass and maybe even further than that, is that sometimes we miss the bigger picture of what God is trying to tell us. So in the beginning here, what I wanna do is just back up just for a moment so that we can take a moment to get the bigger picture of chapter three. Now we can back up and look at the whole book of Acts but we won't do that today. But chapter three and then I want us to go back down and get into the trees and see what God has for us.

There's so much to learn, there's so much to enjoy, and there's so much to understand in these verses. So if you remember back in Acts chapter 2 verse 14 Peter begins his message there in chapter 2 with this statement he says, men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem let it be known to you and heed my words." Peter very boldly right after the coming of the Holy Spirit these men thought that these disciples were full of new wine that they were drunk that they were out of their mind but Peter is calling specifically these men of Israel and he is telling them these men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem he wanted them to know something let it be known to you and heed my words He had something very important to tell them. What we have here is a declarative statement of Peter addressing this crowd with the fact that he wanted to convey a message to them and that there was much need for them to hear it. That they would not only hear it but heed it. The difference there between those two words is really just this.

To heed something means that you have a heart that wants to obey what you hear and so that's really what Peter was desiring from this group and this crowd that had gathered around after the coming of the Holy Spirit. So we see something similar though in chapter 3 verses 12 and 13 Peter again after the miracle of the lame man the lame man is healed and something happens this crowd runs together to see what in the world is going on what is happening here it's right in the temple at Solomon's porch and Peter sees this and it says in verse 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 made this man walk? 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. Now in this statement Peter is is really grabbing their attention and jerking them back to the point at hand beyond just the physical miracle of the lame man being healed.

Remember, that lame man, that healing of the lame man was just like that dinner bell I had mentioned to you a few weeks ago that was calling their attention to something greater, something more miraculous than a lame man walking. And so he's garnering and gathering their attention. He wanted them to remember that Peter's message was something that the Jews needed to hear. God was in the process of revealing himself and his truth regarding Jesus Christ of Nazareth to them. We see this purpose in the last verse of chapter 3.

Look with me in verse 26 at the end of this chapter. Look at what he says. He's bringing them to this culmination here, this climax of a statement. He says, 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. That is what we all need.

We all need the blessing of God through the Lord Jesus Christ and we need to be turned from our iniquities. There's no greater miracle in all the earth than that. It's not a lame man rising, it's not even a dead man rising, but that God would take spiritually dead men and that he would raise them from the dead and turn them away from their iniquities. There's no doubt even here in this room this morning, there are those who have not been turned from their iniquities. There are some, and as we will see, who have false repentance or false belief.

They don't have true repentance and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. They've not been turned from their iniquities. In fact, they still love their sin secretly, But God has called you here this morning to turn you from it, so that you would receive the blessing of the Lord. There's no greater blessing than to be turned from your iniquity. He says to them, to you first, in verse 26.

Who? Well, specifically speaking to the Jews here, we know that the gospel was going to go to the Jew first and also very soon to the Greek but not yet. The Jew first was also something that they needed to hear. To you first, God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to bless you. Think about that.

That God had ordained Jesus Christ to go to be a blessing to his people, to the Jewish nation, to the children of Abraham, but they had denied and rejected and crucified and mocked God's blessing upon them. And you think, wow, how could a people do that? People do that right here in this room every Sunday. They reject the blessing of God. They reject Jesus Christ.

You see this is really the big picture. This is what God was declaring to the Jews and the message of the gospel is the message of God's servant as we see in Isaiah 52 and 53 is this, remember behold my servant he was wounded for our transgressions and by his stripes we are healed. The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. My righteous servant shall justify many for he shall bear their iniquities." This is the big picture and now we come back down if you would into the trees and there again be amazed at the detail of what we are going to see that will enhance this picture for us.

I want us to turn our attention to the message of God, and then to the prophet of God, and then in, as I've already touched on, the blessing of God. So the message of God, the prophet of God, and the blessing of God. So what was God communicating here to the Jews? Part of this we looked at last time in verses 11 through 16 and I want to read that again for some context and before we focus in on verses 17 and following. So look with me in verse 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. 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 made this man walk? 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 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 all witnesses 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. One of the most important things that I want us to look at, or first point that Peter is making here, is that his message was not something new.

I've touched on this before. Peter was not coming with some new message, some new religion, some new sect. He was hitting them right between the eyes with the truth of the matter that this, what he was preaching, was as old as time itself. It was from the very beginning. The message was foretold from the beginning.

That's what we see here. One of the most often repeated ideas in this passage of Jesus Christ's suffering, his death and resurrection, was that it was no new message but rather it was foretold from the very beginning. Look at what verse 21 with me in the latter part of verse 21 he says, which God has spoken by the mouth of all of his holy prophets since the world began. The gospel did not begin in Matthew, The gospel began in Genesis. God was actually the first one to preach this gospel.

And we will look at this. It's very important to consider first who this crowd was. They were Jews, and the Jews were not interested in some new religion. They had their religion. They were children of Abraham.

They would profess even to Jesus, Moses is our father. But rather, they were looking for the promised Messiah, they were looking for the prophet that Moses spoke of, and one of the most shocking truths is this, when he came, they didn't know him. They thought they knew God, but they did not know Him. There are some here today like that. They think they know God, but in truth they do not.

This should be a shocking statement upon our ears, but it is true. In Genesis 315, God speaking to the serpent said this, remember God speaking, he says, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. The truth of the gospel and of the suffering of the Messiah was seen in this verse in seed form, pun intended. It was about his seed was going to do that and it was somewhat of a seed form because the clarity of all that that meant was not understood at this time. I mean this is the very beginning you have one man and one woman and you've got a serpent.

And God is preaching the gospel interestingly first and foremost in seed form to the serpent. He's letting him know that what you've done is not going to destroy my plan because my plan was from before the foundation of the world. And just like what Peter says here that everything that he promised by the mouth of the prophets that Christ would suffer he has thus fulfilled. In fact when God speaks it is as if it is already done. There is nothing that the serpent can do to thwart the plan of God.

You may look around this world today and you think, what in the world is going on? It seems like it's in total chaos. This thing is in perfect order according to God's plan. It is the perfect way for God to be glorified. It is the perfect way for God to demonstrate his righteousness.

It is the perfect way for God to demonstrate His mercy upon you and upon me. God's plan is perfect and he preached it from the very beginning. This gospel of Jesus Christ was not hidden but Rather the story was being foretold and revealed by God himself from the very beginning of the world. God himself literally being the first to declare this gospel in seed form. But the problem was that man in his depravity was unable and truly unwilling to hear and to receive the truth of this gospel.

And so Peter here in this passage as I mentioned last time acknowledged that that they had denied the Christ in verse 17 in ignorance. Look at what he says, yet now brethren I know that you did it in ignorance as did also your rulers. And as I mentioned he somewhat softened his tone here. I know you did it in ignorance. You didn't have a clear understanding why.

Not because it wasn't proclaimed. Not because the gospel hadn't been preached from Genesis chapter 3. Not because every prophet preached the gospel. Not because Jesus Christ had not come and preached the gospel. They were in ignorance because of the hardness of their heart and the blindness of their eyes that they couldn't see what was sitting right in front of them and when Jesus Christ the Messiah stood before him they said he's got a demon They were ignorant because of their depravity, not because the message was hidden.

It was clear. It was clear to all and it was foretold from the very beginning even until now. This idea of foretelling here is really interesting. This word and this idea of this gospel being foretold it's mentioned in some form or fashion in verse 18 verse 20 verse 21 22 23 24 and 25 God's making a point it was foretold And then he says it was fulfilled. Not only was the message foretold, the message was fulfilled.

You see Peter in verse 19 after telling them that they were in ignorance to this, he doesn't leave them there and say you're okay because you're ignorant. Guess what? Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to the gospel. Ignorance will condemn you to hell. That is why we preach the gospel.

We preach because ignorance will be no excuse on the day of judgment. You must come face to face with the truth of the gospel. And it is our duty and it is our responsibility to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. And to every person, to every creature upon this earth, they need to hear the gospel because ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is no excuse.

We must go and we must tell. Their only hope in verse 19 is that they would repent and be converted. That they would have their sins blotted out. Because Remember Peter's laying upon them the whole weight that you denied him and you crucified the Messiah that you said you were looking for. Man, what do you do with that?

Imagine that being laid upon you. You would be hopeless but Peter he wants them to feel the weight of their sin, and it's good to feel the weight of your sin. The heavier your sin weighs upon you the more readily you will receive the cure. And the cure is this, that your sins may be blotted out. It will be blotted out from the very one whom they had rejected as their Messiah and put them to death.

Father forgive them for they know not what they do they were ignorant too and yet Jesus praying for them while they were crucifying him he prays in such mercy for his crucifiers what a God He was the only one who could help them. We see in verse 18 that this foretold message of God was endowed with the power of God to be fulfilled. As I mentioned just a moment ago, the message not only was foretold but the message was fulfilled. But those things, verse 18, but those things which God foretold by the mouth of all of his prophets that he excuse me that the Christ would suffer he has thus fulfilled basically what Peter's telling them is that all that you were told from the very beginning, all that foretelling of the glorious good news of the gospel and the suffering servant and of the righteous one the Messiah, you missed it. But God fulfilled it.

God accomplished every single word that he spoke through every single prophet. Not a word of it fell to the ground. He accomplished it all. They missed it. We see how this was brought about in chapter 4 verse 27.

How did they miss this thing? How is this possible? Look with me in chapter four verse 27 and 28. Here Peter is speaking and they're praying here I should say and the writer of Acts says this, for truly against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed, they're praying to the Father, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. Wow!

These were not independent actors if you will. God in His sovereignty to fulfill every word that He had spoken brought it about just as He had planned. Pilate was no match for God. Herod, not a chance. The Roman soldiers, weak and helpless before God.

And even the Jews did all according, he says, whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done, not my words, the Bible. God did this. How did they miss it? They missed it because they were ignorant of God. Their ignorance they were accountable for and we see that in the next verse, verse 19.

Peter, he doesn't hold back. So here we have the message was being, it was very forthright. Peter didn't hold back. He didn't say, well you know you're ignorant, it's okay, you'll be alright. No.

He says you were ignorant, therefore he says in verse 19, repent, 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. Ignorance is not to be left in ignorance. Ignorance is to be confronted. You're to be forthright with ignorance and say, repent and be converted. Your only hope is to repent and be converted.

You have no hope whatsoever in ignorance. There's no hope in ignorance, people. We must believe the gospel. We must repent of our sins. Now you may ask yourselves what about faith?

Where is faith in all of this? Where is faith in repenting and be converted? I want you to understand that Peter is not leaving out faith. In fact, when Peter says repent and be converted in the very heart and center of repentance is faith, because you cannot repent apart from faith. It is the work of God.

In the very heart of it. In fact, there can be no true repentance without faith. Remember what we talked about is that this word repent here in verse 19 it means to change one's mind and purpose. And then the word be converted means to turn. How do you change your mind and purpose about the truth of the gospel and turn from your sin towards God without faith?

You can't. The problem is there are many people who try to repent apart from faith, and that's called false conversion and false repentance, and what happens is dreadful. Ephesians 2, 8, 9 says, "'For by grace have you been saved through faith "'and that not of yourselves. "'It is the gift of God, not of works, "'lest anyone should boast.'" This is why in Acts chapter 2 verse 38, Peter can say this, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. There's no damage done to sola fide because no one can repent unless fate has been granted.

This is what Jesus said in John 6 verse 64 through 65. He says, But there are some of you who do not believe, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray him. And he said, Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my Father." So how is it exactly that a person apart from faith could repent and turn to God? They can't unless the Father draws them. That's what Jesus said.

There must be the working of faith in the heart that God works that would turn a person's mind to such an extent that they acknowledge that their life is a life of sin and they must turn away from sin and turn to God. And that's done through the working of the Holy Spirit, producing faith in the heart. That is why I believe that there is so much false repentance. There is much regret and there is much desire to be approved by men, but there is not much true repentance. False repentance is a result of a false faith.

A person who does not truly believe. They're simply trying to reform their behavior for the applause and the acceptance of those around them, but their hearts have not been turned from the love of sin. You need to ask yourself a question, have I truly repented or have I repented for the acceptance of men. Have you repented because you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and hate your sin? Listen carefully, a sin-loving repenter is a hell-bound loving repenter is a hellbound hypocrite.

How do you feel about your sin? You're okay with it? You're good as long as no one knows. It's okay in that room. As long as I'm by myself I can indulge in it and I'm fine.

How do you feel about your sin? Because if you still love your sin, you do not love God. Does that mean we will stop sinning altogether? No, it doesn't. It means that we are going to battle with sin every single day of our life until the Lord returns or He takes me home.

What I'm talking about is where are your affections? Where are your affections? Are they towards Christ and His forgiveness and the blessing of the Lord or are your affections towards your sin even though they may be secret? Don't be a false repenter. Not only was the message foretold and the message was fulfilled and the message was forthright but in reality the message is forthcoming.

Now what do I mean by this? Verse 20 and 21 look at what he says and that he may send Jesus Christ who was preached to you before whom heaven must receive until the time of restoration of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." The reality of the message is forthcoming. In other words, there is coming a day when the reality of the gospel will be beyond question. There's two parts of this. I wanna start with verse 20.

And that he may send Jesus Christ who was preached to you before. Now, it's very interesting when you talk to lost people, they may want to argue with you about your faith. How do you believe in a God that you cannot see? How do you know that your sins are forgiven? Well let me tell you, because Jesus Christ has been sent and he lives in me.

And you think, boy that's some strange theology that you're talking about. No, that's called the Bible. He lives in us through the working and through the presence of the Holy Spirit. The wonderful reality of true repentance founded in faith is that you have your sins blotted out so that the tines of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and this presence of the Lord is said to be God sending Jesus Christ to you. I believe that this is the promise of the Holy Spirit spoken about in chapter 1 of Acts and Also what Jesus himself said in John 14 23, he says, Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Sounds like Jesus Christ has come. The old song, you ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart through the presence of the Holy Spirit of God. It's not something that I can explain, it's not something, I can't explain it to some degree, but I can't show you, I can't prove with visible senses that Jesus Christ has come to me and lives in me through the working of the Holy Spirit, but he has. He has given me a heart to hate my sin.

That's not natural. He's given me a heart to want to stand up before all of these people and preach the gospel to them and you know what until you're willing to be thought a fool you'll never preach the gospel because what you're saying seems foolish to the natural man. Isn't that what the Bible says? To the Greeks it was foolishness, to the Jews it was a stumbling block and yet here I stand not in my own strength I stand here because Jesus Christ has come in reality. Until also in verse 21, this is where it will be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Look at what he says in verse 21, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things." What is this? This times of the restoration of all things. Scott will get here, I will not say when. In chapter 8 of Romans, For I consider...