- 6/15/2025
Please enjoy this message delivered by Pastor Mark Hudson.
🔗 http://medicallake.church
#mlcc #church #churchonline
🔗 http://medicallake.church
#mlcc #church #churchonline
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00:00Richard Pat was talking in his book, All Stirred Up, he was talking about a pastor who was having difficulty with people parking in his reserve parking place for the pastor.
00:09So just to let you know, I do not have a reserve parking place for the pastor, so don't worry, wherever you park, you're not going to park in mine.
00:15But he had one, and people kept parking in his reserve parking space.
00:20So he thought he'd come up with a sign, and he said, he put a sign up there that clearly said, this space reserved.
00:26It did not help. People kept parking in his parking spot.
00:31So he said, great, I'm going to make another sign. It says, reserved pastor only.
00:36It still didn't help. They're still parking in his parking spot. No one's paying attention to that.
00:41So he goes, oh, maybe I should be more forceful.
00:44So he made another sign that says, thou shalt not park here.
00:48Guess what? They still park there.
00:51He thought, I've got to figure out something.
00:53So he hit upon words that actually worked.
00:58And after he put up this sign, no one else ever parked in his parking place again.
01:03And the sign read like that, like this.
01:05The one who parks here preaches a sermon this Sunday morning.
01:12That got their attention.
01:14No one parked in that spot after that.
01:16I mean, I can imagine it's intimidating.
01:18Few would want to stand up and preach a sermon.
01:20It's intimidating.
01:22It's not intimidating.
01:23You're not intimidating to me.
01:24But to stand and speak for God is an intimidating thing.
01:27I get that.
01:27I understand that.
01:30Oh, wait till it gets paved out there?
01:32Okay.
01:33Yeah, well, there is no reserved parking place for Pastor Mark.
01:37So that's okay.
01:39Some people feel that way about evangelism too.
01:42That it's really super intimidating.
01:43And that they're afraid to share the gospel.
01:46They'll get it wrong.
01:47And they don't know what to say.
01:48And it can be really intimidating.
01:50And I understand that.
01:52Yet often, God will open up a door, a divine opportunity that Dennis talked about yesterday.
01:58Open up a door.
01:58You didn't plan it.
01:59You didn't think it was going to happen.
02:00But all of a sudden, it just was there.
02:02And you've had them before.
02:03You're just doing a normal conversation with somebody.
02:06And all of a sudden, this door opens up where you can talk about Jesus.
02:08And it's natural.
02:10It's organic.
02:10It's not forced.
02:12And you see these divine opportunities.
02:14They pop up all the time.
02:16So Peter and John, I'm sorry I had to divide this chapter up last week.
02:21It should go together.
02:23It's a sign and a sermon.
02:24They should go together.
02:25It was just too much.
02:25And it would have been too much to cover in one Sunday.
02:27So we'll kind of rehash last week a little bit what took place here.
02:30But we know that Peter and John, the morning that they got up, the morning of the man that gets healed at the beautiful gate,
02:37they didn't get up that morning thinking, hey, let's go heal someone today.
02:41Let's go to the beautiful gate.
02:42Hey, about that guy at the beautiful gate?
02:43He's lame.
02:43He's been there a long time.
02:45Let's go here.
02:45They didn't do that.
02:46But when the divine opportunity opened up, they then spoke about Jesus following it.
02:52God opened up this opportunity for them.
02:55In the midst of their daily routine, a divine encounter, divine opportunity opened up.
03:00You know, they were going to the temple for the third hour of prayer and the evening sacrifice.
03:04And this man was laid at the beautiful gate.
03:07This probably the one made out of Corinthian brass.
03:10It was so heavy it took 12 people to try to shut the gate.
03:12It's just an amazing gate.
03:14Heals this man on this day.
03:16They just planned to go to pray and to watch the evening sacrifice maybe or to talk about it.
03:23But here God gives them this divine encounter, this divine opportunity, a planned event that turned into a divine opportunity.
03:31God is moving in Jerusalem.
03:34We saw 3,000 people on the day of Pentecost get saved.
03:36God's moving in Jerusalem.
03:38He's opening up the eyes of his people and saving some of them.
03:41In fact, we're going to see that another 2,000 get saved here shortly.
03:44So here in the rest of chapter 3 of Acts, the rest of chapter 3 we see this.
03:51A lame man from birth is healed in the name of Jesus.
03:54We saw that at the first part of that.
03:56Giving Peter an opportunity to proclaim the gospel message to the nation.
04:01He's not just going to speak to individuals, which is important.
04:04He's speaking to the nation as a whole.
04:07What the nation has done with their Messiah.
04:09So opportunities.
04:12Can you think of one that you had here recently?
04:14I mean, we don't need to share anything.
04:15But think about that.
04:16You were just in a conversation.
04:18I mean, it wasn't even about Jesus or God or the church or anything like that.
04:21But all of a sudden, it opened up and you were able then to share something that you knew from the word
04:26or something that you read in the scripture or something that you have studied and learned or heard in a sermon.
04:32But the divine opportunity opened up.
04:34And you've had them.
04:35I've had them.
04:36In fact, I had one last week, just like Dennis.
04:38They come often if we see them and we're looking for them.
04:42We're ready to preach the word in season and out of season.
04:45Jews love to have signs.
04:47And they were given a sign at the beginning of chapter 3.
04:50The sign of the man that was healed at the beautiful gate.
04:53A wonderful sign.
04:54Jesus did signs and wonders.
04:56The nation of Israel always goes after signs.
05:00Paul told the Corinthians this.
05:02For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom.
05:05So God is giving them one more sign now.
05:09This man that got healed over 40 years.
05:11He's lame from his mother's womb.
05:13And he's now healed at the beautiful gate.
05:16God gives him another sign.
05:17Remember this man physically.
05:19This man physically was lame from birth.
05:22This man physically was financially poor.
05:24He was begging for all.
05:25He didn't have any money.
05:26He was begging for money.
05:27This man was outside the temple.
05:29Because he was lame, he couldn't go into the temple area proper.
05:33And in the Jewish mind, the temple area proper equals the presence of God.
05:37In the Jewish mind.
05:38So he's outside the temple.
05:40He's hearing all the singing and the praising and everything that's going on inside.
05:43But he's outside of that.
05:44He cannot go in because he's lame.
05:47And he's also then wholly healed in the name of Jesus.
05:50It's Jesus alone that healed this man.
05:52Wholly healed in the name of Jesus.
05:53And we talked about last week how this likens us as human beings.
05:58We see very similar things in us.
06:00For example, we were born spiritually dead in our trespasses and sin.
06:05Spiritually lame.
06:06Our forefather Adam sinned in the garden.
06:08Rebelled against God's commandment in the garden.
06:10And he took and he wasn't supposed to take.
06:13And then God cursed the ground.
06:15God put him out of the garden.
06:16And there was punishment associated with that.
06:18And one punishment was death entered into the human race.
06:22Sin and death accompanying it.
06:26And we are born spiritually lame people.
06:31Spiritually separated from God.
06:33We are spiritually poor.
06:35We are bankrupt.
06:36We are dead in our trespasses.
06:38We are outside of the presence of God.
06:40We were ones looking on.
06:42Here's God.
06:43Here's his presence.
06:43We're outside of the presence of God.
06:46And also we see that you and I, if we have believed in Jesus Christ for our Savior, for salvation,
06:51that we are wholly saved.
06:53We are wholly healed in the name of Jesus.
06:56So there's some similarities between the man and humans as a whole that we saw last week.
07:01So when the man was healed, he didn't just go, hey, I think maybe I can move.
07:07He leaps up and he starts praising God and walking and leaping.
07:13He was probably even dancing.
07:16He was dancing in the temple.
07:19You could see, he was so, he had to walk for 40 years.
07:23He stands, he leaps up, he's praising God.
07:26And he's, he's just, he's so excited.
07:29And that word leaping we talked about was used in the Old Testament, talking about the
07:33messianic age when the Messiah comes, that the lame will leap.
07:37Back to Isaiah 35.
07:39Then shall the lame man leap like a deer when the Messiah comes.
07:43And the tongue of the mute sing for joy for waters break forth in the wilderness and streams
07:48in the desert.
07:50So he's leaping and praising and all the people are going, what's going on?
07:53I mean, it wasn't too much long ago that they heard this, the sound of this wind and all
07:58of the people come into the temple area and they're proclaiming and, and 15 different geographical
08:03regions or languages.
08:05Now what's happening now?
08:07What is this sign that we're seeing?
08:10People want to know what's going on there and they're filled with wonder and amazement.
08:14They, they wreck, they know it's not a trick.
08:17This guy they've seen forever at the beautiful gate.
08:20They know it's not a trick.
08:21He really was lame.
08:22So if you have your Bibles, we're going to complete the sign.
08:26Now we have, we saw, we're going to go to the sermon part of this.
08:29It's Acts chapter three, verse 11.
08:31So your biblical device or your Bible, whichever the case may be, we're going to start first
08:35number 11 and we're going to read down to the rest of the chapter.
08:38So this is God's word.
08:39We want to look at it together.
08:40So we saw the sign, the healing of the man lame from birth.
08:44And now they go into the temple area, the people collect together and they're wondering
08:47what's going on.
08:49What is all this excitement that we're hearing right now?
08:51And in verse number 11, while he clung to Peter and John, I get to see him.
08:57Don't get out of my sight.
08:59Don't, don't leave me.
09:00I can think he clung to them.
09:02It says, while he clung to Peter and John, all the people utterly astounded ran together
09:08to them in the portico called Solomon's.
09:10This is an area.
09:11You're going to see a picture here in just a second, what it looks like.
09:13So they go to that area.
09:15And when Peter saw it, he addressed the people.
09:17So he's talking to the whole nation individually.
09:20Yes, but to the nation, to the people, men of Israel.
09:24Why do you wonder at this?
09:25Or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety, we have made him walk?
09:31It's not us.
09:31We didn't do this.
09:33We were redeemed.
09:34Yes, but we're just humans also.
09:36It wasn't us.
09:37Jesus did this.
09:40Our own power, piety, we have made him walk.
09:42The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob calling them back to the one,
09:46the founder of their nation, Abraham, whom God had called from the earth of the Chaldees
09:51to come into a land that he had promised him.
09:53And then the promise went through Isaac and Jacob.
09:55The God of our fathers glorified his servant, Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied
10:01in the presence of Pilate.
10:03Remember, Pilate wanted to let him go three times.
10:06I find no fault with this man.
10:07And they kept saying, no, crucify him, crucify him, whom you delivered over and denied in
10:13the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him.
10:16But you denied the holy and righteous one.
10:19Wait, this Jesus, this guy hung on a tree, we call him cursed.
10:23No, no, he is the holy and righteous one.
10:25And asked for a murderer, Barabbas, to be granted to you.
10:30And you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead.
10:35To this we are witnesses.
10:37We saw, we walked with him, we saw him after his resurrection.
10:39And his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know.
10:47They knew who he was.
10:48And the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence
10:53of you all.
10:54Well, they're amazed.
10:56We know this guy.
10:58He's been lame for a long time.
11:00And now he's leaping and walking about and praising God.
11:04He's in the temple now as well.
11:06So they ran to this area, they ran, they went to this area called Solomon's porch or Solomon's
11:13porticle.
11:14Here's a picture of it up here is what it looks like.
11:16It is a large area, colonnade area.
11:19It's the same area Jesus, when he talked about him being the good shepherd, he was teaching
11:22in this area right here.
11:24The temple proper is to the right.
11:26This area right here, people could then gather around.
11:29You could teach.
11:30You could communicate.
11:31You could share news.
11:32It was just an open area where you could talk.
11:34So you can see how large it is.
11:36There's a lot of people that could collect in this area.
11:38And they're all saying, what's going on here?
11:40So they collect in this place called Solomon's porticle.
11:44Covered walkway.
11:44You can see it right here.
11:45So when they came together, they're wondering, Peter explained to them what had happened.
11:52He says, listen, it's not us.
11:54It's Jesus who healed this guy.
11:57So he takes this opportunity, this divine opportunity and begins sharing Jesus.
12:01It's not about him.
12:02It's not about John.
12:03It's all about Jesus.
12:04So he uses a divine opportunity to begin to share and talk about Jesus.
12:08So as we're going about our daily activities, look for those divine opportunities to come.
12:16They will come.
12:18Sometimes the door just opens just a tad bit.
12:20It's not forced.
12:22It's organic.
12:23We just share what we know about Jesus.
12:25None of us are perfect.
12:26We don't know all things about Jesus.
12:28But what we know, we share.
12:31So Peter addresses this question.
12:33How did the name of Jesus have so much power?
12:36Because he's the Messiah you rejected.
12:39As a matter of fact, you killed him.
12:42And by virtue of his glorification and resurrection, we see that this man is healed in the name of Jesus.
12:48John Paul here, we talked about last week, to invoke the name of Jesus is to call upon his authority and power.
12:54In a real sense, then Jesus through Peter continued his healing ministry in the name of Jesus.
13:01At the name of Jesus, we know that demons cringe and cower at the name of Jesus.
13:07In the name of Jesus, God heals people.
13:10Yes, he does.
13:10He heals people in the name of Jesus.
13:12We know that.
13:13And only through the name of Jesus can people be saved.
13:16Through him alone, we find salvation.
13:20As the glorified risen one, Jesus has the power to grant healing in his name.
13:26He's the one who God heals.
13:27He's the one who has the power to heal and he grants healing in his name to Peter and John and they heal the man.
13:35The Jews, his own people that he's talking to, have rejected their Messiah.
13:40Messiah came and what they called out was the people said, crucify him, crucify him.
13:45We have no king but Caesar.
13:47I can't believe they would say that.
13:48Crucify this one.
13:50John tells us in John 1, he came to his own and his own people did not receive him.
13:56The ones, the Jews, the one through whom the Messiah came, his own people said, we don't want anything to do with you.
14:02There was a remnant.
14:03There was a remnant that got saved, but the nation as a whole has rejected him.
14:08The holy and righteous one, the author of life.
14:11These titles for Jesus are glorious titles.
14:15Isaiah in the Old Testament uses the title holy one for Yahweh.
14:20So Peter's saying that the Messiah is deity.
14:23He's just not some guy.
14:24He is deity.
14:25He is God in human flesh.
14:27In Isaiah 1, we see where Isaiah uses this.
14:30Ah, sinful nation of people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly.
14:36They have forsaken the Lord.
14:37They have despised the holy one of Israel.
14:40And when they said, when he said that, they knew exactly what he was talking about.
14:45They recognized, wait a second, you're making an association with the Messiah being deity.
14:48And Peter's shaking.
14:49He said, yeah, I am.
14:51It's exactly what I'm doing.
14:53And he is the author of life.
14:55The author has the understanding of leader, prince, or source.
15:01He is in himself life.
15:03Do you realize that?
15:04Jesus Christ is life in himself.
15:07John 1, in him was life.
15:11He is life.
15:12And the life was the light of men.
15:15And the writer of Hebrews, using the word founder as author, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
15:22The source, the leader of our faith, the perfecter of our faith, brings our faith to completion as we walk with him daily.
15:30Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
15:36Listen to the irony.
15:38They killed the author of life, but he who is life cannot be held in death.
15:45And the father raised him to life.
15:47They killed the author of life, and the father raised him to life.
15:51These murderers were exhorted to flee to Jesus and find salvation and refuge in him.
15:58The Jews were culpable for the death of Christ, and the Gentiles were culpable for the death of Christ.
16:04We Gentiles crucified him.
16:06The Jews could not crucify.
16:07Only the Gentiles.
16:08Only the Romans could crucify.
16:10The Jews delivered him over, and the Gentiles crucified him.
16:13We are all culpable in the death of Christ, both Jews and Gentiles.
16:17We don't blame just the Jewish people.
16:19We are also guilty of the death of Christ.
16:22So Peter calls the people and the nation now to a repentance.
16:27He's taking this opportunity to talk to them about Jesus, just like God gives us opportunities daily to talk to people about Jesus.
16:35So here, look at verses 17 down to the end of the chapter.
16:38He's going to talk.
16:38He's going to call back to their remembrance the prophets and what they spoke about.
16:43And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
16:49So they didn't really grasp what was going on.
16:52But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.
16:59So not just one prophet, he says all the prophets had some reference to the idea of the Messiah as a suffering Messiah.
17:07All the prophets.
17:09Christ would say, thus he thus fulfilled.
17:12So what's the response?
17:14Repent, therefore, and turn back that your sins may be blotted out.
17:18Now, the nation of Israel can turn back.
17:21We, as a people of Gentiles, we don't turn back to God.
17:24We go to him to begin with.
17:25They were with and they walked away from him.
17:27They turned back to him as a call.
17:29Turn back, my people.
17:30Turn back.
17:32He thus fulfilled.
17:33Repent, therefore, and turn back that your sins may be blotted out.
17:36That times of refreshing, interesting concept.
17:39The Jewish mind absolutely knew right what he was talking about.
17:43May come from the presence of the Lord.
17:45And that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,
17:48whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
17:56So about this Messiah, he's going to send him back sometime.
18:00He's going to send him back.
18:02Moses said, the Lord God, the Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me.
18:08Not exactly him, but like me from your brothers.
18:11You shall listen to him and whatever he tells you.
18:14And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.
18:20There's a danger for not obeying this prophet.
18:24And all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and those who came after him also proclaim these days.
18:31You are the sons of the prophets.
18:32Don't remember God made a covenant that he made with your father saying to Abraham,
18:36and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
18:40God, having raised up his servants, sent him to you first, to the Jews first,
18:44to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.
18:50Repent and return.
18:52Repent and return.
18:52That's the message of the minor prophets.
18:54Always repent and return and God will restore.
18:57Repent, return, restore.
18:59We see that.
18:59The people had acted in ignorance, but God had a plan.
19:04Even though they were ignorant, God still had a plan proclaimed by the prophets.
19:09In 1 Corinthians, Paul said this,
19:11But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom from God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.
19:17None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would have not crucified the Lord of glory.
19:24They did it in ignorance.
19:24They didn't know.
19:25They didn't know.
19:26They didn't see.
19:27Their eyes were blinded.
19:28They were hard.
19:29They couldn't perceive what was going on.
19:32These sins of ignorance, opposite of sins of intentionality.
19:37These are sins of ignorance.
19:38They just didn't know.
19:39They didn't see.
19:40These can be forgiven.
19:42Sins of ignorance can be forgiven.
19:45Remember Jesus on the cross, what he said?
19:47He said,
19:49Because God had promised long ago that he was going to,
19:58send the Messiah, the one who was going to bear our sins in his body and suffer, that he would suffer on our behalf.
20:06Isaiah 53, that wonderful, that wonderful chapter, but he was pierced.
20:11This is the Messiah, Jesus.
20:13He was pierced for our transgressions.
20:15He was crushed for our iniquities.
20:18Upon him was a chastisement that brought us peace.
20:22And with his wounds, we are healed.
20:26All we like sheep have gone astray.
20:28We have turned everyone to his own way.
20:30And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
20:34Exactly like he promised.
20:36He told Eve and Adam after they had been expelled from the garden that one would come and crush the head of Satan and restore what was broken in Eden.
20:47This is the one God promised.
20:50So he calls them to repentance, Peter does.
20:52Listen, you got to start thinking differently about this Jesus.
20:55Right now you think about him as one who's cursed by God because he hung on a tree.
20:59You got to start thinking about him differently is what Peter's saying.
21:02Repent.
21:03Warren Risby wrote, true repentance is admitting that what God says is true because it is true.
21:10To change our mind about our sins and about the Savior.
21:14So begin to start thinking differently about Jesus.
21:16You thought he was a cursed of God.
21:18No, no, no.
21:18He is the Messiah.
21:19Repent.
21:20Think differently now.
21:22And then the second thing Peter calls them back to turn back to God.
21:26See, as a nation, they had left him.
21:28As a nation, they had left God.
21:30Turn back to God.
21:31They left him by denying his son.
21:33They said, we don't want this one to reign over us.
21:36We don't want him.
21:38John said this in John 5.
21:40For the father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the son, that all may honor
21:46the son just as they honor the father.
21:49Whoever does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him.
21:53The Jews were going, well, Abraham is our father.
21:55We're, we're, you're our father, God.
21:57No, wait.
21:58But if you're not honoring the son whom the father sent, you can't honor the father as
22:02well.
22:02They go together.
22:04It's time for you to begin thinking different about Jesus.
22:08Only by believing in the Messiah of God, by repentance and turning to him, do we find
22:12forgiveness, refreshing and restoration.
22:15It was true of them and it's true of us for today.
22:19We repent and believe the gospel.
22:21And I hope that you have today or are you watching at home have repented, thought differently
22:25about Jesus.
22:26One time he thought he was this, oh, this, this charlatan that just lied all the time.
22:30But now you see him differently.
22:31You've repented and believe the gospel message.
22:34Believe that he is who he said he was.
22:35He fulfilled exactly what the father said he would fulfill.
22:38And when that happens for the nation of Israel, there will be a times of refreshing.
22:44This refreshing is an interesting word used one time in the Bible right here, refreshing.
22:50But it points back to something very important.
22:52That's why the Jews knew immediately what he was talking about.
22:56It points to the idea of restoration of all creation when God's kingdom comes.
23:02Times of refreshing.
23:04Right now, the earth is cursed right now.
23:07God will restore and remove that curse when the Messiah comes back.
23:11Right now, the earth is groaning and suffering along with us groaning and suffering.
23:15He'll remove that when he comes back.
23:17There will be times of refreshing.
23:19Everything will no longer be stale and dirty.
23:21It'll be clean and fresh, refreshing when the kingdom comes to this earth.
23:27Here's a very small tidbit of what it's going to look like when the kingdom comes to this earth.
23:32Isaiah, the prophet talks about it.
23:33The wolf shall dwell with the lamb.
23:38I suggest today you don't put a wolf and a lamb together, all right?
23:41Just a suggestion.
23:42Don't try it.
23:43It's probably not going to work out well.
23:45And the leopard shall lay down with the young goat.
23:48The leopards love to eat goats today.
23:51Not in that time.
23:52Or the lion and the lamb.
23:58And the calf and the lion and the fat and the calf together.
24:01And a little child shall lead them.
24:03A child leading a lamb?
24:06You know, Teresa and I walk with our dogs around in the morning.
24:09We take a little walk in the morning.
24:10And there's always birds around flying and everything.
24:12And they're pretty.
24:13Some of them are just black.
24:14And some are pretty with wings.
24:16Anyway, we get close to them.
24:18What do they do?
24:18They fly away.
24:20Why?
24:20Because they're afraid of us.
24:22In this day, the animals no longer will be afraid of us.
24:26I've always wanted to pet a tiger.
24:29I've always wanted to pet a lion.
24:31They won't be afraid of us in this day.
24:33It will be times of refreshing when the kingdom comes to this earth.
24:38And it says,
24:38The cow and the bear shall graze.
24:40Their young shall lay down together.
24:43And the lion shall eat straw like an ox.
24:46No more carnivores in that day.
24:50Their nursing child shall play over the hole of a cobra.
24:53Again, not recommended today.
24:55Not recommended.
24:58And the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
25:01They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain.
25:04For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
25:09And in other places, he said,
25:10They'll take their swords and make them into pruning hooks.
25:14They will learn war no longer.
25:18Amen.
25:20We are war-like people, human beings are.
25:23No longer will we do that.
25:26It'll be times of refreshing, clean, fresh again when the kingdom comes.
25:32So he's calling both individual Jews and the nation to a repentance.
25:37Because if the nation repents, then the times are refreshing.
25:40It seems in the text that he would send the Messiah back if there was a national repentance.
25:46National repentance must precede national restoration and blessing.
25:51So the nation must first repent.
25:53And the nation right now is not in the land in belief.
25:56They are there largely in unbelief.
25:59The nation has not repented.
26:00It will someday, and he will restore all things.
26:04But it has not repented.
26:06And they don't always do the right thing.
26:07Israel doesn't.
26:08You know, we have to keep in our mind two important truths.
26:10And they're both true.
26:11Number one, God has chosen ethnic Israel.
26:14Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
26:15And promised that through them the Messiah will come.
26:18And made promises to them that he has yet to fulfill.
26:21We have to keep that in mind.
26:22He has chosen them.
26:23And at the same time, we have to keep in mind the nation of Israel doesn't always do the right thing.
26:28Look at the Old Testament.
26:30We have to keep these truths in our mind.
26:34But one day, the nation itself will turn back to him.
26:37They will see him whom they have pierced.
26:40And everything will change on that day.
26:42Some have asked, well, if they would have nationally repented right now,
26:46I mean, if the whole nation would have turned back, the religious leaders and all of the people,
26:49would God have sent the Messiah back right then?
26:52I don't know.
26:53I mean, they didn't.
26:54So it's hard to tell whether he would have.
26:55It seems to imply that he would send the Messiah back when the nation is restored.
27:00Right now, the nation needs to be restored.
27:02In Zechariah 12, we read this.
27:05And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy.
27:13Right now, he has covered their eyes.
27:15Remember, there's a veil over their eyes right now we saw in 2 Corinthians.
27:18He has hardened some of them, Romans, pleas for mercy so that when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced,
27:27they'll see the Messiah when he comes back.
27:29They'll recognize him.
27:30They shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn.
27:37When the nation turns back, there will be a restoration and the times of refreshing will come.
27:42Now, the restoration concerning national Israel, one day Israel will be restored as promised by the prophets.
27:50Even Paul, the prophet, said this in Romans 11.
27:54Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers.
27:59A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
28:04So there is a remnant that believe in Israel.
28:07Olivier is an example.
28:08There is a remnant who believes, but the majority have been hardened at this point.
28:12They can't see the veil is over their eyes until the fullness of the Gentiles come in.
28:17That's you and I, Gentiles.
28:19When the last Gentile comes to the saving knowledge of the Messiah, it seems like that's it.
28:24He'll send back his son.
28:28Fullness of the Gentiles has come in and in this way, all Israel will be saved.
28:33Why?
28:33Because they all look to him in repentance, a national repentance, and believe on him whom they have pierced and mourn over him.
28:40It's like, how could we have missed him?
28:44As it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion.
28:47He will banish ungodliness from Jacob, and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.
28:53Yes, when Israel as a nation repents and turns back, there will be a times of refreshing.
28:58And one day, as a nation, they will embrace Jesus the Messiah, and they will be restored.
29:06John said in the Revelation this,
29:08And made us a kingdom, priest to his God and Father.
29:11To him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
29:13Amen.
29:14Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him.
29:21And all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.
29:24Even so, amen.
29:25And when the Messiah comes back, there's times of refreshing.
29:28Pray, pray for the second coming to restore.
29:32First, of course, is the rapture of the church prior to that, and then the second coming of Jesus.
29:36Pray for the second coming of Jesus that everything can be restored that was broken.
29:44Warning here to us, though.
29:46There's a warning here.
29:47If people fail to obey this prophet, this Jesus, it results in condemnation.
29:53You will be destroyed.
29:54It results in condemnation.
29:56If you fail to believe, if you reject this Messiah, if you will not believe in him,
30:00only thing that comes to you is now the condemnation of God.
30:03You are under God's wrath.
30:06In John 3, in that famous chapter, John 3, 16, this is a little bit further on down.
30:11Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
30:14In other words, if you believe on Jesus the Messiah, you have eternal life.
30:17If you believe that he alone can save you, and it's only by his grace you are saved,
30:21you have eternal life.
30:22Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
30:32So if you do not know Jesus today as your Savior, God's wrath is on you.
30:37By repentance and believing the gospel message, his wrath is lifted.
30:41He's no longer on you anymore.
30:43You're enveloped completely in his love.
30:46All the prophets spoke about this day, we are told.
30:50Even Jesus himself said, the prophets spoke about me on the road to Emmaus.
30:54Remember, he's talking to the two on the road to Emmaus and said, all the prophets were talking
30:58about me.
30:59Luke 24.
31:00Then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,
31:04that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must
31:09be fulfilled.
31:10That's the Jewish way of saying the whole Old Testament, the whole Old Testament.
31:15Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, thus it is written
31:19that the Christ should suffer.
31:21That's what all the prophets said.
31:22And on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins
31:27should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.
31:32Jesus said, they all talked about me.
31:34It's Jesus we point people to.
31:36When that divine encounter happens, it's not about us.
31:40It's not even about how great this church is.
31:43It's about Jesus.
31:45That's what we talk about when the divine encounter happens.
31:48It's about him.
31:50And then we're told here about this covenant that God made with Abraham, this covenant,
31:54this promise that through his offspring, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
31:58God's covenant with Abraham was fully realized in Jesus Christ.
32:01It was given to Abraham, re-given to Isaac, and re-given to Jacob, and through the descendants
32:08down then through David, all the way down to Joseph and Mary and the birth of the Messiah.
32:13He promised.
32:15It's realized.
32:15It came to pass.
32:17And it wasn't just in his offspring, as in plural, but offspring as in singular, this blessing came.
32:24Paul told the Galatians this.
32:26Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.
32:29It does not say, and to offsprings, as in plural, referring to many, but referring to
32:35one and to your offspring, who is Christ.
32:39Jesus is a fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham that all the nations of the earth
32:43will be blessed through him.
32:46So he came to the Jews first.
32:49Paul's practice when he went out to preach, he would go to the synagogue or the place where
32:53people, Jews gather together, preach to the Jew first and to the Gentile.
32:56And I'm so glad that us Gentiles have heard this message.
32:59If you're of Jewish descent, that's great.
33:02I'm a Gentile.
33:03Most of us here are probably Gentiles.
33:04I'm so glad that we got to hear the message too, that we could repent and believe on the
33:08gospel message.
33:11So God heals this man at the beginning of the chapter, heals this layman who apparently
33:15had no faith.
33:16He's only looking for money.
33:18He has no faith.
33:19It's the faith of Peter and John that actually heals this man.
33:21It's not, it's not, it's not, it's not Peter or John is, it's Jesus through them that's
33:26doing this.
33:27And Peter used the opportunity to proclaim, proclaim Jesus to the, he took this divine
33:31opportunity and preach Jesus.
33:34It's just a reminder to us when that divine encounter comes, when that divine opportunity
33:38comes, don't shy away from talking about Jesus.
33:42I don't know everything about Jesus.
33:44You're not going to know everything about Jesus, but what you do know, let others know about
33:48it, that God would open up their eyes, that they would have repentance and believe the
33:53gospel message.
33:55Something also that takes place from this point on, I mentioned last week, from this
33:59point on in Acts, this sets in motion the persecution of believers in the book of Acts.
34:07It's not many chapters later that Stephen is murdered in chapter seven.
34:11Think about this, the goodness of God, blessing his people, opened up the door of suffering
34:21for us as well.
34:25Interesting.
34:26God does a good thing, yet it opens up the door of suffering for us.
34:30Why?
34:30Because he needed to move the disciples out of Jerusalem and get them to all the ends of
34:36the earth.
34:37And they were just hanging around Jerusalem.
34:40So he gets them to move by this persecution that comes.
34:43It's still God's divine plan to get the message to us.
34:46And I'm so glad that we got to hear this message as well.
34:50So when that divine opportunity comes, share Jesus, for he alone is the answer to every issue
34:58in life.
34:58Let's pray.
34:59Father, thank you.
35:00Thank you that we can see now the opportunity that Peter took, filled with the Holy Spirit.
35:06He began speaking truth, your truth, that which the prophets have spoken, which the Jews
35:12understood.
35:13They knew that they've heard their prophets for ages speaking about these things.
35:17They just never realized it was Jesus they were talking about.
35:20So thank you, Father, that you, that, that Peter took the courage and the opportunity to
35:25proclaim Jesus when you open the door for him.
35:28And I pray for us as well, Father, that you would give us divine opportunities, that you would
35:33open doors for us, that it just naturally comes to us.
35:36It's not forced.
35:37It's not coerced.
35:38It just flows from us because we love Jesus.
35:41We want to tell other people about him as well.
35:43So please, Father, give us these divine opportunities as well.
35:46We pray in Jesus name.
35:48Amen.
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