People Must Know

Acts 3:17-21 “Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you – even Jesus. 21 He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.
 
PETER continued his message to the crowd of Jews. He had spoken of their sin and of Jesus as eternal Messiah. He continued to emphasize God’s eternal plan of salvation through Jesus as he began to speak with grace and understanding.
   He calls them brothers. Peter is one of them. He understands the reason for their sin is the same reason he had sinned against Jesus. Peter had not  fully known Jesus when he argued with him and denied him. His ignorance caused his prideful sin. The same was true of the Jews. They were deceived because they lacked knowledge of Jesus, the Messiah.  
   Peter is the repentant sinner who understands what knowing Jesus will do for the soul. Peter is a compassionate teacher who wants the Jews to know Jesus. They must know Jesus is the one through whom God fulfilled what he had foretold. Jesus is the suffering Messiah. He is the One the prophets taught.
   Ignorance of God is the reason for many sins. Our natural way of learning is to listen to the culture to define right and wrong. If we have not heard from God and of God, we will ignore the truth. What we don’t know will hurt us.
   Ignorance will keep us from a true fellowship with God. We know that children ignorant of the rules will break them. They are disobedient. This is sin. The remedy is to teach them to know, to be sorry for their disobedience and to obey.
   The remedy for God’s children is to learn of Jesus and repent, then, and turn to God. The remarkable result of repentance is that your sins may be wiped out.
   This is a complete cleansing of your soul. Your repentance opens the way for God to forgive you. The result of God’s forgiveness is that Jesus will be your Savior because he has been appointed to restore everything.
   Even though the Jews had killed and disowned the Holy and Righteous One (v 14) God would wipe out their sin if they confessed Jesus is the Messiah, who is crucified, risen, ascended and waiting in heaven to return.
   The Holy Spirit had given Peter and John the power to heal a crippled man in the temple court. God used this healing, so the apostles could extend to the Jews God’s truth to heal the ignorant soul. Peter has gone from convicting the Jews of their deepest sin to pointing them to God’s promise to save  them to confidently await Jesus’ return.