Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: What does repent mean? Well, to do a 180, to go the opposite direction. It’s actually used in military context of an about-face. It also has to do not just with your physical direction, but changing of your mind. You once thought one way, and now you think another way.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador affirming the results of the act of repentance. Let me give you the Greek dictionary definition: to change one’s life based on complete change of attitude and thought concerning sin and righteousness.

In Acts chapter three, a lame beggar was suddenly healed, drawing amazement from the crowd at the temple. But the miracle made for a golden opportunity for Peter to point people to the risen Savior. In today’s word, Pastor Brett Meador highlights how Peter boldly preached, even to the religious leaders, of the need for repentance to the one who has power to restore broken lives.

Brett Meador: Well, verses 10 and 11, it says, "And they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering."

Verse 12: "And when Peter saw it, the wondering of the people, 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? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom you delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.'"

Now, did you see the titles Peter used for Jesus? He called Jesus the Prince of Life. He’s also called God’s Son. He’s also called, notice in verse 14, the Holy One, and he’s also called the Just. God’s Son, the Holy One, the Just. Jesus was no ordinary man that was handed over to the Romans to be crucified, and Peter’s wanting to make sure they understand that here.

And who is Peter talking to here? Well, we’re going to find out. It’s the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Sanhedrin. He’s calling them out on this. He explains, "This is the one you crucified, the Prince of Life, the originator of life. The Just, which means he was sinless. The Holy One, which is only given to God, which Jesus is God, and he’s God’s Son." Like, all of these titles Peter gives, each title he gives is one more indictment against these religious guys. That’s kind of the idea here.

Well, verse 16: "And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all." It’s a bit of a mouthful in the King James. I like the ESV in verse 16. It says, "By faith in his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all."

Verse 17: "And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers." Now, what he’s saying is you killed Christ in verse 15. He told them that. He laid it out heavy. He said you’re the ones, even though Pontius Pilate wanted to let him go, you still killed Jesus. Peter brings all that up and indicts them radically. He’s not pulling any punches here.

But here in verse 17, you see a little bit of a kindheartedness, like you start to see a little bit of relief when he says, "And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers." So, you’re saying, but is that letting them off the hook? Not exactly, but let’s read on.

Verse 18: "But those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled." Verse 19: "Repent ye therefore, and be converted." This is what he’s saying. You rejected the Messiah, you ignored Pontius Pilate who wanted to let him go, and you killed Jesus on the cross. What do you do if you’re to blame for killing Christ?

Now, I've got to say this: who was responsible for killing the Christ, the Messiah? The Jews. Yep, the Jews. Now, the Jews get really upset when Gentiles say that, but we Gentiles also have to say the Romans. They also killed him, quite practically. But we also need to understand, I used to say, okay, it was the Jews, and then say, yeah, it was the Romans, and yeah, all of humanity, right? We’re all guilty.

But I’m starting to say no, if somebody asks me who’s guilty of killing Jesus, I’m feeling more accurate to say me personally. I’m the one. When I sin, my sin is the very thing that put Jesus on the cross where he was willing to die for me. I think we need to understand how personal this very thing is.

So, what a blessing the Jews give us. See, rather than blaming the Jews for killing him, I give the Jews credit for giving us Christ. Christ is of the Jews. Jesus was a Jew, the Savior of the world. So, forget blaming the Jews. I think the Jews are a blessing, and we’ll get to that in a second.

So, what do you do if you’re these guys standing there in front of Peter? You’re saying, "Well, we killed Jesus the Messiah." And what does Peter say? "Repent." And then he says, verse 19, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord."

Times of refreshing. You might mark that little phrase. And we’ve done studies on the Year of Jubilee. That’s seven sevens, 49 years, and then on the 50th week, they would have the Year of Jubilee where there would be all kinds of wonderful things. If you had all your Visa cards in debt up to your neck in debt, Year of Jubilee, they forgave all your debt once every 50 years.

If you were a slave, you had to be let go. There’s a bunch of things about the Year of Jubilee, but the reason I bring that up is because this "times of refreshing," we read through that, we blow through that in the English text and we don’t see anything. The Jews would have referenced, "Oh, like the Year of Jubilee." Which by the way, if you read the Old Testament and study the Year of Jubilee, it was all a beautiful picture of the time where Christ would make all the wrongs right. It’s actually the second coming of Christ. It’s a picture of that.

So, I wanted to give you a little bit for you students of the word if you want to study that deeper. It’s kind of a fun correlation there. But what are these guys supposed to do? Repent ye therefore. What does repent mean? Well, the clumsy, simpler terms, I like them, are to do a 180, to go the opposite direction. It’s actually used in military context of an about-face, to go the opposite direction.

It also has to do not just with your physical direction, but changing of your mind. To repent means to change your mind. You once thought one way and now you think another way. Heard a testimony of this gal. She was deep into witchcraft. And man, she was leading and tattooed up with all the witchcraft stuff and just really into it.

And it’s just so cool to hear her testimony. She just accepted Christ fairly recently. And man, she’s done a serious about-face. And she’s just a messenger for Christ right now and she’s reaching into people and lives that I could probably never talk to. But she’s got experience and she’s just letting her light shine. Like, you’ve got to love when you see this about-face and this change of thinking.

If you look up the word repent in the Greek dictionary, let me give you the Greek dictionary definition: to change one’s life based on complete change of attitude and thought concerning sin and righteousness. Now, some would say, "Well, Brett, that means that you better change your life and stop sinning or else you won’t be saved."

No, we all need to repent. We need to change our mind, change our direction, change our life based on a complete change of attitude and our thought concerning sin and righteousness. One of the things about thinking of sin and righteousness is to realize our sin is bad and it’s worthy of death. That’s one of the things you’ve got to get to if you’re going to be a Christian. You’ve got to understand, "Oh man, I’m headed for death, and my sin is death-worthy."

But when you repent, what does that do? It brings you to the place where now you’re in a position where you know your need for salvation. Did repentance save you? There’s an interesting question. But what does it say in Romans? It says repent, but then it also says confess with your mouth and believe in your heart the Lord Jesus that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved.

I think that we’re saved by grace through faith. Nothing you can do to add to that. Now, there are some that go out there and teach, and you have to be discerning about this because there’s kind of a rule of thumb. If a pastor is preaching repentance to the point of, "Man, you’re not even really saved because you haven’t really repented enough because you still sin," and he’ll use lines like this: "He’s either Lord of all or he’s not Lord at all." Have you ever heard a sermon like that?

My question on that one: he’s either Lord of all. So, let me just get this straight. If you’re going to preach that, pastor, is he Lord of every area of your life? Like, every single nook and cranny of your life? Is he truly Lord of those areas? Like, do you ever do anything sinful?

Now, there are some pastors I’ve talked to about this and they say, "Yes, I have it all covered and I am now perfectly dialed in." I’m like, "You just blew it, man, because you just sounded a little bit prideful there when you were saying that." Dude, you haven’t fully repented yet.

See, the point is that he’s either Lord of all or he’s not Lord at all. That could put a guilt trip on people real fine and dandy. But my question is: who then can really be saved? Who could be saved? Well, Paul the apostle for sure wouldn’t have been saved. Why? Because remember, even in his older years, years after he was converted and saved, what did he say about himself? He says, "I find in my flesh there is no good thing."

That was present tense he said that as a Christian in his flesh. He also said, "I, Paul, am the chiefest of sinners." When he was a young man, he said we’re all sinners. Then when he’s a middle-aged guy, he said I’m a sinner. And then when he’s old, writing Timothy, he said, "I, Paul, am the chiefest of sinners." Was Paul getting worse with years? No, I think Paul was more and more aware of what a wretched man that he was.

You remember Romans seven, verses 19 through 20, that whole "For the good that I would do, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that which I would not, it is no more that I do it, but sin that dwells within me." Paul was talking about his own internal struggle with sin, which I think that’s important to understand because if somebody’s trying to tell you, "Well, unless you fully repented and you cleaned up everything in your life, then you’re not really saved," well, good luck, no one can be saved then, except for Jesus, of course.

So, all that to say, Lordship theology is a wrong teaching. That’s what it’s called: Lordship theology, where he’s either Lord of all or not Lord at all. The Bible reminds us in Romans 3:10 and 11, it says, "As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." That’s what the Bible says.

So, what does it mean to repent? It means like you change direction and you change your mind and you want to make your life better and follow after the Lord’s way. But you’re saved by grace through faith. And when you’re saved by grace through faith, there will be that desire to repent and go more in the direction of God.

If you’re trying to practice sin and get better and better at it, you might want to be really concerned. Are you saying, Brett, you lost your salvation? I don’t really believe you can lose your salvation. But if somebody’s not really ever repented and they’re still trying to cover up their sin actively, purposefully, willfully, just keep doing it, there’s enough scripture that makes me uneasy enough. I’m not going to pin down the doctrine perfectly on this one and say, "Well, if you continually do this and this and this, you’re not going to heaven."

But there’s scripture that’s enough to where I don’t want to go and say I want to just try to get better at sin. Well, Brett, who does that? Who does that? Lots of people. Lots of people. The guy that struggles with pornography. As long as it’s a struggle and he realizes it’s a horrible sin and it’s perverted and he’s trying his best to be accountable and trying not to do the things that he knows are wrong, then I’d say, man, that’s evidence of salvation that he’s wanting to repent and not do those things.

But if he’s got secret accounts and codes and hiding everything from everybody and trying to get better and better so that he doesn’t get caught, well, that’s not a very real repentant heart, is it? That’s taking up sin willfully. And I’d just say, man, I don’t know if I’d want to be in your tennis shoes to stand before God. Like, that’s just not a great place to be. We should say, "Man, I know we’re all sinners and we all mess up, but we need to run."

That’s why people always say, "Why do you guys always make homosexuality the pet sin to talk about, you preachers?" There is a reason. It’s one of the few sins in the world that the world is saying celebrate it, embrace it, wave flags that have been stolen from the rainbow story of Noah and be prideful about it even. Let’s march and stand with it.

Like, can you imagine any other sin that we’d be trying to do that? I think another sin we’re celebrating is abortion now. Man, abortion is one of those sins that people celebrate now. I can’t even imagine how it got there. Such a sad, sad thing.

And you and I have a chance to have a say in our nation. That’s the way our country works. And you and I have a chance to nudge things in a direction one way or the other. And if I can nudge something like human trafficking and sex working slaves, if I can nudge that with some kind of a vote, I’m going to do that.

The whole gender and homosexual agenda, one party’s really super pro that and the other party is saying we don’t really agree with that lifestyle. And it’s just you just have to make your mind. Am I going to vote more in a biblical way? I’m not voting as much for a person as much as I’m voting for policy. That’s what I’m doing.

"Brett, you should keep politics out of the church." That’s been the problem for a long time that pastors don’t talk about stuff that actually kind of matters, and this does matter. So, when it comes to the things that I’m concerned about, gender dysphoria, as it used to be called—now you get frowned out for calling it that—isn’t it something that the people that really care about kids and transitioning and transgenderism, people that actually care about them, I don’t see them anywhere except for maybe the Christian church.

It’s actually the Christian church that cares that kids are ruining their lives and hurting themselves and getting doctors and medicine to and tax dollars to support that. So, all this talk about practicing sin, I don't want to be behind that. And that’s why the homosexual one gets to be such a big point. It’s because they’re celebrating transgenderism, they’re celebrating LGBTQ, they’re celebrating murdering babies in the mother’s womb. That’s what’s happening. And he who continually practices sin will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. That’s what the Bible says. I’m just quoting the Bible. You can look it up.

Be that as it may, that’s why I think we should be light and salt. Don't hang your salt and light job up because you’re afraid to vote. I think that’s important. I’m going to try to be as salty as I can, but also as light as I can.

So, anyway, no sin should be just excused. "Oh, it's just who I am. It's just the way I am." No. You don’t want to continually practice sin. So, this idea, repentance is not to say I’m not going to practice getting better at sin or celebrating sin. I’m going to repent. That’s what the world needs today. And preachers need to still preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." I think that’s important.

And notice what it says: "Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." Do you anybody want your sins blotted out? I sure do, and I’m glad for that. That’s one of my favorite parts about being a Christian: all my sins blotted out.

Well, verse 20 goes on: "And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things," again, talking back to the Year of Jubilee for you that are thinking of this, "which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."

The word "until" there is kind of fun. It’s not your normal kind of word that you’d say. We’ll get into that in just a second. But it says in verse 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. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.'"

Question: what prophet is Peter talking about here? Well, if you know your Bibles, does anybody know where we read about this prophet? The book of Deuteronomy. Peter’s just killing it, man. He’s like a theologian suddenly. What happened to this guy? He’s quoting—let me just show you here about the prophet that Moses talked about. It’s verse 15: "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye hearken."

And if you go on in verse 18 of that same chapter, it says, "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." In other words, you’re doomed. You’re going to be held accountable for your own sins if you don’t listen to the prophet that I’m going to send.

Was Jesus a prophet? Yes. Now, if somebody just says all Jesus was was a prophet, like the Muslims try to say Jesus was a prophet, but did you know that Jesus was three things: prophet, priest, and king? And there’s only one person in all the world that could be all three of those things and that’s Jesus Christ.

But here’s where Moses was as a prophet, speaking about the prophet that was coming. And Peter, man, he’s just tying in Old Testament scriptures. In fact, keep reading. Verse 24: "Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days." What days? When Jesus would come and when Jesus would die on the cross and be crucified. Peter’s saying this was all spoken in your Bible.

Jews, the old Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament is all all the way from Deuteronomy to First Samuel. You’ve got to give Peter credit here. Peter’s quoting from Genesis to Deuteronomy to First Samuel. All these religious leaders were supposed to be scholarly brainiacs of the Bible, and here’s a little fisherman from Galilee stumping these guys theologically. Don’t you love that? That’s what happens when the Holy Ghost comes upon a guy.

Well, verse 25 says, "And 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.' 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’s saying to the Jews, "Don’t you understand? The whole world’s going to be blessed by Jesus. He came first to you all, the Jews, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, the Sadducees." But they’re going to reject him, and still reject him by and large. Peter’s reminding them about the prophecies of Jesus’ first coming, also implying about his second coming. All of this is in Peter’s sermon.

The word "until," I love it, in Romans 11:25: "For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel until," notice that word, that’s the same "until" we were talking about from our verse 21 here, "the fullness of the Gentiles be come in."

The reason I point out the word "until," and we’ll finish with this, the Greek word for "until," there’s two words for "until" in the Greek text. We only have one word for "until." Now, the reason I want to show you this is the first word that is important here that we see in both Acts 3:21 and Romans 11:25 is the Greek word *Achri*. It refers especially to the space of time or place of intervening. So, you can say until there’s something that’s going to happen specifically.

The other word is *Mechri*. You’ve got *Achri* and *Mechri*. And *Mechri* refers specifically to the time up to a certain point of an ending or terminus or termination. It’s not until an end, it’s until there’s a change.

So, they’re blind now, but there’s a change coming for the Jews and God’s not done with the Jews. This "until" is kind of hopeful for the Jews, that God’s going to—something—there’s going to be something until, that’s the church age, until the fullness of the Gentiles come in, then all of Israel will be saved. Very important.

Would you mark this one phrase where it says, "And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed." Genesis 22:18 is where God gave that promise to Abraham. And question: are the Jews a blessing to all the nations of the world? Well, you already kind of got the answer I told you, yes, because they gave us Jesus. So, that’s just the number one reason.

But what’s even more amazing if you really look at what the Jews, the Jewish people, have given the world scientifically, artistically, educationally, inventions. Like, the Jews are one of the smaller people groups of the world, but they’ve contributed by far exponentially more than any other people group in history to the world, in to science and medicine and art and literature.

Like, it’s amazing what the Jews have done. They’ve been a blessing to us in so many ways, but there’s no greater blessing than the fact that Jesus is a Jew and the Messiah came through the Jewish people and we should be thankful for that. Christianity doesn’t sort of cancel Judaism; Christianity is a fulfillment of Judaism. That’s what’s so beautiful about our faith as Christians. And that’s what we need to tell our Jewish friends. That’s really what Peter’s telling them here, that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies of Judaism, which is so cool.

Well, in chapter four, the heat’s going to get turned up. Peter, James, and John are going to be in big trouble for what Peter’s saying here and what’s going on, and they’re going to start turning up the heat and we’re going to see how he handles it.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador pausing for now in our study of the book of Acts as Peter and the apostles have just begun the ministry of the first-century church preaching the name of Jesus. And to end our time on today’s word, Pastor Brett will return with a closing prayer, so I hope you’ll stick around for that.

But first, Today’s Word is the radio ministry of Athey Creek Church in the Portland, Oregon, area where Pastor Brett Meador is the lead pastor. We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com. I also want to mention that in addition to the main Athey Creek campus in West Linn, Oregon, we also have locations in Hillsboro and McMinnville. For more information, go to todayswordradio.com and click on the link "Locations." Again, todayswordradio.com and click the link "Locations."

Well, now let’s rejoin Pastor Brett Meador for a brief closing word of prayer.

Brett Meador: Lord, we are thankful for this passage of scripture, and I do thank you that there’s a boldness that we see here with Peter. Your word says the wicked flee when no one’s pursuing them, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

Give us boldness, Lord. I pray that we’d be people of your word and that faith would be built within us. And I pray that we wouldn’t practice sin, but Lord, that we would practice walking with you and hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Help us to get better at that.

Bless these your people. I pray that they just be rewarded with just having this part of your scripture embedded in their hearts and minds, Lord, and that it bring forth good fruit in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Amen. Pastor Brett Meador closing our time here on Today’s Word. Well, next time, Pastor Brett will continue in the book of Acts and draw a lesson of remaining faithful even when facing opposition.

Today’s Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.