Inducements to Repent
Acts 3:11–26
Repent therefore, and turn back. Acts 3:19

The inducements that Peter gave to his hearers to repent and believe on Jesus are the same offered to you. The first is forgiveness of sin. Forgiveness is what people need, and the only place anyone will ever really find forgiveness is in Christ. Most people carry heavy loads of guilt. This may be true of you. You may not have told anybody what you have done. Nevertheless, you remember what you have done and you carry the guilt of your actions around with you day by day, week by week, and year by year. Moreover, you do not find forgiveness in the world. The world is not capable of that. The world can judge you for your sin or pretend to overlook it. But it is not capable of forgiving it. Only God can forgive sin. That is why the world is so unsatisfactory in this respect. Peter is saying that God can forgive your sin; he can lift that great load of guilt. Clearly this is one great inducement to turn from sin and believe in Jesus Christ.

Peter has another inducement too. It is the “times of refreshing [that] come from the presence of the Lord” (v. 20). This probably concerns a future day of blessing. On the other hand, there are also “times of refreshing” for all God’s people even now. Many of us go through much of life feeling pretty stale in what we do. Many people find, especially if they are in an unrewarding job, that life is often quite dreary. And sometimes even their Christianity becomes stale. Well, that happens. We all go through dry spells. Times like that do not necessarily mean that we are far from God. They only mean that we feel far from God. What we are told here is that in Christ there will be times of refreshing.

There is another inducement here to Peter’s hearers indicated in verse 26: “God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.” First to you! To whom? Well, to the very ones who had been instrumental in the death of Jesus. And he comes to them first. It is God’s way of saying, “I know what you have done but I do not hold it over you. I love you anyway. It is precisely for people like you that I caused Jesus to die.”

You and I cannot say that God sent his servant to us first of all. Many have come to Christ before us in former ages of human history. But the principle is the same. Regardless of the guilt you may carry, God proclaims his Son to you. And the reason the gospel is proclaimed to you is because God says it is for you that Jesus died.

Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865

Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.