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Sunday Sermon Outline STUDIES
IN ACTS OF THE APOSTLES- PART 17
Chap.3,
verse 16- “this perfect soundness”- whole in all parts, complete- this healing
was not partial, nor temporary, but permanent. Verse
17- “I wot [perceive] that through ignorance,
ye did it, as did also your rulers”-
now we hear Peter mitigate the guilt of
This point must be also seen in the
light of Acts sinfulness and murderous intent to
accomplish His design for the salvation of mankind. This truth must be seen in respect to
both God’s sovereign plan and man’s violent choices which were allowed by
God. Here in Acts 3, Peter desires his
listeners to realize that in the suffering of Jesus, God fulfilled His
plan. This is said by Peter to
provide a context for the offer of forgiveness to them.
Verse
18-“God before had shewed by the mouth of all his
prophets…”- this is a general reference to the many prophetic
OT verses describing Messiah’s suffering Explicit
description-Psa. 22:1-8, 9-18; 41:9; Isa.
52:14, 53:3-12 Implicit
description- Gen. 3:15; Psa.
16:10; 34:20; 69:4, 8, 21; Daniel 9:26; Zech.11:12;
Luke had discussed this earlier in
his gospel- see Lk.24:26-27. “he hath so fulfilled”- in the scheme of Christian
apologetics, the “prophecy-fulfillment”
dynamic is one of the most convincing arguments that the uniqueness of the
Bible shows supernatural work. 1) The argument from prophecy is
essentially the argument
from divine
omniscience; that is, only God
could know all things and know the end
from the beginning. This is claimed
by the God of scripture—Psa. 86:10; 139:2-6; 145:3; 147:5; Isa. 41:23, 26; 44:24-26; 45:11-12; 46:9-10; I Cor.15:20-24; Rev.
1:19. 2) This divine omniscience has expressed
itself with divine revelation and
inspiration- II Sam.23:2-3; Deut. 29:29; I Sam.3:7; Daniel 2:28; 10:1; Amos 3:7; I Cor. 2:9-10; II Tim.3:16-17 3) These inspired revelations were written
with accuracy and truth-
Psa. 19:7-8; Ex.20:1; Num.23:19; 24:16-17;
Deut.32:4; 4)
These written documents included prophecies that
detailed the
suffering of Messiah and His glorious resurrection
and ascension
in power to the throne of God- (see above) 5)
Only a mind that knew before the occurrence of the
events could
have described them in such detail.
The apostles viewed these
prophecies as being accurate and worthy of confidence-See
Acts Page
2 6) No other religion or book comes
anywhere close to this unique quality of prophecy-fulfillment; nor does any book
with such prophecy-fulfillment impact the lives of men & women to
transform them into moral, honest and sacrificial people of
integrity. Verse
19- “repent ye therefore and be
converted…” Peter now comes to challenge his listeners to
act on the truths he has explained. Repent=metanoasate = to perceive
afterwards- in moral sense, to change
one’s mind.
Repentance is related to adjustment to God’s justice on a temporal
level and reflects that adjustment is to be in harmony with God’s will. Repentance
is not the basis of obtaining eternal life, but the preserving of
temporal life. “converted”- epistrepho- to turn
towards—here, to God. “that
your sins may be blotted out…”-use of the infinitive [blotted out] with the
accusative [sins] to express purpose.
Here, forgiveness relates to need of
national repentance by Israel in view of the 2nd coming of Messiah-
see Hosea 14:1-2; Rom.11:26-27.
Later in Acts 13:38-39 forgiveness will be related to faith in
Christ as Savior. “when the
times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the
Lord”-
presence of the Lord describes the 2nd Advent of
Christ. Literally, the text says “so that
may come [subjunctive mood] seasons of respite” [from God’s judgment upon
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