Acts 3:17-21 – When Wrong Is Made Right – Bible study

Acts 3:17-21 When Wrong Is Made Right John and Peter were going to the temple to pray and as they passed through a certain gate, the meet a man who had been lame from birth. Everyone knew him for he had sat outside the gate begging for most of his life. Peter was drawn to the man and the man, seeing Peter, thought he might receive some financial gift from him. What he received was so much more! Peter reached out and helped the man to stand to his feet. As the man attempted to stand, his legs and feet were healed, Before long, he is running around praising God and a crowd gathers so Peter started preaching. Peters church was the Jewish temple. His topic was Jesus. He congregation was the very Jews who had been part of the crowd who had crucified Jesus just a few months before. While Peters entire sermon is worthy of our attention, I just want to draw out a single phrase in the sermon. In speaking of Jesus, Peter told the congregation that Jesus would remain in heaven until "the times of restitution" of all things. I. Lets consider the phrase. A. This is the time of Jesus coming back. 1. \#19\ Peter spoke of the refreshing that will come with the presence of the Lord. But Jesus is not present right now. 2. Why? \#21\ The heavens had received Him. 3. That is recorded in Acts 1. We call that event the ascension but it is the same thing. Acts 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 4. But which return of Jesus is it? There are two. a. Rapture – This is a secret, quit, stealth mission when Jesus returns for the church, His bride. b. Revelation – Public, open. (1) \#Rev 1:7\ every eye shall see Him." (2) On this return, Jesus will judge the world and set up His earthy kingdom. B. "the times" 1. Peter could have said, "the time," singular, but he did not. 2. He used the plural of the word which indicate there things will not be made right all at once. Rather, it will happen over several times or a period of time. C. "restitution" 1. Restitution is one of the stages of making a wrong right. 2. Most of us do not know much about making a wrong right. a. Like so many other things that have been lost, making a wrong right simply isnt taught today. b. How does one make a wrong right? Three steps: (1) Acknowledge the wrong. This is not a time to make excuses or to attempt to switch blame. If you did wrong, it doesnt matter why you did it. It only matters that you did it and you need to state the action that was wrong and acknowledge that you did it. (2) If you feel any, state your sorrow over doing the wrong and ask for forgiveness. (a) Most people today, if they make any kind of attempt to right a wrong, will only do half of this. (b) They will state that they are sorry for doing it. i. Have you ever asked what that even means? ii. To say you are sorry simply means that you are feeling badly that you did the wrong. iii. That is not what some people mean to say at all, because often they do not. iv. What they mean to say is that I hope you will forget the wrong I did because I dont feel badly and nothing is going to change. (c) However, if you are a Christian and you did a wrong, you should feel badly about it because you not only did wrong to that individual, you did wrong to God and you hurt God. That should make you feel badly. (d) If you do feel badly over the wrong you did, you should state that you do. If you dont feel badly, you have not only done wrong to the person you are speaking to, but now you are wasting their time. (e) So you should state that you feel badly over the wrong you did and be able to tell them that you do. (f) But sharing your feelings is only the introduction to what you really need to say. i. You need to ask them to forgive you. ii. When you wrong someone, you are to go to the injured party and ask for their forgiveness. iii. That is how you reconcile. You take blame for what you did wrong and you ask them to forgive you. Matt 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. (3) You make restitution. (a) Exodus 22 teaches about restitution. (b) There we learn that when we have done wrong, we suffer whatever loss our wrong caused. i. \#Ex 22:5\ If our beast eats another mans crops, we give him the best of our crops. ii. \#Ex 22:6\ If our fire does damage to anothers fields or buildings, we cover the costs. iii. \#Ex 22:7, 12\ If we stole something, we pay double. 3. So in this verse, Jesus will return when it is time to make things right, to settle the debt, to fix that which is wrong. a. We need to say this plainly. He is not coming to make restitution for wrong He has done. Jesus never did anything wrong. b. He is coming to collect on the payments owed Him for the wrongs done against Him. D. In my mind there is no doubt as to when Peter was speaking. He was speaking of Jesus return in glory, His revelation. 1. As I mentioned, Jesus revelation will be open and public. At that time, a. He will establish a kingdom and rule over the earth. b. This verse is telling us that He will collect on the debts owed Him. 2. Although Jesus will return on a specific day, there will be seven years of tribulation before He actually comes. That seven years will be the TIMES spoken of. 3. The revelation of Jesus is described in many verses: Mt 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Mt 26:64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Re 14:14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. 2Thess 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. 4. This is definitely not the rapture of the church. 5. In all of this judgment, Jesus will collect on some debts which are owed Him. II. What kind of wrongs will be righted? A. The devil owes Jesus a debt. 1. There are certainly a lot of things about Gods business that I know nothing of, but the devil has a lot to give an account for! a. The devil has been a thorn in our side since the Garden of Eden, but one of these days, Jesus is going to settle with him! b. He has tempted, deceived, blinded, and lied to us more times than any human being could count! c. We most often think of Satan has the trouble maker, but he is more than that. d. He also a sinner who must give an account to God for his actions. 2. Because he is a sinner, all of the same judgments of sin that apply to us, apply to him. a. The devil is separated from God, just like we are. b. Unlike us, Jesus did not come to die for the devil! c. So the devils end is predetermined and recorded in Scripture. Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. d. In fact, when human beings are cast into the Lake of Fire, they will be out of place; for that place was created for the devil. Matt 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 3. When God said "Vengeance is mine, I will repay" \#Rom 12:9\, He meant it. a. Do you think a sinner is responsible not only for his immediate actions but to some degree for what his actions do to others? b. If so, the devil has a portion to pay for every sin ever committed, every tear ever shed, and wrong ever done. c. However, I also know that the devil cannot make us sin. He can only entice us to sin. d. That means Eve may have been pure but they were not perfect. (1) Eve listened to the devil. (2) Eve lusted after the fruit. (3) Eve left God for what she thought was a reward of the fruit. B. I dont know that we could say that the world owes Jesus a debt, but Jesus is certainly going to make some things right that wrong with it. 1. The Bible portrays the world as a victim of sin too. Romans 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 2. But sin has its hooks so deeply into the world that God condemns it as our enemy! 1Jo 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Joh 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 3. And why is that? Two reasons: a. It is because of the curse God put upon the world when sin entered it. Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, . and unto dust shalt thou return. b. It is because the devil took the world from Adam. 4. So what is God going to do about it? I am not completely certain. a. Jesus is going to take the world back! Re 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. b. The Bible indicates Jesus is going to purge the world. (1) Some verses indicate a total destruction of the world and a recreation of a new one. 2Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (2) However, the Bible also reveals that something on the new world will not be quite right even after all of this. Rev 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: C. But Acts 3:21 doesnt just list a few wrongs that will be made right. 1. It says all of the wrong things will be made right! a. There are still sins to be made right. Every sinful act ever done, from the first to the last, will be individually accounted for. b. Sin, as a possibility, must be dealt with. c. Hell must be closed. d. Death must be destroyed. That will be the last enemy \#1Cor 15:26\. 2. And then at the end of it, Jesus will give everything to the Father that the Father might be glorified. 1Cor 15: And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. When that is done, every wrong will be righted! It is going to be a glorious day, unless you are one of the wrongs. If you sins have not be placed under the blood of Jesus, you will be cast into the Lake of Fire along beside the devil \#Rev 20:11-15\