Therefore…..

Words are important, and being important, deserve our investigative efforts.

_____________________

…

Acts 3:19 – Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out . . .

_______________________

“Repent,” “be converted,” “ye must be born again,” “except you repent, you shall all likewise perish,” and many other like statements are found in the Scriptures.  In Christendom, it should be clearly understood and dynamically stated that “you must be born again.”  That is one of the major elements that comprise the message of Christ to the world today, for we know that unless you are born again, you shall not be a partaker of the kingdom of God. 

I remember a statement made in my presence by a man of God, now more than four decades past.  He said, “When you see the word ‘therefore,’ find out what it’s there for.”  I have never forgotten that admoni-tion, and it has served me well so often in my studies.  Let’s look at it today in our Text for Today.

Peter preached to the people who had witnessed the healing of the lame man, that they should “repent” and “be converted” so their “sins may be blotted out.”  But in his admonition we find the word “therefore.”  So, let us discover what it was “there for.”  Look at the verses previous to our Text for Today in Acts 3.  Peter recognized those to who he spoke as those who had arrested, beaten, scourged, tortured, crucified, and openly shamed Jesus the Christ.  He did not say they were the ones who personally arrested Jesus, or did any of the unspeakable things to Him that were done.  Yet he said to them that they had done it.  Peter was making clear indication that any person who was not born again was personally guilty of and responsible for all that had happened to Jesus.  The reason for their culpability in this matter was not their action, but their birth.  They were of their father Adam who had committed high treason against God and forfeited all God had given him.  They were living now under the cause of the law as children of the devil, cast out from covenant.  Before the resurrection of Jesus, many of them lived under the Old Covenant being recognized as the seed of Abraham by that Covenant.  But after the passion of our Lord and His resurrection, things had changed.  Jesus was not risen Lord, King of kings, and Lord of lords.  Now the earth was the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and all that dwell therein belonged once again to Him.  And all those born from the blood-line of the original human transgressor, Adam, were responsible for all that turned out against the Lord.  But still He offered them redemption and freedom from sin.  Because they were born under the curse, Jesus provided them a “therefore.”  He has provided one for every human being in the world, including you.  Are you now His?  If so, rejoice.  If not, “therefore….”

Manna for Today – Acts 3:11-26; John 3:16-17; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Romans 10:6-17