Just seven short years ago, Mary and I were technically members of an Elim church in Edinburgh, and extremely ignorant to what that actually meant in terms of our spiritual fidelity, our spiritual faithfulness. We were ignorant of what that meant and the condition, the position, the attitude and spirit of heart that we were in at the time that really was saturated, doused in ignorance of spiritual realities. Compromise and unbiblical doctrine, unbiblical practice, unbiblical attitudes. We were ignorant. A short seven-year period ago, we were in a compromised, ignorant position that we have since repented about and spoken very openly and candidly about and into. We were ignorant. We were ignorant. Would you turn with me, please, to Acts chapter 3 and verses 17 to 21? And as though we were in the same room together, I'll give you a minute or so just to turn to that passage, maybe show you some beautiful drone shots of the sunset on this longest day of the year behind me while you turn there. Acts chapter 3, verses 17 to 21. And I'll read the passage to you, give you some context, and then give you five or six quick and quite simple points, but points that if taken to heart will transform your life. Acts 3, 21, sorry, 17 to 21. And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers, but what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive, until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Father, as I speak now from this passage, that by your spirit you inspired in Peter all those years ago. Lord, I pray that you would bring a sense of people coming to their senses. Deliver your people from evil, deliver your people from ignorance, I pray, in the precious name of Jesus. The context of this short passage is that Pentecost has just happened. If you read read in your own time later, read through the preceding pages, and you'll see Peter's sermon at Pentecost. You'll see the moment when the Spirit of the Living God fell and baptized and filled and refilled and gave gifts according to his divine plan. And then what happened is that there was a healing of a lame man who, in his 40s, had been an invalid for the whole of his life. He was born with a hereditary problem, which meant he was an invalid, lame, couldn't walk, his joints, his muscles would have been in a state of chronic atrophy, meaning wasted, unable to support his weight, that kind of thing. And you'll read the incident immediately before this, where Peter and John at the gate called Beautiful saw this beggar, this lame man, needing to be healed, and the Lord Jesus healed him. That's what's immediately happened before this passage tonight. And you'll see that in verses 11 through to 16, that moment when, astonished, the beggar who had been healed was drawing a crowd. He was leaping for joy, he was in a state of being delivered from ignorance. And the tone of Peter is the first thing I want to say. This is point one. Peter's tone, and you see this in chapter 2, the preceding chapter, in verse 36, and then in the same chapter that we're in now, in verses 13 and 15, Peter's tone towards the Jewish people was accusatory. He didn't pull his punches, did he? You'll read what he says, that he says in verse 36 of chapter 2, let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Speaking to the Jewish people, but he's also speaking to the Roman authorities, he's speaking to the rulers. But he's speaking in a very denunciatory, very accusatory tone, exposing this antichrist, the denial of Christ of the Jewish people, his brothers. And he says that this is condemnable behaviour, the blindness in the face of what God had spoken previously through the prophetic witness. Now, again, you'll need to do your reading in this, but in chapter 2, from verse 29 through to 34, Peter specifically goes back to the life of David, the prophet, as he calls him in this passage. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, David, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ. The passage that we're in today, as I've just read to you, the refrain in it, if you like, is that everything that God, and this is a paraphrase from here, everything that God had said, all the many things over long years, everything that he had said, he thus fulfilled. And that includes what David knew God had spoken about the coming Christ in generations and centuries to come, but it also includes those things that are yet to be filled today in respect of Jesus at his coming. And so the contrast here is between the Pharisees, and you'll notice in verse 17, the first verse of our passage, Peter saying, And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did all your rulers. As did all your rulers, as did the inherited mess that preceded you. The Sanhedrin, the 70 plus members or 71 members of that gaggle of Pharisees, Sadducees, the scribes, the lawyers, and so on. But it was also the it was also Pilate, wasn't it? It was also the the leading authorities in Rome that contributed to this Jesus being crucified. So Paul knew, Peter knew, sorry, that in ignorance these people did this. He condemns them as the blindness that is so obvious. The exact attitude, however, that this is contrasted to is of this man, this wonderful man who's just been healed, this blind, this uh lame man who'd been healed. In verse 17, and now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did but what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. And this comes on the back of verse 11, where Peter says, While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's. Now imagine the scene. This man who'd been an invalid, unable to walk for forty years, roughly, is miraculously healed by the Lord Jesus. And it says in earlier verses that this man leapt for joy, that as soon as Peter and John spoke the word to him, he jumped to his feet, his ankles and his legs were strengthened, and it said that he he was leaping for joy. But then notice in the first of our verses here, the verse 17, sorry, in verse 11, while he while he clung to Peter and John, and all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them at this place, in this portico called Solomon's. So imagine the scene. He'd been healed, he'd stood for the first time, literally, he was leaping for joy, and yet, as the crowd came astonished at what they were seeing, this man, formerly lame, a beggar, was clinging to the apostles. Verse 11 of chapter 3, while he clung to Peter and John, all the people utterly astounded ran together to them. This is the scene that's contrasted to this accusation of the Jews, the brothers that Peter is accusing and condemning and calling to repentance, we'll see shortly. This picture, isn't it? A wonderful image of this healed man clinging to the apostles. Now, this is the important thing to realize, and we haven't got time to go into all of it now, but in the next chapter, in chapter four, again, under immense pressure, Peter makes it abundantly clear that this isn't them. This wasn't as a result of Peter and John's power or greatness that healings were taking place, but no, this was the resurrected Jesus, and again, whom you, my brothers, my Jewish ancestral brothers, who you crucified. So you have the Jews and the Romans, and then you have this man who was clinging, and he's clinging. I I think this is important, and we what we should see. He's not clinging on to the apostles' human personality. What's he doing? He's clinging on to Jesus, isn't he? This leaping for joy, this physical healing, is pointing to something infinitely and eternally more important, which is the revelation to him that Christ, this one whom he was hearing Peter admonish and rebuke the Jews about, this Jesus who had been crucified, was just like it had been for Paul in Acts chapter 9 on the road to Damascus, the Lord Jesus had just revealed himself to him. So although he's clinging to Peter and John, he's clinging to Jesus. There's this there's this yearning, and think about it, why was he clinging to them? He obviously had been healed, he'd obviously been walking and leaping for joy, and yet he was still clinging. So he wasn't clinging to them because he was weak, he wasn't clinging to them because he had only received a partial healing. He was clinging to him, I believe, he was clinging to them because the Lord Jesus had revealed himself, the person of the Lord Jesus had revealed himself to this man through this physical healing. So this physical healing, this miraculous moment isn't primarily about this man leaping to his feet for the first time. It's about his being overjoyed and overwhelmed at the knowledge of this resurrected Jesus, the one who'd been crucified, who'd descended and who was coming again. So Peter is saying, I know that in verse 17, I know you acted in ignorance, brothers, but then comes the but in verse 18. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets and so on, this is the refrain. This is the refrain, all the things about which God spoke long ago, thus he fulfilled to David, to those who came before him, the prophets, to Adam, to the garden. This is going back to the very beginning, everything, this is what this is about. And although that he knew that they were acting in profound ignorance, there was still consequence for that. But thus he filled. And so Peter is essentially saying here in verse 18, look at it again. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent, therefore. This is at verse 19. Repent, therefore. So what he's saying is the ignorance isn't bliss. The ignorance doesn't absolve them of what happened or of their current antichrist position. I know you acted, I we were in ignorance seven years ago. That didn't absolve us of responsibility to read our Bible, look at what was happening in the church that we were then part of, or not happening, the things that were being taught and not taught, and we were responsible. We were responsible, and this is what I want to say to you today, and I want to say this in the same way that Peter lovingly addressed them as brothers, and I am addressing you as brothers and sisters tonight, that the chances are you are currently in a place of ignorance regarding the spiritual realities and the spiritual juncture, the moment in history that we are at. I know that. I know that most Christians are in positions and postures of ignorance regarding the apostasy in the church. The kind of churches that are assumed to be okay because they're well-known names. Elim, AOG, how other household names. But I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that that doesn't absolve you, it doesn't absolve, it didn't absolve Mary and me, and it doesn't absolve you from reading of the scripture specifically regarding the suffering of Christ, but of course, everything that the prophets have said regarding the things that not only have been fulfilled, but those things that are still to be fulfilled. And this is what Peter now comes to. In verse 19, the call is to repentance. And if you're in ignorance tonight, just as Peter was proclaiming to his Jewish brothers who he loved, you must repent. You must repent, and in verse 19, you must turn. Turn from your ignorance, turn from those things that you are currently doing and have done for a long time, more than likely in ignorance. Repent, therefore. Look at it with me in verse 19. Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out. Verse 20, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that here we are. This is the clinging, this is the lame man clinging. And I think this is the eschatological clinging and longing of Mar and Arthur in verse 20 and 21, that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, just like Peter pointed out in the chapter 4, this is G the very Jesus who had been healing, not them. This Jesus, whom heaven in verse 21 must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. This is the contrasted posture of against those of the Jews and the Romans and everybody else who had conspired to kill the Lord, the precious Lord Jesus, is the man clinging to the apostles because, and what we see here in 19 and 20, verses 19 and 20 is the is the call to repent and to turn. It's a personal, that's the first thing, it's personal, as it should be for all of us, whether we're married or not. Personal repentance and turning. But then secondly comes times of refreshing from the Lord. Look at it in the scripture. Personal, corporate, and then thirdly, it's cosmic. We see the Lord Jesus coming, the promise, the blessed hope. This is what Christian discipleship should be revolving around, like the man healed from lameness, clinging, clinging to Jesus, the coming king. The core picture, the lame beggar clinging to the apostles is the overjoyed, overwhelmed image of the radicalized church yearning for Jesus to come. If you're not part of a company of people who are comparable to that beggar clinging to Peter and John, such was the work of revelation that Jesus had done by his spirit in them. If you're not part of that, you're not part of a company of people who are longing and yearning for Jesus to come. Brothers and sisters, former friends and estranged family members, I know that many of you are currently acting in ignorance, but what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, He has thus fulfilled and will thus fulfill again soon. I want to speak more into this in the next week or two when Mary and I produce a film. My encouragement to us all, but it's more than an encouragement, it's an imploring longing, is that we must take the word of God, the warnings of God, in his word more seriously, much more seriously. Pleading ignorance is not going to wash. And in the same sense that prophets of long ago, there are prophetic warnings today, genuine prophetic warnings in and amongst a mess of the church. And included in that mess is the false prophecies, the false the falsity. But ignorance is not going to wash, and we'll speak more into this in the next coming few weeks. But we must take, I must, we must take, this is why I'm doing this today. We must take the word and the warnings of the word of God more seriously. And to close, I want to read you this short excerpt from a book. This is a book just as the cow lows behind. This is a book called Krakatoa, The Day the World Exploded. And listen to this. This is why you and I must take the word and the warnings of God much more seriously. And by the way, what that practically means in terms of coming to your senses away from ignorance is that you must leave the falsity of the system. You must find others by the grace and mercy of God who understand what I'm saying and who feel the anguish and the desperation of the hour and pray. And if that isn't considered to be good enough to be church, then take that as a class A example of exactly why it is that you must flee. Everything that would denounce that for being unacceptable as church. If fleeing the places of unfaithful doctrine and unfaithful practice is itself regarded as unfaithful, then this is demonic. This is the work of Satan in our living rooms. Listen to this. And then two minutes later, according to all the instruments that record it, came the fourth and greatest explosion of them all, a detonation that was heard thousands of miles away, and that is still said to be the most violent explosion ever recorded and experienced by modern man. The cloud of gas and white hot promise and fire and smoke is believed to have risen, been hurled, and more probably, blasted as though from a gigantic cannon, as many as twenty four miles into the air. A fearful explosion, a frightful sound. Captain Sampson of the British vessel Norham Castle wrote simply in his official log I am writing this blind in pitch darkness. We are under a continual rain of pumice stone and dust. So violent are the explosions that the eardrums of over half my crew have been shattered. My last thoughts are with my dear wife. I am convinced that the day of judgment has come. That's what happens when God explodes and judges the nations. The day the world exploded, Krakatoa. 27th of August 1883. That was a snapshot of somebody who witnessed what happened. Half of his men, eardrum shattered, the loudest sonic sound there's ever been there's ever been experienced. And I don't just mean that the world will end, I mean the systems of the world, I mean the communication of the world, I mean the weather, the weather systems, the ability to buy and sell, the ability to move about, the ability to, you see what I'm saying? And so I'd encourage you, please. The longing and appeal of my heart for the church is that she wakens from this sense of ignorance that the prophets spoke about long ago, and we know that Jesus is going to come, we know how he's going to come, and this is why it's unacceptable that we remain in places of compromise, which the Bible simply calls whoredom and ignorance. Lord, in my imperfect attempt tonight to communicate something from this passage, please I simply ask that by your spirit you would bring clarity to the hearts of those who are currently living and living and moving and having their being in ignorance. And I pray that you would bring the sense of clinging, the sense of clinging to your people, that that man who was healed for his 40-year lameness, the same clinging of that man would be the same clinging of your people who are being prepared for your return out from and away from every form of compromise in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.