Three Things That Happen When You Repent
From Sunday Sermon - August 30, 2026. Scripture: Acts 3:12–26
Peter's second sermon is short. If you read it straight through, it probably takes four or five minutes. But what he says in those few minutes — specifically in one verse — has been changing lives for two thousand years.
Here's the verse: "Repent therefore and turn again, 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." — Acts 3:19–20
Peter isn't speaking from a podium of perfection. He's speaking as someone who denied Jesus — three times — and received grace anyway. That's the foundation of everything he says next. He's not calling the crowd to do something he hasn't done himself.
And what he's calling them to do isn't complicated. Repent. Turn again. And when you do, three things happen.
1. Your sins are wiped away.
The Greek word Peter uses here — exaleiphō — means to wipe off, erase, obliterate. It's a writing metaphor. Ancient documents were written on papyrus with an ink that had no acid in it. Unlike modern ink that bonds to paper as it dries, ancient ink simply rested on the surface. Which meant a scribe with a wet sponge could wipe the writing completely clean — as if it had never been there.
That's the picture. Your record of sin, the list written against you, isn't just crossed out. It's wiped. Gone. Not a trace.
Colossians 2:14 says it this way: God has "canceled the record of debt that stood against us... nailing it to the cross." The work is already done. Christ went to the cross. The sponge is in His hand. Repentance is how we receive what He's already made available.
2. Refreshment comes.
Peter continues: "that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord."
If you've ever carried something heavy for a long time — a secret, a pattern, a version of yourself you're not proud of — you know what it feels like to finally set it down. That's what Peter is describing. The word translated "refreshing" carries the sense of breathing again, of relief, of rest after exhaustion.
Jesus put it this way: "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)
This isn't a reward you earn by cleaning yourself up first. It's what comes from the presence of the Lord — from turning toward Him, not from arriving with everything figured out.
3. You have hope.
The third thing: "that He may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus."
Repentance isn't just about getting your past clean. It's about orienting yourself toward a future. Peter's audience knew the prophecies — a Messiah was coming, a King who would set everything right. Peter says: that King has already come once, as a lamb led to slaughter. He's coming again, as the lion of Judah.
Living in repentance means living with that future in view. Every time we take communion, Paul says, we proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. We don't know the day. But we live toward it.
So what does repentance actually look like?
The sermon used a very SoCal illustration: a U-turn on the 91 freeway. You're going west, there's a barrier in the way, you flip the car around and go east anyway. Repentance isn't a feeling. It's a change of direction. A change of mind followed by a change of action.
And the remarkable thing — the thing Peter models with his own life — is that this isn't a one-time transaction. Sin has a way of creeping back in, even for longtime followers of Jesus. So we stay oriented toward repentance. Not in shame, but in the freedom of knowing grace is available every time we turn back.
Peter the denier became Peter the preacher. Not because he was perfect, but because he was forgiven.
So can we be.
For more, watch the full sermon on YouTube or at sites.resi.io/knottave. If something stirred in you today, we'd love to talk — stop by the welcome area after any service, or reach out at kacc.church