On Acts 3:17 –
“However, when people are not completely unreformable, we must instruct them using the procedure Peter used. He chastened them for their offenses without comforting them and then showed that God is ready to forgive their sins provided they rely on his sovereign goodness. That is also the pattern we must follow when preaching the gospel to save those who hear us. We must show them how greatly they have angered God by their sins; then when they are cast down by that, we must present the grace God is ready to offer to all through our Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, our preaching will be in vain. It bears no fruit unless we join those two points together.
“In fact, if we only proclaim how God shows himself to be our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, a few will accept that, but to no avail unless we first lead them to a knowledge of their sins so they will be grieved by them. In this way, we must also be cast down in ourselves if we want our Lord to lift us up. Then we will know that it is not in vain that we confess our lives are filled with nothing less than filth and contagion. Not only must we make that kind of general confession, but each of us must also confess his particular sins before God is we are to be humbled under his strong hand. May our arrogance, our rebellion, and our wicked affections not keep us from recognizing the truth expressed here, that there is no salvation except through Jesus Christ, and for that reason we must cling unreservedly to him” – John Calvin, Sermons on the Acts of the Apostles, Chapters 1-7, 96.
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