I'm sorry I keep doing this to you guys. I have to shorten the passage again.
There's just a lot in there.
Acts chapter 3 verses 1 to 16.
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
And a man, lame from birth, was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple
that is called the Beautiful Gate, to ask alms of those entering the temple.
Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms.
And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said,
Look at us.
And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.
But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you.
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.
And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.
And leaping up, he stood and began to walk and enter the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
And all the people saw him walking and praising God and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple,
asking for alms.
And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's.
And when Peter saw it, he addressed the people.
Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this?
Or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?
The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus,
whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him.
But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
and you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead.
To this we are witnesses.
And his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know.
And the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
Last week we saw Luke's summary description of the early church,
who devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship,
to the breaking of the bread and the prayers.
And among other descriptions of the church, we saw in chapter 2, verse 43,
it said that awe came upon every soul,
and many wonders and signs were being done among them through the apostles.
And we see one instance of such miracle wonder that's being done by an apostle here in chapter 3.
And through this account, Luke's intentions to teach us that we should demonstrate and proclaim the powerful name of Jesus.
That's how I'm going to go through this passage.
First, to demonstrate the power of Jesus and to proclaim the name of Jesus.
It begins in verse 1 this way.
Now, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
It's possible that Luke is adding this detail merely to provide some circumstantial context,
to tell us that this is the time and place when this miracle took place.
But I don't think that's what Luke is doing.
Because Luke, more than any of the gospel writers, emphasizes the importance of prayer.
And he peppers throughout the book of Acts examples of the early church praying together.
In fact, he just told us in chapter 2, verse 42, that the early believers devoted themselves to the prayers.
Matt pointed this out last week.
The prayers.
There's a definite article, and it's plural.
The prayers.
Which indicates that this is likely not a reference to the private prayer life of individual Christians,
but to designated times of corporate prayer.
We saw earlier in chapter 1, verse 14, and verse 24, and later in chapter 4, 23, verse 231 as well,
that this was a regular habit.
Early church gathered together to pray together at appointed times.
And we see that this was also a habitual thing for Peter and John.
It says, now Peter and John were going up.
The tense that that verb is in, the imperfect tense,
it frequently denotes habitual regular action.
A customary activity.
For example, the same tense is used in verse 2 to describe how people carry the lame man
and laid him daily at the gate of the temple.
So then Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, as usual.
This was their custom, their habit.
The Jews divided the day into 12 hours,
from dawn to dark.
So ninth hour would be 3 p.m. or so.
And this was when the Jews offered the second of their two daily burnt offerings prescribed in Exodus 29.
This was a really important occasion for the Jews.
The Jews considered these daily sacrifices and offerings to be so important
that when the temple complex was besieged by Pompeii-led Roman army in 63 BC,
they didn't stop.
They continued to offer the sacrifice while they were surrounded and besieged by the army.
This reminds me of the story of D. Martin Lloyd-Jones,
who was the pastor of Westminster Chapel during World War II.
He lived in the days of Hitler, Churchill, FDR,
and his church was a stone's throw away from Buckingham Palace.
And on one occasion,
a bomb fell just a few yards away from the church during Sunday worship,
causing the plaster of the ceiling to fall down from the roof
and onto the heads of the congregation.
And one parishioner recalled thinking,
she said that she thought she was in heaven
after seeing other believers around her coated in white dust.
And this happened during the pastoral prayer time of the service.
But Lloyd-Jones didn't stop praying.
He finished praying.
And then he paused for a moment to motion to the church members
to take cover under the gallery.
And then he proceeded to preach his entire sermon.
I find these stories inspiring
because they are examples of people
for whom the vertical reality,
the intercourse and transaction between God and man,
was more important than all horizontal realities.
Even more than history-altering wars.
Similarly, when King Darius the Mede
issued an edict that prohibited people
from praying to anyone but to himself,
it says in Daniel 6.10
that when Daniel knew that the document had been signed,
he went to his house where he had windows
in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem.
He got down on his knees three times a day
and prayed and gave thanks before his God
as he had done previously.
Daniel could have prayed with his windows closed
in the privacy of his home
so that these malicious, envious officials
couldn't spy on him and report him to the king.
He could have altered his praying schedule
to throw off the people who are trying to watch him.
But he doesn't.
And there's something powerful about that defiance.
He's saying,
I will not let my prayers to God
be interrupted by what's happening in the world
because my relationship with him,
my allegiance to him,
is far more significant than any of those things.
My appointment with God Almighty is more important
than whatever else might be going on.
This kind of attitude makes no sense to the world,
to people whose lives revolve around
not God,
but other things.
our leisure,
our friends,
our jobs,
our children,
our health,
our hobbies,
our romance.
Brothers and sisters,
I urge you to establish
this kind of habit of prayer
and worship in your lives
and let the other things in your life
revolve around it,
not the other way around.
It may well be that we don't see
the kind of power displayed here
in this chapter
in our own lives
precisely because
we don't access
and appropriate that power for ourselves.
And as Peter and John,
most likely,
John,
the son of Zebedee,
were going up to the temple to pray,
he says,
a man lame from birth
was being carried
whom they laid daily
at the gate of the temple
that is called
the beautiful gate
to ask alms of those
entering the temple.
This man is lame from birth.
He evidently can't walk at all
because he has to be carried
presumably by his relatives
who expected him
to contribute somehow
to the family fund
at least by begging.
And they drop him off
at the same time each day
where there's most foot traffic
in the temple.
And we find out later
in chapter 4, verse 22,
that this man was over 40 years old.
He's not young.
So for the 40 plus years of his life,
or 30 plus years of his life,
probably,
this man was begging,
has been begging.
He has never walked on his two feet.
And verse 3 continues,
seeing Peter and John
about to go into the temple,
this lame man asks
to receive alms.
He's just asking
for some spare change.
But apparently,
this man wasn't even looking
at Peter and John
when he asked
because verse 4 tells us
that Peter directed
his gaze at him
as did John
and said,
look at us.
This lame man
is used to the casual disregard
with which people
often treat beggars.
So he has ditched
the conventions
and courtesies
of human interactions.
He doesn't even look
as he asks.
Hey, can you spare some change?
He's probably expecting
Peter and John
to ignore him
and pass him by
like most others.
How often do we pray
and ask God
like this lame man,
expecting silence,
expecting God
to ignore us
and pass us by.
But Peter and John
do not ignore
this lame man
and they direct
their gaze at him
and ask him
to look at them
and at that point,
the lame man
fixes his attention
on them expecting
to receive something
from them.
Now he's expecting
something.
He's like,
you're driving
and there's,
if you're a homeless person
begging on the street
at an intersection,
you start to see
the window roll down
and now you're
paying attention.
You're going to get something.
So that's what
this man's doing.
But he's quickly
disappointed
because Peter says
in verse 6,
I have no silver
and gold.
He's not going to get
what he was expecting.
But Peter continues,
what I do have
I give to you
in the name
of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth,
rise up and walk.
Peter addresses
a more fundamental need.
He gets to the root
of this man's poverty,
the reason why he begs.
Peter has no silver
and gold,
but he does have access
to the power
that resides
in the name
of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth.
And by the authority
of Jesus Christ,
Peter commands
the lame man
to rise up
and walk.
A 16th century
pastor and theologian,
Cornelius Allipide,
once told this story
of Thomas Aquinas,
a 13th century theologian.
He says,
one day,
he was visiting,
Thomas Aquinas,
was visiting Pope
Innocent IV
while the Pope
was in the middle
of counting
an enormous sum
of money
in front of him.
Upon seeing Aquinas,
Innocent referenced
this verse
and quipped,
You see, Thomas,
the church
can no longer say
silver and gold
have I none
with some measure
of pride
in his voice.
To which Thomas Aquinas
replied,
True Holy Father,
but neither can she
now say
rise up and walk.
A church
that offers people
silver and gold
but has no power
to restore them
is a travesty.
A church
that depends
on earthly riches
and earthly means
to accomplish
earthly purposes
but has no spiritual
power to accomplish
God's heavenly purposes
is a tragic failure.
Instead of crowing
about the church's
great wealth,
Pope Innocent IV
should have been
weeping
at its loss
of spiritual
authority and power.
Often those things,
those two things
are inversely related.
The more earthly power
and means we have,
the more we depend
on them
and not on
God's power
which makes us
spiritually impotent.
We're not a big church
with great means.
we can't pay off
people's mortgages
like some churches do.
We can't host
big conferences
and festivals
but I pray to God
that he would make us
a church
with spiritual power.
When Peter says
rise up and walk
the result is immediate.
It says in verses
seven to eight
and Peter took him
by the right hand
and raised him up
and immediately
his feet and ankles
were made strong
and leaping up
he stood
and began to walk
and entered the temple
with him
walking and leaping
and praising God.
This kind of thing
didn't happen regularly
in the ancient world
and it's not like
the people in the ancient world
were just more gullible.
A cripple being healed
is verifiable.
It's quite obvious
whether it's happened
or not.
That's why he says
later in verses
nine to ten
all the people
saw the formerly
layman walking
and praising God
and recognized him
as the one
who sat at the
beautiful gate
of the temple
asking for arms
and they were filled
with wonder
and amazement
at what had happened
to him.
So people are doing
double takes here
at this formerly
layman.
How is it?
Wait, isn't that the guy
that was begging
in front of the temple?
I've seen him for years.
How is he now
inside the temple
jumping around
and praising God?
And Luke,
remember he's
the author of this book,
is a doctor,
a physician by trade.
And the words
that he uses here
for ankle and feet
are technical medical terms
that are never used
in scripture beside here.
It's something
that only Luke
could have written.
It's like saying,
you know,
immediately his talus
and tibia and fibula
were made strong.
It's like technical terms.
I don't even know
what they are.
I knew when I looked it up
when I looked it up.
And Luke,
as a physician,
understands well
that this kind of thing
doesn't just happen.
From the ancient world
to the modern age,
people who are lame
from birth
have been considered
beyond healing.
Hippocrates,
the 5th century B.C.
Greek physician,
often called
the father of medicine,
lists lameness
as an incurable condition
in his book
on diseases.
The renowned
2nd century A.D.
Roman physician Galen
wrote,
some things
are naturally impossible
and the healing god
Asclepius
does not attempt
these things at all
but chooses from among
the possible
what is best to be done.
People in the ancient world
knew well,
just as well as we do,
that lame people
do not start walking
and yet that is exactly
what happened
by the power of God.
And like a man
who doesn't quite know
the new strength
that he now has
in his feet,
this man puts some weight
on his feet
and then he leaps up
from the ground.
And the verb leap,
which is repeated
twice in verse 8,
is the same word
that's used
in the Greek translation
of the prophecy
in Isaiah 35 verse 6,
which says that
when the glory of the Lord
is revealed
and when God's people
are restored to Zion
in the last days,
it says,
then shall the lame man
leap like a deer
and the tongue
of the mute
sing for joy.
So Jesus,
the promised messianic king,
fulfilled this prophecy
during his earthly ministry
and now through his apostles
as the prophetic heirs
of Jesus' ministry,
the apostles are continuing
to do the same work
and making the lame
leap like a deer.
This is a clear demonstration
of the powerful name
of Jesus.
The same power
of the Holy Spirit
now resides in us
and we are called
to demonstrate
this powerful name
of Jesus
in our lives.
Do you trust
that God can
and will demonstrate
his power
in you
and through you?
John Wimber
was a self-described
quote,
beer-guzzling,
drug-abusing
pop musician,
a pianist
and singer
for the Righteous Brothers,
two of whose members
were eventually inducted
to the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame.
But more importantly,
John Wimber
was converted
at the age of 29
quote,
while chain-smoking
his way
through a Quaker-led
Bible study.
After his conversion,
Wimber had a voracious
appetite for the scriptures
and spent many hours
poring over
especially the gospel accounts
of the life
and ministry of Jesus.
And when he and his wife
Carol visited a church
early in his spiritual journey,
John approached the pastor
after the service
and asked him,
hey, so when do we
do the stuff?
To which the pastor
replied,
the stuff.
What's the stuff?
You know,
John continued,
the stuff in the Bible.
Like healing the sick,
casting out demons,
the stuff.
Oh,
the well-meaning
but mistaken pastor
replied,
oh, we don't do the stuff.
We believe they did it
back in biblical days,
but we don't do it today.
With a rather confused
look on his face,
John thought to himself,
well,
and I gave up drugs
for this?
This is his own telling.
I'm not making stuff up here.
And many of us,
like that pastor,
we rationalize away
our disobedience
when scripture commands us
to pray for healing.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12,
27 to 28,
now you are the body of Christ
and individually members of it,
and God has appointed
in the church
first apostles,
second prophets,
third teachers,
then miracles,
then gifts of healing,
helping,
administrating
in various kinds of tongues.
The apostles,
prophets,
and teachers
are ordered numerically,
first,
second,
and third,
because that's the usual order
by which God establishes churches.
First,
apostles are sent out
into new areas
where the gospel
has not been proclaimed,
and then the prophets
and their close associates,
evangelists,
mentioned together
in Ephesians 4, 11,
they reveal God's will
and proclaim
the good news
of Jesus Christ.
And then teachers
and their close associates,
shepherds,
also mentioned
in Ephesians 4, 11,
they teach and guide people
in the whole counsel of God.
But these are not
the only gifts
that God gives
to the church.
God also gives miracles,
gifts of healing,
helping,
administrating.
This verse
hopefully reorients us
because we tend to think
of helping
and administrating
as ordinary,
mundane gifts,
but according to Scripture,
they are just as much
gifts of the Holy Spirit
as miracles
and gifts of healing.
They are spiritual gifts.
But not only that,
we tend to expect
gifts of helping
and administrating
in the church.
Oh, she has
the gift of help,
he has the gift
of administrating.
But we don't tend
to expect miracles
and gifts of healing.
And that's unbiblical too.
God continues
to give these gifts
to the church
and we see
many such signs
and wonders
throughout the book
of Acts.
Even if you don't play
any video games,
you probably know
something about
the classic
Super Mario Brothers
arcade game.
You guys know
what I'm talking about?
Yeah.
Daniel.
So normally,
normally Mario
needs to take care
not to touch
the animals
that come out
of the sewer.
but when the star power,
you guys know
what I'm talking about,
enters Mario,
right?
He becomes
invulnerable
to these enemies,
right?
And so,
when that happens,
you know,
Mario has powers
that he could never
otherwise dream
of wielding.
And it would be
a waste
of that star power
if Mario
continues to move around
and jump around
and run away
from these sewer animals
while he had
the star power.
I almost feel
irreverent
using such a trivial
illustration
to describe
something so magnificent.
But Christians
have been
permanently indwelled
by the spirit
of the living God.
We have access
to the power
of the God
who created
the cosmos.
And yet,
so many of us
live powerless lives
and act like
our lives
are no different
from when
we didn't know
the Lord Jesus,
from when we
didn't have
the spirit of God
indwelling us,
and that's
not right.
Brothers and sisters,
let's live
according to
what scripture
says is the reality.
And let scripture
dictate what we seek
and not our experience.
Keep in step
with the Holy Spirit.
Let's not demean
the spirit's power
by expecting
so little of him
and pray to be
filled more
with the Holy Spirit
and use his power
and believe that
God will powerfully
use us
to proclaim
his good news
and to demonstrate
his good news
by doing good works.
But note well
that the healing
is not the end
of the story.
It's only the beginning.
Look at verse 8
with me.
The previously lame man
knowing that he was
a beneficiary
of a powerful work
of God,
he doesn't go home.
Instead,
it says he enters
the temple
with Peter and John
walking and leaping
and praising God.
This is a picture
of this man's
spiritual restoration.
As we see
in John 9,
1-2,
there was a stigma
against people
who were disabled
from birth.
Jews assumed
that some terrible sin
must have been committed
by his parents
or someone else
to make someone
be born with
deformities
or disabilities.
And Leviticus 21,
18 stipulated
concerning priests
that no one
who has a blemish
shall draw near,
a man blind
or lame,
or one who has
a mutilated face
or limb too long.
This commandment,
which was intended
to communicate
the holiness of God,
the perfections of God,
applied only to priests
who were offering sacrifices
and it didn't prevent
lame people
from entering
the temple in general.
However,
later,
extra-biblical
Jewish traditions
that developed
and the collection
of Jewish legal writings
known as the Mishnah
did explicitly
prevent
lame people
from entering
the temple.
They were allowed
in the temple complex
but not inside
the temple proper.
And so then
this man,
lame from birth,
had been begging
daily at the gate
of the temple
for what is likely
decades
but never able
to enter
into the temple
to offer
the burnt offering,
to pray.
And after being healed,
where else does he go
but straight
into the temple
with Peter and John
walking
and leaping
and praising God.
that's what's possible
by the powerful name
of Jesus.
And that brings me
to my second point.
We should not only
demonstrate
but also proclaim
this name
of Jesus.
Later in Acts chapter 4
verse 22,
Luke calls
the healing
of the lame man
a sign of healing.
There's a reason
why the Bible
consistently
calls such miracles
signs.
It's because
they signify something.
Because they point
to something
of the person
and work
of Jesus Christ,
the gospel,
the saving news
of Jesus Christ.
To fixate
on the sign
and not on Jesus
is like being
too busy
staring at the sign
on the highway
that you actually
missed your exit.
The sign is there
to point you
in the right direction,
not to distract you.
And that's exactly
what Peter does
in the following verses.
He brings the attention,
the focus
to Jesus.
It says in verses
11 to 12,
while he clung
to Peter and John,
all the people
utterly astounded
ran together to them
in the portico
called Solomon's.
And when Peter saw it,
he addressed the people.
Men of Israel,
why do you wonder
at this?
Or why do you stare
at us?
As though by our own
power or piety
we have made him walk.
The formerly lay man
clung to Peter and John
and all the people,
he says.
And noticing this healed man,
people flock
to Peter and John.
The portico
is basically
an extended porch.
It has a roof,
but it's a colonnade.
It's open on the sides,
but it has a roof
on the top.
It offers shelter
from the elements,
but because it wasn't
completely enclosed,
it could accommodate
a lot of people,
large crowds.
And seeing an opportunity
to proclaim the gospel here,
Peter addresses the crowd,
but the first thing
he says is,
why do you wonder
at this?
Why do you stare at us
as though by our own
power or piety
we have made him walk?
The healing of a man
lame from birth
would be a wondrous thing
indeed if humans
by their own power
or piety did it.
That would be amazing.
But if God did it,
then it's nothing
to wonder about.
Our society is obsessed
with self-promotion
and celebrity.
But as Christians,
we have to take our cues
from Scripture
and not from the culture.
Instead of being preoccupied
with making much
of ourselves,
praising our athleticism,
praising our intellect,
our ingenuity,
our beauty,
our capability,
our righteousness,
our power,
our piety,
we ought to be preoccupied
with making much of God
in God's wisdom,
God's righteousness,
and God's mercy,
and God's power.
It would have been
so easy.
And I would have been
sorely tempted
if I were Peter and John
to bring attention
to myself.
Men of Israel,
well,
we do spend
quite a bit of time
praying every day.
I mean,
I did spend
several years
with Jesus.
But they don't do that.
they insist
that it's not
by their own power
or pie
that the lame man
was made to walk.
It's so beautiful
what they do
here.
Something I struggle
with in my own life.
We should have
this deep desire
desire to be hidden
behind the glory
of God
to bring all glory
to Him.
No matter how fine
an instrument
might be,
without a musician
to play it,
he cannot play
a single note
of music.
It's the musician
who deserves
the credit
for beautiful music.
Likewise,
though God
used Peter
and John
to heal
the lame man,
they are mere
instruments.
And it is God
who deserves
all the glory.
Peter then
explains
more specifically
in verses 13
and 15
that it was
by the power
of the name
of Jesus
that the lame man
was healed.
And he begins
by establishing
common ground
with his Jewish
brethren,
but then takes
a sharp torn Jesus.
He says,
the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob,
the God of our fathers,
glorified his servant
Jesus,
whom you delivered
over and denied
in the presence
of Pilate.
And when he had
decided to release him,
but you denied
the holy and righteous
one and asked
for a murderer
to be granted
to you,
and you killed
the author of life
whom God raised
from the dead.
To this,
we are witnesses.
The phrase
glorified his servant
is an allusion
to the servant songs
in the book of Isaiah.
In particular,
Isaiah 52,
verse 13,
to 53,
verse 12,
which is the only place
in the Old Testament
where those two words,
glorify and servant,
occur together,
are combined.
That passage begins
with God saying this,
Behold,
my servant
shall act wisely.
He shall be high
and lifted up
and shall be exalted
or glorified.
But the path
of this servant
of the Lord's glorification
goes through humiliation.
As it says
in the following verses
in Isaiah 53,
verses 3 to 5,
He was despised
and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief.
And as one
from whom men
hide their faces,
He was despised
and we esteemed Him not.
Surely He has borne
our griefs
and carried our sorrows,
yet we esteemed Him
stricken,
smitten by God
and afflicted.
But He was pierced
for our transgressions.
He was crushed
for our iniquities.
Upon Him
was the chastisement
that brought us peace
and with His wounds
we are healed.
The glorious Son of God,
the heir of God Almighty,
humbled Himself
by taking the form
of a servant,
being born in the likeness
of man
and being found
in human form,
He humbled Himself
by becoming obedient
to death,
even death on a cross,
and therefore God
exalted Him
to the highest place
above every name.
This is the beautiful paradox
of the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
And note the contrast
between the actions
of God on the one hand
and the actions
of the Jews
on the other
in verses 13 to 15.
God glorified
His servant Jesus,
but you delivered Him
over and denied Him,
despite the fact
that even Pilate
wanted to release Him.
You killed the author
of life,
but God raised Him
from the dead.
He whom God Himself
honored and glorified,
the Holy and Righteous One,
we mere humans,
delivered over
to die on the cross
like a piece of trash,
like a low-life criminal.
He whom God Himself
chose and anointed,
we denied Him.
He whom God
would raise from the dead,
we by our sins
killed Him.
How dare we?
And yet,
that's what we did.
And the Holy One
and Righteous One
are both titles
that are given to God
throughout the Old Testament,
especially in the book of Isaiah.
And interestingly,
both of those terms
are also used
to refer to the promised Messiah.
Isaiah 53, 11 says,
By His knowledge
shall the Righteous One,
My servant,
make many
to be accounted righteous,
and He shall bear
their iniquities.
It's precisely because
Jesus is the Righteous One
that He's able to make us
to be accounted righteous.
If He were guilty of sin
and deserving of death
like we are,
His death would have been
insignificant and inefficacious.
But because the innocent one
died in the place
of guilty sinners,
because the righteous one
died in the place
of the unrighteous,
our penalty is paid
and we are counted righteous.
Instead of the death
that we deserved,
we receive life eternal
because we killed
the author of life,
the source of life Himself.
But God raised Him
from the dead.
The word translated
author here,
we saw this earlier
in the assurance of pardon
from Hebrews 12
when it describes Jesus
as the founder
of our faith.
It's the same word,
the author of our faith.
We see that in Hebrews 2, 10 as well,
the founder
or the author of salvation.
Later in Acts 5, 31,
the same word is translated
as leader
to refer to Jesus
as the one who leads
the charge.
Jesus is the one
who initiates.
He's the author
and the pioneer
of our salvation and faith.
This is why later
in Acts 26, 23,
Paul calls Jesus
the first to rise
from the dead.
Jesus is the firstborn
from the dead
who imparts eternal life
to those who follow
in His footsteps.
That's how He is
the pioneer of life,
the author of life.
And it's by the name
of this glorified servant Jesus
that the lame man
was healed.
Look at what Peter says
in verse 16.
And His name,
by faith in His name,
has made this man strong
whom you see and know.
And the faith
that is through Jesus
has given the man
this perfect health
in the presence of you all.
Just as the person
and work of Jesus Christ
is the grounds
for our forgiveness of sins,
the person and work
of Jesus Christ
is also the grounds
for our healing
from sickness.
Matthew 8, 16-17
make precisely this point
by quoting from
the Servant Song of Isaiah.
That evening,
they brought to Him
many who were oppressed
by demons,
and He cast out the spirits
with a word
and He healed all
who were sick.
This was to fulfill
what was spoken
by the prophet Isaiah.
He took our illnesses
and bore our diseases.
This is a paraphrase
or a loose citation
of Isaiah 53, verse 5,
where it says,
by His wounds
we are healed.
Sin, sickness, and death
are wrapped up together
and are all characteristics
of a fallen creation
that is groaning for redemption.
And the life, death,
and resurrection of Jesus
is the basis for healing.
So Peter is here
calling his audience
to faith in Jesus.
You seem quite enthusiastic
about this sign of healing,
but you were not so enthused
about Jesus last month
when you killed Him.
But it is precisely
by the name of this same Jesus
that you killed
that this healing
has taken place.
And this miracle
is proof that Jesus
has been raised from the dead
and is ascended to the heaven
as the Lord over all.
And now you must turn to Him
and trust Him for salvation.
That's the main point
of Peter's sermon
in Luke 3 and 4,
Acts 3 and 4.
The powerful name of Jesus
must be believed in
and appropriated by faith.
Peter emphasized that,
and His name,
by faith in His name.
And the faith that is through Jesus
has given this man
perfect health.
Faith was the means
by which the power of Christ
was appropriated
for healing.
Most likely here,
it's the faith of the lame man
that is intended,
not the faith of Peter and John.
This is confirmed later
in Acts chapter 14,
verses 8 to 10,
by another very similar account
of healing.
There Paul encounters
a lame man
who was crippled from birth
and had never walked.
And it says,
Paul, looking intently at him
and seeing that he had faith
to be made well,
said in a loud voice,
stand upright on your feet.
And he sprang up
and began walking.
Paul perceived prophetically
that this lame man
had faith to be healed.
And Peter may have had
similar insight.
We don't know.
It doesn't tell us.
But the point Peter is making
when he says that faith
in his name has made
this man strong
is that just as this lame man
was healed by putting
his faith in Jesus,
you too should put your faith
in Jesus' name.
If Peter were pointing out
the great faith that he had
that enabled him
to heal this man,
it would contradict the spirit
of what he just said
in verse 12.
When he said,
Men of Israel,
why do you wonder at this
or why do you stare at us
as though by our own power
or piety we have made him walk?
It was not Peter's power
or piety that made
this man walk.
Peter's faith is assumed.
In fact,
we can't sincerely pray
for God's healing
unless we have faith
that God can heal.
It's not a remarkable thing
for Christians to believe
that God can heal.
After all,
we believe in the God
who raises the dead.
It's the lame man's faith
that is in view.
Peter commanded the cripple
to rise up and walk
in the name of Jesus,
but the name of Jesus
is not some incantation
or magical formula
that affixed to an end
of a sentence
to make things happen.
The cripple would have
received no healing
had he not responded
in faith to what Peter said
by putting weight on his feet
and standing up.
Faith is important.
This role of faith
is helpfully illustrated
in the Gospel of Mark.
In Mark chapter 9,
the father of a boy
who is demon-possessed
and is having seizures,
he asks Jesus,
if you can do anything,
have compassion on us
and help us.
To which Jesus replies,
if you can,
all things are possible
for one who believes.
And now here,
Jesus is not talking
about his faith.
He's not saying,
all things are possible
for me because I believe.
No, he's saying,
telling the boy's father
to believe
because he's not satisfied
with if you can
because that's not exactly
a vote of confidence.
He says,
if you can,
of course I can.
All things are possible
for one who believes.
Jesus is challenging
the father of the child
to have greater faith,
which is why the father
responds by saying,
I believe.
Help my unbelief.
And Jesus immediately
casts the demon out.
Now contrast that
with Jesus' interaction
with the leper
in Mark 1, 40 to 42.
The leper comes to him
imploring him
and he says,
if you will,
you can make me clean.
Now that's a prayer of faith.
Not if you can,
but if you will,
you can.
So Jesus' response to him
is very different.
He says,
move to pity.
Jesus stretched out his hand
and touched him
and said to him,
I will be clean.
When it comes to Jesus'
power to heal,
it's not a question of ability,
but a question of willingness.
This is why at the end
of Matthew 13, 53, 58,
it says that Jesus did not
do many mighty works there
because of their unbelief.
Because these miracles
are supposed to be signs
that point to Jesus,
Jesus doesn't perform
these miracles
for people who have no faith,
for people who are not
interested genuinely
in believing in him,
but are simply looking
to use him like a genie
in a bottle.
But we have to take care
not to use this
to bludgeon Christians
who have genuine faith
in Christ
and earnestly seek healing
yet are not healed.
Because there are people
like that.
We have people like that
in our church.
We shouldn't blame them
for not having enough faith
to be healed
because that's a totally
different situation.
God doesn't heal
every bodily ailment.
Even the Apostle Paul
who was used by God
to heal many,
says in Galatians chapter 4,
12 to 20,
that he had a bodily ailment
that he was afflicted with
that the Galatian believers
had to attend to.
He also mentions
a thorn was given him
in the flesh
in 2 Corinthians 12.
We don't know exactly
what this thorn in the flesh is,
but most people speculate
that it was some kind
of bodily ailment
because he describes it
as something that's
in the flesh.
But the fact that God
does not heal everyone
should not make us
stop praying for healing.
In the same way,
the fact that God
does not save everyone
should not make us
stop praying for people's salvation.
As John Wimber used to say,
I'd rather pray for
1,000 people,
even if only one gets healed,
than not to pray for any
and none gets healed.
And please note that,
and I thought this might be helpful
for us as we're
talking about
it's getting into
people getting vaccinated
and whatnot.
I'm not saying that
by saying we should pray
for healing
that God
doesn't use other means.
God does use medicines
and doctors
to bring healing as well.
1 Timothy 5.23
where Paul
enjoins Timothy
says,
no longer drink only water
but use a little wine
for the sake of your stomach
and your frequent ailments.
Paul's telling Timothy,
hey,
you have stomach ailments
from drinking
unclean water.
It's okay to drink
some wine
from time to time.
In fact,
Paul traveled
on his missionary journeys
with a doctor
named Luke.
And in Joshua 5.10-12
after the Israelites
finally crossed the wilderness
and entered the promised land,
they celebrate the Passover
and it says there,
the day after the Passover,
on that very day,
they ate of the produce
of the land,
unleavened cakes
and parched grain.
And the manna seized
the day after they ate
of the produce of the land.
And there was no longer manna
for the people of Israel,
but they ate of the fruit
of the land of Canaan
that year.
This is because
God can provide
supernaturally
by raining bread
from heaven
as He did for the Israelites
when they were in the wilderness,
but He can also provide
naturally
by raining rain
from heaven
so that they can farm
and produce fruits
that they could eat.
And God deserves
the credit for both.
Whether you make
the blind see
by the miraculous power
of God
or make the blind see
by doing cataract surgeries
on people's eyes,
using the knowledge
that God has granted you
in the means of healing
that God has embedded
in the principles of nature,
you're both doing good work
and you can do it
for His glory.
To use a recent example
that might be on your mind,
God can protect you
and heal you
supernaturally
from COVID.
There's no question
about that.
but God can also
protect you
by using people
that He has given
knowledge and insight to
in order to develop vaccines.
There's nothing wrong
with using these human means
provided that the vaccines
were not developed
or procured
through immoral means.
With all that said,
we still need to ask ourselves
where our ultimate trust lies.
In our part of the world,
it's easy to idolize science
and human intelligence
and put our faith in them.
The popular slogan,
science will win,
captures the sentiment.
With all due respect,
science does not win.
Every doctor gets sick.
Every scientist will die.
If not from COVID,
from something else.
It's Christ who wins
in the end.
Life and death
are ultimately
in God's hands,
not ours.
And this is very important
for us to remember.
There is a difference
between trusting God
to provide through people
and trusting people
in the place of God.
And lastly,
we must remember
the priority of proclaiming
the name of Jesus Christ.
Return with me to verse 16.
Note that it's not our faith
in and of itself
that heals us,
but it's the name of Jesus,
His person,
His power,
His authority
that heals us.
The sentence in the Greek
is even more awkward
than the way it is in English.
It literally says,
by faith in His name,
has the name made strong
this man whom you see and know.
It's almost like
Peter's taking special care
to not say
that it's our faith
that heals.
Jesus heals.
We merely appropriate
Jesus' power
through faith.
That's why we can never
boast of our faith
and never take credit
for healing
with our faith.
This is why Peter
is careful to add
at the end of verse 16,
and the faith that is
through Jesus
has given the man
this perfect health
in the presence of you all.
Even faith in the end
originates from Jesus.
Jesus is the author
and perfecter of our faith.
He's not only
the object of our faith,
He's also the origin,
the source of our faith.
So it's from beginning
to the end,
it's all of Him.
The main point
of this passage
is not Peter's power
or piety,
nor is it the lame man's faith,
nor is it the importance
of signs and wonders
in the ministry
of the church.
The main point
of this passage
is the powerful name
of Jesus.
The healing
is a sign
that points to Jesus
because He is the basis
not only for our
miraculous healings,
but also our salvation
and eternal life.
As I've said before,
sin is a spiritual disease
with a hundred percent
fatality rate.
Every single person,
young and old,
weak and strong,
dies when infected
by sin.
And sin is unsurpassed
as an infectious disease.
Once the disease spreads
to multiple continents
throughout the globe,
it's declared a pandemic.
Sin is a perpetual pandemic
that infects
every single human being.
And there is no human vaccine,
no medicine,
that avails against it.
Every single one of us
will die and perish forever
apart from divine intervention.
There's salvation
in no one else but Jesus,
for there is no other name
under heaven
given to mankind
by which we must be saved.
If you had an unlimited supply
of COVID vaccines,
would you not give it out
liberally?
Would you not tell
the whole world about it?
the flow of the blood of Jesus
which cleanses us from sin
is limitless.
And we are the people
whom God has sent
to share this good news
with the world.
So let's go in the name of Jesus.
Command people
not only to rise up and walk,
but also tell them
repent and be forgiven.
Please take a moment
to reflect on this message.
what is the Holy Spirit
particularly pointing out
to you from this passage?
What is He
convicting you of in your heart?
Spend a few times
on your own
praying through that
and then we'll respond
by praying corporately
out loud together.
And
don't
come to this
or
ask
who
I
are
who
are
you
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