[1]
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth
hour. [2] 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. [3] Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he
asked to receive alms. [4] And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and
said, “Look at us.” [5] And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to
receive something from them. [6] 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!” [7] And he took him by
the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made
strong. [8] And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple
with them, walking and leaping and praising God. [9] And all the people saw him
walking and praising God, [10] 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.
[11]
While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran
together to them in the portico called Solomon's. [12] 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? [13]
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. [14] But you denied the
Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, [15] and
you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are
witnesses. [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.
[17]
“And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your
rulers. [18] But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his
Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. [19] Repent therefore, and turn back,
that your sins may be blotted out, [20] that times of refreshing may come from
the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you,
Jesus, [21] 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. [22]
Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your
brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. [23] And it shall
be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from
the people.’ [24] And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those
who came after him, also proclaimed these days. [25] You are the sons of the
prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to
Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’
[26] God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by
turning every one of you from your wickedness.” (Acts 3 ESV)
OUTLINE
OF ACTS 3
(i)
A
miracle is performed in the Name of
Jesus (3:1 – 10)
(ii)
A
message expounds the name of Jesus (3:11 – 26)
1.
A MIRACLE IS PERFORMED IN THE NAME OF JESUS
Peter and John are on their way to a 3 p.m. prayer meeting at the temple, when
they come across this beggar at the temple gate called “Beautiful”.
Note
the location
where the beggar sits. He sat at the entrance of the temple gate, with people
passing by on their way to prayer. It was a good, lucrative spot to sit and beg. The people’s consciences were soft.
This raises a profound question. Why this picture of a human wretch
at the beautiful temple gate?
Surely this is ironic.
Why is the world like this?
Why do we daily read in newspapers & see on T.V. ‘s such terrible accounts of
human misery and suffering.
Does God care?
And
to add injury to insult, consider
the plight of this man. By God’s law
in Leviticus 21:16 – 20, being a man with a blemish he was shut out from the temple! There was no wheel chair ramp to the temple!
There was no provision made for the disabled in the O.T. economy! This man would have known all about that! Is
God indifferent to the sufferings of such people?
We shall seek to answer this question
later.
Vv. 4
&5 :
Peter and John did not avoid the crippled
beggar at the gate. Peter said to him: “Look at
us!”
He did not ignore him.
He made eye contact.
He got the man’s attention.
He gave him a command.
In v. 6 we find Peter’s famous quote :
“ 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!”
Cash, compassion and care can only
lend temporary relief to this man’s suffering. But it cannot solve his
ultimate problem. What the man needs is
to be helped in a significant way. But nobody can be humanly helped in that
condition, except a miracle should happen to him.
He would need Jesus (the Creator of his
body) to deal with Him!
At
this point I want to remind you of something
important ! If
all that the Christian gospel can offer us of in the light of this world’s suffering is that we should be good Samaritans, and
attempt our best to give cash,
compassion and care, then we do not have much of a gospel! Christianity
is much more than good works. If Christianity were simply good works , it would be no different from
other religions, and it would fall short
of what Jesus came to do for the world. Good works alone robs the Christian gospel of its power!
The gospel is much, much bigger than
cash, care and compassion.
The essence of the Christian gospel is not
primarily about human care, compassion and cash – important as that might be ! The
essence of the Christian gospel is so to present Jesus to people, that they
might look at Him and that He might deal with them in ultimate
terms.
Peter said in effect, “I don’t have cash, but I have
Jesus”… “In the
Name of Jesus – the Messiah from
Nazareth – walk!”
The
essence of our witness is to present Jesus to sinful, broken people!
What
do we see then as Jesus is presented in this manner? We see a real miracle! Here was a man who was
crippled from birth (3:2).
He had never walked!
But now, we see
that the man’s feet and ankles instantly
grew strong (3:7).
He jumped to his feet and he began to walk , and to jump and to praise God! (3:8). A true miracle!
But here is the greater miracle. He that
was never allowed into the temple would now be allowed to go in!
Now get this point. The real answer to this
man’s problem was not receiving a ‘miracle’. The problems of this
world are not going to be met by receiving
your miracle as the local faith healers would advertise. The answer is
neither in the miracle which he might receive or the
money which he may get. The true answer is Jesus! He was receiving Jesus . In the Name of JESUS, WALK! And he was going to do so much more than walking . He was praising God. He was giving glory to God! (3:9)
The stage is now for the sermon or explanation which Peter gives in reply.
2.
THE MESSAGE WHICH
EXPOUNDS THE NAME OF JESUS :
The people are astonished!
See Peter’s reply in v. 12! “Men of Israel why
does this surprise you?”
And immediately he addresses the issue that
the people are thinking about.
The people think that this has something to
do with Peter and John’s power.
The people’s focus is on the men, and not on the power that
moves these men.
But Peter says: “Don’t look at us! Look at God! Look at Jesus!” We are vehicles (means) , but the power
is of God (v. 13)
Why
has God done this outstanding miracle
through Peter and John?
V. 13 provides the answer.
God has wanted to glorify His Son Jesus in
this instance. God wanted to show the world
the other true nature of Jesus – the God - nature that was consistently resisted
by the Jews and their leaders !
As a result they had denied Him (3: 13,
14) and killed Him (3:15).
They thought that they had gotten rid of Him!
But God has raised Him from the dead! (3:15b) Truly Jesus’ name is glorified by
this!
The
healing is attributed to Jesus and more glory is brought to His name.
THE KEY
QUESTION ARISES NOW :
We marvel at the miraculous healing of this man.
But why do so many other people not get healed?
What was the purpose of this healing if all do not get healed ?
3:21
KEY VERSE TO THE QUESTION : "...
Jesus
is the Restorer of all things. Why not now and for all people at this time? Note that this healing is spoken of as in the future! Now the question again : Why does Jesus not heal everybody?
The plain answer is this : Because
the restoration has not taken place yet.
We are currently living in the time of sin and decay.
The perfect has not yet come (1 Cor. 13:10).
This
miracle is a sign of what is yet to be. It is a sign of the coming kingdom.
It is not yet normative. And so , even in Jesus day,
not all the sick, lame and diseased were healed. This is a preview concerning what shall yet be
(like a trailer to a movie)
But be assured: On the day when Jesus comes to restore all
things, not one will be blind.
There will be no lame and no cripples in the heavenly temple- sanctuary when Jesus restores all things!
Nobody will
enter God’s presence with any defects!
Do
you now understand the O.T. picture in Leviticus ? The temple foreshadows the
perfect place called heaven!
Joni
Eraeckson Tada,
the lady who became a quadriplegic through a swimming accident has been a
source of inspiration and encouragement to countless people through her books
and testimony. She has never been healed, even though at one time a special
‘healing meeting’ in her earlier days had been arranged. Joni says
this: “On resurrection day I will be on my feet dancing!”
Jinelle
Judd,
a
young member of our church in the
nineties, with extreme disability, is now with the LORD . On resurrection day she will receive
her perfect body – praising God with a clear tongue and clothed in her new resurrection body!)
What
is the problem today?
We want to create heaven on earth! We do not want to adhere to God’s
schedule. Only Jesus will create heaven
on earth.
This healing of the crippled beggar must not be expected as normative, it is a sign and a promise of the coming kingdom!
There is no doubt that the world needs to
be fixed.
The question is, who is going to do it?
Are faith healers going to do it?
Are people with kind deeds and cash going
to do it?
No, we can only bring temporary relief to
this world’s pain!
But we can bring Jesus to
people and people to Jesus , And when people believe and trust in Jesus they are
going to be fine for eternity. Even if He does not provide us with a miracle
for healing now, He will in time – in fact , in the time of the
resurrection, when He shall restore all
things.
It
will be a world in which there will be no disability
and no disease.
RESPONSE
NEEDED?
The Jews made a great mistake. They
despised the name of Jesus.
Peter is willing to grant them that they
did what they did in ignorance (3:17).
But ignorance is ultimately no excuse in a
law court. The soul that sins shall die. What recourse do they and we have?
REPENT! [19] Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, [20] that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you..."
Repentance is found in looking to Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.
Repent ! Stop the sin of trying to create heaven on earth for yourself now. It will not happen until the restoration. Will you be a part of Christ's new kingdom?
Repent! Stop the sin of refusing to listen to Jesus now.
Repent ! Look to Jesus now and forever , and know that He holds the real future
There is truly no
other name to trust in !
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