May it please God to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Acts of the Apostles and we'll read a word from chapter 9 and
verses 33 and 34 and 35. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter
9, reading verses 33, 34 and 35. And there he found a certain
man, this was Peter. And there he found a certain
man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years and was sick
of the palsy. And Peter said unto him, Aeneas,
Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. Arise and make thy bed. And he arose immediately. and
all that dwell at Lydda and Saron saw him and turned to the Lord. We should be very thankful to
know that we have a record in the Word of God of such a wonderful
occasion as this and also of course in this chapter the wonderful
conversion of the Apostle Paul. And what it shows to us and what
it proves to us is this. We have an all-powerful God. We should remember that this
all-powerful God is the same today that he was when he was
on the earth and that he always has been. from eternity past. We're told in the Hebrews, Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. And may we
realize that power belongeth unto God. And all of us, all
of us need to know in our own souls the wonderful blessed effect
of the power of God. Because if we do not know the
power of God in our souls, be very clear, we will never get
to heaven. And be very clear, we shall end
up in hell. It is therefore so vitally important
that we do know the power of God in our souls. That power which brings us from
a state of natural darkness into a state of blessed and eternal
light. Because once the light of God
has shone into our souls, It will never be extinguished. And it cannot be extinguished
because it is the work of God. And what God does is done forever. It's not something that fades
away. It's not something that disappears. It's that which remains. Well we have here in this few
verses, there are only a few verses about this person called
Aeneas. We don't know really anything
really about him apart from what is recorded here. So what do
we know? Well we know where he lived,
we know where he lived because we're told Peter passing through
all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at
Lydda. And he found there this man called
Aeneas. We should not pass this over
because we observe here what we term the sovereignty of God. There were no doubt many people
in this area. Many people who the Apostle had
passed through who were ill, were sick, needed healing, but
the Apostle was directed to this one person. And the effect of
this direction to this one person, and what it did was to prove
to be a blessing to many. We should never underestimate
the work of God. And so here we find in this account
that the Apostle Peter was directed to this certain man. Now let's
pause for a moment. Have you and I been a certain
man? Or a certain woman? Or a certain
child? A certain person? that God has
come to. We all need to know that in our
lives we have been a certain person, a person marked by God,
as a person that would be called by grace, a person that would
hear his voice, person that would be blessed indeed. So here we
have Peter then coming to this certain man and we're told he
wasn't naturally a healthy man, he'd been on a bed for eight
years, a long time isn't it, and he'd had palsy which means
that he was probably paralysed and he may have been indeed feeble,
he may have been feeble in his mine as well we're not told but
we are told that he'd been in his bed for eight years and was
sick of the palsy so he was a man that he couldn't get up from
his bed he'd been there for eight years and he was obviously a
very sad case and the apostle was directed to this man what
a blessing if the Holy Spirit directs his word to you and to
me, so that we become this man. The man that God will speak to.
Now, what did this man need? Well, he was sick. He needed
healing. What did the apostles say? There's no record of any other
words. He didn't waste his time and
it's good to observe this in the Word of God. You see there
was no, as you might say, introduction informing this man who he was
and no asking after how he was or telling him it was a nice
day or a wet day or whatever it was. Not at all. There was a message to deliver. There was a word to speak. And
again, it will be good in our lives when we don't waste our
time in words of no value, of no benefit, but that as the Holy
Spirit may help us and direct us and may we pray for it, that
we may be very direct and very concerned about one another's
soul's salvation. Well, that's a slight digression,
but nonetheless, here was Peter and he spoke these words, Jesus
Christ maketh thee whole, arise and make thy bed. It wasn't a
long statement, was it? It was a very simple statement,
but it was something that came from the Spirit of God because
it came in power and it was an effectual word. When I say that,
what I mean by that is the word had an effect. That's why it's
an effectual word. And that is the same today in
our spiritual life. When the Lord speaks an effectual
word, it does have an effect. Now, this word that came to this
man had an effect. But what was needed? Faith was required. in the heart
of this man to believe what the apostle had spoken to him. And how necessary faith is for
us today. We have the word of God, we have
the great truth of God, and we need faith, God-given faith,
to believe the truth of God's word. And as we may be given
faith to believe, then it is to obey the blessed word of God. Now remember here, the Apostle
Peter, he commenced in a very right and a very glorious way. How was that? Jesus Christ. How important. How necessary,
how wonderful, when you and I are directed to Jesus Christ. We must be. We must be. It's so important that you and
I are directed to Jesus Christ. Well, no doubt we've all sat
and heard the preaching of the Gospel, but have we been directed
to Jesus Christ? The answer is yes. Have we heard
the word speaking to our soul? The answer may be yes. The answer
may be no. But it is so wonderful if the
Holy Spirit comes and speaks into our heart, Jesus Christ. You see, we've read together
in the beginning of this chapter about the Apostle Paul. And the
Apostle Paul was doing that which was completely opposite to what
a believer would do. He was really enmity with God. He hated the Lord Jesus Christ. But there came a time a set time,
a particular time, to the very moment and second when the Apostle
Paul, or as he was called here, Saul of Tarsus, would be stopped. Stopped. Yes, he was going about his business,
but God had determined that this very moment, Paul, the Apostle,
would be stopped. Again, what a blessing if in
our lives the Holy Spirit has come and stopped us, perhaps
from saying something, perhaps from doing something, perhaps
from turning away from God. and the Holy Spirit has come.
And it came to the apostle, and it came in this way, and there
was a great light shone around about him, and he fell to the
earth. He fell down under that great
light. He fell down. What a mercy if
you and I have fallen down before God. Fallen down. Now we've been proud, wretched,
hell deserving sinner, just like the apostle. And then the Lord
has come and before him, we've fallen down. And what happened? Well, he heard a voice from heaven. The Lord still speaks today into
our hearts, into our hearts. And it is important that we hear
the voice of the Savior speaking to us. Look back in your life
this morning. Try and find when Jesus spoke
to you. And if you look back in your
mind and can't find anything, well, plead to God Most High,
urgently, that He will look upon you and speak to your soul. When the Lord came and He spoke
to Saul, He said, Why persecutest thou me? And we must realize
that all of us persecute God by nature until the Lord comes
and touches our heart. And what did Paul say? Who art
thou Lord? He didn't know. Who art thou
Lord? The Lord said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks and I believe what the apostle was telling us there
was that his conscience had pricked him many times as your conscience
pricked you many times to show you that you're not doing
the will of God and that conscience is pricked
and you're disobeying it you're following your own way well Bless
God if the time has come when the Holy Spirit directs the word
into our hearts. And it had a blessed effect upon
the apostle. And what did it do? Well, first
of all, it changed him. And from being a proud man, he became trembling and astonished. And he came willing to do God's
will. And he came saying, Lord, what
wilt thou have me to do? And what did the Lord say? Arise. Just like Peter spoke here to
this man, Aeneas. When he came and said to him,
Jesus Christ maketh thee whole, arise. It's a great mercy for us today
if God has spoken to us with such a powerful word, Arise. And we've heard that word and
we've been given faith to obey that command because it was a
command. And so the Apostle and the Lord
said to him, Arise. Go into the city, and it shall
be told thee what thou must do." Well, you see, the apostle was
blessed with a willing spirit, and he obeyed the voice of the
spirit. And we know, of course, that
the Lord was wonderfully with the apostle, blessed him gloriously. He had to suffer greatly for
his master's sake. He did it willingly. So we come
back to Aeneas. Again, the Apostle Peter now
saying, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole, arise and make thy bed. What a word it was. What a word
of direction. This man, eight years with this
infirmity but now the time of deliverance had come. When God blesses, when God speaks,
it is a word with power, and as I said, a word that has an
effect. It had an effect in the life
of Saul of Tarsus, And it had an effect in the life of this
man. And what a good thing if you
and I can find the effect of the Word of God in our hearts. Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. Arise and make thy bed. And what
did he do? Did he doubt the Word of God?
Did he question the Word of God? Did he think, well, what is this? Who is this speaking? What's
he saying? Don't forget the initial words. Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. It wasn't Peter. Peter had no
ability. And Peter didn't want to claim
any glory himself. But he spoke in this very clear
way, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. Now, this of course was
in a physical way, but all of us need it in a spiritual way. We need to be made spiritually
whole. We need to be healed from the
wounds of sin which they made in our heart, the wounds of sin. Perhaps they're deep wounds.
You see, sin is so powerful, it's so terrible, and how it
wounds us so deeply. And it's a blessing when the
Holy Spirit moves us to realise it is His work which has revealed
to us our need of healing. Because without being healed,
Without being made well, without being made whole, we shall be
lost. We shall be lost. Real religion
is very clear. It's very important. There are
no doubts about it. And my friends, you won't get
to heaven unless you have the evidence of the blessed work
of the Spirit in your heart. Oh, pray for it, seek for it,
and if you received it, bless God for it. Praise God for what
He's done to such an unworthy, wretched, hell-deserving sinner,
black sinner. When the Holy Spirit works, you
don't look around and think, well I'm not too bad. The Holy
Spirit shows us we are very bad. The Apostle Paul came to say
he was the chief of sinners. What a mercy when the Holy Spirit
shows that to you and me. The chief of sinners. Yes, and
then, we are then, what are we? We are destitute. We need to
be made whole. And we can rejoice in the blessed
work of the Savior, because it's only through His death that you
and I can be made whole. We cannot make ourself whole.
We need to be made whole. And this is the only way. Jesus
Christ maketh thee whole. Well, this
morning we've come here to chapel to hear the Word of God and my
friends, I pray the Holy Spirit may speak to our hearts with divine power which it is. And it's that power from on high
which applies the Word of God to our souls. And if that has
occurred, then what has occurred is this, we've become a new creature. We're a changed person. The Apostle
Paul was a changed person. This man Aeneas was a changed
person because what was he able to do? He was told to arise and
arise and make thy bed and he arose. Immediately, immediately,
the work of the Holy Spirit was done. He was made whole. What a blessing for us today,
if we indeed are made whole. Now, what had occurred here? The Lord God Almighty had sent
His Word through The Apostle Peter had sent his word. He was healed by the word of
God. And still the same today, you
and I are spiritually made whole by the word of God. As the blessed word of God is
spoken into our hearts, and it does that for you and me, which
we could not do for ourselves. What a wonderful thing it is
that you and I can't give ourselves salvation. It won't matter how
fervent we are in an outward profession of religion. Without
being possessors of the grace of God, we shall be eternally
lost. But if we are possessors, of
the grace of God we are eternally safe because we have been saved
by that which the Lord Jesus has done when he died in our
place to satisfy the holy demands of the word of God to cleanse
our souls because we were unable to keep the law of God. We utterly
failed and therefore we were guilty and therefore we were
due condemnation. We were due to be cast into hell
forever, to be cast out of his sight. We needed a saviour, someone
who could come and deliver us from that awful state of condemnation. Well, bless God today for the
glorious words of the gospel. As the apostle spoke when he
wrote to the Romans, when he said, there is therefore now,
here is a now. No condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. There's the difference. There's
the evidence of life within. Walking after the Spirit. Obeying the Word of God. Arising as the Apostle did. Arising as this man did. He didn't stay there. No, he
arose. That was the command God had
given. through the Apostle. And he did
arise. The Apostle tells us, I can do
all things through Christ that strengthens me. And here was
that strength given to Ineos to get up from his bed and to
make it. He received strength. The Apostle
Paul receive strength to get up from the ground. And may you
and I receive spiritual strength to arise. What it really means
is this. We were spiritually dead. But when we received the life
of God in our souls, we were spiritually alive and therefore
we didn't remain in the dead condition. We arose! Arose from
that spiritual state of deadness into that blessed state of life. So we have this, here then, set
before us, and he arose immediately. It's a lovely word, isn't it?
How backward we are, perhaps, in obeying the Word of God. Now back where we are perhaps
in hearing his word and doing that which we are told. Well
this man, he arose immediately. You know the apostle Paul, he
did that immediately. We live in a sad day, don't we?
When there is such an evil heart of unbelief. So many people disbelieve
the blessed word of God. May we not be numbered amongst
those, but may we receive what these
two men received, faith to believe. And the effect of that blessed
faith was an immediate reaction. And so he arose immediately. What a mercy today. If you and
I are found perhaps in this condition of needing spiritual healing and by the grace of God the Lord
speaks into our hearts and we are healed as we view the healing
virtue and the necessity of being under the blessed sin-atoning
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth
from all sin. However bad you and I may be,
however sinful, however wretched, however undone, remember these
words, written the same, Jesus Christ His blood cleanseth us
from all sin. And if you and I are under that
blood, my friends, we are made whole. Yes, we are complete in Him. We're resting upon His work,
upon His righteousness. We're justified through His death. We stand complete in Him. Well, this morning, do we rejoice,
therefore, in a risen Saviour? Do we rejoice in that risen power
of God which has come into our heart and enabled us to arise? And He arose immediately. Now, how often did the Lord speak
to his people. We read in the 107th Psalm these
words, he sent his word and healed them. Don't expect some wonderful
vision, but do expect God to speak to your heart. Do expect
to have the evidence of the Lord speaking to you and directing
you. And wonderful thing isn't it,
if you and I perhaps are like this poor man, Perhaps we've
been afflicted, as it were, for many years in our soul. There may have been darkness,
sickness, illness, and we don't seem to have been able to make
any progress in the things of God at all. But, if we hear the glorious
words of the Saviour, speaking to our heart, the Word with divine
power, Speaking such words as this arise arise Remember that
was spoken to the bride of Christ arise my fair one and come away
What a mercy When the Holy Spirit therefore
gives us ears to hear or spiritual ears to hear The good news of
the gospel that we may arise and come away, that means come
away from all our disbelieving heart. The devil endeavours to
keep you and me under that evil heart of unbelief. That's his
great aim and he's pretty successful. Well, my friends today, look
up, look to the Lord Jesus Christ Look to Him and depend on Him. Never go on
your own strength. This man here, he got up because
he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so today, we've been
found believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter said, Personal
word, God speaks to us personally. You won't get to heaven on anybody
else's religion. You'll only get to heaven on
what the Lord has done for you and I, what he's done for me.
You cannot rely on anything else. It's the Spirit's work in our
soul, as it was the blessed work of God in this man to heal him. Christ Jesus Christ maketh thee
whole. It was a very positive statement
and it is still a positive statement today to us. It's only the Lord Jesus Christ
but wonderful it is if you and I by faith can lay hold of the
truth of the Word of God and be able to tell the devil. Sometimes
we have to confront him with scripture, and he can't resist
the word of God. He'll go away or disappear. Speak
to him in these terms, the word of God, Jesus Christ maketh thee
whole. Jesus Christ maketh me whole. So it is. He says, arise and
make thy bed. complete evidence that God had
done it. It wasn't just a bit of strength
in his legs, he was made whole. His arms were strong. He was
able to do the will of God. He was able to obey the voice
of God. What a mercy therefore if you
and I today may be able to lay hold of such a gracious and glorious
promise. And so He arose immediately. And of course, the good news
was that this had an effect. It wasn't done in a corner. It
wasn't that no one knew about it. It wasn't hidden. Why? Because God's name is to
be honored and glorified. So it is in your life and my
life. Remember, as I often say, our life is for the honor and
glory of God. It's not for our own satisfaction. We do gain satisfaction because
of the Lord's mercy toward us. And we're humbled under the mighty
hand of God. But here was an effect. And all that dwelt Lydda and
Saron saw him. And what was the effect? They
turned to the Lord. we perhaps often underestimate
the effect of the work of God in the souls of one another. Because it is a blessed confirmation
that Almighty God does a great work and it is his work. And so here we have this very
clear statement, they saw this man They saw the effect of what
had occurred through the Word of God and what did they do? They turned to the Lord. What
a wonderful occasion. What a blessing that would be
if through one another's example and testimony many turned to
the Lord. It might be a day A time of great
blessing. Let us not underestimate the
power of God. Let us not underestimate the
willingness of God. But let us examine ourselves
to see how we measure up to the Word of God. The Word of God
is here not to just read and forget and think, well, I've
done my duty today, I'll read a few verses or a few chapters
or whatever it might be. It's to read the Word of God
and find the Word of God speaking to our souls and strengthening
us to do the will of God. So that through our lives, in
the things that we do and say, not for our own gratification,
but moved by the Holy Spirit, do that which is for His honour
and for His glory. Well, there were these people
that dwelt at Lideron Saron and they saw this man, Aeneas. They saw what had happened. They
knew it was something miraculous. They knew it was not the effect
of a man. They saw it was the work of God. And so the result was they turned
to the Lord. Well, these accounts are very
wonderful, aren't they? They're very short, isn't it?
But very significant. And may the effect of it be very
significant in our lives today, so that we may be able to thank
God and praise God and glorify Him, that we have such accounts
in the Word of God to direct us and to encourage us and to
strengthen us. And that we may go in the strength
of the Lord God. Oh, my friends, what a blessing
it is. What a comfort. You know, the Lord never leaves. He never fails us. You and I
may have left the Lord and failed Him, sadly, perhaps many times. The Lord never leaves us. What
a blessing that is, if we are once in Him, in Him forever. Well, bless God today for the
Word of God. Thank him for this. And there
he found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed
eight years and was sick of the palsy. And Peter said unto him,
Aeneas, Jesus Christ, maketh thee whole. Arise and make thy
bed. And he arose immediately. And
all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him and turned to the Lord. Amen.