to bless us together as we consider
his word in the Acts of the Apostles chapter 3 and we will consider
the first 11 verses this evening we read this together and as
we read it was apparent that the Lord God had been very gracious
to a certain man we are not told his name but we know that he
was a certain man and that we know that he'd been lame from
his birth so he'd been in a poor condition and we're told that
every day he'd been taken to lie at the gate of the temple
and that gate which is called beautiful and he was asking alms,
that means he was asking money, gifts as the people came and
entered into the temple Now we are not told how old he was,
but we are told he was a man. He wasn't a boy, he wasn't a
baby. So clearly he'd been there for many years and he'd remained
in that condition. But now there was a wonderful
day in his life. It was an amazing day. It was
a day of wonderful blessing. And it was the day that the Lord
ordained that Peter and John should come together and go into
the temple. And we're told it was about the
ninth hour, which in our time is about three o'clock in the
afternoon. So we can imagine Peter and John
strolling along and coming to the temple. And as they came
there, they looked down and they saw this man. This man looked
up and to them to ask for a gift from them and Peter instead of
offering him anything naturally he was wonderfully blessed to
believe that God could bless his man and so we read Peter
fastened his eyes upon him with John and he simply said look
on us Well, that was a word and a man, you might think, well,
he might have thought, well, why should I do that? Why should
I look on these two men? Well, he did. He gave heed unto
them. He listened to what they said.
And he expected to receive something from them in a monetary way,
no doubt. Peter responded, he said, silver and gold have I
none, but such as I have, give I thee, in the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Now, what do we then read? We read what God did. We read that wonderful performance
of Almighty God as Peter took him by his right hand and as
he lifted him up we read immediately his feet and ankle bones received
strength and he leapt up leaping up stood and walked and entered
with them into the temple walking and leaping and praising God. Observe how the Lord wonderfully
blessed the faith of Peter and John in speaking like that and
bless the faith of this man in believing that they could do
such great things but it wasn't of course in themselves and we
should very carefully realize that because Peter said in the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk it was through
this man that this man received that strength, so to do. And the effect was he leapt and
he stood up and he walked and what else did he do? He praised
God. A wonderful effect he had and
how important it was that he praised God. He didn't say to
Peter and John, well that's so wonderful that you've done this. He praised God. and necessary
for us today to remember just that. And all the people saw
him walking and praising God and they knew that it was he
which sat for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple. And they
were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto
them, unto him. Yes, they were so surprised.
There this man had been there for all these years and now suddenly
He was a healed man and as the lame man which was healed held
Peter and John. Imagine he wanted to be with
these people he held Peter and John and all the people ran together
under them in the porch that is called Solomon's Greatly Wondering. Well we have a very beautiful
picture here naturally don't we? But we know of course that
the Word of God is a spiritual book. And we know the word of
God gives us here a wonderful spiritual picture. And the spiritual
picture really follows the pattern that we read here. And we read
a certain man. This was an individual. This was a man. A certain man
that God was going to bless. And so it is. spiritually. God's people are certain people
and they are certain people that God will bless. This man had
been going day after day and he was really in the same condition. But now a day had come in his
life, a day that he would never forget. what a blessing it is when we
come in our lives we may have gone on for many days in the
same situation carrying on doing again and again day after day
the things that we normally have to do and then to have a certain
day in our life a day that produced a wonderful and glorious change
This man was lame. This man could not get up. There
he was on the ground. He had no strength to do anything. So it is in a spiritual way.
We really are helpless. We are lame. We need the Lord
to come and to bless us. and the Lord came to this man
on that certain day and what a great blessing it is in our
lives if we have had a certain day in our life when God has
come to us now Peter and John they looked at this man this
man looked at them What a blessing it is if we look
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ looks
upon us. This man hadn't got anything
that was special about him. He was a poor lame man. He'd been like it since his birth.
And we by nature, poor, lame people, have been like it from
our natural birth. What a blessing, if the Lord
comes and looks upon us. Now, the whole blessing was,
and the whole merit rested simply in this. He was to be healed. How was he to be healed? In exactly the same way that
you and I are healed spiritually. In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth rise up and walk. It was a gracious command wasn't
it? How could this man rise up and
walk? He was given faith to believe.
And as it were then as Peter and John held out a hand and
lifted him up immediately, immediately there was healing. It would be
a great blessing if the Lord comes to us in our lame condition
and as it were takes us by the hand and lifts us up. And the effect was This man was
strengthened. This man received strength. The blessing is when God gives
us His strength. We're strengthened. We're able
to stand upon our feet. Before we were on the ground.
Now, the Lord enables us to stand upon our feet. And the effect
was so amazing, this poor man that he leapt and walked. As he was leaping he was so glad
to receive this natural blessing. What a wonderful thing it is
if in our spiritual life the Lord comes to us and as it were
lifts us up. That's a tremendous change in
our soul. we're alive and we know the Lord
has come to us and as it were we leap up we leap up and we're
so thankful for the Lord's goodness to us and what did he do? he praised God my friends what
a blessing it is the Lord does something for us in this way
gives us strength, spiritual strength. We receive that which
we could not give ourselves. God has given us this great blessing. And what is the effect? We praise
the Lord for what He's done. What a wonderful thing in our
spiritual life. If we possess that spiritual
strength and as we leapt and praised God for His great favour
and for His great goodness toward us. And there was an effect,
but people knew, a bit of change. This was that man who was on
the ground, now he's walking and leaping and praising God.
Oh, you see the great blessing, the great effect that the work
of the Holy Spirit has in his people's lives. There is a change
and it's observed, it's seen. And it brings honour and glory
to God. Just what it did here, didn't
it? To this man. And all the people saw him walking
and praising God. It was evident. It wasn't a silent
situation. The people saw him walking and
praising God. What a blessing that is. And
how encouraging to the Church of God today to see people who'd
been lame, who'd been helpless and now raised up with the Lord
and walking and leaping and praising God. Wonderful change. And they knew that it was He
which sat for arms at the beautiful gate of the temple and they were
filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto
Him. What it is a wonderful and amazing thing to observe the
blessed work of the Spirit of God. And it is sometimes amazing
to see how God comes and calls a lame person there, a lame one
there, and lifts them up. Perhaps people that we thought
would never be healed, you might think well that's a hopeless
case. There is no hopeless case with
God. God is able to do far more and
exceeding abundantly than we can ask or even think. We worship a great God today.
We worship the same Lord Jesus Christ that strengthened this
man all those years ago and they knew that it was he which sat
for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple and they were filled
with wonder and amazement at that which happened unto him
and as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John you
might say why did he do that? well he was no doubt pleased
to be with them he wanted to be with them and he held them
I believe today you know when people are blessed And if people
have been an instrument in that blessing, they're happy to be
with them. Because they see Christ in them. And there's that drawing together.
These were strangers. But now they were together. They
were united through the blessed work of the Spirit of God. And what a uniting that is. When
the Spirit of God works, There's that drawing together, there's
that uniting. The people want to be together,
to embrace each other, to praise and glorify God. And so they
ran together, all the people, unto them in the porch that is
called Solomon's, greatly wondering. The Lord had done great things. Well may we be able to observe
and say, the Lord has done great things whereof we are glad. Amen.