The master of the sea, willows
his will obey. He your savior wills to be, be
saved today. Christ lifted me, Christ lifted
me. When no one else could help,
Christ lifted me. Christ lifted me, Christ lifted
me When nothing else could help Christ lifted me Go back now to Acts chapter 3. This story is not new to most
of you. Maybe it is to someone, but even
to those who know it well, to look at it again is not grievous,
is it? And it's certainly safe. And then I thought of what the
Lord said to John. He said, You go show John again
how the blind receive their sight, the lame walk. So John, John,
John, and John will show you again, OK, how the Lord makes
the lame to walk, yea, leap. The title of this message is
A Lame Man Leaping. Man leaps when the gospel is
preached with power. It's a story that we know. Look at it. Verse one. Now, Peter and John went up together
into temple to our prayer. Two men together. Peter and John. The Lord said where two or three
are gathered together. Wonderful things. can happen.
The Lord himself may be there, two or three. And when we go
to the house of God together, it's the same today. If there
are truly two or three people here gathered together in Jesus
Christ's name, he said, I'll be there. And it could be that
a lame person could walk for the first time like that. That's
right. Happened to this fellow this
day. It says they went into the temple. They went up together
into the temple. When we go to the house of our
God, we go up. You know that? When you come
here, we're on a higher plane. We're going up, things that are
higher, things that are nobler, these have allured, the Holy
Spirit has allured our sight. We're going up, we're rising
above this dung heap called earth to things that are higher. We're
going up, aren't we? I thought of that passage over
in Exodus where the Lord said, I am come down. to bring them
out, to bring them up. And this journey, this pilgrimage,
is an upward journey. So they went up into the temple. Remember that last week, how
we looked at the temple as the God-ordained place to worship? God Almighty is the one who told
Solomon to build that building. Now, it was just a building.
It always was just a building, but God told him to build that
building and told the people to come there and worship there. It was a God-ordained building,
and David called it the house of God. Now, God doesn't dwell
in buildings made with hay, does he? Nevertheless, the kind of
glory of God did descend upon that tent and in that temple,
didn't it? And have we not seen that glory
in this little house, set on a hill? And in spite of all of
the abuses and how everybody talks about the church, going
to church, in spite of the fact that abominable things, abomination
of desolation, went on in that temple shortly afterward. Yet
that was where God's people were found. Peter and John went up
to the temple. Our Lord did, didn't He? He went
to the temple. So in spite of all that, that's where they were
found. And in spite of all the abuses
today, this is where we're going to come in. This is the place
God has given us to meet. And it was called at that time
a house, a hour of prayer. Our Lord said that. He said,
My house shall be called a house of prayer. A house of prayer. A place where God's people call
upon the Lord. Poor and needy people call upon
the name of the Lord for mercy, for grace, for help, for healing,
for provisions, for all things. They call upon the Lord. You
remember the story of Lydia and the women? You don't have to
be in a house for prayer to be made. You remember Lydia and
the women went down by the river and Paul said, He said that Paul
went down to the place by the river where prayer was wont to
be made. That is where people met. Apparently
they didn't have a place in that city to meet. And so they went
down by the river. They heard there was some people
meeting together to pray. So Lydia went down there where
prayer was wont to be made. And where prayers want to be
made, God's people want to be, don't they? And where prayers
want to be made, Prayer is likely to be heard. It was in this place. Well, so they went to the temple,
up together, into the temple at the hour of prayer, being
about the ninth hour, three o'clock. And a certain man was there,
a certain man. Now this was not just his lucky
day, as some would say. This is not, it's not that he
was just in the, happened to be in the right place at the
right time, but somebody had him there on purpose. Don't you
love how many times the scripture says a certain man, a certain
woman, a certain person. This was one of God's elect whom
he did foreknow and predestinate and here he's calling him. A
certain man, I love that verse of Scripture we quoted often,
the foundation of God standeth sure. That is the foundation
of his house, which is Christ, which they all stand on. The
foundation of God standeth sure. That means certain. Having this
seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And he says, every one
of them, I call them by name. And this certain man was there.
Now look at his condition. Certain man lame from his mother's
womb. Go over to the 14th chapter of
Acts. Acts 14. The story of another
lame man who was healed. This man in our story is lame. It says from his mother's He
was born that way, born lame. Look at this fellow. It goes
more into detail about this lame man. Verse 8, it says, There
sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet. That means
he had feet, but they were useless. There was no power in his feet.
No natural power in his feet to walk. Useless. Read on, being
a cripple from his mother's womb, meaning he was born that way. He was born unable to walk. And it goes on to say he never
had walked. Is there any doubt that this
man can't walk? Well, this man over in our story
was the same way. He was born that way. He had
feet, but they were useless. He had ankles, but they had no
strength. He had legs, but they didn't work. And that's all of
us, by nature. Like this man. We're born this
way. Scripture says we're born dead
and trespasses in sin. Dead. We've got, we have the
faculty. We've got a mind. God's given
us a mind, but it doesn't think on things above. God's given
us a heart, but it's hardened by sin. It's not touched by the
gospel of it. God's given us a will, but it's
bent toward evil. God's given us a mouth, but it
doesn't praise Him. It curses Him by nature. God's
given us ears, but they won't hear God's Word, hear everything
else but God's Word. He's given us eyes, but they
can't see His glory. A tongue, but it just curses
and bitterness and so forth. The only hope for us is like
this man. It's the Lord will do something
for us. Something will happen to us. Something happened to
this man. He didn't do anything. Something happened to him. Everybody
recognized it later. So it says in verse 2, this certain
man lame from his mother's womb was carried, and they laid him
daily at the gates of the temple. And that gate was called beautiful.
He was carried. His friends and his family, they
would carry him every day. to the gate of the temple and
set him down there where he would sit and ask alms of everyone
that entered into the temple. His friends and his family, apparently
they could not support him. They could not provide for him
what he needed, so they brought him here to beg him. He was a
beggar is what he was. They couldn't support him. They
certainly couldn't heal him, could they? They couldn't, apparently
these people couldn't do anything for him. So they brought him
to the place where he might receive some help from somebody. Now what might the Lord do? And
it says they did this daily, every day. Every day. Somebody took the trouble to
pick this poor fellow up and carry him all the way. to the
temple, and set him down. Every day. Every day. What might happen if we would
lay somebody daily in prayer before the Lord? Aren't we sadly
deficient at this? What might happen if we, in prayer,
the Lord would lay it on our To bring someone daily before
the law. I've often thought it might be
a good thing if this whole church. Would continually every time
we make one person. You see what the Lord did one
of our children. Just see what he might do. Try
him. Wouldn't that be something? They
brought him daily to the temple. What might happen if we would,
if the Lord would lay it on our hearts to do that? Like the importunate
widow, you remember her? Where the judge said, by her
continual coming, I'm going to answer her. Or like the Canaanite
woman, the Lord first ignored her, didn't he? Then she went
to the disciples, we can't do anything for you. And she finally
came begging. And the Lord said, I'm going
to give you more than crumbs. Or like Jacob. What about old
Jacob of old who wrestled? Now somebody came and wrestled
with him. But it says he wrestled back, didn't he? And what did
Jacob say? He said, I will not let you go. We're going to stay around here
all night. I will not let you go unless you bless me. What
did he do, Brenda? He blessed him, didn't he? How
did he bless him? Made him a cripple. Figure that
one out. Some of you have. Yeah, but he
blessed him. Jacob Ressler. Now, they brought
him to this gate of the temple that's called Beautiful. Capital
B. That was the name of the gate.
In other words, it was the entrance to the temple. the gate called
beautiful. That's where they lay. That's
where he lay. Didn't our Lord say, I am the way. I, no man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Didn't he say that? Didn't he
say, I am the door of the sheep. By me, if any man enter in. Didn't
he say, straight is the gate. And isn't he beautiful? Oh, he's
altogether lovely. He is the way. He is the door.
He is the gate. He's the only entrance into glory,
and he is certainly beautiful. Beautiful. And you know, we can
bring someone to the gate. We can bring someone to hear. They brought this man daily to
the gate of the temple. They didn't take him inside.
But they brought him to the gate. We'll see in a minute. But they
brought him to the gate. And we can bring someone to hear
the gospel, can't we? We can't. But we sure can't make
them go inside him. And we should. We should endeavor. We can and we should endeavor
to bring people to hear the gospel. Well, this man lay... I learn
something every time we study something. This man lay at the
gate of the temple. They brought him to the gate
of the temple and set him down right there. Why didn't he ask
them, would you take me inside? Huh? They just brought him that far
and no further, because he said, lay me down right here. This
will be fine. I'll be fine. I just want to sit right outside
here and ask for a little spare change. You know, this man is not only
to be pitied, he's to be blamed. He's not only to be pitied, but
he's to be blamed. You think about that. Think about
that. On the inside of that glorious place, And he heard about it. Oh, yeah. Have they not all heard?
Yes, they've all heard. Inside that glorious place, the
people of God were meeting in prayer and they were crying out
for mercy. Everyone that needed mercy would go in there and cry
out for mercy. They were crying out for help. Poor, blind, halt
and lame sinners were in there crying out. They were praising
God for the blessings they have had, asking him for other blessings. They were Praying, calling on
God, and God was hearing them. The Lord often healed all that
had need of healing. Apparently this man John didn't
realize. He's lame, but he doesn't realize
it. He doesn't realize his greatest need. He's happy just to be brought
to the outside of that place. He doesn't want to go in. He's
happy, John, just to sit there and ask for some spare change. He thinks, if I can just get
a pocketful of change, everything will be all right. I can go home
and have me a drink or whatever. Now, what do you think? You tell
me what you thought. before the Lord brought you in
this place. You heard about this. You were
one of these that passed by and it meant nothing to you, weren't
you? Tell me, all of you that passed by, is it nothing to you,
Jeremiah said? No, nothing. Nothing. I don't
need that in there. All that praying and praising
doesn't interest me. I just need a little change and
everything will be all right. That was me as a young man. You
know what? I thought all I needed, all I
wanted, I thought all I needed was a tank of gas and five dollars.
Yes, Ron, five dollars would do it, wouldn't it? And I didn't need anything
else. My not wanting or thinking I needed, my greatest need, mercy. O'Barnard used to say, hanging
over hell by a thread. Not knowing, not needing, not
wanting to be found in Christ, happy to be on the outside. But look at verse 3. It says,
Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked
them all, Would you help? Hey, say, fella, could you help
me here? I need a little He just saw two ordinary men.
That's all he saw was two men. He didn't know who they were,
and he didn't care. Boy, he's going to find out, isn't he?
After this is all over, he's going to be hugging these men.
They'll be his best friends. And he there. You know, many,
if not most, first go to church for all the wrong reasons. Probably
everyone. Everyone. Everyone goes for the
wrong reason, selfish reason. I can tell you my story, you
can tell me yours, but I thought that some well-off fellow in
the church could help me out, give me a good job. And one of
them did, didn't he? That's why I started going. Some
well-off fella, I needed a job, and I knew a fella who was a
contractor there. And I thought, if I straighten up my act and
start going to church, he'll give me a job. There's not one
whit difference in this fella. Oh, I wanted a girl, too. I wanted
a nice, good, you know, moral girl. People go out of curiosity, don't
they? Curiosity, tell me, Amy Pop,
why did you first start coming back when as a child, but why
did you as an adult? Because, please, Mama, huh? It's Easter. Or Mother's Day,
right? All three of you, or that way.
People go for all wrong reasons, don't they? Listen to this. You
know these verses. Over in Isaiah 65, he says, I
am sought of them that ask not for me. I am found of them that
sought me not." This man did not receive what
he wanted, but he did receive what he needed. He did not receive
what he asked for, but he did receive something. He received
what he didn't ask for, and he found what he wasn't looking
for. Thank God. Look at verse four, Peter, fastening
his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. Peter and John, the Lord used
Peter and John to write his word. He used the prophets of old to
write his word. Holy men spake as they were moved
by the Spirit of God. Men wrote it, but it's God's
word, isn't it? Scripture says, Thou, Lord, seest
me. Mac, it's so providential you
read that Hebrews 4 tonight, because that's what it says about
the Word of God. that it is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart, that all things are naked and
open before the Word of God. In other words, the Word of God
exposes us. The eyes, they're called the
eyes of the Lord. Thou, Lord, seest me, that is,
you make me known. The eyes of the Lord run to and
fro throughout the earth. God's Word is His all-seeing,
omnipotent eye. It's His eye of revelation. As
we quoted, revealing the thoughts and intents of the heart, exposing
us, exposing our sin, exposing our nakedness. God's word is
his eye of mercy. God's word is his eye of mercy.
What mercy if the Lord, through his word, like these men, looks
on us, fastens his eyes on us. What mercy, huh? If the Lord
God one day says, that one right there, fastens his eyes on you
and says, that one's mine right there. This is the time of love,
right there, for that one right there. Fastens his eyes. Look
at me until God says, look unto me and be ye saved. It happens to all of us, doesn't
it? Everyone who first heard the Word of God, you thought
you were the only one in there. You thought the preacher was
looking right at you, didn't he? Looking right through you,
didn't he? Exposing you for everything you
aren't. I remember distinctly, I was a young man, 21 or something,
and I'm meeting out in Landville, Kentucky, long before Don Fortner
was there. And my dad was preaching to me,
and I remember, I remember Patrick, he was preaching, and I thought,
he's looking right at me. Right at me. I thought I was
the only one in there. He's talking right to me. I'll
tell you who it was talking. It was the shepherd, the Savior,
who said, My sheep will hear my voice. And just like old Peter,
you know, when he was guilty, says the Lord turned and looked
on him. Fastened his eyes on him. And
when the Lord gets ready to save one of his elect, give a lame
man legs to walk, he fastens his eyes on him. The Word of
God pinpoints that man and looks on him in mercy, in grace, in
salvation. Look at me! You know, these are just two
men, too. You know what? These are just two men. God uses
men. Please God by the foolishness
of preaching these men weren't clowns. They weren't fundraisers. James and John were called what? Boerneges. Jesus Christ named
those two young men Boerneges. What's that mean? Sons of thunder. These weren't, as they used to
say, panty waist little pinhead preachers. They were zealous
on fire, those fiery tongues as a fiery tongue. Peter preached
that day with power. Peter looked steadfastly in the
eyes of the people. With earnestness, he wasn't just
trying to deliver some thoughts on, you know, on the subject of salvation, soterialism
or whatever. I don't even know the name of
that word. Salvation. He wasn't just delivering
a dissertation on a subject. He was in earnest. This was a
life-or-death message. These two fellows in earnest
fastened their eyes on this fellow. Like Paul, that young man, you
see, looked at him and saw something. He said, You
look at me. They said, Look at us. They were
two men in earnest. God give us earnest preaching,
huh? But it won't be the preacher's
earnestness, I tell you that. What it will be is when God in
sovereign power, yes, through the preacher, but through the
preaching of His Word, will say to the heart, look at me. Look unto me. Now, here's what
Peter and John both said. They both fastened their eyes.
They both said this, because all of God's preachers say the
same thing. They're in this thing together.
And Peter, John, passing their eyes on him, said, Look on us,
verse five, and the man gave heed unto them, expecting to
receive something of them. Well, they're going to give me
a good gift here. Peter said, Peter 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. Silver and gold have I none.
We don't have any silver and gold, and you don't need silver
and gold. But we do have this blessed gospel
of the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. You're poor and
don't know it. We do have these unsearchable
riches of Christ. We don't have talents, charisma,
programs and such, but we do have the one true gospel of God
who is rich in mercy unto all them that call upon him. We don't
have all these programs and so forth, but we do preach the only
name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved. We do preach that name called
Beautiful, Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God. We do preach
that name which is above every name. The person, the power,
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Believe. Be baptized for the
remission of sin, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost. Well, it says, And Peter took
him by the right hand and lifted him up. Lifted him up. That old song
says, I was out on the broad way of sin and despair, crushed
beneath my burden of sorrow and care. My constant companions
were trouble and doubt, but then the Lord Jesus came and lifted
me up. I was wandering afar from the
Savior and home, fainting and weary in sin. Did I I needed
a hand to turn me about and the Lord Jesus reached down and lifted
me up. of the deep miry clay. He settled
my feet in the straight and narrow way. He lifted me up to a heavenly
play, and flooded my soul each day with his way." He reached down and lifted him
up. Well, his arm wasn't short. Scripture
says his arm is not short. He lifted me. How far did the
Lord reach down to lift you up? It's like he said to the prodigal. You've been on that dung heap
too long. You've been in that hog pen too long. It's time to
come up. Get out of there. You've been
on that dung heap too long. Come on. Get up. He took him
by the right hand, that's the hand of fellowship, and lifted
him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
Immediately. You know when the Lord really
speaks to somebody, it's pretty evident. I hear many times people
say, I think he's hearing something. And if I'm this a person I'm
preaching to a lot of us, I think often I don't think he is. That's
because I tell you what, when when it happens, if we were horses,
our ears would. Right, when you really hear something. Eyes. Kind of scoot to the front
seat. Immediately. Boy, old Barnard,
somebody said, when the Lord saves a man, even the old hound
dog will know it. Immediately, it said. Look at
that. It says he received strength. See, this salvation is something
that you receive, not you accept. You receive. It's something done
to you. It's not something that you get. You don't get saved. You are saved. That's the difference
between being saved and getting saved. Something happens to you. You receive strength. You receive
power. When our gospel came, when our
gospel came, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God,
because our gospel came, not in word only, but with power.
That is sovereign power. The sovereign voice of the Master
saying, get up. Listen, look, walk, believe. That's when a man, I believe
he's hearing something. I believe he is, dude. When you first really hear the
gospel, didn't your heart, look at verse, it says in verse 8,
it says he leaped up. Didn't you, when you first really
heard the gospel, didn't your heart leap? Uh-huh. Leaped up. My, my. A person really hears
a heart is pricked and eyes are opened, the feet start fidgeting.
You want to be like David, you want to dance before this ark. When you hear, when you're a
sinner, when you really hear that you're a sinner in need
of mercy, a guilty sinner, and then you hear about this mercy
in Christ Jesus, this grace. It's 100% full, free, final,
eternal pardon, this eternal mercy for your guilty soul that
your past is wiped out. Clean slate, Stephen. When you
hear that, you, like David, want to leap, get up, and dance before
the ark. Don't you? Not just the first
time, but every time you really hear the gospel. It's good news,
and you say, I found mercy. Listen to this, over in Psalm
35, it says, Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong,
fear not, your God will come, your God will come, he will come
and he'll save you. Then it says, A lame man shall
leap as a heart, like a deer. Old David said, By you I've leaped
over a wall, run through a troop and leaped over a wall. Says, the ransom of the Lord
shall come to Zion with songs of everlasting joy upon their
head. They'll obtain joy and gladness. Sorrow and sighs will
flee away. If the gospel is rightly preached,
you'll come in, you'll start, you'll be sad, and then when
you leave, you'll be glad. You come in dragging, and when
you leave, you'll be leaping for joy. Says he leaps. Look
at it. And he stood. He'd never stood
before. All his life he'd laid. He was
laid down. He was low, Kelly. He was low.
Now he's standing upright. He's standing. Look at him. He's standing. He never had before. Look, Nancy. He's standing on
the rock. That old truck driver went for
years. Low. Now he's standing. And he'll
be standing all the days of his life. on that rock, standing. He stood and it looked at it.
It says, and he stood and walked. He's not just standing, he's
walking. He's walking, walking with God,
walking by faith, walking in the word. No, he's not standing
in the way of sinners. He's standing on Christ's solid
rock. He's not walking that broad road
that leads to destruction. He's now walking in that straight
and narrow way that leads unto life. Look at that, would you?
Look at that. He was walking, yea, running. His feet were swift to run the
mission. But look at him now. He's been
turned, and now he's walking patiently, slowly, steadfastly,
resolutely, got his eyes fixed. He's walking. Never did that
before. And leaping. And look at this. Look at this.
Before he was on the outside, he thought, this is the only
place I need to be. Just leave me out here and I'll
be all right. I don't need to go in there. John, it says he
stood. He walked. Where's he going?
Watch him. He's going into the temple. He
entered into the temple. Now, Robin, he's on the inside. He didn't know what was in there.
Now he does. Oh, this is the place to be.
This is where I want to be now. Oh, my, I thought I was happy
out there laying in the little spare change. Look at
this place. Listen to this. Listen to these songs of praise.
Listen to the Word of God. Now he's saying, I was glad when
they said unto me, let's go inside the house of the Lord. Let's
go. I look at him, he's walking, he's entering into the temple,
he's walking, he's leaping, and he's praising God. He'd never
done that before. Now, he's got a heart filled
with praise. And it's whatever, out of the
abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Who's he giving credit
for all this? Not Peter and John. He's praising
God. My, my. And it says, everybody
saw him, verse 9. They all saw him walking, praising
God. They all saw it. They all knew something had happened,
like that blind man. Some of them say, well, it looks
like him, but he's different. Verse 10, it says, they knew
it was him that sat for alms at the beautiful gate of the
temple, but they were filled with wonder and amazement at
that which had happened unto him. Now, something had been done
to this man, hadn't it? Something had been done for this
man, hadn't it? Something had been done in this
man, hadn't it? Oh, salvation is something that
happens to you. Like, Ruth, it's your have for the Redeemer to happen by. call you by his grace. So they
were all filled with wonder and amazement. Wonder and amazement
at what had happened to him. And look at verse 11. This is
wonderful. Verse 11 says, As the lame man
was healed, he held Peter and John. He's standing there. They're
on the inside of the temple now. And he's standing there with
his arms around Peter and John. Well, a little while before that
they were just two men. He didn't care who they were.
He just wanted a little money out of them. Now, oh, he esteems
them so highly. His best friend. He's holding
on. He's hugging up to these fellows, these preachers of the
gospel. He thinks they've got beautiful
feet. He's hugging up on them. He doesn't want to let go. He
doesn't want to leave their company. They're his best friends and
he is there. He held them, had his arms around
them. Like old David who said, I'm
a companion of them that fear thee. These are my companions
now. Let me read this to you in closing.
In verse 11 it says, And the people ran together in Solomon's
port, greatly wondering. Listen to this. David writes
this. He says, Thou hast given commandment, For thou art my rock and my fortress. You are my hope, my God. By thee
have I been holding up from the womb. Now art he that took me
out of my mother's bowels. My praise shall be continually
of thee." I am as a wonder unto many, even myself. But thou art
my strong refuge. So let my mouth be filled with
thy praise and with thy honor all the day long." This fellow,
I guarantee where he'll be found. Remember those people up in chapter
2? Remember all those people that
gladly received the Word and were baptized? Guarantee you
got in the pool. Guarantee he contended steadfastly
in the apostles doctrine of breaking of bread and fellowship. Continuing
daily in the temple so on and so forth. That's where you'll
find it. Praising God for this great salvation. A lame man leaping. OK, Sam. Our Lord, Your Word is so wonderful,
Your mercy, Your grace, Your gospel. The gospel of Your mercy
and grace is so wonderful. What You do is a wonder to us. We are a wonder to ourselves,
Lord, a wondrous object of Your love and Your power. We thank
You for it. Fastening Your eyes upon us and
calling us and giving us faith to walk and a tongue to praise
You, a heart. Lord, we pray that You would
do it for someone else and You would get all the glory, all
the honor, not the preacher, it's not the people's prayers,
it's Your sovereign purpose and will and power. So we call upon
You to glorify Yourself, glorify Your Son, glorify Your Word,
Your promises. Cause us to pray importunately
and without ceasing for these and others. Lord, cause us to
do that. And when You do answer our prayers,
We'll know and we'll be filled with wonder and amazement. So,
Lord, lay it upon our hearts to bring people before You. We pray that You would be pleased
to show forth Your power in our midst again and again. Thank
you again for this time you've given us together. We pray that
you would bless the word. Let it not be removed by fowls
and thorns, but bless it, we pray. Let it sink down deep in
our ears. In Christ's name, we've met here tonight. Amen.