If you will, turn with me in
your Bibles to Acts chapter 3. This story begins in Acts chapter 3 and
kind of drifts over into chapter 4, but I want to read the first
16 verses of the text, and then my text will actually be verse
16. Acts chapter 3 verse 1. Now Peter
and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer,
being the ninth hour. And a certain man, lame from
his mother's womb, was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate
of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms of them
that entered into the temple. who seeing Peter and John about
to go into the temple, asking alms. And Peter fastening his
eyes on him with John said, look on us. And he gave heed unto
them, expecting to receive something of them. Then 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. And he took
him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet
and ankle bones received strength. And he, leaping up, stood and
walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and
leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking
and praising God. And they knew it was he which
sat at home, sat for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple,
and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had
happened unto him. And as the lame man which was
healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto
them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering
And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, You men of Israel,
why marvel ye at this? Or why look ye so earnestly on
us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this
man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac,
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son,
Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence
of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But you denied
the Holy One and the just and desired a murderer to be granted
unto you, and killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised
from the dead, whereof we are all witnesses. And his name,
through faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom you
see and know. Yea, the faith which is by him
hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Before we get started this morning,
I want to announce that we've started to live stream our church
services via an app called Mixler, M-I-X-L-R. Just go to your app
store on your phone, download Mixler, and search for GBC-Louisville. And then click on follower or
following, whatever it says on there. And you'll be notified
when our services begin. And our service times are 10,
15, and 11 o'clock. Now back to the business at hand,
I invite you to turn back with me to Acts chapter 3. If you
will, just open your Bibles and leave them open there. I'll be
referring to various verses off and on. Acts chapter 3 and 4
is about a man who was born lame. Couldn't walk. Never walked a
step in all his life. He was lame from his mother's
womb. a horrible infirmity that left
him helpless to tend to himself or care for himself or his family. He was a man who lived out his
days totally dependent on the mercies of God. To exist in this
world without being able to do anything for yourself is to be
totally dependent on the mercy of God. But on a certain day he was confronted
by God's ambassadors and he was given the gift of faith by which
he became, Acts 4 verse 10, right down at the end of the verse,
a whole man. God made him whole. And my text this morning is Acts
3.16 and my subject is this, a perfect soundness. A perfect
soundness. We're told in Hebrews 11.9 that
Abraham sojourned in the land of promise as a stranger. Nobody knew him. He was wandering
through this Through this land of milk and honey, he's wandering
through this promised land, a land promised to him by God. But he
walked there as a stranger. Sojourned. All through that. And it says he sojourned as in
a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles, tents, with Isaac
and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. These bodies that you and I have
are tents. That's all they are. Temporary. Abraham wasn't planning
on staying in that promised land. He looked for a city whose builder
and maker was God. He looked for a city that had
foundations. whose builder and maker was God. These bodies, they're just tents.
They're just temporary dwelling places for our souls. Your soul is eternal, but the bodies are riding away. If you don't believe me, just
get a lift a few more years on. You'll say, oh boy, I get that
now. I can get that now. The land of promise which they
considered a strange place is typical for our little stay on
this earth. That's what he's picturing back
then. This is the land of promise.
We live in the land of promise. There's a point in which you're
born. And not too many years after,
a point in which you'll die. There is no promise after you
die. People think, we used to have
a sign on a construction, I worked construction work all my life.
And we had this elevator that went up on an eight-story building
and it was through a scaffold. It was a scaffolding elevator.
Boy, you just hadn't lived until you get on one of them. And somebody
had drawn out this little picture and put it up on the side, and
they said if the cable breaks and you fall, just before you
hit the ground, jump up. That's how people look at dying
in this world without salvation. They think at the last second
they're going to jump up. No. No, you're not. You're not. These bodies are
just tents. They're just a temporary dwelling
place of the soul. And these bodies are decaying.
They're going back to the dust from which they were taken. We're living in the land of promise.
Faith and hope are acquired here, and those who do not have it
here will not have it there. He said of those, he said, And
he that had part in the first resurrection, the second death,
had no power on him. No power on him. And he said
of the righteous, he that is righteous, let him be righteous
still. He that is wicked, let him be wicked still. This story is about a fleshly
infirmity that pictures a spiritual infirmity. No single infirmity
can picture our sin, but all of them together make a detailed
picture, don't they? And as the Lord performed this
wonderful act of kindness and mercy to this man, even so His
sovereign, effectual grace intervenes in our lives and makes us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of enlightened saints. Everyone
in this place today, healthy or sick, young or old, is just
one breath from eternity. One breath. Boy, that ain't much, is it?
We're frail creatures at the back. I know we think we're six
foot tall and bulletproof, but we're not. We're one breath from
eternity. And I'm quite sure that some
are here today who don't understand their situation. They have no
conception of what I'm talking about. Or how dangerous their condition
is. You're not born with faith. Faith
is given. And I know that you've learned
a lot of facts in here. But being under sin, the scripture
said, there's none that understandeth. I don't count any facts he knows.
There's none that understandeth and therefore none that seeketh
after God. And we are, whether you know
it or not, totally dependent upon God and His mercy. Totally. It's not so much, religion likes
to talk about what we're going to do for the Lord. That's not
the question. The question is, what's my Lord
going to do with me? He's Lord. This man was not only
a man with an infirmity, he had to be carried everywhere
he went. That's what I read it to you a few minutes ago. They
carried him up daily and laid him at the gate. We're in the hands of a sovereign
God. Hannah prayed back in 1 Samuel,
chapter 2, verse 6. The Lord killeth, and the Lord
maketh alive. Now, what you might die of, but
after you're dead, I can tell you this, the Lord killeth. The
Lord killeth. And the Lord maketh alive. He
bringeth down to the grave, and lifteth up. I've got four or five things
I want us to see in this gospel narrative. And the first thing
is this. A man. A man. The Holy Ghost gives him no name,
no doubt, to show us that this man is just another example of
man. Doesn't even tell us his name.
Doesn't tell us how old he is. Doesn't tell us where he's from. Doesn't tell us anything about
him. What was his problem? He was
lame from his mother's womb. He couldn't walk. Natural man,
fallen man, depraved man, cannot walk with God. Religion said,
walk with God and He'll save you. Oh, no. No, no, no, no. If He don't save you, you can't
walk with God. Man thinks he can. He professes
to do so. But he is not and he cannot. The scripture said the carnal
mind is enmity against God. That word is hostile. Hostile. It's not subject to the law of
God. And that word law, everything
God says is law, isn't it? So he's not just talking about
a written law, but he's talking about the authority of God in
whatever form it is. And the natural man, he's hostile
toward God. He's not subject to God's authority. Not too many years ago, there
was a family came, visited for quite a while. I guess it's been
8 or 10 years ago. And they visited for quite a
while. One morning I said something, and I just used the example of
a beloved old grandma. Well, he had a beloved old grandma.
And he went home and told everybody I said his grandma was a sinner.
Well, she was. But he got mad and he never come
back. He never come back. Carnal mind's enmity, again,
it's not subject to the law of God. It's not subject to anything
God says. When you tell it the truth, it'll
argue, argue, argue, argue, argue. That's what somebody told me
one time. Goat's butt. Butt, butt, butt, butt, butt.
That's what a goat does. And he says, neither indeed can
be. And the words indeed here are
not mere expressions, but they're telling us what we cannot, we
can't do anything to satisfy God. Nothing. Without that, Now
listen, this is in Hebrews 11, talking about Enoch. He just
disappeared one day, they couldn't find old Enoch anywhere. Started
looking for him, couldn't find him. God took him, translated
him right out of this world, right into glory. But before
he left, he left his testimony, he pleased God. And then Paul
wrote in there, but without faith, it's impossible to please God. without faith. How do I know that a man is a
carnal man and not a spiritual man? He's not subject to God. It doesn't matter what you say
or how much you profess to know, you cannot but betray yourself
in your rebellion when you refuse to submit to the authority of
God. You're exposing yourself for
what you are. You're a rebel. This man could not walk. He was
helpless, hopeless, living from day to day on the scraps of so-called
human kindness. I can just picture him now. That
little church I went to out in the country up in Kentucky. They
get out. Have you ever seen them little
plastic change purses that people used to carry years ago? And
you squeeze them open and you get You change out of it. They
pass an offering plate. And they come up to elders in
the church, people who've been preaching in that church. And
they squeeze that little change first. And then they wouldn't
dump it in the offering plate. They'd fish around in there and
find something out of that. And then they'd put that in the
offering plate. It don't matter what you say
or what you do. You're going to betray yourself
in your rebellion. When man fell in Adam, God locked
him up in the cell of human nature. That's where he's at. The angels,
he locked them up in a cell of darkness. They're bound in there forever.
No mercy. No mercy for fallen angels. Chains of darkness forever. You think about that. And man
has those same talents. But God's purpose is to show
salvation to some. He's going to be gracious to
some. Man says he's free. I'm free
as a bird. Yeah, you sure are. You can fly,
but you can't go underwater. You're just as free as your nature
allows you to be. That's how free you are. A bird can't live underwater
and a fish can't fly. A man in his fallen nature is
free within the bounds of his nature. But he cannot escape
it, he can't go beyond it, and he is by nature a child of wrath
even as others. That's what the Scripture says. Think of the wondrous means of
grace that God has put into place. It's fixed that man don't perish,
his word and his preachers and his spirit, but the natural man
won't have anything to do with it. He won't have anything to
do with it. But the story tells us that
he wasn't just a man, he was a certain man. He was a certain man. What's
he telling us? He's telling us that God chose
a people. to demonstrate and manifest His
glory and their salvation through His Son. His sheep, He calls
them. His bride, in some places, He
calls them. His elect. This was a certain man, and my
friend, you better get this idea of universal love out of your
head. Get it out. You better get this idea of God
wanting to save all men out of your imagination. He doesn't
want to save all men, or He would. That's just so. That might sound
hard. I'm not trying to be hard. I'm
trying to tell you something. Apart from the intervention of
God, this world, this whole world is going to hell. God not being unfair with election,
He's already judged this world. He's already condemned this world.
Election is the means to save, not condemn. He said, I didn't come here to
condemn. The world condemned already. Man has no rights, he has no
potential, no future apart from the mercy of God. You had to
be quick in the scripture, seeing who were dead. God's purpose to save a people
for His glory. And He's done that in the person
and work of His dear Son. And to this end, God chose a
people in Christ and blessed them, put in place all these
means of grace, sent out His preachers to call them, and He
predestinated them to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself,
not according to your will, but according to His will. The good
pleasure of His will. And everything from all eternity
is geared to this end. Everything working to that end. What do we do? We run around
and focus on every negative thing there is in this world. We're
eat up with this world. We need to treat this world like
Abraham treated that desert. It's a wilderness. It's a wilderness, and even if
it's filled with milk and honey, it's still a wilderness. If you're
here today and have the faith of God's elect, you've obtained
an inheritance, just like Paul talked about in Ephesians 1.11,
being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. And although
this man is symbolic of all men, he's also symbolic of God's elect. He was a certain man. A certain
man. And then notice this. He was
carried up to the temple. Now the temple at Jerusalem was
the place that God ordained for worship. If you're going to worship
me, come to the temple. And he doesn't mention how. He
doesn't mention who. I suspect it varied between friends
and relatives. Somebody carried him up there.
Somebody did. But what I want you to take home
this morning out of this is no matter who or how it was, it
was God's providence that carried him to the temple. That's what
I want you to say. I don't know who invited you
here the first time. I don't have a clue. I don't have a clue. But I know this. It was God of
Providence that arranged it. Just as it was at the crucifixion,
he goes on in chapter 4 and he tells us that Pilate buried the
Gentile soldiers All the people of Israel did what God's hand
and God's counsel determined before to be done. And that's
what's going on in the temple with this man. And then secondly,
I want you to see God's ministers. God's going to confront every
true son of Jacob with a gospel preacher. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13 says,
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief in the truth. And to this end, or for
this reason, where unto, he said, he called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. You say, this man didn't hear
any gospel. Oh, I beg your pardon. I beg
your pardon. You need to read Acts chapter
2. Three thousand souls were converted
at that temple. on one occasion. Many of us,
but on one occasion, 3,000 souls. They heard Peter preach. They
heard him preach the gospel on the day of Pentecost. They heard
him preach many days after. This man was brought there every
day and it says in Acts 2.46, and they continuing daily with
one accord in the temple. And breaking bread from house
to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness
of heart. And then in verse 40 it says, And with many other
words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from
this untoward generation. How much did this sinner hear?
I don't know, but I know what was being preached. And it was
being preached every day. And there was thousands of people
passing this man by, coming and going. I know he heard what these
men were preaching. How do I know that? You can't
call on an unrevealed God and this man had faith. What did
he have faith in? The name of Jesus Christ. Not the person that he saw in
the flesh, but his name. He understood what that was and
called him. He knew what the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth meant. Listen to this, Acts 3.16. Peter's
telling these people how this man was saved. And he said, His
name, talking about Christ's name, through faith in His name,
hath made this man whole. Boy, he heard what nobody else
was hearing, didn't he? He heard. And then he goes on to say, Yea,
the faith which is by him, that is, it's by Christ, Christ, this
is the sovereign gift of Christ to his elect, faith. Faith is
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should bow. And here God demonstrates his
sovereign lordship by taking a poor, weak, broken vessel and
causing him to receive his testimony in a loving, willing, uncoerced
way to the saving of his soul and absolutely effectual. Paul didn't turn around and say,
now if you believe you can get up and walk. No. He said in the name of Jesus
of Nazareth, he said rise up and walk. And he did, didn't
he? He did. We are God, John said. He that knoweth God, heareth
us. And he that knoweth not God,
heareth not us. And hereby know we the spirit
of truth and the spirit of error. And then thirdly, let me show
you now The gift of faith. This man was carried up to the
temple to ask alms. And while he was there, he was
hearing things said, no doubt, must have seemed mysterious to
him. It seemed mysterious to me the first time I heard it.
The man mentioned predestination to me, and that man, it was a
big light bulb come on. What's he talking about? I never
heard that word. I was raised in religion. My
dad read this book cover to cover. I don't know how many times.
I never heard anybody mention predestination. No, they avoided
it like the plague. Same thing with election. Same thing with particular redemption. This man didn't come to the temple
to be saved. He came there to receive alms.
Everybody was going to the temple. They carried him up, his relatives
did, and said, just sit right here on this blanket. Everybody's
gonna come right through this gate. You just hold out your
little cup or pan or whatever it was, and they'll put their
stuff in there. He didn't come there to be saved
or healed or walk with God. He was there because God brought
him. God brought him. And on this day, God spoke to
him in a special way. He'd heard these men speak to
the multitude. He'd heard them speak to others.
But on this day, on this day, they spoke to him. They spoke
to him. Brother Larry, I hope you don't
mind me using you as an example this morning, but he came here
several times. Was really kind of upset with
what I was saying. But he heard me speaking to everybody
in here. Sometimes he'd turn around and look. One day God
spoke to you. There's a difference, ain't there? Oh, my soul. This time, this man spoke to
him. He spoke to him. Oh, he'd heard these men speak
to the multitudes and heard him speak to all kinds of people.
But on this day, God sent this man to him. Now listen, the least
miraculous thing that day was God giving him strength in his
legs. Does that sound odd to you? Without the miracle of faith,
his being able to walk wouldn't have made much difference. He went right on living for himself
and his family and this and that and whatever else men live for.
Without faith, his legs wouldn't have done him much good. But as a result of our eternal
union with Christ and His accomplished redemption, and our being seated
with Him, it says in Ephesians 2, that in the ages to come,
He's going to show to us the exceeding riches of His grace
and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. He's going to show
it to us. He's going to show us what no
eye, eye has not seen or ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them
that love Him. But He hath revealed them unto us. Or, he said, by grace are you
saved through faith. So exceeding great is the miracle
of faith that he likens it to a new birth. Even to them that
believe on his name who were born. Listen to this, Ephesians 1,
18-20. Paul prays that the eyes of our
understanding being enlightened, we might know the hope of His
calling. Verse 19, and what is the exceeding
greatness of His power to us who believe according to the
working of His mighty power, which He brought in Christ when
He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand.
Boy, you're talking about power. That's the same power he exercises
in faith. Well, what did he hear? He heard
the name of the Lord in the person and work of Jesus Christ. God's
true character and perfect harmony manifested in our Savior. Flip over a page to chapter 4
and let me show you something. Acts chapter 4. Verse 10. This is still going on. They're
still going back and forth. The priests now have heard about
it. The high priest and the Pharisees and the whole council of Israel. And now they're down here and
they're questioning Him and going back and forth about this man.
And that's chapter 4, verse 10. He said, Be it known unto you
all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, Whom you crucified, whom God raised from
the dead, even by Him does this man stand here before you. And he said, this is the stone
which was set at Noddy, you builders, which has become the head of
the corner. Neither, oh my, neither is there salvation in any other.
For there is none other name unto heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. Faith in Christ leaves a man
perfectly whole. Faith in Christ gives us a perfect
soundness. Faith in Christ enables us to
enter into His temple with His saints and sing His praise. This man has been carried up
and left at the gate all them years. But one day, he didn't stay at
the gate. He got up and went into the temple. Faith in Christ enables us to
walk with God and His saints and praise Him for it. And then,
fourthly, let me show you the results of this miracle of faith.
Turn with me to Colossians chapter 2. Salvation is in a person. And
in that person, God shows us His whole character in perfect
harmony, He shows us that He's both just and justifier. He's
righteous in His remission of sins. He shows us a balance in
His character. He doesn't compromise His justice
to save a sinner. But He honors that justice. He
satisfies that justice. And then He manifests His grace. And this I say, lest any man
should beguile you with enticing words. He's telling us that all
these treasures, all these mysteries of God, they're all in Christ.
They're all going to be revealed in Him. And He's saying this,
lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. Do you know
what that word beguile means? Deceived by illusion. That's what it means. Deceived
by illusion. To create an illusion, to take
away something you have without you even being aware of it. And
there's nothing outside of Christ but a certain looking for judgment
and fiery indignation. In Colossians 2.6, he said, as
you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. This poor lame man was enabled
by faith in Christ to do what he thought was absolutely impossible. And it was, apart from Christ. He walked with the saints in
light. Now listen, Colossians 2 said, As you have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him rooted and built up in
Him, and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding
therein with thanksgiving. And beware, beware, lest any
man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition
of men and after the rudimentary principles of the world, and
not after Christ. Now watch this. For in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in
Him. Oh, but we need this. No, no. All I need is Christ. Yeah, but I have to walk in this
filthy world. As you receive Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk in Him. If I have Christ, I have everything
that God has for chosen sinners. I have You're complete in Him,
which is the head of all principality and power. Well, what do chosen
sinners see in Christ? Like Jonah, they see themselves
in Christ being submersed into the very belly of hell and then
put back on dry land in a new and living way. That's what they
see. They see themselves in a great
ark, surviving the very wrath of God and then made to rest. in a new world. That's what they
see. They see themselves buried with
Him in baptism and risen with Him through the faith of the
operation of God who raised Him from the dead. Oh, may God be
pleased today to show us what He showed this man. the very
name of God. See the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Thank you.