Following Christ's death and
his resurrection, he met the disciples and he sent them to
gather in Jerusalem and to wait for the coming of the Spirit
of God. Christ then ascended up into glory to sit down on
the right hand of the Father. From whence he preaches his gospel. sending forth the Spirit to declare
under his people the wondrous salvation which he has wrought.
And as the disciples gathered in Jerusalem, the Spirit of God
came down, and on the day of Pentecost, they saw the tremendous
power of the Spirit of God through the Gospel. And how Peter preached
unto the people, the Jews, in that city. And how 3,000 that
day were saved and added to the Church of God. Christ had completed
his work, had finished the work of salvation and sends forth
his Gospel to deliver fallen and dead sinners from the grave.
To deliver the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the lame, the barren,
the dead. When he walked upon this earth,
Christ went about healing the sick, touching the eyes of the
blind and causing them to see, touching the ears of the deaf
and causing them to hear, healing the lame. And here he sends forth
his disciples with the gospel to heal the sick, not just physically,
but spiritually, because when Christ healed the sick, it was
a picture of that, that great healing, that great work, that
great cleansing of the gospel, which by grace can take the hardest
of hearts and melt and break it. Following Pentecost in the
third chapter of Acts, we read the following account of how
Peter and John met a man who was lame. Acts 3, 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, asked an alms. And Peter, fastening
his eyes upon 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. 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 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 him. And as the lame man which was
healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto
them in the port that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering. Peter 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. This lame man from his birth,
this man who had never walked, never had strength in his legs.
You can imagine what his legs would have been like, no muscles,
withered away, thin without any strength. Immediately that Peter
speaks unto him by the name of Jesus Christ, rises up and walks. He leaps up. and enters into
the temple with them walking and leaping and praising God. A miraculous healing, as those
healings which Christ himself performed were miraculous, remarkable,
so amazing that the people looked on, they knew who he was, they'd
seen him every day in the temple and they can see with their very
eyes this lame man, leaping, walking, leaping and praising
God, healed. A tremendous healing, a tremendous
power, a tremendous name by which he was healed. In the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Oh I say unto you,
are you lame? Are you lame without strength
spiritually? Well by the gospel I say unto
you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. Should the Spirit of God speak
unto your soul by the gospel in Christ's name then spiritually
you like this man will rise up and walk. But if you don't hear that voice, then you will remain in the state
in which you are born. Because this man was born lame. Lame. He was helpless. Fallen upon the ground, stand
him up and he'd fall over. He couldn't stand up, he had
no strength, no ability. You could say unto him, just
exercise your will, go on man, stand up, walk over here, he
could not. You can make all the decisions
in the world if you like, but if you have no ability, they're
worthless. Choose to flap your wings and
fly and see if it happens. His decision didn't come into
it. He was lame. There was nothing he could do.
He was at the mercy of others. He was carried every day into
the temple to lie at the gate called beautiful and to ask alms,
to beg of others because he could not work. There's nothing he
could do to survive. He was at the mercy of others.
Help me. He was lame. Are you? Are you lame? Spiritually speaking. Are you without strength? At
the mercy of others? Unable to stand? Unable to walk? Unable to help yourself? You shut your ears to the reality.
Because the reality is you are. By nature you are lame. By nature
you are dead. You're blind, you're deaf, you're
dumb, you're lame, you're dead. Dead in trespasses and sins,
you're lame. But do you know it? Oh there aren't many lame these
days. In terms of those people that
know that spiritually they cannot walk. They cannot stand. There aren't many. There aren't
many who'd own it. The majority shut their ears
to any truth regarding this. And the majority of those who
profess to be religious, who take the name of Jesus Christ
upon their lips, are full of their own strength and ability.
They think they can stand here, they think they can walk there,
they think they can dance and leap here. They've never known
what it is to be lame. They've never owned that they
are lame. They've never recognized that they are utterly without
strength. There aren't many lame these days. Well he was lame, he couldn't
stand. He couldn't stand. And we are lame. We are lame
spiritually, we cannot stand because in Adam, our forefather,
we rebelled against God. He rebelled and we've rebelled. And because of that rebellion,
mankind fell. He fell spiritually and fallen
into sin and rebellion. His standing with God was shattered. Man could no longer stand before
a holy and a righteous God because mankind was full of sin. And
God cannot look upon sin. God cannot have sin in his presence. His righteousness and justice
demand the death of the sinner. His holy law demands the penalty
of death upon all who have rebelled against him. Man's standing with
God was shattered. And man's walk with God ceased. When Adam was made, created and
placed in the garden, the Lord God walked in the garden with
Adam. And Adam walked and talked with
the Lord, his maker. But when Adam fell, his walk with Almighty God ceased. And there was a great gulf set
between him and his maker. And when you fell in Adam, your
walk and your standing with God was shattered. There's a great
gulf that stands between you and God. A great gulf that separates
you. A great gulf of your sin and
rebellion, which you cannot cross. You will journey through this
earth, for 70 or so years at best, maybe 80, 90, 100, maybe only 10 or 20 or 30. You do not know what a day brings
but your life in this world is brief and after the brevity of
that life is brought to its conclusion you will be brought before Almighty
God. And that which has been set as
a gulf between you, if it's not been bridged, will separate you
in eternity. We're lame. We fell in Adam,
fell into sin and rebellion. Our standing and our walk with
God was shattered. and we are born in such a state. Every man, woman and child born
of Adam, born generation after generation after generation from
thenceforth are born full of sin. From the mother's womb we
are full of sin. This man was lame from his mother's
womb. every day of our lives spiritually
we are lame until God by grace should come in the name of Jesus
Christ and say unto us in his name rise up and walk are you
lame? the lame can't stand the lame
can't walk They can't move. They can't run. They certainly
can't leap. And they can't kick. I repeat, there aren't many lane
these days. Everyone, naturally speaking,
thinks they can stand. And they think that they can
walk. And they think they do run. And
whenever the truth comes their way, should the truth of the
gospel come into their ears, they think they have the strength
and the freedom to kick against it with impunity. How the natural heart rages against
the truth. And how we see it in the day
and age in which we live. Where if you speak of Christ,
if you speak of God, especially in a public forum, the cry from
the majority is you cannot say that in our day and age. And
the majority in the heart of man rages against the truth. It kicks against the truth. And
it thinks it does so with impunity. Well if your heart is raging
against God, if you're trying to shut him out of your thoughts
and affections, if you're trying to go through this world and
through your life thinking that you can turn aside from Jesus
Christ, thinking you can kick against his gospel, then be aware
that that God, that Christ, your maker, reigns on high in glory. He ascended, having completed
his work of salvation. Christ sat down in glory. He's
in glory now. From whence he sent forth his
gospel at this time, recorded in the book of Acts. And he remains
in glory today, 2,000 years later, from whence he's sending forth
his gospel, which is why you're hearing this today. And you can
kick against it all you like, but you're kicking against him.
You're kicking against Almighty God. You're kicking against the
King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Creator and the Sustainer
of this world and all that is therein. You're kicking against
the one that gave you life, that keeps your heartbeat ticking
over, that keeps the oxygen in the air around you so that you
can breathe. You're kicking against the one
that makes the sun shine and the rain to fall so that food
grows up, that you can eat and drink and live. And he can take
all of that away in a moment. You're kicking against the very
one that preserves your life and orders all events in this
world such that you can pass through this world untouched. Should you be brought to survive
another day it's because of his common affection upon this world. He is a God that shows grace
unto a people. But because of that grace he
has for his own, everyone else in this world, everyone else,
including you, know the natural blessings that God has given
in this world. There is a common goodness that
God has given to mankind as a whole, to this world, because of his
love for his people in particular. And you're a recipient of the
shining of the sun, of the food, and of the life which he has
given to all men. But if you kick against his grace,
his particular grace to his people in the gospel, if you kick against
his truth, Don't think you do so with impunity. As society,
as this nation rages against God they bring down calamities
upon their head even though they're so foolish to deny the very fact
God is in control. God can destroy this land in
a moment if he wills. God causes the wind to blow and
the rain to fall. God is sovereign and whether
he brings his anger down upon you today because of your rebellion,
or whether he saves that anger and that justice to the day that
you die and stand before him, matters not. One day you will
answer for your kicking against the truth. And yet you will run. You will run from God. and you
will kick against him and you will think that you can stand
in your own strength because your heart is so rebellious and
so hardened to the truth and your pride is so great that you
can't help yourself. Like I said, there aren't many
lame these days. Everyone thinks that they can
go around doing what they will and all will be well. When the
hours tick away to that day when Almighty God says for each of
them, for you perhaps, enough. The hour has come. You must stand
before me. And how will you stand before
a holy God when you are lame? Are you kicking against the truth? Kick hard enough and your legs
will break. Try to do battle with Almighty
God and he'll do battle with you. Wrestle with God as Jacob
did and he'll put your thigh out of place. He'll put your
joints of your legs out of place. And then you'll know what it
is to be lame. Come before God and wrestle with
Him if He has a dealing with you. If He begins in His Gospel
by His Spirit to wrestle with you, then you'll know what it
is to be lame. If by grace God has a dealing
with you, if He wrestles with you by the grace of His Gospel,
then perhaps like Jacob you'll know what it is to have your
name changed to Israel and to be healed and to be brought to
stand before Almighty God and to walk before Him as one that
knows His favour and His blessing. But fight against Him in your
strength with your ears shut to His truth and he'll put your
fire to joint. But Christ came into this world,
not to wrestle with men, but to save sinners, to heal the
lame, to heal the sick. Yes, Christ healed the lame. We read in Matthew and various
places of how he healed the sick and he healed the lame. He healed
them and he heals them today. He heals by his name through
his gospel. By his name, Jesus Christ, the
anointed saviour, God's anointed saviour, who came into this world
to save his people from their sins. and if you know anything
of his name then you will know the meaning of that name that
he is a saviour and a saviour of his people that he has a particular
people whom he has come to save are you one of them? if you ever
come to understand his name you'll understand the meaning and you'll
understand what it is to be one of his now you are lame there's
no doubt about it but do you know it? and have you heard his
name? because the healing that you
need can be found nowhere but in his gospel and through his
name now Peter and John came unto this lame man who was carried
and laid down at the gate of the temple called beautiful where
he asked alms, where he begged of those that passed by, they
came unto this man and in the name of Jesus Christ they spake
unto him and he was healed. And what a healing! He not only
walked but he leapt up and stood and walked and entered with them
into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. The first thing he did was enter
the temple with the disciples. He went straight into the house
of God as it were. He was added to God's church. He was healed. But consider when
he was healed. In verse 1 we read, 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 and they laid daily at the gate of the temple which
is called beautiful at the ninth hour now the holy spirit doesn't
record these sort of things just as background information just
in passing. We're not told what day something
happens on or at what hour something happens on just because it's
interesting. or just because it pads out the
story. But we're told because it has
a specific and a direct implication, a direct message to us. It's
relevant, it's pertinent to the facts of the account. This lame
man was healed when Peter and John approached him at the ninth
hour at the gate of the temple in Jerusalem. Now what's particular
about the ninth hour of the day? What is? I'll tell you what is. It's at
the ninth hour that Christ cried out, Eli, Eli, lama sabbath fani,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And it's at the
ninth hour that Christ, having hung upon the cross in darkness
for three hours, beginning at the sixth hour until the ninth,
that Christ completed the work of saving his people from their
sins. And he cried out, it is finished. And at the ninth hour, All the
sins of all his people were blotted out and taken away. And healing
balm flowed from the side of Christ unto all his blood-bought
people. The ninth hour is the hour of
healing. And here, at the people's custom,
they would go to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth
hour. But what better time to come
with your prayers than to come at the very hour when Christ
cries out, it's finished, and says unto his people, you are
forgiven, I have healed you with my blood. They came in the name
of Jesus Christ, who laid down his life for sinners such as
this man, for the lame, for the sick, for the dead. And in laying
down his life and taking the sins of his people upon himself
and taking the judgment and wrath of God against those sins, he
could cry out in power, thy sins be forgiven thee. Christ by his
spirit can cry out through his gospel to the lame, rise up and
walk. And Peter, by the very same Gospel,
by the Spirit of God, as Christ Himself speaks from on high by
His Spirit through the preacher, can say unto the lame, in the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk, because it's
the ninth hour, the hour of healing, when the prayers of the people
are heard. Oh, have you prayed to this Saviour? Have you prayed to this God?
Do you know you're lame and in need of salvation? Then if you
pray at this hour, at the hour of healing, you know you will
be healed. Peter and John said unto him
as he cried out for mercy, help me. They said, look on us, look,
look and live. Rise up and walk. Rise up and
walk. The ninth hour. From the sixth
hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour
and about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why hast thou forsaken me? He was forsaken and he was forsaken that those
like this lame man who themselves knew what it was in this world
to be forsaken because they were wretched weak without strength
and despised by others. Christ was forsaken that those
weak, wretched fools like this man should be healed and brought
unto God the Father and no longer be forsaken but be brought nigh
unto God and loved and blessed and treated like kings? Oh do
you know what it is to be forsaken? Has God shown you your sin? Have
you felt convicted and wretched because of your sin and corruption?
Because of the lameness? Because of the blindness and
the deafness? Have you felt forsaken? Have
you felt like the world despises you? You've begun to see God,
you've begun to read the scriptures, you've begun to listen to the
gospel, and everyone laughs and sneers and rejects you, and you're
forsaken by those who were once your friends. You feel forsaken
by this world, and yet you also feel forsaken by God because
there's this great gulf between you, and you're alone. Well if you're there, one day, A messenger
like Peter with the Gospel will come to you with the Gospel and
the Spirit of God will speak unto your soul and will say unto
you, rise up and walk. And you'll know what it is to
no longer be forsaken. No longer, but brought like royalty
into the presence of the King, brought to sit at the King's
table. Like Mephibosheth of old, that
lame son of Jonathan, whom King David had mercy upon. When Jonathan
was killed in battle, he sought out Mephibosheth, and he brought
Mephibosheth in, and Mephibosheth sat at the king's table. That
lame man favoured above all others, as God in his gospel favoured
you. favoured above all others, treated
you like royalty, said, come unto my table, my banquet and
feast upon the gospel, feast upon the riches of my grace. Come and sit at my table and
drink my wine and eat my bread. Have you been brought, a lame,
helpless sinner, into the presence of Christ, the King of Kings,
to sit and reign with Him forevermore? Have you? Are you praying at
the ninth hour? Are you looking? Look on us. The messenger said, look to Christ,
hear His name. look rise up and walk this man
heard and hearing he was saved he was healed and he leapt up
he leapt up and stood he stood for the first time in his life
he stood have you stood up or are you still lame still fallen
in your sins if you hear the gospel If you hear the healing
voice of Jesus Christ saying unto you, rise up and walk, rise
up, stand upon thy feet, then you will stand. And you will
stand in the truth. It's the truth of God's grace,
God's gospel, Christ's gospel, which will cause you to stand
and you will stand in that truth. and never depart from it. And
you will stand in the liberty of the grace of the Gospel, knowing
that it was not your strength that saved you, not your works,
not your will, for you were helpless and lame. But another came your
way and spake, and by grace showed great favour unto you. You will
stand, knowing that you've been delivered from all that was against
you. from all that condemned you,
all the condemnation of God's law against your sin. You've
been delivered from it, saved from it, delivered from your
sins, delivered from the wrath of God, delivered from the judgment
of the law. Oh, the grace and the liberty
and the freedom that flows forth in the gospel. And you'll know
what it is to stand by it and to stand in it, in the gospel. It's the Gospel which saves. The Gospel which makes the lame
to walk. And those lame who are made to
walk by this Gospel stand in that Gospel. They stand in grace. They stand in liberty. And they
will not let any lead them astray. They stand. And not only do they
stand, but they walk. And they leap with joy, they
walk. And their walk is in Christ. Where is your walk? Where is
your walk today? Are you walking through this
world as you think? When in reality you are lame
and dead and blind. Are you walking as it were by
your own strength? serve in your own will and your
own glory? Or has Christ healed you of your
lameness and caused you to walk and to follow Him as the sheep
follow the shepherd? Are you walking in Christ and
in Christ alone? Walking in Him, in His truth,
in His grace, in His gospel? Will the lame who hear His voice
and His name walk in Him and walking they have hope and they
have joy in him, joy, unbounded joy, unmeasured joy, joy which
bubbles over, joy which flows forth, joy which cannot be held
back, joy which causes them to leap and to praise God. He entered with them into the
temple walking and leaping and praising God, walking and leaping
and praising God. Does your heart leap with joy
at what Christ has done for you? That Christ should come to you
a dead sinner and take your sins upon himself and enter into the
darkness of the cross, bearing the wrath of God, being burned
up by the fires of God's wrath because of your sins. Do you
leap with joy that He took that punishment upon Himself that
you might be spared? Does your heart leap? Does it
cause you to leap before God and to cry out praises under
Him that He should think of you, you poor Mephibosheth? bereaved,
your father lost in battle, a lame man without strength, without
help, you poor Mephibosheth, no one cared for you, no one
cared for this lame man, yet Christ in His Gospel set His
love upon you before ever the world was made. He set His love
upon you before ever you were born. He set His love upon you
when you were born, going forth from the womb, speaking lies.
He set His love upon you all those years that you lived in
rebellion against Him. And He set His love upon you
when He sent a messenger with His gospel to say unto you, in
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Oh, has He
set His love upon you. Do you know it if you have? If
you do know it, if you've heard his voice, if you know it, then
you will leap and praise his name. As he set his love upon
you. Like he did with Bathibusha.
Like he did with this lame man. Oh what an end that this man
had. What an end, born lame. carried
every day of his life, a beggar every day, helpless and hopeless,
and then there comes this day that a messenger sent of God
with the gospel comes with the voice of Jesus Christ and speaks
by the name of Christ, by the Spirit of God under him. Rise
up and walk. What an end has he come unto
you? Has he come unto you with the same message? The same message. Have you cried out as this saviour
comes your way? Help me. I am without strength,
without ability. I'm blind. I'm deaf. I'm dumb. Help me. I'm dead in trespasses and sins. I can do nothing, Lord. I know
I'm wretched. I know your justice burns against
me. Lord, help me. Lord, look on
me. Lord, have mercy. Have you cried
out? Has he heard? Has he healed? Can you, with this man, leaping
up, stand upon your feet and walk, stand in the truth of the
gospel, walk in Christ, leap with joy and praise God for his
great salvation. Oh may God have mercy upon you
if you know you're lame this day may he speak unto your soul
in grace in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up rise
up and walk and he leaping up stood and walked
and entered with them into the temple walking and leaping and
praising God. Walking and leaping and praising
God.