We're in Acts chapter 3, and
if you have your outline, the glorification of the Son by the
Father, which is the topic we began to investigate as the overarching
theme of the book of Acts chapter 3. We actually got to verse 2
last time, and we will work from there again. The theme is in
verse 13, if you'll notice what it says in verse 13, Peter is
responding to those who saw this most notable miracle. Verse 12,
And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, You men of Israel,
why marvel you at this? Or why look so earnestly on us,
as though by our own power or holiness we made this man to
walk? Then he explains, The God of
Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob the God of our fathers hath glorified
his son, Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence
of Pilate when he was determined to let him go." Peter saw and
James saw this event that we're going to spend some time deriving
the application from as an opportunity by which God would glorify his
son, Jesus Christ. That's what he saw. He saw this
event where a layman laying at the temple gate the gate is called
beautiful in verse 3 and They become the objects or the means
by or the vehicle by which this man now is made to walk And the
people respond adversely to them and Peter has to quickly set
the record straight that's what verse 13 means when he says the
God of Abraham Isaac and of Jacob is The God of our fathers hath
glorified his son, Jesus. That's what the book of Acts
is about. That's what the New Testament church is about. That's
what the role of the people of God are about. Being an extension
of the ministry of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit
so that it can be said all over the world. The God of our fathers
hath glorified his son through this means whatever, whatever
opportunity God opens up for us, whatever Door opens for us
to share the gospel through whatever means whether it's a service
oriented mean whether it's the ministry of the word Whether
it's a phenomenal event that occurs by which you and I are
left awestruck at the power of God it becomes merely a vehicle
for really evangelism. So if you have your outline,
I'm going to briefly go over points one and two and start
at points two to unpack this further. A pattern of old and
new things. This is the thing that we talked
about last week. What we are doing as we go through the book
of Acts is we are watching and observing how that God is doing
a new thing in the midst of an old thing. The old thing being
the old economy, the old covenant, the people of God, initially
the Jewish people. So we are at Jerusalem. And so
it's in the middle of a people group whose legacy in history
is rich with the visitations of God. Only now they have to
reckon with the visitations of God through a man whom they had
recently rejected and killed in a mock trial. And that man
is Jesus. So Jesus is showing up in a very
notable way in our account And it says in verse one and two,
now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of
prayer being the ninth hour. And we learned that that ninth
hour is three o'clock in the evening. The Jewish timetable
starts at six in the morning, three hours later is nine, three
hours after that is 12, three hours after that is three in
the evening. The last set of threes would
be six o'clock. So at six o'clock we go from
day to night and night starts at six in the evening and ends
again six in the morning. There are four watches in the
night, six to nine, nine to 12, 12 to three, and then three to
six. So this is what is meant by the
ninth hour. This would have been the evening prayer in the temple
that the people would have been gathering together to call upon
God. An old thing, a normal pattern,
protocol for the people of God in that day. It would be during
this normal practice of Jewish tradition, of which like church
can be mere protocol, no expectation, just going through the rope form
of religion, Masses of people are headed to the temple. They
are engaged in prayer. Some sincere, no doubt. Others,
again, just religious. And then others are going to
be unexpectedly imposed upon by the presence of God because
they are not expecting. This lame man becomes the opportunity
by which God would glorify himself. So in our first points in your
outline, we saw this in our PowerPoint, if you can pull up the PowerPoint.
Point number one, new pattern, old pattern, conditions for what?
Two things. Do you guys remember? Conditions
for what? Conflict first, condition for conflict. When you take an
old thing and you connect it to a new thing, or you try to
run them together concurrently or simultaneously, you are asking
for a conflict, are you not? So that's the first point. If
you take an old idea and you run it up against a new idea,
and those ideas appear initially at least to be adverse towards
one another, you are going to have a conflict. So what we understand
that the gospel is by nature is a conflict message. You have
to know that, that the gospel by nature is a conflict message.
It is not a message that bodes well on the human mind or the
human heart. It's a message that comes to
us from God and it initially takes us by surprise and alarms
us because of its assessment of where we stand. If we were
dealing with, uh, evangelism class, I would say one of the
fundamental errors in our evangelistic class would know this. One of
the fundamental errors of mankind is that he thinks he's all right
with God. That's a fundamental error in the Bible is clear.
Every way of man is right in his own eyes. This is one of
the assumptions that dominates our present postmodern culture. When you meet people, they're
all right. But in reality, the Bible would say we are not all
right. So if you're thinking you're all right, and then the
Bible comes with a message, you're not all right. We have introduced
at that point a conflict, haven't we? So the nature of the gospel
is that it fundamentally opposes the presuppositions of the world. So here's a situation where conflict
has entered into the equation and is getting ready to set a
course and precedent among the disciples, among the apostles,
over against the Jewish leaders. We're going to see that in chapter
4. The Jewish leaders are not happy about what's occurring
because what's occurring now is the beginning of an earthquake
which will have reverberations throughout the whole of the temple
proper. The first thing we said would
occur when you take a new pattern and place it in a old system
is that it would produce conflict. The second thing that it produces
is what? An opportunity. Now that is even more evangelical
in terms of the way you and I should think. First and foremost, we
have to get over the fact that the truth that has been deposited
into our life is conflict oriented. We have to get over that. I have
to hurry up and resolve the fact that the truth that I am learning
is going to offend some people. I have to get over that. But
I also have to be able to embrace the reality that God uses that
initial conflict as an opportunity. So evangelical mindedness says,
what door will open up as a consequence of this initial conflict? But
see, it takes faith to be able to coalesce those two ideas,
conflict and opportunity, as a basis for me being able to
share the gospel. I have to believe God has my
best interest in view when he establishes or produces an occasion
by which my witnessing or my testimony is going to cause someone
to be offended initially, but is going to subsequent to that,
open the door for me to share the gospel. I have to trust that
God will turn that that tension into a dialogue by which I can
advance the truth of Christ. I'm reiterating that for you
because this is what's happening with Peter. If Peter was just
moved by the distraction, the awe, the overwhelming amazement
of the people, he may not have seen what God wanted him to see
in terms of, oh, this is an opportunity for His son Jesus to be glorified,
but Peter would have known this Based upon the way the miracle
unfolds and that's what our lesson today will be about pattern of
old things and new things producing a Opportunity out of a conflict
as Jesus taught that Parable in Mark chapter 2 22, you don't
have to go there You remember that wine skins in the wine point
number two an impotent man meets God at the temple That's sort
of stating the obvious but as we learned last week It's really
not because simply to go to temple or to go to mosque or to go to
church It's not the same as meeting God Simply to go to mass or or
a mosque, or a church, or a synagogue, or wherever you go, is not the
same as meeting God. Do you believe that? It is not
a given that when you go to a certain place that is known for the veneration
of deity, that that deity is going to show up. It is more
commonly experienced that we come to church and we go through
the form of religion and it's very possible that God doesn't
show up at all. Now, those of us who may be much
more deeply intrinsically given to the personal dynamic of the
Spirit of God in our life and the sensitivity to make sure
that we are authentic when we gather together in any form of
worship or study, are gathering with the people of God, we're
going to be sensitive in our heart to want Him present and
to desire Him to manifest His already present existence. In
other words, we're not asking the Holy Spirit to come from
the southern part of the state to come up here to the northern
part. We're not asking Him to leave
the east coast and come to the west coast. We're not saying,
leave the Middle East and come to the Bay Area. We're not waiting
on him to show up like that. We know he is omnipresent, right?
So in that sense, we don't wait for him as if someone would wait
for somebody to move physically. That would make him mutable.
But what we do have to do is we do have to be cognizant of
a need to acknowledge his presence and so respond accordingly in
order to enjoy whatever revelations will take place in the subtle
But substantive and concrete dimension of his presence among
his people It is possible for christ to show up in the person
of the holy spirit and do a great deal of work in the lives of
individuals in a group of people For whom that individual are
those individuals are are are greatly moved by his presence
and his power and other people miss it It is possible for the
Spirit of God to be in our midst right now and working mightily
in someone's heart whom he has prepared by breaking them down
or preparing them by virtue of their troubles or their issues
or their excitement or their enthusiasm. He may have blessed
them over the course of the week and they are just brimming with
the opportunity to simply have the Word of God expounded. They're
ready for that blessing and God can meet them and not necessarily
meet anyone else. So so to that degree the admonition
would come to all of us is that we are to seek the Lord Not assume
him seek him. All right, and so we'll learn
a little bit about that too again on Sunday. That is the fundamental
it is a a Reciprocating principle that God lays down to his people
if you seek me you will find me. That's a beautiful promise. I If you seek me, you will find
me. And so, uh, here we can say that this lame man, this impotent
man that's at the gate meets God. And we can assume we don't
know fully, but we can assume that he meets God because he
wants God because he needs God. You see that he's an impotent
man. You know what that means? He's
powerless and he's paralyzed. I mean, he's in a state and condition
where other people have to help him. We would say he's an humbled
person, humbled past tense, objectively, not necessarily subjectively.
All lame people, all paralyzed people are not humble. If you
ever worked in the field of hospice, you understand that sinners are
sinners to the core and they can be as mean and cantankerous. And the only thing they got is
their head on their shoulders. Dr. Pharaoh Griswold preaching
on the depravity of men said this one day you can take a sinner
and throw him overboard into the midst of the sea and the
sharks can eat every limb of his body and so long as he leaves
his head in his heart that man will be hostily depraved and
angry towards God until God changes the heart. The heart has to be
changed. You can be as impotent as anything
so long as the heart is not changed you can be proud but we assume
that this man being in this situation as many were as we read in the
gospel of John chapter 5 there were many many many impotent
folks that Jesus healed at the waters of Siloam and I remember
this in my own experience you may not but this happens frequently
in third world countries where you meet people who don't have
the same level of technological advancement or medical care that
we have in our country so that prenatal care really does minimize
a whole lot of infirmities and things like that that can take
place in our life. It was visible to me when I got off the plane
in Africa many years ago that we, I was in the middle of a
Bible country. Lame people, lepers, blind, halt,
withered everywhere. You understand, just walking
the streets and things of that nature. So obviously you become keenly
aware of what was going on in the days of the Lord Jesus, as
well as the apostles. So an impotent man meets God
at the temple here and that gate that he is at, we talked about
last week, it's called the gate beautiful. Here is the opportunity
that's being laid out before us. And we looked at the significance
of the gate briefly. The word gate or the concept
gate implies entrance. It implies access. And it also
implies what? Opportunity. And so when the
Bible talks about the door or the gate or the entryway, Jesus
says in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth and the life,
right? And we say that emphatically because he becomes for humanity. Anyone, the door by which we
enter into fellowship with God, he is the gate by which the sheep
go in and out and find pasture and rest for their souls. We
saw also last week, That in psalm 24 you and I are described as
gates and everlasting doors as well Lift up ye gates you everlasting
doors and the king of glory will come in a reason why we can take
that passage in psalm 24 and apply it to you and me is because
the gates that David was talking about are the gates of the temple
and The body of Christ is the temple of God So there's a sense
in which you and I serve as access and entry and opportunity for
sinners who are on the outside of the kingdom to come in by
virtue of our being the temple of the living God. So in this
context, it would typify that. And the church in that sense
is beautiful. Lift up your heads. Oh, ye gates
and be lifted up, ye everlasting doors. And who will come in?
The King of glory. And that's what happened in our
text. The king of glory showed up at the gate beautiful. He
actually went in with them That is to be unpacked here a little
further in your outline There are four three observations to
be made under an impotent man meets God at the temple He does
meet God, but he meets God through a means His infirmity is the
first thing we have written there. Don't we in our PowerPoint? and
I PS there the word P means physical the word s means spiritual and
His infirmity was physical, but it pointed to the spiritual infirmity
of all of humanity. We said that earlier, we affirmed
it as Romans 5, 6-9 and many other places. While we were without
strength, Christ died for us. Every sinner is impotent spiritually
by nature. We don't have any ability to
come to God by nature. We don't have any ability to
move towards God by nature. We are powerless. Oh, I told
you that negating preposition with the root word steroid from
which we learn that you produce muscle and strength by which
we are able to be mobile and to move forward until God infuses
us with the power of the gospel. We can't move. We can't even
call on God until he infuses us because our spiritual condition
is what? We are dead and we are impotent.
So that man's limbs were helpless to do anything for him. But then
we also noted the virtue of what? Asking. Now, this is why I said
earlier, there is a clear providential lesson to be learned in physical
infirmities and troubles that God would bring into our life
where they would amount to limitations and frustrations and weaknesses
of all kind because they put us in a position of being needy
before God. And I think you can be a record
to this truth. That until we really see our need of God, we
don't really call on him. Is that true? So what God has
to do is show us that we are really truly impotent to accomplish
anything on our own. And because he has established
a covenant relationship with us through Christ, he is determined
to teach us how to depend upon him to get the job done. That
means he will teach you, child of God, how to call on him as
one of the fundamental basis of your relationship with him.
The child of God will learn how to call on God. He or she will
learn how to cry out to God, to seek God, to beseech God,
to pray to God. That is a fundamental before
God will ever use you, teach you that you need God. And so
the impotent man is put in a really blessed place here because he's
forced to ask, right? What does he do every day? He
begs for money. We talked about the implications
of that inferences on a cultural level, that if Israel had been
really operating out of a biblical paradigm and a biblical model,
that laymen wouldn't have been there. But because Israel was
not really in control, remember the Roman Empire was governing
them. And so a lot of the Old Testament principles that would
have kept them in a place of independence and autonomy, where
that there would have been enough wealth on the part of the Israelites
to help take care of poor persons like this, so that they wouldn't
live in a scandalous kind of way, calling themselves the people
of God and get on the street begging for money. The economy
of Israel would have taken care of that. But this becomes an
implication that the strongholds of the enemy are still present
with us when we are in these adverse situations where we have
to call on God. But then again, God works through
this evil to do good. So we what we will acknowledge
is is that often we don't walk in the principles of Scripture
to the extent that God would as it were liberate us from What
otherwise would be? Unnecessary fetters if we were
walking in biblical principles and had our priorities straight
and God could trust us he wouldn't have to restrain us with certain
fetters and because he could trust us and he would liberate
us from that. So we wouldn't have to play part of that kind
of model of relationship with God. But sometimes he has to
do that because we are not faithful enough to be able to operate
in other models. Am I making some sense? In any
event, what God is not gonna do is waste his relationship
with you by your or my indolence. He will deal with us at every
level. He will deal with us in our impotency. He will deal with
us in our slothfulness. He will deal with us in our unbelief. He will deal with us in our doubt.
He will deal with us in all of the varying carnal principles
that are related within our fallen nature that have a tendency to
want to doubt and question whether or not God can bring us through.
God will use that. He'll use it all to conform you
to the image of Christ. He'll bring you to a point of
asking, and we learned in Luke 11 verses 9 through 13, if you
seek You will find if you knock, it will be open. If you ask,
it will be given to you. That is a truth. However, the
verb form is in the imperfect continuousness, and what God
will have you to do is frequently ask, frequently seek, and frequently
knock. He doesn't always open the door
the first time you knock. Is that true? Because faith is
a muscle. It is a resource. It is a device. It is a mechanism, it is a frequency,
it is an instrument that God would train you in terms of learning
something about his character and nature versus faith being
sort of a bell you ring in order to get God to do whatever you
want. You do understand what I'm saying? Faith is never depicted
as a bell you ring as a, hey, God, hey, God will not hear you
for years. You'll get tired of ringing that
bell. Until you understand that God is really calling for a relationship.
And so we read the last point. This is very important. The blessing
of believing friends and family. Why do I say that? Because the
layman was only at the gate because someone placed him there. Now
this gets into a model of evangelism and ministry that's critical.
Now this is not only in terms of a model for evangelism and
ministry of all sorts, but this is just the care that should
be part of the corporate nature of the body. So this can be described
as two things, the care of the corporate body and also what
we call in evangelism, corporate evangelism. the care of the corporate
body. So if we have some brothers or
sisters, our families, our churches that would be depicted by the
lame man, infirmed, paralyzed, halted, hindered, obstructed
from being able to do God's will for whatever the reason may be,
we can take those persons to the Lord in the context of prayer
and ask God to liberate them. Is that true? So whatever kind
of impotency, whatever kind of lameness, whatever kind of impediment
is hindering our brother or our sister or one we care about,
we can demonstrate the blessing of being a believer. We can demonstrate
the principle of being a friend because a friend loves at all
times. And then we can demonstrate the principle of the ontological
nature of the body and that is we are brethren. So what the
Hebrew writer says is you and I are to be careful to regard
the adversity of other brothers and sisters because we ourselves
are also in the body. You know what that means? Any
day you could break down just like them. And then you will
need somebody to carry you around and clean your butt. Ooh, that
would be humbling, wouldn't it? Oh Lord, keep a brother from
that. But the sister too. But the point
being is it could happen. All right, God can humble us
to that extent, can he? So then being in the situation
where you and I are healthy, mobile, and have the ability
to get about, our privilege is to be able to take those who
can't to the throne of grace so that God can do something
for them. Obviously, I'm dealing with Mark chapter two, verses
one through 12, where our Lord Jesus Christ in the initial aspects
of his ministry Preaching and teaching and in one portion of
Mark's gospel, maybe the opening of chapter 2 It says and it was
noise abroad that Jesus was in the house. Aren't you thankful
Jesus is in the house? It was noise abroad that Jesus
was in the house. And so everyone came because Jesus was in the
house This is the way we would want our churches to be Churches
that are known that Jesus is in the house not this fan and
not this star and not this person and Jesus. And people would come
because of Jesus being in the house. And as the text worked
itself through, it came to that portion where Jesus is doing
ministry in the house. And there are four brothers. You might
as well go there for brothers who are arduously laboring, tenaciously
working to position someone who is also lame so that they can
be healed by Jesus. So that is in Mark's gospel,
chapter two, verse three through five. And they come unto him
bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born of four. You know
what that means, right? Four people were what? Carrying
him. We'll draw out the implications of that in a moment. And when
they could not come nigh unto him for the press, that is the
crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was. And when they have
broken it up, they let down the bed where in the sick of the
palsy lay. Now, this is a truth that needs
to be captured because it runs all the way through the scripture.
And it's something that God gives to us by way of exhortation.
And it's this. He always expects faith to manifest
itself by works. He always expects that the gift
of faith that he gives you, the gift of faith that he gives you,
manifests itself by these kind of evangelical and corporate
body works wherein we serve God out of the energy of faith that
is rooted in love. That's the fundamental principle,
Galatians 5, 5, get it. Faith works by what? Faith works
by what? The love of God shed abroad in
our hearts, where we love God when a servant and the love of
God that we have towards others, where we want them to have the
best because we want the best. So faith is never just a blind,
abstract, philosophical concept. It always manifests itself in
some kind of work. And so we read in the text. In
that fifth verse, listen to what it says. When Jesus saw their
faith. Got that? So you know what our master did?
He penetrated their act. The external effort with which
they engaged in bringing this lame person into his presence.
He penetrated, he went beyond their act. and targeted their
motive. It was their motive he saw. He
didn't see them merely tearing the tile off the roof, opening
up the roof. All of that took labor. Can you
imagine having to overcome all of the obstacles that are in
your way in terms of not only maybe your physical ability to
actually pull the shingles off the roof or the tile or the wood
or the leaves, but the people that you are about to embarrass
while you're doing it. Because part of this stuff is
dropping down on people's head and you're pulling it off and
it's making a little noise and the master is preaching at the
same time. You're trying to keep quiet because you want him to
keep preaching. On the other hand, you've got the necessity
of someone you care about that you want in the mist. So these
are tensions operating as we are practicing our faith that
can be a challenge to our emotions, to our psyche, all of that. And
what our Lord is commending is the power of their faith to break
through all of those barriers and achieve its goal, which was
one thing, to bring a person who had a need directly into
the presence of Christ. If we were to carry this principle
and ferret it out, we would say in the area of prayer, this is
persevering prayer. This is the kind of prayer that
perseveres and breaks through obstacles and continues until
the object of the love of the person that's doing the prayer
is placed in the presence of the one who can solve their problem.
So we struggle often in prayer because sometimes in prayer,
God is calling us to persevere. See, I told you not seek and
ask all that's prayer. And so you knock one time, you
seek one time, you ask one time door doesn't open. Your friend
is still in that condition. What are you gonna do? I'm gonna
go back and knock and ask and pray And I go back and my friend
is still in that condition. What am I gonna do? I'm gonna
keep knocking because the condition and total hasn't changed. My
friend has a problem. Only christ can solve it My friend
has a problem. Only christ can solve it The
situation hasn't changed. He's still my friend You know
what the scripture says a friend loveth at all times This is how
you can know who your friends are instead of your constituents
and hurry up and make the distinction between the two And I'm sorry,
even your brother it may not be your friends Because a friend
is a kind of person that possesses these characteristics essential
to long-lasting relationships You hear what I'm saying So these
four, whoever they were, bore this man up. When Jesus saw their
faith, when Jesus saw their faith and he only responded once they
had safely let him down through the roof, right in the, can you
imagine just coming down, descending, just descending, you know, blocking
the vision of Jesus from the people descending, landing right
there. And then our Lord rewards him,
rewards them with his acknowledgement of what they did. And that is
a principle for us to mark. This is why in a Sunday's message,
we were clear to close out in Hebrew six with that ominous
warning of apostasy by God's admonition. But God is not unjust
or unrighteous to forget your labor of love or work of faith,
which you have shown towards his name. that you have ministered
to the Saints and do minister that's verse 10 it ought to be
the calling card for every mature believer here's what God says
he does not forget your labor of love or work of faith this
is not an egocentrical Contemplation by which we are seeking to gratify
sort of a narcissistic objective of being noted are being praised
are being Adulated for something we're doing it is simply a truth
in Scripture that those who serve God Will be rewarded openly for
it This is the thing that we're going to be baptized into on
Sunday. I God promises his people over and over and over and over. There is nothing that you do
for God that he does not reward exponentially because he knows
what it takes for you and I to be able to do for God what God
wants us to do in the face of every opposition both internally
and externally. He rewards it. He rewards it. And that becomes part of the
impetus for us to do what we do as we do it. So that third
blessing, that third point is that the blessing of believing
family and friends is that we are able to bring individuals
who can't come to Christ into the presence of Christ by prayer.
by our own testimony and exposition of biblical teaching in their
life. Those of you who are qualified to expound scripture, you are
a walking temple, you are a walking scholar, you are a walking witness,
you are a walking testimony, you are a mobile means by which
men and women can be confronted with biblical truth that can
change their life. So if you are brought into a
situation by providence to share the word of God and expound the
gospel to men and women, what a blessing you become. Because
everyone can't come to Christ. Not in that present condition.
So we have to go to them. We have to go to them. Let's
go on to our third point now. Peter and John, in our PowerPoint,
Peter and John are what? What's the word? Witnesses. Write it down if you didn't.
And go back and listen to the three or four classes where we
initially developed the whole concept of witnessing That's
what you are. That's what I am. That's what
we are. It's not just what we do, it's what we are. And then
we have to grow into that reality. It's not just what I do, it's
who I am. I am a witness. I don't just do witnessing. If
I do witnessing, but I'm not a witness, I'm not a true witness.
And a true witness doesn't deliver souls. If I do witnessing, but
I'm not a witness, I am telling lies and I can't deliver anyone
by telling lies. I have to believe the product. So here's what's going on. God
had already told the disciples, Peter, James and John, that you
shall be my what? Chapter 1 verse 8. Here comes
an opportunity for them to become his what? This is the way God
works. And also, as I have been talking
to those of us who are learning sound biblical evangelism, sound
biblical evangelism is not that you are always out looking for
someone to witness to. is that you are always ready
to witness when the door opens up for it. So some have named
it lifestyle evangelism. That's cool. But what we're talking
about is the authentic evangelism that is intrinsic to who we are
because we are prepared, always ready to give an answer to everyone
that asks us of the hope of the calling that is within us with
meekness and fear. So I devote a portion of my life
to being always committed to a healthy relationship with God
because God's not going to use you if you're not right with
him. I mean, if he does, you know, that's beside the point.
But and normally he will shut your mouth until you have established
a right protocol with him. And then you become ready to
share the word of God. As you know, God has allowed
us to be silent in his chastisement of us. on an individual level,
in some cases for long periods of time. Am I telling the truth
brothers and sisters? Now in those cases, we're glad he's
kept our mouth shut. Cause boy, it's bad to talk about
God when you're not right with him. Cause you get stuff messed
up. I'm just telling you, you will
mess stuff up. If you try to talk about God
in a Jonah type situation, just keep your mouth shut. And so
sometimes he'll do that. He'll, he'll have us where we
don't have an effective period of witnessing. And that's a good
thing. It's humbling too. Cause you will see opportunities
pass by and you'll go, you know, can't say nothing. Not right. Can't say anything. Not right.
The Lord will bring a person to you and that person will be
talking about a particular issue, struggle, trial that they're
going through. Can you help me with that? The opportunity is
right in your lap. And you say, no, can't help you.
How come? Because I'm going through the
same thing you're going through and I've been blowing it the last 50 times.
If I told you that and didn't tell you what to do, you would
turn to me and say, physician, heal yourself. Right? So it does occur. And when that
occurs, it ought to humble us and it ought to correct us because
we ought to always want to be ready to do the will of God. But Peter and John are, Witnesses
and there are three aspects that I just want to call your attention
to first It's the assignment that was given to them right
all power and authority has been given unto me in heaven and earth
Therefore go you into all the world and preach the gospel That's
the assignment given to the whole church. That's you to me, too
and then the second is the promise the promise in John chapter 14
12 is a Radical promise that Christ gave to his disciples
of whom he called lambs You know what? He said he says Greater
works than these that I do, you will do. Greater works. It's
a powerful, powerful promise of a transition from Jesus to
the disciples or the apostles through the ministry of the Holy
Spirit. A powerful paradigm of an Old
Testament reality too. I'll share that with you in a
moment. But we had learned it in the opening introductions of
the book of Acts. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the one that
is believing on me, The works that I do shall he do also so
right there if we were to take our time and unpack those Those
ideas right there. One of the things we see inherent
in that statement that promise that proposition is a transition
of what Christ was doing from himself to his people an Extension
of the ministry of Christ from Christ personally to those who
are his believers. This is the book of Acts all
the church is an extension of Christ bodily that's all the
church is if the relationship is authentic if it's vital all
we can ever do by the grace of God is merely reproduce what
he did now when he says The works that I do you shall do that is
it would perpetuate and extend beyond the ministry of Christ
when it's here and greater works than these Shall he do he does
not mean greater in kind He means greater in dimension greater
in breath greater in measure You guys got that? The works
that Christ did become the works that we the church does and because
Christ is working in us by His Spirit to do them. And the works
are the same that He did when He was here, because the need
was the same. The need doesn't change. Humanity
is the same since the fall. They are sinners. They need a
righteousness that makes them right with God. They need the
forgiveness of sins. They need the impartation of
the Holy Ghost in regeneration so they can have a vital union
and fellowship with God. They need their understanding
illuminated. They need their heart illuminated
and enlightened so that they can commune with God and grow
in a knowledge of the things of God. They need the present
power and influence of the Pericle to lead and guide them into truth
and to train them up into their inheritance. They need all of
the covenant blessings that we are coming to learn in our Hebrew
studies in order to train them up. They need all that. But when
they get all that and they are brought to a place of maturity
where they can enter into the ministry and serve christ they
will do No more than what he did because all they will have
become is an extension of who he is Christ in you the hope
of glory And so the text says greater works than these that
shall he do because I go where to my father That's actually,
ladies and gentlemen, what we see taking place in our text.
Go with me to John chapter 17, verses 18 through 21, and we'll
see the request given by Christ to His Father concerning
the very events that we are looking at in Acts chapter 3. In John 17, one of the things
that the Son is requesting of the Father now that He is on
His way back to glory, to reside in the presence of the ineffable
bliss and to be glorified on the earth through his church.
One of the things he is requesting, we are reading in verse 18 of
chapter 17, these words, as you have sent me into the world,
even so I also sent them into the world. Jesus was the initial
apostle. The church now is the apostle
vicar. The apostles now are coming into
the world, going into the world, with the same ministry that Jesus
did. He said, and for their sake, I sanctify myself, that they
also might be sanctified through the truth. Verse 19 is establishing
a link of purpose between what Jesus did and what the disciples
will do. We saw this in Hebrews chapter
two. They are all sanctified by that one sanctifier in order
that through that sanctification process, they might be made one.
And so Jesus is set apart Jesus is consecrated Jesus suffers
dies and rises again This is all part of his sanctification
in order that you and I might be sanctified through the what
true What he's saying is I sanctify myself father. That is I Suffer
all that was required of the covenant So that when I take
my place as mediator, I can send the Holy Ghost to them like you
sent it to me Are you hearing me? so that they can do through
the Holy Spirit what I did through the Holy Spirit. Again, the disciples
are not going to experience a different power, but the same power. They're
not going to do a different work, but the same work. They're not
going to accomplish a different ministry. It's the same ministry
continued, only moving from the head through the body. You guys
got that? And so inherent in verse 18 is
the cross work of Jesus Christ. Then he says in verse 20, Neither
pray I for these alone and I want you to hear this because Jesus
is praying He's the mediator isn't Neither but I told you
we need a mediator. Don't don't we need somebody
praying for us when we're not praying for ourselves. I Love
it, too. I Love it. He ever lives to make
intercession for me Because I need it Listen to what he says neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also Which shall believe
on me? through their words. He's not
only praying for me, but he's praying for those who will believe
on him through me. He's not only praying for us,
but he's praying for those who will believe the gospel through
our labors. He's not only praying for the
apostles. He's praying for us who believe
the apostles. He's covering the basis. This
is a beautiful truth that is critical to understand. So that
the three things that are establishing now this opportunity that we're
getting ready to look at now is the fact that it's the assignment
of the apostles to share the gospel. It's the promise that
they would do greater works in Christ. And then it is the master's
request to the father that the father would bestow upon the
disciples those very same giftings that the father had given the
son. And so we read in verse 21, these words, Ordered that
this is what we call a henna a purpose cloth in order that
they may all be what? See, this is what I was saying
in our Hebrew study. It is critical that you and I
understand the Objective of God the Father in bringing many sons
to glory. There is a unity that he is establishing
with people groups from all over the world and that unity is being
established through the Lord Jesus Christ and God's only begotten
Son and by the power of the Holy Ghost who brings men and women
to Christ and in bringing them to Christ We are bringing them
to God and we are establishing a oneness between the people
that are saved Who are influenced by the immediate presence of
God called the what Holy Ghost? Who see Jesus for all that he
is he is our mediator who points to God the Father who is the
first cause of everything He is the one by which we are all
made one. Are you guys following me? There's
a comprehensive unity here that is critical to God's glory and
the security of our own soul in this process of redemption.
We are all one. We are all one in him. It's a beautiful concept. Now,
if it evades you as something important, I want you to think
about this. It was something that was constantly
on Christ's mind, so much so, he spent 26 verses praying and
pleading to the Father that he would do this for us. Listen
to the text, verse 22. I'm sorry, verse 21, fill it
out. That they may all be one as you, Father, are in me. Now
what we're talking about here is union. You, Father, are in
me, you guys got that? And I in thee, that's called
union, right? It's also called communion. You do know that right
that they also may be one in us Do you see the unity? We're talking about Christ being
in the father the father being in Christ, which is what he said
in John 14 He said it over and over again Do you guys know not
that I am in the father and the father is in me if you don't
see that at least examine the works Because there's no explanation
for these works apart from the unity and communion of the father
and the son which unity and communion We have been called into by the
gospel What's fascinating about verse
21 Is the passion of christ for his church to be a partaker of
that unity so much So he's requesting it of the father listen In order
that they may be one as you father are in me And I in thee that
they may also be one in us that the world may believe That you
have sent me. Do you see that last clause that
goes back to the title of our study? God the father has glorified
his son jesus christ See one of the byproducts of christ accomplished
redemption at calvary Is that for the last 2 000 years the
father has been intentionally glorifying the son? Everything
that you and I are called to do in terms of our being partakers
of the divine nature and serving the cause of God is to glorify
the Son. He has a right to be glorified. You guys understand that? The
Son has a right to be glorified and this is the objective for
which he brings us into unity with the Father and the Son by
the Spirit and thus into community with the Father and the Son by
the Spirit in order that the Father through the Son by the
Holy Ghost may work through us to cause the world to believe.
Am I telling the truth? This is critically important
to get. So our master place a great deal of commodity upon this objective. I want to be glorified and I
want to be glorified in them so that they can enjoy the mutual
benefits that come from being brought into union and communion
with us as we have it. And therefore, verse 22, and
the glory which you have given me, I have given them that they
may be one, even as we are one. I in them and thou in me that
they may be made perfect in one And that the world may know that
you have sent me and that loved them as thou has loved me Let's
go back to our text. You might ask the question. What
is the glory? That christ gave them that the father gave him
That they all might be one and that the world may believe You
can actually answer that by staying within the syllogism and working
your way back from the believer through Christ to the Father. You don't have to step outside
of the syllogism. The syllogism is very clear. The Father sent
the Son. Isn't that the Gospel? And the
Father gave the Son that which was necessary for the Son to
glorify the Father. Do you know what the Father gave
the Son which was necessary to glorify the Father? The Spirit. You got it? And so the son gives
the church the same thing that the father gave the son in order
that the church might glorify the son as the father glorified
the son through the spirit. So if we were to lock into the
third person, which is going to be part of our study next
year, when we go back to theology proper and really work through
the beauty of the Godhead, if we were to, if we were to start
with the third person, we would have to contemplate him for a
long time in terms of just his office. That's called the Spirit
of Glory. That's what he's called. He's
called the Spirit of Glory. Now God the Father is called
the God of Glory. That's what Stephan said. The
God of Glory appeared unto our father Abraham. That same God
of Glory appeared to Moses. And then He appeared again to
Joshua. And then He showed up in John
chapter 1 verse 14, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. And we beheld His
glory because of the impartation of the Spirit of God, or the
anointing of the Spirit of God on His life. And the glory of
God in Christ is made manifest by the Spirit of God through
the church today. Am I making some sense? In other
words, the Spirit of God is the means by which there is a portal
open into the revelation of Christ by which men and women see his
glory. Otherwise, all you see is a man, maybe a very peculiar
man, extraordinary man, maybe a very knowledgeable man, intellectually
wise man, maybe a good person, philanthropic in nature, but
you don't see his glory without the vehicle of the third person.
The goal of the third person is to glorify Christ to us, in
us and through us. Going back to our text, let's
work through point number four. So now here comes the occasion wherein
if the disciples hadn't already been instructed, they could stumble,
but they won't stumble here. They certainly won't. This was
powerful. Watch how this works. So this
calls us to our fourth point where It tells us in verse three
that the layman that was sitting at the temple gate entered in
to ask alms of them that entered into the temple who seen Peter
and John about to go into the temple asked in alms. So you and I don't believe in
accidents. We don't believe in coincidences. We believe in divine
providence. We believe that every detail
of everything that takes place in this world is actually orchestrated
by a sovereign God who meticulously governs them so that they bring
to pass His will. The multifaceted, multitudinous
nature of God's will. That means He uses everything
to bring about a particular objective. It may be profoundly Complex
in its nature if we were to investigate it unfolded but the event occurs
just as God wants it like if we were to just back up and work
through the day of that lame man and the people who were to
take him and drop him at the gate and all of the obstacles
and potential Conflicts and the struggles that brought him to
that gate if we were to back up and consider John and James
what they were doing that day what could have hindered them
from coming to temple on that day remember we are back on the
premise of New things being introduced into old things. So they are
operating out of a new paradigm that is called the gospel of
the free grace of God in Christ. But they are functioning in an
old temple system because there are people who in that old system
must meet the reality of that system. You got that? And one of them is this lame
man. He must meet the reality of that system because heretofore
all he's gotten is religion. And religion can't heal you.
It can't fix your problem. It can't solve your case. But
Peter and John Providentially axed by this man now mind you
now all kinds of people are coming through The thoroughfare of the
masses are coming through these four temple gates. We are at
the Corinthian brass gate It's probably on the west end or the
east end of the temple where common folk can come in Obviously
the layman can't go in because he's lame. So he's just dropped
at the gate but it's there where providentially Peter and John
are axed by this lame man. And here's how the story unfolds.
And Peter fastening his eyes upon him with John said, look
on us. You guys see that? And so now
that's point number four in our outline. It is called apostolic
authority affirmed. Now I'm drawing this out because
Peter Luke is impressing upon us a command and imperative that
Peter gives to this lame man. What this lame man is told by
Peter to do is to divest himself of every potential distraction,
everything around him that might cause him to take his eyes off
of them and put it on it. What he is calling this lame
man to is full, undivided, attention. He's calling him to focus, fix
your eyes, fix your ears, fix your thoughts on us. Hone in
and lock in and block everything else out. That requires a kind
of grace that says the person that's going to do this is doing
it because they have a need. So now when God starts dealing
with us in terms of commandments and imperatives if we are believers
We are desirous to do those things. I Wasn't that was a kind of proof
that this man had a resident Relationship our desire for a
relationship with God. Are you hearing me? now the nature
of that relationship and we'll be able to prove this in another
text now the nature of the relationship is that This man is going to
be commanded to seek God through apostolic authority. See what
Christ is doing now? He's affirming the reality of
his triumphant work at Calvary through the ministry of the apostles.
He's getting people to understand that he has left a vicar and
that is the apostolic band who will serve To perpetuate his
gospel around the world, but we've got to come to Christ through
them Are you hearing what I'm saying? Look on us literally
in the Greek is look at us, but it's a very powerful concept
now in your outline I say not to us but on us The propositions
are very important, right? They're not saying to the layman
look to us as the means by which you're saved Or by which you
will have your needs met or by which you will have your arms
given He's saying look on us. We become the vehicle by which
this is done now I have in our outline acts chapter 14 verse
9 and 10 a Commentary and I want you to see it before I make my
comment about why Peter did this go with me to Acts chapter 9
now Acts chapter 10 actually after 14 verse 9 I'm sorry and
listen to how the same kind of event occurs only this time with
the Apostle Paul This is that Iconium and Lystria and in Acts
chapter 14 verses 9 and 10 notice the language stay with me now
Here's what it says over in verse 7 And there, that is in Derbe,
in the city of Lyconia, there they preached the gospel. Remember,
the theme of the book of Acts is the preaching of the gospel.
Verse eight, and there sat a certain man at Lystra. What was he? Impotent in his feet, being a
cripple from his mother's womb. That's a long time. Who never
had walked. Now, both this account and Luke's
account is really, in the third chapter account, is really the
privileges and liberties of the mind of a physician. Remember,
Luke's a doctor. So Luke is actually dealing with
details to extract, as it were, from the information a kind of
sympathy because he's being specific. It almost sounds tautological
or redundant, but it's not. Listen to what he says. He says,
now there was a man at Lystra who was impotent. Watch this
in his feet. So we have the location being
a cripple from his mother's womb. Now we know the extent to which
he has been lame since his mother's womb. And then to cap it off,
who had never walked. God's getting ready to glorify
his son again, isn't he? Is he? He's getting ready to
glorify his son again with the kind of miracles that are authentic
in nature, not these bogus, foolish miracles that go on in churches
today. Now watch what he says. I want you to get this. The same
person heard Paul what? Speak. Who steadfastly what? Beholding him. Do you see how
Luke is using the same concept? Who's fixing his eyes on the
apostles because at this time in the providence of God, this
individual who's going to have their needs met are going to
have their needs met by an authorized preacher. And notice what the
text says. And beholding him and beholding
him, this is Paul beholding him, perceiving, watch this, that
he had what? to be what? Now, watch this. Saul with a loud voice said,
I mean, sorry, said with a loud voice, stand up right on your
feet. Did he say that? And what did
that man do? Our brother leaped up, didn't
he? He leaped up. Now, I'll deal
with the implications of that in terms of its redemptive and
spiritual connotation when we get there in about six months.
There are some distinctives between this and chapter three that are
subtle but important. They're subtle but important.
Here's one overarching reality that I'll just share with you
and I want you to go back to our text. This is why, you can
go back to our text while I'm saying it, this is why I believe
in Acts chapter three, Peter, who would have had the same kind
of discernment as well as John, Paul did would have been able
to perceive that the lame man in chapter 3 was already trusting
God So that there was not the preliminary evangelism and witnessing
and calling that man to faith that was necessary to be done
since that man was in a position that Constituted a lame person
who was in need of Christ hungering and thirsting for the righteousness
that would only come from God so in the same way Peter says
look upon us in the text tells us this. Now watch this. Look
at what it says. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to
receive something of them. What we have to accept with this
verse is that Peter and John did not tempt the man or taunt
the man with giving him money. Why? Because Peter said, silver
and gold, I don't have. So what I am calling your attention
to is not about negotiating a means by which you can have your physical
needs met. Let's squash that right now.
Let's put an end to that right now. In fact, that would be a
test, wouldn't it? Here you are brought by your buddies, your
family, your friends to the edge of the temple because the temple
is an Old Testament paradigm. Lame people can come into the
true church, but you couldn't go into the temple. You had to
be right before you went in, right? So you're laying at the
gate because you need God. God may show up, but if God doesn't
show up, somebody will give you a penny or a dime or you can
live for a day. You got to come back tomorrow.
It's a job, right? On this occasion, you end up meeting God because
you're hoping in God, you're trusting in God. And God tells
you to do specific things. And now we get to discover what
we call the obedience of faith. And this is what Peter does,
he says, silver and gold have have I none, but such as I have
give I thee. So if I were to stop and go into
the implications of that with regards to the gifting that God
has bestowed upon us as believers, I am obligated to give what God
has given to me. That's clearly one implication.
It is more blessed to give than to what? It is much more blessed
to give than to receive. So what I have to do is assess
in my life, has God poured into my life gifting? Has He given
me something which other people need? If He has, I want a disposition
of soul to give it. As it's not automatic that when
God gives you something, you're gonna be ready to give it back.
This is true. One of the things that the Spirit
of God has to teach us to do is not be selfish. I was talking
to my brothers and you guys hear me talk about this frequently
in evangelism class. We are talking about how to identify
people who operate out of different worldviews, who are trapped by
narcissism, trapped by consumerism, trapped by existentialism, trapped
by a postmodern ideology, trapped by all of these different worldviews
that unless you actually are ready to address those worldviews,
you and that person can be talking apples and oranges. You have to be able to actually
see the kind of pit that they are in and use the appropriate
key of knowledge to go inside that pit to have a conversation
to bring them out because people are in different pits. This is
why some folks in their attempt to share the gospel are completely
ineffective because they don't even know where to start with
people. What are you going to do with a person who has a pluralistic
worldview, who believe all ways are right, and therefore they
don't have a category of non-contradictory principles or propositions, which
means you can hold a view that's completely diametrically opposed
to theirs, but they don't see it as a contradiction because
they're pluralist. Am I making some sense? Like
my Hindu brethren. I'll tell my brothers and sisters
all the time when you share the gospel with our Easterners our
Middle Easterners and particularly our Hindu brother and our Indian
brother and they get all excited about Jesus and go Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I accept Jesus. I accept Jesus and you go they
just became a Christian. I said no they didn't No, they
didn't. No, they didn't. They didn't
become a Christian They simply added as an adjunct to the other
200 or 300 Million gods that they have chosen to embrace that
day Jesus right along with them Okay, so now now now follow this
to get saved is to abandon every idol in the universe as Abominable
for the one exclusive relationship with the true and the Living
God in the person of Jesus Christ. I You are not a Christian until
you have settled the matter that Jesus Christ is Lord alone. Ooh, that empties out half the churches
today. What did Peter have? Peter had
a commission. Peter had a promise. And Peter
had the prayer of a prevailing high priest who knows how to
find his sheep in every dire strait that they are in and use
the means of grace to get that sheep out of their predicament
into a situation where they can love and honor and serve God.
Do you believe that? Peter had a promise. He had a
commission and he had the resources of the mediator working in his
life. That makes it easy for us. I don't know if you you don't
know that it makes it easy if you have The Commission God has
commissioned you and he's commissioned every believer and you have the
promise God will work in you Everything necessary to produce
in us a means by which we glorify him And then we have a prevailing
high priest to see to it that it happens Are you and I have
to do is continue walking with God? The opportunity will open
itself up This is what I mean. This is Evangelism and witnessing
is not what we do. It's who we are. Here we go So
he said in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and
walk Do you see that? In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth rise up and walk Now that was the command that Peter
gave this lame man It was much like the command that Paul gave
the other lame man. I Right? Except in the account
in which Paul gave the command, you will notice that it says
in chapter 14, verse 10, watch this. And he said with a loud
voice, stand upright on your feet. And he leaped and walked. What's absent in Paul's account
that's present in Peter's account? The expression of the authority
of the name of Jesus. the expression of the authority
of the name of Jesus. Now, what I love about these
two accounts is that these two accounts juxtaposed together,
placed together, demolishes a false assumption of which I have said
to you before is critical to be divested of in the life of
Christians. And that is the pagan notion
that simply spouting the name of Jesus produces something. That will be more fully developed
as we go through the book of acts as well The fact that you
are a christian Means you already intrinsically possess the authority
that's given to you by right because of who jesus christ is
It wasn't necessary for the apostles to always quote as a mantra Jesus
Jesus Jesus Jesus For God to work through them to produce
something that resulted in the glorification of Jesus Another
argument before we go back and close it down. We only got five
minutes Those presumptuous brothers called the seven sons of Sceva
in Acts chapter 19 thought that they could just borrow the name
for a minute Like they really didn't work for the police department,
but they stole the badges And they put the badges on their
shirt and went around saying in the name of Jesus right It
didn't work It's not that the name of Jesus doesn't have authority
it has all the authority in the universe You do know that It's
the name which is above everything at which every knee will bow.
The issue is the vehicle where in the authority actually resides. You got that? Again, and I shouldn't
be holding these two intention too much, but it's important
for us to learn that lesson. What's remarkable about the ax
account in chapter 14, verses chapter three, is Paul didn't
use the name verbatim and the boy jumped up on his feet. Peter
got to work a little bit because God heals differently. Well, you can't turn this into
a cookie cutter pattern of how he does it. Are you hearing me? That's what we like to do. Somebody
over here is being used by God and that individual has a certain
methodology by which God has blessed that methodology. Now
we want to package that methodology and sell it all around the world.
If God is bound by the methodology now, I'm not telling the truth Got to be careful So what we
read in chapter 3 verse 6 is this in the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth rise up and walk verse 7 And he took him by the
right hand see it And he took him by the right hand. How come?
Because when he gave the command he didn't rise up because it was more needed for
this individual to have the authority and power that is invested in
Christ transferred to him on this occasion by which he would
have experienced the blessing of restored limbs. Now this is
not outside of the purview of the ministry of Jesus. I made
the proposition earlier. We're going to stop here. We'll
pick this up next time. I made the proposition to disciples
are not doing anything. Jesus didn't do that. True. So
stay with me for a moment. See, so because Paul was able
to say, get up and the man jumped up, we don't get to give him
a bigger church than Peter. Well, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no. We're not. It's not like Paul
has a big old power pack, 10 times bigger than Peter's power
pack that Peter needs charging. No, no, no. God is teaching you
and me that God works through different means to bring about
the same results. in order to teach us different
aspects of ministry. On this occasion, he's teaching
us the communion of the witness with the person that is in need
to help facilitate their entering into that blessing. So Peter
knows that he has to actually grab that brother by the hand
and pull him up. You got that? He has to take
that. So now once the hands are gathered
together, they are in communion. They are in fellowship. Peter
now is entering into that man's infirmity and assisting that
man in the process of healing. Now, why is Peter doing that?
Because his master did it. You got that? Because his master
did it. Now you and I know that Jesus
was given the spirit with what? Without measure. but there were
times when jesus reached down and grabbed someone and pulled
them up too we wouldn't dare imply that on the premise of
jesus having to pull him up that jesus power pack was low that
day all right so mark chapter 1 verse 31 will give us the modeling
the master this is what I love about Peter mark 131 if you can
pull that up this is what I love about Peter I'm gonna share with
you one more verse and we're gonna close it down tonight so it says and he
came and took her by the hand and lifted her up and immediately
the fever left her and she ministered unto them and you know what's
quite unusual about this text guess who the woman is here that
our Lord is ministering to Peter's mama So the Lord was teaching
his lamb the sensitivity and passion of ministry that is more
mediatorial in nature. Remember, we're both prophets
and what? Priests. Prophets and priests. And the
priest always dealt in the healing ministry of the people in the
Old Testament. It implies that when you and
I take the hands of a person who is infirm or afflicted, that
you and I are transferring. It implies that you are the vehicle
by which the blessing is being transferred through you to them.
It doesn't make you anything but a vehicle. But the joy of
it is that I'm a vehicle. You see that? The joy of it is
that I'm a vehicle. And on this occasion, okay, I
have to exercise a little bit more labor. That sister or that
brother can't get there. I gotta go get them. Oh, by the
way, they're too broke. I gotta feed them before I take
them there. If they need some clothing, I
gotta clothe them. If I have to actually repeatedly
share with them the word of God and pray with them and encourage
them and build them up until they get to that place where
they can walk in on their own, I gotta do that too. There are
some brothers and sisters who the moment you share the word
of God with them, they can take up and run with Jesus and don't
have to do a whole lot of inner activity with you. Others, we
have to spend some time engaged deeply with them. Am I telling
the truth? It's just so. It's just so. It's just so. Peter's modeling
the master. Now I want you to mark this.
When he lifted him up by his hand, the text says, and immediately
his feet and ankle bones received what? When he took him by the
right hand and lifted him up, immediately his feet and ankle
bones received strength. In other words, the Lord did
not impart strength until there was a communion between Peter
and the man. Until there was a participation
in the afflictions and sufferings of that brother, so that Peter
could be a vehicle through which Christ would work in the process
of healing. And will you notice what the
text says in verse 8? And he, stumbling up, What does the text
say? And he leaping up. Isn't that
amazing? And he leaping up and walked
and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and
praising God. Do you see that? So now, now
I want you to see the picture and we'll come back and unpack
it next time. But it is the promise of Isaiah 35. Peter reaches down
and grabs him. And while he grabs him, strength
is infused into him where he doesn't only get up, he leaps
up. I mean, you know, you could have
tossed the basketball up and he could have dunked it and came
on down, right? And as they go into the temple,
the man does not disassociate himself with the means by which
the blessing occurred. He stayed identified with the
apostles for he was walking with Peter and John. and still leaping
and jumping. The steroids had kicked in. I
mean, he was a bionic man for this moment, doing flips and
cartwheels and everything, holding on to Peter and James. They got
this brother excited about the blessings of God. So in your
outline, the question is, he is leaping from two things. Nehemiah chapter eight, verse
10, Luke six, 23. I'm just going to give you those,
the answers for which he is leaping. There are two reasons for which
he is leaping. Strength. Strength. He's leaping because
of strength, right? That's obvious. Strength. That is the fundamental claim
of the gospel, that it is the power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believes. Strength. Can you imagine what
he feels like at this moment? having every fiber in his legs
to be brand new, and bulging with energy. The adrenaline rushing
to his brain. Listen, this man ain't never
walked. He is filled with vitality, the
strength of life. But there's a second secret commodity
that's there that every believer knows. You know what it's called?
Joy. Joy There are two things by which
this man is manifesting the power of God in his life strength and
joy strength and joy strength and Joy, how can they not be
coupled together when they come as a free gift in the life of
the infinite person? How can you not rejoice at the
power of God resident in your life? Listen, I This is the first
time he's breaking the boundaries and barriers of that temple gate.
This brother's in the temple now. He's in. He's in the church. He's in the church. He's in the
church. He said, man, I'm in the church
now. I can come in now because I'm clean. I'm whole. I'm clean and whole. I can go
in. He's so happy. Hey, y'all, look at me. You're
talking about narcissism. Hey, look at me. And there's so many lessons to
be learned here, but listen to what the text says It's just
it just says it and he took him by the right hand lifted him
up and immediately his feet and ankles received strength And
he leaping up stood and walked and entered With them into the
temple walking and leaping and praising God here it is and all
the people saw him walking and praising God he was worshiping
and He was worshiping and they knew that it was he would set
for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple and they were filled
with wonder and amazement at that which had happened to them.
See that's another study for next time. But here's what Peter
says in verse 11 that's worth marking. And as the lame man
which was healed hailed Peter and John said he's bound to them. He hasn't let them go. He has
maintained a consistent association with the means of grace by which
he has been healed. He's acknowledging their authority. He's acknowledging there being
the means by which it was done. He didn't separate himself from
them and go on about his business. Okay, so I'm just going to extrapolate
one theological observation here. And this is a sad but necessary
truth. God only uses one means to save folks. I've been saying
that for the longest. People don't believe me, but it's true.
God's only saving you through the preaching of the gospel.
And the preaching of the gospel that he's saving through is the
preaching of apostolic truth, that truth that he committed
to those men by whom the word of God was completed and given
to us. And when we faithfully preach
and teach the word of God, then God uses that to save people.
Now, listen, there are some folks who again, in a, I don't know,
in a lapse of judgment would tell folks, nobody was the means
by which I was saved. God saved me all by himself. Well, how did you get saved?
Well, God saved me all by himself. Well, what was the means? Well,
no, I just talked to God and God, God did it. Well, you know, I just started
reading my Bible and God saved me through the reading of my
Bible. I didn't have to hear the gospel. God didn't bring
a minister. God didn't preach to me. I didn't
have to hear the preaching. But Romans chapter 10 is an inviolable
principle. It's an inviolable principle.
comes by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. How
shall they hear without the preaching? Right? Now the Word of God can
draw and it can bring people, but there's a point at which
the gospel has to be proclaimed to you so that you can know why
you need to be saved, from what you need to be saved, and by
whom you need to be saved. Just because folks start reading
the Bible and get interested in religious things don't make
you saved. Am I making some sense? And so
I would be I would be more than glad to say God used the preaching
of the gospel By faithful ministry to bring me to a saving knowledge
of Jesus Christ. So that's the only way it's done
It's only through the preaching of the gospel so he identifies
with Peter and he identifies with John because he Accepts
the means by which God had brought him to a complete healing process
Now all three of them are getting ready to be the means by which
Christ is exalted We're going to be taking a break next week,
the week after that. And then, let's see, we're back
on January 3rd, OK? So we'll be gone for a few weeks.
And just behave yourself. I want to read about nobody in
the newspaper. Don't be robbing nobody. I don't
want to be looking at the 11 o'clock news saying, man, is
that? Hey, Barb, Barb, look at this. Didn't I tell those people
if they needed something to come ask? I could tell you some stories.
You don't know what people be messing up this time of the year.
And you know, they got us on camera now, right? I mean, you
know, you're talking about, oh, big brother coming. Listen, big
brother here. Don't you notice how cameras
catch everything today? I mean, virtually everything.
All right, so don't, listen, the moment you leave this building,
some cameras on you. So I'll be sitting at home saying,
man, is that, isn't that that member that sits in the third
row? Look, he's still wearing that
same jacket. He putting stuff in his jacket,
man. You see that? Do you see that sister? Bob,
is that such and such? Oh Lord. Let's pray. So Father, we do thank you for
your word, and we know that you heal spiritually, no doubt about
that. All of us were lame at one time, but we can walk, we
can leap, we can rejoice, we can run this race with patience,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. But
we want to be like Peter and John and the four that bore that
lame man. Grace us to serve you in that
capacity. for the salvation of sinners
everywhere, for the healing of our brothers and sisters everywhere,
for the edification of the church of Jesus Christ everywhere. Lord,
get a hold of us. Do what you need to do to make
us right. And then use us for your glory. As we go our way,
give us traveling mercies. If you will prepare us to worship
you on Sunday, as you ought to be worshiped in Jesus name. Amen. And amen. God bless you.