Acts in the third chapter, and we're going to look at the first
eleven verses. We have a wonderful lesson of God's free grace before us, or
subtitled, A Cripple Miraculously Healed. A Cripple Miraculously
Healed. I'm going to read the 11 verses first and then make some comments. If I can get through, we'll see
what happens here. 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."
This man, who's seen 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 the man
gave heed unto them. He was expecting to receive something
of them. Then Peter said, silver and gold
have I none, but such as I have give I thee, in the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And the man took, excuse
me, then Peter took him by the right hand and lifted him up.
And immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaped 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 porch that is called
Solomon's, greatly wondering." Now, we have a little bit more
about this man in, I believe it's Acts chapter 4 and verse 22. As Peter and John
were brought before the council and they were threatened, they
asked if it was concerning the man that they had healed. And in that discourse, we see
in verse 22, the man was above 40 years old on whom this miracle
of healing was shown. So, turn back to our text. He's
at least 40 years old, born lame. He didn't know how to walk. and then became lame, he was
lame from birth. So what I'd like to note first
is the man's condition. He was lame from the womb. And
this wasn't a superficial setback. It wasn't a mere petty ailment,
but he was lame from birth. And this is just like we are
by nature. Lame and helpless from birth. Spiritually speaking,
the picture is very easy to see. This man was set at the beautiful
gate. It didn't do a thing for him. They might come and they're at
the place where the gospel is preached, and unless the Lord
does something, it doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter. So,
fallen are we in Adam that we cannot revive ourselves to walk
spiritually with God, ever. This man, year after year after
year, was brought and set at the temple. And I'd also like
to note, he expected to receive alms. He came and that's what
he expected. He expected to receive alms. And many in our day go to church,
a place they call a church, and they don't expect any kind of
spiritual food. They just want recognition and
they want physical help. We can be set right in the front
of the pulpit where God's grace in Christ is proclaimed and nothing
will happen unless God sends his Holy Spirit to enliven the
soul. There are two keys here and the
first one is lame. The second one is our second
point, the name spoken. Two keys here, a certain man,
verse two, lame from his mother's womb. And the second point, the
second key theme, I believe, in the text is found in verse
6. Verse 5, And he gave heed unto
them, expecting to receive something of them. Verse 6, Then Peter
said, Silver and gold have I none. But such as I give I have give
I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth there's two key things
here and that is also The way it is when God by his grace is
going to do something for sinners He's going to cause that person
that woman that man that boy that girl to realize that the
The sin that we have, the sin that we've created, the sin that
we've committed is not a superficial ailment. It is from birth. It is a sin, it is an ailment
that we cannot overcome. Secondly, when God reveals these
things to a sinner, He's going to reveal the name of Jesus Christ,
Jesus of Nazareth. Turn to Acts, one page over,
Acts chapter 4. Peter says, I don't have silver
and gold, but what I have, I'll give. Acts 4, verse 12, neither is
there salvation in any other, for there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. No other name. No other name
entertained. Acts 4 and 12, and we refer to
that over and over again, that there is no other name given
to men or given among men. The name, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that's why we must preach Him. That's why we must specifically
preach Him. Turn to Exodus chapter 15. Exodus 15 and look at verse 26. Let's start in verse 23. And when they
came to Marah they could not drink Of the waters of Mara they
had they were before they were bitter Therefore the name of
it was called Mara and the people murmured against Moses saying
what shall we drink? And he cried and Moses cried
unto the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree Which when he had
cast into the waters the waters were made sweet there. He made
for them a statue of an ordinance and there he proved them and
said if thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord
thy God and will do that which is right in his sight and will
give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes I will
put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon
the Egyptians for I am the Lord that heals thee." I am the Lord
that heals thee. Nobody else. There's nobody else
that can heal us. There's nobody else that has
the power, the authority. Any such things. Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth. Look at Isaiah
61. Isaiah 61. Verses 1, 2, and 3. "'The Spirit
of the Lord God is upon me,' this is speaking specifically
of Christ, Isaiah 61, "'because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
to the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our
God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that He might be glorified." And obviously, as
I read in this text in Acts, When this miracle was performed,
he jumped up, leaped up, praising God. You know when the gospel
is preached, because man is shown for what he is, Christ is revealed
as the only substitute for dead, dying sinners, and God gets all
the glory. He gets all the glory. One more
passage concerning this name, this wonderful name, Jesus of
Nazareth, the name spoken to this man that was lame on both
feet, Isaiah 35. Isaiah 35. 35 verses 1 through 6, "...the wilderness and the solitary place shall
be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as
the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and
rejoice, even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be
given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall
see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God. Strengthen
ye the weak hands. Confirm the feeble knees. Say
to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and save you. Then
the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf
shall be unstopped. then shall the lame man leap
as a heart and the tongue of the dumb sing for in the wilderness
shall waters break out and streams in the desert." It says here
that this lame man is going to leap as a heart. Turn back to
Acts. You see that in verse 7, and
when Peter and John took him by the right hand and lifted
him up, immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength,
and he, leaping, stood up, walked, entered with them into the temple,
walking and leaping. Now, people ask me, or I've had it
asked, Don't your people get tired of
just hearing the same message? If God has done something for
you, if God has done something for me, we never tire of hearing
that old, old story. Because we go through so many
struggles, and so many trials, and so many difficulties, there's
nothing like hearing that sweet name of Jesus Christ. Bruce said it this morning in
Bible class, in this world you shall have tribulation. It's
in every corner, it's in every building, it's in the office.
It's everywhere. There's difficulty, there's trials,
there's things that we have to go through. But He says, be of
good cheer. I've overcome the world. And
the only way that that We understand that it's through the gospel
that we can't do it by ourselves. We can't do it all. It's got
to be all through the name of Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth. Yes,
we are his messengers, but he must give the increased. He must
give life. He must give freedom and liberty.
There's one faith, one Lord, one baptisms, and all others
that are preached will not save or glorify God, the God in heaven.
If it's another faith, it won't do it. If it's another baptism,
it won't do it. If it's another Lord, He will not be glorified,
as it was in this situation. I don't have anything to give
you, but such as I have, Jesus and Nazareth. Jesus and Nazareth. Then, when
true life and repentance is given, truly, The walls and gates of
his church are beautiful, indeed. They sat this man down by the
gate in the temple, verse 2, which was called beautiful, but
I bet you they were beautiful that day. I bet you he noticed
things that he had never noticed before. because he heard about
someone that he hadn't heard before. Woe is unto us if we,
when people ask of us, we do not tell them who we know. Not what's and all these if's
and all these different things. Tell them who you know. Tell
them who you know. Thirdly, We see in this passage
here that God is a God of means. He's a God of means. He could
have saved this person. He could have healed this person
in different matters. He could save sinners by different
means, but He doesn't. He's chosen, as Bruce taught
in Bible class, He's chosen to redeem His people through the
preaching of the gospel. That's how our Lord has set it
up. There's two things here I think is very interesting. One is that
the man was set at the temple. He was where he could hear the truth. He was where he could hear the
truth. And if that means dialing in, dial in as often as you can. If that means picking up and
moving, pick up and move. If that means doing what you
can do to be where the gospel is preached, be there. Bruce made a comment that he
and I have seen over the years time and time again. When difficulty
hits people, we've noticed oftentimes they'll remove themselves from
the preaching of the gospel, they'll remove themselves from
fellowship. And I was listening to a message this week, I listen,
I've been listening to 10 messages this week, but somebody said
that the reason why we have half the problems we have is because
of our own sin, the things that we do. You know, why is this
person struggling? They haven't been where the gospel
is being proclaimed. That's our safety, our protection.
We gather together. As we've seen, I wrote just a
little article in this morning's bulletin. These first three chapters,
one thing I've noticed is the word, and they continued. They
continued. When they heard the gospel, they
continued breaking bread, they continued in fellowship, they
continued in prayer, they continued in the apostles' doctrine. That
is the norm for the believer, is to continue in the ways of
grace. He makes his people willing. In the day of his power, he separates
his people. So I see these means of grace.
This one was set. He was set at the gate of the
temple. Secondly, the Lord brought by
Peter and John to speak the Word. He brought by Peter and John
to speak the Word. God has chosen the means to accomplish
His ends. The man was where he could hear,
and the preachers were there to proclaim the Word. And again,
woe unto us, woe unto me, the Lord raises up one of you men,
woe unto you, given the opportunity to preach the Word, and we talk
about something else. We must speak of the name of
Jesus of Nazareth. It's the only thing that will
do any of us any good. And lastly, I close, I notice
in verse 8, 9, 10, and 11. Let us, you and I here today,
do these things as this man did. Verse eight, and he leaping up,
stood and walked, entered with them into the temple, walking,
leaping, and praising God. May we walk with those that walk
with God. Do you see that there in verse
eight? And the man leaping up, stood up and walked and entered
with them. Who? Those two men that just got done
telling him that even if they had silver and gold, that wasn't
his real need. His real need was to hear of
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And then later on in this chapter,
we're going to see what he's going to explain more about.
Peter's going to preach again. But may we be as like this one
here. May we walk with those that walk
with God. Do you remember Bob Coffey, just
the last time he and Henry were here? His message was, and they
will do you good. You remember that? He said, the
people of God, they'll do you good. I think it was out of Exodus.
I can't remember exactly where it was. But he said, the more
you're around God's people, even if you're not a believer, God's
people will do you good. So let us, like this one here,
walk with those that walk with God. Secondly, may we leap and
be full of joy in Christ." You didn't have to tell a man what
it was to be healed, because he'd been lame for 40 years. I remember years ago, I don't
know if Bruce remembers this or not, a Wednesday night, and I bet
it was 20, 25 years ago, somebody was asked, or somebody
said he saw one of his neighbors and he was talking to his neighbors,
and his neighbor asked him where he went to church and what he
believed. And he said, well, I'll have the preacher come by
and talk to you. He said, you don't know? Apparently
not, because he quit coming. I remember John Siebel asking
him, you didn't tell him? He said, no, I leave that to
the preacher. leap and be full of joy in Christ. You might not be a theologian,
and that's fine. I'm not either. But man, if you
see Christ, you know who He is, and you know what you can tell
about Him. You know what you can tell about
Him. Thirdly, may we praise our gracious and good Redeemer. And all the people saw Him walking
and praising God. They saw that. It affects us. You know, that's one thing about
baptism. It's not, you know, we don't sit there, you know,
we it's it's public. It's a public confession of what God has done
for us. This person walked in. They heard
and they saw him praising God, and they saw him walking and
praising God. They will see that the Lord has
done something for you and for me. And lastly, He says, verse
10, 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. And the last part of verse 11,
when they saw this thing that happened, they were greatly wondering. May you and I always, by God's
grace, be full of wonder, that is all, that God could save a
sinner like me and save a sinner like you. You go out to work
tomorrow, or the next day, and you fall, and you stumble, and
you get your eyes off Christ, and then He recovers you. He
causes you to think of His blood. He causes you to think of all
the things that He's done for you, and that He will keep doing
for you. And you just then wonder, what have we done? What have we done to deserve
such goodness and kindness? Nothing. It's only because He,
in His free, sovereign mercy, chose to redeem us and call us,
call us by His gospel, by the blood and by the Holy Spirit.
And also, not only be full of wonder, but in amazement. Amazement. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound. Wonder and amazement. There's
a lot of things lacking in preaching today, but I'd say when people
hear the message that's preached most often, there's no wonder,
and there's no amazement, because it's common, and it's easy, and
it's easy-believe-ism. You know what I'm saying? It's
a mockery to the God. But when the Gospel is preached, God's
people are full of awe and wonder and amazement at the free grace
of God that's found only in that wonderful name, Jesus of Nazareth. Bruce, would you close us, please?
Father, we pray that you have been glorified today. We have
heard you and you have been said.