Acts chapter 3. As usual, I always
look for a title to the message, and I'm taking the title from
Acts chapter 3 verse 13, and the words that Peter brings here
by the Spirit of God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his
Son, Jesus. God hath glorified his Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the title, God has glorified
his Son. Now this is the whole reason,
think of it, the whole reason, the whole purpose and will, and
all that our great God does, especially in the salvation of
his people, The bottom line in all that he does is his glory,
his glory. The gospel of God is called the
blessed gospel of the glory of God. Everything works to the
praise of the glory of his grace. We see that in Ephesians chapter
one, don't we? The father choosing a people,
in Christ before the foundation of the world. We call that the
Bible doctrine of election. And it all worked to the praise
of the glory of his grace. And then when Paul talks about
the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ in whom we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of his grace, it's all to the praise of the glory
of his grace. You see, God is jealous of his
glory. And then when Paul in Ephesians
chapter 1 talks about the work of God the Holy Spirit in calling,
quickening, and sealing us, it's all to the praise of the glory
of His grace. I love reading in the Word of
God the prayers of those that are recorded in the Word of God.
I think of the prayer of Hannah. I think of the prayer of Elijah. And I think of the prayer of
Nehemiah and Ezra and Daniel. I love reading those prayers
recorded in the Word of God, but I also love reading the sermons
that are given in the Word of God, and that's what we see through
the book of Acts. We're going to see many sermons
by Peter and Paul and others, recorded sermons in the Word
of God, but especially those sermons by the Lord Jesus Christ,
and those who were sent of him, his apostles." Now that's what
we're going to study this morning. What would you think Peter, on
this occasion, would preach unto the people? There in the porch,
Solomon's temple, there in that temple porch, what would he preach
to this great crowd, hundreds or maybe thousands of people?
Peter preached to them the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He wisely uses this occasion
of this lame man being completely healed as a springboard. He jumps on this healing and
uses it as a springboard, as a launching pad. to preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. One of the reasons why the Lord
gave these apostles special gifts and special credentials to do
these miracles of grace was to enable them to grab the attention
of the people that they might preach the gospel and that the
people might realize that they're truly son of God. Now, verse
11 and verse 12, the lame man, which was healed, held Peter
and John. Why did he hold on to them? Well,
out of love and appreciation. He wanted a close fellowship
with them. And all the people ran together
unto them in the porch. that is called Solomon's, and
they greatly wondered what was going on. Verse 12, when Peter
saw this great gathering, he answered unto the people, ye
men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Why do you look to us
so earnestly, as though by our own power or Holiness, we've
made this man to walk. Now, the first thing Peter does,
he turns attention away from himself and points sinners to
the true and living God. That's what every God-sent preacher
does. Now, we know this was no sham
healing. This man was completely healed,
fully restored to perfect health, perfect soundness in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ by the will and purpose of God. If you
look at the last statement in verse 16 of Acts chapter 3, this
perfect soundness this man is experiencing and enjoying by
Him has given him, God has given him this perfect soundness. He
had a completely healed body. And we know what God did for
him physically is a picture of what God does for us in saving
sinners today. We are like this man, lame, crippled,
And without God, without hope, and without Christ, cannot take
one step toward God, being dead in sin, God must come to us and
do a miracle of grace in our heart. And that's what he does. Now Peter quickly turns their
attention away from himself. to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that is what preaching is all about, pointing sinners to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Remember John, the prophet of
God, he told those people on many occasions, behold the Lamb
of God. And we preach not ourselves,
but the Lord Jesus Christ and ourselves, your servants for
his sake. Peter quickly discredits himself
and John. He said, we have no power. We
have no holiness. I love that statement, don't
you? He's saying God has all power. He's saying God has all
holiness. We don't have any. We look unto
him for all of our salvation. Now look at verse 13. He points
their attention to the God who is God, the living God, the God
of Abraham, that covenant God, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. He points our attention to the
sovereign Lord God, the living God, the God of our fathers. He had glorified his son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the very one whom you delivered up, The very
one you denied, you denied him in the presence of Pilate. You
remember they said away with him, crucify him. We have no
king but Caesar. When Pilate was determined to
let him go, you insisted that the Lord Jesus Christ be crucified. Now the true and living God,
Peter points them to the God who is God, the sovereign God,
The Sovereign God hath glorified His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
God, who is God over all things, over all people, sent the Lord
Jesus Christ to accomplish our salvation, to save and call out
His people. He didn't come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentant. Paul said, this is a faithful
saying, worthy of all acceptation, that the Lord Jesus Christ came
to save sinners. That's whom God came to save. And he saves people in such a
way to give him all the honor and glory. To do that in such
a way to satisfy his own law and justice to the glory of his
own purpose. Salvation by the grace of God
in the Lord Jesus Christ glorifies His love, does it not? Hail sovereign
love that first began the scheme to rescue fallen sinners to the
glory of His love. Here in His love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us. That He sent His Son to be the
sacrifice for our sin to the glory of His mercy. God said,
I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. And to the praise
of the glory of his grace. Hold your place there and find
the book of Titus. Right over here before the book
of Hebrews, Hebrews, Philemon, Titus, second Timothy. If you
look at chapter three, the book of Titus, Chapter three, verse five, not
by works of righteousness which we have done. But according to
his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ, our Savior, that being justified by his grace, we should
be made heirs according to the hope, the hope of eternal life. This eternal life is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. God hath glorified his Son in
the salvation of his people. Remember our Lord prayed, Father,
I've finished the work, I've glorified thee on earth, I've
finished the work you gave me to do. The very God and Savior
that was sent to this nation, Israel, Peter charges them with
denying him, despising him, disowning him, and demanding that he die
when Pilate was determined to let him go. John writes, he came
into his own, and an own received him not. Now, what do we see
in that? The last part of verse 13. Peter declares the true sovereignty
of God, God who is God, and then he also declares in that statement
the wickedness of men, the guilt of men, the total depravity of
men, When Pilate was determined to let him go, you were determined
in your heart to have him die, to kill him, to crucify him,
away with him. We see something of the nature,
the true nature of fallen, sinful, wicked man. Now, I noticed something
last night. I was watching the news about
tragedy in Texas. And as the news media is always
quick to do, they take a microphone and stick it in the face of some
politician. And I noticed the mayor of El
Paso, and I know he meant well, but it just speaks to the mindset
of what people think. He said, the man that did this
terrible crime, murdering all these people, we know he wasn't
from El Paso. because in El Paso, we have just
good people here. Nobody in El Paso would have
done this. He came from Allen, Texas. He
came from Dallas, because in El Paso, we have nothing but
good people here. Now, I know he's trying to defend
his city, and he's trying to prop up his city in a time of
sorrow, but everybody in El Paso, It's a wicked, vile, wretched
sinner. And apart from the grace of God,
they'd all kill one another before sundown. Same is true of you. Same is true of me. I don't make
light of those tragedies. How do you explain that? God, who is God? That's all you
can say. I believe it's a judgment of
God on this nation. I truly do. I believe it's a
judgment of God on this nation. I don't look for it. They can
outlaw all the guns, but you cannot write a law to
make men stop sinning against God. You cannot do it. Find a
way to write that law, and I'll be first in line to put my name
to it. You cannot legislate that. God has to change the heart because
the heart is deceitful, desperately wicked. The mayor of El Paso
made a grave, grave mistake. These people here in Jerusalem
are just like people everywhere. Men have not changed in their
corrupt, fallen nature, still evil continually. Verse 14, he
goes on to describe the wickedness of men. You denied the Holy One,
you denied the Just One, and you desired a murderer. Which
will you have? The lovely, holy, just Lord Jesus
Christ, or this murderer named Barabbas, the guilty, vile, wretched
man. Which one did this group of people
identify with? It wasn't the holy one. They
said, we want that wicked man. That's man's choice by nature. Loving darkness, hating God. Don't tell me we're not to pray.
I see it every day in my own heart. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the Holy One of God, holy in His person because He is God. When He was manifested in the
flesh, He never stopped being God. But the God-man Mediator
had no sin, knew no sin, did no sin. He was tempted in all
points like as we are, yet God said, He's the Holy One. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the Holy One because He is God. Such a high priest became us.
He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin. He was
manifested to take away our sin, thank God. But in Him there was
no sin. God made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. He is the Holy One, and He is
the Just One. just in all of his works of redemption
and salvation. He justifies freely by his grace. He is the just God and Savior. He is the just and the justifier. The Lord Jesus Christ always
saves sinners in a just and holy way in a just and righteous way
for he is God our Savior. Remember Isaiah 45 he said I'm
the only just God beside me there is no other beside me I am God
beside me there is no other I'm the only just God and He's our
Savior. Thank God He's our Savior. Even
though we're vile, wretched, guilty sinners, we're no different
than this crowd who cried out, give us Barabbas, give us Barabbas,
crucify the Lord Jesus Christ. We'd scream that to our grave
unless God in mercy saves us from ourselves and from our sin. You killed, verse 15. He goes
on declaring God is God. He says, you denied the Holy
One, you denied the Just One, you desired a murderer to be
granted unto you and you killed. Well, he stuck his finger right
in their face and said, you killed the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
a wonder, it's only the restraint of God's grace that they didn't
pounce on him like they did Stephen and gnash on him like a wild
dog before they stoned him to death. You killed the author,
the Prince of Life. whom God raised from the dead,
whereof we are all witnesses. You killed him who is life."
The Lord Jesus Christ is called the Prince of Peace. He's called
the King of Peace. Peter keeps on saying this. Look
back in chapter 2. You remember his first sermon? here at the Feast of Pentecost
in Acts chapter 2 verse 23. 2.23, Him being delivered
by the determined to counsel for knowledge of God, you've
taken Him by wicked hands, have crucified and slain. He just
keeps pointing His finger in your face saying, you're guilty,
you're guilty, you've killed the Son of God, verse 36. Acts
2 verse 36, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that
God had made that same Jesus whom you crucified, whom you
crucified. How do you think that made them
feel? They weren't happy. You killed
the prince of life. The wicked man. He said, give
us Barabbas. That is every man, every sinner
by nature, we would do the exact same thing. Say, well, if I'd
been there, I'd have never crucified. I wouldn't have taken up with
that craft. Yes, you would have. Apart from God's restraining
grace, you'd be right in the middle of it. Every man, every
sinner by nature loves self and hate God. The carnal mind is
enmity against God. And that's what Peter is pointing
out here. The sinfulness of men and that
salvation is in Christ. You killed, you killed the prince
of life. He that hath the Son hath life.
Christ is eternal life. This is eternal life that they
might know Thee, the only true God, Jesus Christ. He that hath
the Son hath life. Now let me ask you a question.
How can they kill the Prince of Life? Many times they sought
to stone him. Many times they wanted to throw
him over the edge of the cliff to kill him. Many times they
sought to destroy him and went out and held counsel how they
might destroy him, but they could not touch him until the appointed
hour that he gave his life. They didn't take his life. You
remember he said in John 10, no man takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my father. No man takes it,
he laid it down, because he loves his own people. But that's not
the end of the story, is it not? Peter would not have any good
news to preach about the forgiveness of sins, except he adds this,
God raised him from the dead. God raised him from the dead. Every time he preached the depravity
of sinners, putting to death the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God
raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was
not possible that he should be holding of it. God raised him
from the dead. Delivered for our offenses? Yes.
Raised again, why? Because He justified us by His
blood. Raised up from the dead. They did what they wanted to
do in killing Him. And they are guilty before God.
But let us never forget, all this was in the will and purpose
of God to accomplish God's purpose. Him being delivered, we read
a moment ago. by the determinant counsel or
knowledge of God, you have taken in my wicked hand. Now look at
Acts chapter four, verse 25, right across the page. Acts 4.25,
who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said, why do the heathen
rage, and the people imagine vain things? Psalm two, the kings
of the earth stood up, The rulers were gathered together against
the Lord and against his Christ, for of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou has anointed, both Herod, Pontius Pilate, with
the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand, thy counsel determined before
to be done. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
was an act of God. They could not put him to death.
It was God who killed the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, they did what
they wanted to do. And they did what God determined
before to be done. But the Lord laid down his life
for us. Now, you and I, Let's make it
personal here. You and I have that same fallen,
wicked, vile nature as these sinners had. You and I are just
as full of guilt before God as these men spoken of here. Paul
writes in Romans 3, there was none righteous, no, not one. There's none to understand. There's
none that seek after God. None of us deserve one ounce
of mercy because we're all guilty before God. We've all broken
the law of God. The wages of sin is death, and
we've all sinned to come short of the glory of God. The wages
of sin is death, but thank God the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. You denied the Holy One, verse
14. You denied the Just One. You
desired a murder to be granted. You killed the Prince of Light.
Oh, but thank God, God raised Him from the dead. His resurrection
declares that salvation in Christ is certain and sure. The resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ declared that His atonement was full and
accepted of God, that His substitutionary sacrifice was satisfying unto
God. Now look at verse 16. His name,
that name which is above every name, His name, through faith
in His name, hath made this man strong, whom you see, and you
know this man, This man was familiar with this crowd. He sat at that
beautiful gate of the temple every day begging alms. They
knew this man. Yea, the faith which is by or
of him. Now he's not talking about this
crippled man here. He's talking about the God-man
mediator has given him, this crippled man, this perfect soundness
in the presence of you all. And now brethren, I know that
through ignorance you did this terrible deed, but those things
which God hath before showed by the mouth of all his prophets,
that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. He fulfilled all things. Now
his name, that name which is above every name. Right across
the page in Acts chapter 4 verse 12, one of my favorite scriptures,
neither is there salvation in any other for there's no other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. His name. His name is Wonderful,
Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. Through faith in His name hath
made this man strong, healed with perfect soundness. And we
know that faith is the gift of God. No man by nature hath saving
faith, because it's the gift of God. Faith, saving faith,
and the faith of God's elect doesn't bloom in our heart naturally. The only thing that blooms there
is unbelief and rebellion. That's why faith is called precious
to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through
the righteousness of God, through that righteousness of Christ. Faith is called precious, but
now listen to me carefully. Be careful not to make faith
our Savior. Faith is precious. It is a gift
of God. But my faith didn't die from
my sin. Faith that's saving in the faith
of God's elect always looks, not in here, but to Christ. Never
looks to faith. Faith doesn't look to faith.
Faith looks always to the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith doesn't accomplish
salvation. Faith received the Lord Jesus
Christ who did accomplish salvation. People, I hear them all the time
saying, my faith got me through. Well, something wrong with that. Something wrong with that. My
faith looks to Christ. He is our strength. He is our
refuge. There's a difference. that's
God-given, gives all the glory to God alone. Christ alone is
the Savior, and faith receives Him alone. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the object of faith, the author of faith, the finisher of faith,
and He's the foundation of it. He's the cause of it. He's the
author of it, the finisher of it, faith. Through his name hath
made this man strong. Now, underscore this statement
here. The faith which is by him. You see that? has given him this
perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Now, I see three
things in that statement. The faith of God the elect comes
from him, of and by him, no question about that. Faith is a gift of
God. Secondly, It is by the faithfulness
and obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ unto the law of God that
produces our salvation before God, not our faithfulness, not
our obedience. Now let me show you what I'm
talking about. Hold your place there. It's the faithfulness
of Christ. Turn to the book of Galatians
chapter 2 verse 16. It's by the faithfulness of Christ
that we have salvation. It's by the obedience of the
Lord Jesus Christ that we have salvation. Galatians 3, excuse
me, Galatians 2 verse 16. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of, underscore that
word, of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, not by
the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no
flesh be justified. Now, if you'll find Philippians
chapter three, turn over there a few minutes. Philippians chapter
three, when Paul counts all things lost, dung and ruined, that he
may win Christ and be found in him. Philippians 3 verse 9, And
be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God, by his obedience unto God. Now back to the text, Acts chapter
three, verse 17. Now notice what he says here,
verse 17. He says, brethren, brethren. Now he could have well called
this crowd the enemies of Christ. Could he have not? He just said,
you killed a prince of life. But he says here, brethren. Now,
I know he's addressing these Jews here, and they were Jewish
brethren. They were brethren in the fact
that they were all children of Abraham. But I think there's
something else here. I think there's a term of compassion
and understanding. You're my brother in the flesh,
and I'm just as ignorant as you are, and we all need mercy. I know through ignorance that
you did this thing, as did our rulers also. Brethren, we are
all sinners in need of mercy, because by nature we are all,
and the second word that jumps out at me in that verse 17 is
brethren, and the second word is ignorance. Now, if you call someone, if you said
to someone, man, you're ignorant. I mean, they'd probably punch
you in the nose. People don't like to be addressed.
Now, if you said to someone, man, you're so smart and clever.
I wish I was as smart as you. Now, you'd have a friend. But
if you said to someone, you know, and you're ignorant. All of us are ignorant of a true
and living God. We have no knowledge of the true
and living God apart from divine revelation. We're not only ignorant
of God, we're ignorant of ourselves. were ignorant of the righteousness
of God revealed in the gospel. That's why religious people are
always going about to establish a righteousness. And here's the
sad part about that. They go about to establish a
righteousness by their morality. They mistake morality for righteousness. Now is morality, human morality,
is that righteousness? God did his filthy rags away
with it. Now I'm all for morality. I'm
all in on being as a good citizen, being a good husband, being a
good wife. I'm all in on that. It counts
for zero in the business of righteousness
before God. Blessed is a man to whom the
Lord imputed righteousness with how it works. That's the blessed
man. That's why Paul said, I count
all else lost, dung, ruin, as we read a moment ago. Verse 18,
I'll have to wind this up. Those things which God before
us showed by the mouth of all of his prophets that Christ should
suffer, he hath fulfilled. All the prophets to Him give
all the prophets witness. Moses, the prophets, the Psalms,
all bear witness to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That Christ should suffer. Now why should He suffer? Here's
a man who fed thousands, who healed Fed thousands, healed,
it says in scripture, he healed, you remember in our study in
the book of Luke, where it says he healed all those that had
need of healing? He healed all those in need,
he fed thousands, raised the dead, did all these things. Why must he suffer? shamed, despised, and rejected
of me. Why must he suffer? Well, because he was made our
substitute. Christ suffered once for our
sin. He suffered once for our sin,
for the unjust that he might bring us unto God. He's not suffering
for the sin he personally committed. He had none, but he suffers like
no other because the sin of God's elect God's covenant people was
laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And when God found sin upon the
substitute, the wrath of God fell on him without any mercy
whatsoever. My sin killed the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when Sin was found upon the
Lord Jesus Christ. God had to slay His Son. That Christ should suffer, He
hath fulfilled. Christ suffered for our sins,
just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all our sin. He suffered for our sin, met
the full demand of God's law, justice, satisfied it, paid the
debt, and gives us salvation. Christ suffered the just for
the unjust. He has fulfilled everything those
prophets wrote about. The Lord Jesus Christ has fulfilled. Don't turn, let me just read
this to you. Remember the risen Lord said in Luke 24, we had
this not too long ago. And he said unto them, these
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law
of Moses. And the prophet in the psalm concerning me then
opened he their understanding that they might understand the
scriptures. Thus it is written, and thus
it behooved Christ to suffer. to rise from the dead, the third
day, that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in
his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, and you are witnesses
of these things. Thank God he suffers, because
he took all our sin, he suffered. Now, therefore, in Christ, no
condemnation, no suffering, no condemnation to those who are
in the Lord Jesus Christ.