Okay, Acts chapter 3. Acts chapter
3. I want to bring the message today
from verse 1 down to verse 11. And I'm taking the title for
the message from what is said in verse 6. I love this verse
and what it declares. Peter said to this man who had
asked of Peter and John silver and gold, We don't have any of
that, but what we have is much better. But such as I have, such
as I have, give I thee in the name, in that name, that name
which is above every name, in the name of Jesus Christ, oh,
the one that came from Nazareth, the one who is the despised Galilean,
in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."
Wow. That must have been a shock to
that man. This man was expecting to receive a pocketful of gold,
a handful of gold, but instead he had something much better.
Now, what a beautiful, powerful name of our Redeemer, the Lord
Jesus Christ. A beautiful name. His name is
called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. And I couldn't help but think
that this gate in the temple here, which is called beautiful,
There was gates all around that temple. We read earlier of the
sheep gate. There was a water gate, all them
different gates. We studied that in the book of
Nehemiah. But this beautiful gate, I believe, is a picture
of our beautiful Savior. He is the door of salvation. He is the entrance of God, the
entrance that God has provided for us. And He is what He is
called, He's the savior, that's what Jesus means, called his
name Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sin, and then he is the Christ. He is the Savior and
He is the Messiah. That's what it means. And He's
the Savior and Messiah and one blessed and powerful, wonderful
person who was able to save to the uttermost all that come to
God by Him. There's actually an article on
the back of the bulletin. Don't look at it now. But later
from this verse Hebrews 7 25 he's able to save them to the
uttermost all that come to God by him what a Savior we have
he is what he is called He is the Savior who saves His people
from their sins. Call His name, that Savior, for
He shall save His people. And He is the only Messiah. And
that means He's anointed in all of His office as prophet to reveal,
as priest to bring an offering for sin to redeem. And He is
the King who rules and reigns over us. We confess with Peter,
thou art the Christ, the Messiah, the only one, Son of God. We
believe and assure you are that Christ, the Christ of God. So
He is the Savior, He is the Messiah, He is the Lord of Lords and King
of Kings. God has given Him a name which
is above every name, that at that name every knee is going
to bow, every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now, if you'll find Acts
chapter 4, When Peter and John are questioned about this miracle
that takes place in Acts chapter 4, then Peter, filled with the
Holy Ghost, said unto them, verse 8, You rulers of the people and
elders of Israel, if we this day be examined at the good deed
done to this impotent man, by what means is he made whole?
Be it known unto you and all the people of Israel that by
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, oh, it's the same one that you
crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him, that this
man stand here before you whole, complete. This is the stone which
is set at nought of you builders, which is become the hair of the
corner, neither Is there salvation in any other? For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." In
this name we must be saved. He is salvation. He is the only
Savior of sinners. I'm sure that there were many
wonders and signs done by the apostles that are not written
in the book of Acts, for it says in chapter 2, verse 43, and fear
came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs, many wonders
and signs were done by the apostles. Many wonders and signs were done
by the apostles. Now, I'm sure there were many
things done that's not recorded in the Word of God, but this
miracle is, and for good reason, because it teaches us how God
saves sinners. This one is given to us by God's
purpose and grace, given to show us the way of salvation, like
all the miracles we read about in the Gospels, in the Gospels,
plural. I mean by that Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John, all those miracles that the Lord performed there,
the blind seeing, the lame walking, the man with a withered hand,
he said, stretch it forth, and he did. All those miracles are
demonstrating to us THE DEAD BEING RAISED UP, ALL THOSE MIRACLES
SHOW US HOW GOD SAVES SINNERS BY CHRIST, BY HIS POWER, HIS
PURPOSE, HIS WILL, AND HIS GRACE, LIKE THE LEOPARD. LORD, IF YOU
WILL, YOU CAN MAKE ME CLEAN. AND THE LORD SAID, I WILL, BE
THOU CLEAN. The apostles were given these
special credentials to plainly demonstrate they were sent of
God. They had God's gospel to declare
in the centers. And that's what we see here.
Now let me read this to you. Don't turn, you're familiar with
this. But they went to the temple there not to observe the ceremonial
law, not to observe the tradition of the Jews. They went there
to the temple to have and find an opportunity to preach the
gospel. And through this miracle, Peter
and John used this as a platform, as a springboard to declare the
gospel. And that's what happens in the
rest of Acts chapter 3. But here we see, let me just
read this to you. This is found in Hebrews 2. How
shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at
first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto
us by them that heard him, God also bearing them witness both
with signs and wonders, and divers miracles and gifts
of the Holy Ghost according to His will. These apostles were
given special credentials, special power, for a special time to
declare they had God's gospel, they were sent of God to the
salvation of God's people. Now, I love what it says here
that God did to this poor beggar down in verse 10. And they knew
that it was he was set for alms with a beggar at the gate, beautiful
gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonderment and
amazement at that which had happened unto him. Now, how did this happen? How was this man who was lame
from his mother's womb, had never taken one step, not a baby step,
not any steps, lame completely, crippled from birth. Now he's
walking and leaping and praising God. I mean, he's jumping up
and down. What happened unto him? Something
big happened. God did something in him and
God did something for him. He healed his body and saved
his soul. How do you know that, preacher?
Because he's leaping and praising God, giving thanks unto the Lord. Something happened that day that
this man never... You reckon he forgot this day?
Oh, he was tough. Whenever he went anywhere and
people ask him, what happened to you? What he said, I don't
think he even mentioned Peter and John. He said, God healed
me. God did something for me. And
we can say with David, this is the Lord's doing. Psalm 118. This is the Lord's doing and
it's marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has
made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. God's power made this man to
walk, as Peter says in verse 12. Look at verse 12. When Peter
saw them greatly wondering, he answered unto the people, Ye
men of Israel, why marvel at this? Why do you look on us so
earnestly, as though by our own power, or our own holiness, had
made this man to walk? It's through his name, through
his power, have made this man strong. He has now perfect soundness
in his legs. His legs that were withered and
drawn, now he has a full strength of a 40-year-old man. His legs
are healed, made whole and complete. And that's why God saves his
people. In Him dwells all the fullness of a Godhead bodily,
and in Him we are complete, made whole. We have perfect soundness
before God, perfect righteousness, perfect redemption, perfect forgiveness
of sin. Now, take a look at verse 1. I'll work down through these
verses. Peter and John went up to the temple together into the
temple. That's an hour of prayer being
the ninth hour. Now, as I said earlier, they
went to the temple not to observe the ceremony of the law. It says
back in verse 46 of chapter 2, they continuing daily with one
accord in the temple. They went there every day, but
they went there every day preaching the gospel. They didn't go there
to observe the law, for the law of God had been honored by the
Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said, I didn't come
to destroy the law, but came to honor it. But rather, they
were seeking opportunity to preach the gospel of Christ. The ninth
hour that's mentioned there is the hour of the evening sacrifice,
according to the law of God. And many people gathered there
at that time of day to bring their animal sacrifice and to
approach God with the sacrifice of an animal, and Peter and John
sees this as an open door, as a good place to declare the gospel
of Christ. The Lord told them, remember,
I'll make you fishers of men, and this was a good place to
cast that gospel net, of the Lord Jesus Christ, and from this
sermon that's preached here in Acts chapter 3, you know how
many people were brought to Christ in saving faith? Look at Acts
chapter 4 verse 4. How be it many of them which
heard the word believed, and the number of the men was about
5,000 people." Wow. You talk about a revival. They
just had 3,000 converted a few days earlier. Now there's 5,000
more converted, and I'm sure these 5,000 who believed were
also baptized, confessing Christ as all of their salvation. What a day this was at this time. Look at verse 2 and 3. As Peter
and John headed to the temple looking for opportunity to preach
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord opened the door. A certain man, lame from his
mother's womb, was carried whom they laid daily at the gate of
the temple, which is called the gate known as the beautiful gate. And he went there for one reason,
to beg for money. And they entered into the temple. to ask alms of them that entered
into the temple. Who's seeing Peter and John about
to go in to the temple? He asked them like he did everybody
else that came in that day. Got a penny to spare? You got
any money to spare? You got any loose change? When
we were down in Mexico visiting our missionaries, many of the
street corners and the places of the religious shrines and
the cities around, people would set on the steps or the door
to those old buildings, and they would sit there in their rags,
and they would beg for money. And you couldn't hardly pass
them without throwing something in their cup, and I did that
often. But this man here received much
more than silver and gold. Now, here's the object of God's
sovereign mercy. He was called, down here in verse
2, a certain man. This man was an object of God's
sovereign mercy, an object of God's love from all eternity. This man was loved with an everlasting
love like all the elect of God are. The Lord our God had his
sovereign eyes upon his chosen, his elect, from all eternity
and has loved them with an everlasting love. This certain man was chosen
by God unto salvation. The Lord God chose this man to
salvation and crossed his path with a gospel preacher and made
him a new creature in Christ. He not only gave him physical
healing, but he gave him a new spiritual nature. He gave him
a new heart. He made him a new creature in
Christ. For this man went leaping and jumping and giving God all
the honor and glory, blessing and praising His name. He could say with David, bless
the Lord, oh, my soul, and all that is within me, bless His
holy name. This certain man was 40 years
old says. over in Acts chapter 4, and he
had been crippled from his birth, and because he could not work,
and because he was crippled, he was a beggar, a poor man. Now, he's a picture of every
sinner whom God saves. All men spiritually are like
this man. We are bankrupt beggars on the
dunghill of sin, born in sin, Shapen in iniquity, lame from
the womb, with no ability to make any improvement on our condition
whatsoever. This man could not work, he could
not walk. Our Lord said, no man can come
to me except the Father which sent me draw him. We, like this
man, dead in sin, dead in trespasses and in sin, without God and without
Christ, our hearts by nature are wicked, and desperately evil,
our understanding is darkened, our will is perverse, our wills
are unbonded to our corrupt nature, our affections are set on evil
continually. You say, well, preacher, that's
what you used to be. That's what we are before God. Our Lord says
of his human race, God saw the wickedness of man was great in
the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil. Continually evil. Human nature
hasn't changed. Men are just as wicked today
as they were since Adam's ruin and Adam's fall. All men are
like this man, spiritually crippled, dead in trespasses and in sin. And it says, furthermore, he
was a beggar. He could not work for a living. He was dependent
upon someone else to pick him up and carry him and take him
to the temple and set him at the gate. This too is a picture
of our guilt before God, guilty sinners before God. We cannot
work for our salvation because salvation is of grace. We must
approach God like this man did as a mercy beggar. God be merciful
to me, the sinner. We must depend upon the Lord
Jesus Christ to carry us to glory and to earn salvation for us.
Like the Lord in that parable had that one lost sheep. He went
out and found him. Remember? He found that lost
sheep. He took that lost sheep and put
it on his shoulder. and he carried that lost sheep
all the way to glory. And remember what happened? They
rejoiced that the Lord had found that one lost sheep. That is the good news of the
gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save His people from their sin. Now, how many years did this
man sit at this gate of the temple? He probably sat there many years,
didn't he? Forty years old. He probably
sat there his whole adult life as a beggar. He sat at this beautiful
shining gate, glittering gold, but he was not one whit batter
off, was he? It didn't do anything. That beautiful
shining gate didn't do one thing to help his crippled body. Did
it? What's the lesson for us here?
Religion without the Lord Jesus Christ is worthless rubbish to
meet all of our spiritual needs. That man had the temple, he had
the beautiful gate, he had all the law and ceremonies all around
him. He was not one whit better. Religion, you can have it full
up to here or up to here, from the bottom of your feet to the
top of your head. You can have religion up and
down and through and through. It will not do you one bit of
good. What you need is not religion.
What you need is Christ and His righteousness alone. Here's the
third thing we see, we see the method and means of the Lord's
grace to sinners. It's by His will and by His purpose. For He works everything after
the counsel of His own will. Verse 4 and 5, Peter, and I'm
sure John, fastening his eyes upon him with his brother John
said, look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting
to receive something of them. And Peter said, I don't have
any gold. I don't have any silver. The Lord crossed this sinner's
path with two faithful gospel preachers who were sent of God
with the gospel of Christ, that's the power of God unto salvation. Wouldn't it be something if the
Lord sent two gospel preachers right here, right now, this day? They had the exact and special
remedy for this man's disease. What was the remedy for this
man's disease, his problem? His remedy was the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. This beggar expecting to receive
some money, received something of much more value. Christ the
Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal gift of God to unworthy sinners. The wages of sin is death, right?
The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
That's why the Apostle Paul said, thanks be unto God for the unspeakable,
for his unspeakable gift. Faith, we know, is a gift of
God and means the Lord has ordained to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. While faith is not our savior,
but his precious gift that he gives to his people. That looks
exclusively and only to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Every good
gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from
the Father of lights. We know God so loved that He
gave His Son. Christ is that gift we need. Christ is the remedy for our
sin. Here's the fourth thing. Peter
declared that silver and gold was not the solution. or the
remedy for this man's problem. What Peter and John had was the
power of God unto salvation in the gospel, and that's what this
poor sinner needed. That's what we need. Sinners
are redeemed Not with silver and gold, remember? Peter said,
we are redeemed with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not with silver and gold. It's through the name of Christ
and by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that sinners are made whole. That's
why Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth. Stay with me here. In the name
of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that name which is above every
name, that name that is wonderful, Counselor of the mighty God,
the one who is the Savior, the Messiah, the one who died for
our sin according to Scripture, in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, rise up and walk. Now, does this sound like an
invitation to you? Peter and John did not invite
this man to do something for God. Peter and John's message
was not given as an invitation to this poor man to stand up.
You go ahead and stand up and then we'll bless you. You take
the first step, God will meet you halfway. That wasn't the
message. That wasn't an invitation for this man to stand up. For
this man, he couldn't take the first step. He didn't have any
legs that worked. It was a command in the name
of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. The gospel then of the Lord Jesus
Christ is not to be presented as an invitation or an offer,
but rather as a command, as a declaration of God's grace, of His sovereign
grace, of His eternal love, and of His sovereign mercy to unworthy
sinners. Let me show you an example of
that. Another example, we just read of one in John chapter 5,
but turn to Luke chapter 6. Here's another example. The Lord
took that man, Luke chapter 6. We saw this in our study through
the book of Luke. You remember the man that had
the withered hand? Like the man that was lying at the pool of
Bethesda and could not be healed, and the Lord met him, and the
Lord healed him. The Lord told him to rise up
and walk. In Luke chapter 6, and it came to pass, verse 6,
also on another Sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue
and taught. And there was a man whose right
hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees
watched him, whether he would heal on the Sabbath day, that
they might accuse, that might find accusation against him.
And he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the
withered hand, Rise up, stand forth in the midst. And he rose,
and he stood forth. And the Lord said unto them,
I will ask you one thing, is it lawful on the Sabbath day
to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it? And
looking around upon them all, he said unto the man, remember
now this man, this man here in this story is not crippled, but
his hand, his right hand is withered, drawn, probably grossly deformed. He said to the man, stretch forth
your hand. He didn't ask him to do it. He
commanded him to do it. Stretch forth your hand. And
he did so. And his hand was restored whole
as the other. And they were filled with madness
and communed one to another what they might do to the Lord Jesus. They wanted to end his ministry
and even end his life. Now, this is the way the Lord
justifies and heals sinners today, by His command and by His power. The gospel of Christ is not an
offer or a plan or an invitation. The gospel of Christ is a command
to believe the gospel. Believe the gospel and be saved. For God's given Him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as the
Father hath given to him." The gospel then is a command. I'm
not ever going to invite you down front and make a decision
for Jesus. That's never been done here,
because it's not in the Bible. Sinners are commanded to repent
and believe the gospel. And God, when He sends that command
to the elect of God, to the preaching of the gospel, He gives grace
to obey that command. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. Paul writes about it this way,
God who commanded, get hold of that word, God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, talking about the creation and
beginning, God created heaven and the earth. God also commanded
the light of the gospel to shine in your heart that you might
see the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, Peter and John gave the
command, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and
walk. And he took him, verse 7, by
the right hand, lifted him up, and immediately his feet and
his ankles received strength. And he leaping up stood and walked
and entered into the temple, walking with them, walking, leaping,
and praising God. I just kind of get in my mind
a picture of Peter and John and this man, Peter on one side,
John on the other, this man holding both their hands and just walking
and leaping and jumping and skipping as you would see little children
in a play yard. You remember how they would gather
hands and they'd just be so happy leaping and jumping? I believe
that's the picture here. Something happened to this man.
The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is always effectual to
the object of God's mercy. Notice carefully what happens
in these verses. Leaping and praising. His physical
strength was immediately restored to full health of a 40-year-old
man. His legs now are not weak and
drawn. His muscles are not distorted
and drawn up and gnarled. They're strong. His tendons are
strong. His bones receive strength. His muscles are now in tone and
he's walking, he's leaping like he's never done before. This
man was healed immediately. God saves sinners in an instant
by his grace, and they are completely made whole. I love what Peter
says over here. If we be questioned about the
good deed to this infinite man, by what means he's made whole. This man has received, as it
says in verse 16 of our text, perfect soundness. And we are
complete in Christ, of His fullness, have we all received grace for
grace. This man was immediately restored
to full strength, full health. He received immediate joy, walking,
leaping, and praising God. Now notice he's not praising
John and Peter. He's praising God, verse 9. The
Lord Jesus Christ is God, and he rightly deserves all the honor
and glory for the salvation that's of the Lord. And this is true
of our conversion. We say with the Apostle Paul,
God forbid we should glory, save, or accept in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. And then there was an immediate
amazement In verse 11, and the lame man which was healed held
Peter and John and all the people ran together under them into
the in the port that is called Solomon greatly wondering. There was an immediate joy, immediate
restoration, and there was an immediate amazement. God delights
to show grace to poor sinners. God delights to give mercy to
the undeserving. And what a wonder of his grace
it is. That's why Newton said in that
song, amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. It is amazing grace. It's the wonder of the gospel. Greatly wondering, Christ is
our wonderful savior who took our diseases to his own body. He bare our sin in his own body
on the tree. And he gives us with his stripes,
he was wounded for our transgression, bruised for our iniquity. And
with his stripes, we are healed. And that's not talking about
physical healing, it's talking about spiritual healing. We are
healed in Him. He took our disease, our sicknesses,
our sin, and He gives us His help. He took our sin to Himself,
and He gives us His righteousness. God made Him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Christ. Christ took our diseases, our
sicknesses, and he gives us the health of salvation, the wealth
of salvation. He took our sin and gives us
his righteousness. He took the wrath of God, do
our sins, and he gives us eternal life. He took our death. Sin
deserved death. He took our death. He took our
wrath. And he gives us life and salvation
and righteousness. What do you call that? Amazing
grace that would save a sinner such as we are. Of his fullness
have all we received grace for grace. And it's through his name,
through faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom you
now see and know. Yea, the faith which is by him,
that is through Christ, hath made and given this man perfect
soundness. I'll tell you one thing. This
man had something to say, did he not? If anybody ever asked
this man, what happened to you? I don't know his name, but whatever
his name was, this certain man. Whatever happened to you that
day down at the temple? Well, I met God. He gave me life. He healed my body. And you'll
never hear the last of it. You'll never hear the last of
it.