me to Acts chapter 3 again. Acts chapter 3. I'm going to read the first eight
verses again to refresh your memory. Peter and John went up to gather
into the temple. After our Lord was crucified
and rose again, these disciples went back to the synagogue and
back to the temple to preach the gospel, worship God and preach
the gospel to their brethren, being the ninth hour in the afternoon. And a certain man, lame from
birth, was carried whom they laid daily, every day they brought
him there to the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful,
that's the name of one of the temple gates, so that he could
beg, he could ask alms of those who came to the temple. Who seeing
Peter and John about to go into the temple, he held out his hands
for some alms, some gifts. And Peter, fastening his eyes
upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting
to receive some money from them. And Peter said, Silver and gold
have I none, but such as I have, O such as I have, give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right
hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received
strength, and he who had never walked, lame from birth, leaping,
leaping up, stood and walked and entered with them into the
temple, walking, leaping, praising Now verse 11 says the people
and all the people who saw him walking and leaping and praising
God, they knew who this man was. He was there every day. They
were quite well acquainted with him and they knew that he was
lame from birth and they knew he was there to beg. Verse 10
says, And they knew it was he which sat for alms at the beautiful
gate of the temple. And they were filled with wonder
and amazement at what had happened to him. You go to the temple
every day and there lies a man who's been crippled and lame
and disfigured all these years. And then you go there one afternoon
and he's running around praising God. And these people were filled
with amazement, filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened
to him. And as the lame man, verse 11,
here's something else they saw. And as the lame man, which was
healed, held Peter and John. He held, they saw him holding
to Peter and John's arms or holding to their clothes, but he was
right next to them and he was holding to them. Someone suggested
he was holding to them out of gratitude and thanksgiving for
what they had done for him. Someone else suggested he may
have been holding to them not knowing, not knowing the gospel
and not knowing these men. His first encounter with them
was to receive some alms. He didn't know who they were.
And someone said he may have been holding to them out of fear.
lest his lameness would return after they left him. He wanted
to hang on to them. They were his source of strength
and hope and healing. And they saw him holding on to
Peter and John. And these people wondered, verse
11, and the lame man which was healed held Peter and John and
all the people, the people there, ran together unto Peter and John. They circled, encircled them,
just came running to them in the porch that's called Solomon's
porch, greatly wondering, greatly wondering. Several things were
going through their minds. One was they wondered at the
power of God in healing this man. They were amazed. They were filled with great wonder. Never had seen anything quite
like it. They were wondering at the power of God. And I'll
tell you something else that they were wondering about. They
were wondering about these men. These men that God used to accomplish
that miracle. They were amazed at the miracle
and they were amazed at who performed it. That's what they were amazed
at. They were greatly wondering.
And they ran around, gathered around Peter and John real closely,
a whole bunch of folks. I was twelve. And when Peter
saw it, when he saw what was taking place here, these people
running, the lame man holding on to him and the people running
to him and amazed at what they'd seen and wondering about this
great miracle, Peter saw it. And Peter asked the people two
questions. He said the first question was
this. Ye men of Israel, why marvel
ye at this? Why are you so amazed? Is anything
too hard for God? Here we are in the temple of
God. Here we are in the house of God. Here we are, we've come
to worship God, and here God has miraculously, miraculously,
supernaturally, and everything God does is supernatural, healed
a man. And why are you amazed? Like
the angel asked the Savior, is anything too hard for God? Why
are you amazed? Didn't the Lord say through one
of your prophets, Isaiah, be strong? Fear not, your God will
come and save you, and the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the deaf ears shall hear.
Plumb blind, but they'll see. Totally deaf, but they'll hear.
And the lame man shall leap as a deer, as a hype, and the tongue
of the dumb shall sing. Why are you amazed? Why do you marvel? God's able,
our God is able, he's able to save to the uttermost those who
come to God by him. The healing ministry of our Lord
is but a picture of his great miracles, spiritual eyes, spiritual ears, spiritual life
and strength. Why are you amazed? Why are you amazed? Why do you
marvel? Isn't this, with God, the expected? Certainly not the unexpected.
God does great things. Maybe we don't expect great things. We should. because God is able. And the second question he asked
was this, why do you look so earnestly on me and John, on
us, as though by our power, our holiness, we made this man do
it? Why are you taking up with John and with me? Why do you look so earnestly,
and I'm sure they were, as though by my own power and holiness
that we made this man to walk. John and Peter were humble men,
they've been humble. The Lord in great trial and trouble
and conflict had humbled both of them, especially Peter. And
these were men who sought no honor, who sought no glory, who
sought no attention. They loved Christ. They had great
desire to glorify Christ. Peter's saying it's not our merit
or our power that's healed this man. We had nothing to do with
this. It's not because we're holy,
holier than others. Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners.
It's not because of our strict religious piety or fulfillment
of the law. David said, Bless the Lord, O
my soul, and forget not all his benefits. He healeth all thy
diseases. He forgiveth all thy iniquities. He satisfies thy mouth with good
things. The seeing eye and the hearing
ears of the Lord. Now why do you marvel? Why do you marvel? Is anything
too hard for God? And why are you looking at me?
I don't have anything to do with it. It's not by my power or eloquence
or piety or holiness or authority that this man is healed. I'll
tell you who did it. Look at verse 13. Peter says
the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Now you stay with
me. There's a reason why he said
that. He didn't just say God did this. He said the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob did this. Now this is the title that the
Lord himself, the Lord God, the Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the very answer he gave
himself in identifying who he is. Turn to Exodus chapter 6. Peter reached back here in Exodus
chapter 6. This is the title the Lord God
used to identify himself to Moses. In Exodus 3, I beg your pardon,
Exodus 3, verse 6. In verse 5 of Exodus 3, the Lord
said, Draw not nigh hither, put off your shoes from off your
feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover,
I am. The God of thy father, the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. And Moses hid
his face, he was afraid to look on God. Look at verse 15, the
Lord did it again, said the same thing. And God said more unto
Moses, Thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, The Lord
God of your father is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And verse 16, Go now and gather
the elders of Israel together, and you say to them, The Lord
God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
appeared to me. So Peter said, Don't marvel,
and don't look at me. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. The Lord used this title to distinguish
himself from all other gods and idols of men. The Lord used this
title to Moses and told him to use it to Israel to identify
the true and living God of creation, of revelation, and of knowledge,
and of salvation. And Peter, when he was giving
God the glory for this miracle, He used the same title to let
these Jews know that though he preached Christ and the gospel
of grace, he believed, worshipped, and preached the only true and
living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is the
God Peter said that I preached. Romans 1, Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel. He said, I'm separated to the
gospel. The gospel of God. Concerning
his son. And it's the ancient gospel which
he promised by his prophets in the Old Testament. Abraham, who
saw my day. Isaac and Jacob. The God of our
fathers. Alright, verse 13. The God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the only true God, the living God,
the God of creation, revelation, salvation, and knowledge, the
God of our fathers. I'm not preaching any new God.
I'm preaching the God who reveals himself in Christ. The God of
our fathers hath glorified his Son, Jesus. God has glorified
his son Jesus by raising him from the dead, by exalting him
to his right hand, and by declaring him to be both Lord and Christ. He glorified his son, whom you
delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate. when
Pilate was determined to let him go. You seized him like a
thief in the night in the garden with an army of soldiers. You
bound his hands and led him to trial like a criminal. You delivered him to the soldiers
to be mocked and abused and mistreated. Verse 14, and you denied the
Holy One the just and desire to murder and kill the Prince
of Life. Now, in these three verses, 13,
14, and 15, all of these statements
that Peter makes is to identify the person, our Lord Jesus Christ,
Why has he taken the pains to identify Christ so carefully? Back here in Acts 1, the angel
did this. In Acts 1, verse 8. Acts 1, verse
11. The angel said to the apostles,
he said in Acts 1, 11. They said, Ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, this Jesus,
which is taken up into heaven shall so come in like manner
as you have seen Him go into heaven. You know, Job said that. He said, My Redeemer liveth,
and in the last day He'll stand on this earth, and I shall see
Him, and though worms destroy this body, Goes back to the dust,
yet in my flesh, I'm going to see God. I'm going to see my
Redeemer. Not another, but my Redeemer. That's what the angels are saying
to the apostles. This Jesus, this same Jesus, born of Mary,
crucified on a cross, buried, rose again, ascending, the same
Jesus is coming. Don't mistake that now. And then
in Acts 2, when Peter was preaching verse 32, He said in verse 32, this Jesus
whom God raised up, for we are all witnesses, this Jesus. Verse
36, therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that
God has made this same Jesus whom you crucified to be both
Lord and Christ, this man Christ Jesus. And when God spoke Paul
on the road to Damascus, And said to him, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? Who are you? Who are you? He could have said, I'm the Lord.
He could have said, I'm God. He could have said, I'm the first
and the last. But this is what he said, I am
Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute. Let there be no mistake. That's
what Peter's doing here for us. Let there be no mistake. This
Jesus, and watch how he says it in Acts 3 verse 13. Now watch this. The God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. Don't lose sight of who that
is now. Peter's positive about it. The God of our prophets. has glorified his Son, Jesus. Who is this? The one you delivered
to Pilate. The one you denied in the presence
of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. That's who I'm
talking about. Verse 14, but you denied the Holy One. Who
is the Holy One? He's the Holy Child, that Child
born in Bethlehem. In fact, he said over here in
Acts 4, verse 27, of a truth against thy holy child Jesus,
whom thou anointed, both Herod, Pontius Pilate, and the Gentiles,
and people of Israel gathered together. That's who I'm talking
about. And not only the holy child, but he's the just one.
God said through Ananias to Saul of Tarsus, that God of our father
hath chosen thee. that thou shouldest see the just
one. The just one. And Peter wrote
later, he died the just for the unjust. And I'm talking about
the one you desired a murderer to be granted. Give us Barabbas.
He's refreshing their memory of all this encounter with Jesus
and Nazareth. Same Jesus. And verse 15, and
you kill the prince of life. Who's the prince of life? Write
the word in there, author. He's the author of life. In him
was life, and the life was the life of men. Whom God hath raised from the
dead, whereof we're all witnesses. That's who I'm talking about. Why do you mark? Why are you
standing there looking at me? As though I by my power or piety
have helped this man. The God of our fathers has glorified,
exalted, magnified his son Jesus Christ. And that's Jesus of Nazareth
whom you delivered up to Pilate, whom you denied, whom you crucified,
whom you despised. That's who he is. And his name, and his name, through
faith in his name, not this man's faith, because this man didn't
know him, but my faith, I believe him. And his name through faith in
his name hath made this man strong, whom you see and know to be helpless. And the faith which is by Christ,
and through Christ, and of Christ, and in Christ, hath given this
man, given it to him freely, freely gave him this miracle
of grace, freely given him. Perfect soundness, not only of
body, but of mind. right in the presence of all
living, God did this, God did this, by His grace, through His
Son, for His glory. And I'm telling you this, and there's no other name, and
no other way, and no other hope for any impotent, helpless sinner
to receive soundness of body and mind and soul, except through
faith in this name, the name of Christ. Now I know that today
it's perfectly all right, people don't mind for us to preach this
same Jesus, this crucified Redeemer, this suffering Savior. They don't
mind us preaching Christ and preaching salvation. through
him, preaching him as a way to God, a way to God, a way of salvation,
that's fine. But what's not all right in this
day is for us to preach that he's the only way, and there's no other way. And
yet that's clearly what he said in John 14. He said, I'm the
way, I'm the truth. I'm the light. No man cometh
to the Father but by me. That's what I read in John 3,
36, the beginning of the service. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
And that's what Peter's saying here. through faith in his name,
hath made this man strong, whom you see. And the faith which
is by Christ, in Christ, through Christ, hath given this man perfect
soundness in the presence of you all. Now in the next chapter,
Peter goes more deeply into this. Look in chapter 4, just a moment. In chapter 4 verse 8, He's explaining
this miracle I just talked about in chapter 4. They ask him in verse 7, when
they set him in the mist, they said, by what power or by what
name have you done this? Heal this man at the gate of
Bethlehem. Then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost said to them,
you rulers of the people and elders of Israel, now listen. If you examine me, if we this
day be examined of this good deed done to this impotent man,
and by what means he's made whole, by what means he is delivered,
made whole, given strength, soundness, light, you want to know the means?
You want to know how this man is made whole? I'll tell you. Listen to him. And to all the people of Israel,
that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that's who I'm talking
about, this same Jesus. Whom you crucified, he comes
back to that again, the same one whom you nailed to the cross
and despised. And more than that, he's the
same one God raised from the dead that they put in the tomb
and you put a stone over it and put soldiers there to guard it.
And then he rose and you elders lied about it. You said to the
soldiers, we'll pay you and we'll make it alright with Pilate,
but you tell everybody his disciples came and stole him away. I'm
talking about that Jesus whom God raised from the dead. Even
by him, By His power, by Him alone, by His grace, by His merit,
by His law, by His righteousness in blood, this man stands here
before you whole. And that's what I'm declaring.
And that's what every one of you have to say. You're made
whole, aren't you? Made whole. It's by this man. It's by this man. That's who
it is. This is a song of people in heaven under Him. They all
stand whole, they stand clothed in white robes with palms and
crowns of victory and they say unto him, by this man, unto him
who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and
made us kings and priests of God, we stand here before him
whole. That's it. Now what's the next,
what Peter's not through? In verse 11, he said, and this
is the stone, this is the stone, not a stone, it's not a stone,
this is the stone. Jesus of Nazareth is the stone. He's the stone. Let me read you
about that stone. You just let me turn and read
this. David wrote about it. Listen
to Psalm 118. I will praise thee, O God, for
thou hast heard me and you are become my salvation. And the
stone which the builders refused is become the headstone of the
corner, and this is the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous in
my eyes. And then in Isaiah 28, the Lord
said, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation. A stone, a tried stone, a precious
cornerstone, a sure foundation, and he that believeth on him
shall not make haste. Other foundations can no man
lay than that which is laid," right here. This is the stone. This is the stone. This is the
stone. Watch Acts 4.11. This is the
stone. Which was said it not of you
builders. He came unto his own and they
received him not. The priests and the elders and
the scribes were fond of being called builders. They were fond
of the name builders and masters and whatever. But they despised and rejected
the stone, the stone of Israel, the chief cornerstone. And instead
of Christ the foundation, they built for themselves on another
foundation, law, works, tradition, their own righteousness. And
men today talk about building the kingdom. But the Lord Jesus
said, I'll build the church, I'll build the church, not you. And he whom you have said it
not, verse 11, he's become the head of the corner. He's the
cornerstone of the temple of God. He knits and cements the
living stones together, both angels and men. both Jews and
Gentiles, both saints above and saints below, saints of all nations,
all ages and all places. There's one in him. This is the
stone. He is the stone which strengthens
and supports and holds it together and is the chief cornerstone
and the foundation. And he's the ornament. He's the
beauty. He's the chief among ten thousand. He is the Lord. And this is marvelous in our
eyes. Marvelous. I'm going to say something
else Peter said. Let's do it. Verse 12. He says,
If you want to know by what power and means this man stands whole,
be it known to you, this is the stone which you build or set
it not, he become the head. Is there salvation in any other? That's spiritual salvation. That's
eternal salvation. That's by whatever name you want
to call it. The hope of heaven, life evermore, everlasting life. Neither is there salvation in
any other. But there's none other name under
heaven. Under heaven or on the earth
or among men. None other name whereby we must
be saved. He's the one who's promised.
The woman's seed will bruise the serpent's head. He's the
one God said the Lord himself will give you a sign. A virgin
shall be with child, you call his name Immanuel. Jesus, you
save his people from their sin. He's the one prophesied. Unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given. His name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father.
He was the one typified. He's the rock. He's the brazen
serpent lifted up. He's the desire of all nations.
He's the Passover lamb. He came to earth. The angel said,
Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Christ
the Lord. He's the one who obeyed God's
law. By the sin of one man we became
sinners, by the righteousness of another we became holy. He's
the one who died as the Lord's Lamb, pleased God to bruise him by the transgressions of many.
He's the one God raised and the one upon whom Paul rested, who
said, Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yet rather
is risen again, who's exalted to the right hand of God, who
ever lives to make intercession. You ask me by what name and power
and means this impotent man stands before you, Ho? It's by the name
of Jesus Christ, and neither is there salvation in any other.
For there is none other name unto heaven given among women,
none other, whereby we must be saved." And there it is, with
all my heart, in full confidence of faith, and full confidence
that the truth of God, his precious word, declares it to be so, I
say to you tonight and to all who hear me, this is the stone
that all religious builders have set it out, been ashamed, rejected
it, which God Almighty has made to be the chief cornerstone. And he's not A way, he's B way. And there's none other name unto
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. One of the hymn writers says,
Christ is the way. To him alone from sin and death
we flee. And he who would know the Father
know must seek him, Lord, indeed. Must. Christ is the truth. His word alone true wisdom can
impart. Christ alone can teach the mind
and purify the heart. Christ is the life. The open
tomb proclaims his mighty arm. And those who rest their souls
in him, nor death nor hell. can harm. Oh, Christ is the way. He's the truth. He's the life. Grant us, Lord, to know the way,
to love thy truth, and live in him through endless days. I want to tell you a true story.
This is not a parable. This is not just an illustration. This really happened. For years, I had the account
that was printed in the newspaper down in Mississippi about this
incident. It happened years ago, probably
in the 30s or 40s, I don't remember, but down in Pearl River, Mississippi. Years ago, there was a terrible,
terrible rainstorm, terrible rainstorm, terrible floods, and
a man called Rupert Lewis, driving his pickup truck down one of
those two-lane Mississippi roads, coming to a bridge across Pearl
River. He topped the hill, started down.
He didn't see that the river had washed the bridge away, and
he went right off into that roaring river. But somehow he got out
of that truck and climbed up that bank, the bank of that river. And the first, dirty, muddy, he walked up the highway and
stood on the highway to warn other cars coming that way. Here
came a car and he stepped out in the highway, hair messed up,
muddy, dirty, waved his hands and the fellow just went around
and went on. He did that warning Some people tried to run into
him. They'd swerve toward him. Just a bum on the road looking
for a ride, I guess. Until ten cars and two trucks,
they'd gone off into that river. I don't know how many people
lost their lives. Finally, somebody believed him
and stopped. And he got to warn the rest of
them. That's what I'm trying to do. warned the Russian crowd, who
headed, the bridge is out. The bridge is out. In Adam we
lost it. There's no way across that river.
There's absolutely no way across that river by human conveyance. I'm trying to warn people. But
there is a way. There is a way. If you'll just
stop and listen to the man who knows, he'll tell you the way. There's a way over the river,
but it's not by that bridge. That's just so. But there's no other way. None
other name given among men under heaven whereby we must be saved,
except that name. And I tell you, I'm so glad that
he's the one. There is no other way. If Christ
is not the way, we don't have a way, do we? There's no other
way. Why is it so difficult? We're impotent. He's got to come
and make us live.