The Miracle and the Message
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Introduction
Introduction
As we have been walking through the book of Acts we have seen the disciples waiting for the promised Holy Spirit.
We saw the coming of the Holy Spirit and we have seen the work of the Holy Spirit as Peter explains to the crowd what happened and takes advantage of that time to call them to repentance and faith in Christ.
The Holy Spirit works through Peter and many are brought to salvation.
Then last week we saw how the church devoted themselves to the Word of God, to fellowship (to one another), to worship, and to prayer.
We see the church being salt and light and how the Lord uses them to continue to reach the community around them, the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
One of the things that we saw last week was
And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.
Really what we have in chapter 3 is an illustration of the wonders and the signs being done through the apostles.
I want to point out a couple more things in the introduction.
First and quickly just want to point out that we see the same structure here that we saw in chapter two.
You have an amazing event take place that draws a crowd and then Peter moved by the Holy Spirit takes the opportunity to preach, he explains what happens, pointing the crowd to Jesus and then pleads with them to repent and believe.
So you have here in the passage a miracle and a message.
Second thing that I want to address is the healing that takes place in this passage.
First of all we know that the gift of healing is given by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.
For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
The question is what about speaking in tongues, miracles, and healings today?
For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
We read in the NT and see the ministry of Jesus and we see miracles and we see healings
We read in Acts and we see speaking in tongues when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church, we see miracles, we see healings in the book of Acts
But then we continue to read in the Epistles and there is not much mentioned about miracles, healings, speaking in tongues.
How are we to understand that, how are we to understand that today for our lives? Are we to seek for miracles, are we to expect healings, are we to seek speaking in tongues?
Well we already talked about tongues a few Sunday Nights ago and if you were hear for that then you have a little bit of a jump start.
I think John MacArthur is somewhat helpful here:
From the first day that the church was born, the Spirit of God gave gifts to the members of the church by which they could build the body up. Certain grace gifts, karismata, spiritual gifts, by which they could ministering to each other build the body. In addition to that, to the early church, God gave certain signed gifts. Gifts which were not meant for the building of the body, but which were meant to be signs to unbelievers for the purpose of confirming the preaching of the gospel.”
We see miracles and healings during the ministry of Jesus and they are doing a couple of things, they are pointing us to the ultimate reality of His Kingdom when it comes in all of its fullness
But also the miracles are a witness to who Jesus is, that He is the Son of God and that He is giving us new revelation, that He came to make God known to us
Remember what Nicodemus said to Jesus
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.
The healings, the miracles were signs that He had been sent by the Father, that He was revealing God to us.
John MacArthur says this:
“In the early church, he gave that same capacity to the apostles and the prophets in order that the word that they spoke might also be confirmed by signs and wonders and mighty deeds. The confirmation of any man’s ministry today is not that any longer, it is whether he matches the Word of God. This has become the standard. Because it is God’s final revelation. But before the New Testament was complete in the era of the early church, that accommodating miracles gave confirmation to the gospel.”
Then he quotes
The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.
These gifts were given to the apostolic era for confirming the word.
I think we see that all through the Bible. Sometimes I think people think, well all through the Bible there were miracles everywhere and then after Acts they just stopped and we don’t have any more miracles, they wonder why we don’t see more miracles today.
First of all I would say that we see the Hand of God at work in the lives of those around us,
salvation is a miracle of God
repentance is a miracleous work of God
I still believe God heals today, often through means, but there are also times when God miracleously heals someone without doctors or medicine.
But also I would say this, when we really read and study the Bible, the miracles of the Bible tend to happened in clusters
Miracles through Moses, well remember Moses was God’s spokesman, God gave the law through Moses and the miracles validated Moses ministry, that he was God’s prophet.
Miracles through Elijah and Elisha, and both of these men represented the prophets and they were God’s spokesman to the people.
Giving of the law there were miracles, the word of the prophets there were miracles.
These were unique times in redemptive history when God was revealing truth through His servants and the miracles were given by God as a witness to the people that these were God’s servants.
Most of redemptive history in the Old Testament God worked through ordinary means, He worked through the obedience of His people to His Word as it had been given.
I believe the healing that we see in this passage is particularly a sign gift given to the Apostles to give accreditation to their ministry and their message.
Discuss the gift of healing that we see here as an apostolic gift giving accreditation to their teaching. Quote from MacArthur is helpful here
Can God still miracleously heal someone today? yes
So I say all of that to preface what we will be looking at today by saying that this passage does not teach us that we should expect miracles, that we should expect that this is the way God always works
Can God still miracleously heal someone today? yes
The Miracle
The Miracle
The story is set for us as we begin reading chapter 3.
Peter and John are going to the temple to pray and we are told that they have an encounter with a lame man.
We are told that this lame man has been lame from birth and that he is severely lame because he has to be carried daily to the temple to ask alms of those entering the temple.
So first we are told about the severity of the problem.
This is not some small problem, this is not something that would have fixed itself
For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.
We are told that the man had been this way for over 40 years
The picture painted for us is a man who is broken, physically crippled, humiliated, hopeless, not able to do anything for himself.
That is the picture that is painted for us.
Second we are told about the healing.
v.3-7
The man ask for money but Peter is moved by the Holy Spirit and by the power of the Lord the man is healed.
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that is by the power and the authority of Jesus this man is healed.
Peter makes it clear that it is not by his power or his authority that this man is healed but only by the power and authority of Jesus. Look at v.12 and 16
So the picture that we have is that of a desperate broken man and a gracious and good Savior who works through His servants to bring healing and hope.
The OT promised hope and healing to those who were broken and hopeless.
The OT promised that there would be One who would come who would turn our mourning into singing, our crying into dancing
Actually v.8 is referencing an OT passage
is a chapter that speaks of the redemption and restoration that the Lord will bring for His people
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
For waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
Is. 35.
Of course the healings of Jesus and of the Apostles are teaching us that the coming redemption and restoration promised in the OT has come
That the Kingdom of God has broken into history.
God’s Kingdom has come, we see the healings in the gospels and in the book of Acts, we have seen the Lord pour out His Spirit upon His people, good news is being proclaimed, all of this points to the reality of the Kingdom; but of course the NT teaches us that the Kingdom has come but it has not come in all of it’s fullness, we are still waiting for the fullness of the Kingdom, we are still waiting for the Kingdom of Heaven to fill the earth.
But even now while we wait broken humanity can be given hope, they can be made full in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So this passage points us forward to the Day when Jesus will come and all will be made right
Broken humanity being made full
This is pointing us to restoration, the New Creation
Spiritualize this as well, we see ourselves spiritually in this man, right?
The Message
The Message
Finally we see that Peter uses this miracle to proclaim the message of the gospel, what is the heart of the apostolic teaching that the church was devoting itself to and that the church was proclaiming?
Salvation through Jesus Christ
Notice as Peter begins he denies something.
Peter denies that the man was healed by magic, witchcraft, sorcery; by his own power. v.11-12
The Peter affirms somethings
Jesus healed this man v.13-16
God gave Peter and John the gift of faith and healing and miracle working in this moment. In v.16, Peter was given faith to heal
John Piper explains
First, notice that the faith to heal (Peter’s faith, not the man’s there is no reason in the text to thin he was believing when Peter spoke) is “through Jesus” that is Jesus gave it. It came through the working of Jesus. This, it seems to me, is the key to what happened in v.4 when Peter gazed at the lame man. Luke tells us in v.2 that this man was laid daily at the gate. So Peter had passed this man many times before without healing him. But today, when he looked at him, something happened. What? The faith to heal him came through Jesus. the living Jesus did something in Peter, and Peter knew it was the day. When he said, What i have I give to you, he probably mean, Today I have been given something special for you, jesus has just given me the faith to speak healing to you and I now share this gift with you. Rise. That’s what the last part of v.16 says, The faith, which is through Jesus (not in Jesus) has given this man perfect health. Jesus gave the faith to heal and Peter acted on it.
3. Christ should be praised as the source of life who provides through “ordinary means” as well as through what would be easily recognized as miracles. v.15 Jesus is the Author of Life
He is the source of Life. This covers both physical and spiritual life brothers and sisters
Your life came from His hand
Your spiritual life has come from His hand
4. This miracle was a sign of the Messianic Kingdom to come
We looked at this already and looked at but we also see Peter refer to the restoring of all things (v.21)
Brothers and sisters we live in a broken world, but we can rest assured that Jesus Christ our Lord is coming again and He will make all things right. He will fix the brokenness of our world
Brother and sisters we all have brokenness right? Even those of use who are converted still feel the pain of our brokenenss
Physical pain or suffering, mental or emotional pain or suffering, heartache, deception, of others
The healing of this broken man is that one day all of our brokenness will be healed and we will dance with joy in the eternal Kingdom of our Lord
Jesus is to get glory for this.
Who is this Jesus who is coming to make all things new?
He is the Jesus of the OT
Peter proclaims somethings
1. Jesus is the servant of the Lord (v.13, 26)
He is the promised Servant of the Lord in the OT ()
He is the Servant of the Lord who did not come to be served but to Serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.
Oh brothers and sisters can you grasp the depth of how Christ has served you?
Should we not as His followers serve others?
2. Jesus was glorified by God (v.13-14, 26)
Jesus alone is the Holy and Righteous One (we are not and we need His righteousness)
The Holy and Righteous One was put to death by sinners and yet God raised Him from the dead
are not and we need His righteousness)
Ps.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
3. Jesus is the Source of Life
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Your physical life has come from Him
You cannot know spiritual life apart from Him
If you would be apart of God’s Kingdom then you must know life through Him
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
4. Jesus is the fulfillment of OT prophecy and promises (v.17-26)
Peter alludes to several OT texts as he points people to Jesus the Messiah.
The OT finds it’s fulfillment in Him, without Jesus the OT is just a collection of books full of broken promises and unfulfilled hopes
The OT pointed to a prophet that would be greater and more glorious than Moses
Jesus is that prophet and He is the final prophet
Unlike the other prophets, Jesus does not just speak the truth, but He is the truth, He does not just give a message, He is the message, He does not just point us to the way, He is the way. He does not just tell us about life, He is the life.
But let’s not only notice what Peter says about Jesus, notice what he says about his audience
v.13, you handed Jesus over
v.13b you are worse than Pilate
v.14 you traded the Holy and Righteous One for a murderer
v.15 You killed the one who gave you life
v.17 You are ignorant
v.18-25 You don’t understand the Bible
v.26 you denied your privelege
v.26b You are wicked
So what is Peter’s Message in light of who Jesus is and who they are?
Repent (v.19-21)
Repent and turn to Christ
He mentions three benefits of repentance from sin and turning to Chirst
forgiveness of sins
spiritual refreshment, this is a word that speaks of rest or relief
Restoration (v.21) The hope of the Kingdom of God coming in all of it’s fullness and all things being made new.
For all who turn to Christ there is
forgiveness of sin
rest for your souls
hope of God’s eternal Kingdom
May we rejoice in who Christ Jesus is and the great hope we have in Him.