Suffering: A stage from which to see the Glory of Christ in the Gospel, Acts 3, pt.2

The man is amazed leaping for joy, praising God. The people are amazedAnd now they form a mob, the man has to hold onto peter and john. When Peter sees the mob running toward them in complete amazement, he addresses them. Men of Israel why are you amazed? why wouldn't they be amazed at what had just happened? Unless, this sort of thing had been common not to many weeks in the past while Jesus was doing all those miracles. But some of these same people surely had been in the crowd shouting crucify Him. Now the same things Jesus had done are being done again only by Peter and John who were known associates of Jesus. They were amazed because they thought there was some unique power in Peter but he squashes that with v.12 and 13. Notice how he redirects their thinking from them , to Jesus by proclaiming that it was not them that did this, but faith in the name of Jesus whom they killed and then calls them to repent and turn back in order their sins be forgiven. This even becomes a greater opportunity to preach the gospel, 5,000 become believers then the next day they are brought before the sanhedrin and when asked about this he is given another opportunity to preach the gospel to the leaders.So this man not only received physical but spiritual newness. For the first time he could now be worthy to enter the house of worship. Full acceptance is found in the name of Jesus. , 2This man could now praise God in the place where God is to be praised. This mans suffering with lameness from birth illustrates the true condition of all of us. We are all unworthy to come before God. In fact we cannot come to Him on our own. This event shows us that the only way we can come to worship God truly, the only way through the door is to come by faith in Jesus Christ: a recognition of our hopeless condition which highlights our complete inability to come to God and a complete and total reliance on the finished work of Jesus Christ to deal with our sin and effectively renew our hearts.

II. The aim of the suffering declared- v.11-16

to see the glory of the suffering servant, Jesus v.12,13Who was Denied, v.13Who was rejected, v.14Who was killed, v.15aTo see the glory of the resurrected servant, Jesus, v.15bthrough faith in His name the suffer is made new, v.16Through faith in His name the sufferer is made whole

III. God planned it all along, v.17-26

The real sufferer/one who has rejected Christ, v.17God planned the suffering of Christ all along,v.18The offer of Forgiveness to those who repent, v.19-through Jesus the Christ of God, v.20-spoken of by the prophets of old, v.21-Declared a prophet by Moses, v.22--Hear Him and repent/believe, --refuse His message and be cut off from the true people of God, 23-all the prophets foretold this, v.24Blessing comes upon all who believe in Him, 25God sent Him first to you to bless you by turning you from your evil ways.

Conclusion

We best see the glory of God when we find our hope in Jesus Christ who solves the real problem of our suffering which is separation from God.