Participants: Jim & Mark Howard
Series Code: ABOTB
Program Code: ABOTB00006B
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00:02 Welcome back to Books of the Book. We are studying the book
00:04 of Acts. Right before the break we had been looking in Acts 00:07 chapter 3 about this healing of the lame man at the temple gate, 00:11 the first bonafide miracle we find of healing in the New 00:15 Testament church. You had mentioned that we see miraculous 00:18 working in the power of the Holy Spirit. As far as a healing that 00:22 took place like in the ministry of Jesus, we don't see that 00:26 until right now. Another thing, Jim, you had mentioned before 00:31 the break that there may have been kind of a despair among 00:35 some of the people. You know, here was Jesus and all these 00:39 wonderful things were happening and even though we know his 00:42 disciples had worked miracles prior to Christ's crucifixion 00:47 and resurrection and ascension, there hasn't been anything like 00:51 that since his ascension and so people have probably viewed some 00:55 of them with disappointment and some of them with rejoicing that 00:59 every trace of Jesus is gone, you know. The work of Jesus, the 01:03 miracles of Jesus, the hope that he gave was gone. And it seems 01:08 likely to us here that this man at the temple gate upon our 01:13 first initial reading it may not seem like he was too acquainted 01:18 with Jesus, but when Peter heals him he goes on to say which 01:22 we're going to see that it was through faith in the name of 01:26 Jesus that the man was healed. You don't have faith in the name 01:31 of somebody you don't know and it's likely that this man and 01:35 his associates had come to know of Jesus and wanted to be healed 01:39 but was not able to make it before the crucifixion of Jesus. 01:42 So he was left asking alms like he had. 01:45 So he was left out and his loved ones probably felt sorry 01:48 for him and said look we can take you to the temple gate but 01:53 his hope was gone. So for Peter to come and you notice look at 01:58 me he said and when he said the name Jesus Christ of Nazareth 02:03 that man, Jesus of Nazareth, he had enough faith to respond to 02:06 Peter and he's healed and walking and leaping and praising 02:11 God and everybody's amazed. So we're picking up here at 02:15 Peter's response in verse 12. We looked at this a little bit. 02:21 Peter said why do you marvel at these things. And he says, verse 02:28 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our 02:30 fathers glorified his servant Jesus who you delivered up and 02:34 denied in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let 02:38 him go. Now you got to think. Pilate, the gentile, saw that 02:42 there was no fault in this man and we, the ones who were 02:45 supposed to the worshipers of God, we weren't going to let him 02:48 go and even Pilate, the judge, was going to let him go. But you 02:51 were determined not to let him go. He says in verse 14: You 02:55 denied the Holy One and the Just and asked for a murderer to be 02:59 granted to you and killed the Prince of Life who God raised 03:03 from the dead of whom we are witnesses and his name, through 03:08 faith in his name, has made this man strong who you see and know. 03:13 Yes, the faith which comes through him has given him (this 03:17 man) this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. 03:22 Now I mean we're just into chapter 3 but one thing that 03:27 continually floors me is that Peter does not have a political 03:31 bone in his body right now. We're going to find that prior 03:34 to this Peter was very reputation driven and he always 03:38 wanted to appear in a certain light before people. But when we 03:41 come into the New Testament here in the book of Acts and we see 03:47 the new Peter. He is, what do I want to say? He is very direct 03:53 in his speaking. He is not at all trying to please or play any 03:58 favorites or please any crowd. And you know I suppose at first 04:03 glance we might be tempted to look at Peter as just having 04:07 this... maybe he has a chip and he's just trying to get out 04:11 and has this attitude. And in fact, I've heard it today even 04:16 in the ministry when a minister gets up and speaks very strongly 04:21 about something, it's not uncommon, and I'm not just 04:23 talking about myself as a minister although I've heard 04:25 this with myself of with others, you know, I wonder what got into 04:29 him today. You know, it's got to be some personal thing. We have 04:34 lost the understanding that when the Holy Spirit works through 04:39 God's messenger, the messages need to be in part very direct 04:44 because it has to reach down to the depth of what's in our heart 04:48 because God is trying to cleanse us from the bottom and inside 04:53 out. So Peter's message here really strikes me as... the 04:58 nature of his preaching was very direct and forward. 05:03 That's right. When I look at it it almost appears that he's 05:09 making a deliberate attempt to point out the audacity of these 05:13 people for what they had done. And I think there's intent in 05:18 that. He says... Well I want to interject and 05:22 hold the thought. But one thing that is important here is when 05:27 we look at his directness, too often we tend to think of how 05:31 we, the recipient, are going to handle the message or how we the 05:34 human being are going to handle it and who it hurts. The fact of 05:38 the matter is that when our sins are pointed out we can be hurt 05:43 even to the point of tears. But so often we never even stop to 05:48 think how much God hurts over the level of deception that the 05:53 devil is allowed to pull on people and yet his own 05:56 spokespeople, his own ministers, his own mouth pieces, are afraid 06:01 to let the people know of the deception for fear he's going to 06:05 upset them and I think of the pain in God's heart and I know 06:08 that what drove Peter, we talked about this before, was not any 06:12 kind of attitude towards his hearers, but his love for 06:16 Christ and his love for the souls that Christ died for and 06:20 that's what led him to speak the way he did. 06:22 That's where I'm seeing this going. It wasn't a fear of the 06:26 people but a love for the people that led him to do what he did. 06:29 I mean it says right here in verse 13, the end of verse 13, 06:33 speaking about his servant Jesus whom you delivered up and denied 06:37 in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him 06:41 go, almost showing look, not only did you do this but he was 06:44 ready to let him go. You went above and beyond. He's trying to 06:47 help them to actually sense their guilt all the more. 06:50 Then he goes on and says, but you denied the Holy One and the 06:53 Just and asked for (of all things) a murderer to be granted 06:56 to you. So not only did you ask for somebody in the place but 07:00 you asked for a murderer. He's very clearly trying to point out 07:04 the true sense of their guilt. Why? I find it very interesting 07:08 that Peter does the same thing in this sermon and in the sermon 07:12 he gave in Acts chapter 2 in which he was very direct. 07:15 He was honest, he was totally honest. He was not sugarcoating 07:20 what happened. But then in verse 17 I find it very powerful that 07:25 he responds in chapter 3 verse 17 by saying, Yet now brethren 07:29 I know that you did it in ignorance. I mean, it's like 07:34 Jesus hanging on the cross, people shouting at him telling 07:39 him to come down from the cross if you're the Son of God and the 07:41 rest and Jesus says, Father forgive them for they know not 07:44 what they do. Here we see Peter giving them the benefit of the 07:47 doubt. And I see these two components to the preaching of 07:50 Peter that I think are needful in all of our witnessing. He is 07:55 honest and direct and he always accompanies that with grace and 08:00 hope. You see in Acts chapter 2 where he's honest and direct 08:03 about what they were guilty of and then he comes back by saying 08:07 this promise is to you and to your children. Repent. You'll 08:11 receive the Holy Spirit just as we. Here in Acts chapter 3 he's 08:15 direct. He points right in an honest way to what really 08:19 happened, he calls it what it is but then he gives them the 08:22 benefit of the doubt. And as I think about this with the 08:25 apostle Peter I can't help but think that part of the reason 08:28 that he gave them the benefit of the doubt was because he 08:31 recognized that there was a time when he thought he was right 08:36 but came to find out that he wasn't. He thought he would not 08:40 deny Jesus, he was quick to say that but realized that Jesus 08:44 knew him better than he knew himself and Peter in compassion 08:48 and sympathy for these people is being honest about their 08:52 situation and at the time offering them hope and having 08:56 a heart full of compassion and longing that they could find the 09:00 same freedom, the same forgiveness that he found and 09:04 that he experienced when he found a restoration with Jesus 09:08 after his denial. You know it makes me think of 09:10 the same elements in Jesus even with Peter when he was very 09:14 direct with Peter and said Peter before the rooster crows you're 09:18 going to deny me three times and he was very direct with him. 09:22 Of course Peter had just got done saying how faithful he was 09:25 going to be but Jesus turns around from that and says, but 09:29 Peter when you're converted strengthen your brethren. And so 09:33 you've got the directness but there's the call to repentance 09:37 and the open invitation. And Jim the sad thing about it is today 09:40 I don't think we see that combination because there are 09:44 a lot of messages that are all about acceptance and the message 09:48 of acceptance doesn't really need to offer the open 09:51 invitation because there's not the call to repentance there. 09:55 And I'm not saying that nobody should ever preach a message of 10:00 acceptance but there is a lack today of the nature of preaching 10:05 we're finding here. That's right. I think of one 10:08 minister who said you know Jesus receives us just the way we are 10:12 but he doesn't leave us that way and if our preaching is more 10:17 about accommodating the condition of... and our teaching 10:20 and our witnessing in general is more about trying to make 10:24 people feel about the condition that they're in and oftentimes 10:28 people need encouragement. We certainly don't want to take 10:31 away from the fact that people need to be encouraged. They need 10:35 to know that there is a Savior that can help them but we can't 10:38 as happened in the days of Jeremiah with the false prophets 10:43 heal the wound of God's people superficially by essentially 10:47 giving them a false sense of assurance that does not bring 10:52 conviction but as surely as it doesn't bring conviction they 10:55 see no need of repentance and repentance and finding the 10:59 forgiveness for that guilt is what brings peace. So we rob 11:03 people of peace when we don't follow the pattern that Peter 11:07 followed in Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter 3. Honest, direct 11:11 preaching with a fervent love for souls followed by a fervent 11:15 appeal of grace and hope and the offer of salvation. 11:19 That's right. It's interesting that Peter then tacks on, I 11:23 don't want to say tacks on, but in the midst of that sermon he 11:27 brings up what Moses said in Deuteronomy in verses 22 and 23, 11:31 for Moses truly said to the fathers the Lord your God will 11:35 raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. Him you 11:39 shall hear in all things whatever he says to you and it 11:42 shall be that every soul that will not hear that prophet shall 11:45 be utterly destroyed from among the people. Now this is where 11:48 Moses is foretelling Christ and Peter makes the application 11:51 using Moses who they trust and in essence saying here's the 11:55 prophet, he's come. You need to hear him. If you fail to hear 11:58 him all who fail to hear him will be destroyed from among my 12:01 people. Yeah and this takes me back to 12:03 Matthew chapter 17 where we're in that transfiguration on the 12:08 mount and God speaks from heaven and says this is my beloved Son 12:14 in whom I am well pleased. Hear him. This is the one that Moses 12:18 promised would be raised up from among his brethren that we 12:22 needed to hear or else be destroyed from among the people. 12:26 He's calling their attention to Jesus once again. 12:28 That's right. Of course the ministry of Jesus today is still 12:33 speaking to us all. Jesus is the one that was foretold to come. 12:37 Jesus is the one that we need to hear and Jesus is the one who 12:41 wants us, as Peter was a representative of him and said 12:45 look at me, so Jesus wants us to look at him and in looking at 12:49 him and giving him our attention and giving him our whole heart 12:54 just as that lame man was healed from an impossible illness, so 12:59 wherever we in our situation of sin as impossible as it may seem 13:04 if we give Jesus our attention he'll heal us too. Well I hope 13:08 you join us next time in the book of Acts. God bless you. |
Revised 2014-12-17