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I’m going to invite you this morning to Acts chapter three, as we’re going to be together today in Acts chapter three, as we work through the book of Acts together as a church. I told you a few weeks ago, we took a lot of time to look at the first couple of chapters, and I want you to know, we’re going to put the put the pedal down moving forward, because the first couple chapters really lay a very important foundation to understanding the book of Acts, and it helps lay a good foundation for us as a church, because when we look at the book of Acts together, we recognize that the early church made a tremendous impact for the gospel in a very short period of time. And it’s the same God who works among his people today. And so as we look at the early church, we can ask the question, what is it God has for us? Because it’s no accident where the Lord has you, and God wants you to make an impact in the place that he has you for his glory, to the benefit of others. Not that you would just not only grow in your own personal faith journey with the Lord. That is important, but through that God would work through your life to impact those around you. And so what does that look like for us? And we’ve been examining the book of Acts together. And one of the things we’ve said is that the foundational, foundational verse to this book is Acts chapter one, verse eight.
This is the really the thesis statement to what this book is about. God says to us that you will be witnesses for him in Jerusalem, Judea, to the uttermost parts of the earth. And so we have the mission which God has called us on. When we say as a church, we exist for a purpose greater than ourselves. And it’s it’s not to take away your own personal faith journey in the Lord that is critical to everything you do in Jesus, right? You cannot impart what you do not possess. So growing in your own walk with the Lord then allows the Lord to to work through your life as he has grown you to represent him in in what you do in this world, for his glory to the benefit of others. And so we realize with Jesus creating His church that God has a mission for the church in Acts one eight describes that to us. He also has the means by which we’re to do it through the power of the Holy Spirit, which we saw in Acts chapter two, verse four, the Spirit of God empowering the people of God to accomplish the will of God in this world. It’s critical for us to not do things in our own strength, but rather we just become the hands and feet of how God wants to work in this world.
It was Charles Spurgeon who once said this. He said, you are not a lover of Christ if you do not love the souls of others. And one of the greatest ways to demonstrate your love for the Lord is seen in how you care for people around you. That’s what Jesus’s pursuit was about, and his his means for us was through the power of the Holy Spirit. And his method we discovered is the church in Acts chapter two, verse 41 to 47, we looked at the picture of what the early church did as they gathered in worship. And one of the things I reminded us of last week is we looked at that passage is there’s really nowhere you can turn in the New Testament where it prescribes exactly what must happen when a church gathers for a service, right? And God’s people gather together. There’s passages in the Bible that tell us what the early church did when they gathered, but there’s no prescription for exactly how a service is to be laid out, which God gives us incredible freedom within the context of different cultures. To then discover what methodology might help us promote our theology as we seek the Lord. Right? We. We marry our theology, and we adapt our methodology and how we we worship the Lord together, right? There’s certain things that are central to what the church is about. And we don’t want to to lose those things because they become the focus to help us discover our identity as we live in light of the Lord.
But what the early church did, that’s the the method in which God wants to employ. There is no plan B, right? It’s to say Jesus has you in a place for his glory for a reason. I don’t think there’s a better place that we could live in the United States to represent the Lord than here in Utah. It’s a fantastic place for the sake of the gospel. So what does that look like for us to live in light of that? As we looked at the end of Acts chapter two last week, it said this to us and day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. It’s incredible to read how the church is making an impact. And you look at a verse like that and we could ask the question, well, what more did they do? Or what else did they do? What did that look like in the day to day? And this is what we’re going to talk about today as we look at Acts chapter three. And in this chapter, this is really the first miracle that the church is seeing apart from the gospel stories. Meaning, now that Jesus has been resurrected, he’s ascended to heaven and the church is moving forward in the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is the first miracle that takes place, and learning how to respond to this miracle as God’s people becomes critical. In fact, what I want to talk about today as we look at this miracle, is to help us understand what this means for us as God’s people in light of this event. Because I find sometimes, even within Christian circles, we can fixate on certain things that take place in the Bible for the wrong reasons. And that’s not to take away from the beauty of a miracle. You know, in my own life, there have been times where I’ve been praying like, God, give a miracle here, right? Like, there are certain things that I want to see take place. But there’s a way in which we could treat a miracle as if it’s an in and of itself. But. But can I tell you that the greatest miracle God wants to perform can happen in anybody that turns to Jesus? Because the miracle that Jesus truly wants to accomplish this morning is a miracle in your heart and mind. God wants to transform our heart for his glory because of what he’s accomplished in the cross. It’s wonderful to read these miracles in the Bible, but that’s not to take away from the greatest miracle. To understand what it what it is that that God would become flesh in the midst of our sin.
He would not give up on us, but he would pursue us to give his very life, that we could find freedom in him, and he would overcome sin, Satan, and death, that we could be liberated in Christ. And not just to say God rescued us from something in our sin, but also at the same time he rescued us for something in him that you belong to something greater. You know, over these last couple of weeks, it did not me that we we lost some of the great saints of the Christian faith. You know, people that I have looked up to, people like John MacArthur, for example, or even this week passed away. And when he passed away, I noticed his his ministry that he was a part of. They posted online something very succinct that just represented what his life was about. And they said it like this. He left the land of the dying for the land of the living. I thought, what an incredible way to put it all into perspective, because sometimes we fixate on the wrong things in this world, and it doesn’t mean that the things of this world aren’t important. They do. They do have a place. They were created by God’s hand for his glory. But we try to hold on to these things as if these things define who we are. And there’s something far greater that God has to offer us, and understanding what that is, and then viewing life in light of him that becomes critical for us not to just get fixated on miracles as if they’re an end of themselves, but to understand the greater picture for why these miracles take place in the Bible.
And so in Acts chapter three, this is why we’re calling it a need for something more. And I’m going to tell you this. I’m going to give you all three points right now. And I really just want to dialog over this passage together and what it means for us, because this is this is really going to help us really put into perspective the rest of the miracles that take place in Scripture. And this is not the only miracle you’re going to read in Acts. So I really want this miracle to kind of help set a precedent for for the rest of the miracles that unfold in the book of Acts. But it works like this. In talking about a need for more. We’re going to see number one, the need, number two, the miracle, and then number three, the message in light of that. So it’s it’s the need and want to talk about the miracle. Then we’re going to talk about the message, because Peter takes time to explain a message to put this miracle into perspective. So our eyes get focused on the right thing. And so there’s definitely a precedent for why this miracle takes place. There is important for us to understand, but we want to understand it in light of the way the Lord wants us to understand it.
And so in Acts chapter three, verse one, in terms of the need, this is how it starts. It says, now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, which we would call this 3 p.m. today. And so here they are going to the temple. And, and as they’re going to the temple during this, this time of prayer, 3 p.m. the ninth hour. I just want to highlight for us, because I have belabored this point quite a bit for our church over the importance of the idea of temple and what it represents in the church. I told you, for us it’s not about a building, right? The the gathering of God’s people. I’m glad we have a building. There is a place for a building. We need a building. We need a bigger building. Right? But but the importance of a building is there is some significance to it and that it provides a place for us to gather. But. But the miracle is not in the building, right? We talked about in the New Testament what the Lord has done for us is he’s made us all a temple in him. So it’s about God’s presence in you. And so we collectively gather on a day of the week in order to celebrate the life that we have in Christ and to continue to move forward as God’s people.
There is power in community as we walk in unity, right? And we we work together collectively for the purpose which God has created and only his work in us as individuals, but also in us as community. We can make a tremendous impact for his glory in this world, right? But it’s not primarily about a building, but rather we’re the temple. Now, saying all that, we look at this story and we’re like, but they’re going to the temple, right? Why? Why are they doing that if it’s not about the temple, but rather us as the temple? And I would just simply say it’s it’s because of where they find themselves in the first century. Now, by 70 A.D., you discover that for the Jewish people, they only ever had one temple. That’s all God commanded them to have at one time. When they this particular temple, this is where they went to to meet with the Lord. But now they’re able to meet the Lord in Jesus. But but here they’re gathering because this is the the cultural center of of who they are. At 70 A.D., the temple is destroyed for Israel. It’s never been rebuilt. But but this is the customary place where they had gathered to worship. This is the town square. They’re Jewish people coming to know the Lord. And what better place to point to Christ and the fulfillment for what he has brought for them, than to go to the temple and share it with the community where they’re gathering? And so as being as Jewish people used to worshiping there, that’s where they continued to go.
And so here they are. During this time period, and in verse two it says this. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate, to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms, and Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, look at us. And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, I have no silver and gold. Now that sounds like a terrible, unloving thing. If I just stop the story right there, you’re walking and you’re seeing a person struggling. You’re like, look at me. I’m not giving you anything. Like that is that is the most unkind. That is not. He would have been better off just to walk on. Right. And we know there’s more to the story here. But but here’s here’s what I want you to recognize in this. This particular passage of the story is there is an elephant in the room in the way Luke is explaining this to us. Right. And and it really centers around the thought of the beautiful gate.
Now, if you’re going to have to hang outside of a gate, probably the one that you’re going to pick is not ugly gate, right? Like beautiful gate. Sounds like a fantastic place to relax if you want to. If you want to kick back for a few minutes out of all the gates you can walk through. I’ll take the pretty one, please. Right. But. But this individual that’s gone to the beautiful gate, we recognize that he’s never had the ability to walk before. And now he’s stationed outside of this gate. And very intentional why he’s doing this. He’s likely recognizing in his life that I have a need. And what better place to find that need than through God’s people who claim to know God? And therefore, knowing God would learn to better appreciate people in the plight that they experience in life. And that should be true even for us as God’s community. That in the midst of a broken world, we understand the beauty of who people are in light of the Lord, who who created us in his image and desires to recreate us in the cross. And so we we get the privilege to step in the brokenness of life and point to the greatness of who Christ is. And we should we should seize those opportunities not like we we. We want to walk in this world as if we were this, the superhero cape. That’s we don’t want to put that kind of pressure on ourselves because we’re not the hero Jesus is, but but rather to understand because of who we are in light of Christ, we get to walk in the brokenness of this world with a greater hope and point people to that hope.
And this individual sitting outside the beautiful gate has recognized, hey, people were coming in to worship. They’re they’re thinking about the Lord here and thinking about the Lord. It’s it’s a short distance between the Lord and the importance of people. So maybe people will help me here. And so he goes outside the beautiful gate in order to do that. But here’s here’s where the elephant comes, is that he couldn’t go any further. He was allowed to come up to the point of the beautiful gate, but because of the religious laws of the day, he couldn’t go further into the temple because of his own suffering, he was required to stop his journey there and for us. His life really becomes a picture to reflect on our own faith, journey and heart before a holy God. It’s recognizing that what God desires for us is to be near to him. But what we’re incapable of, in and of ourselves is to draw near to him. No matter how much religious performance you want to try to put on yourselves. The standard that God has for us is absolute holiness, perfection. And in and of ourselves we’re not able to live up to that sort of standard or performance that no matter how religious we want to be, we fall short.
So here’s this individual who’s gone to the temple, but he can’t truly go all the way into the temple. He has to stand on the outside at the gate. And this is recognizing this desire to be near to God. But the inability to truly, fully connect with God and guys, it’s the same for all of us. In fact, in our culture today, maybe a little bit different than this individual, we we have this facade that we can put on that really sometimes even lulls us to sleep, to our own brokenness as people. And there there are certain people in life because of the lot that they carry. We might look at and, and we can recognize the struggle or the depravity of life because we might reflect it more on the outside than maybe others. But the reality is we all have a tremendous need that we cannot overcome. Even when you read, for example, revelation chapter three, verse 17, if you remember, we went through the book of Revelation. It wasn’t too long ago, I’m sure all of you remembered it verse by verse. Right. But chapter three, especially when you get to verse 17, it’s writing to the church of Laodicea, and one of the things that was unique about the Church of Laodicea is they were noted as a wealthy church. But one of the things that Jesus said to the church of Laodicea is he referred to them as a wretched, pitiable, blind and naked group of people.
Now that feels a little bit insulting, right? To think about, here’s Jesus looking at the church and you’re like, you’re pitiful. You’re wretched. You know, you’re that’s a that’s a rough phrase to think through. But why? Why would God say that about his church? And it’s simply this that they have been lulled to sleep, to their true spiritual need, because they have replaced the temporal creature comforts of this life as if it’s ultimately what their hearts were created for. And because their their temporal needs were being met in this world, they didn’t truly see the depth of their need for God in their life. And this, this really facade that they found themselves on just brought them to this place of of contentment where they thought, well, it’s just good enough. You know, I can get up to the gate, but the gate’s pretty good. It’s a pretty gate, right? Like so. I’ve gotten far enough. So this should be good. And God is saying to them, no, you don’t realize how necessary it is that your heart be humbled before me. How much you need me. And the extent for which Jesus was willing to go for us should highlight that for you and for me. Like maybe in this world, we we we have allowed the creature comforts of life to to kind of numb us to the fact that you really you need more.
And by more I don’t mean more of the same thing, but of something totally different. To stop putting hope in the temporal things of this world, because you’re going to leave the land of the dying for the land, hopefully of the living. But the only way you discover that is to be able to go through that gate, and the only way you’re ever going to be able to go through that gate is that your heart be completely surrendered to what Jesus has accomplished for you on the cross. And so this this individual becomes a picture of all of our hearts. And in verse six, if I if I were to go in and just look at the idea of the miracle, it says it like this. But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Let me let me just say this real quick as I move on. But as as Peter is coming to to speak to this individual, he says, in the name of Jesus. And and this is a pretty important phrase to think about, especially in terms of Christianity. Like, it’s a it’s a common practice for a Christian that when we pray, we typically end our prayers in Jesus name. In Jesus name, Amen. And sometimes we we kind of treat that like it’s the magic wand of miracle dust that we just laid on whatever we just said.
So it’s got to happen now, right? Like, in Jesus name, Amen. I said the words, you know, I said the magic phrase at the end so that one counts, right? But to think about when we when we kind of when we utter that phrase, what what does it mean? And it’s not just this, this miracle word that you you speak into space and things happen, but but rather what it means is by his power and authority, the name of Jesus is saying, the representation of what is power and authority was about because I belong to him, and therefore I walk in his authority as I do things in this world, and also even in the power of prayer. And so when Peter is saying this, he’s recognizing this is not about me, but about who Christ is. He’s doing it in the power and authority of Christ. And it says, and he took him by the right hand and raised him up. And immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And this becomes for you and for me, a beautiful picture of what it looks like to minister for the Lord. The things we do for God is it’s not about our strength, but we do become the conduit through which God works. It’s the power of Christ. This is made known, but it’s the hand of Peter that God uses.
And it’s the same for your life, that you you are made in the image of God, right? And there’s nothing else in all of creation made this way. And so you become that spokesman and and how you walk in this world, the things that you do and the words that you say to represent God in this world. And what better person to do it than one made in the image of God? And God made you to be his representative head. That’s why in the book of First Peter, chapter three, chapter two and three, you’re represented as the royal priests of the Lord. So that priesthood is saying you, you become the representative of God to people and people to God. And so being that connection between heaven and earth, the way you conduct yourself in this world is important. There’s tremendous value. In fact, we could say there’s no more importance than that. The representation of God in this planet, and how we can conduct ourselves for the benefit of others to his glory, and goes on and says this. And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognizing him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
So here it is on the outside, and all of a sudden he’s able to go through this gate and incredible miracle that’s taking place, right? I love seeing the beauty of these miracles throughout Scripture, and how God’s hand is made known in the hearts of people as he’s come to to be our deliverer. But I gotta be honest. There’s a part of me when I read miracles in Scripture that that goes to this, this portion of reluctance. Right? I appreciate the beauty. I’m thankful for it. And there’s times where for even different people within our congregation or in my life where I’m like, I’m praying for a miracle. I would love to see a miracle. But there are also times and looking at the miracles of scripture, I’m like, But God, I get concerned with these miracles. And one of the reasons I get concerned with these miracles is that is because people take these miracles and they abuse them, and they use them in such a way that they they become manipulative to people and they make them as an in and of themselves. So when looking at miracles within scriptures in critical for us to begin to understand, okay, why is this here? And what does this mean for us? And has this become the norm, the expectation for all of us all the time, that we should just be getting miracle on top of miracle, these kind of healings, every moment of every day.
Like what? What am I to take from something like this? And when I when I was in college getting my undergrad in theology I had a professor who was an incredible athlete. He was a high jumper. And at one particular part of his life, I believe he was training for the Olympics. I remember his story correctly, but as he was training, he went through a terrible accident in a jeep and it broke his neck and he suffered from quadriplegia the rest of his life. And I had him as a professor in school, and he had the ability to use his mouth. So he often would use that to do different things, especially in teaching the class. But I had the privilege of having him as a professor when he taught. He taught me through the the Gospels and the book of Acts, and, and he would always come to these miracles and he would share with us his own personal story in coming to Christ. And then he would talk about these miracles in a way that really helped us as students understand. And he he would say it like this, you know, after my accident, that’s when I really put my faith in Jesus. That’s when I became a Christian. And at that particular point in his life, that was a very, very difficult time. And I could see why someone would turn to the spiritual there and, and really seek the Lord. And he gave us.
He gave his life to the Lord. He said, but you know, when I first became a Christian, my immediate pursuit was to get to gatherings where these faith healers would claim that they could take all that, that away from me, all that I had suffered, and I could be made whole. And so he said, really? I became like a roadie at these events. I would find out where the next event was, and I would show up, and I would try to get to the front of the room, and I was unsuccessful. And he said, you know, over time, I realized that I wasn’t the only roadie, that there was a group of us that actually went to all these different meetings and tried to get to the front of the room in order to experience this kind of healing. But he said, you know what was interesting? Over time, I started to notice this one particular girl. She was a very young lady, and she had been burned terribly in her life and, and looked like she was mostly covered from head to toe. And as soon as they got to the moment where they would call for people to come up front to experience a healing, it became like a race between her and I to try to get to the front of the room and and for me in a wheelchair, it was a little more difficult. So she, her parents would try to get her to the front.
And there was one particular meeting where I saw she finally made it to the front. So I just watched and then I saw her get turned away. And as she was getting carried back to the back of the room by her parents, she went past me. And as she went past me, her parents had her where she was facing back to them. And as she went past me, I turned and her eyes made contact. And he said, and I realized in that moment that that young girl was not the problem. Everyone else was the problem. That young girl was made beautifully in the image of God. And he said it was at that moment that I just quit going. And I decided that whatever God had for me, I just wanted to be faithful. Now for him, he would say. Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t want a miracle. I would take a miracle. But but he would look at these miracles in Scripture and he would say, but there are two things students, I want you to understand. I want you to understand the power of these miracles. And I want you to understand the purpose of these miracles. And he would use his life as an illustration. He would say, you know, for me to be healed, my, my, my muscles are in atrophy. So for God to give me the ability to, to walk again, this would be an in total muscular healing of my body to give me that ability.
But even if if God completely healed my muscles to give me the ability to walk, he would say, if I just immediately stood up, I would pass out because my heart would not be used to that. And so for me to be able to do that, it would be this incredible miracle. And then when you look at an individual like this, this individual had never had the ability to walk. And suddenly having never experienced the ability of walking, not only is he now standing up for the first time, it tells you he’s jumping and leaping. I mean, this is an incredible, powerful miracle. And he would point to this. And this was like, man, when you’re listening to a guy who’s gone through what he’s gone through, I mean, you’re listening to every word that’s coming out of his mouth. I mean, this would be phenomenal. This is exceptional. This is amazing. But then he said, but I don’t want you to lose sight, because what you also have to recognize is the purpose of this miracle. Why did Jesus do this? Because when you think about all the different ways that Jesus could have performed miracles in this world, like sometimes I just joke. Like, if I were ahead of Jesus’s PR firm, I would have done it different, right? Like when you look at how Jesus introduced himself to the world, I would have been like, Jesus, hold up just a second.
You’re about to do this wrong. I’m going to rent out the biggest stadium we’re going to have like a WWF, pyrotechnics, whatever. Walking out, you’re going to have a theme song. All the influencers of the world we’re going to have there, right? This is how this is going to go. And we’re going to tell the world who you are. Just hold hold on a second. Jesus. Like that would be my introduction. But you look at the way Jesus introduced himself to the world. Who did he pick? The woman at the well. The woman at the well is the first person he told he was the Messiah. To, at least in the Gospel of John, the most lonely individual on the planet. And Jesus wasn’t about the stardom. He wasn’t about the fame. He he was about just meeting people where they were and and sharing with them who he was. And even when you think about the miracles that Jesus performed, like if you think about why this particular miracle, because of all, all the ways Jesus could have performed miracles, man, I could have come up with some really creative ones. You only have to think that hard. Like over the last decade in our own culture here, we’ve been really obsessed with Marvel comic type movies, a lot of superhero stuff. We could have been like, Jesus, watch these movies. Just pick a superpower, pick a superpower, and let that be the miracle, right? You could just teleport.
That’d be cool. How about you, Peter Pan fly like you just do that kind of thing. You can shoot lasers from your eye. I know he could have done all kinds of things. All sorts of different things he could have done. Why this particular miracle? Why in this way? When you read the Old Testament, you begin to discover why Jesus chose these particular types of miracles. In fact, in Isaiah chapter 35, it says it like this. 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. I mean, no doubt when these individuals saw this lame man running through the temple, leaping and shouting for joy in their minds as devout Jewish people, they would have immediately thought of this verse. Because this verse is a verse that is the evidence for the Messiah. For for the Jewish people, there were particular things that they were waiting on to see performed in Israel to indicate that the Messiah had arrived. Things like curing leprosy, things like giving the blind the ability to see things like casting out demons or raising someone from the dead. Those were marks that the Messiah would perform. And so Israel was specifically looking for these types of miracles to indicate that the Messiah had arrived.
Even when you read the Gospels, it’s not just randomly telling you miraculous stories to tell you miraculous stories. Those stories are specifically there as an indication to to the greater miracle that was taking place, that God had become flesh to give his life for you and for me, that our hearts could be radically transformed in him. It’s not about just impressing you with who he is so that you could just look at miracles for miracles sake, but but rather these miracles had an intentional purpose. In fact, there’s even a book by a man named Robby Gallaty. He writes a book called The Forgotten Jesus. And the subtitle there is like how a how Western people can see an Eastern rabbi. And so it’s helping you understand. He talks about the way that the Jewish mentality had perceived what the arrival of the Messiah would be like in order that when when he came, they would be able to recognize him the kind of things that he would do. And so when you’re reading this story that’s taking place in the book of Acts, now we’re looking at the apostles who are who are a part of this miracle. And so what it’s saying is it’s communicating to the people that Jesus has come. These miracles are indicating who he is as a messiah. And now his apostles are the mouthpiece in representing him. And so this particular type of miracle is validating the message, which is the greater point.
These miracles have a purpose, not as an end and of themselves, but even even if you were to read later in this chapter, it says this, that the times of refreshing referring to the miracle it’s pointing to, these times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. What he’s saying to you is this miracle becomes a picture of the greater miracle for which Jesus will achieve for you and for me when he returns. This tiny miracle becomes a picture of the greater hope. Not so. We just cling to the things of this world, but rather we realize we’re leaving the land of the dying for the land of the living. That one day Jesus is going to bring shalom on all things. And so this miracle became a validation of the message of what Christ has accomplished for you and for me, so that we would rest our hope in him, not trying to cling to the things of this world because it’s passing away, but the greater hope that’s in Christ. And this is exactly what Peter does in his message. Peter, immediately as this takes place, people are amazed by this. It told us that the end in verse nine and verse ten.
And so when Peter begins his message, he says this verse 11, when he clung to Peter and John, all the people utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. And when Peter saw it, he addressed the people, men of Israel. Why do you wonder at this? Or why do you stare at us as though, by our own power or piety, we have made him walk? Here’s what Peter is saying is like, guys, this this is an incredible thing that’s happened, right? But I don’t want you to get lost in the incredible thing that’s happened, because that’s not the ending. So. So he looks at him and says two things. It’s almost kind of like a warning to us, like, don’t focus on this as an in and of itself. Why are you just astounded here? Don’t stop with that. Don’t stop with that idea. But move forward. And in the power of what’s represented here. And Peter’s then also saying, and don’t get fixated on me, because it’s not about me being or you being impressed with who I am. There’s something far greater. And so Peter is is using this miracle as a way to say to the people, man, take your heart in this moment and let’s rest it with what really matters. Let’s put it in the place that it was intended to be, not not in the end and of itself and the things of this world.
Don’t let our lives be lulled to sleep in the creature comforts, but the greater commitment for which Christ has called us in him as we surrender our lives to him. And so he goes on and says it like this the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom he whom whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. And one of the things I love about the beauty of Christianity is that when you consider worldviews to to embrace, there are some people that say, you can’t really believe in anything. There’s nothing. You just kind of randomly exist. So good luck in that. And there are other people that say, oh, it’s everything. Everything is true. It’s a matter of what you want to believe, right? You just you embrace you and your truth. What’s true for you is true for you. A couple of two different worlds, worldviews And between all of that, there’s the biblical worldview, which is to say this, it’s not accurate, that nothing is true, and it’s not accurate that everything is true, but rather there is a truth. And when we as as believers are called to trust in something, to understand that there is a foundation to that truth. And what Peter is doing is saying, look for a moment, just consider what’s been promised by the Messiah as an indication of who Messiah is, and he’s reviewing that with him and referring to the patriarchs of the faith and what they pronounced about the Messiah who would come.
And then he goes on and says, but you denied the holy, holy, and righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, which is we’re Sabbaths. And and you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And how incredible is that that the giver of life would experience death. But here’s here’s what he’s saying to the people. I don’t want you to lose sight that you aren’t guilty before a holy God. You know, physically today, we aren’t necessarily responsible for physically grabbing a hold of Jesus and killing him. But the reason he went to the cross was for you and for me. My sin and yours. And when I choose to deny him in my life, I’m choosing a path of death. And I’m rejecting the giver of life which led to his death. And in a metaphorical sense, and somewhat in a literal sense, we could say every day I choose to claim my life for my own rather than for him. I’m walking that path of death. This is if Peter is looking at the crowd and saying, what kind of path are you walking right now? The miracle is wonderful, but the miracle is to lead you to so much more.
It’s the greater miracle that God wants to perform in you and me. And so Peter wants us to reflect in that, in this moment. What a gift this is the privilege to know God and to honor him with our life. And and then he goes on and says this. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled it. He was faithful. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out. Verse 26, God, having raised up his servants, sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness. Now, in talking about our life opposed to God as wicked might sound unloving, but the truth is, it’s the most loving thing Peter could say to us. A heart apart from God is wickedness, because it’s opposing him for the very purpose he created us in this world, its wickedness. But. But I want you to look at the demeanor by which Peter is sharing this, because while he acknowledges on one end that our sin is what led Jesus to the cross, Jesus did that willingly. But it was because of our sin that he was willing to do that so we could find liberation in him. We could find freedom and hope in him. But when when Peter is saying this, he could then look at you and say, what’s wrong with you people? Right.
Like, get it together, man. Like, he could have spoke very down to us and how he said, this, man, you guys have really screwed up. Like he could have spoken that way, but look. Look how he represents Christ to us in the story, verse 26, that even though our hearts may be wicked towards him, the phrase he chooses to use in verse 26 is that he was a servant to you. He never stopped loving you, never stopped caring for you. And he continued to pursue you to the point that he gave his life so you could find freedom in him. He was a servant. It’s your kindness, Lord, that leads us to repentance. And that’s why in verse 19, this this word isn’t one that we can step into with trepidation and fear of how God’s going to respond. But rather we can run to him boldly because we know what he’s done. God, you’ve given you know me at the depths of who I am in my wickedness, but yet you’ve given me everything in you. The greatest miracle of life which lets me leave the land of the dying for the land of the living becomes incredible for our lives. Which is why he says, repent, therefore. I mean, that’s the only thing that makes sense in this moment. Why would you not want a God who cares in you in this way and turn back? He says, from, from from the road that you’re walking.
And he says this, that your sins may be blotted out. And the idea of blotted out is really this picture of how they used to write in Roman days. They. Their ink lacked acid like our ink. Today we have an acid which gives it a bite to the paper so it sticks. But. But in the first century, they lacked that. And so it took time for the for the ink to adhere to the paper. But you could even wash it away. And this is what he’s saying is, like, whatever you’ve the stain on your life, it can be blotted out, eradicated. So, so he’s saying not only is your past wiped clean in Jesus, but look at this when he talks about our lives in him in verse 26, when he describes why he was sent to us, it says this to bless you. God’s desire for you this morning is to bless you in the richness of who he is. So it’s not just about walking away from the world of which I found my identity, but it’s also about stepping into something far more incredible in him. It is about what I’ve left behind, but it’s also about who I’m becoming because of Christ. God has called me to so much more. So when you look at the miracles in Scripture, miracles are wonderful. Miracles are beautiful. And it’s also important to see the miracle itself is not the end, but the miracle is painting a picture for us of a greater hope for what’s to come.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and I’ll end with this, was a minister in during World War Two of the days of Nazi Germany. And some of you might be familiar with him. There’s, I think, a Hollywood movie that was even made about him a few years ago. He had the opportunity to flee from the regime of Nazi Germany when when Germany was going through all that difficult time, and he actually was hired as a pastor in Chicago, but he rejected it because he knew his people in Germany needed him. And one of the things that he remarked about with his life was his concern for the easy believism of Christianity, and he often referred to it as cheap grace. And he said it like this. It is critical that we recognize what Jesus has done for us. But but also not to step all over that grace, but to embrace it to the fullness for which Christ has in me. And he said it like this. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. It’s to recognize Jesus wants to have his life flowing through me as a believer, and I discover that only when my life is truly surrendered to him. The purpose of that miracle is in and of itself. The purpose of that miracle is to help us understand that we can continue to live as miracles of Christ, as our lives are surrendered to him and the beauty of what he wants to do.