Acts 3: Proclaiming the Gospel is Necessary before Lives can be changed

THE JERUSALEM CHURCH WAS ONE OF JOYFUL BEGINNING

WITH THE MEMBERS MEETING DAILY IN HOME LOCATIONS TO WORSHIP AS WELL AS MEETING FOR PREACHING AND TEACHING IN THE TEMPLE.

WE MUST RECALL THAT INSIDE THE GREAT COMMISSION GIVEN BY JESUS WERE SOME IMPORTANT SPECIAL WORDS SEEN IN ACTS 1:8:

“… ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you…”

THAT POWER PROMISED MEANT PREACHING & TEACHING POWER

SEEN IN ACTS 2 WHEN PETER GAVE THE POWERFUL FIRST SERMON OF THE NEW CHURCH, HIM BEING FILLED FULLY WITH THE SPIRIT WHILE DELIVERING THIS IMPORTANT MESSAGE, AND 3,000 LOST SOULS WERE SAVED BY THE LORD’S CALLING.

THE PROMISED POWER WAS EXERCISED AND SEEN BY THOUSANDS WHEN PETER SPOKE.

THE POWER PROMISED MEANT FAR MORE THAN SPIRITUAL HEALING POWER.

IT ALSO MEANT PHYSICAL HEALING POWER.

CHAPTER 3 BRINGS US THE FIRST PHYSICAL MIRACLE OF THE NEW CHURCH AGE WITH THE HEALING OF THE LAME MAN AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE OF THE TEMPLE.

IT WILL ALSO BRING US PETER’S SECOND SERMON TEACHING EXACTLY HOW THE MIRACLE WAS ACCOMPLISHED, POINTING ALL WHO HEARD THE SERMON TOWARD THE SOURCE OF THE POWER THAT HAD BEEN SEEN.

PREACHING IS ALWAYS MOST POWERFUL WHEN IT CONTAINS A TRUE WITNESS AND THIS SECOND SERMON BEGAN THAT STRONG TRADITION THAT REMAINS MOST EFFECTIVE EVEN TODAY.

ACTS 2:43 BEGAN THESE MIRACLE MOMENTS BY TEACHING US:

“…many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles…”.

IN THESE FIRST MOMENTS AFTER PENTECOST ALL THINGS THE APOSTLES HAD BEEN TAUGHT BY JESUS IN THE 3 YEARS OF HIS MINISTRY BEGAN TO MAKE SENSE.

THE SCATTERED PIECES OF THE MINISTRY PUZZLE THEY HAD SEEN CAME TOGETHER IN THEIR MINDS AND HEARTS.

WHAT THEY BEGAN TO EXPERIENCE WAS THE MORE ABUNDANT LIFE JESUS HAD PROMISED THEM.

NOW THEY UNDERSTOOD WHAT IT MEANT TO ABIDE IN HIM.

NOW THEY WERE ABLE TO MORE FULLY GRASP THE TRUE MEANING OF CALVARY THAT HAD FRIGHTENED THEM SO MUCH.

NOW THEY UNDERSTOOD THE VICTORY OF THE RESURRECTION AND WHAT IT MEANT AND WITHIN HOURS OF THE TONGUES OF FIRE,

THEY THEMSELVES WERE FULLY QUICKENED AND WERE MADE INTO NEW CREATURES OF FAITH, NO LONGER FEARFUL.

PETER WROTE OF THESE FIRST HOURS IN 2ND PETER 1:4:

HE SAID THEY WERE “… PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE…”.

IN PETER’S MESSAGE, HE CALLED UPON THE PEOPLE TO REPENT OF THEIR SINS AND TURN TO JESUS, ACKNOWLEDGING HIM AS THEIR SAVIOR AND MESSIAH.

PETER ALSO DECLARED HOW JESUS WILL RETURN AND RESTORE ISRAEL TO THE STATUS OF BEING GOD’S FAVORED PEOPLE AGAIN.

HIS MESSAGE WAS DIRECTED PRIMARILY TO JEWS AS WE CAN SEE BY HOW HE MENTIONS SUCH NOTABLES IN JEWISH HISTORY AS ABRAHAM, MOSES, AND SAMUEL, PLUS A GENERAL REFERENCE TO THE PROPHETS THAT GOD SENT TO THE JEWS.

AS JEWS, PETER AND JOHN CONTINUED TO GO TO THE TEMPLE FOR PRAYERS, IN THIS CASE THE 9TH HOUR, OR 3:00 P.M. THE DEFINITION OF PARTICULAR HOURS FOR PRAYER WAS NOT DETAILED IN THE LAW OF MOSES BUT HAD BECOME A CUSTOMARY PRACTICE.

WE SAW THIS CUSTOM CLEARLY IN OUR STUDY OF DANIEL WHO OPENED HIS WINDOW TOWARD JERUSALEM AND PRAYED THREE TIMES EACH DAY.

WHEN APPROACHING THE TEMPLE, ONE PASSED THROUGH A SERIES OF COURTYARDS, WITH THE FIRST BEING THE COURT OF THE GENTILES, WHERE ANYONE COULD BE ADMITTED.

WHILE NOT MANDATORY, THE APOSTLES CONTINUED THE CUSTOM OF PRAYER AS SUCH A TIME ALLOWED OPPORTUNITY TO WITNESS TO JEWS ABOUT THE LORD.

AS THESE TWO APOSTLES ASCENDED THE TEMPLE MOUNT THEY ENTERED BY THE BEAUTIFUL GATE.

JOSEPHUS WROTE THAT THIS GATE WAS ADORNED BY BEAUTIFUL BRASS WITH DOUBLE DOORS 75 FT. HIGH.

CLOSE BY WAS A LAME MAN PLACED AT THE GATE BY OTHERS EACH DAY TO BEG FOR ALMS FROM ALL WHO PASSED BY.

HE HAD BEEN IN THIS PLACE FOR YEARS AND WAS KNOWN BY ALL WHO ENTERED THE GATE.

JEWS CONSIDERED IT A POINT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS TO GIVE TO THOSE AFFLICTED AND LESS FORTUNATE AND THE MAN LOOKED TO PETER AND JOHN FOR A DONATION.

SCRIPTURE TEACHES THAT THEY FASTENED THEIR EYES UPON HIM.

PETER SPEAKS TO THE MAN TELLING HIM THEY HAVE NO SILVER OR GOLD BUT HE SAID HE WOULD GIVE THE MAN WHAT THEY DID HAVE AND TOLD THE MAN:

“In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.”

INSTANTLY THE MAN’S FEET AND ANKLES WERE GIVEN STRENGTH AND HE STOOD AND THEN BEGAN LEAPING, AND HE THEN WALKED INTO THE TEMPLE WITH THE APOSTLES.

THE MIRACLE OF HEALING WAS NOT PROGRESSIVE BUT WAS INSTANT.

WE ARE TOLD THIS MAN WAS 40 YEARS OLD AND WAS LAME FROM BIRTH. HE WAS RECOGNIZED BY THOSE ALREADY INSIDE THE TEMPLE AND THEY WERE AMAZED TO SEE HIM MADE WHOLE.

WE KNOW JESUS ARRANGED MANY MIRACLES IN HIS MINISTRY, HEALING AND CLEANSING EVEN THOSE POSSESSED AS WELL AS RAISING SEVERAL FROM THE DEAD BACK TO LIFE.

BUT EACH MIRACLE JESUS DID WAS OF HIS OWN POWER WHICH WAS WITHIN HIM TO USE AS HE SAW FIT.

NOW, HOWEVER, A NEW TYPE OF POWER IS EVIDENT, STILL IN THE POWER OF JESUS, BUT POSSESSED BY HIS APOSTLES WHO MADE IT CLEAR THAT THEIR HEALING WAS IN HIS NAME.

HERE WAS CLEAR AND EVIDENT PROOF THAT THE POWER AND MINISTRY OF CHRIST WAS NOT EITHER ENDED OR DELAYED BY HIS DEATH. RATHER NOW, THERE WERE MORE THAN SEVERAL WORKING IN HIS NAME DOING HIS WILL.

PEOPLE INSIDE THE TEMPLE HAVING SEEN THE MAN NOW WHOLE, BEGAN TO GATHER AROUND PETER AND JOHN AND PETER SPOKE TO THEM WITH A POWERFUL WITNESS IN VERSE 12:

“… Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man walk?”

PETER KNEW THE CROWD WOULD PRESUME THIS POWER WAS OF THE MEN THEMSELVES.

PETER WAS CAREFUL TO INDICATE THAT THEY WERE VESSELS GOD USED, BUT THE POWER FOR THE MIRACULOUS WORK WAS CLEARLY WITH GOD.

PETER STATES STRONGLY THAT THE MIRACLE WAS NOT ACCOMPLISHED BY HIS OWN POWER NOR GODLINESS.

THAT POWER THEY HELD PETER KNEW JESUS HAD PROMISED WOULD ARRIVE WHEN THE HOLY GHOST WAS GIVEN.

PETER THEN BEGAN A SMALL SERMON TO FURTHER EXPLAIN AND IT WAS AIMED CLEARLY AT THE JEWS AROUND HIM:

“The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son, Jesus, whom ye delivered up , and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.”

HE NOTED THAT JESUS WAS THE PERFECT SERVANT, WHICH HAD BEEN FORETOLD IN ISAIAH 42, 52, AND 53.

FOR THE JEWS TO ADMIT THAT JESUS FULFILLED ISAIAH 53 WAS NOT POSSIBLE FOR THE JEWS THEN, FOR TO DO SO WOULD TESTIFY TO WHAT THEY HAD DENIED BEFORE JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED.

IT IS STILL NOT POSSIBLE TODAY. EVEN TODAY, IN JEWISH WORSHIP, ISAIAH 53 IS SKIPPED AND NEVER MENTIONED AND WHEN ISAIAH IS PREACHED, THE SERMON GOES FROM CHAPTER 52 TO 54.

THE STATEMENT PETER USED IN VERSE 14 OF DESCRIBING JESUS AS THE “HOLY ONE” WAS BOTH POWERFUL AND DIRECT.

IN THE OT THIS PHRASE IS FOUND 40 TIMES AND EACH ONE REFERS TO YAHWEH AS HIS DESCRIPTION, SO PETER IS USING IT HERE TO INSURE THE JEWS HEARD HIM DESCRIBE JESUS AS GOD HIMSELF.

IN VERSE 17 PETER CALLS THESE JEWS BRETHREN, INDICATING HE DID NOT HATE THEM. HERE PETER LIKELY RECALLED HIS OWN DENIAL OF JESUS, WHICH WAS INDEED TEMPORARY.

THESE JEWS CONSISTENT DENIAL WAS NOT TEMPORARY AND EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD SINNED IN WILLING IGNORANCE, THEY WERE STILL GUILTY.

DESPITE THEIR EFFORTS THEIR ACTIONS HAD NOT STOOD IN THE WAY OF THE PLAN OF GOD TO BE IMPLEMENTED.

IN GENESIS 50 JOSEPH TOLD HIS BROTHERS THAT THEIR EVIL DEED WAS TRANSFORMED FOR GOOD BY GOD.

THE SAME CONCEPT THAT WAS FOUND IN GENESIS IS FOUND HERE IN ACTS 3.

THE EVIL DEEDS OF THE JEWS AGAINST JESUS WAS TRANSFORMED INTO GREAT HOLINESS AND POWER THROUGH THE APOSTLES BY GOD’S GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

THESE JEWS HAD SCREAMED OUT TO PILATE TO RELEASE BARABAS, A MURDERER, RATHER THAN JESUS AND THAT MOMENT WHEN PILATE WAS TRYING TO RELEASE JESUS WAS TURNED INTO A MOMENT TO TAKE JESUS TO THE CROSS.

PETER REMINDS THE JEWS THAT MOSES HAD FORETOLD THE ONE WHO WOULD COME AND HE DID.

(DEUT 18:15-19).

PETER REMINDED THEM ALSO THAT MOSES SAID EVERY SOUL WHICH WILL NOT HEAR THAT PROPHET SHALL BE DESTROYED.

PETER REMINDS THEM IN VERSE 26 THAT GOD HAD HONORED THEM BY RAISING HIS SON JESUS WHICH HAD BEEN SENT TO THEM FIRST, BEFORE ANY OTHER PEOPLE.

AFTER THE EVENTS ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST, WHERE THE HOLY SPIRIT EMPOWERED THE CHURCH MEMBERS AT JERUSALEM TO DISPLAY THE GIFTS THE SPIRIT HAD BROUGHT, THE DISCIPLES BEGAN TO MINISTER IN THE CITY.

THE HEALING AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE BECOMES A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THE GIFTS GIVEN AND THEIR USE TO WORK THE WILL OF GOD AMONG THE PEOPLE.

PETER’S PROMISE TO THE LAME MAN LIKELY WAS ORIGINALLY HEARD AS A REJECTION, FOR HE WAS LOOKING FOR SILVER OR GOLD, OF WHICH PETER & JOHN HAD NONE.

THE GIFT THEY DELIVERED WAS FAR BEYOND HIS NEED FOR DAILY FOOD OR DRINK NORMALLY GRANTED HIM BY BEGGING.

BY THE POWER OF THE LORD, PETER HEALED HIS LIFE LONG HANDICAP.

FROM THAT EVENT, OBSERVED BY THE JEWS WITHIN THE HOLY TEMPLE, THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL WAS GIVEN GREATER LEGITIMACY AND AWARENESS BECAUSE OF THIS MIRACLE.

WHAT ARE THE LESSONS WE ARE GIVEN IN CHAPTER THREE THAT MAY BE APPLIED IN OUR OWN TIMES?

FIRST, FAITH IS NOT A HUMAN INITIATED CAPACITY. WE CANNOT PRODUCE FAITH ON OUR OWN.

FAITH IS A RESPONSE TO CHRIST’S LOVE REVEALED ON THE CROSS AND IN HIS RESURRECTION.

FAITH COMES BY HEARING THE TRUTH.

WHEN OUR MINDS ARE ASSURED OF HIS FORGIVENESS AND ACCEPTANCE, HE GIVES US THE GIFT TO RESPOND.

COMMITMENT AND SURRENDER ARE OUR EVIDENCE OF A CHANGED HEART.

SECOND, THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO GIVES US THE GIFT OF FAITH TO BELIEVE ALSO GIVES US THE GIFT OF KNOWING HOW TO APPLY OUR FAITH. PAUL SAID IT IS REVEALED “FROM FAITH TO FAITH” IN ROMANS 17, FROM ONE LEVEL TO A GREATER LEVEL.

THIRD, THE SPIRIT OF THE RESURRECTED LORD IS THE HEALING POWER OF THE WORLD. THERE IS NO HEALING THAT TAKES PLACE APART FROM HIM, EVEN THOUGH SO MANY OF US NEVER ACKNOWLEDE HIM OR THANK HIM.

THAT SPIRITUAL HEALING POWER TO HEAL THOSE WHO WILL BELIEVE IN HIM IS REWARDED WITH ETERNAL LIFE AT THE MOMENT OF FAITHFUL REPENTANCE & ACCEPTANCE, (JOHN 3).

FOURTH, ALL PRAYERS CARRY THE DEPTH OF THE ANSWER OF EACH SEEKER IF AND ONLY IF THEY ARE SENT IN HIS HOLY NAME.

THIS IS THE DEFINITION OF THE POWER OF PRAYER.

AS WE CONCLUDE THE STUDY STOP IN ACTS 3 WE SHOULD TAKE A MOMENT TO BE SURE WE DO FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED AND WHAT IT MEANS TO US AS FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST.

WE SEE IN VERSE 4 THAT PETER INSTRUCTS THE LAME MAN TO “LOOK ON US”. WHY DID PETER DO THAT?

BECAUSE OTHERS WERE ENTERING THE TEMPLE AT THAT GATE OF ENTRY AND THE LAME MAN WOULD BE CALLING OUT TO THEM BEGGING FOR ALMS AS HE DID EACH DAY.

PETER MADE SURE HIS ATTENTION WAS ONLY UPON HIMSELF AND JOHN.

THE LORD PROVIDES US WITH THREE LESSONS FOR THIS HEALING.

FIRST, HE LOVED THE LAME MAN AND RELEASED HIS HEALING POWER OUT OF HIS HEART OF COMPASSION AND CONCERN.

SECOND, HE WANTED TO ALERT THE PEOPLE, MOST DEFINITELY THE LEADERS OF ISRAEL, THAT THE MOVEMENT THAT HE HAD BEGUN AS JESUS OF NAZARETH WAS CONTINUING THROUGH HIS DISCIPLES IN WHOM HE WAS NOW LIVING AFTER THE LEADERS HAD HIM KILLED.

WHEN JESUS MINISTERED BEFORE HIS DEATH, HE HEALED PEOPLE OUT OF HIS GREAT LOVE FOR THEM BUT ALSO AS A SIGN OF HIS AUTHORITY AND POWER AS THE MESSIAH.

THIRD, THE HEALING OF THE LAME MAN WAS UNDENIABLE FURTHER SIGN THAT HE WAS NO LONGER DEAD BUT WAS ALIVE AND STILL WORKING AMONG THE PEOPLE THROUGH HIS CHOSEN DISCIPLES.

ONCE AGAIN HE WAS SEIZING JERUSALEM’S ATTENTION AND IN DOING SO HE SHOWED THE FORCE OF ALL HIS POWER WAS STILL WORKING.

THE PURPOSE OF PENTECOST WAS NOW SHOWN TO BE EVIDENT IN FAR MORE THAN SPIRITUAL RESULTS. NOW THE PURPOSE WAS SHOWN TO INCLUDE ALL OF LIFE, MEANING BOTH THE SPIRIT AND THE BODY.

WE MUST NOT LEAVE THIS CHAPTER WITHOUT BRINGING OUR FOCUS ON HOW THE LORD REVEALS HIS WILL. THE MEANS THAT GOD USES TO IMPLEMENT HIS WILL IS KNOWN AS HIS PROVIDENCE.

AT TIMES HIS PROVIDENCE MAY SEEM DARK TO US.

WE SEE IN ACTS 3 THAT ONE WHO WAS BORN LAME AND IS NOW 40 YEARS OLD AND HAD TO BE CARRIED DAILY TO SIT AND BEG WAS HEALED. IT IS NO COINCIDENCE THAT HE WAS IN THAT SPOT AT THE MOMENT PETER & JOHN WALKED BY.

VERSE 16 REVEALS HIS HEALING WAS A LESSON IN FAITH GIVEN TO THE JEWS IN THE HOLY TEMPLE.

WE SEE THE SAME FOCUS IN JOHN 9 WHEN A MAN BORN BLIND WHO WAS NOW AN ADULT LIVED IN PHYSICAL DARKNESS ALL HIS LIFE AND ALSO WAS REDUCED TO BEGGING AND WAS FOUND IN THE PATH OF JESUS.

THE DISCIPLES ASKED WHO SINNED THAT HE WAS BORN BLIND, HIM OR HIS PARENTS. IF HIS SIN CAUSED HIS BLINDNESS HE WOULD HAVE HAD TO SIN IN THE WOMB.

JESUS SAID NEITHER SINNED BUT THAT HE WAS BLIND AND PRESENT SO THAT THE WORKS OF GOD SHOULD BE MANIFEST IN HIM.

(JN 9:3)

WE SEE THE SAME FOCUS IN JOHN 11 WHEN JESUS WAS TOLD HIS FRIEND LAZARUS WAS SICK AND JESUS WAS ASKED TO GO TO HIM.

JESUS REFUSED AND SAID THAT FOR THE GLORY OF GOD LAZARUS WAS SICK THAT THE SON OF GOD BE GLORIFED IN HIS ILLNESS.

JESUS TELLS HIS DISCIPLES THAT HE WAS GLAD FOR THEIR SAKE HE WAS NOT THERE SO THAT THEY MAY BELIEVE.

LAZARUS WAS SICK SO THAT THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES, HIS SISTERS, AND THE PHARISEES PRESENT MIGHT SEE THE POWER OF GOD EXPRESSED IN JESUS HIMSELF.

(JN 11:36-37)

THESE ARE WORKS OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE AND EVIDENCE THAT HE USES DARK MATTERS TO REVEAL HIS WILL TO US.

GOD REVEALED SUCH FOCUS TO HIS PROPHET JONAH AS JONAH WAS POUTING ON THE HILLSIDE ABOVE NINEVEH, WHEN HE MADE A GOURD VINE TO GROW OVERNIGHT TO SHIELD JONAH AND THEN MADE A WORM TO KILL IT TO MAKE HIS POINT TO HIS POUTING PROPHET.

(JONAH 4:5-11)

NEXT LESSON WE WILL STUDY THE POWER OF BOLDNESS GIVEN BY GOD IN CHAPTER 4 AS THE GOSPEL BEGINS TO SPREAD THROUGH PERSECUTION, MORE DARK PROVIDENCE.