The Healing Promise (Acts 3:1-21, Jeff Kliewer)

The Healing of the Lame Man at the Beautiful Gate

Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for another opportunity to come into this house, this house of worship, where we are the house built together as living stones upon the great cornerstone, Jesus Christ.

We thank you that we can gather and have the Word of God. You have not left us as orphans, you have given us your Spirit and you have given us your Word that we could know you more and more. And we pray, God, that you would speak to us this morning through your Word, in Jesus'.

Name, amen.

Many of you know the story of Eric Little. He in 1924 ran in the Olympics and was scheduled and had trained to run the 100 meter. However, because it was being run on a Sunday and he had convictions that Christians should take Sunday as a day of rest, as a day of Sabbath, he decided not to compete in that event and he forfeited his opportunity to win a gold.

But in the strength that God provided, he ran in the 400 meters the next day, which was not his primary event and he was not expected to win. And yet he ran, he ran his heart out, he had a quote afterwards that talked about the secret of his success.

He said, the secret of my success over the 400 meters is that I run the first 200 meters as fast as I can. Then, for the second 200 meters, with God's help, I run faster. Most runners in the 400 pace themselves just a little bit off of a sprint, but Eric just sprinted all out and trusted God to give him the strength to make it and he won the gold.

Medal that year.

Well, after returning from that event, he spent a little time and then devoted the rest of his life to becoming a missionary. The song that we sang today, which you can look up later and follow along with the Getty's, the song, He Shall Reign, is actually the song that Eric Little sang in Edinburgh as he was parting from his home country of Scotland to go to China as a missionary.

He stood on those docks singing, He Shall Reign, and that was what drove him to the ends of the earth as a missionary. He made it to China, he ministered there, and then in the late 1930s, trouble began to brew and in 1940, the Japanese invaded China.

Hearing the rumblings of this, he sent his family to Canada. His wife at the time was pregnant and his wife had two other children by him and the family left and he decided to stay in China at that missionary compound to protect the children who were there and to minister, to protect and to serve.

But in 1940, the Japanese overtook their camp and sent them off to a concentration camp in a northern part of China. There in that concentration camp for five years, he continued to minister the gospel while held in prison.

He organized sports for the kids who were there in the camp and he taught lessons. He taught English, he taught scripture, and he led many to Christ. One month before the camp was liberated, Eric Little died of a brain tumor that was growing on the left side of his brain that he didn't even know was there.

One month before being liberated. He never met that third daughter, her name was Maureen. So it raises the question for us Christians, why didn't God just heal? I'm sure as the pain began to set in and the sickness from the tumor, why didn't God just reach down his hand and heal this great missionary pioneer, this great man of God?

Why did he take him? I don't know the answer to that question. I don't know. I don't know why a shooter was allowed to go into a high school in Parkland, Florida. When by God's power, he could have caused that man to have a heart attack on the way to the scene.

God had the power to stop it, but for some reason, he allowed the evil to take place. I don't know the answer to that, and why did Billy Graham die this week? Could not God have raised him up for one final run?

In fact, in God's power, couldn't he have preached till he was 150 years old? And yet, the way of all the earth, all of us die. And so we come to a passage today in Acts chapter 3, where a man is healed and he is just over 40 years old, the same age that Eric Little was when he passed away.

Having suffered from a condition for 40 years, he will be healed. But I don't want us to miss the larger point that Luke is making in the telling of this story, and how Luke tells it. The scripture flows together.

I want us to connect the physical healing and the wonder that takes place in the first 10 verses of Acts chapter 3 with the next 16 verses, which tie in with the wonder. The wonder gives a platform for the word.

And there's a greater healing to take place than what happened with the crippled man.

So let's read it.

Look for this connection as we go. We'll just let the scripture speak here for 26 verses. It's a longer passage than what I normally preach on. I usually preach a pericope, and people say, well, what on earth is a pericope?

Well, it's just a section, a little body of scripture that fits together as one whole. But in this case, the passage is a little bit longer because I want us to connect the two pieces.

So follow along.

Peter and John Heal the Lame Man

Acts chapter 3. Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 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, but what I do have I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Rise up and walk.

And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 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 recognized 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.

While 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?

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him.

But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to.

You.

You killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. And the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence.

Of you all.

And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers, but what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that 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.

Moses said, The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul that does not listen to the prophet shall be destroyed.

From the people.

And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets, and the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

God having raised up his servant, sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness. Question number one, is there healing in the atonement? In the death of Jesus, are we promised healing for all of our infirmities?

Sicknesses, injuries? Question number two, is it always God's will to heal? These things will come up as we go. I want you to notice a couple things first. In the passage, when this man is healed, a large crowd gathers and Peter stands to address them.

Listen to what Peter does not say. He does not say, Go find every cripple in Israel. He does not say, Go find all the sick. He does not say, Gather to me the masses of the sick and injured and the dying, for now is a time of healing.

No. He calls for a greater healing, a final healing, repentance from sin. He preaches the gospel. This one particular healing is unique in the sense it's a wonder that God creates in order to draw people's attention, not to the thing itself, but to the God of Israel, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, Jesus, who died and rose from the grave.

The point of the wonder is to direct the people to the word. Notice the second thing. This audience listening to Peter is not neutral. This is not a group of generally good people. You know, there's a philosopher that taught tabula rosa.

We're born into this world as a blank slate. We're neither good or bad, and our environment kind of shapes us into who we become. This is not the case. And this group of people is indicted for being sinful.

Remember, this is the group of people, when Jesus was brought before them, that yelled,.

Crucify!

Crucify! This is a people that crucified and killed the author of life. That indictment will come in verses 13 and following. An indictment against the people. So what this passage is really about is not, first and foremost, God's healing of one crippled man.

Rather, that healing points to a greater healing, a spiritual healing that applies to all of us who would hear the word of God. That healing points to the repentance of Israel, and later to all who would hear this gospel.

This is the people that crucified the Lord of Glory. And the point of this chapter is offering repentance to Israel, to the very ones who killed the Lord of Glory. Now let's think a minute about this cripple as we go through.

Now, chapter 3, verse 1 through 3, we notice a habit that Peter and John had, as well as the other apostles, and all faithful Jews. That is, at 3 o 'clock in the afternoon, they would carve out time, the ninth hour, as we see in chapter 3, verse 1, to go and pray.

This was their faithful habit. And we see another habit in this passage. The man who was crippled would be laid at the beautiful gate and ask for alms. Now there's some debate about the spiritual condition of this crippled man.

Most people have assumed that the gate in which he was laid was the Nicanor Gate within the inner part of the temple. But a biblical archaeologist named Lean Rittmeyer has excavated the southern part of the temple.

And at the southern part of the temple, there is a beautiful gate. Much of the dome inside of that gate remains to this day. It's 210 feet wide. It's called the Double Gate. It's on the southern part of the temple.

And Rittmeyer believes, as do many, that this was actually the beautiful gate. It's outside of where Jesus might have gone. Jesus could have gone through there and passed by this cripple. But it's also possible that he entered from the east.

Even as in the book of Ezekiel, the glory of God departed and exited through the east of the temple. So when Jesus comes from that eastern mountain, Bethany, down from Jericho, he enters from.

The east.

Why do I bring this up? I think that this man was a faithful Jew lost in the shuffle, suffering long for 40 years, but believing in the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He may never have seen Jesus.

He may have missed the hustle and bustle of the city, forgotten there, left on the side of that southern gate. Here's why I think that. If you look at chapter 3, verse 8, as soon as he receives a healing, he doesn't turn his attention in his glory to Peter and John.

It says in verse 8, he leaps up and stands and begins to walk, entering the temple with them. He's walking and leaping and praising God. I think he had been praying for this miracle. I think he had been waiting on God to deliver him from this suffering for many years, 40 years we're told in chapter 4, 40 plus years.

And here comes that healing that he had been hoping for and waiting for. Are you suffering? I know in a room this size, there's many who are suffering physically, some physical condition, and you've been praying and asking God to heal you, but that healing has not come as quickly as you've hoped for.

All of us have loved ones that have suffered physically. We have a member of our congregation right now that's nearing the end. I'm going to go pray with her this afternoon. We have suffering in this life.

And here's the good news, that though it may take 40 years, the healing of the faithful who continually call out to him in prayer is certain and it will come. We'll learn about the final restoration. Maybe you've been hurting and you've been praying.

Don't give up looking to God. Don't allow suffering to turn you away from what matters most, and that is to continue to have faith, to continue to repent of your sins and believe in Christ. I think this is a faithful Jew who now will hear the gospel and become a completed Jew.

Chapter 3, verse 4, notice here that this miraculous healing that takes place, I need to underscore this, it is easy for God. It is easy for God. Peter directs his gaze. He fixes his attention. He says he doesn't have silver or gold, but what I have, stand up and walk.

And we're told in verse 7, he just takes him by the right hand and raises him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. For God to heal a physical illness, to raise the dead is easy for him.

If you were to watch a majority of Christian television today, particularly TBN, you would get the impression that healing is hard for God. In fact, you have to create just the right environment in a crusade and conjure up the power of God by waiting in a certain kind of praise, and then that holy anointed man can wave his coat and knock the crowd down.

You would think that healing was something that's magical, but no. Our text teaches nothing of the sort. This is an ordinary kind of circumstance, a man sitting and begging. And Peter simply gives a command.

I think the clue as to how he did that will come in a minute as we study in verse 16. But for the moment, notice the healing is easy for God. So I've done a little investigation and a little research.

I read a book by Richard Mayhew, which became the title of my sermon. His book is called The Healing Promise. He is a Christian, strong believer, but investigated the ministries of the faith healers, beginning with Oral Roberts and then looking into Catherine Coleman and more recently, Benny Hinn.

And I try to be careful about naming names because I want to teach principles, but not names. But sometimes the deception becomes so large in scale that it requires to name names because so many people are being deceived by those people who are not being told the truth.

There was a magician whose name was Andre Collet. He worked with David Copperfield on a number of the greatest illusion tricks that this world has ever seen. David Copperfield walked through the Great Wall of China.

Remember that?

Back in the 90s, you guys? I remember seeing that when I was a kid. David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear. And David Copperfield levitated over the Grand Canyon.

Illusions.

It was Andre Collet that worked with David Copperfield to manufacture this illusion, to do the magic trick. And the world was left spellbound and amazed by what happened. Well, Andre Collet sat down with Oral Roberts and asked for medical documentation, was promised to receive that and never did.

Another doctor named Nolan, Dr. Nolan, sat down with Catherine Coleman and went and examined the claims of miracles. And Andre Collet sat down with Benny Hinn. And in each case, the faith healer promised to provide medical documentation of an organic.

Healing.

And none of them ever did. They were never able to provide that. Because the difference between faith healing and divine healing is this. Divine healing only God can do. Faith healing is something that any religion or spiritual person can accomplish.

Because it's psychosomatic in nature. Meaning there's not an organic healing like my arm is broken and suddenly it straightens out and the bone heals. Rather, through the placebo effect and through a number of psychosomatic methods, people are made to feel like they've been healed.

I just want to underscore the difference between what happened here and what you see on TV. So that you will not be deceived. Because what you see here in Acts chapter 3 is a man who was lame from birth.

And an organic healing takes place like that. It's immediate. And he's walking and he's leaping and he's praising God. Very different from what you see on TV.

But moving on, we'll leave that.

I could say a lot more. Verse 8 and following. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk. And that's a miracle, isn't it? God can raise a crippled man. But there's more to the story than God's power to heal.

And by the way, I'm not saying that God can't still heal. The most organic problems. I've never seen it myself. I'm one degree removed from it. My grandfather used to tell me the story of seeing blind eyes open.

Of a kid that was born blind. I'm not 100 convinced of that, nor am I skeptical of it. I wasn't there to see it. And many of you have that same feeling. How can I know that this is true? Well, we've all seen miracles as we've prayed.

And God continues to do these miracles. And I would encourage you to continue to believe God for miracles. No matter what the illness is that you're facing. God is able to do it. I have no doubt in God's ability to do it.

But what I want us to understand is that the text isn't pointing us there. Here's the answer to the question. Is it always God's will to heal? Not in this life. It's a simple answer to that question. If we would just turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12, where Paul has an ailment.

He calls it a thorn in his flesh. He says three times, I pleaded with the Lord for him to heal that. And God said, what? No. My strength is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness.

And so God chose not to heal in that particular instance. It's not always God's will to heal in this life. We're going to learn about the final restoration. The second question is, is there healing in the atonement?

I'd like to spend more time here than I have. So I'm just going to give you the references and tie them together briefly. You guys, if you have a pen, take notes. If you got your app, Isaiah chapter 53 verses 4 and 5.

We're told that by his stripes we are healed. That he carries our infirmities. And so when we get to Matthew chapter 8 and 9, we see the largest expression of healing in the New Testament. The greatest conglomeration of Jesus's healings.

And we're told in Matthew chapter 8 that he carries our infirmities. And that's why these healings are taking place. Mark also 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 24. Many people read these three texts together and say, because he carries our infirmities, because we are healed by his stripes, that the death of Jesus heals our bodies.

And we only need to claim that if we will have enough faith in that, then you will be healed. By implication, if you're carrying a sickness or a disease in your body that's not being healed, the problem is that you lack the faith.

That's the teaching of TBN. That's why I name names, because it harms people. It's a lie. If you read 1 Peter 2, 24, it teaches quite the opposite of that. It teaches the expectation of suffering. And that can include physical ailments.

Paul himself experienced those. 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 24 speaks of the spiritual healing that comes to those who trust in Christ. By his stripes, we are healed. Through repentance and faith, our sin is wiped away, and we are made new and clean.

Very important. What then does Matthew do in chapter 8? He gives us a foretaste of the coming healing that will be complete and final for all Christians. In the entire Old Testament, there are 20 healings that take place.

In the three years of Jesus' ministry, there are 42 healings that take place. Of those 42, not quite half, but nearly half, are of not just one person, but the multitudes. When Jesus healed anybody from any village surrounding, who even heard word that Jesus was in town, would come and bring all of their sick, all of their deaf, all of their blind, and the crippled, and all of them were healed.

He healed the multitudes, we're told. And then in the book of Acts, we have 16 more healings. There is a centralization of healing in the ministry of Jesus that is utterly unique. He is the healer, and all who came to him for healing were healed.

We can't take that and think that the greater works that we're able to do, according to John, means that we will do more miracles than Jesus, or more fantastic miracles than Jesus. That is not the point.

But what Matthew does in chapter 8 is apply the healing promise of the atonement to the miracles that Jesus is doing in that time as a foretaste of the coming age, the restoration of all things. So that is how we are to understand healing.

Yes, there's healing in the atonement, but not necessarily in this life. J. I. Packer said that that's the issue. What he is going to do, and when he's going to do it, is two separate questions. By his stripes, we are healed.

And whatever it is you're suffering with, or the people that you know are suffering with,.

There's coming an end to that.

And through repentance and faith, you know they will be healed, and they're going to dance in the presence of God, and every tear will be wiped from their eyes. All things will be made whole and new. So, the healing is a wonder.

But what does the wonder point to? Let's keep reading in verse 8. He's walking and leaping and praising God. It points to God. The wonder points us to the Word. And so now, look at verse 11. While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's.

A crowd is gathered by this wonder, this amazing sign, and that's the connection. Now, it gives opportunity for the preaching of the gospel. Verse 12, Peter saw it. He addressed the people. Notice two things in this particular part through verse 16.

He preaches the person and work of Christ. Same thing he preached back in Acts chapter 2, the first preaching of the gospel. He preaches who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. He exalts Jesus. I know many of you want to share the gospel.

You're looking for opportunities, and when that opportunity comes to you, what is it that you need to do? What is it you need to say? You need to preach Jesus. You need to exalt Jesus. Look how Peter does it here.

Verse 13, glorified his servant Jesus. Jesus is the servant of God, and he is glorious, according to Peter. Look at verse 14, you denied the holy and righteous one. Jesus, he's holy, and he is righteous, spotless.

Verse 15, you killed the author of life. This is the creator, the one who made the world. This is God in flesh who gave you life, physical life. He also gives spiritual life, and you killed him. Notice what Peter is doing.

He is exalting Jesus, the person, who he is. He also speaks to the work of Jesus. They ask for a murderer to be granted to you. You killed the author of life. Of course, this was part of God's plan. No one takes my life.

I give it willingly. The work of Christ is to lay down his life for his friends, to be that sheep that is sacrificed, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

But what did God do?

Killed at the hands of sinful men.

What does God do?

This is what we preach.

Verse 15, whom God raised from the dead. Killed at the hands of sinful men. God raised him from the dead. He is alive. He is resurrected. This is our gospel.

Jesus lives.

Now, notice what happens in verse 16. Some of your Bibles might have this a little bit twisted because the wording in the Greek is a little complicated. And so the NIV tries to smooth that out a little bit.

But the NASB, the RSV, and here the ESV, I think get it right. It says, and his name, hyphen, by faith in his name, has made this man strong. What is it that made this man strong?

The name.

What is the instrument through which God used the name to make this man strong? What is the instrument?

Faith.

So what's active here?

The name.

What is instrumental here?

Faith.

Faith itself heals no one. Some people just have faith in faith. If you just believe hard enough, if I could just get myself to believe that God is going to do this thing, you're not putting your faith in the name.

You're putting your faith in faith. And many religions claim healing. I heard about a woman named Leora in England. She has a faith-healing cat. People go to see this cat. She's convinced that this cat has gifts of healing.

And as they believe, you know, many of them go away feeling healed because that power of expectation, that placebo effect. They think that Leora's cat healed them. Don't put faith in faith. The issue is, what is the object of your faith?

And here, it's the name. The name that is above every name. The name of Jesus. It speaks to his identity. The person of Christ is able to heal. So this raises a question, then. How do we know when God wants to heal?

I mean, when you're reading this story, don't you wonder what's going through Peter's mind? That he would look at this man and say, silver and gold have I not, but what I have I give you in the name of Jesus.

Stand and walk. Don't you want to know what made Peter say that? I wish I knew so that I knew when to say that. I think the key, the answer to that question, is in verse 16. And his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know.

And the faith that is through Jesus, has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. Circle that word through. What is through Jesus? The faith is through Jesus. The faith in his name is through Jesus.

Well, how can faith be instrumental? How can faith be the instrument that God uses? Well, God is the one who holds the tool. God is the one that holds the hammer and wields it. Faith is what he uses. That faith comes from him.

I believe the answer to that question is in 1 Corinthians 12, verses 9 and 10. There are gifts of the Spirit. One of them is faith. After that, you'll read healing and miracles. This was a special gift of faith that Jesus worked in Peter in that occasion.

It was a gift of the Spirit that in that occasion, Peter knew. It didn't mean that he would go to every cripple in Jerusalem because there were many. In that instance, God gave a gift of faith that Peter was able to say, stand and walk.

So, there's a healing that happens. But what I'm trying to tell you, and this is where it's going to get personal, what I'm trying to tell you is that the miraculous healing of a crippled man is not the point of the story.

That's secondarily the point. That's the point that is used of God as an instrument to get people to hear this. Repent. Brothers, I know you acted in ignorance. So did your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of the prophets that his Christ would suffer,.

He thus fulfilled.

19, the first part of that verse is the key that we all need to hear. Repent, therefore, and turn back. Now, the Jewish listener here who had been sitting around his dinner table after Jesus was crucified, and he was laughing with his friends about, you know, I almost believed he was the Messiah.

I almost believed it. I was taken in with him.

But now I know better.

Cursed is everyone hung on a tree. I'm glad he was exposed for who he was. That Jewish person who rejected the Messiah is being called here to repent of that and to believe that he is the Son of God. He is the Messiah.

But it also speaks to everyone who will read these words. That includes all of us. The call is to repent. Because that crippled man had a problem. His legs didn't work. They never did. But the Bible tells us that we are crippled by our sin.