WWUTT 1037 Peter and John Heal a Lame Man?

Peter and John healed a lame man, and he leapt with joy. And not just because he was excited, but being filled with the

Holy Spirit, he was even demonstrating the fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy, when we understand the text.

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Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the book of Acts chapter 3, and we're going to pick up the pace a little bit, covering a whole 10 verses today.

Hey, Acts 3 verses 1 through 10. 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 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 remember what we read yesterday. We read about the early church in Acts 2 verses 42 through 47.

And it mentioned there in verse 43, and awe came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

So what we read yesterday was kind of a summary of some of the things that were going on in those first few years of the early church, especially there in Jerusalem.

Of course, it described things that were happening in the weeks immediately following Pentecost. But it's kind of an overall like moving from the story of Peter's sermon at Pentecost to this next miracle, the first miracle that Peter and John perform with the lame man there at the beautiful gate.

So the statement there in verses 42 through 47 is kind of an overall picture of the early church.

But then we start to get into some more specifics where it made the statement that wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

Here's where we come to viewing one of those wonders or signs that that first miracle that was performed by Peter and John making a lame man.

Well, now here at the start of chapter three, it mentions Peter and John. And if you'll go back to when we did our study in the book of John there toward the end of the gospel, we kind of saw where I talked about how there was a little bit of a kind of a brotherly rivalry there between Peter and John, all in good spirits.

You know, it wasn't like they were they were at each other's throats or anything like that. But for example, when the women had reported to the disciples that the tomb was empty,

Peter and John are the first to run out to the tomb. John gets ahead of Peter because he's a little more spry.

But Peter was the first one in the tomb. Then when they were in the boat on the Sea of Galilee, this was a week later,

Jesus was calling to them from the shore. John is the first one that recognizes him and says, hey, it's the

Lord. But Peter's the first one in the water. It's like, hey, I'm going to be the first one to the guy. You're not going to be showing me up this time.

And he gets to Jesus first. And then when when Jesus reinstates Peter and commissions him to go and feed his sheep,

Peter turns around and points at John and says, well, what about this guy? And Jesus said, it's not up to you to know what

I'm going to do with this guy. You follow me. So we see a little bit of a kind of a friendly competition that existed there between Peter and John.

But when we see that they're walking together near the beautiful gate in Jerusalem, then we really do see the camaraderie that they had.

Peter was one of the oldest disciples. John was most definitely the youngest. Peter is the one that Jesus was expecting was going to lead the rest of the disciples.

John is the one that is referred to as the beloved. The one that Jesus had the most affection for.

And yet, though there may have been a little bit of kind of a kind of a brotherly competition between them, we do see these men love each other and minister with one another.

They really were quite close. So Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, which is the ninth hour class.

When was the ninth hour? That would have been about three o 'clock in the afternoon. So six is considered to be the first hour, six in the morning.

And then you have noon, which was the sixth hour. And the ninth hour was three o 'clock.

If you go to Matthew 27, you read that it was at three o 'clock in the afternoon that Jesus breathed his last and gave his spirit into the hands of the father.

It's not necessarily that the mention of the ninth hour here has to do with that event.

There's no like, you know, direct correlation between those things. It's just simply to know that this was three o 'clock in the afternoon that was considered to be the hour of prayer.

And it wasn't a divinely appointed hour. It wasn't like God said, you have to pray at three o 'clock every day.

But it was customary for Jews to pray three times a day in the third hour, the sixth hour and the ninth hour.

So that means at nine a .m. at noon and at three p .m. Now, the reason why they did this is not really clear.

It could be because that Daniel did it. So in Daniel 610, it says this was after the decree was made that anybody who's giving any kind of prayer to anyone other than the king is going to be cast into the den of lions.

And when Daniel heard about the decree, he went home where his windows were open toward Jerusalem and three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed just as he had always done.

So because Daniel did it, it could be that there may have been some sort of legalism behind this, like the scribes and Pharisees and the teachers of the law.

They took that in Daniel 610 and said, ha, see, because Daniel did it. You have to do it.

You have to pray three times every day. I'm sure there were some Jews that did this in a very heartfelt manner, but it may have been imposed as sort of like a legalistic practice.

So Peter and John go into the temple during the hour of prayer and they perform this miracle on this guy.

And his response to the miracle is he jumped up and leapt. This is while a time of solemn prayer was going on.

And this man is rejoicing. Not too unlike how Jesus would perform miracles on the

Sabbath and make the Pharisees really angry and upset. Here we're trying to have some quiet meditation.

Peter and John do this miracle. This guy jumps up and kind of disrupts our whole system going on here. Hey, shh, we're trying to be quiet and pray.

What are you guys doing? But this is a cause for great rejoicing. And clearly the work of the

Lord is upon this man. So we come back again, verse two. 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.

Now the beautiful gate, this is actually the only mention of the beautiful gate in antiquity.

So we don't have a mention of that gate anywhere else. But he's asking for alms. So of course, you probably understand he's asking for charity.

It's not like, you know, holding the tin cup out there and you throw coins in the tin cup. It wasn't quite like that.

But he's just sitting there begging and asking that someone would give him donation, charity, because of the fact that he was lame.

Just money that he might be able to provide for himself, get some food because he obviously couldn't work for himself.

So he's asking for alms of those entering the temple. He couldn't go into the temple and ask.

But he sat at the beautiful gate and asked that he might receive some donations.

And Peter directed his gaze at him. Oh, I'm sorry. Verse three, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them to receive alms that they might give him something.

And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, look at us.

So you think it at the beautiful gate, people are going in, they're going in for prayer. And this man is reaching his hand out.

He's asking for alms. He makes eye contact with Peter and John. It's pretty wide space as people are going in through the beautiful gate.

It's fairly crowded. And just through the passing people, these two make eye contact with one another.

The man kind of calls through and says, hey, you gentlemen, could you please give me some alms, alms, alms for the poor?

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.

So let me let me come back here to verse five, because I really think that Luke's mentioning of this, how specific he is in the detail here is really quite extraordinary.

So in verse five, he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.

So consider this. The man is just watching people walk past. No one's paying him any mind.

That guy is always there. He's always asking for alms. If we don't make eye contact with him, we won't feel obligated to have to give him anything.

You ever gone through this before? It might be the sort of a thing where you're driving up to Walmart. You know what

I mean? And there's somebody there right at the entrance of Walmart. It's got the cardboard sign. They're asking for gas. And you think to yourself, if I just don't make eye contact with them, then

I don't I won't feel convicted in my heart to have to help that person. You ever gone through that before?

I certainly have. I've done that. I've felt the same thing. If I don't make eye contact with the guy begging, then

I don't feel guilty about the fact that I'm not going to help him. And that's the way the people were is they're kind of walking through the gate.

They're not making eye contact with this guy. But Peter and John do. Why? Because Peter and John looked at this man and they loved him and they didn't just make eye contact with him and give him a smile and wish him good on his merry way.

They they actually went to him to give him something even greater than if Peter and John had set gold and silver in his hands.

And the way they looked at him, the the the lame man expected something from them.

Like the rest of the people are just ignoring me. Peter and John look at him with love.

They care for this man. And it's like with the expressions on their face, with the very fact that they were making eye contact with this guy and kind of turning their bodies his direction, the lame man sees them.

They're looking at each other and he's like, they're going to come to me. They're going to come and give me something.

Luke is sure to detail here that this man expected to receive something from them.

But Peter said, verse six, 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.

What did Peter have that was even greater than silver and gold?

He had the Holy Spirit of God that had been poured out upon him by Jesus Christ, his savior, according to the will of the father.

He had the spirit of Christ upon him and and the spirit of Christ in such a way that that Peter had the authority over this lame man's disease, all according to the word of Christ, not not by Peter's word, not because Peter had enough faith.

And so therefore he was able to heal this man. You know, words become reality.

Mind over matter, name it and claim it. That's not what this was. This was the power of God working through Peter to heal this lame man.

And the lame man had no faith, doesn't we don't have any indication given Luke's very specific detail.

We don't have any indication here that this lame man even knew who Jesus of Nazareth was.

We don't know that. Or maybe he had heard stories about Jesus of Nazareth, Nazareth, certainly.

But he's not looking at Peter and John thinking, ah, those guys are disciples of Jesus. Peter doesn't even say to him, if you have faith in Jesus, you will be miraculously healed.

There's nothing like that here. It's not based on Peter's ability to make words become reality.

It's not based on this man's faith to receive the gift that Peter was offering. It was completely the grace and the mercy of God upon this guy.

And that is the way that we have received the very gospel itself, not because we willed ourselves to believe it and then willed ourselves into salvation, but because God was merciful to us.

We were dead in our sins and our trespasses. And there's nothing that a dead man can do to save himself.

God brought us from death to life by his mercy and grace through the preaching of the gospel, breathed life into us where we were dead, though we were living physical bodies.

We had spiritually dead souls and the Holy Spirit of God regenerated our hearts and raised the dead to life.

And in this particular case, you've got a man who is lame. He cannot do anything for himself.

He is he is completely broken down there at the beautiful gate, having to depend on others.

And it is by the grace of God working through Peter that he's given a brand new pair of legs.

And how does this man respond to this wonderful gift that he has been given? He leaps with joy.

Right. That's the way we should be when we receive salvation. We are ecstatic and overjoyed that the

Lord, our God, considered our feebleness, how weak we were, that we were dead, could do nothing for ourselves.

We were under the wrath of God. And yet the Lord, in his mercy, sent his son

Jesus to die for us and raised us from dead to alive. That is a cause worth celebrating.

And we really do it every time we gather together, even as a church body on Sunday mornings. We are singing praises to our

God who has rescued us from the pit. And so Peter gives strength to his legs, heals his lameness in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

And he took him by the right hand. We have references in the Old Testament about the right hand of fellowship.

You uphold me with your right hand. So Luke is even very specific about the fact that Peter 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, leaping up. He stood and began to walk.

Now, there's an interesting thing about that particular word where it says leaping up. This is actually a very rare Greek word in its appearance.

In the Greek Septuagint, there is a place where that Greek word shows up in the

Old Testament, and it's in Isaiah 35. Isaiah 35 is kind of a short chapter.

It's just 10 verses, which is what we're looking at today. 10 verses in Acts. So I'm going to go ahead and read all of Isaiah 35.

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad. The desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus.

It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it. The majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees.

Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not.

Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.

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. You hear it right there.

And the tongue of the mute sing for joy, for waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

The burning sand shall become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water in the haunt of jackals where they lie down.

The grass shall become reeds and rushes and a highway shall be there and it shall be called the way of holiness.

The unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way.

Even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come upon it.

They shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there and the ransomed of the

Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.

They shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

This is Isaiah describing a messianic time, and that is the time in which we live in now in the

Messiah, in our Lord Jesus Christ. The deserts have become flowing streams of water where there was no life.

Now there's life. The eyes of the blind are opened. You know, the song amazing grace.

I once was blind, but now I see the ears of the deaf. Unstopped.

Previously we were deaf to the very word of God, but thanks to the washing of the

Holy Spirit, we have our ears open to hear God's word and a desire to obey it. Then the, then shall the lame man leap like a deer.

This is Luke showing here in Acts chapter three, that we are in that messianic age, the age of the church, the

Holy Spirit being poured out on all those who are followers of Jesus Christ and by the miraculous working of the spirit through Peter and John to this man, we see the fulfillment of Isaiah 35 in the physical.

And of course, that's also what's going on spiritually within the church. We read about that at the end of acts two, but, but we see this happening, the miraculous that is being performed, confirming the word of God that Peter and John are about to preach when we go on here, even from even beyond this miracle.

So leaping up, he stood and began to walk and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising

God. Again, this is a time of like, everybody's trying to be quiet. We're praying, Hey, it's the hour of prayer here.

But this guy is praising God, not going through some legalistic pattern of prayer, but praising the

Lord for the gift of being able to walk again, the lame shall walk.

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.

Now, whenever we see these miracles come up in acts, there's always a reason for it. It's not just a miracle for the sake of doing a miracle.

It is to authenticate a word being spoken as coming from God. And so Peter and John are about to now preach to the people now that they have their attention with these miraculous works that are being performed.

And they are going to tell them of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're about to preach the gospel.

And that is what we're going to pick up tomorrow. We'll pick up on the teaching. Peter speaking there in Solomon's portico, which which will be the next portion of this lesson here in Acts chapter three.

Let me come back to something as I close this out with an exhortation. Let me come back to something that I had mentioned here in this devotional.

So if you see somebody that is in need, if you can do it, not obligating you to have to meet every single need, not everybody can do that.

You'll wear yourself thin. But if you have, if you see somebody who has a need and you can help meet that need, do it and share the gospel with them.

Show them love and kindness so that you have opened their heart to be receptive to an even greater thing that you can give to them than your silver or gold.

And that is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Use those acts of charity and kindness to open a door to share the gospel.

And that is the greatest gift that you could ever share with someone else. Amen. Let's close with prayer.

Our heavenly father, we thank you for the kindness that you have shown to us. You saw our need.

You gave us a savior. We live in the age now of the Messiah. And so fill our hearts with joy and gladness.

May we go through the day leaping with rejoicing because of the God who has saved, forgiven us of our sins and given us life everlasting in our savior.

We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.