Look On Us (07/25/2021)

We have a great savior and he calls us to do some stuff.

And the message I wanna bring today, I've titled, look on us. And what we're gonna do is we're gonna look at a story and we're going to determine where do we fit into the story.

We gotta be honest with ourselves. Where do we fit in the story? And where do we want to be in the story?

If we are where we wanna be in the story, we're good.

All right? Things are great and it's gonna be a happy message. If we're not, it's still gonna be happy because then we'll be able to identify that we're not where we wanna be and we may even get some clues as to how to get there.

Does that sound good? All right, so let me pull my notes up here.

The story that we're gonna read is found in Acts chapter 3 and the focus of the story is going to be something that Peter says to the lame man outside the gate of the temple.

All right? Now, before I get into it,

I'm gonna kind of in a way, give away the punchline because what I wanna do is

I want us to look at this as a picture or a type. And so let's read in Acts chapter 3 real quick.

And I don't know how long this is gonna take. It may go fast. It may go slow. We'll just take it at whatever speed we get it.

All right? We'll see where we end up. So I'm just gonna read through the story a little bit here and then

I'm gonna ask you guys some questions. We'll interact a little bit. Okay? So Acts chapter 3, starting in verse 1, now

Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.

And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple.

Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked an alms.

And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, look on us.

That's gonna be the focus there. But we're gonna read just a little bit further. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.

Then Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

And he took him up by the right hand and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

And he leaping up stood and walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising

God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple.

And they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. Okay, now we're not going to go through all those verses, verse by verse, we will focus, like I said, primarily on what did

Peter say to the lame men. But before we do that,

I have a couple of questions. The phrase, look on us, it implies that you're gonna use something.

What are you gonna use? The eyes, right? So it requires vision.

And as just a side note, something interesting that's not necessarily going to fit entirely into the message, but I'd like for you to just have it in your back pocket.

I looked up the word vision and it's actually a very interesting word because it's used in three different ways.

Vision can be the faculty or state of being able to see. That's like your eyes.

Can you see stuff, right? That's physical. But vision can also be used to describe the ability to think or plan the future.

That's mental. There's a third thing when it comes to the word vision, and that is your imagination.

And in imagination, we envision something that's not yet there.

There's an element of faith there. And the Lord uses vision to speak of faith many times.

So I think it's interesting, the concept of vision, because it encapsulates body, mind, and spirit.

It's really interesting. So just kind of keep that in your back pocket. Now, here's the questions for you guys, all right?

Who pictures what in the story? We just read Acts chapter three, and you guys go on ahead and give me your best guess.

Maybe you guys already know. I know that I came to this story thinking that there is a certain type, and I think that the type that I grew up believing is correct, but there's another type that this story depicts, and that's the one we'll focus on today.

So who does the lame man represent in the story? Us. Us, right?

That's how I always believe, right? Us. He's a lost sheep, no doubt, right?

But that's the thing, is he's a lost sheep. So for that reason, I'm going to say he doesn't necessarily represent us if we are saved.

But like I said, enter yourself into the story and determine which of these are you.

So if you don't yet know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, then yes, you're the lame man.

You're a lost sheep. The people who carried the lame man, who does that represent?

We've never thought of that, have we? Most of us gloss over that. So for now, put it in your notes, because I want you to think of them through this light.

They are well -meaning goats, okay?

These are the people who are of the world. And I think they may be well -meaning goats.

Who does Peter represent? He represents the

Lord, who all would agree with that? Right, okay. And I believe that's an excellent answer because he certainly is a representative of the

Lord, but he's not the

Lord, okay? And while the picture that we envision is

Jesus, he's not Jesus, okay? I want you to just look at Peter as a

Christian. That's it, all right? Just a Christian for the purpose of this lesson. Then you have the temple, okay?

Which is right there beside them. I want us to picture the church. Then we have the 5 ,000 people who are basically standing around watching what's happening.

We're going to consider them a world of lost sheep, all right, more lost sheep.

And then you have the religious leaders, which we might not, we probably won't even talk much about today because that's further down in the chapter, but the religious leaders are a world of goats, okay?

So just think of each of these people in the story like that as we go through this.

Does that sound good to you? All right, all right, so here we go. Acts chapter three, Peter and John go to the temple to pray.

In chapter two, Peter had just received the honor of making a holy introduction as God's spirit entered into the lives of men for the very first time.

And about 3 ,000 souls were saved that day at Pentecost at the end of his sermon.

Imagine what that must've been like for Peter to see, first, to see his

Lord ascend into heaven. He loved him, he missed him, but then to see his spirit enter into the lives of men and to see it change people right there in front of him.

Now he's on his way to the temple. He and John will be entering around the time of mid -afternoon.

It's the mid -afternoon prayer being the ninth hour, which as I understand, it means about three o 'clock in the afternoon.

And the two of them encounter this handicapped man. Now this man's lot in life is one of helplessness, the cripple.

He's broken, he needs others to carry him, with or soever he goes.

And he has been this way his entire life. The scripture says it was from birth that he was crippled.

He was lame. Interestingly enough, the people in his life have carried him daily to the beautiful gate of the temple.

And it's more than just a description, by the way, it's actually the name of the gate. And its very name is beautiful.

And they've laid them here and left him to ask for help from others.

Why did they leave him? Why didn't they just give of themselves to this man more than a transport?

I mean, it's good, it's nice of them to do that, but that's what they did. They picked him up every single day, they carried him to the temple, they sat him down.

The scripture doesn't tell us why that's all they did, but I think it's a picture. I think

God in his infinite wisdom and his sovereignty in playing out of human history and the writings thereof, he saw fit to display for us the problem with the world system.

And he used these people to do it. They are unable to help. That's the reality, they just can't do it.

Now they may try and the world does try. They earnestly look to themselves for the answers to all the problems.

And they don't even realize that their approach produces the very riddles that they seek to solve.

And it's for their trying that the place of their habitation has become so crippled.

They lean on their own understanding, or maybe we should say lack thereof, right?

And they did what they could, but it was never enough. It always left their neighbor, poor soul, crippled and begging.

What a picture. A man searches for the answer to an internal problem, he receives of the world a solution that has no substance nor power to change his lot.

That is the story here. He's looking for the answer, he's trying to get help, and the world is doing what they can, but it does no good.

Now let's pause for a second. Let's just take a look at our world right now, okay?

So let's pause and let's read an excerpt from a modern study that was done by LifeWay Ministries.

Now in this study, they ask a simple question, does right and wrong ever change?

What would you guys say? Got a unanimous, right and wrong doesn't change.

It's just no, no, no, across the board, huh? Okay, right and wrong doesn't change. Well, let's see what their findings say.

It says on their website, quote, most older Americans say right and wrong never changes.

You just dated yourselves. Younger Americans, not so much.

A new study from Nashville -based LifeWay Research found a significant generation gap in how

Americans view morality. More than six in 10 of those older than 45 say that right and wrong do not change.

For those 35 and younger, fewer than four in 10 make that claim.

A study by Barna Group as reported on Christianity, or sorry,

ChristianDaily .com has found that belief, this is quote, all right, quote, belief in absolute moral truth rooted in God's word is rapidly eroding among all

American adults. I ask you, if right and wrong can change, what makes them right and wrong?

It's like saying red can be green for the day. That shouldn't cause any confusion, right?

Who needs traffic lights? We'll just call red green and green red.

Let's take a look at the state of the church. Now, I believe that here are some reasons why we have a decline in morality in the world, okay?

We're gonna look at the church for a second. I think one, it's because there's a weakening theology in church.

There's a church in Nashville, Tennessee that has gained national media attention and experienced a seismic growth in their movement.

It's called Grace Point Church, and it's led by a pastor named Josh Scott. And it's quoted in an article on thechristianpost .com.

Here's the quote, as progressive Christians, we're open to the tensions and inconsistencies in the

Bible. We know that it can't live up to impossible modern standards.

We strive to more clearly articulate what scripture is and isn't.

Now they go on to say, if that wasn't bad enough, they go on to say what the Bible isn't.

Quote, it isn't the word of God. It isn't self -interpreting.

It's not a science book. It's not an answer or rule book. It isn't inerrant or infallible.

Rather, it is a product of community, a library of texts, multivocal, a human response to God, living and dynamic.

This is a church. The church website claims in the

Our Beliefs section that God is a mystery to be explored, not a doctrine to be espoused.

Really? So what's God say about this? God's a mystery.

Sounds cool, right? And we can say there are certainly mysterious things about God, things that we don't understand.

Well, let's see what he says in Jeremiah 9 .23, thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might.

Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the

Lord, which exercises loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things,

I delight, saith the Lord. Translation, true glory comes from knowing a knowable

God, understanding who he is and exercising the doctrines he teaches. God is not a mystery.

Daniel says he's the God who reveals mysteries. And we've heard Pastor David say that calling something a mystery is an excuse to stop studying it.

We have a knowable God. Yes, there are mysterious things about him, but he's personal, he's relational.

You can know him, and he knows you better than you know yourself. It's a trap from Satan, and it's to make us stop learning about God.

Grace Point's website also states, the good news, quote, the good news is that you are inherently united with God.

We are inherently united with God. But Jesus in John chapter 17, which

Brother Ron's been reading, he's praying to his father, not for the world, but for the ones who he came to save.

Save from what? Verse 20, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one, as thou, father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou has sent me.

The good news is that Jesus came to reunite us. We're not inherently united with God.

Jesus Christ came to reunite us with God. But wait, if we're inherently united, then there's really no need for Jesus, is there?

That's the trap. That's what these churches are, or this church in particular, must believe.

Right? Well, they explain this, by the way, in the section that says progressive

Christianity. They have a section on their website that says progressive Christianity. Quote, we affirm that the teachings of Jesus provide, but one of many ways to experience the sacredness and oneness of life.

One of many ways. And that we can draw from a diverse source of wisdom in our spiritual journey.

So Jesus is one of many ways. But Jesus himself said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh unto the father, but by me. Romans 1 warns of the progression of sin, including turning the incorruptible image of God like unto the corruptible image of man.

Could there be any better example of this? This is heresy in the church.

You say, but it's not the church. How many of us said that already, right? Didn't we all just say that? That's not the church.

They don't represent us. Really? Because they're the ones in the news.

They're the ones calling themselves the church. Gaining national media attention for things like, in 2015,

Grace Point underwent a highly publicized process wherein it stated publicly and absolutely that LGBTQ plus people were welcomed, celebrated, and included at all levels of Grace Point's community.

National media picked up on this, and Grace Point experienced a seismic movement in its own community as it stepped away from a core belief of mainstream evangelical

Protestantism. That's what's in the news. That's what's representing the church.

And you and I agree, they are not of us. But in the eyes of a crippled world seeking help, they are us.

I want you to let that sink in for a second. That's what the world sees when they think the church.

Why is that what the world sees? Because that's what gets the media attention. This is who the world believes we are.

The second reason morality is on the decline. The first being a lack of sound doctrine.

The second, tendency of self -worship. Now, I know

I'm picking on this one church, I'm not done. We're gonna pick on them a little bit more because this same church states on their website in the

Our Values page, we see, quote, the divine in one another.

Yet they explicitly deny that Christ is the only way to God. So this is proof that they are not of God.

So who do they see? If they see the divine in one another, they're seeing themselves.

1 John 2 .22, who is a liar? But he that denieth Jesus is the

Christ. He is antichrist that denieth the father and the son.

Whosoever denieth the son, the same hath not the father, but he that acknowledgeth the son hath also the father.

I'm sorry, the father also. Okay, so the divine that they see isn't

Jesus, so it's gotta be them. It's no wonder they believe the Bible can't hold up to their impossible modern standards.

They think themselves higher than the very word that states in the Psalms, for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

So God magnifies his word above his name, but it seems the church is too busy worshiping themselves to recognize this truth.

God says in James 4 .6, but he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith,

God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Be afflicted and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Oh, that the church would cry out to God and repent of its self -righteousness.

Submit to his word and recognize our need for his salvation and sanctification. Oh, but that's just a wacky church,

Dave. That's just a wacky church. We're not that bad, right? Not us. Well, let's take a look at the types we typically call the church.

The third change or the third charge, I should say, given as to why morality is on the decline is that it is increasingly viewed as a subjective topic.

Morality is subjective in the church. There are an increasing number of evangelical Christians who attend church while justifying sin.

Pewsresearch .org states that half of Christians say casual intimate relations, defined in the survey as relations between consenting adults who are not in a committed romantic relationship, is sometimes or always acceptable.

Those are churchgoers. Those are people who claim to be Christian going to church. Some of these churches, we may not even have much problem with their doctrine, but then we find out that the people in the church treat sin and morality as just a subjective thing.

So we have declining doctrine, we have increasing self -worship, and we have moral subjectivism in the church.

Godliness is gone. That's the state of the church. Let's look at the state of the crippled man in our story, shall we?

Okay, so this is God's lost sheep. And we know that all of this that we've just been discussing, all these problems is a result of what?

What do you guys say? All these problems result from sin, right?

Romans 8, eight, so they that are in the flesh cannot please God. The crippled man can't please

God. First Corinthians 2, 14, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the

Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.

So he can't receive the things of God. No man can come to me except the

Father which hath sent me draw him. John 6, 44, he can't come to God.

Romans 8, seven, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

He can't submit to the law of God. And he can't fix his own problems. And we find out the reason why is because man is spiritually dead and in need of quickening.

He does not have the eyes to see nor ears to hear in that right manner. And we can read about that in Ezekiel 37, one through six.

When we read about the dry bones or in Ephesians 2, one through three, we find out we are quickened, which means we were dead.

So our lot in life is worse than even the crippled man. And as we all know, that is the problem.

The depravity of man is great and greater still is his hopelessness, his hopeless state of despair.

For his depravity is so great that he is even unable to receive help for it.

That's as hopeless as it gets. You can't even receive the things of God. So just like that, the lame man enacts, the world will carry him around from place to place.

They'll introduce him to man after man. He will heap to himself teacher after teacher, having itching ears, and the world will never truly help him but it will always look like it's trying.

The man is crippled from birth. He's helpless and the world can't fix him. But let's forget the world.

He's been sitting outside the temple, perhaps for years, and he still hasn't received the healing.

Right there at the temple, every day, the beautiful gate, the man sits there looking to man and to money to fix his problems.

What a charge against the church. God put it right there in his scripture that the man is sitting outside the place in which

God's people are supposed to be at their holiest. And he's still in his sorry state, not receiving help.

Thousands of people watch this man. They see the man as they walk by, they have to go past him to get into the gate, to get into the temple.

At this time, the temple, it is a very well -visited place. And so thousands of people pass him day after day, after day, after day, claiming to be

Christians, claiming to fear God, I should say. And they walk into church and they walk out of church and they may even give him a little bit of money.

And the man's problem is never truly fixed. By the church, God's lost sheep are looking in the wrong place.

So what's the man doing? What's the lame man doing in the story? You guys tell me, what's he doing out there?

He's begging for alms, but he's watching life pass him by. He's sitting at the beautiful gate of God's holy temple, seemingly a few feet away from the very presence of Jehovah Rapha, the

God who heals, but he's focused on the world around him and he's seeking only that which it can give.

Money, he thinks, that will help. And maybe it does for a time, but it's temporal.

And the very next day he's at it again, pandering for the alms that will only help for a while.

And what a place to ask, right? For surely those who are pious enough to enter into the temple will not neglect an opportunity to give to the poor.

And yet they pour into the temple day after day and the man remains poverty stricken.

Who knows, maybe the reason he did this daily was that it was a pretty good gig. Right? Maybe so.

I mean, I have to say, I mean, lots of people went by, maybe he got lots of money. We know there are people like that even to this day that go out and they'd rather pander for money than go work for it, right?

And Pop's got some interesting stories about that too. Like some people make a lot of money,

I have to say, excuse the pun, but it's a pretty lame way to get rich. You know? But yeah, thousands of Jews and Gentiles claiming to fear the

Lord visited the temple, person after person pouring in to visit their God, but ignoring and passing his sheep along the way.

What did Jesus tell his disciples? And specifically the one named Peter, right?

Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. Do you think Peter remembered that?

I'll bet you he did. I mean, as he's walking up to this man.

I mean, can't you imagine he's thinking those words as he's seeing this man.

He walks up towards the temple and he's solicited by the resident of the gate. Alms?

Now, Peter, having seen the spirit of God move in the hearts of men in chapter two of Acts, and knowing that the sheep for the first time had heard the voice of their master, he must have thought of it.

He must have had that go through his brain as he walked up to this man. And so he and John are about to enter into the temple and the lame man in verse three sees his opportunity and asks for an alms.

Now the word alms means mercy, pity, especially as exhibited in giving charity.

So he's asking for money, but to give an alms is to give mercy. And I think it's important to note that mercy is showing compassionate kindness towards someone who's in distress, especially when it's in your power to harm them.

So being a cripple, no, no, no, if it's in your power to harm them and you don't, you're showing mercy.

Yeah, that's what that means. So that's the distinction there, showing compassionate kindness to someone in distress, especially when it's in your power to harm them.

So being a cripple, this man's an easy target, right? Ill -willing people could totally take advantage of this guy.

Remember, he's pretty hopeless, but he asks for someone to show kindness when they don't have to.

And what he receives instead is something different as we'll see in a moment. Verse four says that Peter and John fastened,

I'm sorry, Peter with John fastened his eyes upon the man. I'm gonna stop right there for a second.

He fastened his eyes upon the man. Now I'm a dad of three. I got three kiddos. And there is not much in life that gives me more joy than to just sit and watch them.

Katie knows what this is like, right? We talk about all the time. We were doing this yesterday. We were probably doing it the day before and the day before that, the day before that.

We watch our kids and we're like, man, our kids are awesome. We love watching them. And sometimes they'll catch me and Katie and that's equally as awesome.

When they catch us watching them, it's so funny because they'll be totally in their own world doing their own thing, having lots of fun.

And then they look over and they do like a double take. Look, oh, I'm being watched. And it's almost like this.

And as soon as they realize, oh, it's mommy watching. Oh, it's daddy watching. Big old smile on their face.

Sometimes they come running over to us laughing because, oh, I caught you watching me. And it's so fun.

It really is a funny thing, but it just makes us so proud. And it's cool because they get up, they go, it's like whatever they were doing, all of a sudden when they realize we're watching, boom, smile on the face, run to daddy.

Oh, that we would see Peter as a picture of Christ in this passage, like pop said.

Picture's Jesus. He does. We're gonna look at him as a Christian, but just think for a second, the way we've always thought of him in this passage as Christ, fastening his eyes on the beloved.

Would we realize as Hagar did when she was fleeing from her mistress, that Elroy, the God who sees, is watching.

It should bring joy to our hearts and a smile to our face that he's watching us. And may we run closer to him and make him proud.

Let's continue with verse four. Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John said, look on us.

And this brings us to the focal point of the message. The first thing I wanna point out about this phrase is that Peter's words take the form or the tone of a commandment.

He tells the man to do something. When was the last time a person in your life commanded you to look at me?

Can you, you heard that before? Hey, look at me. And what's funny is we can hear those words and it's usually from someone of authority, at least when you're younger, right?

We almost always hear those words, look at me when you're younger, it's coming from a place of authority.

And can you hear the words that come after it? When I'm talking to you, right?

Look at me when I'm talking to you. Peter asserts this directive because he has authority.

The word of God has changed Peter. He's gone from a fearful denier of Christ to the boldest of preachers.

And as we learn later in Acts, he's about to have a ministry of healing that will be very much like the one

Jesus had. There's so much power and authority with Peter that people later line the streets, hoping perhaps his shadow would pass over them and heal them.

So there is a lot of authority with Peter. It's been on full display when he shared the gospel message to the 3 ,000 people at Pentecost.

He's about to do the same again after he heals this lame man and 5 ,000 more will be added to the church.

So when Peter says, look on us, you can bet this is a command. He has the authority to do so.

But whose authority is it? Peter makes it clear to the crowd that he acts by the authority of Jesus Christ.

It's not his authority, but he has the authority. Now I ask you, has

God so changed you that you can speak authoritatively in his name? Has his word had an effect on your life that others instantly recognize?

When the religious leaders saw Peter and John and they realized that they were uneducated yet speaking with authority, the scripture tells us they recognized them as having been with Jesus of Nazareth.

Is God's authority working in you and through you so that others can recognize that you are with him?

I pray that it has. And if it hasn't, I pray that the Lord will give us all the desire to spend more time with him so that it will.

Okay, so just before this command, the word tells us that the man saw Peter and John going into the temple and asks for alms.

Doesn't that mean he's already looking at him? Kind of does, doesn't it? So there's something more to this look on us because the man's already looking.

The man's already looking. He's sticking his palm out and asking for an alms. And Peter says, look on us.

That's because it's more than just, hey, look over here or look at me when I'm talking to you. There's more to it than that.

There has to be. Now, at first, what would you think? Turn your eyes upon Jesus, right?

Are y 'all thinking it? Turn your eyes upon Jesus. That must be what this is about. If Peter depicts

Jesus like we've all grown up believing, then of course that's the lesson. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so too the son of man must be lifted up and just as God's people were instructed to look at the serpent for healing, they must also look at the son of God for the spiritual healing they so desperately need.

Would you agree with that? Say yes. Like King Nebuchadnezzar, we must lift up our eyes to God before we can have our understanding returned to us.

This is true and a great lesson it would be, but I think we fall short if we say that's the only thing we see here.

Do you notice who's talking? It's Peter. It's not

God, it's his servant. Yes, the type that Peter depicts is of our

Lord, no doubt, but why is that the case? It's because Peter is of our

Lord. He is one of God's chosen. He's an anointed representative of Jesus Christ.

Furthermore, Peter doesn't say, look at me, does he? He says, look on us.

So it's not necessarily turn your eyes towards Jesus yet, though that's ultimately what this is about.

Remember, he's got John standing right here next to him. So this is an important distinction to make.

We are the body fitly joined together. He is the head and we are to labor with him.

He sent the disciples out to share the good news. He didn't continue that work on his own.

He sent his people and he sent his spirit. And that's the whole point of chapter two, the day of Pentecost.

It's to give us the activation, the authority, the power we need to share

God's word, but no man is able to receive the things of Christ, not in his natural state.

He is dead and he is not searching. Do we want people to turn their eyes to Jesus?

Yes, then it's gonna have to be the operation of God. Timothy tells us that we're supposed to in meekness, instruct those who oppose themselves per adventure that God should give unto them repentance, right?

So ultimately it's the operation of God, but isn't it interesting that it starts with the operation of God's people.

It starts with us. That's the way the Lord designed it. How beautiful are the feet that preach the word of God, right?

But why would anyone turn their eyes upon Jesus when the church already looks like them?

Why would the world look on us if our problems are no different than theirs? Peter had authority.

His authority came as a result of the godliness that the word of the spirit worked within him.

And with this authority, Peter showed compassion. The lame man asked for compassion when he asked for an alms.

He asked for something he was already receiving. The world gave him compassion. They carried him daily. They showed him mercy.

Instead of harming him, they helped him out. They took him to the beautiful gate and they pointed him to man and to money and said, there's the answer to your problems.

But Peter, being full of authority and perfect understanding of the scripture as given to him by Jesus in the book of Luke, commanded the man with John to look on us.

Look at his example. Look at his godliness. Look at the change in Peter.

Look not on the world and its limited knowledge. Look not on mercy of man and the power of mammon.

Look not to yourselves and lean on your own understanding. Look on us. As Paul said, imitate me even as I imitate

Christ. Look on God's holy people, a new nation set apart by the dividing of the truth.

That's when something truly miraculous happens to the crippled man because Peter was different.

He was holy, he was set apart, godly. The lame man seeing something he'd never seen before gave heed,

I believe that's verse five. I accidentally closed it down, but I'll bring it back up.

And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.

When the world sees something different, it will listen. And those lost sheep that are of God will do more than listen.

They will be open to receiving. You say, oh no, the world won't listen, Dave, really?

Take a look at Acts chapter seven when Stephen is basically preaching the word of God. He recounts all of history for the

Jews, quotes some prophets and tells them that they have massacred

Jesus. And the world listened, says they were cut to the heart, but they were not of God.

So they began to gnash with their teeth and run upon Stephen. They took him out of the camp and they killed him, they stoned him, but they listened.

They heard, they saw something different and it had an effect on them.

Said Peter, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee. What did Peter have?

Newness of life was within him. The son of God had died for his sins. The Holy Spirit dwelt within him.

And in that spirit, there is no sin. There is no death. There's only salvation and life more abundant.

He then lifts the man up by his right hand, bringing up the broken instead of becoming broken in order to relate to the world.

He heals the brokenness by the power of Jesus Christ. And 5 ,000 people were there to see his good works and glorify his father, which is in heaven.

Authority through godliness when coupled with compassion gives us the ability to give more than mercy.

We can share God's grace. We can freely share a gift that isn't asked for. As church goers,

I'd say most of us don't really struggle too much with compassion. We cry for those that are hurting.

Many of us would be spoken of kindly by the people around us because we treat them well, but we lack authority because we lack godliness.

Brother Bill shared the scripture in 1 John 1, 6 -7. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin.

If we're walking in darkness, we're lying, and that is not authoritative at all. We can have compassion, but if all we have is compassion, then we're the temple.

That's where we fit into this story. We're the church. We walk by, we throw some money, we walk by again.

We never truly change the man's life. Peter, however, has authority and compassion, and he drastically changes the man's life, ultimately bringing the man with him into the temple.

We gain authority through godliness, which can only be obtained by the saving power of Jesus Christ and adherence to his word.

How do we know? Well, because his Bible tells us so. Well, what would the world see as authoritative?

Let me ask you that. The world wants to see proof.

Now, remember, they know nothing of faith, and God's own children don't yet know anything of faith.

They don't even have the ability to receive the things of God. Why is it important that God's people are godly?

Because we're the first picture they'll ever have of God. And if we don't look any different, then why do

I need to move? I'm the same as you are. People want to see proof.

They want to see that you're successful. They want to see that you have a better lot in life than they do, and then they'll listen.

Joshua 1 .8, the book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Why is it important that obedience to God's word can result in prosperous success? Because that's what the world looks at, and that's what the world judges.

Yeah, they look at the outcome and go, well, you're different. What happened to you?

Miss Pam tells me that she used to be mean. I still don't believe it. I think

I'm calling you out now, Miss Pam. We don't lie in the church. Miss Pam, she says that she used to have an anger issue.

I just can't see it, but why? Because Brian's like, look at the scar. Oh my goodness.

She's so radically changed from what she apparently used to be. I'd never even believe it.

So there's proof in her life. There's authority in Miss Pam's life, and I can tell you that's the case.

I see how she interacts with customers, and she changes minds left and right.

There's authority, and when there's authority, there's the ability to affect change.

Anybody can have compassion. We can all want to change something, and I think for the most part, most people probably do have compassion, but they lack authority because they lack godliness.

If you lack godliness, no one's gonna listen to you. First John 1 .9,

if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The general concept of obedience, both in the Old and New Testament, relates to hearing and hearkening to a higher authority.

One of the Greek terms for obedience in the Bible conveys the idea of positioning oneself under someone by submitting to their authority and command.

Another Greek word for obey in the New Testament means to trust. According to Holman's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, a succinct definition of biblical obedience is to hear

God's word and act accordingly. Thus, biblical obedience to God means to hear, trust, submit, and surrender to God's word.

Galatians 2 .20, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not

I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the

Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. By now, you may have decided you want to be

Peter in the story. Am I right? Who wants to be

Peter? Out changing lives instead of the temple and the churchgoers who walk to and from and never do anything of real value.

If you truly examine yourself and you're anything like me, you've probably decided that you fall short.

Yeah? Maybe you have authority. You could be in a place right now where you feel like you've done your absolute best to obey

God's commands. The word of God has saved you from your sins and you no longer struggle with the temptations you had in your former life when you were lost.

If you don't feel like Peter, I submit to you, you may lack compassion in your life.

And I get it. We get tired of the sins of the world. And we become angry with those who are still in them.

I get mad at my kids when they hurt themselves after doing something I told them not to do. I do.

They get hurt. My first knee -jerk reaction is, why did you do that? I'm upset about it.

I'm like, I told you don't do that. Now you're hurting. This is what you get. That serves you right.

And they're sitting there hurt. And I have to remember in those moments, I need compassion.

Because I used to be the kid who did that. And Pop was saying, why did you do that? Yes. Yes.

We were lost once. Don't forget it. Don't forget what you came out of and what

God saved you from. Have compassion on those whom such were some of you.

Maybe that's not you. And I suspect, again, if you're anything like me, you'll realize that you love people.

You love the lost, the sick, the hungry, the poor. And you wanna help. But it seems you have no platform to affect change.

Could it be that you lack authority in your life? Do you need to become more godly so that the world will take notice that you're different and begin to listen to you?

If you wanna be Peter, you have to have both. We say to the world, look on us. But it only works if we are looking at our savior.

Have you ever seen someone staring into the sky? What do you do? You look over at them and, what are you doing?

What are you looking at? And you walk over to them. And what are you looking at? You're looking at the person. You're looking at the person first.

And as you get closer to the person, you begin to look and focus on where's their gaze going?

What are they looking at? Oh, oh, I see it. And you begin to look at where they're looking.

Standing now beside them, you see what they're focused on. If we want the world to look at Jesus, we must first be looking to him ourselves.

And then we will tell the world, look on us. Look at our depravity.

Look at our hopelessness. Watch us cry out for help. Witness us responding to the voice of our master and realizing he sees us in our despair.

Look at our salvation. Marvel at our repentance. Wonder at our new beginning as we pursue a lifetime of godliness.

Look on us and see our savior. Let's pray.

Father, dear only father, Lord, we just ask that you help us to look to you. Help us to look on you.

Help us to study your word. Help us to meditate on it day and night.

Your word says that if we will do that, we will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. We'll bring forth our fruit and our season.

Our leaf will not wither and whatsoever we do will prosper. Lord, we just ask that you give us a prosperous life.

It does not mean that we want money and financial gain. That'd be great. But your word says that godliness with contentment is great gain.

Father, we want that. Give us authority. Your word says that if salt loses its savor, what good is it but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men?

Of men? That's cancel culture. Lord, we're experiencing that right now.

We've been tossed out. We have been cast aside and men are trampling upon us because the church, as it's represented to the world, has no authority.

Lord, we ask that you bring authority back to the church. And we ask that you do that first by giving to us repentance.

Timothy says that that's something that you give. Please first give it to us.

Help us to pursue your word. Help us to recognize its truth and realize that we have fallen short.

Help us to turn again unto you so that you'll hear our cries from heaven and you'll heal our land.

Return to us our understanding like you did Nebuchadnezzar when he looked up to the sky, father, when he looked up to you.

Please give us back our authority so that we can have an effect on the world around us.

And help us to remember the compassion that must be coupled with it so that we can have people feel loved.

The authority is for the purpose of loving God and loving others. And without that, we're a sounding brass.

Lord, we love you and we're sorry. We just ask that you forgive us and build us back up.

Like brother Bill shared today, we've fallen short, we failed the test. Please teach us, discipline us and teach us and bring us back to a place where people can see us again and they follow what we do.

It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right. I think we're doing, are we doing lunch?

All right, we're still doing lunch. All right. Okay, we're dismissed.