Well, good morning church. And for a whole bunch of you guys welcome back from a long weekend, last weekend. I'm sure you enjoyed the parking last weekend, those of you that were here. But welcome back to church everybody this week, and it is going to be a great, great week together. Hey, listen, we're in a series, like you just saw on the bumper, through the Book of Acts. And over the last five weeks, we have managed to somehow make it through two chapters. We're two chapters in and today, today, today, if you've got a copy of scripture, I want you to go with me to Acts chapter three. Acts chapter three is where we're going to land today. And as you're finding that, let me remind you that in the Burnt Hickory app there is a section called Sermon notes. Now listen to this, how cool technology is this.
If you will pull those sermon notes up, you can actually fill in the blanks. You can actually see every scripture that I reference during the morning. And at the end of it, here's the cool part, you can email it to yourself. Make a file on that left-hand side of your email over there that says Matt's boring messages, and it can be a reference to you in any time from specifically the Book of Acts. There's so much that happens in this book, so many events, you or I, none of us are going to remember everything, but it's just a great way to keep up. Well, hey listen. Acts chapter one, the Spirit is promised. Jesus said He's going to be even better of an asset for you than I am. Acts chapter two, the Spirit falls onto the believers, onto the disciples. They speak the name of Jesus.
Peter steps up preaches the first message in the power of the Spirit. And Pentecost Day, 3000 people give their life to Jesus. 3000 people are baptized. 3000 people start what we know as the church. The church. Last week we looked at this idea that the church is not a building, it's God's people. It's not a place, it is a collection of people following the spirit together and representing who Christ is to us. Now, last week in the Book of Acts, we saw the baby church, the unspoiled church, and it gave us a model of what it looks like to live out in our faith. We said the body of Christ and the individual person in Christ should be convicted by the gospel, should be turned to God, should profess their faith publicly at baptism and at every chance that we get to speak his name. We said from Acts 242 last week that we're to be devoted to prayer, devoted to the apostles teaching, committed to the oneness of the body of Christ. That we're to have this reverence and awe for God.
Here's where we left it. As a result, our focus does not just turn internally. To sit and to soak, to be the frozen chosen, if you would, but it is to point outwardly to show people what Christ has done in us. Now listen, that in a nutshell is Acts chapter one and Acts chapter two. Today as we turn the page over into Acts chapter three, here's what I want you to do, I want you to hold on to the context. Because the event that we're going to see today happened in Acts chapter three, is just after Pentecost. It's just after Pentecost. Now, so think days, possibly weeks. We're really not sure exactly. They didn't write it down in their Apple calendar or anything, but it's days, weeks right after it. It's happening in the same time period, the disciples and the followers of Jesus are still going to the temple regularly.
Persecution hasn't set in yet. That's how early we know this happened. It's going to come next week as we keep walking through this. And Acts chapter three actually seems to be one of those signs and wonders that Acts chapter two describes that the disciples are doing. That's what's happening. So I want you to think this, Acts chapter three and Acts chapter four are the same event. It's the same event. Three this week, just in case you need to know this. Acts chapter four is next week. So what we're going to do today is we're going to look in Acts chapter three at the miracle that happens right here. We're going to look at the wonder that that miracle brings, and we're going to begin. I say begin. We're going to begin Peter's next message. Because this next message from Peter, there's no way we can get it in on one day.
So we're going to begin it today, and then next week we're going to pick it up in Acts chapter four, and we're going to actually see some of the response from the message along with the idea that some people hear the word of God and give their lives to Jesus. Some people begin to grumble. And then in Acts chapter four is actually where some of the trouble begins of people that are opposing Christianity. So that's where we're going today. So here's what I want to do today, I want to walk slowly through Acts chapter three. It's the first miracle that happens after Pentecost. And all I want to do is I want to pause in a few places, and I want to pull out just what I'm labeling or titling today's message in some beautiful gate principles. Some beautiful gate principles.
Now, for those of you that are like Bible honors students, you're like, "Oh, I saw what you did there." For those of you that's not, don't worry. All right? Don't worry. You're going to see where this fits in in a minute. So let's start in verse one. Here we go. We're just going to work our way through the text and I'm going to pause at some places and point a couple of things out for us. Here it goes. It says this. It says, "One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at 3:00 in the afternoon." So what does Luke say here? Okay. Luke has given us the who, when, and the where. So who is there? It's pretty obvious. It is Peter and John. Now, Peter and John are disciples of Jesus. They had traveled with Jesus. They're not just disciples, they're in the inner core of disciples. But then also Luke tells us the where and when this is.
The where is at the gate. The when, it is at 3:00 P.M. in the afternoon. You say, "Well, Matt, why does all that even make any difference?" Well, here's why this makes difference here, as well as why very specific things are great in the Bible. It does a couple things to us and for us. Just think about it like this. I love the fact that here, Luke tells us the who, what, when and where. Because it actually verifies that this is not a myth, it's not a made-up story. It's not a mythical fairy tale. What you're reading in scripture right here is an actual event that happened and, catch this, because of what Luke masterfully did. You could actually, when this book was written, verify what happened. You could go back to the temple, you could ask those that had been there for long periods of time, "Hey, listen, this guy named Luke wrote this and he says, this happened. Did it happen?" And in the time period that it was written with the witnesses still alive, you could verify that this really happened.
It also shows us in showing us what Luke just did. It shows us some of the cultural events and practices of the day. What did it just show us? It showed us that the Jews prayed in a very specific way. In fact, we just said that Luke and John... Not Luke, Luke's writing. John and Peter are heading to the temple at 3:00 P.M. in the afternoon. Now, this is very specific because this is what the Jews did. The Jews actually prayed three very specific time, every single. They prayed at 6:00 AM in the morning. Which somebody's like, "I knew I wasn't Jewish for a reason." They prayed at 6:00 AM in the morning. They prayed at noon every single day, and they prayed at 3:00 in the afternoon. It was their practice.
In fact, if you go back to even to David in Psalm 55, he says, "In the morning and at noon and the evening, I cry out to God." In Psalm 55. We go into the story of Daniel in the lion's den. Remember that one? Even in a time when Nebuchadnezzar outlawed prayer, what did Daniel do? He went up into his room, he opened up the curtains, and every morning, every noon and every afternoon, he lifted up the name of God. So what you're seeing here is a very Jewish thing to do. But I also want you to notice here that Peter and John, what are they doing? They're participating in the temple worship. And I love this thought right here because we don't think about this as non-Jewish people, but Peter and John were actually going to the temple and they were still participating in Jewish worship at this moment. Why? Because their Savior, Jesus was a Jew.
Their Savior was a Jew. They were Jewish. They had no problem going to a temple that for hundreds and hundreds, even thousand years, had been pointing to a savior that would come atone for their sins and to give them life. And they went to the temple, a place that represented salvation and hope and worshiped the Messiah, Jesus, that brought that hope. So that's what they're doing right here. They knew that it was Jesus that fulfilled all the Old Testament principles and the Old Testament prophecies. And in fact, the disciples and other believers going to the temple to worship was standard practice until they and other believers were actually expelled from Judaism, which is so sad because the Jews missed Jesus. They just missed the Messiah, and it was sad that they actually were cast out of that later on and all the other churches began to happen.
So here in Acts chapter three, Peter and John, they're headed to the hour of prayer. Now it's a good place for me just to pause right there and remind you of a principle that comes up almost every single week in Acts, and I put it in your notes and I'll explain it after I tell it to you. Here's the first principle in your notes. Number one, our spiritual disciplines are for times of rejoicing and times of need. You say, "Well pastor, what does that have to do with anything?" Well, stay with me for a minute. These guys are heading to the temple to pray, right? Prayer is a spiritual discipline that God has called all of us to live out in our lives. Just like evangelism, just like meeting together in groups, just like having worship. All those are spiritual disciplines that we all have. Now, a discipline is something that we do and are called to do no matter the situation. Now, how is it in context that these guys are living this out? What are these guys doing?
These two guys are walking to the temple to pray, but they're not just walking to the temple to pray because they're in this moment of desperation and they're at the end of their rope, and if they don't get a miracle today then nothing's going to happen. They're walking to the temple to pray at one of the biggest movement times that the Holy Spirit has ever acted. One of the biggest moments of salvation that we've ever seen. But yet stay with me right here, believers, they're still trusting and leaning on God for everything that's happening in their lives. Why is it sometimes that the times that spiritual disciplines really seem to be leaned into in our lives are only in the desperate moments and not in the moments of joy and not in the moments of peace and not in the moments where we just know that we're followers of Jesus and he's called us to do it. Do you see what they're showing us right here?
Peter and John are heading to the temple, not out of this desperation, we're fearing for our life moment. They're heading to the temple because they know exactly what Jesus has done for them and they want to see it happen in other people's lives. That's what we're seeing right here. So they're heading to lift people up before God, but watch what happens in verse two. It says this. It says, "Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts." Now, for those of you that are Bible AP students, you can already feel what's going on. You already know what's about to happen. What's happening? Peter and John are walking into the temple courts and now there's this lame man. Now, it's not like you would look at your mom and dad and go, you're so lame. No, he's like actually lame. Like physically this guy is lame. And he couldn't walk, is what we're seeing.
Actually, you'll see in just a minute when he is healed that it was something to do with his feet, something to do with his ankles. Now, remember who's writing this is a doctor. Dr. Luke is writing this. He's actually giving us some very specific terms and pointing out some very specific things that are happening in this guy's life. He pointed out in the verse that we just read that this guy has been lame since birth. In other words, this is not a trick. It's not a magic trick or an illusion to point to Jesus. It's not some phony deal that happened. Luke goes, "Hey, everybody knows it. Everybody's already seen it. We've seen this guy, he's been lame his whole life, for the whole 40 years that he's lived." Actually, chapter four tells us that he's 40 years old.
But on top of that, for his whole adult life at least, the Bible tells us that he's been carried to this little spot right at this gate, and this dude has never walked. He's just been a beggar. Now in Jerusalem, beggars would pretty much hang out in three different places. They would either hang out at the gates of wealthy people's homes, which is a great spot if you're a beggar. Amen. You would hang out there. We see that in the shrewd servant's parable in Luke chapter 16. Or secondly, they would hang out on the highway leading out of Jerusalem because everybody had just came in to worship and now they're feeling it, they've met with God and old blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10. Remember him? Caught the attention. Or they would hang out at the entrances to or the gates into the temple area. And this makes total sense, does it not? Why?
It makes sense because if the Jews are going to be going in and out of there three times a day to pray, and if everybody's coming to all these festivals to celebrate the Lord, it is a great place to camp out and to have your needs met. For those of you that are old enough to remember before Truist Park was built right here in Cobb County, remember when the Brave Stadium was downtown? And for those of us that didn't have a lot of money, we always had to park over at that weird church where the guy held a sign up and you didn't really know if he was with the church or not, but you just gave him your $5. You walked underneath the bridge. Remember the bridge that you had to walk underneath? And every single time there was the one dude that's there playing the five gallon buckets with the drumsticks and the guy on the tuba. Every time. And you just knew that this was their spot. Every single game. Well, this guy in the text had a spot.
He was there. He was there to capitalize on the heart of the worshipers to go, "Hey, if I give a little money, maybe God will hear me more." Which is terrible theology. Or secondly, he was there to capitalize on the vain-ness of the Pharisees because they couldn't walk past a beggar's cup without slamming something down in that and going, "See, I'm giving my money." So this guy was in a good spot. The Bible said that he was by the gate, where, called beautiful. Called beautiful. Now, it seems like a funny name to name a gate doesn't it, doesn't it? Until you realize, and this is super profound, that it was beautiful. It was just beautiful. Josephus, a first century Jewish historian, actually describes the gate of being like this. It was 75 feet tall. Think about it. That's way bigger than this ceiling, I think. Don't call me out if you're an engineer. I think.
Not only was it 75 feet tall, it was so heavy, Josephus tells us that it took 20 men to open it and close it every day. For the days in the mornings. Not only that, he tells us that it was covered with this Corinthian brass. I don't really know what that means, but it sounds expensive, doesn't it? It was on the east side of Jerusalem, and every single morning as the sun came up, history tells us that the gate would not just light up that little spot, but the reflection off the brass would shine all over the city. That's where this guy was. This guy had a spot, and actually it was a popular path. Everybody in and out, Jesus would've walked past this many times in his ministry. The disciples would've walked past this spot. This guy sitting at this gate begging. He was just existing. He wasn't looking for a miracle, he was just looking to eat dinner. He wasn't looking for a miracle, he was just looking for a few coins to live. But hang on, hang on, hang on. Because he's about to get so much more.
And isn't that how God works? Sometimes we're just there trying to exist, but oh boy does God come alongside of us and go, "I got way more than what you think you need." Man, this may be you this morning. Listen to this in verse three, watch what it says. It says, when he, that's the lame guy. "When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. And then Peter said, 'Look at us.' So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them." You know this little beggar guy was like, "Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, I got you. I got you. I have got your attention. Give me the coin." Right? Well, watch what happens. Then Peter said, "Silver or gold, I do not have." You know the beggar was like... "Silver or gold, I do not have." Oh, but circle this word in your Bible. "But what I do have, I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."
And taking him by the right hand, he helped him up. And instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. And what happened? He jumped to his feet and he began to walk. Now, look, there is so much in these couple little verses, so much encouragement, so much hope, so much power. So what I'm going to do for the rest of this time is I want to pull a couple of walkaways from this event. Now listen though, some of them are for us followers of Jesus and they're challenges for us that we're seeing right here. Some of them are for some of you that really aren't sure where you are in your faith today. Maybe you're struggling, maybe you're not quite there. It's going to show you some things about God and show you some things about you. But look at this first one about God. Look at this.
Number two, here's the second principle I want to point out. Even as God's power sweeps across the great masses, catch this, his never loses sight of one hurting person. One hurting person. You say, "Man, what does that even mean?" It means this, God is big enough to see us all, but he's not too busy to see you. That's what it means. Man. I love the contrast of Acts chapter two and Acts chapter three. Acts chapter two, remember I just said it a few minutes ago, is all about the bigness. All about the majesty of God. The power of God. The hugeness of God. 3000 people saved. 3000 people give their life to Christ. All of the disciples doing all of this. And listen, God is right in the middle of happening, right in the middle of doing this. And then look, you flip the one page over and what do you see? You see, one guy, one spot, one personal encounter starts it all off.
Listen to me, church, this is such a great description of the Holy God of the universe. He is big enough to be involved with everything, sovereign enough to be in control of everything. Above all, that is His transcendence. But on the other side of that, He is imminent enough. He is with us enough. To what? To be 100% with me when I put my head on my pillow at night and need Him. Listen, never, never, never, never, never let Satan make you doubt that.

Come on, sir.

Never let Satan look at you and say, "God doesn't care about you. He's busy in the bigness. He's too busy in the bigness to forget about you." Never let Satan say, "He's distracted in the craziness to hear you." Never let Satan say that He doesn't care. He doesn't listen. He doesn't hear your hurts. Because He does, and we're seeing it in this story right here at one of the biggest revival movements at one of the biggest beginnings. The beginning of the church, God so chooses through the Holy Spirit to show us He cares about the one lame man. And listen to me, He cares about you.

Thank you, sir.

He cares about you, and He wants to be with you. Even in the middle of the massive movements of His. That's a promise from God. But also Peter and John show us this, watch this. Number three, it's in times of revival and in ordinary life that we also are to never take our eyes off of those who are hurting and in need. You see, the first one was all about God, right? In the bigness, He zeroed in on this one guy that was hurting. But what is the other side of that? We as followers of Jesus are to do the same. See, it's obvious that God loves the hurting, but listen to me, He's called us as believers in Jesus to do the same. Look at verse four, watch what it says right here. It's so specific. It says, "Peter..." I want to circle these words, "Looked straight at him, as did John. And then Peter said, 'Look at us.'" Man, I love those words that Peter looked straight at him. It means that everything went from the here to zeroing on this, guys.
Now look, I don't think I'm reading too far into the text, but this is what I want to point out right here. There's a difference between looking at something and looking through something. You see, the disciples right here didn't look through this guy. That would've mean they just saw him. That would've mean they just kept walking. That would've mean they just judged him, moved on. Probably made some sly comment like, "Well, he probably did something earlier in life that caused him to get to this point." That is not what the disciples did. The disciples looked at this guy. What does that mean? That means that when they saw him, their hearts, because of what Jesus had done for them, had moved them to compassion. Moved them to do something for this guy so that they would do for one what they wish they could do for all. That they met a temporal need in the moment to present an eternal truth.
And believers, listen to me. We won't be more like Jesus than when we see the hurt in other people and we see into their soul and we meet them right where they are. So let me give you a challenge, this. Listen, slow down. Slow down and see people. Don't see through people. You know what I'm talking about in that, don't you? See people and ask God, "God, what is it today that you're asking me to do in them?" Because listen, most of our chances to be the hands and feet of Jesus are going to be just like this one. Just like this. Most of our chances to be the hands and feet of Jesus are not going to be on mission trips. Although mission trips are awesome. It's not going to be in times like this where you stand up in front of a crowd and proclaim the gospel. Listen, write this principle down.
Here's number four, most of our opportunities to display the love and the power of God, here it is, happens as we are going. Isn't that what just happened to these two guys? They weren't expecting this today. They were going about their business. They were doing their everyday life. Most of our opportunities to be witnesses, to be God's hands and feet are going to come when we're just sensitive to the spirit and we're going about our day. We're going about our day asking God, "God, who are you putting in front of me today to speak into their lives?" So let's get back into the story. Peter and John, they actually do this. They pause in this moment. They see, Peter speaks up, and Peter looks straight into the soul of this guy. And he's like, "Hey, hey, hey, listen. I know you think what you need is some money." Which obviously the guy needed money, but Peter's like, "Hey, sorry, we don't have that, but what we do have is so much better."
Look at verse six. It says this, "Then Peter said, 'Silver or gold, I do not have. But what I do have, I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.'" Now, if you break that down, what Peter actually just did and what he just said... Here's what Peter just said. Peter looked at this beggar, looked at this lame guy, and he said, "Hey, because of who Christ is, because of what Christ is, because of the virtue of Christ's character and because of the authority and the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit walking in us..." They look at this guy and they say, "Get up. Get up." Which is profound because of this. Listen to me believers. As they did, we stand, here it is. We stand in many ways. As not only just the representation of Christ, but the physical presence of Christ on this earth. Do you get that? No. No, no, no. For those of you that are like, "Oh, easy man. Easy, you're creeping." No, no. Listen, listen, we're not the Savior. We're not the Messiah, but we are the representation of Christ to this planet.

That's true.

We're it. And that's exactly what Peter is doing here. So listen, don't sell yourself short. Because that's exactly why he's given us the Holy Spirit to do this. In fact, 1st John 4:4 says that, "You are from God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." Follower of Jesus, the Spirit has given you the ability to walk in and walk for Jesus. You have the power to do this. So we like Peter and John, we have this authority to lean into the spirit of God. And watch, watch, watch, watch, watch. Watch what happens when we do it. The text says this, verse 8. It says he, that's the lame guy. Well, former lame guy. About to see that. "He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts."
Remember that. Put your finger there, we're going to get back to that. Walking and jumping and praising God. Listen, he's never done this before. He's never walked. He's never jumped. He's never praised God before. It's all out of an overflow of what has just happened in his life. Verse 9, "And when all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit at the temple gate called beautiful." And watch what happens. "And they were filled with wonder and amazement and what had happened to him." Now, stay with me because what happened in this guy's life is this, this guy was healed. He jumped up, he walked. He not only walked, but stay with me, look at the text. He walked. He was on this side of the gate. He was on this side of the gate.
How do I know that? Because no cripple, no lame, nobody could be on the other side of the gate in the condition that he was in. And then these guys reached into his life. Jesus healed this guy physically, healed this guy spiritually. And who is the gate? Jesus is the gate. He is the gate. He walks through the gate and now where is he? And now he's no longer on the other side of the gate. He is in the presence of God. He's in the temple courtyards of God. He could never be there before this. He's now been healed. He's been healed here, and he's been healed here. Both places. He has been risen up to new life, physically and spiritually. But I want you to write this really quickly down believers. It's often though. It's often what brings the wonder and amazement, those are the words we just read of God, to the community is the ministry of the Jesus followers.
So you see this event? Jesus has healed. Jesus has brought life. But it's his people that have spoke into this guy's life and now the people have gone from, "This guy's a lame beggar." To being amazed what God has done because of the believers in Jesus finally did what they'd been called to do. Again, we're the hands and feet of Jesus. And we, like them, are called to speak and to act words and deeds. That's the two things you see here, is it not? We see the words. They're speaking on the behalf of Jesus. They're speaking in the name of Jesus. We see this over and over, and over, and over again. And the second thing you see here is that they're doing in the name of Jesus. They're leading in the name of Jesus. And these two things smashed together is what brings amazement to the Jerusalem community. And I got news for you, Burnt Hickory. Listen, when we begin to act like this, we bring amazement to the community that God has put in front of us. That's the point of the whole story.
You see, this is what we're seeing right here. But I can feel the tension like, "Matt. Matt, Matt, Matt. I get that, it's about words and deeds, but I want to do the miracles." Me too. Me too. But I got news for you. I got news for you. Pause in that one for just a minute because it probably is not going to work out for you tomorrow to go to the break room and be like, "Be healed." Now, don't do that. Don't do that tomorrow. Just don't do that. You say, "Why Matt, does God not do miracles?" No, no, no. That's not what I'm saying. God can do what He wants to do. He can do whatever He chooses to do. But what we're seeing here is a specific gift that He had given the apostles at this point to solidify the message that we now get to hold in our hands and that we now know who Jesus is.
In fact, Acts 5:12 says it like this, "The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people." God gave them this extraordinary special power to prove who God is. In fact, God gave the apostle Paul this. That's another apostle. 2 Corinthians 12:12, Paul says this, "I persevered in demonstrating among you." Watch this, "The marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders, and miracles." Okay. So listen, stay with me, let me show you both sides of this. They were solidifying the message, therefore God gave them this special ability. These guys that walked with Jesus, knew Jesus, were in the Jesus University so that God's word would be proclaimed and scripture would come into fruition. But on the other side of that, yes, miracles still happen. Yes, gifts. God does things. You can read stories of God intervening all the time. But what is our role in it? Our role is words and deeds, and let God show up where God shows up. Does that make sense? That's our role.
So for those of you that grew up in traditions that disputed that, that's the scripture. That's the scripture. God still does miracles, but God says, "Hey, you work, you speak, I'll do the miracle." But go with the text, watch what it says in verse 11. Oh man, I love this. It says this, "While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them, 'Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if it's by our power or our goodness, we had made this man walk?'" Oh man, I love this. Why? Because it would've been so easy for Peter and John to take credit for this, would it not? It would've been so easy to be like, "Look at us. Look at us. Look at us. Look at us."
Man believers, listen, it's so easy for us to take credit sometimes. But here's the point, number six. This is really short. Our calling, even when attention is put onto us, is to point all things to Jesus. You do realize that, right? That no matter what blessings, no matter what gifts, no matter what talents, no matter what God has done in you, our power is worthless without God moving in us. I love the fact that Peter's like, "Hey, no, no, no. This is about Jesus. No, no, no. This is about Jesus. Don't lift me up. Lift up Jesus. This is about Jesus. This ain't about me. I'm not the head of anything, Jesus is the head of this thing." And to prove that and to prove how the gospel is going to be preached, look at verse 13. Peter steps up at this point and says this, "The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers."
Look, you know what he was doing right here. It's kind of like saying, "Go dogs." On a Sunday. It's kind of like that. He knew he's catching their attention. Why? Because they're all Jews. He's pulling in the big hitters now. He's got their attention. But watch what he says. He says, "This has glorified His servant Jesus." Now, this deviates from the Jewish plan right here. Here's why. Because Peter's going, "Hey, hey, hey, hey. That guy wasn't just a servant. He is the servant." He wasn't just a miracle guy, He is the miracle guy. In fact, He is the one that the Old Testament has promised. He is the suffering servant that Isaiah 53 says this about, "Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him, and it calls him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his life and offering for sin, after he's suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied by his knowledge. My righteous servant will justify many and he will bear their iniquities."
You know what Peter is saying here? He's saying, "Hey, listen. He wasn't just a servant. He is the glorified servant. He is God in the flesh, and you guys missed him." And our role is to give this righteous, glorified, Messiah, servant Jesus, all of who we are. And thank goodness He's all of those things. Because if He's not those things, we're still lost. We're still in trouble. We're still marching ourselves to the temple to offer some marginal offering to God, hoping that at the end of the day, our good outweighs our bad. But what is he saying right here? He's saying, "Hey, this guy's healed because of what Jesus has done for him." In fact, write this down. Number seven, "The Savior, Jesus laid his life down and has given us the only true way to live." That's what Peter's saying. He's saying God has glorified him. And they're looking at Peter going, "You don't glorify anybody but the Father."
He goes, "Oh, yes, you do. Because Jesus is the Savior. And Jesus has lived. Jesus has died. Jesus has resurrected. Jesus is now at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf." And in my mind, I can just picture this little former lame beggar, just still figuring out how to dance a little bit going, "Yeah. What they said. That's right. And now I'm one of them." Man, I love this. But Peter doesn't quit. Peter never quits, does he? In fact, let just read you a little bit of it since we got a few minutes. Here it is. Watch this. Verse 13. He says, "You handed him over to be killed and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the holy and righteous one and asked that a murderer be released to you." Peter's like, "Hey, remember that guy, Barabbas? Boy, that was a terrible mistake, wasn't it?" But church, boy, don't we do that all the time when we exchange the temporary for the eternal?

Yes, sir.

That's what they did. We trade the holy righteous one for the lying, evil temporary that this world gives us. But keep going. Peter's not done. Watch this. Verse 15, he says, "You killed the author of life. That's a bold move, Peter. But God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this and by faith in the name of Jesus, this man, Peter..." Listen to this sermon, "This man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus's name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see." Peter's got him and a corner here. He's like, "You've seen it. You know he was lame. You know he was healed. You know who Jesus is. And now you got a problem because you're going to have to figure out how you're going to deny this or jump onto the calls."
Now, watch this. Verse 17, "Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance." He's winning friends and influencing people right here, "As did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what He had foretold through all the prophets saying that this Messiah would suffer." Oh man, I love this. Why? Because it's pointing to the last point. I'm going to close with this one. It's this. It's number eight. Peter is saying, "Listen, all of you did this. All of you were evil sinners, wretched people just like we are. But the opportunity to turn to Jesus is available, but it's not automatic."
That's what he's saying. He's like, "Listen, all of us were separated from God. All of us were sinners in need of a savior. All of us could never have enough good in our lives to outweigh the bad." All of us, the wages of our sin deserve death. But then Peter pulls up in verse 19, and listen to this last verse. And he says this. He says, "Repent then, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out. And so that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

Amen.

And that's where I want to close today because of this. Don't get hung up on the miracle. Oh, it's so hard. Is it not? Because I can just picture this guy in my mind, smiling, dancing, jumping in the presence of the Lord. But the miracle, the physical miracle, while it was incredible, but the whole thing was about, was propping up this guy that would open up a conversation to show all of these people who Jesus is. Did you see it in verse 15? That Jesus is the creator. In verse 15, that Jesus is the risen Lord. In the next verses, all of it, that Jesus is the present Lord. That Jesus is the redeeming Lord. And then lastly, not only that, that Jesus is the refreshing Lord. What does that mean?
That means that when we come to a point in our life where we realize that our sin has stained us, it's not too late for us. It means when we come to a point in our life, when we realize that Jesus really is who he said he was, that we and them, that we can turn from our sins and move from this side of the gate through Jesus the gate, into the presence of the Lord, if we will repent. Repent seems such a terrible word on the outside, but oh, it's a beautiful gift to us. That we, as God's people, can turn from our sin and turn to him as our savior. That's Peter's message. So christian, today, let me ask you this, are you walking in the spirit? I ask that almost every single week. Are you looking for opportunities to be like Peter and John right here, to be his representatives?
For those of you that are struggling in your faith today, let me ask you this. What's keeping you? What's keeping you today from saying, "Lord Jesus, I'm yours, heal me. I'm yours, save me. I'm yours, be my Savior and let me enter into your presence." Man, I'm so glad this guy's feet and ankles are healthy, but I'm so much more glad that this guy's heart is now with Jesus. But what about yours? What about yours? Would you pray with me? Lord Jesus, today, God, I just know that in a room with this many people, there are those that are here that are still on the other side of the gate. God, I'm not disputing the fact that they're hurting, broken, possibly even spiritually paralyzed. But God, I am saying there's an offer of a nail-scarred hand that wants to reach into their lives and radically save them. To pick them up, to give them new life, and to set them up to praise you for the rest of their days, just like this lame man.
With your heads bowed and your eyes closed, I'm just going to ask you, is that you? Maybe you need to just say, "Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Forgive me. Give me new life. Be my Savior. Be my Lord and I'm yours." Is that you today? Man, if it is in just a second, I'm going to stand over here by this next banner and I just want you to walk up to myself or one of these other counselors today. And just go, "Hey, I need Jesus today. I need Jesus today." But for some of you, you know Jesus, but today you just need to allow him to move in you. Lord, walk with us in these next couple of minutes and let your Spirit rule. It's in your own name, Jesus we pray. Amen.