This sermon focuses on the miracles of the Lord Jesus, emphasizing how His ministry was marked by various types of miracles such as healing, feeding, deliverance, power over elements, transportation, and more. The message highlights how these miracles point to the person, character, and glory of Jesus, encouraging believers to bow down to Him and have faith in God, just as Jesus did by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit. The sermon underscores the uniqueness and significance of the miracles performed by Jesus, contrasting them with fabricated or lesser miracles found in other beliefs.

Well, what a privilege to be with you men here this evening. I never have had a strong voice. I used to be able to open air preach for about ten minutes. The last time I tried, I think it was about three sentences. Can you hear me in the back? Is everybody able to hear? Ok. We're going to be looking, as the Lord wills, at the subject of the miracles of the Lord Jesus. This first message is going to have to do with a general introduction to the miracles. And then the next three messages, we will look at one particular miracle in each message. So for our passage tonight, we'll begin in Acts chapter 2. And we'll read verses 22 to 24. I'll just read these in English, and then Diego will read them in Spanish. Acts 2, 22 to 24. Men of Israel, listen to these words. Peter is preaching here. As you yourselves know, this man delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. And God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for him to be held in its power. We're reading Acts 2, 22 to 24. Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus of Nazareth, approved man by God among you, with the wonders, wonders, and signs that God made among you through him. As you yourselves know, this man delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. And God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for him to be held in its power. Peter is standing up here on the day of Pentecost, preaching to a group of hostile, unbelieving Jews. And the first thing he does is to remind them and to press home on them the miracles and wonders and signs that have been done by the Lord Jesus in their midst. So, our first point tonight is this. The ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ was a ministry of miracles. Sometimes we don't realize how much the miracles permeate the pages of the gospels. First of all, think of the miracles of healing. Deafness, dumbness, blindness. The Lord Jesus healed blind people. In the Old Testament, there is never one example of a blind person healed. In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus healed more blind people than anything else. Fever. He rebuked the fever of Peter's mother-in-law. Leprosy. Issues of blood. That woman that had an issue of blood for many years. Lameness, palsy, epilepsy, paralysis. Palsy is something we don't think of that word too much, but remember cerebral palsy, for example, where a person can't control their movements. He healed those epileptics. He healed them. What else? Withered hands. Ears that had been cut off. Miracles of healing. Miracles of feeding. Fed to 5,000. And he fed 4,000. With a few loaves and fish. Miracles of provision. He gives the tribute money from the mouth of a fish that's caught. Miracles of deliverance from bondage to Satan. Deaf spirit. Dumb spirit. A spirit of sickness that caused a woman to be bent double for 18 long years, Jesus said. Suicidal spirits that would cause a child to throw himself into the water and die. Or burn to the fire, trying to destroy. Legions of demons. That would cause a man to run naked in the tombs and cut himself and cry out day and night. Miracles over the elements. Turning water into wine. Stilling storms. Causing the storm to be still. It says there was a fierce gale of wind. The boat was filling up with water. And he rebuked the wind. And he said to the waves, And they were still. Another time the disciples are straining, rowing, late into the night. And the Lord Jesus comes to them, walking on the water. Miracles of what you'd call transportation. As soon as he got in the boat, they were at the land. You have that in the Old Testament. You remember Elijah caught up. Philip caught up and found himself at Azotus. Miracles regarding the animal kingdom. Cast your net on this side. And you remember one time, at the first time, they had so many fish that the boats were sinking. And after the resurrection, another miracle of the same sort. Miracles regarding the plant kingdom. He curses a fig tree and it withers. Miraculous protection against his enemies. They lead him out to the brow of a hill to throw him off, to kill him, and he walks right through the midst. And they say at the end, at the time of the crucifixion, we're seeking Jesus. And he said, I am. And they all lurched backwards and fell to the ground. And on top of all those miracles, the greatest of all, miraculous power over death itself. There's a funeral procession and he sees a woman whose only son has died, and he stops and raises him from the dead. Do you remember when the widow who came with her only son died, and the Lord stopped them and raised them from the dead? Jairus' daughter says, don't bother the teacher, she's already dead. And he says, don't be afraid, just believe. And Lazarus, who has been dead four days, they said, Lord, by now there's a stench. And I think when they rolled that stone back, the smell boiled out of there. But he said, Father, I thank you, you've already heard me. And on top of all this, the greatest miracle of all, his own resurrection. Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. No one takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received from my Father. I say the ministry of the Lord Jesus was a ministry of miracles. Miracles of every sort in every kind of situation. Now those were specific individual things that I mentioned. But listen to these general statements. All of these come from one gospel, Matthew. And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. And the news about him went out into all Syria and they brought to him all who were ill, taken with various diseases. And pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics, and he healed them. And then in Matthew 8 and verse 16. When evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were ill. Matthew 9, verse 35. And Jesus was going about all the cities and the villages healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. And Matthew 14, verses 35 and 36. And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent him to all that surrounding district and brought to him all who were sick. And they began to entreat him that they might just touch the fringe of his cloak and as many as touched it were cured. Last one, Matthew 15, 30 and 31. And great multitudes came to him bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, dumb, and many others. And they laid them down at his feet and he healed them. So that the multitude marveled as they saw the dumb speaking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel. Matthew 15, 30 and 31. And they laid them down at his feet and he healed them. So that the multitude marveled as they saw the dumb speaking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel. Now I'm trying to establish one point. The life and ministry of the Lord Jesus was a life of miracles. The life and ministry of the Lord Jesus was a life of miracles. About 50 years ago the liberals were trying to find the real Jesus. They said let's get rid of all those legends and stories about miracles and just find the real Jesus. He was just nice to people and said love one another and that kind of thing. Well they found out that no matter how you try to separate the gospels you never arrive at a non-supernatural Jesus anywhere in history. There is no non-supernatural Jesus in history. Have you ever wondered about this? You have a history book, maybe some of you college students. You have a history book of 2,000 pages. And even a secular historian would have to admit that the Lord Jesus affected history more than any other man who ever lived. But in a 2,000 page history book you have two pages about Jesus. Why is that? Because the Lord Jesus Christ is too hot to handle. You start to talk too much about Jesus and before long you have to start talking about who He is and what He said. If you admit that He ever lived and it's absolutely certain that He lived then you have to ask what He was like. And if you ask what He was like you're confronted with His miracles. And as soon as you face His miracles you have to make a decision about what you're going to do with them. And you're either going to have to bow the knee to Him or you're going to have to spit on Him. Many years ago I read an article in the Humanist magazine I don't know if they still have that magazine or not. It should have been called the Anti-Christian magazine. But there was an article entitled Was Jesus Christ Crucified Under Pontius Pilate? And then the subtitle of the article Did He Ever Even Live? Now that ought to be a great encouragement to every Christian. Because it is absolutely certain that Jesus lived. You see, this is not a matter of history it's a matter of hatred. You open the door a little bit and you say, this Jesus of Nazareth, He lived. Have you ever thought about this? You take these Gospels where did they come from? They were written in the lifetime of the men who knew Jesus. Where did they come from? Do you really think that the disciples made up the Sermon on the Mount? Do you really think they made up the Last Supper and the things that Jesus said to them at the Last Supper? They didn't even understand any of it until years later. You see, there's one explanation. They saw that which we have seen and heard we declare to you. And I am so grateful that Christianity is not the philosophy of any man. I don't care what the Apostle Paul thought about philosophy. And I really don't care what Peter would have said about philosophy or John or any of the others. But what happened? They said the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory. It was different than anything in this whole world. It was a unique glory, the glory as of the only begotten from the Father full of grace and truth. That which we have seen and heard we declare. So all they were, they were witnesses of what they had seen and heard. Beloved, you're not dealing with the philosophies of men, you're dealing with something that happened in history. God came into history. Just think of this, all of the major world's religions could do just fine without miracles. Hinduism, it's a philosophy. Confucianism. Islam. These are rules and ways. Buddha says this is the noble path, follow that. But you take the miracles out of Christianity, you don't have anything left. Because God coming into the world and becoming man is itself a miracle. Think about it, the Lord Jesus Christ miraculous, He has a miraculous birth. He has a miraculous childhood. His ministry, His life, He's miraculously sinless. He does all kinds of miracles throughout His ministry. And then He has a miraculous death. He didn't die as a martyr. You tell me who else, the sun goes black for three hours when they're dying. Who sweats drops of blood before He goes to the cross. Who has the earth shaking. And the veil of the temple torn from top to bottom. It's a miracle, miracle, miracle. And then miraculous resurrection from the dead. And the disciples go out telling everyone He's risen, He's risen, He's risen. Read it in the book of Acts. The resurrection exploded on them, they didn't believe it at first. They thought these were silly women telling tales. And the Lord Jesus appears to them and says the spirit doesn't have flesh and bones like I have, you have anything to eat? You think He was hungry? He wanted to show the reality of His resurrection. He wanted to put an end to this idea that they saw some hallucination. See, miracle is all through Christianity. And there's nothing without it. You know what it's like when people make up miracles? Let me give you some examples. They said that Mohammed could make water come out from between his fingers. And he rode his horse Borak to paradise and back. And he was greeted by walking trees and stones. How about Buddha? He said when he was born as a baby he clapped his hands and said I have arrived. Can you tell any difference between that and the Gospel accounts of Jesus' miracles? And the same thing is true when so-called Christians tried to make up miracles. You know those newer things that came later, the Gospels, pseudepigraphs called false writings. You know it's the big rage nowadays, the Gospel of so-and-so, oh they've discovered the Gospel of so-and-so. Let me give you an example of one of the miracles in one of those Gospels. The boy Jesus takes balls of clay and throws them up into the air and turns them into birds for the entertainment of his playmates. That's the kind of stuff men come up with. But the miracles of the Gospel are in a totally different realm. They're not just raw works of power. They're not the tricks of a divine magician trying to get a crowd. In fact the opposite, he said don't tell anybody. He didn't want to have a big crowd where he would be considered a revolutionary and not be able to come into the city. The miracles are never done for selfish motives. Fear the Son of God, just command these stones to be bread. No, he wouldn't do that. These miracles are sublime, they're glorious. And it's even more than the fact that he was helping those who were sick and hurting. The Bible says that these miracles were more than that, they were signs. Lord willing we're going to talk about three of those. What is a sign? What is a sign out on the highway? It points toward something. The miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ point toward the person and character and glory of the one who's performing them. So he's getting ready to heal a blind man and he says I am the light of the world. He feeds the 5,000 and then he says I am the bread of life. He tells Peter cast your net in, they encompass all these fish. Then he says don't be afraid follow me I'll make you fisher of men. And Peter throws the net in on the day of Pentecost and encompasses 3,000 fish in one day. You see he's teaching us something. So think of this, the miracles of the Lord Jesus, this is the second point, they ought to cause us to bow to him as Lord. This is what the people of his day said. Nothing like this was ever seen in Israel. We have never seen anything like this. These are all from separate places in the gospel. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. So what did Jesus say? If I had not done among them the works which no one else did they would not have sin. But now they have both seen and hated me and my father as well. Beloved the human race will answer for its rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. God put his stamp on Christ. What Peter says to those Jews, a man attested to you by God with signs and wonders and miracles which God did through him. And you remember how John ends his gospel, he says many other signs Jesus did which are not recorded. But these have been recorded that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. And any man who would read those accounts in the gospel of John which he selected each one. Any man that would read those honestly would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the second point. First point, the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus was a life and ministry of miracles. The second point is we ought therefore to bow the knee to him and believe on him. The third point is this and this is amazing. The miracles of the Lord Jesus ought to encourage us to believe God. You see the Lord Jesus Christ did not do his miracles as God walking around in a human skin. He did his miracles as a man trusting in God and the power of the Holy Spirit. What did Peter say right here in these verses we read? A man attested to you by God. A man attested to you by God with signs and miracles and wonders which God did through him. You see this in the gospels. In Luke chapter 5. It says the power of the Lord was present for him to perform healing. Isn't that amazing? Here's the Lord Jesus Christ and it says the power of the Lord was present. Not always the case but that day the power of the Lord was present for him to perform healing. In John 14 he says the father abiding in me does his works. And then in Acts 10 38 and 39. You know of Jesus of Nazareth how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power. And how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all the things he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. How did he do these miracles according to the Bible? He did them by the power of God. With him. He did not draw upon his inherent powers as a second person of the Trinity. He's relying upon the Holy Spirit's help. It's good to study commentary. But a lot of commentaries have this totally wrong. Every time Jesus does a miracle they say his divine nature did that. But whenever he's thirsty or something like that they say his human nature did that. Beloved natures don't do things. A nature cannot think and act and will. It's a person who thinks and acts and wills. A lot of commentators will say well when Jesus had some knowledge about what someone was thinking they'll say see that shows that he was omniscient. No, it shows that he was relying on the Holy Spirit continually. You have one person in the Lord Jesus Christ. Two natures but one person. And that one person said that there are some things that he did not know. He said of that day and that hour no one knows. Not even the angels, not even the sun. He's saying God hasn't revealed that to me. Now understand me. At any time the Lord Jesus Christ could have drawn on his powers as the second person of the Trinity. But he steadfastly refused to do that. Why? Because he had to win the battles as a man. He had to win where Adam failed. Not as God walking around in a human skin knocking boulders out of the way. He had to win as a man utterly dependent upon the Father and listening to the Father all the time. The son can do nothing except what he sees the Father doing. He had to win the battle without any trick cards up his sleeve. In order to be the second man and the last Adam. And so he's constantly dependent upon the Father looking to the Father. I love the passage in Hebrews 2. Both he who sanctifies, that's the Lord Jesus, and those who are sanctified are all from one Father. And for that reason he's not ashamed to call us brethren. Amazing, we're brothers of the Lord. He's both our God and our brother. He's not ashamed to call us brethren. He's not ashamed to call them brothers. And then he quotes from the Old Testament. Saying, I will declare your name unto my brothers. That's what he was doing throughout his lifetime. Declaring the name of the Father to us. And then he says, in the midst of the church, in the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise. That means that God incarnate took his seat out in the congregation right out in there and sat beside us and sang praises to God along with us as a man. And then he quotes another passage. And again, and he quotes from the Old Testament concerning the Messiah. And again, I will put my trust in him. This is the Messiah speaking. He says, I'm going to put my trust in God. You see, as a man, he comes down and he wins the battle that Adam lost. And when he walked on water, when he raised the dead, he was doing that as a man, trusting fully in the power of the Holy Spirit. Beloved, we have never seen what man was meant to be. We have no idea how far we've fallen, how pathetic we are. And we haven't even talked about our moral depravity. One last passage. In Mark chapter 11. And verses 20 and 22. And Jesus answered them. Now this is the fig tree that he cursed. Let's read verse. I'll read verse 20 and 21 first. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. And being reminded, Peter said to him, Rabbi, behold the fig tree which you cursed has withered. And verse 20. Go ahead. Rabbi, the fig tree you cursed has withered. And Jesus answered saying to them, of course, Peter, I'm God incarnate. He didn't say that, did he? He said, you have faith in God. Amazing. In the parallel passage in Matthew 21, he says this. If you have faith and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and cast in the sea, it shall happen. 21, 21, 20 and 21. So back in Mark 11, he says, have faith in God. Therefore I say to you all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you've received them, and they shall be granted you. Have faith in God. So simple, isn't it? Hudson Taylor had that as the motto of the China Inland Mission. We visited there in 1988, the remains of the mission. And it's still there over the archway. Have faith in God. You remember the Lord Jesus said, according to your faith, be it unto you. And you can almost say, according to your unbelief, be it not unto you. Now what are we going to do? You squint your eyes harder, trying to believe? That's not going to work, is it? But at the very least, we can come to the Lord and say what the disciples said. Lord, increase our faith. Increase our faith. Well, the life of Jesus was a life of miracles. That ought to make us bow down to Him. But it also ought to encourage us to believe God. Lord willing, tomorrow we're going to start looking, we'll have time for three of those miracles, and we'll try to find out what He's saying to us in those miracles.