A Lame Man Healed

Last week we spent some time away from the Book of Acts, if you weren't here. I had a message on the sleight of hand. The sleight of hand.

How that oftentimes people take terminology that's outside of the Bible and by sleight of hand bring it into the Bible and actually contradict the Bible with words that are not actually biblical words. And so we spent some time last time on that, but we're going to get back here to Acts chapter number three. If you remember there, the Peter and John were heading into the temple.

It was the hour of prayer, and they saw, or Peter saw, a lame man that was at the gate. And this lame man was healed. And we spent some time on the healing of the lame man last time.

And there have been two major miracles that have happened so far in the Book of Acts. The speaking in tongues in Acts chapter two, which caused many people to come together in amazement and to wonder and ask the question, what does this mean? And then Peter has his first sermon on the day of Pentecost, and many people, 3,000 people are converted. And then here in chapter three, there's another miracle, and that is the healing of this lame man.

And through this healing also, thousands of people perhaps are rushing into Solomon's porch. And by the way, the temple was not some synagogue where you, or there was a synagogue there, but the temple is filled with many porches and public areas, open areas. Jesus sat and taught in those open areas.

But many people are rushing together into this porch, Solomon's porch. It says they're greatly wondering because this man, whom I'm sure they all knew, he was laid there daily at the gate, and they'd seen him daily begging. It was an amazing thing to see this man up and walking.

And so God does another miracle, and this draws a great crowd, and Peter sees the great crowd. And men, just encourage you, you know, in the early church, when they saw a crowd, they didn't run away from it. They used that opportunity to preach to it.

And a lot of you like to go one-on-one, but it's much better to put your seat out when a thousand people hear it than just one. And as you speak the word of God, many, many ears can hear. And so Peter takes this opportunity.

Something I want to bring in here, I didn't bring in last time, but if you look over to Acts chapter 4, in verse 22, it says, for the man was above 40 years old on whom this miracle of healing was showed. And so this man is probably mid-40s, and maybe that's an unusual thing that this miracle actually was to an older individual, but 40-some years old, this amazing miracle has taken place, and this man is healed, and he's up jumping around and walking. And so we're going to pick up, starting in verse number 12, what happens? Well, we'll go back and start in verse 11, but Peter is going to have another sermon, and I'm going to break this sermon down into two parts.

We're going to look at verse 12, down through verse number 18, and then we'll finish up the sermon, Lord willing, in two weeks from now, because next Sunday we'll have our tent meeting also. So here in chapter 3, verse 12, let's pray, and then we'll consider the scriptures this morning. Heavenly Father, thank you so much this morning that we can have light, and the light of the law of the Lord, which converts the soul, and we can understand the truth of you and how you operate amongst the children of men.

And so, Lord, we come humbly and openly to the word of the Lord, and I do pray that as I share, and what you've given me to share, that you would also apply these things and speak individually to each one of our hearts. May faith rise up again, Lord, in each one of us, and may the word of God produce that which is supposed to produce. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, and may we respond to what we hear in faith.

Bless the congregation and each one of us as we understand and hear your word. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so here we are in chapter 2, or chapter 3, verse 11, and I want to start out there, and as the lame man, which was healed, held Peter and John, and I'm seeing this man, he's jumping around, but he's still holding on to Peter and John.

Someone says, well, maybe he wasn't totally healed. Yes, he was totally healed. The only problem was he was laying from his womb, from the mother's womb, and so he never went through the process of establishing, you know, the brain waves and the habitual ideas of walking, and so that was never, I guess God could have put that in his brain, but he was still learning like a child to walk, but he was certainly healed.

It says, as the lame man, which was healed, held Peter and John, all the people ran together, this is a flash mob here, unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's Greatly Wondering. So you can imagine, maybe you're in Solomon's porch that day, and someone comes up and says, hey, the man out there in front is healed, and you go, what? What do you mean? The guy in there, yeah, he's healed, he's up here jumping around. Let's go see, and this family runs, where are you going? This man is healed, and the guy out in the front, you know, has been out there all his life, he's supposed to be healed, he's jumping around over here, and everybody's starting to run, let's go, and they're all running to see this amazing thing.

Word is spreading quickly through the crowd, and so Peter sees this in verse 12, and he answered unto the people, ye men of Israel, why marvel you at this, or why look you so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk. Now, I really like this, you know, here is Peter, he has just experienced, both he and John, an amazing healing, a notable healing, but Peter does not draw attention to himself. As a matter of fact, Peter detracts the attention away from him, and in verse 13, he's going to point it to where we all ought to point it, and that is to the glory of God.

And so here is Peter, he is filled with the Holy Ghost, and there's not a self-righteous bone in him, and he's wanting to detract attention. How many people would say, well, you know, I had been living a pretty holy life, and I did spend a couple of hours in prayer, you know, and look at me and my spirituality, and but he doesn't do anything like that. As a matter of fact, it looks like these people are wanting to praise him, and like another place in the book of Acts, you people are gods, and exalt him, but Peter wants nothing to do with it.

He wants all the glory to be to the Lord. Now, I'm sure many people, if they would have an experience like this, would probably start a healing ministry and put signs out front, and exalt an individual's name, but that's not in the heart of the Spirit of God, who is controlling Peter. And so Peter is not exalting himself, and that's something that, you know, we all face, every one of us.

It's called the pride of life. It's the spirit of this world to lift myself up to when something happens. Maybe I'm, I do a good job at my business, or I make a lot of money, or I have some spiritual thing happen to me.

Well, I'm going to lift myself up in the eyes of others, and this idea that I need to be lifted up obviously needs to be eradicated. It's called in the Bible the pride of life. Look over with me to Acts chapter 8. I won't have you turn too far.

Acts chapter 8, there's a man over here who has a problem with this idea of being lifted up. In Acts chapter 8, starting in verse number nine, it says, but there was a certain man called Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria. This is this, giving out that himself was some great one.

Here you go. This is the opposite extreme. I am the great power of God.

You ever seen someone stand up and say things like that? I, you know, I'm the great power of God. Verse 10, to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, this man is the great power of God. And so you see the opposite.

And by the way, he's being led by another spirit. He's not being led by the Holy Spirit. And so he's exalting himself.

And so let's not have this self-righteous, self-exaltation spirit. You know, if God uses you to do something wonderful, maybe something miraculous, point and deflect everything to him. When people come and try to exalt you, ah, nothing about me.

I'm just a channel. I'm just someone who the Lord is flowing through. It's all to the glory of God.

And so we're not to be promoting ourselves. Neither are we to be promoting men. You know, there's a lot that's going on today.

Men worship. Oh, brother, so-and-so is such a great power of God. Sister, so-and-so is such.

No, no, no. It's, it's all the Lord. And he is the great power of God.

John 7, 18, Jesus said, he that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory. You got that? He that speaks of himself seeks his own glory, but he that seeks his glory that sent him, the same is true and there is no unrighteousness in him. So it's the heart of God that, and it's the heart of the spirit of God, that we would seek his glory and not our own glory.

And so self-promotion, I just want to talk about that a little bit. Self-promotion, it's not good. Exalting self.

Maybe even say it this way. Don't exalt our church. Don't exalt self.

Don't exalt your family. Putting your family above others, your church above others. Let's be humble and let's give whatever glory, let's give that to the Lord.

This whole idea of denominationalism, which I've talked about a lot, it comes out of this idea of pride. Pride. We're better than you.

We're exalting ourselves above you. We're pulling aside because we're better than you. First Corinthians talks about those who said, I am of Paul.

Why did they say I am of Paul? I am of Apollos. Why did they say I'm of Apollos? I am of Cephas. Why did they say I'm of Cephas? What about Paul? Apollos and Cephas.

Well, Paul. Paul, he's the best Christian and I'm with him. We're better than everybody else.

Well, Cephas. Cephas, Jesus said, I'm going to build my church upon this rock, supposedly. Cephas, he's the great Christian.

We're a part of him. Apollos, what an eloquent man. What mighty in the scriptures.

We're a part of that group. And in those statements, there's this heart of we're better than you are. And because we're better than you are, we're going to divide and separate.

So we have our little group over here because we're better. And you all stay over there because you're not like we are. But simply, Peter understands that he is a channel for God to flow through.

Let me ask you this. When you're thirsty, you're famished, maybe you come to the faucet and you get that water, you turn the faucet on and that cold water comes out and you drink the water. How many of you praise the faucet? I don't think anybody, I've never heard anybody praise the faucet.

Thank God for the faucet. Has anybody ever done that? I don't think I've ever done that. I always say, thank God for the water.

Thank you, Lord, for the water. It's the water that is quenching my thirst. And it's the faucet that makes a channel for the water to come through.

And all you and I are that faucet. And we just need to keep our levers open so that the water, the spirit of God can flow through each one of us and minister to others. And people can say, thank God for what God is doing and not praise God for you.

And so, Peter did not want to attract attention to him. I want to read to you, you don't have to turn to this one, another passage here in 1 Corinthians. Paul dealt with this in 1 Corinthians 3. He says this, and I just quoted this verse a bit ago, but while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? Who then is Paul? Listen to this.

And who is Apollos? Who are these people? By the way, Paul's writing this. Who is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believe, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then, neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.

And that's always a good lesson for us. We go out there and we plant seed. Many people water it through their prayers.

We plant and water, but all of us know in our gardens, we can do the planting and the watering, but praise be to God. He is the one that gives the increase. And it says here that the planter is nothing, and the one who waters is nothing, but it's God who gives the increase.

And so I am just blessed here by Peter's attitude, and what a time for Peter the great preacher to take credit for this miracle that he did, he does. But in verse number 12, it says back in Acts 3, and when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? And again, it's not, Peter says, it's not me. It's not my power.

It's not in my ability. There's nothing in me. It's God.

It's working in me, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. It's not my power. And one thing that we all have to learn, and sometimes it takes a long time to learn this, but God does what he does to glorify himself.

God does not do things to glorify man. And if you're seeking to be glorified, you're going to have a hard time having God work through you. Bible says he does all things to the glory of himself, to the glory of God, and we're to be in that channel, to live for the glory of God, and not for the glory of men.

Ephesians chapter 2, one of my favorite verses, says that we are saved by grace through faith, and that not of yourselves, lest any man should boast. And that's a dangerous thing. God says, I'm going to save your souls down there, and I'm going to do it apart from your works entirely, because I don't want anybody to be boasting, lest somebody boast.

Like, God, I'm saved because of my holiness. Boast, boast, boast. The Lord says, I'm not going to save you for that, because I don't want to have any boasting.

You know, in heaven, there'll be no self-righteous boasting. Everybody's going to be glorifying God. Might as well start here.

And then he goes on to say, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. And so we're his workmanship. So, if I'm a painter, and I have a canvas up here, and I'm some great painter, I don't know any of the names, da Vinci, and I'm making this glorious painting, and everybody is really impressed about it, should the canvas then start glorying? No.

The canvas is just there to be written on. There's no boast for the canvas. And so we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.

And so Peter here does not take any credit for what is happening. He doesn't say, well, it's because of our own power. And here's something I think we all have to think about.

Neither is it because of our holiness. Look at this. I'm a holy person, maybe, but God didn't do this because of my holiness.

You know, a lot of us think that way. God is going to bless me and cause me to do great miracles because I'm just a holy guy. And you know, really, I deserve these things because of my holiness.

And here, Peter doesn't even acknowledge that. It's not by our own holiness that we made this man to walk. Because if it were by my own holiness, I'd get some credit for it.

But the Holy Ghost is not going to give man any credit. And I love the verse in the Old Testament where God says, I will not give my glory to another. Now, you might think God is selfish.

He's the creator of all things. He made everything. As we heard this morning, he gives you life and breath.

He deserves to be glorified. And everything is about him. So it's not about my power, neither is it about my holiness.

Now listen, if you listen to people talk, and many of us listen to people talk, you can see that oozing out of us. God help us, that oozing of self-exaltation, telling stories to lift me up, giving events in life to lift me up. And I think if God does a wonderful thing through you, you ought to come up here and people ought to just be magnifying the Lord, what he is doing, and amazing Jesus, amazing Lord that we have.

But human nature likes to magnify itself. And so that leads to pride, and pride leads to problems. And I've seen this in church life over the years.

The Bible says all contention comes of pride, and so pride brings problems. And folks, listen, churches have problems because there are proud people. Churches have strife because there's proud people.

Are you ready for this? Marriages have strife because people are proud, right? People are just proud. Families have strife because of pride. So we ought to esteem others better than ourselves.

I like this verse, 2 Corinthians 10, verse 12 says, but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. Here's some wisdom for you. Measuring yourself with someone else.

Let's see, here's a 12-inch ruler. Measure me with a 12-inch ruler. Well, how do you measure yourself? The Bible says if you measure yourself among yourselves.

So if I measure myself to Chris, well, Chris is doing this and this and this, so I need to measure my life with him, or measure my life with Brother Mike. If I measure myself how I'm doing with each other, I might be exalted in pride in saying, well, hey, I'm not doing that bad. When I measure myself with so-and-so and I get a little haughty and a little lifted up that I'm not doing that bad, but where do we measure ourselves? Where's a good place to measure yourself? Bible says, be holy for I am holy.

Every one of us, if we measure ourselves with the Lord, guess what's going to happen? You're going to say, oh Lord, I have a ways to go and you know my brother over here, he has a ways to go too, but I'm in no position to be critical of him because I have my own needs. Keeps you real humble. But once you start looking around and measuring yourself among yourself, you start getting lifted up a little bit, and you start saying, well, I'm better than this person, and I'm better than, and our church is better than that one over there, and my family is a whole lot better than most of the families around here.

By the way, always be careful of that word better. Be careful to use that word better, especially when you're referring to yourself, better. But if each one of us will measure ourselves with the proper measuring tool, and that is the person of Jesus Christ, because God is seeking to conform you into his image.

And so measure yourself with the person of Christ. I don't know about you, but you know, when I look at the Lord, I look at my life, it's like, it's very humbling. It's very humbling.

And when you see how far you've got to go, it's not real easy to turn around and criticize people who haven't come as far as you have, because of your own needs. And so measuring yourself with the right instrument, or comparing yourselves among yourselves, and the Bible says here that it is, it is not wise to do so. So when you're looking around, and you're trying to figure out if you're better than someone, or our family, you know, our family is a lot better than our family, or our church, you know, we've got the best church, and all this.

You need to keep, stop looking this way. And maybe look this way, Lord, is this church that we are a part of, is it the church that you want? Ooh, when I read the Bible, we're lacking. And so we are in no place to be critical of others, or exalt ourselves above others, in my own personal life, my family life, or in my church life.

And in that way, we'll all stay humble. And in many ways, we'll stay broken. And that's a good place to be.

And I found this over the years, that generally, when we compare ourselves among ourselves, how many of you compare yourself with others, and take the measuring tool of the things you're failing in, to compare yourselves to others? You know, maybe I'm struggling with, say, lust, and having an evil imagination. Well, I'm going to compare myself to others in that area. And you find out, whoa, I'm woefully bad.

But most of us, when we compare ourselves with others, we pick the thing that we do the best, or the top 10. And it's our pride. Well, I do this really good.

And we do this really good. So we'll compare on that basis. And it's just a pride of our hearts.

And so again, Peter does not in any way point attention to himself. Verse 13, he points attention to the right place. This great multitude is rushing into the temple, and he says, The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

And so here, Peter says, the glory is due to two individuals. The glory is due to the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. And the glory is due to his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so let's point the glory this way. God is to receive the glory. And I think it's interesting here that God has glorified his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

What does it mean to glorify someone? Well, I looked at that word. It simply means to give honor or position to someone. God has glorified his son.

This is amazing. He raised the Lord up from the dead. He seated him at the highest place, where every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.

He is seated at the right hand of God, and he is given a place of glory. He is in authority. Jesus said, all power and authority is given unto me in heaven and earth.

That's an amazing statement. I was looking at that this morning. All power.

You say, Heavenly Father, what about you? All power and all authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. That's being glorified right there. That's being lifted up.

Now, here's the secret to the Christian life. And the devil found this out in Isaiah chapter 12, that this is not the way to go. The devil exalted himself.

He said, I'm going to be like God. I want to sit in the clouds of the north above the angels to hear of God. I'm going to be like the most high.

Self-exaltation. And he got cast down, didn't he? Here Jesus comes to the earth, and he says, I'm going to humble myself. I'm going to make myself as low as I possibly can.

Philippians says he became a man. He went to the cross. He suffered all this lying and reproach.

He died. He was buried with the wicked. I mean, he went down, down, down, down.

And then the Lord put him to the highest place. And so, as young people, older people, what you need to consider is what direction are you going? Do you want to be lower and lower and lower and lower and lower in this life? That in the life to come you'll be exalted to a high position? Or do you want to try to get higher and higher and higher and higher and have the esteem of men and the praise of men? When you die, you're going to find yourself being cast down and put in a low place. So Jesus was glorified.

And I don't have time to go into all this, but I was just going through John again. You know, here Jesus, he says, I come to do your will, Father. I come to lay my life down, whatever you want.

I'm here to please you, Father. I'm surrendered to you. I don't even speak words than what you give me.

And total surrender. And that total surrender led him into a life of suffering, a life of persecution, and ultimately a life of martyrdom and death. And God said, well done, my son.

Well done. Now I'm going to take you out of that grave, and I'm going to raise you up to the highest place in heaven. And I'm going to tell your followers to follow you.

Follow him. Follow him. And what are we supposed to do? Just surrender.

Lord, here it is, my life. I'm here to do your will. Matter of fact, I'm here to please you, whatever you want.

And that's going to lead me, I know, into persecution. It's going to lead me into suffering. It may lead me into death.

But when I get in that grave, you're going to raise me out, and I'm going to be seated in a high place in the world to come. Isn't that the direction we all want to go? Now, I know we can see that, but how many of us are making the wise choices that we need to get to that place? And, you know, my heart is that we all can get to a good place in eternity. And it's not pride.

It's not pride. You know, when Peter asked the Lord, Lord, we've forsaken everything. Lord, what are we going to get for it? And Jesus did not rebuke him and say, well, why are you so concerned about rewards? He said, well, I'll tell you what you're going to get in regeneration.

When the Son of Man sits upon the throne of his glory, you're going to sit with me on 12 thrones. I'm going to give you a place of authority and a place of leadership. And I believe that with all my heart.

Some of you are going to be in a high place of authority and eternity. Some of you are not. And it all depends on how low you're willing to go here.

Are you willing to say it's your life, Lord, whatever you want with it? I mean, if you want to take me down to the bottom and people lie about me, curse me, spit on me, beat me, and I say nothing, and I die, and I want a cross, and they bury me, and they forget me. I'm still going to be raised up. So, Peter points here to Jesus, and Jesus is this example.

And so I would encourage you, best decision you can ever make in life is just to say, Lord, I surrender. I'm going to do your will. I'm going to please you with my life, and I'm going to go take the low road.

People are going to hate me. They're going to persecute me. I'm just going to do your will, just like your son did.

Showed me an example, and my hope is outside of this world. My hope is in eternity. My hope is not here.

I don't have a hope for a million dollars, like to have that offering Brother David was mentioning. My hope is not a boat and a fast sports car and all this stuff. My hope is outside of this world.

My hope is in eternity. That's what faith is, isn't it? Living life for what you can't see, but only what is testified in the Word of God. So, God raised him up.

He's exalted. The Bible tells us he has given him a name which is above every name. If you go into eternity, you're going to find that there's one person's name that's higher than every name, and it's not George.

It's not Bob. It's Jesus, Yeshua. I don't know what language you're going to speak when we get into heaven, but his name is higher than any, and he has the highest place of authority.

I think of Joseph there in Pharaoh's court. Everyone had to answer to Joseph. Joseph was the right-hand man of Pharaoh, and so everything went through Joseph.

Look, let's keep reading here in verse 13. The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his son Jesus whom you delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. And I thought about how many people throughout history have argued about who really killed Jesus, and I understand that we all killed him.

I mean, he was on the cross because of my sin, and I've told you this story. The man who had the dream one night, and he dreamed that he was at the cross during the crucifixion, and he was seeing this Roman soldier about to go up and spear Jesus in his side, and this Roman soldier had one of those helmets on, and so he rushed up in his dream to grab that Roman soldier and to stop him, and he turned the Roman soldier around, and he looked inside that helmet, and he saw a face, and guess whose face it was? It was his own face. He was so startled, he woke up.

He realized, you know, that it wasn't the Romans. It wasn't the Jews. In many ways, it was every one of us, right? We all put him on the cross, but the Bible does say that the Jews are the ones who truly killed Jesus.

It says here that the Romans, even Pilate, was determined to let him go. Apart from the pressure that the Jews had put on Pilate, Pilate would have let him go, and so if someone asks you the question, who really killed Jesus, biblically, the Jewish people. They killed, verse 15, the Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead, whereof we are all witnesses.

In verse 14 and verse 15 are a picture of salvation. I think it's a beautiful example here of Barabbas in verse 14, but you denied the Holy One, and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and you killed the Prince of Life. Here you got a murderer, and you had the Prince of Life, and you desired the murderer, and then you went and killed the Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead, whereof we are all witnesses, and so what a picture of salvation.

Just think about Barabbas sitting in that jail one day. He's a murderer. He's got a death sentence.

By the way, every one of you before conversion had a death sentence on you. You're going to hell. You're sitting in a prison.

You're sitting in there, and you're waiting your death sentence, and all of a sudden you hear some keys and some rattling, and someone comes, sticks a key in your door, and that metal door opens up, and he says, you're out of here. Get out of here, Barabbas. Go.

You say, what do you mean, go? I'm on trial. I'm going to the death, to the, to the death, to the electric chair, whatever they had back then, the crucifixion, and no, you're free. Go.

Boy, I tell you what, what a day that must have been for Barabbas, but you know, that's a picture of salvation, isn't it? You're in prison. You get a death sentence over here. You're going to hell, and one day the Lord comes, and you get set free.

Now, I don't mean to be critical here, but do you think Barabbas would have remembered that day? I think we ought to remember the day we're converted, don't you think? The day that we're set free, but Barabbas, he, he would have remembered that day, and I can imagine him. Think about Barabbas coming out of that prison. It's like, he gets out in the sunlight, like, what did I do to deserve that? Nothing.

That's right, you didn't do anything, and he's out there walking around, like, looking around. They come after me again. I just feel like I'm undeserving, and so it was because they put the Prince of Life to death that Barabbas was set free, and that's your salvation right there.

Prince of Life died, and you, it's like Barabbas, what did I do to deserve that? Nothing, and you're, you're set free. Well, I want to get to something here that I think is at the main thrust in verse 16, and we'll finish the sermon here, some with this. There's a lot in the Bible about faith, and I think there's a lot in the Bible about faith, because God is interested in faith, and I realize that, you know, we can pick out a few things that we focus on, but I think we ought to be real concerned about our faith and what really we, we, we have in our hearts.

Jesus one time talked to the Jews, and he said, listen, back then when, when the leper, what was his name in the Old Testament? Naaman, the leper. Got a whole bunch of Jews he's talking to. You remember Naaman? Oh yeah, I remember that story.

He said, well, Naaman, by the way, was a Gentile, and I was looking, God was looking all over the, the nation of Israel for someone who'd have faith so he could heal someone, and he couldn't find anybody. He had to go outside of Israel to some Gentile who expressed faith in order to be healed. There's no faith in Israel.

He gives a, gives another example of a woman who had needs and, with Elijah or Elisha. You know, sometimes I think we're faithless people. I think in my own heart, and one of the reasons why, maybe we don't see miracles because we don't have a lot of faith.

Say, well, I go to church. I obey this, this, this, and this, and that's good. Jews did stuff like that.

They went to the synagogue every Sunday. They obeyed many, many rules, but they were missing faith. Now, let's look here again at faith because it comes up so often, and I have to preach, I get to preach on faith a lot because God has a lot to say about it because without faith, it is impossible to please Him.

Now, what healed this man? I'd like to get down to the nitty-gritty here. What healed this man? And here he is. He's paralyzed for his entire life.

How did this practically come about? Well, it says there are two things that happen here. Verse 16, And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong. These two things, his name, that's the name of Jesus, and faith in that name hath made this man strong whom you see and know.

He repeats it. The faith which is by him, Jesus, has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. So here's the explanation.

Two things. First of all, his name, his name. Now, you need to have an understanding of the name of Jesus Christ, his name.

You need to believe that that name is exalted above every name, and that name is an acknowledgment of the fact that Jesus, Jesus died for your sins. He was buried, and three days later, he rose again from the dead. You need to believe that the Lord Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, that he is above all.

His name is exalted above all. And as he said to the disciples, All power and authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Every name is under my name.

I have authority over it all. How did this man get healed? First of all, he understood his name, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you all know this, but many believe in God.

Many false religions believe in God. You can take the Mormons, you can take the Jehovah's Witnesses, you can take the Muslims. They all believe in God.

Believing in God is not going to get you any miracles. The devils believe in trouble, but it's the name of Jesus. Jesus said this, John 14, If you believe in God, believe what? Also in me.

In me, my name. Now, here's the important thing. God wants you to believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ because everything God does or gives, he does through the Lord Jesus Christ.

In other words, God gives all his blessing and favor and grace and miracles and salvations. He gives it all through the channel of the person of Jesus Christ. And if you reject Jesus Christ, you don't believe in his name, you're going to get nothing from him.

Did you know that? People crying out to God all over the world, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah. Many people crying out to God, getting nothing but heartache and sorrow and misery. And if they don't repent, they're going to go to hell with heartache, sorrow and misery.

Crying out to God, Allah. I believe in God. We're crying out to God.

Where is God? God is saying, I'm not going to give you anything apart from I'm going to give it to you through the name of my son. The Lord Jesus. And that's why in the Bible, and it's mentioned here, you'll find this phrase through Jesus or through Christ or in Christ so many times.

Because everything God does or gives, he does through the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation comes through Christ. Let's leave Jesus totally out of it.

God, save me, please save me. Apart from Jesus, don't ever be saved. And so if God wants to save someone, he has to come through his son.

And he's made it that way. Salvation is through the Lord Jesus. Miracles.

And we see this miracle here. The miracle came through the name of someone, through the name of Jesus Christ. Answered prayer.

That's why when we pray in thy name, we are coming to God, not just God do this, but we're coming to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. We're acknowledging that Jesus is at the right hand of God. He's the son of God in all power and authority is given unto him.

Can you imagine me being a king up here? And I have at my right hand Brother Chris. Maybe we should switch that around. At my right hand, Brother Chris.

And I say, if you want anything at all from me, you've got to come through my right hand man, Chris. Joseph was that way in Egypt. If you want anything from Pharaoh, you come through Joseph.

The Bible says that Jesus is the only mediator on the one and only mediator between God and man. You can't get to the father unless you come through the son and the son or the father is not going to give you anything as a human being unless he comes through the son to do it. It's just one channel.

You come through the son to get to him and he pours out his blessing through the son to you. So I want to step outside. I don't believe in the name of Jesus.

I just believe in God and I want God to bless me. Not going to work. There's no channel to you.

Yes, I know he brings the rain on the just and the unjust, but no salvation, no miracles, no spiritual gifts, no answer to prayer. Ephesians 1, 3 says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. And what's the next two words? In Christ.

Oh, that's very important. Those last two words in Christ. He just didn't bless us.

The father didn't just bless us with all spiritual blessings and forget this son of mine, Jesus. I'm just going to pour it out on you. No, it's all in Christ.

So if you don't believe on his name, you have no spiritual blessing. So when we come to the father, we come in the name of Jesus. We all know that his name.

And so if you want something from heaven, you better acknowledge the Lord Jesus. That's why the Jehovah's Witnesses are all wrong, because they don't acknowledge Jesus Christ. They think he's some sort of an angel, the Mormons, the Catholics put him as a little baby.

And Mary is, is the one you're praying to. But Jesus is not a little baby. He's all, he's given all power and authority.

He's seated as a, as a man at the right hand of God. These are all heirs. And so the Lord said a very familiar verse, I am the way, the truth and the life.

No man comes to the father, but through me. So when Peter says that his name, the only way this man was healed was, was coming through the Lord Jesus Christ, whom you have been betrayers and murderers. Hold your finger there and turn back to John chapter 10 once.

John 10 verse 7. Then said Jesus unto them again, verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door.

Here you go. If you want to come to the father, I'm the door. You can't come some other way.

If you want God to bless you, he's going to bless you through the door. If you want to get to the father, you got to come through the door. I am the door.

If any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am cometh that might have life.

Now, if you, if you jump back to chapter 10 and verse 1, it says, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. Here's someone that doesn't believe that the only way to get to God is through the son. The only way to get a miracle is through the son.

The only way to get spiritual blessing is through the son, but they're going to come up another way. We're going in over the edge, over the sheepfold wall. They're a thief and a robber.

Everything God does, he does through his son. So Jesus says, I am the way. So any religious system, though you say God or have words about religion, any religious system that does not send you to God through the Lord Jesus Christ and also teach you that everything that God gives you comes through him or is in him, then that system is, is erroneous.

And so here in Acts, we're talking about how did this miracle actually take place? Peter says in verse 16 in chapter 3, and his name and then through faith in his name has made this man whole. So we have him there at the right hand. He has all power and authority.

Now it's faith in his name. So acknowledging who Christ is, believing he is the savior, he is seated at the right hand of God, all power and authority is given unto him, then putting my faith in him, my trust in him, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith. And so God does what he does only through faith.

Receive he the spirit, Galatians says, by the works of the law, by the hearing of faith, which one was it? By the hearing of faith. Faith. And why does God do that? So that there will be no glorying.

Now what is our part? First of all, our part is to surrender, give up. It's called in the Bible repentance, give up. I'm tired of self-righteousness, dead works.

I can't get this thing done by myself. I'm just going to give in and surrender and then believe, believe my help comes from the Lord. I'm going to trust him and look into his word and have faith.

Now I'd like to look at this story just practically. Let's just imagine you were there and let's see if there's any faith here because his name through faith in his name has made this man whole. And I look at the Bible and say, hey, I need to be whole.

You know, so when I study the Bible, I say, how can this apply to me? Let's do this for me. Forget the folks here. Let me get this thing first.

So faith in his name. Now let's look at the story and see where there's faith. Look at back to Acts 3 and 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 laying 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 asking alms. Now there's no faith as far as I can tell so far here, Peter and John are on their merry way, probably going to the hour of prayer. And this guy is up ahead.

He evidently maybe sees them first. I don't see any faith yet. Verse four and Peter fastening his eyes upon him with John said, look on us.

Now stop and think about that for a minute. What's going on in Peter's heart? Let's put you put yourself in Peter's position. He's walking in and he evidently sees this man now who's laying and he says, look, look on us.

Okay. Now what does that tell you? Well, you're jumping ahead a little bit, but that's true. What does it tell you about what Peter's thinking in his heart? Does Peter think something is going to happen here? Peter's got something in mind, doesn't he? I mean, he's not just passing by and Hey, how are you doing? Hope you get everything.

Here's a few coins for you. Of course, he didn't have anything, but he sees him over there. And I'm just being a human being now in ministry, but he sees it over there.

And I'm thinking when he says, look on us, he probably in his heart, the spirit of God, by the way, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, meekness. What's the next one? Faith. He looks on him and he says in his heart and he John's agreeing with him here.

You know, I just feel God wants to heal this man. Now, where does that come from? Well, 50 days, a month or two earlier, he's heard Jesus say, now go into all the world, preach the gospel. And these signs are going to follow you that believe number one, you're going to cast out devils.

Number two, you're going to speak in tongues. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I just spoke in tongues.

I didn't know where I got this language, but just a few weeks ago, I, I spoke in tongues over here and this is working already. They'll cast out devil speak in tongues. If they drink any dead, they cannot hurt them.

And they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Oh, spirit of God brings that to his remembrance. Of course, three years ago, he was sent out.

He was given these abilities to do all these things already. So in his heart, he's thinking and God is leaving. By the way, he's sensitive to the Lord.

The word of God is rising up in his heart. John, I think we're going to see this man healed. So he walks over there.

He gets closest. Look on us. Look on us.

Come here. Look on us. Nobody else is paying any attention.

And so in his heart, something is happening. It doesn't say that Peter, you know, rises up in faith, but Peter has a purpose. Peter is believing.

You don't go over there and say, look on me and, and have nothing to give. Okay, now put yourself in Peter's shoe. You're walking in there.

You got a lame man. You go over and say, look on us. Now, if nothing happens, you're going to look like a fool.

Look on us. Okay, so here he is in his heart. Peter has faith.

And I believe Peter here is expecting God to heal. He has faith rising up in his heart. Peter's not a doctor.

Well, he's not a doctor. I don't know what you do. Maybe give him a prescription to medicine.

I don't know. Peter's not a doctor. He is simply responding to the word of God that he understands what God has told him.

And probably the spirit of God is quickening here and reminding him, the spirit of God bringing remembrance. So he walks over and says, look at, look on us. Verse five, and he, the man, gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.

So picture this guy. He's, he's down there on his cot. And he's expecting, like, like, you know, his.

Okay, so here's Peter coming this way. These things work in his heart. And this guy is expecting on where to get something in his heart.

By the way, faith is a confident expectation of things to come. This man wasn't like many people. You don't have any money? Well, get out of here.

I don't want to, I don't want to you around, you know. And no, he was, he was expecting, had expectation. Now notice what happens here.

Then Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee. Now that's a very confident statement. That's a very faithful, filled statement.

I don't have any of that money, David, I had up here to give you. I have nothing, but I have something to give you. Now that heart is expressing faith.

I have something that's been given to me by the Lord. He told me these signs will follow me. I'm out here preaching and caring for people.

I have an expectation. Here's what I have to give you. That's a statement of faith, isn't it? Faith.

Oh, we need more of that kind of stuff. I like seeing people with that. Brother, I know you're sick, but I'll tell you what, God's in the healing business.

And I'm going to lay my hands on you, and God's going to heal you. Some people think that's a little overboard. I don't think it's overboard at all, if God's placed that faith in your heart.

And so Peter is having an internal moment of faith. I think he lived by faith. Such as I have, give I thee.

In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. Here's a pretty strong faith statement. I mean, if people probably may be walking by, but can you imagine saying that? In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk.

Do you think he expected him to rise and walk? Or do you think he was, he's not going to work. I'm going to be a fool here. I hope nobody hears me say this.

And I know that's a challenge we have with faith, is trusting God and putting ourselves. I mean, Elijah's out there saying, pour water on that sacrifice. And then he cries out to God.

I mean, this Elijah is going to be the uttermost fool if this thing doesn't happen. But he speaks forth. Here's what's going to happen.

You rise up and walk. That's a response to faith in the heart. Now, I hope I'm not stretching it here, but it says, look at verse seven.

He took him by the right hand and he lifted him up. Now you picture that man laying down there. Okay.

And he's on his side like this. I'm getting too old for this. Look on me.

And he has an expectation. Bible says he took him by the right hand. You know what that man was doing? Right? And you just see him there for faith.

And it didn't say Peter went down and grabbed his hand he had in his pocket. He said he took him by the right hand. That man was, he was like reaching.

I want it. And when the faith of Peter met the faith and expectation of this man, boom. Look what it says.

And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. Peter's faith. Come on.

I'm going to give it to you. And that man, I want to get it. And as soon as they put their hands together, I have no doubt Jesus said, you'll lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.

Those two faith that God worked in their hearts just boom. And we can have the same kind of faith. Can I get an amen for that? Or maybe the Lord just put these stories in the Bible just so we have good children's stories to read our kids when they go to bed at night.

Is that why they're here? Doesn't the Bible say faith comes by hearing and hearing by certain parts of the word of God that you've got to figure out what's for the old, the early church and what's for you now. No, it's faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You know, I've experienced some of those things.

I wish I could experience a whole lot more, just the faith in the heart rising up. You now have that faith unless you're really walking with the Lord, surrendered to do his will. And then you see a need and faith meeting faith.

And I think God wants to do that through us. I know he wants to do that through us. Forget the think part.

And so this man is lifted up and he gets strength. He gets strength in his body, never had strength before through faith in Jesus name that was in their hearts. Peter and this man.

Now you can go throughout the Bible. You see this over and over. I love the story of the lady who comes to Jesus and says, listen, in her heart, in her heart, if I can just touch his garment, I shall be healed confidence.

And you know, when she was healed, when she touched it. So faith in the heart had nothing to do with Peter's holiness. Nothing to do with anything in him had nothing to do with this man.

Who knows this man could have been, you know, I don't know. He could have been living in sin. I don't know what he was doing.

Doesn't tell us what kind of man this is, but he expressed faith. Let's keep reading here. And he leaping up, stood and walked and entered in with him 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 would set the alms of the beautiful gate of the temple. Jump down to verse 17, and I'll close here in verse 17.

And now, brethren, I want that through ignorance, you did this. So did also your rulers. But those things which God before has showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer.

He has so fulfilled. So here, Peter gives him the benefit of the doubt. You know, I'm just going to give you the benefit of the doubt.

You did it through ignorance. And your rulers did through ignorance. But listen, God is giving you an opportunity.

All the prophets showed us that Christ should suffer. He should rise from the dead. And now he is seated at the right hand on the throne of David, the highest place.

And I'll tell you what, if you believe his word, and you'll come to him by faith, he'll do things in your life. And through you. It's all about the name of Jesus.

Amen. There's nobody higher. Well, I'm going to get into verse 19 to 26.

But let me just read to you real quick what he says in verse 19, Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out when the times are refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And so he calls upon them to repent of their killing. The Messiah, the Lord, repent, believe who Jesus is, believe his name, believe that he's exalted, believe him.

And then put your faith in him. His name through faith in his name, by the way, you get saved the same way you're going to that guy got healed. You believe Jesus is the son of God at the right hand of God, he's died for your sins, you put your faith in him.

You're saved. You're healed. You're given grace.

I want that kind of faith. How about you? I'd like to just come over to someone who's sick and say rise up. All right.

From a physician standpoint, don't need to pick on your brother. We should we should put doctors out of business. Wouldn't that be good? Anyway, if you don't want to be healed, hey, you're sitting here today and you're not even saved.

Listen, you can be saved by faith. You just same way. It's his name.

He's at the right hand of God. He is. He has died and was he was buried.

He suffered. He raised from the dead. He is seated at the right hand.

He's got all authority and power. You just come to him by faith, ask him to save you, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You can be saved.

That's much better than being healed. Everything God does, he does through faith. Through Christ.

So the word of God is given to us and it helps me out. I don't know if it does it for you, but it helps me out. Whenever I study and I preach, it causes faith to rise up in my heart.

We need that. And so may God give you faith, whatever your needs are. I know somebody who's at the highest place who has all you need, right? And there's a channel coming down here for those who believe on the Lord Jesus.

Let's pray. And then we'll open it up for anyone who likes to share. Heavenly Father, thank you again for the word and this message.