13
Acts 3:1-11 SOMETHING BETTER THAN SILVER AND GOLD
Introduction:
On
the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit of God came upon the church which
Jesus left behind to empower the church to
carry out the world wide commission
which Jesus had give to her. One great evidence of the presence and power
of
the Holy Spirit was that about 3000 souls
were saved and added to the church
when Simon Peter preached on
Pentecost. Another great evidence of the
presence
and power of the Holy Spirit was the great
revival which broke out in the
church.
The people were witnessing to the people in and around
people were being saved daily and added to
the church. Still another evidence
of the presence and great power of the
Holy Spirit on the church was the miracle
which is recorded in our text today.
I.
The arrival of Peter and John at the temple
V.
1, “Now Peter and John went up together into the temple...” We should
note that even though these two men did
not go separately to the temple, but
they went together. There are several things that can account for
them going
together.
For one thing, they were friends and it is quite natural for friends
to go places together. We know that their friendship dated at least
as far back
as back as the days when both of them were
fishermen in the
They both lived at
waters.
They both tended their nets on the same seashores. They both carried
their fish to the same markets. Their friendship had been strengthened when
both of them were called by Jesus to be
His followers and to become members of
His church. So friendship alone could account for them
going to the temple
together to worship God.
Another
thing that could account for them going to the temple together was
that during the three years that they had
followed Jesus, Jesus had required
them to travel in pairs. When the twelve apostles were sent out on
tours
through
the 70 were sent out to preach, they were
also sent out in two. So by this time
it had pretty much become a habit with the
Christians. They went by twos.
Yet
there was another very powerful reason why they would go in twos at
this particular time. The Jewish leaders had succeeded in bringing
about the
crucifixion and death of Jesus and those
same powerful Jewish leaders were now
their enemies. There was at least some measure of safety in
numbers and so the
Christians would be very hesitant to
venture out in public alone. For safety
purposes they would travel in twos.
We
note further that they went to the
there at
worship services at the
lives that when they were in
there.
(V.
1), “...at the hour of prayer, [being] the ninth [hour].” It was a
practice of the Jews to gather for
prayers, hymns and worship three times each
day at the temple. They met at morning,
Jews could be present for all three of
those services. But all of the Jews who
were in the immediate area of
services.
The followers of Jesus were no exception. This had been their
practice while Jesus was with them and it
was still their practice now that He
was gone.
This particular time of prayer was said in our text to be at the 9th
hour.
That it, they met at the temple at about
The daily evening worship service began
this early in the evening. This hour
would now hold a special significance for
those disciples. It was about this
time of the evening when Jesus had died on
the cross. They would feel a special
need of prayer and worship at this time of
day.
II.
The presence of a lame man at the temple
V.
2, “And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom
they laid daily at the gate of the temple
which is called Beautiful, to ask alms
of them that entered into the
temple.” Apparently this man was already
at the
temple when Peter and John arrived. This man was a beggar. He was lame and
could not work to provide for himself and
so he depended on begging for a
living.
Each morning some kind hearted friends would bring him to the gate of
the temple where he would beg until the friends
would return and carry him to
his place of residence.
This
had been going on for many years. This
man had been born lame. He
had never been able to walk in his entire
life. He had never had the experience
of taking those first steps as a little
baby with mother and dad cheering him
on.
He had never known what it is to run and play with other children. He had
never known what it is to walk from one
place to another or to work and earn
wages.
According to chapter
of those 40 years he had been coming to
the temple and begging the people out of
a few coins.
III.
The lame man’s request and Simon Peter’s answer
V. 3. “Who seeing Peter and John about to go
into the temple asked an
alms.”
I am not certain just what this man said
to Peter and John, but whatever he said
it was a plea for some money. He was totally dependent on the mercy of the
people and he dare not let any of them go
by without asking for their help. It
was a humiliating thing to do, but he had
learned to be bold and to ask anyway.
So as Peter and John approached he called
out to them loud enough to make
certain that they heard him and he asked
for their help.
V.
4, “And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on
us.”
This was Simon Peter’s way of saying,
“Look to us. We will help you.” I wish
we could hear the voice of Peter as he
said this because I believe that their
must have been a compassion in his voice
that the lame man could sense. How it
must have cause his heart to jump with joy
thinking that he was about to get one
or more coins from these two men. This expectation must have been heightened
when he looked upon their faces. Peter had said, “Look on us” and he did and
what he saw in their faces was that same
compassion that he had heard in Peter’s
voice.
V. 5, “And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of
them.”
So
here is this lame man sitting on cloud nine all filled with hope and
joy at the expectation of getting some
coins only to hear words that would dump
him off that cloud to fall hard at rock
bottom. Peter said, in effect, “I’m
sorry, fellow, but we don’t have any
money. We’re flat broke. We cannot give
you one penny. We cannot help you. That is, we cannot help you with money.”
And then Peter added some words which
said, in effect, “But that does not mean
that we cannot help you. We can and we will help you.”
Note
what Peter actually said: V. 6, “Then Peter said, Silver and gold
have I none; but such as I have give I
thee...”
IV.
A gift worth more than silver and gold
(V.
6), “...In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth...” Simon Peter knew
that this man was about to receive a gift
that would be worth more to him that
silver and gold. It would be worth more to him than all the
money in the world.
But Peter wanted to make it clear right
off that the power for his healing was
not in either of them. The power to make his whole was not in Simon
Peter nor
was it in John. Peter was trying to make it clear before the
miracle took place
that the power to perform the miracle
would come from God Himself through Jesus
of Nazareth who had been crucified. What Peter could have said, but didn’t, was
that Jesus Himself had been in worse
condition that being lame and yet He arose
and He walked. Jesus had been dead and in the tomb and yet
He arose and He
walked.
Now in the same power that had brought Jesus from the grave would
enable this lame man to arise and
walk.
So
Peter said to that man, (V. 6), “...rise up and walk.” I want you to
take a look at this for a moment from the
human earthly point of view. Here was
this man who had never walked in his life
and he is being told to get up and
walk.
For more than forty years he had been a cripple and this man has the
audacity to tell him to get up and
walk. I can only guess what he might
have
thought.
He must have thought, “What kind of cruel mockery is this? There is
no way humanly possible for me to get up
and walk! And there wasn’t. There was
no way humanly possible for him to
walk. But the Apostle Peter was not
depending on human power. He was depending on God power. He was depending on
the power of Jesus of Nazareth. He was depending on the Jesus Christ the Son
of
God.
You
remember that Simon Peter had said, “Look on us.” As this man looked
on Peter and John and he saw in their
faces an expression of genuine compassion
and as he saw in the voice of Simon Peter
and expression of confidence in Jesus
of Nazareth, the doubt that must have been
there at first must have begun to
fade away.
He saw hope and joy in their eyes.
And after what must have been a
very long period of silence, I can see him
reach out his hand to Simon Peter.
Only he was no longer reaching for a
coin. He was reaching out with a hope
that
he had never had in his life. He had wished
a thousand or more times that he
could walk, but there had never been any real
expectation that he would ever do
so.
But now he reached out with a hope that he had never before
experienced.
V.
The miracle and the joy
V.
7-8, “And he took him by the right hand, and lifted [him] up: and
immediately his feet and ankle bones
received strength. And he leaping up
stood, and walked, and entered with them
into the temple, walking, and leaping,
and praising God.” Simon Peter was strong man. He was accustomed to handling
fishing nets that were weighted with lead
and soaked with water. He was
accustomed to pulling on the oars of a
boat. I am confident that Peter could
have reached out with one hand and pulled
that man to his feet. But he did not
have to do so. When Simon Peter started lifting that man
instantly strength
came to those feet and ankles and legs
that had never walked before and he stood
up by the strength that the Lord had put
into his own muscles. He stood up and
he took a few steps. And he pranced around. He leaped in the air. And with
every step he was praising God. I do not know for certain how loud he was
praising God, but in my own mind I am
confident that it was very loud. I think
he shouted his praises to God.
Listen. All the people who were on their way into the
temple and perhaps
a few coming out of the temple just
gathered around him and watched.
V. 9-11, “And all the people saw him walking
and praising God. And they
knew that it was he which sat for alms at
the Beautiful gate of the temple: and
they were filled with wonder and amazement
at that which had happened unto him.
And as the lame man which was healed held
Peter and John, all the people ran
together unto them in the porch that is
called Solomon's, greatly wondering.”
VI.
Something even better than this
Let
me tell you something even more wonderful than the healing of that
lame man.
Let me tell you about lost sinners.
I am talking about people who
were born with a nature of sin within
them. I am talking about little children
who, as the Scripture says, went forth as
soon as they could utter a sound
speaking lies. I am talking about people whose mouths have
been full of cursing
and taking the name of God in vain. Whose feet were swift to go to sinful
places and whose hands have been eager to
do sinful things. I am talking about
people whose hearts were deceitful, often
deceiving their own selves.
I
am talking about people who have been sinners all of their lives, some
of them for more than 40 years, some of
them much older than that. I am talking
about people who could never in any way
humanly possible make it to heaven.
But
I say to you with the utmost certainty that Jesus of Nazareth can
cleanse you of all your sin. He can save your soul. He can make you
spiritually whole. He can not only make you walk, but He can put
your feet on
the narrow road that leads to heaven.
I
am talking to you about something that is worth more than silver and
gold.
I am talking to you about something that is worth more than all the
wealth of the world. I am talking to you about your eternal
destiny. I am
talking to you about staying out of the
fires of the Lake of Fire and Brimstone.
I am talking to you about going to heaven
and spending all your eternity in
heaven.
Let
me tell you what I am going to ask you to do.
I am not going to ask
you to reach out just your hand to Jesus,
but I am going to ask you to reach out
your heart to Jesus. I am going to ask you to not only believe
that it is
possible for you to go to heaven, but I am
going to ask you to put your trust in
Jesus to take you there.
Conclusion:
I
am going to ask something else of you.
If you will reach out your heart
to Jesus in faith and trust in Him to save
your soul, then I am also going to
ask you to rise up and put legs to your
faith and come forward in the invitation
hymn and profess Jesus before men. Just as that man expressed his joy before
all that great crowd of people, even so I
am going to ask you to come forward
before this small congregation of people
which we have today and praise the Lord
for saving your soul. I am going to ask that you surrender your
life to Him.
If
there are people who have already been saved and you wish to come
forward to place your membership here in
this church, then rise up and walk.
Come forward and let your desires be
known.