14
Acts 3:12-18 SIMON PETER WITNESSING TO THOSE WHO KILLED
JESUS
Introduction:
In
our previous text Peter and John encountered a lame man who was begging
at the gate of the temple at
never been able to walk in all of his
forty plus years. The Apostle Peter
called upon the man in the name of Jesus
Christ of
which the man did. A great crowd of people quickly gathered
around them being
astonished at this great miracle.
In
our text today the Apostle Peter speaks to the crowd and witnesses to
them about Jesus Christ.
I.
The killers of Jesus marveling at the healing of the lame man
V.
12, “And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of
our own power or holiness we had made this
man to walk?” You will note that
Peter asked them two questions. First he asked them, “Why marvel ye at
this?”
Let me say to you that Peter was not
asking this question for information. He
knew full well why they were standing
around gazing in wonder. These people
knew this man. They knew that he had been born lame and had
been lame all the
years of his life. They knew that he sat at this temple gate
every day begging
coins.
Many of them had at one time or another given him coins. How could they
help but marvel at seeing him walk and
leap in the air?
The
second question was, “Why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our
own power or holiness we had made this man
to walk?” It was quite apparent to
the crowd of people that Peter and John
had something to do with the miracle.
The man had been lame until Peter and John
started talking to him. He had been
lame until Peter took him by the hand and
lifted him up. As far as the crowd
was concerned that man was made whole by
some mighty power which Peter and John
possessed.
But
Peter wanted the people to know that neither he nor John possessed the
power to make the lame man to walk. It was by the power of God that the man
was able to walk. It was not by the hand of the Apostle Peter
who had reached
out and caught him by the hand and lifted
upward. It was by the unseen hand of
God that he had been healed.
It
was not by their power nor was it by any special holiness on their
part.
The power that healed the man did not belong to them. Neither had the
power of God worked through them because
of any holiness on their part. He and
John were sinners even as the people in
that crowd were sinners. Peter did not
say so at this time, but the chief
difference between Peter and John and the
folks in that crowd was that Peter and
John were saved sinners. They had been
saved by that same Jesus Christ who had
made this lame man to walk.
II. Jesus identified as the Son of God
V.
13, “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our
fathers, hath glorified his Son
Jesus...” The God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob
had promised to send His Son to the nation
of
the nations of the world would be
blessed. Peter said that God has
glorified
His son.
To be more specific Peter said that God had glorified “His Son
Jesus.”
Thus God had glorified Jesus by raising
Him the dead. And God had glorified His
Son Jesus by the many miracles that Jesus
had done during His ministry. God had
now glorified His Son by healing this man
in the name of Jesus Christ. Since
Peter had instructed the man in the name
of Jesus Christ of
walk and he did.
Peter
proclaimed to all this great crowd that Jesus is the Christ. He is
the Christ whom God had promised Abraham
and He is the Christ that all of the
Old Testament prophets had spoken and
written about. He said that Jesus is the
Christ whom the people in this very crowd
had hoped for and had looked for all
of their lives. Peter said that it was Jesus who had worked
this miracle.
III.
The people in the crowd identified as killers of the Son of God
(V.
13),“...whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of
Pilate, when he was determined to let him
go”. Peter proclaimed Jesus to be the
Christ in spite of the fact that the
people who made up this very crowd had
earlier denied that Jesus is the
Christ. They had joined with the chief
priests
and scribes in delivering Jesus up to
Pilate and making accusations against Him.
They joined in with the Jewish leaders
denying that Jesus is the Christ. Even
after Pilate had proclaimed that he found
no fault in Jesus they joined in with
the Jewish leaders demanding that Pilate
put Him to death.
V.
14-15, “But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer
to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life...” Peter placed great
emphasis on the fact that Jesus is the
very Holy One of God. Peter stressed
that Jesus is no criminal. He is the Just One. He is altogether just. Yet
when given the opportunity by Pilate to
set Jesus free, they chose instead to
request Pilate to release Barabas who was
a murderer. Peter said, “You have
killed the Prince of Life.” He is the
Creator who made man and gave life to man
in the beginning. He is the Savior who gives eternal life to
those who trust in
Him for salvation. But they had killed Him.
IV.
The Christ raised from the dead by the power of God
(V.
15),”...whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.”
Peter said, “You have killed Him, but God
has glorified Him. God has glorified
Him by raising Him from the dead.”
Now
I want to point out to you that after Jesus arose from the grave He
never appeared to the general public. They never saw Him after He arose from
the grave.
He could have appeared to the public, but He chose not to do so.
But He did make numerous appearances to
His disciples. Peter said that “We are
witnesses that He arose from the
grave. We are eye-witnesses that He
arose from
the grave.” He was an eye witness. John was an eye witness. The rest of the
disciples of Jesus were eye-witnesses that
Jesus had risen from the grave.
V.
Jesus identified as the One who healed the lame man
V.
16, “ And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong,
whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which
is by him hath given him this perfect
soundness in the presence of you
all.” Peter now gets around to answer
their
question about how this man was
healed. Peter had earlier said to the
lame man,
“In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth
rise up and walk.” Now he said to this
entire crowd of people who were wondering
how this man was made whole, that it
was through Jesus whom they had killed
that this man stood before them whole.
This
was a man whom they knew. They knew that
he had been lame.
They had seen him day after day, month
after month, year after year as he sat at
the gate of the temple begging for
coins. They knew him to be a lame man
and
yet now they could see with their own eyes
that he was no longer lame.
Something had to account for the healing
of this man. It was apparent to all
that Peter and John had something to do
with it. Peter was the man who had
taken him by the hand and started lifting
him up when he suddenly jumped up.
Now
Peter tells them all that it was through the name of the man whom they
had crucified that this man has been made
whole. This was astounding news to
them.
It was disturbing news to them. If what Simon Peter had just said to
them
was true, they had committed a very
serious offense toward God. They had
crucified the Christ. They had crucified the Son of God. They had crucified
the Savior. They could assume that God was very angry at
them. Furthermore, if
what Simon Peter said was true, the
Christ, Himself, was now alive in spite of
the fact that they had killed Him and they
could assume that the Christ was also
very angry at them.
What
made it even more disturbing to them was that this man whom they knew
to be lame was now whole. This they knew to be a fact. He was walking. He was
leaping up in the air. There was strong evidence that Simon Peter
was telling
them the truth.
VI.
A hint of mercy
It
was at this point that Simon Peter’s message turned to compassion and
consolation. V. 17, “And now, brethren, I wot that through
ignorance ye did it,
as did also your rulers.” Let me say to you that Simon Peter did not
mean that
these people were completely off the hook
or that God would count them as
innocent in the matter. They had all known that they were putting an
innocent
man to his death. They had all known that Jesus was not been
guilty of any
crime.
They had all known that the accusations which they presented against Him
before Pilate were untrue. So they were
not ignorant of the fact that they were
guilty.
What
they were ignorant of was that Jesus is the Christ. They were
ignorant of the fact that the man whom
they were killing is the Christ.
Therefore, because they were ignorant of
this fact, God was willing to show
leniency toward them. God was not only willing to save them in
spite of the
fact that they had crucified His Son, but
God was anxious to save them.
Listen,
there are still a lot of people who are ignorant concerning Jesus
as the Son of God and as the Savior of
men. There are many who had never heard
the gospel of Jesus Christ. There
are many people who live under leaders who
will not allow gospel preachers to come in
among the go among their people
preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In
addition to this, there are a lot of people right here in the United
States who have heard about Jesus all of
their lives and yet they are still
ignorant about His saving grace. They have either not heard the truth about
Him
or else they have rejected the truth which
they have rejected the truth which
they have heard.
VII.
The most powerful proof that Jesus is the Christ
V. 18, “But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of
all
his prophets, that Christ should suffer,
he hath so fulfilled.” There was one
last bit of evidence that the Apostle
Peter presented to these people. He
presented the Holy Scriptures as evidence
that what he had said to them about
Jesus being the Christ is really
true. The people already knew about the
sufferings of Jesus. They had been directly involved. They had been eye-
witnesses to His sufferings on the
cross. They had been largely responsible
for
those sufferings. Then Peter pointed out to them that all of
the Old Testament
prophets who had written about the coming
Christ had predicted the very things
that had happened to Jesus would happen to
the Christ. This should have been
the most convincing evidence of all that
what Simon Peter was telling them was
the truth.
Jesus is indeed the Christ. Jesus
is indeed the Son of God.
The
best news that Simon Peter had presented to them, so far as this crowd
of people was concerned, was that God was
aware of their ignorance that Jesus is
the Christ and that He was would,
therefore, be willing to show mercy toward
them.
They could be forgiven. They
could be saved.
VIII.
The people to whom I preach today
Today
I preach to people who were not present to see the lame man walk. I
preach to people who were not present to
hear Simon Peter speak to that great
crowd of people. I speak to people who were present at the
trial and
crucifixion of Jesus and, therefore, did
not take an active part in His trial or
His crucifixion.
But
I preach to people for whom Jesus died on that cross. I preach to
people who are just as guilty of sin as
those people who crucified the Christ.
I preach to people who would surely face
the wrath of God in judgment unless
they turn to God now while there is time
and receive His mercy. And I preach to
you that just as it was the power of God
through Jesus Christ which made that
man whole, even so it the power of God
through Jesus Christ His Son which is
able to save the guilty sinner.
Just
as the Old Testament prophets had predicted the crucifixion and
suffering of Jesus Christ, even so the New
Testament writers have written
accounts of His crucifixion and His resurrection. They have written about the
wondrous grace of God that offers
forgiveness and cleansing and salvation
through faith in Jesus Christ.
What
God requires of the lost sinner is that he repent of his sin and that
he place his faith in Jesus Christ as his
Savior. John 3:16 says that God so
loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
Conclusion:
I
call upon every person here who has never made peace with God through
faith in Jesus Christ as Savior to turn to
Jesus this morning and call upon Him
from the depths of your heart and be
saved. I call upon you not only to trust
in Jesus Christ for salvation, but I call
upon you to come and walk this aisle
and publicly commit your life to Jesus
Christ.
If
there are Christians here who wish to come and make this church your
church home, we invite you to come forward
and make your wish known.