Download Acts 3 - A Lame Excuse to Preach

A Lame Excuse for Preaching
Acts, chapter 3 NASV
Pastor Kevin Koop, Cornerstone Bible Church
October 18, 2009
The title of this week's message is "A Lame Excuse for Preaching!" In it we will
examine Acts chapter 3 where we find Peter and John meeting needs in their
community. In so doing, they capture the attention of the lost, who hear the gospel
and are saved. Today we may wonder if the church has anything to offer our
communities. Perhaps this is the reason many Christian churches never see the lost
come to Christ. May our testimony more resemble the early church than the
typical American church today.
We’re in Acts, chapter 3. Now, in Acts, chapter 3, we’re gonna see Peter and John going to the Temple about 3:00
in the afternoon. This is a typical standard time for the people to gather for prayer—it’s a regular time of prayer.
And as they’re on their way to the Temple, there’s another man that’s on his way to the Temple, only he can’t go
on his own. He’s lame. He’s been lame from birth, and he’s being carried to the Temple at the same time that
Peter and John are going to the Temple, only to have different purposes for going. Peter and John are going
because it’s a customary time for them to go to pray, and this man is going there because he’s been lame and he’s
gonna beg in front of the Beautiful Gate and hopefully be able to take care of some physical needs that he has.
This has been this man’s regular purpose, or regular plan, regular action, for a number of weeks, perhaps years.
We know, according to chapter 4 of Acts, that for forty years this man has been lame. He was lame from birth and
he’s over forty years old. Now that is a pretty dire and desperate situation, and it’s been his regular practice of
having people carry him to the Temple where he can beg.
When Peter and John see this man, they know that he wants money and he speaks that. He calls to them and says
basically . . . I don’t know what his pitch was . . . you guys . . . if you’ve ever encountered somebody on the streets,
they’ll usually have a pitch, something, you know, do you have some money to help, will work for food, whatever
the sign might be. This guy couldn’t have said “work for food” because he couldn’t do anything. He was just
looking for a way to subsist and continue and to feed his body. And they look at him and they make a very well
known statement. Peter says, “silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give you. Rise and walk.” He takes
him by the hand; lifts him up.
Now, there was a man named Cornelius, and he recorded a conversation between Thomas Aquinas, who is a great
theologian, greatly revered, mostly in the Catholic culture. In the Catholic Church some of their theology comes
directly from him, and some of his writings are very good. I think we are too quick to dismiss everything he said
because of his origins and because of some differences we may have. He still had some great things to say. But
Thomas Aquinas went in to visit with the Pope at the time, which was Pope Innocent II. And the Pope happened to
be counting a very large sum of money when Thomas Aquinas came in, and he said to Thomas, “no longer can the
church say ‘silver and gold have I none.’” And Thomas Aquinas looked at him and said, “and no longer can the
church say, ‘rise and walk,’ either.”
Interesting thought. Interesting comment. Sometimes, because we have accumulated other means of doing
things, we rely on those means and we’re left without the power of God. Hmm. When we have nothing, we tend
to go back to the Source of everything. When we have something, we rely on the gift that that Someone has given
us instead of the Giver of gifts. Sometimes we get a little bit messed up because we have stuff. In American
society we have much more than any other culture in the world and yet the church is probably less powerful than
any other church around the world. The church is filled with all kinds of power and there’s miraculous things that
happen in the church in other countries, but in American it rarely happens because we are of a western mind and
we rely on the things that we have—to our downfall. To our downfall. And I’m not sure how to change that. No
matter what the church possesses, if the power of God does not course through its veins, it is no more functional
than the lame beggar that Peter and John encountered on their way to the Temple.
So let’s take a look at Acts, chapter 3. I’m gonna read the first ten verses to begin with. So follow along as I read.
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. And a man who had been
lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the
temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. When he saw Peter
and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on
him and said, “Look at us!” And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the
Nazarene--walk!” And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles
were strengthened. With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking
and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they were taking note of
him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with
wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
I just saw something that I hadn’t seen in my studies up until just now. I wonder what the world looks at when they
see you. They saw this man and recognize him as the one who “used to” sit and beg alms. Hopefully, they look at
us as ones who have come to know Jesus as our personal Savior and say, that’s the one who “used to” something.
But if they look at us and say, oh, that’s the one that “used to and still does, but now he just goes to church,” there’s
something wrong with that. It’s not about just putting on church and adding it to all the other stuff. When we truly
come in contact with our God, it ought to bring a change so that there are things that used to be in contrast to things
that are—changed people. I hadn’t thought of that. It’s just a little side-line.
Verse 2 tells us that this man had been lame from birth. Acts 4:22 tells us he was over forty years old. He had never
known the freedom of going anywhere he wanted without asking somebody to take him there. Think about that for
a minute. Think about the freedom that you enjoy to get up and go where you want, when you want. And think
about the idea of being totally dependent upon somebody else to take you where you wanted to go. How frustrating
of a life would that be?
It seems that he had staked out a particular territory. Maybe this was a good place to be. Maybe this was the good
collection place. Since we moved up here to South Dakota and spent some time in North Dakota, I don’t see a
whole lot of people on the street corners here. And I think that’s because January’s coming and they know not to be
here. But in New Mexico, when we lived down there, it’s a lot warmer. I mean, I could ride my motorcycle down
there ten-eleven months out of the year. Here you can’t do that. I gotta put it away. Likewise, those that have
needs, they find out and they stake out a place—it’s their own place. And there are certain areas . . . when we
would go to Albuquerque we would see certain street corners always had the same guy that would be there. Now, I
don’t know if it was legit or if it’s not legit. I’m not here to debate any of that stuff. But they just found a place that
worked for them. Evidently this guy found a place that worked. And he goes into this area and it says in verse 2
that they set him down every day. So this was his regular ritual.
Now, I don’t know if they took him in the morning and if they set him down at the very beginning of the day and
they went about their way and went to the market and did all the things that they got to do and then came back at the
end of the day, 5:00 he punches a clock and they carry him home—or if it was because this was the 9th hour of the
day, 3:00 in the afternoon, and they know that there’s gonna be an influx of traffic—so, hey, let’s get him there
about 2:30 so that he’s ready. I don’t know. I don’t know what the thinking it, but it seems and appears that they’re
taking him on the way to the Temple at about the same time that people are going there to pray. So evidently he
thought this was a good time, or they did, so they brought him there.
I had some interesting thoughts as I was reading this and I came across Matthew 21, verses 14-16. If you want to
turn there you can, or you can just listen as I read. It says: And the blind and the lame came to him [talking about
Jesus] in the temple; and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that
he had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, Hosanna to the son of David; they became indignant
and said to him, Do you hear what these children are saying? And Jesus said to them, Yes: have you never read,
Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself?
What am I getting at? Why did I bring this scripture up? Jesus had gone to this Temple and He had healed the lame
and the blind and this guy’s been going there day after day after day, and He’s only been crucified and resurrected
about two months prior to this event. Why didn’t Jesus heal this guy? This is not that long after the Holy Spirit just
poured out on the disciples and it was Jesus regular practice to go into the Temple and seemingly everybody that
came to Him, He healed. And here’s this guy that’s been daily, regularly going to that place. Did maybe Jesus go
through a different gate? I don’t know. I doubt it. Was Jesus . . . maybe this was one that Jesus wasn’t able to heal;
is that it?
Maybe in His sovereignty He just chose not to. He has the right to do that, doesn’t He? God has the right to heal
and sometimes we pray and we either don’t seem to get an answer or God might say no to the request we had. He
has a right to do that. He’s sovereign; He’s God over all. He doesn’t have to do anything. He’s not at our beck and
command. So maybe in God’s sovereignty, Jesus’ sovereignty, He chose not to. I don’t believe that’s it.
Maybe it wasn’t that long of a practice. Maybe, because of all the other people that were getting healed in the
Temple, they no longer positioned themselves in the same place. Their space was now up for lease. I don’t know.
Maybe this was something new . . . he just like, hey, moved up into a better place, a better location where I can
receive more ‘cause these guys already got healed. They don’t have to beg anymore. I don’t know. Scripture
doesn’t give us all of those answers. All it says was this was his regular practice and he had been doing this, he had
been lame since birth. So somehow his needs were getting met.
Perhaps he had heard about Jesus coming and healing and perhaps that’s why he began to position himself in the
Temple, hoping that his day would come. And perhaps his hopes were dashed when he heard the news that Jesus
was crucified. My chance is over. I’ll never have that chance again. So I might as well just go to the Temple and
the church can maybe just help me continue my existence and the people that come can just maintain this living, this
meager living, this subsistence that I have. Maybe that’s all I can hope for and this is my only way. Maybe his
hopes are completely dashed and that’s all he thinks of anymore.
I don’t know what was going on in his mind; but it almost seems like when he gets to this point, he’s not even
expecting anything from Peter and John. They had to get his attention, it says. They looked at him—he’s calling for
money or whatever, going through his routine. But he’s not even really paying attention to them ‘cause they look at
him and say, “Look at us.” And he was like, “Oh, okay.” Now he’s looking. Now his interest is piqued. “Hey, I’m
gonna get something.” Little did he know what he was gonna get. I wonder and think that maybe this was kind of
like a Catch 22 situation for this man. He knows he needs to get to Jesus so that he can get healed, but he needs to
get healed so that he can get to Jesus. Follow? How do I get to Him. They can position me as best as possible; but
if Jesus doesn’t walk close enough, the crowds are gonna block Him out so I can’t get there. I don’t know.
Somehow, though, this guy wasn’t healed and somehow his day came. They catch his attention, “Look at us.”
Can you imagine the words or the thoughts when Peter and John look at this man and say, “Hey, look at us,” and he
looks at them expecting something and the first words out of Peter’s mouth are “Silver and gold I don’t have.” Can
you think he’s probably, “Okay, well now I might as well just stop looking over here and I’m gonna look over this
way now. I’m gonna try and call out to somebody else, ‘cause I know what I’m needing and you evidently don’t
have it. But what we do have we give you. Rise and walk. In the name of Jesus. Grab him by the hand and lift him
up. And strength comes into his feet and into his ankles—strength he had never ever felt before. And it says he
came to his feet and he was leaping and jumping and walking and praising God; and guess what, I would be, too.
Right? I’d be excited. I didn’t expect that to happen when I went to church today, right? Something awesome
happened in church. So many times you hear people talk about going to church—oh, yeah, went to church and,
yeah, the guy preaches way too long, but the meal was good afterwards. Something unusual happened that day and
it changed his life forever.
You know what I find interesting? As soon as this guy gets healed, Peter looks for an opportunity to preach. I think
that’s cool—but that’s ‘cause it’s coming from a preacher’s perspective. Everything . . . I mean, last chapter, the
Holy Spirit pours out, all these people start speaking in tongues, and everybody accuses them of being drunk, and so
what does he think? Hey, it’s an opportunity to preach; I’m gonna get up on my soapbox. He preaches a message,
3,000 people get saved and baptized, and the church is growing like crazy. Now we come to chapter 3 and they go
in and they pray over somebody, they heal them and raise them up and what do you think—well, that’s another
opportunity to preach. I’m gonna get up and preach. No matter what happens, he’s like, I’m gonna preach. I think
that’s pretty cool; I don’t know what you guys think.
Let’s take a look at these next verses. Let’s see what Peter has to say. Verse 11: While he was clinging to Peter
and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon [the porch of Solomon], full of
amazement. But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why
do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of
Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a
murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to
which we are witnesses. And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this
man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the
presence of you all. And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. But the
things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus
fulfilled. Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may
come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must
receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from
ancient time.”
As I’m reading this and as you’re reading and following, does anybody feel like there’s a disconnect? I mean,
there’s all this excitement about this guy being healed and he’s got strength in his legs and he’s walking; but then he
starts preaching and reminding them of a bunch of things that happened both in recent days and in ancient days.
And I’m thinking, Peter, where are you going with this? Hang on with me. We’ll tie it together, ‘cause it really
does make sense and it’s something that they understood. We don’t catch it because we don’t know God’s Word
like these people knew God’s Word. Alright?
Verse 22—we’ll finish this up and then come back. Verse 22, he’s quoting. He says: Moses said, “The Lord God
will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you.
And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.”
And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these
days. It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to
Abraham, “And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” For you first, God raised up His Servant
and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.
Let’s take a look at some contrast so that you can understand. In the midst of this healing service, it seems that, first
off, they think Peter and John are something great. They come to him with amazement and he’s trying to set this
record straight. In chapter 2 remember, the Holy Spirit pours out, everybody thinks they’re a bunch of drunks, and
he’s gotta get up and preach to set the record straight. Now they think they’re gods. They think they have this
amazing power; and he says hey, look, I’m just a man. It’s not by my power these ones are saved; it’s by the name
of Jesus and faith in that name. He’s gotta set them straight. Okay? In so doing there’s some contrasts he makes.
Verse 13 is the first contrast. In the beginning of the verse it says God glorified Jesus, the One you disowned and
delivered. That’s pretty accusatory. Jesus had God’s approval; you didn’t approve of Him. God approved of this
man; you disowned this man Jesus. In other words, you’re on the opposite side of God on this issue, fellas. You’re
on the opposite side of God. God stands on one side; you stand on another. Okay?
Secondly, in the second part of verse 13, Peter contrasts the audience, these Jews, with Pilate. He says you delivered
and disowned before Pilate, who had decided to release Him. Even Pilate saw that something wasn’t right. He had
decided to release Jesus, but you disowned Jesus. Even the wicked Pilate, the Roman, knew better; and you
convinced him to go through with it. So there is a contrast between the people and God; there’s a contrast between
the people and Pilate.
Third, Peter makes a contrast between the One that they crucified and the one that they wanted released. Okay?
Take a look at that in verses 14 and 15. You disowned the holy and righteous One and asked for a murderer to be
released to you. This is a pretty indicting message. I mean, it’s pretty in-your-face. God stands on this side; you
stand on this side. Pilate even knew that He wasn’t guilty and wanted to release Him, but you forced his hand. And
then you wanted this Holy and Righteous One murdered so that you could have a murderer and an insurrectionist
released to you. You trusted this kind of man instead of the One that God glorified. Do you see how he’s really
getting in their face?
There’s another contrast I want you to take a look at, and it’s in verse 22. Verse 22 says: Moses said, “The Lord
God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren.” This is Moses talking about Jesus. Thousands of
years after Moses lived, Moses said there’s gonna come a prophet, raised up from among you—Jesus. “To Him you
shall give heed to everything He says to you.” Now, to really understand what he’s saying, we’ve got to understand
what Peter’s quoting. Peter’s quoting from Deuteronomy, chapter 18. I want you to go back to Deuteronomy,
chapter 18; and we’ve got to take a look at this passage. Verse 15 is where this quote comes from. It says, The
Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to
him. That’s what Peter’s quoting. Verse 18 says something again: I will raise up a prophet from among their
countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth [Jesus’ mouth], and he shall speak to them all that I
command him. It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he [the prophet I’m gonna bring]
shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.
Now, that’s fine but I want you to look at the context of this passage—back at verse 9. Starting at verse 9, Moses is
giving instruction to the people because they’re about to go into the Promised Land; and he’s explaining why God
forced out all these other peoples that were in this land before—why He’s kicking them out and letting them come
into this promised land, the land of Canaan. He’s explaining why this is, beginning in verse 9. He says, When you
enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those
nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire . . .
what does that mean? Sacrifices their kids. These pagan nations offered human sacrifice, baby sacrifice. He says
don’t practice that stuff. That’s detestable. Okay?
You shall also not have . . . one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or
a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. Séances, Ouiji
boards, horoscopes, tarot cards, palm reading, crystal ball reading—what is that? That’s all spiritism and witchcraft
and God says you should have no part of that. Don’t bring any of that stuff in when I take you into the Promised
Land. That’s what I kicked them out for. And you’re not to have anything to do with that.
Verse 12: For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord
your God will drive them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For those nations,
which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God
has not allowed you to do so. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from
your countrymen, you shall listen to him. This is according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on
the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire
anymore, or I will die.”
Does anybody understand what’s going on? He’s reminding them of the time when Moses was there and the power
of God was there and the smoke was there and the lightning was there and the power was there and God was
speaking and the people got afraid and said, look, Moses, you go talk to God and you come back and talk to us. We
don’t want God to talk to us directly ‘cause we’re too afraid. And he’s reminding them of that. He is the mediator
and he said, okay, I’ll do that. I’ll be the intermediator. I’ll go before God. God can speak to me; I’ll bring His
message back to you. But there’s going to be a time when He’s gonna send another mediary, another prophet, His
own Son. And you’d better listen to everything He says. He’s gonna be the go-between between you and God.
Listen to what He has to say. You didn’t want to hear it direct; you’re gonna hear it through a prophet. He’s gonna
send you a prophet—the Real Prophet. Okay?
The Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. So in other words, God approved of that request. He said, okay, if
that’s the way you want it, that’s fine. That’s the way I’ll speak to my people. So in verse 18 again: I will raise up a
prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all
that I command him. It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name,
I Myself will require it of him. But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not
commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.
Now, I want you to understand something. Peter is saying, look, this man you see standing here—his feet have been
healed, his legs have been healed, he’s walking for the first time—he is here because of faith in the Prophet that
Moses said God was gonna send. God said He was gonna send Him. God approved this Prophet Jesus, but you
disowned Him. God told Moses that all the people were gonna be judged if they didn’t hear the words of God or if
they listened to false prophets, but look at the situation. These people, instead of listening to the words of Jesus, the
Prophet; they put Him on a cross and killed Him. And instead of listening to the true Prophet of God, they listened
to these other leaders and what these other leaders said about Him. So they listened to the false prophets. What
Peter is saying is you guys are listening to the wrong prophets. God says those false prophets are the ones that are
supposed to be killed, but you killed the true Prophet of God. And it’s an indictment against the people. Okay?
So those are the contrasts that are out there. God . . . what do you call it, what’s the word, I’m missing a word . . .
He was the one that approved of Jesus, but they disowned. And all these different contrasts are being shown. Why
is that important? Why does that matter? What’s Peter trying to get at? Here’s the deal. God is not interested in
bringing judgment. The interesting thing about this passage is that Peter keeps reminding them, look, God has tried
and is trying to bring blessing to you and if you will repent, and you’ll place your faith in Jesus, then God’s blessing
can come. And that seems to be the focus much more than judgment. How many times do we think, oh, I’ve done
this, I’ve done this, I’ve done this, and I’ve done this, I’m already out of it, I can’t be approved of God, I can never
become good in God’s sight, I can never measure up. Some people stay away from the church. They won’t darken
the doors of a church or come walking in here because they know the things that they’ve done. We already know
the things that we’ve done in our life. Peter’s not here just trying to tell them that. He’s trying to show them where
they stand; but he’s trying to say, look, there’s another chance, there’s another opportunity.
Let’s take a look at some of those phrases in Acts just as we finish up here for just a couple minutes. Verse 19,
Acts, chapter 3: Therefore repent and return, [why?] so that your sins may be wiped away, [That’s a good thing.
We all want forgiveness, but it goes further] in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the
Lord . . . God longs to bring times of refreshing. The Old Testament prophets had promised that there would be a
time of renewal, a time of refreshing for the people of God, for the Israelites. He was promising that. He says, look,
if you’ll turn from your sin and repent and believe in Christ, that time of refreshing that was promised will come.
Verse 20: . . . that He may send Jesus, the Christ [or Messiah] appointed for you, whom heaven must receive . . . In
other words, those who come in the name of Jesus, Heaven must received. Not just can. Not just could. Not just
might. But must. We come in the name of Jesus; Heaven must receive you. . . . until the period of restoration of all
things about which God spoke.
And verse 26: For you first [in other words, the Jews first], God raised up His Servant [Jesus] and sent Him to . . .
[what? Condemn you. Is that what it says? Sent Him to what? Judge you. Right? Sent Him to squash you. No?
God raised up His servant and sent Him to] . . . bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways. Faith
in Jesus.
Now, let me point out a couple of things. First off, I think that this lame man is typical of Israel. The man was in a
hopeless condition. He was helpless, immobilized, broken. He needed to be healed and his only salvation
possibility was Jesus. Yet, his ailment disabled him from coming to Jesus. He could never get to Jesus on his own.
He looked to the Temple and to the goodness of men, but they could do nothing to change his life. All they could do
was give him a little stipend that could make him continue until the next day.
I wonder if that’s all some of our churches provide anymore. Instead of offering the power of God to change our
lives, we get a little stipend to make it through another day. Don’t you believe that God has so much more than
that? That the power of God is still alive to change lives, including yours and mine, so that we are known by what
we used to be and what we are now—the change, the transformation?
When Jesus died it appeared that all hope was gone for this man, yet it was the risen power of Jesus that brought
healing to him. The Israelites at this time in this passage and today the Jews, those who do not know Jesus as their
personal Savior, are in the same place. They’re in desperate need from birth just like this lame man. They were
sinners, enemies of God. Their sin kept them from coming to God. They looked to Temples and rituals, but those
things couldn’t save them. When Jesus came on the scene, they initially had some hope. But when they saw that the
cost of following Him was more than they wanted to pay, they crucified Him. But it was through His death that
their sins can be atoned. Their healing, their restoration, is based upon the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ,
if they will come in faith.
I believe also, this lame man typifies the lost, the unsaved person, the unsaved person that you might go to school
with or you might work with or that might sit in this church as we speak. Like this lame man, when we try to be
righteous before God, we don’t have a leg to stand on—pardon the pun. Our righteous acts are like filthy rags, the
scripture says. And if we’re depending upon that we have no hope. Our sins separate us from God. Like the
Apostles who reached out their hand to restore this lame man, I believe God from Heaven reaches out to sinners by
the testimony of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ saying rise and walk, rise and be changed, rise and have
faith. If we’re willing to repent and believe, everything changes. It’s not just a church service anymore.
Thirdly, I believe that this lame man represents many Christians. Like this man, many Christians are in great need.
Often, we come to God, only expecting a hand-out, a meager little bit to keep going. We’ve stopped believing that
God can really change us and make us something new and do incredible things in us. We’ve stopped believing in
that for some reason. We forget that God wants to bless us and to bless the world through us. It’s not God’s desire
for justice, it is God’s desire for mercy. He wants that. Some of us Christians, believers, get so caught up in sin and
we feel so judged and so condemned, thinking that our actions, our sins, our behaviors, define who we are so much
that we stop believing that God can give us a new identity. This man was not asking for a healing because he didn’t
believe it existed. Jesus was long off the scene. Sometimes we Christians forget that God no longer . . . He doesn’t
only want to pardon us at Judgment and forgive us of sin, He wants to give us the power to overcome sin tendencies
now, here, to change who we are, to change the very nature that gives us a bent toward sin, a drive toward sin, to
take away the power of sin to draw us, the lure. Do you follow? So this lame man represents us, too. I think we
need to get back to the place where we believe that God can do something to change who we are. Amen?
I’m going to ask the worship team if you would come. As they’re coming . . . I want you guys to stand with me, too.
If you’re not right with God, can I challenge you to just believe that the blood that Jesus shed on your behalf is
enough. You don’t have to do something to earn His forgiveness or to be forgiven. You just have to receive it. And
it’s not dependent upon me praying over you; it’s dependent upon you taking by faith the truth of God’s Word and
saying God, I believe, forgive me, make me a new person, help me to walk in Your ways, talk in Your ways, change
me, change me. Would you do that today? Just talk to God. Ask Him to change you. I believe He will.
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