Sunday July 27, 2008

Acts_3_to_4_1-4
7/27/08
“Arrest brings Growth”

Acts_3
I. Review
A. As our study ended last time the church had been birthed and we saw the young church had all things in common and were in one accord.
1. They were caring for one another and the things of the Lord, there was a unity among them that was uncommon.
2. They were full of Joy, Praise for God, and simplicity of heart, their lives if you will were consumed with the resurrected Christ, He was the priority in their lives.
B. And the Lord was adding daily to the church.
1. We saw how God had added to the church multiplied the believers from 120 to 3000 through the blessing of the outpouring of His Holy Spirit to birth the church.
a. In chapters 1 and 2 we see the church growing through blessing.
b. But in chapters 3-7 we see the church growing through testing.
II. The first trial or test that the young church encounters is the arrest of Peter and John which is precipitated by a miracle and a sermon in the Temple complex.
A. The Miracle:
Acts 3:1-10 (NKJV)
1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
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 from those who entered the temple;
3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms.
4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.”
5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God.
9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
1. Peter and John are often found together in the scriptures.
a. They were partners in the fishing business.
b. They prepared the last Passover together.
c. They raced each other to the tomb of Jesus on that first Easter morning.
d. Often there seemed to be a sort of competition between them for the status of greatest, but that is all gone now and here they are hanging out together worshipping and serving God.
Psalm 133:1-3 (NKJV)
1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments.
3 It is like the dew of Hermon, Descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord commanded the blessing- Life forevermore.
(1) Unity or harmony among the brethren is precious
(2) Unity is refreshing like the dew from Mount Hermon that falls on the mountains of Zion and is full of blessing.
2. They went up together at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour
a. There were evidently several times for prayer at the Jerusalem Temple.
(1) 9:00 am, noon, 3:00 pm.
b. The ninth hour would be at 3:00 pm and this helps explain 4:3 and their incarceration overnight.
3. And they encounter a lame man (he was over 40 years old we are told in 4:22 and had been crippled from birth).
a. We see the emphasis on his hopeless condition in the description.
b. And every day he would be carried to the gate beautiful (probably the Eastern Gate) to beg for alms from those going in and out of the Temple.
(1) He was a common and needy beggar as were you and I before Christ touched us.
c. As Peter and John walked by this man, he asked for them for alms.
(1) We know that close to two thousand were added to the church that day, so there had to be throngs of people, literally thousands of them.
(2) How many beggars had they passed by already?
(a) We know it so easy to ignore people and situations like this, especially when they are so familiar.
(b) In fact how many times had they walked right by this particular man on their way to the Temple?
i) But today was different, today God had a plan and it involved this man.
(1) The Holy Spirit opened up Peter's eyes and heart to this man and to the will of God for this man at this moment, and for the crowd that gathered.
(3) The Holy Spirit has Peter's attention and so Peter gets this mans attention.
(a) We are told that this raised his expectation that they were going to give him something.
i) Indeed they will, but how much more God is going to bless him than his expectation. (Jesus said)
John 10:10 (NKJV)
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
(4) No silver or gold, but what I have I give to you...
(a) What was that Peter had and what did he give away?
(b) We see an incredible act of faith and obedience on the part of Peter here.
i) Imagine pulling a lame man out of a wheel chair!!
ii) Immediately as Peter took his right hand and lifted him up the man's feet and anklebones received strength.
(1) Consider the miracle; this man had never walked in his life, let alone just needing to regain an already acquired skill.
(2) But this man leaps to his feet and walked and he accompanied them into the walking and leaping and praising God with a child like vitality and faith.
(3) And the crowd begins to gather because they knew who this beggar was and what his condition had been and they are filled with awe and wonder.
B. Now the Sermon
1. First Peter interprets the miracle.
Acts 3:11-18 (NKJV)
11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed.
12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.
14 But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
16 And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
17 “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
18 But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
a. A crowd gathers and Peter seizes the opportunity to preach the gospel.

(1) Why do you marvel and why do you look at us as though this has happened through our own power
(a) And he attributes the miracle to Jesus whom he describes as God's servant.
Isaiah 42:8 (NKJV)
8 I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.
(2) He lays out the charge against them.
(a) You denied and delivered up (rejected) His (God's) Servant (whom Pilate wanted to release)...
i) Have we not rejected Christ ourselves, so should we not extend the mercies of God to others.
ii) We have also denied His name.
iii) And we have at times rejected His word.
(b) (Denied and delivered Him up to death) Choosing instead a murderer, and killed the Prince of life...
i) With incredible boldness he tells them the truth, he doesn't pull the punch, but as we see Peter's goal is not to condemn, but to provoke repentance.
(3) Notice the gospel in vv-15 killed and God resurrected...
(a) Peter keeps bringing it back to the simple gospel, for it is the gospel that changes lives.
i) What is the gospel?
(4) He hits them hard, with their guilt, but in vv-17 he gives them an out.
17 “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
18 But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
(a) They had done it out of ignorance and there is a big difference between intentional and unintentional sin.
i) What to do with the guilt is found in the exhortation we find in verses 19-26
ii) Note Peter points out how all that was done by them fulfilled prophecy.
C. The exhortation.
Acts 3:19-26 (NKJV)
19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,
21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
22 For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.
23 And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’
24 Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.
25 You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
26 To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”
1. Repent and be converted, this is what needs to be done in light of their guilt.
a. Repent is to change ones mind, the entire direction of ones life.
b. Be converted is to turn to or turn back to the worship of the true God.
c. Peter says that if they would repent and be converted they would receive Pardon, there guilt would be removed.
(1) There is a call for personal repentance - sins forgiven
(2) And for national repentance - times of spiritual refreshing.
(a) The outcome of national repentance would have been the return of Jesus and the establishment of the promised kingdom.
(b) But they did not repent.
2. Far too little repentance takes place in the church today, when wrong is done far too often we simply make excuse for it.
a. Pride is a very much like a pit of quicksand that sucks us under, but humility (true humility) would go along way in helping us to change direction and travel a correct course.
3. Peter pictures Jesus as a NT Moses in fulfillment of Deut. 18:15-19 who brings both deliverance and judgment as Moses did.
a. In mentioning Samuel as the next prophet he is making it clear that Joshua did not fulfill Deut. 18:15
Deuteronomy 18:15 (NKJV)
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,
b. All the prophets in one way or another wrote about these days - the Messianic period.
D. The Arrest.
Acts 4:1-4 (NKJV)
1 Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them,
2 being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.
4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
1. The Sadducees came out and arrested them.
a. Because they preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
(1) This greatly disturbed the Sadducees, because the Sadducees did not believe that man had a soul, or that there was life after death, and therefore they did not believe in resurrection!
(a) A lesson for us is that we need to stay teachable, and not reject things simply because this is what I have always believed or been taught.
(b) Jesus had already confronted their error and demonstrated from the scriptures that there is life after death and a resurrection... (see Mark 12:18-27)
b. The fact that this event took place late in the afternoon as described in ch-3 helps understand why they were in custody overnight.
2. Notice the result of the arrest (persecution).
a. The church grew to about 5000 from about 3000!!!
b. God uses the circumstances of our lives, often the circumstance we don't like to produce the most fruit.
(1) We are sp prone to kick and scream, to murmur and complain and God is working out blessing according to His economy and not ours. (Rom. 8:28)
Romans 8:28 (NKJV)
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
(a) Illustration of honeymoon delay in Honolulu.
c. And so we see the church growing through testing.
(1) We grow through testing’s and trials more than through times of ease.