“Acts 3:12-26”

Sunday, December 20, 2015

“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. 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.’”

---End of Scripture verses---

Several things in this sermon stand out to me. I’ll just mention a few here.

I love the names that Peter uses to refer to Jesus. He calls Him “the Holy and Righteous One” (verse 14) and “the Prince of life” (verse 15). Jesus was perfect in every way. He was always holy and always righteous, and yet Israel chose an insurrectionist and a murderer over Him when they demanded that Pilate release Barabbas at the feast (Mark 15:7). How utterly preposterous it was to put to death the Prince of life. They should have known from their own sacred Scriptures that the grave could never hold Him. But then again, this was all part of God’s plan to save mankind (verse 18). Even the people who murdered their own Messiah.

I love the fact that it was “faith…in the name of Jesus” that healed the once-lame man (verse 18). But whose faith was it? The so-called miracle workers of today will insist that a person must have faith in Jesus in order to be healed of their infirmities. If they try to heal someone and fail to do so, they will insist that the subject’s faith just wasn’t strong enough. But I see no reason to believe that the man who was healed earlier in this chapter had faith to be healed. When Peter and John first spoke to this man, he was expecting to receive money from them, not healing (verse 5). Even when Peter told this man, “In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene — walk” (verse 6), he didn’t really try to get up until Peter took him by the hand and raised him up (verse 7). It was Peter’s faith that allowed this miracle to be performed, not the lame man’s faith. When the apostles were unable to help a young boy tormented by demon-possession, and Peter asked Jesus why they couldn’t heal him, Jesus told him that it was because of their lack of faith (Matthew 17:14-21). The reason why faith healers can’t heal people today is because they are phonies.

‘Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away” (verse 19). This is why Jesus died. This is why the lame man was healed. This is why Peter preached to these people. This is why this inspired account is preserved for us in the Bible. So that they and we will learn and marvel and believe and repent our sins and follow Jesus. So that we will be healed from our greatest, most deadly illness – the spiritual sickness of sin. So that we will turn from our sinful ways and turn to the only One who can heal us and forgive us and save us.

I pray these stories pierce your heart and convict your conscience so that you will turn to Jesus. If they haven’t yet, please keep reading with us. The word of God is living and active and sharp and powerful and is able make positive changes in your life.

For tomorrow, please read Acts 4:1-22.

Have a blessed Lord’s Day!

- Louie Taylor

Share