The Lame Shall Leap Like Deer

Our scripture is going to be from Acts chapter 3.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

Some of you were wondering if we were ever going to move out of Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 3, I'll be reading verses 1 through 16.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

Let's stand together as we read God's Word out of respect and honor,

because what we're about to read is the holy and inspired Word of God.

Now, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid at the gate of the

temple that is called the beautiful gate, to ask for alms of those who were entering the temple.

So seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms.

Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, look at us.

And as he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them,

but Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have, I give to you.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet,

his ankles, were made strong.

And leaping up, he stood and began to walk and entered the temple with him,

walking and leaping and praising God.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the

one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple, asking for alms.

And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

And while he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astonished,

ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's.

And when Peter saw it, he addressed the people, men of Israel,

why do you wonder at this?

Or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety, we have made him walk?

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers

glorified his servant, Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence

of Pilate. and when he had decided to release him.

But you denied the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.

And you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witness.

And his name by faith in his name has made this man strong whom you see and know.

And that faith, the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect

health in the presence of you all.

And now brothers, that's the word of the Lord.

I got excited This is the word of the Lord Thank you, you can be seated,

The baptism got me excited. I don't know what I'm reading, but.

So as we continue through Acts chapter,

from chapter two to chapter three, we see now a context in which the Holy Spirit

has come as promised by Christ himself, telling him to wait,

wait for Pentecost. The Spirit came at Pentecost.

The Spirit united and established the church as the place where God dwells.

It's going to be important to remember that as we move through Acts. God's Spirit is there.

And at the very beginning of Acts, the church had already been given a mission

after the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1, verse 8 says, But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come

Acts 1:8

upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria

and to the ends of the earth.

I want you to keep that in mind as we go through Acts, because that's exactly

what happens in the book of Acts.

Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and then Paul to the ends of the earth. We see that very thing.

And so the story of Acts is not just a story of a random series of events in

the early history of the church. It's this story.

The Great Commission, given the Holy Spirit coming, and then the commission

to go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

And that's how Acts unfolds to us.

You'll also notice that Acts is very highly structured. Luke is a well-trained

man of literature who knows how to write.

So when he puts a story in, we don't necessarily need to imagine that other

people may or may not have been healed.

But in his story, he wants us to take note of the first public act of the apostles as the church.

They were constituted of the church. They came together. They were gathering

their members and sharing and living a simple, faithful, holy life.

And so here they are as Peter and John go into the temple.

This crippled man is outside the temple. Now, as we go through Acts,

I'm going to try to highlight things like location and names and dates and times

and places, not because I think it's allegorical.

It's not allegorical, but as you always, when you read a book of literature,

any work, you pay attention to the details, particularly when the author mentions

those details as opposed to others.

For instance, Jesus or the Peter and this guy are outside the temple.

And remember the promise in Acts chapter two, with the coming of the spirit,

it says, this promise is for you and for your children and what?

For those who are far off.

Those who are outside, those who are away from the presence of the Lord.

So here we see it's instructive that this man, who, by the way,

was not allowed to go in the temple, and you'll notice later in the story,

what does he do? He goes into the temple.

So it's pretty significant. He's sitting there outside the temple,

and this miracle is a genuine miracle.

And I want to note about the miracles you see in the book of Acts.

They're a bit different than Jesus' miracles.

Jesus' miracles are always done in accord with a messianic promise.

Making the lame to walk, the blind to see, and so forth, killing the lepers

and raising the dead and so forth.

But the miracles that are recorded in the book of Acts are reflective of what Jesus had done.

In other words, they are, I think, this is Charles Jackson's theory.

I have a few other scholars that I think they agree with me.

But when I look at the book of Acts, you see a miracle that's an instructive

example that the apostles are not just randomly performing miracles,

but they're performing miracles in reflection or in the fancy word they use as recapitulation.

That means they're redoing the miracles of Jesus as the representatives of Jesus.

What does that mean? Well, it means that Jesus, we read, healed a lame man, caused him to walk.

Now, the first miracle that Peter performs is the same miracle where he heals this lame man.

In other words, the apostles are redoing the miracles of Jesus for us. Why?

Well, because Luke wants us to know, and this is something I just keep repeating through Acts.

I don't think I can repeat it enough that the church is central to the gospel.

These men aren't off their own individually doing things. Basically,

Luke is saying, do you see what these apostles are doing?

This is the continuing work of Jesus in the church.

The apostles represent Jesus, and so they perform miracles that redo,

that call our attention back to Jesus' miracles and to the fact that these miracles

are Jesus' miracles, yet they're done through the church.

They're done by the authority of the apostles. Make sense? Are we together?

Everyone's sort of just still staring. so. In other words, the apostles' miracles

are the same as Jesus in order to indicate to us that the church is the continuing work of Jesus.

It's not optional. I know as American evangelicals, we think I'll go to this

church, that church, maybe I won't go to church, as if church is optional.

The church in Acts is central to Jesus' work. It's not optional.

It's the place where people are called to come into the presence of God,

which is exactly what we see.

So why do they do this miracle? They do this miracle for the same reason Jesus did.

Again, we don't believe that these kinds of miracles are ongoing.

Why? We talked about that.

But because those miracles are attesting or authenticating or proving that the

message of the apostles is true. What is their message?

Anyone who believes in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved.

That's the central message. Repent and be baptized, and all who call upon the

name of the Lord will be saved.

This miracle is very much like Jesus' miracle. What happened in Jesus' miracle?

Well, Jesus' miracles were also not random.

He didn't just bump into people and say, oh, get up and walk. He didn't just do that.

It wasn't as if he's walking along with things randomly happening.

No, they happen for a purpose.

Jesus in Luke chapter 5, again, also written by Luke. Luke was written in Luke and Acts.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

Jesus' miracle makes a serious point to say, this is not about a lame man walking.

It's not about a lame man walking. You'll notice verse 24 of the verses that Elder Dell just read.

But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to what? To forgive sins.

The church has not been given a continued ministry of miracles and celebrations

and victories and wonders.

The church has been given the signs to authenticate what the church continues

to preach, which is Jesus Christ forgives sinners, the gospel, the good news.

So he said to the man who was paralyzed, I say to you, rise up,

take up your bed and go to your house.

And immediately he rose up before them and took up the bed he'd been lying on

and departed for his own house, glorifying God.

You'll notice the same parallel, glorifying God.

Jesus was saying to him, oh yes, I can cause you to rise up and walk,

but what's most important? What's ultimate here in terms of what I'm doing?

And the answer, the forgiveness of your sins through Jesus Christ.

Now, Jesus performed the miracle by his own authority. How are the apostles

performing their miracles?

In the name of Jesus. The ongoing continuing work of the apostles is taking place here.

And by the way, Paul will have a similar situation where when Paul enters his

ministry to go to the Gentile world, he also heals a lame person.

And in Lystra, a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting,

a crippled from his mother's womb, who had never walked.

This man hearing Paul speaking, Paul observing him intently,

same thing, and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice,

stand up straight on your feet. And he leaped and walked.

You'll notice the parallel, which is pretty obvious, by the way.

I mean, if you've been not walking for 40 years and you can walk,

you're going to be dancing.

You're going to be leaping. That's exactly the response. So the work of the

church is the continuing work of Christ in this miracle. And what is their main message?

Well, it happens also, again, a point. They're outside the gate,

and it happens in the hour of prayer.

The church at its earliest stages, just newly born, followed the same practices

as the Jewish people did.

And so at three times a day, 9 a.m., noon, and 3 p.m., there were three hours of prayer.

And those hours of prayer were also corresponding with sacrifices that were

taking place in the temple.

That's actually quite instructive for us. We've been talking about this in our

prayer study, that behind the great and mighty works of the Lord are the people's

prayers for that work, which needs to be ongoing.

These hours of prayers were common. Daniel followed them. The story of Daniel,

what did they get in trouble for? Praying.

It says in Psalm 55, 16, but I call to you, Lord, you will save me evening and morning and noon.

I utter my complaint and moan and he hears my voice. The Jews were always praying at these three times.

Daniel prayed in the same way, Daniel chapter six, the morning and evening sacrifices at the temple.

It's instructive because, not because

again, it's an allegorical symbol of something, but it's a point in time.

In storytelling, when God tells stories, He often does things in coordination with certain times.

When did the death angel come to pass over Egypt? At midnight.

And at midnight, many things, if you read the Bible, happen at midnight,

which meant at midnight, this is this like hour of judgment.

It's a moment of truth. And so here at the temple, at this moment of truth,

this time of prayer, when sacrifices are going on, but the man cannot enter,

the man cannot go into the temple.

Then Luke is pointing our attention to the fact that something big is about to happen.

At the temple. Even Jesus, by the way, went to this temple at certain times, in certain ways.

He said of himself, I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues

and in the temple and the Jews, where the Jews met. And in secret, I have said nothing.

First, we notice also, this is a true miracle. This isn't a,

what I call a leg straightening ceremony.

I've seen it some churches I've been to where they, you know,

a lady walks up, she's limping and the apostle, that the prophet of the almighty

God screams and shouts and shakes her. And she's like, my leg's straight.

And so she starts dancing and mimics the lame persons. This is a guy who has no legs that work.

I mean, if you think about it, even if you had perfectly good legs,

ask your doctor, called atrophy.

Even if you had perfectly good legs and you just sat around for 40 years and

never used them, you couldn't get up and walk.

Even if your legs had no physical problems, you just don't use them for 40 years,

they shrivel up. They die, you can't walk.

So it's a true miracle. Remember, it's not an amazing thing,

but this is an apostle with a word from the Lord.

And as he speaks the word from the Lord, he performs a miracle so that this

sign can testify that the words he's speaking are true.

And the sign is miraculous because it's a suspension of the natural law or the natural way God works.

People who have been crippled for 40 years, even if they got a medicine in the

hospital, could not just stand up and walk.

It says, for the man was over 40 years old on whom the miracle of healing had

been performed. Can you imagine this, by the way?

I want you to imagine this because by the time we get partly through the story,

I want to make some application to us.

This is a guy, by the way, who for 40 years sat there. He was carried in.

And these are in times, I want you to kind of go back in your mind.

It's hard as Americans, as I was looking at this, I thought, this is illegal.

You know, we have what's called the ADA. Ever heard of that?

The Americans with Disabilities Act.

I looked at that. I read some of that. It was quite interesting.

It was like, it's a law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.

I laugh not because of that, but because it's like so outrageously kind.

We live in a culture that really caters to needy, helpless people in good ways.

It protects against discriminations in places like employment,

public accommodations.

Any business open to the public needs to accommodate handicapped entrances,

transportation, state and local government services.

Requires equal access by mandating reasonable accommodation.

Okay, I'll stop. It goes on. There's no such thing in the ancient world.

If you're crippled like this man, you are completely and utterly helpless.

And by the standards of the world, worthless, useless.

The picture is super grim. We've seen the kindness of a crippled man before

in the life of David, when David became king and the house of Saul had been

put down, he began to look around and how he could help,

2 Samuel 9, he looked for someone to help and there was a man, it says,

Jonathan's Saul's son, who was lame from his feet, he was five years old when

he was dropped somehow and it happened that he could not walk after that,

his name was Mephibosheth.

Is that a common name you know? Nobody names their children Mephibosheth because

it literally in Hebrew means mouth of shame.

So he was ashamed and the name is given to him to mark his crippled,

his handicapped, his shame. In the ancient world, there was shame to that.

There's a sense of curse to that.

Unlike the world we live in today, there was a marked sense of disdain as well

as things mixed with perhaps pity.

That's all he could do is reach out his hand and beg for help.

So 2 Samuel 9, we see that David, acting as a type of Christ here,

says, is there anyone in the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake?

Then they said that King David sent out of the house of Mekir and the son of

Amiel to, now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul,

had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself.

Then David said, Mephibosheth, he answered, here is your servant.

So David said to him, do not fear, for I will surely show kindness to you for

the house for your father's sake and will restore you to the land,

all the land of Saul, your grandfather. You shall eat bread at my table continually.

And then he bowed down and he said, who am I, your servant, that is such as I, as a dead dog as I?

Even Mephibosheth, who was given this honor of sitting at the table of David

the king, said, I'm like a dead dog.

And I don't think he was exaggerating. You have to, I'm not saying this because

I believe it, but you have to get back into the mind of the ancient world and

people think this guy's nothing, he's as useless as a dead dog.

He's just dragged there, thrown there, he begs, someone takes him home,

and he does it again day after day, year after year.

Now, he's at this gate called the Gate Beautiful. We're not really exactly which

gate it was, but it was an entry point into the temple. That's significant.

According to Ezekiel, there were entry and exit points. Whenever you went into

the temple, you were not to go out the same way.

So this is a rather dramatic scene. In other words, where you have this moment

where they're going into the temple.

It's the time of prayer. There's a man by the main entry gate and he's outside the gate.

And Peter says, you know, the famous phrase, I remembered it as a kid in the

King James, silver and gold have I none.

Anyone remember that? But I don't have silver, I don't have gold, but what I give to you.

And then he says, in the name of Jesus, rise and walk.

Why does he invoke the name of Jesus? First of all, you'll notice he's not using

it as many modern day apostles and mighty men of God do as some sort of an incantation.

This is not a shibboleth or a phrase you say just to conjure some sort of power.

But here Peter is saying, by the authority and by the power and in the name

of, in other words, everything associated with Jesus of Nazareth.

And remember that phrase, Nazareth.

That phrase, Nazareth, Jesus also is rejected.

Jesus also is humiliated. Jesus also is a place of outcasts, people who are hated.

So in the name of this outcast, Jesus of Nazareth, and by his authority,

I tell you, rise up and walk.

And he says, don't forget, he's looking at them in the eye. It made me think

he's like, they look at each other. Peter says, look at me.

And he looks intently and he says to him, there's no gold and silver.

What you're seeking, what you want, I can't give you. And it's also beyond that.

What you're seeking is worthless.

What you want in life and what most people want in life is not worth living for.

But what I do have is worth living for.

And what does he have? Well, you'll notice in Acts, I'll try to draw your attention

to it. Another thing is these healings that occur by the apostles almost always happen to unbelievers.

People who are outcasts, people who are, in this case, literally outside the

gate of the temple, near the gate, but completely unable to go in.

It's not common, not in the book of Acts, to find healing services.

Again, like some traditions have healing services every Sunday. It's not common.

Usually it's unbelievers. In fact, you see a lot of record where believers are

sick, ask for prayer, and they don't get healed.

Right? Paul did not heal Trophimus, but left him sick in Miletus.

Paul himself was sick with a thorn in the flesh, prayed three times,

Lord, heal me, Lord, heal me, Lord, heal me.

Not like that, but three intentional times. And the Lord said,

no, I'm not going to heal you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness.

So healings, particularly among believers, are not common in the book of Acts.

These healings are there to draw our attention to something else,

to the message of the apostles, to the gospel that's being preached by them,

and fundamentally to the forgiveness of sins.

Remember Luke chapter 5, when he saw their faith and said to them,

Luke 5 · chapter mention

man, your sins are forgiven.

That's what caused the ruckus. That's what caused the stir among the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

And in the Bible, there's a lot of connection between the healings that God

gives and the forgiveness of sins that he also gives. Healing physically is

connected closely with forgiveness.

Psalm 103, it says, bless the Lord on my soul, all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord on my soul, forget not all your benefits, who forgives your iniquities,

and it's parallel in Hebrew, same thing, who forgives your iniquities and forgives all your sins.

Healing, physical healing in the Bible is closely connected all the way back

into the Old Testament where the Lord said, if you're faithful,

I will bless you. If you're not, I'll what?

I'll death and other things. Healing is not ultimate, but forgiveness of sins is ultimate.

It's taught throughout the Bible. Jesus himself drew attention to this when

he killed the lame man, and it points to our ultimate hope of forgiveness and

reconciliation and communion with God.

It means, in other words, think of the story here. It means now for this man,

finally, throughout his whole life. He's suffered.

He's broken. He's humiliated. He's ashamed.

He's crippled. He's lame. Everyone basically hates them. The best he can get

is pity from passers-by.

And now he rises up. And what does the first thing he does? He goes into the temple.

This story is an amazing story because of the theology of it.

Not because a lame man walks, but because here's a man.

And I might add, by the way, when you read stories in the Bible,

it's important as you read any story to say to yourself, well,

actually, for instance, when you read any good book, don't you do this?

You're reading the book and you're like, oh, I know that lady.

I know a lady just like that in my church.

Not here. You know, do you do that? You read a story. I know that's my aunt

or that's my, this is a person I know in this story.

And so you can relate to the person or think about the person,

but sometimes you actually think, that's me.

I'm in that story. Guess what? This is you in the story. This is us.

It's a very powerful way to think about. When you put all the things together,

the time of prayer, the time of the sacrifices, exclusion, and outside the gate,

the gate that he longs to go into, he doesn't even know it.

He's happy to get a few things of gold and silver, but when he rises up in the

name of Jesus, He wants to go into the temple because that's the point of the miracle.

That's the point of Peter healing this man. That's the point of Jesus healing the crippled and Luke.

According to Leviticus, look at this list from Leviticus 21.

Speak to Aaron saying, no man of your descendants in succeeding generation who

has any defect may approach to offer the bread of this God.

For any man who has a defect shall not approach a blind man,

a lame man, anyone with a marred face or a limb that's too long.

I wouldn't qualify. I'm missing a finger. I've been told that.

A man who has broken hand or broken foot or a hunch or a dwarf or a man who

has a defect in his eye or eczema or scab or a eunuch.

No man of the descendants of Aaron, the priest, who has any defect shall come

nearer to the offerings made by fire. He has a defect.

He shall not come nearer to the bread to offer the bread of God.

He may eat the bread of his God.

Both the most holy and holy. Only he shall not go nearer to the veil or approach

the altar because he has a defect.

Now, when you read it, if you think, is God like prejudice against people with defects?

No, absolutely not. God is just saying, my place is holy. These defects are connected with what?

The curse, the fall, sin.

No one marked by sin. It wasn't their fault, but the point was there is purity

and holiness in the presence of God and no one may enter the presence of God

with any sin or any mark of sin on them. God is holy.

These ailments represented sin. They represented the curse.

And so all throughout the Old Testament, there's this terrifying warning that you may not enter.

And now we see that in real life in this story. This guy may not enter the gate

by which he sits every single day until he's forgiven.

And again, he's forgiven. It's connected to the healing of his legs,

just like Jesus' miracle.

Repent and be baptized, Peter said earlier. Every one of you in the name of

Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you'll receive the gift of

the Holy Spirit for the promises for you and your children and all who are far

off, everyone whom the Lord his God has called.

Everyone who is banned to the outside of God's presence now through Christ may enter.

This is a miracle that goes far beyond just a guy dancing and shouting.

I would draw your attention to that because if this is us in the story,

and it is, how is your response?

You know how you would respond if you were healed. I've been having back problems issue.

Randy and I were driving and get out of the car to go to the bathroom and you're

like, if I were healed of this, I wouldn't dance here, but I would be dancing

because that would be exciting.

And this guy's dancing, shouting, leaping. Hallelujah, he's praising the Lord.

He's literally now, now as they're entering, he's clinging to the apostles. He won't let it go.

What about you? If it's true that this story is not just a random story about healing, but our story.

So much of the New Testament is like that. This is not just a story.

This is our story. We're in it. We should see ourselves in it.

Everyone who is banned from outside the presence of God now is able to come near.

Anyone with defects, anyone who's crippled, anyone who's lame,

anyone who's needy, anyone who's sick, anyone who's hungry, anyone who's poor,

anyone who's an orphan or a widow or a prostitute. any outcast. It's amazing.

So now, for the first time in this guy's life, he's not just liberated to walk,

he's now brought into the presence of God through Jesus Christ. That's the story.

That's the focus of the story. And that's our story as well.

We are people who, by sin, according to our nature, have defects.

And some of us, some of us, if we would testify, we would say,

not just a little sin, pastor, a whole lot.

A whole life that's a mess, that's broken, that's shattered,

that doesn't look like it can be put back together.

But now in wonder and in awe, the proclamation of the apostles are, it's not true.

If you will believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Surely God will bring into his presence Gentiles now.

This is going to be the exciting, awesome message of the book of Acts as God moves here at Peter.

When you first read the story, like, oh, he heals a guy. That's awesome.

No, this is Peter proclaiming the gospel through his healing and the hope of

the whole world to come for everyone who will believe in the name of the Lord

Jesus Christ. It's a new time frame here.

The church was born of the Spirit. The Spirit given to the apostles preached

the gospel and healed the lame and proclaimed that God's story is now the ongoing story of history.

Jesus is the savior of everyone who will come to him.

All the needy, all the sick, all the lame are told in this story,

come all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.

We have to see ourselves in this story and now see ourselves in the story of

this present age, which is a great story of regeneration and hope and gospel

proclamation. We're all here together.

Those of you who believe can see yourself in this story. Those of you who don't

believe, you better get in this story.

You better get in this story because had Peter not gone to the man and proclaimed

the gospel and healed him, he'd still be outside the temple with no access to God.

There is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

And this story is reminding us of this and the time period in which we now live.

Our legs are beyond weak.

Our lives are beyond shriveled and crippled, but God who is rich in his love,

like David to Mephibosheth, gives us life and hope at his table in which we're about to come.

Let me read to you just an encouraging word from the prophet Isaiah in chapter 35, and we'll close.

Speaking of this very moment and of this very time period,

Isaiah 35 prophesying of the coming of Jesus says, then they shall see the glory

of the Lord, the majesty of our God, which says, strengthen weak hands,

make firm the feeble knees.

Say to those who have an anxious heart, Be strong, do not fear.

Behold, your God will come with vengeance and with recompense.

He will come and save you.

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute shall sing for joy.

For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

The burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground will become like

springs of water. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much that some stories are better than others

at drawing us in and seeing ourselves in them.

I pray, Lord God, that we would all see ourselves as this crippled man,

outcast, unworthy, worthless in so many ways by almost every standard.

And yet a person, a people that you called out to say, rise up and walk.

And then praising the Lord, we enter the temple through Jesus Christ,

we enter into the Holy of Holies through Christ our Savior.

Lord, as we come to the bread and the wine this morning, help us to rejoice,

help us to be thankful, help us to praise you and be overwhelmed by the fact

that we were outside the gate,

but now through the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,

we are brought near to God through his love.

We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.