Acts 9:32-35

We are back in the book of Acts today. Our text is Acts chapter 9 verses 32 through 35, verses 32 through 35. Let us pray. Father, would you help us to be a people who trust your Word, who trust the power of your gospel, and who trust your providence? We thank you that you alone are the God of the truly miraculous. We thank you that miracles and the miraculous are not things that can be manufactured by man. As men help us trust that you have the best way, the best time, the best means, and the best plan for us, your people. Father, we ask this in the precious name of Jesus that that name above all names would be glorified and known throughout this earth, and that you would use us, your people, to see that accomplished in Jesus' name, amen. Acts chapter 9 verse 32 through 35, hear the Word of the Lord. Now it came to pass as Peter went through all the parts of the country that he also came down to the saints who dwelt in Liddah. And there he found a certain man named Anise who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, Anise, Jesus the Christ healed you, arise and make your bed, then he arose immediately. So all who dwelt at Liddah and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. This is the Word of the Lord. God can use the miraculous as he wills, but his will is always for us to use his Word. While it always precedes the working of God is the Word of God. We see this from the very beginning when God spoke. His Word went forth and the power of God was made manifest in the creation. God has commanded us to take and to proclaim his Word, his gospel. As we obey him, God will manifest his power as he wills. As we obey him proclaiming his Word, we may trust that God will do the rest. It's not for us to determine how or when or where God may manifest his power for human eyes to see or for human senses to experience. Though God is working around us always, that is for sure whether we know it or not, whether we see it or not, whether we experience it or not. It is for us to love him and to obey him and to make his Word and his ways known. And we do this for the glory of his name, not our own. Just as was the case when Peter was on his way to prayer and encountered the lame man at the beautiful gate, we looked at this in Acts 3, here in Acts 9, Peter did not set out to perform a miracle, but rather to proclaim the gospel. The obedience of Peter and the power of the gospel produced what God willed for it to produce, nothing more and nothing less. Verse 32, now it came to pass as Peter went through all parts of the country, that he also came down to the saints who dwelt in Liddah. Back in Acts 8, verse 14, Luke tells us that Peter and John went down to Samaria from Jerusalem. Then in Acts 8, verse 25, we're told that after they testified and preached the Word, they returned to Jerusalem. As Luke switches his narrative here in chapter 9 from Saul to Peter, we see in Acts 9, 32, Peter going down through all the country and coming down from Jerusalem, he goes to the city of Liddah. So if you know your geography or you know how Israel is situated, and you can picture Jerusalem to the west of Jerusalem, I don't know, maybe 20 miles is the city of Liddah. And then further west, when you get to the coast, is the city of Japa. We'll look at Japa next week in our journey through Acts, chapter 9. But here it says that after Peter had returned to Jerusalem at some point, as Luke records here in Acts 9, 32, he comes down from Jerusalem, literally because Jerusalem is about 2,000 feet higher in elevation than Liddah. You always go up to Jerusalem and you always come down from Jerusalem, it doesn't matter where you are. So the city of Liddah, he goes down to the city to the saints who dwelt in that city. So this is after Saul's conversion and eventual visit to Jerusalem and then his subsequent send off back to Tarsus. The churches had peace and walked in the fear of the Lord, Luke tells us after Saul departs and he goes to Tarsus. After Saul was converted and became a follower of Christ instead of a persecutor of Christ. The churches had peace, they had the comfort of the Holy Spirit and it was during this time of peace that Peter is going through all the country and he comes down to the saints who dwelt at Liddah. Luke tells us that Peter went down to the saints there and that informs us that the gospel had already traveled to that city. In Acts chapter 8, verse 40, at the end of the chapter Luke tells us that Philip, after leaving the Ethiopian unit after he was translated from that desert spot, it says that he was found in a city called Azotus and he then preached in all the cities until he came to Cessaria. And so based on Luke's account, it is likely that Philip preached in the cities of Liddah and Japa and the other cities on the plain of Sharon on his way up the coast to Cessaria. And it is also not unlikely that the gospel was taken also to these cities from Jerusalem as the Jews returned home from Pentecost after Christ's resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Luke tells us there were saints in Liddah and here we see Peter going to minister to them. It was this early work of preaching the gospel and making disciples in these areas that laid the foundation for the move of God that would take place when Peter would go there and find and heal this certain man named Anius. Those early plantings and waterings set the stage for an even greater harvest to come when Peter would travel to Liddah from Jerusalem. Verse 33, there he found a certain man named Anius who had been bedridden eight years in was paralyzed, bedridden eight years and paralyzed. Peter travels to the city of Liddah and there he finds a certain man named Anius. It would seem that Anius is not a believer as Luke does not refer to him as a saint nor does he refer to him as one of the brethren but rather he refers to him as a certain man. Luke does not tell us how Peter found Anius but it is likely that the saints there knew of Anius and knowing Peter's testimony of healing the lame man at the beautiful gate they could have taken Peter to Anius to see if God might perhaps do a similar miracle and guess what he did. When Peter is brought to Anius this certain man had been bedridden, Luke tells us eight years and was paralyzed. There is no doubt that God had set the stage for this notable miracle to take place. For God had a plan to see many come to faith in Liddah in the region of Sharon. Sharon was a very fertile plain that rested between the mountain ranges, the hill country of Judea and then down toward the coast. It was in this area that Liddah and the cities that Philip had traveled through to and now Peter was traveling through and ministering in. It seems that Peter encounters Anius in a home. It does not appear that Anius is on the street but rather in a more private location or dwelling and there Peter addresses Anius. And Peter said to him, Anius, Jesus the Christ heals you, arrives and make your bed. Luke tells us then Anius arose immediately. Peter calls him by name and declares to him the identity of the one healing him. Peter said to him, Anius, Jesus the Christ heals you. Peter is careful as should we be to always let those we pray for know that it is Jesus the Christ who heals not us. It is in that wonderful name above all names, not our own that salvation comes, that healing comes, that deliverance comes. And notice here that Peter does not ask Anius for permission. He commands, Anius, Jesus the Christ heals you, arrives and make your bed. Arise now and spread or make your bed is a more literal understanding of what Peter commanded here. And the command to arise now and make your bed or spread your bed, the NIV says, roll up your bed. Now whether it was to lay out his bed, spread his bed for future use or whether it was to roll up his bed and put it away for future use, the act that Peter is commanding Anius to perform is an act that would demonstrate clearly that Anius had been instantly and completely healed that very moment. Peter commanded, Anius, Jesus the Christ heals you, arrives and make your bed. He was able to do for himself in that moment what others had to do for him at least for the last eight years as he was paralyzed. Anius arose immediately and obeyed. And the way Peter addresses Anius and declares Jesus the Christ to him also seems to indicate that before that moment Anius was not yet a believer, not yet. But by grace he would become a believer, by grace he would become a believer. Through the working of this miracle, yet it was not the miracle that saved him. Anius was saved the same way you and I and all others are saved by the grace of God. God's grace saved Anius through faith in Jesus the Christ who is also his healer. We need to be careful that we do not minimize the miracle that took place in the life of Anius. But we also need to be careful that we do not put too much emphasis on the miracle that took place that day. In popular and influential segments of the church today, at this very moment in fact, there was a great emphasis on the miraculous, an over emphasis on the miraculous. With the hysteric popularity it has fostered and has created the temptation for men to fabricate miracles and false prophecies in an effort to perpetuate and empower and enrich themselves and key figures in this false and idolatrous movement. There are many at this very moment in crisis of faith from these false and idolatrous practices that God is exposing. It is not our place to replicate the miraculous. It is our place to be obedient to the Word of God, the worship of God and spirit and truth. To renew our minds with the Word of God, to walk in the Spirit and no longer fulfill the lusts of the flesh, that would include the lusts of the flesh that has men using in name only God's Word and God's Spirit to empower and to enrich themselves personally while pretending to be operating in the power of God's Spirit. That is wickedness and God is exposing such wickedness. If you idolize the miraculous or the prophetic or anything else, even if you claim it to be of God, you are simply an idolator in need of repentance. No matter what the idol may be, idolatry is sin. God did not give us the power of the Holy Spirit or the authority of His name so that we could create false doctrines and turn His truth into idolatrous practices that you serve, the grace of God and the power of His Word and of His Holy Spirit, all in order to glorify man and His movements that are rooted in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. God will in His time and in His way move as He chooses. There are false teachers in the church today who purport to teach people how to move and to manipulate the Spirit. These charlatans are not new. Remember Simon the Sorcerer from Acts chapter 8? He was one such man. There are men today who do this. There have always been men who do this. There is nothing new under the sun as Solomon puts, teaches us in ecclesiasties. These men and women are of the same wicked spirit. These false teachers are dangerous and you should not be afraid to call them what they are. False teachers, wolves and sheep clothing. They say things like touch not God's anointed. Now listen, you're not God's anointed if you are actively willingly deceiving people. You know, I've been around for a while. So I lived before there was such a thing called the Internet. Now these false prophets are mining data on the Internet to give you specific prophecies to make you think they're hearing from God. Well, back before there was an Internet, back before there were even wireless mics you could wear in your ear and talk to someone and somebody could be listening behind stage and getting information so that you could call them out and give them a specific prophecy. Yes, that happens. That has happened. That has been exposed. That is known. And before that there were other ways that people did it. And it's still happening today. It's always happened. We should not be afraid to call such false practices and false teachers out. These false teachers are at the very least leading poor souls into spiritual idolatry and the works of the flesh. And they are at worst leading people to hell by teaching them a false gospel, centered in the works of man's flesh. All the while calling it the work of God's spirit, Jesus warned that in the judgment they would, that he would proclaim to such men that he never knew them, though they may have performed miracles in his name, though they may have cast out demons in his name, though they may have done what appeared to be miraculous things by the power of God. Jesus says in that day, I will say to them, the part for me, you workers of lawlessness for I do not know you. Those are scary words. We are called to walk in obedience to God's word, being submitted to God's spirit, trusting that God will use us as He sees fit. We are to be ready to be used by God at any moment. God could use you just as He did Peter to encounter someone in need of Christ. You and I are to be prepared to give those we encounter the gospel to minister to their need, be it spiritual or physical or both. God will move as He chooses. We are to have faith not in our own abilities, but in the Lord and in the power of His might. We are simply the vessel God is choosing to work through, be available for His life to flow through you to those God places in your path. Be available. Don't be resistant. Be ready. Don't be fearful because you lack ability. Don't be fearful because you know you don't have the power to say, or to heal. Be faithful. Be faithful in God's power to save. In God's power to do the miraculous or the impossible. When we are ready and expectant to be used by God, we should not be surprised when He does work through us and we see God move and turn hearts to Him. Verse 35, So all who dwelt at Liddah and Sharon saw Him and turned to the Lord. And just as God did years earlier at the gate beautiful in the temple, God used Peter as His vessel to bring about the healing of a certain lame man. And all the people in the temple saw this notable miracle and many believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now years later Peter is in Liddah. He's taken to a house where there is a certain man named Anius who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed. On that day God would use Peter in the same way he did years earlier and bring about the healing of a certain crippled man. The Lord used a notable miracle, the healing of anius to turn people to Himself. And Peter's first miracle had been the healing of a crippled man in Acts 3 and now that miracle was repeated. And the results were the same. God used this miracle to turn the hearts of lost sinners to the Savior. We should know that God had Luke record these two miracles. There is no doubt there were other miracles not recorded. And no doubt there were even more conversions that took place with no physical miracles performed. I always remind people when we look at the record in Acts where Peter and John are going to prayer and they walk by the lame man and Peter locks his eyes with the eyes of the lame man who had been lame since birth and he was over 40 years old. And you think how many times Jesus walked by that same lame man and paid him no mind. He could have healed him much long before Peter was used to heal him. But he did not because it was not his time. And this is where we trust the plan of God, the providence of God when healing takes place and when healing does not take place. God performs miracles. I believe that. Obviously I believe that. Or I wouldn't pray for him every week. I will remind you again it is not the performing of miracles that saves men. Not that kind of miracle. But the grace of Almighty God. It's God's grace that saves men. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone. And the greatest miracle is the miracle of your salvation. It is the miracle of being raised from death to life. It is the miracle of being raised out of sin and into the righteousness of God in Christ. There is no greater miracle you will ever experience than the miracle of your salvation. We pray for people regularly. We pray for people on our prayer list. We pray for people in our service. We do not pray because we believe God does not hear our prayers. Or God does not perform miracles. No, we pray for people to be healed and for God to touch them miraculously because we believe He can and He does if He wills. And it is only as He wills. If we did not believe God performs miracles then we would not pray for them. We are to hold the miraculous in the proper way. The miraculous belongs to God just as salvation belongs to the Lord. That means He can use it however in whenever He chooses. And very often He chooses not to move in a miraculous way as we may desire Him to move. He does not always heal our loved ones. He does not always prevent tragedies. He leads us through the valley of shadow, even the valley of the shadow of death. Yet He assures us He is always with us to lead us, to guide us, to comfort us. God is faithful. There is nothing more comforting about God than His faithfulness. He is faithful. He is faithful in His love for us. You love Him today because He loved you first. You could not have one Iota of love for God until God put His love in your heart. And He did not put His love in your heart because you deserved His love because you do not nor do I. He is faithful in His care and provision for us. He is faithful in His mercy toward us. In fact, in His Word He tells us He assures us that His mercies plural, His mercies are new every morning. Every morning He is faithful in all grace. He is faithful in His all-sufficient grace poured out to us. When Paul begged the Lord to remove the thorn from His flesh, the response God gave to Paul. The response of the Lord Jesus to the apostle Paul was this, my grace is sufficient. The answer is no. I will not remove it. My grace is sufficient. I know your weak Paul, but in your weakness my strength is made perfect. We quote that scripture a lot, at least I do. I don't know if you do, but I do. I don't necessarily like that truth. Sometimes I would much rather feel stronger than I feel rather than as weak as I feel. But just as God assured Paul, God assures me and He assures you that even in your weakest moment His strength is made perfect. Therefore, what are we to do church? Well, I'll tell you what we are not to do. You are not to despise your weakness because it is in your weakness that God allows by His grace that His strength is made perfect in you. Those are inconvenient truths, as our friend Al Gore would say, inconvenient truths. He is faithful even when we are not. He is faithful when we seem to lose our way. He is faithful to bring us back onto the path of righteousness even when we stray. God is faithful. The faithfulness of God is not miraculous. It is who He is. His nature and His character is faithfulness. He is our faithful God. Just as He is love, just as He is our peace. Just as He is the way, the truth, and the lie, just as He is our salvation. In all of these ways and in so much more He is our faithful God. Therefore, rest assured, Christian, that there is no need for you to manipulate God, for He cannot be manipulated. Back in the day, there was a saying that came out of really, really bad theology, from really, really bad theologians and false teachers. The saying was this, and it was taught to pastors and to Christians. If the Spirit doesn't move, then you move the Spirit. Sounds real catchy. It will get people really excited in the right environment, as the right preachers gin and up the crowd and get everybody really excited. The only problem is that is heretical and false and horrible theology to teach people. If the Spirit doesn't move, then move the Spirit. Listen, if the Spirit is not moving, you better sit still and wait for the Spirit. To think that you can manipulate God is to fail to know who God is. We are called to trust Him. Whenever the Spirit moves or whenever the Spirit does not move, we must trust that He knows best. Trust that He knows what men need. Trust that He knows when men need it. And how He will provide for that need. We often think we know what a certain person or certain situation needs or demands. We are to give those things to God. We are to trust that God knows and that He will supply all according to His will. We can rest assured in that truth for He is faithful. We must trust that He knows our true need. And that He is faithful to meet it. We can be prone to misidentify needs. Needs that we think we have that are in fact not needs but wants. Some things we call needs are really just wants. There are true needs versus true wants, true desires. I want a lot of things. The question is do I need all of those things that I might want. God knows the truth of the matter. He knows what our necessary wants. And He knows what our necessary needs. He is faithful to meet our necessary needs and to help us learn the difference between those things we simply want and those things we truly need. He is faithful to help us as we are learning to be content in all things. And that is an ongoing process that is a large part of our sanctification. We often find learning contentment difficult because we have convinced ourselves that our wants are really our needs. We are to give all of our wants and all of our needs to the Lord and trust Him to supply accordingly. As we continue to give our wants and desires to Him, He is faithful to help us discern the difference and to help us learn to be content. I don't know how content Anius was in his eight years of being paralyzed. Luke doesn't tell us. I do know there was absolutely nothing that Anius could do to change his situation. It was out of his control like it or not. Until God said Peter to him, Anius had no idea how God would move in his life or if God would move in his life, the way he desired and the way he needed. Anius had both. He had need and he had desire. And both of those need and desire met in Jesus the Christ and both were fulfilled in Jesus. Like Anius, both our needs and our desires will be fulfilled. Where? In Jesus. In Jesus the Christ. He alone knows how He will do that. And we are to trust Him as He faithfully works all things together for good. To those who are those who love Him and those who are the call according to His purpose. That is God's promise to you in Jesus Christ. Believe that promise. Clean to that promise. Trust in that promise. Whether you can in your infinite mind figure out how God is going to do it or not. This is God's promise. My prayer, my hope, my trust is that you do love God. I believe you do. I believe that the fact that you're here today means not only do you love God but you are the call according to His purpose. Therefore trust that He knows how to work all things together for good and for glory. Amen. And the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Let us prepare to come to the Lord's table. Here's your charge, church. You and I often find ourselves in a similar situation as that of Anius. Not being physically paralyzed but being in situations that are absolutely beyond our own control. In fact, that is a situation in circumstance we very often find ourselves. Those situations may even create emotional or even spiritual paralysis. Whether it is a physical condition like Anius or a relationship or a financial burden or any sort of life altering situation or any sort of a physical condition like that of an individual or a spiritual person. That is outside our control. We may find ourselves completely at the mercy of our circumstances. And if you find yourself there, do not lose hope. There is always hope in Jesus the Christ. There is nothing impossible for Him with God and His Christ all things are possible. If God was able to move the mountain of your sin through your mustard seed faith, He can do anything and meet any need you may have. He can control what is out of your control. He can supply what you cannot supply yourself. He can make a way where there is no way for He has already done that and sending you Jesus the Christ. He made a way for you out of sin and there was no way for you to come out of sin. You may not know it now, but God knows how He will meet your true need. You may not know it now, but God knows what are your unnecessary desires and what are your necessary needs. You may not be able to discern which is which, but God knows where your desires and where your needs meet together in Him. He knows how to fulfill all that is necessary for your good and for His glory. He knows how to turn hearts and bring salvation to see His kingdom come and His will be done on earth, even in your own life. To God be the glory, day men, let us sing our thanks to God. Praise the Grand Mughal, blessings go. Praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him above the heavenly home. Praise the Father, Son and Holy Home. Amen. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. The Lord be with you.

Acts 9:32–35 Acts 9:32–35 Acts 8:14 Acts 8:25 Acts 9 · chapter mention Acts 8:40 Acts 8 · chapter mention