The Book Of Acts | Power Provided (May 17th, 2020) - Mike Armstrong

Well, good morning, redemption.

As you are getting your Bibles opened, make sure that they're turned to Acts chapter 3.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

Now, as you think about the word provider, you know, what comes to mind for you?

You know, very likely it's uh it's a husband or a father whose responsibility it is to care for the needs of his family, right?

It is it is his job to supply what they need in order to be able to live life.

Or maybe you think about something like insurance, right?

Your insurance provider, right?

They are there to assist you financially should disaster strike.

Now, this might seem real obvious to say, but but God is our provider, right, in many, many ways.

But specifically in the book of Acts, we see it so obviously uh by way of how he supplies his people with power.

Have you noticed that theme come up so often already, just in the first two chapters of Acts, right?

It starts in the very beginning where Jesus says to his apostles, you will receive power when when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

Okay, and then everything that happens next uh goes on to prove that statement and that promise to be true.

Okay, the Holy Spirit falls on the disciples in the upper room, and they they declare the mighty acts of God through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit through different tongues and languages.

Next up it's it's Peter, right?

And he is filled with the Holy Spirit, and and he goes on to proclaim the gospel powerfully, where 3,000 people uh get saved.

I mean, it's just it's just power, power, power all the way through, and that theme is not about to end.

The book of Acts is amazing, and it's a it's a very special time in redemptive history as God just graciously provides the power that his people and his church need to be what he has called them to be and do what he has called them to do.

Now, you fast forward to you know to us today, uh, we need his power just as much.

We need our Lord to be our provider in this way, to provide us with the power that we need as people who are called to give our God glory.

Right?

And we're gonna see that here as we go along this morning.

And so I just want to read for us uh chapter three, verses one to ten.

Follow along.

Here's what it says it says, 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 daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate, to ask alms of those entering the temple.

Seeing Peter and John uh go about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms.

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

And 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 Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

And he took him by the hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong, and leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who had 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.

God, as we read a story of your great power, Lord, by way of this incredible miracle in this man's life, God, I pray that we would hunger and thirst for uh for your grace and your power in our lives.

Lord, truly we are nothing without you.

We are incapable of uh of nothing that can bring you glory apart from your grace, apart from your Holy Spirit power, Lord.

We know that we have been talking about these things.

We know we have seen this so often through the book of Acts, Lord.

I pray that we would never grow tire of this topic, Lord.

I pray that in fact we would lean harder into you, be more desperate for you, Lord, and and see you do more amazing things in our lives and in our church.

So, God, uh, would you humble us?

Would you teach us?

Would you instruct us?

Would you encourage us here this morning?

We pray all of these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, uh last week, of course, we uh we looked at uh what the church looked like as it began to get its you know legs under them and you know hit its stride.

And you might remember back in chapter two, verse 43, how it said there, if you look at the verse even, how awe came upon every soul, and many, it says, wonders and signs, okay, were being done through the apostles.

Okay, so our passage today uh is an amazing example of those wonders and signs.

Okay, it's evidence of the type of power uh that that God possesses, okay.

It's it's incredible.

And and on top of that, his desire to graciously, generously provide us with that, to give it to us.

Right in the next couple of weeks here, in the next couple of sermons, we're gonna see that that this very miracle that we're gonna look at today here, it catches the attention of the people that witnessed it, and and it gives Peter a captive audience to once again uh proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Okay, but before, of course, we get to all of that, let's look at our first thing here this morning.

Okay, Christ graciously provides me with his power.

Okay, and we're gonna ask ourselves three questions.

Here's the first one Do I clearly see how desperate I am for his help?

Okay, now, verse one.

Let's walk through this amazing story here and uh follow along in your copy of the Bible.

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

Okay, so we're talking uh 3 p.m.

here.

Okay, you remember from last week that they were devoted as a group of early uh early believers, the early church, they were devoted to a number of things, and one of those things was uh the prayers.

Okay, so so this was considered like the evening time slot for them, uh, where they would join together with other Jews in corporate prayer and and sacrifice in the temple.

That's where Peter and John were going.

That's what they were about to do.

Now, verse two, it says, And a man, lame from birth, was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate, to ask alms of those entering the temple.

All right, so so you got Peter and John.

They are making their way to a prayer night, okay?

They're they're heading there.

Okay, meanwhile, there's this, there's this man, right?

There's this man, it says, you know, lame or or or crippled from birth, okay, and he is being carried, likely by, you know, relatives, his own family, okay, to the to the beautiful gate.

Now, what's the beautiful gate?

Well, the beautiful gate is likely a reference to the Nicanor Gate, it was called, okay, which was which was made of this extremely ornate uh Corinthian bronze, extremely valuable, more valuable than than even gold and silver.

And uh, what we know about this is that it was this massive gate that apparently took uh 20 men uh to close.

Okay, so this was was just one of the gates that the Jews would pass through on their way to worship in the temple, right?

And that's what they would do.

And so this man's you know daily routine was was to be carried in over here and then and then laid down just outside this gate so that he could ask uh alms.

Alms were were just money or or or gifts.

Okay, so so essentially he was a beggar, right?

And that's what he was doing.

And he would just ask for money uh from Jews as they would pass by uh through this gate to go and worship.

And now let's just kind of unpack this man's existence.

Let's think a little bit deeply about this here for a second.

Okay, we knew we know that he had been lame uh since the time that he was born.

Now, if you were to jump ahead to chapter 4, verse 22, it actually tells us that this man was uh over 40 years old uh at this point.

Okay, so so so 40 years of of never ever walking, okay?

Trying to imagine that.

40 years of never even standing under his own power, okay, always dependent on other people for everything, for you know, to be able to perform even the most basic of human functions, right?

And and probably since the time he was a young boy, you know, this was this was his story, right?

His family had been carrying him out, you know, to lay down at this at this gate, you know, in the in the hot dust to beg.

And it was likely the only way that he was able to contribute to his family's household income.

All right, and so it's not hard to imagine, you know, the type of treatment uh this man would have received over the years at various points.

Of course, people can be extremely cruel.

In those days, if you had a you know a physical disability like this, uh you were often shunned.

Right?

It was often assumed that that you had these disabilities uh as as evidence of God's judgment towards you.

Right?

And so he was probably no used to being ignored, being being treated as as an outcast.

He was no stranger to being disappointed.

I mean, think about how many people would have walked past him over the years every single day, you know, going through this and and and people you know ignoring him and giving him dirty looks and and and treating him just just badly, right?

His sense of intrinsic value and worth, it probably wasn't exactly you know brimming, you know, bubbling over.

I doubt it at all.

I mean, just imagine the bleakness for this man, right?

His his hopeless reality, just the the monotony of day in and and day out.

I mean, the word literally is is daily.

He would he would do this.

I mean, four four decades worth.

Right, I'd say that he was you know well aware of of just how powerless he actually was, right?

And how how desperately he needed help for I mean literally everything.

Now, while you and I might you kind of hear his story and you know, we might naturally be able to draw some parallels from from you know you know this man's you know life problems to uh to our own, like you know, maybe some of us, I know we do, some of us have you know some very serious you know, health concerns that that that humanly speaking, you know, appear to be quite bleak.

You know, or or perhaps it's just you know other circumstantial uh circumstantial scenarios and situations that from a human standpoint, you know, just reveal how how powerless and and desperate we really are.

And I mean, it's it's such a good thing to recognize that.

And and and I think it's such an immense encouragement to those of us who are who are suffering and struggling in such a way to know that the Lord cares about our our physical needs and our and our distress.

I mean, remember that the Lord goes on to heal this man as we're about to see.

And while all of that is so good to be aware of and to point out, okay, let's let's actually realize here though that our helplessness actually goes much deeper than the physical natural world problems that often dominate our our attention on a daily basis.

Okay, because this man's physical powerlessness is also uh a great illustration of our spiritual powerlessness.

Have you ever thought of it like that?

I mean, think about it this way you and I have been spiritually lame since birth.

Right?

We're we're we're born into sin, right?

And and in and of ourselves, we are unable to stand rightly before a holy God in a relationship with him.

Now, uh as Christians, right, we you know we we believe the Bible.

We believe that the Bible is God's message of redemption and and and power and grace uh to humanity, right?

And and we we know because a verse like Romans 1:16 tells us that that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to to all who believe, right?

Romans 1:16

Meaning that that Jesus Christ lived the you know the very powerful life of perfect holiness that you and I never could and and and never will.

Right?

Along with that, he he chose to suffer the punishment that that your sin deserved, my sin deserved, by by dying on a cross in our place.

Right?

And then what did he do?

Well, he he rose in in, again, power, right?

And he defeated the power of sin and in the power of death, so that you and I could be forgiven, have our have our sins wiped clean and have the wrath of God satisfied in Jesus instead of pointed, you know, at us, so that we could be forgiven and united with the God who created us to know him.

Right?

But that's not all.

What's more is that is that he graciously, you know, has provided us with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

That's what the book of Acts has largely been about at this point, right?

And the Holy Spirit is the power who you know who enables you and I to actually walk, right?

Right, spiritually speaking, walk in a manner worthy of the calling that we have received.

That's Ephesians 4, verse 1.

Ephesians 4:1

He put it this way: you know, apart from the grace and and the power of God, you and I are spiritually decrepit.

Right?

We're we're we're we're crippled.

We are we're we're lame like this man, just just woefully unable to save ourselves.

Okay, and even when Christ saves us, we're we're unable from that point onwards to live the life that Christ has called us to live as Christians.

We can't we can't do that on our own.

Right?

And and what is the life that that God has has required Christians live?

Well, it's to live a life of obedience, right?

Where we where we love him and and again we follow his commands and and we bring him glory.

But do you realize that that though those are far too lofty uh of a of commands uh for us to actually be able to fulfill, right?

We we can't do that.

We need God's power to enable us to actually follow the Lord in all ways, right?

We're we're powerless on our own to do these things, right?

On our own, our our situation is desperate.

And that is just so crystal clear in the scriptures.

It just it just lays us all of that out for us, right?

We all fall short of the glory of God, right?

No one is righteous, no not one, right?

We we need the Lord's help.

We do.

Right?

Is that is that clear to you?

Right?

Do you do you see that for yourself?

Have you been brought to that to that point where you know, spiritually speaking, you see yourself as this man in the text, right?

Powerless and and essentially just sitting in the hot dust, right, unable to stand, right, unable to walk, needing to be, you know, carried daily, and able to provide for yourself the spiritual power that you need to live for Christ.

Have you been you know properly brought low and and and humbled by your inability to please God on your own?

Right?

Are you weary from from your own kind of self-fueled efforts to try and do that?

It's exhausting, isn't it?

It's it's it's this hopeless thing that even might lead us to despair.

It often does for people.

Has that begun to creep into you, into your psyche and into your mentality, as you as you just realize the the longer that you know try to please God, that man, I just can't do this.

I I am far too broken, I am far too inept.

I mean, we just we just desperately need the Lord's help, don't we?

I mean, I get it.

This is this is heavy stuff, right?

This isn't something that that you know we we want to kind of think about and and and and and talk about.

Like our our physical needs as we think about you know the vast many of those that we have in our lives.

I mean, that's that's daunting.

And you know, our spiritual needs are even more daunting.

Okay, but until we have a strong sense of that, we won't, we'll we'll never appreciate God's grace and and long for his power as as we should.

Right?

And we'll just you know kind of wallow in our decrepitness or you know, or or or even settle for for things that, you know, for lesser means of help, which I think is really what our next thing uh kind of gets at.

Okay, Christ graciously provides me with his power, second question.

Do I realize that it's far better than what I'm settling for?

Okay, take a look at verse three now with me.

It says, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he, that's the that's the man, asked to receive alms.

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

Okay, so they they lock eyes, they establish this connection here.

Now, verse 5, it says, and he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.

Okay, so so naturally, what is he thinking?

Well, he's thinking, I'm gonna get some kind of some kind of gift or or some kind of money that I can kind of you know tuck into my pocket and and and use to live on and and help my family out.

Okay, and so he thinks that's what he's gonna get, and and that's certainly what he wants, that's why he's there.

But but Peter said, verse six, take a look.

Peter said, I have no silver or gold, right?

I don't have what you're asking for, but what I do have, I give to you.

And he says, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.

Right?

So right there is the miracle, right?

That the Spirit of Christ, right, through Peter, provides this man with the power that heals him immediately, the word says, and completely.

Now, to invoke the name of Jesus Christ is not to say that you know all you have to do is is flippantly mention the word Jesus, and then all of a sudden this magic is right at your fingertips.

Okay, that's not what it is.

Okay, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth means, you know, in the power and the authority of Jesus Christ.

So it's not Peter's power here that heals this man, uh, but it's Christ, right?

It is.

And that's something that Peter will actually have to address later on in the chapter.

Now, while while the physical healing of this man is, you know, obviously in view here in these verses, right?

We've seen it, okay, spiritual.

Healing has also taken place.

Now, it's not explicit, I'll grant you that, but but I really don't think that it's a stretch to say that this man also got saved.

Okay, it's actually implied in these verses here by the fact that he leaps up and praises God, which we'll see in the next couple of verses in verses eight and nine.

You can't truly praise God, okay, unless you are truly saved.

Okay, but but but but many people here, many scholars believe that there was there was actually a probably a longer conversation that took place here, you know, between Peter and John and the beggar that that Luke just doesn't elaborate on here, you know, where this man actually confesses Christ as Lord.

And we we already know that that Luke, who is the author of Acts, he doesn't he doesn't spell out every you know single detail of every single story.

Uh he just doesn't do that.

And now, with all of that being said here, a couple of things that that really strike me here about this miracle.

Okay, first off, okay, just the sheer awesomeness of God's grace.

Right?

Do you see that in the text?

I mean, notice that the man doesn't even ask for healing.

Right?

He's not like I need this healing, I need to be able to get up and and walk home.

He doesn't he doesn't ask.

I mean, he likely wouldn't even think to, right?

He's been doing this for for nearly 40 years, right?

And so he's he's probably just accepted that this is my my lot in life.

He wouldn't even think to ask.

But you notice how God just he just does it anyways, right?

It's it's a gift of grace.

It's it's it's undeserved, right?

It's it's unmerited.

The man didn't do anything to earn it.

It's unearned, right?

That's what grace is.

I love that.

The grace of God on display.

Hey, second thing that kind of floors me about uh this here is is what the man does expect, okay, from from Peter and John before the miracle occurs is money.

Right?

Now, money is is a good thing, like it really is.

It's necessary for his survival and you know the the his quality of life, just like it is for for anyone's ours as well.

Okay, money, money's not a bad thing.

It's not a wrong thing for him to ask.

He's not doing anything sinful here, not at all.

Okay, but but so often, church, God desires to do more for us, right?

He desires to give us more than what we think, often think is most important and when we most need.

So often, you and I, we we settle for something that that's pretty good when when God graciously wants to provide us uh with something more, right?

Something deeper, something far better.

See, I wonder how many of us are kind of like that.

Right?

You and I, we we're we're we're we're believers.

We we have you know the Holy Spirit who resides within us.

We have we have access to God the Father through Christ the Son, we have access to his grace, we have access to his power.

And yet how many of us gonna settle for things that you know might be good?

Okay, but but but they're a far cry from from what's best and and what we actually need most.

Okay, like what are the things you know in your life that you know want right now and that you know you feel some some kind of desperation for?

Like, like what are the longings and the urgings that have that have come out by way of desire in you this week?

Right?

What are those things that that might be perfectly good desires to it to a degree, right?

The desire for you know to have money, we know we need that.

The desire for for health, that's good.

Those are those can all be considered good gifts of you know from God.

Okay, but when compared to the to the power and and the grace that he lovingly provides, you know, to overcome our deepest spiritual needs, you know, to be right with him and and to enjoy intimacy with him and to be sanctified and grow in grace and to truly be able to glorify him?

And you know, when you when you think about all of those things, nothing else can really compete.

Right?

So do you desire, you know, and and and are you settling for something less than God's best?

Do you realize that the the grace and the power of Christ is far better than whatever that thing or those things might be?

Listen, I really encourage you, church, to spend some time thinking about those things this week, meditating on that and committing those things to prayer.

What are the good things that I want that that are actually kind of you know getting in the way of the better things that God wants to give me?

His grace and and and his power.

Have you learned to identify those things?

Have you spotted them?

I would encourage you to just think about that and talk about those things as a family and and get some accountability with somebody in our church and talk about it, you know, in your your small group and consider like, are are my desires big enough?

Right?

Do I realize that that what God wants for me is often far bigger uh than I want uh for myself?

Okay, final thing here.

Christ graciously provides me with his power.

So do I enthusiastically marvel when I receive it?

Okay, final section here of this, verse eight.

It says, and leaping up.

Remember, I said we would come back to that word, leaping, right?

Leaping is actually an extremely uh rare word that's found in Isaiah chapter 35, verse 6.

Isaiah 35:6

Here's what that says it says, Then the lame man, uh then shall the lame man leap like a deer.

Okay, interesting verse.

Now, Isaiah 35 is a chapter that foreshadows the you know the Messiah coming to save, okay, which is pretty amazing.

So, so early readers of the book of Acts would have been putting the pieces together here and been like, ah, okay, Jesus saved this man, right?

The very thing that the prophet Isaiah foreshadowed, forecasted uh would happen, that the Messiah would come to do.

Again, more evidence that this man was truly saved.

Now, if you keep going, verse 8 again, it says, and leaping up, we talked about that or we said that, right, he stood and began to walk and entered the temple, right, with them to go and worship now, okay, walking and leaping and praising God.

Hey, now understand that it was not a common thing for grown men to behave in this type of way in ancient times.

It's considered like a childish thing to be exuberant like this and and jump around and and run, right?

But but he doesn't he doesn't care, right?

His enthusiasm for the Lord, his desire to just to just worship, it it overcomes the you know the social norms and expectations.

He's like, whatever, I this is such an amazing thing, and my God is so amazing.

I'm gonna run and jump.

I've never been able to do this before.

I'm gonna leave, I'm gonna praise the Lord because He has He has healed me and He has saved me.

Right now, He's not the only one that's impacted by this.

Okay, verse 9 says, 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.

Right, and they were, notice, filled, filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Listen, does this you know worshipful reaction of this once lame man, okay, or or the you know, the the wonder and amazement of the people that that saw what happened, okay, does their enthusiastic marveling at all of these things, the power of God, does that mirror your own reaction, okay, when the Lord graciously provides you with his power?

Okay, if if we're not moved to to praise God when when he comes through in these major ways for us, you know, if we're not, if we're not filled with amazement and and and wonder as as the crowd is and do these things, mind you, enthusiastically, with with some joy and and some fire in us, okay, not like you know, reserved Canadians as as we often are, as we talk about that, or you know, or or good and proper Jewish men from the ancient Near East, right?

If we're not willing to behave in this way and respond properly with joy and exuberance and enthusiasm, okay, then it's a sign that's you know that something's off.

If that's you and you're like kind of ho-hum a bit about God's grace and and about God's power, what do you do?

Well, I think two really important things.

You know, first of all, let's remember the grace of God and the power that Christ has already provided us with, namely our salvation.

Okay, let's remind ourselves that wait a second, I I'm I've been saved from sin.

God's fierce anger towards my rebellion, that is, that is no longer a thing, right?

That has been that that has been poured out on Jesus Christ instead of me now, and and I am I am forgiven.

Right?

I don't have sin between God and myself anymore.

I am in a relationship with Him where I am being made new every day.

Right?

That is an amazing thing.

We need to meditate on and think about the power and the grace and the transformation, the miracle of our salvation.

On top of that, let's also remember where this is all headed, where where we're headed.

Right?

The good news that we that we know is that all of this is gonna work out perfectly in the end for us.

Right?

That the scriptures tell us that Jesus is going to return.

Right?

Jesus is gonna return and he's gonna call us all to him, and he's preparing us a place called heaven where we will be with him, where there will be no more pain, no more physical ailments, no more physical suffering and the myriad of problems that you and I exist because we live in a fallen and broken world.

Let's remember that that that is our destination, right?

Where everything is gonna be incredible.

We're gonna be face to face with our Lord and just enjoy that and and suffer no longer.

Right?

Let's think about that and allow both our salvation and where that is all gonna culminate in, in us being in glory with God.

Let's allow that to stir up our amazement and our wonder.

Let's allow that to stir up our praise.

And as that happens, it's just gonna keep building, right?

It's just gonna keep you know bubbling up as God will continue to provide us with his grace now, right?

With the power that that you and I, you know, need uh for whatever you and I might be facing today, whatever you and I will face tomorrow.

Listen, church, this miracle is not just good news for this man, but it reminds us that that God has has created a miracle in us already by way of our salvation, by way of us being able to be in a relationship with God.

And I would just urge you, if you have not done that yet, to do so today.

Recognize that God loves you so much and he took care of your sin problem through the cross, right?

Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

He paid your price, right?

You're not righteous, but he is.

And so when you, you know, trust Jesus and what he did and that that was for you, as you apologize for your sin, when you repent, when you confess that and admit that before God, what happens is this great transaction where where your sin gets transferred to him and and and paid for, taken care of on the cross and his righteousness, his perfection that you and I could never attain, that actually gets transferred to your account.

And now God looks at you as though you are Jesus Christ.

You're saved.

Right?

So I would encourage you and challenge you to do that now.

Listen, if you have any questions about that, would you just reach out to us?

Would you get a hold of us?

And we would love to call you this week and and answer any questions uh that you might have and just you know continue to help you unpack and and really walk with you and show you the amazing grace and and the power that God provides for us.

Listen, I want to pray uh for us uh right now.

So why don't you join me as we pray?

God, we thank you for this time together, Lord.

We thank you for um how you are so gracious, God.

Lord, again, we've done nothing to deserve anything good from you.

In fact, we deserve only punishment, we deserve only pain.

And God, yet in your love, you have made a way so that we could ultimately forego that through our salvation through Jesus Christ.

And so, Lord, I pray that, you know, as as some of us might be struggling with uh real physical uh problems right now, physical ailments, uh, a multitude of different scenarios and circumstances that that just require power, Lord.

I pray that that we would long for you to pour that out, Lord.

I pray that you would be merciful and gracious to our church, Lord.

I pray that we would see evidence of your power in our lives today, Lord, this week.

God, continue to build your church.

We pray all of these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.