The Meaning Of Miracles

We are in a sermon series.

In the book of the Acts of the Apostles there is a sermon outline if you would like one, if you didn't get one, raise your hand.

Our ushers would be happy to hand you one.

It's okay if you just want to listen.

The book of Acts is really a very exciting book Foundations of early Christianity and how God was working in powerful ways to establish his church.

Last time we looked at the first miracle in the Book of Acts done by the apostles and we're going to finish looking at that today.

I have to review a little bit, but the story is the apostles, peter and John, went to the temple in Jerusalem to pray and they met a lame man at the gate and he was begging for some money.

Let's look at it again in Acts, chapter 3, verse 1.

Acts 3:1

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer, and a man who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along, whom they used to sit down every day at the gate of the temple, which was called Beautiful, in order that he could beg for alms of those who were entering the temple.

Now, when he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple.

He began asking to receive alms, but Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said look at us.

And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

But Peter said I do not possess silver or gold them.

But Peter said I do not possess silver or gold, but what I do have I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene walk.

And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened and with a leap he stood upright and began to walk and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the beautiful gate at the temple to beg alms.

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

Everyone was amazed and Peter just asked him a simple question why are you so amazed?

Peter then preaches his second sermon to explain from the Scripture what was happening in the healing of this lame man.

And, as I said last time, peter's explanation of this miracle in some ways helps us understand what all miracles mean.

The miracles teach us the relationship between sin and suffering and are really a picture of our salvation in Jesus' past, present and future.

And there are four things I believe that we can learn from this passage on the miracle of this healing, this miracle of the lame man.

The miracles point us to four things, and we looked at the first two last time.

First of all, miracles obviously point us to Jesus.

In Acts 3, verse 6, peter heals this lame man in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene.

Acts 3:6

Peter tells us this man was healed on the basis of faith in Jesus, not by the apostle's power or the lame man's willpower or any other power.

It's Jesus Acts 3.16, on the basis of faith in his name.

It is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man.

You see and know when the faith which comes through him has given him perfect health in presence of you all.

Second, the miracles point us, as I said last time, to our deepest need.

Well, if Jesus can do that and he can, every miracle story in the New Testament is really a little parable of the amazing thing he can do much beyond our physical healing.

It points to the salvation we need and can have now through our faith in Jesus.

The lame man is sitting outside the temple begging for money.

He's not looking to be healed, he just needs some money.

He just wants some money.

As I said last time time, he doesn't realize he has a much deeper spiritual need.

So peter said to him I don't possess silver or gold.

What I do have, I give to you in the name of jesus christ, walk.

What peter basically is saying to him you're looking for something you think is going to help you be happy.

I have something better than money.

What you're looking for is too superficial.

Look deeper.

And Peter heals him in the name of Jesus and it points us to the one who can heal his deepest need Jesus, need Jesus.

What we learn is from that incident is that suffering is not our greatest problem.

It's a problem, but it's not our greatest problem.

Not having a relationship with God is our greatest problem and that problem is due to our sin and only Jesus can solve that problem.

Due to our sin, and only Jesus can solve that problem.

The miracles point us to Jesus and to a deeper healing we need that comes through faith in Jesus.

Now, today, we're going to look at the last two things from Peter's sermon that all miracles point to, as he continues to explain from the Scripture what the healing of this man means, and I'll pick up in verse 11.

While he was still clean to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, which was in the temple.

They were full of amazement, but when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, men of Israel, why are you so amazed at this?

Why do you gaze at us as if, by our power or piety, we 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, 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 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 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 of the covenant which God made with your father, 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.

All the miracles point to Jesus, whose power can heal physically and whose power can save us from our sins.

Today we're going to look at the third thing that all miracles point to.

They point us to, all of them the new creation.

Notice how the lame man responded to his healing Verse 8, with a leap, he stood upright, began to walk.

He entered the temple.

With them walking and leaping and praising God.

With them walking and leaping and praising God, the man jumped to his feet, leaping, jumping, praising God.

Now they're in the temple and at this time, no one who is there who knew the Hebrew Scriptures would have missed its significance.

They would have immediately thought of Isaiah 35.

Isaiah 35 is a prophecy about the restoration of all things by the coming Messiah.

When the Messiah returns to set up his kingdom.

Here is what it says Isaiah 35, 1 to 6.

The wilderness and the desert will be glad.

The Arapah will rejoice and blossom like the crocus.

It will blossom profusely and rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy.

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

They will see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.

Now, encourage the exhausted and strengthen the feeble.

Say to those of anxious heart take courage, fear not.

Behold, your God will come with vengeance.

The recompense of God will come, but he will save you.

Then the eyes of the blind will be open, the ears of the deaf will be unstopped and the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy, for the waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah.

Now, in Peter's sermon, he's explaining just that time.

If you listen to it again, in verse 17, you know it points us to the new creation.

Listen carefully.

And now, brethren, I know you acted in ignorance, your rulers did too, but the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that is, christ would suffer, he has thus fulfilled.

Therefore, repent and return 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 the Listen, the restoration of all things that's what he's talking about, which God spoke by the mouth of the Holy Prophets from ancient times.

Peter's giving us some heavy theology here.

Jesus must remain in heaven until the time comes for the restoration of everything, the renewal of every single part of creation.

Have you ever noticed something about the miracles in the New Testament?

That they are not just displays of naked power, just to prove who they are?

If the only things miracles were meant to do was to prove that Jesus was true, that God's word is true, there are a lot of other powerful things they could have done, like they could have written messages in the sky, like the Wicked Witch of the West.

Oh, that's amazing.

There Jesus could have said hey, watch me fly around town for a while.

Oh, that would be impressive.

Or, you know, I can see through walls.

Watch me crush that Roman guard over there.

You don't see any of that.

No display of just naked power.

That would have impressed people.

Why didn't Jesus and the apostles do those kind of things?

Why is it that all the miracles seem to alleviate some kind of suffering and trouble?

Why I'll tell you why.

Because the miracles are pointing us forward.

They're pointing us to the day.

They're pointing us to the day, the end of history.

And Jesus is going to restore everything, restore everybody, restore everything, restore every body, restore every tree, grass, fields, hills, everything the way it was meant to be.

The miracles show us that God did not invent blindness, lameness, deafness.

He did not create suffering.

He didn't create a world filled with death.

He did not Go back to the Garden of Eden when God put humans there, and what we see now is not the way he made it.

We were meant to serve in God's image, to reflect God, to care for his creation, beautiful and majestic, as royal sons and daughters.

When we turned away from God, every bad thing came into existence Poverty, sickness, violence and death, and on and on brokenness, animosity.

God didn't create a world with suffering, sickness and death in it, and I'm going to tell you he hates it as much as we do.

He hates it as much as we do.

He hates it as much as we do, and one day he's going to deal with every single one of those things.

I kind of chuckle, because some people say that miracles, what's a miracle?

They'll say well, that's just the suspension of the natural order.

No, you know what it is.

Miracles are the recreation of the natural order the way it was supposed to be.

Every single one of them Miracles restore the natural order the way God created it, and one day he's going to restore all of it and the miracles point us to that, alleviating suffering and pain.

Those miracles people in trouble.

There's coming a day when all of it will be remedied one day, day it's going to restore all of it and miracles point us to that.

They're giving us a little taste of that.

The lame man points to that, the leaping dancing.

Do you see the hope this gives us?

I said suffering is not our greatest problem and it is not.

Sin is.

But do you see the hope, this prophecy, this truth can give us to those who are suffering?

If you had that kind of hope, you could face anything.

In fact, I know people who have.

I read recently about a man named Alan who is a very committed follower of Jesus and he was in a very terrible accident when he was in his 20s and it paralyzed him, put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

He died when he was 55.

At his funeral there was a picture of him when he was younger and it was a picture of him leaping three or four feet into the air.

That was his hope.

The miracles give us hope for a better day.

That is on the way, you know.

In 1739, at the age of 32, charles Wesley wrote a hymn to celebrate his spiritual birthday on the first anniversary of his conversion.

The hymn was oh for a thousand tongues to sing.

Many of you know, but the fourth verse was based on Psalm 35.

Oh, hear him, ye deaf, o hear him, ye deaf.

His praise ye dumb, your loosened tongues, employ Ye blind.

Behold your Savior come and leap, ye lame for joy.

He got it.

Miracles point us to Jesus.

Miracles point us to our deepest need for Jesus to save us from our sins of salvation.

And they point us to our deepest need for Jesus to save us from our sins of salvation.

And they point us to the new creation.

And finally, the miracles point us to the cross of Christ.

As Peter continues to explain the miracle, what's interesting to me is he links the miracle with the suffering of Jesus.

He links them.

Listen, but the things which God announced beforehand verse 18 to 20, that his Christ would suffer.

Therefore repent, in order that times of refreshing may come.

Why will times of refreshing come?

Because Christ suffered.

That's why, don't miss.

It Points us to the cross.

It's interesting If you look at the miracles done in the New Testament.

They always make the miracle worker vulnerable.

They put the miracle worker in danger.

We're going to see it next time in Acts, chapter 4.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

This miracle got Peter and John thrown in jail.

You see it everywhere in Jesus' ministry.

That's why he commanded people hey, don't spread this.

He needed time before his hour came.

In John, chapter 11, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the religious leaders said of Jesus well, now we're going to have to kill him.

John 11 · chapter mention

Truth is, jesus couldn't take Lazarus out of the tomb without putting himself in it.

Miracles are pointing us to the cross.

In Mark, chapter 5, when the woman with the hemorrhage touches Jesus and is healed, it says power went out of Jesus, he became weaker.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

It's like, even in the miracles we see the concept of substitution.

Her weakness goes into Jesus, his strength goes into her.

It's interesting if you're a fan of fictional fantasy, superhero stories.

If you're a fan of fictional fantasy, superhero stories, supernatural powers make you invulnerable and powerful.

Interesting the miracles of Jesus and the apostles are different.

It makes them weaker, them weaker.

The greatest miracle in the history of the universe was when God became a human being.

Jesus became mortal like us.

He was in the Godhead, all-powerful, indescribable.

But becoming a man made Jesus vulnerable, thornable, spearable, nailable and killable.

If Jesus came in strength the first time to destroy all evil out there, there would be none of us left.

Why?

Because all the evil that's out there is because of the self-centeredness of the human heart, the main source really of evil in the world.

Instead, jesus came in weakness to take the punishment we deserve, allowing his life, his power, to come into ours.

Substitution 2 Corinthians 13.4, I think, says it well.

Paul says For indeed he, jesus, was crucified because of weakness.

Yet he lives because of the power of God.

But his power can only come into our life when we are willing to become weak, humbling ourselves and calling on him to save us, not just for salvation, but for anything.

Paul says when I'm weak, then I'm strong.

Why did he say that?

Because that's when God gives us his grace.

If you're proud and arrogant, self-righteous, start reading the scripture.

Sometimes we're like the lame man.

We're looking for a miracle to make us happy and full.

Like the lame man, we're looking for silver and gold to make us happy.

Then everything will be all right.

We're looking for things on earth, physical, emotional, economic, superficial.

Peter's message is that that miracle of the lame man, and every miracle, points us to something more.

Miracle points us to something more.

First points us to Jesus, the Prince of Life, who was put to death but resurrected to life to give us life.

Miracles point us to our deepest need for Jesus to save us from our sin and bring us to God.

Miracles point us to the new creation, when everything will be restored the way it should be by his power, when he returns.

He stays in heaven until then.

Finally, miracles point us to the cross of Christ.

Our healing meant Jesus had to suffer and die, substituting his life for ours.

Truth is, we may have all sorts of needs in our life as we move forward in time, and you know what.

God is perfectly capable of meeting all of them.

He can provide, he can intervene, he can heal us physically, emotionally.

Nothing is too difficult for the Lord.

Don't ever lose that truth.

He still does miracles.

But let the miracles remind us that the things in this world are not our deepest need, not even our suffering.

Our deepest need is for Jesus, who can give us eternal life and life in the Spirit.

When we believe in Him, he will quench our spiritual thirst.

He will bring us to right relationship with God.

He will heal us from the inside out, giving us His Holy Spirit who will pour out God's love in our hearts.

And the truth is, if you believe this, if you believe the prophets, if you believe the scripture, if Jesus is in you, if Jesus is in you, your healing is inevitable, inevitable.

When Jesus returns, your future is secure and wonderful.

Our hope in him and his return gives us, then, powerful strength really to meet anything we face, any suffering we may have to go through, and I love what the Apostle Paul says in Romans 8.

He lived in that hope.

He endured all kinds of suffering.

You know, here's what he said in Romans 8, 18 and 19.

He says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are worthy to compare with the glory that's to be revealed to us, for the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.

Wow, sometimes we join the creation in anxious longing.

All kinds of things affect our thinking and troubles all over the world.

Don't miss this.

If you're not sure Jesus is in you, he's just waiting for you to ask him to save you.

Peter's sermon encouraged his hearers to repent.

Turn to Jesus, see your sins wiped away.

God sent his servant Jesus to bless you when you do.

Let me just say, if you'd like to talk further about that, if you're not sure Jesus is in you, I'd be happy to talk with you down front after the service if you'd like.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for your son, jesus, who came to save us from our really our biggest problem and our deepest need for you.

Would you help us, father, by your spirit.

Help us in our weakness to trust you.

For all the physical needs we may encounter, we may have right now things that would make our life better.

Pray Lord, you would intervene, if it is your will, to even do a miracle in people's lives, here in our body.

Help us to believe, though, in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and the gift of eternal life, and we thank you and we look forward to the promise of your return one day I pray that it be today where you'll make all things right.

You will restore all things to reflect your beauty and glory.

Once again, I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.