A Physical Beggar Healed, Spiritual Beggars Summoned (Acts Sermon 7)

Turn in your Bibles to Acts 3. We continue our series in the Book of Acts with an incredible miracle. One month before he died, Martin Luther, the great German reformer, was feeling acutely the agonies of his old age. He was 62 years old, which I will be later this month, just commenting there. But 62 was a lot older back in the 16th century than it is now. He was feeling… He was well older than the average man at his death in that era. Luther wrote a friend, “I, old, weary, lazy, worn out, cold, chilly, and over and above, one-eyed man, half dead as I am, maybe I’ll be left in peace.”

Unfortunately, he would not be left in peace. The town of his birth, Eisleben, was facing a crisis that needed his intervention. Despite his weakened condition and the terrible winter weather, he traveled to his hometown to try to help. Sadly, on the way, however, he caught an illness. He preached one last sermon in the church in Eisleben, the city of his birth, but he soon succumbed to his age and his illness. As he lay on his deathbed on February 18th, 1546, he had written on a piece of paper that they later found in his pocket these words. “We are all beggars. This is true.”

Do you see yourself that way? A beggar … beating his breast and saying, “God have mercy on me, a sinner”? God invites beggars like that to His eternal banquet.

One of the greatest leaders in church history died with these words in his mind, ”We are all beggars. This is true.” He would stand before God on Judgment Day with his shameful nakedness covered with Christ’s robe of perfect righteousness, a robe given him freely because he asked for it by faith. I believe one of the most important verses I’ve ever studied for my daily Christian life, indeed for the salvation of my soul are Jesus’s first words in the Sermon on the Mount. We know it this way very commonly, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” But as I studied that text, I realized the word “poor” is “ptochos” which means “completely destitute.” A beggar who has nothing to offer at all, who survives only by alms put into his cup by people that walk by. Ptochos, a beggar with nothing to offer.

Jesus is saying, therefore, blessed are the spiritual beggars, for to them I will give a kingdom. Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. I will give the kingdom, I will give everything I have, to those who recognize that they are spiritual beggars and just ask me for it. Recognizing you have nothing whatsoever that God sees as valuable, you have naturally no good works to your name, you have no possessions, no lasting possessions of your own, you have actually nothing to commend your case, you are stripped of possessions and power and standing and works and stand before God in that condition, sinful apart from Christ. You are like the tax collector in Jesus’ parable in Luke 18, the tax collector who stood at a distance. He would not even look up to Heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Jesus said, “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, the Pharisee who prayed about himself, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Do you see yourself that way? A beggar standing off at a distance, who doesn’t have anything naturally to commend himself, beating his breast and saying, “God have mercy on me, a sinner”? God invites beggars like that to His eternal banquet.

Jesus told a parable of a king who was preparing a lavish banquet, and he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited to come, for everything was now ready. But they all alike began to make excuses. “I bought a field.” “I bought some oxen.” “I just got married so I can’t come.” Then the owner of the house became angry, and ordered his servant, “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.”  “Sir,” the servant said, “what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.” Then the master told his servant, “Go out into the roads and country lanes, and make them come in, so my house will be full.” No one who thinks that they deserve to be at God’s eternal banquet will be there, only those beggars who know that they don’t deserve it and who ask Jesus by faith to let them come. Dear friends, we are all beggars. This is true.

I. The Miracle’s Purpose

In today’s passage, we are going to see a well-known, in his time, beggar healed, and then we’re going to see how Peter invites spiritual beggars to come. The miracle’s purpose is established. The Lord had empowered His apostles with a unique power to do miracles in His name. Why did He do that? Primarily to establish the truth of the message that they would proclaim, and their right to proclaim it, to validate them, but more importantly, the gospel that they would proclaim.

Jesus’s miracles established His identity as the Son of God. Jesus’s miracles are a valid basis for our saving faith in Him. Jesus said in John 14:11, “Believe on the evidence of the miracles.” Or John wrote at the end of his Gospel, “These miracles are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, and believing they have life in His name.” The miracles of Jesus done in his lifetime, as recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, those are sufficient basis for us to put our saving faith in Christ.

The apostles’ miracles are similar. In Acts 14:3, Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time in a place called Iconium. It says, “Speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of His grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.” He validated the message by the miracles. The apostolic miracles, we’re told by the apostle Paul, were essential to the spread of the gospel throughout that whole early era of the Church. He says in Romans 15:18-19, speaking of his own ministry, “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done, by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.” In other words, it was a combination of signs and miracles and the clear proclamation of the gospel that led to the spread of the Church through that early era.

Practically, the miracles drew crowds who would come and hear the message. When a miracle happened, a crowd would gather, and there would be an opportunity to preach. We see that in the text here today. Look at verse 11. It says, “While the beggar held onto Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.” They all come running when they see this miracle having taken place. Again in Acts 8:6, “When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they paid close attention to what he said.” The miracles gathered a crowd of attentive people who wanted to know what these messengers had to say.

The healing, therefore, of this well-known beggar was a strategic move by the Holy Spirit. There were certainly hundreds, perhaps even thousands of similar beggars throughout that geographical region, but only one in particular sat at the main gate that most of the Jewish worshipers walked through day after day. He is a strategic beggar, and the Holy Spirit chose him for this role. He chose that man for the healing because he was so well-known, so familiar, so his healing would make an amazing impact.

Keep in mind, there is nothing particularly visually spectacular about a healing. By definition, health is normal. 98.6  degrees is the norm. Being able to walk as an adult is the norm. Seeing a guy walking around is normal. Seeing him leaping and praising God is a bit odd, but it’s not miraculous. It’s that this man was well known as a beggar from birth, that’s what made it amazing. It’s knowing his backstory. So when he was walking and leaping and praising God, everyone was astonished.

II. The Miracle Accomplished

 Let’s walk through the narrative. Verse 1, “One day, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer, at [3:00 in the afternoon,” in this translation] “the ninth hour.” It starts at 6:00 AM, so nine plus six, 15, minus 12, that’s 3:00 PM, 3:00 in the afternoon. It shows a regular pattern of the church. They continue to meet daily in the temple area for doctrine and prayer. We’ve already seen this in Acts 2:42, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers.” And then in 2:46 it says, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple court.”

They’re there, meeting in the Temple courts. Why is that? First of all, it was Jesus’s regular habit at the end of His ministry to go there every day, and all the crowds would gather to hear Jesus teach. Also, it was the Jews’ regular habit as part of their religion to offer animal sacrifices at the Temple. So all of these unsaved Jews are going to be pouring in there to do their religious activity, day after day. It was a place of gathering that they were used to.

This beggar was positioned, as I said, strategically for God’s purposes. God had been grooming this man for just exactly this moment. Remember the question in John 9 about the man born blind? Remember the miracle of the man who was born blind? The disciples asked Jesus, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.’” The man born blind there in John 9 was positioned and chosen by the providence of God, so that Jesus could heal him, and we’d be talking about that miracle for twenty centuries and beyond. This beggar is the same. This beggar’s disability was from the womb. He’d never walked in his whole life, and it was for His own glory and the glory of His son Jesus Christ.

Look at verse 2, “Now, a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.” He’s carried by friends or family, he’s positioned at this gate, and he’s there every day, and the people stream by him day after day as he was begging. The cost to this man and to his parents and to his family and his friends was pretty high. This had been going on for years, his whole life. The cost to his parents of playing that role in God’s kingdom was high. So it may be that God chooses some providentially difficult circumstances for you, so that He can be glorified through, and the cost to you will be high. It’s painful for you and for those around you, but God means to be glorified in your suffering. So it is with this beggar, from his mother’s womb, and he had to be carried there, but it was all for God’s glory.  Paul says in Romans 8:18, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glories that will be revealed in us.” There are no lame people in resurrection bodies. All of our maladies will be healed by the resurrection from the dead.

Note that he had to be carried by some caring people to his usual position at the Temple gate called “Beautiful.” This was the gate that faced east toward the sunrise. It separated the court of the Gentiles from the court of women, so-called. It was large, this gate was large, it was ornate. According to Josephus, it was made of Corinthian brass and it took twenty men to close it. It was huge. It was a strategic location, and he chose it because so many people are walking by, and those Jews would want to show their piety, at least some of them would, by giving some money to the beggar before they went into worship. It was a strategic move on his part as well.

So he petitions Peter and John. Look at verse 3, “When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, ‘Look at us.’ So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.” This is just a moment hanging in time. “Look at us,” and he looks, and he’s thinking he’s going to get some money, but instead he got something infinitely better.  Look at verse 6-8, “Peter said, ‘Silver or gold, I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and walk.’ Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping and praising God.” Don’t you love the way Peter begins, “Silver or gold I do not have.”? The Church in Jerusalem was poor. It was poor in material possessions. This is why Paul is constantly raising money among the Gentile churches for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. It was a poor church.

Why was this? We could speculate. In John 9, after the healing of the man born blind, it had already been resolved and determined by the Jewish leaders that if anyone said that Jesus was the Christ, they’d be kicked out of the synagogue, so they wouldn’t be able to carry on their businesses, they wouldn’t be able to buy or sell, they were blackballed, they were ostracized, and therefore they were poor. So they don’t have anything, “Silver or gold I do not have.”

There’s a famous story from the medieval church in which Thomas Aquinas, the great theologian, went to meet with the Pope, the Bishop of Rome. By this point, the Pope was one of the most powerful and wealthy men in the world. And as a theologian, Thomas Aquinas entered the room, the Pope happened to be counting coins that had flowed in through the Roman Catholic Church’s various medieval revenue streams. There’s a table covered with gold and silver, and the coins are clinking as the Pope counts them. When he saw the theologian, he said, “Well, you can see, Thomas, the church can no longer say, ‘Silver or gold have I none.'” Thomas answered, “Yes, that’s true, but neither can we say to the beggar, ‘Rise and walk.'” It’s good to have a good comeback.

In God’s eyes, silver and gold are vastly inferior commodities to faith, humility, and love. Peter and John were poor in money, but they were rich in faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit. As with all the miracles done by Jesus and the apostles, this healing was instantaneous, it was effortless, and it was completely effective. It was clearly done in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Peter adds “of Nazareth,” lest there be any mistaking who’s getting the credit for this miracle. The name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that name is power, and by that name God moves. The power of God through Christ is incredible.

Here’s a man that had never walked a single step in his entire life, and his feet and ankles became strong. But you know, that wouldn’t be enough. Ordinarily, an individual like this would have to learn how to walk. They’d have to learn the feelings of balance, and have to go through physical therapy, walking between those parallel balance beams and all that kind of thing, whatever it would take. No, no, this man can walk immediately. It wasn’t just physical strength through the legs, it was something in his mind and his instincts and his reflexes and his balance, all of it given, whatever is needed, instantaneous ability to walk.  Walking isn’t enough for this man. He’s got to start leaping. We’re going to go from walking to leaping because he’s so filled with joy, so filled with joy, and he’s just worshiping Almighty God. He’s just giving God the glory for his healing, beginning as I trust a lifetime of worship for God through Jesus Christ that continues to this very moment.

III. The Miracle Explained

The crowd is transfixed, it’s assembled. The beggar goes into the temple courts to do his leaping and praising God. There’s already a huge crowd there. Many of them had already walked by this man that very day, and had for years. They couldn’t believe their eyes. Look at verses 9-11, “When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. While the beggar held onto Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them at the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.” So wonder, amazement, a huge crowd gathering, rushing to see what had happened.

They come to this place called Solomon’s Colonnade. It’s interesting. Solomon, of course, had built the original temple, but that had been destroyed in the year 586 B.C. by the Babylonians. Ezra and Haggai had rebuilt the smaller second temple, and then Herod the Great, around the time a little before Jesus was born, had greatly expanded and made it ornate, Herod’s temple, that was it. But for some reason they chose a portion of it and called it Solomon’s Colonnade, probably linking back to its original history. And it was right near that gate called “Beautiful.”

Peter begins by deflecting in a humble way all glory from himself. Look at verse 12, “When Peter saw this, he said to them, ‘Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if, by our own power or godliness, we had made this man walk?'” This is an amazing way to begin his sermon here in Acts 3. First of all, why are you surprised? That’s… I’d be surprised. But he’s like, “Do you not understand the era we’ve just gone through? Jesus healed every disease and sickness. You’ve seen it yourself. You’ve seen many such healings even very recently that Jesus did. This should not surprise you, and you shouldn’t be surprised that God has this kind of power to heal a lame beggar.”

Then secondly, don’t just stare at this man. Definitely don’t stare at us. “Why do you stare at us as if, by our own power and godliness or piety, we had made this man walk?” Our power didn’t make this man walk, and certainly not our godliness or our piety, our righteousness. Here we see a work of deep humility that God has done in Peter. I would say Peter’s besetting sin was pride. He was a very confident man. Do you have that sense with Peter? “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will. I’m your number one most courageous and faithful disciple. That’s me.” That was his nature, just even a recent short time before that. But he had been deeply humbled, hadn’t he? Denied knowing Jesus three times, even called down curses on himself.

It is not going to be by our power,…that God’s going to establish His kingdom here in Durham, but only by exalting Jesus through us.

He’s been humbled. He knows it’s not by his own godliness, or that of any human being. He knew that God was using him in spite of his sinfulness, not because of his godliness. It is important for us as a Church, especially for the leaders, to have that same kind of humility. It is not going to be by our power, or definitely not by our godliness, that God’s going to establish His kingdom here in Durham and Raleigh and Chapel Hill, but only by exalting Jesus through us. We see this humility, he ascribes all glory to God and to Christ. 

IV. The Message Proclaimed

In so doing, he then transitions to preaching the gospel, the message proclaimed. Proclaiming the identity and glory of Christ, verse 13, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus.” This is a gospel message proclaimed, in Jewish terms, in the geographical center of the Jewish religion, to Jewish people. He cloaks it with terms that they will delight in, that they would resonate with clearly. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, Peter says. This is not some new religion or some false Gentile god or pagan deity. This is the continuation and the perfection of the covenant God made centuries ago with Abraham, our father.  God has glorified Jesus by doing this miracle in His name, His servant Jesus. I love what he says there, “His servant Jesus.” What an incredible title to give to Jesus. Jesus is as much God as is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but He’s also the servant of God, His Father. He was God’s servant to do His will, especially by dying on the cross.

Peter next mingles the conviction of the Jewish nation’s sin with the glory of Jesus Christ. They go together. You sinned. God exalted Jesus. There’s that rhythm, and that’s going to be a continued theme in the early chapters of Acts. He’s convicting the Jews of their sin in executing Jesus. He bears down on Israel.  Look at verses 13-15, “You handed Him over to be killed, and you disowned Him before Pilate, though he had decided to let Him go. You disowned the holy and righteous one, and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life. But God raised Him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.” The nation’s leaders represented the Jewish nation as a whole, so the nation’s responsible for what these Jewish leaders did. But the crowd had been there as well. You read about it in Luke’s account of the trial before Pilate. Three times Pilate tries to release Jesus, and it’s the crowd that’s shouting him down and forcing him against his will to execute Jesus. He wanted to set Him free, but it was the Jewish crowd that shouted that they wanted Barabbas and not Jesus. They wanted Jesus crucified.

Peter bears down on them. The culmination of the pattern of the Jewish nation that had always shown. Jesus said in Matthew 23, “Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you. How often I’ve longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. You kill the prophets, the messengers.” Stephen’s going to say the same thing in Acts 7, ”You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears. You’re just like your fathers. You always resist the Holy Spirit. Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? Was there even one? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one, and now you have betrayed and murdered him.”  Peter’s going to do the same thing. He bears down on them. “You handed Jesus over to be killed. You disowned him before Pilate, saying not this man but Barabbas. You disowned the holy and righteous one, the only perfect holy man that has ever lived. You asked that a murderer be released to you, and you killed the author of life. But God raised Him from the dead.” You’re at odds with God. The one you killed, God raised.

Look at what he says about this exalted person of Jesus. I could spend so much time on these titles. He is the servant of God. He is the holy and righteous one, absolutely sinless. And look at this, He is the author of life. Ponder that, brothers and sister. Jesus is the author of life. In Jesus, you live and move and have your being. Or as it says in John 1:3-4, “Through Him all things were made, and without Him, nothing was made that has been made.” In Him, Jesus, was life. He is the author of life.

Then he declares the Resurrection of Christ, verse 15, “You killed the author of life, but God raised Him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.” The Apostles, we’re going to see in the book of Acts, again and again and again proclaim the Resurrection. They can’t stop talking about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We are called on to be witnesses, here in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area.

Let’s talk about the Resurrection. It’s what makes Jesus unique. No-one else has been raised from the dead. Christ has triumphed over death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him. So He rose, God raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses of this. They can’t stop mentioning this. And why? Because death is the final enemy. Death stands over everything we do and mocks it. I think it’s in the mind of Solomon as he wrote Ecclesiastes, “Vanity of vanities. Everything you do is dust in the wind and vanity because of death.” Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “In the grave where you are going, there’s neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.”

Christ’s resurrection is the most important moment, therefore, in all of human history. Jesus promised, “Because I live, you also will live.” He offers resurrection to you. He offers forgiveness of sins to you, that you would rise and live forever with him. So, Peter openly proclaims in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. “We are witnesses of this,” that Christ has been raised from the dead.

Then he gives honor to Jesus for the miracle, verse 16, “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through Him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.” All glory and honor to Jesus. It’s by Jesus alone this miracle has happened. To Him be the glory. By faith in the name of Jesus, that’s how this miracle happened.

Now, having turned up the heat, Peter kind of backs off from it a little bit. I find this interesting. He gives them a reprieve, verse 17, “Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance.” I find that interesting. That statement may seem perplexing. You letting them off the hook? No, not at all. But what he’s saying is, they really didn’t know what they were doing. Jesus Himself said that. “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” I think about that, about the intimacy of the persecution. People spitting in Jesus’s face, people slapping him on the face, people plucking out his beard, Isaiah said, smashing him with a rod on the head. They didn’t know who He was. They didn’t know what they were doing. They didn’t know He was God. God in the flesh. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:8, “None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.”

Peter then presents Jesus as the fulfillment of Judaism. He is the perfection of the Jewish religion. He is the fulfillment of all the promises made in the old covenant. Look at verse 18, “This is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer.” God intends to restore everything to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and indeed to David and all the godly Jews. All the promises made to the forefathers rest completely on Jesus. In Him are all those promises said yes and amen and fulfilled.

But in order for that to happen, Jews must repent of their sins toward Jesus and toward God. Look at verse 19-21, “Repent then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that He may send the Christ who has been appointed for you, even Jesus. He must remain in Heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as He promised long ago through his holy prophets.” By repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, all your sins, he is saying, will be wiped out, blotted out, covered in the atoning blood of Jesus, removed as far as the east is from the west, thrown into the depths of the sea. All of your sins, wiped out if you would repent and believe in Jesus.

Let me just stop and say, has that happened to you? Have you become a spiritual beggar, knowing your good works cannot save you, and come to Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who lived a sinless life, died an atoning death, and rose again on the third day? Have you trusted in Him so that your sins are wiped out? That is the most important thing that can ever happen to you. This whole miracle story is set up so that people who live centuries later could read and understand it is by faith in the name of Jesus that our sins are wiped out and that we receive eternal life.

He also mentions here the times of refreshing may come to the Jewish nation. I think this is beautiful. The prophets predicted a refreshing and renewal of the promised land, in very agricultural and rich terms. There are many, many visions of this in the prophets, like Isaiah 41. He says, “I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that the people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the holy one of Israel has created it.”

Peter links that directly to the Second Coming of Christ. He must remain in Heaven until that time comes when He will refurbish or renew all things. Friends, I look on that prediction in Isaiah 41 as a foretaste, a little verbal foretaste of the new Heaven and the new Earth, that beautiful world that is going to come, not just on Palestine, but on the entire planet. He speaks of the Second Coming in verse 20 and 21, “That he may send the Christ who has been appointed for you, even Jesus. He must remain in Heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.”

He speaks then of the warning that God gave through Moses to the Jewish nation, verse 22, “For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet, like me, from among your own people. You must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people. Indeed, all the prophets, from Samuel on, as many as have spoken have foretold these days, and you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your forefathers.'” He’s referring to the beginning of the prophetic office in the Jewish nation. At Mount Sinai, God caused such terror to come on the Jewish nation, because the ground was shaking under their feet, and the mountain was trembling, and God descended in fire on the top of the mountain, and He spoke in a voice so loud and terrifying that the people begged to not hear it ever again.  He spoke the Ten Commandments. “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” He says all these things. When the Ten Commandments were done, the people were so terrified that they begged Moses that he would go up in the mountain and listen to God’s words, and then come down and tell them. And God said, “I wish that they would always fear me like they fear me now. What they’ve said is good.” That began the prophetic office.

Then God said in Deuteronomy, “I will raise up a series of prophets after you, but culminating in the final prophet.” And that’s why Peter says, “Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on have spoken.” Now, we already said their habit is to do what to the prophets? Reject them, hate them, and kill them. Repent from that and listen to them now. They’ve left writings, and they all point to Christ. Listen to what the prophets have said. That’s what he’s saying. Anyone who does not will be cut off from among the people.

In Deuteronomy 18, He says, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.” We’ve got all the prophets. Isaiah comes along and gives incredible prophecies of Jesus. They sawed him in two, having put him in a log. Was there ever a prophet that you did not persecute? What did they do to Jeremiah? They threw him in a miry well. All of these prophets, including Zechariah who was killed between the temple and the altar, they killed all of them, one after the other. And then Jesus came, the Son. In the parable, the owner of the vineyard said, “They will respect my son.” But they didn’t, and they killed him too. They threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

Now Peter’s calling them to account and saying, “Repent from all that, and now listen to the prophets, and believe, especially the final prophet,” and that’s what Jesus is, the greatest and final prophet. As the author of Hebrews tells us, in the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days, He has spoken to us through His son. That’s the final word to the Jewish nation and to the world. Jesus, the prophet, listen to him. That’s what he’s saying.

Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people. What does that mean? Ultimately it would be to hear these dreadful words spoken, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.” That’s what’s threatened, if you don’t listen to the prophets, and then this final prophet, Jesus. Cut off from among your people.

He also hints at the gospel explosion about to come on the Gentile world. They don’t know anything about it yet. It’s all a Jewish thing right now. It’s in Jerusalem. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, remember? The God of our fathers. But what does he say? Look at verse 25-26. “You are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring, all peoples on Earth will be blessed.'” Look at verse 26, “When God raised up His servant, He sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

Peter goes back to the beginning of the call of Abram, out of the Ur of the Chaldees. He says, “Through your offspring, all peoples on Earth will be blessed.” God always intended to save the Gentile world through the Jews, through the son of Abraham, the descendant of Abraham, and that’s Jesus. He is the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham. And He was sent first to you Jews. We have this language in the Book of Romans, don’t we? I’m not ashamed of the gospel, because this is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. What’s the next part? First for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

He’s coming first to you, Jerusalem. He’s coming first to you, O Jews, to bless you. After that, there’s going to be a river of grace going to the Gentile nations, and they’re going to come in large numbers to faith in Christ. But He sent Him first to you to bless you, by turning each of you from your wicked ways. What are those wicked ways? Unbelief in the prophets and in the Son, and in all those other wickednesses, their lusts and their covetousness and their greed and their violence and all those other sins, but primarily their unbelief to God and to his Son.

What was the response? I guess you have to wait next week to find out. But I’ll tell you, it’s Acts 4:4. It says, “Many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about 5,000.” It was a big harvest that day, the number of men up to 5,000, plus women and children.

V. Applications

Applications, start with this, be a spiritual beggar. The sermon is a call to spiritual beggars. Blessed are the spiritual beggars, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. And I say, not just for the repentance and faith that will forgive your sins, but how you will grow in your faith from that point on. It’s not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. You don’t come to Jesus saying, “Look how righteous I am today.” Well, I can’t do anything for you today. But if the great physician can heal you and cause you to repent, you can make progress in your salvation. So continue for the rest of your Christian lives to be a spiritual beggar.

This is an incredible gift that was given to this man, but it still is nothing compared to the gift of salvation, having your sins wiped out, forgiven through faith in Christ.

Secondly, marvel at the power and goodness of God in this miracle. This is an incredible thing. Have you ever heard in your life of a gift as significant as this? Anything that could be bought at a mall, or sent by Amazon, or any kind of act of service, any kind of triumph, a Super Bowl championship, or something that compares with a man who had never been able to walk, to walk? There’s nothing you’ve ever heard of or experienced in your life that compares with this gift. We’re just so used to these miracles, it’s like they’re commonplace. This is an incredible gift that was given to this man, but it still is nothing compared to the gift of salvation, having your sins wiped out, forgiven through faith in Christ.

Thirdly, I would say use miracle stories to preach the gospel. Memorize a miracle story. I like this one. This is a good one. I like the one with the four friends who lower the guy down through the roof. That’s a good one, “That you may know that Jesus has the power on Earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralyzed man, rise and walk.” Use a miracle story, the stilling of the storms. Say, “Jesus was asleep in a boat, and there was this huge storm” and all that. See what happens. People will be interested. Then they’ll think you’re weird. But anyway, it’s a good opportunity to preach the gospel.

Finally, look forward to the new Heavens and the new Earth. Times of refreshing are coming. It’s not going to happen at the ballot box. That’s not where it’s going to happen. It’s going to come with the second coming of Christ. And when Christ comes, He’s going to restore all things. We have a duty to do as citizens. We have a duty to do as Christians. We have to be salt and light. We have a role to play. But until that time comes, let’s preach the gospel of a coming savior and a kingdom that is yet to come.

Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for this time together to study this incredible chapter and this incredible miracle. I thank you for Peter and John’s faith and their humility, their responsiveness to the Holy Spirit. We thank you for that. We thank you for the timeless gospel that’s behind it, that Jesus is still a great and a mighty and a wonderful savior, who saves people if they will just be spiritual beggars and trust in him. In His name we pray, Amen.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

I. We Are All Beggars

A. Martin Luther’s Final Words

One month before he died, Martin Luther was feeling acutely the agonies of old age. He was 62 years old, much older than the average man was at death during his era. Luther wrote a friend,

“I, old, weary, lazy, worn-out, cold, chilly, and, over and above, one-eyed man. Half-dead as I am, I might be left in peace.”

But unfortunately he would not be left in peace. The town of his birth, Eisleben, was facing a crisis that needed his intervention. Despite his weakened condition and the terrible winter weather, he travelled to his hometown to try to help. Sadly, on the way he caught an illness. He preached one last sermon in the church in Eisleben. But he soon succumbed to his age and infirmities. As he lay on his deathbed on February 18, 1546, had written on a piece of paper they later found in his pocket:

“We are all beggars. This is true.”

One of the greatest leaders in church history died with these words in his mind. He would stand before God on Judgment Day with his shameful nakedness covered in Christ’s robe of righteousness, a robe given him freely because he asked for it by faith.

B. One of the Most Important Verses of My Life

Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The opening words to the greatest sermon ever preached… the Sermon on the Mount… spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The word “poor” there is ptochos… meaning beggar, one totally destitute… who survives only by the alms put in the cup.

So I understand the verse as saying, “Blessed are the spiritual beggars, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus is saying, “I will give the kingdom of heaven to those who ask for it like a beggar.”

Recognizing you have nothing that God sees as valuable… no good works to your name, no possessions of you own, nothing to commend your case. You are stripped of possessions and power and standing spiritually.

So, you are like the tax collector in Jesus’ parable:

Luke 18:13-14  But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’  ¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

C. God Invites Beggars to His Banquet

1. Christ also told a parable of a king who was preparing a lavish banquet… and he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited to come, for everything was now ready. But they all alike began to make excuses: I bought a field, I bought some oxen, I just got married.

Luke 14:21-23  Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’  ²² “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’  ²³ “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.

2. No one who thinks they deserve to be at God’s banquet will be there. Only the beggars who know they don’t deserve it.

Dear friends, we are ALL beggars!

D. Today’s Passage: A Well-Known Beggar Healed

II. The Miracle’s Purpose

A. The Lord empowered his apostles to do miracles in his name

B. Why? Primarily to establish the truth of the message they would preach… to validate THEM and more importantly, the GOSPEL

C. Jesus’ miracles established his identity and confirmed the truthfulness of his message

John 14:11  …believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

D. the apostles’ miracles did the same

Acts 14:3  So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there [Iconium], speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.

E. Apostolic miracles were essential to the salvation of the early converts

Romans 15:18-19   I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done–  ¹⁹ by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.

F. Also the miracles drew a crowd to hear the message

Acts 3:11  While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.

Acts 8:6  When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said.

The healing of this well-known beggar was a strategic move by the Holy Spirit… there were certainly hundreds, perhaps thousands of beggars in that region. But only one sat in the main gate that so many Jews walked through every single day.

God chose that man for healing because he was so familiar… so his healing would make an amazing impact.

Keep in mind… there is nothing visually spectacular about a healing. Health is normal… disease is not. So when a disabled person suddenly becomes healed, he just looks normal. It is because it was a famous beggar walking and leaping and praising God that it meant so much.

III. The Miracle Accomplished

Let’s walk through the narrative

A. The Time of Prayer

Acts 3:1  One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer– at three in the afternoon.

This shows the regular pattern of the church… they continued to meet daily in the temple area for doctrine and prayer

Acts 2:42  They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Acts 2:46  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

Why? First of all, it was Jesus’ regular habit in the final days of his ministry. And it was the Jews’ regular habit, for God commanded them to make morning and evening sacrifices daily.

B. The Beggar Positioned for God’s Purposes

God had been grooming this man for just this exact moment. Remember the question about the man born blind:

John 9:2-3  His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  ³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

This beggar’s disability was ordained by God for his own glory and the glory of his Son, Jesus Christ:

Acts 3:2  Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.

The cost to him was high… he was “crippled FROM BIRTH”… literally, “from his mother’s womb”… so, the cost to his parents had been high. The cost of this plan of God was high to everyone who cared about him or had ever helped him in any way.

But it was all for God’s glory:

Romans 8:18  I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Note that he had to be carried by some caring people to his usual position, at the temple gate called “Beautiful”; this was the gate that faced east, toward the sunrise, and it separated the Court of the Gentiles from the Court of Women. It was large and ornate; according to Josephus, it was made of Corinthian brass and it took twenty men to close it.

This was the strategic location he chose every day. The Jewish worshipers who went by him would have been motivated to prove their piety to God by helping beggars.

C. The Beggar Petitioned Peter and John

Acts 3:3-5  When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.  ⁴ Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!”  ⁵ So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

This is a moment hanging in time… he wanted money, which would have been spent and gone that same day. Instead, he got something infinitely better:

Acts 3:6-8  Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”               ⁷ Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.  ⁸ He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.

I love the way Peter begins… “Silver or gold I do not have.” The church was poor in material resources, but rich in power.

There is a famous story from the Medieval Church in which Thomas Acquinas, the great theologian, went to meet with the Pope… the Bishop of Rome. By this point the pope was one of the most powerful and wealthy men in the world. As Thomas entered the room, the Pope was counting coins that had flowed in by the Catholic church’s various revenue streams. The coins were stacked high. When he saw the theologian, he said, “You can see, Thomas… the church no longer can say ‘Silver or gold have I none.’ Thomas answered, “Yes, that is true. But neither can we say to a beggar, ‘Rise and walk.’”

In God’s eyes, silver and gold are vastly inferior commodities to faith, humility, and love.

Peter and John were poor in money but rich in faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

As with all the miracles done by Jesus and the apostles, it was instantaneous, effortless, and completely effective. And it was clearly done in the name of Jesus Christ… Peter adds “of Nazareth”… lest there be any mistaking who is getting the credit for the miracle. The name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth… that name is POWER. By his name God moves.

And the power of God through Christ was incredible… here was a man who had never walked a single step in his entire life. His “feet and ankles became strong.” Also skilled, trained, experienced.  God gave him instant coordination and balance, enabling him to leap around.

D. Praising God

1. The immediate effect of this miracle on the man’s heart was WORSHIP to Almighty God!

2. He gave God the glory for his healing… beginning (as it seems) a life of worship that has continued on into eternity

IV. The Miracle Explained

A. A Crowd Transfixed… and Assembled

1. He went into the temple courts to do his leaping and praising God

2. There was already a huge crowd there… many of them had walked by this man for years, including that very day

3. They couldn’t believe their eyes!

Acts 3:9-11  When all the people saw him walking and praising God,  ¹⁰ they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.  ¹¹While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.

4. Wonder and amazement! Huge crowd rushing to see what had happened!

5. Solomon’s Colonnade

a. Solomon built the original temple, which was destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonians… Ezra and Haggai helped rebuild the temple, much smaller than Solomon’s

b. King Herod refurbished the temple before Jesus was born

c. They named a portion of Herod’s temple after Solomon… right near the Beautiful Gate

B. Peter’s Humility: He Deflects All Glory

Acts 3:12  When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?

1. First… [He says] “This should not surprise you at all!” [More on that statement in a moment!]

2. Secondly… don’t stare at US… we are nothing; God is everything!

a. Our power did not make this man walk

b. Certainly not our godliness… our piety… our righteousness

c. Here we see Peter’s deep humility; it was not long before this that he denied even knowing Jesus at all

d. Peter knew that God was using him in spite of his sinfulness not because of his godliness

God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

C. Peter Ascribes All Glory to God and to Christ

In so doing, he transitions to preaching the gospel:

V. The Message Proclaimed

A. Proclaiming the Identity and Glory of Christ

Acts 3:13  The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.

1. This is a message given to Jews in the geographical heart of Judaism, the holy city of Jerusalem

2. So, he cloaks it with terms that would have resonated clearly in the hearts of all Jewish people… the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob… the God of our fathers

3. This is not some new religion or some false god… this is the continuation and the perfection of the covenant God made centuries ago with Abraham

4. God has glorified Jesus by doing this miracle in his name!

5. “His servant, Jesus”

a. What an incredible title to give Jesus

b. Jesus is God as much as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is God… but he was God’s servant to do his will, especially by dying on the cross

Next Peter mingles the conviction of the Jewish nation’s sin with the glory of Jesus Christ… they are woven together:

B. Convicting the Jews of Sin

1. Peter now bears down on unbelieving Israel

Acts 3:13-15  You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.  ¹⁴ You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.  ¹⁵ You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.

2. The nation’s leaders represented the nation in rejecting Jesus

3. Peter understands the eternal significance of that rejection

4. This was the culmination of the same pattern Israel has always followed, rejecting the ones God sends; even his only begotten son

[Jesus said] Matthew 23:37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.

[Stephen said] Acts 7:51-52  You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!  ⁵² Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him

5. Peter bears down on them

a. You handed Jesus over to be killed

b. You disowned him before Pilate… “not this man, but Barabbas”

c. You disowned the HOLY and RIGHTEOUS ONE… the only perfectly holy man that has ever lived

d. You asked that a murderer be released to you and killed the author of life

e. But God raised him from the dead; you are directly against God

6. Look at the exalted person of Christ

a. The servant of God

b. The Holy and Righteous One (absolutely sinless)

c. Author of life! Jesus is the Creator of all living beings

John 1:3-4  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

C. Declaring the Resurrection of Christ

Acts 3:15  You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.

1. The apostles consistently proclaim the resurrection of Christ

2. They cannot stop mentioning this, because death is the final enemy, the tyrant who stands over everything we do in life and declares that it is all meaningless

Ecclesiastes 9:10  in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

Christ’s resurrection is the most important moment in human history!

Jesus promises us all this same gift:

John 14:19  Because I live, you also will live.

3. So Peter openly proclaims in Jesus the resurrection from the dead

D. Giving Honor to Jesus for the Miracle

Acts 3:16   By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

E. God’s Amazing Grace Through His Messenger

1. Having turned up the heat, Peter now backs off and gives a reprieve

Acts 3:17  Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders.

2. This statement may seem perplexing, as though he’s letting them off the hook

3. But what he’s saying is that they did not really know who Jesus is

4. That was their ignorance

1 Corinthians 2:8  None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

F. Christ the Fulfillment of Judaism

1. Peter now closes the presentation by showing Jesus as the fulfillment of all the promises made in the Old Covenant… Jesus is the perfection and fulfillment of Judaism

Acts 3:18  But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer.

2. God intends to restore everything to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and indeed to David and all the godly Jews… the promises made to the forefathers all rest completely on Jesus

3. But in order for that to happen, the Jews must repent of their sins toward Jesus and toward God

Acts 3:19-21  Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,  ²⁰ and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you– even Jesus.  ²¹ He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

4. By repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, all your sins will be “wiped out”… covered, atoned for, thrown into the depths of the sea, removed from you as far as the east is from the west

5. The “times of refreshing” are often pictured in the Old Testament as a renewal of the Promised Land

Isaiah 41:18-20  I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.  ¹⁹ I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together,  ²⁰ so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

6. Peter preaches clearly the Second Coming of Christ; BUT Jesus will remain in heaven until the work of the gospel is done among both Jews and Gentiles alike

Acts 3:20-21  and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you– even Jesus.  ²¹ He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

7. Moses’ warning about the Prophet to come… and all the prophets to come

Acts 3:22-25  For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you.  ²³ Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.’  ²⁴ “Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days.  ²⁵ And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers.

a. That was the opening of the prophetic office in the days of Moses

b. Moses was the first prophet for the nation… when the people were afraid of the voice of God, and asked Moses to go listen to God and tell them what he said

Deuteronomy 18:18-19  I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.  ¹⁹ If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.

c. The problem was the Jews consistently refused to listen to the prophets

d. As Stephen said, “Was there ever a prophet you did not persecute?”

e. Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophetic office… the perfection of it, effectively God’s final word to the Jewish nation

Hebrews 1:1-2  In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,  ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

f. God has nothing more to say to the Jewish nation; if they won’t listen to Jesus as God’s final word, they will be cut off from the people

g. This is Peter’s warning

Acts 3:23   Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.’

8. So Peter wants the Jews of Jerusalem to realize that Jesus is the final prophetic word from God

G. Hint at the Rich Blessing of the Gentiles

Acts 3:25-26  And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’  ²⁶ When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

God always intended to bless all nations on earth through the descendants of Abraham.

Jesus is the seed of Abraham, by which all peoples on earth would be blessed.

Peter hints with the word “FIRST”… when God raised up his servant (Jesus) he sent him FIRST to you

As Paul would later say,

Romans 1:16  I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

H. Blessing is REPENTANCE

Acts 3:26  When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.

Their wicked ways is their hard-hearted rejection of the words of the prophets, and especially the Son of God; in addition to all their other sins… their idolatry, lusts, sexual immorality, covetousness, rebellion, rage, etc.

Jesus “turns them” from their wicked ways by the transforming power of the Spirit:

Ezekiel 36:26-27  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Foretaste of the response:

Acts 4:4  many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.

VI. Applications

A. Understand the First Beatitude: We are all beggars

“Blessed are the spiritual beggars, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”

B. Marvel at the Power and Goodness of God in this Miracle

1. None of us in this room today has ever received a gift in this present age as valuable as the gift of healing that beggar received

2. No Super Bowl winning quarterback would refuse to trade that championship for a lifetime of ability to walk

3. Neither would any wealthy person his fortune

4. This one gift, the instant ability to walk given to a man crippled from birth, is more valuable than any gift you’ve ever encountered in your entire life

5. Yet it is still infinitely less than the value of forgiveness of sins

Acts 3:19  Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord

C. Use Miracle Stories to Preach the Gospel

1. I think it’s great to memorize a story like this and use it preach the gospel on a plane or in the workplace

2. Miracle stories are amazing and fascinating… and they glorify Jesus!

D. Look Forward to the New Heavens and the New Earth, and the Resurrection from the Dead

1. Peter speaks of “times of refreshing” from the Lord when he will restore all things

2. The healing points to that glorious future

3. Resurrection bodies:

1 Corinthians 15:42-44  The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;  ⁴³ it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;  ⁴⁴ it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

4. Resurrected world

Revelation 21:4  He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away