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[0:00] So Acts 3. Father, we love you. Thank you so much for your word. Sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even through the dividing of thunder, of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of our hearts, Lord.

[0:13] And Lord, there is no creature that is hid before you, Lord, but all things are open and manifest to your sight. And so, Lord, open up our hearts, Lord. Just clean out what's in there, Lord.

[0:26] Lord, the fears that are within, Lord, that you would comfort them, Lord. The things without that are weighing on us, Lord. Lord, that you lift those burdens. You speak to us through your word, Lord, in a powerful way.

[0:39] It's a pretty cool scripture, Lord, tonight. Just the spiritual analogies, Lord. But Lord, I won't be able to see them unless you open them up, Lord. So feed us and sow seed in our hearts, Lord.

[0:50] May you find good ground. And Lord, we do pray for this neighborhood. Thank you, Lord, for what you're doing, Lord. You have your remnant everywhere, Lord. Lord, we love you, and we have neighbors who love you that we don't even know of.

[1:02] Some we do. And just thank you, Lord, for the opportunities to be in your word. We pray, Lord, that you would stir up a hunger, Lord. That there would be an awakening, Lord. That you would send a fresh move of your spirit, Lord.

[1:15] And that you would gather your sheep just to places they can find good pasture and be fed, Lord, sound doctrine. We thank you, we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. So chapter three.

[1:29] So, you know, where are we in our journey? Jesus has gone to heaven. He's ascended. The disciples have come back to Jerusalem. They've waited 10 days, approximately, and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, promised them.

[1:46] They've been made new. Peter then goes out and preaches this message, like Peter never preached before, because it's the Holy Spirit and not so much Peter.

[1:56] I was thinking of that. I'm teaching filling in Sunday for my pastor. And I was thinking, well, it's not my message. I'm stealing it. I'm stealing it from the Holy Spirit. Because, like, you know, what do I have to say?

[2:09] Except that he speaks through the words that he wrote. So we've come that far. This would be now in chapter three. Peter's finished his sermon.

[2:21] We have over 2,000 souls that are saved and added to the church, or about 3,000, sorry, in chapter two, verse 41. And then we have that wonderful passage of the perfect picture, we could say, of the church.

[2:34] They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, in fellowship, in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And it says, All that believed had all things in common. And they continued daily with one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house to house, and did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.

[2:53] And the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. But this is still, you remember, they're Jews, and they're Jews who believe they've come into the fulfillment, which they have, of the old covenant, of the promises in the old covenant.

[3:07] But they're still working under that Jewish mindset. So they're in the temple. I mean, they understand the temple now. Jesus, remember, he cleansed the temple and said, My house shall be a house of prayer.

[3:18] So they are in the temple daily, praying and praising God, as we're going to see as we get into chapter three. But they're also looking for his return. Back in chapter two, they said, Hey, are you going to now restore the kingdom unto Israel?

[3:31] And Jesus said, pretty much a big, wait, didn't see. Like a big maybe. Like, well, it's not for you to know the times and the seasons the Father's put in his own power. So they're working kind of under this assumption like, Man, look at all the influx of souls from in Israel.

[3:50] God is doing a move. He's gathering in his people. And so they're excited. I think as we go through Acts, those are the two things. You have the very clear, life-giving power of the Holy Spirit.

[4:03] And then you don't see it so much in Acts spoken of, but just by the way they live their lives. You see it with Paul's emphasis just to go, go, go, go.

[4:14] The time was short. But you see it in the epistles with Paul, Peter, and John. They all write from that perspective of, you know, looking for that blessed hope, having this hope within us that Jesus is coming soon.

[4:26] So to that end, we start up in chapter three. It says, Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.

[4:37] So again, we know, just said they were daily with one accord in the temple. Peter and John, remember we had Peter, James, and John. Jesus would take them often. He took them into Jairus to raise his daughter up.

[4:51] Excuse me. He took them to the Mount of Transfiguration many times. Peter, James, and John. Peter, James, and John. And then you see starting when Jesus sent Peter and John to two disciples, and we figure it's Peter and John, based on how they were seated at the Last Supper, sent them to get the Last Supper ready.

[5:12] And then since then, now we see Peter and John, and James is kind of fading out of this a little. Well, Peter and John run to the tomb after Mary says Jesus is risen. Why doesn't James?

[5:23] I don't know. Except I think you see here God is preparing James and preparing Peter and John what's to come. James will be the first martyr of the church. And so this is one of those blessed separations that maybe sometimes we don't understand in the moment.

[5:37] Maybe John was a little frustrated. Like, why isn't James coming with us? But either way, Peter and John, the most unlikely of fellows. John, probably the youngest. Peter, probably the oldest. Peter, if you remember when Jesus, the Pharisees came and said, why don't your disciples pay taxes to Peter?

[5:54] He goes to Jesus and says, hey, we got to pay taxes. They were talking about the temple tax. We had to be over 20 to pay that. And Jesus says, take this, you know, go catch a fish, bring it out of the sea, and there'll be a coin.

[6:05] Go and pay that for thee and me. So it's just him and Peter were the only ones required to pay that, which kind of indicates Peter's probably older a little bit. He's got a mother-in-law because Jesus healed his mother-in-law, which means either had a wife and she passed away, or he has a wife.

[6:21] But I think, is it Paul or James? One of them later in their epistles will say, and I think it's Paul, when he's talking about marriage, it says, do we not also have freedom, like Cephas, to lead about a wife?

[6:32] So it seems like Peter is either married again or still married. Was his wife executed with him? That's tradition, yeah. A tradition. Yeah, yeah. But also there's speculation that, well, when it says Peter's mother-in-law, you know, perhaps his wife was not alive then and it was just his mother-in-law.

[6:49] I think that people think that just because of how much he traveled with Jesus. You know, it wasn't like, but it did say a lot of women also followed. So maybe his wife was there too. Either way, so you have John, probably the youngest, and then Peter.

[7:04] And we think that just because of the position you see John constantly taking throughout the Gospels. So they go up together to pray. Prayer is a priority. It's a priority for them. They've been filled with the Spirit.

[7:14] Man, they are like on fire. And yet, remember what they saw Jesus do so many times. He went off by himself to pray. He rose up a great while before morning and began to pray.

[7:26] And at the ninth hour, the ninth hour would be about 3 p.m. It's also the same time that Jesus cried out, it is finished. It is one of the times of prayer during the day. And as they're going up, a certain man, lame, from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple.

[7:46] So now, going up like they have at every other time, there's this gate beautiful. And, I'm going to hand those out. I like my charts and maps.

[7:58] They kind of help me see and give perspective to what the characters in the Bible are seeing. Oh, there's plenty.

[8:09] I think I printed out eight. And so, they're heading up in just as they would have done who knows how many other times.

[8:20] They're going into the gate beautiful. So if you look on your paper there, you can see as it lists, if Solomon's starting the, going down the line of the listing, if Solomon's porch, the outer area, court of the priests way, or the temple, you know, you see the picture of the temple there.

[8:38] Then moving outwards, you have court of the priests, which is inside where the altar is. And then you have, moving out from there, the court of Israel, which is where the men would be allowed to go.

[8:52] And then the court of the women, moving, continuing to move out from the temple. And then the gate beautiful is kind of the gate, or at least speculated to be here, as like, kind of like moving into the main areas of the temple.

[9:06] The main temple courtyard and such. So then there's the court of the Gentiles, way outside there, court of the Gentiles, right? That's where Jesus would have chased out the money changers and all of them.

[9:20] They were turning that into a bazaar, more than a place for the Gentiles to come. Because at this time, Israel wasn't, you know, Jews weren't too thrilled about Gentiles.

[9:30] They could care, what do we need a court of a Gentile for? So, but here's this gate beautiful. Now, there's a couple things to note. If you read up on like, Jewish tradition and things like that, tradition was, nobody who was lame could go into the temple.

[9:47] They wouldn't let them go in. And they take that from, it's really strange, Leviticus 21.18 talks about the priests and what's required to be a priest.

[9:59] And you cannot have anyone who's lame or halt or who has a flat nose. I don't know what that means, but if you have a flat nose, you're not a priest. So, that, but that's just talking about priests.

[10:10] But then if you turn to 2 Samuel chapter 5, this obscure little verse, which I don't think this is what it means, but it just kind of shows that if you take scripture out of context and you're not allowing the Holy Spirit to interpret scripture for you, you can come up with a couple funny ideas that can have long lasting consequences.

[10:35] So, chapter 5 of 2 Samuel, David's going up. This is when he is now king of Israel and he's going to go up to Jerusalem.

[10:45] It's not yet his. And he's like, all right, you know, whoever takes it is going to be my right hand man or whatever. And, you know, Joab does, but he says, the Jebusites said, in verse 6, the Jebusites said unto David saying, except thou take away the blind and the lame, you shall not come in hither.

[11:08] Thinking David cannot come in hither. Like, man, the blind and the lame can defend this against you. Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, the same as the city of David.

[11:18] And David said on that day, whosoever gets up to the gutter, or climbs like up through the water spell, and smites the Jebusites and the lame and the blind that are hated of David's soul. He shall be chief and captain.

[11:30] Wherefore, they said, the blind and the lame shall not come into the house. Like, it's, what a strange, David's like, get up there. Fine, we're going to go up and we're going to fight with the blind and the lame.

[11:42] Get up. You know, he's kind of like a figure of speech. But it was kind of taken this really weird way. Like, okay, David hates the blind and the lame, so they can't, they can't come.

[11:53] And so by the time Jesus is here, and he's going in and out of the temple, the blind and the lame weren't coming into the temple. They weren't allowed in there. And if you turn to Matthew 21, so this guy who's there that we're about to meet, he's been laid daily at this gate, and he's lame.

[12:17] In Matthew 21, Jesus has just cleansed the temple, as we just talked about. And, I think it's Matthew 21.

[12:29] I'm sorry. That was Levitic. Yeah, Matthew 21. Okay. And verse 13, Jesus says, it is written, my house shall be called the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.

[12:41] And so after he's cleansed the temple, after he's made this proclamation, it says this in verse 14, and the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. So he cleansed it, and he allowed, this may be the first time some of these people have been in there, and the blind and the lame came to him.

[12:57] Man that must have eaten up the chief priest, right? But, how did they come? Well, they must have been led. They must have had people willing to bring them. Maybe the apostles went, maybe others that were, you know, the blind didn't, they're blind, and the lame can't walk, they weren't dragging themselves.

[13:12] How'd they get there? But obviously, as you turn back over to Acts, this guy was not one of them. This guy was not carried in there. He was laid daily since he was born.

[13:24] Or, you know, since he's been lame since he was born, and he's been laid daily for years, and years, and years. Jesus comes, cleanses, heals. He doesn't get to be part of it.

[13:35] What's going on? You know, was he bitter? Was he frustrated? Was he, I don't know. So, I see here a picture where there's things in our life, right, that are laid.

[13:48] This man's learned to cope with it. He's been there every day. He's actually learned to kind of draw some kind of comfort and value in this. He's begging alms.

[13:59] You know, he's making do. He's getting by. It's okay. This is, there's nothing he can do to affect this change in his life. He recognizes, this is how I've always been. I wish I could be different, and I can't.

[14:09] And I've been here every single day asking alms. The word alms is cool, it's kindness. To ask kindness of them that entered into the temple.

[14:21] Who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asking alms, right? How many times has he watched other people go into the temple? Maybe his desire was, I want to, I wish I could go in there.

[14:34] I wish I could go worship God. I wish I knew what that was. But, in this time, what did they think about someone who was lame or blind? Who did sin?

[14:48] This man, or his parents, that he was born blind, right? And what does Jesus say? Neither. But that the works of God might be made manifest in him. Now, if you're the blind guy, you're going, say what?

[14:58] I've been blind so that you could manage, this is all part of your plan? Couldn't you use someone else? You know, maybe a different plan. Use Kitty to be blind.

[15:09] I don't want to be blind. Right? Well, the same with this guy here. He's lame. He's been here all these years. And so, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked an alms, or a kindness.

[15:22] I like that word. And Peter, fastening his eyes on him with John, said, look on us.

[15:34] So, Peter is experiencing something I don't think he's ever experienced before. You know, on the day of Pentecost, they were all filled with the Spirit. They just kind of like, in a rush, went out, and were just glorifying God in the temple.

[15:46] I think Peter right now is having the Holy Spirit speak to him. And I don't think he's had that before like this. Because the way he reacts is kind of like, whoa. I think the Holy Spirit's saying to him exactly what he's going to tell him to do.

[15:59] I want to heal this man. You know? And so Peter's fastening his eyes on him. Psalm. The problem is I write references in my Bible, but I don't have room to write what they actually are about.

[16:15] And at the time when I write them, it's like, oh, that is such a great, great idea. Psalm 34. Okay. So you have Peter where he says, fastening his eyes on him, he said, look on us.

[16:35] In Psalm 34, verse 4, he says, I sought the Lord and he'd heard me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed.

[16:48] This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Looking to him. We know that scripture says that that we now look through a glass dimly, but then face to face.

[17:02] And it tells us that we all with open faces, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are changed into his image. So Jesus, Peter is saying, look upon me. And he's fastening his eyes on him.

[17:16] So this guy's been sitting there. He's probably just like, hey, see someone else going in, you know, alms, alms, see someone else, you know, alms, alms. It's like, yeah, okay, this is the same thing I do every day.

[17:26] I know the routine. I jiggle the cup. They either give me something or they don't, right? It'd be like for us, we're getting on the expressway, right? And you see the people and you pull over and you roll your window down and you say, hey, come over here.

[17:39] And the person, maybe they're like, you know, hobbling or whatever and they come over and they're like, hey, what are you going to give me? You know, and you look at them, you fix your eyes on them and Peter says, oh, and the man gave heed to them expecting to receive something of them.

[17:54] He's like, all right, what you got for me? This is great. Turn to Mark chapter 11. So he was expecting to receive something of them.

[18:18] He was expecting money. He was like, yeah, okay, what you got? Jesus says this in verse 20 and Mark, sorry, 11, 24. He says, therefore I say unto you, what things whoever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them.

[18:37] And so there's a principle here that he's laying down. Jesus has laid down. Peter and John have heard this and now they're going to kind of express this in their life. This idea that God puts the desires there and I act on them and God will fulfill them.

[18:53] So this man gives heed to them. He's expecting to receive something. Now, if you were this man, you know, you're not thinking, oh, I'm going to walk. You're thinking, I just want some money. And then Peter says, you know, has this ever happened in this guy's life?

[19:06] Has anyone ever stopped or really take note of him? People have walked by him, passed him how many times? And for once, a couple of guys have stopped and said, look at me. Hey, you, you know, there's a big crowd of people going in. It's the hour of prayer.

[19:17] And he's like, hey, look at me. And the guy's like, okay. And then Peter says, I don't have any money. Well, thanks, buddy. Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee.

[19:31] I just want to start singing a Sunday school song. And so, okay, he doesn't have money, but such as he has, he's going to give to me. What would be the best thing this guy could think of?

[19:42] Now, he's not going to think he can walk. He knows he can't. He's never been able to. And man can't make another man walk. It can't heal him like that. So he's thinking, what's he going to, maybe he's going to give me like an estate, like with servants, and they could carry me everywhere I wanted to go and they could take care of me and feed me and I could live in comfort.

[20:00] If only I didn't have to lay by this gate every day. What is the point, God? You made me this way. I'm lame. I don't want to be. I'm stuck here. I can't enter in like the rest of your people.

[20:10] I can't experience you like the rest of your people. I'm stuck here. At least you could have put me in a comfortable place. But such as I have, give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.

[20:24] The things of God cannot be valued with the world's value system. Right? In this moment, Peter says to the guy, based on the promptings of the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

[20:39] And then he doesn't wait. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up. You know, this faith, that's faith on Peter's part to say, okay, God, you're going to do this? Let's go.

[20:50] Peter's all in. He's not standing back going, hey, John, I think the Lord wants me to heal this guy. He's like, you crazy? Yeah, I think so. I think we should heal him. Well, what do we do? Hey, buddy, you want to be healed?

[21:03] You know, hey, can I pray for you? You know, Lord, if it's your will, heal this man. Yeah, we do that. We are to pray for one another. We don't know for sure. But God can speak to us and God can speak to you.

[21:15] And we're going to see all through this book he wants to speak. In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. And he took him by the hand and lifted him up. The word lift him up is literally the word arise.

[21:25] Jesus arose from the grave. And immediately, his feet and ankle bones received strength. So now we know what was wrong with him. Something where his feet and his ankles just had not formed correctly. They received strength from God.

[21:38] And he leapt up, leaping up, stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. God's work is immediate. There's no rehab here.

[21:50] There's no long process. There's no having to like, whoa, the mind-muscle coordination connection. He's never walked before. And now all of a sudden he's just like healed. And he's walking. And there's a picture of our walk here too.

[22:01] The thing that's lame in our life that God wants to touch. That when he does, it's like, it like leaps to life. It's like, whoa, I can't believe it. And we leap up, we're excited. And then we stand.

[22:13] God kind of settles us down and we kind of stand there and we stand in it like, whoa, Lord, this is what you've done. This act of your grace. I never thought I would get past this. I never thought this area in my life that had no walk, that had no value, would be touched.

[22:28] And then he says, okay, and the Lord teaches us, now walk. Walk in that. So he goes and he walks and he entered with them into the temple. I think, in my mind, I like to think if it was me and, you know, and if you're like, you just wanted God, you just wanted to be near him.

[22:45] And the closest you could get to him was outside the temple. This is God's place on earth. I like to think the guy was excited he can walk, but I think he's blown, his mind is blown that he is going into the temple.

[22:55] He's going to get to go in and worship God like everybody else. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. The result of faith. The result of faith is a witness to the world.

[23:07] They saw him walking and praising God and they knew it was him. No cell phones, no television, no cameras. How would all these people know?

[23:18] One at a time, day by day, they walked by him. This person walked by him. Henry walked by him. Sue walked by him. We all, oh, did you see that? No, I don't know who you're talking about. And then, okay, I've walked by him.

[23:29] I see him. Day by day, they've walked by. And God has set this whole thing up. And this whole time, this man's had to endure this. And they knew that it was him which sat for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple.

[23:42] That beautiful gate to him represented the most horrible place in the world. Every day, stuck there. And now, every time this man's going to walk by that place, he's going to stop and go, I used to sit there.

[23:56] I used to get put there. Remember? Man, what happens if you had to go to the bathroom? That's awkward. Drag yourself around the corner or something? I don't know. You know, what happens if he's hungry?

[24:07] What if someone forgot to bring him something to drink? Sue and I went to Toronto once in the morning. We came out of the hotel on the street. And it was so weird because there was a bunch of homeless people, which was fine.

[24:20] But people would take their unfinished popcorns, unfinished Starbucks, unfinished breakfast sandwiches. They'd eat part of it and they'd leave the rest on the corners next to these sleeping homeless people.

[24:31] These tons of food. But all partially eaten. That's the best the world can do. They give us their leftovers. Oh, there's compassion. Here you go. I don't need this anymore.

[24:42] Here. Jesus gives the best. Jesus gives his absolute best. And this man, now he's in the temple and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

[24:56] No denying a true work of God. Right? You know the people out there, we don't need to name them. They're like, be healed. You know, it's like, well, I think the person's healed. Not really sure. You know, or they run across the stage and the whole thing was a plant or maybe they got healed.

[25:09] I don't know. This one, God had set it up that nobody could deny. This guy was lame and nobody could deny that God had done a work here. And they knew it was him. For us, when God does a work and there's a work of faith, people are going to react in many ways.

[25:24] Don't get too caught up in the amazement and the wonder. You know, a wonder and amazement doesn't change a heart. Wonder and amazement doesn't save a soul. And people will be wondering and amazed and that's just going to happen when God does a work.

[25:39] And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's greatly wondering. You bet he held them. You know, it says that when Peter took his hand and lifted him up, you know, I doubt he let go of that hand after that.

[25:55] He leapt up. And you see God's grace in this. The man was fully healed. He didn't need to hold them. But I bet he had Peter in one hand and John in the other and he's between them jumping and woohoo! Right? Because he's like, I've never done this.

[26:07] What if it doesn't last? What if I fall on my face? What if, what if by holding on to these guys, the magic is happening? I'm not letting them go, right? You see God's grace in that. When God does a work and he's using someone in your life, we don't have to feel like, oh, I'm less than a Christian or I'm not, you know, living up to all I should because I'm still relying on this person.

[26:27] And he's holding on tight to them. And when all the people ran together onto them in Solomon's porch, verse 11, that is called, or the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.

[26:39] We see that on our little map. So, this was the first healing since Jesus did healings. Jesus doesn't do any miracles after the resurrection as far as like healing people and that he just, he just appears to the disciples and the other followers.

[26:58] So, this would be the first healing and the first really public miracle since Jesus. And for all the people who had heard about Jesus and known Jesus, and obviously this man did because that was his point of faith.

[27:11] You know, we think of Peter grabbing his hand and lifting him up, but for this man, it was verse 6 where it says, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He heard that name and he's like, yes, and he believed. And so, his faith and Peter's faith met together and he was healed.

[27:26] So, the people are surprised. Like, here we go again. In verse 12, when Peter saw it, he answered to the people. So, Peter's stuck there, right? This is, this is God's grace again.

[27:37] This is Peter's second sermon, right? The first one kind of was like, by necessity, all the people were like, they're drunk. You know, he's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. So, this one, God does this great work and maybe him and John would have slunk off.

[27:50] Maybe they would have been like, hey, let's just cut out of here. But the guy's holding them tight. You know, they're not going anywhere. He's got a death grip on them. And Peter, astute Peter, when he saw it, he answered unto the people, you men of Israel, why marvel you at this?

[28:07] Or why look you so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness we have made this man to walk? So, the reason, the cause is never in the vessel. We're never to look to the vessel and think, oh, and I can do that.

[28:20] I can go to a pastor's conference or I can watch, you know, another teacher and think, man, I wish I could teach like that. And it's like, but all he did is the same thing I do. You step into the flow, essentially.

[28:31] You step into the position of where God's called you, whatever it is, and then he enables you by his Holy Spirit to do that. Whether it's serving, whether it's teaching, whether it's worship ministry, whether it's helping your neighbors, whatever it is, sharing with people, it's the Holy Spirit who enables us.

[28:48] And we can look at others and think, wow, if only I could do that. And then we try in our own effort and we fail and we think God failed us or maybe that we had sin or just that downward spiral.

[29:00] Where Peter right away says, don't look at me. Now, this is pretty remarkable. I have to confess if it was me and like, that's never happened to me. And God told me to grab some guy and heal him and everybody ran around.

[29:12] I'd be like, isn't that amazing? Isn't that so cool? God used me. I'm so surprised. This is awesome. I'm going to write a book. No, I wouldn't do that. I think God's given me the gift of healing.

[29:24] But Peter just right away says, don't you look at me. Don't, no, no, no, no. It has nothing to do with me. And then he uses this opportunity to preach. And we're going to look at, briefly, there's a, there's a pattern of how to preach the gospel here, which is pretty cool.

[29:40] Peter is going to first identify who Jesus is. He's going to do that in verse 13. And then he's going to identify sin and man's responsibility. How, how man had sinned because of how they had treated Jesus, which is verse 14 and 15.

[29:59] And then he's going to identify God's solution to that, that God had raised up Jesus. And then he's going to point out man's correct response to that based on the word, because he's going to use Samuel and the prophets and say, hey, that sense, Samuel and the prophets, you have heard this, repent.

[30:18] And so he's going to, to kind of give a basis of how, I'm sorry, Samuel comes later, but in verse 19, he says, repent. So that is man's correct response. Then he gives the bad news.

[30:29] If man does not respond correctly, and then he ends it with the good news. If man does respond correctly. So in verse 13, he explains first, who is Jesus?

[30:40] He says, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified his son, Jesus. This is the son of God whom you delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go.

[30:55] A little insight into Pilate, wasn't it? When he was determined to let him go, not just, well, I think this man is innocent. You know, remember his wife sent to him and said, I've had dreams about this man.

[31:06] Leave him alone. Pilate was determined to let him go. But he was persuaded by the people. But you denied the Holy One and the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you.

[31:19] So Peter here is very bold. He's preaching the truth without fear of the consequences. He's not worried about how they'll respond. I struggle with this because when I talk with people, you know, even friends or whoever, you know, whether it's in the capacity of in ministry or as a pastor or whatever, I think, well, if I say that, they may react this way.

[31:38] You know, and that's, I can't, I can't do that. I have to just responsibly say, well, this is what God's putting on my heart to tell you right now. This may be awkward for you. And so Peter says, here's what you've done and not just you denied the Holy One, not just that you offered him up to be killed, but you desired a murderer in his place.

[31:59] The polar opposite. This is what you've done. And then we need to be able to see ourselves that way. Do we realize how far our sin has taken us? Do we realize what it's done?

[32:12] It didn't just put Jesus on the cross. It picked the most vile thing in his stead. And I can look at my life and I can look through it and think of all the vile things I picked instead of Jesus. And you killed the prince of life.

[32:25] What an oxymoron. What a contradiction. You killed the prince of life whom God has raised up from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. Life cannot be killed. And that's the whole point. The wages of sin is death.

[32:38] So that means when Jesus died, when he's crucified, if he stayed dead, that means he also was under the wage of sin. But if he wasn't, then death couldn't hold him because death only has power because of sin.

[32:52] The wage that is owed to it because of sin. So Jesus, the prince of life, how ridiculous. Satan tries to kill the prince of life. I'll kill life. No, you can't kill life.

[33:03] What ends up happening is life kills death. He says, wherefore we are witnesses. If you remember Acts 1.8, our kind of our theme verse, you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth.

[33:22] He says, we are witnesses of this and his name, through faith in his name, has made this man strong, whom you see now and know. Yea, the faith which is by him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

[33:37] So God has overrode man's actions. That God chose, oh, this is going back to, sorry, when Jesus, man's action was to put the prince of life to death, God overrode man's actions.

[33:51] And then in verse 16 where it says that through faith in his name, he has been given perfect soundness. Faith will always result in soundness. Always. And what is faith?

[34:03] Well, faith can't exist in a vacuum, just like love. Love can't, you can't have love if you don't have an object. It just doesn't exist without that. Faith is the same thing. Unfortunately, you hear a lot of people like faith-based enterprises or whatever, faith something.

[34:16] It's like faith in what? You know, I mean, you could have faith in your cocker spaniel and you know, so what? It's a faith-based program. It's faith in. It's what your faith is in.

[34:27] And so faith in Jesus, in the Holy One that they put to death, has made this man perfectly sound. And again, he points out this man whom you see and know.

[34:39] You know this guy. Don't let, look at it. We walk by faith, not by sight. But when faith and sight combined, don't deny what you're seeing and try to explain it away.

[34:51] Well, Jesus didn't die, swooned. Swooned on a cross? Really? With a spear in his side? After him, his back flayed open? I don't think so. You know, don't deny your eyes when faith and sight combined.

[35:04] And now, brethren, I wote that through ignorance you did it, as did your rulers, but still responsible. They're ignorant, but they're still responsible. We're still responsible for our sin.

[35:16] But those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all the prophets that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. And he always will. All the things that he shows by his prophets.

[35:28] So we've looked at who Jesus was. We're looking at man's sin and responsibility. And then we're seeing God's response to that, which is to raise Jesus up. And those things which God had showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer, he has so fulfilled that this is God's response.

[35:46] Jesus was to suffer for our sin. And here he says, here's what man's response should be. Repent you, therefore, and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

[35:59] Repent because of what God has done in response to man's sin. But you can't repent if you don't know your sin and you can't repent to God if you don't know who God is.

[36:10] And so he's establishing this order. And the next step is to repent. You should, this is what man's response should be. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

[36:29] And there we get a picture of like Peter's, Peter's heart and the apostles thinking that Jesus is coming, guys. Jesus is, he's going to send Jesus whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things.

[36:43] And you think, well, Peter thought that and he never came. Yeah, that's because God's gracious. That's because, thank you, Jesus. He looked down through history and saw in 1981 that this funny little boy was going to be born.

[36:54] And he's like, oh, oh, I could come before, he's like, Father, I could come, but he'll believe. I know he will. So just hold off a little longer, you know? And then he saw Kitty and Henry and he's like, oh, but they'll believe.

[37:07] So hold off a little longer, you know? And it's like, oh, but my people are suffering. Yes, but it's okay because I've made a place for them and I go and prepare a place and I'll come again and receive them.

[37:19] It's only a lifetime, guys. It's only a lifetime. The heavens will receive. And so, verse 22, for Moses truly said unto the fathers, and here now he's going to use the word to establish what he's trying to get these people to see in their response.

[37:35] For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you. Raise up unto you, sorry, of your brethren, like unto me. Him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

[37:49] So the Jews were jealous instead of expectant. They should have expected Jesus. They should have been ready for him. But when he came, exactly as Moses said, and Peter's pointing this out, you know Jesus fit this picture, guys.

[38:02] But you rejected him because you were jealous. And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. But the bad news, bad news is, okay, you're sinners.

[38:15] God is holy. He sent Jesus. You're sinners. Jesus died. You should repent. If you don't, here's the consequences. It doesn't do any good to tell people, hey, repent. Jesus loves you. Yeah, yeah.

[38:25] Thank you. Thank you. You know. Okay. Well, let me tell you now since you rejected, you're going to go to hell. That if you reject him, you shall be destroyed from among the people.

[38:36] Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after as many as have spoken have likewise foretold of these days. Man, that gives us great liberty. You know what that does? That means I can read through the prophets and I can see Jesus in every page and I don't have to apologize for it.

[38:51] Like, well, that's not really talking about that. That's talking about when the Medes and the Persians are going to come in and take over. Yes, it is talking about that. You're right. But it's also talking about Jesus. It's also pointing ahead to this.

[39:03] And all the prophets. So God does not hide his plans and purposes. Proverbs 25, 2. Just look at that one real quick. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing.

[39:21] Well, wait, I thought God didn't hide his purposes. Proverbs 25, 2. But the honor of kings is to search out a matter. And who does he call us in Revelation? That he has made you kings and priests unto God.

[39:34] It is our honor to search out the things that God has concealed. Why has he concealed them? Oh, he doesn't want me to know. No, because he wants my heart. He wants my time. He wants my passion.

[39:44] He wants my desire. And so if I'm digging for those things, like, well, that's not worth it. I mean, if it was easy, if it was on the surface, okay. But Jesus spoke in parables. He said, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.

[39:56] And so here, God has hidden but revealed in the prophets, Jesus. And those that had ears to hear and eyes to see could see, yes, you're right. Samuel and all the prophets have foretold these days.

[40:08] And Peter says, you are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, and in thy seed, singular, shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

[40:20] Through Abraham's seed. Unto you first, God, having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you and turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

[40:31] God is no respecter of persons, but God does respect his own order. And so God's order is Jew first, then the Gentile. But I think we can apply this to ourselves in a kind of a way of saying like, we are all children of God.

[40:46] We've been born again. We're in his kingdom. And we can almost say, well, unto us first, God has raised up his son Jesus and sent him to bless every one of us. You know, great. We've received it.

[40:57] Now what are we going to do with it? Yes, we're in the kingdom. You know, in a sense, there's those out there that don't know him, so we could consider ourselves brought in first before, not first as in first in line, but first as in before those coming after us.

[41:11] And so we kind of have the same thing. We are children of the prophets and the covenant. No, but we're children of the prophets and the new covenant in the sense that we're children of the new covenant, that we also have the word that now speaks to us.

[41:25] Paul, I think, says somewhere that the things that were written before time were written for our edification. So we also have been blessed through the seed of Abraham. And so God's not a respecter of person, but he does respect his own order.

[41:38] He also respects his own order concerning men and women and how he created them, his order in creation, husband, wife, male, female. It'll never change.

[41:49] That was hardwired into creation. It had nothing to do with a law, it had nothing to do with God's spoken promises. This was a hardwired into creation, God's order. And so we end in 26, and we end with where he says that God sent, God raised up Jesus, his son, for what purpose?

[42:09] He sent him to bless you. And this is what God sees as a blessing, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities. Every time you turn away from your iniquity, every time someone turns from their sin, that's a blessing.

[42:20] Now, my flesh and this world tries to tell me that's not a blessing. You're missing out, you're losing something, it's not that bad, it's just entertainment, right?

[42:31] So, God looks at us, oh, but I want to bless you, I want to bless you so much, let me take that out of your life, and then there's a blessing when we turn from our iniquities. And so we have the same hope and promise.

[42:44] And we also have, just like this man who's been healed, and he's standing there hearing all this too and going, oh, I can't believe it, I've never been in the temple, I've never walked, and then the same day, I'm walking, I'm in the temple, and then I'm finding out Jesus is the Messiah?

[42:59] Whoa! But he didn't know that that was his day, right? I often think like of the file cabinet in heaven and God pulls the drawer out and reaches in and pulls the file up and goes, oh, it's time.

[43:12] And cracks it open and says, here we go, it's your day, I'm going to do this in your life. That man, he may not have read his Bible that morning, he may not have prayed that morning, he might have argued with someone in his family, he might have had a bad attitude, he might have been frustrated with God, none of that had anything to do with what God had planned for his life.

[43:31] And his only response had to be, he could have, when Peter reached down and been like, yo man, what are you doing? Stop it! No, no, what are you crazy? But he heard that name, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, right?

[43:43] And it's the same for us, we speak the name of Jesus, those that will hear will hear, those that won't, won't. But there may be one that will. And there may be one that we have an opportunity to grab and say, welcome to the kingdom, brother.

[43:56] So, whatever it is for us, you know, whatever you got, that you think is lame, part of your life that's like, this isn't going to change. This has been, I've been like this my whole life.

[44:09] You know, I can think of one in my life. An area that's just always frustrated me and I kind of thought, Lord, why won't you, why won't you make me more effective in this area? Why won't you change this area?

[44:20] And maybe he will someday and maybe it'll be in a moment when everybody who's always known that that's been like that and then it's changed and then it'll be for a much greater purpose than just my blessing and benefit, right?

[44:33] So, well, Heavenly Father, we love you so much, Lord. I just thank you for this journey through this book, Lord, the acts of the Holy Spirit in the life of the apostles.

[44:45] And Lord, we can watch as you walk through this with us, Lord. We can see as you're doing that in our life, Lord. There's areas in our lives that you're like, today's the day. Come on, grab my hand.

[44:56] I'm going to lift you up. And Lord, I wonder how many times I've pulled away and how many times you've come back and said, let's try again. Let's do this again. And Lord, and then I think, am I ashamed?

[45:09] Am I ashamed to go running and leaping and praising God and holding on to God's people? Am I okay if I'm seen with someone who is doing that?

[45:19] Maybe I'm the Peter or the John. John said nothing. He's just there and he's got his hand grabbed hard. Lord, give us eyes for you because as Peter said, the time of the restitution of all things is at hand, Lord.

[45:30] We are at the door. You are coming. And Lord, if you're not coming in the clouds to take us all in our lifetime, well, you're coming individually, Lord, for that appointment, Lord. Appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment, Lord.

[45:43] It's only a lifetime. Help us not to have eyes that are on this world, Lord, for we seek a city whose builder and maker is God. Give us a light touch and give us eyes that are looking up at all times.

[45:56] And tonight, send us home with a blessing, Lord, filled with your spirit and expectant of you to do great things, God, because your word has promised it, because Jesus has come, because the Holy Spirit has been given, and because we can take every area of our life that seems kind of lame or backward or whatever and we can bring it to you, come boldly to the throne of grace and be surrendered to you.

[46:18] And Lord, you're either going to touch that and change it or you're going to say to us, ah, my grace is sufficient for you in that. In fact, I'm going to make my strength perfected in you through this weakness.

[46:29]  So we're going to leave it. Experience my strength. Thank you. We love you. In Jesus' name, Amen.