SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: As you take your Bibles to Acts chapter three, consider again what we've just proclaimed to our God.
SPEAKER_01: Heart of my own heart, whatever befall.
SPEAKER_01: Do you really believe that?
SPEAKER_01: Better yet, do you really live that?
SPEAKER_01: That Christ is your own heart, whatever befall.
SPEAKER_01: That statement, that one line in that song that is so familiar to so many of us, takes on a little bit different tone when we come to the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: Because in the book of Acts, we find barrier after barrier after barrier to being a Christian, to having God's heart.
SPEAKER_01: We see what life in a fallen world as a follower of Christ is really about.
SPEAKER_01: It's not merely about having your own life and having it as you want it to be, it is about having Christ's life and pursuing Him with all of it.
SPEAKER_01: That shouldn't be that surprising to us, right?
SPEAKER_01: Life is full of barriers of all kinds.
SPEAKER_01: Barriers can be proper and healthy.
SPEAKER_01: For example, God's word, God's declared word, formed a barrier, a protective barrier between Adam and Eve and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
SPEAKER_01: It was a protective barrier.
SPEAKER_01: Barriers can be for our own good, but they can also be frustrating and disappointing at times, can't they?
SPEAKER_01: God stationed a cherubim, the highest created angel, with a flaming sword at the entrance to the Garden of Eden after he cast Adam and Eve out, barring any entrance back into the garden, never again to walk and talk with God in the garden.
SPEAKER_01: Now that was for their good, so that Adam and Eve would not live forever, eat from the tree of life, and live forever in a fallen, sinful state.
SPEAKER_01: That's grace.
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes God's grace can be disappointing when you no longer have access to the garden.
SPEAKER_01: Barriers can be tied to God's character.
SPEAKER_01: The curtain, according to some estimates, about two-inch thick curtain that hung in the tabernacle in God's temple, that formed a barrier between the most holy place and the rest of the temple proper.
SPEAKER_01: To protect any of the human priests that came into that building from the holy presence of God so that they would not be struck down immediately.
SPEAKER_01: Barriers are all throughout Scripture, and they're all throughout life.
SPEAKER_01: This portion of the book of Acts is full of barriers.
SPEAKER_01: Barriers that are part of God's ordained plan for his church.
SPEAKER_01: And if they're part of God's ordained plan for his church, then they ought to be expected, anticipated, and worked through by those of us who claim to have his heart and follow him.
SPEAKER_01: It's full of barriers in Acts chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01: Luke recounts, as we've heard already from Anton reading it a little bit earlier, Luke recounts the Lord Jesus working powerfully through two apostles, Peter and John, to advance his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: However, the apostles faced obstacles similar to those that we face as his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: And it's important for us to know as we read this historical book, it's not just here to tell us what happened, that's its first and primary focus, but it's there to tell us what happened so that we grow and learn from it.
SPEAKER_01: And Luke intends to show how the early church faced those obstacles so that we can learn to trust Christ's work.
SPEAKER_01: Just as they did.
SPEAKER_01: Too often it's easy for us to get into the flow of trusting our own efforts, our own abilities, our own energies, our own strengths, when in reality it's Christ who's doing the work.
SPEAKER_01: That's exactly what's happening here in Acts chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, there is this miracle performed, but Peter himself says this didn't happen because we had any great strength or any great ability.
SPEAKER_01: This happened because Christ has ascended to the throne of God and he is working through his spirit now and today.
SPEAKER_01: And in this miraculous setting, Acts 3 contains three barriers.
SPEAKER_01: One barrier is ironically presented as beauty.
SPEAKER_01: Another is unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: And a third is repentance.
SPEAKER_01: But first we need to step back into chapter 2 for a moment so that the events of chapter 3 make sense in the flow of Luke's historical account.
SPEAKER_01: If we look back at the end of chapter 2, beginning in verse 42 through verse 47, we see this broad picture of the early church, a wide-reaching scope of ministry.
SPEAKER_01: The fledgling church is proclaiming the gospel, they're studying the Word of God, they're fellowshipping together, they're helping one another.
SPEAKER_01: Magnificent things occur in chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: God fulfilled his promise to send his spirit so that people who speak in other languages can hear the mighty works of God in their own dialects.
SPEAKER_01: And this new assembly of believers now considers themselves to be in a place to look first to others, considering others more significant than themselves, so that whatever need there is, they take their extra things that they don't need, and they even go and sell them so that they can support one another's needs.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 47, we see that the word, that God used all of that to bring more people to faith in him every day.
SPEAKER_01: And Luke tells us that all of this occurred in two common locations: in homes and in the temple.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, Jesus worked powerfully through his spirit in ordinary people in ordinary places.
SPEAKER_01: Never think that God's work is above you.
SPEAKER_01: From the very beginning, God works through ordinary people in ordinary places.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Acts chapter three takes that broad scope and now brings it into a microscope to focus on one particular event that occurred in that time frame of the church expanding exponentially.
SPEAKER_01: When everybody's doing ordinary things in the temple and in their homes, they're just meeting one another's needs, they're fellowshipping, they're learning, they're teaching, they're sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's one afternoon in the midst of that.
SPEAKER_01: In that setting, we see some friction points and some barriers lying in wait for the early church.
SPEAKER_01: The first barrier in this text is in verses 1 through 10.
SPEAKER_01: Peter and John are going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
SPEAKER_01: So this is about 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
SPEAKER_01: That's the time in which the afternoon or the what was called the evening sacrifice took place at the temple.
SPEAKER_01: There were morning and evening sacrifices.
SPEAKER_01: So this is a very normal, ordinary kind of event that's taking place.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's going to the temple to do their afternoon prayers.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter and John are part of that.
SPEAKER_01: But what is presented here is a unique barrier.
SPEAKER_01: Specifically, it's the barrier that beauty is to the broken.
SPEAKER_01: Many people are probably streaming toward the Temple Mount and into one of the temple's many gates.
SPEAKER_01: Very popular time of day.
SPEAKER_01: It's the afternoon.
SPEAKER_01: Their day is starting to conclude.
SPEAKER_01: They're coming to pray, they're coming to be part of the afternoon sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01: Peter and John, normal people, doing normal things, go to the Temple Mount.
SPEAKER_01: And they meet an unnamed man at one of the temple's entrances.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Luke gives us much information about this man, except his name.
SPEAKER_01: Except his name.
SPEAKER_01: He tells us that he was lame from birth.
SPEAKER_01: His legs didn't work.
SPEAKER_01: The way that Luke describes the miracle with his ankles and his and his feet and his legs all coming into place is really odd.
SPEAKER_01: It's a very technical way of sort of saying all of a sudden everything there was almost instantly remade and brought together with new ligaments and new joints, and everything started to work.
SPEAKER_01: This man was lame from birth.
SPEAKER_01: He could not walk.
SPEAKER_01: So he had been lame from his birth, his entire life, and his condition meant that he could not move himself from one location to another location.
SPEAKER_01: He had to be carried.
SPEAKER_01: That meant that he was dependent on others for nearly everything in his life.
SPEAKER_01: But he was at the temple every day.
SPEAKER_01: Not necessarily to worship, but to get handouts.
SPEAKER_01: You see, his condition meant that he couldn't work, so he had to beg for money to support himself.
SPEAKER_01: That wasn't that unusual.
SPEAKER_01: Almsgiving was an essential component to the first century Jewish faith.
SPEAKER_01: And many infirm people sought handouts from the people streaming in and out of the temple proper every single day.
SPEAKER_01: But therein lies a terrible irony because the broken were restricted to limited access to God.
SPEAKER_01: In the law of Moses, the lame were restricted from being priests.
SPEAKER_01: If you were lame, you could not serve as a priest.
SPEAKER_01: That was designed to reflect God's perfection and holiness.
SPEAKER_01: Many believed them to be cursed by God in their conditions.
SPEAKER_01: And so they were often avoided.
SPEAKER_01: Some speculate that they wouldn't even be looked at.
SPEAKER_01: That's why Luke maybe makes emphasis on Peter's charge to the layman, look at me, making a connection with him that normally was not made.
SPEAKER_01: No, there were no written laws restricting access to the temple.
SPEAKER_01: But in everyday life, the temple was effectively off limits to those like this lame man.
SPEAKER_01: They were not welcome.
SPEAKER_01: He was as close as he could get to worshiping with the people of God in the house of God.
SPEAKER_01: But he's just on the outside.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know which temple gate this is.
SPEAKER_01: Scholars argue for a couple of different gates.
SPEAKER_01: It seems the most likely is what was known as the Shinar Gate.
SPEAKER_01: The Shinar Gate bore a carving of the Persian city Susa, the capital of the Persian Empire.
SPEAKER_01: Why is that important?
SPEAKER_01: It's because that was likely the place from which Cyrus the Persian issued the decree from which the Jewish people could return to their homeland.
SPEAKER_01: So it was honoring God's work through Cyrus to bring people home to their God.
SPEAKER_01: If that is the gate, it's ironic, for it represents God's welcoming of his people back to their homeland and to his presence for worship.
SPEAKER_01: But here is a son of Abraham who will not be welcomed into the gate.
SPEAKER_01: He was kept from all participation in the Jewish faith.
SPEAKER_01: And yet here he is asking and hoping for support.
SPEAKER_01: Even more ironic, though, is that this gate had a more common street name, the beautiful gate, which Luke mentions twice.
SPEAKER_01: A temple gate was the way into the temple proper and to the God of the temple.
SPEAKER_01: But a man who was not considered beautiful by society was barred from encountering the beauty of the temple and worshiping God and the beauty of his holiness.
SPEAKER_01: Not only had the temple become a den of thieves and robbers, a place to transact business and extort worshipers, but it had become off limits to certain kinds of sinful people.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus came to save the worst of sinners, right?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus came to restore access to God for all people, regardless of health, of financial status, of connections with people.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus' way of doing this is by establishing his temple in people.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we have to go back to chapter two.
SPEAKER_01: Because in chapter two, the Holy Spirit comes and indwells God's people as God's temple.
SPEAKER_01: Peter and John now begin to represent the true temple of God into which the broken can be welcomed.
SPEAKER_01: In contrast to this beautiful, glorious temple that Herod built that he can't even step into.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus healed a man who could not walk in Luke chapter 5, verse 23.
SPEAKER_01: And then in Luke chapter 7, disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus saying, John's a little confused.
SPEAKER_01: Are you the one that we're supposed to look for, or should we look for somebody else?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus instructed John's disciples to go back to him and to tell him, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.
SPEAKER_01: That's all you need to say to John.
SPEAKER_01: Why should he know what that means?
SPEAKER_01: It's because every Jewish person, and if I may be so bold, every believer in Christ ought to know why.
SPEAKER_01: That statement referenced the fulfillment of Isaiah 35, verses 5 and 6, which says that when God comes to save his people, certain things will take place.
SPEAKER_01: At that time, the eyes of the blind will be opened, Isaiah wrote, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
SPEAKER_01: Then the lame man shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy.
SPEAKER_01: That's all John needed to know.
SPEAKER_01: And that's all we need to know.
SPEAKER_01: See then what Luke is doing.
SPEAKER_01: He's showing us the power of Jesus, continuing on in his absence.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus sent the Spirit from the Father to accomplish his work through his people.
SPEAKER_01: And now Peter and John are just continuing the work of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: They are his messengers, his vessels through whom he does his work.
SPEAKER_01: And that work demolishes societal barriers.
SPEAKER_01: In this miracle, the barrier of beauty is overcome.
SPEAKER_01: The barrier of disability is destroyed because Christ came to save all who have faith in him.
SPEAKER_01: No longer are some restricted because of what they look like.
SPEAKER_01: What their job might be.
SPEAKER_01: How greatly they've sinned.
SPEAKER_01: Christ came to save all, and so a lame man healed and leaping with joy like a deer in the temple is the work of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: His faith in Christ restored his freedom to worship God in the community of faith, in the restored community that Jesus is creating.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus restored a broken image bearer who now becomes a witnessing image bearer integrated into the growing community of believers in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's how Christ grows his church.
SPEAKER_01: So as chapter two redeemed that ancient scene of the Tower of Babel, chapter three redeems broken sinners.
SPEAKER_01: And the man remains nameless so that only the name of Jesus will be praised.
SPEAKER_01: It's not ultimately about the man.
SPEAKER_01: It's not ultimately about the miracle.
SPEAKER_01: It's ultimately about the one in whom his faith is placed.
SPEAKER_01: Like those at the end of Acts 2, we gather for teaching, for fellowship, for support, for care.
SPEAKER_01: The people in Acts here saw helping one another as a priority.
SPEAKER_01: So anything extra that they had went to help those in need.
SPEAKER_01: The picture is that those first believers fulfilled the spirit of Christ in helping those in need.
SPEAKER_01: But giving money to needy people was not their first and main priority.
SPEAKER_01: Their main priority was declaring the mighty works of God in Jesus Christ and carrying on the work of Jesus as he called them to do.
SPEAKER_01: That meant serving Christ in ways that went against the grain of their customs.
SPEAKER_01: That meant considering broken image bearers as people needing Christ, not merely needing a handout.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus' work through his apostles broke down barriers that Judaism had established that kept people at bay from God.
SPEAKER_01: Christ's work is to bring people to God, not keep them at bay.
SPEAKER_01: And that applies to those in greatest need of his mercy and grace.
SPEAKER_01: So we should question our practices and maybe more so our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: Are we a gathering of people who are generous to those among us who are in need?
SPEAKER_01: Chapters we'll see where some even sold pieces of property so that others could be supported.
SPEAKER_01: It's astounding.
SPEAKER_01: It's astounding how they considered others more significant than themselves.
SPEAKER_01: Would we willingly part with extra that we have to help a brother or sister in need?
SPEAKER_01: But even beyond that, are we a church?
SPEAKER_01: Are we a collection of believers, assembly of Christ's people that welcomes the poor, the needy, the hurting, the broken, and the contrite without putting up barriers to keep them at bay?
SPEAKER_01: Do we welcome them purposefully to show them that their greatest need can only be met by Christ alone?
SPEAKER_01: And that that's the reason that we are here as well.
SPEAKER_01: The other barriers in this passage are displayed in the outcome of this dramatic healing and demonstration of faith.
SPEAKER_01: So our second barrier begins in verse 11, going through verse 16, where we see the barrier that unbelief is to the guilty.
SPEAKER_01: Again, we recount here in verse 11 the reaction to the healing.
SPEAKER_01: He clung to Peter and John.
SPEAKER_01: And so all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's.
SPEAKER_01: The lame man was well known by temple goers.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, he's there every day.
SPEAKER_01: He is known by everyone.
SPEAKER_01: That kind of indicates how long he has been begging at the temple gates.
SPEAKER_01: And Luke says here that all of the people were utterly astounded.
SPEAKER_01: The reaction was so strong and so intense and so unique that Luke used a word found nowhere else in the New Testament to describe it.
SPEAKER_01: Utterly astounded.
SPEAKER_01: The crowds were drawn by the disturbance of a man born lame, that they had all seen carried to the temple, laid down in his spot, who could not use his limbs, now leaping like a deer all over the temple court.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 12 shows us that the crowd was not only interested in the lame man, but also in Peter and John.
SPEAKER_01: And so Peter used it as an opportunity to preach the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And he did it in three stages.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to know how to share the gospel with somebody, here's an example of how to share the gospel with somebody.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, Peter announces to them the healing did not come by the power, the strength, the magic, or the holiness of men.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to share the gospel with somebody, start with the amazing work that God has done in you.
SPEAKER_01: It's not something that you've done.
SPEAKER_01: Start with what God's done.
SPEAKER_01: Peter says, this is not about us.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you wonder?
SPEAKER_01: Why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?
SPEAKER_01: Do you think I can in any way make a lame man walk?
SPEAKER_01: You're crazy if you think that.
SPEAKER_01: This is Jesus' work.
SPEAKER_01: The second thing that Peter does is he takes this growing crowd and he slowly moves them from where they were to where they need to be.
SPEAKER_01: And where they were is that they were in the place of having come to the temple to worship God in their normal practice of Judaism.
SPEAKER_01: Where they need to be is coming to know and to trust in Christ the Lord as their Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: And so he then moves to what's in front of them.
SPEAKER_01: This man who can't let go of them and he's hopping up and down like an excited little kid.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine that.
SPEAKER_01: This grown man who's just all overcome with joy and excitement, jumping around Peter and John as though this is the greatest day of his life because it is.
SPEAKER_01: Peter says, listen, this leaping lame man proves that Jesus is Isaiah's suffering servant.
SPEAKER_01: Isaiah talked about this.
SPEAKER_01: This is the fulfillment of Isaiah.
SPEAKER_01: And if this is the fulfillment of Isaiah, then this is Jesus' work doing the work that Isaiah promised.
SPEAKER_01: God the Father glorified the Son through the suffering that he had on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: But you, the people of Jerusalem, he says, delivered him to death and denied the one Isaiah spoke of and that the Father glorified.
SPEAKER_01: He says, You, verse 14, you chose a robber over redemption.
SPEAKER_01: The people chose a murderer over the holy and righteous one.
SPEAKER_01: Terms that only apply to God.
SPEAKER_01: So Peter is saying, this Jesus who healed this man, he is God.
SPEAKER_01: He's Messiah and He's God.
SPEAKER_01: You need to know Him, you need to hear Him, you need to understand what you did to Him.
SPEAKER_01: You sinned against Him by killing the author of life.
SPEAKER_01: If they had no qualms about killing the author of life, it allows them to keep broken image bearers out of the temple.
SPEAKER_01: If you're willing to go this far, it's very simple to see that you're willing to go this far.
SPEAKER_01: Similarly, churches that don't know the true God will display that in unbiblical ways.
SPEAKER_01: But can you keep the author of life dead?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot kill, ultimately kill the author of life.
SPEAKER_01: God raised him from the dead, and we are witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: We saw it.
SPEAKER_01: We observed it.
SPEAKER_01: So notice the pattern that's going on here.
SPEAKER_01: Peter takes them from being there to worship the God of Israel, and he says, Let me tell you about the God of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: He sent his one and only son, the son that he loved, and you killed him.
SPEAKER_01: You're guilty of murder.
SPEAKER_01: But God raised him from the dead, forever proving who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_01: And that kind of presentation inherently demands a response.
SPEAKER_01: Will you believe that?
SPEAKER_01: Or will you continue disbelieving?
SPEAKER_01: So, first, Peter says it's not about us, it's about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The second thing that he does is he takes them from where they are to worship in the temple to move them to understanding who Jesus is and what has happened.
SPEAKER_01: His third step in preaching the gospel is explaining the miracle.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus did this great deed by giving the man perfect health in full view of the temple goers.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Listen, this you've seen all this.
SPEAKER_01: You know this guy.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't give us his name.
SPEAKER_01: You know this guy.
SPEAKER_01: You've seen that he's jumping around here, something that he's never done before.
SPEAKER_01: All of a sudden, he goes from not having walked, he skipped all the toddler years of learning how to walk, and all of a sudden he's jumping up and down in the Temple Mount.
SPEAKER_01: How can you not ascribe that to the power of God?
SPEAKER_01: But do you see how Peter describes the barrier of unbelief?
SPEAKER_01: He describes it here as rejecting what God has made plain.
SPEAKER_01: God makes things plain in many ways.
SPEAKER_01: For example, Romans chapter 1 says that he's made plain in his creation, his great power in his deity.
SPEAKER_01: All you have to do is go outside and look at his world, and you'll understand there is a God, and he is powerful.
SPEAKER_01: But Peter goes into more detail than that.
SPEAKER_01: He works through here in verse 18.
SPEAKER_01: God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer, and he thus fulfilled it.
SPEAKER_01: God makes things plain in Scripture by speaking of them beforehand and bringing them to perfect fulfillment.
SPEAKER_01: God also made things plain in Jesus' life by confirming who he was during his earthly ministry through his displays of power, through his omniscience, through his resurrection, by the Father speaking at his baptism.
SPEAKER_01: But the reason the people of Jerusalem denied Jesus and delivered him up to be crucified is because the bondage of sin and unbelief blinded them to what God had made plain.
SPEAKER_01: Unbelief is a huge barrier.
SPEAKER_01: Not just to the individual, but to the church.
SPEAKER_01: Here is Peter and John preaching the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: But unbelief is a barrier.
SPEAKER_01: You see, the bondage of sin in human beings keeps us from seeing and believing what God declared to be true.
SPEAKER_01: Why doesn't the world see what God says?
SPEAKER_01: Because the power of sin has blinded them to it.
SPEAKER_01: Unbelief kept the majority of Jewish people in the days of Jesus from seeing God the Son.
SPEAKER_01: The same is true not just of the Jewish people, but of all the world today.
SPEAKER_01: Unbelief keeps people from seeing God the Son.
SPEAKER_01: They choose to reject Jesus and crucify him outside the city rather than welcome him in as the son of David into the royal city and then welcome him and praise him as the son of God through the gates of the temple as he enters his own house.
SPEAKER_01: No, we don't want that.
SPEAKER_01: We don't believe him that way.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, they denied him and killed him.
SPEAKER_01: So in that way, the lame man here in the temple experienced what the Lord Jesus lived.
SPEAKER_01: He was kept from entering the beautiful gate to worship the living God.
SPEAKER_01: But because Jesus, the holy and righteous one, was rejected.
SPEAKER_01: My friends, you do not need to remain outside of God's house because of your brokenness.
SPEAKER_01: He welcomes you to a place where you can be made truly whole through faith in the Son of God who gave himself for you.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let unbelief keep you from seeing what God has made plain.
SPEAKER_01: If you're struggling with it, ask God to open your eyes to see and your heart to understand the good news of God the Son offered up for you.
SPEAKER_01: And that brings us now to the third barrier in our text.
SPEAKER_01: Observed in verses 17 through chapter 4, verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: And that is the barrier that repentance is to the spiritually deaf.
SPEAKER_01: In this section, Peter deftly pushes his listeners to trust in Jesus like the lame man.
SPEAKER_01: The problem is that people need to come to understand that we are spiritually lame in order to know that we need to be made whole.
SPEAKER_01: And now, brothers, he says in verse 17, I know that you acted in ignorance, as also did your rulers.
SPEAKER_01: But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that as Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: Repent, therefore, and turn again that your sins may be blotted out.
SPEAKER_01: What does Peter do here?
SPEAKER_01: Well, first, Peter graciously tells them that they acted in ignorance.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't know better.
SPEAKER_01: They're like children that haven't learned the difference between what's almost right and what's wrong.
SPEAKER_01: And what's right.
SPEAKER_01: It's hard to tell.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't know better.
SPEAKER_01: Unbelief blinded them to seeing God the Son in their presence, and instead all they could see was this carpenter from Nazareth?
SPEAKER_01: Really?
SPEAKER_01: And then with gentleness, Peter tells them.
SPEAKER_01: But you're no longer ignorant.
SPEAKER_01: Because now you've heard.
SPEAKER_01: And now you are without excuse.
SPEAKER_01: Peter's preaching removes the excuse of ignorance.
SPEAKER_01: And friends, that's what we do when we when we proclaim Christ.
SPEAKER_01: We remove the veil of ignorance so that people are faced with their guilt before a holy God.
SPEAKER_01: And they then are without excuse.
SPEAKER_01: God used their ignorance, he says.
SPEAKER_01: God used their ignorance to bring about, to fulfill what he had promised through all of the prophets.
SPEAKER_01: But now you have knowledge of what you did.
SPEAKER_01: You understand your choice, your actions in this, your participation in this.
SPEAKER_01: Your sin killed the author of life.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, repent.
SPEAKER_01: Understand the grace of God here, folks.
SPEAKER_01: I love this.
SPEAKER_01: Wish I could just preach on this.
SPEAKER_01: Just see what the time is.
SPEAKER_01: Gotta go faster.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to stop and preach on this.
SPEAKER_01: Under this is this is astounding.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what Peter says.
SPEAKER_01: Acting ignorantly to crucify the author of life is not unforgivable.
SPEAKER_01: Can you believe that?
SPEAKER_01: But feel the grace and the mercy of Christ for you.
SPEAKER_01: Your sin nailed him to the cross.
SPEAKER_01: But that sin is forgiven if you turn to him in repentance.
SPEAKER_01: Astounding.
SPEAKER_01: Having ignorance removed and replaced with clarity of your sin requires then repentance and a change of heart.
SPEAKER_01: It requires a turnaround.
SPEAKER_01: And so Peter then goes back to the Old Testament and he demonstrates the Father and the prophets spoke of this.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Listen, you're here to worship God the Father.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you what he said.
SPEAKER_01: Let me show you from the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: This is no surprise.
SPEAKER_01: The scriptures declared that whoever does not repent and trust in Christ cannot be counted among God's people.
SPEAKER_01: You men of Israel, you're here because you want to worship the God of your fathers.
SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
SPEAKER_01: If you don't trust in his son, you don't belong to him.
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: So the early church faces obstacles in proclaiming the gospel, but in proclaiming their gospel, they're also making very clear obstacles that people have in coming to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He says, what matters here is trusting in Christ alone.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 4, verse 1, indicates that Peter and John kept preaching to the people for some time.
SPEAKER_01: We're not told how long.
SPEAKER_01: Find a spot, have their time of prayer while the sacrifice is happening.
SPEAKER_01: Surely, in all of this time from healing of the lame man and him dancing around and prancing around and people gathering and Peter and John preaching and teaching and explaining all this to the people, you can imagine how a couple of hours easily could have gone by.
SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden, temple authorities sweep down on them and take them away.
SPEAKER_01: And it's the Sadducees.
SPEAKER_01: Why the Sadducees?
SPEAKER_01: Well, primarily because they were the priests who are responsible for the temple precinct.
SPEAKER_01: They were responsible for overseeing all of the temple itself, all of the activities in the temple.
SPEAKER_01: And so you'll find references in the New Testament to kind of what amounts to the temple police.
SPEAKER_01: Those are Sadducees.
SPEAKER_01: But why this sudden action against Peter and John?
SPEAKER_01: Well, verse 2 tells us.
SPEAKER_01: They were greatly annoyed.
SPEAKER_01: They were greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: We must remember that the Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: You can go back to the Gospels and you can find that account where they came to Jesus and they said, We want to trick you up.
SPEAKER_01: Is there a resurrection or is there it?
SPEAKER_01: Is there not?
SPEAKER_01: Because one group, the Pharisees, believed there was, the Sadducees didn't believe there was a resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: So Peter and John are preaching a doctrine in their building that they didn't hold to and they would not allow.
SPEAKER_01: So what do you do?
SPEAKER_01: See, the massive problem is that the resurrection is a core doctrine in Peter and John's and our faith.
SPEAKER_01: For if Christ is not risen from the dead, our faith is dead, and we are still in our sins.
SPEAKER_01: So what do you do?
SPEAKER_01: If the resurrection is not true, then Christ is not raised.
SPEAKER_01: But he is risen and he has made a broken man whole.
SPEAKER_01: Can't you see that the risen Christ has healed this man?
SPEAKER_01: We don't care.
SPEAKER_01: You're preaching the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see the barrier?
SPEAKER_01: The Sadducees are not about to repent and turn to someone that Peter and John claimed was crucified, buried, and risen again.
SPEAKER_01: They are spiritually deaf and lame.
SPEAKER_01: It's ironic, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: That the priests on the inside of the temple couldn't see when God worked outside the temple.
SPEAKER_01: But the lame man who couldn't come in had the faith to see.
SPEAKER_01: Hard-heartedness, that characteristic that makes us think we know what's right when we really don't, hard-heartedness closes ears and eyes to the gospel's truth.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, refusing to humble oneself and to repent and turn to Jesus becomes an incurable barrier to true life.
SPEAKER_01: Here is a man who turned and repented and found life in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: While the ones who ought to have known are spiritually blind and eternally lame.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let that be you.
SPEAKER_01: Verse four tells us that many people heard Peter and John and believed.
SPEAKER_01: But not the Sadducees.
SPEAKER_01: And because they did not believe, their hard-hearted refusal to repent led to persecution.
SPEAKER_01: On this international day of prayer for persecuted saints, they're persecuted because the world refuses to turn to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we face.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, Peter and John were arrested because of Jesus' resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: They were arrested because Jesus is alive and well and reigning from the throne of God.
SPEAKER_01: He rules over all creation, and they were arrested for that.
SPEAKER_01: Peter and John were arrested and put in prison because Jesus is working from heaven through the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And that leads us to a barrier that Luke wants us to grasp as followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He wants us to see the barriers to following Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, there are barriers for us.
SPEAKER_01: I'm speaking to those of you who know Christ, who have believed and repented and turned to Him.
SPEAKER_01: You will face all of these barriers.
SPEAKER_01: Or people will not see the true beauty of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: People will be blind because of unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: When you expose their guilt, they will not repent.
SPEAKER_01: This is part of Christ's work.
SPEAKER_01: Luke intends to show how the early church faced these obstacles so that we might learn to trust the Lord's mighty work instead of our efforts.
SPEAKER_01: It's not our work.
SPEAKER_01: But we get to be mighty vessels of his kingdom building.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, you can heal a lame man from birth and give the gospel clearly, and people will still refuse to believe.
SPEAKER_01: You can call people to repentance after bringing them to grasp their sin and their guilt, yet they will still refuse to trust Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You can be the ultimate in religious and be lost forever in your sin.
SPEAKER_01: But we can be assured that Christ is working from heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Luke wants us to know that.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, Jesus isn't here with us anymore, but his spirit is present with us, and he has given us his spirit so that his work will continue.
SPEAKER_01: He will use normal people in normal places, in normal ways to accomplish his purpose.
SPEAKER_01: And you might suffer for it.
SPEAKER_01: You might get arrested for it.
SPEAKER_01: You might die for it.
SPEAKER_01: The lame man was freed from his suffering at the beautiful gate so that he might see the beauty of the glory of God in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: But as the lame man went free from his suffering, made whole in Christ Jesus, Peter and John were imprisoned for speaking the revealed truth of God.
SPEAKER_01: But take heart.
SPEAKER_01: He has overcome the world.
SPEAKER_01: Through his spirit, Jesus is working even from heaven to accomplish his purpose, and his purposes will not fail.
SPEAKER_01: He will build his church.
SPEAKER_01: So let's join Peter and John.
SPEAKER_01: Let's join Peter and John by speaking of Jesus as ordinary people in ordinary ways who trust in the powerful working of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, may you work through us.
SPEAKER_01: Use us to accomplish your purpose.
SPEAKER_01: Humble us so that you might be glorified.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, may we, may we, may we be like the lame man.
SPEAKER_01: May you be pleased that we remain forever nameless, so that your name will be forever glorified.
SPEAKER_01: May your people be so filled with your spirit that we live in this way.
SPEAKER_01: To the praise of your glory.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.