The Second Sermon - Preaching The Cross

Acts 3:1-15

INTRO: Good morning church. Last week we looked at Acts chapter 2 and the first sermon that was preached after the resurrection. Today we are going to read a portion of text which describes what happened because of an incident which occurred in the temple. Christians for a time after Pentecost continued to frequent the temple, especially at the hours of prayer, not merely for the purpose of praying, but also, it may be supposed, for the opportunities afforded by such occasions for preaching Christ to the people. In time though, God would remove the temple; and the separation from Judaism would become complete.

Let’s read Acts 3:1-11 – “1. Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2. And 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 from those who entered the temple; 3. who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us.'' 5. So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6. Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.'' 7. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them walking, leaping, and praising God. 9. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 10. Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 11. Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed.”

The scripture continues in Acts 3:12-15 – “12. So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: "Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13. "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. 14. "But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15. "and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.” Then in Acts 4:4 we read – “However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.”

I would like to have seen the temple in Jerusalem of that time. From an architectural point of view it must have been a splendid place. Solomon’s porch was a very large covered area on the east side of the temple and was the place the teachers and rabbis would be found teaching. For a while it was a gathering place for Christians. The incident surrounding our text for this study began there. We may read Acts chapters 3 and 4 not thinking of what is going on there as preaching, such as we understand it today, but we need to realize that there was powerful preaching being done in Solomon’s porch. As a result of this powerful preaching 5000 men came to believe, and I assume to obedience to the gospel. This morning I want to talk about the preaching that occurred where we might not expect it, in the very midst of the temple area. Let’s begin by thinking of the incident before us.

I. THE INCIDENT AT THE TEMPLE

A. Remember that the disciples have not yet become unwelcome at the temple.

1. Peter and John are going into the temple for what is called the hour of prayer which was 3 in the afternoon and the time of the burning of incense.
2. Remember that the temple and synagogues were places the apostles often went to preach Christ – at least as long as they were welcome.

B. What do we know about this lame man in the text?

1. We know he was a man who was born lame. We know that carried daily to this Beautiful Gate, as it is called in the scripture, and he was laid there to beg for alms.
2. On this occasion Peter and John are coming into the temple area going from the court of the women into the court of the men and they are passing through the Beautiful Gate. It is there that this man sees them and asks them in v. 3, “for alms”. What were the “alms” which Peter and John gave him? We are told he expected to receive something of them, but he did not expect to get what he ultimately received. Something that was much more valuable then silver and gold! Here we are told is a man who has never walked and now he can! Still there is more.

C. What else happened?

1. Look at Acts 3:8 – “So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them walking, leaping, and praising God.” Remember that this man had been laid at this gate daily. He was familiar to the worshipers in Jerusalem. Here he is walking ….leaping…praising God…amidst the crowds of people who are in the temple area at three in the afternoon. The people there recognize this man and know it is he whom they have seen laid at the gate for years. We continue to read now in -
2. Acts 3:9-11 – “And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed.”
3. Can you imagine this scene? I have no idea of how many people were there but we are told a little later on that 5000 believed so there must have been a throng of people.

II. AN OPPORTUNITY TO PREACH THE CROSS OF CHRIST!

A. Look at Acts 3:12 – “So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: "Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?” Peter and John took no personal credit for this miracle. Peter then goes on to explain that it was by the power of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that it was done.

1. I recall that in Acts 2:43 – “Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.” What we have in Acts chapter 3 is just one incident of what is described so briefly in Acts chapter 2 about the wonders and signs the apostles did.
2. Perhaps we should also look at Hebrews 2:3-4 – “3. how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,” . Think about this. What has happened in the temple? A great and notable miracle has occurred. Next in v. 4 “God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?”
3. What is the power by which Peter and John are able to effect the healing of this man? Not by their own power, but by the power of God… bearing witness to what they are preaching and teaching.

B. As we look at the next verses, Acts 3:13-15, notice how Peter “convicted” the hearers.

1. The first thing he says to them is this; God had glorified this Jesus – this Jesus, whom he goes on to say, you have killed. God glorified Jesus. Remember what we read of Jesus’ prayer in John 17:4-5 – “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
2. Ok, now back to Acts 2:33 – “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.” And in verse 36 – “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Peter begins his process of convicting the hearers by telling them outright God glorified Jesus. BUT;
3. You have delivered up Jesus and denied Him before Pilate when Pilate was willing to release him! That’s not all. You have denied the Holy and Just and you insisted on the release of a murderer!
4. You have killed the Prince of life – folks, think about this. It has just been a short time since Jesus was crucified. The event of the cross is only a little while before the events of Acts 2. These people to whom Peter and John are speaking know very well about those events.

C. Peter and John did not stop there. The cross was not the end ... only the beginning. Look at the last part of Acts 3:15 – “… whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.”

1. You killed him, God raised him.
2. Then they add, … we have seen the risen Christ.

III. THE HOPE BECAUSE OF THE CROSS. The sermon continues.

A. Peter goes on and preaches about the hope we have because of the cross. The blotting out of sins is now possible, Acts 3:19 – “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord”. We now have the hope of the blotting out, the remission of sins.

1. In that connection I’d like for us to recall Hebrews 8:10-13 – “10. "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days,'' says the Lord, "I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11. "None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, `Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.” AND “12. "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.'' 13. In that He says, "A new covenant,'' He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”
2. That which was not possible under the covenant of Moses can now be preached! Sins can now be blotted out! “Sins and iniquities will I remember no more”!
3. What are the terms of this wonderful blessing of hope we now have? Peter and John explain it. First “repent” - simple definition: change of mind leading to change of life and direction.
4. Then “be converted” and the word in the original means to “turn about” - here is the turning toward God which is accomplished by the change of mind. This turning toward God begins apparently in the obedience of baptism (note the parallel passage in Acts 2:38 – “… Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins;…” Peter is talking about the blotting out of sins, how does it occur? When we repent and are converted, when we repent and are baptized. That is where it all begins. That is the great hope we have because of the preaching of the cross. The forgiveness of sins! That is not all….

B. We have the anticipation of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 3:20-21 – “and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” The Lord is coming again, to receive His own to Himself.

1. In Acts 2:38 Peter had promised that remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit would follow their obeying the gospel. Here is assigned another consequence, namely, that (God) may send the Christ, etc. Christ had already come and completed the work of His First Advent, making this a reference to the Second Coming.
2. I don’t know how many of us might think about this, but a little while ago we ate the unleavened bread, we drank the fruit of the vine as the Lord had instituted in the book of Matthew. One of the things we do as we eat the bread and drink the fruit of the vine is to declare the death of Jesus Christ till He come again. 1 Corinthians 11:26 – “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.”
3. As often as we eat the bread and drink the cup, what are we doing? We are remembering the cross, we are remembering the death of Christ, and we are remembering the body and the blood given in our stead. That is true. Inspiration has the apostle Paul remind us something else... We show forth the death of Christ till He comes again.
4. This is the wonderful news of the preaching of the cross. Not only the blotting out of our sins, but the Lord is going to come again and receive us to Himself! We will get to spend the vastness of eternity in the presence of the Lord who loved us, died for us, and was raised by the power of God! What wonderful good news we have!
5. This all unfolds even more in - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 – “13. But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
6. Everything is moving along clearly at this point in Acts… until the priests get wind of what is occurring at Solomon’s porch.

IV. THEY WANTED JESUS DEAD!

A. Acts 4:1-4 – “1. Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, 2. being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3. And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.” Note verse 4… “ 4. However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.” – What was the offense? preaching the resurrection

1. We learned in previous lessons that the Sadducees did not believe in resurrection. We learned of the two groups, Pharisee and Sadducee. Though the Pharisees were the larger of the two groups, the Sadducees were the more powerful. Often the chief priest and the high priest were Sadducees.
2. When Christ was crucified, and remember the chief priest (a Sadducee) was instrumental in that action, they thought the “nonsense” of Jesus was ended. But even a guard could not keep from happening what happened on that first Lord’s Day following His crucifixion. The stone was rolled away and Jesus, by the power of God, was raised from the dead to live again. The Sadducees were not happy.
3. The apostles could not preach the cross without preaching the resurrection. Then on this particular occasion such an amazing thing occurred. 5000 men believed! Why men? This was a part of the temple where the women were not permitted.

B. How did Peter and John defend themselves? Acts 4:7-10 – “7. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, "By what power or by what name have you done this?'' 8. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: 9. "If we this day are judged for a good deed done to the helpless man, by what means he has been made well, 10. "let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.”– The defense? It is healing by the power of Jesus.

1. Notice how Peter identifies that the healing, the miracle, was by the name of Jesus Christ.
2. Once again Peter adds, “whom you crucified” - the cross again. But the cross was not the end and Peter goes on ... “whom God raised from the dead”
3. It is by the name of this man, whom God has raised from the dead, that this once lame man stands before you whole. The risen Christ is their worst “nightmare” because it directly contradicts their belief. Peter concludes Acts 4:11-12 – “This is the `stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.' Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
4. In his conclusion Peter quotes from Psalm 118:22 – “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.”. – The significance of that passage is those words were well-known to Jewish people.
5. Notice also that he says, “...which was rejected by you builders...”. Peter does not give them any space at all but leaves them accused. You have cast aside the stone that has become the head of the corner. You have rejected the only name by where men must be saved.
6. Peter concludes by affirming that salvation is only possible through Jesus.

C. I wonder how many people there are who will hear this message of Peter and still reject the preaching of the cross. Reject all that it means and seal their eternal fate? Rejecting as those people did on that day. You can not preach the cross without preaching the resurrection.

CONCLUSION: What began that day as a simple trip to the temple at the hour of prayer… concluded in a wonderful exhibition of the power of God and His word. Matthew Henry wrote of this sermon; “The scope of the sermon which was preached here was to bring people to Christ, to repent of their sin in crucifying Him (Acts 3:12-19), to believe in Him now that He was glorified, and to comply with the Father's design in glorifying Him, (Acts 3:20-26). The former part of the discourse opens the wound, the latter applies the remedy.”
We must not forget, however, in considering this miracle that it provided an opportunity to preach the cross of Christ! We can say today, there is power in the blood! The blood that was shed at Calvary, the blood that was shed for you and me, the blood which cleanses away our sins. Believing and penitent people in the first century, confessing the name of Jesus Christ were buried with Christ in baptism to receive newness of life because of the cross. Yes, there is power in that great sacrifice, and in baptism we are immersed into the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, and receive the benefits of the cross, the cleansing, the blotting out of our sins. There is power in the blood.
We are about to be led in the invitation song. For those here today who need to respond in a public way as we sing this song, we want you to know that you are welcome to do so. If we can help you, if we can assist you in any way, we want to do that. If you need to come, come now while we stand and sing.

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Adopted from Sermon by: Cecil A. Hutson