Something Beautiful

Something Beautiful
Acts 3:1-26

INTRO: Good morning. We are going to continue our study in the book of Acts and I invite you to turn to the third chapter of that book from which we will take today’s lesson. In general I will use the NKJV though I may paraphrase at times.

Before we go on though, I heard about an Ohio woman who was driving from East Townsend to Monroeville. As she was driving through Norwalk she ran into a snowstorm and became very frightened. She peered ahead and saw a snowplow. “What luck!” She thought. She kept as close to the plow truck as she could while it removed the snow from the road.

At times the heavy snowfall almost cut off her view, but her faithful guide kept on leading the way. After some time, the plow stopped, and its driver got out and walked back to her car. "Lady, where are you going?" he asked. "I'm on my way to Monroeville," she replied. "Well”, he said, “You’ll never get there following me plowing this parking lot!" “Oh”, she said, “I guess I will just have to go shopping.”

I guess the point of the story is sometimes we can have a place in our minds to go to, but unforeseen circumstances can change our direction.

Let’s look at Acts chapter 3. Peter and John, who once had been partners in the fishing business, are depicted by Luke as going to the temple at 3 in the afternoon, which was one of the traditional hours of prayer. History tells us there were at least 2 hours of prayer during a given day. The first was at 9 a.m. and the second at 3 p.m. We are not told why the apostles went to the temple. Maybe they went at three in the afternoon to have an opportunity to speak to others about Jesus.

No matter what their purpose was, they had an encounter with a man who had been lame since his birth, and it gave them a great opportunity to preach the gospel.

I. Read with me now in Acts 3:1-2 – “Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 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;” In every generation, there have always been people in need. You just have to walk around any city center to find people who panhandle, many not because they want to but because they have to. Have you ever noticed they often beg at a prominent spot?

A. They try to beg in a place where they are likely to catch the most people walking by. This lame man was no exception. He lay there every day at the temple gate because many people would walk in and out of the temple at different times of the day. It was a prime spot for begging.

1. He was begging for what ever charity he might receive from those coming in and out of the temple to pray, not because he wanted to but because he had to survive. He’s a disabled person.
2. He was not able to work or get a job. There’s no disability benefit like people receive today. He had to beg to survive.
3. We find him laying here at a gate called Beautiful. Why this temple gate was called beautiful I’m not sure, but one reference quotes Josephus describing the gate this way, "its height was fifty cubits, (84f) and its doors were forty cubits, (67f) and it was adorned after a most costly manner as having much richer and thicker plates of silver and gold upon it than the others." The other gates were all just 30 cubits, or 45' high.”

B. This might have been a beautiful gate to look at, but what is about to happen next is something even more beautiful. Acts 3:3-6 – “ who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us.'' So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have

1. As Peter and John approached this guy, the lame man asked them for alms. Both apostles looked at him and Peter asked him to look at them. The beggar turned expecting to receive something, but Peter immediately informed him they did not have silver or gold.
2. I can imagine the disappointment the lame man must have felt when he heard those words. There’s nothing worse than building your hopes up to receive something and then being let down. However, that disappointing low was turned into an emotional high when Peter healed him under the authority of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. When Peter pulled him up by his right hand, the lame man felt strength come into his ankles and went walking, leaping and praising God into the temple.

C. Acts 3:6-8 – “ 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.'' And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them walking, leaping, and praising God.”

1. This person was healed in the Name of Jesus Christ. He responded to this by walking and leaping and praising God.
2. That led me to wonder, when was the last time I, or you, walked or jumped praising God for something He had done in our lives? Maybe we were healed from the sin of gossip. Maybe He healed us from some addiction. Maybe He healed us when we were sick.
3. When was the last time any of us just leaped for joy and praised God? I think I need to mention that the lame man expressed no faith in the apostles' ability to heal him. He only asked them for alms.
4. As Luke records it, the lame man didn’t even try to stand up, but was pulled to his feet.

D. Unlike the miraculous claims of some religious groups today, this miracle was undeniable. I think it ironic that many of today’s so-called faith healers need a big audience and they want money in advance to heal someone. I noticed some things in the text.

1. This man didn’t pray to be healed.
2. This man didn’t pay any money to be healed.
3. This man wasn’t told; wait a few days and you will be healed.
4. This man wasn’t some unknown person from the backstreets of Jerusalem, although he was lame, he was also well known. Everyone recognized this man as the lame man who had daily lain at the Beautiful Gate begging for alms.

E. A bit later we find that this is a man has probably been begging for help for most of his life. He was lame from his mother's womb and we see in Acts 4:22 – “For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.”

1. We don’t know exactly how long he’s been begging but we do know that he was well known. Acts 3:9-10 – “When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.”[para]
2. They were amazed that they now saw the formerly lame man standing before them.
3. I wonder if some within the audience thought of Isaiah 35, which refers to the future glory of Zion. Isaiah 35:6 – “Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.”

II. Since the healed lame man is holding onto them, it was natural that a crowd would gather around Peter and John. Peter, empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak, seized the opportunity to preach about the great healer, Jesus. Acts 3:11-15 – “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. 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.”

A. Luke tells us that the crowd looked at them as if they had somehow worked this miracle, but Peter instantly turned their attention to "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers," and the glorified Jesus, His Son.

1. I wonder about the expressions on their faces when Peter tells them that they had delivered, denied, and killed the "Prince of life" Some translations say “Author of life”. The Greek word we see here, archēgos, (är-khā-go's) has the meaning of a chief leader:—author, captain, prince. (Strong G747)
2. I believe their expressions would have been similar to when Peter first preached in Acts 2 and told them the same thing.

B. Peter doesn’t leave them with that thought. He told them that God, in His turn, had raised Jesus from the dead. A fact which Peter and John had personally witnessed as we remember.

1. The lame man had been healed by the authority of Jesus not because of his faith in the apostle’s but because of the apostles' complete faith in their Lord's ability to make men whole.
2. The recognition of that miracle by those Jews now gathered around Peter and John would have left them with no options but to recognize Jesus as King.

C. Acts 3:16 – “And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.”

1. When Peter said these words, many would have readily understood they had crucified God's Anointed.
2. Why did they kill the Messiah?

a. Some killed Him because of political reasons.
b. Some killed Him because of jealousy and hatred.
c. Some because they were part of a crowd whipped into a frenzy.
d. Peter says they killed Him because they did not fully understand.

D. Then Peter tells them everything happened because it was part of God’s plan, a plan that God had laid out so long before the actual events took place. Acts 3:17-18 – “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.”

E. In the film Terminator 1 Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the part of a bad guy from the future who’s trying to kill Sarah Conner, but in Terminator 2 Arnold comes back as a good guy trying to protect Sarah and her son John. He says to them something very significant and gives them a choice, he says, “If you want to live follow me.”

III. Based on the great miracle worked in the Jews’ midst and the undeniable fact of Christ's resurrection, Peter appealed to the multitude to turn from their sinful lives and be converted, or transformed. In other words he asks them, “If you want to live follow Jesus”.

A. Just like Peter says in Acts 2:38 – “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

1. We can see that conversion takes place in the waters of baptism. Not before, or just after, but in the waters of baptism. Since a person coming up out of the watery grave is made to walk in newness of life, it would certainly be reasonable to call the effects of baptism a conversion.
2. Romans 6:3-11 – “3. Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4. Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. 5. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6. knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7. For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9. knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

B. A person is transformed from their old life to walk in a new life. The transformation comes in the form of the sins of the obedient person being erased.

1. That’s what Peter means when he says in 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,”
2. On Pentecost, Peter said that those following his instructions would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Here he says the same thing but with different words. He describes it here as "times of refreshing," which would certainly be the result of receiving the Comforter.
3. On Pentecost (Acts 2:38), Peter had preached: (1) repent ye, (2) and be baptized, (3) for the remission of sins, and (4) ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. These same four factors are in view here: (1) repent, (2) be converted, (3) that sins may be blotted out, and (4) that refreshing from the Lord's presence would follow.
4. We know there are many that stumble at the comparing of “be converted” to “be baptized”. Even if we had known nothing at all concerning any of these things, the incidence of "be baptized" and "be converted" in exactly corresponding places in these sequences would prove that they mean the same thing.

a. The actual meaning of "be converted", as used by the inspired writers, is "complete whatever is lacking" to bring one into Christ. It is the part we are to “do” in obedience.
b. Example, in Acts 28:27 – “The heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them”. Here the people that should be converted were unbelievers.
c. Then In Matthew 18:1,3 – “At the same time came the disciples unto him, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ... Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven”. Here these were already believers.

IV. The Holy Spirit isn’t finished speaking through Peter yet, because Peter goes on to say that when Jesus' work in salvation was completed, then God would send Jesus again to reclaim his own. 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.”

A. Until that time when salvation was fully accomplished, as the prophets had foretold, Peter said Jesus would remain in heaven. Again like we see with every sermon preached, some will listen and obey and some will listen and not obey.

1. We already know that those who obey will go on to live with Christ forever in heaven. We also need to be aware that those who don’t obey will not go to heaven; those who refuse God's saving grace will be punished as Moses said.
2. Peter partially quoting from Deuteronomy 18:15-19, says in Acts 3:22-25 – “22. "For Moses truly said to the fathers, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. 23. 'And it shall come to pass that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.' 24. "Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. 25. "You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'”

B. As children of Israel, those in Peter's audience should have been aware of the numerous prophecies about the coming Messiah throughout the scriptures. In. 2 Samuel 7:12-16 – “12. "When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13. "He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14. "I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. 15. "But My mercy shall not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16. "And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.''”

1. Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation. The Jews had benefited from God's covenant with Abraham and should also have been familiar with the promise that one day the whole world was going to be blessed through the seed of Abraham.
2. Paul told the Galatian church this specifically referred to one son of Abraham, Jesus. Galatians 3:16 – “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds,'' as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed,'' who is Christ.”

C. Who was the gospel first preached to? Romans 1:16 – “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

1. The Jews or sons of Abraham were the first to hear the gospel, just as Christ commanded. Luke 24:46-48 – “Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.”
2. The Jews there should have known that Jesus was the messiah. They had been told about the coming of the messiah, time and time again through the prophets.
3. It’s very obvious that they thought the messiah would come and establish a physical kingdom here on earth, but Jesus had come, not to restore a physical kingdom to Israel, but to establish a spiritual kingdom and bring salvation from sin to all people. Something far more important than mere earthly security.

D. As I read this I realize that the fact that the Jews were to be the first to hear the gospel implies others would also hear it later, in the future.

1. Acts 3:26 – “To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.” Peter left no doubts in these people’s minds as to whom and why Jesus came.
2. The Jews may have been there and killed the Messiah but we all need to understand that the sin of humankind is what killed the Messiah. In effect we were there as well.
3. It has been said, and I do not know if this is a fact, that in his painting the “Elevation of Christ”, Rembrandt depicts the cross being raised by men full of spite, malice and hate. Down in the left-hand corner in the dark shadows you can make out the face of Rembrandt himself. If this is so, perhaps Rembrandt understood that in a very real way, he was there too and his sins were as much responsible for the cross as the men who were there that day.

CONCLUSION:
The highest blessing that can be bestowed upon people is to be turned from sin. Sin is the source of all sadness, and if people are turned from that, they truly will be happy. Let’s be very clear here, Christ blesses no one in sin, or while loving sin, but He will bless people if they choose to turn from their sin.

Peter is saying to them and to us today that the Messiah had come, and that now they might look for happiness, pardon, and mercy through Him. Just as the Jews in Peter’s day had the option to turn from their sins, people today have the choice to turn from theirs.

Jesus still wants to bless all nations by the gospel which He had himself preached, and which the apostle’s preached and we still preach today. The question is, will you decide to accept it?

Consider, do you need some refreshing times? You see times of refreshing are only going to come when you choose to say no to the world and yes to Jesus. It’s only when you repent and turn to Jesus in obedience and submit to Him in the waters of baptism that those times of refreshing begin.

Maybe you’re already a Christian and you feel tired because of sin in your life. Whatever the reason is, those times of refreshing can return. Do you remember when you were baptized? Do you remember the joy in knowing that your sins were wiped out?

Folks, every time you confess your sins to God and ask for forgiveness that joy will return. That feeling of joy wasn’t just for your baptism but for every time you ask God to forgive you for your sins. 1 John 1:8-9 – “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

There is a contemporary song written by Morgan Cryar that goes like this:
It happened so long ago
And I cried out for mercy back then
I plead the blood of Jesus
Begged him to forgive my sin
But I still can't forget it
It just won't go away
So I wept again, "Lord wash my sin,"
But this is all He'd say

What sin, what sin?
That's as far away
As the east is from the west
What sin, what sin?
It was gone the very minute you confessed
Buried in the sea of forgetfulness

The heaviest thing you'll carry
Is a load of guilt and shame
You were never meant to bear them
So let them go in Jesus' name
Our God is slow to anger
Quick to forgive our sin
So let Him put them under the blood
Don't bring them up again
Cause He'll just say

What sin, what sin?
That's as far away
As the east is from the west
What sin, what sin?
It was gone the very minute you confessed
Buried in the sea of forgetfulness

Lord, please deliver me
From my accusing memory
Nothing makes me weep this way,
Then when I hear you say
What sin, what sin?
That's as far away
As the east is from the west
What sin, what sin?
It was gone the very minute you confessed
Buried in the sea of forgetfulness

Christian, the time of refreshing is only a confession away.
Psalm 97:10-12 – “You who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, And gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.”
Maybe today would be a good day to start rejoicing in the Lord and praising His Name as we remember our salvation.
Those who are not yet Christians can turn to God at any time and begin to rejoice in the Lord and praise His Name.
You too like the lame man will receive something beautiful, the forgiveness of your sins.
You too will be able to leap for joy and praise His Name for the healing you receive.

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We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins... If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.

Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If you have never done these things, we urge you to do so today. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.

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Reference Sermon: Mike Glover