An Outline Of Acts 3:11-26

Introduction: Peter and John saw a man, lame from his birth, and healed him by the Lord’s power. This drew a crowd and Peter preached the second recorded message after Pentecost.

1 The miracle of healing

--the man had been lame from birth. Several people in the Bible suffered from various diseases or health issues keeping them from being able to walk (e.g., Mephibosheth in the OT)

--this was not something the apostles used to draw attention to themselves. They promptly explained that Jesus had done this.

2 The message to the crowd

--We didn’t do any of this; Jesus did (verse 16)

--You killed Him (Jesus), but God raised Him back to life (verses 12-15)

--You did this in ignorance but God the Father provides repentance and forgiveness for you (verses 17-26). Before, you didn’t know; now, you do!

--Implication: what are you going to do with this new truth you’re hearing?

Conclusion: nobody could deny that a miracle had taken place—three witnesses could verify this, namely, Peter, John, and the lame man himself. When the (formerly) lame man was able to immediately walk, he also leaped and praised God for his healing. A crowd came by and Peter was able to bring another message to this new crowd, giving them a summary of recent events in a possible five-minute sermon.

Oddly there is no record of any response at this point. Maybe the other people were still perplexed, or stunned, trying to process all that they had seen and heard. In Acts 4:4, Luke does state that 5000 men (at least) heard and believed; whether or not Peter and John could see this is not clear. Yet, there was another group coming, and their motive or mission was going to be quite different from this crowd.

Scripture quotations were taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).