"Healing of the Lame Man"
Text: Acts 3:1-10
Intro:
-In the passage account of the healing of the lame man.
-We are going to look at this passage not doctrinally but devotionally.
-I believe in the passage that the healing of the lame man pictures the conversion of a lost sinner.
I. The Christians - v. 1
*Peter & John - Their attention or focus are on the things of the Lord.
*They Christian characteristics:
1) Displayed - Unity, harmony, fellowship - "went up together"
*Important to remember most of our Christian service is done together & not alone.
*ILLUSTRATION:
-Jesus sent out the disciples two by two in the towns & villages to witness.
-We must remember that we are many members in one body, the body of Christ.
-No one better than the other.
-In fact, the Bible tells us "we are to esteem others more highly than ourselves"
2) Notice the purpose Peter & John being together.
*v.1 - "went up together into the temple"
*They were going to church
*Not the ballgame; not the movies; not the beer hall; - Amen!!!
*Their fellowship centered around the things of GOD and man.
3) Notice - why Peter & John went to church.
*v. 1 - "at the hour of prayer"
*They were going to a good old fashion "prayer meeting" - Amen!
*Didn’t go to church to play BINGO.
*Didn’t go to church for aerobic exercises.
*Didn’t go to church for some yard sale or bazzar.
*They were going to church to pray, mean business with God.
*Peter & John were men of prayer.
*As we continue down through the passage, we will see the results of two
men meaning business with the things of God.
II. The Condemned - v. 2
*"certain man lame from his mother’s womb"
*lame man pictures the sinner condemned even before birth.
*In Psalm 51:5, David said, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me."
*Why is a person condemned before even being born?
*Romans 5:12 - Gives us the answer (Read).
*"one man" = Adam.
*Because of Adam’s fall in the garden of Eden, all are born with a sin nature.
*All are condemned to spend eternity in a lake of fire.
*Romans 6:23 - "For wages of sin is death..."
III. The Condition - v. 2
*"lame" - man was lame
*"was carried" - man was helpless
*He couldn’t go anywhere unless he was literally carried.
*"ask alms" - he was a beggar
*He counted on others for his existence.
*This man’s condition pictures the unsaved sinner.
*Totally spiritually bankrupt.
*A spiritual pauper
*Spiritually sick.
*Dead in tresspasses and sins unable to move.
*He was dependent on the goodness and mercy of man (good works of others)
& not God.
*As we are told that he "was carried"
*He trusted in man not God for his daily supply - "ask alms"
*In the Old Testament, man that was lame was looked down upon by others.
*He was an outcast because views as deserving of affliction because of his sin.
*Old Testament - Physical & material prosperity dependent upon right relationship with God.
*Notice, his position to the temple
-Outside the temple at the gate.
*Temple pictures the dwelling place of God.
*Today, in the age of grace, the Christian’s body is the temple.
*This lame man pictures the lost sinner, without Christ.
*His position is outside the church, the body of Christ.
*SEE EPH. 2:13 - He was "far off"
IV. The Cure
A. Temporary - vs. 3-5
1) "asked an alms" - v.3
*Lame man asking for money.
*Only temporary solution - not permanent.
*He may receive enough money to maybe buy food for the day, week, etc.
*It may ease his suffering a little.
*But wouldn’t change his condition - still be lame
*Only a temporary cure or solution at best.
*Man made solution.
*Notice he "asked an alms"
*He sought his help, his relief from man, Peter & John, not God.
*What This Pictures
-The sinner trying to solve his sin problem by earthly means.
-Trying to find the cure for his problem through man made efforts.
*ILLUSTRATIONS: - Man Made Solutions
-Adam & Eve - sewed aprons made out of fig leaves.
-Cain brought an offering of the ground.
*Any effort of man to solve his sin problem comes short of the glory of God.
*"asked an alms" is a good work.
*The Bible tells us the sinner’s good works, his self-righteousness "are as filthy rags" in the sight of a holy God.
2) Pete told the lame man in v. 4 "Look on us"
3) Notice the response of the lame man in v. 5
*He did what Peter told him to do.
*Why?
*"expecting to receive something of them"
*The lame man expected to receive relief & have his need met by man.
*The center verse in the Bible is Psalm 118:8
"It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man."
*What Does this Picture?
-Pictures a sinner who is trusting in man to save him.
-Be it the commandments of men, traditions, etc.
-In other words, trusting in anything and everything but the Lord Jesus Christ to save them.
-We know that the temporary cure, the man made cure, the good works route may ease the sinner’s conscious temporarily.
-You often hear someone say, "Well, surely I must be going to heaven because I did this or I did that"
-But the Bible tells us - this way of good works is "the wide gate and broad way that leadeth to destruction."
-Any cure but the permanent cure will leave this man, lame.
-Same way for the sinner, any cure but the permanent cure will leave him spiritually lame, or dead in tresspasses and sins, and on his way to an eternal lake of fire.
- Then what is the Permanent Cure?
B. The Permanent Cure vs. 6-7
1) Notice what Peter says "Silver and gold have I none"
-Picture of a Christian telling the unsaved, "Your good works won’t save you"
2) In fact Peter is telling the lame man, "I have something better than silver and gold"
*"Something that will permanently cure you, totally and completely heal you"
-What is it?
*v.6 - "in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk"
*The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 1:18-19 - READ
*The Bible tells us concerning the name of Jesus in Acts 4:12
*"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
3) Notice the compassion Peter has on this lame man.
*v. 7 - READ
*Pictures the compassion we are to have for lost souls.
*The Book of Jude tells in vs. 22-23 - READ
*v. 23 - "pulling them out of the fire"
*This is what you and I do when we witness to someone who is lost.
*We try to pull them out of the fire of hell awaiting them.
*We do this with the power of God unto salvation, the gospel. - 1 Cor. 15
*We this pictured by Peter taking the man by the right head and lifting him up.
*The lame man was lifted up.
*This pictures what only salvation through the Lord Jesus can do.
*David said concerning the LORD in Psalm 40:2,
"He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings."
*My dear friend only the Lord Jesus Christ cam lift up a lost sinner from the horrible pit of hell, out of the miry clay and set his feet upon, "The Solid Rock".
*Notice - what happens to the lame man after his lifted up - "immediately his feet and ankle bones recieved strength"
-What this pictures - Salvation is immediate.
*The moment someone believes on the Lord Jesus Christ to save them:
-They are saved.
-Born-again by the Spirit of God
-They are in Christ.
-They are a new creature
-They are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God
*There is no waiting around for it.
*There is nothing else you have to do to be saved.
*The cure for your sin problem, the Lord Jesus Christ is instant and permanent
*Amen!!!
V. The Conversion vs 8-10
*In vs. 8-10, we have pictured, the conversion of a sinner.
*We see the evidence of conversion or the fruit of salvation.
1) v. 8 - "entered with them into the temple"
-The man wanted to go to church.
-If you are truly saved, then you want to be in church when the doors are open.
*David said in Psalm 122:1 -
"I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD."
*The once lame man pictures the sinner after conversion who is now part of the church,
the body of Christ.
*A man without Christ is outside the church as this man was before he was healed,
2) v. 8 - "leaping, and praising God".
-This man pictures a lost sinner experiencing the joy of his salvation.
-He was rejoicing and praising God.
-Just as that Ethopian eunuch after her got saved in Acts 8:39.
-We are told - "...he went on his way rejoicing"
3) v. 9 - "And all the people saw him walking and praising God"
*Notice the word "all"
*This pictures a person who is saved and wants to tell everyone what happen to him.
*Evidence of salvation - want to tell others
-How you got saved, share your testimony
-Tell others how they can be saved.
-Usually, you have a great boldness.
-He got a case of the "Can’t Help Its"!!!
-Do you remember how you were when you first got saved.
-I remember, that I was rejoicing.
-I couldn’t wait to tell others.
*"all the people saw him walking"
-This pictures the Christian’s walk.
-How a believer walks and lives his life is a witness or evidence of their salvation.
*"All the people saw him walking and praising God"
-Evidence of Conversion
-Not afraid to praise God openly, thank Him for what He has done.
-"To God be the Glory, Great things He has done"
-Praising God - Testifying of Christ with our lips and our lives.
4) v. 10 - "they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him."
*This pictures when someone gets saved - other who the person before got saved.
-See outwardly a drastic change in their life.
-This was astonished at the change in this man.
*Before:
-The man was lame
-Begging for alms
-Society’s ourcast
-He was looked down upon
-He was outside the temple.
*After:
-Not only walking but leaping
-Praising God
-Coming to church.
*The Bible says if a person is saved:
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new."
*Are you are new creature in Christ?
-Do others wonder and are astonished at what happen to you?
*Before he was healed v.3 & v. 10 tell us he laid at the gate of the temple.
-The gate was called beautiful.
-Now after being healed he enters the gate and goes into the temple.
*What this pictures -
-The sinner who gets saved and enters the Beautiful gate.
-Mt. 7:14 - tells us "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it"
*My dear friend are you still outside the Beautiful Gate that leadeth to eternal life?
-Today, you too can enter through this Beautiful Gate.
-You see the Lord Jesus Christ is that Beautiful Gate that leadeth to eternal life.
-See - John 10:9 & John 14:6
Conclusion:
*This morning we have seen:
-The Christians
-The Condemned
-The Condition
-The Cure - Temporary vs. Permanent
-The Conversion - evidence of salvation
