The Healing Of Aeneas

THE HEALING OF AENEAS

Acts 9:32-35

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. We've all heard about Napa Auto Parts, but did you know there is a restaurant called Napa 29?

2. The maître d' answered the phone and said, "How can I help you?... I'm sorry, Sir, this is a restaurant, not an auto parts store... No, Sir, this is not Napa Auto Parts... No, Sir... Sir, this is a restaurant. I don't know how much a carburetor costs... Sir, I really don't know... $300.89... Yes, Sir. Have a nice evening."

B. TEXT

32 As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the saints in Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years. 34 “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up. 35 All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord” Acts 9:32-35.

C. THESIS

1. Peter came to Lydda and found a man with a famous name: Aeneas. Touched with a sight of the man’s feebleness, Peter felt the impulse of the Spirit to declare healing for this man.

2. We’ll see as we study this story, The Mistake of Nature, The Ease of Healing, the Directive, and the Point of Contact of Aeneas.

I. A MISTAKE OF NATURE

A. A HANDSOME GOD OF ROMAN MYTHOLOGY

1. Aeneas (Greek: Aineas, derived from Greek Aine meaning "to praise"), was in Greco-Roman mythology, a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises, the second cousin of King Priam of Troy and the goddess Aphrodite.

2. In Virgil's Aeneid, Aeneas is described as strong and handsome. The Daretis Phrygii de excidio Trojae historia of Dares Phrygius describes Aeneas as ‘‘auburn-haired, stocky, eloquent, courteous, prudent, pious, and charming.

3. In the Iliad, Aeneas fought in the Trojan War. He was favored by the gods and was one of the few Trojans who were not killed in

battle or enslaved when Troy fell. When Troy was sacked by the Greeks, Aeneas, after being commanded by the gods to flee, gathered a group,

collectively known as the Aeneads, who then traveled to Italy and became progenitors of the Romans.

4. According to Virgil in the Aeneid, Romulus and Remus were both descendants of Aeneas. The Julian family of Rome, most notably Julius Cæsar and Augustus, traced their lineage to Aeneas, thus to the goddess Aphrodite.

5. After Aeneas' death, Aphrodite had Jupiter make her son immortal. Aeneas was recognized as the god Jupiter Indiges.

B. PITIFUL STATE OF THIS AENEAS

1. Contrary to his name, there wasn’t much to “praise” the Lord about.

2. His illness was so bad he was paralyzed; so extreme, he was bed-ridden. His friends and family must have despaired of his situation, for it had now been eight long years that Aeneas had been confined to his bed, continuously.

3. Undoubtedly they thought he would be paralyzed until he was put into his grave. His was reduced to the point where he no longer had any strength left.

4. Our Lord Jesus frequently chooses the most helpless cases to demonstrate the extent of His mighty power.

5. In this man, his disease was incurable, his situation was desperate. When we were yet without strength, He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from all destruction.

6. Are some of you in this kind of helpless state in an area of your life? Are you this way in a spiritual sense? Apart from Jesus we are all hopeless and bankrupt spiritually. But don’t despair, Jesus Christ has determined to save you! God wants to make your infirmity a platform for Him to display His power!

II. EASE OF THE HEALING

A. LENGTH OF TIME SICK ISN’T A PROBLEM

1. This man had been paralyzed eight years. The length of its endurance is a terrible element in a disease. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been in bondage 8 years or 88 years!

2. Well, praise God, the number of years in which we have lived in sin or sickness doesn’t hinder the mercy of God at all!

B. SEVERITY OF THE PROBLEM MAKES IT NO MORE DIFFICULT

1. The severity of sickness isn’t a factor either. If you have a $1 million debt or a $25,000 debt, it’s just as easy for the creditor to write, “paid,” at the bottom of the one debt as the other.

2. Since Jesus Christ has made full Atonement, it’s as easy for God to pardon the sins of a great offender as an erring saint.

3. Don’t despair, Jesus Christ can make you whole, even though your heart and your understanding have been long paralyzed with sin. The man’s disease was considered to be entirely incurable.