The Preaching That Was The Result Of The Healing

Acts 3:16, “16"The name of Jesus has healed this man--and you know how lame he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name has caused this healing before your very eyes.”

The context of this verse suggests that it was not the man’s faith that made him well albeit it the man was praising God, but it was more than likely the faith of the Apostle Peter and Apostle John standing next to him with regards to which the healing of this man occurred. Faith in Jesus commits us to Christ and begins the process of inner healing or sanctification. It is obvious as I suggested earlier that this man was well known throughout Jerusalem as an almsgiver yet the fact of this is strengthened by and you know how lame he was before which would suggest further that God’s intention here was to expose Israel’s real question which was the result of the miracle, “Is God really real?’ Perhaps they had lost sight of the fact that the God who took them out of the land they formerly lived in and parted the Red Sea defeated many nations so that they could occupy the land they so now enjoy, perhaps they had lost picture of the God who conquered for them, who had always been there for them, been faithful as a father could be to a people who did not, who loved to live as they wanted despite God’s repeated judgments through the Prophets whom God sent to warn them of the idolatry of there hearts. It is through faith in Christ, through His blood atonement on the Cross that we are saved, by grace through faith in Messiah, so if today you have not repented of your sin and believed upon Him, what greater day than now? The responsibility for the decision rests solely upon you today, not upon me or anyone else. What you decide will affect the rest of your life, not this life perhaps, but definitely the next, so make sure your decision is based upon the right facts, not upon the wrong philosophy.

Acts 3:17, “17"Friends, I realize that what you did to Jesus was done in ignorance; and the same can be said of your leaders.”

Peter here may thus be raising an distinction from the Old Testament in regards to willful sins and sins done in ignorance (Numbers 15:22-31). It was Jesus though who prayed for those who crucified Him, praying in Luke 23:34, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Apostle Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 2:8), “They would have not crucified the Lord of glory.” You see while they acted in ignorance those who have heard have no reason to act ignorant. While these Jews were among the first to hear of God’s new means of salvation through the sacrifice of Christ, yet now today after hearing the Gospel, some may hear it once and have only one chance to repent and turn unto Him, and some may have a lifetime of sitting on the pew hearing endless sermons bounce off of the heart yet not repent. Does this make it anymore or less fair? No, because human responsibility is not a factor in terms of God’s active involvement within humanity. God has designed human beings with a determined will to choose Him, yet given Him the nature of choice in terms of free will, while chosen Him before the foundations of the world to bear His glory, yet given choice to experience that reality of faith within the context of life that they choose to live regardless. Yet in fact if we don’t see the nature of choice verses responsibility we perhaps have lost sight of the whole meaning of the Gospel thus having accepted another version of truth other than what God prescribed for us in the death of Christ on the Cross.