Viola Solid Rock Assembly
Bringing Attention to Jesus
We're going to pick up where we left last week in Acts chapter 3 and we're going to be from verse 11 through 26 and, you know, we're picking up right after the healing of the man who was born, paralyzed, Peter and John walked up and they're walking into the gate and the guy is laying there, he's paralyzed, someone helped him get to the gate and he's begging for money and they looked at him and they said, "Silver and gold, have we not?" "Well, what we have we give to you in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, get up and walk." And the man got up and began to walk and so they helped the man stand up and he began to leap, walk and rejoice and worship God and so verse 11 through 26 is kind of the response of people in the moment that Peter preaches again about Jesus and so, you know, before we look at his second, this is Peter's second sermon we would say, I want to say that God has a way of training and tempering us in times that we need the miraculous, right? Because he loves us as sons and daughters. For example, Paul and Peter were both used to pray for, for and lay hands on people to be healed but Peter ultimately died as a martyr for Jesus and Paul had physical issues that God actually didn't heal. Paul had what he called a thorn in the flesh and some people have, you know, think that it's a physical ailment that he had, some people think it was a person, I've had thorns in the flesh that were both. So you know in one of his letters he tells that his eyesight was failing and as he prayed to be healed God responded with, "My grace is sufficient for you." My point is is I want us to see that the power of God in our lives and in our world and I want us to see that God does miracles in you and even more for those who he's pursuing but I'll also know that God will not waste our pain and he'll work all things together for good, right? For good for us that love him and sometimes the miracle of God is a healing or a financial windfall or a restoration of relationship but sometimes the miracle is that God walks you through it. Something that he wants to grow inside of you, you know, grow you more in that and so he wants you to endure something and you know a lot of times we want the quick fix and we don't want to go through it but sometimes we have to go through the press in order to get where he wants us to be. So after this miracle Peter steps up again and his second public message and one that will get him put in prison eventually in the way that shows us, but he shows us some powerful truths. The first thing that he shows us is nothing will stop the good news of Jesus. Verse 11 says, "They all rushed out an amazement to Solomon's colonnade where the man was holding tightly to Peter and John and Peter saw this opportunity and addressed the crowd. People of Israel who said, "What is so surprising about this and why stare at us as though we have made this man walk by our own power or godliness?" You know the motivation of God behind this miracle was to point people to God, right? They were astounded and the imagery here is that people came to this place to figure out what the miracle, what this miracle was and when Peter saw it he addressed the people in Israel, "Why do you wonder at this and why do you stare at us?" Because though we have a long power and piety to make this man walk. We didn't do this. We don't have the power to heal people or to save people or to change people's hearts or to do miracles. God is the God of miracles and he is the one that does the miraculous. He answers prayers. He saves your family members and friends. God is the one who does the miracles. It's not by our works or our good intentions. It's not even by our piety which is saying that we can't be good enough or even say the right things well enough to make miracles happen, but it's God working in us. Unfortunately many of us have felt guilty because we think it's our sin level or our lack of prayer or not enough faith that limits miracles. Peter is saying that even though they were apostles and super close to Jesus they weren't pious enough to do this. Verse 13 says, "The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of all of our ancestors who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this." This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate despite Pilate's decision to release him. You rejected his holy righteousness, his holy righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer, you killed the author of life but God raised him from the dead and we are witnesses to this fact. Peter is not playing games, right? He doesn't just talk about who Jesus is, but where he doesn't just talk about it. He talks about God's eternal plan and that Jesus fits in that and how they rejected him, denied him, delivered him up to death, traded him in for a murderer, Barabbas and said they killed the author of life. This is a bold and powerful statement right here. This is the statement, ultimately, they got him thrown in prison. But then look, he said, "But God raised him up." It's Peter saying, "You think you killed him but God raised Jesus from the dead. You think you won against Jesus but God's never defeated. You think you stopped Jesus but nothing will stop the good news of Jesus. We saw you killing, we saw God resurrect him. It's like God will keep doing good even in front of those who didn't do good to him. And that's what happens in our world. People want to silence the gospel, right? People want to silence the gospel. I read an article that there is more persecution of Christians around the world as there has been in decades in the last few years. But God will not be stopped. He still loves this world. Even if this world hates him, God still wants to reach people. Even if people reject him, even if people reject him, God still wants to save them. It may be harder and harder to be a Christian in our own country, right? And the people in our country seem to be turning against the gospel in some ways and against Jesus but nothing will stop the love of God. The plan of God and the heart of God and the gospel of Jesus is not about us. It's not about you. It's about Jesus. You can't keep him down. He keeps going. Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed and you know how crippled this man was before, right? Here he was laying on the street. You guys walked by him every day. Y'all know how it was. And now he's healed and walking right before your very eyes. Here he is. Peter is telling the crowd about Jesus. He doesn't even know the man who was healed's name because he's healing is about, his healing is all about Jesus. The power that healed this man was the power of God by faith in Jesus. Jesus healed him, not Peter, not the man, not the religious leaders, not any other means. The Jesus they killed is the Jesus that sealed very much alive and still changing lives and he's still healing. So Peter gives him kind of a gut punch at first, but then he offers him grace and extends mercy. He says he turned to Jesus. This is the only way to God. Verse 17 says, "Friends, I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance, but God was fulfilling with all the prophets had foretold about the Messiah, that we must suffer these things." So he's telling that this was always God's plan. The suffering of Jesus was what the prophets told you for centuries. He says, "I appreciate that," and he's appealing to their ignorance. I don't think he's meaning to insult them, but to say you guys didn't get it, you didn't understand it, you don't know any better. It's like they were deceived, they were listening to the wrong voices. That's why they were ignorant. That's what happens even now, people need to know the true gospel of Jesus. His gospel is good, his love is long, his grace is powerful, right? We need to know those things, but we don't always get it. We've got to be careful not to confuse Christians with the actual Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter how good you are, you're not Jesus. It doesn't matter how good you are or how close you walk with the Lord, you have no power to heal or save people. It's only through the Holy Spirit that's within us that people are drawn to Christ. The only way to be to God by faith is by faith in Jesus. As Christians, we believe that, but as Christians, we must help people see Jesus clearly. We must represent him well. We must walk in his power and authority. We must preach his word over our words. People are dying in their ignorance, and we get to tell them about the real Jesus, like Peter was trying to do. So he appeals to their ignorance and then offers them this. He says in verse 19, "Now we're a pin of your sins and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you, you Jesus, you're appointed Messiah, for he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of things." All things has God promised long ago through his holy prophets. The only way to God is through Jesus, right? The miracle of the healed man was all about the moment. Peter isn't talking about the miracle anymore. The guy is just clinging to Peter's shoulder, also listening. All of the attention is all about, is about repent, turn to God, enter the time of refreshing. With Jesus, he will restore your life. He will refresh your soul. He will forgive you. He'll blot out your sins. Peter shows us that the miracle was all about preaching Jesus. It wasn't about the miracle at all. That's how our lives should be. When God performs the miracle in our lives, we don't need to focus on the miracle. We need to focus on the Jesus that did the miracle. It's not about the miracle in itself. It's about the Jesus that did the miracle. It's about God the Father coming in, sending His Son to die on a cross for us, and His Son healing us, and us pointing people to Jesus through our story, through our testimony. The miracle is, it's not about the miracle itself. It's about the story of how the miracle happened. Will it happen because Jesus was graceful and faithful, and He healed us? The blessings of God is found in Jesus in verse 22. As Moses said, "The Lord your God will raise you up, for you a prophet like me, among you your own people." Listen carefully to everything He tells you. Then Moses said, "Anyone who will not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from God's people." This is quoted for Moses in Deuteronomy 18, but it's showing how long God had planned to have Jesus at the center of everything. God spoke through Moses even then. Jesus listened to Jesus, and whatever He tells you, His word is true. His heart is for you. He is good. There's a warning that came with the prophet's word that anyone who does not listen to Jesus will suffer consequences. What He's saying is if you reject Jesus, you'll lose out on eternal life and eternal living with Jesus. But this wasn't just Moses. Verse 24 says, "Starting with Samuel, every prophet spoke about what is happening today." This is always been the message of the prophets. They all pointed to Jesus. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Hosea, Daniel, the prophetic voices have all pointed to Jesus, and Peter's audience would have known those voices very well. Peter is talking to the Jewish religious leaders, directing them to understand, remember, and appealing to their ignorance to understand that the prophets pointed to Jesus, and we must continue to point to Jesus. He says in verse 25, "You are the children of those prophets, and you are included in the covenant. God promised to your ancestors, for God said to Abraham, 'Through your descendants, all the families of earth will be blessed.'" And when God raised up His servant Jesus, He sent Him first to you people of Israel to bless you by turning each of you back from your sinful ways. He's quoting Genesis from there, connecting the dots from a very old story to the miraculous healing in Jesus' connection. The audience knew the story of Abraham. They knew that God had promised, and they knew that he would bless Abraham, and Abraham would be the father of many nations, and they knew the story of the offspring of Abraham would be the blessing of God to the world, and Peter is connecting the dots for them, that the whole story of God's plan and redemption and the whole story of the blessings of God through the offspring of Abraham is finally realized and finalized in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Matthew chapter 1 shows the genealogy record from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, on down to David, all the way to Mary and Joseph to Jesus. But more than a genealogical record, Peter is telling them that the true story of God's blessing is God's plan of redemption, and salvation for the whole world is finally actualized in this Jesus, the very one that had criticized attacked, that they had criticized attacked, questioned, and finally crucified. Peter said they killed the author of life, and yet they never experienced the blessing of God until they accept the Son of God, Jesus. Here in the face of criticism and questions, he still extends the grace of God and the invitation to follow Jesus. There's no amount of pressure or criticism or threats that would keep Peter from preaching about Jesus. Why? Because God is so passionate about all people, and even when they don't love him, God still loves us. Even when they criticized him, even when they were attacking him, he said, "Look to Jesus. Look to Jesus." This was a miracle that happened, but it wasn't about the miracle. It was about pointing people to Jesus. What do we do with this? What do we do with this? I want to remind you that God is good, and he's working in you and through you, even when your life is very painful, be encouraged, and let others know how good God is to you. Connect the dots of your story and how God has tried to work all things in your life together for good, for you to know him better. I think about my life, and while there are some parts of my story that I don't like, I can see the hand of God in my life. I can see the hand of God in my life. I can see God protecting me and preserving me and pursuing me and allowing me to drift and reject him, and he never stopped coming after me because he's a good, good father. He's a good, good father. I think about the things and the way that my life happened, and I think sometimes I think about the way that things could have happened and could have gone, and I see the hand of God in his life in my life. I see the hand of God even as a kid. He's there in our miracles and the things that God does in our life. It shouldn't be about the miracle. It's about pointing people to Christ. That's what Peter is saying. Look, this guy was healed. You guys saw it, but that's not what really happened here. It's not about that. It's great that this guy was healed, but let me tell you how he was healed. It's about pointing people to Jesus. What's the miracle that's happened in your life that you need to be using to point people to Jesus? It's here in the wood to stand your feet. Lord, I thank you for tonight. I thank you once again for the opportunity she's given us together in your presence. Lord, I thank you. I thank you for miracles. Lord, I thank you for this miracle of this man who was healed, Lord, who had been paralyzed from birth, and God, I thank you for healing him. Lord, I thank you for Peter's response that it wasn't necessarily about the healing or the miracle, but it was about pointing people to you, and Lord, you've done so many miracles in this house and you've done so many things in this household among these people. Lord, help us to connect the dots and point people to you through our story. That it's not about our story, that it's not about what you've done necessarily in our life, but it's about pointing people to you through that, but we just thank you today. We thank you today. Maybe you need a miracle, maybe you need a healing in your body. I know that we prayed for that this morning, but maybe you didn't respond, or maybe you did, but you say I need a healing in my body, and I need that miracle so that I can point people to Jesus. I want to invite you to come. I want to pray with you. I want to believe with you. Maybe it's not a healing, maybe it's a financial miracle, maybe it's a spiritual thing, maybe it's an emotional thing, maybe it's a family situation that you need God to move in, and you need that miracle to point so that you can point people to Jesus. I want to invite you to come, but maybe you've already had that miracle, maybe you've already had that thing happen in your life, but you want to be able to use it to point people to Jesus, and you need the help of the Holy Spirit to be able to do that, and I want to invite you to come, because I want to pray with you that God will open the door and give you the opportunity to use those things to point people towards Jesus. What I think you right now, I think you right now. If you feel that to come and pray around this altar, feel free to do so. [BLANK_AUDIO]