INTRODUCTION

     With regard to miracles, or supposed miracles, two opposite errors are widely held.

     There are people who deny the possibility of any miracle at all, refusing to believe in the occurrence of any event which cannot be explained in terms of natural laws or which are contrary to what they know of ordinary human experience. So they reject the miracles of the Bible because they reject the God of the Bible.

     On the other hand, there are superstitious souls who believe not only in Biblical miracles but also in all sorts of bogus miracles as well. They tend to think that miracles or apparent miracles are conclusive proof of the direct operation of God and of His approval of the miracle worker.

     Biblical truth occupies narrow ground between these opposite errors. At certain periods in history God is pleased to work miracles, sometimes to bless or deliver His people at times of special need, and sometimes mostly to draw attention to His chosen messengers in times of crisis. But the Bible also warns us that Satan and demons may sometimes counterfeit divine miracles to gain credence for false doctrines.

     For this reason we need to beware of attaching too much importance to miracles. Doctrinal truth is not to be established by miracles, but by agreement with the infallible written Word of God.

     Apostolic power in the working of miracles served to attract attention to their gospel message. Outlining our lesson, we may note:

1. Prayer, Acts 3:1-5.
	a. An appointment, 1.
	b. An affliction, 2.
	c. An alms, 3.
	d. An answer, 4.
	e. An anticipation, 5.

2. Power, Acts 3:6-10.
	a. Christ's command, 6.
	b. Helping hand, 7.
	c. Enthusiastic entrance, 8.
	d. Walking witness, 9.
	e. Recognized reality, 10.

3. Persecution, Acts 4:1-4.
	a. Official offensive, 1.
	b. Guilty grief, 2.
	c. Prisoned preachers, 3.
	d. Blessed believers, 4. 

NOTES ON THE TEXT:

PRAYER, Acts 3:1-5.

     If our theology hinders or diminishes our praying, we need to revise our theology. God commands His children to pray, arid the great saints of God in all ages have drawn much of their greatness through prayer. Christ Himself left a record of praying always to His heavenly Father, and taught the apostles to follow His example.

An Appointment, 1.

     Maintaining fellowship In prayer is one means of obtaining and retaining power with God. Evidently the church had scheduled a prayer meeting for mid-afternoon, and Peter and John were going together to keep the appointment.

An Affliction, 2.

     "Lame from his mother's womb," a man "above forty years old" [Acts 4:22] was "laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple." So afflicted that he had to be carried to his daily begging location, the man no doubt was a pitiful and familiar sight.

An Alms, 3.

     Perhaps the lame beggar asked alms from everyone that came in, or perhaps there were so many entering that he could not get attention from all. At any rate he was able to get the attention of Peter and John as they were about to go in, and asked of them an aims.

An Answer, 4.

     But the apostles were led to more than a passing notice of the lame man. Looking intently at the poor beggar, they answered his request, not with a gift of money, but with a demand for his full attention: "Look on us."

An Anticipation, 5.

Giving heed to the command, no doubt the beggar at first supposed that they would give him an unusually large gift which they wished to be sure he would notice. Maybe his anticipation of a material gift helped to prepare his mind for something better than money.

POWER, Acts 3:6-10.

     Unlike Peter and John, many modern religious leaders have plenty of money and little or no real spiritual power. One thing is worse than a supposed man of God without spiritual power, and that is a religious mountebank who uses or is used by strange powers to promote doctrines contrary to God's Word.

Christ's Command, 6.

Peter gave what he had; he could not have given it if he had not had it. When he said, "in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk," he was not taking the name of Christ in vain: he was declaring Christ's command through him.

Helping Hand, 7.

     Now, let us not be too critical about methods. No doubt some methods used in what is supposed to be the Lord's work are objectionable and dishonoring to Him. We might even argue here that if God wanted this man to rise He could have got him up without Peter's help. But for some strange reason God sometimes works otherwise than we would expect or prefer. And so in this case He used Peter's helping hand to get the lame man on his feet.

Enthusiastic Entrance, 8.

     Imagine a middle-aged man standing on his own feet for the first time in his life! Probably for a moment it seemed too good to be true, but there could be no doubt about it: not only could he stand, but with miraculous strength he had never known before he "entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God."

Walking Witness, 9.

     From a helpless cripple God had produced a walking witness to His mighty power, "and all the people saw him." This was God's way of getting their attention for Peter's sermon beginning in verse 12.

Recognized Reality, 10.

     "They knew that it was he." There could be no mistake. Untold thousands of people who frequented the temple recognized the man born lame and the reality of his healing.

PERSECUTION, Acts 4:1-4.

Just as a miracle prepared an audience for the preaching of the gospel, so the preaching exposed the apostles to persecution. They were not persecuted because of the healing, but because of their preaching.

     Official Offensive, 1.

Religious leaders ignorant of eternal truth are customarily the harshest enemies of true worshipers of God. So here, "the priests and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees" launched an official offensive against the apostles.

     Guilty Grief, 2.

Unbelievers are grieved by the very doctrines that rejoice the hearts of believers. These Sadducean rationalists were naturally grieved by the preaching of a doctrine which they disbelieved, but especially so because the doctrine of the resurrection was "preached through Jesus," for Whose crucifixion they were largely responsible.

Prisoned Preachers, 3.

     So they arrested the preachers and put them in prison to be tried the next day. With the preachers in prison, perhaps the persecutors were able to sleep that night.

Blessed Believers, 4.

     Yet God used the testimony of His Word to bring "many" of the hearers to salvation through faith, "and the number of the men was about five thousand." With women and children who believed, the total number of converts on this occasion could have been 10,000 or more. As the apostle Paul pointed out later, though the preachers can be put in prison, yet "the word of God is not bound" [I Timothy 2:9].

CONCLUSION [Acts 3:26]

     "To the Jew first" the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes; but thank God it does not stop there: it is so "also to the Greek" or Gentile [Romans 1:16].

     Note that the blessing of salvation is not merely an escape from hell; the blessing is primarily "in turning away every one of you from his iniquities."

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[From i>Ashland Avenue Baptist newspaper, March 17, 1978, pp. 2-3. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]

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