E8
The Church Multiplying
Acts 3:9-26
To me, the growth of the church from Pentecost onward is a beautiful wonder to behold. Luke describes the growth of the church as ‘addition’ and as ‘multiplication’. I do not know if he intended any significance between the two words or if he just used the two words simply to mean growth. But just for the purpose of seeing the impact of the power of God as He used these early Christians to spread the gospel, I think it is good to absorb what is being presented here.
So, I have singled out the passages in Acts that mention the growth of the church. We looked at the first one earlier;
Ac 2:41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
And we also have looked at this one:
Ac 2:47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
The next passages are coming up in future studies:
Ac 4:4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.
Ac 5:14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,
The next two passages are the first to use the word multiply.
Ac 6:7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.
Ac 9:31 Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.
Ac 11:24 For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.
Ac 12:24 But the word of God grew and multiplied.
We want to see our churches grow. We take it as a sign that we are doing something right. I am sure that Noah would love to have had even a dozen or so people responding to his warning of coming judgment.
Simply gaining numbers does not really mean anything. If we were to put on some kind of an attraction, and numbers of people poured into our facility … what kind of success would that indicate? I think we have to answer, It depends entirely on what the attraction was. Churches are not supposed to put on any kind of an attraction. Noah’s attraction, or lack of it, was, “Judgment is coming”. The early church’s attraction was not one that they decided to put on. God was doing great things and that was very different and attracting to the public.
We want our churches to grow. The temptation to ‘put on a show’ can influence us to appeal to people’s desires rather than focus on presenting the gospel clearly and faithfully.
If there is one legitimate attraction that we can and should be presenting to the public it is found in this passage of scripture:
John 13:35 “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
‘Outsiders’ (non-Christians) search for happiness and fulfillment. That is a normal thing to do. But we live in a fallen and degenerate world. The world is full of jealousies, envy, hypocrisy, self-centeredness, pride, gossip, criticism and dishonesty. People put up with it because they have to. There are no other choices … or so it seems. When an outsider gets a glimpse of the inside (Christians fellowshipping in love) they wonder what that would be like. It looks so refreshing and attractive compared to what they have experienced in life.
So how about it? Does your church present a warm loving environment to outsiders looking in?
By the way, I am not implying that Christians are to purposely invite outsiders into your fellowship to make them feel accepted. This would be the wrong thing to do. They must be made to see that once they repent of sin and put their trust in Jesus, only then will they feel the warmth and acceptance of family. Of course they will not understand at the beginning what they need to do to be accepted. But simply seeing genuine warmth between believers can prompt them to search it out and ask the right questions.
To give them that ‘feeling’ before they repent, will result in their feeling no need of repentance. If our church is striving to make outsiders feel comfortable and accepted without their having ‘come through the door’, as far as reaching the ‘lost’ for Jesus is concerned, we are shooting ourselves in the foot. We are not helping them to a place of genuine conversion. If they should die in that condition, they would go to hell … and we would be responsible. I know it ‘is not about us’, but the apostle Paul said, “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Acts 20:26,27
Even though Paul is more concerned about the fate of the unsaved, he is also concerned that he will not appear before the Lord on judgment Day, guilty of not having done his absolute utmost in giving out the whole gospel message, clearly to the persons in his path of life.
Here in Acts we have been seeing the power of God being demonstrated, but we have also seen that great joy and fellowship is happening in the church. The level of ‘support’ could not be any higher. People automatically are thinking …”I want that”.
A word of caution; When clear differences exist between believers in the church, the world ...outsiders, are not drawn to the church or to Christ. In the present global situation there exists a difference of opinion between the vaxxed and the unvaxxed.
How are we to present an attractive, loving, church-family environment to the world and yet hold our individual views regarding an issue like this? I believe the apostle Paul speaks to this.
Romans 14:22a Your personal convictions are a matter of faith between yourself and God.
Whether you are vaccinated or not is no one's business, especially in the church. We should not want to know whether a fellow believer took the shot. We should not tell others if we took the shot.
The matter becomes complicated when our government pushes for everyone to take the shot. Then it can become a matter of contention within a church, the issue now being whether or not we are obeying a scripture which says we must obey the government.
This brings up another important examination. The scriptures do not teach that we must ‘obey’ the government, they teach that we must submit to the government.
Notice the absence of the word ‘obey’ in these passages.
Romans 13:1 ¶ Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
1 Peter 2:13a ¶ Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake,
What is the difference?
Implied and taught in the above passages, is that you must submit … or else! Or else what? Or else face the consequences. Romans 13 talks about consequences …’He does not bear the sword in vain’.
The words, ‘or else’ implies choice. Either this or this. As Christians we choose, based on what we believe God is calling on us to do, either to do what the authorities are requiring, or, because it goes against our faith, (our beliefs of what is right), we choose the other option, the ‘or else’.
When a Christian brother or sister chooses the ‘or else’, based upon their beliefs, we are not to judge. Judging a fellow Christian is a very serious offense.
So here is what we must do. Paul says, “Be persuaded in your own heart about what is right. Act according to your belief. Keep it to yourself. Don’t judge others.” This is biblical.
Have I digressed? Not really. As in the early church, outsiders must see joyfully connected persons in unity with one another in the church.
Outsiders in Jerusalem witnessed unity, love, excitement, and joy in this new group of people … and it was very attractive.
The church grew by addition and by multiplication. On the day of Pentecost 3000 persons were added. We will come across the verses that mention multiplying. If I take this somewhat literally, I would say that the smallest number to use in multiplication would be the number 2. If you multiply by 1, there is no increase. I doubt if Luke was thinking fractionally, as in the multiplied by 1.7.
So if the number multiplied after having 3000 added, the number would be at 6000. We will even see a phrase that says, ‘multiplied greatly’. It is almost impossible to imagine the church growing to 15 or 20 thousand people before persecution caused them to spread out all over the Judea area. But such seems to be the case.
So let’s read on in the book of Acts.
Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them — walking, leaping, and praising God.
9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed.
How quickly news can spread. I can picture some of the bystanders running about shouting and announcing what had just taken place. People are coming from all directions. They must have come with all the usual questions, “Is it really him?”, “How did it happen?”, “ Did anyone see it happen?”,
And the very next thing was a bit alarming and yet to be expected. The people, not knowing any better, naturally think that Peter and John are some kind of supermen.
12 ¶ So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
Peter is quick to give God the glory. The human response is often to allow praise to elevate our ego. Many ministers of the past have fallen prey to the Devil’s subtle method of destroying servants of God.
But as Peter makes sure that the people know that it was not at all by his or John’s power, he uses the opportunity to turn all the credit to God.
We can learn from this. Some people are able to ‘create’ situations and then turn it into a conversation about God, Salvation, coming judgment and so forth.
But if you or I do not feel comfortable, or able to ‘create the situation’, we can all learn how to make the most of the situations that seem to arise automatically through the course of the day, and try to look for ways how we can turn an ordinary event or conversation into a conversation about eternity.
Let’s look at Peter’s sermon here.
13 “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus.
What does that mean, Glorified Jesus? Peter knows that Jesus is alive from the dead. He has fellowshipped with Him for 40 days after that incredible resurrection day. Yes, Jesus has been glorified! But does the crowd know what this means?
Peter might have simply meant that the complete personal ministry of Jesus for the past three and a half years was a time of God lifting up His Son to a place of prominence and popularity. Maybe that is what he meant by the statement, ‘glorified His Servant Jesus’. But I think it was more than that. I really believe that Peter is referring to, or at least hinting at, Jesus’ being raised back to life.
But Peter will make this very clear in a sentence or two. He goes on, “... whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.
14 “But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
15 “and killed the Prince of life, … Peter is displaying a boldness that he did not have just two months earlier. He denied knowing Jesus at all. He cursed and swore and said he did not know Jesus. Isn’t the forgiveness of God a wonderful thing? He forgives us and reinstates us. He fills us with His Spirit. The boldness of Peter is clearly from the indwelling Spirit of God.
God has done the same for us. Paul says to us, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2Timothy 1:7
The writer of Hebrews added, ``So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:6
We say that boldness comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit, but sometimes it seems He must be buried very deeply within us. We just don’t see it or feel it. The previous verse in the Hebrews passage above might be of help. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Our ‘boldness’ is based on a promise. This means, whether we know the water will hold us up when we step out of the boat, like Peter, we can claim the promise that He is right there.
Peter very boldly and very directly has held these people responsible for killing Jesus. He has just said 15 “You killed the Prince of life”
Now he clearly states, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
The crowd to whom Peter is speaking may have heard some rumours regarding the empty grave … or they may have heard nothing at all about it. But what they have right in front of them is a definite miracle. A man born crippled in his feet is now dancing for joy. They have no idea how such a thing could happen. They are hearing an explanation from Peter. This is the only thing that can make any sense to them. Peter says,
16 “And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
From verse 13 through verse 16 Peter uses four sentences to say what he said in one sentence in verse 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
That is the short answer: Jesus of Nazareth healed this man.
In Peter’s long answer that he gives to this crowd of people makes some very clear points.
He had started out reminding them of something they knew very well. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob … which God has been revealed to Israel (their forefathers) … this God with whom they are already familiar … glorified Jesus.
When we have an opportunity to take an event and turn the conversation toward things of eternal consequence, unlike Peter on this occasion, we likely will find ourselves talking with people who do not have the background of this Jewish crowd. Many people of our day have not even had Sunday School in their past experience. They will need to hear, not so much about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob … but they will have to first hear about God … the Creator. People must be brought to the place of personal responsibility for their sin before they can repent of it and trust Jesus as their Saviour.
That can be quite a task. But we need to be up for it. We need to be familiar with providing evidence that God is the creator … not evolution, that God created all things perfect, including His creation of Adam and Eve. We must be able to talk about the fall of man, and the fact that we inherit a fallen nature. We must be able to show that we can not rid ourselves of that nature, or clean it up to the degree that it is acceptable by God. We must show that Jesus took our sins upon Himself, so that we could receive His perfection into our own souls.
Can you share the old, old story? Of course you can. This is the will of God and the purpose He has placed His Holy Spirit within you.
Peter’s ‘story’ is not over yet. He has laid the charge of ‘killing’ Jesus onto them. Surely some of them, if not most of them are thinking, “We didn’t do it. The Romans did”
Whether we are guilty of personally driving the nails into Jesus hands and feet directly or not, we are still held responsible.
Peter acknowledges that we do it in ignorance. He says even the Rulers of the Jews, as angry as they were, in their determination to have Jesus put to death, really were ignorant of who Jesus really was.
He said, 17 “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
But that is no excuse. Then Peter adds, 18 “But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
He is saying, “It was going to happen anyway. Christ came to die. … but you are still responsible.”
And so he says, “19 “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
Repentance. A complete turn around in action, belief and attitude. They were to see themselves as guilty of killing the Prince of Life. But even worse, at the base of it all, is the sin of unbelief. They had not believed, up to this point, that Jesus was the Son of God. Is the Son of God.
Right before their eyes a powerful miracle has taken place. Peter is saying … “The Jesus that you killed, performed this miracle. He is alive. And your sins can be blotted out. And you will find yourself in His presence … … you will be a partaker in the renewal of all things. Old things will pass away, all things become new. And He is coming back in person!”
20 “and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,
Did Peter really expect Jesus to return shortly? At any moment? Peter adds this;
21 “whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
Peter is acknowledging that God has a plan, an eternal purpose that unfolds in God’s own time. At the fulfillment of that time God will send Jesus. Peter reminds them that all of their prophets, from the foundation of the world and onward have shared this message. And why should these people believe what Peter is sharing? Because right before their eyes a miracle had taken place for which they have no other explanation. Peter’s words make sense to them.
Peter brings this ‘sermon’ to a conclusion by reminding them of scriptures that they were very familiar with. Scriptures about the Messiah. And Peter is stating that Jesus is the messiah that the scriptures had predicted.
22 “For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.
23 ‘And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’
24 “Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.
Has Peter made it clear? Is Jesus alive? Are the words of the prophets true, and were they speaking of Jesus? … And we could ask, “Is this man really healed?” The evidence is right before their eyes.
As an invitation Peter says,
25 “You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
26 “To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”
It is like Peter is saying … “And how fortunate you are! You are getting a first chance at taking Jesus to be the Saviour and Lord of your life.”
How do they respond? Looking ahead a bit we read,
4:4 many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
Five thousand! The church is now numbering well over ten thousand altogether. That is bigger than the whole town in which I live. How can any one church sustain growth like this? How can the leaders keep up with the teaching ministry that would be needed? And having church every single day … having all things in common, can they survive the growing pains? And what about those who are trying to keep the peace in the neighborhood, how will they respond to all of this? Answers are coming up in the next chapters.
So, I have singled out the passages in Acts that mention the growth of the church. We looked at the first one earlier;
Ac 2:41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
And we also have looked at this one:
Ac 2:47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
The next passages are coming up in future studies:
Ac 4:4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.
Ac 5:14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,
The next two passages are the first to use the word multiply.
Ac 6:7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.
Ac 9:31 Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.
Ac 11:24 For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.
Ac 12:24 But the word of God grew and multiplied.
We want to see our churches grow. We take it as a sign that we are doing something right. I am sure that Noah would love to have had even a dozen or so people responding to his warning of coming judgment.
Simply gaining numbers does not really mean anything. If we were to put on some kind of an attraction, and numbers of people poured into our facility … what kind of success would that indicate? I think we have to answer, It depends entirely on what the attraction was. Churches are not supposed to put on any kind of an attraction. Noah’s attraction, or lack of it, was, “Judgment is coming”. The early church’s attraction was not one that they decided to put on. God was doing great things and that was very different and attracting to the public.
We want our churches to grow. The temptation to ‘put on a show’ can influence us to appeal to people’s desires rather than focus on presenting the gospel clearly and faithfully.
If there is one legitimate attraction that we can and should be presenting to the public it is found in this passage of scripture:
John 13:35 “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
‘Outsiders’ (non-Christians) search for happiness and fulfillment. That is a normal thing to do. But we live in a fallen and degenerate world. The world is full of jealousies, envy, hypocrisy, self-centeredness, pride, gossip, criticism and dishonesty. People put up with it because they have to. There are no other choices … or so it seems. When an outsider gets a glimpse of the inside (Christians fellowshipping in love) they wonder what that would be like. It looks so refreshing and attractive compared to what they have experienced in life.
So how about it? Does your church present a warm loving environment to outsiders looking in?
By the way, I am not implying that Christians are to purposely invite outsiders into your fellowship to make them feel accepted. This would be the wrong thing to do. They must be made to see that once they repent of sin and put their trust in Jesus, only then will they feel the warmth and acceptance of family. Of course they will not understand at the beginning what they need to do to be accepted. But simply seeing genuine warmth between believers can prompt them to search it out and ask the right questions.
To give them that ‘feeling’ before they repent, will result in their feeling no need of repentance. If our church is striving to make outsiders feel comfortable and accepted without their having ‘come through the door’, as far as reaching the ‘lost’ for Jesus is concerned, we are shooting ourselves in the foot. We are not helping them to a place of genuine conversion. If they should die in that condition, they would go to hell … and we would be responsible. I know it ‘is not about us’, but the apostle Paul said, “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Acts 20:26,27
Even though Paul is more concerned about the fate of the unsaved, he is also concerned that he will not appear before the Lord on judgment Day, guilty of not having done his absolute utmost in giving out the whole gospel message, clearly to the persons in his path of life.
Here in Acts we have been seeing the power of God being demonstrated, but we have also seen that great joy and fellowship is happening in the church. The level of ‘support’ could not be any higher. People automatically are thinking …”I want that”.
A word of caution; When clear differences exist between believers in the church, the world ...outsiders, are not drawn to the church or to Christ. In the present global situation there exists a difference of opinion between the vaxxed and the unvaxxed.
How are we to present an attractive, loving, church-family environment to the world and yet hold our individual views regarding an issue like this? I believe the apostle Paul speaks to this.
Romans 14:22a Your personal convictions are a matter of faith between yourself and God.
Whether you are vaccinated or not is no one's business, especially in the church. We should not want to know whether a fellow believer took the shot. We should not tell others if we took the shot.
The matter becomes complicated when our government pushes for everyone to take the shot. Then it can become a matter of contention within a church, the issue now being whether or not we are obeying a scripture which says we must obey the government.
This brings up another important examination. The scriptures do not teach that we must ‘obey’ the government, they teach that we must submit to the government.
Notice the absence of the word ‘obey’ in these passages.
Romans 13:1 ¶ Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
1 Peter 2:13a ¶ Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake,
What is the difference?
Implied and taught in the above passages, is that you must submit … or else! Or else what? Or else face the consequences. Romans 13 talks about consequences …’He does not bear the sword in vain’.
The words, ‘or else’ implies choice. Either this or this. As Christians we choose, based on what we believe God is calling on us to do, either to do what the authorities are requiring, or, because it goes against our faith, (our beliefs of what is right), we choose the other option, the ‘or else’.
When a Christian brother or sister chooses the ‘or else’, based upon their beliefs, we are not to judge. Judging a fellow Christian is a very serious offense.
So here is what we must do. Paul says, “Be persuaded in your own heart about what is right. Act according to your belief. Keep it to yourself. Don’t judge others.” This is biblical.
Have I digressed? Not really. As in the early church, outsiders must see joyfully connected persons in unity with one another in the church.
Outsiders in Jerusalem witnessed unity, love, excitement, and joy in this new group of people … and it was very attractive.
The church grew by addition and by multiplication. On the day of Pentecost 3000 persons were added. We will come across the verses that mention multiplying. If I take this somewhat literally, I would say that the smallest number to use in multiplication would be the number 2. If you multiply by 1, there is no increase. I doubt if Luke was thinking fractionally, as in the multiplied by 1.7.
So if the number multiplied after having 3000 added, the number would be at 6000. We will even see a phrase that says, ‘multiplied greatly’. It is almost impossible to imagine the church growing to 15 or 20 thousand people before persecution caused them to spread out all over the Judea area. But such seems to be the case.
So let’s read on in the book of Acts.
Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them — walking, leaping, and praising God.
9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed.
How quickly news can spread. I can picture some of the bystanders running about shouting and announcing what had just taken place. People are coming from all directions. They must have come with all the usual questions, “Is it really him?”, “How did it happen?”, “ Did anyone see it happen?”,
And the very next thing was a bit alarming and yet to be expected. The people, not knowing any better, naturally think that Peter and John are some kind of supermen.
12 ¶ So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
Peter is quick to give God the glory. The human response is often to allow praise to elevate our ego. Many ministers of the past have fallen prey to the Devil’s subtle method of destroying servants of God.
But as Peter makes sure that the people know that it was not at all by his or John’s power, he uses the opportunity to turn all the credit to God.
We can learn from this. Some people are able to ‘create’ situations and then turn it into a conversation about God, Salvation, coming judgment and so forth.
But if you or I do not feel comfortable, or able to ‘create the situation’, we can all learn how to make the most of the situations that seem to arise automatically through the course of the day, and try to look for ways how we can turn an ordinary event or conversation into a conversation about eternity.
Let’s look at Peter’s sermon here.
13 “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus.
What does that mean, Glorified Jesus? Peter knows that Jesus is alive from the dead. He has fellowshipped with Him for 40 days after that incredible resurrection day. Yes, Jesus has been glorified! But does the crowd know what this means?
Peter might have simply meant that the complete personal ministry of Jesus for the past three and a half years was a time of God lifting up His Son to a place of prominence and popularity. Maybe that is what he meant by the statement, ‘glorified His Servant Jesus’. But I think it was more than that. I really believe that Peter is referring to, or at least hinting at, Jesus’ being raised back to life.
But Peter will make this very clear in a sentence or two. He goes on, “... whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.
14 “But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
15 “and killed the Prince of life, … Peter is displaying a boldness that he did not have just two months earlier. He denied knowing Jesus at all. He cursed and swore and said he did not know Jesus. Isn’t the forgiveness of God a wonderful thing? He forgives us and reinstates us. He fills us with His Spirit. The boldness of Peter is clearly from the indwelling Spirit of God.
God has done the same for us. Paul says to us, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2Timothy 1:7
The writer of Hebrews added, ``So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:6
We say that boldness comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit, but sometimes it seems He must be buried very deeply within us. We just don’t see it or feel it. The previous verse in the Hebrews passage above might be of help. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Our ‘boldness’ is based on a promise. This means, whether we know the water will hold us up when we step out of the boat, like Peter, we can claim the promise that He is right there.
Peter very boldly and very directly has held these people responsible for killing Jesus. He has just said 15 “You killed the Prince of life”
Now he clearly states, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
The crowd to whom Peter is speaking may have heard some rumours regarding the empty grave … or they may have heard nothing at all about it. But what they have right in front of them is a definite miracle. A man born crippled in his feet is now dancing for joy. They have no idea how such a thing could happen. They are hearing an explanation from Peter. This is the only thing that can make any sense to them. Peter says,
16 “And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
From verse 13 through verse 16 Peter uses four sentences to say what he said in one sentence in verse 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
That is the short answer: Jesus of Nazareth healed this man.
In Peter’s long answer that he gives to this crowd of people makes some very clear points.
He had started out reminding them of something they knew very well. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob … which God has been revealed to Israel (their forefathers) … this God with whom they are already familiar … glorified Jesus.
When we have an opportunity to take an event and turn the conversation toward things of eternal consequence, unlike Peter on this occasion, we likely will find ourselves talking with people who do not have the background of this Jewish crowd. Many people of our day have not even had Sunday School in their past experience. They will need to hear, not so much about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob … but they will have to first hear about God … the Creator. People must be brought to the place of personal responsibility for their sin before they can repent of it and trust Jesus as their Saviour.
That can be quite a task. But we need to be up for it. We need to be familiar with providing evidence that God is the creator … not evolution, that God created all things perfect, including His creation of Adam and Eve. We must be able to talk about the fall of man, and the fact that we inherit a fallen nature. We must be able to show that we can not rid ourselves of that nature, or clean it up to the degree that it is acceptable by God. We must show that Jesus took our sins upon Himself, so that we could receive His perfection into our own souls.
Can you share the old, old story? Of course you can. This is the will of God and the purpose He has placed His Holy Spirit within you.
Peter’s ‘story’ is not over yet. He has laid the charge of ‘killing’ Jesus onto them. Surely some of them, if not most of them are thinking, “We didn’t do it. The Romans did”
Whether we are guilty of personally driving the nails into Jesus hands and feet directly or not, we are still held responsible.
Peter acknowledges that we do it in ignorance. He says even the Rulers of the Jews, as angry as they were, in their determination to have Jesus put to death, really were ignorant of who Jesus really was.
He said, 17 “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
But that is no excuse. Then Peter adds, 18 “But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
He is saying, “It was going to happen anyway. Christ came to die. … but you are still responsible.”
And so he says, “19 “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
Repentance. A complete turn around in action, belief and attitude. They were to see themselves as guilty of killing the Prince of Life. But even worse, at the base of it all, is the sin of unbelief. They had not believed, up to this point, that Jesus was the Son of God. Is the Son of God.
Right before their eyes a powerful miracle has taken place. Peter is saying … “The Jesus that you killed, performed this miracle. He is alive. And your sins can be blotted out. And you will find yourself in His presence … … you will be a partaker in the renewal of all things. Old things will pass away, all things become new. And He is coming back in person!”
20 “and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,
Did Peter really expect Jesus to return shortly? At any moment? Peter adds this;
21 “whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
Peter is acknowledging that God has a plan, an eternal purpose that unfolds in God’s own time. At the fulfillment of that time God will send Jesus. Peter reminds them that all of their prophets, from the foundation of the world and onward have shared this message. And why should these people believe what Peter is sharing? Because right before their eyes a miracle had taken place for which they have no other explanation. Peter’s words make sense to them.
Peter brings this ‘sermon’ to a conclusion by reminding them of scriptures that they were very familiar with. Scriptures about the Messiah. And Peter is stating that Jesus is the messiah that the scriptures had predicted.
22 “For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.
23 ‘And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’
24 “Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.
Has Peter made it clear? Is Jesus alive? Are the words of the prophets true, and were they speaking of Jesus? … And we could ask, “Is this man really healed?” The evidence is right before their eyes.
As an invitation Peter says,
25 “You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
26 “To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”
It is like Peter is saying … “And how fortunate you are! You are getting a first chance at taking Jesus to be the Saviour and Lord of your life.”
How do they respond? Looking ahead a bit we read,
4:4 many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
Five thousand! The church is now numbering well over ten thousand altogether. That is bigger than the whole town in which I live. How can any one church sustain growth like this? How can the leaders keep up with the teaching ministry that would be needed? And having church every single day … having all things in common, can they survive the growing pains? And what about those who are trying to keep the peace in the neighborhood, how will they respond to all of this? Answers are coming up in the next chapters.