Sermon in Cokato 01.01.2016

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, let us quieten our hearts unto opening prayer and thanksgiving.

Our dear Heavenly Father, we approach you this evening, at the beginning of this new year, simply asking, dear Father, that thy grace and mercy and forgiveness would be with us every day. Dear Father, we ask you to preserve us here in this place of a child and feed and nourish us. Grant unto us that which thou sees that we need. And remember our loved ones and our neighbors who are struggling in the darkness of unbelief. Grant unto them thy grace, that they could comprehend the way of salvation is through thy beloved merit work of thy Son.

Dear Father, remember those who are in the midst of difficulties and sorrows of this life. Grant unto them that comfort and uplifting and reassurance that they so sorely need. Dear Father, help the stumbling, the poor, the wretched, us sin-fallen people. Grant unto us, dear Father, that hope of everlasting life to remain within us. And we ask, dear Father, for thy blessing for the end of this day and those days ahead which thou grants unto us as we begin this new year. In Jesus' name, Amen.

I'm going to take one of the texts from the Acts of the Apostles that have actually been set aside for this day, New Year's Day. And the theme for this day speaks and reminds us of the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. And so we'll read from the fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles beginning from the eighth verse through the twelfth. And these words are in Jesus' name as follow.

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man and by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.

This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Amen.

The Acts of the Apostles teach us of those days following the ascension of Jesus into heaven. It speaks of how the Holy Spirit of our Heavenly Father worked in that new beginning congregation there in Israel.

We've experienced here the days and weeks of Advent, the time of awaiting Christmas Eve has come and Christmas Day have enjoyed reflecting on that miracle that God granted unto mankind here at services and there at our home. Now, the new year has begun. There's been many of them since the time when this of which we read here in this text took place. Almost 2,000 New Year's days and evenings.

Of course, it seems like the time of Christmas comes and goes too quickly. Christmas is a time to especially reflect on that grace gift of God, how he gifted unto us that lowly Christ child. Christmas is a time when we especially remember one another. And I thank you dear brothers and sisters for remembering me and my family. As you well know, it feels good to be remembered. It's a wonderful feeling when somebody reaches out in any given way unto you or I. It feels good.

And it's important to remember, dear brothers and sisters, even though that day of December 25th comes and goes, with us children of God, indeed it is Christmas every day.

This is one of the early sermons that Peter spoke. And he wasn't in a very comfortable place when he spoke these words. Indeed, he had just been the evening before thrown into prison, into a dark dungeon, and now the new day had dawned and at some point during that day they got him out of that prison, out of the dungeon, and now he was there with John and with this impotent man, as he mentions here, this man that had been crippled, handicapped, paralyzed from the waist down.

And gathered there were the chief priests. Indeed, it mentions in the fourth chapter of Caiaphas he was there also. He was there when in that council when they were accusing Jesus. As a matter of fact, he was the one who first said to crucify him. Now this same Caiaphas is here in this group with the others of those learned and wise scribes and priests and elders of Israel, and they were all gathered there.

Even as we are gathered here, they were sitting there like you were sitting, and Peter and John and the impotent man were standing there before them.

Well, let's go back to what happened the day before. I think it's important. Peter and John on the day before had come to Jerusalem and they were going into the temple, into the synagogue. It says on the ninth hour of prayer, being the ninth hour, three o'clock in the afternoon, and the temple was set up that way that there was an area in the lower courtyard, you could say, where the Gentiles could come. You and I, if we would have been there 2,000 years ago, we could have went into that lower courtyard before the temple. That's where the Gentiles could gather.

And then there were some stairways going up, several in fact, but on this particular one where Peter and John went, it was the gate called the Beautiful. And on this particular morning, and I think it was a custom actually, someone once wrote on this and said that for sure that this same man was laying here when Jesus entered into the temple.

And Luke reminds us that Jesus went into the temple daily whenever there was one within walking distance. Jesus was there in that temple preaching. But the time of visitation for this one impotent man hadn't come yet, even though Jesus walked by on those same stairs where that same man laid.

He had been born that way. The Bible said that he was 40 years old and that his friends carried him there daily so he could beg for his subsistence, so he could eat. Never walked, never been able to stand on his own feet.

And now Peter and John were going up out of the lower courtyard of the Gentiles, up the stairway into the temple, and this man was laying there. And this man fixed his eyes on Peter and John saw him. And it says that a certain man lame from his mother's womb, so from birth, was carried whom they daily laid at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful.

So they brought him there every day. Those were pretty special friends that he had to ask alms of them that entered into the temple. When you ask for alms, you're begging. That's what asking alms means, you're begging of those who have more than you that they would give a small portion what they had unto you so that you could get some bread and eat.

And it says who seeing Peter and John, in the beginning of the third chapter, who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked, and John said, "Look on us." And he gave heed unto them expecting to receive something of them.

And then Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." And he took him by his right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength, and he leaping up stood and walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God.

Now there were people coming up the stairways behind Peter and John and there were those in front of them going up, and as usual the temple was full of people. They had prayer hours at nine in the morning and at three in the afternoon and at six in the evening, three prayer hours that they had every day.

And so this man caused a commotion when he entered into the temple because he was leaping, jumping, and praising God. He had a reason to thank God. Sure, that's a huge miracle that a crippled man who has never walked is able to walk, not just walk, he was leaping and jumping and praising God for the first time in 40 years.

Without question, that temporal healing that happened there was incredible, was an incredible miracle. But it was a bigger miracle: he received the grace from the grace of God, that mercy and forgiveness of his sins for who knows how long he had a troubled conscience, years and years and years perhaps, when he grew from a child, from a small child into one who begins to comprehend right and wrong.

Possibly from that day on, but the time of visitation for him happened at that moment and he wanted to believe.

So they went in at the end of the temple hour of prayer. Peter and John rose up and this lame man that was with him, with them, and they walked out of the temple and they went into a different courtyard area. It was called Solomon's Porch. It was a huge area.

And naturally, well, there were believers sitting there in the temple. There were believers sitting there and they also saw that man and they knew that he had got his sins forgiven to them. They knew what happened, but there were many people there that were just amazed.

And the Bible says that they wondered at these things that happened because they knew that they walked by that man how many times in their life, many times, and I'm sure they many times gave him money so that he could eat.

And so they go to that area that was called Solomon's Courtyard. Jesus spoke there and the believers gathered there again and again and again. It was already a habit and it continued.

But now there were hundreds and hundreds of other unbelieving people that came there. I dare say that most of the people that sat in that temple that afternoon were probably there curious. Many I'm sure were so amazed that it's impossible what happened, that there's no answer for that, and they wanted to know what happened.

And it's good to remember how Peter and John began that sermon there on that afternoon. Well, I'll read that 11th verse from the third chapter.

"And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them into the porch which is called Solomon's, greatly wondering."

And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, and now he began his sermon. And the first thing he did, he said this has nothing to do with me or with John. This is from the grace of our heavenly Father from the beginning to the end.

And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, "Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, and the God of our fathers have glorified his Son Jesus."

And so in this sermon the first thing they did is they gave all honor and glory unto our heavenly Father. They didn't take one iota unto themselves that I, John, and I, we did quite a miracle here this afternoon. No, no. The beginning, at the very beginning of the sermon, all honor and glory they gave to our heavenly Father.

"Why look at us so earnestly as though by our own power or holiness we made this man to walk?" Impossible. The flesh is so corrupt, corrupted by sin and that fall, that inherited sin that has clung to us from the very beginning when Adam and Eve were put on the outside of the garden of paradise.

Then the word of God, remember, it's like a two-edged sword, how does the writer unto the Hebrews, I'm going to read that. It's from the fourth chapter of Hebrews. He speaks of God's word. Listen to how he speaks of God's word in fourth chapter, the twelfth verse.

He says, "For the word of God is quick and powerful." The word of God is a living word. Quick is an old English word meaning life or living. The word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and the marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.

God's word has a double edge. And on this afternoon it was that, that sharpened edge of the law that first began to cut. And Peter began to say unto them, "Ye killed the Lord of peace."

The apostle Paul, when he spoke of the law in the third chapter of Galatians, he wrote in this way: "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. And after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."

And so on. He said unto them, it says in this thirteenth chapter, "That ye delivered him up and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go."

The edge of the law was cutting deep and it was you who denied the holy one and the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you and killed the prince of life.

When that sharp edge of the law begins to cut asunder, it's as if there is no hope. For indeed there is no hope under the law, but it causes the troubled consciences to realize how sinful am I before God.

Then he says unto them, "But beloved, I know that it was through ignorance that ye did this, as also your rulers."

And then he begins to preach the gospel message and he speaks unto them in this way in that 16th verse: "And his name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong whom ye see and know. Yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all."

And then he very tenderly reminds them, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord."

And so he continues that sermon that now it's the other side of the sword that's calling and inviting and encouraging and reminding of the grace and mercy of our heavenly Father, that there is forgiveness, that the merit work of the Lord Jesus, that work of atonement that he did on our behalf, is namely for you.

This is the sermon that Peter was preaching there that late afternoon.

Now at the end of the sermon he reminds them, "Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you."

The children of God were of the Jewish heritage. They were the children of Abraham, but the Holy Bible says that we also are the children of Abraham. We are from that family of God.

But now he was reminding those that were gathered there that our heavenly Father sent the Lord Jesus down here amongst you Jewish people, the chosen people of God, that you would turn away from your sins and iniquities.

As they were speaking this sermon, and I'm sure there were those priests and those captains of the temple and the Sadducees that were listening.

In the beginning of the fourth chapter, now it starts out that "And as they spoke unto the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead."

And it was at this point then the temple guards apprehended Peter and John, third chapter, and they laid hands on them and put them in the hold until the next day. For now it was eve.

Even the impotent man ended up in the dungeon, the three of them.

But you know what happened? Do you know what happened there that afternoon? How many people were listening? I don't know. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, thousands perhaps, because it says here in the fourth verse, "Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed, and the number of the men was about five thousand."

It's incredible the grace of God, what He's able to do. They heard the gospel message preached, they heard the word, and they believed the word, and the Holy Spirit of our heavenly Father descended on every one of them that heard the word and believed that afternoon.

And it says a number of men was about five thousand.

So then our text, it comes to this point. It says here, then in the fifth verse, "And it came to pass on the morrow that the rulers and elders and scribes and the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and as many as were of the kindred of the high priests were gathered together at Jerusalem."

And there was a large group. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, "By what power or by what name have you done this?"

And now this is where our text actually begins. It's Peter and John and this impotent man who was now a believing man who was no longer crippled. He had the perfect soundness through the Holy Spirit. Incredible.

For so many years he had laid there and through the gospel message that was preached, the time of visitation came to him that moment and he believed that word.

Then the text begins.

"Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man and by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God had raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole."

Solely through the grace of our heavenly Father. Peter and John had nothing to do with it other than they were the messenger of the gospel.

You also are the messengers of the gospel. Do you feel like confident and bold to preach the gospel? And learned and wise? No, I don't either. I don't either. But yet you and I are the messengers of our heavenly Father.

The Bible encourages us to be bold in the Holy Spirit to reassure those, well, those struggling children of God. Every one of us struggles at any given time in our midst there are those that are dearly struggling in living faith obstacles that Satan has put there.

Dear brother, sister, be bold. Speak about living faith of the joys and the sorrows because we need to hear it. Every one of us needs to be encouraged and uplifted.

This is what our heavenly Father is reminding us and teaching us how important it is.

Do you think it was easier for Peter here now and John and even this impotent man that took part in it to speak unto them, you know, the hierarchy, the learned and the wise, you know, the chief priests that were there, the teachers? And it wasn't easy.

Jeremiah, when God approached Jeremiah to go now and speak to the people, Jeremiah said, "But I'm just a child."

And God told him, "I knew you before you were even in the womb of your mother."

And then he said encouragingly unto him in this way that, "No, no, you're not just a child. That I will tell you what to say unto the people."

And Jeremiah did then.

And he's telling you and I this also today. We don't need to be so timid and frightened. Be bold in the Holy Spirit.

When you see something that's not right, speak about it. When you see somebody struggling, encourage them, uplift them, preach the gospel.

Those ones in dark and unbelief, don't be frightened to remind them, you know where the way of salvation goes. It goes right here. It goes right between you, the way of salvation.

It is so close. That's all one can do is to speak.

If God, if the edge of the law hasn't severed so deeply into their heart and soul, there's nothing we can do other than when God gives words that we remind them very lovingly again and again because God does that sword, that edge of the sword of the law at some point it cuts deep, it wounds.

But that word of God, the main purpose is it heals, it binds the wounds, it uplifts and it comforts and it gives new strength and power.

In one portion of scriptures it reminds us how God's word is a consuming fire.

There was recently mentioned in one discussion about how God's word offends believers.

Dear brother and sister, God's word does not offend the Holy Spirit. It never has, it never will.

God's living word does not offend the Holy Spirit of a child of God. Never.

God's fire, it is an encouraging word. It is an uplifting word. It always calls and it always gathers.

That portion where we are reminded how God is as a consuming fire.

God's word is as a consuming fire.

Fire.

We don't have the candles lit here but you know if we had these five candles lit and we shut all the lights off in a church, these five candles would give off a lot of light.

And we've been doing that at home. We like burning candles. We light candles and we shut the lights down and it's kind of a soothing, relaxing aura about it.

Do it sometime, careful.

So God's word, it gives off light, that consuming fire, it gives off that light that way to heaven is always there clearly marked before us.

The word of God is as a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our way.

Without question, I've done some winter ice fishing up in Canada and often times it's been cold, you know, 30 below, and we always have a fire on shore and it feels good to come to that fire and warm up.

And that's what God's word does. It warms our cold and empty hearts again and again.

And so what's the third factor of God's holy word? That consuming fire of God, it burns.

It burns.

It's not easy for the flesh to come onto the footsteps of repentance.

You know our fleshly pride is so thick and heavy and one's fallen into grievous sin, it's not easy.

And yet that consuming fire of God burns that sin away from us through the message of the gospel.

So again and again we mortify the deeds of the body.

This flesh will never see eternal life in heaven. No.

This flesh, it will turn back to the dust. "From dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return."

But it's the living Holy Spirit that dwells in you and I and there in heaven we have a new body as the scripture says and a living soul for eternity.

There's so much we don't understand about heaven but that we do understand, it's incredible.

Some have seen visions of heaven. John in the book of Revelation speaks of heaven and of that vast multitude which no man could number of all kindreds and nations and peoples and so on.

And so Peter continues, "Be it known unto you all and unto all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God has raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole."

This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders again.

The edge, that sharp edge of the law was directed at them and he reminds, "But he's which has become the head of the corner."

And then he says, "Neither is there salvation in any other name, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."

Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty simple for you and I to understand and to believe that even now this evening, the beginning of this new year, that is the wish of our heavenly Father unto you that you can simply in your place of watching believe all your sins and doubts forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

The way of salvation is so simple and yet it can be so difficult.

And that is why every day, dear brother and sister, needs to be Christmas day unto us, that we want to give unto others of that which we have.

We want to share that the goodness of the gospel, those words that God gives unto us of encouragement and uplifting.

And indeed even in a temporal sense, if we see someone who is struggling, that we would want to help them.

And certainly in a spiritual sense, when we see somebody struggling with obstacles that Satan has put there, that oh, that we would make haste to come unto them because you and I need it.

Believe, dear brother and sister, all sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

And I also need to hear this gospel that can I believe my sins and doubts also forgiven.

I certainly desire to believe with you.

And I wish from the bottom of my heart to every one of you a blessed and happy new year.

May God bless you and yours with great blessings in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Lord bless us and keep us.

The Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious unto us.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.