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Our verse-by-verse journey through the Book of Acts brings us this morning to chapter three. So I would encourage you to take your Bibles and to turn there. And by God's grace, if he gives me the voice this morning, we will endeavor to understand better verses one through 18.

Before we look at the text closely, may I begin this morning by giving you a brief survey of some of the current trends that we find in Christian circles, and also reminding you of a few biblical truths that would refute some of the things that we see; and by so doing, hopefully we will have a little better context for what we will learn this morning as we look across the evangelical, and I would even say neo-evangelical landscape today. We can very quickly see that we are living in days of apostasy. There is a great falling away from the truth, and certainly the Scriptures warned that this would be the case before the Lord returns. We see evidence of this in virtually every denomination, in many churches. We see it in the doctrinal aberrations of so many people. We see it on television. We hear it on the radio. We see it in our bookstores. We hear it in the lyrics of so much of what's called Christian music. We see it in the wide gate gospel of the seeker-sensitive movement, a movement that's dedicated to man-centered rather than God-centered theology. We see it in the explosion of the emergent church, where people extol the virtues of postmodernism, arguing that you can't know truth anyway, so let's just all enjoy the great mystery of it all; a movement that utterly rejects biblical authority. And certainly, for many years we have seen it in the rise of the charismatic movement, especially some of the extreme ends of the charismatic movement, with all of its doctrinal aberrations, especially with respect to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Certainly, the legacy of the charismatic movement, for the most part, will be their jettison of Bible doctrine and replacing all of that with experience and emotionalism. Often, very well-meaning yet undiscerning Christians fall into this whole trap of looking for signs, looking for wonders, people looking for sensational manifestations of the Holy Spirit. People pretending to manifest miraculous abilities, like the miracle of speaking in tongues, having special prophecies, the divine revelation supposedly being given to them directly from God; and all of this makes people very vulnerable to the many deceptions and trickery that are out there today. And certainly, we are warned all through Scripture that Satan will try to deceive people.

But as we look closely at Scripture, we really find that there's no place in Scripture where we're commanded to pursue such things. When we look at Scripture, we see that there's no place where we are taught that we are to perform signs and wonders, and that pastors are supposed to do that. No place are we taught that we are to build churches around the ostentatious demonstrations of the Spirit of God. We are commanded to be filled with the Spirit, meaning to be controlled by the Spirit. We are commanded to walk in the Spirit, meaning to be obedient to him as he reveals himself to us through his Word. And certainly, we are warned not to grieve the Spirit, not to quench the Spirit; but dear friends, there's no place in Scripture where we are instructed to pursue the spirit's supernatural demonstrations of signs and wonders like we saw in the early stages of the church. The performing of signs and wonders were a unique ministry given to the apostles, as we have learned in days past, as well as some of their associates, and that was given to them in order to lay the foundations of the church. Miracles like speaking in tongues and the working of sign miracles in the beginning days of the church were for the purpose of pointing to and authenticating both the message as well as the messengers of new revelation of new divine truth, and they were never intended to be characteristic of the lives of believers. In fact, it was not even characteristic of the early church, apart from the apostles and some who were their associates that God had commissioned.

Nowhere in the New Testament do we read of a miracle ever occurring among the saints, apart from the physical presence of an apostle or someone else who had been commissioned to that end in that day, and any modern claim of apostolic authority or apostolic power is a certain proof that that person is a fraud. And in today's text, we have a clear example of these things as God's supernatural power flows through his chosen servant Peter for the purpose of exalting the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, as well as validating again the message and the messenger of the glorious truths of the gospel, new revelation that God was giving.

So today, I invite you to join with me as we magnify the glory and the excellency of Christ by looking into his Word. Follow along as I read the text before us this morning in Acts chapter three, beginning with verse one.

"Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer.

"And a certain man who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple.

"And when he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms.

"And Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze upon him and said, 'Look at us!'

"And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

"But Peter said, "' do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have, I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarenem- walk!'

"And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.

"And with a leap, he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

"And all the people saw him walking and praising God;

"and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

"And while he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement.

"But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, 'Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this, or why do you gaze at us as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?'

"'The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered up and disowned in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release Him.

"But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,

"'but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dea, a fact to which we are witnesses.

"'And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.

""And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also.

"But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets that His Christ should suffer, He has thus fulfilled.'"

I offer you three divisions this morning to this text that I pray will prove helpful to your understanding and application of it. This morning we will first of all see the sovereign summons, secondly the supernatural sign, and thirdly the shocking sermon. At least a portion of it. We may not be able to finish all of it this morning, and what we don't, we will conclude next week. First of all, notice the sovereign summons. You know, I marvel at the providence of God as he orchestrates the events of his creation to accomplish his sovereign and glorious purposes. And here we see a great example of his sovereignty at work in verses one and two.

There we read, "Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer.

And a certain man who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple."

The gate called Beautiful, and according to history, it was exactly that. It divided the court of the Gentiles from the court of the women, and according to the ancient historian Josephus, it was a massive gate made of Corinthian brass, and it glimmered with elaborate designs. In fact, it was so massive that we understand that it took 20 men to open it and close it. So this was a perfect place to come to beg. Worshipers were entering, and certainly they were in the mood for giving. In fact, many of them foolishly believed that they kind of impressed God if they gave to certain things, and gave to certainly someone such as this. But friends, it was also the perfect place for God to get everyone's attention, and in his sovereignty, that's precisely what he did. And when you think about it, without knowing it, this poor invalid, this man that was crippled from birth, was about to become an undeserved recipient of divine mercy and divine grace. Moreover, he was about to become an attraction that God would use to draw a crowd and amaze them with a staggering display of his power. You know, I marvel.

Here again, we learn that it is the sovereign grace of God, not the clever machinations of man, that summons individuals to saving truth. He prepares the soil, God prepares the seed, and we sow it. It's fascinating, even when I think of many of your stories, to hear how God has orchestrated your life sometime in the past to bring you a place where you suddenly heard the glorious truths of the gospel, and by his regenerating grace caused you to see your sin in the Savior, and to repent, and then by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit to have eternal life breathed into your spiritual corpse. It is an amazing thing, and every story is a little bit different, but nonetheless, it always points back to God who has mercy. In fact, I think of what Jesus said in John 6:44: "'No one can come to me unless,'" what? "'Unless the Father who sent me draws him.'" The word "draw" means to irresistibly compel, "and I will raise him up on the last day." And likewise, what an inscrutable mystery it is to behold the convicting work of the Holy Spirit of God-a work that cannot be accomplished by man. I think of the text in John three eight, where Jesus said, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going." Then he goes on to say, "So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." And here we see the Spirit of God at work bringing these people together and beginning to work in the heart of this crippled man and many others who were watching him.

I'm also reminded of the spirit of God's regenerating power. You know, in Titus 3:5, we are reminded that God saved us, and then he goes on to say, "by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit." You will recall the word "regeneration," - palingenesia" in the original language - literally means to be born again; and regeneration therefore is that instantaneous supernatural impartation of spiritual life to the spiritually dead, and this is what we see going on here. Now, friends, never forget: it is God who is the author of our salvation; it is the Holy Spirit who is the agent of regeneration, and it is the Word of God that is the instrument of regeneration. And now that God has, by his sovereign might, summoned this crowd together, those whom he will save, and frankly, those whom he will further harden, we watch these great truths unfold as we, secondly, look at the supernatural sign.

Notice beginning in verse three,

"And when he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. And Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze upon him and said, 'Look at us!'

"And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

"But Peter said, 'I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have, I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene - walk!

"And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.

"And with a leap, he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God."

Now, friends, can you imagine the look on that man's face? I love to sometimes just shut my eyes and imagine if I were there. And likewise, can you imagine the look on the faces of the crowd that stood around? My, what a demonstration of sovereign grace! Out of all of the beggars that were assembled at that place, God chose this man as the object of his grace. And notice how different this scene was from all of the charlatans of our day that call themselves faith healers. Notice this miracle was not anticipated or staged by Peter and John. I want you to notice, dear friends, there was no tent, there was no special tabernacle, there was no specially constructed church sanctuary with all of its electronics and cameras off limits to the public. I want you to notice here: there's no television studio. This is completely public, and I would submit to you that this is always the way it was when Jesus and the apostles and their associates performed miraculous healings. Unlike our modern-day phonies, Jesus and the apostles, dear friends, healed with a word or a touch. Unlike those that would claim to have such powers today, Jesus and the apostles healed instantly, not progressively, not gradually. None of this, "Well, you've got the beginning of your healing, and I think it's going to get better."

Also, Jesus and the apostles healed totally, not partially, not temporarily; and also they healed everyone they desired to heal. They didn't heal just a few here and there to the exclusion of others. There were not people who came up and begged to be healed but had to be sent away weeping because something didn't work because their faith was not sufficient. And also, Jesus and the apostles, unlike those today, healed organic diseases and withered limbs, not the unverifiable functional ailments like a ringing of the ears or a sore back. Moreover, they raised the dead. No one has done that today. They healed publicly, not privately, and it was affirmed by everyone.

Now, this is very unlike many of the so-called healings today, where there is no verification of one single instance of organic disease ever being healed. There is no verification of a withered limb being restored, or miraculously appearing, there is no verification of the dead being raised. You know, if that were true, if people really could do that, and by the way, if there was ever a gift I wish I had that was in effect today, I wish it was that one, especially with my dear father languishing in a hospital bed right now, and many other people that I know and love in great pain. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have that gift? But friends, I submit to you: if people had that gift today, where are they in the hospitals? Why do they not come with me to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital and walk through the hallways hand in hand and heal those who have some hideous deformity or some tragic disease? Well, this was not the case with the miracles of Jesus and the apostles. Their miracles were undeniable. They were verifiable. They were genuine miracles. They left absolutely no doubt in anyone's mind as to what just occurred. Even the skeptical Jewish leaders that hated Jesus later said in Acts four, verse 16, "What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it."

Now, my purpose this morning is not to spend a great amount of time refuting the easily refutable claims of charismania, but I do want to use this opportunity to warn you, dear friends, against their excesses; to beg you to be discerning and to be wise and to run from some of these false prophets that are out there today, that are milking people of their money. We're told in First John 4:1, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone into the world." And repeatedly Jesus warned us of this. He warned of wolves in sheep's clothing, meaning people that will dress up as if they are pastors and God's spokesmen. He said in Matthew 24, "many false prophets will arise and mislead many." He tells us that "many will demonstrate great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect." Now I want to add that certainly God does heal through prayer. God does heal through his providence in the natural processes of biology and medicine. And sometimes God heals in ways that are beyond our ability to explain, apart from divine intervention. But dear friends, no one today has the same kind of healing gifts as those in the early church with the apostles. Theirs was a sign gift that God used to validate both the new message of the gospel as well as the messenger. And now that the canon is complete, now that the foundation of the church has been laid, that validation no longer occurs through signs and wonders, but rather by comparing the message and the messenger to the revealed word of God in Scripture. That is today's validation process.

In fact, apart from a few isolated incidents in the Old Testament, there were only three brief periods in redemptive history where miracles of any kind ever occurred. And in all three cases, the purpose was to introduce new revelation to a group of people whom God had specifically targeted to receive that information, and in fact, as we look at these particular eras in church history, we see that they only lasted a little more than 100 years, and in every case, this these clusters of miracles introduced new eras of revelatory activity. Let me give them to you very, very briefly. That first era was in the days of Moses and Joshua, and you will recall that in those days of miracles, what revelation came about? Well, Moses with the Pentateuch, and then his successor Joshua, who wrote the book that bears his name, and then we see others that came along following them: Samuel that wrote Judges as well as First and Second Samuel, and then David that wrote most of the Psalms, and Solomon writing the wisdom literature.

Then a number of years later, you have another era of great miraculous signs as God was about to once again reveal new information to his people, and that was in the ministries of Elijah and Elisha. That was the age of the Old Testament prophets. And of course, in those days we had the completion of the Old Testament, and then there were like 400 years where there was revelatory silence, and then suddenly, bursting upon the scene came the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles, and once again new revelation, namely the New Testament.

Now I know some will quickly say, "Oh, but wait a minute! How do you explain the remarkable recoveries of so many people who have quote "received their healing?" Well, I believe there are many explanations, but let me let John MacArthur answer this I thought that his answer was so appropriate, and I quote: "Since no charismatic healer can come up with genuinely verifiable cases of instant healing involving organic disease, since no charismatic healer heals everyone who comes for healing, and hundreds go away from their services as sick or as crippled as when they came; since no charismatic healer raises the dead; since the word of God needs no confirmation outside itself and is sufficient to show the way of salvation; since charismatic healings are based on questionable theology of the atonement and salvation; since charismatic writers and teachers appear to disallow God, His own purposes in allowing people to be sick; since charismatic healers seem to need their own special environment; since the evidence they bring forth to prove healings is often weak, unsupported, and overexaggerated; since charismatics are not known for going into hospitals to heal, though there are plenty of faithful people in hospitals; since most instances of healing by charismatics can be explained in ways other than God's unquestioned supernatural intervention; since charismatics get sick and die like everyone else; since so much confusion and contradiction surrounds what is happening, let me ask the return question: How do you explain it? It certainly is not the biblical gift of healing."

 Beloved, may I warn you, the miraculous sign gifts that God empowered to establish the early church were never intended to be normative for the church. This is why, frankly, you see those gifts begin to wane even in the New Testament. Isn't it interesting that Paul had the gift of healing, but later on we see, for example, in Philippians two, he did not heal his dear friend Epaphroditus. Likewise, in Second Timothy four, he left his good friend Trophimus sick at Miletus. He didn't heal Timothy. Told him to take a little wine for his stomach. Why did he do that, dear friends? Now please hear this. The reason is because the purpose of the gift was not to make Christians healthy. That was not the purpose of the gift, but rather to be a sign to unbelievers and point them to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's why, by the way, every record of healing in Acts was performed on unbelievers, not believers. You know, common sense would tell you if we still had that gift today, if Christians had that ability today, and we could heal people that came up to us, my goodness, everybody in the world would become a Christian, right? Because everybody's got something wrong. If you don't, you will, give it a few days. But they would come by the millions for the wrong reason, not because they saw their need for a Savior, but because they saw their need for a healer. And frankly, many people still come to Christ, so to speak, not because they are pleading for divine mercy, because they are overwhelmed with the wretchedness of their own sinful condition, but rather because they need some money. They want to be prosperous, and so again, they do not come to Jesus as Savior, but as kind of a cosmic Santa Claus that doles out the goodies if you say the right words.

Now back to the narrative. We see that God sovereignly summons the crowd. Then He empowers his servant Peter to perform the supernatural sign. And notice in verse six, He says, "'In the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene - walk!'" Don't you find it curious that he does not say in the name of Jesus Christ of heaven, Jesus Christ of glory? No, he does not say that because he wants to point out to them the intimate contact of the Lord Jesus Christ with humanity. He wants to remind them of his humiliation. He wants them to see that this is the one that condescended as the Lord of glory to our lowly estate to save us from our sins. This was the carpenter's son. In the name of the carpenter's son, in the name of the one who set aside his glory and took upon himself the form of a servant, the one who made himself in the likeness of man, Jesus the Nazarene. In his name, I want you to walk. Can't you imagine the crowd that overheard this? Can't you imagine that they said? Something like this, "Wait a minute. Do you mean to tell me that this man is being healed in the name of the one we crucified, Jesus the Nazarene? You're saying that He is the Christ, the Anointed One, our Messiah, the one for whom we have been waiting all these years?"

Well, so much for being seeker sensitive. And to underscore that very truth, notice in verse eight, the crippled man rises immediately to his feet. His ankles and his legs are fully strengthened, and the text says, "And with a leap, he stood upright and he began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God." Can't you imagine the scene? It kind of reminds me of what it looks like when the children are released for children's church. All of this leaping and praising-only this is adults.

Verse nine,

"All the people saw him walking and praising God;

"and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

"And while he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement."

You see, now that God had summoned them in his sovereignty, and now that he had their undivided attention with this supernatural sign-a sign that was pointing to Himself and the glory of His gospel message-we come to thirdly the shocking sermon, verse 12,

"But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, 'Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?'"

Now again, dear friends, what a shock to these haters of Jesus the Nazarene to hear him now being praised by the recipient of this miracle as the Christ. And I want you to notice the supernatural brilliance of the Holy Spirit of God, who now reveals a series of five paradoxes surrounding the name of Jesus. First of all, we see the paradox in verse 13 of a servant whom God has glorified. He says, "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers." In other words, the one true God of Israel. This is a reference to the covenant-making and the covenant-keeping God. "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus." Jesus being the Hebrew version of Joshua, meaning the Lord of Salvation. You see, here is a paradox that contrasts his humility with their pride. Here we have a servant that is now glorified by God himself. It's as if Peter is saying Jesus of Nazareth was God's servant sent to serve us and to serve him, and he has now been glorified. Well, this was inconceivable to the Jews.

We see a second paradox in verse 13, where He says, "'...the one whom you delivered up and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.'" Here is the paradox of a deliverer who was delivered up to be killed-a paradox that contrasts his love with their hate. He is saying, "Yes, he was the one that came to save you, yet you disowned him." Again, friends, put yourself in the scene. I believe that by now you could have heard a pin drop in the temple.

And then we see a third paradox in verse 14. He says, "'But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.'" This third paradox is that of a holy and righteous one being exchanged for an unholy and unrighteous one. A paradox that contrasts his holiness with their sinfulness, Peter is in effect saying to them, "You preferred a murderer over the holy and righteous Messiah." Wow! The Holy Spirit is absolutely unrelenting in his condemnation, is he not?

And then there is a fourth paradox that I see here, and that is the Prince of Life being put to death. Notice verse 15. He's saying, "'But you put to death the Prince of Life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.'" And here we have a paradox that contrasts the one who gives life with those who are spiritually dead and those who are physically dying. What an enormous contrast, and the evidence is overwhelming, because indeed the tomb is empty, and they all know it. The term "prince of life" comes from a root word in the original language that denotes a pioneer or an originator, one who initiates something. We find it, for example, in Hebrews 2:10 to describe God as the author of salvation, and again in Hebrews 12:2 as the author of faith. And indeed, what a perfect reference of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the" what? "and the life." He alone is the prince of life. He said that "I am the resurrection and the life."

And finally, we see yet a fifth paradox: that of the one considered weak is actually the one whose power is beyond comprehension. Notice verse 16. Peter says, "And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.'" You see, friends, here is a paradox that contrasts his omnipotence with their helplessness. Don't you imagine they had ringing in their ears their words just a few weeks prior when they laughed him to scorn, when they taunted him and said, "Save yourself! Come down off the cross, if you're the Messiah, if you have the power." And yet indeed, this is the one that had the power and has the power to do all things. My, what a scathing series of indictments!

Here's an important note that I feel I must make here, and if you will allow me to digress yet one more time for a minute, notice what he says, "on the basis of faith in His name." Now, friends, I would submit to you that this is a reference to the faith of Peter and John, not that of the crippled man. You will remember, as I said earlier, it is a gross perversion of Scripture to suggest that the gift of healing is available through certain unique individuals today, as it was in the days of the early church. Moreover, it is a great perversion of Scripture to suggest that that gift of healing cannot be released apart from some special level of faith produced by the one in need of healing. What a ridiculous, and I would add cruel, explanation of those who come to modern-day faith healers and do not receive their healing. What a wicked thing to say to them! Well, the reason why you didn't receive your healing is because you didn't have enough faith. This is a damnable heresy, my friends, and this is at the heart of the very popular word faith movement. They teach things like Jesus was born again so that we can all be little gods, and as little gods we can release our faith in such a way as to bring into existence those things that we desire, including prosperity and health. They would teach that God is restricted by certain spiritual laws that govern health and prosperity, that can only be released when we exercise enough faith and say the right words. And when we do those things, we in essence obligate God to come through with what we, as little gods, believe we need to have. Of course, these people deny the sovereignty of God. To them, every Christian has both dominion as well as creative powers, and faith becomes kind of a magic force we learn to tap into. That's where you hear things like "name it and claim it" and "blab it and grab it" and all of those ridiculous types of things, where you literally release your faith by speaking things that you desire into existence, like Jesus did, and there's a whole septic tank full of other blasphemous heresies that these people would teach. And I know many will ask me like whom. Well, I'll give you a little list: Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Fred Price, Joyce Meyers, Marilyn Hickey, Paul and Jan Crouch on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, T.D. Jakes, Joel Osteen, Jesse Duplantis, Rod Parsley, Robert Schuller, Mike Murdock, Creflo Dollar, and a myriad of other health and wealth prosperity teachers.

Dear friends, please hear this: the gift of healing in the New Testament was not released because of the faith of the person in need of healing, but because of the faith of the divinely appointed healer. There is a huge difference here. Nor did these men consider themselves to be little gods. My goodness, what a blasphemous thought! In fact, in verse 12, Peter says, "Why do you gaze at us as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?"

So Peter's shocking sermon laid out the charges before these guilty Jewish people and others that were Gentiles, even that were listening, leaving them with only two options. Number one, they either had to admit their guilt of unbelief and rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ and cast themselves at the mercy of the King, or they could remain hardened in their disbelief and hatred of him. And I would ask you this morning, dear friend, which option have you chosen? What a precious truth we have here, as we see God's grace in this amazing scene - a crippled beggar being instantly healed at the name of Jesus - and as a result, he believed in that name, and he begins praising God.

You see, friends, they witnessed a miracle that day in the temple, and the purpose of that miracle was to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. The purpose of that miracle was to testify to his deity and to his messiahship. The purpose of that miracle was to bring a profound condemnation to those people who had hung him on the cross and those people who had mocked him to scorn. The purpose of that miracle was to call unbelievers to repentance and faith in him. And my friends, as you look at this, don't you see it? All of that was done, yea, all that is ever done that truly brings glory to God, is done in the name of Jesus, because he alone is the Creator and the Sustainer and the Consummator of all things. Because he alone is the essential theme of every gospel sermon. Because He alone is the name that causes men to tremble and demons to flee. This is the name, dear friends, that powerful name that causes sickness to vanish, that causes limbs to appear, that causes the dead to rise, and yea, even causes spiritual cadavers to come to life. That blessed name, that mighty name, that every rebellious sinner will one day bow before and confess as the Lord of glory. And friends, it is the only name that brings salvation. The only name.

I would ask you this morning. What have you done with that name? Have you ignored it, or do you bow before it? Do you hate it, or do you love it? Does it cause you to rejoice with exceeding joy, or does it cause you to tremble in fear? Because, dear friends, a day is coming when you will do either one or the other. Make no mistake about it. I was deeply moved when I read our brother Charles Spurgeon's poignant words regarding this name of Jesus, and I fear I must close this morning with it because I am running out of voice. May I read you this quote? Spurgeon said, "The keys of heaven are in the hands of that man who knows how to use aright the name of Jesus. In your deepest sorrow, this name, like a life buoy, shall keep you afloat on the very crest of the billows, if you can but plead it before God. When you appear to have no arguments in prayer, and heaven seems like brass above your head, use but the name of Jesus, and your prayer shall enter into the ear of the Lord God of Sabaoth, and infinite blessing shall come streaming down to you." He went on to say, "The name of Jesus is a mighty power in heaven, in earth, and in the deep places under the earth. There is no part of the universe where the King's name is without influence. The warrant from His throne may be executed among angels and among devils and certainly shall not be powerless among the sons of men. Where the word of a king is, there is power, and where the name of the King of Kings is on the proclamation, who shall be able to resist it? The name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is full of power. Oh, that those who are believers would more and more prove its power, and that those who are not believers may soon feel its gracious influence."

Well, my friends, may the name of Jesus be praised among the saints and feared among sinners. Let's pray together,

Father, it is with great reverence that we close this morning. We praise you because of your word that speaks such truth to our hearts. Lord, I pray that these truths will find a place of lodging within each and every heart. I pray for those who know and love Christ that we might indeed understand more and more the name of Jesus and the power therein, that we might live consistently with that power for the glory and the majesty of Christ, and Lord, I pray for sinners within the sound of my voice. O God, how I pray that by your Spirit you will cause them even now to begin to tremble, until they fall upon their face before the cross and plead for undeserved mercy, knowing that there is grace for those who do, and for those who feel as if they could never be saved because of their wickedness, for those who feel as if because of the things they have done in their past that grace could never be given to them, O Lord of glory, how I pray that you will help them to see that never is a man closer to grace than when he is quite certain that he cannot have it. And I pray that you will save these people. Thank you for meeting with us this day. Dismiss us with your grace, I ask in Jesus' name. Amen.