Acts 3
COMMENTARY:
: 6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. (3686 “name” [onoma] means called, reputation, title, status, character, family or authority.)
DEVOTION: The man asking for money was expecting some money. He was used to being where he was and doing what he was doing. It was normal for him to expect money. No one had ever offered him anything else positive.
There were probably people who told him to go and get a job. There were probably people who made fun of him. He had probably met all kinds of people outside the Temple.
Peter and John offered him something he never expected: healing. Peter told him to look at him. He told him that they had no money. He told him he had nothing to give him of what he expected.
Then came the high point in this man’s life. Peter told him in the name of Jesus Christ he was to be healed. He told him to do something he hadn’t done all of his life. He told him to rise up and walk. He had never walked.
What did he do? He rose up and walked. The people who were around him watched him praise God.
They also praised God for this healing. They knew this man was real in his health issue. He had been lame since coming out of his mother’s womb. God had done a miracle.
People gathered to hear what Peter had to say to them about this event. He presented Christ and gave HIM all the glory. He told the people that he had not done it in his own power of holiness.
Our holiness and our power is nothing if we don’t give God the glory. Peter didn’t take credit for the healing and neither should we if the LORD answers our pray regarding someone we have anointed with oil and prayed for regarding healing.
CHALLENGE: God still heals today. We should believe we have the power through our prayers to change the health issues of others. Our God has not lost HIS power to heal.
: 12 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? (2150 “holiness” [eusebeia] means reverence, respect, piety towards God, or godliness.)
DEVOTION: Peter and John went to the temple to pray. They met a man with a physical need and met the need through the dynamite power of the LORD. A crowd gathered to praise them. They wanted to give Peter and John the glory.
Peter began another sermon. The first point of the sermon was that the healing came from the LORD and not them. So often we find preachers or healers or scholars who want praise for them rather than the LORD. It is not Biblical. It is not of the LORD. When something wonderful happens in our ministries we need to give God the glory at all times.
One of the two problems that Peter addressed was that the miracle took power. This power always comes from the LORD. This word for power is where we get the word dynamite. God has given HIS followers dynamite power to overcome the works of the enemy. This power comes through a close relationship with the LORD.
The second problem that Peter addressed was “holiness.” There are many people who give the impression that they are holier Christians than some others. They give the impression that they are more spiritual than other Christians. Peter knew of his denial of the LORD.
Peter knew that he was a failure in this relationship with the LORD at times. He knew that anything powerful that he did was from the LORD. He informed the people who thought he did it in his own power that he did it in the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus had told the disciples that they would have power when the Holy Spirit had filled them. He told the people to look to Jesus for salvation.
We know of our past failures toward our LORD. We should never get the impression that we are better than others. We should not get a superior attitude toward those who are sinners. We are still sinners. Peter gave all the credit for the power to heal to the LORD. Peter told them that they didn’t receive the power because they were godlier then others. Let’s remember Peter’s example to us. Always give God the credit. Then we can have a proper relationship with HIM and HE can use us more. Praise HIS name.
CHALLENGE: Watch our attitude toward those who we think are worse sinners than we are. That is how Satan fell from heaven. Pride comes before the fall. There are repentant sinners and unrepentant sinners.
: 17 And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers. (1492 “wot” [eido] means know, or have knowledge about (someone or something, normally as acquired through reflection or thinking, understand, remember, honor, perceive, be very sure of this, or to acknowledge.))
DEVOTION: In our legal system ignorance is no excuse. If we don’t know the law we should have learned it before we broke it. While driving down the road in some states there are rules that are different from other states. If we travel we are expected to know the laws of all the states we drive through.
Peter in his sermon to the group that was gathered to hear his message were probably some of the same ones who cried out “Crucify Him.” They were just following the religious leaders. They were obeying what the leaders of the Temple told them to say.
They were ignorant as to what was happening. Peter was going to end their ignorance. He wanted them to know who Jesus really was and what they had to do to become a follower of HIM. Once they heard this sermon they were no longer ignorant.
If they became followers they ended any excuse them might have had in the past regarding the true nature of the death of Jesus Christ. If they chose to not become a follower of Jesus they were no longer ignorant they were just rebellious.
Our choice is the same today. There are people who think they are ignorant when they are just rebellious. They know the reason for the coming of Christ but chose to reject HIM. It is no longer done in ignorance but in a determined decision. God allows everyone to chose but they have to answer for their choice.
The LORD Jesus Christ shed enough blood for everyone in this world to become a follower of HIM. No one is left out but all have to make a choice. Spread this truth.
CHALLENGE: Everyone’s sins can be blotted out if they make the right choice. Chose Jesus!!!
: 26 Unto you first God, having raised up HIS SON Jesus, sent HIM to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. (4413 “first” [protos] means chief, first in time or place, in any succession of things or persons, first in rank, principal, before, or before anything else.)
DEVOTION: Resurrection is the necessary part of the Gospel. The death, burial, and resurrection are what make the difference between Christianity and false religion. False religion is based on what humans can do to earn salvation. Christianity is about what Christ did to give us salvation as a free gift. There is no way we can earn it because we are born with a sin nature that has no cure. We will die with our sin nature. Too many people believe the lies that we can do something to earn our own salvation. Many teach that we have power within ourselves to change to the point where God can accept us without our turning to Christ. That is a lie of the devil.
Peter explained that Jesus came to the Jews first. HIS mission was to die for the sins of the world but HIS message was first to the children of Israel. Some accepted and other rejected.
Jesus was raised from the dead by the Father. Jesus came of a servant of the Father because that was the only acceptable sacrifice. The sacrifice had to be without blemish and we are blemished as well as all the rest of the human race.
HE came to bless those who would become followers of HIM. Only those individuals were given a promise of eternal life in heaven with HIM.
Again the requirement was to turn away from sin and follow HIM. A genuine conversion would include a turning away from sin. Some people continue to live as if there was never supposed to be a change and those people will receive a rude awaking when they face the LORD and HIS statement “I never knew you.”
Change is necessary as we continue to follow the LORD. Our salvation is based on the work of Christ alone. Our sanctification is done through our growing in grace and knowledge of the truth of the Word of God. We are commanded to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” Not earn out salvation but show our salvation to others by a changed life.
CHALLENGE: Are you changing to please the LORD? How are you different from when you first became a believer?
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