BIG IDEA:
FAITH IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST MAGNIFIES THE GLORY OF CHRIST (BY UNLEASHING DIVINE POWER THAT BRINGS GREAT BLESSING)
INTRODUCTION:
The greatest mistake God’s servants can make is to receive the glory and praise from men that is only due to Jesus Christ. Some people don’t seem genuine when they are deflecting the praise to Jesus. Any sense of pride or personal boasting in spiritual ministry will make this an awkward situation. Maybe one of the reasons that God does not use us more is that we need to improve in this area of giving God all of the glory for what He accomplishes. But God calls upon us to exercise great faith in the name of His Son; to expect great works of divine power; and to use those occasions to direct the glory and praise to Jesus Christ alone.
OVERVIEW OF CHAP. 3:
THE SIGN MIRACLES OF THE APOSTLES HIGHLIGHT THE GLORY OF CHRIST TO ATTRACT PEOPLE TO THE BLESSING OF DELIVERANCE FROM SIN
I. 3:1-10 Healing by the Power of Christ – THE AWESOME POWER OF JESUS CHRIST HEALS BROKEN PEOPLE IN SPECTACULAR FASHION
II. 3:11-16 Preaching the Glory of Christ – FAITH IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST MAGNIFIES THE GLORY OF CHRIST (BY UNLEASHING DIVINE POWER THAT BRINGS GREAT BLESSING)
III. 3:17-26 Offering the Blessing of Christ and His Kingdom –
FAITH IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST MAGNIFIES THE GLORY OF CHRIST (BY UNLEASHING DIVINE POWER THAT BRINGS GREAT BLESSING)
3 FOCAL POINTS OF PETER’S SECOND SERMON
I. (:11-12) A JEALOUS GOD — ANY GLORYING IN MAN IS MISDIRECTED
A. Historical Survey
This principle of acknowledging our dependence upon God and giving Him all of the glory has been true throughout history.
Ex. 34:14 “His Name is Jealous”
Isaiah 42:8 “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.”
Is. 48:11 “My glory I will not give to another”
Zech 4:6 “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”
Experience of John the Baptist: “He must increase, but I must decrease” John 3:30
Experience of the Apostle Paul: just an earthen vessel used by God – “we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves” – 2 Cor. 4: 7
Experience of Apostle John interacting with angel:
Rev 19:10 “And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
B. (:11) Misdirected Amazement
1. On the Part of the Healed Lame Man
“And while he was clinging to Peter and John,”
κρατέω Pres act participle; To take hold of forcibly, seize, grasp; take into one’s possession (like arrest, apprehend); hold on to; retain possession of
Not saying there was anything wrong in the lame man’s reaction here – the healing had just taken place; but I think this offers a nice picture for an important spiritual lesson
Divine blessing should cause us to cling to Jesus Christ – this lame man who had been miraculously healed was still learning to transfer his dependence totally over to the Savior
Look at how some disciples end up with a version of spiritual hero worship ….
No room for Ministry Super Heroes
– Not out to make a name for themselves or attract a following for themselves
– Not out to make others dependent on themselves
– Not communicating that they are the only channel through which God brings blessing
Priesthood of all believers – all have direct access to Jesus Christ; each one gifted with spiritual gift for ministry; we encourage each other to strengthen ourselves in the Lord and step out in faith in His name
Some people always look to some other well-respected believer to do the difficult tasks:
– I could never counsel someone – What about the sufficiency of the Word and of the Spirit?
– I could never witness in that situation
– I need the top dog to come and pray for me
2. On the Part of the Crowd of Assembled Jews
“all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement.”
Constable: A covered porch supported by a series of columns surrounded the outer temple courtyard, the Court of the Gentiles. The eastern portion of this porch bore the name Solomon’s portico “because it was built on a remnant of the foundations of the ancient temple.” Peter addressed the curious throng from this convenient shaded area, where Jesus had formerly taught (John 10:23).
Utterly astonished; full of amazement – at what?? Were they driven to their knees to worship Jesus Christ and proclaim His glory and majesty and power?
Apparently not because Peter felt obligated to offer some Apostolic Correction
Remember the words of Christ: One greater than the temple is here
Matt. 12:6 “But I say to you, that something greater than the temple is here.”
Matt. 12:42 “greater than Solomon”
C. (:12) Apostolic Correction
1. Not by the Power of Men
“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”
Men of Israel — They were men of the Covenant, of the church fathers, of the prophets, of the OT scriptures – they should not have needed correction in this regard – just as Jesus felt compelled to upbraid Nicodemus in John 3: “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?” They should have been living their life in an understanding of the demonstration of the power of God and how He operates through those who place their faith in Him
The fruit that God brings about through our spiritual ministry is not due to the power of our abilities or experience or knowledge
2. Not by the Piety of Men
“or piety we had made him walk?”
Bock: “piety” occurs ten times in the Pastorals and four times in 2 Peter in addition to this reference; refers to someone of good character
The fruit that God brings about through our spiritual ministry is not due to the piety of our godly character … so that God in essence owes us some type of response
Guzik: Many “healers” today who would never claim to heal in their own power still give the impression that healing happens because they are so spiritual, so close to God, or so godly. Peter knew that it was all of Jesus and nothing was of him.
MacArthur: So what he does then is take their wonder and their confusion and focus it on Christ. He puts a disclaimer on himself and John. We didn’t do it. And he puts the attention on some other source. And it must be divine. What are you marveling at? God’s always been working among you. This is God’s doing in effect. Which is hard for them to understand since they didn’t believe that Jesus was of God. Yet it was obviously done in Jesus’ name wasn’t it? They knew miracles were done by…notice the two words in verse 12, miracles were done by power and holiness. That had always been their knowledge. It took a holy power to do miracles.
Look at the answer that Christ gave to His disciples when they complained that they were unable to perform the necessary spiritual ministry: Matt. 17:20 “because of the littleness of your faith”
We are so careful to guard against the excesses of charismatic healing ministries that we neglect the importance of cultivating great faith to expect the Head of the Church to act with power and decisiveness to bring deliverance to the lives of those we touch – We should be confident that God wants to use us to be a savour of life unto life and of death unto death – the nature of the results are in His sovereign disposition – but in either case He is working powerfully as we exercise faith in His name
Let’s make sure we don’t Miss the Point and direct any of the glory or praise to Man
II. (:13-15) JEWISH GUILT — CONTRAST BETWEEN GOD GLORIFYING JESUS BY THE RESURRECTION AND THE JEWS KILLING THE PRINCE OF LIFE
Showing the Jews the great Inconsistency in their actions
MacArthur: Now in this the theme is Jesus. And He’s presenting Jesus by six names, six different titles of the 208 that He has. And at the same time in a majestic explosion of the beauties of Jesus through all these names and we could spend a sermon on each name easily or more than one on each name, but as he presents these six names, at the same time he presents six statements about each name. So that it’s not just a name, but it’s a name and a statement. For example, you see he calls Him servant rather than Son and we’ll talk about that in a moment. Servant, Jesus, Holy One, Just, Prince of Life, and then down in verse 18, Christ. Those are six names.
Chiastic structure
A. God Glorifying Jesus by the Resurrection
1. Continuity with God’s Historical Activity
“The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus,”
Stott: what was new in Jesus nevertheless enjoyed a direct continuity with the Old Testament.
Bock: God glorified his servant. This reverses the normal pattern associated with glory. God is the one usually glorified.
MacArthur: You see, he is directing his message to Israel. And so he uses all his real terms. God is also the God of all men, but God is especially the God of covenant promise with Israel. And since he’s talking about Messiah and since he wants to convince these Jews that Jesus is their Messiah and that they are in rebellion against God and have executed their own Messiah then he chooses messianic terms. So he begins by identifying God as the God of Israel. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and our Fathers. . .
Now this is not a term foreign to the Jewish mind, because in the Old Testament, Messiah was said to be a servant. Speaking to Jews and speaking about a servant, a Jew would have immediately thought of the great sweeping passage of Scripture from Isaiah 40 clear through Chapter 53 in which Isaiah speaks of the servant. But let me just pull two passages. Isaiah 42:1 and listen to this. Here is a messianic passage and here Messiah’s called a servant. “Behold my servant whom I uphold. Mine elect in whom I so delighteth. I have put my spirit him, he shall bring forth justice to the nations.” Here’s a prophecy regarding Messiah. He is called what? Servant. Servant.
And you go over to Isaiah Chapter 52 and you run right into the same thing again in that most classic and wonderful passage which we love. “Behold,” verse 13, Isaiah 52, “Behold my servant shall deal prudently.” Then he goes on to talk about his servant. Then in Chapter 53, he describes the servant doesn’t he? “Despised, rejected of men, the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He is born our griefs, carried our sorrows, wounded for our transgressions. All we like sheep have gone astray.” That great passage on the suffering servant, right? And then he kind of ends it up by saying “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death.” There it says Messiah will be a servant who will die.
Look at example of Jesus in serving the disciples in John 13
Look at verses speaking of the Father glorifying the Son – John 5: 23 “so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father”
MacArthur: Jesus comes from the Old Testament name Joshua. It’s the very same word. And Joshua is really an important word. It means salvation of the Lord. Or the Lord is salvation. Or it means Jehovah Savior. That’s what it means. It has a deity connotation. The full meaning is Savior God. That’s what Jesus means. And that’s why it says “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save.” That’s the point. That’s what Jesus means. That’s what the name means. Joshua in the Old Testament overcame the enemies of God’s people. And though there were very many and though they were very strong and though they had cities walled to heaven and chariots of iron, yet in the name of Jehovah as captain of the Lord’s hosts, Joshua defeated them.
And even so does our glorious Joshua, our Jesus, smite sin and all the powers of darkness to save His people to utterly destroy their spiritual enemies. And Joshua, the son of Nun the Old Testament Joshua, caused the people, it says, to serve the Lord all His days, but he couldn’t save them. And when he died, they went astray, but our Jesus, the New Testament Savior preserves His people in holiness forever and is able to keep them from falling and present them faultless.
2. Climax in the Victorious Event of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
“the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.”
Where do you look to see God manifesting His divine power?
What is the ultimate authentication of the glory which God the Father has set on His Son?
Read through Acts from the standpoint of following the importance placed on the resurrection
B. Jews Killing the Prince of Life
1. Delivered Him Up
“ the one whom you delivered up,
Treachery, traitor-like behavior
How are you living as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ?
2. Disowned Him
“and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One,”
Means to deny
Should have been proud to be identified with Jesus Christ
Pilate tried 3 times to release Jesus; overruled by the Jews
MacArthur: Luke 4:33. “And in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon and cried out.” Listen to what the demon says, “I know thee who thou art the Holy One.” Oh the demon knew that. The demon knew what Israel didn’t even know. It’s a shocking kind of thing, isn’t it?
The Old Testament declared Messiah by that name. That’s another messianic title for Him, just as is Savior, Joshua, and servant. In Psalm 16:10, listen, it’s a messianic passage talking about the Messiah’s resurrection. “For thou will not leave my soul in hell, neither will thou permit thine,” what, “Holy One to see corruption.” Messiah was called the Holy One and Peter said, but you denied the Holy One. And you didn’t know what demons know. Oh that’s how twisted they were. They took the Holy One sinless without blemish harmless, undefiled and they denied Him. The one consecrated to God is their Messiah, they denied.
What are you doing to demonstrate your identification with Jesus Christ; to own Him before a wicked world?
3. Demanded a Murderer as Opposed to the Life-Giver
“and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, (Barabbas)”
Could say that “Jesus died for me” – doctrine of substitutionary death
4. Designated Him for Execution
“but put to death the Prince of life,”
Whitcomb: How is this even possible?? Added a human nature to His divine nature and became a God-man in order to be able to die; also had to be willing to die (dedication to the will of the Father); Jews crucified Jesus in ignorance – preached message of Repentance – we are special people; we hate you for proclaiming that we are innately sinful and need drastic change in our relationship to God; “Father, forgive them for they really don’t know who I am;” Basis for re-offer of the kingdom
Kent: designates him as the one whose victory over death has made him the forerunner or leader of others. His resurrection qualified him for this title, he is now the “Prince” who provides salvation and assurance of resurrection life (the same title is employed in Heb. 2:10 and 12:2).
MacArthur: Jesus the originator of life. Do you know that He made that claim. Listen to the word of God. John 1, “All things are made by Him. Without Him was not anything made that was made in Him was,” what, “life.” And in John 11:25, don’t you love that, where He says this. He says to Mary and Martha at the home of Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and,” what, “and the life.” John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, the life.” And John in 1 John 5:11, “This is the record that God hath given unto us, eternal life and this life is in His Son.” He was the life giver. He’s the only one who can provide life and that’s the point of Ephesians 2. “You were dead in sin, but He made you alive together with Christ.”
Constable: Peter called Jesus the Servant (Gr. paida) of the Lord, the subject of messianic prophecy (Isa. 42:1; 49:6-7; 52:13; 53:11; cf. Mark 10:45); the Holy One, a title of Messiah (Ps. 16:10; Isa. 31:1; cf. Mark 1:24; 1 John 2:20); the Righteous One (Isa. 53:11; Zech. 9:9; cf. 1 John 2:1); and the Prince (Author) of Life (Ps. 16; cf. John 1:1-18; Col. 1:14-20; Heb. 1:2-3; 2:10; 12:2). Peter pointed out three inconsistencies in the Jews’ treatment of Jesus and contrasted their treatment of Him with God’s. They had condemned Him when Pilate was about to release Him (v. 13). They rejected the Holy and Righteous One out of preference for a murderer, Barabbas (v. 14; Luke 23:18-19). Furthermore they executed the Author of Life whom God raised from the dead, of which the apostles were witnesses (v. 15). Prince or Author of Life presents Jesus as the resurrected Messiah who gives life that overcomes death.
Bock: 2 possibilities:
1) the first among many, the one who shows and rules the way; leads to life versus one who removes it = Leader, Prince, Originator
2) the one who makes life possible = Author
III. (:16) JESUS-FOCUSED GLORY — FAITH IN THE NAME OF JESUS WORKS
A. Faith in Jesus is What Truly Matters
“And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus
Whose faith is referenced here? Definitely faith required on the part of Peter and John to look to the Lord for His work of healing
But what about the lame man … any faith involved on his part??
Bock: The lame man’s response to his healing shows that he did respond to what God had done and was thankful for it.
Emphasis is more on the object of the faith = the name of Jesus – His person and authority and power
B. Faith in Jesus Can Make You Whole
“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.”
Hymns:
– All hail the power of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate fall
– What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus
– Trust and Obey – for there’s no other way
– Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.
– When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride.
– O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise, the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace.
CONCLUSION:
Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.”
In light of such an exclusive plan of salvation, we should not be amazed that God is a Jealous God; He will not share His glory with man
“By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast”
It doesn’t make any sense to Reject Jesus Christ once you understand who He is:
– God’s Servant – Plan was always for Suffering to Precede Glory
– Jesus – the only one who can Save
– Holy One —
– Just – Always does what is right
– Prince of Life – Risen from the dead; can impart spiritual life
– Christ = Promised Messiah
Jews were guilty but were being given a second chance to embrace their King; we all are guilty as well and need to respond while there is still opportunity
Faith in Jesus Christ truly works – whatever your brokenness; Jesus can make you whole
FAITH IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST MAGNIFIES THE GLORY OF CHRIST (BY UNLEASHING DIVINE POWER THAT BRINGS GREAT BLESSING)