Jesus Healed Him

Welcome to Verse by Verse. Thank you so much for joining us as we take a look at the book of Acts. We take things nice and slowly as we look and see what God is doing in the big picture of expanding the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. My name is David Humphrey, and I'm the pastoral care and missions pastor here at United City Church in Humboldt, Texas. We're excited to be your church family while you're incarcerated, but we're gonna be even more excited when you get out and you can come and be a part of our church in person We love you very much. Please grab your Bible and a journal, perhaps a pen, and be ready to take some notes and let's learn together through the book of Acts. That's great. I'm gonna say a prayer for us guys, and then we're gonna jump right into our study in Acts chapter three. Father, we come to you in Jesus name. We're so grateful that you have made us your sons and your daughters, which makes us a family. We are truly at a family reunion tonight. Gathered together under one name, that's the name of our big brother, Jesus,

the king of the universe, who came to save those who were lost. And I just pray tonight, God, I pray for my own nephew, God, that he would be saved. God, I pray for others that we have shared with in recent days and long time ago, that you would send others to water those seeds with their prayers and that they would be saved, God. We know that there's only one way to heaven, and that is through Jesus Christ. And admitting that we are sinners and believing that you, Jesus, are God's son and that you are the way and the truth and the life. So that's what we're here to proclaim tonight. And we just give these things to you. We give our time to you, this time of Bible study. God, make us doers of the word and not hearers only. In Jesus name, amen. We good, Gerald? Are we on? I'm ready to go when you are. I had it already. You're already on, fantastic. So glad that you guys are here. Those who are greeting, who are with us online, whether you are one of the inmates that watches this or whether you're just watching on YouTube, super glad that you can be with us. We're gonna be in Acts chapter three again. For those who are in the room,

those of you that are watching online, there's a whole bunch of people in the room with me, okay? I'm not here by myself. We are going to be in Acts chapter three and beginning in verse 11. One of the things that we talked about last week that was not specifically related to this passage, but just related to Bible study in general, was a little thing that I had read in a book that was super powerful to me, which is Eugene Peterson's book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. And he gave us four ways to read the Bible. And I wanna remind you of those because I hope you get this into your soul and you remember this always. We wanna read it slowly. That's why we get so much out of what we're doing in here, guys, on Wednesday nights. It's because we read it slowly. We're not in a hurry. We read it imaginatively. That doesn't mean we imagine things that aren't there. It means we stop and ponder, what was it like for Mary? What did Mary think about when the Holy Spirit came upon her? We kind of think behind the lines and we know that scripture is everything we need, but we use our holy imagination to think about it.

We read it prayerfully. We let this be something that keeps us pointed towards God. And sometimes we literally can pray passages of scripture. Like we're seeing this lame man that we saw who was healed last week. And we pray God that God would help us to see people that are in our path, that we'll stop and lock eyes with them and care for them. And then we wanna read it obediently. As we said, not hearers only, but doers of the word. That's what James says. So that's how we wanna read tonight. And we are in this passage where the Holy Spirit, we've been looking through the book of Acts for weeks now. This is I think week 14 for us. We've seen the Holy Spirit come. We have seen the believers come together. There were about 3000 on the first day when Peter preached. Tonight we're gonna hear another sermon that Peter preached. It's the second one. It also follows a miracle. The first sermon Peter preached followed the miracle of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down in the form of blazing tongues and landed on all those that already believed in Jesus. So that was an amazing feat. If you haven't read that, you should just go back a couple of chapters and catch up in Acts chapter one and chapter two.

But then we saw that last week, we saw the first recorded miracle through the hands of the apostles. And that was when they were on their way, just doing what they normally did, going into the temple at the hour of prayer. And there was a lame man who'd been brought there every single day of his life, it said. He was lame from birth and he was brought there regularly. We don't know if that was every single day of his life that he was brought there, but he was regularly brought there just asking for alms for the poor, as it were. That's just, give me a little. a little change if you would. And I love what Peter said. It was just such a powerful thing. I want us to see what he said. It says, the man asked him, he asked for alms, and then Peter, in chapter three, verse four, said, Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, look at us. He fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. And Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk. He took him by the right hand, raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.

And he didn't just stand there. He started walking and leaping and praising God all the way into the temple. Guys, that was just an incredible miracle. There's no sign in this miracle other than the fact that that man cooperated with Peter in the raising. I was thinking, you know, I don't think that man was their dead weight. I think we can see the faith that was in that lame man. When the hand reaches down and Peter starts pulling him up, I think he believed he was actually gonna get up. I really do. And I think that's where we can see a little picture of his faith. But that's where we find ourselves tonight is what happened next. And that's in verse 11. So we're gonna read verse 11 of Acts chapter three, and we're gonna read all the way down to verse four of chapter four, but I'm confident we will not get that far tonight. But I just want you to hear the whole story because it's just so good and it's just so amazing. So it says in chapter three, verse 11 of the book of Acts, while he clung to Peter and John, all the people utterly astounded ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's. When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, men of Israel, why do you wonder at this?

Or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety, we have made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant, Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him. But you denied the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. And you killed the author of life whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses and his name by faith in his name has made this man strong whom you see and know. And the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. And now brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and turn back that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, the Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.

And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people. And all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and those who came after him also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness. And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. They arrested them, put them in custody until the next day for it was already evening. But look what happened. Many of those who had heard the word believed and the number of the men came to about 5,000. Awesome. What a story. I mean, it's amazing enough that the miracle happened. I mean, that by itself was just amazing. But you see, Peter kind of follows the same pattern as he did at the last miracle. And he speaks up and you also probably remember, this is the same Peter who used to bumble around

and stumble around. And he was very vocal as a follower of Jesus during Jesus's earthly life. But he wasn't really, he didn't preach eloquent sermons like the last two that we've looked at. The difference is what, guys? Holy Spirit. It's the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is Peter and more. This is Peter with the power of God in his lungs and speaking through him and working. So it's an amazing sermon. And we're just gonna take it verse by verse as we love to do. And we're just gonna see what we can see. So if you look at. Verse 11, it says, while he clung to Peter and John, utterly astounded, all the people were running together to them in the portico called Solomon's. So, basically, we never get this man's name. We'll just call him the unnamed man, right? But Jesus had healed him through the faith of Peter and John and now he has come back from walking and leaping and praising God, because it says he went off doing all that, and now we see him clinging to them. I would suspect he is clinging out of gratitude. You have literally, I mean, imagine, the man has never walked a day in his life,

and now he's just running through the temple, jumping and celebrating, but I think he's also probably clinging to them showing who had done this. But it wasn't Peter and John that did it. It was through their faith, and so it is very likely that there was some time that passed between verse 10 and verse 11, because we see walking and leaping and all that, and I think he went out into the temple. It could be, we don't know, but it could be that now he's exiting the temple, so who knows how much time he spent in there, okay? We don't have a timeline here, but it does say, while he clung to Peter and John, all the people earliest down to ran together to them in the portico. So I suspect the news has now gotten out. You remember this guy? You remember, you saw him walking in. Did you hear about what happened? Do you see him over there jumping around? So I think the news has gotten out, and now they're all coming to see what's going on, because not everybody was standing there when it happened, but everybody that was in that temple, or most of them, had probably passed by that man, and I think that was part of the miracle and why God decided to do it as he did, that it would be a very public miracle.

I mean, God could have just as easily directed Peter, go to the house of this man who's been lame from birth, and speak the same things over him and heal him. That could have been the plan, but this was planned as a very public miracle, and so when Peter saw it, it says, by the way, let me just back up to this location, Solomon's Portico. Anybody know anything about Solomon's Portico? What do you know? Anything else happen there? Jesus taught there a lot. John chapter 10, the whole thing takes place there. It's the east side of the court of the Gentiles. It was a famous spot for commerce, public discussions, a lot had gone on there, and so this was a place where people are accustomed to sort of gathering and learning and talking, so Peter just grabs the moment, right? And I love what he did, because the very first thing he does is deflect all glory. He wants none of it, because they are amazed at him, and they're thinking, oh, he is a miracle worker. I bet some of them might have heard about Jesus, the miracle worker, and knew that this was a guy. Maybe they knew that he hung around Jesus, and they're thinking, he's a miracle worker. Oh, he can do what Jesus used to do, because that would be a common thing for Jesus to do,

and they'd known that for several years, but look what he says. He says, when Peter saw it, and the it is the people were astounded, so when Peter saw that they were all coming around them, he addressed the people and said, men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, and why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety, we have made him walk? So guys, you see this, he's just a mirror. He's like, that wasn't me. I'm just gonna give glory to the one who did this. It's like it's just the same sort of a passage, just like what happened in Acts chapter two. There was a miracle, there was an explanation by Peter, then he made an appeal. We call it an invitation, right, in church. Peter makes an appeal, and then salvation comes, so it's a little different in this passage than in the chapter two passage, because in chapter two, the explanation is much longer, but this story has a very brief explanation of what happened, but I'm gonna tell you, it is packed with incredible Christology. Now, that's gonna make you think you're really smart if you use the word Christology in a sentence, okay? What Christology is, obviously, you can see that. That's the word Christology, right? So theology is like the study of God. Christology is the study of Christ,

so we. want, because the Bible gives, I would say, a very high Christology. So we're gonna learn a lot of things about Jesus in the things that Peter says. We have been, over the last few weeks, learning a lot about Jesus Christ and His different roles and what He did. There's so much more than just Jesus who walked the earth and who died on a cross and who was risen from the dead. Jesus says there's a lot more to Him. But look at what, look at how Peter addresses this group of people. What does he call them in verse 12? Men of Israel. Okay, so guys, this is already telling you who he is speaking to. When he says men of Israel, what does that mean he believes his audience to be? He believes his audience to be Jews. Could there have been a token Gentile or two in the vicinity? Yes, that definitely could be possible. But guys, this is, we're in the temple, and this is gonna be primarily a Jewish audience. And he says, men of Israel, why do you wonder at this or stare at us like we could do this? Basically, what he's saying is, we're not strong enough. We're not holy enough to do this. We are just channels through which God is moving. So you guys may remember some of the things that we learned about Jesus from the sermon that we had in Acts chapter 2. I'm gonna go through a couple of these again, because I just love to talk about Jesus. And I think most of you like to love to hear about Jesus and learn about Him. Remember how we talked about, and a lot of this came out of Hebrews, Jesus earned the place of honor at the Father's right hand. Remember that? He earned it by a perfect life and a perfect death. And so that's why He is there. His death was sufficient, that place of honor and shared sovereignty. We learned in Acts chapter 2 that Jesus holds up everything in creation by the Word of His power. It's all held up by Jesus Christ. We learned that by that one act, His death on the cross, He sanctified us for all time. He's our great high priest. He intercedes with the Father from His right hand. Even now, He is the one who from the right hand of the Father poured out what? Who did He pour out? He poured out the Holy Spirit. It says that God raised Him up, seated Him at the right hand, and then that's from

where the Holy Spirit was poured out. We can also see that Jesus is still seated at the right hand of the Father. Until when? When will Jesus leave the right hand of the Father? At His second coming. And we're gonna see Peter bring up that second coming here in just a minute. So now, basically what Peter is doing in this little passage is he's taking time to ground Jesus in the big story of God even more. So in the chapter 2 speech and sermon that we got, he was tying Jesus into the big picture. What he's beginning to do here, and he begins it with this whole men of Israel, is trying to help them understand how Jesus fits with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Okay? Why would he tell this? Why would he want to help them understand how Jesus is related to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Why would he want to do that? Right, because they're very familiar with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Like that's their concept of God is, oh yeah, yeah, we know that that's Yahweh. We love that God. We believe in the covenants. But what Peter's gonna start doing is helping them understand that Jesus is the fulfillment of what you said, Dave, and that's all a bunch of prophecies. That Jesus isn't just somebody that just shot up out of nowhere. He is the fulfillment of so many prophecies. So look at what he says here. Basically, he says the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, who is the God of our fathers, Peter says, glorified his servant Jesus. Now, when did the God of Abraham glorify his servant Jesus? I'll give you a hint. Verse 15. When did the God of Abraham glorify? Ultimately, he did it at the resurrection. Okay, we know that, remember, we can always, we can remember all the way back to the beginning of Luke for some of us that have been with this thing for such a long time, couple years. When the baptism took place, you remember what the father said to the son and for everybody to hear? This is my son whom I love. With him I am well pleased. So there definitely was a sense of the father giving his stamp of early on, but the ultimate show of God's approval on the son was when the father raised him from the dead and literally seated him at his right hand. He said, this is him. He has my authority and he is here with me. So what he says is this whole, the God that you know

about, you know, the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob God that we've talked about forever. He is the God of our fathers. He is the one who glorified Jesus. And he calls Jesus his servant. In other words, Jesus is the servant of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So you see how he's trying to tie them together. They're solid on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's God. They're not so solid as we in the room are on how Jesus fits together with, with him. And so he's trying to help them understand this is one big story. Jesus is not just some unique individual. He is a part of the history of who God is, but look out what he says. God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob glorified his servant, Jesus, but you delivered him over and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he, that is Pilate, had decided to release him. Look at verse 14, you denied the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. And you killed the author of life whom God raised from the dead. I'm just going to have to guess with my holy imagination that he said that with a lot of firmness. I don't think he said, you know, you did this. What were you going to say, Denise? In Acts 2.42, it's one of the things that says they devoted themselves to apostle teaching. That's the Old Testament. That's what they have now, the scripture they have. There are what, 300 plus prophecies regarding Christ's first coming? Yes, exactly. Yes. Regarding the second coming, so he's going back to that, I suppose. I know that they would have to be. And I'm so amazed at Peter and, and the clarity with which he speaks. Guys, this sermon, I mean, this is a strong Old Testament, solid sermon. He is tying everything together like a master theologian who has studied for decades. But he had been walking along with the Savior and he is now infused with the Holy Spirit. And if you remember, one of the things Jesus said the Holy Spirit was going to do is bring to remembrance all the things that I taught you, because Jesus had been kind of dropping these breadcrumbs all during the time that the, that the disciples were walking with him on the earth. And so I see Peter, I don't, I'm, I don't think Peter showed up with a sermon in hand and pulled out a scroll and just starts reading it. I believe he is speaking out of the overflow of what he knows to be true and what he's become convicted of. And the Holy Spirit is just empowering the words. Guys, when I come on a Wednesday night, obviously, you know, I don't just sit here with no notes. No, I, I prepare, I study the

word of God and I, and the Holy Spirit then empowers the words that I would say, but I put, I put effort into it, but I believe Peter didn't come with a sermon in hand. I think he came with a sermon in his heart, right? Because he, he walked with Jesus. He knew Jesus. And they had even, I think, spent the earliest days, even days just before this back in the apostles teaching, which for them, of course was, as you said, the old Testament, they weren't reading the gospels because there were no gospels to read at this, at this earliest part of the book of Acts. So I love how, how Peter ties Jesus with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he says, you were the ones who delivered him over. You denied him. You, when Pilate had even decided to release him. Remember that? Remember Pilate said, I see no guilt in this man. And they were like, nope, crucify him. Pilate tried to get them to remember gave him Barabbas or him, and they would not be thwarted. They would not be stopped. So a really, really powerful thing that happened there. And so that's why he said, you denied the holy and righteous one and ask for a murderer to be granted it. I think when he said the word you, I think he said you. And I think he said it over and over. Look how many times he says that you delivered him over. You denied the holy and righteous one and ask for a murder to be granted. And then look at granted to you. And then look what it says. Verse 15, you killed the author of life, which is a mind blowing statement all by itself. He looks at them. and none of them had a hammer in their hand. He's not talking to the soldiers who were there nailing Jesus to the cross. He is talking to them as part of the nation of Israel who did not stand with their Messiah. But we know even about that, that's what the scripture had said from the beginning, that he would be rejected by his own people. And he was until now, some of them are starting to turn to him. Look what it says, you killed, verse 15, the author of life. Just think about that for a minute, guys.

They had killed the one who gave them life. You remember John chapter one, where it says, apart from Jesus, nothing was made that has been made. And you remember when it says in him, in Jesus, was life, and that life, does you remember what it said, was the what of men? The light of men. So he's just tying together these truths. You killed the author of life, then whom God raised from the dead. He said, yeah, you thought you killed him, right? No, you truly did. His life was taken. He gave it away. And then God raised him from the dead. What were you gonna say? I was just gonna say one of the things that hit me powerfully is when Jesus was on the cross and said, father, forgive them. Yeah. For they know not what they're doing. Yes, yeah. Just that's powerful. That is one of the, I think, for me, it's one of the most powerful statements from the cross. If, you know, we've all got things we need to forgive people for, don't we? We've all been hurt by a lot of people

who have done things that are wrong and they should not have done them. But if Jesus can forgive them, and really what he was not even saying was, I don't think he was just saying that to them. I think he was saying that to all of us because collectively we crucified Jesus. And that's why he keeps saying, you killed the author of life. But he could not be kept down. I think what Dave brought up about when Peter said, look at me. That's right. Yes, he did. And I think in my imagination, I'm thinking he's saying you. I do too. I do too. It's just like that. We talked about that last week. When he looked down at that lame man, that lame man, I could see the lame man not even looking, right? You've probably been in a situation where you've even seen a homeless person or a beggar or somebody, and they're just kind of like this. And Peter's like, look at me, right? And I do. I think you're exactly right, Michael.

I would say that's probably very likely how this went. He says, you denied the Holy one. You asked for a murder to be granted to you and you killed the author of life. But don't you worry. God raised him from the dead because he didn't need your approval. He needed the approval of the father and he had it. He had it from day one. And if every one of us denied Jesus was the son of God, he would still be the son of God reigning in power, guys. He doesn't need our approval, okay? He is who he is. So then look at what it says here. I like these last five words in verse 15. He says, to this, we are witnesses, okay? A witness, you know, and of course in a court of law, a witness is somebody who saw what happened. And the apostles were eyewitnesses. We don't know who all was hearing this sermon. There could have been a few others that might've, you know, heard some things about what Jesus did and maybe some of them were there. But Peter's like, no, I saw it with my own eyes. He was one of the first ones that Jesus came to even after the resurrection. Dave? I'm just looking at verse 15 where it says, you put to death the prince of life, which ties back to what Jesus said in John 14, six.

The way, the truth, and life. That's right. No one comes to the father but by me. That's exactly right. So look, look at this. This verse 16 is really powerful. And he says, and his name, that's the name of who? Jesus. And then the little aside there, by faith in his name has made this man strong whom you see and know. And the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. Guys, Peter is, as I said earlier, he is just. deflecting. I don't want any glory. I'm not even going to mention my name. My name is just immaterial. It doesn't matter at all. It was through his name, the one that you killed, you remember him? You know, the one that you denied, that raised from the dead? It was through his name that this was done. You see, Peter knows that the greatest miracle that could take place on this day is not the healing of that lame man. Peter knew salvation is a greater miracle than healing anyone who has a physical ailment. The miracles are true. They are real. They truly happened, but the greater miracles are when the transformation happens. You know, we talked a couple of weeks ago about, well, why don't we ever see miracles like that in our worship? I said, miracles happen every Sunday in that worship center. We may not see someone lame brought in, prayed for, and stand up and walk, and that doesn't mean that that couldn't happen, but we do see blind eyes begin to see, and that is the miracle. That's why we celebrate baptism, right? Because a miracle happened. Somebody went from death to life, and so it says now his name, the name of Jesus, by faith in his name, is what has made this name strong, whom you see and know. Remember what he said when he lifted him up? Look back at verse 6. In the name of who? Jesus Christ of Nazareth. We walked through all that last week. In the name of Jesus, that's that

name. You've heard of Jesus, but guys, there were a lot of Jesuses. You do know that, right? During this time, Jesus was not the only Jesus, but they went to, if you want to know who the Jesus was, they would use of Nazareth or of, you know, Jesus of Bethany or Jesus of wherever, but he says it was Jesus Christ, and Christ means Messiah, so he's basically saying Jesus, you know, the Messiah from Nazareth. Remember that's what could any good thing come out of Nazareth? Yeah, the best thing that ever came out of anywhere came out of Nazareth. It was Jesus the Messiah came out of Nazareth. He says that's the name that made this man strong, whom you see and know. He said you've seen it. You know this guy. You've probably given him some alms so you can move on about your business, and he says it is the faith that is through Jesus that has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. Now, guys, the miracle of faith is a miracle all in itself, and we've already had a little conversation about whose faith are we talking about. Was it Peter's faith that saw this man able? Well, for one thing, it was partially Peter's faith, because if Peter hadn't had faith, he would have never reached it, looked at the man, and said in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, come on. I think we see evidence of certainly we know we see evidence of Peter's faith, but I think we see evidence of the lame man's faith too, and we talked about that. That he must have kind of participated somehow, but he said whichever it is the faith that is through Jesus that has given this man, he calls it perfect health, in the presence of you all. So many seeds were planted because of all those witnesses. Yes, yes. I could not agree more. All of these seeds are being planted in these people. I suspect not everybody came away saved that day. Greg? You know, this is just a gospel message to us. Yes, it is. I mean, we were lost in what Christ did and the Father did. It proved what the Son did. That's right. That we have salvation. He purchased us and redeemed us. Yes, and it's like Peter is almost kind of representing what Jesus did to us, right? He just reached down to us and just pulled us up. All we have to have, and we can see it elsewhere in Scripture, is just a mustard seed of faith, right? Just enough to believe that Jesus is who he says he is and that he's able to save. So look at verse 17, because basically what happens is, I think Peter's kind of loosening up a little bit. I think he drove it home. You did it, you did it, you did it, but then look what he says, and now brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. He says, guess what? It's not just you. The people who you looked up to, right? The authorities, even the religious authorities, right? All the religious authorities were the ones that said,

we got to get this guy out of here. Number one, he's taken all of our glory. What did they know? He was gonna render the sacrificial system null and void, right? Like, I'm not gonna need you guys anymore. We got a high priest at the right hand of the father, but that's another story altogether. But look what he says. He says, now brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance. And I even think when he says brothers, I think that's a term of endearment, right? I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. And now here's where it really gets good. We're gonna, we'll scratch the surface here, but I promise we're gonna get long and deep into these next few verses. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Let's just stop right there. He basically is saying, you didn't know it, but what just happened is exactly as God has said for years, it was gonna happen. Just like what you said, Denise. Countless prophecies. Guys, I know some of you may have heard a little bit about the prophecies about Jesus, but there are, some people give different numbers of the prophecies. There are hundreds for certain of Jesus, the Messiah,

and the advent, the first advent. Okay, you know, this is the season of advent. That just means coming. Okay, so there are hundreds conservatively. Some would say a little over 300 of the first coming of the Messiah. And if you've heard this, you need to hear it again because this blows my mind every single time. The fact that even Jesus had, he fulfilled only eight of those prophecies perfectly. And he fulfilled far more than eight, guys. Many would say well over 100, even in just those few years of his earthly life. There's a mathematician. His name is Peter Stoner. I am not a mathematician, that's for sure. I like calculators a lot. But when you look at the modern science of probability, and if you look at eight prophecies, he calculated one person fulfilling eight prophecies only to the exact, T. Prophecies that were hundreds of years old. That is a probability of one in one sextillion. You've never heard of a sextillion, but that's a one with 17 zeros behind it. Okay, so here's how you can try to get your mind around a sextillion. Stoner, this guy, has said he kind of calculated it. If you took a sextillion silver dollars

and laid them flat on the face of Texas, that's a big state, friends. They will cover the state of Texas two feet deep. But wait, listen to this. We mark one of those silver dollars. One of them gets a mark. Then we stir the entire state of Texas in all of those silver dollars that are two feet deep on the state of Texas. And the probability of one man getting one chance and picking out that one out is the same as Jesus fulfilling only eight prophecies. Guys, we underestimate how amazing it is that Jesus did this. Sandy. Okay, well basically in the Old Testament, there are well over eight. I mean, there are at least 300, and I think it's 20 or so, just about his first coming. Now what gets interesting, and we'll dive into this a little bit more next week because we just don't have the time tonight, is how many more prophecies there are about his second coming than there are about his first coming. Most of us, we know some of the prophecies, like Isaiah chapter nine, verses six and seven. It's one of my favorites. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders,

and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government, and there will be no end, okay? That is a prophecy given hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, okay? So when I said eight, what he is just saying is we're just gonna look at it to try to get it in a way that we can grab. If he only fulfilled eight, it's one in one sextillion to the possibility of doing that, guys. This stuff didn't just so happen. God laid it all out perfectly, and it unfolded just like God thought that it was going to. What were you gonna say, Dave? Verse 18 where he says, he has thus fulfilled. It came to mind Romans 8, 28 and 29, which is a verse that a lot of people have difficulty, but that proves that for us as believers, those verses are as real as it is the prophecy being fulfilled. Absolutely, yes. That's one of the things that prophecy does for us. And it's one of my favorite things, honestly, to go back and read at Christmas time, is to read the prophecies of the Old Testament and see them fulfilled in the New Testament in Jesus, because it just deepens my confidence, right? In the God who made that promise,

and then he kept it to the T. There's other prophecies that you know of that a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they'll call his name Emmanuel, God with us. That was prophesied many years before. The fact that he was born in Bethlehem, that was prophesied hundreds of years before the Savior was born in Bethlehem. Guys, it just goes over and over and over. And so looking at those prophecies just deepens our confidence in the God who everything he said he was gonna do is what he did. The cross was prophesied, oh, just over and over and over. You look in the Psalms, Psalm 22, it's just, you're like, was that written from the foot of the cross? No, it was written hundreds of years before the cross, but we see that the Savior himself came and fulfilled everything that the Father. So this was not just some shot in the dark that this amazing prophet of God showed up. No, he's not just a prophet of God. He is the almighty son of God who was the one that holds up all of creation, and he is there lying in a manger. Jesus Christ was an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, and then he grew up to be the one who had the Father's approval and who went and is now seated at the right hand. Even as Peter is speaking these words,

Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. And that's why Peter had so much, he spoke with so much authority and why he spoke with such deep conviction of what would happen, because he believed, and I guarantee you, he knew many of these prophecies, the prophecies, as he says. And David, the unbelieving Jews today reject Isaiah 42, chapter 42 through 53, which speak of Jesus as a servant. They don't want that Jesus as a servant, do they? No. They want, they're waiting for a Messiah who's gonna be a conquering king, and I believe that what many of the Jews who do not yet accept Jesus is they're seeing the prophecies in the Old Testament that are for the second coming of Christ. And they're wanting that kind of come and get us. But Jesus came as what you're gonna hear on Sunday. Oh, guys, wait for the sermon on Sunday. Are y'all ready for it? You're probably not ready for it. It is so good about the warrior baby. That baby wrapped in swaddling clothes is the king of kings and the Lord of lords. And the manger was an act of war. It was like, oh, no, no. He came to destroy the works of the enemy, and that little baby is full of the Holy Spirit and full of power.

So just be ready to just worship your socks off on Sunday, guys. It's gonna be so good. We were just, it was just such a glorious time yesterday, wasn't it, Gerald? Man, it's gonna be so good. The next two Sundays, just be ready for it. So guys, obviously, I knew we wouldn't get all that far, but we're gonna see, starting in verse 19 next week, because he's shared so much about these prophecies and what's happened, and he's like, now I'm gonna tell you what your next step is. Because basically what he's saying in the words of a United City person, you got a next step, right? Everybody has a next step. So thank you guys so much for joining us tonight. I'm gonna pray, and we'll be dismissed. Father, I just thank you so much. Thank you for your word. Your word is so rich, God. There's even so much more than we've even wrung out of it tonight, God. It's just so full, and it is true, every word, God, every drop of truth that you have poured out on us tonight, God. We have received as manna from heaven, and we just thank you for it, God. We love you for your word. We love you for how you left us this witness, God.

We can just see Peter standing there at Solomon's Portico just proclaiming with clarity. God, he's not fumbling over his words anymore. He is full of power in the Holy Spirit. And God, we want to walk in that. Same kind of power, God. Believing that you can do what you've said you will do. And God, that you can bring heart change, like you did on this day, to thousands of people. And you can do it today. God, we love you. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for joining us tonight, guys. Thanks again for joining us, verse by verse, through the book of Acts. I hope that you have learned a lot. More importantly, I hope that you'll apply these things to your life this week. Share it with a friend. Great thing for you to just have some discussion with the other people around you. Share the things that God is doing in your life. Again, remember the Bible is a book about God, far more than it is a book about us. So let's learn about him. Let's grow to love him more and more. Here at United City, this is not the only thing that we have on the Pando app. We would love for you to follow some of our other content,

watch some of our worship services, along with the music and the messages, as well as podcasts. We've got a lot of great content and we would love for you to follow that. Also, if you would like to be in touch with us here at United City, the best way to do that is by writing us a letter. You can address that to Prison Ministry at United City Church, 19901 Townsend Boulevard, Humble, Texas, 77338. We'll read that, we'll pray for you, and somebody will write you back. God bless you, and we'll see you in the word.