Miracles Validating Apostolic Ministry

Transcript

GR 1603
05/08/11
Miracles Validating Apostolic Ministry
Acts 9:29-43
Gil Rugh

Acts 9 in your Bibles.  Very significant chapter relating to the history of the early church because Acts 9 records the conversion of Saul, the persecutor of the church.  He'll become more familiar to us as the Apostle Paul and will play the leading and prominent role in the history of the church through much of the rest of the book of Acts.  He will become a major figure in writing many of the letters of our New Testament.  So Luke introduces him here in Acts 9, then he will move back to talk about Peter and Paul will become dominant when we come to Acts 13.  But a very significant event recording the conversion and some of the events that took place in the context of Paul's conversion.  Very condensed and summarized, but prepare us for the time when the Lord will bring Saul to the prominent position of leadership in the early church.

Paul was on his way, or Saul, I'll be going back and forth between the names.  He was on his way to Damascus from Jerusalem with authority from the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem to arrest believers in the synagogues in Damascus.  As he approached Damascus he was struck with a bright light, the appearance of the resurrected Christ to Saul.  He then goes into Damascus, a prophet is instructed to go and see him.  Ananias goes according to the Lord's instruction; Paul regains his sight and immediately begins ministering.  Ananias was told in Acts 9:15, the Lord said to him, go, for he, referring to Saul, is a chosen instrument of Mine to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.  For I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake.  And to be used in such a great and powerful way before Gentiles and kings as well as the people of Israel will entail great suffering on the part of the Apostle Paul, as he will come to be known.  We'll get just a taste and an introduction of the opposition to his ministry, even in its early years, before Acts 9 is done.

Some of the flow of events.  Immediately following his conversion, the regaining of his sight, we're told in verse 20, immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues saying, He is the Son of God.  Verse 22, Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.  The very reasons he was persecuting believers, now become his message.  Jesus is the Son of God; He's the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah of Israel.  That ministry goes on.

He leaves and goes into Arabia and that would include modern day Jordan, give you an idea where we are talking about.  Doesn't have to be too far from Damascus, but into a different area, different region.  Then he comes back to Damascus.  So that took three years we noted, when you compare that with Paul's own testimony, for example in Galatians 1.  So it's just summarized here by Luke in verse 23.  When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him.  So in those verses as we noted, Paul has been at Damascus, then he has left Damascus and gone into Arabia, then he's come back from Arabia to Damascus but the opposition has been building.  And that includes the king of the Arabians who supports the Jews in their opposition to Christ.  So Saul has to escape from Damascus.  So he journeys down to Jerusalem where he had left some three years earlier to persecute Christians in Damascus.  He returns to Jerusalem, there he preaches Christ in Jerusalem.  Now his reception in Jerusalem is cold among Christians because there is doubt whether the reports they have heard have been genuine.  Perhaps this is some kind of plot by Saul to infiltrate among believers in Jerusalem so that he can have a devastating impact on the church.

Barnabas intervenes, verse 27, and tells the apostles, and we noted this would be particularly Peter and James.  In Galatians 1 Paul said those are the only two apostles he met with at Jerusalem.  So when they mention the apostles here, particularly those two, and then other followers of Christ are exposed and Paul continues his ministry.  Verse 28, he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord.  And you see that characteristic of the Apostle Paul; from the beginning he is open and direct.  Bold in sharing the message of Jesus Christ.  That's going to result in great suffering for him but also a ministry that has great impact on many lives.  The impact of his life, of course, still continues today and so we benefit from the Spirit using him to write much of our New Testament.

In Jerusalem, verse 29, he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews.  The Hellenistic Jews are the Jews that have been living outside of Palestine and have adopted much of Greek culture and Greek thinking.  And that has become mixed in with their Jewish ways, if you will.  And they were attempting to put him to death.  But when the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.  Same thing had happened at Damascus.  They had sealed off the city, remember, to try to kill Paul, kill Saul.  Now in Jerusalem he goes and preaches Christ and what happens?  There is an attempt to kill him, to silence the messenger and thus prevent the message from being proclaimed.

Come back to Jeremiah 26.  And we looked into Jeremiah a little earlier in our study today.  Jeremiah, a spokesman to the Jews.  Verse 7, the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord.  What led up to this?  Verse 8, when Jeremiah finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people.  So this is the message from the Lord to the people of Israel.  What do they do?  The priests and the prophets and all the people seized him saying, you must die.  Sad, isn't it, the consistency of response to the message of the word of God, even from the Jews, the people of God.  You must die.  That has been their response to Saul.  Not overwhelmingly amazed that this persecutor of the church now is a proclaimer of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  But he has to die.  We have to put an end to this kind of teaching and the message that he proclaims.

So come back to Acts 9.  When it said when the brethren, Acts 9:30, learned of this plot to put him to death, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.  And this is the same summary basically that Paul gives in Galatians 1, where he begins his testimony.  We noted some of the details were added, some other things may be omitted, but some of them overlap, obviously.

They take him down to Caesarea; Caesarea is on the coast of the Mediterranean, northwest of Jerusalem.  So they are going to send him to Caesarea, get him out of Jerusalem but they want to get him out of Israel altogether because you have opposition and attempts to kill him in the region of Syria and Damascus.  And now down in Jerusalem.  So where would he be safe in this region?  They send him to Caesarea.  Evidently he is going to go by ship to Cilicia, as he refers to it in Galatians 1.  Or as you have it here, Tarsus.  Tarsus was in Cilicia.  If you went all the way up the coast of the Mediterranean to the north and then made the bend across to what today is southern Turkey, that's where Cilicia would be, just after you made the turn up there at the top, following the land around in the Mediterranean.  You're in the region of Cilicia, and that's where Tarsus is.  So he's going to go to Tarsus.  That's his hometown, he is Saul of Tarsus, remember, so really he has returned to his home region where he had been living.  That's the last we hear of him until we get over to Acts 11:25-26, and Barnabas will go and find him and bring him to Antioch.  But Paul won't become a major figure until we get to Acts 13.

So you have a summary in verse 31, so the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up and going on in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.  As a historian what Luke does as he unfolds details of some events, that periodically he breaks in and gives an overall summary.  This is one of those summaries.

Come back to Acts 2, just to refresh your mind with these summaries.  Verse 42, they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  You see how he pulls together here in a summary way what is going on.  Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe, many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.  All those who believed were together and had all things in common.  They were selling their possessions, sharing them, day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, breaking bread from house to house, taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, having favor with all the people.  The Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.  So we just get an overall summary of what is going on during this basic time period.

Then you come over to Acts 4:32, having had some specific events in detail unfolded now he gives another summary.  And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul.  Not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own; all things were held in common property.  With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.  Abundant grace was upon them all, there wasn't a needy person among them.  They would sell what they had and bring the proceeds and give them to the apostles for distribution to the needy.  So again that summary there of what is taking place up through these days.

We come to Acts 5:12, at the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people.  They were all with one accord in Solomon's portico.  They are meeting, of course, in this area of the temple.  None of the rest of them dared to associate with them, however the people held them in high esteem.  And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women were constantly added to their number; to such an extent they even carried the sick to the streets, laid them on pallets.  All the people, verse 16, from the cities and the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together and they were being healed.  This is just a summary.  So you get specific details and events unfolded by Luke, but then just these general overall summaries because this is just an overview of history, otherwise it would become too voluminous.  So these summaries help us appreciate what is going on.

You have another one in Acts 6:7.  The word of the Lord kept on spreading, the number of disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem.  A great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.  Then you come over to Acts 9:31, so the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up, going on in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit and continued to increase.  So you've gotten some details, now you just get the overall summary.  The church is continuing to grow, continuing to develop.  What he says about it here in verse 31 and this is the church in Israel or Palestine.  It's the church in Judea, Galilee and Samaria, so that region that we would call Israel or Palestine.  It enjoyed peace.  With the conversion of Saul, the impact of his testimony, even though there is opposition to him, the major thrust of persecution against the church has stopped.  The wind is out of the sails, so to speak, the driving momentum is lost.  So the blessing of the Lord comes because now the church is relieved from the persecution.  It is being built up; it's continuing to grow in the Lord, maturing.  It's developing.  You see the grace of the Lord.  The persecution there has been used of the Lord to drive believers out into other regions and new people are saved.  But now there is relief from persecution so that the church can be further established in the word and the teaching and doctrine of the apostles.

They are going on in the fear of the Lord.  There is a continued reverence and godliness to characterize the church.  We saw the discipline of Ananias and Sapphira earlier for their deceitful behavior.  So you see here this early church is being established now in the reverence, fear and awe of the Lord.  In the comfort or encouragement of the Holy Spirit.  So the work of the Holy Spirit in using the word that is being built into the lives of these believers and He is bringing comfort, encouragement.  In the word we have the Paraclete who comes to give the aid, encouragement and comfort to us as God's people.

And it continued to increase.  So there continued to be people saved and added to the number.  So this gives you the overall picture and then we'll get some other details now out of Peter's ministry.  But Luke is just selecting certain details and events.  And these summaries tell you the church is continuing and it has continued to operate and the ministry is going on.  And we're just getting certain events that help us follow how the development occurred, but overall the church is going on in its activities to grow and mature and develop and reach others with the ministry and the Gospel.

Now Luke picks up Peter's ministry again.  And through these first twelve chapters Luke primarily focuses on Peter's ministry.  We've seen others—Stephen, Philip—but the dominant figure through these first twelve chapters of Acts is Peter.  And then when we get to chapter 13 and through the rest of the book it will be Paul.  So you could divide the book of Acts on that basis, the two dominant figures of the early church—Peter and Paul.

We left off Peter's ministry when he and John, remember after Philip carried the Gospel into Samaria Peter and John went there as the apostolic representatives, the apostles acting on behalf of the apostles who were centered in Jerusalem.  And through their ministry the Holy Spirit comes on the Samaritans.  And we noted that made sure the Samaritans were united under apostolic authority and apostolic teaching.  So that's where we left Peter, back in Acts 8:14-25.  Now we pick him up again and he will be the central figure through chapter 12, when we will switch to the Apostle Paul as the focal point.

We're going to have two miracles done here, the healing of a man and then the raising of a dead woman under Peter's ministry.  We are told in verse 32 Peter was traveling through all these regions.  So he is in this area, somewhere between Jerusalem and where Paul had to travel to go to Caesarea.  There is no indication that there was any meeting of the two but Paul would indicate in Galatians 1 that his meeting with Peter and John for a brief time in Jerusalem was the only contact he had with the apostles.  So while they are ministering in the same area, obviously they are walking where they are going and don't have the communication that we have.  So we are just told now that we pick up with Peter, he's traveling through all these regions.

He came down to the saints who lived at Lydda.  Here he finds a man named Aeneas.  This one had been bedridden eight years, for he was paralyzed.  We don't know what happened to him, whether he was in an accident, some kind of disease.  We're not told but for eight years he had been paralyzed.  He hadn't been born this way because he's a man, an adult, but something had happened.  He is paralyzed and it has been for eight years.  So this isn't a passing event, something transitory that he would recover from on his own.  When Peter meets him, we don't have any details.  A believer, part of church there, a group of believers.  We're just not told anything.  Just to highlight here what his name is and his condition.  Paralyzed so severely that he is bedridden for eight years.

Peter said to him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you.  Get up and make your bed.  Immediately he got up.  Amazing.  Perhaps this man was saved under Philip's ministry.  Philip had been in this area, he would have traveled through Lydda when he went from Azotus to Caesarea himself.  We learned that back in Acts 8, we're not told the details.  But obviously this region has experienced the ministry of representatives of Jesus Christ.  What happens, Peter just speaks the word.  Then this man who had been part of Christ's ministry during His earthly ministry and had experienced miracles through their ministry.  And now in the early church they are being used as representatives of Jesus Christ, acting on His behalf.

And it's clear in verse 34.  Peter said, Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you.  So the healing is an evidence of the power and work of Christ.  And amazingly he gets up.  He is completely healed.  There is no process here, no over the next six months you're going to be able to get out of bed and begin to move.  So just start, hang your feet over the bed and start to develop strength.  This is a complete healing, not only of what had happened to paralyze him, but the complete restoration of his body.  You know what happens to legs and muscles that aren't used for years.  They become useless, the body atrophies in those areas.  But here he is immediately healed.  

And I love what he says, get up.  And what's the first thing he has to do?  Make your bed.  I mean, is that the first thing on your mind?  Run down the street, get a cup of coffee.  No, get up and make your bed.  But that's an indication you're not getting back in bed to sleep.  But you don't need this bed as the place where you are residing now.  You are healed, make the bed, you are done with living in that bed, so to speak.

Peter said to him, Christ Jesus heals you.  All who live at Lydda and Sharon saw him and they turned to the Lord.  Becomes a key expression through the book of Acts, we won't take time to trace it down.  Sometimes when you read a book like Acts one of the things you can do is look for expressions that are used to refer to their becoming believers.  Obviously having faith or believing would be it, but here is an expression you could mark in your Bible.  When people are saved they turn to the Lord.

Look at a reference outside of Acts.  Go to 1 Thessalonians 1, here you see of the Thessalonicans, this expression used.  Paul is saying he shares the testimony of how the Thessalonians had been saved and what God had done in their life.  Verse 8, the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, those regions of Greece.  Thessalonica of course is a Greek city.  But also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so you'll note what he says, their faith toward God has gone forth.  So that we have no need to say anything.  For they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had with you, how you turned to God.  There is that expression, you turned to God.  What does that picture?  You turned away from idols and the serving and worshiping of idols to serve a living and true God.  So salvation is a turning, a turning away from our old life, a turning away from our own ways of serving the gods of this world to serve the living God.  It is a turn of life.  So one of the expressions that goes along with faith.  Calling upon the name of the Lord would be another expression used to express salvation.  Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved, we saw in Acts 2.

So you come back to Acts 9.  They turned to the Lord.  So what happens, this miracle of healing here is to validate the truthfulness of the message about Jesus Christ that Peter is preaching.  It's a testimony that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel, He's the King of the Jews, He's the Son of God, and He has power to heal the lame man.  That's a mighty miracle.

Now we come to an even greater miracle.  It's a remarkable miracle to hear a man paralyzed, bedridden paralyzed.  With some of our fake healers today we'll sometimes see someone who comes up with a cane and they have them throw their cane away and they walk across the stage.  They don't follow them up the next day and the day after and the week after.  Here's a person who couldn't come up on the stage, he's bedridden paralyzed and he is healed.  That's amazing.  But that pales in significance to the next miracle which is going to be raising someone from the dead.  This has to be the ultimate in miracles in the Scripture.  Elijah did it, Elisha did it in the Old Testament, and Christ did it on select occasions during His earthly ministry.  But here Peter will restore life to a godly woman in the city of Joppa.

Verse 36, now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha, which translated into Greek would be Dorcas.  Tabitha is Aramaic, Dorcas is Greek, so you just take it from one language to another.  Both Tabitha and Dorcas mean a gazelle or a deer.  So it's a name that means a gazelle or a deer.  We probably are most familiar with it with her Greek name Dorcas, and they have ladies' societies in churches that do certain activities and often are called the Dorcas Group after this woman.  This woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did.  Now we talk about Joppa, that's not too far from Lydda where the miracles that Peter just did has occurred.  We have this godly woman, she is a disciple, she is a believer.  Again, we're not told how she became a believer in Christ, but she is a believer and her life has already testified to the grace of God in her life.  She has been doing deeds of kindness and charity, not occasionally, but this has characterized her life.  Doing things for the benefit of others in need.  And believers have benefited from her ministry, particularly widows, who would have particular needs, especially in those days where there weren't perhaps some of the other provisions that have been provided in our day for the care of those.  Someone like Dorcas took it upon herself to do the things that helped meet their needs.

It happened about that time, verse 37, that she fell sick and died.  When they had washed her body they laid it in an upper room.  She's dead.  They cleaned the body and put it in an upper room, but then they do something amazing.  Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him imploring him, do not delay in coming to us.  So amazing here.  These disciples are believers in Jesus Christ but they turn to Peter for help.  So not every believer was running around doing miracles in those days, we've observed that earlier in Acts.  It is primarily through the ministry of the apostles and their direct representatives.  Because the miracles at this point is to establish the authority and truthfulness of the message that they are proclaiming.  So it always tied back to the apostles.

So they send for Peter, he's about ten miles away, in Lydda from Joppa.  So they want him to come quickly.  And it's estimated it would be about a three-hour walk.  He's going to make his way in a hurry, when they say do not delay in coming to us.  So Peter arose and went with them, the messengers that had come to him.  When he arrived, they brought him into the upper room where they had laid the body of Dorcas.  All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them.  She was providing for basic needs that the widows would have because when your husband died, what would you do?  He had been your source of support and provision.  So here basic clothing needs, Dorcas worked and provided those for these widows.  So great appreciation for her life as a testimony, as a believer.  The impact she has had, their sorrow here over her death.  Great faith on the part of these disciples who did send for Peter, that to hear Peter is nearby, this goes beyond just a healing.  This woman is dead but they tell Peter to come quickly.  So the Spirit of God has given them the confidence and faith that Peter can do something.

So here is what happens.  Peter sent them all out of the room.  He knelt down and prayed.  And turning to the body he said, Tabitha, arise.  She opened her eyes, she saw Peter and sat up.  I wonder what she said.  What are you doing here?

Just an aside.  There are some things going on from our state that have gotten worldwide attention.  Supposedly a young boy, maybe 4, and he had surgery, supposedly went to heaven and saw a blue-eyed Jesus.  I didn't know Jesus had blue eyes, but he saw a blue-eyed Jesus and lots of other things going on.  This book has gotten national attention, has become a best seller.  His father is a part-time pastor, I believe, in the western part of the state.  I was first made aware of it by Mike Wing who contacted me about what was going on out there and he has written a couple of responses to that book.  You don't find in the Bible people that are raised from the dead going around giving lectures on what heaven is like.  Lazarus spent days in the tomb.  You don't find Lazarus giving lectures on heaven.  Dorcas has been dead, but you don't find her now having a major part because she could tell people what heaven is like.  We don't go anywhere but to the word of God to find out what God has to say.

So just a reminder here.  Dorcas has died, but she now doesn't become an authority on what heaven is like, how Jesus looked when she saw Him in heaven when she was in heaven while her body was dead here on earth.  Comes to the foolishness of fallen man that 4-year-old kids become the authority and so you can become a best seller by writing such trivial things.  And it gets events, read about it in national newspapers and other sites and it is just sad.  The sad thing is that people who claim to be believers in Jesus Christ promote this kind of drivel and it really undermines the truthfulness of the word of God.

All that to say that neither Dorcas nor Tabitha becomes an authority on what heaven is like, as Lazarus did not become an authority on what heaven is like.  And we don't find the book of Lazarus in our New Testament because Lazarus can tell you what heaven is like because he had been there.  Wherever they were, they evidently did not have recall when they got back.  And the Spirit of God has not chosen to reveal anything for us through these means.

Peter speaks the word, she opens her eyes, and she sat up.  He gave her his hand, raised her up.  Calling the saints and the widows, he presented her alive—I give you Tabitha. Remarkable. But then again this is what some of those disciples were expecting.  Why did they send for Peter?  They believed that God was powerful enough, that Peter was in such a position as God's representative and servant that God might use him to bring her back.  And He does.

It became known all over Joppa and many believed in the Lord.  You'll note what is happening.  This again is a validation as it was with the restoration to physical strength, the healing of Aeneas.  The end of verse 35, they turned to the Lord.  The resuscitation, the resurrection.  But you understand all the resurrections of Scripture except the resurrection of Christ are resuscitations back to physical life.  Lazarus had to experience physical death at a later time in his life.  Dorcas will die.  So they are resuscitations back to physical life.  They don't receive resurrection bodies.

Come over to 1 Corinthians 15.  You get the order here.  Verse 20, but now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.  So as far as a true resurrection body, a gloried body not to die again, Christ is the first.  Lazarus didn't get a glorified body, those resurrected by Elijah and then Elisha or others in the earthly ministry of Christ did not get resurrection bodies.  I take it that would include then those in the tomb when Christ was raised from the dead.  It says other tombs were opened.  I assume that those were also resuscitations and that was the impact that these people who had died now appear and are back in the cities.  It would be like Dorcas' resurrection here to physical life.  It would make an impact to people of the time.  Because it says Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.  For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.  But each in his own order.  And here is the order—Christ the first fruits.  Sometimes they say the first fruits included Christ and those resurrected at the same time as He was resurrected.  But it doesn't say that, it says Christ is the first fruits.  It's limited to Him.  After that those who are Christ's at His coming.  That will include us at the Rapture and then Old Testament saints and Tribulation saints at the Second Coming to earth, the two phases of the Second Coming.  Then comes the end when He hands over the kingdom.  So we have an order laid out.

So we have an order laid out.  So I mention that so you understand the resurrections that take place in Scripture prior to this are resuscitations to physical life.  I'll just give you some Scripture.  Under Elijah the son of the widow of Zarephath in 1 Kings 17; the Shunamite woman's son under Elisha's ministry in 2 Kings 4.  You have the widow's son raised by Christ in Luke 7, the raising of Jairus' daughter in Luke 8.  You have Lazarus in John 11.  These events are significant, major events, but they are resuscitations back to life.  So encouraging having the loved one back but then they have to die.

My father had a heart attack and his heart stopped.  They got it going again.  He said that's the way I want to go.  I didn't know what happened.  I was just there and all of a sudden I was gone.  The next thing I know, I woke up and I was in a hospital.  I didn't have any idea, that's the way I want to go.  Well, I say they brought him back with shocking the heart and so on.  I'm not saying he was one of these resuscitations, don't misunderstand.  But then he had to go through the process of dying and he didn't get to go the way he wanted to go because then it was a drawn out process.  But that's what these are.  So each of those will die again and Dorcas in God's time will experience physical death.  Ultimate resurrection is to come.

All these miracles through the book of Acts are validating the message of Jesus Christ so that when the message of Christ is proclaimed, there is support for it.  Sometimes we think well if we could do this.  We had something that was popular years ago and there are still groups that promote it called power evangelism.  The Vineyard Movement, John Wimber promoted that.  Their position was that if we do the miracles like those found in the New Testament in the book of Acts, that will be power evangelism because it's evangelism that is a result of the demonstrations of the power of God.  But that's a misunderstanding of the word of God.
         
Come back to Matthew 8:14, when Jesus came into Peter's home, He saw his mother-in-law, Peter's mother-in-law lying sick in a bed with a fever.  He touched her hand, the fever left her, she got up and waited on Him.  When evening came they brought to Him many who were demon possessed.  He cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were ill.  This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.  Remember when the kingdom comes, sickness and death by and large can be removed.  That's the power and authority of the Messiah.  So here He is demonstrating that He is the Messiah.  His disciples were sent out with power over demonic spirits, over sickness and so on as His representative demonstrating that He is the Christ.  That's still going on.

Come over to Matthew 9:2, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed, similar to what Peter's situation has been with Aeneas.  Seeing their faith Jesus said to the paralytic, take courage, son, your sins are forgiven.  Some of the scribes said to themselves, this Man blasphemes.  Jesus said, knowing their thoughts, why are you thinking evil in your heart?  Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven or to get up and walk?  But so you may know the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.  You see what is being demonstrated—that He is the Messiah, the Savior, and in Him there is salvation.  And with that salvation will come the ultimate deliverance from all bodily affliction and so on when He establishes His kingdom.  So that particular context.

So the ministry as we have seen in 2 Corinthians 12:12, the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all signs and wonders and miracles.  They demonstrated that these are genuine apostles.  Now we are left with the ministry of the word of God.

Turn to Matthew 12:38, then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, teacher, we want to see a sign from you.  But He answered and said to them, an evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign.  It's not a sign of godliness; the craving for a sign indicates we don't believe the word of God.  But no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.  All the other signs pale in significance to this.  Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  Then the men of Ninevah will rise up against this generation because they repented at the preaching of Jonah.  Something greater than Jonah is here.  The Queen of Sheba, the Queen of the South will rise up with this generation and condemn it because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.  Something greater than Solomon is here.  You have the demonstration of Jesus Christ as prophet and king, superior to all.  And yet you won't believe.  That desire for additional signs, additional proof.

Turn over to Luke 16.  The rich man and Lazarus, they both die.  Verse 19, you have the introduction to the rich man who had splendid things and he dies.  The poor man, Lazarus, had nothing, he was a beggar.  The poor man died, was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom, the place of blessing, where Abraham is.  The rich man also died and was buried.  In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.  He cried out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me.  Send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue.  I am in agony in this flame.  Abraham said, child, remember that during your life you received good things; Lazarus, bad things.  He is being comforted, you are in agony.  There is a great chasm fixed, there is no crossing over after death.  There is no change in your condition.  Some are praying for the dead, there is no release from purgatory.  Those are all pagan concepts of unbelieving men.

Then he said, verse 27, send someone to my father's house.  Send Lazarus.  If he comes back from the dead, I have five brothers; let him warn them so they won't come to this place of torment.  Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.  No, but if someone comes to them from the dead they will repent.  Then this crucial statement, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.  Is that true?  Yes.  What happens?  The Jews as a nation did not fall on their face in faith in Jesus the Son of God when He was raised from the dead.  They are still fighting against the message of the resurrected Savior.  Stephen condemned them.  What did they do?  They stoned him to death for saying, I see Jesus at the right hand of the Father, standing there.  And they stoned him to death.  What do they want to do with Saul, the persecutor of the church when he is miraculously saved after seeing the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus?  He had to flee Damascus because they want to kill him.  So he preaches the message of the resurrected Christ in Jerusalem.  What did he have to do? Flee Jerusalem because they want to kill him.  Will they believe when one is raised from the dead?  No, but that's God's method of salvation.  So in the early days when they didn't have the recorded message of the word of God yet, the scripture established, the new message from God is being validated.

We'll go to one other passage, Hebrews 2.  Familiar passage to you who have studied this subject before.  The responsibility to believe the message given in the Old Testament through the mediation of angels at Mt. Sinai and the giving of the law and so on.  But God has now spoken through One who is a Son that is superior to the angels in every way.  Hebrews 2, for this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so we do not drift away.  For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.  After it was at the first spoken through the Lord it was confirmed to us by those who heard.  It was confirmed by Peter and John and those who heard it from the Lord.  God also testifying with them both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.  So He validated the ministry of these apostles by mighty miracles.  And that's what is happening with Peter.  Does that mean that's what's going to happen until today?  No, because now we have the written, recorded word of God as the Jews had their Old Testament.  Now the revelation of God has been complete.  If you do not believe what God has said in His word, you won't believe even if someone is raised from the dead.  So the message we'll come to in Acts 17, God is now declaring to all everywhere that they should repent because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.  That's the proof.  Jesus Christ is the Son of God, He is the Savior, and He is the One who will judge all humanity.  Do you want proof?  He was raised from the dead.  Well, I don't believe that.  That's your problem.  That's what God says, that's the evidence He has given, that's what is recorded in His word.  That's the ministry we have.

You lose sight of this and pretty soon people are saying we should be able to do exactly what Peter did, exactly what John did.  And then we can have power evangelism.  We lose our perspective on what is really done.  We misunderstand the unfolding history of Acts and what God is doing at that point in church history.  But what a blessing it is to us.  We have the Word of God that can be disseminated now everywhere.  We can take it with us wherever we go.  What a remarkable blessing that is.

Let's pause for prayer.  Thank You, Lord, for the unfolding history of the early church.  Thank You for the way that You use Your servants like Peter.  And Lord, thank You for validating Your Word so clearly, so powerfully.  But, Lord, we have a greater blessing today because we have the completed revelation.  How blessed we are to have the revelation from You in its entirety, the Word of God written out, each of us having our own copy in our possession, having copies that we can share with others so that we not only hear it from our lips but they can read it for themselves.  Lord, we thank You for the early history of the church.  And Lord we thank You for the blessings that are ours today as a result of Your working in those early days of the church's history.  And Lord we would take seriously our responsibility before You as Your people to be faithful to Your Word, to be faithful with Your Word.  And Lord be grateful for the high privilege and honor that is given to us to have in our possession a complete revelation from You from Genesis to Revelation, containing all that You have for us and a complete unfolding of Your provision of salvation in Your Son, Jesus Christ, the One in whose name we pray, amen.