Acts 9, verse 32. Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you, rise. and make your bed.' And immediately he rose. And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord. Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, or Tabitha, which translated means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days she became ill and died. And when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, please come to us without delay. So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. But Peter put them all outside and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes and when she saw Peter, she sat up and he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive, and it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner. Amen. A rise can have a number of applications. But they all involve a change of state. The passage we read together has three examples of people who arose and in each case there was some change involved. One was in a state of immobility and he arose to a state of mobility. One was in a state of rest and he rose to a state of activity. and one was in a state of very real death and she arose to a state of life. So today I'm going to use these examples to describe the journey of one of God's elect going from being a lost sinner in this world to being a glorified saint in the next. Now, we've spent a few weeks following Paul, haven't we? And it's been an interesting story. We've moved from him being the great persecutor of the church to its chief ambassador, himself becoming persecuted now in the process. We temporarily leave Paul today and we want to go and see what Peter is up to. And we catch up with him after he's arrived at a place called Lydda. It's about a day and a half's walk from Jerusalem. Well, our reading covered two miracles that were performed by Peter. He's now moving into territory where he's in danger of mixing with sinful Gentiles. But those miracles, what they're to do is they're going to open the door They're gonna open the doors to a ministry to the Gentiles. Now, I know that we speak about Paul, don't we, being the apostle to the Gentiles? And in fact, he uses that title of himself. But the initial step towards reaching these other peoples is made by Peter. He's going to places where he'll meet more Gentiles. And we see at the end of our reading that he's staying with this guy called Simon. Now, this Simon, he's self-employed. He's working as a tanner. And it's someone who, he takes animal skins and he treats them for different things. Maybe makes coats or rugs or something, I don't know. But that wasn't a profession that a Jew could have because it's working with carcasses. So now here's Peter becoming his lodger for a while. You can see things are changing here. But anyway, we're going to look at these three examples then of people arising in this passage and use them to think about what are the ways in which we are said to arise. So the first example then is arising from inability. Inability. Now in verse 33, Peter encounters this man called Aeneas. He's disabled. And eight years ago, his health problem left him bedridden. And so it's been eight years since he last had the experience of just standing up. He was paralyzed. For those of us who have mobility, who can stand up and walk around, we do take it for granted, don't we? We do take it for granted. If someone asks us whether we appreciate what we have, our capabilities, then that would cause us to remember what a blessing it is, and maybe then express to that person our gratitude for God for giving us this great ability, for example, walking. We're prompted then to be appreciative, but really it's the same for everything that we can do. All our faculties, generally speaking, unless someone brings it to our attention, or we force ourselves in prayer to think on these things, We get up each day and we assume that we'll be the same as the previous day. And deep down, I suggest, we don't think it's ever going to change. That's why when we are afflicted in some way, especially if it's a condition that's not going to get better, we feel stunned, we're surprised as if we didn't see this coming. We all know it's coming, but we still were surprised. Well, there's not really much background to what happens next. Peter meets the man, Aeneas, and the next thing, he's launching himself into this miraculous healing. It looks like he just speaks to this man. He announces the healing. He just declares it, done. And straight away, the man stands up. What joy the man must feel now. I imagine, I can picture him, you know, looking down at his feet, you know, marching on the spot, just not quite believing that he can do this again. Unable to believe this is happening. If I was there instead of Peter, if I had turned up, what would I have done? I'd have offered to pray for the man. I would have prayed for the man. But I'll be perfectly honest, the last thing I'd expect is for the man to suddenly jump up. Now, don't get me wrong, folks. I have absolute faith that God can do such a thing. That's not the issue. That's not the issue. My observation of how God has worked and how he continues to work leads me to believe that that sort of miracle is not to be expected as a normal experience. Now, we can't digress anymore into this issue of miraculous answers to prayer. Instead, I want to emphasize how different Peter was from us. Just remember, he was an apostle. We are not apostles. He had a divinely given faith, an absolute conviction that he could walk up to a man and miraculously heal him. Now, the power behind all this and the high level of faith that Peter had is to be credited to Jesus Christ. Now we've seen miraculous healings before this day and we've heard the name of Jesus Christ being invoked to make sure these things are done by his power and his authority. So today's example though is slightly different. But it's only different in the way that Peter expresses himself. Now, if you look at verse 34, Jesus Christ heals you, he says. He says, be healed by Jesus. Now, I think it's useful that he expresses it in this different way. The only phrase he ever used was, in the name of Jesus Christ. It's possible that a reader might just miss what's going on there. They might think, okay, we get it. They're healing someone and they're doing it on behalf of their master. But now, Peter, expressing it this way, he forces us to see things from a different angle. The apostles were not just representatives of a Lord who was too busy to be there himself. The Lord was there. He always is. And he wasn't there merely to give permission for them to do something on his behalf. He was doing the healing all along. He was doing the healing. He was using the apostles as mediums That is, his healing power was channeled through them. Now that's an act of real grace, that. That's a gift to us, that a God who doesn't even need us chooses to use us. And remember, although he uses his people in different ways, his use of you, friend, is just as real. You are just as important an instrument in his hands as anyone else, remember? Well, this rising up from disability to health, which we see in Aeneas, should cause us to think about how the sinner is changed. They go from illness to wellness. With respect to their relationship with God, they are immobilized by the disability of sin. They are paralyzed by it. They cannot so much as take a step forward in God's service. Left alone, friends, they cannot even get up to touch the hem of Jesus' garment with the hope of healing. But for that man or woman in whom the Spirit of God is at work, change happens. The Lord himself stands at their bedside, if you like, and speaks to them. Where there was spiritual deadness, they feel the onset of this spiritual life. They see the hand of Jesus outstretched towards them and they take hold of it. And by his power, they stand up, raised to newness of life by Jesus Christ himself. Now, we were all born into this world with that condition. Oh, I know you were all physically walking around the place, but in a spiritual sense, we were bedridden. We were paralyzed by sin ourselves. And if you have, by the grace of God, if you have spiritual life today, it's because Jesus took the initiative and healed you from your sin. Through the scriptures, you read the story. of how he accomplished your salvation, how he took your sin and claimed it as his own. And having done this, he was able then, in all justice, to appoint a day, sometime in the 20th or the 21st century, and heal you, and give you new life, which you now have. Let's look at our second example. Here, an example of a rising in faith. So there's this disciple then, her name in Aramaic, which is the language Jesus spoke, Aramaic, and her name was Tabitha, or Tabitha. And her name in Greek was Dorcas. It means gazelle, I don't know if that's relevant, gazelle, but it's a nice name, innit? And you already know what happens with her, so you might think, oh, no, I know now. He's going to talk now about how she was raised from the dead. Well, we'll come to that. But let's not just skip past what happened before that. OK. Dorcas has passed away, sadly, and that's that. There's no mention in the Book of Acts so far of anyone being raised from the dead. I don't believe it happened. until this point. There's just the memory amongst certain people, there's this memory of those golden days when Jesus Christ walked the earth and he did that very thing, raised people from the dead. Yet the times that Christians find themselves in here is special. People have been gossiping all over the place about genuine miracles now being performed by the apostles of Jesus. There's this feeling amongst the people that perhaps nothing is impossible. The disciples in Joppa clearly have this great faith. They don't know for sure what the outcome of all this is. But there's this belief that the Lord is moving so powerfully right now in these visible signs that it's definitely worth getting Peter involved. And, you know, he's only just down the road. Let's do it. You'll see in verse 39, it says Peter rises. They've explained the situation about this woman, Dorcas, who everyone loved, you know, clearly. And they've told him, quite straight, that she's dead. But of course, they haven't legged it all the way to Lydda, just to spread some bad news. There's an urgency here. You can see it in verse 38, they say, please come to us without delay. They know Dorcas is dead. Well, please hurry up. Peter rises, he gets up. He doesn't just sit there and offer condolences. He doesn't promise them that he'll pray for the family. He doesn't ask what date the funeral is. He arises, he gets up and he goes. And there's only one reason Peter cooperates with them. He believes he can help. We don't know exactly what he's thinking at this point when he's racing to Joppa, but he clearly thinks something can be done. He has this faith. And I want you to consider friends about Peter's faith and your own. We've already looked at a picture of a sinner being raised to new life in Christ. And the picture we have now is that person rising up in faith each day of his new life. We weren't healed of this paralysis of sin so that we could just sit around. That would be just another type of paralysis. The saint who claims to have been given new life but is inactive causes us to suspect that they're not in Christ at all. The one in whom is the Spirit of God rises up each day to serve their Lord. If you've been made alive, look lively. The Word of God points you towards good works, so get up and go. The godly lady in our story, this Dorcas, is herself an example to us. Look at how she's described in verse 36. It's not that she's done some good works and acts of charity, it says she was full of them. Her good works and charity were her daily business. If you want to turn to this scripture, it's a nice one, it's in 2 Timothy in chapter two. 2 Timothy chapter two and verse 21. It says, therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy. useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. In every generation, there will be people who profess to have faith in Christ, but whose lives are not marked by good works. They convince themselves and they try to convince you that they have faith, as if that's enough. that very matter's already been dealt with in the scriptures. Next time someone says to you they have a very private faith, you can be quite confident they have no faith at all. They want a faith which extends only to spiritual feelings and the occasional prayer. And because that life doesn't include all those attitudes and behaviors, which are marks of a genuine Christian, but their faith is dead. James says, your faith is dead, it's fake. As you, I think, brethren, are well aware, genuine faith cannot hide. It has to show itself. It must reveal itself outwardly in changes in character and in life. Here's the question, is that how the Lord's people would describe you? when you're not there. Is that how the Lord's people would characterise you? More importantly, how would the Lord describe you right now? Full of good works and acts of charity or doing the bare minimum which you think is required to keep you in God's good books. Is that what it is? Rise up, friends, to Rise up as a fellow labourer in the gospel here. Rise up in faith each day. Rise up to pray in earnest. Rise up to pour over God's written word. Rise up to worship with the saints. Rise up to witness for Christ. Rise up to serve the brethren. Rise and shine. That's the term I've used as the title for this message today. Rise and shine. And that's taken from scripture. from Isaiah. So rise up and blaze for God. Our third example, brothers and sisters, is arising from death, arising from death itself. Going back to Joppa, Peter's arrived and he's immediately escorted upstairs to where poor Dorcas lays. I should say the remains, shouldn't I? Dorcas is actually dead. With what happens next, I can think of two possibilities now. So Peter may have determined to pray, to see what God would say, to get an answer. Either a yes, I'll raise it, you can carry on. Or, sorry Peter, it's all over. This is her time. The other possibility of what happened is, that occurred to me anyway, is that Peter is quite confident about what is going to happen. You see this confidence in the text, I think, in verse 40. You know, he takes charge, he puts everyone out of the room. And so, in this way, his prayer, instead of asking God, you know, what do you plan to do with Dorcas? This prayer might instead be a prayer of thanks, for what was about to happen. An outcome that the Lord has already revealed to Peter inwardly. Now, based on what I think about Peter and what's happened so far, I favour that interpretation. I think he knew what was going to happen and the prayer was, thank you Lord, glorify yourself in what's about to happen that you've told me is about to happen. I think that's it. So he's prayed and then he turns to look at the body. And at this point, he's fully confident that the Lord's going to reanimate this corpse of Dorcas. She's about to be made alive all over again. Tabitha, arise. The scene is reminiscent, isn't it, of that occasion when Jesus raised that little girl from the dead, now you might remember that, you can read about it later if you wish, it's in Mark chapter five. Jesus cleared the room out of spectators like Peter. Not entirely sure why, you can take a few guesses. And Jesus, like Peter, took the person by the hand as they were coming back to life. And of course the names of these two females are quite similar too. The one with Jesus was Talitha, this one's Tabitha. Now the names aren't connected, don't get carried away, but perhaps the law providentially arranged for the similarity in names so that we'd more easily spot the similarity of the events. Peter's healing then partially reflects one performed by Jesus. It shows that the apostles were continuing that which Jesus had started. And friends, more importantly than all the miracles in the world, the church throughout the ages to come could take the gospel message to every corner of the globe. Miracles were just a means to a far greater end. Miracles were to throw the spotlight on Jesus Christ. and him crucified. Well, just as we used the rising up of Aeneas to represent life to dead sinners, and as we used the rising up of Peter to show the faith the new believer has, a faith which naturally results in a life of good works, we now employ the raising of Dorcas as a picture of resurrection from the dead. Well, Dorcas is left for us, not only as an example of the power of God over death itself, but to show that this power will be used to raise us from the dead. The Christian is to have the faith of saints like Job, who prayed to God that at the appointed time in the future, he'd remember Job. Job knew that the current version of himself was going to perish. He said, I'm going to be ate by worms. That's his language, not mine. But he was also extremely confident that he would rise again, that he'd stand on his own two feet again, that he'd meet his Redeemer in a very real sense. He didn't believe that he'd be spending an eternity as a shapeless spiritual and not at all, a very real face-to-face reunification with Jesus. And so the promise to you, friends, is the Lord will not forget you. The Lord will not forget you. At the appointed time, when the history of this world has ended, you will hear his voice. I imagine he'll call you by name. But I don't know what that name will be. Will he say arise poor, or will he have given me a new name? I don't know. But I'll know. I'll know he's speaking to me, and you'll know he's speaking to you. And when he does that, we'll awaken. Friends, death will not be able to keep hold of you. Do you understand? You'll enjoy that victory over the grave. The precedent for all this was set when Jesus broke free of death. Now, the grave could be likened to a giant monster. It tries to keep you trapped in its belly, but just as the power of God sees Jesus out of the claws of that monster, so that power will be used to bring you out too. You know, friend, that your time, your time with the saints is limited. We all know this. Each one of us is to be handed over to the clutches of the grave, like Jesus did before us, just for a season. But just as God's power was shown when Jesus gloriously raised from the dead, so the glory of God will be shown in this great end-time extravaganza, which is to call millions upon millions of people Being told to arise, what a great scene. What a magnificent scene. When I read John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, I thought he was, in my opinion, I thought he'd gone a bit faulty in this picture that he paints, because Bunyan has this image of the saints entering glory in ones and twos. in dribs and drabs, you know, each entry accompanied by a sort of round of applause or something from the angels. And I contest that the Bible pictures something different. The Bible pictures one great simultaneous awakening of all the saints, one great and glorious day. That is our hope, Fred. If you're a believer today, then God has at some point in the past bidden you arise from your helpless state of sin. He bids you each day to rise up and do his will. And he promises you that he'll call you on that great day and bid you arise, but this time to an eternal inheritance. Friends, this is an eternal existence where you'll never have to worry about sinning ever again. You'll never have to go to God and ask for forgiveness ever again. You'll never have to figure out how to deal with the sinfulness of other people, for they, like you, will be sinless. So rise up today, Saint, rise up to save God in true faith. And if possible, if possible, look forward with relish to the day that's to come when this one last time, he says, arise. And he invites you to live with him and all your friends forever. Amen.