We have two scripture readings this morning, first of all from Isaiah chapter 35, and then from Acts chapter 3, and I'll be preaching from Acts chapter 3. But we first of all turn to God's Word and we read together from the Old Testament, from Isaiah chapter 35. It's a beautiful passage, some of the verses here are well known because they're part of Handel's Messiah, which speak also of the joy that is ours certainly the joy in the first place of Israel when they could look forward to returning from exile, but our joy also in Jesus Christ. Hosea 35. The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad and the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon, They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance and with the recompense of God, he will come and save you. Verse five, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer And the tongue of the mute sing for joy, for waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand shall become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water in the haunt of jackals where they lie down. The grass shall become reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there and it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, it shall belong to those who walk on the way. Even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come upon it. They shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. So far the reading from Isaiah chapter 35, now let's turn to the book of Acts and we'll read together from Acts chapter 3. Acts 3, and this will be the text for the sermon this morning. Acts 3, now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer ninth hour and a man lame from birth was being carried whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple he asked to receive alms and Peter directed his gaze at him as did John and said look at us and he fixed his attention on them expecting to receive something from them But 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. And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and his ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk and enter the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's. And 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, 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 is, Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out. The times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 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 among 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. all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and those who came after him also proclaim these days you are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers saying to Abram and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed God having raised up his servants sent him to you first to bless you but turning every one of you from your wickedness so father reading from God's word Brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, he wasn't expecting a whole lot, was he? Copper coin, maybe two, that would have been enough. Just enough to let him eat a little bit of food for the day, a scrap of bread, occasionally something more, Perhaps if from time to time he could just get this little bit extra from somebody and so he could put it away and sometimes help a little bit for clothing, for a bed, and perhaps even for a little drop of wine. He could dream, but he could not really hope or expect much more. And there he lay, a lame man. lame, unable to walk since birth, reduced to the life of a beggar, a picture of misery, lying, as the Bible tells us, in front of a gate, and that gate's name was beautiful. That's the name of the gate. And then along comes Peter and John, two apostles, and they're walking into the temple, it's getting up to three o'clock in the afternoon, it's prayer time. And as Peter and John are about to walk through this beautiful gate, it would have been an ornate and a beautiful gate, and through this gate they would have gone into the temple courts, also equally beautiful to enter into this holy place, and it was there that Peter and John had intended to pray to a mighty God. They have to go past a beggar on the way in. And as they go past, the beggar catches their attention, and he holds out his hand and says, please, sir, please, can you spare a lame man a little bit of money, a few coins? Peter and John, they were not able to meet this man's expectations. Peter says, what you want? I'm sorry, I just don't have it. But then Peter says, but I do have something else to give you which is so much better. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk. And for the very first time in his life, His life of about 40 years, this feeling of strength, it coursed through his body and it went down his legs and all the way down to his feet and to his ankles. And for the first time in his life of over 40 years, a man who was born lame, he stood up on his own two feet. He'd asked for a few coins and he did not get them. But he got so much more than he could ever have dared to hope for or imagine. could get up, he could walk, he could leap, he could jump and this was a miracle. It was as if he'd received a new life, a time of refreshing, to use one of the words in Acts chapter 3, a time of restoration had come upon this man. And now here we are in Mandujong in 2025 and we read this story and I think most of us would know this story very well and you just think about what happened there and it feels somewhat distant, somewhat detached from our day-to-day lives because these sorts of things just don't seem to happen anymore, do they? I believe that God can still do miracles. I have witnessed things in my life, more recently and longer ago, that so clearly displayed the hand of God, I would most certainly call them miracles. But I have never seen a lame man get up and walk. So why did it happen then and not now? Has the Christian church lost something? Has the power in the name of Jesus lost something? Is there something missing? This man who moments later had been lying there, lame, he's now walking and he's leaping and he's praising God. He was so excited about what had happened to him. He was excited about Jesus in whose name he'd been healed. And we can understand that. I trust that we too, we would be walking and leaping and praising God if such a thing ever happened to us. But at times, at times we feel more like that lame man before he could walk. A picture of misery lying there in front of a gate called beautiful. Knowing of what we can look forward to, knowing of where this life will end, recognizing that there is a heaven, that there is eternity with God. But right now, just holding up our hands and just asking if we can just have a little bit of comfort, get a little bit of help, just so that I can just get through today. but hardly daring to receive more than that, at least not in this life right now. But Jesus says, get up, turn from your sins and have faith in my name. And he promises you, and I will give you times of refreshing and I will restore your life. And so my brothers and sisters, we might not see A lame man get up and walk. But that's okay. I'll explain later on as to why it's okay. But already now, which I can point out, is that it's actually not the miracle that we are to focus on, but the message we see through it. The message that in Jesus' name, we may receive times of refreshing and a restored life in Him. And I preach to you the gospel of life as it's given to us in Acts 3. Under this theme, a lame man walks as a testimony to restored life in Jesus' name. A lame man walks as a testimony to restored life in Jesus' name. Two points. First, a testimony to what was promised. And then second, a testimony to what is promised. So a testimony first of all to what was promised. And here what we're going to go through is to see how the raising up of this lame man was also in response to and fulfillment of prophecy. And we read together from Isaiah chapter 35. Isaiah 34 and 35 has two different futures which would be described there. Chapter 34 speaks about the wrath of God against the world. That is, the wrath of God against those who are enemies of God and his people. And there's a particular judgment here on Edom and the Edomites. On a great and terrible day, chapter 34 verse 4, the host of heaven shall rot away, the skies shall roll up like a scroll, and the host, that is the stars, shall fall down like leaves from a vine. Chapter 34 verse 5, it speaks also here about the sword of the Lord that would destroy them. But God's chosen people, chapter 35 says, God's chosen people could look forward to a good future, to want a blessing where they would see the glory and the majesty of our God. That's chapter 35, verse 2. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. And so the Lord promised that he would save his people. Salvation would be complete. And so this is also why it begins by talking about the wilderness, the dry land being glad, the desert rejoicing and blossoming. And so we can see this refreshing, this newness, this life in a deserted countryside of Israel where everything just springs into beauty and splendor. And then it's not just that the deserts will bloom, but verse 5 and 6, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened. and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy, for waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert." The ransom of the Lord. His chosen covenant ones. What is it said here? They're going to return from exile. They're going to come to Zion. And verse 10, they're going to do so with singing, with everlasting joy. And they're going to obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. And so this is how Isaiah describes the coming age. And what he's describing here is the coming of the age when the Lord would reveal his glory to his people in sending to them the Messiah. And that's also why this is in Handel's Messiah, because this is to be fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ. This was the future that the people of Zion, the people of Jerusalem could look forward to. In Isaiah 35, it does prophesy of a time when the blind would see, when the deaf would hear, and when the lame would walk. But this physical healing was actually a picture of something deeper, a picture of something spiritual. It was a picture of all things being made new and of the restoration of life and of spiritual blessing that would come when Israel returned to Zion. But the full restoration of the Kingdom of Israel would not come immediately after the return from exile. The full restoration of the Kingdom would come when the Son of Promise, the Messiah, would return. This is something which would not have been immediately evident, but as time goes on they see this. So, Isaiah is prophesying this indeed before the exile takes place. He's prophesying this, this is the future of God's people could look forward to. And so those who are going into exile, they're thinking when we return back to the promised land, this is what we'll experience. But as time goes on, it's realized that actually it's 400 years later when the Messiah actually comes that they will experience this. But then when Jesus was revealed, then the signs and the miracles he performed were done to show indeed that the times of refreshing had come. And that these prophecies were fulfilled. And Acts chapter 3 verse 20 refers to that. And indeed we see that. This is the reason as to why our Lord Jesus Christ performed those miracles that he did. when the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and said, well, are you actually the Messiah, the one we're expecting, or is there someone else to come? Jesus said to them, this is Luke chapter 7, he said, go and tell John what you've seen and heard. This is signs, these are signs that I am the Christ, and I'll quote, the blind receive the sight, The lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf are hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news preached to them. That's Luke chapter 7 verse 22. And so the miracles that Jesus performed prove that the time of salvation that the prophets had all looked forward to, that this time had come. The promised Messiah, the one through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed, he was now with them. He was in their midst. But then Jesus died. And the conclusion of the people was that this Jesus of Nazareth was not the one he claimed to be. The conclusion of many of the people of Israel was that he is not the Messiah, that he was not able to restore the kingdom to Israel, that he could not and he did not usher in that great messianic age that the prophet Uzziah had spoken about. And the people of Israel killed him. As Peter reminded the Jews in Acts chapter 3 verse 14 and 15, the people of Jerusalem, they delivered him up to Pontius Pilate. They denied him. They wanted a murderer to live instead of him. And they killed the prince of life. And Jesus, they believed, was dead. He was buried and he was best forgotten. And now we get this lame man, born lame, a man whom these people from Jerusalem all knew very well, a man who had his spot marked out at this temple gate, the beautiful one. But now this man, this man, is with two of Jesus' disciples, and he is walking, and he's leaping, and he's praising God. He's healed in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And as can be expected, the people stared at him with wonder. They're amazed. How could it be that this man, he's lame, and he's now leaping like a deer? And as the crowd ran to see him, exclaiming amazement over what had happened, then Peter gets the people's attention. And they calm down and he begins to speak. And now we get to chapter three, where Peter tells them exactly what had happened. There's amazing things here when Peter speaks to the people here. There's verse 11 onwards. The first thing to notice here is that he takes the focus away from the lame man. I want you to think about that. Because what we have today in so-called miracle crusades and those who say that look we're going to have all these things happening is all the focus is on the miracle crusade and the particular crusader who's around and the particular people who are going to be healed. But Peter takes the focus away from the lame man. He does not ask the lame man to stand up taller. He does not ask him to stand up straighter. He does not ask the lame man to present his legs and to hitch up his robes so they can see just how strong and how muscular these legs now are. And he doesn't even ask the lame man to get up and to give his testimony. Something else, verse 12. So Peter begins here in verse 12. Men of Israel, why do you wander at this? And why do you stare at us? Well the focus thing here to notice is, why do you wonder at this? So here too, it's not only that it's taking the focus and the emphasis away from this man, he's taking the focus away from the miracle. Why is he surprised at this? Then the other thing is this, or why do you stare at us, Peter and John, as though by our own power or piety, that's godliness, that we've made him walk? So he's also taken his focus away from himself and John. And he's taken his focus away from all these things and instead what is he doing? Is he is pointing to the one who healed this man. To Jesus of Nazareth. But what Peter really wants the people to understand here is that who this Jesus really is. He wants them to see Jesus the one through whom the prophecies of the Old Testament were being fulfilled. And so Peter begins to explain the meaning of what had taken place. And he starts in verse 13 by actually going right back to speak about the God of Abram, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, and the God of our fathers. In other words, the God of the covenant. The God who had spoken his promises of old, this is the God who is now at work. He prophesied in Genesis chapter 12, which he also refers to in Acts chapter 3. He prophesied in Genesis 12 and also in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy and also in Isaiah 35 and Isaiah 53 of what would take place. And indeed, as Peter says, all of the prophets from Samuel and all those following had in one way or another spoken of the things that were now happening. And so Peter preaches about Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, the one of whom the Old Testament spoke and looked forward to. And as you go through Acts chapter 3, you recognize then that Peter uses the words and the names from the Old Testament to describe Jesus. He calls the Lord Jesus God's servant. Isaiah 53, for example, speaks about the servant, the one who would be bruised for our transgressions, whose stripes by whom we'd be healed. He calls Jesus the Holy One. He calls Him the Righteous One. And so what Peter is doing here is that he is actually making it very clear that this Jesus who healed this lamb in His name, this Jesus is indeed the one that the Old Testament was speaking about. He really is the Messiah. This Jesus whom the Jews had denied, whom the Jews had crucified, he is alive and he is seated at the right hand of God. This Jesus was the one who'd been promised, the one who would bring them about times of refreshing, the restoration of life, the making of all things new. And the healing of the lame man was a testimony to this. It was evidence that Jesus is the Christ. And now do you understand that then? This is what is actually going on in this particular passage here. It has to do with demonstration that Jesus really is the Christ. And then Peter goes on in chapter 3 verse 16. 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. Jesus Christ had indeed died, but he rose again, he ascended to heaven, he's exalted at God's right hand, and now through his spirit, he is now active in restoring all things to himself. In this manner, Peter explained that although he spoke the words, it was the Lord Jesus who had healed this man, not Peter. When Peter spoke in Jesus' name, With the faith that had been given to him for this man's healing, it was the Lord Jesus Christ who was acting, and not Peter. And when by faith this lame man accepted the hand of Peter and stood up, he was healed. But the healing of this lame man now caused the Jews to respond. You see, if Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the prophet who was to come, If the suffering servant who would bring in the times of refreshing and restoration was this Jesus of Nazareth, then the Jews in the first place, the children of the promise, the children of the covenant, they must repent and believe. You see, the Jews had not recognized who Jesus of Nazareth really was. In ignorance, they rejected him, they put him to death, but now he's revealed to them as the promised Messiah, as the prince, as the author of life itself. And for the Jews, indeed for all of us, to enjoy the restoration of all things in Christ, we must repent. We must be converted. Rather than turn away from God, we must turn to him and receive the blessings of a restored life in Jesus' name. And that brings me to our second point, a testimony to what is promised. Here's this layman and he's lying there, he's a beggar. He sees Peter and John coming towards him and he doesn't have any great expectations. Just a copper coin or two that would satisfy him. There indeed he had lain, a picture of misery in front of a gate called Beautiful. But this man, through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was made strong. When Peter commanded him to rise up and walk, he was instantly and completely healed to the point that he was seen leaping and walking and praising God. But now what about us? What can we expect? What can we hope for? I don't know about you, but for myself, there are times when leaping and praising God, it sounds like a dream. Sometimes I feel more like that lame man before he could walk. Ah, the gate called beautiful is right there behind me. But right now, I'm not feeling it. There are times when we can hold out our little hands just for a little bit of comfort. Just for a little bit of help. But we hardly dare to expect more than that. At least not in this life. But what does the glorified Christ He who sits and rules from the Father's right hand. What does the glorified Christ promise us? What can we hope for? What should our expectations be? Many miracles took place in the early church. Sick people, also those with unclean spirits were healed. Acts chapter 5 says that some were healed when only Peter's shadow passed over them. And there were times too that we too might hope and pray for this kind of a miracle. And as we pray we can be confident indeed that God can heal. He is able to heal. He is Almighty God. He is our faithful Father. He does listen to us when we pray. But then we must also remember the particular time in the history of salvation in which we live. We live in a time of history that's sometimes referred to as the already, but not yet. And this is a very helpful way to think about this time we live in. We live in the already, but not yet. What do we mean by that? What we mean is Christ has already been revealed to us as the promised Messiah. He has already been glorified at the Father's right hand. He already has all things in His power. But Jesus has not yet restored all things to himself. The complete fulfillment of the promised new creation lies in the future when Jesus will return on the clouds of heaven. And so the miracles that the apostles performed in those first days after Pentecost did not signify the complete fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. but only of the beginning of a new messianic age. So the miracles that we read about in the book of Acts were signs that pointed to something else. These were signs that pointed to the glorified Christ and to the complete restoration of life that we should receive in Him. And I'd like you to think about this and also then how we understand ourselves in the history of God's redemption in the middle of all this, already not yet. I'd already just noted that when Isaiah 35 was first prophesied, the Jews who clung to this prophecy when they were in exile, they would have been anticipating that yes, when we get back into the promised land, this is how it's going to be. But we also recognize that when the remnant went back to the promised land, these in the days also of Nehemiah and so forth, that actually it didn't turn out the way that they had first anticipated. That when they first went back to the promised land that they experienced hardship and trouble and grief and opposition. But then later on, when the Lord Jesus Christ came, this is when we saw indeed that indeed those promises of Isaiah 35 indeed did begin to be fulfilled. But then Jesus died. And then the question is, well, now what? But then when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the early church, we have a miracle such as we have in Acts chapter three to demonstrate that truly Jesus is alive and he is glorified and he is in control. And indeed, these times of refreshing are now here. But even there, we know and we recognize that we are still looking forward to that which is to come, to the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes this whole process is described, I've had it described in this sort of a way. When you're driving at a distance, let's say you're going from Perth down to Albany, and when you get close to Cranbrook, you're going to see the Stirling Ranges. And when you first see the Stirling Ranges, you see them pretty much as a solid block, just of a mountain range. And so it looks almost as if it's just one solid mountain piece there. But as you come closer, you begin to see some difference from one to the other. A difference in depth from one mountain to the other. And then when you were to actually get to the mountains, you would actually be able to go up and over one, or even go through a mountain pass, say through the Red Gum Pass, and you're going to see that actually there's this depth to these mountains. You see one, and then the next, and then the next. And this is also the way the prophecy works. And this is how God is working also. That when we see something just into the future, it's as if this is all in the future. And so Acts chapter 35 for the people initially is like, oh this is the wonderful messianic age to come. But we see then how God works through history. It is in times, and as things go through, as the history goes through, that they can see first one part is revealed and that is fulfilled, but that is even an initial fulfillment that looks forward to something else. And that way we see that these are all signs that are pointing to the complete fulfillment of all things. When the glorified Christ comes and there is complete restoration in Him. It's important for us to understand. There's something else which is important for us to understand also and that has to do with the reason then for the miracles in the book of Acts which links exactly with what I've been speaking about. And we can also see this because we might say, well why can't we have those same miracles today? Well understand that even in those days the disciples could not heal people whenever and however they wished without exception. The Apostle Paul, for example, he healed many people. But if you were to go to, and we won't do it now, but if you go to Philippians chapter 2, it's 25 to 27 or thereabouts, certainly verse 27, you can just jot that down if you want to check at home. We see here that Paul has a friend and a fellow worker called Epaphroditus. Paul is thankful in Philippians chapter 2 because Epaphroditus had almost died. Notice that he did actually, was restored to life. But there is no indication in the scriptures that actually this was some sort of miracle thing where Paul just laid his hands on him and instantly he was healed. To the contrary, the impression we get is something quite different, where they were very concerned about his life, they prayed to God, and in time he gradually got better. There's another example. 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 20, Paul has another co-worker, his name is Trophimus. Trophimus got so sick along the way that not only was he not able to minister along with Paul but Trophimus gets so sick along the way that Paul actually had to leave him behind in Miletus and then continue himself. He wasn't healed, certainly not instantly. And then we have another example too and that is of the Apostle Paul himself. We learn the Apostle Paul had a thorn in his flesh that God did not remove. And so what do we see from this? What we see here is that it's not as though in those days you had these healing crusades and anybody just with a flick of a finger just got healed. The apostles did receive the gift of healing but not to heal whomever they wished and whenever they pleased. And sometimes they too did not receive the miracle that they prayed for. But why does it matter? What's the point here? Well the issue here is that it's okay because these miracles were not the means and ends in themselves. This is also why Peter doesn't get to think about this miracle. He directs them away from the miracle. The miracles were a sign that God had made this Jesus of Nazareth both Lord and Christ. That's Acts chapter 2 verse 36. These miracles were indeed a message that by believing in Jesus Christ, we will receive not healing from being lame, but we will receive the forgiveness of sins and look forward to the complete restoration of our lives. And you see, this is then why Peter takes the focus away from the lame man and away from himself, and he calls the people to give their full attention to the name of Jesus. Because ultimately, it's not the number of miracles that Christ had come to accomplish, sorry, a number of miracles, but it is the miracle that Jesus Christ had come to accomplish, and that is the miracle of a new life. And so this lame man, he walks as a testimony to that miracle, to restored life in Jesus' name. Oh yes, it's true. The complete restoration of all things when God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, it lies in the future when our Lord returns. But through the healing of this lame man, The Lord calls us to the restoration of life that already begins today. So what does God call you to do? What does He expect of you to do? What does He want from you? Well, from Acts 3, there are things here which we can see. He calls you to repent and to be converted to Him. He promises you that your sin then will be blotted out He wants you to live in the presence of the Lord and ready now to enjoy times of refreshing. He expects you to look forward to the future with hope and that you be confident that when Jesus Christ returns, he's gonna restore all things and that all things will be made new. And he wants you to be walking and leaping and praising God. And so I ask you, Does the joy that filled this lame man's heart, causing him to leap and walk and praise God, does that joy fill you also? Is the gospel, is the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ, is it so vivid? Is it so beautiful to you that your spirit and that your soul and that your body so feels refreshed? Are you ready to praise God and to exclaim with joy and gladness, it is so good to be a Christian and what a blessed life I have in Him? You know, for most of us, maybe all, there are times in our lives when we don't feel that way. Might be a day, might be a week or a month, and it could even be years. There are times when our lives could better be described as lying in misery. in front of a gate called beautiful. Where the joy of faith is clouded with a guilt, with a shame, with a pain, and with the tears of this present life. There are times when we long to be refreshed in the joy of faith. When we long to enjoy even the smallest taste of the fullness of God's salvation. But then what do we do? Well, Peter says, this is the answer. Chapter three, verse 19 and 20. Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, and that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus. Does that sound too good to be true? That times of refreshing might come to you from the presence of the Lord. Is that too great a thing to hope for, even today? You know, for our sins to be blotted out and to be remembered no more, it may seem like a dream. Many of us go through life weighed down with the burden of guilt. It makes us depressed. It makes us anxious. It makes us long for the time when the lame shall leap like a deer, when the tongue of the dumb shall sing, and when the waters cover the wilderness, and when streams flow from the desert. The final restoration of these things does lie in the future. It's the promised hope that we are eagerly waiting for, but the joy of salvation complete forgiveness of all your sins, the restoration of life, yes a life in Jesus Christ, this is already offered to you right now. The last verse of Acts chapter 3 verse 26 says this, God having raised up his servant, that's Jesus, God having raised up his servant sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness. It says here, to you first. No, that does not directly apply to you and to me. It was to the Jews first, of whom Peter is speaking. It is to those Jews that Jesus was sent to bless them and to forgive them. But then understand which Jews Peter is speaking about here. He is talking to the very Jews who had denied the Christ. He is talking to the very Jews who had handed him over to be crucified, who exchanged him for a murderer. To quote from one commentator, James Montgomery Boyce, he wrote, it is to these people, the very ones who've been instrumental in the greatest crime in human history, that God now comes with the gospel of salvation and he comes to them first. It's God's way of saying, I know what you've done, but I do not hold it over you. I love you anyway. It is precisely for people like you that I caused Jesus to die. God knows you. He knows what you have done. But he sent Christ to die for you anyway. And there's something else I'd like to point out. In Acts chapter three, the apostle Peter, he said to the Jews, but you denied the Holy One. You see, that was their sin. And yet Peter, he held open the gospel to them and he urged them to repent. To believe. Yes, to believe the promise that God would blot out their sin and restore their life. And Peter could say that with complete certainty. Because Peter himself, just a few weeks earlier, a few months earlier, had denied the Christ. But Peter had experienced his sins forgiven and being restored to his savior. And for us today, that gospel promise remains. I don't know who you are, I don't know where you are in life, and I don't know what you've done. And I don't know the guilt that you are carrying. Whatever the case, God proclaims his son to you. It is in that sense for you, that Jesus died. He died. He rose again. And He sits at the Father's right hand, so that believing in Him, you might have life in His name. Amen. Well, let's respond. We're going to sing together from a hymn 810 for a thousand tongues. We'll sing the whole hymn, verse one through seven.