A Miracle to Confirm the Word
Acts 3:1-10
If you have your Bibles, turn to Acts Chapter 3. We're dealing, of course, in the early chapters of Acts with the birth of the church. Our blessed Lord has ascended into heaven. He has...we saw that in Acts 1. In Acts 2, He sent the Holy Spirit to equip the church to do the work that He had begun to do. And we'll remember our study of Chapter 1 and the fact that the Lord gave the church all of the equipment to do the job. We saw that He gave the proper message, the proper manifestation, the proper might, the proper mystery, the proper mission, the proper motive and even the proper men as He filled up the ranks with Matthias.
He gave them everything they needed to finish His unfinished work that which He both began to do and teach. On the day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God came in Chapter 2 all of these ingredients came together in that church and mighty indeed was that church. In the first day of it's existence 3,000 were added to the beginning 120 and it began from there to minister for Jesus Christ and continued to do so today in 1972.
And from that very first day that the church was born, the Spirit of God gave gifts to the members of the church by which they could build the body up. Certain grace gifts, karismata, spiritual gifts, by which they could ministering to each other build the body. In addition to that, to that early church, God gave certain signed gifts. Gifts which were not meant for the building of the body, but which were meant to be signs to unbelievers for the purpose of confirming the preaching of the gospel.
Now we've talked about that at some length. And just a brief word of review. The Lord knew that there had to be some kind of confirmation of His witness. And so during His own lifetime, He not only said things, but He did things. And He said it is not only a matter of the words that I say, but you should believe me for the very works sake. In other words, the works that He did corroborated the words that He said. Nicodemus got that. He said, "we know that thou art a teacher come from God not because of what you say only, but because nobody can do the things that you do except God be with him."
So Christ, Himself, accredit dated His ministry by certain miracles. In the early church, He gave that same capacity to the apostles and the prophets in order that the word that they spoke might also be confirmed by signs and wonders and mighty deeds. The confirmation of any man's ministry today is not that any longer, it is whether he matches the word of God. This has become the standard. Because it is God's final revelation. But before the New Testament was complete in the era of the early church, the accommodating miracles gave confirmation to the gospel. When we read, for example, in 2 Corinthians Chapter 2, verse 12, which we've read before, "Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience and signs, wonders, and mighty deeds." They are there called the signs of an apostle. These gifts were given to the apostolic era for confirming the word.
And then, of course, we've read Hebrews 2:3, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him." And how was it confirmed? With signs, wonders, diverse miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Certain of the spiritual gifts then were signs of an apostle for confirming the word. When the apostles passed from the scene, and they are foundational as Ephesians 2:20 says, so did those gifts.
Now we have studied that those gifts were miracles, healing, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. They were signs to unbelieving, particularly unbelieving Jews, but unbelieving people confirming the gospel that was preached by the apostles. Now one of those gifts was the gift of healing. God granted to them, even as Jesus Christ had exercised that the ability to give physical recovery to the sick in order to verify that they were divine messengers. And when they would go somewhere to preach, they would accommodate their preaching with miracles, which would be evidenced to the people gathered around that God was acting. And if God was acting, then likely God was speaking, thus their gospel became believable.
And you'll remember that after the miracle of the languages in Act 2, 3,000 believed. After the miracle of the lame man in Chapter 3, by the time you get to Chapter 4, verse 4, there are already 5,000 believing men, plus women and children, or young people, that may have been as many as 15,000 converts within the first week of the birth of the church and it wasn't just the message. It was the message and the confirming miracles along with the message.
Now as soon as the church was born on the very first day this confirming ministry of healing began. Look at Chapter 2, verse 43. And fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. This miraculous kind of ministry began immediately on this the first day the church was born. Now as we come to Chapter 3 then, the Holy Spirit merely selects one of these miracles as an illustration. And the miracle occurs in verses 1-11 and then Peter's sermon in verses 12-26. You see the miracle gathers the crowd and confirms the testimony that Peter is about to give as being from God. And it's undeniable as we shall see.
And so Chapter 3 then is kind of a living illustration of the fact of Chapter 2, verse 43. It's just one particular illustration the Holy Spirit chose to show us how this miracle gift of healing accommodated the gospel message. Now before we look at the passage itself, verses 1-11, which we'll consider. It's a very simple passage and we can go through it briefly. Before we look at it though, I want to give just some biblical facts regarding the whole problem of healing, because there's much confusion about it today. And I want you to know that I give these because I believe that the word of God has some things specific to say about it. There's much confusion. There are all kinds of people who claim to be able to heal. There are certain people who claim to have the gift of healing. There are healers that run the gamut all the way from demonic healing to that which is supposedly of God and which, in fact, is of God.
There are all kinds of claims being made and there are people confused about what is the biblical teaching of healing. So I'm going to give you a very long introduction and a very short sermon. And you've been waiting for months for a short sermon. So let me just give you some facts to begin with that I trust will be of help to you in understanding this whole situation. First of all, I believe that the gift of healing as indicated in 1 Corinthians Chapter 12, the gift of healing was one of the gifts of an apostle. That can be verified throughout the book of Acts. It was definitely one of the gifts of the apostles.
We also would conclude that the apostles have passed from the scene. They are the foundation says Paul. They had their day. An apostle, in fact, was one who had seen Jesus Christ, with the exception of Paul who was an apostle in a special sense. We would say then that when the apostles passed from the scene so did the gift of healing along with tongues, interpretation of tongues, and miracles, the other gifts of an apostle. So that whatever exists today in the area of healing, it would not be the apostolic gift of healing.
Secondly, let me say this and these may or may not be connected, they are points in themselves. Secondly, Satan and his demons can heal. They can effect verifiable healing. And watch this, they can do it even in the name of the Jesus Christ. So just because some would be healer uses the name of Christ or the name of God in his incantations or in his technique is no guarantee that it is, in fact, God who is involved. Our Lord, Himself, predicted that false Christs and false prophets and false apostles would arise and, according to Mark 13, would perform many demonic signs and wonders. In Matthew Chapter 7 it indicates that same of them would even be done in the name of the Lord. They come before Christ the judgment Lord, Lord have we not done many wonderful works in your name, cast out demons in your name. He said, "depart from me," what, "I never knew you." There are people operating on the behalf of Satan in the name of God and in the name of Jesus Christ and we must be aware of this.
Satan functions as an angel of what? Of light. He masquerades in the character of Christ and godliness. Paul spoken about seducing spirits. He spoke about the doctrines of demons. And the power of healing is very often manifest in spiritism, spiritualism and demonic activities. In both white magic and in black magic. Black magic having to do with Satan himself, conjuring Satan up or demons directly. White magic having to do with incantations and magic that don't name Satan, but really deal in his realm.
So we must be very careful to beware of occult healing methods. And the danger of delusion in this area I think is compounded in the day in which we live as we get closer to the coming of Christ for the Bible tells us clearly in 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2 that in the latter times particularly in the tribulation there will a great increase in the working of Satan through these delusions. The text says, "even him," that's antichrist, "whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power signs and lying wonders." You see. And he was all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie.
During the tribulation, of course, this reaches an apex, but the mystery of iniquity is already beginning to work now and demonic activity is reaching a high point. And we need to be very much aware that God is not necessarily involved in everything that comes under His name. Do you believe that? You better believe that. The word of God is clear about that. The name of Jesus Christ is used in all kinds of ways that have nothing to do with Him. And I've told you many times the most subtle activity that Satan has is usually in the masquerade of the church of Jesus Christ, masquerading behind the pulpit claiming to be a minister of God or of Jesus Christ, is a man controlled by Satan himself, and apostate, a wolf in sheep's clothing.
This is Satan's subtle activity. And it is just as...we think of it in terms of liberalism, but it is just as true in the area of all of the healing thing as well. We need to be aware of that. Dr. Unger has written an interesting book in which he discusses demons in the world today. He's from Dallas Seminary. I quote one statement from Dr. Unger. "Demonic white magic can affect healings even when the scriptures are profoundly believed." It's interesting. "With the use of Christian prayers laying on of hands." Now that is a statement that is very interesting that actually in a thing that is apparently Christian, it is demonic activity that is going on. He continues, "If the practice opposes God's will as expressed in scripture, danger of demonic intrusion is present. Since cures by white magic take place under the guys of Christian truth and allegedly by the power of God, this type of healing is much more widespread than black magic and much more deceptive. Naïve believers and sometimes those who have some knowledge of God's word are ensnared believing this healing method to be Christian. In reality, the use of the Lord's name to affect such healings violates the second commandment which says "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who taketh His name in vain." This is exactly what the magical healer does. He prostitutes God's name for an unworthy purpose."
Many healers use the name God, the term Christ, the term Jesus, and the term Holy Ghost usually as an incantation or as a charm word to key an emotional response or a demonic response. I had the shocking experience this week of seeing the moving entitled Marjo which is a documentary in which a particular man who spent his life in healing comes clean supposedly as clean as anyone could come, as debouched as that individual is and is hypocritical. And apparently he came clean because he saw money in Hollywood at a faster clip than he saw it in his healing methods. But apparently he came clean anyway on the surface and he reveals the fact of all of the tricks of the trade. And in the picture it shows the so-called healings going on. If I know anything about what's going on, if I know anything at all about the scripture what was going on there was certainly the intrusion of demonic activities. Even to strange convulsions on the floor and the strange vocalizations, things that were terrifying were occurring obviously brought about by demons. And all done in the name of Jesus Christ by a man who behind the scenes laughs and mocks and blasphemes God and Christ.
It showed him sitting on his bed counting his money and saying thank you Jesus for helping me to bilk the people. This was all done in the name of Jesus Christ, every bit of it. But it was demonic, there's no question about it. And so just because somebody invokes Christ means nothing. If demons can accomplish their purpose in the name of Christ, they will do it. You watch healers often forcing people to be healed in the sense that they may grab them and say I command you to be healed. That is absolutely unbiblical. That is the antithesis of the statement in the word of God in Matthew 6, "Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
It is the opposite of simple trust and obedience. You say well why do they do that? Don't they know the scripture? Well, generally not, but they have some verification that they have assumed from Isaiah 53. The typical healing movement is based upon a misinterpretation of Isaiah 53, the statement "By his stripes," what, "we are healed." And healers have historically used that to mean that in the atonement there is physical healing for everybody. That is a gross misinterpretation of Isaiah 53. It has nothing to do with physical healing. Christ didn't die for the ills of the body, He died for the sin of the soul. We know that.
If there was healing in the atonement somebody sure should have informed the apostle Paul about it as he never got rid of his problem. No healing can be forced on anybody nor in this age can any healing be commanded. And anybody who goes around commanding people to be healed is taking a liberty that God's word does not give him. He is therefore functioning on a non-biblical base. And that's important to recognize. And if healings are being effected at that point, they are psychological or they are demonic. Now there's some interesting reading on this. I suggest that you might want to get a book entitled Occult Bondage and Deliverance by Kurt Coch.
Now he is a very, very astute German theologian with a worldwide reputation for accuracy and faithfulness as a believer, also a fine keen mind. He's made a lifelong study of the phenomenon of healing as it relates to the occult. And it's interesting to note that he brings out in his book that the theology of faith healers is generally unsound. That if you go into their basic theology, they are usually replete with the wrong doctrines of the Holy Spirit, wrong doctrines of spiritual gifts, wrong doctrines of sanctification, and very often wrong doctrines regarding salvation. An illustration and point that he gives, a man in Germany, Munich, by the name of Kurt Trampler who is a well known healer and also an author and a lawyer has had many of his healings authenticated. And there seems to be little doubt that he has, in fact, effected healings. He always in his healings uses the name of God and the name of Christ. But he denies the clear teaching of the word of God. And he is a mixture of pantheism, mysticism, naturalism, and Christianity.
In fact, I think it's he who says that it is this angel who stands beside him all the time who does the healing. I think he's right. But I think that's a fallen angel. But he does it always with the name of Christ and the name of God. Charm words to activate demons. Mary Baker Eddy Patterson Glover Fry the founder of Christian Science healed by mental telepathy. She was not a believer in the truth of the word of God by any stretch of the imagination. And yet she affected healings that are verifiable. Demons can heal. She did it in the name of Christ and the name of God.
Satanic healing has always been common among healers and we must be aware folks that just because the name of God is involved, the name of Christ is involved, the name Jesus or Holy Ghost or any other biblical term does not mean that God is involved. In fact, when someone is healed in the name of Christ under an unscriptural approach a non-biblical technique that smacks of typical media mystic activity rather than charismatic activity then we need to take careful notice.
And when it's...when at the core of the healing is wrong doctrine, then we need to be careful again because very seldom do right things come out of wrong doctrine. Raphael Gasson who was a formally spiritistic medium healer was converted to Jesus Christ in a wonderful conversion. He's written a startling book, a paperback, entitled The Challenging Counterfeit. And in that paperback he says this and I quote from it. "There are many spiritualists today who are endowed with this remarkable gift of healing by the power of Satan. And I myself having been used in this way can testify to having witnessed miraculous healing taking place at healing meetings."
Through the power of Satan. I suggest you read his book. The introduction to it is written by Walter Martin. In it he shows how diabolically like the truth faith this demonic system is and that if Satan wants to affect a counterfeit he will invariably use the name of Christ. And he will trap people in this counterfeit. I give you an illustration from the word of God in Acts 16, verse 16. "It came to pass as we went to prayer," this is Paul, Silas, "a certain maid possessed with a spirit of divination." Now here is a demon-possessed individual, a medium. "Who brought her master's much gain by soothsaying." Here she comes. "The same followed Paul and us and cried saying these men are the servants of the Most High God who show unto us the way of salvation." Stop right there. Sounds terrific. Terrific. Hey we got a new PR agent over here. She's...we're the Most High God servants. We've got the message of salvation. All the right words right out of the pit. Confusing the issue.
Verse 18, "And this did she many days but Paul being grieved turned and said to the spirit I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour." That was Satan. That was demonic. The declaration was accurate to the very letter. The source was hell. Watch Satan, he works as an angel of what? Of light. Of light. You know, I believe that even dear Christians who know and love Christ have been duped to believe that what Satan is doing God is doing, and it is not so.
Thirdly, you say where was secondly? That was a long time ago. Thirdly, you don't need to worry about the numbers. Much of so-called healing today in the name of Christ falls under several categories, fraud, such as in the case of this man who was exposed on television. What's interesting is having a conversation...it was all like a news reel. The people who were making the movie had no idea it was exposure. They thought it was legitimate and it was going to present his ministry. And it's shocking. In fact, his parents who put him up to the whole thing who were the biggest frauds of all, thought this was all very wonderful and kept talking about God had anointed them and so forth. And it exposes them as charlatans from beginning to end. He was sitting and talking with some pastor and this pastor said to him, "you know there are some healers who are in it for the money and who are fakes, but we always have you because we know you're real." Some of it is fraud. He made the confession that on all of the years that he had done this on the Dick Cavett Show that never had he seen a legitimate cure.
He was operating on the basis of fraud. There is also the problem of mass hypnosis where so people believe so strongly in an authority figure that they release their emotions to that figure and come under the spell of it and they have what we could call an emotional compensation. Their illness is overridden by their emotion to be well and the authority figure commands them to be well and in response to that they supersede the illness with a consciousness of health. Psychologists would explain it better than that.
There is also the fact that Mayo Clinic says 85% of the people that come there are psychosomatically ill. And so there's an awful lot of people to deal with in that case. So just because healings are going they're not necessarily verifiable by scriptural principles nor are they activity of God. And I'll give you some clearer principles as we go.
Fourthly, let's look at the word of God. What does the word say about healing? What...how can we judge and how can we evaluate. Now I'll trying to give you this as clearly as I can so that you'll be able to get a grip on it and understand it. The gift of healing, we're talking about the charismatic gift of healing, the gift of healing in the apostolic error was limited to the apostles and prophets. It was limited to that time, I believe that and it was limited to God's sovereignty. Not everybody was every healed. It was limited in every sense. And so we would believe then that it would still be limited if it were around but we don't believe it's around because we believe when the apostles ceased so did the gifts of an apostle.
But there are some biblical indications about healing apart from the gift of healing. Let me just dig a little bit deeper into the gift of healing for a minute as I think about it. As I read the New Testament, there is no indication in all of the New Testament church, watch this, that the apostolic gift of healing was ever exercised in the behalf of the believers. Now mark that. I don't find in the book of Acts the occasion where the gift of healing was exercised in behalf of the established church. It was like all those other signed gifts. It was a sign to whom? Unbelievers.
Now it may have been that at the moment of the miracle, the man was also saved. There was also salvation, but at no point do you find the apostle Paul going back to the established churches and healing the sick people there. It is always a sign to the unbeliever, you see. It is never designated as that which is to be constantly administered within the framework of the body. Illustration in point maybe would be in Acts 19:11, "God wrought special miracles by the hand of Paul so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs and aprons and the diseases departed from them and the evil spirits went out of them."
That was a fantastic thing. You'll notice that the ones who were healed were having evil spirits released. These are not the believer. This is the beginning of the ministry in Ephesus and to confirm the word, these miracles happened. Well, the results were fantastic. Verse 18, "And many that believed came, confessed their sins." You see. "Showed their deeds and then they sold their magical books or got them together and burned them, counted the price and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver." A pile of unbelievable value and all of this "so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." And then the church was established.
But you see all of that was only to get the thing going as a sign to unbelievers. Then when Paul got ready to leave Ephesus, what did he say? He said, "Okay you elders, feed the flock and take care of the flock." And he never said and keep on heeling the flock. At no point do you find in the established church the ministry of healing going on