There are some other profound phrases in America
the beautiful. America is beautiful. I guess
I realized that afresh after Mike and I had the
opportunity to visit in a communist nation a
couple of weeks ago. We're looking forward to
bringing that report to you next Sunday evening.
One thing I was surprised to see was the degree
of liberty that there is religiously speaking
in the nation of Poland quite in contrast to
surrounding nations East Germany and Czechoslovakia
Russia but within the nation of Poland I was
surprised I had my eyes open to see that they
do enjoy at this particular time at least a good
deal of freedom of religion have you ever had
an eye -opening experience like that as we turn
to our text today in Acts chapter 9, we're going
to see that Peter had an eye -opening experience
too. One of those times when he was taught something
so that he was enlightened and it seemed as though
the sun suddenly arose upon the horizon. That
eye -opening experience actually takes place
in chapter 10. Our text today, beginning in chapter
9, verse 32, deals with the preparation for that
experience. Acts chapter 9, beginning in verse
32. Now it came about that if Peter was traveling
through all those parts, he came down also to
the saints who lived at Lidup. And there he found
a certain man named Aeneas. who had been bedridden
eight years, for he was paralyzed. And Peter
said to him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you.
Arise and make your bed. And immediately he arose.
And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him,
and they turned to the Lord. Now in Joppa, there
was a certain disciple named Tabitha. which translated
in Greek is called Dorkus. This woman was abounding
with deeds of kindness and charity, which she
continually did. And it came about at that time
that she fell sick and died. When they had washed
her body, they laid it in an upper room. And
since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples having
heard that Peter was there, Sent two men to him
and treating him do not delay to come to us Peter
arose and went with them When he had come they
brought him into the upper room and all the widows
stood beside him weeping and showing all the
tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make
while she was with them But Peter sent them all
out 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. And
calling the saints and widows, he presented her
alive. And it became known all over Joppa, and
many believed in the Lord. And it came about
that he stayed many days in Joppa with a certain
tanner, Simon. Verse 32 continues the narrative.
from chapter 8, verse 25. It is the record of
Peter's ministry. Saul's conversion was inserted
by Luke in the text to prepare us for his eventual
role as the main figure in the book of Acts.
He then sent Saul off to Tarsus for a period
of 10 years. And it is apparently during the
beginning of that time when Saul was in Tarsus,
his hometown, that Peter did this traveling that
is mentioned in verse 32. He conducted an itinerant
ministry, it says, through all those parts, which
would seem to refer back to verse 31, which speaks
about Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. The area around
Jerusalem, the area of Galilee to the north,
where Jesus ministered around Nazareth, the Sea
of Galilee, And then in Samaria, that land in
between Judea and Galilee, where the half -breeds
lived, those of mixed blood who were part Jewish
and part Gentile, and most hated and despised
by the Jews, and the favor was returned by the
Samaritans toward the Jews as well. Peter did
some traveling, preaching throughout that whole
area. Our text today begins a new section of
the book of Acts, which continues through chapter
11, telling us how Gentiles, that is non -Jews,
those who were uncircumcised according to the
law of Moses, came to be accepted as part of
the church. Now the issue is not entirely settled
at this particular time because it arises again
as a great controversy in chapter 15. But up
to this point, In the history of the Church,
there has not been one Gentile who has been saved,
apart from a few Gentiles who were proselytes
to Judaism. But no Gentile up to this point had
been saved and brought into this new body, the
Church. It was Jewish, or half Jewish, because
of the Samaritans who had believed. At this particular
time, Peter is going to be told, and us through
Peter, that God fully accepts Gentiles as well
as Jews. That Gentiles do not have to become
Jews to be acceptable to God and to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. God now fully accepts
Gentiles as Gentiles. and will bring them into
a relationship with himself through faith in
Jesus Christ just as he would the Jews. Now that
may be difficult for us to appreciate 2 ,000
years later and being primarily Gentile in makeup.
It's difficult for us to realize how impossible
that seemed to the Jewish believers. That is
the Gentiles as Gentiles would share equally
in the glorious salvation of God without first
being circumcised and becoming Jews. After all,
they had been called the chosen people. They
were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
They were the recipients of the covenants of
God. It was in their city of Jerusalem that the
temple of God was. God's plan had involved Israel
becoming a missionary nation, reaching out to
the Gentiles to bring to them the knowledge of
the true God. But sadly, the nation of Israel
failed in doing that. And instead of reaching
out to the Gentiles, the Jews actually, over
the process of history, erected a wall of separation
between themselves and the Gentiles. And that
wall became prejudice and even hatred. for the
dogs, the Gentiles. For even such a person as
Peter, the acceptance of Gentiles as equal sharers
in God's plan was a revolutionary change of thinking.
It was an eye -opener regarding God's love for
all men. Before God gave him the eye -opener,
God graciously prepared him for this change.
God graciously prepared Peter for this change
of thinking by three sovereign actions done in
Peter's life. I'd like to look at them with you
this morning. The first sovereign action of God
is that God led him to an area with a large Gentile
population. Up to this point Peter had primarily
concentrated on Galilee, Judea, and Samaria.
That area had comparatively few Gentiles. But
then the Lord led him away from there down toward
the coast to Lydda and to Joppa. Lydda today
is basically where Tel Aviv is. national airport
of Israel is today called Lod. Joppa is the city
today of Jaffa. It is still a thriving metropolis
in Israel. God led him down to the coastal plain
of Sharon because there were more Gentiles who
lived there. Certainly it was Jewish territory.
But the further away you got from Jerusalem,
the more Gentiles lived there. The increasing
Gentile population where he was ministering allowed
his mind to be prepared to see that the gospel
was not for Jews only. I say again, it's not
until chapter 10, which we'll get to next week,
that God fully reveals to him this truth. But
at this point, God led him down into that area
where there were more Gentiles living. He had
to brush shoulders with them more frequently
so that God could begin to prepare his mind to
see that God loves Gentiles as well as Jews.
The second sovereign action of God is that God
employed miracles to assure Peter of his direction.
Peter might have questioned the movement of his
ministry if God had not confirmed to him that
he was in fact in the center of his will. As
Peter began to brush more and more with the Gentiles,
he might have began asking himself, have I compromised
in coming to this area? Have I gone astray in
my theology that I'm beginning to see Gentiles
out there? Rather than those questions arising,
God precluded them by assuring Peter that he
was in the place of blessing, by doing through
Peter two notable miracles that are recorded
for us here. One involved the healing of a paralyzed
man for eight years. This man had to be cared
for. He was a helpless human being. As far as
we can determine here, he must have been close
to a quadriplegic. He had very little use of
his limbs. For eight years he was used to people
ministering to him. And then Peter meets Aeneas.
Peter said to him very simply, Jesus Christ heals
you. Four simple words, said without a lot of
drama and show, Jesus Christ heals you, and then
the command, arise and make your bed. He hadn't
made his bed for at least eight years. And now
Peter says, make your bed. And it says that all
who lived it lit up. and in Sharon, saw him,
and they turned to the Lord. The second miracle
involves a lady by the name of Gazelle, Tabitha,
Dorcas. It is a name that indicates she was a
woman of beauty and grace. She was also a woman
of inner beauty. She did deeds of kindness and
charity, continually. She made clothing for the
widows and those who were poor. It came about
that she got sick and died. So in the customary
way, they prepared her body and laid it in an
upper room for the purpose of visitation, as
we would call it today. The disciples who were
there in Joppa sent the lid and asked Peter to
come immediately. So Peter went. They took him
to the upper room. The widow stood around him
weeping. They showed him the clothing that she
had made for them. Then Peter sent them all out.
He knelt down and began to pray. Where did Peter
learn to do this? Had he had a course in raising
the dead 101 when he was with Jesus? Well, the
fact of the matter is, yes, he did. He was with
Jesus when Jesus raised a young girl from the
dead. Peter, James, and John were with Jesus.
They were together in that room. Jesus sent everyone
else out, just like Peter did here. And then
Jesus spoke to the little girl and said, I say
to you, get up, arise. And she got up. Peter
observed that closely and he follows the pattern
basically that Jesus left for him. He knelt down
and he prayed. Then he turned to the body. This
is the test of faith up to this point most of
us could join Peter But now Peter is going to
do something. It's going to demand faith He turns
to the body that has been dead now for some time
and has been washed prepared for burial and he
says to this lady Tabitha arise and Amazingly
she opened her eyes Wouldn't she like to have
been in the room at that point? To have seen
the flutter of the eyelids as she opened her
eyes from the sleep of death. And it says that
she saw Peter and she set up. Peter reached out
his hand and raised her up. And he called the
others back in and presented her alive. And it
became known all over Joppa and many believed
in the Lord. You see, God employed miracles here
to assure Peter that he was heading in the right
direction so that he would not get down the road
toward this eye -opener and say, wait a minute,
I think I've goofed. I've missed a turn somewhere.
I've gotten on a detour toward the Gentiles.
To preclude Peter from thinking that he somehow
had erred, God graciously did through Peter some
miracles. to assure him that he was on the right
track. And the results of the miracles were salvation
for those who were in the area and heard about
it. In verse 35 it says, they turned to the Lord.
Verse 42, many believed in the Lord. Now the
thinking person has to ask a question at this
point. Should we today expect such confirmations
as this? in the ministry of God's Word. Is what
happened here the norm for the church age, or
is this something special? The answer to that
is clear, not only from the biblical record,
but from church history. What happened in these
early chapters of the book of Acts were miracles
that were a part of the ministry of the apostles.
You say, doesn't God do miracles today? Yes,
of course he does. God has performed miracles
on people in our church. One of our staff members,
in fact, had a miracle occur to him in healing
of his eyesight. He has shared that with me.
But that is the exception, not the rule. That
is the unusual, not the norm, for this age. There
are some important considerations that we should
note regarding miracles. The first is that the
occurrence of miracles in history as a common
phenomena is more rare than we might think. Indeed,
there are only three periods thus far in history
when miracles have been common. They were in
the day of Moses, when he led the people out
of Egypt toward the promised land, their wilderness
journey and so on. The day of Elijah and Elisha,
the times of the prophets when astounding miracles
were done, and then during the time of Christ
and the apostles. You say didn't God do miracles
at other times? Yes. God can at any time that
he wishes intervene and perform a miracle. He
can suspend the natural laws as we know and understand
them and intervene to accomplish his sovereign
purposes whenever he wishes to do that. But only
in three times in all of history up to this point
have miracles been what we might say common.
Those are the three times I've mentioned. They
were done then to validate the work of God and
new revelation that was being given particularly
at that time. That is clear from the first and
the third examples. The times of Moses, the law,
the first five books of revelation were being
delivered. Then of course during the times of
Christ and the apostles. there was new revelation.
The whole New Testament was written during that
time. Miracles accompanied those revelations.
There's a second consideration to note, and that
is that they always glorify God rather than any
man. Miracles in the Bible were never done in
a sideshow carnival kind of atmosphere. The miracles
were not dependent upon highly charged emotional
settings. Here Peter is by himself as he raises
this woman from the dead. Can you imagine how
that will be done today or at least attempted
today by some of the people that claim to be
healers? Miracles in the Bible always glorify
God and not man. When you see man being honored,
and uplifted and glorified by purported miracles,
you know something is arrived. Number three,
the third consideration, miracles always validate
the statements of scripture. They do not contradict
them. If you hear someone say, well, I know what
the Bible says, but here's what happened and
I can't explain it, it does contradict the Bible,
but this occurred and I believe that, then something's
wrong. Because you see miracles always validate
what God has said in His Word, miracles never
contradict what the Word of God states. Consideration
number four, the result of miracles is that the
gospel is received by people. God's Word is authenticated
to the observers of the miracles. Now the claim
that miracles are occurring today, commonly in
some people's meetings, may not be truthful.
You say, are you calling these people liars?
It is not my position to do that. I'm simply
stating to you that you need to be sure that
the people are being truthful. I recall one healer
who is now dead who had meetings in the state
of Ohio and he always wore a white suit. As he
was preaching, one of the miracles that God did
to show his approval of his ministry was to make
drops of the blood of Christ appear on his white
suit. It worked well until one day somebody caught
the guy up above who was dropping animal blood
on him. The claim that miracles are occurring
may not be truthful. Secondly, I'd like to say
that the presence of miracles does not mean that
they're of God. Because, you see, miracles can
be done by the other side too. So just because
a miracle has been done does not necessarily
mean that it is the result of God's work. Indeed,
one of the greatest miracle workers the world
will ever see will be the Antichrist who will
be indwelled by Satan. But let me say again that
God does occasionally intervene miraculously
in our human experience. He does not always choose
to do that in answer to our prayers. There are
many people who have died sincerely praying that
God would heal them, and God has chosen not to
do that. But sometimes God does heal, God does
restore. You say, why does God do it for one
and not the other? That's a question only God
can answer. I cannot answer that. But the facts
are that God does occasionally intervene miraculously,
as an exception, not as the rule, and for his
purpose and his glory alone. Miracles were more
common in these days in the book of Acts, and
God used miracles in the ministry of Peter to
affirm him at this particular time, so that he
would not question that he was in the center
of the will of God when God began to open his
eyes as he will in chapter 10. And then we come
to the third preparation that God graciously
gave to Peter in verse 43. God placed him in
an uncomfortable situation. God prepared him
for this change of thinking by putting him in
a situation where he must not have been comfortable.
It says that it came about he stayed many days
in Joppa with a certain tanner, Simon. Tanners
did unclean work as far as the Jews were concerned.
Because their work naturally involved the touching
of corpses of animals, they took the hide from
animals and then prepared that hide, made leather
from it. carcass of an animal makes one unclean.
And so this righteous Jew, this apostle of Jesus
Christ, Peter, had to live with ceremonial uncleanness.
And he had to live that way for many days. It
was a prolonged period. Now we're not told why
he had to live there. Maybe it was his beach
front location. I don't know. In chapter 10,
verse 6, it says his house was by the sea. But
I think it must have taken more than that to
get Peter there. This was God's arrangement.
Actually, he was by the sea because tanners were
not welcome in Jewish settlements. They had to
live in more remote locations. And it was there
that God arranged for Peter to stay. It was at
the city of Joppa. Joppa was, or is today rather,
3 ,500 years old. It's an old city. It thrives
as the city of Yaffa in Israel. It was then a
strongly Jewish city with a definite pharisaical
influence. In other words, the Pharisees who
were very strict Jews had an influence there.
So you can see the kind of dilemma that Peter
must have been in, in that situation. Himself
being a righteous Jew, aware of the laws of the
Old Testament, the Pharisees influencing heavily
the area where he was, and yet he lived with
a tanner. I believe that God placed him there
to make him uncomfortable so that he would be
opening his mind to some things. God has a way
of doing that when he wants us to change, doesn't
he? Of making us uncomfortable where we are.
When an eagle is going to lay her eggs, she carefully
prepares her nest on some pinnacle or ledge high
out of the reach of predators. rather large sticks
and places them there carefully. Those sticks
are pointed. Sometimes she will even get sticks
that have thorns on them. That lays the foundation
for her home. Then she begins to pick up some
softer material. She will pick up straw or stubble
or hay and take it there to her nest and put
the second layer in. And finally, she will prepare
it with feathers, sometimes from her own body,
pulling the feathers out, placing them nicely
so that she's able to lay her eggs in that soft,
cuddly home. The eggs are hatched, the eaglets
come forth, and they begin to grow. The mother
eagle brings the food necessary for the little
eagles. Then they begin to sprout their wings
a little bit, but they won't move out of that
nest. It's comfortable. She wants them to learn
to fly. She wants them to go out to get their
own food, but they'll never do it in that comfortable
setting. And so she reaches down and begins to
pick out the feathers and drop them from that
pinnacle. And then she reaches to pick out the
straw and the stubble that is there until all
that is left in her nest are the sticks and the
thorns. And they poke the young eagles. They're
uncomfortable to be in. And finally the little
eaglets get the picture. And they get to the
edge of the nest and the mother pushes them out
and in that manner teaches them to fly. You see
she prepares them for the change by making them
uncomfortable. in their setting. I think that's
what Peter experienced here. Peter was comfortable
as a Jew and as a believer in Jesus Christ, but
now God, through some means which we do not know
about, forced him to live with a tanner so that
he was in contact every day with that which is
unclean. The word unclean also describes the
basic Jewish attitude toward all those Gentiles
out there. God was preparing Peter for change.
From our study in the Word of God today, there
are three lessons that I'd like for us to draw
and to apply to our lives. Number one, a lesson
is this, and it's a lesson that all of us need
to write in our hearts. Change is a God -designed
part of life. Change is a God -designed part
of life. God knows that routine without change
becomes rut, that opinions without change become
prejudice, that relationships without change
become dull and even enslaving. So God designs
change into life itself. It's part of the fabric
of life. People who do not like change have a
hard time with life because it's a part of life.
God himself, of course, does not change. He is,
to put it theologically, immutable. He says,
I am the Lord, I change not. He is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. And so is his word. But all
else does change. We live in a changing world.
And if we do not learn to change, we become eventually
obsolete relics and irrelevant pieces of our
society. I'm not talking about change in the
basic convictions regarding God or the Bible,
but I'm talking about learning how to change
with the changes around us in life. God doesn't
force us to change just for change's sake, but
always for His will's sake and for our own good.
This is true when it is applied to churches.
Churches from time to time have to change their
methods of ministry. They must do that in order
to more effectively reach the changing society
around them. One of the things that we were impressed
with the Church in Poland about is that they
have a very effective literature ministry. They
pass out literally tens of thousands of tracts.
They sell Bibles in the open marketplaces. as
well as other pieces of Christian literature.
That is very effective where they are. But if
you took the same methodology and applied it
to Grace Church, Roseville, it would not work
because we live in a different society, a different
culture. We have to be able to adjust our methods
to the society in which we live. The same is
true regarding pastoral leadership. Change occasionally
is good for churches as well as pastors. This
is not an announcement by the way. But it nonetheless
is true. God allows change to take place in leadership
in a church from time to time for the good of
the church as well as the leader. It's true when
it comes to families too. Don't you husbands
and wives? experience change in your relationship
as you mature in your love. I would dare say
that the way you relate to each other today is
to some degree, maybe to a great degree different
than the way you related on your honeymoon. Love
matures. Love deepens. And as your relationship
changes. You must change in the way you treat
each other. The same is true regarding parents
and children. Parents have to learn that children
grow up. That's not always easy to learn, especially
with the first one. The children develop as individuals.
They become more independent. And as they do,
the relationship has to change. God forces change
upon us for our own good. It is a God -designed
part of life. Lesson number two. Frequently,
I hesitate to say always because that is a broad
term, but frequently God graciously prepares
us for those changes. that he brings into our
lives. He does that in a church. He will prepare
us for change in ministry, for example, and the
methods that we use by revealing to us that those
methods are no longer working and bringing to
our attention some other methods that may be
better. When a pastor leaves, there is normally
a change, a preparation rather for change. in
his own heart, as well as in the heart of the
congregation. And even though it's always a difficult
experience, God nonetheless graciously prepares.
Is it not true in a family? The reason that a
child has that growing sense of independence
beginning about day one It's so that mom and
dad, by the time the child is 18 or so, will
be able to say goodbye. If you had to do that
overnight, it would be tough. But there's that
growing independence and sometimes the struggle
to adapt from both sides. But God prepares for
that change, and I think it's true often in death
as well. This last week I attended the funeral
of a former pastor of Emanuel Community Church.
The Lloyd Van Stone died last Saturday while
jogging in Topeka, Kansas, only 25 miles from
where my home is. I heard about it in time to
get to the funeral on Tuesday. The coroner said
that he died mid -step as he was jogging. They
lifted his foot and didn't know. that he missed
the next step. He was gone that quickly. But
I would venture to say that if Floyd could speak
to us and if Dory, his wife, were here this morning,
that they would probably say that God had done
some things to prepare them for that, even though
it was a very sudden home going for him. Often
God does that through the natural aging process.
Even at my advanced age, when I hear an older
person say, I'm ready to go, I'm eager to die,
it's a little bit of a shock to me. Because even
though I'm eager to see the Lord, I can't really
say I'm eager at this point to leave my physical
body and my family and my ministry and go to
heaven. In my humanness, I'm not that eager to
go. Today, you see as you grow older, your body
changes and it begins to... have pains and limitations
and one begins to be frustrated in those limitations
and pains. God prepares one for death often.
Sometimes it's by illness that that occurs. It's
true on our parts who must lose a loved one.
We cannot imagine losing that person that we
have loved so dearly and yet Often, God allows
some illness to come to that loved one, and I
have seen cases, and so have you, where by the
time that individual went home to be with the
Lord, the family was actually praying that that
would happen because the illness had advanced
itself. You see, God graciously, frequently prepares
us for change, just as he did Peter. So my third
lesson is the conclusion. Learn to accept change
in your life. as from the hands of a changeless,
sovereign God. Every one of us today is facing
some kind of change, perhaps a multiplicity of
changes. We need to learn to accept change from
the hands of God, who himself does not change,
but who is sovereign. In His sovereign goodness,
He has designed change into our existence in
this world. When God brings change to us, He
does it inevitably for our good, not for our
ill. God is too loving to be unkind. God is too
wise to make mistakes. When God brings change,
it is right. We can trust Him. You can trust
him today for the change that is confronting
you. The story is told about a train that was
speeding along its way one dark, stormy night.
The lightning was flashing outside. Black clouds
rolled by as the train sped on toward its destination.
The passengers observing the storm outside were
tense. Some were fearful. But among the passengers
was one little boy. He was sitting in a seat
all by himself, seemed to be totally unaware
of what was happening outside the train, the
wind and the storm, the lightning, the rain.
He was amusing himself playing with his toys.
One of the passengers went over and sat down
beside him and said, Sonny, I see you're alone
on the train. Aren't you afraid to travel all
by yourself on such a stormy night as this? A
little lad looked up at the man and said with
a smile, no sir, I ain't afraid. My daddy is
the engineer. I want to tell you something, your
father is the engineer. And that change that
seems to be so threatening that looms in your
life, which seems to be overwhelming you, that
change comes through the hands of God for you.
So don't be afraid of it. Reach out and by faith
embrace it. And thank God that in that change
He is working for your good. You may have resented
the change to this point, or you may have resisted
it. But God is trying to work in your situation
for His glory and your benefit. So don't struggle
with Him anymore about it. Trust Him to fashion
that change and to employ it for your good. That
is the heritage of God's people. That is the
heritage of His saints. You may have noticed
as we read our text today that the word saints
is used two times. Saints are not a certain class
of especially spiritual or perfect people. In
a biblical definition, saints are simply God's
people, those who have been set apart by God
for His special purpose and use. Those are the
objects of His special care and affection. Those
are God's saints. It's those who turn to the
Lord. verse 35. Those who believe in the Lord,
verse 42. It may be that you're here today and
you've never turned to the Lord. You may have
a knowledge about Him and you've believed on
Him in some kind of a vague sense, like everybody
believes in God, but you've never truly believed
in Him and given your life to Him for Him to
be your Lord and Master and your Savior from
your sin. Today, my friend, with open arms, He
reaches out to you desiring that you might receive
Him. He would receive you if you would come to
Him and trust Him. Become one of His own, and
then you too can go through life with the kind
of assurance that those saints around you today
have as we pass through the changes that God
designs into life. Let's bow together in prayer.
Our loving Father, how glad we are that you're
the engineer, that you're the one in control,
that you're leading our lives. And Lord, by faith
we thank you for the changes that you bring.
Sometimes you know that we resist them. Forgive
us. Forgive us for that unbelief. Sometimes,
Lord, we resent them. Forgive us of that. And
today I pray that each of us who is a saint,
who is a child of God, would be able to look
into your face and honestly say, Father, I love
you, and by faith I thank you for the changes
that I'm facing right now. And Father, I pray
that if there are those here who don't know the
Lord Jesus, that today they might become one
of the family by believing in Him. and receiving
Him and turning from themselves their sin to
the Lord. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.