Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 6.djvu/37

Rh times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21. Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things; which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. 22. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. 23. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. 24. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. 25. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. 26. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

We have here the sermon which Peter preached after he had cured ''the lame man. When Peter saw it''. 1. When he saw the people got together in a crowd, he took that opportunity to preach Christ to them, especially the temple being the place of their concourse, and Solomon's porch there, let them come and hear a more excellent wisdom than Solomon's, for behold, a greater than Solomon is here preached. 2. When he saw the people affected with the miracle, and filled with admiration, then he sowed the gospel-seed in the ground, which was thus broken up, and prepared to receive it. 3. When he saw the people ready to adore him and John, he stepped in immediately, and diverted their respect from them, that they might be directed to Christ only; to this he answered presently, as Paul and Barnabas at Lystra. See ch. 14. 14, 15. In the sermon,

I. He humbly disclaims the honour of the miracle as not due to them, who were only the ministers of Christ, or instruments in his hand for the doing of it. The doctrines they preached were not of their own invention, nor were the seals of it their own, but his whose the doctrines were. He addresses himself to them as men of Israel, men, to whom pertained, not only the law and the promises, but the gospel and the performances, and who were nearly interested in the present dispensation. Two things he asks them:

1. Why they were so surprised at the miracle itself; Why marvel ye at this? It was indeed marvellous, and they justly wondered at it, but it was no more than what Christ had done many a time, and they had not duly regarded it, or been affected with it. It was but a little before, that Christ had raised Lazarus from the dead; and why should this then seem so strange? Note, Stupid people think that strange now, which might have been familiar to them, if it had not been their own fault. Christ had lately risen from the dead himself; why did they not marvel at that? Why were they not convinced at that?

2. Why they gave so much of the praise of it to them that were only the instruments of it; Why look ye so earnestly on us? (1.) It was certain that they had made this man to walk, by which it appeared that the apostles not only were sent of God, but were sent to be blessings to the world, benefactors to mankind, and were sent to heal sick and distempered souls, that were spiritually lame and impotent, to set broken bones, and make them rejoice. (2.) Yet they did not do it by any power or holiness of their own; it was not done by any might of their own, any skill they had in physic or surgery, or any virtue in their word; the power they did it by, was wholly derived from Christ; nor was it done by any merit of their own; the power which Christ gave them to do it they had not deserved, it was not by their own holiness; for as they were weak things, so they were foolish things, that Christ chose to employ; Peter was a sinful man. What holiness had Judas? Yet he wrought miracles in Christ's name. What holiness any of them had, it was wrought in them, and they could not pretend to merit by it. (3.) It was the people's fault that they attributed it to their power and holiness, and accordingly looked at them. Note, The instruments of God's favour to us, though they must be respected, must not be idolized; we must take heed of reckoning that to be done by the instrument, which God is the Author of. (4.) It was the praise of Peter and John, that they would not take the honour of this miracle to themselves, but carefully transmitted it to Christ. Useful men must see to it that they be very humble. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name, give glory. Every crown must be cast at the feet of Christ; not I, but the grace of God with me.

II. He preaches Christ to them, that was his business, that he might lead them into obedience to Christ.

1. He preaches Christ, as the true Messiah promised to the fathers, v. 13. for, (1.) He is Jesus the Son of God; though they had lately condemned Christ as a blasphemer, for saying that he was the Son of God, yet Peter avows it; he is his Son Jesus; to him, dear as a Son; to us, Jesus, a Saviour. (2.) God hath glorified him, in raising him up to be King, Priest, and Prophet, of his church; he glorified him in his life, and in his death, as well as in his resurrection and ascension. (3.) He hath glorified him as the God of our fathers, whom he names with respect, for they were great names with the men of Israel, and justly, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. God sent him into the world, pursuant to the promises made to those patriarchs, that in their seed the families of the earth should be blessed, and the covenant made with them, that God would be a God to them, and their seed. The apostles call the patriarchs, their fathers, and God, the God of those patriarchs, from whom the Jews were descended; to intimate to them, that they had no evil design upon the Jewish nation, (that they should look upon them with a jealous eye,) but had a value and concern for it, and were hereby well-wishers to it; and the gospel they preached, was the revelation of the mind and will of the God of Abraham. See ch. 26. 7, 22. Luke 1. 72, 73.

2. He charges them flat and plain with the murder of this Jesus, as he had done before. (1.) "You delivered him up to your chief priests and elders, the representative body of the nation; and you of the common people were influenced by them, to clamour against him, as if he had been a public grievance." (2.) "You denied him, and you disowned him, would not have him then to be your King, could not look upon him as the Messiah, because he came not in external pomp and power; you denied him in the presence of Pilate, renounced all the expectations of your church, in the presence of the Roman governor, who justly laughed at you for it;