In his sermon titled 'The Warp and Woof of Gospel Preaching,' Peter Allison discusses the events in Acts 3 where Peter and John heal a lame man, drawing a crowd's attention. Allison emphasizes the importance of redirecting this attention from the apostles and the miracle to Christ, highlighting that gospel preaching should be relevant to the present audience and situation. He stresses that gospel preaching is appropriate anytime and anywhere, urging preachers to be ready to deliver the message in any season. Allison underscores the necessity of Christ-centered preaching, pointing out that the focus should always be on Jesus and not the preacher or miraculous events. He contrasts the crowd's treatment of Jesus with God's glorification of His servant, connecting the miracle to the faith of the Old Testament and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Allison argues that gospel preaching should confront the audience with their sins, as Peter did with the crowd, and calls for repentance and conversion. He highlights the blessing of being confronted with sin as an opportunity for repentance and experiencing the refreshing presence of the Lord. Allison concludes by encouraging believers to see gospel preaching as a blessing and to trust in God's providence to bring good out of evil situations.

Please turn to Acts chapter 3 in your scriptures. Peter and John have come up to the temple to pray and have healed the lame man. There, and we pick the Luke's narrative in verse 11. Now as the lame man who was healed, held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch, which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed. So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people, men of Israel, Why do you marvel at this?

Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His servant Jesus whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. But you denied the Holy One and the just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you and killed the Prince of Life whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And His name through faith in His name has made this man strong whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given Him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But all these things which God foretold by the mouth of His prophets that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of reflection may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus Christ who has preached you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God had spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said to the fathers, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren, him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.

Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. To you first, God, Having raised up His servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you in turning away every one of you from your iniquities." May His tender mercies come to us that we might delight in His Word. Heavenly Father, we ask now that You would give to us an understanding of Your Word. We ask that You would give to us faith as we hear Your Word.

That our hearing might be mixed with faith. We ask that You would give to us a gospel obedience. We ask that you would sanctify us. And I ask that you would especially sanctify my sinful lips, that they might proclaim the riches of your grace in Christ. We ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.

Well, last week we looked at the witness of the church to the people around them. We saw how they had a hunger for corporate worship, how they were a blessing to the community and met needs with gifts. We saw how His people believe in miracles, even though they aren't routine occurrences and we don't expect them to come all the time. But they are a sign to unbelievers. And they are an occasion to point people to Christ.

And Peter seized this occasion. And the people's response to this miracle to do exactly that. To point these people, this crowd, who had just witnessed this amazing miracle, to point them to Christ. And so we want to look this morning at what I've called the warp and the woof of Gospel preaching. This man who was healed, verse 11 says, he held on, he clung to Peter and John.

There were significant changes in him. He now is leaping and walking and praising God, but he now also wants to be with these people. He wants to be with the people of God. He went in with them into the temple. And this miracle caused a great crowd to run to Peter and John and this lame man that had been healed who's hanging on to them.

They're crowding around because they want to... They're amazed. They're amazed. And they begin to look at Peter and John as some special heroes, some sort of special people. They were making the apostles and this man, this healed man, they were making them the center of their attention.

And Peter sees this, and he immediately addresses it. So the first thing we see then about Gospel preaching is that it's relevant to the present situation and to the audience, the present audience. It's relevant to the present situation and the audience. These people began to make the Apostles and the man that was healed, they began to make them the focus of their attention. And began to think, wow, these are some amazing people.

And Peter realizes this is the wrong reaction. And so he doesn't allow that reaction to go unnoticed. You see, it would have been so easy in the moment to be silent, to just sit there and allow the people to admire this miracle that He had worked. I think we can all relate to those kinds of situations. But Peter doesn't allow that.

He begins to preach. He sees this moment to begin to preach, to proclaim to them who really healed this man. And so he completely takes their attention off of himself. You see, this gospel message is relevant to the present situation and audience. It's not sterile.

It's not academic. It's not disconnected from the present situation. It's not a discourse on the great doctrines of the past that were the battle in that day, but rather it is focused on the moment and what these people need to hear. And it's urgent and it addresses their present situation. We also see that gospel preaching here is appropriate anytime, anytime and anywhere.

Yes, Peter is in the temple here, but he has come to the hour of prayer. And he doesn't simply note that, well, this is the hour of prayer, this isn't the time for preaching. He doesn't say, well, I need to make a note of what I'm observing here and address it in the next sermon, the next Lord's Day. He doesn't say this is not the time for a sermon. He saw people in need of the truth.

He saw a situation. And he immediately began to proclaim that truth in that situation. Paul told Timothy and 2 Timothy for to preach the Word, be ready in season and out of season. Gospel preaching is appropriate anytime, and gospel preachers should be ready at any moment, in season and out of season, to preach the Word. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

Okay, we also see that Gospel preaching points people to Christ. It's Christ-centered, and it elevates Christ, not the preacher, and not the recent convert either. Not the one who had just been healed. Not even the healing itself. There was a lot of energy there.

This man has been healed over 40 years. He's been lame. And he's been sitting at that gate all through Jesus' ministry in years before that. And now He's healed. For the first time in His life, He can jump, He can walk, and He's praising God.

And there's a lot of energy there, but Peter doesn't try to utilize that energy. He doesn't give him an opportunity to speak to the crowd and give his testimony and talk about what the Lord... He doesn't do any of that, because that would only bring attention to a person. Peter immediately cuts off any hero worship that would take away the focus from Christ, that would hinder pure and undefiled worship or give to some man even a little bit of the glory that is due only to God. Peter makes a big point here that it was not His power that healed this man, but the power of God.

He actually gives them a little mild rebuke. Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why do you look so intently at us as though by our power or godliness we had made this man walk? In other words, Why are you focusing on the people here? This is what God has done.

God has always been doing these amazing works, wonderful works. Peter is applying what John the Baptist said, he must increase, but I must decrease. This is especially true for the herald. The herald should never overshadow the one who sent him. Rather, just the opposite.

The responsibility of a herald is to point the attention and the focus on the message of the one who sent him, not on himself. So why do you marvel? Why do you look so intently at us as if we had done this? We haven't done this. He identifies the power by which this man was healed as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His servant Jesus. In connecting this miracle with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is doing a couple things. He's one, making clear that he's not proclaiming a new religion to them.

This is the faith of the Old Testament. And he's also in effect reminding them that this miracle is done by the same power by which all the miracles of their people's history were done. The Red Sea Deliverance, the many deliverances of them from foreign invaders, the conquering of Canaan, Jericho, all these miracles were done by the power of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so he's pointing the people back to this God who has always done these works in their history. And then Peter contrasts here.

In pointing the people to Christ, he contrasts God's treatment of Christ with their treatment of Christ. What did God do? He says the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His servant Jesus. That's what God did. He glorified His servant Jesus.

And in talking about this servant Jesus, he's using the language of the Old Testament prophets, particularly Isaiah in chapter 52. Isaiah says, Behold, My servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high." And then Isaiah goes on to talk about how the Christ would be rejected by men, despised, stricken, smitten, afflicted. How His servant would be the suffering servant. So Peter says, God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has glorified His servant Jesus.

But you, on the other hand, how have you treated God's servant Jesus? He says, you handed him over to be killed. And you didn't just hand him over to be killed, but you even pressured Pilate to kill him when he wanted to release Jesus. You disowned Him before Pilate. You, Peter says, disowned the Holy One and just one and asked for a murderer instead.

And again, in talking about Christ as the Holy One, He's again using language from Isaiah. Isaiah uses that 20 or 30 times. The Holy One of Israel to refer to the Messiah. So Peter is continually connecting the dots for these people that the power by which this man was healed is the same power that they've read about all their lives in God's Word. And He is The one who the prophets spoke about.

So you did all these things. God glorified him, but you disowned him. You handed him over to be killed. You denied him. And you asked for a murderer instead.

You killed, Peter says, the author of life. But God raised him from the dead. God raised this Jesus from the dead, the one that you killed. So he presents Christ as the giver of life. He confronts them with their sin.

Gospel preaching confronts us with our sin. No matter how uncomfortable, how difficult it is, a faithful preacher will address the sins, the needs of the hearers. Peter tells them that they killed their Messiah. That's not the sort of thing you would say to people that you're trying to be liked, be accepted, earn their favor. These are the, in many cases, the congregations to which one preaches, the people that provide your support.

And so it can be very tempting to ignore the sins, the specific sins. But gospel preaching always confronts the sins that are present. Martin Luther once wrote in a letter something that's been quoted many times and most likely changed and modified a lot, but I think it fits here. He said, Also it does not help that one of you would say, I will gladly confess Christ and His word on every detail, except that I may keep silent about one or two things which my tyrants may not tolerate, such as the form of the sacraments and the like. When he mentions the form of the sacraments, those were the battles in his day.

For whoever denies Christ in one detail or word has denied the same Christ in that one detail who was denied in all the details, since there was only one Christ in all His words taken together or individually. In other words, he was saying that if you preach all these truths, but you conveniently avoid the one offensive truth, the one truth that's contested, the one truth that's being rejected, the one truth that is unpopular, But you're preaching everything else, but you omit that one truth, you haven't preached the truth. I remember very vividly, this was a number of years ago, one of the media had gotten the hold of a Christian pastor and a rabbi and some other an iman or something like that, and deliberately set up this faithful Christian pastor and asked him, well, is Jesus the only way? It was clearly a set up, but thankfully this minister said yes, He is the only way. And see, that was the inconvenient truth of that moment.

Because they put him in the midst of other people who proclaim other ways. But he faithfully said, no, Jesus is the only way. And immediately there was an eruption, an attack. You could just see it come through the screen. But this is what Peter is doing here.

He's standing in the midst of the crowd that killed Christ. Now, they didn't personally kill Him. You could say the Romans killed Him. But Peter doesn't... And it's true, the Romans did kill him, but the Romans weren't the ones he was speaking to.

He was speaking to the Jews, and they bore a corporate responsibility for what had been done in their name. And so Peter says, you killed him. Yes, it was the Romans that did it, and yes, it was the leaders, the Jewish leaders that were stirring the people up, but these were the people. This was their leaders. It was their nation.

It was their rulers that did it. And they have a corporate responsibility for that. And so Peter tells them, you killed him. A most inconvenient message at that point. But Peter as a faithful preacher of the Gospel, confronts them with their sin.

And later, if he's speaking to the Romans, then he can deal with what they need to hear. So the question really for us is how do we respond when we are confronted with our sin? Do we seek to minimize it or deny it or say, well, it was the Romans that really did it, we're not responsible? Or do we acknowledge the guilt of our sin? So then having confronted them with their sin, having proclaimed Christ.

He then goes on to proclaim Christ as the Giver of life. That there is hope for sinners like them. He doesn't minimize their sin, but He puts it in proper perspective. They did this in ignorance. And yet this very sin was the means by which God fulfilled His promise to provide a Savior who would bear their sin.

He doesn't minimize it, but he does acknowledge a couple things for hope. One, they did it in ignorance, and that's one of the marks of the unpardonable sin is that it's not done in ignorance. Paul said he did many grievous sins, but he did them in ignorance. Those who commit the unpardonable sin, the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, are not sin in full knowledge of what they are doing and not in ignorance. Like Paul said he did.

And Peter says that these people, even though it was a horrific sin, it was done in ignorance. And I think even the greatest hope here, the greatest light here is that this very sin, which you could say is the greatest of all sins to have killed the Messiah was the means by which God would provide a Savior to bear not only their sin, but all the sins of all His people for all time. Their blindness and their wicked sin was the very means that God used to bring the greatest good to all mankind. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that really beautiful?

God takes the very worst of sins and turns it to the very best. How do we view evil in our life? Maybe it's evil that's happening around us, or maybe it's evil that's happening to us. The great and the little. How do we view it?

Do we see it as when it's happened? I'm not saying that we do evil, but when it happens, Do we see it as the fulfillment of God's purpose, confident that God will work through it to bring glory to Himself and good to His people? That's what Peter is preaching here. That God works all things for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. You brethren, I know you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled." In other words, their action was the fulfillment of what God had prophesied in these prophets. And so what is His call then to action? It's to repent. In light of this, it's to repent. Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out.

So gospel preaching always confronts us with our sin, but it also presents us with the answer, the solution. Repent that your sins and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." That's Gospel news. That's good news. That though our sins are a scarlet, yet when we repent and are converted, our sins are blotted out. The record is removed against us.

And we can experience times of refreshing and renewal and life and hope from the presence of the Lord. And that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the time of the resuscitation or restoration of all things. So he's reminding them that Christ is going to remain in heaven. He's not coming back immediately. He's going to remain in heaven.

Heaven must receive until the time of the restoration of all things when all of His enemies have been put under His feet. And the last enemy, Paul said, is death. Then and only then does Christ return. So he is our heavenly advocate. Christ is now our heavenly advocate.

And he tells them that their sins are washed away. He also connects them with the blessings of the covenant that God made with Abraham. And he does it through Christ. For Moses truly said to the fathers, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren, him you will hear in all things. Whatever he says to you, it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from the people." He's saying this prophet that Moses prophesied about, that God promised he would raise up, this is Jesus is this prophet.

And He's saying all the prophets of the Old Testament, from Samuel on, all were saying the same thing. But then He says these comforting words, you are sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with our fathers. What is the covenant that God made with their fathers saying to Abraham, in your seed all the families of the earth will be blessed? God promised to be God to them and to their children. God promised that in Abraham's seed, and Paul says that singular, so that's referring to Christ, in Christ all the families of the earth would be blessed.

And he's saying you are the sons of that covenant. You are the sons of the prophets. These promises are for you. This blessing that God would bring on all the nations of the earth is your blessing. To you first, God having raised up His servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you in turning every one of you away from your iniquities.

Do you see gospel preaching that confronts your sin as God's blessing to you? Or do you get angry with the messenger whom God sent to bring that message? When God confronts our sin through His messengers, He's doing it to bless us. It's His grace that brings the Gospel to us. It's of His grace that our sins are confronted because then we can repent and receive the times of refreshing.

I know that when our sins are pointed out to us, our natural reaction is to defend ourselves. Our natural reaction is to want to justify what we've done. Or to minimize it. Or to some way explain it away. That's our natural response.

Or it's to be a little upset at the person that's confronting us. And not to like them. And the response of God's people is to see that this is God's blessing. This is God's blessing. He sends His servants, His messengers, His prophets, to confront our sin, to proclaim the good news of salvation in Christ because He desires to bless us.

We are the sons of the prophets and of the covenants that God made with His people. May God grant us grace in these areas to rejoice in His providence, to look for His working and turning to good all of the evil, Yes, even the sins that we have committed, to lay them at the feet of the cross and to ask the Lord to work good through those in our lives. May it be so. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank You for the simplicity of this message.

We thank You for its power. We thank You that You have loved us even when we were yet in our sins. We thank You Lord that You did convict us of our sins and bring repentance. And I pray Lord that if there is anyone here who is yet in their sins, that this morning you might confront them with their sin and also with the hope that there are times of refreshing for those who can repent and are converted. We thank you Lord that you have provided such a great sacrifice and so great a salvation.

We thank you and we praise you and we bless your name that you have shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We ask this in Jesus name, Amen.