Trent Moody's sermon, titled 'The Power of the Gospel: In Sickness and in Health, in Death and in Life,' explores the transformative power of the gospel as demonstrated in Acts chapter 9. The sermon emphasizes that the true power lies not in the preacher but in the Word of God and Jesus Christ. It describes two miracles performed by the Apostle Peter: the healing of Aeneas, a man paralyzed for eight years, and the resurrection of Tabitha, a woman known for her charitable deeds. These miracles illustrate the power of the gospel to bring physical healing and spiritual awakening. Moody highlights the importance of repentance and turning from dead religion to a living faith in Jesus Christ. The sermon concludes with a call to believe in Jesus for salvation, emphasizing that the greatest miracle is the transformation from spiritual death to life.

Before we get to Acts chapter 9, I just wanted to read something else that's just on my heart. There are times a pastor feels very unworthy to stand before you and to open God's Word. One of the beautiful things about God's Word though is the power is not in the preacher. The power is in the Word of God and in the Savior Jesus Christ. And in Psalm 78 this verse was on my mind regarding Christ our rock and he says this, he split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink in abundance like the depths.

He also brought streams out of the rock and calls waters to run down like rivers. That's my prayer this morning because the rock Jesus Christ, he died for us and he has given us living waters in his word and I pray that his word would rush out and pour upon you and fill your souls that you would see the beauty of our Lord Jesus Christ today in his word. And now to Acts we're going to be looking at Acts chapter 9 beginning with verse 32 and we'll read down through verse 43. Thus says the word of the Lord. Now it came to pass as Peter went through all parts of the country that he also came down to the saints who dwell in Lydda And there he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed.

And Peter said to him, Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed. And then he arose immediately. So all who dwelt in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha which is translated Dorcas.

This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did. But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they had washed her they laid her in an upper room and since little was near Joppa and the disciples had heard that Peter was there they sent two men to him imploring him not to delay in coming to them. And then Peter arose and went with them and when he had come they brought him to the upper room and all the widows stood by him weeping showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. But Peter put 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. Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up and when he had called the saints and widows he presented her alive and it became known throughout all Joppa and many believed on the Lord And so it was that he stayed many days in Joppa with Simon, a tanner. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we come this morning to the Rock and we ask Lord for living waters as you have promised to your people that there would be a well of living water springing up within us and Lord we know your word is living waters to us and I pray Lord that you would quench the thirsty spirit today. I pray Lord if there are dead among us that you would inquicken them and enliven them and bring them from death to life.

I pray Lord that they would see that Jesus Christ is their only hope and only Savior and Lord that he can redeem them and bring them out of darkness and open their eyes to see the glory, the glorious light of Jesus Christ and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. So this morning I want to speak to you about two occasions within this passage. And it's about this theme, the power of the gospel.

I want us again to understand as I mentioned to you last week regarding the power of the gospel that the power is not in the preacher, the power is not in anything of the ability of a man, but the power is in the word of the living God. And the power of the gospel here is seen in two locations. One it is seen here with Aeneas and it's also seen in this in Joppa with Tabitha and how the Lord Jesus Christ, even though He has already ascended into heaven, has done a great and glorious thing. So the power of the Gospel in sickness and health, in life and in death. And our passage this morning departs, just to give us a little bit of context here, it departs from the ministry and the often near-death experiences of one man named Saul who began to preach after the Lord Jesus Christ threw him to the ground and shone a great light upon him and blinded his eyes and and brought him to salvation and it brings us back and turns our attention to the travels and ministry and the work and words of the Apostle Peter.

And he begins to show us, and we haven't seen Peter here since near the end of chapter 8 or middle of chapter 8 when he was in Samaria when he had gone to lay hands on the people there so that they would receive the Holy Spirit. And then he and those with him, his traveling companions, returned to Jerusalem from Samaria and they were preaching in every city that they came to, spreading the gospel everywhere they went and they did not hold back. Now there's no chance of Luke ever running out of good writing content during these early days of the spread of the gospel. Everywhere the gospel was going forth, everywhere God was doing marvelous and miraculous things to prove the gospel of Jesus Christ and then through the surrounding regions outside of Jerusalem and Galilee, Samaria and Judea. Now the gospel had exploded in Jerusalem.

We know and remember on the day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit had come and the gospel in a sense I say exploded there and there was no stopping the spread of the fallout. There was gospel going everywhere as they were spreading out and as those who were being persecuted began to leave Jerusalem and to spread into other regions like Philip and Stephen and Saul and Peter and other of the disciples and they were taking the gospel everywhere they went. It was partly because of the persecution of the early church but mainly because God had began and started and kindled a fire in their soul that the gospel must go forth, that the Great Commission was their commission and that they were going to go everywhere fulfilling the word of that Great Commission to take the gospel to the uttermost parts of the world. And now in our text we are told that Peter went through all parts of the country And he also came down to the saints who dwelt in Lydda. Now it seems that these saints in Lydda had been, or they were the result of the ministry of Philip the deacon who had gone down earlier in Acts chapter 40 we're told but Philip was found at Azotus and he passing through he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

Now if you could look at a map you can see there's a normal traveling road there that everyone would travel upon and these cities were kind of lined up along that road and so Philip when he went going down the road stopped at every city along the way and one of those places no doubt was Lydda. Lying as it did on this road from Azotus to Caesarea, Lydda would lie in his way on this journey as he passed through. And it was at this time when Peter came that this area of Lydda was actually a seat of a rabbinic school and they were people were coming to that area to learn and to grow in their understanding of the scriptures so it was very strategic that he was going to this city because there would be those who were learning in this school and then they would then return to their hometowns and take the gospel with them. So it's important, it was an important hub for preaching the gospel and of the hopeful conversion of these rabbis. But now we have the setting of Peter going through all of these parts.

He's going back through and he's checking upon these these new little churches that have been in existence for just a few years. And he's checking on them. And as he came down to the saints who dwelt at Lydda, the Lord, as we will see, was with Peter and sent Peter very specifically to begin to fan the flame of the gospel that had already been sparked and also to plant more seeds of the gospel and to water the seeds that had been planted of the gospel so that this the small group of saints would become full mature flourishing churches throughout all of that region. And so our passage here this morning is broken up into two sections as you clearly see, it's not difficult to see, verses 32 through 35 and then 36 through 43. The first being about Aeneas and then the second being about Tabitha.

In this I want to break it up just like that in those two sections and I want you to see this morning my desire is for you to see the power of the gospel in Lydda and then the power of the gospel in Joppa and how God worked in miraculous ways to spread the gospel. So there in Lydda, Peter found a helpless man. He found a man named Aeneas. There he found a certain man named Aeneas who had been bedridden for eight years and was paralyzed. It's good to let that sink in.

Eight years and paralyzed. It was not happenstance that Peter found Aeneas lying on his bed. No, God in his goodness and in his pleasure and his merciful kindness brought Peter to this certain man named Aeneas and to his bedside. Now when we think of a bed it's not like the bed you would think of, the word here is actually is pointing to this idea of a poor man's bed, a bed that would be more what we would call a pallet on the floor. And this man had been there for eight years.

So not only was he a paralyzed man but he was also a poor man, a man who was lame. Lame men in those days were poor men because they could not work and they could not provide for themselves unless they had rich family. We have no indication that he was rich or had a rich family but that he was a poor man laying upon his poor mat on the floor. He was for all practical purposes a helpless man. So not only a paralyzed man and a poor man, he was a helpless man.

He was a man that could not do for himself. Eight long years he had been in this condition, eight years lying on a bed. I know I've been sick before, not recently thankfully, but I've been sick before when I've had to spend a day or two in bed and those day or two seems like an eternity. But can you imagine eight years lying on a bed? This is to say I have a son who's just a little bit older than this, he's nine, and I'm thinking back as I was studying this of his life, all the days of fun and joy and running and playing and eating and laughing and sleeping and all of the things that we were able to do in those eight years and I think about Aeneas and he's laying there still on that bed.

This man knew what it was to be helpless. Have you ever cared for someone who was bedridden? It's a difficult task, not only for the person in the bed, but for the person who's caring for them in the bed. I have had some experience with this myself with my mother for the last two years of her life she was for all practical purposes bedridden and I understand the difficulty for her in that and I also understand the challenges for me and my family as we did that but I don't want you to paint a picture for you that it was all bad, it wasn't all bad, but it was still difficult. But it was one of the most blessed seasons of my life because of what God did for me in my soul, in teaching me and revealing myself to me.

You see, there was nothing that this man, Aeneas, could do to care for himself. He was totally reliant upon others for his daily care and his daily needs. Day in, day out, a man in great need. Now we are not told but it would seem perhaps that these saints that Peter came to see are the ones who introduced him to this certain man named Aeneas. These saints here that he has come to encourage and come to build up.

Now whether Aeneas is a believer or not we are not told in the text that we really don't have an indication and I don't really think it matters at this point because of what God is getting ready to do in his life. And so, he could have been one of the saints that Peter had come to check on and simply to encourage in his sickly state, his lame state, laying on a bed. But what we are about to see is that though this man was helpless and without hope in this world, Jesus Christ through the Apostle Peter was about to change his life forever. Christ, I pray, will give you ears to hear what Peter is saying to this poor helpless man. You see this man was a man who had little hope if any hope, no hope we'll say and he was also helpless.

Helpless and hopeless what a state to be in what Peter said to Aeneas though was very striking he says and Peter said to him Aeneas Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed. What a statement is this? There's no word or testimony here that Peter stops and prays and asks the Lord to heal Aeneas. Not saying that he didn't but we're not given that in the record but what he does say when he sees Aeneas he looks at him and says Aeneas, Jesus the Christ, heals you.

Peter speaks here as one who has knowledge with no doubting. He has an understanding of the will of Christ for this man. We don't know but it would be assumed that Christ had shown him Aeneas. He was a certain man in which Christ wanted Peter to go and to heal. Peter speaks with authority.

But where did he get this authority to say, Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you, arise and make your bed? Well he receives this authority from the name Jesus the Christ. In Acts chapter 1 verse 8 we read many months ago, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and into the ends of the earth and also in the Great Commission of Matthew 28 we read and Jesus came and spoke to them saying all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth and let me just stop there just for a moment if Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth then that means that Jesus is declaring himself to be God. There is only one who has all authority but Jesus pronounces to his disciples I have all authority. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

And may I say this, he and the Father are one. But not only that, but as we will soon see in the rest of this in Matthew 28, not only are he and the Father one, but also the Holy Spirit. We believe in the triune God, one God, the Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ. God is one in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And this is what we call the Trinity the triune God one God in three persons the father is not the son and the Son is not the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not the Father but all three are God.

It is one God in three persons. Then he goes on in Matthew 28 and he tells this command, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Remember that Jesus has just declared himself to be God. I have all authority to tell you to do this and then he says go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and lo I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.

Therefore, because Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, and then Peter in the name of Jesus Christ can say with authority and with certainty, Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you, arise and make your bed. What a statement. There is no doubt in my mind that this man had given up all hope of being cured. In eight long years, I am sure at least one doctor or somebody had come by to try to bring some relief to this poor man without avail. They saw his state, he's paralyzed, he is a hopeless man.

There's no hope of him walking, there's no hope of him working, but yet God sent Peter to this hopeless and helpless man. What can he do for this man in this condition? Pray for him? Yes, but Peter under the authority of Jesus Christ does more than pray for him. What seems to be a direct knowledge of the will of God, he says to this hopeless, helpless man, Jesus the Christ heals you arise.

In demonstration and display of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, not only to give you the words of eternal life, but also to cause a paralyzed man to arise. This is no doubt the fulfillment of what Jesus himself said to his disciples in John 14. Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these will he do, because I go to my Father. And whatever you ask in my name that I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son if you ask anything in my name I will do it." Now this can be obviously abused but he's speaking very specifically please don't miss the point of what Jesus says, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

And this is what Peter did. Aeneas, Jesus, the Christ, heals you. All glory. Nothing of Peter was spoken here. Me, Peter, the apostle, in the night.

No, he didn't say any of those things. He just said, Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. It is only Jesus Christ that can bring any healing to your life. It is only Jesus Christ who can raise people from the dead and calls blinded eyes to see. This is what Peter did.

He told him to arise and guess what he did? He arose. He obeyed the commandment. This was not a suggestion. Aeneas, Jesus the Christ healed you, arise and make your bed.

What God did in Littah here, then he arose immediately. Now this is reminiscent, if you'll remember back in Acts chapter 3 when Peter healed the lame man at the gate of the temple and now is the lame man it says in Acts 3 11 now is the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John and 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 that we have made this man walk. 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. This was what God was allowing to be done through his apostles and through some others that the name of Jesus Christ would be glorified in the Father and now it had come to Lydda. Why did it come to Lydda? Well we'll see that in just a few moments. But Peter himself proclaims that the power was not in him, but it was in faith in Jesus Christ and in the name of Jesus Christ which points to the authority of Jesus Christ.

You know the only hope and help for a helpless and hopeless man is Jesus Christ. There is no other hope anywhere. I'm not an apostle. I do not have the power to heal you. But one thing I do have, I will give to you in the name of Jesus Christ, if you will believe on Him, resting all of your hope on Him to save you from your sins, then by the authority of Jesus Christ I stand here before you today and I say this, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, if you believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, whoever believes on him will not be put to shame for there is no distinction between Jews and Greeks for the same Lord over all is rich in all who call upon him for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved and I stand there with all authority to say that because I spoke this from the very Word of God in obedience to Jesus Christ. Jesus the Christ tells you this that if you would believe on him and call upon his name you shall be saved. Who is here this morning who has never done that? Well I tell you with all authority that if you would but repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved.

In Acts 4 12 Peter also said this, and nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Can I say that again? For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Can I say that again? For there is no other name under heaven. That would be every other name.

There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." And well, what did Aeneas do when he heard these glorious words from the apostle Peter? Well, as we said, he immediately obeyed. He got up from his sick bed and made his bed. No more a bed of sickness but only a bed of sleep. Isn't that a glorious thought?

This man laying for eight years had now gotten up out of that bed and made his bed. Now there's a verse for you mothers. Even the Apostle Peter believes that the first thing you should do when you get up out of bed after eight years is make your bed. Anyway, he had now been healed and it was now time to act. His healing would serve as support for his belief.

He knew that Jesus Christ was real because Jesus Christ had just changed his life forever. He turned it upside down. He brought him from hopelessness to hopefulness, from helplessness to one who was ready to stand and make his own bed and be willing to go forth and follow him. It was a great miracle indeed in one that did not go unnoticed by the others in the whole town, this whole area here. Not only in Lytta, but it says in Sharon in verse 35.

So all who dwelt in Lytta and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. They all saw him. Now was this all of them coming to him or was he kind of like the man in the temple jumping and leaping and praising God and going forth and telling what great things God had done. All of them in these two places saw what he had done, this valley of Sharon where Lydda was located. They saw him, the one who had been bedridden and paralyzed, now up and about restored to full health, active and energized, hopeful and helpful because of what Jesus Christ had done.

And what a testimony. I want you to understand though, as glorious as this healing is, I want you to realize that in the sight of that miracle that produced an even greater miracle they turned to the Lord. Why do I call this an even greater miracle? Because Aeneas was raised from his sickbed but Jesus Christ is here and ready today as he was then to raise you from your sin bed. You are dead in sins and trespasses if you are outside of Christ.

They were dead in their sins and trespasses. They had been brought up from death to life. It says they turned to the Lord. This is the great miracle of all, the greatest miracle of all. Not that Jesus through Peter had raised a man from being paralyzed so that he could walk and work again.

The man died after that. But the greatest miracle of all was that he gave eternal life to those who believed. He gave eternal life that they turned to the Lord. And so the very purpose of this miracle of healing was just to verify and validate the doctrine of Peter to say, listen to this man, the words that he preaches to you and throughout the country that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and all who believed immediately got up from their helpless and hopeless situation and put their helpless and hopeless faith in Jesus Christ and they turned and believed. They turned from their dead religion to a living faith.

As Peter tells us in 1 Peter chapter 1, that we have a living hope. And that is what this man now had, Aeneas. And that is what these who turned to the Lord now had. How do I know this? How do I know they turned from their dead religion to their living faith because it says they turned to the Lord.

This is the picture of repentance. Turning. Going in one direction, stopping and turning and going away from that direction into the other direction. These were Jewish people here. They were following after the law.

They were following after trying to appease God through all of the sacrificial systems, they had missed the very thing that God had done through Jesus Christ. And now when they saw Jesus Christ and what he did for this man, Aeneas, they turned from that dead religion to the true and living God. And that's what I call everyone here today to do. Everyone is religious in nature. And I'm calling you to turn from your dead religion to the living God, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the living God. That's called repentance. In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul gives us a very beautiful picture of what it means to repent. He says, manner that you might suffer loss from us and nothing for godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation not to be regretted but the sorrow of the world produces death for observe this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner." Now listen to what he says next. He says you sorrowed in a godly manner.

Now there's a way to sorrow in an ungodly manner and that's worldly sorrow. But look at what godly sorrow does. It always does something. He says this, what diligence it produced in you. What clearing of yourselves.

What indignation. What's this indignation? Indignation about your sin. What fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication. In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

You proved yourselves. That's what repentance does. It proves yourselves. It shows that you have turned from death to life. But lest you be proud of your repentance, know this, that the scripture in all sorts of places tells you that this is the gift of God.

God grants repentance to life. Praise his holy name. You're so helpless and hopeless you can't even repent by yourself. God must grant it to you and if your heart is hard and dead and you refuse to listen to the words of life repentance will not be granted And you may later at a later date see the terrible state of your soul and be like Esau who sought repentance with tears and yet did not get it. May that not be said of you.

So true repentance brothers and sisters always results in a change of life but we are not finished. No we have yet another miracle to look at and that is the power of the gospel in Joppa. Look at verse 36. At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did.

Now we have no doubt here that Tabitha was an early convert. She was one of those certain disciples and she was one who had trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what we have here is a definition and a picture, a walking picture of true religion. True religion is seen in James 2, 14 through 17. What does it profit my brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body. What does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Tabitha was a woman of true religion.

Here we see not only in verse 36, but if you'll look down to verse 39, the last part of verse 39, when Peter had come, it says that all the widows stood by him weeping. And they weren't just weeping, talking about the things that she had done. They were weeping and showing the things that she had done. Showing the tunics and the garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. This was a woman who was diligent.

This was a woman of true religion. Matthew Henry says her name was Tabitha. Her Greek name was Dorcas, both signifying a doe or a hind. Some pleasant creature. It is compared to that woman in Proverbs 31 and we'll look at that in just a few moments.

But can you imagine what a blessing she was to all around her. She was a woman who was giving herself. Her true religion was proved by her good works. Again, one commentator says she was a disciple, one that had embraced the faith of Jesus Christ, was baptized and not only so but was eminent above many for her works of charity. She showed her faith by her works, her good works which she was full of.

That is in which she abounded. Her head was full of cares and contrivances which way she should go to do good. She devised liberally to offer things to people. Her hands were full of good employment. She made a business of doing good.

She was never idle, having learned to maintain good works, to keep up constant course and method of them. She was full of good works as a tree is full of good fruit. Many are full of good words, who are empty and barren in good works, but not Tabitha. Tabitha was a good doer and not just a good talker. We need more in the church today of good doers and not just good talkers.

We need true religion. She was a Proverbs 31 woman. You realize I spoke just a couple days ago to the sons and the mothers and I spoke about this Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31 was actually the things that a mother taught to a son. You know oftentimes preachers will preach that on Mother's Day or something like that and all the moms leave feeling kind of bad that they fell short.

But this was actually a mother telling her son what to look for in a wife. So she knew what it was. Tabitha was this woman. She stretched, listen what it says in verse 19, she stretches out her hands to the distaff and her hand holds the spindle. She's not idle, she's constantly going to the work.

She extends her hands to the poor. Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. This was a woman who was looking for opportunities. Sometimes people come into our church and they get kind of discouraged and they think, well there's no way for us to serve. Like y'all don't have programs, you don't have all of these things that we need to be, that we could do in other churches.

Well guess what? They didn't have those things in this little church. But here's Tabitha. Tabitha is stretching out her hands finding stuff to do. Oh there's someone who needs a tunic.

I'm gonna make one. Oh there's someone who needs a baby blanket I bet. I bet she made baby blankets too, like some women in this church have done and others. That she was a woman who was looking for ways to serve. She was an example to the others.

You know it's really interesting in Romans 12 that Scott's been preached to is going to get to here in a few weeks about this passage and how it relates to Tabitha and the giftings of the body. It talks about how the body is ministering one to another. That's how we should be functioning. We need to be working together and serving one another, looking for ways to help one another. Don't just wait for somebody to come help you.

You are put here and if you're a Christian you have a gifting of the Holy Spirit of God and God wants you to use that. Your gift is not for you by the way it's for everybody else and if you're just sitting there doing nothing you are not ministering to the body as God commands you to do So you look for ways to serve one another. You don't have to have a title to serve. You just gotta have a willing heart. You just gotta have eyes to see and hands that are ready to put your hands to the work like Tabitha was.

But even though this dear sister was full of good works and charitable deeds, she was not exempt from sickness and death. You know, sometimes we see examples of those who are great and diligent workers for the Lord and it seems like their life is cut short. That's Tabitha. To all of her friends and to all of those that she blessed it seemed as if her life had been cut short. Bad things I was gonna say bad things happen to good people.

There's no good people except people in Christ but bad things do happen to people in Christ. How about that? People who love and serve the Lord have things like sickness and death. But it happened, verse 37, in those days that she became sick and died. And when they had washed her they laid her in an upper room.

Now there are some charlatans out there in this world who would try to lead you to believe that if you have enough faith and if that you have enough good works and if you give them enough money that you will not get sick and die. They actually teach this false gospel that God's will is for you always to be healthy and wealthy. This is a false gospel by false teachers who bring great ruin to those fooled by them and worse than that they bring great reproach upon the name of Jesus Christ teaching what he never taught and twisting what he said. In 2nd Peter 2 17 it says, these, these false teachers, are wells without water. They are clouds carried by a tempest for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

If health and wealth is the plan of God then what do you do with Moses in Exodus chapter 4 and verse 11 where he says, so the Lord said to him who has made man's mouth or who makes the mute the deaf the seeing or the blind have not I the Lord or what about Elijah in 2nd Kings 13? Elijah had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Did any man have more faith in Elijah? Or what about Timothy where Paul tells him no longer drink only a little water but use a little wine for your stomach sake and your frequent infirmities. Or the apostle Paul himself in Galatians 4.13 he says you know that because of physical infirmity I preach the gospel to you at first.

In 2nd Corinthians 12 look at what Paul says, and lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." I have a feeling Tabitha had not one word of complaint in her sickbed.

I have a feeling that Tabitha was a woman who understood that God does work all those things together for good to those that love him, even though at this time it had not been written yet. She was a living testimony. But what do they do? Their dear sister, this one who served them so diligently, what do they do? They call for Peter.

In verse 38, And since little was near Joppa and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him imploring him not to delay in his coming. And then Peter arose and went with them. And when he had come, they brought him to the upper room and all the widows stood by him weeping and showing the tunics and the garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. The text tells us that the disciples in Joppa had heard that Peter was there. Most likely they had heard that he had just healed a paralyzed man, Therefore they called Peter.

This trip was somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 12 miles walking distance as the crow flies anyway. And these disciples here they are they take off to go get Peter and bring him back to Joppa. In my mind what must they have been thinking? She's dead. What good could Peter do?

Peter had overseen the death of Ananias and Sapphira but he had never raised the dead. He had seen Jesus raise Lazarus and others. What did they hope for? It sure seems like they hoped for a miracle. They sent these two men to Peter imploring him, do not delay, do not delay, come, Come quickly.

Well when Peter was summoned what did he do? He got up and straightway headed back with these two men. This again is an example I believe just a side note here of a minister of the body of ministering to the body of Christ to all its members. This is a man who we know in in 1st Peter 5 was an elder. He loved God's people and he was ready and willing at a moment's notice to go and walk 12 to 14 miles to bring some comfort and perhaps some miracle.

He was a man who loved God's people. And then in verse 40 and 41, Tabitha is raised to life. But Peter put them all out. When he got there, you know, they're crying and weeping and they're talking about what she had done. But Peter put them out and he knelt down and here this time he prays.

And he turns to the body and he said Tabitha arise. Again what authority not his own? It's reminiscent of what Jesus did in Matthew 9 and verse 18 while he spoke these things to them, behold a ruler came and worshiped him saying, my daughter has just died but come and lay your hands on her and she will live. So Jesus arose and followed him and so did his disciples. And when Jesus came into the ruler's house and he saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, he said to them, make room for the girl is not dead but sleeping.

And they ridiculed him, but when the crowd was put outside, he went in and took her by the hand and the girl arose. And the report of this went out into all that land. Peter knelt down and prayed. I think this is showing a humble submission of a humble servant, acknowledging in the sense of bodily language that he is not the authority in the room. He is not the one with the power but that one to whom he is praying is the one with the power, Jesus Christ.

Perhaps he had been given direction from the Lord maybe on the way I don't know we're not told regarding Aeneas and then also regarding Tabitha. Therefore we are told that he did kneel down and pray. In his kneeling we see his submission. In his praying we see his willingness to serve and to call upon one who has all power. Peter's reliance was upon another and not himself.

And so he petitioned God on behalf of this dear saint that the Lord would hear and answer his prayer. And calling out to Tabitha to arise there seems to be again no hesitation in his voice. He knows the answer almost before he says it. Therefore he calls this beloved saint to arise and she does. Peter helps her up and presents her alive to the saints and to the widows.

Think of the joy that burst forth in that house. This beloved sister who had shown her good works and her love and was always, this was a woman always diligent for others. Can you imagine the joy? Think of the testimony of the power of Jesus Christ to raise the dead and seeing the former testimony of Tabitha, she no doubt would be straight way back to good works and charitable deeds. One of the things that I think in a passage like this is helpful in for us to draw some application.

I'm not saying that we are going to be healing paralyzed men and raising dead women because that's not really the greatest miracle. We'll look at that in just a moment. But I do believe there's application that we can draw out that would benefit us this morning and and maybe humble us. Again it's not the main focus but it is worth considering. Have you ever considered what the response would be from your fellow believers if you were to die?

Would they have anything to show for your living among them? Or only words? Would they be blessed if you were raised back to life? Or would their life be no different whether you were dead or alive? These are the things I've been thinking about.

Will your life simply be a memory or will there be something to show for it? What are you doing with what the Lord has given you? Are you like the steward who simply buries his talent in the ground or are you like the one who puts it to use and gains more? Well As we know this is not the end of the story, nor have we really gotten to that main point I was talking about in this account. What was the result of this miracle?

That's really where we're beelining to. We're wanting to get to the result. There's always more to the miracle. There's always more to the story than just Tabitha is raised from the dead. This miracle is not the main thing.

She was not simply raised to the dead to say, wow look she was raised from the dead but there's something else going on. It's not just that there was a shortage of tunics after her death, there was actually something much greater and more glorious and that's Jesus Christ turning a whole city to himself from spiritual death to spiritual life. And Tabitha no doubt died again. I think we have heard about it if she hadn't. I feel certain that the point of this miracle is pointing us to that very fact of something glorious taking place.

Don't stop short of what the Lord would have you to see and more importantly what he would have you to believe. In verses 42 and 43 we see the result of this and many believed on the Lord and it became known throughout all Joppa and many believed on the Lord. Many believed. Do you believe? Everyone under the sound of my voice, do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Do you believe? What does this amazing passage do for you? Do you believe on the Lord? This is the point of the miracle. The miracle only validates the message of the gospel that was being preached.

And in fact, the greatest miracle in this passage is not Tabitha being raised from the dead, but whether or not you will be raised from the dead. They too, the town, these people who believed on the Lord Jesus, they had actually been raised from the dead in a greater way and now though Tabitha would die again these would never die for they had been given eternal life. Have you been born again? Have you been raised from your spiritual deadness? Ephesians 2 is a most glorious passage.

And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive together in Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up together and made us sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works, lest anyone should boast. For listen, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

The good works as in Tabitha's case was that which proved her faith not gave her faith. Jesus Christ shows exceeding abundant mercy and grace upon us when he takes us from spiritual death to spiritual life. And I believe that there is a proper response from everyone here today. If you have been born again, I would say this to you, give God thanks for raising you from the dead. Acknowledge that you were utterly hopeless and helpless and there was nothing you could do to save yourself.

And if you are here this morning and you're still dead in your sins and trespasses, then I would say to you, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, for today is the day of salvation. And based upon the authority of the word of God in Acts 221, and it shall come to pass, that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved and I pray that that would be the case for you today. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father we give you all glory and praise and honor. Lord, our desire this morning is that Jesus Christ would be glorified in his father.

Lord, you have demonstrated your power to heal a lame man and to raise a dead woman. And I pray, Lord, that this morning you would raise the dead again, those who sit within this building right now who are dead in their sins and trespasses. Lord would you cause a great light to shine on those who sit in darkness. Lord would you breathe life into the dead. Would you give them eyes to see the glorious gospel.

Would you give them a heart to feel their need Lord would you grant them repentance unto faith so that they would begin to function and live in the good works in which you have created them for. And Lord I ask and pray this in that name, that glorious name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess. And Lord I pray in his name and for his sake. Amen.