Stand Here

Stand Here

Does it matter where you stand? (Ephesians 6:10, Ephesians 6:14)

Illustration:

SAN DIEGO – A teenage California girl searching for a cell phone signal to call her mother in a rural area outside San Diego inadvertently stepped into a nest of rattlesnakes and was bitten six times, but survived. The 16-year-old, Vera Oliphant, spent four days in the intensive care unit of Sharp Grossmont Hospital, and doctors gave her 24 vials of antivenom after she was bitten by an adult rattlesnake and five young rattlers outside her uncle’s home. “I was trying to find a signal to call my mom and text my boyfriend,” Oliphant said on Friday, a day after she was released from the hospital following the October 27 incident.

“I didn’t see them until I already stepped on their nest and I felt them biting me.” “My vision started to go right away. First it looked like the snakes blended into the leaves and then I started seeing black spots around the edges and I started blacking out.”

She returned to her uncle’s home in Jamul, outside San Diego, and he immediately packed her into the car and rushed her to the emergency room, she said. On the way, she talked to her mom and her boyfriend, who told her to stay calm so the venom wouldn’t spread. I told my mom and my boyfriend I love them in case I don’t get to see them again, “she said. Doctors there administered 24 vials of antivenom to quash the dangerous toxins, according to a hospital spokesman. Snakebites usually aren’t fatal, although a handful of people die in the United States each year from snake bites, including bites from rattlesnakes. Oliphant has recovered and will be returning to classes at Chaparral High School in El Cajon on Monday. She said the next time she can’t get a signal, she will handle it differently. “Be careful where you step,” she said. If you don’t need to, just wait until you are somewhere that you can call people.”

You are: Theologically surrounded snakes!

Context of Scripture: The healing of the man born lame. (Acts 3:1-19)

• Acts 3:9, So swept away I looked up the greek words there for Wonder (tham’bos), Amazement (ek’stas-is). Know what they mean? Wonder, Amazement! Dumbfounded. They are swept away!
• Acts 3:13, God has glorified Jesus: God has glorified him: 3 great ways: (1. By raising him from the dead. 2. By ascending him to the Throne. He is the Judge and rulers of all the earth. 3. By giving healing in Jesus’ name. The healing is proof of the other two. That is, the healing of the man born lame is proof that Jesus has risen: Just as in his ministry, when he was alive on earth, he healed lame men: He’s still alive to cause the lame to walk. He is not a memory, but alive and still doing Jesus things. Proof that Jesus is ascended. He sits on the mighty throne of the Almighty, and all things submit to him. Including the physical universe.) So, Peter says: GOD HAS GLORIFIED JESUS!

Focus verse: Acts 3:19-21. (Just three verse)

Note: I was telling a friend what a great comfort those verses are to me. I told her, “Acts 3:18-21 is a delight to me. Startled me by quickly writing back, Why that? As I wrote, I realized even more deeply how much I find these words a place to stand. These verses compactly express my faith. I believe this.”

I. Stand Here

Passage theologically weighty:

Illustration: Oct. 31, 1517: Martin Luther nailed 95 Thesis to the church door Whittenberg. Stirred a theological hornets nest. Diet worms, called stand before King Charles. Asked to recant. He said: “Unless you can convince me by Scripture and not by popes or councils who contradict each other – I am bound to the Bible. My conscience is captive to Word of God. Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me.”

Let me just briefly lay a foundation of good doctirne before I move on. This passage is theologically weighty.

1. The

(Acts 3:18 that his Christ would suffer) Specifically, a reference to the cross. Underline “His” and “Christ.” Jesus is the Chosen One to Suffer for sin. He is the only sacrifice that is acceptable.

(Acts 3:18: he thus fulfilled) Fulfilled is not just: Jesus came died. It is that: He has fulfilled the requirement of blood sacrifice. He has fulfilled the demands sin places on humanity. He has fulfilled all righteousness.

Jesus did for you what you could never do for yourself. We are wholly incapable, inadequate, insufficient.

2. The

(Acts 3:21 whom heaven must receive) At this moment, Christ rules form heaven. He is the King. Heaven has received him. Means this: Onto Heavens throne, been received. Angels received him. Worship him. Highest order of Spirit Beings, received him. The throngs of those who have died, gather before this King.

Stephen looked: I see Jesus! (As if to receive Stephen.)

Some verses: Hebrews 2:19, Revelation 1:5, 1 Tim. 1:17, 1 Sim. 6:15

3. The

(Acts 3:21) “heaven must receive (Jesus) until (underline that “until” – Jesus does not remain king in heaven for ever, but something is coming up ahead:) the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.”

What is the “restoring of all things”

– it is first the: De-Creation, Destruction of this earth. First little by little, then in a cataclysmic event called: Parousia. Apocolpousis.

–New-Creation: John, I saw a new heaven and a new earth… That’s not just Apocalyptic jargon. Literal.

II. Stand Here : Rest Your Soul Here. (Acts 3:19)

• To Repent requires our whole being. My (1. Mind repents earthly thinking, 2. Heart: Give up love self: Allow inner self fall love Jesus, 3. Soul: Grieved sinful ways. Not Quick forgiveness/broken: Mercy)
• How are sins blotted out? Only by works. The question is, whose works will blot my sins out? My works are filthy rags. Jesus work on the cross is the only acceptable work for my salvation.
• Acts 3:20, Jesus is appointed to be your savior.
• Acts 3:29, “Send the Christ” present tense. Jesus not only died back then to save you, but when you repent, God sends the Son to you in the present moment to rescue you.

III. Stand Here (Acts 3:20)

• Times of refreshing is the forward direction of our salvation. We not only are saved form sin, but to a walk with God.
• The text also emphasizes that God cares about our struggles now. He just healed a lame man!

Illustration (I like this news story. Aren’t you glad you don’t have to lock God in a room to help you)

Fed-up Tracey Fox (42) of Thornley (England), bought her Hoover washing machine less than a year ago from Currys. But wasn’t able to use it – despite a series of visits from service engineers. The latest repair man said he was going to leave her home without fixing her machine Tracey locked the doors to her house and refusing to let him leave.

She said: “I bought the machine in February last year and by October I was having problems with it. An engineer came out and said there was a problem with the motherboard. It was fixed and I thought everything would be fine but just before Christmas it broke down again.”

A series of appointments failed to fix the problem.

An appointment January 13: “The engineer did eventually turn up he just took a quick look around and said the problem was a twopence piece which had become stuck. He didn’t replace the parts the other engineer had said needed replacing. He wasn’t even going to attempt to fix it.

“I’m not proud of myself but I decided that I wasn’t going to let him out of the house. It is still under the year guarantee. I told him he might as well dial 999 now because he wasn’t going to leave the house until my washer was sorted out. I locked all the doors and wouldn’t let him out. He then phoned his manager and I think the manager must have called the police. The police did eventually turn up but I had relented by that stage and had freed him.”

IV. Stand Here (Acts 3:21)

Biblical Eschatology:

1. Jesus will come again. Gather his people.

2. Destroy earth. (Heavens disappear roar!) Wicked perish.

3. There is a great day of judgment. Books opened: Deeds / Life.

4. New Creation day: Raises up new world. “Restoring.” (Restored earth, bodies, minds, eyes, creation, rivers, animal kingdom.)

What is this hope resting on?

1. The Prophets: Isa. 65:17: “behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. (Also: Isa. 66:22) (Peter: What Isaiah told us about, Jesus will bring into reality.)

2. Jesus: Rich young ruler: Luke 19:28 (In the “new world.”)

3. Epistles: Wrote about this to each other! 2 Peter 3:33

4. Apocalypse: Revelation!