0325. The Lame Man

The Lame Man

"And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the Temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the Temple" (Act_3:2).

1. We have before us the picture of the sinner’s fallen condition. "And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb." The unsaved man is spiritually lame; he is born in sin. When Adam fell, the whole race was made sinners. The fruitage of sin is seen everywhere. It is not only manifested in lame limbs and decrepit bodies; but in lame characters, and decrepit morals. How sad is the spectacle of the lost world!

2. We have before us the helplessness of the sinner in his sins: "A certain man lame * * was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the Temple." A man in his sin is just as unable to help himself to God as was this cripple to help himself in walking. The lost one would never be saved if he was not "carried."

First, there must be the preaching of the Gospel. How can they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? This work is given unto believers. We are told to go with the glad tidings to every creature.

Next, there must be the convicting of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit carries home the message of the Gospel. He convicts or reproves the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.

After this, upon the faith of the sinner, which is, in itself, a gift of God, the Holy Spirit imparts a new life–the lost one is born again. He thus becomes quickened, and receives a place in the family of God.

3. We have before us the poverty of the sinner. He was set at the gate "to ask alms of them that entered into the Temple."

What a sad picture is this, and yet how true of every sinner’s lost estate. The lame man sat at the "beautiful gate" of a Temple most costly, and rich in its furnishings, and yet he himself had nothing.

Bartimaeus sat at the gate of Jericho. The marvelous vista of the Jordan, winding its ways through dale and hill in the valley below, was nothing to him–he was blind.

There lay a multitude of impotent folk around the pool of Bethesda, the House of Bread, but what was the name "Bethesda" to them–they were sick.

The sinner, too, is poor. He may possess much of this world’s goods, but, like the rich man who fared sumptuously every day, he may die and in hell sue for water to cool his parched tongue. He is poor, because he has no part or lot in the riches of grace, nor in the glories of Heaven and eternal life.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR