" Presented Alive" March 3, 2019

Overview

Presented Alive

In Acts 9:32–43, Peter is on the move—visiting believers, strengthening churches, and proclaiming Christ, in keeping with Jesus' commission in Matthew 28:18–20 and the promise of Acts 1:8. Two miracles mark his journey. In Lydda, Peter meets Aeneas, paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. Peter does not claim healing power for himself; he says, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you." The man rises immediately, and the residents of the region turn to the Lord. In Joppa, the disciple Tabitha—a woman "devoted to good works and acts of charity"—falls ill and dies. The widows she had clothed and cared for weep over her body. Peter sends them out, kneels in prayer, and says, "Tabitha, get up." She opens her eyes, and Peter presents her alive to the saints and widows. Again, many believe.

These accounts intentionally echo earlier miracles. Peter healing Aeneas recalls the lame man healed at the Beautiful Gate in Acts 3:1–10. The raising of Tabitha mirrors Jesus raising Jairus's daughter in Luke 8:49–56—even down to clearing the room and the command to "get up." The parallels make the point unmistakable: Peter's ministry is not about Peter. The risen Jesus is still at work, healing through the authority of His name and the prayer of His servants. Signs and wonders are not ends in themselves; they validate the gospel and open doors for the message to be heard.

The deeper application sits in a single word. Luke says Peter "showed" Tabitha alive—the same Greek word used in Acts 1:3, where the risen Jesus "presented himself alive" to His disciples. Aeneas pictures our condition: paralyzed, incurable by our own strength, waiting only for the grave. Tabitha pictures another truth: even kindness and charity, however beautiful, cannot save us from death or sin. We cannot raise ourselves. But Jesus can, and Jesus has. On the cross He took our sin, our sickness, and our death into Himself so that we might be presented alive to the Father.

This is the heart of the gospel as Scripture proclaims it: "as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive" 1 Corinthians 15:22; "when you were dead in your trespasses… God made [you] alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses" Colossians 2:13; "even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved" Ephesians 2:4–5; "consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" Romans 6:11. Just as Peter presented Tabitha alive to the widows, Jesus presents you alive to the Father. The news spread quickly in Lydda and Joppa, and many believed. May the news of Christ's life at work in you spread just as quickly—so that others, hearing, would come to faith.

Transcript

So in today's text, we have two stories of miracles that are performed by Peter. 0s

The last that we had heard about Peter or seen Peter was when he was evangelizing in 7s

Samaria. 13s

In chapter eight before we follow Philip through some of his mission work, Peter had 14s

rebuked Simon. 19s

That was the guy who had previously been practicing in the magical arts. 20s

He was a sorcerer of sorts. 26s

Simon had asked to purchase the power that came of giving the Holy Spirit with the 28s

laying on a hand and Peter rebuked him. 35s

And that's kind of where we left Peter and then followed Philip for a little bit. 38s

And here we're returning back to Peter at the end of chapter nine. 42s

And we found, or we find that he's been traveling about. 47s

He's been visiting the new believers and the churches. 51s

And he's continuing to share the gospel. 55s

It's not surprising that this would be what he was up to. 58s

This is exactly what Christ had commanded his disciples to do. 62s

When you look at Matthew 28, it says, 67s

and Jesus came to them and said, 69s

all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. 71s

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 75s

Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have 80s

commanded you. 86s

All authority was given to Jesus. 88s

And what did he do with that? 91s

He sent his people forth to baptize, to teach in Acts chapter 1 verse 8. 93s

He said to them, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. 100s

And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem all in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. 105s

And then as we read in the second chapter of the book of Acts concerning new believers, 114s

that those who welcomed Peter's message were baptized. 119s

And that day about 3,000 persons were added and they devoted themselves to the apostles 123s

teaching fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers. 129s

So Peter, traveling about, he was most likely traveling to sur, to strengthen the teachings 134s

of the faith, to preach, to evangelize, to lay hands upon those who had not yet received 143s

the Holy Spirit as we saw in chapter 8. 150s

So this is where we pick up with Peter today. 153s

He's been traveling about visiting the new believers, visiting the new churches. 156s

And we pick up with verse 32 of chapter 9. 161s

Now as Peter went here and there among all the believers, he came down also to the 166s

faith living in light up. 171s

There he found a man named Anias, who had been bedridden for 8 years for he was paralyzed. 172s

Peter said to him, Anias, Jesus Christ heals you, get up and make your bed. 178s

And immediately he got up and all the residents of light and share and saw him and turned 184s

to the Lord. 190s

When Peter came across Anias, he found a man that had been bedridden for 8 years. 191s

Imagine that being stuck in a bed for one day is bad enough when we're sick and we have 200s

to stay in bed all day. 207s

That's horrible. 208s

This man had been in his bed for 8 years, paralyzed completely immobile. 209s

And he was not on a sleep number mattress. 217s

He was not on a memory foam mattress. 220s

He was on a little mat. 223s

Basically the floor for 8 years, unmoving. 226s

He had no hope for anything more. 231s

He was a deplorable. 235s

He was in a desperate situation and there was absolutely nothing for him to do, but wait 237s

out his life until he was moved from his mat to his grave. 242s

Peter said to him, Anias, Jesus Christ healed you, get up and make your bed and he was healed. 250s

And it was immediate, immediate. 260s

And the news of this healing traveled quickly that this paralyzed and bedridden man had 263s

been healed. 268s

And the miraculous healing led to further conversions, further new believers. 269s

Remember there's always a relationship between the miracles and evangelism, wonders and signs 277s

offered the opportunity to preach the gospel. 285s

And the miracle was the proof of the message that was brought. 289s

It was the validation of the word of Christ. 293s

And so of course the news traveled very quickly. 298s

And then we come to our next miracle of our text. 301s

If you would look with me to verse 36, now in Java there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, 304s

which in Greek is Dorcus. 311s

Now the importance of her name is that in both the Aramaic and the Greek, the name means 313s

Ado or Gazelle. 320s

It's a pleasant creature. 322s

The inclusion of her name in both the Greek and the Aramaic really emphasizes her character, 324s

the character of this woman. 331s

And we will see that indeed she was a very pleasant creature continuing in verse 36. 333s

She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. 341s

At that time she became ill and died. 347s

When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. 350s

Since Lida was near Japa, the disciples who heard that Peter was there sent two men to him 353s

with a request. 358s

Please come to us without delay. 359s

So Peter got up and went with them. 361s

And when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. 363s

All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcus had 367s

made while she was with them. 373s

Peter put all of them outside. 376s

Then he knelt and he prayed. 378s

And he turned to the body and said, Tabitha, get up. 381s

Then she opened her eyes and seeing Peter, she sat up. 384s

He gave her his hand and helped her. 387s

Then calling the Saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. 389s

This became known throughout Japa and many believed in the Lord. 393s

Meanwhile, he stayed in Japa for some time with a certain Simon, a Tanner. 397s

So this woman, we're going to use her Aramaic name. 402s

I like Tabitha a lot more than Dorcus. 405s

She, uh-huh. 409s

She was known for her good works. 412s

And her charity, her acts of charity. 416s

This was a disciple who lived her faith. 420s

She showed her faith by her works. 425s

Her works were not saving her. 428s

Her works were not doing anything to make her greater than others. 430s

Her works were her faith. 435s

And she served all. 438s

She served the needy. 440s

Remember, it was the widows who stood by her body weeping. 442s

The widows would have had very little money. 447s

They relied on Tabitha for all that she had to offer them. 449s

And this says that Tabitha was devoted to the good works and acts of charity. 455s

So this act of kindness, her kindness was not a one-off. 462s

It was who she was. 466s

She spent her days helping and caring for the needy. 468s

The women showed Peter the tangible evidence of Tabitha's good works by showing him their tunics. 473s

And the garment garments that she had made for them. 481s

The widows lamented the loss of this benevolent disciple. 485s

We, we plake these widows when one of the merciful are taken from us as well. 492s

How many times did a funeral do you hear? 498s

He or she was such a good person. 501s

Such a good person. 506s

There's never a need to weep for the one who has died though. 508s

After all, like Tabitha and this text, the one who has died is resting from his or her laborers. 513s

The legacy of her good works and kindness continues. 520s

The weeping in the morning, it's for those who are left behind the possibilities of what could have been the continued works, the family. 527s

We grieve for ourselves just as the widows grieved for what they had lost in Tabitha's death. 540s

As the widows crowded around Peter in the body of Tabitha, he asked them to leave the room and he knelt down and he prayed. 548s

And he said, Tabitha get up and she did immediately. 559s

When one dies, often the first action is to close the eyes of the deceased and hear the first thing that Tabitha does. 566s

She opens her eyes. 576s

It's the reversal of her death. 578s

So why these stories? 583s

Why these stories? Why do we have these two miracles here? 585s

As we read the stories, did they remind you of anything? 592s

Did they remind you of any other stories that we've heard in the past? 596s

Peter, healing anias reminds us of the healing in Acts chapter 3. 603s

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. 608s

And a man, lame from birth, was being carried in. 614s

People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the beautiful gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. 618s

When he saw Peter and John go into the temple, he asked them for alms. 624s

Peter looked intently at him as did John and said, look at us. 631s

And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 636s

But Peter said, I have no silver or gold, but what I have, I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk. 641s

And he took him by the right hand and raised him up and immediately, his feet and ankles were made strong, jumping up. 652s

He stood and began to walk and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 661s

The story of Peter and Dorcus is reminiscent of Jesus with gyrosis daughter in Luke 8. 667s

While he, Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the leader's house to say, your daughter is dead. 676s

Do not trouble the teacher any longer. When Jesus heard this, he replied, do not fear. 682s

Only believe and she will be saved. 690s

When he came to the house, he did not allow anyone to enter with him except Peter, John and James and the child's father and mother. 693s

They were all weeping and wailing for her, but he said, do not weep for she is not dead, but sleeping. 701s

And they laughed at him knowing that she was dead, but he took her by the hand and called out, child get up. 706s

And her spirit returned and she got up at once. Then he directed them to give her something to eat. 714s

The stories of the miracles we heard today show us that Peter's ministry was never about himself. 722s

It was not about himself or his healing power. It was about Jesus. 728s

It was about Jesus and the power of his name and the power of his word. 733s

The fact that we can quickly call to mind parallel miracles shows us that Jesus was still at work. 741s

It was in the power of Jesus' name that Anis was healed. It was in the power of prayer to Jesus Christ that Tabitha was restored to life. 749s

My friends, there is no accident why Anis's story is recorded for us to read. 763s

The man was paralyzed. He was incurable according to nature, according to his own abilities. 769s

His life was filled with waiting, waiting on the grave for relief. 778s

We too are paralyzed. We are incurable in our sin according to our own abilities. 788s

Tabitha, she was a good person. She was charitable. She was kind and yet she became a good person. 800s

She became ill and she died. In our kindness, in our own loving service, we are not immune to falling ill. 808s

We are not immune to death. We cannot save ourselves from the grave. 820s

We cannot save ourselves from our sin. 829s

But it wasn't Anis or Tabitha saving themselves. It wasn't Peter saving them either. 835s

Peter directed Anis to Christ. It was Christ's act. Christ did that made Anis whole. 842s

Peter ordered all the people out of Tabitha's room and he felt to his knees and he prayed totally dependent on Christ in prayer, 850s

knowing he could help her only by the authority and power of Jesus Christ. 862s

It was through the power of Christ that Tabitha was given life. 869s

Let's look at that scene again. Second half of verse 40. He turned to the body and said Tabitha, 875s

get up. Then she opened her eyes and see him Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her up. 882s

Then calling all the Saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. 890s

He showed her to be alive. The word used here for showed also means presented. He presented her to be alive in Acts. 897s

Chapter 1 verse 3, that same word is used about Jesus. 910s

After his suffering, he presented himself alive to them, to the disciples. 914s

By many convincing proofs appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God, 921s

the weak cannot save ourselves from sin. The weak cannot save ourselves from the grave. Jesus can. 929s

And Jesus has. When Jesus hung upon the cross, he took upon himself. 939s

All of our sin. He took upon himself all of our infirmities and diseases. 946s

He drew all of the darkness into himself and died each and every one of our deaths. 955s

He died our death under sin. He did this in order to present us alive. 965s

And we are. We are presented alive to the Father through the blood of Jesus Christ. 975s

In 1 Corinthians it says, for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. 983s

In collage, it says, when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive. 990s

Together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, Ephesians 2, God who is rich in mercy, 998s

out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, 1007s

made us alive together with Christ by grace. You have been saved. 1012s

Romans 6. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin. 1020s

And alive to God in Christ Jesus. We are alive in Christ Jesus. 1027s

Just as Peter presented Tabitha to be alive to the widows, Jesus presents each and every one of you to be alive to the Father. 1034s

We were paralyzed in our sin. We were dead in our trespasses, but we have been made new. 1046s

We have been born into new life, and we are alive in Jesus. 1056s

The news of anious healing spread quickly, and people came to faith. 1062s

The news of Tabitha coming back to life spread quickly, and people came to faith. 1068s

The good news today is that you are alive. 1078s

How quickly, how quickly this news will spread. 1084s

And many will come to faith hearing of Christ's powerful work in your life. 1090s

Amen. 1100s

Thank you. 1119s