Acts 3:13-16 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus; whom you delivered up… The title suggests — I. THAT JESUS IS THE SOURCE OF LIFE. 1. Of natural life. "In Him we live and move," etc. It is only for Him to say to dead Lazarus "Come forth," and He proves Himself to be the source of life. Let us not, then, deny Him the use of the faculties He has given. 2. Of spiritual life. H we admit that we cannot give ourselves physical life, how absurd to think we can give ourselves spiritual life. And yet multitudes are under this delusion. It is only by Christ's almighty fiat that the "dead in trespasses and sins" can "hear the voice of the Son of God and live." 3. Of eternal life. Jesus is the life of all the joy, the glory, and the love of heaven. II. THAT LIFE CENTRES IN HIM AS REGARDS SENSIBLE ENJOYMENT OF IT. The common comforts of Christ without Christ are monotonous and miserable; but if Christ be enjoyed in them, if He be eaten with our bread, received with our water, breathed with our air, then life has a blessedness and a dignity conferred upon it which the world knows nothing of. III. THAT HE SUSTAINS THE LIFE HE GIVES. "He giveth power to the faint," as well as life to the dead. Does the life of faith, of hope, of love, wane through trial and loss and disappointment? Christ has inexhaustible resources of vitality for their invigoration. Dost thou fear lest thou shouldest lose thy little life in the fierce conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil? Hear His promise, "They shall never perish." IV. THAT HE BRINGS LIFE TO FRUITION. "Be thou faithful unto death," etc. V. THAT HE DOES ALL THIS IN A PRINCELY MANNER. "I am come that they might have life... abundantly." (J. Irons.) Parallel Verses KJV: The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. |
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