Dear congregation, what in the world is the church here for? What in the world is the church here for? And why are you here this morning? These are questions which our text passage faces us with today and will give us an answer because the Acts of the Apostles, the book from which our chapter is drawn, is answering that question. What is the church here for? And why are you and I here in the world at this time? We wish to see this with the Lord's help from this familiar story of the healing of this lame man outside the gate. Beautiful. Our text words you can find in verses 4 through 8. Basically, the events of this miracle. Allow me to read at this time only verse 5 and 6. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk. The theme of God's help is simply the words of our text, rise up and walk, or if you wish, a transformation at the gate beautiful. Rise up and walk, or transformation at the gate beautiful. We'll see first of all the misery requiring this miracle, secondly the manner of this miracle, and thirdly and lastly the message of this miracle. transformation at the gate beautiful, the misery, the manner, and the message. In our passage congregation, Acts chapter 3, we leave one miracle behind, Acts chapter 2, and we enter now into another miracle. Because chapter 2 of Acts, the events of Pentecost, are really one giant miracle from heaven come down to the earth. Three thousand people experienced a radical change from the inside out by the powerful operation of the Holy Spirit. It was a miracle on a large stage, if you will. By the end of Acts chapter 2, you see 3,000 plus people sitting at the feet of the Apostles, learning of Christ, continuing steadfast in the Apostles' doctrine, and in breaking of bread, and in fellowship, and in prayers. This is a miracle congregation, much like the miracle of that demon-possessed man, filled with a legion of demons, who at the word of Jesus Christ was unshackled and freed. Remember? At Gadara. And there he sat. clothed and in his right mind. And here 3,000 people sit clothed and in their right mind at the feet, essentially, of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, from heaven the Lord Jesus Christ has shown the power of His resurrection by reaching down the Prince of Life into the arena of death and transforming many thousands of souls. But as we leave chapter 2 and come now into chapter 3, we step outside the circle of the converts, and we step into the misery that awaits these converts. The world around them. And perhaps you felt something of that as well. When you've gathered, like we do today in worship, and here we all are dressed up, focused on God, And then you leave this place, and later today, or certainly at some point in this week, you're faced with the world and the misery that is right there out in the open for all of us to see. You don't need to drive far. In many cases, it's in our own homes, our own families, and it's brought into our very doorsteps as well. There's a line, isn't there? This fine line between the sacred, the holy, where God meets with His people and shows His power and His glory, and then where we see the effects of sin. Yes, the effects of sin. That's what it is. Ever since our fall in paradise, sin is everywhere. The effects of sin are everywhere. And these effects of sin meet the apostles as they head towards the temple at the hour of prayer. If you picture it with me, congregation, the misery here is pictured for us in a stretched out arm and hand. A hand belonging to a lame man. A man who is but a poor reflection of how man at the first was created in all his splendor and glory, able to stand tall and face his maker, walk with him, talk with him in the cool of the day. and this man, through no fault of his own, but he lies there. He's more than 40 years of age, children. You can read that in Acts 4 verse 22. We read in chapter 3 verse 2 that he had never been able to walk. Never once had he put one foot in front of the other and taken so much as a step. He had been lame from his mother's womb. In the days of the Bible crippled people did not have access to what they have thankfully in our society in our Western world at least today through medical science and social medicine at least many have a chance for an independent existence of course not all attained to it for many different reasons but what is true here certainly wasn't true by and large in biblical times and this was actually not the way it should have been The laws of Moses were told that there was no one of Israel who should be begging. That Israel should take care of itself so that the thing that we see in our text was not to happen. But it did happen and there he is. And he's a symbol of The very opposite of an independent existence. He's dependent on his friends or family to carry him every day and to deposit him there outside the temple gate. And he's dependent on the pity and mercy of those who will give him a coin here or there. He lay outside the gate called beautiful. What a picture. Outside the gate. That's a word that he would have known in a deep way, outside. When everyone else went off to school, he didn't. At least he was excluded from what most could do. He was outside. As other young men grew up and took on jobs, he didn't. He was outside the circle of general well-being. He was dependent on the goodwill of those who would drop a coin in his hand, here or there, so that he could live another day or two. What an existence! Going from coin to coin, day to day, living from hand to mouth. What a contrast, especially when we look at this man up against that gate called beautiful. We have some information about this gate from the historian Josephus. He tells us that this gate was made of fine Corinthian brass. It was 75 feet high. Imagine that. Ornate. Beautiful. Called beautiful. In the words of Josephus, it greatly excelled those that were only covered over with silver and gold. There were gates around the temple that were covered over with silver and gold, but this one was of solid brass. incredible and there lies this man up against this gate called beautiful what contrast sin has brought into our world we see them too don't we you see them you're driving along the countryside and you see a beautiful rolling meadow but as you get closer you realize it's there are gravestones to mark those who have left this life beautiful nature, and then the effects of sin and death. Or maybe you visited one of these cathedrals in Europe or even in our own country, and there's this beautiful, glorious cathedral that rises up to heaven, and then on the side there, there's a box with a homeless person living there. What a contrast. Beauty, misery, glory, misery. That's how this man every day sat there by this beautiful gate. The contrast even becomes deeper congregation when we think of the fact that he lay outside the temple. The temple was to be that place where heaven as it were met earth. This is where God had ordained that he would meet with his people and speak to them above the mercy seat, where through the ordinances of the temple, the sacrifices and the washings and all the rest of that, he would be present among his people. He caused his name to dwell there in the temple, the knowledge of his name, the ordinances of his name. This man is there outside the temple, outside the gate. Of himself, he's unable to walk. through the gate, unable to reach that which is inside. There's conflicting evidence. Some people think that disabled people weren't even allowed into the temple, certainly not into the normal courts, maybe into the court of the Gentiles. Other people say that if there was any disability whatsoever, you were considered unclean and unable to enter into the temple. At any rate, this man lies outside the temple. Whereas later on he will, as we'll see, come through the gates into the temple. And he's a picture for us, isn't he, of all of us by nature outside that place where God meets with his people. outside the communion with God, unable of ourselves to walk with God and talk with God, unable to reach Him, unable to commune with Him, unable to live our lives in His face to the full as He has designed us to live. Congregation, unless we experience a transformation from on high, from God, through the power of His Holy Spirit, we'll live our lives much like this man is living. Indeed, we may not be holding out our hand literally to scrape together a few coins from others, but in another sense, we may be wonderfully dressed here. Our houses may have beautiful and ornate gates. But when you look at the misery of our own hearts, you see the same contrast. You see congregation inside, inwardly. You and I suffer from a far deeper problem than this man by the gate called beautiful. Spiritually, we have a paralysis. that keeps us from doing what we were created to do. Let me ask you this morning, of ourselves, without the help of the Holy Spirit, can you face God? Can you commune with God? Can you just do what God has called you to do in this world? Live to His honor and to His glory? Can you conquer temptations of yourself? Can you fight the devil who goes about as a roaring lion? What would this week tell us if it could speak about our souls? and about the paralysis that all of us have by nature. And even you people of God, even if you've experienced the Lord's work hardened in your life, like this man of whom we'll see that he was leaping and praising God, still there are these things which remind us, don't they, how we need the power of Jesus' name in our life. again and again to raise us and to make us to walk in the light of His countenance. There's so much when we're up against it. So much beauty in this world, but when I'm up against it, I mar it. I'm a blight on that which is beautiful and holy. In congregation, many of us live very much like this man. living from day to day with a stretched out hand. Well, you might not be begging, but really you're living hand to mouth. You're earning your wages and you spend them on yourself. Or you're living for other things that help you pass the time. All around us in our world, really, our world outside of God is just A lame man begging, living hand to mouth, unable to live to the glory of God. You see, the world, this is what makes the world tick. And we know this as well. We just are craving the thing that will give us some temporary relief. Man does this in countless different ways. Man uses entertainment to that end. Just something to help him get through the next day or the next week. Many use money and earning money for that end. Just to get up a balance and then spend it on themselves. There are many different ways in which we can live this way, live for alms, live for temporary relief, live for the things that the world stands ready to hand us. But in the end, we go cureless. Whereas the Bible tells us there's a great and glorious cure to be had in and through the name of Jesus Christ, which is what we want to see in our second point, the manner of this miracle. Well, there come Peter and John, two of the disciples and now apostles, whom we meet frequently together. It's interesting, isn't it? Peter, the first the loud one. And John, who at least by this time and later in his life was the disciple of love, they seem to be matched here and well matched. They're different in personality but they complement each other. There's a compatibility about them. We see them walking and running actually together to the tomb after the resurrection. They're here together and later on with the Sanhedrin, they're together. They're together in prison in the next chapter. and here they are they're walking together to evening prayer at the ninth hour which would have been three o'clock in the afternoon the time when the evening sacrifice would be brought still at this time incense would rise to heaven and people were used to coming for prayer and the disciples the apostles to they come for prayer they had given themselves to prayer And when everyone else is praying, would they not pray? Yes, they go to pray. Prayer is an essential part of their life. They gave themselves to prayer. And as they walk past this man outside the gate of the temple, they see him. In fact, he sees them. And he, the text says, asks alms of Peter and John. How understandable that is. And yet, How pitiable, in a way. Here this man is. Christ has died. Christ has risen. There he lies. Life is passing him by. And here come the apostles. And here's this outstretched hand, looking for a few coins. And this is exactly what many people are doing today, different ways. They even come to church looking for some or other handout. Of course, it can be financial, and the church has a duty to provide for the poor, especially the household of faith, but also beyond that. The scripture is very clear about that. The book of Acts mentions the collection for the poor frequently. But there are many who see the church's primary mission as solely that at the level of horizontal help, helping people on the outside, as if that were their primary mission. Other people come to church, they're not looking so much for a financial handout, but they're looking maybe more for other alms that could be given to them, some good advice, moral teaching that can help them better their lives. And all these things, congregation, though they may be good in themselves, If this is our primary interest and primary preoccupation, we're falling short of the essential thing, the first thing, and that is the power of Jesus Christ to transform our lives from the inside out. So here come Peter and John. They've been filled with the Holy Spirit. They look at this man. they look intently at this man as he is there before them. The first thing they do is rather remarkable, stunning, jarring even. They disappoint him. Silver and gold have we none. It's quite a statement, isn't it? The man's hope must have crashed at that point. What a disappointing answer. His hopes were dashed there in an instant by these apostles. But congregation, when our hopes are wrong, they need to be dashed, don't they? Think with me, children, a moment to Naaman. Do you remember Naaman, the Syrian general who wanted to be cured of his leprosy? And he thought he knew how it all had to happen. And so he came there to Elisha's house and he was disappointed that Elisha didn't come out himself and send Gehazi. And he was disappointed with the news to wash in the river Jordan. when there were glorious rivers back home, where you could have done it with pomp and fanfare. See, he was hoping, but his hopes were wrong. And his hopes needed to be dashed, so that he would become submissive to Elisha's instructions. And so too here with this man. And this is what the Lord does in all of our lives, really. A lot of times He dashes our hopes when they're wrong-headed. What we're looking for is wrong, or the way in which we're looking for it is wrong. But congregation thanks be to God. He doesn't stay here simply with dashing this man's hopes. Peter goes on, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, I give thee. Peter has something to give this man. Congregation, do you have something to give this poor dying world? Such as I have, I give thee. Why is the church in this world? The church has something for our world. The church has something the world doesn't have of itself, and that is something to deal with the paralysis of our souls. And it's the mission of the church congregation, our world at all times. Today, as much as in the days of the apostles, and that is to speak the name of Jesus Christ. To say there is a name above all names that can deal with the paralysis of your soul and with the paralysis of our world. There is a name that can deal with the separation from God. There is a name that can deal with that powerful struggle with sin in your life. There's a name that can deal with the violation of God's command. There's a name that can deal with the burden of guilt that you carry around. There's a name that can deal with that inability that meets you every single day. There's a name, a powerful name. There's a complete cure. from the inside out in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Congregation Peter and John are convinced from the top of their head to the sole of their feet they're convinced that Jesus Christ now in heaven is more than enough to deal with everyone and everything you see this promised Messiah which the prophets foretold he left the beautiful gate of heaven he came outside the splendor and glory of heaven into the ugliness of this world the sin and shame the ignominy and misery of it all and he did so in Nazareth Nazareth, where you and I would not go because it was squalid and scummy, so to speak. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? He says, let me go there to the darkest regions of misery and paralysis. Jesus, Savior, Christ, Anointed One. There the King comes, the Prince of Life comes into the regions of death and He comes there, not just with some moral teaching, not just with some financial help, but with a message of repentance and of hope He comes with His atoning death and His victorious resurrection. He comes with the blessed outpouring of His Spirit, which isn't just reserved for some elite. But the drops of the Spirit fall far and wide. Wherever there is misery, the Lord is able to work. And Peter knows this. He feels this in the fiber of his being. He knows it on the basis of the ancient prophecies. The lame man, Isaiah 35 says, shall leap as a heart. And in that instant, filled with the Holy Spirit, He pleads that precious truth that God's saving power is able to deal with this man's problem in such a way that it will become a parable, a sign, a glorious message for the Church of all times and places. Congregation, that name is still the same. I'm here to preach you that name. I have no other message for you this morning than the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. If that offends you, my friend, you deserve to be disappointed. But if you need a name above all names that can deal with every problem, the deepest problems, then this is the name, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This is the name which needs to be preached the world over, starting from this pulpit and on to the very ends of the world. To hide this name of Jesus Christ is to hide the gospel and to hide the power which can raise the dead and make the lame to walk. There's power in the name of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. It's a power which can remove your sin and the hold sin has on you. It's a power that can cleanse you from the sins of the past, the sins of the present, and the sins of the future, all in an instant. It's something that can restore you unto God. that can bring you from being outside of communion with God to now being inside. And Peter says we are witnesses of these things. We've experienced it ourselves. And we have been set forth in the end of time to preach this to a poor and perishing world. There's the power, my friends, of the new birth, which is able to make you new again, completely new and whole through the power of Jesus' name. That's why we come to church. This is why you came this morning, because you need this name above all names. because you need this healing deep down in your soul, which is paralyzed. You need to walk. We're more so, believers, we've been principally healed. If you're like me, you need it again and again. Fresh power through the name of Jesus Christ. But notice that the apostles don't just set forth this name of Christ as beautiful as it is. but with it comes a command, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and walk. Now Peter's call makes no sense, no human sense. How can this lame man that has sat there for 40 years paralyzed to the core, how can he get up and walk? How can he do it? It's foolishness. This man could have set it all aside and said, listen, that's folly. It's impossible. The command to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is something which the pulpit has to issue time and again on the basis of the Word of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And yes, at some level it makes no sense at all because a poor wretched sinner lost in Adam cannot believe. But that doesn't change the fact that the power does not come from the man who believes, but the power comes from the Prince of Life who makes us to believe. And He does it through His Word and Holy Spirit when this call goes forth. He has ordained. that as this preaching of the name of Jesus Christ and the call attached to it as it goes forth he from heaven is working as he did in creation by the word of his power and now he does it through the word of his redemptive name and it's happened to you believers I can't explain it but somewhere somewhere along the line you may not even be able to trace exactly when it happened But you, paralyzed in your sin, you stood up and walked. As the call went forth, as the Spirit worked on your soul, something was strengthened. The might in the inner man, the ankle bones, as it were, of your soul were strengthened, and soundness returned to them. By the power of the Holy Spirit, you stood up, you left, and you walked. And that's the great hope of the Gospel still today. If I had to do it as a preacher, or other preachers had to do this, or somehow you would have to drum up this power from within yourself, it would be a hopeless cause. We might as well just find the most beautiful gate to lie at and lay there all our days. But this is the message that is still as powerful as ever. I don't care this morning what dreadful paralysis you have in your soul, 40 years, 80 years, 95 years. Here's an eternal power, a redemptive power which is able to make the lame to walk. Rise and walk, the gospel says, and I say it to you this morning. Do what the Lord has called you to do. The Bible says it. Rise from the dead and Christ will give you life. rise up and walk and as he utters these words Peter takes him by the hand doesn't leave him to himself he takes him by the hand and lifts him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones receive strength and he leaping up stands and walks and enters with them into the temple walking and leaping and praising God believers among us today reach out into the misery of this world around you, right here, in your families, elders and deacons. Reach out, don't be afraid of it. Peter wasn't afraid to touch this man, to reach into his misery. With the power of the name of Jesus Christ, looking to the God who had promised that the lame shall leap as a heart. He takes him by the hand and lifts him up. And that's the task and function of the Church of God. To be there among those who are paralyzed. To reach out into their lives. Help them. Lift them up. Clear things up in their mind. Be there. Force them with strength, with courage, and with hope. But don't dull the call at all. Rise up and walk. Congregation, this is the manner of the healing. We turn now thirdly and lastly to the message of this healing, because there's a great and glorious message here for us today. The Lord Jesus Christ did none of his miracles without wanting to indicate something beautiful, spiritually speaking. Do you remember that Day when the Lord Jesus Christ let, or healed the man who was let down through the roof, right in front of him, the roof came off. Four friends laid this paralyzed man, another paralyzed man, down in front of Christ. And Christ said to this man, your sins be forgiven you. What an astounding thing. The heart of the Savior was so full of forgiveness that He just issued that. He'd come for that. Your sins be forgiven. That's what I've come for. Then He goes on to heal that man, and what He says at that instance is, that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. I say unto the sick of the palsy, rise and walk. And so that miracle had a message, that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. The beginning of the Acts of the Apostles is really that same message. That the same Lord Jesus Christ who forgave sins while He walked this earth, He's lost none of that power. In fact, now from heaven, exalted at the right hand of heaven, He has all that same power. In fact, He can do it wherever and whenever He pleases. outside of whatever gates we might find ourselves. And so even now, around the world, this preaching is going forth. And when the Lord heals us spiritually, we become, like this man, a walking parable, you could say, a sign of what the Prince of Life can do. Believe that's your life. your life. A message of what the Prince of Life can do. There are three things here I want to close with. Three things that belong to the message here of this man's healing. First of all, notice how quickly and powerfully it took place. If you look at the words of our text, it says, and immediately, verse 7, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. Sometimes we have the idea that God's work is just extremely drawn out and extremely slow. And the Lord is free in how He does things. But the Bible makes very clear that there is such power in the name of Jesus Christ that it's His delight to work from heaven powerfully, instantaneously, and immediately. Let me ask you something. The work of regeneration in the soul when God begets a sinner alive from his sin. Is that a long drawn out process? Or is it an instantaneous work? Whereby God plants life in the soul. The seed of regeneration instantaneously comes by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit. One of the objections I have to this theory that it took the Lord billions of years to create the world. That doesn't magnify the glory of God. It's not true anyhow. The Lord is powerful. His word brings worlds into being in an instant. He didn't even need six days. He could have used one day, one moment to create it all. His power is still the same. And justification, God justifies a sinner by His word. It's an instant. One declaration of forgiveness of sins. That's it. I know that God unpacks this in our life. And it can take longer or shorter in our experience. That doesn't mean that the grace of God is not powerful to do whatever the Lord pleases. He's able to do it in the shortest amount of time, or you can choose to do it over a longer period of time. In this case, immediately. It's my hope and prayer that God would save souls immediately. Especially young people. When you stand there, beginning of your adult life, the Lord would rescue you from the world, from the temptations of the world, from the sin which does so easily beset you. Yes, you'll need a whole lifetime for this to be unpacked. There will be many times in which you wonder, have I truly been saved? Has that energy from heaven really grabbed my soul? but friends, immediately he receives strength. May God do that as well in our lives. Secondly, we see here that this man, after he is cured, he is about one thing. He walked, leaped, and ran into the temple praising God. He didn't praise Peter and John for their part in the cure. He's all about God. By nature, we're not about God. But when God takes hold of our souls, our life is focused on God, is centered on God. We want to live our lives as a thank-offering to God. Yes, we do it poorly, and we come short in it. But down deep, when you uncover all the layers of our hearts, it's about God, isn't it? What shall I render to the Lord? for all his benefits towards me." He praises God. And notice also how this work, God's work in his soul, brings him into fellowship. The man sat outside by himself, but now as the Lord heals him, he is brought into communion with God and with others. That's what happens spiritually as well. This man is able to enter into the beautiful gate and into the temple, the habitation of God. He's now restored there visibly into fellowship with God, but not only with God, also with others. In verse 11, you can read that he held on to Peter and John. He couldn't let these apostles go. He was embracing them as it were. And that's what happens in our lives as well. The people of God mean so much more to us. There's joy, there's affection for the new family that God is making in our world. Congregation, as we close this morning, I ask you, why did you come here this morning? Why did you walk through these doors? Are you looking for something? Are you expecting something? What is it? Alms? Did you come here this morning looking for a shot in the arm to help you through another day or another week? If that's so, I have to disappoint you this morning because I'm not here for alms, for handouts, for temporary relief. But my friends, there's so much more. The Bible is calling each and every one of us. Take heed. Look. It's a remarkable thing that Peter says to this man in verse 4, and Peter fastening his eyes upon him with John said, look on us. Look on us. That was the custom back then for beggars to look down. But not so with these disciples, these apostles. They say, look at us. Look up, man. Look up. Your life is about to change. This is not a time to look down to the earth where you've been looking all your life. Look up. Look on us. What He's saying, I say to you tonight, this morning, whoever you are, look. Look up. Stop what you've been doing all your life up till this point. Look up. Look up. In other words, greet this moment with such expectation. Take closest possible heed to what I'm saying to you this morning. Don't let these moments pass you by. You don't know if you'll ever have them again. Look up! Look up! Paul says, Therefore let us give them more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we let them slip. There are too many in the church who come in and out, in and out, but they never look up. They never mean business with the great Son of God. They think there'll be other times. They think there'll be other moments. My friend, we're not here for alms. We're not here just to pass a few more days and have other chances at a cure. I ask you this morning, is it about a cure that you're here? Do you need to be raised in order to glorify God? If so, you must be about this in earnest. Don't let these moments pass. The Prince of Life is on the throne and through his servants the gospel is being proclaimed. And whenever it is being proclaimed, the Lord is saying from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. Don't leave this place thinking there'll be another chance. Look up. Look on us. Give the more earnest heed. Your life, friend, depends on it. But you have to give up every other hope. You have to relinquish everything else that you're holding on to. Hear this beautiful name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He's the Savior for sinners, whoever they are. However old you are, however lame you feel yourself to be, He's still the same today. And I call you, with God's help, looking to the Lord. Rise up and walk, and you will glorify God. Amen.