His abode, God dwells in the
midst of His people, His church. Lord loveth the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Acts chapter 3, Acts chapter
3. I speak on behalf of this whole
congregation and others, other churches that know. Brother Ron
Fannin, how thankful. We are, that you were able to
stand up here this morning and read God's Word. Pray for us.
We give all the honor and glory to the great physician. Acts chapter 3, this is a wonderful
story. So many titles could be given
to it. The beautiful gate. The name of Jesus Christ. A lame
man leaping. The people after this were all
full of wonder. And so I titled it, A Wonderful
Story at the Beautiful Gate. A wonderful story, a wonderful
thing happened at this beautiful gate. And I would just rejoice
if the Lord did the same thing this morning. Two men, verse
1, went up together under the temple, Peter and John. These
two men were together. Scripture says where two or three
are gathered together in his name. And he's right in the middle
of it. And he walked. Two men. Two worth
it. Simon, Peter, had his name changed by the Lord. John, they were once fishermen. Now they're fishers of men. Once
fishing was their life. Now Christ is their life. Two men. Once they never gave
God a thought. Now, not a day goes by they don't
think of God. Now they rarely think of fishing.
Once in separate boats. You ever think that they were
probably in competition against one another? James and John had
their boat and Simon and Andrew had their boat and they were
fishermen in a small harbor and there was competition there.
Were they friends? Probably not. Well, now they're
together. Fast friends. Brothers in Christ. Together. Inseparable. Together. Look at it. It says they went
up. They went up together into the temple. They went up. They
were once in the bottom of a boat. Now they're going up. the temple
of God. You know, every time the scriptures
talk about Mount Zion, Jerusalem is set on a hill, sitting on
a hill. You have to go up. You have to leave low places
and you rise high to get to Mount Zion. Well, that's a good picture
of how God brings us out of this low place called the world. They were once in the bilge of
a boat and now they're sitting going into the temple of God.
My father was in the Navy, 17-year-old, and his dad had to give him permission
to join. He wanted to fight like everybody
else, 17 years old. He was a nothing and a nobody, 17-year-old, still
wet behind the ears, so to speak. And he joined the Navy, and they
put him in a boat down in the bottom of the boat, the bilge.
Sailors, Mike, you know, the bilge is just the bottom, down
at the bottom of the boat in the darkness. He's painting the
bilge, cleaning out the bilge. Well, a captain came by one time
from Irishman. Dad said, big old Irishman had
a big old red handlebar mustache. It was lunchtime or something,
he saw a name on my dad's mayhem. It was once an admiral named
Mayhem in the Navy. He wrote a book on naval warfare.
He said, Mayhem, that's a Navy name. And dad, yes sir, yes sir. And that man took him out of
the bilge and put him all the way up on the conning tower.
He said, son, I'm going to get you out of this bilge and put
you up there. We're going to make a signal. Out of you. From the bottom of the boat to
the top of the tower signaling other ships, this way. Simon, Peter, John, bottom of
the boat, rise up to the temple. From the slime pit to Mount Zion,
from the dung heap, what were Simon's friends like before?
Now he's sitting among princes. This is my story. It's your story.
From the miry clay set their feet on a rock. Two men. Two
men. Two men together going up to
the temple. The temple. God's house. That's what it's
called in scripture. Now Revelation 21 says in the
new heaven and earth there's no temple. There's no sun. You don't need those things.
Those were all a picture of the truth. Temple. You don't need
those things. It says God is our temple and
Christ is our temple. That's what it said in Revelation
21. And yet, in 1 Corinthians 3,
Paul said you're the temple of God. That's what he said. God
is our temple. In Him we live, move, have our
being, dwell in Him. God doesn't dwell and build His
made with Him. Right? That's what Solomon said. But He did. Yes, He did. That's what God
said. Solomon, you get the people and
come and you worship me according to the way and I'll be there.
And that'll be my house where you are, where my people are. Worshipping me. The heart, blood
and all that. Calling on me. Praying to me.
I'll be there. That'll be my house. So which is it? We dwell in Him
or He in us? Both. Both. He's our temple and
we're His. Let's explain it. I just tried. God's house. It's a beautiful place. where
God's people are. The gate. Christ is the gate,
the door. When He said, God loves the gates
of Zion. There were several gates to that
city. One way, Christ is the door,
but every gate, every place where He dwells, they preach Christ
the door. Christ in his church, beautiful
place, place chosen, put his name there, he's a beautiful
gate, it's an amiable tabernacle, a lovely place, it's called beautiful.
He's beautiful, and he calls her beautiful through his company. And it says
in verse 1, they went up into the temple at the hour of prayer,
ninth hour. The hour of prayer, sweet hour
of prayer, sweet hour of prayer that calls us from a world of
care. Do you love that song? Sweet hour of prayer. You know
what a blessing it is to pray? You know how blessed we are if
we want to pray? There was a long time I never
prayed. Now I do. Do you? What a blessing to pray. To be
able to call on God. He said, Christ said, call Him
your Father. Call on your Father who hears
you. What a blessing to pray. What
a blessing that He said, I'll hear you. I'll hear you. What a privilege. Oh, what pain
we suffer. What needless pain we bear. All
because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. What a blessing. hour of prayer. Christ said,
my house shall be called the house of prayer. Isn't it? My house. Isn't it a privilege,
isn't it a blessing to hear the brethren pray for us? It's the
ninth hour. That's significant. They made
a tradition out of this, called it the hour of prayer. The ninth
hours are toward the end of the day. The day is closing. The
twelfth hour, it's over. Just a few more hours, you know
that? There's just a few more hours for this earth. At the
ninth hour is when the veil of the temple, when Christ was hanging
on the cross, at the ninth hour, the veil of the temple was rent
in twain. The way into the Holy of Holies
was opened up at the ninth hour. And that's when Christ cried
with a loud voice. There was a prayer made, all
right, from Calvary's tree at the ninth hour. It is finished. The temple, the veil was rent
from top to bottom, and Christ said, into thy hands I commit
my spirit. He bowed his head, gave up the
ghost, opened the way into the Holy of Holies. Now we come. So they made it a tradition.
They made it an hour of prayer. That's what they meant. It's
not commanded us to do that. But that's by tradition. Verse 2 says, now a certain man,
lame from his mother's womb, was carried. They laid him daily
at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms
of them that entered into the temple. A certain man. Here we
go again. A certain man, chosen by God,
whom he did foreknow, whom he did predestinate, whom he predestinated,
he called a certain man, elect, precious to God, chosen of God,
and he's going to call him by the gospel. He's going to hear
a preacher of the gospel preach that name. Now he was lame. It says, from his mother's womb.
He was born lame. He could not walk from birth. And so they had to carry him.
Somebody carried him every day of his life. From his mother's
womb, he was carried. Does that sound familiar? Listen. Isaiah 46. Hearken unto
Me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel,
which are born by Me from the belly, which are carried from
the womb. You know, He was carrying you
before you ever gave Him a thought. He took you everywhere you went.
He took you there. He watched over you. He carried
you. He said, these are my people. I've girded them, though they
don't know me. I fed them. Ox knows his owner. The ass knows
his master's career. My people doesn't know. They
don't consider. I've carried them all their days. I've fed them. I've watered them.
I've kept them. I've done all this for them,
and they've never given me a thought. That's us carried. Well, they laid him in a beautiful
place at the gate of the temple. And this day, how many days,
how often did that happen? Day in and day out, day in and
day out, day in and day out. They carried him and laid him
at the gate of the temple. That's where the people were
going in. And he's asked all day in and day out. But today
was his day of salvation. This was the day that he's going
to meet the Lord. The Lord do it for someone this
morning. So they laid him there at that
beautiful place. A certain man, Lord named, carried
him, laid him there. You know, how many come to this
church house? He was at the gate. He was not
in the temple. He was outside, he wasn't in. And he watched people going in,
and he wasn't in there. How many people come to this
church house where God is, and they're not in Christ? How many
sit in the pew, they're not in Christ? How many think the building's
beautiful, the song service is beautiful, But they see no beauty
in Christ unless you desire Him. That was me. For the longest
time, I sat in a pew, but it wasn't in Christ. But God, there came a day. Very sad on the outside, not
in the house of God. Listen to Ephesians 2. This is
why we love passages like Ephesians so much. There this man sat on
the outside looking in. He's not in with God's people.
He's not in the kingdom. He's not in Christ. He's not
in the temple. He didn't know God. He's like
us when we were dead at that time. Scripture says at that
time you were without Christ. Aliens from the Commonwealth
of Israel strangers from the covenants of promise having no
hope and without God into work And the next verse is but now
In a few minutes this man's going to be in that temple Worshipping
God leaping But he sat there asking alms. Look at it. He sat there at the
gate, not in, but outside, watched people entering the temple to
ask alms. He saw Peter and John, verse
3, about to go into the temple and asked them, oh, sir, can
you help me? Sirs, I need a little money.
Now this is all mankind. There's some people sitting in
here right now that are just like this. All mankind. Gimme, gimme, gimme. If they do call on God, it's,
give me. Never give God thanks. Did this
man ever thank God for the breath he was breathing? For life? For
his mercies that are new every morning? That God's mercy is
not cast out? Always ask Him. Ask Him. Give
me, give me, give me. Never asking for mercy, never
asking for grace, never asking for forgiveness, never seeking
truth, never really saying, Lord, please, I don't know you. Would
you reveal yourself to me? Never. I didn't. I didn't. And he saw these two men going
in the temple and he thought, these fellows can help me financially. They can help me monetarily.
Now this was me, the prodigal son, when the Lord brought me
back. I clearly saw, I just had some
sense, not much, but I had a little sense that if I cut my hair,
clean up my act, and go to church, there's some people there with
some influence. I can get me a good job. And it helped me
out. And there was a man in the church,
Brother Kelly, who was a contractor, a building contractor. And sure
enough, Ed Stevens was his name. Sure enough. And boy, you need
to hear his story. But sure enough, he gave me a
job. All right, now I've got it made. No, I'm without God. I'm without Christ. I don't know
Him. I had no need. This man had no
spiritual need. It's all material. I had no need. I had no hunger. Just money.
I can't tell you how many people come to this building. It used
to be daily. They'd come here asking for a
handout. Every time. Never turned anybody away. Ever.
They've never had one person. Well, yeah, we did have one lady.
And every time they come here, I tell them the same thing. I
always tell this story, I'd say, I don't have much silver and
gold, but I do have something you need, this gospel. Now would
you listen to them? Every time, I tell it to every
one of them. I say now, and I'll tell them
what I can, and then I'll tell them, you come, so if you're
in real need, if you come, Come and hear the gospel. This is
the thing you really need. Come and hear the gospel. And
these people are so generous and so loving and kind, you come
here and they see you have a real need, they'll meet your need.
Do they show up? Get my needs met, get a little
money in my pocket, and I'm out of here. Alright, look at verse 4. Peter
fastening his eyes upon him. Peter looked him right in the
eye and he said, you look on us. He looked him right in the eye
and said, you look at us. You see, brothers and sisters,
preaching is to people. Paul said, I don't fight as one
that beats the air. It's not for show. It's not to hear the
sound of our own voice. It's not to write the sermon
down in a book so later on, you know, our legacy. I'm preaching to people, many
of whom are lost. And this is a message of life
or death. And Peter looks right at that boy and says, you look
on us. Look at me now. I'm talking to you. That's what
they did. I call names. Why? Because that's
your name. Because I'm talking to you. Kelly,
are you talking to me? Yes. And what we want, brother,
what we want is for God to speak to us. And He speaks through preachers.
Don't preach to me. If He doesn't, You'll die. If Peter said, you look at me,
son. Look. He's not saying trust in
me or look to me. No. But he's got something he
needs. Look at us now. Preaching is
personal. A man one time met my dad back
at the back. And he said, you sure stepped
on my toes this morning. Dad said, well, I missed. I'm
not aiming at your toes. Well, that sure did. That was
interesting. I missed. I'm not aiming at your head.
I'm aiming at your heart. You look at me. Look on us. What do you see when you look
at me? What do you see? Man, right? That's right. Nothing special.
Simon Peter, an old fisherman, a former fisherman. John, a former
fisherman. Look on us. What do you see?
Men, sinners. We're sinners saved by grace.
Son, we're just like you. We sat where you sat. We sat
where you young people sat. Didn't hear a thing. And there
was a man up in the pulpit. That's just my dad. Preaching
after preaching. Message after message. What did
I see? Just a man. That's God's man he sent with
God's message. If you're going to hear from
God, you're going to hear through Him. Look at me when I'm talking to
you. Right? What do you see when you
look at the preacher? A sinner saved by grace. We have
this treasure in earthen vessels. Why? Why did God choose preachers? That the excellency of the power
might be of God and not of man. When Simon Peter and John got
through this day, this man's walking, leaping. He's on the
inside. He was on the outside. He was
a cast out. Now he's going to be inside.
He once didn't care when this day's over after Peter gets through
preaching. He's alive. This is what God
uses. Look at me. Look at me. What
do you see? I'm just like you. I sat right
where you sat, thinking just what you're thinking. These young
people think, you've been 60 all your life. No. I sat in that pew as a 13-year-old
boy and I thought, I can't wait to get out of here. That message, gray hair and ignorance,
did you listen to it? She did. Some did. She said she
remembers the day that he preached that. She was 14 years old. 14
years old, sitting there. She said, I remember it made
such a deep impression on my young heart. Bless God. Thank
the Lord. You know where I was? In the
hog pen. In the hog pen. You look at me. I was in the hog pen. But God, Peter said, we're going
into that temple. That was one time as a last place
we wanted to be. But God, you're looking at a
miracle, people. You're looking at a miracle. Just a man, just like you. I remember one time, Jill was
working at Kroger. And I hadn't been here long,
and I came in, I had a baseball cap on, Carhartt coach. That's the way I dressed the
previous 20 years. When I came here, you know, she'd
never seen me that way. And I walked right up to her.
You remember that, Jim? I walked right up to her. And she looked at
me like, who are you? You remember that? I've never
seen you like that. Yeah, it's just me. He's just a sinner. I look at me too and say, how
can this be? When this is over, the people
will say, that's Him, but He's different. Well, verse 5 says, He gave heed
to them, expecting to receive something of them. Oh, did he see? There's another
story, Acts 14, go over there, Acts 14, another story. He's
going to hear a name, the only name under heaven given among
men whereby we can be saved. He's going to hear the gospel. And over here in Acts 14, Saul
of Tarsus heard that name. Save that old religious fellow.
You're just as bad in false religion as you are in the hog pen. In
fact, it's probably worse. But look at verse 1. It came
to pass that Paul and Barnabas went both together into the synagogue. Here they are again, two of them
together. Where are they going? In the
synagogue. Worship God. Preach the gospel. And they spake,
verse 1. And down in verse 7, they preached
the gospel. And there sat a man. There sat
a man there. He heard them preaching. At least,
he heard them. Impotent in his feet. He's a
cripple from his mother's womb. He never had to walk. Is there
any doubt that this man can't walk? Three things. He's crippled from his mother's
womb. He's impotent. His feet are useless. He was
born that way, and he never had water. He couldn't go in that
temple if he wanted to. He didn't want to. This man didn't
want to. He asked them. Mainly, he could
have said, would you take me in? Couldn't he have said that?
Don't leave me out here. Take me in there where I can
hear the word of God. No, he didn't do that. I don't want to go in
there. I just want money. That other
thing. He couldn't walk, couldn't walk
by faith. Christ said of me, and he said, no man can come
unto me except the Father which has sent me draw him. And he
said, you will not come unto me that you might have life.
You won't come. You won't come. It's impossible. We try to get people to come
and hear the gospel. It's just impossible. Sad, isn't it? Reject their own
mercy. That's how dumb human beings
are. Well, this man sat there, he's
in the tabernacle, and he heard Paul preach, verse 9, the same
heard Paul speak. What did he hear? He heard the
gospel. And Paul steadfastly beholding him, looking right
on him. And Paul looked and said, that
boy believes what I'm preaching. He believes. I've seen it happen. I didn't make it happen, but
I've seen the Lord do it. I've seen it very clearly. The
light comes on. You're talking to me. Yeah. God
is. The Lord is. And Paul looked at him and perceived
he had faith to be healed. He had faith. Faith comes by
hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. He
believed the gospel that Paul was preaching. And Paul said
with a loud voice, stand up. On that feet. What did he do?
He leaped and walked. Go back to our tape. The same
story happened. The same thing happened. to this
man as did that other man, the same thing happened to me. Same
thing happened to me. I won't believe until, you won't
believe until God gives you faith. God does that quite often. This
same thing, He works often with the sons of men. Bless His name. It's said in verse 6, now 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. Peter said the gospel in one
line. The gospel, the good news, is
in a name. A name. It was the next, chapter
4, that Peter stood before them all and said, Be it known unto
you all the people of Israel by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom you crucified. whom God raised from the dead,
by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the
stone, said it not, of the builders, which has become the head of
the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there
is none other name under heaven among men whereby we must be
saved. In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, walk, rise up, and walk, he said." Oh, how much
he said in that one. The name, the name, Jesus Christ,
the son of God, that's who he is, the son of man, Jesus, yeah,
but the son of God, the son of David, second Adam, Messiah,
what's in a name? Everything. Salvation is in a
name. Let such as love thy name, say
the Lord be praised. Thy salvation, the second Adam,
the Messiah, the Savior, the Redeemer, the Christ of God.
Oh, blind Bartimaeus knew that name. He said, Jesus, thou Son
of David, Christ, have mercy on me. The Lord stopped. He said, call him. Come and be. This is the Christ of God, the
prophet, the priest, the king, the only mediator between God
and man, the Savior of sinners, the Redeemer. The Redeemer. It was Simon Peter who wrote
in his epistle. When was he writing that? Right
now? Was he writing it just then? Maybe. But he said, now, you
know you're not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver
and gold, from your vain life. received by tradition from the
Father, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb,
without spot and without blemish, who was before ordained, before
the foundation of the world, manifest in these last times
unto you who by him do believe. Son, do you believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ? Believe, I say unto you, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Rise up,
walk by faith. Walk with him. Come to Christ.
Come to Christ, son. Come to Christ. Right now. Right
now. Brother Scott used to say, come
to Christ. Don't move a muscle. Don't move a muscle. In your
heart. In your mind. Right now. Believe. Oh, he received something all
right. Salvation, as many as received
him, to them that gave he the power and the right to become
the sons of God, which were born, not of blood, or the will of
the flesh, or the will of man, but of God. Right then and there
he was born of God. What's in a name? Salvation in
a name. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Somebody says, I haven't been
calling. No, you haven't. No, you haven't. No, you haven't.
Doesn't he say, whose service shall call on the name of the
Lord? I don't know how you call it or what you're doing, but
maybe you're like this man. I need something. Right? And what we need, really
need, is mercy. Mercy. Lord have mercy on me,
this sinner. The Lord heard that and he justified
that old publican. in verse 7, that Peter took him
by the right hand and lifted him up. Let me sing that song where we
heard that saying, he lifted me up. He lifted me out of the
deep miry clay and settled my feet in a straight and narrow
way. He lifted me up to a heavenly place. Praise his dear name.
I'm saved by his grace. He lifted him up. It says immediately.
His feet, I like this, his feet and his ankle bones received
strength and he leaping up stood. His feet received strength. Once those feet, my feet, once
did only one thing, they ran to mischief. My feet were found
everywhere. Trespasser, that's me. Found
everywhere. Well, now he received strength,
the ability, the will to walk by faith, to walk with God, to
walk with his people. You know where the first place
he's going to go? Willingly, with desire, into
that temple with those fellas. He's brothers. David said, our feet shall stand
within thy gates. O'si. Receive strength to stand. He stood. Now he's standing on
Christ. Would you turn to Psalm 122 real
quickly? Psalm 122. I'm going to end this.
I don't want it to end, but I'm going to. This is wonderful. One day it won't end. It won't
end. We're going to be leaping. You're talking about leaping
and shouting and carrying on some day. Dancing. David danced
before the ark. Is there going to be dancing
in heaven? Maybe some. You're happy enough. You just
like a dog want to wiggle all over them. Seriously. Here's David. Remember Psalm
84? Brother Ron read Psalm 84. He was on the outside, Ron. He
wanted to be there and couldn't. He said, Oh, how amiable are
thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. He said, I'd just like to be
a bird in a rafter. He said, I'd bring a doorkeeper in the
house of God. Just let me keep the door. A day is better than a thousand
anywhere else. Now here's, this man could say
this, couldn't he, in Psalm 122, I was glad when they said unto
me, let's go to the house of the Lord. Son, get up. He leaped. Where are you going? In the house
of God. Can I come? Oh yeah, come on. Come on in with us.
Come on, we're going to go in here and worship the Lord. We're
going to hear God's Word. We're going to sing the Psalms
as I. Come on, man, that's coming. Let us go into the house of the
Lord. Verse 2, our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Verse 4, what's worth it? Verse
3, Jerusalem, builded as a city, compacted, joined together, vitally
joined together with Christ and each other. The tribes go up,
the tribe, what are they there for? The testimony of God, the
gospel of God. Come on, son, get up. I'm coming. You've got to tell me again.
Glad to go. And our text says, leaped up,
and stood, and walked. He's standing on Christ's rock
now. He's walking by faith. He's walking with God. He's walking
with God's people. This old Saul of Tarsus one time,
he was the enemy of the church. When it was all over, chapter
9. It says, he's with them, coming and going. He's with them, coming
and going. Where are you going? To the temple.
I'm coming too. What a miracle. What a miracle. And he entered with them into
the temple, walking, leaping, and praising God. Praising means
singing right there. That's exactly what it means.
Look at that. Walking, leaping, and praising God. Singing. That bird had been let
loose. And he's singing now. It says, all the people saw him
walking and praising God, verse 10, and they knew that's him.
He was outside, now he's in. He sat at the gate, now he's
in the temple. And they were filled with wonder. Well, what's
he doing here? They were wondering too. How'd he get here? Who brought
him? God did. He's changed. That's what they said about that
blind man, John. It looks like him. It can't be him. It's him. He once was blind,
now he's seeing. He once was lame, now he's walking.
The lame man which was healed, verse 11, says, As the lame man
which was healed hailed Peter and John. Before, all he saw was two religious
fellows going to the temple he could make some money out of.
Irene, now he lays hold of both of them. Y'all are my best friends. You're my brothers. You're mine,
I'm yours. I'm not leaving. I'm one of you. He literally hugged up to both
those men going in the temple. Come on, son. Our brother, our
brother was lost. Now he's found. He was dead. Now he's alive. And all the people, says verse
11, all the people ran together. Where the carcass is, that's
where the eagles are gathered. They all ran together. Solomon's
porch. ran together. That's where we're
at, Solomon's Porch. Solomon made a porch around that
temple. Anybody want to come sit on the
porch? Good. Is there a better place? Well, other than on the inside. And they all gathered there.
That's where our Lord walked. He walked in Solomon's Porch often.
Anybody come to him? Sure. Sat on the porch. And it says they all were together
Greatly wondering. Wonderful. So this is just wonderful. Look what has happened. It's
just wonderful. Isn't this wonderful? And I expect
one of my sisters to say after this message, she says it every
time, she says, that was wonderful. Well, it is. Salvation is wonderful. It's a wonder. Isn't it a wonder
that any of us are sitting here? Have you ever ceased to wonder
that God amazed that you're sitting here? The world is full of people
who don't care. Bless His holy name. All is within
me. Bless the Lord. Forget not all
his benefits, who daily loatheth thee with benefits. Number one,
he forgiveth all thine iniquities. I don't want to quit. One of
these days, I don't have to quit. Ever. Don't have to go back out
there. Stay in the beautiful place and
worship the Lord.