Now Peter and John went up together to the Temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 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 from those who entered the Temple; who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the Temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us." So, he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So, he leaping up, stood and walked and entered the Temple with them - walking, leaping, and praising God. (Acts 3:1-8)
What joy; what rejoicing; hallelujah! That is the wonderful thing about the miracles of God; they bring about such a joy and rejoicing in Jesus Christ. There is something else of significance. This man we are reading about, he could only sit at the gates, he was shut out; because of his condition, he must spend a lifetime outside the gates. For him, he could never see the beauty inside. He could never go through the gate. Why? He was an outcast. He was lame. According to the law, those who were crippled, those who were considered 'unclean': the poor, the sick, the blind, the lame: they could never enter into the Temple, they were not counted as worthy to go in. But the wonderful thing about Jesus is, He broke down the barrier separating us from God. We can enter in to the very presence of God.
When Peter and John came to the Temple, this man was only sitting at the gate of the Temple to get money. The only thought in his mind was to get money: money to live; money to buy food; just an existence, nothing more. You can understand that when Peter and John came, and Peter says, 'Look at me', but then he says he has no money: 'I have no gold, no silver, I have no dollars, I have no shekels, I cannot give you that, but I want to give you what I've got; I have something worth more than gold, something worth more than silver, I have the most precious, the most wonderful thing in the world, and what I've got, I want to give you': he reached out his hand, and he took the hand of that man, stood up, and as he stood, he became strong, he was completely healed, hallelujah!