All right, turn back with me
to John chapter five. My thought, my intent was to
continue here in John chapter five and look at this story we
just read, but that was not the message for tonight. The Lord
revealed something wonderful in the book of Nehemiah tonight. I have no idea if the Lord will
enable me to deliver my message, but man, I enjoyed it going in
a lot. Let's begin here in John 5 verse
1 and we're going to see how we arrived at our message. It
says, After this, there was a feast of the Jews. And Jesus went up
to Jerusalem. Now it doesn't say which feast
it was. There were three different feasts
that they attended. Most believe it was the Feast
of Pentecost because that particular feast happened 50 days after
the Passover. And it says back in John chapter
2 verse 23, now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, In
the feast day, many believed in His name when they saw the
miracles which He did. So He was there for the Passover
and most believe this is now Pentecost. It doesn't matter
to me which feast it was. It doesn't say. It's not clear. It doesn't matter. But whatever
feast it was, the reason that He went was because it was required
by the law. That's why our Lord went to feast. Three of them were required that
every male Israelite observe it. And He fulfilled all of the
law. Everything that the law required,
He fulfilled it. So He went, all right? Now verse
two says, There is at Jerusalem by the sheep market, a pool which
is called in the Hebrew tongue, Bethesda, having five porches. Does your Bible have a center
reference, have a margin in the middle? Where it says market,
that means gate, all right? A sheep gate. And what he's saying
is there was a gate in the wall of the city, Jerusalem. There
were 10 of them, 10 gates in the wall. And, uh, the back of
my Bible has maps in it. And I turned and looked at the
maps and saw the gates in the wall of Jerusalem. And we're
going to look at these gates. All right, let's turn over to
Nehemiah chapter two. That's two books before Job. Nehemiah chapter 2. Nehemiah says, we're going to
read a little bit in chapter 2 and then look at the gates
in chapter 3. Nehemiah chapter 2 verse 1, he
says, it came to pass in the month Nisan in the 20th year
of Artaxerxes, the king, that wine was before him. And I took
up the wine and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been
before time sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto
me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? This
is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,
and said unto the king, Let the king live for ever. Why should
not my countenance be sad? when the city, the place of my
father's sepulchers, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed
with fire. Then the king said unto me, For
what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven,
and I said unto the king, If it pleased the king, and if thy
servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send
me unto Judah, unto the city of my father's sepulchers, that
I may build it. And the king said unto me, the
queen also sitting by him, for how long shall thy journey be? And when wilt thou return? So
it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time. All right,
so he wants to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild these walls and these
gates that have been broken down and burnt down. Verse 11, so
I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. And I rose in the
night, I and some few men with me, neither told I any man what
my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem. Neither was
there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. And
I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the
dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of
Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were
consumed with fire." Verse 17, "'Then said I unto them, Ye see
the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and
the gates thereof are burned with fire. Come and let us build
up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.' Then
I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me, as
also the king's word that he had spoken unto me, And they
said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands
for this good work. Now, Nehemiah chapter 3 verse
1 says, Then Eliashib the high
priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they built the
sheep gate. That's what they did. And our
Lord over in John 5, when He came into Jerusalem, He came
right there at this sheep gate. All right? It says, They sanctified
it and set up the doors of it, even unto the tower of Mea. They
sanctified it unto the tower of Hananiel. Verse 2 says, And next unto Him
builded the men of Jericho, And next to them builded Zechar the
son of Imri. Those men were working on the
wall. They started at the sheep gate and they started going around
this wall, rebuilding this wall. Verse three says, but the fish
gate, that's the next gate they came to. The fish gate did the
sons of Hassaniah build. And it says what all they did.
Verse six says, Moreover, the old gate, that's the next one
they came to, repaired Jehoiada and those men and that's what
they did to that gate. Verse 11 says, Malkiah the son
of Haram and Hashub the son of Pehathmoab repaired the other
piece and the tower of the furnaces. Now I couldn't help but think
about the fact that these scriptures, our God doesn't change. He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. And He could have written
these scriptures at any time. And if they would have been written
today, verse 11 right here would have said this, Paul Hoover came
over and totally rebuilt the furnace. These men, I can't hardly pronounce
their name, but I'm going to meet them all, Lord willing.
These are sweet men. Sweet men that God used to rebuild
these walls, rebuild these gates for a reason. We're going to
see what it is in just a second. Verse 13 says, the valley gate. They rebuilt the walls between
it and that's the next gate they came to and then that's all the
stuff that they did. Verse 14 says, but the dung gate. repaired Malkiah and those other
men. And that's what they did. Verse
15 says, but the gate of the fountain, the fountain gate repaired
Shallan, the son of Helozi, the ruler of part of Mizpah. He built it covered it, set up
the doors thereof, the locks thereof, the bars thereof, the
wall of the pool of Siloah by the king's garden, and unto the
stairs that go down from the city of David." I thought about
if that one was written today, it would say, Dwight Moody set
that door and he put the lock on it and he worked on those
stairs that go right down there. Verse 19 says, And next to him
repaired Ezer, the son of Yeshua, the ruler of Mizpah. Another
piece over against the going up to the armory at the turning
of the wall. There's a corner right there.
Worked all the way up to where the corner of the wall is. Verse
24 says, And after Him repaired Benuai the son of Hinnadad another
piece from the house of Azariah unto the turning of the wall,
even unto the corner. There's another corner. Verse
26, Moreover, the Nethanims dwelt in Ophel unto the place over
against the water gate toward the east and the tower that lieth
out, the water gate. Verse 28, from above the horse
gate repaired the priest, every one over against his house. Verse
29 says, after them repaired Zadok, the son of Emmer, over
against his house. After him repaired also Shemaiah,
the son of Sekaniah, the keeper of the east gate. Verse 31 says, After Him repaired
Malachi the goldsmith's son unto the place of the Nethanims, and
of the merchants over against the gate Mithcad, and to the
going up of the corner. There's another corner there.
That wall had three corners and it was rounded on the back. It
had an inside corner and then it had an outside corner and
another outside corner and it was rounded right back up. Verse
32 says, in between the going up of the corner unto the sheep
gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants. So we're back
where we started at the sheep gate. Okay. Now, each one of
these gates had a meaning. Each one of them. And I was going
to give you two of them. I went over there to give you
two of them and then keep going in John five and couldn't do
it. Couldn't do it. It's just too
wonderful to pass up. The sheep gate was this. It was
literally where they brought the sheep into Jerusalem to go
be sacrificed. That was the purpose of the sheep
gate. Those sheep that came in and they brought them in for
one reason only. To die. That's it. It was the gate of blood. Death. Sacrifice. Why did they bring all those
sheep inside the city of Jerusalem? Sin. That's why. Sin offering. The whole purpose of it was an
offering to God for my sin. That was the reason. If you had
sinned against God, get to the sheep gate. You'll find a substitute to sacrifice
on that altar. Because of sin, something had
to die. The wages of sin is death, right?
Well, these 10 gates that lead us to the city of God, They show
us in order how God moves on a center, how Christ reveals
Himself to a center, and what that does to a center and in
a center. Isn't that amazing? Alright, the sheep gate. It means
something has to die. Mankind already knows that. I
already know that. It doesn't take long and we learn
about death. Our little girls, you know, we
tried to hide it from them as long as we could, but eventually
they're going to watch something die. We have to explain death
to them. All people know it's appointed
unto man once to die. Here is the problem with mankind. Nobody cares what happens after
that. Nobody cares. Everybody believes they're going
to go to a better place. Everybody believes that. The first statement at every
funeral is, well, they're in a better place now. Right? Are
they? When God moves on a sinner, the
first thing He shows them is the fact that their sin is not
only going to kill them physically, it's going to kill them spiritually. They learn something new about
death. The truth is, it already has.
They're already dead. Already destined for hell. You
know what that awakening causes in people? They don't know that
by nature. Do you know what that awakening causes in people? Look at verse 3, Nehemiah chapter
3 verse 3. It says, But the fish gate did
the sons of Hassaniah build. The fish gate means fear. It means anxious trembling. That's what the word fish means.
Fear and trembling. You think about a fish out of
water. A person who sees God's holiness
and justice is going to say, I've never been so afraid for
my life. Never. I wasn't worried about
it before. Now I am. Now don't get me wrong,
I'm concerned about these three score and ten. I am. But eternity
awaits me. Eternity. For the first time
in my life, I see that God is angry with the wicked and I'm
wicked. That's what I see. You know what that absolutely
convinces a sinner of? What God convinces a sinner of? Look at verse 6, Nehemiah 3,
verse 6, it says, Moreover, the old gate. That word old means to die. To die. I'm going to die. Not just physically, spiritually. This world tells me to look out
for number one. I'm going to spend the rest of
my days looking out for number one, right? And I now see that if all I got
is number one, on my own, left up to myself, I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I know all men die. I now know
most men don't go to a better place. And because of who I am and what
I've done, I'm convinced that I'm going to spiritually die
in my sin. When God reveals that to the heart, to the inside of
a man, here's what happens on the outside. Look at verse 13 says the valley gate. The valley gate means lofty sides. It means arrogance and pride. That's what a man is every day
of his life until God gets a hold of him. Verse 14 says, but the
dung gate. You can imagine what that means. The dung gate means a heap of
rubbish, a pile of filth. That's what happens on the outside
when God moves on the inside. He's brought down. God is going
to bring a sinner down. He's going to bring his people
down. Why? Why does he do that? Why does he do that? Do you know
why he does that? You know why? That he might lift them up. That's
the whole reason. He brings them down so he can
raise them up. There's a song that says, He
lifted me out of the deep miry clay. He setteth my feet in a
straight, narrow way. He lifteth me up to a heavenly
place and floodeth my soul each day with His grace. Verse 15
says, But the gate of the fountain, the fountain means this, an eye. It means a look. It means look well. If you from sin are longing to
be free, look to the Lamb of God. David
said, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh
my help. Hannah prayed, the Lord killeth
and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dumb hill to set them
among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory.
There's life for a look at the Savior. What are we looking to? What
do we see? Look at verse 26. It says, Moreover, the Nethanims
dwelt in Ophel unto the place over against the water gate. You know what that means? Rung
out. It means juice. You know what that is? It's the
blood of the grape wrung out. We are looking to His death. I don't see my own death at all
as long as I look to His death. Actually, I perfectly see my
death every time I look to His death. I perfectly see my judgment,
my punishment, every time I look at His death. Every time He was
wrung out. He was wounded for my transgression. He was made to be sinned that
I might be made the righteousness of God in Him. With His stripes,
I am healed. You know what that causes me
to do? Every time God lets me see that, look at verse 28. It says, from above the horse
gate repaired the priest, everyone over against his house. You know
what the horse gate means? To skip, to leap for joy. Happy is the man that hath the
God of Jacob for his help. Hold your place right there and
go to Psalm 126. Psalm 126. Verse one says, when the Lord
turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that
dream. Then was our mouth filled with
laughter and our tongue with singing. Then said they among
the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord
hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Turn again
our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south that they
sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth
bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing
his sheaves with him. This morning, I entered into
our message. I enjoyed it as much as any message
I've ever preached in my life. And my heart was skipping. I experienced joy. And although I'm tired now, lunch
is still on my stomach. I'm just a little bit tired than
I was this morning. And it's not an outward show.
I'm not, it's not about dancing up here and hoopla and all that
outward show. My soul leaps for joy over the
fact that Jesus Christ was run out for me. Why are we so happy? Really?
I'm happy because of the water gate, the blood of the Lamb that
was wrung out because of my sin to pay the debt that I incurred
against God, and I'm thankful for the east gate. Back in Nehemiah
3 verse 29 says, After them repaired Zadok the son of Emer over against
his house, after him repaired also Shemaiah the son of Shekinah,
the keeper of the east gate. The east means the rising of
the sun. I'm happy and thankful for the
son of righteousness that has risen with healing in his wings.
I'm happy because in his rising, he has proven to me that He conquered
death. This whole thing started because
of death, sin, bringing me more death, spiritual death. And when
He rose up, He proved no more death. In Him, I don't have to
be afraid of death anymore. Not at all. Verse 31 says, After
Him repaired Malkiah the goldsmith's son unto the place of the Nethanims
and of the merchants over against the gate, Mithkad. Mithkad means
judgment. Judgment. This one who finished
this work, this one who was wrung out rose again, the Lord Jesus
Christ, when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down
on the right hand of the majesty on high. Let's not forget who
this man is. This is the great judge of the
earth. Verse 31, After Him repaired
Malachi the goldsmith's son unto the place of the Nethanims, and
of the merchants over against the gate Miphkad, and to the
going up of the corner. And between the going up of the
corner unto the sheep gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants."
Back to the sheep gate. Full circle, all the way around. As soon as you realize who this
man Jesus Christ really is, it makes you want to run right back
to that sheep gate. I need a lamb. Cover me with blood. May thy
blood be upon me. Mercy, that's what I need is
mercy. All right, we'll turn back over to John 5. Verses one and two say, after
this, there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by
the sheep gate, there's a pool, which is called in the Hebrew
tongue, Bethesda. And the Lord is going to have
great mercy right here next to this sheep gate. And when we
look at this next time, Lord willing, next week, we'll understand
what that means. All right, stand together with
me.