Now, I want to direct your attention
back to the book of Nehemiah, chapter 3. And that's been the
basis of the study of the rebuilding of the walls and the gates of
Jerusalem under the direction of Nehemiah, the rebuilding of
these walls and gates. Nehemiah, whom God laid upon
his heart to go back to his hometown, his home country, and rebuild
the city walls and the gates. And each gate, we've seen how
each gate in its progression as it started, as the Lord revealed
it here in Nehemiah chapter 3, how each gate symbolizes and
illustrates some particular aspect of our complete salvation and
what the Christian life is all about. in the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we started out there in
verse 1 with the sheep gate, read that again. Let's look at
verse 1. Then Eliashib, the high priest, rose up with his brethren,
the priests, and they built the sheep gate. And that sheep gate,
how it so illustrates the work of Christ on the cross. But then
we look over at the last verse of Nehemiah chapter 3. And we
end right back up at the Sheep Gate, city as it comes around. And it says, in between the going
up of the corner under the Sheep Gate repaired the goldsmiths
and the merchants. So we begin at the Sheep Gate,
and we end at the Sheep Gate. And that's why I entitled this
message, Christ from Start to Finish. That's why I read this
passage out of Colossians chapter 3, because it speaks of Christ
who is our life. In other words, what we see in
the illustration of this city wall and the gates is that Christ
is the author, He is the finisher of our faith as we read in Hebrews
chapter 12 there. When He means our faith there,
He means what we believe. Now what do we believe? We believe
salvation completely by the sovereign grace of God. Well, Christ is
the author of that, and He's the completer of that. The beginner
and the completer. The author and the finisher.
But He's also everything in between. He's everything in between. Christ
who is our life. And that's where I want you to
see the connection. So, I want to conclude this study. by going back over the gates,
and I want to give you a scripture for each one out of the New Testament
and some out of the Old Testament that will correspond to show
you this. I have a lot of scripture, but
I'm only going to read just a few. But before I go there, I want
you to go back to Nehemiah chapter 3 and verse 31, before I get
started on concluding this with summarizing the gates again.
Usually I start off the message by going through the gates. Tonight
I'm going to end it that way. But we were talking about last
time what is known as the Mithkad gate. Look at verse 31. And after
him prepared Malkiah the goldsmith's son unto the place of the Nethanemes. Remember the Nethanemes were
men who were dedicated, who dedicated their life to the service of
the priesthood. They weren't priests themselves,
but they served the priest. They worked for the priest. And
he says, and of the merchants, so there were merchants here
too, and they were building the walls in between the East Gate
and what is called the Mithcad Gate, over against the gate Mithcad. You see that? and to the going
up of the corner. We studied the Miphkot gate,
that is the inspection gate. That word Miphkot is translated
in a lot of different ways in the Old Testament. It can be
the registry gate, it can be the numbering gate, it can be
the inspection gate. The idea there is judgment. God
passing judgment and making known by His numbering or His accounting
who His people are. and who they are not. And that's
what the declarative judgment is going to do. When Christ comes
again through the East Gate the second time, the Son of the Morning
rising from the East, when He comes through that gate, then
will come the inspection, the judgment gate. And there it will
be declared before the whole universe who His people are. It will be made manifest all
who are in Christ, all who stand before God at the judgment, who
are washed clean from all their sins by His precious blood, and
stand complete in Christ, clothed in His righteousness and beauty.
And then all who refused, all who went their own way, who stand
before God in their sins, and God will pronounce the sentence
of eternal death upon them. And in that inspection we know
that God is going to judge the world in righteousness by that
man, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he hath ordained, in that he
hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him
from the dead. So what does that teach at the
Miskad Gate? It teaches me that my only hope
of eternal life and blessedness is to be found in Christ. And it's not that Christ starts
me out and then lets me go on my own. It's that Christ starts
me out, Christ keeps me, and He finishes the work. He'll bring
me to glory by His grace. At no time is salvation ever
conditioned on me at any degree or any stage of it. It is all
of Christ. And that's a good place to be,
isn't it? That's a good place to be. Well, I spent some time,
I want you to turn back to 2 Samuel 24. And I spent some time reading
here, and that's why I ran out of time last time. This is an account of the Mithkod,
that word Mithkod, the first time you see it in the Old Testament
is in 2 Samuel 24 verse 9 where Joab comes and gives the number
of the people of Israel to King David. That's David numbering
Israel. David committed a great sin in doing that. He had no
right to do that. It was a punishment on David
and upon the people that God moved David, and He did it, as
the book of 1 Chronicles tells us, by the instrumentality of
Satan, to move David to number Israel. Well, you don't number
that which does not belong to you. And David numbered them. Well, they belong to God. That's
the people of God. You know, I'm not going to be
such a stickler to make this a direct parallel, but somebody
says, well, how many do you have come to your church? And I say,
I don't know. I don't number them. They're not mine. I'll let God number them. And
so that's the way it is. Well, David numbered Israel,
and God gave him the choice of three punishments. And David
said, well, we'll put it in the hands of God. God, you do whatever
you see fit. And David, he came to Gad, verse
18 of 2 Samuel 24, Gad the prophet. Gad came that day to David and
said unto him, go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing
floor of Araunah, the Jebusite, that man Araunah. His name is
Ornon in the book of 1 Chronicles. And so here you have the account.
David's going to build an altar on this threshing floor. But
he doesn't own the threshing floor. In verse 21 it says, And
around us said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his
servant, David said, to buy the threshing floor of thee, to build
an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from
the people. It was through the altar. and the sacrifice upon
the altar that the plague, God's judgment on the people, was going
to be stopped. And that's a great picture of
how the plague of sin and God's judgment against sin can only
be stopped upon our altar and our sacrifice, the Lord Jesus
Christ, as Brother Joe so aptly preached Sunday morning, Himself.
Jesus Christ Himself and Him crucified. And so that's a picture
there, the altar and the sacrifice is a picture of the precious
blood of Christ that takes the wrath of God and drinks it dry
so that the plague would be stopped. Well, verse 22 says, "...around
us said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what
seemeth good unto him. Behold, here be oxen for burnt
sacrifice and threshing instruments. and other instruments of the
oxen for wood, and all these things did Araunah as a king
give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king,
The Lord thy God accept thee." And what it is, is Araunah is
wanting to give David this threshing floor. But look at verse 24.
He says, And the king said unto Araunah, Nay, but I will surely
buy unto thee at a price. Neither will I offer burnt offerings
unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So
David bought the threshing floor and the option for 50 shekels
of silver. Remember, silver is the metal
that symbolizes redemption in the Old Testament. And, you know,
many people go to this verse, verse 24, and they use that to
teach a moral lesson that we as Christians should not offer
up to God, that which cost us nothing. But I hate to tell you
this, but that's not the lesson there. I really don't hate to
tell you that. I mean, this is the truth. You
know, that's really not the lesson there. What he's showing here
is this, what the illustration, the lesson here is this, is that
the wrath of God, symbolized in the plague upon the people
of Israel, the wrath of God cannot be stopped or turned back without
the cost being paid. That's the lesson. Now, what
is the cost? Well, it's a cost that we don't
have. We have nothing to pay. I'm going to preach on that Sunday
morning out of Luke 7, when it speaks of the two debtors, and
they have nothing to pay. Well, that's us. We don't have
anything to pay. But somebody's got to pay the
price. So someone who's willing, someone who's able, and someone
whom God appoints. And David here is a type of Christ. He was God's appointed king.
Am I right? God appointed him. He had the
ability, he was king of Israel, he was a rich man, he had the
ability, and he was willing to do so. Now who is he typifying? Christ, God's appointed Redeemer,
who was willing to come to this earth and pay the cost of redemption
by his blood. Redemption symbolizing the silk.
And he was able to do so. He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come unto the Father by him. Now, that's the lesson
there. Now, you can take it and use it in different ways, but
that's the lesson. That's picturing Christ's redemptive
work, where David bought this threshing floor, you see, and
built the altar to sacrifice. Well, it says in verse 25, And
David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings
and peace offerings, So the Lord was entreated for the land, and
the plague was stayed from Israel." You see that? So it worked. And
that's why we speak of the finished work of Christ. It's finished. He accomplished redemption for
his people. He didn't try to say, David wasn't
just making an attempt here to do this. This was what the prophet
of God told David to do. The prophet of God who had the
Word of God. This is how to do it, you see.
And that's what Christ did when he came to this earth. Well,
now, this threshing floor is an interesting thing because
it brings us right back around in the symbolism of these gates.
And I'll show you what I mean. This threshing floor of Araunah,
the Jebusite, was a very significant spot in Jerusalem. It was on Mount Moriah. Remember
Mount Moriah? Turn to 2 Chronicles chapter
3. 2 Chronicles chapter 3. Let me
tell you about Mount Moriah, just a little bit. 2 Chronicles
chapter 3, look at verse 1. It says, are you there? Last week I had it marked, I
didn't have it marked, but I got to it quicker than you did tonight.
2 Chronicles 3 and look at verse 1. Then Solomon began to build
the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah. That's where
the temple was built. Where the Lord appeared unto
David his father in the place that David had prepared in the
threshing floor of Ornon the Jebusite. At Ornon there is just
the Hebrew name for Araunah. Same guy. And it was there And
you notice there, that's where Solomon built the temple, but
you know there was something else very significant that happened
years and years and years before that. That's the exact spot where
Abraham offered up his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. Abraham called
the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh. And it's said to this day, in
the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. That's the threshing
floor that David bought. Right there on the spot where
Abraham offered Isaac. Right there on the spot where
Solomon built the temple. And so when Solomon, David's
son, built the first temple on this threshing floor, just a
little bit outside of it, in the same hill range, is Mount
Calvary. Now, some scholars believe that
Mount Moriah and Mount Calvary are the same thing. I don't think
that's so, but it's right there, taken outside the city, was Mount
Calvary where our Savior was crucified. So you see the significance
of this. And then this place where this
threshing floor was, outside the temple, where the Mithcad
Gate is here, it was always a place that was marked with worship,
with prayer, and with sacrifice, and it always continued on that
spot. And so men would continue to come to this place, where
outside the temple on the threshing floor here, to receive mercy
by sacrifice. And so isn't it so appropriate
that we would come right back into Nehemiah 3 and verse 32
and end up at the Sheep Gate, end up with Christ. Isn't that
something? Jesus Christ and Him crucified
is our way of passing the inspection of God's holy law. And there
is no other way. Peter said in Acts chapter 4
and verse 12, neither is there salvation in any other, for there
is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. Don't ever think about standing
at the miftah on the threshing floor at the inspection gate
without the blood of Christ. Without His blood we're nothing,
less than nothing. And King David could not stand
before God and pass inspection based on his own righteousness.
That's why he needed the sacrifice. That's why he said over and over
again in the Psalms, he said, blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered, blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile. That's why he said in Psalm 130, verse 3, If thou,
Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But
there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. That's
why he prayed, Judge me, O Lord, according to thy righteousness.
Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape. Quicken
me, O Lord," he wrote, for thy name's sake, for thy righteousness'
sake, bring my soul out of trouble. That's what he was testifying
of when he bought that threshing floor, built that altar, and
sacrificed that bullock right there. He said, they shall abundantly
utter the memory of thy great goodness and shall sing of thy
righteousness. So where are we? Well, we're
right where we began. We've begun in Christ, and we
end up in Christ our whole lives. Christ is the author and finisher
of our faith. And you can just picture yourself,
if you started there at the Sheep Gate and walked around that city,
there's the completeness of salvation with everything that we are,
everything that we have, pointing to the glory of our Savior and
His work on the cross. Let's look at each one again.
Let me give you these scriptures. The Sheep Gate. The Sheep Gate
is the place of salvation. It's the place of the cross.
It's the place of sacrifice. It's where the Lamb of God willingly
gave Himself up into the hands of men to satisfy the justice
of God for the sins of His sheep. Behold the Lamb of God. which
bears away the sins of the world." Isaiah 53-7, that's a good companion
verse in the Old Testament. He was oppressed, he was afflicted,
yet he openeth not his mouth, he is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, at the sheep gate now, and as a sheep before her
shears is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. And I can see
Philip the Evangelist standing out on a chariot with an Ethiopian,
who had a Bible, reading this passage, and he says, who's he
speaking of? And Philip preached unto him
Jesus, God our Savior. He took him to the sheep gate. For as much as you know, 1 Peter
1.18, that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but you were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Worthy is the
lamb that was slain, that's the sheep game, to receive power
and riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing. That's where salvation centers
on. That's the whole purpose, eternal
purpose of God. Look forward to the coming of
Christ at the Sheep Gate to shed His precious blood and bring
forth that righteousness of which David wouldn't shut up about.
They tell me I won't shut up about that. Well, I'll go with
David. I'll stay right there at the Sheep Gate. And then that
takes us secondly to the Fish Gate. You remember the Fish Gate? That's the place of ministry. It's the place of evangelism.
What does that mean? Spreading the good news. Christ
has died. Christ was buried. Christ is
risen again. Christ has completed the work.
That's what we tell sinners at the fish gate. Christ said to
His disciples, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men.
I'm going to draw in some fish. I'm going to bring my sheep into
the fold. And so He said, go ye into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Preach it.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. That's the way God does it. And
that's why the Scripture tells us, Paul speaking to young Timothy
in 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 8, he says, Remember that Jesus
Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according
to my gospel, And for that reason, I suffer trouble as an evildoer,
even unto bonds, even unto imprisonment, but the Word of God is not bound."
Don't ever think. They can put God's preacher in
prison, put him in chains, but the Word of God is not bound.
He said, therefore, I endure all things for the elect's sake. I'm seeking his elect. That's
what he said. Somebody says, well, I don't
like that. Well, you take it up with Paul. You take it up with
the Holy Spirit. He said, I endure all things
for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. That's the fish
game. Preach it, you see. Preach the
Word. Be instant in season and out
of season. Do the work of an evangelist.
We're seeking His feet. We preach to everybody. We don't
hold it back from anybody who wants to hear. And God has never
and will never turn away any sinner who comes to Him begging
for mercy. Do you know that? He never has
and never will turn away any sinner. I can look you right
in the face and I can say, God will save you for Christ's sake,
but He won't save you any other way. That's right. And then thirdly, we come to
the old gate. That's the place of the old established
eternal truths. In the book of Acts, chapter
2, verse 42, after Peter, having preached the message of Christ
and him crucified and risen again, the power of the Holy Spirit
at Pentecost, it says, God brought his people in. God added to his
church. And that's the way it is. You
see, if I add to the church, it won't do any good. Whatever
I add will ultimately lead. But when God adds to His church,
they stay. And here's what it said in describing
those people that God added to the church in verse 42. Listen
to this. It says, "...and they continued steadfastly in the
apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and
in prayers." The apostles' doctrine. That's the message that Paul,
and Peter, and James, and John, Andrew, and all of them preached.
For they preached the Old Gospel. And not only they, but in Ephesians
chapter 2, listen to this in verse 18, it says, for through
him, through Christ, we both, that is, Jew and Gentile, believing
Jew and believing Gentile, have access by one Spirit unto the
Father. Now therefore you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. It's the same message that old
Samuel preached. It's the same message that David
as a prophet preached. It's the same message that Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Nehemiah, all of them preached. It's not changed. It's
the old truth. It's the old gospel. It's attended
by the old truths of the Bible. It never changes. No matter what
men do, they can write their newspapers or articles all day
long. and deny the gospel, can't they,
Your Honor? They can do that, all that, but
the gospel's not going to change. It's still the gospel of God.
It still concerns the glorious person of the God-man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and it still sets forth His finished work on Calvary
as my whole salvation. It still speaks of God's unconditional
electing grace, His sovereign mercy. It speaks of my sinfulness
and my depravity and my wretchedness and the fact that on my own and
in myself and by my works I deserve nothing but hell so that my only
hope is Christ and Him crucified and risen again. The Bible says
in Romans 16 and 17 when men came in and tried to turn God's
people away from that doctrine, that old, gate, that old path,
those old truths, it says, I beseech you, brethren, mark them which
cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which
you've learned, and avoid them. Paul told Timothy, 2 Timothy
chapter 3 and verse 14, But continue thou in the things which thou
hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast
learned them. You learn them of God. And he
says, "...and that from a child thou hast known," what? The Holy
Scriptures. Not what men say and believe
and do and think and debate over and define on their own terms,
but the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God, the inspired Word
of God. And he said, "...which are able
to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus." How can the Word of God make me wise unto salvation when
in the hands of the Holy Spirit it leads me to Christ? and shows
me my hope is built on nothing less than His blood and right. And then we come forthly to the
valley gate as we're walking around the city. And there we
are. There's the place of testing.
You see, it's not going to be a bed of roses. It's not going
to be an easy life. Paul wrote, he said, those who
would live godly, what? Will suffer. That's just not
a promise that Some of these, quote, evangelicals, unquote,
are running to get a hold of. Oh, they want things they think
that will get them money or prosperity or health, but not to suffer.
But see, this walk with Christ, this obedience unto Christ, this
grace of God that's given us and implanted in our hearts takes
us through the valley gate, takes us through the place of testing
and gives us the grace of humility. James chapter 1 verse 2, he says,
my brethren, now listen to this now. You know, sometimes you
read these verses and you know, these words are, they're carefully
put in here by the Holy Spirit. And it's a tough thing to, you
see, what you see here is not only just the doing of a thing,
it's the attitude has to be right too. We know it's not in us by
nature. Listen to this. He says, my brethren,
count it all joy. When? When you're having a birthday
party? He says, when you fall into diverse,
various temptations, trials. That's what that's talking about.
That's not temptations from Satan or from the world or from the
flesh. They're meant to cause you to deny faith. But these
are trials from the Lord. And here's the proof of it. James
1 verse 3 says, Knowing this, that the trying of your faith
worketh patience. And what that means is that the
test of faith as we go through the valley gate is what causes
us to persevere and endure. So that if we don't have these
tests, we're not persevering and we're not enduring. If you look at it that way, maybe
you can have a little joy. 1 Peter 1, verse 6, he says, wherein
you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you
are in heaviness through manifold temptations, trials. That the
trial of your faith, listen to this one now, being much more
precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tested or tried
with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ. Now, if God came to you and said,
now, here's your choice, here's gold, and here's a trial, which
one would you take? You'd say, well, it feels better
to get the gold. Well, it's going to perish. But
you know, the trial won't, because the faith that is tested in that
trial endures unto the appearing of Jesus Christ by the grace
of God. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse
5, you say, well, preacher, how do I do that? Well, listen, it's
not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of
ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. That's how. That's the valley gate. It brings
us to humility. What does that mean? That doesn't
mean just hang dog down all the time. That means we realize that
our sufficiency is of God at all times. that our only hope
now, at the beginning, at the middle, and at the end, is the
Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen again. That's what
that humility is. Okay, then fifthly, we come to
the dungate. Remember, that's the place of
cleansing. That's the place of repentance. Paul wrote of that
in 2 Corinthians chapter 7. Verse 9, he's talking to the
church at Corinth, and basically what he's saying, he was saying
to them, throw out the trash. Now listen to me, when I say
throw out the trash, I'm not referring to the fellow who was
committing the incest. He did say you cast him out,
but for his good. But throw out the trash in this
sense. Be sorry over your sins. That's what he's saying. Repent
of it. Don't rejoice in them. Don't
flaunt them. Don't test God. He says in verse 9, He said,
Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed
to repentance. Lord, make me sorry for my sins. He says you were made sorry after
a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing.
That kind of sorrow doesn't damage a believer, it strengthens a
believer. And so he says, for godly sorrow worketh repentance
to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world
worketh death. We're not talking about making
you sorry to where you see nothing but the despair and depravity
of sin, but we're talking about making us sorry to where we run
to Christ and we rest in Him and we pray, Lord, wash me throughly
like David of all my sins. And so he said, for behold, this
selfsame thing that you sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness
it wrought in you. Let's be careful. That's what
that dungate's all about. There was a lady who was hurrying
one morning on trash day. And she hurried so quickly to
get the trash out to the trash man that she looked down on her
hand and she lost her diamond ring. She wondered what happened
to it. She got in her car and she followed
the trash men down the road looking for that ring. You see, you don't
want to throw out the gold and the diamonds and the precious
jewels with the trash, do you? That's what the trip to the Dumb
Gate is all about. It's to be careful. Colossians
chapter 3 and verse 8, that speaks of the truth that's taught at
the Dungate. He says, but now you also put
off all these, put off anger, throw that out with the trash. Now, he's not saying to do this
to be saved. He's talking to the ones who
are already saved. You can improve on your temper,
but that's not going to save you, and it's not going to make
you holy, and it's not going to make you righteous. And you
don't deserve a pat on the back. And neither do I. You know why
you do it? Because it's glorifying our Lord. It's the right thing to do. That's
a concept that our generation has. Doing something just because
it's right? Well, I'll serve God just to
see what I can get out of Him. That's religion to do. Do it
because it's right. Do it because God has every right
to be angry with me, but He's not. You know why? Because of the blood of His Son.
All of His anger towards me was poured out on His Son. And I
didn't deserve it, and you didn't either. He says, put off wrath,
malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one
to another, seeing that you put off the old man with his deeds,
what I used to be, without Christ, put on the new man, which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created. Christ
is all and in all. And then here, here's sixthly,
we come to the fountain gate. That's the place of refreshing
and renewal. That's the filling of the Holy
Spirit, the presence of the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians
1, verse 20, listen to this, he said, For all the promises
of God in Christ are yea, and in him, amen, unto the glory
of God by us. Now he which establisheth with
you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God, who hath also sealed
us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. We
have the presence and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Paul said
in Galatians 4 and verse 6, because of that, we can say, Abba, Father,
Papa, Papa. We have a Father who saved us
and loves us and chastises us, keeps us, provides for us. Now, He's a righteous judge,
but He's a loving Father in Christ. And so, the Bible teaches in
Ephesians 5 and verse 18, Concerning this fountain of living waters,
it springs up, overflowing like a well. Be not drunk with wine
wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. And that leads
us to the seventh gate, the water gate. To be filled with the Spirit
is to be filled with His Word. That's what the water gate is,
the water of the Word, place of the Word of God. Always come
to the Word of God. Take every opportunity that God
gives us to read, to study, to listen to, to hear preached the
Word of God. Drink, drink, drink at the water
gate of God's Word. Wherewith shall a young man cleanse
his way, the psalmist wrote in Psalm 119 verse 9, by taking
heed thereto according to thy word. That's what we need daily,
the cleansing of our minds and our hearts by the Word of God.
Christ spoke of His church in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse
26, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of
water by the Word. Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy
chapter 3 and verse 16, all Scripture, the Word of God, the written
Word of God, He is given by inspiration of God, is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God, the sinner saved by grace, may be perfect,
complete, mature, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
How does the Word of God do that? Christ said it very plainly in
John chapter 5 and verse 39, They are they which testify of
me. So that we'll never walk away
empty. from the water gate. And then number eight, here's
the horse gate. You see, a sinner saved by the grace of God is
a sinner who's in warfare. That's what the horse gate represents,
a place of spiritual warfare. That's why Paul wrote in Ephesians
chapter 6 and verse 10, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the
Lord. Our strength for battle is not in ourselves, it's in
the Lord. You see, we have the Lord of hosts. That's the Lord
of an invincible army. He's invincible. And he says,
and in the power of His might, put on the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. He told Timothy, Paul wrote to
Timothy, that you might war a good warfare. He said at the end of
his life, he said, I fought a good fight. I finished my course.
I've kept the faith. And listen to this in 1 Timothy
chapter 6 and verse 11. But thou, O man of God, flee
these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, patience, meekness. How are you going to do that?
Listen. Fight the good fight of faith. That's fight, looking
to Christ. Lay hold of eternal life, lay
hold of Christ, whereinto thou art called to Christ, and hast
professed a good profession before many witnesses professing Christ. That's what it is, isn't it?
And then we come, number nine, to the East Gate, the place of
hope and expectation, the coming of Christ, for He has come already.
The Old Testament saints, they look towards the East Gate concerning
His first coming. Job spoke of it in Job 19.25.
He said, For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand
at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh I'll see God. I'm going
to see the Lord. And then Paul writing to the
New Testament believers of Philippi in Philippians chapter 3 and
verse 20. He said, Our citizenship is in
heaven. From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned
like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby
he is able, even to subdue all things unto himself." We read
it there in Colossians chapter 3 and verse 4. Remember that?
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you
also appear with him in glory. That's the escape. That's our
expectation and hope. And then lastly, the inspection
gate, the place of judgment. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy chapter
4 and verse 1, he said, I charge thee therefore before God and
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead
at his appearing and his kingdom, he is the judge. And then as
I always quote this, Acts 17 31, not only is he the judge,
he's the standard of judgment. He's going to do the judging,
and every knee's going to bow, and every tongue's going to confess.
But He's also the standard of judgment, because God hath appointed
a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom He hath ordained, and He hath given assurance unto
all men, and that He hath raised Him from the dead. Christ is
the judge. Christ is the standard. How comforting
and how assuring could it be for me to stand before the judge
in the righteousness of the judge. I'll tell you, that's why we
can have boldness in the day of judgment if we have Christ. And here's what it'll say. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that
justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again. who's even
at the right hand of God, who also made the intercession for
us. And you know what? He never stops. Look at Nehemiah chapter 4. This
is my last verse. Look at verse 4. This will conclude
this series. You know, when they began to
build the gates and the walls, they had opposition. It wasn't
an easy thing. They had opposition from the
enemies of God, from the enemies of Israel, that they fortified
themselves. They did what God commanded them
to do. And look at verse 4 of Nehemiah
chapter 4. It says, Here, O our God. Now
this is their prayer. For we are despised. And they
said, Turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them
for a prey in the land of captivity. And cover not their iniquity,
and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee, for they
have provoked thee to anger before the builders." But look at verse
6. Now, you're going to have opposition.
The Christian life, it's a warfare, remember. There's going to be
opposition, there's going to be affliction, there's going
to be trials. There's going to be sorrow, sadness. There's going
to be all kinds. And I'm not just trying to be
a doom and gloom guy up here. I mean, there's joy and there's
peace and there's blessedness too. That far outweighs all the
bad stuff as we see it. But here's the result. Now look
at verse 6. Here's the result. And this is what we're to do
as we follow in our lives by the grace of God. It says, "...so
built we the wall." We didn't stop. We built the wall. God
said build the wall. We built the wall. They didn't
say, now wait a minute, Lord, old Sam Ballard over there, he
doesn't want us to build it, and he's pretty powerful. No, we built the wall. And all
the wall was joined together under the half thereof, for the
people had a mind to work. God gave us a mind to work, not
to attain salvation. but because we are saved by the
grace of God as the fruit and evidence of His grace, His power,
His love, and His glory. Give us a mind to work.