All right, now let's turn back
to Nehemiah chapter 3, just a few chapters before our reading.
Nehemiah chapter 3, as we continue our study on the gates of the
city of Jerusalem as they are being rebuilt by the people under
the direction of God's man, Nehemiah, the governor, also whom I believe
was a prophet. And this man is instructing as
God revealed to him the order of the gates, how they are to
be built. how they're to be repaired. And tonight we're going to look
at verse 26 on the seventh gate, which is called the Watergate.
Look at verse 26 of Nehemiah 3. It says, Moreover, the Nethenims
dwelt in Ophel unto the place over against the Watergate toward
the east, and the tower that lieth out, a tower that jutteth
out from the Watergate, And so there's the Watergate. As I said,
this is the seventh gate. And let me go back and just go
right back over them again to keep the order now. First of
all, we had the Sheep Gate, as symbolic of the work of Christ
as the sacrifice, the Lamb of God, who gave Himself in the
place of His people to accomplish the entire salvation of the glory
of God for His people. He's the Lamb of God. He's the
Door. that by which we enter. And so
the sheep gate was the place of salvation. That's where Christ
did his great work for us. And that's where everything begins
and everything centers around in the church, in our salvation.
It's the place of the cross, the sheep gate. And then we come
to the fish gate. That's the first direct fruit
and result of the death of Christ on the cross. And I quote this
every time we go to this, John chapter 12, I believe it's verse
41 when he said, and maybe another verse, but it's John 12. He said,
and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me. And as
the Lord told his disciples, if they follow him, he'll make
them fishers of men. This is the place of evangelism. It's the place of ministry. The
people of God, the church of God going out into the world
and preaching the gospel to every creature, everyone who will listen.
And God, by the power of the Spirit, calls His people in,
just like the net going out and catching the fish. And that's
what the fish gate represented. And then thirdly, we come to
the old gate. That was the place of the old
established eternal truths of God, the doctrines, the immutable
doctrine of Christ, the old paths, the old landmarks, the old ways
that never change. And that's what those who are
saved at the cross, And who are called in at the fish gate by
the preaching of the gospel and the power of the Spirit must
then be established in the old gospel truths of God and who
He is and all that He reveals in truth that never changes.
Men are always trying to improve upon the Word of God, the doctrine.
We're going to talk about that tonight in the Watergate, too.
And men are always trying to change it, trying to improve
it, trying to make it relevant, as they say. But, my friend,
there's nothing more relevant than the old gate, the old doctrine,
the old, old story for a sinner. And then, fourthly, we come to
the valley gate. That's the place of testing and
the place of humility. For every believer on this earth
goes through that valley of humility and testing constantly. Because this world is not our
home. were in the wilderness, just like the children of Israel
when they came out of Egypt and they were established at Sinai
under the law of Moses by God, they went through the wilderness
before they went to the promised land. So there's the valley gate,
the place of testing. And then, fifthly, we come to
the dung gate. That's the place of cleansing,
the place of throwing out the trash. And that's what God does
when he puts us through the valley gate, puts us through the testing.
testing our faith to bring us to godly sorrow over sin and
repentance continually of our dead works, our sin and our dead
works. And that's a continual thing.
We initially come to Christ in repentance of dead works and
idolatry, but we have to repent every day, don't you? Every day. It's an every day thing. And
we have to keep coming to the dung gate to throw out the trash.
will never be perfect in ourselves in this life. We are perfect
in Christ right now, washed in his blood and clothed in his
righteousness, and we will never get any better than that as God
sees us in Christ. But in ourselves, we are still
sinners. Romans 7 teaches that so well,
that an old wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from
the body of this death. One day, like so many of our
dear brethren, brothers and sisters in Christ, who have gone on to
be with the Lord, one day we'll be like them. We'll wake in His
likeness, and we'll be perfected in ourselves. And then, sixthly,
we come to the fountain gate, and that's the gate of refreshing,
the place of refreshing and renewal. After having gone through that
valley, aren't you so glad and thankful that you have within
you the wells of living water, which is the presence of the
Holy Spirit that continually convicts us of sin and drives
us to Christ, and then gives us a thirst for the word of God,
which comes to the seventh gate, the water gate. Water in the
Bible is a lot of times symbolic of the word of God. Let me read
you a passage of scripture from Ephesians chapter 5, verse 25,
one that you're well familiar with. When the Apostle Paul was
talking about the relationships that we go through here on earth,
and specifically here, he's talking about the relationship of a husband
to his wife. And listen to how he says, and
he uses that as a model for the church. In fact, he says at the
end of that chapter, he says, I'm really, he said, I'm talking
about the church now. But he uses that to show a husband
how he is to treat his wife and also later on to show a wife
how she is to treat her husband. But listen to verse 25. He says,
Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it. The substitutionary work of Christ.
The husband who rightfully loves his wife would give his life
for her because he loves her. And it says Christ did this that
he might sanctify. Now, that word sanctify is an
important word for tonight's message. It's an important word
for every message, actually. But think about this now. What
does it mean to be sanctified? It means to be set apart. And listen, when you husbands
married your wives, that wife was set apart for you. She identified
with you, became one flesh. No longer two, but one. And she
doesn't belong to anybody, doesn't even belong to her mama and daddy
now. And you are sanctified unto her, you're set apart for her,
she's set apart for you. Well, when Christ married the
church, as it were, in his, and we're talking about that, his
death on the cross, the church, his bride, was set apart for
him, and he for them. Now that transaction took place
before the foundation of the world, but it was actually accomplished
in time at Calvary. And so he says, to sanctify and
cleanse it, listen, with the washing of water by the Word. By the Word. He speaks of a washing
here that comes by the Word of God. And so he says that he might
present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Now, many times the word holy
could just as well be translated sanctified, and it means set
apart. And you hold on to that thought.
Let me read you another passage. This is from John chapter 15.
Christ begins speaking of himself as the vine and his people as
the branches. In verse 1 of John chapter 15,
he says, I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away. So
he establishes the great truth that all who are in him are branches
that bear fruit. They don't produce fruit. We're
not fruit producers. We're fruit bearers. He's the
producer. We're the product, you see. And
so it says, in every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it. Now, that word purging is like
cleansing by fire. Some say, well, that means our
trials, our faith is tried by fire. that it may bring forth
more fruit. The result of that, by the power
of God, not our own power now, but by the power of God, is more
fruit. So that when we go through the
valley, then there's the product of more fruit by the power of
God. And that's called growth in grace
and in knowledge of Christ. And so he goes on, he says in
verse 3, he says, now you are clean through the word. clean through the Word which
I have spoken unto you." So there's a cleansing by the Word. So here's
a washing by the Word. Here's a cleansing by the Word.
Now, what is this talking about? Well, it's talking about our
sanctification by the cleansing power of the Word of God. Now,
again, what does sanctify mean? It means to set apart. To set
apart. Now, positionally, and you might
say it this way, judicially, We've already been cleansed,
sanctified as it were, once for all by the blood of Christ on
the cross. We were set apart in that way
and in that sense cleansed by his blood. Let me show you that
in Hebrews chapter 10. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. And
this has more to do with our justification before God and
how God is just to justify the ungodly. On the cross, Christ
established the only ground upon which God justifies any sinner. Even the saints in the Old Testament
were justified based upon what Christ did on the cross. The
Bible teaches that. Romans chapter 4 speaks of both
Abraham and David as those who were justified not by their works,
not by their obedience, and not by their believing, but by the
imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. That's
what Romans 4 teaches, as well as other passages. Well, that
great transaction took place in time on the cross, and look
at verse 10 of Hebrews 10. It says, "...by the which will
we are sanctified," set apart now, and in that sense that's
a cleansing, "...through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all." And he says in verse 11, and every high
priest standeth daily, ministering, offering oftentimes the same
sacrifice, which can never take away sins. The old covenant priesthood
couldn't do that. The animal blood couldn't do
that. But he says in verse 12, this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. It only took this one time, you see. This is not a continual
thing. It has continual effects. It has everlasting eternal effects. It will last on through eternity.
But he didn't have to keep doing it over and over again, like
the old covenant priests. They had to do it every year
on the Day of Atonement. Christ did it one time. And so
he says in verse 13, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified, set apart. set apart by the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ, one time for all, not many times
for a few, but one time for all, all His people, all for whom
He died. And let me tell you something, if they're set apart
and sanctified and perfected and cleansed by the blood of
Christ, they're going to be in heaven. There's not going to
be any in hell like that. Now, in 1 John 1 and verse 7,
let me read this to you. It says, but if we walk in the
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all
sin. That's all sin. Aren't you glad
of that? As we grieve over our sin and
as we focus on our sins, let's, by the power of the Spirit, joy
right here and focus right here. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin. So now turn to John 17. Now,
in ourselves, now right now, we stand before God, we who are
in Christ, John 17 now, right now we who are in Christ are
fully clean, judicially, positionally, from all our sins, in and by
the person and work of Christ, the one offering of Christ. We
can honestly say it this way, that in Christ, God looks upon
us and he sees no sin. Isn't that right? That's what he says. That's how
we are in Christ. But now listen to me. If we're
going to learn to think biblically, if we're going to learn to interpret
scripture right, rightly divide the word of truth, here's another
truth we have to see. In ourselves, as we exist here
on this earth, As we walk through this world, we are sinners, sinners
saved by the grace of God. And listen, now a person who
won't admit that is lying to themselves. And if they think
that they're holy in their character and their conduct without any
contamination, any part of them, if it's a quarter of them, a
half of them, or 75 percent, I don't care what they think.
They're just fooling themselves, and you know it. You know that. And I'll tell you how you know
that. You've been to the fountain gate.
The Holy Spirit's brought you to conviction, and he indwells
you. And one of the things he does
in convictions, he constantly reminds us of our sins. Not that
we might wallow there and grieve all our lives and walk around
downcast, but to show us continually our need of Christ. To keep our
eyes looking to Him, the author and finisher of our faith, so
that we might walk in joy and peace and comfort, but only through
Him. So that if we focus in on ourselves,
nothing but grief and pain and sorrow. But if we focus on Christ,
what? Joy and peace and believing.
That's what the Holy Spirit does. You see, getting you or me to
see our sins is not the end goal of the Holy Spirit's work in
us. Getting us to see the glory of Christ and Him crucified and
risen again is the end goal of the Holy Spirit's work in us.
And we need to understand that. So that in ourselves, as we walk
through this world, not only are we constantly seeing our
sinfulness, but we're constantly being cleansed or sanctified,
set apart and distinguished from the world. as we hear and as
we believe and as we obey the Word of God. Now, look at John
17 and look at verse 13. This is our Lord's high priestly
prayer. He says in John 17, 13, He says,
And now come I to thee, praying to his Father, and these things
I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in
themselves. work of the Spirit and to have
his joy fulfilled in us. I have given them thy word, and
the world hath hated them." You know, the fact that God has even
given us his word separates us from the world. You see that? Because we have the word. That
means we possess it. It's a precious possession. It's
not just something we have and carry around in our pocket or
wear on our sleeve. or have on the outside, but it's
in our hearts. It's written there indelibly,
as the old writers used to say, by the Spirit of God. And so
not only do we have the Word, but we love the Word, and because
we love the Word, the world hates us. So right there is sanctification.
We're set apart from the world. Now, that doesn't mean that we're
less sinful than the world. Now, I know people don't like
to hear that now. Somebody said, well, we're believers
and they're not. Somebody said, well, is that
being lessened? No, no, no. I mean, we're to seek to obey
God in every way. But we're still sinners saved
by the grace of God. And so he says here, he says,
the world has hated them because they're not of the world, even
as I'm not of the world. They're separation. That's part
of the sanctification here, see. That's part of being holy. To
be holy here is not to be inside morally perfect. It's to be set
apart. Well, what sets us apart from
the world first? The Word of God, the gospel we
believe. Do you blend in with the world,
with the gospel you believe? If you do, you're not sanctified.
You see what I'm saying? You're not set apart. So he says
in verse 15, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out
of the world, but thou that thou shouldest keep them from the
evil, or the evil one. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Set them apart through thy truth. Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth. And as thou hast sent me into
the world, now listen to this, he says, even so have I also
sent them into the world, and for their sakes I sanctify myself. Now did you hear that? Now, does
that mean that Christ was not morally perfect and then he made
himself so for us? Absolutely not. Christ always
was, always is, and always will be morally perfect. He knew no
sin. He was made sin by imputation,
but he knew no sin. And so that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. So how did he sanctify himself?
He set himself apart. for a particular task. And what
was that task? To save His people from their
sins. To go to the cross, having our sins charged to His account,
and dying for those sins. To be buried and raised again
the third day for our justification. He set Himself apart from everyone,
even from us, in that sense, to go to the cross and establish
the only righteousness. by which God could be just and
justify the ungodly. So he says, for their sakes I
sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through thy
truth, truly sanctified. In other words, Christ did his
great work in order that the result of that would be that
we are set apart through his truth by the power of the Holy
Spirit. You see that? Now, this is not, this is not
the heretical idea of what men today or in the past have called
progressive sanctification or progressive holiness. It's simply
growth in grace and in knowledge. That's why we continually come
to the Watergate to feed upon God's Word, to quench our spiritual
thirst so that we might grow, that we might be refreshed, that
we might be renewed. Now, that doesn't make us any
more morally perfect than we were before, which we're not.
That doesn't make us get holier and holier and holier, you see. That's not what it does at all.
But it does help us to grow. It does help us to have peace.
It does help us to rest. It does help us in our journey
through this earth. How in the world can a believer
lay down his head on the pillar and have dying grace. You know
how? It's by the power of God in Christ
through His Spirit who causes us to drink at the water gate
of His Word. That's how. I know it's so because
God said it's so. And that's good enough. Now,
this setting apart begins at the new birth. Turn over to 2
Thessalonians. When does this sanctification
of the Spirit, now when does it begin? It begins when we're
born again by the Spirit. And listen to how it's described.
You know, Christ told Nicodemus, you turn to 2 Thessalonians 2,
Christ told Nicodemus, you must be born again, and he said you
must be born of the water and of the Spirit. Most commentators
will tell you, and I agree with this, that the water there represents
the Word. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit.
So the new birth is a sovereign act of God through His Holy Spirit
by the Word to bring us to a saving knowledge of Christ in the new
birth. James put it this way in James 1.18, I believe it was. He said, we're begotten again
by the Word of God. So it's the Word of truth. It's
the Word of life, the Scripture calls it. And not just the Word
of the beginning of life, but the Word of all life. continual
life. It's the word of life for us
every day of our lives, and it'll be the word of life throughout
eternity. And so look here at 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13.
Paul writes, "...but we are bound to give thanks always to God
for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation." That's election. Well, now, how
does he know God chose them? Well, he says, through sanctification
of the Spirit, you've been set apart by the Spirit. Well, how
do you know they've been set apart by the Spirit? And belief
of the truth. You believe the truth. How do
I know I've been set apart by the Spirit? I believe the truth. You say, how do I know that God
chose me? Because the Spirit's done His work. He's brought me
to believe of the truth. Now, here's the point. What truth? I mean, listen, before
you were born again and before I was born again, we believed
a lot of truth, didn't we? We believed a lot of lies, too,
now. But there was a lot of truth, wasn't there? For example, I
mean, didn't you, before you were born again, didn't you believe
that God created the world? That was truth. He's talking
about a specific truth. Look at verse 14. Here it is. Whereunto he called you by our
gospel. the gospel truth, the good news
of salvation conditioned on Christ, to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the new birth. Again,
of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. Now, this
Watergate back in Nehemiah chapter 3 symbolizes the continual cleansing
of our minds, our ways, our thoughts, the continual use of the Word
of God as we read it, as we study it, as we hear it preached, as
we make use of it. Psalm 119 and verse 9. Listen to this. Psalm 119 and
verse 9. Wherewith shall a young man cleanse
his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. by listening
to what God has to say. And just as water, physical water,
is vital for our daily existence, we need the water of the Word
of God for our spiritual existence. Christ said that. You know who
he was talking to? He quoted it to the devil. Matthew
4 and verse 4, he said, man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Look back at Nehemiah 3. Let
me just give you some brief thoughts here on this water gate that
coincides with what I'm talking about. One of the things that you might
notice on this gate, if you read through this Nehemiah 3, and
you look here and it says in verse 26 now, look at it, it
says, Moreover, the Nethanims dwelt in Ophel unto the place
over against the water gate towards the east and the tower that lies
out. Now, one thing you notice there
is what's missing. It didn't say they repaired it.
It didn't say they built it. You want to know why? Because
this was the only gate in the city that was intact. It was the only gate in the city
that didn't need any repair. It didn't need any repair. And
you want to know why? Because the Word of God never
needs repair. It's always intact. It's always
just what it is. As the psalmist said in Psalm
119, verse 89, Forever, O Lord, your Word is settled in heaven. I've had people talk to me, and
you probably have too, who try to deny a doctrine of scripture
based on how many times or how few times it's in the Bible.
Somebody said, well, that's only just one word or that's just
one verse or that's just one chapter. Let me ask you, how
many times does God have to say it to make it true? One time is all he has to say. You know what? It's settled in
heaven. You say, well, Well, he said
this a hundred times. It doesn't matter. All it took
was one time for it to be true. You understand that? The Word
of God cannot be discredited, and it never needs any improvement. Peter called it the incorruptible
seed. The Word of God. It's incorruptible.
Now, that doesn't mean people can't preach a lie and confuse
it. But you see, what it's saying
there is this, when men preach false doctrine or false Gospels
or confused doctrine, it still doesn't change the truth. The
truth is just the same. God saves sinners one way, through
the Lord Jesus Christ, by his free and sovereign grace, by
his blood and righteousness, and no other way. And it doesn't
matter who says otherwise and how many people they've got following
them, it still won't change the truth. is still his words settled
in heaven. The whole Bible concludes with
this warning. He said, For I testify unto every
man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if
any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him
the plagues that are written in this book, and if any man
shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy,
God shall take away any part out of the book of life, and
out of the holy city, and from the things which are written
in the book." You can't add to it. You can't take away from
it. It's the Watergate. It doesn't need any repair. No additions. Now, it needed to be preserved.
But you know who does the preserving? God does. God has preserved His
Word. down through history. You know
what? It's amazing. But you know the Bible. The Bible
has been under attack from more avenues and more corners of the
earth and more intellectuals than any other book in the existence
of literature. You want to know something? It
still stands. Right there. I know people who have made it
their life's work to disprove this book. And you know what? They'll get
a lot of people following them. But they can't destroy it. I
know many people who buy the book don't know the Lord, don't
know the Christ of the book, but it's still a bestseller.
And I believe that says something. It's still the bestseller. And
for a book that spans all those generations, written by all kinds
of different men, now we know God wrote it, but he used these
different men from all sorts of walks of life and cultures,
and to be under attack for so many years, and to have been
interpreted and translated in so many different languages,
and it still outlasts all of its critics. These are the words
of life. It's the word of God. The psalmist
said in Psalm 12 and verse 6, the words of the Lord are pure
words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. That means perfect. Thou shalt
keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from
this generation forever. You know what that tells me?
This book deserves my attention. This book deserves my time. The
counsel of the Lord, the psalmist wrote, Psalm 33, 11, standeth
forever the thoughts of his heart to all generations. And note this is the seventh
gate mentioned. You know, that's the number of perfection in the
Bible, completeness, the perfect word of God. And then notice
the purpose of this water gate. This water gate, if you had an
actual map, I gave you just a partial map there on that paper I gave
you. But if you had an actual map
of Jerusalem, what you would see is that this water gate was
used to let water out from the temple area throughout the gate
there and throughout Jerusalem. In other words, the water from
this water gate flows from the glory of the presence of the
Shekinah of God. It's the presence of Christ.
Remember what Christ told the woman at the well, if you knew
the gift of God, and who it was that was asking you for a drink
of water. You'd have wells, fountains of
living water welling up in your soul. Anytime I talk about the
Word of God, I like to give this little outline. I've given it
so many times, you all probably know it by heart. But think about
this, and this shows you the purpose of the Watergate, the
purpose of the Word. Number one, Christ Himself is
the living Word of God. That's John 1, verse 1. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. That's number one. If you don't
get all these down, I'll give them to you. I'll put them in
the bulletin or something. But they're good. They're not
original to me, but they're good. Secondly, Christ Himself is the
incarnate Word of God. John 1, verse 14. The Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us, tabernacled among us. Number
three, the Bible is the written Word of God. 2 Timothy 3.14-17,
you can read all that. That's where he talks about,
for all scripture is given by inspiration of God. God breathed. This is the Word of God. And
fourthly, true preaching is the uttered Word of God. Paul said,
we strive to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him
crucified, 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 2. Now, the key to all
of that is Christ, the glorious person and finished work of Christ. In 2 Corinthians chapter 3, it
talks about how Israel, when the Old Testament was read to
them, there was a veil over their heart. They couldn't understand
it. They misused it, they abused
it, they misquoted it, and they used it as a stepping stone for
their own self-righteousness. But he said, when it turns to
the Lord, then the veil is taken away, when they see the glory
of Christ. Christ said it this way, speaking
of the Pharisees in John chapter 5 and verse 39. He said, you
do search the Scriptures, that's the written word, for in them
you think you have eternal life, for they are they which testify
of me. You remember how in Luke chapter
24 he sat his disciples down on two occasions and he preached
unto them out of Moses and the Psalms and the prophets how he
must go to Jerusalem and suffer and bleed and die and be buried
and raised again the third day and on the forgiveness of sins
could be preached throughout Jerusalem and all the world through
him. There is the key to the Watergate. And then this Watergate
had a had an all-seeing view of things. Over here in Nehemiah
chapter 3, remember it says the water gate toward the east and
the tower that let life out. There was a tower that lied out,
that was jutted out. Well, that tower gave an all-round
view of the city. And the Word of God is like that.
It gives us a total view of things, a worldview. Have you ever said
to somebody who gets bogged down in the details, well, you're
just not looking at the big picture. Well, the Bible, the word of
God, the Watergate gives us the big picture, that power that
judge that. We quote it all the time. Here's the big picture,
all things work together for good to them that love the Lord,
who are the called according to his purpose. That's the big
picture. God's in control. Don't let all
these little details upset you so much. God's still on the throne.
He hasn't left. He's not taking a break. He's
sovereign. Christ is going to bring his
people into the kingdom and save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by him. He's able to do it. Do you believe
that? I do. But it also gives us a pointed
view of ourselves. It can hone right down on you,
can't it? I had a man tell me when I was preaching to Ephesians
4 on unity, church unity, and how God had given pastors and
teachers and elders for the unity of the church, and he got upset
with me. He said, you were taking pot shots at me from the pulpit.
Well, the Word of God has a way of doing that, doesn't it? You
know what I told him? I said, well, if I preach against
stealing next Sunday, I'll tell you who's going to be upset.
All the thieves in the audience are going to be upset. Because
it will hit them. Hits me. It hits me, doesn't
it hit you? I think Brother May had talked
about a woman who looked at him, got upset, and the message he
preached, and she said, were you preaching to me? And he said,
well, were you here? If you're here, I'm preaching,
but I'm preaching to me too. That's why it's sharper than
any two-edged sword. It cuts asunder. It divides asunder
the soul and the spirit, the thoughts and the intents of the
heart. It exposes me for what I am, not to let me wallow in
the slough of despond, but to drive me to Christ for my salvation. That's what this Watergate is
about. And then look at this word, nephenym. You probably
ask, who are they? They must be the fellows from
Netha, but there is no place called Netha. The word nephenym, and in the
original it's not plural, it's singular. So it's a group of
people. But the word itself means given
ones. These were men who were given
to the priest to do the day-to-day task of the temple and the things
that the priest did. The priest had their certain
tasks that only priests could do. The Nephilim were men who
were given to them to do everything else that they had to do. In other words, they were men
who were dedicated to the service of the temple, even though they
weren't priests. What did they do? Well, they brought water
to where it was to be used. What does that symbolize? Well,
the preaching of the Word. Preach the Word. Take it where
it's needed. Take it where it can be used.
It also symbolizes those who are doers of the word. James
1 and verse 21, when he spoke of, don't just be a hearer of
the word, be a doer of the word. Not hearers only, but doers.
My friend, when people neglect and ignore or disobey God's word,
that's bad. There's trouble. And then lastly,
turn back to Nehemiah 8, and I'll go through this quickly.
Here's the preaching at the water gate. Here's Nehemiah. You remember,
Nehemiah, he was the first wave of people to come back into Jerusalem,
or to Judah from Babylon, was led by Zerubbabel and Joshua. The second wave was led by Ezra,
the scribe and the priest. This is Ezra. The third wave
was by Nehemiah. Zerubbabel and Joshua, their
main task was to rebuild the temple, reestablish the worship
of God in the city, in the land. Nehemiah's, obviously here, his
main task on the third wave was to rebuild the city, its walls
and its gates. What was Ezra's main task? To
reestablish, one of them, And one of the main ones was to reestablish
the Word of God in the land. What is our rule? The Word of
God. What do we live by? The Word
of God. What do we walk by? The Word
of God in Christ. And that's what he's doing here.
Here's the preaching of it. Here in Nehemiah chapter 8. He
stood here, as I read in the beginning. And he read from the
book of the Law of Moses. Ezra the priest, he stood on
a pulpit of wood, just like I'm standing up here behind this
pulpit of wood, reading from God's Word. And that's what he
did. And God gave the people the ability to hear and understand.
And then the various priests, there were so many people, the
various priests took groups and they preached to them and they
gave them the sense. Now, what is the sense? How do
you give the sense of Scripture? You preach Christ. That's how
you do it. You take these things of the
Word of God and you show how they pertain to the glory of
the person and finished work of Christ and our salvation by
God's grace in Him. And I love this. Look down at
verse 11 of Nehemiah. This is how we'll close it. So
the Levites stilled all the people. How are you going to be at peace?
How are you going to be calmed down from all your troubles? Drink from the springs of living
water." The Word of God. Listen to our Lord and our Savior
exalted and lifted up. And they stilled the people saying,
hold your peace for the day is holy. This is special. And He
says, neither be ye grieved. And all the people went their
way to eat and to drink and to send portions and to make great
mirth. They weren't just having a wild
party now. This is expressive of the joy and the peace that
comes in believing, resting in Christ, because they had understood
the words that were declared unto them. May the Lord cause
us to understand the words that are declared unto us.