Alright, now let's open our Bibles
to the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter 3. We're continuing
our series on rebuilding the walls and the gates of Jerusalem. And tonight we're going to be
talking about the valley gate. The valley gate. This is the
fourth gate. And it's very significant. Again,
I would point out by way of introduction that you notice God's order of
revealing these various gates as they continued, as recorded
in Nehemiah chapter 3, to build the walls and the gates. And
he specifically mentions each gate, ten of them, and then the
walls in between. But there's a particular order
here. Somebody asked me last week, did the building of these
gates, were they all being built at the same time? And the answer
is yes. But the order of revelation that God brought forth here by
Nehemiah and by Ezra, who I believe is the writer of this book concerning
Nehemiah, is very significant. You remember the first gate that
we dealt with, and I'm not just repeating for the sake of repetition,
but we need to see this because it's significant in showing the
greatness and the glory and the reality of salvation. So many
times people talk about salvation and really what they're talking
about is not even real. Certainly not scriptural. But
this is real. This is real life. This is where,
as one old preacher said, it gets down to the nitty-gritty.
And we need that. We need to identify with that
because if we're going to have any assurance of salvation by
God's grace, this is where we live. This is not just pie-in-the-sky
religion as if When God saves you, you're in a bed of roses.
We sang that song, Heavenly Sunlight. That doesn't mean everything
is smiles and roses and up and up with us. It just means that
whether we're on the mountain or in the valley, we dwell in
the sunlight of Christ, His grace, His mercy, His love. Sometimes
we may lose sight of it. We see some of the greatest saints
in the Old Testament and the New Testament who lost sight
of it. David was one who lost sight of it. That's why he had
to pray in penitence. He said, Restore unto me the
joy of thy salvation. Many times we have to do that,
don't we? But notice this order, the Sheep Gate. That's where
it all starts. That's where our salvation, the
source, the cause, the ground of our salvation. is taught in
that lesson of the Sheep Gate because that's the sacrificial
redemptive work of Christ on the cross. That's where everything
is for us. We're saved by the blood of the
crucified one. God is just to justify the ungodly
by the righteousness that Christ established on that cross. We
glory in the cross of Christ. We preach the cross. The gospel
is the preaching of the cross. Christ and Him crucified, His
glorious person, His finished work. And we'll never rise above
that because that's the highest. There's nothing higher than the
glory of the crucified, buried, and resurrected Christ. That's
the grace of God towards His people. And that's our salvation
right there. That's the source, the cause,
the ground of our salvation. There's our right standing before
God. There's our blessedness at the
Sheep Gate. Christ entered into the Sheep
Gate as the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world
who died for His sheep and put away our sins by the sacrifice
of Himself without our help and without our aid. He did it alone.
And He did it all by Himself. And it was all by sovereign mercy
and grace. He's the mercy seat. He's the
altar. He's the high priest. He's everything. He's our Lamb. And so we glory
in Him. That's our redemption. And then
the next gate that was revealed in this proper order is the first
fruit and effect and result of Christ's work on the cross. That's
the fifth gate. That represents evangelism. He told His disciples, follow
me and I'll make you fishers of men. In other words, because
Christ died and did His great work on the cross, we have a
message to tell. And life comes from Him to bring
sinners into the kingdom, like catching fish. That's the way
God symbolizes it here. We cast out the net as we go
into all the world and preach the gospel. And we tell sinners,
anybody who wants it can have it. We know man by nature doesn't
want it. Scripture teaches that, and we
know it by experience, we who know Christ. God brought it. Who makes us to differ? God does. So there is the fifth gate of
evangelism. That is the fruit of redemption.
Christ said, "...and I, if I be lifted up, shall draw all men
unto me, all for whom he doth." And then last time we dealt with
the old gate. After a sinner comes to see the
glory of Christ in redemption, in the new birth, having been
regenerated and converted, then that believer has to be established
and taught the old, eternal, immutable truths of Christ, of
God's Word, the doctrine of Christ, God's covenant promise and foundational
truths that never change. You see, that's where so many
so-called churches today are in very, very sore trouble. They've gotten beyond the old
gate and they've gone into all this new stuff. And it's affected
their message. It's not just methods. That's
bad enough. But it's their message. It's
a new message. It's not the old gospel of God's
grace in Christ. It's not the old truths that
were revealed from the very beginning. It's not churches built upon
the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. which glorify
God and put man in the dust where we belong and drive us to Christ
for all the salvation. We need to be established in
the old gate, the old truth. This gospel will never change.
And you know that's comforting to me that I preach a message
that doesn't evolve. Somebody says, well, we've got
to make it relevant for today. Well, remember what I said in
that message? Sin is an old, old problem. And the old message
is just as relevant for today as it was for Adam and Eve, for
Cain and Abel. Just as relevant. We don't have
to change it to make it relevant. And so, having begun with those
first three gates, now we come to the valley gate. That's the
fourth gate. And if you look on your, if you
still have those papers, I don't know if we've got any more of
them down here. I had a little picture, a little drawing. It wasn't drawn
to scale of the city of Jerusalem and where the gates were. But
if you go between the old gate and then down at the bottom of
that picture, you see the Dung Gate. And I had somebody ask
me, say, are you actually going to title a message, The Dung
Gate? And I said, I sure am. And you
know why I'm going to do that? Because God labeled that gate
the Dung Gate. And I don't have a problem with
it. You know, that's exactly what it was. But between the
Old Gate and the Dung Gate is the Valley Gate. And what it's
teaching is this, that those who have been redeemed by the
Lord Jesus Christ at the Sheep Gate, and those who have been
brought into the Kingdom of God by the power of the Holy Spirit
in the preaching of the Gospel, that is, at the Fish Gate, And
those who have been well established in the foundational truths of
the gospel, the old gospel, the old doctrine, the old truths
of God's Word at the old gate, those are the ones who have been
prepared by God, by His power, by His grace, to go through the
valleys of life that we have to face, the trials of life,
the humiliations of life, that God puts us through and protects
us in to reveal and strengthen our faith for our growth in grace
and in knowledge of Christ and to continually drive us away
from ourselves and from this world and to Him in faith and
trust and glory. And that's what that Valley Gate
is about. That's what it represents. If
you do have that picture, you might notice, like I said, it's
not drawn to scale, if it were, you'd see without any problem
that the longest wall that had to be built was from the old
gate to the dung gate, and in between is that valley gate.
And that's probably the longest experience that we'll have to
go through as believers, the valley gate. You see, we want
those valleys to be short. We want them to be easy, but
they're not. Did you notice what the psalmist said that Brother
Terry read in Psalm 84? He mentioned in verse 6, let
me just read this to you. He spoke of going through or
passing through the valley of Baca or Baca, literally pronounced
Baca. And that word Baca literally
means mulberry trees. That's what it was, a valley
of mulberry trees. But that valley of Becca had come to know in
the experience of the Israelites as a valley of tears, a valley
of sorrow. And that's what this journey
is for a believer in this life. It's really. Now, we have our
moments. And I've spoken of this before. We have moments of joy.
We have moments of happiness. And now, some of you who are
sitting there with the gray hairs, look back all over your life,
and you tell me, you say, well, the Lord's really blessed me.
He has. But when it comes to your relationship with the world,
hasn't it really been on the whole a valley of tears and a
valley of sorrow? You think about it. And I'm not
just trying to be a downer tonight. I'm not just trying to get you
down in the dumps. I'm just trying to deal with
reality. This is our experience. And did you notice in the psalm
that I read at the beginning of the service, Psalm 119, verse
67, the psalmist said this. He said, Before I was afflicted,
I went astray. Listen to that again. Before
I was afflicted, I did what? I went astray. But now I've dipped
thy word. Doesn't that tell you something
about afflictions? It tells you that they drive
you to where? where you need to be, to the Word of God. Do you know that I believe that
prosperity and a life of ease is a greater trial many times
than affliction? Because it's usually during times
of prosperity and times of ease that people get away from the
Word of God, get away from the worship of God. But it's the
times of affliction. And then he went on, verse 71,
he even said it even greater. He said in verse 71 of Psalm
119, he said, it is good for me that I've been afflicted.
Now, that doesn't sound right to the natural man. Affliction
and good just doesn't seem to go together to us. But he said,
it is good for me that I've been afflicted that I might learn
thy statutes. Well, that's what this Valley
Gate is all about. That's what it's all about. The
Valley Gate speaks to us of humility and trials. Valley-type experiences
used by the Lord for our personal growth. And I thought about this
song. I think we sang it either last
week or the week before. We sing it quite often. That's
why I didn't pick it as one of our hymns tonight. But it fits
so... If you want to see this progression
of the Sheep Gate, the Fish Gate, and the old gate, and then the
valley gate, this song really kind of says it all. It's How
Firm a Foundation. That's one of my favorites, and
I know yours too. But listen to the words. He says,
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your
faith in his excellent word. What does the psalmist say? It's
good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.
What more can he say than he hath said to you who for refuge
to Jesus hath fled? That's what the Valley Gate does
for God's people. It drives us to Christ even more. And he goes on, Fear not, I am
with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God, I will still give
thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, and help thee, and cause thee
to stand. You see, it's not us. This hymn writer had it right. This is not only a hymn that's
nice to hear, but the words are biblical. He said, I'll be with
you, I'll strengthen you, I'll help you, and I'll cause you
to stand. He doesn't say, now I'm going
to put you in the valley, and if you come out okay, then I'll
embrace you, I'll bless you, I'll reward you. He said, I'm
going to cause you to stand. That's the grace of God in Christ.
If He doesn't cause me to stand, what am I going to do? I'm going
to fall. And so He says, He says, I'll cause thee to stand, upheld
by my gracious, omnipotent hand. Omnipotent means all-powerful.
I mean, it's His power. And then look at the third verse,
when through the deep waters I call thee to go. When you go
through the deep waters, did you ever think of that as a calling?
When you think of a calling, you think of some guy like me
preaching. But when you go through the deep waters, he says, I call
thee to go. And he says, the rivers of woe
shall not thee overflow. He said, I'll never put anything
on you that he doesn't provide a way out. And he says, for I
will be with thee, thy troubles to bless. These troubles are
blessed by God. Now, if we were on our own, they
wouldn't be blessed. And he says, and sanctify, that
means set them apart, to thee thy deepest distress. When through
fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, my grace, all sufficient,
shall be thy supply. Who is sufficient for these things?
Our sufficiency is of God. The flame shall not hurt thee,
I only design. These are the designs of God.
I like that, don't you? The trials, the valley, The times
of humiliation and affliction, these are designations of God
Almighty. They are not tools of the devil.
They are the design of God. Thy dross to consume and thy
gold to refine. Now, that gets more closer to
the dung gate. Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine. To put
away the waste, the refuse. the evil. We'll get to that next
time. But he says, "...the soul that on Jesus hath leaned for
repose, I will not, I will not, desert to his foes. That soul
that all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never,
no never forsake." How firm a foundation. Isn't that something? Well, that's
the message of the Valigate right there in that hymn. Right there. Let's think about it this way.
First of all, Think about the valley gate as the gate of humiliation. And going through the valley
gate teaches us a lesson that we need to learn every day. And
that's this. God hates pride. God hates pride. Look back at
Nehemiah chapter 3, verse 13. It says, the valley gate repaired
Hanan, and the inhabitants of Zenoa," verse 13 of Nehemiah
3, "...and they built it, and set up the doors thereof, and
the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and a thousand cubits
on the wall unto the dung gate." Now, that's the longest length
of wall on the whole city of Jerusalem. But notice, first
of all, the name of the man who was in charge, Hanun. You know
what Hanun means? It means to bend. or to stoop. It means to submit. Stoop in kindness and literally
one writer goes on this far. He says, it really means this.
It really means to bend down and stoop in kindness to an inferior. In other words, it means humility. I want you to look at Philippians
chapter 2 with me. Turn there in the New Testament,
the book of Philippians chapter 2. And this is something that we
need to understand, because I want to tell you, if you're sitting
out there, and you're going through any
type of valley or affliction or trial, and you're wondering,
what should I do? I want to tell you this. Now,
you may not have found chapter and verse yet, but it's there.
God's already told you what to do. And when it comes to humility,
here it is. It's almost like you read this
and you say, well, is there any other way out of this mess? Because
that just doesn't sound right to me. Well, it's right. But
listen to what he says in verse 1 of Philippians chapter 2. He
says, if there be therefore any consolation in Christ. Now that's
what believing is all about. Comfort that comes in Christ.
I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that He's able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. I
know that if Christ is my Savior, God will not lay anything to
my charge. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? I know that I'm as righteous
in Christ as I'll ever be. And my sins cannot be held against
me because Christ died on the cross to take my sins away."
And it's what that means, He bore them away. He took my punishment
in full. He didn't leave one drop of damnation
in the cup of God's wrath for me to drink. He drank damnation
dry. That's what that means. So if
there's any consolation in Christ, if there's any comfort, if any
comfort of love, love from God, it's unconditional love here,
and it's love not that we love God, but that He loved us. It's
in His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. He says, if any
fellowship of the Spirit, if any vows and mercies. Now that
word vows just means compassion. And they said bows because that's
in the stomach area, in the digestive area, that's where our feelings,
you know, when you feel a certain way, it usually affects you there,
physically. And so, you know, that's why
people get ulcers. You know, because they worry
and that acid builds up, you see, and that's the way they
talk back then. And it's just meaning compassion. If there's
any compassion and mercy, Verse 2, "...fulfill ye my joy, that
ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord
and of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory." Vainglory means pride. My way or the highway,
that's what that means. I want my way, I'm going to do
it my way. My way is always the best way,
so why wouldn't you want to do it my way? That kind of attitude. And that causes strife, it causes
division. You see? When somebody has to
have their way all the time, when they, you see, that's, he
says here, let nothing be done like that. To strive for vain
glory. But in lowliness of mind, let
each esteem other better than themselves. Now that's a tough
one. Because you see, we have that
old flesh that fights against that, doesn't it? So he says
in verse 4, look not every man on his own thing. but every man
also on the things of others." In other words, you be more concerned
about what others are going through, and their things, and their concerns,
and their pains, and their aches, then you are your own. And don't
go around having these little pity parties for yourself all
the time. Nobody knows the trouble I've
seen, and all that stuff. You see, he said, let this mind
be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. In other
words, when Christ claimed to be God, He wasn't robbing God
of His glory. He was just speaking the truth.
If you claim to be anything more, or if I claim to be anything
more than what I am, that's robbery. That's worse than going in and
robbing a bank, I think. Because you're robbing God of
His glory. But he says, verse 7, Christ
made Himself of no reputation. See, we spend our lives trying
to build up our reputation. But Christ, in order to save
us from our sins, He made Himself of no reputation. And took upon
Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
What humiliation He went through. Being found in fashion as a man,
He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death. But not
just death. We all die. He became obedient
unto death. And even the death of the cross,
what a humiliation He went through to inferiors like us in order
to save us from our sins. That's right, inferiors. Don't you ever think, listen,
He was serving His Father when He went to that cross, but He
was serving His people too. And you know, he proved that
when he stooped. You know, that was the whole point in John 13
of him stooping down and washing the disciples' feet. Do you realize
that? Do you realize what humiliation
that was? I mean, here's the one who created
the world and who spoke these men into existence and gave this
person, the God-man, He was in sovereign control of the very
next breath that the Apostle Peter would take. Down there
on the floor, washing Peter's feet. Now, is there any job that's
beneath me? I'm telling you. And that's what
he was teaching. He wasn't making no ordinance
for us to get in here and wash each other's feet tonight. That's
not what he was teaching. He was teaching humiliation,
the valley of humiliation. humble ourselves, serve one another.
But then not just death, even the death of the cross. That's
an amazing thing. Do you remember what our Lord
said to Zacchaeus when he was up in the tree? He said, Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down. Now, I know he's talking about
Zacchaeus getting out of the tree. But that speaks to us,
doesn't it? Don't delay. Make haste. Come down. Come down off your
high horse. Scott Richardson, what was one
of his favorite sayings? Put down your shotgun and make
your headquarters in the dust. That's what it is, because that's
what we are. Job said it. The dust will go. The valley
gate is an illustration of the place of lowliness of mind and
humbleness of heart that God brings his children to first
in our conversion by the Spirit. And he continues to bring us
in that valley in preserving grace as we persevere in the
faith experience we have. James said this in James 4.6,
he said, God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble.
Proverbs chapter 6 verses 16 and 17 rings forth so many times
in my mind. And I suppose that's the Holy
Spirit giving me a reminder that I need to have all the time.
Remember it says these six things does God hate? Yeah, or he mentions
seven there. These seven. Remember what the
first one is? God hates a proud look. A proud look. You remember when
the disciples were arguing with each other over who was going
to have the chief seat in heaven? Matthew 18. Who's going to be
first in heaven? And remember what the Lord said,
except you be converted and become as little children, you in no
case enter the kingdom of heaven. What does He mean by that? How
in the world could a person who is totally dependent upon God
for everything be counted first? How is that possible? It's not
possible. And that's what the Lord said, he who is first shall
be last, and he who is last shall be first. What he was teaching
there, he wasn't talking about a reversal of roles, he was talking
about equality. What is it to become as a little child? It's
to see, listen to me, it's to see that everything that I am
in salvation, everything that I have that is good, I am total,
just like an infant, is totally dependent upon the mama and the
daddy for everything. I'm totally dependent upon Christ
for everything. for wisdom, for righteousness,
for holiness, for redemption, for life, for faith, for repentance,
for perseverance, and ultimately for glory. I'm totally dependent
upon Christ. I'm not dependent on you. And
you're not dependent on me. We're all dependent upon Christ.
He's our all and our in all. Did you tell me you saw that
sign where somebody said that Christ is like a vitamin or something
like that? You know what a vitamin is? That's
a supplement. Well, let me tell you, friend,
Christ is no supplement. He's life. He's life itself. He's no supplement. Besides, those supplements don't
do any good anyway. Some of you may argue with me
about that. Pride is so characteristic of
us who have no reason to be proud. Do you know that's what the Scripture
teaches? We don't have any reason at all, at any time, at any stage,
at our best, to be proud. That's why Paul said, God forbid
that I should cook glory, boast, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, we can be proud of Him.
We don't have any reason to brag on each other, but we've got
every reason to brag on Him. That's why preaching the gospel
is just bragging on Christ. Tell them what He's done in His
greatness for undeserving sinners who haven't earned anything from
Him. Paul writes, for who makes us
to differ? And what do we have that we did
not receive? And if we received it, why do
we go around acting like we earned it or deserved it? We received
it. It was a gift. You know, Satan uses pride to
destroy men's souls. That's how he keeps sinners from
believing the gospel. They won't submit. Turn to Romans
chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. You know,
believing the gospel is submission. Submission to Christ. It's a
sinner who comes to realize that he has nothing to recommend him
unto God. But he has everything for which
God to be just to damn him, if God were to judge him based on
his best. And this is what Paul wrote in Romans chapter 10 verse
1. Listen to it. He said, Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, they're religious, but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about
to establish their own righteousness. Now you know that's a good definition
of pride right there. going about to establish your
own righteousness before God in order to be saved, in order
to be kept, in order to earn something from God. And so he
says, listen, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. Now, when does a sinner submit
to the righteousness of God? Well, look at verse 4. For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. When
you came as a sinner seeking mercy, just like that old publican,
God be merciful to me, the sinner. Not worried about anybody else.
Not caring about other people's sins as far as judgment goes.
But you just have your own sins in mind. Saying, God, I am the
sinner. Not just a sinner. Not just any
sinner. Not just a sinner as I am compared
to somebody else. Or not what I used to be. Or
not what I'm going to be. But what I am right now, I'm
a sinner. And I don't have anything to recommend me unto God. And
you throw yourself on His mercy. Submit to the righteousness of
God in Christ. Submit to His grace and His mercy. Submit to His way. And abandon
your own way. Throw it out the dome gate. That's
where it belongs. Your own way. My own way. Your
own righteousness, my own righteousness, throw it out the dung gate and
get into the valley of humiliation. Because that's where God blesses
His people. In the valley of humiliation. At the valley gate. Amazing grace. How sweet the
sound that saved what? A wretch like me. We sing that. Isn't that right? Would He devote that sacred head
for such a what? A worm as I. You know, there
are people who've changed that hymn because they don't like
to say that. You know why? They haven't gone through the
valley of humiliation yet. But that's what we are. You know,
when Christ took our place on Calvary in Psalm 22, He called
Himself a worm. But now we're too good for that.
So we better hit We better hit the dust, patently, and go through
the valley of humiliation. And you see, this is why the
Lord says that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Paul said, of whom I am chief.
And I believe the only way that Paul could say that is just the
way that you and I can say it, because I know myself better
than you know me. I know my thoughts. You don't
know them. You know your own. And when I know myself like God
shows me myself in the mirror of His holiness and His law,
I see what a wretch I am. And I have to say, O Lord, if
Thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, who would stand? God be merciful
to me, the sinner. Now, all these are lessons that
we learn at conversion, but it's lessons that we have to learn
continually. We continually go through the
valley gates. This valley gate has to be repaired
quite often in my life. Do you know that? How about yours? I have a struggle with pride. It's the warfare of the flesh
and the spirit. And I have to go, this valley gate has to be
repaired all the time. But it's repaired with humility,
a willingness to take a lowly place that Christ may be exalted
and his kingdom may grow. But now another aspect of this
valley experience is the gate of trial. It's the valley gate
of trial and affliction. It's the trial of our faith.
There's difficulty associated with the valley gate. The work
was hard. There was much hardship and effort.
There was a thousand cubits on the wall from the old gate and
the valley gate and the Dunn gate, about a quarter of a mile. You know, the total length of
the wall rim was about four and a half miles. But this is one
of the longest single sections of that wall as recorded in the
book of Nehemiah. And not only a matter of repairing
the gate, but also building the wall. Now on the edge of this
wall there was a massive ravine. I don't really know how deep
it was, but some have said it's been like 2,500 feet down. I don't know if that's true or
not, but it was sometimes the valley gate was called the ravine
gate. And then on down from the valley gate it was in close proximity
to the valley of Hinnom. The Valley of Hinnom, that's
where the fires, where they take the refuse and the trash out
of the dungate, and they take it over to the Valley of Hinnom,
or they call it Gehenna sometimes. In fact, that's the word hell
in the New Testament, is Gehenna, because it was pictured by that
fiery place out there that burned all the time. So this was a difficult
task, you see. Back in the days of King Manasseh,
who was one of the most wicked kings of Judah, That's where
they had the god Molech, where they would take their children
out there and burn those children alive in sacrifice to the god
Molech. What a reminder of their history. Very, very difficult. So as all valleys in the Bible
are associated with hardships and trials, this valley was too. Psalm 23, Yea, though I walk
through the valley, the shadow of death. I'll fear no evil."
These valleys of life. That's why the New Testament
tells us to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. There are trials, all kinds of
trials. There are trials from persecutions. Persecution from
Satan, from the world. In fact, Paul said this in 2
Timothy 3 and verse 12, he said, all that will live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution. No exceptions. Persecutions from
the world, from the flesh, from ourselves. You know, we sometimes
are our worst persecutors. From the devil. Christ told his disciples, I
send you forth as sheep amidst among wolves. The ones who will
hate you and despise you are the closest members of your family,
he said. They'll turn against you. They'll
deliver you up. They'll throw you out of their
churches. John 16, they'll throw you out of the synagogue. Why?
For preaching the gospel of God's grace in Christ. Why is that?
Because men by nature hate that message. It doesn't exalt their
flesh. It doesn't give them pride. It
doesn't give them something to boast in. It demands humiliation. And so we preach the gospel as
we go through the valley gate. But then there are trials of
faith from the Lord. Sometimes it involves chastisement
for our correction. You know, a lot of times we have
to be corrected, and God's going to be the one who does the correcting.
They're called chastisements, the chastisements of a loving
Father. They're not payment for sin. You can't pay for your sin.
I can't pay for my sin. That's why God sent His Son to
make the payment. But it is punishment for correction.
Peter called them the trials of our faith. Sometimes suffering
for Christ and with Christ, identifying with Christ. But notice here,
back here in Nehemiah 3, and let me close with this. In verse
13, there's Hanan and the inhabitants of Zenoa. Incidentally, that
word Zenoa means rejected. How would you like to cut being
that family? The family of the rejected. Well,
do you know that our Lord was despised and rejected of them. So if you're one of his children,
you're in the family of the rejected. Isn't that right? But notice
the next three words after Zenoa. They built it. That expresses
a determination. Things got hard. Things got difficult. It wasn't easy. You know, they
were also opposed by the ones who didn't want the wall built,
didn't want the gates built. But you know what they did? Well,
they quit and said, let's go home. It's not worth it. No, they built it. And that's
exactly what God's people are going to do. Now, we know Christ
is the builder of the church. We're not the builders. But He
uses His people as instruments. Just like the carpenter uses
hammers and nails. Just like the person who works
in metals uses the hammer and the heat and the tongs. He uses
men and women, His church, but they built it. Knowing, listen,
knowing we don't deserve or earn the least of God's favor, knowing
we're totally dependent upon Christ for all things, knowing
that in our view others are better than us, we still build it. Difficult but necessary. Job
expressed it in a good way in Job 13 and verse 15. Here's what
he said. He said, though He slay me, Yet
will I trust in him, but I will maintain mine own ways before
him." What is Job's ways? It's a way of grace. Read the
first chapter of Job sometime. Talk about going through the
valley. Remember how the three servants come to him in succession?
I read this at Brother Don McGinnis' memorial service. Here comes
a servant. He tells him, all your lands
have been wiped out. Here comes a certain, all your
children have been destroyed. Here comes another. And I looked
up after that second one come, I said, have you ever been in
a place in your life where you think, can things get any worse?
Well, let me answer that question for you. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Don't ever think that
it can't be. Somebody says, well, there's
always somebody worse off. And that's true. That's true. What was it, the little poem
that said, I cried because I had no shoes until I saw a man who
had no feet? Isn't that so? Don't ever get
to thinking that you're just under the gun so much that you
can't take it. First of all, you can't take
it. Secondly, it's by His power and His grace and for His glory
that you're going through it. And thirdly, He will bring you
through. You do what's right. You attend
to His Word. You read Psalm 119 again. It's
good for me that I'm afflicted. That doesn't mean we go looking
for it. And I want you to notice something, too, about that psalm.
The psalmist didn't say, it feels good for me to be afflicted.
He said, it is good for me to be afflicted. It doesn't feel
good. And if you think it feels good,
I wonder about you. Just get away from me. I don't
want that. That's crazy. No, it doesn't
feel good, but it is good. And you know why it's good? Because
it glorifies God, it drives us out of ourselves, and drives
us to Christ and His Word, and to total dependence on Him. It's
the valley of humiliation. The way out of the valley is
Christ. The one who was ultimately despised
and rejected of me. The man of sorrows who was what?
Acquainted with grief. That doesn't mean he looked around
and saw grief. That means he experienced grief
in his soul. And if you think you've gone
through worse, you've never. Listen, you may feel forsaken
of God, but Christ, when He was on that cross, He said, My God,
My God, why hast thou forsaken Me? And He was actually forsaken.
I can't explain that to you, but I know it's so. You think
about that. Did He not bend to serve His
inferiors? Yes, He did. The death of the
cross. Did he not continue to build
his church until he finished the work, even against the opposition,
even of his friends? Didn't Peter deny him three times,
the four men? And yet he didn't stop, he didn't
quit, he didn't stumble. He was made sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God. Do you know this valley
gate? That was the way out of the city
to Golgotha's Hill. Do you think about our Lord going
through that valley of humiliation, walking through the streets of
Jerusalem carrying His cross with that crown of thorns, having
been beaten and spat upon and ridiculed? And then I, you know
what, we always, I know the Bible says that we're to rejoice with
our brethren when they rejoice and we're to sorrow when they
sorrow. That's empathy, that's compassion.
But now listen to me, whenever we get to a point, and I do this
now, I'm not just preaching at you. Whenever we get to the point
that we want to find somebody to cry over us and feel sorry
for us, just think about our Lord and Savior going through
the streets of Jerusalem and those ladies crying, and He looked
over at them and He said, Do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves. Isn't that something? You see, that's why we strive
to be like Christ. Not to be saved, but because
we already are. Here he went out through there,
he went through the valley of Hinnom, he went through hell
itself, the fires of God's wrath to save undeserving, unworthy
sinners like us. That's the valley of humiliation.
That's the valley gate. I hope that's helpful to you.