It’s about time, isn’t it?
Pastor Allan Kircher
Shell Point Baptist Church
14 April, 2013
Nehemiah 3:1-3:32
The work of the church won’t just happen. It takes all of us doing what God would have us to do.
• God promised Israel/they obey Him/He would always protect/prosper them.
• After David came Solomon/then/string mostly bad kings
• Not seeking God or serving God.
• After warning/warning His people thru prophets God turned Israel over to the enemy.
• Jews were scattered throughout the kingdom
• But a small remnant lived in broken-down Jerusalem.
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Nehemiah/cupbearer/Persian King Artaxerxes.
He went/King, told him about the plight of his people in Jerusalem and asked permission to go back and rebuild the wall.
The King agrees and sends Nehemiah back to Jerusalem.
• Nehemiah returns/Jerusalem chap 2
• Surveys/damage/rallies the exiles to help rebuild the wall around the city.
• There were some locals (some Persian and some Jewish) who weren’t on board.
They ridiculed Nehemiah and tried to stop the progress at every turn, but Nehemiah was stubborn and single-minded.
• This isn’t the most exciting chapter in the Bible.
• Nobody/swallowed/fish/Nobody walks/fiery furnace.
• Nobody raises the dead.
• But there are lessons here for the church.
The walls of Jerusalem stood for something.
Walls/kept out bad….gates let good in.
They were more than just protection.
They stood for the glory of God.
Unbelievers of that day looked at the broken down walls and would mock believers.
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In chapter 3 the actual construction begins.
Now here's/spiritual application/I’ll call it Spiritual Illumination.
• So what can we take from a chapter such as this?
• Well, quite a lot actually.
If we look at these gates
• Positions in the wall of the city
• order which they were rebuilt/purpose of each gate
I believe each of the gates speak of different experiences in our Christian walk that each of us will face.
Their order and position is very specific and give us insight into the journey that God takes each of His children on.
• The wall had 12 gates spaced around the city.
• 10 of them are mentioned in our text.
• Names have deep spiritual meaning.
• We won't overly spiritualize here other than to look at the literal truths that pop right off the page
• Placed there by God I believe.
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1. The sheep gate.
Thru/gate they would bring/sacrificial animals/laid/altar/temple.
• The priests would use this gate.
• Only gate that was 'sanctified.
• This gate reminds us of Jesus, the Lamb of God.
• It all begins and ends with Christ
• Alpha/Omega/the beginning/end
• The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world
• Who will bear His scars for eternity future in heaven.
• This gate Jesus carried cross, what an ultimate sacrifice!
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Jesus/special Lamb. w/o flaw/blemish.
• Jesus was a silent Lamb.
• Is. 53 says he would open not His mouth in self-defense.
• Matthew 27:12-14 [Pilate]……
• Luke 23:9-10 [Herod]
Why did it have to be this way?
• Any of us would have presented our defense.
• Especially since they had it all wrong.
• Jesus remained silent in order to FULLY bear our shame.
Jesus not only took the punishment of our sins, but also the shame and reproach that goes with them.
• Was there guilt in Him? Yes. Ours!
• He suffered our shame in silence.
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Christian man who worked in a slaughterhouse told of his experiences as the one who had to put a bullet into the head of the cattle as they came to his station. He said they came to him so noisily, mooing, snorting, and loudly complaining about their captivity, and he never had a problem w/ his job of silencing those brute, noisy beasts. Then one day they brought in a truckload of lambs and asked him to slaughter them. He said they brought him the first one who stood there and looked at him with big eyes. He was instructed to slit the throats of these lambs rather than shoot them. It felt different than before, but reluctantly he reached down and slit its throat, and it just looked at him as it began to bleed to death. It laid its head on his arm and began to lick the blood off of it. He said, "I was done. I laid down my knife and never went back." He said it reminded him so eerily of that verse which said of Jesus, "He stood silent before His accusers."
• No wonder the sheep gate is mentioned first.
• Jesus came/first time/silent lamb to the slaughter,
• But He's coming back as the Lion of the tribe of Judah!
He came/first time
• For a tree, but next time for a throne!
• For a cross, but next time for a crown!
• As a Redeemer, but next time as a ruler!
The Sheep Gate/starting point/Nehemiah’s reconstruction project in rebuilding of the city
• It is also the starting point/rebuilding our lives and our relationship with God.
• This is the first gate.
• Also mentioned end of the chapter
• once the work on the walls of the city have come full circle.
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2. The fish gate.
• It was located/west/sheep gate
• One of the main entrances to the city.
• Thru this gate the fishermen would bring their catch from the Sea of Galilee/sell in the market.
• What does this remind us of? Soul winning!
After we come to Christ through the Sheep Gate
• First commandment/Jesus gives us
• “Go out into all the world and preach the gospel.”
• The Fish Gate reminds get involved in evangelism
• we have been called to be ‘fishers of men’
Jesus said to follow Him and He would make us fishers of men.
• Do you know what that means?
• We have no right to call ourselves His follower if we aren't fishing for men!
• When is the last time you walked thru the fish gate?
• When did you last bring a soul into the boat?
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It is another and a higher miracle to make us who were fish to become fishers
• To make the saved ones savior’s
• to make the convert into a converter
• the receiver of the gospel into an imparter of the gospel
I think I may say to every person whom I am addressing
• If you are saved yourself
• The work is but half done until you are employed to bring others to Christ.
• You are but half formed in/image of your Lord!
• You haven’t attained full development of the Christ life
You won’t find rest to the sole of your foot till you have been the means of leading many to the blessed Savior
• Christ is our confidence and our hope!
• If Christ has caught us, we must catch others.
• Let us ask him to give us grace to go fishing!
• Cast our nets and bring in the catch to the fish gate.
• May the Holy Ghost raise up among us master fishers
• Sailing out their boats amist the community of Beaufort.
We need to walk out these doors today like they were the fish gate, and beyond is a great sea of people who need to get hooked on Jesus!
God help us if were too busy dragging other things in our boat.
• Possessions, sports, pleasures, vacations and the like.
• so concerned w/things/life that we/letting people go
• They are only a grab away.
• And they will drown not in an ocean, but in the lake of fire.
• Are you using the fish gate?
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3. The old gate. Also called the Jeshanah gate.
• There is a paradox associated with this gate.
• located in the NW corner of the city
• Section/city called the Mishnah, or new quarter.
• So, the old gate led to the new quarter.
• This reminds us of our never changing message.
• We may try new methods along the way
• But our old message never changes.
• Old Gate brings us/place where we must learn/old ways/truth.
• The emphasis for the third gate is on repair
• The other gates had to be re- built.
• This gate conveys the idea of what God has established beforehand
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Listen to Ephesians 2:19-22…
The gate of the old wall was connected with a corner in the wall.
For the Church of the living God, Christ Himself is the cornerstone (Eph. 2:20), keeping the whole building together, because a corner is for stability and security (Ex. 26:24).
We have to make sure we build on the right foundation.
• Not just daily/but in time of backsliding that we live in.
• We must go back to what God has established.
• Dependence upon God/build on what He has established.
• Following the examples/teachings/apostles.
• Then we will repair the gate/old wall and do it in the right way.
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A life of holiness and sanctification cannot be compromised.
• Belief/acceptance of Jesus as Lord/Savior cannot be compromised.
• True heartfelt repentance cannot be compromised.
• The Word of God cannot be changed or compromised.
Jeremiah 6:16 says, ‘Thus says the Lord, Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls.’
Many churches today are in trouble because they don’t want to pass through the Old Gate.
• Creating their own interpretations.
• Falling for the conformity of the world.
• too many Christians cast away our traditions
• Throw aside the heritage that brought the gospel to them,
• quickly embrace only the new things that tend to water down the gospel
• Ignore the warnings of the Word of God.
We need to keep passing through the Old Gate time and again, lest we forget that this is the path into the New Jerusalem.
• No one can visit Mt. Calvary until they/first visited Mt. Sinai.
• there the 10 commandments were given
• we all break them
• you cannot be saved until you realize you are a sinner!
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How about this one? Sinners deserve hell!
March 25, 1991, U. S. News and World Report ran an article on heaven and hell. A lady 'reverend' said, "My parishoners are upper middle class, well educated, and view God as compassionate and loving, not as someone who is going to push them into eternal damnation." She's saying, we're too smart for hell, and too educated to believe in it. And that's the majority opinion in most pulpits today!
I don't like to talk about hell anymore than the next guy, and I take no joy in thinking of people going there...not even my worst enemy. But I must talk about it because Jesus did!
• People say it is a cruel doctrine to teach.
• They say we need to be more about kindness than cruelty.
• But is it cruel to tell a man the truth?
• Is it cruel to arouse sleeping people if their house is on fire?
• Is it cruel to jerk a blind man away from a rattlesnake?
• Is it cruel to declare to people the deadliness of their disease and instruct them in what medicine to take?
I would rather be called cruel for being kind
than to be called kind for being cruel.
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Man is born a sinner, and sinners deserve hell...
Here's one more: Jesus is the answer! Swing wide the gate!
• This is now considered 'hate speech' in many places.
It is now politically incorrect to say Jesus is the only way to heaven.
• The president says there are many ways to heaven.
• And we are intolerant if we believe otherwise.
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• Jesus. It’s a little name. A small word.
Say this little name in public, however, in a way other than an obscenity, and stand back and watch the fireworks.
This little name is like a tiny detonator that triggers a nuclear warhead.
You can say "God," and you won’t get a squeak.
• "Our Father/Mother in Heaven," and few will flinch.
• "Great Spirit," and people will nod in approval
• "Allah" and you will be deemed tolerant.
But say "Jesus" and just wait for the sonic boom.
Articles will appear in the paper. Reprimands will be posted from the home office. Suits will be threatened by the civil liberties block.
So don’t say Jesus.
• Jesus is divisive, and now is a time for unity.
• Jesus is an extremist, and that must mean right wing.
• Jesus is exclusive, so His name amounts to hate speech.
• Keep His name to yourself.
• Cloister it in your church.
• Lock it in your prayer closet.
• Close it between the covers of your Bible.
• But for God’s sake, don’t voice it in the public square!
• It’s immodest. It’s immoral. It’s unloving
Only one problem.
• Jesus is God.
• Jesus alone brings salvation.
• All other gods are nothing.
So speak His name aloud.
Shout it from the mountain.
Whisper it in the dark.
Write it in the sky.
That’s not hate, it’s hope.
• Swing wide the gate!
