The Power In The Watergate

THE POWER IN THE WATER GATE

TEXT: Nehemiah 3:26; 8:1-3;

Nehemiah 3:26 KJV Moreover the Nethinims dwelt in Ophel, unto the place over against the water gate toward the east, and the tower that lieth out.

Nehemiah 8:1-3 KJV And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel. [2] And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. [3] And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.

I. THE TEXT

A. Nehemiah

-God sets men up at certain junctures in history to fulfill His will for the world. Nehemiah was such a man. He came along at a time when the walls of Jerusalem had been destroyed. The walls and the Temple literally lay in ruins.

-The book of Nehemiah is loaded with spiritual lessons that are greatly instructive to us about how to react to things that have been torn down in our lives. One of the most powerful lessons that stand out to all who begin to study the book of Nehemiah is found in knowing the power of a remnant.

-It was rebuilt by a small remnant of men and women who determined that God had a great purpose for them that would only be fulfilled when they were willing to put one hand on a sword and the other on a trowel.

-This is the way that any spiritual progress is made in your walk with God. You will have to be prepared to use callused hands that can work and fight. In fact, your entire walk with God can be summed up in two ways: Building and Battling.

-Nehemiah came to Jerusalem around 445 B.C. When he arrived, the Remnant had been there for about 90 years. During the interval of the ninety years, some things had been accomplished:

A new Temple had been built.

It had taken them 4 years, 5 months, and 10 days to do it (Haggai 1:15; Ezra 6:15).

It was vastly inferior to the original Temple but it served as a lodging point of worship.

-The great difficulty was that the Temple had been rebuilt but there were no walls around the city. The moral tone of the city was in shambles. The spiritual temperature was very sub-normal. The reason for this was because the princes, rulers, priests, Levites, and people had intermarried with the surrounding idolatrous people.

-While they may not have been worshiping idols, there had been an infiltration of the idols into the place that did not have walls. All of this was placing the rising generation at great liability.

-Whether we want to admit it or not, we have a great responsibility to the next generation that is coming on.

We must teach them how to pray.

We must show them the path of spiritual sacrifice.

We must demonstrate to them the solid foundation of Scripture.

We must pass on to them traditions that have helped to shape the Church.

-When a culture runs rampant through a nation and of even more importance, when it runs through a church, the tares will almost completely absorb and then obliterate those of distinction.

-Nehemiah comes along 12 years after Ezra and the situation is still difficult at best. Nehemiah is greatly disturbed at the site of the fallen walls and gates that are in great disrepair.

-In God’s great plan, he wanted to use Ezra and Nehemiah to accomplish something great for nation of Israel. Ezra is about the restoration of the Temple and Nehemiah is about the reconstruction of the walls.

-For Nehemiah to effectively do the job that God called him to do, he had to give himself to some things. He was a man of prayer. He was a man of faith. He was a man of courage. He was a man of action. The perils and the problems of the undertaking of this huge task became something that defined Nehemiah.

-The difficulties, setbacks, the obstructions, and the oppositions are present sometimes to make us men that God can use in the difficult positions.

-Nehemiah comes face to face with the fallen walls and sets out to rebuild them.

B. The Gates

-In Nehemiah 3, there is a sequence of gates that Nehemiah starts to rebuild.

3:1 -- The Sheep Gate

3:3 -- The Fish Gate