Towers and Gates, Nehemiah 3

Could we turn back, please, to the book of Nehemiah and chapter number three? The book of Nehemiah, please, and chapter number three. Nehemiah, chapter number three, please, and verse number one. Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate.

They sanctified it and set up the doors even unto the tower of Meir, they sanctified it unto the tower of Hananiel. And next unto him builded the men of Jericho, and next unto them builded Zachor the son of Imri. But the fish gate did the sons of Hasaniah build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.

Down, please, to verse number six. Moreover, the old gate repaired Jachaniah. Down, please, to verse number 13.

The valley gate repaired Hanan and the inhabitants of Zenoa. 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. But the dung gate repaired Melchiah.

Down, please, to verse number 15. But the gate of the fountain repaired Shalom. Down to verse number 26, please.

Moreover, the Nethanims dwelt in Ophel unto the place over against the water gate toward the east, and the tower that lieth out. Verse 28. From above the horse gate repaired the priests, every one over against his house.

Verse number 29. After them repaired Zadok the son of Emma over against his house. After him repaired also Shammaiah the son of Shachaniah, the keeper of the east gate.

And finally, please, down to verse 31. After him repaired Melchiah the goldsmith's son unto the place of the Nethanims and of the merchants over against the gate Miphkad, and to the going up of the corner. And between the going up of the corner and the sheep gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants.

Now, we do trust that God will bless the reading of his precious Word to each one. When it comes to the Word of God, there are certain chapters that I was taught as a young believer in the Lord Jesus by a dear brother who took a little interest in my soul that were key chapters, pivotal chapters to the Word of God. For instance, of course, when we come to Genesis, we have the great fall of man.

And then we move on to Genesis. That's Genesis 3. We come to Genesis 6 and 7 and 8. And of course, we have that great cataclysmic flood that came upon the earth. We move on to Genesis 22.

And we find there that great work of Abraham and Isaac going together up Mount Moriah. And then you move on to Exodus 12. And you find there the great work of the Passover.

And you can continue right the way through these key pivotal chapters. And when we come to the book of Nehemiah, surely chapter 3 must be one of the pivotal chapters of Scripture. For in chapter 3 of Nehemiah, it gives us a complete overview of the whole of Christian experience.

A complete panorama of the whole of Christian life, from salvation to redemption, final redemption, when we reach our eternal home. It is a most unique and amazing chapter. And we want just to consider one or two things in it today.

Before we look at the chapter, we need to think a little bit about the background. How do we get to chapter 3? Well, you say you read chapters 1 and 2. Well, so you do. But we need to know what's in chapters 1 and 2. So first of all, there's a report in chapter 1 that comes to Nehemiah.

The walls of Jerusalem is broken down. And that's the report that Nehemiah hears. Of course, in that day, when it wasn't a day of modern technology, and WhatsApp, and Facebook, he couldn't see what was going on across there in Jerusalem.

But the report is brought to him. How many times we have a report from another town, another city, another country, and it's a sad report. It's a report of the walls being broken down.

The walls of separation. The walls of scriptural teaching. Well, here's a report that comes to him.

But then we must notice his response in chapter 1 and verse 4. He says, I prayed before the God of heaven. Now, so often, when somebody texts you a message, when somebody sends you a WhatsApp, when somebody... Doesn't it seem old-fashioned that they actually pick up the landline, and they actually speak to you, and they tell you about a problem, a difficulty, an assembly which is losing its position before God. Do we pray about it? Do we immediately tell our best friend? Do we immediately tell this brother, that brother, this sister, that sister? Oh, well, here's Nehemiah.

His response to the report that he received that was bad news was, he said, I'll pray about it. And so he did. And that brings us then to the request in chapter 2, verse 5. He says, send me unto Judah that I may build.

He said, there's a place that's in need. I'm exercised before the God of heaven. I want to go, but I want to go to build.

Is there somebody here in this auditorium today? And you're exercised about building for God, building into an assembly for God. Pray, and take a step in the fear of God, and in unity, and in harmony with your assembly, that you might build something for God. Oh, you've probably heard about a little assembly, and it's struggling, and things are not looking too good, and you feel maybe you could help them.

Ah, well, go, but work in harmony with the brethren and the sisters there. Someone exercised about the work of God. Go, but you go to put your back into the work, and you go to build, and to build for God.

But then there's not only the report, and the response, and the request, there's the review. He says, he gets there, and he says, I went out, and I viewed the walls of Jerusalem. He went to see what was required.

He went to see what work was needing to be done. He went to see what was needed, what blocks were needed, what wood was needed, what materials, what tools. He overviewed the whole thing.

You want to do a work for God? Oh, dear young person, don't just jump in with both feet, but take a good look at the work that needs to be done, because I'll tell you, it's never an easy work. Anything for God is never an easy work to be done. Knocking doors is not an easy work.

I'll tell you, I'll be honest, that's the part of the work that I hate the most is knocking doors. I don't know if you're allowed to preach here in the open air. By the grace of God, we are back home.

We can preach in the open air, and I don't mind preaching in the open air. I've been spat at, and I've been sworn at, and I don't mind doing that, but I tell you, whether you're knocking doors and coming face to face, whether you're witnessing in the schools, as we're allowed to do back home, whether you're preaching in the open air, whether you're ministering the Word of God, or whether you're preaching the gospel, there will be opposition. It's never going to be an easy work.

And so Nehemiah went out, and he reviewed the work that needed to be done. But what's the result? What's the result of hearing the report, and the response, and the request, and the review? Well, he says this, Let us rise and build. Our brother Murray emphasized, he didn't say, let me do it.

I'm going to be the one. I want to do this. I want to do that.

He said, we're going to do this together. If you're going to see a work done in the assembly, then you're going to have to work together. So that's the background.

But let's just think about the brethren, or if you like, the builders. Now, first of all, they were marked by unity. You go through the chapter, and you'll notice it says this, next unto him, next unto him, next unto him, after him, after him.

Now, we've just been hearing about conflict resolution. But I found in my experience, it's best never to put yourself into a position where you need conflict resolution. You see, if you ask me to come and to preach, and you say, we're going to have barbecue sizzles.

Oh, on a Wednesday night, we're going to have a women's meeting. Oh, and we also want you to do a camp meeting. Oh, and we also want to do this and that and the other.

Well, I wouldn't be bothered to come. Because you see, there would be conflict straight away. If you say, I want you to come to my assembly, but we want you to use this version.

Well, I'm sorry, if you're not going to stick to the King James Version, I'm afraid that there would just be conflict between you and me. And so I wouldn't put myself in that position. And I wouldn't put you in that position either.

There has to be singleness of purpose, and singleness of mind, and singleness of heart, that we're going to do something based upon the teachings of the Word of God. And the Word of God is going to be central to everything that we do. We're going to preach.

We're going to preach according to the Word of God. We're going to teach. We're going to teach all the counsels of the Word of God.

And you say, well, you know, we want to do this, and we want to dress down, and we want to do all this to bring people. Well, then you just have to look elsewhere. Because if I came, I would just bring conflict.

Because you see, I'm a very conservative person. I'm a very traditional person. And I like to keep as close to the Word of God as I possibly can.

But if there's unity, and there's harmony, and there's a desire to build something for God, well, God can move, and God can bless, and God can save, and God can build up. So first of all, these brethren, they were marked by unity, but then they were marked by diversity. You say, what do you mean by diversity? Look who there was building.

Priests, goldsmiths, rulers, merchants, all together. Who is there in this conference today? Some of you builders in the construction industry? Some of you involved in telecommunications? Some of you involved in computers? Some of you teachers? Some of you doctors, nurses, in the medical profession? Maybe some of you in the legal profession? What's God done? He saved you. He sanctified you.

He's put you into a local assembly, and He wants you to work together in harmony for the furtherance of the gospel. Isn't it a terrible thing that when we come to Philippians chapter 4, there's two sisters by the name of Odias and Syntyche, and they're forever on the page of Holy Scripture as two sisters who couldn't get on with each other. How absolutely tragic that is.

Well, marked by unity, diversity. Here's the buzzword for today, sustainability. These who are going to build these walls, they were going to be marked by syntyche.

Sustainability. You see, whatever do you mean by that? They were going to sustain each other. They were going to encourage each other.

They were going to help each other. They were going to build each other up. You go through this passage of all these names, and you look at all those names that bear the name of God.

You see, as you were working there, well, you'd get a bit weary. The sun's hot on the back of your head. Your throat is parched, and you're just longing for someone to bring you a wee drink.

You've got your sword in one hand and your trowel in the other, and you're there mixing the mortar, and you're placing it on the blocks, and you're putting the blocks in place, and you just feel that you're about to collapse. And one of these brethren walks past, and his name is Jehovah Hath Regarded. And you look at him, and you think, God's in this! We've got another few blocks to do before we go for our supper tonight.

Jehovah's regarded our work. Jehovah's regarded all the mixing of the mortar. What an encouragement! But then you think, you look at the size of it, and you think, can we, just few in number, with all the enemies about, can we ever do a work as big and as great as is being asked of Nehemiah of us? And just as you're wondering, another brother walks past.

What's his name? Jehovah Will Restore. Oh, you say, this is God's work. It's not my work at all.

I'm just a servant, and I'm not doing terribly well. I've just not got everything just quite squared up. But it's Jehovah's work, and I'm putting my back into it, and I'm doing the very best that I can.

Ah, what a difference that makes. But then, you know, you wake up one morning, we've all been there, and the back aches, and the head aches, and your hands are raw, and you think, oh, I just need some help today. If I could just have some new knee pads, if I could just have a new pair of gloves just to help me, if I could just have a helmet, just something just to keep the sun off.

And another brother walks past. He's called Help of Jehovah. Oh, you say, that's just what I need.

You see what all these brethren are doing? Sustaining each other, encouraging each other. When did you last do it? When did you last encourage someone? When did you last put your hand on someone's back and just give them a wee tap? I really appreciated what you did in the meeting. When did you last send someone a wee text? Oh, it's so easy.

Just want to tell you, dear sister, we appreciated what you did tonight in the assembly. Just want to tell you, dear brother, we appreciated your help in the gospel tonight. Just wanted to tell you all, thank you for all that you put into the conference.

It meant so much to us. You see, we're just sustaining each other. Too often, we knock each other down.

There's one brother here. Well, there's not many brethren can do it. But I tell you, on Friday night, he just came and put my arm around me and he gave me a wee squeeze.

Not many people can do that at the same sort of height. So you'll have a pretty good idea who I'm speaking of. You know, most of them have to sort of reach up and look up.

Just, we appreciated you coming, brother. I tell you, the preachers need a wee bit of encouragement too, now and again. You're battling against unbelievers and against the powers of darkness and battling against Satan himself.

And sometimes the saints go, well, I remember helping brother John Grant in an assembly. And the assembly was exercised to have a week of ministry, but they'd try one gospel meeting in the midst of the week of ministry. So Karen and I went over to help brother John.

It wasn't too far from where we lived, just to help him try to put out a few leaflets and invite some people. And well, it's fairly close to a major football ground. Now, our football means with your feet.

Your football means, I think, with the hand. But never mind, we'll differ on that one. But it was a fairly major game.

And the gospel hall is fairly close to the ground. And a lot of people park their cars up the road where the gospel hall is to go to the ground. And so we thought there was a match on that night, the very night of the gospel meeting.

And we thought we'd stand outside and we'd hand out little gospel leaflets and we'd hand out little gospel booklets and invite people to come in. And all the football fans came along and they all had the scarves and big smiles on their faces. And cheering and toilet rolls to throw on the pitch which they were allowed to do in those days.

And they were so happy! And then the saints started coming to the gospel meeting. And they got out of their cars and you never saw a smile. They looked like they needed cheering up and they looked like they weren't going to get it by going to the gospel meeting.

You know what I'm saying? And I felt for Brother John that night, having to preach the gospel to a whole lot of glum saints and those going to the football ground. If they saw them, they thought, well, they don't look very happy with what they've got. We'll stick with what we've got.

Thanks very much. Listen, we need to encourage each other in the things of the Lord. And just show a little bit of joy about the salvation that you possess that comes from the hand of God.

But not only was there unity, diversity, and not only sustainability, there was productivity. 34 times in this chapter, chapter 3 of Nehemiah, it says this, When there's unity and diversity and sustainability working in harmony, there will be productivity. You'll be repairing things for the assembly.

Wouldn't you like things to be repaired in the assembly? Wouldn't you like to see God at work among... I would. I'd love to hear of God at work over here. In Iowa, Wisconsin, Canada, America, the United Kingdom.

But good if God was at work. Repairing! That we might even regain some of the lost ground amongst us. But when we think of the brethren, we also have to mention the negativity.

Isn't it sad? Verse 5, Their nobles put not their necks to the work. There were some there that were just prepared to sit back and watch it all happen. I worry.

I doubt whether there's any here, although there might be, who just want to sit back and let somebody else do all the work. Oh well, we've got the preachers coming, you know, they'll do all the work. Far more likely that someone's going to come because you invite them, than because the preacher goes cold calling on them.

Far more likely for someone to come because you've already made the contact with them, and have invited them along. You see, if you're going to have special gospel meetings, or children's meetings, I can tell you this, Murray's already mentioned it, but I'll mention it again. Now please brethren from Waterloo, just don't get too big headed, and make sure you can get out of the hall later on tonight.

But I was thrilled to see so many disappearing out into the streets, to bring children to the children's meetings. Workers, not those who are prepared, not to put their backs there next to the work. We're going to see something done, we're going to have to work.

We're going to have to work hard. Young person, now is the time to say, I'm going to work in the assembly, and I'm going to work for God. But there's not only the background, and the brethren, you'll have noticed in verse 1 that we read, and also at the end about verse 25, there are some buttresses which are mentioned.

There are four of them, four towers. Basically, although the walls were more a Y shape, they are on the four extreme corners of this great city. Four towers, the tower of Mia, the tower of Hananiel, the tower of the furnaces, and the great tower that lieth out.

You say, what's all this about these towers? Well, they're often missed out. You go through a commentary on Nehemiah chapter 3, they'll mention the gates that we read, but they never mention the towers. Hardly ever do you read of the towers, but there's great significance in these towers.

You see, they start with the tower of Mia. It's right next to the sheep gate. You say, what's the significance of the tower of Mia? The tower of Mia means the tower of a hundred.

Now, your mind should possibly be going around to Luke chapter 15, and you think, oh, there's a shepherd there that had a hundred sheep. You see, the sheep gate is where the sheep were kept. They were going to be taken for sacrifice.

And so your salvation starts at the sheep gate, and it starts at the tower of Mia, the place of a hundred. It's the place of sacrifice. The tower in your life, the first tower in your life must be the tower of sacrifice.

But then you come to the tower of Mia, and that just means, sorry, the tower of Hananiel, and that's the tower of favor. You say, what are you going to get out of that? Not sacrifice, but service. It's a great favor that God has bestowed upon us to allow us to serve Him at all.

Do you think that God needs you? Do you think the work of God would stop if you were incapacitated or called home? Of course it wouldn't. Don't think that you're the be-all and end-all in your assembly. Don't please be like one of those that John spoke of, who love us to have the preeminence.

You see, we're well favored. We're in an assembly. If you're not in the assembly, you should be.

If you're not baptized and you're saved, you should be. You say, well, now I'm glad you mentioned that, and Mary mentioned it as well, because I've been praying about it. Well, I just tell people that tell me they're praying about getting baptized to stop praying about it and just get on and do it.

Because the Lord Jesus commanded it, and the Scriptures teach it, and the disciples practiced it, so get on and do it. Be baptized. Join a local assembly.

But then, around about verse 12, we come to another little tower, and we come to the tower of the furnaces. Verse number 11. The furnaces.

I just say, wow, they had central heating in Jerusalem. Not that sort of furnace. It's the bakehouse.

It's where they produce the food. It's where you went for the bread. Now, since I've arrived here in Iowa, I'm not too sure how many specialist little shops Mary seems to have taken me to, because you can't get cottage cheese like you get in this place, and you can't get these things like you get in this place, and there's no place as good for shirts as this place.

He seems to know them all. But I tell you, if you wanted your dainties, and you wanted your sourdough, and you wanted your croissants, and you wanted whatever it is, you would go to the tower of the furnaces. You say, why? It gave you sustenance.

Have you been there today? The scriptures. The tower of sacrifice. The tower of service.

The tower of the scriptures. Where you're going to take and break off that bread, and feed on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And feed yourself with manner convenient.

Young people, there's ever so many here. Well, there were in the children's meeting anyway. Delight to see them.

I was telling them in Waterloo, if you start reading the Bible, don't make the same mistake that I did. I was saved out of the world, age 16. I just thought the Bible was like any other book.

That I read, you started at chapter 1, and you went right the way through. Well, I got to chapter 25 of Exodus, and I found this strange thing called a tabernacle. I managed with a little bit of work to work out, it must be some sort of tent structure, but that was about as far as I got.

What it all meant, I had not a clue. And when I got to Leviticus chapter 1, and came across a burnt offering, well, my Bible reading just stopped dead. So, young person, if you're reading the Bible, you get yourself acquainted with the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

You get yourself into those four Gospels, read of Christ, how he lived, how he spoke, how he acted, how he interacted. And once you've got yourself acquainted with those four Gospels, you'll start to see the wonderful similes and pictures that there are in those Old Testament Gospels. And so, the tower of the furnaces brings us to the tower of the Scriptures.

But then the last of these four towers is the great tower. Now, it's shown in three different ways. It's the great tower.

It's the great tower that lieth out. And because it's there, manifested in verse 25 and 26 and 27, in three different, unique ways, it must bring us to the idea of security. Do you know you have a threefold security? What happened the night you got saved? You say, I got saved.

Ah, that's good. It was about five or six years after I got saved, I started to jot down all the things that happened the night that I got saved that I was totally unaware of. One of them is this, I was sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

What a thing! Just like you, I never saw any visions of angels. Just like you, I never had a warm, fuzzy feeling that flowed through me. I never saw any flashing lights or visions or anything like that.

But the night that I got saved, I was sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Not only so, the Lord Jesus says, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. My dear child of God, grasp hold of this, that once you're in Christ, you're in Christ forever.

You say, what's the third one? Well, the Lord Jesus says in that very same passage of John chapter 10, my Father which gave them me is greater than all. And none can pluck them out of his hand. Sealed by the Spirit, saved by the Son, and secure in the Father.

Ah, you're saved. You say, are you going to get to these gates? Well, I've taken far too long over that. But yes, we'll get to the gates and we'll quickly rush through them.

I've mentioned something here about the sheep gate. You see, everything starts at the sheep gate. And you'll notice right at the end of the chapter, everything ends with the sheep gate.

You see, we get to the place of sacrifice and your salvation and my salvation starts at the place of sacrifice. It starts at the sheep gate, where the sheep were kept and where the sheep were killed. And your salvation starts at Calvary, where the Savior shed his precious blood that you and I might be saved.

But then, when we come to Revelation in chapter 5, we find we're back at the sheep gate. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain and hath redeemed us to God by His blood. And so, with these 10 gates, we have two bookends of the sheep gate.

Everything starts and ends with the work of Christ. But you know, there's not only the work of the Savior, but that brings a claim upon the saint. It's Mr. A. W. Tozer who tells us that there are three things that mark the crucified man.

Because surely we say with the Apostle Paul, I am crucified with Christ. So what marks the crucified man? Well, he's always facing in one direction. He can't turn around.

I sometimes feel that some of us, you know, we're like, is it Mr. Foreface or Mr. Facing Both Ways in Pilgrim's Progress? And we never just seem to have a fixed eye and a firm tread. Well, the crucified man is always facing in one direction. Secondly, he's got no future plans of his own.

What plans have you got? Oh, well, you say, I'm gonna... I tell you, when I was saved, I had plans for the rest of my life. I had it all planned out. I was going to join the police force.

I knew a police inspector. He was giving me sergeant's exams when I was aged 15, so that as soon as I'd done my two years probation in the police, I could do the sergeant's exams and I could just get on that ladder of success. And by the time I'm the age I am now, if I wasn't already retired, I intended to be chief superintendent somewhere in the police over in the United Kingdom.

All planned out! And God saved me. Had everything changed, you'll have no future plans of your own. You'll be always facing in one direction and you'll never be going back.

Young person, if you're thinking about going back into the world, stop right now. What does Paul say of Demas? Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. And so we start with the sheep gate, but then you go to the fish gate.

And that's the idea of duty. Sheep gate, death. Fish gate, duty.

You see, it's where the fish were brought in. The fish that were going to feed the population. Now, when the Lord Jesus called his disciples, he said, I will make you to become fishes of men.

And so God expects us to work for him. We've already mentioned that. He expects us to evangelize.

You say, I'd love to give out some chaps. Well, I'd be very thankful if you took those chaps that Murray has put there and then the plane would just be a little bit lighter for the journey home. You know, if it's lighter, I think it might just stay up in the air a little bit longer.

I hope. So take those chaps, pass them out to whoever you can. Put them in people's mailboxes.

Do the work of an evangelist. But before you can do that, we come back to those two necessities, baptism and reception. You want to be baptized and you want to be received into a family fellowship.

But then we come to the old gate. That's the desire. You see, sometimes we just take the New Testament and we almost separate it.

We sever it from the Old Testament. But what did the old gate do? It linked the new part of the city with the old part of the city. And they were joined together.

And the Old Testament gives us all these types and shadows and says the Old Testament in Jeremiah 6, ask for the old paths. Where is the good way and what they're in? Now, I tell you, I want to say this. There are some old brethren that have stood on these platforms that have taught you good, solid things.

You want to know about the truth of the local assembly? Get hold of Norman Crawford's book, Gathering Unto His Name. Are you saying that was written 30, 40 years ago? It's old hat. It's old fashion.

It's bang up to date for the truth of the local assembly. You see, we need to walk in the light of the old paths and the old ways. And I tell you, these new ways of evangelism.

I tell you how you can pack your gospel haul. Well, I'll tell you, we have not far from us every year in July a thing called the Horizons Bible Conference. conference.

And it's a big international thing. And a brother in our meeting who has a fruit and vegetable business, he was contacted to ask if he would supply the catering stuff, which of course he did. And one day he needed to go and deliver some stuff himself.

And he went and he walked into this mammoth tent with 3,000 seats. And as he was handing over the various delivery, he said to the people there, the organizers, the conveners, he said, this place filled every night. Oh, no, no, no, no, not every night.

No, it's filled last night, though. Oh, he says. So who was speaking last night? Oh, no, no, no, he said.

It was a music night. We had the Gettys here performing. We had the overflow tent with another 500 seats.

And we had streamlined into there on the big televisions into there as well. 3,000 in here, 500 in there. Brethren and sisters, that's how you can fill a gospel hall.

But it's not what God says. It's not God's way. It's through the foolishness of preaching that God saves.

So the old paths. What about the valley gate? That's the idea of deportment. You see, it was the lowest of the gates.

What's Peter say? He says this. He says, he says, be clothed with humility. What's it say in Acts 20, serving the Lord with all humility.

I tell you, as soon as any of us think that we're, we've got it, and we've made it, and we're great. I tell you, God will bring us down fairly quickly. He really will.

I was teasing brother Murray. I think it was yesterday. I was telling him that I keep telling my wife that the next book that I'm going to write is how to be humble by someone who knows.

Well, I'm sure that every one of you would, would, would buy a copy or two copies or even three. It'll be a bestseller. But I tell you what, the person that wrote it would know nothing at all about the subject on what she was writing.

Just to be humble. Many years ago, we were at a report meeting, home workers report meeting. There was three of us at it.

I had the privilege of being the last to speak. And on the way home, my wife was with me and I thought it'd been a good day. I felt the Lord had given help.

And my wife was silent. And you always know things aren't right when your wife's silent. And after we'd gone about 20 miles, I said, it was a good day today.

I said, I thought so-and-so gave a good report. Thought the other brother was good. Thought the Lord gave me a little help.

It was like the feast of trumpets. You were all blowing your own as loud as you possibly could. What a comedown.

I tell you, my balloon was burst. And I just drove home in silence. And I could have driven home with four flat tires.

It felt like that. You see, we just need a wee bit of humility about us. That's the idea of the valley gate.

What about the dung gate? Well, it's very, very easy to get defiled in the world in which we live. That's the idea of the dung gate, defilement. Put off, therefore, the old man, says Paul in Colossians 3, with his deeds.

Wherewithal, says the psalmist, shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed according to thy word? Listen, don't be the cause of defilement for anybody else, will you? Young sister, be careful how you dress, won't you? Young brother, be careful what you wear. Don't cause defilement amongst somebody, amongst the child of God. Don't dress like the world dresses.

Don't go in for the things that the world goes in for. Defilement, you can't avoid it. You look at the news websites, and you can't avoid seeing some latest news report of Taylor Swift.

You can hardly avoid reading some news report about something or other that someone or other has been involved in. Ah, here's the dung gate. That's why there was the altar, and that's why there was the laver, for the hands and for the feet.

But then we come to the fountain gate. That speaks of deity. You see, it has the idea of the working of the Holy Spirit.

You see, flowing water tends to speak more often of the Holy Spirit, and still water often of the Word of God. And what does the Lord Jesus say? He says, of those that are saved, he that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. This he spoke of the Spirit.

The fountain gate. When you were saved, as we've said, you were indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Dear young person, I'm appealing to you again.

Don't grieve the Spirit of God. I don't know if you sing it over here, but we sing a little chorus, be careful little eyes what you see. Be careful little ears what you hear.

Be careful little feet where you go. That's just as valuable for the older saint as it is for the younger saint. But then there's the water gate.

That's the idea of doctrine. It's the only gate that didn't need any repair. It never needed a hammer, the nail, the saw, the mallet.

It never needed the chow. Never been broken down. It speaks of the Word of God.

Listen, my friend, I tell you, the Word of God does not need repairing. It does not need higher criticism and all the rest of it that tries to say, well, this means that, and that's probably never been there, and we can get rid of the last half of Mark's gospel, chapter 16, and we can plow away this verse, and we can tear away that verse. And listen, I appeal to the young men and the young sisters, when you get a Bible, there is nothing like the King James Version of the Bible.

You say it's a bit hard to understand. Just stick with it. You'll already know now, I'm not a great educated person.

I'm not a professor. I'm not a doctor. I was saved out of the world.

But one or two of those difficult words, I just asked somebody what they meant. And then I found a very useful little thing that just dealt with some of the more unusual words in the authorized version. I've never had a desire to change to anything else.

You say, but the unsaved won't understand it. Well, then it's our job just to make it understandable. In the children's meeting, if you came to the children's meeting, we taught them a verse that our brother Scott mentioned this morning.

God our Savior who will have all men to be saved. What do we do? We explain what the words mean. We just explain them to the children.

No, we get the children to explain them to us. God, who is God? What's a Savior who will have all men? What's it mean by men? What's it mean to be saved and come unto the knowledge? What's knowledge of the truth? What's the truth? We explain it. That's the preacher's job.

And you only need one text of Scripture to get saved. Not a great overview of the whole of the panorama of prophecy. What about the horse gate? That's defense.

You see, the Bible tells me this, that the horse is prepared against the day of battle. This is where the horses came in and out. This is where the garrisons came in and out.

It's the place of defense. I tell you, you need to know your defenses. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

You need to know the Word of God, young people. You wonder why they teach you the Scriptures. Scripture after Scripture after Scripture in Sunday school and children's meetings.

I tell you, when you're older and temptations come and trials come and problems come, God will bring that Scripture that you have memorized and he'll bring it to your memory and you'll be able to use it in defense. Oh, you see, that's the horse gate. What about the east gate? Well, that's a place of delight.

It's closed at present. It's going to be open in a future day. The Lord Jesus is going to enter in through that east gate.

Who is the king of glory, says Psalm 22? The Lord, mighty in battle, he is the king of glory and through the east gate he will indeed come. You see, what Israel looks for is the son of righteousness. What's the believer look for? Well, you missed it in Sunday school, but every time you look at your American flag, you can remember it now that it bears the name of one who is the bright and morning star.

That's who the believer looks for, the bright and the morning star. You say, what about that Mifcad gate? Well, I'm just rattling through them. I was hoping there'd be somebody else that would get in after me, but I seem to take too long in the introduction for which I apologize, but us over in England, you know, we are quite capable of fulfilling an hour usually in a minister meeting.

We're not just quite so good at these sort of little half hour slots, as you'll realize, but the Mifcad gate, it's the place of disclosure. It's the muster gate. It's the gate where all the soldiers came.

It's where they were all inspected by whoever it was that was to inspect them, to make sure that everything was just right, that everything was clean, that everything was shiny, that all the various parts of armor were in position. You say, is the Mifcad gate going to be in the believer's life? Oh, there certainly is. You see, the next great event is the rapture, and after the rapture there comes the bema, the judgment seat of Christ.

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Tell me, how will you get on? No, how will I get on when I reach the Mifcad gate? The gate of disclosure. Ah, Robert, what was your motivation for going to Iowa that time? What was your motivation for taking those two nights of children's meetings in Waterloo? What was your motivation for speaking at the conference when you went on longer than anybody else? What was your motivation for preaching the gospel? What was your motivation for taking the Sunday school? Robert, what was your motivation in writing that book? Robert, what was your motivation for writing that article? All comes under the all-seeing eye of God.

I tell you, that's solemn. And after the Mifcad gate, we come right the way back to where we started with the gate. And we come right the way back to surrounding the Lord Jesus and saying, worthy is the lamb that was slain.

And so this very brief walk around these walls, these walls of Jerusalem and these various gates, it takes us right the way around the whole panorama of Christian experience, right the way from salvation, right the way to ultimate glorification with him. May these things be a help and an encouragement and a blessing to all for his honor and glory.