Applications for the gates of Jerusalem

I'd like to turn to Nehemiah chapter 1. Nehemiah chapter 1 and we'll read from verse 3 and said and they said unto me the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the providence are the in the great affliction and reproach the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire and it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted prayed before God of heaven and said I beseech thee O Lord God of heaven the great and terrible God that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that have love for him and observe his commandments let thine ear now be attentive and thine eyes open that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servants which I pray before thee now day and night for the children of Israel thy servants shall confess and the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against thee both I and my father's house have sinned. Verse 11 and the Lord I beseech thee let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name and prosper I pray thee thy servant this day and grant him mercy in the sight of this man for I was the king's cupbearer. Now verse 2 of the next chapter wherefore the king said unto me why is thy countenance fallen why is thy countenance sad seeing thou art not sick this is nothing else but sorrow of heart then was I very sore afraid and said unto the king let the king live forever why should not my countenance be sad when the city of my father's supplicators lieth in waste and the gates thereof are consumed with fire then the king said unto me for what does thou make requests so I prayed to the God of heaven now verse 10 when Sam Billet the Horonite and Tobiah the servant of the Ammonites heard of it it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel so I came to Jerusalem and was there three days verse 17 then said I unto them ye see the distress that we are in how Jerusalem lieth waste and the gates thereof are burned with fire some come and let us build up the walls of that we be no more a reproach then I told them of the hand of my God which was upon me as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me and they said let us rise up and build so they strengthened their hands for the good work but when Sam Billet and the Horonite and Tobiah the servants of the Ammonite and the Grecians and the Arabians heard it they laughed us to scorn and despised us and said what is this thing that thou that ye do will ye rebel against the king then answered I them and said on to them the God of heaven he will prosper us therefore we his servants will arise and build but ye have no portion nor right nor memorial for Jerusalem now over to chapter 7 or 6 chapter 6 verse 15 so the walls was finished in 20 and the fifth day of the month and 52 days now that was quite a thing that the wall was finished in 52 days I think of this man Nehemiah and I could mention the 10 gates there we have the sheep gate and we have the fish gate and we have the old gate and then we have the valley gate and we have the dung gate and then we have the fountain gate and then the water gate the horse gate and then the gate of Metcalf and then we have the sheep gate again at the end when Nehemiah was so burdened about the thought that the walls were all broken down of his father's sepulchers and he prayed for four months to see this great thing done to rebuild the walls now there's one thing about Nehemiah that I would like to say Nehemiah was a man who had patience he didn't just go right and say we're going to build the walls of Jerusalem he was a very patient man he was a waiting man he was an explaining man he explained to the king just exactly what he needed and what was there so he had something in his heart he had a wall in his heart and we know that David had a king in his heart and we know he had a house in his heart David and then we also know that the Christians in Ephesus our brother didn't read that that verse there how that the Christians at Ephesus they had a song in their heart when I think of this here passage of the word of God and you think of it Nehemiah he made himself available he went and he stood before the king one day and the king says you're sad you know he was a cupbearer of the king and he took care of all the things he ate the food that the king was to eat and he drank the wine that the king would drink to make sure that there would be nothing that would ever happen to the king but then it came there that one day sad before the king the king says you're not really sick so what did David do I mean Nehemiah do Nehemiah breathed out a prayer to the Lord I think of this prayer you know there's I think that we could all come to the great realization that there is a very lacking of prayer in the lives of believers today and I would have to say for my own self I wished I could pray more really get into the presence of the Lord here was a man who breathed out that prayer to the Lord just before the king he answered the king and the king says when he when he told the king everything that needed to be done my what was it there he says the walls of Jerusalem are all broken down and all the gates are burned that was a burden on his heart and the king realized that he wanted to go and build that all up so king says how long will I journey be and he gave him a time and the king got everything ready for him to go I think it took him about four months to go over to that place when you think today about all these things and I think Nehemiah he was a man if I would have read there in verse 17 I did read but there it says there then said I on teeth ye see the distress that we are in how Jerusalem lieth waste and the gate thereof are burned with fire come let us build the walls of Jerusalem that we be no more a reproach now you can plainly see that Nehemiah did not want to build them walls by himself he says come and let us build he didn't believe in a one-man ministry he believed that all should be in the work and there was about seven different workers but when we think of them walls that they started on the sheep gate first was the first gate that was going to be repaired and that was the priest that repaired the first gate when I think of that and we see that that was the place where all the sheep were brought in for sacrificing and when we consider that today all them sheep that was ever sacrificed there on the altars and we consider that that is quite touching and it proved to us that there had to be the shedding of blood before any one of us could ever be saved it tells us way back here but then we have the sheep gate and how that that was restored first and then the fish gate what we think of these gates here there's five of these gates that had locks and bars on them and that was a fish gate and the old gate and then the valley gate and the dung gate and the fountain gate they all had locks and bars on them and when we think of that fish gate I sometimes wonder when when we think of Peter when the Lord commanded Peter to go out and fish for men instead of fishing anymore for for fish mind when you think of that here's the Lord and he says to Peter he said I will make you fishers of men now we don't become fishers of men by ourselves it's the Lord that makes us fishers of men and so this is something that I think is very lacking in our lives today we're not taken up with those that are not saved enough and and I know that I'm getting older and I can't do the work that I used to do and when we think of that but dear ones we can still go out and tell people the way of salvation that they might be delivered from the bondage of sin so when we think of these gates all these gates that needed to be rebuilt and the walls of Jerusalem my when we think of these gates all broken down what a burden that must have been to Nehemiah he prayed for four months to see all those walls rebuilt and the gates and the walls to be rebuilt why did the walls need to be rebuilt we think of the walls in an assembly there's an inside and there's an outside and dear ones we have to control what's on the inside of the assembly there is an order in the inside of the assembly when you think of that so when we think of that fish gate and how that Peter went out and he began to be a fisher of man I've often wondered about Peter that first message that he spoke after Pentecost and saw 3,000 souls saved wouldn't that encourage anyone to go out into the work of the Lord and to really do something for the Lord I'll never forget when we went out to the state of Nebraska for the first time and brought the gospel out there and the first night that one not the first night but after we've been there for some time and the first soul that was saved my that was something that spurred us on we should really be endeavored to want to see souls one for the master now in this great work there is there was those that were constructionist there was those that wanted to build those walls them seven different individuals there they rebuilt those walls but then there was destructionist and then there was obstructionist there was those all there when you think of Sam Bellet and his men there how they laughed him to scorn that there was a man come to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem how often when we want to see the things of God repaired and rebuilt and built for God how that sometimes were laughed to scorn but nevertheless when you think of that think about the gospel we should be willing to bring out the gospel then the old gate now when I think of the old gate it's not only the old the things that we have been taught that is not what that means now we appreciate the things that we have been taught that was according to the Word of God but the old gate is the old truth that God has sat down in his word and how much we are lacking in carrying out the truth that God has sat down in his precious word and then we come to the valley gate and that was the first gate that Nehemiah went to see he went up into the place at Jerusalem there and he came to the valley gate because he could not get into the sheep gate because it was broken down but he went up to that valley gate what does the valley gate speak of it speaks of humility and we think of here's Nehemiah he has to be taught humility and then we think of the dung gate there needed to be cleansing and there needs to be cleansing amongst us as the believers today you know even though we're saved we know our sins are forgiven but if we do sin we have an advocate with the Father we can confess our sin and he is just and faithful to forgive us our sins when we think of that isn't that wonderful that God has given us that privilege that if we do sin now it's not God's desire that any one of us should continue to sin he wants us no I'm not talking about a sin that calls for excommunication or anything of that sort and then we think of that dung gate how there had to be cleansing and then we think of the fountain gate now when there's humility shown and there's cleansing in our lives then we can be filled with the Holy Spirit of God and that's something that is very essential in the day that we're living in that we would live holy lives and that we might be filled with the Holy Spirit of God and that we might be trying to be encouraging to those that are in our assemblies of today you know we have a lot of young brethren with us today and there's nothing that I like to see any more than young brethren in our assemblies and we appreciate you and continue in the things of the Lord there was a young brother that took the children meeting today and it was touching to hear him speak from the Word of God and to bring out truths from the Word of God I always like to be in to listen to them that take this Sunday school and so we have here a real restoration in the valley gate and the dung gate and the fountain gate and I really believe that's one Peter that's one thing that Peter experienced he experienced humility he experienced cleansing and he experienced the fountain gate he knew what it was to be filled with the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost when he preached that first message and 3,000 souls were saved a couple days later 5,000 souls and then we that is really encouraging then we have the water gate that's the only gate that didn't need any repairing what I think the water gate speaks of the Word of God how touching the water gate needed no repairing we never need to repair the Word of God the Word of God will never change it'll be the same yesterday today and forever when I think of that today that is very true then that is the old gate that is the Word of God my and how the Lord has set all those things down and what we have already heard today my if we could just carry them out in its fullness it wouldn't there be then we have the horse gate you think of the horse gate that's service for God let us prove then you think of a horse and it's always seemingly along with a horse its horsepower now in our part of the country in Iowa there was a man that put a 40 horse hitch together of big Belgium horses and 40 horse can do a lot of pulling and they had feet on like a five gallon they wouldn't go in a five gallon pail but this man one day he called John Deere's up at Waterloo when they came out with their first four wheel drive John Deere tractor maybe you don't appreciate me talking about something like this but nevertheless they brought that tractor out there and he says now he says I want to show you something he put him hooked on to a 12 bottom plow and he started dropping them bottoms into the ground and he was plowing 12 inches deep on alfalfa sod and after he had dropped 10 bottoms down the John Deere couldn't take it now he says you take the John Deere off and he says I'll put my 40 horse hitch on put his 40 horse hitch on and he dropped all the bottoms in the ground they just walked away with it 40 horse that John Deere tractor had 300 and some horse in it but here's horse power do we know what it is to have power service for God am I laying my life out for him that I might walk for him and I might talk for him and that I might build up the Saints holy faith and my own holy faith so then we have the Eastgate the coming of the Lord Jesus and we really believe that's a gate that is very close a gate that one of these days we're going to hear the shout and then we're going to be called home to be with him what a day that's going to be I was speaking the other night mentioned a little bit on a certain place about the coming of the Lord Jesus and I'm made to believe my own honest opinion that there in Thessalonians chapter 4 when it says in the clouds of the air we shall be caught up in the clouds of the air can you imagine all the Saints that are on the face of this earth that's going to hear that shout and we're all going to go up together what a cloud that's going to be I really believe it'll darken the face of this earth when the Lord comes to take us out of this world and what a day that's going to be to meet the Savior for the first time and then to be with him but then we have the gate of Micah the Bema the judgment seat of Christ and when you think of the judgment seat of Christ I don't think we should fear the judgment seat of Christ but I think when our lives we should fear to live a life that is pleasing to God you know what we have done in that day to come or that right now as we live here below the things that we do that's not right is going to burn up as wood hay and stubble we'll lose a reward for all the things that it's going to burn up as wood hay and stubble but dear ones we want to try and have a reward to lay at the Savior's feet what a day that's going to be but then I think not only of that then the gate of Micah the Bema then we go back to the sheep gate again the sheep gate is what brought us into the family of God if it wouldn't been for the Savior the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want think of David when he said those words my what a day that must have been for David when he could say the Lord is my shepherd but then we have the walls of Jerusalem and behind those walls that's a holy wall it's a holy place it's a place where God has placed his name in the assembly and we should reverence his name and we should live for it think of it dear brothers and sisters these here men that built this walls back up they strengthen their hands for the good work and what a day that was 52 days later it was finished they finished the work and as our brother had mentioned there was a lot of opposition Nehemiah he had a trowel in his hand and the sword in the other hand but he kept on building even though there was opposition but let us remember dear brothers and sisters when I think of Nehemiah he prayed for four months and I heard one time now I don't know whether I read this or whether I heard it but when the first conference was accomplished in Ireland that the brethren when they came together for that conference they prayed for two days before they ever opened up the Word of God now I don't know where I got this but I got it from somewhere to think of praying do we really pray for the conditions that is in our assemblies today are we really concerned about the condition of the assemblies as Nehemiah was for these walls that they might be rebuilt so David had a king in his heart he had a house in his heart and he gave to the house to the building of the house as I understand it was about 27 billion dollars of gold that he gave to the house of God that it might be rebuilt and he was very careful who rebuilt the house of God.

May these few words be a help.