Address—Dn. Spence
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We're not of the world which fadeth away. We're not of the night that children today the change that once bound us by Jesus, our driven were strangers on earth. Our home is in heaven 234.
We're not of the world.
Book of Me and Maya, Chapter 3.
We're going to take a little journey tonight.
Around the wall of Jerusalem, I know that others have taken you on this journey, I think.
But I hope that you'll join me on this little journey as we walk around the wall of Jerusalem as it's being developed, and we're going to stop and take special notice of some of the gates. Now, due to the time element, we're going to spend some more more time at some of the gates than we are at others. So we'll find ourselves accelerating now and then to get through this chapter.
Like to begin with verse one. Then Elijah the high priest rose up with his brethren the priest, and they builded the sheep gate. They sanctified it and set up the doors of it even under the Tower of Mia. They sanctified it under the Tower of Hania. We'll just pick a verse here and there.
I think that had me start started reading in chapter one, we would have found Nehemiah in a different country. We would have found him in that far off land of Babylon. And there we would have found him praying in the presence of the king that God would give him an opportunity to come back and rebuild this wall. And God, in his infinite love and kindness gave this job to Nehemiah.
And Nehemiah came back with a group of people, and in chapter two, he went out and surveyed the wall. Chapter 3, the work has begun.
Now a wall around a city is that which provides protection from the enemies it it provides separation and a city in those days without a wall would be a defenseless city. There was no way of defending it. Today. The cities that we have in this country and countries all over the world could never be defended by a wall, because the weapons of warfare today will go over the wall. But in those days the wall was there for.
Defense. And sometimes those walls were exceedingly high. Some of the walls around some of those cities were 300 feet high and maybe as much as 30 feet across at the top. Some of the cities had double walls, like the city of Jericho.
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The wall speaks of separation, but a wall without without gates.
Would be a walled city that was isolated from the rest of the world. Can you imagine a wall around the city that had no gates so that those on the inside could not travel to the outside, Those on the outside could not come in? That would be that would have an isolating effect on the city, on the city.
So the the, the gates were that was caused allowed commerce and people and visitors to travel in and out of that city so that it wasn't isolated from the rest of the world. I think that when we talk about the truth of separation, we were singing about it in our hymn we're not of the world and so on, which faded away.
When we talked about the truth of separation, that there are gates, there are gates so that so that the Sinner can come in off of the streets of Pella.
And he can hear the gospel on Lord's evening. He can come in through the fish gate. There are gates in the lives and in the assemblies of Christians so that they can go out to others who may be in need. And we're going to look at those gates tonight, because it was around those gates that the damage was done.
See, when when the enemy Nebuchadnezzar attacked the city, the weak spot of the city wall was the gates. And that's often where the enemy attacks is around the gates, around the openings, around the places where people can come and go. And so we're going to look at some of those, and we're going to do it in this way. We're going to describe the gate, perhaps as it looked and why it was called a certain thing.
And then we're going to.
Look at that gate as a little picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, and just take a few moments and we'll see that the picture of Christ inscribed over that gate. And then we're going to look at a few practical lessons from each one of the gates.
Now here is a gate that was called the sheet gate.
I believe that if you had gone to the sheep gate early in the morning that you would have found a shepherd there, leading his sheep out to the pastures, because there were no pastures on the inside of the city. The pastures were outside the gate, so you would have found them opening the big gates, probably hear them squeak as they opened up, and there he would leave the machine that belonged to him.
Outside of that gate, into the pastures at the time of sundown, you would find that same shepherd coming back into the city, and perhaps he stopped at the gate and he looked over the sheep as they came in. Every one of them. He knew them by name, and he would look them over to make sure that they were in good physical condition.
And he would count them to make sure that every single one of his sheep were there.
Now if he found that there were some of the sheep that were that needed attention, maybe he some of them had gotten out into the thorns and gotten injured. Maybe some of them were limping. Perhaps some of them were sick from time to time. The the shepherd would then go to the bowl, to the corral, and there he would begin to work. It often took him into the late hours of the night.
A shepherd's work is almost never done, and a lot of it is done during the evening, during the night. And he he cared for those sheep. If the sheep were lost, he would go back out. After he got the sheep in the corral, he would go back out and he would look and search for that lost sheep, and he would not come home until it was found.
The Sheep gate. It's interesting that this one is mentioned 1St and when we look into the New Testament we have the Lord Jesus mentioned in three aspects of the shepherd, and I'll just mention the three aspects. First of all, in John 10 we have him mentioned as the Good Shepherd who gave his life for the sheep and.
When it mentions that he's talking about the sacrifice of Calvary's cross.
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There were the Lord Jesus Christ gave everything that he had. He gave his life. He shed his blood. In a sense. He was attacked by the enemy, the wolf, and the He went. He he went down into death. There at Calvary's cross, he suffered. He gave everything he had and gave his life and everyone who would like to imitate the Good Shepherd, I suppose.
Would be that kind of a person who would sacrifice.
Everything for the sea.
Now when we go over to Hebrews chapter 13.
There's a verse there that says something like this Now. The God of peace, who raised up the Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, who through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work, and so on.
Now as the Great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus is there in the glory raised.
And we have brought in the blood of the everlasting covenant, that is, as the Great Shepherd, he's the one who shepherds throughout from that eternity past to that eternity in the distant future, all through the areas of time, the area called time. God created the the the dimension of time. And there are dispensations in that dimension of time that sometimes people talk about 7 dispensations.
And at the end of those dispositions, then time will cease to be. But the Lord Jesus Christ is that great Shepherd is the one who shepherds through all those those dispensations of time. And that word great is a word that means all powerful shepherd. And so he is the one who is able to do all things as the great Shepherd. Sometimes you and I, if we have a desire on our hearts to help someone.
Maybe we have a friend who's a Christian who has gone off the deep end, gone out into the world, and we come to the point where we have to say I can't do anything more for that person.
Isn't it wonderful, brother, to know that there in the glory sits the all powerful shepherd at God's right hand, the one who has shepherded back into the first dispensation of time, the second, the third, the one who has taken care of God's people through all of this time? And he's the one who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think. And so when we sometimes come to the end of ourselves and we say, there is nothing that I can do.
While we turn them over to the hand into the hands of the all powerful shepherd, the one who has the power to change circumstances and things, he operates in a not in our time element. He doesn't do it on our time schedule, but he does it in his way and he what he does is thorough and it is good. And then the in first Peter 5 why Peter is discharging a responsibility that the Lord Jesus gave him when he said shepherd my sheep.
And he's telling the older ones in the assembly that they should shepherd also shepherd the sheep. It's interesting what he says, he says. Don't do it as being lures over God's heritage.
But the examples to the fly, there's a very, very marked difference in those two words as lording it over your possessions. That's not the kind of shepherding that Peter wanted, but being in samples or examples to the plot, that's the kind of shepherding that is of the Lord. Then he doesn't understand that when the chief shepherd, that's first Peter 5 and verse 4, when the chief shepherd shall appear.
Ye shall receive a crown of glory that faded not away.
That is, as a chief shepherd, he is the one who is over all other shepherds. He's the one who.
The elders have to report to, and he's the one that can give them counsel. He's the one that can give them directions. He's the one that can help them in the diseases of the clock to know what the problems are. And he says that when he appears, when the Chief Shepherd appears.
Why Those who have taken up this work are going to receive a crown of glory that fades not away. That is the the work of the shepherd is something that is often despised. There are people that are not interested in it. It's a it's a work that takes much time. It's a work that people despise in the sense. But when the Lord Jesus comes, he's going to give a crown of glory. There's not much glory associated with it here.
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But up there it's going to resolve an account of Lord. I want to talk a little bit about the work of shepherding.
Because I feel that it's a work that's neglected. It's a, as someone said, a lost art among the brethren. And you know, I believe that in recent maybe 20 or 30, the last 20 or 30 years, we've kind of given it up because we have put maybe too much emphasis on spending time gaining knowledge, but.
Shepherding is something that Scripture encourages.
And what it does is it brings the person who shepherds it brings them into direct contact with the state of soul of an individual.
When you shepherd a person, you have to have love. When you talk to that person, you have to gain his confidence or you have to listen. I I remember telling Tim Cedar and I said, Tim, I'll tell you the difference between a shepherd and a an evangelist. And a shepherd listens 90% of the time and then he writes out a prescription, takes him about 10% of the time to do it or less. But an evangelist listens about 10% and he talks about 90%.
I'm not sure that Tim really agreed with my figures, but it's kind of true that a shepherd listens. He listens for the heartbeat of the sheep. He listens to tell what the spiritual condition of that sheep is. And.
By listening to that sheep's heartbeat. Listening, listening, listening, he can tell what he can tell what is wrong with the sheep. Have to do a lot of listening.
Well, if you do a lot of listening as a shepherd, then after a while you are able to assess a certain state of soul of individuals within the the assembly or within the church. And you find in the New Testament that when Paul wrote the Colossians, he knew what their state of soul was. They were being, they were taken up with knowledge, they were taken up with ordinances. And he deals with that problem.
John wrote the church at Ephesus. He knew what the problem He knew what their state of soul was. They had lost their first love and so he deals with that, that problem. The church at Laodicea was lukewarm. So he he deals with that problem. And it's so important that we know if the state of our flock is whether it's in our home or in the assembly, because we need to deal with that state of soul.
Someone has said that.
When our state of soul is bad, the Holy Spirit will occupy us with that state. But when our state of soul is right, the Holy Spirit will occupy us with Christ. And there is there is a danger in occupying someone in a bad state of soul with Christ with without dealing with that state of soul. You see what I mean that that state of soul must be judged in order to clearly see the person in the glory.
Well, that's that's why shepherding is important. And if we were to we were to talk about shepherding people today, If we were talking to talk about shepherding the sheep and I were to ask you what are the diseases of the clock today? What are what are some of the things that that people are going through, What are some of the spiritual ailments of of Christians today? We should be familiar with those and so that we can take this book.
This medical book of the word of God, we can take this and we can turn to a certain page of this book and we can write out a prescription that would help that person. This book is an absolutely amazing book and if we're familiar with it, we will be able to deal with some of with all of the diseases of the fly, even though they may not be described in any other book. And as we listen to people, we listen to them and pray with them and gain their confidence.
Then the Word of God will become an exceedingly important book as far as curing them from the skills that they have. The sheep game.
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In verse 2, verse 3. But the fish gate did the sons of Hasanaya Bill, who also laid the beans their oven, set up the lock, the doors there, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof. Now the fish gate was a gate, I presume, where fish were sold.
There was.
Near Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee was an important fishing.
C And this is where we find the disciples fishing in the Sea of Galilee. They caught a lot of fish out there, and they brought them into the city of Jerusalem, and there they sold them, I assume, right around the fish gate here. So if you came along, you were you would be able to see fish in on tables or or in containers of one kind or another, and you could go along and you could buy the kind of fish that you want and take it home for dinner.
That night, the fish gave.
In Matthew 4, I believe it's verse 19 we find the Lord Jesus calling Peter to himself. Come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
The fish gate I believe is a picture of.
That evangelistic outreach that presents the gospel to the lost, that brings souls to Christ. And I believe that here at the fish gate we can see the master fisherman, the Lord Jesus. Every soul that he went after, he got never lost one. And the Lord Jesus knew exactly how to deal with the soul.
He dealt with them differently. Every soul that he talked to was he spoke to them a little bit differently. He didn't have what people call a canned approach to giving out the gospel, but he spoke to the woman at the well in one way, he spoke to the woman taking an adultery in another way, he spoke through the blind man another way, and everyone who spoke to a little bit differently, as if the gospel were just tailor made for that very person.
The fish gave and eat. What he tells Peter is if you will follow me, I'll teach you how to catch fish.
That are not fish out there in the ocean, but are men. I'll teach you how to do that.
You know, now in Buena Park, we have a several outreaches in the gospel. We also have the gospel in the meeting room out there. And I I often thank the Lord for the gospel meeting. I know that men who've gone before us have really emphasized the need to do that to preach the gospel. But I thank God for the gospel on the Lord's Day evening because I I don't know of any other place in Southern California where I could take a soul.
And he could hear.
In a very clear and distinct way. Have to be safe. I don't know of any other place. We have a lot of fundamental churches out there. We have a lot of well known Bible teachers. But I don't know any place that I could take a soul where I could hear the gospel priest as clearly as in the meeting room. It went apart.
But we have a difficulty in going part. We have difficulty in getting fish into the the meeting room out there. And So what we have done is we've gone out to where they are. And when you when you read some of the commands in the gospel like the Great Commission command, go out into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, He doesn't say bring the whole world into the meeting room because he couldn't get him in there. He says go out with the gospel and.
So that command is still valid today. Go out with the gospel. Where? Where are the souls that need to be saved? They're out there. What are the what are the needs today? The Lord Jesus came and he came to give sight to the blind, to heal the broken hearted, to help the lame to walk, and so on. Where are the spiritually lame people today? Where are the captives to sin? Where are the broken hearted people today?
Those are the people that we want to reach in the gospel.
Some time ago, Jean and I had the privilege of being in Hawaii and we were in this little town of Lahaina on the island of Maui, and there was this little missionaries house.
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And we decided to go through the missionary house and look it over. They gave us a little tour through the house and we saw some of the things that were there.
Now it turns out that the the people.
Of Hawaii.
Were people called Polynesian? They came up from somewhere S the island South, and they floated up in boats, very small boats and.
They somehow get these ions, they don't know how because the islands of Hawaii are like little pin dots in the middle of a huge expanse of water. And these people came in these little boats and whether it was by fortune or whatever, no one really knows. And they they brought those boats into those islands with their families with some food because there was, there was no, there was no source of food, there were no animals on the island.
They were volcanoes that occurred probably 1000 years ago or somewhere in there and or more. And there was not only no animals on the island, there was there were no fruit trees, there were no fields of green or anything like that. These people came with two sources of food. One was the the bread fruit plant and the other was Tara root from which they they made a little.
Food called. Maybe some of you have tasted it. It tastes awful.
And they brought this into the island, and there they lived. And and and people inhabited these islands and they spread out over the islands. And then as time went on, they began to have wars with each other and capture each other until almost all of the island was wiped out of men because they've been killed in the wars. And in 18/18/18 there was a king in this little town of Laia.
That decided to unite all of the peoples of the Hawaiian Islands, which he did through much bloodshed. He brought them into subjection to himself, and he reigned in that city for one year, and then he died. His wife took over, and she reigned as queen over these islands. And it was that year that the missionaries came from the East Coast of the United States. They floated around the Cape of South America and came up to the Hawaiian Islands.
And there they preach the gospel to these people. They set up this, built this little house that we went through, and they preached the gospel to these people.
The the queen of that island was converted to Christianity, and the people of the islands of Hawaii feared the fire God, the volcanoes, and they thought that that volcano was raining down anger and fire and destruction on them because it was angry.
And so this queen, I, I think her name was something like Papiolani, couldn't really understand or remember that very much, but that that queen, Papiolani was going to demonstrate to her people that there was no God in that volcano and that the God of heaven was the true and living God. And so she went up with the missionaries and some of those people with rocks, and she took those rocks and she cast them into the.
Fire that volcano and there was no response.
And she went down, and many of her people followed her into Christianity. Many of them were saved. Many of them are still saved on that island. And so when we went through this little, this little home, this man, this missionary, was a doctor, and we saw some of the instruments that he used and so on. And very, very simple.
Kind of living 160 days one way from.
Home. If there were any medical supplies he needed, it took a year to get them in practically. And I told the genius and honey, before I leave this island, I'd like to find the tomb of that queen. They said it was somewhere in that town of Mahaina. And so while Jean went shopping downtown one day I went and I began to look through the graveyards of this town. I went through the first one. I spent about an hour there. I could not find anything that looked like the.
The grave of a queen. And went through the second one and the third one. And finally I was about ready to give up when I saw one toward the outskirts of town. And I went over there and there was a big sign that said royal tomb. And I went over there and sure enough there was this big tomb that had a wrought iron fence around it. And it was the queen of the tomb. And I stood there for a long time and I looked at that. She and her husband were both buried there, Her husband.
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In her and eternity apart.
And I was about ready to leave when suddenly I looked down and there into the side of that tomb where it was a little sign that said great missionary children. And I looked and there were scattered the graves of of people who had gone there to preach the gospel. And I saw the graves of children from that missionary home that we had gone through. One of them died when they were nine months. One of them died when they were.
Nine months. The other one died when he was two years old. The last one died when she was nine years old. Three children from that home.
And having had children of my own, I looked at that and I thought of the feelings that must have gone through the parts of that their family as one by one they laid their children to rest. And the question must have come to them, was it is it worth it? Is it really worth it to pay this final price? And I believe that they must have gotten a resounding absolutely yes from the Holy Spirit. And the thing that really spoke to me as I stood there was.
A question that I pondered. They paid with the lives of their children to get the gospel out to the far reaches of the world.
What price have you paid? What price have you?
Well, let's go on to verse 6.
Moreover, the old gate repaired Jehovah, the Senate Passaic and Michelin, the Senate Mesodaya. They laid the beans thereof and set up the doors thereof and the blacks thereof and the bars thereof. The old gate, I think this this gate was extremely old. I think it was the oldest gate, and if you were to look at it, it may have looked like an antique. It looked like something that had been there for a long time, probably worn by the weather.
And I believe that over this gate you would see the ancient of days. I believe Daniel Carlson, the one that the writer of Hebrews calls the same yesterday, today and forever. The one who never changes isn't a wonderful brethren in the world that is changing every day. The world that never remains the same. To be able to look up and to know that there is one in the glory is always the same. He never changes. He's always there. And he, he looks down upon us with an infinite, unchanging life.
Regardless of our state and soul.
This old gate I believe has some application because here in in this little assembly here in Pella, perhaps there is a desire to at times bring in something that would be a change. And I know that it's a struggle at times to to look at those kind of things. But there here we have a book that never changes and this book has principles in it that are based on verses.
That that are the truth that never changes. The truth doesn't change. That New Testament truth does not change. And it's important that if we know the truth, that we teach it to our children. It's important if we know the truth that we teach it through our Sunday School class. It's important that we teach the truth in the care media. You know, if we have an issue that comes up in the care meeting, it's important to base that on the word of God.
That's the old landmarks, the old landmarks that are talked about in Scripture are those changeless truths that are just as good today as they were for the early church. And the problem is that oftentimes we don't know they are there or we're not familiar with them and we need to be familiar with them.
I'd like you to turn over to.
The verse in Hebrews.
Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 7.
Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you, the word of God.
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Whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation.
And then?
Verse 17. Obey them and have the rule over you, and submit yourselves. For they watch for your souls as they that must give an account that they may do it with joy and not with peace, for that is unprofitable for you. I did a little study of the word obey, and if you look up in a Greek dictionary, you'll find that there are three words, or at least three for the word obey.
There is the word wise. Obey your husbands.
And what the Greek dictionary says is that that is a military word.
A military word, but it says that the military influence was not intended for the home. So your wives can breathe a little easier. You know, I've had the opportunity to work with military people, and I find that they, the people who are in the upper echelons of the military, are people who are sensible. They will listen to input, they will accept someone with a differing opinion, and then they will come down with a decision.
I think that's what he intends in the home, that a wife, that that a husband will listen to his wife, but he makes the final decision and then that is to be carried out. Well, that's that's one word for obey. And then there's another word, obey, children, obey your parents. And that kind of obedience is unquestioning obedience. When your folks tell you to do something, that little word why often comes up.
See. And it may be that folks will address that and tell you what, but still that that that obedience is to be unquestioning, to carry it out and do exactly what they're telling me. But this word obey in verse 17 and and it's connected back to verse 7. And if you look this up, it's really interesting. Is it kind of obedience from persuasion?
It is the kind of obedience that results from persuasion. From persuasion of what? Persuasion of the Scriptures. That's what he says. Who have spoken unto you the word of God. That is, there's an issue that comes up. And so the word of God has gotten out the verses of Scripture, those old truths that don't change. And that is, there is a persuasion through the scriptures.
That's the kind of obedience it's talking about it obedience through persuasion. To see, it's possible that we might say, well, I would like obedience unquestioning obedience, or I would like the kind of obedience in the military. But that's not what is intended in this, these verses. It's the kind of obedience through persuasion of God's word. And it is so important we're getting away from it rather than a little bit. It is so important that we know we study to show ourselves approved unto God, a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed.
What does it say? Rightly dividing the Word of Truth, that we know what that original interpretation is of God's word. We know exactly what it means.
Sometimes there's some unique applications of it, and those are nice and those are interesting. But we we, I remember Mr. Brown. We remember him well. And he would ask us as we went through the the word of God. He would say, what does this mean? And we would kind of guess at the meaning and he would say, now that's a nice thought, but it's not the thought here. And he would teach us from the word of God. This is what this means, and it's important that we understand that.
These are the old twins. OK, let's go back to the third chapter of Nehemiah.
And verse 13, the valley gate repaired Kenan, the valley Gate. I'm going to speed up a little bit here. I I hate to speed up at this point, but you know, a valley is a depression between two hills.
And you can find that in Corinthians chapter three. You can find the Lord Jesus. You thought it not robbery to be equal with God up there in the glory. You can find him following that pathway all the way down, even unto death, even the death of the cross. You can find him in that deepest valley that man has ever known, the valley that is infinitely. And then you can go out the other side of that valley and follow him all the way back into the glory.
There in the glory you can find him exalted in God's right hand.
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He's the one that's familiar with every valley that you may go through, every depression, every trial, and he wants to comfort you through that tribe. You might turn with me quickly to 2nd Corinthians. Second Corinthians chapter one.
In verse 3.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercy, and the God of all comfort.
Comforted that us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, I'm going to read that a little bit differently, as the sufferings of Christ flow over us.
So our consolation also abounded by Christ. Or let me read that a little bit differently. Through Christ our comfort overflow.
OK, what is happening? We go through trial, and what happens in that trial? God pours out his comfort. And what does he want us to do when others are in trial? They're down in the valley of trial and depression. He wants us to comfort them.
So that we may be able to comfort them who are in any trouble and then we find as the sufferings of Christ flow over us.
Then what happens is the comfort of Christ flows back. It's like the ocean. We we go down to the ocean a lot out in Southern California, and we see those waves rolling in, one wave after another rolling in. And then we see the surf rolling back out. And you can lay there in the waves and let one after another roll over you, but you know that they're going to come back. And so as the waves of trial and difficulty come in our lives and they roll over the top of this, what happens?
From Glory, there is a comfort that rolls back over us. A comfort that God wants us to share with others when they are in trial. Get some thoughts from the Valley Gate.
And verse 13.
Last part of the verse in 1000 cubits on the wall and to the dung gate.
I want to talk a little bit about this dung gate. I think it's important and I'm going to talk from Philippians chapter 3.
Paul had a dumb gate. The dumb gate is where they carried out the garbage or the refuse. They had this gate where they they went out and close by this gate. There was a valley and they dumped this garbage over into the valley and they burned it there.
We noticed from Philippians chapter three that Paul had some things that he felt were an advantage to him in this life and he names what they were.
Verse 7 But what things were gained in me those I counted bust for Christ?
Yay, Douglas and I count all things but lost for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them, But done that I may win Christ.
I believe that the Apostle Paul had an accounting book, and I'm going to tell you what I believe was in it.
In this accounting book, he had a column called Game, and in this game column he listed seven things.
And you can find them in verses five and six. Seven things that were an advantage to him in this life.
Then he had another column and this column was called loss.
And when he met Christ on that Damascus Rd. there was a transition in his accounting, his spiritual accounting book, in which he took the seven things that were deemed, and he moved them over into the lost cone. What things were deemed to me, those I counted lost for Christ. And I believe that when we come to Christ, there are things that were once game to us, that look like they should be lost, and so we get rid of them.
The problem was that Paul found that those things crept back over into the game call. And that's why he says gay, doubtless. And I count all things that lost. See what he's saying? I can't. President Pence. I counted on that Damascus Rd. but I cannot present tense. I counted daily. I count them lost. They creep back over and you'll find them there. You know, things that you didn't think, that that you thought you put into the lost phone. They came back.
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And so Paul says, every day that I get up, I find some of those things that were gain to me creeping back over.
And I have to put them back over in the lost phone. That is right There is one of the problems that young people often have. They come to a weekend like we just did. They come to a Bible conference. They come where the word of God is spoken, and we're saturated with the word of God. And there are decisions that are made, but they go back and what happens, there's a creeping back of those old things. And so the solution to it is to do this.
On a daily basis to the present tense, captain, was that I may, but for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, that is you. Everything in with the perspective of Christ in mind, the knowledge of knowing Him, of knowing him better. Is there anything in my present life that is going to hinder me from knowing Christ today? Then move it over into the lost farmers. Get rid of it.
Eliminate it.
And then notice what Paul says for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and in count them but dumb that I may win Christ. You see, he has one more column in his accounting book. It is a column that says garbage or dump. And it seems that the more the Apostle Paul gets to know Christ, the better he looks. And the more of those things that were once gained to him that he's counted lost, the more they begin to look.
Like birds. And so he says, I'm going to get them a little farther away and count them. But done that, I mean with Christ. I think that's that's what we make call the Dungate in the life of a Christian. Let's go back to Nehemiah Chapter 3. Now we're going to speed up a little more and just mention some of these gates in verse 15. The gate of the fountain. The gate of the fountain, that place where the water gushed out.
It was a source of refreshment. It was a source of energy. Is that when water came up? And so we find the Lord Jesus in John Chapter 4. This woman had tried all the broken sisters of this world, and now she would have come face to face with the one who was the fountain of living waters. And I say, brethren, I believe that it took me about 10 or 15 years to learn that the fountains of this world could never satisfy my heart. And when I was 22 years old here in Iowa.
California made a decision. I made a decision, and I've never turned back on that decision. I made a decision. That place was the only one that could satisfy my heart. And I've never been disappointed. Never.
Here's the fountain of living waters. Let's go down to verse 26.
Moreover, the netonyms dwelt in Opal unto the place over against the Watergate for the east and the tower that lies out. Notice that there's towers by some of these gates to protect them. They were places of lookout. And this Watergate is a is a picture, I believe, of the word of God as it flows out to us. Verse 28 from above the horse gate prepared the priests, every one of them over against his house.
The horse cake.
Was the place where horses were kept or where they went in and out. And they were a picture of that which typifies warfare, warfare. We were talking to our young people this weekend about spiritual warfare and the tremendous battles that are going on between the kingdoms, the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the devil, the Kingdom of heaven and the Kingdom, the man of darkness, and so on. A picture of warfare and so on.
In verse 29 at the end of the verse we find the Eastgate.
A picture of resurrection, and if you want to do a little study, you can.
Look up in your.
Accordance under the word Golden Gate. And you will find that the there is a Golden Gate supposed to supposedly the same gate as the Eastgate. And this Golden Gate it says is walled up into the coming of the Messiah. If you go over to Jerusalem today, you will see one gate in that city wall that is still rolled up and it's going to be walled up until the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, comes walking through that gate.
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It will be opened up in those days.
OK, now the last one is the one I want to talk about a little bit. Verse 31 after him repaired Mel Kaya, the goldsmith's son under the place of the Netherlands and.
Of the merchants over against the gate, Mithgad and to the going up of the corner.
I as far as I can tell, the name Myth Cadney means inspection gate is a place where they inspected things coming in and out of the city. Maybe it was a gate similar to what you go through when you leave this country and go to Mexico or Canada, where it's an inspection, customs inspection or something like that. It could have been similar to that.
A place where things are inspected. That is, not everything was allowed to come in the city.
And I'd like to I'd like to turn over just this will be our last thought but just a 2 verses in the New Testament while we talk about inspection First Corinthians chapter 6.
And verse.
12 Or what have I to do to judge them also, in fact?
Do not ye judge them that are within, you see an inspection gate here in the assembly. You see Paul is writing them and he's saying I don't judge it, I don't inspect anything on the outside of the wall. But that which comes into the assembly, that's what we expect. That's what we judge.
And he ends up saying, therefore put away from among yourself that with the person, so the assembly. And this is the truth. It is not highly promoted or accepted or recognized in much of Christianity Today.
But it is nevertheless the truth that when someone comes in and they would like to break bread at the Lord's table, there is a responsibility on the part of the assembly to make sure that they are not received. If they are going on with those things that are evil, some of which are mentioned in this chapter. I would like you to turn back a few pages to Romans chapter 14.
And we'll look at another inspection.
Where's 10? But they're almost 14. And verse 10 Why does thou judge thy brother? Or why this thou said it not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Word is written as Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another, any another anymore, And so on.
There's coming a time.
When our lives are going to be inspected, there's coming a time when the fruit that we have produced is going to be inspected. The work that we have done will be inspected, and that is a job that is reserved for the judgment seat. It is not my responsibility to go around judging other people in their work, criticizing them and things like that. It's not my job, but it is my job to recognize that someday I am going to stand face to face.
With the one who is going to properly evaluate everything that I have done, he's going to look at my assets. He's going to look at my output. He's going to look at my motives. He's going to look at the fruit I've produced, and he's going to to award that which can reward that which can be rewarded. And he's going to discard that which cannot. And I will stand to the side of that and I will say Amen to what God has done, to what the Lord has done. But remember.
This is a job that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I heard a brother say about another brother, let you in on a little conversation, heard his brother talking about this brother and he said you know the brother doesn't know anything, he just is a spiritual 0.
And never forgotten that comment. It kind of hurt me a little bit when I heard it and I never countered it.
Never said anything about it, I just remembered it.
And this brother about whom this comment was made, I happened to go to the city where he lived, and we had some special gospel meetings in that city. And this brother got up at 6:00 in the morning and he went out with us and passed out invitations to everybody in the town.
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In all chairs, in his truck, to the place where we were having the Gospel meetings, He took us out for all of our meals. He kept us in his home, and he worked tirelessly, probably 12 or 15 hours a day.
For three days.
And this brother is over 80 years of age, over 80 years of age. And we were leaving that city and we were driving in this car and one of the brothers said, I just got, I just got a little vision of of our brother, so and so I just got a little vision of him at the judgment seat. And I said, well, rather than describe it, why don't you draw a picture of what you saw. So he was back there drawing for a while, finally handed me this whole picture and I'll tell you what was on.
Here was a great big throne, and on this throne was sitting a king with the crown.
And there at the bottom of this huge throne was a little bald headed man standing there and looking up. And there was a huge present that was being passed down to This man had a bow and everything on it, and this little man was standing there with this present that absolutely engulfed him.
With a little question mark over his head as if to say what he did, I don't deserve this. And you know, brethren, I've never forgotten the the difference in the opinion of those two people. One who said he's nothing, he is zero, he has nothing to offer. And the other who says, I believe he's going to get one of the grand prizes at the judgment seat. There's coming a day when we are going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Everything is going to be evaluated.
And in recent years, I have begun to live my life more in view of that day. Sometimes people will say to things to me that hurt a little bit, you know, But I say to them, I have to answer to the Lord. And when I think that someday I am going to stand in front of that judgment seat and he says the instance.
I told you I gave you directions to do a certain job. I provided the means for you to do that job.
But she did not do it. Why?
And I look up. There, sitting in that seat, is the one who died for me on Calvary's Crest, the nail prints in his hands, the wounds in his hands inside. And he looks down with infinite love, but with eyes that look through me. It will have to bow my head and say, Lord Jesus, I fail. And I have, and I have begun to live my life more in view of that coming day. He is the one that will judge.
Well, those are some of the gates of the city of Jerusalem. I believe there's some more if you read through the book of Nehemiah. And I would just invite you to take that trip off. And I take it every once in a while around the city, and every time I go around there, I see some things that I didn't see before. And it has a new meaning, a new encouragement. And I believe that we're living in days when we need builders of the walls, because sometimes.
We can't find that.
Builders, not, not those who destroy the wall. Builders of the wall so that there might be a healthy assembly within.
Bound and all these conditions come about indicating the deterioration of man until he goes into the grave.
So we just have a short time to settle this matter. We don't want to put it off till old age. It could be absolutely fatal. I believe there are very, very very few deathbed repentances as they call them and the cases are very unique I'm sure. But.
Most have received Christ in younger age, and your time is right now, whether you're young or old. Don't put it off, because your time is only now, not tomorrow, just now. So we pray.
O righteous Father, the world is not going. Thee, beloved, The world doesn't know him. The one we know, the one we are intimately acquainted with and brought into this inner circle of blessings.
You should know the love that the world knows nothing about.
And then he says in the last verse I have declared unto them shining, and will declare he's been declaring it for 2000 years from the glory.
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But the love wherewith thou has loved me.
Denying them, He is in us for as the shudder forth, so to speak, of that love that the Father had for the Son that it's in us now and the.
Manifested to anyone I want to be in the goodness.
I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou has loved me may be invented.
Let's close by seeing #25.
Father by name, our souls with lust as children taught by grace.
Lift up our hearts in righteousness before Thy face.
O Holy Father, keep us here in that blessed name of love, walking before thee without fear, till all the joy.
Someone raising 2.