Address—Jim Hyland
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Oh, and there's compassionate friends in my studies of my heart.
Shadow, that spelling with joy and settling in all the darkness before.
The Adventure Time for it till time So.
We're not across the city.
O my temper was so many, and thy life concerned today.
And it came down and 40.
Fell my soul.
Oh my God, thus far. And when the light from the flow.
Into our family.
Behind just as by the Lord. They're not in love. Oh, I'm standing in my.
Transaction so quickly was made.
Michael.
I can't where I fell away.
And by night was turned to death.
And it can come and glory of life so.
Now I love hope that will survey answer.
After the fasting of time.
I have a future in heaven for sure.
There is no expansion so much and it's because of that wonderful day.
1197 cross eyed daily.
Written eternal and blessings eternal from His precious and I receive.
I'm thinking now, thanks for really filled my soul.
When I saw cross the day, God made his neighborhood.
And my night was forever today.
I'd like this.
Give out 22 in the appendix to start our little prayer meeting this morning.
22 in the appendix.
No.
I don't know if I understand.
And in the circle outside.
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The law.
And I'm proud of and we have a life.
And.
1.
In the house.
In.
To lie to your hands.
Till I try to learn.
It's not my name.
To perform.
Wow, to make it more to all of the mercenaries.
Uh-oh.
My thought in the booklet was that, uh, if you want to make some brief notes in the space provided.
Then later on, it can be a little bit of a guide to the yellow chart you have. As we said earlier, there are some tablets and pens at the back for those of you who like to make, uh, more notes than we have room for in the little booklet. As you can see, we're going to concentrate uh this weekend on the gates of Nehemiah in Nehemiah Chapter 3. But before we do that, we're going to make some, uh, introductory comments and I would like to read a couple of verses to introduce.
What is before us today first of all in Romans chapter 15?
Romans, chapter 15.
And verse 4.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. Now we'll hold that thought for a moment and read a verse in Mark's Gospel, chapter 13.
Mark's Gospel chapter 13 and verse 34.
For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to every man his work, and commanded the porters to watch. So these might seem like strange verses to use to introduce the subject of the gates of Nehemiah, but I want to very simply say this first of all, as we go back to the Old Testament and we take up these stories and illustrations, they are more than just stories and historical facts.
It's true, they are historical facts and they are interesting stories, but they have been recorded by in God's word, by men that God used to write exactly what he told them to write. We call it divine inspiration, and as this verse in Romans confirms that those things that were written back before Christianity, the Old Testament, those things are profitable and for our learning. So we're going to go back and we're going to, I hope, learn some lessons.
From the story of Nehemiah, and particularly from the rebuilding of the Wall and the Gates.
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Before we do that too, I read the verse in Mark chapter 13, because we want to point out that God uses all kinds of people and he gives to every person a work. Now, it might be helpful just to say this too, that in connection with what we have in the book of Ezra and Nehemiah, we have what we might say are 4 revivals. Now, young people were going to run a lot of things by you, I realized, because we only have limited time in these meetings, but I'm just going to try to give you a very brief outline of things.
And really ministry like this, given orally, is to hopefully whet your appetite. So you go back, you go over your your notes, you go back, you take the scriptures, you search it out and you meditate on it and you dig some further things out. So we're just going to give you a little bit of an outline in these three meetings that we share together on this subject. But there were four revivals, first of all.
The first revival was back in the book of Ezra chapter 3. If you want to note some of these references you can look them up later. But in Ezra chapter three you find the UH first revival and it was under the leadership of a man named Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the governor, he was the grandson of Jehovah Kim, the king of Israel. So he was of royal descent and God raised this man's rubble up and he was associated with a man by the name of Joshua the priest. Not to be confused with the.
Joshua that led the children of Israel through the Jordan and into the good of their inheritance, the Promised Land. And in that revival the altar was set up and the foundation of the Temple that had previously been destroyed. So you remember that before this the children of Israel had been carried captive into Babylon. God had warned them over and over again, if they didn't turn from idolatry and sin, he would allow them to be carried captive. And they were. Then God allowed these revivals to take place.
There are there are four of them. In the first revival, the altar was set up.
And the foundation of the House of God the temple was relayed.
They in other words, they return to the very spot where God had originally placed his name at Jerusalem, the very spot where God dwelt with his people in the temple that had been built under the direction of Solomon so many years before. The altar would speak of worship. The foundation would speak of the foundation truth that we have in the word of God in the New Testament it talks about.
That foundation, later on, it was Christianity, and Paul and others laid that foundation. And that was the the truth of God-given at the beginning. So we're making an application from the Old Testament. We're applying it in connection with the truth that we have now in Christianity. Paul was a wise, master builder. He laid the foundation. That is, you'll never understand the truth of Christianity being gathered to the Lord's name, the hope of the Lord's coming, those things.
Unless you read Paul's ministry. However, there were other New Testament writers as well, and they helped to lay other foundation, truth as well, and fill in certain details. It corresponds to what happened back in the early 1800s. Historically, God exercised and raised up men who were exercised to come out from organized Christianity, so to speak, and they realized that there was more than just.
Church form, churchanity, and so on. And they began to meet, to remember the Lord Jesus in the breaking of bread.
The way the early Christians had and certain truths began to be brought out.
However, we find then there was a second revival. And because they laid the they built the altar. They they re established the altar, they laid the foundation. But you know, whenever there's a revival of spiritual things, the enemy is right there and things go down downhill very quickly. And so they never proceeded beyond that with the under the rubble and God raised up two prophets. You can read their ministry, their Hageai and Zechariah.
Two profits. We have their their exhortation in the scripture and they encourage the people of God then stirred them up to rebuild the house, to rebuild the house, to go ahead with the work. The problem was the people had started the work. But as the Prophet tells us, the Prophet, Haggai, he tells us that the people went home and they were living in their sealed houses. What does that mean? It means they went back to their homes.
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And they got into, as we would say today, a certain comfort zone. And they were just interested in their own affairs. They didn't take up the work of God. They weren't interested, as interested as they ought to have been in God's center and the blessing of God's people collectively. And so God sent along these two prophets who encouraged them to resume and complete the building of the House of God. Then we find a third revival took place.
And some years later, and that was under Ezra the priest. And Ezra the priest brings before them the word of God was the Old Testament law that they had. And you can read about this in Ezra Chapter 7 to 10. And there we find that there was insistence on on the holiness that became the House of God. There was a going back to the word of God. And so again back in the late eighteen 1800s particularly.
After the first revival, God began to work with with these men, and prophetic truth was brought out the truth of the Lord's coming. The difference between the Lord's coming, uh, in the as to the rapture to take us to be with himself, call us out, and also the hope of the Lord's the truth of the Lord's coming back to reign in his Kingdom. And there was a right, a right dividing of the word of truth at that time, and a very, a very significant revival.
And a lot of the written ministry that we have, some that we have on the back table there for you to avail yourself of, was written at that time. And that ministry, thank God, is still available to us explaining these precious truths that we have in the word of God. But then we have some 14 years after Ezra, we have Nehemiah and Nehemiah, he wasn't one of the of the King's seed. He wasn't a prophet.
He Washington wasn't a priest. He was, what we might say, just a common person. And that's why I read in in Mark chapter 13, because God uses all kinds of people in connection with not just revivals, but the continuing of the truth in His service and young people. He wants to use every one of us here, brothers and sisters alike, those of us who know Christ as our Savior. It doesn't matter what our background is.
We may be just one of the very common people, but God wants to use us in some way in His service. And as we go through Nehemiah Chapter 3, we're going to see again that God used everybody from nobles to carpenters to Masons to men, women, young people, families. All kinds of people were used, and everyone had an important place in the building of the wall.
The building of the wall and and I.
I have put it at the top of our yellow card here. The the main thrust of our subject this weekend is going to be practical separation and holiness. So before we go to Nehemiah Chapter 3.
Let's read a verse in John 17.
John Gospel chapter 17. This is the Lord Jesus Praying.
And uh, we'll read from verse 15, John 17, verse 15.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. You know, we hear a lot today about walls, don't we? And a wall does a couple of things. A wall has to do with separation. It keeps out what is.
Undesirable.
And it gives protection to those who are within. And in ancient times, back in Bible times, they would have understood this very clearly because history tells us that cities in those days and towns they usually had a wall. They and I have visited Carcassonne in France. In France, Carcassonne is a functioning walled city today and they say there are people that are born and die inside the walls of Carcassonne.
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That never travel outside that city. But I've walked the walls of Carcassonne, they're very thick walls. You can probably run a chair, a small chariot, around part of those walls. And those walls were to keep the enemy from coming in and to keep those citizens inside safe. So a wall is a very practical thing. It speaks of separation. And I believe that you and I, as we go through this world, we need to walk in separation from it.
Now separation, young people, is not isolation, you know. Again, we visited some of the monasteries of Europe, and some of them are up in the mountains and very isolated. And there was a thought with the early monks that they needed to isolate themselves and live a life of holiness away from the world, surrounded by walls of a monastery and never leave that place. That is not what separation is. Separation and isolation are two very different things.
You and I are not to isolate ourselves from this world, because you and I are in this world to be a testimony to it. And if we isolate ourselves from the world, we'll never shine as lights in this world. We're told that we're to be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom you shine as light in this world. So we're here to be a testimony for Christ.
We're here to represent Christ, and we're here to speak for Christ in the gospel and to tell others and show others how they can become citizens of heaven and save from judgment and so on as well. We'll never do that. If we isolate ourselves, however, we're going to see, as we go through these different gates and so on in the building of the rebuilding of the wall, we're going to see that there is practical separation from this world, you and I.
Can walk through this world in a way that we don't defile ourselves with sin or become involved in all the sinful activities, worldly activities that this world is involved in. Because if we do, we're not going to be able to speak for God and Christ and we're not going to be the proper light and testimony that he desires us to be. Now be again, let's before we go to the third chapter of Nehemiah, let's go to the second chapter of Nehemiah.
And introduce the man that God used in connection with the rebuilding of this wall. As I say, Nehemiah was not one of the nobility, was not a priest, he wasn't a prophet. Nehemiah was just an ordinary man who was fulfilling ordinary duties and was taken up with what we would call today secular employment. So in Nehemiah chapter two, let me just read a few verses here, beginning at verse one.
And it came to pass in the uh month Nissan, in the 20th year of our tech. Xerxes, the king that wine was brought, was before him. And I took the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been before times sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, and said unto the king, Let the king live forever. Why should it not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my father's sepulchre, lieth in waste, and the gates there ever consumed with fire?
Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I pray to the God of heaven.
And I said unto the king, So I'll, I'll stop there.
Nehemiah, as I say, he was just carrying on his secular employment. Now he was the King's cup there. And that in those days was a very, very important job. The King's cup bearer I believe tasted the King's wine to make sure it wasn't poisoned. Because you know, those kings and nobility in those days, they really lived in fear of their lives. There was always someone out to get them and you only have to read the Old Testament to find that out that.
So often there wasn't someone rising up and ready to overthrow the king and so on. And then the King's cup bearer brought that cup of wine to the king, and it was to rejoice the King's heart. And wine in Scripture is a figure of joy. It's a figure of praise. And so it was a very, very responsible position that Nehemiah had. And one day Nehemiah, as we read here, he comes into the presence of the king to bring him that which was to.
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Encourage and bring joy to the King's heart. And he said, and this was not to be for the King's cup bearer. A King's cup bearer was never to be sad in the presence of the king. The king notices this, and he asked Nehemiah what his problem is. Now you can just imagine, Nehemiah here was a king that had the power of life and death. It tells us about those kings whom they would they slew and whom they would they kept alive.
If you said the wrong thing, you had the wrong attitude, just the wrong expression. You could lose your job or even lose your life. And so Nehemiah, he was very scared, he was sore, afraid. But what I want to point out here is that when the king asks him, tries to pin him down on what the problem is, it says before he gives the answer it says. So I pray to the God of heaven.
And I said unto the king, I believe what characterizes characterized Nehemiah was he was a man of prayer. We're going to notice too, he was a man of purpose. And so those two things characterized Nehemiah and young people. I believe this that in the days in which we live, because Nehemiah's day represents not the days back in the 1800s when there was great revival of the truth, not the days when they first started to break bread and there were hundreds and hundreds.
Even in one city that were exercised to remember the Lord, and they were together, and so on. But Nehemiah brings us right down to the day in which we live. And I believe that the men and women like you and me that God uses in days of weakness, in days, of ruin in days.
Where we're just at the end of our of this Christian age and we're looking for the Lord to come at any moment.
They are men and women not of great gift. Now we're thankful for gift and we all have some little gift. We know that from other scriptures. But it's not a question today of great gift and ability. It's a question of dependence and purpose. And you're going to find as you go through scripture that the men and women that God used in days of weakness to help his people and to bring little revivals where men and women who had real purpose of heart like Daniel, like Nehemiah and others.
And those who were characterized by prayer, because prayer is the expression of dependence and confidence. And if you're a man or a woman of prayer and purpose, then God can really use you, even in the days in which we live. And young people were not looking for great revival today.
We're we're looking to hold fast to what God has given us to in the language of another scripture.
To strengthen the things that remain and to repair and rebuild what God has already established. You notice, we're going to notice when they took up the building of the wall, they didn't build a new wall. It wasn't something new that was established. It was a repairing of what had been built previously. And that's important. If somebody comes along today, one of your Christian friends or anybody comes along today.
And tells you that there's new revelation, new light at the end of this Christian age. It's a red light. It's a warning. God in in the scriptures, in his ways with with men, whether it was in the Old Testament or whether it's in the New Testament. He never gave fresh light at the beginning of a dispensation or an age at the beginning of different dispensations. And we don't have time to go through it. But I just say this is a warning.
There are different different times in scripture time frames where God dealt with.
His people in different ways. At the beginning he gave them light. So for instance, in connection with what we have, what we're taking up at the beginning of the of the dispensation of law, God gave light. Through Moses, God gave light. And you can read Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. The Levitical and Mosaic law was laid down and we find that when these men rose up.
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That we that we mentioned like the rubble like.
And Zechariah.
Azra Nehemiah, they didn't propagate fresh revelation from God. They went back and acted on what was given at the beginning, and it's parallel to what I mentioned in the 1800s. It wasn't fresh light, it wasn't new light that was given.
It was men going back to the word of God and what was established at the beginning, the foundation laid by the apostles, the New Testament writers. And they went back and acted on what was given at the beginning of the Christian dispensation or the Christian era. And so we want to be careful. We're not, we're not talking today when we talk about a revival. And I don't believe we're in the days of revival, but we're not a revival.
Is not fresh light. It's going back and and reviving that which was given at the beginning. That's why it's called a revival. It's not looking for something new. So that doesn't mean young people that we can't have a fresh enjoyment of scripture. And you read the scripture and you say, oh, I never saw that before, but here's the safeguard. Make sure when you enjoy something for the first time from scripture or you hear something ministered in a meeting like this that you never heard before.
Make sure it corresponds with the word of God. That's why when Paul ministered the truth orally at Berea, the Berean brethren, they just didn't take Paul's word for it. He said, well, if anybody's word for it, couldn't they have taken Paul's word for it? No, they went back, they went home, they got out. Whatever parts of the Old Testament scriptures would have been available to them at that time. And it says they searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. What things?
The things that were ministered orally by the Apostle Paul. Now I realize Paul was bringing out new truth in connection with Christianity because it was the beginning of the age, but still they wanted to make sure that it was confirmed by the Old Testament stories and illustrations and types and shadows and so on. So very important, whenever you enjoy for yourself or hear something new, always go to the word of God and search it out and make sure.
That it is based on the on the word of God. So Nehemiah was a man of prayer and a man of purpose. And we find that when he prayed here, if we were to read on, God gave him real wisdom in answering the king. And the king granted him his request and even more than he asked. You know, it's a tremendous thing to think that this king, this Gentile king, would not only let Nehemiah go back to view the situation in Jerusalem where the Washington wall was broken down and the city was in ruin, but he even helped him along the way, provided what he what he needed.
Gave him safe passage and so on. But you see, when when there's a person of purpose and prayer, then God will use them and open the way so that they can be a tremendous blessing. Now, again, I know we're not all raised up to do a public work and a place of leadership like Nehemiah, but I believe the point is, as we read in Mark earlier, to every man, his work, every man and every woman here who knows Christ as their savior, they have a work and God has a plan for you and wants to use you in blessing.
Now let's go to Nehemiah Chapter 3, and let's introduce this subject. So I'll just read a couple of verses here at the beginning of Nehemiah chapter 3. And then we're going to work our way clockwise around this chart in these meetings that we share together.
Nehemiah, chapter 3. Then Elisha the high priest rose up with his brethren, the priest.
And they built the, the sheep gate. They sanctified it and set up the doors of it even under the tower Mia and sanctified it under the tower. Hannah. So here we have the beginning of this wall. Now we're going to notice and it's very significant that they begin, uh, at the at the sheep gate. So again, let's keep in focus here that the building of the repairing of the wall here has to do.
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With practical sanctification and holiness in our lives, in the New Testament it says be holy, for I am holy. Now none of us are going to reach deity. There's only one that God the Father and the Lord Jesus who.
Are wholly in in that sense, the Lord Jesus was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. But we're talking about in a practical sense now. We have positionally been brought into a position where we're seeing.
Before God, in all the perfection of Christ. But we're talking now in a practical sense, and in that sense we'll never reach perfection. This side of heaven, however, we're going to find that we have all the resources to live a life of practical separation and holiness. For the Lord, we use the word sanctification. I'll just clarify that sanctification is simply holiness, and in the little Bible studies we're going to have later on, we'll stress that as well, but it's.
It's simply to separation, as I say, not isolation. Now the wall in Jerusalem was broken down.
You, you'll notice in the, uh, the little booklet that I have at at the begin one of the pages repairing the wall. And I wanna just talk a little bit for a moment about compromise, because compromise is letting the wall down slowly. It's letting the wall crumble slowly. Let me illustrate it this way. Suppose we had a brick wall out here.
And some of you have come here for the last six years and we'll suppose there was a brick wall out there.
And we'll suppose that every year after you young people left camp, Bob and I went out and we took a couple of rows of bricks off the top of that wall. And next year you come. I doubt that many of you would notice that a couple of rows of bricks were gone. But if we did that for the last six years, the wall would be gone. The the that which separates would be would be gone. And I believe that's what compromise is. It's letting the barrier down slowly, in other words.
It's just slowly and insidiously giving up little bits of truth, what may or may what may at the time not seem that important or significant. But one row of bricks, so to speak, leads to another row of bricks, and we want to be careful that we don't let the barrier down slowly. I believe what the work great work of the enemy with believers is not to give, not to have us give up the truth all at once.
Not to all of a sudden be walking in practical holiness one day and worldliness the next day. No, The enemy introduces, as the old expression goes, the thin edge of the wedge, just slowly letting the barrier down, giving up one little thing, another little thing. And that's why young people, you need to keep in the word of God. You need to read the word of God. You need to be reminded of it, the apostle Peter said. I know you know the truth, but I'm going to remind you of it.
Even though you know it and you're established in the present truth, you can look up that verse in the book of uh of Peter at your at your leisure. So that's why we have meetings like this, because we want to go over these things. We don't want to let the barrier down. And you know sometimes people come along and say, well it really doesn't matter. And you know the the the Lord is gracious and and and he understands and it's a different day. You ever hear that? Well, it's a different day than the apostle Paul.
It's a different day than the early brethren, and we've got to give a little. We've got to just there's got to be some give and take. And as the old expression goes, live and let live. Oh, be careful, young people, and we can become easily desensitized to the world and what sin is if we aren't in the Word and walking in fellowship with the Lord Jesus. If there isn't that practical holiness and separation in in our lives, we get used to sin.
And again, that's what Satan wants. He wants us to get used to it. You know, we hear things, we see things, we perhaps do things. Our conscience becomes a little seared. And we say, well, it's really not so bad after all. And so again, we need to keep in the presence of the Lord Jesus. We need to walk with God, and we certainly need to keep in in the word of God. So we don't want to let the barrier down slowly. Maybe we better take a minute and turn to a verse in or two in First Peter.
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I think we've quoted it, but just to read it and so you can jot it down. First, Peter, chapter one.
So I'll just read this to confirm it. We've already made a comment or two on it. First Peter, chapter one, and I'll read verse 15 and 16.
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written be holy for I am holy. And so often when you have the word conversation, it really is perhaps better translated our manner of life. So it has more. It's more than just what we say, it's how we live. And so God wants us to walk through this world in a holy in in whole practical holiness.
The Lord Jesus who walked through this life in perfection, He's the perfect example for us. And I just encourage you to read through the Gospels, because that's the example that we have a practical walk of holiness by the Lord Jesus himself. Now back to Nehemiah chapter three. We find that, as I say, it begins with the Sheep Gate, and we might say, why does it begin with with the Sheep Gate?
Well, I believe it begins with the sheep gate, because this brings before us the work of the Lord Jesus. You know, the Lord Jesus.
That Good Shepherd of the sheep, he gave his life for the sheep. And you know there can be no blessing in your life and mine apart from starting, so to speak, at the sheep gate. Now the wall speaks of separation. A gate, of course, again keeps out that which is not desirable.
But it also allows entrance to that which is desirable. And so the the cities in those days, like Jerusalem, they had gates. And you know, the Lord Jesus, in Speaking of himself as the shepherd, he spoke of himself as the door of the sheep or the gate, we might say in relationship to what we're taking up here. And what is our entrance into the place of blessing? It is through that Good Shepherd who gave his life for the sheep.
But not only did the Lord Jesus give his life for the sheep as the shepherd, but then after we are saved, we can say, like David, the Lord is my shepherd and He's our great shepherd. The one who cares for us protects us, the one who lead, who leads us. And after we're saved, we want to follow the one who has, who is our shepherd. So the Lord Jesus said, my sheep, hear my voice.
And I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Maybe just say a word on that that too. But another thing we learn from this is the eternal security of the believer, as I just quoted. When we have eternal life, when we're given that life from the shepherd as a result of the death, and his his death and his shedding of his blood, then we have security and don't let someone come along and tell you.
That if you sin, you're going to lose your salvation and you have to be saved all over again. There's a no, once we're saved, that's it. Now again, like I said, we're moving very, very quickly. But I want to talk about these two towers that we have here. And again, we have them in the first verse of our chapter where we read we have the tower Mia and the tower Hananel. And so these towers are very significant now.
As we often say, names in Scripture often have a great significance. I don't pay perhaps particular attention to names as they appear in the word of God, but there are some that, shall I say jump off the page. Just a little warning, don't try to force the meaning of a name into something. Sometimes I think we get fanciful and make applications that are way off by trying to force the meaning of a name into some line of truth.
However, there are names that I believe, as I say, they kind of jump off the page and you can see in the context that it real, it has real significance. And I believe you have this with these two, These two towers. Just mention this too, that with the sheep gate and with these two towers, they really didn't need to be repaired, they had to rebuild them. But it doesn't say they repaired them. Why? Because while we need to always go back and rest on the work of the Lord Jesus.
00:45:11
Go back to the sheep gate, so to speak. The work of the Lord Jesus is completely accomplished.
OK. There's nothing to be added to the work that the Lord Jesus as the Good Shepherd accomplished on the cross. And we're going to see to that These two towers, there was nothing. There's there's there's, as it were, no repair. Again, we have to go back and consider these things perhaps rebuild in in a sense, but we're going to see that they are complete in themselves. The tower Mia.
Uh, is the it's It's actually still the Arabic word for 100.
I've I've been to Arab kind. I've been to Egypt and they tell me that it's still the the it's the Arabic word for 100 Now you say what is the the significance of that the the number 100 in scripture always denotes complete salvation. I'm going to give you a cup, a few examples. You remember when Abraham, when Isaac was born Abraham was 100 years of of age. It's a beautiful picture of God the father.
And God the Son and we find it in in Luke and I'm sorry in Genesis chapter 22, where Isaac was taken by his father and though he wasn't slain in tight, he became He's a picture of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. Summed up in the words of first John chapter 4. The Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world. You remember there was a net cast into the sea by the disciples that the word of the Lord Jesus.
And when they pulled that net, there was great fishes in that net and there was 150 and three. Now the big numbers in Scripture you have to break down numbers are significant. But 100 denotes complete salvation, 50 is Pentecost when the Christian the church was formed and the Christian age began. And three is usually a picture of death and resurrection. So you have complete salvation.
The beginnings of Christianity based on the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. You remember the story of the of the lost sheep. There were 100 sheep. The shepherd lost one. He only had 90 and 9 and he went out to to find the one that was lost. When the sower went out to sow. When the harvest came, they reached some some 30 fold, some 60 fold and a complete bumper crop was a.
100 fold. Now I've brought a little object lesson with me. I'm going to tell you, give you a little illustration and tell you what I have here.
This is a set of Muslim prayer beads and on a set of Muslim prayer beads there are only 99 beads because in the Quran, which is the Muslim Bible so to speak, there are 99 and only 99 names for the Muslim God.
But so they have 99 names now. You can look at this later, but it's divided into three sets of 33. And a devout Muslim man will go over these beads and recite 33 of names of his God every day. If he's really devote devote, he will do 66. And if he really wants a place, better place in the next life, he will go over the 99 names of his God.
Every day and finger these beats the women don't do it because they're not going to get a better place anyway. There's no equality that way in uh under Islamic uh religion. But it's very interesting to me now you can buy a set of these in a in a Muslim country. This is a cheap set that uh a young brother negotiated at the uh bargain for at the uh bizarre for me one day but you can get these right up to semi precious stones and you see the man in the cafes uh and.
Sitting on the street corners and they're going over and reciting the 99 names of their God. You know, it's interesting how clever Satan is. Satan always comes along with false religion and mixes what is true with false. Satan is the great imitator. And so, as the Christians over in those countries tell me they there's no salvation for a Muslim with Knights, only 99 names of his God.
00:50:07
And they tell me that the one name or characteristics they do not know God by.
Is a God of love. If they did, they'd have 100 beads and they'd have salvation. But it's just very interesting to me how clever Satan is. So 100, the tower Mia denotes complete salvation. I'll just say this, if there's someone here this morning and you're not saved, the way of blessing is open for you. And when we take up these towers, and there's several of them, I think of the verse in Proverbs that says the Lord is a strong tower.
The Righteous runneth into it and is safe. You know there's judgment coming on this world, and I believe it's very soon.
Because the coming of the Lord is drawing near to take the true Christians out. And then there's judgment coming on this world, as well as eternal judgment in the lake of fire. And so it's very important that you have gone to the tower, being the Lord Jesus, that safe tower, and that you have received a full salvation. So that's the the first tower, but then there was another tower and that tower.
Hannah Hananel That tower means the grace of God.
Because we wanna make it very clear that it is only by the grace of God that you and I are saved and that you and I are blessed in our Christian life. So in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse eight it tells us by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. So as soon as we have the Sheep gate based on the work of the Good Shepherd, as soon as we have the Tower Mia, Speaking of complete salvation.
Then he immediately brings before us this second tower to remind us that it is only the grace of God.
But young people, not just the grace of God that saves us, but let's go to a verse in Titus.
Chapter 2.
Titus, Chapter 2.
And verse 11 For the grace of God, that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. And then I want you to notice this next verse teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. So we've been we're talking about practical holiness, practical separation from the world. What is it that's going to teach us how to live in this world?
In that way, it is the grace of God. So it's not only the grace of God that saves us.
But grace is a teacher, and grace teaches us first to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. So the grace of God teaches us as we go through the word of God, of course, which is the standard. The grace of God teaches us what is unholy, unacceptable to God, what is unacceptable to the Lord Jesus. That's the negative. But then it also teaches us the positive. It teaches us how to live soberly, righteously, and godly when.
In this present world are present age.
Because I think sometimes, especially when we're younger, we think again. Well, you know, it's all right for the older brothers to talk about practical sanctification and holiness and not living a worldly life and so on, but they don't understand what it is in this present age. They lived back a few years. They were young people a few years ago, and they don't understand what we're facing today. But Titus was told that Grace teaches him these things.
Right at the present time.
And so it doesn't matter whether it was back in Nehemiah's day, whether it was back in the days when Paul was writing to Titus, whether it was in the days in the 1800s when those brethren became exercised about certain things, or whether it was our fathers or grandfathers when they were young. But right now, where we live, right here in the year 2019, I guess it is.
I have to think about that one.
Umm. We can live in this way. Grace can still teach us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. And if the day gets ever gets so morally dark and corrupt that you and I can't live for God's glory in this world with the resources that God has provided in Christ, then the Lord will take us out. But as long as we're here, grace will teach us and grace will preserve us. But you say, boy, we're gonna we need a lot of grace. Let's before we close, let's quickly connect.
00:55:27
3 Scriptures in connection with grace, first of all in John's Gospel, chapter one.
John's Gospel, Chapter One.
And verse 16.
And of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace or grace upon grace. So I want to point out here that this grace is available to every believer here this morning. It doesn't matter if you've been saved for one day, if you've been saved for 10 years, if you were saved as a very young child. Some of us who are older here have been saved for many years.
But everyone of us here have grace at our disposal, grace that not only saved us, but the grace of God that teaches us and preserves us in the path of faith and young people. You'll find if the Lord leaves us here as you get older, you'll find that you can't live without availing yourself of the grace of God every day, and if there's been any desire in your heart and mind so far in our Christian life.
To follow the Lord, it's no credit to ourselves. It's God that has worked in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And it's no credit to me. It's no credit to you. It's only the grace of God. But you say, well, that's OK, but what about the situations I face? Let's go to 2nd Corinthians, chapter 12. You say, Jim, you don't understand what I'm going through at school or work or in my family situation.
It's alright to talk about the grace of God, but let's notice what the Apostle Paul says further on this subject in second.
Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 9.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in weakness. You know, Paul didn't have an easy life. He had a lot of problems and difficulties opposition from the enemy as he traveled and preached the gospel and ministered to the people of God. He had no doubt some physical malady, something that in this chapter, if you rate read the context, he prayed three times that the Lord would remove.
The Lord said, no, Paul, I'm not going to remove it, but whatever I allow in your life, I'm going to give you the sufficient grace to get through it. So whatever you're going through in your life, whether it's physical, whether it's.
In a practical way, whether it's some problem or difficulty, whether it's something you're feeling as a spiritual opposition from the enemy, the grace of God is is sufficient for you. It's all that you need to get through the situation.
But let's take this one step further and go to the book of James.
Chapter 4.
James, Chapter 4.
And the first part of verse 6.
But he give us more grace. So again, we've all of all we received of his fullness and grace. For upon grace, it's it's available to every believer. It's all we need. But maybe the trials get a little more difficult. Maybe you say again, it just seems like every day things are mounting up against me. He gives more grace. Do we need more grace for this? The trial today, for the situation that we are facing now, he's going to give more grace. So I just want to point out that it's the grace of God that saves us. It's the grace of God that preserves us. And if we need more grace, He gives more grace. I'll just mention in passing our time is gone.
That when we fail, when we when sin comes into our lives, it's the grace of God that restores us. And His restoring grace is as sufficient as His saving and preserving grace. So we've moved very quickly. As I say again, I'm just trying to give a very brief outline and the two meetings that follow, we're gonna have to move very quickly as well.