In the sermon titled "Put Your Shoulder to the Work," Scott Brown discusses the communal and spiritual rebuilding efforts detailed in Nehemiah Chapter 3. The chapter is a mirror for modern believers, encouraging them to evaluate their passion and participation in the work of God. The sermon emphasizes the importance of unity, as illustrated by the repeated phrase "next to him," and highlights the diversity of those contributing to the work, including goldsmiths, perfumers, and even daughters. Brown draws parallels between the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls and the spiritual restoration in our lives, urging believers to put their shoulder to the work of rebuilding God's kingdom. The sermon also explores the symbolic meanings of the various gates, such as the Sheep Gate representing the sacrificial work of Christ, and the Water Gate illustrating the importance of careful and zealous work. Brown encourages the congregation to engage in family worship, community activities, and personal spiritual growth, reminding them that the beginning and end of all efforts is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

If you would turn to Nehemiah 3 and follow along in your copy of the scriptures, we'll be reading from verse 1 to the end of the chapter. Chapter 3 verse 1, Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests and built the sheep gate. They consecrated it and hung its doors. They built as far as the Tower of the Hundred and consecrated it, then as far as the Tower of Hananel. Next to Eliashib the men of Jericho built, and next to them, Zachor, the son of Imri built.

Also, the sons of Hassanah built the fish gate. They laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and bars. And next to them, Mirimoth, the son of Urija, the son of Chaz, made repairs. Next to them, Meshulam, the son of Barakaiah, the son of Meshezabel, made repairs. Next to them, Zadok, the son of Baanah, made repairs.

Next to them, the Tekoites made repairs. But their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work of the Lord. Moreover, Jehoiada, the son of Paschiah, and Meshulam, the son of Besediah, repaired the old gate. They laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and bars. And next to them, Melitiah, the Gibeonite, Jaden, the Maranathite, the men of Gibeon and Mizpah, repaired the residence of the governor of the region beyond the river.

Next to him, Uziel, the son of Harahaya, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. Also, next to him, Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs, and they fortified Jerusalem as far as the broad wall. And next to them, Rephiah, the son of Her, leader of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs. Next to them, Judiah, the son of Haremath, made repairs in front of his house, and next to him, Hattush, the son of Hashpeniah, made repairs. Malkijah, the son of Harem, and Hashab, the sons of Pehath-Moab, repaired another section as well as the Tower of the Ovens.

And next to him was Shalom, the son of Halohesh, leader of half the district of Jerusalem. He and his daughters made repairs. Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoa repaired the valley gate. They built it, hung its doors with its bolts and bars, and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall as far as the refuse gate. Malkijah, the son of Ricab, leader of the district of Beth-Hakerem, repaired the Refuse Gate.

He built it and hung its doors with its bolts and bars. Shaolin, the son of Kol Hosea, leader of the district of Mizpah, repaired the fountain gate. He built it, covered it, hung its doors with its bolts and bars, and repaired the wall of the Pool of Shele by the King's gardens, as far as the stairs that go down from the city of David. After him, Nehemiah, the son of Asbuk, leader of half the district of Beth-zur, made repairs as far as the place in front of the tombs of David, to the man-made pool, and as far as the house of the mighty. After him the Levites under Rehim, the son of Bonny, made repairs.

Next to him Hashabiah, leader of half the district of Kala, made repairs for his district. After him their brethren under Bavai, the son of Henedad, leader of the other half of the district of Kaliah, made repairs. And next to him, Ezir, the son of Jeshua, the leader of Mizpah, repaired another section in front of the ascent to the armory at the buttress. After him, Baruch, the son of Zeba'ih, carefully repaired the other section, from the buttress to the door of the house of Eliashib, the high priest. After him, Miramoth, the son of Uriah, the son of Chaz, repaired another section, from the door of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house of Eliashib.

And After him, the priests, the men of the plain, made repairs. After him, Benjamin and Hashem made repairs opposite their house. After them, Azariah, the son of Masiah, the son of Ananiah, made repairs by his house. After him, Benui, the son of Hinnadad, repaired another section from the house of Azariah to the buttress even as far as the corner. Palal, the son of Uzai, made repairs opposite the buttress, and on the tower, which projects from the king's upper house that was by the court of the prison.

After him, Padaya, the son of Pairosh, made repairs. Moreover, the nethonym, who dwelt in Ophel, made repairs as far as the place in front of the water gate toward the east and on the projecting tower. After them the techoites repaired another section next to the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel. Beyond the horse gate, the priests made repairs, each in front of his own house. After them, Zadok, the son of Emmer, made repairs in front of his own house.

After him, Shemaiah, the son of Shekiniah, the keeper of the east gate, made repairs. After him, Hananiah, the son of Shilamiah, and Hanan, the sixth son of Zalath, repaired another section. After him, Meshulam, the son of Barakiah, made repairs in front of his dwelling. After him, Malkijah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the nethanyim and of the merchants, in front of the mithkad gate, as far as the upper room at the corner as far as the sheep gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants made repairs. Let's pray.

Lord God we come before you on this beautiful Lord's Day thanking you that you have given us a day of rest and a day of worship. Thank you God for bringing us together to be united together in the work that you have called us to. Help us Lord as you empower our elder as he preaches to us and gives us your word help us Lord to learn from it to see this example for us And may we turn to you for strength to do the work that you've given each of us to do, some of us a little, some of us a lot. Help us Lord to all be faithful to do this work and complete it for your glory. In Christ's name we pray.

Thank you Robert. That was a long reading. Every word of God is pure, and there's something there for all of us, and I'm grateful for ears to hear such a long passage. Well, I pray that this chapter will be a mirror for us to help us to see ourselves and to particularly to check ourselves regarding our own passion and participation in the rebuilding of the kingdom of God in our own community and on our own homes and here in in Nehemiah chapter 3 and the entire book the Old Testament Church was being rebuilt in the midst of its ruins and And even at the this moment here sitting in this church, that very same thing is happening. We're rebuilding from the ruins of our lives.

The Word of God is the healing, rebuilding source of life for us. And it comes through the power of the Spirit of God through the Word of God and We're being rebuilt even now as we sing as we pray as we fellowship together as we take the Lord's Supper all these are means of the rebuilding of our lives that God has given us and in many ways the Sabbath day is a very intensive wall-building experience in our lives as we come and bring our lives under the the authority of the Word of God and among the fellowship of the saints. And so there are lessons here that we can learn from the Church in the days of Nehemiah. And I think one of the great messages of this chapter is this, put your shoulder to the work. It's a great opportunity for us to ask ourselves, have I let my zeal for any part of the work of rebuilding the worship of God in my life, in my home, or even your involvement in our church or anywhere else, you know, are you at that great task?

And are there any ways that you've kind of got your vehicle stuck in the mud and you need to put your shoulder to the work. You remember that Aesop's fable, there's a man with an ox cart and he's going along the way and it's muddy and his ox cart drops into the mud all the way down to the axle and he starts to pray to Hercules and he's praying violently to Hercules and Hercules finally says put your shoulder to the wheel in other words do something And I pray that this text will help us all I mean I I pray that even it might be Not a discouragement But an encouragement to weary mamas who are juggling umpteen children and they're exhausted and they don't want to hear another message about put your wheel back to the cart, you know, I have I have a lot of tender mercies toward mamas who are trying to raise their children and the exhaustion and The discouragement that often happens. So I really don't want to do that to you today I want this to be an encouragement is it possible that I could say put your shoulder to the wheel and it wouldn't just discourage you and say oh I'm just gonna give up you know here here we are you know being told this again so but there I think there are really many lessons about putting our shoulders to the wheel and evaluating, you know, the passion with which our shoulders are to the wheel of the rebuilding and the kingdom of heaven.

I think we should ask that question about family worship. Am I on it? Do I have great passion for it? Is my shoulder to the work or is it kind of lagging behind? Or how about even Sunday worship as we gather together?

Or even the doctrinal studies that we're going through in our church you know is your shoulder to the wheel are you on it are you are you taking in the things that the that the elders have really designed would be right for this church the catechism that we're doing on Sunday morning or Sunday afternoon the men's Bible study Wednesday evening prayer the women's mentoring that goes on once a month Our works and missions and the abortion ministry and senior citizen homes those things you know, I think we should just ask is my shoulder to the wheel or is it kind of lightly on the wheel or am I just crying out to God and I'm not doing anything about it and and so I really pray that we're able to see this passage to help us squeeze every ounce of good out of every means of rebuilding our lives we possibly can now Nehemiah is a living picture of Colossians chapter 3 verse 17 which says and whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus and verse 23 and whatever you do do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men and like like Solomon said in Ecclesiastes chapter 9 verse 10 whatever you do do it with all your might that's really the message that's here and so this chapter illustrates how a United Church Can rebuild worship and holiness in their homes and in their cities and it's a it's really a fulfillment of Jesus Words I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it because God God builds his church in the midst of some of the most hopeless times amidst some of the most adverse conditions and he does it through some of the most diverse and untrained people and that's what you find in this passage of scripture here and the Lord Jesus Christ desires to establish places of worship so that he could gather his saints together to rebuild them Thomas Watson said Christ is not content till all the saints are in his arms and he brings the saints into his arms through the means of grace that he gives his church and that he gives also in families.

And so I want to give you seven introductory facts about this chapter. I'm going to go very quickly here. But the first thing I want you to see about this chapter is that chapter three really begins a completely new section in Nehemiah. And that is the section that focuses on the actual building of the wall. In the first chapter, Nehemiah is crying out to God.

He's crying out to God for maybe five months, three to five months. He goes before Artaxerxes, and Artaxerxes gives him resources to make the 1250 mile trip back to Jerusalem. He makes that trip back, he inspects the city in chapter 2 And he urges the people to rise up and build and they say let's rise up and build and now in chapter 3 they're actually building. So in this new section from chapter 3 through chapter 7 verse 73 is this new section now Chapter 3 is like a summary statement of 4 5 & 6 You're gonna see this beautiful really encouraging picture of what is happening in chapter 3 but in 4 5 & 6 you see that there was an awful lot of trouble that came in the midst of this really discouraging picture and isn't isn't life like that God's doing really remarkable things in your life but you look and you think Lord there's so much trouble but then you say Lord look what you're doing and God does so much in us through the trouble that he sends us and and chapter 3 gives us I think the encouraging snapshot and 4 5 & 6 Show you the trouble that took place in these people's lives The second fact is the fact of archaeology.

Most people believe these walls were eight feet thick, and there are two views of how many feet of wall was being repaired here. One view is that the perimeter of the city was about two and a half miles and 220 acres enclosed. A second view, which I more lean to, seems to me the better view maintains that the wall was under two miles and approximately 90 acres enclosed and the smaller city encloses the temple mount of the city of King David it's a smaller footprint than you find in the New Testament era particularly Herod Rebuilds it all to remarkable grandeur and Expands it so I think the smaller footprint is the footprint we're dealing with and number three There are 42 sections being repaired in this chapter and there are 40 groups of people and as we'll see some build some don't most do some do more than one section and number four the fourth fact is that the gates have a typological meaning Jerusalem and its walls are types of the church and the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, they typify the worship of the people of God and the security of the people of God.

The underlying message is that Jesus Christ and his body come and are nourished through the worship of God Almighty, and as a result of their worship they are repaired. The word repaired appears over and over and over and over again in this passage. The fifth fact is that there's an often repeated phrase next to him. They were side by side in the work, and they were coordinated in the work shoulder to shoulder. And you notice these words, next to him, they are connected.

It makes me think of the song about the valley of the dry bones that comes out of Ezekiel 37 the toe bone is connected to the foot bone the foot bones connected to the ankle bone well they're connected they are next to each other and they're working alongside one another think of it this way kids Think of think of the work like this Imagine if all of our properties were put together All in a perimeter wall like that and we were all working on our part of the wall and there would be work going on all around the city that's what's happening there's there's work happening in every single part of the city it's amazing and it's a work of the kingdom of god now Now, God has us scattered in different parts of these cities here, and he's designed that his work goes on there, that we're actually working in the city to repair the worship of God, beginning at our homes, and then when we all come together and gather here, were in this process of repairing and so and so they were they were next to one another they were connected to one another and there were the sixth fact is that they started with rubble God always starts with rubble life is like that And you know you can imagine all the things that are maybe around your house that need to be repaired.

And this is what God does. He comes to the things that need to be repaired and he brings them back to health again. God loves to breathe new life into what's broken and he always begins with rubble. He always begins with difficulty and downfall and the results of sin. And God is so kind to start with rubble.

He starts with sinners. He didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And the seventh fact is that it took 52 days to complete this wall. We learned that in Nehemiah 6 verse 15. And so in this 52 day cycle they finished the project.

Now one of the interesting things about this passage is that it shows this short-term push of the Jewish church to repair its walls there are particular things that we do in short increments to repair to repair the walls of worship in our lives and even Even today today is the Sabbath day This is a short-term push our whole desire is to is to redelight ourselves in the Lord and This day is set aside for that. It's a dedicated Season of time even Even the way that we're doing our preaching here in this church, we're in the Book of Nehemiah. It's kind of a short-term window. We want to make a deposit. Whenever we tackle a subject or a book, we're taking this short-term zone and we want everybody to get in that zone and and absorb it the best they can to really understand it and how they might live by it and You know as we consider the things that we teach here We're praying about what would be the most beneficial and we want everybody to be totally engaged in it.

That's why we send an email out at the beginning of the week saying, here's what we're going to study. This is why we study it on Monday. This is why we pray about it on Wednesday. We want the whole church to be focused on this short-term effort to inculcate ourselves in the Word of God. Well the rebuilding of this wall is kind of like that.

52 days. You know if we designed some kind of 52 day project, you can imagine the focus and the energy that would be directed at that. Well we want that same kind of energy directed to many of the things that we do here as well. Now, there's something to learn at each gate on the wall, and you have an outline in front of you, and you'll see the things that I plan to identify in the next few minutes. There's something to learn from each gate on the wall.

And we first come to the sheep gate in verses 1 & 2. And what do we learn? That the work was holy and consecrated work. And The priests Repaired the sheep gate and they consecrated it's the only place that we read that was quote-unquote Consecrated or made holy they dedicated it they prayed about it. They realized that it was that it was holy work and they they did not realize I'm sure that Jesus Christ the Lamb of God would enter into the sheep gate to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane and the soldiers would come and they would arrest him and they would take him back out of that gate to be before the Sanhedrin and I think this gate is is is the pivotal gate the sheep gate is where it all begins and where it all ends behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world the sheep gate was the place where the where the sacrificial lambs were brought into the city to go into the temple and to serve as a sacrifice for sin and the meaning of the sheep gate is the offering of the Son of God as a sacrifice for sin and Everything that moved through the sheep gate was bound for the shedding of blood and of death And so the Sheep Gate just reminds us of the shed blood of Jesus Christ for our sins.

And the priests consecrate it. They declare it holy in the same way that the body of Jesus Christ is a consecrated body doing holy work. The church is set apart and holy for the work of God in the world. And I think we should recognize that our work in rebuilding worship is a holy work. It's the most important work and it must be a separate work and and and very very special one interesting thing about these two verses here is that You notice that some people traveled from out of town to help.

There are some men from Jericho who came in to help. That was 17 miles away, a day's journey. It takes them a whole day to walk to get there. And that happens when you're rebuilding. There are people that come from afar to help and participate in the work as the men of Jericho Did and so as as you're doing such a consecrated and holy work You remember be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

And then we come to the fish gate in verses 3 through 5, And we learn from the fish gate that some refused to work. And you look at verse 5, next to them, the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work. And we find here that some would not work. They did not throw their lives in it. If you don't put your shoulder to the work, it means that you're not putting your heart and your soul and your life into the work you're holding back.

Now, in this really, really encouraging chapter, here you have this dark cloud hanging over the chapter. Maybe it's the only dark cloud in the whole chapter it's really it's really such an encouraging testimony that's here but but you find these nobles who really weren't all that noble and they refuse to serve the Lord and there there will always be those in the visible church who don't have a heart to do the work it isn't in them they don't have any energy for it they have they have energy to do all kinds of Other things we learn laters that the techoites doubled up and repaired another part of the wall later on in the chapter but we don't know if they were too busy or too proud or Too worldly to be about these things They were probably very busy, but not about the right things. But their hearts really didn't have a passion to do the work. And this just shows us the visible church is always mixed. There are those who will identify with the church, but they really have no heart to throw themselves into the into the work of the church and You know when the Lord through the elders says you know let's study this let's you know they don't go after it or let's go let's go shore this up let's go do that they don't they just they have no heart for it and they actually are takers in a church And they can live comfortably for a while anyway, but they're takers because they've never really become partakers of the grace of God.

And so they don't have a heart for the work. And as a result, they're not steadfast and immovable. They're not always abounding in the work of the Lord because they feel this kind of work is just a labor in vain. So then after after this this gate where we find people who did not work, we go to the Old Gate and we learn from the Old Gate in verses 6 through 12 that there is a diverse people who did the work. Now look at verse 8, very interesting.

Next to him was Hananiah, one of the perfumers made repairs and they fortified Jerusalem as far as the broad wall. And here in this passage you have various kinds of people. You have perfumers and merchants and goldsmiths that are identified who are working on this wall. And here's what we learned. The work just didn't go to the professionals.

There were people who were working on this wall who were not trained in the work, but they pitched in and they were effective and they helped get the work done. And you know the Lord blesses people like this who are willing they they want to do what the Lord wants them to do even though it takes them a little bit out of their comfort zone it takes them into a region there they're just not used to you know I don't know what a perfumer is doing moving rocks, but that's exactly what was happening. And they were sort of out of their element. And it's important that we can be taken out of our element to really do the work of the Lord. And God anoints it.

You remember in Acts chapter 4, when there was this scene where the people saw the boldness of Peter they saw how how powerful their ministry was but then they and they they recognized that they were uneducated men, but they'd been with Jesus and because of that they were effective at their work. If you're with Jesus there's a whole lot of things you can do and I think that's what we see here and and then you so you see this diverse group of people even though they were out of their element I I think they fit what first Corinthians 15 58 says that they were steadfast Immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord and they knew that their labor was not in vain Any work to build the kingdom is not a labor in vain and then Also in the same set of verses you find this father and his daughters. I really like this We learn here that families of all shapes and sizes Worked here, so you've got this father Apparently all he has her daughters. Well. It's either that or the boys were out playing video games or something I don't know but but here Specifically this man has daughters, you know, I you know I know some of you that you all you all you only have daughters What a blessing that is I had mostly daughters and I'm so glad I did that the Lord did that.

You know the the the Old and the New Testament is just full of godly women who were indispensable to the blessing of the work of God who were fellow labors in the gospel as we read about in Philippians chapter 4 verse 3 But here here in Nehemiah you have these powerhouse daughters who are not afraid to work they have no barriers there they're going after it just like the rest of the men realize this was this was rough work they're they're carrying big rocks and placing them in in their locations in order to repair these walls and It was mainly a work of repair so they're broken down and it's a total mess You know and there these daughters are you know really going after it? I like to think of it as daughters with power tools. You know It's such a blessing to see that. And I think you see all throughout this, all these pictures of the New Testament Church, of the different kinds of people that God engages in His work. In 1 Corinthians 12 verse 4, Paul says, there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit.

There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. In verse 12, Paul says, for as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. And you know, I think this passage is really a picture of all the all the passages of scripture in the New Testament about the body of Jesus Christ. The diversity of gifts in the body of Christ. The fact that every person is indispensable.

That the hand can't say to the eye, I don't need you. We need one another to work and and here God prepared this this family with just daughters and I think it tells us you know that families of all shapes and sizes fit into the kingdom of God whether you're single or married whether you're young or Old whether you're male or female you can engage in the work of building the kingdom of God and So there were families of all shapes and sizes and they were steadfast immovable Always abounding in the work of the Lord because they believed that that kind of labor was not in vain And then number four the valley gate we we find in verses 13 and 14 and what we learn here is that some did an enormous amount of work and here we have in verse 13 a Hanan and the inhabitants of Zenoah they repaired the valley gate and they built it and hung its doors with bolts and bars and they repaired a thousand cubits of the wall as far as the refuse gate And so here we find this testimony that there are different capacities of people.

We shouldn't expect the exact same thing from every person in the church. If you do, by the way, you'll become bitter really quick. Because God gives different ministries and different effects and here we find a remarkably powerful effect in that they were able to repair a thousand cubits of the wall and you know God God puts Seemly and unseemly members weak and strong members together and you know what we should rejoice in that Often, you know people Have a they develop a bad attitude towards someone because maybe they don't do what they do and it's inappropriate. And there are, sometimes people do less because of sin. But sometimes people do less because God has appointed them to do less and we need to recognize that Every Christian has a part in rebuilding the walls and we build according to the gifts and the resources that God has given us.

And we should be asking ourselves, what has God given me? And am I using it for the most that I can? In 1st Peter chapter 4 verse 11, Peter says, if anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers to him, let him do it as with the ability that God supplies. So you do the work according to the ability that God supplies you out of the wellsprings of your heart.

And he follows it up with this. He says that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. And so we should never despise the work that people do that comes from the strength that God supplies. So some did an enormous amount of work and they were steadfast and immovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord." And then the fifth gate, or the fifth, is the refuse gate in verse 14. And We learned that it was work that made way for cleansing.

And here is, the Refuse Gate or the Dung Gate is the place where the garbage and the other defiled material was taken out of the city to be burned in the Valley of Hinnom. And that was a stinking place. And so the, you know, the stink and the smell of sin and all is being discarded I think that perhaps The meaning of this gate is related to sin which rots your heart and your mind. And I think the symbolic meaning of this is just that we must work on mortifying the flesh of taking out the garbage. In the same way that the Jews used to spread leaven on their floors in their houses, leaven signifying sin and then they would sweep it up and they would take it out and they would burn it.

That's what every family should be doing every day, sweep up that sin and take it out, identify it and get rid of it. Empty the sin and that happens through prayer and confession and through the discipline of the Lord. But some worked on the place where the filth was taken out of the city. Maybe not the most glamorous place to work, but a really, really important place to work. You know, there's no, there's really no rebuilding of your life unless you look at the unglamorous part of your life.

And you confess it, meaning you say the same thing that God says about it and you take it out and in the sixth stop here is the fountain gate in verse 15 And we learn that they they work to restore the gentle waters of Shiloh. I love this verse here and They repaired the fountain gate he built it and covered it and hung its doors with its bolts and bars and repaired the wall of the pool of Sheila, which is also translated Shiloha, by the king's garden as far as the stairs that go down from the city of David. Now, the Fountain Gate is the same location of the pool of Siloam, where Jesus healed that blind man and put the mud in his eyes. And in John chapter 7 verse 9, you know, Jesus puts the mud in his eyes and then go asks him to wash in the pool and And so it's a picture of the living waters that flow in the heart of the believer to to heal and to comfort him and You know the Lord Jesus Christ in John 7 He said he who believes in me as the scripture said out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water." And so they were repairing that.

Now, this is a subject that was brought up, first of all, in the book of Genesis. If you find Genesis 49 verse 10, you'll find Jacob, he's prophesying over the blessing of his son Judah the year is about 1600 BC 1200 years before these people go and they repair this place, Jacob spoke of it. And he said this, he said, Judah is a lion's whelp. He's talking about his son Judah. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloha comes and To him shall be the obedience of the people now he Jacobs in 1600 BC was prophesying of the coming of Jesus Christ of the waters of life that out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water and and then even 200 years before Nehemiah at around 700 BC in the days of Isaiah.

In Isaiah 8 we've run across this very same location. And Isaiah is lamenting the people of Judah because they refused the waters of Shiloh they want instead of instead of the quiet and waters of Shiloh they they really they want the the worship of Assyria They want the world and so and so Isaiah says this The Lord spoke to me saying inasmuch as these people refuse the waters of Shiloh that flow softly And they rejoice in resin and Romali his son they they wanted the world not not these waters of Shiloh that flow softly you know Jesus said I'm gentle and humble and hard and you'll find rest for your souls. It's such a tragedy to refuse the waters of Shiloha. But here, they're not refusing the waters of Shiloha. They're repairing the waters of Shiloha.

It's such a beautiful thing. One step away from Jesus Christ, about a little over 400 years later, when He will come. And I just think it should help us to ask, are we refusing the soft waters of Shiloha for the hard water of this world That that might look so good on the surface, but it isn't really so some work to restore the waters of Shiloh that ran softly And thankfully they were they were steadfast and immovable and they were always abounding in the word of the Lord There's nothing more wonderful that you can do than to restore the soft waters of Shiloh in your house that the kingdom of heaven is is so seen as the sweetest and most gentle and beautiful thing in the eyes of your children but it has to be that way in your eyes first or probably won't be in anybody else And then the seventh stop we make is the Water Gate in verses 16 through 26. And here we learn that some worked carefully and zealously. Look at verse 20.

After him, the son of Zebi carefully repaired the other section from the buttress to the door of the house of Elias Shib the high priest now this word carefully And it has a double it carries two buckets of water in it It's it's it's it's the it's the precision and care of the work, and it also is the zeal For the work at all The word can mean hot and furious, you know, a passion for the work, but that passion created an attention to the detail to really do it right, to really finish it and make it good, to take the time to really repair it beautifully and and they they were the kind of people that just went after the work with their whole hearts you know it's it's possible that some of the people in some of the other sections Didn't repair their part of the wall with the same zeal. We don't know but we know that these stood out in their zeal and You know when you think about your your work as a mama or your think your work as a father or a young man or a young woman?

You know, do you have zeal? Do you take time to take care of the work of the rebuilding of the worship of God in your life? Are you taking the time in the morning? Are you taking the time in family worship? And do you place proper priority in the worship of God and the discipleship that goes on in a local church to rebuild these walls do you have passion are you hot-hearted toward it or is it just kind of a shoulder shrugger for you if it's a shoulder shrugger well you can you can make your way back from that but but here we find that that that some work extra zealously and they were extra steadfast and extra immovable and extra abounding in the work of the Lord.

And they really, they did not believe that their work was in vain. And then the eighth stop is the horse gate, verses 27 through 32. And we learn that many worked in front of their own houses this phrase pops up all through this narrative but you find this phrase each in front of his own house Isn't that interesting that they're they're called to deal with the realm that God has given them and They hear you find these families working together in front of their own houses, you know It's I think you could call it, you know, family integrated restoration. That's what it is. You know, the whole family is at work.

It's remarkable how many places in the Bible the whole family is involved. Remember when we were in Ezra chapter 10, there's this really riveting repentance of putting away their foreign wives and the children are right there in the middle of it They're seeing the whole thing unfold But here now they're involved in the repair of these walls and they're they're They're setting their own houses in order and fortifying the protections around their houses. And, you know, a whole family needs to work on these things together. There are so many threats to families, and so they need to band together as one man and set things Aright, you know you think about the attacks of the devil in a family the attacks of bitterness and impurity and worldliness and all these things and You know parents especially need to keep guard and make sure that the walls are secure and that they are they are being repaired these these families were were really ministry units some say that the horse gate was located next to the horse stables where the horses were kept which were tools of war. So there was a protective element of this part of the gate.

And then the ninth stop is the east gate. And in the East Gate in verses 29 through 30 we learn that not everyone in a particular family worked and we find here in verse 30 after him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaf repaired another section Where were the other sons? He was the sixth son was he the last son? We don't know but it doesn't seem like the other sons Were working He's possible that he's the only one in the family That worked the rest of his brothers did not help and the younger brother was a faithful brother And that often happens in a family where the Lord Jesus Christ divides a family and some have no heart for the work But maybe there's one or two that do think about your own family You know, can you see the configuration of your own family? Is your family mixed where you have some who have a great heart for the work and others don't seem to have it at all?

And that's a reality that almost every family faces. And what do you do about that? Cry out to God that God would bring life to all members of the family so that all could join in this rebuilding kind of a process fasting prayer patience loving instruction and all those things are so critical but some worked without the support of their families you know over the years you know you'll find a young person that comes and they're the only Christian in the family and they're really kind of alone in the church and they don't have the support of their families but they're steadfast they're immovable and they're always abounding in the work of the Lord because because it's God who's upholding them and then we find the tenth stop the mikvah gate to the sheep gate and What we learn here is that the repair begins and ends at the sheep gate and I think that's really significant About this narrative here and verses 31 and 32 we find ourselves back Back at the sheep gate. I don't know what Mick fad gate Really particularly symbolizes the word means to exercise oversight over a subordinate, But it's very difficult to know what this means.

I don't know really what it means, but what I what I do know is That is that it all Begins and ends with the Lamb of God with the sacrifice for sin that's really the heart of the matter of rebuilding your life and finding yourself being repaired is to turn to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So there's a walk through the gates. We know what do you learn from these gates? Well, there are a few things that we learn anyway. Let me just give a few applications to all of this.

Now there are many, many places in the New Testament that I'm gonna call landing pages for what we see in this narrative. There, this passage is interpreted in many places and primarily the interpretation is that the church is the body of Jesus Christ and it's meant to function together Side by side with its various gifts and I'm just going to point out very quickly some of the passages That I know you're you're familiar with and you can look at them more in more detail later if you'd like but in Romans chapter 12 verses 3 through 6 The Apostle Paul says many things one thing he says is don't just sit there exercise your gifts. He says He says let us think soberly as God has dealt each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function. So we being many, many are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another, having gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us And he says whatever gift you have do it with all your heart with liberality The same way that we see that operating With the people in the days of Nehemiah the second passage is Philippians 2 verse 2 where he says fulfill my joy by being like-minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind let nothing be done through selfish Ambition or conceit but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself Let each of you look out not only for your own interests But also for the interests of others be of one mind this this idea of unity is Pivotal in interpreting this passage of scripture you can go to John 17 where Jesus says I pray that they might be one You can go to Acts chapter 1 verse 14 2 verse 1 2 verse 46 4 verse 24 and 512 and other places where the people of God they work together in one accord they worked in one accord this whole matter of the unity of the body of Christ and then thirdly Be not not just unity, but care be careful Be careful what you use to build.

Be careful what you build in this world. In 1 Corinthians 3 verses 9 through 10, the apostle Paul says, he says that, I planted but Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. And he speaks of this, the value of the various ministries. But then he says, he says, Take heed How you build upon the foundation he says now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold silver and precious stones Wood hay and straw each one's work will become clear for the day We'll declare it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is and the third the third thing that this points to is that is that the temple is the body of Jesus Christ. This is the greatest type of the Old and the New Testament.

The tabernacle was the forerunner of the temple, but we learned very clearly from the mouth of Jesus in John 2 verse 21 that the temple prefigured the body of Jesus Christ. When Jesus said, tear down this temple and in three days I will raise it up, he said, he, this he said of his body. This he said of his body. Because the body, the body of Jesus Christ is typified in the temple and we are the body of Christ. And so the first thing that I'd like to help us think about in terms of applying this is just recognize that there are many landing pages for this narrative in the New Testament and they all have to do with the unity and the energy and the love and the multiplicity of giftedness and the different kinds of people that are there and it's it's really about how people come together and they bind themselves together in love and they build together.

That's a great application from this. And then the second application is this. Rebuild with all your might. Rebuild with all your might. Put your shoulder to the wheel.

Put your shoulder to the wheel. There are many things that we're doing in this church to rebuild. We really encourage you to make your home a place where scripture is saturating your home. A place where the worship of God, the adoration, the love of God exists. We so pray that you'll build, build, build, build when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

And we want to, when we come together to continue the building process, as we gather on the Sabbath day, we sing together, we pray together, we relate with one another, we love one another, We're building together. Make sure you understand this is a building time. Give it your whole heart as we break after the services ended. Give the building your whole heart. Speak of the great things of God.

Don't just traffic into a bunch of trivialities, but speak of the greatness of God. Speak to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Teach one another through the good things that the Word of God has brought to you. We do many things to rebuild. You know, tonight we're going to come back.

We want to really fortify the doctrinal foundations of the people in our church. And we want people to put their whole shoulder to the wheel of that and really learn these things. After lunch, we're going to recite a catechism question. Put your shoulder to the wheel. Bring your children into this room.

And engage them in it. Don't be wandering around and that kind of thing. Come and put your shoulder to the wheel and give it your whole heart. Tomorrow morning, we're going to have men's Bible study. Put your shoulder to the wheel, give it your whole heart.

Come poised, ready for action. Get the juices of that passage of Scripture rolling in your heart, so that when you meditate on it through the week and then hear preaching on it, it just gels like it never did before. Don't come in cold Sunday morning. Let it percolate into your soul. Put your shoulder to the wheel.

Give it your whole heart. There are many things that we do like this. Our Wednesday night prayer time, the women's mentoring time, our missions activity, our time at the abortion ministry, the various things that happen at Carillon and all throughout the city. Let this be a church where the building takes place all week long, where if you put all of our houses together in a perimeter, all you would hear is building, and there would be the encouragement and the excitement. You would see the walls being repaired, and you'd look over at your brethren and say, whoa, look at what you did!

Because we're all building together. We're all existing in this city to rebuild what has been ruined. And then thirdly, rebuild next to your brethren. This is a picture of the body of Christ because you know because the head bone is connected to the neck bone and we're all connected together by Jesus Christ. This is a picture of the body of Christ and then finally the beginning and the end of everything is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Jesus Christ the head of the church who directs his church to be repaired, and He is the one we gather to celebrate and to worship. And our lives are really lived beholding His face and glorying in His glory and feeding at His table. And today we're given such a wonderful opportunity Because the body of Christ, it's a system of nerves that's all connected to the head. The church is the body of Christ, connected to the head. The life flows, the instruction flows from the head to the body.

And that's how the body can operate in unity. When that body is looking to the head, the head of the church, Jesus Christ, and he's the source of life, he's the authority, He's the one that brings the unity. And when the body has its focus on the head, then that body gets more and more lively, more and more loving, and as time passes they continue to increasingly put their shoulders to the work and they're steadfast and they're immovable And they're always abounding in the work of the Lord. May what we just read here in Nehemiah 3 be us, a picture of us. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for this remarkable scene With all of these people building around a two-mile perimeter of a city, O Lord, help us to be so vigorous in our building that we would restore worship in this city from house to house, from church to church. O Lord, that you would come to this city and you would give such a mighty rebuilding here in the place that we live Lord I do pray for for any who are weary Who are exhausted? But that you would refresh them that you would give them new energy for the work new joy and it that you would comfort them and that you would help them with the right hand of your righteousness and Lord for anyone who Doesn't have a heart for the work pray that you would save their souls and that you would give them a love for the things that are truly lovely And that they would turn to Jesus Christ The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world Amen Thank you.