We call the message Gatekeepers of Christ's Kingdom. Text is from First Chronicles chapter nine and verse 21. Zechariah, the son of Meshlemiah, was gatekeeper at the entrance of the tent of meeting. For some of you who may not know, as far as for First Chronicles, again, there's a reminder for those of you that do know, I want to make sure that you get the background of the book. It's called in Hebrew, which means the words of the days, which is really, Chronicles is a very good English translation for it, because Chronicle means a detailed narrative of historical facts or events. The authorship of this is probably, most scholars believe it was Ezra. Ezra, was that a priestly scribe who was part of rebuilding the temple. And so the writing of this would be between about 516 to 456 BC. And in 1 Chronicles, the perspective is different from what we saw in 1 and 2 Kings and even 1 and 2 Samuel. 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 King presents the prophetic perspective of man's failures and God intervening as such. But Chronicles presents a priestly perspective of God's faithfulness. First Chronicles brings us the lineage of David, which we'll see in just a few weeks. You know, this is why the lineage and the genealogies are flowing through, so that it could bring us historically to David. First Chronicles to the end of the book, chapter 29 at the end of First Chronicles and then Second Chronicles narrates the history of David's descendants starting with Solomon in chapters one through nine and then Solomon's sons and basically Solomon's son because this kingdom is split. So it follows Judah's kings after the kingdom divides in chapters 10 through 36. Now the breakdown of the chapter here, we have pertaining to the return from the exile, verses one through six. It goes right back to the very basics, talking about Judah and his sons. In verses one through six, it names several people there. And then in verses seven through nine, we have the progeny of Benjamin through Salu. And in verses 10 through 13, we have the priesthood in the return from the exile. Verses 14 to 34, we have the things pertaining to the Levites, where it speaks of the porters in the King James Version or gatekeepers in the English Standard Version. In verses 17 to 27, and other positions among the Levites, you know, they serve the temple, they serve the tabernacle in the wilderness. And that's in verses 28 to 34. And it's something of a parentheses, if you will, here, like, oh, by the way, here are the Levites, because it is a priestly perspective of what God is doing in the nation. And then it goes back to Saul, because Saul is the king prior to David. And so you have the progeny of Gibeon in verses 35 to 44. And Saul's family in particular, the line is repeated in verses 39 to 44, as we saw last week. So there's a repetition there. And I could go into that, but that's not what the Lord would have for us today. We are looking at one verse in particular, verse 21 most especially, even though some of the other verses may tie in. Zechariah, the son of Meshlemiah, was gatekeeper at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Now the keepers of the gate or porter in the King James Version, gatekeepers in the English Standard Version, it comes from two words, patach means door or entrance. And the Shoar, Shoar Patak would mean it's the custodian of the entrance or the custodian of the door, which historically, as we look at this, Zechariah's position was held in David's day. Because later on, when we get to 1 Chronicles 26, in verses one and two, it says, and for the divisions of the gatekeepers of the Korahites, Meshlemiah, the son of Kori, of the sons of Asaph, and Meshlemiah, the sons of Zechariah, the first born, Yediel, the second born, Zebediah, the third, and Yatniel was the fourth. And in verse 14, it says, the lot for the east, fell to Shalamiah, and they cast lots also for his son, Zechariah, a shrewd counselor, and his lot came out for the north. Now in that day of David, the temple was not yet built. So we have gatekeepers where there's no gates. It's a tent that surrounds where the tent of meeting is. And so here are these people that are placed around the temple gates. And Zechariah is mentioned in the days of David, and he was to the north as the tent of meeting, the tabernacle, faced the east. And so he would face the north, which I won't get into all the details of that, but usually, Inquiry to the kingdom comes from the South. Remember the Queen of Sheba? She came from the South from Ethiopia. Also the Ethiopian eunuch who had the in Acts chapter 8 and he has the scroll of Isaiah and he wants to know about whether he was talking about the prophet or the prophet himself or someone else. Inquiry comes from the South but but hardship and rebellion comes from the north. And we see this in scripture. And so there is a protection place there and a place where there is actually no doorway in one sense. But every entrance of the tabernacle is reflective of a door. And this is what we're looking at right here. This is a historical point. It actually happened and the record is of Zachariah. but it points to the Lord Jesus Christ, King Jesus from this type. You've heard me talk of types in the scriptures, typology, examples that we see the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament. And the importance of typology, as I have in your handout there, I've quoted John chapter five and verse 39, where the Lord Jesus, who is being opposed by the religious leaders of the day, he says, you search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but they are they that testify of me. And we know that the Old Testament itself, in Psalm chapter 40, it says, lo the volume of the book, it speaks of me. I delight to do your will, oh my God. It speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's a reason why I emphasize Christ exalted in Scripture, especially in the Old Testament. It's because it's the best way and perhaps maybe even the only way I know to keep us from legalism. Legalism. I mentioned this on Wednesday at our prayer meeting this week. a devotional view of Christ by a doctrinal understanding. We look at the Scriptures, we see what they say in its historical context. These things actually happen. But they also point to the Lord Jesus Christ. And we want to see the Lord Jesus Christ. It's always necessary for our attitude, behavior, and conduct, what I could call the ABCs of our Christian faith. because not to see Christ in Scripture with the eyes of faith, to not remember Him in our simplest of acts, to not see His atoning grace in the lives of others, causes us to become legalists. Legalism has two arms, if you will, and also the hands that are attached to the arms with fingers. So there's many different aspects, but the two basic arms that legalism has In the one arm, it attempts to justify you and me. The flesh attempts to justify you and me before God with our good works and deeds. The other arm, begrudgingly, with heartless duty, attempts to keep a person from God's judgments. And by either one of them, or even both of them, embracing good works causes us to be legalistic. It's what the Pharisees were. They, by their good works, tried to justify themselves before God, or by what they did, if it was good enough, to keep from suffering from God's judgment and wrath. That simply is what legalism does. And the flesh uses both of these arms to embrace guilt and condemnation unto oneself. Because the use of either of these two arms will cause you to diminish the majesty of Christ. It says, by your works, if I'm going to justify myself to God, in other words, to say this, Lord, look what I did. You owe me. It says then, by doing that, by my works, it says, that what Jesus did on the cross wasn't enough. That it takes my works also to help save me. That God, You owe me and I deserve a blessing and I should keep from being condemned because of that. That's what legalism does. It says that Christ's death was not sufficient and it needs my help. Or, It says that Christ's death didn't take away all my sin, and in order to avoid judgment, I have to do good works. But Christ is a sufficient Savior. And this is why I emphasize this. When we see Christ from Scripture, it supernaturally changes us inside. And when we are encouraged by the fact that you and I deserve eternal punishment, you and I deserve eternal death, because the best of what we do falls short of the glory of God. It's what the Bible calls sin in Romans 3. But because we see Christ who paid it all, because He gave Himself, He went from heaven and came to earth, and walked among sinful men in a righteous life and becoming that perfect sacrifice, when we see Christ and recognize what He has done, it changes us again, time and again, from the inside. And because of that, I'm given devotionally over to Him. So when we see Christ in someone like Meshulamya, it would be how you pronounce his name in Hebrew. I provided it there in your handout. It has Shalom in there. Literally it would mean, well, Meshalem means actually an ally of Yehovah. Yah is the shortened name of Yehovah God and Meshalem means ally. Because it actually does come from the word Shalom and from peace. The origin of peace is literally what Meshelem means. Shalom meaning peace, Meshelem meaning the origin of peace. So if it's the origin of peace along with Yehovah God, it's an ally of God. But even more than that, the origin of peace, that is Yehovah God. He is all peace. And he sends the Prince of Peace as we know from Isaiah chapter nine and verse six. For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and he shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And so this father whose son is Zechariah, it speaks of sending this one, Zechariah. Zechariah is his name in Hebrew. And Zechar means Remember. Zechariah means Jehovah remembers, who is the son of the origin of peace. Jehovah, the origin of peace. And just one portion that we can recall is that in our Robert Murray McShane reading plan, we will be reading Luke 23 in just a few days. and remember that there was a thief on the cross who was mocking the Lord Jesus. And then a supernatural act happened to him while he hangs upon the cross, while the other one is shouting out insults to Christ, mocking him, as they both were. But as he sees God who became man hanging upon a cross, he says to the Lord Jesus, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus says in verse 43 of Luke 23, he says to him, truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. He says remember me. And Zechariah's name causes us to remember that Jesus is the rememberer. looks down upon you, and every time that you see in the Old Testament where it says, and God remembered his people, we've been reading Exodus lately, and God remembered his people, as the people are calling out, does it mean that God forgot? No, it means the people forgot, but God has taken on a name, one of our names, our forgetfulness, we should be remembering God, but God remembers. on our behalf, because we forget God so often. As they were in bondage in Egypt for 40 years after Moses tries to, you know, he kills an Egyptian, hides them in the sand. Then it was found out, I got to run away. And he runs away for 40 years. Those people were still in bondage. Pharaoh is still trying to kill male children. Moses runs off for 40 years, deals with Moses in the Midian Back Desert, but also the people of Israel, and the people of Israel for 40 years in bondage to slavery, which represents a bondage of sin, but they don't even call out to God for 40 more years. But God remembers them. He never forgot them. And then they remembered, oh God, remember the covenant that you made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Save us now. God who remembers. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Zechariah is a reminder that God is a God who remembers, and even the thief on the cross immediately, when he is transformed, he remembers that he is a God who remembers. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Why? Because Jesus is the gatekeeper. As Zechariah was a gatekeeper in the days of David, Jesus is the ultimate gatekeeper. He's the ultimate porter. He is the ultimate custodian of all salvation. Because he says in John 14, verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me. Jesus is that gatekeeper. issues and problems that come from the North, even coming from the sides of the North, those things that are exalted high, even what Satan desires to have in his self-kingdom, according to Isaiah chapter 14. Jesus is the only way. Jesus is the custodian of the gate, and it is only through Him that we have entrance. But this last point, which is the longest point, how do we apply this to our lives? And this is not an exhaustive thing. The kids of Christ's kingdom. We've looked at the keeper of the gate. Here is its history. Zechariah is mentioned, the son of Meshlemiah. He's the porter, the guardian of the gate. enlisted there during David's day, then we see that that portion reminds us of the Lord Jesus Christ, King Jesus from the type, the typology. So it encourages us. As we see a tabernacle there, the temple, the precursor to the temple, and later on, did the gatekeepers stop? Many commentators believe that there still was gatekeepers because there were gatekeepers around the temple area and they had different divisions. There was the court of the Gentiles, there was the court of Israel, there was the court of women, there was the court of the priests, the court of the Levites, the court of the priests, and then there was the holy place, the temple itself. And so there were gatekeepers. which is like unto us, 1 Corinthians 3 and verses 16 to 17. We're reminded by the Apostle Paul, he says, do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? Speaking of those saved by God's grace. And in verse 17, he says, if anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him for God's temple is holy and you are that temple. And so we have two things that will be going on here, that since we have already identified that the Lord Jesus Christ is predominant in this truth of all scripture, that we take a passive role. Our role is passive because Christ is our gatekeeper. And though this list that I provide for you here is not an exhaustive list, just three things. It's not an exhaustive list. It is at least a comprehensive list of some things that we can keep in mind that encourage us because we should see Christ there first. If Christ has saved us, we know that he saved us because we were weak, ungodly sinners who were the enemies of God, Romans 5 tells us. And then once He has saved us, we didn't all of a sudden become strong, because Ephesians 6 says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, the strength of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the power of His might. So therefore, we must be still weak. We need God's grace and His strength. And in doing so, we have a passive role that Christ is our gatekeeper to the temple that now has lodged within our gates the Holy Spirit. And Jesus, therefore, as our gatekeeper, sustains us to the end. 1 Corinthians 1, verses eight and nine says, of Jesus who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse nine says, God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord. See, Jesus Christ will preserve us. Jesus Christ will preserve us and keep us guiltless. He is the sustainer. That's how He keeps us. Remember the priestly blessing that these gatekeepers heard every 9 o'clock in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. which I present usually every Sunday. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. After the priest burns the incense every morning at nine o'clock and every afternoon, every evening at three o'clock in the afternoon, he comes out with the people that are praying outside and he says, the Lord bless you and keep you. Gatekeepers hear this, and that keeping is our preservation. Lord Jesus, our gatekeeper, will preserve us. He'll keep us guiltless as we are in Him. That's encouraging. That's a blessing. Then when we see this, we recognize that the Lord Jesus sanctifies us in our blameless calling, because 1 Thessalonians says in chapter 5, verses 23 and 24, It says, now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely. He's declared you sanctified, He's declared you holy, but He's doing a work in you, doing a work in me, doing a work in us. Sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 24 says, he who calls you is faithful, he will surely do it. And so we recognize that Jesus Christ, our gatekeeper, will promote our growth in holiness and keep us blameless when you and I stand before him in that day. That's encouraging too. Because I fall so many times, and I know that you do too. So many times that we see what the scriptures say, and so many times we so fall short. But we have a gatekeeper who will never leave his post, the Lord Jesus Christ. The third thing that we think of this is that the Lord Jesus shelters our faith for a testimony unto Him. 1 Peter 1.5, speaking of the Lord Jesus, "...who by God's power are being guarded through faith." for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Jesus, our gatekeeper, will protect us to the end as a testimony of His grace because it says to be revealed in 1 Peter 1.5. Be guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed. that anticipation that the Lord is coming, that though our witness is revealed here and there, the ultimate revelation of our salvation is when the Lord Jesus comes. And He'll protect whom He has saved because He's Almighty God, not only perfect man. And so these truths of God's grace in and through Christ encourage us to love Christ more and more See, there is the truth of the application of 1 John 4, v. 19 that says we love Him because He first loved us. And so when we're taken to the cross, when we see the Lord Jesus Christ, it moves us supernaturally that this is what God has done for me. And now, He's a Savior I can serve with my whole heart as much as a sinner saved by grace is able. He moves us from the inside so that the work may be done outside. And now, so therefore, we have a responsibility. We have an active role. Jesus is our gatekeeper, so we will take a role as gatekeepers ourselves in Christ, in Jesus's name, by Jesus's power. Christians that are gatekeepers, little K, as the Lord is, you know, capital K. And so we see, and this is not an exhaustive list, but these three things are key in our behavior. When we see the truth of Christ and Him crucified, and it's changed our lives, these three things should be primary and basic in our lives. And there'll be many other things that will spring forth from it. But the first thing is to love God. He loved us. He sent the best. He sent the Lord Jesus Christ to save us. from sin, save us from ourselves, save us from the horrors of this godless world, to love God. And I use Luke 10, verse 27, because we just read it three days ago in our Robert Bermick Shane reading plan. Luke 10, 27, remember when the lawyer comes to him and says, oh, Lord, what a good master, teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus says to him, well, how do you read the scriptures? And so he comes back with the Shema, which Brother Mike was talking about earlier in Sunday school today. Shema Yisrael, Yehoveh Eloheinu, Yehoveh echad. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God. He says it in this way in Luke 10. He says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. He quotes Deuteronomy 6, verses 4 and 5. And then he quotes Leviticus 19, verse 18. Love your neighbor as yourself. Because loving your neighbor as yourself is evidence that you love the Lord your God as much as a sinner saved by grace is able. That you love the Lord your God with the power of Christ working through you because of what Christ has done for you. Because the only person who has ever really truly loved the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind, strength, is the Lord Jesus. So now as Jesus is in us and He is the gatekeeper for us, we can love Him. with all that I do have. It's not much. That's what you want, Lord? My love? My love fails. He says, but my love has filled in where your love lacks. Oh, what a love that is. Love God. How could you not love a God that would go and spare not His only Son? Then next, this one's a big one. to fear God. I believe that there is a lack of the fear of God in this nation. There's a lack of the fear of God in churches in this nation today. There's a lack of teaching of the fear of God. Godly fear to tremble before God with love and reverence. Again, Luke 12 and verse 5, Jesus says, but I will warn you whom to fear. We just read this yesterday in the McShane Reading Plan. But I will warn you whom to fear. Fear him who, after he is killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Again, this is the most important truth of these three today for us. I believe that the Lord really wants us to get a hold of this. The godly fear, first of all, is a learned trait. It's a learned trait in behavior. Jesus says to us through the psalmist in Psalm 34 in verse 11, he says, come, O children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. And because it is learned, it may become a little confusing when the Lord Jesus says just a few sentences later, fear not. And we see that in scripture, fear not, but wait a minute, how am I gonna fear the Lord? And we get confused by that. But if you bear with me, if we first look to the Lord Jesus through spiritual eyes and with hearts filled with faith to learn from Him, understand Him, embrace Him, and exercise godly fear in our lives because of who we see Jesus to be and what we've seen Jesus do, we keep in mind it is only the beginning of wisdom as well. Proverbs 9, verse 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And now acting wisely because I see that Christ suffered God's wrath, a wrath that is due to me. So godly fear now is full of love, as we read in 1 Corinthians 13 yesterday. Love is patient, love is kind, and all those definitions for what love is. But see, we know that 1 John 4 and verse 8 tells us that God is love. 1 Corinthians 13 that we read yesterday is only telling us really here, this is who Jesus is. And since perfect love casts out fear, as 1 John 4.18 tells us, that that fear, when he says, fear not, that when I am loving God and loving others in the fear of the Lord, then I'm not afraid what man can do to me. I'm not afraid what my circumstances will do to me. I'm not afraid of death, because that's just passing into the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is why when it comes to final, eternal, and ultimate judgment, we can take to heart the Lord Jesus' words when He says, fear not. Not only is godly fear filled with love, it's filled with awesome, trembling reverence. Because all we have to do is look to the Lord Jesus for that. Who, as Romans 8 tells us in verse 32, the Heavenly Father did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all." That if we consider that He has walked perfectly and God poured out His wrath, His infinite wrath and eternal wrath upon His one and only loving Son who walked perfectly on this planet. How much more would He take a life that He has saved by God's grace, which is deserving of hell, and take us and even allow us to go through some of the suffering and calamities that Job had experienced, which we've been reading also in the McShane Reading Plan. Just to make a point with his unbelieving friends, to make also a blessing for his unbelieving friends at the end of the book of Job because Job ends up praying for him. And also a blessing for Job because the things he didn't understand that God was working in the heavenlies apart from his knowledge to make a point with Satan about this man who feared God. Wouldn't He do that for you and me? Having sent His own Son, His beloved Son, It's His will that we should suffer for righteousness sake so that He is glorified. Because ultimately, in the end, the reward is far greater to be with Him. We know that we are not destined to God's wrath. So the things that we suffer in inconvenience, in calamity, in difficulties, in trials, in tribulations, that ultimately we're not going to suffer wrath. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 9 says that, that we're not appointed to wrath, we're not destined to wrath, but unto salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Unto salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ because He suffered God's wrath and believing on Him and trusting in Him. Wrath is removed from us. But they were not removed from calamity, tribulation, trial, even temptation. Because those things, as we approach them in godly fear, will become a joy to us because Christ's strength will persevere in us. As Paul had gone through and he had a thorn in the flesh and he says that he is stronger when he is weak. Because Jesus told him his grace is sufficient for him. His grace is sufficient for you, it's sufficient for us. And so as he draws us nearer to himself, Godly fear is also occupied with God's will and good pleasure. It aims to please Him, to worship Him, to exalt His Son because God is worthy of every holy and honorable thought, word, and deed of every one of His creatures. And so when we walk in godly fear with this love of God, but with this trembling reverence of God because He is the just judge, that we also see Him as worthy of receiving every good work for His will and good pleasure. We're worthy of nothing but eternal death for the sins that we have committed against an infinitely holy God, and yet He has saved us by His amazing grace and everlasting love through the perfect obedience of His one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, recognizing what godly fear is, obedience, then does not become this legalistic, well, I better do this so that I'm not judged. We know we're not judged. We see it in Christ. Well, I better get God to owe me. God has given you his only son. What could he possibly owe you? So legalism becomes nothing. We can't be legalistic in one sense. We become an overflowing fountain of God's love, of God's joy, of God's grace unto others because of the perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ we may obey. And then 1 John 5 and verse 3 where it says, this is the love of God that we keep as commandments and His commandments are not burdensome, or in the old King James Version, His commandments are not grievous, they're not a burden, because now that I see God for what He has done, and I live for God because of what He has done, His commandments now are seen in the light of the truth that by being obedient to doing as best as a sinner saved by grace is able, by God's grace, that these commandments are given as a blessing so that I don't get myself into trouble. That I don't start leaving God's presence. That I don't start displeasing Him who gave His one and only Son for me, for you, for us. What a blessing it is. It keeps us from sinning against Him. You and I are most blessed most joyful, and most at peace when we're not sinning against God and we're pleasing Him. And see, our flesh hates that. Our flesh wants to pull us away from God's grace. Those corruptions that still remain in our mortal flesh, it rises up and it wants to deny the gospel, it wants to deny the cross, it wants to say, well, let's do this, I'm good enough. I'm great enough. And doggone it, people like me. It wants to take the grace of God and turn it into a kind of quaint affirmation. But godly fear is different. It's filled with God's love, and it takes from heaven above God's obedience, seen in His Son, and says, I want that. so that I can be pleasing to the Christ who saved me. Those little things right there, that's what I want to give you today. Meditate upon the fear of the Lord. It is a learned thing when we have to look at Jesus time and again and again and again. that as we see Him more and more, as we grow to know this God Who has given the very best, the Treasure of Heaven, the Savior Life, the more we look upon Him and His atoning sacrifice through His one and only Son, and the more we look upon His Son, the perfect sacrifice, the more we start seeing this reverence grow in us, this awesome He is God and I am not, as the young people have been learning from Sister Vicki's class. The great I am. And then we see how easy it is. He must increase, I must decrease. And as we decrease unto obedience for His good pleasure, love abounds in us because of who Christ is. Fear of the Lord is a joyful thing, a peaceful thing, a loving thing, a most blessed thing. And obedience to the Lord is now taking away those arms of flesh that want to embrace legalism and hold them up high in worship because The God of grace has equipped you and enabled you to love him and fear him in the confines of his word. Let's pray. Our most blessed and gracious Father in God, in Jesus' name and for his sake, we thank you, Lord, for the blessed truths that you have given us today. One little verse, Lord. A couple little names. They speak volumes of a Savior who is the great gatekeeper of our lives, who is the porter of our souls. May we be also ready and able porters of this real estate that you've given us, this little tabernacle, this little temple that now is alive because it's a living testament of Jesus and it is the living abode of your Holy Spirit given us. We love you and thank you in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen.