Okay, now we're going to try
to bring our message this evening from Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter
6. And as I read down through this
chapter several times, the statement that grabbed my attention was
the last part of verse 9. Now therefore, O God, strengthen
my hands. Now, the only time we'll cry
out for mercy is when we're in need of mercy. The only time
we'll truly cry out to be strengthened in the Lord is when we know that
we are nothing. When we know that we are weak. So, I'm taking the title for
the message from what is said in verse 9, O God, strengthen,
strengthen my hands. Now, when Nehemiah was pushed
harassed and shoved, shoved about by the enemies of God. He does
what every believer does in that time of trouble. He turns to
God for help, grace to help in time of need. He turns to the
Lord for comfort, for He is a God of all comfort. And He turns
to the Lord for strength to help in His time of need. We read
in Hebrews 4, the Lord said, Come unto Me. Come boldly unto
the throne of grace, that you may obtain mercy. Find grace
to help in time of need. And then you remember the Scripture
from Matthew chapter 11, the Lord said, Come unto Me, all
you that are laboring and heavy laden. I will give you rest. He is our help. He is our shield. Don't turn, let me just read
this to you. I was thinking about this scripture earlier, right before the service. The Lord said in Hebrews 2, Wherefore
in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For
in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, remember he was
tempted and tested in all points like as we are, yet without sin,
he is able to succor them that are tempted. Now that word succor
is the word aid, assist, sustain, help. He is able to save and
he is able to help us. You remember, David often cried
through the psalm, when he's in desperate need, he said, the
Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength. He is the strength of my life. He is the strength of my righteousness.
He's the strength of my salvation. He's the strength of my reconciliation. He's the strength of everything,
is He not? Then I was thinking of this scripture
along with that Psalm 27. Psalm 46, 1, God is our refuge
and strength of every present help in trouble. He is our refuge. He is our strength
right now. He is our strength. He is our
wisdom. Now, we see in this chapter how
the enemies of God were constantly attacking Nehemiah and how God
preserved him, how God protected him, and how the Lord frustrated
and defeated the enemies. When the Lord is pleased to start
a work and to purpose a work to be done, He will see it through. Nothing can hinder his purpose.
Nothing can stop his will. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. Nothing can hinder the work and
purpose of God. He said, I've spoken it. I bring
it to pass. I've purposed it. I will do it. Isaiah 46. Being confident of
this very thing that God who has begun a good work in you
you'll finish it. I'm confident because God says
so. I like too what it says in verse
16, the enemies finally were brought to the place and realization
and had to confess that the work of Nehemiah was a work that God
had wrought among them. The last part of verse 16, they
were much cast down in their own eyes. They perceived that
this work was wrought of God. And that is true of our salvation. This work is wrought of God. Nehemiah was blessed of God. and did this work of God in the
wall, it says there in verse 15, the wall was finished in
52 days. Salvation is wrought of God.
Salvation is of the Lord. One old writer said, what begins
in grace will end in glory. And that's true. The Lord will
leave nothing unfinished and nothing undone. Everything will
be completed according to His schedule. All the enemies of
God will one day confess that salvation is of the Lord. They'll confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God our Father. I love again what David
said in Psalm 118. about the salvation that's of
the Lord, he said, this is the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous
in our eyes. And it is, is it not? And then
our Lord said to Peter, upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of hell, all the enemies of God, shall not prevail
against our God." Nothing can hinder the purpose of God. Nothing
can hinder the promise of God or the purpose of God. Let us
like Nehemiah not be sidetracked or discouraged from the work
of the ministry the Lord has given to us here. Now this is
our ministry that the Lord has given us. Many will try various
things to dishearten us in the work of the Lord, but let us
always be about the preaching of the gospel, praying for it,
supporting it in every way we can, and be determined as Paul
to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Let us preach Christ as all of
salvation. When our writer said nothing
more, Nothing less, and certainly nothing else, but the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. The Lord has ordained the preaching
of the gospel to build up His church, to call out His people,
and to feed us, desire the sincere milk of the word that you might
grow thereby. It pleased the Lord through the foolishness
of preaching to call us out, to feed us, and to sustain us
by His grace. Let us be like the Lord and His
apostles, always about, always about, always about the Father's
business. He said, go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. You remember what the
Lord said to Mary and Joseph when he was just a 12-year-old
child left in the temple when they came back to search for
him after being gone three or four days? They were very concerned
about him. But he wasn't concerned about
them. He said, I must be about my father's
business. And the Apostle Paul charged
young Timothy to preach the Word. Preach the Word. Don't entertain
folks. I'm not in the entertainment
business. Preach the Word. Preach the Word. Be in season,
out of season, reprove, rebuke all longsuffering and doctrine. Now, I've divided this chapter
into three or four different parts. The first thing I want
to look at is verses 1 through 4. Verses 1 to 4, now it came to
pass when Sanballat and Tobiah, Gishom, the Arabian, and the
rest of our enemies heard that I had builded a wall, that there
was no breach left therein, though at that time I had not set up
the doors upon the gate, that Sanballat, Gishom, sent unto
me saying, come, let us meet together in some one of the villages
in the plain of, oh no, But they thought to do mischief. They
thought to do me mischief. And I sent messengers unto them
saying, I'm doing a great work so that I cannot come down. I
cannot come down. Why should the work cease whilst
I leave it and come down to you? yet they sinned unto me four
times after this sort, and I answered them after the same manner."
Now here's their first attempt to try to distract Nehemiah. Remember before the enemies of
Nehemiah turned to chapter 2, Nehemiah chapter 2 verse 10. Remember at first when they heard
that Nehemiah came down to seek out their welfare, Nehemiah 2
verse 10, heard of it, it grieved them
exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of
the children of Israel." They were grieved exceedingly. And then in chapter 2, Nehemiah
2 verse 19, when Sanballat the Hornite, and Tobiah the servant,
the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian heard it, They laughed
us to scorn. When they heard about the work
that Nehemiah had come to town to accomplish, they laughed us
to scorn and despised us and said, what is this thing that
you do? Will you rebel against the king? And he answered them, the God
of heaven will prosper us, therefore we his servants will rise and
build. But you have no portion, no right,
no memorial in Jerusalem. You see, his determination to
do the work of the Lord. And then they took great indignation
and mocked and said, if they do build the wall, look at Nehemiah
chapter 4, they said, remember, if they do build the wall, verse
3, Nehemiah 4 verse 3, Tobiah the Ammonite was by him and he
said, even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even
break down their stone wall. They mocked them, they made fun
of them, and yet Nehemiah is not discouraged. He keeps right
on building, building, building the wall because he knew it was
the will of the Lord. He knew it was the work of the
Lord, and he knew that he could not be hindered from the purpose
of God. Now here they try a little bit
different approach. under the pretense of kindness.
In verse 2, they invite Nehemiah to a conference there in the
plain of Ono. And they did so four times. But Nehemiah is not fooled. He
says to them over and over again, Oh no, I will not meet with you. But they thought to do me mischief,
and I sent messengers unto them, saying, I'm doing a great work.
I cannot come down. The work will cease if I leave,
and I cannot, I cannot come down. Nehemiah basically ignored them. The work of the wall, building
of the wall of the Lord was far more important than any notion
they had of flattery or friendship. Much more. He had much more about
doing the will of the Lord than going down and taking time to
meet with them. I'm doing a great work. I love
that statement, don't you? I'm doing a great work. You see, the work that he's doing
is the work of the great God, our great God. Nothing is more
important to the servant of the Lord and His people than the
ministry of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, because it
is a great work. It's the work of the Lord, and
it's a great work. We must be diligently about the
work of the Lord, faithful to the work of the Lord, that He
has called us unto in preaching the gospel. The Apostle Paul
put it this way, For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to
glory of, for necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me
if I don't preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
I want to consider this, what happened to Nehemiah in another
light too, and relate it to the Lord Jesus Christ. How many times,
as he set his face like a flint, marching toward Calvary and the
cross work that God gave him to do, how many times did the
enemies of the Lord try to distract him, badger him, turn him aside,
or stop him, or put an end to his life before he got to Calvary? Now, I thought of several things.
Turn, if you will, to Matthew 27. Matthew 27. Matthew 27. You remember what
they said right here? Matthew 27, verse 40. You remember
they tried to get Nehemiah to come down from the wall. Come
on down from the wall, let's be friends. Look what they said
to the Lord Jesus Christ as He is crucified upon Calvary tree. They passed by, they reviled
Him, wagging their heads, Matthew 27, verse 39, saying, that Thou
destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save Thyself,
if Thou be the Son of God. Come down from the cross. Yes,
come on down. Likewise also the chief priests
mocking Him, which the scribes and elders said, He saved others,
Himself He cannot save. If you be the King of Israel,
let Him come down now from the cross, and we'll believe you. If you just unfasten yourself,
come on down. Aren't you glad that He didn't
come down? Aren't you glad He trusted in
God? and said, I must be about my
father's business. Thanks be to God that the Lord
Jesus Christ didn't come down from the cross until the work
of redemption and salvation was completed. Remember in his last
breath he said, it is finished. Or when it was finished, then
he came down. They laid him in the tomb. And
then on the third day, he rose again from the dead. The apostle
Paul was also attacked many, many times for the preaching
of the gospel. They tried to draw him off from
his work, from his business, by stoning him, by beating him
with rods, by whipping him. many times, but yet he went on
preaching, preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Same
thing they're trying to do here to Nehemiah. The enemies of the
Gospel hate God, and they hate those who stand for God and the
Gospel of God. Here's the second thing, verse
5 down through verse 9, Sanballat comes about with a different
attack to drive Nehemiah from his work, one of fear and intimidation
by false accusation and slander of rebellion against the very
king who sent him. You remember Nehemiah was the
cupbearer to the king Artaxerxes, and he asked Artaxerxes if he
could go to Jerusalem and build a wall, and he had the blessings
of Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, to go build the wall. And now
the enemies of Nehemiah accused him of insurrection and rebellion
against of every man who sent him. Then sent Sanballat, his
servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter
in his hand. Wherein was written, it's reported
among the heathen that Gashemus saith it, I don't know who this
man is, but evidently he had some veracity to his character.
that thou and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause thou
buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king according
to these words, and that thou hast appointed prophets to preach
of thee at Jerusalem. Now, Nehemiah would never put
up with that, would he? To preach of thee? There is a
king in Judah, now shall it be reported to the king that is
Artaxerxes according to these words. Come now, therefore, Let
us take counsel together. Come on, let's just talk about
this. Then I sent unto him, saying,
There are no such things as thou sayest, but thou faintest them
out of thine own wicked heart. You conjured up this lie, you
tried to slander me, verse 9, for they all made us afraid,
saying their hand shall be weakened from the work, that it be not
done. That's their goal, isn't it?
Stop this business. Now therefore, O God, strengthen,
strengthen, strengthen my hand. Now come on, Nehemiah, verse
7. Let us take counsel together. Let us just have a conversation
about this matter. Let us have a dialogue. Someone
recently I heard talking about a dialogue, they said a dialogue
is a dead log. A dead log. He wasn't going to
go and talk with a dead log. Again, Nehemiah wants no part
of this council of compromise, and that's what they wanted.
They wanted him to compromise. Let's just have a dialogue and
let's just compromise. And again, he tells Sanballat
that his thoughts of Nehemiah's rebellion against the king, making
himself a king, is nothing but vain and foolish imagination
out of your own heart. You faintest them out of thine
own heart." Now what kind of heart did he have? Deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked, just like the heart of
every sinner born of Adam, full of sin. What Nehemiah is experiencing
here, I believe is very similar to what the Lord Jesus Christ
experienced from one of his own apostles. You remember his name? Judas. Judas. Judas' hope was to kiss. You
remember he identified the Lord Jesus Christ with that kiss of
betrayal? His hope, like Judas, was to
kiss and then to kill. That was Judas' hope, and that
was Sanballat's hope as well. In Psalm 55, by way of prophecy,
David writes of Judas, who betrayed the Lord with a kiss, intending
to kill him. And the psalmist writes this
in Psalm 55, the words of his mouth were smooth as butter. Smooth as butter. But war was
in his heart. That was Sanballat, wasn't it?
Oh, his words were smooth as butter. Let us take counsel together.
Let us take counsel together. His words were softer than oil,
yet they were drawn swords. Psalm 55, verse 21. Again, their aim was to prevent
Nehemiah from completing the work the Lord gave him to do. What's he going to do? Is he
going to give up? Is he going to quit? Is he going to be discouraged?
Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. Strengthen my hands. Strengthen me, my God. Again,
their aim was to prevent Nehemiah from completing the work the
Lord gave him to do. Now therefore, O God, Strengthen
my hands, my resolve. May the Lord be pleased to strengthen
our resolve when attacked by the enemies. And we've been attacked
here on several occasions by those who hate the gospel and
who hate God. They would attack us, and maybe
they have attacked us, maybe we'd be strengthened in our resolve.
never to compromise, never to tone down, never to remove the
offense of the cross. May we too continue in the work
of the Lord that He has given to us and never to be intimidated. We have His message. We have
His gospel. There's no need to fear. Lord,
strengthen our resolve. Strengthen our heart, our mind,
our hands. The Apostle writes this in Galatians
6, 9, Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season
we shall reap if we faint not. The Apostle says this in another
place, seeing we have this ministry, we do not faint, we do not quit. And then the Apostle writes this
in 1 Corinthians 15, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast,
unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as
much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
We never preach the gospel in vain. We never do any work for
the Lord's glory in vain. And then the Apostle writes this
to the Philippians, I can do all things, I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me. Christ is our strength, our
strength. You remember our Lord said in
John 15 that he is the true vine. He said to abide in that vine,
for without me you can do nothing. Lord strengthen our hand to remain
a movable Steadfast in the work of the Lord. Never be sidetracked,
never be distracted, but our heart, our mind, our message,
our worship fixed on Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And worship
Him. God will bless that. God will
honor that. Here's the third thing in verse
10 down to verse 15. Here's their third plot to drive
Nehemiah from his work. They try to get religious. They
hire a couple prophets to distract him. Verse 10, afterward I came
into the house of Shimei, the son of Deliah. the son of Mehetabiel
who was shut up. This man was shut up to meditation
and he had separated himself from everyone else. He was shut
up to be and to present the picture or the charade that he was a
holy man seeking the will of the Lord. And he said, well let
us meet together and let us do so in the house of God. You see
he is religious. Overture, let us do so in the
house of God. Within the temple, let's go to
the temple together. And let us shut the doors of
the temple. Let us just shut out this world,
all the different things. And let us just get along together.
For they will come, if we don't do this, they will come and slay
you. Now he had the pretended friendship. Remember now, this man was hired
by the enemy. They come to slay thee in the
night, they will come to slay thee. And certainly if Nehemiah
would have done this within the house, within the temple, it
would have got back to Sanballat. Here he is, come and kill him.
You see the deceitfulness of this religious prophet. And I
said, should I, such a man as I, flee? Who is there that being
as I am, the servant of the Lord, would go into the temple to save
his life? I will not. I will not go in. And lo, I perceive you're a false
prophet. You see that in verse 11, verse
12, brother? Lo, I perceive that God didn't send you, you're a
phony, but that he pronounced his prophecy against me for Tobiah
and Sanballat hired him. This man is what the Lord calls
in verse 10, in John chapter 10 rather. It may be verse 10,
but in John chapter 10, the hireling who doesn't care for the sheep,
this man and this prophet was hired out. Therefore was he hired
that I should be afraid and do so in sin, sin against the Lord,
that they might have a matter for evil report, that they might
reproach me. They not only hired Shimei, but
they also hired a prophetess, a woman. named Noadiah and the
rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear. They really
went to the extreme to hire all these religious hucksters to
try to drive Nehemiah from the work, to try to make him concerned
for his own safety. They leave no stone unturned,
no way untried. They send false prophets to discourage
him and to turn him into a coward. Sanballat and his friend hired
false prophets, Shimei and Noadiah, to drive Nehemiah to take refuge
in the temple to protect his life, when in reality, it would
have been the end of his life. Again, Nehemiah was given wisdom
to perceive that God had not sent them. There were false prophets
in that day, and you know what? There's false prophets in this
day too. There are false prophets throughout the land today. The
Lord calls them hirelings. They say they're a sin of God,
but they're not. How do we know they're not a
sin of God? They don't have God's gospel. They don't have God's
message. We know the Lord did not send them because they say
that salvation is something other than Christ and His grace. There
are many warnings in the Scriptures about this fact. They would tell
us The false prophet will tell us to hide in the false refuge
to protect ourselves, to keep us from honoring God by believing
the true gospel of God. They would tell us to hide in
our baptism. They would tell us to hide in
the church. They would tell us to hide in our feeling. They
would tell us to hide in ceremonies of religion. But those who are
blessed of God see right through that, just as making a gospel
reference to it. Let me read this scripture to
you about false prophets. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
every prophet, but try them whether they are of God, because many
false prophets are gone out into the world. False prophets don't
come forth saying, well, I'm a false prophet. This man didn't
either. He will shut up pretending that
he was a prophet of God seeking the will of the Lord. Now, I
thought about this too. Just as Satan tried in vain to
keep the Lord from completing his redemptive work by tempting
Him in the wilderness with his vain temptations. Remember, don't turn, let me
read it to you. In Matthew chapter 4, the devil
taketh him up into exceeding high mountain. Remember this
is when he was tempted forty days in the wilderness. And showed
him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. And said
to him, all these things will I give thee if you will fall
down and worship me. Now, what a liar. The kingdoms
of this world don't belong to Satan. And the Lord said unto
him, get thee hence from Satan, Or it is written, Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. Then
the devil leaveth him, and the angels came and ministered."
So there was Satan's vain attempt to try to keep the Lord Jesus
Christ. You just worship me, and I'll
give you all these things. Of course, that's not going to
go anywhere. And then another time in Matthew
16, 21, from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his
disciples how they must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things
of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and
be raised again the third day. And Peter took him and began
to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall
not be. Just come down off that wall.
You see the same distraction. The enemies of God. Listen to
what the Lord said. But he turned and said to Peter,
Get thee behind me, Satan. He's talking to Peter now. Thou
art an infant unto me, thou savest not the thing that be of God,
but those that be of men. So, this argument with Nehemiah
doesn't work. He sees right through it. And
he is blessed of God. to perceive, verse 12, lo, I
perceive that God did not send them, verse 13, that he was hired,
that I should be afraid and do so in sin, sin against the Lord,
that they might have a matter for evil report, that they might
reproach me. Nehemiah doesn't want to sin
against God by offending Him, nor does he want to bring shame
upon himself for not honoring the Lord. Verse 14, Nehemiah
asked the Lord, My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat
according to their works, according to their wicked deeds. He asked God to think upon him
for good, but he asked the Lord to remember these men for their
wickedness against God's purpose. Remember that vengeance belongs
to the Lord. He will deal with his enemies
in due time. Remember back in chapter 4, turn
back over there. You remember what he prayed against
these enemies before in Nehemiah chapter 4? Hear, O our God, verse
4. For we are despised, turn their
reproach upon their own head, and give them for prey in the
land of captivity. Nehemiah 4, 4. And cover not
their iniquity, let not their sin be blotted out from before
thee, for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. So built we the wall. And all
the wall was joined together into the half thereof, for the
people had a mind to work." It was God's work. Now, in closing,
let me give you this in verse 15 and verse 16. So the wall
was finished. The wall was finished. Fifty-two
days this massive, massive wall was finished. And it came to
pass when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen
that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down
in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was wrought of
God. Isn't that what you perceive
about the Gospel? That it's wrought of God? That
it is of God? The work of God was finished
in short order. The war was completed in a short
time. The threat of the enemy only
served to make them more diligent to the work of the Lord. Think
about how the Lord overrules the malice of the devil and the
evils of the enemies of God to the believer's good and the Lord's
own glory. He even uses the wickedness of
men to accomplish His own purpose. Psalm 76 10, Surely the wrath
of man shall praise Thee, and the remainder of wrath God shall
restrain. Two things happened to these
enemies in verse 16. When all our enemies heard thereof,
and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, the
enemies and the heathen, when they saw these things, What? The purpose of God, the work
of God going on. Completed and done. Short order. They were much cast down in their
own eyes, for they perceived that this work was indeed the
work of God. Two things happened. They were
cast down. Their wicked designs were defeated.
Now they're left in despair and in confusion. What are we going
to do now? That wall's done. And they perceived
this work was of God. They had to confess the work
that Nehemiah was able to accomplish was of the Lord, and they could
not do one thing to stop it. You can't stop the purpose of
God, the plan of God, the promise of God, and one day, In eternal
judgment, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess
that salvation is wrought of God. That salvation is of the
Lord. Such is the salvation that is
of the Lord. In the completion of it by His
redeeming blood, no one could prevent it, hinder the Lord Jesus
from finishing the work the Father gave Him to do. You remember
the Lord said in John 4, to His disciples when they said, Master,
do you have any meat? You remember they went away to
town to find some meat? And He said, My meat is to do
the will of Him that sent me and to finish His Work. It's His work. And the Lord Jesus
Christ was sent to finish it, and He did. And then He prayed
in John 17, And this is eternal life, that they might know Thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent,
I have glorified Thee on the earth. I finished the work. I finished it. Whose work was
it? The Father's work. Who finished
it? He did. All of it, completely. It is finished, completed, and
accomplished to the glory of God and to the satisfaction of
God, holy, law, and justice. Isn't that a good chapter? Now
therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. He will. He will. He will bless His people.
He has and He will and He will continue to bless His people
with all spiritual blessing in the heavenly, in the Lord Jesus
Christ.