Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention by way of a text back to Nehemiah
chapter two and the last verse or part of the last verse, verse
20, where we read these words, we his servants will arise and
build. This is when Sanballat, the Horonite,
Tobiah the Servant, the Ammonite, Geshem the Arabian, they were
laughing the Jews to scorn. Those who had come to build the
walls of Jerusalem, this is some 71 years after the temple had
been rebuilt, after they'd been brought back from the 70 years
captivity in Babylon, The wall's all broken down and burnt and
they are now in a position with Nehemiah sent to rebuild and
yet those of their enemies were laughing at them and despising
what they were about to do. And yet Nehemiah, he says to
them that they don't have any part at all No portion, no memorial
in Jerusalem, but he says this, we his servants, the God of heaven's
servants, will arise and build. When we looked at the first chapter
of Nehemiah, we consider the condition of Jerusalem made known. And as Nehemiah had come to Jerusalem
and he had then been acquainted with what the condition was,
but then we have in chapter two the rebuilders commission, Nehemiah's
commission to come and to send be sent to Jerusalem and to do
that building. And this was indeed Jeremiah's,
sorry, Nehemiah's work that he would do, that he would build
Jerusalem. But we know, of course, that
single-handed he didn't do it. He had his servants, the servants
of the God of heaven that are spoken of here, to do it. So that is made very clear. It
is Nehemiah's work. He is the builder, but now we
have his servants in building. And we are reminded in this,
especially of what is set forth by the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians
in 2 Corinthians 6, we then as workers together with him. beseech you also that ye receive
not the grace of God in vain." And the apostle sets forth how
God uses his servants, uses the apostles. The early church, the
disciples, they went forth, God working with them, confirming
the word with signs following. The work is God's work. but he has his servants, he has
those that do that work. We said how that the walls of
Jerusalem are like the church of God, the doctrines of the
gospel, and it is that, especially today, we feel so much broken
down. Well, here we have then in this
chapter those things I desire to bring before you, to glean
from it that may be a profit to us in seeing the Lord's work
and to be encouraged in our day. And so I want to notice first
the purpose of a walled city. What is the purpose of it? Why
does it need to be there? Why does it need to be rebuilt
at all? And in doing that, we'll begin
with the literal building of it, but then consider in a spiritual
sense what that means concerning the Church of God. But then secondly,
God's servants in building. They are described in quite detail
throughout this chapter. and we get a little picture that
again can be applied in the Church of God. And then we have lastly
God's method of building. There's a very distinctive method
that is applied through here and joining with the servants
of the Lord, of Nehemiah, and may the Lord help us to glean
from that as well. But firstly, a reminder of the
purpose of a walled city. The first thing that we'd say
is it provides a clear boundary. A clear boundary. Sometimes that
can be had in other ways, of course. The scriptures warn us
about those that shall remove those landmarks or way marks
or those markers. But with a city, there's a clear
boundary to where that city extent goes to, what is inside it, what
is outside of it, a real boundary. Now, I know we have here in England,
we have all the counties. And you can go from one county
to another. And really, the only indication
you get, depending on what road you're on, is a sign. I often
think of it coming back into Kent over the bridge, over the
Thames. And there on the very center
of that bridge, you have a sign saying Kent. You're going into
Kent. We know that there is a boundary.
We're used to boundaries all the time. But where the wall
is a very clear boundary that has other functions than just
marking out a boundary, but it does. It does show there is a
boundary. There is a passing from one place
to another place. Now you think of this in a spiritual
way, there is a clear boundary, between the church and the world. Our Lord was very clear of this. He says of himself that I am
not of this world. He says of his people that they
are not of this world even as I am not of this world. And he speaks of the church of
God as being a called out people, a people that are separated unto
the Lord and that there is a difference between those that are saved
and those that are lost, those that are in Christ and those
that are out of Christ, those that are under condemnation and
those of whom are saved in the Lord Jesus Christ. We think of
the most solemn illustration when the world was overflown
with water, and we have Noah's Ark, the boundary there between
those that were lost, those that were saved, the walls of the
Ark, it was a boundary, but it was much more than a boundary,
but it showed a very, very clear difference between the two. A very sad thing today, that sometimes
it seems that there is hardly a boundary. It doesn't appear
that there is any difference between those that believe and
those that believe not. Their lives seem the same. The
things that they like seem the same. The scriptures say in Hebrews
that those that are the Lord's say, confess that they are strangers
and pilgrims in the earth, And the Lord says of them, this is
not your rest, it is polluted. And the reason, and those that
say that they are strangers and pilgrims, is that they declare
plainly they seek a city, seek one above. There is a difference,
but many times we might look at a gathering and the music
is the same as the world's music. Message is the same as the world. You can believe what you like. You can embrace what you like. There's no clear guidelines,
no doctrine, no teaching that is clearly separating between
the world and the church. In dress, in conversation, in
pursuits, in likes, very often, a church would more resemble
a religious social club than the separated, sanctified, redeemed
Church of God, the Christ's Bride. And we ought never to be ashamed
of that boundary that God himself has made, a boundary that, by
the grace of God, every one of God's children at one time or
other have passed over. Once they were not of the church,
once they were not in Christ, once they were not a people of
God, but then they have been brought over that boundary into
the church of God and amongst the people of God and that applies
to every one of God's children. How often the Apostle, he says,
and such were some of you. He describes what they once were. The Apostle Paul himself how
that he was once a persecutor and a hater of those that believed
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the Lord had met with
him, turned his heart, showed himself to him, and brought him
to believe and trust solely in the Lord Jesus Christ. So that boundary, we think a
walled city, one function of it is to provide that boundary
so you know where you stand. You know on what side you are. We're familiar with maybe a worthy
saying of sitting on the fence, staying on the boundary perhaps,
one foot on one side, one foot on the other. But a boundary
does clearly show But you know there is only two
sides in the things of God. We are either saved or lost,
in Christ or out of Christ, a believer or a unbeliever. We are either
destined for heaven or to hell. There is no middle ground at
all. The Church of God, if its walls
are broken down, if that boundary is indistinct, then there is
not a clear message. There will be those that really
are outside the church, but because the boundary is all blurred and
not clear, they don't really know whether they are or not. And there are those also that
are really in Christ and in the church. But again, because in
the doctrines and teaching of the church, the boundary is not
clearly defined, they're a bit unsure, are they really saved
or are they not? You know, in wartime, in the
Second World War, when Switzerland was a neutral country, the Germans
were very clever and they put a false boundary up. And those
prisoners that escaped from some of the most secure prisons in
Germany, they managed to get right across Germany and right
to Switzerland So they went over this boundary and they thought
they were in Switzerland. They dropped their guard, they
allowed themselves to be seen, but they weren't in Switzerland.
Captured, taken back, prisoners again. Solemn. Thought of a false boundary or
a boundary that wasn't clear and the consequences of that,
but in a spiritual way, how much more serious it is when there
are those that think they are saved, but they are not. Or even
for the comfort of God's people that are saved, but don't have
the comfort and assurance of it because the boundary is not
clear. A second then purpose of a walled
city is for keeping apart, making sure that those that are one
side don't go to the other side. And especially it is so with
enemies later on with this account here in Nehemiah when Nehemiah
had established the true worship and especially the keeping of
the Sabbath day Then there were many merchants that came to the
walls of the city and they wanted to buy and sell on the Sabbath
days, but Nehemiah told them to go away and the wall was used
to separate and to keep apart those that would treat every
day the same and those that would keep the Sabbath day as commanded
by the Lord. And so the keeping apart, it
separates, it's a physical barrier, unlike just a sign saying going
from one county to another, you've got a barrier that is designed
to keep two parties apart and not mingling together. How often in the word of God
we are exhorted and told Come ye out from among them, touch
not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. Ye shall be my sons
and my daughters, death of the Lord Almighty. King Solomon,
and this is one of the reasons why the children of Israel in
the end were brought into captivity, was because they would not keep
apart from the idols and practices of the land they mingled with
the heathen. When they went into the promised
land, the land of Canaan, they were told to destroy it and to
not marry, intermarry. And this was another thing that
later on we will see in Nehemiah, they had to deal with, where
there is the intermarry and where they were not keeping apart. The Jews at this time, of course,
it is a time of preparation. before the coming of the Lord,
some 440 years or so later, and they had to be kept as a nation,
the Lord's special people that he redeemed out of Egypt, a typical
people, but a people to whom the Lord, the Saviour, would
come in due time. And so, with the Church of God
as well, when there is a conversion, when there is a separating, there
is to be a keeping apart, not in a wrong way, not saying to
the unbeliever, come not nigh unto me, I am holier than thou,
not having nothing to do in a natural sense with our neighbours or
those that are round about us, no. but a separating, especially
in fellowship, in around the Lord's table, in a spiritual
sense, but there will be a coming apart, separating from the sinful
pleasures, pursuits, and ways of the world, a coming apart
unto the brethren of the Lord. Joshua says, as for me, and my
house we will serve the Lord. By nature we serve Satan and
by grace we serve the Lord. And there is to be a keeping
apart. Now some solemn illustrations
of that separation. We have it in Egypt when the
Lord brought those nine and then 10 signs and bring the children
of Israel out of Egypt For the first part, a few of those signs,
both of them had the same diseases, but then after a while there
was a separation and the Lord separated the land of Goshen,
where the children of Israel was, and they did not suffer
the same diseases as the Egyptians had. When they came to the Red
Sea, It was the fiery, cloudy pillar that kept the Egyptians
and the Israelites apart. It was God that opened the way
through the Red Sea, brought the children of Israel through
it, then allowed the Egyptians to pursue after and then drowned
them in the Red Sea. solemn separations between God's
people and those that were not, and especially the enemies of
God's people. In the Church of God, again,
the doctrines and teachings of the Word, the Gospel itself,
the Word of God, teaches and reaffirms that keeping apart The holy people of God are not,
in that sense, to mingle with those that they, by God's grace,
have been brought out from amongst. Sinful, wicked, evil practices
and ways they are to keep apart from and separate from them. So did not I. Why? Because of the fear of the Lord. Then we have another function
of the wall, and that is keeping safe. God's people are to be
a people that are kept safe. The psalmist, he says, that thy
word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. He says,
wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed
thereto according to thy word." The Word of God gives us the
directions and guidance as to the way that we should walk,
a safe way. And where that is taken down,
where that is broken down, that safety goes. Safety is of the
Lord. The Lord is the defender of his
people. And we think of where there are
strong-walled cities, then those that are within them, they feel
safe, they trust in those walled cities. Of course, with the people
of God in a literal sense, we think of Hezekiah, He, when Sennacherib
came, he strengthened the city, but also he cried and prayed
to the Lord. But thinking in a spiritual way,
if the Church of God is safe from the attacks of the devil,
then it must resist the devil the same way as Christ did when
he was tempted in the wilderness. and that is resisting with the
Word of God. If we are to be kept safe from
error, then the standard of truth must be raised up. If we are
to be kept safe even from the chastening of the Lord, then
we are to walk in His ways. How many times throughout the
Word of God we are warned of not just the error from without,
but the error within, and that the people of God be kept safe
from every slippery snare and every trap of the devil. May we view the walls of Zion,
view the Church of God and the Church's safety in maintaining
a pure doctrine, keeping close to the Word of God, trusting
solely in Christ's precious blood and work for salvation, and yet
working in a way of holiness and uprightness in all our lives. May we look to grace, not works. May we trust in the Lord and
not in our own wisdom. May we be kept safe from those
snares that are laid for our feet. that we don't see, but
the Lord does see. Those things make up the walls
of the Church of God and keep her safe. When many attacks might
come to the Church of God, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a
standard against the enemy and the adversary. The world does
not like The word of God. The Lord says in John 17, I have
given them thy word and the world hath hated them. It is because
it is the word that is the sword of the spirit, which is the word
of God. And that is how we resist the
devil. And that is how we clearly set
forth what the truth is. It is the wall for the people
of God. But another purpose of the wall,
when we think of a clear boundary and keeping apart and keeping
safe, we said at the beginning that every one of God's children
have passed over that boundary. So when we get the wall made
up really strong and high, when it's designed to keep the world
out of the church, and to keep the church safe and holy unto
the Lord, but at the same time is to let in those that are coming
from the world into the church that as yet they do not know
the truth, as yet they are babes in Christ, they may be seeking,
they may just be coming, out of curiosity first into an assembly. But we think of especially what
is pictured here in this chapter, as much as there is mention of
the building up of the wall, there's also the building of
the gates. And we have beams and doors and
locks and bars. We have gates. Gates that can
be locked up very secure, so that they're just as secure as
a wall, but gates that can be opened. And so when those came
to the gates and wanted entrance, and those within the city looked
out and they saw that it was friend and not foe, they discerned
it was one that should be within and not without, they would say
like, Laban and Bethuel said to the servant of Abraham, come
in, thou blest of the Lord, why standest thou without? And they are brought in. And so even though the Church
of God may hold very strict doctrine and may cleave fast to the truth,
and not relax that truth at all. Yet in the midst of that, it
welcomes sinners. It draws in those that are from
without, and that those that are seeking help and mercy and
grace, and that have need, that are fleeing, as it were, from
the wrath to come, they have a welcome, they have an open,
and they come in. It is to be feared sometimes
on the other hand that the Church of God sometimes appears like
a city that has walls but it has no gates. And sometimes it
almost would appear as well that they're happy for it to have
no gates because they're happy with those that are already inside
and they don't want to have any others coming and joining them. May we never be like that. May
we be a church and churches that hold strictly to the word of
God and to the pure doctrine of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. But welcome sinners. The Lord says, let them return
unto you, return not thou unto them. The great danger for the
Church of God is that instead of the Church of God being the
means of conversion of the world, the world changes the Church
to be conformed to them. But the Lord says, return not
thou unto them, let them return unto you. And may we think, have
that in mind with the Church of God, that it must have gates. It must have a controlled passage
in and out. If the Church is doing evangelism,
if the Church is going out, it's a controlled passage. If the
Church is welcoming sinners, it's controlled as it were. They
come to hear the word of God. They come as learners and to
be taught and to hear, not coming in as an enemy or coming as one
to draw away from the truth or to separate the people of God
from their God. So when we think then of the
purpose of a walled city and we think the purpose of the Church
of God and the walls, its separation, its truths, the doctrines of
grace, the sovereignty of God, the providence of God, the election
of God, the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ, its offices,
the Church of God in all of its structure, that is set forth
in elders and bishops and deacons, the church's ministers. Paul says, the church of God,
which is the pillar. The church is to be a true representation
of the Church of God of all time, the redeemed Church of God, that
one day shall be all in heaven with Christ. We want to then
notice, secondly, God's servants in building. God's servants in
building. We're looking specifically then
at Nehemiah 3, and we notice several things. And the first
thing here, The very first words that we read is then Eliashib,
the high priest rose up and his brethren. Immediately our thoughts
are directed to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, our great
high priest, and he is the first one to rise up. If we are those that are seeking
to set the doctrines right, rebuild the walls of the Church of God,
and to establish upon the truths of the everlasting Gospel, it
begins in Christ. It begins with prayer. Except
the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that building. And I believe we are pointed
in this way, pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ, pointed to prayer,
pointed to He which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it unto the day of Jesus Christ. But you know when he began he
did not lack those that followed on afterwards and his brethren
and those that followed him. We would notice that throughout
this passage there's two phrases that really struck me, and we
might say, well, it's just used interchangeably, but the first
one is this, which is, next unto him. We read this verse in verse
two. And next unto him buildeth the
men of Jericho. And we see this again and again. Verse four, five, seven, eight,
nine, 10, 12, 19. you read, and next unto them. And we get this idea of those
that are building this wall, that they're building it next
to each other. And we know in the Church of
God, we think of our churches, the local churches around this
area, that if we were to draw a circle, say around Cranbrook
here, or say some, 13 miles, 15 miles circumference, you would
get some 10 or so churches that are gospel standard churches
and no doubt many other sound churches too in the same area. And many of those churches have
pastors, many are laboring in word and doctrine, many are seeking
to establish the word to build up those walls, to stand the
inroad of the world, to strengthen the people of God, to encourage
the people of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it could be
described that they're all building next unto them. Have you ever
thought of the blessing, what it is to be a labourer, labouring
next to another labourer? what it must have been on this
wall where one was labouring and he looked over the other
side and there was another labouring and another labouring and they're
all working together, not all working on the same patch or
on the same thing, some are on the wall, some are on a gate,
but they've all got their part to do and they're all labouring
next unto him. Well that runs through this passage
and that stands through for the Church of God. But then we have
as well this word, after him. We have this taking up especially
in verse 16, after him, repaired. Nehemiah the son of Asbuck, not
the Nehemiah of the book here. But we find that, verse 16, 17,
18, 20, 21, 22, 23, verse after verse, we read to the end there,
after him, after him. And again, it's something that
is beautiful to observe. Where one of the Lord's servants
is taken home, the Lord raises up another after him, and he
builds a wall, he strengthens the church, He upholds the doctrines
of grace. He serves his day and his generation
after the next one. Now, I know this is one wall
at one time, and we may say these phrases may apply almost to the
same thing, but this is the inspired Word of God. And why has the
Holy Spirit chosen to use these two different phrases throughout
this same chapter in this same work of building the wall. And again, it's a beautiful thing
to notice a one generation following another. We have aged ministers
in our churches. We have younger ones that are
coming up. And one generation are laying
down their pastorates, their ministry, their work is finishing,
but another is rising up and they're preaching the same word,
the same doctrines, holding the same truths and building and
maintaining, rebuilding that same wall. After him, when we
look back at the history of the Church of God, the different
times and times of sometimes great reviving, when the wall
had been completely broken down, when there was hardly any resemblance,
like before the days of the Reformation, of the sacred truths of God as
it was in the first church, but then through the Reformation,
the establishment again of the doctrines of grace and of the
Word of God brought out of obscurity and lifted up and central as
it is in our ministry and in our churches. The next thing
I noticed is this, that there All names, you have names right
through here. Always like the thing that through
the Old Testament we have so many names. They're real people
here. Peter says he was accused that
we have followed cunningly devised fables in making known unto you
the power and coming of our Lord. He says we haven't. We haven't,
no, because they were witnesses and right through the Old Testament
Like in this chapter we have the witnesses, and in our churches
we have as well. Those that are named, those that
we have known, maybe now they're in glory. And some of them, not
only them were named, but also their office was as well named. In verse 28, it was repaired,
the priests, everyone over against his house, or the Levites in
verse 17, or the high priest. They're actually given a name,
but some of them are given an office as well. In the Church
of God, the Lord uses real men. The other thing that we would
notice is that some of them were commended. Remember in this point
we're looking at God's servants in building. Some of them were
commended. Verse 20. After him Barak the
son of Zabai earnestly repaired the other piece. Earnestly. We see that difference, don't
we? May we be amongst those that in the work that we are doing
it is done earnestly. and not those that are exposed
for neglect, like in verse five, and next unto them the Techanites
repaired, but their nobles put not their necks to the work of
the Lord. Some of them, they weren't putting
their necks to it. They weren't doing it diligently,
laboring at all. So God's servants in building. May we notice in our churches,
may we don't just see ministers and pastors, but we have a regard
to this word, we his servants will arise and build. May we
as ministers realize that we are the servants of the living
God, and that we have a work to do, and that we might do it
as earnestly and not as those that do not put our necks to
the work. And whether we are a private
Christian as well, on the path that we walk and the way that
we go, how do we walk? How do we live? So there are
the servants. May we be amongst the servants
of the Most High God. May we also be of those who lift
up their hands and encourage and strengthen them. We want
to then look briefly in the third place at God's method of building. His method was to appoint. Right through this chapter you
cannot escape that one after another was appointed to a different
part of the wall and a different work. When we think of the Lord's
servants, we're appointed to different parts of the country,
different parts of the world, different parts of the Church
of God, also in a spiritual sense. Some are called to repair, it
might be, the gates, to allow those to enter in that should
enter in. to shut out those that should
be shut out. That part of the Church of God
that's broken down, the Lord raises up a servant and says,
that's your work, you deal with that. Another is dealing with
another part, another doctrine that's fallen into disrepute
or neglected or not followed, you repair that, you strengthen
that. You think of in Philpott's day
and when There rose up those that denied the eternal sonship
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He rose up and ably defended
that doctrine. And we have had it right through
time. When errors have risen up, the
Lord said, there must needs be heresies among you, that they
that are proved be made manifest. How are they made manifest? They
stand up and they say, that is error, that is heresy, that is
a Cardinal error. You hold that. It's the difference
between life and death. That part of the wall must be
maintained. It must be restored. So God's
way is to delegate, to appoint his servants to that work, to
manage that work. And it's to delegate it amongst
many. It's not just for one, it's many. None of the Lord's servants can
say, I'm doing this work alone. No. None of these could say,
I have built the wall on my own. Nehemiah could say, he's sent
to build it and he's overseeing it. Our Lord Jesus Christ is
building his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. But his servants are each allocated
to a part of him. a separate work for each one. Some of the Lord's servants,
well, the Apostle Paul, he said, the Lord called me not to baptise,
but to preach. And he names just a few that
he's baptised. Amongst our churches, some of
us have only baptised a few. Others have baptised many, some
50. Some have taken one or two weddings,
others have taken many weddings. Some have taken few funerals,
others many funerals. Some have big churches, some
have small churches. Some labour with little seeming
success, and others with great success. But it is God appointing
each one a separate work, and that can be very encouraging
and strengthening to realise this. We don't just decide where
we're going to work or what we're going to do, but we seek that
the light the Lord shows us and that which he brings us to. And that's where I would notice
as well, that many times in this account, that the work was done
opposite their own homes. Where they lived, where they
were, that's where they worked in verse 10. We read that Harufath,
even over against his house, they worked near their place
of abode. Verse 23 again, over against
their house, opposite their house. That's where they were working.
Now it's not always that it's through here, but very often
it is. Instead of looking here and there
to a church in the next village or to a people that are far off,
that we have to consider firstly our own souls, our own doctrine,
our own way, and then where we've been placed, whether it's over
a family, whether it is in the Church of God or a pastor, that
that is the part that we are to repair. Is it all well with
us? Is our doctrine pure? Do we walk
according to the word of God? Do we live according to that
word? Do we do what Paul said? Say ye to Archippus, see that
thou fulfill the ministry that has been given you. And we are
to fulfill that ministry and fulfill that work. And we say
with them here, that in this manner and this way, the work
was done. Each little part was accounted
for and dealt with. You know, it wasn't raised up
that we'd pick out one of these and he's got to be watching over
all of his brethren and seeing what they're doing. I'm sure
that those that did their work good, they had their eyes specifically
and what God had given them to do, and that they did that well,
especially that one commended because he earnestly repaired
the other piece, or the piece that was given him. So may the
Lord help us to look past these literal walls of Jerusalem being
rebuilt to the Church of God, to those sacred truths of the
everlasting gospel and the word of God and maintaining that,
holding it fast, that truth of God that shall set his people
free and that shall answer the adversary's attacks and keep
the people of God safe from error and make it very clear so that
those that are lost know they are lost. Those that are saved
know they are saved. Those that are within the church
know they're in the church and there's safety where Christ is
found. Those that are without are warned
of the solemn consequences of being outside of Christ. May the Lord bless us with that
blessing of being a believer and brought in by the grace of
God. And the Church of God recognises
that work of a coming sinner, however imperfect they may feel
or believe, and say, Come in, thou blessed of the Lord, wherefore
standest thou without? May the Lord bless this word.
We, his servants, will arise and builds. Amen.