Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn to the book of Nehemiah. If you're looking at Psalms and
you just start going back toward the front and you're going to
see Job and Esther. Nehemiah is just before the book
of Esther. You got Esther and then Job. Nehemiah chapter 1. Nehemiah
chapter 1. I've entitled this message, When
God's People Pray. And there's so little, truly, we
know about prayer. I know this, prayer spoken from
the heart. Prayer that's taken from the
promises of God is truly to pray or write. There was a man named Nehemiah
and he was moved by the Spirit of God to pray for the people
of God. And the Spirit of God was pleased
to to have that prayer that the Spirit moved him to pray, the
Spirit was pleased to have it recorded. God put the prayer
of this believer in Scripture. And that prayer was recorded,
obviously, for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and for the
glory, I mean the good, of God's people, God's elect. Now I want
us to consider this first chapter, Nehemiah chapter 1, verses 1
to 11. And we must remember that being in God's word, all scripture
is God-breathed. It's given by inspiration of
God, and it's profitable for doctrine. for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good works. So the prayer begins,
well it actually begins in about the fourth or fifth verse, but
the first verse of this chapter begins and it says the words
of Nehemiah. And I love when you look at the
names of these people. So often we read these names
and they are so hard to pronounce. But when you stop for just a
minute and look and see the meaning of their names. These names were
given Actually they were given by the Spirit of God because
these names were written in the Book of Life before the foundation
of the world. So it was God that moved on the parents of these
people to name them something. Well Nehemiah means Jehovah Comforts. Nehemiah. It says the words of
Nehemiah. the son of Hatchaliah, and his
name means whom Jehovah enlightens. Isn't that a beautiful meaning? Jehovah comforts, Jehovah enlightens. The words of Nehemiah, the son
of Hatchaliah, and it came to pass in the month of Chislew
in the 20th year as I was in Shushan, the palace, that Hanenai,
and Hanenai means gracious, gracious. I tell you that you take the
word, the name Hannah, Hannah, that would be the feminine of
this. Hannah means grace. Well, Hanenai
means gracious. It said that Hanani, one of my
brethren, now that right there, I looked up that word right there,
one of my brethren, and it very possibly could mean one of his
spiritual brethren, but it also could mean that this was one
of his brothers, his real physical brothers, and that Hanani, one
of my brethren, came he and certain men of Judah. And I asked them
concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the
captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, the remnant
are left of the captivity there in the province. They're in great
affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is
broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire." Now, this
this book, penned by a man named Nehemiah. Nehemiah, the last
verse of this particular chapter, you look at the last part of
Nehemiah, verse 11, the last part, verse 11, he said, for
I was the king's cup bearer. Now that, I'm going to in just
a few minutes I'll tell you the significance of why he said that.
But here this book was penned by a Jew. He was an Israelite
and he was in the court of a heathen king. This king's name was Artaxerxes
and providentially the Lord moved on this Hanani, this is the brother
or one of the brethren of Nehemiah, and he moved upon this man to
come to the court where Nehemiah was. And he came and had a report
that he was going to give concerning the people. The Lord moved upon
Nehemiah to ask about them. Hanani just told him, he said,
well, to be honest with you, he said things are not going
well. The remnant that's left of the
people that were escaped or that had returned actually from the
captivity of either Babylon or Assyria or some other nation,
he said they're really in great distress. He's told them what
had happened. He said they were in great affliction,
verse 3, and a Jerusalem wall had broken down. He said the
gates are burned. He says the people are just living
in a very deplorable situation there. And that record of Jerusalem,
I thought to myself when I read that, are we not the remnant? that we're in this world, and
this world that we're in is a place of trouble. The Lord had promised
in this world you're going to have tribulation, trials, and
these trials that are sent, these are for our good. I know they're
for our good. I know they're for the glory
of God. They're mercifully sent by the Lord to teach His people. David said it's good, this is
Psalm 119.71, it's good that I've been afflicted that I might
learn thy statutes. Now I've quoted that passage
and read that passage and I've So many times I've failed to
just, I think, grasp hold of exactly what was being said.
But I think the Lord has given me some light on this, that I
might learn thy statutes. You know, there's some things
that we learn by looking. Or we learn some things by hearing. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing
by the Word of God. But when David said, it's good
that I've been afflicted, that I might learn, Thy statutes,
that word learned right there means by experience. You know,
there's some things that I know, I believe are so. I believe that,
you know, as I said before, I believe that George Washington was our
first president. I believe that. You say, well,
why do you believe that? Well, that's what I've heard.
I read that in history books. It seems to me that everybody's
pretty consistent with that. But do you know I've never experienced
actually seeing, meeting Him? I don't know it by experience. There's a lot of things that
I've heard, I know, but David said it's good that I've been
afflicted. It's good that something's happened
to me that I could experience Him. This is the only way you
really know it. When you experience something, then you know it.
This was the Lord's will, obviously, for the remnant that was in Jerusalem. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will, and this is the way that the Lord
was pleased to teach this remnant something, and to teach them
of their need, and to teach them of the Lord's sufficiency, chastisement,
and affliction. We're being weaned from this
world. The older we get, our bodies
breaking down and we're being drawn more and more to cry out
unto the Lord for deliverance. But also, not only was it good
for them that they were in a state, now they were in a deplorable
state, But that's good. That's good. Why? Because that's
the Lord's will for them. And so the Lord put them in that
place. But also, God's people, when they behold, by hearing,
they actually experience the afflictions of their brethren,
they're moved to pray for them. And to seek the God of their
hope on behalf of others. Paul the Apostle said in 1 Thessalonians
5.25, he said, brethren, pray for us, pray for us. And Nehemiah penned this prayer. I mean, this was his prayer and
the Spirit of God moved on right now. That just intrigued me. How God, you know, we pray, but
we never do think about writing it, writing it out. The Spirit
of God told him to write it down, write that down. And so he said
in verse 4, it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat
down and wept and mourned. certain days and fasted and prayed
before the God of heaven. Just the wording of that, he's
already experienced it. It came to pass when I heard
it, I sat down, I wept, I mourned certain days. He's now writing
down something that's already happened. And the Spirit of God
has brought it back to his mind, but he wrote that down again
for our benefit. The Spirit of God is going to
teach us something. So he said, I sat down and mourned
and fasted, but here's what was so precious. I prayed before
the God of heaven. Their state of suffering had
moved him to pray to the true and living God. This is life
eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom Thou sent. And so Nehemiah said, I prayed,
but the God that I was praying to was the God of heaven. The
God that the Spirit of God had revealed unto me. You know, we're
commanded to pray without ceasing. There's never a reason for us
to fail to pray, whether we're in our closet, family devotions,
congregation like this, you're just driving down the road, you're
just, you're at home, you're minding your own business, nobody
else knows it, and you pray. Your heart is moved to pray.
And we pray unto the God of heaven, the God that the Spirit of God
has revealed unto us, even our Lord. When He was in this earth,
in the days of His humiliation, how many times was it recorded
that He prayed? Here was God Himself in human
flesh, the God-man, and He as our representative prayed, seeking
the Lord, doing exactly what we do. He was touched in all
points like we are, yet without sin. He was tempted, He was tried,
and He sought His Father on our behalf. earning a righteousness
as the man, Christ Jesus. When he prayed, he was praying
for his brethren. He said in John chapter 17 verse
9, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
I pray for them that thou hast given me, for they are thine.
And so Nehemiah, he was moved. He heard this. The Spirit of
God broke his heart and he prayed. And then he said in verse 5,
it said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and
terrible God that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love
him and observe his commandments. Now, Nehemiah was moved to pray
for his brethren, but he was moved to seek the God of covenant
grace and mercy on the behalf of those who were afflicted.
You know, when a believer prays, he solemnly, he's serious, he
lays before the Lord his own great name. He lays before God
who God is. And he sets forth the glory of
the Lord as the foundation of his plea. And he's declaring
unto the Lord the glory that is due unto His name. And doing
that is the greatest encouragement. Whenever our Lord taught His
disciples, His disciples asked Him, said, Lord, teach us to
pray as John taught his disciples to pray. And how did the Lord
begin? He said, when you pray, you say,
our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed, holy, holy is your
name. We don't speak to God in a casual
way. I mean, we don't know what we're
supposed to pray. The Spirit of God helpeth. our
infirmities because we don't know what to pray and He makes
intercession for us with groanings that we can't even utter. We don't know what to say. But
it's an amazing thing when we pray, the Spirit of God that's
helping us, we don't speak to the Lord in a flippant way. We
are very, very respectful when we speak unto the Lord. And so
whenever Nehemiah was praying, he spoke, he said, I beseech
thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God that keepeth
covenant and mercy for them that love Him, observe His commandments. You know, we speak to Him who
is able to grant the petitions of our heart, to either grant
them or refuse them according to His good pleasure. And we
appeal unto the Lord according to His mercy that He's been pleased
to show us in the Lord Jesus Christ, Him that is pleased to
keep that covenant mercy toward those He's everlastingly loved.
We speak unto Him with respect for Him sending the Lord Jesus
Christ who has ever stood for us as our surety and has redeemed
us and robed us in His righteousness and the Lord Jesus Christ in
whom we're accepted in the Beloved. So whenever we speak unto the
Lord, we speak unto Him respectfully. And that's how Nehemiah said,
Lord, I'm calling on you. You're the great and terrible
God that keepeth covenant mercy for them that love him, the covenant
God. David said, this is all my hope.
Although it be not so with my house, he made with me an everlasting
covenant order in all things insure. So Nehemiah prayed, and
he prayed honestly. with importunity as the Lord's
servant. Listen to what he said in verse
6. Let thine ear now be attentive,
and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy
servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night. For
the children of Israel, thy servants, and confess the sins of the children
of Israel, which we've sinned against thee, both I and my father's
house. We've sinned. This is what I'm
saying. God's people are honest. They're honest people. As God's
people, we seek the Lord as unworthy sinners. We know that we are
in need, and we know that God's mercy is not deserved. We don't deserve mercy. He gives
it, and we realize that, and we admit it. He says in verse
7, we've dealt very corruptly against thee. Have not kept the
commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments which thou
commandest thy servant Moses, there's so much freedom in just
being honest. I just want to be honest. Lord, I've not thought like I should
have thought towards you. I hadn't prayed like I should
have prayed. I haven't sought you like I should. I don't love you like I ought
to. I love you. Lord, I say like Peter, Lord,
you know all things. I know I love you, but oh, Lord,
how fickle is my love. And I'm just being honest with
you. I'm just coming before you, and
I'm just asking you. I'm seeking you. You're the covenant
God. Lord, you chose to show mercy
and compassion to me. You've given me a heart to cry
unto you. And Lord Jesus, you said him that cometh to you,
you won't cast out. And Lord, I'm just coming based
on your word. I'm just trying to be honest.
I need you to have mercy on me. When a believer prays, he seeks
and knocks and asks at the door of God's mercy as a beggar. It's like blind Bartimaeus. Jesus,
thou son of David. I'm just a blind beggar. sitting
on the side of the road. And Lord, if you pass me by,
I'm gonna die right here on the side of this road and I'm gonna
go to hell. Have mercy upon me. We continue to ask, like he said,
verse six, I pray before thee now day and night. It's like
that Syrophoenician woman who sought the Lord's mercy for her
daughter and the Lord would tell her, it's not me, it's not fit. that I give the children's bread
to dogs. And she said, Lord, you're right. Dogs get the crumbs
that fall from the master's table. I'm just asking you. I'm just
asking. I'm just asking. You can turn me away if you want
to. But I'm going to be like Joshua. Lord, I don't have any
place else to go. I have no place else. I'm sunk
without you. We cry unto the Lord in our need,
like the woman with the issue of blood. This woman was sick
and she was broke, spent all of her money, and she says, if
I can touch the hem of his garment, I'm going to be healed. She did. We continue to pray day and night,
never thinking for one second that we're going to receive what
we ask because of our much speaking. And we know that. We're not going
to receive, but we pray with importunity because He moves
us to pray. And we keep asking and asking
and asking. He tells us to continue. He said,
pray without ceasing. Lord, that's what I'm doing.
I don't know anything else to do. You say, well, don't you
think that the Lord, if He was going to answer your prayer,
He would have answered it by now. Well, that's not my call. My call is to do what He's asked
me to do, and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to call
upon the Lord day and night, because we're being taught. We're
being taught that we walk by faith, and we're going to trust
Him. And when we pray, we're instructed
to pray calling back to memory those things that the Lord has
promised. That's always the right thing to do. That's always the
right way to pray. Saying back to Him that which
He said He's pleased to do or to say unto His people. Look
at verses 8 and 9. He said, Remember, I beseech
thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, If
you transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations.
But if you turn unto me and keep my commandments and do them,
though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of
the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence and will bring
them unto the place that I've chosen to set my name there.
Now I know this and you know this. Our repentance is not something
that we're able to drum up. It's given unto us to repent. But the Lord is telling us here,
if you wander, and but for the grace of God, that's all we're
going to do, is wander. We're going to walk away. But
if He allows us to walk away, as far as He's permitting us
to do, And then he, by his chastisement, calls us back. He said, you wander.
I'm going to scout you. I'm going to let you see. I'm
going to let you behold what you want. And I'm going to let
you see what you think you wanted and see how much you enjoy it.
But if you repent, and when he's ready to call us back, he will.
We're going to be reminded how merciful and gracious was the
Lord. Remember verse 8, I beseech thee,
the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses. What was that? Turn, hold your place, turn to
Deuteronomy 4. Deuteronomy 4. Deuteronomy chapter 4, beginning
in verse 25, I'll read verse 25 Deuteronomy 4, When thou shalt
begat children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained
long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven
image, or the likeness of anything, and shall do evil in the sight
of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and
earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon
utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to
possess it. You shall not prolong your days
upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. And the Lord shall
scatter you among the nations, and you shall be left few in
number among the heathen, whether the Lord shall lead you. And
there you shall serve God's, the work of men's hands, wood
and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But
if you thence thou But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord
thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy
heart, with all thy soul, when thou art in tribulation, and
all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days,
if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto
his voice. For the Lord thy God is a merciful
God. He will not forsake thee, neither
destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which
he swear unto them. Let me ask you this. When the
Lord promised his people, if you leave, I'm going to chase
you, and if you return, and the only reason they returned was
by the grace of God, he said, I'm going to forgive you. I'm
going to draw you back. I'm going to cause you to see
my mercy, my compassion. Was that not what happened to
the prodigal son? Now you think, now here's a son.
Here was a son, his dad, and his son came to his dad and says,
give me that part of my inheritance that's coming to me. The dad
gave it to him. Now wasn't that boy foolish in
taking that part of his inheritance and wasting it on riotous living? Wasn't that foolish? Yeah, yes
it was. Was it not painful to find himself
in want and need? And then what happened? The scripture says, while he
was feeding the hogs, the husk, he came to himself. Now, what
would cause a man to come to himself and desire to go back
to his father's house and to resolve in going back to petition
his father for mercy. It was only by the Spirit of
God. Someone says, well, I've never
done that. I've never done it. Brethren,
we do that every moment. We are the prodigals. We are
the prodigals. You think, well, I've never gone
off into a far country. Let me tell you something. There
is an old man in us that goes away every moment. And there's
a new man that struggles against it. And that new man is continually,
continually, continually coming to himself. That's the only one
that does. The old man don't hear anything. He's dead. All he knows is rebellion. I have a right. I got a right.
And that new man tells him, he said, you don't have any right.
And that new man, continually struggling, you want to see what
we're doing all the time? There's the battle right there.
And that new man, knowing himself, knowing that it was him, Old
wretched man Paul said that I am who shall deliver me from this
death. That's me. That's me. What does that new
man do? I'm going to go back and we call
upon the Lord and we say, Lord, I've sinned against you. I've
sinned against you. I got an old man in me that done
nothing but sin. I got a new man that never sins.
But that old man knows. This is a great mystery. The
world doesn't know anything about it, but a believer knows about
it. And that believer constantly calling upon the Lord, and what
happens? The Father who loves us. He does just exactly what Nehemiah
says, Lord, remember I beseech thee the word that thou commandest
thy servant Moses said, if you transgress, I'll scatter you
abroad. You're going to feel the chastening
hand of God. Boy, but if you turn to me, and
every believer does, they do it, they do it, they do it, they
do it. They're repenting and repenting and repenting. Crying
unto the Lord. Keep my commandments. What is
that? What commandments is that? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And do them. He said, I'm going to gather
you back. I'll take you back. That boy
came to his dad and had his story all rehearsed and ready and started
talking. Dad just said, you get a robe
on this boy, you put some shoes on this boy, you put a ring on
this boy, you kill the fatty calf, it's my boy, my son. We
rebel because there's an old man in us that does nothing but
rebel. And we return because it's God
Almighty who will not leave us to ourselves. And he affectionately
draws us to himself in repentance. And we remember, we constantly
remember that we're saved by grace, kept by grace. So Nehemiah said, praying for
the people of God, he said, Lord, remember, remember, remember,
Lord, your promise that you made to Moses. Then look in verse
10, the joy of praying with a heart of thanksgiving and remembrance
of God's electing, redeeming, and regenerating grace. Listen
to verse 10. Now these are thy servants and
thy people. Look, do we not see election?
Lord, these are thy servants. How'd they get to be servants?
God made them servants. These are thy people. How did
they get to be God's people? God chose them to be His people. So here, Nehemiah is saying,
Lord, remember them, you who are the covenant God. These are
thy servants and thy people whom thou hast redeemed by thy great
power. What is that? That's redeeming
grace. That's the power, the right hand
of Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ. These are the ones that you've
always loved in Christ. You who chose them and you who
redeemed them by your power. Christ suffered. for these your servants. These
are the ones for whom He was made sin and bore the wrath of
God that the Father saw before the foundation of the world.
Nehemiah, he knew God. He knew the covenant God. And then he said, verse 10, These
are thy servants, thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy
great power and by thy strong hand. You've called them out
of darkness. You've affectionately called
them out of sin and unbelief. You've removed their stony heart.
You gave them a new heart. These are the ones that you've
promised you'll never leave them. You're not going to forsake them.
These are the ones that you have everlastingly loved. And then
lastly, when we pray with the heart, we leave the outcome to
Him who knows what's best. Verse 11. I want you to listen
in that closing verse, the petition of Nehemiah, and note his submission
to the good pleasure and will of God. He never dictates to
the Lord the specific details, but he pours out his request
unto the Lord and lays them bare before the feet of the Master.
He says in verse 11, I beseech thee, let thine ear
be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer
of thy servants, who desire, who are glad, is what it is.
They're glad to fear thy name. They are glad that they have
respect unto thy name. And prosper, I pray thee, thy
servant this day, and grant him mercy, in the sight of this man. What man is he talking about?
He's talking about Artaxerxes. He's talking about the man whom
he was the king's cupbearer. You see, Nehemiah knew that Almighty
God is the one who raises up all authority. Artaxerxes was
the king. He was a heathen king. But in
the king's hand was, naturally speaking, the power to be able
to get something done over there in Jerusalem. They needed some
help. Artaxerxes could help out there. And Nehemiah is beseeching the
Lord. Nehemiah wasn't praying or seeking
Artaxerxes' help. He went to the Lord, the covenant
God, God Almighty, and said, Lord, you're the one that rules
in heaven and earth. You're the one, Lord, that has
the ability, the power, Lord, to turn the head of the king
whithersoever you will. Lord, I'm asking you to prosper
thy servant and grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for
I was the king's cupbearer. Lord, you can tell this man to
get this done, and it's going to be done. I know that you're
a God of means. The Lord that raises up His people,
puts them in this world, gives them a heart to cry unto Him,
to beseech Him, to do that which He's pleased to do. We know that
He rules in heaven and earth, and we bow. That's what Nehemiah
did. He said, I'm bowing. You put me, Lord, in this position.
I'm just a cupbearer. That's all I am. But Lord, you're
God, and you're able, and I'm asking you now, Lord, for your
glory and for the sake of these your people that you've loved,
Lord, would you prosper my desire for your glory and for the good
of them in the eyes of this man that I'm putting his court. I'm
just asking you to do what you're pleased to do. And I'm asking
you for Christ's sake and for our good. Amen. All right.