May the Lord be pleased to bless
us together this morning as we consider his word. Let's turn
to the book of Nehemiah and chapter 5 and the last clause in verse
15. The book of Nehemiah chapter
5 and the last clause in verse 15. But so did not I because
of the fear of God. As we may read the book of Nehemiah,
we will recognize that he was a man of God. He was a man that
desired to do that which was for the honor and glory of God. You may remember that when Nehemiah
came before the king, And the king asked him what the situation
was, and he recognized that his counsel was not as it was normally. And what did he do in the presence
of Almighty God, in the presence of the king himself? He prayed
unto the God of heaven. Well, it gives us a wonderful
example, doesn't it? There is no situation when we
cannot pray Every situation that we come into, we will be able
to pray. Nehemiah was able to pray to
his God and God heard his prayer and granted him favour in the
eyes of the king. And we're thankful we have the
same God to worship today. Nehemiah was a faithful man and
he wasn't taken in by Those who came to try and stop him in the
building, Sambala and Tobia, they came and they tried to stop
him building a wall. But he told them he had a great
work to do. And he wasn't prepared to stop. And as we read together, you
see, he ensured that the people were aware of the situation and
were prepared for any attack. And indeed, what a wonderful
example we have of these people at this time. There they were,
and he tells us, Likewise, at the same time, said I unto the
people, let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem,
that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on
the day. It was no easy time, was it?
And I believe there never is an easy time when the Church
of God are flourishing, when the Church of God are truly walking
in the paths of the Lord. No, there are the opposition,
and they have to be aware and ready for every attack that may
come from the enemy. And here were these people of
Judah, they were ready. And he tells us, so neither I
nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which
followed me, none of us, put off our clothes, saving that
everyone put them off for washing. So there was a real concern that
this wall might be rebuilt and there might be some security,
therefore, for the people. And of course, when they commenced,
it wasn't easy. And we read in the same fourth
chapter, we're told the strength of the bearers of burdens is
decayed. And there is much rubbish so
that we are not able to build the wall. And if we just try
and turn that spiritually, you know, in the church of God, there
is often much rubbish. And because there's much rubbish,
it hinders the building. It hinders the Church of God
prospering. There is much rubbish. And we
might analyse that and say, well, what is rubbish? Well, rubbish
is that which is of the world. That which does not benefit the
true living child of God. What is it? It's rubbish. And
it hinders the building, it hinders the prosperity of the Church
of God. Well, Nehemiah was raised up
in this time to be faithful and to instruct and to encourage
the people in the building of the wall. As you read through
this book of Nehemiah, you will find that the wall was finished. And there was a time of great
rejoicing and a wonderful time of blessing was favoured to these
people. And we are thankful we have accounts
like this in the Word of God to encourage us in the day and
age in which we live. Because the Bible is a spiritual
book and we have these accounts in the natural way which direct
us very clearly to the spiritual way. And we should always read
the Bible with spiritual eyes, and not just with natural eyes. There is, of course, a natural
side. There was a wonderful blessing, but the Word of God is a spiritual
book, and you and I have an ever-dying soul which is spiritual. And
we should always be concerned then to find that we are walking
in a right way, in a spiritual way. Well, we read in this chapter
of some of those things that the people did which were not
right. They took possessions of their
brethren, the Jews. And Nehemiah recognized what
it was and he consulted with himself and he rebuked the nobles
and the rulers and told them the situation that they were
doing wrong. And he told them to restore the
situation and not to carry on. And it had a good effect. The
people said, we will restore and require nothing of them.
So will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priest and
took an oath of them that they should do according to this promise. So it's good, wasn't it? The
people were there and they listened to what he said. And they realised
they were not walking in accordance with the right way. And they
observed the saying of Nehemiah, and they obeyed his words, which
were good words. They weren't wrong words, they
were good words. And all the congregation said,
Amen, and praised the Lord. And the people did according
to this promise. And so we have this wonderful
instruction ready for us today, to follow the Word of God, to
not follow our own inclinations, to follow that which is right
and God-honouring. And so then the servant of God,
he goes on and he tells us that he didn't take anything from
the Governor, he provided everything himself. that he might not be
chargeable, and he tells us, and this is where we are this
morning, so did not I because of the fear of God. Now it would
be a great blessing if that is that which directs us in our
life, the fear of God. The fear of God, what a blessing
it is. You know the hymn writer, Speaks to us about this and it's
instructive to us and Him 832 and It is on the fear of the
Lord won't read it all but the last two verses tells us this
this fears the spirit of faith a confidence that strong Unctuous
light to all that's right and a bar to all that's wrong It
gives religion life To warm as well as light makes mercy sweet
Salvation great and all God's judgments, right Now what a favorite
is and isn't it to know ourselves? the fear of the Lord because
of the fear of God. Well, it'll be a wonderful blessing
if you and I are privileged to know in our own hearts this fear
of God. And this is a fear which desires
to do that which is right, that which is God-honouring, a fear
which desires to please God, It's not what we might term a
natural fear. There will be a natural fear.
We all know what natural fear is. And there will, of course,
be those times in the earth when there will be that great fear. There will be that fear in the
end of all things when the Lord returns. And people would indeed
fear. Well, Isaiah tells us a little
of this in his prophecy in the second chapter. The tenth verse,
enter into the rock and hide in the dust for fear of the Lord
and for the glory of his majesty. And it goes on later on in the
same chapter. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks
and into the caves of the earth for fear of the Lord and for
the glory of his majesty when he arises to shake terribly the
earth. In that day a man shall cast
his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made each
one for himself to worship to the moles and to the bats, to
go into the clefts of the rocks and in the tops of the ragged
rocks for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty
when he arises to shake terribly the earth." Well, we know today,
don't we, when there are earthquakes, When there are volcanic eruptions,
when there are hurricanes, there is that natural fear, main fear,
because of the power and the might of Almighty God. But here
we have really a different fear. And this fear is to do that which
is right and well-pleasing to God. He says he didn't want to
offend God. But so did not I because of the
fear of God." He didn't want to offend God. Now that's a great
blessing for us today. If we know this fear of God,
which is in our hearts, that we do not want to offend God. It is, as the hymn writer says,
an unctuous light to all that's right and a bar to all that's
wrong. What a blessing it is then for
you and me today if we have that desire to do that which is right
and not to offend God. And surely that will be a wonderful
influence in our lives. It was a wonderful influence,
wasn't it, in Nehemiah's life. how faithful he was. And it would
be a great blessing for us if it has that effect upon us that
we are found seeking unto the Lord, fearing to offend, fearing
to walk contrary to our God, desiring that we may ever be
found living nearer to the Lord Jesus Christ, seeking to do his
will, seeking to follow him, fearing to offend, so did not
I, because of the fear of the Lord." Well, it's a good thing
to examine ourselves, isn't it? As to whether this has a direct
application to our lives, your life and my life, that we are able to say, yes,
but so did not I. We didn't do those things. We
didn't say those things. We didn't perhaps think those
things because of the fear of God. Because God is so kind and
so gracious. We can draw, can we not, the
analogy of parents and children. Children love their parents. They don't want to offend them,
do they? They may perhaps do so sometimes, and it's only really
because they want to please themselves. They don't want to please their
parents. They want to satisfy what they want to do, and therefore
they're disobedient. Exactly the same, isn't it, with
the child of God today. They often offend God. because
they want to do those things which are pleasing to themselves
and not pleasing to Almighty God. You know, the Apostle John,
when he wrote his epistle, and they're very beautiful, the epistles
of John, how instructive they are for us. And in his epistle,
the first epistle in the fourth chapter, he speaks like this.
He says, Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because
as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but
perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He
that feareth is not made perfect in love. So it really directs
us very positively and very certainly to God's love to us and our love
to God. It's one of those essential considerations
and essential truths that all of us should pray for earnestly
and desire to have the gracious and blessed evidence that God
does love us, and because of that we do love God. And so the apostle directs us
and tells us that herein is our love made perfect, that we may
have boldness in the day of judgment. Because as he is, so are we in
this world. It's the evidence that we are
one of God's children, when we know that God has loved us. It's a wonderful evidence. It's
a very humbling evidence to think that Almighty God should have
loved us. And yet, you see, if we are blessed, with this favour
and blessed with this privilege. Surely then we can understand
a little of what Nehemiah said, but so did not I because of the
fear of God." Because we desire to do that which is right, we
do not want to offend Almighty God. And so if we have, if we
can find in our hearts the evidence that God has loved us, surely
then we would understand something of what Nehemiah said here. But
so did not I because of the fear of God. Now there are many, many
statements in the Word of God regarding the fear of God. Very,
very many statements. Far more than we're able to consider
this morning. But nonetheless, there are some
which are very good and very relevant to us. And we mentioned
some of them. Solomon, of course, was a man
blessed with great wisdom. And he tells us in the Proverbs,
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But fools despise
wisdom and instruction. And this, of course, is not natural
knowledge. This is spiritual knowledge.
As the Lord comes alongside us and directs us to view himself,
and as we view him as that holy God, God who has looked down upon
us in mercy, to behold that produces in our heart the evidence of
knowledge, spiritual knowledge, because it directs us to ourselves
and directs us to the Saviour. But fools despise wisdom and
instruction. There won't be any desire after
spiritual knowledge really. because they'll be satisfied
with an earthly portion. And so what a favour it is when
God comes and gives us, it is his gift, the fear of the Lord,
which is his beginning of wisdom. As Solomon says in the ninth
chapter, 10th verse, the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. So we have knowledge and we have
wisdom, spiritual wisdom. This is wisdom which is not of
the earth. The knowledge of the holy is understanding. Again, when God comes and shows
us something of himself, the knowledge of the holy, the holy
God, how high he is, how great he is, and how humbling to think
that he looks upon us. It is the beginning of wisdom
to have this fear of the Lord and the knowledge of the Holy
is understanding. May we desire to have a spiritual
understanding. How we strive, don't we? Naturally,
after natural understanding, and so much time is spent in
improving our natural understanding. But all that proving, all that
natural understanding, which we may have accumulated in our
minds, in our brain, when we leave this earth, it will all
have finished. We'll leave it all behind, all
that natural understanding that we may have spent much of our
life, perhaps trying to improve ourselves, natural understanding, in order
to impress people perhaps, so that we could say this and we
could say that. My friends, it won't do us any good when we
come to die. But bless God, if we know the
fear of the Lord and the knowledge of the Holy, the knowledge of
God, This is understanding. This is spiritual understanding.
And this understanding will not be lost. It will not fade away. Well, how important then that
you and I are given this wonderful blessing of the fear of the Lord. And remember, Nehemiah said,
that did not I because of the fear of the Lord. We might think
of that with regard to natural understanding. It's right, of
course, we have to learn things in this life, but not to spend
too much time on the things of time, but to spend more time on seeking
the direction and the will and the blessing of Almighty God. There is that continual conflict
that we have to face between our old nature and the new nature. And we'll continue that conflict
right down to the end of our life. The devil seeking to keep
us concentrating on the things of this world and the blessed
spirit of God gently nudging us and encouraging us in that
which is divine, that which is spiritual, that which is true
understanding. And this all generates back to
this statement, the fear of the Lord, how good it is to know
that. Remember then, Nehemiah, but
so did not I because of the fear of the Lord, because of the fear
of God. wonder in our lives whether we
can realize and know and see and look back to those times
when there was a because in our lives. Because of the fear of
God. Because of the fear in God we
were encouraged by the Holy Spirit to do those things which were
good and right. Because the fear of God. We were encouraged by the Holy
Spirit to turn away from those things which did not profit. Can we look in our lives and
say yes, bless God, it was because of the fear of God I was enabled
to follow that which was right and to turn away from that which
was wrong. It was because of the fear of
God that I desired to know more of Him, that I desired to follow
Him more closely. I desired to hear His voice speaking
unto me. I desired to turn away from the
temptations of Satan, which sometimes crowded in like a flood. It was because the fear of God. Well, my friends, may all of
us today be able to look into our lives and observe this great
and glorious statement, but so did not I because of the fear
of God. You know, the Psalmist David
encourages us in the 25th Psalm and he speaks to us words of
truth He tells us this very encouraging the secret of the Lord Do you
and I want to know that God's secret toward us He tells us
the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him What it means
is that if we don't fear God There's no secret revealed to
us The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he
will show them his covenant, show them his promises, show
them his word unto them upon which he causes them to hope. The fear of the Lord, the secret
of the Lord. Well, you and I know the secret
of the Lord, the secret which he speaks to us. that which is
personal, revealing to us that we have an interest in the death
of Christ, that we have an interest in his shed blood, that we have
our names written in the Lamb's Book of Life. It's the secret
of the Lord, which he reveals personally to his people, to
those that fear Him. My friends, what a wonderful
consideration to have the wonderful evidence that this is so in our
lives, that we do possess this secret of the Lord. It's a secret,
you see, made known to you from God. Other people don't know
it. You may be able to tell them
about it, but it's that personal secret which is divulged from
God himself into your and my heart. What a blessing. What a blessing
it is to know that. You know the psalmist, when he
tells us, it was David, he says, For thy name's sake, O Lord,
pardon my iniquity, for it is great." And again, that's God's
blessing, you know, to those that fear him, to reveal that
to you and to me, that we recognise that our iniquity is great. It's not a little sin. It's not
something that should be passed over. Oh, my friends, we're great
sinners. We only recognise we're really
great sinners when the Spirit of God applies his word to our
souls. What man is he that fears the
Lord? Him shall he teach in the way
that he shall choose. How important it is, this fear
of the Lord, to be blessed with it. Yes, he shall teach in the
way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease,
and his seed shall inherit the earth." Well, what it brings
is that peace of God, which passes all understanding, to have it
revealed to us that we do possess the fear of the Lord, and the
secret of the Lord is revealed to us. It's a wonderful blessing,
my friends, It's something that you and I should covet. We're
told, are we not, to covet earnestly the best gifts. And how important
it is then that we are found walking in this way before our
God. But so did not I because of the
fear of God. Moses, in his day, desired that
Israel might be directed and might indeed know the fear of
God. and might walk before him in
the fear of the Lord. And in Deuteronomy, Moses was
instructed by God to write such great and glorious truths, and
how wonderful they are, especially in these earlier chapters in
Deuteronomy. And as he wrote to Israel, and
he said, here, Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And he did
desire that Israel might hear And surely it is our desire that
Israel, the church of God today, might hear his word. Oh yes,
hear, O Israel. He tells them, now shall I love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and
with all thy might. Well, I wonder if we pray that,
that we may be blessed with that wonderful favor to love the Lord
our God with all our heart, not a divided heart, We're told,
the Lord tells us, the Lord Jesus, you cannot serve God and mammon. We cannot really love God and
the world. Our hearts are divided. Nonetheless, we come down in
this chapter and the apostle Moses speaks about Israel being
diligent in teaching the children. And thou shalt talk to them when
thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way,
and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." How instructive
it is. Perhaps we feel, I'm sure we
do, how we fail in these things. But here was the gracious instruction
by God's servant Moses in teaching the children to be diligent in
it, And all the times when they walk, when they get up, when
they go to bed, He has whatever it is to speak to them and the
things of God. Anyway, He comes down and He
says this, Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve Him and
shalt swear by His name. Ye shall not go after other gods,
but the gods of the people which are round about you. How true
that was and how true it is today. Is it not we see gods of other
people all around us, my friends? And the temptation is to go after
those gods which will not profit. So he says, Thou shalt fear the
Lord thy God. What a blessing if we can lay
claim to this God being our God. because of that secret which
has been revealed to us, because it's directed us to us, shown
us ourselves and shown us himself. Oh, the saving grace of the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy
God and serve him. and shall swear by his name."
There is a great unity, is there not? In the Word of God, it flows
together. It doesn't produce isolated sections
for us. There is a completeness in serving
the Lord, in following the Lord, in fearing the Lord, in praying
to the Lord, in loving the Lord. All these things, they come together.
They're not separate. We can't come and say, well of
course I do that and when I do no it flows together. There's that unity and there's
that blessing and there's that wonderful favour. And of course
there will be that desire then to turn away and to hate evil. Fear the Lord is to hate evil. It's strange, or perhaps it's
not strange. It's very true, our old nature
loves evil. Our old nature loves sin. That's
the conflict you see. The new nature is holy. The old nature is unholy. The Spirit of God has revealed
to us his secrets to show us ourselves, our old nature, unholy.
And his nature is holy, to direct us to himself. And in that, you
see, we will be concerned then to do that which is right, and
to, because of the fear of God, not to offend Almighty God. You know, as you go about your
life, day by day, it will be a good thing, won't it, if we
come into many situations every day, and to be able to wait up
and say, well now, will this offend God? Will this offend
God? Or will it be pleasing to God? Because if we stand before God
and God looks at us, to be able to have an answer with good conscience,
to assess our motives, because the heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked, and how easily our motives can
be wrong. But bless God, if we're able to stand before God and
say, well, now, will this offend God? Or will this bring honour
and glory to God? Because of the fear of God. That would direct us in a right
way, won't it? That would test us, test whether we are seeking
God's honour or our own honour and glory. By nature we're very
proud Bless God when that pride is subdued and our great desire
is for the honour and glory of God. People may not always draw
a right conclusion. They sometimes come to a wrong
assessment. But nonetheless, you and I, like
Nehemiah, stand before God and he was able to say, and there
wasn't any pride in what he was saying, he wasn't patting himself
on the back. He was thankful for the grace
given to him by Almighty God and able to come and say, but
so did not I, because of the fear of God. That which had been
given to him, that which he'd received, that which he was walking
in. Well, my friends, the fear of
the Lord. A great blessing it is, isn't
it? To know that and to unite together with that true concern. And just harping back then to
that hymn 832. And what does it say? It starts
off, the men that fear the Lord. In every state are blessed. The
Lord will grant whatever they want. Their souls shall dwell
at rest. His secrets they shall share.
His covenant shall learn. Guided by grace shall walk his
ways. and heavenly truths discern. Well, what an infinite blessing
the fear of God is, the fear of the Lord is. May you and I
know it. May we rejoice in it. May we
bless God for it. And we're thankful today that
we have statements like this, that Nehemiah was able to make
in the midst of that scene that he was found in, to be able to
come and confirm, but so did not I, because of the fear of
God, for the honour and glory of God. Amen.