with the Lord's help I'd like
to direct you to that passage of scripture that we read together
the 4th chapter of the book of Nehemiah and particularly to
think about the last clause of verse 6 the last clause of verse
6 for the people had a mind to work the whole verse reads so
built we the wall and all the wall was joined together unto
the half thereof for the people had a mind to work. It's as if
Nehemiah is saying that the wall was built, they've made good
progress because everyone was encouraged in the work, they
saw those things that discouraged them and we have the account later on in this chapter
of all the rubbish that was there from verse 9 onwards to verse
12 how the rubbish was there and it would appear that the
opponents of the work of God, St. Biot and and Tobiah and the
Arabians and the others they determined that they would come
against Jerusalem and destroy the work that had been done thus
far and they would come upon the children of Israel in Jerusalem
by surprise because they would be hiding behind the rubbish
and it seems that Nehemiah had set the work ahead not only of
building but also the clearing of the rubbish that was left
there from the time when Nebuchadnezzar 70 years previously had invaded
Israel and had destroyed the city of Jerusalem and destroyed
the temple and taken away all the valuable material and all
the precious metals that were in the temple and that waste,
that rubbish had been left there for 70 years well I know that
if I leave some untreated earth in my garden within a few weeks
the dandelions and the thistles and the other weeds are growing.
Just imagine the kind of mounds that there would have been with
Buddleia and all the other bushes that would grow in that atmosphere
for 70 years. So it was a big job for them
to take away the rubbish but but we are told here that the
people had a mind to work the children of Israel as you are
aware had been taken into exile because of their sinfulness the
Lord had sent prophets to the children of Israel in the southern
kingdom the northern kingdom had been taken away into exile
and it was an exile from which they never returned but the Southern
Kingdom, because of the memory of David, the Lord had mercy
upon the Southern Kingdom of Judah and so their exile was
just 70 years long and at the end of 70 years Cyrus came and
invaded the Babylonian Empire triumphed in his campaign and
he became king not only of Persia but also of the former Babylonian
Empire and in the first year we are told of the reign of Cyrus,
king of Persia We are told that the word of the Lord, spoken
by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be accomplished, that the Lord
stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, and he made a
proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it in writing,
saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, All the kingdoms of
the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me. and he hath
charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all
his people? The Lord his God be with him,
and let him go up. those are the concluding words
of the second book of Chronicles and Ezra the priest commences
his book with exactly the same words and so there is that challenge
to the people of God that are there in exile to return in accordance
with both the prophecy of Jeremiah we are told in Jeremiah 25 that Nebuchadnezzar came up against
Jerusalem and Jeremiah says and this whole land shall be a desolation
and an astonishment and these nations shall serve the king
of Babylon seventy years and it shall come to pass when seventy
years are accomplished but I will punish the king of Babylon and
that nation saith the Lord for their iniquity and the land of
the Chaldeans and will make it perpetual desolations and Daniel
the prophet he was in Babylon and in the first year of Darius
the son of Ahasuerus he came to understand that the time of
the exile of the children of Israel was coming to an end and
so he set himself to prayer and we read in the ninth chapter
of Daniel I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years
whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet
that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem
and I set my face unto the Lord God to seek my prayer and supplication
with fasting and sackcloth and ashes and I prayed unto the Lord
my God and made my confession and said and so the remaining
parts of this chapter are recording the prayer of Daniel, that the
people might be released and that the people might return
to Jerusalem, to Israel, and that the Lord would fulfil his
promise. And so we have this time of restoration. Ezra and Nehemiah they came from
Babylon at different times and the Lord raised up prophets the
last three books of the Old Testament are called the Prophets of the
Restoration Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi and they prophesied
in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah Nehemiah we read heard the reports
of the of the state of Jerusalem and it came to pass when I heard
these words that I sat down and wept and mourned at certain days
and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven and he was
enabled to supplicate the king of the time and that he might
go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and to
rebuild the temples and chapter 2 tells us how he went back and
he saw the state of Jerusalem he inspected the condition of
the walls and he encouraged the the children of Israel that were
there, then said I unto them, ye see the distress that we are
in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burnt
with fire. Come, let us build up the walls
of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. And then he told
them how the Lord had his hand upon him, and so they strengthen themselves
and their hands for this good work. Chapter 3 tells us how
that the various families of the children of Israel started
that work and so we come to chapter four where the opposition starts
taking hold and mocking the Jews and they threaten to disrupt
the work and to destroy the work. It sounds very much of the like
the time that we are in no matter what the governments propose
to do they are opposed on every hand just as an aside and we
know not what to do in this nation of ours at this present time
there is so much political turmoil what the child of God can do
which the ungodly are unable to do is to come before almighty
God and to pray because the nations of the world are in the hands
of Almighty God and this nation no less is in the hand of Almighty
God and the Lord will do that which is his purpose and at the
end of the day at the end of time The glory will all be unto
God. In prayer I referred to Psalm
115, which begins, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto
thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. and
it goes on to talk about the gods of this world that their
idols are silver and gold but we have the living God we are
reminded how that in the height of the Roman Empire how that
when they persecuted the children of God and the apostle John no
less he was sent into exile for the word of God and for the testimony
of the Lord Jesus Christ how there on the Isle of Patmos he
saw the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to
him I am he that liveth who once was dead and behold I am alive
and am alive for evermore our God is in control what a great
consolation what a great mercy that is that no matter what man
proposes no matter what man opposes Almighty God is over all and
He is in complete control. There is no need for the child
of God to worry. There is no need for the child
to be utterly concerned about those things that are happening
in the corridors of power. There is one before whom they
must all bow. and there is one before whom
we must all bow. We will bow before Almighty God. Remember how the Apostle Paul
speaks to the Philippians. when he's speaking about the
Lord Jesus Christ who made himself of no reputation and took upon
him the form of a servant and he goes on to say wherefore God
also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is
above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow of things in heaven and things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. That is our hope, that is our
confidence, that in all the turmoil that is going on round about
us, that every knee will bow to the Lord Jesus Christ whether
in this life or in the next life and they will bow as they acknowledge
the just judgments of God when they are sent to a lost eternity
forever in the pit of hell but the child of God will hear those
words come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world and concerning the
work of God we have this word again in Philippians where the
Apostle Paul says in that first chapter Philippians chapter 1
and verse 6 being confident of this very thing that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ therefore the people had a mind to work The
work of God will be completed. He will bring to pass all things.
He worketh all things after the counsel of his work. Paul speaks then in that verse
of the commencement of the work, and then he speaks of the continuance
of that work. and he speaks of the completion
of that work and no doubt Nehemiah was also thinking of the same
thing he said that he says neither told I any man what my God had
put it in my heart to do at Jerusalem and he was confident that there
would be that commencement of the work and that there would
be that continuation of the work and this chapter deals with the
continuation of that work of building the walls and he speaks
also about the completion of the work he is looking for the
consolation of the completion of that work that the walls would
be built and that the temple would be rebuilt and that the
sacrifices would be reinstituted Now all scripture, as we know,
is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine
and for correction in righteousness that the man of God may be throughly
furnished unto all good works. And so this historical book,
it has more in it than just plain history. We can take down some
of the great histories that have been written by secular historians
and they just cover the period that they are writing about Winston
Churchill for example wrote two volumes on the First World War
and he wrote seven or eight volumes on the Second World War but he
just concentrates on those subjects that are before him but the mercy
and the wonder of the book of God the wonder of the scriptures
is that they apply to the people of God in all times and in all
generations so if the Puritans in their manner of preaching
if they had come to this verse they would have possibly looked
at the context as we have done this morning and then they would
have said this is the doctrine or this is the teaching that
we want to put before you and that is that there is a work
to be undertaken by the people of God for the people had a mind
to work the doctrine or the teaching is that there is a work to be
undertaken by the people of God and we can look at this in four
different particulars. The first is that there is a
people of God to work. There is a people of God who
undertake the work. In this particular case it was
the Jews who had returned from Babylon and the people that had
been left behind. they were the people that had
to engage in the sorting out of the stones and sorting out
of the rubble removing the rubble and the waste and then putting
the stones on top of each other making the water and making the
walls strong making the wooden gates that would be put on the
hinges of the gates and then setting their hands to the rebuilding
of the temple so there is a people that are engaged in the work
of God and secondly, what was the work? what is the actual
work that the people of God undertake today? and then thirdly, why
should the people of God undertake the work? and then in the fourth
place there is the end of the world. So first of all, who were
these people? Who are these people? We are
told certain things about the people of God. First of all,
they are a people that are loved and chosen. They are a people
who are loved and chosen. If we turn back to the book of
Deuteronomy, chapter 7, and verse 7, we read, The Lord did not
set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in
number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people.
but because the Lord loved you and because he would keep the
oath which he had sworn unto your fathers hath the Lord brought
you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house
of Bonman from the hand of Pharaoh of Egypt there are four things
here that the Lord says about his people first of all they
are a loved people they are loved Jeremiah 31 and verse 3 he tells
us, yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love therefore
with loving kindness have I drawn thee the Lord loved you, he's
loved us what a mercy it is that our unchangeable God his love
is unchanging he's loved us in eternity past and he will love
us to eternity future and he's loved us in time Oh, we see manifestations
of that love, do we not? We've experienced manifestations
of that love. We see that love displayed in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that most famous of
verses that nearly every person in this country would have known
at one time, but now because we've neglected the things of
God, we know it not. People are completely ignorant
of the things of God, but in years gone by, when children
were sent to Sunday school, and taken to Sunday school and one
of the first things they were taught was John 3 16 for God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life the
Lord loved you and he loved his people Paul says to the Ephesians,
Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. He's loved them
in eternity past and he gave them in covenant bond to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Every one of those whom he has
loved, every one. will be saved with an everlasting
salvation the Lord loves you and the second thing he says
about this people in that love that he would keep his covenant
that he would keep the oath and because he would keep the oath
which he had sworn to your fathers Moses he is reminding the children
of Israel here as he writes the book of Deuteronomy of a covenant
that was made with Abraham and Paul takes that up in the epistle
to the Galatians that as many as are of faith they are the
children of Abraham O those who have been given that precious
gift of faith, faith to the precious gift, where'er it is bestowed. It boasts of a celestial birth
and is the gift of God, writes Bedam in one of his hymns. And
God will keep his oath. He has sworn that he will keep
his oath. And we base those premises on the word that God said through
Malachi. I am the Lord, I change not.
therefore his sons or Jacob are not consumed oh he doesn't love
us one minute and turn away from that love he has loved his people
he has entered into a covenant with his people and he will not
change his mind he is unchangeable what a mercy it is that our God
is not fickle like us as children you can no doubt remember that
at school you had friends and then you'd fall out and you'd
never speak to them again perhaps for a fortnight, three weeks
but you'd come back again to that friendship we displayed
as children our fickleness but God is the same I am the Lord,
I change not and his son Lord Jesus Christ his eternal son
the eternal son of God our Lord Jesus Christ is the same remember
how Paul writes to the Hebrews Jesus Christ the same yesterday
today and forever he is the same yesterday in eternity past he
is the same all those who deny that the Lord Jesus Christ is
the eternal son how can he be the same if he became the son
at his incarnation? or he became the son in his resurrection? no, he is the eternal son the
one who is unchanging the same yesterday today and forever what
a mercy it is that he loves his people so much so that he went
to the cross to give his life a ransom for many to give his
life for sinners he went to the cross for individual sinners
as Cooper says in his hymn, Dear Dying Lamb thy precious blood
shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church of God
be saved to sin no more he loved his people and they were chosen
in Christ and we'll come on to the other facets of that verse
the Lord hath brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed
you so the first thing we can say about this people is that
they are a loved and chosen people, loved from eternity past, chosen
from eternity past, given in covenant bond to the Lord Jesus
Christ in eternity past. That love was manifested in the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in his incarnation and in his
dying for rebels and for sinners. It is manifested also in his
rising from the dead and his ascension to heaven and it is
manifested even today in that we've been preserved unto this
day and that he ever liveth to make intercession for his people
they are a loved, chosen people and given in covenant bond to
the Lord Jesus Christ but the same thing we can say about this
people is that they were exiles they were exiles from Jerusalem
for 70 years when those children of Israel returned to Jerusalem there were probably
very few of them that had known anything about life in Jerusalem
there were very few that could remember the temple in all its
glory Solomon's temple that had been sacked and ruined and demolished
by the Babylonians there were very few that could remember
the glory of that place there were very few that could remember
the glory of the walls that were round about Jerusalem they were
exiles and indeed the psalmist speaks about the children of
Israel being exiled Psalm 137 by the rivers of Babylon there
we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion we hanged
our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof for they that
carried us away captive required of us a song and they that wasted
us required of us mirth saying sing us one of the songs of Zion
then the psalmist says how shall we sing the Lord's song in a
strange land? oh they were strangers they were
away from Jerusalem they were away from the worship of God
they were away from the sacrifices of God and we no less are strangers
strangers in a different way they were strangers because they
were exiles they were strangers remember how Peter writes in
his epistle Peter he greets the ones to whom he is writing and
he says Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered
throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia they were no
longer citizens of of that region called Pontus they were no longer
citizens of that region called Galatia and Cappadocia and Asia
and Bithynia no, they had been transformed into being the citizens
of Zion they were children of God and they were strangers in
this world you remember the Negro spiritual
that used to be sung this world is not my home I am just a passing
through my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the bloom
and that is the position of the child of God today restrains
us upon this earth we should sit lightly upon this earth having
no real encumbrance to keep us here would be always ready to
depart and be with Christ, which is far better. The apostle Paul
says that he desires to be absent from the body and present with
the Lord, and they wept. they wept when they were in Babylon
because they were away from their heart's desire of worshipping
Almighty God if you look at the Psalms beforehand from Psalm
120 right through to Psalm 134 they are all headed songs a song
of degrees a song of degrees and those are
the psalms that they used to sing as they went up to Jerusalem
no longer could they go up to Jerusalem no longer could they
go and worship Almighty God in the temple no longer could they
take their sacrifice they wept they wept but the difference
between the child of God today and the child of God in the time
of Nehemiah is this that we are not looking for earthly temples
we confess that we are strangers and pilgrims in the earth as
it tells us in Hebrews we are looking for that fellowship with
the Lord Jesus Christ we are looking to spend time in his
presence, are we not? we desire to be in the presence
of the people of God and the person of God remember how in
Acts 4 the disciples had been the apostles, I should say the
apostles had been taken into custody for preaching the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Sanhedrin let them go and
it says concerning those disciples and being let go they went to
their own company now there are legitimate calls upon our time
those of us who work we have to go to our employers and we
are under contract to spend our time working with our hands for
that person who has employed us but being let go they went
to their own people and we desire do we not to enter into the Zionist
courts and to join in fellowship with the Lord's people and have
fellowship with the Triune God. But there are times though, are
there not, when our love for the Lord Jesus Christ grows cold.
Remember how the Lord Jesus Christ addresses the church at Laodicea
in the third chapter of the book of the Revelation. he says I
know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot I would
that thou wert cold or hot and he counsels them I counsel thee
to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich
and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed he's talking to a
church addressing a church of backsliders those whose love
has grown cold or does our love grow cold? do we sing I should
say from the hearts of our own experience where is the blessedness
I knew when first I saw the Lord where is the soul refreshing
view of Jesus and his word return, O holy dove, return sweet messenger
of rest I hate the sins that made thee mourn and drove thee
from my breast so these people were exiles but not only were
they exiles but they were prisoners they were prisoners they couldn't
go beyond the bounds of Babylon they were bound to their masters
they might have had certain liberties but they couldn't go that far
away and they had to get permission to leave the country and their
masters' houses just as Nehemiah had to get permission from the
king in chapter 1 he had to get permission from the king to return
to Jerusalem they were prisoners certain liberties or in our own
regenerate state in our state when we were without God and
without hope we were prisoners we were prisoners to the law
we were prisoners to Satan we were prisoners to self but when
the spirit of God comes and works in our hearts and you hath he
quickened who are dead in trespasses and sins when he quickens us
and makes us alive then we become the Lord's free man we become
the Lord's free man and says Zechariah turn you to the stronghold
ye prisoners of hope even today do I declare that I will render
double unto you well how is it that the prisoners here that
Zechariah is speaking of how is it that they can turn to that
stronghold? how is it that they have a hope?
well in the verse before Zechariah 9 in verse 11 he says, as for
thee also by the blood of the covenant I have sent forth thy
prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water no refreshment and
do not look back in your own experience and you can remember
the time when you were walking in the world and there was no
real refreshment there there was no water no spiritual water
there was no refreshment in this world it's a tedious place but
through the blood of the covenant through the blood of the everlasting
covenant and remember how David speaks on his deathbed although
my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things and sure and this is all my salvation
oh there is that blood of the everlasting covenant shed by
our Lord Jesus Christ which guarantees it is a guarantee that the covenant
stands It's signed, sealed and delivered in the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, says Zechariah, turn
you to the stronghold. Where is that stronghold? Why?
It's not in any earthly temple. The Jews went back to build an
earthly temple. That was just pro tem for a time. until the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ until he came and this man after he'd offered one
sacrifice for sins forever sat down at the right hand of God
from henceforth expecting till all his enemies be made his footstool
he is the stronghold the Lord Jesus Christ flee to him says
John the Baptist, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world they were prisoners and our time is more
or less gone so just finally on this first aspect of this
word for the people had a mind to work these people were those who were
released at the command of a king I read out those words at the
end of Chronicles Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia all the
kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me and
he hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem which is
in Judah who is there? among all his people the Lord
his God be with him and let him go up it is the word of a king
it is the word of a king what a mercy the rebel comes before
the king he is being found in his in his crimes he is being
found plotting against the lawful monarch and he is brought before
the king and the king would under normal circumstances pronounce
judgement against him that he should be sentenced to death
are that the rebel comes and sees his state he sees his predicament
and he falls on his knees before the king and pleads for mercy
what a mercy it is that our God is merciful our God in Christ
is merciful O you and I rebels against God we are like those
in Psalm 2 that have lifted up our hands against Almighty God
the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against his anointed saying let us break
their bands asunder and cast away their cause from us and
we're like those kings we've raised our hands up against Almighty
God we've raised our hands up against the Lord Jesus Christ
but now having been found in our sin having been quickened
by the Spirit of God we come and bow before this King the
Lord Jesus Christ and he speaks the word let him go up where
the word of the King is there is power it tells us in Ecclesiastes
8 verse 4 where the word of the King is there is power he sets
his people free the Lord Jesus Christ as King in Zion he is
hanging there upon the cross one of the malefactors with him
says Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom oh he
is truly repentant the work of the Holy Ghost has been upon
his heart and he is aware of his state his eternal state that
he trusts in that word of the King and in that awful death
that tortuous death he has sweet consolation in his heart why? because the King of the Jews
has spoken it oh Pilate was correct it was a mocking title no doubt
that he put above the cross this is Jesus the King of the Jews
in all the known languages of the world so that all the world
would know what Rome does with a pretended King oh he was mocking
sinners in derision mocked him mocking thus the Saviour's crown
but the Lord Jesus Christ was King and he is King and he is
King today what a mercy it is that when the King speaks there
is power in that word oh God grant that we might hear that
word and that we might be brought by faith to the Lord Jesus and
that we might be amongst those people that were loved chosen
in covenant bond that we might be among those people that are
strangers upon this earth that we might have been prisoners
but by the word of the King that we might indeed be released.
Will the Lord add his blessing to these few thoughts for his
namesake and perhaps on another occasion we'll be able to take
a further look at this verse. Will the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.