Well, Brother Mike Walker is
no stranger either. He's preached here many times.
Dear, dear friend and good preacher. I'm so glad to have him and Sandy
with us. Brother Mike, you've come and
Lord bless you. What a pleasure to be here. John,
thank you for that message. Like he said, we love to hear
our God exalted, high and lifted up. May his strength fill his
temple. to think that He would gather
us here and allow us and to enable us to worship Him. Apart from Him, it's nothing
but flesh. We sung, Revive Us Again, and
that song has been so butchered by religion, they say they're
going to have a revival meeting and have no clue what that means.
But I'll tell you this, God does revive His people. May our hearts
be rekindled with fire from above. If you would turn with me in
your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 2. While you're turning there, while
we were at Brother Marvin's a couple of weeks ago, he called on Gabe
to pray. And in Gabe's prayer, I've thought
about it since then, he said, God, send us a revival. That men would be awakened to
their need of a Savior. God would open their eyes, prepare
their hearts to receive His Word. I thought about in Psalms 85
verse 6, Will thou not revive us again, that thy people, and
here's how it is, When He revives His people, this is the result
of it. That thy people may rejoice,
may rejoice in thee. Our hearts, as you said, they
get heavy. We get down. But when God stirs
your heart and in your heart, you may not utter a word, but
in your heart, your heart rejoices. We say, thank you, Lord. Thank
you. I want to get the title of the
message and the thought there in chapter 2, verse 10. The last
part of that verse, that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children
of Israel. That there was come a man to
seek the welfare. of the children of Israel. As
John mentioned, the children of Israel, they sinned and God
sent them into Babylonian captivity for 70 years. Isaiah told them,
Jeremiah told them, and other prophets told them, said, look,
you're going into captivity. And the false prophets come and
said, don't listen to them. Peace, peace. Everything's going
to be okay. No, they didn't. God, you think
about this. Think about where he carried
them. Babylon, Babel, the Tower of Babel, the seat of idolatry. But you know, and I thank God,
when he took them there, you know who he took? He took the
gospel there. Read Nebuchadnezzar's confession.
I believe God opened that man's eyes. I believe he set that man
free. Because God does whatever he wants to in the armies of
heaven and among the habitants of the earth, and no man can
stake his hand. That's what he said. How did
he learn that? God sent him the gospel. But you know, they didn't stay
there. At the end of seven years, God brought them back. God raised
up a wicked man named Cyrus who did not know God, and he paid
for them to go back to Jerusalem. And they went back and started
the temple under Ezra, and then they just finally stopped. And they didn't build the wall
that was built when Solomon built it. They did not build that wall.
They left it in ruins. And that's where we're at in
this book. Can you imagine the mess they're in? I can imagine
if you walked up there and walked around Jerusalem, all you could
see was charred mess. He talks about there was so much
rubbish. Trees just growing up everywhere. Just a mess! And that's what happens to any
of us when God leaves us alone. We are in a mess. And the old
nature just grows over. So that's where we're at. Well,
has God forsaken His people? Don't you know there was some
way, has God just left us alone? Will God ever reveal himself
again? Oh yes. You think about this
little book, Nehemiah, how often do you read that little book?
Now we read Isaiah and some of the others, but this little book,
who put it here? Who recorded this? Our God did. And I'm telling you, I really
struggled about the message. I thought, you know, I ain't
going to preach from Nehemiah, just like I do any other book.
Find Christ and show him from this book, Christ. Who is the man that came to seek
the welfare of Israel? We know who that's talking about.
The God-man. So now in verse 1. The words
of Nehemiah, the son of Hackeliah, and it came to pass in the month
of Chislom, probably November or December. In the twelfth year,
I was in Shushan, the palace. He had it pretty well made. He
lives and works in the palace in Shushan, in Babylon, in Persia. He said, then Hallelujah, one
of my brethren came, he and certain of men of Judah, And I asked
them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left
to the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. What I see here, he's
in the palace, but he's concerned for God's people. How are things
in Jerusalem? How are things in Bethel? How
are things somewhere else? How are things there? That's
what he's saying. How are God's people down in
Israel? He'd probably heard rumors. Well,
how are they faring? I mean, how are they dealing?
What's going on? And they said unto me, now watch
this, the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the
province are in great affliction and reproach. The enemy loves
to reproach God's people. This is how they do it. David,
where is your God? Our God is in the heavens. And they were in reproach, and
the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and the gates thereof are
burned with fire. This is what it says in Proverbs
chapter 25 verse 8. Because the book of Nehemiah
is dealing with Nehemiah encouraging to stir up the people, To do
what? Rebuild the wall. That's what
this book is about. This is what it says in Proverbs
25, 28. He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a
city that is broken down and without walls. What's to protect
it? Everything's just broken down.
This is why they were in reproach. This is why they were in great
afflictions. It's because the walls were torn down. That's
the reason. There's no protection. What's
to protect them? Nothing. That's what Mr. Gill said. He said he'd have
no rule over his own spirit. His affections and his passions,
there's no restraint. There's no guard against them
to curb or to check his pride or his vanity. Nothing to restrain
his wrath or revenge. You ever felt like getting revenge?
We do, apart from God's grace. What restrains that? To keep in check his ambition
and his vainglory. He says, like a city that is
broken down and without walls, anything can come in. They are
exposed. Their passions give way, they
reign, and they are exposed to the enemy of their soul. He is vulnerable to every sin,
snare, and temptation. So what we see here pictured
in those walls, pictures us by nature. What protects us? Who protects us? That's the thing.
It's the one that comes for the welfare of our soul. He said
this is how things are. He didn't try to cover it up
and paint it a different color. He said, this is how it is. That's
what the gospel does. It tells you the truth. Men don't
want to hear the truth about who we are. And verse 4, And it came to pass,
and it always will. Did what he heard have an effect
upon him? Did what he heard, was he moved
by it? Or did he just hear it with indifference?
I'm afraid many times we just hear with indifference. Prone
to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.
Our hearts become cold and indifferent. Does it bother you that our children,
Unless God does something, they're headed, as fast as they can,
to an eternal death. Am I right? As you said about
our country, does that not bother us? It's in a mess! This world is in a mess! But
God's on the throne! When I heard these words, then
I sat down and wept. wept and mourned certain days
and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. It drove him
to pray. I wish I knew how to pray. I wish
I knew how to call on God without all the pretense and the form. And I said, in verse 9, the old lord
god of heaven, the great and terrible god, that keepeth covenants
and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments. The first thing he does is mentions
a covenant god. That's it. This is how we approach
God, upon who God is. He's a covenant-keeping God.
He made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and with all
the elect of God and all Israel. No matter what they did, they're
still His Israel, and He will not forsake them. It may seem
like He does for a while. It's what He's saying. The covenant
and mercy from them that love Him and observe His commandment.
Let thine ear now be attended and opened. that thou mayest
hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now,
night, day, and night, for the children of Israel, thy servants."
And what's what he does? He said, we confess the sins
of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee. He didn't say, look what Israel's
getting, what they're getting, they're in reproach because they've
sinned against God. He said, no, we've sinned against
God. We've sinned against God. Both
I and my Father's house, we have sinned. We dealt very corruptly
against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes,
nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses."
God told them. God warned them over and over
and over again. And they went on and went after
other gods. Every time you turn around, look
in the book of Judges. They go after other gods and they would
cry out to God and God would raise them up a judge and deliver
them. You know what would happen after that judge died? They'd
go right back under. That went on for 400 years. He's saying this is why it is.
Why is things like they are? Because we are the way we are.
That's why. That's it. And that's what he's saying.
You know what he's doing? He's confessing it. What is it to
confess something? It's when you say the same thing
about something that God says about it. God says it's sin. And only God can enable you to
confess sin. If we confess our sins, thank
God he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. And he's doing right here, he's
confessing his sin. Our sin. There is enough sin in each one
of us right now to send every one of us to hell. Then verse 8, remember, I beseech
thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, it's
amazing how he's using the scriptures in it to pray. He knew the scriptures. He knew
what the scriptures said. He knew that they had sinned
because God pointed it out. I beseech thee, remember, I beseech
thee, the word that thou commandest to serve of most. God don't need
to be reminded. He's not like, God, you need to remember. God
knows we need to be reminded. If you transgress, here's what
God said, if you sin, I will scatter you among the nations.
And do you know what he said? He told them. What happened when
they went into Babylon? He scattered them among the nation. What does Peter say? Peter's
epistle was written to those scattered abroad. The elect,
where were they scattered? Wherever God wanted them to be
scattered. And he said he would scatter them. Verse 9 I love that little three-letter
word, but. He might scatter them, and he
did. But. But. If you turn unto me and
keep my commandments and do them, though there were of you cast
into the uttermost parts of the heavens, yet will I gather you
from thence and will bring you into the place that I've chosen
to set my name there. If He ever turns you, you're
going to be turned. You know what that is? I think that's
repentance, isn't it? Is that not repentance? It's
God turning you, and when He turns you, you will be turned.
You will turn from your false gods, you will turn from serving
yourself, and you will turn to serve Him. He says, but if you
turn me, I'll gather them from them, and
I will bring them into the place that I've chosen to set my name. And he did. Now these are thy servants, verse
10, now these are thy servants and thy people whom thou hast
redeemed. Who are those people in great
afflictions? They're God's elect. Those that he purchased and redeemed.
If you're His, He redeemed you. He bought you. You may sin, but
you're still His. Those that are loved are rebuked
and chastened. How did He redeem them? By His great power. You
think of the power it took for God to redeem you. You know, I was thinking the other
day about God's strength. And you read it there in Isaiah
40. Which will mount up with wings of eagles, which will run
and not be weary, which will walk and not faint. He shall
renew our strength. You think about the strength
it took for the Son of God to lay down His life and allow them
to do everything that they did. You think the strength it took
for them when they walked up, cleared their throat and spit
in His face. You think of the strength when
they nailed Him to the cross and they said, why don't you
come down from the cross? You saved others, you can't save
yourself. He said, I could have called
twelve legions of angels, and I didn't. You know what that
is? That's the power of God to redeem
you. He was made a curse for us. He
has redeemed us from the curse of the law and made a curse for
us. He redeemed by the great power and by thy strong hand.
O Lord, I beseech thee, Let now thine ear be attended to the
prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants who
desire to hear thy name and prosper. I pray thee, thy servant, this
day, and grant him mercy. Grant him mercy. Why does he
need mercy? Mercy of this man, for I am the king's cubbearer. What does that mean? He's the
king's servant. What they said was the king's
cupbearer. I guess everybody wanted to try
to kill the king. And before the king would ever
drink any wine, it was the job of the cupbearer to take some
of that wine and drink it. Well, if he lived,
it's OK. If he died, it's not OK. But
what I'm saying is, he's the servant. Here's someone that
has to be dealt with. He can't just... He's praying
and praying for God's peace, but he can't just say, I'm going
to go to Jerusalem. He can't do that. You know why?
He's under obligation to the king. And he said, God, give
me mercy. God, give me favor with the king. Because the law of the Medes
and the Persians, it cannot be changed. We find that in the
book of Esther. You don't just decide to go into
the king's presence. You remember he must hold out
the golden scepter? And you think about this. He's
going to have to deal with the king. How do you deal with the king?
It's for God to give you mercy. Coming to the mercy seat. Now
verse 1 of chapter 2. And it came to pass in the month
of Nisan. So from verse 1 of chapter 1
to verse 1 of chapter 2, you know how long that is? That's
four months. That's waiting on the Lord. We
want things that we pray, and we want to see something happen
right now! And you know what he does? He prays. And he waits. Because God has to open the door,
and God has to prepare the King's heart. In the year of Artaxerxes, the
King, if you want to go back and read in Ezra, I think it's
in chapter 8, it makes reference to Artaxerxes there. And it talks
about him sending letters to Jerusalem. And he talks about
them commanding them to do whatever he commanded they had to do.
You know why? He's the king! He's the ruler. You see the picture here? And this man, so he knew that
Israel, he knew what their situation, this king did. And he said, And
it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year
of Artaxerxes, the king, that wine was before him. And I took
up the wine and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been
before time sad in his presence. You are not sad in the king's
presence either. Wherefore the king said unto
me, Why is thy countenance sad? Thou art not sick. This is nothing
else but sorrow of heart. Then was I very sore afraid.
And said unto the king, Let the king live forever, why should
it not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my
father's sepulchres, lie at waste, and the gates thereof are consumed
with fire? You know what I see here? He
mourned and he begged God, and it's not something that wore
off. It lasted for four months, and he's standing there before
the king, and he's overcome with grief. overcome with their situation,
and he knows their situation, basically rests in the hands
of the king. That's it. And I said to the king, let the
king live forever. Why is this not my countenance
to be said when the city, the place of my father's life, waste
in the gates there ever consumed with fire? Then the king said
unto me, For what does thou make request? He's saying, what do you have
to ask? What's your request? Let your
request be made known unto God. Do I really believe when I bring
my request to God that He hears me? That's something to think about.
Do I really believe it? What's your request? So I prayed
to the God of heaven. He may not have got alone somewhere. He don't have time to go get
in his closet just while he's standing there before the king.
He offers up his prayer and his heart unto God. God, give me
favor with this man. I love that story in Genesis 24,
when Abraham sent for a bride for Isaac and the servants. He's going to the well. How is
he going to know which one she is? How is he going to recognize
the elect of God? And he says, OK, whichever one
gives me water to drink and then waters all my camels, that's
her. And it said he had no more, much more than prayed in his
heart. He said he just uttered it in his heart. Well, here comes
Rebecca. Hmm. Just by, I guess, by accident. No on purpose. His eyes are over the righteous,
and his ears are open to his people. And I said to the king, if it
please the king, and if thy servant has found favor in his sight,
that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my father's
sepulchers, that I may build it. He tells him exactly. He says, if I found favor in
your son, enable me to go to Jerusalem and rebuild it. He's been thinking about this.
He knows what needs to be done. And you know what we see here? We see a picture here of our
Lord Jesus Christ who came to this world to save His people. They were the work that was laid
upon Him and He was responsible for that work. I'm going to Jerusalem. And the king said unto me, the
queen also said unto me, for how long shall our journey be? You know, it talks about our
Lord's life here. You know what it was? It was
a journey. When it says he was going to Samaria, it was on his
journey. That's his journey. Where's he going? He's going
to Jerusalem. Why is he going for? He's going for the welfare
of Israel. So it pleased the king to send
me. And I said him a time, whereupon I said unto the king, if it pleased
the king, let letters be given to me. You know what he's got? He's got authority from the king. Do you want to question his authority? He says, I have letters. And
it's signed by the king. Do you want to read it? That's what he's saying. I've
got letters from the king. He's the son of God. All power has been given unto
him. This man, Hal, has the authority. He has the authority to go to
Jerusalem. He has the authority to do whatever
he came to do. And he's going to do it. He has
the authority. That man just preached. You know
why he was able to preach? God gave him the authority to
preach. God sent him to preach. That's
it. Just a mere man. Then he says, A letter unto Asaph,
the keeper, verse 8, of the king's forest. You know why? Because
I'm going to have to have timbers. to make beams for the gates of
the palace. Well, how am I going to get lumber?
How am I going to get trees? Well, the king says, Asap, you
need to give them to Nehemiah. What do you need? Everything
they have, he'll give it to you. If God's determined for a work
to be done, he will supply everything that needs to be done. Everything. which appertained to the palace,
which appertained to the house and to the wall of the city,
and to the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted
me according to the good hand of my God that was upon me."
I can see Nehemiah saying, I can't
wait to go. I can't wait to see him. That's
my people. That's where the sepulchers are
in my house. That's where Abraham and Isaac and Jake, that's where
the sepulchers are at. Now verse 9, he gets everything
together and he leaves the palace. You think about this, he leaves
the palace to go work. To go and work. I'd say at the end of the day
when they would have got through working on that Wall, you probably
couldn't tell what you look like. You were probably covered in
soot and in filth and it's untelling what. You mean he would leave
the palace? He that was rich became poor
that you threw his poverty. I'll be rich. Then I came to the governor beyond
the river and gave them the king's letters. So what are you doing
here, Will? Here, you just read it. Why are you here, Will? You just
read it. Why did Christ tell him, well,
if you'll read the Gospels, you'll find out. You read the Old Testament,
you'll find out. You read this whole book and you'll find out.
Why is he here? Well, just read it. That's why
he's here. This is why I'm here. Why did
he come? He came to seek and to save the
walls. He came to destroy the works of the devil. The children
of God are in reproach. The walls were cast down. And
he's come to rebuild them. Now, the king had sent captains
of the army and horsemen with him. He didn't go alone. Don't you know people are out
there scratching their head, saying, who's this guy? Who's this showing us? Who does
he think he is? And when Samboleth, the Horhath, and Tobiah, the
servants of the Ammonite, when they heard it, it grieved them
exceedingly. Not everybody's happy about it.
They like it when everything's in a mess. Spurgeon said a thing
one time, he said, there's a lot of bats. They love the darkness.
They loved the walls being torn down. That's how they loved it.
But when they heard that Nehemiah come, their heart is grieved.
They're upset. Why? They were grieved exceedingly
that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children
of Israel. Did they not hate our Lord? Oh
yeah, they hated him. And he said, if they hate me,
they're going to hate you. I want to finish, if you would
turn over to verse 17. Nehemiah goes out and he surveys
the walls. Can you imagine what he thinks
when he looks at it? I think he says, man, it's worse than
I thought. He said, where are we going to start? Have you ever
worked in a mess? Well, I have. Me and Sandy worked
on a house one time right before we moved to West Virginia. We
bought it. It was an older house. And we thought we were going
to stay there a long time. So, you know, you fix it up a little
bit different when you think you're going to live there. You're
not going to rent it or sell it or something. So we fixed it.
And a friend of mine walked in one day and he said, you know
what you've got? You've got a gommy mess. Nobody wants to work in
the mess, do they? You walk in and it's just a,
where are you going to start? Where are you going to start?
You've got to start somewhere. He said, verse 17, Then said I to
them, to the children of Israel, you see the distress that we
are in. I'll put that to you personally.
Do you see the distress that we are in? Do you see it? He saw it. Give us the mind of Christ so
we see things as He sees them. He saw people, and you know what?
He was moved with compassion. You see the distress that we
are in, how Jerusalem life waits. And the gates thereof are burned
with fire. Come and let us build up the
wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach." You know
what he's saying? We're going to build us a wall. Verse 18, Then I told them of
the good hand of my God which was upon me, as also the king's
words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, they said,
Let us rise up and build. You know what that is? You know
what that is? That reminds me of the beginning of a revival,
doesn't it? Think it. Get up every day and
do the same old thing. You walk by the walls and it
don't even affect you. Things are in a mess. Just not
even move. But to move now. You know what
God does? He reminds us. He brings back
things to our mind. God enabled us to rise up and
build, now watch this, so they strengthened their hands for
this good work. I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me. You see this? Without Him, we
can do nothing. But you know what He did? He
encouraged them. He strengthened them. And they said, come, let
us do the work. And it's work. It's work. A man that desires the office
of a bishop, he desires a good what? A good work. Labor in the
Word. Study the Word. And there's a
lot of work to do. Children, God has given us a
work. Every one of us. You go, what can I do? Well,
look at the woman with the alabaster box. It said she did what she could. I can't do what that man can.
He can't do what I can. I can't do what you can. What
can I do? Well, look at what she did. She got her an alabaster box
of women. And if it wasn't for Judas, we
probably wouldn't even know how much it was worth. He said it
was worth 300 pence, which is about a day's wages. It's a pence,
so it's about a year's wages. And he said, she poured it on
his hand. He said, what a waste. He said,
she hath wrought a good work. She's done what she could. What
can you do? Years ago, When I pastored the
church there in North Wilkes-Barre, we didn't have a lot of grass
to mow. We was almost right there in
the city. Had a street on either side. And there was an older
gentleman in our church. He was probably about 70-something.
He had COPD. And he liked to mow the grass
a little bit. And I knew it was bothering him. And if I knew
I could get down there before he did on Saturday, I'd mow the
grass before he did. And you know, I came in one Sunday
and he was sitting on the pew and I went up to him and he was
crying. And he said, the preacher, he said, I can't do much. He said, I love that grass. He
said, please don't take it from me. He said, well that ain't
real important. I might estimate. I heard Henry say one time on
a tape, he said, a lot of people want to take the floor, but they
ain't many people want to sweep it. There's a lot of truth in that.
May God strengthen us for this good work. You know what he told
Esther, you know what Mordecai told Esther? He says, maybe God
has put us where we are for such a time as this. Amen. Well, it's been good hasn't it? You heard about our great God
and King. who sent a man to check on the
welfare of a fit man. And he sent two fit preachers,
didn't he? Amen? Yeah, that was good. Mike, our young people have been
studying Nehemiah. I love that when that happens.
We're going to sing number 42. Stand as we sing it. Service
10 o'clock a.m. in the morning. 10 a.m. in the
morning. Sing number 42. Let's stand. All hail the power of Jesus'
name Let angels prostrate fall Bring forth the royal diadem
And crown Him Lord of all Sprang forth the royal diadem, And crowned
him Lord of all. He chosen seed of Israel's rape,
He ransomed from the fall, Hail him who saved him by his We crown
thee.