If you will, turn back in your
Bibles to the book of Nehemiah chapter 4. Nehemiah chapter 4. If you don't have your Bibles,
you can use your outline. It's in your bulletin. That way
you can follow along with us and use your outline to comprehend
what will here be said. We are in Nehemiah chapter 4
and we are seeking to understand how it is that God restores his
work, how that God brings about a restoration of his testimony
and his witness in the land after decades and decades and sometimes
millenniums of men and women not hearing about who God is
and not understanding how God works. trying to understand the
framework around how God brings about a real and authentic revival. And we are in the middle of a
revival period that took place in the nation of Israel after
their captivity in Babylon. They were brought back into the
land of Palestine, just a handful of Jews, and they were called
Judahites. These folks from Judah called
the Jews were brought back into their land. And we began to look
as we work through the book of Ezra, and we are now in the book
of Nehemiah, how God revives. And we are in the middle of a
revival process that has to do with the restoration of the walls
of Jerusalem and the gates thereof. Now, today we are not going to
go into any depth concerning the significance of the walls
or the gates. By the way, I intentionally jumped
over chapter five because I want to actually deal with the gates
and the walls down the line toward the latter end of this assignment
that was given to Nehemiah with regards to the restoration of
Jerusalem and its temple and its walls and its gates. What
I want to do today is remind you and call your attention to
something that is prevalent in chapter 6. It's a simple concept
that I want to stir your thoughts upon and perhaps God will help
you to make some assessment concerning yourself and concerning this
thing that God has been doing since the beginning of time and
the fall of man. So here's a question that I want
to raise as we begin to deal with this. Have you ever found
yourself in the middle of something? Something that as it began to
unfold You didn't anticipate it and you didn't actually look
for it to happen, at least not in that way. But now that you
are in the middle of it, you are bound to have to follow this
thing through because you realize that being in the middle of this
thing that is actually profound and overwhelming and carrying
a number of different perspectives. On some part of it, you see that
I'm dealing with a whole lot of trouble. On other parts of
it, you see that there is potential here and possibility. And so
you're stuck because you realize you signed up for this. And some of y'all are saying,
yeah, I know what that's like. That's called marriage. Now I am kind of talking about
a marriage, but it's more than a marriage. And there are some
fundamentals here that I want to call to your attention. So
we are doing some Periscoping, it's called periscoping. We are
working around the text. We are not in the text today.
I just want to call your attention to something. Now, some of you
will know what I'm talking about. Some of you who are still a little
green behind the ears will have no idea what I'm talking about.
But down the line, you will. If you are in your outline, there
are eight points that I want to address with regards to where
we are. Nehemiah, as we are observing the Sorry, we are in the fourth chapter.
We skipped the third chapter as we are observing the fourth
chapter of the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah is smack dab in the
middle of a bunch of trouble, if you noticed it in the reading.
But that's because Nehemiah has experienced something that every
one of God's servants experience, which I entitled in our first
point, The seduction of the ministry. The seduction of the ministry. Now, follow this for a moment. Nehemiah has been seduced, ladies
and gentlemen. The ministry of the gospel, the
ministry of the church, God's ministry, starts off with a man
or a woman being seduced. and seduced by God. Now let's talk about that for
a moment and see if I can make good on this. I know right now
in your mind, you're thinking, you know, seduction pastor is
not really a good word with regards to God, but it is a good word
with regards to God. What is seduction? Seduction
is to be led. Seduction is to be persuaded. Seduction is to be drawn away. Seduction is to be on one course
and then somehow being overwhelmed by propositions or some kind
of allurement or some type of promise and drawn away from the
course where you were to another course. Now, is that a fair definition
of seduction? That's a sound definition of
seduction. Seduction is when you are going one way and someone
or something influences you off the course that you were on.
Now let's make good on this, okay? Seduction can have a negative
connotation when we are being seduced by the devil. That's
bad. He is called a seducer. But for
those of you who really, really know your Bible, God's a seducer
too. Let me help you. Every one of
us who have come to know the true and the living God, we're
seduced by God. See, we were on a path. But that
path was a bad path. Here's the problem. We loved
that path that we were on. In our minds, there was nothing
wrong with that path. It was a path of sin. It was
a path of disobedience. It was a path of rebellion against
God. I might as well lay this down now as we establish this
foundation. When you and I came out of the
womb, we went astray from God. We were contrary to God. We were
in rebellion to God and we loved it. That's our nature. What does
it take to influence a sinner who loves being a sinner to be
brought into another path totally contrary to the path of sin? It takes seduction. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? It takes being drawn away, being
led away. In the original meaning of that
word in the Latin, it's the Latin word seducio. And it means to
be led apart. In the Hebrew, the term The Greek
Hebrew term is to arm and it actually means to persuade or
to deceive. And in fact, that's what happens
to the sinner when they come to know the true and the living
God. Let me talk about this a little bit. I was thinking about this
all week long. Nehemiah, what you doing in the
middle of all this mess? God deceived you. Let me see
if I can make that good. You remember Moses? He was a
leader of Israel. He was the one that kind of started
this stuff with Israel being brought out of Egypt into the
wilderness and to the land of promise. Do you remember what
happened to Moses when Moses thought he could deliver Israel
by the works of his own flesh and his own strength? He went
in trying to deliver the children of Israel and they rejected him.
And on his way out, he ended up killing an Egyptian. And in
the process of killing that Egyptian, he found himself a fugitive fleeing
for his life. And as he fled for his life,
he ended up being a sheep herder on the backside of Mount Horeb.
You remember that? 40 years was Moses in the wilderness
tending sheep. Now he had come to be very content
with what he was doing. Because you know, when you find
out that you are on the indictment list of the greatest nation in
the world at that time being Egypt, Pharaoh has a contract
out on you. You were vetted to be next in
command, but you killed a fellow Egyptian to be able to hide permanently
was a good thing. He's out in the wilderness. He's
tending sheep. He's as complacent as can be. He's not 40 now. He's 80 years
old. He's happy with his lot, but
he's out of the will of God. So you know what God does? God
shows up in Exodus 3 verses 1 through 10 and he seduces Moses. I'll show you what I'm talking
about. Go to Exodus three and see what I'm saying. I'm in Exodus
chapter three, verses one through two. Now I'm laying down a foundation
to raise some questions that are germane to you and me with
regards to the title of our message, Nehemiah, the work of God. This
message will be very poignant. There will be some fundamental
points that we address today, and then we will go into this
in more detail. And I want, after we are done,
for you to be able to answer the questions that I'm going
to raise. I want you to see it for yourself,
though, in Exodus chapter 3. Notice what it says in verse
1 of Exodus 3. Now, Moses kept the flock of
Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led
the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain
of God, even to Horeb. You see that? And the angel of
the Lord appeared unto him, how? In a flame of fire. Do you know
that angel is Christ? Christ is always the angel of
the Lord in the Old Testament. It doesn't matter what theophany,
what epiphany, what manifestation it is, Christ is the angel of
the Lord. Moses is minding his own business
and the Lord appeared. Now watch this. He appeared in
a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush and Moses looked And
he said, behold, the bush burned with fire and the bush was not
consumed. He got his attention, didn't
he? Moses is minding his own business, doing his own thing.
And God gets his attention. Now watch this. And Moses said,
here is the definition for seduction. Moses said, I will turn now aside. See it? Now watch this and see. I will turn now aside and see
this great sight. Why the bush is not burned. And
when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God wasn't surprised,
was he? God called him and said unto
him out of the midst of the bush, here we go, Moses, Moses. Now ladies, didn't we learn this
in theology class? This is called relationship.
This is called relationship. God knew Moses before Moses knew
God and Moses is now being what called But in order for Moses
to hear the call God had to turn him aside from where he was See
what's happening right now is Moses is made to see something
that will radically Change his life is called the glory of God
is called the glory of God. Whenever a man or woman is being
called by God, God himself has to do something to bring them
from where they were to where they are. He has to overwhelm
them with the revelation of himself. He has to seduce them from the
passions and the drives and the inclinations and the thing they
used to do. Because of what they see now,
they are now driven, compelled to seek after that. If God ever
reveals his glory to you, you'll know exactly what I'm talking
about. We call this the seduction of the ministry. Why do we call
it the seduction of the ministry? And this I say the we because
several of my pastor friends understand this and sound theologians
understand this because God has to give you a revelation of his
glory in order to draw you to himself. Because what you are
being signed up for, you can't know right away because you quit
before you start if you did. He leads aside all of his servants. He leads aside all of his people. Let me develop this a little
further. You can read Exodus 3 verses 1 through 10 in your
own time, and the pattern is precisely the same with all of
his servants. God met Abraham, who was the
progenitor of the children of Israel in the land of the Chaldees
of Babylon. He was a pagan idolater. And
you know what the Bible says? God called Abraham. Abraham heard
the word of the Lord, and guess what God said to Abraham? Abraham!
Now he's a pagan idolater living with his father and his brothers
and his wife. He's nobody. He's a peon like
you and I were in our sinful nature, just a part of the whole
mass of sinful human beings, right? And God said to Abraham,
now watch this. Now tell me if this is not seduction. Abraham, I'm going to give you
the world. Please, will you hear me? The
true and the living God broke the silence of heaven and said
to Abraham, I'm going to make you the father. He didn't even
have any children yet. I'm going to make you the father
of a multitude of nations. Out of you will come kings and
kings of nations. I'm going to give you the world. I'm thinking about this concept
of seduction. I said, now, how did I say it to my wife, Barb,
to seduce her? I don't think I said I'm going
to give you the world. I don't think that would have worked.
That wouldn't have worked. God told Abraham the world is
his. See, listen to me, child of God.
Listen to me. Listen to me, sinner. If God ever looks upon you, you're
in good shape. He has no reason to. Every act
of God's saving purpose and redemption in Christ is an act of mercy
to undeserving sinners. And the man or the woman who
is privileged to hear God's promises, to hear his word, to hear him
calling you to himself must understand that God is giving overtures
that you can't refuse. You can't refuse those overtures.
This is crazy. And God does this with all of
his servants. He does this because the work, ladies and gentlemen,
that God calls his people to is much larger than they could
ever imagine or ever fulfill. It's much more difficult. It's
much more challenging. If they were to know what God
is calling them to prior to seeing this glorious vision of who God
is for them and what God promises them, they would never do it.
Let me see if I can help you a little bit more. There were
more in the scriptures. I think about King David, how
God came to David and told David that I'm going to make him to
be the progenitor of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus
Christ. That his throne would be inhabited
by the Son of God for all eternity. Let's see if we can build this
up a little bit more. There are more. Remember the
apostles? The three major apostles with Jesus was Peter, James,
and John. Remember that? The gospels open up in a very
humble way, don't they? Because sinners like you and
I live in a generally a humble state, and we can identify with
a God who condescends to deal with base sinners like us. Peter,
James, and John are fishermen. Now, I don't know if you know
that fishing is not the greatest vocation in the world. And it
is very difficult, and a lot of times you don't succeed at
what you do. And that's exactly how god wanted
it when the lord jesus walked by peter james and john and listen
to this This is what he said. He said fellas follow me and
i'll make you fishes of men You know what? The bible says they
straightway dropped their nets and followed him. You know what?
Jesus had done seduced them He spoke to them in their language,
according to the things that they have a propensity and love
for. And he promised them that their
ministry would be a ministry by which men are drawn to them.
I was talking to us in our prayer service about how God has to
deal with you and me that way. And I use the analogy of a little
baby who has his hand on something that he really wants. Let's say
it's a carrot, okay? Now most little babies ain't
all that excited about a carrot, but the analogy will follow through.
The baby got the carrot and you want to take the carrot away
from the baby, but the baby won't let you get the carrot away.
There's a way by which you can get that baby to open his hands
and drop that carrot. All you got to do is show him
a carrot cake. Do you hear me? You got to put
some icing on the carrot cake. He'll drop that carrot in a minute
for that carrot cake That's what God did when he revealed Christ
to sinners like you and me by his mercy He showed us that Christ
so excels the devil this world and the things of this world
that by the grace of God We dropped it and we fled to Christ Am I
telling the truth? Let me go on a little bit because
I want to make sure you get this now God seduces his people and
He seduces the apostle Paul, breathing out threatenings and
slaughters, seeking to kill all the saints because he was blinded
in his self-righteousness and his legalistic religion. He never
knew the God of the Bible. He knew the Bible, but he didn't
know the author of the Bible. He knew the Hebrew, but he didn't
know the God behind the message in the Hebrew. And one day God
showed up and in an overwhelming blistering light, dropped that
man to his knees. And as God said to Moses, Moses,
Moses, he said to Saul, Saul, Saul, do you know it was over
with right there? It was over with, you know what
Saul said? Who are you Lord? And the next
thing Saul said is, what will you have me to do? He was seduced
ladies and gentlemen. seduced. The Hebrew term is used
in the book of Hosea chapter 2 verse 14 where God is dealing
with Israel and the word is translated allured. He says, and now I will
allure her. I will allure Israel. What's
the context? Israel is committing rank idolatry. She's worshipping idols. She's
worshipping a whole host of Baal idols. Baalim is the term for
multiple idols of Baal that she's worshipping. She's so steeped
in her worship of Baal that she has forgotten the name of Jehovah. Now that's horrible, isn't it?
I want you to get this now. Now she's God's covenant bride,
but she has abandoned him and embraced other lovers and forgotten
his name. You know what God says in Hosea
chapter 2, verse 14? I will allure her. I will speak
tenderly to her. I will draw her to myself with
such overtures that she will even forget who Baal was. Now
that's a player, isn't it? Listen to me. Listen to me. That's how God talks. Because
he uses covenant language that has to deal with marriage in
terms of his relationship with hell-bound sinners. What must
bring you and me into a comfortable, confident relationship with His
holiness is His love. What must bring sinners like
you and I who don't deserve anything from God but His wrath is His
love. And His love seduces us. Am I
making some sense? His love seduces us. And so we
see what has happened with Nehemiah. Let me go on and develop this.
This happens to every one of God's people. Every one of us
that are called to do his will, see God's glory. And then God
begins to do something for the people of God, the servants of
God, in order to sustain and build on this. He not only draws
us into a wonderful revelation of who God is, but he begins
to speak to us and tell us intimately what his purposes are, what his
schemes are, what his plans are. See, you remember Nehemiah, he's
sitting in the palace of the Persian monarch as the cup bearer. He's living large. He doesn't
need anything. And then the Bible says he heard
from his brother Hananiah. Faith comes by what? And he heard
from his brother Hananiah. Now that's a play on the Hebrew
because Nehemiah's name is Nehemiah. I'll talk about that at the end.
But his brother, his literal brother, we'll see this in the
text, is Hananiah. They are both from Judah. Hananiah
in the Hebrew means the Lord is gracious. The Lord is gracious
and what Nehemiah began to experience while sitting in the palace of
the king Being the king's cupbearer his number one confidant the
one who stands by the king nehemiah doesn't need anything in the
world, but god now Shows nehemiah what god is up to and what god
needs done See what happens is what god starts to do with his
servant is not only revealed to him the absolute excellence
of his glory so that you and I comprehend that there are much
better things to be sought after than the feeble things of this
life. But then he begins to lay upon
our heart what God's will is. Are you hearing me? God begins
to tell us what his will is. He begins to show us his purposes
and he does something else. He impresses it upon our hearts. Now you may not even understand
what I'm saying. When God is calling a person
to himself and particularly to his work, he actually lays his
own burden upon that individual. Now that individual is burdened
with the burden of God. He can't help himself. He can't
help himself. She can't help herself. Are you
hearing what I'm saying? Nehemiah couldn't help himself.
He was 700 miles away from Israel, but for four months, the only
thing he could think about were the broken down walls and the
burnt up gates and the misery that his people were in. What
had happened to Nehemiah? God had taken his own burden
for his people and placed it upon his servant. He was seduced. He was seduced. That seduction
which resulted in a burden began to be a longing in the heart
of Nehemiah to do something about it. Now that's how God begins
to make a minister of the gospel. That's how he makes a preacher
of the gospel. That's how he makes a church that's bent on
doing God's will. He imposes upon the people his
own vision, his own burden, his own calling, That's the only
way you can answer folk who live in the world and are aspiring
to get by in the world and now are bent on doing God's will.
Now you are in a situation where you take time out on a Sunday
or Tuesday or Friday or Saturday or Wednesday and you give your
life to the cause of Christ mingled with all kind of trouble. Mingled with all kind of trouble.
Here you are in the midst of potential pursuit for happiness
as you think now you are on another course that God has put you on
and you are compelled to say what you say and do what you
do because God has pressed it on you he seduced you you in
love with God now trying to help you trying to help you this is
what happens to every saved sinner he can't help himself This is
what Jesus did with the... Now everyone who is called into
the kingdom of God has this to say right along with their master.
Are you ready? The zeal of thine house hath
consumed me. I'm consumed. I'm consumed. And when I don't feel consumed,
I feel bad because I want to be consumed. See, because when
you love somebody, you want to be completely in alignment with
that person you love. Am I making some sense? And this
is how all of God's servants were. They were driven by zeal
to do what they did, wound earth with Moses, being comfortable
on the backside of the desert, go back and face the very Pharaoh
that put an indictment on him. Unless God had overwhelmed him. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
The apostle Paul turns right around after being converted
and saved and goes right back into the midst of the very Jews.
that he knows will kill him. And his whole ministry is marked
by now, which moves us into our next point, trouble. This whole ministry is moved
by trouble. Point number two, the bitterness
halfway through. The bitterness halfway through. Probably don't know what I'm
talking about. Nehemiah, has enjoyed a real blessing with
regards to the way the ministry opened up. Let me remind you
how this goes so that you can appreciate the bitterness halfway
through. He has an open door by the king to go back home,
right? He goes back home. As he's headed
back home, he gets all kinds of cooperation, doesn't he? He's
got the king's credit card. He's got all the wood, all the
material for the building, right? Doors have opened for Nehemiah.
Isn't that right? He gets home. Back to Jerusalem. And he sees the mess that they're
in. We talked about that last week. Isn't it wonderful that
God owns our mess? And he observed the mess. And
he assessed the mess. And he realized, okay, I've got
enough to fix this mess. Now I've got to go to the next
stage. The next stage, he's got to meet with the leadership.
He meets with the leadership and according to chapter 2, the
leadership is in full agreement with him. Listen to it. Are you
there in every chapter to listen to it? I want you to see this
again over in verse 17 and verse 18 Then said I unto them you
see the distress that we are in Do you see it? Chapter 2 verse 17 you see this
distress that we are in how Jerusalem lieth waste and the gates thereof
are burned with fire Now listen to this Come, let us build up
the walls of Jerusalem that we be no more a reproach. Do you
see that? Nehemiah recognizes his part
with the people of God and the people of God's part with God.
Now, Nehemiah is completely bent on doing something about the
Word. He comes to the leadership, he reveals to the leadership
the condition. He reveals to the leadership
the condition. Now if I wanted to park right
here, and I won't long, but Nehemiah is a representation of the Spirit
of Christ. We talked about that last week.
His job is to assist the church, because the Old Testament represents
the New. We'll see that in a moment. And
just as Israel is troubled with walls that are broken down, so
is the church today. And just as Israel is troubled
with gates that are burned, so is the church today. I'll identify
those and deal with those next week. But thankfully, there's
a man come to do something about it. Isn't that right? The first
thing he has to do is reveal to the leadership the real condition
of the church. I told you this last week. It's
a pathetic thing when the leaders in the church don't see things
the way God sees things. It's a horrific thing when the
leadership doesn't see the problems in the church the way God sees
them and critical to Effective leadership is the Spirit of Christ
revealing to leadership Exactly what the problem is in the church
Do you see the distress that we are in? Do you see the trouble
that we are in? Do you see the problem? See,
cause you and I, we swing to two extremes. I don't care what
you say. We swing to two extremes. We
like to put on rose colored glasses and pretend everything's all
right. That's the way of the sluggard. Read the Proverbs,
a little folding of the hands. a little slumbering, a little
sleep. And so shall your poverty come as an armed man or an individual
that travels. I think it was Solomon who said,
I went past the vineyard of the slothful. And I saw that the
venue was hedged up with thorns and thistles and the walls were
broken down thereof. And then I consider he had been
slothful in his job to maintain his lot. And let's make some
application here. Children of God, isn't that true
in your own individual life? You can get lazy. You can get
lazy. Isn't that true in the family?
Isn't that true in the family? You can get lazy. You can get
lazy about praying for your spouse or praying for your children
or encouraging your children or telling your children what's
right. And sometimes with the little ones spanking their butt
when you need to. Am I telling the truth? I might
as well. I'm tired today. I had to marry a couple last
night. It was the Kabbalah's daughter and son-in-law. Now
it was a wonderful wedding. We had a good time, but we up
till 11 o'clock at night, so I'm tired, you know. enjoying
ourselves is wondering I told that young couple I told them
see the young man that married the Kabbalah's daughter he was
seduced you've been seduced young man that's what happens And I told
him, I said, I know love is wonderful and all that, but you guys are
getting ready to get dumped into the crucible because marriage
is a crucible. Isn't that right? And you're
getting ready to go through what we call sanctification. Whenever two wills are brought
together, sanctification takes place. That's what happens when
we are saved. Your will is brought into contact
with God's will and God's going to conform you. That's called
sanctification. And it hurts so good, doesn't
it? That's what goes on. That is what goes on. And that's
what goes on in the church as well. We love the church. Don't
we love the church? We love the church because it's
God's church and God loves his church. And Nehemiah loved God's
church. But God's church got a lot of
problems. It's just true. God's Church got a lot of problems.
And if an individual really saw how jacked up God's Church was
before being called to the ministry, they'd never enter into the ministry.
If an individual really saw how difficult marriage would be before getting married, they
just might not. But see, love has a tendency
to seduce you. Do you see what I'm saying, ladies?
I'm trying to help you understand the reason you're saved is because
of the overtures of a seducing God who allured you by an overwhelming
and compelling proposition which you could not resist. I love
you with an everlasting love. Therefore, I've drawn you with
cords of a man. I have loved you with an everlasting
love and therefore with loving kindness have I brought you to
myself. And I remember the song of Solomon
where the bride said, Lord, draw me and I'll run after you. Isn't
that what he said? I'll run after you. See, that's
that love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost
doing something for you that the mind can't quite get around.
Because as he's drawing you to himself, you are making decisions
in your mind about things you got to let go for the greater
glory. And this is what's going on with
Nehemiah. And this is what goes on in the ministry. And I have
to lay this foundation down, ladies and gentlemen, because
the things that accompany the ministry require, listen to me,
it requires men and women who are constrained by the love of
Christ. You can't do ministry. You can't
serve God. You can't run this race. You
can't finish this course without being constrained by the love
of Christ. 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verses
10 through 12 Paul says knowing the terror of the Lord knowing
the fear of the Lord we persuade men the love of Christ constrains
us That's the secret Are you hearing me? That's the secret
That's the secret to the believer in the midst of this untoward
generation living every day with the kind of opposition that goes
on on the outside and and on the inside. I'll talk more about
that next week when we actually see the impeccable work of Nehemiah
in getting the job done that he was called to do. How excellent,
wise servants are in helping the people of God get to where
they've got to go. But all I wanted to do today
was call your attention to the text in a general way. Nehemiah
is in the midst of a mess. He's in the midst of a bunch
of problems, but he can't help himself because he's halfway
through. See, when you start a job and you get halfway through
the job, you have the question to ask. Should I stop right now? But I'm halfway through. I'm
halfway through. I've been enjoying the old, old
R&B song. I forget who sang it. I've loved
you so long that I can't stop loving you now. Forget who it
was. I've been loving you so long.
That's just the guy. Seal has done a remix on. He
did a great job. I've been loving you for so long. I can't stop now. I remember poly car, the Bishop
of Antioch in the first century persecuted to death. by the Roman
Caesar Domitius. And as he was headed to the stake,
the question that he was asked, why won't you just go on and
sign off on the incense and burn it and call Caesar Lord? And
Polycarp says, The Lord has saved me and he has kept me for 85
years. The Lord has been so good to
me for 85 years. I can't stop loving him now.
See, that was an easy proposition for a man who has experienced
the goodness and the mercy and grace of God all that time. And
he went straight to the flames, praising God. You know what did
that, ladies and gentlemen? Love! He was deceived. He was deceived. Our text opens
up and it talks to us about some problems. I want you to see this.
We're getting ready to go to our next point. Look at verse one of chapter
four. Are we there? But it came to pass, and it always does,
that when Sam Ballard heard that we were building the wall, in
the Hebrew, it's in the present tense, when Sam Ballard heard
that we were actually building the wall. When our chief enemy,
Sam Ballot, I'm gonna talk about him next week. Remember the three
unholy trinity, Sam Ballot, Tobiah, and the Geshamite, that fella
that's from Arabia, the unholy trinity. When Sam Ballot heard
that we had the audacity to begin to build up the walls, listen
to what he says. He was angry and he took great
indignation and mocked the Jews. Do you see that? And he spake
before his brethren and the armies of Samaria. See, he was part
of that half-breed group that was brought in under the Assyrian
king. He was half-Jew and half-pagan, and they worshipped Jehovah,
but they worshipped idols too. And this was the split between
the Jewish people and the Samaritans in Jesus' day. But at this time,
under the Persian rule, the Samaritans were given authority over the
Jews, so they were beating down the Jews. I'm gonna make an application
next week. to how compromised religion, when it's in a certain
position of authority, will beat down true believers. I'll talk
about that next week. But Sam Ballett is loud, and
he's boisterous, and he's assaulting the people of God, and the people
of God are simply doing what they're called to do, build the
walls. Build the walls. Now listen to
what he says, and I want to show you Nehemiah's response in one
verse, and then we'll develop this a little more. He said,
he spoke to his brethren and to the army of Samaria and said,
what do these feeble Jews, do you see that? What are these
feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they
make an end in one day? Will they revive the stones out
of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? Two things I want
to share with you right here. These are rhetorical questions
and the answer is yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! That God-inspired set of
questions that came out of the enemy's mouth is returned upon
his own head with the answer, yes. But the questions in themselves
tell us how ignorant Sam Ballard is about the power behind that
which is moving them to do what they do. Because the kingdom
of God does not come with observation Men and women who are on the
outside of the kingdom of God watching God's people and God's
people all around the world I'm talking about God's real people.
I'm talking about this genuine people. I'm talking about real
saved folk I'm talking about people serious about Christ are
feeble Jews God's people are feeble people
and have always been feeble people They're just like their master He came in a humble way. He lived
in a humble way. He served in a humble way. And
he died in an infinitely humble way. The world to this hour does
not know our Savior because of the humility. He came in a feeble
way. All God's people are like our
feeble Savior. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Because the glory will be manifested on the last day. feeble people,
what are they going to do? Are they going to build up the
walls in one day? Are they going to revive the stones? Are they
going to offer sacrifices? Are they going to fix this thing
in one day? Yes. When we're done, you're going
to see that the work, the remarkable, the awesome, the powerful work
that Nehemiah gets accomplished by these people only takes 52
days. Now, Jerusalem is a heap of nothing
but stones right now. But in 52 days it will be a walled
city with gates that are perfectly established. And the only way
you can answer how this got done is that God did it. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? The kingdom of God does not come
with observation. The kingdom of God is on the midst of you.
Men and women cannot see the kingdom of God with the physical
eye. When folks say, Pastor Jesse, I see the Lord blessing your
church. If you mean because we have numbers, you haven't seen
the Lord's blessings. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
The blessings of the Lord are not numerical groups of people
coming in. That's fine, but that's not the
blessing. The blessing of the Lord is when
God himself Honors the ministry and the exposition of his word
the exaltation of his son the power of the gospel Really saving
sinners in the mist or else all this is is wood hay and stubble
But what I'm looking for by the grace of God is gold silver and
precious stone something that can pass through the fire and
make it in the glory then we'll be able to see who was really
blessed and Am I making some sense? Please understand. It's a wonderful thing to have
lots of people wanting to hear the message, but that's not the
end game. Has God done something for your
soul? Has God translated you out of
the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son?
Has he saved you by his grace? Has he revealed his glory in
you? Has he made you a new creature in Christ? Are you ready to die
for the son of God? See what I'm saying? That's real
ministry. See, because these brothers said,
listen to me now, we will build with you. Look at it. I'm in
chapter two. I want you to see what you said.
Go back to chapter two. I just want you to see it. Nehemiah
says, do you see what's going on? Verse 17, do you see what's
going on? How everything's all burnt up?
Let's go to work. Let's do what we've got to do.
Let us build the walls that we'd be no more reproach Look at verse
18. Then I told them of the hand of my god, which was upon me
and also the king's word That he had spoken to me and they
said let us rise and what build So they strengthened their hands
for this good word Now when god saves the sinner and brings him
into a saving knowledge of Christ. And that man's begotten of the
gospel. He loves Christ. Now he's ready to go to work
with you. Now I told you, some of y'all are just window shopping
right now. You know what window shopping
is? When you just kind of assessing whether or not you want in. But if you ever put on the garments
of Christ's righteousness, you'd never take them off. King Saul
tried to give David his armor when it was time to fight Goliath.
David put on all that old bulky stuff and David said, nah, he
ain't gonna work. God gave me a slingshot and five
stones and I've been good with this. Those five stones and that
slingshot represents the foolishness of preaching by which God slays
the giant, even the devil, even the law, even sin. For God was
pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those that
believe. God uses the foolish things of
the world. Am I making some sense? He uses the fullest things of
the world. So David's a feeble Jew. I'm a feeble Jew. If you
believe the gospel, you're a feeble Jew. But our Savior is not a
feeble God. He's a mighty God. And these
men have come to understand that they are engaged now in a good
work. But here's the problem. Look with me in chapter four.
I'm going to go on and read verse four through six, because Nehemiah
has heard the taunt. He has heard the complaining
of his enemies. And he opens up by calling upon
God in chapter four, verse four. Hear, O our God, for we are despised. And turn their reproach upon
their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity. And cover not their iniquity,
and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee, for they
have provoked you to anger. Watch this, before the builders. This is remarkable. because the
prayer that Nehemiah is praying is what we call a prayer of execration. It's a prayer of vengeance. Now,
Nehemiah can pray this prayer because he represents the Holy
Ghost, which means because the Holy Ghost knows the mind of
God. Isn't that what we learn in Romans
8? He can pray according to God's will and God will hear him. You
and me are not called to say God don't cover their sin. God
sent them to hell. God punished them. God doesn't
call us to do that, but the Holy Ghost will. Because not everybody
getting in and God has authentic enemies and hell is going to
be inhabited by people who continue to rebel against him. And part
of the reason why they will successfully make it to hell is because of
the prayers of God Almighty. Listen to me now. The Spirit
of God covets the salvation of all God's people, and he will
do everything he needs to get them there, even the destruction
of their enemies. I gave Egypt for you. Ethiopia
was a ransom for you, Israel. Don't you play with God. Are
you hearing me? Nehemiah ain't no joke. I told
you about that. He's the alter ego of Ezra, right? Ezra stood. Ezra cried. Ezra wept. Ezra fell down on
the ground. People broke. People began to
repent because they saw in Ezra a weeping Savior. Isn't that
right? But I told you God weeps before he whips. Isn't that right? He stood outside of Jerusalem
and he wept. Oh Jerusalem! Oh Jerusalem! How I would have
gathered you as a mother hen gathers her chicks But you would
not now your house is left to you desolate now what he said
Then he went right on into Jerusalem and took some switches off of
a tree and went into his father's house and started going to work
God weeps before he whips and today is a day of weeping Because
as long as the gospel is preached men get to see the one who weeps
for sinners But there's a day coming when God's gonna whip
Are you hearing me? There's a day coming when God's
going to whip. And so we see in our text, Nehemiah is petitioning
for the people of God. And look at verse six. Are you
there? Verse six says, so we so built we the wall. Do you
see that? Mark that in the midst of the
taunts of God's enemies. You know what you do when God's
called you to build the wall, build a wall. Got it. Build a
wall. I like this. Verse one opens
up. But it came to pass that when
Sam Ballard heard that we were building the wall, he was angry,
took indignation and mocked the Jews. The last verse. And our
text says it like this over in verse 23. 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 the washing. What am I saying? Near my in
spite of the opposition stuck to the plan. Because I tell you
what the goal of the enemy is child of God. And some of you
have learned that by now is to distract you. And then to distort your thinking.
And then to delude your understanding of the truth. And when that happens,
you're deceived about what the truth is. And deception will
lead to your destruction. The goal of the enemy is to distract
you. Isn't that true? We're set out to do the right
thing and we get what? Distracted. Nehemiah was never
distracted. He knew the enemy was there and
saints, hold on, it gets worse than this. It's one thing to
have the enemies on the outside persecuting you. The world is
going to persecute God's people. When you stand for the truth
of the gospel, you're going to be persecuted. You're going to
suffer for Christ's sake. Isn't that right? We can handle
that because it is what it is. Jesus said, if they hated me,
they're going to hate you too. But now here comes the real problem.
that started becoming troubles on the inside. But see, verse
six of chapter four says, we were halfway through the building
of the wall. Look at it again. Look at it
what it says in chapter four, verse six. So we built at the
wall and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof.
You got it? All the wall was joined together
to the half thereof. See what God had done? God had
given them success at building the wall. They were laboring,
they were industrious, they were successful, they were advancing
in their purpose. And the parallel is to that of
ministry. Don't you fool yourself. Nehemiah and Ezra correspond
to the ministry of Jesus Christ and the ministry of the apostles.
In the ministry of Jesus Christ, he, for three and a half years,
had thousands of people listening to him. Toward the end of his
ministry, none listened to him. But he told his disciples to
tarry until you receive power from on high. You're going to
be my witnesses in Judea, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the
uttermost parts of the world. And when you open up the book
of Acts, what you see in chapters one through four is a great deal
of ministerial success. Thousands are hearing the gospel.
Thousands are coming to Christ. Thousands are believing. Thousands
are being baptized. Thousands are joining the church.
The work's getting done. Isn't that right? And those of
you who know anything about ministry, you know that's a joyful time.
We are enjoying a massively joyful time here at Grace Bible Church
right now. I thank God for it. I talk to my leaders and our
teachers all the time about how God has blessed us, because we
know what trouble is. We know what trouble is and this
is see trouble will cause you to thank God because you know
one of the problems We have we're not thankful enough Trouble will
cause you to thank God because I remember days. We had a lot
of trouble. I remember days We had a lot of trouble on the inside
But you see God has been very gracious to us over the last
several years We have a handful of things going on because that's
the nature of life. But for the most part God is blessing exceedingly
I'm seeing folks in our own church actually turning from their sins
and bowing the knee to Christ and living for his glory. Only
God can do that. Only God can do that. I'm seeing
men and women eyes open up in their understanding that the
way they were walking is not the way they should walk and
they've changed. Only God can do that. I see men
and women more fully comprehending the truth of the gospel. Ain't
nothing greater than to hear some of you new people saying,
pastor, I get it now. nothing greater than to hear,
I get it now. I understand now why you're so
incessant about Christ. I understand why you're so incessant
about the gospel. I get it now. Because only God
can open your eyes. I'm going to get into that when
I ask these germane questions here before we close. It's a
joy to know that the Spirit of God is doing His work among us.
But there are troubles that enter into the church of God. And there
are trouble that entered into Nehemiah's church. I'll show
you what I'm saying. Look over in chapter 4 at verse 10 through
12. Let's see if we got some trouble.
Notice what it says, and Judah said, notice Judah, Judah is
the people who came back. That's you and me. Judah said,
the strength of the bearers of burden is decayed and there is
much rubbish so that we are not able to build. One of the things that ministry
has to endure frequently is the discouragement of God's people. That's one of the things I, as
the pastor, have to deal with. You get discouraged. Isn't that
true? I don't never get discouraged. Nehemiah heard the discouragement
of the Judahites and the discouragement started to turn into, in the
Hebrew, they call it a song. This here was a stanza, a song.
It began to permeate the camp. The bearers of burden are getting
weary. The rubbish is too high for us
to build. You know, when you turn your
problems into a song, you didn't gave up. For those of you who don't know
our culture, we call that the blues. Nehemiah heard that the Judahites,
now we've got an eclectic group of people in Israel. Not only
the Judites are in Israel, the Samaritans are in Israel, the
Arabians are in Israel. Now the Arabians are the folks
that's acting the way they act today. They're in there. I'm
getting ready to talk about that. So in the midst of the church
is a neglected group of people and not all of them are saved.
And the ones that are saved are complaining. Now that's trouble
for a pastor. Because the very ones he's depending
on are now complaining. What does a pastor do when the
very ones he's depending on complain? What can he do but pray? But
watch it. I want you to see how this goes,
because I want you to see now God speaking to you and me right
now. Verse 11, And our adversaries said, They said, We shall not
know, neither see till we come in in the midst of them and slay
them and cause the work to cease. You know what they're embracing
now, ladies and gentlemen? Rumors. Rumors. Do you know what it's
like when an environment of people who are called to work together
on an assignment are set back by rumors? Are you hearing what
I'm saying? All I'm doing is painting a picture
of the work that Nehemiah has to deal with. He's got to deal
with some very formidable enemies on the outside. I'll talk about
that more next week, who these enemies are. He's got to deal
with his own brother and the Judaists being weary for the
burden because you see they're working hard. Listen, they're
working hard because the walls got to get built. This is a political
kingdom and the enemy is already infiltrating the camp. I'll talk
more about its application next week too. As they build, as they
build, here come the enemy in. And enemies are coming through
this gate and that gate and the other gate. And they're saying
to the Jews, because remember now, the enemies are more prominent
than the feeble Jews, so they can boast while they're on the
inside. Listen, we're going to come in on that side. We're coming
in on that side. You're not going to even be able
to see us. And we're going to slay you before you even know it.
They're binding the rumors. Pastor, why are they binding
the rumors? Because the walls are broken down and the gates are
burned. And we talked about it last week. The man that has no
rule over his own spirit is like a city whose walls are broken
down and without gates. See, they hadn't girded up the
lawns of their mind. They weren't grounded in the
truth of God's word. So they were open to rumors.
But remember what Jesus says, and you shall hear of wars and
what? Rumors of war. Now watch what
Jesus said and watch Nehemiah. Jesus said, but see to it that
you be not troubled. Isn't that what he said? Don't
be troubled by the rumors. Now watch how Nehemiah handles
this. I'm in verse 12. And it came to pass when the
Jews which dwelt by them. Are you at verse 12? Oh, we got
another problem. Not only the Judahites who are
true believers, weary of the burden, not only are the enemies
saying we're coming into the gate, but there are Jews in the
city who happened to be on the side of the enemy. Do you see
it? And it came to pass that when
the Jews which dwelt by them came, they dwelt by the enemy
folks, they came and said unto us 10 times, that's a Hebrew
idiom for a whole bunch of times. Now watch this, from all places
which you shall return unto us, they will be upon you. Now these
folk had given up. These folk had joined the enemy's
camp. Every now and then you'll find an individual like that
in the church. They don't believe the gospel.
They don't trust Christ. They're not walking by faith.
They're not looking to glory. They're walking by sight. They
see the things of this world. They see carnal things and their
whole message is a message of discouragement. They don't know
how to say what Nehemiah is about to say. Are you hearing me? Listen
to the next verse. Verse 13, therefore, listen to
this, this is Nehemiah speaking, set I in the lower places behind
the wall and on the higher places, I even set the people after their
families with swords, their spears and their bows. This is really
an interesting proposition. This gets into my message next
week, but I'll say it now. How did Nehemiah respond? to
the trouble. Here's what he did. Are you ready?
He made sure that among the people of God that the family members
were together in each of the groups. He saw to it that as
they were working in the work, that the family members, I'm
talking about the biological family members were not separated
because of the work in different parts, different locations on
the wall. So to be discouraged because
on the North end, brothers over here and on the East end, sisters
over there, he put the families together so that they could comfort
and encourage one another. And then he told them to do,
like I said last week, get your shotgun, get your Smith & Wesson,
get your .45, because that's what you got to do. And it's
a metaphor for being spiritually armed. But he was a wise minister
in knowing how to deal with the weakness of their physical infirmity. This is how the Spirit of God
works in the church even today. See, we might be saved, but we're
still very weak. And we like all this fleshly
stuff. Am I making some sense? I'm looking
out of my... Husbands ain't sitting over here
and wives over there and children. We are sitting together with
folks that we know and we love. And often in the work of the
ministry, we work together with folk who we know and we love.
Am I telling the truth? That's how it works. That's why,
ladies and gentlemen, listen to me. When God saves and begins
to build his church because of our weakness, what he does is
he saves our friends, he saves our relatives, he saves folks
that we can have a commonality with that's beyond just the spiritual. It's just true. It's just true. Because of the weakness of our
flesh. And so that's what Nehemiah's doing. He's putting them together
so that as they deal with this very dangerous period of time,
they can do it encouraging one another because remember now
they've got a work to finish they've got a work to accomplish
all right i've got some questions to ask you and then i'm going
to close look in your outline at point number four here's the
question you help me with this are you ready does god have a
work Does God have a work? Does God himself have a work
that he's doing in the world? See, this is an important question.
particularly in this age of narcissistic, autonomous thinking, where everybody
figures that, you know, I have a personal relationship with
the Lord Jesus and I can do things my way and I can do ministry
my way. My question is, does God have
a work? Do you recognize that God has
a work? All through the Bible, you know
what the Bible says? Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his wonderful works to the children of men. You know
what the Bible says in Acts chapter 15? Known unto God are all his
works from the foundation of the world. You know what the
Bible said in the book of Exodus? And when God finished writing
on two tables of stone, he gave his work to Moses. You know what Jesus said in John
chapter 4 when the disciples couldn't quite understand why
he hung out with a Samaritan woman? He says, my meat is to
do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work you
know what Jesus said in John 17 around verse 2 3 right before
he was about to go to Calvary father I have finished the work
that you have given me to do now I'm ready does God have a
work the Bible is very clear that God has work and do you
know since God has always had an institution that has represented
and preserved and fulfilled that work since the beginning of time.
Let's go all the way back to the beginning of time when Adam
and Eve had Cain and Abel and then Seth and Enosh. Do you know
that in the days of Enosh, men began to call upon the name of
the Lord? God started a church way back then and they were true
believers and they worshiped Jehovah. Do you know the next
great work that God did after the days of Enosh was in the
days of Noah? Noah for 120 years did God's
work. You know what that work was?
To build the ark. And you know who helped Noah
in the building of his ark? His family. You know why? Because they were the only ones
who believed God had a work to do. And they did that work for
120 years. You know the next work that God
did? He did the work of calling Abraham out and creating a nation
called Israel through Abraham. And he gave Abraham the covenant
of circumcision. And those 12 boys were circumcised
and they did God's work until Moses came along. And then Moses
succeeded that work of the physical nation of Israel being brought
into existence by giving Israel the covenant of the law. Do you
know that was God's work? That was 1500 years before Christ.
For 1,500 years before Christ, men all over the world had to
acknowledge that the only place where God met sinners was between
the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies
with blood. You couldn't worship God anywhere.
You had to come to Jerusalem. That was God's work. Isn't that
true? That was God's work. Then Jesus comes along and he
says to his disciples, follow me. I'll make you fishers of
men and you know what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 16 verse 18
and 19 Peter upon this rock Will I build my church and the gates
of hell will not prevail. Can I ask you a question? Is
God building his church? Is his church his work today?
You better believe that see this is the parallel Remember Ezra
chapter 1 the Persian King said God called me to build him a
temple in Jerusalem And the next thing God said, which is the
next question I want to raise is this, are you part of that
work? See, are you part of that work? Do you recognize that when God
says, I will build my church, and that when the king of Persia
said, God has called me to build a house, that the king of Persia
said, now everyone in whom the spirit of God has stirred your
heart, go and do the work. that the building of God's work
corresponds to the call of sinners who become part of that building
process? Do you recognize that? Are you
part of God's work? Are you aware that God has purpose
to get his work done through his people? See what I'm getting
at? Listen, or else the book of Ezra
and Nehemiah mean nothing. Am I making some sense? It means
nothing. And it has absolutely no application
to the day. If you and I don't realize that
God has called you and I to be his workmanship created in Christ
Jesus under good works. And so you and I have a job to
do. Now, here's the next question I want to ask in relationship
to that one. Cause you know, you didn't answer me when I said,
are you part of work? You didn't ask, but that's okay. I don't
care. Here's the next answer. And this will help you. If you
are part of that work, here's the question you can invalidate
this. Do you have a mind to work? Isn't that a good question? Look
at chapter 4 verse 6 again. I want you to see it. Are you
in chapter 4 verse 6? So built we the wall, said Nehemiah, and
all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof, for the
people had a mind to work. Got it? In the Hebrew, you know
what it says? And the people worked with all
their heart. Got it? What you're saying, Pastor?
This is what I'm saying. If you are part of God's work,
you know it because you have a mind to work. And if you do,
let me say a few things about that. You have been highly blessed
because the Bible says it is God that worketh in you the will
and to do of his good pleasure. It is the Bible that says in
1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23 and 24, I pray God sanctify
your whole body, soul, and spirit, preserve you blameless unto the
day of Jesus Christ. Faithful is he who has called
you, who also will do it. Are you hearing me? I like the
way Isaiah said it. Turn with me in your Bibles in
Isaiah chapter 26. This is a verse our elders quoted a few times,
but I want you to see it for your own self with regards to
a mind to work. It's in Isaiah chapter 26, 12.
I'm almost done. Listen to this. The question
is critical to you and me. these dark days of paganism and
anti-christianity on a political level and compromise in the church
do we recognize that God still has a work to do and he's called
us to that work in Isaiah chapter 26 the people of God are speaking
and it says in verse 11 Lord when thy hand is lifted up they
will not see but they shall see and shall be ashamed for their
envy at the people, yea, the fire of your enemy shall devour
them. Verse 12, Lord, you will ordain
peace for us, for you also have wrought all our works in us. Do you see that? You know what
Isaiah is saying? When the people of God have a
mind to work, when the people of God recognize that God has
a work, The people of God also recognize that it's God that
planted in us a recognition that God's doing the work and that
we have we who have found ourselves part of that work are part of
that work only by the grace of God. The only reason that I'm
in the ministry today, as Paul said, by the grace of God, I
am what I am. And every true child of God can
say that. Am I making some sense? Oh, one more point and I'm done.
What's glorious about our text, even though it's filled with
trouble, and we're gonna get back to that next week, is this.
It has all kinds of problems, but Nehemiah's there. It has all kinds of problems,
but Nehemiah's there. Lord, if you gave me every blessing
in the world without an ounce of trouble, but you are not in
it, I don't want it. And if you heap upon me trouble
after trouble, after trouble, after trouble, after trouble,
but you walk with me through it, your grace is sufficient. See now I can say what the Lord
Jesus said as Nehemiah said it as Paul said it Okay, the reproaches
of them that reproach you have fallen upon me Now they are hating
us because of our love for you as they hated him without a cause
am I making sense? But see when the love of God
is such a near and dear and effectual work in your life You can handle
the carpings of men when God's with you. I You can handle the
troubles of the people of God when God's with you. Am I making
some sense? Nehemiah could say, yeah, though he slay me, yet
will I trust him. And Nehemiah could say also right
along with the apostle Paul. Listen to it. Paul says, I am
what I am by the grace of God. The life that I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of Christ who loved me and gave
himself for me. For me to live is Christ and
to die is gain. Are you hearing? See, Paul's
in the midst of the trouble too, but what he's been able to do
is recognize and reconcile that the trouble is just part of the
package. Christ is more precious and more
dear to him in this trouble, and he wouldn't relinquish that
for nothing in the world. Furthermore, here's one more
reality. At the end of this thing, God's people will enter into
a state of perfect bliss and joy and fullness that's promised
in Christ that will make all the sufferings of this life nothing
compared to it. The sufferings of this present
time are not even worthy to be compared to the glory which shall
be revealed in us who know that God has a work and that we are
part of that work and that we are minded to work because Christ
said, Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world. Do you believe that? I do too.
Amen.