Nehemiah, the first chapter.
Now, there may be many of you that have read through this book.
You may be very well acquainted with it. I wasn't. Last month
I started reading through it and just doing some studying
on it. One of the things that always helps me when we look
at these Old Testament stories, especially the, I guess you'd
call one of the lesser books, lesser prophets, something like
that, is kind of knowing the historical context, like what's
going on with Israel, where are they at, and how did we get to
this point? So I'm gonna give you that up
front, and maybe it'll help you out a little bit. If it doesn't,
just give me a couple seconds, we'll move on. But, so sometime around
586 BC, you have Nebuchadnezzar, he's the king of the Babylonians,
they come through and they conquer Judah. So Israel split, two kingdoms,
you got Israel and you have Judah. The Babylonians come in and they
conquer Judah, and when they do, they completely and utterly
level Jerusalem. They go through and they destroy
the temple, and they destroy the walls, they destroy the gates,
they destroy everything, they take the young men captive, and
they have dominion over the entire country. And so over the next
70 years, there's a series of leadership changes. It goes from
one king in one country, another. Judah is always occupied until
you come to Cyrus. And Cyrus is a Persian, and the
same Cyrus was one that Isaiah prophesied of about 150 years
before that. And he said Cyrus would be benevolent
to the Jews, and he would rebuild the temple. And that's exactly
what he did. He went to the people. He said, Lord told me to build
him a house. Anybody who's willing, anybody
who's able, go on back. and start building that temple.
And that's exactly what the book of Ezra is about. It's all about
the rebuilding of the temple during those times. And you go
about another 70 years, and this is where we pick up today with
Nehemiah. And Nehemiah is serving under
another king. He's Ordo Xerxes. He's also a Persian. And Artaxerxes
is also benevolent to the Jews, and Nehemiah is moved to rebuild
the walls and the gates of Jerusalem. That's what the entire book is
about. So before we read anything, let's
have a word of prayer, and we'll move through. Lord, we come to you this morning
in Christ's name. Lord, we ask for light. We ask,
Lord, that you would give us light that we would be able to
see. Your Son and our Savior high and lifted up in this scripture.
Lord, deliver us from hearing from the words of a man, but
truly, Lord, speak to us and speak to our hearts that the
gospel might be preached in His name proclaimed in clarity. Lord,
forgive us of our sins, have mercy upon us, be with us this
day. Walk amongst us and bless our services when we ask these
things in Christ's name, amen. So look down there at verse one
of Nehemiah 1. says the words of Nehemiah, he
wrote the book, the son of Hacaliah, and it came to pass in the month
Chislew, that's the ninth month in the 20th year, as it was in
Shushan the palace, that Hananiah, one of my brethren, came, he
and certain men of Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews
that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning
Jerusalem. Now, Nehemiah holds an interesting
position in the king's court. We will find out at the end of
this chapter that he is the king's cupbearer. You say, what does
that do? What does a cupbearer do? It's
pretty simple. The king says, I want wine. And the cupbearer
goes and he pours the wine and he gives it to the king. And
so you may say that sounds kind of like a slavish position, but
it's not. Very few people are allowed to be anywhere near the
king. You have to be well trusted. And anyone who has that position
where they're near the king, it's not just the job of serving
the king wine. He's an advisor. So Artaxerxes
would say, Nehemiah, pour the wine. And Nehemiah would pour
the wine. Now, this problem that we have, you tell me what you
think I should do. So he has this position of honor
and this position of power with the king, this grand position. And from this grand position,
he asked this question, what has become of my people? He's in the king's court, he
has no needs. He has power with the king. Anything he could possibly
want, he has there. But he has this love for his
people and he says, what has happened? What is the status
of my people? Look down at verse three. And
they said unto me, the remnant, that which is left, that are
left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction
and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is
broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire." The voice
cries back, it's terrible, Nehemiah, absolutely terrible. These people,
your people, they are in great affliction, and I'll give you
a taste of what's to come. The direct translation of that
phrase is evil. evil. Their reproach, that means
they are disgraced. They used to hold a position
of honor but now they brought themselves to this lowly position,
this position of shame. And all their walls are burnt
down. They have absolutely no defense. These people they are
absolutely and utterly defenseless. Their enemies can get to them
anytime they want and there is absolutely nothing they can do
about it. This situation is very dire,
Nehemiah. Now look over at verse 4, And it came to pass when I heard
these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days
and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven." Clearly,
Nehemiah loved these people, didn't he? Here he is, he's in
the king's court. He has everything he could possibly
ever want or need. In the king's court, there is
only peace, there is only happiness, there is only gladness. But he
loved these people, and when he finds out what condition they're
in, he mourns and he weeps, and he's gonna bring their case before
the Lord. Now, we're gonna read his prayer. And what I want you
to notice during this prayer, that he prays the entire time
as an us. Never separately, he's praying
himself and for all his people together. Look at verse 5. And said, I beseech thee, O Lord,
God of heaven, the great and terrible God that keepeth covenant
and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments. Let thine ear now be attentive
and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy
servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for
the children of Israel, thy servants. That's who I'm praying for. And
confess the sins of the children of Israel, which, notice that
word, we have sinned against thee. Both I and my father's
house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly
against thee. and have not kept the commandments,
nor the statutes, nor the judgments, with thou commandest thy servant
Moses." He lays out the case before the Lord and he says this,
two things, we have sinned, all of us in one, we have sinned
and we have absolutely no excuse for what we've done. Now he's
going to make a petition for mercy and let's see what's included
there. Look at verse 8. The first word, remember, he
wants the Lord to recall something that has already happened, not
looking to the future, but recall something that's in the past.
Verse 8, remember, I beseech thee the word that thou commandest
thy servant Moses. saying, if you transgress, I
will scatter you abroad among the nations. But if you turn
unto me and keep my commandments and do them, though there were
of you cast out unto the uttermost parts of heaven, yet I will gather
them from thence and will bring them unto the place that I have
chosen to set my name there. What grounds does he come on
seeking mercy for his people? Remember the covenant you made.
You made a covenant all the way back there, now remember your
covenant and honor your covenant, do what you said you would do.
And he comes on another ground, look at verse 10. Now these are
thy servants and thy people whom thou hast, that word is past
tense, hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand. His petition for mercy goes something
like this. Lord, you made a covenant. Now honor your covenant. Do what
you said you would do. Thou hast redeemed them. Remember
that. Everything that was necessary,
that was required to redeem these people, you've already done.
They've already been redeemed. Don't look to the future. Look
to what has already been done. Now look at the closing statement
of verse 11. O LORD, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive
to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants,
who desire to fear thy name, and prosper, I pray thee, thy
servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man,
in the sight of the king. For I was the king's cupbearer. It's very important. Now, where's
the gospel in all this? Verses one through four. Nehemiah
is in the king's court, and there he has a position of honor, a
position of power and authority with the king. Anything he asks
the king, the king is going to give him. And from this position
of honor and power and joy and gladness because he loved his
people, he asked this question. what has become of them, what
has become of my people. And this gives us a glimpse,
just a small illustration of things that are very hard for
us to understand. What happened in eternity past before the foundations
of the world were ever built? God had a people. There Christ
was sitting at the right hand of His Father, enjoying the Father's
presence, enjoying the Father's favor, everything He could possibly
want, He could ever ask for. The Father never denied Him anything. In the presence of the King,
there is peace. But He's always had a people.
This is hard to conceive in our minds, this thing of an eternal
union. He's always had this people,
the elect, who have always been a part from Him, and He loves
them. And so He asked this question,
What will become of them? What will become of these people? Now, what's given here supports
our sense of logic. The Lord doesn't ask questions.
He's not seeking information. He knew that the salvation of
his elect, that was all part of his father's purpose, the
great purpose of glorifying the Godhead. He knew his people would
fall. He knew his people would be redeemed through his blood.
They already were. But he asked this question out of love. What's
the status of my people? And that's a good question. What
is the status of the Lord's people? What do they look like? Well,
the voice cries back and he says, first this, they're of great
affliction. And like I told you before, you
know what that means? It means evil. Now, if I was using that
word to describe you, how would you respond to that?
Is that too strong of a word? I think sometimes that word sinner
gets used pretty flippantly in our generation. Sure, I've done
bad things. Sinner, I can own that title. Can you own the title
evil, completely and totally evil, incapable of doing that
which is good? Does that describe you? In what
way? Genesis 6-5 says this, and God
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, and
that continually. That speaks of all men, but only
the believer knows that. Talking about the source, the
fountain, where everything flows from, the thoughts, the imaginations. the reasons we do what we do,
the intentions of the heart. It's all evil, it's all self-serving.
I'm always trying to make myself better and put down the person
next to me so I look better by comparison. That is the way of
man. The heart is evil and it bleeds out on us. This is John
3, 19. And this is the condemnation
that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. source, because the
heart is evil. That means the best work I've
ever done, the best work you've ever done is evil before the
Lord because of that wicked and evil heart. And this does not
stop after the Lord has saved a man in His experience, after
He has regenerated him. This is what the Lord said when
He was looking at His disciples, a bunch of men who He had saved. If you then being evil, Know
how to give good gifts unto your children. How much more shall
your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that
ask of him?" He was looking at his disciples, men that he had
regenerated, men he had taught the gospel to. They had new men,
holy men inside of them. And he looked at them and he
said, you being presently evil. Because that old man is always
there. That wicked nature we're born with, that wicked heart,
it does not go away until the day we die and we will put down
that old man. But he says, you then being evil. And I think this is interesting.
That new man, as much as anything else, he acts as a mirror. When
he's put inside of us, we get a mirror to where you can see
that old man staring back at you. You get a glimpse of how
evil and how sinful you really are. Unless you have a new man,
you can't see the old man. No man will know he's a sinner
unless he has a holy man residing in him. And here's what I'm very,
very thankful for. This is Luke 635. The Lord said,
But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for
nothing again. And your reward shall be great,
and ye shall be the children of the highest. For he is kind
unto the unthankful and to the evil. his kindness, his saving
kindness. It is only to one category of
people. It's very simple, the unthankful
and the evil. And if that describes you, unthankful,
an evil sinner, you have the very love and kindness, saving
kindness of God upon you this very moment. Isn't that wonderful? Who do we bestow our kindness
to? I bestow my kindness to people who like me, who are nice to
me, who treat me well, who pump up my ego, and things like that.
I treat them kindly. Who's the Lord kind to? The unthankful
and the evil. And I'm very thankful for that.
He says, Nehemiah, it's terrible. They're of great affliction.
They're evil. And they're a disgrace. They're a reproach. They held
a position of honor, but they've fallen from that position. This
is the Lord's people who have fallen, and we know it. Man was
made in the likeness of God. What's God like? He's something
like this. This is the fallen portion, but he's something like
this. Man was made in the likeness of God, upright and innocent
with one command, just don't eat the fruit. That's it, you
have one command, an upright and innocent man with one command,
and we disobeyed the command and we fell. We went from that
position of honor to this position of complete and utter disgrace.
He says, it gets even worse, Nehemiah. All their walls and
all their gates are burnt down. They have absolutely no defense
whatsoever. Their enemies can have at them
anytime they want. There's nothing they can do about it. A defenseless
sinner is exactly what I am. I can't stop. I don't say that
flippantly, and I don't say that as an excuse for sin. I'm simply
stating the fact of the matter is I can't stop sinning, nor
can I make up for what I've done. I can't erase the sins I've committed
before the Lord. I can't do that. If salvation
is by works in any way, shape, or form, it's on me to do something
to create my own righteousness, to make up for the sins I've
committed. I don't have that ability. I am absolutely defenseless.
I need a champion. I need a savior, someone to step
in and do this thing for me that I cannot do for myself. Absolutely and utterly defenseless.
And that's the scripture's description of who the Lord saves and who
his people are. Evil, a reproach, and completely
and utterly defenseless, needing a champion. And because of this,
because our Lord loved us, he became our champion. Look over
to chapter two. We get a taste of what that looks
like. Look at verse 1, and it came
to pass in the month of Nisan, the 20th 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,
wherefore the king said unto me, why is thy countenance sad,
seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow
of heart. Then I was very sore afraid and said unto the king,
let the king live forever. Why should not my countenance
be sad when the city, the place of my father's sepulchers, lieth
waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? Then
the king said unto me, for what dost thou make request? What
do you want, Nehemiah? Listen to these words. So I prayed
to the God of heaven. interesting when we get down
to verse 5, Nehemiah doesn't stop talking to Artaxerxes and
start praying to the Lord. He continues his discourse with
Artaxerxes. So, why is that there? So, I
prayed unto the Lord, if that's not what he really did. That's
the Holy Spirit flashing a big neon sign saying, this is an
illustration. This is a type. This is Christ
approaching His Father. Going to the Father, the Father
saying, what do you want? What do you desire? What did
he desire? Look at verse five. And I said
unto the king, if it please the king, and if thy servant hath
found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah,
and unto the city of my father's sepulchers, that I may build
it. What did Nehemiah want? The king
said, I'll give you anything. What is it you want? Send me.
My posterity, my house, is in absolute and utter ruin. They
need a champion. They need somebody to do for
them what they cannot do for themselves. What do you all want?
Send me. Send me and I'll build it. And
if there's any question about whether that's what this is talking
about or not, listen to this. This is Isaiah 26.1. In that
day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah. We have a
strong city. Salvation will God appoint for
wolves and bulwarks. Send me. You know what it reminded
me of? Remember Judah and Jacob over Benjamin? This was Genesis
43, 8. This is what Judah said to Jacob. He said, send the lad with me.
and we will arise and go that we may live and not die, both
we and thou and also our little ones. I will be surety for him
of my hand, shalt thou require of him. If I bring him not unto
thee and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever."
It's the exact same illustration. Christ going to his Father, what
do you want? Send me. I'll be the surety. I'll bring
them back. You send me. And I think this
is interesting. time I've visualized this covenant
of grace, and who's talking to who, and who initiates what,
I've always thought of the Father initiating with the Son. This
is your duty. This is your responsibility.
I'm tasking you with this. There's a very real sense where
that is true. This is what the Lord said in
John 8, 42, He saith unto them, If God were your Father, you
would love Me. For I proceeded forth and came
from God, neither came I of Myself, nor sent me." This was his idea
and I'm on an errand from him. But in these two illustrations
we have right here, Nehemiah with Artaxerxes and Judah with
Jacob, who approaches who? Nehemiah said, send me I'll build
them. Judah said, send the lad with
me I will be surety for him. Say, what is the What do you
make of all that? What do we take from all that?
I take this from it. This is how great the Lord's
love for his people really is, that he has this great eagerness
to be the surety. And I think sometimes we can
sanitize the gospel by thinking of it all being duty-bound. Well,
he was on an errand from his father. He's always going to
do what his father tells him to do. So he became the surety because
that was the right thing to do. There's a very real sense he
was honoring his father. He was doing what his father
gave him to do. But in this other very real sense,
he was doing exactly what he wanted to do. He loved his people.
Eagerly, he stood up and said, I'll do it. Send me. I'm the
champion. I'm the one who will do this
for them. I think that is a beautiful picture. In verse 6 through 7, it tells
us how salvation was accomplished. You'll notice that Nehemiah,
the entire time, he prays as a we. And I'm going to make a
very simple point because we're short on time here. You cannot
separate these two things. You cannot separate the reality
of justification and union with the Lord Jesus Christ. They cannot
be separated. Now, what is union with Christ?
It is something he actually prayed for. Go over real quick to John
17. I think this passage of scripture
is amazing, it is deep, and I don't pretend to completely understand
it. But I want you to see this. John 17 and look at verse 20. He said, neither pray I for these
alone, Christ praying to his Father, but for them also which
shall believe on me their word. And in the context what he is
saying is I'm not just praying for my disciples, I'm praying for all
the elect. I'm praying for everyone who
you Father have determined to be saved through this Gospel
message that they are going to preach, and the next generation
is going to preach, and the generation after them is going to preach.
All of them you've purposed to save through this manner, I'm
praying for all of them. I'm praying for my elect. What
does he want? Look at verse 21. all may be one. As thou, Father,
art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that
the world may believe that thou hast sent me." What a mysterious
statement. He says, Father, I'm in you and
you're in me. And because of that we share
attributes. You're holy and I'm holy. You're righteous and I'm
righteous. You're immutable, I'm immutable.
We share all these attributes because we're one in the same.
I want them to be a part of us. I want them to be holy and righteous
and sinless and immutable, just like us. I'm bringing them into
the fold. This is what I want. Now look
at verse 23. This is what union leads to.
I in them and thou in me that they may be perfect in one. This is the result of true union
with Christ and with the Godhead. We're all one and all perfect
in him. You know what that means? This
is the reality of all this. Everything Christ has done, I
really have done. When he kept the law, I really
kept the law in him. That's how real this union is.
When he died under the wrath of God for sin, that's when I
was punished. Every man has to be punished.
Understand that. The question is whether I'm punished
in the person of Jesus Christ or I will be punished in my own
person. That's the only question. Everybody has to be punished.
I was punished in him. It's already done. I was raised
in Him. As He sits before the Father
right now, that's where I sit in Him right now. That's real. This salvation that we receive,
this is a just salvation. Nothing's being overlooked, nothing's
being swept under the carpet. We truly are sinless and righteous
and holy in Christ. That's real. And here's about
the best way I can say it, describing this thing of union with Christ. Everything He did, We did, and
he was the doer of all of it. He is described in this passage,
through this illustration, as the king's cup bearer. See, somebody
had to bear the cup. Somebody had to do salvation. Somebody had to be strong enough.
Someone had to be intelligent enough. Someone had to be holy
enough and righteous enough and brave enough. Somebody had to
do that and he did it. This is what he said from Gethsemane's
garden. He said, Oh my father if it be possible let this cup,
this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt. What was in the cup? The sins of the elect. What was
in the cup? The wrath of God for those sins.
What was in the cup? The experience of hell for an
eternity in just a matter of hours. That's what was in that
cup. He said, if there's any other
way, and it answers the question, is there another way? No, there's
not. There's only one way. You have
to drink the cup. And he drank and cried. Now,
with what I just told you, I want to close here, go over Matthew
chapter 20. You may view this scripture in a slightly different
light. Matthew 20, look at verse 20. Then came to him the mother of
Zebedee's children with her sons, worshiping him and desiring a
certain thing of him. And he said unto her, what wilt
thou? She saith unto him, grant that these my two sons may sit,
the one on thy right hand and the other on the left, in thy
kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, ye know not what ye ask.
Now he's gonna turn to the boys, he's speaking to them now. Are
you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and to
be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they saith unto him, we are
able. Now clearly, as our pastor has pointed out time and time
again, these boys had absolutely no idea what he was talking about,
none whatsoever. And you can imagine the Lord
turning to them, be like, you can. Can you house all the sins of
an entire elect generation in your body? Can you do that? Can you endure the wrath of God,
the experience of hell times 10,000s and 10,000s and 1,000s
and 1,000s, and be that sacrifice that is not consumed by the fire,
but actually consumes the fire? Can you do that? Can you do that?
And you can imagine getting angry at these boys and saying, can
you do this? But look what he says in verse 23. And he saith
unto them, ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with
the baptism that I am baptized with. He says to these boys,
you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. But you're
absolutely right. You are going to drink this cup.
I'm going to drink the cup. I'm going to do salvation, and
you're in me. You're going to do it too. You're
going to do it in me. I'm going to keep the law. You're going
to do it too. You're going to do it in me.
I'm going to suffer under the wrath of God, and that's when
you're going to suffer. With me, I'll be your shield the entire
way. Can you do this thing? They said,
we're able. You have no idea what you're talking about, but
you're absolutely right. And that's the reality of union
with Christ. That's a good place to stop.
We'll stop there.