We turn in the word of God to the book of Nehemiah and the chapter 2. Encouraging the discouraged is a theme that appears frequently in scripture, for we are often discouraged by many things. But Nehemiah chapter 2 raises some uncomfortable questions. For example, What right have we to be discouraged at all? Further, what right have we to be discouraged about earthly and material things? And yet both things frequently occur in our lives. How often we are discouraged. How often we feel sad. And how often that sadness and discouragement is due entirely to earthly and material things. But there's an even more uncomfortable question that arises from this second chapter. When Last, did the general state of the church ever make you sad? Ever make you feel as sad as you have been about earthly material things? It's an uncomfortable question. Consider how often earthly things unsettle us and upset us. and worry us and trouble us and disturb us and then ask yourself when was the last time I felt the same way about spiritual things about the state of the church in this world in which we live Nehemiah 2 isn't just uncomfortable and it is but it's also helpful So our theme this morning is from sadness to confidence. From sadness to confidence. Let's note first of all from verses 1 to 3. Sadness over Zion's ruin. Notice the frequency of the word sad in these three verses. Now I had not been before time sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto me, why is thy countenance sad? There is nothing else but sorrow. Same word, a heart. And said unto the king, let the king live forever. Why should not my countenance be sad? The writer wants you to feel the weight of this sadness. He wants you to see how sadness it hangs over everything. To feel its weight upon all Nehemiah's affairs. And you are to see it as the king saw it. It was clearly visible. Why is thy countenance sad? It was not he could see a sadness of sickness. He was quite healthy. He was well. but a sadness of heart this is nothing else but a sorrow of heart so you are to catch this refrain that the writer has in this section sad sad sad sad over and over he wants you to get it this man's sadness the weight of it upon him It's visible. Not for Nehemiah, some cliche happy all the day, showing the teeth in a great smile. No, he's sad. His countenance is sad. His heart is sad. Visible. Heavy. But then secondly, in verses 4 to 11, pursuit of Zion's good. Note the words please and favor which fill up verses 5, 6 and 7. And I said unto the king, if it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight. So it pleased the king to send me, and I sent him a tax. Moreover, I said unto the king, if it please the king, let letters be given me." Here the writer is saying to you, it seems as if all the good, if there's going to be any good, is in the king's hands alone. Well, it is so, but it is, shall we say, only immediately. Because the ultimate good rests with God. Look at verse 8. And the king granted me according to the good hand of my God upon me. So, our desirces is the instrument. What you are to see then is the providence of God in relation to Zion's good. And you see it in these verses. The King sees Nehemiah's sadness. The King questions Nehemiah about it. The King grants Nehemiah all that he asked for. And all according to the good pleasure of God. So there is the King's pleasure. If it pleased the King. If there is favour with the King. So there is the King's pleasure. Then there is Nehemiah's pleasure, what he desires. And then there is God's pleasure, what God desires, what God has planned, what God has determined, and what pleases the King is that which ultimately pleases God. So Nehemiah is simply an instrument doing the pleasure of God. This is our Desert Caesar member. He's an ungodly gentile king. He rules an empire. And here is but this small insignificant servant. Our Desert Caesar. If I find favour in thy sight, I have this one request, and it regards Zion, the city where my father's sepulchres are." He loves even the graves of Zion, of Judah, of Jerusalem. So you have Nehemiah's pursuit of Zion's good. and then you have our desert see agreeing to Zion's good because all of this is in the hands of God and Nehemiah tells us what the king granted exactly what God himself was pleased to grant he's reminding you yes though I have dealings with an earthly king and though I am an insignificant servant but that's not what determines ultimately all that happens the greatness of the king the insignificance of Nehemiah it is God who always determines what comes to pass so the pleasure of God triumph over the light of our desert sea. And the writer is saying here, Nehemiah is saying here, I want you to see this. Yes, here are all these ordinary events. My sadness, Artaxerxes the king he could have me executed in a moment that's why he trembles for a moment and he says to the king oh king live forever because he knows Artaxerxes could have me executed even just for looking sad but now is my chance I am sad about Zion oh what do you want to do about it Oh, he says, I want to go there. I want to go to Jerusalem. I want to build palaces. I want to build walls. That's what I want to do. How long will it take you? Well, he gives him an estimation of his time. The king says go. Not only that. I will send a company of soldiers to go with you to protect you along the way because the journey will be dangerous for you. Here's a battalion of soldiers. They'll look after you. The Imam says this is the good hand of God. This is the pleasure of God. It's the same word that's translated earlier as pleasure. This is what pleases God. And then thirdly, verses 12 through 16. And again, there are certain things highlighted for us. This is the wonder of the written word. How it's all constructed and put together, where the emphasis lies, the writer saying to you, do you get this point? Do you get that point? So what is highlighted for us? The first thing that's highlighted for us is the repetition of the word night in verses 12, 13, and 15. I arose in the night. Verse 13. I went out by night. Verse 15. Then I went up in the night. So he wants you to see when it's happening. Everybody else is in bed sleeping. Midnight. And notice also he makes a point of telling us no one else was told neither told I any man no one knew why he was there no one knew he was out traveling around the city at night time if pleasure governs verses 4 to 11 prudence governs verses 12 to 16. But what lies underneath all of this? What is it that's hidden from view that the night is so important? Why this emphasis on the night? What is hidden from us, or at least what is hidden from all these people but told to us? Tells us in verse 12, what God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem. This is why the night is so important. The night is reflective of Nehemiah's heart. A heart for God where everything is presently hidden from view. This was God's work, God's place, God's cause. What Nehemiah needed was an accurate picture of a state of affairs. rather than relying on what everybody else could tell him, I need to see for myself, he says. I need to see the state of things. For this is precious to me. Jerusalem. It's engraved upon my very hand, he could say. It's written there. When the Jews would travel, they would draw a little picture on their hand, Jerusalem. I forget thee. May that hand be cut off. He has come out of love for Zion. He needs to see its state for himself. And then fourthly, challenge to Zion's inhabitants, verses 17 and 18. Then said I unto them, ye see the distress that we are in. How Jerusalem lieth waste 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. Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me, as also the King's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work. Notice how Nehemiah identifies himself with them. It was we, us and be again and then it says they said in response they said let us rise up and build but notice that Nehemiah never forgets the good hand of God he is never forgetful of the pleasure of God I told him of the hand of my God which was good upon me Nehemiah is present Because of the pleasure of God. Because of the good hand of God. That's why he had favour with the king. That's why he was able to travel to Jerusalem. That's why he has come to see this work. Recommends the walls built up. The good hand of God. And notice how they respond to that. So they strengthen their hands for this good work. There it is again. So we have the pleasure and favour of the King in that previous paragraph. Those previous verses. But overshadowing it all, the good hand of God. That's what he shares with them. I want you to see God's interest in all of this. And once you catch that vision, once you catch that sight of the hand of God, of how it pleases God for all of this to be done, then you will be rised up to do it. That's exactly what happens. See the good hand of God. How do they respond? Let us rise up and build. They are motivated and resolved immediately because they can see this is the work of God. This is the interest of God. God's cause, God's pleasure, God's delight. The good pleasure of God has gripped their hearts. It's as if this truth suddenly grips them afresh. It transforms them. It encourages them. It strengthens them. They now see their part in all of this. Let us arise and build. Do you grasp this same point as these people? in regards to Zion's cause in this world? Does not the Church of Christ languish in our nation? What are we going to do about it? Let us arise and build? Let us use our energies and all that we possess to strive to see the walls built up again Jerusalem flourish in our nation this good work and fifthly verses 19 and 20 confidence before Zion's enemies Notice in verse 19, Nehemiah's foes, but when Sanballat the Haramite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshen the Arabian herd, they left us to scorn. despised us and said what is this thing that you do when you rebel against the king here are the same motley crowd who are so ruthless and aggressive and opposed to the work of God and they exist everywhere they exist all the time in every place scorn derision and false allegations they're all made against God's people you see it all the time every country Every century, the same crowd of people always scorning God's cause and God's people. Always making outrageous allegations, scandalous charges laid against the church. They are rebels. That's a common enough charge, isn't it? Because the church of Christ says that it's obedience to the state is not absolute. The moment the church says we cannot accept a certain thing, you are rebels they say. Defying the courts of the land, defying parliament and everything else. Suddenly we're all rebels. Well, it's nothing new. Here it is. Verse 20, Nehemiah's faith. Notice the three specific statements that Nehemiah makes. Sharp, clear, definitive to the point. The God of heaven he will prosper us. There's one. Second, we his servants will arise and build. We will not be intimidated. We will not be put off. And third, ye have no portion, nor rite, nor memorial in Jerusalem. You're on the outside. You're not on the inside. Nehemiah's faith is very clear, isn't it? The God of heaven, he will prosper us. We will arise and go. If we know the first thing, then the second thing follows. And so there's a simple logic here, isn't there? Ye have no portion, no right, no memorial in Jerusalem. This is the Lord's cause. We are the Lord's people. This is our work and nothing and no one will stop it. Confidence. He started off sad. sad, sad, sad. You get to the end of the chapter, what have you got? Confidence. Faith. Resolve. And it took that entire chapter to show us how you move from one state to the other. And what is the hard of it? The good hand of God. Whenever you and I are sad, disappointed, what does it be too often forget? All of this. Let's come to applications of this. First of all, a cause for self-examination. What makes you sad and what makes you glad and why? Why those particular things? When you're glad, you should ask yourself, why am I feeling glad? Maybe you're glad about something sinful after all. Why are you glad? What have you got to be glad about? When you're sad, you should ask, why am I sad? Have I a right to be sad? Should I be sad? What am I forgetting here? Just think back to the last time you were sad. Why? What was the reason? What was the cause? And you see this question, it raises the whole matter of our own spirituality. When was the last time you were thoroughly upset about your own spiritual condition? When was the last time you mourned over the state of the Church of Christ in our nation? Let me illustrate it from Samuel Rutherford. In a letter to Marian McNaught he said, I trust that ye will be careful to present to the Lord the present estate of this decaying Kirk. To Lady Kenmore he said, pray for poor, friendless Diane. In another letter to her he said, our church madam is decaying, she is like Ephraim's cake and grey hairs are here and there upon her and she knows it not. She is old and grey haired near the grave and no man taketh it to heart. When was the last time we thought like that? We talked like that? We prayed like that? Poor friendless Zion. No one cares about Zion. Multitudes think of themselves. But what about Zion? Friendless, decaying, persecuted, hit on the post. Oh, in light of this second chapter of Nehemiah, let us consider our sorrow, our sadness, our disappointments, and ask ourselves, should I be sad about this and that? Am I as sad about spiritual things as I am about that thing? And then secondly, the absence of selfish interest. When Artaxerxes asked Nehemiah what he wanted, he didn't immediately say, well, I could do with a new house, my chariot is out of date, I need a new one. And have a long list of personal things that he would like for himself. He didn't say, oh well now this is my opportunity to get the arm in and get as much as I can from this pagan rascal. No, he said, Zion is my interest. Zion is my interest. Judah, Jerusalem, its walls are broken down. That is my interest. And this too is a humbling challenge in an age of self. It is no accident that our age has come up with the term selfie. That is not an accident. How ironic it used to be you would go and see the monarch in the street. Now people go and they photograph themselves with the monarch in the background and their faces to the front. That is no accident. This is an age of utter selfishness. It is all about me. My life. My themes. I want everyone to know about me. Nehemiah didn't say we'll just hang on a minute there's an artist here and I want him to paint me and paint our desert scenes in the background No he said to our desert scenes I have only one interest one overriding supreme interest Zion nothing else and everything he asked for is in relation to Zion Time off for Zion. Letters to bring for Zion. Is that not why our desert sees? Gives them a battalion of soldiers. Because it's not about himself. It's about Judah, Jerusalem, Zion. Thomas Cranmer. He's a hero. He should be treated as a hero. Everybody around him was executed. You read the life of Henry VIII. Nobody stayed too long, not even his wives. Everybody was getting executed. Why did Cranmer survive so long? Oh, some have said he survived so long because he was a crawler. He wasn't. The secret lay in the fact that Cranmer had no personal ambitions. Not one. When the King asked him a question he always gave him the straight answer. He had no interest in personal performance. So when Henry came to die who did he ask to come and visit him? Cranmer. Who could he trust? Cranmer. But like Nehemiah, his only interest was Zion. Oh, he had his faults, yes. He made many mistakes, that is true. But his overriding ambition was the cause of Christ. He didn't care about himself. He wasn't interested in making money. All the other acolytes were interested in hanging on to Henry's coattails to make as much as they could. But when they were found out, they were sent to the tower and then the block. They crammed their new interests. But what about you and I? What is your supreme overriding interest in this world? Self? Or Zion? And then thirdly, without self-reliance. Look carefully at verses 4 and 5. Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said unto the king. You see the reasoning. Tied together. The moment had come. He couldn't trust himself. He prayed instantly to God. Then he spoke. He was without self-reliance. Without any self-confidence or any confidence in himself. He trusted the God of Heaven. That the God of Heaven would lead and guide and direct even the very words that he spoke. I prayed, then I spoke. We are far too apathetic for our own good, far too self-confident for our own good, far too clever for our own good. We think that we know so much, are able to do so much. We look at all our technology, And think that with technology we can solve every problem. And even the church gets to thinking like that. If only we have screens up. Oh people love to look at pictures, so we'll put big screens up. Let's use technology that will attract people. Oh how clever the church has become. Learn from Nehemiah. Depend always on God. Lean not on to thine own understanding. Trust not yourself. Trust in God. And then fourthly, a call to Christians to survey the state of the church in our age. Nehemiah went on a tour. around the city so that he could see more clearly the state of Zion. Nehemiah 2 is a call to us, is it not? Is it not time we had a survey, a spiritual survey of the true state of the church in our nation? What would you see? What do you see even now? Compare the church today with past centuries. I'm not saying past centuries the church was perfect but I think we could say this it was in a better condition than it is today. Compare the church in the West with what the church is facing in these other lands where they're being persecuted. Are we more spiritually benefited? with all our privileges than they are with all their disadvantages, with all their sufferings. Who is doing better spiritually? We need a survey, don't we? You have the Sabbath day. There's a subject perhaps for this afternoon. Have a discussion in your homes about the state of the church. Ask the children. teenagers, other adults and the whole. What do you think of the state of the church? Perhaps you've traveled much across this nation. What have you seen? What's it really like? I think if some of our forefathers could come back and see it, it would probably take a sword to most of us. and burn the places down that they meet in as a disgrace, a thing of embarrassment and shame. Should we not mourn and lament the state of Zion? Should we not break our hearts? Do we have its interest in our own hearts? And then fifthly, what is the basis of your confidence in life? For Nehemiah, the basis of his confidence was the good hand of my God. That was the basis of his confidence. The word good in verse 8 is translated please in verse 7. Nehemiah sought to please God. He knew that the pleasure of God overruled everything. Ephesians 1 verse 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself according to the good pleasure of his will. Verse 9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he had purposed in himself. predestination, will and decree. They're all synonymous with the word please. But please God. That's the basis of his confidence. Are you wholly confident in God? Do you fully, absolutely Totally trust God. To trust Him with your life, with your soul, with your family, with your children, with your present and your future, with your survival in this ugly world. Do you trust Him fully? Do you trust him in regard to the very Church of Jesus Christ? Are you wholly confident in this God? Nehemiah was confident because he knew God. He prayed instantly to the God of Heaven. That tells you he was in communion with God. He knew Him. He trusted Him. He trusted Him implicitly. trusted him for everything in everything. Do you trust God like that? Are you like Nehemiah? Oh friends, let's not leave this means of grace without being wholly resolved, without confessing this God is my God and I trust him with everything. Oh, man, that does.