Can we turn in our Bibles to the book of Nehemiah, please? And with our Bibles open, let's unite at the throne of grace in prayer. Our loving God and our Father, we come to the mercy seat where Jesus answers prayer. And our Father, we thank Thee today that as we come there, we are accepted in the Beloved. We thank Thee today for the wonderful message of God. And as we come to think upon this man, Nehemiah, today, we pray that his example might be of benefit to our hearts. Our Father, that we might be those that, like Nehemiah, enter into the work. We don't stand by the side or do nothing, but that we might be engaged in the work that God wants us to do. Give us a concern. Give us a burden. Give us a vision. For thy word says that without a vision the people perish. Our Father, we pray that thou wouldst write thy word upon our hearts just now, and bless us as we come to thee. For it is in Jesus' precious name that I would ask these things. Amen. Amen. If we were to say that the historical narrative of the Old Testament starts in the book of Genesis, then we would say that it finishes in the book of Nehemiah. The book of Nehemiah is set at the times at the end of the seventy years of captivity of the Jewish people in the land of Babylon under the chastising hand of God. And those times, the times of Nehemiah, were times of remarkable change for the people of God and in the history of the world indeed. at the time of the Book of Nehemiah, the Persian Empire had taken over from the Babylonian Empire. We are told in Daniel 5 how Cyrus had led the Medo-Persians into Babylon and had killed Belshazzar and they had taken over the great world empire of that day and generation. Now the new government brought changes for the Jews. There were no longer They were no longer to be treated as captives. They were encouraged to return to Jerusalem. 150 years before Cyrus had come to the throne, Isaiah the prophet had prophesied that there would be a man upon the throne. And he even gives his name 150 years before. He gives the name of the man as Cyrus. And he said that this man will come to the throne and he will set the people free. And that is exactly what God did. He brought this man to the throne, and Cyrus issued a decree that the people would be free. They could return to the land of Israel and to Jerusalem. And immediately 50,000 of them did that. They went back and took the opportunity of going back to Jerusalem. And the captivity really was at an end. And when they went back, the first thing that they did was set about rebuilding the temple of the Lord that was broken down. And what a great task that was to rebuild that temple lying there in ruins. But you know, they didn't get far because they were opposed tooth and nail by the people of the land. And they soon began to be discouraged and they abandoned the task of building the temple. It wasn't until 16 years later that God raised up two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, and they encouraged the people to start building the temple again. They said, don't let your houses here, you lovely houses, and the house of the Lord's lying waste. And Haggai said, go and build the temple. And so they did. And they were able to complete the task of building the temple. Then 60 years passed, and all was well in many ways. And then there came another batch of people under the leadership of Ezra the prophet. They came from Babylon and came down to Jerusalem. And Ezra started re-establishing the moral and spiritual life of the people, which was very much lacking at that time. And there was some progress, but again they were opposed tooth and nail by the enemies of God, and they were attacked on every side. And because of that, after 90 years, 90 years after Cyrus had issued the decree that they could go back to the land, they were in a very bad state indeed. And added to that was the fact that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, and the king was unable to defend them, the walls were broken down, and these enemies were coming in at will, and it meant that the progress and the work of God was not going on the way that it should have done. They were still there in that land and they were very poor and they were in despair and in affliction because the wall of the city of Jerusalem was broken down. So we find that God determined that He would raise a man who would go and build again the city of Jerusalem, the walls of the city of Jerusalem. That man is the man Nehemiah, who we have in this book. Nehemiah, we read of him at the start there, he's the son of Achaliah. He was born in exile. He was still in exile at the very start of the book. He was still in Persia. And his father and mother obviously were believers. And we see from the book, and if we look at the man, he obviously had been brought up in the things of God. His name means consolation of Jehovah. So he was a man who has that believing background. God set his hand upon this man to bring him to be his man, to equip the people and build again the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down. He was God's man for the day and generation. Now, we will need more Nehemiahs today. There are many walls that have been broken down both in the spiritual and moral life of our country. their walls that once stood so strong and people felt they would never fall. We think of the moral fabric of society. We think of the way that things are. We think of drugs and all these things coming into society today. We think of the immorality that there is and the way that society has gone down and down. And there needs to be a building again of the walls. Not only does there need to be a building of the walls nationally, but there needs to be a building of the walls personally. What about the wall of your testimony? What about the wall of your witness? What about the wall of your love for God? Have those walls begun to break down? Have those walls begun to fall? Oh, we need today to get these walls rebuilt. And now very often, God uses some man or some person as a catalyst for that. He raises men up. to be the leaders in the work, and to bring the people back. How often that has been the case in history. We think of Moses bringing the children of Israel out of the land of bondage. We think of Nehemiah here, Ezra, and a day gone by from this, and so many of God's servants. They were God's man for the day and generation. We need Nehemiah's today. And if he's God's man, then we need to look at him and see what it is about him that was able to be used of God to bring about a change in the situation in the city of Jerusalem. And I want us to see the way that God prepared His man here. He prepared him for the task of building the wall. He prepared him spiritually. He prepared him in every way that he might be His instrument in that day and generation. There are a number of things about Nehemiah in his preparation for the work of God here that I want you to see that stand out for us in Nehemiah chapter 1. The first thing I want you to see here is Nehemiah's realization. That's the very first thing that we can see about him as God prepares him for the work of building the walls that are broken down. God caused him to realize the need. And you see here how that he was in Shushan the palace, He was in the palace of the king of Persia. He was the king's cupbearer. He had a very important position because a cupbearer wasn't just a servant. The cupbearer was a confidant of the king. He was a person that was in the king's presence all the time. And therefore, the king would have shared with him. And he was the man who really guarded the life of the king because he would taste the food to make sure there was nothing wrong with the food. So he was a very trusted individual indeed. He would have worn fine clothes. He was in the palace. And he had all these things going for him. But one day, the blessings that he had was disturbed. Because we read that a man by the name of Hanani came, one of my brethren it says. And when he came into the palace, Nehemiah asked him about the condition of Jerusalem, the place of his fathers. And look at what Hanani says. Look at verse 3. And they said unto me, The remnant 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. And there Nehemiah is brought face to face with the need. He begins to realize the need. There is a realization here. There is a vision of what is taking place in the city of his fathers. And he realizes how bad things are. He realizes what really is taking place. The remnant of Jerusalem are having a hard time. They are in great difficulty. They are facing opposition. They are facing onslaughts from the enemy. and in their very sorry state indeed. Now, I'm sure that Nehemiah somewhere along the line had heard something about the condition of Jerusalem before. Now, we know that communications in those days weren't as good as they are today, and news didn't travel too fast. But here's Nehemiah. He's in the palace. He's the confidant of the king. And people, by their thousand, would have thrown from all over the empire into that palace. And he was interested in Jerusalem because he asked these people about what was happening. I am sure that somewhere along the line, he had heard something about Jerusalem and he'd heard about the condition. But somehow this time, God impresses upon his heart. God gives this man a vision. And he begins to realize, well, things aren't too good for the people. Things are in a desperate condition for these people in Jerusalem. And he gets a vision of what's taking place. And that's the first thing that there needs to be for us. If we're going to be any use for God in this day and generation, we need a vision of how things are. We need to open our eyes and look around us today. and see the condition of the land and the awful things that are taking place. You know, we get used to things. We take things for granted. And because there's been a slow progress or slow downward path, we hardly notice what is taking place. But you look back 10 years or 20 years or 30 years or whatever the case may be, and you compare things as they are in our province today with what they were 20 years ago, there's an awful change. There's an awful digression that has taken place. In all the last census, it was said that 5% of the households in Northern Ireland, people live outside of marriage. Now, I'm sure that's a lot worse in other countries. Thank God that there has been some preservation here in Northern Ireland. But I'll tell you this, you think of Northern Ireland and what it was, that's one in every 20 houses. If you were to go down the street, one in every 20 houses, people, the households, they are living outside of marriage. And it is said that 3% of the population were asked what religious background they were brought up on. And 3% of the population of Northern Ireland said that they were brought up on no religious background whatsoever. That means they know nothing. They'd never been sent to Sunday school. They'd never been sent to a children's meeting. They'd never been sent along to any church whatsoever of any kind. And you think of that in Northern Ireland today. There are children out there that know nothing about the Lord Jesus. There are children that know nothing about the things of God. They are heathen to the full extent of what a heathen is. And we look around us today and we think of the government moves to bring in the legislation of evil and immorality and wickedness. We think of the ecumenical movement and they're so bold today that they feel that they can invite the Pope here to Northern Ireland. You think of what is happening in the areas, Loyalist and Republican areas, where the paramilitaries have control and the government's doing nothing about it. where they are laundering money, and where they're bringing in diesel, and where they're smuggling cigarettes, and the government's doing nothing about it. I caught a little bit of a program on RTE television just this week, just a little bit about it, how that they said the commentators were commenting on the fact that the two governments are doing nothing about it, in case they upset the peace process. Now, when we look at our land, surely there's a decline. Surely when we see things and when we look at things the way they really are, we ought to have a vision. And when we look at the spiritual condition more particularly, we need to have a vision. There are people out there and they feel that they can reject God and turn their back upon God, and they feel as if they can do that with impunity. We think of the awful situation that there is around us. And not only is that so nationally, but that is so personally. A lot of God's people are doing things that they never would have done before. A lot of God's people are being involved in things that they would never be involved in before. And you know, when we look, and it shocks me at times, To think of what God's people are involved in today. You know, there are even free Presbyterians that would be involved and take a little bit of a drink. There are people being involved in the world's music, and in the dances, and in all sorts of things that are taking place today. And there's a decline, there's a turning away. There's a turning away. And we need to make sure that we see things the way they really are. And this was a personal determination that this man had to go through with God and to serve the Lord. And we think of this man here and his realization. He had a vision of what was taking place in the land. He had a vision of what was taking place around him. And that's the first thing that we need if we're going to go and do something for God. We need a realization of what is taking place. We see Nehemiah's realization. But then I want you to see Nehemiah's determination. Because he didn't say, well, that's okay, that's an awful thing. But he determined to do something about it. He determined to pray. And we see his prayer here in this portion of Scripture. A desire was born in his heart. To get down before the Lord and to seek the face of God because of the reproach of the people of God. And notice this determination. He was a personal determination. He tells us in verse 11 of the chapter that he was the king's cupbearer. He was in that responsible position. But he didn't say to himself, well, somebody else can do it. I have a lot of things to do. No, he said personally, I will come and I will seek the face of God and I will pray. And we have a personal responsibility in the matter for our land. We do have a personal responsibility, every one of us here. Now, we have a personal responsibility for ourselves. If the walls of prayer are broken down in your life, you have a responsibility for that. If the wall of witness is broken down in your life, you have a responsibility for that. But you know, we have a responsibility for our land. There's no point in going about and talking about the awful things that are taking place. And you might say, I love my country, and we do love our country. And we may come and lament about what is happening, but does our desire bring us to the place where we have a determination to do something? Because if we really love our land, and if we're really looking at what is happening, then there will be a determination, a personal determination. I'll do something. I'll do something. And not only was it a personal determination, it was a persistent determination. Because I can well imagine that the devil put many obstacles in the road of Nehemiah getting down before the Lord in prayer, because he always does. If we ever have a determination that we're going to pray about something, you know how hard that is. You know what turmoil you go through before you get to the place of prayer. And how often maybe you've had a determination to pray about something and you never got there because the devil put all sorts of excuses before you. And there are many excuses that Nehemiah could have made here as to why he shouldn't have been involved. Well, he could have said to himself, well, that's miles away, Jerusalem. And the walls are broken down and they're being attacked, but I'm not being attacked. I'm here in church in the palace, and it's well protected, and I'm safe here. And Jerusalem's hundreds of miles away. Why should I be concerned about a lot of people down in Jerusalem? He could have said that. And I'm sad to say that a lot of God's people are saying something similar today. Well, I'm all right. As long as I'm alright, I have my little place where I can come and I can worship, and I can hear the Word of God, and everything's okay for me, and I live in an area where I'm not being attacked, and I live in a place where these evil things are not affecting me, and the laws aren't really coming down upon me, and it's not really affecting me, and so I don't need to bother. Well, I don't need to tell you today that if you are selfish like that, then that is not God's way. We think of how the Lord summed up the commandments. He said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself. Remember what Paul said when he wrote to the Romans in Romans 15 and 1. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. and not to please ourselves. Have we a concern about our country? Have we a concern about others that are suffering? Oh, let us not look to ourselves. Let us not be selfish today. But let's make sure that we do something, that we at least pray and seek the face of God on behalf of our land. Nehemiah could have made that excuse. It's nothing to do with me. Now, I hope that that's not your excuse. I have my own wee world. And my wee world is getting on all right. And I don't need to think about anybody else. I hope that we are considering those around us who are perishing and going down the road to a lost and Christless eternity. Our land needs to be turned. An Indian man could have made another excuse. He could have said, I'm busy. I'm the king's cupbearer. And that was a very responsible position that he had. It was a very important place. that he had, and every time the king had a meal, the king's cupbearer, or at least every time he had something to drink, the king's cupbearer would come, he would taste the wine or taste the drink that was offered, and he wanted to be there at all times with the king, and he was with the king's entourage. So this was a very busy, a very important position that he had. Well, he could have said to himself, well, I'm too busy. There are a lot of other people. They could be involved. They could get stuck into this work of getting the walls of Jerusalem built, and they could seek the face of God. Oh, I don't have time. And he didn't have time. I'm sure he didn't have time. He didn't have the time that many others might have had, but he had a determination, no matter about what time it is, I'm going to spend time before the Lord in the place of prayer. Now, there are many of God's people who are making the excuse, I'm too busy. I have so many things to do, I can't get to the place of prayer. I have so many things to do that I can't be involved in the work of God. Well, those things may be legitimate things. They may be your business. They may be your hobbies. They may be your family. They may be other things. Very legitimate things that you're involved in. We're all busy today. But if those things come in front of the Lord, then they become your gods. And the Bible says, Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. We've got to put God first. And I make a plea today to God's people. Get involved. Get involved. Don't say, I'm too busy. Don't say, I'm too tired when I come home to get to the prayer meeting. I'm too tired to be involved in the children's meeting. I'm too involved, too tired to be involved in the junior fellowship. I'm too tired to be involved in the young people's fellowship, to come to the prayer meeting, to get involved in the Sunday school. I'm too tired. No, we want God's people to be involved. Maybe you come here week by week and you sit in the seat and you go home again. And that's about the extent of your involvement. But what about getting involved in the outreach? And we're going to be Tuesday week again. We'll be out again on the outreach. How about getting involved in this new term? How about putting your hand to the plow? How about doing something? How about praying? You say there's nothing for me to do. Well, there's plenty for you to do. How about going out and inviting somebody along to the service? How about getting somebody in here on a Sunday evening? And if we were to get somebody in this year, what a difference there would be. What a difference there could be if we could go out and say, I'm determined to get somebody in under the sound of God's precious word. Start trying to do something for God. Let's get involved. That's what Nehemiah did. We could have said, I'm too busy. I have an important thing to do. But no, he said, I'm going to be I'm going to get down before God, and I'm going to seek His face, and I'm going to get involved." And so we see his determination. But then I want you to see something else here. Notice his supplication. Because when he had a burden, when he had a determination, that's the first place that he went to. And every great workhorse starts in prayer. And before Nehemiah started to build and started to make preparation, he began to pray. And you notice his prayer here in chapter 1, as most of chapter 1. But notice a few things about the prayer of Nehemiah here. Notice that it was a prayer of contrition, first of all. If you look at verse 4, it says, 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. So it was a prayer of weeping, a prayer of contrition. He wept. He wept tears over the things that were taking place. Know what's wrong with our society today? Our society has forgotten to blush and the church has forgotten to weep. When was the last time you spent a night before the Lord in prayer? When was the last time? You wept tears over what is taking place in the land, what is taking place in your family, what is taking place in your own life. We're not going to rest in the work until we cry tears. You know, the Bible says in the book of Psalms, Psalm 126, He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seeds. shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." We need to weep today. We need to get down before God and weep over ourselves and weep over the fact that we need God's grace today. There was contrition in this prayer. And then not only was there contrition, but there was confession. Look at verse 6. He says, 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, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee, both I and my Father's house have sinned." And you notice there that he confesses the sin of the nation. He says, the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee. He confessed the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against thee. But then he says, both I and my father's house have sinned. And you know, there's not much point in us coming and crying unto God about the need of our nation until we say, I have sinned. I have sinned. I have sinned. We realize today that The standards slip. But once we stood by, maybe no longer. You know, we have people, free Presbyterians today, they don't seem to adhere to the fact that the authorized version, that this Bible built upon the received text, this Bible that we have on our hands is the Word of God. They go for the modern versions, the shortened Bibles, the corrupted Bibles. There are those that do not seem to want to turn away from the things of the world. And we have to come and say, the day I sinned, there are many of God's people and they're not found at the place of prayer. We're not reading God's Word. I wonder today, have we got to say to the Lord and confess, I've sinned. I have sinned. I've sinned. We've got to get to that place. We've got to come to that place first of all. And unless we repent, we'll never be part of the solution because we're part of the problem. We are part of the problem. And there has to be confession. where we can do anything for God. But not only was there contrition and confession, but there was confidence, because here's a man who comes to God with confidence that God is able to do what he wants him to do. Look at verse five. and said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant mercy for them that love him, and observe his commandments and his great confidence in this God. He calls him the God of covenant, the God who keeps his promises, the God who will not fail, the God who cannot lie. That's the God of covenant. And you know the fact that Nehemiah calls him the God that keepeth covenant. That's very significant because the covenants of those days and God's covenant is ratified by the shedding of blood. The animal was slain and the people who would make the covenant in those days would pass between the parts of the animal. That's the way that they made a covenant between one another. Now God has made a covenant but He only passed through the animals. If you look in the book of Genesis, it's a very interesting thing that only the Lord passed through because he's the one that makes the promise. It doesn't depend on you and me in any way. He's the one that makes the promise. But the covenant was ratified by blood. Now, that's what we're depending upon. That's what we're pleading today. We plead the blood. We are asking God to have mercy upon us, and we stand upon His merits. We know no safer stand, not even where glory dwells, in Emmanuel's land. And then notice what he does. He not only depends on the covenant, but he pleads the promises. Look at verses 8 and 9. He says, Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations, But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments unto them, though there were of you cast out into the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from fence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there." And Nehemiah presents his arguments. He says, Lord, we are your people. We are the people that you brought out of the land of bondage. And he said, You are the great and terrible God. You are the sovereign God. You are the God who is able to turn this situation. And God has in the past and can in the future. And then look at what he says in verse 11, O Lord, I beseech Thee, let now Thy near be attentive to the prayer of Thy servant, and to the prayer of Thy servants who desire to fear Thy name. And he is almost saying here, Lord, we want to serve you. We are your servants who desire to fear your name. We are your servants who want to do something for you. We want to walk with you. We fear your name. We want to depart from you. We want to draw near to you. We want to obey you. And he's committing himself to God here in this portion of God's Word. Now, sure, that's what we need to do. If we're going to be used, if we're going to be Nehemiahs in this day in which we live, if you're going to be a Nehemiah in your little part of the world, or in your job place, workplace, if you're going to be a Nehemiah in your family, if you're going to be a Nehemiah amongst those in school, amongst those in college, amongst those in the place where you're going to be in the next number of weeks, If you're going to be God's Nehemiah, then we need to do what Nehemiah did, and we need to get down and pray, and seek his face, and confess our sins, and say, yes, Lord, I fear your name. I want to do what you want me to do. Now, will we do that today? You don't hear much prayer like this today. Sometimes prayer can be mere prattle. But this wasn't mere prattle. Real prayer comes from a burdened heart. Real prayer comes from a person with a vision. Without a vision, the people perish. Do we see the need today? Do we see the need in our land? Do we see the need in our hearts? Do we see the need? We must see the need before God can use us for His glory. May God make us into Nehemiahs today, and may He help us to follow Him with all our hearts. May God write his word upon our hearts.