Welcome to the Hedgemaker broadcast. The prophet Ezekiel prophesied to the nation of Israel many long years ago. He hath not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge, for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. He also said that the Lord sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it. But I found none. Hedgemaker Baptist Ministries, located in beautiful Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is attempting to stand in the gap and make up the hedge in these days of spiritual compromise and theological apostasy. Our biblical and historical Christian heritage challenges us to fill in the gaps left by those who have moved away from their biblical foundations. Listen now as we build up the wall and make up the hedge through sound preaching from God's Holy Word. Again, this book is not so much about Nehemiah, it's about God doing for Nehemiah what Nehemiah could not do for himself. That should be the commentary, the story of your life and my life. That when we come to the end of the life, we write a story about us, it should be the story of what God did for you and me, or whoever's writing the book, that we couldn't do for ourselves. Because we've learned to be men and women of prayer. Wow, that's a tremendous challenge to me. I don't know what Nehemiah thought when he was going through all of these thoughts and plans, when he finally did get out his planner and his calendar and so on, thinking, man, we can't do it. And you know, when they finally did build the wall, you know how fast they did it? They did it in 52 days. That's quick. But this is God doing the work. So Nehemiah takes the time and he finally presents this to the people. He comes back to the city. He does a survey, quietly, by night. Finally he presents it to the people in the end of chapter 2. Let's read verses 17 to 20. 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. And come, 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, the God working behind the scenes, as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build." Now, was it because Nehemiah was such an enthusiastic motivator at this? I'm sure that had something to do with it, but no, I think it's God stirring up the people. You know what we want? We don't just want God to build Heritage Baptist Church. We want God to stir up some people for His name. and get some Christians out of their lethargy and out of their apathy and stirred to come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord. The Lord to move in hearts to see folks saved and born again, the Lord's the only one who can do that. And so I think that's what's going on behind the scenes here. The people are saying, let us rise up and build because God stirred their hearts. So they strengthened their hands for this good work. when Sanballat, the Horonite, and Tobiah the Servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian heard it, three men there in particular, they laughed us to scorn, despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? Will ye rebel against the king, against the king of our deserts? Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us." Notice how Nehemiah puts the emphasis, God will prosper us. Therefore, we his servants will arise and build, but ye have no portion to write the memorial in Jerusalem." Chapter 3 is basically a list of many of the workers and how they get involved with the work, and we come over to chapter 4. But it came to pass that when Sanbel had heard that we builded the wall, so the work is in progress, he was wroth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews. The devil does not want to see any good church built in any place for God's glory. And so he will use and send people to discourage, to ridicule, to mock, to destroy, to defeat, to do all kinds of things to keep the work from going. So we have the forces of evil versus the forces of righteousness. And I'm glad I'm on the winning side. God is with those who are with Him. And so Nehemiah is again facing trouble. Chapter 4, Sanballat heard that we built the wall. He was wroth, took great indignation, mocked the Jews. He spake before his brethren in the army of Samaria and said, What do these people do? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish which are burnt? Could God have done that? God could have revived the stones and put those stones one upon another just like he did with the bones in Ezekiel's vision of the Valley of Dry Bones. God could have done that, but He didn't. He used people to do it. And so normally God uses people. Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by Him. So it wasn't just Sanballat by himself. Usually workers of iniquity have partners. Tobiah the Ammonite was by Him, and He said, "...even that which they build. If a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall." And then Nehemiah prays. Another prayer. Turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for prey in the land of captivity. Cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee, for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders." Notice again how Nehemiah is giving credit to God. Yet we're concerned about our own name being reproached. You're making me look bad. And so we pray, Lord, get me out of this mess because I look bad. We maybe don't say it that way, but that's what we think and that's what we're really trying to say, the way we pray. So, Nehemiah prays here. Now, somebody has called these prayers, parenthetical prayers. I think what they're trying to say with that is, it's the pray without ceasing. Okay, we have all of this provoking, this rebuking, this mocking going on, and it doesn't, verse 4 doesn't say, and so I prayed. Okay? You just move from the commentary about the sand ballot and Tobiah, mocking, and then all of a sudden, here, O Lord, our prayer. So the prayer is right in the midst of life. Pray without ceasing. Do it right then, right there. Make prayer a common activity of your daily day. Well, more opposition continues in the chapter there. And so, let's move over to chapter 5, verse number 19. You can call these parenthetical prayers. You can call them minute prayers. They're quick prayers. They're not the lengthy prayers like chapter 1 where Nehemiah is spending days and perhaps hours in prayer. chapter 5, several different kinds of opposition, outside opposition, inside opposition, that arise. Let's pick up our reading in verse 14 of chapter 5. Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be the governor in the land of Judah, from the 20th year, even on to the 2 and 30th year of our desertion, okay, so we have a difference of 12 years there, that is 12 years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor. But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside the forty shekels of silver, yea, even their servants, their rule over the people. But so did I not, because of the fear of God." So Nehemiah feared the Lord, and so he did not burden the people. He was governor, and so he had the right to charge the people, but he didn't do it like the former governors did. Yea, he said, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land, and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work. Moreover, there were at my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers." Okay, so Nehemiah is supporting 150 folks besides those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us. Now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep to care for these folks, and also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine. Yet for all this required not I the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people." And then the prayer, verse number 19, "'Think upon me, my God, for good according to all that I have done for this people. So here's a man who is making personal sacrifice for the work of the Lord and he's asking God to bless the work because of his personal sacrifice. And of course this chapter is about some look at chapter 1, we didn't read it, chapter 5 rather, verse 1. And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against the brethren, the Jews, for there were that said, We our sons and our daughters are many, therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat and live. Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, our vineyards, our houses, that we might buy corn because of the dirt. There were also that said, we have borrowed money. And so what was happening is that fellow Jews were charging their fellows, and that was called usury in the Old Testament, and making things distressful. And so these are folks that are now calling out to the Lord. And so we find in chapter 5, verse 14, well, before that, Nehemiah has to rebuke these people. Look at verse 11. He says, "...Restore, I pray you, to them even this day their lands, and their vineyards, and their olive yards," and so on. The people got a hold of this at the end of verse number 13. "...And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the Lord. And the people did according to this promise." And then Nehemiah talks about his own testimony, that during all this time, he did not live like a king, like a governor, like the former governor. and fly his big airplane. Oh, I'm bringing up the modern day here. And, you know, spend all the people's money, but acted like one of the people and just got by with what he had to have. That's the true attitude of a servant of the Lord. Nehemiah is now praying by the end of chapter 5, verse number 19, that his personal sacrifice was there. So Lord, he's saying, bless now, because of this personal sacrifice. Now it might seem that this prayer is a little self-centered, but the prayer is for remembrance from the covenant. God promised that He would take care of Nehemiah and the people of Israel. So here's a person that has a right relationship with God and a prayer for remembrance. And so we come in now to chapter 6. It came to pass, when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arabian, the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builted the wall, and there was now no breach left therein, though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gate, so they had the wall built but not the gate set on, that Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages of the plain of Ono, but they thought to do me mischief. All right, so there's some problems. And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it, and come down to you? Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort. And I answered them after the same manner, then sent Sanballatish's servant unto me in like manner the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand, wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, And Gashmu hath a sayeth it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause thou buildest the wall." I know why you're building this wall. I know why you're doing this. You're trying to rebel against the king, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words. And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah, and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together. Then I said unto him, saying, There is no such thing being done as thou sayest, but thou faintest them out of thine own heart. For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done." Now the prayer, the end of verse 9. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. This is in the midst of opposition. There are six attempts to hinder the work. Let me review them quickly for you. Chapter 2, verse 19. Chapter 2, verse 19, But when Sanballat, the Hornite, and Tobiah the Servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Raven heard it, they laughed us to scorn, despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? Will ye rebel against the king? There's ridicule. There's more ridicule in chapter 4, verse number 2. Sanballat, of course, heard that I builded the wall. He's wroth, and he mocked the Jews, and he spake before his brethren, the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?" And of course, Tobiah also got involved with it there in verse 3. So there's more ridicule. Ridicule and ridicule upon ridicule. Mocking and abusing them. Chapter 4, verse 8, there's conspiracy. And they conspired, all of them, to gather to come to fight against Jerusalem and to hinder it, a conspiracy to do harm to the work. Now, the devil may or may not do or use all of these attempts in any work of God. He may use some of them or a few of them, skip around, jump around, use different ones. Chapter 4, verse 10, And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burden is decayed, and there is much rubbish, so that we are not able to build the wall. All of this ridicule and this conspiracy worked on the Jews. Now there's discouragement. That one usually gets in there, somewhere along the line, doesn't it? Doesn't take much for that to happen. You don't have to have the ridicule, or the ridicule upon ridicule, or a conspiracy against the work, but the people of God get discouraged. That's why we are told over and over again to not be weary in well-doing. but to encourage ourselves in the Lord. We don't really need a Sanballat of Tobiah or a Geshem to help us get discouraged, do we? We do that well ourselves, all right? And of course, the devil likes to get in there and throw in his two cents as well. In chapter 6, well, let's say just chapter 6, 1 through 4, there is mischief. It came to pass the Sanballat of Tobiah, Geshem, the Arabian, the rest of the enemies, Verse 2, "...and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some place." But look at the end of verse number 2, "...but they thought to do me mischief." Sometimes the devil will send somebody to be mischievous. to do something to destroy the work. A work is going along, and the devil will send somebody to come in and be a thief, to rob the church of its PA system, or whatever it might find in the building, to ravage and maybe set the building on fire. You know, I'm glad we haven't had any of that, but there have been times in ministries where that kind of thing has gone on. Mischief, that's usually from the outside. Sometimes that mischief can happen inside. There'll be somebody working with the money who will embezzle funds from the church or whatever. And so mischief that will take place to help and destroy the work. You know, I'm glad in the last 11 years we haven't had those things. But those are things that can discourage the heart of a pastor or the heart of a people of God. Mischief. And the devil has his people. And then in verses 5, 6, and 7, there's this false accusation. Sanballat then sent an open letter and falsely accused Nehemiah of doing things he wasn't doing. We had a message we preached some time ago about what to do in the face of false accusation. So there's six attempts, at least six attempts, to hinder the work. And so Nehemiah comes to chapter 6 and verse number 9 with all of that in mind. Lord, strengthen my hands. He's not saying, Lord, this is too much to take. I can't handle this ridicule, this conspiracy, this discouragement, this mischief, these false accusations." Nehemiah comes back, because he's a man of prayer, and he says, Lord, strengthen my hands. Another quick prayer, a parenthetical prayer, in the midst of all of this that's going on. Lord, give me strength. Short prayer. And then chapter 6, And verse number 14, let's read verses 10-14, "...afterward I came into the house of Shemaiah, the son of Deliah, the son of Mehatabiel, who was shut up, and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple, for they will come to slay thee. Yea, in the night will they come to slay thee." All of this, of course, in light of these things, the ridicule, the conspiracy, the discouragement, the mischief, and the false accusation, they're going to kill you, Nehemiah. So let's go hide in the temple. Surely they won't come and kill you in the temple." And I said, should such a man as I flee? And who is there that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. And lo, I perceived that God had not sent him but that he had pronounced this prophecy against me, for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him." Sounded like this was a good plan. Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so. Fear is the opposite of faith. Nehemiah was a man of faith, and so he trusted God, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me." And then the prayer, verse 14, "'My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sambaboth according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah," there's another name that got involved here, "'and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear.'" This is a prayer for vengeance. Where does vengeance belong? Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. Don't ever get to the place where you put vengeance in your own hand and pray a prayer of vengeance from your own heart. Vengeance is the Lord's. Let the Lord take care of dealing with the threats, with the character assassination, with any kind of torment from the enemy. Yes, life is hard, but let God take care of the enemies. So, God's plan to deal with this. And so the ploys against Nehemiah continue. They continue to infiltrate others. Now we have people not just saying about Dabai and Geshem, but they're influencing others, getting other people to do their dirty work for them. That's how the devil's crowd works. Even with religious leaders, folks that should know better, we have that happening. A false prophet here, that's on the prowl. So Nehemiah's prayer is a prayer for God to foil the plans of those who strive to ruin the work of God. And then chapter 9. Chapter 9 is the longest prayer in the Bible. Now I'm not going to read through this prayer, because we're out of time already. But chapter 9, in the 24th day of the of this month children of Israel were assembled with fasting and sackcloths and of earth upon them and the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of the fathers." Now this is all reaction from chapter 8. In chapter 8 they read the Word of God. They spent an entire day getting back to the Bible and the scribes reading the Word and explaining the Word and of course people got convicted And so people began to confess their sins. In verse 3, they stood up in their place and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God one-fourth part of the day, and another fourth part they confessed and worshipped the Lord their God. Then stood up upon the stairs of the Levites, Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Jebaniah, Buni, Cherubiah, another Bani, and Canina, and cried with a loud voice unto the Lord their God. So this is a corporate prayer. Nehemiah is not listed here, but I'm sure he's involved with it as well. And they begin now praying for a number of things. I don't have time to read through that prayer. It's a long prayer. In fact, it takes us, I think, to the end of the chapter. So it's the longest, actually the longest prayer recorded in the Bible. Somebody told the story of when Moody was having meetings, he called upon a certain brother to pray, and after ten minutes he was still praying. And Moody got up and said, now while our brother finishes praying, let's turn to hymn number such and such and sing. And part of that story, what's interesting is there was a fellow who was listening to this long prayer and got bored with the prayer, got up to leave, and when Moody started to lead in the singing, he sat back down, and God called him to be a missionary. That's interesting. So, this prayer is probably not as long as the Moody's Friends prayer, but a great prayer. It has all those parts in it, okay? The adoration, the confession, the thanksgiving, and the supplication. And then, quickly, chapter 13, you have one, two, three, four more prayers. I'll just point them out. Nehemiah chapter 13, verse 14. Remember me, O my God, concerning this, And there's problems here in chapter 13. A lot of the first couple of ones have to do with the violation of the Sabbath day, because they went back to the law and they found that, hey, we're not doing this the way we ought to be doing it. And you can read through each one of these. There was a problem, and so Nehemiah goes to prayer. So verse 14, Remember me, O my God, concerning this, wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof, And so this is basically a prayer for God's faithfulness. And Nehemiah's kind of going back to his own testimony, you know, I've been faithful to you, and he's asking God to be faithful back to him. Verse 22, And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath. All of that had been violated. And then verse 22, the end of the verse, Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy." So this is a prayer for God's mercy. We need to pray for God's mercy. Verse 29. The next section deals with a problem with intermarriage. Israel was not to do that, intermarry with the pagans. And they were doing that, and so verse 29, the prayer, "...remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood of the Levites. Thus cleansed I them from all strangers." So this is a prayer for cleansing. That's a necessary prayer. And of course, Nehemiah goes on there and pointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, everyone in his business, and then verse 31, and the wood offering at times appointed for the firstfruits and the last words of the book, remember me, oh my God, for good. And so another prayer for God's recompense, let's restore all these things that have been taken away. And so a number of these prayers, these minute prayers, or the parenthetical prayers, however you want to call them, that are part of Nehemiah's life. And once again, these are prayers that you and I can pray once we've learned how to pray the Concentrated Prayer of chapter 1. Don't say, well, I can't pray the Minute Prayers because I haven't spent the... Well, do the Minute Prayers. But let's get back to the Concentrated Prayer as well. So there's a lot we can learn from the life of Nehemiah, a man of prayer, praying for God to do for him what he cannot do for himself. Isn't that what we want God to do for us? To do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Father, we thank you for the testimony of Nehemiah regarding his prayer life and how in this book this is really a testimony of what you did for the nation of Israel and for the person of Nehemiah who became a man of prayer. What a challenge. It's been a challenge to my life, to look at Nehemiah's life. Help me to be the man of prayer I ought to be. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, let's take our hymnal and go to our closing hymn once again. Number 487. Now I belong to Jesus. Let's stand together. Again, let's do the first and the last verses on this one. Number 487. Jesus, my Lord, will love me forever. From Him no power of evil can sever. He gave His life to ransom my soul. Now I belong to Him. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity. Verse 3. Joy, what my soul, for Jesus has saved me. Freed me from sin that long had enslaved me. His precious blood He gave to redeem. Now I belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me. Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity. This is Dr. Lee Hennise, and we want to thank you for listening to the HedgeMaker broadcast today. Most of our broadcasts are portions of a sermon that I have preached the church. HedgeMaker Baptist Ministries is the preaching, teaching, and writing ministry for myself. You can visit us on the web at HedgeMaker.org. And let's be encouraged to stand in the gap and make up the hedge until Jesus comes again.