In the month of Nisan, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence, and the king said to me, Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart. Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, Let the king live forever. Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my father's graves lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire? Then the king said to me, What are you requesting? So I prayed to the God of heaven, And I said to the king, if it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's graves, that I may rebuild it. Amen, dear saints. You may be seated. We're entering the exciting and dynamic second chapter of Nehemiah this evening. But before we do that, let's also enter the throne room of God. Even as Nehemiah came into the throne room of Artaxerxes, we come to the great king in prayer. Let's pray. Father, thank you for Jesus, the great king. And it's in his name. He is the king, he is the prophet, and he is the priest. We are grateful that we have him in fullness. Now may we once again feast on him, the bread of life. in this sermon. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. So in the five verses of tonight's scripture lesson, which Elder Craig just read so nicely a few moments ago, we observe a full range of human emotions. And notice that these are the emotions of believing Christian churchmen, in that case the person of Nehemiah. In truth, our Lord Jesus Christ himself went through this whole range of emotions as well, particularly in the Garden of Gethsemane, Matthew 26. A gamut of emotion that was very, very difficult for him. Feelings and emotions are very powerful things. And even though we should, by the grace of God, seek to balance them with rationality and level-headedness, Nonetheless, times of intense interior agitation or excitement are also excellent opportunities to exercise faith in Jesus Christ, especially when our feelings are oriented toward fear or insecurity or sadness. Therefore, with that in mind, let's make it our goal this evening to see how believers' struggles lead to the Church's good and God's glory. We'll be looking together at Nehemiah 2, 1-5. Real living. Faithful churchmen go through an array of emotions in this life, A-R-R-A-Y, which means just a range, a bunch, a stretch of emotions. of emotions. And the worst sufferings that Christians experience are sufferings of the soul. Body is bad, and financial, and relational, and familial, and concerns like that. Jobs are also important, but the soul sufferings are the most significant ones. And all those who are united to Jesus in our baptisms and our covenant vows also know that he went through that as well. Our master suffered, and in the church triumphant in heaven where the saints are there, which we are worshiping with even today, they do not suffer these emotions anymore. But down here, we do. So that's why this is a very helpful text for us tonight. Faithful churchmen do go through an array of emotions in this slide. This is because sin renders us miserable. The root of all misery is sin, even as our confession teaches through the doctrine of the Bible. And even the holy and sinless person of the Son of God himself had to undergo the miseries of sin. Not his own sin, but our sin. He atoned for them, but he also suffered because of them. And there is a sense in which we, as his people in our sanctification process, also undergo lots of trial and pain and suffering through the purging of our sin from us in that sanctification. Those sins are covered and cleansed, and yet they are also taken out of us. And sometimes that's a difficult thing. And it's actually because of sin that there are negative emotions in the world. If you think about it, if there was no sin, there would be no negative emotions, like grief and sorrow and sadness and things like that. And it could be argued, rightly so, that in the Garden of Eden, the original creation, there was none of that. But we live in a better world than Adam did. Because even though we have sin and sadness among us, we have a greater glory in the justification we have in the person of Jesus Christ. which is a better standing than Adam could have ever had in himself in his pre-fallen condition. And so not all these feelings, even the negative ones, are all bad in themselves, because the atoner for our sin, Jesus, and those who are atoned for, the believing church, must go through them in a fallen world. And Nehemiah, the subject of our lesson here tonight, did so too. So faithful churchmen do go through an array of emotions in this life. This is because sin renders us miserable and Christ fills us with joy. Now this is a season of joy and celebration and we're singing these glorious carols and they do speak often about the joy of the Lord, rightly so. But here's, if there was never any sin there would never be the existence of nor the need for saving grace in the person of Jesus Christ. Now this is such a profound fact. The reason that there's sin in the world and that there is evil and a fall is so that God gets greater glory through something much more wonderful than would ever have happened if there never had been sin. God's mercy, God's kindness, the grace of God, the amazing wonder of the gospel all happens because of the fact that there is sin. Now tonight's text will teach us that the redeemed soul has the inlet for much greater joy and pleasure even in the context of sin, because of the Redeemer. In the case of Nehemiah, the Redeemer who would come. In the case of us tonight, the Redeemer who came. We're celebrating that fact in this season. We're going to see Nehemiah come right to the brink of this delight in a certain way, as he has foretaste, if you will, of the glory that we have today in Jesus. But for him, simply getting the green light to go to Jerusalem to assist the Church of the Old Covenant there in his day and age was success enough and joy enough. And that ought to be our experience and perspective as well. Therefore, if any of us tonight or any of our loved ones we know are on the burdened end of the emotional scale, and if our intentions are similar to or the same as Nehemiah's, which was to aid the church and bless the church and be a faithful person in the context of the covenant, then we should take heart. Our deliverance is near because our deliverer, Jesus Christ, is near with us here tonight. Emmanuel, God with us. Remember, dear, it's very important, the joy of grace is not all in the end result. The very project itself, when it is lined up with God's priorities, is a great source of fulfillment in itself, i.e., just walking through this life, even with the trials and hardships that it involves, so long as we have Christ. Therefore, no matter where we are on the emotional Richter scale tonight, If our desire is the church's glory is good, God's glory to his name through Jesus Christ, the spread of the gospel, then let us, as even these many Christmas carols encourage us to do, rejoice in the Lord and to do it now, and enjoy him. Let's look at the five verses of tonight's lesson. and observe together the process from the pits to glory. Let's start at the bottom and see how the Holy Spirit brings us all the way to the top in Jesus' blessed embraces. So, the process, verses 1 through 2b. Grief is rooted in the church's suffering. In the month of Nisan, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence, and the king said to me, why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart." So Nehemiah's melancholy, which all Christian churchmen go through eventually and in various stages, we all do, and this is part of life, was a result of the sorry condition of the city of Jerusalem, the place that God had put His glory in the Old Covenant in the Old Temple, as you know. And it's likely that Nehemiah had hidden or concealed his sadness from this good king of Persia for four months intervening from the time when he heard the report in chapter one early on about the bad state of affairs in Jerusalem until the time which is happening right here and in this chapter when he's going to make his bold request of King Artaxerxes to go to Jerusalem. Now, Artus Xerxes strikes me as a sensitive, caring man. Now, even this morning, our Christian education up here, we had a tremendous class, really. It was very interesting. And we talked about common grace. I think this is a good example of common grace. Now, we saw it, too, with Ahasuerus, with Esther in that series, another king of Persia. He seems like a very sensitive caring man and he had a whole lot of regard and respect for Nehemiah even though he didn't share his covenant and his faith. He also saw that Nehemiah was a man of integrity and honor. He was faithful and he did his job well. Now take note of a few practical points here that may be helpful for us tonight as we try to apply these verses. First, notice, dears, that Nehemiah controlled his emotions before this king for four months. He had the ability to be both sad of heart and yet able to work and function at the same time. That's really significant, isn't it? When we allow our feelings to so overwhelm us that we become dysfunctional or lacking the ability to work or to function, that's not a good thing. Now, of course, that does happen. It's not necessarily sinful. But Nehemiah here is a good example. And secondly, notice with me that these verses point out that Nehemiah had sought the right time to make his request. So he spends all these months praying, and weeping, fasting, and then getting collected, and planning to speak to the king. So both of these principles may aid our Christian lives, and here's how. First of all, it's not always necessary for us to wear our hearts on our sleeves, okay? I think Christian maturity should help us move a little bit beyond that. It's okay, we should always be honest. People ask us how we are, we should tell them the truth. But it's not necessary for us to always have a glumness about us, even if we're feeling that way. There's a sense in which we have a responsibility to rise up in our faith, and by faith to embrace Jesus and the promises he gives us, even when we may be feeling rather blue and down. And again, there's nothing wrong with that feeling, but we should do our best to overcome it for the glory of God, because it's not becoming the saints to have a glumness about them. It's a bad witness before the world and the church. It tends to have a debilitating effect on people around us. We should do all we can to overcome that, if we can, by the grace of God. And secondly, It's good to discern the pattern of the timing for important events. So he has the wisdom to wait and be patient and take advantage of the right timing. the right time. But here's the key. You might be saying, Pastor, how do you do that? Well, here's a very clear principle in this text, and it's implicit and explicit, and that is that Nehemiah was a man of prayer. So he was seeking God, and he was exercising faith. So, this process from the pits to glory, grief is rooted in the church's suffering. Notice he had the right priority perspective. And in verses two, C, and three, fear speaks the heart's burden. Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, let the king live forever. Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of my father's graves, lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire? Now this verse in a third finds Nehemiah going from displaying his sadness, now granted in this particular case it's obvious that he did show forth his sadness. That may have been part of his plan in a sanctified way, to being genuinely afraid before the king. And possibly for good reasons. It's interesting that his very first reaction to the king asking him and making the statement about this as being nothing but sadness of heart was he was very much afraid. Very much afraid, the text says. Well, consider these options as reasons why maybe he should be afraid. First of all, the text earlier said it was the Hebrew month of Nisan, not the car, obviously, Nisan. And I did a little research and Nissan coordinated with the Persian New Year pretty generally. And it's possible that Nehemiah shows up before the king of Persia holding the cup of wine, being the cup bearer, you know, you would test it and that kind of thing. And it might be that how dare a cupbearer be sorrowful during a national feast before the presence of the emperor and have the audacity to be not celebrating with the rest of the people. Now that's a possibility. We don't know that for sure. But it's something to think about. Here's another thing that's even more foreboding. And that is, do you remember way back when we started this series a few weeks ago we talked about how Ezra and Nehemiah were one book and they have so many commonalities? Well, in Ezra chapter 4 verse 21, we have the event where an earlier ruling had come out of Persia because of wicked men in Judah who forced it and pressured him to stop the work in Jerusalem. And maybe King Artaxerxes was aware of that, and maybe he wasn't at all excited about someone going back to Jerusalem and restarting any kind of work there. And Nehemiah probably didn't know one way or the other what his perspective was gonna be. He knew that Artaxerxes was a kindly man, given to generosity of spirit as a common grace, but he couldn't have known for sure. And then thirdly, maybe the king of Persia would simply have said no. No, you can't go to Jerusalem. And that would have been the end of all Nehemiah's hopes, which was really the passion of those four months of prayer. It just would have been all dashed to pieces. So no matter why he was, quote, very much afraid, let's notice what Nehemiah actually does. And this is really good. This is practical. Notice this. He's very much afraid, but the very first thing he does is he shows his civil sovereign lots of respect. He says, let the king live forever. Now granted, That was a very common expression that people typically use. But still, the very first thing he says is, he's scared, but he says, let the king live forever. So he's saying, king, I'm with you, I support you, I respect you, I'm showing you deference and honor for your role. And then, after he says that, Nehemiah simply goes ahead and forthrightly tells the truth in verse three. And he does it through a question. Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of my father's graves, lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire? So, in doing this, Nehemiah may have been appealing to Artaxerxes' softer side, especially with regard to the issue of father's graves, which the Persians probably had a special feeling for. So, there's just a lot of wisdom here and a lot of grace. Really, it all comes down to faith and trust, though. And not faith and trust in the king of Persia, but in the king of heaven. who now is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, seated there at the Father's right hand. So grief is rooted in the church's suffering. Fear speaks the heart's burden. In verses four and five, hope leads to bold petitions. Then the king said to me, what are you requesting? So I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said to the king, if it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's graves, that I may rebuild it." So just as soon as Nehemiah hears Artaxerxes ask the question, what are you requesting? I'm guessing that his heart becomes encouraged because that is a good sign. But notice that Nehemiah does something right away. He doesn't get too excited about that. Instead, he offers a quick silent prayer to God. So instead of relying on the good nature of the king of Persia, Nehemiah rather takes his petition straight to the king of heaven. And he adds to his four months of long prayers, one of which was recorded in chapter one, the longest prayer in Nehemiah, he adds this little short arrow plea. So dears, this is interesting. Let's say you're at work this week, or at home, or whatever, and you are in a tight spot, and something's about ready to happen. You're in interaction with someone. Maybe you've made a request, whatever it might be. This is a good example of a short but effective prayer. The very first thing he does is to pray again to the God of Heaven. So that's really helpful. And then, but only then, after he does that, Nehemiah makes his bold petition, and indeed it is a rather audacious one. But please observe with me that his temerity, or boldness, is prefaced with genuine God-honoring respect for the king and his God-ordained position. Again, as we read these words in verse 5. If it pleases the king, he says, and if your servant has found favor in your sight." He says, I ask but do not demand that you send me to Judah. It's a very humble, godly, gracious, faith-filled, responsible and respectful attitude, which is sadly lacking in the world today, even among the religious world. You know, dears, here's something to think about. God never grants His favor where His subordinate authorities are not first honored. Be they in the church or the state or the home, all as per the fifth commandment, honor your father and mother. So nobody gets around that. And Nehemiah knew that too. If you're going to honor God, we have to do it His way. And Nehemiah had been put in the context of this king. Now this is kind of good for us in a culture of such extreme polarization, that we can have enough faith, enough courage, enough boldness, enough sense, enough difference among us to be rationally sane and actually spiritually refreshing with regard to these kinds of issues. And I like the way that Nehemiah handles his relationship with So the request to rebuild is the key one. And here's two things to think about. I know there's a lot of interesting things and I've given you a lot, but two more things to really consider here. If the king of Persia grants this request, he's going to be blessed for doing that. You know, there are promises in the scripture that those who bless Abraham will be blessed. And Abraham is representing the covenant of grace. In our time, it's the new covenant church. And so here, the church is being blessed. That means Artaxerxes and his Persian empire is going to be blessed. But that comes with a It's a double-edged sword. Here's why. Because once the church, in this case Jerusalem, is built up, it becomes a threat to the whole world because it is going to preach and live and declare and proclaim that there really is only one king. It's not the king of the great Persian Empire either, it's the king of glory, who today is, of course, our Lord Jesus. So, as always, let's do a little application tonight and learn how God superintends the circumstances of the lives of faithful churchmen. S-U-P-E-R-I-N-T-E-N-D-S. Children, if it's helpful, you might use the word guides, perhaps, leads, if you will. Because nothing falls out by accident, everything has a purpose, and the very existence of all things is here to glorify God and Jesus Christ and to build up the kingdom of the church here today on earth. So, let's consider how God superintends the circumstances of the lives of faithful churchmen. First, this is kind of neat, he so arranges Christ's glory to fit our feelings. Aren't you glad God condescends to that kind of thing? Here you have God putting a sad servant in the presence of the world's most powerful politically speaking man of that time so that the community of the faithful, the church of that day under the Old Testament, would get what it needed, i.e. a leader in Jerusalem who will take the people from this place of disarray and discouragement to some order and some security, particularly in building the wall. So it is, too, dears, with you and me today as well. And for that matter, it's true for all people, whether they're in ecclesiastical or civil or familial or workplace or commerce positions. All of us exist really for one purpose, to glorify God and Jesus Christ, and whether we know it or not, wittingly or unwittingly, build up the Church of Jesus Christ. And everyone is called to that and actually fulfills it one way or the other, either positively or negatively. That's it. Everything else is subsumed under this. And God is wise. He knows how to achieve these ends. Even though sometimes from our point of view it seems very weird. And it's not the way we would do it. He knows what he's doing. So instead of only employing logic and reason, the Lord uses Nehemiah's and our feelings and emotions as well. God so arranges Christ's glory to fit our feelings so that both of them get satisfied. That's really neat too, isn't it? God loves you so much that he cares for the way you feel. And of course he has this glorious project of exalting his son and building up his church, but he's also going to satisfy your sanctified feelings even if they're negative or hard or sad. Remember, Nehemiah's joy and victory was not in seeing the job get accomplished in Jerusalem, even in getting the wall built in a few weeks. Rather, it was simply in being able to be putting his hand to the plow for the church's benefit. See, this is a revolution of how we think, what really matters. And so it is with us in this life. Our satisfaction is in having Jesus Christ plus nothing. Once we learn this, it is extremely liberating. Having him in our midst, even now, on Sunday, in church, taking him and the gospel into the world in which we live. We are happy solely in being able to be called his servants. You might recall that, was it last week, Nehemiah used the word servant or servants four times. And so, just being called his servant. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. There will be no more glorious words for those on the Day of Judgment than that, entering into the kingdom in its fullness, if you will, in heaven. Not its fullness, but in the glory of heaven, because the fullness is in Jesus, which we enjoy even now. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. We're bound to him in our church covenant vows. But this brings contentment to every true saint. And here's another thing. Even here in chapter 2, like Nehemiah, we don't need the full picture in order to be happy. We only need Jesus, the one who truly can and does make us happy, apprehended by faith. He is the one we must have. So beloved, we entitled this sermon Real Living because the reason I did that years ago, first time around, was simply because of the emotions asked. Okay, so sometimes religious people get the idea that emotions are just not part of the package. Well, they definitely are. And our tradition maintains that with glory. It means experiencing and sharing the gospel of Jesus' free grace and His blood atonement, glorious resurrection, whether we feel happy or not so happy. So, like Nehemiah, let us spread this message with grace, respect, and boldness. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the real living that we can and do have in Christ Jesus. Thank you that He is our joy and our source of joy. We acknowledge, Lord, that we do struggle and we do have sadness and grief and fear, and we know that's not all sin either, but we do pray that when we do experience those things, you'll give us a special grace to look to Jesus, no matter what, and to find in Him and Him alone our fullness and our satisfaction. We thank you that we can feast on Him now in this supper, and we do so in Jesus' name. Amen.