And the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, how long will you be gone and when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. And I said to the king, if it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province beyond the river, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah. And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy. And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me. Amen, dear saints, you may be seated. We're continuing tonight in the second chapter of the book of Nehemiah. King Artaxerxes is granting Nehemiah his request tonight. Let's pray that the Lord would grant ours as well. Father, our request, ultimately and always, is for the Lord Jesus Christ to dwell on us by faith, to fill us with himself, to cause us to love him and to grow in the grace and knowledge of him, to enjoy every good thing in him. And so tonight, as we see how you, Lord, use the world, even for the Church's benefit, we come tonight full of faith in Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. On Sundays, God's people come and lay down their lives before God and honor the King Jesus, who enters his New Jerusalem, his church, and visits us, even as we celebrate the Advent season and the coming of the Christ. Way back in the 5th century BC, the King of Persia was laying out provisions for Nehemiah, who himself would soon be venturing off to not New Jerusalem, but Old Jerusalem. Tonight's text is quite interesting and very applicable to us. In it, we see King Artaxerxes give permission to Nehemiah to use whatever he, Nehemiah, needed from the emperor's bountiful supply of resources and influence. And in an analogous way, let all of us, God's children tonight, also be respectful and forthright as we ask of God first for everything necessary for the church's success, and as we interact with the people of the world who may be employed by the Lord to bring about that further good. In light of all this, let's make it our goal this evening to be wise churchmen using all the world for God's glory. Looking together at Nehemiah 2, 6 through 8, the world at the church's disposal, the doctrine. When it pleases God, he supplies Christ's church from the bounty of the world. One great biblical example of this, which is well known, comes from Exodus 12.36. When the people of Israel were leaving Egypt during the Exodus, the Egyptians gave them many riches. So it is true that when it pleases God, He supplies Christ's church from the bounty of the world. First, this is neither or neither an accident nor a guarantee. In other words, the Lord is under no obligation to do this in every event, situation, or exigency. He certainly is free to do it, and he often does, but he cannot and will not be manipulated into doing anything. And he cannot be handled like a soda pop machine. In goes the money, out comes the goods. This is partly why Nehemiah was, before King Artaxerxes earlier, both prayerful and uncertain, or if you will, even nervous. earlier in this chapter, since he knew that even with all the prayers for four months that he, Nehemiah, had offered to God, there was still no absolute watertight guarantee that he was going to get his will in these matters. Now this is helpful for us in the church, because we make prayers all the time for very important causes, and people, and sick people, and people's souls, and all of those important things. This is where we live most of the time. And this is where both faith and submission, faith in and submission to God and his will to us in Christ Jesus comes so much to the fore of our everyday lives. So this is neither an accident nor a guarantee, the supply of the bounty of the world for the church, but it often accords with the Lord's sovereign and good designs for us. Now one neat principle in this general regard is drawn from Proverbs 13.22, which says this, a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous. So just how the Lord brings that sort of thing about is a matter of His own sovereign determination. But sometimes it is vividly manifest in remarkable ways, as in the case of Nehemiah in our text tonight from chapter 2. The Lord will withhold nothing good from us, his church, his saints. He's already given us his very best, and in Jesus Christ, that treasure chest is open and wide for us to avail ourselves of every good and perfect thing in Jesus, as long as we love him first and foremost. and he will not be anyone's debtor. No one will outdo him. We cannot outlove God. He blesses us. Are we sincere in our faith by grace as his church? Well, if this is the case, it is both the cause of and the result of God's continued good pleasure being poured out on us in the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord's Day to Lord's Day. And for all of this, let us, like Nehemiah, be both thankful and diligent in our love for and service to God and Christ's Church. Let's look at these verses, 6 through 8. chapter 2, Nehemiah, and observe the framework for success God's way. Now if you were here last Sunday, and I know some of you dear loved ones were not, things were beginning to look up for Nehemiah, and in tonight's text we see that get fleshed out. So let's see what this lesson has for us. Verse 6. The framework for success God's way. Godly character may breed favor. And the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, how long will you be gone? And when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. Now, that's really great because earlier last week, the very earlier verse five, Nehemiah makes his request to go to Jerusalem. Now, we might ask this question, why was King Artaxerxes, who is a pagan Persian monarch, so favorably inclined toward Nehemiah? Well, I think the reason is very applicable for all of us who live in a world that is, well, it's not all Christian. and it's not all filled with God's people, and yet we deal with people all the time. The answer is that Artaxerxes believed Nehemiah to be a faithful servant of he himself, the king, who's a man of honor, trustworthiness, integrity, and character. Really, people, especially unbelievers, do not typically dole out their favors for no good reason. So it wasn't just an accident that Artaxerxes was willing to send Nehemiah all the way to Judah. Now, this doesn't mean, and this is very important, I think you know this is coming, but this doesn't mean that godly character always secures the benefits of people outside of the church. It does not. Sometimes very good, godly, perfectly A righteous, Christ-honoring behavior does not result in this kind of end. I mean, we have to face that. Let's use a few examples. Let's talk first about when it did in the Bible. There's at least three notoriously great examples of that. One is in the example of Daniel. who gets all kinds of favors from kings, and in fact, you might remember the king that didn't want him to be thrown in the lion's den and was very happy when he came out. Another example is Jeremiah, who even though his own countrymen treated him with disdain and disrespect, the Babylonians treated him with lots of regard and respect. And then we have Nehemiah here as another example. But at other times, there's a perfectly godly, Christ-honoring character that is not honored by the people outside of Jesus. Two examples from the apostles are James, who has his life taken from him by Herod, and the Apostle Paul, who on a few occasions had some things like this in a positive way, especially regarding his Roman citizenship, but on the whole was not given that kind of... Then the ultimate example, of course, is our blessed Lord Jesus Christ himself, the perfectly sinless Holy One, who is crucified on a cruel Roman cross. But notice the positive possible influence of the queen in verse six, which is very interesting. So perhaps both the king and the queen had a very high regard for Nehemiah. With her apparent concord, Artaxerxes asks Nehemiah how long he intends to be gone, and then the emperor sends our hero, Nehemiah, on his way to Jerusalem. as Nehemiah gives his boss some kind of a time frame. He's very responsible and respectfully says, this is how long I expect to be gone, I expect to be back at a certain time, at a certain date, and of course he kept that. So it is to be for us as well, whether the result of our requests are pleasing or displeasing to us, in either case, Let us be honorable, Christ-loving, God-honoring people who love God and Jesus Christ as his church. So godly character may breed favor. In verses 7 and 8a, practical needs call for boldness. And I said to the king, if it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province beyond the river, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah. And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple. and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy." Now these verses are really, really interesting because it's as if Nehemiah beforehand had already chronicled in his mind all the things he would ask the king if he got the green light. And of course he gets it. And that is a matter of faith, I think. He's already decided, well in advance, that if the king says yes, he's got all the stuff that he wants to ask him. So once he gets the go-ahead, he takes advantage of the opportunity and he asks the king for big things. These are not small matters. These were quite important. Two official letters that allow him safe passage to Jerusalem, and then full access to the king's forest to cut down timber and make buildings. Not for the Persian god, But for the true God, Yahweh, the Lord God of heaven and earth, the God that really is in control of all things, including the all-important emperor of Persia, in the city that is the locus of God's dwelling on earth in the Old Covenant? How do we explain all this? Well, first of all, obviously, the sovereignty and goodness of God Himself. And then, with His blessing, and again, it doesn't always work this way, in this case it did, God's measure of success given to Nehemiah according to His grace. And then when we read about these letters, this reminds us there is a presage, a preview, if you will, of the importance of the written word in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. And we see this several times with these important letters that are written down and left for us in these books. So, dear saints, how do we churchmen apply this principle tonight? Well, here's something for us to think about. When God does open a door for us to pursue our desire to bless this church and to be happy, We need to go for it and press our advantages to the fullest extent, all for Christ's glory. And we can find lots of examples in the Bible where we are encouraged to do that. Go for it all the way. When we are on a roll, we should pursue it, pursue Jesus all the way, and get all the goods out of that blessing. So, godly character may breed favor. Practical needs call for boldness. Verse 8b, faith clings to the Christ of grace. And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me." And that's the key to all this. The good hand of his God was upon him because he cared about the church of his day. That's why the good hand of God was upon him. He simply wanted his own things, his own riches, his own ease of life. Well, that's another story. That's what anybody in the world might want. But he had the good hand of God upon him, and he didn't take credit for his good success. Instead, he ascribes all of it to God. So, dears, how do we know tonight if the good hand of our God is upon us or not? Now, this is an important question. We might ask this question, is it all evidenced by outward blessings? health, finances, jobs, security, things like that, like Nehemiah receives here? Absolutely not. Because among other reasons, there would be plenty of other various occasions in this very book of Nehemiah when material and circumstantial conditions were not favorable to Nehemiah. And we're actually going to even read, if we get to it, some of that at the end of this very chapter two of this very book. We do know that the good hand of God is upon us when we believe that the good heart of God has saved us in Christ Jesus alone, given us his Holy Spirit, and given us the mind of Christ, which we studied this morning. and the treasures of Jesus that we can know because we have the mind of Christ. The evidences of this grace may secondarily manifest themselves in outward prosperity and getting what we ask for with regard to the things of the world, but that's not important compared to the primary sign, which is the faithfulness of our vows and our baptisms and our confessions and our covenanting together with Jesus that exhibit themselves in Sunday worship and in the honor of God throughout the week from this high and holy place. After all, really, the wall being built was to secure the temple. Same kind of thing today. The Bible always focuses on Jesus and his glory and his worship. And through us, then, at the church going out from there. So, dears, you and I may safely ask the question, is the good hand of God upon me or us, if we believe in Jesus alone and trust nothing else for our redemption, And if the sincerity of this is demonstrated in covenant faithfulness, then, let us be assured, the good hand of God is upon us. And dears, I want to say something. We should be assured of that. As long as our heart is right for why we're here, even tonight. So, let's, as always, do further application, and learn how churchmen may properly avail themselves of the world's goods. It's a good question. This subject is the issue at hand in tonight's scripture lesson, so let's see how the churchmen should prevail themselves, properly avail themselves of the world's goods. First, when we employ them for the body of Christ. Now, if Nehemiah simply wanted to take a break from being the king's cupbearer, or he simply longed for a change of scenery, or if he really desired to go to Jerusalem to make a name for himself, or simply to boss people around over there, then God would never have moved Artaxerxes to give Nehemiah what he asked for in this very text of Scripture. But none of that was the case. Rather, Nehemiah earnestly held in his heart of hearts a zeal for the Lord, his house, his church, and his worship. And therefore, the Lord was more than pleased to bless him in that endeavor. And that same thing is true for us. Completely, 100% gospel truth. If we love Jesus Christ and cherish what he holds most dear, not only will we get all that we want for the benefit and work and furtherance of the gospel in and through the church, but sometimes and oftentimes God throws in all kinds of other blessings subordinate to and consistent with that as well. So, how churchmen may properly avail themselves of the world's goods when we employ them for the body of Christ and when our highest allegiance is to the things of God. Now that obviously relates to the earlier point, but it has its own nuances. You might want to note Matthew 6.33, which finds Christ putting it this way, but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and then all these things shall be added to you." If we're ever in it for ourselves down here on earth, then we are utter failures. But if our values match that of God's in Christ Jesus, then we are already victors, and we've already won. And why? Because of what Jesus Christ has done for us on His cruel, bloody cross and in His glorious resurrection. Do we believe this gospel of grace in the Lord Jesus? Then we possess in him all good blessings of heaven and on earth through the good Christ that has redeemed us. So there's the world at the church's disposal reminds us that we also have a message for the people of the world. It's not just for ourselves. We remember that every time the church benefits, the world benefits, because we carry that blessing into it. We are salt and light in it, and we share it. And that is that the Redeemer has died not for good people, but for sinners, and that he invites all of them in Jesus Christ into his body by grace, through faith. So the world is at the church's disposal, and for that cause we should pray and be thankful. Let's do that. Father, we thank you for this fact. It is a glorious thing. It's really important for us to understand who we are and our place in the world. We would never learn this just from the world itself. This is part of the mind of Christ, which is revolutionary, that embraces the full world, the divine world, the invisible world, the spiritual world, the world of God, the world of Christ, the world of the Holy Spirit. We thank you that the world is at the Church's disposal, but may we be good servants of yours in this world, and bless the world through Christ alone, in whose name we pray. Amen.