Then I came to the governors of the province beyond the river and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen, but when Sanballat the Huronite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel. Amen, dear saints. You may be seated as we're continuing in our Nehemiah series, working our way through chapter two, an exciting juncture in the text and the story and the adventure tonight. But before we go to it, as always, let's pray. Father, we thank you that you have brought us to this point, that Jesus Christ stands again to speak his grace, his person, his gospel to us. his church and may we receive him in it and in the sacrament tonight as well. Bless you for the fullness of grace in the Lord Jesus in whose name we pray. Amen. So verse 10 of tonight's scripture lesson is the first hint of trouble in the book of Nehemiah and Nehemiah will find himself experiencing quite a bit of it. If he thought that his earlier angst that he had as he had heard the news about Jerusalem and its state being in a bad way, and then also his trouble in trying to determine the exact right time to ask King Artaxerxes for the permission to leave his service and go to Jerusalem to serve the church there, If he thought that was the case, the things that would happen to him now that address this text and Nehemiah himself very soon, coming from individuals who oppose him, will oppose him, will oppose his work, his leadership, and his mission, would be a whole lot more severe and more difficult than anything else that he had faced up to this point. And that's the way it is with all of us who are faithful in Christ Jesus as his church. This is not an easy thing to do. It's a very, very difficult one. Our intentions are good, our objectives are noble, our aims are high, our desires are for the welfare and good and betterment of all, the church and the world, and yet, Our troubles, our difficulties are just beginning as we set on the course to pursue the glory of God, the good of the Church, and the extension of the glory of the Gospel throughout the world. This is always going to be met with resistance. We have the resistance of Satan, the world, and the flesh, and it is part of life. Now there are only two basic responses to this kind of dynamic of opposition, and Christian people do one or the other. There are no other alternatives. One is simply to quit and say, that's it, I've had enough, I can't take the stress. And if that's the case, ultimately that shows hypocrisy. Or two, to persevere through the trial, the difficulty, the resistance, the opposition, and show oneself to be faithful to Jesus and the gospel of mercy, to have the real goods in us. It's not easy to do that. So naturally our goal this evening is to press on in Christ's strength despite opposition. We're just going to be looking at those two verses, Nehemiah 2, 9 and 10. the beginning of trouble. And the reason we use the word beginning is because as we go through these chapters of Nehemiah, he has a lot of trouble. He also has a lot of victory, too. In fact, he has victory over all of his troubles. Every single one of them he triumphs over. But he had to go through that, just like we do. So the doctrine is, even after receiving God's commission, churchmen will face grave trials. Now, did this not happen to our Lord Jesus himself? You know, we talk about the tender, beautiful story of Christmas, and it is, and it is a lovely account in Luke 2, and we all love it, but the reality is that Jesus came here to do something very difficult. God the Father had given him a very arduous task, and sinners made it extraordinarily hard for him, and yet he persevered through it. So let's consider that even after receiving God's commission, Churchmen will face grave trials. This is not to be interpreted as the Lord's displeasure. So in other words, Nehemiah would not have been wise if he had drawn the conclusion that just because some people didn't like what he was doing, in this case, Tobiah and Sanballat, and their names are going to come up several times in this book, He shouldn't conclude from that that Yahweh, the true God, the God of the Trinity, the God of the Bible, was somehow upset with him. That wasn't the case. So whenever we experience trial and difficulty and hardship and opposition to our Christian life, our churchmanship, our life for Jesus Christ and the world in which we live, We don't want to believe that it is because God is somehow displeased with us. That's just not true. And yet, sometimes it is possible for us to think that way. And sometimes Christian people do. Especially, I think, younger Christians that haven't had a lot of exposure and experience to that kind of thing. Keep in mind, dears, that it's literally impossible to honor and please our blessed Messiah, Jesus Christ, without displeasing some people in some way. In other words, no one can please everyone all the time. And if we're going to honor Christ, that means that some people aren't going to be happy with it. Now, don't get me wrong, we do nothing to make ourselves troublesome or irksome to anyone. That is something we should avoid at all costs, but if we're going to be faithful, it's going to mean that some people aren't going to like that. Because we're going to speak the truth, and that truth is something that we don't always want to hear. And it's an inescapable maxim of true Christianity that Christ, the Gospel, the Church, and the Word of God will be and are resisted in a fallen, sinful world. That's just the truth. And it's half the battle, one, to simply understand that and accept it as fact. maybe not half the battle won, but it's a good step toward the battle being won by starting with the preconception that we're going to have opposition if we're going to be faithful to Jesus. And clearly, that is true. We cannot expect sinners to love those people and that doctrine and that gospel that condemns them. That doesn't make sense. They're not going to love that any more than we did when we were in the flesh. Barring, of course, faith in Jesus Christ and resulting repentance and churchmanship. So, this is not to be interpreted as the Lord's displeasure. Instead, trouble is his, God's, training grounds for us. Now, our good Heavenly Father knows best how to develop us into strong, loving, persevering, and effective Christian churchmen. And this is not achieved through soft pillows of ease and comfort any more than anything else of value is gotten that way in this world or the world to come. In fact, that's not just true about the spiritual life. I mean, anybody that succeeds in any special way knows that they don't do it on a easy path. Even our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Hebrews 5.8, quote, had to learn obedience through the things which he suffered. Isn't that amazing? Hebrews 5.8. So even the blessed Messiah, the perfect one, sinless, even he had to learn obedience through the things which he suffered. Now I want to be clear, and especially with young people I always want to make this point, Don't draw the wrong conclusion that this means that true Christianity and faithful churchmanship is all trial and difficulty and hardship and trouble. That's not true. In fact, quite to the contrary, those who love God experience the greatest joys and pleasures in this world as well as the world to come, all in the person and gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's important to note that, but having said that, we all know it is also true that character and integrity and Christ-likeness is usually accomplished by God in us through the crucibles of hardship and difficulty. Do we like that? Not really, but really it is the truth and it's just good to face it and be ready and to be prayerful, and to be armed, all starting here on Sunday in church. So let's look at the text, verses 9 and 10, chapter 2, and observe how the church gets herself into good trouble. You know, there's bad trouble, which sometimes God's people get into, which is a result of sin. And there is, quote-unquote, good trouble, and that comes about because of faithfulness to Christ. And of course, that's following up on the earlier argument that if we are faithful to Jesus, there's going to be some problems. Some people aren't going to like that. So let's look at how the church gets herself into good trouble, verse 9a. by acting on God's promises. Then I came to the governors of the province beyond the river and gave them the king's letters." So last Sunday you might remember that just that prior verse 8, Nehemiah got the permission to go. And now right away in verse 9 we read about him coming to these governors of the province beyond the river And he gives them King Artaxerxes' letters, which you might recall the king had given him two letters. Very special and very helpful as well. But here's the point I'm trying to make here in verse 9a. Nehemiah is simply doing what King Artaxerxes, the civil authority, had commissioned him to do, provincially, and ultimately what God himself had called him to do. So he's just doing what he's supposed to do, just like Jesus did what he was supposed to do, just like you do what you're supposed to do. But it met with trouble. Think about it. Had Nehemiah sat on his hands, mused, pondered, wondered, and quizzed over what God's will for him was, he would never have gotten off the ground and on the way to Jerusalem in the first place. But he didn't do that. He'd done enough praying, he'd done enough he had made his request, he has his answer, and off he goes. While he was back there in Artaxerxes' palace in Susa, it was pretty cushy and pretty easy, pretty comfortable. I mean, those palaces, even in those days, as you can imagine, that was the place to be. But now that he began this journey of ministry and service to the Old Covenant Church in Jerusalem, both his excitement and stress levels are going up exponentially. And here's the thing, faith acts, and this was true for Nehemiah and it's true for us, by that I mean he gets the commission and then he goes. He didn't wait, he did it. You know that faith that does not perform duty and service is, according to James 2.20, dead. Faith without works is dead. And so Nehemiah is a good example of faith in action. And notice something interesting here. The hero of our book, Nehemiah, he is not averse to using these documents that he had been granted by the pagan, though very helpful, King Artaxerxes. in gaining access to what he needed and wanted, i.e. some wood for building things and a wall in his house and that kind of thing and also access to be able to get to Jerusalem without being stopped or hindered. He does not, Nehemiah that is, does not make the error of determining that the sacred mission to bless the church could not be achieved partly at least in conjunction with and with respect to the civil magistrate. So he honors the civil magistrate who had actually given him these letters. That's a beautiful thing. You know, we find it quite a bit in the Old Testament and some in the New too. You might remember in the Book of Acts how the Romans actually came to Paul's rescue under God's blessing as well. toward the end of that book of Acts. So as verse 9a confirms, Nehemiah went to the governors, the civil officials, and gave them the king's letters. We should also have that God-honoring perspective in life as well. And I might say that in the day and age we live in our country, that's a helpful, refreshing thing, is it not? In the very tumultuous times in which we live. So, how the church gets herself into good trouble by acting on God's promises, verse 9b, by using God's resources, where we read, Now the king had sent me with officers of the army and horsemen. Now this is interesting because it sort of reinforces what we just said about the church and the state working together in a good way, in a way that God always designed it. The church really is to have the state's protection, and that is well exemplified here in this section of the book of Nehemiah. The presence of these captains of the Persian army on horses likely went far in averting any potential petty provincial politics that Nehemiah might meet on his way to Judah. and it kept them from seeking to stand in his way so that he could fulfill his commission. Now it's interesting because sometimes earthly kings and rulers know what's better for the church than we do. There's no evidence in the text that Nehemiah asked the king Artaxerxes for this escort, essentially, but the king, out of perhaps real care for Nehemiah, maybe great respect for him, he had a great regard for him, does him a favor, and he knew the political lay of the land, he knew it wasn't gonna be easy, he knew that even if Nehemiah left with just a couple of letters, and he does it on his own with some friends, that might not work. So he sends some captains of the Persian fleet army, officers of the army on horses, and they get the job done for them. It's a beautiful thing to consider. And it's something that we should be thankful for as well. We should never, dears, here's a little principle, we should never look God's gift horses in the mouth. And Nehemiah doesn't do that here, he doesn't say, I have too much faith in God to need those Persian officers on horses going, he doesn't do that. We shouldn't do that either, rather we should receive all of God's gifts of grace to us with a heart of gratitude and humility as an act of our sincere faith. So how the church gets herself into good trouble? Acting on God's promises, using God's resources. Now the key verse 10, by claiming God's territory. This is where it starts getting tough. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, i.e. that he had come, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel. So just as everything seems to be going pretty smoothly, pretty swimmingly up to this point, Now, some people, these two people, Sanbellet and Tobias, which, as I mentioned, are gonna be found more in this book in their problem, they conjure up thoughts of suspicion and opposition to this most noble endeavor of work. Of course, they didn't want to see Jerusalem rebuilt. They didn't want to see the old covenant church, the Jews of that time, to be able to be on their feet again. They were threatened by that, and they make no bones about it. They were not at all happy. And think about it, all that was required for them to get upset was just hearing, the text says, just hearing that someone actually came to do something for the well-being or the welfare of the people of Israel, which is a code phrase in the Old Covenant for the covenant people of God, as we would call it, the Church of God, the Ecclesia of God. Now some unbelievers, dears, can appear to be civil toward the church so long as she appears to be cast down and ineffective and not really achieving anything, no gospel message, no strength, no truth, everything's just a joke, a fluffy sort of soft thing. message that doesn't really mean anything, that everybody knows isn't really true. So much of the religion of the day that's just a farce. I mean, in that case, people don't care. I mean, they're not threatened by that. But once it looks like the church is going to speak the truth and be fully functional and vibrant, All of a sudden, objectivity, rationality, and fairness tend to go right down the drain. All of a sudden, there's no more of that, and everybody's threatened by it. And rightly so, by the way, I should say. I mean, when sinners are threatened, it makes sense. You know, when people don't love you because you love Jesus, it makes sense. You shouldn't expect them to. But notice the reaction here. Does Nehemiah say, well, I'm going to quit, I'm going to get scared, I'm going to be intimidated? No. Instead, he pursues the objective for the glory of God. You know, the church belongs to God, and after the church, the whole world is also his. But we, the true Church, the Body of Christ, we're the ones who possess the credentials to claim the earth for the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's our privilege and our duty to do that. We do it in love and grace and kindness and mercy, but it is our role to do that. And Nehemiah knew that and he did it as well. So there's the explication of the two verses. And as always, let's seek to use these verses a little more. and learn together how believers are valiantly sustained in difficulty. So we should ask the question, what was it that kept Nehemiah going, even against this stream of opposition? And again, this title of the sermon tonight is the beginning of trouble. Like I said, there's a whole lot more to come. So what was it that kept him going, sustained him in difficulty? First, by remembering that God's good hand is upon us. Now you might recall from verse 8b that that was spoken of just the very previous words. The king granted me what I asked for, the good hand of my God was upon me. So if Nehemiah had all of a sudden thought, oh no, I got opposition, Sanballat and Tobiah are upset that I'm coming, and now he forgets that God's good hand is upon him, and he gets confused, he might never have continued or succeeded or kept trying to fulfill his mission. Let me share something that's a little bit practical here, and that is that one of the principles for Christian living, and it's really helpful, young people learn this now because it will come to your aid in the future, is to hearken back to times in your lives where God clearly has blessed you in a certain way and set you on a particular path. Okay, so let's say you're a young person, you pray, and you determine, by the grace of God, what he wants you to do. And you start on that path. You're a faithful churchman, and your career may be ecclesi in church, or it may be in the world, whatever, it doesn't matter, but you have a ministry there. So you start on this path, and all of a sudden, you got the Tobias and the Sandballads standing in your way and opposing you all the time. It doesn't matter. By the way, it's not just church work, obviously. I mean, your work in the world is your ministry. And so if you're doing that, you're called to do it, and you're faithful to Jesus and the church, you're gonna have the same thing that I have, or elders have, or deacons, or anybody else that has the more particular roles here. You're gonna have the exact same thing in your lives. So when that happens, remember that God's called you to do that. The old saying has some merit, don't doubt in the darkness what God has revealed to you in the light. So the Lord's good hand is upon you, his faithful church. And this doesn't mean you're not going to have problems. One of the reasons I have to say that is because sometimes religion, false religion teaches that. if you do the right things, you behave a certain way, you're not going to have any trouble. That's just totally false in the true gospel religion. You are going to have trouble, but more important than that, you're going to have the strength and the gospel spirit-led determination to persist through the trouble. And for every one of you here who are covenanted in Jesus, You will have difficulty, but you possess within you the blessed Holy Spirit that we have seen in 1 Corinthians 2, 1 Corinthians 3, the mind of Christ. You're the children of God. You've been equipped for the task. and you will and can be successful by the power of God as his church to the glory of Christ. Now this isn't willpower and it's certainly not positive thinking as we're now going to see. So how believers are valiantly sustained in difficulty? By remembering that God's good hand is upon us and by believing that God loves us in Jesus. One of my favorite New Testament texts is 1 John 5, 4, which teaches us that faith procures our victory in Christ. Here's what the text says, for whatever or whoever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. That's pretty strong. That's a beautiful promise. Therefore, Christ's person and gospel become for us not only our entryway into heaven, but our sustenance here as we feast on him in the Word and in the sacrament, which we're doing in the Word now and will be in the sacrament in a moment. Nehemiah believed and therefore he acted, and so do we. And in our acting, we also speak, even as Nehemiah undoubtedly did, as he addressed the governors in the region beyond the river. And later on, we'll have interaction with Sanballat and Tobiah, even though he would rather not. In some cases, he makes the effort not to, rightly so. But God's call upon Nehemiah is the same one upon us tonight. Build up the church and bless the world. And that's what Nehemiah was simply going out to do. Through living faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, His blood atonement, glorious resurrection, let's do that and let's live for Him. There's the beginning of trouble is also the genesis of growth, maturity, and character, and good things, and a better life. So let's be thankful in Jesus. Father, thank you for trouble that does come our way when it has the savory effect of making us more like Christ Jesus. Father, we confess that we don't like it, and that's a good thing that we don't. That's natural and right that that would be our feeling. But at the same time, we do like the good result, and we pray that we would want to be more Christ-like in every way as you lead and guide us even through the trials of life. bring us through them to the glory of Jesus. And may this feast at the table tonight serve toward that end as well. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.