Welcome to Harmony Primitive Baptist Church. Good morning. Well, I'm telling you, if we don't hear anything else today, we've heard a sermon preached already. I appreciate it so much. As a matter of fact, Brother Dan, I have 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31 highlighted, underlined, there in that chapter. It's one of my favorite parts of the Bible. I have thoroughly enjoyed our studies in the Old Testament thus far. It has been amazing to me as we've gone through them. I know it's been a long period of time and it may take us a long time to get through it. Some of us may not be here by the time we get through the Old Testament. Maybe the Lord will come back and get us all. It amazes me how the Old Testament Parallels, 4,000, 3,500 years ago, parallels today in this present world. If you stop and think about it, if you'll be honest with yourself, as we've gone through it, you've probably learned some things and thought, man, is that going on today? Am I going on today? And I think that's been the case. So in saying that, by this point, we should all realize and know in our hearts that the Bible is relevant today, right? No matter where we're reading in it, no matter where it is, we're reading in this Bible, it's relevant today. Amen. Alarming to me is that today, in one of those parallels, and we're gonna be in Nehemiah, just give you a heads up. What alarms me today is that God's written word, God's preached word, and his people are being attacked. And you may not like the next thing I'm about to say, but not only are God's people being attacked, his written word and his preached word. But I think I never would say this in the United States of America. I think those that would do evil and prevent you from even having this book, to prevent you from coming to worship a God in who we owe everything to, are being assisted by the government. You can call me a conspiracy theorist but all you have to do is look around. It's going on. If they could, tomorrow they would close the doors to this church house. But, the good news is God is still in control. Amen? So let's look at some events that took place in Nehemiah. I think it's a great parallel to what's going on today. We're going to do a little reading, and I'm going to attempt to do something that I haven't done very often, so I beg charity from you. I want to go through five or six chapters, get the history, and point out a few things that I think are relevant to us today. In the days of Nehemiah, God's people were in great despair. and affliction. We read here in the very first chapter, the words of Nehemiah, the son of Hekeliah, and it came to pass in the month of Chislew in the 20th years, I was in Shushan, the palace. He's in a palace, living a good life, has a good life, Nehemiah does. That Hananiah, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah. So they've come from Judah. and asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity and concerning Jerusalem. So Nehemiah is asking them, what's going on in Judah? What's up at Jerusalem? And they said unto me, the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach, disgraceful, under affliction and disgraceful. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Right here, we're about to learn what type of man Nehemiah was. In this very next verse, and 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 here we have a man that's under Babylonian rule. Nehemiah was a member of the king's court. He was the cupbearer, right? So he's politically connected, if you will. And here he is in the king's court. What would he have to be so sad about? because he's heard about his brethren and sisters back in Judah and Jerusalem and the reproach and the afflictions that they're under. So he says in his prayer, this is one of many, by the way, in this book of Nehemiah that Nehemiah prays. There's a few things I really hope to be able to point out in here. And I think sometimes it's great for us to have a history lesson. And that's pretty much what this is for us here, besides these wonderful prayers. He says, and prayed before the God of heaven and said, I beseech thee, O Lord, God of heaven, the great and terrible God that keepeth covenant, watch this, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments. First of all, he starts off his prayer by acknowledging who God is, right? And by the way, terrible God there, that just means he's an awesome God. You've heard that before. The word terrible is not what we think of in today's terms. The word in this day, the word terrible there meant awesome. He's an awesome God. Now watch this. 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 who? He's not asking anything for himself, is he? Day and night for the children of Israel, thy servants. and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned, includes himself against thee. Both I and my father's house have sinned." So he begins his prayer acknowledging who God is and how awesome and wonderful he is, and that he's a covenant-keeping, merciful God. And then he starts to ask on behalf of his brothers and sisters and confesses that they've sinned. As if God needed that, right? God knows. But he wanted, he had this unction in his spirit to let God know that he knew he had sinned. Isn't that important? He says, we have dealt very corruptly against thee and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments with thou commandest thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses saying, if you transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations. And that's what happened, right? They're all scattered. They're in Babylonian captivity. Some of them, by the way, have gone back to Jerusalem and Judah, but it's in terrible condition. He says, but if you turn unto me and keep my commandments and do them, though there were of you cast out into the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. Now these are thy servants and thy people whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand. Who's Nehemiah given credit to? Lord God. He knows who's in control. And that's who he's given the credit to. He says, O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name. And prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. In the sight of what man? The king. the king that he's the cupbearer for, he's gonna go before him. And he's begging the Lord for knowledge and wisdom and courage to go before this king. Can you imagine, can you imagine in those days, going before the king Artaxerxes, I think is how you pronounce it, and asking him something? asking him for something, you can get your head lopped off, you know? But Nehemiah had this compassion and love for God and his people and knew in his heart that things were not right, that the children of Israel were not doing the things that they should be doing in service to God. That broke his heart, and the fact that they were under great affliction broke his heart. I pray thee, thy servant, this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Then look at this. This caught my eye for the first time. Y'all, I have enjoyed Nehemiah, and I go back to Nehemiah a lot and read it. I get something out of it every time. I would encourage you to read it. It's very interesting. But look at that last sentence there in that last verse. For I was the king's cupbearer. Did you ever notice that, brother? He's already decided. One of two things is how I take this. He says, I was the king's cupbearer. So he already has faith that God's gonna grant his petition, right? Or he's decided I'm done being a cupbearer and I'm gonna do whatever I can for the children of Israel. It's gotta be one of those two things. I think that Nehemiah's faith was so strong in God that he knew that God would grant him his petition. Skip on to chapter two. So he goes before, we'll kind of summarize some of this in a couple of verses that I want to get to here in chapter two. So he goes before the king, right? Well, the door of opportunity was opened, right? How was that? The Lord opened it. I want to read to you here where I think The door of opportunity was open. Wherefore the king said unto me, why is thy countenance sad? Here's the king looking at one of his servants and wondering, why is your countenance so sad? Seeing thou art not sick, you're not sick, why are you sad? The king realizes this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Nehemiah says, then I was very sore afraid. I'm a little afraid that the king's not liking this. And said unto the king, let the king live forever. Why should not my countenance be sad when the city, the place of my father's sepulchers, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? So he tells the king, here's why I'm sad. The place that I come from, my father's sepulchers, it's burned. It's in shambles. Then the king said unto me, for what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. I can imagine, here he's fixing to ask, and he's asking, you know, I could get my head lopped off right here, but here it goes. And I said unto the king, If it pleased the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my father's sepulchers, that I may build it." He's wanting to go back to Judah, back to Jerusalem, and rebuild it, restore it. I wanna point out to you here, Nehemiah, y'all, was not a priest. He was not a prophet like Malachi. He was just a layman. Just a congregant, as it were. Wasn't anybody special as far as a priest or a prophet. Now he's in the, what they call the small prophets, but he was just a layman. Bear that in mind as we go through here. The king said unto me, the queen, also sitting by him, verse six, for how long shall thy journey be? And when wilt thou return? So he's granted him by asking that simple question. So it pleased the king to send me and I set him a time. So he's gonna get to go, right? I found this next part just amazing. So Nehemiah gets what he's asking for, right? So he, He doesn't stop there. He's not just getting to go to Judah and Jerusalem. Well, God's granted me this much and he's always given God the credit, by the way. Nehemiah doesn't take any of the credit for this, what occurs throughout the book of Nehemiah. He's always given God the credit, knows where his help and his strength comes from. So Nehemiah is pretty bold now. He's emboldened by the fact that that wish has been granted, so let's see what else I can get, in other words, let's see what else I can get out of the king, right? So he goes on and he asks for all this stuff, right? The letters, the timber, send letters to those across the way so that I won't be in jeopardy, basically, that I can get there and have safe passage, the king grants. You know, I find myself sometimes wondering what the Lord has already granted me that I have failed to ask for. Do you? This opened my eyes to the fact that I ask the Lord for specific things in prayer. There's no telling what he's already granted to me that I've never asked for. So he gives him the timber and then he says, of course, you know how it goes. He goes over there and then look at verse 10 with me. It says, when Sambalat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite heard of it, it grieved them. So here is Nehemiah has gotten to Jerusalem, gotten to Judah and gotten to Jerusalem and he's inquiring. about the welfare of the children of Israel. And it upset somebody that was there in a higher place, Sambalat and Tobiah. They were pretty upset about it. So the plot, the plotting already begins in Sambalat and Tobiah. So if you're thinking this is gonna be an easy road just because the Lord's granted Nehemiah his requests and the king has granted Nehemiah to go ahead and go do these things, it's not an easy road ahead. So Nehemiah spends some days by himself getting a lay of the land, as it were, without anybody knowing. As far as the children of Israel, he surveys all the walls and the gates and sees the condition of them. He's putting a plan together in his mind. He's putting a plan together. He says, Verse 17 says, then said I unto them, speaking to the man after he's done all this, you see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire? Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach or a disgrace. Then I told them of the hand of my God, which was good upon me, as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, you know, the people, all they needed was a leader, an honest, inspirational leader. Look what the people said. As soon as he told them that it was God at work here and that the king had granted it unto him, and they said, let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work. Well, Sambalat and Tobiah, that's just more arrows for their quiver now. Let's go on over to chapter three, which is, by the way, a record, a wonderful record of who did what, where in the rebuilding of Jerusalem. It's kind of lengthy, but there's a couple of verses that stood out to me for the first time after several times of reading Nehemiah. He's going through this list of the families, as it were, that were doing the work and specific things on the wall. And in verse five, he says, and next unto them, the Tikalites repaired, but their nobles put not their next to the work of their Lord. I never noticed that before. Because you go down through this list and everybody's just working. There were some nobles in Jerusalem, children of God, that did not want to do the work. Maybe their heart wasn't in the right place. Then he goes on through another whole list. And then the next verse that I wanted us to look at, because it's listing all these men and men's names and sons and all that. Look at verse 12 with me. And next unto him repaired Shalom, the son of Haloashish, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem. Here's the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters. He and his daughters. Don't wanna leave you sisters out because in the work of the house of the Lord, you're just as important as any man. Then he goes through that whole list, and it's a beautiful picture of who did what, where, and when on the restoration of the walls in Jerusalem. Can you imagine the leadership that it took? Man couldn't do what Nehemiah did in and of himself. If you read that, we don't have the time to read that, but the organization that it took, the leadership, and to get the people inspired to go and do that, what they had to do, I encourage you to read it. It was in terrible shape. What a leader Nehemiah was. And that's all the people were needing. That ought to tell us One thing about what was going on in Jerusalem, there was some men and women getting wealthy off the backs of others and nothing happening in the way of worship to God or in the rebuilding of Jerusalem so that it wasn't a reproach, a disgrace to everybody that looked upon it. Skipping on over here to chapter four. So remember Sam Ballat and Tobiah, they keep coming up. They're evil people when they're in the government. They're doing everything that they can to suppress and discourage the people to continue this work. It's good old Sambalat and Tobiah again. He says here in chapter 4, but it came to pass that when Sambalat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews. And he spake before his brethren and 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? Now 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. So they were telling everybody that it wouldn't last, it wouldn't hold up. Hear, O our God, for we are despised, and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity. And 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. So built we the wall, and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof for the people." Look at this. For the people. had a mind to work. We should take encouragement from that. We should have a mind to work. Didn't say the pastor or select few in the church or whatever had a mind to work. The people had a mind to work. It took all of them to rebuild. But anyway, so Sam Blatt and Tobiah are back up causing trouble and here you can read that. They continue to work on the wall. I want to emphasize that The leadership that Nehemiah was blessed of God, his leadership, blessed of God, was so detailed in that organization of the rebuilding of the wall. And now there's armies. Now they've got to fight. But they can't stop building the wall. So they're fighting. They've got a sword in one hand and a tool in the other. Building the wall, they've set some apart to watch, to take watch. Skip down here to verse 18. For the builders, everyone had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. And I said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, the work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. In what place, therefore, ye hear the sound of the trumpet, Resort ye thither unto us, because I'm going to fight for us. Our God shall fight for us. He wanted them all to get together, wherever it was that they were being attacked. But he tells them, our God will fight for us. And then he goes on, for we labored in the work. Skip on over here to chapter five. If you think they only had to deal with outsiders, they had to deal with people, as it were, within the church. There was the nobles, the ones in seats of authority, and because they were still in Babylonian captivity, the taxes, the Persian taxes, the common folk were being abused, being taken advantage of. Nehemiah didn't like this. So there was an uprising even within, that Nehemiah had to contend with. It says here in verse six of chapter five, he says, and I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. Then I consulted with myself and I rebuked the nobles and the rulers and said unto them, ye exact usury, every one of his brother, and I set a great assembly against them. And I said unto them, We, after our ability, have redeemed our brethren, the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen. And will ye even sell your brethren?" Can you imagine brothers and sisters abusing one another like that? What's he do? He teaches them by setting the example, relates to them. He could have done all that those nobles were doing by his position. He could have done that. But he didn't. He didn't require or ask a thing of the people. He was right there doing it. So he led by example to them. What do they do? They get the message. They learn something from Nehemiah. And they stop. So we have a happier time in Jerusalem now. Everybody seems to be on the same page within. But here comes old Sambalat and Tobiah again. They have progressed to the point over here in chapter 6. They've tried everything. They tried sailing the walls with armies. They've tried lying. And they're going to tell the king. Look over here in verse, we'll start in verse five in chapter six. It says, then sent Sambalat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand. They're trying to get Nehemiah to come meet in this secluded place. Sent several different letters, because they're gonna kill him. They're plotting to kill him, right? Get rid of him. They've tried everything else. So now let's kill him. Then sent Sambalat his 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, saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel." They weren't thinking to rebel. They're just rebuilding the city, trying to reclaim and make the place of their God where they worship no longer a disgrace to everyone that looked upon it. said that the Jews think to rebel, for which cause thou buildest the wall? That's why you're building the wall, is because you're gonna rebel. That thou mayest be their king. You're wanting to 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. So they're gonna go back and tell King Artaxerxes, that's a hard name to say. They're gonna go back, they're gonna send people back and tell him what Nehemiah's doing, or they're gonna lie about it. They're gonna tell a bunch of lies. You know, the more you tell a lie, the more people keep telling that same lie over and over and over, people are going to believe it. Right? Come now, therefore, and let us take counsel together. So they're trying to, come on, man. Come over here. Let us take counsel together so I can stick this knife in you. Ain't none of that going on today, is there? Then I said unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou faintest them out of thine own heart." Not being led of God, y'all are doing this out of your own heart. So they all made us afraid, saying, their hands shall be weakened from the work that it be not done. Now, therefore, O God, strengthen my hands." It's putting the fear into the people that had been doing the work. And we know where fear comes from, don't we? What the root of fear is, Satan, the devil. We shouldn't be fearful. After all that they had done, y'all, we're fixing to find out. They rebuilt this wall in 52 days. They restored the walls and the gates of Jerusalem in 52 days. Can you imagine that? After everything that I've told you, and it's in a lot more detail, I'm having to skip over a lot of it, that they were up against because they believed in God, they rebuilt in 52 days. That just amazes me. I don't know how long it takes to build a set of cabinets for this crazy place up in Batesville. But Tobiah, he doesn't give up. He continues to try to put fear But Nehemiah's faith in God never failed. He never failed. I want to skip, of course, chapter 7 and 8 are the captives that have returned and others are coming in. They've got the walls rebuilt. Now they're getting ready to worship and get back to the commandments and you can read that. I wanna get over here to chapter nine. I'm sure we're running out of time, but he also, they read the law. See, there was people in Jerusalem that didn't even know their history. There was Jews, children of Israel, that didn't even know their history. One of the things that happened while these walls were tore down, they were taking on wives that they weren't supposed to be taking on. And there's one place in there, you can read it, where they couldn't even speak the language. They couldn't understand the language of the Jews. So the children of Israel had been for lack of a better term, I don't know how to express, watered down their blood. So that's one reason why he's taking into account the genealogy. Anyway, the law is read and they begin to worship the Lord. The people confess their sins and they have a much better outlook on life now in Jerusalem and in Judah. Get over here to chapter nine. As I was reading this, Nehemiah in this prayer, chapter nine is pretty much a long prayer of Nehemiah. He recounts the history of the children of Israel as if God needed him to, right? God knows the history. I think Nehemiah wanted God to know, I understand this. I know that thou art a great and merciful God and have been. I want to read from here after he goes through the history and all the things that the Lord has done for the children of Israel throughout time. I want to pick it up in verse 30 of the ninth chapter. Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedest against them by thy spirit in thy prophets. Yet would they not give ear, therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands. Nevertheless, for thy great mercy's sake, thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them, for thou art a gracious and merciful God. Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the troubles seem little before thee that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day. Howbeit thou art just, just, look at this, He says, even though all this has happened to us, how be it thou art just in all that is brought upon us. For thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly. I would, that we could confess that. I'm talking about as individuals that no matter what befalls us, it's just. in this sense. I'm telling you. Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers kept thy law, nor hearken unto thy commandments and thy testimonies wherewith thou didst testify against them. So anyway, he ends this prayer by making a pact, as it were. And the scribes and the Levites, they seal it. They all agree. He says, and it yielded much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins. Also, they have dominion over our bodies and over our cattle at their pleasure. And we are in great distress. And because of all this, we make a sure covenant and write it. And our princes, Levites, and priests seal unto it. Nehemiah. I want to try to summarize those nine chapters and what I took away from it. Hopefully, I encourage you to read it. Hopefully, you will too. Number one, prayer within God's will and for His sake is overwhelmingly powerful. Wasn't it? His prayer wasn't about him, was it? Nehemiah's prayer wasn't about him. Also, look at what can be accomplished when we trust our God and look to Him for the help, right? I can't describe to you well enough, I don't know if you're like me, but when you read a good book, aren't you there? Can't you visualize as if you're part of it, right? When I was going through there and reading about all these walls and these gates and the dumb gate and the water gate and all those different places, I was there and I was seeing nothing but destruction. That's what happened to Jerusalem, right? Look what they accomplished. in 52 days. I don't know that you could do that in today. Do you? In 52 days? I think this is a great indication of the obstacles that we can overcome when we rely on the power of God. I already told you that Nehemiah wasn't a priest or a prophet, he was a layman. Nehemiah was steadfast and determined. And because of his steadfastness and his determination, and his organizational skills and knowing how to deal with people. He probably got a lot of that from his position as the King's Cupbearer. All of that inspired the people. And when they accomplished that work, when they got through with that, don't you know they felt good? Don't you know they They had a look towards a brighter future and they felt good. You know, when we do the work around here, I relate it like this. When you come and you pitch in, when you get together, whether you do a lot or a little, when we get together as a congregation and we do some work around and repair things around, don't you feel good about it? And don't you feel good about one another? I do. It's always a great experience. And that's why I think it's always a great thing. I don't know how our elders feel about it, but I think it's always a pretty good thing to have something going on around the church house. I really do. Whatever it is, could be small, could be big. But if you're honest with yourself, you feel a lot better when you're working together with one another and doing something around the church house, don't you? Never underestimate what a man, woman, man or woman, can do when God is leading and in control. Don't ever underestimate that. Think of the impact one individual had on an entire nation of people. They could have sat there in squalor forever because Nehemiah had a heart for God and a love for God's people. He took it upon, and look, y'all, being in the king's court, that's pretty much the lap of luxury. He pretty much left luxury. He had all he could need. He could have lived out his life comfortably in the king's court. But he loved God and His people so much that it didn't matter what it was going to take. He wanted to restore Jerusalem and Judah for the sake of God's people. so that they could worship and no longer be a disgrace. Just remember, we don't know what an impact we can have on others and even those amongst us. I think Nehemiah is a great indication of what people can do when they trust in the Lord.