So in the lower parts of the space, behind the wall, in the open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes. When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. Amen. Dear Saints, you may be seated. Tonight we're embarking on the fifth of the seven sermons we plan to preach out of the fourth chapter of Nehemiah. But as always, before we do, let's implore God for his grace. Heavenly Father, you have been so good to us today in every way possible, pouring upon us so much mercy and kindness. And tonight we get to feast yet again in the word and sacrament on your son Jesus, the bread of life. Cause us to do that for your glory and our good and your church's benefit in the ministry of the world. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So chapter 4 of Nehemiah up to this point has been something of a spiritual, military, strategic chess match between God's people and those who were his opponents. The foes taunt the people of God, and the believers get toughened up in the process. When we left Nehemiah last Sunday night, he was effectively being surrounded by a host of antagonists who were intent on destroying him, the wall, and the Church of the Old Covenant. This evening's scripture lesson will outline three remarkable responses to this foreboding situation, all of which are still active principles for us in the Church today in the year 2020. Everything gets put on the line here and it is sink or swim time for the children of God. Would their faith prevail and triumph over the world or would the natural man of fear and regret and hardship Get the upper hand and would they cave in to the enemies of Christ and grace? In light of all this, let's make it our goal tonight to be a church that reacts with faith to every foe and struggle. Looking at Nehemiah 4, 13-15. Responding to the threat, the doctrine. Threats and hardships are some of God's means of strengthening his church. We usually talk about the ordinary means of grace, often preaching the sacrament and prayer, but God has these subordinate means too. Certainly not the only way that the Lord builds up you, the body of Christ, but it is definitely one of his primary tools for causing us to be conformed more and more to our blessed Savior. So, threats and hardships are some of God's means of strengthening his church. If we experienced no opposition, how much would any of us appreciate the beauty of God's grace like the wonder of this glorious day today if we did not sometimes have to behold the horrible ugliness of sin? The same can be said about life's joys and pleasures. How much would we value them if we did not have to go through a bit of mud and slime in order to get to them? Though we expended not an ounce of energy in being procured by God's grace in our justification, which is entirely an act of God on a passive heart that has no interest in it, in its own self, is totally rebellious, though that is the case, that Jesus Christ forgives sinners by the grace of God and the electing mercies and the application of the atonement to our souls by the Holy Spirit, And though that is absolutely true, nonetheless it is also true that no one gets to heaven who does not exert a lot of effort and put out a lot of spiritual sweat on the way. Not in regard to justification, but yes in regard to sanctification or growing in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. We do indeed. And the reason for this is simple, because sincerity and authenticity of our belonging to Jesus is shown in our perseverance in him, as we remain faithful both as and in his church. And resistance from adversaries is a very good way to demonstrate the genuineness or falsehood of that situation. So it is true that if we experience no opposition, We would never relish victory. Now, I've referred to this principle inherently already, implicitly, but it's especially true of Christ's cross and resurrection. How would we ever be able to bless God with full and grateful hearts if we did not know and feel and experience the power of Christ's triumph over our sin, death, and hell? This is why God leaves so many often vile and sometimes violent enemies of our Savior and his church in the world. And I've been sharing with you of recent date these comments from the great St. Augustine, it was in this morning's bulletin, why God actually leaves wicked people in the world and that kind of thing. All of it's got a reason. And at the end of the day, it's all for the betterment of us, the people of God, to cause us to grow up and grow in grace. Therefore, don't be surprised, dear saints, or disturbed too much by the deep troubles that sometimes assail you through other people. and those who are both troubling fellow churchmen as well. So we do have hope, and that hope is only and always in Jesus. Let's look at these three exciting verses, 13 to 15, chapter 4. Observe the church's proper process for responding to the threat. So the context here is that last week we had discouraging words. as Nehemiah had received those from the people of Judah, from the people of the foes of the covenant that wanted to destroy them, and from some others who were allies. And before that we had seen that these threats were taking some visible form. So let's consider here that Nehemiah provides us a pattern that serves us very well for all time. It's practical, it's measurable, and reasonable. And yet it's eminently the fruit of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. So what is the church's proper process for responding to the threat? So when you go into the work week, this week, or school, whatever, wherever we go, how are we going to measure our responses to what comes upon us? First, Take prudent and precautionary measures. Prudent is wise, wise measures. Measures that make sense, that are practical and measurable, if you will. Verse 13, So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall in open places, I stationed the people by their clans with their swords, their spears, and their bows. So the words have come to Nehemiah, those discouraging words, and the very first thing he does is shores up the weakest links in the chain around the wall around Jerusalem that was being built from the bottom up. And notice here that Nehemiah takes these threats and warnings of the previous verses, especially verses 11 and 12, very seriously. And it leads now to an initial military type of action. And their employment of swords, spears, and bows was not a sign of unbelief. Not at all. In fact, rather, it was a clear indication of sanctified faith. This all made good sense. Nehemiah covered the most vulnerable sections of the wall, the, quote, lower parts and the, quote, open places. And he situated his sentries in their natural family units, which also made good sense because people and families would know that, hey, this guy can handle the bow really well. This guy can handle the sword very well. So they had a natural understanding already. And he put them together in their clans in those weak spots. Now observe, dears, that sometimes the immediate work or mission of the Church of God, in this case the Old Covenant Church, or even in the New Covenant as well, sometimes it has to be temporarily put on hold so that the eventual success will indeed come to be and be guaranteed. In other words, if they were to proceed right now with the wall building, the exact same mode that they were in before, after knowing the threats that were present and very real, and had not taken these dangers into account, it may have led to complete failure in the end. So every once in a while in life, we get interruptions, things happen that we have to work with, but if we continue to trust God, we'll always get to the end of the goal. So the church's proper process, take prudent and precautionary measures, verse 14, amazing verse, give and receive faith-filled encouragement, And I, that's Nehemiah, looked and arose and said, so he does three things. He looks, he rises, and he talks, and he speaks to the nobles and the officials and to the rest of the people, and he says, Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes. The other day we watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which we sometimes try to do on an annual basis. You know, the The humans and the elves and the dwarves, they had reason to fight. They had the families and they had cultures and the communities, and the orcs didn't have any purpose at all. And this is kind of the way it is in life, really. The church, the people of God, ultimately you're the ones with all the purpose. And therefore, really, it's important that we value our lives, our families, our church family, the families in the church, It's important that we understand that this is not an expendable commodity and that we work together in these sorts of ways. And Nehemiah's speech here is absolutely fantastic. And notice that the key to the success of the repulsion of the fearful taunts of the foes is powerful gospel words of influence. No howitzer cannon or M16 rifle would have been able to do this and overcome the church's adversaries But the utterance of heavenly and hopeful gracious gospel hope ultimately in Jesus Proclaimed by God's ordained officer in this case a civil authority Nehemiah had tremendous power And his words strengthened and emboldened the people if we may say that Nehemiah preached a sermon here in verse 14 I would suggest that he used three points one do not be afraid and Two, trust in your great God. And three, fight hard like there's no tomorrow. All of them are found in verse 14. And he also gives, as I mentioned earlier, great helpful motivation to fight. He exhorts them to battle for the covenant, the church, quote his brothers, which would include his sisters, all those in the faith. and then for their families, the nuclear family in the covenant, the sons, the daughters, and the wives, and finally for their homes or their cultures or their communities. So that order, again, is so important, and we always talk about that order. Church, family, culture, and that's what we see right there in verse 14. So what is the church's proper process? Take prudent and precautionary measures. In other words, there's nothing unspiritual or ungodly or ungracious about doing certain things in life that just make sense. Locking your car, locking your house, watching out for your family. of being prudent in the church, with regard to the safety of each one of our people, especially our little ones. Those things make sense. There's nothing unspiritual. In fact, it's totally spiritual. So, prudent and precautionary measures are good. Faith-filled encouragement is really the heart and soul of this. But then, verse 15, stay on task and fulfill the mission. Where we read, when our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. So, here they go. They get right back to work and the poor enemies of God here are frustrated. God had frustrated them. In fact, it even says that God had frustrated their plan. And really, it was very important that they got back to work. What good would all of this precautionary measures and the good speech that Nehemiah gave do if they didn't actually keep on task? So, staying on task is really important. Verse 15, the opponents realized that because God frustrated their plan, there was nothing they could do. And how did he do that? Well, we don't know for sure, but he made their schemes known to the people of God. When God's church, God's people have done everything they can to create a secure environment, and especially when they realize that the Lord God, Yahweh, has helped us, then we're able and willing to go back to work, into our ministries, into our various places in the world, all the callings he's given us on Sunday and then throughout the week, with hopeful and encouraged hearts, enlivened and enlightened with the glory of who Jesus is. So in light of this, dears, never lose heart. Never get discouraged in an ultimate sense. Rather, continue to press on for the kingdom of God. And as by grace we do that, we expand the borders of the kingdom in our own minds and understandings, and the church, and the world around us. And it's a glorious life. Will it be easy? No. But it's the one life worth living because it's done for the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's do a little more application tonight. Consider why difficulty should not trouble the church too much. And I want to encourage you, I think one of the advantages of getting a few years on your little experience is you kind of learn, you know, things that bother people, that really people get all worried about, you know, it's understandable. but the church doesn't need to be. And difficulty should not trouble us too much. In God's economy, everything conspires for the good of his people, his church, his bride. We know that, Romans 8.28. And therefore, let's consider why we shouldn't be too troubled. First, because Jesus has conquered all our enemies. Everything arrayed against the body of Christ, including death, has been vanquished by our King. And the entire Bible is all about this glorious Son of God who would come and do this. And that's why we have the Gospel. If Nehemiah had written anything in his book here that wasn't ultimately pointing to the One, He Himself, Jesus Christ, then his, Nehemiah's work and these words would be worthless to us. Same could be said about Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, or any other scripture author. all of whom were inspired by the Holy Spirit because they were directing the Church of the Old and New Covenants to the one Christ who would come. The center and focal point of all things, all history, all creation, everything focuses around Jesus Christ. So, Nehemiah's success over God's foes is a picture of our triumph in Christ over all his enemies. So when you go into your work week or your place of life this week, understand that, and be a grateful follower of your triumphant King. Because Jesus has conquered all our enemies, we enjoy his triumph even now, down here. You hear this quite a bit from this pulpit, and I think rightly so, but what good would it be for us here if the only benefits of our redemption awaited us in the next life? Indeed, the Bible speaks very little about the world to come, but concentrates almost its entire effort on encouraging the saints in this life. And we ought to recognize that. The fact is that the redeemed church, just like in Nehemiah's day, enjoys the fruits of Jesus' victory over sin, Satan, the law, judgment, and hell, here and now, where we need it. Therefore, dears, recognize that faithful Christians have help, you do, even in the midst of your most desperate struggles and hardest times. And our help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth and who recreated the souls and hearts of every one of his children in Christ. all of whom exercise faith in the blessed Messiah and his glorious sacrifice of his blood on our behalf, which we will celebrate in a few moments, and then we are justified by his resurrection from the dead, which we celebrate every Sunday. Therefore, beloved, to respond to the threat is, at the end of the day, to trust in the living God, who has caused us to be more than conquerors through him. So let's be with those who rightly, in Christ, respond to every threat. Let's pray together. Father, we know that there's threats against our life every day, that the enemies of God, the demons, the fallen angels, all these arrayed forces against us, But they cannot prevail against us, even though they do sometimes trouble us, and we do acknowledge that. And human beings that are in allegiance or allied with the demons do the same thing. But again, no one can prevail against us. I pray for these dear saints and myself, all of your church, that we would properly respond to every threat. in ways that glorify you. This we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.