We're going to go ahead and jump in tonight trying to save time at the end for our prayer time. But we're going to go back. We did not finish up chapter 5 of Nehemiah. So if you would take your Bibles and go with me to Nehemiah chapter 5 and we're going to try to wrap up what's happening here in chapter 5 and what is taking place with the people of God as we've been now going through. We went for quite some time through chapter 3 looking at the different gates and as a whole the story that it tells, the layout of Jerusalem, and the walls and the gates and each gate's purpose and the picture that it gives even for the child of God today to see from salvation all the way through the Christian life, the daily walk with the Lord. and all the way until the day that we're looking forward to and that is the return of Christ and day of judgment, day of reckoning you might call it. But it goes all the way around kind of telling an entire story just circling around the walls with the different gates. and so we dealt with all that and then we dealt with in chapter 4 the conflict that happens not after the building but in the midst of trying to get the gates and the walls repaired chapter 4 steps back and now tells the rest of the story by talking about how they had a plan, they had a heart and desire to work. The Bible even puts it, they had a mind to work. They got together, they got the job started, and they had a desire to get it finished. And in that process, though, it wasn't done without some resistance. They had great resistance. Chapter 4 talked about that. in the resistance of Samballot. And there's also Tobiah that came in and joined. And they started off initially with just trying to discourage them. And as we pointed out, that the focus here kind of gives a reflection of how Satan works, how the adversary works even today with the child of God, a desire to do what's right, a desire to head forward. May I say, And I'm just going to put it this way, and I'm going to try to move on. But since we started, it never fails. Every time we get focused on something, it's like life itself starts living out what we're looking at. And can I tell you, since we started looking at the building of the walls and following God and trying to rebuild that which we had allowed be destroyed, whether it's in your personal life or in ministry, God's people trying to do that which needs to be done in the midst of a wicked and perverse nation and a world that doesn't care, a society that hates God. And you look at all these things and you see the picture of what they did and how it should encourage us and what we're supposed to do. And then you look at the obstacles they ran into and the threats that they ran into and the discouragements that hit them. And then even the outright, we'll see later, the outright attempts at bringing about physical action against them to stop them. But you look at all of that and can I just tell you, If it could bend, break, and blow up in people's lives, similar to that, the attacks, the craziness, the things that make zero sense, the discouragement things, the distractions, the downright threats of attack against life, just because the person or individuals or situations that folks at our church are facing They're facing individuals that don't want God, don't like God, don't want to hear anything about God, and so they're attacking anything and everything that has to do with God. And can I tell you, it has lit up in the last little bit. Practically every week there's something else. It's like, are you kidding me? Really? I mean, at some point, again, now you might say, oh, preacher, you shouldn't be shocked. No, I shouldn't, but I'm human. I'm shocked! because you know it's coming, but then when it hits, and then it hits again, and it hits again, and it hits again, and it's not necessarily just things that I'm facing, it's things that y'all are facing that we're sharing together, and I'm trying to be an encouragement, and trying to be that one you can come to, which is what you ought to be able to do with your pastor, and I get that, but as a whole, you start hearing it from all sides, some things you can share, some things you can't share with people, and it's like, My goodness. Start to feel like the servant of Elisha. How are we gonna do it? Elisha had to pray and say, Lord, open his eyes. Because when you look at the attacks, you look at the threats, you look at the onslaught of things, For every step people are taking and making strides for the Lord, all of a sudden they get waylaid out of the blue with something to knock them off track. I mean it's happening time and time and I don't know how many conversations I've had lately with different individuals and said I believe without any any question all this is and it's not to lower it but all this is that you're facing is yet another potential attack in order to try to sideline you or in the midst of you trying to say, I'm gonna do something for God. I'm gonna get my life on track beyond just being mediocre. I'm gonna do something. I wanna make a difference. I wanna be someone for the Lord. Not necessarily in man's eyes, but I wanna do something that matters. I wanna accomplish something that matters. I would really like to get home one day and hear, well done, thou good and faithful servant. That person gets on track, that person gets excited, that person starts rebuilding the walls. Next thing you know, wham! And it's not a shot across the bow. I mean, it's like targeted, dead on, battering ram. At the time, my time is spent, Lord, please don't let them just fall out. Please don't worry. I mean, right now, listen, if every single person getting hit right now was to just go ahead and say, you know what? Fine, I'm done. I can't take anymore. There'd be about 10 to 12 of you gone. So keep in mind, you're not alone. But it is happening over and over and to different levels of severity. But understand, it is the same thing we're looking at in the book of Nehemiah. In chapter four, they got hit with discouragement. They got hit with the potential distractions. And then when none of that worked, they got hit with the threats of physical action against them. I mean, just constant, constant, constant. And they finally just said, all right, grab a hammer and grab a sword. We're gonna have to start doing this the hard way. Can't use two hands on the build, we're gonna have to use a hand for defense and a hand on the build. It's gonna take a lot more effort now than what it should have taken because now we gotta keep our eyes in two places at one time. We gotta keep things going while at the same time preparing for some kind of a sneak attack because we know the enemy doesn't play fair at all. And so, They prepare for that, chapter four is all about that in Nehemiah. And they prepare and they get themselves ready and they say, we're not gonna give up, we're gonna keep going. But then we come to chapter five. And chapter five, what we've already looked at in verse one through verse number five is, it's not the outward attack that is a possibility of ripping them apart and stopping the work. It now becomes an inner issue. There is going to be conflict from within that is going to start driving a wedge between the people of God within themselves. And this wedge, may I say, is not coming from your common, I say common, your hard-working individuals that are busy in the work. It's coming from the ones that are a little too good for the work. They've risen in status above being the ones to dirty their hands with the work. We now supervise. And the problem is, they've been supervising everybody out of their homes, and everybody out of their lands, and everybody out of their own lives, and they put people into bondage, and they've done things completely against the command of God, and we looked at it all the way, in the book of Jeremiah, gave warnings about how to handle things, and the warning of what not to do when it comes to God's people putting each other into bondage over things. And we already looked at it, I'm not going to rehearse everything, but every seven years they were to release anything that they gathered or anything that they claimed. People that worked for them, if they worked for them and gave themselves as a servant to an individual, after seven years that servant was to be set free without any obligations. If they took somebody's land, if they purchased someone's inheritance and land, that after seven years they were supposed to release that land back to them because the Jewish individuals, they were not supposed to give up that which was their inheritance. Because it wasn't just a family inheritance, it was a God-given inheritance. And God said, I gave it to you, you're not supposed to sell out. Thus you have the whole Ahab and Pepash and all that kind of stuff as well. I'm not going to sell you. I'm not going to give you something that belongs to us. God gave this to us, and we were commanded not to sell in a permanency scenario. Well, in this case, you have all your nobles, all your rich individuals that have been buying up and gaining everything and putting everybody into servitude. Year after year after year after year after year, and there's been no release. It's just gotten worse and worse and worse. And that's not an outside threat that they're dealing with. It's an internal threat. And the people begin to cry out in chapter 5, crying out to Nehemiah. that they can't focus on the work for the fear that their family is going to have struggles and troubles because they're in bondage. They're trying to do what they have to do to these people that they've owed for years. Their sons and daughters are now having to serve them. And they don't have any land of their own. They don't have any homes of their own. and everything is completely in the hands of these rich individuals, a few wealthy individuals, and they hold everyone hostage, and I'm trying to serve and get the wall built, but I'm being burdened down because of the fear of my family's care, and the fact that this individual has enslaved us, and they are our brethren. that have enslaved us. And then there's internal conflict. There were some that would have known the historical nature of what God told them not to do, but most of them just knew something's wrong about this. Something's wrong. This is not the way we're supposed to be treating each other. So they cry out to Nehemiah in chapter five, and they cry out for their families, they cry out for their homes, for their lands, and they're trying to do the job, but now they're struggling to get the job done because they're trying to do, well, they're being forced to do more than there's time to do, and they're having a hard time giving the time towards the walls and the gates being rebuilt. because they're having to suffice and give their masters all the time they're requiring, and they're in bondage when they shouldn't be in bondage. And so the affliction is great in verse one through five as I talk about that. Look with me in Nehemiah chapter five starting in verse number six. I'm going to quickly try to go through these as to what takes place. There is the altercation that happens. After the affliction that's mentioned, the altercation now takes place. And that altercation is with Nehemiah himself. In verse number six to verse number 11, we see this. And verse number six tells us the state of Nehemiah's mind. Here it is, they're focusing on the wall. They've got enemies ready to attack from the outside. And they're trying to get the work done around Jerusalem. That is the heart of Nehemiah. The whole reason he's come back is to help rebuild the protections and the gates of the city. And he hears this now from within. Of all the places you would expect to have resistance and attack and discouragements, from the outside is difficult, but at least that's expected. From within is even more difficult because that shouldn't be. This is the unexpected issues. And so Nehemiah, verse number six, the Bible 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. In other words, Nehemiah put it all together and said, all right, boys, we need to have a meeting. Little did they know, I was going to have a lot of people with me to this meeting. And they ain't going to come and just talk to me, they're now going to stand amongst the assembly that I've put together, and they're going to give answer to whether or not they are doing right in the sight of God. Verse number 8, 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, or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer. Also I said, It is not good that ye do. Ought ye not to walk in the fear of God, because of the reproach of the heathen, our enemies? I likewise and my brethren and my servants might exact of them money and corn. I pray you let us leave off this usury. Verse number 11, restore I pray you to them even this day their lands. their vineyards, their olive yards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil that ye exact of them." What are they doing? They're taxing them. They're burdening them. They're weighing them down with expectations and servitude. They're taking their lands. They're taking their homes. They're building to themselves a kingdom against their brethren. and letting everybody else suffer while they thrive. And Nehemiah, when he heard it, go that, mm-mm, no, I've had it, nope, absolutely not, enough. So he pulled it together, and I love when he says he consulted with himself. I like that, I do that a lot. The only problem is, me, myself, and I tend to get in arguments. and I'm not quite sure who wins. But as a whole, Nehemiah, he looks at the situation, he contemplates, by the way, he just shows discernment. He contemplates what's going on, realizes this is gonna take more than just him going to them. They're gonna have to be brought before a scenario where they have to openly admit the sin in which they have been openly committing. By the way, open sin needs to be dealt with openly. Private sin is something that can be dealt with privately and the Lord involved in making sure it's right, but not everybody has to be made known about every little bitty thing that is in a private setting. You sin against a brother in a private setting, you and that brother need to take care of it, don't make it open. But something that's done openly and something that's already made public and something that's already affected society around you needs to be dealt with in an open way to show where things stand, where truth is. And that's what Nehemiah knows. I can't just go to these guys and say, y'all need to change this because we're going to do. No, no. It's time. They're going to have to actually answer for what's been going on, they're gonna have to show that they know what they're doing and we'll find out whether or not they can have a right spirit about doing things in a right manner. And so the altercation leads to Nehemiah having to confront them in front of a whole host of other people, however many he called, doesn't say how many, but he had a gathering around them and he met those nobles and he called them out. Now this is not easy, and by the way, you don't do this flippantly, but he called them out on the great sin because it was affecting the entire work of God's people. He said, enough. We're gonna go ahead and call this what it is. We're gonna deal with this openly and we're gonna see if there can be some resolve and some restoration because last thing we can have is a cancer within the people of God to eat everything out and keep us from being able to do anything for God because the attacks on the outside are gonna be bad enough, but if we weaken from the inside because of something that could be dealt with and could be solved and could be resolved, then shame on us if we don't deal with it. And so he deals with it. And I'm not gonna go over there, but you could write down Titus 1, verse 10 through 16. It's a key aspect of discernment and protection against error to take this kind of step forward. Even in the church age, there are times when there's no choice but to take a step forward and openly deal with something that must be dealt with in order to stop the error and the erosion and you might say the corrosion of the ministry from within. And so, Nehemiah does that, and with that altercation, here's the great thing, with that altercation, there's going to have to be an action. You're going to see one thing or the other. You're going to see some repentance, or you're going to see pride. Something's going to happen. There's not going to be any sweep it under the rug or just kind of, you know, let's work it out in some way quietly. No, this altercation, this whole scenario is going to reveal whether or not anything can move forward with these nobles, these quote-unquote leaders of the people at Jerusalem. And what we find in verse number 12 and verse number 13, Thankfully, we find that these nobles, when they get finally called out and they see their error, they respond with humility and repentance. Verse number 12, it says, and it came to pass that when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us 10 times from all places whence Yisha, oh, I'm sorry, I'm looking at the wrong thing. Chapter five, I'm reading chapter four. Y'all gotta help me out. I know y'all are looking at me like, what Bible is he reading from, all right? Chapter five, verse number 12. Let's try that one. I need to turn the page. There it is, all right. Then said they, now we're on track, we will restore them and will require nothing of them. So will we do as thou sayest that I called the priest and took an oath of them. By the way, your word is not going to cut it right now because there's not been enough time for me to believe you. So we're gonna get God in the mix even further. You're gonna stand before the priest and you're gonna make an oath, which by the way, could have been punishable by death, breaking such an oath, but that's another thing for another time. So call the priest and took an oath of them that they should do according to this promise. Verse number 13, also I shook my lap and said, so God shake out every man from his house and from his labor that performeth not this promise. Even thus be he shaken out and emptied. And all the congregation said, amen. I bet they did. I bet they did. At this moment, they're in full agreement. That's right, amen. This is the best preaching I've heard in a long time. And praise the Lord. And the people did according to this promise. May I say there is an initial step here to an actual revival taking place. Well, we'll see something happen in some chapters to come, mainly chapter eight, when the scriptures, Old Testament scriptures are read for the first time in generations. And we'll see something take place that is in the nature of true revival within Jerusalem. But may I say, without this happening, that more than likely would have been completely hindered. This happened long before the wall was completed and long before an official preaching service took place. but this is something that was a matter of the heart where things were wrong. And by the way, people can have a whole bunch of really good intentions, but if there's something eating away at the ministry behind the scenes, all the good intentions and all the right desires aren't gonna do anything if there's something wrong in the camp and there's something eating away at what God can bless because of his people doing something that should not be done. than it must be dealt with before we ever expect to find a time of revival take place. And this issue was something that nobody initially talked about. It took until chapter five before it to really come out. Nobody said anything until everything else was starting to head a certain way, and everything else was starting to go a certain way, and then all of a sudden, the real underlying issue that nobody was saying, everybody was kind of hush hush about, we don't talk about that issue. We just let it go. No, just keep the peace. Just shh. Don't bring that up. But once everything else was trying to head a certain way, there was an anchor holding them back, and the people were just in misery. They said, we can't do this. Finally, it comes out, they deal with it, and once they deal with it, all of a sudden now, There's true unity that takes place because now there's rejoicing in that which was burdensome being relieved from within the body. And now you have the entire body supporting each other and not quietly burdening each other. And so, or I should say even suppressing each other. So the work of God can move forward. This action we see is an action that is key to the ability of God to work with his people. And what these nobles did is, ultimately, they did not just acknowledge their transgression, but they immediately began to restore themselves and those they had enslaved and indebted. They didn't just say, we're sorry, okay, let's start fresh. No, they said, we're gonna go by, it's like Zacchaeus. He said, I'm gonna give back fourfold. I'm not just gonna do what I have to, I'm gonna do everything I need to do beyond just the have to. I wanna do what's right. When these nobles got right with the right humility and the right attitude and acknowledgement of their wrong, they said, it's not just enough to acknowledge it, we need to make it right. and it opened the door of God's people to be able to work together freely for the cause of the God they served. David is a prime example, I'm not gonna go there, but David is a prime example of this type of reaction to rebuke as well. You could go over, I'm not gonna take you there, but you could read Psalm 51, verse one through 12. David, the key element between David and Saul, two kings, first two kings of the children of Israel, and the key difference between both of them is one simple thing. One simple thing. Saul refused to admit he was wrong and get right. And David would fall on his face before God immediately and beg for forgiveness. Saul would never, never seek the Lord's forgiveness and David never stopped seeking forgiveness. I'll be honest with you, with the things that David did, there's no reason that the Lord did not do to David the same thing he did to Saul, save one thing. David repented and sought to get right with God. Now, unfortunately, he showed his humanity several times, but every single time the finger came into his face, David fell on his face and said, God, forgive me, I am wrong. David did some awful things, but yet his heart of repentance and willingness to do whatever was required to make it right with God was a clear difference between him and Saul's issues as king. But he had the very end of this chapter, you have from verse 14 to verse number 19, an admonition that Nehemiah gives. So the issue's been taken care of, repentance has happened, restoration, by the way, not just restoration of those that had lost things, they received it back, but I believe through it, it began a process of restoration that allowed the individuals who were wronged to be able to reaccept those who did the wrong, and we're still family, we're all family, we're all Israelites. the ability to not excommunicate them and kick them out of the city, but to actually welcome them back in with open arms instead of forced arms. And so you have restoration taking place through all of that. And as this was completed, Nehemiah spends the last little bit of this chapter breakdown of the recordings here in giving admonition to the people as a way to possibly and hopefully encourage the people through his own personal testimony and actions. And let me just kind of read some of this very quickly. It says, year of Artaxerxes the king that is 12 years I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor but the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people and had taken of them bread and wine beside 40 shekels of silver yea even their servants bear rule over the people but so did not I because of the fear of God. What he's saying here is I was sent with power from the king himself to act as anybody else that's ruled over you and yet have I ruled over you in the same manner? No. Here's what he's doing. He is doubling down on the whole situation and Nehemiah is saying, There is nothing being required here, nothing being done here that you don't see me actually living out already from the moment I started on this journey and this responsibility and the power given to me by the King. From the moment I started, even till now, I am doing and have done this entire time the exact thing that is being required of you to do one with another. I am not telling you to do something that I have not already lived out faithfully and will continue to live out, why? It has nothing to do with how great a guy I am. It has to do with the fact that I understand the fear of the Lord. As a human being, I can do just as bad as the next person, if not worse. But under the sight of God, I cannot do that which would displease him. And therefore this flesh could, but for one who wants to serve and please the almighty holy God, I am held at bay in my flesh because I must do that which is in the fear of God and not the frivolous nature of the flesh. And so Nehemiah, I'm not going to read all of it, but he goes on and tells them how he continued this, and he did all these things exactly as he is requesting and requiring, which is according to what God had told them they should do. And Nehemiah even trying to encourage them more and understand them following him. Verse number 19 he says, think upon me my God for good according to all that I have done for this people. Nehemiah is reminding them through that process that the Lord notices, the Lord recognizes, and the Lord can reward those that live in accordance to the fear of the Lord. especially with their brethren. So he admonishes them and encourages them. Paul gave the church at Corinth basically a similar charge, to be blameless for the sake of the ministry of God. Why? Because we're an open book before the world, and to see the reality of God's truth is to be seen through us. And therefore, we are held in a need to follow that which is under the fear of the Lord. Because as an open book, this society and this world can only see what I give them physically to see with their eyes. They may not know God, but they need to see something in me that reflects Him. They may not want to accept it, but they need to see something they can't deny. And by the way, let's just be honest, that's hard. Because in this flesh, there have been several times I wish the Lord could let me remove the title of Christian just for a little bit. Lord, could you kind of just bump me out of that requirement of the fear of the Lord just for a very short moment? Because I really want to tell these people what I think. I really wanna do something, Lord. You know I could bury them, Lord. You know I wanna. But then it comes back and that's not acceptable. There are times when the fear of the Lord is about the only thing that constrains me. And I imagine you as well. because if we had our way, we would have fried somebody by now over the ridiculousness that we have to deal with in this wicked world. By the way, just keep in mind, every time you step out those doors, you're going against a stack deck. Now you got God on your side, I understand that, I get that, but let's just be honest with each other and let's get down to brass tacks on this. God's on our side, but there are many times, day after day after day, it doesn't look like we have anyone on our side whatsoever to anyone that's watching. Everything that can go bad goes bad. Everything that can go wrong goes wrong. Everything that should go in your favor all of a sudden doesn't go in your favor, why? Because you have no control over it, and the wicked prosper. Can any of y'all understand how David could call out and say, Lord, how long will the wicked prosper? When's the fire gonna come down, Lord? I was that way the other day, I really was, I was. I'll be transparent. I was asking the Lord, when is the fire gonna come down, Lord? At what point, now here we go, don't look at me like a calf looking at a new gate. You know what I'm talking about. Y'all have had some of these same feelings. Me and the Lord having a meeting. When it's all said and done, I had to apologize for my frustration. But me and the Lord having a meeting. I said, Lord, I just wanna know, when are you gonna defend the righteous and bring fire on the wicked? When are you gonna do it? And then, that was like on a Saturday when I was getting ready to print our verse for the week. Now, again, I chose the verse of the week. I go through and I make a list for several months of verses. I just go through and pick them. Otherwise, I had too much time. Wouldn't you know these things just keep falling out all at the wrong time? First thing I see, be patient. I'm like. Why? Lord, we're having a conversation here. Why you gotta bring that up, okay? It is frustrating. It is difficult. And there are more than one time in our life, there's multiple times I know for each one of us, there are times when we say, Lord, how long? Lord, why can't I just one time? Lord, will you please just do something? And it's hard and it's tough. I would imagine Nehemiah had a few of those moments too. Nehemiah had a few of those moments of, what in the world is going on? Can't y'all see we're trying to do something good here? And yet the ones trying to do right and trying to do good and trying to follow in the fear of the Lord are the ones that are being attacked and maligned and having to deal with all the junk while it appears that this side of the realm of things seems to be having all the power and all the the hand of decision and all the areas of causing the issues, but yet nothing seems to be going on. I just remind you, David said, then I considered their end. So keep in mind, I need to stop, but keep in mind, chapter five here, it deals with what never should be a problem because we have enough problems on the outside. Problems within the body of Christ, problems within the body of believers should never be an issue because we have enough to fight on the outside. We have enough to endure from the outside. We have enough to have to be patient for the Lord to come through and do what needs to be done from the attacks on the outside. We don't need to add to it from the things that never should be on the inside. So we must take care to not open doors of issues that aren't necessary. And if we find any, we should deal with them personally very quickly, very swiftly, and settle it so we can move forward for the Lord. And when it comes to those outside attacks, we're gonna deal with some more of those later, but when it comes to those outside attacks, may I remind you, It is a good thing that we have the restraint of the fear of the Lord, but those who do not fear him, it should not be shocking, the kind of things that they attempt. It should never be, and no matter how frustrated we get, no matter how much we face, it should never be that a child of God acts like the world to solve something. Although if you're human, you have the thoughts cross your mind in the moment of frustration. The thought crossing your mind can be dealt with between you and God. But the moment you act upon that, it now becomes something public that possibly does harm to the ministry God wants to accomplish with your life. Thus, the fear of the Lord constrains me so that He can receive the glory from whatever it is we're dealing with as we deal with it patiently. Heavenly Father, we thank You tonight for Your Word. I pray that You'd help us.