Nehemiah chapter 4, verses 7 through 18. Now it happened when Sanbalat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashtodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry. And all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion. Nevertheless, we made our prayer to our God, and because of them, we set a watch against them day and night. Then Judah said, The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall. And our adversaries said, They will neither know nor see anything till we come in their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease. So it was when the Jews who dwelt near them came that they told us ten times, From whatever place you turn, they will be upon us. Therefore, I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall at the openings, and I set the people according to their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord great and awesome and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. And it happened when our enemies heard that it was known to us that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. So it was from that time on that half my servants worked at construction while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor. And the leaders were behind all the house of Judah. Those who built on the wall and those who carried burdens loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction and with the other held a weapon. Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built, and the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me." May God add His blessing to the reading of His Word. Father God, we come before You this morning realizing that, Father, You have chosen to glorify Your name through these earthen vessels that are gathered together here Father, we ask that You add Your blessing to the reading, to the preaching, and to the teaching of Your Word, that, Father, we would not go out of this house merely feeling that we are more educated or feeling better about ourselves, but, Father, that we would leave this assembly realizing Your calling upon our lives, that, Father, You have called us to serve. You've not called us to sit around and admire ourselves, admire your handiwork in us, but rather that you have called us to preach and teach as dying men to a dying world, and that, Father, we are to be about our Father's business. Father, give us a hunger and a desire to see Your Word unfold in our lives, that others might see Your work in us. Father, give us a hunger to take up the sword and the trowel and to do the work of the Kingdom that You've called us to. We ask this in our Lord Jesus' precious name, Amen. As I said earlier, the lesson this morning is entitled, The Sword and the Trowel. You'll notice, as I said on the front of your church bulletin, you'll see that sword and trowel there. It isn't just there this Sunday. It's been there for a long time. out on Whipple Street. Charles Spurgeon used it as a title for his series which he used to teach, The Sword and the Trowel. And sadly, I must admit, I've never read Charles Spurgeon's work on this sword and the trowel because I'd be too tempted to preach his sermon and claim it for my own. What a blessing! this overview of the work of the church. The usage of the sword and the usage of the trowel. And it's not only the church as a whole, the church militant as it were, but it's our individual work. The sword and the trowel. The sword symbolizing the evangelistic work of the church. And the trowel symbolizing the discipleship work of the church. The first thing we're going to look at this morning is verses 16-18. And we're going to look at the place of the sword in the life of the church. In verse 16, it says, So it was from that time on that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and war armor, and the leaders were behind all the house of Judah. Those who built on the wall and those who carried burdens loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other they held a weapon. Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built, and the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me." I don't know how many of you have ever done any block laying, but it will sort out the men from the boys pretty quick. I wanted to head for the shade. It doesn't take long before those blocks get heavy. It doesn't take long before lifting stones and setting them in mortar becomes heavy. God's Word says that these men not only worked with their hands, but they had their weapons right there with them. Why did they have their weapons with them? Because there was a threat against the people of Jerusalem. The enemy was surrounding Jerusalem. Now the individuals that were working on the wall, God's people working on the wall, could have put down their tools and stood there with their swords and defended Jerusalem, and they'd have never gone ahead one inch. Or they could have left their swords and begun building and not guarded themselves, not defended themselves, and left themselves fully open to attack. So what did Nehemiah do? He instructed God's people, we must move forward, and yet, we must carry our sword with us. We must defend. And as I said, this gives us a perfect picture, a perfect overview of God's calling upon the church. We could build the church and yet not defend God's people and allow them to be eaten as a bunch of lambs by a pack of wolves. Or we could teach God's people to defend themselves and make themselves strong and yet never go out into the world and evangelize. And we could have a small little group of folks that all sat around and talked about how we're ready for the big one. God has called us to neither one of those. God has called us to buckle on our sword, to be ready, to do the work He's called us to do insofar as defending the faith. And He's called us to pick up our trowel and to begin building. So the first thing that we see in this picture, this with one hand working at construction and with the other holding the weapon, the first thing we're going to look at is the sword. The evangelistic work of the church. Now remember I spoke earlier about the church militant. That's a phrase that I don't know how far it dates back. But it's the concept of God's church marching forward in the world. The church is not a fort. The church is God's army marching forward in the world doing His work. And that's why it's called the church militant. As long as we're on this planet, as long as God gives us breath, let that breath pass our lips telling others about Christ Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. We need to use every breath that God has given us to share Christ with others, to point people to the cross so that when the day comes that God takes us out of this world, we'll hopefully hear Him say, well done, my faithful servant. The sword is the evangelistic work of the church. That marching forward of the church. And as I said, there's two pictures of the church in theology. The church militant and the church triumphant. The church triumphant is that day when Christ Jesus gathers the church together. And it's a finished deal. It's a done deal. The church triumphant. The bride of Christ. What a blessing that will be. when God's church is triumphant. But folks, until then, we have work to do. We can't sit around and admire what God has done. We need to be doing the work that God has called us to do. So the sword is a picture of the evangelistic work of the church. My son is in college now and he says he's going to be learning how to do sword fighting. I always thought that was pretty cool in the old pirate movies. They're going backwards and forwards. I'd end up as a shish kebab because I'm not very talented in that. But it's neat watching folks doing the sword fighting and you see that they use it offensively and they use it defensively. The first thing we're going to look at insofar as the sword or the evangelistic work of the church is that of defense. In Jude 3, it says, I wrote to you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. Folks, as men and women of God, we're to contend earnestly for His Word. In 1 Peter 3, verse 15, it says, Be always ready to give an answer. Can you picture a soldier in a battle with bullets flying around him going, how do I get the safety off this thing? Maybe some of you have seen soldiers like that. That's a grim note, folks. We need to be ready to get into action. We need to be always ready when somebody asks us, how can you be cheerful in a world like we live in? How can you be cheerful when your family was just in a car accident? How can you be cheerful when you have this debilitating disease? And you say, I have an answer for that. I'm always ready with an answer for the hope that beats within my breast. I can tell people about Christ. We had best not be fumbling for the safety when it comes down to sharing our faith with others. When folks ask us, why do you have hope? How can you be cheerful in a world such as this? Because you need to point them to Christ. You need to let them know, I was dead in my sins, and yet God was gracious in that while I was yet a sinner, He sent His Son, Christ Jesus, to die for me. Because if you don't know anything else, share that way. Christ died for me. That's how I can have hope in this world. If we don't have Christ, we're of all men most miserable. And in 1 Timothy 6.12, the Apostle Paul told Timothy, he said, fight the good fight of faith. We're to use the sword in defense, and we're also to use the sword in offense. Now I know some folks don't like these Pictures of war. Well, go ahead and tear all the pages of your Bible out that mention swords or fighting and see how thin your Bible gets. God shows us that we're involved in warfare. It's spiritual warfare. Jesus said the gates of hell shall not prevail against us. You'd have to be a pretty big boy to attack somebody with a gate. There's very seldom that gates are used in battle. They're a defensive position. And Jesus said the gates of hell shall not prevail against us because we're to storm the gates of hell. How do we storm the gates of hell? When we see someone who is lost. When we see someone who's in need of Christ. We need to begin praying for them. We need to begin to minister to them. We need to begin to witness to them. If per chance, God will grant them repentance. What a blessing that would be. Jesus said that angels in heaven rejoice when a sinner repents. Isn't that cool? It just blesses me that God would share with us a little bit of that joy when we get to see somebody come to peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The gates of hell shall not prevail against us. In 2 Corinthians 10-4, God's Word talks about pulling down strongholds. That's an attack. We, God's people, are to be using God's Word as a mighty weapon to the pulling down of strongholds. Have you ever looked at somebody and said there's no hope for them? They're just too much of a sinner? I've got news for you. There was probably somebody said that about you once upon a time. By the grace of God, we are what we are. And folks, we too were in Satan's stronghold. We too were dead in our sin. Somebody cared enough to share the Gospel with us. Somebody cared enough to pray for us. Somebody cared enough to put up with us as they tried to share God's Word and to tell us about Christ. And in Isaiah 61.1, is that great prophecy of the coming Messiah, speaking of proclaiming liberty to the captives and opening the prison to those who are bound. When we look at folks out in the world, we need to not see that person with an attitude or that difficult person to deal with. What we need to see is somebody who is locked up in Satan's prison We need to share the Gospel with them, that the key perhaps might unlock the door, and that they might come to peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The second instrument used in this passage in Nehemiah is the trowel. The sword is used for offense and defense, and the trowel for working the mortar is the discipleship calling of the church. Folks, God forbid that we go out and share Christ with people, get them into the church, and just let them wander back out the back door to where the world eats them alive. We are to teach and to train and to make disciples of those whom we share Christ with. Not make them our disciples, but make them Christ's disciples. Not to build this particular church, but to build the kingdom of God. The discipleship work symbolized by the trowel has two sides to it. The first being the obvious one, construction. In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 12, God gave these gifts to the church for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry. The church is to equip God's people for the work of the ministry. To teach them how to share Christ with others. To teach them how to live lives as believers. That our lives would reflect God's grace in us. I know I've used the example before about how you go down to an art supply store and you buy one of these canvases. And if you were to go down and buy a canvas and bring it to me and say, Pastor, we'd like you to make a painting on it. Whatever you paid for that canvas would be wasted, because when I was done with it, it wouldn't be worth anything. Because I'm not an artist. And yet if you took that same canvas and you gave it to an artist, he could paint a beautiful painting on it that would be worth a fortune. What's the difference? The difference is the Master's work versus my work. And ladies and gentlemen, that's where it's at in the kingdom of God. The Master's work is that which is beautiful. The Master's work. We are to equip God's saints so they might reflect their Master's glory. In 1 Peter 2, verse 5, our Scripture verse that was read earlier this morning, we are as living stones that are fitted together, building that temple of God. The second part of the work of the trowel, and this is one that unfortunately is not practiced much in the church today, is the use of the trowel for repair. The church oftentimes is zealous in their evangelism and they're zealous in their discipleship as far as equipping the saints for the work. But the second part of the work of the trowel, that of repair, is often left behind. It's often neglected. What we read about in Nehemiah wasn't the building of a new wall. It was the rebuilding of a wall which had been destroyed. And folks, a part of our work as a church is the rebuilding or the repairing of God's broken and wounded saints. God gives us clear instruction in how we're to deal with those who are broken and wounded. Turn with me, if you would, to Galatians chapter 6. I realize I've been moving a little bit fast through here and not reading each of the Scripture verses I've referenced. If you wish, get with me after the lesson and I'll give you the references. But in Galatians chapter 6 verse 1, it says, Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness. Considering yourself, lest you also be tempted, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Why do you think the Holy Spirit had those three verses one right after another? God gave us those three verses together so that we would understand that our work when our brother falls into sin or our sister falls into sin, if they're overtaken in a trespass, we who are spiritual are to restore them in a spirit of gentleness. We're to consider ourselves because we also not only could be tempted, but we also have been tempted. We not only could fall into sin, ladies and gentlemen, We have fallen into sin. And then in verse 2 it says, bear one another's burdens. That is so neat. That was right after you folks called me to pastor here. I was heading across the street to the hardware store and this lady's Suburban broke down. And I was trying to help her get it pushed up into the bank parking lot. And those Suburbans are a lot heavier now than they were ten years ago. Or at least it would seem that way. And as we got it rolling, two guys that I'd never even met before, stopped and parked their cars and ran up and helped me. They put their shoulder to the work and we got that Starship Enterprise pushed up into the bank parking lot. What a blessing that was that two men I'd never met before came and put their shoulder to the work to join in and to help me, to bear my burden that we could get it out of the streets so that lady would be safe. When our brothers or our sisters fall into sin, we need to come alongside of them, and we need to shoulder up under their burden with them. We need to consider ourselves, lest we too be tempted. It says, we bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ, for if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Boy, what a neat verse. If you don't have that underlined in your Bible, Please underline it now. If you think yourself to be something when you're nothing, you deceive yourself. Ladies and gentlemen, we have all fallen into sin. We have all tried to bear up under the burden. God's Word calls us in repairing the broken and wounded saints that we who are spiritual, we need to go to that person and we need to visit with them about it. We don't need to overlook it. It's not what I'm saying. We don't turn a blind eye to our brother or sister's sin. But God's Word is plain. We're to go to them and restore them in the spirit of gentleness. And if that doesn't work, over in 1 Timothy 5, it gives us rules on how we're to rebuke and how to exhort our brothers and our sisters in the Lord. And then in 2 Thessalonians 3, if it comes to that point, then we're to withdraw from it. But all too often we withdraw from them first rather than coming alongside and using that trowel to do repairs on our broken and our wounded saints. The sword is the evangelistic arm of the church or the evangelistic work. The trowel is the discipleship work of the church. And then back in Nehemiah, once again, verse 14, It says, and I looked and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and the rest of the people, do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord great and awesome and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. We've looked at the sword. We've looked at the trowel. And now we need to look at the reason, the motivation. Why do we as a church go forward? Why do we use the sword? If we have our salvation, why do we worry about others? Why do we use the trowel? If our wall is in good shape, why do we worry about somebody else's? The motivation, folks, is in the second half of verse 14. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. Remember the Lord your God, great and awesome. Tom Nettles wrote a book, By His Strength and For His Glory, and that should be the reason that we do things. We do things by God's strength and we do things for God's glory. Our God, great and awesome, does great things through us. And he says, remember the Lord your God and fight for your brethren. Every one of us has a brother or a sister who is unsaved. Every one of us has a parent or a child or an aunt or an uncle who's unsaved. A co-worker out at the job or a fellow student at school. We need to be about God's work. We need to get into the battle. We need to use the sword that God has given us to pull down the strongholds, to free the captives. And we're to fight for our brethren right here in the church. Folks who have fallen into sin. Folks who have things that are tearing them apart. Weeds that are growing up around them and choking them. We need to fight for our brethren. And folks, if we die in the battle, that's okay. Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. We're to fight for our families. Men, I speak to you. Your family depends on you to defend them. Say, yeah, Pastor, I have a 45. That's not what I'm talking about. Good for you if you have a 45. But what's more important is that you rise up in the morning and you pray for your wife and for your children. Pray for your brothers and for your sisters. Pray for those who do not pray for themselves. You, men, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Become fit soldiers. Defend your families. Pray for your families. Make wise decisions. Think things through. And then make those decisions, realizing the repercussions from those decisions. And then hold your family above yourselves. Men, God forbid that we ever crawl up on the seashore and leave our family drowned out there in the ocean. If anybody drowns, it had better be us. And it had better be holding our families above the waves. Folks, that should be our decision making process as men of God. And finally, there's a real lesson for Nehemiah here in verse 18. It says, every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me. That's an easy verse to miss. You know what that says? Men, all too often, we're doing that which is good rather than that which is best. You say, well, I'm providing for my family. I'd rather see you praying for your family. You say, well, Pastor, I've got to get this car fixed. You know what? I'll go pick you up and I'll pick you and your family up and I'll bring them to the Lord's house so that you can show them that God's Word is number one in your life Growing in grace is number one in your life. That's so much more important. Men, we're all too often doing what is good as opposed to what is best. And Nehemiah in this one little verse, this one little verse in all of God's Word, he shows us. He could have been down at the bottom saying, man, I worked from sunup till sundown passing up rocks. And he said, I had the trumpeter next to me. because he said, I was watching out for that whole city. They depended upon me. And men, our families depend upon us. Who else is going to pray for your family except you? Who else is going to show your family what a man of God is supposed to be like except you? May God grant us the grace to take our jobs seriously. As we pick up the sword, and we pick up the trowel, and we remember our God, great and awesome, and we do the work that He's called us to.