0:00 I'm so excited to invite you to turn with me now to the book of Nehemiah. You're probably already there. And if you're not, Nehemiah is right after the book of Ezra. Hopefully, that's helpful. And once I hear those pages settled, I'd love for us to pray one more time.
0:22 Can we do that together? Blessed Lord, thank you for a room every week that is filled with people who love your word. We pray that you would go before us in this new journey. You have been with us year after year, month after month, week after week, and we trust that you'll be no different as we faithfully come to this new text. We pray, Lord, that tonight as we are introduced to Nehemiah, his story, his mission, his message, that you'd use these truths to weaken our attachment to the world.
0:58 And we pray that you would energize our holiness. You would supply greater grace to trust you, to love you, to adore you, to know that everything that we learned in this session means that we can know you in the same way. That we can relate to you and experience you because you are the same God. The same God as Nehemiah served. So Lord, we we do ask that you would protect this this opening service from error, from confusion, frustration and especially distraction.
1:33 Lord, subdue any rebellious thing that would try to rob us from the experience of your voice through your written word. We bless you, Lord. We love you, Lord. In Jesus name we pray, amen. The book of Nehemiah.
1:51 I'm not sure if you've been in church circles long enough, but I have been to know that Nehemiah has developed an interesting reputation. And that reputation is that it is a narrative that many churches draw inspiration from, especially when that ministry is looking to enter into a new building campaign. Maybe you sat through such a series. Maybe you've heard Nehemiah quoted when there is a construction project being proposed to a group of believers. And Nehemiah is often referenced to see how things such as building or renovating or renewing can be done in remarkable timing.
2:35 But I'm here to tell you with great joy that there is much more that Nehemiah has to offer than finding such inspiration. Like Ezra, we will see and learn about godly qualities concerning leadership. How to overcome various persecutions and pressures and adversity. We will notice the beauty of unity among believers. We will see again the power of prayer.
3:05 We will look at some of the character traits that are necessary for longevity and serving God and much much more. But before we consider these things, let us take a moment to situate ourselves by reflecting and clarifying some background information. Nehemiah's story begins thirteen years after Ezra enters Jerusalem from Babylonia. We know this because in Ezra chapter seven verse eight, Ezra tells us that he arrives at Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, who is the Persian king at the time. While Nehemiah chapter two verse one, it is recorded that Nehemiah received permission from the same king in the twentieth year of his reign.
3:55 So thirteen years go by as we open this new book. And as many of you already know, Nehemiah will be raised up by God to be the leader who will guide the third movement of restoration for the Jewish exiles. Approximately ninety to a hundred years earlier, God stirred the heart of a man named Zerubbabel to help rebuild the temple. Later, God summoned a man named Ezra to rebuild the community, the actual people spiritually through the teaching of the law. And now as we come to this new book, this new account, we will discover how Nehemiah will come alongside Ezra.
4:33 Yes. Ezra and Nehemiah are actually going to work together to not only rebuild the walls but to actually stabilize the people of God in their relationship with the Lord. Nehemiah is an important figure and his purpose and mission therefore make this book a natural sequence to what we have studied in Ezra. So much so that there are many people who believe that Ezra is the author of the book of Nehemiah. And though you may find some similar parallels or qualities, we will actually see that Nehemiah is in fact the author of this book.
5:09 There's stronger evidence for that than anything else. Now as I was meditating on on this new study, I could not help but think how difficult it must have been for the activities that were under Zerubbabel and Ezra without city walls all those years. This is staggering if you think about it. Over that timeline, the people of God did so much with so little protection and security. In fact, the vulnerability of the people of God during this time may have been greater than most of us actually think.
5:55 Isn't it interesting that the last things that we read in the book of Ezra are how the people of God committed a great sin, namely the sin of interfaith marriage. While the first thing that you and I encounter and face in the opening of Nehemiah is a reminder of how the city walls were still broken down. Now I'm not suggesting that the primary cause for the people intermingling with idolaters was because there was no physical barrier, but it makes you wonder whether that contributed to the unregulated interaction of the surrounding world. If this allowed outside influences and forces to easily invade the space of the righteous and if it overall weakened their sense of distinction and separation. In other words, Nehemiah appears to have this insight that the condition of the walls threatened more than just the dignity of the Jewish people.
6:56 There was more at stake here. Nehemiah will show us that these walls actually offered practical help, safeguards for the sanctification of the people of God. In the same way that we have practical instructions in the New Testament to help us guard our own hearts and to avoid certain temptations and to secure an undivided devotion to the Lord. In fact, there is an example of this in the book of Nehemiah. Now we're there, the first chapter, but I'd I'd like to ask you to go to chapter 13, which is the last chapter, just to reinforce this point.
7:39 Look at Nehemiah 13 verse 20. This is long after the walls and the gates were resurrected. Notice what happens here. This is one among many instances, unfortunate instances. In Nehemiah 13 verse 20, we read, then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice.
8:02 But I warned them and said to them, why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time on, they did not come on the Sabbath. So this is a glimpse of some of the lurking temptations that awaited the people of God even after the walls and the gates were rebuilt. Here you have merchants and sellers lingering outside the city and they're seeking to entice the people inside the city who have barred themselves from any kind of trade or business deals because they are honoring the Sabbath.
8:34 And yet, you have these vultures who are trying to tempt them with their presence and take advantage of the proximity to try to pull them away from obedience to God namely, in regards to the Sabbath. And although the wall didn't completely deter these influences, it did serve as a buffer. It it provided separation between the pressures and the people of God, the the community here. And so this is just a a... An illustration really of how what we have here, this enclosure offers much more than just protection against weaponry or some kind of siege.
9:18 No. This actually provided a measure of protection for the people's hearts. It would preserve Judah's distinct way of life. And this is just, again, a small preview of the kinds of insights and instructions that we will unfold and discover that will help us in our own walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. So with that in mind, let's come back to Nehemiah chapter one turning to this opening scene by reading and studying the first three verses together.
9:53 The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hechaliah. Now it happened in the month of Kislev in the twentieth year as I was in Susa The citadel, that Hanani, one of my brothers came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, the remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame, the Wall Of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are destroyed by fire. In this study, I'd like for us to organize our thoughts with three simple headings.
10:31 We're gonna consider three things tonight. One, the person. The person, Nehemiah. Secondly, there is the preoccupation. The preoccupation in this man's heart and his mind.
10:42 And lastly and briefly, we will look at the problem. The problem. Let's look at the person. Right at the outset, we are introduced to Nehemiah himself. And interestingly, unlike Zerubbabel, who was of royal descent, and like Ezra, who was from the priestly line, we do not have much data about Nehemiah's family background.
11:03 Some assume and claim that he is from the tribe of Judah, but there's no conclusive evidence for that. All we know about Nehemiah is that he was a Jew and his father's name was Hechaliah. And the limited information that we have about this man can actually be more encouraging depending on the way you look at it. Think about it. Up to this point in the storyline, we have seen how the Lord raised up certain men that we would expect for him to use.
11:33 Zerubbabel who had David's blood running through his veins. I could see why you would use a man like that. And you have Ezra who is from that ancient priesthood. But then you come to a man like Nehemiah and he doesn't have any kind of pedigree. There isn't any significant heritage that he represents.
11:55 But from time to time, you know what the Lord does? He often surprises the world and even his own people by whom he chooses to use to do great things for his name. And Nehemiah is one of those surprises. And if you are completely convinced that you wanna live for the glory of God, you may be surprised yourself of how God can use your life. Nehemiah may not have known how the Lord was gonna use him as a governor, as a reviver of sorts.
12:31 But I wonder if his parents had high hopes for him. Saying where do you get that idea from? By the fact that Hecalaiah and his wife named their son Nehemiah. Do you know what Nehemiah means? The Lord comforts.
12:48 Isn't that a beautiful name? The Lord comforts. Now I'm sure that in part, they named Nehemiah this because his presence, his birth, his entrance into their world indeed brought comfort to them especially because they were in exile. But I also wonder if they hoped and long for Nehemiah to be an extension of God's comfort to others. And what we're gonna see early in this study is that Nehemiah is gonna live up to that name.
13:15 He is indeed going to be a conduit. He's going to be a vessel used by God to bring comfort to a hurting, despairing, and distressed people because of his leadership, because of his conviction, because of his drive. We're gonna see in a moment how that's the case. But we learn more about the person in Nehemiah. His character shines through even in the fact that he tells us where he was at the time of the introduction of his memoirs.
13:44 Look here at the second part of verse one. Now it happened in the month of Kislev in the twentieth year as I was in Susa, the Citadel. Now the month of Kislev corresponds to November or December. So we're in the winter months here. But notice the location.
14:01 As I was in Susa, The Citadel. Does that setting sound familiar to any of us? Where do you find the setting in other portions of the Old Testament? You can you can say it out loud if you have an idea. Esther, very good.
14:16 Anybody else? Let me read this verse without giving you the quote and tell me who you think it is. And I saw in the vision and when I saw, I was in Susa the citadel which is in the province of Elam and I saw in the vision and I was at Uli at Uli Canal. Daniel. So you had Daniel who was in Susa, you had Esther who became a queen in Susa.
14:46 So that tells us at least two things. Number one, Susa and the citadel, the fortress, the palace there was the winter residence for the kings of Persia. But number two, we also learned that whoever operated in that kind of a setting must have been a high ranking official or someone closely associated with those in upper levels of government. So what does that tell us about Nehemiah? Nehemiah may not have come from a notable family tree but he did become somebody very important.
15:23 And that's confirmed further in this chapter in the very last verse. Look at the last sentence of verse 11 of Nehemiah one. He writes, now I was cupbearer to the king. Now in our modern context that might not be very impressive. That may sound like a butler of some sorts.
15:40 But history teaches that a cupbearer was a much more impressive and respected role than we might imagine. You see, one of the dangers that a king would face was what? Poisoning, among many other dangers. And so a cup bearer would be recruited to taste the wine before it was consumed by royalty, so that if it was contaminated, then that man would die instead of the king. So a cup bearer put his life on the line every single day.
16:18 And you would think then with such a responsibility that you would require a trustworthy individual to fill it, which indicates that Nehemiah must have been a man of impeccable character. A cupbearer would be one of the closest people to the king in all of the kingdom. And though, yes, he would serve the drinks and the foods ensuring that it was safe to consume, but more than that, they would be trusted friends to some extent. There would be conversations. Sometimes even the king would inquire and seek advice or have just, you know, a developed sense of growing love and admiration and respect.
17:03 And so Nehemiah was somebody who developed a character of integrity and reliability and and really a blameless testimony. And I think that's important for us to consider because we mentioned earlier how God can use anyone in the sense that he will never hold against us things that are outside of our control. Nehemiah could not control which parents he was born to, which family line he came from. But you know what Nehemiah could control? Who he was as a man.
17:39 And so, yes, God can use anyone, but God has a standard. A standard that's achievable for any of us. And before Nehemiah even enters into his ultimate calling, we learned that he was a man of great character. That's what prepared him to win the trust and even the favor of the king. We're gonna see that especially in chapter two.
18:10 Had Nehemiah been sketchy? Had he been inconsistent? Had he had been someone that was not really respected or trusted, it would make you wonder how that would jeopardize this potential mission. But instead, we find a man who was strong with his walk, with his work ethic, with his history and that won him a calling. And so this is what we see about the person of Nehemiah, not much information but enough for us to be inspired and more of his God honoring character shines in the next part of our analysis.
18:51 We looked at the person but let's consider the preoccupation. At this point, we may have some fresh questions springing up in our minds about Nehemiah. One of them might be the following, how did somebody like Nehemiah arrive at this role? That's a legitimate question. Or why didn't Nehemiah join Ezra a few short years earlier when he called the exiles in Babylonia to come back with him to Jerusalem?
19:23 That's what I was thinking. And we can't spend too much time entertaining the possible answers. Instead, I wanna look at what's obvious and what's clear here that although Nehemiah was a man who enjoyed unique privileges and advantages, really. Being so near to royalty and having interaction and and relationship with those of nobility, his heart was still set on the people of God and the place that represented God's glory. Look again at verse two.
19:56 That Hanani, one of my brothers came with certain men from Judah and I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile concerning Jerusalem. Again, we don't have much insight about what led to this interaction between Nehemiah, his actual blood brother Hanani, and some of the men that came back from Judah. But it's telling, isn't it, that when they come and visit their friend, their brother, he's the one who initiates the inquiry. What is going on back in Jerusalem? What is happening with the people of God?
20:30 What condition is the city in? I don't know about you but this is a strong reminder and it's really an encouragement that it is totally possible like Nehemiah proves to be somebody who is promoted in different arenas in society and who operates in prominence and yet still have a love for the Lord. And still be concerned with the purposes of God being advanced and honored. Nehemiah did not lose that. You know what makes it even more staggering?
21:05 Nehemiah was not born in Jerusalem. He was not born in the promised land. He had never seen the holy city with his own eyes. He never tasted of the milk and honey that Moses spoke of. All his life, Nehemiah only heard, and he was certainly taught, and he had a grasp on the truth of God's word.
21:28 And with everything around him, with all the opportunities he had, with the promotion that he had here even now, he still had this deep burden. This is instructive for us because one of the ways that you and I can determine if our souls are healthy in the midst of success is if you can honestly identify a genuine, sincere concern for that which God cares about. Nehemiah proves to us that it is absolutely possible. Now he was not a prophet. He was not a king.
22:12 For all we know, he was a lay person and yet he possessed an authentic love for what God loved. And notice here the order of his inquiry. Look at verse two again. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped and who had survived the exile and concerning Jerusalem. Nehemiah asked first about the holy people before the holy city.
22:36 This is a true leader in the making. This is a true minister being molded here. You know, I've even met many many people who really champion and sacrifice and love the church and ministry in the church for different reasons. And sometimes those reasons don't include the people being served. Some people like to preach because of how it makes them feel.
23:10 The purpose that it gives them. The honor that they receive. Some people like to play because of the musical element. Some people like to come just because fill in the blank. But you know what Nehemiah shows us?
23:27 This whole thing ultimately is about God's glory and we glorify God by loving the people of God. We minister, we serve, we take up opportunities, we volunteer, We sacrifice. We give for what? The well-being of God's people. The welfare of the saints.
23:45 The strength of the church through the people of God being strengthened. So he asked about the people before he asked about anything else. Now, you and I heard earlier how character is vital in order for us to be positioned for God's calling. But there's something else we have to be mindful of. As valuable as character is, God uses men and women who have real concern.
24:16 Real desires that are aimed at the right things. Real passions that are in agreement with what makes God and his heart move. God does not and he cannot use somebody who does not have the ambition and the right motive in serving him. You know, many people miss this. I'd like to give you another example.
24:50 Moses. Where did Moses's calling begin? You know what many people think? The burning bush. And although that was his official commissioning, this man was being prepared long before he heard a voice from a burning bush.
25:08 Can I tell you where it started? It's in Acts chapter seven. Notice what I said about Moses in Acts seven. Acts seven verse 22. You'll notice that there's some similarity between Moses and Nehemiah.
25:33 It reads here in Acts seven twenty two, and Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. When he was 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. It came into where? His heart. Something was birthed in this man's heart to check on the well-being of his brethren.
26:02 This is where it all begins. And I want you to see here that both Moses and Nehemiah were born in a foreign land, both held positions of influence, both interact with people of power and prestige, and yet both had the welfare of the people of God burning in their hearts and that is why God used them. And so you and I have to ask ourselves at this point, especially for those who are more inclined to relate to men like Moses and Nehemiah. You can't really maybe understand Ezra's whole thing because he was a priest, he was a minister, he studied the word of God twenty four seven. So here you are now with Nehemiah before you as an example.
26:56 And I'd like to ask you this, can God find a concern for his people, his purpose in your heart? How do you feel about the church? What does it do to you when you hear the church at large or even on the local level is not doing well? Or has many needs? Or is suffering?
27:28 Or are you completely wrapped up in your career? Are you completely consumed with your personal agenda? If you can't find it in your heart to say, I I want to do what I can to help build up God's work, especially God's people. You are limiting yourself. And you are hindering a possible ministry being born in and through you.
28:06 Moses had it in his heart. Nehemiah asked what is going on. And he did so from the place of a genuine care. And this is all showing us that how necessary it is to be connected with the Lord internally before we do anything for him externally. This is the preoccupation of this man.
28:30 Now, I'd like to offer another hope, another note of inspiration. Come back with me here to verse two. Notice who it is that is named among the group that came to Nehemiah and Hanani, one of my brothers. Now that's not a spiritual brother. This is his actual brother, his kinsmen.
28:47 They share the same blood. So I thought if they named Nehemiah the Lord's comforts, what does Hanani mean? And I discovered that it means gracious. Now we don't know much about Nehemiah's brother here until you go later on in the book of Nehemiah. And I want you to see what is said of this man in chapter seven verse two.
29:07 Can we go there? Look at chapter seven verse two. Nehemiah writes, I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah, the governor of the castle charge over Jerusalem for he was a more faithful and God fearing man than many. Notice how careful Nehemiah is. He didn't say that he elected Hanani because he was his brother.
29:40 That's nepotism. Where you give favor towards relatives though they don't merit that position or that authority or that ministry. No. He says Hanani was promoted because he feared God than most of the others. Now we'll talk more about that when we arrive to chapter seven, but for now, I want to show you how encouraging this is.
30:10 God can do a great work in households. God can do a great work through siblings, spouses, husbands and wives, entire families. And I looked at this and I meditated on it and I thought, it's possible. It's possible for brothers to serve God in the ministry together. It's possible for sisters to have an equally yoked devotion and love for the things of God.
30:45 It's possible for husband and wives. I mean, think about some of the apostles, they were brothers. Did you know that? Think about some of the couples that God used in the New Testament to to have churches in their homes. So you might be sitting there tonight thinking, I wish I had that with my sibling.
31:01 We barely get along. And may God do a work in your heart and in their hearts. But should you become a leader in your own home? Should you become a mother who raises more than one child? Believe this for your family.
31:17 Believe this for your descendants. Believe this for your children. It's a little thought but it means so much to me. That Nehemiah is not working solo here. Yes, he had a group supporting him but he even had his own brother in his corner.
31:36 And when we see God working in families in the local church, we should celebrate that. We should love that. We should say, I want that for my own house. I want that for every house. Is there concerns in ministry when when there's family members serving in a capacity of authority?
31:54 Absolutely. But Nehemiah shows us that Hanani is a qualified man. He wasn't where he was because he was Nehemiah's brother. He was where he was because he loved God and feared God more than anything. The preoccupation.
32:13 But now we look at the problem. Look at verse three again with me. And they said to me, the remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are destroyed by fire. It doesn't take much to understand how disappointing it is to learn that after all these years, the exiles were still unable to restore their sense of stability and security.
32:50 Whether they attempted to rebuild over those years is unclear. Were their prior attempts? It's not obvious to us. It's not indicated. However, the current condition of the city was a perilous one.
33:12 One that disturbed Nehemiah as we're about to find out. So much so, a city without walls in biblical times was so unthinkable that it actually became an illustration or a proverb of a concerning spiritual condition. Did you know that? Let me give you one example in the book of Proverbs. Go to Proverbs 25 with me.
33:42 Proverbs 25 and verse 28. A man without self control is like a city broken into and left without walls. Do you see that? How is it that a man without self control is like a city left without walls? Well, like a city in that state, you become totally vulnerable to the enemy.
34:20 You become an easy prey for foes and predators. The temptations and the impulses of the flesh, of the world, will have a much easier time invading the soul and seizing whatever good remains in us. In other words, the Holy Spirit teaches us here that that self control is like a wall around the heart and it provides resistance against anything that would seek to subdue us and control us and dominate us. And so we understand here that Nehemiah knows the value of physical walls absolutely but he will also show by way of examples that there are protocols that we must make for our own souls. That we must raise up safeguards in order to protect our testimony and our ministry.
35:30 And perhaps this is a good place to land and making this connection between a broken city with no protection and a vulnerable heart. In the same way that there were years after years being spent without knowing the fullness of the grace that could have been known with walls. I'm afraid that there are many people even in the church who have not tasted what they can know in their walk with Christ because they have not considered how to build the right barriers around their own hearts. And one of the things that we have to understand when we consider this proverb is that the place to start is with the help of the Holy Spirit. When we think about the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the last item mentioned is what?
36:35 Self control. Meaning, as much as you think that those urges and those habits and those tendencies are virtually impossible to overcome and conquer, you will never be able to know what God wants you to know without God himself. And so as we look at this tonight, I'd like for us to pause and ask the Lord to help us. Looking at our own hearts, it may not mean much to us to look at this historical account and think about a wall without... A city without walls, but let's look at our own our own lives.
37:20 And ask the Lord to help us to know the spiritual protection that he can offer if we're desperate and concerned enough like Nehemiah is. So be honest and pinpoint in your own life what it is that you feel like has mastery over you. And then ask yourself, what kind of walls am I building to protect myself from such influences? What kind of investments have I made? What kind of plans like Nehemiah is gonna show us here?
37:53 What kind of efforts have I made with others to ensure that I am not so easily arrested and controlled by these things? And believe that God is willing and waiting to do something in that very area. All it took was one man, as we're gonna see, who realized the seriousness of this state to bring change and actually shape history, not just for himself but for the people of God. In like manner, it's going to take a level of burden, not guilt, not condemnation, but God inspired burden to see similar change in our own lives. I remember the story in seminary, in our spiritual discipleship class, where they encouraged us to have an accountability partner for that semester.
38:58 And the professor gave an example of a real story of two classmates who were working together, and one of the classmates kept falling into the same sin over and over and over again and dealt with his sexual lust. And I don't advise that you say this unless you're absolutely confident in your observation and your conversation with such a person. But this individual who was holding this friend accountable eventually looked at this this brother in Christ in the eyes and said, it seems to me that the reason why you are not overcoming and you will never overcome is because you don't hate your sin enough. You actually love it. You enjoy it.
39:50 And that individual who received that observation was honest enough to say, you're right. And he prayed differently. He began to get before God and ask God for an awareness of how heinous and destructive and how poor of a condition he is because he is just allowing the sin to eat away at his life. And over time, God changed his heart. God gave him the strategy.
40:26 And that was the turning point in his walk with the Lord. You see, Nehemiah here is showing us, as we're going to see in the next verse that there are certain things that should bring us to our knees, not just out of an emotional reaction. Keep in mind here when Nehemiah introduces us to his story in the month of Kislev because there's gonna be another time stamp that's gonna show us that Nehemiah's reaction to this whole thing wasn't just a spontaneous emotional eruption because he was surprised by what his brother and his friend said. It was something that sat with him. It was something that made such an impression on him.
41:13 And it was that kind of impression that birthed something that would restore Jerusalem and the people in Jerusalem. Let's pray and thank God for these truths. Father, we thank you for this introduction to this book. And Lord, those... Though these were just a few verses, we believe that they will prepare us for what you have in in store in the coming weeks.
41:55 Thank you that you are ready to use anyone, and yet there is a responsibility on our end. That in the waiting, in our faithfulness, in whatever area we find ourselves in, to allow Christ's character to be molded and pressed against our own hearts. Thank you, Lord, that before anything can actually gain traction, before anything can actually be done effectively, it needs to be birthed in the heart. We need to have a perception and an awareness and a connection with your heart in order to engage with it successfully. And Lord, as we're about to see, thank you for the reminder that not just physical walls but spiritual walls are important.
42:53 And one of the layers of protection that you remind us of is self control. And Lord, if we lack that, then may we partner with the Holy Spirit to see those bricks being built up in a way that we've never known before. And Lord, if we have no motivation to that end, give us a sensitivity that Nehemiah had when he learned that the gates were burned and the walls were in rubble. In other words, may we not be so satisfied of being defeated in any area where sin is having its way with us. Maybe we instead with great excitement, believe that things can change.
43:45 So Lord, we we praise you now. We sing these songs in Thanksgiving for these truths. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.
43:52 Let's stand and worship the Lord together.
