0:20 Made up whole theological systems out of whole cloth. And these critiques couldn't be further from the truth. Because these reformers like Luther and Calvin and Melanchthon, what they did was they retrieved these great glorious truths that we now celebrate. They retrieved it from the darkness where they lay. And yes, it's true.
0:44 They the reformers, you can look at the church fathers and see what they are talking about is not new. You can look at pastors and theologians throughout the intervening hundreds of years and realize that these reformers aren't making up things. History confirms what they're speaking. But just like the reformers, we must always begin at the Bible. We always look at the Bible to see if what we are preaching, what we are learning is true.
1:16 And I want to begin this service with with just focusing on one of those truths that was highlighted during the reformation. And and as I read this, as we as we look at this passage, may it wet your appetite tonight. May it truly sharpen your thirst for righteousness and the Lord. So will you join me in second Corinthians chapter five? We'll just one verse tonight, first 21.
1:40 Second Corinthians five twenty one. And may we rejoice in this truth, the the double imputation that we find in the gospel. The Apostle Paul says, for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin. Christ. Christ wasn't made sinful on the cross or in his humanity.
2:06 No. But on the cross, he voluntarily took upon himself our sin. Our sin was imputed to him and he took the punishment that we deserved. He died the death that we deserved. That's the first imputation.
2:23 But it gets even better. Right? Righteousness of God. Our own merit can't do it. You know that.
2:34 It's only through Christ, his perfect life, his death, burial, and resurrection that we can grasp hold of his righteousness. Through faith in him, we are now cloaked with Christ's righteousness. So when God looks on us, he doesn't see our sin and imperfection. He sees the perfect righteousness of Christ. That's something to celebrate.
2:58 Whenever we gather as a group of believers, that's something to rejoice in and sing about this double imputation. He gets the punishment that we deserve. We get the righteousness that we don't deserve. How great is our God? How great is the gospel tonight?
3:15 I hope you see it because he did it for us. For our sake, he did that because he loved you. He loved me. May we rejoice and worship him in return tonight. Let's pray.
3:31 Father, we thank you. Oh, lord. May we never grow complacent or apathetic or bored thinking and meditating on these great truths of the gospel. And, lord, we thank you for the gospel. We thank you for this great salvation that you have bestowed upon us as a free gift through faith alone, in Christ alone, for your glory alone.
4:01 Father, have your way in this service tonight, we pray. May you be glorified in everything that we say and do and think. And may we receive your glory. May we receive your joy. May we receive more and more delight in you.
4:20 Satisfy our souls tonight, we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Church, will you please stand, lift your voice to the Lord, celebrate these wonderful truths of the gospel tonight.
9:08 I will trust my savior Jesus when my darkest out before. Jesus only Jesus. Help me trust you more and more. Jesus only Jesus. One can I bring for your gift is complete?
12:21 So I trust you, simply trust you, Jesus, Help me trust you more and more. Jesus only Jesus. May my heart be ever yours. Jesus,
16:41 church goes forth in the holy spirit's power with the glories of the gospel to his claim. Now we pray your kingdom
18:43 Yes, lord. We rejoice in your goodness, in your church, in the gospel, in the imputed righteousness of Christ. Lord, we rejoice. We give you thanks, honor, and glory. God, we rejoice also in your word, and we pray, Lord, that it is as it is preached to us tonight, Lord, that you would, open our hearts, God, that your word would find fertile soil, that you would make us more like your son through the preaching of your word.
19:14 Send your spirit amongst us in a special way tonight. God, we don't wanna approach this as something routine or ordinary, but Lord, by the preaching of your word, we will be transformed into the image of your son, Lord. Help us, guide us, be with us tonight, Lord. In Jesus name, amen.
19:41 Well, it's Friday night, and sometimes Friday nights can be a little lethargic. So why don't you turn to somebody and welcome them to to Friday night Bible study before you get comfortable in your chair. So on my way up here, I was thinking, you know, what value the Friday night Bible study has. And really any opportunity that we get to be able to come under the teaching and the preaching of God's word. And one thing that did come to mind was the Garden of Eden.
20:33 Now you have to remember when God created the Garden of Eden, when he created the world, he gave it all to Adam and Eve. He told Adam, you can eat of every tree. Every tree. Can you imagine that? And then Satan comes on the scene, and when he does come on the scene, what does he do?
20:48 He takes one tree, the one that God says you cannot eat of, and he gets Adam and Eve to be fixated on that one thing, that one thing that they could not have. You have to remember they had the entire world. And satan is a master at getting us focused on even one thing that we don't possess. One thing that God does not allow us to have in his goodness and his kindness and his wisdom. And we know the rest of the story.
21:18 If we focus on that too long, we will inevitably give into discontentment and that discontentment can lead us into giving into further temptation and then we just invite destruction into our lives. What does it have to do with a Bible study? I think one of the values of a Bible study, anytime we come again to hear God's word being declared is that we are reminded of all that we have. All that's available to us. All that we get to enjoy.
21:47 And hopefully, we are liberated from discontentment and frustration. And even doubting God, wondering, why don't I have this? Why can't I have this? Why are you not allowing this? And we are so frequently brought back to that kind of, listen, contentment is not our disposition, is it?
22:15 You don't have to teach somebody to be discontent. Paul says, I have learned to be content. You have to learn how to be content, right? So even after a bible study, even after a conference, even after a moving Sunday service, we can be motivated for a couple of days and then we we we feel like we're drifting back into that place. And that's why regular meetings are important.
22:35 You can't survive on once in a while. And And that's why the Lord says encourage one another all the more as you see the day approaching to meet with one another, not neglecting to do so as is the habit of some. So, you've you made the right choice of coming to Bible study tonight. And, you made the right choice if you're watching Bible study tonight. All that to say we're continuing to worship.
22:55 If it's on your heart to give, if it's your custom to give on a Friday night, if you sense in your heart, I don't usually give on a Friday night, but I feel led to give. I have a joyful heart in this. All the ushers are here to help us as they always do, and I don't have many announcements. Just one main announcement. We have ways to donate on the screen there, but we also have an upcoming picnic.
23:16 Maybe our last one, maybe not. It depends. But this one may be our last one for the year. Sunday, September 20, that's the Lord's day service, and we'll be meeting after Sunday. We'll be outside, we'll be fellowshipping, eating, activities, all of that will be there.
23:33 You've been there before. If you haven't, you have nothing to lose. You will only gain. You will gain weight. You will gain fellowship.
23:40 You will gain hopefully even refreshment from people's, love and, companionship. Besides that, we announced this last Sunday, if, you desire to be baptized, we're planning this. We don't have an official date set. But if you are desiring to be baptized, if you have questions about water baptism, you can approach any one of the elders. We already had some people approach us since the announcement, which is wonderful.
24:02 And we just want to kind of get, a pulse of who desires to get baptized, just to get a number perhaps, an estimate, and, also to know some of the availability so we can set the right date. We hope to do that before the winter, obviously, and, we're so excited to have our first baptism service in this building. You notice that there's no baptismal here, so we're gonna figure something out. Now there are solutions. Many churches these days don't have any more baptisms, but that's okay.
24:29 As long as there's enough water to get plunged. That's the main thing. Right? So, we're not going to resort to any other way of baptizing. We're going to find a body of water.
24:38 Even if you have to dig something in one of the acres of land that we have here and fill it with water. We'll do it. We won't do that though. Don't worry. You don't have to be worried.
24:46 Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. God is so good to us. He's allowed us to come and hear his voice in his word. Let's meet together in the book of Nehemiah, and perhaps you are already there. You know this very well that we began studying this chapter last week, and we stopped just short at the end because the final few verses deserve our attention in a separate study.
25:13 And the reason for that is because this small cluster of verses that we have reserved for this evening brings us to a significant moment in this book, and that is the fulfillment of Nehemiah's primary mission. So you recall that chapter six presents to us a new barrage of attacks pointed toward Nehemiah personally, and he was able to overcome. And Nehemiah is ready to now inform us that the walls of Jerusalem have been rebuilt. His plans have become a reality. His persistence has paid off, and his prayers have been answered.
25:59 And so this is a celebratory thing. This is something that I'm sure Nehemiah rejoiced in, that the people were gleeful about, and that even the reader, us, who find great joy in looking back in the past and seeing what God has accomplished for his namesake and for the good of his people. However, there's more than celebration that's offered here. There's more than an invitation to rejoice at God's power and his wisdom and his grace. There is instruction, even with a verse and a few verses like this, and I want to hopefully convince you of that.
26:31 I wanna prove that to you in these verses, so turn with me here to chapter six, beginning in verse 15, and we'll read through verse 19. Nehemiah six verse 15. So the wall was finished on the twenty fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty two days. And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. That's how the ESV renders that last part.
27:05 Moreover, in those days, the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah and Tobiah's letters came to them. For many in Judah were bound by oath to him because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah, the son of Ara, and his son Jehoanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah as his wife. Also, they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. And Tobias sent letters to make me afraid. Let's pray.
27:38 Lord, at the end of this week, many have come from work, many have had surprises, perhaps. Many might be weary. But Lord, by faith, we have all come because we hunger for you. We long for you. We don't wanna miss any part of your word, and that's no less true tonight.
27:59 We ask, Lord, that with these verses that we just read, you would allow us to go deep. Help us see the depths of your heart. Help us see just how vast your mind is. Give us a glimpse of your glory. Make us, Lord, a people who are willing to receive all that you have to say.
28:20 Humble us in your presence, and may we leave here rejoicing and knowing that we've heard from you. We ask these things in the name of your son, the living Christ, our Messiah, Jesus. Amen and amen. There are three things that stand out to me from the verses that we just read, and they're memorable, hopefully. They will help us organize our thoughts.
28:42 Three things, testimony, there's triumph, there is also timing. And we'll look at these things in order. The first thing that stands out to us, to be more specific, is the timing of the completion. Then we have the testimonies surrounding the completion. And lastly, we have the triumph of the completion.
29:09 And we look here at verse 15 to see something about the timing of the achievement of the rebuilding of the wall. Look at it again with me in verse 15. Nehemiah six verse 15. So the wall was finished on the twenty fifth day of the month Elul in fifty two days. You have to understand the magnitude of this accomplishment.
29:27 We have to try to sense just how remarkable this feat is in such a short amount of time. And it is so great that unfortunately you have some historians and even some bible commentators who choose not to take this literally. They come up with all these ideas and all these factors to try to explain away or even give different timing of how this came about. But that shouldn't surprise us because there are many things in God's word that stump the carnal mind. Instead of looking at how this is possible, we have to be able to understand that with God all things are possible.
30:06 And what's very disappointing again is when professing Christians try to minimize the significance of this moment by explaining that Nehemiah had innumerable volunteers for example, Or that he was able to do this because it wasn't really a full reconstruction. It was more like repairing certain things and it wasn't like a ground up effort. And while some of those observations may be true, why don't we include the things that made this especially challenging that we can easily miss? We can safely assume that Nehemiah charged the people in faithfulness of God's word within these fifty two days, or within this time frame to what? Keep the Sabbath once a week?
30:53 Have you ever thought about that? To take a break by faith? To rest by faith? Don't read this singular verse without accounting all the trials, all the obstacles, all the challenges, that not only slowed down the work at times, but even put it to some kind of a halt for a period of time until certain things were solved. And we also should consider the time of the year in which Nehemiah brings to our attention concerning the completion.
31:28 Notice here in verse 15 that it says it was done in the month of Elul. Now Elul is a sixth month on the Jewish religious calendar, and it always falls between August and September. So why is that significant? Well think about the practicality of the timing of this work. If it ended between August and September, that means the majority of the work was done during the hottest time of the year in a Middle Eastern climate.
31:57 Doesn't take much imagination to wonder if this could have been an added frustration to everything else that was going on. A blazing sun beating on your head, and you have people harassing you from the outside, you have people fearful and conspiring from the inside. This is nothing short of a miracle. And this is something that we can give God glory for. To rebuild these walls in such a short amount of time is indeed something that we should worship about.
32:33 But there is more to learn. There's so much more in this singular verse. If you just meditate, and consider the other truths that we've explored and encounter leading up to this moment, we can actually learn more and apply things to our lives. Let me give you an example. This verse reminds us that determination can make us surprisingly fruitful.
32:52 Does Nehemiah fail to give God credit for what happens here? No, he doesn't. He does it here and he does it elsewhere. However, I wanna remind you of what Nehemiah said earlier, when they reached the halfway point of the walls being rebuilt. So rewind with me to Nehemiah chapter four, and look at this one verse here in verse six.
33:13 Nehemiah four verse six. Nehemiah four verse six. This man of God writes, so we built the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. Does he give God the praise and the honor for this accomplishment? Absolutely, but he's also realistic.
33:37 And although this is a unique situation that had a time sensitive matter at hand, the principle of what we can witness come to pass, despite pressure and despite persecution is ever before us. Fifty two days, why? Because God was behind it. Absolutely, we'll get to that point. But also because the people had a mind to work.
34:05 Some of us might be shocked to know how much we can excel in our knowledge of God's word, if we were just a little bit more intentional in our daily investment. You know, I can remember being first saved and rejoicing when I would hear something new from the pulpit or from a brother or sister in Christ, but at the same time sometimes being bothered. Because it bothered me to hear something from the Word of God that I didn't know about. Even if it was a text, or the placement of a book, that irked me. And it was enough for me to be charged to go back and I'm figuring this out.
34:47 I'm also confident that each of us can reach greater and greater excellence in our gifting, in in such a way that it produces greater blessing for those that are being ministered to, if we just took Paul's words to Timothy a little bit more seriously when he told Timothy concerning his calling, immerse yourself in these things and let everybody see your progress, Instead of just giving the bare minimum in our service to the Lord, giving the least amount of energy possible. How are they able to do this in fifty two days? Because they were determined. They were focused. And this is an illustration of a New Testament truth that we studied together at the conference.
35:26 The the main verse of that weekend was Hebrews chapter 12 verse one. And I believe Nehemiah is an example of that verse being lived out in obedience when the Holy Spirit says, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. I am totally convinced that Nehemiah is a perfect model of somebody who did not just let go of sin, but removed all weight. This man was diligent. This man was hungry.
36:02 This man was was operating in a manner that made him surprisingly fruitful. You know, sometimes the results or the lack of results in our ministries is due to providence. That's a totally legitimate reason. That things don't develop or things don't come about because God in his great wisdom doesn't allow it. We have to be patient in that way.
36:24 We have to also trust that that the Lord does not allow things to blossom to a certain degree or a certain rate because he wants to, he wants to do a deeper work in us. He wants to produce something in us in in terms of character, Christ like attitude and and faith, all these different things, absolutely. But we also have to be honest enough to say that perhaps sometimes the delays that we experience boils down to this one simple thing. We don't have the mind to work. We don't have the mind to work.
36:53 We don't take it as seriously as we should. We don't have the vision, we don't have the longing, we we don't maybe believe that things can in fact grow and become more fragrant and more impactful. And so we just kind of go on autopilot mode with wherever we are serving the Lord and and we wonder why things are not taking off or why we're not seeing an advancement as we should. Fifty two days, was it the Lord? Absolutely.
37:22 But I think about Nehemiah said earlier that they had a mind to do it. Another thing that we can learn from the timing of the walls completion is that serious investment in prayer makes our labor more efficient. Serious investment in prayer makes our labor more efficient. So when I read this verse earlier today and last night, where an actual day of a month named is brought up, I thought to myself where else did this happen in the book of Nehemiah? And I was brought back to the first two chapters of this book.
37:55 And so let's turn there. I want you to see again how Nehemiah, by the Spirit is, is even showing us here that requires a little bit of math. Look at Nehemiah one one. This is how the whole book begins. The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hakaliah, now it happened in the month of Kislev in the twentieth year as I was in Susa, the citadel.
38:22 And then you read in Nehemiah two verse one, in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. Hopefully you remember that when we looked at these two months, earlier in this book, we made the observation that it took four months between Kislev and Nisan before Nehemiah approached the king and received permission to go to Jerusalem. And now we come to this chapter, and we find that the wall was completed on the twenty fifth day of Elul. So So when we step back and consider the timeline, the events recorded between chapters two and six happen within a framework of six months.
39:09 Six months, and remarkably, fifty two days the wall was complete. Why is this significant? Well, when you bring everything together, you see different things and one thing that stands out to me Well, let me ask you this question. Do you remember what Nehemiah did between Kislev and Nisan according to chapters one and two? What was he doing?
39:33 Fasting and praying. Fasting and praying for four months until God gave a breakthrough. Why does that matter? It took fifty two days to rebuild the wall. Here's what I see, Nehemiah spent more time praying about the wall than actually building it.
39:56 What do you learn from that? I think you can learn different things. One thing that is clear is that Nehemiah demonstrates really the Holy Spirit that prayer prayerfulness is not optional if you wanna be optimal. Prayerfulness is not optional if you wanna be optimal. And all the success that Nehemiah knew publicly, all the success that gained the attention of the nations was rooted in a man who was praying in secret.
40:26 A man who sat before the presence of God. And wait waited until God gave him favor and gave him wisdom and gave him clarification and gave him the confidence to do what his heart was burning to do. You and I cannot forget that no matter what we do for the Lord, it is ultimately a spiritual endeavor. And the only way that we can acquire spiritual power and grace and guidance and discernment and prudence and the resources to be successful is in the place of prayer. You can't replace it.
41:03 You can't do anything else more than pray. Study the word, yes. Obey the word, absolutely. I hope you you hear me clearly. But this man shows us that he invested so much in prayer, and that's what made his work, I'm sure, so efficient.
41:22 When you honor God in that way and you invite him in in whatever that you're doing, you will know a blessing. You will know protection. You will even know sometimes an acceleration that comes to those who humble themselves before the Lord. That's why we pray here every week. We don't pray here just because we have nothing else to do midweek.
41:47 We can fill that with so many different activities. But the reason why we protect our prayer meeting is because we know that if we get off of our knees, we will not know the efficiency of heaven's blessing upon what we do here on earth in his name. So, even the timing of the work in comparison to the timing of the investment in prayer, I believe shines here. But there's even more. The final thing that you and I can can see in the singular verse as we consider the timing of the completion, is that when the Lord is involved in any work, amazing solutions can ensue.
42:34 Do you remember how long the walls of Jerusalem laid in ruins? Between a hundred and forty and a hundred and fifty years, since the exile. Up to this moment, that's how long the walls were destroyed and in rubble. And in fifty two days, God used the man to resurrect those walls. How?
43:04 Well, look what Nehemiah says again in verse 16 of Nehemiah six. The last part, for they perceive that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. Some translations say that this was wrought by God. This just was God. And that's what this translation I'm sure is getting at as well.
43:24 Think about this. Something that had been broken for over a century was restored in less than two months. How is that possible? Because God was behind the work. And I can't help but think that if God is able and willing to do this for walls, surely he's able to do it for the lives of people who need healing and resurrection power and life again.
43:59 Can you not restore minds that have been broken since childhood? Can you not bind up the soul that has been bruised by so many people over the years? Marriages that seem hopeless after decades, because of what seems to be an unbreakable pattern of hurt? Can God do something about that? Yes, he can.
44:27 And not only can he do it, he can do it in a timing that would stun everybody who knows about the dysfunction, and knows about the impossibility of the situation, and sees a breakthrough, and sees a turnaround, and sees a remarkable and miraculous change. One way this I believe is amplified in the New Testament, is that when you look at certain miracles that Jesus performs, and we learn how long that person was in that certain condition before Jesus healed them. Do you know what I'm talking about? So you remember in John chapter five verse five? What does it say here about Jesus healing that man by the pool?
45:13 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, do you want to be healed? Thirty eight years, unable to move, desperate for something to change, hoping for some kind of intervention. And we're learning about how long he was like this, and how Jesus in one moment changed it all. What about even after Christ resurrected and ascended, as he worked through his apostles in Acts chapter four in verse 22, when that man by the gate called Beautiful was also healed.
45:52 In Acts four twenty two, for the man on whom the sign of healing was performed was more than 40 years old. Why are we being told the age or how long somebody's been crippled for, disabled for? To help us understand that the same Jesus Christ we worship today can restore any of us no matter how long we remain in that place of destitution. If we don't believe that, then we're no different than any kind of self help. If we don't believe that, then we're no different than what the world has to offer in terms of helping and healing and renewing and rejuvenating.
46:28 What makes us different? Does God use natural means? You better believe it. Does he sometimes require time for somebody to come to the place where he desires them to be? You better believe it also.
46:38 But we also serve a God who does miracles. And if you serve here and you serve people here, you better expect that God will in fact bring broken people. That's what the church is about, bringing broken people, not so that they can remain broken, but that they would touch the hem of his garment and be restored. And God uses us as his hands and feet many times, does he not? You have to look at something like the walls.
47:03 You have to look at something like thirty eight years of being invalid. You have to look at somebody who passed the prime of their life being broken and believe Jesus can fix this. If not, then what are we offering? We're just medicating people in their brokenness instead of believing that this word, our love, obedience to these truths can transform people's lives. Over a century of broken walls, and in fifty two days, because of God, they were brought back to life.
47:38 This is all just from the timing of the completion, but We now have to consider the testimony surrounding it. Let's look at verse 16 again of Nehemiah six. And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and felt greatly in their own esteem. For they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. There are just so many things about this one verse that brings me joy.
48:07 And one thing that moves me is the irony that it displays. Think about all the times Nehemiah pens, how his enemies sought to bring fear and strike terror in his heart, in the hearts of God's people. And we see it over and over and over again. Different schemes and different methods and different lies and different mockery and different threats. They did everything they could to cripple this man, and the people who served alongside him.
48:38 And yet, as we come to the pinnacle moment of this story, what do we discover? It's not the Jews who are afraid, but the enemies of the Jews who become fearful. Do you not see it here in verse 16? And when our enemies, all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid. The very fear that they tried to place on the people and create in their hearts has now fallen upon them.
49:06 Beautiful poetic justice. But it teaches us something about what God's servants are to do, who are like Nehemiah and have enemies, who slander you, who who manipulate things about you, your reputation, who who tarnish you, who who seek to try to destroy you with their mouths, defame you, all these things. What does Nehemiah prove to us here? Well, we already saw this wonderful man of God model how to react to such things, but there's even more here as I look at it carefully. Nehemiah again shows us all you need to do is remain focused on what God has asked you to do, and let the fruit that he produces in your life and the ministry that he has you in speak for itself.
49:55 Let God defend you. In Nehemiah's case, the completed wall was an undeniable declaration that God was behind this man. Which teaches us that the combination of Christ like character and the results of our ministries as those ministries of ours are connected to the Holy Spirit are capable of speaking louder than anything that is said about you or me. Nehemiah didn't waste his time trying to convince Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem that he was a good guy. And that he had the right motives and why he was doing what he was doing.
50:39 He just kept his hands white knuckled on the plow and when the time came, God, God showed up on his behalf. Isn't that what it says in verse 16? The unbelievers recognize that has to be their God. That has to be their God. You know, I'm reminded of Joseph.
51:02 Why don't we turn that together in Genesis? This man, what he endured. The lies, the false claims and accusations, it almost cost him his life. In Genesis 39, look at here in verse 19 with me. Hopefully, this helps you.
51:29 In Genesis 39 verse 19, this is after the whole thing happened with Potiphar's wife, and she reports him to her husband. And notice what the scripture says here in Genesis thirty nine nineteen. As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, this is the way your servant treated me, his anger was kindled. And Joseph's master took him and put him into prison. That's interesting.
51:56 He's a servant. Don't you think that a man like Potiphar could have just killed him and gotten it over with? Makes you wonder if he had a suspicion about this accusation himself, but that's another conversation for another bible study. And Joseph's master took him and put him into prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. For what?
52:16 For righteousness. For what? Holiness. For what? Fearing God.
52:21 How do you recover from this? What do you do now? Here's the most important part about this whole account. Look at verse 21, but the Lord was with Joseph. That's what you need to be concerned with more than anything else.
52:34 Not what people say, how many people like you, what they post about you, who cares? Who cares about any of that? The one thing that you wanna maintain and protect is, is God with me? Is God with me? Because it doesn't matter if the whole world, Potiphar, his wife, and all of them associated.
52:51 If they're all for me, and God's not with me, what does that account for? What does that matter? But God was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. No matter where you stuck this man, there was favor. Put him in Potiphar's house, everything's blessed.
53:10 Put him in a prison, people are blessed. Put him beside Pharaoh, people are blessed. The whole nation's blessed. The whole world is blessed. We discussed this last time we were together in this book, did we not?
53:24 That because Nehemiah maintained a clear conscience and he had a relationship with the Lord, nobody could dictate his ministry. Nobody can determine his future or his destiny. And that's louder even here in this latter part of Nehemiah six. Did God ever vindicate Joseph? You know this well, but I like to envision it.
53:40 Let's read it together here a couple chapters later in Genesis 41. Look at verse 42. Genesis 41 verse 42. Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen, and put a gold chain around his neck. And he made him ride in his second chariot, and they called out before him, bow the knee.
54:05 Thus, he said to him, over all the land of Egypt. And you can so easily read past that and not think about the implications of it. Here's this man who's been falsely accused for rape or attempted rape at least. He's put into prison. He interprets dreams.
54:21 He is elevated, and not just elevated out of prison, but exalted to the second most powerful position in all of Egypt. And one of the things that Pharaoh wants to do is let everybody know the new kid on the block. And he puts him in a second chariot, and he has him ride around, and they called out before him, bow the knee. You know what I wondered? If Potiphar and his wife were somewhere there in that parade, and they had to bow the knee because they were commanded.
54:58 Bow the knee before who? The one that they accused of sexual morality? Of dishonoring a politician's woman? This is when God defends you. This is what it looks like.
55:18 You don't have to always explain yourself. You don't have to seek out a formal apology if somebody's not willing to give it. Let the fruit of your life as you seek to honor Christ and the fruit of your ministry as he blesses it, defend you. Let God speak on your behalf. And the Lord did in such a way in Nehemiah's time that again, the nation said, that is God.
55:54 This is just one of the testimonies surrounding the completion of this wall, but we come now finally to the triumph of the completion. Let's look at the last two verses again of Nehemiah six. Nehemiah six verse 17. This is an interesting insert. It reads moreover in the in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah's letters came to them for many in Judah.
56:18 Highlight many, not some, not a few, but many in Judah were bound by oath to him because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah, son of Ara. And his son Jehoanan had taken the daughter of Mesulam, the son of Baccariah, as his wife. Also, they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him, and Tobias sent letters to make me afraid. So now when Nehemiah says moreover in those days, he's most likely referring to the days leading up to this project reaching his completion. In other words, Nehemiah seems to be bringing us a review of just some of the challenges that he had to endure with his people that make this completion that much sweeter.
57:03 He's almost helping us see one of the the most disturbing things that could have easily sabotaged this whole thing, but in fact, God was able to give them victory. Again, it's as though he wants to remind the reader, hey, we accomplished this in fifty two days by God's help, but can I tell you just some of the things that make it even more unlikely? And the one thing that he chooses to focus on is how there were not some, again, not few, but many within Judah who were pledged to Tobiah. One of the trio, the troublesome trio that were causing all the frustration to begin with. And the loyalty of these men and these families to him was greater than God's glory and his concern for his people recovering their security and their identity.
58:02 This is horrific. You have some of the leaders from the tribe of Judah who are more loyal to an unequally yoked relationship with an unbeliever than the covenant people of God. And it gets even scarier. What do we discover at the end of the book of Nehemiah? Go to chapter 13.
58:21 As Nehemiah goes back to Babylonia, returns, he discovers some unfortunate matters, and this is one of them, in Nehemiah 13 and verse four. Nehemiah 13 verse four. Nehemiah writes now before this, Eliashib, the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God and who was related to Tobiah. How? Tobiah is an Ammonite according to the earlier portions of this book.
58:57 So you have an Ammonite who is historically a part of a people group that had great hostility towards the people of God. An Ammonite who is not only in connection with the royal tribe of Judah, but also found a way to associate himself with the priestly people? What did this man do to to convince the nobles of Judah and the priests to do his bidding? Now, put yourself in Nehemiah shoes. How do you work under such circumstances?
59:35 What did this look like statistically? I don't know. All I'm told is that many, many in Judah were reporting things, everything that Nehemiah said in secret, as they planned, as they sought to know how to respond to the threats, they were reporting that all back to Tobiah. Nehemiah is shaking people's hands. He doesn't know, is this man for us?
59:54 Is he against us? Is he a traitor? Is he faithful? And he has to deal with people who have all these different incentives who are giving him advice that you don't know, is this because you actually care or is this because you have financial incentives and desires and you're willing to do things like ignore the Sabbath so that you can make a profit and that Tobiah can also profit. All these this complicated thing that he had to manage and yet they were able to do it.
1:00:22 Why? One answer, God. There's no other way. Any other person, I'm sure, would have submitted their resignation as governor. This is too much.
1:00:39 I did not sign up for this. I came to help you, and it looks like you don't care. Why don't you endure another fifty years without a wall and see how you like it? That's not the attitude that he has. Nehemiah knew that he was a man on a mission, and more than that, he knew that he had God with him.
1:00:54 And God's blessing can give us such success that you can even face such unsupport and lack of faithfulness within the camp and still see God come through. And that should be a tremendous encouragement to all of us here as a church. Because it is entirely possible for self interest to so easily creep in. And not just creep in, but multiply. And not just multiply, but even be the cause for division.
1:01:25 But when you and I are doing what we're doing for the sake of God's glory and we remain dependent on him, those who oppose it, listen carefully, are not opposing a board. They're not they're not opposing somebody that they see as a rival in a different ministry, they're opposing God. You know, pastors hear many things similarly, and one thing that many pastors hear over the years is that when a concerned member or members discover some concerning behavior of a different member that seems destructive and harmful, and they say, brother so and so, if we don't do something about this then so and so can destroy the church. And I don't know how other pastors answer this, but over the years my go to answer usually is, that is certainly possible if it were my church. But it's not my church.
1:02:18 It's nobody's church but God's. Christ is the head. And if he birthed that ministry, and he's being honored in that ministry, then those who was trying to destroy that ministry have to deal with him directly. And that that sounds preachy, doesn't it? That that almost sounds too good to be true.
1:02:43 That almost challenges our reason because we think well that doesn't really flesh out practically. No, actually I choose to believe God's word. One of the strongest warnings concerning this is what Paul told the Corinthians in first Corinthians three seventeen. For you are God's temple, for you are God's temple. And then he goes on to warn, if anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him.
1:03:12 If anyone corrupts God's temple, God will do what he needs to do to deal with them for God's temple is holy and you are that temple. That you in the Greek is plural. He's talking about the church. This is God's temple. This is no man's temple.
1:03:28 This is a holy God's abiding place. And if there's anyone or anyone, plural, who seeks to destroy that, and the context here about destruction by the way is division. Did you know that? What was the problem, the main problem that Paul is addressing? Some saying, I'm of Apollos, others I'm of Cephas, others I'm a Jesus only.
1:03:49 That's the kind of divisions that were going on. Paul says, hey, hey, hey, you're starting to tear things apart here with that kind of talk. Your clickiness and your factions are entertaining potential severance here. If anyone destroys God's temple, God will deal with you directly. Let the fear of God rest on this place.
1:04:11 And let any pastor who thinks that this is their church, not speaking about this church, but whatever church they represent also stand in fear. God hires you and God can fire you. If it's truly of the Holy Spirit, he raises up people and if he chooses after great patience and warning, he can remove such people. And Nehemiah here understood something of that. And I was studying the triumph of the completion.
1:04:48 There was other things that came to mind, but one main question that gripped me regarding it is, I understand how these nobles of Judah and these other important figures potentially gave into the deception of Tobiah who persuaded them to to have a marriage alliance and made business deals with them. I understand how they could have got sucked into that, but what baffles me what baffles me here is how they were willing to still defend them after he showed his true colors, and was doing all that he could to stop the rebuilding of the walls. What do I mean? Look again at verse 19. Also, they spoke of his good deeds in my presence, and reported my words to him, and Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.
1:05:34 So what does that mean? I believe it means that during this period of rebuilding, during those fifty two days, you had some who are trying to convince Nehemiah, hey listen, Tobiah is not that bad of a guy. Why don't you let him work with us? Why don't you open your heart a little bit? He actually cares for us.
1:05:54 He actually has helped us. He's he's been a blessing to our families. This man's wicked. This man is an enemy of God. And you have some within Jerusalem who are trying to persuade Nehemiah to not see him for who he truly was.
1:06:20 I'm looking at this and I'm thinking, how? What's going on here for you to actually believe this? Or are you so cunning that you don't believe it, but because there's something of of you benefiting from this relationship that you're willing to even say all this in order to, it's just a mess. This is just a mess. And I think they actually believe this about Tobiah.
1:06:46 And I believe there's a verse in Proverbs that helps helps us understand how how this is happening in this story. Would you like to turn there with me? Proverbs chapter 28 and verse four. This is one of those verses that are worth putting in the margin of Nehemiah chapter six. But listen to this in Proverbs 28 verse four.
1:07:10 Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law strive against them. One of the consequences of walking away from the word of God is your delight and your standard of truth is that you forfeit discernment. Stay away from God's word long enough. Don't give it the respect that it deserves. Don't revere God through it.
1:07:41 Don't apply it to your life long enough and you'll lose your accurate assessment of what is right and what is wrong, and more than that, who is right and who is wrong. Those who forsake the law, what do they do? They praise the wicked. They admire the wicked. They support the wicked.
1:08:04 And if you're like me and you have wondered how certain professing Christians can can do that with those who are clearly in error whether in the church or in society, Proverbs tells us that one of the reasons is because they have deviated from scripture. It has left their hearts. It no longer is their treasure if it was even to begin with. They did not uphold it. They did not filter everything through it.
1:08:31 And once you do that, you throw away your moral compass. Once you come to that point, you lose spiritual perception. To the degree that you look at somebody like Tobiah who's a troublemaker and think he's a good guy. Nehemiah, come on. And Nehemiah fulfills the second part of this verse where he is striving against the wicked.
1:08:55 He's contending. He's resisting. Because unlike those who forsake the law, Nehemiah, we've seen it over and over again, loved God's word. He knew it. He brought it up in his arguments.
1:09:07 He brought it up in his confrontations. He brought it up in his rebuke. He he was tethered to the scriptures. And so he was able to see Tobiah for who he was. It makes me wonder if part of the deception on Tobias' part and his family to disarm the nobles of Judah and others is how they masquerade themselves as worshipers of God.
1:09:42 Saying, what? What are you talking about? Have you ever considered the name of Tobiah and what it means and his son's name? What does Tobiah mean? Jehovah is good.
1:09:51 His son, Jehoi'enan, what does it mean? Jehovah has grace or Jehovah has favored. Those are some good names. Don't you think? Jehovah is good.
1:10:01 Is he? Jehovah has favored. If you really believe that, then you'd be celebrating the wall being rebuilt. You know what we see here with the nobles of Judah? They couldn't see past the labels.
1:10:15 Makes me wonder, why they have these names to begin with, but they're there. And it provides a striking lesson. If you and I want to escape the schemes, if you wanna see past through, if you want x-ray vision where it matters the most, and see past through those who seem to be agents of righteousness, who seems to be actually in relationship with God, but in fact are not. There's only one way. Stay close to God's word.
1:10:49 Digest his word. Live in his word. Walk in the spirit. How can you have two people on the same side see the same person and have such different conclusions? Proverbs tells us, you forsake the law, you praise what you should condemn.
1:11:07 You uphold the law, you will see things as God sees them. This is where Nehemiah's triumph ultimately comes from. He stayed close to God in prayer, yes, but he also tied these truths around his heart. So that when there was conflict from within, between the nobles and the poor Jews, he knew how to deal with it. And when he had a man whose name was Jehovah is Good, and his son whose name says Jehovah has grace, he could see past all the badges and all the labels and all the Christianese and say, you're a troublemaker.
1:11:49 Because if you really lived up to that name, then you would see what we're doing as something God honors and wants to protect. So there's triumph in this completion and the only way Nehemiah was able to come to this point triumphantly is because he was a man who did not foresee God's law. He believed that when it was hard to believe it. He preached it when others couldn't preach to themselves. He prayed it over and over again.
1:12:24 And you and I have this man before us as we are entering this season as a church to know that God is able to do amazing things. If we invest in prayer, if we just trust God not just with our ministries but even with our reputation. And if we don't forsake this book, if we stay close to this book, doesn't matter how many wolves come in, doesn't matter what kind of opposition arises, God will give us the ability to succeed because we do it for his namesake and his namesake alone. This is what we have in these verses and I wanna join with you in prayer now and give thanks to God for it. We thank you, Father.
1:13:18 That as we looked at the timing of the wall being finished and the testimonies surrounding it and the triumph of it, you've given us hope. You've given us encouragement. And Lord for those who feel defeated, for those who may be the objects of people scorn and lies, for those who feel as though they can't go on. Because of all the cycles of problems that never seem to go away. Help us remember this man's story.
1:13:59 Help us see what we can know when we set our minds to work, yes, but also when we stay on our knees before you, oh Holy God. So Lord tonight, we rejoice in knowing that you are for us, that this is your church. Oh, what a relief to know that this is your church. But Lord, we also know that you've called us to function in a certain way and to obey you and to listen to your voice through your word, so help us. Lord, far be it from any of us to be like these nobles of Judah, and have one foot out in the world or have some kind of selfish ambition in our own hearts and try to bring that into the work of the kingdom of God.
1:14:38 Help us all be on the same page with the same goal. And Lord, we we pray that you would protect the unity and the purity and the humility of this place. Keep us close to you and keep us close to one another, and we trust that you will continue to inform us and equip us through this book as we go on. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Amen.
1:15:05 Well, if you desire to remain seated so that you can respond to God's word from your heart, I don't wanna force you to stand up. But if you're ready to stand up and worship the Lord, you can join us as the praise team now helps us to sing, but let's just make this a time of response to our God. Maybe you need help. Maybe you need to ask him for something specific. Take this time to do that.
1:15:24 Maybe you wanna just thank him for what he has said to us. You can do that as well, but let's really genuinely respond to him before we close the service.
1:16:28 We won't fear the battle. We won't fear the night. We will walk the valley with you by our side. You will go before us. You will lead the way.
1:16:43 We have found a refuge. Only you can save. Seeing with joy now, Take the world, but give me and give me Jesus in his cross. My trust shall be. Take this world and give me Jesus still that day.
1:24:05 You know I think one of the problems with Bible studies in general is that people think that Bible studies are an end in itself. Any sermon, any teaching, any study is a means to an end. A hundred and something years of broken walls and in less than two months, God brought them back up again. What do you learn from that? What do you take from that?
1:24:26 I hope that awakens somebody's faith and I'm sure you've seen it too in your Christian experience that people who have been bound in addiction for years, people who had patterns of destruction, people who hurt so many, you just think that's a lost destruction, people who hurt so many. You just think that's a lost cause there in one encounter with Christ and they're never the same. I remember I was sitting there as we were singing. I remember a friend of mine back in Canada, my first year of walking with the Lord, one of the most amazing transformations I've ever witnessed. He was a big drug dealer in our hometown.
1:24:57 He had a big drug addiction. He would spend hundreds of hundreds of dollars a day in a week just to get high. I don't know why I remember this one story when I met him after he came to Christ and he would say that during Christmas, during the holidays, if he if he was with his family, he would be grinding his teeth just waiting for that next fix and he could even open his gifts, right? I mean, you look at somebody like that, you think you need to be locked away somewhere and you just need to you need to detox and all of that is true and all that is necessary sometimes, but this this man, even as I was talking to him in the church lobby, he came off his drugs. He walked away from his prescription medication that he was addicted to and he was still puffy.
1:25:40 His face, he can barely talk. He can barely talk, but there was a light in his eyes because he experienced the gospel of Jesus Christ and he was able to break free from that. He was able to walk away from all that lifestyle and I was even there where a few of us from the church went to his house and he emptied his safe in his room and he filled the garbage bag, filled the paraphernalia and all this stuff, all this vile stuff. And there was a guy there from the church who had a bunch of land so he made this giant fire and they dumped it all there and he did it and he never looked back and you're thinking, what happened? He heard the gospel.
1:26:15 He had a praying mom and to this day from what I know, he has a family, he has children, he's serving the Lord, he he did some work for for missions for some time and how do you explain that? How do you explain that? And you might be here thinking, I don't know. I mean I I know nothing else. I just know this way of life.
1:26:39 Well I can tell you this, Jesus can change you if you if you believe on him. What a question Jesus asked that man by the pool, do you want to be healed? Why wouldn't he want to be healed? What a question. But what a master Jesus is.
1:26:59 Looking at this man for thirty eight years has been in that place and sometimes when you're a certain place for so long, you can't imagine being changed. You can't imagine things looking different And Christ asked that question. I believe it's a question that he asked anybody who finds himself in a place that they should not be doing things that they should not be doing, thinking that it can't change. Do you wanna be healed? Do you wanna be restored?
1:27:20 The Lord can do it. Stretch out your hand. Do what he asks you to do and you will know freedom. That's my desire leaving this place tonight, not for us to just gather some insights from a text that we barely read, but to hear God's heart and to see his heart and to say Lord, if that's something that you wanna do in me, do it in me and he's able to do it. I wanna pray that he does it for anybody in here who needs a touch from God, anybody in here who needs freedom, anybody who needs salvation, anybody who's, you know yourself.
1:27:48 The Lord can do something miraculous even on this night. And so we look to you Lord in this final moment of this service. We've looked into your face in this text and we see your power and we see your compassion and we see your mercy. And Lord, for those in this place that need hope and need deliverance and need a different path that only you can pay for them, We ask that faith would arise and that you would respond to that faith in this moment and that patterns of thinking and even things that are working in our bodies chemically that can't seem to change that we think can never change. Lord, do miracles in this place for the sake of your name.
1:28:31 Do work in this place where people outside of the church would say that has to be God, and may this church be a church that sees such testimonies For your name's sake, Lord, so that you would be praised and loved and adored. We ask these things tonight. Oh, Lord, give us testimonies of of this Bible study in real tangible ways. Give us testimonies. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.
1:28:57 Before you leave, why don't you stay for a little bit of fellowship, embrace somebody. We'll see you next week as we get into a new chapter of the book of Nehemiah. God bless you and take care. Have a blessed weekend.
