Rise Up and Build! Part 2
NEHEMIAH: How God Uses the Ordinary to Revitalize the Kingdom! • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 43:47
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Welcome
Welcome
Good Morning! I’m Pastor Wayne and I’d like to welcome you all to the gathering of Ephesus Baptist Church.
Why did you choose to gather today? We believe we are a called people! Called to worship and exalt our God among the nations in order that His glory may be spread over all the earth!
If you are visiting with us this morning, we want you to know that ...
We are all one family of faith: “giving our all to love God, love people, proclaim Jesus, and make disciples in our generation.”
We have a connect card in the pew in front of you. I invite you to take one and fill it out! If you have prayer needs, you can let us know about those as well.
I promise, our prayer team will lift you up soon. You can place those cards in the offering plate when it comes around.
Scripture Memory
Scripture Memory
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Opening Scripture Reading
Opening Scripture Reading
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Introduction
Introduction
“NEHEMIAH: How God Uses the Ordinary to Revitalize the Kingdom!”;
Rise Up and Build! Part 2,
Let’s start today by quickly reviewing the principles we learned last week.
REVIEW
1. Like Nehemiah, we must be ready to give our all for the cause of Christ.
1. Like Nehemiah, we must be ready to give our all for the cause of Christ.
2. Like Nehemiah, we must anticipate opposition and ridicule when we seek the welfare of God’s Kingdom.
2. Like Nehemiah, we must anticipate opposition and ridicule when we seek the welfare of God’s Kingdom.
3. Like Nehemiah, we must be wise and rest as we seek to glorify God!
3. Like Nehemiah, we must be wise and rest as we seek to glorify God!
This great passage of Nehemiah is full of practical spiritual wisdom.
Are you ready to learn more of Nehemiah’s godly wisdom today?
Join me in Nehemiah 2 as we explore verse 9-20 further. Today we are going to look at Nehemiah’s inspection of the Walls.
9 Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.
10 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.
11 So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days.
12 Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode.
13 I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.
14 Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass.
15 Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.
16 And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.
17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.”
18 And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work.
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
20 Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.”
Nehemiah received his mandate from the Lord to rebuild the broken down walls and burnt gates of Jerusalem that have left the people of God without defenses and in great trouble and shame.
King Artaxerxes has given Nehemiah the blessing to go and govern over the rebuilding of Jerusalem. So Nehemiah has journeyed from Susa to Jerusalem to give everything he could to the rebuilding of Jerusalem for the glory of God.
Now God is about to use Nehemiah to begin accomplishing His divine will as Nehemiah accomplishes the things God has implanted into his heart.
I want you to notice two principles that work together that we dare not separate if we want to see God use us for His Glory.
1. God lays things on our hearts to accomplish for His glory according to His will.
1. God lays things on our hearts to accomplish for His glory according to His will.
Up to this point, we have seen God moving and working upon the heart of Nehemiah.
He worked on Nehemiah before the report from Jerusalem to give him a love for the city of God.
He worked on him after the report to cause him to be burdened with the sad state of affairs in Jerusalem.
He changed Nehemiah’s heart as Nehemiah sought the Father to forgive and restore Israel in prayer.
Henry Blackaby has said,
“Prayer can be unsettling, because God uses our conversations with Him to change us.”
As Nehemiah prayed, God laid His heart for His glory over Nehemiah’s heart.
God moved supernaturally on King Artaxerxes heart and in doing so emboldened Nehemiah’s heart to the point that he said, (Neh 2:8)
“And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.”
It is very clear that God has been laying things on the heart of Nehemiah.
The plan Nehemiah was beginning to form in his mind as he sought to rebuild Jerusalem was a plan that was actually being framed by God every step of the way.
After three days of rest and recuperation from his long journey, Nehemiah decides to take a midnight tour to inspect the walls that God had placed on his heart.
12 Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode.
God has embedded the desire to see Jerusalem rebuilt into the heart of Nehemiah. So he “arose in the night” to take a secret look at the walls that were in ruin.
Even today, those who are involved in leadership are often awake while others sleep. I can assure you that the moment you sign on to serve others and the moment you accept the burden of rebuilding your broken world, you will have many sleepless nights.
He arises, wakes up his armed guards, mounts his horse and quietly inspects the damaged walls as a burdened man while the city sleeps. Where did that burden come from?
It came from the Lord!
Nehemiah said, “God had laid something on his heart.” And if you’ll listen, God will lay something on your heart too.
Some of you may have already heard what God has put on your heart, but you haven’t followed Him in obedience on that matter yet.
It may be a new ministry God want you to start building.
It may be letting go of an old ministry that has run its course.
It may be that He wants you to join the family of God here at Ephesus in church membership.
It may be that you need to know the Lord Jesus and be saved.
What has God been laying on your heart to do for Him?
Are you being obedient to the vision of His will that He has put into your heart?
And I want you to focus on it. I want you to say like the Apostle Paul, “But one thing I do.” (Philippians 3:13)
13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
Run after Christ this morning. Allow His will to overshadow yours. Let His will override your comfort and preference.
Realize our first principle is this:
God lays things on our hearts to accomplish for His glory according to His will.
Let me warn you right now, It is not enough for God to lay something on your heart. There is a part we must play if God is to be ultimately glorified in our lives because of the vision He placed in our hearts.
There is a second principle that works alongside of the first that we dare not separate.
And the second is this:
2. Our responsibility is to learn and labor in response to the things God puts into our hearts.
2. Our responsibility is to learn and labor in response to the things God puts into our hearts.
What do we learn from Nehemiah’s Secret Nocturnal Inspection Tour?
13 I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.
14 Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass.
15 Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.
16 And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.
The task that burdened Nehemiah, as we have seen, was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, so that the life of the city could be reestablished.
Until the walls were up, nothing else could be done. With its walls down, Jerusalem had no defense against raiders and invaders and was no place to make a home.
How could God’s people make a home in such a desolate place? How could they maintain temple worship under such trouble and shame?
While we are on this subject of the weakness of Jerusalem, listen to the words of J.I. Packer.
Jerusalem is a picture of Christian churches generally in the modern West. Weakness, disillusionment, and the melting away of adherents is the story everywhere.
In Asia and Africa and Latin America the gospel advances and the church grows, but in the Protestant world of Britain, Europe, North America, and Australia the secularizing of community life and the faltering of theologians, church leaders, and ordinary clergy has left the majority of congregations in a very low state.
Abandonment of the historic belief in a holy Creator who graciously saves sinners through atonement and new birth is common still, as it has been for the past century, and whenever fidelity to the biblical faith ceases, spiritual vitality quickly drains away.
Overall the Western church has shriveled and shrunk; it has ceased to count as a community force; the faith of which God made it trustee is largely unknown to the man in the street, and when known it is largely ignored; and the godliness that the church once set forth as true humanness is rated in popular culture as a comic, old-fashioned oddity.
The church appears as a ruined city, like Sarajevo or Beirut after the fighting, and like Jerusalem as Nehemiah found it, and a tremendous rebuilding job awaits anyone who still cares about its welfare. In such rebuilding, the reconstruction of biblical belief will be the first and basic task.
13 I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.
14 Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass.
15 Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.
Before the rebuilding process in Jerusalem could begin and before a single recruit could be enlisted for the challenging task, Nehemiah had to make a careful analysis of the situation before him.
He knew what God had inspired in his heart, but he had to take personal responsibility for it. He had to learn and devise a plan of action before he could labor to complete the task.
This was no casual inspection in the dark, but a careful probing analysis into the situation.
Nehemiah saw for himself all the broken debris that had been piling up for decades. There was accumulated trash all around the broken-down wall, and nothing had been done to remove it.
He saw that God’s work was in ruins. He saw that the walls around the city of Jerusalem, that had been a thing of strength, a thing of beauty, a thing that brought glory to God were broken and in ruin.
Remember we said that the walls around Jerusalem are symbolic of God’s salvation and symbolic of God’s glory in the Bible. He sees firsthand how God’s symbolic salvation and glory appeared in a state of decay.
This same accumulation of “trash” happens in so many lives today. I happens in relationships, in families, in business, and it even happens in churches.
Rubble has its own way of piling up over the years and getting in the way of healthy and wholesome relationships. And sadly, in too many cases, it is simply left there and nothing is done about it.
No one learns from their mistakes and labors to correct them according to the vision of the will of God found in His inspired word.
What does that mean for us today? How can we apply this in our own realm of existence?
Adrian Rogers, in a sermon delivered on September 17, 1978, only a year after my birth, prophetically relayed the warning you will here below. It is a message that only came from being like Nehemiah.
Adrian Rogers was a man burdened with the need to glorify Christ in the midst of a growing secular society. He became a student of the culture and as he inspected the walls around the church in America this is what he saw and reported to his congregation.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to tell you today that walls of orthodoxy have crumbled, and Satan today has developed a juiceless, polished type of preacher, who has substituted culture for Calvary....And we have satanic cults today, deadly cults, that have been vomited up out of the pit of Hell.
These people are going from house to house and door to door using the Master’s method and the devil’s message....They are filled with deadly poison. And right now they are systematically working this city. And in every American city you’ll see them in the airports and other places. And God’s people are asleep at the switch.
I’m telling you that walls of orthodoxy have crumbled and walls of decency have crumbled. And with this money-motivated, sex-soaked, distorted age, things that used to break our hearts, we just simply overlook today.
And not only have walls of orthodoxy and decency crumbled, but ... the walls of freedom are falling all around us, and communism is spreading like a cancer.
I don’t have time to even talk about those things. But I want you to find the facts. I want you to be a spiritual Nehemiah. I want you to do what Nehemiah did and go out and make a survey, and look and see for yourself what the situation is.
I fear that, as Christians, we are afraid to open our eyes and look around and survey the world in which we live. Somehow we believe if we ignore our problems, they will go away.
Listen Ephesus, we will never accomplish what the Lord desires and has put on our hearts if we are unwilling to consider where we are.
Nehemiah wanted to see the city as it was and determine how significant the need was. He wanted an honest, unbiased assessment of the situation.
It would be impossible to plan and carry out any revitalization without knowing exactly what they faced. Nehemiah sought the truth and he discovered it.
Likewise, we need to make an honest assessment of our situation as well. We are in the midst of a desperate age. The foundations of our faith are under constant attack. The moral fiber of our society is deteriorating with each passing day.
The spiritual walls that once stood tall and firm have begun to crumble and fall. We are in desperate need of revitalization in America. As God’s royal priesthood, we need to stop playing church and be the church our world so desperately needs.
We need to do as Nehemiah did and assess where we are as a church and determine in our hearts to do all we can to rebuild what has been torn down. It won’t be an easy task, but it is essential. It is vital.
We can choose to ignore the truth of what we see and neglect our obligations, but it will only get much worse if someone doesn’t stand.
I am burdened about the needs of our day; if we don’t stand and seek to restore that which has been lost or torn down, what will be left for our children.
I am glad that former generations didn’t view their task as too great or too impossible. I am glad that they had the faith to roll up their sleeves and stand firm in the Lord. We need that same commitment and resolve in our day. Where are the Nehemiah’s in our day?
Where are those who God has burdened with a vision of His will being accomplished among His people? Where are those who are willing to inspect, examine, and learn in order to plan and prioritize our assault on the kingdom of darkness? Where are those who are willing to stand toe to toe and labor to see the mission God has inspired and called us to accomplished?
None of this will happen until we are willing to be open and honest about the needs of our day. We are the church; this is our responsibility. If not us, who; if not now, when; if not here, where?
Our task is monumental and we don’t have the means or ability to overcome on our own, but we can do all things through Christ!
We need His grace to see us through! He has already shown us the way! He has overcome death and defeated sin! We need to lean on Him and trust in His goodness and amazing Grace!
Hymn of Invitation
Hymn No. 330
Amazing Grace