Sermon Tone Analysis

Ancestry, trait, and health insights you can trust—the most accurate dog DNA test.

Wisdom Panel™ Know more.

Care better.-

from a dog DNA test.

“If they don’t care, I don’t care.”-

pastor.

Nehemiah asked.

People who don’t care don’t ask.

People who care, ask.

Nehemiah asked.

Why would Nehemiah ask about Jerusalem?

His life was secure, he had nothing to do with his ancestors sinning over 100 years before.

The reason Nehemiah asked is because of Jeremiah 15.5

Nehemiah was the man.

You need to know that Nehemiah was a cupbearer.

to Artaxerxes, 464 to 423 bc.

Cupbearer had responsibility with it.

he tested the kings wine for poiiiison.

He was a man of character.

Nehemiah was in Susa because God wanted him in Susa.

Esther had been there years before.

Joseph in Egypt.

Daniel in Babylon.

God places who he needs where he wants them.

And Nehemiah asks about Judah/ Jerusalem.

He is told the city is still in rubble.

It had been run over 140 years earlier… and it is still a mess.

In particular, they are told the walls are torn down.

The importance of the walls are found in the following facts;

The eastern wall of Jerusalem was more than a defense mechanism.

The eastern wall is built on a hill, with a series of “steps”, formed my multiples of retaining walls supported by back fill… each successive wall dependent on the wall beneath it… and the final wall being the most substantial of them all… and it was missing, destroyed.

Moreover, in Ezra 4:7-23 an effort was made to repair that wall.... and Artaxerxes had stopped it because of a protest that had been made by Rehum and Shimshai in Ezra 4.7-16

And so the king made a decree that the wall must cease and desist.

Stop.

It is this same king Artaxerxes that Nehemiah is the cupbearer to.

Nehemiah’s heart was moved.

Sitting down is a word for mourning.

When Job received word concerning his children’s death, he and his friends “sat” down.

In Psalm 137.1

Nehemiah fasted.

Note that Nehemiah owned the sin of his ancestors....”We”.

WE have sinned.

We have dealt very corruptly.

When you have a true sense of who God is, how awesome he is, it will reveal the depth of our own dark sinful nature.

Isaiah is a perfect exampled in Isaiah 6.1-5

Isaiah understood his own sinful nature in the presence of a holy God.

You will recall that Peter was with the disciples and Jesus in a boat in Luke 5.

They had fished all night and caught nothing.

And Jesus tells them to drop their nets again.

They do so and they catch more fish than they can handle.

It is in that moment that Peter gets a real sense of who Jesus really is.

And his remark is telling in Luke 5.8

When one Jewish soldier, Achan sinned in Joshua 7.1 and Joshua 7.11 l Once that sin was dealt with, the whole nation could be blessed by God.

God said that Israel sinned; but only Achan stole and hid...

blessed are those that know their own sinful nature without a draught of fish and without the temple walls shaking as they did for Isaiah… who sense the presence of the Holy Spirit and acknowledge their own fallen nature.

When God permitted Jerusalem to fall at the hands of Babylon, God chastened the Jews for their sins.

But He did not forsake them.

They were still his people.

This final 2 verses are closing the prayer with faith and confidence.

God will forgive, God will restore, God will not fail them.

And this final verse reflects that Nehemiah was willing to put feet to his faith, to step up and do rather than just pray.

Nehemiah prays for “success.”

Pay attention to that.

Nehemiah was successful.

Period full stop.

Joseph was a cupbearer, translated “butler”.

He had to be well educated.

He was likely handsome.

He knew what wines were best for a king.

He would have been a good friend to the king

He would have controlled access to the king

He was trusted by the king.

(Important to note that Artaxerxes’ father had been killed by his cupbearer.)

He was the King’s cupbearer; possibly the most trusted position in the King’s court; His integrity not only was intact, it was impeccable.

He didn’t get here by lottery; he got there by hard work AND protecting his own heart.

And now he prays for success, albeit in a whole new area.

NOte that it was this successful Nehemiah who did not allow his successes to bring him to spiritual failure.

Jesus said, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

Nehemiah had not.

His worldly success had not bred spiritual failure; he still had a heart for the sin of God’s people and the restoration of their relationship with God.

He didn’t ask for someone else to be raised up.

He said, “Here am I. Send me.”

Abraham cared and rescued Lot from Sodom (Gen.

18–19).

Moses cared and delivered the Israelites from Egypt.

David cared and brought the nation and the kingdom back to the Lord.

Esther cared and risked her life to save her nation from genocide.

Paul cared and took the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire.

Jesus cared and died on the cross for a lost world.

God is still looking for people who care, people like Nehemiah, who cared enough to ask for the facts, weep over the needs, pray for God’s help, and then volunteer to get the job done.

Someone said, “God is like Hallmark cards.

When you care enough to send the very best.”

God cared enough about this place at this time to send you.

Bottom Line:

God’s Occupation Is The Christian’s Vocation