I invite you to turn in your copies of God's Word to Nehemiah 6. We're continuing in our sermon series on Nehemiah. As you turn there, I'll just remind you where we're at in the context of God's Word. Nehemiah is the story of the third wave of exiles coming out of exile back to the Promised Land. And Nehemiah's primary task, his primary goal, was to build the wall. build the wall around the holy city, that he would be able to keep the people safe, that the wall would be able to preserve the safety of God's people, and also that they would be able to worship God as he has called them to worship, that there would not be pagan influences in their worship, that they would not be a shameful people, but they would be a people restored and faithful to God. We pick up here in Nehemiah 6, back on the main theme of opposition. And we will see that here as we read. So turn your attention now to Nehemiah chapter 6. Now when Sanbalat and Tobiah and Geshem, the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it, although up to that time I had not set up the doors and the gates, Sambalat and Gashem sent to me saying, come and let us meet together at Hecapharim in the plain of Ono. But they intended to do me harm. And I sent messengers to them saying, I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you? And they sent to me four times in this way. And I answered them in the same manner. In the same way, Sendlot for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. In it was written, It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says, that you and the Jews intend to rebel. That is why you are building the wall, and according to these reports you wish to become their king. And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, there is a king in Judah. And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.' Then I sent to him, saying, No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind. For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking their hands will drop from the work and it will not be done. But now, O God, strengthen my hands. Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah, the son of Deliah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, let us meet together in the house of God within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night. But I said, such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in. And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanbalat had hired him. For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me." Remember, Tobiah and Sanbalat, oh my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess, Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid. So the wall was finished on the 25th day of the month of Elul in 52 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. Moreover, in these 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 Shekeniah, the son of Arah. And his son, Jehoanan, had taken the daughter of Meshulam, the son of Berechiah, as his wife. Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid. We're going to continue reading just into the beginning part of chapter 7 as we will refer to that in the sermon. Now when the wall had been built, and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, and the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, I gave my brother Hananiah, and Hananiah the governor of the castle, charge over Jerusalem. But he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many. And I said to them, let not the gates of Jerusalem be open until the sun is hot. And while they are still standing guard, let them shut and bar the doors. Appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some at the guard posts and some in front of their own homes. The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few. No houses had been rebuilt. Thus ends the reading of God's word. Let's turn now to God, the author of these words, and ask that he'd bless our time meditating upon this portion of his holy scriptures. Father in heaven, we do thank you for this word. We thank you for the testimony of our brother in the faith, Nehemiah. We thank you for his faithfulness. We do thank you for your faithfulness to your people. that you brought out a remnant. We thank you that even as we are exiles in this land, we can learn much from this portion of God's word. And we pray to that end now, that your spirit would work in us, that we would see Christ, that we would see covenant promises being anticipated and fulfilled. We pray that you would give us wisdom to understand what you would have us understand. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Well, Nehemiah chapter 6, from my perspective, from my limited perspective, this is the reason that we have been preaching through Ezra and Nehemiah and here we are. I remember reading Nehemiah chapter 6 in seminary and saying I'd like to preach that early on at wherever I go. Nehemiah chapter 6, that's why we've been working our way through these texts, from my perspective. Nehemiah chapter 6 is a beautiful portion of God's Word. It summarizes so well what God is doing at this time. There's two prayers that we're going to focus on to kind of structure our sermon tonight that Nehemiah prays. He prays that God would strengthen his hands. And really that's going to be our main focus tonight. That we would pray that God would strengthen our hands in the face of opposition. He also prays that he would remember his enemies according to what they have done. So those are the two prayers that we're going to focus on. Pray that God would strengthen your hands in the face of opposition. Both of those prayers recognize something crucial. to our understanding of who we are and who God is. They understand that it is really God's work that ought to be central. That God is the one who is able. That God is the one who is working. God strengthen our hands. God remember our enemies according to their deeds. God is central. God is the focus. Nehemiah, if we were to read Nehemiah with an improper lens, you could read it as a great human accomplishment. If you were just to read the bare facts without God's word, without Nehemiah's commentary, without inscripturated word for us, you could think that this was somehow some underdog tale of a group of people that muster together, that somehow manage against all odds to accomplish the impossible. but thanks be to God that he has given us his word to show us from beginning to end that God's hand was upon Nehemiah from the very beginning when he asked Artaxerxes or told Artaxerxes the plight of his people all the way to the end. And this chapter in particular points so clearly that it is God's work that has made any of this possible and it's because of God's relationship to these people that any of it matters. God is at work. God intervenes. That's been a real focus for our time in this portion of God's Word, that God, who is outside of space and time, who is transcendent, sees fit to intervene in history. And he uses pagan kings in amazing ways to intervene in the course of history, to preserve his people and to bless them and to establish them as a people and to anticipate the son of God that would come to this people. God is at work. As we read here, we read that the wall is finished. The beginning of our chapter says the wall was done, except the gates had to be put back in place. At the end, or near the end of the chapter, we see that the wall was finished on the 25th day. It only took 52 days to finish the whole project. The wall is done. And as the project comes to an end, the enemies of God's people, once again, desperate to try to intervene, before those gates get placed, before it becomes nearly impossible to get at God's people, they try once again, relentless opposition. And they try with accusations, personal threats to Nehemiah. It reveals their own hearts, doesn't it? That all they understand is personal gain, personal power. And they accuse Nehemiah of the very things that they are guilty of. That he would try to control and have power and dominion in this land. As they seek to disrupt the work, they invite Nehemiah out to come and talk through these charges they have against him. And his response is that his work is too important. I am doing a great work. I will not go out. I will not meet with you. He understood, it tells us, he understood, he perceived that they were seeking to threaten him. They were seeking to harm him. What he says to them is more politically crafty, more diligent. He doesn't reveal to them his suspicions, how obvious they are in their threats. And he just says, I've got important work to do. I can't come. He would not divert his time and effort from the work that was before him. This was convicting to me, and I trust it's convicting to you. that we have a proper understanding of the importance of work that's given to us by the Lord. And when the Lord lays out work before us, that we would prioritize it, that we would not let other things distract from that work. I think particularly in this day and age where we have so many technologies, so many advances, we have more time maybe than any other society in history. We have more leisure. And there's these phrases that come up that demonstrate how we just don't know what to do with that time. There's the whole mantra of me-time and self-care. And that can be abused. Not to say that it's not important to take care of ourselves and to rest, but there's this idea that there's time that we're allowed to have, entitled to, that is just focused on self. Nehemiah has no such concept, and it convicts us and reminds us that God gives us work to do. And there's no excuse. There's no excuse for saying, I just need some me time. I'm not going to be serving. I'm not going to be thinking about anyone else. I'm not going to be doing what God has called me to do. I'm just going to think about numero uno. Nehemiah reminds us that that is unacceptable. That is contrary to how we are to operate. I've got important work to do. I will not divert my time. Nehemiah recognizes that they wanted to frighten us. They wanted our hands to drop from the work that it will not be done. And his response to that Let's get our eyes on it. In verse 9, But now, O God, strengthen my hands. We really need to make this our prayer. That in spite of opposition, when we're faced with various struggles, that we would pray to God, strengthen my hands. Got work to do. Strengthen my hands. Do you pray that? Do you recognize, maybe not using those words, but do you recognize your need for God, your complete dependence upon Him to accomplish anything that He has set before you? You cannot carry on apart from Him. Opposition is promised. There are burdens in this life. We must be praying that the Lord would strengthen our hands, that we would not give up, that we would not give in. Strengthen our hands, O God. Nehemiah here is confronted, and as we think about that, There's three or four times at first where there's letters sent, there's charges made, and then on the last time, there's an open letter giving us the idea that this letter has been read by many other people before it gets to Nehemiah. And it says, there's a report, Nehemiah, that you are not an honorable man, that you have been scheming, that you are gonna take power into your own hands. And Nehemiah receives this open letter It's not sealed, it's been read. There are rumors going around in the land about his character. And he says, strengthen my hands, oh God. Strengthen my hands. Nehemiah would not let his own reputation, his own concern for his reputation, the gossip that's going on, get in the way of the work. He didn't go out and try to defend his name. He didn't get involved in the drama of the opposition, the charges. He asked God to strengthen his hands for the work. We need to be praying that we would be strengthened for the work. We all have various callings, various things that God has placed before us. that we would be strengthened against temptation, against the desires of the flesh, against the schemes of those around us, against the schemes of the evil one, against gossip, against petty drama, against anxiety, against apathy, against anger and quick tempers, against all these sins that entangle. May God strengthen our hands against those things that oppose God. May we do the work faithfully. The Lord has given us a great blessing in His sovereignty, in His wisdom. It doesn't often make much sense to me, but we feeble people are His chosen instrument to be His witness, to be His workers as we await for the King to return. This is a privilege. He has called us to go out and to make disciples. He has called us to serve the body, to serve one another, to proclaim Christ, to be an ambassador of Christ. These are high callings, and we will face opposition. How do we persevere? How do we remain faithful? We need to pray. Prayer is powerful. The third person of the Trinity is involved when you pray to God, interceding for you. We must pray that God would strengthen our hands, that we would be good friends, good family members, good coworkers, good members of communities, good members of the body of Christ. Faithful in that work, we need to pray for strength. Nehemiah demonstrates his faith by these prayers. A prayer is recognizing who it is that can work in the situation. He believes that God's power and his presence in his life is more significant, more real, more important than the threats of those around him, than the visible, tangible threats, the things of this world, We see this vividly demonstrated when Shemaiah, who was thought to be a prophet of God but reveals himself to be a false prophet bribed by the enemies, he invites Nehemiah, he says, your life is in danger, run to the temple, we'll close the doors, you'll be safe there. And Nehemiah demonstrates his faith that God is real and he is present and that he is a God who is true to his word. Nehemiah says, who am I to go in the temple? Nehemiah recognizes that as someone who is not a priest, he has no right to go into the temple. That that would be rebellion against God. That that would be despising God and His Word. And Nehemiah demonstrates that the fear of the Lord for him is greater than his fear of man and whatever threats they may have against him. May we have that same faith, that our fear for the Lord would be greater than our fear of man, that we would seek to obey God above anything else. The second prayer that we see, we see in verse 14, Nehemiah 6, 14. Remember Tobiah and Sanbalat, oh my God, according to these things that they did. And also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid. Once again, we've thought about imprecatory prayers and we've seen this demonstrated before and we have it here again. Nehemiah is saying, I am not going to be the one to avenge my own name. Vengeance belongs to the Lord. God, act justly. These are the enemies. These are those who would oppose. Remember them. You take care of it, God." That is to be our response as well. It's helpful to think about verse 14 of chapter 6 in light of a very similar prayer in chapter 5, verse 19. Nehemiah in the previous chapter prays, remember for my good, oh my God, all that I have done for this people. There's something instructive for us here. That verse, verse 19 that Nehemiah prays, I have a difficult time praying a prayer like that. Remember for my good all that I have done. I have a difficult time frame, verse 16, remember my enemies deeds according to what they have done. This is difficult because we do not want to be judged according to our actions. Particularly in our tradition, in the Reformed faith, where we recognize that we are saved by grace through faith alone, that we're not saved by our works. We can be tend, I think, and of course there's both extremes, but we can tend to err towards seeking to sin. thinking that because we're saved by grace through faith that Christ's work is what justifies us, that there's no need for us to be obedient. And we don't want to have to pray these prayers, that we would be judged according to our actions, that we would be blessed for obedience and punished for disobedience. But we ought to remember that while our salvation is secure in Christ, we are called to work out our salvation. We are called to respond with obedience. There is a call to action. We are not free to sin that grace may abound. And Nehemiah demonstrates that for us. We're reminded that we ought to be concerned with whether we're behaving with in obedience, that we ought to be able to pray these things, that when we obey, that we ought to ask God to bless our obedient efforts. And when we are in sin, we confess, we repent, and we turn. We're called to work out our salvation. We do not save ourselves by our works, but that does not mean that works do not matter. There's a comfort in this truth that our salvation is not dependent upon our works, But there's also a comfort that we are being sanctified. As we thought about this morning, that we are new creations, and as new creations, there will be fruit. And we ought to strive to be obedient, to pursue obedience, to pursue the Spirit, to walk by the Spirit. We ought to believe that we are new creations and live in light of that reality. to live accordingly. We are not doomed to sin. We have been given power over sin in the Spirit. And we see testimony to that, that God's people are given graces, that they are obedient to God. We have to recognize that God blesses obedience and He punishes disobedience. Lastly, this prayer of Nehemiah really does demonstrate biblical leadership. He's not taking things into his own hands. And this is an important reminder to us in our day because so often we think that leadership means strong, powerful, aggressive leadership. That true leadership means taking things into your own hands in showing people who's boss. Nehemiah demonstrates that true leadership is giving it over to God. When met with personal opposition, he does not respond with aggression. And that's so contrary to our society. I recently watched a Netflix documentary called The Redeem Team. It's a documentary about the 2008 Olympic basketball team. They had lost in the previous Olympic years, and they had to redeem themselves in front of the world that America really is the best at basketball. And to do so, they got the best coach they could find, and they got all the best players they could find. And this documentary really focuses on how are a bunch of stars, a bunch of alpha males, as they call it, going to work together as a team. And the solution, according to the documentary, is that they bring in the greatest alpha male of all, Kobe Bryant. And this documentary praises Kobe Bryant, not just for his athletic ability, but for two things. They say he was a great leader for that team. He brought them to success because of his work ethic and because of his aggression. The work ethic, that's good. We can admire that. But the aggression, I think we ought to raise an eyebrow at. Is that really biblical leadership? There's a scene where Kobe Bryant is facing Spain, and he's facing someone who on the L.A. Lakers on his team is a team member, but in the Olympics is an opponent. And he tells his teammates before the game that the first thing he's going to do is run over that player. And he does. He just runs right through him, sends him flying. The documentary says, look at what a great team member Kobe Bryant was. That act of aggression set the tone for the game and they went on to victory. It's easy for us to get caught up into that narrative. Yeah, look at him go. Look how great he was. But Nehemiah reminds us that biblical leadership, a biblical response to opposition, to threat, is humility. And it's humbling ourselves before God, and it's giving over to God. That's not to say there's not a good place for good, competitive spirit and those things. But as we think about what is truly a leader, I don't think that kind of aggression ought to be one of the requirements. We ought to ask for strength from God. We ought to recognize our complete weakness, our dependence upon God, that he would strengthen our hands, that he would deal with our enemies. The focus ought to be God and God alone. It is God's work. as we think about these truths, and as we conclude, we look towards Chapter 7. We're going to skip over the majority of chapter 7 because it really is the same as Ezra chapter 2, that same list of names, but our focus is beginning to move towards the need for the people of God to inhabit the city. Now that the wall has been built, the city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses had been rebuilt. Nehemiah was able to muster, with God's grace, people to come and work on the wall. They left their homes that were outside of the city. Now Nehemiah needed to have a holy people to occupy the holy city. And if the work of the wall, which was perceived by the nations, had been accomplished by God, how much more the work of reforming God's people, of changing hearts, of driving them towards obedience. This chapter, God's word here reminds us that God is at work. Even the nations recognized it was God who accomplished the building of the wall. It's God who changes hearts It's God who strengthens the hands of His people. It's God who acts justly against enemies. It is God who works. May we be a people that are praying regularly, daily, moment by moment, that God would strengthen our hands for the task, that we would be good family members, good servants, good workers for the kingdom. May we be a people that pray that God would bring justice. And thanks be to God that because of His grace, because of His covenant promises bestowed upon us, that we receive grace rather than wrath. Let's pray this evening to that end. Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the truths of Your Word that remind us of who You are, of Your power, of your ability to work in humbling circumstances, to work to strengthen little things. Help us not to despise the day of small things, Father. Help this congregation to be faithful with the little things you place before us, that you would give us greater things to be faithful in. Father, I pray that you would strengthen our hands for the work that you have called us to, We pray that you would help us to turn to you in the face of opposition, to ask that you would remember those that oppose your people, those who hate you and hate us because of you. We pray that you would bring justice. We pray for justice in our land. We pray for prosperity. We pray most of all that you would be honored and glorified. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.