to glorify Him in song, singing, making melody in your hearts as unto the Lord. Unfortunately, the message tonight is concerning not singing, but it's, you remember where we're at in Nehemiah. Nehemiah the fifth chapter, And you remember Nehemiah's building the wall. And as he's building the wall, you remember what happened in Chapter 4? There was old Sanballat and Tobiah. They were causing trouble on the outside. They were threatening Nehemiah and the Jews over building the wall. So what we have in Chapter 5, we have trouble brewing on the inside. There starts to be some divisiveness there starts to be some division amongst the Jews. Now, you know what? Satan likes to attack from without, but Satan also likes to attack within a church body also. And even so, as Nehemiah's building that wall with other Jews, they get attacked from the outside, but then things start not working so good. If you really want to know a person's personality and who they really are, you start working with them and you'll find out what they are like. Some people have personalities that are a very negative spirit. We ought to strive to keep the bond of unity. always in our body, as far as at New Life Baptist Church. Follow holiness and peace without which no man shall see the Lord. In Nehemiah 5, the problem was, to kind of give you an overview of these 19 verses, is very basically the rich Jews were exploiting the poor Jews. They were charging interest on loans. They were taking the children of the poor and they were putting them into child slavery. Now that's not something that's supposed to be done amongst the Jews. Therefore, there was conflict. Have you ever had conflict with someone? Talking about somebody having a little disagreement with you. Might be a misunderstanding, but you don't know it's a misunderstanding because you don't even know what the conflict is until it kind of slaps your side of the head or in the back of the head and you wonder what hit me. Here's conflict. Let me tell you, I do not like conflict. I don't know anybody in here that likes conflict, at least I hope you don't like conflict, because if you love conflict, you'll be looking to conflict with someone. We don't want conflicting. It is hard to deal with but it must be dealt with when there is adversity because if things are not dealt with and if it's dealt with wrongly what happens eventually things start falling apart especially like in churches. One of the things I'm thankful for is that the Lord provided us a building we did not have to build. We did not get to choose the color of the carpet. How many churches are split, literally, over carpet color? I mean, ridiculous little things. The attack comes from without. Now the attack comes from within. I read behind one preacher, he said this, he said, when two people are arguing or fighting, Satan does not take sides, he just gives ammunition to both sides. I thought, how appropriate is that? How often people are like that. Have you ever met someone who called themselves the devil's advocate? Well, I'm just playing the devil's advocate. You ever heard that terminology? Let me tell you, the devil don't need help in advocating for him. Don't you play a devil's advocate. I want you to notice there are grievances as we look in chapter five in the first five verses. And here it is talked about, it says, there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren, the Jews. Brother Wayne, it mentions wives specifically in here. They're crying out against the brothers. So the joke was timely and beware of the wrath of women. For there were that said, we, our sons and our daughters are many. Therefore, we take up corn for them and that we may eat and live. They were struggling. They were having a hard time. They were working. They did not even have time to plant for themselves. Some other ones, notice this other group. Here's this first group. They worked, but they didn't own land. So they're hungry. The second group you can see in verse three. It says, some also that were there said, we have mortgaged our lands, our vineyards and houses that we may buy corn because of the dearth. In other words, there's a famine. Therefore, we had to mortgage our houses, our lands. We had to mortgage our vineyards. It's all given to these rich Jews just so they will give us some food to eat. In other words, inflation is hit. The third group, notice what they say. It says in verse four, there were also that said, we have borrowed money for the king's tribute. Now the king's tribute was taxes. And that upon our lands and vineyards. In other words, the taxes got so high, they had to borrow money to pay the taxes. Watch out because here's the way our government's heading. Don't worry, our dear leader and his minions, They will not tax the middle class, is what they said. Though we are already feeling the pain of the tax. Let me tell you, they're lying through their teeth. Here they had to borrow money back in this time. Boy, this is just about on spot where we're at in our day and time. But notice the next group, group number four. It's in verse 5, yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren. In other words, they're saying we're Jews and they're Jews. Our children as their children. Our children are Jewish, their children are Jewish. And lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants. In other words, they've taken our kids and made them slaves. Our daughters, some of them are already brought into bondage already. Neither is it in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards." In other words, they've taken them and they've made them slaves. They've put such a high interest on getting them out of bondage, out of slavery, that they cannot purchase them out of slavery. Now if you read in Deuteronomy chapter 23 what you'll find out is one Jew is not to hold another Jew as a slave. They were not to purchase each other as slaves. They were not to tack on interest if money was borrowed from them. And yet here is exactly what they are doing. As they do that, as all this turmoil is building within these Jews, no doubt you've got one talking against another. You've got different ones. And let me tell you, the more negative talk is talked, the more it festers up and the more you got a big problem. If you don't deal with the conflict, which is the right way to deal with conflict, It's just gonna get worse. Let me, as a side note, refer you to Matthew chapter 18. In Matthew chapter 18, hold your hand there in Nehemiah 5, what we have is our Lord's instruction on how to deal with problems when one is in conflict with another. In verse 15, the word of God says, moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he shall hear thee, you've gained your brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with you one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. In other words, practice church discipline. You are to go one-on-one personally and talk to the person that you have a problem with or a person that has a problem with you. If you know someone's got a problem with you, you have the responsibility to go to them. And it seems like Nehemiah takes this approach, though he had not the Lord's instruction at that time. but he was a godly man. So as Nehemiah catches wind of this conflict and this bitterness and this arguing back and forth and this unsettling of personalities and there's conflict, he catches wind of it. What is Nehemiah's response? I want you to notice in verse 5 or verse 6, he said, and I was very angry. Now when you read about Nehemiah getting angry, look out. When you read about Nehemiah getting very angry, you better really look out. Nehemiah means business. But the kind of neat thing in this particular situation, as Nehemiah hears of the report of the conflict, You know what? He could not solve the problem before because he had not heard of the problem and it's starting to fester. It's getting out of hand. Then he hears there's a problem. If you got a problem, don't wait till it gets out of hand and then look for somebody to help you. Here, Nehemiah is angry. When I heard their cry and these words, he heard all that was going on and he had a righteous indignation. The Word of God says, be ye angry and sin not. Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath. And there is a righteous indignation and here's what Nehemiah has. He is very, very angry. And so what does he do? I want you to notice here is something that is wisdom in one little section of a verse. Look in verse 7, just the first few words, then I consulted with myself. Let me tell you, before you fly off the spout when you get angry, consult with yourself. You know what that means? You talk to yourself. You make sure you weigh things out before you say something you regret. If you say something too quick, you could just be adding to the conflict. I like this. Nehemiah says, I consulted with myself. I wonder what Nehemiah said. I remember going to church over in Winchester with a young man, and he said he had a problem, so he consulted with himself and sang the principle here, and he said, soul? He was talking to himself, talking to his soul. I thought, that's a little unusual, but it works. It is wise to think upon a problem before you react upon a problem. There are too many people that react without thinking, and therefore, they make the problem a lot worse. Nehemiah thinks upon the problem, consulting with himself. Listen to what it says over in Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16, and down in verse 32. In Proverbs 16, 32, "...he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city." Be slow to anger. You'll be stronger than the strongest person you know. If you rule your own spirit, here's what Nehemiah was doing, consulting with himself, he's strong enough to take a city. So then, after consulting with himself, here's how you deal with conflict. You've got to confront. How many of y'all like confrontations? Thank you, we appreciate that. If anybody has a problem, you need somebody to confront, you can call your pastor. Not that I like it, but I'm your last resort. I want you to notice what he does. In verse seven, in the first part of it, after the first few verses, after he consults with himself, he says, I rebuked the nobles and the rulers, and said unto them, you executory, upon every one of his brother, What he does, he addresses them privately first. He talks to them and he tells them, you're charging interest on things from your brothers and sisters. They're of the same flesh and you're charging them extra when they're hurting and they're in debt. Whether they listen to him or not, it doesn't say. Probably didn't listen to him because what he does next, the word of God says, and I set a great assembly against them. In other words, he got a lot of people, all of them together. And then he rebukes them publicly. You remember last week we talked about public sins need to be rebuked publicly, private sins privately dealt with here. what Nehemiah does in verse eight. He appeals to these rulers and these leaders, these wealthy, these more well-to-do and not as impoverished as their brothers and sisters. But notice how he appeals to them in verse eight. I said unto them, we after our ability have redeemed our brethren, the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen. And will you even sell your brethren? Notice the use of the word brethren. They are flesh and blood. We have been purchased them. We purchased them from slavery, out of bondage. And you're going to put them back into bondage? He appeals to their relationship to them. You're brothers. You're going from bondage to bondage. He's saying, or shall they be sold unto us? Now you can imagine these leaders. Notice how they respond. They held their peace. Of course they got a big assembly facing them. And they found nothing to answer. They could not respond. These people had been redeemed from slavery. And here are these leaders putting them back into slavery, taking their children and making the children serve them because they were indebted because of the taxes that were so high upon that which they loaned them. And then he appeals to God's will. I want you to notice, also I said it is not good that you do. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen of our enemies?" In other words, we've lost our witness to other people that are around us. There's Sanballat, there's Tobiah. What does it look like if you're arguing with a brother and sister in Christ, and if you're at odds with one who says they're a child of God, what does that look like to a lost people? To a non-Christian? How sad. What Nehemiah does, he appeals to them that they are going against the very will of God and not walking in the fear of the Lord. Nehemiah desires for them to follow his example. So in verses 10 and 11 and even in verses 14 through 19 what we find is Nehemiah shows forth the example they should follow. In verse 10 he says, I likewise and my brethren and my servants might exact of them money and corn. I pray you let us leave off this usury. Leave off the taxes, leave off this high hike. Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive yards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, and of the wine, and of the oil, that you exact of them. Leave it off. Follow this example. Give back to them that are hurting, that are poor. Don't tax them. If you've loaned them money, they're your brothers. Now you know what, when you have to have conflict with somebody and you point out where they're wrong, generally speaking, that cuts their pride and they're apt to attack you. That's why I don't like conflict. You know what I'm talking about. You try your best to speak the truth in love, but people would generally bristle at what you say because it cuts their pride. I want you to notice their response, which is quite unusual. The word of God tells us in verse 12, then said they, we will restore them and we'll require nothing of them. So what we do is you say, then I called the priest and I took an oath of them that they should do according to this promise. Listen, they want to do the right thing. Nehemiah has rebuked them and they are receptive to it. I believe Nehemiah prayed a lot before he confronted them. Not only did he consult with himself, but he was consulting with the Lord. But I want you to notice not only did these men want to do the right thing, Nehemiah wanted them to take a vow. Now why would that be? You know what, we are very apt to forget that which we promise, especially when it comes to our pocketbooks, our money. He makes them take a vow because he's requiring accountability. So verse 13 he says, Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house and from his labor, that performs not this promise, even thus be he shaken out and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the Lord. And the people did according to this promise. They were willing to vow a vow. They were willing to commit. Now I want you to notice Nehemiah's example. As he is relating this story, he relates his own personal life as an example for them to follow and even for you and I to follow. When we have conflict, when we have disagreement, when we have a problem with someone, how should we respond? Let me tell you, may your response always and ever be godly. Consult with self before you speak. Here is the guiding principle Nehemiah shows forth in verses 14 through 19. And it's summed up in this, Nehemiah loved the Lord. First and preeminently, even before somebody has a problem with him, he loves the Lord. He wants Christ to be exalted, God to get glory, and no matter what his response is, That's his guiding principle, his love for the Lord. Now, something Brother Craiglow said this morning during Sunday school class, he mentioned Brother Judd Hatcher. And for those of y'all that were in here, you remember Judd had asked his grandfather, can you give me some wisdom and advice in how you were blessed in such a great way to do such a great work? Brother John A. Hatcher had started over 70 some churches, what one of the sons had counted. He had done much, much for the Lord. He's 96 years old now, down in Florida. Don't tell him he's retired, but he's retired. Here's the advice John A. gave to his grandson that Brother Creglo shared this morning. He simply said, walk with Jesus every day. And Judd said, but I want you to give me something special you did, something, you know, he was looking for something else. And Brother John A. said, walk with Jesus every day. What golden advice. Here's what you need to be doing is walking with Jesus every day. Here's where Nehemiah is at. He's walking with the Lord. He has served 12 years as governor, and so he's gonna give his life as an example in this period of time for others to emulate or to use as an example. Notice he says in verse 14, moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the 20th year even into the two and 30th year of Artaxerxes, the king, that is 12 years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor. But former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine beside forty shekels of silver. Yea, even their servants bear rule over the people, but so did not I, because of the fear of God." I want you to notice here in verses 14 and 15 what Nehemiah does. He had a right to have a portion of food allotted to him every day, being the governor. He had a position. He had the right to demand it, and it was his, rightfully. But what Nehemiah does, he forgoes his rights. Why? Because other brothers and sisters were hurting. So therefore, he did not eat the bread of the governor. He did not make any demands like former governors did. The former governors demanded that food. They even got 40 shekels of silver. They got taxes and everything else. Nehemiah wanted none of that. How often in our society, political leaders make profit off the people that are hurting. And how much more so even in our day and time. They're making a living off common people. They're calling their work sacrifice. Let me tell you, that's not sacrifice. You go to the battlefield, that's sacrifice. You enlist in the military, that's sacrifice. And yet the benefits they have as politicians is greater than most of the benefits that our military has. That's a sham. Let me give you a little illustration. I do not know this lady personally, nor do I want to know her personally unless the Lord puts her in my path. If the Lord puts her in my path, I'm gonna tell her about Jesus. I don't know if you've heard of a name, Nancy Pelosi. Some of y'all have. That's remarkable. She's quite popular around here. In the year 2018, she was worth $114 million. She's the Speaker of the House. In the year 2019, she went from $114 million to $271 million. The year 2020, she went from $271 million up to $315 million. It's all because of wise investments, I'm sure. Honest politicians. Let me tell you, politicians are corrupt when they try to make themselves rich and wealthy and powerful off the back of common people. Political leaders ought to serve others. That's what the position's for. It's to serve others. Here, Nehemiah is a perfect example. He doesn't take, he gives. He doesn't put a burden upon those that are burdened. He seeks to help. We in the United States of America are blessed. As far as our Constitution, The men that have wrote that, the laws of our land, we were founded on godly principles. As time has moved on, men who come into power twist those and they want to do away with godly principles. We are supposed to be a government by the people and for the people. I'm sure you've heard that. And yet, we've become a government for the government and by the government. They seek to push themselves up. Notice verse 17, or verse 16, Nehemiah says, yea, also I continued in the work of this wall. Neither bought we any land, and all the servants were gathered thither unto the work. In other words, what was priority upon Nehemiah's agenda was the building of the wall. It was for the good of the people. Notice this little phrase in here. He says, neither bought we any land. Now what is that in there for? Think with me just for a moment. The reason no land was purchased was because as those walls are getting built, the city of Jerusalem is being secured. It's being protected. And the more protection it gives, the more valuable the land becomes. Oh, you know what? Old Nehemiah could have pulled a Nancy Pelosi and bought that land real cheap price before the walls went up because he knew the walls were going up and that would make the price of land go up. Insiders often make their money because of the inside information that they get. In verse 17 he says, Moreover, there were at my table a hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers beside those that came unto us from among the brethren that are about us. Notice here, Nehemiah fed a hundred and fifty people. It says, Now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox. They prepared an ox a day. You know how big an ox is? Brother TJ, how many did it take to lift that deer? Wasn't big as an ox, was it? I remember being in Brazil with Brother Oteliz down there at the mission house. They killed a cow for a week. They go through the cow in one week. Here, they're going through an ox in a day. That's a lot of meat, 150 people. Six choice sheep, also fowls were prepared for me, and once in 10 days store of all sorts of wine, yet for all this required not I the bread of the governor because the bondage was heavy upon this people. In other words, what Nehemiah is saying, he paid for it all. His first focus was loving the Lord. His first focus was to love the Lord his God. But notice what happens when you love the Lord your God. You have compassion toward people. When you love the Lord and you grow in love with the Lord and your love for the Lord is growing, when a brother or sister in Christ has a burden, your compassion reaches out to them. Love for the Lord causes compassion for the people. I must share with you, and I'm gonna chase a rabbit with this just a little bit. At the missions conference, three of the speakers kinda went down the same vein of thought, and it talked about basically crossing over to areas where we wouldn't normally cross over to. witnessing in areas that we wouldn't want to witness to. I'll give you one speaker, he made the comment about Jesus, how he was thronged with people and he told his disciples we need to go to the other side. When they went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, what they had was the Gadarene demoniac. He left the crowd where he was highly favored and he went to one who was possessed or two that was possessed by the devil. Why would he leave to go to a place such as where there's homeless people, drug addicts, people that are not like us in a lot of ways, There's another story that was told behind a church building in Brazil. On the other corner was the homosexual hub where they actually prostituted homosexuals out of. Brother Judd was going around looking for a haircut one day, and he went to three different barbershops, he said, and they were all closed, closed, closed, closed. And so finally, he asked somebody where there was a barbershop open, and they told him, so he went around and around and got to the barbershop. When he walked in, he realized the one standing there cutting hair was a long, blonde-headed man who was the ringleader of the homosexual hub. Brother Judd was kind of stunned. You can imagine. He says, is he going to cut my hair? He's thinking to himself. He's not thinking out loud. So he sits down. He says he gets a magazine. He starts thumbing through it. And he said, this leader His boyfriend comes in and he said, they start doing their business in front of everybody. He said, I just kept thumbing through the magazine, thumbing through the magazine, thinking to himself, was he going to let this guy cut his hair? When it was his turn, he got up to let the guy cut his hair. He shared with him, he said they had a good conversation. The guy said, I'm going to visit your church. The guy did come to his church. He said about a year ago that guy died. He said he doubts very seriously he trusted the Lord. Do you realize how hard that is? Getting out of your comfort zone, going in areas that are what we would say is a threat to our Christianity. But isn't that what we're supposed to do is share the gospel with each and every one? Brother Judge didn't beat him over the head with the Bible. The guy came to church. He heard the gospel. Here's Nehemiah. He forgoes his rights because he loves the Lord. He doesn't take the governor's portion, but he gives to those that are in need. Leaders assume in our day and time that once they're a leader they've got a position. Once they got a position they got power and they got privilege and they take advantage of people. They look out for number one. This is not the model Nehemiah is leaving us. Nehemiah didn't want to add to the burdens of the burdened. He's committed to the wall, he's not in it for profit. What Nehemiah does, he does it as unto the Lord. Listen to what it says in verse 19. Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people. In other words, he's doing it as unto the Lord. Lord, remember me for good for what I have done. When conflict comes into our lives, When there are disagreements, when there are problems, when there are squabbles, when there are misunderstandings, you've got to face the conflict and deal with it. If you avoid it or if you put it off, if you sweep it under a rug, what'll happen? It'll fester and it'll grow and hard feelings will grow and you'll have even greater problems. We can see many principles laid out in Nehemiah 5. Think before speaking. Meet face-to-face. Don't use social media to discuss a major problem. Let me tell you, that'll make it worse. Seek resolve. Seek peace. Here's what Nehemiah is doing. The song I quoted from this morning, I want you to listen. I'm not gonna play it, I'm not gonna sing it. Boy, but I would love to sing it. One day I might sing it. It's by the Gaither group, and the first verse went like this. I'll remind you of the words, but I wanna emphasize the second verse. First verse, I then shall live as one who's been forgiven. I'll walk with joy to know my debts are paid. I know my name is clear before my father. I am his child and I am not afraid. So greatly pardoned, I'll forgive my brother the law of love I gladly will obey. The second verse is this. I find this very appropriate. If there's conflict or problems one with another, I then shall live as one who's learned compassion. I've been so loved that I'll risk loving, too. Let me tell you, when you risk loving, you risk getting hurt. I know how fear builds walls instead of bridges. I'll dare to see another's point of view. And when relationships demand commitment, then I'll be there to care and follow through. May our lives be committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. As Nehemiah has what was his guiding principle, may it be our guiding principle, love unto the Lord. And when conflicts come, may the driving principle to resolve that conflict be love to the Lord first. But you know what, if you don't know the Lord, you can't do that. For the love of the Lord's gotta be in your heart to have the love of the Lord as a guiding principle. Because human nature just bristles at conflict. And if somebody attacks you wrongly, you know what you're apt to do if you're in the flesh? You're gonna attack back. You'll say things, you'll do things that are not Christ-like. May we live surrendered lives to our Lord Jesus Christ. And if you've never surrendered your life to Christ, we ask that you submit to Him, to bow before Him as Lord. And you know what, they're simply saying, Lord, you know what's best for my life, and I trust you with it. And he does. He knows so much better than you know and than I know. Boy, I had plans for life all written out. And you know what? The Lord just brushed them aside. He can make something beautiful out of your life if you surrender to him. I stand and go to the Lord in prayer. Father, as we look in Nehemiah, we see the problems that he ran into from the outside of enemies trying to hurt and harm him. And then we see Satan stirring the pot on the inside. causing strife with brothers and sisters, causing conflict and division. Lord, Nehemiah handled the situation in a way we believe was pleasing to you. Help us to live godly lives, seeking to show love for you first. and having compassion for others. Work in our hearts, mold us and shape us who you'd have us to be, that your name might be all the more glorified and resound throughout all this earth. For you alone are worthy. We'll give you the praise for Christ's sake. Amen. We are going to sing, Trust and Obey.