Okay. Well, let's prepare our hearts for the teaching of God's Word. Please bow your heads with me. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we come to You again. We acknowledge that You are with us. You are our delight and our reward. And such is the blessing, such is the delight and reward of being in Your Word together. So we ask that You would guide us through it, Lord, to make us attentive, to keep us focused, to know that You are the one and true God who stands with us, who fights for Your people. All to advance Your kingdom and glory in our midst, Lord. So we give thanks and anticipate the work You will do in our midst this morning. In Christ's name, Amen. Okay, everyone, go ahead and open your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah. We'll continue our study today. Now this would, I think, technically be our Reformation Sunday. And it's amazing how certain things point to the reality of God's work in our lives through Christ. You know, the staple teaching of the Reformation, as I'm sure you all know, was a return to the blessed doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone. And the connection to our text in Nehemiah this morning is the work that God does alone in the lives of his people, that it is not our own strength that accomplishes the advancement of God's kingdom. It's not our own wisdom and insight and decision-making that draws us to the Lord or that wins victory in the day of battle, but ultimately is the Lord who fights the Lord who comes to our aid and our rescue. And we can look to Him alone to know that He is with us and that He will bring about a sure victory. And we recognize too, even in our scripture reading this morning in Psalm 40, that He does this in His own time. And sometimes we are in a place to strengthen our faith where we can simply cry out to Him for deliverance, for Him to hear our complaint and to deliver us from destruction and from the miry clay. A messy and sticky situation indeed. And that is where Nehemiah finds himself. So if you are there already, Nehemiah chapter 4 is our text today, and we are camping out here. We got through the first section last Lord's Day, and I will read the chapter in its entirety, so please follow along with me. Now it came about that when Sanbalat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious and very angry and mocked the Jews. He spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy men of Samaria and said, what are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish it in a day? Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble, even the burned ones? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and said, even what they are building, if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down. Hear, O our God, how we are despised. Return their reproach on their own heads, and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity. Do not forgive their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out before you, for they have demoralized the builders. So we build the wall, and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. Now, when Sanballat-Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on, and that the breaches began to be closed, they were very angry. All of them conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and cause a disturbance in it. But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night. Thus in Judah it was said, The strength of the burden bearers is failing, yet there is much rubbish, and we ourselves are unable to rebuild the wall. Our enemy said, they will not know or see until we come among them, kill them, and put a stop to the work. When the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times, they will come up against us from every place where you may turn, then I stationed men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places, and I stationed the people and families with their swords, spears, and bows. When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people. Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his own work. From that day on, half of my servants carried on the work while half of them held their spears, the shields, the bows, and the breastplates. And the captains were behind the whole house of Judah. Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon. As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built, while the trumpeter stood near me. I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, the work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall far from one another. At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us. So we carried on the work with half of them holding spears from dawn until the stars appeared. At the time, I also said to the people, let each man with his servant spend the night within Jerusalem so that they may be a guard for us by night and a laborer by day. So neither I, my brothers, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us removed our clothes, each took his weapon even to the water. May God be blessed by the reading of his word. So here we come to part two, excuse me, of our study called A Heart to Build. a heart to build. And in this sermon, we want to focus on the fact that God will fight for us. I do believe that that is the main part of this text to which we are to draw our attention. This is a corporate cry and encouragement of absolute surrender. If God fights for you, then what else do you need? We can take courage in the fact that God not only stands with us, but he goes before us in his care and in his preservation of his people. And what is especially remarkable about this saying, especially with what Nehemiah is enduring, is that they are facing an enemy on all sides, expressed very eloquently in poetic form in Psalm chapter 40 and in other passages in the scriptures. The enemies have revealed themselves, they have come up to the walls and they have sought in a variety of ways to undermine and ultimately reverse the work that Nehemiah and his partners are engaged in. Going so far even as to conspire to commit murder, to kill those who are working on the wall. Now, in normal circumstances, when people are faint of heart, even people that claim the name of Christ, this is where we see doubt. This is where we see a lot of faint hearts. This is where we see a lack of courage. This is actually a point where we even see a failure to come together as God's people in faith and in courage and continue the work. And I would even say, granted, sometimes we see both things. Sometimes we do see fear and yet, Spears and swords and arrows and tools for work are taken up anyway. Sometimes courage is revealed in spite of fear and not its absence. And I think this is what the people are facing in this text. Nehemiah sees their fear and then he speaks to them, to encourage them to continue to build, to continue encouraging them to defend their own, to defend their own people. And this is a statement of great faith, especially when it seems that the very work that they have put their hands to is going to be stopped. And yet we go back to the text that we explored last Lord's Day. They had a mind to build. They had a heart to build. Although being aware of the mockery and the various threats and accusations, The temptation to second guess themselves and to doubt the power of God and His help and aid is confronted with the very reality that they had a heart to work. I love this because it tells us that this attitude is something that is in the inner man. They're not just putting on airs. They're not just going through the motions. The very inner man, all that they are, the very heart, to work is what they possess as a people. And so in the face of various threats, adverse circumstances, their own unbelief, they can continue to build this wall. And so last time we saw primarily that they are on defense, right? They're on defense and they cry out to the Lord and continue the work knowing that He's with them. part of the passage, I want to emphasize the fact that the church, the very people of God, are also on offense. There is plenty of debate, even amongst the people of God, that we are called to be very passive in this work. I do believe, in short, that Christians do have a right to defend their families, life, and property with deadly force if the occasion calls for it. But I would say, on the whole, the Christian life is anything but passive. We are not called to be a people who just sort of stand by and let the world walk all over us or walk around us or talk over us. We are called to stand our ground and to continue proclaiming the truth that Christ is Lord and Savior and that this entire work is in his hands and that it cannot be stopped. No matter what the enemy may say, no matter what the enemy may try or attempt, the Lord is with His people. And speaking of being on offense, there is something I think very important that this passage covers, and I think it links itself well with the second half of this passage. And we didn't cover it last week, but I want to give mention to it today as part of our introduction. It is the issue of, again, the church being on the offensive, the people of God standing up and fighting. And one of the ways we do that, and I think it's our first response, is prayer. We've talked a lot about this, and it's a recurring theme in Nehemiah, that whenever the people of God face adversity or uncertainty, or even our courage is tested, the very first thing we do is pray. The very first thing we do is cry out to God. This is the pattern of Nehemiah before this chapter, and even in the midst of this chapter. Note in the first part, that when the enemies of the work, Sanballat and his cronies, all of his partners, come to afflict the people of God, come to challenge the work, to mock it, to threaten it, what is the first thing that happens? We see this prayer, verse four. Hear, O our God, how we are despised. Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity. Do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before you, for they have demoralized the builders. The first manner in which the church stands up and fights is through prayer. And know what's going on here. This is a very strong prayer. This is what we would call an imprecatory prayer, wherein a person of faith, a person who claims to know the Lord, to be one of his people, calls for the Lord to judge the enemy. Asking the Lord to actually go on the offensive. We don't see here a prayer for the salvation of His enemies. I would maintain that in the life of the believer, we take a both-and approach. You can pray for the salvation of your enemies, and you can pray for their judgment of your enemies. In both cases, your enemy has been destroyed. We've talked about that plenty of times. But praying both is not a contradiction. Yes, we are to love our enemies. Yes, we are to pray for them. Yes, we are to do good to them. But when we have situations like this where the enemy is actively and deliberately conspiring to destroy the work of God, the believer has every right to pray for God's swift and just and even severe judgment to come upon them. This walks hand in hand with the belief that God will fight for us, that God will fight for his people. Some of us really struggle with that concept. We have no awareness that the Lord will judge our enemies. We even hesitate to rejoice over that reality because it doesn't seem quite nice. It seems very unloving, it seems very judgmental. But it is consistent with the character of the believer, with the church, to rejoice when God judges and even destroys our enemies. God will fight for us. God will go on the offense. God will advance his own cause, scattering his enemies. Arise, oh Lord. Let God arise, right? Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered. Some of us hardly pray that. Some of us never pray it. Some of us don't even know that that's in the Bible. Oh Lord, scatter our enemies so that your kingdom may advance, so that your name may not be blasphemed and taken in vain amongst the unbelievers. Look, oh Lord, how your people are despised. Look at this prayer. And this is a prayer that is totally appropriate for the Christian to offer up to God, especially in the midst of great affliction, great insult, great conspiracy, to see the work of God destroyed. This is a prayer that is striking for its intensity and its deliberateness, where Nehemiah calls out to the Lord, bring judgment. on our enemies. Note what he says. Look upon your people, Lord. First, a cry for mercy, how we are despised. return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity. Nehemiah is asking God personally, right? Praying, urging the Lord to let that mockery, that disgrace, that insult that is hurled at God's people to return on their own heads. It's an irony, right? Let what they are praying for us or seeking for us happen to them. Psalm 7, 15 through 16 says this, he has dug a pit and hollowed it out and has fallen into the hole which he made. His mischief will return upon his own head. Just like Haman built the gallows in the book of Esther for Mordecai and he was hung on his own gallows. Nehemiah is praying for swift justice and rightly so. Given up for plunder in a land of captivity. This is very important. What he is actually praying for are covenant curses to come upon the enemies of Israel. We find this in Deuteronomy 28, 36 through 37, and I will say, this is the exact thing that happened to Israel. They violated the covenant and they were taken away, carried away into captivity. He's saying, in effect, let what happened to us happen to them. They know the bitterness of captivity. That is a sharp judgment. That is a hard one to take, especially for the number of years that they took it, several decades. Let them go into captivity. And then he says, do not forgive their iniquity, right? That seems very counter-Christian. Aren't we supposed to pray that they are forgiven? Well, yes, if they repent from their sins and their affliction of God's people, but he says, do not forgive their iniquity. Let not their sin be blotted out before you. Lord, if they conspire against you, Hold their sins against them. If they do not repent, if they remain in the path that they are, yeah, do not forgive their sin. Do not let their sin be blotted out before you. Let their sin stand to accuse them. Listen to Psalms 69, 27 through 28. Add iniquity to their iniquity and may they not come into your righteousness. May they be blotted out of the book of life. We have that, the faithful have that promise in the book of Revelation, right? They will not be blotted out of the book of life. The Lord will remember who they are. He will call to mind that they belong to Him, and they will dwell with Him and reign with Him forever. The wicked, those who conspire against Christ's kingdom, will not experience eternal life. Their name will be blotted out of the book of life. And this is to say is that some acts of wickedness and rebellion against the Lord's plan and against His kingdom are so severe, the ones that seek to thwart His purposes, that they deserve divine wrath without reprieve. We have to acknowledge that. and then remind ourselves of the immense grace that we live under as God's people. May they be blotted out of the book of life. This refers to a removal from God's covenant people in which you are destined for judgment. You can find that in Exodus 32, 33. And so this imprecatory prayer, and again, these are prayers that we can pray as well. And it expresses the seriousness of the sins committed, not only toward God's people, but toward God Himself. And that they deserve the judgment that comes upon them. We all deserve God's judgment. And yet we experience His grace. They've demoralized, it said, the demoralized, the builders. That is to say that to provoke His people is to provoke God Himself. Right? We know from John 15, 18, Jesus warns His disciples, that the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. Those who mock and attack God's people are ultimately defying the Lord. They are attacking Him. And that defiance will be judged. And for the sake of the people of God, this is Nehemiah asking the Lord for salvation. We forget how often the scripture repeats that God regularly saves his people through judging his enemies. And it is reflective of a desire of God's people that God would vindicate His own name. And so in this great work of advancing God's kingdom, this great work of proclaiming the gospel amongst the nations, of kingdom building, of growing and edifying the church, we know that in cases like this, our hope is such in God's justice that we can turn to Him instead of retaliating. We can trust God's justice knowing that whatever our God ordains is right, and he will judge the wicked in his own time. It is not for us to bear the sword ahead of time. The Lord will bear his own sword, and he will vindicate his own name. We can toil also in perseverance, even when we are unjustly mocked, when we are working in faith and obedience, and scoffers come and scoff away. Just like Tobiah did, right? If a fox should jump on this wall, look at the feeble work that they're doing. Look at how delicate and unprofessional this wall is. If a fox jumps on it, the wall would break. There's gonna be mockery, but we continue to work. We continue to persevere knowing that God will judge faithfully. And so in all this, we trust God's justice. We trust his righteousness to prevail. And precatory prayers also reflect the heart that is submitted to his will. So when we pray, we pray, Lord, let your will be done. You will judge in due time. And it allows us, this time that goes by, that's where we love our enemies and do good to them. knowing that Christ will one day bring to a full effect His perfect justice. And so verse four and five is a prayer leading up to our theme today, knowing that God will work for us. And that goes all into this theme of having a heart to work. A heart to work knows that God is just. A heart to work knows that God is good, right? And we can busy ourselves in advancing the kingdom of God because we know that God is going to bring about a perfectly good end. And even though we have a hard time seeing that in the here and now, we know that God is true to himself, and he is true to his own word, and he will bring these things to pass. So we don't need to fear. So we can continue to busy ourselves with the work. And you notice that that's a trend in building the wall. Yeah, this happened, and then they got back to work. Oh, and someone said this, but then they got back to work. And then someone was on the wall, and this guy came along and said, hey, come down here. Let's have a conversation. We hear that all the time today. Oh, I'm sorry. I have to work. I have a wall to build. And in the same fashion, the Christian, the church, has a kingdom to build. We have a gospel to proclaim. We have a king to exalt. We are busying ourselves with that in the midst of encouragement or discouragement. And sometimes, yeah, you're gonna be discouraged. Guys, don't think, no matter how many times you pray, no matter how many times you read your Bible and do your private devotions and come here on the Lord's day and worship the King, we are still flesh and we are going to feel discouraged. I'm not saying that discouragement is a good thing, but what I'm saying is that your discouragement is not going to undermine the power of God. In fact, even in our discouragement, God uses that for good and can turn that on its head and encourage us plenty so that we can continue to engage in the work. That is the mindset of the man who has a heart to build and believes that God will fight for him. And I cannot underscore enough how scary that should be to the enemies of God. If God is fighting for you, you don't need any reinforcements, you don't need any backup, you don't even need reconnaissance. When we think about all of our satellite imagery, our space warfare, The Lord doesn't need any of that. He sees everything, He knows everything in advance, and He has a perfect plan that is going to be fulfilled in and through His people. So we need not fear man. And this is a passage that gives us such incentive for that. Why are we so afraid? Why are we hesitant to engage in the work? And if you are, take heart, because the Lord will fight for you. He will fight for his people. And so we can take that resolve and trust God in the midst of these trials. And I would say the greatest trials are when there are actual flesh and blood people involved. Circumstances are one thing, but when those circumstances are given a voice, when they're given weapons, when they're given insult, when they're given reputation, it can wreak particular havoc in any kingdom project. That is when the trials are particularly ramped up, but we need not doubt. We can trust the Lord for everything that He will fight for us. So the first thing is, the first point is that if we believe that the Lord will fight for us, we must fix our eyes on Him. That's the very first thing we are called to do. Now, draw your attention to Nehemiah 4 once again, and we're gonna continue where we left off last Lord's Day. So there's this conspiracy, right? In verse 12, Or verse 11, our enemy said, they will not know or see until we come among them, kill them and put a stop to the work. So now we know that their plan, they will go to extremes, even killing people to make sure that they hinder and stop this work, right? It always begins with anger. It always begins with personal offense. And when it is ramped up to the max, bloodshed is seen as necessary. And then the Jews who lived near came and told us 10 times, right? Whether we know if it was exactly 10, it seems like 10 is a number of completeness or as if to express, they told us again and again and again. They kept warning us. They kept telling us the reality of the situation. They will come up against us from every place where you may turn. And then he says, then I stationed men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places. And I stationed the people in families with their swords, spears, and bows. And so Nehemiah, Again, prepares. He prepares his people. They have weaponry so they can defend themselves as the law allows. They are able to defend life and limb. And then it says this, 14, when I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people. And here's the main thing, the main point of this verse. Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome. and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses, right? He speaks to everyone from top to bottom. Do not be afraid of them. That's sound advice. I saw that they were afraid. So what do I say? Don't be afraid. God is with you, do not be afraid. He says, and he points out two things about God that he has pointed out before. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome, right? Don't forget the Lord, right? It was forgetting the Lord that got you puked out of the land in the first place. Don't fail to remember him now when persecution is ramping up. Call to mind deliberately the Lord. So this is not passive, careless remembrance. Oh yeah, we serve this God named the Lord. No, remember, focus, fix your gaze on him, right? The same encouragement was given to the Hebrews. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, right? It is fixing your eyes on Him that will encourage you and strengthen you to endure. Your eyes are fixed on all the enemies surrounding you. All the catastrophes and various disasters and setbacks can occur. And you're fixated so much on that, you have forgotten that the Lord will fight for you. You've forgotten that the Lord runs His universe. You've forgotten that the Lord can exalt whom He wants to and can put down. whom he wants to. So remember the Lord. He is great. He is awesome. He is greater than your enemy. He is awesomer than your enemy and your various circumstances. So he says, well, what's your responsibility in this case? Fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. Okay, protect your own. Here's your responsibility in this. And what Nehemiah is referencing here is nothing new. This is an encouragement that any Israelite living in that period of time could take based on what is revealed in the scriptures. Listen to Exodus 14, 14. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent. You don't have to say anything. Just be quiet, right, we were reminded of that. Be still, know that I am God. We can put that against the showdown on Mount Carmel. Remember you had the prophets of Baal, hundreds of them, and then one lone prophet of Yahweh, Elijah. Elijah just sat by, stood by, even mocking them, right, while they cried out, oh Baal, hear us. They cut themselves, they danced around, they pled. And the Lord did not regard them. Their God, Baal, did not regard them, and the Lord fought against them actively, even seeing in His own providence that they were struck down and killed in violent fashion. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent. What a reminder of the Lord's greatness, His strength, His sovereign power and ability to preserve His people. He will fight for us, He will speak for us. He did then, He does now. Listen to Deuteronomy 1. The Lord your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes. Like, you guys saw it. Don't doubt Him now. He will go before you. He will stand in front of you. It brings rich imagery in the mind of the believer that the Lord is a shield about us. He will not allow us to be harmed. He will not allow the enemy to prevail. And he will fight on your behalf. Just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes. And you think about what happened in Egypt. Plague after plague after plague. The defeat of the pantheon of Egypt. He struck them with a mighty hand and delivered his people from bondage. Second Chronicles 32.8, with him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. Remember the setting here, right? The Assyrian King Sennacherib lays siege to the city. He insults Hezekiah, calls into question their ability to seek, to get help or to be delivered from this circumstance. He mocks them openly. And again, this is a pivotal time for a king. Is he going to rally his people, or is he just gonna buckle and beg a pagan king for mercy? But he says this, ah, Sennacherib, with this mighty army, he's flesh. Saying, this guy's nothing. He is one man, and even with his army, he's still only one man. But with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. And I love the phrasing in this. With us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. It doesn't say the Lord our God to help us fight our battles, right? And you see what happens here. This is very important to this passage. Judah did not go out to battle in this episode. The Lord went out to battle. The Lord didn't help Judah fight its battles. The Lord just fought the battle himself. and slew over 100,000 Assyrian soldiers, went out and annihilated their entire army. It didn't matter what arm of flesh was there. It didn't matter what man was there. What matters is that the Lord went out to battle and just laid waste to the army. We forget that we worship the same God who has not reduced His power. I think we make that same mistake that many Christians do, that somehow, somehow Jesus came, died on the cross, rose from the dead, and then God just chilled out. He became nicer. He sort of like dialed down His power a little bit. But we shouldn't make that mistake. The Lord is just as great, just as awesome, just as powerful, just as dangerous. Let us not try the patience of the Lord by our own unbelief, calling into question His ability, calling into question His love for us and His preservation of us and His promises that He has made to us. Even note what Nehemiah says. after dispensing this responsibility. When our enemy heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, then all of us return to the wall, each one to his work. See, we forget that too. We forget the Lord's ability to simply frustrate the plan of the enemy. They mean great evil for us, but he can take that evil and use it for good. Sometimes we are so focused on the frustration of our own plans, as noble as they are, and we constantly see hiccups and hindrances, and the presence of the enemy, we forget how the Lord in all of his sovereign working is constantly frustrating the plan of wickedness. Do you realize how much worse this world would be if the Lord were not directly active in frustrating the plans of the enemy? We have to remember that. that from all appearances, the enemy is succeeding. Often we see that. Why does evil prevail so much? And most of the time we are prone to complaining. Oh Lord, why are you letting this happen? Oh Lord, you have forgotten us. Lord, you're just not checking evil in any way. You have no idea, trust me, how much evil the Lord prevents on a daily basis. while you go home to your house every night and hopefully sleep soundly. Many of you are not because you have babies, but just work with me, okay? You sleep soundly on your sleep number bed or on your memory foam developed by NASA. You sleep comfortably. And then you, and then men, you wake up to that beautiful bride of yours. And life as you know it is just, it's perfect, right? You get up, you have your coffee or your Red Bull or whatever toxins you're filling your body with, and you forget, man, apart from the Lord's restraining hand, I'd be drinking this Red Bull on the run at best. But no, you sit there and sip it in your happy repose. Right? Day after day and you go to work and then you go home and your kids come running up to you, daddy, daddy, I missed you. And your wife comes and gives you a kiss with those loving doe eyes, you know, it's like, you're just, and you forget, man, my life is so good. So much evil is being restrained in this world and we don't even think about it. And when we are aware of it, it's like we act like God doesn't know what he's doing. And this is where we return to verse four. If that does happen, hear, O our God, how we are despised. See, there's an anticipation in Nehemiah's prayer, but the Lord is gonna come through. He's gonna come to their rescue. He's gonna fight for them. There's no question. He's simply standing firm and encouraging his people. He knows as Job does, Job 5.12, he frustrates the plotting of the shrewd so that their hands cannot attain success. It is amazing how wise fools are in their own estimation. The more foolish a man is, typically the wiser he thinks he is. And it says he frustrates the plotting of the shrewd. Those who are wise in their own estimation, those who have made a plan to undermine the work of God. to frustrate his people. Oh, they make plans. They plan all day, all day without stopping. But he says he frustrates it, right? The Lord himself puts hindrances to slow down and even sometimes completely stop and reverse the plotting of the shrewd. I mean, don't we see that in the resurrection? A reversal of the cosmic curse. And we're living in light of that right now. Nehemiah only had the promises. He could look forward to it, but we live in light of a promise already fulfilled. As shrewd as the enemies of God, as God seemed to be, in a most ironic way, through the death of his son and his resurrection, he reversed all of the plotting of the shrewd. All principalities and powers. human, demonic, earthly, heavenly. The Lord frustrated all of it. We are living in light of the curse being reversed. We are living in light of the new heavens and new earth, this restoration. And we have the proof in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, the very grounds of our confidence, the very grounds of our faith. The very reason that we can cry out to the Lord and ask Him to come and fight for us, knowing that though we are weak, He is strong. The Lord frustrated their plan. And then listen to this. Then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his own work. You see the pattern again. Yeah, the Lord came, He intervened, and then we just went back to work. Back to work. No more moping, no more wallowing. Okay, maybe you can mope, but work. Work and mope at the same time. If you're gonna complain, work. Go back to work. So this is the second point. If we believe that God will fight for us, we must inspire courage in our own fellowship. That even though we are surrounded, distressed on every side, we realize that we are not alone. The last thing we wanna do in cases like this is isolate ourselves. So looking at... Verse 16, from that day on, half of my servants carried on the work while half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows, and the breastplates, and the captains were behind the whole house of Judah. So they are ready for a fight. They are ready to defend with deadly force if necessary. Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon. As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built while the trumpeter stood near me. So you notice I would say this is unflappable leadership. This is a very good example for leadership on any level and in any sphere. Nehemiah is not deterred. He is still organized. He's still efficient. He is still delegating these responsibilities. The building continues. The threat is frustrated. Everyone goes back to work. So certain servants are working while the others hold spears. So one person's working and the other is making sure that the work can continue by brandishing their weapons. And look at this organization, too. Look at how this is planned out. You have spears. You have shields. You have bows and breastplates. You have offensive weaponry. You have defensive armor. You have weapons that can kill at close range. You have weapons that can kill at long range. And I think we can look to this and know that even today on this side of the resurrection, we have the sword of the spirit. We can confront an unbelieving world. That's something that the church fails to be. We fail to think of ourselves as dangerous. We fail to think of ourselves that in the very power of the Lord, We can confront an unbelieving world. We can say with the full force of truth that everything that you design against the Lord and his people will be shattered. It will be stopped. It will be destroyed. And you with it if you do not repent. The weapons of our warfare is contained in the word of God, the truth of the gospel. And we stand ever vigilant and ever encouraging one another knowing that our weaponry and our defense is ever-present and ever-effective. And so we can encourage one another to fight on and to build on. Notice how they cover one another, right? They defend one another. In 1 Thessalonians 4.18, the Christians are to encourage one another, to comfort each other, in light of the various trials that they are facing. It's dangerous to be a Christian in the first century. It's been said of pastors and it can be said of Christians as well, the biggest problem with us today is that no one wants us dead. Most people talk a big game. People should want us dead. And I think the rhetoric is becoming all the more vitriolic and threatening. But we do have to remember, too, that the enemies of God are ultimately cowards. There is nothing courageous about them. There is nothing about them that we ought to envy. They are cowards, and most of them hide behind keyboards. It's true. It's amazing how apparently bold technology can make someone when they don't have to stand up in your face and actually say the words that they want to say. And so in that sense, we cover for each other. We encourage one another. We encourage one another by loving one another. 1 John 4.11, Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another, right? Practicing one another's. We encourage one another, we love one another, we bear with one another, right? This is this work of encouragement that goes on. Colossians 3.13, bearing with one another and forgiving each other. Whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you, right? That is a high calling that is only possible in Christianity. Look, sometimes we read right over this. Just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. The Lord sets the bar for forgiveness. In most situations, not only do we not even think of that standard, we don't even come close to it. We love to forgive with all kinds of conditions, with all kinds of quid pro quos. We like to itemize what we're going to forgive. in light of the host of offenses that have been perpetrated against us. We struggle so much with just letting go of the things that have been done against us. Bearing with one another, forgiving each other, right? Whoever has a complaint against anyone, oh yeah, we complain too. There's a lot of complaining that happens. But what's the remedy? Just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. I struggle to think of another way in which the grace and mercy of God in Christ so pervades the church other than forgiveness. You are no more like Christ than when you forgive someone. So we bear with one another. And when we're doing a work as intense and dedicated and dangerous as advancing the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, let me tell you, forgiveness is not an option. Forgiveness is absolutely essential to the success of this work. Requires a new heart, requires a mighty movement of the Holy Spirit in our midst. Romans 15.7, we also welcome one another, therefore accept one another just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. You notice this trend developing, that God himself is our example. Imagine how God has accepted you. You unworthy, filthy, corrupt, lost, dead sinner. And he welcomed you into his presence and forgave all your sins and cleansed you from all unrighteousness. Treat other people like that. Welcome other people like that. I don't care if they're obnoxious, right? I don't care if they test your patience. In so far as it depends on you, be welcoming, be forgiving, seek peace with them, right? In so far as it depends on you. Christ accepted us to the glory of God, also accept others. Welcome others to the glory of God. Confess to one another, therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Sure accomplished much in the life of Nehemiah, whose seemed to be his split second reaction to any affliction, any challenge was to pray. Emulate that pattern. So that is how we practice the one another's in supporting each other and inspiring courage in each other. And so while his workers stood guard, the rest continued to work. It seemed like there was a kind of a trade-off on that. At one point, you could be working. At another point, you could be carrying the heavy weaponry to defend your brothers. And in like manner, we defend one another today as we do the work. We support one another. We stand with one another. As Richard Baxter, who said, I preached as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men, reflects the urgency that we all should feel and experience while we support each other. Thirdly, can you fill that in, Andrew? There you go. Thank you. We must gather with a unified purpose. We must gather with unified purpose. And this, of course, is connected intensely with loving one another. going on in our text. Let's start at verse 18. As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built while the trumpeter stood near me. The trumpeter is good for warning, right? Enemies attacking, right? Sound the alarm and defend yourselves and draw your swords. But he said, I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, the work is great and extensive and we are separated on the wall far from one another. So this is something that just seems incidental to the work of the Christian. Sometimes we're spread thin. We recognize the monumental task in front of us, right? We don't look at this millennia-long task of proclaiming the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ with passivity or carelessly or thinking that it's going to get done easily. It's a serious work and it can get tiresome. We talked last week about working, working and building, even though we're exhausted. And so we take great pains to gather together with a unified purpose while defending one another. recognizing the work is great and extensive. We are separated on the wall far from one another. And then whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. And here's where it is said, our God will fight for us. Our God will fight for us. when we reflect on that promise, right? We are gathered together under that banner. We can gather together because we know that God will fight for us, right? If you were in one of those battles of old, right? You're on the big grassy field and you're fighting hand to hand against the enemy. What were you always trying to do? If you got scattered, what would you do? You'd raise the banner. Everyone to the banner, right? Everyone to the king. Gather around the banner of the king and continue fighting. Strengthen numbers. We understand that it is easy for the Christian church to be spread too thin. It is easy for us to to be scattered in a sense and to be separated from one another. All the greater impetus to stick together, to continue to look out for one another, and to not grow weary in the fight. It was Thomas Brooks who said, unity in a church is as necessary as it is beautiful. And we think, wow, beautiful. This has been a bloody prolonged fight. But it is a beautiful thing. It's a wondrous thing. It is a confusing and baffling thing to the enemy that the church, in spite of how much it is persecuted and maligned and attacked, that we can continue to fight together. Let us confound our enemy together through our love for one another and our insistence that we are constantly gathering to the banner of the king. standing with each other, guarding one another, understanding that the work is great and extensive and is not yet complete, yet its victory is assured. And so when you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally there, knowing that our God will fight for us. It is imperative that the church sticks together. And then along with that, fourthly, we must hold vigilant watch. We must be vigilant. In rallying together, we understand that there's a reason that we're together. We're not just looking out for ourselves, we're looking out for one another. In this theme, of course, again, repeating some of these verses, those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work, the other holding a weapon. Can you imagine that? I mean, any job you do, right, if you're not a soldier, right, your main job is to carry a weapon. But you're building a fence or you're gardening, you know, you got your hula-ho out there and you got your weapon and you're vigilant, you're looking around, looking for the danger, thinking about the enemy. What's the enemy got planned today? What's he gonna do to me? What plot is he hatching to try to undermine this beautiful work in my garden? It'd be kind of strange if I were up here preaching just with my hand. Hey, you, you know, here's the word of God. Love it, obey it, proclaim it. I've got my hand on my pistol, which I don't have today because it's against Colorado law. Vigilance is required amongst the people of God. Ever watchful. ever mindful, right? It's explained so well in Ephesians chapter 6. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Right, so what's happening in Nehemiah is just a shadow, right, of the work we're doing today, of the vigilance we hold today. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day. And having done everything to stand firm. Yes, evil still exists today. Evil still pushes its agenda. but we understand that goodness will prevail. And having done everything to stand firm, stand therefore having girded your loins with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God." Talk about readiness. Talk about preparation. Everything is defended and you are ready to face down the enemy. With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit. And with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for the saints, right? Be on the alert. Don't get caught sleeping while you're on guard. Yes, the work is tiring, but don't get careless. Don't get tired to the point that you cannot keep watch. And remember, this is not just about you, right? This is about your brothers in Christ, right? Fellow soldiers in the battle. Be careful to care for them and to love them and to be watchful over them, over their very souls. Sound the trumpet when necessary. Draw the sword when necessary. Bear the shield when necessary. Call to them if they get lost or if they are overtaxed. and be in prayer constantly. Along those lines, Bunyan said, in prayer, it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart, right? Staying spiritually vigilant requires a heart of prayer. Some of us may think, well, what does this vigilance look like? In most cases, it just means you're praying, right? You are interceding on behalf of your brothers and sisters in Christ. And that is a reflection. If you believe that God is fighting for you, you will pray for your people. And then fifthly and finally is the call to take action together. It's that continual activity. And of course, all these themes sort of are interwoven throughout the text. But let's look at 21. So we carried on the work with half of them holding spears from dawn until the stars appeared. At that time, I also said to the people that each man with his servants spend the night within Jerusalem so that they may be a guard for us by night and a laborer by day. So Nehemiah continues to outline his plan and how this labor and then simultaneous labor and work, and then of course, guarding the work goes together. So neither I, my brothers, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us removed our clothes, each took his weapon even to the water. So we continue to walk together, take action together, work together, and guard one another together. And note that this is a day and night activity. There are going to be certain certain points, I think certain, you know, times in the Christian life and your life together with your church, with your people, where extra vigilance is going to be required, extra attention, extra wisdom applied is going to be demanded of you so that the mission is preserved, right? Some of us don't think like Christian soldiers. I am so tired, I cannot tell you this. I am so tired of hearing that we must think of the church as a hospital, right? Sure, but that's an oversimplification. How about thinking of the church as a barracks, right? A place where we're not only patched up together, but where we're sharpening our weapons, right? We are sharpening our swords. We're constantly preparing ourselves for the battle ahead against principalities and powers, against these rulers and authorities that have been already put down in the name of the cross. It's just a hospital, as if we're all just so pathetic, so weak, so injured. And some of us are gonna go through times like that, but it's an oversimplification and I would say dangerous to the mission to think that the church just must be thought of as a hospital. But the activity of the people of God requires no endurance, no toughness, no grit. That's why many of us are so, we're so weak-willed. We give up so easily. We're feeling so, like these constant times where we feel so overwhelmed, and yes, sometimes we do feel overwhelmed. In many cases, guys, if we're honest, we're simply whelmed. We're not overwhelmed, we're just whelmed. We're not going through anything unique in church history, we're just enduring the basic afflictions of the Christian life. But when we are feeling that extra burden, that extra pressure, extra moments or phases of affliction, that's where we come together, we bear one another's burdens. We recognize that the work of the Christian, the work of the kingdom can be particularly burdensome and even crushing at some times, but that's why we gather together. That's why we rally together and prepare ourselves in the barracks for even prolonged times of battle. And this is never gonna go away, my friends, until Christ returns. It's never gonna go away until his work is complete. Nehemiah has the wall, we have the kingdom. We have a kingdom to build. And there are gonna be times in a metaphorical sense, in a metaphorical fashion, where we will not be able to rest a whole lot, where none of us will remove our clothes and we will have to take our weapons even to the water. So doing the most basic things of life, we will have to be prepared to stand up against the enemy. And yet the Lord we know will fight for us. And so we can even look at this arduous and even sometimes irksome, and in our worst moments, an intimidating and seemingly hopeless task and take all hope and faith and say, yep, this is beyond me. I am not able. I am insufficient for this task, but God will fight for me. He is able. It is perfectly within the realm of His ability and strength and wisdom. and he is sufficient for the task to fight for us. It is amazing that God has the thought of us, right? The Lord has every right to go and simply fight for his own cause, but he loves us. He loves us, his people, and he fights for us as well. And so when he vindicates his own name, he vindicates his church and declares in worldwide fashion, I am with my people and I will fight for them. So let the trumpet sound and let us rally to our King and stand courageous in the day of battle, because that day is today. Amen? All right, let us bow in a word of prayer together. Lord, we thank you. We thank you for the glorious historical reality of the Reformation, the recovery of the true gospel, of what it means to be counted righteous in Christ, to be reminded once again of how, Lord, we can be inducted into your kingdom. We come empty-handed. We come unable. We come helpless. And yet in your grace, you fill our hands with the riches of Christ. You give us the very power of our Lord, to be equipped for the day of battle, to stand righteous in your sight, to have every hope and assurance, Lord, that the battle has already been declared as won, that we can walk in victory, that we don't have to be so phased or so crushed by the world's devices. And what a timely reminder in an election season where we're so tempted to be afraid of what will happen if the Democrats prevail. And I would say it is to our shame to even have to admit that. Because Lord, you are on the throne. You rule and reign through your son. And help us, God, not to doubt, not to be discouraged, not to be dismayed. You are with us wherever you go. Help us to continue to play the long game. That we even now see righteousness continue to prevail. We see salvation continue to dawn upon a world that is broken in still so many ways. But that is being healed and restored. Even exalted. As the saving gospel of our Lord Jesus continues to not only be proclaimed, but to prevail, to capture the hearts of men, to bring life to the dead, to bring hope to the hopeless, to provide a path for the lost, to provide light for those in darkness. Lord, far be it from us to wickedly and in unbelief doubt your promises, for they are great. Lord, this wall being built, these breaches being sealed are only a sample, a small historical sample of the amazing and glorious work that you are doing now in making known the majesty and the truth and power of the kingdom of Christ that we are members of, that we are heirs of. And Lord, we are so thankful for that. So give us thankful hearts as we continue to worship you in spirit and in truth. Remind us, God, that we belong to you and that you will fight for us, that we can cry out both for the salvation and the judgment of our enemies, that in each way, Lord, you are faithful, that you are true to yourself, and that you are true to us. So we thank you and praise your name. For Jesus' sake, amen.