Well, this year is the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock. And in light of that kind of historic milestone, I felt like it would be appropriate for us to talk about it. We're in a time in our history when many people are doing their best to not just downplay, but even completely reinterpret our history. in ways that are more consistent with their non-Christian worldviews. I haven't seen as many things actually written about the pilgrims. I've seen some, but not as much as I have in other parts of our history, but that may be because their history is documented so clearly, and they were known for being people of strong Christian beliefs and strong character, and a lot of times even that in itself rubs people the wrong way. So I wanna take some time today to talk about the legacy of the pilgrims. And there's many things that we can learn from them, things, lessons that are just important for us today as it was in the 17th century. And to help us do that, I want to consider Nehemiah. We'll talk about Ezra some too, but I wanna talk about Nehemiah, especially from the Old Testament. He and Ezra were men that God used in very significant ways in the nation of Israel and their history. And what they accomplished was very important in the coming of the Messiah and therefore in the development of the Christian faith. And there's also quite a few similarities with what we see in the pilgrims. This year I actually ran across some material about the pilgrims that I had not been aware of before. And one of the things I saw was that 28 years after the pilgrims came to the New World, so that would be 1648, Some younger men came to William Bradford, one of their main leaders and longtime governor, and they were asking some questions. And they basically wanted to know what the Pilgrim fathers and mothers had really accomplished. What would their legacy be? And it forced Bradford to ask some hard questions. So when I saw that, it actually reminded me of Nehemiah chapter 13, which is the last chapter in the book of Nehemiah. And we know Nehemiah, of course, had been in Persia. He came to Jerusalem for a time to serve as governor and lead them in rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem. And then we also know chapter 13 tells us that there was a time he went back to Persia and then again returned to Jerusalem. Well, in about 10 or 12 years in between when he came back, he found a number of very disturbing things going on, things that he had already dealt with. And now he has to deal with them again. So in that context, three different times in that last chapter that you find this in verse 14, verses 22 and verses 31, Nehemiah prays, remember me, oh my God. I don't know everything that was going on through his mind, but I think Nehemiah is thinking about, in one sense, his legacy in the context of God's purpose. He's thinking about all the things that he came to accomplish in obedience to the Lord Where is it all headed now? So when both William Bradford and the pilgrims along with Ezra, Nehemiah and the people of Israel, they were separated by about 2000 years. But they each had very important parts to play in the work of God and in history. And there are most definitely things we can learn from their legacies. First thing we can see clearly is this, number one on your outline. Man's highest priority must be to glorify God no matter what the cost. Glorify God no matter what the cost. Catechism tells us First Catechism question says, what is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. So to live a life that glorifies God is the most important legacy you can leave. Nehemiah was obviously a very successful man. He held the important position of being cut bearer to King Artaxerxes, the king of Persia. He was clearly a man who was stalled up very highly. And when he goes to Jerusalem to help them rebuild the wall, it's obvious Nehemiah is a leader. He's a very good organizer. All those things are true and they're all very important. But beyond all that, Nehemiah was a man of God. All the way through the book, no matter what the situation, Nehemiah never loses sight of the fact that he is a servant of the Lord. And one of the main ways you can see that is in his emphasis on prayer. So, we see in Nehemiah this next point that prayer, prayer is an important aspect of the faith needed to glorify God. In Nehemiah chapter one, we see that a delegation from Judah came to Susa, the capital of Persia. Nehemiah heard from them that the walls and the gates of Jerusalem were broken down and that the remnant that were there were in great distress over their circumstances. When Nehemiah 1 verse 4 tells us how he responded to this news, it says, When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. So you can see really first in this verse that Nehemiah was very much concerned, yes, for the people of God, but more importantly, he was concerned for the honor of God himself. His heart was broken over what he had heard. So Nehemiah does the most natural thing anyone who is concerned about God's glory would do. He prayed. For the next four months, he gave attention to prayer, to fasting, to considering what needed to be done. When Nehemiah finally does, after those four months, have a chance to appeal to the king, he breathes a prayer as he's speaking to the king. Scattered all through the book of Nehemiah, there's references to times that Nehemiah gave to prayer every time a challenge came up. And then when we come to the last chapter of the book, we see that Nehemiah ends with a final prayer. Remember me, oh my God, for good. So if you're going to be a person who glorifies God, then you have to be a person of prayer. You just do. And of course, we see the same thing in the pilgrims. The thing that stands out to us first and foremost about the kind of people they were, was their commitment to honor and glorify the Lord above all else. I mean, there was nothing more important to them. Everything about the choices they made were in the context of wanting to rightly worship the Lord. They would do whatever they had to do to be able to pursue that kind of worship. So when they finally came to the decision of leaving their homes and going to the new world, they took time to pray. William Bradford, in his book of Plymouth Plantation, tells us what they did. You have a quote on your outline. He says, so being ready to depart, they had a day of solemn humiliation, their pastor, John Robinson, taking from his text, Ezra 8.21. Much of Ezra's ministry took place before Nehemiah got there. Ezra was a priest, and he was very concerned about making sure that people knew and understood the scriptures. And he too had to get permission from King Artaxerxes to go to Jerusalem. He took about 5,000 people with him, and as they prepared to leave, We read this in Ezra 8, verse 21-23. This is the verse that John Robinson used. He says, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, the hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek him, but his power and his anger are against those who forsake him. So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and he listened to our entreaty. So, they humble themselves before the Lord, they pray, they fast, they take time to seek Him and ask Him for safe travel, and they were sure that the Lord had heard their prayer. Well, the pastor of their pilgrims, like I said, John Robeson, did the same thing. He used the example of Ezra to guide them in their prayer. William Bradford says, they spent a good part of the day, most of the day, in prayer before their trip. And one of the main things that Pastor Robinson exhorted the people to do on that day, he said, you need to daily renew your repentance before God in prayer. So they were going to the new world for the glory of God. If they're going to do that, they're going to have to go to him daily in prayer. So if we are going to glorify God in our life, we too have to give time to pray. Another example of the commitment to glorify God is this, laying good foundations for right worship and religious liberty is a goal worthy of diligent pursuit. So it was important to lay in those good foundations. Nehemiah very literally went to Jerusalem to lay some good foundations. He led the people to do the work necessary to rebuild the walls around the city. This was the practical, physical project that Nehemiah went to Jerusalem to accomplish. But what he had in mind went way beyond just rebuilding the walls. He was looking to rebuild the people. He was looking to lead them to renew their commitment, their covenant relationship with the Lord. After the wall had been completed, Nehemiah records for us in chapters 8, 9, and 10 a great revival that took place among the people of God. Ezra had an important part in this because he taught them the scriptures. And in response to the word being taught, the people repented for their sin. They spent time rejoicing and worshiping the Lord. They came to the Lord in corporate prayer. They made some very specific commitments to the Lord on what they would do as a people. And this is really what both Ezra and Nehemiah really wanted to see accomplished among the people of Israel. They knew how important it was that the continuity of Israel as the people of God be renewed after those years of exile in Babylon. And they were successful. Here's what commentator Mervyn Brenneman says was accomplished in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. He said, because this community persevered, our Old Testament was completed and preserved. Because the Jewish people continued as instruments in God's redemptive plan, the Savior came and fulfilled God's great plan of salvation. Ezra himself was significant in preserving the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, and giving it great emphasis to the people. Ezra and Nehemiah are key in the continuation of Israel as the people of God after the exile. They're the ones who gave leadership to get them reestablished into land and to be recommitted to the Lord. All that was absolutely necessary in preparing them as the people of God through whom Jesus Christ would be born. So Ezra and Nehemiah's work in laying foundations was really crucial in the work of God in history. Well the pilgrims saw themselves as being a people who were also laying important foundations. Their foundations were for right worship and religious liberty. They were being persecuted for the fact that they were not worshiping in the way that the government of England told them to. And there was nothing more important to them than this God-honoring worship. They were looking for religious liberty. They were looking to live tranquil and quiet lives and to live their lives in godliness and dignity. So they longed for that liberty, that freedom to live in godly ways in every aspect of their life. And they felt like this was an important freedom for others to have as well. In Plymouth Plantation, William Bradford gave a list at the beginning there of all the reasons that the pilgrims had for leaving their homes and coming to the New World. The last reason he gave was this, and you're familiar with this quote. He says, last and not least, they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least making some ways toward it for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they would be but stepping stones to others in their performance of so great a work. So laying the foundation for right worship and religious liberty was key to them. They wanted it for themselves, they also wanted it for others. They had a burden for the natives there who had never heard the gospel. This is one of the answers that Bradford gave to the young men who ask about their legacy. He said, they had made it possible for others to come after them. That was one of their main goals. See at that time, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was established 10 years after, so 1630, that they came. And they had already surpassed Plymouth in size and in the scope of their colony. And this was one of the things that these younger men were seeing comparisons here. For example, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony came over, if I remember right, they came over in 13 ships. I think all together from 1620 to 1630, I don't think that there were 13 ships that came to Plymouth Plantation, but there were 13 that came all at once in 1630 from Massachusetts. They had three ministers who were on in those 13 ships as they came. One of the things that was different, one of the struggles the Pilgrims had was their minister had to stay back. He was not able to come with them. they did not have an ordained minister for 10 years. And in their belief, a minister, if they did not have an ordained minister, they could not baptize, they could not have a Lord's Supper. So for 10 years, they didn't do any of that. William Brewster, who you've probably heard of as well, was their elder and he kind of, he taught and so forth and served as pastor. But since he was not ordained, they could not baptize or have a Lord's Supper. They were seeing themselves as Massachusetts Bay far surpassing them when they compared themselves to what was happening in Massachusetts. But Bradford said the fact that the Pilgrims came first was a stepping stone, a significant stepping stone for all those who came after. So he said that's the reason we came. We came to be a stepping stone. That's success. So this goal made it clear that the pilgrims really were making God's glory the highest priority, regardless of what it cost them or how they compared with other colonies. They were more concerned with God's glory. Well, in the second aspect of the pilgrim legacy, we learned this. God providentially uses people of character who are willing to persevere in courageous obedience to him. The things that both the pilgrims and those who came with Ezra and Nehemiah accomplished point to the fact that these were people of great character. They all showed truly courageous obedience to God. So first from these people we learn this. We must count the cost and then persevere even in the face of serious setbacks. Count the cost. When we think of those who left Babylon to return to the land of Israel, we think of people who had to count the cost. Ezra chapter one speaks of the first group that returned to Israel. Cyrus was the king of Persia at that time. And he gave them permission to return just like the Lord prophesied that he would do to Isaiah and Jeremiah. And what a glorious opportunity. I mean after God had allowed the Babylonians to destroy them because of their rebellion against God. After 70 years they're allowed to return. Now those who returned was a small remnant, a small percentage of the Jews who were actually in Babylon at the time. And they returned to a land and to a place and to cities that had been destroyed. There were no homes for them to move into. There was no temple in which to worship. Everything was in rubble. But they counted the cost and they returned. Whole families came back to the promised land, knowing they had lots of hard work ahead of them. Of course, the pilgrims faced the same problem, only actually it was worse. First, they officially separated from the Anglican church. That meant that every time they met for worship, they were breaking the law. They had to meet in secret. When they were found out, they were arrested and often spent time in jail. They finally left England for Holland because there was more freedom to worship there. The whole process of getting from England to Holland was an ordeal in itself. One of the ships that they contracted with, the captain turned them in, so they were captured and again were put in jail because of that. They kept trying, they went again, but after they were in Holland for a while, they realized this is not a long-term solution either. So they decided to go to the New World. And they had to reckon with all kinds of things, counting the cost, for example. They knew it was going to be at least a two-month journey on boat. It actually took them 65 days. They knew that the Indians could oftentimes be hostile. They knew they would have to clear land, they're going to have to cut down trees, they're going to have to build houses, they're going to have to build roads, they're going to have to hunt and fish for their food. They knew there would be times of famine. They expected that. They knew they would be encountering life-threatening diseases. They expected that. They knew that many of their family members were not going to be able to make the trip, and they might never see them again. But they counted the cost, and they left. Within the first few months, you know, after they arrived, half of the 102 people who made the journey died. It was an awful time. but they persevered knowing that all they did, they did for the glory of God. They persevered in faith, even when things were hard and God used them. He used them mightily as they followed him in courageous, difficult, but courageous obedience. So next we learn from these people that we need to persevere. We need to persevere even though it is certain that times of disappointment and failure will come. One of the things that both Ezra and Nehemiah had to deal with was the fact that a good number of the people who returned to the land married people who were unbelievers. The law of God forbid them from marrying people who lived in Canaan because they were idolaters. They served false gods. it was very important for the children of Israel to remain faithful to the Lord. And the fact that they were willing to marry people who served other gods showed they were not being faithful to the Lord. Ezra had some really hard decisions to make in that regard. But when Nehemiah came, he found it was happening again. He rebuked the people and set things right. Then Nehemiah as we said, went back to serve the king for a time. When he returned in Nehemiah 13, he discovered they were doing it again. So we read this in verses 25 to 27 in Nehemiah 13. So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair. and made them swear by God, you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations, there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, the foreign women caused him, even him, to sin. Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?" You can tell Nehemiah was mad. He was really mad. And he contended with them to the point of pulling out some of their hair. He obviously got their attention. He called them to swear before God they would not give their sons or daughters to marry an unbeliever. He reminded them of how Solomon's many marriages to idolatrous women caused him to fall into sin. Nehemiah was greatly concerned about the effect that this sin was having on the people and what it would mean to future generations. And it was in the context of things like this that Nehemiah prayed. Remember me, oh my God. It's the idea of I've sought to honor you with my life. I've sought to lead these people in godly ways. These things are so frustrating to me, oh Lord, I leave it in your hands, I don't know what else to do. When the young man came to William Bradford, he admitted to some things that he was very disappointed about. You may remember that of the 102 people who made the journey on the Mayflower, they were not all believers from the Pilgrim Church. There was a number of them who were not Christians. The Pilgrims called them the strangers. And Bradford laments, this is 28 years after they made the journey, he laments that as a whole, these strangers never really did adopt their faith. And in some sense, their way of life had become a strong influence, in some ways even stronger influence in the colony. That was heartbreaking to him. And I know later generations, even later than this, did not stay true to the Lord as the pilgrim mothers and fathers had. Once again, just a heartbreaking thing to have to deal with. We all have challenges like that in our life. It can be a project we're a part of, a job, it can be a ministry that we're really excited about, just didn't turn out the way we were hoping it would. It can be relationships that have been good at times, but have also been difficult and trying at times. It can be people that you were investing in or trying to help. It can be things that take place in your family or in your church or in your nation. Since we are all sinners, there are always going to be challenges. There are going to be failures. There are going to be disappointments. But our greatest goal is not to be successful in what we undertake. Our greatest goal is to be faithful to glorify God above all else. And if we're pursuing His glory, then we can be motivated by that to persevere in courageous obedience, regardless of the setbacks. And we can trust the results in God's hands and we can pray, remember me, oh my God. Another important lesson to help us persevere in courageous obedience is this. Remember those who have gone before as further encouragement for present challenges. Remember those who have gone before. There are several long lists of people in both Ezra and Nehemiah that are really kind of tedious for us to read. But the reality is that those lists were very important. For example, Ezra chapter 2, the whole chapter is a list of the exiles who were part of that first group to come to the land of Israel after having been in captivity to Babylon. Some of the names are recognizable because they show up later in the book, but the overwhelming majority of them are people and families that we know nothing about other than the fact that they made that first pilgrimage back to Israel after the exile and that's enough to know about them. When we come to the book of Nehemiah, some 90 or so years later, after that first journey, those first pilgrims, Nehemiah records that list again. It's virtually the same list. There's a few differences, but it's virtually the same list. And he puts that list in the context of he's trying to encourage some of the Jews to return to Jerusalem and live within the walls. They're trying to feel like it's important to repopulate the city. And I think one of the reasons that he lists these people again is for motivation. Don't forget what your ancestors did. It was much more difficult for them than it is for you. And one of the main reasons it's easier for you is because of what they accomplished. So learn from their courageous obedience as you deal with your present challenges. Bradford did the same thing when he was speaking to the younger men of Plymouth. One of the things he emphasized was all of the ones who went before them, they should not forget the price that they paid. They should not forget how much they suffered. He said, their memory should have the same effect as when you read about those memorialized in Fox's Book of Martyrs. In the back of Bradford's Plymouth Plantation book, in 1650, he lists every person and every family that came over on the Mayflower. He briefly tells what they did, how they died, if they had already died at that point. And then he writes this final paragraph. Of these 100 or so of persons who came over first, more than half died in the first general sickness. Of those that remained, some were too old to have children. Nevertheless, in those 30 years, there have sprung up from that stock over 160 persons now living in this year, 1650. And of the old stock itself, nearly 30 persons still survive. And then Bradford ends the book with this final sentence. Let the Lord have the praise who is the high preserver of men. Every one of us is called to glorify God with our lives. And the path that we walk is gonna be different. There's gonna be some things that are the same. But there's gonna be differences. The opportunities that we are given are going to vary. But it's all for the same purpose. What we do, we do for God's glory and for the advancement of his kingdom. We're all gonna have setbacks. We're all going to have things that are disappointing to us, but we're all called to persevere. And one of the ways to do that is remember those who have gone before us and draw encouragement from their lives. The last thing I want to mention as a legacy to remember is this. Believers can trust God that He has a redemptive work of grace that He will certainly accomplish in history, and He gives them the privilege of being a part of that great work. We noted earlier some of the ways that the Lord used Ezra and Nehemiah and those with them. They had a significant role in the Old Testament scriptures being preserved and completed. They also had an important role in providing continuity for the Jewish people so that God's plan of bringing our Savior to the world through them could be fulfilled. Every believer, every church is used by God to accomplish something that is important in the advancement of the Kingdom of God. There were other colonies that came to the New World before the pilgrims got there, but one of the things that set them apart was their vocal and how clear they were about their desire to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and all they did, and that courageous obedience that kept pressing them forward. They were intent on pursuing religious freedom so that they could worship the Lord according to the dictates of their conscience that was informed by the scripture. Other colonies who came after them had the same purpose. In 1643, the colonies in the New England area drew up some Articles of Confederation that they could agree on how they would work together on things. And to help you see how they were all driven by the same purpose, I've included here the opening line of the 1643 Articles of Confederation of those early colonies is what it says. We all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, namely to advance, to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and to enjoy the liberties of the gospel and purity and peace. Just so encouraging to me to see how direct and clear these early colonies were about the purpose that they were undertaking. They made mistakes. Nobody does everything right. They had things, again, we've already said things they were disappointed in, things they were frustrated about, and mistakes they made. No one does everything right all the time. They went through many trials, lots of hard decisions, but they persevered. We talked a little bit about all the struggles and hard decisions the Pilgrims had to make in connection with leaving their homeland and coming to America. I mean, at every turn, it just seemed like there was difficulty and heartache. And then when they arrived, as we've already noted, half of the company died. What we oftentimes forget is that all through that winter, the Mayflower continued to be anchored right there. All through the winter. As a matter of fact, 30 members of the crew of the Mayflower died through this time. The reason the Mayflower stayed is because maybe it was going to be too hard and the people would want to come back. So the Pilgrim survivors could have returned. They could have left. These were men, women, and children. Almost everyone had lost a member of their family, usually multiple members of their families. They had all lost dear friends to death. No one would blame them for thinking, it's not worth it, it's too hard, I'm going to go home. But they all thought it was worth it. The freedom to worship the Lord with fellow believers was worth whatever it cost them. So they stayed. They made good connections with the Indians who helped them learn about planting and harvesting and hunting. And it was in 1621, the same year they had these heartbreaking losses, in 1621 they had a time of thanksgiving to the Lord for his faithfulness to them. 53 pilgrims along with Chief Massasoit of the Wampanoag Indians and 90 of his warriors in this Thanksgiving. What a great example that is to us. Of all years to have a Thanksgiving, you think 2020 is bad? 1621 was worse. Nehemiah prayed that God would remember him in all he sought to do to honor the Lord. and I'm sure he did. The pilgrims were also focused on serving and honoring the Lord and were very aware of the significance of what they were doing. So may we learn from our forebearers such that we can also pray, remember me, oh my God, as we think about our own lives and the work of advancing the kingdom of God, no matter what the cost. Lord, we want to thank you for your word Just for the simple word that says, remember me, oh my God. I thank you for giving us a glimpse into the heart of Nehemiah in light of the circumstances he was in. Frustrating, disappointed, but at the same time, walking in faith and in obedience, even to the end. Thank you for that example. I thank you for the example you give us of people in our history, of our nation's history, Again, nobody in our history has done everything the right way, but there were so many things they did that was right, so many things about their purpose, about the way they were constantly willing to persevere no matter how difficult it got. We all have things that we're disappointed and frustrated about. Every one of us could give a list right now. of things that are really frustrating and disappointing. Some of it's a list that would include our own failures, that we just have not done what we should have done. Lord, I ask that you would grant us the perseverance to continue to realize that the purpose of our life is to glorify you and to enjoy you forever. Help us to persevere. Help us to repent where we need to repent. but to continue in the ways we need to continue in honoring you. And Lord, I ask that as we do that, we might be stepping stones, that we might also be ones that people could look at as examples of someone who persevered through really difficult challenges, but they continued to glorify God and seek to hold his kingdom first. If you're one who's never put your faith in Christ, I would invite you to do that. We've been talking about people who clearly were believers and that made all the difference in their life. It didn't give them an easy life, but it gave them purpose. They knew where they were going, but even more than that, it saved them from their sin and from wrath and condemnation. I would invite you to put your faith in Christ. A prayer like this will be a way to start. Lord, I realize that I'm a sinner. I realize I have not lived at all the way that you want me to live, but I thank you that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners just like me. And I want to receive Jesus as my savior. I want to follow him as my Lord, no matter how difficult it gets. I want to follow him as my Lord. If you want to talk more about that decision, about that, uh, that. choice to follow Christ. We can talk after the service or if you want to contact through the website you can do that. It is in the name of Christ that we pray. Amen.