in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Well, let's turn to 123 then before we turn to God's Lovely John Newton hymn. How sweet the name is that comes to sound in a believer's ear. It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear. One, two, three. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear. It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fears. It makes the wounded spiritual and calms the troubled breast. Manner to the hungry soul and to the weary rest. and hiding place by never failing treasury filled with boundless source of grace. Brother, friend, my prophet, priest, and king, my Lord, my life, my way, my end, accept the praise I bring. Hold my arm and hold my warmest soul. When I see thee as thou art, I'll praise thee as I ought. Till then I would thy love proclaim. with every breathing breath. And may the music of thy name refresh my soul in death. Ten Boom, that lovely little Dutch lady. And maybe you've read The Hiding Place, or maybe you've seen the film of her life as a family in the Second World War. They hid Jewish people in their little watchmakers' home in Haarlem. in Holland. And I think one of the first biographies, I think one of the first ones, you read Gwen, wasn't it? And maybe you've seen little videos of this lovely Dutch accent. And she spoke about Jesus. But she was full of little pithy sayings. And one of the things she said is, if you want to be distressed, look around at the world. if you want to be depressed look inside your own heart if you want to be at rest look at Jesus that's true isn't it? it's a distressing world and looking in is the quick route to depression but when we look at Jesus Christ everything changes that's why the scriptures say to fix your eyes upon Jesus the author and the finisher perfecter of your faith so as christians we're to be focused the apostle paul one thing i do and so we know these things we must fix our eyes upon jesus i don't know if you ever find that you think well i'm so down today or why is it well normally because we're looking at the circumstances around us family problems things to do things you should have done anyway we look everywhere and then we thought oh what am I doing I must fix my eyes upon Jesus and so we are people who are so easily distracted we lose focus and focus really I guess is the thing we're looking at tonight dealing with distraction And we have an enemy who seeks to distract us and wants to get us down. If we're truly Christians, we can't lose our salvation. We rejoice in that. We've been gripped. We can't lose our salvation. But the next best thing the devil will do is to so get us down that we are just no good to man or beast. We'll deal with distraction. We're going to have a look at the book of Nehemiah. because what we have a look at here this was the key point a turning point if you like in the work and we know the book of Nehemiah I'm sure here's this a young man the people of God have been in captivity in Babylon And the captives would be going back in stages. So one group has gone back, and here's Nehemiah, this young man, still in captivity, still in Babylon, longing to know how things were going. And then the news comes that the people are in great distress. The walls have been burned down, and things are not going at all well. So he feels God really burdening him. to do something about it. So we see him praying, the praying leads to action, that's always the root isn't it? Prayer leads to doing something and so he sees the king, the king gives him permission and all the resources he needs to go back and start building the wall of Jerusalem. So the book of Nehemiah is a great book but there's something much more going on here than the building of the wall, the rebuilding of the wall. This is a book of revival. This is a book of God coming to his people at a low time and building them up and reviving them. And so this is a key time now because, and let me just read those opening verses again because this is the, nearing the completion of the building. Chapter 6, I've got the new King James now. Now it happened when Sam Ballat, Tobiah, Gesham the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I'd rebuilt the wall and that there was no breaks left in it, though at that time I'd not hung the doors and the gates, that Sam Ballat and Gesham sent to me saying, come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the Plain of Honour. but they thought to do me harm. So I sent messengers to them saying, I'm doing a great work so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you? But they sent me this message four times. Well, maybe I'll just leave it there. So here's Nehemiah. And we can see right from the start, he's convinced of the need to stay focused. There's an awareness about this man. He was a strong leader, discerning man. and he knew exactly what was happening now already he's had to deal with opposition so these characters that are reappearing he's met with them early before go back to chapter 4 beginning of chapter 4 and we can see here that there is Sanballat there's Tobiah these are the enemies of God And so looking behind this, this is satanically inspired opposition. When Paul in Ephesians speaks about that our battle is not only in flesh and blood, but spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms, opposition normally does come in flesh and blood form, doesn't it? Demons can clothe themselves. The devil uses flesh and blood to oppose his work so often. And so, this discerning man, he's had to deal with this obviously earlier. And so what we see here, before they've used mockery, we have an enemy that knows very well how to get to us, mockery and threats. When we come to chapter 6 now, chapters 5 and 6 actually, we'll skate over chapter 5 a little bit. But in chapter 5, what Nehemiah has to deal with here is the problem of exploitation. It's a strange approach, and yet we've got to see behind this. He's dealing with this whole idea There's a great outcry, a great outcry of the people and their wives against the Jewish. It's a bitter complaint about hardship. And it's a formal complaint, really. What they're saying, born in 1902, we're struggling to eat. This is a very practical problem here. We're struggling to eat. Verse 3. We're mortgaged up to the hilt. Verse 4. The taxation is a problem. It's crushing us. Verse 5. The exploitation. Why should our children be slaves? while their children, that is the nobles who are quite well off, have all they want. Aren't we all want people? So these are really practical problems. And when we apply this to the church, there are sometimes very practical problems that come to us, and yet they can be a force. When it begins to getting us down, there can be a force behind it that really pulls us away from bigger issues. were inevitably hard. This was a rebuilding program. There was a cost to building this wall, to rebuilding the city, but the poor was aggravated here by these wealthy people. They were exploiting the poor, and these were God's people. The law was very clear, if we go back to Deuteronomy chapter 23 verse 19, if I can just read that out, this is what God has said, you shall not charge interest to your brother interest on money or food or anything that is lent out of interest. So the law was very clear, but these people were exploiting their fellow, their brothers. And so a real practical problem, money. And we're living in days where there are hardships. These are wonderful days. I'm hearing on the news all the time. I know it's relative. We look at some nations and they're struggling. We look at a piece of bread of a collaboration. And I'm sure we're involved in cash, which means poverty. And yet there are real people with real struggles. And if we're not struggling ourselves, we tend to think, well, it's not much of a problem, really. And now this was just a problem here. There were those who were doing okay, but they were being exploited and they were being heartless and insensitive. And it's the age-old thing, is that money can be a delicate Christian leaders, we feel a little bit embarrassed, maybe it's our Britishness, the Americans don't find it such a problem, but we can feel a problem, speaking about money at times, and yet it is a big, not just a big practical problem, but there is something about our view of money that does affect us. I found that if a person is mean, it affects the whole of their life. So a meanness when it comes to money can be a meanness of heart, and it can blight every area. I remember reading a Billy Graham quote some years ago, and he said, if a person gets his attitude right towards money, it will straighten out almost every other area of his life. That's not true, isn't it? If you're a generous person, it does seem, it's not just being generous in money, there's a generous overflowing spirit. That's what God is about at the end. Are we generous in heart? Are we generous in our words to people? In our encouragement? Somehow we can have that meanness. I think meanness is one of the most overlooked, because we're living in a culture that's being prudent. Let us be prudent, whereas we need to be large-hearted and generous, as God is. But really, positively, it does seem a bit negative. But generosity is a wonderful quality, isn't it? And it's our duty to be generous, overflowing people. Paul writes. Paul writes, about the collection of the Lord's people, on the first day of every week, each of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income. Now, there's something very wise about that. We're getting near to, children, the poaching bear, you were getting near that season, and all the emotional pressure. Now, they're great causes. you know, and that's good, but it's not the best. That's why Paul writes to the Grintheads saying, well, listen, get locked in to a pattern of giving. And I'm sure you do this here, that you have a system so you can give on a regular basis, so you're not giving when you're, oh, I feel jealous today. ourselves into a pattern, a godly pattern, where we set aside an amount of our money so that we can give. And that can be a blessing to the church and to the wider field. Now, why are we saying this? Well, it's because he was getting near-my-down. This was a problem that affected him and was affecting the work. And it shouldn't have been that. He should have been able to look outward, and yet he was being caught up with this eternal problem. And I know from my own church leadership over the years, one of the greatest distractions is when you have to deal with things in the church, one of the most depressing things of all. So there's the internal strife of great grief to Nehemiah. from the main task that he'd been called to. But really, the rest of chapter 5 is dealing with how Nehemiah deals with this problem. So he rebukes those who are guilty. Great courage in doing that. Rebukes those who are guilty. And what is amazing, he's able to point to himself as an example of generosity. So chapter 5, verse 12. example and listen to this response. So they said, we will restore it and will require nothing from them. We will do as you say. And then I called the priests and required an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. So this is great, isn't it? That people respond. This is the leader's dream. What is the leader's dream? When a message is preached and people say, we're going to do what you say, what? Well, it's obedience. And so the man is encouraged here. It's been a thorny issue to grapple with. And yet the people respond well. And they can get on with the main job. But it's distraction. And the time and the energy, we know very well that there were certain things that crop up in our lives. And we think, if only I didn't have to deal with it. It's draining. There were certain things that you know, and you work out your own scenario. But certain things happen. And I don't know what it is that I personally find. It's the family. What's the most demanding and draining area of all? What gives us the sleepless nights? What gives us the tossing? Well, the nearer it is to us. Family issues are normally the most difficult issues to deal with. So, what are we saying? Well, let's not get distracted. Let's not take our eyes off the ball. At times, I've got a weird mind, I suppose. At times, the Christian life seems like we're rugby players. Now, if you're not a rugby player, bear with me. I'm not either. But you've seen them. They've got the ball under the arm, and they're going for the goalpost. And as they go for the ball, there's a hand coming out every possible direction. Legs have been pulled here and there. But they're going on. Now, doesn't the Christian life feel like that at times? We're trying to fix our eyes on the goal. There's a hand here. But we've got to fix our eyes on the goal, haven't we? And so here's Nehemiah. But there's more distraction on the way. So we're going to get to chapter 6 now. Now what happened, we read this just now. When Sambalat, Tobiah, Geshon, Harub, and the rest of our enemies heard I rebuilt the wall and that there were no breaks left in it, there was that time I'd not hung the doors and the gates. Sambarit and Geshev sent to me saying come let us meet together in one of the villages but they thought to do me harm so that's the context then isn't it if these things came alone we could probably cope with it but it's when you get a cluster of things happening that we just feel oh another thing to deal with so the Mechid has sent to Nehemiah let's get together Now, as I say, under his leadership, the wall is almost completed. This is the timing we see here. Now, Tobias and his cronies, we know very well that they were opposed to the work. Here's people saying, let's get together. But we know very well they were against the work. But now they're saying, well, let's cooperate. So they're asking him to leave Jerusalem and to join them from a conference. This is a place called Ono. This was located on the Sikors, near the Gaza Strip. So we've seen that on the news recently, haven't we? This is where Ono was, on that Gaza Strip. But Nehemiah has the discernment to realize the power behind it. They sent this message. Notice how adamant they were, how persistent. They sent me this message four times and I answered them in the same manner. So it's a tactic here. And what we're looking at here, just to draw it out a little bit more, they were after a unity when it was impossible for there to be unity. These were not on the same team. And well, again, over the years, we've had the same thing. People think, oh, let's just get together. But we know very well that unless we really are on the same course we can't do it unless it's a unity based on scripture then we can't join together because we have to come to the word of God are we really on the same team are we really pushing for the same cause are we really preaching the same gospel that's what it comes down to doesn't it do we really have the same message And very often it's painful, but we have to say no. We don't have the same gospel. Sometimes it's another gospel. And so we hold on, even though we're misunderstood. We're holding on to the fact that, no, we can't. We can't join with you. And although true unity is a beautiful thing, if it's not ordered according to scripture, then we just can't go along with it. So here is it, distraction. Come down and meet with us, but we can't do that. But notice how the plot thickens. And so next there is slander. Now, Nehemiah's had this before. But his character now is being attacked. And they're cute. He wants to be a king. He's power mad. And it hurts, doesn't it? When people criticize us or we're misunderstood, it hurts. We immediately want to jump and defend ourselves. He must have felt this. You want to be the king of Judah. Well, he didn't. This man had a real heart up to God. He wasn't doing this for himself. And yet they're trying to smear Nehemiah's character and destroy his reputation. How do you cope with criticism? Or people misunderstand you. They misunderstand your motives. It hurts, doesn't it? We naturally want to clear our name. We naturally want to jump to defend ourselves. And yet, when we look at the Lord Jesus, we see he has a very different attitude altogether. I remember reading a lovely quotation by A. W. Tozzi years ago. He said, if you take care of your character, God will take care of your reputation. That's great, isn't it? What's our job? Well, to make sure that we're people of integrity. If we take care of our character, God will take care of our reputation. So let people say what they want. And it's hard. I read some years ago about a Sudanese Spurgeon. Apparently, the Spurgeons, this is Charles Spurgeon's wife, they kept chickens. And people accused them of, I wouldn't say fed them in their own nest, but accused them of just making mad. A little sideline going on here. What they were doing was they were selling the eggs and they wouldn't give them away. They were selling the eggs, there's a little sideline going on here, but they were using the money to support widows. But they didn't defend themselves, they just left it with God, even though they weren't to be criticized or misunderstood. So, how should a Christian react? How should we react when we are misunderstood or we're criticized? Well, just four little points here. Firstly, we take it to God in prayer. If someone criticizes me, then I need to pray because actually they might have something. They might be right. I am a sinful person. And so pray about it. Lord, what they're saying, is it true? Because sometimes we need to sort ourselves out. Lord, it's true. Forgive me. Give me grace to change. So we criticize, pray. Could there be truth in it? So secondly, if there is truth in it, put it right. And again, we leave our reputation with God. Thirdly, thank God for the opportunity to humble ourselves. Well, thank you. This is part of your sanctifying process. You're dealing with me. And you're purifying me. Thank you, Lord, for those who are attacking me. What a wonderful opportunity. and then fourthly we pray for grace to continue that's what Nehemiah does in verse 9 isn't it? now therefore O God strengthen my hands I love these little arrow prayers we get in Nehemiah don't you? you know at times you just shoot up a little arrow prayer O Lord see how they're treating me and you know isn't that great we can do that we can just send up an arrow and now O God strengthen my hands so there will always be pressure if we're seeking to live with the lord there will always be pressure pressure to make us give up and run we see this here with us in verse 10 after like the house of shemaiah the son of deliah the son of megetabiel who was a secret informer And he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. Indeed, at night they will come to kill you. And I said, Should such a man as I flee? Notice that he's resisting the devil. That's the New Testament take on it. See, there are dark forces always at work in our lives. Would it be wonderful if the devil had holidays? Wouldn't it be nice? Or if he did a five-day week, that'd be nice, wouldn't it? Or when we had a holiday, yeah, you'd take the same time. Wouldn't that be great? But this is a battle 24-7. our battle against the world, the flesh and the devil and it is 24-7. He doesn't take pity on us when we're getting older or when we're sick. Not for a moment is there any let up. There are dark forces at work to discourage us and to, if he could, to drive us to despair and to bring us away from the source of power which is Jesus. to cut us off. We were talking about spinach earlier, and we had some really in-depth conversations on it. And there's no one old enough to remember the old Popeye cartoons here, is there? Oh, come on. But do you remember those Popeye cartoons? And the hero, poor old Popeye, beaten up by Bluto, this great giant. What would he do? Well, he'd eat all the spinach, you know, and sometimes suck it through his pipe. as soon as he had the spinach, if you have never seen it you think I'm mad but Popeye knew where his source of strength was in the spinach now as Christians we know if only we can get to Jesus Lord help me here that's where our strength is found and the devil does all he can to keep us from that source of power and strength so it's um It's keeping going, isn't it? It's keeping going. I must admit, when I was a young man, a young Christian, and a fairly young man as well, I used to dream of being secretly martyred when I was young. wouldn't that be glorious? To go out, you know, and be headlined in the Bourbon Echo, evangelist, speared to death by angry pensioners in Bourbon Town Centre, or, you know, some glorious headline, and, you know, here I am in my seventies, still having to keep going. Oh, Lord, it gets harder, doesn't it? Wouldn't it be wonderful, you know, and I just, you know, looking at some of the lovely biographies there, Robert Morinowitz Shane, his work was done by his twenties, Jim Elliot, you know, these sayings, it was over. And here we are, still going, aren't we? Still at it. Isn't it hard, folks? Isn't it hard? But that's what it is. We've got to keep going. Year in, year out. I read recently of a young man and his mom sent him to London to be a barber, to be trained as a barber. And while he was there, he heard George Whitfield preach. This was a few years ago. And anyway, he was converted. By the age of 25, he's been called into the ministry and got a really growing, successful church in Cambridge. But it went to his head, and he didn't do too well. He started to drift. He trusted himself more than God. And he just drifted. He lost his first love. And there was a scene I was reading of that he faded into obscurity. And as an old man, he's traveling by stagecoach. And there's a lady opposite reading a book. And she's obviously moved by this. And she wants to share it with this elderly man opposite. And it was the words of a human, come thou out of every blessing. tune my heart to sing thy grace streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise lovely words but the man burst into tears and he said madam i'm the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago i would give a thousand worlds to enjoy those feelings again robert robinson to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above." So, what am I saying? Keep going. We've just got to keep going. It doesn't seem a very glamorous thing, does it? But it's a glorious thing that we're keeping going. Our life doesn't seem spectacular, but God is pleased by the way we just keep going. In our weakness, with all our failures, we're still in the race, aren't we, saints? We're still going. You're here tonight. Praise the Lord. We are still going. So we pray, Lord, give me grace not to be distracted. And even our very weakness brings glory to his name, doesn't it? Well, let's pray. Lord, we thank you that It's you, Lord, that gives us grace. We do believe in the perseverance of the saints. And yet, Lord, you call us to look to you to fix our eyes upon Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus. You never waver. You never wane. And Lord, we're even encouraged by the greatest saints in your world who had their flaws and their failures and their dips. And Lord, we're just the same. We're just like Elijah, rejoicing over triumph one minute, then crying out for you to take our life the next. Lord, we pray, just give us strength today. Lord, that's all we pray, just for today. Give us strength. because we know that when we call upon you tomorrow we can ask you for grace for tomorrow too so thank you that we're here tonight we realize Lord that we're only here because you've kept us and so Lord we pray for grace to love you to honor you and to even in our lowest moments to recognize even these can bring glory to your name so hear us Father we pray that we offer these things now in Jesus name Well, let's turn for our final hymn to 432. This is one of my funeral hymns. I can't give you the date. Sorry about that. I'll let you know as soon as I get some indication. Give me the faith which can remove and sink the mountain to a plain. It's a prayer, isn't it? Give me the childlike, praying love which longs to build thy house again. Thy love, let it my heart o'erpower and all my simple soul devour. 432. Give me the faith which can remove and seek the mouth Give me the childlike praying love, which longs to build thy house again. Thy love, let it my heart o'erpower, and all my sinful soul. I want an even strong desire. I want a calmly fervent zeal. To save poor souls out of the fire To snatch them from the verge of hell And turn them to a pardoning God and quench the brand in Jesus' blood. I would the precious time redeem and longer live for this alone. to spend and to be spent for them who have not yet my Savior known. Fully on this my mission prove.