Now we're turning to the book of Nehemiah once again, chapter 2. Nehemiah chapter 2, verse 9. Nehemiah chapter 2, verse 9. Then I came to the governors beyond the river. and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me, neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem, neither was there any beast with me save the beast that I rode upon. And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem. which were broken down and the gates thereof were consumed with fire. Then I went to the gate of the fountain and to the king's pool and there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. Then went I up in the night by the brook and viewed the wall and turned back and entered by the gate of the valley and so returned. The rulers knew not whether I went or what I did Neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work. Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. Then I told them of the hand of my God, which was good upon me, as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work." The Lord will add his own blessing to the reading of a own precious Word for His name's sake. There's a strange thing here on the surface. We read that when Nehemiah came to Jerusalem, Sanballat and Tobiah heard of it and it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. And yet, apparently, not only apparently, but really, when Nehemiah went on to Jerusalem, he kept his mission secret for three full days. Now remember, if the usual chronology of Ezra and Nehemiah is accepted, Ezra was there some years before. So that there were some leading men, mighty men, of God already in that area. And yet even to them, Nehemiah communicated nothing for three days. When you read that, it's always a little strange that Sanballat and Tobiah knew immediately why he was there. But the Jews didn't. I think the answer is in verse 9 that Nehemiah came to the governors beyond the river and he gave them the king's letter. It is probable that Sanballat was governor. Probably of Samaria. Tobiah possibly governor in another area. It would appear that, and it's the only explanation I can see to them knowing anything about his mission, that they would have seen the letters. We're told verse 9, he came to the governors. We're told verse 10, that on learning that he had come for the purpose that brought him to Jerusalem, they were grieved exceedingly. You know, when you set out to do a work for God, you're going to find that the first thing you run into, head on, is opposition. I'm going to be emphasizing, if I have opportunity to continue these next few Wednesday nights, I'm going to be emphasizing something about Nehemiah. that is absolutely different from what we are told Christianity is supposed to be. And I'm going to be emphasizing what the calling of this church is, for it's one and the same throughout the history of the people of God, as we find here in this book of Nehemiah. And this is what grieved these men. Nehemiah came to Jerusalem to build walls, not bridges. Never forget that. We have heard it again and again and again and again ad nauseam, that the great exhibition of Christian love is this bridge building exercise. Almost every new movement in theology is a movement to build bridges. Bridges to potpourri. Bridges to sodomy. Bridges to whatever. And it's supposedly also Christian to be building these bridges. Nehemiah recognized that any bridge built to Sanballat and his crew would be a curse to the people of God. He recognized that. And Sanballat and his crew recognized that he recognized it. They knew that he saw the welfare of the people of God in very specific terms. And that the very first term was the raising of the walls of Jerusalem. And those walls were physical. But they sent a moral and spiritual message, which comes out very clearly as we go on in this book, when Sanballat and Tobiah, not being able to stop the work, decided to co-opt themselves into the work. And Nehemiah said, in effect, you have nothing to do with this. There is no bridge between truth and error. There is no bridge between God's word and the devil's lie. There is no bridge between The Jews and those who were trying to wipe them out. So the walls were physical, but they were also spiritual. And Nehemiah knew why he was in Jerusalem. He knew it. Sanballat knew why he was in Jerusalem. And both of them knew. Both of them knew. that Nehemiah's program was the only one that would bring about the welfare of the people of God, building again the walls. I would say there has been nothing in the history of Christianity that has ever posed such a stumbling block to the gospel as the breach of the walls of its separation. You read most histories and they will tell you that the great leap forward for the Christian church came in the early fourth century when the Roman Caesar, the Roman Emperor, Constantine, was converted to Christianity. It was a leap. But from that time, you can trace the demise of the early church. The walls were down. That's when you had assimilation of the world. That's when you had compromise. That's when you had a whole host of people now being brought in for social and political reasons, and they were called Christians, and they were received as Christians, but they knew nothing of the vital power of the gospel. You had a great edifice built, a great organization built. My, what a lack of spiritual power. When you read the history of the church before that time and the history of the church after that time, it's a history of power versus a history of impotence, by and large. The walls were down. In our age, the walls have come down, not only ecclesiastically, but morally and spiritually, personally. As far as people's own lives and homes are concerned, the walls are down. You look for the people of God and where do you find them? You find them in the world. Just about everything that our forefathers, a generation or two ago, could unequivocally identify as sin, suddenly it's acceptable. Suddenly we have a new exegesis of Scripture that tells us our forefathers were wrong all the time. They were just a bunch of legalists. Well, all I can say is if they were legalists, God make me a legalist. If it's legalism that leads to revival, that's the kind of legalism I want. These are the men who saw revival. These are the men who molded nations. These are the men who moved the world. They weren't legalists. They knew the power of walls built between God's people and the world. They were not in the business of building bridges between truth and error, between holiness and sin. The highway that our forefathers trod was the highway of Isaiah 35. It was the highway of holiness. Now where would you find holiness? Where would you find it in most Christian churches? Where would you find it in most Christian homes? Where would you find it in most Christian lives? Just let's be a little bit more personal and you ask yourself And I'll ask myself, where would you find it in my life? What holiness would you find in your life? It's always easy to build a bridge, a causeway of carnality to the world. The future of this church And I may as well make sure I make it clear, since I'll not be here to see it. The future of this church will depend on it remaining, not only ecclesiastically, but certainly ecclesiastically, also personally and ethically, a church with the walls intact. Breach those walls. And it's all over. It's as simple as that. That's the future for the church. And where the walls have been broken, then let us set about rebuilding them. This is the welfare of God's people. You know, the devil knows it. I don't know why Christians, well, I think Christians do know it. Let me back off there. I think that Christians do know it. I think they've become very good at talking their way around it to make excuses for sin. But in their heart, Christians know it. And I would say to you, as I say to me, not just saying this to you, I say it to me. If you can put your finger on the breach of the walls in your life, If you can say, there's where the broken down, there is open sin. If you can do that, then you know, you know, unless that's dealt with, there's no welfare for you. You could have the apostle Paul come preach to you. Till that gets right, you'll still be bitter. You'll still be angry. You'll still be defeated. You'll still, whatever it is, it'll still be there. It must be dealt with. Now it's always easier for you to deal with my sin. It's always easier to talk about them. You ever notice that? They, whoever they are. And that's always so easy. Let's start with us. What about the walls around your home? What about the walls around your prayer closet? What about the walls around your own moral life? Are they intact? Or are they in tatters? Which is it? The welfare of God's church, the welfare of God's people depends not on bridges but on walls. The enemy knows it. We also know it. Now, when you look at the big picture today, if you look at Jerusalem as the Bible does, is in many ways a picture of God's church. Big picture is not encouraging. They were good men, as they were in Jerusalem, but the walls were still lying in rubble round about them. They had done a partial job in rebuilding the temple, but they hadn't even finished that. They were good men. They had seen something done in places, but the walls were still down, and the enemy was still governing, to all intents and purposes. Old Jerusalem had its governor, but the power lay elsewhere. You had the situation where the men who were set out, who had set out to obliterate the Jews, I mean, Sanballat and Tobiah had one aim and one object, and that was the total, absolute humiliation of Jerusalem and its people. And I would suppose the real reason for it was, as long as Jerusalem was in ruins, Samaria would be a place of greater political clout and power. But where would you find these men? You'd find them in the house of God. Welcomed, as happens later in this book, given a special chamber, turning a holy place to house a vile, filthy, heater of God and His people. What would you find when you looked at the chief families? They were intermarried with the enemies of God. That's what you were finding. The walls died, and this is the result. The enemy welcomed on the inside. There you've got a picture of what's happened in the Christian church. One of the saddest things that you can imagine. God's enemies brought into God's church and treated like lords. and God's people compromising with them down the line. That's the big picture. So Nehemiah comes, there's these three days and three nights. Wonder why it took three days. I would suppose, just look at it, sometimes we forget these were only men. He had a very long journey. It could well be that the man was just whacked out and he needed a rest. And there is a time when Jesus says, come ye apart, rest a while. You'll never do anything for God if you're physically exhausted all the time. So step back, rest a while. Could just have been as simple as that. But I think you get the real reason, the deeper reason, when on the third night he goes out, hasn't told anybody. He has heard the reports. Now he wants to see for himself. Now there's a striking thing here. When you read the imaginative commentaries and sermons that great men have preached on Nehemiah, And of all the characters of scripture, there are very few that have commanded greater attention than Nehemiah. He is such a riveting character. But I think, for example, of a great preacher, Alan Redpath, and he preached about Nehemiah here. And he talked about if you think of how he was heartbroken when he got the news when he was still in the king's palace, he got the news of the situation in Jerusalem. Can you imagine? when he actually walked round the walls himself and he saw it for himself when it was so broken up. The rubble was so great that even his beast couldn't go any further. He had to get off and start walking. He could only get round the southern part, round part of the way and then turn back. Can you imagine the anguish, the tears that then flowed? And you know they may well have flowed. Or they might well have flowed. It could have happened. The thing is here, this portion doesn't say a word about Nehemiah's tears. Now listen to me very carefully. Nehemiah had reached a time when the time for tears was over. The time for griping, not that he was griping, I'm using that word to get where I want to go, is past. You see, there are some Christians who never get beyond the lamentation stage. Something's always wrong. And if you fix that thing, there'll be something else wrong. If you fix that, there'll be something else wrong. Listen, there'll always be something wrong. While you're alive anyway, and while I'm alive, there'll always be something wrong. But I'm sure you've met Christians like this. They never get beyond that stage. Just yap, yap, yap, yap, yelp, yelp, yelp, gripe, gripe, gripe. And that's as far as it ever goes. Nehemiah had shed his tears. They were not tears of condemning other people. They were tears of genuine burden for the work of God. And having shed his tears, he now comes and he sees the thing for himself, and it's time for action. It's time for action. Men and women, I believe that's where we are. As a church, we have had plenty of cause for tears. Now dry them. Don't lose the burden for God's work. Get on with the work. Do you see the invitation? What a wonderful invitation he gave to the men of Jerusalem. Would you underline these words in your Bible? Would you make them an invitation from God to you? Would you make them an invitation from the elders of this church, the deacons of this church, the members of this church, to you? Would you join in that invitation and give it to others? This is the invitation. Oh yes, you see the distress that we're in, you see how Jerusalem lies wasted, etc., etc. Come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem that we be no more a reproach. That's the invitation. Who was it? He was an American, so you should be able to tell me. I can't tell you my knowledge of American. President of Columbia University, that much I know. But that's as much as I know. My knowledge of American Columbian presidents doesn't extend very deeply. But he said something like this, that there are three kinds of people in the world. First kind, don't know what's happening. The second kind, watch what's happening. And the third kind, make things happen. In a relative sense, we have got to be in the third category. God's the one who does the work, ultimately, but God does his work through his people. Now, sadly, there's a lot of Christians who don't know what's happening. There's a fourth class, really, and they're even worse because they don't know that they don't know what's happening. pontificate as if they knew it all. But a lot of Christians don't know what's happening. Listen, you listen to what most Christians are saying today. Haven't a clue what's happening in the spiritual battle. Haven't a clue. You can get them all roiled up about an abortion protest. Fine. Go protest abortion. But when the name of Jesus Christ is publicly blasphemed, no interest whatsoever. If we were to run a recruitment drive to get people registered to vote, oh yes, they'd be all zealous. I'm all in favor of them getting registered to vote. Call for a night of prayer that they'll get on their knees to cry to God for a mighty moving. You can neither see sight nor sign of them. They don't know what's happening. They haven't a clue in the world. When you have Baptists hailing the Pope as a great Christian leader, it tells you they haven't a clue what's happening. You have the National Association of Evangelicals. Dr. Paisley rightly says, emphasis on the jelly. You see what they're up to. The people they welcome, the programs they promote. They haven't a clue what's happening. And then, of course, you've got the vast majority of Christians. For them, Christianity is a spectator sport. They watch what's happening. They can learnedly comment on what's happening. So many Christians would do well if Christian television were all over the place, they'd be among the talking heads. They could yak all day and all night about anything. One of the great things about this age of communication, suddenly everybody's opinion is equally valuable. Everybody's opinion really counts. What I think, what I think, You know, this is one reason I don't get on to my space, your space, or anybody else's space, because I really don't care what they think. I want to know what that book's saying. That's what I want to know. If a lot of Christians would spend a whole lot more time listening to what God says instead of what some ill-informed pundit says, we'd be a whole lot better off. Listen to me, a lot of Christians are just talking about what's happening, commenting on what's happening. But what are they doing to change it? What are they doing to evangelize? What are they doing to see the work of God prosper? What are they actually doing? Nehemiah says, come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem. that we be no more our approach. And he gave them an encouragement. The hand of God was upon him. This is what the Lord has done. What had God done? And this is where I want to close tonight. This is what God had done. God had put his hand on a man. And that, follow me carefully, that was God's guarantee that he was going to move and he was going to bless. Many years ago, now it seems an awful lot of years ago, I suppose it's just 20 odd years, Many years ago, our church in Malvern, well, it was Newtown Square then, had reached a place where we wondered, could it continue? Its few years had been rough and rocky. What had promised to be a very fruitful ministry came to nothing. People left. All we had was a handful of old people and prospect of nothing. Then God put his hand on a man. This is not revisionist history. I'll tell you what I said at the time. John Greer came to me in Northern Ireland when I was home and said he wanted to talk to me and told me how God had dealt with his heart. And that God was sending him to Newtown Square. I said, hallelujah. And from that point, my testimony at that time there will be a work done in Newtown Square. For God never raises a man in vain. The first seven years were not altogether overly fruitful. They were tough, tough years. Some of you may remember they even included what appeared to be fatal illness for Mrs. Greer, or almost fatal, brought John to the place where he would have to pack up and go because of what appeared to be some brain tumor of his wife. Remember how we prayed at that time. I don't know if the scans and the MRIs got it all wrong to start with. Somehow I doubt that. But I do know that when we prayed and they went back, they found nothing. I do know that. And I know there came a time when God brought his servant to a place. Now, it's time for God to work. And that year, God started to work. And that church God sent a Nehemiah. We are at a critical juncture in the history of this church. You don't just need a minister. You need a man whom God sent. anybody else will be a disaster. That's the seriousness of where we are. We need the man that God sends. How do we know God sends him? Well, God will deal with him. And God will convince him. Even if he has to change his mind, God will convince him. that he can do nothing else, that this is what he must do. I well remember saying I would not come to Greenville. I had nothing against the place, but I had no call from God to come. I will not go. Remember one of the elders traveling up the April of 1979 to Toronto to meet me at a meeting there and tell me, you are making the mistake of your life. You're making an awful mistake. You should be coming to Greenville. And I said, I'm making no mistake. I am not going because God has not called me. But there came a time when that had to change. It wasn't because of the nice weather and all the beautiful faces that you see. It wasn't the beautiful faces or smiling faces or whatever it is on the bumpers or the number plates. It wasn't because of that. Because I could not go on with God and do anything else. And that's what's going to happen in a man that God sent. Dr. Barrett said Sunday we had no candidates. I'm very glad of that. When I was told in 1978 before I came here the first time that they only wanted candidates to come, that was a foolish thing by one elder talking out of turn. But when I heard that, I went straight to the man who did all the bookings, Jim Haber, and I said, Jim, cancel me. This is weeks before I came. Cancel me. Throw it out. I'm not going. And those of you who know Jim know that when he gets excited, his speech stoppage gets really into high gear. I had him really excited. He didn't know what to say. And he'd butt, butt, butt, and I wouldn't let him get the butt out. I said, Jim, it's over. Cancel. I'm not going. Why? I said, they want candidates. I'm not a candidate. I've never gone looking for a job in the church in my life. I'm not starting now. If I've got to go candidating, I'll be out of the ministry. I don't have a little resume. Please, can you give me a job? I'd rather be a garbage collector. Seriously. Dr. Barry got it right. There are no candidates. There are no people with resumes in hand. Please look at me and evaluate me versus him, that I can do this. Rubbish. Certainly we want to find out all we can about every man who interests our congregation. But at the end of the day, we must have God, and this is what you should be praying, God do two things. Deal with a man. Deal with a man. And so put a conviction in his heart. that he could no more refuse to come to this place than he could refuse to breathe and yet live. He must come with a vision, with a purpose, with the good hand of God upon him, a man who has proven the hand of God upon him, a man who has proven the power of God in his life and ministry, a man who knows God and is known of God. God touch his heart and convince him that this is the place. And then the second thing, convince our congregation of the man. I'm in the happy position that any minister of the Free Presbyterian Church who is called to this place is somebody with whom I have been personal friends for years. It's a happy position to be in. I don't think I have enemies among them. Maybe some of them like me less than they should because they don't know me as well as they should. I don't know. No. But I would no more want to see my best friend here than I'd want to send him to the Sahara Desert without a supply of water. I would no more want that. The only thing that matters is we get Nehemiah, God's man. But I want you to be encouraged in this. As I say, we have a plenty of cause for tears, but the time for tearing and griping is over. It's time to work. And when God sends Nehemiah, you can be absolutely certain God intends a great work. The welfare of the people of God, the building of the walls. This is a free Presbyterian church, and I trust it will never be anything else. That means it is reformed, but evangelistic. It is reformed, but fundamental. It is reformed, but separatist. Those things are usually mutually exclusive. It is reformed, but it is not building any bridges whatsoever to potpourri or false religion. It is reformed, but it believes in personal holiness, and it's not building bridges to, quote, the culture and trying to redeem Hollywood by getting into Hollywood. are getting Hollywood into us. No. This is a free Presbyterian church outside the camp for God standing four square for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us build the walls. Let's ask God to send us his Nehemiah. Then let's get to the work. Let's get to the work. We're few enough, but filled with the Holy Ghost, there's nothing we can't do for God. I was told when I was a young fella, I've never really researched it to make sure the quotation is accurate, but I believe it got the meaning. I was told that the great American evangelist, R.A. Torrey, once said, give me 10 men filled with the Holy Ghost and I'll shake the world. I believe he did shake the world. It's reckoned that 100,000 people were saved over a three-year period. Remember, you didn't have television and radio and all the rest of it as that man trekked the world for God. Give me ten men filled with the Holy Ghost and I'll shake the world for God. Give us Nehemiah. You get filled with the Holy Ghost and you give yourself to the work. Time for work. This is the welfare of the people of God. This is the future. It's a bright and blessed future. This is what God holds out to us. I trust tonight that what we have looked at in Nehemiah 2 will be a rebuke and an inspiration. Give us a vision and impart a vigor to get into and on with God's Word.