All right, good to be with you, everyone. I'm going to just find my place quickly here, and then we'll pray and get started. Okay. All right, let's bow our heads. Father, your Word is precious to us. It is true and it is life. Help us, God, this morning to humble our hearts, to take in the pure milk of the Word, so that by it we may grow, that we may see Christ as our greatest treasure, to have our hearts refreshed to follow Him. I commit this time to you in Jesus' name. Okay. Alright, if you're not there yet, go ahead and open your Bibles with me. To the book of Nehemiah, we are going to continue in our study. Getting into chapter 2, we took a couple of Lord's Days to get through chapter 1, and of course a couple more to introduce this very important book that will guide us as a local church to build whatever it is that God will have us build. We're at a point in this book where we are moving from what we could call reproach to restoration, and the sermon title is Only by God's Good Hand, From Ruin to Restoration. So I will read the book of, or in the book of Nehemiah chapter two, I'll read the chapter in its entirety, so please follow along, and then we will get into our exposition this morning. And it came about in the month Nisan, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him. And I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. So the king said to me, why is your face sad, though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart. Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my father's tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire? Then the king said to me, what would you request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. I said to the king, if it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my father's tombs, that I may rebuild it. Then the king said to me, The queen sitting beside him, how long will your journey be and when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time. And I said to the king, if it pleases the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the river, so that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah. And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go. And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me. Then I came to the governors of the provinces beyond the river and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. When Sanbalat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel. So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell what my God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem, and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding. So I went out at night by the valley gate in the direction of the dragon's well and on to the refuse gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were consumed by fire. Then I passed onto the fountain gate in the king's pool, but there was no place for my mount to pass. So I went up at night by the ravine and inspected the wall. Then I entered the valley gate again and returned. The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done, nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest who did the work. Then I said to them, you see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach. I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king's words, which he had spoken to me. Then they said, Let us arise and build. So they put their hands to the good work. But when Sanballat and the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite Official and Geshem the Arab heard it, they mocked us and despised us and said, What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king? So I answered them and said to them, The God of heaven will give us success, therefore we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, rite, or memorial in Jerusalem. Well, that is God's word for us this morning. We'll get through as much text as possible, but we won't force it. But I do want to point out before, as we're getting started here, the two key portions of this chapter, because this is what is going to ultimately give us the shape of our sermon this morning. I think these statements really just flavor the entire message and center our minds on the major theme of this text. And if you read through this, obviously there's quite a bit to gain from it. We have the main text in our study of Nehemiah, which is, let us arise and build. And then in verse 20, his servants will arise and build. So that refrain there, that gives to us the majority theme and basically the majority command and instruction from the book of Nehemiah. Let us arise and build. We are God's ambassadors, we are God's people, we are God's priests and servants. So we are put on this world to build something, build something in his name for his glory so that Christ may be exalted. That's a high calling. So whenever it comes to the kingdom of God, every Christian, right, is called to build something, is called to that sacred task of extending the kingdom, right? Anything that is to be destroyed is the kingdom of this world, is the kingdom of Satan, is the kingdom of unbelief, right? Corinthians tells us we are tearing down fortresses, we are tearing down everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ. That's the only tearing down that should be familiar to the Christian. However, when it comes to the kingdom of God, you are meant to build something. And so, once again, Nehemiah provides, I think, a very important framework and encouragement for that. But this theme, the centrality of this theme, really deals with the fact that God's good hand is on us. And that is mentioned twice in this book. It is focused on by Nehemiah, and I think very importantly, because without God's good hand being on us, really the work is in vain. If God's good hand is not upon us, we have reason to fear, we have reason to doubt, we have reason to second guess everything we have heard about God. The fact that God is good to us is really the foundational teaching of everything we know and believe and trust about God. It's that God is good. It's that God is true to Himself, true to His own nature, essence, and character. God will never fail to be good and to do what is right. Moreover, we come face to face with God's hand, and we find that His hand toward His people is good. And that is what Nehemiah is able to conclude. In verse 18, I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me. Just a repeat of what he says earlier in this chapter, that God's good hand, verse 8, the good hand of my God was on me. Friends, that is all the encouragement we need. That very statement tells us everything, encapsulates everything the Christian needs, right? It robs us of any excuse we may have to march onward in the name of Christ, His banner of the gospel overhead to go forth and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, to build, as it were, through the gospel, the new Jerusalem in which righteousness dwells. And so as our introduction, I want to talk about the nature, the characteristic of God's good hand and how we can unpack this and what we ought to know about it and what it means for us. And many of these themes, if not all of them, are going to be familiar to you, but this is the main teaching of this text. Everything we know about Nehemiah chapter 2, and even the book at large, is grounded in this truth. God's good hand for us, right? It's repeated in Romans. If God is for us, what shall we say then? If God is for us, Who can be against us? We don't really need to say anymore, we just need to understand that. Sure, we can unpack it, we can extrapolate the various truths and teaching from it, but really, that kind of encompasses everything we need to know. And there's a fly there. I'm gonna get that fly, you'll see. All right. All right, first of all, God's good hand means power and authority. It is God's hand that conveys His power, presence, guidance, wisdom, everything, protection, provision. But it means power and authority, right? So when we think of God's hand of power and authority, what comes to mind usually is His creation and His sovereign rule, right? By His hand, He made the heavens. He stretched out the heavens. By His hand, He sustains and upholds the very fabric of the universe and all of visible creation, visible and invisible. Isaiah 48, 13 says, surely my hand founded the earth and my right hand spread out the heavens. When I call to them, they stand together. Isn't that an interesting picture, right? That when God speaks to the very hand, they stand together. There is order rather than chaos. When God speaks, we see things come together and remain together. In Psalm 95, we read something similar. In whose hands are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are his also, the sea is his, for he who made it, for it was he who made it, and his hands form the dry land. That is what we should think of when it comes to God's hand. Even judgment, the hand of God points to his authority to judge both nations and individuals. Exodus 9.3 says this, Behold, the hand of the Lord will come with a very severe pestilence on your livestock, which are in the field, warning about the plagues, the plagues of judgment upon the house of Egypt and Pharaoh and his family. We read about the hand of God appearing in almost a material fashion in Daniel 5, right? When King Belshazzar is throwing his great party. And it says, suddenly the fingers of a man's hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace. And the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing. And he was afraid, right? The joints of his loins were loose and his knees smote one against another. He was terrified. Such was this appearance of the hand of God. So we see this sort of all-encompassing theme when it comes to the hand of God. Power, authority. And even from the very beginning, are we not glad that God's hand is like that? We fear him, we fear his name, we fear his authority, but we do not have to tremble. We see that God's hand, yes, open in power and authority and generosity and all those things, but it's not formed in a fist so that it would crush us beyond remedy. If he does break his people, he breaks only to restore and to grant repentance. But we do not have to have some unholy, unbelieving form of terror when it comes to God's expression of power and authority by His hand. Also, guidance and direction. We see God open his hand in creation, his hands appear as if to wave around and conduct this great orchestra of keeping creation together, but we also see him point the finger, not at us in accusation, but in terms of guidance and direction. God points the way forward to us. In Psalm 139.10, we read this, even there your hand will guide me and your right hand will lay hold of me. What a comfort that is for every believer, whether in times of great blessing or times of great affliction, or even a mixture of both. God guides us. We do not fall in this category somehow of blind leading the blind, or that God is somehow going to lead us unwittingly into a trap where we feel hopeless and helpless. God leads us. Isaiah 41 says, for I am the Lord your God who upholds your right hand, who says to you, do not fear, I will help you. And if the Lord says he's going to help you, you know it's going to be in a very definitive and tangible way, leaving us no question of his care for us. And so the Lord cares for us, he guides us, he directs us, he supports us. The psalmist reflects as much in Psalm 145, verse 14, the Lord sustains all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down, right? He humbles those who exalt themselves, friends, but he exalts those who humble themselves. He sustains us. He protects us. He looks out for us. He is our good shepherd. Isaiah 40, verse 11. Like a shepherd, he will tend his flock. In his arm, he will gather the lambs and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead the nursing ewes. That's two ways in which the hand of God is described. And along with that, protection. We see this hand of God in terms of protection, preservation, keeping us from stumbling into sin and unbelief. The Lord describes himself as a shield, right? A fortress, a refuge. In Psalm 91, four, we read this, he will cover you with his pinions and under his wings, you may seek refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark. Now that certainly reframes our view of what it means to be faithful. Most of us in here do not think very highly of the faithfulness of mere men. We see it as a flimsy, really unreliable thing. And even the scripture does not exalt, does not have a lot of great things to say about the faithfulness of man. However, when it comes to the faithfulness of God, we come to something that is reckoned as this castle, a fortress, something that is unassailable and uncompromised. And no matter how skilled the spy of the enemy, God's faithfulness goes ultimately unbroken. His faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark. And in this protection, He gives us deliverance and salvation. One of the most famous verses regarding the hand of the Lord and saving His people is found all the way back in the Exodus, chapter 15, verse 6. Your right hand, O Lord. Your right hand. is majestic in power. Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy." So here we are. What side of the Lord's hand are you on? Are you on the side of trust in where He delivers you? Are you on the side of unbelief where the hand of God really is in the shape of a fist and He will shatter you? The right hand of God is faithful and brings protection and deliverance to His people. Here's the other thing. Number four, God's hand means discipline and correction. Lest we think that the Lord just treats us in such a way that doesn't often involve pain and rebuke and instruction. His hand does mean discipline. Think of the plight of Job, chapter 19, verse 21. And as we read through Job, we know very clearly, because we see it from God's point of view, even though Job may not, we see that God has a purpose in his affliction. He's not treating Job like his personal punching bag. He is not abusing Job. Remember, every time the Lord afflicts His people, every time the Lord disciplines us, it is for our good, and it is necessary. Though we may question that in our times of doubt, when affliction seems particularly severe, we have a hard time seeing the hand of God in that. And that's when we often begin sentences with, why God? Or why, oh Lord? We feel that. We're sympathetic to one another. when we find out that maybe a saint in here is really going through it, and they are asking God why, as if, Lord, I just need a reason, because if I had a reason, it would make it all better. But often, even if we had the reason, it still wouldn't be good enough. We have to trust God that his providential purposes are being fulfilled and being realized in our own life so that we trust him more and so that we are sanctified in our faith, strengthened in our walk with him. And we know this one well, Hebrews 12, 6, for those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines and he scourges every son whom he receives. And we added that even when we are walking in obedience, the Lord may scourge us. It is all discipline. It is all for our learning. And to match with that, God's good hand means blessing. It means blessing and provision. Psalm 104, 28, notice a theme here. The Psalms truly speak well and fully of God's mighty hand. Psalm 104, 28, you give to them, they gather it up. You open your hand, they are satisfied with good. See, when we come to God, we see that his hands are open, right? When we come to Christ, we see his hands open, bearing the marks of the cross, that he has done everything, even laying down his own life so that we could secure God's everlasting favor and goodness. And we see in that blessing and provision, everything necessary, God opens his hand and satisfies us with that which is good. James 1 17, every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. And all these is an expression of God's grace and mercy. He sees us, he knows us, he calls us by name. And He opens His hand of provision and grace to us, not withholding any good thing that we need. This gives us great joy. That is our response. Our response is to be satisfied in God and in God alone. Psalm 1611, you will make known to me the path of life in your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand, there are pleasures forever, right? Isn't it a joy to know that we are under God's hand and not under his thumb? Huge difference there. And so all through scripture, this hand of God, this hand of God is a good hand. And whether it afflicts, protects, or blesses, it is all from the same rich, eternal repository of grace and mercy and care. It is all from the hand of God, and so knowing that, what are we to do? We are called to humble ourselves, to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. that he may exalt us in due time. So, let's get into our text this morning, and I can tell you right now, we're not going to get through all of it. That's okay. So, verse 1, let's open up here. And it came about in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him. and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. So the king said to me, why is your face sad, though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart, and then I was very much afraid." We come to sort of the first principle, the first line of teaching in our text today that takes us immediately to the good hand of God and how he provides for us in this season of building. Andrew, is it coming up there? Yeah. Awesome. Okay. Still learning the technology, guys. Okay. First point, Andrew. All right, first thing. And remember, this context is in the midst of this great building of God's kingdom. It is in the context of relying on God's strength, right? And so what I want to portray here is that this is not an easy task. That's one of the first things we recognize. Whenever we obey God's call to rise up and build, knowing that His good hand is upon us, Often what happens is we face a challenge, right? We may have all the resolve in the world, but then we have this challenge to test our resolve, to really test our faith. And usually the first thing that comes up is that we risk the wrath of pagans. Don't go into the work of God thinking that there's just going to be this way cleared and that the red carpet is going to be rolled out by those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus, and they're just going to say, oh, here you guys go. Now, maybe from time to time that will happen, but by and large, you are going to meet with resistance. Sometimes it has to be proven that we are not all talk. And why that is important is because even Paul says the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of what? Power, right? It's a matter of power. When we talk about the kingdom, when we do the work of the kingdom, we are putting God's power on display. And so the first thing that is gonna happen is we enter into a world where from a human point of view, we are putting ourselves at risk. Now this will vary in intensity and duration in certain parts of the world, even today always has. but you will risk the wrath of pagans." And so here it is that Nehemiah, who is cupbearer to the king, right? We understand that he is in a place of risk. He has to drink the king's cup. And of course, he has to be willing to die in testing whether or not there is poison in the cup. that is given to the king. And so already his life is at risk, already he is in a dispensable position, but yet the calling is high because he is to protect the king. So that is a place of honorable service. And so he is serving, and this is the month of Nisan, so I think mathematically this comes somewhere between three and four months after the events of chapter one. So he's been praying continually, he's been ministering in Susa before King Artaxerxes, the Persian king, And it says, he took up wine to give it to the king. Now, I had not been sad in his presence. Now, in Persian law in that time, it was actually illegal to be sad in the presence of the king. If you read Esther 4.2, it says, when Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly. He went as far as the king's gate, for no one was to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth. I don't know what their philosophy was. You know, we talk about, hey, don't be bringing that negative energy here or whatever. But you couldn't be sad in front of the king. Didn't want to make the king sad. We know from pagan kings, you didn't want to make them gloomy. You didn't want to make them sad because sadness might lead to anger and displeasure. And when kings get mad, people start dying. People start losing their heads. And so this was something very familiar in Persian culture. And so it looks like even though he is sad, we find he has been weeping before the Lord, praying night and day, daily, constantly, faithfully, and the king starts to notice. So the king said to me, why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart. So the king's been paying attention to him. The king is not aloof. The king isn't stupid. Nehemiah can no longer hide it. And so something in this case that may have actually threatened Nehemiah's very life, because he is breaking a Persian law that may be punishable by death, suddenly the king asks, but the king is concerned. And note that in all of this, though we risk the wrath of pagans, from a human point of view, God turns this on its head, the situation on its head, as seems to be his habit of doing. and he changes it for good. The king, instead of being angry, actually comes across as concerned for his servant. Remember, it is God who grants favor. This is a way in which God's good hand is upon his people. The fact that even though Nehemiah may have risked the wrath of a pagan king, God gives him favor instead. I can tell Nehemiah, you are sad. You can't fool me. Then I was very much afraid. Verse three, I said to the king, let the king live forever. So this honorarium has been transferred from Babylon now to Persian kings. Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my father's tombs lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire? So here he is in the majestic Persian city, right, serving the king. And he says, why shouldn't I be seen or sad? It's home, I'm thinking about home, and home is a wreck. The gates of home are destroyed. They're in ruin. The city is open to attack. Why should I be happy about that? Even in a pagan culture, we find that God draws near to his people who are brokenhearted and puts his good hand upon them. It lies desolate. Its gates are consumed by fire. And when the king said to me, what would you request? Here we see the hand of pagan kings, right? They are like water in the Lord's hands. And the Lord is turning the heart of this king wherever he wishes. He is inclining the heart of the king to hear Nehemiah's request, to ask questions. Why should a dispensable servant's broken heart and sadness be any concern to King Artaxerxes? Here's your answer, because God said so. This is the way it is to be, and so he can incline the heart of the king. When was the last time you asked the Lord to grant you favor before a pagan? That is a powerful working of God's power. That is a powerful expression of faith. We are God's people, right? We belong to God. But all souls belong to God. We often forget, guys, that the Lord has claim on every heart. Even the pagan belongs to the Lord. The pagan is at the Lord's disposal. The pagan's heart can be turned in any way that the Lord wishes. So he says, what would you request? And note this, so I prayed to the God of heaven. I prayed to the God of heaven. Notice, probably a few seconds have transpired before the question is asked and then the request is made. This is what we would call sort of a shotgun prayer. Now, this text is not encouraging shotgun prayers as a lifestyle, meaning that the only time we pray is when we find ourselves in a desperate and maybe helpless situation. Oh Lord, oh Lord, please hear my... The key here is that this one, I would say, this prayer is not a prayer of desperation. It is more a prayer of instinct, because Nehemiah is a man of prayer. So he's not praying to God as a last resort. He's praying to God as a first and only resort. This is what a man of prayer does. He turns instinctively to God, not merely out of desperation, not only because he's exhausted all other avenues of help. No, the first thing he thinks of, because he is a man of prayer, is, oh, I better pray. No time like the present. And I hope that we would grow in prayer to such that that is our instinct. We only have a few seconds, and even though we may not even pray out loud, we say in our hearts, oh God of heaven, the God who runs everything, I know that your good hand is upon me and I am willing to risk the wrath of pagans. What matters here is not so much the wrath of man, but the grace of God. And so here he cries out to the God of heaven. A little more on this, the God of heaven. What is Nehemiah suggesting? He doesn't say, I prayed to the Lord, I prayed to Yahweh. When he prays to the God of heaven, he is acknowledging that God is overall, that even pagan nations are subject, accountable to the authority of Yahweh. So He is a God who is in charge of everything. He is exalted above all the other pagan gods. This is to dispel the myth that in a pagan culture that the God of Israel somehow becomes one of many, right? One of dozens, or He's sort of this foreign tribal deity or national deity. No, He is the ruler of heaven. He is exalted far above all other gods. And Nehemiah can pray to the Lord even when he's not in Israel, because he understands this about God, that no circumstance can escape his notice. He knows that the Lord sees him. He knows that no man can elude his grasp, not even the king can escape his sovereign grasp. He knows that no nation can refuse the Lord's authority. And immediate to this situation, he knows, Nehemiah does, that no evil can frustrate God's purposes. So taking those four points of knowledge into his prayer, he understands this. He can lift up a prayer immediately, knowing that God hears him. So once again, this should be the outflow of a regularly established pattern of prayer, right? That says, I'm praying in this immediate situation because I know immediately who to turn to. Not because I've exhausted all other avenues of help, but because this is an expression of a regular and disciplined prayer life. So I hope you see the difference there. Daniel 2.44, speaking about the reign of the Messiah and the growth of God's kingdom, and in the days of those kings, the God of heaven, just to point out that even Daniel used this. This was not something that was limited to the experience of Nehemiah. I think when the Jews were spread out amongst the nations for a time when they were in exile, they recognized that their God, Yahweh, was not only the God of Israel, but he was the God of heaven, the God overall. That's why we titled our study in Daniel, God in Exile. God went with his people into exile. He was as much the God of Babylon and now Persia as he was the God of Israel. He is the God of heaven. And so in Daniel 2, he sets up this kingdom that will never be destroyed. And in Psalm 115.3, we read this, our God is in the heavens, he does all that he pleases. So when we read there is a God in heaven, we think sovereign pleasure. There is no nation that somehow limits the activity of God. God can operate however he likes. Because when the God of the Bible enters a particular nation, he becomes that nation's God. And it will always be so. Matthew Henry says this, he addresses himself, there it says of Nehemiah, he addresses himself to the God of heaven, a God above all gods, and therefore able to help. A God that keeps covenant and therefore will help. Not only is God able, but he is also willing. And that is what Nehemiah experiences, I think to the fullest. What would you request? So he prays to the God of heaven and says this, I said to the king, if it pleased the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah. Here it is, here's the big ask. Move me from this royal and dangerous job and send me home, I wanna go home. Send me to Judah, to the city of my father's tombs that I may rebuild it. Remember last week we talked about Big prayers, big, bold, courageous prayers, knowing that God often grants to us above everything that we can ask or think. That was true the same in the Old Testament as it was the New. So Nehemiah prays a big prayer here. I want to go to Judah and rebuild it, the wall specifically. Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, how long will your journey be and when will you return? Isn't that amazing? I mean, sometimes we just gloss right over this. We don't even think about it. Wow, like where is all this sudden favor coming from? It's like Nehemiah went to ask permission from the king. And we see behind the scenes God giving permission to everything, that the king in all of his grandeur sitting next to his queen is subject to God's priorities and purposes. Yeah, how long are you going to be gone? Sure, go. It's amazing. So it pleased the king to send me. So there's, we don't see reluctance. We see clearly the king's favor because of God's favor ultimately placed on Nehemiah. So he says, well, because it pleased the king, I gave him a definite time. And I said to the king, if it pleases the king, so now you notice here, he hasn't stopped asking for things, right? He just keeps asking the king for more and more, more specifics. I mean, it's actually a pretty good model of how we should go to God in prayer. Keep asking God for more. When God answers yes, raise the cup of salvation, as the psalmist instructs, and call upon the name of the Lord. Yes, keep asking God for more. That is our mindset, not to see how we can pay God back, but to ask God for more and more grace, more and more provision, that we might steward it well, so that He is exalted in our lives. If it pleases the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the river so that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah. I think this is great. This is just for official purposes. So Nehemiah is not seen as acting in a roguish manner. Nope. The rightly understood king, King Artaxerxes, has given me legal authority to come to Judah and to rebuild. And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress, which is by the temple for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go. And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God is on me." So there we come to the main passage or the main verse in this chapter. And the king granted them to me. Why? Not because the king was good, not because the king had some spiritual insight. The king granted these things to Nehemiah because the good hand of my God was on me. That is the encouragement, the immense encouragement we can take from this passage. God is good to his people. God is good to Nehemiah. So we think that the good hand of God was on me, upon me, over me, overshadowing me, right? Where everywhere you look, you simply see the goodness of God. You see the abundance of God's provision. And so here we come to point number two, as it pertains to living life under the good hand of God. So we'll come to verse nine. Then I came to the governors of the provinces beyond the river and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. So go ahead. Point number two, we rebuke the reproach of fools that so great should our faith be. Our very lives, our very faithfulness to God should be a rebuke to the reproach of fools." Now remember, we are making a transition here from reproach to restoration. As long as Jerusalem, especially the gate lies in ruins, that is a reproach upon the people of Israel. That is a reproach upon the Jews. The surrounding nations would look at that city and say, God has abandoned them, their God doesn't care for them. What did these people do to offend their God? Oh man, and how? Look at the Bible and we find out what God's people have done. But in the rebuilding of the wall, in the rebuilding of the wall and in the finish of the restoration of the city, not only do we see a removal of that reproach, we see a restoration of divine favor. That even the surrounding, Detractors would have to admit, they would have to confess, yes, God is with them. And may our faithfulness to the task be a rebuke to those fools who want nothing but reproach upon the people of God. So he has all legal authority, he has the king's letters. The king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. So he's got a little cadre with him. There's nothing unclear about Nehemiah's arrival. And here we enter the villain. Here's the first boss fight. of Nehemiah. When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel. And here we repeat this claim. Nothing that is done for the kingdom of God will go without some kind of opposition. We exist to glorify Christ. The enemy hates that. The enemy cannot stand that. And so the enemy will often be put in place strategically to do whatever he can to somehow discourage this work, right? Typically that begins in the human heart. Nehemiah, we have found, is a leader. He is a leader among leaders, and he goes to lead the rebuilding project. Well, if you can discourage the leader and keep him from leading, Well, what do we say then about the project? It will be halted at least for a while. The morale will be compromised. They'll forget the mission. They'll forget the why. So let's see these two players. And there's actually a third one that comes up, Geshem, in verse 19. Geshem the Arab. Another name for that is Gashmu. There's been a great book written on that by Doug Wilson, Gashmu Saith It. We'll explore that statement in greater length as we work further into the book of Nehemiah. But for now, these three men, these three men, These three men who oppose the work of the build are Sanbalat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab. And each of them have a particular role in defying this great work that Nehemiah, I would say, has been sent and blessed by God himself to do. And so these are the fools who try to call out reproach upon the people of God. And they are a model for the very fools that we face today, right? There's nothing new under the sun. We still... rebuke fools. We still expose their error, we expose their unbelief, we call out foolishness where it is, where it's evident. And yet we do so understanding that the Lord's favorable hand is upon us. And so let's look at the first guy, Sanballat the Horonite. Okay, so what is thought about his origins, that he is someone who comes from Beth Horon, a house in the region of Samaria. So there's some important historical context to this. So Sanballat is typically recognized as the governor at that time of Samaria. And of course, Samaria is under Persian rule at the time. at the time of Nehemiah. Now it becomes significant as time moves on, because after the Assyrian conquest, right before the Babylonians, there was the Assyrians, right? Northern Kingdom fell into sin, and the Assyrian Empire was used as a rod of the Lord's correction and discipline. So they overthrew the kingdom of Israel in 722 BC. And what happened was is that in came different cultural groups, they repopulated the area, many foreigners. And what these foreigners did is they went against the Lord's command and they actually intermarried with the remaining Israelites. Now we would say, well, what's the big deal? Well, back then under the law, this was a huge deal. And from this intermarrying arose the Sumerians, who even up to the time of Jesus, didn't want to have anything to do with the Jews. So this represented a huge compromise, a historic compromise. Now listen to what Deuteronomy 7 says. When the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, and when the Lord your God delivers them before you and you can defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. And so the Lord will do this. He's going to crush their enemies and he's going to see them driven before the Israelites. He says, utterly destroy them. And then he says this, this is very important and has a lot of application on the life of the church today. He says, you shall make no covenant with them. Right. Do not be unequally yoked with pagans. Show no favor to them. Right. You're going to be tempted to be nice to them. But he says, oh, no, don't give them any quarter. And then he says this, verse three, furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them. Oh, the tragedy when a believer marries an unbeliever, unequally yoked, headed in different directions, worshiping different gods. And what does the Lord say? He doesn't, the Lord doesn't describe this situation as something where, yeah, intermarry them, convert them, right? Missionary dating in ancient Israel. No, he says, don't intermarry with them. You shall not give your daughters to their sons. You shall not take their daughters for your sons. Right? Strength and diversity, right? Multiculturalism. It's so beautiful. We keep getting told today. But what does the Lord say? For they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods. Don't think for a minute. Do not assume. Oh, if we just take them in as they are in their idolatry, in their paganism, in their unbelief and rejection of the true God of Israel. that somehow they're just going to say, oh, you serve the Lord, I'm going to serve the Lord. I would say the story of Ruth. Ruth is a rare gem. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. I mean, you talk about the power of election right there. But I digress. But this is what the Lord says. They're just going to turn your sons away. Your sons are just going to turn into pagan idolaters. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and he will quickly destroy you. That's not a threat, guys, that's a promise. And this goes on for quite some time. And at the end of the book of Ezra, or near the end of the book of Ezra, we read this. Ezra 9, 11, remember this kind of going on at the same time as Nehemiah. Now therefore, make confession to the Lord, God of your fathers, and do his will, and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives. That is quite a demand. Because you marry someone, you get attached to them eventually. Even in their paganism, you get attached to them. Grow fondness and love for them. Maybe you have kids with them. And he says, put away the foreign wives now. You violated this command for far too long. That's what got you into trouble in the first place. And so that is the historical context of Samaria and Sanbalat, the first of the opposition. is offended that someone dare come in and seek the welfare of the sons of Israel. So we already see this racial opposition. And we see this conflict that is emerging already between those of Judah and those of Samaria. Sanbalat comes from a Babylonian name, Sinubalit, which means sin has begotten. Now not sin, like opposing God or sinning against God, but sin is actually the Sumerian moon god of that time. So it means this false god has begotten. So this person, their name really represents who they are. They're the son of a pagan god, and they want to resist and afflict those who have come to serve the true God. Then Tobiah the Ammonite, as you know, the Ammonites, were the original members of those who were being conquered. They afflicted Israel. Israel fought against them. They were a continual thorn in the side of the people of Israel. So Tobiah the Ammonite, now I think this name is important. Tobiah means Yahweh is good or Yahweh is my good. They use the word Tov here in the Hebrew. And this is significant because the good hand, guess what? The Tov hand of God was upon Nehemiah. And so the name Tobiah would sure serve to be an irony in Nehemiah's experience. Yes, Yahweh is good and he is going to be good to Nehemiah. So Tobiah's name is an own witness against him and what he will try to do. But even his name, as it is contrary to what he tries to do to Nehemiah, will stand against him, will be an ironic twist in this tale because the Lord will show Nehemiah great favor. And so when they heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come out to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel. So they're coming out thinking, oh, no, you don't. No, you don't. This is typical behavior. This is the typical heart of those who hate God and who hate His people. We read that this morning in our scripture reading. They're going to hate you. They hate me. They're going to hate you. They're going to hate the work you do. They're going to hate everything about you. Even the very good things you do, they will find a reason to reproach it just because you did it, just because you bear the name Christian. So the opposition is immediate and obvious. What are you doing here, Nehemiah? It was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel. And you will find people, you will find people in your life, and I hope that their place in the confessing church is at a minimum. That is something we can pray for. Keep these people out of the assembly, Lord, unless you save them. But there are always going to be unbelievers standing by who see it as their God-given purpose to make sure that the people of God are miserable, are afflicted somehow, that their voice is quieted or muffled or somehow eliminated altogether. See, you know, most of the time we think, oh, that person is going to, oh, I see that person walking across the street. Oh, I see that person in rags. That person has a delicious meal in a bag, but they're gonna give that person, oh, wait a minute, that person's a Christian. Oh, we can't, we can't let them do that. We better put a stop to that. And they may not even be able to explain why. They just know they hate the cause of God. And today, they hate the cause of Christ. And they can't stand it when a believer tries to bless someone else or when someone tries to bless another believer. And we find that's something that is just very, it's very perverse. It is very demonically enabled. We see the power of Satan himself. bringing people out of the woodwork to make sure that no good can be done in the name of God for the people of God. They see Israel as a people and upon them is reproach and they want that reproach to remain. How sinister can you get? We don't want any good to come upon this people. And yet that is their mission. It is opposition to God's work. And we see in this two kinds of opposition at least from the political realm and the religious realm. But all this time they are there, they are trying to stand in the way of the Lord's purpose for blessing his people. And so, of course, this is a call to God's people to remain resolute, that our very work is a rebuke, is a rejection against those who cannot look at the good hand of God on His people and say, hallelujah, and say, praise the Lord. They have to fight it. And so, it does stand to reason today, and I'll close with this, that the church has to ask herself, when we see this happening, how are we responding? And there are plenty of cultural issues that are occurring, cultural sins that are occurring in our nation right now where we can ask ourselves, hey, are we doing anything to give assistance to this? Are we doing anything to give aid to this godly cause? Or are we shutting ourselves up within the walls of the church, right? We're only meeting here on Sunday, and then we have nothing to do with the greater cause of the kingdom of God and His righteousness throughout the week. Are we delivering those being dragged away to death? Are we preaching against the rampant sin and sexual perversion of our own society? Are we going out and preaching the gospel to the poor? What are we doing to be a public rebuke against people like this. Here's the key, guys. There's not going to be any public rebuke if there's no public right. If we are not public with this truth, if we are not going public in our standing against those who try to undermine the cause of God, undermine the cause of the kingdom, then ultimately nothing is going to be done to stand against those who do it. It has to be public. It must be public. They're public. They're shameless. Why are we ashamed, right? Where is the mind of Paul that says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the what? Power, right? We've come full circle. We're talking about power now, the power of the kingdom, the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. Why is it that if we have this power, this power to reconcile sinful man to a holy God, are we so silent and withdrawn from going out and proclaiming it? We have time, we have resources, and I think most importantly, we have one another. I was so blessed yesterday to go to Acacia Park with a couple of the bros, We gave some tracts to the kids, and there were two in particular. They got rid of those tracts, I think, on a scale of four to one. They made us look bad. I mean, they made us look ashamed of the gospel in some ways. But the point is, it just takes a few to go out and hand out something. Hey, have you heard the gospel? Can I give you a gospel tract? Will you read this? This tells about a savior named Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come, who forgives sins, who brings us to God, who gives us his righteousness. And in doing that, we stand against the powers of darkness. We stand against the Sanbalats, the Tobias, and the Geshems or Gashmus. who say, what do you think you're doing? Because isn't that the first thing we do? First, we fear the wrath of the king. Oh, what's the government going to say? And then we fear the wrath of man. Rather than rebuking their foolishness, we fear their anger. Oh, I'm sorry to bother you. Sorry to disturb you. Man, I didn't know that what I was doing was so offensive. I guess I'll shut up and go home. Are the Sanballats and Tobias of our day shutting up and going home? No, they're wearing their worldview on their sleeve. They are preaching their unbelief. So why isn't the church preaching just as strongly, just as regularly, just as honestly as they are? To go out and say, hey guys, you can't do this. Gashmu says you can't do this. Well, Yahweh says you can't. Who are we quoting? And who are we standing up against? Who are we standing for? Are we even getting out there and rebuking publicly those who are trying to undermine the cause of God and seeking the welfare of our city? So there were three points today, and we'll get through that next Lord's Day. But just for the time being, keep that in mind. Do not fear the wrath of the king. Do not fear what they can do. The Lord has occasion to bring us before them, and the Lord will meet our needs, and let your life be a rebuke to fools. Expose their foolishness, expose their unbelief, and preach the truth of Christ to them. Let's pray. Lord, again, we come to you. We entrust our very lives, our very souls to you, knowing that your word will do its work. We see Nehemiah intent on the work of rebuilding such an important part of Jerusalem. And what an example he is for us, Lord, that we may make that journey wherever you may send us in our own town to seek its welfare in whatever way you see fit. And upon arrival, Lord, free us from doubt, free us from the discouragement, even free us from this false sense of shame that the Sanballats and Tobias of our day may try to inflict us with. We have nothing to be ashamed of because we have the word of truth, the word of truth that gives life and gives hope to those who hear and believe. So help us be faithful. Help us not to fear the wrath of the king, because it is you, Lord, who has brought us to stand before those kings and governors in all manner of men, to proclaim your truth. Help us, Lord, rather than fearing man, to fear you, and that our very work and very words, our very lives, Lord, would be a public rebuke to those who do not know you. And all we need do, Father, is trust You, because we know that in all these things Your good hand is upon us. That is our very confidence. That is our very foundation, is that we know that You are with us, and so we have nothing to fear. Because if You are with us, Father, who can be against us? Encourage us with that truth this morning as we continue our time of worship.