A Great Work

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Greetings this morning in the precious name of the Lord again. We invite you this morning to the chapter 6 of the book of Nehemiah. I'd like to read one verse there to begin with, and then maybe look at the book more in its entirety a little bit later, or as we continue on. [00:00:35] Before we read, imagine with me if you can, going down the road somewhere, you come to a building site. You see there scattered across the landscape, however large the project might be, all kinds of things, materials. You see some people working there. There was such a case where a man came to visit the building site. [00:01:05] I'm not sure if he was just a passerby or if he was an investigator of some kind. In any case, he walked up to the different workers and he would ask each of them a question. The question was just simply, what are you doing? One said, I am cutting boards to make a rafter. Bontrager, another one said, I am laying stones to build a wall. Another one could have said, I'm digging a hole to make a foundation. He came to one other one, not sure what he was doing. When he asked him what he was doing, he said, I'm building a cathedral. [00:01:44] My heart was blessed with the last man's view. Some were looking at the immediate, at their little thing. But one man was looking at the whole thing as all of them worked together. He was building a cathedral. Nehemiah chapter 6 and verse 3 says like this. I sent messengers unto them. He was responding to an invitation to leave the work and go do something else. [00:02:18] I sent messengers unto them saying, I am doing a great work so that I cannot come. I'd like to talk this morning about doing a great work. How we view something, how we view its importance and how we see it in the entire project makes a big difference in our commitment and in our devotion to something. If I am filling a pew at Rosewood Fellowship, then I'll probably straggle in to fill my empty spot. [00:02:56] I'll be there as much as I conveniently can. But if I'm looking at building the kingdom of Jesus Christ in my Christian journey, You know, it becomes quite a different picture. The importance we place on what we're doing makes a big difference in how we respond and how devoted we are. We'd like to look at the example of Nehemiah this morning. What did Nehemiah mean when he said, I am doing a great work? [00:03:29] If you would have looked across Rebel Strew in Jerusalem that day, You would very likely have seen walls, some that still had parts standing. You would have seen the old rocks from the walls scattered all around. If you read the book carefully, you will find that they called it the rubbish that was scattered around. There was Nehemiah in the middle of that trash, that rubbish, saying, I'm doing a great work. Nehemiah had a vision. [00:04:01] What caused him to see that as a great work? I'm thinking of a number of things, maybe six or so things this morning that Nehemiah may have thought of. The Bible doesn't really tell us what all he meant. But I'm thinking of what Nehemiah was doing there was in memory of what God had called his people to in earlier days. Now this was maybe some 70 years down the road after Israel had been taken captive. So things were lying in that position for a long time. But Nehemiah remembered one thing, and that is that the people of Israel were the people of the great and living God. It was a great work because it was God's work. God was the designer of that work. [00:04:52] He saw the rubble, no doubt, but behind the rubble he saw the promises, the plan of God. Even though it was still in a mystery to the people of the Old Testament, it was the building of the church of Jesus Christ in type. So it was a great work in this, that it was the church of the living God. In the New Testament you read numerous times, when you read about the church, that it is not just a church. It is not just a fellowship. It is not just a local congregation. It is the church of God. And again, it says it is the church of the living God. And again, it says it is the church of the firstborn. And Jesus said, I will build my church. Whose church is it that we're going to, that we are laboring in? It is a great work because it is the church of the living God. [00:05:47] Second place, it is a great church because it is a great work that he was involved in because of the tremendous needs. There was Israel. What was it? At least 40 some thousand of them had returned in earlier days back to Jerusalem. There they were still living in the middle of all that rubble. The walls were broken down. Any enemy could have walked in and encroached on them. There was no defense. There was no protection. The people were given to all kinds of ungodly living. It was a great work in its need. And as we look around, I think of the words of the songwriter when he said, [00:06:30] The whole world is lying in the darkness of sin. It is a great work this morning in the sense that the needs are so great. You cannot look anywhere in this world that you cannot find a need. They are all over. It is a great work that we are engaged in because so many people are hell bound today. There are so many needs in churches today. Churches that are in shambles. There are lives that are moral disasters all over the place. It is a great work. There is no time to go to church today just out of duty or just out of filling obligations or for developing or maintaining some kind of respectable position in life. [00:07:23] The work is great, but the potential is great. You look around there in Jerusalem, I get blessed when I think of Nehemiah building those walls again. We don't read anything anywhere that I could find that the people of Israel sent out to some quarries to hew out new stones to build the walls. But what they did is they took the wrecks of time, as it were. They picked up those stones that were strewn around and they picked them up, brought them back and put them in their place. [00:08:00] The people were restored. The stones were restored. It was not that Nehemiah and his people had a select group or a select kind of materials, but it was just the ordinary outcasts. And it is a marvel today when you think about the potential of building the kingdom of God. God can take the weakest soul, the most shipwrecked life, and when the transforming power of the work of Calvary is at work in that life, it can change a sinner into a saint. [00:08:37] Old things pass away, all things become new. The potential is tremendous this morning. Every soul we look at that is a disobedient rebellion, rebellious person, a rebel, is a potential for God. If ever there was a man that looked like he was beyond hope, wasn't it the man Saul? He was not only a man that did not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, he was out to destroy the kingdom of Christ. But God changed him into a stalwart builder of his kingdom [00:09:13] The potential is great The Bible says if any man be in Christ he is a new creation You can take all those stones that were called rubble And make them a part of the fortifying wall for Jerusalem So the potential is great The Bible says whosoever will may come The opportunities abound all around us. A third thing that made this a great work was the obstacles were great. [00:09:44] We're not going to look at those in detail just now, but as I was thinking about the work of building the kingdom, I had to think of the words in the song that Martin Luther wrote when he said, A mighty fortress is our God. In that song appear these words, for still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe. His craft and power is great and armed with cruel hate on earth is not his equal. [00:10:17] That's still true today. It was true in Luther's day and especially as he faced the persecution. He felt the attacks, the opposition, the obstacles of Satan but if you go later into that song he says we fear not for him we have to say that even though we're talking about obstacles just now there are obstacles like this today facing the church everywhere you go today [00:10:47] in this work of kingdom building it is like mission work it is mostly work it is mostly work Maybe we'll notice that more a little bit later. Some of it is a direct attack. Some of it is a lot more subtle. But everywhere you go today, there are obstacles in this thing of building the kingdom of God. But thank God it didn't slow down Nehemiah. [00:11:22] The world is an obstacle to the building of the church. comes often in a different form. The world sometimes comes brutally in persecution and so on. But I think of that old tract that it was too long to bring it to read this morning. Maybe some of you still remember or even have that tract that says, The Church Walking with the World. The world proffered its hand to the church one day as it walked up beside the church [00:11:53] and says, Let's walk together. But no, the church drew back its unstained hand and said, we cannot walk with you. But little by little, the church, the world offered other things until finally the world looked up at the church. The church looked up at the world, I should say. Probably looked down, really. and as she looked into the eyes of the world, she timidly held out her hand [00:12:27] until finally you no longer knew who was who. The church is under attack today. If we are going to work on building the kingdom, we might as well know from the outset there are going to be struggles and difficulties. Opposition from Satan, opposition from the world and even worse from, well maybe not worse, but also from ourselves. There's another thing that makes this kingdom building great, that Nehemiah was doing a great work [00:12:59] and that is that the resources are great. When you think about it, when Jesus shed his blood, there was not a man on the whole earth that was outside the realm of the possibility of being saved. Those resources, the blood that Jesus said, the Holy Spirit that he sent, the word that has been written for our learning and for our teaching reaches out across the world. There has never been a time in which there were more ways, more means of reaching the world than today. [00:13:36] You can today sit in an office in the United States and beam the message of redemption to the other side of the globe. over the technology that is available today. You can get onto a jet airplane, fly to the other side of the earth, and you can preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have a new appreciation for what our nation stands for since we were up in the New England states there at Plymouth in Massachusetts. I saw the tourist attraction there and I didn't think so much about it [00:14:10] till we got a book and I came home and I read that book. When I see, when I read what the people endured to come over on that historic Mayflower, read the story, my friends, to appreciate our heritage. Even though that's not really the Anabaptist portion of our heritage, The very things that our nation were founded on were founded on at great cost to people. Tremendous cost. They were surrounded and confined by very ungodly circumstances in their coming here and yet have dared to hold up this book as a principle by which to live. [00:15:02] That did not make us a Christian nation, but it gave me appreciation. Note, in our day today, we are the heirs of so much, of so much. The resources are tremendous. You can print, how many help from above can they print over there at World Missionary Press in an hour? Thousands and thousands. We're before a man who'd have to sit and write by hand any portion of the scripture. [00:15:34] And today, the resources are tremendous. But not only across the world, right next door where we live. There are those ways of reaching people right around us. The power of the new birth can reach the peoples of our day. The resources are great. No wonder Nehemiah said, as he looked at that revel, he saw some resources there too, if we look at the story. And then, last of all, I want to say, yet the rewards are great. [00:16:08] The rewards of kingdom building are great. They could return again to have a city where they knew they were secure. There is peace and there is rest as we labor in the building of the kingdom. You know, really, what does the church of Jesus Christ mean to me? And to you, are we doing a great work or are we doing a nominal work? Is the church really the body of Jesus Christ? Is she the bride of our Lord? [00:16:39] Is she the apple of His eye? The Bible says in the Old Testament when He found the church, He found it out there in a waste, howling wilderness. and what he found out there and if you would look at the situation of the people now called the people of God back in those days you would find that people that were struggling with all kinds of idolatry and things but God called them out and made them the apple of his eye. The church is dear to the heart of God. [00:17:14] Many times today we hear lots of talk about what's wrong with the church. I say this morning it's time somebody talks about what's right with the church. What is right with the church? The church is as she is. The church has been crippled often times. The church has failed many times. But let me say this morning that if the church were taken out of this world, we haven't seen anything yet compared to what would it be like if the presence of the body of Christ would be removed. [00:17:46] That's why when you go to countries where atheism ruled and the church was nearly stamped out, you find things, if we think we have depravity, you will find much more there. The church leaves an impact for good. Even the failing church, and certainly we're not this morning trying to excuse failure in the church, but to lift it up to where it belongs. It is the body of Jesus Christ. It is the chosen of our Lord. It is the design of the Lord and where we have failed, let us not lose heart, let us think rather in terms of returning to our Lord [00:18:25] I appreciated what one of the ministers said at the ministers meeting last year down in Florida He said there is something like a reverse gear in cars There is something like backing up and returning to where we ought to be Many times we see rather the spirit of wringing our hands and lamenting failure. But how many times have you seen things restored to God's standard by wringing hands? [00:18:59] There is more available to us than that. We look at Nehemiah's life a bit. We're in a straight betwixt two, like usual. What do you leave out, or do you just stop? As we look at the first chapter, the first verses 4 to 11, we see here as Nehemiah heard word from one of his fellow men, [00:19:34] And he said, what's it like back there in Jerusalem? He was the king's cupbearer. Where was he? Over in Persia? Under some captor king. He was the cupbearer. And he heard about this man that could give him some information. He said, what's it like in Jerusalem? And so he told him of the fallen walls. Now, Ezra had already gone back and was rebuilding the temple, but the walls were still down. and he got the message of what it was like [00:20:05] it says when I heard these words in verse 4 that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven and I said I beseech thee O Lord God of heaven the great and terrible God that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments let thine ear now be attentive and that eyes open that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant which I pray before thee day and night for the children of Israel thy servants [00:20:38] and I confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against thee both I and my father's house have sinned we have all dealt very corruptly against thee and have not kept the commandments nor the statutes nor the judgments which thou commandest thy servant Moses remember I beseech thee the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses saying if you transgress I will scatter you abroad among the nations but if you turn unto me and keep my commandments and do them [00:21:08] though there were of you cast out into the uttermost part of the heaven yet will I gather them from thence and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there we see a man that saw the situation he didn't endorse the situation he didn't approve of it But neither did he spare because of it. He was a man that as he saw this situation was broken down, he wept, he prayed, he fasted. [00:21:43] And he did another thing. He confessed. He confessed. Did Nehemiah cause this situation? It was already 70 years prior that they had gone into captivity. Did Nehemiah live in Jerusalem? Was it his fault that the walls were still crumbled after all those years? And 40,000 people living there? It doesn't seem like it, but Nehemiah said, we have sinned. [00:22:18] He accepted responsibility. I suspect that as we look at the moral decline of our nation and we lament the way the president does things and the way that things are going in our country and the way that the churches are going I suspect that all of us carry more responsibility than we realize it is easy to point fingers if nothing else we carry responsibility if we have not prostrated ourselves [00:22:50] Those before God in intercession. God forbid that I should sin in ceasing to pray for you, the prophet said. We carry more responsibility than we realize collectively. When Nehemiah saw this great dilemma, he took it to heart. He said, God, we have sinned. He was not interested that God would change their circumstances without changing the cause of their circumstances. [00:23:25] He wanted the root issues to be dealt with, like we heard earlier this morning. So we see in chapter 1 that Nehemiah acknowledged the need, but he didn't despair. He said, why don't we do something about it? The moral condition of a society is largely a reflection of the condition of the church. [00:23:56] The moral condition of a church is largely a reflection of the life of its individual members. We are in this thing together. If we go to chapter 2, we find Nehemiah making a commitment here. If we would read the first eight verses, this was now four months later, four months after Nehemiah got the report about how things were in Jerusalem, four months after he started praying and weeping, one day Nehemiah appeared before the king. [00:24:30] If we go to the book of Esther in chapter two, we find something that I think was a significant factor in Nehemiah's presentation of himself to the king. If you read here, it says one day he went to the king and he was sad. He says in verse 2, Now I had not been before time sad in his presence. In Esther it says that no one might enter into the gate, [00:25:04] the king's gate, clothed in sackcloth, clothed in sackcloth. No one. It was against the regulations. it was against the rules to go to the king with a sad countenance here comes Nehemiah one day I don't know how he looked except it was significant enough that the king took note he says Nehemiah what's the matter? you're not sick but you look sad I don't think I ever realized [00:25:36] how much Nehemiah took on himself to come that way to the king But he put his life in jeopardy The king was to be entertained He was to be amused He was to be gratified But here comes a man that is his servant And he comes in a way that he's not supposed to come But Nehemiah had a burden That burden showed in Nehemiah's life He saw a great work being neglected [00:26:07] So he came in there to the king that morning taking that risk It was a commitment. He was ready not only to lament Israel's state, but he was committed to try to do what he could about it. And so he came that way. He believed in his cause. And when you read the story, he said, well, King, why shouldn't I be sad? When the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins. [00:26:41] My history is gone. The great God that chose us to be His chosen people, our reputation, our testimony, and more, the testimony that it reflects on our God, all lies there in the rubble. The place of our worship is halfway built, partly built, but the city lies in ruins. Why shouldn't I be sad? So the king asked him what he wanted. He said, I'd like an opportunity to go back to my fatherland and work on this situation. [00:27:21] But I was blessed looking at Nehemiah further. He believed in his cause so much. I think he was at both hands up. He had nothing more to lose. He took the risk of doing what was not considered proper. Therefore, he made a request, kind of presumptuous, I'd like to have a sabbatical from my job here. And then he said further, and when you give me permission to go through these alien lands to get to Jerusalem, [00:27:57] I'd like also to have a letter requesting all the material I need to restore the fallen city. He was pretty bold by that time, but he had nothing to lose. And you know, if we get to the place that we are doing a great work, it is worth hazarding everything. Ourselves, our comforts, and whatever else. And you know what? The king granted him everything he asked. [00:28:30] And I was thinking maybe of a couple-month trip to go to Jerusalem, look things over. But if you read the story, I think it was like 12 years it took him. Maybe that was, he went for a while, they built the wall, what was it, 40-some days, they had the thing halfway back up. Of course, the hardest part was from the middle on up, I would think. That's the way it normally is in building. But in any case, they made a lot of progress. but 12 years later you read about Nehemiah [00:29:03] maybe that was after he had returned and gone back be that as it may but what Nehemiah did do as he looked on this situation he had a sense of direction he had a sense of purpose in this that not only did he make a commitment not only did he take the risk not only was he willing to pay the price But he gave God the honor of it all He said it's the good hand of God [00:29:36] He was conscious that the good hand of God was on him He knew it was okay to ask He knew it was the right thing to do because it was the will of God And if it is not the will of God today that his kingdom progress Then what is the will of God? We can come today with courage and boldness, not boastfulness, in all humility. Oh, Nehemiah sometimes is called a great statesman. [00:30:07] He and Daniel are the Old Testament statesmen. As I read this passage of scripture again, I became convinced more than ever, he was much more than a statesman. He was a man of God and God gave him wisdom to behave himself properly in the building of his kingdom. And if that's what a statesman is, he was a great statesman. But he was much more than a political statesman. He was a man committed to God for his purposes. If we go on into chapter 2 verse 11 and following. [00:30:42] Not only did he make a commitment, but he made preparation. Let's read verse 11 of chapter 2 So I came to Jerusalem and I was there three days There he was three days I don't know if he was getting over jet lag or what he was doing But he had a journey that he traveled on He went to Jerusalem and there he was three days You don't read that he lifted a finger Or that he said anything I rose in the night, I and some few men with me [00:31:13] 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 gate, to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down And the gates thereof were consumed with fire Now, then he went on, traveling around the town, looking at the ruins. [00:31:44] We don't know what all he was doing, but one thing I know that he was doing was more than sightseeing. He was looking at the situation. He was looking at the need, and in his heart, he was making some preparations. There must have been many thoughts going through Nehemiah's mind, And he was thinking, how can we ever get Jerusalem back to be a blessing to our God? [00:32:14] The way that it was intended to be. He reviewed it, but he made no impulsive moves. He made a plan. He had an awareness of the bigger picture. I think when Nehemiah saw those burned gates, those walls that were broken and the stones that were scattered, He saw something else. What do you think he saw? To me it seems he saw fully constructed walls [00:32:47] and a place where the people of God were again going to worship the living God. It was a great work he was about. Cannot that be a vision for today? I think it is. I bless those people. I am blessed by those people that have that kind of a vision today of the church of Jesus Christ. Not only what she is, but what she could be. And as you look further, what Nehemiah did, he presented the possibilities to his people. [00:33:24] He said, you know, we see these walls broken down. And he reminded them of what all that does. Their testimony was broken down too. Right there all among those stones. You know what else lay down there with those piles of rubbish? There was the testimony of the people of God. Right there in that dirt. But not only that. When the testimony of the people of God falls, it reflects on our living God, the Holy God. [00:33:58] When Nehemiah saw that lying down there, He said to the people, Think about it. We could rebuild. This thing could be returned. And the people said, Let us rise up and build. He inspired them. He challenged them. And they rallied. And they came and started building. I don't read that Nehemiah commanded them to do anything. [00:34:31] He presented the need. He presented the possibilities. He presented a challenge that something inspired their hearts. I was looking at that. How can you challenge the people of God in our day? How can across the world, how can the church of Christ today be again rallied to rise up and build. We must first have a picture of how great this work is. Because of the reasons that we said and more. [00:35:07] He didn't begin by scolding. He didn't begin by saying, Look, you folks have been here 70 years and nobody has raised up any part of the wall. He said, This is the situation. This is the possibility. What could we do about it? Nehemiah knew that work was far too great for one man to do. He organized the people. When they said, let us rise up and build, he put his plan into action. [00:35:41] and I love how it says later in Nehemiah 18 times and more it says next unto him next unto him next unto him next unto him on and on and on what does it mean it means that when the people rose with the challenge to the challenge of building that they were at one in heart they had a unified purpose and so next unto him And if you read, oh, there were noble men. Can you imagine a noble man out there with a trowel mixing mud right next to a certain slave? But you find them all mixed together out there. The people had one mind, and that was that the kingdom of God must be exalted to be what Christ really has meant it to be. [00:36:37] Maybe sometime, look at how Nehemiah responded to the obstacles. Because obstacles there were. There were all kinds of obstacles. If you study that book, you will find 5, 6, 7 different times that things came up to stop the work. There's a lot to learn in how Nehemiah responded to those obstacles. Because we're going to face obstacles. We do face obstacles. There are