WEBVTT 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:04.080 Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:12.560 We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:14.640 Thanks for joining us today. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:16.399 Amen, amen. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:18.160 It's so good to worship together. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:22.960 If you have your Bibles, and I hope that you do, you can open them up to Nehemiah chapter 6. 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:25.280 We're going to be in chapter 6 and chapter 7. 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:30.879 And if you don't have a copy of God's word to follow along with, the ushers are making their way down to the aisle right now. 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:32.320 And you can just flag one of them down. 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:35.359 They'd love to get a copy into your hands. 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:40.240 If you're new with us this morning, I'm so thankful that you're here. 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:41.039 We've been praying for you. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:42.799 My name's Pastor Miles. 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:44.640 We're so thankful you're here. 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:51.920 And I'm praying that this will be a morning where you're warmly welcomed by God's people, but that you leave knowing that you're deeply loved by God and by this church. 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:55.359 Let's read God's word together, Nehemiah chapter six. 00:00:55.600 --> 00:00:58.000 And we're going to be in chapter six and seven. 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:04.400 I'm going to read for us from the beginning of chapter six to the beginning of chapter seven. 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:07.519 Look at what God's word says. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:16.879 Now Sanbalat and Tobiah and Jeshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I built the wall and that there was no breach left in it. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:20.239 Although up to that time he had not set up the doors and the gates. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:27.760 Sanbalat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet together at Hakaphiram in the plain of Onoh. 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:29.920 But they intended to do me harm. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:35.040 And I sent messengers to them, saying, I'm doing a great work, and I cannot come down. 00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:38.719 Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you? 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:41.840 And they sent to me four times in this way. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:44.239 And I answered them in the same manner. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:50.159 And in the same way, Sanbalat, for the fifth time, sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. 00:01:50.480 --> 00:02:01.040 In it was written, It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel, that this is why you are building the wall. 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:04.159 And according to these reports, you wish to become their king. 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:08.400 And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you and Jerusalem. 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:10.080 There is a king in Judah. 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:15.439 And now the king will hear of these reports, so now come and let us take counsel together. 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:22.240 Then I sent to him, saying, No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind. 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:28.560 For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking their hands will drop from the work and it will not be done. 00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:31.840 But now, O God, strengthen my hands. 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:40.000 Now when I went into the house of Shemiah, the son of Delaiah, son of Mehtep pray for me. 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:48.800 Mehitbel, who was confined to his home, he said, Let us meet together in the house of God within the temple. 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:54.080 Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you, they are coming to kill you by night. 00:02:54.400 --> 00:03:00.400 But I said, Should such a man as I run away, then what man such as I could go into the temple and live? 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:01.919 I will not go in. 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:09.919 And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me, because Tobiah and Sinbalat had hired him. 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:14.719 For this purpose he was hired that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin. 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:18.080 So they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:28.719 Remember Tobiah and Sinbalat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:34.960 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul, in the fifty-two days. 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:46.080 And when all our enemies heard it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:52.879 Moreover, in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah's letters came to them. 00:03:53.120 --> 00:04:06.800 For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah, the son of Erah, the son of Jehoannin, the the had taken the daughter of Meshelem, the son of Barekiah, as his wife. 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:13.439 Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him, and Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid. 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:31.120 Now, when the wall had been built, and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah, the governor of the castle, charge over Jerusalem, for he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:35.519 And I said to them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot. 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:45.360 And while they were standing guard, let them shut the bar and bar the doors, appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some at their guardposts, and some in front of their homes. 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:53.680 The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses had been rebuilt. 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:59.199 Now, if you thought that was a lot of work reading through that, I actually want to put you through some more work. 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:03.360 I want to want you to turn to Matthew chapter 5 with me. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:06.399 And I hope right now that you're not looking at me. 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:10.319 If I'm looking at you and your eyes are on me, this is some awkward eye contact. 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:15.199 I hope you're sweating right now, getting to Matthew chapter 5. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:29.120 It's important that we dwell in God's word in these mornings, and we come away from this not just with inspiration, but the transformation that comes from hearing his word. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:33.519 And so I want to point out some things to you in chapter 5 of Matthew. 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:35.759 This is Jesus' first sermon. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:51.040 And I want to draw out a principle here that I think is a timeless principle that was taught by Jesus in the Sermon of the Mount, but modeled by Nehemiah so many years before in the chapters we just read. 00:05:51.279 --> 00:06:03.680 The principle is this: that you were made, you were invented, you were created by God the Father to build his kingdom. 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:09.920 That is your purpose, that is your identity as a human being. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:22.879 So that, if you know, you've ever done any sort of labor around your house, you know that a hammer has a specific design, that if you use it to hammer in a nail, it's relatively easy to hammer in that nail. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:28.399 But if you use a hammer to tighten a screw, it is impossible. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:30.000 And so it is with our lives. 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:41.040 God has created us for a specific purpose, and we find fulfillment as we live according to that purpose, and that purpose is to build up his kingdom. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:51.600 Jesus taught about this in his first and most famous sermon, and it's all throughout the Sermon of the Mount, but it really begins in chapter 5. 00:06:51.680 --> 00:07:00.399 Look what he says in verse 44, as he is teaching us that we were created to live for God's kingdom by loving our enemies. 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:05.600 He says in verse 44, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:19.279 That's the work, but notice that Jesus is so willing to motivate his hearers by a reward, so that in verse 45 he says, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:29.920 There's a reward to living according to the standard of God's kingdom, so that if you love your enemies, you will experience the felt presence of God as your father. 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:37.360 So that later in verse 46, he says, This, for if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:48.160 Jesus was not afraid to motivate us to the work of loving our enemies because there was a reward for doing so. 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:49.680 But he doesn't stop there. 00:07:49.839 --> 00:08:08.399 Notice that as he then goes to talk about giving to the needy in chapter six, look what he says then in verse one beware beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:15.600 He says then in verse two and three that we are not to pray as the hypocrites do. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:21.279 We are not to give in a way that is public, so that others can see us. 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:22.480 But look at verse 4. 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:33.679 He says, to give in a way that your left hand doesn't know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:43.279 He goes on then after the Lord's Prayer to talk about fasting. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:44.720 You see this theme here. 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:45.600 You're circling this. 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:46.720 Look at verse 18. 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:57.679 You there's a way to fast, so that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:00.399 He goes on to talk about treasures. 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:10.960 There's a there's a way to store up treasures on earth that they will rust and be eaten by moths, but there is a way to store up treasure in heaven in which it will be lasting and permanent. 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:19.279 Jesus is going on and on and on and on to say that there is a way to live for his kingdom, that if you do so, there will be great blessing for you. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:27.840 This all culminates in a verse that you likely know, Matthew chapter 6, verse 32 and 33. 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:31.600 I want you to notice something especially interesting here. 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:39.120 Notice verse 32 where Jesus says this, for the Gentiles seek after all these things. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:41.360 All these things. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:42.320 What's he talking about? 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:49.759 Well, of course, he's talking about clothes and sustenance and shelter and jobs and the physical providence that we need as human beings. 00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:55.919 But he's also talking about spiritual realities here, about fulfillment, about joy, about peace. 00:09:57.279 --> 00:10:02.559 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:04.720 Look at here at verse 33. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:16.399 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:20.720 There's a principle that we can draw out of here. 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:32.320 First principle is this that Jesus desires that your deepest longings be fulfilled. 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:43.919 Jesus here this morning wants to meet you, and has as you have lived your life, as the Gentiles do, seeking after, Jesus doesn't say, hey, listen, there's some things I can satisfy. 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:48.000 He says the Gentiles seek after all things, and your father knows that you need them. 00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:55.360 So you come to this place this morning and you feel needy, you feel like life is empty, you feel like you're unsatisfied. 00:10:56.159 --> 00:11:11.679 You feel like something is missing in life, and Jesus is here to confront you and say, your father knows what you need, and there is a way to live that all these things that you have been seeking for your entire life can be added to you. 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:14.720 Seek first the kingdom. 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:22.879 Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:26.639 There's something else though that we can draw from this. 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:38.000 And that is that the things that you are seeking can only really come by seeking the kingdom. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:47.440 Gentiles seek after all these things, but seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:57.120 There's work to be done, a seeking of the kingdom, a building of God's kingdom, but there's a reward in it. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:00.240 All these things will be added to you. 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:16.480 And so what God is confronting us with is this reality this morning that the sustenance that we desire in life, true sustenance, true fulfillment, it can only come under his rule as we seek to establish his purposes in the world. 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:18.799 Building of his kingdom. 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:20.960 Now we ask why? 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:21.840 Why is it like this? 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:23.200 Why did God create us like this? 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:23.919 And I think C.S. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:25.039 Lewis is so helpful here. 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:26.320 This is gonna come up on the screen. 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:26.879 Look what C. 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:27.120 S. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:35.200 Lewis says The more we let God take over, the more truly ourselves we become. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:44.080 Because he made us, he invented us, he invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be. 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:56.000 It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to his personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own. 00:12:56.559 --> 00:12:57.759 And listen, what C.S. 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:06.000 Lewis is instructing us in this morning is this reality that you can never be yourself unless you are under the rule of God. 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:08.159 This is so relevant for us. 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:10.960 Don't we live in a world where constantly people are trying are saying this? 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:13.200 I'm just trying to find myself. 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:16.399 I'm just trying to discover who I really am. 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:29.679 And the Bible confronts us to say this: that you cannot know who you truly are apart from a relationship with God where you understand his purpose for your life and you seek to establish his kingdom in the world. 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:38.000 Well, what Nehemiah does then for us is model a life that seeks first the kingdom of God. 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:42.240 And you can turn your Bibles back to Nehemiah chapter six with me. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:52.960 Nehemiah believes this deeply, and that true fulfillment can only come as you commit yourself to the work of building the kingdom. 00:13:53.519 --> 00:14:03.200 And so as Nehemiah continues to face opposition, he ramps up all the more in his commitment to the work of God's kingdom. 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:16.000 And I think what you see in Nehemiah is this belief in what Jesus would say 500 years later, that when you seek the kingdom first, you will have so much more than you could ever possibly imagine. 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:18.960 That all these things will be added to you. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:25.120 That there's too much blessing in the work of building God's kingdom to let anything distract him from that work. 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:28.480 And so we're talking about reward then this morning. 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:31.679 What's what's it what is the reward then of building God's kingdom? 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:34.159 What is the reward of working for Christ? 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:35.600 And we see this in Nehemiah. 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:40.000 And the first thing I want you to see is this that when I work for Christ, I find resiliency. 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:43.039 I find resiliency. 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:52.480 Now, if you've been following along with us in Nehemiah, when I read chapter six, verse one, you kind of did a groan. 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:58.320 When I talked about Sanbalat and Tobiah, you're like, you are sick of Sanbalat and Tobiah. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:01.279 They keep coming up again and again. 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:04.559 And I thought about as we worked through Nehemiah, maybe we should have a culture. 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:08.320 Like whenever we hear the name Sanbalat, we all spit on the floor or something like that. 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:11.840 The cleaning services did not like that idea. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:18.320 And so we'll just stick with our inner our inner criticism of them. 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:31.200 Sanballad and Tobiah are on the scene again, like a villain that never goes away, like weeds that pop up every morning you come outside. 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:35.279 This has been Sanballad and Tobiah to Nehemiah. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:56.080 And yet, here we find this principle for us as believers today that the enemies that you face as you seek God's kingdom first often will be the same enemies over and over and over again. 00:15:57.200 --> 00:16:02.000 The challenges that you face as a Christian, isn't this true as you think about your experience as a Christian? 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:08.799 The challenges that you face will be the same challenges over and over and over again. 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:12.559 This is the way that our life will go. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:22.240 You see, sometimes as God does a work of transformation and salvation, especially in us, he does a work where he removes sin from us in a permanent way. 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:28.559 In many ways, when I came to Christ, there were aspects of my life in which I would never be the same again. 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:35.679 I had an anger in me that since I came to Christ, it has not been exposed because I believe that Jesus Christ has healed it completely. 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:38.480 Not that I don't get angry, but anger like that. 00:16:39.200 --> 00:16:47.360 There was an anxiety that I experienced that I haven't even like, I haven't even understood anxiety in the same sense to a degree that I did before I knew Christ. 00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:51.279 There are ways that when we come to Christ, He transforms us completely. 00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:55.600 But then I also recognize in my life that there are battles that have been lifelong. 00:16:55.759 --> 00:17:01.440 There are battles that, while there's growth, they have remained. 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:11.200 And certainly there's been seasons of struggles with sin that have been themed from one various aspect to another. 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:16.240 And this is true of us, and it was no different for Nehemiah. 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:28.000 This is so relevant for us because I've talked to so many of even you who find such discouragement in this and in this feeling that, like, why am I still the same way that I was so many years ago? 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:32.960 Why do I still struggle with this same struggle for so long? 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:42.000 And you you feel this immaturity because of this particular sin struggle, but the more you focus on it, the worse it seems to get. 00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:48.640 And I want you to look at Nehemiah and find here someone who is like shoulder to shoulder with you. 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:57.839 The more closer that Nehemiah gets to finishing the walls, the more Sanbalat and Tobiah are popping up to the point that in this chapter it's getting kind of ridiculous. 00:17:58.160 --> 00:18:01.680 Sanbalat and Tobiah come, and then what does it say in verse three? 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:06.480 Four times, sorry, verse four, four times they came in this way. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:12.319 What do you think Nehemiah thought in this moment of Sanbalat and Tobiah? 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:18.960 I imagine that there was no one who had a more annoying voice than Sandbalat did. 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:21.119 You have anyone like that in your life? 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:23.279 Don't look at them if they're in this room. 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:28.880 Hopefully it's not me because this is gonna be a horrible few minutes for you if it is. 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:31.200 But this must have been like that. 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:33.039 Like, I'm so sick of these people. 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:36.160 Every time you put a brick on Sandbalat's head pops over the wall. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:37.759 Hey, listen, you want to come have a meeting? 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:39.039 Nehemiah looks at him. 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:41.920 No, go away, Sanbalic, go away. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:50.799 And yet, a fifth time, in the same way, Sanbalic comes. 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:53.920 He sends his servant with this open letter. 00:18:54.400 --> 00:19:02.000 An open letter is just a letter that's not sealed, and isn't it human nature that when you have a letter that's not sealed, you want to know what's in it? 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:06.480 I mean, let's be honest, how many of us have held a sealed letter to the light to see if we can see what's in it? 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:07.359 Is it just me? 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:09.279 Was that a really bad confession? 00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:22.559 And so this open letter would go all the way from Sandbalat to Nehemiah, and of course, everyone who had their hands would have this letter open like this was e-magazine, juicy gossip about Nehemiah, but none of it was true. 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:27.839 So we take this encouragement. 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:32.880 This persistent battle against sin is nothing new for God's people. 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:39.680 There's a few ways I think that we need to draw application out of God's word right now. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:52.160 The first is this you need to see that the most destructive attacks on your faith will often not be significant, but relentless. 00:19:52.799 --> 00:20:05.839 The way that Satan seeks to devour Christians is not often by significant temptation, but relentless, small attacks. 00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:32.000 But he will bring a thousand chances for bitterness, for thoughts, critical thoughts to fester in your mind, for small grudges, to remain small grudges. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:45.839 Satan might not present you with an opportunity for adultery, but he'll present you with a thousand opportunities for a lustful look or a lustful thought. 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:55.920 Satan might not tempt you to deny your faith entirely, but day by day he'll convince you that it's okay to take small little steps. 00:20:56.960 --> 00:21:02.240 It's okay to skip prayer here, it's okay to skip the word here, it's okay to not go to church here. 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:09.920 Small little acts that day by day as they accumulate will lead to something bigger over time. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:22.000 Secondly, I want you to see though that it's regular to have seasons of battle with one specific sin and praise God for that. 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:29.759 Isn't there an element where you're glad that every morning you wake up and it's not like roulette of what sin am I gonna struggle with today? 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:33.519 In fact, most of the time when you wake up, you know exactly what the struggle is gonna be. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:37.839 For parents, you see it at seven in the morning when your child is at the table in their breakfast bowl. 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:41.519 You know that anger is gonna be bubbling at the surface all morning. 00:21:42.079 --> 00:21:43.519 You know what the challenge would be. 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:46.880 How hard would it be if like every day it was a random new challenge that you had? 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:51.039 Today it's anxiety, tomorrow it's anger, the next day it's doubt. 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:59.599 Instead, often we know exactly what we struggle with, and so then we can create a battle plan and know exactly how to stand against it. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.759 Is what Nehemiah does. 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:11.440 And so listen, you may go through a season where pride just keeps resurfacing. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:15.519 And you know what you can do? 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:17.680 You can become aware of it. 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:32.640 You can become aware of the conversations you find yourself in where you're quick to defend yourself, or you constantly compare yourself to other people, or you kind of sneak in these subtle little brags about how great you are and all this amazing work that you've done. 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:38.640 You're aware of it so that as you enter into that conversation, you're praying this prayer that Nehemiah prays in verse 9. 00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:40.559 Oh God, strengthen my hands. 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:46.640 This prayer to be able to stand in strength against the enemy that you face time and time again. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:52.160 You need to learn to walk around like Nehemiah did. 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:59.200 You know how I think Nehemiah walked around in these days where Sanbiat and Tobiah were, Sanbian and Tobiah were relentlessly pursuing him. 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:01.920 I think that Nehemiah had his fists up at all times. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:03.519 I think he walked around like this. 00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:05.200 You know, where are these building the wall? 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:08.160 These guys could pop out anywhere, and I'm just ready to go. 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:18.240 In fact, there's a video ingrained in my mind, and I think often I give you guys too much homework on YouTube, and that's probably not great for a pastor to do, but here we go again. 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:24.319 There's a video of uh a guy who wants to scare his friend, and so he hides in one of those big garbage cans. 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:25.599 Have you guys seen this? 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:31.359 Hides in a big garbage can, and as his friend comes to throw the garbage up, the guy pops out and scares him. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:34.559 And immediately this guy just clocks him in the face. 00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:37.200 And I love that because that's not my reaction. 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:39.359 My reaction when I'm scared is the curl up in the ball. 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:45.759 And I wish I could have that sort of like, I'm ready, you know, if you pop out of a garbage can, I don't care who you are, you're getting clocked. 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:48.160 Do many pastors say that? 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:49.119 I don't know if they say that. 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:50.480 I'm not sure. 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:57.119 And yet, when it comes to our sin, this is how we need to be walking around. 00:23:57.279 --> 00:23:59.839 You know the things that you struggle with, I hope. 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:03.440 And so you should be walking around day to day with sort of like my fists up. 00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:04.640 Pride, I'm ready for you. 00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:06.160 Envy, I know where you come in. 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:10.480 Jealousy, I know that as soon as I walk out my door, I'm gonna see my neighbors and be filled with jealousy. 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:12.640 And so I'm I'm praying for strength. 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:13.920 I know what's coming. 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:17.119 Like Satan, I stand on the foundation of Jesus Christ. 00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:19.759 I know I can stand against this today. 00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:25.759 This is the resiliency I'm talking about. 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:27.599 The gospel gives you. 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:39.119 That God makes you aware of the sin in your life and the enemies that you face, so that you can stand in his strength that Nehemiah praised for God's strength in verse 9 and stand against it. 00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:41.359 But I want you to notice something specific. 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:43.680 I want you to notice where this resiliency comes from. 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:49.200 Look at verse 3, look at his response to San Ballad in Tobiah. 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:51.359 He says, I'm doing a great work. 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:54.000 I'm doing a great work. 00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:01.119 Look what he says in verse eight then. 00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:08.079 I said to him saying, No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind. 00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:13.359 For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking their hands will drop from the work. 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:16.160 And I love Nehemiah's confidence. 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:18.000 It will not be done. 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:19.759 It will not be done. 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:24.240 Nothing is going to distract me from God's work. 00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:29.039 Now listen, this is what the gospel does for you. 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:44.480 When you believe that you are a child of God, and that as Paul says in Ephesians 2, you are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared that we should walk in them. 00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:53.759 When you believe that, that you're a child of God, that you're commissioned to do his work, then you stand to opposition in a different way, don't you? 00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:56.319 Listen, I'm God's child. 00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:06.079 And there are some of us that we allow other people's words to have too much effect on us and don't allow enough of God's word to have effect on us. 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:11.039 We don't allow God to say what is true of us, instead, we believe what others say of us. 00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:30.079 And listen, when you're confronted with sin, do you know what you say? 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:33.680 You say, hey, listen, I'm a child of God and he's taken me to heaven. 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:36.000 And so, Satan, there's nothing you can do. 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:38.480 You think you can stand against Jesus? 00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:40.799 Jesus is the one who is redeeming me. 00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:41.759 He's doing the work. 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:43.680 You have no authority here. 00:26:46.160 --> 00:27:00.079 The gospel assures us that God equips the ones that He calls so that we can step forward in faith, knowing that we will be empowered by Him to face the daily struggle that we face. 00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:03.279 In other words, here's what we're saying. 00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:05.200 You can maybe write this down, it would be helpful. 00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:07.599 The gospel doesn't produce wimps. 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:11.680 The gospel does not produce wimps. 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:25.519 What the gospel does is creates the strongest foundation for you to stand upon and face the strongest opposition because you are a child of God and your end is secure in him. 00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:31.200 That's what we see in Nehemiah. 00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:46.720 In the face of busyness, in the face of suffering, in the face of whatever comes his way, he stands strong on this gospel foundation that he is a covenant child of God and he is doing the work that God calls him. 00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:48.319 You know what that means? 00:27:48.720 --> 00:28:13.200 That means that if you are lazy in kingdom work, if you are not seeking the kingdom first in your life and in the way that you serve God's people and in the way that you seek the salvation of lost souls, then you should expect that things will be immensely difficult for you because you have no ground to stand on when attacks come. 00:28:13.839 --> 00:28:16.400 What does Nehemiah do in the face of opposition? 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:20.480 He says, Hey, listen, I'm building God's kingdom and God has commissioned me. 00:28:20.559 --> 00:28:26.400 And the reason why so many of us are so weak in the gospel is because we're just not doing the work of building God's kingdom. 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:32.480 Build God's kingdom and you find resiliency. 00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:38.000 Here's the second thing I want you to see that as you build God's kingdom, you find usefulness. 00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:39.599 You find usefulness. 00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:48.160 Nehemiah continues to face opposition in verses 10 through 14, but I want you to see here in verse 15. 00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:51.119 These amazing words. 00:28:51.599 --> 00:28:53.519 So the wall was finished. 00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:56.319 So the wall was finished. 00:28:56.960 --> 00:28:58.240 The wall is done. 00:28:58.480 --> 00:29:04.160 If you're like tracking along with the story of Nehemiah, this is this is a point where you like, we're lifting up both arms, we're cheering. 00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:05.200 This is amazing. 00:29:05.359 --> 00:29:07.279 They have been laboring to finish this wall. 00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:08.960 It has not been an easy task. 00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:11.279 They were being mocked by all of the nations. 00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:13.200 Nobody believed that they could do this. 00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:15.920 They've proved all the haters wrong. 00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:20.400 It's time for them to quote their favorite Taylor Swift song. 00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:24.799 That didn't land very well, did it? 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:27.839 I can't remember what the song is called. 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:30.240 What's that song with Taylor Swift about haters? 00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:32.000 Yeah, thank you. 00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:34.640 Brother saved me. 00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:36.559 Do you want to come up here and just finish a sermon for me? 00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:38.960 I'm just gonna go behind in that curtain. 00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:42.240 There's a reason why it was left open so that I could get behind there. 00:29:47.200 --> 00:29:48.559 The wall's finished. 00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:53.519 People have spent seven chapters committing themselves to a pretty ordinary work, haven't they? 00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:56.319 I mean, at this point, God's people are covered in mortar. 00:29:56.480 --> 00:30:07.200 They have a trowel in their hands, and they're looking at this wall that they've been building for 52 days, and they're they're saying, This is the work of God, but more than their celebration is the thoughts of the enemies. 00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:08.640 Look at verse 16. 00:30:08.799 --> 00:30:21.759 When all of our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of their God. 00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:25.519 Now, if you're following along with the story, this makes no sense. 00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:28.400 The nations all fall in esteem of themselves. 00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:32.880 They all sort of bow before God and say, God, how amazing are you? 00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:35.359 Because they look at Israel, and what does Israel have? 00:30:35.599 --> 00:30:36.160 Armies? 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:37.279 Nope. 00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:38.799 A mighty king? 00:30:39.039 --> 00:30:39.599 Nope. 00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:41.519 Thousands and thousands of people? 00:30:41.759 --> 00:30:42.240 Nope. 00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:49.119 What Israel has is a trowel, dirty clothes filled with mortar, and a wall. 00:30:49.519 --> 00:31:05.440 And we're told in a few verses, there's not even any homes in Jerusalem, and yet this work is so profound, this ordinary work is so profound that the nations look at it and they cannot believe what God has done. 00:31:09.200 --> 00:31:13.279 Find it astounding that God wants to do the same through us today. 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:17.759 God wants to use you as an instrument for his glory. 00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:20.640 This is what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5. 00:31:20.720 --> 00:31:30.720 He says, In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 00:31:31.039 --> 00:31:33.920 Paul recognizes this in 2 Corinthians 5.20. 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:41.039 He says, Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. 00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:44.960 God wants to reach the world. 00:31:45.359 --> 00:31:49.759 And understand this, that he wants to do it through you. 00:32:02.640 --> 00:32:05.920 This is the doctrine of God's self-sufficiency. 00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:07.440 That God does not need us. 00:32:07.519 --> 00:32:14.480 God could have existed for all of eternity without creating us, and he would have been happy as the triune God in and of himself. 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:20.880 But the question after that is this: does God desire to use us? 00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:23.119 And the answer is this, yes. 00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:31.359 As weak as you and I are, God desires to use us. 00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:41.519 He desires to take our ordinary actions and use them for extraordinary purposes. 00:32:42.319 --> 00:32:53.599 He desires to take our ordinary lives and use them to reveal an extraordinary glory and grace to a watching world. 00:32:56.079 --> 00:32:57.920 So let me ask you this question then. 00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:01.279 Where do you find your meaning? 00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:04.000 Where do you find your purpose? 00:33:04.480 --> 00:33:06.880 Where do you find your worth in life? 00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:12.720 Is it in things that you are doing for yourself? 00:33:13.599 --> 00:33:19.599 Are you sort of spending your life building up this kingdom of business accomplishments? 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:23.759 Building up this family that looks a certain way. 00:33:25.200 --> 00:33:31.200 Building up this image that declares a certain thing about who you are and how great you are. 00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:42.319 God's confronting us this morning, telling us that we can't find our greatness in and of ourselves. 00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:46.960 And this is so critical for us to hear in this day and age because you know what you're constantly told to do? 00:33:47.119 --> 00:33:54.000 You're constantly told to look inside yourself for a sense of worth and a sense of fulfillment and a sense of purse, a purpose. 00:33:54.079 --> 00:34:03.920 But what's the problem is when you look inside, all you see is inadequacy, all you see is weakness, what you see in there is ugly, and God is giving us a different set of eyes. 00:34:04.079 --> 00:34:07.839 He's saying, rather than look in, what you need to do then is look up. 00:34:08.400 --> 00:34:16.000 Rather than have a greater picture of who you are, you need to have a greater understanding of who God is and how great He is. 00:34:16.960 --> 00:34:23.440 And so we recognize this that the meaning and purpose and worth that we find in life is by being used by God. 00:34:23.599 --> 00:34:28.639 This is why we read Psalm 84 at the beginning of our morning together. 00:34:28.800 --> 00:34:37.519 It's because the psalmist says this I would rather be a doorkeeper than dwell in the tents of the wicked. 00:34:38.639 --> 00:34:50.079 I would rather have the most useless job, the smallest job in the kingdom of God, in the service of his temple, than to do anything else in the world. 00:34:50.320 --> 00:34:50.719 Why? 00:34:51.039 --> 00:34:56.960 Because God can use that small little task for his glory. 00:34:58.239 --> 00:35:00.880 And this is exactly what happens. 00:35:01.599 --> 00:35:11.519 In chapter 7, we see it that the most faithful are given jobs that, as we read them in chapter 7, verse 3, they don't really seem that significant. 00:35:11.679 --> 00:35:18.960 The brothers of Nehemiah, like the very brothers of the one that is the most prestigious one in Israel right now, all they do is open the gates for people to come in. 00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:22.400 And yet this is given to the faithful. 00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:31.920 This is what Jesus taught us in the parable of, not the parable, sorry, when he multiplied the food for the thousands. 00:35:32.320 --> 00:35:46.719 He took the five loaves and the two fish of a boy, and he did more with that small offering of faith than he would do with all the worldly achievements combined. 00:35:48.639 --> 00:35:58.079 A simple lunch, it could do nothing in the face of a hungry crowd, and yet in the hands of Jesus, it could have eternal significance. 00:35:58.239 --> 00:35:59.199 You know what that means? 00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:02.800 This is every reason for you to take encouragement. 00:36:03.039 --> 00:36:12.880 When you take small acts of faith and you give them to God, God will multiply them for his glory. 00:36:13.039 --> 00:36:23.440 And oftentimes, the weaker the act of faith is, the more eager he is to multiply it so that you don't get the glory, so that he alone gets the glory. 00:36:23.840 --> 00:36:29.840 God takes your small, little, insignificant, insufficient offerings and he uses them. 00:36:30.320 --> 00:36:36.239 Listen, I'm reminded of this week in and week out every time I preach. 00:36:36.800 --> 00:36:40.559 Preaching is an utterly impossible task. 00:36:41.199 --> 00:36:44.639 You are trying to speak to people's hearts. 00:36:44.880 --> 00:36:47.360 It doesn't just matter that you're heard. 00:36:47.440 --> 00:36:57.519 There needs to be a spiritual act of transformation that happens so that no matter what you do, I mean, you could prepare the best sermon ever in the whole entire world, and I do, amen? 00:36:57.679 --> 00:36:57.840 Right? 00:36:58.000 --> 00:36:58.960 Best sermons, right? 00:37:01.440 --> 00:37:07.360 And yet, unless the Spirit uses it, it won't do anything. 00:37:07.519 --> 00:37:14.800 And you know, I love, I love all the textbooks that you read on preaching because the good ones, there's, you know, there'll be 15 chapters about the art and science of preaching. 00:37:14.960 --> 00:37:20.159 Hey, here's how to study the text, you know, here's how to put together a sermon and an illustration and all these things. 00:37:20.239 --> 00:37:23.039 And there's all the, you know, it's all about how to build a good sermon. 00:37:23.119 --> 00:37:33.519 And you finish that 15th chapter, you feel like you have a lot of confidence, but then the 16th chapter in every preaching book that is good is about the whole the unction of the Holy Spirit. 00:37:34.559 --> 00:37:50.320 And unction is the blessing that the Spirit gives to the preaching of God's word so that it is effective, and you start to realize that it doesn't really matter how much work you put into crafting the perfect sermon, if God doesn't use the word, if the Holy Spirit doesn't multiply the effect, it is useless. 00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:59.360 So that some of my favorite preachers have said things like this the highest and best gift of the Holy Spirit is the unction, which makes preaching effective. 00:37:59.519 --> 00:38:03.039 Without it, the sermon is but a dull performance. 00:38:03.440 --> 00:38:10.000 You know how anxious I get sitting in the front row, walking up, no matter how long I've prepared, praying, God, give me unction. 00:38:10.639 --> 00:38:13.760 Otherwise, this is nothing but a dull performance. 00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:21.440 You know what Martin Lord Jones said, one of the greatest preachers of the 20th century, he said, the unction of the Spirit is the only thing that can change a life. 00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:26.000 Our words are powerless without his divine touch. 00:38:28.719 --> 00:38:33.440 Listen, I read the story about Balaam's donkey, I don't find a lot of encouragement there. 00:38:34.239 --> 00:38:42.719 If God is speaking through a donkey and changing everything, some of God's best preachers are donkeys. 00:38:42.960 --> 00:38:57.599