WEBVTT 00:00:00.719 --> 00:00:15.119 Well, if you're new around here, uh there's about four to six Sundays a year where um we've unofficially titled them Jacket Sunday because myself, the student pastor who loves wearing triple XL shirts wears clothes that fit. 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:20.960 So that's the biggest difference today is that my clothes fit and I look like a grown man, so uh at least a little bit. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:25.760 Well, growing up, I always had the weak stomach out of my friends. 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:27.519 It was something that I had grown up with. 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:40.479 And at birthday parties in uh friends' houses, I all my friends would eat, as 14-year-olds do, just obscene amounts of candy and chips and crispy cream donuts and other amazing and horrible things to put in your body. 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:48.479 And they'd all feel fine, of course, because their stomachs were great, but I'd always feel horrible and I would actually get sick sometimes when I would join them in their snacking. 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:52.960 And my parents and siblings would always joke with me, like, oh, there goes Sam overeating again. 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:55.759 And I was always like, guys, like I ate the same amount that y'all did. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:58.560 So I was like, what's going on within me? 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:04.480 My stomach finally got really bad in the summer between my junior and senior year of high school. 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:08.640 During this summer, I don't know what switch, but I like hardly I could hardly eat. 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:13.359 I was eating like 600 calories a day, and that was me like force feeding myself. 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:18.879 So that summer I lost about 35 pounds, and I wasn't like a puffy guy before that. 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:21.040 Like I was still skinny Sam that summer. 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:28.640 So I went from about 165 pounds to about 130 pounds that summer, and I was still about six feet tall, so it was not an ideal weight. 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:31.519 So here's a picture of myself and my dad from that summer. 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:32.879 Um I look about the same. 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:34.319 I know, I recognize that. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:35.840 Uh you can you can say it. 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:40.319 Um I like I look fine, but I was like skinny, skinny in that picture. 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:43.760 So during this time, we went to too many doctors to count. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:46.719 For months, no luck, no one knew what was wrong with me. 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:48.719 Some doctors thought I had a parasite in me. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:50.159 That was that seemed to be a good guess. 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:56.079 So we do the stool sample situation, which if you've done the stool sample situation, it's one of the worst things to have to do, uh. 00:01:56.959 --> 00:01:57.920 So I had to do that. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:00.000 Uh I was getting blood tests constantly. 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:06.239 At 17 years old, I got a colonoscopy, which most people get at 50, halfway through their life, but not Sam Rapp. 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:08.879 Happy one year of uh driving your car, Sam. 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:10.639 Here's a colonoscopy now. 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:21.280 So it was a process of more than a year of seeing doctors almost every week with no success, trying all sorts of medicines, different antibiotics for these parasites that the doctors thought I had. 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:22.319 Of course, nothing worked. 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:26.000 The colonoscopy, by the way, was useless, uh which really stinks. 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:29.439 I would rather not have uh a camera go up there for no reason. 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:32.719 Um so finally I see this doctor. 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:34.879 For the hundredth time, I explain what's wrong. 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:41.520 And this guy, I don't know, I don't know what the Lord has gifted him with, but he knows immediately what's wrong with me. 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:45.439 So he looks at me, he looks at me up and down, he's like, Oh yeah, you have abdominal migraines. 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:46.719 Didn't know that was a thing. 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:48.159 You have abdominal migraines. 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:50.319 So hey Sam, here's the medicine you're gonna take. 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:51.599 Go in peace. 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:52.800 And it worked. 00:02:53.039 --> 00:03:01.520 It was like immediately he gave me the right medicine, and to this day, ten years later, I take that same medicine every morning because it worked so well. 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:07.599 He knew exactly what was wrong with my situation, and so he knew exactly what the fix was. 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:09.280 Now here's the problem. 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:14.000 All the other doctors, as well trained as they were, they could not figure out what was wrong with me. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:19.680 They could look me up and down, get all the stool samples they wanted, but they could not figure out what was wrong with Sam Rapp. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:23.439 And it wasn't until this guy he knew where to look. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:31.919 He knew where to look, he knew what questions to ask, and so once he got a good look at the problem, he knew what the right process was to rebuild. 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:33.520 He was a great doctor. 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:38.080 So this morning we're continuing in our study in the book of Nehemiah, the Old Testament book. 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:40.479 So if you have your Bibles, I would invite you to turn there with me. 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:43.759 Uh last week, Pastor Matt opened up chapter one for us. 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:47.680 And to catch you up a little bit, here's a little background about the book so far. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:51.120 Our main character, Nehemiah, is living in Persia. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:54.400 He's the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:57.599 Now, the cupbearer was one of the king's most trusted confidants. 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:06.080 The cupbearer would have made sure that no one poisoned the king with food or wine, and so the king literally trusted this person with his life. 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:11.439 Nehemiah and the king were living in Susa, which would have been the winter palace where the king lived. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:12.719 Wouldn't you like a winter palace? 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:13.520 That sounds great. 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:16.800 This is what the winter palace, Susa the Citadel, looks like. 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:21.759 Susa is in modern-day Iran, about 800 miles east of Jerusalem. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:30.720 So the story takes place around 445 BC, and at this point in Israel's history, the people are living in exile because of their own sinfulness. 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:37.120 The Lord had scattered them amongst the nations, and because of this, they had no central place of worship anymore. 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:39.519 There was no central place of safety, of power. 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:47.199 They had been living due to their own covenant unfaithfulness and the promises of cursing that God had promised in Deuteronomy 28. 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:51.600 He promised them that if they obeyed his word, they would live in blessing. 00:04:51.839 --> 00:04:58.560 But if you know your Bible, you know the people of God are far too similar to me, selfish and unfaithful, not trusting in the word of God. 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:04.000 And so God keeps his promises and he scatters them, lets them be conquered. 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:16.079 So Nehemiah, this Jewish man, he's living in the palace of the king of Persia, and he gets these bad news that the walls of Jerusalem had broken down and the gates have been burned by fire. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:19.759 And so the Israelites are wondering if God will ever return. 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:25.600 Will we ever live in the glory days of Moses and once again be in Jerusalem? 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:31.439 And so Nehemiah gets word of this, and his first response is to weep and to pray. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:36.160 In his prayer, he confesses to God that like his people, he too has lived in sinfulness. 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:37.519 He's not perfect. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:40.240 He has not lived in faithfulness. 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:43.199 And then he asks God to keep his promises. 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:45.360 Have you ever prayed that boldly? 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:49.519 He looks at God and he says, God, remember the word you gave to Moses. 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:52.079 I'm so challenged by that prayer. 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:57.839 And here's the word that God gave to Moses from Deuteronomy 28 that he quotes in chapter 1. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:05.279 If you are unfaithful, this is from God, I will scatter you amongst the nations, and if you return, I will gather you from the uttermost. 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:11.920 So here's Nehemiah on his face before Yahweh, saying, Lord, we are returning. 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:13.120 We're coming back. 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:15.519 So would you be faithful to your word? 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:18.639 Would you, God, gather us back from the uttermost? 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:20.879 Would you rebuild what you allowed to be torn down? 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:24.240 God, would you bring grace to your disgraced people? 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:33.279 This kind of prayer has just about the same gravity as you and your sin, looking at God and saying, God, don't you forget the cross? 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:36.560 Don't you remember your son on the cross for me? 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:40.399 That's the kind of gravity that Nehemiah prays for. 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:44.560 God, remember your covenant promise to us. 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:48.720 Now, with that in mind, let's pick up here in chapter two. 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:50.639 This is what God's word says. 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:57.439 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:03.120 Now I had not been sad in his presence, and the king said to me, Why is your face sad, seeing that you are not sick? 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:05.439 This is nothing but sadness of the heart. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:09.279 Then I was very much afraid, and I said to the king, Let the king live forever. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:17.600 Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of my father's graves, lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire? 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:20.959 So four months had passed since chapter one. 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:30.800 Kizlev, in the chapter one that we saw, is around November or December, and this month Nisan is uh like March or April in the ancient Jewish calendar. 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:35.120 So for four months, Nehemiah had just been praying and weeping. 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:36.480 For this entire time. 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:40.560 He hadn't made any plans yet, he'd just been praying. 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:42.399 In a season of waiting. 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:45.519 Maybe you've been there, maybe you're there now. 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:50.800 Maybe you've received hard news, and there's nothing you can do except pray. 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:59.360 Maybe you've had a very difficult relationship with a coworker or a family member, and it feels like you're stuck, and all you can do is mourn and pray. 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:02.399 And if that's you today, you find good company in the scriptures. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:07.519 Nehemiah here is deeply grieved at this news of his people. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:13.920 And all he does for these four months is pray, and then finally in chapter two, he begins to act after four months. 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:15.199 And that's not law. 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:23.360 Like if you if you have a big decision coming up or uh something big in your life going on, you're not required to pray and weep for four months before acting. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:28.639 But now we certainly can learn from Nehemiah here to be quick to pray and slow to act. 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:31.839 So in his first course of action, he does what he always does as cupbearer. 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:34.399 He brings some wine to the king. 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:41.519 Maybe he got a few bottles from the cellar, dusted them off, and brought them to the king, and he shows up with his wine, and the king just reads his mail. 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:42.720 I don't know if you noticed it. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:43.279 I love it. 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:47.440 Nehemiah says, I wasn't sad in the presence of the king, which always makes me laugh. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:50.559 What he means by that is, yeah, I'm certainly sad inside. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:54.720 Like you know the reality of my life, and but I'm gonna put on a great face. 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:58.720 But the king knows Nehemiah so well that he can read it. 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:00.960 He says, Nehemiah, why are you sad? 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:02.480 You're clearly not sick. 00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:05.919 No one poisoned the wine, so you're not sick, so what's going on? 00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:10.639 And it's hard to wrap our minds exactly around what this relationship would have looked like. 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:15.279 This king of Persia here, Artaxerxes, would have been the most powerful man in the ancient world. 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:18.399 He was the commander-in-chief of the ancient Near East. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:20.879 And the cupbearer was his number two guy. 00:09:21.039 --> 00:09:23.679 Like he was his ride or die guy who was right with him. 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:37.600 He probably spent the most time with, the man that he trusted his life with, and because of that, because the king could have anyone he wanted as a cupbearer, the cupbearer certainly could not be a bummer of a guy if the king wanted to spend all his time with him. 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:40.960 Nehemiah had to put a good face on all the time. 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:45.039 He couldn't just mope around whenever he was sad like this, and that's why verse 2 ends like it does. 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:47.279 I was very much afraid. 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:52.399 Because the king seeing Nehemiah sad could have been a death sentence for Nehemiah. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:58.080 So Nehemiah replies out of genuine fear and with praise to the king, let the king live forever, Artaxerxes. 00:09:58.240 --> 00:09:59.840 Here's my loyalty to you. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:01.440 And here's why I'm sad. 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:06.080 He says, The city, the place of my father's graves, is burnt. 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:07.840 The gates are destroyed. 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:09.519 How can I not be sad? 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:12.159 Let's pick up in verse four. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:14.960 Then the king said to me, What are you requesting? 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:16.960 So I prayed to the God of heaven. 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:26.480 And I said to the king, If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's graves, that I may rebuild it. 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:30.799 And the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, How long will you be gone when will you return? 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:34.240 So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:53.679 And I said to the king, If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the prince beyond a province beyond the river, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forests, that he may give me timber and make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy. 00:10:53.919 --> 00:10:58.480 And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me. 00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:04.080 So instead of chopping Nehemiah's head off for being sad, he says, What are you requesting? 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:05.679 And I love what Nehemiah does here. 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:06.799 I don't know if you noticed it. 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:10.240 He just says, So I prayed to the God of heaven. 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:11.840 This is a man of prayer. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:22.000 Like chapter one, we see this long, beautiful, wordy prayer, and then here in this time of action, he just maybe shouts a little, God help me, and then starts talking, praying in the moment. 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:26.799 Maybe you've been there, maybe you prayed a prayer like that this morning, getting the kids ready for church. 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:28.320 God help me. 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:33.039 Now we see Nehemiah does two things really well, doesn't he? 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:35.039 First, he is a man of prayer. 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:41.919 I mean, he spent four months just praying and grieving, but not only is he a man of prayer and empathy, he is also a man of action. 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:48.000 If you're anything like me, it is very easy to sway from one extreme of this to the other. 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:59.600 Either to just pray and not plan, kind of the let go and let God kind of mentality, or to just plan and not pray, which that's probably, if we're honest, how most of us operate. 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:05.440 Frantically planning our days and weeks and lives, our kids' lives, our finances, our troubles, you name it. 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:07.840 The plan, plan, plan, plan, act. 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:11.120 Because if we're honest, our life moves too fast to pray. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:16.559 Now, Nehemiah displays a really beautiful mix of both prayer and action. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:18.559 And because of that, he's thought of everything. 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:28.799 And maybe we're gonna see his plans come together, not because Nehemiah is really smart, but maybe in his spent months of prayer, Nehemiah's heart began to align with the God he was praying to. 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:31.600 And so Nehemiah asked for all these things from the king. 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:33.120 And what's crazy, the king says yes. 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:34.399 Look at verse 8 again. 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:36.480 And the king granted me what I asked. 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:36.960 Why? 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:39.519 For the good hand of my God was upon me. 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:46.639 The king says yes, not because Nehemiah's plans were great, not because he was so smart or convincing. 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:51.840 The king said yes, according to Nehemiah, because the good hand of his God was upon him. 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:53.440 And I love that phrasing. 00:12:53.759 --> 00:13:01.600 He doesn't just say the hand of God was upon me, he says the good hand of my God was upon me, and that's a small but very helpful difference. 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:09.200 He's saying, not only is my God above everything, but he's morally good and he's mine. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:14.639 He's accessible, he's personable, he is a God who cares for his shamed people. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:17.759 But the reality is Nehemiah was ultimately powerless. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:20.159 The king said no, the mission's over. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:26.480 The walls will just continue to be in rubble, the covenant promises of Deuteronomy 28 still unkept. 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:31.840 And so it had to take an act of the good hand of his God for the king to approve of his mission. 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:37.679 Even in the book of Ezra, the book right before this, this same king Artaxerxes said no harshly. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:41.279 But yet God had softened his heart to say yes now. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:45.759 So the king sends Nehemiah out, 800 miles to Jerusalem. 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:50.159 And as with any move of God, even as Matt just prayed, there is opposition. 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:53.200 We meet these two friends that are anti-Nehemiah. 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:56.480 We meet Sanbelat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:14:00.399 And in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, names matter. 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:03.519 And Tobiah literally means Yahweh is good. 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:10.799 And it's ironic because this man whose name means Yahweh is good is one of the two men who are anti-Yahweh's plan here. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:12.320 Isn't that ironic? 00:14:12.559 --> 00:14:16.240 And yet, even in opposition, Nehemiah continues in faithfulness. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:26.480 He goes 800 miles to Jerusalem, he stays there for three days, then he sneaks away in the middle of the night without telling anybody his plan, and he brings a couple guys with him. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:32.960 And then Nehemiah does this slow, intentional walk around this very, very special wall. 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:36.639 In these verses, we see the word inspect twice. 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:40.559 Once in verse 13 and another in verse 15, as Nehemiah goes around the wall. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:47.360 And the word for inspect is the word shavar, which means the level of detailed searching that a doctor would use as he probes a wound. 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:53.039 It is a doctoral level of examination because Nehemiah must become an expert in the rubble. 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:56.159 And here's a big vital point that I want you to hear this morning. 00:14:56.320 --> 00:15:00.960 The extent of the rebuild can be so only as far as the destruction is known. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:04.639 Nehemiah must be a doctor in the rubble. 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:12.240 He must know intimately how low in disgrace they are, so that he can set the plan in action for the rebuild. 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:18.080 And so finally, once Nehemiah had become an expert in the wall's destruction, he brings his plans to the leaders. 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:19.759 Let's read verse 17 again. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:25.279 Then I said to them, You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:29.039 Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer suffer derision. 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:36.639 And I told them, of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me, and they said, Let us rise up and build. 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:39.360 So they strengthened their hands for the good work. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:45.679 Nehemiah had become an expert, and he knows how to rebuild, and so he calls him up. 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:54.000 And not only that, but he comes with the commission and authority of Yahweh and said, The leaders are inspired, let us rise up and build. 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:57.120 Feels like a great end of the story, doesn't it? 00:15:57.360 --> 00:15:59.919 And then once again, opposition comes. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:01.759 Again, look at verses 19 and 20. 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:10.879 But when Sanbellat the Horonite and Tobiah, remember our friend, the Ammonite, servant and Geshem the Arab, heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us, saying, What is this thing that you are doing? 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:13.039 Are you rebelling against the king? 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:14.720 You see our two guys again? 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:16.960 And then they bring their friend, this time Geshem. 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:23.120 And the three of them, much like middle schoolers, start yelling at Nehemiah and his friends, saying, What are you doing? 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:25.120 They start mocking him. 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:29.279 But what's so brilliant about Nehemiah is he didn't tell anybody his plans. 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:31.440 So there's no room for gossip. 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:35.360 So much so that even his most violent opponents had the story wrong. 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:36.720 You notice what they said? 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:40.799 Are you rebelling against the king, the king that sent Nehemiah? 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:42.639 They had the story wrong. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:45.279 So Nehemiah brings the ultimate trump card. 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:46.240 Verse 20. 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:51.840 Then I replied to them, the God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build it. 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:56.159 But you have no portion or rights or claim in Jerusalem. 00:16:56.960 --> 00:16:59.600 God of heaven must show up. 00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:03.120 So Nehemiah closes with a harsh word. 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:07.200 He's saying, if you're against the mission, you don't belong here. 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:09.359 Yeah, Tobiah, you might be a Jew. 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:10.880 Your name is really good. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:15.200 You might even be a legal citizen, but you stand at odds with Yahweh. 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:19.519 And I promise you, Tobiah, that the hand of God will make us prosper. 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:22.880 And now one of my favorite things about Nehemiah is his name. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:26.960 Like I said, all names matter, and Nehemiah means Yahweh comforts. 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:28.160 I love that. 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:36.160 In the book of Nehemiah, Yahweh, our God, comes to his disgraced, discouraged, and hopeless people. 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:43.359 This people without a home, without a central place of worship, and Yahweh brings comfort through his servant Nehemiah. 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:49.200 The one commissioned by a Persian king to rebuild the walls of God's holy city. 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:53.039 Where to be outside of the walls means you're outside of God's presence. 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:56.880 And to be inside the walls meant you are inside Yahweh's presence. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:17:59.759 And what does Nehemiah, the comfort of Yahweh, do? 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:05.440 He, a man living far outside Jerusalem in a foreign land, hears word of his disgraced people. 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:07.200 And he weeps and he prays for them. 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:11.680 He travels 800 miles authoring the commission of a king. 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:13.359 He speaks a word to no one. 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:20.400 He spends three days alone and then with surgical precision probes the walls as to know precisely how to rebuild. 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:23.920 And beloved, the better Nehemiah is here. 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:31.599 The comfort of Yahweh, Jesus of Nazareth, has come with a vision to rebuild far exceeding the walls of Jerusalem. 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:38.960 Jesus, who knows the disgrace of his people, the disgrace of those born after the likeness of Adam, is here. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:46.480 Jesus, who with grieved heart, knowing with surgical precision, the rubble that we have been left in, is here. 00:18:46.960 --> 00:19:01.200 Jesus, the great physician who came not to save the healthy but the sick, who has come to take the rubble and ruins of our spiritual state, and on his cross and resurrection, has established a rebuild far exceeding that of Jerusalem. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:06.160 Jesus in his incarnation provided what the Holy of Holies provided in the time of Jerusalem. 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:12.640 The presence of God is no longer limited to a place in the ancient Near East, but the presence of God arrived as a man. 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:19.200 Jesus, your greater Nehemiah, who knows the rubble of your heart more than you do, has come. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:25.680 And he took it upon himself that he might take your burned down and broken heart and rebuild and redeem. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:33.200 Now the scary thing to do with this reality is to be honest enough with ourselves that we don't have it all together. 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:36.559 And that's a scary thing to do, especially here in Marietta. 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:40.160 I mean, everybody in Marietta looks like they have it all together, don't they? 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:48.480 And yet what I'm curious about this morning is what sort of freedom we could walk in if we grow more and more honest that we don't have it all together. 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:55.920 That like the Israelites, we are a mess to confess that the walls of our hearts, like the walls of Jerusalem, are in ruins. 00:19:56.640 --> 00:19:59.440 What's crazy is that Jesus actually already knows the rebel. 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:06.960 He knows your addictions, he knows your vices, he knows your deepest, darkest sins, and that's actually why he went to the cross. 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:15.279 Now I've been reading this book uh by a pastor named Dan Dane Ortland, or sorry, uh Ray Ortland, his dad, uh, called The Death of Porn, and I would commend it to you. 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:18.160 And here's a quote that he said that has been rocking my world. 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:22.799 He says this you can either be impressive or you can be known, but you can't be both. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:25.680 That stinks, doesn't it? 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:47.200 So what I'm praying for, for our church, is that we would seek to be a people, not who are impressive to Marietta, but that we would seek to be a people by God's grace, according to the cross, who would grow more and more honest about our brokenness, not pretending to have it all together, but acknowledging that none of us do. 00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:49.680 That's actually why God was murdered on a cross. 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:52.640 Remember what I said just a few minutes ago about the wall. 00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:57.279 The extent of the rebuild can be so only as far as the destruction is known. 00:20:57.680 --> 00:20:59.920 And that speaks an awful lot to our hearts. 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:07.359 Beloved, the more honest you are about your broken and sinsick heart, I promise you the more freedom you will walk in. 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:17.680 And what the scriptures promise is that the soul-level freedom that the gospel purchased happens as we come to the Lord with open hands and say, Lord, I have nothing. 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:28.480 Your Lord, who is the great surgeon of your heart, knows where your wounds are, knows where your sin is, and he loves to heal it. 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:37.200 And with that, maybe the word of God is pressing on you this morning to come to the Lord, maybe with a secret or a sin that you've never you've never brought to him before. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:40.319 And I would just invite you to this morning as we pray here shortly. 00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:47.119 And I would invite you, knowing in confidence, that your Lord Jesus took it already upon himself. 00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:51.119 That you are free to bring yourself to the Lord of hosts. 00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:54.799 So, beloved, cast your eyes and your heart on the greater Nehemiah. 00:21:55.759 --> 00:22:04.240 The greater comfort of Yahweh, no matter how much rubble you find in your heart this morning, Jesus of Nazareth knows how to rebuild it. 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:10.319 He, your comfort, loves to rebuild, and it is a rebuild far better than Jerusalem. 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:17.519 So would Redeemer Marietta, would we be known for her and our courageous honesty? 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:24.400 That would we say genuinely we are more broken than we originally thought, but more loved by God in Christ than we could dare to dream. 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:28.000 Now maybe you're here and you have a question about anything I said this morning, or would just like some prayer. 00:22:28.079 --> 00:22:31.440 I'll be down front after the service and would love to talk or pray with you. 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:32.480 Let's pray together. 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:34.400 Father, thank you for this morning. 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:42.720 Thank you that in Jesus our comfort, we no longer have to perform, we no longer have to pretend. 00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:51.680 But that Lord, in Jesus we find all of the beloved belonging and forgiveness that we could ever long before. 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:56.400 Father, we confess this morning that we are not all that we wish we were. 00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:00.160 And yet in that we are still fully beloved. 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:06.720 Father, as we approach your table now that would you continue to be with us and comfort us. 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:07.920 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:08.559 Amen.