God's Sovereign Hand, and the Spiritual Authority of His Servant
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Good morning, if you will please turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Nehemiah chapter 2. Heres where we are last week we were introduced to this amazing man of God and when we saw him he was broken, he had his head in his hands and he is weeping and the thing that causes him to cry is a broken down wall.
But that wall represented so much more than just a broken down structure, it really symbolized the state of Gods people at that time right, they had turned their back on God they had pursued false Gods they were worshipping idols.
We learned last week, that God does not bless disobedience. He just doesnt do that, God honors the righteous, so Gods people had just come to this place where God’s favor was really no longer upon them and God used the Assyrians and the Babylonians to scatter them.
So what was once a fortified gathering for worship in God’s Holy City of Jerusalem bc of their rebelliousness, they were scattered. Nehemiah lives during this time, remember he was a man called by God to an extremely overwhelming task.
The nation of Israel lay in a heap smoke rises from the smoldering ruins of what used to be God’s chosen nation. We learned that when God sees something broken God’s heart desire is to fix it! He desires to restore what is destroyed.
However to do that God raises up a man. When he hears the news about the city of Jerusalem he hears the news that the city is in disrepair and the people of God do not have a city to call their own, the walls are broken down, there is no safety no security, and Nehemiah sits down and begins to weep.
GOD WILL DO WHATEVER GOD WANTS TO DO SO LONG AS HE HAS SOMEONE TO DO IT THROUGH.
We talked last week about how it is a true mark of being spiritually mature to be able to think beyond yourself and think about the needs of future generations, HE is burdened.
God places a Holy burden within Nehemiah to be a tool used in the masters hand, to be an instrument of change.
BURDEN+VISION+COMMITMENT= An Unstoppable Force when attached to Gods plans and purposes.
What is a burden?
A BURDEN IS A DEEP CONCERN ABOUT SOMETHING THAT DEEPLY CONCERNS THE HEART OF GOD.
It weighs you down, it breaks your heart because it breaks the heart of God, a spiritual burden is what God desires for us to have. He wants His people to have His heart and His mind, in order that we accomplish His purposes.
GIVE ME YOUR EYES FOR JUST ONE SECOND.....
God gave Nehemiah eyes to see the problem, which gave Him the burden to be an element of change, then God gave Nehemiah this massive vision for how to get it done.
He sees this problem which give him this burden, then God gives him this vision and it is attached to commitment bc this guys really comitted to OBEYING GOD AT ALL COST.
So what does he begin to do? He begins to pray, and what is the first thing He prays?
GOD FORGIVE US, GOD FORGIVE US. If were going to get this thing right again, if were going to be restored again then the first place we gotta start is on our knees in repentence calling out to God.
We wanna be under your hand of blessing but theres no way thats gonna come if we keep living in sin, if we keep pursuing all of these functional saviors, we need to confess and get it right turn from our sins and back to you.
He confesses his own sins personally and then begins to pray and weep for 4 months, fasting praying weeping, then remarkably God begins to do something, there is a door that begins to open.
This door began to open because Nehemiah was faith filled enough to believe that GOD WOULD PROVIDE EVERYTHING NECCESARRY TO ACCOMPLISH HIS PLAN!
In todays passage you are going to see, GODS SOVERIGN HAND OF BLESSING, and GODS SERVANT’S SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY!
God provided for Nehemiahs every need!
thats where we pick it up in .
Nehemiah 2
God Provided Nehemiah With a Platform to Get the Job Done.
God Provided Nehemiah With a Platform to Get the Job Done.
There is a kingdom task to be done and God calls Nehemiah to do it, but God does not leave Nehemiah out there all alone to figure it out, He provides ways to accomplish this task.
This is one thing I dont think many think about God is calling you to something, I dont know what it is, He is calling some for salvation, He is calling some to specific tasks but God is not going to leave you out there with nothing to accomplish it with.
WHERE GOD CALLS GOD PROVIDES
And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before.
By the way Artaxerxes is not the name his mom and dad gave him, Artaxerxes is a title that means high ruler, he had a nickname, his nickname was Lonjemanus and the reason was because his right hand was bigger than his left hand.
(picture)
It’s Artaxerxes this is the guy who Nehemiah was a servant to,
“WHEN WINE WAS BEFORE HIM I TOOK UP THE WINE AND GAVE IT TO THE KING”
We heard ealier at the end of chapter 1 this was Nehemiah’s job he was a cupbearer. that’s a very important job he was to ensure the king wasn’t poisoned he had to be trustworthy. (explain)
“NOW I HAD NOT BEEN SAD IN HIS PRESENCE”
Therefore the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.”
So I became dreadfully afraid,
Now the king sees the sadness on Nehemiah’s face he has been able to hide it for 4 months, but this burden is becoming so great that it is all over Nehemiah’s face.
SO I BECAME DREADFULLY AFRAID
Why would he become afraid?
Now this is a big deal because you don’t come around the king when you were sad in these days because your attitude was thought to reflect how you felt about the kings leadership.
YOU NEVER WANTED TO BE SAD IN THE KINGS PRESENCE, WHEN YOU WERE IN THE KINGS PRESENCE YOUR LITTLE PROBLEMS SHOULD JUST DISAPPEAR, IN THE PRESENCE OF THE GLORY OF THE KING IF YOU GOTTA PROBLEM YOU KEEP IT TO YOURSELF BECAUSE THE KING WOULD KILL YOU IF YOU CAME AROUND HIM SAD.
He wanted his subjects to be happy since they should be working so closely with the king.
So Nehemiah realizes that this has the potential to go really really bad for me, but this is also an amazing opportunity bc God will often use the position you have in life to accomplish something amazing.
God gave Nehemiah direct access to the king, Nehemiah has been praying for an opportunity to speak to the king about whats going on in his heart, and now the king knows theres something going on and this is his chance.
What is he going to do?
Now let me just say this as a believer God is going to ask you to do something that you are not going to want to do.
Let me say that again
God is going to ask you to do something that you do not want to do, and as I say that you might already know what it is. But at some point in your Christian life God is going to ask you to do something you do not want to do.
It might be that God is asking you to step out in faith and to extend an act of kindness or retore a relationship that has been broken, and you are afraid. It might be that you are new to the church and God is asking you to step out and get involved.
You’re kinda like I don’t know if that’s what I should do, but God is asking you to do it, but there is too much fear inside of you. It might be that there is someone in your life and God wants you to approach them and open up your mouth and speak to them about Jesus and your terrified.
THE FACT THAT YOUR TERRIFIED IS A GOOD SIGN THAT THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT GOD WANTS YOU TO DO.
If what you doing in your life is not hard for you to accomplish, if you do not need God to show up and move then you are probably not walking by faith at all.
Im telling you just 20 seconds of embarassing courage can accomplish a lifetime of of good.
If Nehemiah tells the King what is on his heart then it could be off with his head. How is the king going to respond? Do you know how many Jesus followers dont ever know the fullness of their Christian life because they get about this far and then they stop bc they think something bad is going to happen and they stop short?
You will never conquer your fear by avoiding the situation. We have to confront our fears.
(Grace and the bar), the confrontation of this fear is everything because fear dies when it is confronted by the truth.
This is where Nehemiah is, this might be where you are, there might be something God is telling you to do, and it might be some deep sin in your life that needs to be uprooted and you know its there and God says this is what I am calling you to do and its been fear thats holding you back.
and said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?”
So he lays it out there, but he is tactful He doesnt say the city of Jerusalem, bc the city of Jerusalem that was liek Jewish Israelite headquarters, he doesnt say he is going to build the capital city of the Israelites just yet.
Not everyone wanted to see God’s people restored. Not everyone wanted the Holy City rebuilt.
This is bold courage
Nehemiah is standing there laying it all out there what God has put on his heart, and he fully expects to get reprimanded but that is not what happens at all!
God provided the right words at the right time to say to the King.
God provided the right words at the right time to say to the King.
This was a bold declaration to make before the king! I mean he could die!
But he pours his heart out in the presence of the king and notice the king doesnt respond the way Nehemiah or anyone esle would think that he would.
This moved the heart of the king
Then the king said to me, “What do you request?”
So I prayed to the God of heaven.
Nehemiah
WHAT DO YOU REQUEST?
HOW CAN I HELP?
I love this:
prayed to the God oh Heaven, Nehemiah says before I go asking the earthly king for something, i need to first ask the king over all kings what he wants me to ask for!
He leaves King Artaxerxes waiting!
While he prays!
Wow! this dude is bold!
You dont have to have long prayers to be spiritual, the Bible teaches us to pray without ceasing, do you know what word without ceasing means?
(Cough that would not go away)
Thats praying without ceasing, it literally would not go away, you know you get that little tickle in your throat and it just wont go away!
You dont have to have long prayers to be spiritual, its just that moment when you say uhoh before i do anything I better go to God this is a door this is an opportunity.
God is on the verge of doing something huge, the door is open and I am going to step into it.
you have to step into what GOd has for you!
Nehemiah knew he had to step into what God has for him.
And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”
King i want you to participate in this with me, send me to Judah.
Its out there, this was a huge deal!
“Christian if those who dont know Jesus look at your life and everything about your life makes sense to them you have a problem.”
You have a problem
Theres something God is asking you to do that shouldnt make sense to anbybody else.
What I love about Nehemiah is that he does the ridiculous, there aint no way the king is answer this command with anything other than a firm rebuke and or laugh in his face and send him away to death.
But notice what God does
A MERCIFUL RESPONSE
Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), “How long will your journey be? And when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
Basically the king is thinking about it....
With this question Nehemiah has been given a plan, those of you who are planners are like amen, God honors a plan.
Furthermore I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah,
Well now he is just getting bold, wow not only does he request a big amoutn of time off to go rebuild his homeland he now asks for letters on the kings letterhead for passage through kingdoms which are Israels enemies.
These kingdoms he will be passing through are the same ones that took part in destroying the city in the first place at least the remnant of what was left.
Many of those who lived there would have possibly been alive when they ransacked Jersualem. Now Nehemiah is asking something of the king which could plunge his country into all out war.
He is not afraid to ask the man who has the resources for his help.
Furthermore I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah,
Furthermore I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy.” And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.
and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy.” And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.
Nehemiah 2:7
The king granted me what I asked for because I was so eloquent in what I said..... no
The king gave me what I asked for because he really liked me..... no
It is BECAUSE THE GOO HAND OF GOD IS UPON ME!!!
Listen this whole thing is Gods project and Gods hand is upon me, because I have repented and have submitted to His plan! this is the onyl way were going to have the favor of God upon us is when we get right with him, and follow him in obedience.
Everything stays broken in our lives until we become broken before Him!
Then I went to the governors in the region beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.
When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of it, they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel.
This is a very important point for us.
Whenever you begin to do something for God you can expect to be opposed. It is going to happen, when you begin to follow the Lord with your life everything all hell breaks loose in your life, all the forces of darkness all the people around you who are not submitted to od they are going to oppose you.
i dont understand why this is happening I have submitted and have done everything the Lord has asked of me.
YOU WILL NEVER HAVE 100 percent AGREEMENT AT ALL TIMES IF YOU ARE FOLLOWING THE LORD
You know whats crazy about this?
Sanballat and Tobiah are Jews...
This is opposition from within Nehemiahs own people. You know you expect it from the outside but this is opposition from within. Both of these guys were very connected with the Jewish preist’s they had positions of authority, and when they see Nehemiah roll in.
Wanting to rebuild the city, they didnt really have a concern for the place for God’s people to worship, they were concerned over their positions and where they were.
Now Nehemiah rolls in to the Holy City of God and if he starts repairing things He’s gonna become popular people are going to follow him, and these guys dont like it. They are Jealous, and you know you have to search this in your own heart because insecurity leads you to do all sorts of wicked things.
Sometimes your insecurities can even cause you to stand against the plans of God. You dont wanna be on that side of the football. These guys wont go away and thats the problem, and we’ll come back to them.
So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days.
So Nehemiah says I am going I know there is opposition, this is what God wants me to do and I am going to get it done. Were not gonna sit around and talk and talk and talk about it were actually gonna get some stuff done for God.
He was there 3 days
I got up at night and took a few men with me. I didn’t tell anyone what my God had laid on my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal I took was the one I was riding.
Nehemiah 2:
I went out at night through the Valley Gate toward the Serpent’s Well and the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.
I went on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but farther down it became too narrow for my animal to go through.
So I went up at night by way of the valley and inspected the wall. Then heading back, I entered through the Valley Gate and returned.
The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, for I had not yet told the Jews, priests, nobles, officials, or the rest of those who would be doing the work.
He does not tell everyone right off the bat what he was doing because he wanted to wait on the Lord fro direction and also he didnt want everyone crowding him as a hero, he just wants to do what the Lord told him to do.
Develops a plan he hasn’t told the key people but in verse 17 he does
Whenever something significant is about to happen with God’s people and God’s leader dont be shocked when strategic people surround that person, to get the job done especially at the start.
So I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been burned down. Come, let’s rebuild Jerusalem’s wall, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.”
This si not about bricks and morter this is about who we are going to be as the people of God he says I dont wanna suffer shame anymore, I dont wanna sit on my hands anymore about this issue I wanna tackle it, I want us to be the exception, I want us to do something about it!
I told them how the gracious hand of my God had been on me, and what the king had said to me.
They said, “Let’s start rebuilding,” and they were encouraged to do this good work.
But
You see this is where the fiercest oppostion comes not when your sitting around talking about it but when you actually get out and you start doing it its on then.
When Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they mocked and despised us, and said, “What is this you’re doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
You see the problem with these guys is they have such and Earthly mindet, they are worldly, they think the king is the ultimate authority, when Nehemiah knows that the king is just water in God’s hands God is just gonna direct him wherever he wants him to go.
Thats why he replied this way:
I gave them this reply, “The God of heaven is the One who will grant us success. We, His servants, will start building, but you have no share, right, or historic claim in Jerusalem.”
Nehemiah 2:1
He is saying this to Jews, He is saying it to people who are opposed to the work of God. This is some straight up holy boldness, I wish some more people today would think in these terms bc essentially heres how you get there.
You have to have a clear understanding of who you are and what God has called you to do.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHO YOU ARE?
THIS IS HUGE!
You beloing to God, YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN YOU WERE BOUGHT AT A PRICE THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!
That you are worth the blood of God’s own son to God.
GOD WANTS TO USE YOU TO ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY FOR HIS GLORY ON THIS PLANET!
I am 34 years old, half of my life is close to being gone
I know who I am I know what He has called me to do, He wants me to advance and expand His kingdom, He wants me to not sit back and say well were a small country church so let’s just sit back and get comfortable and do church.
NO HE SAYS UNTO ME
DO YOU SEE ALL THESE SOULS I HAVE PUT UNDER YOUR CARE LEAD THEM TO WALK BY FAITH, LEAD THEM TO LOVE ME MORE, LEAD THEM TO MAKE DISCIPLES WHO MAKE DISCIPLES.
Listen church at the end of the day we are not a success by the number of butts we put in the seats we are a success in Gods eyes by how many people are loving and serving Jesus more day by day as a result of our leading them to do so.
What is so great about Nehemiah is that he looks at God’s people and he says I am giving you the opportunity to particpate in something that is absolutlely extraordinary, I am giving you the opportunity to give your life to something that is way bigger than you.
How often do you think in those terms, that you would live your life in such a way that you would think I am part of a much greater plan here and God wants to use me in something that is much more significant.
Essentially we have given birth to a 50 pound baby, we have a number of new believers but in order to do what we need to do to obey the Lord it is going to take all of us to do it.
There are men and women right now who need we who are spiritual to come along side of them and spend time with them helping them to become all of what God has created them to be, and they want it they are hungry for it, this is what the church is about.
I want you to step into it
God wants to do a work and we want to partner with him in that.
But not just corperately as a church but personally God wants to do a work in your life as well and there are certain things he is calling you to, and I wanna encourage you to step into it whatever it is.
(Let’s Pray)