Nehemiah

[0:00] Some thoughts around the book of Nehemiah. I know I've preached on Nehemiah quite a bit in previous times and it's just a book that's so jam-packed with so many truths and principles really principles for building a church as well you could see in this book of Nehemiah and in the man Nehemiah and what he gets up to.

[0:26] And so we see here Nehemiah. It's a book just prior to Esther, Job in your Bibles there, sort of in the middle of your Bible, a bit to the left. The book of Nehemiah. It tells of an amazing building project, a work of restoration. It's the last history book before the coming of Christ, the last history book till Christ comes in the Bible.

[0:53] And it shows God's people working together for God's glory, restoring God's work in the city. In it we see principles for building a church. The man Nehemiah had an important role. He was a cupbearer to the king. Supervised the king's safety as his top security advisor if you like.

[1:12] And he would become a world builder and then the governor of Jerusalem. What can we as a church learn from Nehemiah? Now, I put to you that we can see that Nehemiah calls us to watch and to weep. Nehemiah got a burden from the Lord. In Nehemiah 1 verse 4 it says, And it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

[1:51] Nehemiah heard that the walls had been burnt down. The gates had been destroyed. He heard and later saw the condition of the city of the people of God. And what did he do? He went to prayer.

[2:05] He went to prayer. Prayer activated Nehemiah. He prayed with weeping and with fasting for his city and for his people. Verse 6 it says he prayed fervently and persistently day and night. He prayed in humility and repentance.

[2:23] It says that he sat down and wept and then he stood up and wept. Likewise we should watch and pray, shouldn't we? For our nation. For our city. For our church. For ourselves. For our families.

[2:37] He fasted and he prayed and then it says he took action. He had courage to trust the Lord. To pray and to go. Nehemiah is an example for us. For making repairs in our own lives.

[2:50] What are the things that have got broken down? Other things that are lacking. Things that are broken down. Could it be service? Devotion? Time in the word? In praise? In worship? In fellowship? In prayer?

[3:05] What are the things that are broken down? We need to watch. And then we need to weep. Ask God to work. Ask God to help us overcome the obstacles that are blocking us.

[3:16] Stopping us from serving God and doing his will. So Nehemiah watched. He saw the city was broken down. He heard it and then he later saw that the walls of the city were broken down.

[3:29] Now the walls speak of the military defence against the enemy. The gates of the city were burnt with fire. Gates speak of business. Of the marketplace.

[3:40] Of the economy. It speaks of the place of government. You know the people sat at the gate to conduct the business of the city. The law and order of the city.

[3:51] And it also speaks of the place of council and of guidance. Where guidance was given. There's wisdom there at the gates. So the gates spoke very much of many important things.

[4:02] The place of business. The place of government. The place of guidance and council. The governance of the city. The city had its defences broken down.

[4:13] And Nehemiah saw this. What great trouble God's people were in. The great disgrace of it. The broken down walls picture God's people also drifting away from their relationship with him.

[4:25] That they couldn't care less about the walls. They didn't care about it. Nothing was being done about it. People had neglected it. And like us too. As a church. As a people. We can neglect those things that matter.

[4:37] So Nehemiah cared enough to pray. And so should we. He cared enough for God's people to intercede. To take their shame upon himself. Let us watch and pray.

[4:48] Amen. Let us watch and pray. Let us like Nehemiah get a burden for God's people. For this nation. For this land. For this city. For ourselves as a church.

[4:59] Let's get a burden from God. We see that the book begins and ends with prayer. There are some 12 instances of prayer through the book. And Nehemiah was committed to his mission such that even though it meant giving up the palace.

[5:16] He was willing to step out of the comfort zone. And to go to Jerusalem. Which was far distant from where he was. He was willing to lay everything on the line.

[5:26] And to get involved. Question is. For each one here today. Are we like Nehemiah. A builder of God's work. Will we be builders?

[5:38] Will we? Will we? Yes. Let's be builders today. Now for Nehemiah. We see. For Nehemiah. It wasn't going to be plain sailing. He confronted many things.

[5:50] He had many obstacles. Firstly. He confronts his own sin. In verse 6. We see. He repents. Verse 7. He pleans forgiveness for his nation. In chapter 2.

[6:02] Verse 14. We see. He faced rubbish. And rubble. Piled so high. You couldn't get past it. That was chapter 2. Verse 14. Sometimes things get in the way. Don't they? Things.

[6:13] Like rubble. Piles up. You know. We can. I'm a bit of a hoarder at times. And some things. Can pile up. And get in the way. Things that may not be necessarily wrong.

[6:25] But they're just. Junk. When you come down to it. Things that get in the way. And what's one piece of rubble? You might say. I've got some rubble. In my life. What's one piece of rubble.

[6:36] That I can get rid of today? Maybe there's things in your life. You can question. What's one area of my life. That I can change. That God can deal with. That things that are getting in the way.

[6:47] That I can put aside. And remove. You know. Put it on the hard waste. You know. Those things that are stopping us from serving. From living for God.

[6:58] Like we know we should. Chapter 2. 19. We see. Nehemiah's enemies. He was surrounded by them. There was Sanballat. He was governor of Samaria. A system of government and religion.

[7:10] That was not centered in Jerusalem. So. It was. Astray from. God's will. We see Tobiah. The Ammonite. He was a wolf in sheep's clothing. A compromiser.

[7:21] Tobiah. His name means God is good. But we see that Tobiah really. He wasn't a good man. But Nehemiah's biggest problems. In rebuilding the walls.

[7:32] It wasn't actually the enemies. Outside. That compromises inside. That caused him. Much grief. The enemies taunted him.

[7:43] In chapter 2 verse 19. It says when they heard this plan. To build the walls. It says they laughed as discord. And they despised him. And said what is this thing. That you do.

[7:54] Will you rebel. Against the king. He was mocked. He was scorned. He was. Taunted. Whilst committed himself. He was mocked.

[8:05] Verse 20. We see. Chapter 2 verse 20. And so he answered these mockers. And he said. The God of heaven. He will prosper us. He declared.

[8:15] By faith. God will bless. And we his servants. Will arise. And build. But he said. Of them. You have no portion. Nor right. Nor memorial.

[8:26] In Jerusalem. You're going to lose out. But we. God will prosper. God will bless us. And we will arise. And we will build. Now someone has said. That strength is gained.

[8:37] By overcoming adversity. Not giving in to it. You might say. Brother. I've got lots of adversity. I've got lots of things. Being thrown at me right now. Well. You'll be stronger for it.

[8:49] You will be. You'll be stronger for it. What did Nehemiah do? He didn't quit. And he didn't stop praying. And likewise. If we just trust the Lord. God is for us.

[9:00] Who can be against us? Amen. Who can be against us? God is for us. And so he was willing to. Watch. And to pray. And so need we. Let's watch.

[9:11] Let's pray. Let's ask God to. To enable us. Then we see in chapter 3. Various gates. Various gates here. That. That's not working as I had hoped it would.

[9:24] I had the various gates listed. But. Just to. Just to talk about the gates for a minute. In chapter 3.

[9:35] You'll find various gates. Oh. Let's find. It can't be fixed. It's the slides are not quite right. We see that there's various gates here in chapter 3. And they all have a meaning. A significance.

[9:46] We see. You might want to leave through chapter 3. But we see. I'll name them. The sheep gate. The sheep gate. And that reminds us of the Lamb of God.

[9:57] It reminds us of Calvary. It reminds us of the cross. Of salvation. The sheep gate. Secondly. We see the fish gate. As you walk around the walls. The next one you come to.

[10:08] Is the fish gate. You know. There was fishmongers here. And of course in Marks 1 verse 17. Our Lord says. Follow me and I will make you to become. Fishers of men.

[10:20] Fishers of men. It speaks of our witness as a Christian. Is that broken down? Our witness as a Christian. We can. Ask the Lord.

[10:31] Build that gate again. Help me to be a witness. Then we go. Thirdly. The old gate. It represents truth. Do our lives rest on the truth.

[10:42] The word of God. The truth. In many lives this gate is broken down. Let's be truthful. Faithful. The fourth gate. The valley gate. Speaks of a place of humility.

[10:55] Of a loneliness of heart and mind. God is against pride. Let's not be proud. Prideful. Self pride. Let's crucify that.

[11:07] Go through the valley gate. The fifth gate is the dung gate. Where all the refuse and filth of the city was carried out. All the garbage was taken out through the dung gate.

[11:19] Again. Let's question. Are there things that. There's rubbish that's in my life. I need to get rid of it. Get rid of the refuse in my life. Number six.

[11:30] We see the fountain gate. We see in John 4. Our Lord says that the Holy Spirit will be as it were rivers of life flowing out. The Spirit of God.

[11:41] The Holy Spirit is the fountain gate. How's our spiritual life? Is that one of the gates that's broken down? The water gate. The water gate. Is. Again.

[11:51] Symbolic. The word. Water is symbolic. Of the word of God. In the Bible. And it's interesting that the water gate. Evidently it did not need to be repaired.

[12:03] It was the only part of the world that was still standing. The water gate. The symbol of the word of God. And of course we know the word of God is intact. It's. It's. It does not pass away.

[12:15] He says my words. Will forever be. And the word of God. The water gate. Is spoken of there. Then we see number eight. The horse gate. Is a symbol of warfare.

[12:27] The horse. Is a symbol of warfare. And aren't we at war today? Are you at war? Do you have an enemy? Do you? Yes you do. And he's the enemy of your soul.

[12:39] And we are in battle today. We're in combat. Against the forces of darkness. Sometimes we need to. Renew our spiritual defences. And. And be acknowledging of the.

[12:50] Spiritual warfare that we're in. And put on the armour of God. The whole armour of God. As we see reflected in the horse gate. The ninth gate here is the east gate.

[13:01] Which faces the rising sun. It's the gate of hope. The gate of anticipation. Of course we have the. Blessed hope. Don't we? That our Lord Jesus is coming back.

[13:12] And. In Ezekiel. He was told that the eastern gate. Was to be closed. And not reopened. Till the Messiah returns in glory. That's Ezekiel 44.

[13:27] Facing. The location of the. Garden of Gethsemane. Is the east gate. One day. It will be open. But presently.

[13:37] It's blocked up. It's bricked up. It's closed. Just as. The scriptures tell us. But one day. He'll break through. Amen. There'll be a great breakthrough.

[13:49] And he will enter in. To the city. The tenth gate. Is judgment. The judgment gate. It speaks of an examination. Of looking at ourselves. A re-evaluation.

[14:00] And then we come right back again. To the sheep gate. We come back to the cross. Where. Everything. Begins. And ends. In the Christian life.

[14:11] It's. It's all found at the cross. Isn't it? So we see the gates had real meanings. And meanings for us today too. Symbolic meanings. What they. Represent for us. And Nehemiah shows us that.

[14:24] The walls. The gates. Need to be. Remade. So we pick up the story again. In. Chapter 2.

[14:34] And verse. 17. Chapter 2. Verse 17. Nehemiah says. You see the distress. That we are in. How the. The city lies waste.

[14:46] And the gates thereof. Are burnt with fire. Come. And let us build. Up the wall. Of Jerusalem. That we be no more. A reproach. Jerusalem.

[14:59] The city of God. The very. Place where his manifest presence. Was. So evident. And. God's blessings and. Leadings were so.

[15:10] Centered. This. Holy city. Lies in ruins. And Nehemiah calls the people. He says. Come and join. This construction work. Come.

[15:20] Come let us rebuild. The wall. Of Jerusalem. That we be no longer. A disgrace. Now he didn't promise. A prize to. Those who. Laid the most bricks. He didn't.

[15:32] Motivate people. With a. Free. Round the world trip. If they. They joined. His band. He appealed. To their faith. To their sense of responsibility. As the people of God.

[15:43] He says. Come and. And lay some bricks. As. And. As a church. As a people too. Sometimes. There's work.

[15:53] Involved. There's a work. To be done. You know. Back in. Time of World War II. Churchill. Motivated people. With his own. Willingness. To sacrifice. He said.

[16:04] I have nothing. But. Nothing to offer. But blood. Toil. Tears. And sweat. Nothing to offer. But blood. Toil. Tears. And sweat. He didn't say.

[16:15] It's going to be easy. He says. It's going to be hard. It's going to be hard work. And so. We see. I'll put to you. The first theme. I'd like to highlight. In the book of Nehemiah. Is.

[16:25] That. Word. That some people. Find hard to. To speak. Let alone do. Is the word. Work. Work. In verse 18. They said.

[16:35] Let us rise up. And build. So they. Strengthen their hands. For this good work. That's Nehemiah 2. Verse 18. Work. The people of God.

[16:46] We are his workmanship. Created. Unto. Good works. We're called to. A good work. Nehemiah and his workers. Went through great tests.

[16:57] And difficulties. Sadly. Some people. Did not work. In Nehemiah 3. Verse 5. It says. Of the Techoites. That their nobles. Put not their necks. To the work of the Lord.

[17:08] You know. They were. A bit like. You know. That old fashioned cartoon. The Aussie norm. Where he's. Sitting. Laid back on the armchair. With his remote.

[17:19] Just sort of. Passing the time. He put not his neck. To the work. And. Sometimes. We can. Make. A big mistake.

[17:30] By. Thinking. The work's all about. The pastor. Or. The favoured. Ones. Who get to do things. It's not about that. We're all called to work.

[17:42] We're all called to the work of the Lord. We're all called to take our place. And to be willing to work. And. The only group who failed.

[17:53] Were those in Nehemiah 3. Verse 5. That they put not their necks. To the work of their Lord. But we see. Thankfully. The majority of people were.

[18:05] Active. Activated. In chapter 3. Of Nehemiah. We see. 41 teams. 41 teams. With different assignments. On the wall. So all around that city wall.

[18:17] Of Jerusalem. They all had their place. And their occupation. They all had something to do. It says. And next to them. And next to them. As mentioned 25 times. So they were next to each other.

[18:28] Allocated in different sections. Of the wall. And likewise too. In the church of God. We've all got a place. We've all got an occupation. We've all got an endeavour. An activity that we can participate.

[18:41] God uses people. In lots of different ways. And all kinds of people too. We see that. In Nehemiah 3. It talks about rulers and priests.

[18:53] Of professional craftsmen. It speaks of people from outside of the city. And the women too. And goes in the hard rough work. Of building the walls. Every willing hearted worker.

[19:04] Had a place to serve. And it's so too. In the church of God. We've all got something. We can do. There's a place. For everyone. There's a job. For everyone to do. And in verses 5 and 27.

[19:15] It tells us some. They did extra. They did extra work. They went above and beyond. What they were assigned to do. And they did more. The Tekkowites.

[19:26] In verse 11. It says. They not only did their first assignment. But another one as well. They went the extra mile. In chapter 3. Verse 20.

[19:37] It tells of Baruch. He burned and glowed. During the work of God. There was a great earnestness about him. So Nehemiah 4. Verse 6. It says. So built me the wall.

[19:47] And all the wall. Was joined together. Unto the half thereof. Why? For the people had a mind to work. The people had a mind to work. It's just asking.

[19:58] The Lord. To give us a burden. To give us that mind. To give us that heart. That attitude. That willingness to serve. And they worked together. They worked together. They didn't work alone.

[20:10] They worked. And next to. And next to. And in teams. They worked together. And we need each other. Brothers and sisters. No. The youth group. Doesn't run because of one person.

[20:20] There's a team. That runs the youth group. A team of willing workers. Likewise the Sunday school. I know the English language classes. It's not just one. There's a team.

[20:31] There's people working together. Supporting one another. There's lots that we can do. The technology team. You know. There's all sorts of different teams. As it were. There's different.

[20:42] Parts of. Activity. That has to be done. And what matters is. It's the people. That have a mind to work. We need to. Determine to work.

[20:52] Determine to. Turn up. And man our post. And. We need each other. Let's not isolate ourselves. From other believers. We need fellowship. Fellowship matters.

[21:04] It's God's plan. Fellowship. So that. People had a mind to work. Now. Notice that. When you go on a building site. Sometimes there's various hazards. You might have to put your.

[21:15] Your hard hat on. There's various hazards. Various. Difficulties. Nehemiah. In chapter 4. He faced many difficulties. For example. Discouragement.

[21:27] Discouragement. It's one of the greatest. Reapons of the enemy. It's a destructive thing. Isn't it? Discouragement. Negativity. Criticism. Ridicule. Sarcasm.

[21:39] You know. Even. The one who was called. The prince of preachers. Spurgeon. He had. He had moments of deep. Dark depression. As much as God used him mightily. For his work.

[21:50] And look. Every preacher. Every. Minister. Every. Christian. Has those dark times. Those. Times where it's heavy. And hard. And you feel overcome.

[22:02] Pray through. Saint. Pray through. When you're going through those times. When you feel like you need your hard hat on. Because everything's falling on you. There's obstacles. There's difficulties.

[22:12] There's opposition. Press through. Pray through. Don't call it quits. Don't throw in the towel. Get on with it. And. Ask the Lord to restrengthen you.

[22:24] To rebuild your fervor and zeal. Weariness and hardship can overtake all of us at times. It's so easy. Satan loves. Satan loves. To discourage God's people.

[22:35] Doesn't he? Who's had times of discouragement? I'm sure we all have. At one time or another. And Nehemiah finds encouragement from the Lord. And wisdom from him.

[22:47] It's like David. He encouraged himself in the Lord. We need to do that. Don't we? As builders. We can be criticised. You know. Right through the book we see the builders were criticised.

[22:58] Their character was criticised. They were called rebels. In chapter 2 verse 19. Their abilities were criticised. Oh you're feeble.

[23:08] You're weak. You know. You're all just going to fall over. It's. You're not up to it. You haven't got the. Know how. You don't have the strength. Their worship was criticised.

[23:21] Their. Hard work. Was. Criticised. Their abilities were criticised. In verse 3. It says that. One of the. Attacks was.

[23:32] A fossil will knock your wall down. It's just so. It's pathetic. You know. That's what people can say to you as a Christian. When you try to serve the Lord. You're going to get criticism. You're going to get attacked.

[23:43] But Nehemiah didn't argue. He prayed. Verse 4. He brought it to the Lord in prayer. And. Then we see Nehemiah 4. Verses 10 through 12.

[23:54] The. Enemies propaganda campaign. Started to drain morale. You know. As churches. As a church. We can have peace and trust. We can have low times.

[24:04] We can have discouraging times. Our morale can suffer. And it says in verse 10. Of Nehemiah 4. That people were saying. The strength of the bearers of burdens. Is decayed.

[24:15] There is much rubbish. We're not able to build a wall. We've got too little strength. There's too much rubble. It's too hard. Now the Jews had been hard at work. Every day.

[24:25] For over 20 days. They'd work morning till night. You know. Sun up to sun down. They were exhausted. And when the wall was built halfway. Discouragement sets in. When discouragement sets in.

[24:39] Sometimes. Some people want to quit. When we get discouraged. When it gets hard. We can. Humanly. Want to quit.

[24:49] When we get tired. We must learn to rest. When we get fatigued. See what has been done.

[25:02] See what God has done. Look back and see. The Lord has helped me. They did not see in verse 6. Of Nehemiah 4. That. The wall was half built.

[25:14] What they saw was much rubble. And sometimes we can focus on that. Which frustrates. And discourages. And fatigues us. But let's look back and see.

[25:26] We're halfway through. There's only half of it to go. It's going to get easier. It's going to get. We're going to make it. And we see that.

[25:37] In Nehemiah 4. Verse 13. That Nehemiah stationed the people's defences. Those people gathered together. And manning the defences of the wall.

[25:50] In verse 14. Of chapter 4. It says. That Nehemiah encouraged the people. He says. Be not ye afraid of them. Fight for your brethren.

[26:01] Your sons. Your daughters. Your wives. And your houses. There's a fight on. In Nehemiah's time. Not only were they building a wall. They were fighting a wall. And it's like that in the Christian life.

[26:13] Isn't it? That when we're trying to serve. And do something for God. We're trying to construct our faith. Our service to God.

[26:26] While we're working. We're warring as well. It says. Some had a trumpet. Some had a sword. It's like. They were ready. Sound the alarm. And they were ready to fight.

[26:37] The enemy. And then. We see that some were mixing mortar. While looking for the enemy. At the same time. And we see that. We've just got to keep on working. Through these things.

[26:49] Notice the kind of problems that Nehemiah faced. There was infighting. They were fighting brother against brother. That can happen in churches. You know. We.

[26:59] What does it say? We hurt the wounded. You know. In Corinth. The believers were talking about. Taking one another to court. The church in Philippi.

[27:11] Had internal strifes. Shouldn't brotherly love continue? Let brotherly love continue. We see verse 3. There's financial needs.

[27:21] The supplies were running out. Some had mortgaged all their hands. So they could borrow money. To buy food. In verse 3. Then we see that there was a famine as well. Things that we don't have control over.

[27:33] So there's much opposition. It was a hard hat area. There's lots of things that are getting thrown at the people of God. The enemies were mocking. And there was infighting. And then.

[27:45] Verse. Chapter 6. We see. That the opposition says. If we can't beat them. Let's join them. So there's this sneaky attack of compromise. You know.

[27:55] It's like. The Pope gathering all these religious leaders. Together. Let's all get together. Chapter 6. Verse 2. Come. Let us meet together. But really.

[28:05] Their goal was to destroy Nehemiah's work. Nehemiah's enemies were asking. Stop building. And come. And let's have a meeting. Let's have a peace summit. But they didn't want peace.

[28:16] They wanted Nehemiah's destruction. Really. It was a distraction. It was a time waster. So how did Nehemiah. Avoid being distracted. He knew. He was involved in a great work.

[28:27] Sometimes we can neglect. Doing the things that matter. Because other things. Encroach. What are the things that matter?

[28:38] Serving the Lord. Serving people. Winning souls. Discipling. Training our children. Chapter 6. Verse 16. It says that.

[28:49] The enemies. Finally. They perceived. This work. Was wrought of our God. He overcame all those things. He didn't get together with these. Ones who wanted to. Busy him.

[29:00] And occupy him. And. Consume his time on. On some. Meeting. With those who. Really were not. Engaged in the mission.

[29:13] They were against him. He said that he was doing a great work. And he would not. Meet with them. Then we see. Another theme.

[29:24] Is the word of God. In chapter 8. We see. That the people called out. For God's word. And. In Nehemiah 8. Verse 1. We see they called it out. They called out for it.

[29:35] And. In verse 3. It says they read aloud. From daybreak till noon. And all the people. Listened attentively. So it wasn't just a. A short sermon like mine.

[29:46] It was. Hours. And hours. Of the word of God. And. And the people. Honored the word of God so much. That they all stood. And they listened. They paid. Earnest attention. And we see in verse 6.

[29:59] That God's word. Inspired worship. They bowed down. And worshipped the Lord. With their faces to the ground. Now this is revival. Isn't it? It's. It's an obedience. To the word of God.

[30:09] It's taking heart. In God's word. And they give themselves. To God. They rededicate themselves. Later. Do we see in chapters 11 and 12. That they commit their lives. To the word of God.

[30:20] To give themselves to God. And another theme. Is worship. Worship. In chapter 12. We see they dedicated the wall. And it says. In Nehemiah 12.

[30:32] Verse 27. As they. Conducted this dedication. There was gladness. There was thanksgiving. And singing. With psalteries. And harps. And cymbals.

[30:43] There was worship. People worship. God has done this work. God has done this work. As they said. Even as the enemies acknowledged. In chapter 6. Verse 16.

[30:53] This work. Was wrought. Of our God. And. Friends. That's. Really. The. In a nutshell. The things. That we see. Through the book of Nehemiah.

[31:04] We see. It started with him watching. And weeping. And likewise we. Brothers and sisters. If we open our eyes. And see what's going on. In the world around us.

[31:15] Globally. Let alone. Even in. In local. And. In. Our nation. We see. Ungodly laws. We see.

[31:26] Immorality. Heralded. And celebrated. And. Enforced. On our children. And we see.

[31:36] A nation. At peril. We see. Great. Lack. Great. Sin. That's overtaking. Our land. We see.

[31:46] In our church. There's much need. For spiritual fervor. And zeal. To be refreshed. Let's watch. And weep. Like. Nehemiah did. He watched.

[31:58] And he wept. It drove him. To repentance. It drove him. To prayer. It drove him. To see. God's face. He watched. And he wept. We see.

[32:09] Also that. He went. To the work. He called the people. To the work. Of God. There's work to be done. And he called the people.

[32:19] To that work. He said. Come. And let us build up the wall. That we be no more. A reproach. He said. This is a disgrace. Our nation. Is.

[32:32] Failing. Our land. Is overtaken. By the enemy. We need to build up. Our spiritual defenses. We need to. Rebuild.

[32:43] Our faith. Our. Love for the Lord. Our. Defense. Against the enemy. Let's.

[32:53] Time. It's time to work. To rise up and build. And. Not that the work. Or the building. Is by one. Or a small number. But it's by all. It's by everybody.

[33:04] We've all got a place. To occupy. In this work of God. There's all. Manner. Of jobs. To be done. On this building site. And it is a hard hat area.

[33:15] We're going to face trial. And tribulation. We're going to face much opposition. There's going to be much. Discouragement. And it will be easy. To get fatigued. There's much rubble.

[33:26] There's much. Against us. There's many that will criticise. This church. That will criticise you. As you seek to be. Faithful to God.

[33:37] Let's build up those gates. All of those. Areas of. Of. Of salvation. Of witness. Of the truth. Of humility. Of getting rid of rubbish.

[33:48] Of the. Holy Spirit. Of the word of God. Of spiritual warfare. Of. Our trust in our Lord's returning. And of that examination. All of those gates.

[33:58] Those various meanings of the gates. And then we see. That the people. Asked for the book. They said. Bring the book. They wanted the word of God.

[34:10] We must get a thirst. And a hunger for the word of God. Such that we want to. Grow. Go. It says. That the word of God. Is able to build you up.

[34:21] And. The reason why things are broken down. And need rebuilding. Is because. We need to return to the word of God. We need to get back the book. Get back the book.

[34:32] And start reading it. Start hearing it. Start. Recalling it. Putting it into our hearts. And lives. And then we see. The worship. Lastly. That.

[34:43] The people worshipped. They. It says that the people. Marched on the walls. They showed the surrounding enemies. These walls are strong. They've been rebuilt. And they are strong.

[34:54] It showed God's victory. It showed God's people. Claiming that victory. And then. Sadly. We do see.

[35:04] Some compromise. At the close of the book. That the people had not separated themselves. From the world. There was some compromise there. Let's not. Diminish that separation.

[35:16] The walls. Are a defense. There's a. There's a sense of. Separation. From the world. There's a sense of. Dedication. Unto God. And so.

[35:28] There's much. Spiritual truth here. We're really just. Scratching the surface. Of. These many truths. Of. The separation. Unto God. Is part of our worship. Because we're a holy people.

[35:39] We're called to be a holy people. To worship our God. Because. Our land. Our lives. Are in need of repair. We need God to do a work. A revival.

[35:50] Within us. God wants Jerusalem. To be a strong city. That could defend itself. Against the enemy. And likewise. For you and me. People of God. He wants you and me.

[36:01] To be strong Christians. To be. Strong in our spiritual life. To check our lives. To watch. To pray. To weep. To return to the work.

[36:13] And find our place of service. To. Get into the word of God. And refresh our love. For the scriptures. And to. Revive that.

[36:24] Heart of worship. That's a holy. Separated. God honoring. God glorifying worship. God. Question is. To close now. What needs repairing. What needs repairing.

[36:36] When we see. What needs. Clearing the rubble. That needs clearing away. Other things in our life. As believers. That. You could honestly say.

[36:46] Look. I need some restoration here. I need some rebuilding here. I need to confront some things. Some rubbish. Some enemies. I need to. Stand fast.

[36:57] In this spiritual warfare. I need to have a mind to work. To face the problems that. Are going to face me. And to. Press on. To pray through.

[37:08] To press through. And when we make that dedication. That we see at the end of the book. Where. They. Reconsecrated their lives to God. You know.

[37:19] I know as a Christian myself. I made an early commitment in my life. As a young believer. And then things waxed and waned. And.

[37:30] My love for the Lord. Was not as strong. And then at a later time. At another opportunity. There was a rally.

[37:41] Where a preacher. Called people to. To come to the cross. And. Also to. If it be. To make a rededication. A recommitment.

[37:51] And that really spoke to me. That yeah. I need to make a recommitment. Wasn't that I got born again. Again. It's just that. As a. Bit of a.

[38:03] Slack Christian. I needed to. Recommit. Myself to the Lord. And so I made that recommitment. And it meant so much to me. Because I was really.

[38:14] It was a turning point for me. And. I put to you today too. We can make that recommitment. Can't we? A recommitment to our Lord. We see. It starts in the book. With a great reproach.

[38:26] It was a disgrace. Things had broken down. There was. Much. Shame. The city. Was. Defenseless. And.

[38:37] It was a mess. The walls. Broken down. The gates burnt. It needed. Total restoration. It was a great reproach.

[38:48] And then at the close of the book. At the close of the book. There was a great rejoicing. A great rejoicing. That. God has done. A mighty work. And he can do that in us.

[39:00] As God's people today. Let's pray. Our Lord God. We thank you for. Your mercy and grace. It's. Just a joy to know.

[39:11] Your saving love. Lord. We thank you for everyone. That is here today. We pray Lord. That each one might know. What it is to. As it were. To. To see the sheep gate. To see where the lamb of God.

[39:23] Who takes away the sin of the world. And represents for us. That great sacrifice. That all of us need. To put our faith and trust in you. As the lamb of God.

[39:33] Who takes away the sin of the world. Lord. Help us to refresh our love for you. To. Renew our commitment. And. Lord. For each believer here today. That we'll be like Nehemiah.

[39:46] And those many teams. Those 40 odd teams of people. That all had a part to play. Help us as a church Lord. To. To be restored. And refreshed. And.

[39:56] And re-energized. Lord. Refresh our love for you. Each one individually here. Lord. We all call. Each one to you. For our own personal circumstance today.

[40:09] Lord. We know that there's. Much need for our nation. We can reap. As we watch our nation. We see the state it's in. We see the state of the church. This church.

[40:20] All churches. The church of God. Lord. It's a reproach. It's a disgrace. Lord. What is broken down. Lord. We pray that you would rebuild us. To be that spiritual people.

[40:32] That separated. Set apart people. For your glory. To be a people. Revived. Recommitted. Refreshed. Lord. We pray. We earnestly pray.

[40:43] As Nehemiah prayed. And prayed. And prayed. Let us pray Lord. As a people of God. That you would do a work in us. Use us for your work. And Lord. We'll call on your word.

[40:54] We'll enter that true worship. Of knowing what great things you have done. As we look back and see. How you've led us by fire. And by cloud. In Jesus name.

[41:05] Amen.