through the whole chapter verse 15 but it's pretty much the same all the way through to the end of
the chapter where you have all of these names listed and where you have certain things that
they did in repairing the wall of jerusalem
now my house such a relevant book at all times i know the whole bible is relevant to us
in different ways but i think especially in the situations we're facing now
that nehemiah's book has so much to tell us and so much to encourage us by
he faced huge challenges to the work that he was doing for the lord but overcame them by the blessing
of the lord and he comes before us as a superb leader and every superb leader is a leader utterly
dependent on god and that's certainly what nehemiah was and as he was led by god and as he led the
people so we come to chapter three where the repairing of the wall is now taking place now
the previous two chapters you find nehemiah himself referred to having come back from
from where he was in exile along with others and he came back to
uh to jerusalem god brought him back there and he set about
first of all an assessment of the situation an inspection of the walls and then towards the end
of chapter two you find him exhorting those that especially were leaders of the people and uh
exhorting them to take up their own role and to help him uh to actually come to repair not just the
walls of jerusalem but the whole cause of god in jerusalem that has so long been reflected due to
their years in exile in babylon now the work can begin after the assessment inspection and exhortation
are now over but why are we given such a chapter as this with a list of names which appears to be
really not much more than just a list of names of course there are other chapters in the bible like
that as well and when we're reading perhaps we're uh attending maybe or tempted uh just to skip over
this chapter if you're reading through the bible in your daily readings for example and you'd come to
nehemiah you might be tempted to say there's nothing really there but a list of names so i can easily
skip over chapter three and move to chapter four and i really wouldn't have missed much out except
all these difficult hebrew names so that would be a mistake of course because there is no section of
the bible that is that isn't relevant in its own right there's no section of the bible no section of
any chapter no chapter in itself every single chapter every passage every verse indeed in the bible is
relevant and significant in its own right and placed exactly where god intended it to be placed
so we mustn't be tempted to skip over these sort of passages but just go through them slowly and look
out at what's there apart from the list of names and try and sift through the list of names as if you
were sifting through grains or stones looking for little precious bits and then sifting them out and
finding them as you take time going through them and that's what this chapter is really like and this
chapter was written not just for the record or for the official records of nehemiah's day it has
theological importance for the people of nehemiah's day and for those who came after and of course now
for ourselves as well it's theologically important because this chapter especially we can say we can
summarize it really tonight under two main points as to what it teaches it teaches us first of all about unity
it teaches us secondly about continuity because these people are mentioned as united in this important work
of building the wall of jerusalem of repairing it against their enemies and that's what we are given the privilege
of doing and being a united people against the attempts made by those who don't like the gospel to destroy
the gospel to undermine our efforts to discourage us in the work and this chapter three of nehemiah will
encourage us as we see how united they were and how that unity is described in this list of names throughout
this chapter and then there's continuity as well because not only is this something that shows the
unity of these people but it shows a continuity as well as we'll see towards the end of the study
tonight how it's a continuity with what went before the exile 70 years or more before this
and what also comes after as this leads us into the new testament and right up to our own present day as well
so there's a continuity between the people before that exile and also after that exile
and that's really brought together in the way they're listed here and spoken of here in nehemiah 3
so let's look at this there's a unity first of all and the chapter begins significantly by talking about
the leaders talking about eliasheb the high priest who rose up with his brothers the priests
and they built the sheep gate and consecrated it and set up its doors and as we read through that part of the chapter
so often it mentions the gates that they rebuilt the doors the bolts the bars in other words it's really telling us
this this was not a quick fix it job this was something that was carefully done
they took account of all the detail as they went about the repairs whatever it was needed to be repaired
it didn't just repair it they repaired it soundly it was made to last was made with a view to providing
for the covenant people from this day onwards these days onwards but you notice here they rose up
these these leaders of of the people the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests and they built
the sheep gate now that's a response to what you find in the previous chapter to the um the exhortations
of nehemiah himself look at verse 20 there for example i replied to them uh this is when uh news was was
was given him of their enemies that were going to try and uh stop the work and undermine the work and
actually discourage the people then i replied to him the god of heaven will make us prosper and we his
servants will arise and build but you have no portion or right or claim in jerusalem when we say
that to their enemies the god of heaven will make us prosper we will rise and build then you read in
chapter three they rose up together they responded uh to this exhortation to come and take the leadership of
rebuilding the walls of jerusalem and show the people that they were there to lead the people
into the work of rebuilding re-establishing things in jerusalem they were stirred up to do so by the
words of nehemiah himself and especially by pointing them to god and to his promises and to the efficiency
and sufficiency of god and that's really what church leaders are for church leaders are there not to give
political pontifications that doesn't mean we never cry disc and we never um criticize or give critiques of
those who are leaders in the political field we have to do that when they're contrary to the word of god
we need to show that the leaders of the church need to show that they need to be to the to the forefront in
doing that but your spiritual leaders tonight are there so that they will show you the example so that you
will be able to follow them so that they will be prominent and in first place in rising up to actually
build the walls of jerusalem spiritually of course i mean and so that's why you choose spiritual leaders
elders ministers to be over you so that by god's blessing by god's leadership himself by god's power
we will prove to be effective in being the leaders of the church and it's always a challenge to us and
that's why we we value your prayers so much it's always a challenge to us to be leaders in the church
of god to be at the forefront the lord should never actually deflect us from from being that if that's
what god has led us to be but it is a challenge and we need your prayers and we value your prayers
and we thank you for your prayers that you have risen up and that you've taken this role that god has led you
to uh for the way in which we need the church to be led by people who themselves are led by god so
that's the first thing to notice the leaders led the way but they led the way and you notice the
emphasis on the sheep gate and apparently the sheep gate as they consecrated it and set up its doors
it was part of the entry way to the temple and that itself is making an important point that this
repair work set god at the heart of it it had to do with building up the cause of god building up the
people of god re-establishing the sacrifices in jerusalem that's really what the repairs were all
about the physical repairs of the walls and of the altar and of the temple they were all for a certain
end and that was to build up a community of believing people once again to re-establish a covenant
people of god having come back from exile and so the leaders focused on the sheep gate they were more
or less saying by that look we as your leaders want to give prominence to the temple we'd hear us
leaders under god and so we want to show you that that's of primary concern the cause of god the worship
of god that's what we're here to actually be leaders of and that's what is that's what it's like
even to this day so the leaders led the way and then we find from then on that it speaks about the
whole people being involved the priests and the people named here by families in other words you
can say really that everybody contributed although we'll see there is an exception in a moment but
everybody part of that exception contributed wholeheartedly and gladly to the work of building
or rebuilding the walls look at verse 12 for example even to the point of this man who's mentioned
here next to him shalom the son of halohesh ruler of half the district of jerusalem he repaired he
contributed to their peers he and his daughters you'd imagine that daughters were going to be left out
of this because a lot of it was pretty heavy work demanding work but no the others there's a reference
there to his daughters we don't know how old they were whether they were really young or up in ages
we don't know but they were there and that's a very important mention because they were not accepted
just because they were daughters or female or had other responsibilities the whole people including such as
these daughters were actually involved and then you look at verse 8 for example
next to them uziel the son of hariah goldsmiths repaired next to him hananiah one of the perfumers
repaired now if you're going to start building a wall with heavy stones and repairing all the
the debris that's there from years and years of neglect you're maybe not going to expect those who are
goldsmiths who have such fine hands and fingers you're not going to expect them along with perfumers those who are
providing and and making these precious perfumes you might think well surely they're going surely they're going to be
accepted sure you don't expect somebody who's a goldsmith to start using a shovel or something else like that in order to
actually contribute to the work not so they were there they weren't there actually uh making up rings or uh or other gold
artifacts they were there to help with the physical work of clearing rubble building up the walls of jerusalem in their own section of it
so everybody contributes it mentions even people from outside of jerusalem there
verses 2 and 5 and 7 and 13 and so on mentions people from outside the town itself and the districts
even people from jericho as mentioned they're the men of jericho and others all the way through the chapter
you can pick up those details for yourselves and it's important as i said at the beginning just take your time
through it no matter whether you pronounce the words right or not to yourself important thing is you pick
out these little details these little clues as to why you have this chapter what it's about how it's how it is
encouraging for ourselves and really when you think about it all the people contributing that way
it reminds you of certain passages in the new testament as well i'm just going to mention one just now it's
in paul's letter to the philippians and you remember in chapter one of philippians that paul
has been appealing to those in philippine that he's writing to to be of of one mind or to let their manner
of life be worthy of the gospel of christ in verse 27 there of chapter one so that whether i come and
see you or i'm absent i may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving
side by side for the faith of the gospel and not frightened in anything by your opponents you could
almost imagine that um well we don't know that this is the case but you could imagine maybe that
here is paul just lifting something out of nehemiah and saying look this is this is what it was then
this is what it must be like now and not only do they each have their own contribution but they need
to do that in a united way so that the whole people as one are striving together as paul put it for the
faith of the gospel it's the same in principle the same in practice for our own day as well and if ever
there was a day that needs that we strive together that they work we work together for the faith of
the gospel that everyone does their own portion it's surely today because so much of what you find in
our land is not really conducive to the gospel or to the progress of the gospel it's designed against
it and that's even within the church and within people you might expect to to actually stand up
against laws and practices and procedures that the bible itself denounces but that's not always the case
sadly and that's how it was for them they all came together everyone contributed to the work apart
from the exceptional mention in a minute but i want to say something in relation to that just now
don't be put off by any increase in regulations this is something we find currently that i'm just
mentioning just now there's so many regulations now that are required in order to actually for very good
reason whether it's for child protection or vulnerable adults or people who have vulnerabilities of
different kind that we need certificates we need to go through certain training and i know that's very
off-putting and that's something that people might just say well i really think i've i've done my bit so
why should i really go through this i've got all these years behind me now young ones are coming up
and surely they can take over please don't say that your experience as someone who is older in years
and experience is so vital to the congregation here to the church to the cause i know it's a hassle
having to go through training online but it only takes an hour and a half and it's not a difficult thing
and you can get guidance from from ian or for whoever um to actually help you go through that or if it's
applying for a pvg certificate for for work in this congregation it's important to have it because the
more we say well i'll just leave it to others really i don't want to go through the hassle of
all of that what are we doing with that what we're doing we're withdrawing ourselves from the rebuilding
of the walls and you can imagine if you go through this chapter if some of these people had said well
i've done my bit i've done all that i think is necessary others can now take over there's no evidence
of that anywhere in these uh in these details so i'm saying that to encourage you i'm saying that to
to actually um put it to myself and to yourselves because we all have to be like this uh committed to
the work of the gospel whatever it takes whatever demands are made of us reasonably we should always say
well it's a hassle it's difficult i'd rather it wasn't there but i want to be committed to the work of
christ to the work of christ in this congregation or beyond so please don't be deflected don't be put
off because everyone here contributed in nehemiah's day to the rebuilding of the wall including even
this man is mentioned interestingly in verse 11 malhaja the son of harim and hazub the son of
pahath moab now it's an interesting reference there to malhaja because when you go to ezra the previous
book which interlinks very much with nehemiah um you'll you'll find in ezra chapter 10
and at verse 31 there's a reference there to malhaja it's obviously the same man it mentions
his ancestry as well along with a list of others who had actually come to marry foreign women which was
forbidden for those people of israel so he was actually dealt with them they had to uh put away
these foreign wives uh they were called to task as it were for that but here he is you see he's still
appearing in the work of building the walls of jerusalem in other words his past his past uh
failure did not actually prevent being used of god in this new venture of rebuilding the walls of
jerusalem we have to remember that ourselves that we all have faults we all have failures
and when god comes to deal with our failures and when we're if we need to be rehabilitated and brought
back into the fellowship of god's people it's so that we will contribute to the work and they will
uh the work will actually also be given to us and wholeheartedly again we can be together in the work
of the lord so everybody contributed including this malhaja nobody here said you don't need me
nor did anybody here say you surely are not going to use them or him or her
they're all wonderfully together as one people in the work of the lord except for those that are
mentioned there in verse five and it really stands out and it jars on your mind as you read down through
the chapter that there is this one exception that really spoils the total unity that would otherwise be
there here is verse five notice what it says next to them the techoites repaired but their nobles would
not stoop to serve their lord their nobles would not stoop to serve their lord and it's interesting the way it's put
they refused to take part a small group um these important people in their own right at least these
people who had some status they refused to help in the work and the way that nehemiah puts it is
they would not stoop they would not lower themselves they would not bow themselves to serve as all the others
serve and that's a reminder to us isn't it friends that spiritual building work requires humble service
it requires us to deny ourselves it requires us to humble ourselves it requires us to follow the lord's
example who never said i can't be expected to do that because he's brought before us in the word as the great
leader and as the great leader of his people how does the bible describe him how does the how do the uh
the new testament writings describe him well philippians 2 you remember very well he humbled himself
having come into this world having taken our nature he humbled himself and became obedient unto death
even the death of the cross you remember he said to the disciples at one time did it seems to have
been more than one occasion talking about the kings of the gentiles and what the kings of the gentiles
expect of their subjects especially of their servants they expect that they will sit there and they will be
served the kings just depend on others to serve them but i he said i'm among you as the servant
the one who serves i am the complete opposite of the kings of the world i did not come into the world
he said on another occasion to be served but to be a servant the son of man has come not to be served
but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many and that's the principle you find outlined here
by way of this exception by this by way of this glaring exception these nobles they would not stoop
themselves to serve their lord you know stooping to serve the lord denying ourselves uh being required to
do things which perhaps we ourselves find difficult or challenging to do that's a privilege
when you think of what the lord did for us he stooped himself even to the extent of the death of the cross
so there's the leaders leading the way there's the whole people but for this one exception and then it
mentions as you read through it you can say that it involves the whole wall there's this unity the
leaders leading the way the whole people with one exception and then you've got the whole wall
mentioned very interestingly as what they actually set about repairing because when you begin and you
go through these different gates that are mentioned in the chapter um they seem rather insignificant just a
matter of fact sort of thing but when you go to verse 32 didn't read as far as that the last
verse of the chapter and between the upper chamber of the corner and the sheep gate the goldsmith and
the merchants repaired and there you see you're back at the beginning the sheep gate is the very first
thing that's mentioned back at the beginning of the chapter that um elashib the high priest and his
brothers the priests they built the sheep gate so in other words nehemiah has taken us all the way around
the sheep gate and he's described how these people side by side close together actually set about the
work wholeheartedly and as he's taken us through all of these groups of these family groups all the way
around that you find the whole wall is actually included in that particular walk around the wall if you
like that he's mentioned by mentioning these people and that too is important um for the work of the gospel
because if we can spiritualize this for a moment legitimately i think we can we can do that of
course because all of this has spiritual meaning for us they were physical walls but they had a very
spiritual significance and so they do as well today as we're trying to set out but when you think about
um the gospel work and the work of the gospel let's just confine it to our own congregation although
we're united with others in the work of the gospel of course but if you think about the work of the
gospel in the congregation as building up the walls of jerusalem building up the cause of god
contributing our own part to doing that what do you find you find lord's day services you
prime join weeknight services like this prayer meetings you find other meetings simply for prayer
you find sunday school you find twinnies you find creche you find uh meetings for the youth you find youth
fellowship you find um youth youth activities you find work for older folks to do and they are of course
involved in work with the younger ones too you find an emphasis we hope on families and an involvement of
families and it's thrilling to see families being part of the congregation as families together
we have our over 55 club we have other activities along with all of these and the services there you see
is as it were taking account of the whole wall that needs to be built and needs to be kept up needs to
be repaired and kept in good order there isn't a section of that wall as i've described it that's unimportant
all of these activities make up one wall that we need to keep in good shape that we need to actually maintain
for the lord to which we need to contribute our own portion whatever it is doesn't matter if it's not as
prominent as that given to others that's not the point you have something to do i have something to do
we have to do it together and together it's a matter of the whole people covering the whole wall the whole work
for the lord and each section of that wall in jerusalem that that literal wall of stone each section of that
was important to its overall security to its overall strength if any one part of that wall was too weak
obviously that would be an advantage to the enemy think of what we're doing in the congregation along those lines
as well all of these sections of the wall young folks preschool primary school secondary school older ones
all of these sections of the wall are so important they all contribute in their own way to the strength of god's cause here
and we have to as much as we can give our own contribution to the maintenance of that wall
so there is the unity that this wonderful chapter really sets out for us but i mentioned also that
there's continuity and just briefly um you can see verse seven chapter seven for example
and from verse five onwards another list of names
chapter seven there you have that other list of names they're set out in a slightly different way
you have a similar thing in ezra chapter two and and you don't need to look this up just now but when
you go back earlier to joshua and to numbers you find different uh lists but similar lists uh really at
joshua 18 and 19 numbers chapter one and verse 26 and what are do what what is doing really is telling us that
what's happening here in chapter three of nehemiah is connected to what happened before the people
actually went into exile in babylon and now that they're back from exile in babylon all that is
actually being reconnected if you like so put it this way god established his covenant community in the
land of canaan as he promised he took his people out of egypt he established them in canaan he made
them there into an organized people of god a covenant people and then came 70 years of exile
and they took that upon themselves for their disobedience as god had warned and threatened
70 years have elapsed and more and now they're coming back to jerusalem not all at once but in
different groups and being reunited under the leadership of nehemiah and ezra and the prophets
that prophesied to them as well zechariah and haggai and as that's happening what you're finding is that
the covenant promises and pledges of god that he gave to the people when he established them in canaan
they didn't get lost in babylon god didn't throw them away god didn't say when they went into exile
in babylon i'm finished with you as a people i'm finished with my covenant promises i no longer have
have anything to do with you in a covenant sense the covenant that they broke and the the the punishment
of god for the breaking of the covenant is the exile in babylon the covenant hasn't gone away and this
is not a new covenant that's being established here with the people now they're back in jerusalem but it's
a new beginning a new beginning for the same covenant people of god why is that important for ourselves
because god only has one people throughout every age of history one people of god all the way through
from these early old testament times into the days of the apostles down through the history of the church
and of the world right up to stornoway 2023 you're united to the work that was going on in jerusalem in
nehemiah chapter 3 and before that because god's covenant is god's covenant of salvation god's covenant of
redemption god's covenant with his people in christ in other words
god's that is surely a huge encouragement to you and to me tonight here we are facing in this world
so much that threatens us so much that threatens to overwhelm us who knows what yet may happen in terms of
political movements and statutes on our national statute book that may themselves even more squeeze the gospel
and the freedom to preach the gospel and to live out the gospel we hope it won't come to that but it may come to that and the signs are ominous
and we need to keep checking to see what's happening and praying about what's happening
but every attempt as you see from the book of nehemiah itself
every attempt to destroy the church will ultimately fail now that's not in any way to make us slacken in our
concentration or just step back in our efforts for christ and for his gospel but there's so much there to
reassure us so much there to comfort us in times of great difficulty and great challenge
the enemy will not destroy the church he may take away our freedoms he can't take away our salvation
he may take away our opportunities for further outreach and evangelism he cannot take out of our hearts the
jesus that has come to live there and that itself has been so precious to god's people down through the years
and therefore tonight let's let's take great encouragement from this this chapter which has
challenge in it certainly but also so much to encourage us and let's seek ourselves to be a united people
a whole people where everyone contributes where everyone does something for the lord
where there are no exceptions that say no i refuse to bow to lower myself and where the whole wall the
whole work as far as possible is covered by what we set about to do for the lord unity and continuity
and as paul finished his great treatise in one corinthians 15 that we're looking at on sunday evenings you
remember how he finishes therefore be steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the lord
for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the lord let's pray
lord our god we thank you that your word brings us so much encouragement so much to strengthen us
so much to teach us and to lead us in these great avenues of truth you are the god of history the god who
brings us back to such basic powerful events as your own resurrection from the dead
and we thank you lord for the conviction you have given us of the historicity of these great events
of the exodus the settlement in canaan the return from captivity the re-establishment of your cause in
jerusalem the growth of the new testament church reaching out with the gospel into the gentile world
and the many ways lord down through the years of the history of the world and which you have blessed
your people and made them a blessing to the world around them lord we pray that you would by your
blessing maintain in us and increase in us that unity that would set about the work of the gospel
wholeheartedly we thank you for all the support that we are able to give to each other and we thank
you oh lord that you have proved yourself to be faithful at all times to the way in which you lead and
guide your people and so we ask that you would bless us now continue to bless us throughout the rest of
this week and as we look forward again to the lord's day lord help us to rejoice in that day and to rejoice
in it as yet one great contribution that you have made to the life of your people here as we pray now for
jesus sake amen let's sing a conclusion now this evening from psalm 48 48a and that's in the sing psalms on page 63
we're going to sing from verse 8 to the end of the psalm verse 14
please
do
have