Sermon notes from Sunday 11th March 2018
Nehemiah 4 verses 7 - 23
This is a passage of scripture that speaks about opposition and discouragement. Nehemiah had brought a group of men to rebuild the walls in Jerusalem. They were getting on well until opposition began to appear. That often happens in the work of God. Sanballat opposed the work in Nehemiah`s day just as some oppose the work of God today. Bitterness, sarcasm, threats, criticism, inuendos, temptation in the work that is being done. How did Nehemiah face this? He took it on board, he saw the work of God prosper and his enemies were defeated. He resorted to prayer - verse 9. What was the first thing he did? He resorted to prayer. It is a sad tragedy of the chuch today that we resort to everything but prayer. We try all sorts of schemes and ideas, committees and organisation to worry the opposition but here`s a man who knew what to do. It was the first thing he did, not the last thing. It is always wise to resort to prayer. Joseph Scriven wrote that lovely hymn "What a friend we have in Jesus" and in its lines we read
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere
We should never be discouraged
Take it to the Lord in prayer
E M Bounds said "To give prayer the secondary place is to make God secondary in life`s affairs." Is prayer a top priority for you? John Bunyan said of prayer "pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God and a scourge for Satan." Nehemiah went to prayer. That not only applies to the church but to individuals today. CH Spurgeon was the greatest preacher of the 19th and 20th Century. He ministered at the famous Metropolitan Chapel in London. He tells a story of seeing 4 young men waiting outside the doors of the church one night before a service began. They saw Spurgeon coming up the steps but did not know who he was. Spurgeon asked them what they were doing there. They replied that they were studying ministry and thought it would be a good idea to come and hear the great CH Spurgeon preaching. Spurgeon asked them if they would like to see the heating furnace but they replied they were not interested. Spurgeon told them he would like them to see it nevertheless. He took them down in the basement and opened a set of double doors. There in that room were 700 people gathered in prayer before the service began. Spurgeon preached to thousands of people every Sunday and we are still reading his books and quoting from him today. What a difference it makes when men and women pray. When our forefathers came up against opposition they went to prayer. We seem to be masters of musical concerts and a variety of others things but not prayer.
The second thing Nehemiah did was he remembered the Lord - verse 14. That word "terrible" should really be translated "awesome". Today we are not only refusing to resort to prayer but we are forgetting the Lord some times. The Lord is absent in churches and fellowships today. There is no sense of his presence. We have a great God, an almighty God, a powerful God. In chapter 1 verse 5 we read "the great and terrible God that keepeth the covenant." Many Christians hold God in little significance. "If God be for us who can be against us?" We need no more than God. In 1886 Carl Boberg with a few other men were attending a meeting in a stately home in Sweden. In that home there were a number of ladies who met together to knit and sew to send off items to missions. On that particular evening the sun was shining over the lake beside the house when all of a sudden the sky became overcast and there was a rumble of thunder. Then the rains came and poured down in torrents. As they looked across the lake there was a little church whose bell was ringing. A funeral service was being held but then the sky cleared again. Carl Boberg wrote one of the greatest hymns as a result of that night
O Lord my God when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds thy hand have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to thee
How great thou art, How great thou art.
Nehemiah encourages the people to remember the Lord, to remember his greatness but also his awesomeness. We have not only a great God but we have an awesome God. Victor Hugo the French novelist said "I did not study God I was dazzled by him." When did it grip your heart? The Presbyterian Shorter Catechism asks the question "What is God?" and the response comes back "God is a spirit; infinite, eternal and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth." This is not just a man next door or upstairs as some refer to him as. Nehemiah remembers the Lord in his greatness and his awesomeness. Derek Swan was a Welsh preacher, a godly man, an educated man who ministered in Ashford, Middlesex. He wrote an article in 1978 called "Congregational Convention" in which he said "it leaves us breathless with joy and wonder." Have you ever experienced being left breathless as you think of how God is so majestic and strong, so soverign. Martin Luther said to Elymus the great scholars "your thoughts of God are too human." Are your thoughts of God too human today? Is God just human instead of being sovereign. Nehemiah says to his people not only resolve to pray but remember the Lord is great and awesome.
The third thing Nehemiah did was he resisted the enemy - verse 9. In verse 4 he told the people "be not afraid of them" Urgent practical action to face the enemy. We live in a world today where Christians believe Satan does not exist. Here`s the enemy coming through human hands. We need to resist the enemy, he is big out there today. 10 years ago we would never have believed we would be seeing the things we see today. Now the Christian faith is made so little of. We need to resist the enemy, must learn not to fondle Satan but fight him now through the name of Jesus and the merits of his blood shed at Calvary.
They returned to the work - verse 15. If you are a Christian have you given something back to God`s work? Maybe God is saying "get back to the work, get back to prayer." These people returned to the work, not slacking any more. They went back to the building of the walls. At the collapse of France in World War 2 on 18 June 1940 Winston Churchill referring to Hitler said "if we stand up to him all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad sunlit uplands. But if we fail then the whole world including the United States of America, including all that we have known and cared for will sink into the dark abyss of a new dark age made more sinister and perhaps more protracted by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves that if the British Empire and its commonwealth last for a thousand years men will say this was our finest hour." If every Christian resorted to prayer, resisted the devil and returned to the work we might be able to say "this is our finest hour". Who knows what God might do if we accepted the challenge. They did all this as the enemy was attacking.
The last thing they did was - they rallied together - verse 20. United we stand and divided we fall. They rallied together under their leaders to a place of united action. There is no such thing as freelance Christianity. They rallied together to serve the Lord - verse 21. Remember the story of Aaron and Hur holding up Moses` hands. Judges 20 verse 11 "So all the men were gathered against the city knit together as one man." Think of those men and women you know, people who will die in their sin, go into a lost eternity. Friends and family who are still outside of Christ. Pray and ask the Lord, seek him for what he is able to do.
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