Transcript: Fierce Resolve, Nehemiah 6 – 7:1-4

Rather than read the chapter or the passage beforehand and then preach on it, because of the length again of the chapter, I wanted to break it up, I wanted to say, okay, how could I possibly shrink it? There's so much goodness to it. And I'm like, it would be a disfavor for you to do something like that. So, we're gonna just go through the passage, through different episodes this morning. And so just to give you a heads up, we will indeed be preaching from the word this morning and we will get there. 

So, brother and sisters in Jesus Christ. It has been several months since I quoted or referred anything to the History of English podcast.  Some of you know that I've been listening through that. I'm on like episode 87 or something like that. And I thought you know what because it's been a few months I'm not listening to a baseball podcast anymore. So, it's time to listen to that again and as I was preparing the sermon, I was reminded of one of the episodes. It was episode, what was it, 47. And the episode 47 is entitled The Man Who Saved English. And it's a whole story about Alfred the Great. And Alfred the Great is the only monarch throughout all of England's history to be referred to as the Great. And he was pretty great. He was a ninth century son who was the fifth son, so fifth in line to the throne in the southern kind of section of England at the time called Wessex. And so, while his brothers were out there fighting Vikings, they were learning how to lead and to fight, little Alfred was learning how to read and how to understand how to apply what he's learning and the English language specifically and learn also about the culture that existed there in Wessex. And so, one brother at a time died off. 

And so again, while he's trying to read and write, and he's learning the English language, and he's immersed himself in how to do all of that, his older brothers didn't have that kind of time on their hands as leading these different military campaigns against the Vikings. And so here we have Alfred. Eventually, the last son just above him passed away, and there he is, the leader. And he became actually an excellent strategist, military strategist. So not only was he knowledgeable, he knew a lot about the English language, and not only did he know how to read and write as literate, but he was also fighting against the Vikings and won a decisive battle. I believe what year was it? 878, 878. It was against the Vikings in Wessex, in southern part of England. And if he did not win that battle, it’d be hard to imagine us actually speaking the English language today. We'd probably be speaking some type of Scandinavian language where the Vikings would have taken over the entirety of England. That's why this podcast was The Man Who Saved English. So, he played a central role in his culture and he fought, as you hear the story, a total resolve for his people, for his language, for his culture. 

I thought of that, this guy Alfred, because I was thinking about like how do I communicate to ResLife how important Nehemiah is? Nehemiah is not like Abraham. He's not David. He's not Moses. He's not probably top three. But it's hard to imagine how important Nehemiah really is to the history of redemptive history. The Jews are at the brink of extinction. Again, they're surrounded by all these enemies. And we're gonna read a chapter where we read about Nehemiah's resolve. It's not too far stretched to say that God sent Nehemiah to ensure that the Jews would not be completely extinct. And this chapter specifically shows us how. 

The way we're gonna talk about that this morning is through three main points here. with Nehemiah's fierce resolve. We're gonna go through these different episodes where we talk about the oppressive onslaught against Nehemiah. We're gonna talk about the oppressive onslaught against Jesus. We're gonna compare and contrast him with Jesus. And then we're gonna talk about our own fierce resolve for Christ. 

So, let's begin, Nehemiah chapter Six. For those of you who have a Bible, please do turn to it. However, you can turn to it. Nehemiah Chapter Six. We're just going to start off with reading verses one through four. “Now when Sanbalat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it. Although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates. Sanballat and Geshem sent to me saying, come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono, but they intended to do me harm. And I sent messages to them saying, I'm doing a great work, and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you? And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner.” 

All right, so let's see how Nehemiah is going to be a savior of sorts here in chapter six. We see here, and I've shown this slide a few weeks in a row here, because it's important to see that Jerusalem is completely surrounded by these different enemies. So, we have  Sanbalat in the north. He's the sneaky Sanbalat. He's always lingering around, always being an annoyance to Nehemiah. And then you have Tobiah. a governor, Twisted Tobiah, we'll call him, and then we have Gaddi Geshem, who's in the South and to the East. And so, we have all three of these people who are working together and trying to get these letters sent to Nehemiah to see if they can meet with him. And so, they're just saying, you know, let's just get together. Let's just have a little council and talk about what's happening there in Jerusalem and whatever. And of course, Nehemiah, as one commentator wrote, he's almost as like, he’s got this omnipresent or omniscient knowledge in this passage. Like he always knows what's happening. And he's like, well, they're going to harm me, so I didn't want to do that. So how do I respond to them? I'm just going to say that, and rightly and truly so, that I can't take time away from doing this important work. And so Nehemiah says, I can't come. I got great work ahead of me. And it's true, if he were to have traveled to this section, it would probably have been a one- or two-day journey, then they would have had the council, then one- or two-day journey back. And all this time, Nehemiah's like, no, my job is here, my mission here is to make sure this work here is done. I'm not gonna get distracted by all the stuff that's happening outside with my enemies. 
So that's the first episode. We have this first episode with these plans to harm Nehemiah, but then we have episode two, which is false accusations. Verses four to nine says this. “And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner. In the same way, Sanbalat ,[verse five], for the fifth time, sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. And it was written. [So, this is what the letter had to say.] ‘It is reported among the nations. And Geshem also says it that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports, you wish to become their king. And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now the king will hear of these reports, the actual king. So now come and let us take counsel together.’ And then I, Nehemiah, sent to him saying, ‘No such things as you say have been done. For you are inventing them out of your own mind.’ For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, ‘Their hands will drop from the work and it will not be done.’ But now, oh God, strengthen my hands.” 

So, we have these private letters that are being sent to Nehemiah to stir fear in Nehemiah. You have to meet, you have to meet, you have to meet, you have to meet. The fifth letter is an open letter. So, it's an open letter in the sense that like more people are aware of what's happening here, and this is more like a public letter. To publicly humiliate Nehemiah and to kind of box Nehemiah in. We know, everybody knows what your intent here is Nehemiah, you want to be king. You're setting this all up so you could rebel against Artaxerxes. So, it's like a smear campaign, as if they're announcing publicly, like, ladies and gentlemen, have you not heard the intent of Nehemiah to rebel and to rule? Nehemiah's response is very simple, like prove it. You have no, you're just making all this stuff up. Total resolve on Nehemiah's part. And then what does he do? He goes to prayer. And we can read in the prayer, it says, but now, oh God, strengthen my hands. It's interesting. It's actually a shorter prayer than that. The English standard version rarely adds words to the texts because it's more of a word for word, literal translation. But in this case, they do add words in this prayer, which is, oh God. And so, it's actually a shorter prayer than what's recorded. It's basically like, strengthen me. Strengthen me. It's just a plea of help to God, obviously, to give him strength to his hands. It's not a strength of his heart or strength of his mind. He's resolute. He's resolved. But he just needs the strength in his hands to overcome these problems, political enemies out there wanting to harm Nehemiah in here. 

Then we have another episode, episode three, an assassination attempt to discredit Nehemiah. So, verses 10 to 14, if you follow along. “Now I went into the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined in his home. He said, ‘Let us meet together in the house of God. within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.’ But I said, ‘Should such a man as I run away?  And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.’ And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me. because Tobiah and Sanbalat had hired him. For this purpose, he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin so that they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me.” And then Nehemiah prays again, “Remember Tobiah and Sanbalat, oh my God, according to these things that they did. And also, the prophetess, Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.”

Okay, so we have this other sneaky character, Shemaiah, a hired accomplice to help assassinate and discredit Nehemiah. Can you imagine, like really, getting a letter, you know, going to this prophet, this apparent prophet, you know, and he's like, you know, they're gonna kill you at night. Just that alone, would that just not freak you out? Like if you had a genuine death threat, imagine that. And the way out is like, you know, go to the Lord's house. Go within the Lord's house. It's like a show of faith, Nehemiah. You're going to a fortress. God's fortress. God's house. So, there's a lot of like emotional manipulation happening here for Nehemiah. And Nehemiah is just completely unmoved. Can you imagine that? Imagine receiving a death threat. And you're like, I know who I am. I'm the governor. Like he is super self-aware of himself. So, there's a level of confidence that he has. Like I know who I am and I know what you're doing. You want me to go to the temple, and you want me to go and discredit myself because what's gonna happen is people are gonna go, oh look at Nehemiah. He thinks he's a priest. He thinks he can go into the temple, and he thinks that he's good enough to go and spend time with the Lord in the holy place like Uzziah the king did who ended up the Lord disciplined King Uzziah and discredited his reputation. 

Uzziah had this like fantastic reign in Israel many years earlier, but he went into the temple and he was not supposed to. And that is Uzziah's black eye. And so, these prophets are like, these prophets and these political leaders are like, how can we frame Nehemiah? How can we get him to have this black eye. And so, there's self -confidence, but there's also humility for him. He knows his limitations. He's like, I'm not going in there because you guys wanna kill me at night, but guess what? If I go in there, the Lord's gonna kill me because I'm not holy, I'm not worthy, I'm not pretty, so I'm not supposed to be in there. All right, so we have this episode here. He's totally resolute and what does Nehemiah do? Again, he goes to his knees and he prays. He goes and he prays, he prays against Tobiah and Sanbalat. He recalls a prophetess, which is unusual, but also other prophets hired out prophets. It's a bit of a mess what's happening here. 

Finally, episode number four, internal deceit, verses 15 to 19. So, the wall was finished on the 25th day of the month of Elul in 52 days. And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem. for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. Moreover, in those days, the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah's letters came to them. For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, [That is Tobiah, okay?] Because he was the son -in -law of Shecaniah, the son of Arah, and his son, Jehohanan, had taken the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah as his wife.” In other words, there's a lot of enmeshments happening here, okay? “Also, they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. And Tobias sent letters to make me afraid.” 

All right, so we have here Tobiah, and we see that he's through marriage. connected to all these nobles in Jerusalem. And he's using that to exert influence upon Nehemiah to again threaten Nehemiah, to make Nehemiah afraid. He's trying to instill fear in Nehemiah. For whatever reason, we're not told entirely the motivation here. Now Tobiah is an interesting name because it's a Jewish name and so we can make some assumptions, some assumptions, we can't make too many because we don't know too much about Tobiah, but Tobiah having that Jewish name has probably some like, yeah, integrated intimate connection with all these other families. These families who rule, who exert influence, who want their own agenda furthered rather than the agenda God has through Nehemiah. And it's amazing, right? The nations are starting to recognize Nehemiah is finishing this work. Only the hand of God could have accomplished something that great. So, the wall was complete. October 27th, 445. And the onslaught of oppression just continues with Tobiah sending him letters. So that's chapter six. 

This is constant onslaught. And as I've been saying over and over the last few weeks with regards to Nehemiah, Nehemiah is a type. Christ is the archetype, okay? So, Nehemiah is a foreshadow. Christ is the one who casts the shadow upon the Old Testament. And when we see what Nehemiah has all experienced, we see again through Jesus Christ, this constant oppressive onslaught against him throughout his ministry. Coming from those who have the power, who have the positions, who have the influence, who have the most to lose based on Jesus' agenda. So, we have these four brief episodes I want to share. Plans to harm Jesus. We know that Jesus healed on the Sabbath once. A good thing, right? Jesus showing the religious leaders at the time, yes, it's okay to heal on the Sabbath. But of course, the leaders over here, they saw Jesus as a threat. And so, in Mark 3:6, what did they do? “The Pharisees went out and immediately held council.” So, they're coming together and they're having the summit to discuss what? How to destroy Jesus. How to destroy Jesus. after raising Lazarus from the dead. Amazing miracle that Jesus performs. Resurrection life. Lazarus comes up, well what happens? Well, the chief priests and the Pharisees have again this council. They have this summit to get rid of Jesus. And John 11 :53 says this, “So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.” So, throughout Jesus' ministry, Jesus is receiving this oppressive onslaught. 

Episode two, accusations of rebellion and rule. This is fascinating. God's people wanted to get rid of Jesus, but they needed government officials on board to do so legally. So, what did they do? They accused Jesus of rebellion and rule. So, two different verses from the New Testament here. Luke 23:1-2 says this, “Then the whole company of them arose and brought Jesus before Pilate.” So, all these people in Jerusalem are bringing, there's this uprising and they bring Jesus before Pilate who could sign on the dotted line his execution and they began to accuse him. This is what they're accusing Jesus of. Quote, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” John 19:12 says this, from John's perspective, “From then on, Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, if you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. You are not the emperor's friend. Everyone it says who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” So again, they're appealing to those on the outside to justify the killing of the Christ. 

Episode three, assassination attempts to discredit Jesus. It's interesting when you look at this, how many times Jesus had to face an assassination attempt before his crucifixion. So, in Luke 4, fairly early on, Jesus is in Nazareth, right? Nazareth and he's preaching to his own peeps. Jesus of Nazareth, right? So, he's at his hometown, he's preaching to the synagogue, and they did not like what he had to say. And it says “They rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built so that they could throw him down the cliff.” Obviously, a failed assassination attempt. It was an attempt to discredit Jesus with this assassination attempt. In John 8, verse 48, the beginning of that, this dialogue that Jesus answered, Jesus, “and are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Right? So that's what Jesus is being accused of. And Jesus responds. But the passage ends “so they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus hid himself.” By the way, in the previous passage at Nazareth, Jesus just kind of walks away. Like it's such a funny kind of mystical kind of way of saying it. Like all these people around, Jesus somehow just like walks away. In this instance again, so they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself, so he hides himself this time so they can't find him. Another way to discredit Jesus. Here's another attempt to stone Jesus in John 8 again. So, Jews are in suspense. And they ask the question; “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly,” like they want to know. Are you the Christ or aren't you the Christ? Because we either like, yes, you are the Christ and we're gonna enthrone you or we're gonna kill you. Because John 10:31, it says “the Jews picked up stones again to stone him.” So, throughout Jesus' ministry, people did not want Jesus to live. It culminated, obviously, in the crucifixion. But there were assassination attempts on Jesus' life before that. And we know that during the crucifixion, there was a lot of internal deceit as well. Mark 14 says this for our last episode here with Jesus. “Judas came, one of the 12, and with him a crowd of swords and clubs from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now the betrayer had given them a sign saying the one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard. And when he came, he went on up to him at once and said rabbi, and he kissed him. And they laid hands on him and seized him. And there was 1,450.” He says these crucial words to his disciples. They all left him and fled. And we know Peter denies Jesus three times. And so, all Jesus, you know, those who were supposed to be on the inside, people who were supposed to be his biggest supporters, they all left him. They all deserted him. And yet Jesus was unfazed, unmoved, totally resolved in his mission and his calling. And in Jesus' case, of course, the obvious distinct difference is that Jesus was a King and is a King. Not the type of king they were thinking, not a threat to earthly kings, but as the King of Kings, ruling in heaven. And of course, he was assassinated, a cup Jesus was willing to drink as the recompense for our sin. 

Now before we move on to our final point, I think it's really important for us to see the result of Nehemiah's faithfulness and how he was continuing to be resolved in his calling and mission and tie that finally to Jesus. Because not merely is it a resolve to face oppression, it's a resolve to focus on his mission. So, Nehemiah 7:1 -4 says this: “But when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors and the gatekeepers and singers and the Levites had been appointed, I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah, the governor of the castle, charge over Jerusalem.” So, he wasn't trying to be king. He actually gave it over to these guys. For he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many. “And I said to them, let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot. And while they are still standing guard, let them shut and bar the doors. Appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Some at the guard posts and some in front of their homes. The city was wide and large, [it says,] but the people within it were few and no houses had been rebuilt.” I love this. I love Nehemiah 7. Do you see these four verses? Because Nehemiah finished the project and we know that the nations now, the fear is reversed. The nations now are afraid of them. And now Nehemiah not only sets everything up, but now he's built the gates, the doors, the bars, and he's setting people in place to stand guard, to maintain the walls of the city. So, Nehemiah builds a secure, protected, and fortified place for God's people to thrive nearby God's presence in the temple that was also within those walls. 

And it's so beautiful when we see again through the lens of the New Testament, how Jesus Christ himself builds a secure and protected and fortified place, but it's not a place. It's a person in Jesus, who is the foundation, the cornerstone of the church, right? In whom we are being built, built up into a temple. The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few and no houses had been built. Well, Jesus set up his disciples. After he resurrected, right? He set up his disciples. He put them back in place. He reinstates Peter. He has these worshipers. He commands them to love God, neighbor and self, and he commissions them to make disciples of all nations. He sets up shop for us. So, same way, Nehemiah sets up shop with a future and a promise and a hope, a place without fear, because you are protected. That influences us, does it not? That we have this comfort and promise and future in the person of Jesus Christ. That we are within Jesus Christ. Not in a building or within walls but within a body. An organic living organism called out into this world to what? To fill it. These haunting, kind of haunting words for me anyway. where it talks about the city was wide and large, but the people within it were few. No houses had been built yet. It hasn't been occupied. It hasn't been populated yet. Where in our fierce resolve in Christ, we are called to go and make disciples. I think there is a strong call here of us recognizing that within the space that Jesus has provided for us, he remains, he continues to call people to himself, to fill up this body. And that takes resolve, that takes strength. 

When I was a kid, we used to sing the song onward Christian soldiers. That song hasn't been sung as much these days for whatever reason. But if you think about kind of the, it does have that kind of military feel to it. I recently read an article about this, the song. I'll read the lyrics to you. “Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war with the cross of Jesus going on before. Christ the royal master leads against the foe. Forward into battle, see his banners go. Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war with the cross of Jesus going on before.” I remember singing this as a kid going like, let's go, right? Let's go. “At the sign of triumph, Satan's host doth flee, and then Christian soldiers on to victory. Hell's foundations quiver at the shout of praise. Brothers, lift your voices. Loud your anthems raise.” Love that song. That whole military feel of that song is probably one of the reasons why. So, we'll follow him by the wayside, but I did recently, just this past week read an article about a mainline liberal denomination singing this song. And this guy was writing the article, kind of like, okay, we have to sing Onward Christian Soldiers, sort of rolling his eyes at it. It's like, yeah, we're too advanced to sing such a song. And then he sang the song and he realized, what a beautiful hymn this is, and how beautifully true it is. Or the song we're about to sing. Oh Christ, or church arise. I'll read you that verse. “We are gathered together with a battle cry of love.” And we don't say charge and intend to harm a soul, but to save a soul. 

Nehemiah has challenged me so much over the last few weeks, particularly around who we are as a church and our mission together. Like our mission again to make disciples who discover the joy of belonging to Jesus. Make disciples who discover the joy of belonging to Jesus. We aren't a people of fear, we're a people of joy. And we live in a culture of fear, but not us. We have resolve. And in our mission statement, you know, there's a missional aspect to it, but also aspirational aspect to it. The missional aspect of it is to make disciples. To go and make disciples. To fill, to populate. And the how to do that, that's hard. But I want to challenge you with one thing. The biggest way in which we have typically attracted folks to our church is through word of mouth, and through an invitation. And I want you to think of someone in your life, just one person, one family, whatever the case may be, whom you could say, you know what, I want to invite this person to ResLife. Not for mere numbers sake, because we've never emphasized that, but to live out our mission, to make disciples, because that is part of what we're called to do. There's an aspirational aspect to our mission statement because this is hard. Some of us struggle with joy in our own life. We could be very fearful; we could be very anxious. We gotta fight to experience joy. But we need to remember, like Nehemiah, we have created safe, we've tried our best really, honestly, to try to build a safe place here at Resurrection Life Church. 

If I think about even the past three years, the things that we have tried to do, you know, about three years ago, that's when I graduated with my doctorate. I fooled myself into thinking going into the pandemic that we'd have all this time on our hands. We did a little bit at first. But then it was a battle, getting through that process. And then right after I finished that, I had to hit the books and started studying for the Presbyterian exams. So, I was all finished with the Baptists and then I needed to move to the Presbyterians. And then meanwhile, converting, right? Transitioning our church from a Christian Reformed Church to a Presbyterian Church in America church congregation and that that was a whole long process, right? Nomination, training, examination, ordination of elders and deacons and then Jeff comes on board, right? And he just wraps up his ordination process to become our second pastor. We have focused on all kinds of policies and procedures over the last several months to fortify our walls for our children, make sure they're safe, to make sure visitors come, that they feel welcomed. And so, in the same way, Nehemiah 7:4 ends with Nehemiah has built the wall and that they need to now occupy it. We've got walls. We need to fill it. And that's going to take an incredible amount of resolve, folks, because Satan does not want us to fill this space. But as we know, over and over again, God's faithfulness has proven stronger. And so, we're a commission this morning, folks, with resolve to live into the mission and aspirational mission to populate these walls. And that's a work for all of us, for all of us. We've got walls to fill, to be witnesses to the gospel, so others can discover this eternal joy we have in Jesus. 

And just to wrap up, just some words of encouragement for you. Philippians 1 through 14, or 1:14 says, “and most of the brothers having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment are all, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” Second Timothy 1:7, again, from imprisonment. Paul writes, “for God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord.” First, John 5, “for everyone born of God overcomes the world.” This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Folks, Alfred the Great assured English wouldn't be extinct. God used Nehemiah to ensure that the Jews in the fifth century would not be extinct. If you believe in Jesus, you have already overcome the world. This is a reality right here and now. And so let us rise and build. 

Let us pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this word and we thank you so much for Nehemiah 6 and parts of chapter 7 to embolden us, to strengthen us, to give us a sense of mission. And Lord, as we have been challenged this morning to think through One, two, perhaps more people who may be needing a church home. People who may be our neighbors, friends, family, whatever the case may be. Lord, we pray that as we continue to live out our mission to make disciples, as Jesus gave that mission to all Christians, as we live that out uniquely here at Resurrection Life Church, we want people to discover the joy of belonging to Jesus. We pray, Lord, that people will be attracted to the joy that we live out, despite our challenges, despite all the anxiety that we may experience on a daily basis. We pray that joy will outperform those other emotions, those other feelings, those other experiences, ultimately. Not because we have created that strength in our own, but we have been strengthened by you, O God. Strength in our hands. Strengthen our minds, our hearts, our souls. We pray in Christ's name alone. Amen.