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you you you you Well good evening everyone welcome back to Mountain Baptist Church Take your songbooks and turn to song number 66 Song number 66 in your songbooks we'll sing at Calvary if you would stand we'll sing song number 66 Years I spent in vanity and pride Carrying not my Lord was crucified Knowing not it was for me he died on Calvary Calvary Mercy there was great and grace was free Pardon there was multiplied to me There my burden so found liberty at Calvary By God's Word at last my sin I learned then I trembled at the law I'd spurned Tell my guilty soul imploring turn to Calvary Mercy there was great and grace was free Pardon there was multiplied to me There my burden so found liberty at Calvary Oh the love that drew Patience plan oh The grace that brought it down to man. Oh the mighty Gulf that God did span at Calvary Mercy there was great and grace was free Pardon there was multiplied to me There my burden so found liberty at Calvary Now I've given to Jesus everything Now I gladly own him as my king Now my raptured soul can only sing of Calvary See there was great and grace was free Pardon there was multiplied to me There my burden so found liberty at Calvary And let's pray Heavenly Father Lord again, we just wanna Lord Thank you just for another beautiful day that you've given us to hear your word and to just obey obey your word Lord And I want to thank you God for the soul winning this afternoon and throughout last week Thanks for the souls that were saved I pray Lord that you would just continue to use Mountain Baptist Church to further your Gospel Lord and I pray Lord now that you would just be with us in the service bless her pastor We love you for it's in Jesus name. We ask all of it. Amen. All right, you may be seated And take your mountain Baptist Psalms hymns and spiritual song books and turn to saw page number four Page Number four in your mountain Baptist Psalms hymns and spiritual song books will sing Psalm 67 on page number four God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause the space to shine upon Us that thy way may be known upon earth Thy saving health among all nations Let the people praise thee. Oh God Let all the people praise thee. Oh, let the nations be glad and seeing for joy For thou shalt judge the people Righteously and Nations upon The nation's partner say love Let the people praise thee. Oh God Let all the people praise thee. Oh, let the nations be glad And seeing for joy Then shall the earth yield her increase and God even our own God shall bless us God shall bless us and all the of the earth shall Fear him let the people praise thee. Oh God Let all the people praise thee. Oh, let the nations be glad and seeing for joy Amen welcome back the mountain Baptist Church on this Sunday evening do some announcements here First let's get the soul winning numbers together for the week. We have Salvations during the week at all And then today I know brother Shane had one are there any others today At least we didn't brother Shane bringing in the the one so we don't get the the goose egg there so Oh All right, well good job with soul winning obviously we can't force people to get saved But just keep up good work with all the efforts there As far as Church times and everything this Wednesday. Lord willing will be continuing our study through the book of second Samuel And so being in places there or about halfway through the book they're coming up on halfway anyway And then soulening times original sewing times I know that I Think Tuesday brother Richie's gonna be Instead of Thursday every Tuesday So just be note that but just being the church group there as far as any of that stuff goes times locations and everything else we do have Firework display and food and all that stuff we're gonna be doing This coming Friday, so We'll put a address and everything in the church group there, and if you want any Directions there on top of that let us know and then the the the prayer meetings are on here for the end of the month, so 21st for the women 26 for the men and then Upcoming soul winning marathon is the 27th in Cumberland, Maryland, and then Morefield, West Virginia on August 31st We were gonna be memorizing Psalm 126 so the Psalm 126 And then Hebrews 12 one is a memory verse for the week We got the birthdays and all that stuff we and then on the pregnancy list there being prayer for Crystal McCloy Do in August with twins and then Then Rachel house there on the list as well Newly on the list there, so being a prayer for these two ladies and for their families I Think about what I have. I don't want to belabor the announcements because I want to make sure I can get through the sermon without you know not being able to speak so Brother Wade you're reading tonight, right? So we're continuing our kind of series through overviews of the books of the Bible. We're in Nahum not Nahum We're in Nehemiah We just skip past all that stuff. Yeah, just get to the good stuff right now Nehemiah so brother Wade's gonna be reading Nehemiah chapter 1 after we do one more song You All right, take your song books and turn to song number 81 Song number 81 in your song books will sing when we see Christ. Oh Wait, I'm sorry. Oh I'm sorry. Yeah 83. Sorry, my bad We just did that one. You're right song number 83 will sing. I'm going higher song number 83 Of Times I've watched the clouds up in the sky Always I heard they were many miles high Then as they sailed out of sci-fi far away I'm going higher. Yes higher someday I'm going higher. Yes higher someday. I'm going higher to stay Over the clouds and beyond the blue sky Going we're not ever sick and nor die Love wants to meet in that sweet by and by I'm going higher someday Men sail the ocean or soar through the air Scares can then naturalize see them up there Some seek for fame which soon soon will decay I'm going higher. Yes higher someday I'm going higher. Yes higher someday. I'm going higher to stay Over the clouds and beyond the blue sky Going we're not ever sick and nor die Love wants to meet in that sweet by and by I'm going higher someday Moses went up in the mountain and prayed Glory came down while alone there he stayed But he came back. He just went there to pray. I'm going higher. Yes higher someday I'm going higher. Yes higher someday. I'm going higher to stay Over the clouds and beyond the blue sky Going we're not ever sick and nor die Love wants to meet in that sweet by and by I'm going higher someday Often my soul has been lifted above Lost in the ocean of God's mighty love Though I am higher than one still I say I'm going higher. Yes higher someday I'm going higher. Yes higher someday I'm going higher to stay Over the clouds and beyond the blue sky Going we're not ever sick and nor die Love wants to meet in that sweet by and by I'm going higher someday Soon will the Savior appear bless his name Someday this earth will be all wrapped in flame Then as I see the fire mounting so high I'm going higher beyond the blue sky I'm going higher. Yes higher someday I'm going higher to stay Over the clouds and beyond the blue sky Going we're not ever sick and nor die Love wants to meet in that sweet by and by I'm going higher someday All right, take your Bibles and turn to the book of Nehemiah chapter one Nehemiah chapter number one in your Bibles, we'll have brother Wade come and read that for us Nehemiah chapter one the words of Nehemiah the son of Hakkaliah and it and it came to pass in the month Chiselu in the 20th year as I was in Shushan the palace That Hani one of my brethren came he and certain men of Judah and I asked them concerning the Jews That had escaped which were left of the captivity and concerning Jerusalem and they said unto me the remnant That are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach the wall of Jerusalem Also is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire and it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and more in certain days and Fasted and prayed before the God of heaven and said I beseech thee O Lord God of heaven the great and terrible God that keepeth covenant and Mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments let thine ear Now be attentive and thine eyes open that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant Which I pray before thee now day and night for the children of Israel thy servants and confess the sins of the children of Israel Which we have sinned against thee, but I and my father's house have sinned We have dealt very corruptly against thee and have not kept the commandments nor the statutes nor the judgments Which thou commandest thy servant Moses Remember remember I beseech thee the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses saying if ye transgress I will scatter you abroad among the nations But if ye turn unto me and keep my commandments and do them though There were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven yet Will I gather them from thence and will bring them unto the palace unto the place that I have chosen to set my name Now these are thy servants and thy people whom thou hast Redeemed by the great power and by thy strong hand Oh Lord I beseech thee let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to Fear thy name and prosper I pray thee thy servant this day and grant him mercy in the sight of this man for I was the king's cupbearer Dear Lord, let us pray Please be with Lord with the pastor as we hear the sermon and hear the book of Nehemiah Just be with us all Thank you Lord. Amen Amen so you're there in Nehemiah chapter 1 and last week. We did the book of Ezra and these are Two books that are basically in chronological order of events after we get out of 2nd Kings after we get out of 2nd Chronicles As far as the events of coming back into the land after the seven year 70 year captivity so Ezra is a book dealing with the rebuilding of the temple and That aspect Nehemiah is after the temples builds now It's about Rebuilding the wall around the city and just rebuilding the city in general And so I just kind of wanted to clarify too when it comes to the book of Ezra Ezra doesn't really come into the equation in that book until chapter 7 So if you remember there's three different kings of Persia that are mentioned that are kind of specific kings obviously there's kings in between them, but But there was Cyrus who gave the decree to have the temple built and then Remember they were trying to basically get them from building the temple and there was a there was a Darius in there I'm sorry, there was another King like an Arctic Xerxes or somebody else that was in there and then Darius stood up and said no They can build it and he basically gave them some more Funds for it and everything else and then it also meant mentions Arctic Xerxes. Okay, and Actually in chapter 7 of Ezra That's where Ezra even comes into the picture and it's in the seventh year of Arctic Xerxes rain that he comes into the land And he's doing his thing. Okay, and Nehemiah comes into land in the 12th year of Arctic Xerxes So obviously Ezra's a little before Nehemiah but what you have when in the book of Ezra during that time of most of the building of the temple is you have Zerubbabel is the governor you have Joshua's the high priest and you have the prophets Zechariah and Haggai that are prophesying during that time And so when you're reading Haggai and Zechariah You'll see a lot about the building of the temple all these different things and I'll even bring up a passage in Zechariah And the fact that it was gonna be a city with no walls Okay, so that's all dealing with like the time of before even Ezra comes on the scene, but it's in the book of Ezra Okay Let's kind of want to clarify that because when you get into the book of Nehemiah what you're gonna find out is Nehemiah is the governor and Ezra's a priest but Eli Asheb is actually the high priest, okay, so And if you think about it, you're like man, well what happened to those other guys? Well, remember how long at least according to the Jews, okay? According to the Bible in John chapter 2 that they were building the temple but for 46 years was the temple and building Right. So 46 years have gone by so you can see how Obviously leadership can be changing throughout that time Kings I mean Cyrus is no longer King the rise I mean kings of Persia have literally gone away by the time Ezra's coming on the scene and Nehemiah is coming on the scene So you kind of see different leadership in the book of Nehemiah when they're building the wall So but if you're really just simplistically look at this Ezra, they're coming back into the land But they're building the temple and then in Nehemiah It's about rebuilding the wall and really getting the city built up and all of that So but that's what we see here Is that it starts off basically talking about the wall of Jerusalem being broken down and so in verse one There says the words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah And it came to pass in the month Kizlew in the 20th year as I was in Shushan the palace That Hanani one of my brethren came He and a certain in certain men of Judah and I asked them concerning the Jews that he asked that he is that Had escaped which were left of the captivity and concerning Jerusalem So basically Hanani, which actually in another place it says my brother So I think this is literally his brother Okay, not necessarily like brethren as you would see of like just while they're of Judah or anything like that It literally says Hanani my brother and then it says Hananiah and it's mentioning these two people Later on and so I think Hanani is actually his literal brother Anyway, all I have to say is that basically, they're giving them news giving Nehemiah news about what's going on in Jerusalem is as they said unto me the remnant that are left of The captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach the wall of Jerusalem Also is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire. So that that goes all the way back to obviously Babylonian this destruction, right so Eleven years into the Babylonian captivity if you remember Zedekiah was supposed to be reigning over that and then Nebuchadnezzar came back and just completely annihilated everything so That being said it's still in that disrepair, but also They're basically in reproach. So they've gone back you had the temple and all this stuff that's there But it's not like everything's just running smoothly and everything's going well, okay And so but I want you to see in Zechariah if you remember Zechariah was prophesying during the time of the building of the temple And everything go to Zechariah chapter 2 Zechariah chapter 2 Zechariah chapter 2 In verse 1 there It says I lifted up mine eyes again and looked and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand then said I Whither goest thou and he said unto me to measure Jerusalem to see what is the breadth thereof and what is the length thereof and behold the angel that talked with me went forth and another angel went out to meet him and Said unto him run speak to this young man saying Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls so Obviously during that time like like I said the walls already broken out in Nehemiah the wall still broken down Says for the multitude of men and cattle therein I said the Lord will be unto her a wall of fire roundabout and will be the glory in the midst of her So when they build the temple, they're basically saying there's not gonna be any walls, but God's gonna be the wall, right? So if you imagine you go there be like wouldn't you build the wall up first and get you know Basically get your fortress around that and then build the temple But the idea was they'll get the temple built for first and then worry about the town around it And there's a whole sermon in that, you know the idea of the house of God being The vocal point and God is their safety and all of that But then obviously after that hey build up build up the wall build up the town all of that. Okay. So anyway so we see that he Nehemiah this is this is coming to him and it's obviously Going to vex him to where he wants to do something about it at the end of the chapter there in verse 11 It says oh lord I beseech thee let not let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant Into the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name and prosper I pray thee thy servant this day and grant him mercy in the sight of this man for I was the king's cupbearer So basically Nehemiah is in a nice position where he's very close to the king of Persia to Arctic Xerxes Okay, and so like I said There's those three kings if you're gonna remember anything after in the kings of Persia is King Cyrus is the one that made the decree to begin with to rebuild the temple Darius The king of Persia not Darius to me not like Daniel in the den of lions, but Darius the the Persian King He basically comes in and makes sure that it gets done because basically people are trying to stop it They're trying to cease the work He makes sure it gets done and then Arctic Xerxes comes in and He really helps them rebuild help them rebuild the the town and the wall and all of that Okay, so those three Persian kings are huge help to Jerusalem getting back on its feet. Okay, and also just shows you that God can use You know outside people that aren't necessarily, you know, save people although I think Cyrus is saved You know all those different things. So that being said He's his cupbearer so that's kind of where we start off with the story here Is that basically the king Arctic Xerxes cupbearer is of Judah and he hears the news that hey Not only is obviously that the walls still burnt to the ground is the fact that the people there are in affliction Okay Chapter two We get more of a timeline as far as when this is taking place in verse 1 There says and it came to pass in the month Nisan in the 12th year of Arctic Xerxes the king That wine was before him and I took up the wine and gave it unto the king now I had not been before time sad in his presence. The one thing I want to say first of all You want to know a big difference between the Bible and the Quran? Besides the Quran is trash is the fact that the Bible always is showing you where you're at Has anyone ever tried to read the Quran? Like it's just like it's like jumping into the middle of a nonsensical like story And you're just like where are we in history? Like where are we in like the timeline of any type of an event right? I mean at least I mean it doesn't even have to be That specific like in the 12th year on this month. How about in the beginning? I Mean at least you're telling me where we're at somewhere, right? I Mean think about it the books of the Bible. It's like this is the generation of the book of Jesus Christ. It's like, okay Got something to work on here the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ more You know, it's like and then like Luke is like starting off with Theophilus, right? I'm making a declaration to Theophilus. John is like in the beginning was the word and word with God the word was God It's like okay. We're in the beginning again, right? So But it's just like you read the Quran is like nothing you have no idea where you're at You're just like you're just reading a bunch of stories about who knows who I mean When we were reading, you know when it's high in Exodus I was just reading through Exodus and it's it's given a genie It's giving it kind of like a genealogy of Moses and Aaron and it's like this is that Moses and Aaron which was in Egypt and brought them out of the land of Egypt like I Kind of assess that right, but it's just like so specific and shows you where you're at And anyway, I just started to get off on that tangent But the Bible is just very good about that like just where are you at? Who you talking about? Like what is this story even getting into this? I mean when you read that first chapter there, you know what you're dealing with here right, you're dealing with the fact that the wall of Jerusalem is burnt down and Nehemiah is upset about it and You kind of you're in he's the cup bearer of the king of Persia, right and in here It's gonna give you that the exact year of the king of Arctic Xerxes the king and basically he was sad his countenance was sad and I don't believe he was just like You know, one of those goth kids is trying to like trying to make himself look sad It's probably just that he he couldn't couldn't hide it right I mean when you're really distraught or in sorrow, it's just kind of like you can't really hide it and It says wherefore the king said unto me, why is thy countenance sad seeing thou art not sick This is nothing else but sorrow of heart Then I was very sore afraid which kind of shows you that obviously he feared the king because he doesn't want It you tell like he's not trying to put this sorrow on the king it's probably more so like he couldn't help but show it and now that the king realizes that It's very evident that he's sad. He's like, you know, kind of afraid like oh, I didn't mean to like Bring you down kind of thing, right? It says and he said unto the king Let the king live forever Why should not my countenance be sad when the city the place of my father's sepulchres Lieth waste and the gates thereof are consumed with fire Then the king said unto me for what dost thou make requests So I prayed to the God of heaven and in this he's going to request to the king That this obviously that the the wall would be rebuilt and all that and in this chapter Again, this is just an overview, you know, I'm not getting into every detail about what's going on these chapters But basically he gets provision and he gives him leave and all of this to go do this Okay, so he's got command from the king of Persia To go out and rebuild this wall. Okay, and so So chapter two is really just getting into that where You know the king of Persia arctic Xerxes is giving him leave all of that, okay Now Chapter three is really getting into the crux of rebuilding the wall. Okay and For sake time not really going through verses with that because really it just kind of goes down the line of Different people and families that are building portions of the wall So it's not just like Nehemiah is out there with a hammer and some tools and he's just getting the work by himself He's going out there and he's leading the charge Now the thing that you'll see in chapter 2 though that I'm not really showing you is that when Nehemiah gets there He kind of scopes out everything and for like three days He doesn't really tell anybody what he's doing there or what his plans are Okay, he gets there and it's just kind of seeing the lay of the land seeing what he has to get into I just think that's very interesting to just think about like how when you're going to fix something the first step is just kind of assess where you're at and Before anybody gets involved in anything. You're just kind of seeing what's the existing conditions as a structural engineer? This is like something I do with all the time. You're dealing with an existing structure or Remediating something the first step is to see what's the damage? What needs repaired? You know all of that before you even get into it You know before you get everybody involved and everybody's like running around with their heads cut off Let's figure out what we're even doing here okay, and so that's something that's kind of brought up here and it's like and it's just kind of interesting because he's going around and Like no one knows why is there no one he doesn't tell anybody why is there all that stuff and then in chapter 3? Obviously, they're getting the work and it kind of goes through these different gates and everything that are being built and all of that so so chapter 3 You see a lot of the crux of work being done chapter 4 Shocker there's opposition. Okay, so just like an Ezra there was opposition to To the building of the temple there's opposition here Okay, and the main culprits are Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem is in there as well Though Sanballat and Tobiah just keep being brought up over and over again as as being these ring leaders And I believe these are probably the governors of what's of that place at the time Nehemiah basically comes in as a given authority by you the king of Persia and Nehemiah is going to actually govern there for at least 20 years. Okay from the 12th year to the 32nd year of Arctic Xerxes king of Persia and verse 1 here just to kind of see you see that they're building the wall and there's people that are upset Chapter 2 gets into these guys and how they don't like the idea that they're building this thing and everything else So Sanballat and Tobiah are brought up but When I think they don't I don't think that they they think that it's gonna actually happen It's kind of like one of those things where they're like they're against it and all this stuff And they're basically coming to Nehemiah basically who gave you authority Who did this or whatever and it's like the king did so basically go sit down and shut up. It's basically what's going on there and But they're basically mocking Nehemiah and all that stuff but in chapter 4 it's kind of like oh, this is real They're actually building this thing right in verse 1 it says but it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we Builded the wall He was wroth It took great indignation and mocked the Jews and he spake before his brethren in the army of Samaria And said what do these feeble Jews will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him and he said even that which they built if a fox go up He shall even break down their stone wall They're basically just kind of making fun of their wall basically saying even a fox which obviously is not a big animal If it were to jump on that wall just fall over right that that type of thing So Tobiah is the servant of Sanballat and so these are kind of like it's kind of like his little minion That's with them during this time but kind of very similar in the fact that Nehemiah tells him in chapter 2 like you have no part in this get out of my face Right and same thing was it you know dealing with the building of the temple But in this chapter what happens is that? Look at verse 6 there says so they built so built we the wall and all the wall was joined together Unto the half thereof for the people had a mind to work Meaning like you kind of see this progression chapter 3 you see all these different things getting put together chapter 4 Basically half of it's being you know Has been built and the people are basically getting it okay? Hey, Emma Put those down for right now. Okay. You're being distracted But the thing that's interesting is that they basically are like during this time that they're building it there's all kinds of rubble and Basically, it's just kind of hard to keep track of everybody and during this time people are just working all over the place So if you have like this Sanballat trying to come in saying we're gonna bring the army of Samaria We're gonna come and like basically take you out They're worried about Basically getting caught off guard so what they do is that basically they have half the people that are just standing guard and Then even the people that are working Have a sword or something on their side have a weapon on their side, okay? That's what it says here It says in the came to pass when our enemies heard that it was known unto us Meaning like they were gonna come to them and basically Come after them It says and God had brought their counsel to not that we returned all of us to the wall everyone into his work And it came to pass from that time forward that the half of my servants wrought in the work and the other half of them held both the Spears the shields and the bows and Habrogens and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah They which build it on the wall and they that bear burdens which those that laid it Everyone with one of his hands wrought in the work and with the other hand held a weapon for the builders everyone that had his sword girded by his side and so builded and He that sounded the trumpet was by me and I said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people The work is great and large and we are separated upon the wall one far from another now what that? Stating is that basically what's going on here? Is that they're all just ready to throw down when they need to write they're in the work And they basically it'd be kind of like modern day if you're working on something everybody's packing heat, right? We all have guns on us But basically half of the people that are in this job of doing this half of people are just literally They're holding like holding the weapons ready to go kind of like guards but the other half of the people are working but at the same time they're still armed too and Basically, what it's stating here is that since everything's so separated meaning that you're not just in this vocal point of like working on One building you're throughout you're literally encompassing the whole city right and trying to build this wall And basically there's a big distance between everybody So it's not like you could just all stick together And just be waiting and if someone comes out you can all go So basically what it's stating is that if someone were to try to attack a certain portion They're gonna blow the trumpet and everybody's gonna come to that that area, right? So that makes sense So basically you probably have like someone that has a trumpet that's within certain quadrants of the city or the wall that Basically if anything went down everybody's just gonna drop what they're doing and go help in the fight Okay, so that's kind of what's going on there You can definitely see how this would apply in the Christian life and the fact that you know, Jesus said, you know He that hath no sword let himself garment by one in the fact that work ins in specific Detail and context. What are we dealing with? They're literally the work of the Lord, which is soul-winning Right, and it's talking about being armed going soul-winning and the idea of just basically being prepared and that's essentially what's going on here is that they're just ready to go if they need to and You know, that's you know, nothing new under the Sun But that's just the way it is. That's the way it was back in Nehemiah's day It's the way it was when Jesus Obviously was going to the cross and saying how it was gonna be with the Apostles and disciples back in those days same as the same thing today, okay, so Nehemiah chapter 5 is an interesting chapter So it's kind of like a break from the work of the wall and really is just getting into the fact that Nehemiah is rebuking those in Judah the Israelites that came back into the land because they were basically putting their brethren into bondage and Basically they were applying usury all this stuff, you know typical Jews stuff Nothing new under the Sun, right It's all joking aside There was obviously issues there and basically he's rebuking them for that No So it says in verse 5 here in chapter 5 is really dealing with this a lot of this right here It says in verse 5 says you now our flesh Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren our children as their children and lo We bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants and some of our daughters are brought under bondage already Neither is it in our power to redeem them for other men have our lands and vineyards And I was very angry when I heard their cry in these words Then I consulted with myself and I rebuked the nobles and the rulers and said unto them ye exact usury Every one of his brother and I set a greatness sent. I said a great assembly against them So basically he's getting this. All right, basically there they have them kind of in this this state of Just debt and bondage with usury and just kind of like this indentured servitude on their own brethren, which the law specifically states against okay, and Obviously, there's there's every every seven years are supposed to be a release but then every 50 years There's gonna be a year of Jubilee So, I mean goodnight if it's if there if this is going on during the captivity of these lands and all this stuff That's going on. I Mean goodnight, even when they built the temple, right? I mean you're dealing with them with 50 years at that point like the reset button needs to hit Okay, and so he's getting that stuff straight verse 15 there we see now Note this is that sometimes it what you have to know is Nehemiah was written obviously after everything was done. Okay? And because in Nehemiah 5 14 it says moreover from the time That I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah. So Nehemiah is talking here It says from the 20th year even unto the 2 and 30th year of arctic Xerxes the king that is 12 12 years I in my in my brethren have not eaten bread of the governor I Said 20 years I'm at 12 years. Sorry, but if I can do math But it says right there anyway, so Not 20 or 12 years But basically This isn't saying like it's been 12 years and the wall still being built Because what we're gonna see actually in the next chapter is that the wall is actually built in 52 days Okay, but this is written afterwards and he's basically He's not even speaking to them and necessarily he's he's just stating a fact that In all his time as being governor Over them He actually does not take any wages or bread from them Is what he's stating here and he even talks about like past governors Do you think about the rubable and like other people that were governors of Jerusalem at you know? Or Judah and all that stuff that they took they were chargeable to you This is kind of like an Apostle Paul situation If I were to look at it that way where he had the power to write he's the governor I mean like you you know He the labor is worthy of his hire But he was going above and beyond because of their affliction in the state that they were in That he wasn't taking anything from them. Okay, and that's kind of what's getting into here And it fits well with the passage with that chapter anyway, because of the fact that it's talking about how basically, there's people there that was just basically sucking the life out of Out of those of Judah and Jerusalem For their own benefit and Nehemiah is like I didn't take anything from you You know other governors did I didn't and so he's kind of making a point there when it comes to that Chapter six we're gonna see the completion of the wall, but before the completion of the wall Guess what Sanballat and Tobiah are still at it trying to get him to stop and And They write like four different letters to him trying to get him to stop And those are says here and then there's like the fifth letter, you know that and all this other stuff Anyway, that being said is that they just are just constantly trying to get him to stop the work and not finish this wall Okay in verse 1 here says now it came to pass that when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arabian and The rest of our enemies heard that I had builded the wall and that there was no breach left therein Though at that time I had not Set of doors upon the gates. So if you remember in chapter four when the opposition was coming They were kind of like halfway done and a lot of the breaches were You know dealt with okay, because even with the wall was kind of like rubble and all that stuff There's probably still portions that aren't just a big open void that makes sense, right? So even if you were half done like it's like half done, but there's just there's not many breaches, right? There's still stuff that needs to be repaired and dealt with but it's not necessarily a gaping hole where people are coming in. Okay At this point all the breaches were done away with the only thing is that they haven't really gotten all the gates and everything Assembled, right? It's like the wall is done except for it's like kind of like if you're framing out a building and you just Haven't put the doors in yet. Okay, and It says in verse 2 there It says then Senbal and Geshem sent unto me saying come let us meet together in some One of the villages in the plain of Ono, but they thought to do me mischief So basically they're like come and meet with us, you know But obviously they had other intents verse 3 It says and I sent messages unto them saying I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down Why should the work cease Whilst I whilst I leave it and come down to you and he's basically saying I'm not coming down to you Why would I stop working so I can come down to you and meet with you? And they basically sent all these different letters The last letter that they send they're basically just Just railing accusations that he's basically trying to set him up as himself up as a king and all the he's got profits They're promising that the king is in the land and all this stuff and he basically just answered him and says This is all false. What you're saying is not true, you know all this stuff and basically just just calling them out For just blatantly slandering him and trying basically trying to get him in trouble So you imagine that they're probably wanting this to come back to the Kings here to be like, oh, yeah your guy Nehemiah He's setting himself up as a king and all this stuff and they're just blatantly lying But in chapter verse 10 here is what I thought was interesting out of all this crazy stuff that they're trying to do to get him To stop is that they basically hire this guy To basically Get him to cower away and just hide Away from like basically they're gonna come kill you come hide away. Okay, you know the look what it says here in verse 10 It says so in your chapter 6 verse 10, it says afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Deliah the son of Mahatabeal Who was shut up and he said Let us meet together in the house of God. So basically this guy Shemaiah is like coming to him saying hey, let's come meet in the house of God And it says within the temple and let us shut the doors of the temple for they will come to slay thee Yea in the night will they come to slay thee And so basically he's saying like come let's go hide in the house of God. Let's shut the doors They're gonna come and kill you, right? Notice his response it says and I said should such a man as I flee I Mean if you don't like Nehemiah when he says something like that, right? He's like, yeah come hide they're coming after and he's like should such a man as I flee and Who is there that being as I am would go into the temple to save his life. I will not go in Okay I want you to think about this. He's the cup bearer of the king he has orders from the king to do what he's doing and he's basically just like Am I gonna just hide away in this it and if you think about it when it comes to being afraid of You know the Christian life and all that stuff is that we have orders from the king If God be forced who could be against us, right? And the idea is that we should have that attitude as far as being afraid of something it's like should such an a man as I flee You know the idea there is that we have God on our side We're not the ones that should be you should be afraid right? It's but notice what it says here It says in verse 12 and lo I perceive that God had sent sent him but that he pronounced this prophecy I'm sorry I perceived that God had not sent him but that he pronounced this prophecy against me for to buy and Sam ballot had hired him So man, they're getting sneaky right? They're like hiring this guy within the base to get him to cower away, right? Therefore was he hired that I should be afraid and do so in sin and that they might have Matter for an evil report that they might reproach me So he's basically saying like they're just trying to basically bring down his character and bring down who he is by getting in the car away and be afraid and So if if basically your enemies can't can't directly Take you out They'll hire somebody they'll get someone else But the idea there is that in a lot of cases that they they just want to try to tarnish your reputation They want to tarnish your character And if they can get you to look like you're afraid then it just kind of does away with well You know who wants to fall you want to follow that guy over there. That's afraid and cowering away You know that type of thing But notice what he says in verse 14 It says my god think thou upon to buy and some out according to these their works and on the prophetess they Noah dia and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear It's very interesting that in Ezra you have all these good prophets, right? You have you have Haggai you have Zechariah and you have all these guys that are helping and prophesying But in Nehemiah you have all these other prophets that are basically trying to stop him and all this other stuff. Okay? But in verse 15 we see that they finished the wall it says so The wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul in 50 in two days Now I believe that's what it's saying is that it was done in 52 days which is less than two months Okay, that's intense And the reason that I believe that it's 52 days is not only because it says it but that Maybe there's another way of reading this right as far as like What is the 52 days talk about because what it says in the next verse it says and it came to pass That when all our enemies heard thereof and all the heathen that were about us saw these things They were much cast down in their own eyes for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God It's kind of like only God could allow this to happen in that short amount of time. Okay? And when you read when you read chapter 3 you really do see that this is like a this was an effort by a Lot of people okay, but each gate was done by different people and like the wall was being worked on like the whole city Was working on this thing, okay? So you had a lot of people working on it at the same exact time and so Yeah less than two months So that's intense and in chapter 7 We get this reckoning by genealogy of those that came back to Judah from Babylon And so that's very similar to like Ezra chapter 2 as far as what's going on there With that okay Very similar you know in the fact that What it says being reckoned by genealogy Ezra is mentioned like all these different things Or the tertiary stuff tertiary stuff the tertiary thought is actually Nehemiah and in this chapter It just it calls them the tertiary thought not You know I'm sure some commentary will tell me what that means But I don't really have an answer for you right now as far as like what is tertiary mean But he just called that Chapter 8 Ezra is going to to breed the law to the to Judah to Jerusalem and and Basically preach it and and all of that and so this is where we get this famous Passage about basically standing on a pulpit of wood now. We call this the pulpit But a lot of times a pulpit It's something that you're standing upon so you're up higher than the people And a lot of the old churches what you'd have is something like this But it would be basically built up kind of higher up and so it the whole thing was kind of called the pulpit Right it'd be kind of like instead of this being a pulpit. It's like everything would this would all be considered the pulpit Does that make sense? So but notice what it says in verse 4 here says in Ezra The scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which they had made for the purpose and beside him stood man Anaya and Shema and Anaya and I ride ya and all these names right here, so Basically It says in verse 5 it says an Ezra opened the book in The sight of all the people where he was above all the people so that that's the idea right that's kind of the idea The pulpit of wood is just so that people can see you and all that makes sense instead of all the seating being Like slanted to where everybody can see you The idea is to bring you up, and then everybody can see you and everything else could be flat That's kind of the idea okay instead of theater seating like chestnut ridge or something like that so But so basically he's reading the book of law everybody's standing up, and you know This may be this is this could very well be where the old IP got that tradition when they would read the scripture At the beginning of sermons who here probably remembers like being an old IP church Where it's like we're reading you read the scripture now. They wouldn't read the whole chapter and mostly churches But whatever the scripture passage of reading is like everybody would stand that's like a house Anderson like first Baptist Church Jack house type of thing right you can see where you can see that reverence for people are standing up as the Word of God Is being read and all that and so? I'm not against that now. We don't do that here, but at the same time like it's not like horrible You know I think it's out of respect it makes sense. You know the respect the Word of God But it says in verse 8 here. It says so they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and Caused them to understand the reading which is exactly what you're supposed to be doing as a preacher, right? You read it distinctly meaning like read it for exactly what it is, right? Word for word here's what it says, but then the job of preaching is not just to read the Word of God I don't it's not just a Bible reading time right you don't need me for that You just get Alexander Scorby or just somebody else's reading the Bible and just have it read to you The idea is that I read it distinctly meaning like verbatim I'm not paraphrasing it up here. I'm not just giving you just the gist of it I give you exactly what it says, but then I I tell you the sense Which is the idea is to have it make sense right it to explain it to So that you understand what's being said okay? That's the idea okay? So that's how preaching should be you know in my opinion Well and Ezra's opinion in the book of Ezra is the idea is that the Word of God is the basis you read that distinctly and Then you explain it and give the sense okay, so that's the idea of preaching there, so So you have the pulpit you have the pulpit you have preaching all in one passage right there when it comes to that okay? now The end here they they keep the Feast of Tabernacles Which they actually keep the Feast of Tabernacles before they even built the temple okay? So if you were looking back in Ezra chapter 3 In verse 4 they're building that altar You know they built the altar before they built the temple, and it says they kept also the Feast of Tabernacles And as it is written and offered the daily Burn offerings by number according to the to the custom as the duty of every day required and basically they built this this Altered so they could start basically doing all the stuff that they should be doing whether it's feast whether it's daily sacrifices Whether it's the Sabbath day stuff, whatever right? So but the thing that's interesting here is that How they perform it here because in verse 17 here Nehemiah 8 verse 17. This is in all the congregation of them that That were come again out of the captivity made booths And booths when you think about a booth right you're I don't know when I read it I'm thinking of like you go to a restaurant and like do you want a table or do you want a booth right? And it's like I think of like a long You know couch looking thing right, but a booth is actually more like like a tent or like a like a You know something where you're shaded and everything else okay? I guess you could probably see where they get that from maybe there It's kind of like its own little cove or something like that anyway All that to say is that it says according to the custom as the I'm sorry it made him booze in verse 17 there And sat under the booze for since the days of jeshua the son of none. That's Joshua by the way unto the day Until that day had not the children of Israel done, so and there was very great gladness so Think I mean that's a long time that they hadn't done it the way that it was done in Joshua's day, right? so It just kind of shows you You know how long they had not been doing things to the t It doesn't mean they weren't but I'll say this look up any other place that they've done the feast of tabernacles You won't find it like even them keeping the feast of tabernacles Now there may be a case where it's talking about the feast of booths or something like that it mentions it and obviously in the law But you just don't see it being practiced if anything when you're going through the kings what you do see them Finally doing every once in a while is a passover. It's like that's and obviously that's a big one right But at the same time like these feasts and everything that are supposed to be keeping according to the law If they were keeping them they weren't keeping them to the t. They weren't keeping them exactly the way they should keep them chapter 9 Chapter 9 Israel is really you know, Judah obviously I'm saying Israel because that's all that's left, right? Make sense that we're getting with I mean Jesus talked about the law sheep of the house of Israel though it was just Judea all that right and Galilee but But basically the children of Israel are Confessing their sins to God in this chapter This is what it says in verse 1 there It says now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting and with sackcloths and earth upon them and the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers and they stood up in their place and Read the book of the law of the Lord their God one fourth part of the day and another fourth part of the day Apart they confessed and worship the Lord our God. That's very interesting. I mean, that's a long time, right? I mean if you're thinking about like a third like a fourth of like a 12-hour day, right? I mean for three hours, you're just You're just reading The Word of God and then for another three hours you're confessing and worshiping God That's a long time, you know when you think about it for that day that they're doing this, right? And so they're confessing their sin and at the end of the chapter there they basically are That if you think about it it that Generation if you will that's there of the children of Israel are Making a covenant with the Lord obviously the Old Testament is still in place and throughout time is there but they're basically Coming to the Lord saying we're gonna do this and if you remember whenever in the wilderness, right? That generation that went into the land did kind of the same thing right where they're basically making a covenant Joshua's forcing them to basically choose whether you want to go into this covenant or not And you kind of see the same thing here and throughout the Old Testament It always keeps stating that you're not you're no longer gonna call say I'm the God that brought you out of the land of Egypt But I'm the God that brought you out of the land of Babylon right and it's basically talking about like I'm gonna be known for bringing you back into land from Babylon Okay Instead of bringing you out of Egypt so you can see this kind of parallel here as far as how the children of Israel That come out of the wilderness and coming into the Promised Land are making sure a covenant and and basically saying yes We'll keep that yes. This will be our God. Yes. We'll put away idols all that stuff Well, this is kind of happening again When they're coming they come out of captivity and they're coming into this new temple with this new city and the new You know gates and all that stuff that makes sense because it says here in verse 36 behold. We are servants this day And it says And for the land that thou gave us unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof behold We are servants in it and it yields much increase unto the Kings whom thou has set over us because of our sins also, they have They have dominion over our bodies and over our cattle at their pleasure and we are in great distress And because of all this we make a sure covenant and write it and our princes Levi's and priests seal unto it So basically they're like this is our present This is where we're at right because they're still under the authority of the king of Persia and it going all the way down when you get into In Jesus day, they're under the Roman authority and all that stuff, right? There's not really a king, you know, and obviously you think of like Herod the king, but he's a teatric, right? It's not like this monarch where there's this one king rolling over everything But they're really governors because Herod is under the authority of the Roman Empire Okay, and just like obviously there's other kings, you know that are under the king of Persia and he's the king of kings in that sense right anyway in chapter 10, it just gives a whole list of People that were sealed in this covenant meaning like that basically They're coming on to the to the leaders and the princes and everything else basically saying yes, we do that It says it says now these And and Nehemiah 10 one it says now those that sealed were Nehemiah the Tershith of the son of Hackeliah and Zedekiah and it goes down the line. Okay, so I'm not gonna read through the whole list here Okay, when it comes to that, but that's you you see that happening In that okay chapter 11 It's really getting into the lead with people where people were dwelling Meaning like there are people that were volunteering to live in Jerusalem people that are living in cities outside of that and people living in villages outside of that and verse one there says in the rules of the people dwell at Jerusalem the rest of the people also cast lots to bring one Of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city and nine parts to dwell in other cities So basically it's kind of like they all like kind of cast lots to see who had to live it Who was going to live in Jerusalem who's gonna live outside of that and the people blessed all the men That willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem So it didn't seem like necessarily they wanted to dwell in Jerusalem, but it's more like kind of a job for them to It's kind of like if you're thinking about DC being the capital and you need representation at DC you know, I hate to say that in church and like that that'd be a good thing because most people in DC are Wicked but kind of the idea there I think is the idea that Jerusalem kind of the hub and the capital if you will of everything and there's basically one of ten of Whoever's there as far as groups and tribes and everything else that's going on There are gonna be in Jerusalem and everybody else is gonna live outside of that. Okay? So you see that in chapter 11 just dealing with the different villages and cities and stuff like that. Okay, so Don't want to belabor that you can look at that later on Chapter 12 we have a list of priests and Levi's so just kind of Chapter 12 kind of continues on with that list a little bit but it goes into the priests and Levi's which makes sense because you're dealing with villages and all these different things that's really dealing with The lot of their inheritance and people that own the land and everything whereas the Levi's don't own the land they just basically have suburbs and stuff where they can live and Obviously the Lord is their inheritance, right? Nehemiah 12 27 We see that they dedicate the wall. So the wall has been done obviously, but they're dedicating the wall It says and at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem They sought the Levites out of all their places to bring them to Jerusalem to keep the dedication with gladness both with thanksgivings and with singing with cymbals salt trees and with harps, so They're dedicating the wall there. So again, this book is really all about the wall right in essence here Chapter 13 is really this this conclusion about what Nehemiah does okay, and basically from from the 12th year to the From the 12th year to The the 30s the 30 second year or whatever it is and I'm like Now I'm like blanking out what but basically He was not in Jerusalem after that. So it says For a two and thirty year of well, let me just read it. Okay, so The basis is talking about like how he goes back to the king Arctic Xerxes, but then he He comes back into Jerusalem. He has to kind of clean house again, right? So he's the governor there, but then it says in verse 4 it says before this allies Eliashib the priest so Eliashib, I'm sorry, Eliashib the priest, okay So he's the high priest it says having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God Was allied unto Tobiah so that should tell you something that this isn't good right Tobiah is not a good guy And he had prepared for him a great chamber where a four time they laid the meat offerings the frankincense and the vessels and the ties of the corn the new wine and the oil which was commanded to be given to the Levites and the singers and the porters and the offerings and offerings of the priests and And so basically He he basically gives him this chamber that's supposed to be used for other things okay, and it says in verse 6 but in all this time was I was not I at Jerusalem for in the second and thirtieth year of Arctic Xerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king and After certain days obtained I leave of the king Of the king and I came to Jerusalem and understood of the evil that Eli Eliashib did for Tobiah in the preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God and it grieved me sore Therefore I cast forth all the house That all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber so basically he comes in and he's like get this garbage out of here right Just like he leaves like I leave for one second and Tobiah is already getting into the mix of things right And in this chapter 2 when he's back in town Basically on the Sabbath day what happens is that basically all these merchants keep coming into town and they're just allowing them to come into town on the Sabbath day now obviously they're not supposed to be doing any work or anything like that on the Sabbath day and They keep doing it. They keep coming in or then they shut the gate. Okay, and they shut the gate and Then they start just lodging by the wall Like the merchants that are coming up there and they shut the gate and it says In verse 20 it says so the merchants and sellers of all kind aware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice Then I testified against them and said unto them why logy about the wall if you do so again I will lay hands on you from that time forth came they know more on the Sabbath day And I just think this hilarious. It's just like do it again. We're throwing I'm throwing hands You know, he doesn't say it like that, but it's just kind of like Just you get it's like you better not do this again, or I'm gonna I'm gonna take hold of you You're gonna get beat up, you know, you're done. Okay? So they're kind of profane the profane the Sabbath essentially is what's going on and Them in Jerusalem are basically allowing this to happen. He comes shuts the gate and they're still trying to come in They're still just basically waiting there and lodging there and then he has to basically threaten them to get out get out, you know so And at the end here Sand ballot has to be brought up again Okay So to buy at the beginning of this chapter to buy is basically trying to take up residence over in the court of the house of God and in verse 28 here, it says and one of the sons of Joe Joyada the son of Eli Asher the high priest was son-in-law to sand ballot the horror night Therefore I chased him from me. I love this. This is like You married The daughter of sand ballot get out of here, right? It's basically like getting rid of all like ties to sand ballot into a biome It says remember them. Oh my god, because they have the the file the priesthood and of the Covenant of the priesthood And of the Levites thus cleansed I them from all strangers Importing the words The of the priests in the Levites everyone in his business and for the wood offering at times appointed and for the fruit first fruits Remember me. Oh my god for good. That's something that you keep seeing him say throughout the book of Nehemiah. It's just My god. Oh my god. Remember me for good and It's just kind of like this for mine. I'm trying to do right Please remember me for good remember me for good because I'm doing this. I'm suffering this I'm doing this and all that so Hopefully that all made sense because Ezra and Nehemiah can be a little Complicated and that but if you understand that one Ezra is about the temple Nehemiah is about the wall and That helps you out. First of all right there and Then just dealing with the fact that they have adversaries Basically, that's kind of it's kind of rhymes in that that manner. Okay a little different, you know as far as the adversaries are concerned But you don't have like literally kings stopping him from building this wall because Arctic Xerxes is there during that whole time okay, and so Hopefully you learn something from that and if anything Hopefully it gives you a nice overview of when you're going into the book of Nehemiah what you're getting into Okay, Ezra and Nehemiah and all that so that's that's what we're dealing with there So let's end with a word of prayer. The only father we thank for today. Thank you for your word You just prayed to be with us throughout the rest this week Pray that we have soul winning opportunities and see many souls saved, but also just pray that they just keep us healthy keep us safe and and also with With fireworks and all that stuff coming up with the 4th of July just pray that everybody stay safe and just keep us safe And that that Avenue as well. Well, we love you. Pray also in Jesus Christ's name. Amen Well Dave will come and sing one more song and then we'll be dismissed All right, take your song books and turn to song number 102 Song 102 in your song books will sing he hideth my soul if you would stand We'll sing song 102 A Wonderful Savior is Jesus my lord a wonderful Savior to me He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock Wherever's a pleasure I see He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock That shadows a dry thirsty land He hideth my life in the depths of his love and Covers me there with his hand and Covers me there A Wonderful Savior is Jesus my lord. He taketh my burden away He holdeth me up and I shall not be moved He giveth me strength as my day He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that Shadows a dry thirsty land He hideth my life in the depths of his love First me there with his hand And covers me there with his hand