Diligence in God's Work - More Lessons From Nehemiah — Erlo Stegen

And we remember God coming among the children of men as the Son of God. Now, today my text is not about Christmas, but nevertheless it contains the Christmas story. For Jesus came to remove sin. Now during this youth conference we've been looking at the theme about the building of the walls of Jerusalem built by Nehemiah.

Nehemiah's Burden for Jerusalem

Nehemiah had been far off in the kingdom of Persia. But still was very concerned about the situation there, one day calling his brother and saying, tell me how's it really going there in Jerusalem? Despite the fact that he had a very comfortable and high position in Persia, one can say that he had reached the ultimate position to be reached.

He was the one who was entrusted with the very meal and catering for the king. The life of the king was entrusted into his hands. Also, he was the counsellor of the king, an advisor. So the king was in such deep distress about the condition of Jerusalem.

When he heard about what was really going on, and that the walls of Jerusalem had been broken down and burned. And now anybody and everybody could come in as they wished, Jews, Gentiles, it didn't matter what type of person would come in and do business there.

And the little remnant of Jews who were still there had intermarried with the Gentiles. And their offspring only spoke a slang, they couldn't speak the Hebrew language anymore. They could no longer speak the language of their forefathers who had walked with God and known God.

Now their language had degenerated into that which was just a mixture of the Gentiles. That caused him great distress, Nehemiah. He said, I could not eat. He wept profusely, day and night. Then when he got to the king, the king even noticed and said, Nehemiah, are you not feeling well?

He said, Nehemiah, I am not feeling well. I am not eating, I am not drinking, I am not eating. I am sick. And I want to go back to Jerusalem. I want to go back to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem lies in waste, in ruins today. Now God was busy at work, and then the king said, Nehemiah, how may I help you? He said, I would like to be given permission to go back and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

He asked Nehemiah, how long will you need to be gone? And they came to an agreement. And so the king provided Nehemiah with the permission to go back and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Everything that Nehemiah needed, including protection, security, horses, soldiers, diplomatic letters, so that as they crossed and traversed various countries, they wouldn't get into trouble as to their intentions.

Now, these letters, these diplomatic letters, giving reasons, official reasons why he had to go through these countries, reminds me of the time in the first church where if people travelled from one church to another and covering distance, they had to have letters of recommendation.

They couldn't just pitch up and say, hey, I'm here to preach. No, they needed to know, that church needed to know that this person was there with the authority of others. As he travelled and got closer and closer and he discovered what had been happening, that the Jewish people had been intermarrying and that their children couldn't speak the Jewish language anymore, he was so angered that he plucked out at the beards of these men and their hair and he said, out with these Gentiles, you've got to separate yourselves, you and your children.

And he strongly resisted those who had gotten into positions of leadership who were not real Levites. And the son of the high priest had married the daughter of Tobias who was the arch enemy of the Lord's people.

And Nehemiah expelled him. And he said, I'm going to put security at the gates that will be responsible and will check on each one that only those who are allowed to be there will be allowed to come in and out the gates.

Because some had been coming, some would come and sit outside the city gates and not go right in. Some of the Gentiles by then were doing business just outside the city and they would sit outside the gates selling fish and their other products without going inside the walls.

So Nehemiah then threatened, he said, look this is my last warning. If these people are allowed to come and continue with this trading and their business among God's people, I will lay hands upon them.

I will do violence.

On the Jews that stayed outside. On the Jews that stayed outside.

So some of the Jews had said, well we won't eat properly and get the right thing if we stay inside. So they just went out to the edge and Nehemiah said, well if I find anybody doing that again, I will take very strict steps against them.

I will take very strict steps against them. I will take very strict steps against them.

Would you like a leader like that who puts his foot down and says, look this is the way it is, this is how things will be, this is who your children can marry, but I'm going to show you in what direction we're going.

Rebuilding the Walls Through Perseverance and Diligence

Nehemiah built the walls in 52 days. Some of the Jewish folk complained and criticized and said this can never be accomplished. It's just impossible. And Nehemiah said, look to the Lord, seek him, and he will enable us.

In the beginning, there was lots of mockery from people like Sanbellet and Tobias. They said, what type of wall is this? Even foxes will be running on it. These walls will never stand. But Nehemiah said to the workers, listen, obey, keep your focus right, he will be with us.

He just insisted, he persevered, and look at this astonishing achievement that in just 52 days, these walls encompassing a huge area were built around Jerusalem. Humanly, you just can't achieve something like that, but what is impossible with man is possible with God.

And he did it with great enthusiasm, with zeal and diligence.

They didn't waste a moment's time as they went up and down, completely focused on building the walls. This shows us as Christians what zeal we should go about doing the Lord's business, what diligence, what care we should have.

How amazing it was. And so it saddens me to see those people who call themselves children of God, who don't have this zeal and enthusiasm. You find a person maybe smoking, spending weeks and weeks fighting against kicking the habit, or trying to stop and he just fails.

A day is enough, or for drugs, or whatever it is, you don't need to spend years working on something to kick a habit. Maybe you need to ask yourself if you really are saved. Some people come here and they complain and say, but two weeks for me to kick the habit is just far too little.

I can't stop drugs in such a short time. I say no, then just go because you're not really zealous about the things of the Lord.

I say no, then just go because you're not really zealous about the things of the Lord.

Maybe you spoke, you speak so tenderly and carefully to your children as if though they are Christians. Meantime they're not saved, they belong to the devil, they're on the way to hell. And you say, I don't know about my child, I'm concerned about the fact that they seem to be drawn by the world.

No, they're not even saved, they're not Christians yet, they're not born again. Otherwise they'd be zealous and on fire for the Lord.

They are Christianized, churchianized, but they are not genuine. They're children of the devil. The sooner you understand that, the sooner God can work.

Genuine Conversion and Zeal for Christ

There are some children who got saved recently. They went home. One child phoned here and said please send one of the missionaries to come here because there are people that I have witnessed to that are ready to turn to the Lord and I need somebody to come and help them.

This is a child of a preacher. I'm a well known Lutheran preacher. In a good position, high position. When they got there, they found that this house was full of people. There were young people, some prayer ladies, the preacher was there, the minister.

And here were these children who had surrendered their lives to the Lord. And this particular child of the minister. The child stood up and said you all know me. I want to tell you that I've got converted.

I've been at KwaSisabantu, I've turned to the Lord, I've confessed my sins, I've repented. And now I'm asking you all to do the same. I know that you all go to church and that you already are in the prayer organization.

But you haven't yet repented. And then he mentioned sins by name. And he said father and mother I've got to let you know that I'm not going along with you in the church anymore. I have got converted at KwaSisabantu and I'm going to be there.

And he said don't be surprised if you don't see me coming to our church because I'm going there where I found help. Now I didn't instruct him to say anything of the kind and I wouldn't tell a person to say that.

But see and behold the zeal of a person who gets truly converted. After that the father stood up and said son or child I want you to go there where you have been helped spiritually. And do it properly and be strong.

After all that they said if there are any that would like to turn their lives over to the Lord and get right with God they can come. And there was a large group.

A long string of people, queue of people even prayed. Prayed ladies and said we need to get right with God we can't just carry on.

It doesn't help to carry on just in our religiousness. We need to get truly converted today. And many of the older people and youngsters got their lives right with the Lord.

And many of the older people and youngsters got their lives right with the Lord.

Maybe you say well I'm not so sure about the spiritual condition of my child it seems perhaps that maybe they like to be Christians. No that is nonsense you don't know what you're talking about. You might have been Christian yourself at one time but now you just become rubbish yourself.

You won't be confused about whether a child is converted or not. You will see it, it will be visible, obvious. Even the child will be correcting you and saying parents this is right this is not. That is why things are as they are and you've become stagnant nothing happens around you you can't even witness to your own children you don't even know how to lead them to Christ.

You might say you're a nice cake but you're really a cake of dung. Now I'm going to read something of a word that somebody gave me I didn't get the chance during the youth conference but I'll read it for you today.

Spiritual Death and the Judgment of God

One of the young people, Zechariah chapter 12, 14.

Zechariah chapter 12, 14. Zechariah chapter 12, 14.

Zechariah chapter 12, 14. Living death. The body, the flesh. Rotting. Dissolving while they are standing on their feet. So that there is corruption and rottenness.

What a picture of living death. Living death. Corruption. Clinging to him. As a festering putrid body.

What a heartbreaking thing it is. I'm sure nobody would like to even see an artist's depiction of such a thing. These days when the children were shown some of the slides on AIDS they were shocked and horrified at some of the things.

And called out in amazement. But what would they say if they were to see this depiction. The flesh dissolving while the person is standing on their feet. Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets it says.

Just be holes. The eyes decayed. And their tongue shall dissolve in their mouth. Now something similar happened in Japan when the Americans exploded those atom bombs to the Japanese. They say the flesh dissolved right there.

Eyes dissolving in their sockets. The tongue dissolving in the mouth. It's an ugly horrible depiction. You can't think of anything more awful. So if that happened literally to a people well what a terrible experience the Japanese had to undergo.

That's living death.

However there is something that surpasses that in evil. If this happens to your spiritual body. In your spiritual life. That your spiritual flesh is dissolved. Your eyes decay. And with your tongue you can no longer speak for God.

You are silenced. Much preferable would be a bodily dissolution like this where your body would rot and be eaten by maggots.

It's 10 ,000 times worse.

If this happens to you spiritually. We may ask the question of God why would he ever cause such a dreadful thing to happen to a person. Listen. It says this is the punishment and the judgment of God. But why?

What is the reason that God should strike them with such punishment? God says because they fought against Jerusalem. Those who had ever fought against Jerusalem against that which is of God that which belongs to Jesus.

Now we children of God are his Jerusalem. We are his children. We are his people. We are his temple. We are his church. God says in Psalm 106 verse 15. I gave them what they desired. But I sent leanness to their souls.

Leanness means becoming thin. A spiritual starvation. A person with that disease may not notice that they have it. Maybe they are even praying and saying God thank you for hearing my prayers. And God has answered them.

God may give them what they want but look at their spiritual condition. How there is now leanness of soul. They have become thin and skinny. The leanness has become emptiness. There was one occasion where a person was asked can't you just lead a bible study.

Present something from the word just as a devotion. And this person searched around and tried to find something. And there was nothing that they could bring of spiritual nourishment. They were lean. Or a person says but I'm not a preacher.

That's not for me. I'm not cut out for that nonsense. If you're born again.

If you can't talk. Why do you talk so much at the rugby. Or tennis. Or worldly things. Then you talk. Then you've got the gift of gab. But when you've got to say something spiritually. You haven't got anything.

Speaking for Christ and the Danger of Spiritual Stagnation

I had some friends. I had the privilege yesterday of having some friends with me. Jan and Iris from Holland. With our brother and sister from Canada. Originally from Holland as well. That's correct. And our brother from Norway.

Now he said so many Christians have got their three D's. Decent, dignified and dead. Nothing more. You can't even win your own children. You can't even win your own neighbours. Well if they are so spellbound by the devil.

Then go a step further. The whole world is crying and longing. For people to bring the cure to them. And you've got it in Christ. And if you can't preach. Then at least you should be able to give your testimony.

And tell them how you got converted. Tell them the day when Christ met with you. Oh no. I haven't got such. Well there you are. You are dead. Maybe you'll die here and we say what a wonderful person. While you burn in hell.

The tongue has wasted away. They can't pray. They can't give the testimony. They can't speak and talk for Jesus. But touch on something else. Then they can talk. Let them be in the company of a girl or a boy.

Then they can talk. And that shows you what kind of spirits or spirit children they are. No wonder that Jesus said. Don't cry for me daughters of Jerusalem. Cry for yourself. And for your children. Maybe you think well they are well educated.

That's the best thing you could do for them. To make clever devils out of them. That's their inheritance from you. They punished me. It was a terrible picture. The women cried. I told you what he told them.

Is this why they do this to a green tree? Look at that Christmas tree. Green. What will happen to the dry tree? And you are the dry tree. Doesn't got to show anything. That's green. It's always green.

It doesn't wither. Those branches. And there are some lights. And your beauty should be more attractive than that tree.

You should be so beautified in a far greater way excelling this tree. I don't mean by that. That you got to go and have a special hairdo. And make your hair to be what it's not. But that you would be ornamented within.

Beautified within. As Peter says, not with the outward ornaments. But with the inward ornament of good works. Now this very wasting flesh. This dissolving flesh. Seeks its own.

Symbolic of selfishness. Selfishness. You think about your own self. You want your best. You want a place. You want a position. You're thinking of yourself.

In the letter to the Galatians it says, Do not sow to the flesh.

That's selfishness. Thinking about self. Satisfying yourself. If you sow to your flesh. Satisfying your flesh. And the lusts of the flesh.

Like immorality. And you feed the flesh. The lusts of the flesh. You're sowing to the flesh.

Even if your body. Physical body doesn't rot. But spiritually you are rotting. You're a rotten potato. To the detriment of the church. And the fellowship where you are.

To the detriment of the church. And the fellowship where you are. Gazing at pornographic images. Well you're simply feeding the flesh. Looking at porn on the internet.

That's what you are, and that's the cause of your leanness spiritually, and what a burden you are to the saints of God.

Confession, Repentance, and the Fear of God

Where does it come from? It says, those who once resisted Jerusalem.

Please go through your past. When you meet with God, you don't meet with the present, you meet with the past, and you meet with the future. Three in one, He's the God who was, who is, and is going to be.

Go through your past. What did you say? Did you ever say something against Jerusalem? That thing will make your meat rot, your flesh, it will rot, it will waste away your eyes and your tongue. You can pray till doomsday, you'll never get right until you've made right.

What you are supposed to do right, and you'll feel unhappy, you'll feel alone. Why? Sin in your past, you haven't dealt with it. You can't experience the fullness of God, never, because you are living in living death.

And here the heresy comes in, of some so-called pious people. I serve God because I love Him, I don't fear Him, not of fear. It seems to be very pious, but they don't know. They are rotten, they are living in sin.

And that's the license. If they'd know God, they'd know His punishment. If they knew God, then the man who says if your right hand offends you, cut it off. Out with your right eye or your right foot. Rather enter heaven with one eye, one hand and one leg, than to be cast into hell.

Is that love? That's the beginning of wisdom, the fear of God. People who just emphasize love, and not justice, and not the fear of God, have got no wisdom. They are the biggest fools in this world. That is the beginning of wisdom.

And are you living in such a fool's paradise? That's why you can get angry, you can get annoyed. You can go to your wife and gossip about another man and another person, instead of going to him. You talk about him.

May God in heaven grant that today, you realize what you are up to and what you've been up to. And you know what the future will bring. Not blessing. A curse.

Maybe you say, but I don't speak, I don't resist Jerusalem. But have you ever?

You've never done it in the past. One sentence suffices.

Because of the holiness of God, if that person is here, as the Holy Spirit works, he will ensure that such a person, if he resists the Spirit, will never be able to remain in the congregation of God's people.

As long as he is there. And we see that in the church in Jerusalem, when Ananias and Sapphira died. In the letter to the Corinthians, chapter 5, that such a person, there's no room in the church. Don't eat with them.

If God is real in that church, that person is going to leave that church. But if he doesn't leave it, God will kill him in the church. He'll die.

And then God says, well, if that person refuses to hear, refuses to make right, then that person must die. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear. This book is not a book of tales and fairy tales, but the truth, and it will happen as God says.

No One Can Escape the Presence of God

You don't like it, run away.

Hide in the highest mountain of this world. Go somewhere where you can get away from God. To the highest places in this world, or to the lowest depths in the sea. But as a young teenager I knew, you can't escape from God.

Even in the lowest depths of the earth, he'll be there. Or if you hide in the cosmos, in the skies, he'll find you there as well. Nobody did have to tell me that. I knew it as a 13-year-old boy, when I was contemplating sometimes to commit suicide.

When a little cousin girl, a cousin of mine, told me, oh Elu, how can you say such a thing? How could you wish that you'd be a dog or a tree? I say, kill the dog, fell the tree, it's finished. With us it's not like that.

And she says, oh I'm so happy that I'm a human being, because one day I'll be like an angel. I said, that's the little talk, that's the talk of little girls. What have I got to do with being like an angel one day?

I knew I didn't have the right thing. And I was on the way to seek the right thing, because I didn't want to live the way I lived. And that's why I said when I left home to become a preacher, I don't want to be a preacher like other preachers.

I want to be different. Not because I wanted to be special, but I wanted the real thing. I wasn't satisfied just to baptize, just to bury people. I wanted to have that what Jesus had. I was a verkrampter of the verkrampters.

Experiencing Christ and Sharing the Gospel

But when Jesus came in, the first thing I did, I went from one Zulu hut to the other, with my Bible, not knowing Zulu, but reading in German what the verse said, and then trying to read it in Zulu. I went from one hut, full of smoke, from one hut to the other, and then I came out smelling like Schwarzwälder Schinken.

And that was the greatest joy to me, that these people, whom I was dead to, I wished that they could taste what I have tasted. I got to know Christ. Do you know Christ? Or is it just shown, churchianized?

You're like a bird. You go to my house, you'll find a bird that can laugh like other people, a bird that can talk. It's just a bird. When one girl passed there, the bird said, Sauborna. She turned around, looked at it, and said, Sauborna.

Now, just as a parrot can be taught to imitate, so too you can get your children into that mode where they know the Christian language. It's flowery, christianized language, but inside there's death. Christ is not there.

Living in the Word of God

Let me end with Numbers 33, verse 55.

Numbers 33, verse 55.

It's a help to mark those places where the Lord speaks to you. Use it as a time of encouragement later on when you may be tempted, where you can recall what the Lord has spoken to you, so that it won't be grudges that fill you, but the Word.

That the Word should live in you, live in you. You go to work, you think of it. Live in you. That's why Graf von Zinzenbeck made a little brochure, daily reading, because he wanted the people, when they went to work, that these words would accompany the whole day.

And when they spoke together, that they'll speak about these words. Just check yourself. How many minutes or hours of the day does the Word live in you? How long are you busy with the Word? Or do you read it?

You walk out of the room, you've forgotten it. Well, that's why. You're such a barren person. That's why you can't bring children into this world. Those words have got to live in you all the time. You must be busy with those words all the time.

If that's not the case, you're a barren tinny, you're not a green tinny. And you won't shine. And you won't show forth the glory of it. You declare something. You declare something.

One thinks of the decoration of a Christmas tree to make it as beautiful and attractive as possible. One of the Christmas trees these days had chocolates on it as decoration, but one of my grandchildren went and nabbed a few for himself.

And now our lives should be even more attractive, full of decoration and the beauty and attractiveness of the Lord.

To be a dry Christian, a dry tree, is to be a cursed Christian. Jesus said, Numbers! Jesus said, Jesus said, Numbers!

Now, we look at Numbers. Jesus liked to quote from the book of Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Numbers 33 .55 Numbers 33 .55.

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell.

Numbers 33 .55.

If you do not drive them out from before you, those who compromise, those who have fellowship with unbelieving people and who compromise their faith, just see what the Lord says about you.

Maybe some of your family members, sons-in-law or daughters-in-law, they before your eyes. You can't make a decision, you can't do a thing, because they are they, and they don't like it. Numbers 33 .55.

If you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, then these very ones shall be irritants in your eyes, and you'll find that you're alive, but you're totally blind. Numbers 33 .55.

And thorns in your sides. What will you be able to achieve with thorns in your side and things in your eyes? Numbers 33 .55.

Compromise, Sin, and the Loss of Spiritual Sight

Samson persevered with the lusts of the flesh, even when being warned by his parents, but he persisted while he ended up with his eyes gouged out, finding himself in prison. He dabbled with sin.

He compromised. He loved the shape of that girl. He could put his head on her lap. What a foolish man. Solomon, a man whom God loved, and women led him astray.

He lost his glory.

We speak of the King of David, but Jesus was never called the King of Solomon. Leanness came into his heart because of the opposite sex, being a lady's man. What a disgraceful and shameful thing. Numbers 33 .55.

You become immobilized. You cannot move. You cannot do a thing. You become blinded because you allow these things in your life, in your home. May God help us. May He reveal Himself. We call for God to pour out His Spirit, but He can never pour out His Spirit upon such people.

You want an outpouring of the Holy Spirit? You'll never experience this. God doesn't pour out His Spirit upon such a kind of people. Never. It will be a Spirit from below.