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series on the study of Nehemiah. Now, I'm going to be honest with you. I chose this because I think we all need to come to grips with how we need to respond to some stupid things going on in the world today.
Now, before I begin, I want to give you a little history and context of where we are.
Right here is Moses. You know, Moses, burning bush, the
Ten Commandments, all that. Right here is when Jesus was born.
It wasn't in 0 A .D. It was about 4 to 6 B .C.
But right about here is where we're at. So we're about 400 years before Jesus and about 1 ,000 years after Moses.
Now, why is that important? Well, because in my opinion, this and the context of all this defines so many doctrines of Christ, the infallibility of the
Word of God, if you actually have the intelligent academic honesty to look at the historical context of all this going on.
You see, this isn't, kids, listen to me, this isn't a little Bible story. This isn't a little sermon, right?
This is a historical thing that's documented outside of Scripture as well.
And if you look at your little papers that some wonderful fat, bald pastor made for you, we're going to do something a little bit different.
Obviously, number one, it's a little bit larger than what's normal. I remember when we changed from a bulletin to just a single sheet of paper.
We had a little old lady who was one of those people that if anything changed, she freaked out.
And she was like, oh my gosh, how is that going to fit in my Bible now? It's not a bulletin. And it fits, okay?
So guys, it's not that big of a deal. But what's really important is this. On this piece of paper on the back, we're going to start
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday if you're looking for something to study.
If you want to expand your brain a little bit so that where you can understand the
Word of God as not just a little storybook of morals, but as a true historical account of the infallibility of God's Word, this is going to help you do it, okay?
Also, along with that, I want you to understand that there are some historical things like the
Battle of Kargamash and the Battle of Opus that had massive effects and they're recorded in the
Word of God as also some archeology evidence like the Babylonian Chronicles and the
Cyrus Cylinder. But I've noted all that for you. If you want to use it, fine. Now I'm going to be a little bit crude with you here, okay?
In my opinion, to help this not end up on the floorboard of your car or stuck as a bookmark on your
Bible so that you'll actually read all this information, put it on the back of your toilet.
Seriously, I know that sounds weird, but put it on the back of your toilet. Because if you put it by your nightstand or you put it and you're going to go,
I'm going to get to that later, in six months when you do spring cleaning, you're just going to throw it out, okay? Put it somewhere where you can say, okay,
I don't have time to listen to Pastor Jeff on a podcast or whatever that little thing is, but I have time to do this.
Find a place and read it, okay? Now, what's also important historically is to understand this.
This is so cool. In the Book of Ezra, which is right prior to the Book of Nehemiah, in the original
Hebrew Bible, Ezra and Nehemiah were one book, okay? You can think of the
Book of Nehemiah as Ezra chapter two. Ezra is about 15 years before the events in Nehemiah.
Now, I'm going to give you a really quick history lesson, and I know this is going to stink for some of you, but I think it's important for you to understand before we continue.
A, B, P, G, all right? That's how you can remember world powers.
Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. That are the world powers starting with Assyria, kind of like A, B, G, P, and R.
I can't make R rhyme, but that's the world powers as they happen.
We are in what's called the Persian part of that history.
Assyria was defeated by Babylon. Babylon was defeated by Persia, okay?
Once again, you little hipsters can go look up in Wikipedia, and it's right there.
But that's where we're at, okay? That's where we're at. Now, what happened was is that the people of Judea and Jerusalem had been taken captive by the
Babylonians. Well, when Persia whipped Babylon, they said, hey, why are all these
Jew people running everywhere? You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a guy with curlicues saying, boy, you know, where are all these
Jews from? And so the Persian king, a man named Cyrus, in 516, and once again, you can go look this up, in 516 created an edict, and it's called the
Edict of Restoration, but he said all captured peoples can now go home if you want to.
Now, there were about 3 million Jews living in Babylon, Persia, and Assyria.
Well, most of them didn't want to go back to Jerusalem. It'd be kind of like leaving a five -bedroom house in Hydeville and going and living in Bucksmore, Tennessee in a warehouse, okay?
Because Jerusalem was cold. It was just a ghost town. But about 50 ,000
Jews under a guy named Ezra went back and rebuilt the temple, but they couldn't rebuild it with all the fancy stuff because every time they tried, because the walls were torn down, somebody would come in and steal it.
A bunch of Arabs on horseback, you know, and they'd go, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, and they'd come in, that's really what they said, they'd come in and they would take everything and run away.
And so the Jews were like, man, we can't have anything nice around here. And so they needed to rebuild the walls.
And in Ezra, they had started, in Ezra chapter four, they had started rebuilding the walls, but then some local bosses were like, y 'all need to quit that because we remember the days of David.
Y 'all used to whoop everybody. Your God's pretty powerful. We don't want to give y 'all any excuse to rebel.
So the walls have to stay down. And that's where we are. Okay? Now, if you read chapter one of Nehemiah, verse one, there's this guy named
Nehemiah, and his job is the cupbearer of the king
Artaxerxes in Persia. He's never been to Jerusalem. He was probably born in Babylon or Persia.
He's never even seen Jerusalem. But he's a Jew who actually believes in the
God of his fathers and the word of God as they had. They had at this time the book of Job.
They had the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. But they didn't have everything else.
But he was actually, had enough faith to actually believe that when God said, this land will belong to Jews, he didn't think
God was joking. And he's not. But anyways, so he's the cupbearer of the king. And while he's sitting there working, some
Jews show up to the capital city of Susa in Persia. And he goes, hey man, how's
Jerusalem going? And they're like, oh man, that's bad, dude. It's bad.
It looks like Frasier on a good day. It's bad, man. It's nut bush bad.
I mean, it is bad. Nehemiah's like, what's so wrong with this?
The gates are still burned down and the walls are torn down. And he goes, man, I've got a bunch of guys, what's rebuilding?
Yeah, they try. But they keep getting attacked and everybody's scared. Nehemiah's like, crap.
So Nehemiah, a cupbearer. By the way, you know what the job of cupbearer was? If Scott's king, and I'm the cupbearer, here's my job.
Every time somebody hands in something to eat or drink, you know what my job is? They need a drink of it first, because if I die,
Scott's still good. Alright? That was his job. That was who played
Russian roulette every time a meal was served. So Nehemiah hears this, and he goes, man, that stinks.
Am I boring y 'all? Are y 'all with me? Okay. For those of you that grew up in church, stir your minds.
Okay? Recirculate your brain. This isn't a Bible school lesson. Okay? This is the living reality, historical, accurate word of God.
And we're going to prove that even more here in a second. So Nehemiah chapter one, look with me, in verse six, is where we're going to start.
How should we as Christians respond to everything going on in our world today? Number one, we need to respond with a little bit of prayer.
So when Nehemiah heard about Jerusalem, verse six, this is what it says. It says, he's praying to God, and he says,
God, let your eyes be open, and your ears be attentive to hear your servant's prayer, that I now pray to you day and night for your servants, the
Israelites. I confess the sins that we have committed against you, both
I and my father's house have sinned. Ladies and gentlemen, I don't care whether you own a business, whether you're the manager somewhere, or more importantly, you're a mother or a father, leader of a family, whoever and what you are, you have a spirit of influence.
And let me tell you this, without prayer, you will never lead your family where they should go.
Don't ever think that you can be one of those dumb church people that bring their kids into a church building and it's going to turn out good just simply because they're from a discerning school.
If you as a leader are not submitted to God in prayer, if you are not being the example in real life outside of this stupid building of what
God has called you to be, don't be surprised when your kids grow up and say the church is full of a bunch of...
kids. Because you are the thing that they saw. Guys, how is your prayer life?
How is your prayer life in real life? Sometimes the only time Christians pray is over the meal or when someone gets bad news.
And usually when someone gets bad news, unless it's directly affecting you, you're still like, oh God bless you,
I'm going to pray with you, I'm going to get my meal, and you ain't never mentioned the word in your life. Guys, a leader needs to be a person of prayer.
But also notice this, prayer is not just simply an act of saying,
God I want, I need. This is not the movie What About Bob? This is not about self -centricism.
Look what Nehemiah does. As he prays, he says, God please hear me, but do you realize what he does right here?
He repents. He realizes that where they are at in captivity, where Jerusalem is at in ruins, isn't anybody else's fault except theirs.
Christians, listen to me. Drugs are not killing America. Liberals are not killing
America. President Trump is not killing America. Guys, the reason we are where we are today is because we were founded on Judeo -Christian values and a
Judeo -Christian mindset and those Judeo -Christians have sold out and walked away from the word of God.
We have embraced culture rather than Christ and with an arrogance that brushes the face of Satanism, we sit and blame everybody else for the reason our country is in where it is today.
We need to say, stop God, bless America. We need to start obeying God. Quit blaming the crack whore on Jackson Avenue for the development of neighborhoods and take
Christ out of anything by personal experience, it's going to decay and it's going to fall.
That's a reality. Look what Nehemiah prays. Look at his prayer with Prince in verse 7. Notice the pronoun.
We. We have acted corruptly towards you. This man is not even big but you are slow.
Yet he takes a standard of accountability and culpability for where his people are at.
Guys, stop blaming the homosexuals. Don't be like those,
I hear church people, God hates faggots. No, God hates your arrogance. God hates your superficial holiness.
That's what God hates. Ultimately what God hates is your rebellion. And if our, if we get into this us and them thing, okay, we are never going to ever understand what the true act of repentance is.
It is not you repenting for everybody else, it's you repenting for where you're at.
Some people in this room still can't get past an evil or a hurt done to them. You know what that is?
That is the height of arrogance. And please don't start coming up to me and start telling me the war story after the service.
Because I've got 100 people in here that got the same story as you. Okay? Stop looking at your scar tissue and start looking at the cross.
And I promise you your attitude will change. How many of y 'all are sober today? How, who in this room has been sober for how long?
Somebody speak. I've been sober 30 years. Well then obviously
I'm not talking to you. What? 142 days. 142 days.
Three and a half years. Huh? Five months.
Five months. Very good. I swear, Richard reminds me of someone from the 70s, man.
He's just like, if someone ever came up to me and said anything, this dude, they would jump me and was like mean to me.
Like, you're a liar, man. He's like, peace, dude. He's like Bill, except younger. You know?
Whose fault is your failure in addiction? My parents' fault.
Guys, whose fault is it? It's yours. It's yours. The minute you start blaming someone else, the minute you're gonna start falling.
Trust me, there's a guy who said this, I don't remember what his name is. He says, if you think you stand, take heed lest you fall.
Oh yeah, that was Jesus. You are responsible. Guys, when
Nehemiah's sitting there, he immediately, instead of being the savior, water, Messiah complex, he immediately associates with everyone else who has failed.
Hey, total depravity teaches us this, that there is no one in this room more sinful than anyone else.
We are all on the same plane. That's what leadership is. That's what real Christianity is.
It says, we have acted corruptly toward you and not done the commands. Now go down to verse 9.
Here's the next part of repentance that most people don't get. Oh, they'll come down front and they'll go,
I'm looking at www, whatever. but here's where real repentance is.
It's not in a prayer. Read verse 9. He quotes here out of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 30.
He quotes the word of God and verse 9 says this, but if you return to me and carefully observe my commands.
Here's what a lot of preachers won't tell you anymore because it's not seeker friendly. Guys, wrap your head around this.
Repentance is not a feeling of guilt. God is not an Italian Jewish grandma.
Alright? God does not use guilt. That is not repentance. Here's what repentance is.
It's a changing of a mind, a changing of a heart, that will always lead to a change of action.
And if you're missing that last part, I don't care how guilty you feel, you have not repented yet.
And here's the worst part for you. Without repentance, listen, there is no forgiveness.
What was the first word out of Jesus' head and John the Baptist's mouth? Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.
In the recesses of your mind, late at night, when you're feeling guilty or fearful of failures you have, it cannot be just a simple prayer as you slop off to sleep that God is going to hear and then respond to.
Where is your repentance? People say to me, oh, I'm a believer, I'm a Christian, I'm a blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
I've been a member of a church for 30 years. What do you want, a Bucky Beaver badge? That is not what
Christianity is. The mode of repentance must lead to a change of actions.
You with me? Guys, I know that doesn't sound, smile, Jesus loves you.
I'm sorry I can't get up here and preach, God wants the best for you, you just gotta believe.
I'm sorry, the word of God is very clear. From Genesis to Revelation, it calls people to repent, to turn away from sin and turn towards God.
You come to grips with that, you're gonna live in the vicious cycle of religious feelings rather than a restored relationship with God Almighty.
Now notice this, if you skip on to chapter 2, verses 2 and 3, Nehemiah hears this, he prays, he repents, but then he doesn't stop there.
He knows that he needs to go and rebuild those walls. So in chapter 2, verses 2 and 3, he decides that he's gonna go to the king that he serves, as a slave, and say, hey, can
I go and repair these walls? He's a slave, he's going to ask a non -believing king for permission to go rebuild the walls.
Man, that right there is some guts. But that's what prayer and faith will do. It'll see the impossible and say, with my
God, all things are possible. Amen? So here we go, verses 2 and 3, so the king said to me, why are you sad when you aren't sick?
There is nothing but depression. So here's Nehemiah, he's working up his courage to go and say something to the king, and he's kind of like sloughing around, you know, he looks like a little two -year -old, he doesn't get his way a little bit, he's like, and so the king goes, yo,
Nehemiah, what's wrong with you? In the Hebrew, that's what it says. Yo, what's wrong with you, right?
Nehemiah says, I'm kind of sad. Why are you sad? Well, my hometown, where my parents, where my family are buried, it's in total shambles.
Dogs are sleeping with cats, it's total chaos. We need to fix this. So king, here's what
I'm asking you. Can I leave here and go there to rebuild it?
Now, this is what's so cool historically. Go to the very next verse, or go to chapter 2, verse 6.
Someone read out loud what it says. Chapter 2, verse 6. Stop.
Do you know who that queen is? Say it louder. That's exactly right.
You know the little book Esther, where she marries the foreign king? Check this out.
Now, if this isn't luck, I don't know what is. Nehemiah needs to go to Tupelo.
Is that where the gambling houses are? Tunica. Man, because he is a lucky dude, right?
He has this vision. He has this idea to go rebuild the temple. He, as a slave, has got to get a foreign king to give him permission.
Well, it just so happened that foreign king, not too long ago, married a woman called
Esther who was also a... So it says here in verse 6, the king is sitting on his throne holding court, and the queen is sitting right beside him.
You know how that is. Is that luck, or is that the sovereign hand of God that's already decided how this is going?
Yeah, let's go with that one. So Esther's sitting there, and Nehemiah says, hey king, this is what
I need. We're running out of time, so I'm going to ad lib right here. Focus. Listen.
So king, here's what I need. First of all, I need you to let me, a slave, leave. I'll be back,
I promise. But I also need this. When I cross the Euphrates River, when I go west of the
Euphrates, yeah, I'm still going to be in Persia, but I'm going to be in the parts of Babylon, the parts that you've conquered.
So I'd like some letters so that I won't get mugged going to Jerusalem. Oh, and here's...
By the way, it'd be really cool if you send some armed guard with me to protect me.
Oh, and by the way, king, I don't have no money, so I can't purchase wood.
So would you mind possibly hooking me up with some lumber? Oh, and by the way, king,
I hope you understand, but I'm going to need probably six, eight, nine months to do this, so I'm going to be gone a while.
And the king's like, nobody in their right mind's going to say yes, and the king goes, okay, you got it, buddy.
Gone. Nehemiah's like, whoo, cool!
So, watch this. Nehemiah now has the permission of a foreign ruler that, watch, think about this for a second, to go rebuild a fortress -walled city in his kingdom that he just conquered.
I know this doesn't make sense militarily. It would be like, oh, I don't know, like the military fighting for like 20 years and then deciding, hey, we've invested all these lives and all this money in this place, let's just leave and let them take back over.
I mean, no military or administration in their right mind would do that, right? Y 'all caught that, right?
By the way, Whitmore Baptist Church has no political identity, nor do we endorse any political candidate.
But we will call out stupid. The king says, knock yourself out.
So, Nehemiah gathers up himself, the troops, the money, the permission, the letters, and out he goes for four months.
It's kind of as far from Memphis to Washington, D .C. So, for four months, he walks. And I put a little map on your little thing for you.
He walks back to Jerusalem. When he gets to Jerusalem, guys, he parades into Jerusalem.
You gotta remember, this city and the surrounding area used to have about 1 .8 million people.
Now there's about 50 ,000 people living there. And no one's really living in Jerusalem because, man,
I mean, it's nasty. It's tore up. Remember, this was the place of King David.
This is the place where foreign dignitaries came and paid their respects to Solomon.
As far south as Ethiopia and the Egyptians and everyone. This used to be the dynasty of the world.
America. But anyways, it's in ruins now. And Nehemiah comes back and he sashays in there.
That's what it says in the Hebrew. It sashays in there with all these donkeys and mules, mother -in -laws, camels and whatever, all burdened down with tools and lumber.
And he doesn't say a word to anybody. For three days, leaders, he lets the people rest.
And one night, one night like a ninja, he gets up, if you look in verse 12, he gets up and he goes and does a recon.
And it's really cool how the Word of God describes it because you can literally trace his steps. And I drew a map, or not drew a map,
I stole a map off the Google of the exact gates and where everything was in Jerusalem.
If you follow, you can actually see where he traced. So he's sitting there and he walks out kind of in a counter, he walks out the west gate and kind of in a counterclockwise way, he walks around the whole thing of Jerusalem making notes.
Hey leaders, you want a plan? If you fail to plan, you just plan to fail, right? Where is your family today?
What do they need to fix? You can't just simply go, I hope it's going to work out,
I'm going to do better. Identify the problems and remember, men, fathers, husbands, the number one thing you need to protect your family is isn't
Russians falling out of the sky or drugs or gangs, it's you. You are the worst enemy your family has if you're not living according to God's Word.
The insecurities you will breed, well okay pastor, that's where I'm at right now. Okay, identify that and identify what needs, do a little recon on yourself.
Do a little recon in your family and figure it out. Now notice this, I'm going to close with this.
I'm going to close with this. Listen, look at this. He recons and in verse 17, he gathers the remnant of people that are there and I think this is beautiful.
Listen, this is beautiful. Look at the humility of this guy. Look at the humility of this guy.
He walks in there and verse 17 it says, so I said to them, talking to the people who were living there,
I said to them, you people make me sick. Y 'all are the laziest, filthy, cowards in the whole world.
I can't believe you people are living in this mess. I, and I alone are going to be the one to bring you people out of bondage.
No arrogance in him. You know that prayer he prayed back in the last chapter? He was serious and it showed in his attitude.
In verse 17 it says, so I said to them, you see the trouble we are in.
Here's another thing about leadership people. Leaders who sit in the back and tell everybody what to do aren't leaders, they're dictators.
Leaders are the guy down there in the midst of them. Daddies, it isn't about you saying, well do as I say, not what
I do. That is a coward, spineless, wuss way of being a leader. It ain't no leader.
You gotta lead by example. Trouble we're in. Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been come down.
Now look at this part right here. Come let us rebuild the walls so that we will no longer be a disgrace.
Man. He showed up to take charge but first he took responsibility.
That's real leadership. Now look at this. Look, verse 18. I told them how the gracious hand of God had been on me and what the king had said to me.
They said, hey, let's start rebuilding and they were encouraged to do the work. Last thing, verse 19 and 20.
Verse 19 and 20. Let me let you in on a secret, guys. Y 'all wanna know God's real in your life?
It's really simple. It's real simple. Start living for him and watch what happens.
You wanna know? I'm gonna be a prophet. I'm gonna foretell the future for you, okay? You start selling out and start living for the
Lord, persecution's gonna start trying to kick your butt. Trust me, it's gonna happen.
Is that just universal luck? Nah, man. There's a real God and there's a real enemy not wanting us to succeed.
Look what happens. No sooner than he made that speech. Now we had seen these two losers back in verse 10.
I didn't read it to you. Back in verse 10 of chapter 2. But these two guys come up.
Or three guys, really. Sanballat the Horonite. I think that's a proper name.
Tobiah the Amorite. And Geshem the Arab heard about this. They mocked and despised us and said, what is this you're doing?
Are you rebelling against the king? I gave them this reply. Oh, I got letters from the king.
I got permission to be here. He didn't say any of that. This is what he said. The God of heaven is the one who will grant us success.
We, his servants, will start building. But you have no share right in our historic claim in Jerusalem.
Now I want you to notice to this. The name Sanballat and the name Tobiah are Jewish names.
Here's the reality, guys. It's not the enemy out there that will try to bring you down.
Sometimes it's so disheartening. Sometimes it's your own family that tries to keep you down.
It is. And man, it'll kick you in the gut. Guys, now there was one non -Jew there.
But I want you to understand something. If you repent and decide to start living for the Lord, you're going to get discouraged when you don't have the support you feel like you should have.
You're going to get discouraged. So here's what you need to do. You need to back off a little bit and calm down and maybe not be so offensive and think about other people's feelings as well.
And you'll get a Care Bear sticker and a little heart. Or, men, listen to me.
Stop moving your Bibles and your butts growing legs and walking in the seat. We're almost done. Listen. Because what
I'm telling you is for you, but more importantly, it's so your kids are not going to be in my office in ten years because they're insecure, codependent, little losers.
Listen. You want to be a leader? You want to be a leader?
You want to be a Christian? Expect controversy and conflict.
If you're not, either you are ignorant or you are really not wanting to go to war.
Guys, you start living for the Lord, people always talk about, well,
I'm bored as a Christian, but there is no way in this world you can really be living your Christian life out and be bored.
Ain't no way, man. You're on crack. You're lying to yourself. Because usually, probably the height of your
Christian maturity is you showed up for church on a Sunday morning. Yes, I'm openly mocking you.
Guys, you really sell out for the Lord, you're going to be attacked in every direction, mentally, spiritually, and sometimes even physically.
Mark my words. It's a great litmus test to whether you're really serving the Lord. Now, if you're one of those
Messiah -martyr complexes, people, that, you know, the reality of your existence is how much attention you get pulled on yourself, you are going to be miserable.
Miserable. Especially in a group of people who already are working for the Lord. Because you're like, oh my gosh, my nail broke,
I'm just having such a bad day. And you've got other people whose husbands and wives are dying and they're still working for the
Lord, who are struggling through cancer to keep working for the Lord, who are trying to stay sober and being humble before the
Lord, and you're stressed out because someone didn't like your casserole dish. You're probably going to be openly mocked.
Which is really good for you. Take that and grow from it. Maybe you're one of those people that, well,
I didn't, the pastor offended me or my Sunday school teacher or the deacon didn't blow up my kid's kiddie pool, and so I'm wounded and hurt, and I'm going to go find another church.
If you're one of those people, just two words of advice for you. Let me get the door for you, because just like Tobiah and Sam Ballett, you know what my job is?
To keep people like you away from the people who are working. I am Nehemiah. I'm the one that says, oh,
I'm sorry, we're building something here. Later. Bye.
So long. Farewell. That's my job. The reality is, there are people who don't want to do anything but rule the rooms.
Here's the second piece of advice. Not only do you, if you're one of those people, but the misery that you have in your life will start to turn inward.
And you'll actually be one of those people that are convinced that you are right and everybody else is wrong.
And that anger will then turn to bitterness, and you will sit there when your daughter is 14 years old or your son is 16 years old and he is full of hate and angry at you, you will look back and you will say, wow,
I wonder what happened. You. You. That's what happened.
Sorry. God has real clear ways how a family should work. You don't obey
Him, you're going to be screwed. But more importantly, so will your children and your children's children.
Guys, what we're talking about today are not morals and ethics. There is a truth called