Adult Bible Fellowship: Nehemiah (Nehemiah 2, Jeff Kliewer)

So who would like to open us in prayer, and we'll get into the text. Thanks.

Father God, we come before you and we just thank you for this morning, really the first day that feels like fall. We thank you for this change of seasons, and we pray that your Holy Spirit would be with us this morning as we look at your word.

We pray that you would guide Jeff in his teaching both here and also later in the sermon this morning. And we ask that you would just help us stay focused on you, that our hearts would not be divided, but that we would be single-minded, focusing on you and your word this morning.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

Nehemiah’s Four-Month Prayer Before Approaching the King

Amen. Let's turn to the book of Nehemiah. You guys guessed it. If you recall, Ezra and Nehemiah in the Hebrew Scriptures are one book. It would be Ezra and Nehemiah hyphenated. And last week we studied through the first chapter where Nehemiah receives news that the city walls in Jerusalem are still a ruin after all those years, after the return, which first began in 538, I believe it was, 537.

And they had rebuilt the temple by 520 BC, but the walls and the gates were still in ruins. And this was a problem because that was the place of civic life. That was the place of security to protect from invading armies.

So it was very important to have city walls and gates. Nehemiah learns that they are not rebuilt and he's devastated. He begins to pray and seek God for a period of time. And his prayer is recorded in chapter one.

Now we're going to move into chapter two. So we'll just go around the room. Whoever feels like reading, just to switch it up, we'll go the opposite direction as last week. John, would you mind reading the first, let's go to the first two verses.

And does everybody have a worksheet?

We're following through. Okay.

In chapter two?

Yeah.

King Artaxerxes.

Artaxerxes.

And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before.

Therefore the king said to me, why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart. So I became dreadfully afraid.

So the king notices something. This is a very perceptive king, isn't it? He notices the emotions of Nehemiah, just looking downcast. And he rightly diagnoses that, wait a minute, you're not sick. You're sad.

You have sadness of heart. And he asks him a question. Now, prior to this encounter, it says in the month of Nisan, how long has passed since Nehemiah received the news? You can look back.

Yeah.

Chapter one, verse one. From Shislev to Nisan, if you're familiar with the Hebrew calendar,.

That's four months have now passed.

So what has Nehemiah been doing for that time? Yeah, all we have record of is his prayer. So he receives the news and he does nothing, right? He does nothing, but he begins to speak to God about this problem.

And we have his prayer recorded. So the first question I had, for approximately how long did Nehemiah pray prior to speaking to the king? Four months. Four months. Now, that's instructive to us. When we receive bad news, how long do you and I tend to pray?

Five minutes.

Yeah.

You know, you got to get the obligatory prayer in there, and then you're going to go take care of it, right?

That's our human reaction, especially as Americans.

You know, we are independent.

We are strong. We are capable. And we jump in there and we do, right? But that's not what Nehemiah did. We have a couple more coming in.

We don't have a couple of sexy men.

This is great to have more people than chairs. Bob's going to have to squat. There's a chair over here.

Yeah.

There's a chair over here.

Okay.

Yeah, that's almost a kid chair, I think. It's like back to school night when you get to sit in your kid's chair.

Oh, but I need a thing.

Here's a paper. Yeah, you can have that. I've got some extras here. I need one, actually. We are maxed out. I can make photocopies if more come in.

Or we can look on.

Praying Continually in the Middle of a Conversation

So, moving on, verses 3 and 4. Brenda, would you mind reading those?

Chapter 2?

Yeah, chapter 2, verses 3 and 4.

But I said to the king, may the king live forever. Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers were buried lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire? The king said to me, what is it you want?

Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king. If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.

Okay.

So, next question. How long did Nehemiah pray this time? Look at chapter 2, verse 4. Jen, there's a space right over there to squeeze in.

He prayed right before he answered the king.

Yeah, so, the king asks a question, what are you requesting? And he's, how long could he have possibly been praying there? Just a matter of mere seconds, right? And yet the text records that, because it's important.

It says, then I prayed. Do you think it was an out loud prayer?

No. No.

I think he prayed that within himself, in his own spirit. So you see that, it says, then I prayed. The king asked me, so I prayed to the God of heaven. This is very instructive for us as well. Praying in our spirit.

Are you familiar with the verse in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 17? How is this an illustration of that? Next reader, would you mind turning to, oh, this will be a sword drill here. 1 Thessalonians 5, 17, but we'll talk about it for a minute while you find that.

So, the situation is dire. Why is this a dire situation? Because he's been sad in the king's presence. Now, if you're talking about the king of Persia, the omnipotent, not omnipotent, but all powerful in that kingdom, you cannot just walk into the court looking sad.

You can't just be moping around in the presence of the king.

And he had never done that before.

The king noticed because it was so different that this guy was sad in his presence. So he was actually risking his life by even moping around. But it provoked a conversation, so he prays.

You ready?

Okay, read for us 1 Thessalonians 5, 17.

Pray continually.

Not a hard verse.

So there's certain Bible memory verses that you hope get in the Bible challenge, like John 11, 35, I think it is. Jesus wept. Two words. This is a very short verse, and we can all memorize it right now.

You guys just memorize the verse. Pray continually. You see how instructive that is for our lives, though? That we should not just answer quickly, even in the middle of a conversation. Have you ever been in an argument?

Obviously you don't need to answer that out loud. And obviously the answer is yes. Pray continually means even in the midst of a conversation, before you answer, in your spirit, you talk to God, and then you speak.

It can be that fast, but it makes all the difference. And the text records, chapter 2, verse 4, for a reason. Pray continually. So he prays, and then he answers. And it makes all the difference. So I prayed to the God of heaven.

The Good Hand of God and Ezra’s Pattern of Favor

Let's read 5 through 9. Ryan, you just got a big chunk here.

Go for it.

And I said to the king, If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's courage, that I may rebuild it. And the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, How long will you be gone, and when will you return?

So it pleased the king to send me, when I had given him any time. And I said to the king, If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province beyond the river, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah.

And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.

And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.

Okay, so the question on your paper is, What expression in 2 -9 do we see in the book of Ezra? Recall, Ezra-Nehemiah is actually one book in the Hebrew Scriptures, okay? And here then is a theme that's running between them.

What expression is it? Say it loud. Whoever answered that.

The good hand of my God was upon me.

Thank you Loretta.

The good hand of my God was upon me. Recall from the book of Ezra, beginning when Ezra himself returns, in the second wave of return, recall that six times in those four chapters of the book of Ezra, we have this expression, the good hand of the Lord, or the good hand of the Lord's favor was upon me.

Now, does anybody recall, what does Ezra attribute that good hand of God's favor? Now, ultimately it's his grace and nothing earned, but there's something that God connected between Ezra and the hand of his favor.

What was it about Ezra?

Oh, Ryan got it. Remember this?

Look at Ezra 7 -10. First of all, it says the good hand of God's favor was upon me. Four, that word four connects the preceding thought with what follows. Ezra 7 -10 says, Four, I had set my heart to study, and to practice, and to teach the word of God.

So Ezra the teacher, Ezra the scribe, the student of God's word, had the hand of God's favor upon him, and upon his ministry because of that. There's a connection there between his love for the word, and the hand of God's favor upon him.

Now, think about Nehemiah. What's similar and what's different between Nehemiah and Ezra? Because both of them have the hand of God's favor. He is a layman. In fact, what's his profession? Is he a scribe?

He's a cup bearer to the king. What's that job do? Yeah, he is always in the king's presence. Whenever the king wants to have a sip of water, because these are ancient times, kings don't last long, right?

There's a lot of poisoning going on. Let Nehemiah take a sip of the cup first to make sure it's not poisoned. Have a bite of this food first. So this is his job. He's not spending his days immersed in scripture.

And yet, the hand of God's favor is upon him. So what similarities do you see? That's what's different. Ezra's a scribe. Nehemiah's a layman. But both of them have the hand of the Lord's favor upon them.

What similarities do you see between Ezra and Nehemiah? God's grace. Ultimately, what does the word favor refer to? Grace. It's a gift. It's not something that Ezra was earning by studying the Bible, right?

Favor was independent of that. It was God who was bestowing it. But what about Nehemiah? What do you see in him? We've talked about it already today.

He studies the Word.

What's that?

He studies the Word.

That's what he's praying.

At this point, we haven't seen him studying the Word. He might very well be doing that. But what's notable is his prayer. So in both cases, this is a vertical life, right? This is not a person who's operating merely in the flesh, horizontally, making decisions.

But vertically, he is oriented toward God. He has a God-centered way of thinking. He hears something, he prays. He needs to answer the king. In his spirit, he prays. So there's a relationship then between God's hand of favor blessing him and his orientation toward God.

He's a God-centered man, like Ezra was. His focus, his attention, is geared toward God. Not caught up so much in the things of this world. Okay, so moving on to chapter 2, verse 10. So you have this powerful encounter where he's making this request of the king, and the king grants me what I asked in chapter 2, verse 9.

So that's a powerful thing that's happening. The kingdom of God is advancing now. And what happens when God's kingdom advances? Chapter 2, verse 10. What's your name again?

Greg.

Greg, okay, you're up. Chapter 2, verse, I'm sorry, verse 9 and 10. And I came to the governors of the province beyond the river and gave them the king's letter. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.

But when Sanabel, the Horonite, and Tobiah, the Ammonite servant, heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel. So who here's?

What are their names?

Sanabel and Tobiah. At this point in the story, has Nehemiah done anything particularly great? Has he built anything? Has he moved a stone?

No.

But something's happening in the spiritual realm. And something has happened in that the king has granted the request, and he's coming forth to do this. So the kingdom of God is advancing. Recognize that Israel, in the Old Testament, is God's representative on earth.

They're a lighthouse to the nations. They're the kingdom, and they're the kingdom of God in that physical sense. And so the kingdom is being established. The kingdom is advancing. What is happening in spiritual places?

The enemy's opposing us.

Yeah.

Now, we usually live our lives in the physical, right? And we often don't give too much thought to what's going on in spiritual places. But recall during the exile, Daniel, a man who set himself to pray and fast for many days.

What happened in Daniel chapter 10?

Gabriel, the one who's the dancer of heaven, was being opposed by the prince of Persia?

Wow. Yeah. Yeah.

So Daniel says, this is just a quick little aside, but take note. When Daniel was praying and fasting for many days, finally an angel came and visited him. I think it's 21 days later. And he says, I was sent the minute you started to pray.

But the prince of the power of Persia, the prince of Persia, opposed me until God sent Michael, the archangel, to break me through. And I'm here to give you your answer. So we get a glimpse in that story of what happens when we pray.

Nehemiah is praying in the story. This is a chapter about prayer. And something is happening spiritually. We don't see it here in the text, but what we see is right away, before he'd done anything to provoke opposition, Sambalat and Tobiah.

These guys are pesky. They'll keep popping up, the rest of Nehemiah. Really annoying guys. And they mock, and they arrange, yeah, they oppose. But what is the power that's inspiring them? It's not merely of the flesh.

The prince of Persia probably referred to a demonic territorial spirit who was controlling Persia. Some kind of higher demonic power that Michael, the archangel, had to go toe-to-toe with to bring Gabriel and send him with the answer.

All that was happening behind the scenes. We usually don't see it. Daniel couldn't see it when he prayed until Gabriel told him that's what was happening for 21 days.

So Gabriel couldn't do it on his own.

Evidently. Yeah, evidently there was some struggle. There was some kind of wrestling match going on. Now, when we think of God, we know he's omnipotent. And his plan cannot be thwarted. But angels are limited in power, just like the devil himself is not omnipotent.

And they can be engaged in a struggle, a fight. So when we're praying, there are spiritual things happening. And what's happening here in the text is spiritual. Don't be confused. It's not just some guy getting upset, you know, for whatever reason.

Something is inspiring Tobiah. Something got into Sambala. And they are already beginning to oppose. Now, look at these two verses. Who's my next reader? Jen and then Alex? I've listed 2 Corinthians 2 .11 and then Alex 1 Peter 5 .8.

Jen, would you mind finding for me 2 Corinthians 2 .11? The question is, to what extent do we need to consider what our enemies are thinking and planning? And I'll just give you one second here just to think about this.

I think we err in either direction. It's possible to be too fascinated with the things of the enemy and think about the enemy too much when we should be thinking about God. But on the other hand, it's possible for us to just assume we're fine.

And there's nothing going on in the spiritual places. You know, this is all earthly. Somebody's sick because of viruses. And I'm having this struggle because of the struggle. And this opponent.

And all in the earthly.

So we can err in either direction. But what does the scripture teach us to do? 2 Corinthians 2 .11.

So that no advantage will be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

Catch the last part of that phrase. It's in the context of these false prophets come in 2 Corinthians 11 and verses 3 and 4 says that even if the serpent deceived Eve in the garden, and in the same way I'm worried for you that your minds will be led away from your simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ by these false prophets.

So there's false prophets coming against the church in Corinth. And Paul is concerned because this is a spiritual thing. And now at the end here in verse 9, I'm sorry, chapter 2, verse 11, he says we are not ignorant of his schemes.

Whose schemes? The devil's schemes. So we cannot be ignorant. In other words, just imagine that it's not happening and bury our heads in the sand and give no thought to it. We are aware when the kingdom of God is advancing.

We are aware that there are spiritual forces that will oppose us. We are not ignorant of that scheming. So we need to know that it's happening. Now, it doesn't say we map it out. You guys have heard about territorial spirits and spiritual warfare, where you do spiritual mapping and figure out the names.

Whenever you cast out a demon from someone, you tell him to tell you the name of the controlling territorial spirit behind him. Who's your boss? Who's running this kingdom here? And you map it. Now, see, I don't see that in the scriptures.

We don't need to do spiritual mapping. We don't need to know whose boss is who. Because think about this. If this demon is by nature a lying spirit, do you think he's going to tell the truth in the name of his boss anyway when you're casting him out?

So you cast out a demon and you try to tell him to tell you the name. He's going to lie to you anyway. You can say, Bob is my boss, when really it's Lucifer. So there's no reason to get that involved in spiritual warfare where you are mapping out territorial spirits and you're becoming unhealthy in your fascination with the things of the underworld.

On the other hand, be aware that when you're preaching the gospel, when you're teaching the word, when you're coming together as a prayer group and you are praying, there is a spiritual thing that's happening.

Be aware that you are in spiritual warfare. And when you're in a physical conflict or a confrontation like Tobiah and Sanbalat, there is something spiritual behind the physical.

Amen?

Be aware.

And so the second scripture, real quick, Alex? 1 Peter 5 .8? Be sober minded.

Be watchful.

Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. What does it mean to be sober minded?

Clear headed.

Yeah, clear headed, yeah. You're not deluded. You're aware. You're aware of your surroundings, right? And what was the second phrase there? Be sober minded.

Be watchful.

Watchful.

Vigilant.

Vigilant. Good word.

You are looking. And when you see something, you recognize that this is not simply natural. I need to pray. I need to go into spiritual warfare. I need to call a friend to pray with me. I need to go to the prayer meeting on Sunday night and pray against this thing because there's something spiritual happening here.

You got that?

So let's go on. Sanbalat and Tobiah, these filthy scoundrels, have come into the text. Now, verses 11 through 18. Christine, did you want to?

Yeah.

So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do, for Jerusalem was there and no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding.

So I went out at night by the valley gate in the direction of the dragon's well and on to the refuse gate.

Refuse.

Refuse.

Refuse.

Trash.

Inspecting the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were consumed by fire. Then I passed on to the fountain gate and the king's pool, but there was no place for my mouth to pass.

So I went up at night by the ravine and I inspected the wall. Then I entered the valley gate again and returned. The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done, nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest who did the work.

Then I said to them, You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach. I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king's words which he had spoken to me.

Then they said, Let us arise and build. So they put their hands to the good work.

Okay.

So one of the things that I really have always noticed in this passage and find interesting, he didn't tell anybody what he was doing. You notice that in chapter 2 verse 12, Then I arose in the night.

What does it mean that it's in the night? Why would that be referenced?

So nobody can see him.

Nobody can see him. He's doing this intentionally undercover. He's kind of an undercover operation here, secret agent man. I and a few men with me. Just a few.

Not everybody here.

And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. So why do you think that is? Conjecture here. You don't have to be right.

He's not received physical opposition to avoid physical opposition.

I think so. He knows this is a tentative thing.

What else?

Yeah.

He wants to avoid some opposition.

Yeah. Yeah.

I think that's right. People might just start talking too soon. Everybody ideas when it's God has called him in that place to go and do this.

Right?

2 .16 And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing. And I had not yet told the Jews. And now he's reiterating this point. The priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.

It's an interesting question. The text doesn't outright say what's going on. I think what's essentially happening here is Nehemiah knows what's going on. And he's been relating to God about this. And he knows if he speaks too quickly and does things in the flesh, that people will respond in the flesh.

He has to get a clear vision from God first before he speaks it out. He has to truly receive and get everything gathered in and not get ahead of himself. And notice how that was his MO, wasn't it? How long did he pray before he talked to the king?

Four months. Even before he spoke, what did he do when the king asked him a direct question? He prayed. So I think this is him alone at night praying. I think he's riding on horseback and in his spirit he is praying, Lord, what do we do?

What do we do? He's spending time with God first. Remember Jesus? I think it's Mark 1 .35. It says, he went up into the hills and he prayed all night. How many of you guys have ever had a night of prayer?

And usually, sometimes it's not planned. My best nights of prayer have been not planned. It's because I couldn't sleep, right? But a night of prayer where you just spend time with God, maybe that should be something we plan, you know, instead of when we don't.

But if you can't sleep, hey, that's a great time to pray. That's a great time to pray. But it's all night long here. He's just riding around thinking, praying, seeking God, not ready to speak. Then in verse 17 and 18, it's time to speak, right?

Then I said to them. So there is this acting. This reminds me of a lesson that I started a sermon with maybe a month ago. I said how to rely on God, how to walk by faith. Remember, this was from Ezra.

Ezra chapter 8 was walking by faith. They're camped out by the Ahava River, and they fast and pray, and then they go on this perilous journey without the protection of the king. And I said, John Piper really helped me to know how to do that by the acronym APTAT, A-P-T-A-T, APTAT.

A, you admit that you cannot do this. You admit, and it could be a time of just prayer. You just quickly in your spirit say, and Piper says he would always pray this way before preaching. I try to do that now too.

Admit, I can't do this in the flesh. And you kind of stand in there right before you go up to preach. The final worship song is playing. Playing. A, you admit, then you pray. God, fill me with your Holy Spirit.

God, you give me the words to say. I'm seeking you for this. I need you. Then T comes into play. That's trust. You trust God, but specifically taking him at his word. You look for a promise to cling on to, to trust, to hold on to.

So you're going to walk in faith. You have to, you're not walking by sight. You're walking by the promises of God. The promises that his word would go forth or whatever it is that you're clinging to. You trust his word.

Next, you act. You see this in verse 17 of Nehemiah. Then I said. So he's been praying. He's been looking. But now it's time to act. Now he has to rally the people.

That's the A.

And finally, once you see him come through and all this comes together, you see it's the hand of God, hand of God's favor on you. You thank. That's the final T.

Aptak.

It's how you walk by faith, not in the flesh. It's by admitting you can't do it. It's praying. It's trusting God on his promises, then stepping out in faith and finally giving him the glory at the end.

The thanking at the end. That's what you see Nehemiah doing here. He speaks now and you'll see the hand of God's favor. Look how the people respond. You see the trouble we are in. How Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates and burned.

Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer suffer derision. Verse 18. And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good and also of the words that the king had spoken to me.

And they said, let us rise up and build. So they strengthen their hands for the good work. So the hand of God's favor was on him.

Right.

And the people do respond to his leadership. Look at this little map we have here before we move on. Next week, we'll see where the gates are. It's kind of a picture of Jerusalem with the temple in the middle.

But picture Nehemiah now just riding around on his horse in the middle of the night. A little prayer ride he was on. Just from gate to gate, just looking at it, praying. He goes to the inspection gate.

He looks at the east gate, the horse gate. Didn't we notice the refuge gate? That's also the dung gate. Not the most exciting. He probably moved pretty quickly through that one.

He'll pray over at the valley gate. He goes up and prays at the old gate, the fish gate, the sheep gate.

Which is interesting for how Jesus speaks in John chapter 10 about the shepherd of the sheep. And he is the gate. And the sheep come in and go out. So Nehemiah is just inspecting at this point. And then he comes in, he brings the people together, and he speaks.

That's a good map there. So next week, we'll see them working side by side at each of these places.

So you have that map.

Maybe we'll print that again on next week's lesson. Now, 17 through 20. Rich, would you mind reading that? We may not get to everybody. Sorry.

Then they said to them, you see the bad situation we are in. That Jerusalem is desolate as gates burned by fire. Come, let us build a wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be reproached. I told them how the hand of God had been favorable to me, and also about the king's words, which he had spoken to me.

Then they said, let us arise and build. So they put their hands to the good work. But when Sandalot the Aharonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard it, they mocked me and despised and said, what is this thing you are doing?

Are you rebelling against the king? So I answered them and said to them, the God of heaven will give us success. Therefore, we, his servants, will arise and build. But you have no portion, right, or memorial in Jerusalem.

Okay.

Look at that first sign of outward opposition now.

Earlier we heard that they weren't pleased.

So this was already going on in their hearts and spiritually in the heavenlies before they said anything. But this is the first time they come out and speak to Nehemiah and oppose him. Now their question.

Could it be taken as not that bad? Maybe even a sincere question. Like, why are you building these walls? Are you going to try to rebel against the king? They could have just been asking that sincerely.

Like, why are you building these walls? You know, are you going to try to break off of Persian rule and establish the kingdom? They might have just been asking a question. But notice how Nehemiah answers.

It's really, you want to read for us? Just verse 20?

I'm reading the Arabic Study Bible.

Okay.

So I answered them and said to them, the God of heaven will give us success. Therefore, his servants will arise and build. But you have no portion, right, or memorial in Jerusalem.