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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/john-meekin/nehemiah-a-picture-of-christ/
Let's turn to the book of Nehemiah. We're going to read again in the same territory that we've been in today, the book of Nehemiah, and we're going to read in chapter 6. Now, for most of you, you know, if you locate the book of the Psalms, the book before the book of the Psalms is the book of Job.
The book before the book of Job is the book of Esther, and the one before that is the book of Nehemiah. And that will give you a link to where we're going to read. Nehemiah, please, and in chapter 6. And look with me at verse number 1, Nehemiah 6, and at verse number 1.
Now, it came to pass when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies heard that I builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein, though at that time I had not set up the doors upon them, that Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plains of Ono.
But they thought to do me mischief. And I sent messengers unto them, saying, Now, I want you to notice this expression, because this is what I'm going to preach in the gospel. I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.
Why should the work cease while I leave it, and come down to you? Let me repeat that to you, and read it with you again. I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it, and come down to you?
God bless the reading of the scriptures with what we've already heard. You might wonder, and it would be a good question to ask yourself, even in the gospel meeting tonight, you might wonder, Nehemiah chapter 6 in the preaching of the gospel.
And here we've read the words of this man, Nehemiah. Now, I want you to get the occasion. The man has been lifted up, and he's in an elevated place, and there are people who are against him, and they gather just at the base of where he is, and they begin to mock him, and they begin to scorn him, and they tell him that they want him to come down.
And listen to the words of Nehemiah. He says, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it, and come down to you? And you say, this is a gospel meeting.
I know that. What I want to do tonight is this. I want to lift Nehemiah in the gospel, and to use this man, Nehemiah, as a picture. For you folks who are here tonight, I want to lift this man as a picture, and use him as a picture of someone else.
I wonder, could you guess tonight, who I have in my mind, who Nehemiah pictures here in Nehemiah chapter 6? And you say, well, give us a little bit more of the background. This man, he understood there were people, they had a desperate need.
I'm going to come back to that in a moment. The need was so great amongst them. They had a desperate need that he took a journey. He left where he was, and he took a journey to where they were, and when he took the journey to where they were, he met them in their desperate need, and he was lifted up.
And as he was lifted up, having taken that great journey, there they were with the desperation of their need. And the thing that they needed is what you need in this gospel meeting. You've already heard from our brother Frank tonight, that the one desperate need that you have is Christ.
You're the thirsty sinner, just like the woman in John 4. I'm speaking to people tonight, and you're perishing in your sins. Dear folks tonight, perishing far from God, and with the need of your soul before you, you need Christ tonight.
The wonderful news of the gospel is this, that we are holding out the Lord Jesus. In all of the fullness of his person, in all of the majesty of his work, in all of the glory associated with his cross, we are preaching Christ and him crucified.
You could be saved tonight. That's the wonder of a gospel meeting like this. You could be saved and know Christ as your Savior. I think it was in Cambridge. I was in Cambridge recently for the conference, and I think I told them in Cambridge, I was preaching in Toronto just over a year ago, and in Toronto, I got one of the greatest compliments I ever got in my life.
I was shaking hands at the door after one of those gospel meetings, and a gentleman came out, and he took my hand in his. He said to me, there's something I would like to share with you. I said, please feel free, go ahead.
He said, one of the things that really impressed me about you preaching the gospel tonight is this. He said, I got the impression that you almost believe it yourself. I said to him, almost? Almost believe?
Listen, folks, tonight now, you see what we've already heard? You are in your sins tonight. You are far from God tonight. You are perishing in your sins tonight. You will die in those sins. The Lord Jesus said, if you die in your sins where I am, thither you cannot come.
You need Christ, and you need him tonight. Here is this man, Nehemiah, and he pictures the Lord Jesus. The man, Nehemiah, says this, I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease, and I come down and leave it and come down to you?
The first thing that I want to highlight is this. I want you to think with me of the occasion that caused Nehemiah to journey this great journey. What was the occasion? I've already alluded to it, but I want to mention it again.
The greatness of this journey was caused by the greatness of the need. These people, Nehemiah had received, he had received a message. He had heard about these people. He had been told everything is in ruins.
Everything has been burned with fire. There has been sin. There has been disobedience as a consequence of sin and as a consequence of disobedience. Everything is in ruins, and here we are in a gospel meeting tonight.
Do I need to mention anything more with regard to that? Everything is in ruins. Here you are in a gospel meeting, and the Bible says you're without Christ. Everything is in ruins. The Bible says you're without God.
Everything in your life is in ruins. The Bible says you're without hope. The Bible says that you are lost in your sins. My dear man tonight, when it comes to it, you are ruined. You are far from God, and here are these people, and they had a depth of need because everything was in ruins.
You know, folks, we try to lift ourselves up, but we can't please God. We try to work, and we can't do anything to gain favor with God. My man tonight, the thing that you need is a drink of that living water.
When my brother was speaking, I was thinking about my father. My father went to a farm show one. We used to take up a stand at the farm show for business purposes. My father went to the farm show, and of course, when we were kids, when we were kids, we loved to go along.
All the equipment was there. The animals were there. There was great food for kids. My parents never policed us. We liked the fries and the burgers and all of those things. We were walking through the farm show this day, and there was a man standing at the bar, and he had a pint glass in his hand, and he looked at my father, and he knew my father was a Christian, and he called to my father, and he said, come over, and I'll buy you a drink.
You know what my father said to him? He said, I got a drink of living water in 1964, and I've never thirsted since. The man looked at him, and he said, what? And I said, that's the wrong thing to say, my friend.
My father repeated it. He said, in 1964, in the month of August, I trusted Christ as my Savior, and I got a drink of living water, and I've never thirsted since, and the bar was full with people, and he said, you need Christ.
In this gospel meeting, your life is in ruins. In this gospel meeting, just like these people, there was a desperate need. In this gospel meeting, you teenagers here tonight, don't stay in your sins. You need to be saved tonight.
You need Christ, friends, and the great occasion for this journey is there are a people here. The walls are burned with fire. There's a desperate need, and only this man can meet the need. Folks, tonight, only Christ can meet your need right here in your sins.
The second thing I want to speak about is not only the occasion of this journey, but the objective of this journey. Think with me for a moment of Nehemiah. You say, what did he leave? He was in the presence of the king.
Read it for yourself. Nehemiah chapter two. He was in the very highest place, the presence of the king, and there came a moment when Nehemiah, he left the very presence of the king, and he made a journey, and what a journey it was.
800 miles. What a journey just to come to those people where they were. He knew the depth of need. He knew what they couldn't understand. He knew that someone had to meet that need, and he took the journey, and he came right to where they were, and he left the heights, and he left the presence of the king, and he left it all, and you say he came right to where?
Do you know anyone else like that? Oh, folks, tonight, let me tell you again the wonder of Bethlehem. There was a day in this world. It wasn't the greatest day in this world, but it was one of the greatest days, and you say, what took place in that day?
On that day, the son of God was born, and he was cradled in the arms of Mary, a virgin conceived, and she brought forth a son, and the Bible says, thou shall call his name Emmanuel, God with us. There wrapped in swaddling bands, the shepherds found him, whose word of power the heaven of heavens controlled.
The helpless babe that Simeon held before him was acacia wood overlaid with gold. These things so vast made Mary's heart to ponder the great creator in a human frame, God manifest in flesh. We bow and wonder, and we marvel at the savior he became.
What a stoop, what sympathy, and you say, tell me again, why did he ever come? Do you know the reason why Nehemiah left? There were people that needed to be saved. Do you know the reason why the savior came?
There were people that needed to be saved, and I'm one of them. Never forget tonight that you have listened to two men preach the gospel this evening, and there was a night in both of our lives when God in the richness of his mercy saved our souls.
Neither of us deserved it. Both of us should be in hell tonight, but there was a night when God in his grace dealt so very kindly with us. It was a Monday night for me. I recall getting down on these knees.
When I was down on my knees, I cried to the Lord, and I said, oh God, I'm perishing. Oh God, save me. I don't want to go to hell. I get up off my knees, and I threw my arms around my mother outside that bedroom door, and I said to her, Mom, I can't see this.
I can't get this. I'm going to be in hell. I went down the stairs. After a few minutes, I come back up the stairs, and just walking through that bedroom door, I realized why he came. He was wounded for your transgressions.
He was bruised for your iniquities. The chastisement so that you could have peace, it was laid upon him, and with his stripes, you were healed, and I realized right there and then the great objective of his coming.
He came to save sinners, and he came to save me. You in this gospel meeting, the wonder of the gospel is this, that he has come to save you. Here is Nehemiah, the great occasion for his journey, the great objective of his journey.
He wants to save them. Think with me for a moment, in just a moment, of the opposition to his journey. Here they are now, and he's exalted. The Lord Jesus was exalted. You say, how was the Lord Jesus exalted?
Nehemiah was lifted up, and the Lord Jesus was lifted up. Nehemiah is exalted up. The Lord Jesus was lifted up upon the cross. Here Nehemiah is lifted up, and men gather below him, and you know what they say to Nehemiah?
Come down, come down, and Nehemiah says this, I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down. Gathered around the cross of the Lord Jesus, there were sinners. Do you know what they said to Christ?
They said to the Lord Jesus, and they said to those around, he saved others. Himself he cannot save, and yet there he was, and he was dying for our sins. I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down.
Let me present him to you again tonight. They had led him out through the streets of the city. You know the story. He was battered. He was scarred. He was bruised. There was spittle flowing down his face.
He is bearing a cross. His back is bleeding. It's torn. It's lacerated, and they come to Calvary, and the Bible says when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and it was at Calvary that the mighty price was paid.
Is there someone tonight who wants to be saved? My friend tonight, the price was paid at Calvary. Is there someone who wants to be delivered? You can be delivered tonight because Christ has done it all at Calvary.
There is nothing you need to do. Everything was completed by the Lord Jesus. When the Savior said it is finished, everything was fully done, done as God himself commanded. Christ the victory. Fully what?
The occasion for the journey, the objective for the journey to meet the need of these people, the opposition to this man who journeyed. They gathered, and they said come down. The last thing that I want to touch in the gospel is this, the outcome of the journey of this man.
It was all finished, fully complete, nothing to be done. I am doing a great work, and you say, was it sufficient? Oh, it was sufficient to meet the need of all. There was safety, and there's security, and there's salvation that's all provided for this man.
And you say, who is it for? The wonderful news of the gospel is this, it's for every sinner. My daughter Alexia, she's obviously not here tonight, so I can tell this because she's not here. She was only a little girl, and as a family we went to a funeral on a Saturday.
On our way home from the funeral, we were about two hours from home, and there was a car on the highway ahead of us. It was a Lamborghini. Now, I'll let you into a secret about Nova Scotia. We don't see too many Lamborghinis.
Maybe you see them around here in Wisconsin. We don't see too many of them in Nova Scotia. We passed the Lamborghini, and Alexia, she said, Dad, what kind of car is that? I said to her, sweetie, that's a Lamborghini.
It's a sports car. A few days later, I'm working in my office, and the little girl, she's maybe three or four years of age, she walked into my office to see me, and she said, Dad, I have a question for you.
I said, okay. She said, are you thinking of selling our van soon? I said, what? We were driving an old GM Uplander, and it was about 10 years old at that stage. She said, I really think that you should sell our van.
Oh, I said, what do you think that we should buy? She said, I've decided that we should buy one of those little Lamborghini things. I said, really? I said, do you know how much it costs? No, she said.
I said, sweetie, that's just outside of our scope. We could never get within the scope of the, you know, when it comes to the gospel. Listen, folks, the wonder of the gospel is this. As I'm looking at you in this gospel meeting, this is within the scope of every sinner.
I'm looking at sinners tonight who are perishing, and here is this man, Nehemiah. He says, I am doing a great work in its fullness, in its finality, in its focus. It points us to the cross of Christ, the finality of the death of Christ, the fullness of the death of Christ, the focus of the death of Christ.
It was for all humankind, and if there's a sinner under the sound of my voice tonight, if you accept the Lord Jesus, your sins are gone forever. You say, what would it be like? Do you know what it's like?
It's one of the greatest things you'll ever experience. You say, what is it like? Let me just explain to you what it's like. I want you to watch me for a moment. It's just like this. That is so good. If you would accept the Lord Jesus, you would take a drink of living water, and you would never thirst again.
He has done the work. It's all accomplished by Christ. I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down. He did it upon the cross, and if you accept him, your soul will be saved forever. Let's pray.