They tell you to sit down before they speak. When Nehemiah heard the remnant lived in affliction and reproach, the wall of Jerusalem broken down and the gates burned with fire, the strength of his legs gave out. He wept, mourned many days, fasted, and prayed—knocked down by the news, God’s work still before him. Nehemiah 1 presses a question every overwhelmed heart knows: what do you do when the need is undeniable and your strength is gone?
The following study questions and transcript are AI generated and may contain errors.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may contain errors.
Thank you. Really appreciate that, and again, looking forward to that day, October the 4th as well. Pastor Parks will be with us and speaking. It is our missions harvest mission Sunday. It is what the BBFI, one of our major organizations that we contribute to for missions, calls 938 Sunday, from Matthew 9:38, praying for laborers for the harvest. That is what we are talking about through this month leading up to that day. Not just the mission field, but our mission, and the mission that we do have.
We have a mission that we do have, and again, we’re going to be in Nehemiah chapter 1, but before that, we’ll look at John chapter 9, real quick, on our way there. John chapter 9 presents a conversation where Jesus speaks up about a blind man. As verse 1 says, “As Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from his birth.” His disciples asked him, saying, “Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” This was a complete assumption on their part. Jesus answered, “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” He completed the thought by saying, “I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day, for the night is coming when no man can work.” Then he said, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
The idea is that through this wonderful account of the story of Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the wall, we learn that even in Jesus’ response to these men completely assuming something was wrong against this blind man, Jesus’ answer was that the circumstance had a complete purpose already prepared for Christ to do a work in that man’s life—not just for that man, but for the world to see. The irony is that the man was blind and his blindness was to be healed, and that great work was so that others may see—not just that a man could be blind and then have sight, but that Jesus is capable of doing anything in the lives of anyone for His glory.
Jesus said, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” We started this message last week. This is a very long message, about four weeks long. This is the second part, as we talk about a heart to labor. I said last week we have three life choices: our work, our way; God’s work, our way; and God’s work, God’s way. Some of us like the second because we want to do God’s work as long as we can do it our way. We depend on Him and say it’s all Him, but we’d like to have a little bit of control, maybe even more than we want credit—we like the control aspect. If it’s my way, then I can dictate how it gets done so it fits my needs.
But the third one is God’s work, God’s way. The problem, usually at its root, is that we see God’s work either as an obligation for salvation—that I must work to offset my sin or unrighteousness in this world, and hopefully my good works will outdo my bad works, so I’ll come out ahead at the end. When the game’s over, they’ll look at the scoreboard and see that I’m one point ahead. I won’t pick on our Michigan fan back here, but sometimes, maybe beyond the scoreboard, you get one extra second. Well, if it doesn’t work that way, some of you know that reference, others, you’re like, I don’t even know what you’re talking about. But maybe you can still win. Hey, they won yesterday, it’s all good.
Anyway, here he goes again. But it’s not an obligation for salvation at all. We know that because Paul speaks clearly that salvation is none of us, it’s all of Him, not of our works, lest any man should boast. So we view it maybe as an obligation to keep our salvation, but the Bible does not teach that at all. We persevere because Christ is eternal, so our perseverance is in Him, not us. I’m grateful for that. He’s the one who saves us; He’s the one who keeps us. There’s nothing I could do to keep it; I did nothing to get it.
Then some may feel out of guilt now that they’re a child of God: “If I just don’t do enough works, He’s not going to be happy with me.” Or those who do all the works, and I see them do all the works, “God must love them more.” So it turns into an obligation of comparison. “Well, God doesn’t love me because I don’t do enough work for Him.” But He proved His love to us before we ever did one work for Him. In fact, He proved His love for us by doing all the work for us, and we’re to receive His gift that has been given as a result of His works.
The second idea is that we see it as optional. “Well, okay, I’m saved by grace, complete and full, and I’ll avoid hell at the end, I win.” So I’ll view the works of the Lord as optional. But we know that’s not true because it’s said, “For we are His workmanship,” and we’ve been called to good works. Because of our salvation, we have been called to do the work that God has left us here to do. He even says in this passage of Himself, “I have been sent to do the works of God.” He said, “I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day.”
So what it comes down to is it’s not an obligation, but a motivation. We talked about that. Our motives determine our materials—whether it’s those precious materials of gold and silver, or disposable, extinguishable materials of wood, hay, and stubble that won’t stand. Our salvation will stand; Paul was very clear about that. It’ll stand by the fire, but our materials will be judged according to our motives. So when we talk about a heart to labor for the Lord, we must keep it in the right perspective. We’re to be motivated with urgency because of our identity. It’s not optional because as a child of God, I’ve been called to do His works.
Again, I said last week, God’s work does not count on you, but someone is counting on you to do God’s work. He identified this blind man as part of His work to be made manifest in this world. He said of that, “I must work the works,” and then, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” That is our calling—to be that light while we’re in this world. And that light comes from our labor. The light comes from our labor.
This is not just doing physical things, though it can represent that. But it certainly starts with sharing our faith. It starts with sharing our personal testimony of what Jesus has done for us. That’s our first and greatest work—that we share our faith. That’s our greatest purpose. No, we’re not going to go heal a blind man and then show to the world what God can do through us, of course not, but we can speak of the one who can. We’re to speak of the Lord as the one who can be the one who brings the blind to sight—who can take someone blinded by their sin, blinded in their heart to any possibility of being redeemed of their sin—and tell them how they can see through the Lord Jesus Christ that their sins can be forgiven. By faith they can trust the Lord Jesus and now see eternal life. That’s our first great work: Go into all the world and preach the gospel.
Again, it’s not just what we’re commanded to, but specifically what we’ve been called to. Yes, there’s broad commands. There is a great command—we know that command, “Go into all the world.” But personally, for you and for me, we have a calling. So the command to work out of that is a personal calling that looks different for everyone—not a different message, just a different opportunity.
And that is the third thing: We must view the work of the Lord as an opportunity: an opportunity to serve Him, an opportunity to make a difference in this world. We can do all the “I can’ts” and “not me’s” and “someone else’s,” but no, God has left you here to fulfill His personal calling on your life, to make a difference where you have been called to.
Again, as we send out missionaries to all parts of the world, that’s their calling. They’re following the call on their life as an individual or as a family, to go from a certain geographical location to another one to do exactly what God has called them to do. Most, if not all of them, when they’re on what we call deputation—where they go church to church and share their field, if you will, share what God’s called them to do—their calling doesn’t start when they arrive on the particular geographical field they’ve been called to. Their calling is continuous, and they know that. They know they can make a difference from church to church as they’re presenting what God has called them to do, because God’s calling on their life is specific to where they are at that moment.
I was just telling the teens downstairs that I took all kinds of detours on this thing called life, but from age 17 when I got saved to the time I stand here in this pulpit at this very moment, I was to live out God’s calling all along the way. I wish I could honestly say I did every step of the way, but I didn’t. I took all kinds of different paths, but it wasn’t okay to wait until I arrived at a certain destination to do God’s work. No, the journey itself is doing exactly what God has called you to do, as if you have arrived at the destination. Because the appointed time in which He has sent you to speak to someone, to be faithful somewhere, or be a part of a local church, whatever it may be, is exactly what God has called you to do in this moment. It’s about the moment.
After a week like this where we honor what happened 25 years ago in our country, and certainly celebrate the heroes who gave their lives and the people who perished in such a tragedy, we understand that moments are not guaranteed. Certainly, the next one, the next day, is never a guarantee. You’ve heard of someone else who passed away at what we consider a very young age—a man with a family serving the Lord—but for whatever reason, God called him home. We don’t know what the next day may bring.
That brings us to Nehemiah chapter 1. This story is known by many, if not all, as the work of rebuilding the walls. We’ll get to chapter 1, but Nehemiah 2:18 highlights this opportunity that God gives. It says, “Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me,” says Nehemiah, “as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, ‘Let us rise up and build,’ so they strengthened their hands for this good work.” You should highlight or underline “this good work” in your Bible. God’s work is good because it’s God’s work. That’s what makes it good. If He has given you something to do, it’s a good work because it’s His work.
The response to this work does not begin in strength. That’s where we’ll go in Nehemiah chapter 1. The response of having to do this work that Nehemiah was called to do was born out of sorrow. In Nehemiah chapter 1, word had gotten back to Nehemiah about the destruction of the walls around the city where his people dwell. Verse 3 says, “And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.”
It came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down. Would you note that? It knocked him down, if you will. He said, “When I heard this, I sat down.” You ever had news that knocked you down? Or someone calls you with news and the first thing they say is, “You might want to sit down.” Why? This actually means the strength of his legs gave out. He didn’t just find a comfortable chair to sit and think about this; he lost the strength to even stand. You ever been there? Something hits you so hard you don’t even have the strength to stand up? That’s where Nehemiah was.
What did Nehemiah do? We see Nehemiah’s brokenness because of the walls that were broken down. Here’s what he did when he sat down. Number one, he wept. He wept and he mourned. It says he mourned for many days. Then after he mourned, he fasted. Fasting here is a religious, spiritual act, but really it means he focused on nothing but what God would want to tell him or speak to him. So he didn’t interrupt with a meal. Then, after weeping, mourning, and fasting, he prayed. He prayed before the God of heaven, saying, “I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His commandments. Let thine ear now be attentive.” His prayer is God, I need your attention.
You ever need God’s attention more than other days? We need to pray every day; of course, we do. You should have a life of prayer, a devotional life of communing with God daily. But there are times when you enter in begging God for His attention. That’s where Nehemiah was. He says, “That thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now day and night, for the children of Israel, thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee, both I and my father’s house have sinned.”
“We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments nor the statutes nor the judgments which thou has commanded thy servant Moses.” Then he asks God to remember something. What does he ask God to remember? He says, “I beseech thee the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations. But if ye turn unto me and keep my commandments and do them, though ye be cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence and bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.”
“Now these are thy servants and thy people whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name and prosper. I pray thee, thy servant, this day and grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the king’s cupbearer.”
Listen to his heart. Listen to how he’s praying after mourning, weeping, mourning, fasting, he prays. And what happens sometimes in brokenness is that it brings focus to our life. It causes us to realize all we have and all we need is the same source, and that’s the Lord Jesus Christ. We need the Lord. We know that, but sometimes life brings us to that place where we must know it. We must know it. Oh, we should know it, but now we must. And we need Him to hear us. It’s not selfish. Nehemiah entered in humbly, broke, and called himself a servant.
Again, he sat down. He observed—or I should say heard—of the situation of his people. The first thing he did is come to God humbly to repent, as ones who have sinned against a holy God. No, just because something happens that breaks you is not necessarily because of sin in your life. But if you’re going to approach a holy God, you must come into His presence holy. No, we can’t do that, but we can come to Him absolutely saying, “All that is on me, Lord, please forgive me as I enter this conversation with you.”
Because Nehemiah desired something great from God. He desired something great from God that promised, though we sinned, if we turn back to Him, He would bring us back as those He’s already redeemed. Again, if we confess our sins, He’s faithful and just to forgive us our sins because He’s that good— not because we’re that good, but because He’s that good.
Secondly, we see his burden. Yes, being broken caused Nehemiah to sit down, but he didn’t stay down. To me, that is the first great work that God does in our life. He may cause us to sit down or lose strength, but it’s not for us to stay down forever. He mourned many days. There’s no shame in mourning and spending some time recovering or absorbing the blow that has broken you, but it should then create a burden in your heart and life: how can I take what has happened and turn it into something that is a great work for God? Maybe I’m the blind person that God wants to use and make manifest a great work in my life. Maybe it’s someone I know who is in that condition for which there’s no explanation other than God has a great work in mind to prove who He is.
This is never to belittle anything that has happened, but if we believe in the God of the Bible, we understand that any work or anything that happens in the lives that we absolutely cannot explain is for some reason and somehow God’s greater work to draw greater attention to Him and for Him to get the glory out of it. Nehemiah is now seeing this and asking God to do something—a great work in his life to do the greater work of accomplishing the task of rebuilding.
He desired, as verse 11 says, “Who desire to fear thy name and prosper.” That was not for self-benefit but that God could be glorified. The greater work is not the outward visible work. The greater work is what happens in our own heart and life—the work that God is doing in us that somebody may never see. You may see the results of what God’s doing in your life, but the greatest work is what He’s accomplishing in us to trust Him for what He wants to do with our life.
He prayed, then he pursued. He went after the actual plan of action to resolve what has happened, to help. To summarize, he entered into a conversation with the king, whom he’s the cupbearer. The king recognizes there is something sad about Nehemiah’s countenance that he has never seen before. Nehemiah is basically saying, “I am coming to you broken. I’ve prayed to the God of heaven and I have a request. I’ve already prayed to God and asked Him. Now I’m asking you, king, to help us get to the rebuilding of the walls.”
He needed the king’s help and permission to enter different territories and receive materials for rebuilding the wall. He was already in action. Yes, he sat down and dealt with all he had to absorb through the pain, destruction, and fear for the people around him. He’d already prayed and asked for forgiveness. Now it’s time to move forward. Now he is entering into a plan to achieve what needs to be done, which is the protection of the people and the work on the wall so the city is restored and the people can live protected again.
This is God’s preordained work in Nehemiah’s life, and through the providence of God via the king, the king grants all that Nehemiah needs. We see God’s work in the word of God, in our own heart and life, and then in other people. We see how God can use other people to meet needs because God has preordained and blessed and established something in their lives so they are ready.
In verse 17, Nehemiah says in chapter 2, “Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem that we be no more a reproach.” Then we see the building begin. In verse 18, “Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me, as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, ‘Let us rise up and build,’ so they strengthened their hands for this good work.”
Verse 19 is where we’ll pick up next week. It says, “But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian heard it, they laughed us to scorn and despised us, and said, ‘What is this thing that you do, when you rebel against the king?’” The enemy was ready to oppose the idea of rebuilding the wall and laughed them to scorn. They asked, “What do you think you’re doing?” You ever give yourself to do something for the Lord and somebody asks, “What do you think you’re doing?”
Nehemiah answered, “The God of heaven will prosper us. Therefore we, His servants, will arise and build. But ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem.” Nehemiah was entering into confidence in what God can do—not himself, nor the servants, nor the builders who were subject to Nehemiah’s leadership, which he had made clear were subject to God. “It’s the hand of God upon me,” Nehemiah said.
He said to the people, “Let us rise up and build,” and they said that to him. Together they thought, “If God’s in this, we can do it. If God’s in this, no one can stop us.” He said, “The God of heaven will prosper us.” Again, the king could have said no, but he didn’t. Nehemiah could have said, “This is too much. There’s no way to accomplish this.” Instead, they looked to the hand of God. If it’s the hand of God, the God of heaven, that wants this work done, He will do it and give us the privilege of serving Him to get it done.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for this morning. As we enter into this wonderful account of this part of history, I pray that we start with ourselves. Where are we in your work? Is it too much? Are we too little? Are we insignificant? I pray all excuses are laid at your feet. We say, “I just want to be your servant to do whatever work you have for me.” We’ll trust You and beg You, God, to have Your hand upon us, that we may do Your work Your way. Help us in any area we need help, to respond to this appropriately, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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