Certainly is an amazing God. God's work and his timing is incredible. When we were mapping out our sermon series going back however long back that was. We were looking at our summer series and for whatever reason we really had no reason to do it but we put a standalone sermon which was last week between the summer series and our getting back into Nehemiah. We could have just started Nehemiah again last week, but in God's incredible timing, we come to this passage this week after everything that transpired in our world recently.
And what's also astonishing to me at least, I'll let you in a little bit on my my sermon prep habits. I try to start studying a passage with as much depth as possible about two weeks in advance, sometimes two and a half weeks in advance of preaching it. And as far as putting the sermon together, I try as best as I can to have the sermon put together on the Tuesday before the Sunday, at latest the Wednesday. So that gives me time then to prayerfully kind of marinate in that, if you will.
And if the Lord brings them something to mind that I need to tweak or change, I can do that through the week. So I try to get done the actual sermon prep in its in its basic form early in the week. And so this past week after our staff meeting on Wednesday, I finished the last little bits of the sermon so that by lunchtime, by noon, I was completed the sermon. And I came back from lunch and Joe, Pastor Joe mentioned to me about what happened with Charlie Kirk. This sermon you're going to hear was all put together before that happened.
It is incredible God's timing and what the people of God need when they need it. He gives that to us. And so there might be I I did add one additional statement and you'll hear that later on. I'm assuming you'll pick that up when we get to it. But outside of that, this was all prepared as the Lord was revealing himself in the word. So let me pray and then we'll get into our text this morning. Father, we are heavy-hearted, not just because of what happened on Wednesday, but because of what we've seen in our world the last number of weeks.
It has been very evident that we live in a darkened and evil world mired in sin. And as we were reminded even by the handthorns this morning, the gospel is the only hope for our world. But what a great hope it is. And so, Father, we pray that indeed the gospel would be brought to bear. We do pray even that Tyler Robinson, the the alleged shooter, would come to faith in Jesus Christ. That he would turn and receive salvation.
We pray for that man that stabbed that lady on the train that he too would come to salvation, that he would see he needs Jesus Christ. We pray for the shooter in Minnesota who killed those children, that he too would come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. And on and on it goes. Father, we pray that the gospel would bear fruit around the world. And we pray that here today as we examine your word that it indeed would penetrate our hearts as we study your word. And may you encourage us, fortify our strength that we might go from here, holding our heads high, knowing that God is in control, that you are as on the throne today as you've ever been, and that those of us who are in Christ, we are your children, that you will never leave nor forsake, even if times be difficult.
So thank you that you go before us in Jesus name. Amen. I don't know how many of you are familiar with lodgepole pines. If you ever study a lodgepole pine tree, it is quite astonishing. The pine cones that come from a lodgepole pine tree are different than so many other pine cones. The lodgepole pine cones are almost impossible to break so that birds and animals cannot use its seed.
Do you know when the seeds of a lodge pole pine come out? They only come out under intense intense heat. It takes great opposition before they will crack and come out. Why is that important? Well, when a forest fire happens, it's only then under that incredible heat that the lodge pole pine tree will shed its seed and thus the reforesting begins.
This is God's grand amazing design. Isn't that astonishing? Under great heat, its value shines brightly. And today in the text we are going to see great heat upon Nehemiah specifically and in God's amazing strengthening of Nehemiah. He shines brightly. His character for God shines brightly here. How will we act under heat, under pressure when the moment of trial comes to us? How will we, the believer, live?
Well, let's learn from Nehemiah. Nehemiah 6 is where we're going to be this morning. First 14 verses of chapter 6 is where we are as we pick it up now back in our series. If you remember, we had just seen Nehemiah's incredible generosity at the end of chapter 5. And now we come to this section here. Let me read you the text and then we'll work through it. Now when Sbalot and Tobaya and Gisham the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it, although up to that time I had not set up the doors and the gates.
Send Ballot and Gisham sent to me saying, "Come and let us meet together at Hecapirum in the plain of Ono." But they intended to do me harm. And I sent messengers to them saying,"I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?" And they sent to me four times in this way. And I answered them in the same manner. In the same way, Sam Ballot for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand.
In it was written, it is reported among the nations, and Gisham also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel. That is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports, you wish to become their king. And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, there is a king in Judah. And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.
Then I sent to him saying, "No such things as you have been, pardon me, no such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind. For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done. But now, oh God, strengthen my hands." Now, when I went into the house of Shemiah, the son of Dele Delea, son of Mechabel, I'm going to assume I pronounced that correctly, who was confined to his home, he said, "Let us meet together in the house of God within the temple.
Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night." But I said, "Should such a man as I run away? And what men such as I could go into the temple and live, I will not go in. And I understood and saw that God had not sent him. But he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobaya and San Ballad had hired him. For this purpose he was hired that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin so that they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me.
Remember Tobaya and San Ballot. Oh my God, according to these things that they did and also the prophetist Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid. What a text. We can see a lot of intimidation tactics here. In fact, three primary intimidation tactics are tactics are employed. We'll look at each of them in their due course here. But as as we look at these things, we can learn something about God's character and about what we will face as God's people to this day.
Even God's work will always face opposition. Let me say it in case those in the back didn't hear it. God's work will always face opposition. Here we have the walls being almost done. There's no breach left to them. And it's amazing if you remember as if you've been with us through this series, you have seen that it's been a collection of people, many of whom were not natural builders working on these walls and it's all come together now with no breach in it.
Like we can imagine, we have some carpenters in our church and you can imagine these carpenters all working together. But now if you threw me in there and I had to build a section, that wall would not be good. There would be a significant breach. Let's just be honest. But here in God's amazing provision with all of these different people involved, there's no breach in the wall. The only thing left according to the text here is to set up the doors in the gates. They are within a whisker of it all being done.
And so the enemies that are opposed to God know that this is the time if they are going to stop them from finishing the wall. And now having a fortified Jerusalem, the time to attack with great ferveny is now. And so they do. And we are told who the three primary opponents are in verse one. Sambalot, Tobaya, and Gisham the Aram. Let's Arab. Let's look at all three of them.
San Ballot and Tobaya showed up for us already in chapter 2 10. Here's what we read in 2:10. When San Ballot the Horonite and Tobaya the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel. So right there in chapter 2, they did not want the people of Israel to be cared for, to be protected, to have any kind of voice in the world. So they have been enemies for a long time.
Who are they? S. Ballot, we read, is a Horonite. This is a community about 18 miles northwest of Jerusalem. We read something about San Ballot actually later on in Nehemiah in chapter 13 in verse 28. Listen to what we read. And one of the sons of Jehoeda, the son of Eleab, the high priest, was the son-in-law of San Ballot the Horonite. So here we have it.
Now S Ballot the Horonite is related through marriage to the high priest. So he has some clout. In fact, history will go on to show us that he would become the governor of Samaria in 407 BC. Now if you know anything about the Samaritans and the Jews, of course there was a lot of hostility there. And so San Ballot of course would never want these walls to be completed. He did not want Jerusalem protected because he he would want the Samaritans to be able to overtake them. We have Tobaya.
Tobaya is a Jewish name. He's a Jewish man, also a high ranking official through marriage. He also had political connections. He would become go on to become the governor of Ammon. So he had power and authority as well because of his Jewish lineage and because he too did not want to see Jerusalem strengthened and fortified. He would use his Jewish heritage and understanding almost certainly to craft these letters that we read about here. It was probably Tobaya that was heavily heavily leaned upon to write in such a way so as to make these letters sound feasible, plausible.
They maybe even sound delightful and yet they were malicious in their intent. Then we have Gisham the Arab we read about here of the three. Now he's probably the most powerful of the three and he shows up also in chapter 2. Chapter 2 19 we read this. When Sandbalot the Horonite and Tobaya the Ammonite servant and Gisham the Arab heard of it, they jered at us and despised us and said, "What is this thing that you are doing?
Are you rebelling against the king?" Gisham the Arab was quite a man. He is understood to have ruled a group of Arabian tribes that overtook Moab and Edom, two enemies of Judah that situated themselves to the south and to the east of Jerusalem, as well as controlling communities along the route south of Jerusalem down to Egypt. And so he of course would never want to see a fortified Jerusalem.
These are three very different men with very different backgrounds and very different purposes. But now they unite in their efforts against God's people. And so they come with slick tactics. The first one they write these letters. They send them with a messenger to go to say to Nehemiah, "Come, let us meet together in the plane of Ono. Let's meet in this neutral territory, which sounds lovely, doesn't it?
But Nehemiah knows who these guys are. Remember, they've been around since chapter 2. He knows that they have an evil intent. He knows that they intend to do him harm. And so, what does he say? I don't have time for you. It's essentially what he says. Listen, I'm doing great work. Verse three, I can't come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you? Which is true. What does Ephesians 5 say? Redeem the time because the days are evil. Make the best use of your time in these evil days.
Certainly, that's true. But he also understood the attacks that were that they were seeking to foist against him. And so he said, "No, no, no, no. I'm not I'm not doing that." But notice what happens. Nehemiah resisted, but they persisted. Four times we read that they sent him in this way. Four times. It says in verse four, they kept pestering him like a like a dripping tap. It just keeps going and going and they kept hammering away and hammering away and hammering away saying, you know, you need to come meet with us. Come meet with us.
Come meet with us. And and every time we read Nehemiah sent back in the same manner, I I'm not coming. I'm I'm busy doing the work of the Lord here. I'm not coming. But they kept at it. And that's how opposition to God's people often works. It's relentless. It keeps coming over and over and over again. And so now they tried two other tactics. I'm going to get to tactic two a little bit later. Let's go to tactic three starting in verse 10.
Tactic three was to hire a false prophet. I How do you go about hiring a prophet? Like, is there yellow pages for that? Like, how do they I'm probably dating myself. Yellow pages for you young ones. Yellow pages used to be a thing. Ask your parents about it. But how do I don't know how they found them, but they found Shemiah. And Shemiah comes. And again, it sounds like he's caring for him, but it's a dirty intent, right? Look at what he says.
Let us meet together in the house of God. This is verse 10. Within the temple, let us close the doors of the temple for they're coming to kill you. They're coming to kill you by night. So, it sounds like he's trying to look after him. But what's happening? Nehemiah by God's grace is given wisdom to see right through it. Look at his response. Verse 11. Two things. Should such a man as I run away. In other words, if I go into this temple and I hide, what will it say to all the people who are looking to me as their leader that I'm a coward?
And it would diminish my ability to lead them because they would see me as this man who is who runs and turns tail at the mo at the moment of hardship. But secondly, verse 11 says, "What manuh such as I could go into the temple and live?" What does he mean by that? He was not a priest. He was a governor. Look at what we read in 2 Chronicles 23. 2 Chronicles 23 and:e 6, we read this. This is an instruction.
Let no one enter the house of the Lord except the priests and ministering Levites. They may enter for they are holy but all the people shall keep the charge of the Lord. He was not a priest. Should he have entered the temple and he gone into the most holy place, he would have been violating the command of God. It would have been evil in God's sight and it would have rendered him incapable of leading the people any further. And so thankfully he's able to see what it is.
Verse 13, he says there, "For this purpose he was hired that I should be afraid and act in this way in sin and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. They wanted to tear him down." This was what they were doing to oppose him to to oppose the finishing of the wall so that the so that the people of God would not be protected so that there would be ways and means in which they could come in and attack. Throughout the history of the Old Testament, Israel had enemy upon enemy upon enemy upon enemy.
Opposition on top of opposition on top of opposition. And whatever you think about national Israel today, they continue to have enemy upon enemy upon enemy. But mark this, know this. The people of God, those here, even here today who are in Christ, you are under the blood of the lamb. You have repented and turned from a sinful life and turned to Christ by faith. You are the people of God who are under the blood of the lamb and you too will face opposition.
Mark it, know it. And that passage that was read to us earlier from Acts chapter 14, listen to what we read. I'm going to just read to you 21 and 22 in case you missed it when Michelle read it earlier. Says there, "When they preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God."
How is it that Paul and his associates strengthen the hearts of the believers? By giving them the full truth. And part of the truth is to say you're when on our way from here to the celestial city, there's going to be trials. There's going to be tribulations. There's going to be hardships. The Pilgrim's Progress. Why is that book the second most popular book on the planet? The second bestselling book in history next to this one. Why is it? Because it tells us exactly that, the truth.
Revelation chapter 2 writing to the church in Ephesus which was overarchingly a good church except for one glaring issue which we'll come to when we preach the revelation next year. But in verse three we read this. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake and have not grown weary. Nehemiah did not grow weary. They kept pestering and pestering and pestering and opposing and opposing and opposing and he continued to stand fast.
Though it must have been tiring but he continued in the fight for the glory of God. Friends, we are going to face opposition. Whether it be the freedom to worship freely, whether it be the freedom to express Christian thought and action, whether it be the freedom to pray. I don't know if you read in the news in light of everything that's happened, this slipped through and hardly probably anyone read it in light of all the terrible things were going on in the world.
But in New New South Wales, prayer now for anyone that is has any questions about sexuality. If you pray for someone, whether it's on the sidewalk or even in the church, it's punishable by up to 5 years in prison. The people of God will continue to face opposition until the Lord returns. I'm convinced that's part of what Jesus was talking about in his last comments at the sermon on the mount.
Pardon me, not the sermon on the mount, the upper room, pardon me. In his upper room discourse, we read this. These are the last words he says before he goes off to be arrested and ultimately crucified. He says this to his disciples at the end of John 16. Behold, the hour is coming. Indeed, it has come when you will be scattered each to his own home and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace.
In the world you will have tribulation in the world. He says you will have tribulation but take heart. I have overcome the world. We rest our hope not in the circumstances of our world. If all you do, if all day long Fox News is in the background, turn it off because that's only going to give you bad news.
CNN, CNBC, CBC, CTV, Global, turn them all off and turn this on. Take heart brothers and sisters through the gospel of Jesus Christ. He has overcome the world. This is an important truth for us. We can take heart in this. Will we have tribulation? Absolutely. You are going to have opposition just as Nehemiah did. But when we understand that God through Christ has overcome the world, we understand that any opposition we face, if we are truly under the blood of the lamb, it's temporal.
It's for a season. It's for a time. It's for a moment. And great days are coming in eternity. You might face the entirety of your life under terrible days, but if you're in Christ, eternity awaits. Well, there will never be a single bad day ever. Only joy, only love, only peace, only well, you don't even need we won't need hope because we're there. That's why the psalmist is able to say in Psalm 18 verse or Psalm 118:6, "The Lord is on my side.
I will not fear. What can man do to me?" If you memorize nothing else this week, memorize that verse. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me? What can man do to me? The worst that man can do to me is put a bullet in my neck. But if I'm in Christ, I'm home. But if I'm here, it's fruitful labor for me.
That's what Paul said in Philippians 1. You leave me here, great. I get to labor for Christ. You kill me, great. I'm home with him. It's a win-win. But recognize, I just want you to know, brothers and sisters, if you're in Christ, you should expect opposition. It will come just as it did for Nehemiah. What else do we see in this text? Going back to our main text here, Nehemiah. Again, I God's timing is amazing.
This was something I had read through. I had I had prepared it long before any of this that happened this week. God's enemies will create a narrative. Go with me to the second tactic that's employed here. Verse five. In the same way send ballot for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand.
Now, that little phrase should cause us to pause. The first four letters presumably were closed letters or sealed letters. They would have had their letter, rolled it up, put a seal on it so that the only people to read the letter were Sambala, Tobaya, and Gisham and Nehemiah. He would have got the letter, unsealed it, and read it, and then sent his response back, presumably sealed, back to them. They had this correspondence back and forth. But now this is an open letter.
That is to say no seal meaning that anyone including the courier could re open it up and read it. And it was meant for everyone to read that the word would spread and pressure would be put on Nehemiah. That's how an open letter works. Open letters still work to the happen to this day. You see it on the internet all the time. I don't know how maybe some of you have done it. If you're corresponding with a political leader because you're upset about something. So let's say well we saw actually during CO people were writing I'm assuming many of you did writing the prime minister to to express your grievous concern over what was going on and you may have written him multiple times but then you saw people putting an open letter and they would tag Justin Trudeau on their letter on whatever social media platform but then they would write the whole letter. So everyone could read it.
It was an open letter unsealed. So now everyone could read it. Everyone could add their commentary, add their support, and put pressure on. That's what this is, too. This is an open letter meant to put pressure on because hey, word is now getting around. And what word is getting around? Look at what's in the letter. It is reported among the nations. And Gisham also says it. So he adds that because Gisham is an Arab. So it it's it's all over the world.
It's reported among the nations and Gisham also says it that you and the Jews intend to rebel. That is why you're building the wall. And according to these reports, you wish to become their king. And you you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, there is a king in Judah. And now the king will hear of these things. Hear, pardon me, hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together. These are fabricated lies and Nehemiah knows it.
But he's trying to put pressure on by saying, "Listen, the king's going to hear about this. Who's the king?" If you remember back chapter 2, Artic Xerxes. And remember the interaction that Arc Xerxes had with Nehemiah to let him go. 2:6 The king said to me with 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 a time. So Nehemiah has promised that he would go and and reestablish the city, but then return. Now, if he's going to be their king, that means he's not returning.
That means he broke his promise. The king's going to be upset. This is the pressure they're trying to put on Nehemiah here. Now verse 9, I'm going to come back to verse eight in a moment. Verse 9, Nehemiah says this. For they all want, they all wanted to frighten us, thinking their hands will drop from the work and it will not be done. But now, oh God, strengthen my hands. What were they trying to do? They're trying to intimidate Nehemiah and all the people so that they would droop, that they would wilt, that they would stop the work, that they wouldn't complete it because we don't want to have a bad name in the world.
We don't want this to get back to the king and he'd be upset and send an army against us. This could be bad news. That's what they wanted to have the Israelites feel. But Nehemiah has the wisdom of God here. And verse 8 is profound. Then I sent him sent to him pardon me to send that is to sand ballot. We read the sand ballot here probably with Tobaya helping him craft it with Jewish language. He sent back to him saying no such things as you say have been done for you are inventing them out of your own mind.
That is a commentary on this culture and our culture. These are fabricated lies that you are inventing, but you're saying them in such a way that it sounds plausible. It tickles the ears of those who want to hear that kind of message such that they might believe it. It's a fabricated lie and everyone knows it. It's an invention, a concoction of your mind. It's a It's a philosophical shift and you might dupe some people, but Nehemiah says, "You're not fooling me."
And Nehemiah just straight up calls it out, which you can imagine went over like a lead balloon. This is a common tactic for those who oppose God and who oppose his people to fabricate lies, create new narratives and new try to shift the way people think so as to turn away from God and to the sinful ways of man. We see this all through the scriptures. Go with me if you will to 1 Timothy chapter 1 and 1 Timothy 1 3-7.
We read this. As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Certain persons by swerving from these have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. So they're creating new narratives. They're confidently teaching them, but they don't have the first clue what they're talking about. And you need to hold people's feet to the flame with sound doctrine. And the aim of this is actually love. Now, do you think when someone holds a false narrative, someone teaching a false narrative, when you hold their feet to the flame, that are they do people think, "Wow, you're so loving that you would that you'd hold my feet to the flame?"
No. They'll call it hatred. They'll call it bigotry. They'll call it misogyny. They'll call it whatever. But the truth is it's love. That you would know the truth and that the truth might set you free. 2 Timothy chapter 4. Listen to the warning here in verses 3 and four. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching. But having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
Again, we see this here. We're going heaping up teachers who will tickle the ears of sinful men to give them a message that is plausible that that they like to hear. Because let's be honest, there's things in the Bible we don't like. It's not comfortable for us. These things we we think how can God be like that? It's because God is God and you're not. God is right and you're not. And so instead, we'll say, "Well, let me create a message that's centered more on man. That'll tickle the ears more and we'll gain a greater audience and will turn people away from listening to God instead to vain myths and genealogies and stories that are fabricated in an entirely different way of thinking.
In Jude, which is the little tiny onepage book of the Bible right before Revelation, we read this in verse 8 and on. In like manner, these people also relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
Woe to them for they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain and Balam's to pardon me to Balam's error and perished in Kora's rebellion. They are hidden reefs at your love feasts. As they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves waterless clouds swept along by winds. Fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted wind, or pardon me, wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame, wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
I wonder what Jude really thinks. That's what these people were. Sanbalot, Tobaya, Gisham, waterless clouds. They have a form of something, but they're empty. They're truly empty, but the world might just follow them. And Nehemiah needed to stand strong. We live in a culture that is crafting and creating narratives seemingly by the day that oppose God and make self the highest good.
I don't think I'm telling tales out of school. And it's easy for pastors in particular to not want to talk about these things because they know that it runs counter to what is approved even in what's referred to as big Eva. Have you heard of big Eva? Big Eva is the term that's been coined to talk about pop evangelicalism. The mega churches, they don't talk about this stuff because they might lose an audience.
I got to tell you, as a pastor, I am not one lick concerned about your happiness with me. I'm concerned about your holiness before God. If you're not happy, that's not my concern. Are you holy? Because holy people will be happy in the Lord. So let's tackle a few of the narratives, shall we? The transgender narrative. We have been taught now that how a person feels is the highest good.
Who I have have you heard the phrase a person's authentic self? This is the this is the catchphrase. Someone, everyone needs to live out their quote unquote authentic self. So whatever I feel about myself, even if it runs contrary to this, it doesn't matter. What I feel about myself is my truth and my truth is the truth. It trumps all truth. And so for you to tell me that what I believe about myself, what I feel about myself is wrong, well, you're abusive to me.
That's that's damaging language to me. That's harm. You're harming me by your language. And so my self matters most. And so when a government comes along like the Alberta government and says, you know what, children under the age of 18 cannot get lifealtering surgery to change their sexuality. The culture then screams foul. You are harming these people from being who they really are, from being their authentic self, for being truly who they are.
Carl Truman wrote a book called The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, where he talks about this at great length, but these are fabricated lies that run counter to the word of God. We just read last week from Genesis 1, male and female, he created them. Period. Psalm 139, fearfully and wonderfully made. Each one in this room fearfully and wonderfully made by God, never to be altered.
God does not heir. And so along with this narrative, along with it over time, it's and it's not taken long have come multiple fabrications that build upon these lies. One of them is that you can be a L or a G or a B or a T or a Q Christian. No, you cannot be you. Your argument.
If you if you argue with that, you're actually not arguing with me. You're arguing with God. Revelation 21, this isn't going to be on the screen. It just popped in my head here. Revelation 21 gives us the glory of what it's going to be like for all the believers, all those who are in Christ at the end. There'll be no more tears, nor suffering, nor sorrow anymore. For the former things have passed away. God will be with us. It is a glorious section. And it it goes on for seven verses.
And then we come to verse 8. And look at what Revelation 21:8 says. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idoltors, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
Unrepentant of their sin, thinking that they can just pray a prayer but then live however they want. They will fear or they will face not fear they will face eternal wrath. And you might say, well sexually immoral, what does that mean? And this is this is how the fabrication goes. People get they try to spin things a certain way. So let's add clarity, shall we? 1 Corinthians chapter 6 starting in verse 9. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.
Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolattors, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. No interpretation is required. It's clear. If you are in that world unrepentant when you die, you will be in hell. But praise God, there's verse 11.
Aren't you glad there's verse 11 here? Look at verse 11. And such were some of you. But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. If you are in sin unrepentant right now today, you can turn from it. You can repent. Turn from your life devoted to self and sin and turn to Christ and be washed and be justified and be brought into the family of God this day.
This day. So, praise be to God. Our sin doesn't have to be the end for us. There's hope for eternal life, but you must turn. The implication here is that if those don't turn, they're not washed, they're not justified, they remain in their depravity, they will not inherit the kingdom of God. Consider the narrative around Arena Zerutska's death. If you only ever watch Canadian news, I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but if I asked how many of you only ever watch for your news, CBC, CTV, Global, or City News, what I just said, Ireina Zerutka, you probably have no idea who I'm talking about cuz Canadian News did this much coverage of this event.
So let me tell you in case you didn't know a Ukrainian lady left the Ukraine to come to can or to to the United States to leave war to leave a dangerous country to come and find a and build a better world thinking it was safe. What happened? A man was behind her and killed her. She had no idea he was even there. It was wickedness. Sheer and utter wickedness.
And as he walked away, the audio, you can hear the audio plain as day. Was a black man and he said, "I got that white girl. I got that white girl." Nothing in the Canadian news. Why? Why is that? You know why it is? Because there's been a narrative created by those who oppose God that racism only works one direction. George Floyd that whole thing happened. Cities were burned to the ground.
Worldwide protests. This happens. Not a peep spoken about it because it does not fit the narrative created by culture. And what's the narrative? Pardon me. What what's the truth? That all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. White and black. Everyone is a sinner. All sin. All are guilty. All are vile. All are evil. And all need Jesus Christ. Regardless of your ethnicity, regardless of the color of your skin. All have sinned.
And all need Christ. But that doesn't fit the narrative. And you know who spoke against those things? Both of those narratives. Charlie Kirk. Say what you want about the man. You may not like him. You may not appreciate him. You may not appreciate his style, his approach. I I can appreciate that. But the man loved the Lord Jesus Christ. That was very evident. And everything he taught sprung forth out of his Christian understanding. It sprung forth out of the gospel, including dismantling the transgender agend agenda and recognizing that all have sinned and teaching about these things.
And he was shot and killed. And how did Christianity today spin it? But let's not think this is just out there. Christianity today was founded by Billy Graham. How did they spin it? When George Floyd died, I kid you not, the headline read, "George Floyd leaves a gospel legacy." Charlie Kirk dies.
A guy who espoused mega doctrine and controversial teachings died. What are you talking about? But it's a spun narrative. And opponents to God will always spin a narrative against God. And they over time we have seen because the enemy of this world blinds the eyes of men and women who don't know the Lord. It will be bought into. It will be subscribed to self will be put at the center.
The world loves to elevate self against God. There is nothing new under the sun. A narrative was created here in chapters verses 5 through 7. And narratives are continuing to be spun today. So what is it that's needed? Courage. God's people require courage. We saw that through the summer. If you were here, we looked at John Knox and Charles Spurgeon and Yon Hus.
We looked at their courage. We We are in a day and age when courage is in short supply. There was a husband and wife on a on a vacation and suddenly they had a there was a dental issue and they pulled into the nearest dentist and they c went in there and the lady the wife said to the dentist, "I I need a tooth pulled and I don't want any novacaane. I don't want any pain medication. We're in a hurry. Just yank that tooth out as soon as you can and we'll get on our road." The dentist said, "Wow, lady, you have great courage. That is quite astonishing."
All right. Well, show me which tooth it is. To which the wife then looked at her husband and said, "Show them your tooth." That's not the courage we need. We need each individual to have courage. Where does courage come from? Let's look here in verses 3 and 8 and 14 of our text. Look at Nehemiah's courage. I send messengers messengers to them saying I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.
Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you? Boy, that would not fly in Canada, would it? We Canadians are so polite. Someone invited me to meet with them. They want to do me harm, but I don't want to make them upset. Here, Nehemiah just says, "No, I'm not coming down. The work of the Lord has to continue. So, nope, I'm not coming. Look at verse eight. Then I sent to him, saying, "No such things as you have as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own minds."
There is calling out the narrative, saying, "No, you're twisting it." And then in verse 14, remember Tobaya and Sandbalot, oh my God, according to these things that they did and also the prophetist Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid. He calls on God to remember them and judgment. These are courageous acts from Nehemiah. Where does his courage come from? Well, courage starts first and foremost with dependency on God.
You will never be courageous by simply pulling up your bootstraps and and just saying, "Okay, then just talking to yourself." Okay, I'm going to be more courageous. I'm going to be more courageous. Yep. Mhm. You'll never be more courageous that way. How will you be courageous? By depending on God. Look at what we read in verse 9. They all wanted to frighten us, thinking their hands will drop from the work and it will not be done. But now, oh God, strengthen my hands.
He is calling on God to strengthen him. This was not courage that came naturally to Nehemiah. God gave it to him. And we read again in verse 14 there, he's praying to God. He's calling on God. He's depending on God. If you are not a man or a woman of prayer, you will lack courage. You will when the moment comes of the greatest heat and the greatest opposition. If you are not a man or woman depending on God, you will crack. We are utterly dependent.
What strength do I have in and of myself? Nothing. But God has all strength. So we must depend upon him. It also starts by knowing the word of God and the will of God. Nehemiah certainly was a man who valued the word of God. We're going to see it as we go on through the book of Nehemiah. He valued the word. He knew the word and thus he knew God's will. So, he's depending on the Lord. He's knowing the word of God and the will of God.
And that enables him then to stand in the crucible, to stand in this moment instead of being silent. Now, there is a time to be silent. The Bible even speaks about it. I I'll just take you there in a moment. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3. But more often than not, there's a time to speak. Look what we read in verse 7 and 8 of Ecclesiastes 3. There's a time to tear and a time to sew. A time to keep silence and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace. There's a time for the believer to speak, to make known who God is, what his character is, most importantly, the gospel of Christ, and all of the implications of the gospel even in our daily lives. And the easy thing to do is to be silent, never speak, and never rock the boat. I'm going to say I say this with all due respect because there's some men I love who were in this group, but a generation ago, maybe even two generations ago, there was a generation of pastors who rarely spoke hard truth.
They didn't want to rock the boat. But then God brought along people like RC Sproul and John MacArthur and these types who said, "No, we're just going to speak the hard truth of scripture." And it emboldened a generation of pastors to do likewise. And I'm thankful for that. But it's not just pastors. Believers need to be emboldened to speak the truth. Now, we don't do it with evil. We don't re we don't respond to evil with evil. Never.
Far be it from us that we would ever do that. We do not respond to violence with violence. Never. Far be it from us. We respond with kindness, with gentleness, with exquisite care, but with courage. Sometimes kindness can be an excuse to not speak the truth. You can speak truth with love, as Ephesians 4 tells us. I'm so thankful that Nehemiah was not silent.
I'm so thankful that Daniel was not silent. I'm so thankful that Jeremiah was not silent. I'm so thankful that Paul was not silent. I'm so thankful that Peter was not silent. Most importantly, I am so thankful that Jesus was not silent. Spoke hard truth, the truth that people need to hear. There is a time for courage for the believer.
And as we look at the darkened world around us, if ever there was a time for courage for the saints, it is now. It is now. We need to be a people who stand for the righteousness of Christ and all that glorifies him and all that honors him in the age that we live in that we would know the word of God that we would know the will of God. That we would depend upon him day onto day onto day. And having done that, that we would take our flag and plant it in the bedrock of God's character.
And that we would then hold fast to the revealed truth without wavering. May that be said of the saints at Gateway Bible Church. And may God be pleased to bring about gospel change in our communities as a result of our faithfulness. So God, I pray that you would give us that kind of courage. Would you strengthen our hands and strengthen our hearts, remind us of your word and remind us of your work in our world. When the when the pressure is on, may we not waver, but may we hold high the character in the name of Christ.
You are worthy. You are able. And the narratives that we face in our culture that are always changing. Father, help us to hold to the unchanging truth of who you are from your word. And may we anchor ourselves there and never stray from that, either to the right or to the left. You are good and faithful. We love you. We trust you. Go before us in all these things. And Father, we thank you as well for the food that has been prepared downstairs. We ask that it would be good nourishment for us and that our fellowship downstairs later would be pleasing in your sight.
These things we pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Transcribed automatically from YouTube captions, so names and words may be misheard.
