The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
00:02 Uh but before I I start, I just wanted to to let you all know um that that this week um me and my small group, we had a
00:09 we had a small group meeting planned for for Friday night. Um and uh so so we we
00:14 typically meet every Friday. And I told the group on Friday, I said, "Guys, you know, I'm preaching this Sunday. I I I
00:20 don't think uh I can I can make it this Friday because I'm I'm a bit behind in my preparation." Um but then halfway
00:26 through the day, I was like, "Oh, man." I'll tell you what, guys. I'm going to come anyways, right? I didn't want to
00:32 miss out on any of the fun, any of the fellowship, and I heard that uh there was homemade spaghetti on the menu. Uh
00:39 so, Mrs. To, wherever you are, thank you for that. I had seconds. I hope you weren't saving for anyone. Um uh so I
00:45 just wanted to let you know that if this sermon goes south, it's really because of my small group. All right.
00:52 And even last night, even last night, uh, Salomi asked me, she she was out with her her friends and she was
00:58 wondering whether she should come back or or stay out a bit longer. And she called me and she said, "Hey, honey, are you uh are you going to be working on
01:04 your sermon all night or are you going to be able to watch a movie together?" And I said, "A movie? Get the behind me,
01:11 honey." Um, so she she did try to tempt me with a movie. And uh were I a weaker man, I
01:19 may have succumbed to this, my mistress. No, she's a babe. Where is she? I don't
01:26 know where she is. Anyways, um we've concluded our series uh in
01:32 First Corinthians. Uh and uh and we've we've learned a whole lot, haven't we, about how to to live in community with
01:39 one another and in communion with God. and despite our differences in beliefs or or doctrines or culture, we can still
01:47 be united and be and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with one another to build the kingdom of God. Uh and now I
01:55 know that uh that the FBC congregation does not really like to respond much,
02:00 but I'm going to ask this of you anyways. If anyone uh if anyone of you were involved in uh in this last series
02:06 in First Corinthians, anyone from the the parking wardens to the connect team to the ushers to the PA, the scripture
02:13 readers, the worship team, the preachers, uh and if you were blessed by any one of these people, could you give
02:19 them a round of applause? I think that was a great series, right? I was blessed for sure.
02:25 Um so if you were involved, thank you very much. uh you are edifying the church of God and you are blessing
02:32 everyone here. So I hope you are encouraged. Uh well, we're going to start a new series studying the book of
02:38 Nehemiah for the next few weeks. Nehemiah is an exciting book. It's an exciting book. It's a it's a story of how this man Nehemiah uh feels heavy on
02:46 his heart to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls. Uh and it's all about
02:51 how God sustains Nehemiah through his adversity and guides him uh as opposition comes. Um, and and I've heard
02:59 people use the the book of Nehemiah to teach leadership skills and managerial skills and which is fantastic. I mean,
03:05 you can take there's a lot that we can learn from the book of Nehemiah that we can take back uh to the workplace. But
03:11 as always, the main thrust of the book is that we are sinners in need of a
03:17 savior. So before we dive in, uh, let me just pray. Heavenly Father, we praise you and we
03:24 thank you. We love you, Lord. We worship you for who you are. Father God, I pray
03:29 that you'll be here today. I pray uh that you would protect me from the evil one. Lord, let no untruth come from my
03:36 lips. I pray that uh your church would be edified and your name would be glorified in Jesus' name. Amen.
03:44 All right. So, um right before we get into the text, uh we need to we need to
03:51 cover some background to show you where the book of Nehemiah fits into Israel's history. Right. And so most of this uh
03:58 it's just it's just background information that that you need to know. So I'm going to fly through it. I'm going to blast through it so that we can
04:04 we can really take our time when we get to the meat the meat of Nehemiah's uh
04:09 prayer. Would that be okay? You okay if I just blast through the the background? All right. Uh so
04:16 the Right. So God has been making covenants in the Old Testament with uh with Israel
04:24 and also with us. So, I'm I'm just going to run you through a list of the covenants that God has made. Covenants
04:29 are basically like partnership deals. Partnership deals between God and man where where he is our God and we are his
04:37 people and God has been trying uh to make that happen. Um and so so these are
04:44 the covenants uh that that he makes with us. The first one, the very first one is in Genesis 3. Uh and I will put enmity
04:51 between you and the woman, between your offspring. This is he's talking to the serpent by the way between you and the
04:56 woman between your offspring and hers he will crush your head and you will strike
05:01 his heel. So from the outset from Genesis 3 we know that there's an offspring of the woman that means uh a
05:09 human being who is going to crush the head of the serpent Satan. Okay. Uh
05:15 another covenant in Genesis 9:11 with Noah. I will establish my covenant with you. Never again will all life be
05:22 destroyed by the waters of a flood. And then another key, this one's a key covenant in Genesis 12 2:3. And this one
05:29 will come up again and again, I'm sure. I will, he, he's speaking to Abraham. I will make you into a great nation. And I
05:36 will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and
05:42 whoever curses you, I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Wow, that's some promise,
05:49 huh? through you and your offspring, all the people on earth will be blessed.
05:56 He made a covenant with the Israelites in Exodus 19 in the time of Moses. Now, if you obey me fully and keep my
06:02 covenant, then out of all nations, you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole although the whole
06:08 earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.
06:14 The Davidic covenant in 2 Samuel 7. Uh, now I will make your name great like the
06:19 names of the greatest men on earth and I will provide a place for my people Israel and plant them so that they can
06:25 have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh
06:31 and blood. I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name and I will establish the throne
06:37 of his kingdom forever. So there will be a Jewish king from the line of David
06:42 whose reign will be never ending. it will be forever. Okay. And finally, this
06:48 is where we come in, right? This is the new covenant that God makes. This is in Jeremiah 31 and also in Ezekiel 36. The
06:56 days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant. But it will not be like the covenant I made with
07:02 their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt. Because they broke my covenant, though I was a
07:10 husband to them. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they
07:16 will be my people. Right? And that's the new covenant that we are living in. I
07:21 know this is this is boring. This is all background information. Okay? But just keep it in the back of your mind because it'll set some context. It'll help you
07:28 to understand the book of Nehemiah a little bit better.
07:33 Right now, we're going to go through I'm going to I'm going to show you where the book of Nehemiah fits into Israel's
07:39 history. Right? We'll start from Moses. Right? Everyone's familiar with the story of Moses. So the uh the Jews were
07:47 slaves in Egypt and with God's mighty hand, Moses leads about 2 million Jews out of Egypt, right? The Red Sea parts,
07:53 they walk across. Uh but then they're supposed to go into the promised land and take it over, but they get scared.
07:59 They're like, "They're too powerful. They're too strong. We're too weak." Uh and so God gets extremely upset with
08:05 them and sends them wandering in the desert for 40 years for the sole purpose of wiping out that generation. So that
08:12 whole generation is wiped out and the new generation comes up to take over the promised land. Okay? They are led by
08:18 Joshua. By the way, Joshua is a great book. Uh it's it's a book of of war and
08:24 and of triumph and victory. I feel like working out every time I read the book of Joshua, right? Because he he like
08:30 tells the son to stop and he destroys millions and millions of Canaanites and it's great. Um and so he takes over the
08:36 promised land. Um and then there are a series of judges and then there are a series of kings right first king was
08:42 Saul then David then Solomon and then to to to
08:48 put the story in a nutshell uh Solomon's sons get into a fight and the the nation splits into the nation of Israel the
08:54 northern nation of Israel and then the southern nation of Judah right and the
08:59 the nation of Israel is is terrible king after king after king were bad king bad
09:05 king bad king bad king and And then God says, "I've had enough." And he tells the Babylonians to wipe uh to to take
09:11 over the land and and bring the people into exile. Judah did a little bit a little better, right? There was good
09:18 king, bad king, bad king, bad king. Good, bad, bad, bad, good, bad, bad, bad. And eventually God got upset with
09:23 them as well. He said, "This is the end." And he tells the Babylonians to take them over. And so they are in
09:29 exile. And then while they are in exile, so they're they're they're slaves. They're servants in Babylon, right?
09:35 Daniel, you know the story of Daniel. He was a servant in in Babylon. Um, and while they were in Babylon, Jeremiah
09:42 prophesies the word of God that this will last 70 years. 70 years we're going
09:48 to suffer here for the sins uh that we have committed. And then God will send us back to Jerusalem uh to be prosperous
09:56 once again. And that's where we are at uh and that's where the book of Nehemiah
10:01 starts. Uh the book of Ezra and Nehemiah are actually supposed to be one book. Before
10:08 they used to be one book. So it's a it's a continuation or Nehemiah is a continuation of Ezra. Okay. Uh so if you
10:15 want to know the context of Nehemiah, we have to go to Ezra 1. So I'm just going to read real quick Ezra 1 in the first
10:22 year of Cyrus, king of Persia. Uh so the although it was the Babylonians who took
10:28 over Israel, uh the Persians took over the Babylonians. Now, uh, it's the king
10:34 of Persia who's in charge. In order to fulfill the word of God spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of
10:41 Cyrus, king of Persia, to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put in writing that what Cyrus,
10:47 king of Persia, said, "The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has appointed me to
10:54 build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. any of his people may go up to
11:00 Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel. And may their God be with them in any locality
11:08 where survivors may now be living. The people are to provide them with silver, gold, goods, livestock, and with free
11:14 will offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem. So the king, King Cyrus, the king of Persia, says uh God God speaks
11:21 to him and says, "Send my people back to build my temple because I told them 70
11:26 years and I will send them back." So God's faithful to his word. Okay?
11:32 And finally, we get to verse one of Nehemiah. Okay? So if you have your
11:38 Bibles, uh just just stay here, right? I'll be I'll be bouncing around, but just stay in Nehemiah. uh and actually
11:44 it would be really helpful for you to to have um that in front of you.
11:50 So Nehemiah 1 verses 1 to2 here we go the words of Nehemiah son of
11:57 Hackallayiah or Akalia in the month of Kisv in the 20th year while I was in the
12:02 citadel of Souza Hanani one of my brothers came from Judah with some men and I questioned them about the Jewish
12:08 remnant that had survived the exile. There's a lot of weird fancy terminology
12:15 in there, but it's real simple. Let me break it down for you. Hanani was a prophet, right? In the 20th year just
12:21 means in the 20th year of the reigning king. And the current reigning king, we'll find out in chapter 2, is King
12:27 Ardis Xerxes. Um, and that is about 445
12:32 BC. The month of Kislev is in the Jewish calendar. And so in our our calendar, it's it's about November, December. Uh
12:40 so basically what verse 1 and 2 is saying is in December of the year 445 BC
12:45 the prophet Hanani came to see Nehemiah. Okay it's it's real simple. Verse 3 and
12:51 four they said to me those who survived the
12:56 exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its
13:03 gates have been burned with fire. When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and
13:10 prayed before the God of heaven. Right? So Nehemiah finds out that the walls of
13:15 Jerusalem are broken down and burnt. And then he prays and fasts and mourns.
13:23 Why is that such a big is that such a big deal? Well, back in the day, uh the
13:31 wall is really what makes a city a city. A city cannot function as a city without
13:38 a a wall because without a wall it would be open to uh there there would be no
13:44 protection from wild animals, from robbers, marauders or invading armies. And so so the city could not prosper.
13:51 You couldn't grow anything. Uh you would be in constant fear of danger. Right? Women and children would have to stay
13:58 indoors. And we sort of understand this right in in our modern day community. A lot of a
14:04 lot of us live in in condos or or gated communities and you would let your your children play in the playground unattended.
14:10 But those of you who live in a condo, let's say if there were no walls and there were no security guards, would you
14:16 let your children go down and play in the playground alone? Probably not. Why? Because because
14:23 there's no layer of protection. In Proverbs 25:28, it says, "A man without
14:29 self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls." Huh? Why is the
14:36 illustration of a man without self-control a city without walls?
14:42 Because you can attack him from every side and he will fall. Right? Every
14:48 desire that he has, everything that you place before him, he'll take. It's like
14:53 a city without walls. there is no layer of defense.
15:00 And so in verse four, Nehemiah's response is to weep, to mourn, to fast, and pray. Now remember, Nehemiah has
15:08 never never been back to Jerusalem, right? He was likely born and raised in
15:15 Babylon. He was living a comfortable life in the palace. Remember, he's the cup bearer to the king. So he lives in
15:22 the palace. He eats the king's food and he drinks the king's drinks. It's a
15:28 pretty sweet deal if you ask me. He's at the top of the career ladder, right? Right at the top.
15:35 So why is he so concerned about Jerusalem, a place he has never been and a people that he's a lot of which he has
15:43 never met? Was it because he was uh nationalistic? You know, I'm a I'm a Jew, right? And so
15:50 I want to rebuild Jerusalem. Yeah, I think that a bit of that. Sure.
15:57 I think there's a bit of that involved. Was it because he was uh homesick,
16:03 right? Oh, I want to go home. Well, not really. I I don't think so. Because home
16:08 for him actually is Babylon. That was his home. He was born and raised in
16:15 Babylon. Babylon. And so why is he so sad about this Jerusalem place? Well, I think it's
16:23 because he's passionate about God and his kingdom, right? The people of God
16:28 were in disgrace and he couldn't stand the thought of other people ridiculing God because of
16:35 that. Uh and we'll see I I think that's the reason and I we'll see that a little
16:41 bit later in his prayer. Right now we get to the meat. We get to Nehemiah's
16:48 prayer, the best part of the burger. Verse five. Are you ready? Got your
16:54 Bibles in front of you? Okay, here we go. Verse five. Then I said, Lord, the God
17:01 of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keeps and keep his
17:08 commands. He starts with praise and adoration of who God is.
17:15 He starts his prayer by putting God in his place.
17:21 And really that's the foundation of every prayer we pray, right? Big or small, big or small prayers, that is the
17:27 foundation. Who God is is the foundation of our prayers. Let's take the simplest
17:33 prayer that that we all pray, right? We pray this prayer three times a day. Father God, thank you for this food,
17:41 right? The simplest prayer. But what's the foundation? What are we saying? We're saying, God, I acknowledge that
17:48 this blessing that you have placed before me comes from you. Whether I bought it or whether I cooked it, right,
17:55 God, it was you who allowed gave me hands to be able to cook, eyes to be able to see. If I bought it, it's God.
18:02 God, it's you who gives me the means to be able to earn a living and to buy this food. Right? That's the foundation of
18:09 all our prayers. Psalms 145:es 1-5 says, "I will extol
18:17 you my God and King. I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will
18:22 bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his greatness is
18:29 unsearchable. On the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works I will
18:37 meditate." Do we meditate on the glorious splendor
18:43 of God's majesty, on his wondrous works? Do we meditate? How much time do we
18:50 spend in our prayers praising God?
18:57 Praising him for his majesty, his power, his holiness, his goodness. You see,
19:03 Nehemiah prays to God because God's sovereignty is undeniable.
19:13 Verse six, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your
19:18 servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel.
19:24 He requests that God be attentive to his prayers. Hm. So what you see see what
19:31 he's doing is he starts off with putting God in his place and then secondly he
19:36 puts himself in his place. He's saying God you do not have to listen to me. You
19:42 are God right? You do not have to listen to me or any other human being and especially
19:48 not any Jew. You do not have to listen to us. Because the Jews were the ones, the ones who had the promise, who had
19:55 the word of God, who were taught from young all the covenants, I'll make you
20:00 into a great nation. Uh the kingdom of David's line will never end. Right? They
20:06 were they were taught the promises. They knew and yet they sinned.
20:11 Right? So God, you do not have to listen to my prayers.
20:17 But I'm going to ask you to anyways because I know you are good.
20:22 God is a good God. And that's why Nehemiah asks this of him.
20:29 He prays because God's goodness is unending.
20:36 Moving on. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's family, have committed against
20:42 you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, the decrees and laws you gave your
20:49 servant Moses. What do you see here? I see real and raw confession.
20:58 He doesn't try to sherk the responsibility. He doesn't try to shift the blame. Right? He could have said, "Oh God, I want to ask for the
21:05 forgiveness for the sins of my great greatgrandfathers, my ancestors
21:11 in the in the golden years of of Israel. They sinned. Lord, I ask for your forgiveness for them. He doesn't say
21:18 that. He says, I confess the sins we, including myself. We Israelites,
21:25 including myself and my father's family. He puts himself in the middle of the
21:31 sin. He knows full well, full well that
21:36 he has plenty of sins of his own. He doesn't make any excuses. He doesn't
21:43 shift the blame. When David sinned uh by committing
21:48 adultery with Basheba and murdering her husband Uriah, he wrote and he was
21:54 confronted by the the prophet Nathan. Uh he wrote Psalms 51 and verse four
21:60 says, "Against you Lord, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your
22:05 sight. So you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.
22:12 Wait a second, David. Um, against you, Lord, you only have I sinned. Wait, wait, David, you sinned against Bath
22:19 Sheba and Uriah and the whole nation of Israel, right?
22:24 And I think what David would say in response to that is, "Yes, yes, I did."
22:30 But Uriah, Ba Sheba, and the nation of Israel are not almighty God.
22:36 They are not the holy and righteous one. Every time I sin, I sin first and
22:42 foremost, primarily against God.
22:48 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
22:54 us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." Nehemiah understood this. Nehemiah
22:59 understood that with his confession comes forgiveness of sins. No strings
23:06 attached, right? No caveats, full pardon every time. If you are a believer and a
23:13 child of God, God's mercy for you is both just and inexhaustible.
23:19 Nehemiah prays because God's mercy is unrestrained.
23:26 So, let's recap. Nehemiah prays because God's sovereignty is undeniable. He prays because God's goodness is
23:32 unending. and he prays because God's mercy is unrestrained.
23:39 Verse eight, remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, "If
23:45 you are faithful, I will if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me and
23:52 obey my commands, then even if your exile people are at the farthest nation,
23:58 I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I've chosen as a dwelling for my name. Right? That was
24:05 the promise. I believe it's Deuteronomy 38. God says, "If you return to me, if
24:10 you start obeying me, I will bring you back even if you are at the farthest
24:16 horizon." Nehemiah knows full well, by the way, Nehemiah knows full well that we have no
24:23 business reminding God of his promises. As if God tends to forget, right? God
24:30 never forgets and God always keeps his promises. So why is Nehemiah reminding
24:35 him? Uh I think he's not reminding God of his promises, but he's claiming the
24:42 promises from God. He's claiming them. He's standing on the foundation
24:47 that God keeps his word. What a different world we would live in
24:54 if we all kept our word. Huh? We we we all we we would like to say uh things
24:59 like, "Oh, I promise. I swear." Right? I swear I'll do this.
25:04 Cross my heart, hope to die. Poke a needle in my eye. Right? or a more a more offensive one. I
25:12 swear on my mother's grave, right? You've heard people say that. And what
25:17 we're saying is, by the way, my friend, I know I have such a bad reputation of keeping my word that what I'm about to
25:24 say, if I don't fulfill it, you can poke a needle in my eye. That's what we're saying, right? We're saying, my friend,
25:30 I'm so bad at keeping my word that what I'm about to say, if I don't fulfill it, may my mother fall down dead. That's
25:37 what we're saying, right? It's really a a terrible phrase. Um, and that's why
25:43 God tells us uh not to swear on anything on earth because it's God's foottool and nothing in heaven because it's God's
25:50 throne. That your yes be a yes and your no be a no. Matthew 5, right? Be a man,
25:55 be a woman of your word. Can you imagine, just imagine what this
26:01 world would look like if every employer and employee kept their word?
26:08 If every child and every parent kept their word.
26:13 If every spouse kept their word. If every Christian kept their word,
26:22 what would this world look like?
26:27 Now, by the way, God God swears not not in the sense of say his cuss words, but
26:33 he promises, right? In Psalms 89, he says, "I will not violate my covenant or
26:38 alter what my lips have uttered. Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness."
26:44 Wow. That's something that we should never say. I swear to you, by my
26:49 holiness, you're right. Okay. Nobody's going to believe you because you and I are not
26:57 God. Only God can say that. You see, we humans have been breaking our word since
27:04 Genesis 3, but God has never once gone back on his word. So, what Nehemiah is
27:11 praying is this. God, I trust you. God, I trust you to keep your promise to us.
27:17 And I trust that you are holy and faithful God who keeps his word. He prays because God's word is unfailing.
27:29 Verse 10. Uh now when we read verse 10, I want you to see how many times the
27:35 word you or the word your appears. It happens so many times. So I'm going to read it with a bit of emphasis every
27:41 time the word you or your comes up. They are your servants,
27:46 your people whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.
27:51 Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and the prayer of your servants who delight in
27:60 revering your name. That's a lot of yours, right? Um it becomes obvious what
28:08 Nehemiah cares about most and that's this. He cares about God's name, God's
28:15 renown, God's reputation, God's glory more than anything else.
28:22 God's name, God's renown, God's reputation, and God's glory over anything else.
28:30 In essence, he's saying, "Answer our prayers to go home and rebuild Jerusalem." Why? For your name's sake,
28:39 because your name is tied up with your people. Remember what uh I I read in in Ezra
28:46 chapter 1, right? When when the king of Cyrus made his decree, King Cyrus said,
28:51 "Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem and may their God be with
28:59 them." You see, God is tied with his people
29:06 because of the covenants that he made with them. You will be my people. You will be my treasured possessions if you
29:12 obey me and I will be your God. Remember that. Remember the covenants.
29:17 So for example, let's say through those doors, say through those doors, right? Now a father and a father and a son walk
29:24 in. Let's say, right, they walk in and the son is dirty, smelly, uh he has open
29:32 wounds. He he looks extremely malnourished. He's got scars everywhere.
29:38 Is that a bad reflection on the boy? No. That's a bad reflection on the
29:46 father, right? And so, um, uh,
29:53 the people of God reflect the glory of God in the same way that that son
29:60 reflects the glory of the father. So even when they were in exile, even when
30:06 the Jews were in exile, that was to God's glory. That gave glory to God.
30:12 Huh? How how does that give glory to God? Well, it shows God to be faithful to his
30:18 word. He says, "If you obey me, you will be my people. If not, you will be in exile. It shows God to be a faithful
30:24 God." It shows God to be holy and just because sin does not go unpunished.
30:32 And it shows God uh to be a God of humble people. God does not glory in a
30:39 proud people. He glories in humble weak people.
30:46 So even their exile even their exile was was to God's glory.
30:51 But now the 70 years of exile are over and it was time for them to return and be prosperous again. Right? So
30:56 essentially what Nehemiah is praying is this. God, your glory comes before
31:01 everything. God, if it was to your glory that we would be sent into exile for
31:08 another 70 years, then so be it. But I know according to your word, according to your prophecy to Jeremiah,
31:15 you promise that it is to our glory, is to your glory, sorry, for us to
31:21 return back to Jerusalem. So let it be so. Whatever is to your glory, God, let
31:28 it be so. That is what he is praying. Nehemiah prays because God's glory is
31:34 unyielding.
31:40 Next verse. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man. Wow. This short
31:48 sentence, this short sentence is packed with some uh with some great theology.
31:54 All right, so let me unpack it for you. He knows that the only person who can authorize his trip back to Jerusalem to
32:01 rebuild the walls is King Ard Xerxes. He knows that. Uh, and he knows that God
32:06 promised they would return to Jerusalem. And so he prays that he would be able to go back to rebuild the walls.
32:14 Did you get that? Did you get that right there? He knows God promised they would
32:20 return to live in Jerusalem. And so he prays for it.
32:25 He prays for what he already knows God has will to happen because whatever God
32:31 wills, God does. Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many other plans
32:37 in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. Whatever God wills to happen is going to happen,
32:45 right? Whether you like it or I like it or not. Adam and Eve did not want to be kicked out of the garden, but God willed
32:52 for it to happen." And so out they went. The Israelites did not want to be in
32:58 exile and be slaves in Babylon, but that's what God willed to happen. And so
33:03 it happened. It doesn't matter what you and I want.
33:08 It doesn't matter what you and I have planned. It matters what God wants and what God
33:14 has planned. So here's a tip. Here's a tip from our pal Nehemiah. Right? Get this. Here's the theology right here. If
33:21 you pray according to God's will, your prayers will be answered 100% of the time.
33:27 Right? If you pray according to God's will, your prayers will be answered 100%
33:34 of the time. And this is not a Nehemiah idea. It's throughout the whole Bible. I'm just going to give you two references, two cross references. 1 John
33:41 5:14 says, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God." That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears
33:49 us. John 16:24 says, "Until now, you have not asked for anything in my name.
33:55 Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete. You want to know why perhaps your
34:01 prayers are not being answered? A potential reason is you're not praying according to the will of God.
34:09 Right? Do you think God would answer you if you prayed, "Lord, make me more patient?"
34:15 He sure would. Make me a kinder husband,
34:20 Lord. Make uh help me to be sympathetic towards my children. Help me to understand them.
34:26 Lord, give me a heart for the lost. Do you think God would answer those
34:32 prayers? Absolutely. Parents, you understand this, right? If your kid comes up to you
34:37 and asks you, "Dad, mom, dad, mom, dad, can I have a new notebook and a brand
34:43 new pen because I want to journal my quiet times with the Lord."
34:48 What did you just say? I'll get you three notebooks, three pens, and a tub
34:53 of ice cream. Here you go. Right? So, if we understand that,
34:59 God is the same way. If we pray according to God's will, 100% of the
35:04 time, your prayers will be answered. Nehemiah prays because God's will is
35:10 undisputed. So, we've been able to take a look at
35:16 the private life uh private prayer life of Nehemiah and we can learn so much
35:22 about the God that Nehemiah prays to, right? He prays to a God whose
35:28 sovereignty is undeniable. He prays to a God whose goodness is unending, whose
35:34 mercy is unrestrained, whose word is unfailing, whose glory is
35:40 unyielding, and whose will is undisputed?
35:46 Here's the question. Is this the God that we pray to?
35:55 If someone took a look at our prayer life, would they see a gracious, merciful,
36:03 compassionate, powerful, majestic, holy God?
36:09 Or would they see a spiritual Santa Claus?
36:16 What would they see if they looked at our prayer lives? Do we pray big
36:22 prayers? Powerful prayers, impossible prayers, difficult prayers, God-honoring, kingdom
36:30 building, Satan crushing, evangelistic prayers. Do we pray the way Nehemiah
36:35 prays or are our prayers small, weak,
36:41 selfish and worldly?
36:46 So, we come to the application part of of the sermon. And uh in the book of first John, it was very interesting.
36:51 John writes to the church and uh he gives very specific instructions to
36:57 three specific groups of people. Children, young men, and fathers. And he's not literally talking about
37:02 children, young men, and fathers. He's talking about people who are who are young in the faith. Children, okay? And
37:09 young men, he's talking about people who have walked with God for a number of years. and fathers. He's talking about
37:15 people who have walked with God for many many years who know the father.
37:21 Okay. So in my in this application section I want to do sort of the same thing. So metaphorically speaking the
37:28 children if you are new in the faith if you are young in the faith this is your
37:34 application. Follow the model. Follow the model of Nehemiah's prayer. A simple acronym that
37:41 you can use that I like to use a lot, right, is Acts. A CTS.
37:47 Acts stands for adoration. Confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. Adoration is praising God
37:53 for who he is. Confession is laying your sins at the foot of a cross and saying,
37:59 "God, I'm sorry." and repenting. T thanksgiving is being grateful for
38:05 what God has done and what God has given you. And S, supplication. God, I need this. Asking God for what
38:13 you need
38:28 and fast for an extended period of time to pray for big things.
38:35 Oh, are we back? Pray.
38:40 Pray and fast for an extended period of time to pray for big things.
38:49 Often times our prayers are way too small. Way too small. We need to pray big,
38:57 right? Pray for revival in Malaysia. Pray for the the growth of the church in
39:03 KL. Pray for the salvation to our Muslim neighbors. 60% of our population are unsaved,
39:12 right? They're Muslims. Pray for the salvation of unbelieving friends and family, however hard-hearted
39:20 and stubborn they may be. Pray. Pray for the justice of Pastor Raymond Cole and
39:26 his family. Pray for hope and restoration for broken relationships.
39:33 fast and pray for an extended period of time to pray big prayers, impossible
39:41 prayers. And fathers, those of you who fit in
39:46 that category metaphorically, do an audit of your prayer life. That
39:52 will help you to identify really what matters to you most, right? It'll help it'll help you to identify idols perhaps
40:00 in your life. Do you pray for your kingdom or do you pray for his?
40:07 So for example, if you're praying for your career, do you pray, Lord, help me to get that promotion? Lord, help me to
40:14 to increase my salary. Give me favor in the eyes of my employer. I want to climb the corporate ladder and be in a
40:20 managerial role, God. Or do you pray, Father God, give me
40:26 favor in the eyes of my employer, my my superiors and my subordinates so that
40:32 they would see me as a man of integrity, honesty, someone who's hardworking,
40:37 diligent, disciplined, wise, smart, makes good decisions so that when the
40:42 time comes for me to speak to them about you, about godly things, they will
40:48 listen and they won't think that I'm just some fool. Do you pray for your kingdom or do you
40:54 pray for his? When you pray for your ministry, what do you pray for?
40:60 Do you pray, "God, help me to remember everything that I have prepared. Help me not to fumble my
41:06 words. Help me not to stutter, but to have a smooth sermon all the way through."
41:12 Or do you pray, "God, if my weakness up here on stage causes you to have glory,
41:18 causes your glory to shine more brightly, then let it be so. Let me stumble and let me fall. Let all my
41:25 words be stuttered. If it is to your glory, God, I I don't
41:31 care about my ministry because really it's your ministry.
41:38 We just had baby dedication, children dedication. Beautiful.
41:43 When we pray, I don't have any children, so uh I know I'm going to get a lot of flack for this. Um but when you pray for
41:51 your children, do you pray, God, let them be smart, let them be healthy, let
41:58 them make friends in school and be, you know, popular so that they may may lead
42:03 a an independent life one day and be successful in their career. All good prayers, by the way.
42:09 Or do you pray, "Father God, these really are not my children.
42:15 They're yours. They are your children. I've just been commissioned as their
42:20 parent for this time. So help me Lord to bring them up in the fear of the Lord so
42:25 that they would fear you more than they fear anything else or anyone else in all the earth. I pray God that when the time
42:32 comes you would send them to the front lines where the battle is the fiercest
42:38 to fight for your armies to build your kingdom. And if that means they suffer
42:43 and if that means they're persecuted and even if that means I have to bury my own child, God, it'll all be worth it if on
42:49 judgment day I can just overhear you saying to my son, to my daughter, "Well done, good and faithful servant.
42:58 Do you pray for your kingdom or do you pray for his?"
43:06 And here's the funny thing. Uh because although there these three potential applications, you and I both know that
43:15 we're not going to be able to do this, right? We can't do this in and of ourselves. We can try, right? Those of us uh if you
43:24 are disciplined, right? Maybe you'll last two or three weeks, right?
43:29 But for the rest of us normal people will last maybe two or three days because in and of ourselves we have no
43:36 strength, no willpower, no discipline and no love for Christ enough to pray
43:41 like this. We don't have it in and of ourselves. And that's why it's so
43:47 amazing. It's so amazing that we have someone who did pray like
43:54 this and more. I'm talking about Nehemiah. I'm talking about Jesus.
44:00 He not only prayed perfectly, he was the perfect prayer warrior, but he was also
44:07 the perfect man. He lived the perfect life and imparted that perfection onto
44:13 you and onto me. Jesus really is the one who showed us how to pray, right? The
44:19 Lord's Prayer. He showed us how to pray. Jesus was the one who fasted and prayed for 40 days and 40 nights at every
44:26 corner being tempted, being tormented by Satan and his demons. Satan threw
44:32 everything he had at Jesus. And Jesus was the one who lived a
44:38 kingdom minded, kingdom focused life, even if it meant him going to the cross.
44:46 Right? You see, when he went to the cross, though his sovereignty is undeniable,
44:54 he denied it to come down as a son of man because it it had to be an offspring of woman who would crush the head of the
45:01 serpent. Although his goodness is unending for a period of time, there was
45:07 nothing good to be found in Jesus. Because as he hung on the cross, your sin and mine were piled onto him.
45:15 Although his mercy is unrestrained, he will show no mercy by the father,
45:22 but receive the full weight, the full weight of God's judgment, of God's
45:29 wrath, and God's justice, every last drop until it was finished.
45:38 Although God's word is unfailing, although with a word he created the
45:44 universe, and with a word he could have called down 12 legions of angels to
45:50 rescue him. 12 legions of angels, weapons at the
45:56 ready, waiting, watching intently, looking at Jesus's lips, waiting for the slightest
46:03 command or the softest whisper. And in an instant they would have
46:08 annihilated the Roman army. They would have killed the Jewish leaders and took their king off the cross and brought him
46:14 back into the throne of heaven. But Christ gave no such command. He gave no
46:20 such order for the scriptures to be fulfilled.
46:25 Although he was although his glory is unyielding, he yielded it. There was
46:31 nothing glorious about the bloodied, bruised, beaten body of Christ on the
46:37 cross. And though his will is undisputed, he lay his will at the feet of the father
46:44 and said, "Father, your will be done." That is the gospel. That's the good
46:53 news. And we sang about this. Three days later, he rose from the dead. This is good news. And because of the life that
47:01 Jesus lived and imparted onto me, I want to pray the way Nehemiah prays. Right?
47:07 That's where the power lies in and of myself. I can't do it. But through the power of the gospel,
47:14 I can.
47:20 We're gonna we're going to take communion now because at the last supper that uh Jesus had with his disciples, he
47:27 asks them to remember him. Uh so does
47:32 does everyone have the elements? First of all, if anyone does not have the elements, could you just raise your hand
47:37 over there and uh and the ushers will will get you one of the elements. Another one in the corner over there.
47:51 Yeah, I believe there's two at the back there. Yeah,
47:57 cool. Yeah. Can I ask the worship team to come up? Anyone else doesn't have the elements?
48:06 Great. Yeah, might as well. Let's Let's all
48:12 open the elements because I know you all are itching to do it. Let's go ahead open the elements. I hear it.
48:23 Nice. And just hold them there once they're open. Oh, I forgot mine.
48:31 Oh, thank you so much.
48:46 Communion. Communion is an act of worship that we
48:52 as believers partake of. Uh and it's an act of worship that is not to be taken lightly. Uh there's a warning in 1
48:59 Corinthians 11. So then whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy
49:06 manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they
49:12 eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ, eat and
49:18 drink judgment on themselves. So if you're not a Christian, uh I would ask that you just refrain from from taking
49:24 uh the bread and the cup. Uh but if you are, if you are a believer, then let's remember let's remember the gift of
49:32 Jesus, his sacrifice on the cross. Let's just take one minute maybe to to be in
49:37 silence and to to focus in on him.
49:44 [Music]
49:55 [Music]
50:30 I'm going to continue reading from 1 Corinthians 11 verse 23 onwards.
50:36 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you. The Lord Jesus on the
50:42 night he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body which is for
50:49 you. Do this in remembrance of me." Let's take the bread.
51:06 Verse 25. In the same way, after supper, he took the cup, saying, "This cup is
51:11 the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance
51:17 of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Let's take
51:24 up the cup. [Music]
51:30 Father God, we praise you. We worship you.
51:36 We love you, God. We honor you for you are majestic.
51:42 You are holy. You are loving. You are sovereign. You're good. You're merciful. You're faithful
51:50 even though we are so faithless. Help us, Lord, to pray the way Nehemiah
51:55 prayed. Lord, help us to remember your gospel. Thank you, Jesus, for your
52:01 sacrifice on the cross. Thank you for the perfect life that you lived.
52:06 And thank you, Lord, that that has been imparted onto me. You raised on the third day, and you are
52:14 seated on the throne of heaven. And so we praise your holy name.
52:19 Thank you, Jesus. Amen.
