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Nehemiah 2 (Part 1) Bible Study (Nehemiah Sent to Judah) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Let's turn together to the book of Nehemiah, chapter 2.
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  I don't hear pages flipping, so it sounds like you're already
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  there. And if that is the case, why
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  don't we pray one more time? Let's ask God for His help.
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  Father, we have so much to be thankful for.
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  We're so grateful that even in this busy season as a church, we
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  still come to your word. We still come to study and to
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  worship you through the Scriptures.
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  Lord, from the bottom of our hearts, we agree with the
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  psalmist who said, Whom have I in heaven but you?
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  And there is nothing on earth I desire besides you.
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  If we can't say that with full confidence, Lord, and only You
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  know, our hearts satisfy us again.
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  Use every verse unleashed in this Bible study to remind us
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  that You are the fountain of living waters, that every other
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  cistern around us is broken, it's dirty, it's contaminated.
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  It will never satiate. We pray instead that we would
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  drink afresh as we just heard from the wells of salvation, and
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  we would be replenished in our worship, in our adoration, in
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  our awareness of who You are. We ask these things in the name
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  of Jesus, your Son and our Savior.
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  Amen and Amen. One of the greatest thrills of
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  the Christian life is to know that the God and Father of our
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  Lord Jesus Christ is a God who answers prayer.
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  Such an experience, when genuinely realized, will never
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  fail to awaken your understanding and mine of just
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  how personal the Lord is in His dealings with us.
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  Answered prayer carries a unique force to our faith, to our
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  courage, and to our worship, among other things.
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  It was the psalmist who was so moved by this reality that he
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  penned these words in Psalm 116, verse one.
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  I love the Lord because He has heard my voice and my plea for
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  mercy. Hear those words carefully.
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  I love the Lord because He has heard my voice and my plea for
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  mercy. What an astounding admission.
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  And it becomes even more stunning when you are able to
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  testify to it for yourself. Nehemiah is going to experience
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  with the psalmist shared. And this is to our benefit
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  because one of the ways that God encourages us to believe that he
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  is a God who answers prayers by providing us real accounts of
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  his answering of prayers. And that is what is before us in
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  this chapter in our study of the book of Nehemiah.
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  God heard his plea, God heard his voice, and we get to rejoice
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  with him in it. Look quickly here at verse 11 of
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  chapter 1, the last verse of our previous text, and notice what
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  Nehemiah prayed for. O Lord, let your ear be
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  attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of
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  your servants, who delight to fear your name.
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  And give success to your servant today and grant him mercy in the
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  sight of this man. This man being the king of
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  Persia whom Nehemiah served. God is about to grant that very
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  mercy to this man of God. And I want to let you know from
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  the outset that we're going to walk away from this Bible study
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  with more than just a reminder of God's faithfulness in hearing
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  the petitions of His. People.
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  And the only way we will arrive there is if we take our time to
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  walk through these verses and examine the details of this
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  incredible testimony. Of Nehemiah Psalm 116 verse one
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  experience. And the way we're going to do
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  that is by looking at the 1st 8 verses of this chapter together.
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  So let's begin in verse one of Nehemiah chapter 2 in the month
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  of Nissan in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes when wine was
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  before him. I took up the wine and gave it
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  to the king. Now I had not been sad in his
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  presence, and the king said to me, Why is your face sad, seeing
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  you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of
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  the heart, that I was very much afraid.
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  I said to the king, Let the king live forever.
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  Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of my
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  father's graves, lies in ruins and its gates have been
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  destroyed by fire? Then the king said to me.
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  What are you? Requesting so I pray to the God
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  of heaven. And I said to the king, If it
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  pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your
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  sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my
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  father's graves, that I may rebuild it.
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  And the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, How
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  long will you be gone, and when will you return?
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  So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time.
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  And I said to the king, If it pleases the king, that letters
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  be given me to the governors of the province beyond the river.
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  That they may let me pass through until I come to Judah.
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  And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the King's forest,
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  that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the
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  fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for
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  the house that I shall occupy. And the king granted me what I
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  asked for. The good hand of my God was upon
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  me. The chapter begins with a time
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  stamp that we've already explored in our previous study,
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  and it's an important detail because understanding when the
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  answer came for Nehemiah lets us know.
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  How long he had been praying and fasting for?
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  You know this already. I'm sure that in the beginning
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  of this book. We know when the news of
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  Jerusalem's destitution came to Nehemiah, it was in the month of
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  Kislev and the 20th. Year of the King and that
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  corresponds to. November, December.
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  Now we come, and we read in chapter 2 that it was in the
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  month of Nissan where God came. Through for his servant, and
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  that falls between March and April.
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  So four months. Four months of depriving himself
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  of food. Four months of seeking
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  desperately. 4 months of patiently waiting on the Lord.
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  And it makes you wonder, maybe like it did for me, why didn't
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  God answer sooner? There are many reasons why God
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  does not answer our request right away.
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  And Nehemiah's story here in this chapter gives us one other
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  reason, a reason that we often don't think about.
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  Lean in and listen to this. Sometimes there is divine delay
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  to give us time to practically prepare.
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  You see, if the Lord were to open the door that you so
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  desperately want to open at your desired time, it's very possible
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  that you and I would not even be ready to manage the provision.
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  We wouldn't even know what to do with it.
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  In fact, should a door open at the time that we want, we may
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  find ourselves causing. Delay because of a lack of.
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  Preparation and the Lord knows more than we do, and so many
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  times He makes us wait. Nehemiah, on the other hand,
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  shows us that during these four months of fasting and praying,
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  he was also thinking and strategizing.
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  He was contemplating. He was, in a sense, listening,
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  planning. Organizing, wondering the best
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  way to approach this so that when the door would swing open,
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  Nehemiah would be able to run through it.
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  And we know that Nehemiah was preparing himself based on the
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  verses that we just read. Maybe you miss it and that's OK.
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  Look at verse 6 again of Nehemiah chapter 2.
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  And the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, How
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  long will you be gone, and when will you return?
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  So it pleased the king to send. Me when I had given him a time.
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  What does that tell you? Nehemiah knew how long it would
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  take to get there. He thought about how long it
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  would take to get the resources, how long it would take to build
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  the walls, how long it would take for him to come.
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  Back he thought about this. He didn't sit there and
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  thinking, you know what King, to be honest, I didn't even think
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  that you were going to ask me this.
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  And so can you give me like a couple days to just circle back
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  and think about this and talk to some of my friends and you know,
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  I have to send a few letters to to to.
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  He didn't do any of that. Why?
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  Because he already did it. He was prepared much more
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  prepared than we think. Look at verse 7.
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  And I said to the king, If it pleases the king, let letters be
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  given me to the governors of the province beyond the river.
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  That they may let me pass through until I come to Judah.
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  And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the King's Forest,
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  That he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the
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  fortress of the Temple and for the wall of the city, and for
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  the house that I shall occupy. He's he's covering everything.
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  He knows the name of the manager of the King's Forest.
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  He knows the permits that he needs from the government.
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  He knows the materials that anybody used for the gate and
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  for the wall and for the house that he shall occupy.
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  He he has it all figured out. Why?
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  Because while he was praying, he was preparing.
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  Those are not odds against one another.
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  They work together. In fact, let me add this, when
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  you and I prepare while we pray, that in itself is an act of
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  faith. I am getting ready for God to
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  answer this. And so you may be listening to
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  this today and you find yourself in the same predicament as this
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  man of. God, you are patiently and
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  eagerly, consistently waiting on the Lord for something.
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  And here's what I what I want to.
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  Ask you, have you ever considered how you are
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  stewarding this time of waiting? Are you stewarding it well?
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  So you may be asking the Lord for an opportunity to be in
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  ministry. Let me say this in love, what
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  are you doing to be prepared to be the minister?
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  You may be desperately seeking the Lord for a spouse, a husband
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  or wife, and that's a great thing to ask God for.
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  But may I ask what adjustments are you making in order for you
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  to be more suitable for that responsibility?
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  Nehemiah teaches us that any potential frustration that may
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  come with waiting on the Lord can be turned into an investment
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  that will enrich the answer when it finally comes.
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  I think about this church and the season that we are in that
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  we are enjoying together. God answered our prayer.
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  But I can tell you this from behind the scenes.
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  We have been preparing. We have been to the best of our
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  ability. Because as a church, we all
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  believe that God was going to bring us to that next phase.
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  And I can say again with great confidence that we are in a
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  position where we believe that all these years of waiting has
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  been a time that God allowed the cement of the foundation of this
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  ministry to dry so that that next chapter, when it comes, we
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  can hit the. Floor running and we are running
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  a lot. Some guys have back pain because
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  they've been running so much. So we find here something so
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  instrumental about waiting on the Lord.
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  There's so many things that come with that, and one of the things
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  that we need to be mindful of is that the Lord wants us to
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  steward that time well and not waste it so that we can know the
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  answer in a more fulfilling and effective manner.
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  Now as we come to verse two, I was struck by two emotions that
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  are attributed to this man. Look at it again with me and the
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  king said to me, why is your face sad?
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  Seeing you were not sick? This is nothing but sadness of
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  the heart. Then I was very much afraid.
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  Sadness and fear, sadness and fear.
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  Now let's look at these things separately.
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  Why was why was Nehemiah sad? Well, we know, but what can we
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  learn about it? Many things.
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  Let me just present one Nehemiah.
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  Nehemiah's sadness in the setting was actually very
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  dangerous. It was dangerous because history
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  tells us that there was a certain etiquette for the
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  Persian court. And one of.
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  Those things, those rules, was that you could not show yourself
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  to be despondent. You could not show yourself to
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  be grieving because that may be a sign, a signal of disloyalty
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  or dissatisfaction. If you served in the presence of
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  the king, it was your job to make the king happy.
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  You cannot afford to show what Nehemiah is showing here.
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  You could be. Demoted, And depending on the
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  mood of the king, you could even be killed for carrying a frown
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  on your face. In fact, this rule actually
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  shows up in the Book of Esther. It's a neighboring text to
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  Nehemiah. Look at Esther chapter 4 with
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  me, just to confirm this and to understand just how serious
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  Nehemiah's sadness is in this context.
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  Esther chapter 4, Look at verse 1 and 2, when Mordecai learned
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  all that had been done. Mordecai tore his clothes and
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  put on sackcloth and ashes and went out into the midst of the
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  city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry.
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  He went up to the entrance of the King's Gate, for no one was
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  allowed to enter the King's Gate clothed in sackcloth, you see.
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  You can't come into the presence of the king with sadness that
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  can get you killed. And Nehemiah himself shows us he
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  hints at the grave mistake it would have been to appear grief
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  stricken before Arctic Xerxes and what he records at the end
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  of verse one. What does he say at the end of
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  verse one? Now, I had not been sad in His
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  presence. In other words, up to this
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  moment, I've been consistent in concealing my true feelings.
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  I came to work with a smile every single day.
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  I was able to hide it. But on this particular day, the.
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  The sorrow was too severe. It was.
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  It was bubbling. Over and he exposed himself, his
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  face told on him and the cultural background to this.
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  Text help helps us understand why Nehemiah was so afraid when
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  the king began to question his countenance.
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  He understood the risk now. And when I was meditating on
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  this the other night, something struck me.
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  It struck me so deep it caused me to rejoice over my Bible.
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  Unlike Artaxerxes, I serve a king who gives me permission to
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  enter into his presence just as I am.
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  If I'm discouraged, I can go to him.
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  If I'm worried, I can go to him. If I'm angry, I can go to him.
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  If I'm broken, I can go to him. If I'm confused, I can go to
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  him. If I've failed, I can go to him.
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  And I never have to worry if he will be angry with me.
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  Going to him just as I am, I never have to worry if he will
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  demote me. I never have to think if he will
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  kill me. In fact, Hebrews tells us
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  something so wonderful about our priestly king.
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  He sympathizes with our weaknesses.
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  So more than the Lord Jesus being willing to hear us in the
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  state of our heart, He actually feels for us in our frailties.
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  And that's why in the same passage where we learned that in
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  Hebrews 416, we are told, let us with confidence drawn near to
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  the throne of grace. You know that word confidence in
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  your translation? It might read boldness, but in
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  the original, it's something so applicable to our study that
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  word confidence actually means freedom of speech,
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  unreservedness in speech. In other words, go to your king
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  and speak your mind. Open your heart before him.
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  Not only is your Lord infinitely more powerful than Art exerses,
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  he's also incomparably compassionate and more
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  approachable than he is. See, Nehemiah needed permission
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  to speak about what was in his heart.
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  You don't need permission. You can go freely.
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  You can go whenever and how many times you need to go.
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  You know, sometimes we, we have these understandings, these
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  theological understandings of who God is, and they're
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  wonderful, but they're limited unless you really.
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  Meditate. Jesus Christ is King.
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  We hear that, and that causes something to store within us.
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  Yes, Amen. He has authority, He's
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  sovereign. But listen, what kind of king is
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  he? That makes all the difference.
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  He's unlike any other king that history has ever known, and we
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  see it even here. We don't have to cower.
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  We don't have to be sheepish. We can come with boldness before
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  him and all His Majesty and royalty and splendor.
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  We have freedom to speak to him and he welcomes us.
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  He, he doesn't judge us. He sympathizes with us because
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  he came and took on flesh and he experienced temptation, so he
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  knows where we're coming from. This is something so wonderful.
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  We see even Christ being contrasted here to our benefit.
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  Now, although Artaxerxes is so inferior to our Jesus, there is
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  something pleasantly surprising about what he does here in our
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  main text, because in verse 2 we read that he notices that
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  Nehemiah is sad, and so he asks about it.
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  Now, his inquiry into Nehemiah's dejection is not only something
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  for us to consider concerning his discernment, right?
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  He knew that this was a matter of the heart.
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  Nehemiah is not sick, he's heartsick.
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  But there's debate if the king is doing this because he is
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  suspicious. Or if he is caring and it could
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  be a mixture of both, and the sympathy that the king is
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  showing here is unusual. If it is sympathy, again, I
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  believe that it's a mixture. I think that there's different
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  things going on in Artaxerci's mind.
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  He's wondering why does he look different?
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  Nehemiah is about to give him or he gave him wine.
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  Is there something going on here that I don't know about?
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  I'm sure that's part of the the thinking, but at the same time
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  there might be this. Conflict because he knows
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  Nehemiah. We're about to find out that he
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  really admires Nehemiah, and so perhaps he's also wondering, is
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  there something going on? This is intriguing, but it's
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  also instructive because we're not.
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  We're barely 2 chapters into our study, the book of Nehemiah, and
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  already we're learning. We're seeing something being
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  emphasized by the Holy Spirit that there is wonderful God
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  glorifying testimonies that can unfold with this one practice,
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  inquiring about somebody in their pain, you see.
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  How does this story begin? Nehemiah feels for the shame of
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  his brethren back in Jerusalem. And that feeling, that sympathy
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  is going to lead to a revival in Jerusalem.
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  And now you have the king. What is the king doing?
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  He is showing somewhat of a concern for his own servant,
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  Nehemiah, and that is going to lead to the launch of this whole
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  thing. And so even with the king, we
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  have inspiration. Do not underestimate the power
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  of leaning into somebody's brokenness and showing Christ
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  like. Care because there is a ripple.
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  Effect that can ensue. A ripple effect of blessing.
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  You remember what Joseph did. Joseph's story had a turning
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  point when he was the manager of that prison, and he asked why
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  the faces of the Baker and the cupbearer to Pharaoh were
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  hanging low. And that would change the
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  trajectory of. His own life.
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  And so the king asked, why are you?
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  Why are you sad? What is happening here?
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  If these are just some of the things that we can learn about
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  Nehemiah's sadness, but what about his fear?
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  We've already discussed the contextual reason for a sudden
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  dismay, right? He understands that I can be, I
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  can be killed right here and right now.
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  If the king does not have favor towards me, but there's more to
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  learn about his trouble. Was Nehemiah man of God?
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  Absolutely. Did he know the law?
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  He did read his prayer. He quoted Scripture.
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  Was his heart in tune with God's desires?
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  Absolutely. Did he have a high view of God?
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  You better believe it. One of his favorite titles for
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  God is the God of heaven. He repeats that the God of
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  heaven, that you're above everything.
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  In fact, when he was praying to the God of heaven in chapter 1,
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  he saw this same king as just a man, this man, this man.
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  And yet with all of those praiseworthy qualities.
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  Nehemiah is being honest. He experienced real fear,
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  reminding us that any of us can be surprised by temptation, that
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  even the greatest heroes of the faith can know the things that
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  you and I experience on a regular basis, filled with fear.
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  And you wonder, is this a man of faith or what?
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  He is a man of faith, but he's, he's a man and so are you.
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  And at the same time, Nehemiah, admitting here that he was
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  fearful, encourages us how necessary it is to be prepared
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  for the things that we do not suspect to visit us.
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  As much as Nehemiah is visited by this terror, I argue he was
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  ready to face it. Do you know why he was ready to
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  face it? Do you know why he managed it so
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  well? Do you know why that he was able
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  to dig his heels into the ground and face the king?
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  Because he'd been praying for months.
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  He's been seeking God about this very opportunity that was before
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  him. And so I understand how Nehemiah
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  is perceiving this. He understands here that this
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  this is an open door. And though initially he was
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  startled by the question and he understands the risks behind
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  this, potentially, he also knew that this is it.
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  I'm seeing the door open right before me and he.
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  Seized it. Please listen very carefully.
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  There is a preparatory grace that comes with prayer that even
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  though you are not praying about something in the immediate.
• 25:08
  Sense even though you don't know how God is going to answer the
• 25:10
  very thing you're praying for, because you are praying for it,
• 25:13
  you are investing in your future strength and wisdom and grace.
• 25:19
  Because Nehemiah had been saturating himself in the
• 25:21
  presence of the God of heaven, he was able to stand before the
• 25:24
  king in all his intimidation. So prayer in many ways prepares
• 25:32
  us. And because this man had been
• 25:36
  praying, he was ready to squash this fear and actually speak up
• 25:42
  and take advantage of this moment.
• 25:46
  And this is exactly what he will do.
• 25:47
  Look at verse 3 again. Before we look at Nehemiah
• 25:52
  answers the king, you need to be mindful of another factor that
• 25:54
  makes the situation a little bit more complicated for him.
• 25:58
  When we studied Ezra, we learn in chapter 4 verse 21 and 22
• 26:04
  that Artaxerxes had already made a decree that he is not
• 26:07
  interested in seeing the city or the walls of Jerusalem being
• 26:10
  rebuilt. That is the last thing that we
• 26:14
  know about Artaxerxes and his relationship to the idea.
• 26:20
  Of Jerusalem being restored. And Nehemiah was aware of this,
• 26:25
  so you understand. You understand why he is fearful
• 26:28
  here, not just. Because of the protocol of being
• 26:31
  a servant in the presence of the king, but also because of
• 26:34
  Artaxerxes personal opinion about the idea of rebuilding the
• 26:37
  walls. So Nehemiah here not only has to
• 26:42
  explain his sadness and justify it, but he also has to challenge
• 26:48
  Artaxerxes original decree. That's going to be difficult to
• 26:55
  do. But he thought to himself, I
• 26:59
  have no other choice, and that's why he's going to speak with
• 27:04
  wisdom. Look again at verse three.
• 27:06
  I said that the king let the king live forever.
• 27:10
  Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of my
• 27:13
  father's graves, lies in ruins and its gates have been
• 27:16
  destroyed by fire? So when Nehemiah was speaking to
• 27:20
  the Lord about Arctic Xerxes, he called him a man.
• 27:24
  Grammy mercy in the sight of this man.
• 27:27
  But when Nehemiah spoke directly to Arctic Xerxes, he did so with
• 27:33
  dignity and honor. Let the king live forever.
• 27:40
  He was courageous, but he was respectful.
• 27:43
  And if this is just basic social skills, if you and I want our
• 27:49
  request to be heard, do it with respect, especially with people
• 27:54
  in positions of authority. And added to that, if, if we do
• 27:58
  not know how to control our emotions, remember he, he's
• 28:01
  knowing sadness and fear all at the same time.
• 28:05
  If, if we can't subdue our emotions in certain settings, we
• 28:10
  may actually hurt our cause instead of helping it.
• 28:13
  There's a time to be emotional. There's a time when being
• 28:16
  emotional actually will help you.
• 28:17
  And there are times when you need to rein it in and speak
• 28:20
  clearly and directly for the sake of the 'cause that you're
• 28:24
  trying to advocate for. So this man speaks with great
• 28:26
  respect. But secondly, he makes the
• 28:29
  situation personal to try to get the king to relate to his
• 28:33
  distress. Does Nehemiah bring up Jerusalem
• 28:37
  by name? He doesn't.
• 28:40
  Do you know what he does? Instead, he speaks of the city
• 28:46
  as the place of my father's graves.
• 28:51
  He does it twice. Look at verse 5.
• 28:53
  It's right there that you may send me to Judah, to the city of
• 28:56
  my father's graves. What's going on here?
• 29:01
  Nehemiah is going to meet Arctic Zerys at his level.
• 29:08
  He understands that this ruler has his own perspective, an
• 29:12
  unfavorable one, about the history and reputation of
• 29:15
  Jerusalem. Let me remind you just what the
• 29:18
  king thought. I'm going to read to you from
• 29:19
  Ezra 4, the decree that the same king made about Jerusalem.
• 29:24
  Listen carefully in Ezra 4 verse 19, Arctic Zercy says and I made
• 29:28
  a decree and search has been made and it has been found that
• 29:32
  this city from old has risen against kings, and that
• 29:36
  rebellion and sedition have been made in it.
• 29:40
  So you understand that to Arctic Zercy.
• 29:41
  Is Jerusalem synonymous with rebellion and treason?
• 29:47
  Nehemiah knows this, So what does he do?
• 29:51
  He emphasizes the personal aspect of the situation to help
• 29:57
  the king see it from his own eyes, from his own perspective.
• 30:02
  This is where my father's graves are being desecrated.
• 30:06
  We're open and vulnerable to our enemies.
• 30:11
  The king could relate to the respect that we should give to
• 30:15
  the dead now. There is a fine line between
• 30:21
  wisdom and compromise, especially in how we speak to
• 30:26
  the unsaved. Nehemiah is not being
• 30:30
  disingenuous here. He's not being cunning and
• 30:32
  devious, right? He's not trying to manipulate
• 30:34
  the king. He's being helpful.
• 30:37
  And there's a distinction that needs to be made.
• 30:41
  If Nehemiah really wanted to twist the King's arm, if you
• 30:45
  really want to play games with him, then I suppose that he
• 30:49
  would speak about what most concerned the king relating to
• 30:53
  Jerusalem. What was the main concern when
• 30:57
  he was told about the rebuilding back in Ezra 4?
• 31:00
  His officials said, hey, listen, if they rebuild these walls,
• 31:03
  you're going to miss out on tolls, on taxes.
• 31:06
  They're not going to respect you.
• 31:07
  And they're going to gain strength and perhaps get the
• 31:09
  idea of actually rebel. And no king wants that.
• 31:14
  But you know what Nehemiah doesn't do when he asks for
• 31:18
  permission to go back and rebuild the city?
• 31:20
  King, listen, I got to tell you something.
• 31:23
  If you allow this to happen, it's going to boost up your
• 31:25
  tourism. I'm telling you, it's going to
• 31:28
  be wonderful. You're going to get more
• 31:29
  political points, you're going to be popular, people are going
• 31:31
  to love you. He doesn't.
• 31:32
  He doesn't say anything of the sort.
• 31:36
  He's so plain. He's so direct.
• 31:38
  He's actually very honest. The king says.
• 31:41
  What do you want? I want to go back and rebuild
• 31:43
  the city. That's it.
• 31:46
  I want to restore its honor and because of the directness,
• 31:51
  because of how? Obvious and clear this is
• 31:53
  Nehemiah understands that he's going to need a fresh dose of
• 31:56
  boldness. So what does he do after verse
• 31:59
  3? You know very well, but let's
• 32:02
  look at it again. And the king said to me, what
• 32:04
  are you requesting? So I pray to the God of heaven.
• 32:09
  I don't know about you. To me, this is one of the most
• 32:11
  powerful passages in all the Bible about prayer.
• 32:16
  So I pray to the God of heaven. How?
• 32:22
  Where? Here are a few reasons why this
• 32:28
  is so profound. First of all, the location of
• 32:31
  Nehemiah's praying. I don't know how close he was to
• 32:36
  the king. He was definitely standing
• 32:37
  before him. And yet, because of this hidden
• 32:40
  inner cry, Nehemiah in a split second was transported before
• 32:45
  the throne of grace. Nehemiah didn't have time to
• 32:52
  retreat to a room and to ask for a little bit more time to seek
• 32:56
  God for courage. So he prays right there and
• 33:00
  then. And it shows us that God hearing
• 33:05
  us is not dependent upon designated rooms or holy.
• 33:09
  Sites, you can seek him wherever you are.
• 33:16
  And that is precisely what he does here.
• 33:17
  It's his reflex. But secondly, we also realize
• 33:23
  that there is the volume of his prayer and the brevity of it.
• 33:26
  So yes, Nehemiah prays before the king.
• 33:28
  That doesn't dismiss the importance of meeting with the
• 33:30
  Lord for private fellowship, but it also reminds us that we can
• 33:34
  have fellowship with Him anywhere.
• 33:38
  But consider the volume of this prayer.
• 33:40
  Consider how swift it is. It would be hard to imagine that
• 33:44
  Nehemiah, when asked by the king, What are you?
• 33:47
  Requesting that he close his eyes and bent his head and
• 33:50
  murmured beneath his breath. In fact, you get the opposite
• 33:54
  impression that the King didn't even take notice of anything.
• 33:56
  He didn't squint. His eyes, he didn't do anything.
• 33:59
  It was totally internal. Listen to this.
• 34:03
  Nehemiah's praying was slipped between the King's request and
• 34:07
  his response. He was able to tuck it in there.
• 34:13
  And so in total silence in the inner parts of his soul, he
• 34:18
  seeks the Lord. And it's it's.
• 34:21
  Spontaneous and brief, yet warm and sincere.
• 34:26
  And this reflex shows us one of the greatest illustrations of
• 34:30
  the Bible, of what Paul commands us to do, and that is to pray
• 34:32
  without ceasing. This is it.
• 34:34
  You want an illustration of what that looks like?
• 34:36
  It's this. Before you walk into that
• 34:39
  appointment, you, you pray, Lord, give me peace, give me
• 34:44
  grace. When you experience a wonderful
• 34:50
  testimony or when somebody brings you a delightful news of
• 34:55
  some sort, you in that moment, you just, you turn your gaze to
• 34:58
  the Lord with the eyes of your heart, and you thank him for it.
• 35:00
  This is what it looks like to be in constant fellowship with
• 35:02
  Christ. Which brings me to the final
• 35:07
  thought about his praying. And that's the practice of it.
• 35:10
  What you'll find from this moment on in our study of
• 35:11
  Nehemiah is that he will pray just like this on many
• 35:14
  occasions. In fact, there's a total of a
• 35:15
  dozen times, just around a dozen times where Nehemiah is recorded
• 35:19
  seeking the Lord. And most of those times are
• 35:21
  what? Short breaths of prayer.
• 35:24
  One sentence prayers thanking the Lord, Asking the Lord for
• 35:29
  remembrance, Asking the Lord for grace, for for mercy.
• 35:33
  In a moment. And the reason why he does this,
• 35:39
  you know why, is because he believed it was effective.
• 35:41
  And you and I have to believe the same.
• 35:43
  You may not think that that whisper of prayer can be heard
• 35:45
  by God, but every single sigh is heard by God.
• 35:51
  In fact, if you want to do a fascinating Bible study for
• 35:54
  yourself, don't study the long prayers, the recorded prayers,
• 35:57
  the known prayers in the Bible. Look for these kind of prayers,
• 36:02
  the spontaneous, awkward, placed in the moment seekings of God.
• 36:08
  Do you remember Eliezer, Abraham's servant, when he was
• 36:10
  sent by Abraham to find a wife for Isaac?
• 36:13
  Go back to the region of my relatives.
• 36:15
  So he does. He's at the well outside of the
• 36:17
  city. The ladies come, and what does
• 36:19
  he do? The same thing Nehemiah does.
• 36:21
  He prays. God, you're going to have to
• 36:23
  help me here. And he's got camels around him,
• 36:26
  and he's got ladies approaching him, and he's tired after a long
• 36:29
  journey, but he knows how to lift up his heart to the Lord in
• 36:32
  a moment. And God heard that very prayer.
• 36:36
  Come on. Do you talk to the Lord
• 36:37
  throughout the day? Why not?
• 36:39
  Why not? Let me challenge you?
• 36:42
  If we have an ending unbroken access to the mercy seat, why
• 36:47
  not visit it frequently? Why not take everything to the
• 36:53
  Lord, from the car to the building, Talk to him from the
• 37:00
  grocery aisles to the cashier, Talk to him in any place.
• 37:03
  In every place, speak to the Lord.
• 37:07
  But I will say. This in order for these short
• 37:09
  spontaneous prayers to be effective, it has to be based on
• 37:13
  intentional time with the Lord in in private in many ways.
• 37:19
  This should encourage us that we can pray short prayers at any
• 37:21
  time. But that should.
• 37:23
  Never substitute intentional focus time with Christ in the
• 37:30
  same way no spouse would allow for.
• 37:33
  Somebody to remain in contact with them in brief text only.
• 37:39
  Those texts with your husband throughout the day are nice,
• 37:42
  they can be sweet and they can keep you connected.
• 37:44
  But I should never replace eye to eye, face to face
• 37:48
  relationship. Nehemiah chapter 1 sought God
• 37:54
  spent time with God and I make the case that that is what made
• 37:59
  these moments of prayer more effective.
• 38:04
  So he seeks the Lord and what happens?
• 38:09
  An interesting detail is added in verse 6.
• 38:11
  And the king said to me, look at what's in parenthesis here, the
• 38:14
  queen sitting beside him. Why does that matter?
• 38:21
  This is the only time the queen appears in this narrative, and
• 38:25
  for whatever reason, the Holy Spirit, through Nehemiah wants
• 38:27
  to let us know that when he was interacting with the king, the
• 38:31
  queen was sitting beside the king.
• 38:35
  One possible reason for the mention is that Nehemiah
• 38:38
  observes something as he engaged with the king, that the King's
• 38:44
  openness to Nehemiah perhaps was influenced by the presence of
• 38:50
  the queen. If a man is humble enough, the
• 38:57
  presence of a woman that he loves can make him tender, at
• 39:03
  least a little bit more tender, especially with others who are
• 39:07
  in pain. Women have a more compassionate
• 39:14
  wiring than men do. And I think what Nehemiah is
• 39:18
  doing here is that he's signaling to us that he
• 39:20
  recognizes A providential grace in this very moment, that God so
• 39:24
  set this stage that he even identifies the presence of the
• 39:28
  queen right there, right now as a gift from God.
• 39:35
  Nehemiah was able to perceive God's Providence in the things
• 39:38
  that the average person would miss.
• 39:42
  So I read that and I think to myself, Lord, I want to be able
• 39:44
  to see that your fingerprints in as many places as possible.
• 39:48
  He was able to see that the queen is sitting beside him.
• 39:51
  That clearly is a key piece to this whole thing unfolding.
• 39:56
  And by the end of the section you read it, he knows that it's
• 39:58
  all God. But that doesn't mean that the
• 40:04
  king did not have a positive opinion about Nehemiah.
• 40:06
  Read again his question in verse 6.
• 40:09
  How long will you be gone and when will you return?
• 40:15
  So there's an openness. Now the king is actually
• 40:17
  entertaining this. But you know what moves me about
• 40:21
  this question? The king wants Nehemiah to come
• 40:25
  back. I'm willing to let you go, but I
• 40:30
  want to know when can you come back to your post?
• 40:32
  What does that say about Nehemiah?
• 40:35
  It says something about his integrity.
• 40:37
  It says something about his competence, This king who had
• 40:41
  the resources of the world, saw the value of this one man, and
• 40:45
  he didn't want to lose him. He didn't want him to travel
• 40:48
  indefinitely. I need to know that this is all
• 40:51
  planned out and I'm going to see you again.
• 40:57
  You know as much as the New Testament prepares Christians.
• 40:59
  To be hated by the world because of our faith, our character, our
• 41:07
  work ethic, our trustworthiness should make people despising us
• 41:15
  a lot more difficult. There are some Christians who
• 41:21
  believe they are being persecuted because of their
• 41:22
  relationship with Christ, when in reality they're just
• 41:26
  unpleasant to be around. They show up to work late all
• 41:31
  the time. They murmur and complain like
• 41:36
  there wasn't a God sitting in a throne in heaven.
• 41:42
  For whatever reason. They're rude and demanding and
• 41:49
  they think they're being persecuted, and that's not
• 41:52
  really what's happening. That should not be.
• 41:57
  Nehemiah inspires us. This king who didn't worship his
• 42:01
  God, who had his own agenda, his own interests, who like many
• 42:05
  other kings believed he was the king of the universe, liked
• 42:08
  being around Nehemiah and was. There's something about
• 42:13
  Nehemiah's, again, his character.
• 42:15
  There was something about his his convictions.
• 42:19
  There was something about his behavior.
• 42:20
  There was something about his attitude that made him an asset.
• 42:27
  Believer. Listen, no matter what setting
• 42:29
  you find yourself in, by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the
• 42:33
  things that we know from this book, we should be an added
• 42:36
  blessing, not a burden. We.
• 42:40
  We should give people a reason to rejoice even if they disagree
• 42:45
  with you. And they may hate you no matter
• 42:47
  what. That's fine.
• 42:48
  But let them hate. You because of what you believe,
• 42:50
  not because of how you behave. It was.
• 42:55
  Peter, who told the believers, Let your conduct in first.
• 42:57
  Peter 212 Let your conduct be honorable in the sight of the
• 43:01
  Gentiles, so that in seeing your deeds they may glorify God in
• 43:06
  the day of visitation. In seeing your deeds, not
• 43:12
  hearing your arguments for why Christianity is the true faith.
• 43:15
  I'm not saying that you can't do that.
• 43:16
  We need to do that. We need to preach the gospel
• 43:18
  with words, absolutely. But Peter shows us a part that
• 43:22
  we sometimes miss. People watch.
• 43:25
  They watch. They see the king work with
• 43:31
  Nehemiah long enough to know when, when are you coming back?
• 43:35
  If I let you go, That's a wonderful thing to have.
• 43:38
  That's a wonderful. Testimony that we should strive
• 43:40
  for and it requires practical Christianity it.
• 43:47
  Requires real life, day-to-day efforts.
• 43:52
  And intentionality with how we engage and how we respond and
• 43:56
  what we do with what we've been entrusted with, all of that
• 43:58
  matters if we really want to be ambassadors of Christ.
• 44:02
  Again, our goal is not to be liked by everybody.
• 44:05
  I wear the badge of Christ, and so do you.
• 44:11
  And so I I want to be like this man in that should I leave a
• 44:16
  place, people will feel it because the fragrance of Christ
• 44:21
  is upon me and upon you. Nehemiah gives him a time.
• 44:27
  We don't know how long he said he would be gone for, but
• 44:30
  Nehemiah is going to take advantage of this.
• 44:32
  He realizes the king is for me. So what does he do in verse 7?
• 44:36
  And I said that the king give, it pleases the king.
• 44:38
  Let letters be given to the governors of the province beyond
• 44:41
  the river. That they may let me.
• 44:42
  Pass through until I come to Judah.
• 44:43
  And the letter to ASA, the keep of the King's Forest, that he
• 44:46
  may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of
• 44:48
  the Temple and the wall. You can tell that he's been
• 44:51
  balling all this up inside, right?
• 44:52
  It just it spills out. I need it all.
• 44:58
  And I love how this section ends.
• 45:02
  And the king granted me what I asked for.
• 45:05
  The good hand of my God was upon me.
• 45:11
  You know, Nehemiah wants to make sure that none of us conclude
• 45:15
  that he was successful and received the favourable response
• 45:18
  because of his cleverness, because he didn't mention
• 45:22
  Jerusalem, he was sensitive. It wasn't because of that.
• 45:29
  He didn't highlight the King's generosity.
• 45:30
  He didn't even emphasize about the Queen's presence, for that
• 45:34
  matter. Right away, in the same breath
• 45:38
  where he tells us that the king granted them what he asked, he
• 45:42
  points us to the God who made it happen.
• 45:51
  At the same time, you cannot dismiss that God's hand moved
• 45:57
  upon the King's heart because Nehemiah had been on his knees,
• 46:02
  he had been seeking God. Prayer can move the hearts of
• 46:07
  kings. The power prayer is seen.
• 46:12
  And that it unravelled all the slander that had been made
• 46:18
  against Jerusalem and convinced our Xerxes.
• 46:22
  It dismantled that. Think about it this way.
• 46:26
  One man's private praying changed a royal decree.
• 46:35
  There's power here. Real power.
• 46:39
  So why are we hesitant to pray? And I'm sure that we can collect
• 46:44
  all our reasons if we're honest enough, but all of those excuses
• 46:48
  shatter under the weight of this truth.
• 46:50
  God can move the hearts of kings on behalf of his people,
• 46:53
  especially praying people. So as you know, I not only study
• 47:00
  and meditate for Friday nights in the book of Nehemiah, at
• 47:02
  least in this season, but we're in the Book of Revelation.
• 47:05
  And I stumbled upon something in Revelation 17, the very text
• 47:08
  that we're looking at this Sunday, although not the verses
• 47:10
  that I'm about to show you. And it's amazing how sometimes
• 47:13
  you study one thing and you think it's totally unrelated,
• 47:16
  and then God just reminds you how every part of His word is
• 47:20
  married to each other. Look at Revelation 17.
• 47:28
  It really puts an exclamation point to this thought.
• 47:31
  And Revelation 17, which is our final text tonight.
• 47:36
  Notice what John says about A. Whole different thing about
• 47:40
  prophecy, about kings to come. About the end of the world, but
• 47:46
  one truth remains the same. Revelation 17 verse 16.
• 47:50
  And the 10 horns that you saw. This is John receiving
• 47:54
  explanation for the vision that he had received.
• 47:56
  And the 10 horns that you saw? What?
• 47:58
  Horns. Literal horns?
• 47:59
  No. Earlier we read that the horns
• 48:01
  represent kings. 10 kings and the 10 horns that you saw.
• 48:06
  They and the beast will hate the prostitute.
• 48:09
  They will make her desolate and naked and devour her flesh and
• 48:13
  burn her up with fire. You might be wondering what what
• 48:16
  is going on here. Just wait till Sunday.
• 48:19
  You'll know that this is not about an actual prostitute.
• 48:21
  That's a symbol for something else.
• 48:23
  We're talking about systems in the world, we're talking about
• 48:25
  institutions. 10 Kings turn on the prostitute, which represents
• 48:31
  something very powerful in the last days.
• 48:34
  But notice why they turned on her?
• 48:37
  Verse 17 For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his
• 48:44
  purpose by being of one mind and handing over the royal power to
• 48:48
  the beast until the words of God are fulfilled.
• 48:52
  Why did they do this? Because God put it in their
• 48:55
  hearts. There's no mention of prayer
• 48:59
  here, but we go to Nehemiah and we learn something that Nehemiah
• 49:04
  praying to God move God to put something in Arctic Xerxes heart
• 49:13
  and more than that. Here's a different Ephesus in
• 49:15
  Revelation, the very text that we just read.
• 49:18
  God put it into the hearts of how many kings 10 when at the
• 49:23
  same time any king at any time, no matter the amount God can do
• 49:32
  something in their hearts for his purpose and for the good of
• 49:35
  his people. So why do we hesitate to pray?
• 49:38
  Here's how I'm going to end very simply, very, very, very
• 49:41
  applicably. What obstacle stands before you
• 49:45
  today? What difficult person is a
• 49:51
  challenge to what you want to see God do?
• 49:54
  Is it a spouse? Is it a Christian friend?
• 50:03
  Is it a godless employer? Do you believe that God can
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  touch their hearts? If not, what do you do with
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  this? And I think the reason why we
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  don't see God do what he can do in prayer is because we don't
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  invest in prayer enough for Him to do it.
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  We give up way too easily, and yet God and His kindness uses
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  Bible studies like this to get us back to our knees to seek Him
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  until He does something. You know what?
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  So many things move me about this man, So many things.
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  One of the things that stir me is that four months pass and his
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  sorrow is not depleting, It's getting stronger.
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  Do you see? That for months he was able to
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  hide it, but at the four month mark he could no longer hide it.
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  It showed up showing it was intensifying.
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  That is not the pattern when it comes to our concern for the
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  things of God, but I look at. This and I choose to be among
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  those who interpret the Bible in the following way.
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  Lord, if you did it in this man Nehemiah, who is flesh.
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  And blood just like me. He knows fear, he knows
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  temptation. So do I, I'm not just going to
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  relate to him in his temptation. I want to relate to him in his
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  victory. Listen, so many Christians study
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  the Bible with that one-dimensional view.
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  Let me come to the Bible to see that even people in the Bible
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  failed like I failed. OK, that's great, but what about
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  their successes? So many Bible studies are just
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  us comforting ourselves and patting ourselves on the back
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  saying, you know, David failed, so we failed and God is
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  merciful. That's wonderful.
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  But David was a worship man. David was a man who knew how to
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  give God his complete heart. Why don't we emphasize that as
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  much Nehemiah? He was a man who had great fear.
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  Yes, he had man who He was a man with great weaknesses, but he
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  was also a praying man. Why don't we emphasize the fact
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  that he prayed? So I should be able to pray just
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  as much. That's a good place to end, I
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  think, to allow these truths to engage our faith and to move us
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  until we say, Lord, I want to choose to believe this and ask
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  you to do it in me, and he's able to do it.
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  So what stands before you today? Do you have enough faith tonight
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  to give God a breath? I say, Lord, I choose to believe
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  you with all of me that you can do something about this and I
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  just offer it here because you're being stirred
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  emotionally. But to take it home with you and
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  say I have nothing to lose. I have nothing to lose.
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  I'm going to give this to the Lord until he comes through and
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  I'm going to plan for it while I wait.
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  And you might have your own Psalm 116 verse one experience.
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  I love the Lord because He has heard my voice and my plea for
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  mercy. But we thank you that you're a
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  God who hears prayers. You know what is burdening us.
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  But Lord, you were so kind to remind us the kind of God that
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  you are. And Lord, tonight we remember
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  that you are not like Arctic Xerxes.
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  We don't have to wonder what kind of mood you are in today.
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  You were the same yesterday, today, and forever.
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  And so that we come to you. We believe that you are and that
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  you reward those who diligently seek you.
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  So we come to you as a church. And Lord, we ask that You make
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  us a praying church. May the prayer meeting of NBC
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  never die. And Lord, may our own prayer
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  lives come back to life again. Maybe know the beauty of praying
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  in private, but also praying throughout the day, inviting you
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  into everything, remaining in contact with you and reaping all
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  the benefits that come with that.
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  So Lord, if there's anything that's going to be reinforced as
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  a result of the study, may be how we seek you in all things.
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  We love you Lord, and we honor you tonight in Jesus name, Amen.
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  Listen, if this, if this touched you in a certain way where you
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  want to speak to the Lord, stay seated, talk to the Lord,
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  commune with him, just offer yourself to him.
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  If you want to stand and sing and rejoice over the truths that
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  you heard, you can do that as well.
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  But let's engage with the Lord, at least engage with the Lord.
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  If you want to stand, you can do that.
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  If you want to sit, you can do that as well.