Nehemiah chapter one, reading from verse one. The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, that Hanani, one of my brethren, came with men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, the survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire. So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept and mourned for many days. I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. Now, to begin these talks, it's important we understand the historical setting of the book, the book of Nehemiah, for it's only then that we can understand the spiritual lessons and principles that God wants us to learn from this book of Holy Scripture. The events recorded happened late in Old Testament history and cover about fifteen years from four forty five to four thirty BC. About four hundred years before this, the nation of Israel had been a united kingdom under the kings Saul, David, and Solomon. That, that was about one thousand BC. But after the reign of Solomon, the nation was split into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom called Israel and the southern kingdom called Judah. And the sad story is because both these kingdoms forgot God, he had to allow them to be conquered by foreign powers. The northern kingdom to the Assyrian Empire and the southern kingdom of Judah to the Babylonians in five eighty BC. The last chapter of the Book of Chronicles records how the Babylonian army under Nebuchadnezzar not only conquered Jerusalem, not only conquered Judah by breaking down the walls of Jerusalem and destroying the temple built by Solomon, but also taking the people captive to Babylon. But then, as the prophets had predicted, it wasn't long before Babylon itself was conquered by Persia. And this was when Cyrus, the king of Persia, issued a decree permitting the Jews to return to their homeland, when fifty thousand Jews under the leadership of Zerubbabel returned to reestablish the Jewish state. The book of Ezra tells us about this and how the Jews rebuilt the temple. And then some years later, Ezra himself returned with more of the Jews, and it was Ezra who became the great spiritual leader at that time. Ezra was the man God used to bring the people back to him. However, Jerusalem was still a defenseless city, a city without walls. The walls had been destroyed, and they were still in ruins. And although attempts had been made to rebuild them, all these attempts had failed. In fact, almost one hundred years had passed from the time the Jews first returned from Babylon until Nehemiah returned in four fifty BC. Until Nehemiah, the walls of Jerusalem remained in a state of disrepair, and in those days, a city without walls was a defenseless city. Nehemiah, of course, was a cup bearer to the Persian king Artaxerxes I, and in those days, a cup bearer was a position of great responsibility. At each meal, he tasted the king's wine to make sure it was. But God had put Nehemiah in the king's court as he had put Esther there a generation before. As he had put Joseph in Egypt, and as he had put Daniel in Babylon. When God wants to accomplish a work, he always prepares his workers and puts them in the right place at the right time. And so the book of Nehemiah opens with N- Nehemiah serving King Artaxerxes, and while he's doing this, he ha- hears the sad news of the conditions back in Jerusalem. Probably it was just another day when Nehemiah heard the news, but it turned out to be the turning point in his life. Like large doors, great life-changing events can swing on very small hinges. It was the same for Moses. It was just another day when he saw the burning bush that was not consumed, but it was the day Moses heard the Lord's call to become Israel's greatest leader. It was also just another day when David was called from shepherding the flock to be Israel's anointed king. It was just another day when Peter, Andrew, James, and John were mending their fishing nets, but that was the day Jesus called them to be fishers of men. None of us ever know what God has in mind for us, even as we go about our ordinary duties during the week. So keep your heart open to God's providential leading in your life. Anyway, what did Nehemiah do when he heard the news about the walls of Jerusalem? He sat down to weep and to mourn and to fast and to pray. Yes, God was about to call Nehemiah to full-time service. He was about to call him to lead the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, but Nehemiah's first reaction was to weep and to mourn and to fast and to pray about the situation. So much for background notes. Let's now move to our first doctrinal point. That is to say, what is God teaching us in this passage? That's what I mean by a doctrinal point. What is God teaching us? We read in Romans fifteen verse four, whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. Do you know what that means? It means everything in the Old Testament, including the book of Nehemiah, was written for our learning. So what is God teaching us here? He's teaching us as a believer, Nehemiah saw a job needing to be done and did it. He's teaching us Nehemiah stepped out in faith to lead the people in the rebuilding of the walls around Jerusalem, and that means there are principles here about Christian leadership. That means there are principles here about Christian service. But there's also something else here about the rebuilding of the wall. It pictures the spiritual wall building we need to be doing in our own Christian lives. You say, what do you mean by spiritual wall building? Well, walls speak of strength, they speak of stability. They even speak of separation. Do you hear, do you hear what I'm saying? I'm saying all of us are either in the city or out of the city. There's a wall there. And a city with a wall was a strong city, it could be defended. A city with a wall was also a stable city, it hadn't been built overnight, it was a city known and recognized. A city with, with a wall was also a separated city. There was a clear line of demarcation. But God also wanted Jerusalem to have a wall because his temple was there. Now do you see the spiritual picture? And this is why God wants us to be involved in spiritual wall building. That's why God wants Christians who can defend the faith. Jude three tells us we should earnestly contend for the faith. God wants Christians to be surrounded by walls so they can defend the faith. God also wants us to be stable Christians. Have you ever met Christians who are always needing help and encouragement because there's no stability about them? Spoon-fed Christians, Christians who can't stand on their own two feet. God doesn't want us to be like that. Sure, there are times when we all need the help and encouragement of other Christians, but that should be the exception rather than the rule. God wants us to be stable in our Christian walk so that we can help others. I move around our assemblies in Queensland a great deal, and even further afield at times. And as I visit these assemblies year after year, it's so great, so great to meet up with Christians I've known over the years who are stable Christians. Sometimes, of course, I go to places and I miss some people I once knew, and I have to say, what happened to so and so? And people tell me, oh, they no longer come. They found the demands of their business too much, and they gradually gave everything away. Or sometimes you hear, oh, he felt he should spend more time with his family, and he bought a boat and he began to go fishing, and now you never see them. Or sometimes you hear, oh, they had a problem with some people in the assembly, and rather than face up to the issues, they just stopped coming. Now, there's nothing wrong in attending to the demands of business. There's nothing wrong spending time with your family and going fishing. But when these things take over our lives and we leave God out, there's something wrong with our Christianity. It's the same with people, when people have problems with other people in the church. That shouldn't, shouldn't stop us remembering the Lord. Indeed, some of the finest, most stable Christians I know are men and women who have passed through the deep waters of personal conflict with other Christians, but they have continued to attend the assembly in spite of everything that has happened to them. There's something great about men and women like that. Those Christians have strong spiritual walls. They are Christians who are stable. Then, as we've already seen, walls also speak of separation. That means we're to have strong spiritual walls in the sense we're not worldly Christians. What I'm saying is, do people know you're a Christian? Do you have strong spiritual walls? You've heard the expression, if you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? And spiritual wall building can be applied to us as individuals, to us as families, and to us as assemblies. For we're the temple of the Holy Spirit. And that brings us to our first practical application. It's this. Our first step in spiritual wall building should be to show concern about the situation. Yes, that's what I said. Our first step in spiritual wall building should be to show concern about the situation. We read, when Nehemiah heard about the broken down condition of the walls in Jerusalem, he wept and he mourned and he fasted and he prayed. He was concerned. Do you hear what I'm saying? Before the wall could be rebuilt, there had to be concern. Nehemiah wept and mourned. I wonder, have we come to that? I wonder, have we wept about the broken down condition of our wall? I wonder, have we wept about the haphazard way in which we have our quiet time or our family devotions. I wonder, have we wept about the sad condition of our lives, of our families, or our assemblies? Or have we just talked about it? And notice this weeping and mourning and fasting and praying on the part of Nehemiah was for many days. That means it wasn't just an emotional thing, something he felt for a few moments and then forgot. You know what I mean by that, don't you? That tingling feeling you get when you listen to a challenging sermon, and then in a few hours you forget everything that was said. With Nehemiah, his weeping and mourning and fasting and praying was for many days, and notice he fasted, he gave up food, he sacrificed. There are benefits when you fast. There are benefits when you pray and go without food, but let's think of the principle of fasting here. Some of us need to do more fasting as far as TV is concerned and what we read. So we can read God's word more than we do. Are you concerned about your spiritual walls in relation to that? And then Nehemiah prayed. And you notice he wasn't praying about his health, nor for material prosperity, nor was he praying for good weather. He was praying about the broken down walls in Jerusalem. No wonder God answered. You see, there was real concern here. I wonder, have we ever prayed as Nehemiah prayed? I wonder, are we concerned about the spiritual walls which involve us? Or are we content to live with broken down walls around us. Let's look at verse five, verses five to eleven, And this is Nehemiah's prayer. And I said, I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, you who keep your covenant and mercy with those who love you and observe your commandments, please let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, that you may hear the prayer of your servant, which I pray before you now, day and night, for the children of Israel, your servants. I confess the sins of the children of Israel. We have sinned against you, both my father's house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which you commanded your servant Moses. Here we see Nehemiah's prayer about the physical condition of the wall around Jerusalem and the spiritual condition of the Jewish people. And as we've just seen in this great prayer of concern and confession, Nehemiah makes a specific request. Look at it in verse eleven: Oh Lord, I pray, please let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and let your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Nehemiah is praying he'll be able to talk to this man, and this man was Artaxerxus I, the ruler of the Persian Empire. Nehemiah is praying he'll be able to talk to him so he'll be granted permission to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls around the city. Now, you might say, why doesn't Nehemiah just go and ask the king? Well, there are two reasons why he prayed first, and the first is you just didn't burst into the king's presence when you felt like it. To burst into the presence of a Persian king could have meant death. Remember Esther? Even though she was the Persian king's wife, she didn't dare to go into the king's presence until he held out to her the golden scepter. And that's one reason why Nehemiah didn't budge into the king's presence. The second reason, of course, is Nehemiah, as a believer, prayed about everything. Nehemiah would have prayed even if he was only meeting a small local official. He prayed about everything, and so should we. What is prayer, anyway? Well, a simple definition is just talking with God. When we read scripture, God is speaking to us. When we're praying, we're speaking to God. It's communication, and communication is a two-way affair, and we can talk to God about anything and everything. He's our friend. Not a friend in the sense he's on our level, no, he is God Almighty, and we need to remember that when we pray. That's why biblical praying has definite characteristics, and we see this in the way Nehemiah prayed. So what are the characteristics of true biblical prayer? Well, first, it's characterized by worship. You see that in verse five. Nehemiah prays, I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God. Nehemiah's prayer was characterized by worship, and what is worship? Worship is simply acknowledging who God is and what God does, and addressing that to God himself. That's what worship is. And that's what Nehemiah is doing here. He's worshiping God. He's acknowledging who God is and what God does. The second characteristic of biblical prayer is confession of sin, and we see that in verses six and seven. Nehemiah confesses the sins of the people. He links himself with the sins of the people. Although Nehemiah wasn't personally responsible, he links himself with the problem. He's part of the nation, and he says, we have sinned. He doesn't throw the blame on others. And then there's a third characteristic of biblical prayer. We take God at his word. We see that in verses eight to ten. Nehemiah is basically quoting scripture. You can check this out in Leviticus twenty six and Deuteronomy thirty. He's saying, remember, I pray, the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though some of you were cast, cast out to the furthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather you from there and bring you to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling place for my name. In these verses, Nehemiah is taking God at his word. He's quoting scripture. Look at verse ten: Now these are your servants and your people whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. Nehemiah is putting his faith in God. He's counting on God's promises. He's saying, here we are, Lord. You said if you brought us back, we would not be a laughing stock among the people. Nehemiah is taking God at his word. And then there's a fourth characteristic. Nehemiah asks for things in line with the word of God. We see that in verse eleven. O Lord, I pray, please let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and let your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Nehemiah isn't praying for a promotion in the king's palace. Nehemiah is not praying for something that will be advantage to him. Not that it's wrong to pray for these things, but Nehemiah makes requests in line with the word of God. Although he didn't know exactly what God's will for him was, he did know what God's will was for the nation of Israel. He knew God wanted Israel to be strong. What's the practical, what's the practical application here? It's that we should pray more biblical or more Nehemiah type prayers. You see, so often our prayers are characterized by selfishness. And when we pray selfishly, we don't know what God's will is for the things we're asking. So let's pray more Nehemiah type prayers. Prayers characterized by worship. Prayers characterized by confession of sin. Prayers characterized by taking God at his word, and prayers that are in line with the word of God. When you pray, do you begin your prayer with worship, or do you just jump in and tell God what you want? Lord, I acknowledge who thou art. Thou art holy, thou art eternal, thou art all powerful. Thou art the one who has loved and redeemed us. That's acknowledging God for who he is and what he's done. That's worship. But then our prayers should not only be characterized by worship, but also by confession of sin. Lord, I have sinned. I've had wrong thoughts. I've been proud, I've been selfish, I haven't given credit where credit is due. I've been part of the problem why my assembly is not functioning as it should. So often we blame other things, other people, when we're really part of the problem. So in future, let's pray more Nehemiah-like prayers and admit we're linked with the situation and pray, Lord, we have sinned. But you say, doesn't that put controls on our praying? It does. You see, we can't demand of God that he give us good health or that he will allow us to win when we play sport or something like that. God doesn't guarantee those things. Of course, sometimes in his grace, God does answer our prayers in relation to temporal things. Sometime an answer, sometimes an answer to our prayers, God does give us good health. Sometimes an answer to prayer, God does cure us of sickness. God is a gracious God, and often he does things because he loves us. But he doesn't guarantee these things. But we can pray with confidence about our basic needs, or about our Christian service, because these things are in line with the word of God, and not everything we pray for is. And I'm stressing this because so often we get disappointed because we think God isn't answering our prayers. But that's not because God doesn't hear or because we lack faith. No, it could be because we're not praying in line with God's word. So let's pray more Nehemiah type prayers, prayers that are in line with the will of God, prayers that say, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now, very quickly, chapter two. I've got another five minutes. I might take six or seven, and that's all. Chapter two, Thank you. Chapter two, verse one. And in these verses, we read about God's answer to Nehemiah's prayer. And it came to pass in the months of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I'd never been sad in his presence before. Therefore, the king said to me, why is your face sad because you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart. So I became dreadfully afraid and said to the king, may the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my father's tombs, lies waste and its gates are burned with fire? Then the king said to me, what do you request? So I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said to the king, if it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's tombs, that I may rebuild it. Then the king said to me, the queen also sitting beside him, how long will your journey be, and when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time. Now, in these verses, we see how God answered Nehemiah's prayer, but as we saw in our reading, at first Nehemiah was afraid when the king spoke to him, which may surprise you. You might think, shouldn't Nehemiah, shouldn't Nehemiah have been jumping for joy? Wasn't God answering his prayer? But this in itself was enough to make Nehemiah afraid because you didn't look sad while in the presence of the king of Persia. It could cost you your life. And not only that, the topic of Jerusalem wasn't the kind of topic you brought up in the Persian court, because in Ezra chapter four we read it was Artaxerxes who had stopped the earlier attempts by the Jews to rebuild the wall. And that's why Nehemiah was reluctant to bring up the subject. Nehemiah had prayed about it. And now he places his life on the line and levels with the king, and the king not only listens to Nehemiah, but grants his request. It was a great answer to prayer, so what lesson can we learn from this? There are two, and the first is this. God doesn't always answer our prayers immediately. Did you hear that? God doesn't always answer our prayer. When we compare the date of chapter one and verse one with the date in chapter two verse one in the Jewish calendar, we learn that Nehemiah had been praying for four months about talking to the king. This means it took God four months to answer. Yes, God does answer prayer. And sometimes the answer is yes, and sometimes it's no, and sometimes he puts the answer on hold. Maybe you're praying about something right now, and God isn't answering because he's put his answer on hold, and he has his reasons. Are you getting impatient? Look at Nehemiah, the thing he prayed for was urgent. Imagine praying for four months about something you regard as urgent. And it was urgent, this matter of the defenseless city of Jerusalem. However, God doesn't always answer our prayers immediately because God's timetable is not our timetable. Sometimes it takes a long time for God to answer our prayers. Do you see what I'm saying? But when you wait for God to answer your prayers, you're not wasting your time, you are investing it. God is preparing both you and your circumstances so that his purposes can be accomplished. God's timing is not our timing, but God will always answer your prayers, and when he does, you will s- you will see the reason for his delay. God's timing is always perfect. Now the second doctrinal point. Our short prayers should be backed up by our prayer life. Let me repeat that. Our short prayers should be backed up by our prayer life. In verse four, Nehemiah prayed a very short prayer. Look at what it says. Then the king said to me, what do you request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. It says I prayed to the God of heaven. That prayer of Nehemiah's was one of those quick, silent emergency prayers. You've prayed them, and I've prayed them. Lord, help me now. God answered Nehemiah's quick prayer in an amazing way. But remember, Nehemiah's short prayer was backed up by four months of constant prayer about the state of the walls around Jerusalem. Remember how he wept and fasted and prayed? God will answer our short prayers, but our short prayers should be backed up by our life of prayer. First Thessalonians five seventeen tells us, pray without ceasing. That means our lives should be characterized by prayer. Now the practical application. Well, we don't have time for that. We'll talk about that tonight. It is let us walk through the doors that God opens for us. Let us walk through the doors that God opens for us.