author: Ryan Hayden Take your Bibles with me and turn to Nehemiah 1. Nehemiah 1. We are going to continue with our little series through Ezra and Nehemiah and now we are looking at the book of Nehemiah.

We are covering these books together because they are all part of the same period of Israel's history and because originally, they were one book. They are meant to go together.

So far, in Ezra, we have seen two leaders perform two different tasks:

• The first leader, Zerubabbel, led the original group of exiles back to Jerusalem and then, after a long delay, rebuilt the Temple. That covers the first half of the book of Ezra.
• The second leader, Ezra, led a second smaller group back to Israel, helped restore the temple and the worship of the people. Ezra came at least forty years after Zerubabbel.

And now, we are going to see a third leader - Nehemiah - who is going to come and restore the walls around Jerusalem.

Nehemiah was a contemporary of Ezra. They absolutely knew each other. In fact, both of them are characters in this book. But this event in Nehemiah takes place 12 years or so after the end of the book of Ezra.

Are you in Nehemiah 1? Let's go ahead and read the first few verses:

[!bible] Nehemiah 1:1-2 - KJV

1. The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,
2. That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

Ok, so Nehemiah is working in the the palace of Artaxerxes. We find out at the end of the chapter that he is the king's cup bearer.

Now, that might not sound very important to you. But that actually tells us a lot about Nehemiah. You see, it was very common with kings to pick very successful and educated people to be their servants and advisors.

Nehemiah's job wasn't just to walk around and carry the king's cup. His job was to walk around and carry the king's cup and give the king advice. This would have been a very sought after and successful position. A position of power and prestige.

So Nehemiah is working in the palace and his brother comes back from a trip to Israel. You can imagine how that would go, right?

When you get together with your brothers after a trip you are likely going to ask "What was it like?" If it is somewhere exotic you are going to want details. Well in this case, it was Jerusalem - a four month journey from where they were - and it was likely that Nehemiah had never been there.

But as a jew, it was a special place. He would have heard from his parents how beautiful the city was. It was the city of David. He would have known the different prophecies about the city.

So he asks "What is it like? Is it as beautiful as we heard? How are the exiles doing?"

Only Nehemiah wasn't ready for the answer. Because it wasn't good news. Look at verse 3:

[!bible] Nehemiah 1:3 - KJV 3. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

Here is what he heard: "It's sad Nehemiah. It's real sad. Jerusalem is rubble. It's barely even a city. They walls are broken down. They can't defend themselves. The people there are dejected. It's sad."

One preacher put it like this "The work of God is paralyzed and the people of God are demoralized."

Jerusalem is in a bad way. And this bothered Nehemiah. It bothered him a lot. Look at verse 4:

[!bible] Nehemiah 1:4 - KJV 4. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

This news of the state of Jerusalem bothered Nehemiah so much that it knocked him off his feet. It brought him into a state of mourning and depression. Ultimately, this burden caused Nehemiah to start praying to God.

So let's read Nehemiah's prayer in the rest of the chapter:

[!bible] Nehemiah 1:5-11 - KJV 5. And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: 6. Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned. 7. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses. 8. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: 9. But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. 10. Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. 11. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer.

We are going to see God do great things through Nehemiah in this chapter. He was the catalyst God used to get things done.

Listen, the people in Jerusalem were in a sad state, but they seemed to be ok with that. They certainly weren't acting to fix their problems. They were being taken advantage of by the local populations. They were spiritually dead. They seem to have just accepted the situation and thought that that was just the way things were going to be.

And that would have never changed without God raising up a leader. This is how God works. This is how God get's his work done. There has to be a leader who steps up to the plate when everyone else is ok with just going along.

We've seen this twice already in Ezra. Without Zerubabbel there would have been no Temple. Without Ezra there would have been no second return and restoration of worship.

And without Nehemiah, the walls would have stayed in shambles and the people would have been barely getting by.

• Somebody had to attempt the impossible.
• Somebody had to stand up to the opposition.
• Somebody had to get things moving when they were very happy standing still.
• Then that somebody had to persist through resistance and opposition.

Hudson Taylor is famous for saying:

"There are three stages to every great work of God: first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done."

But you don't move from stage one to two without some leader being raised up to do it.

Nehemiah was that leader. He heard this news and it turned into a great burden.

Now, I want to show you seven things about Nehemiah tonight we see in this chapter.

First...

1. He had a burden bigger than himself which he brought to God.

He looked at God's people and God's city in dissaray and he thought "This isn't right. This isn't how it should be. Something needs to be done about this."

Now, Nehemiah was successful. Nehemiah was no doubt comfortable. He could have lived out the rest of his life as a cup bearer in the palace and it would have been a big life. But this burden came from God.

He was burdened by the sad state of God's people and the sad testimony of God's city. And that burden first led him to prayer.

Second...

2. He acknowledged Israel's problems to God.

Look at verses 6-7 again. Nehemiah spends two long verses just acknowledging the sin and failures of Israel.

Even though he had likely never been to Jerusalem - he takes the failures of God's people personally. He acknowledges his own sin.

He didn't come to God and say "This needs to be done and I'm the one to do it!" He came in humility and contrition, knowing that the only way this would work is if God is behind it.

But I want you to notice what Nehemiah does next in his prayer. I think this is great. Look at verse 8:

[!bible] Nehemiah 1:8-9 - KJV 8. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: 9. But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

The third thing I want you to see that Nehemiah did here is...

3. He claimed the promises of God.

Nehemiah is basically quoting the scripture back to God here. He is saying "God you said that if your people come back to you, you would gather them to the place you have chosen." That place is Jerusalem God, and it is in shambles.

I think we probably should quote God's promises back to Him in prayer more often.

That would encourage us but it also will move the hand of God.

So Nehemiah:

• had this burden he brought to God
• started by acknowledging his sins
• claimed God's promises

Look at the fourth thing:

4. He held up the people of God.

Look at verse 10. Nehemiah says "Now these are thy servants and thy people."

Nehemiah is reminding God that these people are tied to Him. That they are tied to His name. That He has saved them and redeemed them.

It's almost like Nehemiah is saying to God "These people are your responsibility God - please take care of them."

So I want you to see the key parts of Nehemiah's prayer:

• It was specific
• It was reverential
• It started with confession
• It claimed God's promises
• It reminded God that these were His people

Before I say anything else - I believe God would help us see more done for Him if we came to Him in prayer and asked.

We have not because we ask not. And when we do ask, we don't ask with any kind of boldness. We don't remind God of His promises.

I want to challenge you to pray like this. I'm challenging myself to pray like this.

Now, let's see a few other things we can learn about Nehemiah's prayers here. There are four more points I want to bring out.

Number 5...

5. He gathered other prayers.

Look at verse 11. He says "O lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants."

Do you know what that indicates? That Nehemiah wasn't praying along. He got help. He enlisted other prayer warriors.

If we really have a burden, we should enlist others to pray.

Let's look at a six thing we can learn from Nehemiah's example:

6. He kept persisting in prayer to God.

Look at verse 1 it says "in the month Chisleu." If you look at chapter 2 verse one, it says "in the month Nisan."

I looked this up. Nehemiah started praying in November and kept praying through march. This wasn't a one time prayer. This was an ongoing burden of his heart.

He he persisted. He asked and kept asking. Seeked and kept seeking. Knocked and kept knocking. He kept bringing this burden to God.

But he didn't stop there. At the end of verse 11 Nehemiah prays "and grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the kings cup bearer."

The seventh thing we can learn from this prayer is...

7. He volunteered to be part of the solution for God.

Nehemiah didn't just pray that God would send someone else. He determined he would do His part. He was the king's cup bearer. He had unique access to the king. When the time was right, he was going to ask the king to help with this burden. He was going to stick himself out there.

It's a good thing to pray that God would send laborers into His harvest, but its' a better thing to volunteer. That's what Nehemiah did here.

Conclusion

Let's wrap this up by reviewing Nehemiah's prayer:

1. He carried a burden bigger than himself to God.
2. He acknowledged Israel's problems to God.
3. He claimed the promises of God.
4. He held up the people of God.
5. He gathered other prayers.
6. He persisted in prayer to God.
7. He volunteered to be part of the solution.

Imagine what we could see God do if we took this as a recipe for our own prayer life.

James said The effectual fervant prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

This is an example of an effectual fervant prayer. I want to see God do something.

How about this? How about we stop whining about how bad off God's people are, and follow Nehemiah's example.

Let's stand for prayer.