Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20101205.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Nehemiah: Excelling In Leadership In Hard Times
Part II: Heeding Our Strong, Upright Concerns Toward Accomplishing God's Will
(Nehemiah 1:1-2:4a)
  1. Introduction
    1. Philippians 2:12-13 KJV claims we Christians should "work out" our salvation "with fear and trembling," for it is God Who works in us "both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (emphasis ours)
    2. Though we must always watch that we not deceive ourselves into thinking some carnal wish we have is the will of God at work in us, it is yet true that upright motivations are from the Lord, and even deep our upright concerns are in His will, a truth candidly illustrated in Nehemiah 1:1-2:4a as follows:
  2. Heeding Our Strong, Upright Concerns Toward Accomplishing God's Will, Nehemiah 1:1-2:4a.
    1. When Nehemiah first heard from Hanani's report how the people o Israel were in great affliction and reproach from their Gentile neighbors, that Jerusalem's wall was still broken down and its gates burned with fire from the Babylonian invasion that occurred much earlier, he was deeply distressed, Neh. 1:1-4.
    2. Nehemiah claims he responded to this news by sitting down and weeping and mourning for days, and fasting and praying while confessing Israel's sins and asking God for relief for Israel, Nehemiah 1:4-11.
    3. We know from a postexilic prophet who ministered nearly 100 years before Nehemiah served God that Nehemiah's concern had also long been the will of God Himself (as follows):
      1. Zechariah's prophecy that occurred in Israel around 100 years before Nehemiah (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, "Introduction To The Book of Zechariah," p. 1310; Ibid., "Introduction To The Book Of Nehemiah," p. 719) reported how the Preincarnate Lord Jesus Christ, the "Angel of the Lord," interceded for an oppressed nation Israel to God the Father, saying, "O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?" (Zechariah 1:12 KJV; Bible Know. Com., O. T. , p. 1550-1551)
      2. God the Father answered the angel that talked with Zechariah with "kind and comforting words," supportive words of hope and blessing for Israel, Zechariah 1:13 NIV.
      3. Thus, Nehemiah's concern over the oppression Israel still faced before her Gentile foes, a concern that drove him to confess his and Israel's sins for relief and restoration for Israel, was exactly the concerns of the Preincarnate Lord Jesus Christ and of God the Father!
    4. Accordingly, this very strong, upright concern in Nehemiah was remarkably used by God Himself in an unusual event to begin to open the door for the solution to Israel's plight, Nehemiah 2:1-4a:
      1. Nehemiah 2:1 reports the events that open this chapter occurred in the month of Nisan of king Artaxerxes I's twentieth year, four months after Nehemiah had first heard of Jerusalem's plight back in the month of Chisleu of the king's twentieth year, Nehemiah 1:1 with 2:1; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Neh. 2:1.
      2. Thus, the sadness that Nehemiah had first begun to feel four months before had come to weigh so heavily on his heart that his emotion became evident on his face in the king's presence, Neh. 2:2a,b.
      3. This would certainly not have been Nehemiah's intent: in Persia then, a sad face was not tolerated in the king's presence, so the king's comment about his sadness terrified Nehemiah, Nehemiah 2:2b,c.
      4. Nevertheless, aware that God had used his upright concern for Jerusalem as an opportunity to make his concern for the city's welfare known to the king, Nehemiah in faith in God confessed to the king that he had committed the offense of being sad before him, but that he had just cause to do so, Neh. 2:3a.
      5. Clarifying that his sadness had nothing to do with a negative attitude in himself toward the king, Nehemiah hailed the ruler, calling for the king to live forever, but then explained he was sad because the city of his forefathers' graves was laid waste and its gates burned with fire, Nehemiah 2:3.
      6. Though the king could have severely punished Nehemiah for being sad in his presence, God caused the ruler to be sympathetic toward Nehemiah in line with Proverbs 21:1; the king asked Nehemiah what he would request from him toward solving the problem that concerned him, Nehemiah 2:4a.
Lesson: When Nehemiah did not squelch his upright sadness over Jerusalem's oppression in line with God's will, God even USED that sadness to open a door toward resolving Jerusalem's oppressed status!

Application: May we not quench, but acknowledge our strong, upright concerns as being in God's will!