This is Monica Parrott speaking at the request of friends in Queensland on the subject of
Nehemiah chapters 1 to 4 and their relation to the present situation in what we would
call for convenience sake, Populantism. Populantism is really a name for those who stand for God's
and against error. Ever since Genesis 3.15, when God deferred war on Satan, the battle
has been raging between the pro-God forces and the anti-God forces.
Nehemiah was a prisoner of war and had risen to a good position in the land of his captivity.
He could have decided to content himself in the land of his captors and forget his homeland.
But his homeland was also the place of God's appointed meeting with his people and to be
banished from it meant to be cut off from the temple worship and all that that meant.
Nehemiah never ceased to desire the welfare of his God's people and God's houses. When
his kinsman Hananiah visited him, he eagerly inquired about the conditions in Jerusalem
and the people of Israel. The sad news that he heard was that the people were oppressed,
the city was in ruins, the walls were broken down and the gates were burned with fire.
No protection or defense, wide open for any enemy to enter in, full of rubbish and rubble.
What a picture of the professing Christian Church of today. Truth has fallen down, errors
docked the land. We lock our doors and gates to keep out thieves and robbers. But with
walls and gates gone, any enemy can trample on the sacred food unchallenged. Thank God
there are those who raise a voice. We thank God for Archbishop Lones and his stand has
flattened the heart of all believers by his fierce statement for truth against error.
The sand was sorely needed as many are compromising or at the least silent. Nehemiah's reaction
to the sad news was first and that he wept with sorrow. His heart was so touched that
the tears welled up in his eyes. I wonder have we ever felt the condition of our people
and of the Church of Jesus Christ at this time enough to bring tears to our eyes. Then
he didn't stop at just weeping, he prayed. Trouble and anxiety and sorrow are always
to send us straight running into our loving Heavenly Father's arms, running to our Savior
and pleading his covenant blessings. He then confessed the sin of his people and you know
that he included himself in the confession. He said, I and my Father's house have sinned.
He didn't say, oh God these people have been so wicked this has come upon them for their
sins. But he said, I and my Father's house have sinned. It should make us think that
we too must share some blame for the condition of our fears today. If we had been as faithful
as we ought to have been as believers, things wouldn't be just as bad as they are. So we
must share in the condemnation so that we might share in the forgiveness and in the
blessing. He prays, compressing the sin of his people and including himself in the confession.
Then he reminds God of his gracious promises. He says, remember I beseech thee the word
that thou commandest thy servant Moses. And if you read in Deuteronomy chapter 4 verses
36 to 30 and in Leviticus 33 to 46, you'll find where God, after warning his people of
the terrible things that would happen to them if they departed from them, holds out a promise
that if they repent and turn again to him, he will hear and he will forgive their sins.
And so now we find Nehemiah pleading this promise. For four months Nehemiah weighs
and prays up the situation, constantly thinking and praying about it till he can no longer
conceal his sorrow from the king. It was in the month of Chislo that was in the ninth
month that his cousin came to him and told him the sad news. And now we find in the month
of Nisan, which is the first month he speaks to the king about this matter. Rather the
king speaks to him. Now we must remember that in those days this was as much as a man's
life was worth to be seen sad. It was a sad confidence for the king's presence. Kings
in those days had absolute power. And you come before the king with a mournful look
on your face, you could have your head chopped off. And so it's no wonder that Nehemiah
feared gracely when the king asked him why he was sad. Evidently Nehemiah's life had
been such an example to the king that the king had learned to admire and respect him
and to love him. And so the king was concerned when he showed a sad confidence. It was because
of this power of the king that Mordecai, when he dressed in mourning, greatly troubled
Esther. She was afraid of what would happen to him. And she sent immediately with souls
to dress him properly. But he refused to be dressed properly because he was mourning over
the terrible conditions of Israel. But he took his life in his hands when he went into
the king's courtyard dressed in sackcloth and ashes. And so we read when the king spoke
to Nehemiah, the king said, why is thy countenance bad, seeing the dark not stick? This is nothing
else but sorrow of heart. Then was I sore of faith, says Nehemiah. And when we know
the conditions, we're not surprised. And I said unto the king, let the king live forever.
Why should not my countenance be sad, that the city, the place of my father's sepulchres,
lie at waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? The king said, for what does thou
make of that? And Nehemiah said, so I prayed to God, to the God of heaven, and I said unto
the king. Now I love this in Nehemiah. You come across this several times in this book
of Nehemiah, I think we call these ejaculatory prayers. He seems to have always kept in vital
contact with God, like we get into a taxi and we see the taxi man talk through the mouthpiece
to their headquarters. It always reminds me of this. Nehemiah was like that with God.
At any moment he would turn and shoot up a little radio message to God. I said to the
king, I prayed to my God, and I said to the king, all in one breath. Now this is a good
thing for us to learn, to live our lives like this. You pick up a pen to write a letter,
stop and say, now Lord, help me with this letter. Give me wisdom and guidance. You're
going to open a letter. Before you open it, say, Lord, just give me wisdom and guidance.
You could take quite the wrong meaning out of that letter. And it might make a great
difference in many people's lives and circumstances if you took the wrong meaning out of that
letter. And knock, come see your door, on your way to open the door. Now, Lord, be with
me. And with this person that's coming into my home, let this person know that you're
here to meet and to greet them. If we live our lives like this, we'll be living them
like Nehemiah, who learned the secret of just immediately casting his burden upon the Lord.
Well then, when the king heard the story, he said, well, what do you make request? And
Nehemiah evidently requested twelve years leave of absence so that he might go and fill
the wall and set things in order. And the king granted him this. And he went away to
the land of Israel. And we find him now in verse 9, we read, and I came to the governors
beyond the river. This is verse 9 of chapter 2. I came to the governors beyond the river
and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen
with me. When some valet Aharonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it
read them exceedingly that there was a man come to seek the welfare of the children of
Israel. This is always the situation when we take a stand for God or move in a direction
to do something in connection with God's work. Hell is stirred up. The devil is stirred.
The enemies of the gospel hate to see the children of God standing up for the things
of God. And big bullies are always cowards. Up to this time these enemies of God could
treat the people of Israel just how they liked. Rather like the early penal settlement here
in Australia where army officers and soldiers, if they were unkind in their hearts, they
could do practically what they liked to the poor convicts because there was nobody to
fight their case for them. They were absolutely at their mercy. And this is what the devil
loved to do, to get people at his mercy. And now Nehemiah had come to defend these people
and to build up this city. But he as yet didn't tell what was in his heart. And he says in
verse 13 and verse 12, And I rose up at night, I and some few men with me. Neither told I
any man what God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem. Neither was there any beast
with me save the beast that I rode upon. And I went out by night by the gate of the valley
even before the dragon well to the dung port and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were
broken down and the gates that half consumed with fire. It was a sad night for Nehemiah.
He went over all the old familiar spots and he saw nothing but ruin and destruction. And
you know when I went back to England, it was a sad thing to me to look at churches that
at one time had been packed with eager, earnest worshippers with a fine, godly man in the
pulpit preaching. I think of one church that used to run off three services at night because
there wasn't enough room in the church and it held a couple of thousands to accommodate
the congregation. And now you could go to that church and count on your two hands the
number of people in the church. This was sad. And then in some places even the evangelical
preacher was gone. In that place there was still an evangelical preacher but he wasn't
appreciative. I'm thinking from Paul's answer of prayer, that's the church I'm talking about.
But then I went to other places and I saw where there had been great big churches and
they'd been bombed and there was just in the middle of the place where the church had been
just a little army hut. You know that little army hut was quite big enough to hold the
people that went there to worship. And I couldn't help feeling that God was preaching
a lesson that he didn't want magnificent malls. He wanted a place where people met
together to really worship him. And if the people were not there, why maintain a building
just to be looked at by people? When you go to some of these great cathedrals and see
people going around with notebooks, taking notes of when this war was built and when
something else was added to it. It's like just going around a great museum, magnificent
malls. But if these cases cease to be cases where Christ has lifted up and sinners are
brought to Christ for salvation, they've lost their usefulness and we have no right
to expect or desire God to defend them. Now this is largely true of Protestantism all
over, thank God there are exceptions to the rule. There are bright spots where there are
faithful preachers and hungry people ready to hear the word, thank God we must never
forget these. But speaking in general terms, the condition is very like it was in Nehemiah's
day. Not only were the walls burned up with fire and knocked down and the gates burned
up with fire, but the rubble was still all there. It hadn't been cleared away, at least
in England they cleared away the rubble and it made the place look tidy. But in Jerusalem
there wasn't a place even for the horse hardly to put his foot. And you know as we look around
today there are places where if you wanted to stand on the tooth you couldn't find enough
tooth to put your foot on. And if you wanted to stand for the tooth you could hardly find
enough room to put your foot down and to stand for the tooth. Then Nehemiah came and
he rallied the people. Here's a wonderful example of what one man with God can do. We
need never say our case is hopeless. As long as there's one individual completely committed
to Christ there's nothing impossible. And Nehemiah did a one man job with God. He came
back and he called the people. In verse 17, Then said I unto them, You see the distress
that we are in? How did Jerusalem lie at waste? And the gates thereof are burned with fire.
Let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that they be no more a reproach. I'm sorry, that
we be no more a reproach. Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon
me. Also of the king's words that he had spoken unto me and they said, Let us rise
up and build. So they strengthened their hands for the good work. But when Sanballat the
Haranites and Tobiah the servant the Ammonite and Gisham the Arabian heard it, they laughed
at the scorn and despised us and said, What is this thing that ye will do? Will ye rebel
against the king? Then answered I them and said, The God of heaven, he will prosper us,
therefore we his servants will arise and build. For ye have no portion nor right nor memorial
in Jerusalem. Oh, a lovely feeling Stan. That does your heart's good to hear a man speak
out like that. And this is what Nehemiah did. Of course the enemy was waiting and the enemy
will always wait. This is Bible religion, Bible Christianity. Where the enemy is shaking
hands with us and sitting down to drink coffee with us, we ought to become really alarmed.
We ought to realize that we're fifth columnists when we have the enemy all pleased like that.
And except the enemy got converted, of course, in our cases where they really get converted
like Saul of Tarsus, who was an enemy one day but the best then the next day because
he'd met up with God, well then they're not an enemy any longer. They become children
of God born again. Then we can give them the right hand of fellowship. But while they're
enemies of Jesus Christ, if we're entertaining them without any witness for Christ, if we
call a prison into our house to give them a cup of tea, even though we knew they were
an enemy of the Lord because we wanted to talk to them about the Savior, that's a different
matter. But if we're letting them conceal our lips and we're accepting their hospitality
and we're sharing with them, sitting in the seats of the spawners, then we're in a very,
very sad and dangerous state. Well then in the third chapter we read how they started
to build and it's very interesting to notice because it has a lesson for us. You know,
when I was a little girl at home in Ireland, it was always very easy to gather a crowd
in Dublin. And there were often crowds and we children would want to know what the crowd
had gathered for. And we'd want to get in front but there'd be a crowd of people there
and I nearly always had two or three other youngsters with me and I used to take my hat
off and root my head through and I'd say to the others, now you come in the hole I make.
And so in a little while some of the grown up people would say, oh there are some children
here who want to get past and they'd make room and we'd get through. Now this often
reminds me of the Bible. There's no problem or difficulty that you have to face that somebody
in the Bible hasn't faced exactly the same problem. And so here we see how Nehemiah made
a whole suicide prayer that we can follow. I want you to notice in the third chapter
you read over and over again so and so he built and he built by his house and somebody
else built by his house. Now one night I was reading this and I was very sad and all these
great big names, they were great big jaw breakers and I was struggling through them and I thought
oh dear, oh dear, what do I care who built the wall? It's a pity they didn't just tell
us that the wall was built. That's all that matters and leave it at that. And the Lord
said to me, and Monica supposing you were one of the builders, supposing you'd struggled
and built hard in an awkward place there, wouldn't you like a little plaque put up on
the wall and say and Monica works very hard on this spot. Wouldn't that make a difference
to you? My word I sat up and took a bit of notice and I began to think well then everywhere
these names are in the Bible I can insert my name in. Whatever they're talking about,
if it's property they're dividing up, I can think well the Lord's got a little bit preserved
for me. If it's work they're doing I can think well the Lord's taken a little bit of notice
of what I'm doing and it's all noted down in his book and from that day to this I've
never because reading names in the Bible I just laureate them. You know when children
bring home a photograph from school you warn them when they're coming home that don't you
dare open that photograph. Don't you dare handle it because you're dirty. And so they
come in and you open the photograph and they climb up in the chair and look over your shoulder
and they say where am I mommy? Where am I daddy? Where am I? And you show them and then
they're satisfied to look at the others. Now a grown up person looking at a group and which
they are won't do it just like that. You'll hear them saying oh there's so-and-so and
there's somebody, oh there I am and then you know that they're just like the children they
were looking for themselves all the time. Well now whenever you see a name in the Bible
just say to yourself there I am and look for your own name amongst them. Put your own name
in there and this has been a great help to me and I know that in this chapter first of
all that every man did. There were no idlers there. Every man pulled his waist to the chair
and every man built by his own house. This is the way to revive it. If we're going to
be revived it must begin in me. It must begin in you. We must build up our own spiritual
life by regular daily Bible reading and prayer. We'll never be able to build somebody else
up if we neglect to eat food ourselves. And then if we build up our own spiritual life
and we build up by our own backyard gates that means our own household. We're protecting
our own household there. Well this brings us on to family prayer and if children are
brought up in homes where there's family prayer, where there are godly parents, where God is
honoured and loved that's a protection to that household and if every household in the
country had parents like that, families like that, why? In a very short time we wouldn't
have to worry about things. The whole country would be cleansed, the filth would be cleaned
up, there'd be protection for our families, we wouldn't be afraid to go out at night time
and this is the answer. Every man built by his own gate and they all built a wall around
the city. Well now the enemy wasn't going to leave it in that. Of course the enemy comes
in there to upset things and we read in chapter four how the enemy came in and in verse nine
Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God and set a watch against them day and night
because of them and Judah said the strength of the burdens of the burdens has decayed
and there's much rubbish and we're not able to build a wall. They were beginning to moan
about it, it was getting too much for them and our adversaries said they shall not know
neither shall they see till we come into the midst of them and slay them and cause the
work to cease and so when Nehemiah heard all this he reorganized the whole company
and we read in verse 13 therefore sent I in the lower places behind the wall and in the
higher places I even set the people after their families with their swords and their
spears and their bows and I looked and rose up and said unto the nobles and to the rulers
and to the rest of the people be not gee afraid of them remember the Lord which is great and
terrible and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your
houses. Now this is just wonderful. You see this is where the Christian church today is
losing out. You remember the kind of children of Israel were in the wilderness, God called
Joshua to go and fight the enemy and Moses was to go up and pray. Now there should be
joint action between those who are defending the truth and those who are maintaining the
truth and if you divide these two forces you divide a house against itself. Joshua didn't
look up at Moses and say to his soldiers well will you look at that fellow stuck up there
at a prayer meeting when he ought to be down here fighting and doing something tactical
and Moses didn't look down at Joshua and say look at that fellow rushing around with
a gun there and with the sword if he'd only come up here and join the prayer meeting there'd
be no need to do all that fighting at all. The Lord would undertake for it. Now you see
these are two opinions. It was the same Holy Spirit that sent Joshua the fighters of everything
dependent on the fight and sent Moses the prayers of everything dependent on the prayer
and of the two the prayers were stronger because as long as Moses hands were up Joshua was
getting the victory but when Moses hands dropped Joshua began to suffer defeat and so here
we see now how there's division where there should be union. Those evangelicals who preach
the Gospel should appreciate men who stand on the gap, men who try to defend the truth
and who expose error for what it is. They ought to thank God for them. For instance
I can't go out at night time rescuing women on the streets but I'm very thankful for the
people who do that kind of work. I can't look after little children who are being treated
by their parents but I'm very thankful to God that there are people who do that kind
of work and so you see there are many things that we can't do ourselves but that we ought
to be so thankful for others to do for us and here Nehemiah thought to us that his soldiers
were also soldiers. They had a double office to fulfill and this is where we ought to be
learning a great lesson. Verse 16 and it came to pass, this is chapter 4 verse 16, it came
to pass from that time forth that the half of my servants wrought with the work and the
other half of them held both the spears and the shields and the bows and the habergence
and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. They built it on the wall and they
laid the bare burdens with those that laid it, everyone with one of his hands wrought
in the work and with the other hand he held a weapon. For the builders, everyone had a
sword girded by his side and so he built it and he just pounded the trumpets with my lead.
What a wonderful example of strategy we have here. A man was a builder but he was also
ready at any moment to drop the work of building and rush into the battle and stand in sight.
I remember when they were trying to bring in a new prayer book in England in 1928. We
had meetings and testitarians and Methodists and Baptists join in with us and forfeit us
because they knew it was a matter of God's glory and truth. Sometimes people used to
say, what's it got to do with you anyway? You're not Church of England, why should
you be in this thing? But we knew that they were right to be there because it was a battle
of the Lord and they were soldiers of the Lord and God's glory was at stake and truth
was at stake and so they did right. We kept the tumpeter near him so that at any moment
he could sound the alarm at the spot where it was needed. If we know that the Methodists
are doing something that's very wrong amongst their young people and not training them the
way they should, although I'm Church of England, I have every right to protest against
this and to draw attention to it. If I know that the testitarians, like this man Gearing,
are denying the truth of God, I have a right to protest against that and to warn people
about it. I don't have to stop because he's a testitarian. If the Church of England are
turning towards the mass and ritualism, testitarians, Methodists and all others have a right to
raise their voices because the Lord Jesus Christ is being robbed of his glory. There's
just one thing more I want to say about this as we're nearly finished. You notice after
this in verse 19, and I said to the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people,
the work is great and large and we are separated upon the wall one path from another. In what
place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet resort ye thither unto us and our God shall
fight for us. So we laboured in the work and the half of them held spears from the rising
of the morning till the stars appeared. Likewise at the same time said I unto the people that
every one with his servants lodged in Jerusalem that in the night there may be a garden to
us and labour by day. So neither I nor my brethren nor my servants nor the men of the
God which followed me, none of us put off our toes save what everyone put off for watching.
There's a wonderful message here and I suppose like me you'll be thinking of Ephesians 6,
10 to 17. Put on there for the whole armour of God. Let's just have a look at those verses
and see what God says to us there. Finally my brethren, verse 10 of Ephesians 6, be strong
in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God that ye may
be able to stand against the wise of the devil, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against sensibility, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness and high spaces. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of
God that ye may be able to withstand the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore
having your loins girt about with truth and having on the best state of righteousness
and your feet shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all taking the
shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked
and take the helmet of salvation of the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. Praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all
supplication, with all perseverance and supplication for all things. Now we have here a wonderful
lesson. By day and by night these men were a defence to their city. They never threw
off their clothes and said oh well I'm going to have a jolly good sleep tonight. They slept
in such a way that at any moment they were ready to jump into action. Now I wonder are
we in the spiritual sense like this. Are we reminding ourselves that we never threw off
the armour of God. We never leave it aside and say well it's alright now. Not till we're
dying. When we're dying, when we're drawing our last breath we can let the armour slip
off. We won't need it anymore. There'll be no warfare in heaven. There'll be nothing
but a sense there. We can lay it aside then but not till the very last breath is out of
our body can we afford to lay aside the Christian armour. Can we afford to relax in the sense
of thinking oh well I don't have to bother to think now about God very much or about
being a Christian. I'm just going on the holidays now and I'm going to forget all about it because
I'll be in a place where nobody knows who I am and I'm just going to let my hair down
and do everything I want to do. Does that temptation ever come to you? You just get
away from everybody and just think to yourself and then nobody knows you. I'm a Christian
and I can just do what I may. We can't afford to do it because the evil one could get in
and do such terrific damage. Only a few minutes smaller. You think, think of David relaxing
on the roof when he ought to have been out in the battle with his soldiers. What terrible
damage case did he do in a few minutes of lustful thinking and then he murdered the
man whose wife he had degraded and then he brought misery in his own family. He was never
free from trouble from that day till the day he died and not only that but right down to
this very day that sin of David locked up in the face of God's children at open air
meetings and other places. The prophet said to him you remember because you've given great
occasion to the enemy to scorn and so even to this very day that sin of David is locked
up too and think of Jehoshaphat, a good man who made affinity with Ahab and what happened
his daughter, his son married Ahab's daughter and you look at the tragedy that happened.
Two generations were wiped out as a result of that man's sin. Linking up, you remember
the prophet's message as he came back from the battle and said, have you any right to
be helping the enemies of God? Should you love those who hate God? And he laid an evil
foundation in that one act and so we have to be so careful and by night and by day put
on the whole armour of God. I want to have we time to just look at that armour for a
few minutes and ask ourselves how do we put to practical use the whole armour of God?
Well just look at it there for a minute. Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the
power of his might. Now it doesn't say feel strong, it says be strong. You may feel very
weak but you act strong. I remember when I was leaving home I went back to get my Bible
and I was absolutely terrified. My inside was like a half dozen jellies all wiggling
together but I picked up the knuckle and I wrapped it with tabs at that door if I didn't
care too much for anybody and somehow God instinctively seemed to tell me in those days
to act strong and when I used to be frightened so that my fingernails would really be falling
off my fingers I'd say to them with a quite loud and independent sort of voice, show it
to me in the Bible and if you can show it to me in the Bible I'll believe it. You
must care that it doesn't because they didn't know the Bible. So you see you can act strong.
Never confuse your feelings with your will. God looks at your will not your feelings and
you may feel like hating somebody but you may act in love towards them. That's the way
you love with the love of God. You may feel frightened but you never act frightened. If
you run to God with all your fears when it comes to meeting those who are opposed to
you all fear will leave you then and so be strong in the Lord and in the power of his
might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wives
of the devil. For we rest not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high or heavenly
places. Now in those verses the Holy Spirit gives us a little peep into the battle that's
raging round about us. We know very little of what's going on in the air round about
us. But here we have a little peep and in another portion of scripture in Daniel 10
you remember when Daniel was praying for three whole weeks Daniel laid hold of God in prayer
to know the mystery of the vision he'd received and he wondered that God was so long in answering
him and then an angel came to him. I think it was Gabriel and he said to him oh man greatly
beloved. He said from the moment you began to pray God sent me out but I've been battling
against the spirits of the air, the prince of the power of pressure. From this we gather
that the devil has the world divided up very like it's divided up into countries and governments
and that there are evil spirits assigned to different parts of the world, the spirit of
Persia and the spirit of so and so. But Michael you are prince he said. Just as there are
evil spirits fighting against the cause of God so God has his angels in different places
to safeguard the children of God and the angels go into the battle. Now we don't see
all this going on round about us but sometimes we can feel it in the very atmosphere. You
remember that God told David on one occasion when he was going into a battle he said now
will I go in fight and God said to him no David don't go like you did yesterday, you
wait. Wait and set an ambush, get behind them, expect them to come in the front, you go to
the back. But don't go in until you hear the sound of the shaking and the mulberry trees
then God will have gone in before you into the battle then go. And David did that and
got another wonderful victory. Now you see if we work in with God like this and this
is why we have to keep in such close contact with God so that we don't rush into the battle.
When the children of Israel decide that they go into the promised land in their own self
will, God says don't go I won't be with you. Moses said don't you attempt to go. God
has been with you. Oh they said well man is alright, we'll go. And up they went and
of course the birthdays existed and God failed and they ran like a lot of rabbits because
God wasn't with them. But if we have God with us we've nothing to fear and so we have
to be strong and we have to know what we're up against. You know Nehemiah, what I like
about Nehemiah in this portion that we read together, the first thing Nehemiah did was
to sit down and size up the whole situation. Take in the situation and see what had to
be done and see the whole salmon pattern. See what caused the trouble and see what the
cure of the trouble was. Acknowledge the wrong, get right down with God. Do you know there
are people and they're breaking their hearts and they're kicking against the bricks because
there's something in their life that they've never taken the trouble to put right with
God. If they'd only make a clean breath and come out with God and say yes Lord I did wrong
there, will you please forgive me. Yes I went into that force in hell or space and I shouldn't
have done it and Satan got in on that bit of my life Lord and now I want him put out,
please put him out and I want you to take over. If we make a clean breath and things
like that before God, get the situation cleaned up, be absolutely straight and open with God,
then release will come to us. But sometimes we go on like a stubborn horse kicking against
the bricks and we will not face up and God has been patient and he let us kick for years
until we come out clean and then God says now you're in the place where I can help you.
See God's in no hurry. We're in a hurry but God's not in any hurry and sometimes he lets
us go on for years. So we've got to know what we're up against. We're up against these evil
powers but we haven't got to be afraid of them. We neither have to overestimate or underestimate
the devil. We just have to take our side and know that we're not able for him but that
the Lord Jesus is well able for him. And so he says we wrestle him out. Wherefore take
on to you the whole armour of God. He emphasizes this. Take on to you. There's an act here.
You're not born with the armour of God. I couldn't walk with my father and my mother
and my brothers and sisters and say oh well they're all dressed. Nobody will take me over
to me if I don't put my clothes on. So they'll see my father's well dressed and my mother's
well dressed and my brothers are well dressed and my sisters won't take a bit of notes
from me. They would. I'll just say well they'd all take notice of if I didn't put clothes
on. So I've got to put on the armour of God or I'm naked and ashamed in front of God.
And so then he goes on to tell us wherefore take on to you the whole armour of God that
you may be able to withstand with the evil and having done all to stand. You see this
is the glory of this warfare that we're in. That although we may be wounded in the battle,
when the battle is over we're not carried like some of the poor warriors that we see
now being carried on stretches. We're able to stand with stand and having done all still
stand. This is beautiful. And then he begins with stand therefore. Now I like to stand
therefore. Gold water, stand. Supposing you're in company and suddenly you're asked to have
a cocktail. Instead of saying oh not tonight thank you no I don't feel like it tonight.
Stand. Say no thank you. You don't have to give them an extra temperance. You've only
got to say no thank you very firmly. And they'll know you mean it. And they won't worry you
more. And if they do, if they press you then you can come out with your electron temperance
and tell them why you're taking a stand. But stand. Don't wobble. You mightn't feel like
standing. Just say no thank you. And if you say no thank you firmly enough a couple of
times they'll soon get used to the idea. And they won't bother you. Whenever people ring
me up on the phone and ask me will I take some tickets or something I just say thank
you I have a conscientious objection to gambling. But that'll be quite alright madam. I never
hear another word about it. I can't hang up good enough. And if you take a clean stand
like that, well you'll face an indifference to the idea. They may think you're the strange
but that won't matter to you. That's just the ripple to the floor. But make a stand.
Here I stand said Martin Luther. I can do no other so help me God. I often think some
of the bishops in these days would have to say here I wobble. I can do no other so help
me God. So don't wobble. Stand. Having your loins cut about with truth. You know there's
a very first piece of armour. And it's round the loins. You know those soldiers were rather
like the Americans. I don't know if any of you remember during the war the Americans
used to wear a belt around them and they'd all wear their shoes when they were working.
They had all their shoes and their belts. So there was no fear of the plumber going
off and forgetting his shoes because they were belted onto it. And when he used them
he put his back on his belt. Well now you see the Roman soldier's belt was rather like
that. All his armour was attached to his belt. And so when his belt was right, his armour
was right. And if we're walking in truth, well we're in the right direction. But if
we're walking in error, we're going the wrong way. And the better walker we are, the further
away we're getting, the more damage we're doing to ourselves and everybody else. So
the very first condition, the very first piece of armour is the belt. Having your loins cut
about with truth. And having on the breastplate of righteous. I may say before I leave that
gate of birth with truth, the devil always has at least two kinds of things for the truth.
He may have more, but he's always got two kinds of things. One to the right and the
other to the left. Things for instance of sanctification. On one side he has sinless
perfection. On the other side he has the idea that we're all full of wickedness and we'll
always be full of wickedness. And so, but in the middle is the truth. We have a ten
part moment by moment tension, moment by moment, day by day tension. But we should
reckon on that ten part. I shouldn't reckon as a believer that my heart is full of sin
all the time. I should reckon that my heart has been constantly ten, left to myself it
would be full of sin, but in Christ it tends. Well, now on the other side you have sinless
perfection. There was a woman in Tasmania some years ago and she was a sinless perfectionist.
And she said she could claim fourteen years from God without sin. You see the trouble
about that is you've only got one slip in fourteen years to come down the drain. Whereas
if you only came moment by moment from God, if you slip on this moment, you can say please
God forgive me and wash me and cleanse me in the precious blood of Christ. Lift me up
Lord. And you can say to the enemy, it's not against me or my enemies, but if I fall
the Lord will lift me up again. And you can bet around the Lord lifting you up and restoring
you. And the same fountain that was open for sin and for all uncleanness, the same fountain
that washed our first sins away, our first load of sins away, is there to wash every
individual sin away after. I think we forget this sometimes. And the devil has a way sometimes
of coming, especially with older people. The devil reminds them of all their past sins
and tortures and torments them with them. Now we've got to learn to resist this and
say yes, I'm the person that did all those things, but they're all under the precious
blood of Jesus. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
justified, who has either condemned us. And so here we are, having your loans go to bed
with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness. Now that brings me to the breastplate
of righteousness. The breastplate of righteousness is the knowledge that I'm covered with the
righteousness of Christ. So you see when the devil comes up to me and says to me, ah, but
you're really a hypocrite, I don't waste my sensual energy trying to persuade the
devil that I'm not a hypocrite because if I did, I'd just be wasting my time because
the devil would never believe me. And therefore I turn to the devil and I say to him, I'm
not going to heaven on my righteousness, I'm going to heaven on the righteousness of Christ.
Can you find anything wrong with that state? You know there was a little girl one time
she gave her heart to the Lord Jesus. And somebody said to her, little girl, since you've
given your heart to the Lord Jesus, does the devil ever come and knock at your heart's
door? And the little girl said, yes. And the grown-up person said, and what do you do?
The little girl looked very confused and she said, I did ask the Lord Jesus, would he please
answer the door? And then the deputy sees Jesus and says, oh, I'm sorry, I knocked at
the wrong door and he runs away. Now that little girl had a hold of a most marvellous
tooth. By the way, talking about God's forgiveness, God being willing to forgive us, we must always
remember that God is willing to forgive. I must just at this point tell a little story
that I was asked to tell. I was particularly asked to tell you this story and I'll bring
it in here. There was a gentleman in a train in England and there was a young lad in the
carriage with him, a youth. And the youth was looking very upset. The tears were dropping
from his eyes and he was trying to wipe them away and trying not to look so upset. And
this nice gentleman that was in the carriage with him realised the boy was in trouble.
And he said, what's wrong son? Can I be of any help to you? Look as if you're in trouble.
And the boy said, well, I had a row with my mother and I ran away from home. And he said,
I thought I'd never come back home again. I never wanted to see my mother again. And
I always said, I've been longing to see my mother. And he said, we live along the railway
line. We'll be passing the house soon where I live. And he said, I wrote to my mother
and I asked my mother if I'd be welcome home, would she hang a sheet or something up the
line? I hanged something white out of a window so that I'd know when the train passed by.
And he said, we're coming near the house and I'm afraid to look. Well, I looked for you
son, to the man, tell me when we're coming. And the boy said, we're coming now from the
left hand side. Look quick son, look quick to the man. And there was every sheet in the
house without my line and every window had something white, pillows lips and towels hanging
out of the window. So that boy knew there was a big welcome home. So, you know, this
is the way God loves. And no matter how we disappoint him, no matter how stupid we've
been, when we ask the Lord to forgive us, we don't even have to look out for the sheets.
They're out there already. He's ready and willing and always ready to forgive us. And
this doesn't encourage us to sin. It melts us so much that we never want to hurt such
a dear and loving heart again. Well now, let's get on with Christian Ireland.
The great state of righteousness. This is the answer to Satan's accusations. And your
feet chart with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Wherever you go, you go in the power
of all of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ promises you and this is wonderful. And not
only that, but you go to possess the land for God. Every place the soul of your foot
shall tread upon that of I given unto you. I pray every morning as I put on this armor
of God that I may this day, wherever I go this day, I may be possessing or preparing
or tending the ground for peace. Sometimes we meet a person and they're absolutely in
sin. They're dead and trespassing in sin. And all we can do is to be like a plower in
their lives. We say something, perhaps they get horribly annoyed with us, but we've acted
like a plow. We've made a furrow. We've made an indent somewhere that the Holy Spirit
can use and somebody else can come along after. The next person that comes along may be used
to say something that will fall into that hole that we've made. If we hadn't brought
them up first of all with what we've said, they wouldn't be ready to accept what the
second person says. Second person comes along and says something quite nice and they take
that in that they wouldn't have taken with him before. And then if we meet the person
at the second stage, well, we can come in with a nice word and say it. Or if they're
ready to be reaped like a rice plum, well, we can say the word that the Holy Spirit has
used to bring them right into the kingdom, professing, preparing. If they're in already
when we meet other believers, we ought to be strengthening each other and helping each
other. So we're tending the ground for the Lord. There's always something to do. As
long as we're in the flesh, as long as we're breathing, God has something for us to do.
When he's finished with us, he'll take us home. He won't leave us here to be just cabbages.
As long as he leaves us here, there's some reason for our being here. He's using us in
some way. Well, now, and above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith he shall be
able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And in those days, the enemy used
to have fiery darts. You remember System and Pilgrim's Progress when he was going through
the little wicked state. These fiery darts were being darted at him. And it was a thing
they used in those days, fiery darts. And the devil uses these fiery darts. He darts
according to their mind. Now, I think they want to know something about this, because
the devil does this sort of thing. Supposing a filthy, dirty man came to that door there
and I opened the door, and he let a mouthful of filth out like that. Well, immediately
these two men would rush and put them out and say, you're out of this. We don't want
any of that sort of thing in here. Now, we might be sticking our stomach from what that
man had said. But you couldn't blame us for it. It would be no good saying to me, oh,
Monica, fine, you're terrible. Imagine having a man like that. Imagine letting that awful
talk in your house. I'd say, it wasn't my fault the fellow had it out of his mouth before
I could stop him. It wasn't my fault. The devil injects a wrong thought into your mind.
And then he says, ah, here's supposed to be Christian. If you were a Christian, you wouldn't
think a thing like that. It might be a jealous thought. It might be a proud thought. It might
be a sort of resentment. It might be an evil thought. It might be a lustful thought. But
the devil danced it in. Imagine, you see, if we brought this filthy man in and sat him
down and laughed at him and joked with him and I made him a cup of tea and gave it to
him, then I'd be just every bit as guilty as he was and molded him. But it's not my
fault as long as I don't entertain him. And when an evil thought comes into your mind,
then the devil says, Hannah, you're not Christian. You say, that wasn't my thought statement.
That was yours. You take it back to where it belongs to. And we don't have to either
retain these thoughts or take the blame for them. Remember that we don't have to take
the blame for them. They're the devil's. They're not ours. And we resist them and refuse them.
And this is the way we use the shield of faith. Having the shield of faith where we're able
to be French or a thought of doubt. A doubt can be like a fiery dart in our mind. We're
just going to trust God for something and the devil says, oh, not as big as that. You
know, you don't do that. And it can quite come even in the middle of a prayer. We can
get it down. And we have to use the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, which
is the word of God. Take the helmet of salvation. Now, the helmet of salvation, this is very,
very important. The head is the most vital part of the body. And the Roman soldier's
helmet covered his brain, his eyes, his ears, his mouth, his nose. He did a little thing
and he turned up like that and he wanted to drink his neck. And down his back there across
the shoulders. That was all protected, this whole head was protected by his helmet. Now,
every morning we need to do this. And if we did this, we wouldn't have needed the sickness
we have as well as the worries we have. The devil attacked the heads and he got into Adam
and Eve. He said, you'll be a god knowing good and evil. You look at the theological
colleges and the universities, how the devil is attacking the head. And this is where we
need protection from God. Put on the helmet of salvation so that our mind, I put on the
helmet of salvation, I say, Lord, hold me by thy loving hands while I put on that helmet
of salvation so that my mind, the thoughts and imaginations of my heart, our imagination
is like an art gallery. And we can either fill up the beautiful pictures that will keep
us tinky about the Lord or we can let the devil come in. This is where young people
should guard their reading. And we older ones should guard what we read, guard the stories
we listen to because they put imagination into our hearts and those pictures will hang
in the walls of our memory. And we can either have beautiful pictures about the Lord or
we can have filthy pictures that will come up like that on the screen in front of us.
But thank God we can ask the Lord to wash away, wipe away those pictures so that my
mind, the thoughts and imaginations of my heart, my eyes, my ears, my mouth, nose, neck,
skull and brain. That's inside for spiritual protection, outside for material protection.
So that if you have an accident or if you have to go where there's infection, if you
put on that helmet of salvation in the morning, then you don't have to be afraid. Naturally
you wouldn't get into bed beside a leopard system or throw your arms around and you wouldn't
stick your neck out. But as long as you have put on that helmet of salvation, wherever
Jesus calls you, you can go and trust God that nothing can get through to you. I remember
a friend of mine, a doctor in South Australia, when the flu was on, he was getting flu after
flu. He'd come home and he'd say to me, I've got to lean over the beds and these people
breathe all their germs into me. And I said to him, why don't you put on the helmet of
salvation? And you know, he did and he stopped getting the flu. And as long as he remembered
to do it, he stopped getting the flu. When he forgot to do it, he got the flu. And so
there you are. We can protect ourselves inside and outside. I've had some terrible blows
in my head and thank God I've never even got a headache out of him. And I believe it's
because of putting on this armour of God every morning I put it on and it's such a help to
me. Taking the shield of faith and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit.
Now this is the only aggressive weapon that's mentioned here, the sword of the Spirit, which
is the word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ used the sword of the Spirit when he said,
it is written, it is written, it is written. And he hacked the enemy to pieces with the
sword of the Spirit. And this is what we can do. The devil is terrified of the word of
God. The devil hates the word of God. He sometimes misquotes it. He'll always misquote it. He'll
always leave out some little bit of things or twist it. But he hates the word of God
as it is. And this is the sword of the Spirit. And for this reason we must be practiced in
the word of God. You know David went out against Goliath with a little thing and five
little stones. But if David hadn't been practicing in the wilderness, if he hadn't learned
when he was mining his father's sheep how to use that thing, he'd never been able
for that day of battle. I remember hearing a story about a soldier during the First World
War. Over in France there was a soldier and he was a Christian. And he used to slip away
every day for about half an hour to have a quiet time with the Lord. And some people
who didn't understand what he was doing, they thought he was recognising with the enemy.
And so they reported him and he was caught marching for him. And he said to the officer
asking, well what do you go away for? He said, I go away to read my Bible and pray. Well
you can get down on your knees and pray now to the officer because you're going to be
shocked. In those days they didn't humbug around with letting them, you know, have protests
and all the rest of it. They were shot to the back of the wall. So he said to the man,
you can get down if you ever prayed in your life you can pray now man because you're
going to be shot dead. And this chap fell down on his knees and poured at his heart
of the Lord. And the officer said, that's all right lad, he said, if you hadn't been
practicing on the parade ground, I think you said in the exercise yard you wouldn't have
been able to do so well on the parade ground. He only did that to scare the wither and because
if that man hadn't been praying he wouldn't have known how to pray you see. But the officer
was pretty sure it was lovely. And when the man poured out of his heart he knew it was
a man of prayer then. And of course now his head was touched. And so this is it. Take
the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and
complication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance. And we pray in the
Spirit, not in the flesh but in the Spirit. We're praying as the Holy Spirit is moving
us and we're watching thereunto, watching God for a slice of surgery, a check, watching
the best way to advance with the Gospel, watching the enemy tactics so as we know how to counterattack,
watching what's best for the sheep and for the lamb. That's just a few of the things
we watched, watching thereunto and for me and for all perseverance of all things. But
now I hope that that's what the talk has been from house to and I trust and pray that the
friends in Queensland will be blessed with that message too. Shall we pray? Our loving
Heavenly Father, as we read Thy Holy Word it reminds us of the laver in the tabernacle
in the wilderness where the priest went to wash and as they looked into that laver they
saw a reflection of themselves. For it was a mirror and at the foot of the mirror there
was the water provided for them to wash. And Thy Word, Lord, is a revealer and a tensor.
Thy Word reveals to us our need of cleansing and then immediately provides the same cleansing
in that front and open for all sin and for all uncleanness. And we thank Thee, Lord,
that in Thy Word we see people who went through it as if we were looking at the passing parade.
We see men going through the very same sort of difficulties and problems that we have
to face today. We thank Thee for the memory of Thy faithful servant, Lehemiah. We thank
Thee for the way that that has guided him. We thank Thee for his prayer life. We thank
Thee for his perseverance. We thank Thee that he was prepared to let go his wonderful
job and go back home to this terrible assignment in order to build up his own people and the
land that he loved, the wall round about Jerusalem, to protect Jerusalem, to cleanse us, to protect
us and to set up not only the wall but in company with Ezra, the gate of Jerusalem,
the Temple of Jerusalem, so that the people might be restored again to the worship and
fellowship of the Lord. Oh, Lord, as we see Thy cause and Thy Church in great straits
in these days, dear Lord, help us. We know, dear Lord, that Thou hast Thy hand on the
ark. We know that in one sense we needn't tremble, that Thou will see to it that Thy
Church triumphs. But, Lord, that does use us as instruments and we have to have concern.
We're not just pawns in the game. We're in this thing, dear Lord, because You're in it
and we belong to Thee. And so we come and ask Thee that Thou will use us in this, our
day and generation, as that is used, Nehemiah, in his day and generation, and give us Thy
hand for our life as that is give him the hand for his life. We remember He called the
people who gave. We remember, first of all, Lord, He prayed today. He confessed this thing.
Now, dear Lord, if there's anything in any of our lives, any of those listening to this
tape, dear Lord, if there's anything in our lives that is not pleasing to Thee, that is
hindering or hampering us, that there's some old root of bitterness, put away something
that's been put away years ago in the cellar of our lives, dear Lord Jesus, we will give
You the key to every room in our house and down into the cellar to go amongst those
old ugly things that are put away down there. Open them up, dear Lord, and look at them.
And if there's any old root of bitterness, if there's any old hatred, if there's any
old sin there that's never been dealt with, Lord, bring it out into the night of Calvary.
And, Lord, we would give Thee complete control and ask Thee to apply Thy precious love to
that part of our lives and give us a sense of having been cleaned out as well as cleaned
up. We remember, dear Lord, that Thy servant David cried out, purge me with hyssop and
I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be white as snow. He wanted to be cleaned inside by
purging and outside by washing. And we feel like this, dear Lord. We want to be cleansed
every fifth. Only then can we be usable and used by Thee. And then, dear Lord, Nehemiah,
as soon as he prayed and confessed, then, dear Lord, he got to work. And we remember
that every man built, and every man built by his own house, and every man built a wall
around the city. Now, dear Lord, we're living in a world where Thy church is as it were
lying down, truth is knocked down on the street and errors trampling over it like a great
beastly, like the enemies in Nehemiah's day. Help us to stand up, rise up and gird on the
armour and into the fight, fight for your brother and your sons and your daughters,
your wives and your houses. Dear Lord, we believe we're living in very dangerous times.
This man of sin is coming to our land. He's stopping off at many places and we believe
that there are sinister meetings between him and the cardinals of his church and the bishops
of his church and secret information will be passed on for future action. And it may
be that at this time Rome is planning a Bartholomew massacre on a worldwide scale. And, oh Lord,
if this is the case, then there'll be terrible bloodshed in the near future. So we pray,
Lord, that you will have us ready and prepared, that we'll be amongst those who will stand
guard by Thy truth. We thank you, Lord, that we don't have to fight with physical weapons
in the cause of Thy truth, but we do have to fight with the sword of the Spirit, which
is the Word of God. And so we pray, Lord, that we may be in the battle line with Thee
and with Thy children. We pray that Thou wilt bless those. We think of Mr. Campbell
and The Rock newspaper and we do ask Thee that Thou wilt bless this rock newspaper.
We think of Mr. Daly and New Life newspaper that also takes a stand for Thee. And many
others, Lord, we pray that You'll bless every one of these dear men who are seeking
to build up the wall of defence round about Thy truth. Bless them, dear Lord, in their
every effort. And now, dear Lord, we commit ourselves to Thee and ask Thee that Thou wilt
glorify Thyself in these lives of ours and may we serve Thee in our day and generation
at the will of God. We ask it for the Lord Jesus' grace. Amen.
Keep me true, Lord Jesus, keep me true. Keep me true, Lord Jesus, keep me true.
There's a race that I must run. There are victories to be won. Give me power every hour to be true.