THE OBSTACLE TO BUILDING

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1 THE OBSTACLE TO BUILDING Neh. 4:10 And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall. This is a most fantastic passage of Scripture and has volumes to say to our fellowship this morning. Before the summer we concluded our 26-week study of the all-important subject of the the pursuit of holiness in the life of the believer. As we read through the Book of Nehemiah we are shown a people that have been saved and brought out of a bondage to the will of a foreign dictator. They were brought back to a city that had been decimated and had become the laughing-stock of all the surrounding countries. Nevertheless, these people of Israel had a commission from God, under the leadership of Nehemiah, to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. This book sets before us the revitalisation and revival of a people who had suffered great defeat and humiliation. There had been tremendous times of refreshing in chapter three, - the great majority of the people were all labouring together on the defences of the city. The goldsmiths, the Levites, the rulers, craftsmen of every kind, the women, - they were all out working faithfully on the building of the wall. But, as we all know too well, when God sets it in the heart of His people to work together for His purposes the enemy is never too far away. Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem were three grade A rascals. At first it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. (2:10) Then, they laughed at the efforts of Nehemiah and the workers as they set about the building of the walls, v. 19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king? And then, as these three opposers to the will of God stood and watched God s people build those walls of Jerusalem we read that their mockery turned to anger, 4:1 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took

2 D.G. 2 great indignation, and mocked the Jews. 2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? 3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. But look what Nehemiah did in v.5, - he turned from looking at the enemy and he turned again to God as he prayed the simple heart-rending prayer, 4 Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity: 5 And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. Note that the enemy didn t go away, - God didn t get rid of them there and then; in fact, the enemy seems to have been added to in vv.7,8. We ll spend more time on another occasion examining the antics of the enemy, - Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem, - and see what can be learned there, but for now I want us to particularly consider and concentrate upon v.10 And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall. Yes, there was a very real enemy all around the children of Israel, but the immediate conflict in which they must be involved, - and to which they must give their full attention, - is here being articulated by the man called Judah, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall. Seventy years earlier those people had heard the message being preached from the priests, - it was a proven false message, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. (Jer. 8:11). We do not anyone any favours by preaching a Gospel they want to hear, and as a consequence, these people of Israel were unprepared as God unleashed upon them the armies of Babylon. Jer. 26: 18 records, Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of

3 D.G. 3 Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. It was unimaginable terror that struck Jerusalem. It had become a mountain of rubble, - such as we saw on our television screens in recent days. And to restore the greatness of Jerusalem the first task would have to be to clear the destruction and to build again the foundations. When you read 4:10 you could almost be forgiven for thinking there were two obstacles that hindered the work of rebuilding, but if you look closer there is only one obstacle that has to be dealt with, and when this obstacle is dealt with a major hindrance is dealt with. The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, but what is the reason? there is much rubbish. You see, this was the real reason why their hard work was being hampered. Even though they had been working hard they were being hindered because of the presence of much rubbish. THE BURDENS TOO HEAVY When you look again at ch. 3 and you see all the builders who were involved, and before they started the work if you looked at their hands, they would have been so soft, But look at them now. The stones of the rubble have made their hands hard, all cut and bleeding. Their backs are sore, their shoulders ache, - there is a hardly a part of their body that hasn t fell pain. Below the rocks and stones they pick up there are so many more rocks and stones. When are we going to have the walls completed? It doesn t look as if we shall ever be finished! Here was a people who were driven along from Babylon to Jerusalem with a desire in their hearts and a vision to build a new Jerusalem But they had come face to face with the boulders and the burdens that were for them too heavy.

4 D.G. 4 That was quite a journey for them; many of them would have been elderly but it was their one last longing to return to Jerusalem again. And it was necessary for the older people to be there, so as to tell the younger people how the city of Jerusalem used to be. The older people would have passed their aspirations on to the younger people. The younger people had to listen to the older people and recognise that the building of Jerusalem was a joint effort that involved all of God s people. There were the shepherds of Tekoa and the guildsmen of Jerusalem and they were all working together. But the work was great, it was heavy, it was burdensome. When they looked back at the end of the day it seemed as if they had achieved so little. Their work in which they had become so faithfully involved was the work of building up again the city of God. All round them was the much rubbish they had to contend with, and it was causing them to be tired. Are you tired? You have been working hard here for many years. You look around you and you wonder where all the numbers have gone, One hundred years ago there was a membership here of 40 people, Five years later in 1906 there were 101 members, In 1910 there were 140 members, In 1915 there were 150 members, Coming along through the years to 1948 there were 165 members, where have they all gone? Is it possible for God to build up again this place to how it was before? Yes, I believe it is. When Solomon built that beautiful temple in Jerusalem, housing the Ark of the Lord, the crowds came in their thousands for its dedication.

5 D.G. 5 Those were great days, fantastic days, days of excitement and good things, but look, in the will of God, these people believed those days could be recaptured again, even despite the burdens being too heavy. It s a temptation when the burdens become too heavy to lay them down and not take them up again. It s all too easy to give in, but that was what happened when some of the people didn t share Nehemiah s vision of the new Jerusalem they were going to build together. This here is God s church, - I believe it has much more to do for Him, and in His will, I believe it will achieve what He has set out for us to achieve, even despite the burdens being so weighty. But, you see, all the people of Israel needed to be involved because there was so much rubbish and the burdens of all the workers were too heavy. THE BARRIERS TO OVERCOME There were the barriers of such men as Tobiah, Geshem and Sanballat to overcome, There were the barriers of the heat and the weather to contend with, There were the barriers of where to acquire suitable equipment and materials for the building projects, There were the barriers of their own human resources. This was no easy task into which God had led them, and yet we don t hear of them murmuring as their ancestors did with Moses in the wilderness. We don t find them taking an easy option or looking for another way out. They knew the barriers they had to overcome in order for their beloved city to be rebuilt and they were determined to carry out the work God had laid upon their hearts. You never have to look for the barriers, - they are usually stirring you in the face! Ah, you could rhyme them off without having to think too much about them,

6 D.G. 6 Someone would say, I m not as young and as fit as I used to be, Someone else would say, You should see my workload and how busy I am! Really, at the end of the day these people here in Jerusalem had no excuses because they didn t seek any. They hadn t to be told to work hard because it was in their hearts to rebuild Jerusalem, They longed to see again the temple of God standing magnificently upon Mount Zion, They longed to see again the people of God walking through the streets of the city of God in peace and contentment, They longed to see the enemy kept out of Jerusalem, but they had to build those walls first. In God s work there is no easy fix, no effortless means by which we can achieve what God requires from His people. There are the barriers to overcome, - some of them of our own making, others have been placed there to slow us down and to make us stumble, But get it all into context, - the greatest barrier to overcome is the burden of the sin of God s people. God looked upon this world and He saw it heading in a direction downward to hell, He could have remained on His Throne in Glory and allowed it all to have happened, but in love, mercy and grace He took the greatest burden upon Himself and He sent His onlybegotten Son to the Cross of Calvary. His Son, - my Saviour, - took upon Himself the burden of humanity and was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. You see, Jesus knew all about the burdens being too heavy for He bore them and even far more, because He bore the great burden of His people s sin. He knew all about the barriers to overcome because one after another He had to shatter them so that He would accomplish His mission to bring salvation.

7 D.G. 7 It is not as if we are trying to achieve the unachievable; yes, it is true, there is much rubbish, but it didn t hinder Nehemiah, and it certainly didn t hinder the work of the Lord Jesus. Why then should it hinder me in the work of His Kingdom? In Christ I have the greatest example in achieving the unachievable for God, The burdens too heavy, the barriers to overcome, THE BUILDING TO COMPLETE The greatest building ever to be completed is the Building that the Lord Jesus Christ talks about, I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. What a great moment of truth that awaits every born-again believer! There will be no more burdens too heavy, no more barriers to overcome. Nehemiah and the workers on the wall of Jerusalem could see past their own weaknesses, - The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed They couldn t see past all the much rubbish. They had a job to do, a building to complete, and that was the task they pursued with all their might. Yes, they had to watch their step, they had to take great care, but all their energies were put into completing that wall. The wall would keep the enemy out and keep the children of Israel safe. That wall was so important, - it was worth all their work, - it was for the good of the Name of God, the house of God, and the people of God. These people had their priorities all correctly weighed up. We need to identify the priorities and we need to have our minds fixed upon achieving them, - these people in Jerusalem were not half-hearted or lacking in enthusiasm despite all that surrounded them. As there always has been, there is much rubbish around today in our society and in our churches, - what is the antidote? How do you confound the much rubbish?

8 D.G. 8 Spurgeon spoke the truth, There is very much rubbish about, brethren; and, therefore, for the present distress, if every Christian minister were to keep to preaching Christ and Him crucified and nothing else, I think he would do well; and if every Christian man were to just keep to the plain truths of Scripture, and have them worked into his own soul by the Holy Spirit, and then speak them out with power, and live for soul-winning, and care for nothing else, he would do well. Aye, the Gospel is a success story, and despite all the Sanballat s and Geshem s and Tobiah s and the much rubbish, and all the rest the wall is still being built and we shall not stop until it is completed in its entirety! God has never left a work unfinished yet. What He puts His hand to He accomplishes to the Glory of His Name. The building to complete. CONCLUSION. Are you beginning to see that not even the much rubbish can hinder the work of God s people when they set their mind upon labouring for Him? Yes, indeed, the much rubbish can and does and often hold us back, but Nehemiah and his people didn t let it hold up their work. The old rubbish can hold us back, it can hinder our progress if we let it. There was much work to be done in Jerusalem, and there s still much work to be done in Pathhead. His Church is built upon the Foundation of His Word; He Himself is its chief Cornerstone. It is a building that will never fall, because He won t allow it to fall! Yes, the reality in Jerusalem was the burdens too heavy, and the barriers to overcome, but even through it all the people worked faithfully and diligently for they knew there was the building to complete.