God’s People in a Day of Crisis I - Part 3 of 3

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise, The worries of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace.

This is LeSary Bradley, Jr., welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing. Our helper be amid the flood, a mortal is prevailing. For still our ancient foe does seek to work us woe.

His craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate. All earth is not his equal. Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing. Were not the right one on our side, the man of God's own choosing. Just as through that may be, Christ Jesus, it is He.

Lord Sabbath is His name, from age to age the same. And He must win the battle. And though this world with me they'll fear, should threaten to undo us. We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His grace we can endure, for lo, His doom is sure.

One little word shall fail him. That word above all earthly parts, no thanks to them abideth. The Spirit and the gifts are ours, through Him who with us sigh death. Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also. The body they may kill, cause truth abideth still.

His kingdom is forever. We continue with the message, God's people in a day of crisis. Indeed, we are living in a time of crisis. There are those that would like to destroy this country as we have known it. They want to toss out its history and its founding by men who did believe and trust in the living God. There's evidence. Not every man in the forming of the country was a dedicated Christian.

But there's sure evidence in many ways in the documents and even in the information that's engraven on many of the buildings in Washington. That we have been a people who trust in God and there are those that want to destroy that. It is a time of crisis. We need God's help. We need to be diligent in prayer.

So I hope that the message today will be an encouragement to you. When we're talking about the cure for the crisis, what is it? It's prayer.

Well, that's as far as some people want to go. You ask them about a problem and say, you know, I'm just really distressed over this. What have you done about it? Well, I've prayed about it. Well, that's great.

What else have you done? Is that all the Bible teaches? Is that the only thing the Lord ever says in his words, pray about it?

Or they see a crisis in somebody else's life and they'll say, you know, I'm really concerned about this. Well, what have you done about it? Well, I've been praying for them. Is that all?

No, there's some work to be done. If it's the crisis in our own life, there's some things that we need to do in addition to prayer. If it's a crisis in somebody else's life, there's some things that need to be done in addition to praying for them.

One's going astray, go to that one and seek to restore them. In the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted. If there's a crisis in your life, somebody may say, I got financial problems and I'm praying about it. Now, if you're praying about it but you're still adding charges to your visa that you can't pay, you might as well quit praying because you're praying a hypocritical prayer. You're praying, Lord, intervene in the problem that you're continuing to create as you go on. If you're praying, Lord, help me in this situation, then cut up your credit cards. And if you're sitting at home twiddling your thumb saying, Lord, send me something, go out and get a job.

They won't work or not to eat. Occasionally you'll talk to somebody and say, well, you know, I haven't had a job for I don't know how long. Well, I see all these signs around town, help on it. Well, it don't pay enough.

Well, a little bit of pay is better than none, isn't it? And so, not only do we need to pray, we need to work. We need to work. Now, when it comes to the resolve of spiritual matters, I'm not saying that just any kind of work will do.

It needs to be the right kind. It needs to be godly work. It needs to be good works according to Biblical principles. But when Nehemiah ultimately made that trip, came there to the city of Jerusalem and began to explore the situation and see for himself the devastation that was there. It says in the second chapter, verse 17, Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how that Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem that we be no more reproach. We got a problem? The wall's down. What do we need to do?

We need to put it back up. We need to build the wall. I didn't say go out there and lay hands on the wall and pray that God will raise it. I said build the wall.

Build it. Then I told them of the hand of my God, which was good upon me, as also 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 this good work. They prayed and they worked.

That's the way you get a wall built. You work at it. You say well I'm weak, yes, but I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. There are particular things that the Lord has designated we ought to be doing. You say well I've just got too much on my schedule. Then maybe some of the things you are doing need to be removed from your schedule.

Maybe you're spending your time in futile, empty vain efforts. And the work you need to be doing is that which is focused on that matter that brings honor and glory to God. Working to strengthen your marriage, working to strengthen your family relationships, working to minister to other people. A lady came to me yesterday and said, I just want to share this with you. She said, several years ago I had been really struggling a lot with being depressed. And I heard you preach a sermon in which you said one of the ways in which we can deal with depression is to quit focusing on ourselves and start trying to minister to other people. She said that just hit me as being really much of my problem.

I was so caught up with myself and my own problems I was constantly thinking about me. And she said from that day forward I began to pray every day, Lord give me the opportunity to minister to somebody else. And she says, I can tell you it's made a dramatic difference in my life.

She said, I have really come out of that pit of depression that I was in for a long period of time. Now I recognize that there are a variety of reasons as to why people may be depressed. And there are many biblical solutions as to how to approach the problem.

But I certainly believe that's one of them. We spend all of our time thinking about ourselves, about how miserable we are, how bad we feel, how we've been mistreated, how nobody pays enough attention to us. You talk about something that will get you miserable. You can just be down for the count the more you focus on yourself. But you start trying to reach out to other people, minister to them, help them. What a difference it makes. See there's a work to be done. So after prayer comes work.

And let's look at the fourth chapter just a moment. When they actually started the work on the wall, verse 6 says this, So built we the wall, and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof, for the people had a mind to work. Oh that's a beautiful situation, when the people have a mind to work. If you have a mind to work, you don't have a mind to complain. If you have a mind to work, you don't have time to murmur and criticize. You're working.

You're doing the things that need to be done. So in dealing with this crisis, there had to be prayer, and that prayer included confession, and there had to be work. Now the work wasn't easy. As soon as the work started, criticism was launched. Opposition was found.

Sanballat and Tobiah came out there being opposed to the whole effort to restore the city. And they began to ridicule. As they started building the wall, they said if so much as a fox run into it, he'll knock it over. Now that'd be kind of discouraging, wouldn't it? You say, you know, I never professed to be a stone mason anyway, but I'm doing the best I can, helping to put this wall up. And then somebody comes along, looks at my work, and says that's the worst wall I ever saw. The fox runs into it, it'll knock it over, much less keeping out the enemy.

It's not even going to keep out the wild animals. Have you ever let that get in your way? Where you started out to work, you started out to do some things that you knew were right, and somebody criticized you, and you said that's it, I'm through, I'm finished, I quit, I'm not going to do any more. That's our tendency in human nature.

Throw up our hands, give up, can't make it. But in spite of the fact that they were there criticizing, Nehemiah encouraged the people and said, listen, when the criticisms come, let's join ranks, hold the sword and the trial, you've got to be ready to fight the enemy, but build the wall. Some people get so busy fighting the enemy, they forget to build the wall. Some people get so enamored with building the wall, they forget there is an enemy, and then they're overrun, you see.

There's a place for both of us. You've got to build and you've got to stand against the enemy. And he says, at the sound of the trumpet, when the enemy is approaching, let's join ranks, let's come together, let's encourage one another. You know, it's a challenge in a church such as ours that's scattered over three states to be together enough to really encourage each other.

But our situation is not unique. I read in Leadership Magazine the other day that churches of various societies are trying to cope with the same situation. The writer of the article said, many ministers today still envision pastoring a little community church where when the bell rings, people know it's church time and they all walk out of their nice little houses with picket fences and come down to the meeting house and they all live within walking distance of the church. He said, that day is past. That most people that go to church today pass by several church buildings on their way to wherever they're going to meet.

And certainly that's the case with most of you. Well, since we live scattered over such a wide radius, in the days when the discourages are at hand and we're facing the challenges of life, how are we going to be together? How are we going to encourage one another? There's some things along that line that are working in my mind that I want to try to deal with some future messages. But just briefly to say here, one thing, there's got to be some concentrated effort made to be together, to be in the assembly when the church does meet so that we're there to have time of fellowship and understand what one another's burdens are and be open enough to admit what some of our trials and burdens are so we know how to intelligently pray for one another. And to make a concentrated effort to be in communication and have an outreach so that we are ministering one to another and encouraging one another.

So they needed encouragement and Nehemiah told them how to give each other the encouragement. Now, as if the criticism wasn't enough, then there became the threats. Satan always has his tactics. That if he can't discourage you, then there will be some threats. And these enemies began to say, your life's going to be in danger. You don't stop work on the wall.

Your life's going to be in danger. That took a lot of courage to keep going after they first had been ridiculed and then secondly threatened. And often it takes a tremendous amount of faith and courage to keep going in a day of crisis when there may be ridicule and there may even be threats. But we have to recognize that the God that we worship is a God of all power and with Him there is the sufficiency of protection and strength that we need. Now, the third thing that I would say, not only must there be prayer and work, but there must be attention to the Word. And we find that in the eighth chapter. Now the wall had already been built, but there was still a spiritual problem because the people had so long been in this desolate condition, they were so disheartened that even with the wall built they were reluctant. Some of them were still living outside the wall out in the suburbs and Nehemiah, now who is the Tershotha, the governor of the city, wants the people to move in so it can be a functioning city. And they need a spiritual awakening, they need a revival, they need an uplift. How are they going to find it? Are they going to come up with some innovation, some new plan as to how everybody is going to feel good about what's going on and be made to rejoice?

What do they do? The eighth chapter reveals it. Verse 1, And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the Watergate, and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel.

What's the emphasis here? The book of the law of the Lord. Not only must there be prayer, not only must there be work, but there must be the Word, the Word of God.

Now some of you may have heard me say that so much in the last few years. You say, I know what you're going to say before you say it, but the Lord be my helper, I'll be saying it some more because I know what a vital issue this is. I know how necessary it is for God's people to be applying themselves in the Word of God if they're going to gain the right thinking and the right direction and the right responses to the crises that they face. We must know what the Word of God says. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women and all that could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the Watergate from the morning until midday before the men and the women and those that could understand and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. The people wanted to hear it.

This wasn't a punishment. They didn't say alright now you people have sinned and so it's punishment we're going to make you listen to the law of God. The people said it's time that we know what the law of God says.

We've neglected it, we've devastated our own lives, we've brought this time of crisis, our city is destroyed and if we don't get back on track and apply ourselves to what God's Word says that thing's not going to ever be better. So we want to hear it and they were attentive. Oh I love to preach when you can tell that people want to hear. They're attentive, they're listening, they want to grow, they want to know more, just hungry, just absorbing what the Word of God says.

And so they were attentive unto the book of the law of the Lord. Now much else could be observed here as to what transpired as the Word was read and there was further conviction of sin on the part of the people and they mourned and confessed but they were then instructed that there was a time to quit their mourning and to go on rejoicing in the Lord. See there are some people that never want to mourn, they just want to blame their problems on somebody else, they want to defend themselves and excuse themselves. Real conviction brings a mourning spirit.

Jesus says, Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. There is a place for mourning but there's also a place that when we have mourned, when we've confessed our sins, when we've repented that we then find our hope and our deliverance in the Lord knowing that there's forgiveness of sin with Him and then we move forward. We don't destroy the rest of our life on the basis of what mistakes have previously been made.

Some people have already made a terrible mess out of the first half of their life and now they want to destroy the rest of it, mourning over what they did in the first part. True repentance gives you a fresh start. You've found forgiveness in the Lord and now you're ready to move on. You can't retrace your steps, you can't undo what you have done. Some situations are like scrambling an egg, you can't go and scramble it. And there are things that you might look back and say, I'd sure like this to be different.

Well you can't change it but you can be forgiven and you can go forward. Now putting things in their proper order and making the appropriate commitment to the Lord and having your priorities as they should be and serving Him, putting first things first. Now somebody may say, well that sounds like a typical preacher solution to problems. He tells us that we've got a crisis and I knew all this.

I knew I was supposed to pray and I knew I was supposed to work and I knew I was supposed to read the Word and apply the Word. I didn't promise you I was going to give you anything new. As a matter of fact, if I came up here and preached something new, you know what you ought to do?

You ought to get rid of me. Because we're not called to preach new things, we're called to preach the old book, what's in the Word of God. But you know why we have to be reminded of this? Because as we are drifting from time to time toward the world, we forget.

We forget and we have to come back to these basics. Now the Lord willing this afternoon we'll take up there and I will give you more specific detail as to what it meant to these people when they got into the Word. What that revealed to them. How they made an application of it in their lives and what the ultimate result was. So that you see it not only brought them through the crisis, it brought them to a day of victory and to a joy that exceeded anything they could ever have imagined possible.

And that's possible for us today if we will commit ourselves to God's way of doing things. The sorrows by the fields of endless day, these loud hearting through the desert make them tremble as they go. And the fiery darts of Satan often bring their courage low. O young soldiers, are you weary of the troubles on the way?

Does your strength begin to fail you and your vigor to decay? Jesus, Jesus will go with you. He will lead you to His throne. He who died is garment for you and the wine breaks trod along.

O their crowns on right they sparkle such as monarchs never wear. They are gone to heavenly pastures. Jesus is their shepherd there. Hail thee happy, happy spirit.

Welcome to the blissful plain. For the honor and salvation reign sweet shepherd never reign. All through the years God's people have faced many a crisis and He has always been their help, their hope, their deliver.

And that's true today. If we look elsewhere we're going to be disappointed. But let's be diligent in seeking the Lord and claiming His promises that if we call upon Him, He will hear us.

I hope that you will write us. Until we greet you next time, this is LeSaire Bradley Jr. bidding you goodbye and may God bless you. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God.

Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. Perfect submission, perfect delight. Visions of rapture now burst on my sight. Angels descending, brink of above. There comes a mercy, whispers of love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, all is at rest. I am my Savior, I'm happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking above.

Filled with His goodness, lost in His love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior, praising my Savior, praising my Savior all the day long.