How Can We Face Discouragement?

I'm learning, as I've heard down through the years, growing old is not for sissies.

Ever heard that? Well, we learn it, don't we, if we ever start getting into these older years. But I'm thankful that God is with us every step of the way home, regardless of what befalls us. Thank you, Brother Bob. I appreciate that.

Am I in good position with the mic? Okay. Thank you for the opportunity of being here. Thank you for being here. And I deeply appreciate the invitation of your pastor to be here in his absence tonight. You have a great staff, a great congregation, a church that God has built. And I pray for Beacon. I pray for you guys. You're part of my prayer list. And I appreciate the ministry of Beacon Baptist Church and what God is doing in this place. Let's pray. Father, take this weak vessel and by your mighty power, bring your word to us tonight. We might leave here encouraged to fight the good fight of faith, fix our eyes on the risen Lord, and know that regardless of what we see around us and how discouraging the times may seem, there is victory in the Lord Jesus Christ. May we live as though you are the great sovereign of it all and rest in you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let me begin by asking you a question. Have you ever been discouraged? I hear some giggles.

A silly question, isn't it? Have you ever been discouraged? I see the clock. I was looking for it.

I thought it used to be there, so I see it now. Thank you. I started pulling off my watch. By the way, you know what it means when a preacher pulls his watch off, don't you? You know what it means? Nothing.

That's right. It means nothing. Well, back to my subject. I could ask how many of you have never been discouraged? How many of you have never, ever been discouraged?

They wouldn't do a single hand to go up. We all at some time or another have suffered from discouragement if we were going to be honest with one another, because looking at the perplexing circumstances can give us all the evidence that we need of feeling discouraged and depressed. So whenever a Christian is trying to know and do God's will, we are subject to facing opposition and discouragement from the enemy of our souls, who is no other than he whom we often refer to as the prince of the powers of the air. He has some fierce darts that he throws at us, but God has equipped us with that whole armor of God, whereby we might do battle with that enemy of our souls.

So I believe tonight, I've said all of that to say this. I believe one of Satan's strongest weapons, one of his most popular weapons, one of his most often used weapons is discouragement. A person of weak faith may cave into opposition, whereas a person of strong faith will find the way through Christ to overcome that opposition. But in order for you to understand our text that Brother Bob just read, and in order for it to be refreshed in your mind, let me just give you a very brief history lesson. And from this text, we can see how the Jewish people had to learn to overcome discouragement.

Listen to me, both from within and without the camp. Very briefly, the Jews had been in Babylonian captivity for 70 years. When I read the Old Testament, and I'm sure you've heard people make the remark, I don't get anything out of the Old Testament. Oh, I love the Old Testament. I cannot tell you how many times I've read through the Bible. And every time I read through it, I always get something new and fresh.

And right now I'm going through the Old Testament again. And you know, it seems like I'm seeing things that after all these many years, I'm still seeing fresh things and new things and how it relates, especially in all of God's judgment that was poured out in the Old Testament. We can see the judgment that is bound to keep on being poured out upon the ungodly world. In which we live, it's nothing new. It's been poured out down through the centuries.

It's being poured out now. And it will continue to be poured out against the evils of ungodliness. But the Book of Nehemiah, it tells us how the Jewish people had to learn to deal with their discouragement. When I look at Israel in the Old Testament, that chosen nation that God chose for many reasons, He chose them to give the oracles. He chose them to give the priests. He gave them the prophets. He gave this old nation of Israel the promise that a deliverer was going to come through them whose name was Jesus. God had plans for Israel. But what did they do in spite of being the oracles and having the priests, in spite of having the prophets? I often said they were up and down like a bunch of window shades. That reminds me of a lot of church goers today.

Up and down like a bunch of window shades. Perhaps on fire for God one day and now at the bottom of the veil the next day. Israel, there were times when they would be found obedient. And there were times when God had to deal with them in judgment and chastisement. Such as the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness when they did not believe they could overtake the Promised Land. There were times when God had to deal with them like the Babylonian captivity.

And that brings us up to our text. They had been in Babylonian captivity for 70 long years. And the both the books of Ezra and Nehemiah tells a story of how a Jewish remnant returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. And that's what Ezra is about. Ezra is about the rebuilding of the temple. But 20 years after the rebuilding of the temple there was a man by the name of Nehemiah. Who made an appeal to King Artaxerxes I for him to go and lead the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.

Now Nehemiah is an interesting character. Nehemiah was simply the cup bearer. He was the cup bearer who tasted the wine if need be before the king drunk it to make sure that it was not poison. It was a very highly esteemed position because his life could be on the line. If someone was trying to poison the king by the drink and the cup bearer got a hold of it then it would take his own life. But anyway it was a high position.

It was a privileged position. And there came a time in the process of rebuilding the temple that Nehemiah made an appeal for the walls around the city of Jerusalem of the wall to be rebuilt. So about 20 years after Ezra went back to Jerusalem the rebuilding of the wall began with the approval and the blessing of King Artaxerxes I. Therefore the book of Nehemiah focuses attention on the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. It had been torn down 70 plus years ago and all there was left was a pile of rubbish.

I'm sure all of you have seen movies or pictures of like World War II for instance or other areas even in more recent happenings where planes have flown over enemy territory and bombed them. You've seen pictures of what was left in some of the cities after World War II when the bombs were left after they were dropped. All the debris was everywhere and brick was on top of brick and stone was on top of stone and everything was just a big pile of rubbish as the King James puts it. A pile of stones as the version from which Bob wrote. It was just basically like just like a big pile of garbage all around you but it was made up of mostly building material is what this is referring to. A pile of dirt, a pile of stones, nothing of constructive value and nothing that was left of a solid construction.

Just a big pile of mess is what this rubbish is referring to. So for the sake of time we could spend our entire night if you want to stay here a couple of hours on the chapter. But I know you're not going to want to stay for all the verses and so we're going to narrow this down and use some key passages to deal with the subject of discouragement. How can you and how can I face and deal with discouragement? Let's begin.

The first fact I want you to notice as we begin our journey in verse one. The certainty of discouragement. The certainty of discouragement. It's not a matter of if God's people will face discouragement but when God's people are going to face discouragement.

It's going to come. I didn't see any hands go up that you've never been discouraged. I'm speaking to predominantly hopefully Christian brethren tonight. And we all admit we've been discouraged in the past and discouragement will no doubt come in the future.

I don't know how you dealt with it in the past but I'll hang my head in shame and say that I always didn't deal with it right. But I want to learn and that's what this is about tonight. I want to learn how to live my life for Christ victoriously. I want to learn how to live in a discouraging world.

I want to learn how to live triumphantly by faith in a discouraging world. So it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. Begin with me in verse one.

But it came to pass that when St. Ballot heard that we builded the wall he was wroth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria and said, what do these feeble Jews, notice in these verses now that we're about to read, he is mocking them. He is doing everything he can to humiliate them. He's doing everything he can to intimidate them. As a Christian, have you ever been intimidated? Ever been mocked?

Has anyone ever made fun of you as a Christian? That's what he's doing. He's trying to do that to these Jews who are attempting to build a wall around Jerusalem. 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?

The Ammonite was by him. And he said, even that which the wall, even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. He's saying, they've done such a shoddy job. Well, what you've done so far is such poor workmanship. It is so pathetic. If a light-footed fox walked across what you built, it would fall down.

They wouldn't even hold up a light-footed fox. Once again, an act of humiliation. Satan, I promise you, is an expert mocker. He is an expert at ridicule through people who have a hatred and jealousy against God's people.

Think about the Lord Jesus. Was he hated? Was he mocked?

Was he abused? We looked at him before he ever went to the cross. We know what happened to him on the cross, that he was beaten so significantly, except by the grace of God, he didn't die. Literally, he was about beaten within an inch of his life before he ever got to the cross. He was beaten, and the Bible tells us in Luke 22 and 23 how they beat him. They spit upon him. And they smacked him and hit him on the cheek. We know he was beaten with whips and rods. The enemies of Christ were so uncomfortable with the Son of God that they ended up nailing him. If that wasn't enough, they nailed him to an old rugged cross. And there on the cross, they smarted off.

If you're the Christ, if you're the Son of God, come down from the cross. Same thing they were doing here. The same act of humiliation, they were giving it to these people right here in our text.

You can expect it as well, and I can expect it as well. You stand up against the trends of the day. You stand up against the philosophies of the day. You stand up in opposition to humanism and stand up for biblical truth. And you'll find out exactly what humiliation is all about.

Intimidation and ridicule is all about. In the case with Israel, there were three wicked men. In particular, we find them listed in all three together in chapter 2.

Chapter 2, verse 19, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Gisham, two of those are mentioned in our text. They were named, as we see over later in verse 11, I believe it is. In verse 11, they're called adversaries in the King James. In your verse, in your text, it might very well say enemies. That's what adversaries are. Adversaries are our enemies. The devil has his cohorts. He has his people that are warring against the church, just like God has his people that are fighting the good fight of faith. We're fighting a warfare today, and we're going to talk more about that before we get out of this text.

Israel openly mocked, was openly mocked, and by sarcastically being called feeble. You're just a bunch of weaklings. You're just a bunch of helpless fools. What do you think you're doing? Do you think you can build a wall back up around this place? Once again, calling upon this fox. You wouldn't even hold up a fox.

It's just a bunch of rubbish. Nehemiah faced this ridicule. How did he face it? How do you face your ridicule?

When people try to intimidate you, when people try to intimidate me, how do we deal with it? Let me tell you what Nehemiah did. Verses 4 through 6, it says, he faced his ridicule in prayer to God. He's crying out to God, but I want you to notice something as I read this. I want you to notice how he prays. I know we're to pray for our enemies. We're to pray for those that don't love us and those that hate us.

We ought to know that. But there are several aspects of prayer, and this is an aspect tonight I want to share with you as we read the verse. Nehemiah prayed, Here, O our God, we are despised.

There are people that hate us, there are people that despise us, and we're trying to do your work. He says, Listen to this. He prays, Turn their reproach upon their own head. Turn the reproach they have upon us against themselves, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity.

Send them back to be devoured by those in their own land. Have you ever heard praying like that before? And cover not their iniquity, don't hide their iniquity, and let not the sun be blotted out from before thee, for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. God is a God of judgment just as much as He's a God of love. Aren't we living in a world, and maybe I'll say more about this before I close, aren't we living in a world where they look at us as Christians and say, Oh, you oppose the homosexual movement? And you don't think the mother has the right to choose?

You know how it goes. Well, you just don't love like you ought to love. They don't know the Father's love because the Father hates the wicked. He hates the work of evil doers, and furthermore, He's promised to judge the wicked.

If not in this life, which they will receive some, it will most definitely be in the life to come. My Christian brothers and sisters, there are things we need to learn how to love, and there are things we need to learn how to hate. We need to learn how to hate wickedness as much as God does, and we need to love people's souls as much as God loves people's souls. That's a balancing act.

Do you know that? That's a balancing act, and perhaps it's a sermon unto itself, but enough said as I read these verses. I want you to notice he goes on to say, So built we the wall, and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof, for the people had a mind to work.

The people had a mind to work. Worldly opposition ought to bring God's people to their knees in prayer. When people oppose us, when people do evil against us, what are we to do? I'm going to get them back.

Yeah? How do we do that? Get on our knees and pray for them. Deal with them. We pray for our enemies, yes, but we turn our enemies over to God because God knows how to deal with them best of all.

That's what Nehemiah was doing. He was turning the enemies of God against Israel, those that were against God's people, saying, God, you take care of them. You deal with them.

Do you know how to handle them? Let God deal with those that oppose the church. Now, we need to stand. We'll say more about this in a few minutes, but unless we turn to God in times of adversity, we'll find no strength nor encouragement to fight for the good fight of faith. Nehemiah's prayer for deliverance was based upon the righteousness and the justice of God, who said this in Romans chapter 12 and verse 19. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.

I will repay. Not only did Nehemiah pray, but the people continued to work. And that's what I see right here in verse 6.

Nehemiah prayed, but the people continued to work on rebuilding the wall. It's been said that God will not do for us what He's already given us the ability to do for ourselves. We don't sit there on our hands and say, well, God, you do this, you do that, and turn out our grocery list to God, and we've never really learned how to pray anyway until we've learned how to pray in submission.

Until we've learned how to pray in submission, we've not got it to the first base in our prayer life. But God wants us to pray, but God also wants us to work. We must remember that work is not a curse, but work is a blessing.

In the Garden of Eden, we don't see when God gave them the garden to tend. That was a curse. That was a blessing. The curse is the thorns and the thistles that we encounter, the problems and the aggravations. Oh, do I need to go any further and just say the computer? Oh, it's great when the computer works wonderful. When the thorns and the thistles get in it, man, it pulls your hair out.

See that? It's just, man, a lie. Man, the computer can be a blessing, but it can also be a detriment.

It can also have thorns and thistles. But work is not the curse. It says right here, so built we the wall, and all the wall was joined. Nehemiah prayed, and the people kept working.

In fact, scripture goes so far as to say, if any would not work, neither should he eat. 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 10. But like those who worked in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, for the Christian, ridicule is as certain as death and taxes. It's going to happen. The world is going to hate us. The world is going to despise us.

We're going to be ridiculed just as surely as these Jews were. So therefore, we must learn never to allow discouragement to hinder our work nor our witness. We keep on witnessing. We keep on working. We keep our eyes on Jesus, and we keep going forward until he takes us upward.

But like Israel of old, we need a mind to work for God, even in the midst of persecution and adversity. So we see that the certainty of discouragement, it's going to happen. It happened to Israel. It's happened. It's going to keep on happening until the Lord takes us home.

It's certain. But now look at the cause of discouragement. Why does it come? Look at the cause of discouragement. The cause of discouragement, verses 7 through 11. We're not going to read all those passages again.

Brother Bob read it a moment ago. So I'm going to dig into verse 10, and we're going to tread water right there for a few minutes before we move on for the sake of time. Look at verse 10. The important point to learn from this passage is how we are subject to discouragement, listen carefully, when we get too physically tired. Verse 10 says, And Judah, I call your attention to Judah now.

Judah, one of those good old Jewish boys. Inside the camp, Judah, inside a Jew, said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed. The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed. Nehemiah was not only facing discouragement from outside of Israel, but now we discover discouragement was coming from inside the camp, inside of Israel. As a pastor, one of my biggest heartaches, heartbreaks, and discouragements, I expected people on the outside of the church to discourage me, and whenever I had people on the inside to discourage me and break my heart, that hurt a lot worse. And just as there was a discourager on the inside of Israel, we can still find discouragers inside the church today.

And that can happen when we don't stay focused on Christ. Judah is the one mentioned in our text who complains, he just so happens to be the same person that we find again in chapter 13 verse 15 who appears disobedient to the law. So he was a Jew that had spiritual problems, needless to say. And no doubt there was an element of truth though, and here's what I want to say. There was an element of truth in what Judah said.

Let's be honest, there was an element of truth in what he said. When it comes to dealing with the devil, when it comes to the old devil, he has no manpower shortage either inside or outside the church. The devil can raise his head on the inside of the church just as easily, unfortunately, today in most churches as he can in the world.

Do you know why? Once I've said it many times, and I'm glad that I do believe Beacon's a different church than this. In the average church of today, the average church of today, there's so much of the world in the church you can't even tell the churches in the world anymore. Most churches fit that description, my brethren.

And there are a few churches here and there like Beacon. But the devil would like to get his foot back in here, I'll tell you. Don't you ever think you wouldn't?

Nothing would delight him more than to get his foot in here. You don't let him. That's where you hang tough. You hang tough. You stick to the stuff.

You don't budge from the truth. But when it comes to the devil, he has no manpower shortage as we see right here in Judah. Inside the camp, the enemy's ridicule and the hard labor of building wore down the resistance of the people.

And the man that voiced it just so happened to be Judah. The overwhelming demands upon the Jews drained them of their physical strength, and that was no doubt true. You know, it's at such a time when we get so physically tired and exhausted that we must remember that our greatest strength comes from the Lord. I am weak, but thou art strong. I am weak, I'm little, but thou art great and mighty and magnificent. I can't, I sometimes get very weary. The older I get, the quicker I get weary. But he's strong. He's my strength.

And let's not forget, I'll tell you what I found. And I had another pastor friend of mine to share this with me some years ago. He's now gone home to be with the Lord.

But it made me feel a little better as I started aging myself. He said, you know, and I say this tonight, I find that when I get so physically exhausted, when I get so physically, physically exhausted, let me tell you, a pastor can get physically exhausted. I tell you, I know you love your pastors. Keep on loving your pastors. Keep on supporting them.

Keep on, keep on, I know you have and keep on loving them and supporting them and encouraging them. I've seen the time I put in plenty, plenty of time, 60 hours a week or more. And I can't do that now.

I can't do that. I get weary quicker. I can tell you this, when I get so physically exhausted, I become more spiritually susceptible. Can you relate to that? When I become physically exhausted, I become more spiritually susceptible.

So what am I saying? It's very important that we take care of our bodies, proper care of our bodies, proper rest, proper nourishment, proper sleep. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Let's take care of them. We're subject to discouragement when we look back and dwell on past failures. Verse 10 goes on to say, he says, and there is much rubbish. He was looking around, looking at all the piles of rock, stone. They were just lying in heaps, all the piles of rubbish or garbage, may it be.

He had his eyes on, oh, do you remember this beautiful wall that used to surround the temple and the city? And now look at it. It's a pile of rubbish. It's terrible.

This is a disgrace. He had his mind, his eyes focused on what it used to be like and what it was. And now look what it is today. I said all that to say this. If we allow the rubbish of guilt, the guilt of the past to weigh us down, then we'll never be able to make spiritual progress with the Lord. Let me tell you something. Everyone in this congregation tonight has spiritual rubbish from the past.

Every one of you, because you didn't come into this world perfect, and you didn't live perfect, and you're not perfect today. So we've got rubbish. We've got rubbish. We've got stuff that we wish we hadn't have done, things I wish I hadn't have said. We've done something that we regret doing. And you know what the devil loves to do? I remember what you did.

Don't you forget what you did? Thanks be to God for the blood. Aren't you glad for the blood? The blood of our Redeemer that washes our sin away from his sight. Yesterday is gone.

Today is a new day. And when the devil reminds you of your past, it's been said, remind him of his future. Knowing God's forgiveness through the shed blood of Calvary's lamb, which taketh away the sin of the world, gives us a peace wherewith we can face the future with joy and with confidence. Therefore, one of my favorite verses. Don't allow Satan to burden you down. Don't allow him to burden you down with old rubbish from the past, from the past, reminding you of things that you wish you don't like to think about that will pull you down spiritually. But remember what Paul said.

Paul, isn't he an interesting character? Listen to this man. Listen to what he wrote. But let me remind you of the Damascus Road experience. Well, he was on his way to do what? He was putting Christians to death. He was killing Christians, right?

He was going to Damascus to kill some more Christians. And God, by sovereign grace, chose him. The other guys didn't get saved.

That's interesting, isn't it? But he chose the murderer, not the ones that were with him. But he chose Paul, Saul.

He was gloriously converted. We know the life of Saul. Now listen to what Saul writes. Philippians 3, I remind you, you know it. Philippians 3, 13.

This is what he says. He says in Philippians chapter 3 verses 13 to 14, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended. He said, I haven't arrived, neither have you, neither have I. I'm a long way from arriving, but I'm hoping in that sanctification process that we're making some progress. And one of these days I'm going to be fully glorified. Hallelujah. Three stages of salvation, justification, sanctification, glorification. Praise God for that glorification that's coming. And I will have arrived in that state of glorification. But like Paul, he says, I have, I haven't, I count not myself to have apprehended.

I haven't arrived yet. Can you imagine those thoughts of the past that haunted him at times? But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth into those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Don't let the devil burn you down with the rubbish of the past. What does the psalmist say? He cast our sin as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered no more. Now let's understand what that verse means.

Let me, let me explain that verse a little fully. You mean God doesn't have, he doesn't have the intellect to know what I did in the past? We know the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. We believe in once saved, always saved. We believe in the justification by faith, imputation of Christ's righteousness. We believe in that.

What does all, how do we fit all this together? Does God not have the intelligence to know what I did in the past? Sure he does. But you know what that means? He says, I will not remember. He says, I cast your sin as far as the east is from the west because what? He is not going to count my sin against my account because my account, my account of sin has been paid for in full by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. He is not going to see my sin because that sin has been washed in the blood of Calvary's lamb.

My sin has been washed away, imputation of righteousness has been applied. Thirdly, notice this, we are subject to discouragement when we develop a negative attitude. Verse, he goes on in verse, verse 10 and he says, so that we're not able to build a wall. I just speak from my vantage point, how many times down through the years when I tried to lead the church to do something and I heard him say, I can't do it. Well, can't do it. Have you ever heard of, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

Ever heard of that? Well, a pastor can preach the word, but you can't make him, only the Holy Spirit can get it inside, right? I'm not going to talk about my experiences, but I'll say this. A negative attitude like this kills, it destroys. Negativism can kill a marriage. Negativism can kill a relationship. Negativism can kill a church. I can take you to churches today and say negativism kill that church. Negativism kills churches.

I got to tell you this and I hope it illustrates my point. I pastored a church, one of the better churches I pastored. When I went there, we had some spiritual battle to do.

Yes, we did. But the people, as we just read, they had a mind to work. They had a mind to stand together. This was refreshing because I pastored churches that wouldn't stand together. I was a lone ranger, but I went to this church and I thought, my goodness, I can't believe this. I found the people that were going to stand with the pastor.

That's the way it ought to be, right? And these were people standing with the pastor and there were some serious issues we had to deal with. And you know, when the people stood together, God fought the battle. And man, things, he cleaned the place up. God did it. God did it.

But I told you that to tell you this. Don't ever let your guard down because things were going the best they'd ever gone since my entire pastorate there. And we had a deacon. And he was doing what deacons ought to do. He was visiting the shut-ins and he was going to the shut-ins and visiting, but he was doing something that he shouldn't have done. He was speaking negatively about the church. And I don't know everything he did say.

I just know this that he said. In speaking negatively, one of the two things he said was this. He said there was a lady there that was a real, real godly, godly, godly woman who loved the Lord, one of the best women we've ever had in my pastorate. Still a good close friend of ours today.

And for some reason he was speaking negatively about her. That got back to us and we did what we were supposed to do, right? We sat down with her, sat down with him. We were basically witnesses. They worked it out.

And anyway, after they got this worked out between what he said and she said, he claimed he didn't know nothing about it. You know how it goes. But anyway, after we got through with that deal, I said, one more thing before we go I want to ask you. You've been telling everybody how bad everything is in this church. Listen to me, folks. I said, you've been telling me how bad everything is in this church. Now, you tell us what is bad. What's wrong? What's bad? What's bad? And this is what he said.

You ready? I don't know what it is, but it sure is bad. Well, we pretty well told him how we felt about that. He continued coming, radically, but that was the end of that. When Judah said we're not able, he was actually agreeing with the enemy. Don't agree with the devil. Don't agree with the enemy.

A negative attitude is very contagious and it can hinder God's work among God's people. I never will forget what my daddy told me, and I can't tell you the history about my daddy. It would be so much more meaningful if I could. My daddy was crippled before I was born. Because of God's sovereign design from eternity past, I was ever born.

That's all I can tell you. By the sovereign decree of God, I was ever conceived, but I was. My daddy was on crutches for 26 years, which they told him he'd never walk again. Twenty-six years later, he ended up in a wheelchair for 26 more years. The biggest part of the rest of his life. A remarkable man. A wonderful story.

I wish I could tell you all of it. But this is what my daddy always told me growing up as a little boy. Can't never could do anything. Can't. Ever heard that expression? Can't never could do anything. My daddy, in a wheelchair, retired at 86 or 87 years of age.

Something like that. He lived until 82 years of age. He kept going. Nothing stopped him. I motto as believers, seeking and seeking and knowing and doing God's will should be Philippians 4.

13. I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. So instead of being negatively critical in times of crises, we need to try praising the Lord like the Psalmist did. Psalm 42, verse 11, when he said, Why art thou cast down on my soul?

And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance and my God. You see, to praise God means that we are looking unto Him and we're trusting Him.

Everything and pouting simply don't belong, nor can they inhabit the same heart at the same time. And only when we praise the Lord can we become, for God, what He wants us to be. And can we come before Him in prayer with that submissive attitude. Thirdly and last of all, the cure of discouragement is found in verses 12 through 23.

I'll try to summarize some of that very, very quickly. And one verse I think has a good summary. Verse 14, And I looked and rose up and said unto the nobles, unto the rulers, and unto the rest of the people, Be not, ye afraid. Be not, ye afraid. When discouragement comes, we're not to be afraid. Have you ever seen a time in recent history when society is more fearful? Our pastor just recently told me about a lady in our congregation that has been so scared to death and fearful she hasn't put her foot outside the house for one and a half years.

Sounds like something's wrong with her, doesn't it? Somewhere, somewhere, something's wrong. Fear and faith cannot go together.

They can never abide in the same heart. The enemy started a rumor that we see down in verse 11. And they said, The enemies are going to attack you. The enemies are going to overcome you and wipe you out.

You're building this in vain. They're going to come in and tear it down again. That's what it's amounted to in verse 11. And ten times this rumor circulated, verse 12 tells us, ten times this rumor circulated around the camp until Nehemiah said, Well, I'll try to put people's minds at ease. I'll put a watchman on the wall. You know what a watchman was, watching out for the enemy.

And it was sound that the enemy started approaching. You know all about the watchman in the Old Testament, I hope. So verses 17 and 18, after a lapse of time, Nehemiah sent the people back to work.

He did so with a tool in one hand and a sword or a weapon in the other. These workers and warriors are symbolic of us, New Testament believers, my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We're to be workers for the Lord Jesus Christ. We're to be workers for our Lord, but we're also to be warriors for our Lord. We're living in a world that's very antagonistic to the gospel. Let us not cower down to the world. Do not cower down to a world that hates our God and hates our principles and hates the values for which we stand. We are the only sound of truth that's left in the world.

You remove the church, you remove the Bible-believing church, the Bible-believing church, and there's no sound of truth left. We must continue to fight in war the good fight of faith. You remember Charles Spurgeon?

I'm sure I'm at a church that knows all about Charles Spurgeon. Maybe you've heard about the sword and the trowel that he produced, emblems of working and working and fighting. Spiritually, it takes us back right here to our text, Nehemiah. Nehemiah praying for God to fight their enemies as they continued working on the wall. Go back out, pick up where you left off, take your tool that you're working with, whether it be a trowel or whatever, in one hand, and keep your weapon in the other. Work, and when the enemy comes, fight him. When he leaves, pick up your weapon, pick up your tool, and keep on working.

That's where we are today, working and warring. When discouragement comes, we're to remember. Not only be not afraid, but remember. Remember. Remember the Lord. We need to remember the Lord because He's God, the Creator, and He can do anything. If He can speak this world into existence, He can fight our battles. Can't you, my Christian brothers and sisters, look back and see the battles that God's fought for you in your lifespan?

My time's passed up, so I won't get into this, but can't you look back? I've just about been on a mountaintop over the last couple of weeks. I'll tell you, it's been glorious. We've seen God fight some battles and do some things in the church where I am that only God could do.

Boy, that's getting on top of the mountain, brother. Man, we've been where God's present. God's done this. God's fight has fought this battle.

God's brought this to pass. He's still warring for His people and through His people. Our God is one who's opened up the Red Sea, sent manna from heaven, brought water from a rock, raised the widow's son at Zarephath, sent fire from heaven, took Elijah to heaven in a whirlwind, spit Jonah from a well's belly, preserved Daniel in the lion's den, and on and on and on and on we could go. He's still doing His work today.

He's still doing His work today. The ordinance of the New Testament, the New Testament church, it's a time of remembrance. It's a time of remembrance. Remember what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us on Calvary. He took my sin upon His sinless self. He took my sin upon Himself and He suffered the consequences, shed His blood that my sin might be washed away in His sight.

He was buried and rose so that when I close my eyes in death, I'm going to meet Him in the glory. And one of these days I'll be clothed in that glorified body. The best is yet to come. Remember, remember where we stand with God. It's an exciting journey.

It's an exciting journey. I don't know what God's going to do next, but it's going to be good. I'll tell you what I'm praying for and I'll see it in just a minute and I'll show it to you in our text. I acknowledge the fact we're under God's judgment. This nation is under God's judgment. And you know what I'm praying for? God help me and help the church to learn how to live a victorious testimony in this land under which you pronounced your judgment. We need to learn how to be victorious Christians and let others see Christ in us in the judgment that's being pronounced. And I don't know what we're going to face before it's all over with.

Only God does. Last of all, when discouragement comes, we're to be willing to fight. Verse 14, verse 8, find a part of it.

Fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses. We were talking to Carly trying to catch up on some history. Time has gotten away since the last time we saw her. Found out how many grandchildren they have. We have one now. Excuse me, great grandchildren rather.

They have three, right? Grandchildren and how many great-greats? No greats? Okay, no greats.

Not possible yet? Okay, well ours are. Well, they've got three grandchildren. We have three grandchildren and one great. And I say this for my grandchildren, yes. And I tell you what, they're precious. But I tell you, that little great-grandbaby, she's going to be two years old in February. And I think about her in particular.

When I hold her in my arms and see her down there on the floor playing, the thought crosses my mind. What kind of world, what kind of America, what is going to be the church scene when she's grown at the rate it's going? We need to fight the good fight of faith. This is what he told them for the sake of your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. We need to fight it for our posterity so that when they come along, they'll have a faith to know like we have today.

Nehemiah reminds the people that their motivation for building and fighting is to be the spiritual welfare of their families. Time doesn't permit. I'm just going to cut it short there. I find it interesting, though, he does tell them down in verse 23, you stay ready all the time. Don't you let a moment go by that you're not prepared to fight or to work except for taking off your clothes when you take a bath.

How about that? God, our God's a God of cleanliness, isn't he? Verse 23, don't take your clothes off unless you're going to take a bath and take your clothes off. But then he gets down to verse 20.

I like this. In what place thereof are there for? In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet? You know what the trumpet, the sound of the trumpet of retreat? Resort ye thither unto us, our God shall fight for us. The bottom line in all I'm saying tonight is that God has called us to be his human vessels, his human instrumentality. It is God that flows through us that does the fighting. I am weak, you're weak, but God is mighty.

He indwells us through the power of his Holy Spirit. So I'm not so sure it's a sin to be discouraged. Would you ask, is it a sin? I'm not so sure it's a sin to be discouraged. But it's definitely a sin to stay discouraged and to let it get us down and to keep us down.

I can tell you this much, whatsoever is not a faith is sin, I can tell you that. Discouragement is inevitable for every one of us if we're going to do God's work. And I'm reminded that faith is the victory that overcomes the world. So as we labor, let's labor in faith, let's be prepared to fight, be prepared to work, keep our eyes on the Lord and trust him to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. And by faith, march forward, come what may, because faith is the victory that overcomes the world and our Christ is the victor. Pray with me. I pray that we will be able to take something with us tonight that will build us up in the faith and that will give us spiritual equipment to fight against all the discouraging arrows of Satan's arsenal. Help us to so live and help us to so fight that you will be pleased and that we might leave a testimony in a world that Christ is alive and risen and he is the only conqueror of our sin, of ourselves. And over all the wickedness that we find going on in the world, the only answer is Jesus. Help us to stay focused on a risen Lord who is sovereign over all things, even the judgments that befall the world. In Jesus' name, Amen.