R317 What Kind of God?

We all could use some encouragement and we'll find it together today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton here on The Encouraging Word. We'll be opening God's Word to Nehemiah in a moment, but our phone number is open now at 866-899-WORD. We would love to pray with you and for you at 866-899-9673. Call us any time.

And now, today's teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. Please turn with me in your Bibles this morning to the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, chapter 1. Trust you have a copy of God's Word with you. Now, beloved friends, as we continue with this study on building a faithful foundation from Nehemiah, there are some very, very important principles that we are seeking to uncover together. It is of vital significance that we try and understand some of the background involved, not only with Nehemiah, but with his circumstances and the context in which we find everything taking place.

That would be a true statement of life, would it not be? That it is very important to understand what is taking place, because it gives to us an insight into what it was that God was doing as he revealed himself to his servant and to his people. In the first message, and I'm certainly not going to be doing this every Sunday, because we'll run into trouble in a couple of months, but in the first message that I preached on Nehemiah a couple of weeks ago, we looked at the God of the Bible and the people of God, drawing our nourishment from a general overview of the context in which Nehemiah is situated. Now, why the God of the Bible and the people of God? Because it is very important and it is certainly very exciting to discover that the God of the Bible works together with the people of God to bring about his sovereign grace and the extension of his will among his people. That is to say that God uses people just like you and me, just like you and me. Then last week, our subject was, what kind of man?

And as we studied, we did it very cursory. At a glance, we tried to understand even in the confines of just a 30-minute message of what it is that the Bible teaches us about this person, Nehemiah, and we discovered some wonderful truths about him as a person. I think that we also discovered how marvelous it is to know that God uses all of us. You know, every now and again, people come up to me and they say to me, pastor, what's it like being a pastor of a church?

And of course, I have so many wonderful things that I could tell you. I wouldn't want to be anything else. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than to be a minister of God amongst God's people, serving God's people in whatever capacity God calls me to serve. To be a minister is to be a servant of God's people. That's what it means to be a minister.

That's why Paul called himself a bond slave of Jesus Christ. But you know, when one considers a local church, just think about all the different kinds of people. Have you ever wondered how many thoughts that we have in this congregation this morning? Have you ever wondered how many people like to do things in a different way? Have you ever wondered how many opinions there are at First Baptist Church?

You want to challenge? Have you ever wondered what it is and how it is that God could bring such a large group of people together and let them experience and enjoy such unbelievable spiritual unity? You see, spiritual unity, my friend, is not a general consensus of agreement within ourselves. Spiritual unity is a general consensus and agreement in who God determines of ourselves. Spiritual unity is Godward, it's not manward. If spiritual unity was manward, we would be in serious trouble. The whole world would be in serious trouble. Every congregation would be in serious trouble.

Some of us like it this way, some of us like it that way, some of us like our eggs up this way, some of us like it, we like it this way and that way and not that way and the other way. And eventually, who knows what we want. But you know, the wonderful thing about the body of Christ is that God takes all people together with a common with a common purpose and a common agenda, with a common goal and a common God who is God of the ages. He's the only true God who reveals himself to his people and the God of the Bible comes together with the people of God and something begins to happen. It is a miracle. You see, salvation is a miracle of God. People say, do you still believe in miracles?

Absolutely, yes. Start at the point of salvation. Look at the church of God. Look at this church. Just look at this church. Just think about the church of God and think about the incredible miracle that God brings about that people of so many different backgrounds and so many different oranges and so many different ways of thinking and so many characters and so many likes and dislikes can all come together and can agree and can move in the same direction with the same purpose with the same function. What an incredible miracle of God. If you're a father or mother of children, you'll know what a miracle that is. If you ever try to get all your children to agree on the same thing at the same time, just try being a youth minister.

Get a busload of kids and announce to them, what would you like to go and eat today and watch the chaos? Well, so it is that we come down in Nehemiah to these very important basic presuppositions that we need to draw from within the text of the Word of God before we can even begin to understand the incredible miracle that takes place at the feet of Almighty God. Today our subject, what kind of God? What kind of God? We looked at what kind of man last week, what kind of God did Nehemiah serve?

I want to say a few things by way of introduction and then I want us to read from God's Word. It has been said and I'm more convinced of it today than I've ever been before, that the way in which a person behaves is in direct proportion to what that person believes about God. We're talking about theology now.

You see the word theos, my friends, comes from the word God. The Bible is filled with God from Genesis to Revelation. In fact, I went back into chapter nine. Chapter nine is filled with God. You can go into chapter nine. I said to myself, I'm never going to get through chapter nine. If God allows me to retire at this church at the age of 101, I want you to know something I'm never going to get out of chapter nine of the book of Nehemiah. Our Bibles are going to be worn out for years and years.

Why? Because chapter nine is so filled with the awesomeness of God. So I went back to chapter eight and I discovered that God was in chapter eight from the beginning to the end.

I said, well, this just won't do old chaps. I went back to chapter seven. I found God was there from one end to the other.

I went back to chapter six and chapter five and chapter four and chapter three and chapter one. I kept going all the way to Genesis chapter one and verse one and discovered something in the beginning, God. You see friends, if you have a bad theology, you're going to have a bad lifestyle. If you have a loose theology, you are going to have a loose lifestyle. If you have poor thinking about God, you're going to have poor behaviour that matches it. If you believe that God is a permissive God, you are going to be a permissive person. If you believe that God is a compromising God, you are going to be a compromising person. If you believe that God has no standards, you are going to have no standards. If you believe that God turns a blind eye to sin, you are going to turn a blind eye to sin.

You see beloved friends, your and my theology is in direct proportion to what we know to be true about God. There are in fact six steps that lead to a person's behaviour. Number one, first step is your salvation experience. That is the first step that leads to your behaviour, your salvation experience. See you can sit in church until you blue in the face. You can belong to every church under the noonday sun my friend, but until you give your heart and life to Jesus Christ, you have never left first base.

But then there's a second step in our movement toward behaviour. Step number two is the Bible. You see the Bible my friends, God's Word from Genesis to Revelation without apology, it is the key that unlocks the key to kingdom living. And the Bible will never be absolutely accepted as the inerrant infallible word of the living God unless your relationship with Jesus Christ is in position first. Those who have a problem with the Word of God my friend, have a problem with their relationship with God. And so as we move into action and into gear, we begin first of all with our salvation, then we go to what the Bible teaches about the Theos of the Bible, the God of the Bible. Step number three is your theology. You see your and my theology is going to be determined by what we believe about the Bible.

Why? Because the Word of God is God's revelation of himself to man. That's what the Bible is. The Bible is the place that God has revealed all about himself to his children. That is why this is such a precious book.

That is why there is never a time that we could ever stand in this pulpit without preaching and teaching the unsearchable riches of God in Christ Jesus. Your theology is going to be in direct proportion to what you believe about the Bible. And what you believe about the Bible is going to be in direct proportion to your personal relationship with a living true God. Step number three, coming out of your theology is going to be your philosophy. It's going to be your philosophy.

Your way of thinking, the way in which you operate, your manner of operation, your mode of operation is going to come directly from what? From your theology. You have a loose theology, you're going to have a loose philosophy. You have a loose theology, you're going to have a loose way of living. And so your philosophy is made and completed and formed by your theology, which comes from the Word of God, the Bible, which is based upon your personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Step number five, your organization. You see, once your philosophy is intact, because your theology is intact, because you believe the Word of God, because you've got a relationship with God, you're going to organize yourself accordingly. In your private life, your public life, your business life, your work life, you are going to organize your life. The way in which you do it, your methodology, you're carrying out the exercise of what you are doing in your philosophy of life. Your organization is in direct proportion to your philosophy, is in direct proportion to your theology, is in direct proportion to the Word of God, is in direct proportion to what you know about God because of your relationship with Him, which leads to the sixth and to the final point, your action. Have you ever heard a statement before?

Actions speak louder than words. Where does that come from? I'll tell you what it comes from.

It comes from your organization. It comes from your philosophy. It comes from your theology. It comes from the Word of God.

It comes from your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. So here's the question. You say, pastor, what is this all about? Nehemiah is filled with action. We're going to discover some unbelievable things in the book of Nehemiah. What was the root of the action that takes place in Nehemiah? Why did God do what He did?

How was God able to do that? My book Saturdays with Billy is about an extraordinary relationship with a precious man who impacted lives across the world. You don't want to miss this opportunity to be inspired by his life too. The number to call for your copy is 866-899-WORD. That's our prayer line available 24 hours a day also for resources like this at 866-899-9673 or meet us online at tewonline.org.

That's tewonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. What did God accomplish and why did He accomplish it and how did He accomplish it through His servant Nehemiah. We will never understand the action of Nehemiah if we don't understand his organisation and we're never going to understand his organisation, you've got it, if we don't understand his philosophy. We're never going to understand his philosophy if we don't understand his theology and we're never going to understand his theology unless we understand what the book tells us and what the book, the law of Moses, told him and we're never going to be able to to understand that if we don't understand what kind of God Nehemiah served. You see, we're dealing with the revelation of God to his servant, Nehemiah. Let's read together Nehemiah chapter one, verses one through five. The words of Nehemiah son of Harkalia in the month of Kislev in the 20th year while I was in the citadel of Susa. Hana and I, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile and also about Jerusalem.

Let me pause, if I may. Beloved friends, is there any way we can understand what is taking place if we don't understand the context in which it took place? Who are these people? Why are they there?

What are their circumstances? How did they operate? How did God get through to them? Why did he choose Nehemiah? Who was Nehemiah? Why was it Nehemiah?

Could he have chosen somebody else? What did God say to him, Nehemiah? What did Nehemiah do?

It's all right there. Now in verse three, they said to me, those who survived the exile are back in the province and are in great trouble and disgrace. You'll remember the group that came back with Zerubbabel, the group that came back with Ezra, 14 years later, here comes Nehemiah into the pitiful situation that he found down, which is right here in verse three.

What was it? They were in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been burned with fire. When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.

Now folks, just picture this for a moment. Here's this great man of God, cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, in a privileged position. He's out of pocket. He's out of fellowship with these people because he's not with them. And he hears this news. And when he hears this bad news, what does he do? He sits down and he prays and he weeps. You say, well, goodness me, how's that going to help anything?

How does it help to just sit down and have a good cry about it? Well, there was something about the content of his weeping that begins to give us a key to what was about to happen. Here it is, verse four. When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.

For some days, doesn't tell us how long, but it was a long time, I mourned and I fasted and I prayed by myself, talking to myself, no sir, before the God of heaven. Then I said, then I said, it's as though he came into the presence of God and he began to pray and he began to seek God's face. And it is at that moment that God began to pour out his Spirit upon him. And it is at that juncture that God's man rises up from within the ashes of the crumbled walls of Jerusalem. And he said, oh Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands.

The other man is on first base. May the Lord write his word upon our hearts. What kind of God revealed himself to his servant Nehemiah?

There are three basic summaries that you can make about Nehemiah's God, here in the whole book of Nehemiah. I want you to understand these are summary statements. When you go through, you can take a pen, do this sometime if you like, by the way, maps and things to write down, it is so important to do that. It is so important to understand these things. Listen, you wanna have a great time this week? Take a pencil or a pen, go to the word of God and just circle the name of God right through Nehemiah.

Just circle God, every time you see God, circle God. And then in your own private time, go back and begin to ask a question. What happened? Why did it happen? Who happened? How did it happen?

When did it happen? Related to God, right there. I want you to know, if you've ever asked a question, I wonder what it is a preacher has to preach on, try that sometimes. If you just circle God in Nehemiah folks, we would be here for the next five years, just in the book of Nehemiah.

So what happens? You go through and you begin to understand the relationship with Nehemiah, between Nehemiah and God, you begin to understand the awesomeness of what began to take place. It is foundational to an understanding of anything about Nehemiah and what took place. There are three summary statements about Nehemiah's God. Number one, Nehemiah's God is absolutely awesome.

That's the first statement today. Nehemiah's God is absolutely awesome. I love that word awesome, don't you? I used to think that was a teenage phrase.

Well, maybe it is. I love it when I talk to teenagers, somewhere in there, they get in the word awesome. It's just an awesome word, don't you think? Do you know one thing I've learned? I've learned that the Bible is always one step ahead of us. Well, if you wanna know where I got that word from, look at verse five. Then I said, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God. God is awesome.

We're going to discover, my friends, as we are already discovering, that the God of Nehemiah is positively and absolutely awesome. Not only here in chapter one and verse five, you can go to chapter two and verse four and chapter two and verse 20, and on and on you're going to discover that this God is not only self-sustaining, but He is self-energizing. God not only sustains everything that He is, but what does He do? He energizes it. He is the energizer. He keeps going and going and going and going and going.

Why? Because God is the energizer. He's the greatest advertisement for Himself. He is the power behind everything that He ever said He would do. He is the sustainer of the universe. He is the beginning and He is the end.

And Nehemiah, on his feet before the throne of grace, faced by an unbelievable predicament, can only come to one conclusion. My God is awesome. He is awesome. You can go on a journey with me, chapter nine and verse five, you're going to discover that He is eternal.

This is where I would love something where I could show to you. Chapter eight and verse six, He is great. In chapter nine and verse 32, Nehemiah can hardly stand himself, so he puts them all together. He says He's great and He's mighty and He's awesome. He begins to run out of superlatives and adjectives to try and discover the awesomeness of God. In chapter nine and verse six, He reminds us that even the angels bow down and worship Him, that He is the Lord of history, that He is the God of judgment. He is the God of every mercy that has ever been meted out toward mankind. And as such, Nehemiah reminds us, my friends, that God is the commander of all reality.

God is in control. But there was a second thing that Nehemiah came to understand. You see, Nehemiah's God is not only absolutely awesome, but Nehemiah's God is absolutely faithful. Nehemiah's God is absolutely faithful. I want you to, there's so many verses.

Let's just pick on one. Chapter nine and verse eight. Let's go to chapter nine and verse eight.

Love to hear those pages turning. Chapter nine and verse eight. If you don't mind, let's go back to verse seven. Chapter nine, verse seven.

You see, I'm gonna run into this trouble again. Chapter nine and verse seven. In your quiet time, go back to verse five. Stand up and praise the Lord your God who is from everlasting to everlasting. Okay, let's start at verse seven. Let's just listen to this. You are the Lord God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham.

Here it is. You found his heart faithful to you. And as a consequence, you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites. Go down to the end of the verse. You have kept your promise.

Why? Because you are righteous. That word righteous, it is tied up into the root word. You are faithful.

Your faithfulness is the righteousness of God. It is unalterable. It is imperishable. It is unchangeable. It is absolutely certain.

It is something that needs to be shouted from the hilltops. The God of Nehemiah is faithful. There's a third thing about his covenant relationship. It is his basis for trust, for hope and for obedience. It is God's stamp of his absolute faithfulness in terms of trust, hope and obedience. Think of those three things that God commands of us. But there's a third one. Nehemiah's God is absolutely trustworthy.

He's absolutely trustworthy. You see friends, by means of instruction through Moses and the prophets, we read about that in so many different ways. Chapter one and verse eight. Chapter eight and verse one. And also verse 14. Chapter nine. Go to chapter nine verse 20, just very quickly with me. Chapter nine and verse 20.

I want to show you something very interesting here. I'll probably remind you of this next week as well because it's very important. You see, here God is saying to the prophet Nehemiah, this is what I've done.

Now because of this, therefore you need to do that. Look at verse 20. You gave your good spirit to instruct them.

What in the world is going on? Jesus hasn't even died yet on the cross. Pentecost hasn't taken place. Now that word spirit there is the word in the Hebrew text pronounced ruach, R-U-A-C-H, if you want a transliteration of it. You see friends, when it comes down to Nehemiah, not that these other things are not important fabrics of life. There are three things that Nehemiah understood about God. Nehemiah's God is awesome. Nehemiah's God is faithful. Nehemiah's God is absolutely trustworthy.

Absolutely trustworthy. And Nehemiah's God can be your God. I pray you'd open your heart, not to just what you've heard from Dr. Don and the pulpit, but as he comes into the studio to share his heart. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today, I repent of my sin, and by faith, I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you've given your life to Jesus Christ today, or rededicated your life, Dr. Wilton has resources he wants to put in your hands absolutely free. We want to celebrate with you at 866-899-WORD. That's our phone number, 866-899-9673. Or if you'd like to, you can connect online as well at T-E-W online dot O-R-G. Dr. Don has been literally calling out and praying for every name that has given their life to Christ. He'd love to add you to that list at 866-899-9673. The Encouraging Word.