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Where we’ve been studying from the book of Nehemiah, and we’re to a position within this book where we’re going to begin to talk about the pain of progression in the Lord. Sometimes with following after God, there is a price that we have to pay. Matter of fact, if our faith is really going to count for anything, we’ve got to expect to make sacrifices for the Lord after all Jesus did for us. So I’m just going to ask a simple question. Um, have you, in your personal life, discovered something worth devoting your life toward? The book of Nehemiah and the chapter in which we’re in. We’re going to discover a group of people working together who have found a cause in order to devote their life toward, you know, as a person or an individual in this world you are ultimately going to devote your life to some sort of cause. For some people, it’s pleasure. For some, it’s friends, family. For some it’s. Some are adrenaline junkies. Some just crave after fun. But you will devote your life by the end of this, by the end of your life, to some sort of cause. This morning, I might as well just propose to you as a church family. Why not make it? Jesus. So everything in this world that you devote your life to is going to cost something. And Jesus has taught us that following after him will cost something. After all, Christ said, take up your cross and follow me.
But the good thing about God is the price that he desires for us to pay. God wouldn’t ask us to pay that price if it wasn’t worth the sacrifice. You think about when this country first started and the sacrifice that people made in order to establish this country, and the men that signed the Declaration of Independence, seeking our freedom as a nation, people who desire to religiously worship and set themselves apart from the oppression of other countries in which they were under. And when those men signed that declaration of Independence that cause for freedom, they literally put their lives on the line. It was as if they were signing their death warrant against other nations who had their foothold in America. I read in an article called The Resource Magazine that their conviction resulted in untold suffering not only for them, but for their families. When you make a decision in your life to follow after a cause, the sacrifice isn’t only bought by you, but also it affects the loved ones around you. Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. 12 had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary War. Another two had their sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds of hardships in the war. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships sunk by the British Army.
He sold his home and property to pay for the debt and died in poverty at the Battle of Yorktown. The British General Cornwallis had taken over Thomas Nelson’s home for his headquarters. Nelson quietly ordered George Washington to open fire on his home, and the home was destroyed and Nelson died bankrupt. John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. His 13 children also fled. For a year he hid in fields and in caves. Finally, when he was to return home, he found that his wife had died as children vanished, and just a few weeks later, he died himself. Have you found a cause worth giving your life to? Anytime there is an expense to a journey. We’ve got to weigh the cost even when it comes to relationship with Christ. In Matthew 1626, Jesus proposed a question to his disciples. He said, for what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, but lose his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Each and every day I’m faced with a temptation to stray from the cause that Christ has called me to in my personal walk in relationship to him. All of us are. And in those moments, we weigh the cost. What’s more important to me in the condition of my soul and walk with Jesus in this world? Where is my weakness and temptation that may cause me to stray from the cause that Christ has set before me as a follower of him? Our walks with God.
I would propose a worth giving everything to in Philippians chapter three and verse eight. This is the way the Apostle Paul put it said, yet doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. You know, one of the things that is difficult for me to swallow as a minister for the gospel of Christ, God also calling you to the same position to go out into this world and preach his gospel is to realize, as I’m sharing the good news of Jesus with other people, the sacrifice that it might cost them. Choosing to take a take a stand for Jesus and your own personal life isn’t always easy because we battle against the flesh, but there’s other pressures that come along with that. Nehemiah could relate to those pressures that came along with following Christ. You remember in chapter one, Nehemiah’s heart breaks for the city of Jerusalem and the people of Jerusalem. He he wants to see that city re-established. He wants to see it returned to his former glory. It is, by the way, where God has manifested himself to the nation of Israel, but not just to the nation of Israel, but to to the world.
And it laid desolate. And Nehemiah, just like Jesus, his heart broke for the city, and he desired for it to be rebuilt. And he goes before the king of Persia, and he asks for help to rebuild this kingdom. And then he travels to Jerusalem, and the king says yes. And he he begins to speak to the people there, convincing them that God is behind the calls to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. God has paved the way. They have the favor of the king and they need to rebuild. But it tells us in chapter two, beginning in verse 14, as Nehemiah arrives on the scene, as he gets ready to share with the people of Israel who are who are left behind from the Babylonian captivity, and some who have journeyed back for the cause of rebuilding Jerusalem, that there are some men there who begin to oppose the cause. A man by the name of Sanballat and Tobiah are the first to greet him when he arrives into Jerusalem. And what they present to him is discouragement. It’s as if today we had the the news media show up and all the bloggers on television or on the internet come, and they begin to type up stories about how horrible Nehemiah is and how desolate the nation of Jerusalem is, and how it’s going to remain that way.
And the people may not live up to the cause of rebuilding. Actually, they’re not even going to succeed in what God has called them to do. They met a face of opposition in words of discouragement. As Nehemiah presented with opposition in his life. We ourselves face opposition. What I want to go through as we look to this passage of Scripture together, is just to understand. As we break down chapter four, I want to look at three key areas in which the people of Israel face threats from outside sources that would hinder their walks with God. Trial number one that they experienced came in the form of ridicule. I stand for Jesus brings opposition. When you take a stand for Christ, you automatically oppose other people’s agendas and cause they’re both liberal people in this world and legalistic people in this world. They came into our church family this morning, wouldn’t enjoy us as people. We stand for certain issues related to Christ. We defend the weakness. Unborn children don’t have a voice. We as a church believe that unborn children should have the opportunity to experience life. And so liberalism will fight against the church. The voice and the stand for Jesus causes us to be oppressed against legalism, a religious system of rules that man makes up for you to follow in order to please God. That God doesn’t even declare within His Word.
We come to accept tradition as if it were God’s Word when it’s not. And because we don’t meet a certain criteria agenda among religious people, we receive criticism. In case we’re unclear about the goal and focus of this church, our desire and our focus for each individual who represents Alpine Bible Church, who are part of this church this morning, is to be conformed to the image of Christ. And let me just tell you, that’s God’s goal for you, too. That’s where we channel all people here to grow in your relationship with Jesus. But let me just warn you this morning, standing for Jesus brings opposition. Whatever form it is, it brings some sort of spiritual oppression. It’s interesting when you look at this verse, speaking of the nation of Israel in chapter one and verse 1 to 3, you see the same people who greeted Nehemiah when he arrived in Jerusalem. Are the same people still causing frustration for Nehemiah. Sanballat and his presence is there. Tobiah in his presence is there. As you read commentaries on the issues of these two men, it’s as if Sanballat represented the liberal side of of a cause. And Tobiah represented the conservative side. Some commentaries even say Tobiah may have been a follower of Judaism, but he’s got his own desires for the nation of Israel, and it contradicts what God wants to do, and it contradicts what Nehemiah wants to do.
And someone who should be a friend has become a foe. Today we see that in the form of legalism or liberalism within the church, always fighting that battle just to be biblical. The Bible tells us that we battle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. And we must understand as people, every issue that we face in the flesh is something that is being fought spiritually in this world. Count the cost for following Jesus because there’s always opposition. In Luke chapter 14 and verse 27, it says, whoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and count the cost, whether we have sufficient needs to finish it. Now anybody can pick a religion out of convenience. When it becomes inconvenient, just stop following it and follow something that feels good to them. But true followers of Jesus know that following after him will come after us. Come at a sacrifice. But Christ would never ask you to pay the price if the sacrifice wasn’t worth it. Count the cost. Good things and God. Things don’t happen in this world without change. And Nehemiah knew that his people needed change in their worlds in order to see Jerusalem re-established. This is where the Messiah is to return. In order for the Messiah to return, Jerusalem needs to be established.
And the scriptures talk about when the Messiah comes. He’ll enter into the temple. And the temple, just for the first time, has been erected once again. And and Nehemiah has a desire to see that Messiah come and rebuild the nation and the city of Jerusalem. But it will come at a cost. Church family, by being here today and saying that you’re a follower after Jesus, saying that you want to stand and follow after him and proclaim his name. It’s going to come at a cost. We can’t leave on Sunday and expect to live a life of convenience Monday to Saturday. Just as Jesus picked up his cross, he tells his disciples, go and do likewise. If your faith isn’t costing you something, maybe we should ask this morning if it’s genuine. That’s a hard statement, isn’t it? I hate to be so negative on with a stand like that or sound so forceful on it, but it’s the truth. Jesus didn’t call half hearted people into following him. He wanted committed followers. Nehemiah knew in order to rebuild this wall in Jerusalem, what was going to have to happen if they faced opposition is that the people needed to be committed and at the very least, be able to stand up against the ridicule of the people around them. Count the cost. And it says here, in this, in this passage of Scripture. Now it came about that when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious and very angry, and he mocked the Jews.
He spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy men of Samaria, and said, what are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble? Even the burned ones? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and said, even. What are they building? If a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down. Sanballat and Tobiah represent some powerful motivational men within the area, and what Sanballat and Tobiah are doing by criticizing the nation of Israel as they’re beginning to build opposition not with just themselves, but with others as well. People who oppose your cause seek to find favor with others around them. And so Nehemiah’s response to this situation we find in verse four, Nehemiah begins to pray. You know, as we begin to study this passage of Scripture together, what we’re going to notice is as near as Sanballat and Tobiah begin to make accusations against the people of Israel, the people of Israel never seek to fight back. They never personally go after them and sought to to attack them in their cause. It says here that Nehemiah prayed the solution to ridicule. If I could just encourage you this morning is to think spiritually. Easier said than done.
Somewhat simplistic in its definition, But hard to live in our lives. Think spiritually. Have you ever been in an argument with your spouse, a coworker, or a friend? How many times within those arguments are heated discussions friendly debates? Maybe. Have you stopped for a moment to realize that something bigger at stake may be taking place than your own personal pride in an argument? There may be a spiritual battle being waged here. Maybe it’s a little easier when the opposition looks so fearsome as Tobiah and Sanballat comes against a desolate people of Israel, as they’re trying to rebuild a wall. But in your personal lives, do you begin to think spiritually as you endure attacks from outside sources, ridicule from those around you? It says Nehemiah begins to pray, and he thinks spiritually about the situation because Nehemiah knows, according to Ephesians, Even though Ephesians wasn’t written that we battle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, and that God’s ultimate opposition for us to stop his work is Satan, and he would love nothing more than to distract us to the spiritual cause that we are living in a physical world. Anybody ever done something to you that offended you so bad, or hurt you so deeply that all you could think about were those wounds that you carried on the inside? I know in the few years that I’ve lived in Utah, I’ve even experienced it here.
Do you know what happens to you when you experience those things? You begin to dwell on it. And you don’t think spiritually is that it becomes the focus of your life? Why did that person do that? And you begin to stop thinking about what God wants to do in your world and through your world and in that situation, just about the hurt that you’re experiencing, but not for the people of Israel. If they stopped, the wall wouldn’t be built. They understood the cause, and they understood the cost, and they were committed to the expense that they had to pay. And so Nehemiah prays here. Oh our God, how we are, despite Despis’d return the reproach on their own heads, and give them up for the plunder in the land of captivity. Do not forgive their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out before you, for they have demoralized the builders. Let me just say, as a church family, this isn’t a good prayer to duplicate. For one reason. Today we live under a covenant of grace. Nehemiah lived under the covenant of law. God was seen as a just judging king who sought after those who offended and sinned against him, and living under law. God made a promise to the nation of Israel. In Genesis chapter 12 and verse three, he says, I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you.
And in his prayer, Nehemiah is reminding God of the promise that he had given to the people of Israel. God bring your judgment. Can I just tell you, though, as a people, if we were to live in a nation that identified itself under God and ruling under God as the people of Israel, or a nation under God, if someone were to come against us and fight against us and try to bring opposition to get us to stop from doing what we’re doing, the prayer the people on behalf of God should be God. Bring judgment. Stop this. Don’t allow the merciless to be harmed. God, bring freedom to your people and stop our enemies. Jesus showed up on the scene. He spoke to the individuals though he said in Luke chapter 627 but I say to you, love your enemies. Do good to those who hurt you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you, even to the point when Jesus hung on the cross, sitting there surrounded by his enemies, being cursed by his name, he said, father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And those are difficult words for us as a people, but for us to see the change that we want to make in the world, we’ve got to live that change within ourselves. Asking God to bless even our enemies. And the moments that you are offended in your life and you realize taking a stand for Jesus brings opposition.
How difficult is it to pray for your enemies? But how good is it for you to understand the spiritual sensitivity in the moment by praying for those who oppose you? It’s the miracle of God that worked in your heart and mind to change your perspective on what God wanted to accomplish in your world, and it’s only going to be God that can change the heart of man who is turned against him. Here are the results of Nehemiah’s prayer because he’s thinking spiritually. It says in verse six. So we built the wall, and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. The people began to work together. They were spiritually focused, and so they weren’t distracted for the cause of which Tobiah and Sanballat were trying to attempt to distract the people of Israel. Here’s the encouragement for you this morning. If you take a stand for Jesus and you’re facing opposition in your life, the encouragement to you this morning is that your relationship with God is being noticed. And that’s exactly what Jesus wants you to do. So the Bible tells us that the goal of Christ in your life is to conform you into his image. And if people begin to mock you because you’re looking like Jesus, they did the same to him. But you’re seeing accomplished in your life the very miracle that God wants to work in your heart and in your mind.
Trial number two that came along for the nation of Israel is that they began to experience threats. I like men when it comes to threats. At first, we logically begin to reason with one another, and if that doesn’t work, we just beat each other up and whoever loses wins, right? I mean, whoever wins, wins. Whoever loses, loses. That makes sense. I was watching this television show just recently. It was called how the states were formed. And they got to the area of Missouri. And apparently in America when we had the Louisiana Purchase, it was a very defining moment for America, because at that, at that time, the North and the South were trying to divide between slave states and free states, and all of a sudden they had the Louisiana Purchase, which purchased 11 states in the Midwest. And so now the the country had to decide, okay, what are we going to make these states? Are we going to make these slave states or free states? Well, Missouri, you’ve seen the arch before. It’s the the gateway to the West. That’s what the arch represents. That became the place of debate as to whether or not these, these extra countries that are being added would be the free states or the slave states, to the point that they literally began to fight and have duels over whether or not these were going to be free states and slave states.
There was even one city around Saint Louis, Missouri, where there were over 200 duels held over whether this is going to be a these are going to be slave states or free states? I could imagine logically coming to that conclusion in my own life, where I felt the need to put a bullet in another guy because he didn’t agree with me, but nonetheless, it happens. They begin to threaten. We have no form of defense. We can’t ridicule them. We can’t use our words to stop them. So we’ll go to the physical measure in order to threaten the people from doing and living the cause that God has called them to. It says in verse seven, now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the ammonites, and the remember all these people for just a moment, it’s going to come in handy in a little bit. But we have this group of people heard that they repair the walls of Jerusalem went on, and that the breaches began to be closed. They were very angry, and all of them conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it. Israel began to experience threats. We follow after Jesus. Not only do we find ridicule in our in the opposition, but many times we oftentimes find threats. The 1040 window is an area of the world where the population of Christianity is around 2%.
To say that you stand for Jesus in the 1040 window, which is predominantly Muslim and Hindu countries, many times results in your life ending. As a Jew or a muslim who comes to know Jesus when you declare that before your friends living in those countries, what happens is you are turned against literally within Judaism. They’ll hold a funeral for you because you went after Jesus. And so the family says, you are now dead to us because of your stand. They live under the threat of rejection from the ones that they love. If they choose to take a stand for Jesus. Now in America, we don’t always face that. But maybe some of us in our personal lives have to deal with that. If we choose to follow Christ, there is ridicule and there are threats. Israel began to face it from all sorts of people coming together. It’s interesting when you take a stand over a particular issue, how people who wouldn’t otherwise have gotten along all of a sudden agree with one another for one cause, and that is to defeat you. And here we find Israel living under those threats. And so the solution that Nehemiah leads to in this passage of Scripture, as he begins to act physically, and we shared last week that some of some people in this world are not interested in being spiritual beings.
But it’s too late. You already are a spiritual being. It would be, more correctly to say in our personal lives that we are a spirit who has a body rather than we have a body that occasionally we minister to the spirit. But God has created you when he created you. In Genesis chapter two, he in Genesis chapter one it says, he breathed into you the breath of life. He formed you with his hands, and he breathed into you the breath of his own breath to create your life, making you a living being. And in so breathing the spiritual side of man came, and then so forming with his hands. No other creature was formed by God’s hands but being formed with his hands. You have a physical body as well. And so in the physical world we see spiritually, we we, we see in this world physically what God desires for us to experience. God gave us the physical part of man to see the spiritual side of what God wants to communicate to us, and us to understand about him. And so for us to to understand this world spiritually, what it requires for us to do is to begin to act physically. And one of the things that I ask people when we get together for maybe even a counseling session, there’s some kind of problem that they have in their lives. One of the first questions I ask is, are are you doing your daily devotions with God? Are you spending time in His Word? Are you attempting to grow close to him? Are you doing something about your relationship with God in order to grow closer with him? The nation of Israel.
It’s not enough just to pray these. This ridicule isn’t going to go away. They need to take a stand before these people that says we are serious about our walks with God. They received these physical threats and it tells us in verse nine, but we pray to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night. Nehemiah didn’t go looking for a fight against these people, but he was prepared for the response that they might bring upon him. God has called all of us to be ready to give an answer to the questions, and for the hope that is in you. That’s the responsibility of the whole church. What God has called us to do is this world brings ridicule and threats. God is. God is just. But God is wise. And we can produce that wisdom back into this world, declaring to him how important it is that they walk with God to physically do something. I like that we have the Halloween carnival coming up as a church family. We we do a lot of outreach, I think, in the community for a church this size. Whenever we have the opportunity, we take this.
We take the chance or take the opportunity to stand for God in the community. Whether people opposed us and ridicule them or whether they oppose us, and by physical threats, we as a church family go out into this world and we give them answers to who Jesus really is and what he’s meant in our lives. The nation of Israel stood next to this wall with staff in hand, ready to fight, but continuing to do the work that God has called them to do. Rather than rather than get distracted, they begin to physically respond to the opposition around them. It says in Matthew 1624 then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. Encouragement for you this morning. As you know, you’re a real follower of Jesus. When your faith begins to cost you something, the church moves forward on the sacrifice of the saints. Jesus on the death of his cross, by his sacrifice, brought to this world freedom in him, to those who come to him and trust him in the sacrifice that he made upon that cross. His disciples, 12 of his disciples, of the 1211 of them were persecuted for their faith. Ten of them were killed. One of them was thrown into the island of Patmos and exiled. And by the sacrifice of those saints, the church moved forward in the early church for the first 250 years.
125 of those they met fierce persecution being thrown into the arenas, with animals being chained together by those animals in the coliseums fought by gladiators because of their stand for Jesus. The sacrifice of the church is what led the church forward. And today. We question why the church in America is declining. Might I suggest to you it’s because Jesus is more a Jesus of convenience than one of sacrifice, that we can read the words of take up your cross and follow me, but never make the application to our personal lives, always inferring that it must mean someone else within that church. Jesus was honest and he said it several times throughout scripture. To follow me comes at a cost. Encouragement to you this morning is if you’re receiving ridicule and if you’re receiving threats, then your faith must be genuine in Christ because it’s costing you something as it costed your savior. Number three, trial number three that we face is the last trial we’ll look at today is doubt. It always happens in opposition in our lives. It begins external. The fight always starts external or most times starts external. But eventually we begin to internalize the pressure that we feel when Satan showed up in the Garden of Eden with Eve, he began to preach lies to Eve, externally, declaring to Eve something contrary to what God wanted to understand.
But Eve began to take the words of Satan and internalize the truth as if she were to obey it, as if it were the truth that they were to follow. In verse ten, this is what it says is the nation of Israel began to receive this persecution. It continued on not just from ridicule but on to threats. It says thus in Judah it was said, the strength of the burden bearers is failing those who are building the walls it’s talking about. And yet there is much rubbish, and we ourselves are unable to rebuild the wall. Our enemies said they will not know or see until we come among them. Kill them and put a stop to the work. When the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times, they will come up against us from every place where you may turn. The nation of Israel began to face problems, and the situation in which they were under began to look bigger than their God was Capable of meeting that need. Sometimes in our own lives, we act as if God’s not big enough to handle the problems that we face, as if he may cause us or call us to live at a certain expense or cost, but not be able to meet the needs in those situations. And we forget his his promises to us. God clothes even the lily of the field, and he says to you, don’t worry about where you’re going to eat or where you’re going to sleep.
He promises to take care of your needs. Blessed are the poor and meek. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. God is more sufficient than meeting the needs that we have for the nation of Israel. They began to notice that Sanballat was a man who lived in the north, and those who followed him were from the north and the Arabs. In verse seven you saw who opposed Nehemiah, and the people were from the south, and Tobiah and the ammonites lived in the east, and the whites lived in the West. And so literally, the nation of Israel is encompassed by opposition. Anywhere that they turned and they began to doubt the cause in which God had called them to live in their lives. And so Nehemiah’s solution to the people of Israel comes in verse 14. And that’s simply this allow your convictions to motivate you. Allow your convictions to carry you through the circumstances of rough times. It’s an interesting stat when you study church statistics, young people in high school, when they go on to college and their college years, the majority of those teenagers walk away from God. They’re choosing their personal lives, not to follow after him anymore. And the reason they begin to notice is they study those those statistics, or because they never took the opportunity to make their faith their own.
They never really got a conviction to follow after God on their own. They were just living under the umbrella of parents and carrying the same conviction that their parents carried, but never internalized it to make it personal. And let me just say, whenever we waver in our walks with God, whenever we allow ridicule or threats to stray us from from standing for Jesus and just seeing the purity and love that Christ has for our lives, it’s because our conviction and understanding of God’s truth isn’t greater than the opposition that we face. And the nation of Israel was facing that here in the. And began to doubt externally. They saw the pressure and they began to internalize it, and they just lost sight of what God called them to do. And so this is what Nehemiah does for them in verse 14. He said, when I saw their fear, I rose. And I spoke to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people. Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers and your sons, and your daughters, and your wives, and your houses near me is a reminder to the people of Israel, is to remember what God has done in your lives. Don’t lose sight of the power of God. Remember what God has called us to do.
Nehemiah shared in the end of chapter two and verse 18 and 20 of the book of Nehemiah. God is behind us. God has blessed us. God has provided everything that we need to build this wall, and we have the favor of the King to do it. God is obviously at work here and the nation of Israel, when they saw that God was at work, began to stand and say, let’s build the wall. And so Nehemiah is reminding the people, listen, we are the people of God, and God has called us to this work. Remember your convictions. Remember what’s important. Forget about the opposition. What would it cause you to lose your soul? Whatever it is in this moment, it’s not more important than God. Remember God, but not just God, because the seriousness of your walk with God doesn’t just affect you. Nehemiah says, remember your family choosing to stand for your own personal convictions and taking that stand regardless of the opposition, ridicule or threats that brings in your life is important not just for you, but it affects your family and friends around you as well. Say, if one man began to give up, then his family becomes weaker. But you want to see someone fight for a cause. Remind them of their family that’s standing around. And that’s what Nehemiah does. See, your stand for Jesus isn’t just important to you, and thinking about the pressure you might feel because you stand for him isn’t just significant to you.
You’re making a decision for your family as well. So when you choose to stand for Jesus, that that stand brings opposition upon your family. But when you choose not to stand for Jesus, that stand can bring some opposition to walks with God upon your family. And so Nehemiah reminds him of their family, but not only their family. It says, for your houses as well. Nehemiah starts reminding them of a legacy. What about the future? And I’ve buried them. A few grandparents I’ve seen die, and something that always rings true about their lives with me. All of my grandparents is their consistent walk with God. My parents grandparents love or have loved Jesus with their lives. And I can’t help but think that that relationship that they have towards Christ, that legacy that they’ve set, has begun to trickle in effect, the rest of the family, starting with their kids and on to their grandkids. And now Stacey and I have a great grandkid for for my grandparents. What about that legacy? You know, I look at us as a church family and I think about Nehemiah. He built a city, and he was thinking about not only that generation building the walls, but what about the future of Jerusalem. And I think about our church here today. What’s it going to take for our church to continue to stand 100 years from now? When we talk about Alpine Bible Church, if we’re still talking about Alpine Bible Church, what mark is going to be prevalent among the people? I think it’ll be this they followed their convictions, and they were willing to pick up their cross and make that sacrifice in order for us to stand for Jesus.
It requires each one of us to look at our lives and say, is my faith really counting? And by counting, I mean, is my faith really costing? Jesus changed this whole world by giving of himself one life. The disciples, the early church literally reached the whole world for Christ within the first hundred years, because they were willing to lay it all on the line. And all I’m talking about here this morning is just the northern end of Utah County. Could you imagine what this place would look like if we saw genuine followers who sought nothing more than just to follow after Jesus? No matter what the costs are expensed, just put their eyes straight on him and say, Jesus, because you have burdened bear the burden for my sins. I’m picking up my cross and whatever the cost, I am following after you. This morning’s a simple message for us to succeed. It requires us to think spiritually, to remember our convictions, and then to physically act upon it as the nation of Israel. How much are you willing to pay for that price? If you’re going to live for something in this world, you might as well make it Jesus, because your life’s going to be dedicated to something.
What opposition in this world or source of threat or ridicule would you face that would cause you to waver in your relationship with Christ? You know, in America, there are many people who come to know Jesus at some point would have said that they followed Jesus or professed Christ or trusted in him. He became their Savior. They’re born again. Whatever word you want to put with it. There are many people who would claim that in their relationship with Christ. But there are few who follow it to the end. Your Bible is full of words, of encouragement to you to continue and remember to place Jesus first in your walk in all things. Pick up your cross and follow me. Run the race of endurance. Buffet your body. It says in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse one, for for the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross. If it wasn’t worth the price, Jesus wouldn’t ask you to pay the sacrifice as we get ready to close this morning? I’m going to go ahead and invite. There’s a couple of guys that are going to hand out communion for us together. This is a good ending for us as a church family. This is an opportunity as we think about the sacrifice that Jesus has made for us as a church.
We can turn and say to him, God, I am giving myself back to you. Communion is to be observed by believers. Believers. It reminds us of the price that Jesus paid, the shedding of the blood, and the expense that he had on the cross as his body was broken. It says in First Corinthians 1128, but a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats, and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. I’m going to go ahead and pray for us, and I’m going to ask the men soon as I’m done praying to pass out the communion. God, we just thank you for your sacrifice. God, we thank you for your love. God, we pray as a church that we be little Christs. What it means to be a Christian and mimicking those same sacrifices that you’ve made. God, when our personal lives are being attacked, when we’re being ridiculed or threatened, I pray that we can stand for you. And this morning, I pray that this communion serve as a reminder for us that as you were broken for the stand of your glory and the freedom that you brought to people. God, may we see our lives be used as a sacrifice for the freedom of others. We thank you. And it’s in Jesus name. Amen.