Dennis Gillett - Bible Men The Way They Were - Class 4 - Nehemiah - The Sword and the Trowel

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Well, brothers and sisters, we’re ready to begin our first class. Well, it’s with brother Gillett, and he’s going to deliver his fourth class on the subject, Bible men, the way they were. And the breakdown for today is entitled Nehemiah, the Sword and the Trial. Now before we call upon Brother Gillett, he’s asked that we read another chapter, and that’s Nehemiah chapter 6, Nehemiah chapter 6. Now I came to pass Bible men the way they were. Nehemiah, the sword and the trowel. Good morning, everyone.

2. 1:13

   There’s not much detail about the person of Nehemiah in the book which in the book which bears his name. You’ll notice probably from your memory of the opening verses that he is described as the son of Akalaya and was probably of the tribe of Judah. I say probably because there is no direct evidence as to his lineage.

3. 1:47

   It is deduced rather than expressed. For instance, me and I, Nehemiah’s kinsman Hanani seems to be of the tribe of Judah. I’m thinking chapter one, verse two. It says that Anani, one of my brethren, came he and certain men out of Judah and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped which were left of the captivity and concerning Jerusalem.

4. 2:20

   So it looks as though Hanani was of the tribe of Judah, one of Nehemiah’s kinsmen. And then in chapter 2, verse three, it looks as though Nehemiah’s relatives were buried in Jerusalem. And I said unto the king, Let the king live forever. One should not my countenance be sad when the city, the place of my father’s separators, lieth waste in the gates that are consumed with fire, so looks as though his relatives were buried there.

5. 2:56

   And so we deduce that he was of the tribe of Judah. But there is one thing about him which way it can be cured of, and that is that he was evidently a man of some eminence. As the narrative opens, he is holding high office as the cup bearer of King Artaxerxes of Persia, and he was living in the Winter Palace, the residents of the king at Yushan. The King’s full name is Artaxerxes Longimanus, and Shushan was a city once the capital of a country called in the Bible Elam.

6. 3:48

   The city came into the possession of the Babylonians and then in turn was captured and divided by Cyrus, and he transferred Shushan to the Persian dominion of his empire.

7. 4:05

   From what you can read about it, it was an attractive place. It was called Shushan because of a variety of Lily that grew there in profusion. For those of you are interested in botanical matters, the Lily is called Lilian Shushan and because of that the place was known as Shushan. Now, under Cyrus, this place became the metropolis, not Persia, though indeed it’s fair to say that some historians allege that it was Darius who established it, rather than Cyrus. Doesn’t matter.

8. 4:55

   The point is that it was in this place, in the royal palace, that Nehemiah the Jew emerges to our view as a man of importance and influence. Now what we have to understand, brother and sisters, is that Nehemiah was the civil patriot of his age, as Ezra, for example, was the ecclesiastical patriot patriot. That is to say, amid the wreckage of forces around Israel, he welded together the attributes of nationalism by the force and the virtue of the law of God. It was the consolidation of Judaism which later on was to solidify the nation in the face of the Greek and Roman influence and domination.

9. 5:51

   Now this morning I am going to try to measure the power and the influence and the character of this man by trying to see his influence upon his comrades. I don’t try to make the measurement by seeing the effect he had from those who were with him. In other words, in a way he is revealed in the characters of those whom he led, and I think we shall best do it by pondering the greatest event of his life.

10. 6:36

    The thing was really the master passion of the book of Nehemiah. That is the building of the wall around the city of God. In that enterprise, Nehemiah is revealed in the men who did the work. Now, it’s a remarkable thing when you ponder it, that the book of Nehemiah really and simply is about the building of a wall.

11. 7:08

    I mean, if it were a temple or a palace, it would be more impressive. But a war? What could be more prosaic than building a wall?

12. 7:25

    And can I just force to say, I hope I don’t offend any brick layers in this house, because I have, I have the deepest respect for their profession. You see here is a startling thing. The building of that wall in a way is microcosmic of God’s relationship with us. What happened at Jerusalem in 52 days is a microcosm of God’s mighty purpose with the world. Now those words which we may read in this book were written 2500 years ago.

13. 8:02

    They come to us with a pertinence sometimes which is uncanny, and the details of the narrative, as you ponder it, reveal a much deeper truth than would appear on the surface. Now it may have happened a long time ago in what seems to us perhaps to be a remote corner of the world, but really this is the word of God for such as we are.

14. 8:28

    I just think quickly, and let me just remind you of the event which preceded the work of Nehemiah. The people of God, as you know, were exiled in Babylon for a long time, and then a remnant under the leadership of Zerebrable, and with the help of Cyrus the King were driven to return to Jerusalem to build the House of the Lord in Zion.

15. 8:51

    So they came to desecrated Jerusalem, and the first task was to build an altar so that the daily sacrifice could be restored. Following upon that, and they commenced to build the temple of the Lord. But the work was halted by a decree from our texts. And so for 15 years the House of God lay waste, overgrown with weeds, scene of desolation. In other words, they began to build, but they were not able to finish.

16. 9:20

    But later on, under the ministry of Haggai and Zechariah, the work was recommenced. The building of the House of the Lord, the House of Yahweh was finished and it was dedicated with great rejoice. Now, some years after this, Nehemiah is found at Shushan. We’ve remembered already as a high official in the court of Artaxerxes.

17. 9:47

    There, as we may read in Nehemiah chapter one, he receives reports from Jerusalem about the sad and unhappy condition of the city and of the residents of Judea. Chapter one verses one to four, the words of Nehemiah, the son of Hakaliah. Now it came to pass in the month she’s left. In the 20th year, as I was in Shushan, the palace, the Tanani, one of my brethren came he and certain men out of Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, And concerning Jerusalem, they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

18. 10:45

    And it came to pass when I heard these words. But I sat down and wept and mourned certain days, and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

19. 10:59

    Now that degenerate condition of the people and of the city, think of that and and and notice that that condition is focused in the fact that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, and they were neglected and overgrown, and the gates of the city were burned with fire. In those facts their sorrow and their sadness and their dejection is focus.

20. 11:38

    Now you see, to us this is a strange thing to Western ears. This does not make sense, really. I mean, we would regard it perhaps as a superficial thing, an external thing, an incidental thing. The walls are broken and the gates are burned.

21. 11:56

    But we must seek to understand it first of all in in in in the light of Eastern conception of life, and then in the context of that time, because broken walls and burn gates were the sign of neglect, of degradation and decadence. The the condition robbed Jerusalem really of its true dignity as a fortified city. When the prophet Isaiah wishes to speak of the highest dignity and the noblest destiny of the city of Zion, this is what he says.

22. 12:32

    Wasting and destruction will no more be within thy borders, but I shall call thy wolves salvation and thy gates. Praise. When John the Apostle saw the vision of the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, he saw and described the walls and the gates, and the walls were flashing with Jasper, and every gate was occur.

23. 12:59

    So the Hebrews felt like this. To the Hebrew mind, the walls and the gates were a telling and significant emblem of the greatness and the security of the city. And because of walls and gates preserved and intact, the things to be retained were retained, and the things to be excluded were excluded. Walls and gates represent keeping things kept out and things kept in.

24. 13:30

    But when they are broken, decayed, and burned with fire, where instead of strength there is rubble, where instead of safety there is active, so there is reproach, and so there is sadness. Now this was the reproach and the sadness then which came to Nehemiah, that she shone from Jerusalem, and he wept and mourned and fasted, and made prayer before the God of heaven. We’ve seen that in that passage we looked at just now. Now, I don’t propose to go on and retell the story because you will remember it well.

25. 14:12

    I understand in chapter 2 we can read of the King’s permission to Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem. And he went, as you know, and the outcome of his visit to Jerusalem is the story of his success. I just want to bring you to three verses next, chapter 2, verses 17 and 18, chapter 2, verses 17 and 18. Then should I.

26. 14:45

    Unto them you see the evil case that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem. That may be no more a reproach. And I told them of the hand of my God, which was good upon me, and and also of the King’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build, so they strengthen their hands for the good work.

27. 15:18

    Now have a look at chapter 6, verse 15, chapter 6, verse 15. So the war was finished in the 20 and 5th day of the month in Rule in 50 and two days we saw that resolution and we’re able to realise the execution. Now you see, between those two quotations there is a story of courage, bravery and endurance.

28. 16:00

    And the purpose of this meditation this morning is to observe the man who came to do it, to mark his method with those who surrounded him, their response to his enthusiasm, their will to overcome difficulties, and so to discover the very elements which make for success. In seven weeks the wall was flung around the city of God.

29. 16:24

    And what I have come to say today is that the things we see here are micro cosmic of the work of God in every place and at every time. In other words, the principles which enabled those men to build the wall are timeless and perpetual. As you read the story, and I know you time and time again, you know that you discover again and again that the first element in their success in which they achieved was a strong belief in the project itself.

30. 16:59

    In other words, they were driven by a master passion. Now you see, I happen to believe that at the back of every life there is a reason, a motive and impulse. That is to say, behind everybody there is a a master force which drives. It may not be recognizable, it may not be named, but it is there.

31. 17:24

    I know what your response is. I can read your minds with respect. You are wanting to tell me that there are some people who seem to have no aim and no impulse and no master passion. That’s what you’re thinking. But I shall reply to you and say, they do have a master passion, and it’s a master passion to be lazy and and and it’s sometimes surprising how hard they will work in order to achieve it. Earnestness and persistence usually bring their reward, and where the passion is strong enough, there is always the element of forgetfulness of self in the presence of the need to accomplish the great end which is in view. And so it was with these workers, with Niger Maya. In the presence of the great need, each man and woman sent themselves and worked for the common good. In other words, the very vastness of the work itself, the project itself, produced in them a spirit of self, abnegation. In each individual there was that spirit of self abnegation, and then moving together towards the same end having a common purpose, imports by the same master passion. That spirit in each man and woman became a corporate self abnegation.

32. 18:53

    And in that power the work went forward. There was unity among the workers, but it was not an arranged unity. It it arose out of the the the heart and spirit of each person knit together by the same common purpose. It wasn’t arranged. I mean, it wasn’t the outcome of a consultation or the IT wasn’t the the outcome of of a committee meeting.

33. 19:21

    Sometimes consultation and committees are good and necessary, but but this was not the method here. I don’t want you to think that I’m against committees. Please don’t think that I know that they’re sometimes essential. You see, a man once told me that A2 humped camel was really supposed to be a horse, but it was arranged by a committee. Of course I don’t believe that.

34. 19:52

    As a matter of fact, as far as I’m able to see that there is only one reference in the book of Nehemiah to consultation.

35. 20:03

    It’s in chapter 5, verse 7, and Nehemiah says then I consulted with myself and contended with the nobles. Well, sometimes, you know, self consultation is very profitable. An audience of 1 sometimes is the best audience of all. I don’t want you to all start rushing out. Having said that, I’d like you to stay.

36. 20:30

    Please now anyway. The point is that this unity was not arranged. It it was the outcome of a common need. It was the outcome of a common ambition. The self denial was unconscious in a sense. I know it’s an old saying and I know it’s going to sound very trite, but unity is strength.

37. 20:56

    We know it’s true really, although it’s an old fashioned saying, we know in our deepest heart that it’s true. Take a fine strand of hemp, shall we say, and you can break it. You can break it with two fingers, take several and weave them together. And by that entanglement, skillfully arranged, a cable is created which will hold ship against all the strains and stresses of the current, because unity is strength.

38. 21:24

    And so it is with the men of God. When they built the wall, each man built that part which was over against his own house. That is to say, everybody did that. Which were they? Which they were best able to do? They built high, but they didn’t forget to build wide and broad as well, so that consequently each man’s work touched his neighbour’s work.

39. 21:55

    And as there was cohesion in their spirit, so consequently there was cohesion in the building. You see, when men build without reference to their neighbour, they tend to create gaps. And through the gaps good things are lost, and through the gaps bad things are infiltrated. Unity, then, is the first element in the struggle for success. Unity would to God it were in our presence, in our community, because unity is strength.

40. 22:31

    The next thing I ask you to remember is their consecration. The real idea behind consecration is that of discipline. Now, if you were to ask me for a definition of discipline, I would say it is submission to the law which is created by each particular circumstance.

41. 22:54

    Let me give you an illustration of what I mean. See, when I was at school, there was one story I used to like best of all. Perhaps it was The story of The Taking of Cricket Quebec by Wolf.

42. 23:11

    Now I hope that the Canadians in this House won’t be offended if I go through that and tell how the English captured Quebec. How they did it was this. They came by boat up the Saint Lawrence River, and they were under the discipline of strict silence. I had to turn the heights of Abraham by a narrow defile, without a sound, without making a sound, because the top of that defile could be kept by 20 men easily, if they were prepared and if they knew what they were about South. Silently they came down the river. Silently they climbed up the heights, and silently they waited for the order to charge.

43. 24:05

    That was consecration, and by their utter discipline they took their objective, and one failure in the discipline would have brought disaster. Discipline is submission to authority, and out of it arises the call for endurance. You see, there was a man you can read about in this narrative, Nehemiah. It’s in Nehemiah 3, verse 14, if you want to look at it, and his name was Malkaya, the son of Recap. Now you can read there what he did, and the Dungate repaired Malkaya, the son of Recap, the ruler of the district of Beth Hecker.

44. 24:59

    Him. He built it and set up the doors thereof, the bolts thereof, and the bars thereof. Every word in the Bible is important. There’s a very unpleasant word there which is very important. I expect you noticed it. He went and built up the dung gate. I don’t suppose many people got trampled to death going to do that.

45. 25:34

    It was the place where nobody wanted to go, you see, that’s what I mean. I don’t have to spell it out, do I? The place where nobody wanted to go. Now. Clio went there, did the work. The most unpleasant did it faithfully. Did it? Well, not minding. Stayed there till it was finished. Bolts and bars and doors.

46. 26:08

    Not my name. Discipline. There was another man who had a larger piece of work to do. Perhaps, I don’t know, larger than some others. Perhaps His name was Shalom and the record let slip an interesting theme. It says his daughters helped him. His daughters helped him. I wonder what lies behind the story of Shalom.

47. 26:41

    No sons, No wife perhaps? God knows his daughters helped. They went and built with their father Nehemiah. 3 verse 12. It is next unto him repaired Shalom, the son of Holohesh, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem. He and his daughters must have been a good family. Well, the work went on in this way the the work went on through discipline and through endurance.

48. 27:18

    But but let us be impressed also by their consistency, by the sisters, and by consistency I mean the all roundness of them. Is she out of this narrative? Has come a phrase, which is a commonplace phrase now, and we always think of it when we think of building this wall. And it’s the phrase I’ve used in the subject, The sword and the trowel.

49. 27:45

    The trowel was busy and all the time those who worked with it were good. With the sword every man was building, but every man was ready for a battle. It was a splendid merging of of portion and college, a bringing together of the sense of danger, and also a readiness to meet it at all costs. That’s what I mean by consistency. All their forces and all their abilities bent to the project, Not peace or not not partial, nothing neglected which was necessary to complete, nothing left undone which ought to be. The whole idea, perhaps is focused and denounced into one statement.

50. 28:24

    It’s in verse nine of chapter 4. But it says, But we made our prayer unto God and set a watch against them day and night. Because of we made our prayer unto God and set a watch that tells us that praying and preparing are not antagonistic. It tells us that trying and trusting are not contradictory, they are complimentary. The sword and the trail.

51. 29:03

    Remember I said at the beginning that this story was micro cosmic of God’s purpose. Well quickly now I’m thinking of Luke chapter 14. Remember in that chapter Jesus is speaking to those who were seeking to be his disciples people on the perimeter of discipleship as it and he said to them, which of you intending to build a tower?

52. 29:28

    Sit it not down 1st and count it to the cost, whether he asked sufficient to finish it? Or what king going to make war against another king, sit it not down 1st and consulted. Think of that which of you intending to build a tower, the trowel, or what team going to make war the sword.

53. 29:57

    See how this is related across the centuries to the challenge of Christ. So therefore, whoever ye be of you that forsake is not already hath cannot be my disciples. The discipline, the very same situation as it were compressed into those few sentences of of the Christ. But but in addition, and above all this, observe the central secret of their success. I believe it was enthusiasm, The secret of their success fixed and focused centrally, and it was first revealed in Nehemiah. That’s the thing.

54. 30:43

    It was revealed in him and communicated to his brethren. It’s expressed, perhaps, in one sentence In chapter 4, verse six, it says So we built the wall and all the wall was joined together under half the height of love for the people had a mind to work. That’s the explanation. That is to say, their will was captivated by the prospect of the final outcome. So the task was commenced, it was continued and it was completed.

55. 31:23

    Now I want to tell you something about it. It was not done by talking. I know talking is important. I know that. I know it’s important. Yes, I think it is. It wasn’t done by talking, though. I mean, it may have started by talking, but it bricks are not laid by talking. It wasn’t done by speculating. It wasn’t done by deprecating.

56. 32:02

    It wasn’t done by disparaging. It wasn’t done by carping criticism. It was done by men with burning hearts and shining faces. It wasn’t done in cold blood either. It was done with warmth and passion and enthusiasm. It was done by united, consecrated people. And proceeding from that enthusiasm comes a blessed quality which which supports success, and that is stability. Think, think of the words of Paul to the Corinthian church, he said to the Corinthian ecclesia. He said, be you, steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

57. 32:52

    Now steadfast and unmovable are interesting words. They appear to be alike, but they are not quite the same thing. Steadfastness is that strong, burn back quality of fidelity which stays at work however long it may take, However hard it may be, however much drudgery there may be in it, and however much willingness may result from it, that steadfastness, but unmovableness, is the same quality but in the face of opposition.

58. 33:29

    Stability in the face of forces which are actively antagonistic, that is, unmovable. Now Nehemiah and his brethren had to face active opposition, you know. But this man refused to be hindered. He refused to be wooed away from the task for any reason whatsoever, and the spirit of Nehemiah permeated his comrades. You remember we read today how indignantly he said.

59. 34:03

    You’re such a man as I flee. Or again, why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you to talk?

60. 34:14

    They could not be moved. They would not be hindered, because their enterprise was deeply rooted. In the presence of the opposition was deeply rooted, and in the presence of the opposition it became even more steadfast and unmovable. I’d like to remind you just quickly of the circumstances which constituted the opposition as we read them in that 6th chapter.

61. 34:40

    As you know, the opposition mainly was focused in three characters and there was San Ballot, Tobiah and Geishem. San Ballot was a Moabite, Tobiah was an Ammonite and Geishem was an Arabian, and they combined to oppose and hinder Nehemiah in every possible way. No doubt in the 1st place their opposition was provoked as a result of their jealousy.

62. 35:13

    They also were in the service of the Queen, remember, and they were no doubt envious of Nehemiah’s preferment and his advancement. I know they’d also son Bala hated Jerusalem and this Confederation plan to fall upon the builders with arms to put a stop to the work. But the plan was thwarted by the prudence and the vigilance of Nehemiah, the sword and the trail.

63. 35:42

    The sword was always handy for defence as well as a trail for building. And then after that, another plan, as we read in that chapter, was to bring Nehemiah into a place of suspicion with the king. That is, they they fabricated a report that he intended to set himself up as an independent king in Jerusalem as soon as the wall was completed. This nearly succeeded because the king may have halted the respiration until the position position was clarified. I say it nearly succeeded and he may have done so because I’m not sure can.

64. 36:24

    It hasn’t been stated in so many words, but we can deduce certain things. Let me just give you an example. Have a look at Nehemiah 13. Can we read verses one to seven of Nehemiah? 13 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people, and therein was found written that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not enter into the Assembly of God forever, because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water That but hired Balaam against them to curse them.

65. 37:08

    And be it our God turned the curse into a blessing. They came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude. Now before this Elijah of the priest who was appointed over the chambers of the House of our God, being allied unto Tobiah, had prepared for him a great chamber, where before time they laid the meal offerings, frankincense, and the vessels, and the ties of the corn and wine and the oil which were given by commandments of the Levites, and the singers and the porters, and the heave offerings for the priests.

66. 37:45

    But in all this time I was not at Jerusalem. That’s an interesting statement. All this time I was not at Jerusalem, but in the two and 30th year of Artaxerxes king of Abraham. I went on to the king after certain days asked I leave of the king, and I came to Jerusalem and understood the evil that Elijah had done for the boy, and propelling him a chamber in the court of the House of God. It looks as though you see

67. 38:17

    Nehemiah for some reason was recalled to Shushan the king Artaxerxes. And all I’m saying is it might have been to clear his name because of the evil report which this Trinity of evil men had circulated to the king in order to try to hinder the world. So Nehemiah and his brethren had to face active opposition. But he refused resolutely to be hindered all away from the task for any reason, and this spirit permeated his breath. Now can I finally draw attention to one other vital factor, Brendan Sisters.

68. 39:00

    As I read the record, one thing strikes me finally, what I would call the sobriety of the rank and file. Now I I use the word sobriety in it’s pure sense that is steady, balanced, and so on. That is the good blooding work of all the men whose names are not written in this narrative, but whose deeds made the success possible.

69. 39:27

    In the final analysis, you see great enterprises are nearly over, which won by the steady, sober, self controlled faithfulness of ordinary people. I know there’s a place for the meteoric. I know there’s a place for the volcanic element. I know that. But it is not that really that wins the victory very often.

70. 39:53

    I mean, nature can be an illustration. There’s a place in nature for the volcanic, but it’s nearly always occasional. I think you will agree that the volcanic is occasional. It’s never regular. Not long ago I was reading something about the little islands in the Pacific. Most of them are things of beauty and wonder I understand occasionally.

71. 40:21

    One of these islands was thrown up suddenly overnight, a volcanic island. But the truth is, the great majority of them didn’t come in this way at all. The majority were formed by the tedious, persistent work of coral insects operating over thousands of years, adding year by year to the formation and beauty of the coral reef.

72. 40:45

    That, in a way, is a figure. This is how it is with the worth of God. You see, when the city of God is finally built, and when the Lord’s purpose is finally manifest, there will no doubt be recognition of those who did things exclusively, who did things suddenly and magnificently, meteorically. But there are also, perhaps most of all, there will be recognition of those who didn’t, of those who worked quietly and steadily, going on when the way was hard, going on when the shadows were dark, when the way seemed full of hopeless monotony.

73. 41:33

    Going on in spite of the opposition not minding the antagonism, seem thy duty clearly and doing it faithfully and quietly. This is how the Wall was built, and this is how it goes on being built. There are those here today in this House I know, who have, who were building the Wall 50 years ago in the truth, and they still are. And they have come through the stress and the toil and the storm.

74. 42:04

    They have prayed and they have hoped and they have believed and they have wrought and they have beloved for their faithfulness. And we know in our hearts that the day is coming when the city of God shall be finally built, when it’s just. The walls will flash with glory, when its streets will shine with gold. And God’s victory will be won, but it’s not won yet. It’s this vision on the distant boundary which fills us with the Master Passion.

75. 42:36

    And if you add to that Master Passion the spirit of self, Abnegation. And then the readiness to work that is doing the thing which we are best able to do. Doing that which is nearing us, nearest to us. Doing that the next thing. Doing it gladly. Accepting the discipline of the word of God.

76. 42:59

    Being steadfast and unmovable, ready to build and ready to battle, never diminishing our enthusiasm. Doing it in warm blood with a passion. Merging courage and caution with stability and quiet steadiness and self-control. So the wall will be built, and in the light of all this then, and accepting the principle that I propose to you at the beginning, but the character of Mihimaya is revealed in the life of those he led.

77. 43:37

    How, finally shall we mark and measure him? Well, first of all, it seems to me that you have the idea that this man had a very strong and strenuous personality is one of his great accurate. He’s his absolute fidelity to the courts. I’ve said before, I don’t know whether I said it at this school, but I’ve said it before on this tour that personally I place on loyal a great deal of emphasis. I I love men who are loyal.

78. 44:24

    Right? You know, when you’ve been a recording brother for a long time, then you learn that it’s loyal man who can. As I said before, I’ll forgive a man a lot he’s been. If he’s loyal for the truth, I’ll forgive him for having a different opinion from myself. I’ll even forgive him for thinking his intellect is better than mine. If he’s loyal, if he’ll join hands with me and and be true to the faith.

79. 44:52

    Now Nehemiah was this kind. His absolute fidelity was the secret. The master passion mastered him. Then you add to that the three outstanding things, honesty and tact and sagacity. And under his influence, not only did the work go forward from dawn till dusk, but the people themselves, they they grew stronger and better in urban life as the work went on. The inspiration provided by Nehemiah resulted in a resurrection of nationals, a national spirit of independence which perhaps had been slumbering for some time, dormant and unrecognised, Nehemiah was a strong man, but he found it difficult to tolerate schemers and fiddlers and strivers.

80. 45:44

    He was a reformer. He was a man of action, the civil patriot of his age, and as I said, was the ecclesiastical patriot. And through him so that through him the men of the nation were consolidated. They were ready for the trials which were lying ahead of the race. He was no theorizer.

81. 46:07

    There are too many of them here. He was a man of faith and work, a strong man, but at the same time a sensitive man because he’s sometimes strong men tend to become hard and sometimes sensitive men tend to become weak. It seems to me that in Ihimaya the opposing forces are rightly merged, balanced, merging of all these forces.

82. 46:37

    He is a humble man, and yet compelled to honesty, he spoke the truth truthfully. Serious men in this world have no time for subtleties. Nehemiah is straightforward in his speech, in his passion in his life, and I think in that lay his greatness. And it was by that that he built the wall around the city of God, and he built in the hearts and the spirits of those men who were with him the devotion and the dedication to the cause of God that that brought success.

83. 47:15

    So in in the recollection of his example, let us let us take courage, brother and the sisters in the final sense. The wall is not yet built, but it will be, God be praised. It will. That is the master passion of our faith. That is the pole style of our life. It’s the one thing that nerves us in the day of battle. It steals us in the face of opposition. It will be built.

84. 47:49

    And why are we so sure it will be built? What is the what is the force of our assurance? Because there was one who came after Nihimaya, the man of the ages he was, and he came like Nihimaya, and he visited the ruin and inspected it. And then he gave all and placed all at the disposal of God for the winning of the victim and taking counsel with no man save God.

85. 48:23

    Only he did what had to be done. And he is coming again soon to write the summary of the building and of the battle of the ages. And you know what he is going to write? The wall is finished.

86. 48:48

    Those words express the triumph of God’s victory among men. The wall is finished. Now these things will be ours, brothers and sisters, according as we stand with him now in the Spirit of Nehemiah, building and fighting until the world is done.