In Jason Dohm's sermon titled 'Our God Will Fight for Us,' the focus is on Nehemiah's leadership during the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls amidst threats from enemies. Nehemiah's strategy combined construction with defense, demonstrating faith in action. The sermon draws parallels between Nehemiah's time and contemporary Christian life, emphasizing the need for perpetual spiritual readiness, faith-driven works, and trust that God will intervene on behalf of His people. Historical biblical events are cited to reinforce the message that God fights for His people, urging Christians to balance defense against spiritual attacks with proactive kingdom-building efforts. The sermon concludes with practical applications, encouraging believers to live fearlessly, rally to spiritual calls for help, and exert all-out effort in critical moments of life.

Turn in your bibles to nehemiah chapter four our god nehemiah chapter four verses fifteen to twenty three And it happened when our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had brought us their blood to nothing and that God had brought their blood to nothing. That all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. So it was from that time on that half of my servants worked at the construction, while the other half held the spares, the shields, the bows, and wore armor. And the leaders were behind all the house of Judah. Those who built on the wall and those who carried burdens loaded themselves so that with one hand they work at construction and with the other held the weapon.

Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me. Then I told the nobles, the rollers, and the rest of the people, the work is great and extensive and we are separated from one another on the wall. Whatever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there, our God will fight for us. So we labor in the work and Half of the men held the spirits from daybreak until the stars appeared.

At the same time, I also said to the people that each man and his servants stay at night in Jerusalem, that they may be our guard by night and our working party by day. So neither I, my brethren, my servants, nor the men of the guard who follow me, took off our clothes except that everyone took them off for washing." So the title of the sermon this morning is, Our God Will Fight For Us. It's the second week in a row where it's impossible to improve on lifting a phrase right out of the text, the title of the sermon. And so here it is again. This comes right out of our text.

Nehemiah is exhorting the people to trust in God. It's a lot like last week. The title of the sermon last week again was a phrase out of the text, Remember the Lord, great and awesome. And the thrust of the sermon, the whole point was that it doesn't matter if you're surrounded by your enemies. It doesn't matter if you're having to walk around heaps of rubble and the labor may seem like you just can't continue any further because you're tottering under the weight of it.

You're surrounded by your enemies. Take your eyes off of all of that. Take your eyes off the rubble. Take your eyes off the enemies that are surrounding you. Fix your eyes on the Lord.

Great and awesome. Remember Him. And you'll have all that you need to be sustained and to do the work that God has given you to do. In the text last week in verses 7 and 8, we learn of the conspiracy. Sanballat in the north and the Ammonites to the east and the Arabs to the south and the Ashdodites to the west are banding together.

They are entering into a conspiracy to come and attack Jerusalem. But then we read these precious words in the very next verse in verse 9, 12 Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God. 13 So there's corporate prayer in the face of impending danger. 14 There's corporate prayer. 15 and then they set a watch.

And this is a theme that we're seeing develop repeatedly, that makes it a theme, in the book of Nehemiah, which is faith with works. Meaning that the works demonstrate the authenticity of the faith. It's real faith. It's genuine faith. It's authentic faith.

And so it moves those who have the faith forward. They actually act on it because they really believe. Hebrews 11.1 says that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So real faith, genuine faith, authentic faith is substantial. It's the furthest thing from wishful thinking.

It's the substance of what's hoped for and it will push you forward into action. We're seeing that again and again and again in the book of Nehemiah. So Christians are those who pray that God will give them their daily bread and then they go off to work and there's no contradiction there. They don't go off to work Because they don't think God is answering their prayers, they go off to work because they do think God is answering their prayers. They believe that the God who calls men and women to work will make their work fruitful.

And So, these things aren't in conflict at all. In fact, they're designed to go hand in hand. As we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. God, I thank you that you are the God who fights for your people. You have redeemed your people with the blood, the precious blood of your son, Jesus Christ, but that's only the starting point.

You redeem us by your work and then you fight for us. I thank you. O press this truth home on our hearts so that we would see you as you are a God intervening, a God happy to step in on behalf of your people to defend us, protect us, and to push forward the borders of your kingdom through us. Give us confidence. Give us faith.

Build our faith through this text in Jesus' name. Amen. So here's where we're headed in the sermon. First I'm going to give, as best I can, a speedy exposition. I've divided the text into four parts and I'm going to try very hard to go fast and just give you a good understanding of what the text means, what it meant to Nehemiah and the people who were there and that place and time.

And then I'm going to spend the second time applying it. So I've really, sometimes I scramble it up and the applications are all mixed in. I'm trying not to do that in this sermon. I'm going to give a fast exposition and then I'm going to hopefully preserve a lot of time to apply this. What does this mean to us today?

Because I think the applications for our text is so profound to the lives that God has given us. So here we go, verse 15 is the first part of the exposition. Look at verse 15 again, and it happened when our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had brought their plot to nothing. That all of us return to the wall, everyone to his work." So in this verse, God brought their plot to nothing. If you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's plot and nothing.

God brought their plot to nothing. If you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's plot and nothing. God brought their plot to nothing. So what was heard? The enemies have heard something.

What did they hear? They heard that the Jews know their plan. So the cat's out of the bag, the secret is out. They know that we know, The enemies know that we know what they were up to. This is what verse 15 says.

So the conspiracy has become known. Now look back at verse 11. And our adversary said, they will neither know Nor see anything till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease." So the enemy's plan was not full frontal attack, bring your army out on the field and call them out to meet you on the field of battle, But the intent was to come in among them and before they even know what's happening, to fall upon them and kill them and cause the work to cease. But that's lost. Conspiracies is called a conspiracy in last week's text, it's called a plot in this week's text.

The meaning is the same. And those are both completely dependent on secrecy and surprise. You can't have a conspiracy. You can't have a plot without secrecy and surprise. So it's now known that secrecy is gone.

The cat's out of the bag. So they can't proceed as they were planning to proceed. Here's Nehemiah's interpretation of that. God did it. God is the one who brought this plot to nothing.

It was God who allowed His people to know that they wanted to come in secretly among them and kill them and make the work to stop. God made it known. And God disheartened his enemies. That has to also be true. If the plot has come to nothing, then these enemies have to be disheartened by the fact that this is known and they can't execute the plan because there are still military realities in place.

They might have lost the ability to come in amongst them unknown with a surprise attack to kill them and to cause the work to cease. But they still surround them. They still have a numerical advantage. Undoubtedly, the enemies of the Lord's people have a vast numerical advantage. And those who are defending Jerusalem still have a wall that is not fully rebuilt.

It's built up to half its height. Can they really defend against the military realities here? Well, if your enemy is disheartened, then you won't have to. This is what has happened. God is the main actor here and he's brought the plot to nothing, in spite of the military realities that remain, which is there are more enemies than there are of the Lord's people, and they're surrounded on every side, and the malice is there to do them wrong.

And yet God brings it to nothing. Here's the result. Everyone gets back to work. Everyone's back to the wall. Just compare that with verse 10 from last week.

In verse 10 last week, Judah was saying, there's a saying or a song that was on everybody's lips and it's, We can't do anymore. We are tottering under the weight of the work. We are about to collapse under the weight of the work. We can't do anymore. And now everyone is back to the wall.

They are encouraged again. They are unified in the work again. So this is the result of God bringing the enemy's plot to nothing. The Lord's people are re-energized for the work, back to the wall, back to work. Now let's look at verses 16 through 18.

Nehemiah 4 verse 16. So it was from that time on that half of my servants worked at construction while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor. And the leaders were behind all the house of Judah. Those who built on the wall and those who carried burdens loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction and with the other they held a weapon. Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built.

And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me. This section is about perpetual readiness. If you're filling in the blanks, it's readiness. Perpetual readiness. Perpetual means at every moment, unbroken readiness.

So we see here that Nehemiah works out and implements a system so that they'll be ready for an attack every second of every minute of every hour of every day. Okay. Perpetual, unbroken readiness for an attack. Whenever an attack might come, the Lord's people will be ready. We see this phrase in this section, from that time on.

I keep referring to chapter 6 verse 15. We're not there yet. But it says that the whole project of repairing and rebuilding the wall is going to be 52 days. So wherever we are in those 52 days, from this moment on, they're going to be ready to defend against attack and attack every second of every minute of every hour of every day. Unbroken readiness.

Nehemiah has a system that involves two things, his servants and the rest of the people. So first it involves his servants which are divided in halves. The first half of his servants work at construction. By the way, his servants are a distinct group of people. So he's the governor.

There could be a sense in which you would say all the Jews are his servants, but it's not used that way here. We're going to see his servants talked about as a distinct group of people in chapter 5 verse 10. In chapter 5 verse 10, his servants will be joining in lending resources to the people when there is a famine. And then in chapter 13, when he comes back and he is governor for the second time and he is trying to restore a right observance of the Sabbath. It's going to be essential that they close the gates, keep the Gentiles from coming in and engaging in buying and selling on the Sabbath.

Who's going to be set over that in chapter 13? It will be his servants again. So they are playing a very similar function here in chapter 4. So this is a distinct group and half of them are working at construction. So half of his servants, he throws at the rebuilding and repair of the wall, and they are putting their backs to it and helping progress happen faster as a result of their participation.

And then half of his servants are holding weapons, they're holding spears, shields, and bows while they're wearing armor. So they're in armor, they're ready to defend at any moment, half of the servants are, and they're holding weapons, spears, shields, bows, not swords. All the workers have swords at their sides, so they're not holding that. They're holding the spears, the shields, and the bows. And so it's more than being ready themselves to defend.

It's also ready to arm their brethren when there's an attack. They're keeping the weapons so that They can quickly arm their brethren. They can quickly deploy the weapons for the defense of their city if they get attacked. Now here's a question that comes out of that. Half of the servants working on construction, half of the servants holding weapons, Who's waiting on Governor Nehemiah?

Nobody. Nobody is waiting on Governor Nehemiah. These are people who normally have a job. They normally have functions of service to Nehemiah, but not right now. The Navy term is all hands on deck.

It means you leave your normal job and you come to where the area of critical need is, all hands on deck. That's what's happening here. People who would normally be waiting on Governor Nehemiah aren't waiting on him today or tomorrow or for these 52 days. It's all hands on deck. So half are working on the wall, half are holding the weapons.

We also find out that the leaders are behind all the house of Judah. So Nehemiah is not the only leader who is in. Go from a Navy term to a poker term. Now the poker term is what? All in.

Means you're betting everything on this hand. All your chips get pushed into the middle of the table and you're all in. Nehemiah's all in. All his resources are deployed to either rebuilding or defending. And the text says that the same is true of the other leaders.

They are behind all of Judah. So we're beyond second guessing, we're beyond complaining, we're beyond arm chair quarterbacking. We are to everybody unified around the work that God has given them to do. Only God can give that unity. Isn't that true?

All these people, all these leaders, and they share one mind. To defend and to build. So it's all hands on deck and it's all in. That's what we get out of these verses. So that's Nehemiah and his servant.

Secondly, we have the rest of the workers, both the bearers of burdens and the builders. What are the rest of the workers doing? Some of them are carrying with one hand and holding a weapon in the other. Some of them are working with a sword at their side. But the point is your weapon is always within arms reach.

You're never out of arms reach of your weapon. If an attack happens, your weapon is there and you're ready for action. So it is perpetual readiness. It is unbroken readiness. It is readiness every second of every minute of every hour of every day.

If their enemies attack they will be ready. Now let's look at verses 19 and 20. Nehemiah chapter 4 verse 19. Then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there.

Our God will fight for us. This section is about rallying to the trumpet. If you're filling in blanks, it's trumpet. Rallying to the trumpet. In the last part of verse 18, The one who sound the trumpet is beside Nehemiah.

There's a trumpeter who goes with Nehemiah as he oversees work on various parts of the wall. And he's not going by himself. He's going with someone who can sound the trumpet. Josephus actually says in his work Antiquities, he says that there was a trumpeter that was stationed every 500 feet along the work of the wall. So I don't know whether that's true or not.

Josephus is a good source but not as good as the Bible. We know at least there's a trumpeter with Nehemiah as he goes about his business. Nehemiah speaks to everyone. He speaks to the nobles, he speaks to the leaders, he speaks to the rest of the people, and he gives the problem statement. What's the problem?

We're spread out. We're very spread out. So you'll remember chapter 3. Chapter 3 makes it so clear that it's not, we're working on section A of the wall today. All of us, we all work on this section of the wall and we get down with that, we'll move to section B, then we'll move to section C, then we'll move to section D.

That's not how it's working. Chapter 3 made it so clear that there's 42 sections of wall being worked by 40 groups of people. Okay, so all of the wall is being worked on all at once and it means that they're spread out. Remember, there's two miles of wall maybe a little longer than that. So Janet would have been so proud of me.

I was at my desk this morning and I worked out if it was a circle, where's the farthest you would be from another person on the wall if it's a two mile wall? So I got my mind back to the formula for the circumference of a circle and I worked it out and it's about six tenths of a mile. Of course the wall is not perfectly circular but it does give you a sense, okay? If you've got a two-mile around wall and you're all the way across the circle from where the attack happens, then you're about six-tenths of a mile away. So you kids who say, we'll never have to use this later, that's not true.

You might have a reason to remember the formula for the circumference of a circle. So that's the problem statement. We're spread out. If an attack happens, only one group of the 40 groups will be there. So there's a two-fold solution that he offers.

One is if you hear the trumpet, you go to the trumpet. If you hear the blast of the trumpet, you rush to that spot. That's where the attack is. That's where the defenders are needed. The second part of the two-fold solution is the real solution.

Our God will fight for us. When you get there, when you hear the trumpet and you rush there, you won't be alone. God will be there fighting for his people. If a fight breaks out, God is going to be in this fight. Nehemiah is saying that with such confidence.

In saying this, Nehemiah shows us that he's been reading his Bible. And we're seeing this. Nehemiah is frequently drawing on the language of Scripture and how he prays and how he talks and He's doing it again here. Listen to the rich history of this language in Scripture. Exodus 14 verse 14.

In Exodus 14, the people of God are pinned against the Red Sea. It's the Red Sea on one side, it's the Egyptian army pursuing them on the other. Here's what Moses says, be still, the Lord will fight for you. The exact same words were uttered by Moses to the people when they were pinned between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea. Then just a few verses later also in Exodus 14 verse 25, the Egyptians are pursuing them, but the chariots aren't functioning properly and they can tell something supernaturally is happening.

And here's what the Egyptians say, Let us flee for the Lord fights for them. Even the Egyptians, even the pagan Egyptians recognized that God was fighting for his people. This isn't just happy talk to make you brave for the fight. God really does show up to fight for His people when they need it the most. In Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 30, Moses begins the book of Deuteronomy speaking to the people about their history.

He begins speaking about a time 40 years earlier where the spies have come back from the land and most of the spies say they are too big, we can't go in and possess that land. And of course Joshua and Caleb stood against that and said yes, yes we can, but at that time Moses urged the people and said the Lord your God, he will fight for you. And the people rejected it. They didn't believe Moses, that the Lord would fight for them. So they refused to go in and a whole generation died in the wilderness.

Now in Deuteronomy chapter 3 verse 22, it's 40 years later, it's fast forward to the present, he's done with his history lesson, now they're on the verge of going into the promised land. After the generation, dying off over 40 years in the desert, And in chapter 3 verse 22, Moses says to Joshua, who will lead these armies into the promised land, the Lord your God himself fights for you. So they're on the verge of the promised land again. They didn't believe Moses the first time, but Moses tells Joshua, you take those people into this land, you'll be able to possess it. The Lord himself fights for you.

Then in Deuteronomy chapter 20 verse 4, Moses is teaching about warfare. Of course, Moses won't go into the Promised Land. He won't be part of any of these wars. God had said he couldn't go in because of a sin that he had committed in the desert. So he's not going to be the one who leads the people into the promised land.

It's going to be Joshua. But he's teaching the people about warfare from God. And He says that their enemies will be more numerous than them. They will actually be displacing nations that are mightier than they are. But Moses says, don't worry about that.

The LORD your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies." So when he teaches them about warfare, he says, These are going to be mightier nations than you. Don't worry about it. The LORD will go before you. He will fight for you. Then in Joshua chapter 23, there's only 24 chapters in Joshua, in Joshua chapter 23, it's Joshua's farewell speech.

God has done it. He's fought for them. Joshua has been able to successfully bring the people into the promised land and now he's old and the Lord has given them rest. Here's what Joshua says in his farewell address to the people. Joshua chapter 23 verses 9 and 10, For the Lord has driven out from before you great and strong nations, but as for you no one has been able to stand against you to this day.

One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the Lord your God is he who fights for you as he promised you." Joshua points back and says, He promised you and He has fought for you and He will fight for you and one of you will be able to put a thousand to flight. When God fights for you, One puts a thousand to flight. This is the rich historical context of this statement. Nehemiah is pulling all that forward to say, I know we're surrounded, I know we have many enemies, I know they're well armed. But one of us can put a thousand to flight because God will fight for us.

Here's the last one. I want you to look at this one, Numbers chapter 10. Numbers chapter 10, turn there. This is actually about trumpets. This is instruction about trumpets.

So we're going to see exactly the same sequence that we see in Nehemiah. Nehemiah says, when you hear the trumpet rally to us there, the Lord will fight for us." This is exactly what we see in Numbers chapter 10. I want to begin by reading Numbers chapter 10 verses 1 and 2 and then I'm going to skip to verse 8 and read 8 and 9. Numbers chapter 10 verse 1, And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Make two silver trumpets for yourself. You shall make them of hammered work.

You shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps. Now skipping to verse 8. The sons of Aaron the priest shall blow the trumpets, and these shall be to you as an ordinance forever throughout your generations. When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies." In Numbers chapter 10, God promises to hear the trumpet. He says, this is an ordinance throughout your generations, people.

And when you blow the trumpet, I will hear the trumpet and I will remember. I will rally to the trumpet. So it's a call to the people to rally to the sound of the trumpet but also an acknowledgement that they won't be the only ones hearing the trumpet. It will be God and He's promised to come when His people are defending the land that God has given them. So Nehemiah's hearers would have recognized what he's saying has history, rich history.

God did fight for His people. God will fight for His people. God will fight for us. Now back to Nehemiah and verses 21 through 23. Nehemiah chapter 4 verse 21, So we labored in the work, and half of the men held the spears from day break until the stars appeared.

At the same time I also said to the people, Let each man and his servant stay at night in Jerusalem, that they may be our guard by night and a working party by day. So neither I, my brethren, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me took off our clothes except that everyone took them off for washing." In this section we see laboring from daybreak until the stars appeared. If you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's daybreak stars. Laboring from daybreak until the stars appear. If there is a ray of light, we'll be working.

From daybreak, the first rays of light come over the horizon, we'll be at work and we'll be working until the stars come out, until it's just too dark to work anymore. Verse 21 reiterates the state of perpetual readiness unbroken, readiness half the men holding the spears. I think this goes right back to verse 16 where he says half of the servants will be holding the spears and the shields and the bows. In verse 22, Nehemiah says, Stay in Jerusalem at night. We haven't seen that before.

This is new. Nehemiah speaks this to the people. Stay in Jerusalem at night. Evidently the people from the surrounding areas have been coming helping with the work during the day and then going back to their homes in the surrounding areas at night and then coming back again the next day and then going home again at night. Nehemiah wants that to stop.

Nehemiah wants them to stay in Jerusalem. My guess is we're going to find out later in Nehemiah that Jerusalem is very unpopulated. They're actually going to have to call for volunteers to try to bring a tenth of the population into Jerusalem so that it will be populated. So right now it's very unpopulated. My guess is families from the surrounding areas came into the city.

The text doesn't say that, but I think it makes sense. In any event, Nehemiah doesn't want the laborers going and coming and going and coming. He wants them staying in Jerusalem. I think there are three things to say about that. Two of them are explicitly in the text.

The first is this. They can help guard at night. There's probably some sort of rotation. This doesn't mean that nobody slept for 52 days. It means that there's an orderly way to go about watching and defending the city.

So this increases the pool of watchmen and defenders by having people stay in the city at night. It increases the pool of fighters against a night attack. Secondly, it puts the laborers right at the place of work at daybreak. No time or energy is spent going back and forth from surrounding villages. It puts you right at the place of work.

As soon as there is light you can get to work. So it makes the work advance more quickly. And then finally, this isn't in the text, but this isn't explicitly in the text, but when we think back to verse 11, that the plan of the enemy was to come in among them, unknown, and to be on them before they knew what was happening and to kill them and cause the work to cease. Nehemiah is wanting to reduce the in and out from Jerusalem and so to reduce the risk of being infiltrated by an enemy who could be upon them. They don't have barcode name badges to get in and out of Jerusalem.

Trying to control the access and to keep those who would want to come in and do harm out from the different gates in Jerusalem would be a very difficult task. So he wants everyone staying in Jerusalem to minimize the in and out and minimize the enemy's ability to infiltrate the city. In verse 23 we learn that Nehemiah and his closest circle are literally in an unbroken state of readiness. They're always dressed for work and battle, always, except for when they wash. If you look at the different good translations, you'll never see more variation than here.

I think Among the five translations that I check, there are four different translations of the very last portion where it says, except that everyone took them off for washing. And so this is notoriously hard to translate. It doesn't matter. The meaning is the same. They're always ready, except for if they're getting water, except for if they're washing.

They sleep dressed to work and fight for these 52 days. So the one who's leading is working the hardest. Do you get that? The one who's out front, the one who's in charge is not taking a place of privilege. He's working the hardest.

He's the one who won't get out of his clothes except to wash. He and his closest circle. It's beautiful. Now, applications. What does this have to do with our life today?

A lot. And I want to work through the applications in the form of five questions. These are five questions for you and me that will help us take the truths and principles from this text and apply us to life in the year 2015. Number one, are you in a perpetual state of readiness for spiritual warfare? Are you in a state of unbroken readiness for spiritual warfare?

Listen to what Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. We have an enemy who is sober and vigilant and has a single-minded objective, and it's to eat the Lord's people. So you better match his soberness. You better match his vigilance because our Lord has told us so through his apostles. How does that fit with your days off?

I'm not talking about Christmas and New Year's. I'm not talking about days you don't go into work. I'm talking about the days where you're sloppy and thoughtless and careless about your spiritual condition. And you're nowhere near in a state of readiness for spiritual warfare. Those are the days you're attacked.

You have a wily enemy. You have a wise enemy in that way. He's looking for chinks in the armor. He's looking for gaps in the wall. He's looking for the times where you're careless and thoughtless and sloppy and not ready.

He's like a roaring lion seeking to devour you. Peter of course learned this at the feet of Jesus. Listen to Jesus in Gethsemane. Watch and pray, Peter. Peter is right there.

This is directed to Peter. Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. The flesh is an opportunity for a roaring lion to come in and leave you with bite marks. Peter left that night with bite marks, didn't he?

Peter was overconfident. Peter was thoughtless and careless and he got bite marks that night. Jesus said to him, watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. You're opening the door to temptation when you don't watch and pray. Your spirit might be willing, but your flesh is weak.

If you open the door to an attack on your flesh, you are vulnerable. How do we do this? There's a whole sermon about that. I'm not preaching that sermon now. But we should start with Ephesians 6, the whole armor of God, which will point us to faith, which will point us to prayer, which will point us to the Word of God.

It's a good place to start. Fan the flames of your faith. Pay attention to the Word of God every day. Feed your spirit. Strengthen yourself with His Word every day.

Pray. Be in a state of watchfulness. That was number one. Are you in a perpetual state of readiness for spiritual warfare? Number two.

Do you understand that we can't afford to just defend? Do you understand that? We don't have the luxury of just circling the wagons and defending. The mission that we've been given by our Lord, our Great Commission, is an offensive mission. So we must defend, but we can't just defend, because our great commission is to go and make disciples to expand the borders of this kingdom.

So, the assaults of the world, the flesh and the devil might make us want to curl up in the fetal position and just fend off the darts, but we cannot afford that. We can't stay in that state. Understand this about the book of Nehemiah. If they 100% devote themselves 100% to defending, the enemy wins. What's the enemy's objective?

Stop the work. If all they do is just circle the wagons and defend, then the enemy wins. So the picture is one hand with a sword, the other hand building. This is the picture for the Christian life. A sword in one hand to defend the attacks from the world, the flesh, and the devil, but with the other hand building, building, building this kingdom, going, making disciples of the nations." I think James captures this in James chapter 1 verse 27.

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. There's talk of both. Now don't come to James chapter 1, verse 27, and say, that's a comprehensive list. All we do is we keep ourselves unspotted, and we visit widows and orphans, and we're done, of course. That's a good start.

That's not a comprehensive list. The point is that there are things that we defend against, the spots and the stains of the world. Absolutely we must be defending. But if you've only done that, then your job is half done. James 1.27 brings us the full orbed picture of the Christian life.

Part defending, a sword in one hand, but building with the other. Doing the things that God has called us to do in His great commission, with the other hand. Our Lord has given us an offensive mission, So even though we must keep ourselves unspotted from the world, and that takes having a sword in one hand and defending with all your might, you've got to be building with the other hand. Number three. Number three.

Have you considered what it might mean for you to rally to the trumpet? Have you considered what it might mean for you to rally to the trumpet? In other words, there are places where the Lord's people are under attack. And it won't do for us to say that's them over there. Best of luck.

We're praying for you. We should pray for them. I'm not minimizing praying for them. But is that all we should do? Is that all it means to rally to the trumpet?

I would submit the answer to that is no. There are different locations and there are different fronts in the fight. What do I mean? The different locations. The persecuted church.

It might not be in Franklin County. It might be in Iraq. It might be in Nigeria. And they're blowing the trumpet. They need help.

They're asking for help. What will the Lord's people do? Will we all wait for everybody else to do something? While no one does anything. What do I mean by different fronts?

Abortion, the battle for the Bible, meaning the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture, sixth day creation, homosexuality, name it. Name all the attacks of the world against the holiness of the church, the purity of the church. That's a battle front. From time to time there's a trumpet sound where our brethren who are fighting all the time on that front need reinforcements. We better be there when the trumpet blows.

So there's an acknowledgement that we can't be everywhere all at the same time, that we can't do everything, but there are particular pressure points, there are particular times and places where the battle is going to swing one way or the other, and Christians should be there. Christians should be rallying to the sound of the trumpet. That's number three. Have you considered what it might mean for you to rally to the trumpet? I think our church should be asking that question.

We should be ready to throw resources behind the trumpet blast on different fronts and in different locations. Number four. Do you recognize the big moments that require all-out effort? Do you recognize the big moments in life that require all-out effort? Not all of life is the same.

Nehemiah didn't live his whole life like in this mode. Like always dressed for work, always dressed for battle for 82 years or however long you live. No! This is 52 days but he knows this is the time to make the push. He recognizes that this is probably the biggest time of his life.

These are the biggest moments of his life and he can see it and he is willing to exhaust himself to get it done. With few exceptions, the modern Christian never thinks this way. We are always pacing ourselves. Why? What are we waiting for?

What are we saving our energy for? Stop pacing yourself. Charles Spurgeon says, I wish people would just exhaust themselves. I wish people would think of it as Paul thought of it, that they would spend and be spent for the gospel and flame out, used up. I'm not preaching to you, I'm preaching to me.

I despise that about myself. I pace myself forever. For what? What are we saving ourselves for? Let's recognize the big moments and be willing to have all out effort for bursts of time where we give it everything for this kingdom, this glorious kingdom.

There are times that Call for urgent action for sleeping in your fighting clothes. Recognize it. Be willing to live that way for bursts. I'm really thankful for my co-elders. These are men.

Dan Horn and Scott Brown are men who know this. I don't know whether they learned it from Nehemiah or somewhere else, but there are periods of time where they sleep in their fighting clothes, okay, where they exhaust themselves because there's a big push to be made in a certain area and they'll do it. They'll pay the price to do it. And I want to be less like me and more like that. Number five, finally, Do you live fearlessly in the knowledge that God will fight for you?

This leads to a certain kind of fearless living that we should want with all our hearts. Do you live fearlessly in the knowledge that God will fight for you? That you can put a thousand to flight? Of course this requires that we are building a life that honors God. God's not showing up to put a thousand to flight if you're living for you.

That could go without saying, doesn't it? But we should be building lives that honor God and then we should believe with all of our might a real faith, not a mystical passive faith, but a real faith that pushes us forward and launches us into action. We should believe with all our hearts that as we build lives to honor Him, God will fight for us. I know that those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. God will fight for us.

Do we care that we will suffer persecution if God will show up and put a thousand to flight? We should relish the attacks. If the attacks means that God shows up and we get to see a thousand running in the other direction, sign me up. Don't you want to be signed up for that? To be on the front row to see God do something.

Amen. That's it. Let's pray. Man. That's it.

Let's pray. God, I'm finding the words, particularly the words and the actions of Nehemiah to be so inspiring. I measure myself against this man and this is humbling. I thank you for that too, Lord. We want to have more of this spirit that believes you.

The belief is so substantial that it propels us to take risks and to know that you'll fight for us. And so we are launched into action to build your kingdom and to defend against the attacks of the enemy. Keep using these words God to work on our hearts to make us what we're not but what we should be is you're conforming us into the image of your Son. What a precious image we want to look like him. Pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.