The sermon, titled 'Unless the Lord Guards the City,' delivered by Jason Dohm, focuses on Nehemiah 3 and the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls. It begins with the historical account of the wall's reconstruction, highlighting the meticulous and collaborative efforts of various groups, including priests, families, and local leaders. Nehemiah, after a secret assessment and obtaining the king's permission, motivates the people to rebuild despite opposition from surrounding enemies. The sermon draws parallels between the physical construction of the wall and spiritual lessons, such as the importance of trusting God over material defenses, the role of prayer and planning, and the need to address neglected areas in life. It underscores the idea that while walls should be built, ultimate trust should be in God, and emphasizes Jesus as the restorer and protector of His people, linking the narrative to the new covenant prophesied by Jeremiah.

Nehemiah chapter 3. Then Eliashiv the high priest rose up with his brother and the priest and built the sheep gate. They consecrated it and hung its doors. They built as far as the Tower of the Hundred and consecrated it. Then as far as the Tower of Hananel, next to Eliashib, the men of Jericho built, and next to them, Zachar, the son of Emre built.

Also the sons of Hasenia built the fish gate. They laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and bars. Next to them, Miramoth, the son of Urija, the son of Chaz, made her pairs. Next to them, Meshulam, the son of Barakaiah, the son of Meshazzabel, made her pairs. Next to them, Zadok, the son of Banna, made her pairs.

Next to them, the Ticoites, made her pairs, but their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work of their lord. Moreover, Jehoiada, the son of Pessiah, and Meschulam, the son of Besediah, repaired the old gate. They laid its beams, hung its doors with its bolts and bars. And next to them, Melitia, the gibyanite, Jaden, the Maranathaite, the men of Gibyan and Misbah repaired the residents of the governor of the region beyond the river. Next to him, Uzziel, the son of Harheah, one of the goldsmiths made her pears.

Also next to him, Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made her pears. And they fortified Jerusalem as far as the broad wall. And next to them, Raphiah, the son of Her, leader of half the district of Jerusalem, made her pears. Next to them, Judea, the son of Haremoth, made her pears in front of his house. And next to him, Hatesh, the son of Hashab-Niah, made her pears.

Malchijah, the son of Harem, and Hashab, the son of Pehaph-Moab, repaired another section, as well as the Tower of the Ovens. And next to him was Shalom, the son of Halahesh, leader of half the district of Jerusalem. He and his daughters made repairs. Hanan and the inhabitants of Zenoah repaired the Valley Gate. They built it, hung its doors with its bolts and bars and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall as far as the refuse gate Malcha the son of recap leader of the district of Beth Hacker Eam repaired the refuse gate.

He built it and hung its doors with its bolts and bars. Shalon, the son of Kolhaza, leader of the district of Misbah, repaired the fountain gate. He built it, covered it, hung its doors with its bolts and bars, and repaired the wall of the Pool of Shelah by the King's Garden as far as the stairs that go down from the city of David. After him, Nehemiah the son of Asbuk, leader of half the district of Bethzer, made repairs as far as the place in front of the tombs of David to the man-made pool and as far as the house of the mining. After him the Levites under Rahum the son of Bani made repairs.

Next to him Hashabiah leader of half the district of Kiayla made repairs for his district. After him, their brethren under Bayvi, the son of Hinnadad, leader of the other half of the district of Kiayla, made repairs. And next to him, Ezra, the son of Jeshua, the leader of Mispah, repaired another section in front of the ascent to the armory at the buttress. After him, Barak, the son of Zebi, carefully repaired the other section, from the buttress to the door of the house of Eliashib, the high priest. After him, Merimoth, the son of Uriah, the son of Kaz, repaired another section from the door of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house of Eliashib.

And after him, the priests, the men of the plain, made repairs. After him, Benjamin and Hashib made repairs opposite their house. After them, Azariah, the son of Maaseah, the son of Ananiah, made repairs by his house. After him, Benuai, the son of Hinnadad, repaired another section from the house of Azariah to the buttress, even as far as the corner. Palau the son of Uzzi made repairs opposite the buttress, and on the tower which projects from the king's upper house that was by the court of the prison.

After him, Pidea the son of Perush made repairs. Moreover, the Nephthahim who dwelt in Ophul made repairs as far as the place in front of the water gate toward the east and on the projecting tower. After them, the Tekoites repaired another section next to the great projecting tower and as far as the wall of Ophul. Beyond the horse gate, the priest made repairs, each in front of his own house. After them, Zadok, the son of Emmer, made repairs in front of his own house.

After him, Shemaya, the son of Shekiniah, the keeper of the east gate, made repairs. After him, Hananiah, the son of Shelamiah, and Hanan, the sixth son of Zaleph, repaired another section. After him Meshulam, the son of Barakaiah, made repairs in front of his dwelling. After him Melchizedek, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the nephton em and of the merchants in front of the myth could Gate and as far as the upper room at the corner and Between the upper room at the corner as far as the sheep gate the goldsmiths and the merchants made repairs The title of the sermon actually doesn't even come from the text this week. The title of the sermon is, Unless the Lord Guards the City.

It comes from Psalm 127 and we'll get there in due time. But this is about the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. The people are living in reproach, totally exposed to their enemies. So something is done about that in today's text. Last week, Nehemiah made a secret assessment.

He had heard a report. He had obtained liberty and authorization from the king of the empire to return. He had returned. Then after he has been in Jerusalem for three days, he goes out at night with just a few men, only one animal, the animal he's riding on. They go out through the gate, under cover of darkness, and they survey the wall from the outside.

So it's a very secret mission. He hasn't really told anyone what God has put on his heart to do for Jerusalem. And then after making this secret assessment with his own two eyes, he gathers the people and he exhorts them and says, come, let us build, let's build together, let's remove this reproach together. And immediately they experience opposition from Sanballat the Horonite to the north in Samaria, from Tobiah the Ammonite to the east, from Gesheb the Arab to the south. So the picture is they're surrounded by enemies.

To the north, to the east, to the south. And they say, are you trying to rebel against the king? This is passive aggressive manipulation and intimidation. Nehemiah plays the part of the man's man and he doesn't even dignify it with a response in the sense that he doesn't even respond to the charge. He just says, God will give us success.

You have no claim here in Jerusalem. In my translation of that last week and this week is mind your own business. This is the Lord's business. You have no claim in Jerusalem. And so we will see to this.

This is none of your concern. And there were two applications coming out of last week's text. Application number one was, take careful aim at your kingdom work. This is what Nehemiah, we see in the life of Nehemiah, he's taking careful aim. He's not a shoot from the hip man.

He's taking careful aim. So we see him praying. We've seen him praying a lot in the book of Nehemiah, but he's also doing research and thinking and planning. And this isn't the enemy of praying. It's actually the friend of praying.

Prayer should work together with doing homework and thinking and making plans. And the second application from last week's text was identify broken things that have become acceptable. You have all these people in Jerusalem living in reproach and they've become accustomed to stepping around the mess. They probably don't even recognize the mess anymore because they have patterns of life that just work around the reproach that they're living under. So this man, Nehemiah, comes from the outside, and he's not used to stepping around the mass, and he doesn't intend to step around the mass, and he wages war against the mass.

So the application for us is we should wage war against the mass in our own lives. We should take a fresh look from the outside as an outsider might and say, you know I've been stepping around unacceptable things for too long. It's time to address these things for the glory of God. This week, all of chapter 3, we're covering all of chapter 3, we're probably setting a record, I don't know for sure, but 32 verses is certainly much more than we usually bite off in a week. But all of chapter 3 is a summary of 4, 5, and 6.

So it reads as a body, but then after chapter 3 we're going to go back to really the building of the wall and get more details about the building of the wall. So chapter 3 sets the table or sets the stage for chapters 4, 5, and 6. And at the end of chapter 6, in chapter 6 verse 15, we see that The work was completed after 52 days. So chapter 3 is about building the wall, but then we go back in time in chapters 4, 5, and 6 and get details about the opposition and the actual work and how it was done. So we'll be on this theme for a number of weeks to come.

What we'll see in chapter 3 is that the whole chapter about the building of the wall is a fulfillment of chapter 2 verse 18. Let me read chapter 2 verse 18. And I told them, I Nehemiah told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. So they said, the people said this, let us rise up and build. Then they set their hands to this good work.

Some of the other good translations say they strengthen their hands for the work. So they commit, they say yes, let us build, And they strengthen their hands. They fully commit to the work. And then chapter 3 is the fulfillment of that. Man, do we ever see them fully committing to the work and getting about the work.

The format of today is that first we're going to look at the minutiae. Minutiae is the tiny little details about how something happens. So we're looking at the minutiae, The tiny little details are in full view in chapter 3. And then secondly, so we'll do that first, then secondly, we're going to rise above the minutiae. We're going to rise above the tiny little details to ask the question, what is this really about?

It's not about the little tiny details. The little tiny details form a picture. Okay, so what's the picture? So that's where we're headed today. Let's go to the text in prayer.

God, I thank you. I thank you that you are a God of minutiae, a God who not one sparrow falls from the skies, unless you know it, unless you super intend the falling of that sparrow. You're a God of the tiny little details that make up everything that happens in this life. But I thank you that God, there is a great meaning behind all of it. So I pray that you would use chapter 3 and all these little details and the picture that they join together to form to help us to glorify you in our hearts.

We would love how you superintend all the little details in life to form a picture that is a picture of beauty, and it's the way that you glorify yourself. Use this text to help us see your beauty. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay.

Number one, if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's notice the minutiae regarding the wall building. So if you're filling in blanks, notice wall building, notice the minutiae, Notice the tiny little details regarding the wall building. And I would say this to start. If you know people that view the Bible as mythology from some obscure Near Eastern tribe. Just tell them they're insane.

Read chapter 3 and tell me that reads like mythology. I've read Greek mythology, I've read some Roman mythology. It reads nothing like this. You don't get the tiny little details in mythology. You get the tiny little details in history.

And that's what this is, friends. This is history. These are tiny little details that an author knows because they really happened in time and space with real people's names living real lives in a real place. You can't read chapter 3 and come away saying this is mythology. That is nonsense.

So notice the minutiae. Notice the tiny little details. Now I'm going to give you some facts and figures. That's the next blanks if you're filling in blanks, facts and figures. Here are some facts and figures, seven of them.

Number one, this begins and ends at the sheep gate. Verse one, they start at the sheep gate. Verse 32, the last verse in the chapter, They end at the sheep gate. And what you find as you work through the chapter is, it starts at the sheep gate, which is at the very north. It's the wall that is right outside the temple complex at the northern tip of the city.

The sheep gate is north and then they work around the western side of the wall to the southern side of the wall to the eastern side of the wall and then back to the northern tip at the sheep gate. So they're working counterclockwise around Jerusalem. And this is, you can prove this archaeologically. These are counterclockwise around the city. So number one is it begins and ends at the sheep gate.

It's a circuit around the city. It's a wall around the city. And it ends where it starts for that reason. Number two, the work is sometimes building and sometimes repairing. In verses 1, 2, and 3, and then 13, and then 15, you see they built, they built, they built.

1, 2, and 3, 13, and 15, you see that. All through the rest of the chapter they're repairing. You see, they made repairs, they made repairs, they made repairs. And this speaks to, I think, the differing conditions of various portions of the wall. Sometimes they are building.

It was completely torn down and they're building from the ground up. And sometimes the wall is in disrepair. It's damaged, maybe badly damaged, But there's something there to work with and to repair. So number two is the work is sometimes building, sometimes repairing. Number three, there are two views about the scope of work.

So I'm going to tell you what the two views are, and then I'll tell you which one I think is right. The first view says that this wall is 2 and 1 1 2 miles long, and it encloses 220 acres. I think that's too big, but that's the first view. 2 and 1 1 2 miles, 220 acres enclosed. The second view is that it's less mileage.

It's a little less. It's just under two miles. And that it's 90 acres that are enclosed. I think the strongest archaeological evidence, you won't get anywhere in the text that tells you, but I think the strongest archaeological evidence having done the reading this week is that this is really enclosing the Temple Mount, the Temple area, and the city of David. What would have been Jerusalem during the time of King David, which expanded and expanded and expanded after his time.

But when the exiles came back from Babylon, there weren't very many of them. So it was a greatly reduced Jerusalem, and then as time went by, it expanded again to the point where you find Herod the Great in the New Testament, doing a lot of work and expanding the boundaries of the city and making improvements on the temple. So I think it was a little under two miles and about 90 acres enclosed. But just agree with me here, whichever view you take, this is a massive undertaking. It's either two and a half miles or two miles of wall that they're building and repairing.

So that's the scope. It's a massive scope either way. Number four, there are 42 sections in the chapter. There are These groups named sequentially. Him, and then next to him.

Them, and then next to them. Him, and then next to them. And next to, and next to, and next to. And these are 42 sections. So if you average out the about 2 miles, you end up with about 250 feet on average.

Now there's one group that takes on a thousand cubits which would be 1, 500 feet. Five football fields length of wall they would be repairing. So they weren't divided up evenly like that. But if you just average it out, it's 250 feet, which is a little less than the length of a football field, for these 42 groups. There's actually, so there's 42 sections and 40 groups who are working on those.

If you look at verse 21 you see that Merimoth the son of Eurygia is repairing another section. So he's mentioned earlier in the chapter and then he's mentioned a second time in verse 21. Marimoth, son of Uriah, has another. And then in verse 5 you see the Tekoites repairing a section and in verse 27 you see that they're repairing another section. It's the only two times in the chapter that you see another, because they're the two groups pulling double duty and working on two different sections.

So 42 sections, 40 groups. Number five. Archaeological finds show that wall, that sections of wall from this period of time were up to eight feet thick. So this is not one brick wide. This is up to eight feet thick.

This is a massive wall worthy of defending a major city. Jerusalem is a major city. This is a big wall put in place for its defense. The reason they're in reproach is that they have a wall in disrepair. They could never repel a meaningful attack from their enemies because of the condition of the wall.

So number five is the archaeological finds say that some sections of the wall are up to eight feet thick. Number six, there are ten gates listed in the chapter. Seven of them are known to be gates in the city wall, so the outer perimeter of the city, seven gates. And then the other three, the Water Gate, the East Gate, and the Mif-Kad Gate, literally the inspection gate are thought to be gates inside the temple mount, the temple complex has its own set of gates. So 10 gates, 7 for the city wall, 3 gates to the temple complex.

And fun fact number 7, this took 52 days. You find that out in chapter 6 verse 15. So this massive undertaking, about two miles of wall, either built or repaired, mostly repaired it seems to be as you look at the chapter, undertaken in 52 days. And they're not just at liberty to build without opposition. As we're going to find out in chapter 4, chapter 5, chapter 6, there's going to be lots of opposition.

They're going to be building with one hand and holding a sword in the other because of the threats to them. That is for weeks to come. Here's an application from these facts and figures. And it comes from Matthew Henry's commentary. He says, United force will conquer that which no individual dares to venture on.

Did you get that? United force. That's what you have. You have 40 groups of people working in unison, working in unity to do something that none of them separately could do. United force will conquer that which no individual dares to venture on.

Many hands will make light work. So you have this huge undertaking, two miles, and you have to do it fast because of the opposition. If the work extends out, you're extending your exposure. So they're very motivated to do it fast and these 40 groups work in unison to do what nobody could do by themselves or none of the 40 groups could do by themselves. Okay now those were the facts and figures.

Now some observations, if you're filling in blanks. Observations. Here are 12 observations. I know who the list lovers are here. This is your week.

Next week we'll be back to just a few verses and I'll give you nothing for your lists. 12 observations. Number one, the high priest and his fellow priest lead the way. That's leading off right here in verse 1. It is the high priest, Eliashib.

Eliashib, the grandson of Jeshua. So We've had three waves come back from captivity. Zerubbabel and Jeshua led the first group back from Babylon almost 100 years ago. Not quite 100 years ago. And Jeshua was the high priest during that time.

And in Nehemiah chapter 12, verse 10, we're going to find out that Eliashib, the high priest in Nehemiah's time, is the grandson of Jeshua. And Eliashib is leading the priests, and the priests are leading in the work. They're mentioned first. That's not by chance. God wanted them recording there.

They were leading in this effort. And this is what we've seen all throughout, all three waves of those returning from captivity, is godly men and especially priests and leaders leading the way. We keep seeing that. We saw that with Jeshua many times when Zerubbabel and Jeshua came back. Jeshua and the priests were out front in these acts of godliness, in these acts of service to the Lord.

And we even saw it in the last chapter of Ezra when it's time to repent of the mixed marriages and put away those openly pagan wives, the priests were mentioned first in that. Do you remember that? So this is a continuation on that same theme. What we're going to find though, as we work through Nehemiah, is that Eliashib has a mixed record. When we get to chapter 13, we're going to find that Eliashib is closely allied with Tobiah, the enemy of the Lord's people.

His son is actually married to Tobiah's daughter. He gives Tobiah a place to reside in the temple. It's sort of a disaster. But right now the news is good. Eliashim is good here in chapter 3.

He's leading the way. Here's what Matthew Henry says. Matthew Henry links the leadership of the high priests and the priests to how ministers should be in our day. And he says this, their office obliges them to teach and quicken by their example as well as by their doctrine. In other words, they should be doers not just teachers.

They should be out front in life as well as out front in doctrine. And we see that's a blessing, that's a blessing. Anytime those who are given the responsibility to the Lord's people are more than just teachers, and they actually walk the walk, don't just talk the talk, it's a blessing. So what we're observing here in Nehemiah chapter 3 is a blessing. Elijah Shipp, the high priest, is leading the priests in this good work that Nehemiah has called the people to.

Number two, observation number two, the priest repaired the sheep gate and they consecrated it. This is very significant. The sheep gate is the city gate that is right outside the temple complex where you bring sheep in for service in the temple, for sacrifices in the temple. So the sheep gate is right there by the temple complex for a very specific reason. That is, there's going to be sacrifices in the temple, and this is the gate for that, so it makes complete and perfect sense that the high priest and the priest would occupy themselves first with securing the gate where the sheep and the animals for sacrifice are going to be coming through.

And then they consecrate it. That's not said anywhere else in the chapter. What exactly does that look like? Well, the text doesn't say, but my guess is they prayed. They had a public time of dedicating their work, the fruit of their labors, to the Lord to ask the Lord to bless it.

They consecrated it. Here's what Matthew Poole says. Matthew Poole says, Seeing the whole city is oft called the holy city. It is not strange if the walls and gates of it be also holy, and said to be sanctified, and especially this gate. I think Matthew Poole nails it.

This is a holy part of the holy wall around the holy city, especially set apart for the service to God. And so it's right that these first labors in restoring the wall would be consecrated. They would dedicate this work to the Lord. That's number two. The priest repaired the sheep gate and consecrated it.

Number three, groups from a locale worked together. For instance, the men of Jericho in verse 2. So after talking about the high priest and the priest and their work and the consecration of the sheep gate, in verse 2 you see that the men of Jericho building. So groups from a locale worked together. Jericho is about 17 miles downhill from Jerusalem.

These are people who didn't even live in Jerusalem, but their attitude was not, not my problem because I don't live in Jerusalem. They felt like Nehemiah felt. When Jerusalem is in reproach, I'm in reproach, because that's where the Lord has caused His name to dwell. So a reproach on Jerusalem is a reproach on me even though I live 17 miles away. So the men And the women of this locale rally around the work in Jerusalem.

And they take their section and participate in the work. Brothers and sisters, this is us. We live in a locale together. And we think Youngsville is ours. Youngsville belongs to us in a way.

Because it belongs to God, it belongs to us. God has put us here to work together in a locale. We're not about to see the name of the Lord reproached here. We want to see His name high and exalted, lifted up. We want to work together for that purpose.

We've been talking in this language since the very first organizational meetings for this church. We are planting a flag in Youngsville to say, Jesus is Lord in Youngsville, North Carolina. We want to work together for that purpose. We're sort of like the men of Jericho. Number four, families worked together.

You probably see this more often. By the way, it wasn't just Men of Jericho, that's just an example. There are other groups from a locale who are working on the wall as you work your way through the chapter. But even more often than that, you see families working together like the sons of Hasenia in verse 3. It's just a representative example of families that band together to work in unity with these other groups to do something that would please the Lord.

You see families working together. And this is us. If the men of Jericho is us, the families working together are us as well. Families are work units. If you haven't got that yet, get it now.

Families are work units. We are brought together. A man is joined to a woman and they're given children to be a work unit for the Kingdom of God so that the reign of Jesus Christ would spread from shore to shore. That the happiness of being in the Kingdom of God would just keep spreading because the work units are doing the work. That brings up a good question.

Is your family a work unit for the Kingdom of Heaven? If it's not, you're out of step with Nehemiah chapter 3. Time to reorganize. Number five. I like this one.

Number five. Old timers joined in the work. Great head of Jim Santel is giving me amens from the back row. Old timers joined in the work. Great head of Jim Santel is giving me amens from the back row.

Old timers joined in the work. This wasn't just a young man's game or a young woman's game. This was the old timers too. Here we have Merimoth, son of Urija. I've already mentioned him.

He's working on two sections of the wall, one section in verse 4, one section in verse 21. We've already encountered Miramoth the son of Urija in Ezra chapter 8 verse 33. The second wave of captives returned from Babylon and they've got a hundred sixty two million dollars worth of wealth with them, at least in today's currency, if you translate it. And they turn this wealth in to those who are given responsibility for the temple, the storage places in the temple. And one of those who oversaw the receiving in of the wealth that came from Babylon to Jerusalem was Merimoth the son of Uriah.

It's Uriah in Ezra chapter 8. It's Urija in Nehemiah chapter 3. But it's two versions of the same name. It would be like Bill and Billy. One's a longer version.

Or William and Bill. One's a longer version but it's the same name. So this is the same person. So 13 years earlier he was already in a place of significant responsibility in the temple. Probably not a really young buck 13 years earlier, but now more time has gone by and he's still ready to work to advance the Lord's kingdom.

That was five. Old timers joined in the work. Number six. A great work creates an opportunity for infamy. A great work creates an opportunity for infamy.

What's infamy? It's the opposite of femme. It's the opposite of Famous. It's Famous for all the wrong reasons. That's what Infamy is.

So Infamy would be a term that you would reserve for someone like Hitler. Famous but for all the wrong reasons. Famous because you're a villain. And this great work has created the opportunity for a villain. In verse 5 we get a villain.

Look at verse 5. In EMI chapter 3 verse 5, Next to them the Tekoites made repairs. So here are people, they're working, they're making repairs. But their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work of their Lord. You probably have a note in your Bible that by shoulders, which says literally neck, this is a yoke term.

They wouldn't put their neck in the yoke. You yoke animals together for work. And They wouldn't put their neck in the yoke. They weren't willing to work. And so they've been recorded and for thousands of years, the nobles of the Tekoites live in infamy.

Because there was good work to be done and 40 groups rallied and mobilized to do the good work and advance the kingdom of God but they wouldn't put their neck in the yoke. So they're famous for all the wrong reasons. Tekoa is twelve miles southeast of Jerusalem, 5 miles south of Bethlehem. So right outside of Bethlehem is Tekoa. It's down near Gesham the Arab.

It's down south. Maybe they were intimidated by Gesham the Arab. Maybe they resented Nehemiah. The text doesn't say why they didn't join in the work. It just says that they were unwilling to do what 40 other groups were willing to do.

So while the 40 other groups are recorded and honored in scripture, they go down in the annals of infamy, being famous for all the wrong reasons. What makes it worse? Here's what makes it worse. The normal, everyday Joe from Tekoa worked not on one section in verse 5, but on two sections. One in verse 5 and one in verse 27.

They take on another section. Here's what Matthew Poole says. And this, their double diligence is noted. They worked on two sections, double diligence. Both for the greater shame of their nobles, who would not do any part of it, verse 5, and for their own greater honor, who were so far from being corrupted by the bad example of their nobles, that they were rather quickened and inflamed to greater zeal and industry in this public and pious work.

Meaning that the normal pattern is for when leaders are lazy, people are double lazy. But they were the reverse of this. Their leaders were lazy or intimidated or whatever. They wouldn't put their neck in the yoke. And They doubled up.

They doubled up to their greater honor and their leaders' greater dishonor. They bucked the trend that if leaders are bad, people they lead become worse and worse. Here's a warning for us, when the work is underway, don't be found absent. Brothers and sisters, when the work of the kingdom is underway, God is helping his people push the boundaries of his kingdom forward. Don't you be found absent.

It's infamy not to engage, not to put your neck in the oak and pull. It's infamy. Number seven. Number seven. This wasn't a work for the professionals.

This wasn't a work for the professionals. Verse 8, one of the goldsmiths. Verse 8, one of the perfumers. Verse 31, one of the goldsmiths. Verse 32, the goldsmiths and the merchants.

No pro wall builders here. I'm sure there were some among these 40 groups, some people who were really skilled in mason work, they were probably really happy to have them. But a lot of the people who were working in unison to remove the reproach of Jerusalem. It had nothing to do with masonry and wall building. They were goldsmiths.

They were merchants. They were perfumers. They mixed ointments together. Verse 17, the Levites, verse 26, the Nethinam, remember the Nethinam are temple helpers, they help the Levites help the priests. Not professional wall builders.

This wasn't a work for the professionals. There were a lot of people working outside their normal area of expertise, but they strengthened their hands for the work. Chapter 2, 18. They fully committed to the work and they didn't care that they weren't mason workers. They got to the work and the work got done in 52 days.

Miraculous. Number 8. Leaders led. Verse 9. We see this phrase, leader of the half district of Jerusalem.

See the same thing in verse 12, must have been the other half district of Jerusalem. We see the same in verse 14, verse 15, verse 16, verse 17, verse 18, verse 19. We see leaders of districts in all those places mobilizing the people they're leading to say, God is in this work, God will give us success, unifying the people they're supposed to be leading to do a good work for the kingdom. Leaders led. They mobilized their people to work.

Number nine. We see this phrase, in front of his house. That's verse 10, in front of his house. Verse 23, opposite their house. Verse 28, each in front of his own house.

Verse 29, in front of his own house. Verse 30, in front of his dwelling. Do you get the pattern? In front of his house. The reality is that we have concentric rings of responsibility.

What does that mean? That means throw a pebble in the pond. Watch what happens. The pebble hits and there's a little ring and a bigger ring and a bigger ring and a bigger ring and it just works its way out. Our responsibilities are like that.

I don't have a pastoral responsibility for people in China. The rings don't even go that far. One day we may send someone to preach the gospel in China, and we won't be able to say that's true anymore. But for now, the concentric rings don't go out that far. But man, the tight ring around my house, I have so much responsibility there.

And I have a little less responsibility, but still a lot here in this building among us. I have a little less, but still a lot of responsibility for the community that we live in. A little less, but still some in the state of North Carolina and in the country that we live in, this is how it works. Further out the ring, the less direct responsibility you have. So what does Nehemiah do?

He harnesses that. He harnesses what everybody knows, which is you work hardest on the section of the wall that's right outside your house. Because when the enemy comes, whether the wall holds or not matters a lot out my front door. This reminds me of the book of Plymouth Plantation. If you've never read it, you should read it.

It's a great book. It's the memoirs of William Bradford, who was the second governor in Plymouth. In his account, he talks about how they tried communism. He doesn't use the word communism, but that's what it was. They were farming and producing for each other communistically, meaning it would just all work and then Whatever the pile, all that work results in, we'll just split it up evenly.

It was a disaster. It was a failure. Because when everybody owns something, no one owns it, and that's how you work. Like you don't own it. And so they changed to private property and began to thrive.

Because if you got to participate in the abundance of a lot of hard work, then you worked harder. This is the same principle. I think I want the guy working right outside his front door on that part of the wall. He'll work more carefully. He'll work more quickly.

Nehemiah is harnessing the principle of concentric rings of responsibility. Just think of the pebble and the pond. In verse 12 we have Shalom and then this phrase in quotes, he and his daughters made repairs. He and his daughters. Now there are some places where it says the sons of a person, meaning this family repaired the walls, but here in verse 12, daughters are called out.

And there's no explanation given, so you sort of have to speculate. My speculation is he had no sons and he wasn't about to be left out of the work. So the resources he has his daughters and normally if he had a bunch of sons and a bunch of daughters, the daughters would be working in a support role, helping this work along in a hundred different ways, and the sons would be breaking their backs out on the wall with the daughters in support. But he doesn't have sons, so daughters, we're who we got, we're not going to be left out of the Lord's work, we're going to work. That's what I think verse 12 means.

The commentators seem really uncomfortable with this. So they say it's financial support, or it's not really daughters, it's like neighborhoods of the place that he was governing. It's daughters. Daughters means daughters. Unless there's a compelling reason, the plain meaning of the text is the meaning of the text, there's not a compelling reason why these wouldn't be his daughters and why they wouldn't engage in the wall building.

There's work to be done for the Lord. The resources that God has given him as daughters. So he works with his daughters. Praise the Lord. I have five daughters.

I would want to be working together on that wall. I sure would. Listen to Paul in Philippians 4, verse 3. The Apostle Paul, Philippians 4, verse 3. And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

There's Paul the chauvinist for you. No such thing. Paul didn't have a chauvinistic bone in his body, at least post-sanctification. And He viewed women as fellow laborers in the Gospel. Fellow workers, he calls them.

My fellow workers. The rest of my fellow workers. Help these women who labored with me in the Gospel. If your theology of women causes the daughters in Nehemiah 3 to make you squirm, or causes Paul to make you squirm in how he speaks of his fellow laborers in the Gospel, then you're the problem, not the Bible. Number 11.

We have an example of zeal. I think everybody in the whole chapter must have been zealous, but someone has called out as especially zealous in the chapter. And the New King James translators have not helped us with this, unfortunately. In verse 20, we see Baruch the son of Zabai carefully repaired the other section. Carefully repaired.

That is not a good translation. King James is better, renders it earnestly. Earnestly. That's closer. The NASB and the NIV are the best.

And they render it zealously. Zealously repaired. Carefully doesn't even begin to do this Hebrew word justice. Listen to what this Hebrew word literally means. To be hot, furious, Burn, become angry, be kindled.

It often means in the Old Testament, it's often used when God's anger is burning. It means burning. He was burning for the work. He engaged in it with a fire in his heart. He was zealous for the work that they were doing.

You have an example of Zeal. That's number 11. Number 12. This reflects what a body can do. I'm talking about the Lord's people as a unity.

This Massive undertaking. Two miles of wall to be built and repaired. 52 days. Massive undertaking. Miraculous results.

This reflects what a body can do. The body of Christ can do. Here's a note from the Reformation Heritage Study Bible. Though each built only a portion, God noticed the labors of everyone and honored them in Scripture. The church is a body and none can say he or she does not need another member.

And then it references 1 Corinthians chapter 12. It just talks about the diversity of gifts and how God gives gifts here and here and here. Different gifts, different functions, but they work together. And the eyes shouldn't be saying, I don't need the ear. And the ears shouldn't be saying, I don't need the hand.

Because they're all needed. Every joint supplies, they work together. God knew exactly what gifts to put into His body and now they're to work together for His glory to do more than what any individual or even the sum of the individuals. Do you get that? I mean this is how the body of Christ works.

It's more than just being able to do more than the work of one person. It's being more, it's being able to do more than even the sum of what we could all do separately. Because of the different gifts. That's where the leverage is. That's where all the power is.

The different gifts working together means that The sum of the parts, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. In other words, if you added us up individually and all we could do individually, it's not as much as the whole because the gifts were meant to work together. This reflects what a body can do. Okay, so that was section one. Notice the minutia regarding the wall building.

This is real history. There are lots of tiny little details that tell us this happened with real people at a real place, a real point in time. Number two, section two, you're filling in blanks. Don't get lost in the minutiae of the wall building. Get lost fills up the blanks.

I'm not telling you to get lost. I'm saying that fills the blanks. Don't get lost in the minutia of the wall building. In other words, don't just stare at the tiny little details. See the whole and ask the question, what picture do these tiny little details paint?

What do we get out of this? So I want to offer two things as we sort of rise above the tiny little details and look at them all together. Two things. First, walls can't be trusted, though they should be built. So if you're filling in blanks, trusted, built.

Walls can't be trusted, though they should be built. That seems contradictory, but it's not contradictory. Turn your Bibles to Psalm 127. Psalm 127. Psalm 127 is a song of ascent.

As the people would come up into Jerusalem three times a year for these three major feasts, they would be singing Psalms, songs of ascent as they came up the hill. This is one of them. Psalm 127 verses 1 and 2. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he gives his beloved sleep." So my question about Psalm 127 verses 1 and 2, is this a condemnation of building houses? Is this a condemnation of setting guards? Is this a condemnation of waking up early? Is this a condemnation of staying up late? Of course not!

Don't be ridiculous! We should build houses. We should post guards. We should get up early. We should stay up late.

But in all of that, in the building, in the posting of the guards, in the waking up early, in the staying up late. It all has to be committed to the Lord. You have to trust the Lord in all of it. That the Lord will actually cause the building to result in something Meaningful. Cause the guard to result in safety.

Cause the waking up early and the staying up late to be fruitful. The Lord is the wall. That's the summary of Nehemiah 3. The Lord is the wall. So do the things.

Build, repair, but trust the Lord. Don't trust the wall. Work for the Lord. Do the things, but don't trust the wall. Trust the Lord.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and He shall direct your paths Proverbs 3 5 and 6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and all your building and all your posting guards to protect your family, trust the Lord. Don't trust those things. Do those things. Duty is ours, results are God's. Second, so first was walls can't be trusted though they should be built.

That seems contradictory but the Bible says they're not contradictory at all in any way. It can be if you don't trust the Lord. Secondly, Jesus is the restorer and protector of his people. If you're filling in blanks, restorer, protector. It's Jesus.

It's not your stupid wall. It's Jesus. Turn to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31 is a very famous chapter about the new covenant. It's written at a time when they're under the old covenant.

They're under the Mosaic covenant. When Jeremiah writes chapter 31, but he sees forward into the time when God will seal a new covenant in the blood of his son. What does this have to do with the walls of Nehemiah? I was surprised to find out this week. Jeremiah 31, I'm going to read from Verse 31 to the end of the chapter.

Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, future time, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother saying know the Lord.

For they all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more. Thus says the Lord who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea and its waves roar, The Lord of hosts is his name. If those ordinances depart from before me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me forever. Thus says the Lord, if heaven above can be measured and the fountains of the earth searched out beneath.

I will also cast off the seed of Israel for all they have done says the Lord." That's God saying that's never going to happen. Unless you can measure the heaven, That's never going to happen. Verse 38. Behold the days are coming says the Lord that the city shall be built for the Lord from the tower of Hananel to the corner gate. Those are two places mentioned in Nehemiah chapter 3.

The Tower of Hananel and the Corner Gate. So beginning in 38 again, Behold the days are coming says the Lord, that the city shall be built for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. The Surveyor's line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Garib, then it shall turn toward Goath and the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes and of all the fields as far as the brook Kidron to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy for the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore, forever." Jeremiah is writing during the time of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians descending on Jerusalem and tearing down the walls and filling the streets with corpses and dead bodies. And he's prophesying forward to a time of a new covenant where the walls will be built and never torn down forevermore.

Now that hasn't been fulfilled yet. It couldn't have been fulfilled yet. You have 70 AD's and down come the walls again, the temple completely destroyed. It hasn't been fulfilled, but it will be fulfilled. Jesus seals the new covenant in His blood.

This is the Holy Jerusalem. This is the spiritual Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven in Revelation. And the restoration begins when God in His grace reaches into the lives of sinners and applies the blood of Jesus Christ. The restoration project begins then when someone turns from trusting in themselves and throws themselves on the mercy of a merciful God who has crushed his son so that sinners could be pardoned, totally set free and cleansed from their sins. And then he begins to build and protect.

This is the building up of a great city. Jerusalem on earth is just a picture of that great city. It's a picture of a city that comes down out of heaven. It's the Lord's people who will be in His presence forever, all who trust in Christ. Let's pray.

God, I thank you for the minutia of Nehemiah 3, the tiny little details that make us so confident that this is real history. And that it paints a picture that you guard the city, You are the wall. We should trust in you with all our heart. Lean not on our own understanding in that Jesus is the restorer of the people. He reaches into sinful lives.

Cleanses. Thank you for the minutiae and I thank you for the picture that it paints. Pray that you