Posture Of Restoration: Nehemiah 4:1-18

Speaker: Dr. Jay Leroux

Passage: Nehemiah 4:1-18

An Introduction With Dr. Jay Leroux

It’s an honor and privilege to be part of this church. Of the many churches that I’m involved in, your pastor and his team are at the top of that list as far as intimacy, relationship, deep conversations, and his heart for you. So it is our honor and privilege to be here.

We’ve had a great morning already and I do want to spend most of our time in the Scriptures.

We are living in a tremendous time of our awesome God’s ultimate restoration of His intention from the beginning of time. We are seeing things that we have never known or seen that the Scriptures reveal, especially regarding covenants and what He has established for us. He intends to do it in a day we’re living in. 

I want to take us this morning to a portion of Scripture. This is what is known as the “Restoration Section.” It is one book, one chapter, and we’re going to stay there. It is Nehemiah chapter four. 

If you’re watching us this morning and you have the opportunity to come here, I would strongly encourage you to come to visit this place. It’s amazing. By the time you come into the parking lot, it’s so welcoming, so loving. A lot of places will have children and youth because they have to. This place passionately has children and youth and young adults and the things that are going on here. So it’s a great place to raise the entire family. It’s a great place to establish a covenant with the family, especially if you haven’t been able to do that. And this is not a commercial. This is me being me.

Beginning Nehemiah 4

Nehemiah chapter four. You’re only getting the lesser portion of Linda and Jay Leroux. The greater portion is sitting right over here and I want you to have her stand. We are now great-grandparents for the second time. I look like I am but she doesn’t. I’m glad I only have to look at myself when I’m shaving. I get to look at her all day long.

Chapter four verse one picks up right in the story. When I’m done reading, I’ll pray, and let’s live it out this morning. Let’s experience this moment in Nehemiah’s life. 

But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.

And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?

Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.

Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity:

And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.

So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.

But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth,

And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.

Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.

And Judah said, “The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.”

And our adversaries said, “They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.”

And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times, From all places whence ye shall return unto us they will be upon you.

Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work.

And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.

They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.

For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.

Beautiful, let’s pray. 

Father, thank you for this morning and even now, what an honor and privilege it has been and is for Linda and me to be part of this great work. Thank you for the Sanders family, this great leadership, the great State of Colorado, and what you’re doing here. The revelation of Jesus Christ, let it be to us all, the revelation of the Kingdom of God that is freely given to us a Kingdom that has no limitations. The limitations are off. Nothing is impossible. This morning, Lord, let us re-embrace what you’re doing. Let us, without fear re-embrace the promise, the passion, the hope, the dream, the word, and everything you’ve been declaring and saying that we may freshly grip it this morning.

Father, thank You for that in Jesus’ name, amen.

The History Of Nehemiah 

It’s 444 BCE. History is important to us. The world rulers are the Persians. King Artaxerxes is now ruling at this time. He has extended his kingdom from Ethiopia to India. It is a massive kingdom and they’re a great conquering nation.

I love this man Nehemiah. His name means “comforted of Jehovah.” His father’s name was given in the first chapter. It is Hachaliah and it means “disturbed of Jehovah.” I do know the disturbance of Jehovah. I have it in me now. But if we’re only disturbed of Jehovah then we’re angry with the church, angry with leadership, angry with governments. And there’s built-up anger and frustration I’ve seen a lot. 

But if you’re only comforted of Jehovah, then you’re just happy in the United States. You’re happy in Colorado. Thank God you weren’t born in New York, Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia, or China. But when you have the disturbance of Jehovah and the comfort of Jehovah, you have the man Nehemiah. 

He was the king’s cupbearer. He was born in Persia, he has never seen Jerusalem. He’s never seen the city. But there’s something in him he knows. God is wanting to restore once again what was in his heart. And I believe this morning, I’m talking to the same people. 

There’s something we know God wants to do. There’s something He wants to rebuild. There’s something not right about what’s going on in our world. He wants to do something and build something we’ve never seen before. So Nehemiah is before the king as the cupbearer. And King Artaxerxes looks at him and says, “What’s wrong Nehemiah?” 

Nehemiah asked his brother, Hanani in chapter one, “How do the Jews fare in Jerusalem?” And Hanani said “They’re in great reproach. It’s a desperate situation.”

I love Nehemiah. His response to this. He didn’t say, “Oh, well, I’m glad I’m not there.” No, immediately he begins to fast and pray. His prayer is in the first chapter. He’s repenting for his people. He’s asking God to once again visit his people. But at the end of it, he says this word — King James translates it to prosper. It means to move forward. I believe this again about you. Vintage, we are a people, especially here, that are longing to move forward. Not just as a dimension of God and His intent, but as everything He desires for us to be. I believe that about this church. I believe He wants to do it globally, not just here. But He’s certainly doing it here. 

So this king released him. I want to encourage you this morning if you are a lover of our history as I am. There have been more ungodly kings that have done more for the rebuilding of the people of God than their own kings. So let’s not limit our God to what He might be able to do, no matter who’s in charge.

So Nehemiah leaves with a small group. He has money from King Artaxerxes to go back to Jerusalem. I want you to see what he sees. He’ll come around the Dead Sea to Hebron and Bethlehem. As he begins to come up to Jerusalem, he’s at the southern wall. He’s looking, about to see what he sees. 

You have to know this was once the greatest city the world’s ever known, only really through the days of Solomon. It hasn’t been great ever since then. But the city was a majestic thing. Not only the queen of Shiva but all kings also came to see it. Nebuchadnezzar came 141 years ago, and he pulled down the three immense towers. He burned all the gates, all 12 of them to the ground. He took every stone and burnt it. That’s why Sanballat and Tobiah were looking at it and they were mocking them. 

Nehemiah comes up the valley gate on the southern side, and there’s no place to go. He comes over to what is known as the Dung Gate — he will say it — and he can’t get down. So finally off his horse or his mule, whatever he’s riding, and he comes down this eastern side in the Kidron Valley, and nothing is there. The Eastern gates are gone.

He has something in his heart he begins to tell the elders. And again, I love this man, because he’s just nobody. But he’s a man who believes God wants to do something in his generation that he has never seen. He wants to rebuild something he’s never known in a city he has never even visited. Man. I love that about our God.

So it’s 141 years since Nebuchadnezzar. It’s probably been almost 58 since the Zerubabel was there. The enemy has no issue. They’re going to be the Samaritans. They’re mocking the city. They’re laughing at the city, much like we’re hearing, much like I hear. 

These feeble Jews, are they gonna do something? Are you kidding me, they’re gonna revive the stones? And they’re angry.

Restoration Is About The Family

One man decides to fight for restoration and the entire enemy is angry. Before anyone desired to restore, there was no issue with the enemy. So can I just say this to us this morning, please hear it. All this rage out here, this loud voice, this anger, the spirit of the age, the antichrist spirit, the spirit of Babylon, this rage that you’re hearing, I want you to know something about the enemy, the enemy fears what God is about to do.

They feared that this man would come here and rebuild the city. It angered them. So don’t be afraid of what you’re hearing out there. Don’t even give it your time. It’s just a fear tactic. The enemy is afraid of what God is about to do.

Nehemiah begins to tell the elders, and he will begin with sheep going all the way around to the final prison gate right next to the Sheep Gate. And he sets families — it isn’t about the fathers or the grandfathers or the grandmothers or the mothers or the young men or the young women. This is family time. The whole family is involved. That’s what I love about this church. Even this summer, we’re going to have a special period of training our children. I love it. It’s about all those family members — all are important. 

It’s about the family. I love that about restoration. So he sets the families. And he’s just sitting there and I love this moment because there are two enemies to restoration that I want us to know about. One is internal. One is external. So Nehemiah is just sitting. He’s just chilling. 

All of a sudden, Judah comes, of all the tribes. Judah comes to him and says, dude look at the strength of the burden bearers is decayed. There’s too much trouble we can’t build. Nehemiah doesn’t answer them, which I love. But this is so important. I want you to know this — all of us are burden bearers. 

Some will say that men are the only ones, but they are wrong. We know there’ll be another man that will tell us that there is a burden, but it’s light. There’s a yoke, and it’s easy. All of us are burden bearers. 

Over the 43 years that I’ve been involved like this, I’ve watched the decay more and more. Even my colleagues are exhausted. They’re tired. They’re just burnt and this isn’t just COVID. It added to it, but it’s been how life has been for us. It’s just been this decay and the passion, the desire that no matter what we’re facing, that we’re going through that it’s almost decayed from us.

What’s the key to no decay? How do we keep the passion and strength, no matter how much rubble there is, no matter how impossible, no matter what we’re facing, no matter what the market says, no matter what’s happening?

The House Of Judah

The key is who comes to him, Judah. Now the word means praise but I want to go back to the root. You see, Jacob had two wives. Rachel was a second wife and he was very in love with her. Leah was his first wife.

I feel for Leah. No wife should ever have to live like that. So Leah, if you read the story, has to beg him for anything. In this culture, your children were your heritage. Your children defined you. 

She’s had three children, but she’s wanting another one. And he’s interested in her so she has to trade with her sister and kind of manipulate and work and finally Jacob, without even wanting to, decides, okay, I’ll do my husband thing. 

As Leah is pregnant, she’s spent nine months waiting for this. I’m sure Jacob never came around. I’m sure he never asked how she was doing. I’m sure when this baby was born, he wasn’t there. We have no record of it anyways. That was how he was, Jacob.

So Leah, after all this time, finally births a son. And this is what she says. “I will praise you. Because you’ve given me a son.”

I love our musicians. The worship was so fantastic today. I’m so thankful that I have it. I don’t do music and can’t sing. I need that. But I want to tell you this morning. I don’t praise Him. Because of music. Oh, no, no, no. I gotta praise Him. Because He gave me His son. I just gotta. I just gotta. I just gotta. I just gotta. I just gotta. I just gotta. I just gotta. I just gotta.

And that’s in the middle of the airport. Think about when I’m home. I just gotta praise Him. Not because it’s good. Not because there’s no rubble. Not because it’s the way I want it. I don’t praise Him because things are better or worse. It doesn’t matter. I gotta praise him because He gave me His son.

Finding Strength In The Lord

What’s the strength? My brother, my sister, my friend this morning. No matter what your life looks like, if you’re asking, “How do I get that passion back? The strength, the love of serving again, the love of everybody in my life?” 

To get it back is not a burden or law. It’s just who I am. But He was all of that. How does He stay passionate right to His final day?

Maybe if you need it right now, you should just get up on your feet and join me with this. Revive that passion. Come on. I want to see it. Come on. Let’s do it again. Come on. Come on young men and young women, you’re strong. Overcome the wicked one. Come on, you fathers. It was the inward fight.

There’s also the outward one. I get this; I get the burden. I get the pressure. I get it. I do. That’s why I just gotta praise Him.

In the Bible, Nehemiah will say, “The joy of the Lord is our strength.” Nehemiah will say that, “They’ll come to me from the outside because they’ve been hearing we’re coming. We’re taking you down. What you think you’ll do, you’ll never do.” You’ll never finish His work, you’ll never be completed. What’s been started will never finish. 

The number 10 is the number for divine order for the Hebrew people. But what it means is this. Paul said to be confident. What He has begun in you, He will see it through.

He’ll write about Abraham in Romans 4:20 and say he was fully persuaded that what He had promised He was able to reform. The enemy wants to turn that on you and I and say to you, “My friend, you’re failing, my brother. What the Lord said He’ll do He’ll never do. You’ll never become what you’re supposed to. He’ll never finish the work in victory. The United States is done. The world is over. This is never going to be what you thought it would be. Your prayers will never happen. The prophetic word is wrong. The dream is wrong. Don’t listen. This book has no relevance.” That’s what he’s saying. 

Nehemiah doesn’t answer either one of them. He doesn’t say to Judah, take a break, go on vacation, do sabbaticals. All those are good things. But that’s not what he says. The 10 times they come he’s just looking. 

Be Not Afraid

I love this moment. He stands up. He says something to them I want to say to us this morning. They’re all watching, all the families. The little sons and daughters are probably holding on to mom and dad going, “What’s going on? What’s happening, dad?” The fathers and mothers with their families have all stopped to watch him.

He gets up and he looks at them. “Be not afraid.” I want to say to us clearly because of everything that’s going on in our world and what’s going on in our lives. “Be not afraid. Remember the Lord.” 

For the Hebrews, it means to go back in his history. They immediately would have looked at him and each other and said, Right, Abraham. He kept the impossible promise. That’s right. How about big Moses? 10 power moves that shook the world. And then the Egyptians said, get out of here and take everything you want. 

Okay, and they got to the Red Sea. He parted that thing. All the time in the wilderness, eating and drinking out of a rock in the Sinai Peninsula. Remember the Lord, you know why? He is great, and He is awesome!

The Weapons Of The Lord

Then he gave them weapons. I want to close with that. Every one of the families had five weapons. They were on the walls. They were watching. I set my watch out 38 years ago. It’s a time to watch. Do not watch in fear. Just watch. And they work. I don’t mind it. Maybe there’ll be a day that we will work as much but what does it matter? It doesn’t matter.

What matters is He’s great and awesome. It’s time to fight for our sons, fight for our daughters, fight for our friends, fight for our neighbors. They had to do this kind of fighting with hand-to-hand combat. Not us. That’s not who we are. We do have weapons. Theirs were natural, ours are spiritual.

Three of them are going to be offensive — we’re going forward. Two are going to defend us. How do I defend myself at this moment? How do I maintain this offensive move and keep moving forward? Here they are.

First, they had a sword, but it was more like a dagger. Every one of them had it on their hip. This is for that close fighting, hand-to-hand. Paul said it this way, these weapons of our warfare are not carnal. But they’re mighty unto God for the pulling down of strongholds. He’s building barriers, and casting down imaginations through reasoning. 

It won’t happen. It can’t happen. You’re not good enough. It’ll never be that way. Your son will never come around. Your daughter will never come around. Watch out for the nation. You don’t know how the government… 

So this sword is the word of God. I know it’s so simple. This Bible. You don’t have to be a scholar. But this thing is alive. When I read it, it disrupts my soul, spirit, and heart. For some professors I know, Nehemiah is just a historical moment. It happened but in our God with our kingdom, a historical moment becomes a present truth for us.

But hold on to this thing. In the words of Joshua, you can be strong, be courageous, you meditate on this. You hold it. It means let it be in your breathing. Just be part of your life. 

The dagger is the first one and it keeps us moving forward. The spirit of the age, the spirit of the antichrist, and the spirit of Babylon could all cry out at once because we know it’s afraid of what God’s about to do, so we don’t have to be afraid or fear. 

The second one I love is the spear. We’re going to do some of this this morning. I threw the Javelin in high school because I was bored. I played soccer. I pole vaulted but I missed the pits a lot. I like to run and I like to lay in the pits to get a tan. But every time I threw the javelin, it hit me in the back of the head. I had to stop it.

But the guys who threw it well were just incredible. I love the Olympics. Our javelins were like the spears in Bible times. They were throwing them but they didn’t know where they landed. For you and I, this is prayer.

You don’t know this because you really can’t see it. But this whole building has nothing but spears on it. Because someone’s been throwing them. Sunday is my first day to throw them here. And then it’s on Tuesday. And it’s again on Friday. And again on Saturday.

We can touch the world with prayer. Can you imagine? That’s right. Who can touch China from here but us? Who can touch Iran, Iraq, North Korea, or Jerusalem from here but us? How does it happen that I can utter a prayer, Lord, do something at Vintage on Sunday morning let there be such a dimension of glory unprecedented?

I’m staying at the Sanders’ house. I’m surprised there are no leaks into the roof because there are spears on top of the spears. 

I have a scheduled prayer life. If God wants to interrupt it, that’s fine. For more than 40 years, I’ve scheduled it. Monday is a certain thing — tomorrow is for our government and the governments of the world. The prophetic word by the prophet Isaiah was that they would behold our glory and they would see it and they would change from calling us useless to the redeemed of the Lord the holy people city sought out. It’s the Bible.

So I’m going to fire it at our military and the amazing police that we have in our nation. Our border patrol. I’m not going to fight with the voice out there. I’m going to take care of business. It’s intentional and directed.

We can change the world from here. Not from this building. From your house, your life, my house, our life. Spears for prayer.

Three — we’re still in the offensive ones. I love this. It’s a bow. I’m sure there were arrows there. But Nehemiah never adds them. He just does bow. The bow, of course, we know from the very beginning with Noah means covenant and promise. They didn’t wear their bows as we would. They would wear it across their backs. 

When I got born again, I thought, “Well, the Lord is starting His covenant with me now. And we’re moving forward.” I was thankful. But I had a past of anger, hurt, manipulation, and father issues that I thought would never change. Grandparent issues. A lust that I was born with. I thought, well, I guess that’s what it is. Oh, no, no, no, this covenant establishes me here and there and is reaching back to my birth to change everything. This covenant covers me and it covers you.

This covenant covered me when it was in Abraham’s loins, it would come to you and me and when Jesus came, He brought an even better covenant than that. It covers us. If you’re listening today or you’re here and you’re not sure about this God of ours, this Jesus the Christ, I want you to know something. He’s not starting today with your life. The day I said yes to Him, He went back into my life, today my life, and He’s ahead of my life. This is His covenant with us. 

I don’t have to look back and wonder in fear that I made a mistake. He is the redeemer of all time.

Let’s move on to defensive weapons. The fourth one is the shield. The devil is not my problem. My problem is my neighbor. Actually, I’ve got four or five neighbors that are my problem. And I found out, though, if there were no people in the world, I would get along better. I found that the people are a problem. Yeah, it’s not me. It’s them.

At work, I had a few people there that were my problem. You might have some of those. I got one at the bank and at the grocery store. I got a couple at the gym that won’t stop bothering me. They’re a problem. So I got this shield to protect myself from those people. There’s only one thing that doesn’t fail. Love.

So I defend myself. We defend ourselves by loving those around us, even our enemies. That’s my defense. It’s liberating because I wasn’t sure how I should react. Are you threatening me? Or are you saying something? I’m going to protect my feelings. But it’s never been that. It’s been my irritation. My offense with them. It’s what they said. It’s the way they look. I didn’t like the way they look. I didn’t like what they said. That’s what’s hurting us.

I have the shield every time they do something I don’t like. I’m loving them in some way. A wave, a gift, something. That’s how I defend myself. It’s a weapon they all had.

Boy, can you see grandpa with that love? How about a dad be? How would the teenagers be? How would the children be?

The final one I love it’s called the habergeon. The Philistines called it a coat of mail. It was a silk shirt with brass woven in it. It means a turning. Goliath’s shirt weighed 196 pounds. The dude had to be a beast.

I said when I get up to heaven, I’ve got to have a word with Peter because he never shuts his mouth. He’s always saying some stupid thing. He always has an attitude with somebody — Andrew, Phillip, Judas.

So he says, “Yo, Jesus.” “Yeah, Peter?” “I got a question for you.

So let’s just say that my brother offends me. How many times do I have to forgive him? I have trouble sometimes one time in the day. So twice? Four times?” “No, seven times seventy in a day.” What it meant was to turn the other cheek.

This last one is forgiveness. It means a turning. I will tell you that forgiveness has been very difficult for me. I forgave my father but I just didn’t talk to him for 10 years. I found out that wasn’t forgiveness. That was staying away from your father and feeling good about it.

We can’t hold everybody to the same standard. Some people in this room have been through things in their lives that are very difficult to forgive. We have a society like that. He knows.

We’re the only ones that can forgive because we have been forgiven. To the degree we’ve been forgiven, only Jay knows that. Only Jay knows. You know. I just have to forgive.

Throwing Spears Of Prayer

Please don’t give ear to the voices out there. It’s the fear. The enemy is afraid of what God’s about to do. Let’s get the weapons. What I love about this church is that the Word of God is very important. I go to some places, and prophecy is what’s important. I love that the Bible is the surest word, even though I love prophecy. 

I want to do some spear-throwing. We already threw to Denver first here and then to Washington DC and then to Sacramento, California because I have a lot of friends in California who I love. 

I would like to continue eastward if you don’t mind. New York City needs it. Then I really would like to start moving some to Russia, North Korea, and China. I’m not a big news guy. I don’t need to hear the news to know what’s happening. 

Without any fear or reservation, this sword is God’s salvation, glory, and power. I’m not throwing it at the people who don’t like Him or us. I’m throwing at the people who believe in us. Let the church in China arise. Let the church in Russia and Ukraine arise. Let the church in Iran and Iraq arise. They’re our brothers. Let them spear the United States and we will spear their countries. Let it not stop. 

My family needs it. Spear my house and my kids’ house. I’m spearing yours.

Literally, face East as we start to throw our spears that way. No one is set to change the world like us, the people of God.

Let’s start with New York City, which includes DC for me. A lot of stuff is going on in New Jersey. They need our prayers. Are you ready? On 3. 1, 2, 3, let’s fire it. Well, beautiful. 

I have friends who are pastors in Russia and Ukraine. They really need our prayers. They need it. Again, eastward. On 3. 1, 2, 3, fire it. You guys are doing great. I love it. This next one is for Israel and the surrounding nations. 

I have a guy that stopped me at my gym. And he says to me, “You’re a Christian, right?” And I don’t wear the shirts or anything. I said, “Yeah.” He was crying and he said, “I’m from Egypt. Please pray for my nation.” I never even thought about it. 

All right, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, and all of that area. We fire them out there. 

Wednesdays are my day to fire spears to my friends who are pastors in other countries. Thursdays are to my friends who have businesses and my men who are set to make money and have influence. That’s my Thursday to them and their wives and their family. Friday is a whole other thing. 

I wish you would decide and get with your family and say this is what we’re doing on Mondays, what we’re doing on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Even if it’s two minutes, fire some spears. 

Okay, to the Middle East. Are you ready? On 3. 1, 2, 3, let it go. Beautiful. 

All right, the final one we’ll do it together is North Korea. I have a lot of close relations in the Philippines and China. Also, we love Taiwan and have been to Taiwan many times. There’s a threat there. So the Taiwanese church is a believing church that loves America. The believers there love the United States, and they love when the United States people come. So how about we land some there too? We’re almost done. On 3. 1, 2, 3, let it go. Beautiful. Turn back to me. Just give the Lord a hand please, amen.