R323 When The Walls Comes Tumbling Down

God has an encouraging word for you and me today for the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton in a message when the walls come tumbling down the in just a moment Dr. opens God's word for us as we study the word but know that we are open to pray with you.

Even now, what 866-899-WORD that's an 86 689-996-7324 hours a day like a copy of God's word this morning and turn with me to the book of Nehemiah chapter 1 the book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament when walls come tumbling down. As we look at ourselves and as we analyze our own lives. We see wolves both both and come tumbling down constantly. I think that when one talks about walls come tumbling down. We can think about this both positively and negatively negatively because there are many of us to build up walls around about us, walls of prior walls of an unforgiving spirit walls of hatred. Walls of of anger, walls of insecurity, walls of playing in walls of her there all kinds of rules that that need to come tumbling down here in the book of Nehemiah we going to discover that the wool that was broken down needed to be rebuilt because this was a positive wool.

It was a wall that provided protection. It provided our preservation. It provided a a century and a silent. It provided a sense of up security in a sense of belonging and every single one of us this morning can identify with the walls of life. When walls come tumbling down. I was speaking to a man who was absolutely brokenhearted because at the marriage that he thought was intact suddenly came crumbling down around about and his wife lifted.

It happens in all different circumstances, I I have a very dear friend who is going to be with the Lord Jesus Christ' church in El Dorado, Arkansas. My wife and I knew them as a couple very well and I still don't know all the details about what happened but apparently his wife left him and I don't know what all the circumstances, but this man, this posture of a great church in January of this year, wrote a letter to the chairman of deacons invited someone to preach and that Southern Baptist church on Sunday morning the end of the week my friend went up into the pasta study and hanged so two beautiful children.

You see, the walls had come tumbling down life and had crashed in around him, and they been many days since I heard about his death. It that I have wished that perhaps I could've been there that I could've helped him to reconstruct those broken wool but they came tumbling down. I've I've watched Paris, I've I've watched parents out such as ourselves when when our children are just like little babies and they are so precious and and there's that spark in our and and you just want to gobble them up on our deacons retreat this weekend. One of our couples at a tiny little bit little baby boy and we all just wanted to gobble him up all the time. I mean he just got pasta from one person to the next and there's that there's that marvelous glint that joy that we all experience in and and we as parents sometimes our children begin to grow up and then they get to that I 11, 12, 13, and all of a sudden the light begins to go out and there are and Anna and all of a sudden that that same little child. That boy that girl that once gave so much joy to mom and dad all of a sudden brings so much heartache in so much pain.

Mom and dad do everything they can. And it seems like the more the play they love they son will go to the more the son or daughter pushes them away.

The more angry and more hostile they become, the more distance they want to run the more the more they want to do everything that they possibly can seemingly so to break mom and dad's parking and they look at this child and they they basically are saying the wolves are coming tumbling down. I spoke to man if you'd gone to him the week before I spoke to him he would've said to you, he would've said to me posture. I have a wonderful job and I have insurance and III have a Holman and I'm taken care of and I've been at my work for 20 years already and one day he went to the office and he was retrenched.

He was laid-off. It was a reorganization in these company and they had to lay them often and I remember sitting there looking at him and and praying with him and loving him in and he was telling me how his heart was so broken and he didn't know what to do and basically what he was saying was my wool have come tumbling down. It's happened in marriages we say will this happens out there outside the church. No sir it's happening inside the church marriages that are falling apart.

Couples who Once upon a time they they had so much time for one another. They would drive extraordinary distances to see one another that they would talk on the telephone and I would get on the telephone at 10 o'clock at night and and he would say, what would you like to talk about tonight and and she would say no. Will you you talk first.

Not I would you you talk first and I actually end up talking about nothing and eventually both of them fall asleep on the telephone even though they are 200 miles apart in and they they carry flowers to one another and they opened doors and I are so much in love and they get married and and truly remove Carmen and his great rejoicing and then all of a sudden the wolves begin to come tumbling down.

Things begin to happen.

Hearts are broken and lives are destroyed. The wolves come tumbling down.

I love what happened in the life of Nehemiah.

These people that were gathered together with him because when the walls came tumbling down.

They had a response that was so.

God centered and so God glorifying, and I want us to read about it this morning to give.

Let's read together in Nehemiah chapter 1 the words of Nehemiah son of Acadia in the month of kids live in the 20th year while I was in the Citadel of Susa, Hannah Nye, one of my brothers came from Judah with some other men and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.

They said to me, those who survive the exile back in the province and are in great trouble and disgrace the wool of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been burned with fire. When I heard these things, I sat down and with for some days I mourned and fostered and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said, oh Lord God of heaven. The great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commandments. Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your serve the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites including myself and my father's house have committed against you.

We have acted very wickedly toward you.

We have not obeyed the Kaman's decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, if you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my Kaman rules, then even if your exiled people are at the father's horizon. I will gather them from their and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my name. They are your servants and your people whom you redeemed by your great strength in your mighty hand. Oh Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name.

Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man. I was cupbearer to the king by the Lord, right his word upon our hearts and may he translate his word into the circumstances of our own lives today. There are four indicators of the walls that came tumbling down. Jerry Nehemiah chapter 1.

Let me share them with you because they are not unlike our own predicament number one. I want you to note in verse three that the survivors were in trouble. That's what verse three says, verse three says they sent to me.

Those who survive the exile are in trouble. How strange.

What dramatic irony. How awful to think that people who were survivors would be in trouble. Not black I'm not unlike ourselves, don't you think there are so many times that we make resolutions and we become survivors of our human predicament and get put in the context of our survival courses we still find ourselves mixed the protection of the troubles that surround us. We are a people who are constantly trying to survive our circumstances.

Just think about we make resolutions on January 1. We say no more chocolate cake. No more ice cream no more fatty stuff limit ourselves to only one Diet Coke a day to make us feel better.

We cut back. Then we go to the doctor and we find out that our cholesterol is just as high as it ever was. And we say to ourselves, wait a minute. I have survived the exile, and yet I'm still in trouble.

Admit people in all walks of life. You might resolutions they've come back to church they come to sit in God's house. They begun to read God's word. They have saturated themselves in the presence of God's people.

They have prayed and they have become survivors of their predicaments. And yet when they turn around. They discover that they are still in trouble. That is perhaps one of the most disheartening things go talk to parents who love their children. I know some parents who love the children so much they would give anything they would give their bank accounts. They would give their homes. They would give every position they would get their status they would give their friends they would give anything they could possibly lay their hands on to reach out to that son or that daughter to try and do for them what they know they need to do because those parents can see the end of the Broadway and the parents know that the Broadway leads to this action, and yet they find themselves in constant but not in the second place, not anywhere. The survivors in trouble, but the people wearing disgrace. Now that's a remarkable thing when it comes to an understanding of God's word. Verse three says that they survived the exile. They were back in the province they were in great trouble, but there trouble didn't stop there. They were in disgrace.

They went in disgrace with themselves. They were in disgrace with those who were observing their problem.

I think that the old proverbial saying is good that when one ends up in trouble. It seems like close a heap upon one's head. You see, what we going to discover here is that when Nehemiah came back into Jerusalem and he discovered the perplexing and the difficulties that were confronting them. It wasn't just the trouble that I had to deal with have to deal with this price that came upon them by those who were observing their trouble. I had someone say to me one time I don't think I can ever come back to church again and I said why I said well my son is done this, that the next thing and I'm going to be in disgrace. This was a paradise. It all.

The nurse or please not one, but not in God's house not among God's people.

I want you to know my friend.

If you are in trouble if your marriage is falling apart. If your children are struggling. If you are struggling. You may be in trouble but among God's people. You are never in disgrace. You know why because we are sinners saved by the grace of God.

That's why I want you to note in the third place. The Bible says that the walls were broken down. I love that the wall of Jerusalem is broken down it eventually gets to the point where there's enough talking the wall is broke. I had a couple come and speak to me one time and why I tell you we talked and we talked and we talked and we talked and eventually I looked at them and I said cannot tell you some and I said what I said your marriage is in trouble. I said what I said your marriage is in trouble. The wall is broken down. You see friends. Sometimes we are so intent on trying to fix something that we refuse to get back to the beginning point. Sometimes we are so intent on getting say that we forget that we can never be said until we recognize what it means to be lost. You don't get saved my friend of the United goodness of your heart you saved out of the absolute desecration and degradation of a sinful heart in the presence of God without repentance. There is no salvation wall is broken down. There's 1/4 thing that happened the gates were burned with fire not notice that inverse forbearances. If this was to make matters worse, I mean can you believe the audacity the Bible says that the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been burned with fire as if it wasn't enough for them to have suffered in that way. It's as though they are putting their hands in the dirt and they are tramping their noses under the dirt and they are burning. Even the gates down when Nehemiah came into Jerusalem he discovered not only the desecration of the wall, but even the gates of being burned with fire. There was no semblance of any protective agency for the people of Jerusalem. Everything is gone, they reached the end of the line. There was no protection. There wasn't even a cake.

It had been consumed up to see sometimes my friend when the walls come tumbling down. It's as though everything has gone.

I wouldn't be surprised if my dear friend Dr. Floyd who took his life in January right there at those moments before he parsed into the kingdom of heaven. I am convinced, with all my heart.

Even though I wasn't there.

That this man of God, this man who understood the word of God, this man who must've been in unbelievable turmoil. He must've got to the point at which he said not only is the wall broken down, but the gates have been burned with fire is no hope. All I want to say to you today that when we begin to understand what happened yet to near minds of these people, my friends, even when the gates of burned down with fire. Even my friend.

When survivors are in trouble and people are in disgrace in the walls are broken down in the gates of burned with fire. I want you to know that what he was about to say is, even if you been taken to the fathers and other world even if you gone so far away from God that nobody can even recognize you that when you cool. On the other.

Almighty God, he will restore you and according to verse nine. I will gather them from their and bring them to the place. I've chosen as a dwelling place for my name. What incredible hope there is in the gospel forgive the interruption will be back with the rest of today's message in just a moment there has been such an outcry about this wonderful book from Dr. Wilton is Dr. Don to tell you a little about Saturdays with Billy my book Saturdays with his abounding extraordinary relationship with a precious man who impacted lives across the moon. You don't want to miss this opportunity to be inspired by his life to if you'd like a copy Collison 866-899-WORD 9673 that's 866-899-WORD 96734 email us at online@tewonline.org G, now back today's teaching with Dr. Don, is there anybody who's gone too far. Is there any circumstance out of reach of Almighty God. So the question is this what it Nehemiah do wolves had come tumbling down what it Nehemiah do. Let's look at it five things Nehemiah did a very simple but they are profound. Number one, he sat down. I love that don't you look at verse five. Verse four when I heard these things, I sent down she that's my greatest problem.

I'm never prepared to sit down one of my favorite sayings is, you know, sometimes I sits and thinks, and other times I just sits you know there's nothing wrong with just sitting and in the world in which we live today.

My friend, which is going at 100 miles an hour what God is trying to say is simply this, why don't you be still and know that I am God. Sometimes we just gotta say stop. We just gotta say stop. Now my wife and I we got three children and every once in a while you know what happens to us. I know this never happens to any of you, but it happens to us, we find ourselves going in 5000 directions all at the same time. I mean it's it's like this, you which bowl game in which way the hurt this wind down that way.

I told you my wife doesn't drive a motor car she drives a taxi.

I mean it's this app that I mean we got up this who's getting up, he's got the alarm clock okay which breakfast you want is okay, let's get this when you get back. I know you get back in his GoToMeeting and why did you get back over there and you get an offer while in the family. Everything is just going at 100 miles an hour and you know what eventually families of got a new set down silences very strange is we don't have the TV going in the music going in the stove going up and going in the toaster going the motorcar going and everything else going.

The only time we ever sit down is when our heart stops going and Nehemiah faced with the most unbelievable circumstance.

Can you believe that she sent down sometimes. My wife and I we don't do it often enough. We call in the family and will all get into the living room and they'll come down now this is a major thing folks to call family altogether the same time. This involves months of calendar planning and we we finally get it to where all five of us come together and we sit down in the living room and I can guarantee you this one of my sons inevitably within 30 seconds says, okay article will what what what you know what, what is this you know what and and mom or dad will say we we just want to sit with you for 10 minutes, what, what's the agenda you know what, what's the item yeah what what it wanted. We not do who lift their socks a bit, was that head you know and that's when I adjourn the meeting right on the spot. He sat down as churches, my friends, we need to just sometimes stop and sit down in the presence of God in the deacons meetings. Sometimes we need to just stop in the presence of God. Number two.

He whipped all how profound this man whipped what he knew about the walls come tumbling down when I heard these things, I sat down and went all is there anything more wonderful in the presence of God than a righteous person, weeping before the throne of God. We don't reap enough in his presence.

My friends, what did Jesus do when he came to inspect Jerusalem. The Bible says Jesus whipped that's what he did.

The shortest verse in the Bible. I don't know what it was that he did but maybe Jesus just came to that point. When he looked out over Jerusalem. Now he had many certain he had things that he could've said he knew the whole lot because he is the whole lot became to Jerusalem and he looked out over the city and he saw the condition of the people, and he saw the means and the Bible says Jesus whipped sometimes it's not a sermon, we need to hear. Sometimes it's not a circumstance that we need to analyze. Sometimes we need to just sit down and we number three. He mourned, he more. Now that's very interesting. In verse four. For some days I mourned our morning morning. He put on sackcloth and ashes.

We gonna see in chapter 9. When we get there that they put sackcloth and ashes in verse one as they prayed and they fostered and they morning they went into a state my friends where it was as though they were being confronted by the funeral procession of life.

You know why because when the walls come tumbling down.

It's as though you're suffering a day something is so sad. Number four.

He fostered he fostered note there in verse four over some days I mourned and fostered. I wish I had time, I promise you I'm going to come back.

One of these days and preach on fostered. The Bible says there are seven reasons for fostered going to give them to you want be able to write them down.

I'll be too quick. Number one because of the judgment of God. According to Joel chapter 1 verse 14 number two because of public calamities. Things that go on in our nation we need to farce together as believers number three because of church related issues and problems according to Luke chapter 5 because of what happens in the church.

We need to farce before God number four because of other people's problems and needs in Psalm 35 in verse 13, you know somebody was going to need a son or daughter or a neighbor farce and God will answer your prayer.

Number five, because of our own personal problems. According to second Samuel 12 in verse 16, number six, because of approaching danger. According to Esther chapter 4 verse 16. When we know that there's danger. We need to farce before God and number seven. According to acts 13 in verse third three when we ordain ministers to the gospel.

The Bible says it is such a significant thing in the life of believers and of his church that we need to go into a time of costing what is fostering accompanied by number one prayer according to Israel.

Chapter 8, number two. Confession according to first Samuel chapter 7 verse six and Nehemiah chapter 1 and Nehemiah chapter 9, number three, accompanied by morning. According to Joel chapter 2 in verse 12 and number four humiliation.

According to Nehemiah chapter 1 verse nine sat down and he whipped and he mourned me fostered, but he did one more thing. He prayed, he prayed, he prayed a prayer of adoration and praise and remembrance and confession and celebration and affirmation and intercession as he fell down upon the space before God and he said all God. The walls are turning down the coming crashing down on just determining any throw down the parties forget to open your heart, not just the teaching of Dr. with what you want to share from his heart. Next are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Why don't you pray this prayer with me right. Gone. I know that I miss and I know that Jesus died for me problems today. I repainted my and by faith I received Jesus if you just gave your life to Jesus Christ. Welcome to the family if you rededicate your life you the way.

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