Alright. If you take your Bibles, turn to Nehemiah and chapter five. Nehemiah chapter five. What is Nehemiah doing in Judah? What is he doing?

Help me out. He's building a wall. He is building a wall. That's right. He came back to Judah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

He spent much time in prayer. He stepped out in faith. He motivated the people that were there to get diligent and busy about rebuilding the wall. He he came up with a plan. Each group took one part of the wall, and in fifty two days, the walls were built.

Everything went so smoothly. There were no hiccups. There were no issues. There there there was nobody got in the way or tried to stop them. Sure.

Thank you, miss Doors. No. That is not what happened. There were hiccups. There were those who tried to stop them.

Sanballat and Tobiah tried to stop them. Didn't want their neighbors didn't want those walls going up because then the people would be secure and wouldn't be under the oppression of those round about them. But nonetheless, up they went. In fifty two days, the walls of Jerusalem were back. The trouble we looked at last week or actually a couple weeks ago before friend day came from without the camp of Israel as their enemies, Samaritans, Ammonites, Ashdodites, etcetera, sought to discourage them and threaten and plan to attack them.

In the end, God triumphed as the people were encouraged by Nehemiah to prepare for battle but keep on working. As a result, accomplishing together an amazing feat, reconstructing the walls in fifty two days. However, however, there were other obstacles besides the Ammonites and the Samaritans. Other obstacles which had to be traversed besides the enemies from without, And that would be the enemies from what? Within.

Okay? As most often is the case, the greatest danger to the completion of a project or a ministry does not come from without but often comes from within, from within the ranks. Dissension, rebellion, and in this case, callousness in particular, are very common and very destructive force to any project or ministry. They have a great history and a sad legacy of doing that very thing throughout the Bible and are arguably one of Satan's some of Satan's most effective tools, dissension, rebellion, and callousness towards each other. Think back to the Garden of Eden.

Where was the serpent when he tempted Eve? Was he outside the garden or in the garden? He was in the garden. The serpent dissented and questioned God. And then the woman listened.

And then the man listened to the the woman. And it all came crashing down around them. The problem wasn't just from without. The problem also was from within. The first family, Cain and Abel.

And I think, you know, first two kids, great. Lord's answered our prayers, given us a son. What happened? Envy? Anger?

Problem from without? No problem from within the family led to the death of the godly son and the exile of the ungodly son and murderer. Abraham's greatest enemy didn't come from bands of marauding soldiers or no. It came from within as doubt and peer pressure caused him to take another woman and have a son by her rather than the one that God gave him, which caused a lot of dissension in days to come. Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Esau, The greatest enemies again were not from without, they were from within as Jacob helped Esau Jake as Rebecca helped Jacob to deceive his father, as Jacob was conniving and greedy and Esau was flippant and saw no value in eternal and godly things.

How did that result? Well, Jacob had to flee for his life and his family was no doubt affected. Joseph and his brothers. His brothers were jealous and envy. Again, the problem was not the enemies without that were threatening them.

It was the enemies from within. It was Jacob's brothers who threw him in a pit and left him for dead. Joseph's brothers. It was Joseph's brothers who sold him into slavery. Therefore, giving their father sorrow upon sorrow as just Joseph spent years in slavery and in prison.

Israel in the wilderness. Israel in the wilderness, they they God God takes them miraculously, delivers them out of Egypt, brings them to the promised land, and says, go in and take it. And 10 spies came back of the 12 and said, we can't do it. We can't do it. There's no way we can do it.

Man, they they got walled cities. They got chariots. They got all these weapons. They got they're they're they're like giants compared to us. There's there's no way we can do this.

And what was the enemy that defeated Israel that day? It wasn't the giants, and it wasn't the walls, and it wasn't the chariots. It was their own fear and doubt and dissension within the ranks as they turned upon Moses and they turned upon God and that entire generation died in the wilderness over the next forty years because of it. Save Joshua and Caleb, the only two spies that came back with the right with the right words of encouragement. God is able.

And of course, they went back and guess what? They were right. God is able. David's family, David's greatest enemies came from within his what? Within himself and within his house.

As Absalom, his son, nearly took his throne away from him. The sword did not depart from David's house because of his sin with Bathsheba. He was his own worst enemy. Judas came from within Jesus' inner circle. The church in Jerusalem in Acts five and six was being persecuted from without, but their greatest enemy was from within.

As Ananias and Sapphira lied to the apostles and the Lord himself and faced the end of their life because of it. And as the church squabbled over whose widows were being taken care of and whose were not. Praise the Lord, the church wasn't torn apart because of wisdom and grace from God that led them to make the right decisions in dealing with the issues. Churches like Corinth, we just read the verse a moment ago that talked about the dissension in the church of Corinth and that they needed to come together and be of one mind, of one purpose. And they were not, and it was tearing the church apart.

The enemies were not from without, they were from within. The censure and rebellion within the ranks of the church has destroyed many a ministry over greed and fraud and lies and immorality and false teachers. Dissension and rebellion within within the home has done just the same, if not greater damage to lives and the cause of Christ. Rebellion within the heart of God's children to their father's direction has resulted in the powerless and directionless children of God. Our greatest enemy lies not without the gate, it lies within.

And often is who? Ourselves. James one twelve thirteen through actually, through 15. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth thee any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. Again, the greatest enemy lies within. The gates of our heart and sometimes our families and sometimes our church, and we must deal with that problem. And we can by God's grace, but we must not ignore it. We must deal with it in a godly manner, and we must not allow it to tear us apart, to tear us apart in our relationship, our fellowship with God, or with one another, with our spouses, with our church family.

We must choose the way of the Lord to be of his mind. Let's take a quick look at the problem within Israel and the solution put forth by Nehemiah and enacted by the people. We begin in verse one of Nehemiah five. He wondered when I was ever gonna get there. Here we are.

Alright. Alright. There was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren, the Jews. For there were that said, we, our sons, and our daughters are many. Therefore, we take up corn for them that they may eat and live.

In other words, there were a lot of what? A lot of mouths to feed. Some also there were that said, we have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses that we might buy corn because of the dearth. There was a famine of sorts, And people didn't have money. So in order to feed those many mouths, they mortgaged, took out loans, liens against their houses and their property.

They put money on their what? They didn't have it back then, but what do you do today? You put money on their credit cards, 20 some percent interest in order to pay to keep food on their table. There were also that said, we have borrowed money for the king's tribute and that upon our lands and vineyards. I had borrowed money from the government.

Not a very smart thing to do. Yet now our flesh is also as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children. In other words, what? Ours is now what? Theirs because what does it say?

The borrower is servant to the what? To the lender. Yeah. Lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants. What's another word for that word servant?

Slave. Yeah. Slave. Some of our daughters are brought under bondage already. Neither is it in our power to redeem them, to buy them back out of slavery, out of bondage for other men have our lands and vineyards.

So we can't we can't buy them back. We can't buy their freedom because we have nothing wherewith to buy their freedom. We no longer own our lands. We own own own our vineyards. We work for the for the good of those who own them, and we get just a pittance, and there there's no way for us to to save enough money to buy anybody back.

I am sure they wouldn't be the first people to find themselves in such a tremendous hole and desperate situation. The Jews, the common people, were not well-to-do and lived off the land primarily. Famine and absence from the fields, not only was there famine, but there was absence from the field. Why were they absent? What were they doing?

They were building a wall. Okay? So they were busy with their families building the wall, so they were absent, in many cases, from the field. Due to the famine and absence from the field was causing them to be in one. As a result, they had resorted to borrowing from the nobles, the powerful, the mighty, the governors, the those with the money and the what?

Power. They borrowed from the nobles in Judah to sustain what they lacked. The nobles willingly loaned them food and supplies. Here, take it. Here, take it.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Here. Yeah.

We'll loan this to you. We'll loan that to you. What did they do? They did it at a high rate of usury. What's usury?

Interest. So, yes, we'll loan you whatever you need and we'll you're going to owe us 25% back in interest. And, well, they didn't have the money, not even to pay back the principal, nonetheless, the what? The interest. And they had put their homes, their businesses, their land, and even in some cases in that day, their children up as collateral.

Because, hey, a a child servant is better than a child who starved to death because they didn't have any food. This caused the common people to have no chance of paying the loans. They didn't have children to their children to help bring in the harvest. They didn't have their own lands. They worked for the good of the nobles who owned them, and they were in a bad spot.

No chance of paying the loans which resulted in their homes, fields, crops, and even children being taken as slaves by the nobles, leading to further frustration as the nobles now own so much of the land. This is what's called, by the way, communism. Every the a few people high up own what? Everything and everybody else works basically as slaves to the few that are in charge. Everybody's equal.

Everybody's equally enslaved and poor. That's how communism works. The Bible does not encourage communism. The Bible ensures encourages charity. They're two different things.

You can imagine the frustration of people. How how were they to continue to work on the wall or even get about their daily lives with such great a burden. Can you imagine working on the wall? Sorrowful that you had to sell your son or your daughter as a slave to these nobles? They're up there not doing diddly squat, and here you are doing the work of the wall and trying to feed your family.

And they're just living off the what? They're living off the collateral and the interest. Doesn't seem to be very fair. James talks about that in his little epistle near the end of the New Testament and rebukes those for not paying the wages of those who work for them, not being generous, but being greedy and mean and oppressive. That is not the way of the Lord.

The law itself is merciful and loving and just. We talk about the grace of God in Christ and the the stinginess of the law, but the law was actually quite merciful and loving and just. In Deuteronomy chapter 23, we read this. It says in verses nineteen and twenty, thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother or usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of anything that is lent upon usury. Unto a stranger, thou mayest lend upon usury, but not unto thy brother.

Thou shalt not lend upon usury that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to do in the land whither thou goest to possess it. What was within the law? The Jews were not allowed to demand high rates of interest from their own what? From their own people. They could they could require of people outside their land, but not the people within their land, not from their not from their own people.

They were to show instead mercy and love and justice. The nobles had clearly ignored the law and taken homes and children as collateral to pay for interest that the law said they couldn't take, and yet they did. And they took advantage of others who were in need. Again, not the way of the Lord. The law provided every seventh year, a Sabbath year, and every fiftieth year, the year of Jubilee, as times that property and slaves that had been taken were to be what?

Returned to those they were taken from. So that it didn't become just a a few that owned everything and and were all powerful and everybody else that were just the plebeians under them that served them. That was not what God intended. The nobles had lightly also ignored this law as many of the traditions and laws had been conveniently ignored for their own what? For their own benefit.

Yeah. You know, it's easy for us to embrace certain parts of the what's right and wrong or the law and then ignore other parts when the one works to our benefit and the other one seems to work, what, against it. You're never working against your own benefit when you're following the ways of the Lord. Not working against your own benefit. No.

You're working for your own benefit when you show others mercy and grace, forgiveness and love. When you come more like your savior, Jesus Christ, and less like the greedy, selfish, envious world in which we live. Slaves and other things could be redeemed according to the law at any time, but the escalating escalating poverty brought about by the merciless merciless and interest charging nobles made that impossible. Well, you can buy back your children. With what?

You own everything. You own everything. So they're trying to build the wall. Everybody's hard at work. And then in the middle of building the wall, go, you know, we just you know, we can't feed our kids.

Our lands are being taken. Some of our kids are being taken as slaves. You know, how are we supposed to be doing this? And they came to Nehemiah. And they brought him this word.

Let's look at his response. Verse six. I was very, what? I was very angry. Is there a good anger?

The Bible says be ye angry and sin not. Doesn't say don't be angry. It says be ye angry and sin not. There is a righteous anger or a righteous indignation. Was David angry when he heard Goliath come down in the valley and blaspheme his God and blaspheme his people?

Yes. He was angry for the right reason. This man was blaspheming his God and he decided that the best way to defend the honor of his God was to march down in that valley with a sling and five stones and trust God to defend him as he defended the honor of his God. It is okay at times to be angry, but we must be in control of that anger and that anger not in control of us. We must yield our anger to the righteousness of God, and we must choose to do the right thing with it and not the what and not the wrong thing.

Cursing and getting violent and slandering other people, that's not exactly the right way. Blowing up and throwing dishes around your house, not exactly the right way. Hitting the wall and putting a hole in it, not exactly the right way. Getting revenge, seeking revenge, or sitting and stewing all day long until your gut is all twisted in knots, not exactly the right way. But there is a right way to deal with righteous anger.

And what was the right way? Well, look in verse six. I was very angry when I heard the cry of these words. Then I consulted with myself and rebuked the nobles. What did he do?

Well, rather than just throwing up his hands or rather than than than flying off the handle, he sat down. He figured, okay. What can we do to fix the problem? He was angry at the problem. And so he said, I'm sure as he was want to do, he prayed.

And he sought God's wisdom, and he made a plan to try to deal with the problem to fix it. That is the right way to deal with problems is to go to the Lord, to be still, to give some thought and acting in wisdom and reason rather than acting in emotion and out of control. He deliberated on what to do, and then he gathered the assembly together, and he rebuked the nobles. Let's read on in verse seven. When I consulted with myself, I rebuked the nobles and the rulers and said to them, ye exact usury, every one of his brother, and I set assembly against them.

And I said unto them, we, after our ability, have redeemed our brethren, the Jews, which were sold under the heathen, and will ye even sell your brothers, or shall they be sold unto us? Then they held their peace and found nothing to answer. He said, we we came we we came back to this land. We bought back our brethren from the surrounding people, and now you want to enslave them again? Is that is that the right thing to be doing?

Is is is after all we went through, is that is that where we're going to end up? We're gonna become the wickedness that we thought to deliver be delivered from? And, of course, they they didn't have an answer because they were what? They were wrong. That wasn't the right thing to do.

It was a selfish thing to do. It was a greedy thing to do. Verse nine. Also, said it is not good that you do ought ye do. It is not good that you do.

Ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen of our enemies? Shouldn't you be fearing what what happened last time when you chose not to fear God? You tell me what happened. We we these walls got broke down. That temple got smashed apart, and our people got taken and scattered to the four winds of the earth.

Did you learn nothing? Did you learn nothing? I likewise and my brethren and my servants might exact of them money and corn. I pray you let us leave off this usury. Restore, I pray, you to them even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive yards, and their houses, and also the hundredth part of their money, and of the corn and wine and oil that ye exact of them.

Then they said then said they, we will restore them and will require nothing of them, so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests and took an oath of them that they should do according to this promise. Also, I shook my lap and said, so God, shake out every man from his house and from his labor, and that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out and emptied. And all the congregation said, amen, and praise the Lord, and the people did according to this promise. So what did he do?

He was appalled at what was going on. He deliberated. He decided to do something about it. It was risky. He was going against the powerful.

He was going against the people with money. But he did it what? He did it anyway. He could have said, well, they won't listen. He could have said, they're too powerful.

He could have said, it's too great of a risk, but he didn't do it. God has sent him there to do a task, and they were standing in the way, and they were clearly in the what? They were clearly in the wrong. They were ignoring God's law. They were acting callously towards their people, and they were allowing greed to guide them.

So in verses eight and nine, he did rebuke them. He rebuked them for their greed. He rebuked them for their callousness, and he told them the problem is you have no fear of who? God. What does the Bible say?

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, and it is the beginning of wisdom. Learn from your mistakes. God is a God of mercy and love, but he is God. He is our father. He is our master.

And he has told us in his word that he will chasten us, his children, if we choose not the fear of the Lord. We do not have to fear him if we're doing that which is right. It's when we're doing that which is wrong that we have reason to fear. Hopefully, that fear will keep us doing the things that are right. Well, they weren't.

They were too comfortable in their riches, their wealth, and their power, and they were taking it out upon their own people, which too often is the case. He commanded them to cease to collect the interest on loans and to take and to take collateral from their fellow Jews to release their children and other possessions taken along with an interest collected on these loans. In other words, quit doing the wrong thing and do the right thing. Do the right thing. Stop taking the interest and then give back that which you have what?

Restore that which you took while you were doing the wrong thing. It's not enough sometimes just to stop doing the wrong thing. You have to fix what you messed up. It takes humility. It takes seeing the big picture.

It takes realizing that what is best for me is what is best for my brother. What is best for my sister in Christ. What is what is honoring to my Lord? Don't trust in riches. Trust in God.

And what did the nobles do? Well, surprisingly, they listened and they pledged to give it back. And they did give it back. And because of that, the work on the walls continued and in fifty two days, what happened? The walls built.

There was a problem from within. The problem was fixed and the walls were what? And the walls were finished. Now, there are sometimes going to be problems. Sometimes problems of my own making, of your own making.

Sometimes problems within the family, sometimes problem within the church. The right thing isn't to just give up and get get angry and give up. The right thing is to seek to do what? To do the hard thing. What's the hard thing?

Fix the problem. Start with who? Start with yourself. Start with yourself. What can we learn from this this morning?

Number one. This is my second sermon for the day. No. This is my conclusion. Alright.

Number one, sin in the camp must be what? It must be dealt with. It must be rebuked. It must be fixed. Achan, when they came to take Jericho, Achan took of the forbidden things that he was told not to.

He hid them under his tent. Because he did that, when Israel attacked the next city, they lost 36 men. And they found out there was sin in the camp, and they stopped everything until they what? Until they fixed it. Because just going on and ignoring it, guess what have happened when they went back to attack again?

God wasn't with them because they didn't fix the sin in the camp. And whether that be within your own heart or whether that be within a ministry or a business or a family, you need to fix the sin in the camp. David said, the Lord if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear my prayer. We need to fix the sin in the camp. Number two, if you've wronged another, you need to fix it.

When? Now. Fix it now. Good. Swallow your pride and go and talk to the person and fix it, whether it be your family or whether it be your church or whether it be your business.

Fix it now. Don't put it off. Matthew five twenty three and twenty four, therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar and their remembrance that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave thy gift before the altar and go thy way. First, be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift. That goes along with that verse.

David says, the Lord, well, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not what? Hear my prayer. You want the Lord to hear your prayer? Go fix the problem with your brother. And it may require more than just asking God for forgiveness.

Yes, God forgives, but you also need the forgiveness of who? Your brother who you sinned against. Go fix it. Get it right. It isn't worth hanging on to.

It isn't worth not dealing with because of the fear. It's not worth not dealing with because of the pride. Praise the Lord. He got through to the nobles and they fixed it. Sometimes, we gotta get through to ourselves and sometimes we have to get through to others.

Let's fix it. Let's just not go on dragging this, you know, trying trying to race and you when I was a kid, I went to tractor pulls. You know, I have this big tractor. And behind them, they have a sled and they all this weight on the sled And the tractor's going you hear the tractor going, the front wheels are going up and it's going, you know, a little bit. What what what's the problem?

Well, there's a big sled on the back with all this weight on it. What does Hebrews tell us? Cast off the the sins and the weights with dust so easily beset us and let us run with race, the patient that set before us. Get rid of the weights. Get rid of the weights.

Whatever it is, get rid of the weight. It's not it's not the the the it's not the pressures of the outside world so much. It's it's not the enemies that oppose you. Oftentimes, the biggest issue is inside the camp. We need to fix it.

And then don't be like the nobles. Care for one another. Love one another. Look out for one another. Follow the Lord together, and you'll accomplish great things.

Philippians two, if there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy and be ye like minded, having the same love being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of, what, of others. Don't get callous. Don't allow the personalities and the issues and and the and the little aggravating things to drive us apart.

Allow love to drive us what? Together in the same mind, the same journey, on the same purpose. And by all means, if you're a leader, be a good example. That's what Nehemiah was. Let's finish by reading verses 14 through 19.

Verses 14 through 19 of Nehemiah five. Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah from the twentieth year even until the twenty and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor. In other words, they haven't taxed the people in order to buy their bread. But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable under the people and had taken of them bread and wine besides 40 shekels of silver. Yea, even their servants bear rule over the people, so did and but so did not I because of the fear of God.

Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither brought we any bought we any land, and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work. Moreover, another one, there were at my table a 150 of the Jews and rulers besides those that came unto us from among the heathen that were about us. Now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox, six choice sheep, also fowls, were prepared for me once in ten days store of all sorts of wine, yet for all this required, not I, the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon the people. Think upon me, my God, for good according to all that I have done for this people. Why did Nehemiah he he acted the opposite of the what?

The nobles. He did not avail himself of his power to tax for his own benefit. The officials that were under him, they also put their backs to labor in building the wall rather than oppressing the people, and he regularly entertained a 150 people every day at his table at no cost. At cost to him but not at cost to them. Now, who is it that's done that for us?

Jesus Christ. He feeds us at his table at no cost to us but at great cost to who? At great cost to him. He offers. He invites you to come and to eat of the bread of life and drink of living water through faith in Jesus Christ to be saved and to know what it is to be a child of the king.

And then he asks us to come to treat others likewise as he has treated us. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for your love for us, for your goodness to us. Forgive us of our callousness. Forgive us of allowing little things to become mountains.

Forgive us for not dealing with things in our homes, our churches, and even in our heart. Lord, may we take this time, Lord, if you have spoken to us about something, to spend a moment in prayer talking to our God, confessing our sin, being cleansed of it, and empowered to have victory over it. And Lord, we pray if there's one here today that's yet to receive Jesus Christ as savior, is that they would come as we give this hymn of invitation this morning. In Jesus' precious name, we do pray. Amen.