A reading this morning is taken from Nehemiah chapter 6.
As you're turning to the place, let me just explain because this
is the last Lord's day of 2025. I sought the Lord for a single
individual message that would seek to close the year and next
Lord's Day morning in the will of God being the first Lord's
Day of 2026. Then we will open the year with
the model text, and then after that, we'll return to our
studies in First Thessalonians chapter 5.
So I haven't forgotten about First Thessalonians, and I value
your prayers as we plan for the year ahead.
Let's hear the word of God, Nehemiah chapter 6.
We're going to read verses one through to 16.
Let's hear the word of God, Nehemiah chapter 6 reading of
course, from the King James Bible.
Let's hear God's word. Now it came to pass when
Sambalit and Tobiah and Geshem the Arabian and the rest of our
enemies heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no
breach left therein, though at that time I had not set up the
doors upon the gates. Then Sanballat and Geshem sent
unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in someone of the
villages in the plain of Hono. But they thought to do me
mischief, and I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a
great work, so that I cannot come down.
Why should the work cease whilst I leave it and come down to you?
Yet they sent unto me 4 times after the sword, and I answered
them after the same manner. Then sent Sam Ballot his servant
unto me in like manner the fifth time, with an open letter in his
hand. For in was written, it is
reported among the heathen. And Gashmu saith it, that thou
and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause thy buildest the
wall, that thou mayest be their king according to these words.
And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at
Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah, and thy shall it
be reported to the king according to these words.
Come thy therefore, and let us take counsel together.
Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as
thou sayest, but thou finest them out of thine own heart.
For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be
weakened from the work, that it be not done now.
Therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.
Afterward I came unto the House of Sheminiah, the son of
Deliliah, the son of Mihapiel, who was shut up.
And he said, Let us meet together in the House of God
within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple,
for they will come to slay thee. Yeah, in the night will they
come to slay thee. And I said, Should such a man as
I flee? And who is there, that being as
I am, would go into the temple to save his life?
I will not go in. And lo, I perceived that God had
not sent him, but he pronounced this prophecy against me.
For Tobiah and St Balat had hired him.
Therefore was he hired that I should be afraid and do so, and
sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that
they might reproach me. My God, think thy upon Tobiah
and some ballad according to these their words, and on the
prophetess no Adiah and the rest of the prophets that would have
put me in fear. So the wall was finished in the
20th, 5th day of the month, Elu in 50 and two days.
And it came to pass that when all our enemies heard their of,
and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they
were much cast down in their own eyes, for they perceived that
this work was wrought of God. Amen.
We know that the Lord will bless to us these 16 verses of
Nehemiah chapter 6. These are infallible and
inspired words, and we pray God's blessing to be upon them.
Now my text this morning is taken from Nehemiah chapter 6
and the verse 15. It reads as follows.
Listen to the Word of God. So the wall was finished in the
20th and 5th day of the month, ELO in 50 and two days.
Now I've entitled this message focusing on finishing the work.
We could add the words God's call to persevering obedience.
Now you and I are called to a life of faithful service to the
end. Now this Lord's Day finds us
standing and a significant moment because we have come to
the final Lord's Day of the year 2025.
And then a few days this year will pass into memory, with all
the opportunities for faithful service gone and a new year
dawning, unknown to us but fully known to God will begin.
And in God's will, we should aim to be finishing the year well
and trusting the Lord for what lies ahead.
You see, the Lord. Days like this invite us to a
moment of reflection. Naturally, we look backward.
We ask this question, What kind of year has it been for you
personally? What have you seen accomplished
or finished for God? What sort of advancements have
been made for the good of God's Kingdom?
What work remains yet to be unfinished?
Now, as we look forward, we asked other questions.
What will 2026 unfold? You see, it's our 50th
anniversary year. 50 years ago in February was the start of the
children's ministry in 1976. It's also the 75th anniversary
of the commencement of the Free Presbyterian denomination.
And, and here's some questions. Will I be true and faithful to
the Lord? Will the Lord help me and
sustain me this year? What will God help me to be, not
when He's faithful, but successful in the year to come?
Now, these are all relevant and all very important questions.
And as I asked them before the Lord, the Bible meets us at this
very place with a timely reminder.
You see, our God is a God who finishes the work that He begun
over there in the book of Philippians and Philippians
chapter 1 and in the verse 6. We read these words, Philippians
one and verse 6, being confident of this very thing that he which
have begun a good work on you will perform it until the day of
Jesus Christ. Our God is a God who finishes
what he begins, and therefore He calls us, his people, to a life
of faithful service, a life of persevering obedience.
Not just at the beginning of our Christian life, not just in the
middle years. And the middle years can be
difficult. Not just in moments of
enthusiasm, when we we we feel a sense of joy and overwhelming
duty, but all the way to the end.
He that persevereth to the end shall be saved.
And here's a simple sentence. And Nehemiah 6 and 15.
And it carries A profound picture.
It carries A tremendous meaning. Listen to what it says.
So the wall was finished in the 20th and 5th day of the month,
ELO in 50 and two days. So the wall was finished.
You see, it not only speaks to me of the completion of a wall
in Jerusalem, but also to the key ingredients of doing a
successful work for God. It speaks of a life of faithful
service, serving God to the end of the task that He has called
us to do. Three things very quickly.
One, the priority of a finished work.
Notice the words here. So the wall was finished.
You see these words? So the wall was finished.
Come after 13 years of doing nothing in Jerusalem.
You see, after they'd built the temple in Ezra's day, you could
have walked around Jerusalem and what did you witness?
You witnessed piles and piles of rubbish and it remained that way
for 13 whole years till Nehemiah came, who had a burden and a
vision for the building and rebuilding the walls of
Jerusalem. So here's the picture.
For 13 years and more, the walls in Jerusalem laying ruins and
those broken stones, the lack of gates, were a visible symbol of
a lack of vision among God's people.
Because after they'd finished building the temple, got into
that house to worship, then the work stopped.
Nothing more was done for 13 whole years.
It was a symbol of disgrace. It was also a symbol of
vulnerability. It was also a symbol of reproach
by the enemy. It had lain this way for years.
There was no active leader for 13 years.
There was no team to gather around the leader.
Then when Nehemiah arrived in the scene, the task before him
seemed absolutely overwhelming. Seemed soul destroying.
If you look with me at the text, it says in verse one, and it
came to pass when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arabian
and the rest of our enemies heard that I had builded the
wall, and that there was no breach left there in, though at
that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates.
See. Almost immediately when Nehemiah
started this work of rebuilding the wall, opposition arose.
If you read chapter 6 very, very carefully, and I encourage you
to do it, there's four schemes here by the enemy.
They're suggested by a man called Cyril Barker in his
expositors Bible verses one to four there was intrigue.
Then verses five through to 8 there was innuendo, and then in
verses 10 through to 14 there was intimidation, and then
verses 15 to the end there was infiltration. 4 schemes by the
enemy, Intrigue, innuendo, intimidation, and infiltration.
All designed to stop the advancement of the work.
If you were thinking of verses 1:00 to 4:00, I could see the
headlines in the we we call it the Sumerian News.
Nehomios Nehemiah says no to or no.
That would be the headline. In other words, he rejected A
proposed conference on the Judean Sumerian border with
Gershom, the leader of the Arabs, and Tobiah, the leader of
the Ammonites and San Ballot and himself.
San Ballot sharply criticises Nehemiah refusal to cooperate.
The purpose of the meeting was to work on a formula for lasting
peace in the region. They they had tried this four
times. This is the fourth time Nehemiah
has turned down the request to discuss.
And this repeated refusal, it means that Nehemiah is going to
be responsible for the ongoing tensions and any violence.
And it rests solely upon Jerusalem and upon us, our
leadership. Isn't it straight out of a 21st
century playbook? That's what we read in our
papers today. You see, Satan targeted the
leader. His aim was to discredit and
bring down the leader. And if the devil can weaken the
leader of the church, he'd cause damage to the flock.
I invite you. I encourage you to pray for me
as this year closes and a new year dawns.
You see, the devil comes with subtle deceptions.
The devil comes with sound bites, all designed to lure us
into a trap, all designed to get us to compromise.
The devil's not playing games. The Bible says be sober, be
vigilant because your adversaries are roaring as a
your adversary. The devil is a roaring lion
goeth about seeking whom he might have are first Peter five
and eight. You think of a young Christian
girl growing up in a good Christian home.
She goes off to university and maybe she's drawn into your
relationship with a, an unbeliever.
And this, this is a, a nice, handsome young man and maybe
he's maybe even preparing for a successful career in business.
He's many fine qualities, but he's not a believer.
He doesn't know and love Jesus Christ.
He's no interest in God or the things of God.
And that young girl is drawn in and then they end up getting
married and, and life is hard and difficult because there's an
unequal yoke there. What about those that call upon
us to compromise the gospel? I've heard people saying to us,
well, the Christian Church is not known for sound doctrine,
but known for love. And we should set aside matters
that we disagree on and come together and matters that we do
agree on. But what they're really asking
is to set aside the gospel, and that's what the charismatic
movement and the ecumenical movement, sadly, it's all about
the Roman Catholic Evangelical together movement.
See, let me put it this way. In Paul's day, there were those
who believed in God, the same God that Paul believed.
They believed in Jesus. They would say Jesus is the
Messiah. Paul, we believe that.
That's good, isn't it? Fantastic.
But what about the Gospel? Oh well, now you need to be
circumcised in order to be saved and Paul denounced that because
anything that adds to the gospel destroys the gospel.
Satan is relentless. 4 times. The same intrigue was used with
Nehemiah and Nehemiah stood firm.
Why? Because he knew what God had
given him to do, and he knew that work was important for the
Lord's sake and for the sake and well-being of the people of God.
His aim, his great priority, was to finish the wall, to finish
the work that God had given him to do.
He was aiming to be faithful. Oh yes, he could understand the
attempts of distraction and compromise.
He he knew about the mockery of the enemy.
He knew about the threats of violence.
He knew about the false accusation, the innuendo.
You, you're just building the wall because you want to be king
and you've got false prophets lined up.
You're going to declare you to be king.
You see, it's all here. This intrigue, this innuendo,
this intimidation, this, this infiltration.
It's all part of Satan's scheme. It's all here versus 1 to 15.
It's all part of Satan's plan. And yet Nehemiah stood firm.
He stood unrelenting. His chief priority was to finish
the work. And what do we read?
So the wall was finished. And I thought, well, there's a
lesson for us at the year's end. What is our chief priority?
Surely our chief priority has to be to the glory of God by
knowing, serving, trusting, believing in Jesus Christ as
Lord and Saviour. Our chief priority as a
Christian is to be conformed to his image and character.
Our chief priority is to have a hard relationship with God
through faith in Christ and allow nothing to pull us away
from that chief priority. Remember Paul says in the book
of Acts in Acts chapter 6 and he he says there in the verse 4.
But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the
ministry of the word. And we read in Acts chapter 4,
Acts chapter 2 and verse 42 a tremendous statement about the
early church. And they continued steadfastly
in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and breaking of
bread, and in prayers, as we stand at the end of the year.
And pause and reflect. We can't say everything that I
had planned was finished. We can't say this year went as I
expected it to go. But we can't say this God was
faithful this year. We can't say God helped us this
year. We can't say God has sustained
us this year. We can't say God has not
abandoned us this year. And as you reflect, let's
resolve to hear this call to be faithful.
You've maybe heard me saying in the past, and I ain't going to
make a statement here, I believe now it was wrong.
God has called us to be faithful but not to be successful.
I don't believe that's true anymore.
God has called us to be faithful to the blood in the book, to the
gospel, to Christ, absolutely, but he's also called us to be
successful. God calls us to be faithful and
successful because God has promised to provide all that we
need to be successful and has what do we need?
We need the blessing of God in our church.
Remember what we read in the book of Joshua and Joshua.
One it says, Only, be thou strong and very courageous, that
they mayest observe to do according to all the law which
Moses my servant command, that they turn not from it to the
right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper.
Whither so ever thy ghost Notice those words.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but
they shall meditate therein day and night, that they mayest
observe to do according to all that is written therein.
For then with the book of the law in her hand and in her
mouth, then shalt thou make thy way prosperous, then shalt thou
have good success. Is it not written in Isaiah 53
and verse 10? The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in His hand. And over there in Isaiah chapter
55, a tremendous statement is made about the word of God.
It says, So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my
mouth, that shall not return unto me void, but it shall
accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the
thing whereto I sent it. You see, it's the gospel that
causes us to triumph. Again, if we quote Paul's words
there in the book of Acts or a book of Second Corinthians
chapter 2, he says this in verse 14.
Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in
Christ and make us manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in
every place. See, we're not just called to be
faithful, we're called to be spiritually successful.
Our aim should be a faithful and successful work with God.
Our aim should be a faithful and successful work for God.
We should aim to be a faithful and successful witnesser of God.
We we should aim to wage a successful and faithful warfare
for God. So I think many churches have
lost sight of that. Churches that have 300 in the
morning and 30 at night. Here's the attitude of the
minister and the elders. It's not really worth it, is it?
Only a handful. Life is busy.
We're swamped with work, better with time home with their their
family. We can have a we meet and sit
around the table in the kitchen or meet in somebody else's house
and have a we Bible study and a we talk.
But what about the work of God? What about the witness?
What about the worship of God? You see, it's all connected to
this, the chief priority of a finished work.
Very quickly think about the perseverance of a finished work.
See faithful service. So the wall was finished.
Underline the word finished there by Nehemiah.
And think of this. It requires a deep perseverance,
especially under pressure. Faithful service is not about
perfect circumstances. I'll tell you something, There's
no such thing as a perfect church.
And this church is not perfect, but it's about steady obedience.
Nehemiah teaches us the measure of faithfulness and service.
It's not how easy the task was, but whether we stayed at the
work until God said it was done. Think of the opposition that
arose, the intrigue, the innuendo, the intimidation, the
infiltration. That's all here.
It doesn't mean God is absent. It doesn't mean that God has
abandoned the work. No, it means that God is still
at work and the devil is trying his best to stop it. 2025, your
faith has been tested. And this year as it stretches
into 2026, trials and troubles will stretch you even further.
Maybe you'll reach the point where you're at what's in corner
and you'll say to yourself, I can't take much more.
These trials and troubles that came last year, you didn't
choose. They, they, they impacted upon
you, yet you're still here. You're still trusting in the
Lord Jesus Christ. You're still gathering with
God's people. You're still looking to him for
help and grace and strength. That's evidence of a persevering
spirit. That's evidence of God's
sustaining grace. Nehemiah's faithful service
didn't mean the absence of difficulty, didn't mean the
absence of hardship, wasn't the absence of blood, sweat and
tears. No, it just means that God
didn't abandoned the work. It didn't mean that God's
calling has ceased. It didn't mean that the cost
hadn't to be met. You see, in perseverance in the
Finnish work, there has to be an objective in the work.
And and I asked this morning, what's your objective for
carried off FPC? What's your aim going into this
year's it closes and into a new year?
Do you aim to be faithful and successful in your Christian
life? Do you aim to see progress?
Oh yes, we want to see soul saved family gathered in to
Christ. We want to see the children's
ministry built up and restored to what it was even 3040, fifty
years ago. We want to see the church
strengthen numerically and financially and also
spiritually. We want to have a a deeper love
for Christ and and for the the, the the Saints of God.
We want to have a deepening of our prayer life, a better
knowledge of the Word of God, a greater hatred for sin, a hunger
for the advancement of God's Kingdom, a life of conformity to
Christ and the Gospel, a display of a willing OO obedience to
Christ, a willing desire to be holy unto the Lord, a life of
faithful obedience. Service.
Not looking for loopholes, not looking to forsake it.
Is that the objective? See, I I know you'll agree with
me that we want the work also to advance materially.
There's a lot to do, especially in the outside.
There's lots to think about. But what do we want to see?
Are we happy and content like the Jews wear with the piles of
rubble for 13 years? Or do we want to push on?
Do, do, do, do, do we want to do it for God?
If we do, we have to believe, we have to have faith.
We have to trust Him. We, we, we, we, we have to do it
with the help of God. We'll not do it in their own
strength or power, but we can do it with the power and help of
God. We can see it happen, but it's
not happening unless we're willing.
It's not happening unless we're united.
You see, there has to be objectives.
The persevering spirit looks to set goals.
Not only has a priority, but there's a perseverance in a
finished work very quickly. There has to be obstacles.
What did Nehemiah face? I've already given you 4
Intrigue, innuendo, intimidation and infiltration by the enemy.
But those obstacles had to be overcome.
Those enemies, those obstacles had to be conquered.
And you see, even if it's the obstacle of fear, it has to be
overcome. We're to let go of our fears
because God is our refuge and strength, the very present help
and trouble. If it's a lack of vision, then
we've got to remember that the Bible says where there's no
vision, the people perish. And we've got to confess that
and say, Lord, I have no vision. I've lost it.
And I I want that vision restored.
If it's a lack of willingness, then pray Lord, help me to step
out in faith. If there's a weariness, and I've
no doubt that there was, you think of the daily perseverance
in the days of Nehemiah 1 stone on top of another.
The Bible tells us here in 52 days, on the 20 and 5th day of
the month, Elon, the wall was finished, the last stone was put
on. That speaks of dearly grind and
and you imagine people going to bed weary and then getting up
again the next morning and back at it again with a trial in one
hand and a spear in the other. That's the way they laboured.
See, 13 years had passed and they were saying maybe next
week, maybe next month, maybe next year.
But it was because of these obstacles, the rubbish, the
fear, the weariness, the, the, the, the lack of vision, the
lack of willingness, the, the lack of a leader.
These were all obstacles. They had to be overcome.
They had to be conquered. In that sense, you see a life of
faithful service. Folks, as I point this out to
you, it's not an easy path. There's not an immediate reward.
There's no freedom from trials and troubles.
There's no freedom from opposition.
It means continuing when the joy fades.
It means continuing when obedience to God is costing it.
It means continuing when even the outcome was unclear.
It it means continuing even when others leave.
As we step into the new year, we're going to step out on the
ground of a finished work because God already knows what
lies ahead. God already stands in our
future. And I believe God will finish
the work that he has begun here and begun 50 years ago because
he's got a plan. And we can entrust this year as
it closes and the new year to our faithful God.
Oh, the work will be hard, it'll be difficult.
There will be blood. There will be sweat and tears.
There will be opposition. Opposition will come from
unexpected places. But it's God that assigns the
work. It's God who sustains his
servants. It's God who will complete his
purposes. Our aim, I'm telling you now,
our objective has to be faithful, successful service.
Aim to be faithful and successful.
If you remember nothing else this morning, go out with those
two words. Aim to be faithful and
successful in your corner where God has put you, and in this
church that means praying when you don't feel like praying.
That means coming to the church or the House of God even when
you don't feel like it, because it's easier to stay away when
things are wrong. But when trials and troubles
come, the House of God is the best place for you to be.
These people trusted God 52 days, one day at a time and one
stone was set upon another until so the wall was complete.
I want to finish this morning with something else, not only
the priority of a finished work than the perseverance of a
finished work, but think of the picture of a finished work.
You see this wall that was completed It ties in to
something of the Lord Jesus said in John 17 and we read in verse
4, I have glorified thee in the earth.
I have finished the work which thou gave us me today.
The work of the Lord Jesus was completely different from
Nehemiah because he came to do a greater work, far greater than
building a wall. His work was the work of
securing eternal redemption. Remember what we read in the
book of Hebrews and Hebrews Chapter 9 and verse 12.
It says this neither by the blood of goats and calves, but
by His own blood. He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
It says in verse 24 of the same chapter, For Christ is not
entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the
figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in
the presence of God for us. Nor yet that He should offer
himself often, as the high Priest entereth into the holy
place every year with blood of others.
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of
the world, but now once in the end of the world, that He
appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and as
appointed unto man wants to die. But after this the judgement so
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them
that look for Him shall He appear the second time without
sin unto salvation. His work was successful, His
work was sacrificial, His work is sufficient, His work is
satisfying. He finished the work, came to
put away sin, so that God can make you a promise, and the
promise is this, and your sins and iniquities.
I remember no more. And when you think of Nehemiah
finishing the wall, let that wall project you to the hill
called Calvary. And you think about the Lord
Jesus coming to do a far greater work, the work of securing
eternal redemption for all who would trust him as Lord and
Saviour. Christ's work is finished.
He offers peace with God. He offers a full and free and
forever part He. He offers to adopt you into
God's family, give you the right that God is your heavenly
Father. He, he, He wants to indwell you
by His Spirit. He not only is God with us, but
He's God in us by his Spirit and in Christ.
We're secure. We're not trying to earn God's
favour. God's favour has already been
earned and satisfied through the life, the sinless life and the
atoning death of the Lord Jesus. That's why God could say, this
is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased, hear ye him.
Christ's work was sacrificial sufficient, but it was also
successful and it's also satisfying.
Whenever you finish at work, you look at the job, whatever that
job is, even ladies cleaning a room in the house, you look in
and you, you feel good, you smile.
You're, you're saying to yourself, well done.
Well see, that's the idea behind the finished work.
The Father would say to the Son, well done.
And the proof is the resurrection.
It is ascension to the Father's right hand, the picture of a
finished work. I trust and pray this morning as
we close this year that you'd think about the call to
persevering obedience. And you will aim to have this
priority, you will manifest this persevering spirit, and you will
rest your all on the finished work of Christ.