Chapter II: Their Faith

This showed itself in three ways.

(1) In prayer.

Nehemiah was a man of prayer. When any trouble arose, his heart turned as if by an holy instinct to God, and so, when Tobiah mocked their efforts, Nehemiah gave no rough answer, but he turned his heart upwards and said, “Hear, O our God, for we are despised.” {52a} How much bitter strife would be avoided in the world if men acted like Nehemiah, and, instead of retorting, spread out their provocations before God.

But the conduct of the opponents soon turned from mockery to war, and there was a plan to attack the rising walls. But the attack was met just in the same way as the insult. In both cases he gave himself to prayer. I cannot imagine a better illustration of the praying believer than the words in verse 9, “Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night.” They heard of the conspiracy, and at once spread the intelligence before God; but, having done so, they did not consider that prayer superseded effort, but day and night they set their watch on the walls. Had they watched without praying, they would have been trusting to their own forethought; and had they prayed without watching, they would have tempted God to leave them. But they watched and they prayed, and they prayed and they watched, and so they acted in the spirit of the words in aftertimes spoken to us, “Watch and Pray.” {52b}

(2) Their faith showed itself also in the recognition of what God had done for them. Faith not only asks God’s help, but acknowledges it. It gives Him thanks for His action as well as asks Him to act; so when the danger was past we find Nehemiah ascribing it all to the good hand of God on his efforts. He did not say, “When we had defeated their plans,” but “When God had brought their counsel to nought.” {53}

(3) Faith looks forward to the future. When the workmen were all at their posts; when the builders laboured, every one having his sword girded by his side; when the trumpeter stood by the chief, ready at any moment to sound the alarm; when the voice of prayer had been heard day and night all along the line of the rising walls; when all had been done that man could do—then the heart rose high above all that man had done, and in calm, confident trust, Nehemiah assures the people, saying, “Our God shall fight for us.” He had made preparation, but he trusted to God for victory. He was at the head of a feeble people, but he was the servant of the Most High God. He knew that the battle was not to the strong, nor the race to the swift; so he rested his hope on the strong hand of his God, and in simple faith he trusted Him to give the victory.

THE JOY OF THE LORD

“By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we
stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but
we glory in tribulations also.”—ROM. v. 2, 3.

THE joy of the Lord is a subject that goes to the heart of many. Some are rejoicing in the Lord, while others are longing to be partakers of it; it is a gift after which their heart is yearning.

Let us consider the real foundation of true, solid, well-founded joy. In these two verses there is a description of the joy and its power. There is the joy, for “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God,” and there is the power of that joy, for it rises above the troubles of life, and we rejoice “even in tribulation.” There is, therefore, such a bright hope of the coming glory, that we may go on our way with a thankful heart, rejoicing in the Lord; and there is such a manifestation of the love of Christ in the soul by the power of the Holy Ghost, that the distress of tribulation is overpowered, and even in the midst of sorrow there may be an abiding joyfulness in Christ Jesus the Lord.

Observe the foundation of this joy, and see how it is the consequence of our sure standing in Christ Jesus. When we rejoice in hope of the glory of God, and rejoice even in tribulation, this joy is the consequence of a previous transaction, and the result of our occupying a new position. We have had access, or admission, and are now standing in His grace. It is the standing in that grace that is the foundation of the joy of hope. This leads us to the question, “What is the grace?”

The word “grace” has different meanings in Scripture. Sometimes it means the inward work of God the Holy Ghost in the soul, as when it says, “Grow in grace.” {55a} But this cannot be our standing-ground, for the simple reason that it is imperfect and variable. But this is not the only meaning of the word, or nearly so, for it is used for any great gift of love and mercy bestowed in God’s free favour on His people. We have to consider what is the free gift or favour into which we have had access, and which is now our standing-ground. This question the context must decide; and it seems to me impossible to study that context, without coming to the conclusion that the grace here referred to is that which must ever be the real resting place for those who are convinced of sin, a righteousness imputed in the free grace of God. {55b}

This, then, is the grace in which we stand, the grace of imputation, the gracious gift of a righteousness reckoned, counted, or imputed to us when we do not deserve it; the marvellous mercy through which we are accounted righteous, accepted as righteous, beloved as righteous, and finally saved as righteous, although we are not really so in fact, and although we are conscious in our own hearts of matter for the most profound humiliation before God. Who can wonder that we rejoice in hope when we are placed in mercy on such a standing-ground as that?

This, you observe, is a work _for_ us, and not _in_ us, and therefore never varies. The work _in_ us is perpetually changing. It is a progressive work, and its progress is sometimes much more rapid than at others. But the work _for_ us does not go up and down with the work _in_ us; it is unchangeable, like God Himself. The righteousness imputed is the righteousness of God, and therefore perfect and unchangeable. It changeth not for the simple reason that He changeth not, and therefore always, in cloud as well as sunshine, in dark days as well as bright, in the hour of tribulation as well as in the season of unmixed prosperity, in the times of deepest humiliation as well as in those of emotion and encouragement, the justified believer may rejoice in Him, and triumph in the God of his salvation. It is this that gives its security to hope, this that makes us sure of its never failing. If we were relying on all the varied changes of our own feelings, there might be joy one day and despair the next; but while we stand in the grace of imputed righteousness, our hope has a foundation that can never give way, and therefore we may accept the joy without a fear, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

What is the great principle within the soul which constitutes our standing in this grace?

To this question we shall find an answer in the words of St. Paul, “Thou standest by faith.” {56} And this is exactly what is taught us in this passage. In verse 1, we are taught that it is by faith that we are justified; and then, in verse 2, we learn that it is by faith that we have access into this grace wherein we stand. From first to last, therefore, it is a matter of faith. The whole secret of our standing, and of the joy that follows from it, is found in that one word “trust.” Trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your finished Sacrifice and your living Lord, and you stand on the rock. Let your trust rest on anything else, on your feelings, your thoughts, your experience, your intentions, or your religious efforts, and you will be no better than men endeavouring to walk steadily on the waves of the sea. But trust Christ _as_ you are, _where_ you are, and that without putting even your own trust between you and Him, and you may go on your way rejoicing in Him, and need never cease to give thanks for a foundation so solid and a grace so free.

THE WORK OF THE LORD

“Be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the
Lord.”—1 COR. xv. 58.

WE have lately studied “the joy of the Lord,” and now I am anxious that our thoughts should be turned to another subject, which is much more intimately connected with it than many seem to suppose, that is, the work of the Lord. The joy of the Lord imparts strength for service, and the service of the Lord increases joy. There is action and reaction between the two.

WHAT IS MEANT BY THE WORK OF THE LORD?

It is _work_—work with all the self-denial that accompanies steady work.

It is work _for_ the Lord. When we say that a father works for his family, or a servant for his master, it does not mean that such an one simply goes about his own business, but it does mean that he has a particular person in view, and that he is working for him. We are such poor, frail creatures that there is a constant tendency to admit bye motives in our work. I know how hard it is to preserve a single eye to the glory of God. One’s own reputation and the great pleasure of one’s own success have a constant tendency to introduce false motives. What we want is to lose sight of self altogether, and to remember that if we are doing the work _of_ the Lord, we are doing it _for_ the Lord.

It is work _from_ the Lord. It is the work to which the Lord has appointed each of us. When God called Barnabus and Paul, He said, “Separate them for the work whereunto I have called them.” {59a} Now we are not called to the Apostleship, but I believe there is not an individual amongst us who is not called by God to a certain work in His service. The Church of God is said to be “compacted by that which every joint supplieth.” {59b} There is not, therefore, a joint in the whole body that is not to supply something. All who are in Christ Jesus are the children of God, and all are called to work in His service, the strong man in the fulness of his strength, or the suffering invalid laid low with broken health.

This, then, being the character of the work of the Lord, let us turn to the encouragement which God has given, and the root from which it springs.

THE ENCOURAGEMENT.

There are some things in our Christian life which we think, some which we hope, and some which we know. We know some, for they are assured to us in God’s word, and we are fully persuaded that His word is true. Now here is one of the things we know, know as a matter of certainty without the possibility of doubt. We know that our labour is not in vain in the Lord. It may often appear to us exceedingly feeble and defective: we may be ashamed and humbled at its multiplied shortcomings: we may look back upon it honeycombed, as it were, by mistakes: we may be conscious that we have left undone those things that we ought to have done, and we may be painfully aware that nothing has been done as it ought to have been done for God, but still we are assured that it will not be in vain. When Samuel was but a child, “the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground,” {60a} and we may be sure that He will not let one word spoken in His name fall to the ground now. If the Lord is with you, no one thing that you ever do for Him will be in vain. You may not see the fruit of it, or if you do it may be after years of waiting, but the Lord knows all about it. He sees exactly what you are doing, or saying, or giving, or praying, and the book of remembrance is written before Him. You yourself may be one of God’s hidden ones, and in the day when He makes up His jewels, {60b} you may meet then with others, hidden like yourself, to whom your labour, however feeble, has been blessed in His mercy. Cleave, then, to the work of the Lord without wavering. Let no discouragements dishearten you, hold steadily on your way, faint yet pursuing, being perfectly assured that what God has promised He is able also to perform, and that even your poor service will not be in vain in the Lord.

THE ROOT FROM WHICH ALL SUCH WORK MUST SPRING.

It is not all kinds of labour to which the promise is attached, for there is a great deal of labour that is altogether in vain. “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.” {60c} And the distinction is very clearly taught us here, for the work here spoken of is a labour “in the Lord.” It teaches how work is the consequence of union; that we do not do the work of the Lord in order that by doing it we may attain to union, but that the union comes first and the work of the Lord follows as its result. There will be no fruit on the branch if there is not first a union with the vine. There is no hope, therefore, of any man winning to himself a union with Christ by any amount of painstaking in work. If your heart is yearning for that union, you must accept it as a free gift because Christ Jesus, the Son of God, has redeemed you by His own most precious blood, and you must do so just as you are, without waiting for even one more effort in His service. You must be “in the Lord” before you can “labour in the Lord,” and that union must be the free gift of His unmerited grace. You must be created in Him unto good works before you will do anything for His glory. {61}

CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE IN THE CONFIRMATION OF FAITH

“Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings
will I rejoice.”—PSA. lxiii. 7.