The Need For Walls

In ancient times walls were built almost exclusively for defense. As in the case of the Great Wall of China. Which is known as one of the seven wonders of the world. The Great Wall was built over a period of 2,300 years! It is the longest man-made structure in the history of the world and has a total distance that exceeds 13000 miles! The work began on the first section of the wall in the 7th century BC, nearly 3000 years ago! However, it was not completed until 1878! The wall was built as defense from Mongolians, which were their ruthless enemies.

On a much smaller scale there were similar walls around the city of Jerusalem. During the captivity these walls that surrounded the city were broken down and destroyed and thousands of Jews were taken captive. Please turn with me to Nehemiah 2:1-8 I'm going to read verses 1-8 in a moment. But first I want to give you a little background. Nehemiah was the king's cupbearer, but he was also an enslaved Jew who had been captured during that time. He was basically just a slave serving in the kingdom. So, what we're about to read could have meant serious consequences or cost him his life depending on how the king would respond to his request.

READ Nehemiah 2:1-8

So not only did Nehemiah ask this pagan king if he could go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls of defense around the city, but he also basically asked the king to pay for the supplies to do it! What a bold thing to do but it was God's plan for Nehemiah. Praise the Lord he acted upon God's leading. So, this morning I would like us to look at "The Need for Walls" and why they should be maintained, re-enforced, or even rebuilt if necessary.

We're going to look at steps Nehemiah took to accomplish this and the reasons that made it necessary to do the work of rebuilding the walls and then make an application on how that can relate to spiritual walls in our own life.

The first thing Nehemiah did was…

I. Recognized The Need

Word got to Nehemiah about the walls in Jerusalem from fellow Jews.

(Look back with me at Chapter 1:3) It says, "And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire."

Nehemiah now knew the walls and gates of Jerusalem lay in ruin

After hearing the need he had a desire to do something about it

He didn't wait to see if someone else would step up

He got busy and took matters into his own hands

B. In the same way the city of Jerusalem had physical walls, we too need to have

spiritual walls of protection.

**The Bible says in Proverbs 25:28 "He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls."

All of us have spiritual walls that need to be built up in our lives and maintained and sometimes strengthened or rebuilt.

Satan longs to destroy and tear them down. In fact, that is his desire and priority so he can make our Christian life ineffective.

He wants our spiritual walls in ruin so he can wreak havoc in our lives. They are spiritual walls of defense that we all need!!

**Remember Jesus's words to Simon Peter? Luke 22:31 “And the Lord said,

Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:” He would love to do that to every one of us…and he can, and will if we let our down our defenses! With our defenses down we are no match for Satan!

C. The first step in having our spiritual walls be what they need to be is

recognizing the need for them to be there in the first place, and then to build them and do the work according to God's plan.

Nehemiah could have been content in his job as cupbearer in the kingdom.

He could have just kept quiet and not spoke up and went about his business.

But that would've got the job done. Nehemiah had to act.

James 1:22 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

The second thing that Nehemiah did was…

II. Surveyed The Damage (Let's look at Vs 13-15)

13) "And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire."