Nehemiah 4:2 (ESV) “2 …Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?"
This was a taunt of the enemy as Nehemiah and the people of Jerusalem attempted to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. I will not go into all of the history here because you can download the messages and the notes on the series we are currently doing on the book of Nehemiah. I will cut right through the fat! Bottom line…the enemy of our souls will prey on our weaknesses. Most of us have bad pasts, wounds, insecurities and are driven by fear; we are prime targets for the ‘accuser of the brethren.’
Satan is God’s permanent enemy and by default he is every believer’s enemy. One of the main weapons he uses is accusation and condemnation. These weapons are so effective because most of the time the evidence he brings up against us is true and very condemning. So what do we do? What is our defense? When the enemy of our soul and our own consciences condemn us, where can we flee to receive grace. Let’s look at this in layers.
First, we must understand the gospel and the work of our great advocate Jesus. I will put some Scriptures here for us to marinate in…
Colossians 1:13-14 (ESV) 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 2:13-15 (ESV) 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Revelation 12:10 (ESV) 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
1 John 3:8 (ESV) 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
John 10:10 (ESV) 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Romans 8:1-2 (ESV) 1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
From these Scriptures we can see many promises for us as believers: deliverance from the domain of darkness; redemption of sins; transference into God’s kingdom (sentenced to life not death); made alive in our union with Jesus; forgiven and acquitted of all trespasses (past, present, future); legally declared righteous by God himself; authority over the enemy because our great King has knocked Satan’s teeth out; the accuser of the brethren is thrown down by Jesus, Jesus has destroyed (rendered powerless) the works of the devil and given us life…new abundant life; no condemnation because the Holy Spirit has set us free and sealed us for eternity. In the words of POD…”is that all you got…I’ll take your best shot!”
We can confidently stand upon these promises, not based upon any of our merit, but only the merit of Jesus Christ!
Second, we have two legal advocates who speak on our behalf and intercede for us when it comes to the accusations of the enemy of our soul…Jesus and the Holy Spirit…
1 John 2:1 (ESV) 1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
John 14:16 (ESV) 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
Romans 8:26-28 (ESV) 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
The Greek word for advocate in 1John 2:1 and Helper in John 14:16 was used in legal language for an advocate for the defense, and more generally for one called upon for help.
This means that we have Jesus who resides in Heaven interceding for us as well as the Holy Spirit who resides in us interceding for us. Good luck messing this whole thing up!
Third, we are free from God’s wrath! Jesus substituted Himself on our behalf.
Romans 5:9-10 (ESV) 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
1 John 2:2 (ESV) 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 4:10 (ESV) 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Simply put…Jesus while he endured hostility, abuse, accusation, etc on the cross, hung condemned between Heaven and earth. Both God and man had condemned him to death. 1 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that Jesus became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. In becoming sin and absorbing all of our sin by substituting Himself for us, He therefore drank the ‘cup of wrath’ from God in heaven. He received the just punishment for sin…DEATH!
With this substitution comes a divine exchange. When we put our trust and faith in the person of Jesus for our salvation (His death, burial and resurrection) we become the righteousness of God. What does that mean? Simply, Adam’s sin was charged or imputed to us, we have our own sin we commit that is charged to us, when we believe upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, our sin (and Adam’s sin) is charged to Jesus or imputed to Jesus and Jesus perfect righteousness is charged to us or imputed to us. WOW! This means that Christ’s perfection is charged to us and in God’s eyes…He declares us righteous and saved!
This is the good news of the Gospel. We are exempt from God’s wrath in regard to sin because our legal record has been expunged by Jesus perfect righteousness (while living) and his perfect death!
I could keep going, but alas I must stop. There is so much more! To answer the enemy of Nehemiah in regard to his question “ …Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?" YES! Burned stones can be revived by the resurrected life of Jesus Christ. Just as Nehemiah used these charred stones to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, so does Christ revive burned stones in order to build His kingdom and redeem the culture. Remember, condemnation means ‘unfit for use.’ I think you can see from the Scriptures above that all believers no matter what their past and no matter what their current state are all declared ‘fit for use’ by God himself through the work of His Son Jesus Christ! We love you and desire for God to shower you with this revelation that you are a living stone!
1 Peter 2:4-5 (ESV) 4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
