A Life of Commitment

Well, thank you again, Mr. McNamee. Good afternoon again once again. Or, good afternoon once again, everyone. There's the proper order and structure of that sentence. I never took sentence diagramming in school. That was something they'd outlawed by the time I got through. A lot of you guys did sentence diagramming throughout school.

That was something that they didn't really do a whole lot of when I was there. I came across this story a few years back. I've got a gentleman by the name of Captain John Ferrier. Some of you might be familiar with John Ferrier's story. Others of you may not have heard it before. I think after we're done talking about it, though, it is an interesting story. It is one that I hope will help to make my point today in the importance of a life of commitment. It was a little after 9 o'clock in the morning on June 7, 1958.

Captain John Ferrier was piloting his F-86 Sabre in a tight formation over Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Now, some of you are familiar with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Any of you that have lived in Ohio near the Cincinnati area, it's just north of Cincinnati, up outside of Dayton. In fact, those that have been to ABC, if you went on the ABC trip to the Air Museum, you essentially went to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

We drove by. I love air museums. I love airplanes. I took my wife, actually, on her honeymoon to an air museum. You can ask her about it sometime. The real hit. She went around and said, look, another plane.

It's not a plane, it's a measurement. It's a plane. It's got wings and a propeller. Moral of the story, love airplanes, love that kind of stuff. But it's got one of the largest air museums in the country. It's just incredible there. I'd love to go and see it at some point in time. We went past it on our way to Columbus when we were out there last, but didn't have a chance to stop. But it was outside of Dayton, Ohio, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and he was accompanied by three other men.

So there are four of these planes flying in quite a tight formation. And they were all members of the National Guard Minutemen Aerial Acrobatics Squadron. So these are guys that are like the Blue Angels, that are like these other flight groups from around the world. That their job is like precision aerospace flight, right? And it was a routine that these guys had done dozens and dozens and hundreds of times before. It was nothing new.

It was nothing crazy. In fact, they'd done this before and had delighted crowds all over the country. What it consisted of were the four of them flying in a diamond pattern, very tight to one another, and coming straight down out of the sky toward the ground. And then just when they get close to the ground, whip back on that yoke, and just right over the top of everybody's heads. And you know, if you've ever been out somewhere where there's airplanes that fly quite low like that, we used to have a place in Spokane where you could go sit, and the planes would land over your head at the airport in Spokane.

I know they're not close enough to touch, but it sure feels like it sometimes. You could just reach up there and touch the bottom of that fuselage as it goes by. But they pulled up, they raced low across these green fields there in Ohio, roaring towards the crowd. They flip on the smoke, and you know, they tear across the crowd, four lines of smoke going just as quick as they could go by. And then right at a predetermined time, when the colonel that was kind of in charge of this squadron gave the command to turn up, where they went back on this yoke and go from horizontal to completely vertical straight.

And now they've drawn this line, and they're so tight together, they're so close together, that from afar, it looks like one line, even though it's four, that are so close together. So everybody at the Air Force Base is watching this plane go up and drawing this almost perfectly straight white smoke line in the sky as they get up top. And then the fun part happens. They reach a certain point, and everybody peels off to the compass points. And their smoke goes with them, and they loop around, and they draw this giant flower in the sky, essentially.

Big flower petals in the sky. And they've done it before, tons of times before. Nothing different this time around. They broke formation, they rolled outward in four different directions, and the crowd started to see the image that they were creating. Each jet kind of traced this curved petal as it came around the side. But as the colonel in charge reached the end of his flower and started to cut back, that finished it, he noticed out across the sky that Captain Ferrier was in trouble.

And Captain Ferrier's plane is just spiraling through the sky. Completely and totally spiraling through the sky, like a drill bit. And, you know, the smoke is kind of on and off as he's fighting with the yoke, because the controls for the smoke are there on the yoke. And the plane is heading straight for the small town of Fairbourn, which is right on the edge of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

There's a little town right there. And the crowd below sees this plane completely out of control, sees where it's headed. I mean, it didn't take much to put two and two together, that they were about to witness something just horrific. And so Colonel Williams, I don't know what he was planning on doing, but he whipped his plane around and gave chase. I don't know if he was planning on trying to go, and somehow I don't even know what he was trying to do.

He probably doesn't know what he was trying to do when he thinks back on it. But he chased him down, and he's calling over the radio, Johnny, bail out. Johnny, bail out. Eject, eject. And at that point, he still had tons of time.

He could have bailed out of the plane, no problem at that point. Twice more over the radio, the Colonel issued the command for him to eject, and each time that he issued the command, he saw a little blip of smoke. And what he realized was that he was using both hands to try to keep control of his plane and couldn't reach up for the radio to be able to say, yeah, I copy your response. And so the smoke was his way of saying acknowledged, but essentially the answer that he was giving him was no.

Kevin Farrier didn't eject. The plane smashed into the ground, equidistant from four houses and a giant ball of flame. Kevin Farrier was killed instantly. Farrier's friend, Major Wind Coomer, who was flying with him on that day, was the first person to land his plane, jumped in a car, raced to the crash site, and ultimately, when he arrived, they'd known each other for some time, him and Wind Coomer. They flew together in a guard. They'd flown commercially with one another at United Airlines, and they'd actually served a combat tour together in Korea.

And so he's there. He's the first person on site, you know, from the crew. And he said when he arrived, he found a neighborhood that was just stunned. He stood next to this smoking crater in the midst of this neighborhood, you know, right in the middle of these four houses. And a steady stream of people were coming out of the neighborhood and offering their condolences to Major Coomer. One man, who was an elderly gentleman, told him, he said, a bunch of us were standing together watching the show when he started to roll.

He said the plane was heading right for us. Like, right for us. And he said there was even a second where he was coming in where I felt like I looked up and we caught one another's eyes. And he said, and then all of a sudden he pulled back on that yoke went right up over the top of us and put it into the ground behind us. So Major Coomer recalls that the man's tears began to well up in his eyes. And the man told him, he said, John Ferrier gave his life so that we could live.

And as Ferrier's teammates started to piece together his final moments, they realized, had he ejected from that plane at the time when he was giving that command to eject, that plane would have went right into the neighborhood, into those houses, and there would have been multiple more people who died as a result of that tragic accident.

In his final moments, Captain Ferrier controlled the plane to the place where it would cause the least amount of damage, even though it cost him his own life. You think about it, it's a bold and it's a courageous last act.

In the aftermath of the crash, a number of people offered their condolences to his family, writing letters and making phone calls. The Governor, Steve McNichols, at the time said, I know you and your children can always be proud, as we are, of the fact that in his last moments, he used his skill and his concern for humanity in protecting others from this terrible mishap. Brigadier General Donald Hardy wrote, eyewitnesses' reports indicate that the plane was headed directly for people and houses in the area, and that a definite attempt was made by your husband to miss these.

And he wrote, may you find comfort in the fact that his attempt was successful. A woman in one of the houses near the crash site wrote, My prayer was, dear God, please let there be a parachute. That prayer was unanswered as I saw a burst of flame come up behind the trees. Said this was a brave man who preferred to guide his plane into an open space away from his fellow man.

May this bring increasing comfort to you as time passes. Posthumously, he was awarded dozens of awards to the distinguished flying cross by the United States government, who recognized him for having sacrificed his life to save scores of others. At that time, in Colorado, that funeral procession was the largest the state had ever seen. More people came out to honor him than they could recall of anyone who had died prior. He was remembered as a memorial as a man of excellent character and morality. And he was a man who had for many years attended a camp called Camp Canacook in Missouri.

And while he was at Camp Canacook, he came into contact with a man by the name of Bill Lance. Bill Lance was a coach, and Bill Lance had a profound impact on John. In fact, shortly after the crash, John's wife, Tully, wrote Bill Lance the following letter. She said, Coach, I went through his billfold last night, and I found the old worn-out card that he always carried.

It simply had two words written on it. It said, I'm third. He told me once that he got that from you, that you had stressed it in one of your camp sermons. Anyway, he may have had a few faults, but they were few and minor. But he followed that creed to the T, that he was third. And he certainly followed it to the very end. God is first, the other fellow second, and I'm third. And not just on the day he died, she said, but long before that, for as long as I've known him, he's followed that.

I'm going to carry that same card with me from now on and see if it won't serve me as a reminder. I shouldn't need it, but I'm sure I do as I have many more faults than he. Let's turn over the book of Matthew real quick as we begin to build toward our point here today. Matthew 22, and we'll pick it up in verses 36 and 39, or through 39. Matthew 22, 36 through 39. Jesus Christ was asked at that time to state the greatest commandment in all of the law.

What would it be? What is the greatest commandment in all of the law? In his response, we're familiar with. Again, Matthew 22, 36 through 39. It says, teacher, what is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, verse 37, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. And so, ultimately, Christ told those who were gathered there at that time essentially what Captain John Ferrier understood. God first, others second, and then he came in at a distant third. Right? John Ferrier had a proper perspective, and he made, frankly, he made an appropriate choice in the situation that he was dealing with at that time, even though it cost him his life.

He could have ejected earlier. He could have popped himself right. I mean, when you're spinning, who knows which direction you're going to eject at, how fast your spin is. But he could have popped out. He could have drifted to the ground in that parachute as that jet slammed into the houses on the outskirts of Fairbourn. But innocent people would have died. He was committed to this idea, this concept, that God came first, other people came second, and he was third. He was committed to it.

He came to an understanding, and he lived his life in such a way that when it came down to it at the end, the lives of those people in those homes were more important than his own. And he knew, without a shadow of a doubt at that point in time in his life, that that option, the only option he really had, was to use his final moments to guide that plane where it wouldn't harm anyone else, even though it meant his own life.

Brethren, what are you committed to? What are you committed to? What in your life do you carry that level of commitment to, that you would be willing to die in order to see it through? And I think it's easy to answer that question sometimes. You take a look at it and you go, well, I mean, obviously, I feel strong enough in my faith that I would die for my faith. Let me ask you the opposite of that question. It's a similar question, but it's converse-side. What is something that you are willing to live for with every fiber of your being? Ask the converse of that question. What are you willing to live for with every fiber of your being? When you look at the definition of commitment, Merriam-Webster states, it's the state or instance of being obligated or emotionally impelled, meaning that you are driven forward by something.

We might define it slightly differently. We might say that commitment is maintaining our focus and our urge to follow through on something, even when it gets tough, especially when it gets tough, and when it becomes something that becomes difficult to follow through on. Commitment is seeing something through to the end, regardless of the difficulty.

The title of the second split sermon message today is, A Life of Commitment. I'd like to examine three specific examples in Scripture to get some ideas of commitment as a character trait of individuals from the pages of our Bible, in order to understand for us the importance of our commitment as disciples of Jesus Christ.

At the time that we have left, I'd like to look at these three examples and demonstrate these individuals throughout Scripture and the events of their lives.

The first one we're going to start with, if you turn over to Daniel 3, is Hannah and I and Michelle and Azariah.

Daniel 3 will go ahead and pick up the account of these three young men who had been carried captive from Babylon in the first wave.

Nebuchadnezzar and his armies and whomever came in and grabbed and ran and took people with them.

As we know, went in that first wave, as far as we can tell, Hannah and I and Michelle and Azariah.

We'll pick the account up in Daniel 3 and verse 1 to establish the context of this particular scenario that Daniel and his friends find themselves in shortly before the ultimate fall of Jerusalem.

Daniel 3, and we'll pick it up in verse 1, Nebuchadnezzar the king, says, made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its width 6 cubits. I have a little marginal reference in my Bible just to give you some frame of reference on that. If you use the 18-inch cubit, if you use the 18-inch cubit, that is a 90-foot-high image.

90 feet high and 9 feet wide, that image, out in the midst of the plains of Dura.

He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon, and King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to gather together the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So you have a moment where you're going, you know, Nebuchadnezzar sent out this invitation, right? Please come and join me at the dedication of this image, and while you're at it, we're going to play some music and you're going to go ahead and worship it. It's an invitation, but you better be there. Please be there. Thank you.

But we see that he's calling together these satraps, these administrators, these governors. These are folks that are governmental officials that he's calling together at this point in time. So you might think to yourself, wait a minute, well, how do these three, you know, Jewish kids factor into the story? Well, if you jump back up to Daniel 2, verse 49, right after Daniel interpreted the vision for Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel was promoted, Daniel petitioned the king, verse 49, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, their Babylonian names for Hananiah, Meshael, and Azariah. He set them over the affairs of the province of Babylon, but Daniel sat in the gate of the king. So they became officials in the Babylonian government. And so this invitation was also sent to them. And so it says, they were to come to the dedication, back down in verse 2 of Daniel 3, to come to the dedication of the image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So the satraps, the administrators, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the officials gathered together for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Verse 4, then a herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages. So this was a mixed multitude of people. This was not just Babylonians and the Jews that they'd taken captive. They did this to other nations, too. You know, the Jews were one of a few nations that they had done this to, and they had pulled people from those places and installed their own governors in a variety of countries throughout that part of the world. It says that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, the harp, the lyre, and the saltry, In symphony with all kinds of music you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Now, that just seems a little random, you know, like you're coming up with reasons and ways to kill people. It's like, eh, we're going to throw him in a furnace.

I think it's because I think he's used this before, personally. I think Nebuchadnezzar had used this system and this process before to take people out. This wasn't something he just invented for Han and I and Michelle and Azariah. You know, in fact, he says, now this time he did seven times hotter, we see later down. I think he's done this before. So at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, harp, and lyre, and symphony with all kinds of music, all the people, nations and languages, fell down and worshiped the gold image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So we see this decree that Nebuchadnezzar has put out. It kind of backs these gentlemen into a corner. We see that, again, they have been placed in these administrative positions throughout the Kingdom of Babylon. And these three men were devout Jews. These men were devout worshipers of the God of Israel, the God of Judah. And they refused to bow to the idol that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. They weren't going to do it.

Music was played. The expectation was everyone, regardless of their nationality, language, etc., were to fall down and worship. But Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were committed to their relationship with God. They believed in the God of Israel and the God of Judah. They did not compromise. Instead, they chose to do what was right.

Now, what do we see happen here in verse 8? There's a group of Babylonians, Chaldeans, who came forward and accused the Jews. Very good possibility. There's all sorts of political jealousies and intrigues involved in this process. But they're upset, so they decide they're going to come forward and take these guys down a peg or two.

They spoke and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, O King, live forever. Buttering him up real good to start and get on his good side. You, O King, have made a decree that everyone who hears this sound of the horn flute, harp, lyre, and sultry, and symphony, with all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the gold image. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Reminding him again of what he said.

There are certain, verse 12, Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, these men, O King, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up. So we see verse 13, Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, so they brought these men before the king. This is not mild annoyance. This is like spittle flying from the mouth angry.

He is furious, and he is screaming, and he is shouting, and he is telling people, you dragged them in here right now, they're going in the furnace, but he is upset, extremely upset. So they bring these men before the king, Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? Now, if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, harp, lyre, and sultry, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made good.

Good, he says. But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you from my hands? He gives them another chance. He gives them an opportunity to change their mind.

He gives them a chance to see that fiery furnace, perhaps see the guys who were steamboat Willie and the thing by throwing coal in there and getting it all fired up and getting it ready to go. He gives them a chance to change their mind. Their response in verse 16 is incredible, honestly.

It's incredible. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, Oh Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to even answer you in this matter. We have no need to answer you. Our mind is made up. We're not going to renege on this. We're not going to compromise on this particular thing. We are committed to our God. We are committed to worshiping our God, and we will not fall down before yours. He says, if that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O King.

But if not, verse 18, let it be known to you, O King, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up. You know, their response is pretty incredible. They tell Him, look, our God can save us. He's able to save us. And He will ultimately deliver us from your hand one way or the other. He's either going to miraculously save us, or we're dead.

But either way, you're not our problem anymore. Essentially. They had a faith and they had a trust in God that was really unparalleled, but they accounted for the possibility that God might choose not to save them. That it may not necessarily be His will at that time to deliver them in the way that they thought they would be delivered.

But the point they wanted Nebuchadnezzar to know was this, that if He doesn't, let it be known that we did not bow. That if He chooses not to deliver us, let it be known that we did not and will not bow. You know, when you think about commitment like this, people aren't willing to die for things they don't believe in. Like we've mentioned that before. But if you think about it, if you don't have a strong faith in something, if you don't have a strong belief in something, are you willing to put your life on the line for that thing?

Something you kind of only sort of believe in. Are you willing to die for that? Most people aren't. Most people are not willing to die for something they only kind of sort of believe in. Which, frankly, is one of the proofs of Scripture. It's one of the proofs to the veracity of Scripture. The disciples were willing to die for what they believed in. Like, no problem! Now, whatever! Turn me upside down and crucify me if you're gonna. I mean, it is what it is.

People don't do that. People don't do that. That's not normal human behavior. Unless they truly believe in what it is that they're doing. These men, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, were committed. We know the rest of the story. We know that Nebuchadnezzar absolutely enraged by their insolence. How dare they spade this in front of me! Take that furnace and make it seven times hotter than it's ever been before. Five more guys steam but Willie and Cole into this thing.

Throwing it in there, burning this thing, getting it really good and hot. We know that he goes to throw the men in there and the two guards that open the door to throw them in die from the heat of the furnace as they throw them in. But yet, they are untouched. In fact, as he's watching, there's a fourth being in there with him. He's hanging out in the sauna.

Ultimately, they come out of the furnace alive. They survive it. And Nebuchadnezzar glorifies God and then promoted them. He promoted them, ultimately. Like, oh, I wasn't able to kill you. Here, you can be in charge of more stuff. That's probably not exactly how it went, but, you know, it's the right idea. But he glorified God. He said, you know, regular people can't do what you just did. Not to mention there was a fourth being in there with you that I can't explain. So there's something going on here that I don't fully understand. And Nebuchadnezzar said, you know, we will glorify God in this. You know, sometimes our commitment, whatever again that commitment may be, sometimes it requires us to be willing to stand up for our beliefs and accept the consequences of whatever might come from that. And the lessons of Han and I, and Michelle and Azariah is that God, when we do that, God will be with us one way or the other. And honestly, it may not work out the way that we think it's going to. That doesn't mean God is not with us. That doesn't mean He's not right there with us in the process. But sometimes we have to stand up for what we believe in and accept the consequences which come from that. The second example I'd like to take a look at today is the example of Nehemiah. You'd flip forward in time, not so much in your Bible, but flip forward in time. Nehemiah is tucked in a weird little place. It's right before the book of Esther. It always feels like it should be tucked back in the minor prophet somewhere. But it's not. Right after Ezra. In fact, Ezra and Nehemiah were written as a duplicate or a double book there as a history at the time. But Nehemiah—we'll go ahead and turn to the beginning here. Nehemiah was another person, another biblical character, of great commitment. And his story is at a time just a few years—a few decades or so after the time of Daniel—after the Babylonians now are no longer in charge. Nebuchadnezzar saw that image and that vision that he had Daniel come and interpret for him. And there was Nebuchadnezzar, who was the head of gold, and then there was his chest and arms of silver. Well, they're in charge now. The Medo-Persian Empire went through and, after the handwriting on the wall, conquered the Babylonians.

And eventually, the 70 years that God had purpose for his people was fulfilled. And there began to be a slight trickle away from the area of Babylon back toward Jerusalem. This particular account tells us that it occurs in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes I. And we know that Nehemiah was serving as a cup-bearer to the king. And the story is set up in such a way that one of his kinsmen came from Judah. And, as you might imagine, you've been captive, you've been gone, you haven't been home. And he says, tell me about Judah! Tell me about Jerusalem! How is everything? And the guy says, not good. Not good. There's a famine. You know, people are struggling for food. They're struggling with the enemies that are surrounding them. And then he says, and the walls are broken down and the gates have been burned.

And that just absolutely cut Nehemiah deep. I cut him deep. And so when he heard these things, he was cut to the heart, and he mourned, and he fasted, and he prayed. And he hoped that God would fear and that he would relent. And as often happens in Scripture, God's working in the background. And, you know, Nehemiah wasn't quite sure how he was working. But you'll see in a minute that, you know, he had an opportunity to be the vessel with which God was operating, and the vessel with which God was working.

So Nehemiah, again, he's mourning, he's fasting, he's praying to God. And a few months later, this wasn't immediate, a few months later, in fact it says it was the month of Chislev in the first account here, when he was talking to the man from Judah, and then now we're back in Nice. It's a few months later here that this has occurred. He was serving the king, and he looked a little sad.

That might be an understatement. But he looked sad enough, which it appears was uncommon for Nehemiah. The king's like, why are you sad? Why is your countenance sad? You're not sick. This is something else. And so we'll pick up the story in Nehemiah 2 and verse 3. Again, leading in here from verse 2, Therefore the king said to me, Why is your face sad, since you're not sick?

This is nothing but sorrow of heart. And so I became dreadfully afraid. Here you are talking to the king. And I said to the king, May the king live forever. And then he says, Okay, you might imagine, Why shouldn't my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my father's tombs, lies waste and its gates are burned with fire? Got it out. Got it set. Got it out there. Got it taken care of. And then the king said to me, What do you request? That may have surprised Nehemiah. In fact, I think it did, based on his next statement.

So he said he prayed to the God of heaven. In that short moment, he took a moment to pray, because here was an opportunity now that he had. He had been praying for all this time for a solution. And now it appears that Nehemiah might be part of that solution. And so he prays to God. The king asks, What do you want from me? He prays to God. And he says to the king, If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's tombs, that I may rebuild it.

That's a big ask. That is a really big ask. Because Jerusalem, at that point in time, before this was a power. It was a world power. It was a kingdom that made war on its enemies and defeated its enemies. And was the God of Israel and the God of Judah were behind him, or behind it. And the king says to him, the queen also sitting beside him, How long will your journey be? How long will you be gone?

And when will you return? And so it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time. So he tells him, Alright, here's the plan here. The king was receptive to the request. He agreed to let him go. And Nehemiah was smart because he asked him for further letters that basically said, Yes, I, King, are deserters. These say that Nehemiah can do this.

Can you imagine? Here comes this random Jewish guy rolling into Jerusalem, going, Hey, King says I can rebuild the wall. He, right, right. Where's your paperwork? Right. So he managed to ask for further letters that would give to the Persian governors to be able to have safe passage and get timber and requisitions and things. But Nehemiah, as this process and this project unfolded, faced an incredible number of obstacles. This was a tough, tough job that he ended up doing. There was a gentleman named Stanblat. He had some cronies named Tobiah and Geshim who kind of, you know, were popping up all over the place and causing problems.

And at first, you know, they kind of were along the lines of what Mr. Gersoll was talking about with Noah. They'd stand in the back and just heckle him. Oh, what are you building the wall? Yeah, it's going to really hold up.

I mean, Cat walks across the top of that and it's going to tip over. You know, they're just ridiculing these guys up front, trying to discredit them and discourage them.

Their tactics changed as they started to notice that the men were getting some success. In fact, not just success, they were completing some substantial sections of the wall. They were installing some gates, and they actually looked like they were going to be successful.

Nehemiah 4, in verse 7, we see that their tactics changed significantly. It says, now, as it happened, when Stanblat, Tobiah, the Arabs, and the Ammonites, the Ashdodites, the all-enemies of Judah at that point in time, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry. You know, they finally had defeated this city. They had finally, through the Babylonians showing up and destroying it, were rid of Judah. All of them, verse 8, conspired to come together and to attack Jerusalem and to create confusion. Nevertheless, we made our prayer to our God, and because of them, we set a watch against them day and night.

Verse 11, in our adversary said, they will neither know nor see anything till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease. They're planning on dropping in on these guys in the midst of the workday, killing the workers and stopping this once and for all. Verse 12, so it was when the Jews who dwelt near them came that they told us ten times, look, they're prepping, they're getting ready, they're coming in here. From whatever place you turn, they will be upon us. So Nehemiah, he moves into attack mode, so to speak. He stations armed men on the walls to protect the city, to protect the workers.

And ultimately, the attack didn't materialize. But from that point forward, Nehemiah had armed men present while the men worked. He had people there to protect the workers as they were going. It wasn't just that, it wasn't just attacks. He dealt with famines. He dealt with oppressions from the nobles. He dealt with an attempt on his life. When this didn't work, they decided, we'll just kill Nehemiah. So if we kill Nehemiah, then the work will stop, because he's kind of in charge of the whole thing. We'll just take him out. Well, that didn't materialize either.

In 52 days, these men built a wall around Jerusalem. 52 days. That is an incredible amount of work to complete in such a short period of time. 52 days to complete a wall around the city while being heckled, while being harassed, while being...all these things, right? And they managed to still pull it off. It's incredible. I mean, clearly God was working with them and with them. So the wall is completed. The captives begin to return. The city itself wasn't actually complete at that point. The wall was. The houses still needed to be rebuilt.

And so as people started to trickle back, they began to rebuild. But that's not the end of the story, because in addition to rebuilding a physical wall around Jerusalem, Nehemiah and Ezra were working too to build a spiritual wall around Jerusalem and around its people. They taught and they reformed the people. They taught them the importance of doing what God had instructed and not continuing to keep wrath on Jerusalem by not following God's instructions, by doing the things that had brought judgment on Judah before.

So Nehemiah challenged their complacency, challenged their procrastination. He encouraged them to turn to God. He encouraged them to turn away from their own desires and their own understanding. He encouraged them to sanctify the Sabbath, to set themselves apart from the mixed multitude. In fact, during that time, they removed the mixed multitude from that area because they were a bad influence. They were dragging them away into these things that had caused issues before. He instructed them not to take foreign wives. He instructed them to keep the law and to establish and restore the holiness of the Jewish people.

Nehemiah was committed to seeing this vision through. How do you tell? Because he didn't let any of this stuff stop him. It is so easy for us as humans to run up against a slight bit of pushback and go, Oh, forget it! No, it doesn't matter. It's too hard. Clearly not something that's supposed to happen.

But in Nehemiah's situation, it didn't care that they were ridiculing him. It didn't matter they threatened his life. It didn't matter that the people themselves were resistant and pushed back. He had a job to do. And Nehemiah was committed to that project, and he was committed to seeing Jerusalem thrive again. He persevered against those challenges and successfully completed his mission for a time.

The end of the story ends as the story often ends in Israel, with a descent back towards the very things which caused their downfall. In fact, I think it's very possible that Nehemiah lived long enough to watch some of his hard work slip away. To watch some of his hard work just slip away, to watch Israel return to the very things that had caused them to go and be destroyed in the first place. Much of the story of Nehemiah is hopeful. You read the first part and you're like, it's really happening.

The wall is getting rebuilt, the city is being restored, the captives are returning, and it's a hopeful story. They read the law, they found the law, they kept the feast, and done that in a long time. This is an incredible hopeful story. But by the end of that story, Nehemiah is pulling people around by their beards and striking them to get them to follow God.

By the end of that story. The book ends with Nehemiah's words, Remember me, oh my God, for good. Remember what I've done. Remember me that I tried. I made the effort. You ever been so committed to something you wanted to rip someone else's beard out? I'm joking a little, but I mean, that's the level of commitment and zeal that he had, was you are not going to ruin this. You're not going to ruin this. That level of zeal that Nehemiah had is palpable in these passages.

Commitment requires zeal. It requires a strong desire to see it through and to finish what you started. Lastly, I'd like to take a moment today to examine the example of the Apostle Paul. There's a lot of places where the Apostle Paul's example is recorded in Scripture. I mean, he was a prolific writer. He was a man who wrote a good portion of the New Testament that is still kept for us today.

But one of the things I want to take a look at today is what is recorded in Acts 20 and 21. So if you turn over there to Acts 20 and 21, we'll examine this particular situation. Acts 20. And we'll kind of pick this up in and around verse 13. We're just going to skim through this first little bit of stuff. So if you want to pick it up in 13 and kind of skim through the first few Scriptures here, we'll kind of set the stage.

We'll give us the context as to what's exactly going on here. You know, we can take a look in the life of the Apostle Paul. We could sit and focus on the number of beatings, you know, Mr. Griswold brought out, the number of beatings that he experienced, the number of stripes, and the number of things that he experienced throughout his life. And he did all of these things for the people and for the brethren. But in Acts 20, in verse 13 through 15, we see that Paul is committed to making it back to Jerusalem for the Day of Pentecost.

And in the process of doing that, he's racing from Troas, where he was located, to be able to make it to Jerusalem. In fact, he's moving so quickly, and this should tell you a lot about how fast he was trying to move, that he specifically chose to skip over Ephesus.

And Ephesus was a place where he had many friends and many people that he was close to. He purposefully chose to skip over Ephesus and to land in Miletus instead, and then call the Ephesian elders to come to him. And I think part of that could be because he knew if he set foot in Ephesus, he wasn't going to be leaving for a couple weeks. By the time people invited him over and they wanted to see him here and see him there, and he wasn't going to make it out of there real quick.

But he calls the Ephesian elders over to him, there in Miletus, and in Acts 20 he says his goodbyes. He knew, and they knew, that this ultimately was his last trip to Ephesus. And in Acts 21 we start to get kind of some reasons why this is.

Acts 21, verse 1, says, until the ship unloads and reloads. So they left the ship and they found some disciples. It says, finding disciples, we stayed there seven days. They told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem. So God's Spirit revealed to them that something was to befall Paul.

Paul, I think, knew it. You go back to the bottom end of Acts 20 here, Acts 20, verse 36, after he kind of gets done telling them all these things, says, when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. Then they all wept freely and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more, and they accompanied him onto the ship. Paul knew at this point in time that he wasn't going to make it back through Ephesus. That he knew that there was something coming that was not going to allow him to come back through this part of the world.

Ultimately, once he makes it to Tyre, we see a little bit further of that bit of the story. The individuals tell Paul, hey, don't go up to Jerusalem. Verse 5 says, When we come to the end of those days, we departed and went on our way, and they all accompanied us with wives and children till we were out of the city, and we knelt down on the shore and prayed. When we had taken our leave of one another, we boarded the ship, and they returned home.

When they finished our voyage from Tyre, we came to Ptolemus, greeting the brethren and staying with them one day. On the next day, we who were Paul's companions departed and came to Caesarea and entered the house of Philip the Evangelist, who was one of the seven, so Philip, here Philip the Deacon, and stayed with him. Now, this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied, and as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

So we see that he's now in Caesarea. He's with Philip's family. Ultimately, this prophet named Agabus comes and performs kind of a dramatic accounting, so to speak, for Paul and for those gathered, of what was to come, and the ultimate reason why Paul was saying his goodbyes in Ephesians 20. He says, When he had come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus says the Holy Spirit, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

So Agabus says, Look, the Spirit has shown me that you are going to be taken captive when you set foot in Jerusalem for Pentecost, that you will be bound like I have bound myself with your belt, and you will be handed over to the Gentiles.

Verse 12, Now when we heard these things, now we, this is a very pregnant we here, who's writing this book? Luke is. Luke's there with him. And Luke and a number of other traveling companions are saying, Look, when we heard these things, both we and those from the place, the Philip's family pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. They said, Don't go. They're going to take you captive.

They're going to turn you over to the Romans. Don't go. And so Paul says, What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? It's like, What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I'm ready not only to be bound, but to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. He says, Look, this is coming and I'm ready.

It's coming and I'm ready. Verse 14, So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done. So they finally gave up trying to persuade him to do otherwise. He wasn't hearing him, wasn't listening, decided he was going anyway. Paul knew what was coming. There had been multiple warnings at that point in time. I think there's even some possible evidence that when he met with Ananias in Acts 9, and Ananias told him of the sufferings that he would experience, he may have even done similar to what was done with Peter, where he kind of said, Look, you're going to die a martyr.

You're going to end in this way. So I kind of think that Paul in many ways knew the end of the story from the beginning. I think he knew how it was going to more or less end.

Maybe not the specifics, but that he would be ultimately martyred. And he says to them, Look, what are you trying to do? You're weeping here. You're breaking my heart. I know what's coming and I'm ready.

So he departs for Jerusalem. Let that settle in for a second. Paul knew that he was going to be arrested and potentially killed. And he went anyway. He could have ran. He could have took off, jumped the boat and went the other direction, pulled a Jonah. He didn't. He went anyway. If that's not commitment, I don't know what is.

I mean, really, I don't know what is. Paul was not concerned about his own life, his health and well-being. He knew that he had a part to play. And that that part, at least at that point in time, appeared to end as a prisoner or as a martyr. And I mean, by and large, he would spend the rest of his days, more or less the prisoner. You know, he was under a house arrest for a good portion of that, and he had an opportunity to go to various places and still do a lot.

But he was technically imprisoned during much of that time.

Brethren, we all have our own part to play. We all have our own part in this whole process. We may be asked to stand up for our beliefs in the face of incredible trial, like Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. We may be asked to do something great for God against all odds, against difficulties and trials and pushback and all these things.

We might be asked to give our life for God like Paul and the Apostles were. But regardless of what we're asked to do, regardless of what part we have to play, it requires commitment. You know, it's interesting. When we make the commitment to follow God, the rest just kind of follows. And I know that's an overtly simple way of stating it, but I want to explain what I mean. When you are analyzing your life and its options and the choices which lay in front of you, if you don't have that commitment in the back of your head, there's a bajillion paths in front of you.

But if you have made that commitment to God, there are a lot of those paths which are suddenly narrowed and no longer options. And in some ways, the decisions going forward are simple. They're also very hard, but they're simple. If something comes up to threaten that commitment, if something comes up to get in the way of that commitment that you've made in that relationship with God, well, it needs to be put away, right?

It has to fall in line. And it comes down to a big kind of question. Are we committed? Are we truly committed? Or are we just interested? Are we just interested or are we committed? Because if we're committed, the decisions are simple. Because no matter what, no, you're not going to go break the Sabbath, you know? You're not going to end up in that situation where, you know, you put yourself in that place. You know, you're not going to make decisions that are going to pull you away from God because you're committed. If you're just interested, well, it's easier. It's easier to let yourself be drawn away. In moments of incredible stress, we revert to what we are most comfortable with.

In moments of incredible stress, we revert to what we are most comfortable with. What we have committed to and what we have practiced regularly will come out. You know, if we're being threatened with a job loss over the keeping of the Sabbath, if we have told ourselves there is no way that I am going to bend on this, it's a simple solution.

It's a simple fix. It's time to look for a new job. And that might be difficult and it might be hard and it may be a huge challenge. But what we practice and what we commit to is what will come out during those moments of stress. John Ferrier could have ejected. He could have pushed a button and probably spent the rest of his life with his wife and his kids.

But he didn't. And why didn't he? Because he believed and he was committed in this idea that God came first, other people came second, and he was a distant third. In fact, he was so committed that in that moment of stress, where his plane is bearing down on a neighborhood, he had the presence of mind to go, my life doesn't matter, pull up, push down, and that's it. How many of us would have the presence of mind to do something similar in a time like that?

God came first in his life, others came second, and John himself was a distant third. Brethren, what are we committed to? What are we committed to? What are we practicing regularly? We can use these examples from Scripture, and there are so many more great examples of commitment in Scripture that we can use to grow in our own commitment, to really ensure that we're coming at our faith, that we're coming with this way of life, coming at it with zeal, with dedication, with commitment.

And all of those things, that zeal and that dedication and that commitment, come what may. Because we have no idea what is going to come our way. We don't know what part we're going to be asked to play. We won't know it until it's our time to play the part. And we have to be ready when that time does come.

Brethren, I hope you all have a wonderful Feast of Trumpets. I look forward to seeing you all this coming week and having an opportunity here to fellowship this evening.