Although it is a fundamental truth that no one is saved in any part by their own works but through the finished work of Christ, it is also a basic truth that all who are saved by Christ's death are called to a work. Paul called the worship of and witness for Christ in any given time and place by His people, "the work of the Lord." It is the labor of all believers to maintain the purity and the proclamation of the gospel on earth, the fellowship around that gospel and the support of a gospel work in that place which God has ordained. But it is also true that this work on earth has and still does at various times fall into difficulty, hindrance and discouragement. Such was the case when God burdened the heart of Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem. Word came to him that "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." After getting permission from the king, Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem and after three days of surveying the fallen city day and night, he said to the people, "Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach." The foundations of the city were still there and solid but the walls and gates had been burned and broken down. The same thing happens spiritually in the lives of believers and the local assembly of which they are a part. They still rest on the one foundation, the blood and righteousness of Christ. "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Their hope is still based on the Christ the Solid Rock and Chief Cornerstone. But, like the gates and walls of Jerusalem, their fellowship, joy, faithfulness, witness, and other gospel labors have sustained some damage. Is that our case? Do you "see the distress that we are in?" Circumstance, trial and the assaults of the enemy quickly bring us to reproach. It is a good thing to "bear the reproach of Christ" and to suffer for His name's sake. But it is quite another thing to be a reproach to Christ before this world. Our greatest goal must be the glory of our God before this world. May we do as Nehemiah in our own lives and church and privately examine the state and condition we are in. Has our love, our zeal, our enthusiasm, our commitment to the things of the gospel diminished? Is there such a clutter and rubble of cares and busyness that our labor in the work of the Lord has all but stopped? Are we as individuals and as an assembly who have publicly taken a stand for the gospel before the world a reproach to Christ? Nehemiah, after he had heard of the plight of Jerusalem and seen it first hand, "sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven. And said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned." This is my cry and my prayer to God for myself and for this congregation! Lord, deliver us from being a reproach! Then the people, when they heard the words of Nehemiah, said, "Let us rise and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work." Nehemiah records that some, when they "heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us." But he answered them, "The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build." OH GOD OF GRACE MOVE US TO ARISE AND BUILD AGAIN THAT WHICH HAS FALLEN! The people arose, with sword in one hand and trowel in the other, standing and working each one next to the other and they repaired the wall and the gates. May we repair again the walls and gates of faithfulness, prayerfulness, fellowship, sacrifice and love. May we do it one with the other. May we clean away all the debris of unconcern and self-centeredness. May we build on the one foundation which is Christ crucified! May we, as they, have "a will to work." As the apostle spoke to the Corinthians so speak I to you, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."