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TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - Sermons from Nehemiah (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 03 - NEH 4:9 The Two Guards, Praying and Watching
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The Two Guards, Praying and Watching
July 24th, 1890
by
C. H. SPURGEON
(1834-1892)
"Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and
set a watch against them day and night, because of
them."-- Neh_4:9.
Jehemiah, and the Jews with him, were rebuilding the
walls of Jerusalem. Sanballat and others were angry
with them, and tried to stop the work. They determined
to pounce upon the people on a sudden, and slay them,
and so to put an end to what they were doing. Our text
tells us what Nehemiah and his companions did in this
emergency: "Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our
God, and set a watch against them day and night,
because of them."
These people had not only to build the wall of
Jerusalem, but to watch against their enemies at the
same time. Their case is ours. We have to work for
Christ. I hope that all of us who love him are trying
to do what we can to build up his kingdom; but we need
also to watch against deadly foes. If they can destroy
us, of course they will also destroy our work. They
will do both, if they can. The powers of evil are mad
against the people of God. If they can in any way
injure or annoy us, you may rest assured that they will
do so. They will leave no stone unturned, if it can
serve their purpose. No arrows will be left in the
quivers of hell while there are godly men and women at
whom they can be aimed. Satan and his allies aim at our
hearts every poisoned dart they have.
Nehemiah had been warned of the attack that was to be
made upon the city. The Jews who lived near these
Samaritans had heard their talk of what they meant to
do, and they came and told Nehemiah of the plotting of
the adversaries. We also have been warned. As our Lord
said to Peter, "Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to
have you, that he may sift you as wheat," so has he, in
his word, told us that there is a great and terrible
evil power which is seeking our destruction. If Satan
can do it, he will not only sift us as wheat, but he
will cast us into the fire that we may be destroyed.
Brethren, "we are not ignorant of his devices." You are
not left in a fool's paradise, to dream of security
from trial, and to fancy that you are past temptation.
It is well for these people, also, that, being in
danger, and being aware of the malice of their enemies,
they had a noble leader to incite them to the right
course to be pursued. Nehemiah was well qualified for
his work. He gave the Jews very shrewd, sensible, and
yet spiritual advice, and this was a great help to them
in their hour of need. Beloved, we have a better Leader
than Nehemiah; we have our Lord Jesus Christ himself,
and we have his Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, and
shall abide with us. I beg you to listen to his wise
and good advice. I think that he will give it to you
through our explanation of the text. He will say to you
what Nehemiah, in effect, said to these people, "Watch
and pray." Although the adversaries of the Jews
conspired together, and came to fight against
Jerusalem, and to hinder the work of rebuilding the
wall, Nehemiah says, "Nevertheless, we made our prayer
unto our God, and set a watch against them day and
night, because of them."
In the text, I see two guards; first, prayer: "We made
our prayer unto our God." The second guard is
watchfulness: "We set a watch." When I have spoken on
these two subjects, I shall take as my third topic, the
two guards together. "We prayed, and we set a watch."
We must have them both, if we would defeat the enemy.
I. First, then, dear friends, think of THE FIRST GUARD:
"We made our prayers unto our God."
Speaking of this prayer, I would hold it up as a
pattern for our prayers in a like condition. It was a
prayer that meant business. Sometimes when we pray, I
am afraid that we are not transacting business at the
throne of grace; but Nehemiah was as practical in his
prayer as he was in the setting of the watch. Some
brethren get up in our prayer-meetings, and say some
very good things; but what they really ask for, I am
sure I do not know. I have heard prayers of which I
have said, when they were over, "Well, if God answers
that prayer, I have not the least idea of what he will
give us." It was a very beautiful prayer, and there was
a great deal of explanation of doctrine and experience
in it; but I do not think that God wants to have
doctrine or experience explained to him. The fault
about the prayer was, that there was not anything asked
for in it. I like, when brethren are praying, that they
should be as business-like as a good carpenter at his
work. It is of no use to have a hammer with an ivory
handle, unless you aim it at the nail you mean to drive
in up to the head; and if that is your object, an
ordinary hammer will do as well as a fine one, perhaps
better. Now, the prayers of Nehemiah and the Jews were
petitions for divine protection. They knew what they
wanted, and they asked for it definitely . Oh, for more
definiteness in prayer! I am afraid that our prayers
are often clouds, and we get mists for answers.
Nehemiah's prayer meant business. I wish we could
always pray in this way. When I pray, I like to go to
God just as I go to a banker when I have a cheque to be
cashed. I walk in, put the cheque down on the counter,
the clerk give me my money, I take it up, and go about
my business. I do not know that I ever stopped in a
bank five minutes to talk with the clerks; when I have
received up my change, I go away and attend to other
matters. That is how I like to pray; but there is a way
of praying that seems like lounging near the mercy-
seat, as though one had no particular reason for being
found there. Let it not be so with you, brethren. Plead
the promise, believe it, receive the blessing God is
ready to give, and go about your business. The prayer
of Nehemiah and his companions meant business.
In the next place, it was a prayer that overcame
difficulties. The text begins with a long word,
"nevertheless." If we pull it to pieces, we get three
words, never the less; when certain things happen, we
will pray never the less; on the contrary, we will cry
to our God all the more. Sanballat sneered; but we
prayed never the less, but all the more because of his
sneers. Tobiah uttered a cutting jest; but we prayed
never the less, but all the more because of his mocking
taunt. If men make a jest of your religion, pray none
the less. If they even become cruel and violent to you,
pray none the less; never the less, not a word less,
not a syllable less, not a desire less, and not any
faith less. What are your difficulties, dear friend, in
coming to the mercy seat? What hindrance lies in your
way? Let nothing obstruct your approach to the throne
of grace. Turn all stumbling-stones into stepping-
stones; and come, with holy boldness, and say,
notwithstanding all opposition, "never the less, we
made our prayer unto our God." Nehemiah's prayer meant
business, and overcame difficulties.
Notice, next, that it was a prayer that came before
anything else. It does not say that Nehemiah set a
watch, and then prayed; but "nevertheless we made our
prayer unto our God, and set a watch." Prayer must
always be the fore horse of the team. Do whatever else
is wise, but not until thou hast prayed. Send for the
physician if thou art sick; but first pray. Take the
medicine if thou hast a belief that it will do thee
good; but first pray. Go and talk to the man who has
slandered you, if you think you ought to do so; but
first pray. "Well, I am going to do so and so," says
one, "and I shall pray for a blessing on it
afterwards." Do not begin it until you have prayed.
Begin, continue, and end everything with prayer; but
especially begin with prayer. Some people would never
begin what they are going to do, if they prayed about
it first, for they could not ask God's blessing upon
it. Is there anybody here who is going out of this
Tabernacle to a place where he should not go? Will he
pray first? He knows that he cannot ask a blessing on
it; and therefore he ought not to go there. Go nowhere
where you cannot go after prayer. This would often be a
good guide in your choice of where you should go.
Nehemiah first prayed, and then set a watch.
Once more, it was a prayer that was continued. If I
read the passage aright, "we made our prayer unto our
God, and set a watch against them day and night," it
means that, as long as they watched, they prayed. They
did not pray their prayer, and then leave off, and go
away, as naughty boys do when they give runaway knocks
at a door. Having begun to pray, they continued
praying. So long as there were any enemies about, the
prayer and the watching were never parted. They
continued still to cry to him who keepeth Israel as
long as they set the watchman of the night to warn them
of the foe.
When shall we leave off praying, brothers and sisters?
Well, they say that we shall do so when we get to
heaven. I am not clear about that. I do not believe in
the intercession of saints for us; but I remember that
it is written in the book of Revelation, that the souls
under the altar cried, "How long, O Lord?" Those souls
were waiting for the resurrection, waiting for the
coming of Christ, waiting for the triumph of his
kingdom; and I cannot conceive of their waiting there
without often crying, "O Lord, how long? Remember thy
Son, glorify his name, accomplish the number of thine
elect." But certainly, as long as we are here, we must
pray. One lady. Who professed that she had long been
perfect, said that her mind was in such complete
conformity with the mind of God, that she need not pray
any longer. Poor creature! What did she know about the
matter? She needed to begin at the first letter of the
alphabet of salvation; and pray, "God be merciful to
me, a sinner!" When people imagine they need not to
pray, the Lord have mercy upon them!
"Long as they live let Christians pray,
For only while they pray they live."
The prayer which Nehemiah offered was, next, a prayer
that was home-made. There may be some of you who like
prayers made for you; and it may be that, if all the
congregation are to join in the supplication, and every
voice is to speak, the prayer must be prepared even as
the hymn is; but ready-made prayers always seem to me
very much like ready-made clothes, they are meant to
fit everybody, and it is very seldom that they fit
anybody. For real business at the mercy-seat, give me a
home-made prayer, a prayer that comes out of the deeps
of my heart, not because I invented it, but because God
the Holy Spirit put it there, and gave it such a living
force that I could not help letting it come out. Though
your words are broken, and your sentences are
disconnected; if your desires are earnest, if they are
like coals of juniper, burning with a vehement flame,
God will not mind how they find expression. If you have
no words, perhaps you will pray better without them.
There are prayers that break the backs of words; they
are too heavy for any human language to carry.
This prayer, then, whatever it may have been as to its
words, was one the pleaders made: "We made our prayers
unto our God."
It is very important to notice, that it was a prayer
that went to the home of prayer: "We made our prayer
unto our God." You have heard of the man who prayed at
Boston, "the hub of the universe", and the report in
the paper the next morning was, that "The Rev. Dr. So-
and-so prayed the finest prayer that was ever addressed
to a Boston audience." I am afraid that there are some
prayers of that sort, that are prayed to the
congregation. That is not the kind of prayer that God
loves. Forget that there is anybody present, forget
that a human ear is listening to your accents; and let
it be said of your prayer, "Nevertheless we made our
prayer unto our God."
It is a very commonplace remark to make, that prayer
must go to God if it to be of any avail; but it is very
necessary to make it. When prayer does not go to God,
what is the good of it? When you come out of your
closet, and feel that you have only gone through a
form, how much are you benefited? Make your prayers
unto your God. Speak in his ear, knowing that he is
there; and come away knowing that he has replied to
you, that he has lifted up the light of his countenance
upon you. That is the kind of prayer we need for our
protection against our enemies both day and night.
Only once more upon this first point. I gather from the
words before me that it was a prayer saturated with
faith. "We made our prayer unto--God"? No, "unto our
God." They had taken Jehovah to be their God, and they
prayed to him as their God. They had a full assurance
that, though he was the God of the whole earth, yet he
was specially their God; and so they made their prayer
unto the God who had given himself to them, and to whom
they belonged by covenant relationship. "We made our
prayers unto our God." Those two little words carry a
vast weight of meaning. The door of prayer seems to
turn on those two golden hinges,--"our God." If you and
I are to be delivered from the evil that is in the
world, if we are to be kept building the church of God,
we must have for our first guard, mighty, believing
prayer, such as Nehemiah and his Jewish friends
presented unto the Lord.
II. I have now to speak to you about THE SECOND GUARD:
"We set a watch against them day and night, because of
them."
This setting of the watch was a work appointed. "We set
a watch." Nehemiah did not say, "Now, some of you
fellows, go and watch," leaving the post of watchmen
open to any who chose to take it; but they "set a
watch." A certain number of men had to go on duty at a
certain point, at a certain hour, and remain for a
certain length of time, and be on guard against the
adversary. "We set a watch." Brethren, if we are to
watch over ourselves, and we must do so, we must do it
with a definite purpose. We must not say, "I must try
to be watchful." No, no; you must be watchful; and your
watchfulness must be as distinct and definite an act as
your prayer. "We set a watch." Some of you have seen
the guards changed in the barracks; there is a special
time for each company to mount guard. When you go to
bed at night, pray the Lord to guard you during the
darkness. In the morning, set a watch when you go to
your business. Set a watch when you go to the dinner-
table; set a watch when you return home. Oh, how soon
we may be betrayed into evil unless we set a watch!
It was a work carefully done; for Nehemiah says, "We
set a watch against them day and night, because of
them." Those three last words would be better rendered,
"over against them"; that is, wherever there was an
enemy, there he set a watch/ They are likely to come up
this way. Very well, set a watch there. Perhaps they
may shift about, and come up this way. Very well, set a
watch there. Possibly they may come climbing over the
wall in front here. "Well, set a watch there. "We set a
watch over against them." One brother has a very hot
temper. Brother, set a watch there. Another is very
morose at home, critical, picking holes in other
people's coats. Brother, set a watch there. One friend
has a tendency to pride, another to unbelief. Set a
watch wherever the foe is likely to come. "We made our
prayer unto our God, and set a watch over against
them."
It was a work continued; Nehemiah says, "we set a watch
against them day and night." What! Is there to be
someone sitting up all night? Of course there is. If
Sanballat had told them when he meant to attack them,
they might have gone to sleep at other times; but as he
did not give them that information, they had to set a
watch "day and night." The devil will not give you
notice when he is going to tempt you; he likes to take
men by surprise; therefore, set a watch day and night.
It was a work quickened by knowledge. they knew that
Sanballat would come if he could, so they set a watch.
The more you know of the plague of your own heart, the
more you will set a watch against it. The more you know
of the temptations that are in the world through lust,
the more you should set a watch. The older you are, the
more you should watch. "Oh!" says an aged friend, "you
should not say that; it is the young people who go
wrong." Is it? In the Old Testament or in the New, have
you an instance of a young believer who went astray?
The Bible tells us of many old men who were tripped up
by Satan when they were not watching; so you have need
to set a watch even when your hair turns grey, for you
will not be out of gunshot of the devil until you have
passed through the gate of pearl into the golden
streets of the New Jerusalem.
You and I, dear friends, have need to set a watch
against the enemies of our holy faith. Some people ask
me, "Why do you talk so much about the 'Down-grade'?
Let men believe what they like. Go on with your work
for God, and pray to him to set them right." I believe
in praying and setting a watch. We have to guard with
jealous care "the faith once for all delivered to the
saints." When you find, as you do find now, professing
Christians and professing Christian ministers denying
every article of the faith, or putting another meaning
upon all the words than they must have been understood
to bear, and preaching lies in the name of the Most
High, it is time that somebody set a watch against
them. A night-watchman's place is not an easy berth;
but I am willing to take that post for my blessed
Master's sake. Those professed servants of Christ who
enter into an unholy alliance with men who deny the
faith will have to answer for it at the last great day.
As for us, brethren, when our Lord comes, let him find
us watching as well as praying.
But, dear friends, to come home to ourselves, we must
set a watch against our own personal adversaries. I
hope that, in one sense, you have no personal enemies;
that you own nobody a grudge; but that you live in
peace and love towards all mankind. But there are
Christian people here, who will go to homes where
everybody in the house is against them. Many a godly
woman goes from the sanctuary to a drunken husband;
many children, converted to God, see anything but what
they like to see in their homes. What are they to do in
such circumstances? Set a watch. Dear woman, how do
know but that you shall be the means of saving your
unconverted husband? If so, you must set a watch; do
not give him a bit of your mind; you will not convert
him that way. And you, dear children, who have come to
Christ, and joined the church, mind that you are
dutiful and obedient, for otherwise you will destroy
all hope of bringing your parents to the Saviour. Set a
watch. "Oh!" say you, "if I do a little wrong, they
magnify it." I know they do; therefore, set a watch; be
more careful. Set a watch over your temper, set a watch
over your tongue, set a watch over your actions. Be
patient, be gentle, be loving. May the Spirit of God
work all this in you!
But there is another set of enemies much more dreadful
than these adversaries that are without us, the foes
within, the evil tendencies of our corrupt nature,
against which we must always set a watch. Perhaps you
say, "How can I do this?" Well, first, know what they
are. People who are beginning the Christian life should
seek to know where their weak points are. I should not
wonder, dear friend, if your weak point lies where you
think that you are strong. Where you think, "Oh, I
shall never go wrong there!"--that is the very place
where you are likely to fall. Set a watch wherever any
weakness has appeared; and if you have, in the past of
your Christian life, grieved the Holy Spirit by
anything wrong, set a double watch there. Where you
have tripped once, you may trip again; for you are the
same man. Set a watch, also, dear friend, whenever you
feel quite secure. Whenever you feel certain that you
cannot be tempted in a particular direction, that
proves that you are already as proud as Lucifer. Set a
watch, set a watch, set a watch. Avoid every occasion
of sin. If any course of conduct would lead you into
sin, do not go in that direction. I heard a man say, as
an excuse for drinking, "You see, if ever I take a
glass of beer, I seem to lose myself, and I must have
two or three more." Well, then, if that is the case
with you, do not take a glass of beer. "But," says one,
"if I get into company, I forget myself." Then, do not
go into company. Better go to heaven as a hermit, than
go to hell with a multitude. Pluck out your right eye,
and cut off your right hand, sooner than that these
should cause you to fall into sin. Do not go where you
are likely to be tempted. "Well," says one, "but my
business calls me into the midst of temptation." I
grant you that your business may compel you to go where
there are ungodly men; for how could some live at all,
if they had not to come into contact with the ungodly?-
-they would have to go out of the world. Well, then, if
that is your case, put on the whole armour of God, and
do not go without being prepared to fight the good
fight of faith. Set a watch, set a watch, set a watch.
Watch against the beginnings of sin. Remember, Satan
never begins where he leaves off; he begins with a
little sin, and he goes on to a greater one. When he
first tempts men, he does not aim at all he hopes to
accomplish; but he tries to draw them aside by little
and little, and he works up by degrees to the greater
sin he wants them to commit. I do not believe that, at
the present time, a Christian man can be too precise.
We serve a very precise God: "the Lord thy God is a
jealous God." Keep out of many things in which
professing Christians now indulge themselves. The
question is, whether they are Christians at all. If we
must not judge them, at any rate, let us judge for
ourselves, and settle it, once for all, that we dare
not go where they go; indeed, we have no wish to do so.
Watch for what God has to say to you. In your reading
of the Bible, if the Holy Spirit applies a text of
Scripture to you with special force, regard it as a
hint from your heavenly Father that there is a lesson
in it for you. I am often surprised at the way in which
the morning text will often instruct me through the
whole day. Persons who come to hear the Word of God
preached, often find that, within two or three days,
there is a reason why the preacher delivered that
particular sermon, and a reason why they were led to
hear it.
Whenever you see a professing Christian going astray
from the way of holiness, do not talk about it, and so
increase the mischief. "It is an ill bird that fouls
its own nest." Instead of speaking of another's fall,
set a watch for yourself, and say, "That is when he
slipped, that is where I may stumble if the grace of
God does not keep me." Remember our Saviour's words to
the three disciples with him in Gethsemane, "Watch and
pray, that ye enter not into temptation."
III. I finish by putting THE TWO GUARDS TOGETHER. "We
made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against
them."
Dear friends, neither of these two guards is sufficient
alone. Prayer alone will not avail. To pray and not to
watch, is presumption. You pretend to trust in God, and
yet you are throwing yourself into danger, as the devil
would have had Christ do, when he tempted him to cast
himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. If you
pray to be kept, then be watchful.
Prayer without watchfulness is hypocrisy. A man prays
to be kept from sin, and then goes into temptation; his
prayer is evidently a mere piece of mockery; for he
does not carry it out in his practice.
Sometimes, however, ignorance may lead to prayer
without watching. There are other things which ought
not to be omitted. Let me tell you a simple story/
There was a little school-girl who did not know often
her lessons, and there was another girl, who sat near
her, who always said her lessons correctly. Her
companions said to her, "Jane, how is it that you
always know your lessons?" Jane replied, "I pray to God
to help me, and so I know them." The next day, the
other little girl stood up, but she did not know her
lesson; and afterward she said to her friend, "I prayed
to God about my lesson, but I did not know it any
better than I did yesterday." Jane said, "But did you
try to learn the lesson?" "No," she said; "I prayed
about it, and I thought that was sufficient." Of course
she did not know her lesson without learning it. In the
same manner, you must watch as well as pray. There must
be the daily guard put upon tongue, and thought, and
hand; or else prayer will be in vain.
I have known some people run great risks, and yet say
that they have prayed to the Lord to preserve them. I
have heard, dozens of times, these words, "I made it a
matter of prayer," and I have been ready to grow angry
with the man who has uttered them. He has done a wrong
thing, and he has excused himself because he says that
he made it a matter of prayer. A young man married an
ungodly young woman, and yet he said that he made it a
matter of prayer! A Christian woman married an ungodly
man, and when someone blamed her for disobeying the
Word of God, she said that she made it a matter of
prayer! If you had really sought divine guidance, you
would not have dared to do what the Scriptures
expressly forbid to a child of God. Prayer without
watching is not sufficient to preserve us from evil.
On the other hand, dear friends, watching without
praying is equally futile. To say, "I will keep myself
right," and never pray to God to keep you, is self-
confidence, which must lead to evil. If you try to
watch, and do not pray, you will go to sleep, and there
will be an end to your watching. It is only by praying
and watching that you will be able to keep on your
guard. Besides, watching grows wearisome without
prayer, and we soon give it up, unless we have a sweet
interlude of prayer to give us rest, and to help us to
continue watching.
I will not keep you longer when I have said this, put
the two together, "Watch and pray," or, as my text has
it, "Pray and watch." One will help the other. Prayer
will call out the watchman, prayer will incite him to
keep his eyes open, prayer will be the food to sustain
him during the night, prayer will be the fire to warn
him. On the other hand, watching will help prayer, for
watching proves prayer to be true. Watching excites
prayer, for every enemy we see will move us to pray
more earnestly. Moreover, watching is prayer. If there
be true watching, the watching itself is prayer. The
two blend the one into the other. Beloved friends, I
send you away with my text ringing in your ears, "We
made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against
them day and night."
But I have not been speaking to all who are here. Some
of you do not pray, some of you cannot set a watch. The
message for you is, "Ye must be born again." You cannot
attempt Christian duties till first you have the
Christian life; and the only way to get the Christian
life is to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to
the fountain which he has filled with his precious
blood; wash there, and be clean; and then, quickened by
his Spirit, set a watch. I am looking to see some
people brought to Christ at this service, for although
I have been preaching to God's people, if they will
watch for you, and pray for you, there will come a
blessing to you through their watching and praying. The
Lord grant that it may come to many of you! "Seek ye
the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him when
he is near." May many seek and find the Lord to-night;
and may many call upon him in truth! "Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved." God
grant that it may be so to everybody here, for Jesus'
sake! Amen.
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