Psychological Warfare Pt.1: Nehemiah 4:1-12

Introduction

This morning we are in Week 10 of our Series “Rebuild”.

Since June 25th, we have been looking at the books of Ezra & Nehemiah gleaning and learning how God goes about Rebuilding His People for His Glory.

Today, I’d like for you to turn with me to Nehemiah chapter 4, and once you have your place there, turn with me to Ephesians 6. We will begin in Ephesians.

Nehemiah, as we have seen over the last several weeks is primarily concerned with the Rebuilding of the City of Jerusalem.

And as we’ve discussed, Jerusalem, better known as the City of God, was to be a city that reflects the Image of God

So broken down walls, reflected a broken down God.

Rebuilding these walls was about more than economic stability, physical security, or commercial development.

Rebuilding these walls was about rebuilding the Image of God.

But today… we are going to see that it’s not all roses for Nehemiah and the people. Some serious opposition awaits us in our text today,

and I just want to say from the start that the real theme here is Spiritual Warfare.

Spiritual Warfare

2 Errors

Now I’m not sure where you stand, but usually the topic of Spiritual Warfare tends to solicits one of two responses.

C.S. Lewis writes, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence.

First, we disbelieve it.

We are so quick to dismiss any notions of spiritual warfare, because ever since the enlightenment the predominant worldview of America is Humanism.

Humanism asserts that the material, physical, and natural world is the only one that exists and is worth believing in.

If it can’t be touched, tasted, smelled, or proved with science or reason than it can’t be trusted.

As American’s we are so educated, that some spiritual, unseen realm exists is total ludacris.

Or we just diagnose it. And prescribe it.

All the while turning up our noses to all these 3rd world countries that battle these “demons” when really all they need is some education.

And the Hollywood characicatures haven’t helped have they?

I mean, a red man with horns and a pitchfork? Who can take that seriously?

Or maybe the latest horror film with dramatic exorcisms… and these caricatures so misrepresent spiritual warfare, we just dismiss it, and don’t take it too seriously.

So, we disbelieve in Spiritual Warfare because we are enlightened.

The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.“

Secondly, instead of disbelieving we believe and feel an excessive interest in them.

We view everything as Spiritual Warfare, and Satan becomes the scapegoat for every negative circumstance in your life.

Your AC broke, and you conclude that Satan is trying to get at you.

You get caught in your sin, and instead of owning it and repenting you blame the devil for it.

Your health begins to fail because your diet consists of fast food and packaged products and yet it’s all Satan’s fault.

But Church, both of these responses are WRONG, and reveal that we lack a true Biblical Theology on Spiritual Warfare.

And this is what I hope to provide today.

I went into the week intending to preach all of Nehemiah 4 today in 1 40 min sermon, but the more I studied and prayed the more I thought it necessary to slow down and take our time here.

You see I just don’t think Spiritual Warfare is something that gets talked about a lot.

And I don’t want us to be ignorant of Satan’s devices (2 Cor 2:11)

I want our understanding enlarged, that we may be equipped to engage.

So I’m going to break Nehemiah 4 into 2 Parts.

Today we will look at the Scriptures to find a biblical understanding of warfare, and then look at our text to the type of Warfare our enemy seeks to wage.

Then next week we will go deeper in Nehemiah 4, to learn from Nehemiah how we, as the People of God are to engage.

A Biblical Theology

To rightly understand Spiritual Warfare we must turn to the Scriptures.

And the Bible isn’t silent about it.

In fact, the Scriptures give us all we need to not only enlarge our understanding of Spiritual Warfare but also equip us to properly engage in it.

And Ephesians 6 gives us a great place to start.

Ephesians 6:10–12 (ESV)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Paul wants us to stand against the schemes of the devil.

And the first thing he wants us to be aware of is that

Our Warfare, as the People of God, is not against flesh and blood.

This means that if you are a believer in Christ, part of the people of God, your enemy in this life is not your spouse, your boss, that neighborhood Karen or Terry, or that political party, or school teacher, etc.

It’s against Satan and His forces of evil.

Satan’s name means adversary.

He operates as the permanent enemy of God, God’s people, and God’s Purposes.

The rage of Sanballat and Tobiah that we will find in Nehemah today, is simply a reflection of the rage of Satan and his emissaries.

And the reason we can state this so authoritatively is because Nehemiah was in Jerusalem to rebuild the image of God, in the city of God, for the glory of God.

And Satan is absolutely intent on opposing the Glory of God.

He lives to destroy the work God of glory in our lives, our cities, our nations, and our world.

So listen carefully ya’ll.

If you sense God stirring you to Rebuild His image in your life. To draw you closer to Himself so that Christ would be formed in you....

You will experience Spiritual Warfare.

If you sense God stirring you to Rebuild His image in your marriage. To resurrect what may be flirting with death, and allow your marriage to reflect His love in His strength…

You will experience Spiritual Warfare.

If you sense God stirring you to Rebuild His image in your family. To raise your kids with the Word of God in your home, and the worship of God in their lives…

You will experience Spiritual Warfare.

If you sense God stirring you to share the hope and the light of the gospel with your friends and family…

Oh he hates that! Because he has spent years blinding the minds of unbelievers as 2 Cor 4 says. So you will experience Spiritual Warfare

If you sense God stirring you to Build His image in this local church, in this community for His Glory

We will experience spiritual warfare.

Not because you or I are somebody special that the powers of evil fear, but because HE HATES JESUS CHRIST AND HE HATES THE GLORY OF GOD.

But who are these spiritual forces of evil?

Let me provide a model for us that can help answer that question.

A Model

God

God alone is the self-existent and eternal Creator of the universe.

No power rivals God’s omnipotence (power) and no knowledge rivals God’s omniscience. (knowledge)

Any other spiritual or material being is a creature.. created, and is, therefore, on a lesser level of being. They can only be one place at a time, unlike God who is everywhere all of the time (omnipresent).

Psalm 115:3 “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”

Psalm 97:9 “For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.”

He is God, and there is no other.

Heavenly Places

Below Him, God in His wisdom created other spirit beings to reside in what is deemed in Scripture as the heavenly places.

Not much is said in Scripture about the origin of these spiritual beings, but we are told that many of them live in praise and worship of God, and serve the saints of God.

They are called angels.

Hebrews 1:14 “Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?”

But Scripture also tells us that many of them rebelled against God.

Jude 6 “And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness

These fallen angels are often referred to in Scripture as Demons.

And as their leader, they have one named Satan.

Satan means Adversary, and he is God’s primary adversary.

Seeking to resist and oppose any and all of God’s intended purposes.

But he is not omnipresent, meaning he can’t be everywhere at all time.

Instead he possesses a hierarchy similar to our military ranking ran by demons in charge of rulers, authorities, principialities, and powers of evil “in the heavenly places” as Eph 6 states.

An example of this hierarchy is found in Daniel 10, a wild chapter where an angel tells Daniel that he was dispatched to minister to Daniel, but was withstood by the Principality of Persia, to the point that Michael the archangel had to come to defeat him.

So, in the heavenly places, the unseen realm, there are created angels for our good, and demons for our ill.

The World

Then there is the created Cosmos that God breathed out of nothing.

This is where you and I live, and move, and have our being.

But what’s important to note, is that according to Scripture all of mankind, “lies in the power of the Evil One. 1 John 5:19)

Paul says that Satan is the “god of this world” 2 Cor 4:4

Jesus calls him the “ruler of this world” (John 12:31).

Becuase all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and in our sin we are following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2)!

So the World is under the dominion of Satan and His Demons because of our sin. Our sin gives these evil forces claim over the world.

But listen very carefully church!

When God the Father, who sits far above all rule and power of Satan, sent Jesus Christ, the sinless perfect Savior...

He sent someone that Satan had no claim over! SLIDE

John 14:30 “for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me,”

And that Sinless Savior knew exactly what he had come to do…

To march into enemy terrority (the world) and take back what was righfully His, God’s Creation.

1 John 3:8 “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

And Satan, knew it. Satan knew why he had come… He was there in the Garden of Eden when God said that a man would be born of a woman and crush his head!

So Satan did everything possible to resist Jesus.

So he tried to have Jesus killed as an infant at the hands of evil Herod.

He tried to tempt him to sin in the Wilderness.

And ultimately he tried to kill him, and succeeded!

Remember it was Satan that entered into Judas to influence those events. (Judas, flesh and blood, wasn’t the enemy). Satan was.

BUT SATAN ISN’T OMNISCIECT. HE DOESN’T POSSESS THE WISDOM OF OUR GOD.

And the very act that Satan assumed would thwart the glory of God was the very act that actually put God’s glory on display so that all could see.

In the Killing of Christ, Satan had a hand in canceling the record of sin held against the whole world (col 2:14). Which was his claim.

Colossians 2:14 “by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

Colossians 2:15 “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

Jesus, came to destroy the works of the devil and on the cross He triumphed by reclaiming His creation for God, and to redeem the world from enemy terrority.

So now, the world looks like this. SLIDE

Here on earth there are those who have been saved by grace through faith and are believers in God and recipients of the redemption found in Christ.

They are no longer under the dominion or authority of Satan.

Colossians 1:13 “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,”

But there are others who have yet to see the light of the good news of Jesus, because Satan is deadset on losing no more ground to Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:4 “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

He wants to keep as many as possible under his influence and control, but if you’re a believer in Jesus Christ he no longer holds authority over your life.

So according to the Bible, this is the proper Worldview of the created Order.

A cosmic battle, that will one day be over when King Jesus returns and throws that Dragon into the abyss forever.

But today, we remain engaged.

As God’s People, we are called to join God’s Purpose of putting God’s glory on display through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Person by person. Marriage by marriage. City by City seeking to continue to put dents into the kingdom of darkness with the Gospel of Light for our God.

So… in light of this worldview: If God’s People seeks to join Him in His Work for HIs glory, we will experience Spiritual Warfare.

And that’s what is happening in Nehmiah 4.

Nehemiah and all the People concerned with God’s Glory and Rebuilding God’s Image were thrust into this Cosmic Battle.

So let’s get to our text, and learn from Nehemiah about how Satan and his spiritual forces of evil wage war on the people of God.

Psychological Warfare

Nehemiah 4:1–3 ESV

Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!”

Sanballat and Tobiah

Now these characters already appeared in chapter 2 where they were both greatly displeased that Nehemiah was even desiring the welfare of the People of God.

But now that the Welfare had progressed to building, their displeaure evolved to Rage.

In front of this massive Audience Sanballat begins to mock the Jews.

In effect their saying…

Look at how weak they are!

Come on… they can’t do anything right. Certainly this task is beyond them.

Oh they are so pious, they just going to pray it up!?

Lol, don’t they realize what an enourmous task they have taken on!? Don’t realize how long this is gong to take them!

Look at their stones!

You can’t bring burnt, broken stones back to life you idiots!

Those stones will build a wall so strong that a mere Fox climbing on it will make it collapse!

These jeers may seem silly to you.

But these insults were played perfectly on the inner insecurity, self-doubt, and fear of failure of God’s People.

Remember what Coleman said last week about the people that God uses… Failures.

These people rebuilding had really believed they were failures for most of thier lives!

They had already tried to rebuild once and failed in the days of Zerubbabel

And then spent 90 years sitting in their failure, despised, dejected, defeated, and unwilling to do anything about their vulnerablity.

And here’s what you and I need to know this morning:

Spiritual Warfare is Psychological Warfare.

The jeers were aimed at their minds.

All with the intent to destroy morale.

To paralyze their effort by inducing hopelessness and despair.

See, if Sanballat and Tobiah could just get the People of God to believe they were too weak, they’d stop working.

If they could get them to believe the task was to big, they’d quit.

This was psychological warfare aimed at stopping the work of God!

But let’s pick back up in our text:

Nehemiah 4:4–5 ESV

Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.

In typical Nehemiah fashion, the first thing he does is turn to Prayer.

Prayer was never Nehemiah’s last resort, but always his primary weapon, and it needs to become our as well.

Ephesians 6:18 Regarding prayer and warfare, the Apostle Paul exhorts us saying “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,”

Living in constant communication and communion with God in prayer is the greatest way to live in victory of spiritual warfare.

But this prayer is kind of harsh isn’t it!

He prays for divine judgement against sin, and for divine vengence against God’s enemies.

Notice in verse 5, Nehemiah says… God, they have provoked you to anger!

In effect, Nehemiah is recognizing that they are opposing God. So He Prays

God You judge them.

God you take vengence.

TThe point for us today, is that while we have been shown a better answer to evil in Christ, we can still learn from Nehemiah to look to God, not ourselves, for vindication.

But after a quick prayer of vengenance, look at verse 6

Nehemiah 4:6 ESV

So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

The taunts fell on deaf ears, and the wall was rebuilt all around the city to half its height!

This is an extrordinary accomplishment.

The Psychological Warfare didn’t work…

Nehemiah 4:7–9 ESV

But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

When their Psychological Warfare aimed at discouragement failed, Psychological Warfare aimed at fear is applied

They threatened violence from all sides.

Samaria to the North; Arabs to the South; Ashdodites to the West; & Ammonites to the East

And to be clear: these threats were still psychological warfare.

They were unwilling to back it up with a full-scale invasion, because to have done so would have meant they wre opposing not just the people of God, but the commands of Persia.

Remember, Nehemiah had Persian permission to rebuild, and Sanballat and Tobiah wouldn’t have done anything to get on Persia’s badside.

But Nehmiah has to take the Psychological Warfare of Threats seriously

And in typical Nehemiah fashion

He depends on Providence by praying.

He executes his plans by setting protection.

But I really want you to look with me at verses 10-12, because all of a sudden there is a significant change in the mind of the people.

Nehemiah 4:10–12 ESV

In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.”

What on earth has changed from verse 6 to verse 10?

How can they go from

dismissing the the taunts of discouragement, with a mind to work.

to despairing the threats of fear, with a mind to quit.

Church, what we are seeing play out in our text today, is what gets played out everyday in the lives of the People of God.

It’s Satan being effective in Psychological Warfare.

Winning the Battle of the Mind.

The Battlefield is the Mind

Accusations

Sanballat and Tobiah began with Accusations.

You’re too weak!

You’re a bunch of failures!

You’re idiots that totally underestimated this project.

These accusations intend to impact the mind.

They are aimed at trying to get the people of God to believe them.

If they believe they’re too weak they won’t work as hard. IF they believe this project is too big, maybe they’ll quit.

And it works in our text.

The people who once had a mind to work, are now saying… “We are too weak...” (vs. 10)

The people came into agreement with the accusations and it rendered them ineffective.

Church, Satan is the Accuser of the people of God (Rev. 12:10).

What that means is that as you seek to Rebuild your life, marriage, family, career for the glory of God he begins accusing you...

“You’re not good enough to be used of God.”

“I mean, look at how much you sin… you’re unqualified.”

“Look at your past, God could never accept you.”

“Remember that ouburst of anger… what makes you think you can disciple your kids.”

“You’re co-workers have heard your water cooler talk… you think they’re going to listen to you about Jesus..”

This is what he does!

He accuses you night and day, and tries to convince you of your unworthiness to be used of God so that you’ll just give up.

Defeated.

How many of you just feel exhausted by the constant onslaught of accusation?

Satan and his emissaries have so effectively waged psychological warfare on you that you believe that you’re

Unworthy of God’s love, &

Unsuitable for any of God’s Work.

And so now you’re Undone by Satan’s accusation.

Our churches are full of Christians like this!

Christians… people who are saved. Redeemed. No longer under the authority and dominion of Satan, yet he has convinced you that you are.

That there’s no victory for you. The only thing you can do is wait til eternity I suppose.

So instead of joining God in His Work and pushing back darkness, you sit defeated and despairing in darkness.

But if accusation doesn’t work… he wages psychological warfare with Lies.

Lies

Sanballat and Tobiah told lies

vs. 2… “You’re going to use that heap of rubbish to rebuild!? I mean your stones are burnt. They are useless. They’ll never last. Your wall will crumble.”

But ya’ll… these are lies!

They had already built the Wall to half its height!

The stones were fine. They were effective.

But now in vs 10… they’re saying, “there’s just too much rubble!”

Guys! What are you talking about! There is less than half of the rubble remaining from when you began!!! This isn’t too much. The rubble is fine to build!

What happened!?

They believed lies.

Church, Satan is the Accuser but he is also called The Father of Lies.

John 8:44 “When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

2 Corinthians 11:3 “But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”

He whispers lies in an attempt to deceive you… to imapct your minds that you will be rendered in effective for the purposes of God.

What that means is that as you seek to Rebuild your life, marriage, family, career, this church, for the glory of God he begins whispering to you…

“See, this work is too hard… if God really loved you he’d make it easier.”

“You’re all alone… you’re marriage is over, give it up.”

“You’re kids are struggling… if God were really good would that be the case?”

“You want to share your faith with others… you don’t know enough to do that.”

“You’re unqualified to disciple somebody else, who do you think you are.”

Lies are how Satan and his forces try to rob you of life, and oppose God’s purposes.

He doesn’t have to physically harm you… he just whispers the right lies that you and I believe and come into agreement with.

And it’s not that you and I tell lies, it’s that we believe them and live them.

And once he plants a lie, tha you agree with, your life experience tends to reinforce that lie, and now you have a Stronghold built up in your mind.

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”

A stronghold is any habitual-pattern of thinking that exalts itself above the knowledge of God, and are usually set in motion early in life.

And once you come into agreement with them you’re toast. Ineffecitve. Defeated.

Our churches are full of Christians like this!

Christians… people who are saved. Redeemed. No longer under the authority and dominion of Satan, yet he has lied to you and convinced you that you are.

That there’s no victory for you. The only thing you can do is wait til eternity I suppose.

So instead of joining God in His Work and pushing back darkness, you sit defeated and despairing in darkness.

Beliving lies about God and yourself and others… rendered ineffective for His Purpoes.

Our war is not a war of flesh and blood.

It is a Psychological War and the Battlefield is the mind.

And your enemy is an Accuser.

And he is a Liar.

Conclusion

Sanballat and Tobiah accused and lied to the Jews, all in an attempt to oppose the Purposes of God.

With prayer and planning Nehemiah was able to stave off the attacks for a moment

But over time, after enduring accusations and lies, not to mention witnessing the cowardice of their families and friends (vs. 12)… they grew fragile.

They began to believe those accusations and lies, and began to lose the Psychological Warfare.

But I can’t wait to gather with you next week, so that we can learn from our text what it looks like to FIGHT BACK.

What we will see is that IN CHRIST we are equipped, and can engage to push back this darkness, ,

2 Corinthians 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession

Let me Pray