Principles for Perseverance: Nehemiah 6

Prayer

Introduction

Good morning CBC, if you have your Bibles, please go ahead and turn with me to Nehmiah 6.

Just 2 months prior to the date of our text today, Nehemiah took the first steps toward “what God had put into his heart to do” (Neh 2:12).

After inspecting the Walls for himself, he roused an apathetic, defeated people to rise up and build.

An incredible act of courage, that had to have been infused with enthusiasm, excitement, and much anticipation.

I’m sure there were uncertainities and fears of the unkown, and doubts of whether they could actually do it or not… but still, isn’t it true in any new work of God there’s always a level of excitement and anticipation.

I think about the day Annie walked down the aisle. Through tears I could only think of God’s goodness for those first few steps toward the work of building our lives together.

I think about the day each of my kids were born. I didn’t have any concept of the exhaustion that awaited, because I was just in bliss, grateful for this new work of God.

I think about CBC Richmond Hill. When we launched this new church on August the 7th 2022, I couldn’t sleep the night before.

Sure I was nervous, but more than anything I was just pumped. What we had been praying about, and planning about was finally coming to fruition. It was time to Rebuild.

My hope is that over the last 12 weeks you’ve have similar feelings of elation as God has stirred you into a new work of Rebuilding.

Rather that work has been personal, familial, professional, financial, marital, whatever… I pray that you have experienced the joys and adrenline of the first few steps into a rebuilding work of God.

But as familiar as that feeling of new beginnings can be, I suspect that we have all at some point or another experienced them puttering out, losing steam, and we give up before the work can be completed.

Transcontinental Railroad

George MacDonald in his book A Resilient Life, references this experience with the Building of the Transcontinental Railroad.

When the construction was to begin many important dignitaries gathered where the first rail was to be laid.

One of the dignitaries invited to this ceremony was Collis Huntington, a massive financial backer of the project…

But Huntington declined the offer saying,

“If you want to celebrate over driving the first spike, go ahead and do it. I don’t. Anybody can drive the first spike, but there are months of labor and unrest between the first and the last spike, and I’ll join you in Sacremento.” (where the project would be completed).”

Huntington wasn’t romanced by first spikes, and premature celebrations.

He knew that between the First and the Last Spike, there were hardships to be endured, and sweat to be offered.

He knew that this project was going to require Perseverance.

Church, I’m not sure what God has specifically stirred you to Rebuild.

But 13 weeks in, I’m curious… How’s it going?

Are you sputtering? Losing steam? Thinking about giving up?

Has that adrenline of the first spike disappeared?

If so, I pray that our text will encourage you greatly as it teaches us to Persevere.

Every work of God is going to require perseverance. So let’s look at our text, and i’m going to give us 3 Principles of Perserance.

And rather than reading the text in its entireity, we are just going to kind of stop and start, and take it verse by verse.

Nehemiah 6:1 ESV

Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates),

Our text opens in vs. 1 with the work ALMOST OVER.

The wall has been built to the point where there are no breaches left!

The only work remaining were the doors of the gates!

And when the enemies, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab heard that all of their attempts to resist and oppose the Work of God have all but failed…

They knew… the time is now or never.

They have one last chance to thrwart the plans of God and purposes of God.

And man, we’re going to look at all 3 of their tactices here, but more than anything I just want us to see Nehemiah’s incredible Perseverance.

He is going to literally and figuratively shut the gates on his enemies, and peresvere in his work.

And the first principle of Perseverance

SAY NO TO ONO

Say No to Ono

Nehemiah 6:2 “Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm.”

From the outside looking in, it seems that Sanballat and crew were ready to concede.

Ready to admit defeat.

Or at least call a truce.

An International Summit. A place they could discuss terms, and enter into peace, and live amicably as neighbors… and who knows maybe even be allies.

So they invite Nehemiah to Ono.

Ono was about 7 miles southeast of Joppa. SLIDE

Sitting at the border of Judah and Samaria. Most likely neutral territory.

For Nehemiah it would have taken about 2 days to get there, so with a full day of discussing terms, probably a 5 day roundtrip.

But Nehemiah shockingly says NO to ONO.

Nehemiah 6:3 “And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?””

But put yourself in Nehemiah’s shoes for a moment. Would you have said no!?

I mean, they were going to have to live with these neighbors.

Convential wisdom would say… “Nehemiah here is a real opportunity for diplomacy.”

What’s 5 days, if diplomacy can be reached over the next 50 years!?

But Nehemiah says NO to ONO!

He said… no, no, no I can’t come because I’m doing a great work!

Now listen, this wasn’t an arrogant statement.

Nehemiah wasn’t boasting about his self-importance, nor magnifying the high esteem of his task.

In fact, Nehemiah’s work wasn’t “GREAT” in the eyes of the world.

Truth be told he actually left a great work to do this job of rebuilding.

He was the King of Persia’s right hand man,

The cupbearer to the most powerful man of that time period.

Yet he left that great work to engage in this menial task of building a seemingly insignificant city.

No Nehemiah understood that the greatness of his task had nothing to do with the task itself, but was directly correlated to the greatness of His God who called him to that task.

It was God who had stirred him.

It was God who had put it into his heart.

It was God’s good hand that had been upon him.

So Nehemiah declining, was in essence saying, “I’m occupied with the greatness of my God.

5 days roundtrip to meet with you, will take 5 days away from the work I’m sent to accomplish. .

But they kept insisting, Nehemiah 6:4 “And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner.”

Nehemiah said No to ONO.

And Because Nehemiah knew His priorities.

Priorities

Nehemiah let his Priorities drive his decisions.

Roy Disney, brother of Walt, once said, “Decisions are easy when your priorities are clear.”

This is a true principle yall.

Nehemiah prioritized the Work of God, and consequently saying NO to ONO was a clear decision for him.

Oftentimes the work of rebuilding that God has stirred in us comes to a premature end, becuase we start saying YES to new or the wrong initiatives.

But what we say NO to is often more important than what we say Yes to.

Some of you are so close…

The breaches are enclosed.

All that’s lacking are some finishing touches.

But you’ve started to say YES to too many good things, and consequently you’re saying NO to the God THING.

I hear people say all the time that they want to prioritize growth in God by prioritizing church.

But they say yes to things that keep them away on Sunday.

I hear people say they want to prioritize growth in God in their homes by prioritizing family dinners.

But end up saying yes to so many evening activities that drive thru’s and eating in a constant state of transition quickly becomes the norm.

Or we say we want to prioritize waking up early to spend the first portion of our days with God.

But end up saying yes to one more instagram reel, that becomes another, and another, and another, and to compsensate for those YES’s we turn the alarm off and say No to the Work God is stirring.

This happens all the time ya’ll.

So the call is to Persevere, by saying NO to ONO’s.

And let our priorities drive our decisions.

But ONO wasn’t the only tactic. Look with me at verse 5.

Don’t Fear the Smear

Nehemiah 6:5–7 “In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports you wish to become their king. And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.””

After saying No to ONO, the mask of Sanballat and crew came off, the fangs came out, and they succomb to such a low blow!

They send Nehemiah an “OPEN LETTER” that is a classic smear campaign.

A Smear Campaign, is an intentional effort to undermine someone’s reputation, credibility, or character.

And let me tell you ya’ll. Their effective!

In the 1960s, a man by the name of Ralph Nader began raising alarms over vehicle safety. Those alarms begin to negatively impact General Motors Sales.

So what did GM do, oh they hired private investigors to tap his phone, and search his trash, they even hired prositiutes to seduce him, all to tarnish his character and by so doing they tarnish his credibility.

This is what was happening to Nehemiah. First, there’s the exaggeration.

This report is being reported around the NATIONS. Everybody knows this is what you’re doing. Everybody is talking about.

I mean Geshem… the guy who hates you, I mean he’s a fine fellow, totally trustworthy and he says it too.

Secondly, there’s the gossip.

This was an open letter. Meaning unsealed. Public. No privacy.

It would have been read by people all way the way from Joppa to Jerusalem.

And that’s the intent. To spread this smear as far and as fast as possible.

Then there’s the misinformation.

“You want to be king, and want to rebel against the King of Persia.”

Ya’ll this couldn’t be further from the truth! We just studied in chapter 5 that Nehemiah forfeited all the rights his position allowed him.

Nehemiah wasn’t interested in ruling, he was interested in obeying!

But it doesn’t matter if its true or not, it just has to have the appearance of truth, and once people interpret it wrongly… you’re discredited. Or the real goal is accomplish To distract you.

You see these things are so subtely effective!!

If Nehemiah defends it. And start tracking down every hand that the open letter has passed through. Every person or nation that has heard the report.

And he scrambles to meet with each party and defend himself… He’s already lost.

Because his time would be diverted to the SMEAR, and away from the Work of God.

That’s the goal. To get Nehemiah to put down the Trowel.

But on the other hand, if Nehemiah leaves these smears unchecked, they could bring down the wrath of the Persian king on the Jewish community.

All the work of rebuilding, could be over in one swift seige by Persia, all because of one effective smear.

Church, here’s the truth, when you begin prioritizing the Work of God, which means your time is spent less and less with those opposed to God… you’re going to be smeared.

You want to get serious about your walk with Jesus, you begin to see that it requires you to spend less time with that group of people that consistently lead you away from Jesus.

So they sit you down and say, “You know, we all think you’re taking this Jesus stuff a little too seriously.”

“And you know I wont say who, but one of our friends even feels like you’re getting judgy just like all those other church people.”

Or I know families that have been stirred to adopt, and their own families come out of the woodwork with smears.

You know, we were talking, never mind who, but we (at least 1000) and we don’t think you’re ready for this step.

Don’t you think you should get your current kids in order a little bit.

You should probably think about what this is going to do to them.

I want tell you all of mine, but I’ve been privy to my fair share of smears, and let me just tell you. Their effective!

They distract and discredit, and before long we’ve stopped working.

How should we respond? How do we persevere through the Smear Campaing?

Let’s look at nehemiah.

Nehemiah 6:8–9 “Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.” For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands.”

Nehemaih doesn’t FEAR the SMEAR

First, He stands in truth. vs. 8

The NLT records, “There is no truth in your story, you’re making up the whole thing.”

In essence, Nehemiah doesn’t track down who heard what or who said what, he received an open letter, so he just sends back “fabrication”

And just kept working.

You see, you can’t satisfy men like Sanballat with facts, reason, or evidence. The only way to satisfy Sanballat was to give into his demands, and Nehemiah unequivocally refused to do that!

Secondly,He entrusts himself to God.

Nehemiah 6:9 “For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands.”

What a beautiful and ultimately essentail prayer this is!

Ya’ll do you know how hard it must have been for Nehemiah to ignore rumors and accusations!? How hard it was to not worry about his reputation, or to withhold his own defense!?

How hard it must have been for Nehemiah to live peacefully, and work steadily despite the uncertainty of knowing whether Artaxerxes would act on these lies!?

Nehemiah was struggling here ya’ll. But he does exactly what he’s been doing since the beginning.

He prays.

He would need God’s strength to combat these smears.

Oh Church, when fears & smears begin to pull you off the Work God has called you too, may I encourage you to PRAY.

Psalm 55:22 “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”

You will need God’s strength to continue on.

Church, so many of you live paralyzed by the fear of what others think about you, or say about you, or what they might say about you.

This fear has kept people from the Work of God for centuries!

John 12:42–43 “Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”

Don’t let that be true of you. Don’t let your love for the acceptance and glory of man, outgrow your priority and love for God.

Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard’s Almanac said, “Since I cannot govern my own tongue, tho within my own teeth, how can I hope to govern the tongues of others.”

You can’t… So speak the truth, and entrust it to God.

So Nehemiah successfully Says No to ONO, and Does Not FEAR the SMEAR, but there’s one more tactic all aimed at stopping the work of God, and I have to say they saved the best for last.

Bypass the Bait

Nehemiah 6:10 “Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.””

Although he declined a meeting in Ono, he took the meeting wiht Shemaiah.

Shemaiah apparently had the reputation of a prophet.

Perhaps Nehemiah assumed him to be a true prophet, which is why he took the meeting.

And Shemeiah who was “enclosed to his home” which means that when Nehemiah entered he made some big scene about secrecy and locking all his doors.. . and says.. “We can’t talk here.”

“There’s trying to kill you, and it could happen this very night.”

And the only way to foil this attempt is to hide in the temple.

But Nehemiah Bypassed the Bait. That’s principle #3.

Nehemiah 6:11 “But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.””

He BYPASSED the BAIT

Nehemiah 6:12–13 “And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me.”

What Nehemiah discerend was that Shemaiah had sold out.

He was on Sanballat’s payroll, and was the bait to lure Nehemiah into the Temple.

But the question I think we have to address, is how could this give Nehemiah a bad name!?

I can understand a bad death… assassination. But Nehemiah says, the intent wasn’t actually death, but a bad name.

Well he answers that question, “For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and SIN.”

You see according to Numbers 18:7, only the priests could step behind the veil into the innermost parts of the Temple.

NEHEMIAH wasn’t a PRIEST! He wasn’t permitted in the innerparts of the Temple!

Many years before in 2 Chronicles 26, Uzziah the King, thinking more highly of himself than he ought, brazenly entered the Temple was immediately struck with leporsy.

The temptation here was to get Nehemiah to think more highly of himself, and sin as well.

SIN would have discredited Nehemiah.

You see the higher one’s exposure or the greater one’s influence, the more one’s personal standards and wisdom will be put under attack.

This is why spiritual leaders must strive to live above reproach in all areas, because if a spiritual leader can be lured into the trap and take the bait than it doesn’t just discredit the leader,

It has the potential to dismantle the faith of those led.

But Nehemiah, Bypassed the Bait.

And you know how he was able to do that?

He had developed Discernment

Discernment

Discernment is the ability to judge matters rightly, according to God’s view of things, and not simply based on what meets the eye.

Discernment is a 6th sense, so to speak that can spiritually see into what is right and what is wrong.

It’s possessing proper judgement.

Now it isn’t proper judgementalism. Oftentimes people tout their discernment when in reality it’s just hyper criticialness or judgementalism.

But throughout our text today, Nehemiah was unbelievably discerning.

He discerned the call to ONO was intending to do him personal harm.

He discerned that the open letter was intending to drop his hands from the work.

And He discerned that Shemiah had sold out, and just trying to bait him into sin.

Church if we want to perseveer in the work of God, we are going to have BYPASS BAIT by developing discernment as well.

Now some in the church are gifted in an unusual measure of grace with a gift of discernment (1 Cor 12:10)

But for most, it needs to be developed.

First, pray for it. Psalm 119:66 “Teach me good judgment and knowledge,

Second, believe the Scriptures when they say there are False Teachers everywhere!

Ya’ll… Scripture is clear, there are Shemiah’s scattered everywhere!

Jeremiah said they will prophesy delusions from their own minds. (Jeremiah 14:14)

Jesus said many will appear and even perform great signs and wonders to deceive. (Matthew 24:24)

Paul said they will appear as savage wolves in sheep clothes distorting the truth, trying to draw away the disciples (Acts 20:28)

Peter said they are unstable, and distort the Scriptures to their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:16)

John says they are all throughout the world, and speak from a viewpoint of the world (1 John 4:4)

Ya’ll, these false teachers will have an appearance of godliness, but actually deny its power.

And you will know them by their fruits, but you have to be discerning!

Now more than ever. With the popularity and pervasiveness of social media and sound bites, the insurmountable volume of blogs and articles, the overwhelming number of podcasts, books, etc… now more than ever false teachers have permeated the market and minds of people.

It’s scary ya’ll, because as Paul 2000 years ago foresaw, you and I are going to be tempted to not endure sound teaching, but instead we have itching ears and will want to accumulate teachers for ourselves that suit our own passions...

This means that with one single google search you can find 100 people to tell you what you want to hear.

And you’ve based a teacher’s godliness on their sound bite, or number of followers, or how well designed a book cover is, or how they made you feel without actually discerning the real fruit of their lips from their lives than you’re done. You’ve bit the bait.

and the work of God is halted becuase we have turned from the truth.

Shemiah’s are everywhere ya’ll. Use Discernment.

But Thirdly, know the Scriptures.

So often we are led astray because we believe what other people say about the Scriptures, when I just read to you the primary tactic of a false teacher is to distort the Scriptures.

To twist them. And it sounds good. It has a huge kernal of truth, but it’s out of context. Or it contradicts other texts.

The best way to bypass that bait is to be a man or woman of the Word.

Nehemiah knew the Scriptures. He knew what Numbers said, and he knew about Uzziah.

So Nehemiah is a mature example for us.

Hebrews 5:13–14 “for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

Spiritual kids put anything in their mouth.

It’s the mature that have constantly practiced discernment that feast on the meat.

Nehemiah 6:14 “Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.”

Just as he did previously, Nehemiah aware of the evil intended against him didn’t last out at Shemiah or Tobiah or Sanballat, instead he left it in God’s hands.

Deuteronomy 32:35 “Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’”

So, if you want to persevere in the Work of God you’ve got to Bypass the Bait and develop some discernment.

Conclusion

Nehemiah 6:15–16 “So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.”

Wow, what a remarkeable feat of perseverance.

In 52 short days the entire project was completed.

Walls that were laid bear for more than 100 years… set straight in 52 days.

In the face of persevering opposition, the people persevered and completed the task God had stirred.

And look at vs. 16— The enemy after seeing their success, were disheartened and finally made aware that the God of Israel is real.

As we’ve said all along, this wasn’t just about building Jerusalem, it was about reflecting their God.

And as they obeyed and built Jerusalem, the surrounding nations saw their God.

Church, the work that God has stirred you to do, however seemingly insignificant you may think it is, is always a work that is aimed at His ultimate glory and honor.

But the first spike is easy isn’t it.

As Collis Huntington said, “ there are months of labor and unrest between the first and the last spike”

It’s going to take Perseverance.

And Nehemiah shows us 3 Principles to Persevere.

Say No to ONO--- prioritize the work of God, and say no to good things so we can say Yes to the God thing.

Don’t Fear the Smear— Love and live for the Glory of God, far and above the glory of Man.

& Bypass the Bait— Develop some discernment, and live according to the Word of God.

Nehemiah sure is a good example here, but you know, he’s nothing compared to Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ

Sanballat and Tobiah wanted Nehemiah to come down to ONO, very similar to how the people told Jesus, “Come down from the cross!”

But Jesus was doing a great work, the greatest work.

And he persevered, knowing that He must priortize God’s purposes, and Say No to His Ono.

Jesus’s life was rife with smears.

He was called the prince of demons, many called him insane and out of his mind.

Yet, he never feared the smears. He didn’t challenge his critics, he just spoke the truth and trusted God.

Finally, Jesus was offered bait.

Out in the wilderness a shortcut was presented. Just fall down and worship satan, and the cross won’t be needed. Same result. No pain. But in taking the bait, Jesus would need to disobey his father, he would need to sin.

But Jesus bypassed the bait, he exercised discernment, and Finished His Work!

Hanging on the cross, Jesus cried out “IT IS FINISHED”. He finished His work.

And once the job was done, immediately his enemies and those around began to perceive, surely this man was the Son of God.

Jesus more than any other has reflected to us the Image of God, and he did, just as Nehemiah did, with great Perseverance.

Pray.