Build The Wall
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1 Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews.
2 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?”
3 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!”
4 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.
5 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.
6 So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.
7 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.
8 And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.
9 And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.
10 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.”
11 And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.”
12 At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.”
13 So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows.
14 And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
Introduction:
When Moses sent 12 spies over the Jordan river, 10 of those spies came back with an evil report. In that report was fear regarding two things. Giants, and walled cities.
40 years later, the Jews returned to that same spot. The Giants were still there, and the walled cities were still there. The first battle over their promise was to march around Jericho and watch God bring those walls down.
Then one by one, the walls of their enemies fell. City after city, and king after king was defeated by Joshua and his army with the help of God their saviour.
In our text we find the opposite happening. Instead of walls falling down, we hear as Nehemiah depicts the laborious task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Walls that once protected God’s people, where now laying in piles of rubble and debris. Many of the stones were burned, or charred.
The Stones that once protect them, now lay there telling a story of defeat. If those walls could talk, they would tell you all about how the enemy came in and did what we were supposed to do to them. How they took down our walls, invaded our homes, and took our families captive in a faraway land.
That captivity was coming to an end, and a remnant of Jews were commissioned to began the rebuilding process. They slowly, but methodically placed one stone upon another. stone on stone, and stone on stone. One by one, the wall began to take shape.
This progress of rebuilding go the attention of the enemy. Let me tell you something that always rings true. Something you can set a clock by, something you can almost predict will happen… the minute you start trying to rebuild what the enemy has torn down, the minute you start trying to make forward progress, then first time you even think about doing what God designed you to do, that is the instant the enemy will perk up.
Satan will leave you alone for decades. Centuries if you could live that long. I mean, he doesn’t care two cents about any soul that is on their way to hell, but let one of them try to turn around. let one of them imagine for one second that they want to make heaven their home… get ready, he’ll be right there.
I’m not saying this to discourage anyone. I’m just telling you to face reality. The road to fulfilling your purpose and calling is not called easy street. It isn’t a lazy river. It isn’t a shortcut through the rose garden… it is a place where the sheep will be separated from the goats. It is a place where the wheat is separated from the chaff. It is a place where the people who want really victory are separated from those that just do not like being defeated.
1 Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews.
Sanballat and Tobiah represent the enemy in this story. Verse one says that when they heard progress was being made by the Jews… they got angry, greatly enraged, and jeered them.
The devil won’t talk to you for decades, but start praying each morning, start reading your Bible once a day, start trying to get your kids to love Jesus, and then comes the Jeering, the mocking, the discouragement from the enemy.
The devil will say anything he can say to get your to quit building the wall. He’ll say things like:
You tried this before and failed
You don’t have what it takes
God doesn’t even love you.
This is taking a long time because you can’t do it.
You were never meant to do it.
You can’t do it.
You won’t do it.
You don’t even want to do it.
Everyone knows you can’t do it.
Other people are doing it because they have something that you don’t.
On and on and on he goes. It seems like it will never stop, and if you listen to it, it won’t stop until you quit. But something has to rise up in you and you’ve gotta Satan, My minds’ made up, I won’t quit no matter what, even if I stumble, even if I fall, I’m going to keep getting up and you are waisting your time trying to get me to quit. I’m not quitting.
Questions from the Enemy:
Questions from the Enemy:
Look at the questions Sanballat asked:
2 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?”
Question 1:
Question 1:
What are these feeble Jews Doing?
Notice the word “feeble”.
It means:
lacking physical strength, especially as a result of age or illness.
The enemy will always call you feeble. You don’t have the strength to do what God called you to do. But let me tell you the truth.
2 The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
33 God is my strength and power, And He makes my way perfect.
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
When Satan tells you that you are feeble, you tell him, that might be true. I might not be able to do it with my strength, but With God, I can do all things because He is my strength!
Question two:
Question two:
Will they restore it for themselves?
In other translation, it says it this way:
Can they restore it by themselves?
The answer is the same as the first one. I might not be able to do it alone, but I don’t have to do it alone. God is my strength.
In chapter 6, after the wall was finished, everyone, even their enemies realized that God was the one that rebuilt the wall.
15 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.
16 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.
When you get that wall built in your own life, you will look back and see all the signs that God has his hand in it. Each season of the building process has the fingerprints of God on them.
Question 3 and 4:
Question 3 and 4:
2 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?”
Will they offer sacrifices, will they finish up in one day?
This questions is about the time it was taking. It takes time to build a wall.
- You can’t start with the top row of stones,
you’ve got to start at the bottom and work your way up. (no shortcuts)
You can’t just take all the stones and throw them in the air, or dump them out, or blow them up and have them fall into place.
You’ve got to lay them one stone at a time.
Trust the process
While you are in the building season, the process can seem to be never ending. You just see one row of stones being laid on another row of the exact same stones. Over and over you keep laying the same stones, and the repetitiveness of it can be discouraging. But hold on. Wait. God is going to blow your mind if you will not get in a hurry, and just keep laying stones. One day you will look up and that wall will be over your head and you will need a ladder to lay more stones, and someday that wall will complete, and you can look back at the finished product and realize that if would never be a wall without each individual stone I had to lay.
That means praying again tomorrow even though I prayed today. Keep laying stones.
That means reading the Bible tomorrow even though i read some today. Keep laying stones.
You can’t see it yet, but soon a wall starts taking shape. The enemy will keep reminding you of how long it is taking, but don’t be discouraged. Just lay another stone.
31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings as eagles; They shall run, and not be weary; And they shall walk, and not faint.
Question 5:
Question 5:
2 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?”
Will they revive the stones…?
Sometimes it feels like rebuilding the wall is impossible because you’ve been here before. You had a wall that was higher than this wall in the past, but that wall fell down for whatever reason. Maybe I gave up last time, maybe I got discouraged, maybe I fell for the lies of the enemy.
And the devil will hold those past failures over your head while you are trying to rebuild the wall.
Look at the burnt stones from the last time you tried to get this close to God.
Can you revive them?
Can you put life back into a wall that died the last time you tried to build it?
I want to tell someone here today, or watching online, that you past is in the past. Don’t let your past dictate your future. This is a new wall. Forget the old one. Forget the failed attempts. Those failures have nothing to do with this current wall we are building now.
Nehemiah didn’t let this mocking by Sanballat stop the building of the wall. He just kept the people putting one stone on top of another, stone after stone, day after day.
Tobiah’s Turn
Tobiah’s Turn
Then after Sanballat took his jabs, another enemy spoke up named Tobiah the Ammonite.
3 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!”
The enemy loves to ridicule your progress. Not only are you progressing slowly, but what you are doing is so flimsy that it won’t stand. Just one little fox can take it all down.
The devil wants you to think that your walk with God is so fragile, that if you make one little mistake, you may as well quit building.
This isn’t true though. You’ve got to understand that God’s mercies are new every morning according to the prophet Jeremiah.
You’ve got to get a spirit within you that says, it doesn’t matter how many times I stumble, I want to build this wall, and I want to see my family building the wall with me, and I want to stand back one day and see the completion of this wall, and give God the praise for it.
Then each time you trip up, quote…
8 Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.
Nehemiah’s Response:
Nehemiah’s Response:
After Sanballat and Tobiah had their fun, Nehemiah finally responds. Notice, he doesn’t start by talking to the enemy. He starts by talking to God.
4 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.
5 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.
Don’t try to take the devil head on. He wants you to be distracted by him. Instead, just keep talking to Jesus. Let Jesus fight for you, and keep building the wall. That’s what the next verse says.
Nehemiah 4:6 (ESV)
6 So we built the wall…
The enemy mocked us,
So We built the wall.
The battle raged…
So We built the wall.
Our past was looming…
So we built the wall.
We seemed like we were feeble
So we built the wall.
We tripped up sometimes
So we built the wall.
The Enemy fights harder
The Enemy fights harder
You would think that it would get easier now. We’ve ignored the mocking of the enemy, and we just kept on building the wall. Progress is being made… we should be in the clear, but this is what I came to preach to you today. This is not the end. We still need to keep building the wall until it is complete.
After the words of the enemy fails, he brings the sword.
7 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.
8 And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.
So, the enemy starts fighting even harder now, but the game plan doesn’t really change. Nehemiah just tells the people that they need to keep building the wall, don’t be afraid, but be ready to defend what this wall is protecting.
Let’s all stand…
14 And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
And this is my main point. Your wall is worth fighting for. Why? Because walls don’t just keep people in. They keep the enemy out.
We want to enemy to stay out of our family, and out of our homes, and that is why your wall is worth fighting for.
Keep putting stones onto of stones, and defend your family and your homes from the spiritual attacks of the enemy.