The Enemy's Work Within

Intro: The Work of Satan

A. It would be easy to chalk up the problems of the wall builders in Jerusalem as the rogue actions of evil men who had political power in their sights. After all, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem had obvious political ambitions driving their desire to keep Jerusalem weak and undefended. However, as we look at the events of ch. 2 and in ch 4 it would be superficial to say that it is simply the actions of surrounding leaders attacking the Israelites for political game, it is instead a plot of Satan to destroy the work of God to establish a city that would stand until Christ would victoriously enter to worship, and ultimately be crucified by the leaders that are worshipping wrongly in the temple. Satan has always attempted to destroy or delay God’s purpose to set a people apart in a place where His glory is worshipped this began with Adam and Eve, continued to Nehemiah, and continues today with his relentless attacks against the church.

Satan’s tactic of attack from the outside is often unsuccessful and, as we see in Nehemiah 4, unifies God’s true people, and purifies them together for the work.

Who first seduced them to that foul revolt? Th’ infernal Serpent; he it was whose guile Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived The Mother of Mankind.…

Th’ infernal Serpent; he it was whose guile

Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived

The Mother of Mankind.…

b. Satan’s anger and malice towards the Lord, who he envies, leads him to act rebelliously and in futility because of his hatred, he acts according to God’s providence to harm God’s people by lobbing threats, violence, slander, murder, and accusations. These are born out of the irrationality of Satan who proves to be joined with humans in his irrationality in that he envies God, and believes that he is equal to god. These outside attacks may satiate his rage, but they are not his most effective attack.

c. Satan, who is highly powerful and intelligent, and has been given possession of the sons of disobedience, has always adopted tactics that lead to division and quarrels within God’s people. These tactics will not ultimately prevail, but we must be vigilant to identify them as the attacks of Satan, and to give them no fertile ground to grow and bring derision upon the Gospel of Jesus.

Ovey, M. J. (2012). Off the Record: Sorrow at Another’s Good? Themelios, 37(3), 442.

B. The beginning of shows us Satan shifting his tactics from outside threats to the far more dangerous use of God’s people’s sin nature and worldliness to stir up strife and destroy unity. This type of attack is exponentially more dangerous in a context where satan has people who belong to him infiltrated among God’s people.

I. The Outcry of the People

A. The outcry is reminiscent of the outcry heard by God in which is quite an indictment on a rebuilding nation doing God’s work.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers.

Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

i. Injustice and fighting within leads us to become factions where we define each other as something other than image bearers and brothers. This word “Jewish” in verse 1 likely here refers to a strata of upper crust who had returned from Babylon.

ii. It is crucial to remember within church that our standard is much higher (we treat the world as image bearers, we treat each other as close family)

A.

B. Many who owned no land were starving and could not get grain  For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many. So let us get grain, that we may eat and keep alive.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

C. Families mortgaged their fields and property to be able to eat and were in danger of losing their lands. There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

D. People had gone into debt to pay taxes. And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

E. Children were being sold into slavery in order to eat. Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.”

F. The poor in this

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

II. The Validity of the Outcry

It is important to note that being poor in a Biblical sense is easily definable as an inability to eat or make life happen over the long term without a change in station or without a benefactor.

A. The Spirit of Generosity to Brothers “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8 but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the LORD against you, and you be guilty of sin. 10 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

B. The Law of Usury “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. 36 Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. 37 You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. 38 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

C. The

C. The brotherhood and distinction of God’s people “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. 26 If ever you take your neighbor’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, 27 for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

i. The Hebrew word ah-im is often used in Deuteronomy for and translated “brothers”. This implies a work for community where the individual is important, but the community is more important without regard to social status or tribal affiliation. God is consecrating a people, not a person. Equality in God’s context is not social, economic, or ability but instead based on our standing as family members in God’s kingdom.

ii. There should never be tribalism in family, there have always been attempts by the enemy to introduce this both from the constant intrusion of racism beginning with the Jew/Gentile split over a false gospel all the way to today’s postmodern view of people not as individuals but instead as oppressed or privileged groups that cannot change their tribal tags because the group is based on biological and not spiritual birthright. This viewpoint is a tool of the enemy that attempts to strip the gospel of its power to unite God’s people as a family that is one body.

English Standard Version Chapter 26

11 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.

iii. I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. This scripture shows us a picture of the people being bonded and blessed by the presence of God, how much more are we blessed to be called the Bride of Christ, and to be indwelt by God Himself.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

English Standard Version Chapter 26

11 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.

III. The Response of Godly Leadership

A.  I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. 7 I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.” And I held a great assembly against them

Nehemiah gets angry and takes counsel with himself Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.

Be angry, and do not sin;

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.Nehemiah gets angry and takes counsel with himself Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.

ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.

B.  and said to them, “We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!” They were silent and could not find a word to say.

Nehemiah humbly delivers a just charge, it is humbly done because he includes himself among the people, but the charge is still bold and scriptural, Godly leaders must speak humbly out of love for their brothers and sisters, but also boldly against the death and mayhem of sin You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.Nehemiah humbly delivers a just charge, it is humbly done because he includes himself in the practice, but the charge is still bold You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.

a. v. 8 shows the dichotomy of the judgement of God on saying His people’s children would be taken into slavery without being able to do anything about it with the contrast of the “brothers” bringing judgement on themselves by bringing themselves into slavery after paying to bring them out of foreign slavery. Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless.

and this is a great sin according to 10 And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the Lord your God? 11 Now hear me, and send back the captives from your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.and this is a great sin according to

10 And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the Lord your God? 11 Now hear me, and send back the captives from your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.”

C. So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies? 10 Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. 11 Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.”

Nehemiah calls on the community to fear the name of the Lord, with the underpinning justice of the law, to stop the exacting of interest (which could have been as high as 30%) and to restore the usury that had already been taken up. This shows the Biblical order of rebuking a brother which is level a charge in light of God’s word, then call to repentance

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.Nehemiah calls on the community to fear the name of the Lord, with the underpinning justice of the law, to stop the exacting of interest (which could have been as high as 30%) and to restore the usury that had already been taken up.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

i. v. 8 shows the dichotomy of the judgement of God on saying His people’s children would be taken into slavery without being able to do anything about it with the contrast of the “brothers” bringing judgement on themselves by bringing themselves into slavery after paying to bring them out of foreign slavery.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

IV. The Repentance of God’s People

A. They declare their agreement with the way of righteousness Then they said, “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.” And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

B. The priests swear a binding oath to following through with restoration, shepherds must guide their flock on the path of repentance so that decisions made at high emotion are followed through when emotion wanes and the grind of life with its renewed temptations continues.

C. Nehemiah lays a threat and a curse on those who would disobey the agreement I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

D. The people agree to the terms…and praise God, at this point we have righteousness and purity again.

V. The Unity of the Church

A. I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. This scripture shows us a picture of the people being bonded and blessed by the presence of God, how much more are we blessed to be called the Bride of Christ, and to be indwelt by God Himself.

Compare this Old Covenant promise to God’s people with the amplification of the New Covenant here:

I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. This scripture shows us a picture of the people being bonded and blessed by the presence of God, how much more are we blessed to be called the Bride of Christ, and to be indwelt by God Himself.

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

B. The Old Covenant used to imagery of family and brotherhood to unify God’s people, the New Covenant uses the imagery of a unified body who is headed by the incarnate God of all Creation, and who is in this body to bride of the Head of the body, perfect and unblemished.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

How can Satan hope to destroy this perfect union of Christ to His church? He cannot in an eternal sense, but in the current sense of Metro Church, He MUST not.

We commit to God by living in the Spirit Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. This results in us growing in personal holiness and manifests in a desire to worship God.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

We commit to Metro and grow in love of God’s church A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” This results in investing in our Biblical community and valuing our brothers and sisters with a desire to show the world God’s love.

We commit to serve and maximize our time, talent, and treasure for the progression of the Gospel.  You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

Communion

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Reading:

4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

We love the Lord with our whole heart

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.