Nehemiah 4
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 20 viewsNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Good morning, if you are new we have been studying the book of Nehemiah over the last three weeks and this morning we find ourselves in .
This is an exciting text to dig into,
When God’s People Do God’s Work in God’s Way, there will always be opposition.
When God’s People Do God’s Work in God’s Way, there will always be opposition.
Now one of the wonderful things about the Word of God is that it warns us. The Bible not tells us we will face opposition but it also tells us a little bit about our opposition.
2 Corinthians 2:
Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
If we dont forgive one another what we read is that we become outwitted by Satan and we fall into his design for us. Isn’t that true when we withold forgiveness from one another then seeds of bitterness begin to grow, and thats exactly what Satan wants.
Notice it is spelled out for us, we can see our adversary do you see that word devices?
It literally means forethought premeditated, when a designer sits down to create a device they have to plan and they are thinking what is the outcome gonna be, what is the purpose for what I am designing.
Satan is a designer he has a design and a device especially for you, to break you to force you into his mold, to make you behave like him not the Lord.
Now Satans ultimate purpose is to thwart the plan of God and the way he does that best is by opposing the people of God. Now he is very subtle some translations use the word scheme instead of design/device.
He is a schemer he is not all knowing, only God is all knowing. But he has been around a long time and he can observe and notice trends over the course of your life and he has a rough idea and is able to predict what you or I will do in certain circumstances.
He has seen us fall before, he knows where our weak spots are. He is a schemer he is designing things to destroy you and slow down or stop the plan of God from happening.
Ephesians 6
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.
So heres how it goes if you and I put on spiritual glasses that allowed us to see the spiritual realities behind this verse we would be terrified. We would be terrified, at the things which are taking place behind the scenes in the spiritual world.
The spiritual realm
There is an interesting chapter in Daniel where Daniel prays to God 21 days goes and God does not respond to his prayer. Do you ever pray and feel as though God has not responded at all to your prayer?
Your thinking hey um God it would be really nice to get some kind of answer I have been fasting and praying but no answer. Well pay attention the prophet Daniel got no response, but then all of a sudden an angel shows up and the angel says:
From the first day you began praying Daniel God heard your prayer but I could not come and give you Gods answer to your prayer because I was waging war against the prince of the kingdom of Persia.
Now thats really interesting isn’t it? That tells you that there are powers, rulers even in the Heavenly realms, highly structured very organized, they got their game down.
Then he says once Michael the archangel came to relieve me in battle then I was able to come to you, but heres the thing when I am done giving you God’s answer to your prayer, I have to go back, and when I go back I will be waging war against the prince of the kingdom of Greece.
Which is interesting because this means that these demonic forces have rulers over certain areas of the world. If this is true you think about it he says he has a ruler over the kingdom of Persia.
There has not been peace in the middle East since the garden of Eden, these demonic forces are highly structured and very good at what they do. Relentless they dont give up or fight fair, they are sneaky and crafty.
“The quickest road to Hell, is the one with the gentle slope.”
CS LEWIS
No sharp turns or twists just that gentle slope donward soft underfoot.
CS LEWIS wrote a book called the screwtape letters and essentially it was a story about an older demon who mentors a younger demon, his advice to the younger demon is this:
“you dont have to turn those Christians into murderers hey you dont have to do that. All you have to do is make them believe we dont exist.”
Isn’t that interesting just make them think we dont exist, because if they dont believe we exist then they wont know how to fight, they wont know where the real battle is.
So if you can just get them to think that they are their own God’s make them live for their own selfish desires and we have won! Their very good at what they do, so the reality is this many of us go through this life thinking that the battle is here when really there is so much more going on.
Then Jesus comes on the scene and He says this
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
What were going to see is this our man Nehemiah is about to actually put his hand to rebuilding the wall, the city of God. the moment he begins to do that fierce opposition comes his way.
Now I can remember a time when I was a young Christian when I determined that I was going to tell my friend the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and it was like the reality of thee verses became true for me.
I was reviled and mocked and shamed, and it wasn’t long after that i realized you cannot walk in obedience to God and be loved by men. People are going to hate you when you stand for the Lord. Just like they hated Jesus Himself they are going to hate you.
Jesus went to the cross and was put to open shame and He was God in the flesh.
The first three chapters our man Nehemiah he comes on the scene he gets a knock on his door it was one of his brothers. Nehemiah had a very high position he was cupbearer to the king.
So Nehemiah gets this knock on the door and it is his brother from Jerusalem and Nehemiah says tell me how is Jerusalem it has been 150 years since King Cyrus issued an edict that allowed the Jews to go home and rebuild their city, so he is thinking the city must be in repair right, so he hears from his brother
um actually the wall is broken down which means that you have no city, because without the wall you have no protection, some had gone back but they had done nothing.
When Nehemiah hears this it breaks his heart and he begins to weep. God gives Nehemiah a burden, and Nehemiah has this ability to look beyond himself to the people of God and so he sits down with his head in his hands and begins to cry as he thinks about the people of God.
Then he prays a very simple prayer “God forgive us of our sins” which is huge because he goes back to what had gotten them into this mess in the first place right, they had turned away from God and the people were scattered and Nehemiah says Lord I get it were here because we turned our backs on you!
He repents and confesses his sins, he has a spiritual burden and then God grants him a vision of how to fix the problem, and he waits for the right time and acts on it.
The King notices he is depressed the King asks why, He says to the king I wanna go back and rebuild my city not only does the king allow him to go back but he gives him the recources neccesarry to make it happen.
Nehemiah is on the scene and he tells the people that God has put it in his heart to rebuild and fix this massive problem. But there are these 2 guys Sanballat and Tobiah and they look at Nehemiah and they dont like that he is going to rebuild the city because they have a significant amount of power and influence and they see Nehemiah as a threat, while they should be rejoicing that someone is there to rebuild their city they stand opposed to Nehemiah because they dont want to lose their power or position.
We get to chapter 4
The reality is this, you can talk all you want about doing something for God but the minute you ste your hand to doing it, thats when the opposition begins. Christian we can be notorious for talking and not acting.
We talk and sometimes in our minds we think, well you know what if I do this thing, even though I know god is telling me to do this thing, then I know whats coming, so I just wont do anything.
We do this because we love our saftey, we love our comfort and security and we just choose to not borrow trouble. There is only one problem we never do anything god asks us to do.
so even the though of taking action, the though of encountering oppostionstops us in our tracks, so notice what Nehemiah does:
Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews.
He starts making fun of them, alright we were introduced to Sanballat in 2 and when he heard about he thinks I dont really like this idea too much...
Sanballat was the governor of Samaria this is the guy who the forces of darkness are gonna use to attempt to stop what Nehemiah is trying to do for God.
Notice when he heard that we were building the wall he became angry. When he understands they are actually going to do this He gets angry and the oppositions set in.
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?”
Theres been 100 years worth of trash that has been piled up around the city, when the Babylonians rolled into the city they set fire to it, the stones were made of limestone and limestone and fire dont mix, it makes limestone very brittle in other words they are saying they dont have the materials to do the job.
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!”
Was beside him- of course he was, because critical people love to run together. have you ever noticed that?
Critical people like to hang out with critical people, so he mocks them as well.
their wall is going to be so pathetic a fox will break down their wall.
So what do you do when you face this ongoing opposition?
Well Ill tell ya what Nehemiah doesnt do, He doesnt form a committee and say let’s find some guys who can put an end to all of the false accusations they are making against us. Let’s form a team of men who can argue and shut them up, he doesnt do that.
You know why?
Answer not a fool according to his folly,
lest you be like him yourself.
In other words these people are foolish enough to oppose what God wants done! Are we gonna some how win them over? No
If we do that, we end up engaging with fools and we become fools ourselves....
Do you know how hard that is? Do you know how hard it is to “I know what Im thinking, I know what I wanna say, but how do you have the restraint and not engage with the fool?
Nehemiah does speak but listen to what he says:
Nehemiah 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.
Nehemiah engages with God not men.
When Nehemiah says WE are despised I think he is including God in that.
TURN BACK THEIR TAUNT ON THEIR OWN HEADS, AND GIVE THEM UP TO A LAND WHERE THEY ARE PLUNDERED AND WHERE THEY ARE CAPTIVES.
He is saying God allow them to experience what we experienced when we were in exile allow someone to tear down their wall so to speak…
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.
Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out! Wow what a bold prayer.
For they have provoked YOU
Nehemiah understands that when you are doing what God wants you to do, you cant take it personally, thats a really important thing to remember you cant take this personally.
He says God this is your project you told us to do this, so when they mock us and oppose us they are really mocking and opposing you!
When you face persistent oppostion what do you do?
You Pray and Ask God For His Justice
You Pray and Ask God For His Justice
God will bring His justice and He will make things right, is you stand on the side of god it will be evident and if you are not that will be evident as well.
This is for God to handle, I love this Nehemiah isnt tryingto take matters into his own hands he just lays his problems in the lap of his Heavenly Father.
He doesnt argue with those speaking falsely of them.
HE just does it,
God Understands What This is Like
God Understands What This is Like
Whatever it is that you are being shamed for, whatever you are being reviled for you have to remember the cross. That is the only thing that will get you through.
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
We dont have anything like the cross in our day, Theologians will tell you the cross symbolizes death, thats truth, but you know what else the cross represents?
Shame
Very often one who was nailed to the cross was stripped completely naked. Why?
Because its embarrassing, there you are you are naked and then nailed to the wooden beams at eye level with others.
For the purpose of allowing your victims to spit on you or slap you, or curse you or whatever they wanted o do, while you hang there slowly dying and it was meant to shame you.
Pretty gruesome isnt it?
It was an instrument of shame as much as it was anything else WHO FOR THE JOY SET BEFORE HIM… WHAT WAS THE JOY?
SITTING RIGHT HERE
The next time you are despised and are shamed, or mocked bc of your faith in Jesus Christ, just remember the shame Jesus endured. Jesus would say the shame I endured I did it so that you could have a name written down in glory!
Jesus would say hey listen I know what your going through is hard but I want you to take a minute and picture my ragged body on the cross, and the shame that they put on me.
Jesus would say I despised that shame so that you could be my child.
This is what I love about Jesus He doesnt just say it He actually goes there and this is whats special about Jesus!
Buddah Confucious, Mohammed none of the leaders of other religions died in shame...
They all had followers around them, they were praised in comfort WHY?
BC they really werent that counter cultural, they looked alot like everybody else.
But when Jesus came and said I AM THE WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE YOU CANNOT COME TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME!
People said HOLD ON ONE MINUTE YOU CANT SAY THAT!
Thats way too exclusive
Jesus says I am gonna die in your place and that is going to satisfy the justice of a Holy and Righteous God and Im gonna take it for you!
Jesus is our leader and He is the example in all things, any shame or reviling you go through for your faith in Him, and you remember what He went through for you and know that you are in good company.
All of a sudden our problems become a little bit smaller in light of that.
So Nehemiah was opposed in what God told him to do what were he and his people gonna do sit down and discuss it?
Argue about it? no
Try to pursuade the people NO
Nehemiah prayed, and they kept building
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 wall is halfway built now, the people had a mind to work. When you begin to obey God it is always a battle of the mind.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
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.
By the way its ok for people to be angry with you. As a follower of Jesus Christ expect it.
Its ok for some people to be angry with you because your going to stand for what some stand against, and your going to stand against what others stand for.
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.
I love this verse
We prayed to our God and set a guard for protection day and night.
We know were being opposed they are surrounding us God fight this battle for us, God win this war. Now pick up your swords men, they pray and then they act.
They dont just pray and do nothing, they pray and ready themselves for a fight, and they just keep on building. God I really wish you would just take away this sin from me.
Some people pray and never act, and some people act and never call upon God both are wrong. We must pray and then act, trusting that God will intervene along the way and protect us.
There was once a king who becomes deathly sick, and he prays God please let me live longer and God says ok I’ll give you another 15 years to live but you need to go get this medication and put it on yourself, you see its both God is in complete control but He has also given us things to do.
So heres the point
God is in complete control but what you do matters
God is in complete control but what you do matters
God is in complete control
But they grab their swords and ready themselves and kept building.
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.”
Discouragement is building
And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.”
This is just like the work of the Lord they started strong they get the wall half built and they are like yeah, and then they are like man that thing is only half built?
This is taking too long
Jesus is baptized the spirit descends on him like a dove the Father speaks from Heaven and says this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased the NEXT SCENE
HE IS IN THE WILDERNESS BEING TEMPTED BY SATAN
ELIJAH HAS THIS MAJOR MILITARY BATTLE
Next scene he is in the wilderness depressed.
Paul starts preaching the gospel he is reaching government officials and the next scene he is in prison.
So much of the Christian life is this way you think things are going great you have victory after victory and then boom discouragment settles in.
Something tries to set you back
The enemies seek to seize the moment.
Nehemiah
At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.”
They are like listen this work for the Lord isnt worth dying for is it?
Just come back home
GREAT LEADERS KNOW HOW TO LEAD PEOPLE IN THE FACE OF DISCOURAGEMENT
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.
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.”
DO NOT FEAR!
The most repeated phrase in all of the Bible
fear is such a strong motivator
WE DONT HAVE TO BE AFRAID BECAUSE THE LORD IS GREAT AND AWESOME
Nehemiah 4:
When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work.
From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah,
who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other.
And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me.
And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another.
In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”
So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out.
I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.”
So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon at his right hand.
Why did there have to be an enemy?
Rome became great as long as there was an enemy forcing them to unity to vision and heroism, when she was done with her enemies she flourished for a time and then she came crashing down.
Opposition kept Rome strong
If you know Jesus and you try to accomplish anything for Him you will be opposed but the beautiful thing about Jesus is that He spent His whole life being opposed but he kept His eyes on the task God had given Him to do and He got the job done.
2 takeaways:
Ready Yourself For Battle, Keep Going
Ready Yourself For Battle, Keep Going
Make Sure Your On the Right Side
Make Sure Your On the Right Side
