Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!

How many times have we heard this expression from others whenever we are trying something new or when something does not go our way?

We see several examples of perseverance throughout Scripture whether it be the Israelites staying faithful in the midst of trails and tribulations or the prophets staying faithful to God while the people turned their eyes towards idols.

We see in the New Testament that Jesus experienced these temptations and had His fair share of hills and valleys in His earthly ministry as well.

He raised Lazarus from the dead and instead of declaring the day a national holiday, the people set out to kill Him (in ).

Jesus did not get discouraged but instead looked ahead at what was to come: the cross.

After the cross you might think that His work was finished, but His resurrection and ascension continued His ministry even though there were people constantly attempting to stir up opposition and controversy towards Him and His disciples.

Following the ascension and being seated at the right hand of the Father, we might believe that Jesus’ work is finally finished, however we know that He is going to return again one day and bring about the new heaven and new earth.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!

How many times have we heard this expression from others whenever we are trying something new or when something does not go our way?

We see several examples of perseverance throughout Scripture whether it be

What we see in the life of Jesus and in the life of various prophets and apostles is that we will never arrive completely.

Our work will never be done.

We will never arrive.

We will not reach a day this side of heaven where we can kick our boots off and say that the work is done and there is nothing more to be done!

We see in that even though the people finished the wall, there was more work to be done.

Let’s see what has to show us about persevering until the end.

is over 70 verses with the majority including numbers and specific people groups, because of this we will summarize it in one point and spend the majority of our time on .

Persevering through Trickery (1-9)

As we see in the opening verses in chapter 6, there is good progress being made on the wall.

The gaps were filled, the weak areas were strengthened.

Progress was being made, but work needed to continue in order to complete the project.

Sanballat and Tobiah realize that their window of opportunity to seize power in the area was coming to a rapid close.

The only way that they would be able to capture the city once the walls and gates were completed would be to attack the city directly.

To make matters worse, the Jews were protected by the Persian government with the documents that the king gave to Nehemiah whenever he left his court.

Because of this blessing, the Jews were a protected people that would be very difficult to defeat upon the completion of the walls and gates of Jerusalem.

This final push would be crucial.

In moments like this in our lives, where we are nearing the completion of a very important season of our lives, we need what Nehemiah has: eyes that look at both the progress we have made while also looking ahead at the important work that remains ahead.

You can’t celebrate until the work is over.

The gates, according to verse 1, still need to be installed.

Have you ever seen videos of track and field athletes who compete in a race and begin to celebrate before they cross the finish line only to end up being passed by a fellow competitor?

We generally laugh at these individuals, but what they have done is foolish.

The finish line is right in front of them, yet they celebrate before the race is completed only to be passed by a competitor who finishes the race hard.

We cannot do this in our Christian lives as well.

We must realize that our work continues and our race is not a spring, but a marathon.

We see in verse 2 that Sanballat and Geshem sent Nehemiah a message telling him that they wanted to meet.

Nehemiah knew these men, though, and he could see through their message.

In verse 1 Nehemiah calls these men “enemies”.

All along, Nehemiah recognized who these people were and that they were dead set on bringing destruction to the people of Israel.

He knew that nothing good would come from meeting them in this manner.

For us in 2019, are we realistic about our enemies?

Do we recognize the fact that Satan loves to disguise his deadly lies as lovely truths?

Whenever we are brought into a potentially vulnerable position, to we let our guard down or do we keep our guard up?

We must seek to do this in order to keep ourselves safe.

As we see from Nehemiah in verse 3, he understood that his work was far more important than meeting with his enemies.

He simply said that he was doing a great work and could not afford to leave.

Why would Nehemiah say that this was a “great work”?

This was a man who was cupbearer to the most powerful king in the world.

A man who probably was a trusted advisor to the king and a man who would have had a relatively good idea of the things going on throughout the Persian Empire.

Yet, he says that the work he is doing (rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem) was a great work.

In the grand scheme of things in the world, rebuilding these walls was insignificant.

There were mightier and more important cities in the empire than Jerusalem In the eyes of the world, this was not a great work, in fact it was not even something to write home about, however it was a great work because God’s name was at stake in Jerusalem.

The walls were going to protect God’s people - that is why Nehemiah said that he was doing a great work.

What work are you doing?

What work is our church doing?

Would you say that it is “great work”?

We know that we are tasked with making disciple making disciples.

It might not look as mighty as sturdy walls around a city, but God’s name is at stake in this process as well and we cannot lose sight of that!

Putting rocks around a city is not what made Nehemiah’s work great, it was God’s name, promises and people that made his work great.

If you are a student - God has called you to honor Him in your studies.

If you are an employee - God has called you to honor Him in your work.

If you are an employer - God has called you to honor Him in your companies work and in how you treat your employees.

If you are a spouse - God has called you to honor Him in your marriage.

It’s not about the kind of work, but it is about who it is for and how we do it - we must remember that as we go throughout our lives!

These men continue to send Nehemiah this message, however they now read it in public in verses 6-7 by spreading false rumors.

Sanballat is trying to bully Nehemiah into doing what he wanted him to do.

Because Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall and had offered hope to the Jews, maybe he was trying to make a power play as well.

There was some truth in these rumors, however the majority of what is said in verses 6-7 is false… Have you ever had false information spread around about you?

It’s not fun at all.

How we respond to misinformation matters a lot.

We should respond with grace and as Nehemiah does in verse 8.

We reject these false rumors and continue doing what we were doing.

We should not be discouraged whenever an enemy of God approaches us with false information or a rumor.

We should not believe something different, we are to remain faithful to what the evidence says.

Scripture is truth and God’s Word tells us that the wisdom of God is foolish to a non-Christian.

Because of this, we must remain faithful to God rather than man.

We must constantly pray (as Nehemiah models for us time and time again).

We must pray and then take action.

Persevering despite Intimidation (10-14)

Verse 10 brings about a new wave of challenges.

Nehemiah realizes that this “prophet” was not from God.

How can we possibly tell if someone is offering us advice that is from God or not from God?

I have heard people say that whatever they keep coming back to in their heart is what God is telling them to do.

Do you see the silliness of this line of thought?

What if your hearts desire is to do something ungodly?

Is that God telling you that it is ok?

Of course not!

Everything we do or think must be examined through the Bible first and foremost!

If we want to know God’s will, we must know His Word.

If you want to know if someone’s message is Biblical or not then you must evaluate their claims in Scripture.

Are they saying what the Bible says or are they twisting Scripture to fit their agenda or worldview?

This is the situation Nehemiah finds himself in here and because of his knowledge of Scripture, he is able to tell that this person is not of God.

You could say that Nehemiah had the Spiritual Gift of Discernment.

As verse 12 shows us, this false prophet took money to go against God.

He valued money more than God and he was attempting to lead Nehemiah astray.

Can people in our world be led astray by money?

Can preachers be led astray by the promises of earthly riches and success and fame?

You’d better believe it!

There are dozens of preachers that I’ve seen get caught up in the health and wealth and they completely sell out their messages in order to gain a large following or money or possessions.