Nehemiah 6 - The Need for Perseverance

shall we open up our Vilas this morning to Nehemiah chapter six it was 606 BC when the southern kingdom of Judah found themselves under attack by the Babylonians God had warned them for hundreds of years that idolatry would lead to captivity suffering and they hadn't listened and now it had become a reality but in His mercy God said that only seventy years would they be kept in that Babylonian kind of stronghold and then they would be allowed to come home but he wanted them to learn that idolatry was not a place that they should live he he wanted to be the only true God in Isaiah chapter 44 and 45 the Lord mentions the man by name who would let them go home a fella named Cyrus he is mentioned by Isaiah a hundred and fifty years before he's ever born but when the medo-persian empire overthrew the Babylonians he came to the throne and two years later he said to the Jews go home and fifty thousand people left for a seven hundred mile trip to a place that had been absolutely leveled so Ruby Belle and Joshua led them 80 years later Ezra the fella that's the book in front of this book brought two thousand more folks that 700 miles to Jerusalem and twelve years beyond that Nehemiah came Nehemiah was a young man who had never been to Jerusalem worked for the king and a very you know kind of trustworthy government role but God began to work in his heart that he should care about how Jerusalem was fair he had never been there he had only heard reports of you know the city without a wall that was kind of overrun by their enemies constantly and Nehemiah began to pray God if you'll send me I'll go prayed for four months planned for four months finally had an audience with the king where he was able to voice his concerns and had answers for the king because he had been planning all along for months after that he finds himself looking at the rubble in Jerusalem probably worse than he imagined again he sought the Lord for guidance he gathered the city together he shared with them the vision that God had given them and the work began together in earnest to build this wall with every stone that went into the wall the enemy rose up started with mockery that didn't work it turned to threats even threats against their life last couple of weeks in Chapter five as this work continued the threat came from within there was a famine in the land the rich landowners and stuff even amongst the Jews that were building so began to take advantage of others and Nehemiah was just fit to be tied he shared with them how he'd been trying to help folks and these guys were tools of the enemy and in bringing division into the work and last week we finished chapter 5 looking at 5 or 6 verses where he got this rare kind of look into the into the life of a powerful man his private affairs and how he handled things well this morning we get to the halfway part in the book the wall will be finished this morning in these chapter in this chapter and really next week the focus will go from wall building to life building and and Nehemiah will kind of take a step back and push ezra forward if you will but before this wall gets built we verse 15 we get one last shot across the bow by the enemy who really doesn't give up and this morning I think through all of these lessons of building in the midst of all of the of the opposition and stuff which is certainly one of the lessons of Nehemiah this attack goes after Nehemiah personally it's gone against them in threats it's gone against the people in mockery they've made fun of the work they've they've threatened their lives there was division within as people were taking advantage of each other but here's his final ploy let's go after Nehemiah directly and he's been a faithful guy but yet with faithfulness even if it comes you know more opportunity comes more difficulty as well so it Nehemiah has to kind of finish by faith so faith is an interesting topic biblically because biblical faith is different than what we so often hear from people people will say things like this I've been and I believe God and so God answered my prayer or I was I was hanging on to something and and here's what I get as a result and we tie faith with receiving almost as if you know that's how we define faith I got something out of trusting God biblically is just the opposite when you get something that doesn't require faith any longer so God defines faith as the evidence of things that we're still hoping for and that we don't see or if you like the the faith that most pleases God is the faith that you have in him because he said what he has said but you haven't realized it yet you trust that he will do what he says but you haven't seen it and Nehemiah in that regard has had to do this building project if you will always was an eye upon the Lord and and verse 15 is really not the the conclusion because he has been pleasing the Lord through thick and thin over every kind of opposition that he's had to face and that's going to be true as well of the opposition that he's going to face now so it's like faith for Noah it wasn't that the ark was finished it was the fact that he built for 120 years you know hundreds of miles away from from water and it had never rained and yet he's stuck with it that was faith to believe what God has said and that God honored or Abraham who walked through the land of promise for his whole life here in God say this is gonna be over as one day and he lived that way but he'd ever drill to see it he got he got a graveyard out of it or Jeremiah who preached for fifty years to a people that wouldn't listen and his final job from the Lord was to write down what he saw and observed as the people were being carried away into rap but Babylon because they had refused to listen to his warnings but he did so by faith well Nehemiah now is the guy in the crosshairs of these enemies that have tried just about everything that hell could throw at them to stop this work and nothing so far has worked we read in verse 1 now it happened when sanballat - by a guess from the Arab and all the rest of the enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall so that there was no breaks left in it though at the times I hadn't hung the doors yet in the gates that both sounded ballot and and Geshem said to me come and meet together with us among the villages of the plains of oh no but they thought to do me harm here's an interesting lesson to learn Satan oftentimes attacks when you're just about at that place of victory we think sometimes it's only when we're down oh man we're struggling know sometimes the Satan's greatest attacks seem to come on the heels that here of a a ribbon cutting ceremony look the enemy doesn't rest and he he'll never say die he his goal is to stop you from serving God you know David fell with Bathsheba at a time when he had never merit militarily lost the battle he was home he was enjoying the fact that he'd been so successful the Lord had blessed him you know he was sitting back and his feet were up but his guard was down and he fell mrs. Potiphar hit up on Joseph maybe the same week as mr. father fur handed him the keys to the houses that I want you to take care of all that I own I trust you she came out of the woodwork with his tab day with her temptation to him Jesus comes publicly to to present himself to the world as the Messiah at his baptism he is declared to who he is the first thing he faces is the enemy wanting to to take him down a bunch of roads to offer him alternatives to the cross the guys come down from the Mount of Transfiguration seeing Jesus glorified and down at the bottom is a demon-possessed boy waiting for help behind there or RB beyond I should say mountaintop experiences are oftentimes valleys and so here the work is almost done and now the enemy resurfaces for his last-ditch effort to stop it but he uses a different tactic his tactic now is something we haven't read before he wants to be friends can't we be friends and he invites nehemiah to a village 25 miles or so to the food to the northwest it was really the message that says could we mend our differences it seems harmless enough in fact it might be appealing if you were there I mean doesn't want God doesn't God want us to forgive and and and restore things you know he he sent he's he seems to be humble and he he wants to meet conman what what have we got to lose but Nehemiah is not so ready to go he his discernment is these guys haven't repented there this is just the next tactic and his kind of spiritual antennas are up and and he didn't want to stop what God was doing with him to go and meet with them after all they wanted to meet in a in a place called oh no so that should be a tip I don't know don't go there well here's their first plan this is there this is their pitch can we can we have lunch can we meet for dinner verse three Nehemiah sent messengers to them saying I'm doing a great work I can't come down why should the work cease while I leave it and go down with you but they sent me a message is four times and I answer them in the same manner plan a won't you be my neighbor the enemy now can you imagine the the times or the or the Jerusalem Post the next morning the headlines saying something like governor Nehemiah snubs invitation to a summit conference on Middle East peace because that certainly would have went the way that it could have went come on Nehemiah loosen up a little buddy the walls finished we can put those doors up for crying out loud go make peace with these guys yeah you're kind of kind of narrow-minded but Nehemiah stood firm he wouldn't budge because he was doing a great work and didn't want it to stop here's a lesson about how the enemy can work against you in your life and that is he will come subtly simply to sidetrack you into things that aren't in and of themselves a problem but they stopped the work that God has given you to do and that's that's far more dangerous than the enemy who jumps out of the closet hi I'm the devil here to destroy you that you go no and I'm myself with the devil but but this is much more subtle right this looks pretty innocent but yet if he had gone this route the work would have stopped and all the effort he had put in and serving the Lord would have been you know kind of drawn back so here's the lesson from Nehemiah if you have the right priorities they'll protect you from the enemy's deceptions all right the enemy does a column let's have lunch we'll visit they go go fine and and his argument is a can't I'm gonna stay where God has put me what's wrong with much nothing wrong with lunch but it isn't promoting that which God has given me to do first I'm doing a great work why do you suppose the city had so long sat without a wall around it and the answer is that the people that lived there had been distracted by other things the priorities of a wall never went reached to the top oh it was fifth on the list or third on the list but we got to build our own houses we need a gym we got to have a deal or we're not having we don't have a bowling alley I don't know what they're doing but they weren't building the wall they were distracted right and because of that things that weren't getting done the priorities were out of whack let me ask you how many years have you vowed to make your some changes in your walk with God and what's happened to that it's still on the list it's like my diet it starts every Monday ever tomorrow is the day I start my diet and notice that the enemy doesn't take no for an answer for different times come on you can come on we'd like to have lunch we'll buy dinner how about on Terra Tuesday how about Saturday morning they just wouldn't give up but the priorities is stuck and kept him they were persistent the enemy is persistent you better be persistent in your priorities eventually verse 5 their true colors are shown Sanballat sends his messenger are serving a fifth time with an open letter this one was read publicly this is what it says it was reported among the nations and Gershom has said that you and the Jews plan on rebelling therefore according to those rumors you're rebuilding the wall and you're gonna make yourself to be King and you've appointed prophets to declare about you in Jerusalem saying there's a king in Judah well these master matters will be reported to the king now you're sure you don't want to have lunch right all of a sudden their kindness is wearing thin and Nehemiah was right these guys are not up to all good at all but look what they've resorted to if won't you be my neighbor it won't work how about if I slander you I'll just go after you with lies and these are pretty big lies none of these are true at all we've been hearing that you want to be the king that you're building the wall to rebel against the king that you've got false prophets that you're paying off to send around town saying you are the king and I think that our job is to tell the King what you're up to trying to be king let's have lunch are you sure you won't talk to us you can avoid this whole ugly mess now look these are outright lies from the rumor mill of hell if Satan can't get you with kindness be careful that he doesn't get you through slander when Paul wrote in the Ephesian letter towards the end of chapter 4 I think verse 29 but he wrote let no corrupt communication or word come out of your mouth but only those things which are necessary to edify so that you can impart grace to those that are hearing you that's really a preventive dessert verse right it's a work verse given by God to the church to say if you do this the enemy can't get in because he'll use lies in an innuendo to to disrupt and to destroy and going after Nehemiah the FETs were to him now I want you to notice in verse 6 that that lies very rarely have a source it's always like this well I heard from I don't remember you know people are saying who's saying I don't know unnamed sources quoted by one guy but let's face it things that are unquoted are unsourced is still heard they can still bring lots of destruction it's like it's like the lawyer in court who knows what he's about to say is not gonna be allowed but he'll get it out in the jury will hear it and then he'll withdraw but he's gotten it out because you can't retrieve stuff once it kind of goes running out of your mouth pretty soon it's just kind of blowing up there everywhere so that's their threat right we've heard we're we're talking everyone knows but it was all a lie so Nehemiah's a very difficult spot on the one hand if he goes he kind of falls into their hands and now they've shown their cards or wicked though the work will stop he'll disobey God you know he'll he'll probably do the wrong thing on the other hand if he doesn't go there is at least a chance at these wicked lies and these rumors are going to take hold in the hearts of some of the people you know of some of the leaders some of the wealthy the the nobles or even worse maybe it'll get back to the king and maybe he'll believe it and if he believes that maybe he'll knock the wall down he'll stop this project maybe I'll get arrested maybe he'll kill me what do I do what would you do what do you do when people slander you and I know it's happened because we live in a sinful word so what do you do do you do you defend yourself at every turn do you answer every criticism via confront every naysayer what does nehemiah do let's look at what he does he's a pretty good standard for us verse eight he said to the accusers no such thing as you have said has been done these are inventions out of your own heart and then he said this they were just trying to make me afraid they said his hands will be weakened in the work and it won't get done so Lord strengthen my hands two things that Nehemiah does number one he denies the lies good enough his word is sufficient is nay is name and secondly verse nine nehemiah admits that it frightened him a little bit this was their intention they wanted to get me off my game you know I think if you ever expect too much of yourself spiritually these are kind of verses that should encourage you because here's a model believer in the Bible guy that that really has no chinks in his armor you don't find any weakness with him just like Joseph there are people you read about but you don't like because they never do anything wrong we like Peter and guys like that because they mess up all the time Nehemiah never messes up but here's a guy that just has done everything right and yet he's afraid I know that's what they're up to their one they want to scare me they want me to stop working and serving the Lord so denial an honest appraisal of what has done to him and then prayer Lord be my dispense strengthen my hands he doesn't go after the accusers he goes to after the Lord for strength he leaves it with God outwardly he's hanging tough and relief he's crying out for God's strength it's kind of like what we read this morning in the psalm David wrote I hear the slanders of many they take counsel together to destroy me fear is on every side their schemes are to take away in my life but as for me I will trust the Lord David did the right thing in responding to this kind of an attack by the enemy and that is you deny it and then you trust God to fix it now that's far different I think than what we usually try to do we want to get even we want to retaliate we want to fight fire with fire we want to clear the air or set the record straight we want to go fight for our are our rights you know I read somewhere that our feet never run faster than when they run to our own defense and I think that's right but but that's usually the way we like to respond you know but that's not Nehemiah I want you to learn from him he moved on he left it with the Lord I got things to do he realizes what they were up to but he wasn't falling for it I remember as a young pastor we would go every Thursday morning to kaveri costa mesa and password kind of like a little ministry school where he'd like impart to us kids you know wisdom and he'd be talked to us and and it was always really fun but I remember one day he he walked into our our group of maybe 20 or 30 guys and he said how many of you are firemen and everybody looked around nobody's environment they're all pastors and he said all right just so you understand God has not called you to put out all the flames he's called you to teach God's Word and so quit worrying about the fires people set around you that's not your job let God work on that you go and share I I think I mentioned to you a few times just from personal experience and being in ministry in a church or being the senior pastor has its downsides as far as criticism but I usually hear about them from third parties people don't usually come me to me directly that they'll talk to my wife they'll talk to the staff they'll send letters without signing them they go in the trash just so you know and you quickly lose respect for back biters and gossipers and and what you hear is amazing I think I've told you but I'll tell you again just because I I always remember it when we hit on this topic and I did something shameful but I'll tell you anyway we had a lady 25 years ago she's in heaven now so I can tell her who sat in the front row here and I used to have pretty long hair and she didn't like that made me she she was always bothered me to cut it but then we also worked suits there was a time when I don't know what we're doing we had suicide so after the services lady came up to me she said that is the most god-awful tie I've ever seen in my life now really is that what you want to say we've nothing about the study just my stinkin tie so I made me mad and without blinking I said I'm sorry this is the tie my dad gave me before he died and I look like this well now she felt horrible and she left now I went and told her that I had lied to her six months later or so but I couldn't believe and I still can't to this day believe what people will complain about and how the enemy would love to slow things down just by the stupid stuff that is being stuff about you about me now whatever it might be it is a tool of the enemy and I think if you learned that then you can get by it and certain Satan would would love to distract the work but but we're not called to put out fires you know let the Lord be the one that watches over you yeah I thought about Jesus that he spent his time hunting down the people that said negative things about him he'd never made it to Calvary it would be a full-time job of tracking these guys down and he could have burned them all up you know now I understand I want to go get even I hear stuff sometimes I go really he said what and I want to call him and go over their house at midnight and drag him out of their house and just pray with him outlook you know or Quran that's what I want to do but I can't because I'd fall right into the trap of the enemy I don't want to be that guy I want to be that guy I don't want to be that guy so I love the fact that me and my he just says that's a lie and I'm gonna go serve the Lord God strengthen my hand I whatever the fallout is of these Liars let God work it out well that didn't work Plan C verse 10 afterwards I came to the house of shamaya he was a descendant of those guys he was a secret Informer and he said let us meet together in the house of the Lord within the temple and let's close the doors of the temple for they are coming to kill you indeed at night they're coming to kill you and I said to him should such a man as I flee and who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life I will not go in and then I perceived that God had not sent him at all but that he had pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sam Bowne had hired him and for this reason he was hired that he could make me afraid so that I would act this way and sin and so that they have caused to be given her evil report that they might report me my god remember Sanballat and Tobiah Lord you deal with them according to their work and the Prophet and no ayah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid won't you be my neighbor didn't work threats and slander didn't work how about some divine inspiration that is fake Nehemiah's response had been a firm denial now comes a guy in sheep's clothing who's a wolf and Satan like I said his farmer dangerous as a angel of light than he ever is as a roaring lion but here's a guy a prophet jahmai and he was on the payroll of the enemy he was prophesying for dough he could have been a TV evangelist but he comes to Nehemiah with these words thus saith the Lord thus saith the Lord right and what does the Lord say we gotta hide we gotta lock ourselves in the temple I'll stay with you bro but they're coming to get you I've got new information I got inside they want you dead but we can hide in Church we can lock the door no one will get to you let's do that run for your life it's your only hope head for the hills save your own neck I've had people say to me and maybe you have as well then they come and tell you something and they said the Lord told me to tell you now that's something that's a hard thing to to deal with because what if the Lord has said something to them when you employ the name of the Lord in what you're about to say now got take it mysterious right the Lord said oh the Lord what did he say and then they lay your little trip on it and a lot of times it's that you see they use the Lord's name just to give efforts as to what they wanted to tell you you know so what I've resorted to saying this well I'll pray about that and number two could you have him call me he has my number as well he apparently called you I'd like him to call me I'm in the book I'm in his book anyway and that usually kind of puts them into it but but sometimes the enemy through Fame kind of inspiration religious phone eNOS will come to get you away from what God wants to do and again notice nehemiah's response is awesome first of all he said I can't run I'm supposed to be an example to the people should a man like me who's putting puss in this position who's encouraged these folks who've been asked by the Lord to lead them in the ways of the Lord can I turn around now and run away my in my behavior it will impact them in a really negative way I know what they're up to he says they want me to act in fear irrationally so that I have reason to to talk to the king about me to point out my behavior fear can make you do irrational things it's the enemy of your faith certainly you know Abraham lied about his wife at the borders of Egypt thinking he was gonna save himself and he almost lost everything that was dear to him David shows up at the Philistines city of a Koosh carrying goliath sword he thought he could get away with that well no they arrested him on the spot and david knew that he was a dead man so he began to spit up on himself and run headlong into a wall headfirst was acting like an idiot they let him go ahead he's nuts let him go because that's what fear does should such a man as I flee I'm God's child I'm serving Almighty God that's they shouldn't move me and I'm not gonna budge I don't even care if it cost me my life I will not compromise on what I know and again Nehemiah has the right answer he makes the right choice and they're frustrated yet again but he understood so look it's all about priorities isn't it leave the work of God to come make peace and the plains of oh no respond to slander run around like a fireman and be stopped in the work that God has given you and you find yourself losing ground rather than gaining it and if that doesn't work maybe some spiritual guy will come in and use the name of the Lord to get you off your base just to fry well the Lord showed me die you know if you don't okay past this Facebook to 20 people or the Lord the wrath of God will be a fine okay act crazy because the fear of God doesn't work one last thing verse 15 well finally the wall was finished it was on the 20th day twenty-fifth day of Elliott in the 52 days 52 days now in the midst of all of the onslaught of the enemy the wall is finished in a little over seven weeks that's amazing isn't it humanly impossible now this isn't the wall that you see around Jerusalem today Jerusalem is far bigger than it was then but but still in the models we have of Jerusalem in the days of Nehemiah this was a huge accomplishment really it had to be the hand of the Lord and I love verse 16 15 is great but listen verse 16 it says it happened when all of the enemy heard about it and when the nations round about of it saw it they were very disheartened in their own eyes why they perceived that this work was done by God this is this is the reward for faithfulness right the enemy's mouth is shut and you stand with the with the glory of God aren't around you and you can just look at the Lord dead right there are enemies but God isn't you put off by them if you will praise the Lord that God will have the last laugh isn't it that he will have the last laugh look Satan's greatest plot and and take that out of these first six chapters his greatest goal in your life is to pass along these words to you stop it he wants you to stop praying he want you to stop serving he wants you to find reasons why you're not walking with God where he could replace him with something else to act in fear to respond or act to criticism or to or to threats it's all designed to do one thing stop you from doing what God has given you to do and the Holy Spirit has only one word for you just do it Satan says don't do it God would call us to do it to stay the course to to not be turned to the right or to the left and one of the lessons that you learn early on from these chapters in Nehemiah is that you're gonna have to learn to sew in all kinds of circumstances easy times hard times stick with it man if you stop reading your Bible stop going to church stop making yourself accountable to people stop serving I guarantee it six four months from now you are not gonna be the person you are now you're gonna you're gonna fall apart you're gonna die Gress if on the other hand you keep at doing what you know to do six months for now you're gonna be stronger and and more blessed it's just the way that God works well the wall is finished and you think well good finally this is gonna he's gonna get some rest well think again verse 17 in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah and letters from tamiya came to them and many injured in Judah were pledged to him because he was the father-in-law to this person here his son was married into this family and so they reported his good works to me and they reported my words to him and and he began to writing letters to threaten me in to frighten me so the work is finished but now there's another problem inside the church inside the body inside the the people of God is Tobiah who has now married in to the Jews along with his son they are both positioned in town they have lots of support and now a nehemiah has enemies in the camp wolves on sheep's clothing who you know go behind his back and question is every word and this persecution from them implanted their will continue to the end of the book because you're called to serve no matter the consequences or Noord no matter the situation not going to be easy to serve the Lord just called to serve Him Nehemiah should tell us the necessity of pressing on through every trial and to keep your priorities straight just think about this before as we add 19 verses that's all we've read nehemiah has an offer of phony friendship from an enemy who'd like to destroy him he has faced slander complete absolute lies Jesus was called a wine-bibber a glutton a friend of sinners they questioned his motives they said he was one born out of wedlock they falsely accused him and yet 1st Peter chapter I think it's chapter 1 towards the end of 1st Peter - I'm going with - at the end it says that when Jesus was reviled he didn't respond in that manner he just committed himself to the father who would judge righteously in other words he didn't bother with it at all Lord you hear them deal with them he was faced with with phony religious insights now he's going to be constantly faced with infiltration and betrayal of those around him it sounds pretty much like the world around us doesn't it and yet it is in that environment where to serve the Lord and to come out on top so may we be encouraged next week I'd like to give you a list of things that we find in Chapter 7 for personal revival steps to personal revival be a good checklist for your own life how are you doing in keeping your the flame in your life burning for your faithfulness and your relationship with God so read chapter 7 there's a lot of names in there don't bother with those I'm not going to either but the lessons are around them ok and then we'll take a look at them together father we thank you tonight this morning for your faithfulness to us thank you for your word and especially the warnings from this book that tells us we have an enemy certainly that doesn't rest and doesn't take any days off but yet we need to be perseverant in our faith diligent in our relationship with you that that we need to be careful that we don't fall for being distracted from the priorities that you've set before us that we won't find ourselves spinning our wheels or all of our energy is going to defend ourselves or track down our accusers or or set the record straight but that we would just keep our eyes on you and and see that our life is more than just self defense it's all about preaching the gospel telling others about Jesus and trusting Lord that you'll strengthen our hands you'll protect us from the enemy you'll keep our integrity intact you'll take care of us as we look to you and may our focus be there and may your focus be there this morning don't let the world distract you keep those priorities in check want to be friends I don't have time for that I got a I'm doing a great work it's an important work then do it and stick with it and I know the Lord will bless because his word never goes out boy these are the lessons we get right from the pages of his word so you can apply them to your heart you need prayer this morning maybe you've been beat up lately with the enemy's plots just leave it here Jesus said cast your cares upon me so give it to him and then go home leave it here with him at his feet and don't be turned away from the work God has for you to do by the distractions the enemy will so subtly bring into your life shall we stand

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Length: 36min 30sec (2190 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 24 2017