Nehemiah 4:1-14 How Do You Fight Fire?

At the time of Nehemiah, the Nation of Judah had now been back in Jerusalem for close to 100 years. The Temple had been rebuilt probably between 60-70 years now, but the people of the land had left the walls of protection around the city in rubbles, as a result they had no protection against their surrounding enemies.

When we are first introduced to Nehemiah he was the Cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. While he had been born in captivity, God had blessed him and given him a significant role in the Persian Empire. To be a Cupbearer meant you were in many ways a confidant to the king. Most of his important decisions he would run by you, that is where we find Nehemiah at the outset of the Book that bears his name.

At the time his brother had just returned from a trip to Jerusalem. Nehemiah, anxious to hear of the condition of the city of his fore-fathers, summoned his brother to the palace to give him a report. The report was not good and Nehemiah spent the next several days weeping, fasting and praying. Seeking the face of God for what should be done. God then did what many would have thought to be the unthinkable, He charged Nehemiah, this white collar worker who likely had no experience whatsoever in construction, to be the lead man in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. God did not just move in the heart of Nehemiah, he also moved in the heart of King Artaxerxes to allow Nehemiah to take a leave that ended up being for 12 years. Not only did the king allow him to return, he also sent with him a small army as well as letters to the governors of the area letting them know that Nehemiah is acting with the blessing of the king.

From the very start Nehemiah experienced opposition from the enemy, which was led by 2 particular individuals. One was Sanballat who was the governor of Samaria. The other was Tobiah who was an Ammonite official, others joined in, but these 2 were the ring leaders. You will see these 2 throughout the Book of Nehemiah. They understood that if Jerusalem prospered under the leadership of the Jews that they would loose their influence and as a result money.

As we look at the life of Nehemiah, there are a few things I want to make sure we don’t miss this morning. Next Slides

He had an unswerving love for God.

He had a deep love for God’s people.

He was devoted to prayer.

He was a student of the Word of God.

It was these characteristics in the life of Nehemiah that opened the door for his declaration of himself in chapter 2:8 “for the good hand of my God was upon me.” Keep in mind as Nehemiah wrote this, he was not in any way bragging on himself, in fact if anything he was pointing out that the only reason he could accomplish anything is because the Sovereign God was in complete control of all things.

The lesson for us is that if we have the characteristics that we see in Nehemiah, we will also experience

“the good hand of my God was upon me.”

Now, as you may recall, we closed out chapter 3 with the Israelites beginning their rebuilding effort. Yet back in chapter 2, Sanballat and Tobiah had been harassing them to prevent them from ever starting. While it is not spelled out specifically in Scripture, it does seem evident that in the past every time Sanballat and Tobiah mocked the Jews, they would stop dead in their tracks, but for some reason their mocking didn’t stop them this time. Now they had Nehemiah leading the effort and the godly leadership he was providing made all the difference. One of the other things that we noticed in chapter 3 was that out of all the individuals listed who were rebuilding the wall, none appeared to have any skills in the area of construction. Keep that in mind as we move into chapter 4.

Let’s go ahead and read this mornings passage. Please stand for the reading of God’s Word:

“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.”

I don’t know about the rest of you, but when I look at what has taken place at Liberty Chapel in 2019, I am just thrilled. So many exciting things, I mean just over a month ago we had 15 people join our church! I can’t wait to see what God is going to do here in 2020! The Nation of Judah was also experiencing a time of great encouragement. They had been back in Jerusalem for close to a hundred years, and they now had a strong Godly leader to lead them in a rebuilding effort on the walls of Jerusalem. It was undeniable that God’s Hand was on Nehemiah, the future looked very bright!

With the similarities between the encouraging times we are experiencing and that of the Nation of Judah in mind, the timing of this mornings passage is something we need to make sure we don’t miss, so pay close attention to this mornings key points. While we should all be excited about what God is doing here, we also need to be prepared, which brings us to,

The first key for us to understand in looking at this mornings passage, and that is: Next Slides

THE PRESENCE OF OPPOSITION. Vs. 1-3

By the way, this key isn’t just for us as a church, it is for us as individuals also. The truth is, there should never be a point in time in our life as believers that we are not growing in our relationship to the Lord. That being said as we grow, we can be certain of The Presence of Opposition. Our enemy, the devil, does not want God working in our lives. So when God starts to work, the devil picks up his attack. It is actually quite similar to what we are seeing with Sanballat and Tobiah. First they tried to stop the rebuilding effort before it even started. To begin with they used verbal insults and harassment. Often times the same type of thing takes place when we are trying to win those we know to Christ. Satan frequently will send someone their way to discourage them from putting their faith and trust in the Lord, and more often than not, his most successful tool is verbal attacks. Unfortunately, this type of attack is very effective most of the time. Which is exactly what had taken place in the Nation of Judah previous to Nehemiah stepping onto the scene. But the attacks don’t end when an individual trusts in Christ. Many times they intensify, especially early on. We are seeing this in Nehemiah. The Nation Of Judah is now building the walls, and the enemy steps up his attack. So, we can expect this as individual believers.

What we can expect as individuals, we can also expect as a church body. Our enemy, the devil, doers not want what has taken place in 2019 to continue in 2020. We need to prepare ourselves for his inevitable attacks.

The next key for us to be prepared for is: Next Slides

ATTACKS FROM WITHIN. Vs. 1; 5:1-19

Early on In Nehemiah, we see that there is someone and probably several individuals from Jerusalem who are giving inside information to Sanballat and Tobiah., That is very possibly one of the reasons why Nehemiah did his mid-nite inspection in chapter 2. It seems evident here as well. In verse 1 of chapter 4 we read; “Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall”. In other words he was not getting this by his own observation, he was hearing it from someone else. Based on what has already taken place, what is taken place here and what will happen later in Nehemiah, it appears that one of the Jews is the one delivering the news. We will look more into this in chapter 5 so, I will not go into it in detail now, but we do need to be aware that the enemy to may use individuals who are a part of the church body for his attack.

This brings us to the next key for this morning, Next Slides

THE ENEMY DOES NOT WORK ALONE. Vs. 2-3

More often than not, our enemy loves to involve as many as he can in his attacks. In verse 2 we read; “2 And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria... 3 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him”

What we see here in Nehemiah we also see in the life of the believer and the life of the church. The enemy uses as many individuals as he can in his attacks on us and we need to be prepared.

By the way, I want you to notice something else in his attacks, we see it in verse 2. Look at verse 2, what do you read first inside the quotation marks in verse 2? (“What are these feeble Jews doing?”). Let’s think about this accusation for a moment. Was there technically anything inaccurate with his description of the Jews? Going back to chapter 2 as well as what appears to be evident in the history of the returning exiles up to this point, this was a feeble crew. Again, as we look at the description of the wall builders in chapter 3, we see no evidence that any of the individuals had any experience whatsoever in building walls. Then let’s look at their leader, Nehemiah was the cupbearer the king, it is highly un likely that he has a single callous on his hands before he headed to Jerusalem. Probably had never held a hammer, who know’s he may never have seen a hammer! Yet here he was leading a unskilled construction crew in a huge rebuilding effort in Jerusalem. Sanballat was right, they were feeble. At least in the eyes of man, but:

Next Slide

What is feeble in the eyes of man can be a great tool in the Hand of God.

And truthfully we see this throughout Scripture, in fact we looked at this as we began our study of Nehemiah. Our very first week we looked at a list of some unlikely individuals God used to accomplish His will:

Abraham: An Old Man, through whom God birthed many nations.

Moses: A Stutterer, who became the mouthpiece of God before the Pharoah.

Gideon, a fearful farmer, whom God used to lead a weaponless army of 300 against a fully fortified army of close to 150,000, and Gideon’s army won!

David: A Shepherd Boy, who God used to slay the giant.

Truthfully, I could go on and on. The important thing for you and me to know is this, if God gives us a task to do, He also gives us everything we need to successfully accomplish the task. Because the servant of God never works alone, the Hand of the Almighty God is ever present in the life of the faithful servant of God. Can I say that again?

The servant of God never works alone, the Hand of the Almighty God is ever present in the life of the faithful servant of God.

This brings us to the next key in this mornings passage as well look at how Nehemiah handled the attacks of the Enemy. The title of this mornings message is “How do you fight fire?” In this instance the fire Nehemiah was facing was the verbal attacks of the enemy. Let’s look at how he handled the attacks. Next Slides

OUR GREATEST WEAPON AGAINST THE ATTACK OF THE ENEMY IS PRAYER. Vs. 4-5

I want you to notice what Nehemiah doesn’t do before we look at what he does do. Nehemiah doesn’t return insult for insult. If I am not careful that is my tendency. I’m betting that this is what you do as well. It is our natural course of action. When someone attacks us we are quick to point out their shortcomings. Unfortunately we can usually list them quickly because too much of the time our eyes are drawn more to peoples shortcomings than they are to their strengths. Nehemiah doesn’t do this, he immediately lays the attacks of the enemy at the Feet of the only One Who can truly handle them victoriously, the God of Heaven. Nehemiah doesn’t return insult for insult, in fact he doesn’t even defend himself. He immediately prays. We should do the same.

By the way, I want to make sure we don’t misunderstand Nehemiah’s prayer.

Look at his prayer in verses 4 & 5. “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.”

It is easy to look at a prayer like this and think, a man of God shouldn’t be praying this type of prayer. But there are a few things we need to know about Nehemiah’s prayer. The first and most important thing to note is that everything Nehemiah and the people of Judah were doing in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem was directed by God. This means that the attacks of the enemy were direct attacks on the clear will of God. So, Nehemiah’s prayer was not calling on God to judge the enemy for their attacks on Nehemiah of the Nation of Judah. His prayer was calling on God to judge them because of their attacks on the plan of God. He was calling on Gods to avenge His own Name, not the Nation of Nehemiah himself.

The other thing I want us to understand is that we can read many similar prayers in the Book of Psalms. These Psalms are called Imprecatory Psalms. Imprecatory Psalms are Psalms of judgement on the writers enemies. And we don’t really see God correct these Imprecatory Psalms. However, often times we do see a change take place in these Psalms, and the change that take place is not in the heart of the writers enemies. The change takes place in the heart of the writer of these Psalms. Frequently we see the Psalmist move from cursing his enemy to praise and worship of God, usually because his focus moves from his own struggles to the power and majesty of God. As a result he moves from calling for God’s judgement to praise and worship of God.

This brings us to the next key in this morning's passage, we see this key in verse 6. Next Slides

GODLY UNITY IS AN EFFECTIVE WEAPON AGAINST THE ATTACKS OF THE ENEMY. Vs. 6

I guess in reality we could say Godly Unity under Godly leadership, because both were present in this instance.

One thing is clear, after Nehemiah bowed before the God of heaven and prayed, he and the Nation of Judah then moved forward in what they knew to be the will of God. We read in verse 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.”

Nehemiah writes “So we built the wall” and “for the people had a mind to work”. By the way, notice Nehemiah didn’t say our minds (plural) were committed to building or to doing the work. He writes that “we has A mind to work”. A as in singular. In other words they worked together as on individual to do the work of God.

The other thing I want you to notice is that he writes “And all the wall was joined together to half its height”. The picture here is that directly after Nehemiah’s prayer, all of those who were a part of the crew rebuilding the walls of Jerulsalem appeared to be strengthened both mentally and physically and that within a short period of time the wall was completed to half it’s height. This was a remarkable accomplishment. This is what can happen when we are in the midst of the will of God doing the work of God, He strengthens us in body spirit and soul and He can accomplish the remarkable through us.

As we close out this morning, let’s review our key lessons:

As we live lives fully surrendered to God, and as He begins to do a work in us and through us, both individually and as a church. We can expect:

THE PRESENCE OF OPPOSITION. And often times those attacks may come from:

ATTACKS FROM WITHIN.

and:

THE ENEMY DOES NOT WORK ALONE…a couple of side notes we want to be aware of is:

What is feeble in the eyes of man can be a great tool in the Hand of God.

The servant of God never works alone, the Hand of the Almighty God is ever present in the life of the faithful servant of God.

When the enemy does attack:

OUR GREATEST WEAPON AGAINST THE ATTACK OF THE ENEMY IS PRAYER.

which often strengthens us body, soul and spirit to do the work of God.

and lastly:

GODLY UNITY IS AN EFFECTIVE WEAPON AGAINST THE ATTACKS OF THE ENEMY. Vs. 6

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