If you are new to Nehemiah, then you need to know Nehemiah takes place in the capital city of Susa, modern day, Iran, 2,500 years ago. It is in Susa that Nehemiah learns about the pain and destruction of his home city, Jerusalem.
In Jerusalem the gates have been burned, the walls have been knocked down, the people are discouraged so Nehemiah prays (chapter 1), Nehemiah gets permission from the king (chapter 2) to return to Jerusalem to rebuild.
In chapter 3, where we were last Sunday, we see this stunning image of God’s people coming together to accomplish something collectively that they could never do individually, which is awesome but then comes chapter 4.
Woo! Chapter 4 is the punch to the gut you never see coming. Chapter 4 is visit from the doctor you don’t want to have. Chapter 4 is email that shows up in your inbox that you don’t want to read. Chapter 4 is the opposition, so that this morning we are going to see three sub-points; 1. The Discouragement. 2. The Response. 3. Application. Let’s look at our first sub-point; 1. The Discouragement.
- The Discouragement
Nehemiah 4:1-3, “1 Now it came about that when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious and very angry and mocked the Jews. 2 He spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy men of Samaria and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones?” 3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said, “Even what they are building—if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!”
Do you remember Sanballat and Tobiah from chapter 2? In chapter 2 it says, “Sanballat and Tobiah mocked and despised Nehemiah and his people.” But in chapter 4 we see Sanballat and Tobiah are furious and very angry!
Sanballat is a man who served as the governor of a region called Samaria, so we a little history. The people of Israel start off with Abraham in Genesis 12. Over time Israel is made up twelve tribes that make up the nation of Israel but after King David we see Israel split into two nations: ten tribes to the north (Israel) and 2 tribes to the south (Judah.)
The ten tribes established their capital city as Samaria and the two tribes to the south established their capital city as Jerusalem, and in the context of Nehemiah, Sanballat and Tobiah are from the north, Nehemiah is from the south and they don’t like each other.
It is similar to the division between north and south Austin. People in south Austin don’t care for north Austin. People in south Austin will say things like, “South Austin is the real Austin. North Austin is like Dallas.” That stings!
I once heard someone say to me, “Why would you live in north Austin?” When people tell me they live in South Austin I say, “Well this is the last time we will see each other because South Austin is so far away.” There’s a natural division!
In Nehemiah 4 Sanballat and Tobiah do not want Nehemiah and Jerusalem to get back on their feet, therefore, Sanballat and Tobiah are bringing discouragement through a pattern of rapid-fire questions. Did you see the pattern?
First, in verse 2 we see Sanballat gather up “his brothers and wealthy men in the community.” Do you see that in verse 2? Sanballat is whispering sweet morsels of discouragement with the people around him, so as to rally forces of discouragement against Nehemiah and his people.
Listen to me, any time we are trying to accomplish something in life for the Lord there are going to be forces of discouragement working against us as a church in Austin, TX.
We might be trying to raise our children to know the Lord, and there are going to be forces of discouragement working against us. We might be trying to ground our marriage in God’s Word and there will be forces of discouragement working against us. It’s going to happen!
It’s possible you might be thinking, “Michael, I don’t have people like Sanballat and Tobiah in my life.” Alright, you might not. You might have only known people in your life who are supportive and encouraging as you take steps to follow the Lord, but you also need to know when we are in Christ, we have an enemy who doesn’t want us to follow the Lord. We have an enemy who doesn’t want us growing in our faith, and His name is Satan.
You might be thinking, “Satan? Really?” Yes! There are spiritual forces of darkness working against us and Satan loves to whisper discouragement and doubt into our lives just like Sanballat and Tobiah.
Jesus referred to Satan as the evil one in Matthew 13. Jesus called Satan the prince of this world in John 12. John 8 refers to Satan as the father of lies and a murderer, so that all discouragement and doubt comes from Satan, and we see this pattern in Nehemiah 4.
Look at verse 2 again because Sanballat doesn’t stop with whispering. Sanballat starts taking shots at what the people of Nehemiah could actually accomplish. Do you see that in verse 2, “What could these feeble Jews possibly accomplish?”
Listen to me, these Jews in Jerusalem were feeble. The word “feeble” means “frail” and chapters 1-3 have made it clear that the people of Jerusalem are not operating from a place of strength, which makes the discouragement that much greater.
Right now, our church family in north Austin is a little feeble. We’re not as strong as we have been in the past, so that as a whole we feel a little frail.
Kids Village is up and running but it’s not as strong as we want it to be. New visitors are walking through our doors, but it has been more challenging than we expected. We have all this new equipment with lights and speakers, which is awesome, but we are still trying to find our footing with our music and technology.
That’s when discouragement shows up! That’s when the father of lies starts to whisper, “What do these people think they can accomplish for the Lord?” Look how fragile they are! Look how easily distracted they are!
Listen to me, every time we try to take steps of faith to follow the Lord, please know there are going to be waves of attacks coming our way because the enemy doesn’t want followers of Jesus to be strong in our faith. The enemy doesn’t want the light of Christ shining bright in this part of our city, so that the enemy will whisper whatever he can to create discouragement and doubt.
Look at verse 2 again because the opposition doesn’t stop. The next pattern we see in verse 2 is Sanballat takes shots at their motives, “Are they just doing all this building for themselves?”
Do you see that in verse 2? This is a tough one because in some ways they are building the wall for themselves, so that they might have security and safety but more than themselves they are building this wall unto the Lord.
And in the same way, when we set out to follow the Lord by pursuing our children to have a heart for Jesus, we are doing that for ourselves. When we want to strengthen our marriage, we are doing that for ourselves. When we want our church family to be stronger, Kids Village to be amazing, worship to drop us to our knees, teaching to soften hearts, hands and feet of Jesus into the community, yes, we are doing those things for ourselves, but we are also want to do those things as an act of worship unto the Lord.
That’s the danger with discouragement and doubt. It isn’t like those thoughts of discouragement and doubt are 100% false. The enemy doesn’t come out of nowhere with some wild thoughts like you should be an astronaut! No, the enemy takes fractions of truth and then distorts them and magnifies them so that following the Lord seems impossible.
That’s why we see this pattern at the end of verse 2 when Sanballat takes a shot at their ability, “Can these people take dusty stones and create a wall?”
It’s true. The people of Nehemiah are working with some cracked up dusty stones. Then Tobiah adds on to the opposition and says, “Yeah, even a fox could jump on this wall, and it would fall over.” He’s right.
Therefore, each of us this morning needs to know the Lord is going to move in us to take steps to follow Him. The Lord is working. The Lord is speaking. The Spirit of God is moving in our church family in north Austin to “Build and Belong.”
But in each of us, would do well to solidify in our soul, opposition is going to come, and we need to be ready. Let’s look at how Nehemiah responds. Let’s look at our second sub-point 2. The Response.
- The Response
Nehemiah 4:4, “4 Hear, O our God, how we are despised! Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity. 5 Do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have demoralized the builders.”
First, we see Nehemiah respond in prayer but notice the weight of the prayers. Do not forgive their iniquity! Yikes! But let’s be honest when the layers of discouragement in our life are not just whispers from the enemy but real-life people chirping in our ear, we are going to get frustrated.
Sometimes the lies of the enemy shows up in the flesh, sometimes people who are close to us, sometimes people in our church family, and God’s Word is teaching us, before we run our mouth off at those who are discouraging us, we would be wise to bring our discouragement to the Lord in prayer and pour out our frustrations to Him.
The Lord can take our frustrations. The Lord loves our honesty with Him. The Lord loves our dependency upon Him. The Lord works in us as we confess our frustrations, and we see this modeled in the life of Nehemiah. Look at verses 6-8:
Nehemiah 4:6-8, “6 So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. 7 Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on, and that the breaches began to be closed, they were very angry. 8 All of them conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it.”
In verses 4 and 5 we see Nehemiah pray. In verse 6 the people respond! But in verses 7 and 8 the opposition grows! Did you see that? Now there are more people who are trying to discourage Nehemiah and his people.
Nehemiah prayed and everything got worse! How many times have you had that moment? You pray and it seems like things got harder! That’s what we see in the life of Nehemiah. The attacks keep coming. In fact, the opposition is moving from verbal attacks to physical attacks! How does Nehemiah respond? Look at verse 9:
Nehemiah 4:9, “9 But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night.”
What does Nehemiah do? Nehemiah prays again! Nehemiah prays again because Nehemiah is trusting that the Lord is fighting for him and with him.
In the same way, when we are in Christ, we not only have an enemy who wants to discourage us from following the Lord, but we also have a Savior who is fighting with us and for us.
I need you to hear that this morning. No matter what discouragement comes our way. No matter what demonic thoughts sneak into our thinking. No matter what hits we might take morally, spiritually, emotionally, or financially. No matter how far we fall and no matter how many times we fall. When we are in Jesus, we have victory!
It doesn’t mean we don’t “set up a guard against them day and night.” We will get to that in a minute but right out of the gate we need to be clear that when we are in Christ, we have victory.
Jesus’ sees the fight we are in right now. Jesus’ hears the whispers of discouragement. Jesus’ knows the handywork of our enemy because Jesus heard those same lies and Jesus defeated him.
Jesus defeated the enemy with His life. Jesus defeated the enemy with His death. Jesus defeated the enemy with His resurrection, and one day, very soon, Jesus will take an account of every whisper of discouragement and vindicate all who are in Christ, so that until that day, we keep fighting, we keep praying, and we trust that He is fighting with us and for us as a church in north Austin.
Second, let’s talk about what it looks like to set up guard against the opposition day and night generally. We will get to what that looks like practically in a minute, but let’s just talk about why we must guard against opposition day and night.
When we step out in faith to follow the Lord, when we commit to investing biblical truth in our children, when we commit to reading God’s Word with our spouse, when we lean into our church to build and belong there is going to be opposition, therefore, we must set up guard against the opposition day and night.
I need you to see that this morning. Many times, we assume to ourselves, “Well if the Lord really wanted me to follow Him in these areas of my life, then there wouldn’t be opposition.” Makes sense, right? The Lord is all-knowing, all-powerful. Why wouldn’t He remove opposition as we follow Him?
But that’s why the Apostles Peter and the Apostle James write so much about being refined in our faith as we face trials and tribulations of the day. James says, “It’s not if we face opposition but when we face opposition.” It’s because the Lord is going to use that opposition in our life to grow us closer to Him.
I need you to hear that this morning. Let us not become disheartened by the opposition in our life but let us trust that the Spirit of God is fighting on our behalf and the Spirit of God is going to use this opposition in our life to strengthen our faith like a muscle.
The more we work out that muscle of faith the stronger we get, and the stronger we get in our faith the stronger we fight in our faith, and the stronger we fight in our faith the greater we guard against the opposition of our day for His glory! Let’s look at our last sub-point; 3. The Application.
- Application
Nehemiah 4:11-12, “11 Our enemies said, “They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them and put a stop to the work.” 12 When the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times, “They will come up against us from every place where you may turn,”
In the context of the passage the opposition is taking up arms to actively stop Nehemiah and the people. They aren’t just using words, but they are coming with the sword and in verse 12 we see the people are scared. Do you see that? Look at verses 13-14:
Nehemiah 4:13-14, “13 then I stationed men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places, and I stationed the people in families with their swords, spears and bows. 14 When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and 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 houses.”
In verses 13 and 14 we see two applicable responses from Nehemiah to guard against opposition day and night. Are you ready?
First, did you notice Nehemiah gathers people together in verse 13? Nehemiah stationed the people together because we need to be with other like-minded people in Austin, TX.
Please don’t underestimate the pull of opposition into isolation. One of the easiest things for us to do in the midst of discouragement is isolate. We push people away. We busy ourselves with tasks. We avoid awkward conversations, and we isolate. The enemy tells us people don’t like us. Insecurities get the best of us, and we isolate.
This is why our community groups are so important to our church family in Austin. I would change my kids schedule, change my work schedule, get up early, stay up late. I would do whatever I could do to put me in a place to build relationships with like-minded people in Austin.
This is why we value people being involved in an area of our church family once a month. This is why we are focusing on build and belong. We need different context for us to get to know one another as a church in Austin.
Second application is to guard against discouragement day and night is that we see the people being armed with swords, spears, and bows and maybe, if people were attacking us, we would hand out swords, spears, and bows to protect ourselves but until that day we have the Word of God to help us fight.
It is the Word of God that helps us discern between truth and error. It is the Word of God that empowers us to persevere through the challenges. It is the Word of God that keeps us sober minded. It is the Word of God that helps us spot those fiery arrows of discouragement.
This is why God’s Word is so important to our church family. I would get up early to get into God’s Word. I would stay up late, I would put myself under others if I didn’t know how to study God’s Word, I would ask people to help me study God’s Word, I would do whatever I could do to put me in a place to get into God’s Word every day.
Listen to me, when we step out to follow the Lord discouragement is going to come and if we try to take on that discouragement alone and without God’s Word, I can guarantee you that we won’t make it very far. I promise.
Therefore, let us turn to Jesus this morning and ask for His help. I can assure you the God of Scripture wasn’t working in the life of Nehemiah and his people just to build a wall in Jerusalem because He cares about city structures and architecture.
The God of Scripture wants this wall and these gates in the city of Jerusalem so that the nation of Israel would continue, not be wiped off the face of the earth, but remain together until the promises are fulfilled and the Savior is born, and Jesus enters into human history.
And in the same way, the God of Scripture has promises and purposes for we who are in Christ, so that Jesus is the greater Nehemiah doing a work in us to fight against discouragement, follow Him, and accomplish His purpose in our life.
And like Nehemiah there are times we feel feeble, we feel fragile, we feel like dusty old stones that are going to only build half a wall, but He is inviting us to come under His Word, gather with His people, our brothers and sisters in Christ, so that He can not only do a great work in us, but a great work for generations and generations to come.
But we have to turn to Jesus and trust in Him. If you don’t know Jesus, then stop listening to the lies of the enemy and follow Him. If you don’t know how to do that then come talk to me or one of the people praying with us and for us at the back. If you do know Jesus, then let us arise and build. Let us see the great things we can do together. Will you pray with me?