Nehemiah 4:7-23 (NLT) “But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired, they were furious. 8 They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion. 9 But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves. 10 Then the people of Judah began to complain, “The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves.” 11 Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, “Before they know what’s happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work.” 12 The Jews who lived near the enemy came and told us again and again, “They will come from all directions and attack us!” 13 So I placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas. I stationed the people to stand guard by families, armed with swords, spears, and bows. 14 Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!” 15 When our enemies heard that we knew of their plans and that God had frustrated them, we all returned to our work on the wall. 16 But from then on, only half my men worked while the other half stood guard with spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. The leaders stationed themselves behind the people of Judah 17 who were building the wall. The laborers carried on their work with one hand supporting their load and one hand holding a weapon. 18 All the builders had a sword belted to their side. The trumpeter stayed with me to sound the alarm. 19 Then I explained to the nobles and officials and all the people, “The work is very spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. 20 When you hear the blast of the trumpet, rush to wherever it is sounding. Then our God will fight for us!” 21 We worked early and late, from sunrise to sunset. And half the men were always on guard. 22 I also told everyone living outside the walls to stay in Jerusalem. That way they and their servants could help with guard duty at night and work during the day. 23 During this time, none of us—not I, nor my relatives, nor my servants, nor the guards who were with me—ever took off our clothes. We carried our weapons with us at all times, even when we went for water."
1) (From Rod Mattoon): At this time Samaria pretty much controlled the economy in the land.
a) One of the main highways in that part of the world passed through Jerusalem.
b) The rebuilding of Jerusalem would have had a direct impact on the future of
Samaria.
c) With the walls of Jerusalem built back up it would be a well-protected city, its
location would attract trade.
2) Just like it is today, Jerusalem was surrounded by enemies.
a) In the North was Samaria
b) In the East: the Ammonites
c) In the South: The Arabs
d) In the West: The Ashdodites
3) The most influential of Nehemiah's enemies was a man from Samaria named Sanballat.
a) The tension between the Samaritans and the Jews went back almost 300 years
before Nehemiah's time.
b) Samaria had become a nation of mixed breed of people, including Jews who had
intermarried with pagans.
c) The Jews who returned to Jerusalem during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah
considered Samaritans to be racially impure and would have nothing to do with
them.
4) Nehemiah had returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls.
a) Some work had been started but the work stopped after rebuilding the cities
gates.
b) The wall was only half as high as it should be and was too weak to withstand an
attack from the enemy.
5) So Nehemiah assigned workers to finish it.
a) As they begin the work, two of the enemies, Sanballat & Tobiah, came within
shouting distance and began to criticize Nehemiah and the workers.
b) At first, they were using words to plant fear and intimidation into the workers, in
hopes of getting them to stop their work.
c) They didn't want to see the city rebuilt because it would take trade from Samaria.
d) They didn't want to see the worship of God restored to the temple and they were
going to do everything in their power to stop the work.
e) Sanballat and Tobiah used every sort of mind-game that they could think up, but
the work continued.
f) These two enemies are symbolic of our enemy, the devil and his workers who try
to stop the Body of Christ.
g) God's work never goes forward without opposition from the enemy.
h) In fact, opposition is almost always caused by success and not failure.
6) Nehemiah and his workers paid no attention to the words of Sanballat so he stopped attacking them for a while.
a) But just like the devil, Sanballat wasn't done.
b) He was just taking time to plan a new strategy to bring the work to a halt.
Nehemiah 4:7-8 (NLT) “But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Aphrodite’s heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired, they were furious. 8They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion.”
7) Nehemiah and Jerusalem were surrounded by enemies who knew the Jews had to be stopped before they could finish the wall.
a) None of the enemies of Israel were going to stay out of this fight.
b) They all joined in with Sanballat to destroy Jerusalem and Nehemiah with it.
c) But Nehemiah had a plan of his own.
Nehemiah 4:9 (NLT) But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves.
8) You may be surrounded by problems, but realize the Lord surrounds you too.
Psalms 34:7 (NKJV) "The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them."
a) The phrase "Angel of the Lord" doesn't refer to an ordinary angel.
b) It's an Old Testament symbol for the Messiah, Jesus.
c) In Hebrews 13:5 the Lord Jesus says, ". . . I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
d) In Matthew 28:20 the Lord says, ". . . lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of
the world. Amen."
e) No matter where a Child of God goes, they are never alone.
9) The devil never works alone.
a) He always tries to find someone that we will trust to use as an instrument of
attack.
b) Unfortunately, there are times when his best prospects are found within the Body
of Christ.
c) It's hard enough to fight an attack from the outside, but when the enemy
attacks from within, it's not only a hard battle to fight but an even harder one to
win.
The Lakeland Revival has come to an end. Todd Bentley, the man God used to start the revival, has admitted to adultery and has separated from his wife and family. When Julie and I went to Lakeland we had mixed feelings about it. There were rumors going around, not about Todd and his affair, but Christian ministries around the country were saying the revival was not of God. That almost convinced me. But we continued to watch it almost every night and saw hundreds of people healed, set free and saved.
What was not of God was the kind of persecution the revival received, not from the secular media, but from Christians, churches and Christian ministries.
To make a long story short, Todd Bentley has admitted to an affair with one of the women staff members. He was totally wrong to do it. In fact, this is the second time it has happened.
Proverbs 25:28 (NKJV) "Whoever has no rule over his own spirit Is like a city broken down, without walls."
10) That describes what happened to Todd Bentley.
a) There was a gap in the wall, the enemy walked in and took over.
b) There are some who will criticize the revival and say, "I told you so", but no one will
convince me the revival was not of God.
c) Like Sanballat, the devil wanted to put a stop to what God was doing.
d) Bentley had a schedule that was humanly impossible to maintain without suffering
some consequences.
e) He had been advised from others to slow down, but he wouldn't listen.
f) Consequently, the pressures and temptation to sin became too much for him to
handle.
g) His marriage and ministry are in shambles right now.
h) He has paid a high price for failing to listen to wise counsel.
i) However, the revival has reached people all over the world.
j) Churches have come alive again and I've read about whole cities being affected
in Europe, England and Ireland.
11) Did you know that the average revival only lasts about 36 months?
a) Sin of some kind, alcohol, lust, greed, pride, a controlling spirit or drifting from
sound doctrine enters the picture and brings them to an end.
b) It's like the situation Nehemiah faced when he first returned to Jerusalem, the
walls of protection were only partly done.
c) The people had become complacent; they were too busy with daily living to
rebuild the walls.
12) Christians for the most part don't realize what a real spiritual battle we are in.
a) I heard just the other day that outside the revival tent in Lakeland, Satanists would
meet and pray to Satan to put an end to the revival.
b) Animal sacrifices were found and had to be cleaned up about every night.
One of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard was several years ago at a meeting held in the Clarinda High School auditorium. Feed the Children founder, Larry Jones was the guest speaker. During intermission time they had a young lady from Omaha come up on stage to give her testimony. She said she was a former Satanist and used to belong to a coven in the Omaha area. She said Sandy Brown, the Las Vegas showgirl who was delivered from drugs and became an evangelist, was speaking in the area. The young lady and a man were two people from the coven who volunteered to kill or harm Sandy. The two went to the meeting and during praise & worship the man got scared and left. The young lady was committed to her assignment so at one point during Sandy's message, the young lady ran down the aisle to the platform. Sandy Brown saw her coming, pointed her finger at her and said, "Stop in the Name of Jesus!". The young lady said it was like a big hand pushed her off her feet to the floor where she laid on her back and couldn't move. Sandy Brown came down off the stage, bent over her and cast out the demonic spirits. The girl repented and became Born-Again.
13) We must understand there is an enemy out there who wants to destroy each and every one of us.
a) He would like to put an end to this church.
b) In fact, he wants to put an end to any work that brings people to Jesus, heals,
delivers and gives God any glory.
c) Every work of God needs to build a wall of protection with prayer.
d) After any wall is built it will eventually crumble with age and weather, so it needs
constant inspection and maintenance.
e) We all need to examine our wall of protection, which is our prayer life, and see
where it needs to strengthen.
14) Nehemiah's enemies could be seen and heard outside the walls of Jerusalem.
a) Our enemy can't be seen unless he can work through someone.
b) His voice can't be heard audibly unless he can convince someone to speak for
him.
c) He likes to recruit people within a family, a workplace, a ministry or a church.
d) Here is how he does it; he tunes his ear to words of criticism & hate, to words of
doubt and unbelief, to damaging gossip.
e) That person is marked as a good candidate to be used as an agent to bring a
revival, a church, or a ministry down.
f) If he can find two people to agree, it won't be long until others will follow.
g) Then the devil likes to use temptations that appeal to the flesh such as lust, money,
pride and power and so on.
h) When the temptations are combined with fatigue, stress and problems there's little
chance that a work of God can continue, unless a lot of prayer is continually going
up.
i) So, we need to be alert.
Matthew 26:41—Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
15) Persecution is part of the devil's plan to steal, kill and destroy God's people or any work of God.
16) We live in a nation where physical persecution isn't as common as other places in the world.
a) Our persecution is mostly still in the mind-games stages.
b) But Christians must suffer much more everywhere else 6 93% of the people in India
are either Hindu or Muslim. In recent years many Hindus have converted to
Christianity. Most of the converts are "Dalits", also known as "untouchables", the
poorest and lowest people of Indian society.
Last month in the state of Orissa, India, a Hindu priest was murdered, and a communist organization took credit for it. But another Hindu priest spread the word that Christians had done the killing. Within days every Christian in the state of Orissa was in danger of being murdered. Within the last 5 weeks, 36 Christians have been murdered, 3000 homes destroyed, 115 churches destroyed and anything that resembled Christianity has been assaulted in one form or another.
Some Hindus have helped Christians find refuge but at least 50,000 Christians have been forced to flee for their lives. People are afraid the persecution is going to spread throughout India. It all came about because the devil found one man, a Hindu priest who spread a lie.
Nehemiah 4:9 "Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night"
17) Nehemiah prayed and put out guards around the wall who were ready to sound an alarm in case of an attack.
1 Peter 5:8—"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour"
a) Nehemiah couldn't stop the attack, but he would be ready for them when they
came.
b) He wasn't going to let the work stop on the walls of the city.
c) He had an assignment from God to rebuild the walls and he was going to see it
through.
18) God has a purpose for the life of every Christian and the devil knows it.
a) We can't always stop the attacks of the enemy.
b) But we have three ways of being ready for him when he comes:
i) No. 1 Pray for wisdom and God's protection. —
ii) No. 2: Stand on God's Word and remember the battle is not ours but His.
iii) No. 3: Listen to our 'Watchman on the wall", the Holy Spirit. (1) In other words, be
sensitive to Him so He can guide you.
c) And remember, Satan will never destroy the Church of Jesus Christ because Jesus'
promised "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matt. 16:18
d) Even though we have the assurance that the devil is defeated in the long run, let's
remember the battle isn't over yet.
e) He is still going to attack, and we need to examine ourselves to see if there are
areas of our life that could be called "a gap in the wall".
19) The wall around Jerusalem wasn't finished in some areas and they were still
helpless to ward off an attack from the enemy.
a) Sanballat was an enemy but he wasn't dumb.
b) He knew where their weaknesses were and that's where he planned his attacks.
20) What are some of the weaknesses in our personal spiritual wall that may give the devil an opportunity to come in?
a) All the devil needs is a small crack in the wall.
b) He knows how to widen it to a gap so large it will be hard to repair it.
21) What are some of the weaknesses in the spiritual wall around our church that could be exposed to his attack?
a) Are prayers continually going up for the church, for the pastor, the praise & worship team or the church board?
b) If not, there's a gap in the wall.
Nehemiah 4:10-11 (NLT) “Then the people of Judah began to complain, "The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves." 11 Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, "Before they know what's happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work."
22) The people were complaining, grumbling, murmuring about the work that had to be done.
a) They lost their vision and began to look at the obstacles and not the goal.
b) Discouragement had settled in.
c) Whether he ever really attacked or not, Sanballat had already won the battle.
23) This church has a work to do and we can't let any discouragement settle in.
a) Some of that work is being accomplished overseas.
b) But the work at home has really just begun.
c) The devil will keep pointing out that we're small in number and mostly elderly, but
God doesn't look at numbers and some of the greatest accomplishments were
done through men & women older than we are here today.
Nehemiah 4:1-2 (NLT) 'Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews, 2saying in front of his friends and the Samarian army officers, "What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they're doing? Do they think they can build the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices? Do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap—and charred ones at that?"
24) Don't you think the devil is mad that we've come out of a church split and we're still going?
25) We're rebuilding the wall and we may be using old charred stones, but I've got news for the devil.
a) A good building brick is one that's been in the fire because it makes it stronger.
b) We've been in the fire and I don't know about you but now my faith is stronger than
before.
c) So my word for the enemy is "your plan backfired, devil".
26) The people working on the wall in Jerusalem finally became discouraged and wanted to stop working on the wall.
a) Nehemiah had to do something, or the efforts of rebuilding would be lost.
27)There will come a time in your walk with the Lord that you will feel like giving up.
a) The battle will be too hard.
b) The work will seem to stop.
c) Nothing will seem to be happening and God seems to be so distant.
d) That's the most dangerous time of all.
e) What should we do to get through that time and go on with the work?
i) We must press into God and into His Word even more!
James 4:8 (NKJV) "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you".
28) Nehemiah and Jews understood the nature of their enemy and so should we.
a) We must know that Satan never gives up and he's always looking for another way
to attack.
b) He has had a long time to practice and he knows how we think, our strong points
as well as our weak ones.
c) Our best defense is not in our own power and ability, but in the power of God and
the weapons of our spiritual warfare that are available to us through the power of
the Holy Spirit.
d) That's why prayer is so important, either praying in the understanding or praying in
the Spirit.
29) We can learn some things from the way that Nehemiah acted in the face of the enemies.
a) First, he realized that everyone within the walls was open to to the enemy's attack
and therefore all of them needed to be able to fight when the time came.
30) And secondly, his priority was not in attacking the enemy, but continuing to rebuild the walls.
a) Rebuilding the walls was a victory and when it was finished, the enemy was
powerless.
b) Thirdly, Nehemiah set out watchmen on the wall to warn the people of attack.
31) The principles in our walk with Jesus are the same.
a) First: We build and maintain our wall of defense with prayer and everyone should
be involved because the attack could come on your side of the wall at any time.
b) 2nd: We don't focus on the obstacles, the empty seats, but keep on building.
c) 3rd: Each one of us has a Watchman on the Wall to warn of us of an attack.
i) It's the Holy Spirit. So, it's necessary to stay sensitive to His leading.
32) Spiritual warfare is not just for some elite commando group within the Body of Christ.
a) It's for all of us with our shields of faith locked and facing the enemy together.
CONCLUSION: Never let your guard down. Pray against the powers coming against you and ask others to join you in agreement. The best advice comes from Paul who wrote in Ephesians 6:10-12, 'Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
