Overcoming the Opposition
(Nehemiah 1:1 - 2:12)
Introduction.
A. The Fall of God?s People:
1. 722 B.C. - the Northern Kingdom fell forever to the Assyrians.
2. 586 B.C. - the Southern Kingdom fell to the Babylonians.
B. The Restoration of God?s People:
1. 539 B.C. - the Babylonian Empire is conquered by the Medes and the Persians.
2. 538 B.C. - the Decree of Cyrus allows the first group of Jews to return to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel (See Ezra 1-2).
3. 458 B.C. - (80 years later) the letter of Artaxerxes to Ezra allows the second group of Jews to return to Jerusalem under the leadership of Ezra (See Ezra Chapter 7 and following).
4. 432 B.C. - (26 years later) the letter of Artaxerxes to Nehemiah allows Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem to complete the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple (See Nehemiah).
C. In this Sermon we want to attempt to answer three questions:
1. How can we discern the will of God?
2. How must we prepare ourselves to implement the will of God?
3. How must we react to the opposition to the completion of the will of God?
I. How Can We Discern The Will Of God?
A. Nehemiah had discerned the will of God for Jerusalem:
1. Nehemiah 2:11 So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. 12 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem; neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.
2. Note: nowhere is there recorded any direct revelation to Nehemiah.
B. Paul says we can discern the will of God:
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. 2 And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, and ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
II. How Must We Prepare Ourselves To Implement The Will Of God?
A. The Text:
ASV Nehemiah 1:4-11. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, 5 and said, I beseech thee, O Jehovah, the God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and lovingkindness with them that love him and keep his commandments: 6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants while I confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee. Yea, I and my father?s house have sinned: 7 we have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses. 8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye trespass, I will scatter you abroad among the peoples: 9 but if ye return unto me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the uttermost part of the heavens, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen, to cause my name to dwell there. 10 Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. 11 O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who delight to fear thy name; and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now I was cupbearer to the king.
B. Call on God:
1. Constantly, 1:6a.
2. Confessingly, 1:6b-7.
3. Confidently, 1:8-11.
a) God cannot not keep His covenant, 1:8-9.
(1) ASV Matthew 16:18 And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
(2) ASV Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: 20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
b) God cannot not love His People, 1:10.
c) God cannot not hear His People, 1:11a.
(1) ASV Romans 8:28 And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose.
(2) ASV Psalm 149:4 For Jehovah taketh pleasure in his people: He will beautify the meek with salvation.
d) God cannot not give success to His People, 11b.
(1) ASV Proverbs 3:5 Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart, And lean not upon thine own understanding: 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he will direct thy paths.
(2) ASV Proverbs 16:3 Commit thy works unto Jehovah, And thy purposes shall be established.
III. How Must We React To The Opposition To The Completion Of The Will Of God?
A. Expect it to come.
1. ASV Matthew 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name?s sake: but he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
2. ASV John 15:18 If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, A servant is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.
3. ASV 1 John 3:13 Marvel not, brethren, if the world hateth you.
B. Expect it to come in many forms: (i.e., always know who the enemy is and who the enemy is NOT).
1. Ridicule, 2:19, 4:1-3.
a) The opposition:
(1) ASV Nehemiah 2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?
(2) ASV Nehemiah 4:1-3 But it came to pass that, when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. 2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, seeing they are burned? 3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they are building, if a fox go up, he shall break down their stone wall.
b) The response to ridicule:
(1) Pray, ASV Nehemiah 4:4-5 Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn back their reproach upon their own head, and give them up for a spoil in a land of captivity; 5 and cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee; for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.
(2) Keep working, ASV Nehemiah 4:6 So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto half the height thereof: for the people had a mind to work.
(3) Compare the response of the early church: ASV Acts 4:23-31 And being let go, they came to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said unto them. 24 And they, when they heard it, lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, O Lord, thou that didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that in them is: 25 who by the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David thy servant, didst say, Why did the Gentiles rage, And the peoples imagine vain things? 26 The kings of the earth set themselves in array, And the rulers were gathered together, Against the Lord, and against his Anointed: 27 for of a truth in this city against thy holy Servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together, 28 to do whatsoever thy hand and thy council foreordained to come to pass. 29 And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness, 30 while thy stretchest forth thy hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of thy holy Servant Jesus. 31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken wherein they were gathered together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
2. Laziness (usually on the part of the leaders), 3:5.
a) The opposition: ASV Nehemiah 3:5 And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their lord.
b) The response to laziness:
(1) Apparently ignore it (the text says nothing).
(2) Keep working.
3. Conspiracy, 4:7-8.
a) The opposition: ASV Nehemiah 4:7 But it came to pass that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth; 8 and they conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion therein.
b) The response to conspiracy:
(1) Pray, ASV Nehemiah 4:9a But we made our prayer unto our God,
(2) Post a guard, ASV Nehemiah 4:9b and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.
(3) Keep working.
4. Fatigue, depression, weariness, discouragement, 4:10.
a) The opposition: ASV Nehemiah 4:10 And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.
b) The response to fatigue, depression, weariness, discouragement:
(1) Rest.
(2) Keep working.
5. Threats, 4:11.
a) The opposition: ASV Nehemiah 4:11 And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come into the midst of them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.
b) The response to threats:
(1) Be wise - prepare to defend yourself against them, ASV Nehemiah 4:13 Therefore set I in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the open places, I set there the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.
(2) Trust the Lord, ASV Nehemiah 4:14 And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.
(3) Keep working.
6. Compromise, 6:2-4.
a) The opposition: ASV Nehemiah 6:2, 4 that Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. ... 4 And they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner.
b) The response to compromise:
(1) Refuse it, ASV Nehemiah 6:3 And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you? .
(2) Keep working.
7. Slander, 6:5-7.
a) The opposition: ASV Nehemiah 6:5 Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand, 6 wherein was written, It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel; for which cause thou art building the wall: and thou wouldest be their king, according to these words. 7 And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.
b) The response to slander:
(1) Answer the slanderer quickly and briefly, ASV Nehemiah 6:8 Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.
(2) Focus on the true purpose of the slander: to discourage, ASV Nehemiah 6:9a For they all would have made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done.
(3) Pray, ASV Nehemiah 6:9b But now, O God, strengthen thou my hands.
(4) Keep working.
c) Some comments on slander:
(1) Hindu proverb: answer a critic with the clap of one hand.
(2) Abraham Lincoln: never answer a slanderer because your friends don?t believe the slanderer and your enemies won?t believe your reply.
Conclusion.
A. The questions to be answered:
1. How can we discern the will of God?
2. How must we prepare ourselves to implement the will of God?
3. How must we react to the opposition to the completion of the will of God?
B. The answers given from God?s Word:
1. How can we discern the will of God? Romans 12:1-2.
a) Submission to Him.
b) Sensitivity to His leading.
c) Obedience to His sovereignty.
2. How must we prepare ourselves to implement the will of God? By Calling on God:
a) Constantly.
b) Confessingly.
c) Confidently.
3. How must we react to the opposition to the completion of the will of God?
a) With expectation.
(1) Expect it to come.
(2) Once it has come, expect it to get worse.
b) With discernment. Recognize that it comes in many forms (i.e., always know who the enemy is and who the enemy is NOT).
(1) Ridicule.
(2) Laziness.
(3) Conspiracy.
(4) Fatigue, depression, weariness, discouragement.
(5) Threats.
(6) Compromise.
(7) Slander.
c) With trust. Pray trusting in God.
(1) He will overcome the opposition to the accomplishment of His Will.
(2) NIV Nehemiah 6:15-16 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.
d) With Wisdom:
(1) Defend yourself and your family from harm.
(2) Adjust your methodology if you can do so without compromise.
e) With determination. Never, never, never, never, never, never, never quit working.
(1) NIV Gal 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
(2) NIV 1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
