December 09, 2007 Last week we talked about the battle cry of the Jews working around the wall. Remember our Lord today should be like that which Paul wrote to the young preacher Timothy. 2 Timothy 2:8 – ” Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:’ (KJV) Read Nehemiah 4:15 – “And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought , that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work..” (KJV) Finding that they could not surprise the Jews from any given point, the enemy retired for a bit. Now the Jewish people could go back to work. But Nehemiah still has one more strategy to use. Read Nehemiah 4:16-17 – “And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.* 17. They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded , every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.” (KJV) Each one who worked on the wall had a trowel in one hand (tool) and in the other he carried a sword so he could defend himself if he came under attack. This is a good example of how we as believers should live our lives today…These two weapons should be with us at all times. They should be in the hands of all believers today; a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other. The trowel represents the fact that believers should build themselves up pin the most holy of faith that they can, the towel is for the work that is going on inside…I disagree with people who say that when a person is saved he should jump right in and start witnessing. I think they first need to learn from experience that Jesus indeed saves and keeps and satisfies. Have you ever heard that one of your friends got saved, only to hear six months later, they are back in their old lifestyle? I would rather hear of them a couple of years later and understand that they are built up in their faith and have a strong foundation. This is my goal in the collegiate ministry, to build a strong foundation within you…we all need to be built up. The trowel is a building tool, and it needs to be in our hand, we need the sword of the spirit. This is the Word of God with which we defend ourselves. So we need a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other. Read Nehemiah 4:18-20 – “18 For the builders , every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded . And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. * 19. And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The
work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. * 20. In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us.” (KJV) When you hear the trumpet, come to that spot, and we will meet the enemy head on…How many of us this morning are ready for a battle with an enemy such as this? Are you prepared? Now look at the hours they put in not just for the work at hand, bur for the Glory of the work before them… Nehemiah 4:21 – “So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared.” (KJV) When you look at these people, you tend to think, “man, what union were these people in?” They worked much more than an 8-hour day, and they were tired and weary but yet they carried on. Now look to what he tells his people: Nehemiah 4:22 – “Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on the day.” (KJV) Basically to the ones who had come from fear away, like Jericho, he says, stay close by, because you need to be ready to guard at night. Nehemiah 4:23 – “So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing.” (KJV) Do you ever find humor in the scriptures? Yes there is humor in there, even in crisis times like these: They are doing all of this work, daylight to starlight and then I’m sure they had to sleep. So here it is inserted Nehemiah says they only took off their clothes to bathe. How do you think they smelled? Other than that, they worked or if not working they were on guard, all the time. Would it not be grand to be so clothed to that extent in the armor of our living God? Where do you stand with that one? Now, as we move into chapter 5, we will see such difficulty will arise that Nehemiah becomes angry and it almost disrupts the work of the Lord…The them carried into Ch. 5 is this: “Nehemiah’s response to the opposition from within” Read Nehemiah 5:1-5 – “1. And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. * 2. For there were that said , We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat , and live . * 3. Some also there were that said , We have mortgaged our
lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. * 4. There were also that said , We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. * 5. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither.” (KJV) While in the process of the rebuilding of the walls, Nehemiah has met opposition in many forms. The devil is very subtle. He attacks us the same way today, I think we take who Satan is, and what he can do lightly the same as we take who our Jesus Christ is. We take him lightly as well. You may think you are without recourse, or not being tempted, but take a close look at your life this very moment…you think you are invincible to attack, just keep going… Now, look how Nehemiah has been attacked. First the enemy laughed at them, then the enemy ridiculed them. And then there was open opposition. This was so intense that Nehemiah had his builders have a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other. Nehemiah and his associates worked so hard that they did not take off their clothes except to bathe. Now, we see another strategy come to light – we opposition coming from within. This is where Satan often strikes his greatest blow. If you look to the history of the church, Satan could not destroy the church by persecution, so what does he do? Joins it, he joins the church…If you look at the Jewish people, he had already caused some discouragement and grumbling among the builders, and now he goes a step further and causes conflict within. Human nature does not change. We lie in an electronic, mechanical, technological, and space age, I think al this just tends to multiply our problems and make them difficult to solve. These Jewish people were so busy, building; they did not have the opportunity to carry on their personal business. They still had to buy food and stuff for their families - these things cost money. The Jews had to mortgage their property, to pay their taxes. What’s different from then and now? For a long time, this problem had been growing, but up to this point, Nehemiah did not know of it. These folks wanted to build the walls of Jerusalem, so they quietly mortgaged their property to their brethren; even then, some were in the lending business. The enemy had not been able to harm as long as there was love and harmony within, but now there was conflict. Money always seems to cause conflict (some of the greatest arguments and conflict my wife and I have had. The reason … MONEY). This problem also plagued the early church. Remember Ananias & Saphira? (Acts 5) They conspired to deceive their brethren and were judged by God with sudden death. Their conspiracy had to do with money. Money is such a great temptation. Satan used this with the people around the wall “hey, he owes
you money”. Nehemiah had to deal with this as we do today. Scripture gives some sound advice as to this:
Philippians 1:27-28 – “ Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, * 28. And in nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.” (KJV)
Just the word conversation, in this passage means your way of life, Paul says Be honest in your dealing, don’t five false reports of belittle you brother, tell the truth, it will produce harmony. James 3:16 – “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” (KJV) This is what happened to Ananias & Saphira. They lied about their dealings with the church and brought in confusion. In Nehemiah’s day, some Jews borrowed money, when it couldn’t be paid back; they had to sell their sons and daughters into slavery for a time. Those who borrowed money were charged interest – in today’s world, that’s ok, but to charge interest in these days especially for the children of Israel it was not legal. God said that the Jews were not to charge their brethren interest. Up to this point Nehemiah had kept his cool, next week we’ll deal with his anger.