I've titled our sermon this morning Have faith in God when Facing opposition. A lot of things in life have a very good start, but sometimes a very hard journey. For instance, a young couple gets married as a very good start. They are happy, they're in love, everything is good. But then as life moves on, there's difficulties because there's opposition and it becomes challenging. It can be a lot of things in life, could be a job starts great, all is all, all is good.
But then as time goes on, there's all kinds of challenges that come with it. In our sermon series this morning, we're continuing in the story of Nehemiah. We've seen in the in the previous sermons how he lived in Babylon and he hears news about Jerusalem. It's broken down, the walls are broken, the gates are burned, and he's struggling with that whole thing. It becomes a burden on his heart.
He agonizes, he prays, God lays on his heart to actually go and do it, to make to condense the story. He ends up going to Jerusalem. He takes on this huge task of rebuilding the wall and to bring security and stability back to the city of Jerusalem. And there's a lot of help. The people are very united. They are very on board, but then there's all kinds of challenges that come up. They've had a great start, but a good start does not mean it's always going to be good and last.
Nehemiah, last Sunday, we saw how Nehemiah did a great job at organizing the building project and how it moved forward at a rapid pace, How his leadership and his dedication and the unity of the people brought forth good results from their labor. They were committed. Most of them were helpful if you weren't, but it was not all good. Serious opposition rose up to threaten the work and the lives
of the workers. And in a few minutes we want to turn again to Nehemiah and look at how he responded to the opposition that was directed towards him. But before we turn to Nehemiah and look at the opposition he and his people faced and how they responded, I want to briefly point out in another story of Scripture how this kind of stuff unfolds and how it develops and how it happens. This whole idea of opposition in the Bible is very common.
There's a lot of it. Opposition is a form of control and we find opposition in all areas of life. People do it right from childhood on. Children oppose their parents and and husband and wife oppose each other. There's all kinds of opposition everywhere. And when 2 forces meet and they can't come to an agreement, there's a victor and a loser and on it goes. It can be long lasting, can be deadly. In the Bible, there's a story of two brothers, Cain and Abel, sons of Adam and Eve.
They grew up together into adulthood and each had their own way of making a living. We find one was a farmer, he raised crops. Cain, the older one, the younger brother was Abel. And he, he had, he had flocks of sheep, sheep and goats maybe. And one day they both decided we're going to bring an offering to God from the flock, Abel from the flock and came from his produce.
And it says that they both bought an offering, but God did not look favorably at on Cain's offering, but he favored Abel's offering. And here Cain had a problem and he was angry towards God that God would not accept his offering. God was not favorable toward his offering. So Cain had a bad attitude. God spoke to Cain and said, is it right for you and, and Cain, he said to Cain, sin is at your heart store. You must have mastery over it. Cain did not choose to change
his attitude. He did not choose to repent. But in his mind his problem was his brother. If he could get rid of his brother, his problem would be gone. Actually, it was God who we had a problem with, but He took it out on Abel because Abel was the one who got favored. If could get rid of Cain, Abel, then that would be gone. And so he figured he would get rid of Abel. And he did. And God held him accountable. Abel was gone, but God held Cain
responsible for what he did. You see, Cain's security, his sense of well-being, his view of life revolved around himself at the expense of others, in this case his brother Abel. Abel had to be eliminated. So why am I telling this kind of a story? As an introduction to the story of Nehemiah and the opposition that Nehemiah faced?
Here's the reason. When a person's only way to advance, to rise, to become strong, to be in control, when all of that is based on how that person has to reduce others, control others, reject others, disenfranche others, that person or that society is headed for trouble. They may succeed for a while, but in the end it always catches up. Obviously Cain was self focused. He could not accept that his brother Abel was accepted, but
he was not. Instead of saying what am I doing wrong to get accepted, he said I got to get rid of him. And so he took Abel's life. Some people only find their security in what they can take away from the other person. It comes in a lot of different forms. When someone feels threatened by you, they may attack you in a variety of ways. For instance, maybe your credibility, character, defamation, slander, you have it. It could be anything.
They may see you have opportunities for success instead of supporting you, the scheme and plan and connive how they can take that away, crippling you to elevate themselves. They may see you succeeding in a certain way and can't take it. And so we've got to sabotage this. It's a painful place to be when a person is doing their best, living at their calling, and someone comes along, wants to destroy that.
That's what Nehemiah faced. When Nehemiah started to build the wall, rebuild the wall, there were strong oppositions. There were people who were bent and destroying and eliminating this whole project and him as well.
This morning we will see how Nehemiah was used by God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Not because there was so much support all around, No, the king supported him, the king sponsored it. But in the area there was communities around who had no use for Nehemiah and actually wanted it stopped rebuilding the wall with the resource they had and the limitations they faced. The project in itself was daunting. It was huge. But the physical part was not so much the real issue.
The bigger part was the opposition they would face from some local communities in the area. What's interesting about Nehemiah is that he never wants so much as wavered. His was resolute. He was determined and he was strong. And he didn't wait to rebuild the wall until, OK, let's see if we can get the community on board and let's see if they agree with us. Maybe we can live side by side. And no, this is what he'd been called to do.
The city of Jerusalem, King, the Arctic circus has has given the go ahead. We're going to rebuild the wall. But that did not exempt him from opposition. So this morning let's read together Nehemiah chapter 4. I'll read it out of the new King James. Nehemiah chapter 4. But it so happened that when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant and mocked the Jews.
He spoke before his brethren in the army of Sumeria and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will this offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish stones that are burnt? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and said, Whatever they build, even if a fox goes up on it, he will break down their Stonewall. Here, O God, our God, he praised
Nehemiah, for we are despised. Turn their reproach on their own heads and give them as plunder to a land of captivity. Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before you, for they have provoked you to anger before the builders. So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the
people had a mind to work. Now it happened when Sanballat Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the ashrides heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed. They became very angry and all of them conspired to attack together, to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion. Nevertheless, we made our prayer to God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and
night. Then Judah said the strength of the laborers is failing, and there's so much rubbish that we're not able to build a wall. And our adversary said they will neither know nor see anything until we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease. So it was when the Jews who dwelt near them came. They told us 10 times, from whatever place you turn, they will be upon us. Therefore, I position men behind the lower parts of the wall. At the openings.
I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their Spears and their bows. And I looked in a rose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your
houses. And it happened when our enemies heard that it was known to that to us, and that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to His work. So it was from that time on that half of my servants worked at the construction, while the other half held the Spears, the shores, the bows, and wore armour, and the leaders were behind all the House of Judah.
Those who built on the wall and those who carried burdens loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction and with the other held a weapon. Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built, and the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me. Then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people. The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall.
Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet rally to us there our God will fight for us. So we labored in the work, and half of the men held the Spears from Daybreak until the stars appeared. At the same time I also said to the people that each man and his servant stay at night in Jerusalem, that they may be our guard by day by night, and the
working party by day. So neither I, my brethren, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, took off their clothes, except that everyone took them off for washing. What a story of courage, strength, resolve, determination despite a fierce opposition. So what are we seeing here? Have faith in God when facing opposition. Nehemiah had his hands full with the building project. He was like he didn't need that
on the side. The building project itself was challenging enough, never mind the opposition from the community. So he had actually do some, quite some multitasking there, keep things moving on the building project and then to fend off or make sure the enemy wouldn't come and over take them.
The Sambalot and his his guys. Sambalot was the governor of Samaria and he did not see that this is his best interest of the city of Jerusalem. He was governing the district of Samaria while someone else was governing the district of Jerusalem. And he felt threatened by this project that was happening not that far away from his territory. Commentators say it was about a 50 kilometer difference between the two. Here's a chart that gives a little bit of perspective there.
So the dotted line is where they came from Babylon up north and then to the to the West and down South past Damascus and then Samaria and Jerusalem. Samaria and Jerusalem are right neighbors each other. And those routes were trade routes. They're from Egypt up to Babylon were trade routes. And so commentators suggest that it was really a question of how's it going to affect my economy if that city gets built up again? And so Sambalot, he did not want that.
Of course, King Arctic Circus had mandated it. He'd give him the go ahead, but he was going to try to do his best to stop it. Sambadat looked at the success of Jerusalem as a threat to Samaria. He didn't like it, and he had to do something to disrupt it. And we read in verse one and two how he mocked, he ridiculed the Jews and his his sidekick there as well to buy the Ammonite. If a fox goes up on it, he'll break down their wall.
No, no, no, no respect, nothing. Stop the work, one commentator wrote these words. He wrote Sambalot was a man of this kind that he was not content with doing his very best to make Samaria both prosperous and powerful. He must also do his very best to keep Jerusalem downtrodden and destroyed. Some people are not happy if they're OK. I'm only happy if they're not OK. Somebody else cannot be OK. I want to be OK. They can't be OK. They should not be OK. That's what's going on here.
And yet the Jews had a right to exist that everybody else did. But he wanted them to remain downtrodden in subjection and under his control. What a person is angry at or angry about, that's a good indicator of what's inside. We could ask this question. Would Sand Balat have been mad or angry if Nehemiah had come from Babylon straight to him and said, OK, Mr. Sand Balat, I know you're governing Syria. So what can we do together? How can we cooperate?
How can we make a treaty? How can we work together? I'll serve under you. Maybe it would have been a different story, but that was not the mandate. He was jealous, angry and afraid that this Nehemiah was going to be a competition to him. People who are jealous, angry, and afraid are dangerous people, dangerous character qualities. If you mix that together, it's very, very unstable, may blow up
one person. Put it this way, when anger and jealousy are mixed with power, they create a storm that can destroy everything in its path, including the one who wields it. Sandblock clearly demonstrated his character, gathered his army, updated them. What are these guys doing, these people? Jews. His friend, his friend and ally, Tobiah the Ammonite joined him,
and then the other guys as well. If you're doing something for the betterment of your community and it's perceived as a threat by your culture, you will have opposition. Sambalot did not want to see Jerusalem become successful as it had been many decades earlier. He needed to see Jerusalem in the state it was now. He needed Jerusalem broken down and dejected and discouraged, and he wanted to keep it that way. Some people, when they see someone else have success, it
bothers them. They don't have they don't have peace if someone else has a good. They can only have peace if you call it peace as long as someone else does not have it. As soon as life becomes better for the other, their peace is gone. It has been said that some people think it this way. It ain't right if it ain't wrong. And his mind, Jerusalem had to be wrong for he for him to have a good time. He could only accept the Jerusalem that was broken down, not one that was built up and
repaired. People reveal their character when they devalue what another is doing in order to evaluate, elevate themselves. It's interesting how some people can only make themselves look good by criticizing and knocking down anybody every else around them. We need to expect that the world will not be our friend in this in our lives. We need to expect the world will
do what it can to throw us down. The story in the Bible of Daniel, as many of you know, he made it to the top, the top administrator under King Darius in Babylon. A bunch of other administrators were alongside with him and King elevated him. They got jealous and decided Daniel has to go. Daniel stayed true in his walk with God and he had to face the lions for his obedience to God.
But in the end, God spared him and it was the jealous administrators who then had to experience what they had planned for Daniel. Sambalot and his people would fail and Nehemiah would succeed. Daniel succeeded and the administrators failed. Nehemiah was in many ways similar to Daniel. He had a strong character. He wouldn't bow to threats. So what's the best way forward in a case like this? When you're opposed your works belittled and ridiculed, mocked and downplayed, What then?
How should you respond? Fight back. Let's go and attack them. Let's kill them. Let's let's eliminate them, right? Does that what Nehemiah does? How did Nehemiah respond to the opposition? What did he do? Well, let's keep going. Verse four and five, he says here, O God, for we're despised, Turn the reproach in their own heads. Give them as plunder to a land
of captivity. Nehemiah prays, that's the first thing he engages in. Instead of lashing out towards them and and even engaging them, he goes to God in prayer, a very clear, decisive prayer. He calls out to God, tells God what's going on. Not that God needs to know what's going on. God knows what's going on. But for Nehemiah, he's, he needed to say this to God for his own sake. And the same holds true for you and I today. When we pray, we do not pray to inform God. He knows.
We pray to get ourselves aligned with God. And when we're aligned with God, God can use us for the things he wants for us. God never told Nehemiah go to Jerusalem and then fight against the Samaritans or against the against Sambalot and his his gang never said that. And but Nehemiah prayed for protection from them and that God would do work justice. And the question we could ask, was it wrong for Nehemiah to pray for that kind of a justice?
Nehemiah lived under the Old Covenant of the Old Testament. The Old Testament Exodus 21 is specifically is a clear outline of how people in that time were supposed to deal with violence and oppression and and warfare and so on and and whatever criminal events and so on. But under the new covenant Jesus model for us how to deal with those who hate us and oppose us. We're not given liberty to deal with them in our own discretion
selfish ways. We're supposed to leave that to God. And this is not to say law enforcement is wrong. It's just that we as Christians have a different mandate in the Gospels and Nepal in his letters, he clearly specifies how do we respond to those who press us and hate us. We love them, we don't persecute
them. And for Nehemiah, this is not primarily about the wall even it was about God's name and he was concerned about San Balat and his people were doing to the name of God. The key reason for his prayer in the end of the verse where it says they've provoked you, meaning God to anger. We need always to check our motives, the reasons why we're praying. And so we were called to build a wall in God's name. Does it bother us when God's name is mocked or when his work
is threatened? And Nehemiah's day, God's work was threatened and he prayed about it. Again. Nehemiah did not go on the attack, try to kill them. He did weaponize his people, arm his people for defence. They stood guard, but not with the intent of wanting to cause pain and hurt. So Nehemiah and his people continued to build. They did not listen or pay attention to the threats of San Balat and his men. They kept focusing on the work. So where should our focus be? What should we focus on?
Well, when opposed, keep faith and faith keep moving forward. We're sometimes told wait on the Lord. That's a good advice. Wait on the Lord. While that is true, we're not told to stop moving. It's interesting how often one threat can just have a crippling effect on a person. Nehemiah was not stopped by the taunting, the mocking, the ridiculing. He kept on working right through the threats as if they did not exist. They did exist, he responded, but he kept the working as if they didn't.
And of course they impeded it somewhat, but he kept going. There's a story in the Bible that I want to quickly refer to, the story of Elijah, a prophet in Israel. And the nation of Israel was in such heavy idolatry. God said to Elijah, go and tell the king it's not going to reign, for till I say it will reign. And Elijah prophesied and the famine came. There was no rain. And finally, one day, Elijah has this contest with the prophets of Baal and said, we're going to
have a sacrifice. You guys sacrifice, I'll sacrifice. And the God, the God who answers by fire is the real God. Can they have the sacrifice? The prophets of Baal, they sacrifice, Nothing happens. Elijah sacrifices and God answers by fire. Then he kills all the prophets of Baal and now it's a great victory. And he's so such a victorious event. Well, Jezebel, the queen hears about it and she said, I'm going to make you like one of those dead prophets. And then Elijah hits a low spot.
He literally wanted to die. He was so weak, so tired, so exhausted. It was a journey God had had ordained for him, true, but he couldn't see his way through. He said, God just let me die. I'm no better than my forefathers. Nothing's working. Just just Take Me Home already. He didn't get to die. God didn't allow it, and his life continued. He had a fruitful ministry afterward, but that was not God's plan for Elijah. But so often people take that route. I'm just going to give up, just
going to quit. I'm just going to lay it all down. Nehemiah never had that. Nehemiah kept right on going. That's what amazes me so much with this guy. It says in verse 6, let's look at it again. So we built the wall in spite of everything that went on, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its sight for the people who had a mind to work. He did say, oh our Oh dear, our enemies, they don't like us, they'll want us to stop. What do we do?
What do we do? Chewing his nails, biting his nails, nothing like that. He kept right on going in spite of all the opposition. He says, so we built the wall, the workers did not stop. Instead of in spite of being mocked and ridiculed, someone has made the comments. Sticks and stones, we break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Words do hurt even though they weren't physically attacked. Words have power. And then Elijah was a was a victim of that and so can we be.
So how did Nehemiah stand against the danger of attack? He didn't run. We know that. He stayed true to his task. And so stand guard against attacks on God's work. Stand guard in Modern Warfare, sometimes said to a regiment or a platoon of soldiers and army. No retreat. You have to hold your position to the last man. What that means is the soldiers not at liberty to retreat or abandoned his post if the fighting gets hot and severe, even to the cost of his life.
And they do that. There's a similar parallel in discipleship. It's an all out call for all out commitment with no option for retreat. Anyone who decides to follow Jesus is essentially saying that for as long as I live, he's my number one, and in his honor I will take everything that comes. We say that at baptism. When we get baptized, we say we've said no to sin. We've crucified our sinful lives, we've taken up our cross. We're now dead to sin for the rest of our lives at the cost of
our earthly lives. We will serve Jesus. It comes down to this. No matter what the cost, walking with Jesus, living for Jesus, it's not negotiable. The work must go on, and we find that when #7 now what happened when San Balat, Tabayan, the Arabs, the Ammonites and astronites heard the walls of Jerusalem were restored, the gaps were being closed. They became very angry, and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and
create confusion. Nevertheless, we made our prayer to God, our God, because of them. We set a watch against them. Day and night didn't stop building. They kept on going. Their mockery, ridiculing, wasn't having an effect on them. Instead of stopping the work, the wall just kept growing and they got very angry and they knew what was coming. If Jerusalem becomes strong, then they're not the top dog anymore. Let's look at verse 8. It says all of them conspired together to come and attack
Jerusalem and create confusion. That was their motive. That was their objective. It's no different today. What is to be done in war? How should Nehemiah respond to this effort from the Samaritan governor? He didn't go out and fight. He armed his workers, but not to stop building the wall. And sure, it was slowed down somewhat, but they kept on going and said they made their prayers to God. They were continuing and ongoing challenges. And there was other issues.
The strength, the strength of the laborers was failing. There's so much rubbish and so on. The adversaries say they will. They won't see, they won't know who will come and destroy them. It was a much greater task than we can see from our vantage point. It was humanly impossible, so to speak. They didn't have a trained army necessarily. They needed support. So what does Nehemiah do?
He equips them, he says. So it was when the Jews who dwelt near them, they came and told us 10 times from whatever place you turn there will be upon us. He said, therefore I position men, we're thirteen, behind the lower parts of the wall, and he positioned these men there, armed them with swords and weapons, and reminded them, don't be afraid, the Lord will fight for you. They've been told 10 times you'll be attacked. But Nehemiah takes charge. He's a good leader.
He's a true leader, and he invites the people to follow him and encourages people to stand strong and fight for their families. And you know what the enemies lost. That happened. When our enemies heard that, it was known to us that God had brought their plot to nothing. Then all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. All that scheming and planning and talking that those enemies did, nothing worked. It tells us they, these workers, they held a weapon in one hand,
work with the other. So it slowed them down but didn't stop them. It says they had, every one of the builders had a sword girded as a side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me, meaning Nehemiah. So the odds against which these leaders work were huge. These workers were doing 2 jobs, actually guarding. That's a job. And they were working. And the war alarm sound could,
could sound any time. So they, they, they were not, you know, OK, we'll get ready when it happens. They had to be ready if it happened. So the labor in the work, half of the men held Spears from Daybreak till the stars appeared. And Nehemiah instructed them, stay in Jerusalem at night, be on your guard and work during the day. So they did night shift and day shift. He says we didn't even take our clothes off except to wash them. We're not immune from all of this.
Spiritually, the parallel is the same. Our work may slow down because of attacks in our position that comes our way, but that's something we can't control. So we must be watchful, we must be ready, we must be in guard whether we're in bed at night, whether we're out about during the day, We're at work every all the time.
In Ephesians, the apostle Paul told the the the readers, this Church of Ephesus to be guard, to guard themselves with the armor of God. He says in verse 10, Ephesians 6, verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand
against the Wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand the evil day. And having done all to stand, we'll be opposed. We are being opposed. Opposition's going on. So how do we stand?
This is, how are we dressed? Are we ready when the alarm sounds? That's not, that's not the time to get ready. That's the time to be ready. We must not allow evil to derail us from our call. We must not allow evil to discourage us in our work for God. When we're opposed, it's not really us who's being opposed, it's God who's being opposed. We're the vessels, and God wants to use us, use us for His Kingdom. So what opposition do you and I
have to deal with today? We will and we do place ourselves under someone or something. Cain allowed himself to be controlled by his anger towards God and toward his brother and brought him to ruin. Daniel in the Bible stood strong in the face of opposition and reaped a great reward. Nehemiah had a huge task before him. To rebuild the temple, to rebuild the wall, had a lot of different people working for him
under his leadership. It was a daunting task, but he remains steadfast and achieved a very big milestone of victory in his life. And so when Nehemiah and his people in this project got mocked, ridiculed, they just kept going. What does it take to discourage you and I who are the sandbulots in our lives? Nehemiah remained close to God in his faith, and he prayed in confidence and trust. He made adjustments in the program, armed. His work has kept on building.
One thing was clear with Nehemiah, he would not allow any opposition to interfere with his calling or his work. He was faithful to his call. He was not a man who quit. No matter what opposition he faced, he overcame every obstacle. Nehemiah believed. Nehemiah lived what he believed. No mount could distract him or derail him. We must think about this for ourselves. If God would call you and I to a task such as he gave Nehemiah, how well would we do?
How far would we get? Too often well meaning people promised to just over pray about it. We'll pray about it and that's it. But then nothing happens. I want to read short in the piece I read from Jay Vernon McGee. Some of you know him from years back. He wrote the following. He says when I was a pastor, I
asked a man to do something. He said, well, I'll pray about it. He said, wait a minute, if that's your way of saying no to me, say it right now to my face and I'll find someone else to do it. I don't think you need to pray about this matter. Either you will or you won't. Which is it? To tell the truth, he wouldn't do it. He was just putting me off and our conversation enabled me to
find someone else for the job. There are many people today who simply mouth pious platitudes, McGee continues. He says Nehemiah could could have uttered a pious platitude. You guys said we're trusting the Lord. We won't do anything in other ways. We'll just wait till it gets easier. Less opposition. That's the easy way out. That's what many people do today. They said they're trusting the Lord. No evidence. What are they doing? If you really trust the Lord, you'll do something.
Nehemiah knew the enemy is plotting to come against him. They were opposing him, so he said a watch. That's what God expected him to do. Of course we should pray, yes, and do a lot of it. But our prayers need actions behind them, actions by us, you and I. So what does this matter for you and I today? Opposition will come, no question. The reality is not will it come this, what will we do when it comes?
So let's live as Nehemiah did. Let's not be like Cane or we got to kill the opposition, really extend a lot less. So we got to get rid of this these or even get discouraged like Elijah did. Oh, I'm just going to quit. I'm just going to quit. Rather be like Nehemiah, be like Daniel, allow God's Spirit to work on our hearts and heat his call. We want our lives to be holy, dedicated, committed in spite of all opposition to this faithfully, freely, and with integrity and devotion.
Follow our God. Let's pray. Thank you Lord, for the book of Nehemiah and the work that you did through him in this world. We can read of his experience today and see how you were with him and how you guided him. Lord, I pray that we would be sold out to You as Nehemiah was. We be on fire with Your love, living out Your gospel in our community so others may see you in our lives as Nehemiah did.
We ask, Lord, that Your Spirit will continue to draw us, equip us to faithfully walk with You at all times. We thank you, Lord Jesus, we pray in your name, Amen.