Standing Up For God
Nehemiah 2:10-20; 4:1-21; 6:1-14. 21 October 2007

Andrew Lim

I have recently been approached to sit on a panel of interviewers
to pick a person for an important position of leadership
in a major Christian institution

And I have had to read volumes of all the applicant’s CV’s
And many of them are of a high degree of caliber
- most impressive / degrees earned and conferred
- articles and books published / areas they have served in
- leadership position they have occupied

And I have prayed a lot about it / and still praying about it
for God’s wisdom to help pick just the one right person
And in my praying the Lord reminds me
just exactly what I am to look for
that finally / when at all the achievements and accomplishments
have been considered and taken into account
what is it / that finally puts one person above the other

It is this: Character
I’ve preached about it / prayed about it mulled over it
seen disaster happen when that is shoved aside
And coming to this book of Nehemiah
the Lord seems to be speaking to us about t all over again

Just what makes a leader? / What is it that cuts one person above another?

The point is this / the work of God will always be met with opposition
Of course opposition mainly comes from the outside
But sadly it comes from with the ranks as well
more too frequently than we care to believe

Where I am / right now / I want to say
I am a very very happy pastor / in a place where God wants me to be
doing what I believe with all my heart what God wants me to do
And I have this honor to lead
some of the finest humble most sincere people
that I have been asked to lead / and I am humbled by the honor

So I want to say that this sermon
does not come from any unhappy situation in our midst
We have the unity here / that I have been dreaming of and praying for
- for many years in the ministry

But having said this it remains crucially true
that whenever there is a work of God
- especially / a work that seeks to honor God alone
the enemy is roused from his slumber and he seeks to disrupt

Recently I read a short devotion entitled / “Are you known in hell?”

And the author says what you are doing or hope to do
- is it something that rattles the devil’s cage
- is he in hell suddenly taking notice
that something crucial for God / has been started in your life
- is all hell about to break through / because of you
Hence the title / “Are you known in hell?”

In Hebrew the word “Satan” literally means the “adversary”
an opponent / an obstructor / one who restrains

And that / what we are seeing here in the book of Nehemiah
Soon as the people agree to rebuild the city of God / the devil is roused

You may say / but Nehemiah is doing the will of God
Why would he come under attack
We have come to see that that
is the very confirmation that you are doing the will of God
And here / we have no other desire
than to teach the Word of God and build his church
and we must never look at opposition as proof that God is not in it

The Word of God this morning to us is to learn from Nehemiah
how as a leader he handles opposition

We observe from Nehemiah / some helpful ways to deal with opposition

We came to the point / indeed the high point of the story
where all the green light has been given to Nehemiah to build the walls
- he’s heard from God / the King has given his mandate
- even went out of his way to provide support and protection
- its full steam ahead

Right? / No quite! Verse 10 of chapter 2
“When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official
heard about this / they were very much disturbed
that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites”

Whenever someone says “Come let us rebuild” Satan marshals his forces
and says “Come let us disrupt / discourage and destroy

And here we see the unholy trinity
Sanballat / Tobiah / and Gershem / they rally their force
to pounce upon Nehemiah

And in verse 19 / they were joined with a third man
Geshem the Arab / and they mocked and ridiculed the Jews
“What is this you are doing?? they asked
“Are you rebelling against the king?”

They charge Nehemiah
with trying to stir up a rebellion against King Artaxerxes
This is hitting below the belt
This is back-hand intimidation / making it political
The enemy will stop at nothing to disrupt this work of God
Their seek to aim / to weaken / demoralize / discourage

As soon as the rebuilding crew rolled up their sleeves
they were opposed

They mocked they held their heads high looked down their noses
and scoffed at this small group of Jewish builders
“You are rebelling against the king aren’t you?”

Now the interesting thing is this
“DO you see N pulling out the king’s letter from his pocket and yell out
“Hey Look here I have the permission of the king / I have A’s okay”

No! / he did none of that / Instead this is what he says
v.20 / “The God of heaven will give us success / We his servants
will start rebuilding / but as for you / you have no share in Jerusalem
or any claim or historic right to it”

He could have produced the king’s mandate to build
but he chose to produce instead / the commission of the King of Heaven
“The God of heaven will give us success”

Notice that Nehemiah’s confidence
is not in his mandate from King Arterxeses
but from his commission from the King of heaven

It is incredible what a man of God can stand up to
when He knows His God as the God of heaven

Nehemiah knows his God as Yahweh Elohim
the God Who is sovereign over all things
over all kingdoms / all rulers / all powers
He is the great and awesome God the God of all authority all heaven

This is the God we worship
And it is He / not King Artexerxes Who will build this wall
and you better get out of the way
if you knew what is good for you

In Chap 4:14 / Nehemiah again says
“Remember the God who is great and awesome
He is the God all powerful / He will fight for us”
He will fight for your brothers / your sons and your daughters
your wives and your homes”

This / is our God / great and awesome
He is the God Who inspires awe / engenders intense fear
The God Who gives you
an overwhelming feeling of reverence and veneration
The God Who inspires terror and dread
The God Who by virtue of His very presence
has an immobilizing effect / freezes you / paralyses you
terrifies you / fills you with quiver of trepidation

You’re frightened of Sanballat / Tobiah / and Geshem
you’re plain silly / your eyes are focused on the wrong thing

You need to remember you are not to fight
The Lord will fight for you / the great and awesome God

It is incredible what a man or woman of God can stand up to
when they know the God they worship
People who know their God have great boldness for God

Look at the end of v 20 / “Our God will fight for us!”
When will we ever learn / that we need only to stand still
and see the deliverance of the Lord

But the enemy will not retreat that easily
In 4:7 / we read / “But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs / the Ammonites
and the men of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem's walls
had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed
they were very angry”

W need to take a look at the geography of the names mentioned here
Sanballat is in the north
Tobiah and the Ammonites are in the east
Geshem and the Arabs are in the south
And the Ashdodites are on the coast / in the west

And in the centre of all of these gathering forces
is that small group of covenant people / and Sanballat says
“We’re coming to slit your throat” “We coming to get you”
Its a war of nerves is waged / eyeball to eyeball / who will blink first

But when did this threat take place
verse 6 / “So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height”

Now this takes place when the wall is already halfway completed
The more advance the rebuilding / the greater the opposition

We need to note that in our English Bible
verse 10 does not come through in all its full force
In the Hebrew bible / we see here a poetic couplet / a rhyme / a chant
“The strength of the people are running out
there’s so much rubble / we’re all in trouble”
- and on and on it would go / like a chant

Now the crucial question is this: Who was saying this?
Sanballat? / Tobiah ? / Geshem? / No! None of these!
Its coming from the Jews themselves / coming from among the ranks
The people themselves are getting discouraged / they’re whining
“The cost is too high”
“The sacrifice is too demanding / We’re never going to pull this off”
“It never going to be done”
“Also our enemies have said / “We will be right there among them
and we’re going to kill you and put an end to the work” / 4:11

Now this / is every leader’s worst nightmare / whiners !!

And this is going to have it debilitating effect
Nehemiah is not only to have to deal with opposition from the outside
He’s got whiners from the inside!

How does Nehemiah respond?
He could have said / “What’s the point / the opposition is too strong
Besides / these people haven’t had a wall here for more than 150 years.
- they’ve gotten used to living without one
- they don’t need one / besides we will never get one built
Let’s pack up and pull out”

But he does not say all that / This is what he says instead
Ch 4:9 / “We prayed to our God / and posted a guard day and night
to meet this threat”
4:16 / “From that day on, half of my men did the work / while the other half
were equipped with spears shields bows and armor
v.17 / “Those who carried materials did their work with one hand
and held a weapon in the other”
v. 21 / “So we continued the work with half the men holding spears
from the first light of dawn till the stars came out
v. 23 / “Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me
took off our clothes
each had his weapon / even when he went for water”

Nehemiah is not an ultra spiritualist / He didn’t just pray and did nothing
Yes he prayed / but he will post a guard as well
Yes he prayed / but he will arm his men
He has a fine balance between trusting God and taking precaution
- he has a trusting holy heart / but he has a sound mind as well

We’re not to pray / the wait as we crossed our fingers
We pray and we sharpen our sabers
We trust God / but we lock our doors
We pray before we embark on a long journey
but we buckle our seat-belts

Oliver Cromwell / who led the forces of Parliament to victory
during the English Civil War / is supposed to have told his troops
“Put your faith in God / but keep your powder dry”

In World War II / the initial allied attacks against Germany
were done by massive airplane bombardment
Hundreds, or even thousands, of bombers at a time
would fly from England to drop bombs
on Germany's military and industry infrastructures

But not a single one of those bombers flew alone
they were always escorted by fighter aircrafts
The bombers did the bombing
and while they were dropping those bombs over Germany
the jet fighters did the protecting

I am glad that in this church / half-an hour before we begin
there is a group of intercessors in a room out there praying for us
and each time I stand here preaching
two of have the specific task of praying for me

The intercessors in the church are like the fighter pilots
they’re protecting the bombers
This way / the enemy can't harm those who are doing the work

Never even begin to do the work of God
without having called for a group of intercessors
to pray for what you are doing

Chapter 6:1,2 / “When word came to Sanballat / Tobiah / Geshem the Arab
and the rest of our enemies / that I had rebuilt the wall
and not a gap was left in it
- though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates
Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message:
“Come let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono”

Come and talk to us Nehemiah / we’ve got to talk
We can’t go on at loggerheads like that
Come on down this way / we’ll meet on the plain of Ono / we’ll talk”

Nehemiah / a true man of God has a heightened sense of discernment
He could sniff out that a trap had been set for him
He could discern that they were scheming to harm him
end of verse 2 / “but they were scheming to harm me”

Fancy the King back home in Susa in Persia getting this letter
“Dear King / there has been an unfortunate accident
Nehemiah is dead”

Nehemiah / because he had been a prayerful man
is able to hear what the Spirit of God is telling him
and he is right to expect an assassination plot

Verse 3 / “So I sent messengers to them with this reply:
“I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down
Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?”
Verse 4 / “Four times they sent me the same message
and each time I gave them the same answer”

Four times they come to him / Four times they plead with him
And four time he says “No”

And verse 5 says / “Then, the fifth time / Sanballat sent his aide to me
with the same message / and in his hand was an unsealed letter
V.6 in which was written: “It is reported among the nations
and Geshem says it is true—that you and the Jews
are plotting to revolt / and therefore you are building the wall
Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king
v. 7 and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation
about you in Jerusalem: “There is a king in Judah!”
Now this report will get back to the king
so come / let us confer together”

Nehemiah / you better come on down here now
You don’t us to report to the King your plans to overthrow him do you?
You better come to us so we can get this thing resolved
Otherwise the king is going to hear of this
and your head will go rolling / you don’t want that do you!
So come on down / and we can talk / we can work this out!”
Verse 8 / “I sent him this reply: / “Nothing like what you are saying
is happening / you are just making it up out of your head”
Verse 9 / “They were all trying to frighten us / thinking
“Their hands will get too weak for the work
and it will not be completed”

Five times they’ve come / and five time he turns them down

There is a more vital reason why he wouldn’t go see them
Verse 3 / “So I sent messengers to them with this reply:
“I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down
Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?”

It is not that he is afraid of them to go see them
He refuses to go see them
because he has such a clear mandate in his mind and heart
of what God wants him to do

He possesses a clear and focused vision of the task God gives him
I am carrying on a great project and cannot stop
Why should I stop everything and go see you?

When you know that what you are doing is what God wants you to do
it is so much easier to say “No” / to those who seek to divert you
from the ambition God has given to you

This is the reason why good leaders are totally stubbornly resolute
This is why there are leaders who appear inflexible and unbending
and can be such a frustration to people around them

Its because they’ve caught the vision God gives them
and they run with all their heart

Most leaders are a little unsure / what God would have them do
- and these are people who are always here there everywhere
putting out fires / wherever they may be burning

It is on this point that a lot of pastors suffer
because there will always be people
who want him engaged in this and that
regardless of whether those are things God want of the pastor

“Hey pastor! / You really ought to be doing this
What about the project over there / shouldn’t you be there
Have you look into this ministry we told you about?
We think this is what you ought to be doing!”

I still remember my very first few months into the work as a pastor
fresh from Bible College / my very first church / a Baptist church
I was __ of age / And there was this call to marry this couple
and I didn’t feel they were right for each other
She was a lovely child of God
He had just came out of a cultic situation
and hadn’t really found the Lord
And I didn’t want to marry them
And the Chairman of the church took me aside
And he says to me “Andrew / if you don’t marry them I will”
And I felt terrible / I felt he was saying to me
that if I’m not going to do my job
someone else will have to pick it up then
And I gave in / and I married them
And true enough not long after that /the marriage was in deep waters”

Ever sine then / I have made a resolve that the final decision
to marry or to refuse to marry a couple / is ultimately my call
- because it is I / who will finally have to stand before God
to give an account of why I married them

The point is this / if you are not clear about what you must or must not do
you’ll be torn to different pieces

A weak- hearted pastor will be pulled in 64 different directions
by 64 different people / who want him in 64 different other places

And because most pastors are peace-loving
and have a great desire to see people happy
they are often diverted from what God has called him to do

But when he does this / most people in church will suffer for it

Some people will never understand / why you can say “No”
but every leader under God must be able to reserve the wisdom to do that

One of the mark of a matured leader / is the ability to say “No”
without having to give a reason

Nehemiah / as a leader
possesses a focused vision of the task God gives him
“Why should the work stop / and I go down to you”

Then came a last ditch effort to destroy him
It a method that’s as old as the human race
They did it to our Lord / they found a collaborator from the inside

Chapter 6:10 / “One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah
the son of Mehetabel / who was shut in at his home
He said / ‘Let us meet in the house of God / inside the temple
and let us close the temple doors / because men are coming
to kill you / by night they are coming to kill you”

This man Shemaiah was a prophet / he was known to Nehemiah
But just like Judas Iscariot / he would do anything for money

He comes to Nehemiah / and he says / “Nehemiah / my friend
God has given me a revelation / People are coming for you
They coming for you tonight
There is on place to hide / Inside the temple
Come on in / it’ll be safe there!”

Verse 11 / “But I said / “Should a man like me run away?
Or should one like me go into the temple to save his life?
I will not go!”
Verse 12 / “I realized that God had not sent him
but that he had prophesied against me
because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him”
Verse 13 / “He had been hired to intimidate me
so that I would commit a sin by doing this
and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me”

What Nehemiah saying here that he would commit a sin by doing this

If he entered the temple / he would be sinning in two ways
one / he would be showing a distrusting of God’s power to save him
two / he would be going into such a part of the temple
that as a non-priest / he had no right to go

Now what is the penalty for a non-priest
who enters that sacred part of the temple
- Death / In 2 Chronicles 26 / King Uzziah / who was not a priest
went into the temple / and God instantly struck him with leprosy

The Law of God is explicitly clear
No one but the priest can enter into the temple proper
and the penalty for a person
who is not a priest entering the temple / was death
- they were plotting for him to sign his own death-warrant
If he so much as put a foot over the threshold of the temple door
word will go to the authorities that he’d committed a grave sin
and he would be put to death

How did Nehemiah respond?

Verse 14 / “Remember Tobiah and Sanballat / O my God
because of what they have done remember also the prophetess Noadiah
and the rest of the prophets who have been trying to intimidate me”

Our response / our immediate response
is to pay back those who plotted our fall

He turns his enemies over to God the judge
believing the God of all men shall surely do right

Back to chapter 4

Reading from verse 1 / “When Sanballat heard
that we were rebuilding the wall
he became angry and was greatly incensed / He ridiculed the Jews
and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria / he said
“What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall?
Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day?
Can they bring the stones back to life
from those heaps of rubble / burned as they are?”
v. 3 / Tobiah the Ammonite / who was at his side / said
“What they are building / if even a fox climbed up on it
he would break down their wall of stones!”

And now / here’s the crucial part of his prayer
v.4 / “Hear us / O our God / for we are despised
Turn their insults back on their own heads
Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity
v. 5 Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight
for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders”

Fancy praying a prayer like that! / What seems to be happening?
Is Nehemiah quite suddenly losing it?
We been observing his patience and love / and godliness
Why is he praying such harsh prayers on his enemies

Well / Have you ever read what are called the imprecatory psalms
David prays like this all the time / Ps 109 / Ps 137

He prays disaster for his enemy
He prays that his days may be few
that his children be fatherless / and his wife a widow
his children be wandering beggars
that strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
that no one take pity on his fatherless children
that their names blotted out from the next generation

Jeremiah prays like this too on a number of occasions

Jesus talks like that too
What does he say / to those who repeatedly defy him?
“You brood of vipers white-washed tombs full of dead men’s’ bones
I am going to a place / where you cannot come”

David / Jeremiah / Nehemiah / and others
were men of God who knew without a shred of doubt
that their work was God’s work
that to oppose it was to oppose God himself
It is pure zeal for the glory of God

You’ll remember a guy by the name of Phinehas / in Numbers 25
The men of God were fooling around with some Moabite women
It is wrong on two counts
One / adultery is sin
Two / they were women who were outside the covenant community

And God commanded that all the men who were doing this
should be put to death / and that day 24,000 men are killed

And when they are done killing / and people are mourning
in come a carefree / irresponsible / freewheeling Israelite
with a Moabite woman on his hands
They go into his tent / and started making out
And a man by the name of Phinehas / picks up a spear
and he rams it down on them so hard / it went through both of them

And God says / “I’m going to honor the name of Phinehas / forever
He has loved my glory / like I love my glory

And God rewards Phinehas and his descendants
with a "covenant of a lasting priesthood"
because Phinehas was “zealous for the honor of his God”

It was an act that came from a pure zeal
for the honor of the Name of God

That’s exactly what Nehemiah is about right here
He is praying destruction against his enemies
not out of a sense of personal vendetta
but out of a vindication for the glory of God

Nehemiah believes the work he is doing is the work God gives him to do
And anyone who opposes him / opposes God


We have taken a look at the character of Nehemiah
and we have been impressed by the amount of endurance he has