Nehemiah 6: Deception and Completion
Nehemiah • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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I invite you turn to Nehemiah chapter 6
And while you are turning there, I just want to review a little bit
We’ve been talking about God’s work in the lives of His people
The theme to this series is “Restoration and Renewal”.
Restoration and renewal is the work of God. He is in the business of making new things. Where ever you see people being renewed and restored, and made whole, that is the handiwork of God
It is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit
But where the opposite is happening. Where there is death and decay and separation, that is the work of the accuser of the brethren
And even though he is a defeated foe, he is fighting desperately to inflict as much damage as he can on the people of God before his final judgement.
In the book of Nehemiah, we have seen a number of ways in which satan likes to try to oppose the work that God is doing in the lives of his people
apathy
lies and false accusations
slander and shame
open conflict
But today our chapter, we are going to see some more battles and struggles that Nehemiah faces as he strives to be faithful to what God has led him to do
And as I’ve studied these last few chapters, it just seems like the struggles and the battles that Nehemiah faces are just relentless
Just coming at him left and right
It seems like his enemies will stop at nothing to see Nehemiah discredited or discouraged, or even killed, and the work on the wall stopped
You know, it’s like that in our lives, too, isn’t it? As disciples of Jesus, we face a battle against an enemy that is tireless, relentless
A defeated foe, yes. But one who does not plan on stopping his attacks on the people of God
1 Peter 5 pictures him as a “roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”
I have heard lions roaring in the wild
game park in northern Mozambique
Shortly before we came back to the states, we did a short safari in South Africa
Our lodge was a large safari tent right beside the fence that enclosed the game park
And one night as we were trying to sleep, we heard lions roaring on the other side of the fence as they were hunting
It was quite majestic but also a little bit scary, even though we knew we were safe
But you know, a lion, when he is hungry is not content to rest. He is driven by his instinct to kill and eat and will hunt relentlessly until he achieves his goal
And it was just a stark reminder that satan is the same way
And the attacks that Nehemiah faces in this book are a reminder that the enemy of God and God’s people will also keep attacking
But, there is victory for the people of God
Jesus defeated
we are told to “resist him. Stand firm in the faith”
There is victory. Continue to resist him and stand firm
Don’t expect a life of ease, but expect victory through Jesus Christ
PRAY
So, as we read Nehemiah 6, we are going to see how Nehemiah’s enemies use deception in order to try to being this work to an end
And this makes sense, doesn’t it?
The Bible calls our enemy a liar and a deceiver, and he is quite good at deceiving the people of God in many different ways
Nehemiah 6:1–14 (ESV)
Deception of pride
1 Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates), 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm. 3 And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” 4 And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner.
So, by now, Nehemiah has been made governor
We read that back in chapter 5 verse 14. And he served in that position for 12 years
The Jews had “elected” him to be their governor
And as governor, Nehemiah could have expected to be afforded with certain rights and privileges
And we read about some of those privileges in chapter 5
He was supposed to get paid forty shekels, or about one pound, of silver/day
Not only was he supposed to get a wage, but he could also claim a A food allowance
He and everyone who ate at his table had a food allowance
There were 150 men sitting around his table vs. 17
And together they consumed
one ox
six choice sheep and birds
every ten days they had all the wine they could drink
And Nehemiah looked at all of this, the things that other governors had claimed, and he said, “No. I’m not going to claim this stuff. It’s just going to put more burdens on the people and I’m going to live without it.”
I’m going to take a humble attitude and put the needs of the people in front of my own needs
But then in chapter 6, here come these 3 guys again: Sanballat, Tobiah and Gesham with yet another attempt to get the work on the city to stop.
And really, this time they trying to deceive him by appealing to his position as governor. They are trying to appeal to his pride
They send him an “official invitation”, probably on official government letterhead, if they had such a thing
And they say, “Hey some of us bigwigs are getting together out here on the plain of Ono. And we’d be honored if you, as governor of Judah, would come down and join us.”
You’re really coming up in this world, Nehemiah! Congratulations!
Now, why don’t you come on down here and mix it up with all the other important guys?
I don’t really know for sure if that is the way they worded their letter, but it really seems to me that they are trying to appeal to Nehemiah’s pride
It seems like they are trying to get him to be puffed up.
They’ve spent the last while trying to threaten him and intimidate him, and now suddenly they are like
Hey, we really didn’t mean all that stuff.
come on out here. You’re a governor now and you’re pretty important.
It really seems like they are trying to get him to fall to the deception of pride
Pride is such a deceptive thing, isn’t it?
It’s one of Satan’s favorite and most effective tools
He has used it to tremendous effect over the years, and many people have fallen prey to its deception
You might even say that it was the original sin
“you could be like God, knowing right from wrong”
Wow, be like God! That sounds pretty good!
And down through the pages of Scripture, you see men being overtaken with pride
Men like King Solomon
A King who started out so well, seeking God, asking Him for wisdom
And God blessing him with unsurpassed wealth and wisdom
But as his power and wealth and influence grew, so did his pride
And he married countless pagan women and his heart was turned away from God and the end of Solomon couldn’t be more different than start as king
And the amazing thing is that Solomon wrote many many proverbs warning against against pride and how much God despises pride
Yet, it was that very thing that took him down
And maybe that’s what makes pride so dangerous. It’s generally really easy to see it in someone else
You have someone who likes to talk about themselves—pride
Someone who is argumentative—pride, not giving up their position
The list could go on
We know pride when we see it in other people, but in ourselves, we need the Holy Spirit to identify it many times
He’s had to convict me of many areas of pride…and He continues to do so
Pride in my abilities
Pride in my opinions—thinking that I’m right and other’s opinions don’t count
Pride in my experiences
So many areas
You know, in our chapter today, Nehemiah did not give in to the deception of pride.
He refused to take all the privileges that could have been his
He said, I don’t want to burden the people
He refused to take part in whatever meeting these other governors were planning—of course they had nothing good in mind anyway
He simply said, “Why should I stop my work and go down to you? Sure I’m governor and all, but I’m doing what God has led me to do”
Our Great Example, Jesus:
He could have used His title and position to seek His own will and agenda
But the Bible says that He laid that aside and took the form of a servant
And He came under the authority of The Father
And this should be our mind as well
Humility: servanthood
You know, as we seek spiritual renewal, one of our prayers should be, “Lord, search my heart and identify areas of pride in me. Root them out of me and cleanse me of my pride”
Because it’s then in our humility and brokenness that God will begin to work and
Deception of fear
So, Nehemiah does not fall to the deception of pride
And so his enemies try a different tactics
that is, to scare him into giving up the work
5 In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. 6 In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports you wish to become their king. 7 And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.” 8 Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.” 9 For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands.
So, again, his enemies try to intimidate him.
They try to frighten him into abandoning the work.
“Hey, everyone is saying that all you Jews are planning to rebel and that you are planning to make yourself king
And King Artaxerxes is going to hear about it and boy are you going to be in trouble
They’ve made this kind of threat before, but now they are saying, “Hey everyone is talking about it now!”
And you don’t want to be around when Artaxerxes hears about it!
They try to frighten him into quitting the work
You know, fear can be a very surprisingly deceptive thing
It can show up in the lives of God’s people in various ways
I’m not scared. I’m just being cautious
I’m not scared. I’m just being a good steward of what God has given me
I’m not scared. That’s just not my gifting
And you know,
at times, it is good to be cautious
we need to be good stewards of what God has given us
It is good to know how God has gifted us,
But other times, we use those excuses when fear takes over our lives
You know, I thought about this whole thing quite a bit when we were in Mozambique
There were a ton of “what if” scenarios that played through my head
what if one of us got sick and died over here
What if they elected a government that was hostile to Christianity and our lives were threatened daily
What if...
There were all kinds of scenarios that made me think, “if I left the mission field because of that, would it be fear, or would it be
just being cautious
being a good steward, etc
There have been many missionaries that have left the field because of fear.
and I don’t judge them at all
Many missionaries have experienced unspeakably hard things
But others have stayed in the face of danger and tragedy
I think of women like Elizabeth Elliot whose husband Jim was killed along Nate Saint, and 3 other men while trying to establish contact with the Huaorani Indians in Ecuador
You know, maybe the “prudent and wise thing” to do, at least in the eyes of many people, would have been to come back to the States where it was safe
But she didn’t. She didn’t give way to fear.
She and several other women, including Nate Saint’s sister, Rachel, stayed on and God worked in a mighty way among the Huaorani Indians
You know, Satan will use fear if he possibly can, to make us rethink and rationalize away being a disciple of Jesus
But we know what the Bible says about fear
2 Timothy 1:7 “7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
1 John 4:18 “18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”
We read of people who have faced incredibly hard things seemingly with unwavering faith and bravery
Where does that come from? Are they braver than most?
No, I think it’s because they love Jesus so much and they love people so much
Their love overcomes whatever fear satan tries to hit them with
As we seek the Lord for renewal and restoration, let’s ask Him to take away our fear and replace it with a heart of love for Him and for His people, then watch what He will do
Deception of Friends
Sometimes Satan will send people along in our lives who will give us council that is contrary to God’s will and plan
10 Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.” 11 But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.” 12 And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. 14 Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.
Nehemiah faces the betrayal of someone who is supposed to be a friend, yet gives him bad council
He goes to visit this guy Shemaiah, apparently someone whom he knows well
And this guy, for whatever reason is confined to his house, but apparently is able to move around because he says
, “Hey, let’s go into the Temple and shut the doors up tight. Because they are coming to kill you. And there you will be safe”
Turns out that this guy was hired by Tobiah and Sanballat again to try to lure Nehemiah into a trap
but Nehemiah says, not on your life, pal!
First, not just anybody is supposed to go into the Temple
The priests and Levites could
But not even Nehemiah, as governor was supposed to just waltz into the Temple
And secondly, as he has done all along, Nehemiah says, “why should I run away?
I’ve got things to do. God has put me on a mission
Why should I leave off the work and run away? God has protected me before, hasn’t he?
I don’t know what the motives were of this guy, Shemaiah.
We know that he was paid off by Sanballat and company
But maybe he really liked Nehemiah. And maybe he thought that, you know, in the end, there is no way that Nehemiah is going to succeed anyway. I’m gonna at least try to save his life
Let’s go hide in the Temple. yeah, everyone will think that you are a scaredy cat, but at least you can stay alive
But Nehemiah sees right through it and it’s just yet another attempt to get him to stop doing what God had led him to do
And in the end, it’s just an attempt of a so-called friend to betray him
You know, this is a really hard thing, to have friends and the people you love end up betraying you by giving you bad advice or bad council
This has got to be one of the hardest betrayals
When we were in MAF we heard a number of stories from other MAF’ers whose familes did not understand what they were doing by going overseas as missionaries
And these were family members who loved them, and probably thought they were being helpful, but really you could probably say that satan was using them to try to discourage folks from following Jesus
And he’ll do that as often as he can.
For me, personally, I can say that I haven’t had that experience
But maybe for some of you, you have. Maybe you or somebody you love, for their own spiritual health had to leave the Amish church and found themselves rejected by their family and community that used to be your support
Jesus, Himself, experienced the rejection and betrayal of those who were close to him
In John 6, after some hard teaching, it says that many of his disciples stopped following Him
It had to feel like a betrayal and rejection
He turns to the 12 and says, “Are you going away too?” (really showing the humanness and emotion of Jesus)
In the Garden, when He needed His friends the most, many of them ran away. That had to have hurt dreadfully
Nehemiah, it seems to me, I’m sure was hurt by this guy who possibly used to be his friend
But, again, he doesn’t turn and lash out at him
Instead, he leaves this guy in the hands of God
And he identifies the attempt at deception and he continues on being faithful to God
You know, in the work of God in our lives, as we seek to follow Him, not everyone is going to understand.
In fact, there are bound to be people who maybe with the best intentions do things to betray you and it will hurt
But, again, Nehemiah does not turn on anybody.
He simply cries out to God and says, God, work out your will in their lives. Remember them
And he returns to the work at hand—such a challenging example
The work completed
So, in verse 15, And they complete the work that they had started.
In 52 days, they had it done! What an amazing feet
and what is the result?
All the nations around them
Were afraid
They feel greatly in their own esteem
They were humbled
Why were they humbled?
For they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.
And that, my friends, was exactly the point of God leading Nehemiah to this work
It was so that the surrounding nations would know that there was a God in the land of Judah and that He was with His people
You know, I often pray for all of us here at Fairview. I pray that God will continue to do His work among us
And when I pray these prayers, I want to be faithful in including:
Not for our own glory or reputation, Lord. But for YOURS alone and so that everyone in the community will know that Jesus is alive and well and HE is working among His people at Fairview