Tabor Baptist Church

• Nehemiah 3
• The people worked together to build the walls
• Up until now we have seen God's blessing but now opposition and resistance has come
• God's work will always meet resistance and opposition
• Here we learn how to deal with opposition
• Taking precautions as well as prayer
• The first thing Nehemiah suggests is prayer since this is a spiritual battle

• Nehemiah 4
• When the people were at a standstill and the walls were not built there was no opposition
• Opposition only started when Nehemiah comes to seek the welfare of the people of God
• A sleepy church will not yield opposition
• When a church is vibrant there will always be opposition

The Opposition

• The opposition was increasing (v7 - cf v1)
• Sanballat - North
• Tobiah - East
• Arabs - South
• Ashdodites - West
• We are not told why the opposition was increasing
• Perhaps it was to related to the fact that Jerusalem was an important trade route
• Many ways today occur due to greed
• Nations are not content with what they have and always want more
• Our battle is a spiritual battle
• Satan is a defeated but a formidable foe
• He is content when the Church does nothing but attacks the Church when it is increasing
• He attacks the people of God
• Satan uses four tactics:
• Bitterness
• Belittling
• Bullying
• Beguiling

Bitterness

• 2:19 - They laughed and despised Nehemiah
• 4:1 - Sanballat was "furious and very indignant"
• Certain people seem to be embittered against the Christian faith (e.g. Dawkins)
• 4:7 - they were "very angry"
• Do we recognise that there are people who are totally opposed to the Christian message?
• The Christian Church clashes with relativism, pluralism and the morality of our age
• Nehemiah doesn't respond to these angry people
• He doesn't meet them, talk to them, go out to them
• Instead he speaks to the people of God, stirring them up
• Sometimes Christians get into pointless debates with others
• There is a time to speak (2:3-8) and a time to be silent
• We should not be afraid of their arguments (4:14)
• Stand on the word of God

Belittling and mocking

• 4:2 - "feeble Jews"
• 4:2 - Sanballat spoke this in front of his army and in hearing of the Jews
• Satan wants us to look at limited resources - God will supply our need
• Satan wants us to look within rather than looking to God
• 4:3 - they start to mock
• Non-Christians can mock: 'do you really believe ...?'
• We are told that we are brainwashed and unthinking people
• Some of the best men were Christians
• Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday
• Eph 6:13 - "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand"

Bullying

• 4:8 and 4:11 - Threats of violence and to confuse the work
• Real violence against Christians: North Korea, Iran, Eritrea, etc
• We are not to fear the body
• We are not to fear man but fear God
• Maybe you feel like you can't pray, can't give a testimony
• Confusion is a work of satan

Beguiling

• A surprise attack
• If satan cannot attack from without he attacks from within
• Seeds of discouragement came from the Tribe of Judah
• 4:10 - discouragement
• 4:12 - The Jews had given way to their fears and the taunts of the enemy - "they told us ten times"
• Remember God
• Jesus had to rebuke Simon Peter - "get behind me satan"

We are not to be ignorant of satan's devices

The Resistance

Prayer

• 4:4 - The first thing Nehemiah does is pray
• 4:4-5 - Nehemiah calls for justice, not just because they were provoking the Jewish people but because they were provoking God
• 4:9 - The people prayed
• Is prayer always the first line of defence for us?
• Nehemiah didn't get out the official papers he had from King Artaxerxes

Precaution

• They gave special protection to the lower parts of the walls
• Where are the vulnerable areas of the Church?
• The young people
• Complacent Christians
• Hurting Christians
• We should be rallying around these people, encouraging them and building them up
• Where are the weakness in me?
• Have I been too lax?
• Have I been too strict?
• Have I been oversensitive?
• Do I have a tremendous lack of self worth?
• Am I envious, do I have pride?
• Is my area of weakness sexual temptation?
• Is my area of weakness my tongue or my temper?
• Do we take precautions in our spiritual life?

Perseverance

• They got halfway and their perseverance was tested (v6)
• The work may have slowed (needing to hold weapons) but the work continued
• They got stuck in (v23) and did not even take off their clothes (apart from to wash them)
• They worked night and day (v22)

Promote The Lord

• God brought their plot to nothing
• 4:20 - "Our God will fight for us"
• How do we speak to one another

The Outcome

• God will prosper His people
• God will build His Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it
• God has the victory side
• God is working for good for those who are called according to His purpose
• God is on our side
• We are on God's side