I want to continue our study through the book of Nehemiah, and if you would turn with me to the book of Nehemiah, and we want to pick it up again at chapter 6 of Nehemiah. One of the difficult things in life is we are always in a spiritual battle. Not only in a spiritual battle, but there’s difficulties as we see things that happen, like what happened in Texas this last weekend, just two days ago.
And sometimes we don’t know the answers and we don’t know why, but it is a battle. And on the line is our faith and our trust in the Lord. This last week we celebrated on Friday the 4th of July the founding of our nation, a nation which is unlike any other nation in the world.
A nation which is comprised not of one specific ethnic group, but of many, many different groups of people who came here. And when our nation was founded, it was founded on the principles of this book, the principles of God’s Word and Truth. And people who came here, the vast majority of them, acknowledged this and wanted to assimilate to the beliefs of America.
Sadly, much has changed. And it’s like since the beginning of the 20th century, around the early 1900s, it’s like there was a breach put in a dam. And as we moved through the 20th century into the 21st century, the breach became larger and larger.
More and more truth that came from this Word was brought under assault and attack. And people were flooding in this country who had no desire to assimilate to biblical truth nor to assimilate to America’s values. And because of that, we’ve seen many crises in our land.
Now, Jesus talked about this. And before we get into Nehemiah, I just want to read chapter 10 of John’s Gospel, verse 10. Jesus has just gotten done explaining that He is the Good Shepherd.
And He’s there to watch over His sheep, wear His sheep. But in verse 10, He makes an amazing statement. This comes after verse 9 where He’s proclaimed that He’s the door and no one can enter in lest they come by and through Him.
But then in verse 10 He says, The thief cometh not, but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. In verse 9, He just said, I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved and he shall go in and out and find pasture.
And then He refers to the thief. In verse 12, He says, But he that is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
But Jesus says in verse 14, I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. Why don’t I read that before we go back to Nehemiah and look at what’s happening there. A lot of times when we read Scripture, we don’t realize real people were living at the time that this accounts are given.
They’re historical accounts. If you grew up in Sunday school, like I did, we’re always told about Bible stories. Well, they’re stories, yes, but they’re much more than stories.
They’re historical accounts. These events actually occurred to real people. It wasn’t just someone’s imagination that determined he was going to say that the nation of Judah was going to be taken away into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar on three different raids.
And the final raid, Jerusalem would be destroyed, the walls would come down, the temple would be destroyed, there would be nothing left but rubble. That was an historic event that happened, and there were real people living when it occurred. Real people were taken away into Babylon, and real people were coming back to find everything they had destroyed.
Last week, that happened to real people in Texas. They weren’t carried away into a foreign country, but everything they had was destroyed, including the lives of some of their children, and some of their friends, and some of their neighbors. Those same things happened in Israel with Judah.
Those of you who’ve been here when we’ve been studying Jeremiah, Jeremiah talks about the fact that there are going to be people that are going to be killed by the sword. There are going to be people killed by pestilence. There are going to be people taken into captivity.
As he’s speaking to Judah before they go into captivity in Babylon, because of their lack of faith in God and their continual abandonment of truth, Nehemiah came back to rebuild the walls. And as we begin this study, one of the things that I said is, whenever you take serious God’s command on your life to walk with Him and to do His will, I can guarantee one thing. Difficulties are going to come because the enemy will attack.
And that’s exactly what Nehemiah is seeing. Two chief actors in leading the assault have been Sanballat and Geshem, the third being Tobiah. They are constantly trying to undermine the people’s faith and trust in God.
They are trying to present different facts that aren’t facts at all. They are trying to undermine the truth that God has revealed to His people and to us. Today, as we come to Nehemiah, in Nehemiah chapter 6, we’ve got three more ways that they come to assault Nehemiah and the Jewish people.
Now, it came to pass when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem, the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left therein, though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates,
2 That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief.
3 And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?
4 Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner.
5 Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand;
6 Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words.
7 And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.
8 Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.
9 For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.
10 Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.
11 And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.
12 And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
13 Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.
14 My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.
15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.
16 And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.
17 Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them.
18 For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son in law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah.
19 Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.
Lord, I pray that you would help us not to be in fear.
Strengthen our hands. Help us not to be filled with doubt. And Lord, help us to walk in the power of your might.
This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
It’s interesting. They couldn’t stop them from building the wall. God had ordained that the wall would be built. He sent his man, Nehemiah, who went in obedience, took the responsibility God had laid before him, encouraged the people, laid out the work, did everything that God instructed him to do, and did it in order according to what the Lord had said.
And now the wall is built. The only thing that is left to do is hang the gates, the doors on the gates. And once they’ve done, there is no entry into Jerusalem unless they open the gate to let you in.
Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshen are very distressed. I want you to, as I begin at the beginning of the message this morning, I want you to know that our nation has been under assault just about from the moment that it began as a nation. Not all the founding fathers were Christians.
Amongst them were Masons. And Masons have a whole different view of the world than the Bible, even though they may claim to be Christians. For example, one of the false doctrines that has permeated the Southern Baptist Convention to a really high degree is Masonry.
A number of pastors, elders, deacons, church leaders are Masons. And it’s why you will very seldom ever hear a Southern Baptist church speak out against Masonry. But Masonry is the exact opposite of Biblical Christianity.
It aligns itself more with Islam, with Hinduism, with any of the false religions of the world because that’s what it is. And at the heart of Masonry, when you become a 33rd degree Mason, you become one that is enlightened to the point that you know who the true God is, and it’s Lucifer, not Adonai. And that’s what they believe.
They don’t want the world to know it, but they were amongst those that were there at the beginning of our nation. And in spite of them, our nation laid as its foundation Biblical truth that we all are created in the image of God. All men created equal in His sight.
Those came directly from Biblical verses. Verses like, God is not a respecter of persons as men are. But God looks at the heart, not at the position, not at the countenance, not at the social standing, not at the degree of healthfulness or healthiness that a person might endure, but He looks at the heart.Now it came to pass when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;)