Nehemiah 6 Stay off the Side Roads
Growing up, our family, along with my dad’s parents and some of his siblings, used to go to Black Rock Mountain, North Carolina, to camp for our vacation. We’d all go to the Cherokee Reservation, play in area creeks, fish in the trout farms and such. Didn’t have a lot of money, but we knew how to entertain ourselves.
Well, one of the things my dad enjoyed doing for entertainment was what he called, “Getting back to nature.” Basically that meant, all of a sudden he’d take an unplanned side road and just see where it led.
Occasionally we’d end up someplace neat, or we’d see something neat. I remember one time we ended up on a dead end road, in the middle of no where, surrounded on three sides by Cherokee Indian homes. The mother from one of the homes came out with her children, with a pail and a ladle and offered us all something to drink from the pail.
It turns out that she made bead work souvenirs that she sold in in one of the reservation stores, and she taught me how to do some bead work. That was a neat, “back to nature.”
On other occasions the side trips were not as fun, like the time we ended up at a dump, or the time we ended up on a bombing range in the Ocala National Forest, with planes flying about 50 feet over our heads. Not as much fun.
Whether the destination ended up being an interesting one, or a dangerous one, these side trips all had one thing in common, they delayed us from getting to where we were heading.
All of Nehemiah chapter 6, is an account of Nehemiah fighting to keep from getting sidetracked, fighting to accomplish what God has called him to do.
Turn with me this morning . . . as we see together, “How to Stay off the Side Roads.”
- Read Nehemiah 6:1-19
Nehemiah and the people are making great progress. They are moving with incredible speed. They have now completed the main wall, all it lacks are the gates.
You ever notice how the attacks increase when you are close to finishing a job? The distractions increase when you are almost finished.
When did Bathsheba catch David’s eye? Late in the game when when he had battled countless enemies, beaten other nations, and avoided Saul’s plots. He was king. Things were looking good, and then he looked next door.
When did Solomon get distracted? He had prayed for wisdom. He had built great works, written many proverbs, studied the meaning of life, had people coming from around the world to listen to his wisdom, and then his wives began to lea him astray.
Moses had led the people out of Egypt, had been to the top of the mountain and gotten the 10 Commandments, and had ;ed the people in the wilderness for 40 years; then he lost his temper and lost the ability to go into the promised land.
It is often when things are going well, when the completion is within sight, that the Devil pulls out all the stops to lead us astray, to keep us from finishing what God called us to do.
In this passage we see the records of multiple attempts to keep Nehemiah from finishing. Look there again please at verse 1
- Read Nehemiah 6:1-4
1. Satan’s Scheme: Intrigue
Come’ let’s meet together.
Now, on the surface this seems like a reasonable request. Come on, let’s meet together.
There were probably people who told Nehemiah, “You really need to meet with those people. You need to calm their concerns, address their questions. After all, we’;re all on the same team here. Aren’t we supposed to be peacemakers?
My word, if I had a Dollar for every time someone has told me, “Didn’t Jesus say, By this may all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.’ It’s not doctrine that marks us as one of His. It’s the way we love and care for one another.
We need to focus on the things we have in common, and overlook the things where we differ. After all, can’t we work together?
In some situations that is true, but in others it is not. It may sound nice and pleasant to strive to get along with everyone, but that diocesan’t mean I’m gonna compromise the truth, just so we can get along.
A couple of weeks ago, one of the youth leaders at MPC took offense at us having the flag of Israel showing. He asked, “What’s that here for?” Gladys explained and he answered, “Well, I don’t want to hear about politics.”
As the Lord would have it, Gladys happened to be teaching the youth that night, on how God has worked through Israel throughout the Bible.
He had his head down the whole time because he didn’t want to hear about politics.
Let em tell you my friend, if you’re religion doesn’t impact your politics I don’t think very much about your religion. If your walk with Jesus doesn’t color, and direct the way you act, the things you believe, and the way you vote, it doesn’t say much about your religion or your God does it?
Yeah, I’m Catholic but I believe in a woman’s reproductive rights. Yeah, I’m Baptist, but love is love and isn’t Jesus all about love? We shouldn’t regulate who can get married. I’m protestant, but I believe God loves everyone and unless you’re a murderer or something like that, I think we’ll all get to heaven. This is your truth, and this is my truth, but all roads lead to the same place.
Come one Nehemiah, let’s meet.
And they were persistent. Verse 4 says, they made the same proposal 4 times.
Listen my friend, just because you have overcome temptation once, just because you have escaped once doesn’t mean you can let down your guard.
The Bible says, “be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.” 1 Peter 5:8.
I don’t know about you, but the longer I go without eating, the hungrier I get. And the longer the Devil goes without tripping you up, the more frustrated he’s going to be.
Nehemiah’s response. Notice Nehemiah’s response there in verse 3.
“That is a great answer. Note the reasons he gives. On the surface it seems a surly response to their invitation to meet together. It sounds brusque and blunt. But Nehemiah sees through their scheme and refuses to go along, even though they pressure him four different times.
You too may experience continuing pressure to change your mind and go along with something that is wrong. Many have fallen after a proper refusal simply because they gave in to repeated pressure. But Nehemiah persists in his refusal. Here is his reason: “I am doing a great work,” he says. “I have a great calling. God has committed a tremendous project to me, and if I leave, it will be threatened.”
One of the most helpful things that we can do to resist temptation is to remember that God has called us to a great task. This is true of every believer in Christ. I do not care how young or how old you are in the Lord, you are called to a tremendous work today. That task is to model a different lifestyle so that those who are being ruined by wrongful practices will see something that offers them hope and deliverance. If they see in you peace in the midst of confusion, an invisible support that keeps you steady and firm under pressure, they will learn that there is another way to live than the destructive way they have chosen. That is the great work that God has called us to. We ought never to give allegiance to anything less.
I read years ago of a missionary in China, a capable young man who did a great job as a linguist and diplomat in his work for the Lord. His abilities were so outstanding that one of the American companies in China tried to hire him. They offered him an attractive job with a salary to match, but he turned them down. He told them that God had sent him to China as a missionary and that was what he was going to do. He thought that would end the matter, but instead they came back with a better offer and an increase in salary. He turned that down too, but again they came back, doubling the salary that had originally been proposed. Finally he said, “It's not your salary that is too little. It's the job that's too small!”
This is what Nehemiah is saying here. He has a great work, and he is not going to forsake it for anything less. He is confronted with an offer that seems to promise peace and support and yet is filled with danger, which he successfully avoids by refusing to leave his calling.” (Ray Stedman, A Great Work)
So, the devil steps back and tries again. Notice his second scheme.
2. Satan’s Scheme: Gossip, 6:5-9
Notice, this time Sanballat sent an open letter. Usually, letters sent those days, between leaders would be sealed with wax and would have the sender’s signant ring pressed into the wax so they could tell if it had been tampered with. This time he sent an open letter. Why?
Listen, don’t you think perhaps that the messenger read that open letter, and perhaps showed it to some others along the way?
Did you know that? I was wondering why Nehemiah was in such a hurry to get this wall done. I was wondering why he was pressing the people to work together. Now I know. Nehemiah wants to be king and he has even arranged for some prophets to name him king.
As has been said before, a lie can get 1/2 way around the world while truth is putting its shoes on.
So the Devil starts a rumor. Oh, how often and how many times has the Devil used a rumor to try to shut down God’s work or to hurt one of God’s people.
There are 2 characteristics of a rumor.
1) They are nameless - It is reported among the nations. Rumors often have no author, or no one willing to take credit for the false information being circulated.
2) They are shameless - You want to be king. The bigger the whopper, the less shame they show.
Nehemiah’s response -
1) He refuted the rumor - v8, “No such thing is being done.”
2) He rebuked it - v8 You invented this in your own heart,
3) He referred it - v9 He prayed about it.
(Rebuilding, O. S. Hawkins, 130-31)
Did the Devil quit? Did he stop his attacks? No. This didn’t work, let’s try something else.
3. Satan’s Scheme - Intimidate and Discredit vvs 10-14
Some people within the Jewish community were not in favor of the building project. Perhaps they didn’t want to upset their neighbors. Perhaps they didn’t want to seem too different than everyone else in the area who didn’t have walls, but in any case they weren’t in favor of the project. So Sanballat & Tobias tried to use them against Nehemiah’s leadership.
The Bible doesn’t tell us why Shemaiah was shut up at home. Perhaps it was tp emphasize to Nehemiah the danger he was in. Anyway, if Shemaiah’s father, Delilah, is the same one mentioned in 1 Chronicles 24:18, then Shemaiah was a priest, so Nehemiah agreed to meet with him.
If a leader in the church or in our association wants to meet with me to discuss something we are working on, I’m probably going to agree to meet with them to make sure I’m understanding God’s will and direction properly.
So Nehemiah meets with Shemaiah who urges him to hide and do so in the temple.
My word, don’t you think that would undermine people’s belief in Nehemiah and his leadership? Oh, I see, it’s ok for us to work out here, it’s ok for us to face the dangers of attack, but Nehemiah is too good for that. He’s too important to be placed in danger. He’s hiding.
Second, Nehemiah wasn’t a priest. He was a layman. He was just like you. He worked a secular job. He worked for the king, and do you see him now? He’s hiding out in the temple. Who in the world does he think he is?
My word, how many people, when they disagree with something going on, try to intimidate and discredit the people they disagree with? The strategy to discredit the leader is a subtle one and is common today.
They can’t just disagree. They have to try to undermine and discredit the other person.
Nehemiah had agreed to meet with the man because he thought he was a leader. He wanted to give the man the benefit of the doubt and hoped that God was working through him as well. It turns out that he was bought and paid for.
It sure is disappointing when to talk to other church leaders, hoping that they have some insight or a word of encouragement from the Lord for you, only to discover that they are already in someone else’s pocket. That they aren’t listening to the Lord, b ut that they’re listening to someone else.
Nehemiah responded with 2 questions there in verse 11.
- Read Nehemiah 6:11
1) Should a man like me run away? If I was to run away, how is that demonstrating my faith in God and my confidence in His calling on my life. How in the world am I going to lead and impact these people if I’m not living it in front of them?
Should a man like me run away?
2) Should one like me go into the temple to save his life? How in the world can I claim God’s hand on my life, or on this enterprise if in the midst of the work, I’m doing what He specifically tells us not to do?
He’s saying, “Look, I want to practice what I preach. I want to live the life I’m asking others to live.”
Now look at verse 15.
- Read vvs 15-16
The wall was completed and the surrounding people lost their confidence. They realized that this was a God thing. That God had worked in this situation. That God had led to this work being done.
Now, did they quit their discouraging attacks? Did they quit holding back once they realized that God was in it? No! They continued their attacks.
Why in the world would you continue to complain and continue to attack once it’s obvious that God is at work?
I don’t know all of the reasons the Devil gives people. I don’t know all the ways he blinds people, but he never gives up. Even when God’s people are at work, he will cause as much troubles and difficulties for God’s people as he can.
And we remember that there are tares among the wheat.
So the Devil attacks again.
4. Satan’s Scheme: Minimize the differences - vvs 17-19
Oh, he’s basically a good guy. We’re basically on the same team. See what a good guy he is.
The leaders kept telling Nehemiah what a good guy Sanbalat was, not knowing all of the letters Sanballot kept sending Nehemiah, trying to intimidate him.
My friends, we don’t always know what’s going on behind the scenes. We don’t always know what attacks the leadership is under, what things they know we don’t, that they keep to themselves just trying to keep peace within the body.
But we see how Nehemiah responded. Did he quit? No. Did he go back to the kings palace where he could live in more ease? No. Did he throw in the towel and tell them, “I’m over it. I’ve taken my life into my own hands trying to help ya’ll and all you’ve given me is grief? No.
He remembered the great work the Lord had called him to, and didn’t let the outsiders, the insiders, the naysayers, nor those benefitting from his work to discourage him and get him to quit.
He said, “The Lord has called me to this and the stakes are too great, the need too intense, the risk too massive for me to quit now. If I stopped every time a dog barked at me, I would never get anywhere.
My friend, I don’t know what the Lord has called you to do. I don’t know what part of the wall He has you working on. But I do know this, if God has called you to it, then He’ll carry you through it. Don’t let any barking dogs stop you from being and doing what the Lord has called you to.
I am doing an important work and cannot come down.
