What to Expect When You Get to Work for God Nehemiah 4:1-10

If you decide to do something for God, you can expect OPPOSITION! Satan opposes anything Godly. Nehemiah's story is a case study on Satanic opposition, join us to learn about Satan's schemes. If these studies are a blessing to you, please like, subscribe, and prayerfully consider financially supporting this ministry at https://fbcsafford.org/give/. Sermon notes can be downloaded from: https://fbcsafford.org/mt-content/upl.... An abbreviated transcript: Introduction: Whenever you try to do something for God, you will experience opposition. Nehemiah's story gives Enmity 4:1, 4, 7; 2:10  “Satan” means “opposer.” He hates God’s people and God’s work. The enemies of God’s people wished them ill, wanted them to fail. We saw that back in chapter 2; we see it here.  Anger is an emotion and a (negative) character quality, it’s also a tactic, a weapon! Israel’s enemies, Satan’s pawns, were angry that Nehemiah was seeking the benefit of God’s people. Besides being an emotion, anger is a tactic we use to try to control others! Israel’s enemies expressed their anger in a way that they intended to be heard, hoping to stop the work on the wall. Ridicule 4:1-3; 2:19 • He highlighted their weakness. See the words, “feeble Jews”? Satan, in trying to keep us from obeying God, will emphasize our past failures, our present sins, and any other weakness we have in our lives. And it’s true that we are weak! But God is powerful, and wants to work through us. • He questioned (slandered) their motives. God’s enemies assume that our motives are only selfish. Satan, too, will assign us the worst possible motives. Here, in chapter 2, and on ahead in chapter 6, Sanballat claimed that Nehemiah’s motive was to make himself king of Jerusalem! If others slander you, leave that in God’s hands. If the devil is continually telling you that you are a failure and a dirty, rotten, sinner, continually remind yourself that Jesus took care of your sins, and that you belong to Him! • He questioned their spiritual service. The scoffers poked fun at the Jews’ religion. Our belief in God, in His Word, and in the Savior, Jesus, is also a favorite target of the scoffers. Jesus said we are blessed when people make fun of us for His sake! • He highlighted their time constraints. Israel was an agricultural society, and the people could work on the walls at the height of summer, but soon would need to go plant their wheat and barley. Satan wants to keep you too busy to come to church! Work, school kids’ sports, are all things that the enemy uses to keep people from drawing closer to God. Is this tactic working in your life? • He minimized their resources. Sanballat pointed out that what the Jews had to work with was the burned rubble from Jerusalem’s previous destruction. Satan will point out your inadequacies also! • He minimized their accomplishment. The wall that the Jews were building was nine feet thick, but Tobias made fun of it. Besides exaggerating all the problems, Satan will minimize your accomplishments! Don’t listen to him, praise God for what He has done and will do in and through you. Demoralization v. 5  The goal of ridicule and slander is demoralization and defeat, that is, stopping God’s work. Compare v. 11, 6:9. Notice here in Nehemiah’s prayer that he recognizes Satan’s goal, demoralizing God’s people. That was a means to the ultimate goal, stopping God’s work! That’s how he operates in our lives, whether we’re doing God’s work or working on drawing closer to God. Conspiracy v. 7-8  He gathered God’s enemies into alliance against God’s work and God’s people. It’s interesting that people who are each other’s enemies join together to be enemies of God! The bullies who hate each other will still work together to bully God’s people. That’s one of Satan’s Tactics. Discouragement v. 10  The enemies’ slanders made it into the hearts and lips of God’s people! In verse 10 we see that all these attacks did definitely affect God’s people. Some of them even began repeating the negativity to one another. Next week, God willing, we will look at this context again and emphasize the right ways to counter these tactics, particularly focusing on discouragement. For today, just notice that Nehemiah prayed, he prayed together with the people, he took practical defensive measures, and he and the people kept on working! The right response was individual prayer, (v. 5-6) corporate prayer, (v. 9) practical measures, v. 9, and continuing the work! (v. 6)