God's Enemies (Part 2)

Good morning.

My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church,

and it's my joy to bring God's Word to you today.

A special welcome if you are new or visiting with us.

We are glad that you're here.

And we're glad that you're here with us not because we are interested in filling seats,

but because we are following Jesus together as one community,

and we are convinced as we follow Jesus that there is no one so good

that they don't need God's grace, and no one so bad that they can't have it.

And so God has something to say to every one of us this morning,

and every one of us needs to hear what God has to say.

If you've been with us, you know that we're in the book of Nehemiah.

We've made some progress. We're now in chapter 6,

and the book of Nehemiah is a book about a man named Nehemiah,

and this man lived in the 5th century B.C.,

and he was living in the Persian Empire, and at the time he was living there,

he began to understand and realize that God's city in Jerusalem had fallen into ruins.

And so he began the process of repenting of his sin

and the sins of the people of Israel in the Old Testament,

turning back from the ways they had abandoned God

and instead turning back to God's wall to rebuild the city that he had given them.

The purpose of Jerusalem was to be a light to the nations,

that everyone would see what happens when God's people follow after God's ways.

We saw last week that they had not just abandoned God's wall,

but they had in fact abandoned God's ways,

and so there was oppression of the poor that was happening.

And Nehemiah then is leading his people not just in this physical reconstruction,

but also in a spiritual reconstruction.

Previously in chapter 4, we saw that as God's people return to God's ways,

there is an inevitable opposition that comes,

that we cannot have impact without opposition,

because God has real enemies that come up against his people when they try to follow him.

We're going to see that again this morning.

We're in Nehemiah chapter 6, and God's enemies are going to show up again.

Nehemiah 6 · chapter mention

If you are familiar, if you live life here in North America,

you know that something that we have heard more and more about in the last few years

is the phenomenon of fake news.

Fake news is exactly what it sounds like, right?

People put out news articles on the internet that are not true,

and they don't do this just for their own amusement,

but there's a purpose behind it.

The purpose of fake news is to make people afraid,

because there's few emotions that we experience that are more powerful than fear.

And if you can make people afraid,

there's few things you won't be able to get them to do.

In other words, if you can make people afraid,

then they are like butter in your hands.

Fear is one of the most powerful emotions that we come up against,

and so that is why fake news has become so popular.

If you can make someone afraid of the other political party,

then you can convince them to show up and vote for yours.

If you can make someone afraid of people who are different than them,

then you can convince them to help them stumble rather than to support them.

But fake news is not something that's new.

It's been around for a long time,

and we're going to see some fake news in our passage this morning.

We are in Nehemiah chapter 6,

Nehemiah 6 · chapter mention

and I'm just going to name that sometimes it's hard for many of us,

myself included, to pay careful attention when we are reading long passages of God's Word.

Some of that's just part of being human, right?

I don't say that to shame anyone.

It's just our attention spans, they move from place to place.

So I'm going to give you a little bit of an assignment.

As we read, I want you to see if you can spot all the places where the word afraid or frightened appear in this passage.

And if you have a pen with you, feel free to circle or underline.

That'll be my way to keep you all on track as we read.

We're in Nehemiah chapter 6,

Nehemiah 6 · chapter mention

and remember that this is God's Word.

And God tells us that His Word is a hammer that breaks a rock into pieces.

In other words, there is no opposition that can stand in the way of the impact that God has when He speaks.

And so please read with me now, starting at verse 1.

Verse 3.

Verse 7.

Verse 10.

Verse 11.

Verse 9.

1.

Verse 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.

For this reason he was hired,

that I should be afraid and act in this way in sin,

so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me.

Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, oh 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.

Verse 15.

So the wall was finished on the 25th day of the month Elul

in 52 days.

And when all our enemies heard of it,

all the nations around us were afraid

and fell greatly in their own esteem,

for they perceived that this work had been accomplished

with the help of our God.

Moreover, in those days,

the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah,

and Tobiah's letters came to them,

for many in Judah were bound by oath to him,

because he was the son-in-law of Shekaniah,

the son of Ere.

And his son, Jehohanan,

had taken the daughter of Meshulam,

the son of Barachiah,

as his wife.

Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence

and reported my words to him.

And Tobiah sent me letters

to make me afraid.

Please pray with me

as we come to this portion of God's word.

Dear Father in heaven,

we thank you for your word

that you've given to us.

We thank you that you have not left us alone

to be afraid,

but instead you've come

and you've spoken to us.

We ask that you would do that again,

that you would open our eyes to see,

you would unstop our ears to hear,

and you would clear our minds

that we can understand and believe

everything that is written about you

in your word.

We ask all these things

in the name of your son.

Amen.

Over the past few weeks,

we've seen the wall

that Nehemiah is rebuilding

come up little by little,

and it would be almost as if

you were living in a neighborhood

and you know a new house is being built,

and you get to see it stage by stage.

First just the frame comes up,

then slowly more and more

until finally maybe the only thing that's left

is for there to be put,

for sod to be put in the yard

so that there can be grass.

And this is what we find out

when we come to the beginning of chapter 6.

Everything has been finished

except for the gates.

The work that has happened

that we've seen over many chapters now

has come to completion,

and there's only one thing left to do.

And so as Nehemiah's enemies look,

they realize that everything they've done

to oppose him has failed.

All that they can do is a last-ditch effort.

In the past, we saw in chapter 4

that they were going to attack

the Israelites who were rebuilding the wall,

and that's not an option anymore.

And so now assassination of Nehemiah

is all that's left.

And that's the plot we find here at the beginning.

They send to Nehemiah in chapter 2

asking him to meet them in an isolated place.

Of course, Nehemiah sees right through them

and tells them multiple times

that he is so busy rebuilding the wall

that he can't join them.

And their insistence that he come to a place

where it would be easy to kill him

confirms his fears.

That this is a place

where they're looking for foul play.

Realizing this isn't going to work for Nehemiah,

they finally push their fake news.

They tell him,

look, you're going to have to meet us

because these rumors are being spread about you.

Everyone knows what you're really trying to do.

We know that this is not about

returning to God and his ways.

We actually know that you are trying

to become powerful politically.

And you're trying to take away Judah

from the Persian Empire.

And so if you don't come and meet with us,

you're going to face all the consequences

of being an enemy politically of the Persian king.

That doesn't work either, though.

So they try another strategy.

They hire a fake priest.

Now, maybe this man is legitimately a priest

at some level,

but he does not represent God.

And so, on the one hand,

they try to get Nehemiah to give in to fear

and turn away from God's work.

And their second strategy

is to convince Nehemiah

not to necessarily turn away from God's work,

but to use fear for him to disobey God's law.

They ask him to hide in a place in the temple

that was reserved only for the priests,

hoping that as Nehemiah feels threatened for his life

that he won't care about anything that God's commanded.

Instead, he'll simply run into this trap

that they've set for him.

He'll go into the holy place

where people who are not priests

were supposed to stay away from.

But Nehemiah, instead of giving in

to the fear of the end of his life,

instead sticks close to God and his commands.

And so he says in verse 11,

should such a man as I run away,

and what man such as I could go into the temple and live?

In other words, Nehemiah knows

that in the past, people who went into God's holy place

without permission were struck dead.

And so if he ran away on the one hand

from a plot to kill him,

he might meet death at God's hands in the end.

And so that strategy does not work either.

And then we find out

that there's something else that's going on.

There's someone who's powerful in the Jewish community

who has many alliances.

There's this man named Tobiah

that we find out about in verse 17.

We've met Tobiah before.

He seems to have some connection.

He may be Jewish himself.

If he's not, he's very powerful

in the Jewish community.

He's powerful because he has people

who are bound by oath to him,

we find out in verse 18.

And then he's powerful

because of his alliances through marriage.

And he uses all of this,

as we find out in the last verse,

to continue to try to make Nehemiah afraid.

He's sending out letters

to people who have power,

convincing them that Nehemiah

is someone they should not help.

Over and over and over,

the opposition that Nehemiah faces in this chapter

is the opposition,

the temptation to give in to fear.

We saw in chapter four

that our enemy, the devil,

has many strategies

that he uses to come up against God's people.

His favorite strategy in North America

where we are is to convince people

that there's nothing more important

than their comfort and convenience

so that he can lull us to sleep

and we are not trying to have an impact

because we don't care about God

and his ways anymore.

But as we saw happen in chapter four,

that didn't work with Nehemiah.

And so he came with all out opposition.

And now we find out another strategy

of our enemy,

that he is rightly named

the father of lies.

that fear and lies

are one of his greatest strategies

to come up against God's people

when they're following him.

It's fear

that speeds things up.

If you want someone

to do something quickly,

if you want to prevent them

from thinking carefully,

then all you need to do

is make them afraid.

People who are afraid

act much faster than anyone else.

I was at a retreat recently

with some other pastors in our area

and we were staying

at a rental home

in Breckenridge for a night

right before one of our regional gatherings

as a chance to meet

and pray together.

And there came a point

where we got a call

from the rental company

saying that we had too many cars

in the driveway

and that the HOA

was going to start towing our cars.

And there was a meeting

to try to figure out

what was going to happen,

how we were going to rearrange our cars

so that we would not be towed.

There are very strict laws

in Breckenridge,

I found out about,

you're only allowed

to have four cars in a driveway.

You can't park on the street at all.

I ended up getting a little note

in my handle

with a cell phone number

and telling me

to move my car immediately.

And I decided

I was not going to take part

in this discussion

about how to move the cars.

I just left the house.

I left the house,

I ran to my car,

I warmed it up

and I immediately got out of there

and went to a different spot.

And it wasn't until after I'd done that

that I realized

fear speeds things up.

There was no imminent threat

of us being towed.

We had just received a call

from the Homeowners Association.

There was not a tow truck

on the way at that moment.

But just the suggestion

that someone might tow my car

was enough for me

to jump into action.

Fear is a powerful emotion.

And it speeds things up.

It's one of the greatest tools

that our enemy uses

to keep us

from the good things

that God has for us.

It's fear of missing out

that destroyed Adam and Eve.

Believing that there was something good

that God wanted to keep from them.

It's fear that God is not in control

or not good

that causes us to break His laws

rather than to follow Him.

It's fear of failure

that keeps us from ever trying

something great.

Ever trying to follow God

because we are afraid

that we'll find out

our greatest fear,

that we're not enough.

We're afraid to pray to God

to ask Him for things

because we don't know

what we're going to do

if He tells us no.

It's fear that causes us

to control other people.

Fear of embarrassment

that someone might see

our kids misbehaving

that causes us

to be harsh with them.

It's fear

that moves us quickly

away from God

and His ways

into our own comfort,

our own security.

Now we could talk all day

about this sort of general fear.

I could tell you

about all kinds of different facets

of fear

and what it does to us

but the fear that we see here

is a specific fear.

It's not fear of heights

or fear of certain places

but this is the fear

that comes up against us

when we try to follow God

and His ways.

It's the fear that comes

when we are going

on God's mission.

It's the fear

that our enemy uses

to convince us

that what we are trying to do

when we follow God

is a terrible idea.

It's the fear

that makes us believe

that if we follow God

and obey His laws

it will lead to death.

That's what's presented

to Nehemiah here.

If he doesn't run away,

if he doesn't meet them

in this isolated place,

then political ruin

is going to come.

If he doesn't run

into the temple,

then his own personal death

is going to come.

Now we don't necessarily fear

that someone's going to come

kill us or assassinate us

here in southwest

Colorado Springs.

But we do have fear

when God calls us

to have hard conversations

with other people

that would lead

to reconciliation.

We're afraid

to talk with other people

about the way

that we have sinned

or the way that they

have sinned against us

so that we could move forward

as one community.

That's the fear

that comes up

when we're trying

to follow God

and His ways.

There's fear

of personal conflict.

Many people

who we think of

as peacemakers,

now there are

real peacemakers, right?

There are people

who work through conflict

in a way that's

healthy and wise.

But then there's

other people

that we think of

as peacemakers

that are really

just scared.

They're profoundly scared

of what would happen

if they actually

talked about

the things

that they have done

that have upset others

and the things

that others have done

that have upset them.

There's a fear

that comes

when we try

to talk about Jesus

with our friends

and our neighbors

who don't know Him.

That somehow

we'll be rejected

and isolated

and marginalized.

There's a fear

in Christian churches

right now

in North America

that we are going

to be persecuted

and marginalized.

And that fear

on the one hand

causes some people

to run away

from God

and His ways.

We don't want

to be associated

with God

and His law

and what He says

is good for the world

because we're afraid

of the shame

that might come to us.

But our enemy

is tricky

and he can use

our fear

in the opposite way

as well.

Instead of being

afraid of what happens

if people see us

embracing

what God calls good

there are others

of us who take that

and embrace it

but then we take that

as an opportunity

to complain

and play the victim

giving our energy

and our time

to focusing

on what we need

to fear

rather than what

God has called us to.

There are entire

podcasts

and magazines

and websites

and blogs

that are devoted

to letting God's people

know everything

they need to be afraid of.

And yet you'll rarely find

among the people

who publish these things

lists of ways

that God's people

can follow Him.

Follow Him

into the difficult

relationships

and ministries

that He's called them to.

Nehemiah sets a great

example for us

here in verse 14.

He recognizes

that God has enemies

that oppose Him

and that that's not

the focus of His energy.

He hands it over to God.

He doesn't spend

His time

creating a podcast

about 10 ways

the Persian Empire

is going to

marginalize Israelites.

Instead,

He simply says,

remember,

oh my God,

what these people

have done.

He gives God

the chance

to bring justice

and then He leaves it

to Him

and returns to His mission.

And so we can spend

our time

being afraid

or we can spend

our time

following God

as He calls us

to minister

to the community

around us.

Nehemiah doesn't

avoid the scary things

in this world

but he also doesn't

let them consume him.

He turns back

right to the temple.

He turns back

to God's city

that needs to be rebuilt.

There's also

a certain fear

that comes

in our doubts.

And don't hear

what I'm not saying.

There are legitimate

doubts

and intellectual questions

that people have

about Christianity.

But there are also

people who

refuse to embrace

the gospel,

refuse to follow

after Jesus,

not because they

don't understand

the gospel,

not because they

don't understand

the claims of Christianity,

but there are those

of us who have

doubts and objections

because we understand

it all too well.

And we know exactly

what we would have

to give up

and lose

if we were going

to follow Jesus.

And so often

doubts and objections

are ways that we

hide our fear.

Fear of what we

would lose.

Nehemiah here loses.

We already saw it

in chapter 5.

He lost his

political position

as the Persian

cupbearer.

He lost a lot

of money

as he spent

his own

personal resources

feeding the Israelites

around him

because they did

not have

what they needed.

And so fear

is something

that comes up

against people

inside the church

and people

outside the church

as well.

Whenever we

follow after Jesus,

whenever God

calls us

to his mission,

fear will always

be there with us.

One of the most

common phrases

in the Bible

that God speaks

to his people

is do not be afraid.

And if you look

at the context,

you'll notice

that God never

says do not

be afraid

to his people

when they are

caught up

in idolatry

and sin

and oppression.

He says do not

fear

when they're doing

wisdom

and courage.

When they're trying

to choose those

things and follow him,

that's when they're

going to come up

against the opposition.

That's when they're

going to feel

the temptation

that Nehemiah

feels here as well

to give up the work.

That's what we see

in verse 9.

This fear

has a goal.

They all wanted

to frighten us

thinking their hands

will drop from the work

and it will not be done.

In other words,

it's when we follow

after God

and take up his work

that we're going

to meet fear.

That's when we're

going to encounter

all the lies

of our enemy

who comes up

against us.

Now the problem

and the struggle

here is also

that this fear

is real.

It has real foundations.

Nehemiah has real enemies

who are seeking

to really kill him.

They really want

him dead.

And so while this fear

is in temptation,

it's also a reality.

And so God meets us

there as well.

We don't just see

the word frightened

and afraid

repeated over and over.

But we also see

Nehemiah's response

and God's faithfulness.

The first thing

we find out

in this chapter

is that the wall

has been built.

Remember I mentioned

at the beginning

that all that's left

to do is to put

in the gates.

Despite the plots

of chapter 4,

despite the internal

opposition of chapter 5,

the dissension

over money

and oppression,

God has finished

this work.

His people

have not been perfect.

They've been tempted

at times

to forget courage

and wisdom

and instead

choose fear.

But God has remained

faithful to them

so that the wall

is complete.

God hasn't done

just that

in verse 1,

but then in verse 9

we see

Nehemiah's prayer.

On the one hand,

God doesn't call us

to safety.

He calls us

to wisdom

and courage.

But he doesn't do that

without giving us strength.

He doesn't remove

the challenges

and the obstacles

we face,

but he gives us

what we need

to walk through them.

And that's what

Nehemiah prays for

in verse 9.

But now,

O God,

strengthen my hands.

Nehemiah knows

that there's real opposition

as he seeks

to have real impact.

And so he prays

for God's real strength

to help him.

We've seen already

that as he faces

these enemies,

he doesn't spend

his time worked up

about all the ways

they might harm him.

Instead,

he moves on

leaving justice

to God.

In verse 14,

as I already mentioned,

he just asks God

to remember.

He's asking God

to bring full

and final justice

so that he does not,

he trusts God

with the outcome.

And then we find out

that the wall

in verse 15

is completely finished.

Before it was

just the gates

and now this wall,

Jerusalem,

is move-in ready.

There's no more

refurbishing

that needs to happen.

There's no more

knocking down

and rebuilding.

And so as Nehemiah

faces these things,

God remains faithful

to him.

But then the kicker

comes in verse 16.

We've already seen

through 15,

three places

where God's enemies

try to make

God's people afraid.

And then we find out

who it is

that is really

supposed to be afraid.

Fear is not something

for God's people

but for his enemies.

And that's the word

we see in verse 16.

When all our enemies

heard of it,

all the nations

around us were what?

They were afraid

and felt greatly

in their own esteem.

In other words,

it's not those

who follow God

choosing to go

in his ways

with courage

and faith

who need to be afraid.

But it's those

who do not

follow God.

And the reason

that those

who do not

follow God

need to be afraid

is that God

is bringing full

and complete

and final justice

on the earth.

As Paul tells us

in Romans 5,

he is pouring out

his wrath

for all the sins

of all the people

in the world.

God

is that power

and that judgment

and that majesty

that on the one hand

is with his people

as they follow him

but on the other hand

is against his enemies

as they oppose him.

And so when we face

the temptation

to give in to fear

and be afraid,

verse 16 here

is our final word.

that the fear

that is ultimate

and great,

the fear

that should

make us act quickly

and speed things up

is the fear of God,

not the fear of man.

It's the fear of God

that comes

when we realize

that he is the one

who is most powerful.

He is the one

who is bringing justice.

It's that fear,

that knowledge

that it's not

that we are trying

to ask other people

to be good

like we are good

but the understanding

that no one is good

and Jesus alone is good

that drives us to him.

God's presence

and power

with his people

is because

while on the one hand

the temple

represents his presence

it points forward

to Jesus

who will one day

be fully present

with his people.

He will come

as a man

and live among us

for 30 years

so that the temple

of the Old Testament

is no longer necessary.

And then Jesus

will die a death

on a cross

even though

he lived a perfect life.

He'll die the death

that we deserved

taking on

God's full

and final justice

for himself

suffering the complete punishment

and then rising again

from the dead.

That is where

the real power

comes from

and that is what

our real fear

should be of.

The ultimate fear

the great fear

that these people see here

is that God

is with his people

and the ultimate

and great fear

for us

is that we would

not be found

in God's people.

And so the call

as we follow God

in his mission

and his ways

and the call

that God offers

to everyone

is that we would

embrace Jesus

that we would be free

from the greatest fear

and that we would

have the confidence

that comes from

knowing that there

is nothing

that can take away

what is most important

from us.

If we are in Christ

following after Jesus

accepting

his death

as the punishment

for our sins

and accepting

his righteousness

knowing that

when God

looks at us

he sees Jesus

if we are in him

knowing that justification

is God's

free gift

of grace

to us

then rather

than be afraid

we know

that it is God

who brings us

true and full

and complete peace.

He is the one

who goes with

his people

as they go

on his mission.

In February

of 2018

just last year

in Scotland

there was a village

farmer named

Bruce Grubb

and he was hosting

a housewarming party

he just moved

into a new place

apparently on a

Saturday night

this was on a farm

and at one point

he decided he needed

to leave the party

to go check on

his pregnant cows

and make sure

they were okay

and when he went out

he saw something

that disturbed him

that frightened him

he spotted a tiger

on his property

and Bruce was filled

with tremendous fear

he said this

I was worried

it was going to eat

all my cows

before police

managed to shoot it

of course he called

the police

local authorities

jumped into action

they contacted

a local wildlife park

to see if there were

any missing animals

there was a 45 minute

standoff

between the officers

of Police Scotland

and the tiger

but the tiger

never moved

and so Bruce Grubb

became suspicious

at one point

and he got into his truck

where he would be safe

and he drove up

to the tiger

got closer and closer

and the tiger

did not move

even as the truck

came up

and Bruce finally

realized that this was

it was a tiger

but not quite the tiger

that he thought it was

it was a stuffed tiger

police kept the tiger

to use as a mascot

and Bruce Grubb

was able to go back

to his house

and his home

housewarming party

when we follow God

and his mission

and his ways

we will be tempted

many times

by lies

that will cause us

to fear

and when rather than

running away

in fear

when we come close

when we see God

in his power

when we choose wisdom

and courage

over fear

we will see the lie

and the joke

for what it is

and so we follow God

with wisdom

and courage

asking him

to give us strength

as Nehemiah does

here in verse 9

rather than running away

because of the lies

and the fear

that our enemy

brings to us

and we do it

because we have hope

and confidence

knowing that God

is with us

both in his presence

and his power

because what he's done

for us

through Jesus

and so we continue

to walk

giving up fear

and choosing wisdom

and courage instead

please pray with me

dear father in heaven

we thank you

that you're with us

that you give us

your power

and your presence

and your strength

we know that as we go

on your mission

following your ways

that we will be tempted

to believe things

that are not true

so we ask that you'd help us

that you would strengthen

our hands

for the work

that you'd keep us close to you

that we would obey you

and your law

and that you'd remind us

most of all

that you are with us

in Christ

we ask all these things

in the name of your son

amen

you

are with us

and

we ask all these things

on the basis

of the men

we ask all these things

we ask to ask to unify