"The Devices of the Haters" | Pastor Steven Anderson

So anyway, we're at lunch today.

No, I'm just kidding.

Let's start over.

All right.

So the title of my sermon this evening is The Devices of the Haters.

The Devices of the Haters.

When you read the book of Nehemiah, of course, Nehemiah is doing a great work for God and

he's just having all kinds of success, but there are a lot of adversaries in the book

of Nehemiah.

A lot of haters, a lot of people that just really don't want Nehemiah to succeed.

And unfortunately, in the Christian life, you're going to have people that are just out

there to try to stop you and they don't want you to succeed.

They don't want you to thrive as a Christian.

They don't want you to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

They don't like to see you getting right with God and going out and getting people

saved.

You know, things that you'd assume everybody would be happy about.

Unfortunately, there are some wicked people in this world, the sand ballads, Tobias

and Gishams of this world.

And in this chapter, you can see that they kind of come at Nehemiah with a whole bunch

of different strategies just to try to mess with them.

We're going to go through all of their various machinations and devices tonight.

But starting on verse number one there of Nehemiah chapter six, it says, Now came

to pass when Saint Ballot and Tobiah and Gisham 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'd not set up the doors upon the gates that Saint Ballot and

Gisham 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.

So notice, they act like they just want to get together with them and let's,

Hey, let's talk about this.

Maybe we can resolve this.

But the Bible says they thought to do him mischief.

And the first thing I want to point out is that number one,

a lot of times haters will pretend that they want dialogue, but really they're just

trying to hurt you.

They're just trying to find a way to get at you.

And in this case, when it says they sought to do a mischief,

I think it means that they literally wanted to hurt him like to assault him or to kill him.

But a lot of times, you know, people will just come at you and what they want to do

is just catch you saying the wrong thing or kind of trap you, trick you.

Hey, let's have a conversation.

But really they're not actually interested in learning.

Now, if you would flip over in your Bible to the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament,

the Gospel of Mark, because people were constantly doing this to Jesus

where they would pretend to have a sincere conversation with them.

But really all they're trying to do is just to catch him saying something

that they can use to attack him.

So the haters will sometimes act like they just kind of want to hear you out

or see where you're coming from, have some dialogue with you.

But in reality, they're just trying to mess with you.

So the Bible says in Mark chapter 12 verse 12,

Mark 12:12

and they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people.

So, you know, what they really want to do is just physically attack Jesus,

get him arrested.

But it says they knew that he had spoken the parable against them

and they left him and went their way.

And they sent unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians,

watch this, to catch him in his words.

And when they were come, they sand him.

Master, we know that thou art true and cherished for no man,

for thou regardest not the person of men,

but teachest the way of God in truth.

And of course here they're flattering him.

They don't actually believe in Jesus.

They don't like his teaching,

but they're pretending to be friendly toward him in order to trick him.

And then they say, is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?

And what they're doing is they're asking him a question

where no matter what he says,

they're going to be able to use this against him.

If he says, yes, give the money to Caesar,

then basically they can say, oh, he's a pro-government,

FEMA pastor.

He loves the Roman Empire.

He's not really patriotic for Israel and stuff like that.

And then if he says, don't pay tribute to Caesar,

then what are they going to do?

They're going to lie and say, oh, he's anti-government.

He's rebellious.

He's trying to overthrow the Romans.

And ultimately, when Jesus Christ is arrested and beaten

and crucified, this is one of the accusations

that they come at him with.

They say, hey, this guy's forbidding us to pay tribute to Caesar.

He's telling us do not pay Caesar,

which is of course the opposite of what he actually says.

Because it says in verse 15, they ask him,

shall we give or shall we not give?

But he knowing their hypocrisy,

so he knew that they're flattering him

and that they're hypocrites.

Knowing their hypocrisy,

he said unto them, why tempt ye me?

Bring me a penny that I may see it.

And they brought it.

And he said unto them, whose is this image in superscription?

And they said unto him, Caesar's.

And Jesus answering, said unto them,

render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's

and to God the things that are God.

And they marveled at him.

So his answer is, yeah, pay the taxes to Caesar.

That doesn't change the fact that they're later

going to lie and say that he said the opposite.

But his answer is in such a way

where he doesn't really give them the sound bite

that they wanted where they could use it to attack him.

And if you would flip over to Luke chapter 11,

Luke 11 · chapter mention

just a few pages to the right in your Bible

and we'll see something similar in Luke chapter 11.

Luke 11 · chapter mention

And so a lot of times the haters are going to be too faced.

They're going to pretend to be your friend.

They're going to flatter you.

They're going to act like they want to see

where you're coming from.

They want to dialogue with you.

They want to talk with you.

They're open to what you have to say, but they're not.

Here's what the Bible says in Proverbs,

go from the presence of a foolish man

when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.

So, you know, when someone has shown themselves

to be malicious, a hater, a bad person,

you know, you need to not be fooled by their flattery

and their soft words when they come at you

and try to, you know, act like they're your friend or something.

And, you know, the Bible also says,

a man that is a heretic

after the first and second admonition reject.

Because you don't want to just spend so much time

with people who just want to argue with you

and waste your time.

And they're really just trying to catch you in your words

so that they can use it against you.

Look at Luke 11, verse 53.

Luke 11:53

And as he said, these things unto them,

the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently

and to provoke him to speak of many things.

So, they're kind of just trying to get him to talk about

as many different subjects

and they're trying to really interrogate him

and pin him down.

And then it says in verse 54 what they're doing,

laying weight for him

and seeking to catch something out of his mouth

that they might accuse him.

So, they're trying to accuse Jesus.

They're not actually trying to learn, right?

And here's the thing.

Some people come at you and ask you questions

and they make it seem like they're trying to learn,

but really what they're trying to do

is just use it against you.

Anything you say can and will be used against you.

So, back to Nehemiah,

let's look at Nehemiah's reaction to this.

Okay, so the first thing we see

is that they're pretending

that they want to dialogue with him,

but really they just want to hurt him.

Look at verse number three,

Nehemiah says,

And I sent messengers unto them.

So, you know, he doesn't even go

and tell them this himself.

He just sends it through a messenger.

I'm doing a great work

so that I cannot come down.

Why should the work cease

whilst I leave it and come down to you?

Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort

and I answered them after the same manner.

So, notice Nehemiah is not taking the bait.

He's not just going to get sucked in

to talk into a bunch of professional time wasters

and arguing with people

and going back and forth with people

and just wasting time with people.

He's not going to waste a bunch of time with bozos.

He's just like,

Look, I'm doing a great work.

I'm not going to come down

and sit around and talk to you.

And we got to make sure

that when the enemies and the haters

want to argue with us and talk to us,

you know, that we don't get sucked in

because there's a lot of great work

that we could be doing for God

and it's easy to just get distracted

and fixated on things that don't matter

and that aren't important.

You know, let the dead bury their dead

and just go preach the kingdom of God.

And so that's point number one.

Number two,

look at verse number five.

It says then sent sand ballot.

So, you know, the first tactic didn't work.

So now look what they're going to try in verse five.

Then sent sand ballot

his servant unto me in like manner.

The fifth time with an open letter in his hand.

And when we see the word open letter,

what we're saying is this is not a private communication.

An open letter is one that's public

for anyone and everyone to read.

So to give like a modern analogy of this,

this would be like sending,

instead of sending a DM or a private message,

this is just like posting to their wall or something,

you know, or posting it openly on social media.

That's what an open letter is.

And this is what the letter says.

It's reported among the heathen

and gas bag set it.

I mean, gash move set 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.

And thou has also appointed prophets

to preach of the Jerusalem

saying there's 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.

And so point number two is this.

Haters will often pretend that they want to help you

or that they're on your side

when they correct you publicly,

when they publicly correct,

they send you an open letter like,

Hey, we're just worried about you,

you know, because these are the accusations.

This is what people are saying about you.

And we're just, we just want to get together

and just kind of counsel with you

and see if we can help you out.

But really what their goal is,

is to just publicly repeat the accusations.

That's why they're doing it as an open letter.

They're not doing it privately.

Okay. So this is like when, you know,

a so-called preacher friend of mine

preached against me

and then two days after preaching against me

calls me up and says,

Hey, he wants to talk to me,

ask me some questions,

see, you know, get things from my side of the story.

It's like, wait a minute,

you know, you've already attacked me publicly.

People who attack you publicly

about false accusations and rumors

without even hearing your side

are not your friends.

Now this is the scripture

that people will often hide behind.

And we're going to be in Nehemiah 6 the whole time,

but flip over to Proverbs chapter 27.

Proverbs 27 · chapter mention

Because I think this is one of the most

misunderstood scriptures

that gets misapplied a lot

by people who want to pretend to be your friend.

And really they're just out to hurt you

and just amplify attacks on you.

And again, here's a rule of thumb

that I've noticed when it comes to correcting people.

I've noticed that when people

who actually care about me

want to correct me,

usually they'll send you the DM.

And then the people who actually

don't care about you

and their correction is insincere

are usually leaving it as a public comment

or a public post or something like that.

Because typically, you know,

and I use this illustration,

this is kind of a crass illustration,

but I'm going to use it again

because it's such a great illustration.

But I was at the airport one time

and this guy that I didn't even know

just walks up to me

and just puts his arm around me

like he's my buddy,

which kind of, you know,

it kind of takes you aback

because you're not used to that.

He comes up and hey, buddy,

acts like he's my friend

and he whispers in my ear,

hey, your zipper's down.

You know, and here's the thing.

What he was doing was

he was trying to be nonchalant

and cool about it

so they wouldn't embarrass me

and humiliate me

because I had made a mistake.

See, that's what your actual friend

is going to do

who's actually trying to help you out.

Look, obviously,

you don't want to let somebody

just walk around, you know,

with their zipper down or something.

It's embarrassing.

It's humiliating, right?

So you're going to come alongside

that person and tell them

but it's not like,

hey, you're afraid of heights, buddy?

Because your zipper is.

You know what I mean?

Like that's the wrong way to correct someone

because you don't want to embarrass someone.

Does everybody understand what I'm saying?

And so it's pretty easy sometimes

to tell who your friends are

because your friends,

they're going to come up

and be nonchalant about it

and say, hey, let me privately tell you some advice.

Let me help you, friend.

Let me because look,

all of us need correction at times.

But when people are just at the drop of a hat

to correct you publicly,

especially about private things or something,

what it is is that

they really just want to embarrass you.

They want to humiliate,

they want to attack you publicly,

but they want to make it seem like,

oh, we just care about you.

We're just concerned about you.

I was just worried about your zipper being down.

That's why I shouted it to the entire airport.

I mean, maybe they could just get that intercom at the airport

and just be like,

passenger Stephen Anderson, gate 15.

Your zipper is down.

Gate 15, passenger Stephen Anderson,

report to the desk.

You know, that's the way some people are.

They don't love you.

They don't care about you, right?

They're not trying to help you.

So here's the verse though

that they'll hide behind

to justify this kind of behavior.

Chapter 27 verse 5 in Proverbs says,

open rebuke is better than secret love.

This is their life verse.

Hey, we're just going to just openly rebuke everybody every time.

Okay?

Open rebuke is better than secret love.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend,

but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

And here's what this Bible verse is not saying.

This Bible verse is not saying,

always rebuke openly.

Always correct everybody publicly.

That's not what this is saying.

It's simply saying that open rebuke

is better than secret love.

You know, here's the whole point here is like,

well even open rebuke,

even though that's not good,

even though that's bad,

you know, it's still better than secret love.

You know, does everybody understand what I'm saying?

It'd be like if I were comparing two things

and I said, hey, McDonald's is better than what a burger.

It doesn't mean that I'm okay.

Sorry, but wrong crowd.

If I said, if I said, hey,

McDonald's better than what a burger,

it wouldn't be like I'm saying like,

yay, McDonald's is awesome.

Does everybody understand?

Okay, I got one person that's just being polite

because he invited me here to preach.

Bad illustration.

But the point is you're bringing up

two things that are not what you want.

They're not ideal.

They're not the best situation.

And it's just basically saying that secret love

is so low that basically open rebuke

is even better, even open rebuke's better than that.

It's not just saying,

hey, we just always openly rebuke our friends

and just humiliate and embarrass them every chance we get.

Does everybody see what I'm saying?

What a twisting of scripture though

to act like open rebuke is just the way to go.

That's just the way to be a friend.

Well, that's not what the rest of the Bible teaches.

That doesn't even make sense.

And they're misunderstanding the comparison

that's being made here.

What it's saying here is that,

hey, at least the person who openly rebukes you

is being honest with you.

At least they're being upfront and honest.

It'd be like if I said, hey, the devil you know

is better than the devil you don't know.

Doesn't mean I'm like, yay, the devil I know, great.

But the bottom line is that most corrections

should be done privately.

Okay.

Now, if you would go to Galatians chapter two,

Galatians chapter two,

let me read for you just a few verses on this.

And again, we could really park on any

of these points and just,

I could prove this from the Bible all day long,

but I'm just going to give you a few verses on this.

But it says in Matthew 18, 15,

moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee,

go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone,

if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

Or how about Proverbs 25, 9,

debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself

and discover not a secret to another.

Saying, you know, you got a problem with someone,

you got an issue with someone,

you need to, you know, correct someone.

Usually you're going to go to that person,

if you care about that person and privately tell them.

Now, sometimes open rebuke is appropriate.

There are times when things need to be called out publicly

and when a public correction needs to happen.

And this is typically a situation

where it's a public matter that needs to be dealt with.

Like if the crime is public,

then typically the correction is going to need to be public,

especially if it's something that affects other people.

So for example, if somebody is getting up

and preaching false doctrine that's really bad,

like damnable heresy, just a really harmful bad teaching

is being publicly taught,

then yeah, you got to publicly call that out

so that basically everybody can get straight on the doctrine.

Okay, that's different than just,

hey, I'm just always going to correct everybody

for every private matter.

I'm just going to put it on blast, open letter, public,

social media on everything.

Look, if you would, and look,

that's what people do to their enemies.

They put their enemies publicly on blasts,

but is that how you treat your friends?

Those are some interesting friendships in that case.

But look at Galatians chapter 2, verse 11.

Galatians 2:11

We're going to see a public correction

that's appropriate in the Bible.

It says in verse 11,

but when Peter was come to Antioch,

I withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed

for before that certain came from James,

he did eat with the Gentiles,

but when they were come,

he withdrew and separated himself,

fearing them which were of the circumcision.

And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him

in so much that Barnabas also was carried away

with their dissimulation.

And when I saw that they walked not uprightly

according to the truth of the gospel,

and I'm going to stop right there for a second,

notice this is a doctrinal issue

that is actually harming the cause

of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This could confuse people about what the gospel even is.

They're not walking according to the gospel,

and then other Jews are getting caught up in it.

So this isn't just one person.

I mean, this is somebody doing something,

teaching something that is causing

a whole bunch of other people to get caught up in it,

even Barnabas is getting caught up in it.

And it's something that's even ultimately

leading to a salvation type issue

where it's like, hey, this is not compatible

with the gospel that we're preaching here.

And so because of that, it says,

I said unto Peter before them all.

So he ends up publicly correcting this.

I said unto Peter before them all,

if thou being a Jew,

livest after the manner of Gentiles,

and not as do the Jews,

why compelest thou the Gentiles

to live as do the Jews?

Now look, I do believe that Paul loved Peter.

I do believe that Peter and Paul are friends.

We see in 2 Peter chapter 3,

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

Peter is being very positive about the apostle Paul.

Obviously Paul loves Peter.

They're both good men of God.

They're both friends.

And so every once in a while,

even friends, yes, sometimes

are going to have to call one another out

publicly over something.

But you know what?

It better be something important.

It better be something meaningful.

It better be something that actually matters.

And again, this is something

Peter is doing publicly, harming the gospel.

And so Paul has to unfortunately set him straight on it.

But this is not a teaching that just says,

hey, this is how we treat our friends

every time they make a mistake.

We amplify it, open letter publicly.

And again, I've just noticed,

I've been at this thing for a long time.

And I've noticed that the comments

versus the private messages,

depending on whether the people actually care about you

when they're making a correction.

And I'll do the same.

I'll literally, I'll see something misspelled

on one of my pastor friends posts.

And I'm not talking about Brother Reyes,

be an ESL or something.

But I'll see one of my pastor friends

will literally misspell something.

I'm not leaving a comment like, hey, you spelled it wrong.

I'm typically sending a private message,

hey, you spelled it wrong in general.

Even over little dumb things like that

that don't even matter,

I always try to lean toward a private message

because the goal is actually to correct the person

not to just call them out

and try to hurt their reputation or something like that.

So that's what the haters will do.

Look at Nehemiah chapter six.

Let's look at Nehemiah's reaction.

So we said, number one, the haters,

they pretend to be open.

They pretend to be your friend.

They pretend they want to dialogue.

They pretend they want to learn.

But a lot of times they're just hypocrites

trying to nail you.

Number two, we saw that the haters will

try to pretend that they want to help you

by correcting you publicly

because open review is better than secret love

when in reality what they're trying to do

is just amplify whatever the accusations are.

Because remember, these accusations against Nehemiah,

they're lies and false accusations.

And really what Gasbag and Tobiah and Geeshim and these guys,

they're just trying to amplify it

and just make sure more people hear about it.

While pretending like, hey, why counsel you, brother,

why I get together and help you.

It's disingenuous.

Look at Nehemiah's reaction verse eight.

Then I sent unto them saying,

there are no such things done as thou sayest,

but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.

What's Nehemiah saying?

You just made that up right now.

That's not real.

That's not a real accusation.

You're making that up.

And so his response is to call out

the false accusations as the baloney that they are.

Let's look at number nine, verse number nine for point three.

It says, for they all made us afraid saying,

their hands shall be weakened from the work

that it be not done.

Now therefore, oh God, strengthen my hands.

So point number three is this.

Haters will try to claim that you're going to fail.

They're going to try to claim that your work is going to fail.

And that's what they're saying about Nehemiah.

They're saying, oh, his hands are going to be weakened from the work.

He's not going to be able to get it done.

Earlier in the book of Nehemiah, they said,

oh, if a fox runs up on the wall that he builds,

it's just going to fall over.

So they want to downplay his success.

And they want to just predict his failure.

You know, and unfortunately,

there are going to be haters like this in our lives

that are just rooting for us to fail.

You know, they just want us all to fail.

They want your pastor to fail.

They want me to fail.

They want you to fail.

They just want to see us fail.

And it kind of, when I was reading this,

it kind of made me think about the constant predictions

of the quote, unquote, fall of the new IFB, right?

Like the rise and fall of the new IFB,

even though the NIV is thriving and we're in our prime.

You know, that's just the reality of the situation.

Obviously, our churches are thriving.

There's no sign of slowing down whatsoever.

I mean, I'm looking at your bulletin

and you look at last year's salvations.

And it's like, you guys have already like tripled that this year.

And it's September, you know?

So, you know, there's no dying or falling or oh,

we're just in our final last few spasmatic death throes

before we just give up the ghost over here.

It's like, our churches are growing and thriving.

And honestly, the numbers don't lie.

It's that simple.

I mean, just think about how Pastor Shelly up in Dallas,

Fort Worth, what they have like 287 people

on Sunday morning church.

He's constantly texting me.

Attendances that just blow me away

of how that church is growing and thriving.

And you know, this church is getting tons of people saved

here in Houston, doing great.

Our church in Phoenix is thriving growing.

We've had over 5,000 salvations this year.

And again, it's only September.

We still got three more months to go.

And so, you know, it's exciting.

And so, you know, people try to say like,

oh, they're going to fail.

They're going to crash and burn.

This is just a last ditch effort or whatever.

Well, yeah, but it's like month after month, year after year

of last ditch effort, final gas, final struggle,

that last little bit of energy before you die or something.

You know, if that's what this is,

it's kind of lasting a long time, you know?

Because if you think about it,

sometimes that does happen when people die.

It's like people are freezing to death.

They get warm again, right?

Before they die or something, you know?

People drown and then they go unconscious

and then they take one last gas per breath.

Their body tries one more time to,

yeah, that's what we do just for years on end.

We're just always dying all the time.

Just constant.

It just never stops.

Just constantly falling.

We're going to, I guess we just keep falling

and falling and we're just in a free fall.

We must be in orbit or something.

The way that we're just in free fall for years at a time.

So I guess we're just going 18,000 miles an hour,

just free falling around the planet.

I guess that's what's going on.

So number three is they're going to try to,

you know, have this doom and gloom.

You know, you're going to crash and burn.

You're going to fail.

You're not going to make it.

But obviously they're wrong.

Look at verse 10.

Afterward, I came under the house of Shamiah,

the son of Deliah, the son of Mahetabeel,

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.

Ye in the night will they come to slay thee.

So number four is that the haters,

they want you to be intimidated and scared

so that you'll just flee when no man's pursuing.

They just want you scared of your own shadow.

And they're trying to scare Nehemiah.

Look at Nehemiah's response in verse 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.

And so notice Nehemiah is going to continue

serving God publicly

and he's not going to let fear stop him.

He said, man, you know what?

I'd rather die than go hide and cower in fear.

He's like, should such a man as I hide,

you think I'm going to go lock myself in the temple,

shut the door, be scared, fleeing from my...

He said, you know what?

I'd rather just die than to just flee and cower in fear

when there's a great work to be done.

Hey, God wants us to keep serving him

and he wants us to serve him publicly.

We should be public about our service for God

and not trying to hide it

and trying to put it under a bushel.

Notice that Nehemiah,

he's not setting the sermons to private

and putting it behind a password.

No, we should be shouting it from the house tops, amen?

And you know what?

If you're a young person, you go to school,

you go to work, go to different places,

you know what?

You should make it known that you're a Christian

everywhere that you go.

You know, go to school,

bring your Bible with you to school.

You know, talk to the people at work,

talk to the people at school,

talk to the people in your neighborhood,

let them know that you're a Christian.

Let them know that you're saved.

Let them know that you believe in the Word of God

and you can have opportunities

to win those people to Christ.

Don't be some kind of undercover, secret Christian.

Be open about your service for God.

Let me give you some examples of this.

Daniel, chapter 6,

Daniel 6 · chapter mention

you don't have to turn there,

but of course they've made it illegal

for Daniel to pray

and he's in the habit of praying

and they made it illegal

and he was going to be killed

if he prays to the Lord

during this one month period

and it says in verse 10 of Daniel 6,

now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed,

he went into his house

and his windows being open

in his chamber toward Jerusalem,

he kneeled upon his knees three times a day

and prayed and gave thanks before his God

as he did a four time.

He opens the window

and he prays with the windows open

just like he always does

and just the fact that they're trying

to persecute him

and make it illegal

and get him in trouble.

He just did not change the routine.

He's going to continue to serve God

and he's going to continue to do it publicly.

That's what we see in Daniel 6

and of course that gets him

thrown into the lion's den

but God delivers him from the lion's den.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous

but out of them all

the Lord delivers him.

That's what the Bible says.

Look, all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus

shall suffer persecution.

It's not just pastors

they get persecuted.

It's everybody.

It's every layman,

man, woman, boy and girl

there are going to be people

that come at you in your life.

They want to scare you.

They want to intimidate you.

They want to slow you down

and the way to overcome that

you know the Bible says

resist the devil and he'll flee from you.

You know you got to just keep

serving God publicly

and stay bold,

have the courage to keep going.

The Bible says the wicked flee

when no man pursues

but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

You see having a clear conscience

and knowing that you're following the Bible

you know that what you're doing

is consistent with God's word.

You know you love the Lord.

You know that people are being saved.

You know that you're on the Lord's side

and so you have that confidence

that could just give you boldness

to say nothing will stop me.

Nothing will make me go dark

to go quiet,

to go underground.

No, I'm just going to keep on going

because if God's force

who can be against us?

And so he said,

man, I'd rather die

than go hide.

You know you want me to go hide

and shut the door and be scared.

I'd rather die than do that.

I'm going to keep serving God.

What does the Bible say

in Revelation 2.10?

You don't have to turn there.

But it says,

fear none of those things

which thou shalt suffer.

Behold the devil shall cast

some of you into prison

that she may be tried

and ye shall have tribulation

ten days

be thou faithful unto death

and I will give thee a crown of life.

You know and thankfully

none of us have ever had to go to prison

or be in the risk of being killed

for the cause of Christ.

You know as it says in Hebrews,

you've not yet resisted

unto blood

striving against sin.

You know God's kept us safe.

God has protected us from those things.

But the Bible is saying that

even if you were to be thrown

into prison,

even if you were to be killed

for the cause of Christ,

God wants us to be faithful unto death

and he says,

I'll give you a crown of life.

And so just as

Christ was obedient unto death

even the death of the cross,

that's the commitment

that God requires from us.

And so if you can't even withstand

a little bit of ridicule

people saying all manner of evil

against you falsely,

persecuting you,

criticizing you,

maybe they're laughing at you

on the playground

or maybe they're you know

snickering about you

and poking each other

at the water cooler at work

or something

because you're a fundamental Christian

because you're

live into a higher standard.

You know whatever people

say about you,

criticize you,

you know it's still better

than taking a beating in an alley.

You know you've not yet

resisted unto blood

striving against sin.

You know none of us

have been cast into prison

so praise God for that.

But he says,

look some of you

are going to be cast into prison

and you'll have tribulation

and when you hear tribulation

for 10 days

it sounds pretty doable.

Like I feel like

I could handle anything

for 10 days, right?

He says you'll have

tribulation 10 days

and obviously 10 days

is a symbolic number

here.

But the symbolism of 10 days

is a short period of time

because nobody hears 10 days

and thinks oh man

that's super long.

You know I mean hey

if we're going to go to prison

hopefully it's only for 10 days

amen.

And the idea is

that in the scheme of things

when we go to prison

when we get persecuted

when bad things happen

that's on this earth

you know our life

is like a vapor

that appears for a little time

and then vanishes away

so whatever it is

that we endure

for the 10 days

of our tribulation

the 10 days of our life

here on this earth

you know at the end of the day

we can't even compare it

with the glory

that shall be revealed in us

that the sufferings of this life

are not worthy to be compared

with the glory

that shall be revealed in us

the Bible says.

So look at Nehemiah chapter 6 verse 12

Nehemiah 6:12

and we'll see Nehemiah's reaction

besides you know saying

hey I'd rather die

than go hide

and be scared

and wimp out

but he says in verse 12

lo I perceive that God had not sent him

you know the guy who's giving him this advice

of like hey you just need to go dark brother

you just need to just

you know set it to private

you just need to hide

lo I perceive that God had not sent him

but that he pronounced this prophecy against me

for Tobiah and Sanballad had hired him

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

and of course this is always the devil's

modus operandi

is he'll tell you to do something

and then when you do it

he'll accuse you for doing it

it's kind of interesting how the devil

is both the tempter

and the accuser

how does that work

it'd be like if

a prosecutor

was going around provoking people

to commit crimes

and then he's in court on Monday morning

like this guy's terrible

look what he did

and then on Saturday and Sunday

he's out like tempting people

and entrapping people

and trying to get them

to commit crimes

it'd be bizarre right

but that's literally what the devil is

he's the tempter

and he's the accuser

and it kind of reminds me

of the story of Amnon

in the Old Testament

where his friend John Adab

gives him the idea to commit this crime

against his sister Tamar

and then after he commits the crime

John Adab was just kind of gleefully

talking about it

like oh yeah this is what you know

this is what Amnon did

because he's both the tempter

and the accuser

okay so these people

they're trying to get Nehemiah

to go flee and hide

and cower in fear

and then they're going to turn around

and say oh look what a coward he is

look how weak

this guy doesn't have faith in God

this guy's not trusting the Lord

look how he's hiding

even though they sent a fake preacher

to tell him that it was the will of God

for him to hide

but he realized wait a minute

this guy's not preaching the word of God

this guy has been hired

by my enemies

look at verse number 14

my god

think thou upon Tobiah and Sandballad

according to the

according to these their works

and on the prophetess

Noah Daya

you know this is some female preacher

that was giving him trouble

and the rest of the prophets

that would have put me in fear

and so we said point number four

is that the haters

you know they want to intimidate you

and scare you

so that you'll basically shut up

so that you'll kind of just hide

and cower in fear

and not be effective

serving God

but now it's getting to point five

because we're seeing all the devices

of the haters in this chapter right

we've seen all the different things

they're going to try to pretend

that they're for you

they want to dialogue

they want to learn

they want to talk

they want to counsel you

they're here to help you

and you know

they're they're going to try to scare you

they're going to try to do all these

different things to get at you

they'll they'll try to

just downplay your success

and act like oh

you're on the verge of failure

you're about to fail

you're about to crash and burn

you know we are

everybody already sees it

in fact we're already just

announcing the the rise and fall

of of you know

spring crest baptist church

you know we're already releasing

a book called the rise and fall

of spring crest baptist

even though spring crest baptist

is still here

like that doesn't even make sense

but look if you would at

verse number 15

it says so the wall

was finished

look how God gave the victory

in spite of all the haters

and all their machinations

and all their huffing and puffing

they get it done

the wall was finished

in the 20 and fifth day of the

month elul

in 50 and two days

and it came to pass

that when all our enemies

heard thereof

and all the heathen that were

about us saw these things

watch this

this is the best part

they were much cast down in

their own eyes

so when they hear that God's

work goes forward

this finish thriving successful

they were much cast down

in their own eyes

for they perceived that this

work was wrought of our God

and so point number five is this

the haters

they secretly know that

they're losers

like in their own eyes

they're cast down like oh man

we lost

you know

the haters secretly know that

they're losers

which is why they just can't

stop wasting their lives

attacking good churches

and good people

it's sort of like the devil

like what makes the devil tick

what makes Satan keep doing

is I mean

Satan is going to lose

we know this from the word of

God

we've read the final chapter

we know how it is

we know that the devil is doomed

what is the point

of the devil continuing to

operate on this earth

and have all his minions

going everywhere

you know what the devil

wants to do

is just take as many people to

hell with him as he can

because misery loves company

and so the devil's doomed

there's nothing the devil

can do to fix his situation

he is what he is

he is a loser

he can't fix his situation

and so what can he do

is just try to drag down as

many people

with him as he can

you know that's that's the goal

and so the haters

they secretly know deep down

they know that they are failures

and that the Lord is with us

they secretly know that they're

losers

and so the only meaning that

they can find in their life

is to continue to fixate on us

obsess over us

and just attack good Christians

attack good churches

you know because wouldn't you

think that people would just

even just

like I said

at work

at school

in the neighborhood

just wherever you're out of life

wouldn't you think

that if someone just saw

someone just trying to live

a godly Christian life

preach the gospel

preach about Jesus

you know

even if they didn't believe in it

you kind of expect them to

just think like well

this isn't really my thing

but hey

now look

we obviously hate false religion

because we are actually

you know

on the side of truth

you know

so because we love christ

you know

david said

I hate every false way

you know

because we know the way the truth

in the life

so yeah

obviously

we're offended by hinduism

we're offended by buddhism

we're offended by islam

and all these different false

religions

because we know we're on the side

of truth

but what's funny is when you see

people

they don't even have beliefs

they don't even care

they don't even believe in any religion

they don't even believe anything

and yet

they're just so upset

by the gospel going forth

what it really is

is that they're just being tools

of the devil at that point

you know

because

because unsafe people

unfortunately they walk

according to the prince of the power of the air

the spirit that now worketh

in the children of disobedience

and so it's just

you know

you think people would just be like

hey you know

whatever christians

you know

they're living a clean life

that you know

they believe in jesus

whatever

but no that's not good enough

it's like they

they feel that they have to persecute

god's people

and you know

and again

typically

if you think about the haters

they don't typically

have a lot going for themselves

like it's not like

they have some awesome work

for god going over here

and they just have

boku

salvations over here

and just all this great preaching

and all these church that they love

it's like no no

they have

stuff that they

that they hate

they have

stuff that they're against

but it seems like

they don't really have a lot of good stuff

that they promote

you know

and i would hate to go through life

just being against things

and not for anything

you know

i mean

imagine if our churches

were just characterized

just

just

we're just against

false religion

and we're just against

sodomites

and we're just against

whatever sin

but but if we weren't for anything

right

but what are we for

we're for

the Lord Jesus Christ

we're for the gospel of Christ

and we have

not just a negative ministry of

hey let's just call out

every bad thing

it's like no

the biggest part of our ministry

the heartbeat of our ministry

the lifeblood of our ministry

is the soul winning

i mean

all of

all of our friends churches

we're all aggressive about soul winning

you know

we're all just excited

to just go out

and just talk to total strangers

and people

that have just

you know

not even heard of us

they don't know who we are

from Adam

and we just

knock on some random person's door

you know

I was just out doing it yesterday

you know

just

knock on some random person's door

and just

tell them

the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ

and get those people saved

hey you know

that's the kind of a mission

that can keep you going for decades

that can keep you going for a lifetime

the positivity

of bringing forth new life

getting people saved

pulling people out of the fire

preaching the gospel to every creature

you know

that's going to keep you motivated

in the long run

not just like

oh boy I just hate Muslims or something

you know

that's not

that's not a strategy

for a lifetime of service for God

and so when people are just only

banded together by hate

and they're only banded together

by what they don't like

and what they don't approve of

you know

I mean

it's pretty weird

when people spend more time

listening to preachers that they hate

than preachers that they love

because you know

I only have so much time in my day

and I only have so much energy

and inclination to listen to sermons

you know

it's like

if I'm going to listen to the haters

and see what they're up to

or am I going to listen to my friends

listen to godly men

listen to good ser-

you know I'm looking down the list

of sermons that have been preached

I want to listen to sermons that I like

that are from men of God

spirit filled

not like

hey

let's just go see what the

Catholics are up to all day every

I mean

imagine just sitting and just listening

to hours of Catholics

just just just to see what they're up to

just to nail them

I'm just going to listen to hours and hours of

the Mormons

preaching

you know let's just go on

Mormon.org

and just listen to hours of preaching

just because I just

I'm just so against Mormonism

it's like

yeah bro

okay we're all against Mormonism

we're all against Catholics

and we might do a little research

like

hey what do Catholics believe

Mormons you know

so we can preach a sermon against them

and then kind of move on

with our lives

but at the end of the day

we're going to spend more time

studying what we like

reading the word of God

listening to preaching that's actually

good preaching

and you know it reminds me of

what I heard about people

who are trained

to spot counterfeit money

typically they spend most of the time

learning about the real money

not necessarily just obsessing over

the fake money

because the thing about the fake money

is that

the fake money is constantly changing

it's not like counterfeit money today

is the same as counterfeit money

of five years ago

ten years ago

because then it'd be too easy to spot

so their ways are movable right

the the counterfeit money is going to

keep change

they're going to keep coming up with

new ways to counterfeit and trick you

really the expert cashier

or banker or whatever

is really just getting really good at

identifying the real thing

they know what to look for

if it's real

they're studying the real thing

you know we should spend more time

studying the bible

than fixating

on false religions

false teachers

false prophets

and yeah we might do a little research

to expose them

but you know

it's pretty sad when that's your whole life

is fixating on something that you don't

believe in

fixating on something that you hate

spending a bunch of time

on something that you don't care about

you know we need

something positive to drive us

and what drives us

in the new IFB

in churches like this

you know what drives us is our

love for the lost

going on getting people saved

our love for the king james bible

you know we love the bible

and we love to talk about the bible

we love to study the bible

we love

you know every part of the bible

we love the old testament

we love the obscure passages

in the old testament

we love the famous passages

you know we love john 316

and song 23

and first chrithians 13

but we also love all the deep dives

and you know isiah jermaine

ezekiel

and you know we just love the bible

we want to get together

three times a week

and hear the word of god

because we love the word of god

we want to go out and win souls to christ

because we love winning souls to christ

you know and there's so much

positivity

of loving our wives

you know or loving our families

and loving our friends

and having fellowship

and going on mission trips

and going so

you know these are the things

that are going to bond us together

and keep us going in the long run

not just like oh we share a common enemy

my enemy's enemy is my friend

that's not really a great friendship

but you know these haters

they're they end up when they see us

succeed they're much cast down

in their own eyes

and they kind of know that they're

losers

and that the most exciting thing

that ever happened for them in their

life was their their brief time with us

you know what i mean

it's kind of sick if you think about it

it'd be like if you had some some

ex-girlfriend from like years and years

ago but like

that short relationship she had with

you that that's kind of the most

exciting thing in her life still

you know it's just like wow

time to move on

but the haters they can't stop

because they're under the control

of satan in many cases

and that's why they can't stop

they're cast down in their own eyes

they kind of realize how stupid they

are but they just keep on going

but number six look at verse

number 17 it says more over in those

days

the nobles of Judah sent many letters

unto Tobiah

and the letters of Tobiah came unto them

for there were many in Judah

sworn unto him

because he was the son-in-law

of Shekiniah the son of Era

and his son Johanin

had taken the daughter of

Micholam the son of Barakaiah

and so number six is this you know

some people that are on the Lord's

side

they want us to be buddies with haters

but they're misguided

you know even people that are on the

right side they somehow just want to

get along with everyone

and they want us to be buddies with

haters but they're sorely misguided

now what you'll notice here

is that in verse 17

it says you know in those days

the nobles of Judah sent many letters

unto Tobiah

and the letters of Tobiah came

into them so there it's like

they're trying to stay in touch

with Tobiah and Tobiah is the bad guy

and then it says in verse 18

there were many in Judah

the ones in Judah

these are the ones they're supposed

to be on Nehemiah's team

they're on the good team

they're on the right side Lord's side

they're sworn unto Tobiah why

well because he's the son-in-law

of Shekiniah

and his son Johanin

had taken the daughter of Micholam

the son of Barakaiah

so it's like they're family

you know what do you do

they're family

so we gotta all try to get along

you know what if they're haters

nuts to them

I don't care if it's your Siamese twin

it's like oh they're family

you know what

you better be on the Lord's side

and you know people that are

against the work of God

going against the truth

going against men of God

you know just it's time to cut

those people loose

you know and it's like well

you know it's my

you know uncle's cousins

second roommate or whatever

nuts to them

so Tobiah is talking all this mad trash

I mean look

look how much evil Tobiah

has sought to do to Nehemiah

just in this chapter

and again in earlier chapters

Tobiah is already going after Nehemiah

in other ways

but just in chapter 6 alone

Tobiah is saying and doing

all these evil things

look at verse 19

it says

also they reported his good deeds before me

so people are coming to Nehemiah

and saying like

hey you know

here's some good things about Tobiah

like praising Tobiah to him

and they uttered my words to him

and Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear

so Tobiah is like

being super negative

toward Nehemiah

but then other people are kind of

trying to tell Nehemiah

hey you should be Tobiah's buddy

you know

he's not a bad guy

let me tell you all the good things about him

okay

now turn if you went to Proverbs chapter 26

Proverbs 26 · chapter mention

Proverbs chapter 26

Proverbs 26 · chapter mention

and you know the bible says

they that forsake the law praise the wicked

but such as keep the law content with them

you know

don't come at me praising Tobiah to be

I'm not interested

so

Tobiah just needs to be shunned and avoided

and here's the thing

when people get exposed

as judices

backstabbers

infiltrators

the natural normal reaction

not as Nehemiah's reaction

which is to eschew these people

right

whereas there are these kind of

Rodney King types

you know

can't we all just get along

and they kind of want us

to just be buddies with people who hate us

who literally want to kill us

I mean look

are Nehemiah's enemies playing games here

because last I checked

they're trying to lure him

out into the countryside

so that they can do mischief to him

they're trying to go and kill him

they're trying to get him arrested

they're trying to get him in trouble

with the government

they're trying to physically hurt him

they're trying to destroy his reputation

they are evil wicked people

and it's just like

yeah but can't we just find a way to get along

folks unfortunately

you're not going to be able to get along with everybody

it's a fool's errand to think

that oh I'm going to be able to just

you know bridge the gap

between Jesus and Satan

it's just not going to work my friend

you know some people

you just got to get away from them

and again back to point one

you know Nehemiah just didn't waste time with people

he focused more on the work of God

than on

feeling like he has to just endlessly dialogue

with haters

because it can be just a big waste of time right

look at verse 22 of chapter 26 there in Proverbs it says

the words of a tail bearer are as wounds

and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly

another word for a tail bearer is like a

you know a gossip

a whisper

a backbiter

you know something like that

and it says in verse 23 burning lips

and a wicked heart

are like a potchard covered with silver draws

right is there's no value on the inside

it just has a shiny coating on the outside

look at verse 24 he that hated

dissembleth with his lips

and the word dissembl means there you know

that he's being deceitful

he's pretending to be something that he's not

he that hated dissembleth with his lips

and layeth up deceit within him

when he speaketh fair believe him not

for there are seven abominations in his heart

and this goes back again

to some of the early points of the sermon

where these guys are trying to convince Nehemiah

oh we want to counsel with you

we want to meet with you

we want to hear your side

we want to talk to you

we want to be your friend

you know the bible say look

when you've seen someone exposed

as a tail bearer

as a rotten person

as a hater

he that hated dissembleth with his lips

he's trying to deceive you

he's going to flatter you

but he's setting a trap for you

so it says when he speaketh fair

verse 25 believe him not

for there are seven abominations in his heart

whose hatred is covered by deceit

his wickedness shall be showed

before the whole congregation

you know ultimately these people get exposed

before the entire church

because congregation and church

are used interchangeably in the scripture

whose hatred is covered by deceit

his wickedness shall be showed

before the whole congregation

whoso digeth a pit shall fall therein

and he that rolleth a stone

it will return upon him

a lying tongue

hateeth those that are afflicted by it

and a flattering mouth worketh ruin

and so notice the repetition of this word

over and over again

because in verse 24 it said

he that hateeth

in verse 26

whose hatred is covered by deceit

verse number 28 a lying tongue

hate these are the haters

what's the title of the story

you say what are you talking about

haters pastor arson

what is this slang that you speak of

you know the hater

the devices of the haters

what kind of a sermon title is that

well you know the bible's talking about

some haters here

right

and they lie and they hide the fact

that they're haters

and then you'll have these people

that come along

and they want you to be buddies

with these people

they want you to be friends with

no look

you know we had a guy in our church

not that long ago

who was pretending to be our friend

and it turned out that his goal

was to quote gather evidence

against me and my wife

because he literally wanted

to take our children away

and send us to prison

okay so this guy is coming over to our

house

you know my wife's cooking them

all these five star meals

because my wife is incredible cook

and so she's cooking all these

five star meals

for this totally unworthy

ungrateful punk

who's pretending to be our friend

pretending that he loves us

pretending to just want to spend time

with us

and really he's secretly conniving

and out of his own mouth

he's quote unquote

gathering evidence

and wants me and my wife

to go to prison

okay that's pretty serious

all while pretending to be our friends

hanging out with our kids

you know under false pretenses

and so forth

and then after all this

he admits quote

there's no actual evidence

you know so he spends

months and months trying to

get with my kids

and talk to them privately

and get them to say something

he's coming to our house

week after week

and just trying to gather evidence

or you know

this Barney Fife

over here

because he's

literally a cop as well by the way

but he's a highway patrolman

but he thinks he's like

super detective

I don't know who's the famous detective

that is in all those

Agatha Christie

what's

what's

hair-cured plow row

yeah so we got plow row over

we got Colombo over here

you know we got

it's like

he thinks that he's just

Sherlock Holmes over here

you know it's like bro

he's just coming to our house

and spending all this time

talking to everybody

and then at the end of it

it's like oh snap

quote

there is no evidence

okay this bozo

but this is what's so funny about this

I mean the guy is admitting

to come into our house

under false pretenses

to gather evidence to try to

slander us

and to get our children to

and do all these things

and then this is what he does

after that he whines about how

oh I came to this church for years

and then everybody just turned on me

so fast

when they found this out

that I was doing this

it's like yaw

how could people not turn on you fast

when they find out you're a Judas Iscariot

it's not like they're going to be like

oh well let's sit down and talk about this

you know I'm sorry but when

someone wants you in prison

and they want to steal your children from you

you can't quote work things out

with that kind of person

I mean if people are trying to kill you

if people are trying to put you in prison

if people are trying to destroy you

and destroy your life

and kidnap your family members

and send armed people to your house

to kidnap your family members

I'm sorry but you can't just kind of like

work now let's just sit down

and work things out with these people

right

in fact

maybe I should just take a little time off

from pastoring

just so I can just kind of work things out

with these with these people

it's like no that's not really the way it works

because at the end of the day

these people you can't work things out with them

we're not gonna we don't need to sit down

with Gishem the Arabian

we don't need to sit down

with San Bal at the Horonite

we don't need to sit down with Tobiah

these people just need to be eschewed

that's what Nehemiah was smart enough to know

and you know what he's constantly just talking to God

in the book of Nehemiah

which one interesting thing about Nehemiah

is he'll be telling the story about what happened

and then he'll just stop and be like God

remember me

this is what happened

remember these people

Lord punish these people

Lord bless me help me out

he just stops and prays over and over again

throughout the book of Nehemiah

because he realizes that you know what

talking to these people is not going to fix it

you know

the only person you can really talk to

that can fix it is God

he's talking to God about it

throughout the book of Nehemiah

but at the end of the day

he just says no

I'm not coming to the meeting

I'm not coming to see Gishem

I'm not hanging out with Tobiah

I'm too busy doing a great work for God

and so let me give you a conclusion here

that kind of ties it all together

because we you know

we just worked through the entire chapter didn't we

I mean we just read through the entire chapter of Nehemiah 6

and as we went through the chapter of Nehemiah 6

we saw all these different strategies

that Tobiah and his friends are trying to use

to hurt and to harm and destroy Nehemiah

and let me just boil down for you

Nehemiah's response

how did Nehemiah handle it

because Nehemiah ends up a success

you know and and when we get all the way to Nehemiah chapter 13

Nehemiah 13 · chapter mention

there's still people that are rebelling against God

the haters are still there in chapter 13

in chapter 13 you get to the end of Nehemiah

the haters have not gone anywhere

and you still have the sympathizers

trying to be buddies with the haters

all the way in chapter 13

you get to chapter 13

and they've like moved one of the haters

into this room in the temple

and Nehemiah is just like throwing his stuff on the sidewalk

I mean in chapter 13 Nehemiah is chasing people

ripping out their hair

you know doing all kinds of things

he's still fighting

he's still kicking

he's still alive and kicking

but at the end of the day Nehemiah is a success

Nehemiah is the one who God blessed

he got the wall finished

the wall stayed up

the people continued

and you know mission accomplished

as far as Nehemiah is concerned

he gets a whole book of the bible named after him

and he did great work for God

but what did he do

what did we see him respond

in chapter 6

well number one

he didn't waste time on the bozos

he did not waste time on bozos

he didn't get sucked in

to endless arguments

endless conversations

vein jangling

going back forth

I mean what does the bible say

a man that is a heretic

at the first and second ammunition reject

what does the bible say

it said go from the presence of a foolish man

even if he's not a heretic

if he's just an idiot

go from the presence of a foolish man

when they'll perceive us not in him

the lips of knowledge

there are certain people

that just aren't worth the time

you don't have to just engage

with every back and forth

especially online

but also in person

so number one

he didn't waste time on the bozos

number two

he did rebuke the lies

and false accusations when necessary

you know

but again

he's not really required to

if people lie about you

and you know

you could just ignore it too

you don't even always have to respond

but you know

sometimes it is appropriate

to rebuke the lies

and false accusations when necessary

number three

what did neomai do

he kept on working hard for the lord

and there's a saying that people use

that the best revenge is to live well

but you know

let me just put a little spin on that

for the christian

and say you know what

the best revenge against the people

that are trying to stop the work of god

is to just

push the work of god forward

full speed ahead

overcome evil with good

by doing your best work for god

you know

instead of having to take vengeance

and defeat them

here's the way we're going to defeat them

by going on and doing

huge works for god

that'll show them

that'll shut them up

and then they can

huff and puff publicly all they want

but we know

that secretly privately

they're cast down in their own eyes

they know it