May 10, 2025 • 20 mins
Recorded in Dec. 2023, this portion continues to ring forward in all ages as the enemy enemy of our souls comes at us with the same handful of tactics-- and many still don't understand or see how the enemy operates.
The “wiles of the devil” is laid out here clearly.
Compare this chapter 6 of Nehemiah to Ephesians 6! Picture of warfare and the instruction of warfare-- spiritual warfare!
#Nehemiah
#CTOC
#LordJesusChrist
Submit questions and comments to www.ThoughtsofChrist.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Well, good morning.
It's a coffee morning.
It is.
I need my coffee this morning.
hoPe you're doing well.
We're looking forward to gettingthrough another, another chapter
of Nehemiah.
This man is very, veryinteresting.
And that is, we have aninteresting little slide here
(00:29):
where what we're faced with herein Nehemiah is really the wiles
of the devil, right?
We, we learn about the wiles ofthe devil in Ephesians six in
the, in the armor of God.
But you have a man of principlestoo, and you have a man, and
this is where it's veryinteresting to see that balance,
that fight, if you will, thatchallenge between the enemy just
(00:49):
hitting him over and over again.
We're gonna find that out today.
And we're gonna see that he is aman of principles.
And today, today we need to see,we need to have principles
founded on the word of God.
You could compare Nehemiah sixto Ephesians six, right?
Those are two things that areSide by side.
(01:10):
All righty.
So let's jump over into Nehemiahsix.
The three enemies are popping upagain here.
And so we want to catch aglimpse of what these guys Are
doing here, conspiracy againstNehemiah rather, chapter six.
Now, it happened when Samba,Toba, geisha, the Arab, and the
(01:31):
rest of our enemies heard that Ihad rebuilt the wall, and that
there was no breaks left in it.
Though at that time, I had nothung the doors in the gates that
Bel and Geisha sent to mesaying, come let us meet
together among the villages inthe plane of Ono.
But they thought to do me harm,so I sent messages to them
(01:55):
saying, I am doing a great workso that I cannot come down.
Why should the work cease whileI leave it and go down to you?
But they sent me this messagefour times and I answered them
the same.
Manner.
You know, I just want to glean,let's just sit on these couple,
three verses at, at thebeginning here and really look
(02:16):
at these things here.
First off, you know, we're gonnafind about the wall here at the
end of the chapter here, howfast it's going up.
And there's no breaks left init.
The enemy wants to breakthrough, you know?
And, and what does the LordJesus says that in?
Is it John 10?
The, the the thief and therobber wanna break through and
steal Right?
(02:37):
Plunder and steal, and a goodsheep fold would have no breaks
in the sheep fold fence as thesheep are sitting in there and
the shepherd, remember in John10, the shepherd is sitting
there in the gate, right?
That's how that works.
And the shepherd is thegatekeeper, if you will.
Well here Nehemiah is buildingthe he's building the, the wall,
(02:57):
the wall's being built.
There's no breaks left in it.
And, but he had not hung thedoors.
He had not hung the doors in thegates.
And that's an important thingbecause we have to have doors
and gates, and we're gonna readabout that as we go along in
the, in the book, that there isan importance of having doors
and gates in the walls.
Then it says, they came, theysaid, come let us meet together
(03:18):
among the villages in the planeof Ono, they were in doing a vi,
and so they were wanting to havea little, little powwow, if you
will, and, and, and they arewanting to They're wanting to
basically come together.
Let's come together as, asbrethren, if you will.
Right.
And you know, we we're gonnahave three wils of the devil
(03:42):
coming up through this chapterhere.
And this is the first one here.
Enemy with a compromise, havinga friendly conference, right?
Let's just have a friendlyconference.
They have, remember they, theysaid at the beginning of the, of
the book, remember we read aboutthat?
How, let's, let's build withyou.
And he says, you have no part inbuilding with me.
You have no part in this.
Well, they come together, comeoutside the city.
(04:02):
Come outside the city here, andlet's go ahead and, and let's
build l Let's have a littlepowwow in the plane of, oh no.
And he says, oh no.
You know, that's how that that'show that goes.
But he sends messengers.
He says, I'm doing a great work.
I'm doing a great work.
Do you find that, do we havethings that distract us from the
(04:23):
Lord's work?
This is a very solemn thinghere.
Do we have, I am doing a greatwork and I cannot come down
down.
Do we have things that distractus from doing the Lord's work?
Yes, we do.
Yes, we do.
The affairs of this life, theentertainment of this life.
The whatever in this life, thecomfort of this life, all of
this can distract us from doingthe Lord's work.
(04:44):
I am doing a great work so thatI cannot come down.
Wow.
Why should the work cease whileI leave?
Why should the work cease whileI come down and go to you?
Now, he's not blaming anybody.
He senses.
He senses who they, they want tocause him mischief.
Yes.
He senses that.
But he's basically throwing itback and saying, why should I
(05:06):
let the great work?
Why should I stop the great workthat the Lord is doing right
now?
The Lord is raising up.
I, I think we're in the lastdays here, and to have a work
done unto him.
What an honor and a blessing itis before we all get to glory.
If you know the Lord Jesus asyour savior, you know, if you,
if you don't know the Lord Jesusas your savior, if you're coming
across the podcast.
(05:27):
And you go, what's this allabout?
Well, recognize the fact thatthe Lord Jesus died for the
world, which includes you, andwe have to come and fall down on
our faces before him and ask forrepentance for our sins, and he
washes our sins away.
It's a beautiful thing to becomeclean, become a new man.
And so that's, that's the gospelin a nutshell that we get about
(05:50):
500 years later after Nehemiahhere, 400 years later.
But it's a beautiful thing tosee.
Nehemiah loves God before theLord Jesus came down to this
earth.
And now we look back and we lovethe Lord Jesus for the work that
he did for us as well.
So as we move on here, it says,then send ballot and has sent,
sent me to his servant to me, asbefore the fifth time, with an
(06:13):
open letter in a hand.
And it was written, it isreported among the nations, and
Geisha says that you and theJews plan to rebel.
Therefore, according to theserumors, you are rebuilding the
wall that you may be their king,and you have also appointed
prophets to proclaim concerningyou at Jerusalem saying There is
a king in Juda.
(06:34):
Now these matters will bereported to the king, so come
therefore, and let us consulttogether.
Well, here we have another whilehere, we have a letter being
delivered and, and it's, it'scalled, it's called slander.
All right, that's our second onehere.
Enemy with a public Slander.
Slander's coming at Nehemiahhere, And it's very important to
(06:58):
see that enemy will twist thingsup.
Create a story, if you will.
You know, our blessed LordJesus, right?
The Lord Jesus.
He had slander brought to himtoo, right?
They were, they were accusinghim of something as they were
whipping him and beating himand, and what was it?
The high priest hall there.
And they had to go find, theyhad to go find some, some
(07:20):
witnesses.
This man says he will, he willcrash the temple and raise it
again in three days, right?
And they're trying to come upwith something with him, with
our Lord Jesus.
They're trying to come up withsomething here, and they were
bringing slander upon our LordJesus monks, many other things,
but slander is a tool that isvery, very key.
You also find too, if you turninto Into second Corinthians.
(07:43):
This, the second Paul, the Paulwas writing the second letter to
the Corinthians.
You'll also find too that, thatthere were even saints inside
the Corinth that were slanderingPaul as well.
So slander can be a very, a veryeffective tool from the enemy.
But let's, let's see how howNehemiah deals with it here.
(08:05):
And you also have a point ofprophets proclaim concerning you
at Jerusalem saying There is aking in Judah.
Now these matters were reportedto the kings.
So come together and let usconsult together.
You know, this is a veryinteresting slanderous piece
because remember, Nehemiah isthe chief, the King's Cup
bearer.
Nehemiah said, Hey, can I goback and, and help build the
wall?
And King says, how long are yougonna be gone?
(08:25):
Well, he wasn't, he's gonna begone for 12 years.
But you know, this little, thiswas a little nugget of slander
here, that it has a plausibilityto it, right?
Because of the fact that, oh,the king here is on this,
Nehemiah, my, my guy, my righthand man is headed back and he's
building a wall.
He is become their king.
You know, that is a very, veryplausible, slanderous peace.
(08:48):
Verse eight.
Then I sent to him saying, nosuch things as you saying are
being done, but you invent themin your own heart for they were
all trying to make us afraid,saying their hands will be
weakened into the work and itwill not be done now.
Therefore, oh, God strengthenedmy hands.
You know?
What is Nehemiah's, what is hiswhen he, when, when he's
(09:10):
presented with an attack in theenemy, what is Nehemiah's?
What's his, what's his response?
I'm looking for the wordresponse.
Response is he lifts his head upto God, doesn't he?
Right.
We saw this right here.
Let's go.
Go ahead and take a peek at thishere.
Right there.
Every time the enemy attacks, hejust lifts himself up to God.
(09:33):
He.
Isn't that beautiful?
That's his, that's his, he hasthat communion with his God that
he's able to just lift up hiseyes to God when the enemy is
attacking him.
All right?
And so here he says.
He says, now, therefore, oh God,strengthen my hands.
Alright, here's a pop questionhere.
(09:53):
Pop question is, how many timeshas Nehemiah prayed thus far in
the book?
Right at the very beginning.
That was the challenge to throwout there.
How many times does he pray inthe book?
Well, here is another prayer.
Very short, very effective, andvery, very needed at this time.
Okay, alrightyy.
So let's move on.
(10:13):
That was, that was you know theeffective slander that goes on
that.
We've had two of these attacksso far on Nehemiah.
Move on to verse 10.
Afterward.
I came to the house of Shamiah,the son of Deli Lia, the son of
Method Abel, who was a secretinformer.
(10:33):
Look at that.
You know, it's interesting tosee Nehemiah's got, he, he, he's
the man in the know, right?
And so he's a secret informerand said, let us meet together
in the house of God.
Within the temple, let us closethe doors of the temple for they
are coming to kill you.
Indeed.
At night they will come to killyou.
(10:53):
And I said, such a should, sucha man as I flee and who is there
such as I who would go into thetemple to save his life.
I will not go in.
Then I perceive that God had notset him at all, but that he
pronounced this prophecy againstme.
Because Tabba and Samba hadhired him.
(11:15):
Oh my goodness.
For this reason he was hiredthat I should be afraid and act
that way and sin so that theymight have a cause for an evil
report that they might reproachin me.
I'm gonna highlight verse 13.
I'm gonna highlight verse 13.
Just me.
Just, just chew on that a littlebit, right?
For this reason, he was hired.
You know, he's asking God forwisdom.
And I'll tell you, when thesetimes are coming upon us, we
(11:38):
need to turn to God and ask forwisdom.
And I can, I can rep freely,repent.
I can freely, freely repent thatthat has not been the case with
me over the years.
When there's slanderous thingsthat come on to just immediately
turn to God, fall on my knees, Ihave, I, I, I, I think we can
all, we can all repent on thatand acknowledge that.
(12:02):
And you know, they're, the enemyis sitting there trying to twist
this, right?
So they might have cause for anevil report that they might
reproach me.
And so the reproach is the enemyis trying to reproach and he's
always trying to say, see, see.
That, that child of God rightthere, that child of God, look
(12:23):
at that.
That's sinning and that's why wehave the Lord Jesus in the glory
right now.
That's why we have the LordJesus in the glory that is an
advocate for us.
That's why we get First John.
That's why John Penn, thatfirst, a epi a epistle to show
us that the Lord Jesus is on theright hand.
Interceding for us because theenemy is slandering.
(12:44):
The enemy wants to slander hispeople.
Now, God just wants us to fallon our faces towards him.
Think of job, go back to thefirst TPI of Job.
You know, God throws it out toSatan and Satan says, well, you
got that hedge about him, right?
And so Satan says, Hey, you got'em all covered?
(13:04):
No.
No.
Alright, alright.
And so take the hedge down.
But the failure in job is thathe didn't fall on his face
before the Lord, even though itdidn't make sense, but just to
fall on his face before theLord, the enemy wants to cause
as much disruption as possible.
And so that's why it's importantto see here that, that they
(13:25):
might approach me that, that herealizes he was hired, that I
should be afraid.
Now let's talk about beinghired, right?
We have actually, I think wehave a priest here.
This is This is a priest herethat is, is sitting here.
He's a he was a secret informer,it says here, right?
He was a secret informer and,and he's feigning fear.
(13:49):
He's feigning fear and infeigning the fear why, you know,
he's trying to get others to beafraid, right?
Because he was hired.
Nehemiah is a wise man.
He's had communion with the Lordand he's not fallen for it.
Okay, and so this is the thirdone that we're gonna get here.
We're getting a third slanderhere, and that's enemy with
(14:12):
false friendship.
All right, so false friendshipand basically feigning
treachery.
Treachery on Nehemiah May'slife.
And Nehemiah is saying.
Why would I, why would I go outto see them and know, oh no, why
would I hide in the temple?
Right?
I don't want, there's noreproach to be bringing upon me.
And I sense you were being hiredand this is the sense and the
(14:32):
work of the enemy.
And we have to recognize whatthe work of the enemy is too,
right?
The enemy is very crafty.
We have to sense what the workof the enemy is and then have
instant communion with him.
All right?
With, with the Lord.
That is all right.
Let's jump on down here and keepgoing because we won't need to
finish this chapter here.
Let's get to exciting here.
(14:53):
Well, before we do my this isinteresting, my God, remember
Tobi and samba, according to Zaworks and the prophetess Neo,
and the rest of the prophets,who would have me be afraid.
Verse 14.
I wanna bring this to yourattention.
I, this is very key, and we'retaking this up right now in our,
in our little public meeting.
In Jeremiah.
Jeremiah, which is happening.
(15:15):
Jeremiah was happening let's seehere.
Jeremiah would've happened abouta hundred years before this or
so, maybe 120 or so.
Jeremiah was faced with the samething.
You can have false prophets say,we've got a word from the Lord.
I've got a word from the Lord.
And you know what?
It's not a word from the Lord.
You have to recognize that.
(15:35):
And so there we have theprophetess naiah and the rest of
the prophets who would've mademe afraid.
And so now we have actualprophets saying they're from the
Lord.
And again, read Jeremiah to pickthat up.
And there, there you'll findJeremiah, the true prophet of
God is sitting there combating.
He's fighting against those thatsay they're from the Lord.
(15:57):
And that's, and that's what wehave today.
We have today.
We have many that say we're, youknow, I've got a word for the
Lord.
Well, you know what?
No, it's a false prophet.
There are false prophets.
And how do you know that?
How do you know if someone's afalse prophet?
Well, the interesting thing isyou gotta get your word of God
out and look at the principlesand what they're sitting on.
If you don't know your word ofGod.
(16:18):
Then you won't know what's afalse prophet and ask the Lord
for discernment.
But the word of God is going toshow us who is going to be a
true prophet, who's gonna be afalse prophet.
And I'm, when I say prophettoday, I'm talking about forth
telling, right?
Telling what the word of Godsays.
It's not, it's in the sense ofit.
It's not today the the tellingof future events.
(16:39):
But it's important to get aholdof this because the enemy is
using the exact same tacticsthen as he is now today.
All right, moving on.
Exciting part here at the lastof the meeting here, last of the
podcast.
So the wall was finished on the25th day of Elu in 52 days.
Can you think about that 52 daysis what that wall was being put
(17:01):
up on.
I think that's a precious thingto see the, see the hand of the
Lord just laying it on there andjust the wall is just going up
and it's creating thatseparation.
It's clea that, what is thatwall creating?
It's creating and a within andit's creating a without.
Right.
And there's gonna be some gatesand bars and, and, and, and
doors that go up.
Yes, there are.
(17:22):
You have to have those.
But there is a wall that must goup to separate the principles of
God, the people of God from theenemy of God.
Alrighty.
And it happened when all theenemies heard of it, and all the
nations around us saw thesethings that they were very
disheartened in their own eyesfor they perceive that this work
(17:43):
was done by our God.
That's very interesting.
It's very interesting when thenatural man can look on and go,
huh?
There's something interestinggoing there for the perceived
this work was going on.
To see the wall being built thatrapidly was an amazing thing.
Also, in those days, the noblesof Judah sent many letters to
Aya, and the letters of Aya cameto them.
(18:04):
Look at this.
Verse 18.
Verse 18 is absolutely just,it's so sad, so sad.
What's it say for Minnie andJudah were pledged to him
because he was the son-in-law ofShania, the son of era.
And his son, Jehan, had marriedthe daughter of Ms.
Shulan, the son of Barakah.
Also, they reported his gooddeeds before me and reported my
(18:27):
words to him.
Tobi sent letters to frightenme.
Well, I just want to re re, youknow, note this fact here too.
Separation is important.
And what this means is therewere those that were in Judah
there that were saying, hi.
Hi Nehemiah, you're my friend.
Let's have supper together.
(18:48):
But they're also talking withthe enemy, right?
And the enemy is very uniquehere.
The enemy is actually a, he'sactually married into the
family, right?
So there's family connections.
And so separation can come inthe fact that sometimes my own
family may not be holding thesame principles as I do.
And it says many and Judah werepledged to him.
(19:11):
So there was still a pledge to,to family, if you could say it
that way, right?
And to family alliances andfriend friends alliances.
And sometimes that's not thebest thing to do because
Nehemiah is holding forthprinciples of God here and there
were those that were wishing toshare in the information out to
the enemy there.
(19:31):
And this is also, they reportedhis good deeds before me and
reported my words to him.
You know what, what, whatbenefit is it?
What benefit is it is to besharing with the enemy, even if
it's family.
Even if it's family that doesn'thold the same principles, what
benefit is it?
You know, Nehemiah is, so if youlook at this chapter now,
Nehemiah is just absolutelyclear.
(19:55):
He's focused in on hisobjective, and the objective is
to hold forth the Lord's name ina holy and reverent way.
That started all the way back inthe palace.
Remember he wept or go back tochapter one, he weeps for four
or five months, weeps and fastsbecause of the people of God,
not not going on right as theyhad come out of out of the
(20:16):
foreign lands and come back toJerusalem and he goes back to
build this wall of separation.
Worship had already beenestablished.
Worship was already established.
He wasn't there to establishworship.
He's there to clean it upbecause they were mingling and
there was no separation betweenthe world coming in.
And what God's holy principlesand methods are.
So I think it's very interestingto see the family comes into
(20:38):
play here.
And we're gonna see that as wego on as well.
I can't tell you how relevantthis is.
For today because it's juststriking to see how the enemy
works, but the heart of God isstill the same.
So, with that, tell a friend andjoin us on the next one.
We'll be jumping on Nehemiahseven.
That'll be coming up here alittle long chapter there.
(21:01):
So we're just gonna tiptoethrough some of those, a lot of
names that are coming up.
There.
And so with that, we'll see younext time.
May the Lord bless you and maybehave that same relationship with
the Lord that Nehemiah has thatconstant communion, you have
that constant communion.
Well, good morning.
It's a coffee morning.
It is.
I need my coffee this morning.
hoPe you're doing well.
We're looking forward to gettingthrough another, another chapter
of Nehemiah.
This man is very, veryinteresting.
And that is, we have aninteresting little slide here
(00:29):
where what we're faced with herein Nehemiah is really the wiles
of the devil, right?
We, we learn about the wiles ofthe devil in Ephesians six in
the, in the armor of God.
But you have a man of principlestoo, and you have a man, and
this is where it's veryinteresting to see that balance,
that fight, if you will, thatchallenge between the enemy just
(00:49):
hitting him over and over again.
We're gonna find that out today.
And we're gonna see that he is aman of principles.
And today, today we need to see,we need to have principles
founded on the word of God.
You could compare Nehemiah sixto Ephesians six, right?
Those are two things that areSide by side.
(01:10):
All righty.
So let's jump over into Nehemiahsix.
The three enemies are popping upagain here.
And so we want to catch aglimpse of what these guys Are
doing here, conspiracy againstNehemiah rather, chapter six.
Now, it happened when Samba,Toba, geisha, the Arab, and the
(01:31):
rest of our enemies heard that Ihad rebuilt the wall, and that
there was no breaks left in it.
Though at that time, I had nothung the doors in the gates that
Bel and Geisha sent to mesaying, come let us meet
together among the villages inthe plane of Ono.
But they thought to do me harm,so I sent messages to them
(01:55):
saying, I am doing a great workso that I cannot come down.
Why should the work cease whileI leave it and go down to you?
But they sent me this messagefour times and I answered them
the same.
Manner.
You know, I just want to glean,let's just sit on these couple,
three verses at, at thebeginning here and really look
(02:16):
at these things here.
First off, you know, we're gonnafind about the wall here at the
end of the chapter here, howfast it's going up.
And there's no breaks left init.
The enemy wants to breakthrough, you know?
And, and what does the LordJesus says that in?
Is it John 10?
The, the the thief and therobber wanna break through and
steal Right?
(02:37):
Plunder and steal, and a goodsheep fold would have no breaks
in the sheep fold fence as thesheep are sitting in there and
the shepherd, remember in John10, the shepherd is sitting
there in the gate, right?
That's how that works.
And the shepherd is thegatekeeper, if you will.
Well here Nehemiah is buildingthe he's building the, the wall,
(02:57):
the wall's being built.
There's no breaks left in it.
And, but he had not hung thedoors.
He had not hung the doors in thegates.
And that's an important thingbecause we have to have doors
and gates, and we're gonna readabout that as we go along in
the, in the book, that there isan importance of having doors
and gates in the walls.
Then it says, they came, theysaid, come let us meet together
(03:18):
among the villages in the planeof Ono, they were in doing a vi,
and so they were wanting to havea little, little powwow, if you
will, and, and, and they arewanting to They're wanting to
basically come together.
Let's come together as, asbrethren, if you will.
Right.
And you know, we we're gonnahave three wils of the devil
(03:42):
coming up through this chapterhere.
And this is the first one here.
Enemy with a compromise, havinga friendly conference, right?
Let's just have a friendlyconference.
They have, remember they, theysaid at the beginning of the, of
the book, remember we read aboutthat?
How, let's, let's build withyou.
And he says, you have no part inbuilding with me.
You have no part in this.
Well, they come together, comeoutside the city.
(04:02):
Come outside the city here, andlet's go ahead and, and let's
build l Let's have a littlepowwow in the plane of, oh no.
And he says, oh no.
You know, that's how that that'show that goes.
But he sends messengers.
He says, I'm doing a great work.
I'm doing a great work.
Do you find that, do we havethings that distract us from the
(04:23):
Lord's work?
This is a very solemn thinghere.
Do we have, I am doing a greatwork and I cannot come down
down.
Do we have things that distractus from doing the Lord's work?
Yes, we do.
Yes, we do.
The affairs of this life, theentertainment of this life.
The whatever in this life, thecomfort of this life, all of
this can distract us from doingthe Lord's work.
(04:44):
I am doing a great work so thatI cannot come down.
Wow.
Why should the work cease whileI leave?
Why should the work cease whileI come down and go to you?
Now, he's not blaming anybody.
He senses.
He senses who they, they want tocause him mischief.
Yes.
He senses that.
But he's basically throwing itback and saying, why should I
(05:06):
let the great work?
Why should I stop the great workthat the Lord is doing right
now?
The Lord is raising up.
I, I think we're in the lastdays here, and to have a work
done unto him.
What an honor and a blessing itis before we all get to glory.
If you know the Lord Jesus asyour savior, you know, if you,
if you don't know the Lord Jesusas your savior, if you're coming
across the podcast.
(05:27):
And you go, what's this allabout?
Well, recognize the fact thatthe Lord Jesus died for the
world, which includes you, andwe have to come and fall down on
our faces before him and ask forrepentance for our sins, and he
washes our sins away.
It's a beautiful thing to becomeclean, become a new man.
And so that's, that's the gospelin a nutshell that we get about
(05:50):
500 years later after Nehemiahhere, 400 years later.
But it's a beautiful thing tosee.
Nehemiah loves God before theLord Jesus came down to this
earth.
And now we look back and we lovethe Lord Jesus for the work that
he did for us as well.
So as we move on here, it says,then send ballot and has sent,
sent me to his servant to me, asbefore the fifth time, with an
(06:13):
open letter in a hand.
And it was written, it isreported among the nations, and
Geisha says that you and theJews plan to rebel.
Therefore, according to theserumors, you are rebuilding the
wall that you may be their king,and you have also appointed
prophets to proclaim concerningyou at Jerusalem saying There is
a king in Juda.
(06:34):
Now these matters will bereported to the king, so come
therefore, and let us consulttogether.
Well, here we have another whilehere, we have a letter being
delivered and, and it's, it'scalled, it's called slander.
All right, that's our second onehere.
Enemy with a public Slander.
Slander's coming at Nehemiahhere, And it's very important to
(06:58):
see that enemy will twist thingsup.
Create a story, if you will.
You know, our blessed LordJesus, right?
The Lord Jesus.
He had slander brought to himtoo, right?
They were, they were accusinghim of something as they were
whipping him and beating himand, and what was it?
The high priest hall there.
And they had to go find, theyhad to go find some, some
(07:20):
witnesses.
This man says he will, he willcrash the temple and raise it
again in three days, right?
And they're trying to come upwith something with him, with
our Lord Jesus.
They're trying to come up withsomething here, and they were
bringing slander upon our LordJesus monks, many other things,
but slander is a tool that isvery, very key.
You also find too, if you turninto Into second Corinthians.
(07:43):
This, the second Paul, the Paulwas writing the second letter to
the Corinthians.
You'll also find too that, thatthere were even saints inside
the Corinth that were slanderingPaul as well.
So slander can be a very, a veryeffective tool from the enemy.
But let's, let's see how howNehemiah deals with it here.
(08:05):
And you also have a point ofprophets proclaim concerning you
at Jerusalem saying There is aking in Judah.
Now these matters were reportedto the kings.
So come together and let usconsult together.
You know, this is a veryinteresting slanderous piece
because remember, Nehemiah isthe chief, the King's Cup
bearer.
Nehemiah said, Hey, can I goback and, and help build the
wall?
And King says, how long are yougonna be gone?
(08:25):
Well, he wasn't, he's gonna begone for 12 years.
But you know, this little, thiswas a little nugget of slander
here, that it has a plausibilityto it, right?
Because of the fact that, oh,the king here is on this,
Nehemiah, my, my guy, my righthand man is headed back and he's
building a wall.
He is become their king.
You know, that is a very, veryplausible, slanderous peace.
(08:48):
Verse eight.
Then I sent to him saying, nosuch things as you saying are
being done, but you invent themin your own heart for they were
all trying to make us afraid,saying their hands will be
weakened into the work and itwill not be done now.
Therefore, oh, God strengthenedmy hands.
You know?
What is Nehemiah's, what is hiswhen he, when, when he's
(09:10):
presented with an attack in theenemy, what is Nehemiah's?
What's his, what's his response?
I'm looking for the wordresponse.
Response is he lifts his head upto God, doesn't he?
Right.
We saw this right here.
Let's go.
Go ahead and take a peek at thishere.
Right there.
Every time the enemy attacks, hejust lifts himself up to God.
(09:33):
He.
Isn't that beautiful?
That's his, that's his, he hasthat communion with his God that
he's able to just lift up hiseyes to God when the enemy is
attacking him.
All right?
And so here he says.
He says, now, therefore, oh God,strengthen my hands.
Alright, here's a pop questionhere.
(09:53):
Pop question is, how many timeshas Nehemiah prayed thus far in
the book?
Right at the very beginning.
That was the challenge to throwout there.
How many times does he pray inthe book?
Well, here is another prayer.
Very short, very effective, andvery, very needed at this time.
Okay, alrightyy.
So let's move on.
(10:13):
That was, that was you know theeffective slander that goes on
that.
We've had two of these attacksso far on Nehemiah.
Move on to verse 10.
Afterward.
I came to the house of Shamiah,the son of Deli Lia, the son of
Method Abel, who was a secretinformer.
(10:33):
Look at that.
You know, it's interesting tosee Nehemiah's got, he, he, he's
the man in the know, right?
And so he's a secret informerand said, let us meet together
in the house of God.
Within the temple, let us closethe doors of the temple for they
are coming to kill you.
Indeed.
At night they will come to killyou.
(10:53):
And I said, such a should, sucha man as I flee and who is there
such as I who would go into thetemple to save his life.
I will not go in.
Then I perceive that God had notset him at all, but that he
pronounced this prophecy againstme.
Because Tabba and Samba hadhired him.
(11:15):
Oh my goodness.
For this reason he was hiredthat I should be afraid and act
that way and sin so that theymight have a cause for an evil
report that they might reproachin me.
I'm gonna highlight verse 13.
I'm gonna highlight verse 13.
Just me.
Just, just chew on that a littlebit, right?
For this reason, he was hired.
You know, he's asking God forwisdom.
And I'll tell you, when thesetimes are coming upon us, we
(11:38):
need to turn to God and ask forwisdom.
And I can, I can rep freely,repent.
I can freely, freely repent thatthat has not been the case with
me over the years.
When there's slanderous thingsthat come on to just immediately
turn to God, fall on my knees, Ihave, I, I, I, I think we can
all, we can all repent on thatand acknowledge that.
(12:02):
And you know, they're, the enemyis sitting there trying to twist
this, right?
So they might have cause for anevil report that they might
reproach me.
And so the reproach is the enemyis trying to reproach and he's
always trying to say, see, see.
That, that child of God rightthere, that child of God, look
(12:23):
at that.
That's sinning and that's why wehave the Lord Jesus in the glory
right now.
That's why we have the LordJesus in the glory that is an
advocate for us.
That's why we get First John.
That's why John Penn, thatfirst, a epi a epistle to show
us that the Lord Jesus is on theright hand.
Interceding for us because theenemy is slandering.
(12:44):
The enemy wants to slander hispeople.
Now, God just wants us to fallon our faces towards him.
Think of job, go back to thefirst TPI of Job.
You know, God throws it out toSatan and Satan says, well, you
got that hedge about him, right?
And so Satan says, Hey, you got'em all covered?
(13:04):
No.
No.
Alright, alright.
And so take the hedge down.
But the failure in job is thathe didn't fall on his face
before the Lord, even though itdidn't make sense, but just to
fall on his face before theLord, the enemy wants to cause
as much disruption as possible.
And so that's why it's importantto see here that, that they
(13:25):
might approach me that, that herealizes he was hired, that I
should be afraid.
Now let's talk about beinghired, right?
We have actually, I think wehave a priest here.
This is This is a priest herethat is, is sitting here.
He's a he was a secret informer,it says here, right?
He was a secret informer and,and he's feigning fear.
(13:49):
He's feigning fear and infeigning the fear why, you know,
he's trying to get others to beafraid, right?
Because he was hired.
Nehemiah is a wise man.
He's had communion with the Lordand he's not fallen for it.
Okay, and so this is the thirdone that we're gonna get here.
We're getting a third slanderhere, and that's enemy with
(14:12):
false friendship.
All right, so false friendshipand basically feigning
treachery.
Treachery on Nehemiah May'slife.
And Nehemiah is saying.
Why would I, why would I go outto see them and know, oh no, why
would I hide in the temple?
Right?
I don't want, there's noreproach to be bringing upon me.
And I sense you were being hiredand this is the sense and the
(14:32):
work of the enemy.
And we have to recognize whatthe work of the enemy is too,
right?
The enemy is very crafty.
We have to sense what the workof the enemy is and then have
instant communion with him.
All right?
With, with the Lord.
That is all right.
Let's jump on down here and keepgoing because we won't need to
finish this chapter here.
Let's get to exciting here.
(14:53):
Well, before we do my this isinteresting, my God, remember
Tobi and samba, according to Zaworks and the prophetess Neo,
and the rest of the prophets,who would have me be afraid.
Verse 14.
I wanna bring this to yourattention.
I, this is very key, and we'retaking this up right now in our,
in our little public meeting.
In Jeremiah.
Jeremiah, which is happening.
(15:15):
Jeremiah was happening let's seehere.
Jeremiah would've happened abouta hundred years before this or
so, maybe 120 or so.
Jeremiah was faced with the samething.
You can have false prophets say,we've got a word from the Lord.
I've got a word from the Lord.
And you know what?
It's not a word from the Lord.
You have to recognize that.
(15:35):
And so there we have theprophetess naiah and the rest of
the prophets who would've mademe afraid.
And so now we have actualprophets saying they're from the
Lord.
And again, read Jeremiah to pickthat up.
And there, there you'll findJeremiah, the true prophet of
God is sitting there combating.
He's fighting against those thatsay they're from the Lord.
(15:57):
And that's, and that's what wehave today.
We have today.
We have many that say we're, youknow, I've got a word for the
Lord.
Well, you know what?
No, it's a false prophet.
There are false prophets.
And how do you know that?
How do you know if someone's afalse prophet?
Well, the interesting thing isyou gotta get your word of God
out and look at the principlesand what they're sitting on.
If you don't know your word ofGod.
(16:18):
Then you won't know what's afalse prophet and ask the Lord
for discernment.
But the word of God is going toshow us who is going to be a
true prophet, who's gonna be afalse prophet.
And I'm, when I say prophettoday, I'm talking about forth
telling, right?
Telling what the word of Godsays.
It's not, it's in the sense ofit.
It's not today the the tellingof future events.
(16:39):
But it's important to get aholdof this because the enemy is
using the exact same tacticsthen as he is now today.
All right, moving on.
Exciting part here at the lastof the meeting here, last of the
podcast.
So the wall was finished on the25th day of Elu in 52 days.
Can you think about that 52 daysis what that wall was being put
(17:01):
up on.
I think that's a precious thingto see the, see the hand of the
Lord just laying it on there andjust the wall is just going up
and it's creating thatseparation.
It's clea that, what is thatwall creating?
It's creating and a within andit's creating a without.
Right.
And there's gonna be some gatesand bars and, and, and, and
doors that go up.
Yes, there are.
(17:22):
You have to have those.
But there is a wall that must goup to separate the principles of
God, the people of God from theenemy of God.
Alrighty.
And it happened when all theenemies heard of it, and all the
nations around us saw thesethings that they were very
disheartened in their own eyesfor they perceive that this work
(17:43):
was done by our God.
That's very interesting.
It's very interesting when thenatural man can look on and go,
huh?
There's something interestinggoing there for the perceived
this work was going on.
To see the wall being built thatrapidly was an amazing thing.
Also, in those days, the noblesof Judah sent many letters to
Aya, and the letters of Aya cameto them.
(18:04):
Look at this.
Verse 18.
Verse 18 is absolutely just,it's so sad, so sad.
What's it say for Minnie andJudah were pledged to him
because he was the son-in-law ofShania, the son of era.
And his son, Jehan, had marriedthe daughter of Ms.
Shulan, the son of Barakah.
Also, they reported his gooddeeds before me and reported my
(18:27):
words to him.
Tobi sent letters to frightenme.
Well, I just want to re re, youknow, note this fact here too.
Separation is important.
And what this means is therewere those that were in Judah
there that were saying, hi.
Hi Nehemiah, you're my friend.
Let's have supper together.
(18:48):
But they're also talking withthe enemy, right?
And the enemy is very uniquehere.
The enemy is actually a, he'sactually married into the
family, right?
So there's family connections.
And so separation can come inthe fact that sometimes my own
family may not be holding thesame principles as I do.
And it says many and Judah werepledged to him.
(19:11):
So there was still a pledge to,to family, if you could say it
that way, right?
And to family alliances andfriend friends alliances.
And sometimes that's not thebest thing to do because
Nehemiah is holding forthprinciples of God here and there
were those that were wishing toshare in the information out to
the enemy there.
(19:31):
And this is also, they reportedhis good deeds before me and
reported my words to him.
You know what, what, whatbenefit is it?
What benefit is it is to besharing with the enemy, even if
it's family.
Even if it's family that doesn'thold the same principles, what
benefit is it?
You know, Nehemiah is, so if youlook at this chapter now,
Nehemiah is just absolutelyclear.
(19:55):
He's focused in on hisobjective, and the objective is
to hold forth the Lord's name ina holy and reverent way.
That started all the way back inthe palace.
Remember he wept or go back tochapter one, he weeps for four
or five months, weeps and fastsbecause of the people of God,
not not going on right as theyhad come out of out of the
(20:16):
foreign lands and come back toJerusalem and he goes back to
build this wall of separation.
Worship had already beenestablished.
Worship was already established.
He wasn't there to establishworship.
He's there to clean it upbecause they were mingling and
there was no separation betweenthe world coming in.
And what God's holy principlesand methods are.
So I think it's very interestingto see the family comes into
(20:38):
play here.
And we're gonna see that as wego on as well.
I can't tell you how relevantthis is.
For today because it's juststriking to see how the enemy
works, but the heart of God isstill the same.
So, with that, tell a friend andjoin us on the next one.
We'll be jumping on Nehemiahseven.
That'll be coming up here alittle long chapter there.
(21:01):
So we're just gonna tiptoethrough some of those, a lot of
names that are coming up.
There.
And so with that, we'll see younext time.
May the Lord bless you and maybehave that same relationship with
the Lord that Nehemiah has thatconstant communion, you have
that constant communion.
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