Standing Firm Against Deceptive Attacks

*The sermon manuscript below was generated from the recording by AI …

If a pack of wolves want to attack sheep, they do their best to avoid the shepherd, don’t they? Because the shepherd’s job, one of his jobs, is to fight off wolves. If there’s a very, very good shepherd, the wolves won’t have a chance of attacking the sheep because the shepherd will be there to protect them. And so the wolves are really only left with one option: get rid of the shepherd. If you get rid of the shepherd, well, you’re free to eat as many sheep as you want, aren’t you? Because you may not realize this, but sheep aren’t that great at defending themselves, especially to a pack of wolves. And so if the wolves can just manage to get rid of the shepherd, they’ll be scot-free.

And brothers and sisters, the church is very much the same, isn’t it? Uh, the Lord has provided shepherds in order to protect his sheep and care for them. And so it shouldn’t surprise us that often the devil seeks to attack shepherds, seeks to attack the leaders of God’s people, because if he can get rid of the leaders of God’s people, the sheep become vulnerable.

And so in our passage today, we’re confronted with this reality. We, we remember, don’t we, that in chapter 4 we saw these different types of attacks that the devil was launching against Jerusalem? A- slandering the people of Jerusalem, attacking them and threatening them with physical attacks, many different types of weaponry that the devil unleashed upon the people of Jerusalem. But it was sort of like a, a corporate reality, right? He was attacking the sheep, you might say. and, and the shepherd was there to defend them at every turn. And we saw Nehemiah, on behalf of God, protecting the sheep and providing for them and keeping them safe and putting people on watch and these sorts of things.

Well, in this chapter, what we see now is the enemies of God’s people turn their focus purely onto Nehemiah because they recognize as long as Nehemiah’s in town they’re not going to succeed. And so we see, uh, this intentional attack on the person of Nehemiah by the devil and his cronies in an, in an attempt to undermine the work of God and his kingdom. And it shouldn’t surprise us that the primary method of attack is one of lies and deception. Because, after all, the devil is the father of what? Lies, Jesus calls him, right? The devil is the father of lies. And so it shouldn’t surprise us that one of the primary tactics that the devil uses is deception because the devil doesn’t know how to deal in truthfulness. There is no truthfulness about the devil. Everything that comes from him is lie and falsehood.

And so what we see in this passage is 3 different forms of deceptive attacks from the devil. 3 different forms of deceptive attacks from the devil. The first of these is deceptive flattery. Deceptive flattery. And, and we see this in verses one through 4. The, the unholy trinity, as I named them a while ago, are at it again. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem. Sanballat of Samaria, Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab. The 3 of them. Remember, they’ve been opposing the work of God in Jerusalem the whole time and they’re back for more. They’re back on the job, and it begins with flattery.

Have a look at the text with me. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem send a message. They say to Nehemiah in verse 2, “Come, let us meet together in Hecapherm in the plain,” or the valley, probably better translated, “in the Valley of Ono.” Now, of course, you guys all know where the Valley of Ono is. It’s by Benjamin. And it was sort of like halfway between Samaria and Jerusalem, and so it was like a, a halfway meet point. And so they’re saying, “Look, uh, we won’t make you come into our territory and we won’t come into your territory, but how about you meet us halfway? Look, we, we, we don’t want you to come into our palace. We just want you to come and meet with us. Look, it’s nothing serious. Let’s just have a conversation. After all, y- you’ve proved your worth, right? You’re doing a good job and you’re actually a, a very good governor. And you know, we’re all governors around here. We’ve got our own districts, so let’s have some conversations. Maybe we can benefit one another. I can help you. You can help me. We can work together to benefit the entire kingdom of Persia and we can labor together. We can be friends! Just come and meet with us.”

It’s a form of flattery. Uh, see, it’s striking, isn’t it? Because up till this point they’ve done nothing but try and destroy the man and destroy the people of God, but they failed. And so all of a sudden they’re not talking about attacking, they’re talking about political meetings, uh, meetings of heads of state. “You’re, you’re, you’re a good guy, Nehemiah, so come and have a conversation with us.”

You know, there’s different types of flattery. Some of it Not all flattery is evil. I know the Proverbs say flattery is a bad thing, and it is, but there’s nothing wrong with you telling you- your wife that she’s the most beautiful woman in the world. Yes, it’s a form of flattery, but it’s, it’s a harmless type of flattery, isn’t it? But there is a sinister, harmful type of flattery that with the left hand will compliment and praise you, while with the right hand seeking to undermine and destroy you. And that’s what we’re seeing here. And we know that’s what we’re seeing here because Jeremiah, uh, Nehemiah is not gonna have a bar of having anything to do with it, is he? Because as he says, they intended harm.

So they’re speaking kindly, “Let’s meet together and be friends,” while simultaneously plotting his downfall. It is a harmful form of flattery with 2 possible intentions, or maybe even both. On the one hand, in order to get to the Valley of Ono it’s gonna take 2 days. Well, 3day round trip there and back. Which means it’s, at a minimum, with a very large distractive intent. They’re in the middle of a big job, it would be very helpful to get Nehemiah out of the picture for a while, because that would, that would demotivate the laborers if their governor all of a sudden packed up and went somewhere else. Especially given all of the past that’s taken place, it would be a great discouragement to the people of God to see Nehemiah meeting with the enemy. Be like, “Oh. Obviously Nehemiah’s in cahoots with the neighbors now.” And so it would be a bit of a distraction to Nehemiah and a discouragement to the people. That’s, I think, w- best case scenario.

More likely, the, the plan’s pretty obvious, right? “Come and meet with us,” and you can imagine the report as one commentator puts it, you can imagine the report that goes back to Jerusalem after the meeting. “Unfortunately, there was a very bad chariot accident while Nehemiah was traveling through to the, to the meeting house. Unfortunately, one of his wheels fell off and, he fell to his death. We tried everything to, to restore him. You know, we spent no amount of We spent large amounts of money, we used time, we used the best information we have a- available. Uh, unfortunately he didn’t Um, but we’ll bring his body back to you so you can have a, a court burial.” I mean, that’s what they wanted, right? “Come and meet with us so we can stab you in the back and kill you.”

But notice, notice Nehemiah’s response. Nehemiah’s response is very simple yet very prudent, and has some lovely keys for us. In verse 3 he says He sends a messenger. He doesn’t go himself. He’s not that daft. He sends a messenger and he says to them, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”

Now, he knows they intended him harm. How he knows that, we don’t know. You know, did he get secret information of what the plan was? Was it like Paul You remember when Paul is asked to come down for a trial and then his, his nephew comes in and tells the Roman authority, “They’re planning on killing him when he comes down.” Is it something like that? We don’t know. But somehow he knew and he sends this response.

But isn’t it striking? He doesn’t write back to them and says, “I know what you lot are up to. Don’t take me for k- some kind of fool over here. You’re just gonna kill me.” No, he doesn’t do that. He states what is truthful without overstating his case. He just writes back and says, “I’ve got a really big job to do. I’m busy. Sorry, I checked my calendar. It doesn’t work. I’ve got a wall to finish. I’ve got gates to hang. I’ve got a city to govern. Why should I go away and leave everybody else to work while I gallivant off on my private yacht and going around to fancy climate change meetings? We’ve got stuff to do.”

Now there’s real prudence in this response. to, to say the other, just reply to them and say, “I know what you guys are up to. I know you’re trying to kill me,” would be to, what? To poke the bear, right? It would be to enrage the wrath of the enemy and also make him liable to accusation. Because people could say, “Hey, look. We just tried to have a meeting with the guy and he turned around and attacked us. He turned around and verbally abused us. He turned around and made fun of us and accused us of all manner of thing.” There’s real prudent wisdom here by Nehemiah.

Do you notice 0 one thing that must be said of Nehemiah Now, people have some bugbears with Nehemiah, but one thing that must be acknowledged, he is not naive. And, and brothers and sisters, this is a really important reminder for us as Christians. Jesus says we must be shrewd as vipers. Innocent as doves and shrewd as vipers. Why? Because we have an enemy.

I’ll, I’ll never forget the time when, when I was in Rotorua. I’d been Most of you know the story. I’d been falsely accused in my workplace by my staff members. Had to go through a big trial. And when everything was finished up and my name was vindicated, uh, Pastor Steve sat me down and he said to me, “Logan, you cannot be naive. You, you gotta stop it.” He, he saw, he saw the problem. said, “Logan, you’ve got to stop being naive. There are people in this world” And he said as a pastor, “and in the church who do not have your best interest at There are people in the church and in this world who actually just want to ruin your life.” He says, “I know that’s hard to hear, but that is the reality of life. You cannot afford to be naive in this world.”

And most of you know this, don’t you? You look around the room. I don’t mean this room, the church in general. You look around the church or the workplace and you see lovely people with smiling faces, and some of them abuse children, and some of them steal tax, steal money from tax systems, and some of them will sell their own mother for the sake of a quick buck. Do not be naive! Why? Because behind every wicked face is the devil and a corruptible heart. And we know our own flesh, don’t we? We know how quickly our own flesh can turn astray, how quickly we can turn to sin. And so, if that’s true of the redeemed, how much more of unbelievers?

Do you remember that phrase where, where it says of Jesus in the Gospel of John, it says that He knew what was in the heart of every man and He entrusted himself to none of them? Even His closest disciples, He did not entrust Himself to them. Why? Because He knew what was in their hearts. And, and brothers and sisters, doesn’t it hurt? Is there anything more exquisitely painful than baring your heart and soul to someone you love, and then them using that to stab you in the back? I don’t I- I do not think there is anything in this world more painful. Like, bring physical pain, bring it all. Nothing of it compares to the agony of your dearest, closest friend betraying you with the most intimate, private information that you’ve shared with We must not be naive. That’s one of the major uses here.

Deceptive, the deceptive flattery of the devil means we must be shrewd.

Secondly, I think it encourages us very strongly to be very wary of distractions. See, Nehemiah doesn’t go because he’s got jobs to do, he’s got work to do. Now is not the time for political discussions. Now is the time for kingdom work. And the same is true for you and I. Now is not the time for rest, brothers and sisters. R- Brother Rob and I were speaking to, to John this morning, and I said to him, “How, how many” He made a joke about dying before we get to the end of the Book of Revelation. And, um, and I said to him, “Well, how, how many years would you like to live to serve the Lord?” And he said, “As long as I can l- as long as I can keep living and serving, that many.” A- and, and Brother Rob said to him, “There’s no retirement in the Kingdom of God.” There’s not. This side of the, of glory? Labor with a day of rest. But we have a rest to come, and we’re called to be faithful and fruitful.

You see, we need, like Nehemiah, to have a big calling, a big vision in our life that enables us to hear the, the deceptive flattery of the devil when he comes to us and say, “No. I’ve got far more glorious things to do. I’ve got far more important things to do. I can’t waste my time coming across and becoming famous in the world. I haven’t got time for that! I’ve got a kingdom to build. I’ve got a church to go to. I’ve got brothers and sisters to look after. I haven’t got any time for being rich and pursuing the things of this world.” Because that’s what he does, right? He comes with things and stuff and people. And he seeks to distract us with flattery or, “You know what? You’re really lovely. You’d make a f- a fantastic TV evangelist. You know, imagine the good things you could do if you were rich. And imagine, you could be a, a witness if you were famous.” And we say, “No. I’ve got work to do.”

We have a big view in our face of the Kingdom of God and enables us to silence the devil, like Jesus with the Apostle Peter, “Get behind me, Satan.” Why? Because it is my pleasure to do the Father’s will.

And so we see the deceptive flattery of the devil come and fall flat on its face.

Secondly, we see deceptive threatory. Deceptive threatory. It is technically a word. Deceptive threatory, verses 5 through 9. You know, Sanballat ramps up the pressure. There’s, there’s nothing like, uh, an invite being rebuffed to upset someone. You know? When, when you get invited to a wedding and you say no can really upset people. When a person invites you with scheming to destroy you and you refuse 4 times, ’cause that’s what happens here, right? The messengers come 4 times, over and over and over again. “Come and eat with us. Come and eat with us. Come and eat with us.” Now, you and I, at the second invite, were probably tempted to say, “What? Well, maybe it’s the will of God for my life that I go and do this meeting.” Nehemiah says, “No, no, no, no,” and then a messenger walks through the door with an open letter.

Now, it is significant. It doesn’t say he walked through with a letter. He walks through with a closed letter. Have a look at verse 5. “In the same way, Sanballat, for the 5th time, sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand.” So he walks in the door like this, carrying an open letter. Why is this significant? Because what’s being communicated in this act is that this is a public matter. This is no private email or text message I’m sending you. I’m publishing this letter in the local Times so that everybody sees it.

And Sanballat is gonna ramp up the pressure. He says to them, he says to Nehemiah, “It is reported among the nations and Geshem” you need to understand, of the 3, Geshem is the most powerful, okay? He- he’s, uh, effectively a little k king over the Arabs, rules a large area of land. He’s conquered a bunch more land underneath Per- Persian government, of course, but still in control of a large area, the most significant. “And Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel. That’s why you’re building the war- wall. And according to these reports, you wish to become their king. And you’ve also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’”

So here’s the, here’s the deception. This is what everyone’s saying. And here’s the threat. And now the king will hear. Th- there’s one thing that dictators do not like more than anything else. It’s treasonous attempts to take their throne. And kings are well-known to deal very severely and savagely with anyone that would threaten their throne, right? It’s instant removal of a head. And so what, what Sanballat is saying here is, “Come and meet with us face-to-face, or I’m sending a letter to the king that says you’ve called yourself a king, and that’s why you’ve built the wall. And your so-called supporter is not gonna be very supportive anymore. You’re out the door. You’re in his bad books. In fact, he’ll be coming with the whole army to make sure you’re dealt with.”

Now, it’s deceptive threatory because it’s a lie. None of these things are true. But do you think the King of Persia is going to look deeply into the details as to whether it’s true or not? When he’s got how many kingdoms to deal with? And probably attempts on his life all the time? Most dictators in that time, they just took a no, no nonsense policy. Just off with their head. Easy fix. Jerusalem gets destroyed for a third time.

The threat is real. You know, the devil never tires, does he? He attempts once, and he’ll attempt again. And he’ll try harder, and he’ll try harder, and he’ll try harder. Uh, 0 one of the temptations for us in that moment is to say, “I’ll just give in. If I give in, he’ll stop attacking.” The only way to fully resist the devil is to keep on resisting. “‘And he will depart from you,’” Peter says.

They attack and they threaten to bring him to a very ugly end. But, but notice what Nehemiah does in response. Nehemiah responds, and he’s much more blunt in verse 8. And he says to them, and this is probably one of my favorite verses in all of Nehemiah. “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.” You might think, “Well, that’s a bit gruff. That’s a bit rude. Can’t we be polite with one another? That’s not how Christians are meant to speak, because they’re meant to be loving and kind to everybody, right?”

Well, what is Nehemiah doing? He’s responding to deceptive threatory with an open statement of the truth. The defense against the father of lies is the truth. Why is this significant? Because immediately, on public record now, is Nehemiah saying the whole thing is nonsense.

Brothers and sisters, there is nothing wrong with speaking the truth. Now, 0.1, flattery, you don’t have to poke the bear and make them angry, but don’t buy the lie that in a tolerant culture you have to keep your mouth shut and not say what’s true. If a person asks you how many genders there are, you, you know what they’re aiming at, right? You know what they want. You know their plan. Open statement of the truth: God made 2 sexes, male and female, full stop.

This is one of the things I, I respect and love about John MacArthur so much. I don’t know if you’ve ever watched any of his talk show stuff where he’s t- taken on talk shows and does interviews with people. He just straight down the arrow. So, he’s in a, in a discussion with, with the host and then a Liberal minister and himself, and they ask the Liberal minister, “What, what happens to gay people? Do gay people go to hell? Is, is being gay a sin?” And the Liberal minister gives the most ugly fob off answer, like you would not believe, and he just speaks in circles. And then they say, “Well, what do you think, John MacArthur?” And he says, “Every fornicator, adulterer and homosexual goes into the lake of fire because that’s what the Bible says. But God has provided a way to flee from the wrath to come.” And I’m just like, that’s it, an open statement of the truth.

Brothers and sisters, this is the solution to the deception of the devil as he seeks to attack you, as he seeks to threaten you. You counteract it with truthfulness.

But the- these types of attacks can take their toll on you, and they took a toll on Nehemiah. Don- don’t think that Nehemiah’s just this unfeeling beast who can deal with everything that comes his way. And so notice at the end of verse 9, he says, “Now, O God, strengthen my hands.” It’s a, it’s a sudden prayer, “God help me.” They’re, they’re trying to make us afraid. They’re trying to distract us. And, you know, here’s the thing. No matter how many attacks you rebuff, they take a toll on you, and it’s taking a toll on Nehemiah, but he does the one most necessary thing in his weakness. He runs to the Lord, which is a wonderful reminder for you and I, isn’t it? In our times of weakness, when we struggle, prayer is the solution. Run to the Lord and he will help you.

Then another thing that we see here of importance is the importance, the, the significance of having a clear conscience. A clear conscience is a powerful thing. You see, they’re, they’re falsely accusing him of things and he’s able to say, “No, it’s all nonsense, because I know in my heart that I have no desire to be the king. In fact, in a few chapters time, I’m returning back to Persia. I’m gonna go back and see the Persian king. I’m gonna go clear the air and I have no desire to be the king.” Because his conscience is clear, he can say these things. And here’s the thing, brothers and sisters. W- with whatever you’re dealing with in your life, when your conscience is fully clear, you can just stand up, hold your head up high, and say, “I am at peace with what I’ve done before God and before man. You may think I’m wrong, but it doesn’t matter.”

But it also reminds us of the importance of having a conviction about what’s right and what’s wrong. Nehemiah knew that it would be wrong for him to become the king. It’s not his calling, it’s not his place. And, and we too must be like that. We must know the truth so that that way we can keep the truth and we can have clear consciences.

Th- the third thing we see here is a deceptive prophecy. In verses 10 through 14, we get this strange incidence. You know, they, they can’t, they can’t get Jer- uh, they can’t get Nehemiah out of Jerusalem. It’s just never gonna happen, so what do they do? We have to go through the back door. Covert operation. So, they hire some false prophets.

Now, the example we’re given here is just an example of probably what was many different types of attacks like this, because we hear about Noa- Noadiah and the other prophets. In other words, there’s a whole bunch of these false prophets, just like in the olden days at Jeremiah’s time, who were running around prophesying lies. And Nehemiah has to deal with it, but he goes and visits Shemaiah. We have no idea who Shemaiah is, no idea who his father is or his father’s father. There’s one vague reference, but it could be to a completely different guy. But all we know about him is he’s locked up in his house.

Now, this could mean different things. It could mean he’s locked up because he’s unclean and the priests told him to lock himself up in his house. It could mean he’s under some form of discipline so he’s locked up. But more than likely what’s going on here, and I think the, the Hebrew does lend itself towards this a little bit, he is, he has locked himself up as a, as a sort of, like, prophetic show to Nehemiah. You know, “I’m hiding. It’s dangerous. People are coming for your life.” Because notice what he says, he says, “They are coming to kill you,” verse 10, “They are coming to kill you by night.” In other words, he’s locked himself up in secret. He’s probably sent a message to Nehemiah and said, “Nehemiah, you, you need to come and see me. I’ve got bad news. Come and see me.” So he comes in and he comes in and, you know, the curtains are drawn and the door’s locked and the guy sneakily opens it and rushes him in and takes him into an inner room, amping up the seriousness of what’s going on.

And what does he want to do? Well, he wants to go and hide. Now, if someone wants to kill you hiding’s not a bad idea. The Bible’s not teaching you to run and get yourself killed somewhere. Shemaiah says, “It’s very simple. There’s one place where we are definitely secure, in the house of God.” You see, the house of God was like a fortress. In fact, when Jerusalem was sacked by Rome, the temple was the last thing staff to fall. Strong walls and lots of Levite guards. Says, “Let’s go and hide in the house of God.”

What’s going on here? Well, t- to understand why this is a problem, why there’s an issue here, you have to, you have to enter into the response. Nehemiah says in verse 11, “Should such a man as I run away, what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.” Well, that’s I mean, what’s wrong with going into the temple? He’s a Jew. Jews are allowed in the temple. What’s wrong? Well, what, what Shemaiah is doing is a- not just saying, “Let’s go into the temple.” He’s inviting Nehemiah to join him in the Holy of Holies, or in the holy place where only the priests are allowed, the part of the sanctuary that Nehemiah is not allowed to enter into. He’s saying, “Come with me. The seriousness of this situation means that you can ignore the law of God and go into this special place that you’re not allowed into.”

It’s a form of pragmatism, isn’t it? You know, “God’ll understand. Extreme times call for extreme measures after all. You’ve gotta deal with the situation, so just go and hide for a while.” But what’s Nehemiah saying? Well, he’s doing the same thing a few other people in the Bible do. You remember Joseph? When, when, when his master’s wife.. invites him to an adulterous relationship. Do you remember what he says? He doesn’t say, “Adultery is sin!” and then run away. He says, “Should such a man as I do this thing against my master?” It reminds us of Jesus when, when the Pharisees come to him and say, “Jesus, you better run away because Herod wants to kill you.” And Jesus says, “I’m not running away. You let Herod do his own things. I’ve got work to do.” Paul similarly does the same thing. What- what- what is it? What is it being communicated here? Nehemiah is saying, “Should a man such as I sin against God no matter the cost?” And of course, the- the answer is obvious, right? It’s a question that doesn’t need an answer.

You see, he will not be Uzziah. Remember Uzziah, the king, who in his pride attempts to go and burn incense and gets struck down with leprosy? Nehemiah says, “We will not do this. We will serve God.” He says to them, “I will not run away. I will not go into the temple.” And then notice in verse 12, he says, “I understood and saw that God had not sent him.” How did he know that? Was it the way he spoke? Did he have like a- a- an- a snake-like accent, you know? Did he hiss his S’s or something that made it obvious that he was Well, no, it’s what Jesus said in, in Matthew 7, “You shall know them by their fruits.” What was the fruit of Shemaiah? The fruit of Shemaiah was: rebel against God. No true prophet of God or spokesman of God will ever tell you to go against the Word of God. And if they do, they are not speaking for God.

If I ever stand up and tell you to do anything that is contrary than the Word of God, then you don’t listen to me. Because the Word of God will always match with the moral of God. The moral law of God and the Word of God are always in cohesion. This is why it’s never acceptable to sin in order to achieve good ends. And we can be tempted to do that, can’t we? You know, it’s the, it’s the Robin Hood ethic. We gotta steal from the rich and give to the poor! No, no, it’s sin. I’m gonna lie to protect No, it’s sin. Sin is sin. And what Nehemiah knew is: it’s better to accept the consequence of righteousness, even if it’s death, than it is to bow on your convictions to the Word of God.

It’s the same thing that, that brother Luther knew, wasn’t it? It is neither safe nor good to go against one’s conscience. And he stands up and, and he risks his life, knowing that death was on the line. And he says, “I shall not repent. I can’t repent. I can’t do it, because this is what I believe the Word of God says.” And you and I are called to have that same type of Biblical conviction that will drive us to faithfulness no matter what the cost is.

I think there’s some important uses that come from this. For example, if, if we’re going to do this, if we’re going to be like Nehemiah here, standing on conviction, standing in conscience, upholding obedience and the Word of God, we have to know the Word of God. We have to have consciences and convictions that are shaped and refined by the Word of God. If we don’t know it, we can’t keep it, right? If we don’t know what God requires of us, this is why we’re going through the Ten Commandments, if we don’t know what God requires of us, then we’re never going to keep it. And so when pressure comes, we’ll quickly fold and buckle because we didn’t even know that we were breaking God’s law. And so it’s an encouragement to us to press on to know what God would have us live like.

You know, it, it strikes me how often people say to me, “I wish I just knew God’s will for my life.” And, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said to people, “You already have it.” You’ve already got it. There’s nothing else to know. Everything comes down to biblical principles applied to your life. And the better you know this book, the easier you’ll be able to deal with all of those problems.

The, the other one is that we need to learn to discern, don’t we? You know, Nehemiah was able to s- to judge the tree by the fruit, because he knew immediately it would have been sin for him to go into the holy part of the temple. He had the discernment to tell that Noadiah and the other prophets were wrong. Do you have that same discernment? You know, the, the New Testament says to us that we are to discern the spirits, to see whether they be false or true. Are you able to do that? Are you able to hear a preacher online, or a preacher in this pulpit, and discern whether they are speaking truth or error? Because if you can’t, then you are liable to be led astray.

It also reminds us of the importance of biblical leadership, right? Biblical fathers for our homes, to guard the little sheep in their care. Biblical elders and ministers to watch over the flock and to care for them, and to uphold the truth. And so we must train our leaders, and we must pray for our leaders to do this faithfully.

I think one other little thing that comes from this is the, the importance to never go beyond the station that God’s put us in. You know, of all the people in Jerusalem, I think Nehemiah could have justified going into the temple probably better than anybody else. He’s the governor of the city, after all. He’s pretty important. He’s, he’s seeking God’s will more than probably anyone else in the city. He’s just a good, godly guy. And yet David r- uh, N- Nehemiah refuses to go beyond his station as a governor and act like a priest, and I think that’s a reminder for all of us not to, not to go beyond our station.

And what, what I mean by that is, if you’re a wife in a home, don’t try and assume the role of being a head. If you’re a child in a home, you are a child. It makes no difference what age you are. Your parents are always your parents. Don’t assume something, don’t assume a station which God has not given to you. If you’re not an elder or a deacon in the church, don’t assume those stations that God has not entrusted into you, because when you do, sin will prevail. I guarantee it. That’s the story of the scriptures. When Adam failed his responsibility as a head and Eve failed her responsibility as a wife, well, we see the results of it, don’t we?

We must remain in the places that God has put us, and with all humility, serve where he has placed us, leaving it up to God what our station is, trusting him, trusting our Father in that, that he knows better than we do. We may disagree with our heads. We may disagree with fathers. We may disagree with husbands at times. But God has put them there, and so we must entrust that to him.

You know, brothers and sisters, we, we are in a fight, aren’t we? C- Christian warfare is Christian warfare. And it’s called that for a reason. And, and the Apostle Paul, when he’s writing on this, on Christian warfare, and I’m not thinking of Ephesians 6, I’m thinking of 2 Corinthians 6, he, he says these words. This is how we fight. He says, “As servants of God” And I can imagine Nehemiah saying this. “As servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way, by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger, by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love.” “by truthful speech, and the power of God, with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors and yet are true, as unknown and yet well-known, as dying, and behold we live. As punished and yet not killed. As sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich. As having nothing, yet possessing everything.”

This is not just the call for servants of God in the apostolic sense, but it’s true for every Christian as a servant of God, isn’t it? We must adorn our life. And I love this particular phrase in verse 7, “truthful speech and the power of God.” That’s what we’re dealing with here. The weapons of righteousness in our right and left. That’s how you battle the devil, with truth and righteousness. It’s how you defeat the devil, the world, and the flesh, because those are the tools that our savior gave us.

First John says, “For this reason, the Son of God appeared, to destroy the works of the devil.” He’s done it. We’re on clean-up You know, the victory has been sounded, but there’s still fires here and there that need to be put out. And until the return of Christ, we’re gonna be putting those fires out. And the way we’re going to fight is not with worldly tactics, it’s not with pragmatism, it’s not with lying, but it’s with godliness and truthfulness. And when you fight that way you can always hold your head high because you’re walking in the very shoes of the Lord, Jesus Christ, aren’t you? Who has set us free from the works of the devil.

---