I invite you to listen, open our Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 4. Nehemiah chapter 4, it's page 400 in the Pew Bible. Nehemiah chapter number 4. We want to look at this chapter in two sermons, so we will not look at the entire passage tonight. We'll read the entire passage. Our focus will be on verses 1 through 6 this evening. The title of our message tonight is The Sword and the Trowel. The sword and the trowel, t-r-o-w-e-l. Trowel is a tool that's used in building and construction, laying of bricks and so forth. We come here to the passage where they are building the wall, but also they carry a sword as well. Nehemiah chapter 4, we begin reading in the first verse. And I went saying about her that we were building the wall. He was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. He said in the presence of his brothers in the army of Samaria, what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish and burn ones at that?" Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, Yes, what are they building? If a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall. Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads, and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. Do not cover their guilt And let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders. So we built the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. But when Sanballat, and Jeliah, and the Arabs, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. We prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night. In Judah, it was said, the strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves, we will not be able to rebuild the wall. And our enemies said, they will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work. At that time, the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, you must return to us. So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, In open places, I stationed the people by their clans with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials, to the rest of the people, do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your homes. When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. The leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped to his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, the work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us. So we labored at the work. And half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. I also said to the people of that time, let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night, and may labor by day. So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes, each kept his weapon at his right hand. Now why do I call this the sword and the trowel? Well, we get this from church history. The great Reformed Baptist pastor in London, England, Charles Adams Spurgeon, in 1865 began to publish a religious magazine that became well known not just in England but in America. By the way, it's still published to this day. His magazine would be a profound vessel for the spreading of gospel truth and a vigorous defense of biblical inspiration, for it was during a time when the validity of the Bible became increasingly under attack. The title that he chose in 1865 for this magazine was The Sword and the Trowel, coming from Nehemiah 4, where we read in verse 17 that in one hand they had their tools for building, but in the other hand they had their weapons as well. The subtitle that Spurgeon gave for his magazine was, and this is the exact quote, a record of combat with sin and labor for the Lord. This magazine has been summarized as a magazine that would provide material for working and ammunition for warring. The Word of God is that. It is in our work, in our labor of love for the Lord. We do work if we would build walls and building of the kingdom that Christ uses us, but we also use the Word of God as a weapon. It is our sword. It is our defense from the attacks, the darts of the evil one. You see, tonight I think that we must understand and come to clear terms that our battle that we wage tonight as a people of God is a spiritual battle. Too often, the Church, though, has acted in a way, in a rather careless way, in thinking that we can gain the approval of the world. Often in the history of the Church, especially in the last, I would say, 150 years to 200 years, the Church has tried to find ground to share with the world and gain the world's stamp of approval. But in truth, the only way that the world will ever approve of us is if we abandon the faith and we compromise and water down the gospel. So the obedience to the scripture is not going to make us friends, but instead it will bring us enemies. Charles Spurgeon aptly named his magazine that because he himself in a few short years would become engaged in a fierce battle over the infallible and inspired nature of the Bible. He was attacked viciously by other pastors in London. Spurgeon became really a man that was by himself. Most of the other religious leaders of the day were at odds with him. So we must understand tonight that the great battle that we are in as the people of God, we must think of it in terms of the spiritual nature, the spiritual nature of this battle that we face. There are many passages that we could go to, think about. I just want to give you a few to jot down, but the New Testament makes this clear. For example, 2 Corinthians 10-4 says, For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are of divine power, and a power to destroy strongholds. So we do not operate with fleshly weapons, but we operate with the power of the Word of God. We must also be very clear tonight that the enemy that we face is the power of darkness. When Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said to those who came out in Luke 22-53, When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me, but this is your hour and the power of darkness. Paul says it very well in Ephesians 6, verses 10-12, Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in strength of His might, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness. against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. We must be strong. We must be completely armored. We must completely be set for battle, for what we face is not something that is insignificant, but we face the power of evil and darkness. In Romans 13, 12, the Word of God says, The night is far gone, the day is at hand, so then let us cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of life. We are weekly, it seems. As I read Christian news and follow Christian sites and so forth, on a weekly basis you see ministers, singing groups, authors and so forth, who at one time declared that they held to the truth of the Word of God, and then they began to water down their beliefs begin to change and go more in a direction where the world will approve them. And it's fascinating because then every time... You know when the world writes... wonderful praise about quote-unquote Christian people, leadership. They always write these nice articles when someone begins to deny a biblical truth. That's when the world will prove. When we begin to take places of the Scripture and take doctrines and take truths and we throw them out and say, well, we're just going to have differences of opinions. We've got to make sure that we do not have blinders on. This is not the time to seek the approval of the world. This is a serious battle we're engaged in. The world will like us as long as we do good deeds, moral deeds, we feed the poor, clothe those who have no clothing, provide water and shelter. The world will love that, they desire that, but here's where the world has a problem with us. The world has a problem with us when we declare the exclusivity of Jesus Christ as salvation. The world doesn't have any issues with us helping the poor. But when we stand and declare to them that their righteousness will not satisfy God, that the only hope of salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ, that is when the attacks come. The attacks come when we stand for truth. And Nehemiah, here in chapter 4, chapter 5, and chapter 6, presents to us various types of opposition that Nehemiah and the Jews face in rebuilding the wall and the gates of Jerusalem. Now remember, chapter 3 is the listing and the recounting of those who were obedient to the call of Nehemiah and those who were engaged in the rebuilding effort. As we move here to chapter 4, our attention comes to those who are opposed to the effort of Nehemiah and his countrymen. Then we find that they try to formulate plans to thwart Nehemiah's plan for rebuilding. Now we must remember this evening that opposition comes to us for several reasons in the spiritual work that we do. Here's four very simple reasons why we face opposition. Number one, some people feel threatened by the success of others. Some people feel threatened by the success of others. Speaking of this, Dr. Howard Boss said this, some will oppose another person or work because they stand to lose power or position or prestige politically, religiously, or socially. Now that's one of the instances here why they oppose Nehemiah. A strong Jerusalem, a strong Nehemiah as a leader, threatened Sanballat and his allies they could lose their place of prominence, prestige, politically. And so some will oppose those because they feel threatened. Number two, some people oppose us because they have a different agenda. The work that we do for the Lord, the kingdom work, stands diametrically opposed to the intent and purpose of the secular world and those who are non-believers. I read a really good illustration of this. Think about when people called an uproar at Christmas time over manger scenes that have been, let's say, in a town or a city for fifty to a hundred years. And all of a sudden somebody comes forward and they say, that needs to be gone. Why is that? Well, it's not because seeing Jesus really offends them. personally, it's because the presentation of the birth of Christ offends their agenda. Their agenda is the removal of anything related to God, Christ, the Word of God, and so something just like that, which to me is something very small, but to them it stands and opposition to their mindset. And that is why they want it to be removed. So we will face opposition from people who don't have the same agenda as we do. All right? Number three. Now the third one is the one that I've come across more, a lot, in my ministry. Some people oppose because they are traditionalists, in that they are comfortable and they feel threatened. that they will be pulled out and taken from their comfort zone. And so when you come and you declare the truth of God's Word, and if somebody has kind of thrown the anchor, and they're just really comfortable where they are, and all of a sudden the Word of God is declared and expounded, they feel threatened. Because they are being threatened that they're going to have to be pulled out of that which feels good to them. And finally, though, we must understand all those reasons are valid and true, but opposition to spiritual work, to the kingdom work, is oftentimes the opposition from Satan. True, Satan is blamed often for everything, people saying the devil made me do it and so forth, which is not true. But it would be wrong for us to dismiss the power that the evil one has over this world. And the heart, really, or the core of all opposition, I believe, that we face as we proclaim the gospel stems from Satan, for he is the ruler of this world. And we can never, never forget that. Now, these are just a few reasons for opposition. But in this passage in Nehemiah 4, we notice that that opposition comes in various forms. In Nehemiah 4, we find that the people of God are going to be opposed by these enemies. And what we're going to do this evening is you can really break down the opposition in two words, verbal and violent. Verbal opposition and violent opposition. What we're going to look at is the first one, that's verbal. So in verses 1 through 6, we'll call this the verbal jeers. the verbal jeers, or the verbal mocking, or the taunts. That's what we have in the first six verses. The first form of opposition that comes to Nehemiah and the Jews is going to be through words, through a word attack, alright? As news reaches the enemies of Nehemiah about what they're doing, the enemies hear about the progress on the wall, then they are roused. They are like the bear that has been awoken. And so we find in verses 1 through 3, mocking. Mocking. Now that's the reaction of the enemies. Mocking. Verse 1. Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish and burn ones at that?" Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and he said, yes, what they are building, if a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall. Now Sanballat, to refresh our memories here, remember that he is the governor of Samaria, the area to the north. of Jerusalem and where Nehemiah and them are at. And our first introduction to him was back in chapter 2 and in verse 10. Nehemiah 2 and verse 10. This is when Nehemiah has come and remember he came and had the declaration documents from the king saying who he was and his official mission in verse 10. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly, that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel." Sanballat the Horonite. We talked about that that meant from a little village that was in Moab. So he comes from the descendants of the Moabites, long the enemies of the people of Israel. Notice why they're displeased. This is a fascinating statement. Remember, they're displeased because someone had come to seek the welfare, come to seek the well-being of the Israelites. Sanballat and then wanted the Israelites to struggle. He wanted them to stay in poverty, open to attack. He wanted them to continue to be just like pressed down because it would help him and his area be the dominant player here in the scene of this location. Then in verse 19, after Nehemiah has come and inspected the walls and he shares his heart with the people, verse 19, it said, But when Sanballat, the war knight, And Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Geshem the Arab hermit, they jeered at us, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?" So we already know that Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem are opposed to seeing Jerusalem. Why is that? Why are they opposed to seeing a strong Jerusalem? a strong Jerusalem would serve as a threat to their power. And a strong Jerusalem meant that that city, because Jerusalem lay in an area where many of the main trade routes went through, from Egypt to Damascus, Babylon, and so forth. And a strong Jerusalem meant a strong business and trade center, and that would hurt the economy, or the greed we would say, of Sanballat. What are they motivated by? Why are they angry? Why are they enraged? They are so because a strong Jerusalem goes against their self-interest. Those who belong of this sort are motivated by what? Pride. Greed. The hostility that we read of in verse 1 is founded in nothing but lust and desire for power and prestige and for wealth." Now, obviously that immediately, what? Discounts these people from being servants of God. And we can say the same now. Those who belong to Christ are cheaply motivated by a desire to please Him, serve Him. Individuals who are motivated, who are driven by a love for the world and the themes of the world, 1 John 2, 15-17 declares they can't be true Christians because the love of the Father is not in them. If there's a love for the Father, then we're not going to be motivated by the world system. We're not going to be motivated and driven by the themes of the world. But John says those who have a love for the world and the themes of the world make clear they have not the love of the Father. And so these men here, Sanballat and Tobiah and the rest of their crew, they are only concerned about themselves. These men, they're not concerned about the welfare of people. All that they care about is their materialistic dreams and lust. And so the jeering and the taunting begins. Now notice what they say here. The jeering or the mocking, we could say, of the Jews comes forth from where? intense anger and enragement. Why? Because we're told in verse 1, he's heard that we were building the wall. What's that mean? That means that if he's hearing about the wall being built, then Nehemiah and the Jews are having success. We can picture this scene. Sanballat is there sitting, or wherever he's at, and the news report comes that Nehemiah and the people are making progress. They are having success. They are building that wall in record time. I mean, they're not gearing up to build. They are building. And all of a sudden, the rays, angry, greatly enraged about this. These attacks would not have come if Nehemiah was failing. If he was failing and there was nothing happening, they wouldn't have worried about it. They would have said, that figures. They didn't know what they were doing. But he's hearing about what? The wall was coming up. It's coming up. See, there's no time. Nehemiah and his men and so forth, and the plan he put forth, the enemies of the Jews had no time to stop them. It was happening at record speed, and the walls were moving, and they were going. And all of a sudden now, the enemies, oh, they feel that they're behind. And so notice what they do here. The emotions grip their hearts of hatred, and they ask questions. They do. Sanballat asks questions in a form of mocking and taunting. Notice where he does it, too, by the way. He does it with all his buddies around. We read there that he, in verse 2, is in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria. So he has his cohorts here. He has his friends and also his army guard, his military force here as well. So, of course, they're going to back up the boss, so to speak. So he's got all of his crew with him. And he begins to taunt, he begins to mock the Jews. Now there's a question today, I think they came down. I think based on the construction of this passage, I think that some of these folks, including Sanballat, came down to Jerusalem. Now remember something, and we'll talk more about this in verses 7-23 next time. Sanballat could not attack Nehemiah with his full force. Because remember, Nehemiah has what? He has the documentation of the king. And if Sanballat directly used his forces to attack, he was attacking the king. And while the king was a good distance away in his capital, nevertheless, word would have eventually came to the Persian king. And the Persian king would have come and annihilated this little band here. But what I believe Sanballat and his crew intended to do was what we would call guerrilla warfare. Go in at night, pick off a few of the Jews, and continue, and really begin to work on them mentally. Five die one night, four one night, three, five again. And all of a sudden it begins to just, am I going to be next? So they come first, but their first strategy is still psychological warfare, what we would say. They're coming, and he's going to ask questions. And notice the questions he asks. Each one of them is to plant a seed of doubt into the mind of the Jews. The first one, what are these feeble Jews doing? He says, these poor, helpless, pathetic Jews. How can they possibly imagine that they can build a wall around this city? They're not skilled. They're not trained. They are so helpless. What do you think you're doing? So the first thing is to make you start to think. What am I doing? Why am I doing this? Can I do this? Do I have the ability to do it? Second of all, he then says, will they restore it for themselves? They're saying, Jim, do you really think that you, this group here, that you're really going to complete this? Those who built the wall originally were more numerous than you, were stronger than you, and more skilled than you. How do you think you're going to really be able to restore it? Do you really think that? Do you really believe that you're going to be able to complete something like this? Then the third question. Will they sacrifice? Now, there's a lot of interpretations for this, but I believe that what they're doing... Remember, who's saying that? The Horonites. What's he? Moabites. Alright, what's Tobiah? The Ammonites. Eshim, the Arabs. We're going to read later down in verse 7, you read about the Ashdodites. That's from where the Philistines originally lived. What do all those people have in common? They do not worship. They do not believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So what they're saying is, will they sacrifice? We could put it this way in our language, are y'all going to go and pray and ask God to help you? Do you really think? Is that what you're going to do? Is that how you expect it to happen that you're going to go and pray? We've all met people who have mocked us because we're believers and so forth. And so that's what it is. It's saying, are y'all going to go and pray to God and ask God to help you? It shows them the irreverent view they had of God. And that's the key to what we'll see about Nehemiah's prayer, is they mock God and they mock the faith of the Jews. So they say, will they sacrifice? Are you going to pray? Do you really think God is going to help you? If your God is so powerful, why did He let you all be taken off into captivity for all those years? So they mock. They mock their faith. Then they say this, will they finish it up in a day? This is mocking them. They were asking, do they really think they were going to truly complete this rebuilding project? This was an overwhelming task that the Jews had undertaken. And they were saying, do you really think you can do it? Do you really think you're going to be able to finish it? And then the fifth question, will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish and burn ones at that? Now, that's an exaggeration. Remember the gates, the gates were burned, but not the wall. The walls were not burned. Remember the stones were pulled down, and we talked before about they were in heaps and had fallen in the valley. So it was going to be hard. They would have to get those pieces of rock and stone back up. The gates were the only things that were burned. But nevertheless, this picture here is, look what you have to work with. I mean, look what you're working with, and you're not even skilled. Do you really believe that you can do this? These questions. These questions asked by Sandmelot were aimed at bringing the confidence of the Jews down. By recounting the circumstances and conditions, the seeds of doubt were being sown. Now we come then to Tobiah and Merceru, one of the other ringleaders of the opposition party. Now remember, Sanbald ruled to the north, while Tobiah ruled back to the east of Jerusalem. And notice what he says here. He gets in on the mocking too. You ever been around somebody, two people, and one's got one thing to say, and the other person feels they've got to outdo the other so they come up with something more? Alright, well that's what Tobiah does. He wants to come up with a more better taunt. He says, yes, what are they building? What they are building, if a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall. Now, what's a fox? Well, a fox is a small animal. It doesn't weigh much. So what they're saying is that wall they're building is so flimsy and so unstable that a little fox could go on top of it and the whole thing will collapse down. And remember, who's with them? the friends, the brothers, and the soldiers, and we can just imagine, as soon as Tobias said that, a roar of laughter comes from the entire army of Samaria as they laugh. The horde of the evil forces has gathered here, jeering, mocking, and taunting. Now within themselves, fear has gripped their hearts, for they know that their selfish plans of gain, power, and prominence They'd soon be gone, be by the wayside if Jerusalem is restored. So they've got to do something to stop it. And they believe they'll succeed by their verbal opposition. So their first weapon is that they pull out of their arsenal is verbal assaults by words. These words will make the Jews think and begin to doubt. Now, I'm going to be perfectly honest this evening. I don't care what people say. Words do sting. Words do sting. And the service of the Lord, we have to learn and develop thick skins, loving hearts. But I believe we would be putting ourselves in a fog tonight. if we said that words never hurt us. True, as we mature and grow, words don't hurt us as they maybe did when we were first a believer. But I would say that most any believer, in whatever their stage of maturity, words do still sting and penetrate. Because we aren't human beings, and we have human emotions. Why do you think Santa Claus made these statements? Words don't just penetrate the heart, so to speak, but they penetrate the mind. These words would begin to circulate and swirl in the minds of the Jews, beginning to cause them to doubt, maybe a little or a lot. Nevertheless, they would begin to doubt somewhat. Are we really able to do this? Has Nehemiah led us to do something we can't do? That was the intent of Sandbath. Now the questions and the jeers that were spouted off towards the Jews were designed in much part to get them to begin to question this. Is it worth it? That's how it's always questioned. All the other questions can be boiled down to that one. Is it worth it or not? Is it worth it or not? Could they really accomplish this great task? And once you begin to question, once they did, and I'll say this, once you begin to question, and then it moves to the longer that you question, then it becomes inevitable that you begin to doubt. And then you begin to think about just throwing the towel in. The people, therefore, who are they going to look to? We've got to look to Nehemiah. How is Nehemiah going to respond to this new round? This is the second round. Remember, chapter 2, verse 19, was the first round of the taunts. This is the second round of the taunting, and they have escalated it even greater. And remember what Nehemiah said the first time. He said in chapter 2, verse 20, The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion. or right or plain in Jerusalem. Now how will he respond this time? I say this tonight in all seriousness and sincerity, that our response to taunts and mocking, it measures our spirituality and reveals our commitment to the task at hand. And so when we face the jury of our Sandalus and Tobias, may we be loving, gracious, firm, but also have thick skin as well. Now, how does Nehemiah work it from? Remember, that was Machian, verses 1-3. Now, Nehemiah responds to the Machians in verses 4-6 with pray. With pray, verse 4. This is Nehemiah here, this is not Tobiah and Sanbaoth praying here in verse 4. This is Nehemiah praying. Hear, O our God, For we are despised. Nehemiah does not respond in anger. He does not respond in pettiness. How could he have responded? He could have told those two guys, you're petty and you're insignificant. I am cut there to the king. And I received the personal documentation from the king. Did you? No. I'm more significant than you are. Nope. What would have happened? What would have happened if Nehemiah had responded that way? He would have what? He would have stooped down to their level. Often the evil one desires us to retaliate or to react based on worldly attitudes and mimic and affect what the tactic is that he and his minions have used. And that's what, I'm sure, Sanballat and Tobiah, they wanted Nehemiah to respond back to them in a similar manner as they had mocked him and the Jews. That's the easy thing to do, by the way. That's what is easy for us. When someone attacks us, it's for us to come right back at them. Some of us struggle with that more than others, because we like to get the last word in. All right? That's not what Nehemiah does. Here's the pattern that we need to follow. What does he do? Verse 4, he turns to God. He turns to God. Repeatedly, Nehemiah goes to the Lord in prayer, especially in great times of difficulty, and he says, Hear, O our God, for we are despised. His dependence on God is magnified before us. These moments of crisis come. What does Nehemiah do? He doesn't lash out in anger. He doesn't retaliate with malice. But he beseeches the throne of heaven. In chapter one, when the report came of the condition of Jerusalem, he prayed to God. He prayed for four months, then, of how to address the king. In chapter 2, when the king said, Why are you sad? What do you want? Nehemiah prays immediately and he gives a response. And here once again, Nehemiah bows himself before the sovereign God and he pleads his case. And he prays once again in a manner where he acknowledges how that God and God alone can bring deliverance. Now what does he pray? He says in verse 4, Turn back their tongue on their own heads. and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders." He prays what we call an imprecatory prayer. This is a prayer where you pray for God's judgment upon the enemies of the faith. He even has a couple of examples here. Psalm 510. Make them bear their guilt, O God. Let them fall by their own counsels. Because of the abundance of their transgressions, cast them out, for they have rebelled against you. And the psalm is Psalm 104, 35. Let the sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul. pray to the Lord. And listen to those songs, let's just do a minute. We notice the prayer of Nehemiah. He prays to God that God would turn their own words back on them and judge them. Now we ask, was Nehemiah praying out of revenge? Was he praying out of malicious intent? Will God wipe them off? They've made me mad. They've mocked us. Destroy them. Get rid of them. Is that what he's praying? Is it, get them God? Because they have taunted us. Not at all. Notice the key here in verse 5. They have provoked you to anger. Nehemiah's prayer is that God's name be hallowed. That God's name be magnified. And he said that the taunts against us have not been against us. have been against you. And we find that throughout the scriptures. When the Jews, the Israelites came to Samuel and said, we no longer want you, Samuel. We want a king, like all the people around us. Make us a king. And Samuel went and prayed to the four gods. He said, O God, O God, And God said, Arise and anoint one, Samuel, for they have not rejected you, Samuel, they have rejected Me. And the Lord Jesus tells us that the world will persecute us and reject us, but He said that it's not that they're rejecting you, they are rejecting Me. And Nehemiah prays here, O God, judge them because they have mocked your holy name. This reminds us of what the psalmist said in Psalm 2 verses 1 through 3, why do the nations rage in the people's plot and vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord. and against his anointed, saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." In a sense, what we're seeing in chapter four are the nations are raging against God. We have Sen-Balad, the Horonite. We have Tobiah, the Ammonite. We know that Geshem, the Arab, we read then later of the Ashdodites. These are the different nations. They're all around Nehemiah. They surround, and they're not just really raging against Nehemiah, they are raging against God. And they say, we'll come together, we'll attack them, and we'll destroy what they are doing. Nehemiah's prayer, therefore, is he is asking God to judge those who are wicked and rebellious. Remember that term here in verse 1, jeered? That's the same Hebrew word that's used in Psalm 2 in verse 4 where it says God laughs at the wicked. He laughs at the plans of rebellion devised by the wicked. So Nehemiah's concern was for the holiness of God to be exalted and showcased. The Bible commands us to pray for our enemies But this means we pray for the justice and righteousness of God to be magnified. Tonight, as we pray for those who are being persecuted, where children of Christians are being beheaded and are being cut in half, we do pray for these, the enemies of the faith. But we pray for their salvation, but we also pray for God's deliverance. And God's deliverance might mean that these who are wicked and rebellious will be judged by God. But we pray this as well. We pray that God grant mercy, and that if He uses judgment upon them, that His judgment be used to draw sinners to repentance. Nehemiah's prayer is not a prayer of revenge, but it's a prayer that reveals a heart committed to the sovereign Lord. Remember this tonight. The outcome is totally dependent upon what God will do. Nehemiah prays simply here, God, hallow your name. Magnify your name. Be just. Be righteous. We pray that tonight. We also pray for God's mercy and that God's judgment would draw sinners to repentance. And so he prays. And then what do they do? Verse 6, so we built the wall. It's a short sentence, but I love it. We built the wall. And the wall was joined together to have a pipe, for the people had a mind to work. The taunts of the enemies, they don't stop the work. My brothers and sisters, if we stood around and we let the world mock us and jeer us, there's people maybe that say they're Christians, family members, other churches, whatever the case, they come around and say, what are y'all doing down there? It's not going to happen. You can't do anything. It's too great. I remember hearing those statements three years ago, two years ago. It's never going to happen. All right? If you go home, you just sit there and listen to everything everybody's got to say, and guess what? The wall will not be built. We'll throw in a towel. We'll doubt and we'll question and we'll say, never going to happen. No, they keep working. They get half of it done. Half the wall is built. Why? What do we say again about Nehemiah? Always his humility. He says, for the people, the people had a mind to work. Nehemiah does not seek the spotlight or the limelight. He doesn't boast on his leadership skills or his organizational plans, although God greatly used them and blessed him. Nehemiah instead gives the credit and the praise to the people who are working with him. For he says, the people had a mind, or we could say a heart, to work. The reason that the work continued and they were progressive was they were united in purpose and they had a drive to build the Lord. The Jews of Zeal greatly reflected the leadership of Nehemiah. As Nehemiah followed the Lord, so the Jews were building in obedience to God. What we see here is as these people were bonded together, So a church, when it's united in love for the Lord, love for the word, love for one another. the gates of hell will not prevail against them. Those weren't just words Jesus spoke to take up space in our Bibles. They are words of vital truth, for they've strengthened us, for we have in days past, and no doubt in days future. As long as we stand for the truth, we're going to face sand ballots and Tobias, We're going to face taunts and jeers and mockery, but when we stand firmly on the truth and think of the words of our Lord, they strengthen us when we are under assault. Praise His name tonight. Sadly though, verses 7-23, the people will begin to let doubts start to creep in because the enemies see that the verbal assaults didn't work. So the men step it up and go to violent threats, violent threats, and that's what we'll look at next time. I finished with some questions this evening, and I pray that would be in our hearts as we leave tonight. Are you engaged in the work in the proper way tonight? Have you maybe come to a dangerous place in your own walk where you've considered giving in to the world, to give an inch to them in order to maybe make peace and receive their approval? Could be with friends, co-workers, family members, whatever the case may be. Did you recently hear taunts or mockery, jeers of the wicked against the kingdom work you're engaged in? Tonight do we have a mind to work, a heart committed to the task. that Christ has given us. So I pray that our hearts be totally sold out and committed to the work that the Lord has given us. But when we are totally committed, when we have the mind and the heart to work, no matter the taunts that come our way, let it be said, we built the wall. Father in heaven tonight, we again marvel at the wonderful truths in this wonderful book of Nehemiah. We know that they, along with all your people through the ages, we have faced the taunts of the enemy. It is very easy for us, if we are not careful, if we do not keep the guard of the truth set on our hearts, to begin to doubt and question. and even at times contemplate throwing in the towel, so to speak. Oh, Father, though, we are thankful to know that your grace and the strength of the Holy Spirit always strengthens us and reminds us of who we are and who has called us, and it helps us to persevere and to keep stepping forward. Tonight we pray for our enemies. We pray for those who rage against you, who rage against Christ, who rage against the word, who rage against the church. We pray your name would be hallowed, your name uplifted. We pray that you would be honored and we pray for their salvation. We pray that we would speak words of grace and love and firmness. Help us not to retaliate in anger and malice. Help us to not stoop to the level of the evil one. and his demonic army. Our Father, tonight as we go out and we leave from our time together, we pray that the words that we have heard expounded this day. Oh God, we pray they bear fruit. We pray that it would help us to shine the light of the gospel brighter at school, at work, around our family, our friends, public places, and our homes, that Christ be honored and lifted up by our words and by our deeds. Tonight we pray that we would have the testimony of these people. We have a mind to work. Help us to keep the sword and the trowel in our hands. Help us to labor, but also defend. We pray in the name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.