its source and then we're looking at its solution. How to deal with the opposition and discouragement. Well, I should have said that discouragement came by that opposition and how we can get discouraged in the work of God. And so we're looking at the source of discouragement and the solution in this study. Reading from verse 10 of chapter 4, breaking in there, and Judah said, the strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed. and there is much rubbish so that we are not able to build the wall. And our adversaries said, they shall not know neither see till we come in the midst among them and slay them and cause the work to cease. And it came to pass that when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times, notice that, they said unto them ten times, from all places whence ye shall return unto us, they shall be upon you. Therefore set I in the lower places, behind the wall and on the high places. I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears and their bows. And I looked and rose up and saw unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people. Be not ye afraid of them. Remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses. And it came to pass when our enemies heard that it was no one unto us, and God had brought their counsel to know it, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work. And it came to pass from that time forth that the way that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both their spears, the shields, and the bows, and the haberduns, and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. They which builded on the wall, and they that bear burdens, with those that laid it, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side. and so build it. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me." So in other words, if they needed a warning or if they needed any kind of direction, Nehemiah gave his trumpet player that warning sound and whatever the warning sounded needed, he sounded it out and the people heard right around the city. And I said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, the work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. In what place thereof, therefore, ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us. Our God shall fight for us. So we laboured in the work, and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on the day. So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that everyone put them off for washing. Amen. And we trust that the Lord will bless that reading of his word to our hearts. We notice, as we have said at the beginning, in Nehemiah chapter 4, the work is prospering. It's progressing. They're seeing the thing done in record time. And then of course the enemy is not happy. And he comes in on the camp on discouragement results. And as I said earlier, discouragement from without. Charles Swindell, in that little book that I purchased for these studies, hand me another brick, said these words about discouragement. What a difficult disease to cure. I don't know of anything that will take the wind out of your sails quite so quickly as discouragement. And rare is the person who can resist it. Last time we looked at the external opposition, opposition that was from without. Tonight, the opposition we look at is from within. Nehemiah was in full flight, if you remember and recall what we've been saying about it. He heard about the walls being broken down and the temple was laying ruins. That's a description of the work of God and the vision of God's people. It's in absolute tatters. And he hears, and it so moves his heart, and he seeks the Lord, and you know the story very, very well. He seeks permission from the king, and he leaves his job, and he travels from a very lucrative, comfortable job to go back to Jerusalem, to begin the work. And he's not there very long till he's seeking the Lord. And he surveys the land, praying and seeking out what needs to be done. And he's got provision, he's got permission, and he's got all kinds of people to help him. And the work is progressing. He's hit the road running. He's going against the flow. He's got a vision not for his own little kingdom. He's got a vision for God. He can see the temple in full flight, people coming to worship the Lord. He can see whole families gathering to the house of God to offer a praise and worship to God. He can see the beginning again, the rebuilding of righteousness and holiness and prayerfulness and outreach and soul winning and all of those things that ought to accompany every Bible-believing church. He can see it happening. That's his vision. I was preparing, I'm not sure if it was for this meeting or for Sunday, but I was preparing for some meeting and I wrote down these words. People ask you, what's your vision? Well, my vision, I hope, is in line with what God's vision is. What's God's vision? That the people should know their God. That they should worship their God. That they should be growing up and strengthening their most holy faith. That there'll be evidences of love within that gathering of God's community. That there'll be evidences of concern and respect and forgiveness. And all of those things that Jesus showed and displayed by his life. Nehemiah could see this. This was his vision. This was what gave him impetus in the work of God. This was what drove him, that motivated him. It wasn't just to re-establish a tradition. It wasn't just to put together bricks and mortar. He had a concern for the work of God. He had a concern for the people of God. He had a concern for the worship of God. And that's what every church ought to have, isn't it? Is that not our calling? Is that not what ought to motivate us? Is that not what drives us? Then we have this fanciful notion that when we're involved in the work of God and we're seeing things happen that somehow we're going to have a free will all the way to wherever it is that God wants to bring us. But I'm going to tell you, where God is doing a work, the enemy will seek to destroy it. I know of no churches in Northern Ireland that are having difficulty in one way or another because the enemy is not happy when the word of God and the work of God prospers. If you know of a church that you think isn't having problems, then I would like to hear about it. But everyone faces the enemy. It's a common enemy. who hates the work of God, the people of God, and the things of God, and therefore his opposition will come up in many ways. The opposition often comes either preceding a blessing, yes, you heard me right, preceding a blessing, or after an immediate following a blessing. It'll come in different ways. I can tell you a case in point. When Joshua led the people to victory in Jericho, there was immediate defeat afterwards. Sin had come into the camp. And so oftentimes the enemy will catch us at a time when we're unaware. Now this doesn't only apply, by the way, to church life. You need to know that. This can apply in married life, where perhaps things have fallen asunder, trying to rebuild that spiritual life, trying to rebuild those relationships. And you want to build again that relationship or that situation or that family or that community or that whatever that may happen to be. That relationship. Whenever you want to re-establish that relationship and you think you're making ground, all of a sudden the enemy comes in with a spanner in the works and you're almost back worse than when you began. That's the way the enemy works. That's the way the enemy works. Tonight we're going to look not at the external foe and means and causes of their discouragement. I believe tonight we're going to look at the internal discouragement and opposition. And I would hazard to say that perhaps the internal discouragement is more effective. You see, up until now, God's people have been standing firm. They're near, they're at heart and they're on God. and they were overcomers. They were seeing and they were not letting down tools. Verse 6 said, they still had a heart, a mind for the work. That's what it said. They didn't down tools, they didn't give in to the enemy, they saw through his tactics. Psalm has said in Psalm 41, Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat my bread hath lifted up his heel against me." And David experienced it. I was reading today in my quiet time, our Moses, as he was seeking to bring the people of God into victory and to the place of God's blessing. Of course, Miriam and Aaron got bitterly jealous. And guess what? God dealt with them in his own way. A chief strategy of the enemy is religious and spiritual opposition from the outside. But he also has a knack of gaining entrance within the camp. And that chief opposition can often sink us much more quickly, much more deadly, much more effectively than the enemy without. And as I was thinking about that this morning, this wee verse came into my mind because sometimes we need to be very careful as to whether they really did come from within or from without. It says in 1 John 2 and 19, They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest. that none of them were off us. Sometimes God is a wonderful way of sifting the wheat from the tares and brings around situations perhaps, and if they really were with us and off us, I'm not thinking of anything in particular, I'm just saying that sometimes we view backsliders as if they are genuine backsliders, when I don't think that they ever were forwardsliders. I've come to that place in my heart. Because if they were off us and with us, they wouldn't have left us. And sometimes we need to be very careful whether we point the finger at someone and say they're a backslider or not. Well, that aside, I can quote to you from Judas. Well, was Judas a believer? There's a lot of contention over that one. All we do know is that he performed mighty miracles like the other 11 when the 12 were sent out. They all came back to tell him what the Lord had done through them. You can sort that theological minefield out yourself. I am not going to sink myself in this pulpit. I find it unnecessary to try to define which way that I view that to you. But I could tell you of Ananias and Sapphira. They definitely were saved. But they tried to cheat, but they brought contamination. Why did God deal with Ananias and Sapphira so tragically? He was making a mark in the church of Jesus Christ right at the beginning that God does not countenance deception and fraud easily or lightly. Now I want you to notice in verse 10 then what Judah said. Who was Judah? Judah was the tribesman of Nehemiah they came from the same tribe so in other words some people say there's circles and there's inner circles and then there's the inner inner circle well Judah was the inner inner inner inner inner circle of Nehemiah's we got that so he was the right hand man he was the Peter and John's of Jesus if you want and here's what he's saying in verse 10 and Judah said Verse 10 of Nehemiah chapter 4. The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed or it's failing. I'll go into the Hebrew word in a moment. And there is much rubbish so that we are not able to build a wall. In other words, we are absolutely swamped in the middle of all sorts of rubbish that is coming upon the church of Jesus Christ as we sought to make some sense of this building. And there's lots of applications to that one as well. Nehemiah's own people were starting now to raise in opposition as to why the rubbish should stay the way... They were saying, the rubbish, just let the rubbish continue on. Why bother building these walls? What has it got to do with us? What are we going to benefit from it? Why should we put ourselves out? We have laboured so hard, we have been so faithful and it just seems as if God is not on our side. Why be bothered in soul winning? Why be bothered with all the rubbish of humanity that's around us? Why be bothered with the godly institutions of our religious freedom? Why bother with outreach? Why bother with Bible study? Why bother with prayer times? Why bother? Let's just let the rubbish as it is. What difference does it make to us? That's what they were saying. That's what they were saying. These are the people of Nehemiah chapter 2, and these are the people of Nehemiah chapter 3. These are the people that had a heart to work, and they were committed and dedicated, and they started full gusto, and they were seeing the work of God being done, and they were seeing great things happen, and all of a sudden, they've lost heart. What difference? What are we going to benefit from it? What benefit will it bring to us? Let the people die in their sin. Let the church plumb the depths of self and selfishness. That's virtually what they were saying. If you want to spiritualize it. Imagine how Nehemiah must have felt. This man that was burdened for the work. This man that had a vision for the work. This man that had seen the workings of worship and people coming with genuineness of heart and spirit. And I'm sure there are many Nehemiahs in Abbots Cross. And don't think for one minute that I'm thinking of the pastor or the deacons. I'm sure there are many Nehemiahs in Abbots Cross who have a real heart for the work. who want to see God's work established and the kingdom of God being built up in their hearts. And to see righteousness and holiness and faithfulness and integrity and decency and honesty and humility prospering. Maybe you've been like Judah. Got discouraged and disillusioned. Did you notice that I emphasized verse 12? That they'd heard this 10 times. Nehemiah had heard this 10 times. He doesn't tell us of the instances or the events at which this happened. All I do know is that he kept a notebook. I heard that before. There it is again. There it is again. There it is again. What did I say to you on Sunday? The Nazis' rise to power in Germany was primarily through a propaganda strategy. Part of their propaganda was what they termed the big lay. And they worked on the premise that if you tell a lay often enough and big enough, through time, ordinary, intellectual, decent, respectable people begin to believe it. The big lie that the Nazis propagated at that time was the Jews were, while they were Caucasian, white-skinned people, they were third and fourth-rate citizens and worthy only of extermination. And that's why there were over five million Jews put to death thinking that they were doing God and country a service. You listen to a lie often enough, you're not much of a child of God. You're a poor youth worker, Sunday school teacher. You're a very poor deacon. You're not much of a mother. You're not much of a father. You listen to it often enough. And somewhere, sometime, somehow, sometime, you may just begin to believe it. And I don't care what aspect of the work of God that you're in. There'll be plenty of mouths there to discourage you. Plenty. In the work of God, whatever capacity you may be in, or if you're simply seeking to live for God in your business, in your church, or in your home, I'm going to tell you, the enemy will want to discourage you. And as we see here, it became effective with God's people when it came into his own people. A case in point is actually in Acts chapter 7. I'm going to read a few verses to you. Acts chapter 7. I want you to see Moses, and he got discouraged. Verses 23 to verse 25. You would never think of Moses as becoming discouraged, would you? Acts chapter 7, verses 23 to verse 25, and we'll notice a few things. And when he was full forty years old, he came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffering wrong, he defended him and avenged him that was oppressed and smote the Egyptian. For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them, but they understood not. Or another way of saying it is that they failed to appreciate what he was doing. What effect did that have on him? Well you need to go down to verse 29. Then fled Moses. Then fled Moses. He ran. He ran away. I believe that the church of Jesus Christ and the evangelical church of Jesus Christ, let me specify, of our day, many have fled because of discouragement, fled the place of prayer, fled from their walk with God, fled from their involvement in the things of God. Yes, once they had enthusiasm, but people didn't understand what they were about and they fled. This man Moses could enter into a fight, into a fight between an Egyptian and an Israelite. He'd even slay the Egyptian and bury him and then come back and he'd even try to settle a fight between two of his own brethren. And because they didn't understand, he could flee because of discouragement. Many times, when you feel the world is against you, you'll find strength to stand. But when it comes to from within, something in us crumbles. And it's as if we lose our will to stand. Nehemiah could easily have said, I have had enough. And he could have went back to his comfortable, prestigious position and forgotten the whole project. But it's times like this when you need a heart and a spirit like Nehemiah. Listen to what Alan Redpath says in his book on Nehemiah. What a powerful weapon is this which the enemy thrusts into our souls, this internal discouragement. When the cream of the army threatens desertion, when the prayer partners become discouraged, when the fellow missionary threatens to return home because it's too tough at the station, when those who should be sharing the burdens most deeply with the Nehemiahs end up and have little or no vision at all. He goes on to say, how disheartening it is when those who should be right in the thick of the fight, in real prayer warfare, are men and women without any vision, without any burden. They will do the same job and carry on the same work as they have done for years, but they do not seem to be capable of real hard travail. Those who would be prayer partners think the task is too much to handle. We just can't do it. Is there something that cries from our hearts, I just can't do it anymore? Have you said that? Have you ever gone down before the Lord and said, Lord, I have no more zeal, enthusiasm? I can't find the distance in me to lift myself up and carry on with excitement. You ever felt like throwing in the towel? Well, we're going to look at these three things that caused that with these people. And we'll look at the answer next Tuesday. Verse 10, the source of the people's discouragement. What is it that causes those who otherwise were strong and resourceful people to fold, while normally they were able to stand strong? Those who were normally so resolute and determined to just give up and walk away? The first thing, their strength, physical strength was depleted. In that verse 10, where Nehemiah says in chapter 4 in verse 10, where it says, the strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed. Or in other words, their strength was failing. The original Hebrew word means stumbling, tottering, staggering under a load. It might surprise you, and I've been preached, this has been preached at me quite a bit with various individuals. The first cause of spiritual discouragement, sorry, the first source of discouragement was not spiritual. It was their physical strength. The burdens that they were bearing building these walls had sapped their strength. The easy answer, they were burnt out. Burnt out. They couldn't do God's work anymore. Not just from a spiritual perspective, but from a physical one. They were falling down, another commentator says, under the load. They were so busy building the walls of the city to protect the city, they forgot to build up their own walls to protect themselves. Did you get that? They're so busy building up the walls of the city, they forgot to build their own walls and left themselves open and depleted. I'm not going to take time to tell you about the Shunammite lady in Song of Solomon. But in Song of Solomon chapter 1 verses 5 and 6, when she's scolded by her brethren for her appearance, I am ye black and comely. They had made her responsible for part of Solomon's vineyards. So she hadn't time to look after herself. She spent her time out in the vineyards being beaten down by the strong sun. And she says, I am black, or the word is tanned very deeply. Because I've left myself open. There was no sunscreen in those days. she was weather beaten. Now the question begs to be asked, why is it that those who will have a heart to work should get to the place where they just can't bear the load anymore, where their physical energy is depleted? Is it and I would like you to take this reference down and write it down because it's something that I would love to preach on sometime and will do but the work and ministry of the body is not functioning properly anymore. We single out one or two, we put heavy responsibilities on them and we assume the weight Well, everybody comes on along for the free raid. Everybody in Abbots Cross, and I'm not getting at anybody by the way, everybody in Abbots Cross is part, if you're a believer, is part of the body. That means every part of the body functioning properly. bears the load together. And we ought not, and we should not, place the responsibility of progress, and I'm talking now about spiritual progress and prosperity. We should not leave the responsibility on any one individual or group of individuals. We all bear the responsibility. But when we place the responsibility of blessing on any one or group of people, they'll try to assume that responsibility, and they'll try to carry the work themselves, and very soon, if the devil can't stop you, he'll drive you. No individual, whoever they happen to be, Whatever position they may have in the work of God ought to shoulder personally, solely, the burden of any work. I was talking to a soul today, God had put them on my heart and I went out to see them. Not seeing you much at church these days, what's wrong? I have so much to do at home. I'm the only believer. I intend to be mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, caretaker, child taker, farmer, and I'm wore out. And the only day that I have is Sunday to rest. And I said, and Sunday's the Lord's day. Listen from experience, and I know that I've been preached out about this, and I have tried to pull back on a lot of things. You can wear yourself so thin that you feel you can't carry on. And it would take very little. Now, I'm not there at the moment, thank the Lord. But you take it from someone who is a driver. I mean, I push people in front of me. Get out of my road. And I've had to pull back and realize that you can only go as fast as the slowest person in any fellowship. How does the Lord deal with someone like this? When Elijah got discouraged because, after all, he was zealous for his nation, and he would have thought that Ahab at least would have been zealous, after all, we're after seeing the false gods and the false prophets been defeated on Mount Carmel, and he goes, listen, there's rain coming, and we're after having a wonderful victory. You see, when that woman Jezebel gets her hands on you, she's gonna put you to the mill. Instantly he becomes discouraged. He had enough zeal and courage to take on the prophets of Baal. And the very people that he was zealous for threatened his life. He got depressed and he ran. And you know the wonderful thing is God didn't preach the same. Now listen, by the way, depression is a real thing. And if anybody preaches at you and to you that depression is sin, then they don't know anything about depression. Because depression starts from within where you've lost hope in yourself. As I said on Sunday morning, where you've lost hope in the future. And you've tried your best and you've worked your best and you've worked your socks off and things seem to be getting worse instead of better. And all of a sudden then you find yourself, well what's the point? And he just ran. Does God preach a sermon at him? Does God send some psychologist after him? That's not, by the way, that is not me taking a swipe at psychologists. What God did was God gave him food and sleep and a rest. And by the way, can I add on into this? We are now living in a society where we are driven. You have to have this gadget. I heard today that somebody bought their daughter a brand new car for Christmas. I have to be patient, she deserved it, didn't she? The first yoke that I bought was a bicycle and it cost me a fiver and I had a bed in take. And it spent me a year paying for it. And I appreciated that bike when I had it paid for. And then the next thing I bought was a motorbike and I bought it in HP. And you all know what that is, don't you? It means it'll never be yours. Because whenever it's paid for, you need a new one because it's done. And I appreciated it too, even though I smashed it several times. And the next thing I bought was a car. But my dear friends, the world is conditioning us to be anti-God minded. Because we have to have these gadgets. You have to have the latest thing. I bought a new television. I may as well tell you everything that happens in our house because you know most of it anyway. And the reason why I bought a new television was because the sound was going in our old television which was about 10 or 11 years old. And the more you put up the volume, the less... Does anybody understand this? And so at the New Year's... I may as well tell you this story. It's a good crack. And so with the New Year's sales, I went into Curries and I brought Gregory and Darren, my two sons, in with me. And Esther had no idea that we were going to come home with a new television, by the way, at this stage. But anyway, I did consult with her, yes, briefly, just saying, I'm bringing home a new television. But anyway... So, we decided we'd go and buy a new soundbar which you plug into this thing and makes your sound, gives you a bit more subwoofer and all of that stuff which I don't understand the slightest bit about. It just gives you better volume, alright? And I discovered that in the sale there are £150 and £200 for a soundbar. And then Gregor comes over and he says, Da, why wouldn't you be buying a soundbar? There's a television over there for £349 and she says, a good'un. And she says, you'd buy that old soundbar and by the time you get home the old television will blow up and you've still got a soundbar and it's no use. So you with me now? Alright. So right, I phoned the wife and I said, I think we'll maybe bring home this new television. But by the time I got home, Darren put the old television in on Facebook and we sold it and we got the television for the price of a soundbar. Everybody wants, but I heard today that somebody has a new television every Christmas. We are driven by the needs. Advertising creates a need in your heart. And so we're driven. We haven't time to rest. We haven't time to take stock. We're driven. Secondly, not only was their energy depleted, notice very quickly their vision had disappeared. You'll find that in verses 10 to 11. Verses 10 to 11, you see here that Nehemiah is talking about the rubble. Verse 10, And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish, so that we are not able to build the wall. And our adversaries said, They shall not know neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease. To cease. They shall not know neither see. Their enemies were saying, and the people were starting to believe it. It was the enemies were saying that, and the people were starting to believe it. Possibly they couldn't see their enemies anymore, but more important than that, they didn't have a vision anymore for the work of God. Instead of being encouraged by the progress made, they became discouraged of what needed to be accomplished. And if you go back to one of the verses in this chapter, you'll discover that they're already halfway in the building of the wall. You see, what the enemy does, in chapter 4 verse 6, you'll see that, by the way, they're halfway. What the enemy does, he doesn't allow you to be encouraged with what progress you've made. Rather, he gets you to focus on the work that still needs to be done. And that's what was happening here. They were at the halfway stage of the buildings of the walls. In other words, the task was half finished. But they'd lost sight of that. Is it Bill Dunne? Does anybody remember Bill Dunne? I know the Tim Newell. Don't give up, you're on the... What was his big song? You're on the brink of a miracle. You've never heard it? Put it on YouTube and you'll hear it. Don't give up, you're on the brink of a miracle. It's very often. the victory, the success, that relationship could be restored, that fellowship could be renewed, or that situation could be removed, that obstacle could be removed. And just before God steps in, often times what we do is we give up the faith. We say, I've been at this for so long. Because I believe that halfway there, we're at the toughest point. The initial enthusiasm's wearing off. And we look now at what needs to be done, but sometimes we just need to look, take stock and see what has been done. What has been done. Their vision had all but disappeared. What is our vision? When did it change? And I see the times near done, this is the last we thought. Their confidence was deflated. You see that in these first two verses. They feared the enemy. They had exhausted their physical reserves. Their vision was deflated. And they'd lost their confidence. Once in verse 6 we read that they had a mind to work. Now they haven't got heart for the work. Haven't got a heart for the work. Where was their heart? It was buried under the rubble of criticism, arguments, disputes, difficulty, disillusionment. That's where they were. Buried. bulldozer. That's the thing. Sometimes it just takes us to regroup, regather, re-energize, reorganize and get a man or men like Nehemiah who will recognise why they became so vulnerable, which we'll see next week, and see someone who can see the answer to the issues that lay ahead. But it just might be, it just might be that tonight there's someone and you're buried under the rubble of the events that happened. Because I'm going to tell you, things happen in churches. Things happen in churches. I remember an old college lecturer telling us in Bible college, It was actually Dr Colin Packham, you'll hear me mention him many times because he was Esther's and mine mentor. He was a mentor and he was a father figure to us all to be honest with you. We owe him a great debt of gratitude and appreciation for who he was and though he was a tremendous couple of doctorates and whatever and yet he was a humble man. And I can remember him telling us that when you think of the church God has brought us into the church. Different people from different backgrounds, from different temperaments, different ideas and ideals and different, everything's different. And he says God brings us into a church like that on purpose. So we devise and we develop the fruit of the spirit among each other. that we don't fall out and fight, but we somehow get to the place where we're able to iron out our differences and glorify God in the midst of it all. And I believe therein is an element and an aspect of the glory of God, where he can bring people in from different backgrounds, different environments, and so do a work in our hearts that we're able to live in fellowship and abide in unity, and then therefore the Lord commands the blessing. I think that's the secret. And I trust and pray that we're not buried under the rubble of dispute, unforgiveness, or whatever old plague seems to beset the fellowship of God's people. but that somehow we can erase from the ashes of despair and misery following the captain, our Nehemiah, who is the captain of the host of the army of God, Jesus Christ himself. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for the opportunity of hearing Lord, learning from your word, and Lord, asking you to guide us, to give us a heart like thine, a spirit of grace, a spirit of courage, a spirit of determination to follow our saviour and our master. Thank you for the lessons we learned in Nehemiah. We commit these lessons to you and pray that we will truly learn them as we seek to go forward in your name. Amen.