Bibles, if you will, and turn in the Old Testament to the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter 4. Good night! This thing weighs a ton. What happened to the stage? Did they tear it down? Oh, that's it? Oh, put the drum on it? Oh, okay. Yeah, he would, uh, his head would... Oh, good, you got the little clicker. All right, super, super duper. All right, how many of you on days like this just make sure you want to stay in bed all day? Yeah, I'm there with you. Well, I pretty much want to stay in bed pretty much every day, all day, you know. But this is my first chapel here with you this year, and I think there's about three or four, five, six. I can't remember exactly how many signed up for it to be with you. this year. What's the deal with the togas? A Greek party. Oh, you did? You finished Greek literature. Yeah. So y'all are keeping the togas on all day? Is that the deal? Yeah? You got the sandals to go along with it? You got regular shoes? All right, okay, out of reference for God's word, let's stand. Mr. Adams, what time am I supposed to be done by? Okay, all right, I'll probably finish a few minutes before, because I gotta, I gotta, okay, that'd be good. I've gotta run and get some lunch. Okay, as we read this text, I'm gonna give you a little bit of background here as we read this text. Some of y'all may or may not be familiar with the story of Nehemiah. And in Old Testament characters, Nehemiah, other than possibly Moses, is my favorite Old Testament character. And as you ask different people who is your favorite Old Testament character, a lot of people will say David. He's probably the most famous, I would think, of the Old Testament, between David and probably Moses. But Nehemiah, to me, is one of those leaders that just really proved himself as a leader in very, very adverse conditions. And we're going to talk about one of those adverse conditions this morning. So let's read Nehemiah chapter four. We're going to read the first six verses. But it came to pass that when Senballot heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth. That word wroth is angry. It's an Old Testament or a King James word for angry. and took great indignation or great jealousy or great aggravation and mocked the Jews. I think you know what the word mocked means. It means to make fun of, laughed, ridiculed. And he spake before his brethren in the army of Samaria and said, What do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. Now this is what Nehemiah said, verse 4. Here, O our God, for we are despised and turn their reproach upon their own head. Give them for a prey in the land of captivity. Cover not their iniquity. Let not their sin be blotted out from before thee, for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. So built we the wall, and all the wall was joined together to the half thereof, for the people had a mind to work. If you're in the habit of underlining, underscoring, or circling things in your Bible, I think you should underline that very last phrase there of verse six. The people had a mind to work. The people had a mind to work. Let's pray together, then we'll get right to it. Father, I pray now that you would help us as we work through these verses this morning. I am sure that there is someone in this room this morning that has perhaps gone through some ridicule. And Father, I pray now that you would use this message this morning. If they have not gone through ridicule, maybe they're going through it now, and if not now, they will go through it in the future. And Father, I pray now that you would use this text and this message this morning to be a comfort, to be a sense of encouragement. to be a help. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. We're going to look at some things this morning about how to respond to ridicule. Now let me give you a little bit of an introduction. Which way do I need to point, Gary? Point about there. Okay. I am pointing. Which arrow? or I'm pushing hard and I am getting nothing. There we go. Was that me or you? That was you. All right. I may just point to you. Okay. All right. Matter of introduction. All right. Now follow with me. I don't want anybody sleeping. Don't want anybody thinking about what's going on later this afternoon. Don't want you to think about what you're doing for the weekend. Don't want you to think about the games next week or practices this afternoon. I want you thinking about what is going on right now in chapel. This is what I want your minds on. You know, all through this room right now, there's all kind of radio and TV frequencies going all through this room. Now, you can't see them, but they're going all through here. Now, in order to capture the right frequency, you have to turn the dial to it. Now, this is what I want you doing. I want you, for the next 30 minutes, I tell you what, it's probably gonna be 20. For the next 20 minutes, I want you focusing on the frequency of chapel. This is what I want you focusing on. So I want to see everybody sitting up straight. I want to see everybody playing with their tithes, and I want you listening, paying attention. Now, the reason why I want you on this is because either you have gone through ridicule Or you are going through ridicule now, or one day you will go through ridicule. Guaranteed. Now, you may not be going through ridicule, you may be the one doing the ridiculing. And I hope if you are, I hope that you will be very convicted this morning. If you are. Now, I want you to look at some things. First thing is this, Satan wants to destroy any work that is going ahead for God. Why would Satan want to destroy Berean Baptist Church? Because this church is going ahead for God. We have a pastor with a vision, and that vision is to bring glory to God. His vision is to bring glory to God through this academy. His vision is to bring glory to God by the winning and discipling of souls. Now, if we were just going through the motions here every Sunday morning and just saying, okay, if you want to come to church, fine. If not, that's okay as well. Don't expect any preaching from the word. Just expect a little devotion and then go on about your way and live your life the way that you want to live your life. Then Satan would really have no desire to affect this church. The same thing is with you. If you in your life, if you have made a commitment, maybe at the Get Acquainted Days, maybe not this year, but maybe at a year in the past, you made a commitment to follow God with your heart, your soul, and your life, Satan is going to do what he wants to do and what he can do. He is going to try everything within his power to discourage you. Why? Because you're serving God. No, the next thing is this. When you begin to build your life for God, Satan is going to attempt to discourage you and many times Satan uses ridicule to discourage you. It has been said. that Satan was passing out to all of his demons. He was passing out all the different temptations to his demons. He was passing out the temptation to steal, the temptation to lust, the temptation to lie, and all those temptations. And there was one that was hid in the very back. And as his demons were coming by, they said, hey, we want that one back there. He said, no, no, you can't have that one. That one's for me to use. No, no, no. We want that one. What is it? It's hid. We want to know what it is. He said, no, no. That one's for me to use. And then finally he said, okay. I'll let you know what it is, but I use it. It wasn't the sin of stealing. It wasn't the sin of lust. It wasn't the sin of adultery. It wasn't the sin of lying. It wasn't the sin of using God's name in vain. It was discouragement. See, if Satan can get you discouraged, then he knows he's got you defeated. See, discouragement lead so many times to defeat. See, in talking to different men and women and talking to Bradley that are over in Afghanistan, the reason why the Taliban now has resorted to using small little bombs of IEDs is because they know they can't beat our army by numbers. They know we have a much more superior army But they know that if they kill in small numbers, with these small little IEDs, then they can discourage our army. See, Satan wants to discourage you. You ever played in the contest and you were losing and you got discouraged, after discouraged, after discouraged? And as you were discouraged, you know what happened? Defeat began to set in your mind. You girls that play volleyball, you guys that play soccer, you that will play basketball, you that will play baseball, you that are currently running cross-country, when you get discouraged, defeat begins to set in your mind. Well, see, that is a great tactic that Satan uses to get you defeated is by discouragement, and many times that discouragement is by using others to ridicule you. That is what was happening with Nehemiah. See, ridicule is often the hardest thing that a person must endure. Is ridicule. How many of you like to be laughed at? Now I don't mean laughed at in a way that you're laughing with the person. Okay? I mean being laughed at because you are doing what is right. Or maybe because of the way you look. Or maybe because of the way you dress. Or maybe because you are standing right for the things of God. Tell you, I don't know of anyone that likes to be laughed at because of the way they look. I don't know of anyone that likes to be laughed at because of the way they dress. I don't like anyone that likes to be laughed at because of standing for God. It's not something that you should enjoy. But as we go through these things this morning, I want you to remember some things. First thing is this, let's look at the definition of ridicule. Go to the next slide for me, Gary, if you would. This is from Webster's 1828 Dictionary. He said, ridicule means to laugh at with expressions of contempt. Now someone tell me, what does it mean to laugh at with expressions of contempt? What's that? Proud of doing it, very good. You ever seen maybe one of these courtroom shows like Law and Order or one of those shows and a lawyer was threatened with, I'm gonna lock you up, the judge, I'm gonna lock you up for contempt of court. What was he doing? That lawyer was making a mockery of the court. That's what Webster was saying in this dictionary. You are laughing at with an expression of mockery. ridicule, to deride, to treat with a contentious merriment, to expose to contempt or derision by writing. Now here are some areas, let's look at some places that you may go through some ridicule. How about school? How about school? Did you maybe go through some ridicule at school? I went to a Christian school. Most of you, if not all of you, know that I graduated. You know, my picture's on the wall back there. Handsome guy, wasn't I? 1982. I'm still surprised that somebody hasn't walked by and taken a Sharpie and put, like, horns and, you know, a mustache and that sort of stuff on my picture. I'm surprised Morgan hadn't done it. Just kidding. Or Keith. I hope I didn't give anybody any ideas. This is to my shame. This is to my shame. It's not something I'm proud of. I did a lot of ridiculing. I did a lot of ridiculing of some people who were standing for God. I did some ridiculing of some people that were not necessarily with the crowd. And that's to my shame. As I look at the names of people that I went to high school with and I look at their pictures and things on that wall, I think, That person is not serving the Lord now. And as I look at that person and I remember of how I made fun of them when I was in school, I wonder if I contributed to that because of the how I ridiculed them. So here's the here's a question for you, are you being ridiculed or are you being or are you ridiculing? Look at another area. How about how about your home? Maybe some of you here today that your parents are lost. And when you are seen reading your Bible or you want to go to church or you want to do what's right, your parents possibly make fun of you. Or maybe relatives make fun of you. There may be some of you in here this morning that may be called to go into what we could call full-time Christian work as a missionary or possibly as a pastor or preacher, evangelist, teacher in a Christian school. and your parents are going to look at you and say, you know, that's great, but it's not for you. I want you to be a doctor. I want you to be a lawyer. I want you to be a businessman. I want you to take over the family business. These are the dreams that I have for you. But you know what the dreams are that God has for you. And you're ridiculed. How about work? Ridiculed at work. You may even, if God leads you to a secular college, you may be even ridiculed at a secular college by a professor because that professor gets up in his classroom and he holds up a Bible and says, this book right here is a bunch of fairy tales and a bunch of myths. And anybody that believes it is stupid. You're ignorant because you believe this book. And I guarantee you, it will happen if you go to a secular school. It will happen. Now, go to the next slide if you will. So look at this guy. This guy, his name was Nehemiah. Nehemiah saw, he heard in his mind, or he had heard through letters and things that the walls of Jerusalem were torn down. And it broke his heart that they were torn down. So he went to the king, he prayed, and he went to the king, and the king said, okay, I'm going to let you go from here back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. As he was rebuilding the walls, he started coming underneath some ridicule. Now let's go to our text. Go to the next slide, Gary, please. Let's go to our text. Now this is how they ridiculed. How do people ridicule? First thing is this, they called them feeble. They called them feeble. What do we mean by the word feeble? Weak. Call them weak. Let's go to verse 2. Talk about a man by the name of Sanballat. Now what a name, Sanballat. Do you think that maybe they had Scrabble back in those days and they just took Scrabble letters and threw them out and how they landed, that's how they named their kids? Now let's look at the first thing that he said. He said, and he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria and said, what do these... What's the next word? Feeble. Everybody say it. What's that next word? Feeble. What do these feeble Jews... Look at these weak Jews. Look at what they're trying to do. Next thing, next point. It made them think that it could not be done. So here we have, what are these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Are they going to accomplish what they're trying to do? They're just weak! They're weak people. They're not going to be able to do what they are desiring to do. He called them weak. He made them think that it couldn't be done. But then he also made them appear foolish. Will they sacrifice? If you know anything about Old Testament law with the Jews, the sacrificing at the temple was a huge event. So what was he attacking now? He was not only attacking their physical stature, but now he was attacking their spirituality. He was attacking their faith. He was saying, hey, are they going to be able to sacrifice? Are they going to be able to worship God? You may have people make fun of you because of your physical stature. You may have people attack you, make fun of you because you may not be as gifted physically. Then you also may have people attack you, make fun of you because you are desiring spiritual things. The next thing, made them appear weak. Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish? which are burned. Now let's go to verse 4. Oh, let's go to verse 3. I think this is very funny. Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, even that which they build, or what they are building, if a fox is on it, he'll break it down. You ever seen a fox? Remember when we first moved into our house? There was a What do you call a family of, what do you call a fox? A fox family, all right. Fox family, all right. There's a fox family living in our backyard. They would run down in the woods and then they'd come back and about two months ago, I was up on a Sunday morning before the sun come up and I was doing my walking around our block and I'm walking up and I see this silhouette in the road about a, Not even a quarter of a mile from me. And I thought it was like a big cat. And I looked at it, because all I could see was the silhouette of it. I thought, hey, that's a big cat, and I'm just walking along, you know? And then it turns sideways. And when it turned sideways, the tail was long. That is no cat. That is a fox. And then it saw me and, pew, went off. But they're not very heavy, are they? No, they're very quick. You ever seen that movie, The Fox and the Hound? Yeah, wasn't that a great movie? We watched it with, that was Bradley's favorite movie as a kid. So when he came home from R&R, he wanted to watch The Fox and the Hound, so we bought it. Well, Morgan and Bradley and my wife and I, we were sitting watching it. Morgan falls asleep. Bradley falls asleep. Mrs. Smith and I, we're watching it, and we're just boo-hooing. Because we remember when our kids were little, we used to watch that movie with them, you know? But, you know, Mr. Adams knows what I mean here, you know? So here they were saying that when they finally build it, it's not going to mean much because it's going to fall down. Now let's consider the ridicule. Let's consider it. Let's go to verse 4. Here, O our God. Now here was Nehemiah praying. He said, here, here God, listen, I'm praying to you. I'm praying to you. So here's the cause of the ridicule. Here's also the character. I want you to remember some things. The cause of the ridicule. Why do people, what causes people to make fun of others? Make themselves feel better. Very good. What else? Pride. What else? What's that? They want to look cool. That's why I was going to say they're very insecure about themselves. So to make themselves feel better about themselves, they want to make someone else look bad. So that's their cause, but also note their character. Their character. But then also, I want you to note here something very significant. Let's go to Mark chapter 5 and verse 40 in the New Testament. Mark chapter 5 and verse 40. The cause of the ridicule is that they want to make themselves look better. The character of those that ridicule is basically this. They have no character. They have none. What character they do have is very poor character. But then, I want you to look at something here, that when you are ridiculed for your faith, look at what company you're in. And if you are not being ridiculed for your faith, then you must not be doing something right. You must not be standing up very hard or very much for your faith because you will be ridiculed if you are standing for your faith. Verse 40. And he laughed and they laughed him to scorn. Who did they laugh to scorn? Jesus. They laughed him to scorn. Now let's go to Luke chapter 22 and verse 63. Here's Jesus after he's being denied by Peter. He's been turned over to the authorities. He has spent all of the night in prayer. He's betrayed by Judas. Peter denied him. Verse 63, and the man that held Jesus did what? They mocked him and smote him. And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? And many other things blasphemously smote or spake they against him. Now go one more chapter over, chapter 23 and verse 45. Maybe it's not 45. 35, 35, I'm sorry, 35. Then we'll go down to verse 39. And the people stood beholden, and the rulers also with him derided him, or made fun of him, saying, he saved others, let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar, and saying, if thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. And a superscription also was written over him, letters of greek and latin hebrew this is the king of the jews that was a that was not a title of uh of recognition that was a title of mockery and one of the malefactors or thieves which were hanged railed on him or made fun of him as well saying if thou be christ save thyself and us but the other answering rebuked him does no uh not fair gods seeing thou art in the same condemnation but here we have Christ being ridiculed. So listen to this. Listen. Some very good advice here. When you yourself is being ridiculed for the cause of Christ, consider yourself to be in great company. Consider yourself to be in great company of Jesus Christ himself. Now the next thing is this, is the compensation of being ridiculed. The compensation. What do I mean by that word compensation? What do I mean? You're compensated for something. You're being paid for it. You know, there is a payment that you will receive for being ridiculed. Let's go to Matthew chapter 5. Here we have commonly known as the Beatitudes. Verse 11. 11 and 12. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." What does he say here? Oh, feel sorry for yourself. Feel sorry for yourself and have a pity party because people are making fun of you. Is that what it says here in verse 12? What does it say? Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. So not only consider yourself in great company with Jesus, but also consider yourself in great company with those prophets of the Old Testament that were made fun of, that were put into prison, and that were persecuted and in some cases executed for the cause of Christ. So rejoice in it. And then let's look at the conclusion of those that are ridiculed. And if you are the ridiculer, I want you to look at this verse very, very intently. Let's look at 22. How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge. Turn ye at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you. I will make known by words unto you. Because I have called, ye refused. I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded." God has no place for a scorner. He has no patience. I guess, is a humanly aspect of saying it. Now, God has so much more patience than us as humans have. There's so many times I was like, God, why did you put up with this? But scorners is something that God despises. He's a scorner. So if you're here this morning and you are one of them that is scorning, that is ridiculing, you need to stop it. You need to put an end to it. You need to repent from it. You need to confess it. Not only confess it to God, but confess it to that person that you're ridiculing. Confess it to that fellow student. and say, hey, I'm sorry, I was wrong, please forgive me, wake up. I'm sorry, I was wrong, forgive me for ridiculing you. Please forgive me. Maybe it's a teacher that you're ridiculing behind their back. You need to go to them, confess it, I ridiculed you behind your back, I hope that you will forgive me. Now how do you pray in regard to ridicule? Next slide, please, Gary. Remember that it is God they are laughing at. Remember that it is God they are laughing at. Go back to our text of Nehemiah 4. He says, Here, O our God, we are despised. Turn their reproach upon their own head and give them for a prey in the land of captivity. cover not their iniquity and lot not their sin be blotted out from before thee." Now note this. Don't turn your anger against them because of vice. Turn your anger against them because they are blaspheming your name. When you ridicule another person because of their stand for what is right, because of their stand for God, because of their stand for the Word of God and what is right, you are not just ridiculing that person, you are ridiculing God Himself. You are bringing reproach into His name. For they have provoked you to anger before the builders." Next thing is this. Do not get involved in a name-calling contest with the scoffer. Just don't do it. They scoff at you. They ridicule you. They make fun of you. Just keep doing what is right. Go to the next slide, Gary. What to do while you're being ridiculed? You just keep working. Just keep working. I asked you to underline a phrase in your Bible. That is that they had a mind to work. In other words, be like this person. Get to the next slide. His name is William Carey. William Carey is known as the father of modern missions. He perfected, he came up with this expression, this phrase. It's a phrase that probably all of you should write in your Bible. He said, expect great things from God, attempt great things for God. He was, never went to college, didn't have any degrees. He was just simply a shoemaker. And for being a shoemaker, he was called to the mission field in India. For six years he did not see one convert. Six years, not one convert. He saw his wife lose, I mean literally, lose her mind and die. He was diseased. He was in despair, defeat, I'm sure, discouragement. But someone wrote him a letter that said, Mr. Carey, in spite of all that you are enduring, how is it you do it? And he wrote back three words. I can plot. I can plot. I can just keep plotting. Listen, when you're ridiculed, when you're made fun of, when you are ostracized, when people won't have anything to do with you because of your faith, your stand for what is right, your pursuing righteousness, your pursuing holiness, just keep doing right. Just keep up what William Carey said, and that is just keep on plotting. Bradley was discouraged recently. I told him, I said, Brad, because he's in Afghanistan trying to do what's right. One of his one of his he told he told Jared Smith when he was home for R and R, he said, I don't have a whole lot of friends over there because I try to do what's right. I said, Brad, let's keep on plotting. Keep plotting. Maybe some here this morning, you're being ridiculed, you're being made fun of, you're being ostracized. Let me encourage you this morning. Just keep plotting. Just keep plotting. Father, thank you for this time. I pray if there's anyone here this morning that's been ridiculed because of their stand for what's right, I pray, Father, that you would encourage them, the Lord. I pray if there's anyone here this morning that has been ridiculing I pray that you would convict them of this sin. I pray that they would confess it before you, confess it before others, and do what's right, repent from it, and stop it. Give them the power to do so. May it not be said at Berean Baptist Academy that we have students in our junior high and high school that are bullying others for their stand for what is right. We should be doing the complete opposite, and that is encouraging one another to do what is right. Help us to do so. Lord, help us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Have a great day.