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Now let's dive into today's teaching with Pastor Skip Heitzig. They put a crown of thorns on his head, a reed in his hand, and a robe on his back, because they were mocking him, saying that he was the king of the Jews. And they said, Oh, hail, king of the Jews. It was all done in mockery. When he was hanging on the cross, people passed by.
and shouted out. You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. All that is done in mockery. Early Christians were mocked.
And they were mocked because the idea of a crucified God. was abhorrent to the mind of the Roman, the Greek, and the Jew. The crucified God. I'm going to put something up on the screen. I want to show it to you.
This is from the second century. A D And this is called the Aleximenas Graffito. And there's a difference between graffiti and graffito. Graffiti is spray paint. Graffiti is etching something into stone, and that's what they had back then.
There were no spray paint cans.
So this guy is mocking, whoever this artist was, is mocking a Christian by the name of Aleximenos. who worship Jesus Christ. But you'll notice that the picture is a picture of a crucified donkey-headed figure. And underneath it says, Aleximenos worships his God. All done to mock him and mock Christians.
Also, Christians are being mocked. At present. In the media, in the entertainment world, in the fields of academia. You may remember several years ago, Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, called Christianity a religion for losers. Talk show host Bill Maher.
said the Bible is comically, stupidly corrupt. And religion is evil. This year at the Paris Olympics, we saw the opening ceremony. Unfortunately, I saw it. It was a drag show mocking the Last Supper.
The name of Jesus Christ is scorned, ridiculed, mocked, and used as a swear word. It does bother me when people will say the name of Jesus Christ. as a fill word. And whenever they do, they say, Jesus Christ, I always fill it in and say, is Lord. Because now the sentence is complete.
Okay.
Now, we're not the only ones that notice this, by the way. The unbelieving world has even noticed. that Christians are the ones out of all the different religious systems that are constantly mocked and persecuted and despised and assaulted. People won't say anything against Islam. Because they're afraid.
People will say anything against Christianity. Because they're not afraid. They're not afraid because what they get back from us is love. Forgiveness. Patience.
That's what marks a Christian. Love. But That also makes us vulnerable. to the animosity and the hate because there's no fear of retaliation.
So, opposition is normal. Opposition is verbal. Let me give you a third characteristic: opposition is continual. Verse Doesn't say who prayed it, but it is, I'm guessing, a prayer by Nehemiah. Hear, O our God, for we are despised.
Now, let me warn you, this prayer is a little bit... Edgy Turn their reproach on their own heads. and give them as plunder to a land of captivity. I wouldn't want to be Nehemiah's enemies. Do not cover their iniquity.
He's getting hard now. Do not let their sin be blotted out from before you, for they have provoked you to anger before the builders. I'll get back to that prayer. But verse 6, so we built the wall. And the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.
One of the great verses in the book. People had a mind to work.
So they get hassled. But they pray. And they work.
Now what happened? Verse 7, when Sanbalat, Tobiah, the Arabs, The Ammonites And the Ashdodites This group is growing. Heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed. That they became very angry, and all of them conspired. Together.
To come and attack Jerusalem. and great confusion.
So they get mocked, but they pray. And they work.
And you might think, that's all they got to do, pray and work. Enemies are going to go away. Oh no, they won't. Don't think that just because you pray and persist in your work, Satan is going to pack up and go home. He'll just find a different way in.
He'll just try a different tactic. Do you recall when Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness by Satan? Successfully endured that temptation by quoting scripture. You remember that. It says this, Luke chapter 4.
When the devil ended every temptation, he departed until. He had An opportune time. Until he had an opportune time.
So you might be successful in resisting Satan's assaults and attacks. But like Arnold Schwarzenegger, He'll be back. He'll look for an opportune time. to attack again.
So this time the The opposition intensifies with more people because the wall is being closed. The attack keeps coming. It's continual. In my neighborhood, I've noticed lately, and typically around this time, the woodpeckers are out. I walk my dog early in the morning and late in the afternoon, and you can hear these woodpeckers, and I love studying them.
And I even went home and kind of looked them up online. You want to know what the secret to the woodpecker's success is? The woodpecker will peck at a at a... Piece of tree, you know. And they'll be at it.
You'll hear them. But if the wood is too hard, He stops. Or if there's insects. He stops and he moves just a little bit over and Okay. Does it again?
If it's too hard, moves over again until he finds a soft spot. When he finds a soft spot, he just burrs in. And I find that our enemy Is exactly the same. He's looking for a soft spot, a weak spot. He studies our character, oh, that's where they're vulnerable.
Opposition is continual. If you ever want to get insight into the continued strategy of Satan in the life of a believer, read a little book by C.S. Lewis called Screwtape Letters. I recommend it to everyone. It's an easy read.
It is written from the Vantage point of a demon, a senior demon, tempting junior demon on how to ruin somebody's life. but it will give you insight into Satan's devices.
Now you'll notice back to our story. That there are four groups that are mentioned. And essentially, what is happening is Jerusalem is being surrounded.
So up north is Samaria. The Arabs are down south, that's where Arabia is. The Ammonite kingdom is to the east of the Jordan River. And the Ashdodites, Ashdod is a city in Philistine country to the west.
So north, south, east, and west are enemies that are now getting together and conspiring. at the stirring up of sand ballot and tobaya. But get this. This conspiracy is based on mutual hatred. They all hate the Jews.
What's interesting is if you did a historical search, you would discover all of these groups. hated each other. They were rivals against each other. But The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
So, if you hate the Jews and I hate the Jews and we all hate the Jews, we're going to have a hate the Jew party. We're all going to attack Jerusalem.
So they conspired against them. It was their hatred that brought them together. You remember in the New Testament that is exactly the case with Jesus? He was the catalyst in bringing two rivals. who didn't like each other together.
One was named Herod, the other was named Pontius Pilate. They were at odds with each other. But in Luke 23, it says, that very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other. What brought them together as friends? They want to get rid of Jesus.
And why do I bring that up? Because I have discovered that often God's people find it very difficult working together. Because we let Dumb stuff separate us. little things that are Not even consequential. Whereas the world has no difficulty in uniting in opposition against us.
And if we're busy taking up the sword and lopping each other's arms off, We're not going to have any energy for the real battle. Opposition is continual. Gotta know who we're fighting. Let me give you a fourth and final characteristic of this opposition. This is the best part.
Opposition is conquerable. Opposition is conquerable. The Bible says we are more than conquerors.
Now, there's three strategies you'll notice that. Nehemiah employs Prayer is one. Persistence is a second. Practicality is a third. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Every day, the generosity of friends like you helps make clear verse-by-verse Bible teaching available to people searching for truth, direction, and hope. And this month, we want to thank you with two powerful resources to help you follow God faithfully, even when life feels uncertain or challenging. When you give, you'll receive the Expound Nehemiah 7 Message CD series with digital download, along with Pastor Skip's booklet, Overcoming an Anxious Mind. Together, these resources show you how God rebuilds what's broken, strengthens you when you face opposition, and gives you peace, even in seasons of pressure and waiting. We'll send both resources as our thanks when you give $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig.
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Now, let's return to today's teaching. First of all, notice his prayer. It's mentioned twice. Verse 9 is one place. Nevertheless, we made our prayer to our God.
But the prayer I'm interested in is the one that is written down for us in verse 4. And five, the one that is a little troublesome. Let's look at it. Hear, O our God, for we are despised, turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder. to a land of captivity.
Let him go captive to somewhere else. Do not cover their iniquity. Do not let their sin be blotted out from before you. for they have provoked you to anger before the builders.
Now that's a shocking prayer. Who prays like that? That's a mafia prayer. Especially like the godfather going, I'm gonna case you and some men. In fact, this is what I noticed.
Looking through different commentators this week, some of the commentaries are embarrassed at this prayer. They don't know what to do with it.
So let me take a crack at it. How do we explain such a harsh prayer?
Well, number one, just because you pray something stupid. Doesn't mean that God has to answer it. I mean, if God answered every prayer we ever pray, the world would be in a big, bigger hurt.
So just because a child of God says, God, I'm praying this, God isn't up there going, okay, well, you claimed it and you said it, so I got to do it. He's God. He's sovereign and he can veto anything you pray. That's first. Second, You and I should never be afraid to tell God anything.
That is on your heart. If there's going to be one person you're going to be absolutely honest with, it should be God. Spurgeon said, There's no secret of my heart that I would not pour into the Lord's ears.
So I think you can be honest with God. He can handle it. He can sift through it. And then a third thing is that when he says here, don't let their sin be blotted out. He's not referring to all the sins they've ever committed.
He's speaking in particular about the sin of opposing the building of the city of Jerusalem. That's God's city. And then I would even say something else, a fourth thing I've noticed that. Nehemiah is actually praying according to the promises of God. Back in Genesis 12, God made Abraham a promise to he and his progeny.
He said, Whoever blesses you, I will bless. but I will curse him who curses you.
So, Nehemiah is just calling on God to do what God said he would do. If this is your city and this is your covenant. then I'm going to leave vengeance up. To the Lord, vengeance belongs to God. Notice the prayer.
Hear, O our God. And then he says, for they have provoked. to anger. I like this. Nehemiah is not provoked to anger because he knows.
God's provoked to anger. I don't have to get emotionally involved in this. God is moved to anger. God takes this personally. Remember that.
God takes certain things when God's children are attacked. God takes it personally. When Saul of Tarsus was on the road to Damascus to arrest Christians He's riding along on whatever horse or donkey he's on. He gets knocked off. He hears a voice from heaven.
A very unusual Question is asked. Saul? Saul, why are you persecuting me? He doesn't know who's talking. You?
He says, who are you? Lord? And the boy says, I am Jesus. whom you are persecuting.
Now this is a news flash. It's a Saul of Tarsus. Because he's not After Jesus, he thinks Jesus is dead. He's after people who follow Jesus. But the Point being, Jesus says, you're persecuting me.
You're after them. I take it personally.
Something else, notice this. Nehemiah, when he is attacked by the enemy. Does he talk to the enemy? He talks to God. He doesn't talk to the enemy, he talks to God.
I think this is a good pattern. You know, you don't need to talk to the devil. Ever. There are some meetings I have Noticed over the years They like to call them spiritual warfare meetings. We're going to address Satan directly and take control and bind Satan.
And we feel so powerful when we do it. Let me just first tell you, Satan is not afraid of you at all. You are not intimidating to him one iota. The only thing that's frightening to him. Is the God that lives inside of you?
Call on Him. Don't talk to Satan. I listen to some people going, oh, I bind you, Satan, and I want, Satan, I want you to know what? You're praying to the devil. The Bible says resist the devil.
Not carry on long conversations with the devil. Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. It's prayer. We prayed. We prayed to our God.
That's the first way to conquer. Second, persistence. Again, I draw your attention to verse 6.
So we built the wall. You can hear the mortar being slopped on the stone. They keep at it. The entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. What do you do when Satan attacks?
Keep at it. Keep working. Yeah, but the ridicule keep working Don't worry about the devil's dogs. By the way, you know dogs howl at the moon? And I've often wondered why that is.
And I did, again, these are things that. Keep you awake at night, I guess. The older you get.
So, I did a little searching that what happens is when there's a full moon, it disorients dogs because typically it's dark out.
Now there's more visibility, and they'll howl at the moon because they just don't get a read on what's happening. And the howling is actually they're communicating with other dogs, I guess, in the dog community. They get on the phone like, what's up with this? I don't know. It has nothing to do with my sermon, by the way.
Except to say this. What does the moon do when the dogs howl at it? It keeps on shining. What do you do when Satan has you? Keep on shining.
Living well is the best revenge. said George Herbert.
So prayer, persistence, third. Practicality, or let's call it protection. Verse nine: nevertheless, we made our prayer to God and. There's no period there, a comma, and because of them. We set a watch.
against them day and night. Don't you love that? Nehemiah is so practical. He is not so heavenly-minded that he's no earthly good. He knows that I'm going to pray.
But I'm also going to guard I'm going to pray, but I'm not just going to pray. I'm going to pray and I'm going to set a watch day and night. People had a mind to work.
They had a heart to pray. They had an eye to watch. Jesus said this. He said, Watch. And pray.
that you do not enter into temptation. Work without prayer is atheism. Prayer without work is presumption. You want to pray and work. You want to pray and set a watch.
I love what Oliver Cromwell used to say. Trust God, but keep your powder dry. Or we would say Trust God. But lock the doors on your house. You keep your door ajar and you're inside praying that God will protect it from people breaking in.
That's dumb. Pray, but lock your doors. Pray but like your car. If you're a student, pray as the test is coming up, but study. You know, the student's favorite prayer, there's two of them.
First is, come quickly, Lord Jesus. When a test is coming up, the second one is: God, give me all of the facts that I never studied for so I can ace this test. Not going to happen.
So, this is opposition. It's normal, it's verbal, it's continual. but it's conquerable. As I close, let me take you back to World War II when we had a Tremendously skilled. But eccentric edgy general named George Patton.
George Patton faced His enemy And the enemy general, the Nazi general, Erwin Rommel in North Africa. on that front. Erwin Rommel, the Nazi general, had written a book after World War I. On strategies For battle. Which George Patton, our general, devoured, read it, knew the book.
And because he knew the book, he knew the strategies of Rammel, and he just kind of knew what he was going to do.
So when they were facing each other in Africa, at one point, when the battle lines got close enough that These two generals could see each other. General Patton was known to yell out at the top of his lungs and say, I read your book, Rommel. I read your book. And because he knew the strategies of Rommel, he was able to defeat him in the Second World War. I've read God's book.
And this is a book that says we are not ignorant of his devices, his being Satan's devices. The strategies of Satan are outlined in God's book. Read his book. Learn to fight. Yes, serving the Lord can be hard, but it's worth it.
And it beats the alternative. Beats the alternative. In the last couple of moments of our time together, I'm going to ask some of you. To defect. Up to this point, you have had a very loose.
Maybe disengaged. relationship with God hasn't been authentic. You're not a follower of Christ. And so you're not in the camp of being a Christ follower. We have a real enemy.
Called the devil. He's not a figment of people's imagination. He's not a cartoon character with little horns and a little pitchfork. He's a malevolent Intelligent being with a host of helpers. I'm going to ask you to defect.
From that kingdom. and joined the ranks. of the opposed. of his opposition. Join the ranks of the kingdom of God.
Give your life to Christ. Surrender your life to Him. Be forgiven of your past. It's the best way to live. Charles Spurgeon said, I'd rather have Satan as my enemy than as my friend.
So, defect and give your life to Christ if you haven't done so. Yeah. Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember, your generosity helps share God's word with people all around the world, offering truth, hope, and encouragement where it's needed most. And this month we'd love to thank you for your gift of $50 or more by sending you the Expound Nehemiah 7 Message CD series with digital download.
Along with Pastor Skip's booklet, Overcoming an Anxious Mind, these resources will help you see how God rebuilds what's broken in your life and gives you peace, even in the middle of pressure and uncertainty. Give today at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. We'll see you next time on Connect with Skiff Heitzig. Make a connection. Shouldn't At the foot of the crossing.
Castle burning. Insomnia. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
