Good morning.
My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church,
and it's my joy to bring God's Word to you today.
A special welcome if you are new or visiting with us.
We are glad that you're here.
And we're glad that you're here with us not because we are interested in filling seats,
but because we are following Jesus together as one community,
and we are convinced as we follow Jesus that there is no one so good
that they don't need God's grace, and no one so bad that they can't have it.
And so God has something to say to every one of us this morning,
and every one of us needs to hear what God has to say.
If you've been with us, you know that we're in the book of Nehemiah.
We've made some progress. We're now in chapter 6,
and the book of Nehemiah is a book about a man named Nehemiah,
and this man lived in the 5th century B.C.,
and he was living in the Persian Empire, and at the time he was living there,
he began to understand and realize that God's city in Jerusalem had fallen into ruins.
And so he began the process of repenting of his sin
and the sins of the people of Israel in the Old Testament,
turning back from the ways they had abandoned God
and instead turning back to God's wall to rebuild the city that he had given them.
The purpose of Jerusalem was to be a light to the nations,
that everyone would see what happens when God's people follow after God's ways.
We saw last week that they had not just abandoned God's wall,
but they had in fact abandoned God's ways,
and so there was oppression of the poor that was happening.
And Nehemiah then is leading his people not just in this physical reconstruction,
but also in a spiritual reconstruction.
Previously in chapter 4, we saw that as God's people return to God's ways,
there is an inevitable opposition that comes,
that we cannot have impact without opposition,
because God has real enemies that come up against his people when they try to follow him.
We're going to see that again this morning.
We're in Nehemiah chapter 6, and God's enemies are going to show up again.
If you are familiar, if you live life here in North America,
you know that something that we have heard more and more about in the last few years
is the phenomenon of fake news.
Fake news is exactly what it sounds like, right?
People put out news articles on the internet that are not true,
and they don't do this just for their own amusement,
but there's a purpose behind it.
The purpose of fake news is to make people afraid,
because there's few emotions that we experience that are more powerful than fear.
And if you can make people afraid,
there's few things you won't be able to get them to do.
In other words, if you can make people afraid,
then they are like butter in your hands.
Fear is one of the most powerful emotions that we come up against,
and so that is why fake news has become so popular.
If you can make someone afraid of the other political party,
then you can convince them to show up and vote for yours.
If you can make someone afraid of people who are different than them,
then you can convince them to help them stumble rather than to support them.
But fake news is not something that's new.
It's been around for a long time,
and we're going to see some fake news in our passage this morning.
We are in Nehemiah chapter 6,
and I'm just going to name that sometimes it's hard for many of us,
myself included, to pay careful attention when we are reading long passages of God's Word.
Some of that's just part of being human, right?
I don't say that to shame anyone.
It's just our attention spans, they move from place to place.
So I'm going to give you a little bit of an assignment.
As we read, I want you to see if you can spot all the places where the word afraid or frightened appear in this passage.
And if you have a pen with you, feel free to circle or underline.
That'll be my way to keep you all on track as we read.
We're in Nehemiah chapter 6,
and remember that this is God's Word.
And God tells us that His Word is a hammer that breaks a rock into pieces.
In other words, there is no opposition that can stand in the way of the impact that God has when He speaks.
And so please read with me now, starting at verse 1.
Verse 3.
Verse 7.
Verse 10.
Verse 11.
Verse 9.
1.
Verse 12.
And I understood and saw that God had not sent him,
but he had pronounced the prophecy against me
because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
For this reason he was hired,
that I should be afraid and act in this way in sin,
so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me.
Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, oh my God,
according to these things that they did,
and also the prophetess Noadiah
and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.
Verse 15.
So the wall was finished on the 25th day of the month Elul
in 52 days.
And when all our enemies heard of it,
all the nations around us were afraid
and fell greatly in their own esteem,
for they perceived that this work had been accomplished
with the help of our God.
Moreover, in those days,
the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah,
and Tobiah's letters came to them,
for many in Judah were bound by oath to him,
because he was the son-in-law of Shekaniah,
the son of Ere.
And his son, Jehohanan,
had taken the daughter of Meshulam,
the son of Barachiah,
as his wife.
Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence
and reported my words to him.
And Tobiah sent me letters
to make me afraid.
Please pray with me
as we come to this portion of God's word.
Dear Father in heaven,
we thank you for your word
that you've given to us.
We thank you that you have not left us alone
to be afraid,
but instead you've come
and you've spoken to us.
We ask that you would do that again,
that you would open our eyes to see,
you would unstop our ears to hear,
and you would clear our minds
that we can understand and believe
everything that is written about you
in your word.
We ask all these things
in the name of your son.
Amen.
Over the past few weeks,
we've seen the wall
that Nehemiah is rebuilding
come up little by little,
and it would be almost as if
you were living in a neighborhood
and you know a new house is being built,
and you get to see it stage by stage.
First just the frame comes up,
then slowly more and more
until finally maybe the only thing that's left
is for there to be put,
for sod to be put in the yard
so that there can be grass.
And this is what we find out
when we come to the beginning of chapter 6.
Everything has been finished
except for the gates.
The work that has happened
that we've seen over many chapters now
has come to completion,
and there's only one thing left to do.
And so as Nehemiah's enemies look,
they realize that everything they've done
to oppose him has failed.
All that they can do is a last-ditch effort.
In the past, we saw in chapter 4
that they were going to attack
the Israelites who were rebuilding the wall,
and that's not an option anymore.
And so now assassination of Nehemiah
is all that's left.
And that's the plot we find here at the beginning.
They send to Nehemiah in chapter 2
asking him to meet them in an isolated place.
Of course, Nehemiah sees right through them
and tells them multiple times
that he is so busy rebuilding the wall
that he can't join them.
And their insistence that he come to a place
where it would be easy to kill him
confirms his fears.
That this is a place
where they're looking for foul play.
Realizing this isn't going to work for Nehemiah,
they finally push their fake news.
They tell him,
look, you're going to have to meet us
because these rumors are being spread about you.
Everyone knows what you're really trying to do.
We know that this is not about
returning to God and his ways.
We actually know that you are trying
to become powerful politically.
And you're trying to take away Judah
from the Persian Empire.
And so if you don't come and meet with us,
you're going to face all the consequences
of being an enemy politically of the Persian king.
That doesn't work either, though.
So they try another strategy.
They hire a fake priest.
Now, maybe this man is legitimately a priest
at some level,
but he does not represent God.
And so, on the one hand,
they try to get Nehemiah to give in to fear
and turn away from God's work.
And their second strategy
is to convince Nehemiah
not to necessarily turn away from God's work,
but to use fear for him to disobey God's law.
They ask him to hide in a place in the temple
that was reserved only for the priests,
hoping that as Nehemiah feels threatened for his life
that he won't care about anything that God's commanded.
Instead, he'll simply run into this trap
that they've set for him.
He'll go into the holy place
where people who are not priests
were supposed to stay away from.
But Nehemiah, instead of giving in
to the fear of the end of his life,
instead sticks close to God and his commands.
And so he says in verse 11,
should such a man as I run away,
and what man such as I could go into the temple and live?
In other words, Nehemiah knows
that in the past, people who went into God's holy place
without permission were struck dead.
And so if he ran away on the one hand
from a plot to kill him,
he might meet death at God's hands in the end.
And so that strategy does not work either.
And then we find out
that there's something else that's going on.
There's someone who's powerful in the Jewish community
who has many alliances.
There's this man named Tobiah
that we find out about in verse 17.
We've met Tobiah before.
He seems to have some connection.
He may be Jewish himself.
If he's not, he's very powerful
in the Jewish community.
He's powerful because he has people
who are bound by oath to him,
we find out in verse 18.
And then he's powerful
because of his alliances through marriage.
And he uses all of this,
as we find out in the last verse,
to continue to try to make Nehemiah afraid.
He's sending out letters
to people who have power,
convincing them that Nehemiah
is someone they should not help.
Over and over and over,
the opposition that Nehemiah faces in this chapter
is the opposition,
the temptation to give in to fear.
We saw in chapter four
that our enemy, the devil,
has many strategies
that he uses to come up against God's people.
His favorite strategy in North America
where we are is to convince people
that there's nothing more important
than their comfort and convenience
so that he can lull us to sleep
and we are not trying to have an impact
because we don't care about God
and his ways anymore.
But as we saw happen in chapter four,
that didn't work with Nehemiah.
And so he came with all out opposition.
And now we find out another strategy
of our enemy,
that he is rightly named
the father of lies.
that fear and lies
are one of his greatest strategies
to come up against God's people
when they're following him.
It's fear
that speeds things up.
If you want someone
to do something quickly,
if you want to prevent them
from thinking carefully,
then all you need to do
is make them afraid.
People who are afraid
act much faster than anyone else.
I was at a retreat recently
with some other pastors in our area
and we were staying
at a rental home
in Breckenridge for a night
right before one of our regional gatherings
as a chance to meet
and pray together.
And there came a point
where we got a call
from the rental company
saying that we had too many cars
in the driveway
and that the HOA
was going to start towing our cars.
And there was a meeting
to try to figure out
what was going to happen,
how we were going to rearrange our cars
so that we would not be towed.
There are very strict laws
in Breckenridge,
I found out about,
you're only allowed
to have four cars in a driveway.
You can't park on the street at all.
I ended up getting a little note
in my handle
with a cell phone number
and telling me
to move my car immediately.
And I decided
I was not going to take part
in this discussion
about how to move the cars.
I just left the house.
I left the house,
I ran to my car,
I warmed it up
and I immediately got out of there
and went to a different spot.
And it wasn't until after I'd done that
that I realized
fear speeds things up.
There was no imminent threat
of us being towed.
We had just received a call
from the Homeowners Association.
There was not a tow truck
on the way at that moment.
But just the suggestion
that someone might tow my car
was enough for me
to jump into action.
Fear is a powerful emotion.
And it speeds things up.
It's one of the greatest tools
that our enemy uses
to keep us
from the good things
that God has for us.
It's fear of missing out
that destroyed Adam and Eve.
Believing that there was something good
that God wanted to keep from them.
It's fear that God is not in control
or not good
that causes us to break His laws
rather than to follow Him.
It's fear of failure
that keeps us from ever trying
something great.
Ever trying to follow God
because we are afraid
that we'll find out
our greatest fear,
that we're not enough.
We're afraid to pray to God
to ask Him for things
because we don't know
what we're going to do
if He tells us no.
It's fear that causes us
to control other people.
Fear of embarrassment
that someone might see
our kids misbehaving
that causes us
to be harsh with them.
It's fear
that moves us quickly
away from God
and His ways
into our own comfort,
our own security.
Now we could talk all day
about this sort of general fear.
I could tell you
about all kinds of different facets
of fear
and what it does to us
but the fear that we see here
is a specific fear.
It's not fear of heights
or fear of certain places
but this is the fear
that comes up against us
when we try to follow God
and His ways.
It's the fear that comes
when we are going
on God's mission.
It's the fear
that our enemy uses
to convince us
that what we are trying to do
when we follow God
is a terrible idea.
It's the fear
that makes us believe
that if we follow God
and obey His laws
it will lead to death.
That's what's presented
to Nehemiah here.
If he doesn't run away,
if he doesn't meet them
in this isolated place,
then political ruin
is going to come.
If he doesn't run
into the temple,
then his own personal death
is going to come.
Now we don't necessarily fear
that someone's going to come
kill us or assassinate us
here in southwest
Colorado Springs.
But we do have fear
when God calls us
to have hard conversations
with other people
that would lead
to reconciliation.
We're afraid
to talk with other people
about the way
that we have sinned
or the way that they
have sinned against us
so that we could move forward
as one community.
That's the fear
that comes up
when we're trying
to follow God
and His ways.
There's fear
of personal conflict.
Many people
who we think of
as peacemakers,
now there are
real peacemakers, right?
There are people
who work through conflict
in a way that's
healthy and wise.
But then there's
other people
that we think of
as peacemakers
that are really
just scared.
They're profoundly scared
of what would happen
if they actually
talked about
the things
that they have done
that have upset others
and the things
that others have done
that have upset them.
There's a fear
that comes
when we try
to talk about Jesus
with our friends
and our neighbors
who don't know Him.
That somehow
we'll be rejected
and isolated
and marginalized.
There's a fear
in Christian churches
right now
in North America
that we are going
to be persecuted
and marginalized.
And that fear
on the one hand
causes some people
to run away
from God
and His ways.
We don't want
to be associated
with God
and His law
and what He says
is good for the world
because we're afraid
of the shame
that might come to us.
But our enemy
is tricky
and he can use
our fear
in the opposite way
as well.
Instead of being
afraid of what happens
if people see us
embracing
what God calls good
there are others
of us who take that
and embrace it
but then we take that
as an opportunity
to complain
and play the victim
giving our energy
and our time
to focusing
on what we need
to fear
rather than what
God has called us to.
There are entire
podcasts
and magazines
and websites
and blogs
that are devoted
to letting God's people
know everything
they need to be afraid of.
And yet you'll rarely find
among the people
who publish these things
lists of ways
that God's people
can follow Him.
Follow Him
into the difficult
relationships
and ministries
that He's called them to.
Nehemiah sets a great
example for us
here in verse 14.
He recognizes
that God has enemies
that oppose Him
and that that's not
the focus of His energy.
He hands it over to God.
He doesn't spend
His time
creating a podcast
about 10 ways
the Persian Empire
is going to
marginalize Israelites.
Instead,
He simply says,
remember,
oh my God,
what these people
have done.
He gives God
the chance
to bring justice
and then He leaves it
to Him
and returns to His mission.
And so we can spend
our time
being afraid
or we can spend
our time
following God
as He calls us
to minister
to the community
around us.
Nehemiah doesn't
avoid the scary things
in this world
but he also doesn't
let them consume him.
He turns back
right to the temple.
He turns back
to God's city
that needs to be rebuilt.
There's also
a certain fear
that comes
in our doubts.
And don't hear
what I'm not saying.
There are legitimate
doubts
and intellectual questions
that people have
about Christianity.
But there are also
people who
refuse to embrace
the gospel,
refuse to follow
after Jesus,
not because they
don't understand
the gospel,
not because they
don't understand
the claims of Christianity,
but there are those
of us who have
doubts and objections
because we understand
it all too well.
And we know exactly
what we would have
to give up
and lose
if we were going
to follow Jesus.
And so often
doubts and objections
are ways that we
hide our fear.
Fear of what we
would lose.
Nehemiah here loses.
We already saw it
in chapter 5.
He lost his
political position
as the Persian
cupbearer.
He lost a lot
of money
as he spent
his own
personal resources
feeding the Israelites
around him
because they did
not have
what they needed.
And so fear
is something
that comes up
against people
inside the church
and people
outside the church
as well.
Whenever we
follow after Jesus,
whenever God
calls us
to his mission,
fear will always
be there with us.
One of the most
common phrases
in the Bible
that God speaks
to his people
is do not be afraid.
And if you look
at the context,
you'll notice
that God never
says do not
be afraid
to his people
when they are
caught up
in idolatry
and sin
and oppression.
He says do not
fear
when they're doing
wisdom
and courage.
When they're trying
to choose those
things and follow him,
that's when they're
going to come up
against the opposition.
That's when they're
going to feel
the temptation
that Nehemiah
feels here as well
to give up the work.
That's what we see
in verse 9.
This fear
has a goal.
They all wanted
to frighten us
thinking their hands
will drop from the work
and it will not be done.
In other words,
it's when we follow
after God
and take up his work
that we're going
to meet fear.
That's when we're
going to encounter
all the lies
of our enemy
who comes up
against us.
Now the problem
and the struggle
here is also
that this fear
is real.
It has real foundations.
Nehemiah has real enemies
who are seeking
to really kill him.
They really want
him dead.
And so while this fear
is in temptation,
it's also a reality.
And so God meets us
there as well.
We don't just see
the word frightened
and afraid
repeated over and over.
But we also see
Nehemiah's response
and God's faithfulness.
The first thing
we find out
in this chapter
is that the wall
has been built.
Remember I mentioned
at the beginning
that all that's left
to do is to put
in the gates.
Despite the plots
of chapter 4,
despite the internal
opposition of chapter 5,
the dissension
over money
and oppression,
God has finished
this work.
His people
have not been perfect.
They've been tempted
at times
to forget courage
and wisdom
and instead
choose fear.
But God has remained
faithful to them
so that the wall
is complete.
God hasn't done
just that
in verse 1,
but then in verse 9
we see
Nehemiah's prayer.
On the one hand,
God doesn't call us
to safety.
He calls us
to wisdom
and courage.
But he doesn't do that
without giving us strength.
He doesn't remove
the challenges
and the obstacles
we face,
but he gives us
what we need
to walk through them.
And that's what
Nehemiah prays for
in verse 9.
But now,
O God,
strengthen my hands.
Nehemiah knows
that there's real opposition
as he seeks
to have real impact.
And so he prays
for God's real strength
to help him.
We've seen already
that as he faces
these enemies,
he doesn't spend
his time worked up
about all the ways
they might harm him.
Instead,
he moves on
leaving justice
to God.
In verse 14,
as I already mentioned,
he just asks God
to remember.
He's asking God
to bring full
and final justice
so that he does not,
he trusts God
with the outcome.
And then we find out
that the wall
in verse 15
is completely finished.
Before it was
just the gates
and now this wall,
Jerusalem,
is move-in ready.
There's no more
refurbishing
that needs to happen.
There's no more
knocking down
and rebuilding.
And so as Nehemiah
faces these things,
God remains faithful
to him.
But then the kicker
comes in verse 16.
We've already seen
through 15,
three places
where God's enemies
try to make
God's people afraid.
And then we find out
who it is
that is really
supposed to be afraid.
Fear is not something
for God's people
but for his enemies.
And that's the word
we see in verse 16.
When all our enemies
heard of it,
all the nations
around us were what?
They were afraid
and felt greatly
in their own esteem.
In other words,
it's not those
who follow God
choosing to go
in his ways
with courage
and faith
who need to be afraid.
But it's those
who do not
follow God.
And the reason
that those
who do not
follow God
need to be afraid
is that God
is bringing full
and complete
and final justice
on the earth.
As Paul tells us
in Romans 5,
he is pouring out
his wrath
for all the sins
of all the people
in the world.
God
is that power
and that judgment
and that majesty
that on the one hand
is with his people
as they follow him
but on the other hand
is against his enemies
as they oppose him.
And so when we face
the temptation
to give in to fear
and be afraid,
verse 16 here
is our final word.
that the fear
that is ultimate
and great,
the fear
that should
make us act quickly
and speed things up
is the fear of God,
not the fear of man.
It's the fear of God
that comes
when we realize
that he is the one
who is most powerful.
He is the one
who is bringing justice.
It's that fear,
that knowledge
that it's not
that we are trying
to ask other people
to be good
like we are good
but the understanding
that no one is good
and Jesus alone is good
that drives us to him.
God's presence
and power
with his people
is because
while on the one hand
the temple
represents his presence
it points forward
to Jesus
who will one day
be fully present
with his people.
He will come
as a man
and live among us
for 30 years
so that the temple
of the Old Testament
is no longer necessary.
And then Jesus
will die a death
on a cross
even though
he lived a perfect life.
He'll die the death
that we deserved
taking on
God's full
and final justice
for himself
suffering the complete punishment
and then rising again
from the dead.
That is where
the real power
comes from
and that is what
our real fear
should be of.
The ultimate fear
the great fear
that these people see here
is that God
is with his people
and the ultimate
and great fear
for us
is that we would
not be found
in God's people.
And so the call
as we follow God
in his mission
and his ways
and the call
that God offers
to everyone
is that we would
embrace Jesus
that we would be free
from the greatest fear
and that we would
have the confidence
that comes from
knowing that there
is nothing
that can take away
what is most important
from us.
If we are in Christ
following after Jesus
accepting
his death
as the punishment
for our sins
and accepting
his righteousness
knowing that
when God
looks at us
he sees Jesus
if we are in him
knowing that justification
is God's
free gift
of grace
to us
then rather
than be afraid
we know
that it is God
who brings us
true and full
and complete peace.
He is the one
who goes with
his people
as they go
on his mission.
In February
of 2018
just last year
in Scotland
there was a village
farmer named
Bruce Grubb
and he was hosting
a housewarming party
he just moved
into a new place
apparently on a
Saturday night
this was on a farm
and at one point
he decided he needed
to leave the party
to go check on
his pregnant cows
and make sure
they were okay
and when he went out
he saw something
that disturbed him
that frightened him
he spotted a tiger
on his property
and Bruce was filled
with tremendous fear
he said this
I was worried
it was going to eat
all my cows
before police
managed to shoot it
of course he called
the police
local authorities
jumped into action
they contacted
a local wildlife park
to see if there were
any missing animals
there was a 45 minute
standoff
between the officers
of Police Scotland
and the tiger
but the tiger
never moved
and so Bruce Grubb
became suspicious
at one point
and he got into his truck
where he would be safe
and he drove up
to the tiger
got closer and closer
and the tiger
did not move
even as the truck
came up
and Bruce finally
realized that this was
it was a tiger
but not quite the tiger
that he thought it was
it was a stuffed tiger
police kept the tiger
to use as a mascot
and Bruce Grubb
was able to go back
to his house
and his home
housewarming party
when we follow God
and his mission
and his ways
we will be tempted
many times
by lies
that will cause us
to fear
and when rather than
running away
in fear
when we come close
when we see God
in his power
when we choose wisdom
and courage
over fear
we will see the lie
and the joke
for what it is
and so we follow God
with wisdom
and courage
asking him
to give us strength
as Nehemiah does
here in verse 9
rather than running away
because of the lies
and the fear
that our enemy
brings to us
and we do it
because we have hope
and confidence
knowing that God
is with us
both in his presence
and his power
because what he's done
for us
through Jesus
and so we continue
to walk
giving up fear
and choosing wisdom
and courage instead
please pray with me
dear father in heaven
we thank you
that you're with us
that you give us
your power
and your presence
and your strength
we know that as we go
on your mission
following your ways
that we will be tempted
to believe things
that are not true
so we ask that you'd help us
that you would strengthen
our hands
for the work
that you'd keep us close to you
that we would obey you
and your law
and that you'd remind us
most of all
that you are with us
in Christ
we ask all these things
in the name of your son
amen
you
are with us
and
we ask all these things
on the basis
of the men
we ask all these things
we ask to ask to unify