Transcript: Verse by Verse Study – Nehemiah Chapter 5:1 to Chapter 6:19 – Zac Poonen

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These were problems coming between the believers, between the saints.

The Problem of Rich and Poor

It’s very interesting to see the type of problem that arose here. There were those who said, “We are sons and our daughters are many; therefore, let us get grain that we may eat and live.” You see, this is a problem that was there then, and it is a problem that is there now. In Jerusalem, in those days, there were some brothers who were very wealthy, and there were some brothers who were very poor. It’s exactly the same today. There are those who are very well-off financially, and there are those who are very poor financially.

It’s a wonderful thing when in a church, the rich and the poor and those in the middle can learn to get along with each other, love one another, respect one another as brothers, and build the body of Christ together. But here is where the problems can come. The rich can be selfish and hold on to what they have, and the poor can be jealous and always have a receiving attitude, wanting to receive. Both ways, God’s work is hindered.

The others said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses, that we might get grain because of the famine.” Also, there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our fields and on our vineyards, and now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our children like their children. Yet, behold, we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters are forced into bondage already. We are helpless because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

The Exploitation of the Poor

What was happening was, these Jews who came back from Babylon were not well-off. They had given up everything and had come here. After some time, their money ran out; it wasn’t easy to find employment and to earn an income. There were others there who had been there for a longer time, perhaps, who had become rich. When the poor Jews were in difficulty, they would go to these rich Jews and borrow money. They would borrow money by mortgaging some of their houses or their lands, and finally, they had lost all their lands and houses and vineyards in mortgage.

It had come to the place where they were selling their sons and their daughters. Some of their daughters, as verse 5 states, had already been sold as slaves in order to meet their financial needs. You can imagine the sad condition of those who were inside the wall, where the walls were being built. This was a result of the hard-heartedness on the part of certain believers who were there within the walls, who did not have compassion on the needs of others.

You can be a Pharisee, even though you say you have left the Babylonian system, a Pharisee with a hard heart when you see another brother in need. James says, “When you see a brother in need and you close up your heart towards him, saying, ‘Praise the Lord, brother, God bless you, may He provide your need,’ and you have it within your means to help him and you don’t help him,” he says, “your faith is just dead. It’s a lot of rubbish, what you call faith. It’s not faith at all.”

The Danger of Strife Among Believers

It was the same situation over here, and then it produced strife between the two. We read in Galatians 5:15, “The devil’s aim in producing strife between believers is here.” It says, “If you bite and devour one another, take heed, take care, lest you be consumed by one another.” The devil’s aim to get believers to fight is that gradually they will destroy one another spiritually.

This is what happens to a husband and wife when they fight with each other. They both destroy each other spiritually. I mean, the devil can do some other work. He doesn’t have to worry about these two because they’re fighting with each other so much that they’re doing his work for him by fighting with each other and destroying each other spiritually. If you bite and devour each other, just be careful that one day you are just consumed. There’ll be nothing left of you spiritually.

Wisdom is to recognize that and to see that the devil will seek to come in that way and therefore to be alert. When Jesus said, “Watch and pray,” that means be alert to the ways in which the enemy is seeking to come. Here we see that Nehemiah was alert.

Old Covenant vs. New Covenant Lending

I want to say a word here about the Old Testament law concerning lending. It says here that they had to borrow money from their rich believers. There was a law in the Old Testament that taught that when you lend to your fellow Jews, you must not take any interest from them. He said you can take interest from the Gentiles, but you must not take any interest from your fellow brethren, the Jews. That was a law that God gave through Moses.

Of course, these people are violating even that law. Later on, we see that they were not only lending money, but they were lending it at interest, violating that law. Now, how is the New Covenant superior to the Old Covenant? Are we permitted to lend money to our fellow believers in need today? That is, if God leads us to do so. We have to be careful that we do not lend just because we have human compassion.

But if God leads us to do so, is it right to lend? We read in Luke 6:35, “It is right to lend.” But the question here is, how shall we lend? This is where I want you to notice a difference between money lending in the Old Covenant and money lending in the New Covenant.

In the Old Covenant, it was like this: lend money to your brother when he is in need, but do not take interest from him. If at the end of seven years, once in seven years, the sabbatical year would come and he is not able to repay it, and he has got nothing with which to repay it, release him. But here, in the New Covenant, everything is higher.

We read in Luke 6:35, in the middle of that verse, “Lend expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great.” You know what the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is? In the Old Covenant, you give and do not receive, do not expect any interest, do not receive any interest. In the New Covenant, it says, “Lend and do not even expect the capital back.”

Leave alone the interest; forget about the interest altogether, but not even the capital. When a brother does not obey Luke 6:35, he lends and expects it back because the other brother said he would return it. Now, after some years go by, I have come across cases like this. He does not get it back, and he gets into unrest. If he would only judge himself, he could see that the fault is maybe with the other brother, but it’s also with him that he did not obey Luke 6:35. He lent expecting something in return.

We are told to lend expecting nothing in return. If that is difficult for us, then it’s better not to lend. Many relationships are spoiled because people don’t obey the scriptures. They don’t obey what Jesus said. Now, that’s just by the way.

Taking Advantage of the Weak

But I want to point you back here to Nehemiah 5:1-5. We see here that those who were rich and those who had means were taking advantage of the poor believers. That can happen even today. It may not be in terms of buying their daughters as slaves. We are not so crude as that because even the law of the land will catch us for that.

But the question is, it may not be riches and money. There may be some way in which another person may be dependent on me for something. That is the time where my Christianity is tested. It is so easy to take advantage of another person. A godly person will never take advantage of another brother, particularly when that brother is dependent on him for some help.

That’s the lesson we learn in the first five verses of Nehemiah Chapter 5. These rich people did not have light on that. They were taking advantage of their weaker brother. There we can profitably examine ourselves to see whether we take advantage. For example, we can be older in age and take advantage of a brother merely because he is younger than us and virtually treat him like a servant and not like a brother because he is indebted to me in some way.

There, I take advantage. I don’t realize that what have I got that I did not receive? If I have helped him in some way, it is what God has given me. He’s not indebted to me; he’s indebted to God. That’s all. We have to be very careful, brothers and sisters, that we never, never take advantage of anyone.

Paul’s Testimony

Listen to the Apostle Paul’s testimony in 2 Corinthians 7:2. He says, “Make room for us in your hearts. We wronged no one. We corrupted no one. And we took advantage of no one.” Wonderful if we can have that testimony. We wronged no one. We corrupted no one. We took advantage of no one. We kept ourselves as servants, not seeking that other people might serve us, not making other people dependent on us as though we were great benefactors towards them, not taking advantage of a brother or a sister in any way.

There are many places in which we need to hear the voice of the Spirit and judge ourselves in this matter.

Righteous Anger

Then I want you to see here further in verse 6 of Nehemiah Chapter 5. Then Nehemiah says, “I was very angry.” “Be angry and do not sin.” Here’s an example of that. Jesus was angry. We read in Mark 3:5. You know why He was angry? Because the Pharisees did not want Him to deliver a man who was paralyzed. He was angry with those Pharisees who took advantage of that poor man who was paralyzed.

If we have the Spirit of Christ, we will be angry with a lot of religious leaders today who are keeping poor paralyzed believers in bondage and won’t allow them to listen to the truth. If we are not angry against such religious leaders, I say we don’t have the Spirit of Christ. Jesus was angry, and Nehemiah was angry. He wasn’t angry because they robbed him; he didn’t have any problem. He was all right financially. It was when he saw how one brother took advantage of another that he was very angry.

We must be angry too when that happens in the house of God. When I heard their outcry in these words, he was grieved in his heart that a brother could take advantage of a brother like this. Here we are building the walls of Jerusalem. Here’s a brother taking advantage of a brother like this. It can be a husband taking advantage of his wife because his wife is weak and the husband is strong. He just keeps on taking advantage of her.

The true man of God hears that he should be angry against such a husband who behaves like that. Sure, that’s the Spirit of Christ—anger against one who takes advantage of someone who is weaker. There’s a lot of it, I’ll tell you, among believers. A lot of it among believers taking advantage of the weaker person. That should stir the anger in our hearts when we see that happening or hear about it happening.

Wisdom in Action

But here is a very good example for us to follow. He didn’t just rush. You see, a man who is hasty in his matters, Proverbs 29 tells us, is the worst fool in the whole world. There are many fools mentioned in the book of Proverbs. The worst of the lot, the top of the list, the biggest fool in the world is the man who acts hastily in anything. Nehemiah didn’t.

You know what he did? “I was angry,” and when you’re angry, here’s the thing that you should do. Verse 7: “I consulted with myself.” That means I meditated a little bit. He didn’t rush into action. His anger was right, but he was thinking now, how shall I take action here? How shall I proceed here? He sought wisdom from God, no doubt, and then he took action.

Like we were saying the other day, when we have to rebuke somebody or correct someone in a particular situation, we have to say to ourselves, “I have a flesh in which there dwells nothing good. I have to take this action. I have to rebuke; I have to correct. But let me remember that I have a flesh in which there dwells nothing good, and let me now proceed to do righteousness.”

The Mark of a Man of God: Freedom from the Rich

He consulted with himself, and then he rebuked these rich people. That’s the mark of a man of God—that he doesn’t care for the rich people. He doesn’t care whether they are nobles and rulers. He doesn’t want their money. He doesn’t want their influence. He doesn’t want any certificates from them for a job for him or for his sons or any recommendation letters or anything. Nehemiah was free, and anyone who wants to serve God must be free, particularly free of the rich people because it is the rich who seek to bring God’s servants into bondage.

Over 90% of so-called full-time workers in this country are slaves to the rich people and to the big people, all over this country in all denominations, whichever denomination you go to. Nehemiah was not like that, and there was no apostle or prophet in the word of God like that. Jesus was not like that. Nehemiah rebuked them.

Think of a man of God who rebukes the rich people, who rebukes the influential people. Yes, he was free, Nehemiah. He said to them, “You are exacting usury from your brother.” He was not a diplomat, sugarcoating it all. He told them straight the truth. He says, “You fellows are disobeying the word of God.” I’m sure he said a lot of other things there. “You’re disobeying what God has said through Moses that you must not take interest from your brother, and there you are doing it.”

Public Rebuke and Discipline

Then he called an assembly against them. Think of that. He didn’t just leave it there, privately rebuked them. He called all the people and exposed them publicly. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 5, “Those who sin, rebuke publicly so that others also may fear.” That’s Christ-likeness. If you’re filled with the Spirit, you’ll do it.

“Those who sin, rebuke publicly so that others also may fear.” That’s exactly what Nehemiah did. He called them out in public. Then he rebuked them again. Verse 8: “I said to them, ‘We, according to our ability, have redeemed our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations. And now you’re going to sell your brothers that they may be sold to us?'” He spoke very straight.

He says, “We have given.” Nehemiah sacrificed so much in order to help these Jews. He says, “You fellows are sitting here trying to take advantage and thinking of your own profit and your own gain. You can’t have that spirit in Jerusalem.” Nehemiah was a strict man. He was strict with the enemies outside the gate, and he was strict with these carnal people who were sitting inside the church.

Discipline Inside the Church

We need to do that if we want to build the body of Christ. Just building the walls alone is not enough if we don’t have discipline inside the church. A lot of passages like that in the New Testament speak of discipline inside the church. You remember in Acts Chapter 6 how the murmuring came about the widows not receiving enough? That’s how the devil tried to infiltrate in the Acts of the Apostles.

Here was a powerful movement of revival that you read in Acts 5. People were afraid; they were seeing the power of God in the church, and the devil got in the midst of the church and began to create murmuring—the Greeks versus the Jews, this community versus that community. This is not a 20th-century thing; it started in Acts Chapter 6.

This community versus that community, which God was trying to destroy through the cross. There the Apostles had wisdom, and they sorted out that problem before it became too serious. We have to always be on the alert that such things never crop up. They can crop up inside the walls because the flesh is still there.

That’s why we see that God had to use Nehemiah like this with great strictness. Otherwise, corruption would have gotten inside Jerusalem. After he had silenced them, we read in verse 9, “Then again I said, ‘The thing which you are doing is not good. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies?'”

Walking in the Fear of God

He challenged them to say, “Can you say that you are walking in the fear of God when you disobey what God has told you to do? No, you’re not. You’re not living in the fear of God.” That’s the challenge that must come to us inside the walls of Jerusalem all the time.

All the time. When you take advantage of your wife, brother, are you walking in the fear of God? When you take advantage of a weaker brother, are you walking in the fear of God? No, you’re not. There you disregard the fear of God altogether. When you take advantage of someone who’s working under you, are you walking in the fear of God? No.

Then it’s no use talking about the walls of Jerusalem. The judgment has to begin in the house of God first, and Nehemiah was ready to do that. He says, “Likewise, I, my brothers, verse 10, and my servants are lending them money and grain. Now he says, ‘Leave off this usury.'”

Verse 11: “Please give them back this very day. Don’t wait till tomorrow. Their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, their houses, and also the interest—the hundredth part of the money means the 1% per month that you were collecting—and the grain, and the new wine, and the oil that you were exacting from them.”

Restitution and the Oath

Exacting has got the meaning of sort of squeezing it out of them. “You jolly well have to pay that.” When they saw this man of God standing there, the Holy Spirit supporting Him, they really got scared. Verse 12: “They said, ‘We’ll give it back. We’ll require nothing from them. We’ll do exactly as you say.'”

They didn’t return it like Zacchaeus, joyfully; they returned it out of fear. I called the priests and took an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. I also shook out the front of my garment. That was a symbolic way by which he was invoking a curse upon them if they didn’t keep that word and said, “Thus may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not fulfill this promise.”

You see, Nehemiah knew. It’s all right here; this great assembly is gathered, and these rich people have been put on the spot. Now they have to say, “Yes, yes, we will return it.” But you know, they go home, and their wives will tell them something and say, “No, no, no, that’s not a good thing you said there publicly,” and make them change their mind.

You know how it is. When the men go home, the women come up to them and say, “Why did you go and make that promise to that person?” and all that. Nehemiah knew all that. So he said, “Now I’m going to make you fellows swear an oath here so that nobody’s going to make you change your mind. May God throw you fellows out of your homes if you don’t keep your promise.”

He really put the fear of God into them. What a wonderful man of God he was! He says, “Thus may he be shaken out and emptied.” The whole assembly said, “Amen,” and they praised the Lord. Yes, because there one God-fearing man put a fear into all these rich people.

Preserving the Purity of the Church

Brothers and sisters, it is impossible to build the church of Jesus Christ unless you have men like Nehemiah. It is impossible. The rich people will come and corrupt the whole thing. The strong, soulish people will come and corrupt the house of God unless we preserve the purity of the church by teaching people to live in the fear of God and walking in humility and not with this selfish, grabbing, seeking-my-own spirit.

That’s got to be driven out of the church—this grabbing, calculating attitude towards our brothers and sisters. There’s one percent more that he owes me. That’s what he says there—one hundredth part of the money. One percent more. This calculating attitude towards one another. God wants to free us from that. Otherwise, the walls of Jerusalem are no use.

We’ve got to judge ourselves in the church inside and to say Amen to that and to praise the Lord for that. That’s a good thing. Then the people did according to this promise. Praise God that they were willing to obey.

We see that the severity of God—God is severe and He is kind. I see that beautifully pictured in Ezra and Nehemiah together. Nehemiah manifesting God’s severity and Ezra manifesting God’s kindness, and together they could work and show God to the people.

Nehemiah’s Personal Example

Now, verses 14 to 19, Nehemiah gives us a little description of the example of his own life in this financial area. You see that it was because his own life was like this, described in verses 14 to 19, that he had such authority when he stood up to rebuke all these people.

Notice how Nehemiah lived. “Moreover, from the day that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah,” that was the king had appointed him from the 20th year to the 32nd year. I told you he left the king’s service for 12 years. He lost all the opportunity for increment and promotion and everything else over there because he wanted to do God’s work.

Think of that—forgetting about increment, promotion, and all your seniority for 12 years because you want to be wholehearted for God. I tell you, it’s rare to find such people now. People who weep over they didn’t get an increment one year. They didn’t get their promotion in time. They’re a million miles away from Nehemiah.

Here was a man who was willing to go 12 years away from his secular job in order to do the work of God. He says, “Neither I nor my relatives have eaten the governor’s food allowance.” You see, the governor’s food allowance was something like the full-time workers’ food allowance. You know, from the people have to give their tithes, and the people are to pay their taxes and support the full-time worker or the governor.

The Contrast with Former Governors

He says in verse 15, “The former governors who were before me, they did that. They laid burdens on the people. Maybe they got up and preached on tithing and how it’s important to support those who are ruling over you and all that. They took from them bread and wine, and no wonder these rich people flourished, because the governors visited their homes and collected money from them.”

They wanted, it says, “40 shekels of silver.” The Living Bible says $100 a day, a thousand rupees a day. You can imagine how much that was worth those days. Even their servants domineered the people. Imagine that! You get a full-time worker who dominates the people, and you’ll find his wife is also a boss.

Yeah, I’ve seen that. Full-time workers are bosses. You’ve got to be scared of the wife too. The wife will chase around all the little fellows in the assembly to go to the market and get this and go this and that. The servants also. Amazing how all these things are being repeated in Christendom today.

Nehemiah said, “This is what the former governors did. They took advantage. Their servants also domineered the people, but I did not do so.” Why? “Because I feared God.” That’s all. No other explanation. “I feared God.” That’s why he could challenge these other people.

In verse 9, he says, “Are you fellows walking in the fear of God or not?” He can’t challenge another person if we are not walking in that same fear of God ourselves. Also, he says in verse 16, “I also applied myself to the work on this wall.” It wasn’t just lazily sitting like the other governors enjoying themselves. He worked on the wall himself.

No Speculation, Only Service

He did not speculate in any land. You know what that means? Nehemiah could have thought, “Ah, this is a good time to buy land in Jerusalem because prices are going to appreciate, and once this city is going to be built, it’s going to be really something for me.” He says he didn’t do it. He steered clear of it.

All my servants were gathered there for the work because the servants are like that. How the other servants were in verse 15, because the governors were domineering, the servants were domineering. In verse 16, because Nehemiah himself worked on the wall, his servants also worked on the wall. He was not domineering; they were not domineering.

That’s always the way that the people become like the leader. That is why it’s very important that there be examples in the church who can say, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” Nehemiah was one like that, just like the Apostle Paul could tell the elders in Ephesus in Acts Chapter 20.

Paul’s Example in Acts 20

In Acts Chapter 20, before he left Ephesus, he told them, “I’ve been with you for three years.” Acts Chapter 20, verse 31. He says there that “I’ve been with you for a period of three years.” During these three years, verse 33, he said, “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes.”

You know what that means? Paul was a full-time worker. He says, “I didn’t sit there wishing, ‘Oh, I wish perhaps that rich brother may come and give me a shirt for my birthday.'” That is coveting. Or he may give me pants material or something. Or maybe if I visit his house, he may give me an envelope with some money in it. That is coveting.

It is not asking; that is much worse. That is begging. This is just sitting in the home and thinking, “Ah, who shall I visit today?” That is where the covetousness begins—to sit there and think who will come with some gift to one’s house. Paul says, “I was not like that for three years. I had no interest in all that. You know that these hands ministered to my own needs, verse 34, and to the men who were with me.”

More Blessed to Give Than to Receive

“I taught you by the example of my life the reality of the words of Jesus that it is more blessed to give than to receive.” That’s why Paul had authority. That’s why Nehemiah had authority. It is not a question of sitting there and receiving and receiving and receiving. But what about a full-time worker? Has he got to give? Sure. Jesus gave; Paul gave.

Following the Right Example

Which full-time worker are we following? The only one who kept receiving was Judas Iscariot. We got a choice. We can either follow Jesus and Paul or Judas Iscariot. Nehemiah had that spirit of Paul.

Now let’s turn back to Nehemiah Chapter 6. He didn’t take the allowance which was entitled to him. He didn’t take advantage of the people. It says he worked on the wall. He did not speculate in land. Wonderful examples for us to follow.

Nehemiah’s Hospitality

Now, verses 17 and 19, see his hospitality. In verses 17 and 18, he says, “At my table, just like we read in Acts 20, these hands ministered to my necessities and the necessities of those who were with me.”

He says, “At my table, 150 Jews and officials came for their meals every day.” Well, God had blessed him with wealth, no doubt. Otherwise, he couldn’t have fed 150 people in those hard times. But he was a man who knew how to use his wealth, not just for himself. That is the thing.

There are very few people like that who know how to use the wealth God gives them for the glory of God, for the good of His people, for the building of the church. Look at his hospitality. There were these 150 Jews who came to us from the nations that were around us, people who were coming there for meals.

His hospitality was not a stingy thing—just give some rice and dal today. No. It was, verse 18, “One ox per day.” Think of that! I don’t know how much an ox weighs, but that’s plenty for 150 people, I’ll tell you that. One solid ox, and six choice sheep, and many chickens, and all sorts of wine in abundance. Think of that!

I just want you to see his generosity. The Bible says in 1 Peter Chapter 4, a word about hospitality. He says, “Be hospitable to one another, without grudging it.” Why does it say without grudging? Because it’s possible to be hospitable and then to grudge and then to be stingy in our hospitality. Nehemiah wasn’t like that.

Qualifications of a Servant of God

There are qualifications of a servant of God here in Nehemiah Chapter 5. Wonderful example. Yet for all this, feeding all these 150 people, I did not demand the governor’s food because the servitude was heavy on these people.

What is his prayer at the end of all this? He says, “O God, just remember me according to all that I’ve done.” Just like that thief on the cross, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” He doesn’t ask for any great reward or any such thing. He says, “Lord, just think of me and have mercy upon me in the day of judgment because I have been merciful to the people whom You called me to serve.”

Mercy will triumph over judgment in that day for those who have shown mercy to other people, like Nehemiah, and who have sought to deny themselves, not seek their own, and seek the good of others.

The Enemies Return

Now we come to Chapter 6, and we read here, “It came about when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, and to the rest of the enemies that I had rebuilt the wall.”

We don’t read much of these enemies in Chapter 5, and perhaps you know why—because they were just sitting back and enjoying the fighting going on in the midst of the believers, you see. They didn’t need to do anything. When the believers were fighting among themselves, they could just sit back and enjoy it.

But now that that problem had got sorted out, the enemies got active again. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, to the rest of our enemies, they heard that the wall was rebuilt and that no breach remained in it. That’s a wonderful verse. That means it was a finished job.

The Spirit of Finished Work

Nehemiah was not like one of these Tirupati Babas who shave half the head and keep the fellow waiting there. No, it was none of these half-finished jobs that he went about doing. It was a complete job. There are very few people today who are interested in doing a complete job. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples.” People make converts, shave off their heads, and keep them there. Who’s going to make them into disciples?

Nehemiah did a complete job. God gave him one job: “Go and make the wall.” Here’s the testimony: “No breach remained in it.” It is finished. That spirit of Jesus Christ, the spirit of the finished work, Nehemiah had. That’s what we must have. If God entrusts a task to you, brothers and sisters, you really do it wholeheartedly until you finish it.

That can be in an assembly. It’s possible in an assembly, right in the beginning, when we say, “Who can volunteer for the maintenance, and who can volunteer for this, who can volunteer for that?” A whole lot of enthusiastic people, who all give their names, a big list of names, but when it comes to doing the job, yeah, you find that convenience.

Yeah, it requires inconvenience to build the wall. There was a finished job. Nehemiah said he would do something; he made sure he did it. Otherwise, he should have told God right in the beginning, “Sorry, I’ve got other things to do, Lord; I can’t do that.” But he committed himself to something, and he made sure it was done.

That spirit—he was faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much. That’s why it’s important that we don’t try to take on too many things more than we can handle. But if you take it on, we must finish it. There was no breach remaining in it.

Standing in the Breach

I believe the Lord is looking for people like that. You read in the book of Ezekiel, the prophet Ezekiel prophesied out there in Babylon when the people were there, and Nehemiah had read the prophecy of Ezekiel. In the prophecy of Ezekiel, there’s a verse like this, Ezekiel 22:30, where the Lord says, “I searched for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach,” that is the same word as here, “before me, for the land.”

“I looked for one man who will build up the wall and make sure there are no breaches in it, and I found no one.” But in Nehemiah’s day, He found one. He found one who would not seek his own. He found one who was willing to be strict and lose his reputation for gentleness and kindness.

A lot of people love their reputation for gentleness and kindness; they’ll never be strict even if adultery comes into the church. God can’t use such a man. But Nehemiah couldn’t care less for what people thought about his gentleness and kindness; he was strict, and he never sought his own. He never took advantage of anything. He found one.

Ezekiel said, “God says, I’m looking for a man who will build the wall, and I found no one.” Someone who will fill up the breaches, and here it is. Here’s the man who filled up the breaches. There was no breach remaining in it.

Preaching Every Commandment

We saw that the wall is a picture of the commandments of Jesus. Brothers and sisters, think of it. Think to build a church where every single commandment of Jesus is proclaimed. Not one breach, not one brick or stone left out of the wall. That’s wonderful—to be able to build a church like that. I tell you, it’s almost impossible as we go through this land to find one church where every commandment of Jesus is constantly preached.

But we want to build one like that in different places—every commandment. Know that there are churches with gaping holes in the walls, and the Lord says, “I’m looking for a man who will build the wall without any breaches.” He’s looking even today. May God find such folk in you, in me, and in many others.

Then the enemies are stirred again. They are disturbed at this wholehearted preaching of all the commandments, and all the holes in the walls are filled up. Think of the enemies being disturbed because the holes in the walls are filled up, and the small commandments are also being preached.

The Tactic of Distraction

At Sanballat and Geshem, now they tried another tactic. We are not to be ignorant of the schemes of Satan. They tried various other ways we saw in Nehemiah Chapter 4. They didn’t succeed. Now it says, “They heard that I had rebuilt the wall and no breach remained in it,” that they came and sent a message to me, saying, “Come, let’s meet together.”

Let’s have a conference. Let’s have a discussion. We’ll, you know, this ecumenical type of stuff, or interdenominational meeting. These were the people who didn’t believe in preaching all the commandments of Jesus. They were the Samaritans, people who feared God and served their own gods, as we saw in 2 Kings 17.

They wanted to hold hands with Nehemiah, the wholehearted servant of God, saying, “Come, let’s meet together. Let’s be interdenominational and work together.” They were planning to harm me. But Nehemiah said, “There we see something about him—the wisdom he had. I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down. I don’t have time for all your interdenominational conferences. God has committed a task to me, and I have no time to sit wasting on discussion. I have to complete that task.”

I have no time to come down to you, sorry. I’m doing a great work. God has committed a task to me, and I’m going to carry on doing it till it’s finished. “Why should the work stop while I leave it and come to you?” Nehemiah knew that the others were not wholehearted enough to carry on. If he left the place, the work would stop.

He knew he had to be there to keep the walls going up until it was finished, like Paul kept the spirit of the Antichrist out of Ephesus as long as he was there. Nehemiah was not deceived even by the sweet words of some of these other people.

Discernment and Wisdom

There’s a verse in Proverbs Chapter 14 which tells us, Proverbs 14:15, “The simple man believes everything, but the wise man considers his steps.” When these people came with a message, sent a message to Nehemiah saying, “Let’s meet together,” Nehemiah didn’t believe it. I’ll tell you something—there’s no virtue in believing everybody who comes to you. No, we are to have discernment. They were instruments in Satan’s hand trying to distract Nehemiah from the work.

Brothers and sisters, when the devil can’t succeed in any other way, he will try to distract us from the work that God has committed to us. You remember the time when the Grecian widows were murmuring in Acts Chapter 6? You know what the devil was aiming there?

“Let’s get Peter and James and John now to serve the food, you know. Let’s get them to realize that serving the food to these widows is a very humble job to do, and you can show your humility, Peter, if you go and serve tables.” Peter saw through that and he said, “Sorry, we have no time to serve tables. That’s a good work to do. We need spiritual people to do it. But God has given us another ministry, and we have to give ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word, not just to serving tables.”

The devil didn’t succeed with Peter; he succeeded with a lot of other people who were called to the ministry of the word and are now wasting their time rotting away as directors of some Christian organization or the other behind some table, serving a table. But Nehemiah wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t allow himself to be distracted.

Luke Chapter 9:62 in the Living Bible says, “Anyone, Jesus said, who allows himself to be distracted from the work that I plan for him is not fit for the kingdom of God.” Put your hand to the plow and look back; you’re not fit for the kingdom of God. It means that if you are distracted, turned back means to be distracted from the work committed to you.

Brothers and sisters, God has committed a work to us. We can’t allow ourselves to be distracted. They sent messages to me four times. Four times he said, “Sorry, I cannot come for all your interdenominational conferences. I don’t have time. I’ve got something much more important to do than that.”

False Accusations

Then Sanballat, they wouldn’t give up, sent it a fifth time in an open letter. That means a letter where the envelope was not stuck. You know, when people do that, you know what the purpose of that is? Everybody should read it along the way. The purpose was to get the news around.

It was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem,” that’s one of those three fellows there, “says that you and the Jews are planning to rebel; therefore, you’re rebuilding the wall.”

False accusation, false letters, tracts being printed with false accusations against us. Sure, the devil’s got so many weapons. That you want to be their king; you’re trying to get everybody under your thumb; you’re a Diotrephes over there and you’re a little Pope ruling that place. Nehemiah wasn’t disturbed by any of these things.

He says, “You’ve also appointed some of your hired men who just get up and praise you and say that there’s a king in Judah.” Or like one of the paraphrases say, “You got a lot of people going around saying, ‘Brothers, Nehemiah is the man that we need.'” Think of that—all these accusations.

Saying you just got a bunch of yes men around you who just keep saying yes to you. Now he says, “It’s going to be reported to the king.” So come now, fear—trying to put fear in their heart, the fear of the authority, fear of the king. I tell you, fear is a tremendous weapon of Satan by which he hinders a lot of people from doing God’s work—putting fear into their heart.

Nehemiah’s Response

He sent a message to him saying, “Well, let me paraphrase it. It’s just a lot of garbage, what you’ve written. That’s all. You’re just inventing them in your own mind. Since your own mind is filled with garbage, it’s come out of it. That’s all.” They were trying to frighten us, thinking that they’ll become discouraged with the work and it won’t be done.

Nehemiah’s Response to Opposition

He says, “Oh God, strengthen my hands.” Think of Nehemiah—no discussion, no sending another letter, big letter back, proving all the things, all the point number one, point number two, point number three, and arguing back. You can say what you like, brother; I have no time. Just commit the matter to God.

“Oh God, just strengthen me. I want to build a wall. I have no time to waste writing another tract against these people for what they’ve written against me. No time for all that. Let them do what they like. We live before God’s face and continue filling up the breaches in the wall, continue teaching obedience to all the commandments of Jesus, no matter what they may say, whatever they may accuse us of, of dictatorship or potpourri or anything.”

The Enemy Within: False Prophets

Then we see here further, Nehemiah has dealt with these enemies outside, and again you find the enemies inside—these some compromisers still sitting inside Jerusalem. When I entered the house of Shemaiah, Shemaiah, the son of Deliah and son of Jezebel, he was a Jew. He was not a Samaritan.

It says here in the margin, he was shut up at home. When you read the context, you find that this man was supposed to be, I mean, he claimed to be some type of prophet. When he says he was shut up at home, it means he was there having a quiet time, trying to listen to God. He was just a deceiver.

Maybe one of the fellows appointed by one of the former governors to help him get his money or something like that. He came to Nehemiah and he said, “This is a spiritual fellow, you know. It’s not like all these carnal people out there. This fellow has got all the pious language.” He says, “Let’s meet together in the house of God.”

I’m sure his language was very pious and his tone was very pious when he said all that. He claimed to have a message from God within the temple. “This is what the Lord says. I was waiting on the Lord, brother. I was shut up in my house and I was waiting on the Lord, and the Lord spoke to my heart to come and give you this message. Let us go into the house of God, and let’s be there because the people are coming to kill you.” Thus says the Lord, “They have come to kill you.” The deceivers inside Jerusalem.

Nehemiah’s Discernment

Nehemiah said, “What do you mean? You think a man like me should run away and go and hide in the temple to save my life?” You remember when in Acts 21 people in the spirit told Paul, “Thus says the Lord, you are not to go to Jerusalem.” Paul said, “All rubbish. I don’t believe that. I’m willing to lose my life. You’re afraid that I’ll lose my life. That’s why you’re inventing these prophecies.”

There are a lot of these prophecies like that today. “Thus says the Lord, you must marry so and so. You must go here. You must do that.” Garbage bin. That’s the place for all that. Nehemiah said, “No, I’m not afraid. I will not go in, no matter what you may say.” There’s a word there for us. Nehemiah was a man who was not afraid of death. He was willing to lose his life for the Lord’s sake, and that’s why God could use him. He was not going to be deceived by any fellow coming up and saying, “Brother, God spoke to me.”

Then, verse 12, “I perceived that God had not sent him.” This is what indicates that the man had claimed that God had sent him. But Nehemiah says, “I perceived.” Nehemiah was a man of revelation. The Spirit witnessed to his spirit. “Something wrong with this man. Something not straight about this brother.”

I want to tell you, brothers and sisters, if we walk with a clear conscience, the Spirit will witness when we meet different brothers. “Something not straight about this person. Some guile in this person.” The Spirit will say that. We can perceive something there. We need to walk with God like that.

Paid Prophets and the Sin of Fear

Nehemiah perceived that he uttered this prophecy because Tobiah and Sanballat had paid him. There we see he was a paid prophet, paid by these rich opposers, Babylonian merchants. The Babylonian merchants have got their paid prophets who have their quiet time and claim to hear something from God. They can even relate visions and dreams to hinder the work of God, to frighten God’s servants.

He was hired for this reason, that I might become frightened and act accordingly in sin. There we see something—to be frightened is to sin. Did you see that in verse 13? “That I might become frightened and sin.” Why is being frightened a sin? Because it is saying to God, “You don’t care for me. You don’t love me. You won’t protect me. You’ll take me halfway across the river and you’ll dump me there.” Isn’t that a sin? That’s a sin of fear.

Nehemiah said, “These people said all this to frighten me so that I might sin.” Then they can have an evil report in order that they could reproach me. That is the way of the devil. First, bring a little fear into your heart. Then you’ll sin, and then your testimony is gone. Three steps—starting with fear: “God doesn’t love you. He’ll let you down. He’ll dump you halfway across.”

There are enough exhortations and teachings and scriptures in the scriptures. He has loved us with an everlasting love. If we humble ourselves and turn to Him, He will never forsake us, no matter how much we have failed. There’s no need for fear. Nehemiah recognized that fear can paralyze my effectiveness for God.

Fear Paralyzes Believers

You know how paralysis is something so dreadful. None of us would like to be paralyzed. Think of lying in a bed. But do you know what paralyzes believers? Fear. Earthly fear paralyzes us. If only we could see that. Our spirit is paralyzed. Drive it out with the love of God. God has given us the spirit of love, not of fear.

He just prays to God and says, “Oh God, remember me. Remember Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs.” There was a woman prophetess too. I tell you, these women prophetesses are also after God’s servants. The rest of the prophets are trying to frighten them.

The devil’s got agents there with prophets and prophetesses coming and trying to give all types of messages to God’s servants to try and lead them astray, to try and puff them up, and hinder them, trying to frighten them. The leaders are always the number one targets of Satan’s attack. That’s why Paul said, “Brethren, pray for me,” because he was such a target of Satan’s attack.

To every church, he would have that request: “Brethren, pray for me.” I’m sure those churches prayed for Paul. We’ll probably discover in eternity that if Paul was kept till the end, it was not only because of his own wholeheartedness but also because the believers prayed for him. We need to pray for those who are in the front line because they are the targets of Satan’s attack.

The Wall Completed

Well, Nehemiah overcame it all. Finally, it says here in verse 15, “So the wall was completed.” That one word, “so.” Wonderful word. All this battle and fighting and strictness. Thus, that one word, “so,” describes all that we have studied today.

So, Nehemiah’s uncompromising attitude and his generosity and his unselfishness—so the wall was completed in 52 days. What was not done for 90 years—the Jews had come back from Babylon 90 years ago. But for 90 years, nothing happened. The temple was built, nothing more. Then Nehemiah came along, and in 52 days, less than two months, the job was done. That was a wholehearted man.

It came about when all the enemies heard it and all the nations surrounding us saw it. They lost their confidence. They recognized the work had been accomplished with the help of God. They recognized that God was in our midst, and that’s the miracle of the New Testament Church.

We read in 1 Corinthians 14:25 that an unlearned man comes into your midst, and he hears the word of God, and he says, “God is here.” God has spoken to me. The secrets of his heart are made manifest, and he says, “God is here.” That’s what they said there. They recognized that God was in their midst.

Compromising Relationships

Also, in those days, many letters went from the nobles of Judah to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them. Because many in Judah were bound by oath to him because he was the son-in-law of Shekeniah, the son of Arah. His son Jehonen had married the daughter of Meshulam, the son of Berechiah.

It’s a sad thing, you see, when we have intermarried and there are unconverted relatives. Intermarried with a heathen and unconverted relatives come and try to influence and try to speak to him, trying to hinder God’s work. That’s what we see here. Tobiah, he was a relative of some of these Jews. He had tried to put some pressure on Nehemiah through these relatives of his.

They were speaking about Tobiah being a good brother and all that. Then went back and reported my words back to Tobiah. Tobiah sent letters to frighten me. Just think of this man Nehemiah. Just think what he was going through with all these fellows just plotting against him and hardly knowing whom he can trust. How he leaned upon God and completed that job. That’s a tremendous example, brothers and sisters.

Standing Firm Against Deception

As we seek to build Jerusalem, we’ll find there are these two-faced people. They’ll say one thing to you, another thing somewhere else. We can have them come into our midst like these people came to Nehemiah. They said nice things to him, and then they went out and reported something bad about him.

There, this man stood like a rock that could not be shaken. I believe God wants us to be like that—shrewd as serpents—that we are not deceived by all these hypocrites and humbugs and these two-faced, two-minded people, double-minded people who come into our midst.

But we see through and test everybody by the fear of God and by the sword of the Spirit, which we proclaim and swing freely in the church. Thus, in our day also, God calls us to build a wall complete for His glory.

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