A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: If you give the devil an inch, he'll take a mile. If you invite the devil in for tea, it won't be long until he has you for dinner. We need to be careful to keep the doors of our lives shut to evil. Second Corinthians 10:5 says that we should bring every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

Guest (Male): The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says GPS-related navigation errors lead to over 200,000 car accidents annually in the US alone. Many drivers blindly follow GPS instructions right straight into trouble. Spiritually speaking, that's what happens when we listen to the devil.

Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out our adversary's temptations sound appealing, but they're deadly. Let's recalculate our route.

We're in the book of Nehemiah. We're in Nehemiah chapter six, and the title of my message is "Don't Give Up." Nehemiah, which is a story of the children of Israel returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The reason they were returning to Jerusalem is because they had been exiled to Babylon for 70 years because of their constant idolatry. The Lord warned them through the prophets. Finally, they were taken captive, but they are ultimately freed.

King Artaxerxes had as his cupbearer a man named Nehemiah, who was Jewish. Nehemiah had the coolest job, the cushiest job of all time. His job was to eat the food of the king before the king ate it. So that means he ate the finest food anywhere. He lived in the lap of luxury. This is not a position you would want to give up, but when he heard of the plight of his fellow Jews, when a report was given to him, he realized, "I'm in a position to do something, and I'm going to act on this."

So he boldly went to the king with a very detailed plan that he had come up with about rebuilding the walls and was bold enough to even ask the king to underwrite the whole thing. Because the king had so much affection for Nehemiah, he agrees. So Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem, and he faces great opposition, as we always will when we're doing the work of God.

When you decide to obey God and do what the Lord is leading you to do, you will face opposition. In chapters one to five, we see opposition toward the people building the wall, but in chapter six, they direct it now toward its leader, Nehemiah. It's getting personal. In war, enemy troops will often shoot at the commanding officers. In football, the major goal is to sack the quarterback.

In the church, those attacks will come toward the pastor and the leaders. That's why you need to pray for leadership. It's easy to critique them. It's easy to point out maybe the flaws or the weaknesses that they have, and all leaders have flaws and weaknesses, but remember to pray for them. I ask you to pray for me. I need your prayers desperately, as do all pastors and all leaders, no matter where they are in church today.

So these attacks start coming personally toward Nehemiah. So we pick the story up now in Nehemiah six. Nehemiah six, verse one: "Sanballat—he's one of the bad guys—Tobiah—another bad guy—Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies found out I had finished rebuilding the wall," writes Nehemiah, "and no gaps remained, though we had not yet set the doors up in the gates. So Sanballat and Geshem sent a message asking me to meet them at one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But I realized they were plotting to harm me."

Here's point number one, if you're taking notes: If you give the devil an inch, he'll take a mile. If you give the devil an inch, he'll take a mile. Predictable threats come from the two primary opponents to Nehemiah: Sanballat and Tobiah. If you go back to the original Hebrew, their names translate out to Beavis and Butt-Head. Or Dumb and Dumber.

So these guys are leveling their attacks against Nehemiah, but he is not going to be deterred from his task. He's almost completed it. He just needs to hang the doors. In the same way, we need to be careful to keep the doors of our lives shut to evil. The door of our mind to evil thoughts, the door of our heart, the door of our life in general, because again, as I said, if you give the devil an inch, he'll take a mile. We need to guard those thoughts and influences that don't come from God. Second Corinthians 10:5 says that we should bring every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

So when a thought comes knocking at the door of my mind, I can let it in or I can say, "You're not coming in at all," and some thoughts should just be left out. As I've said many times, it's not a sin to be tempted; even Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. But it's a sin when you allow that temptation to come into your mind and take it into your thought processes and run forward with it. So you have to guard yourself. Get those doors up there.

And they say, "We just want to meet with him in the Valley of Ono." Isn't that interesting? "Just meet us in this Valley of Ono." And you know, we will get similar invitations like this. "Hey, just come to this one party," or "Go to this one thing," or "Download this one app," or "Let's do this other thing." These are invitations to evil. We need to say no to Ono, or we're going to end up saying, "Oh, no," right? Didn't she break up the Beatles? That's another story.

But the devil's not stupid. He doesn't come and show you what he's up to. He doesn't say, "Hi, I'm the devil, you may have heard of me. I hate you. I like to destroy people. My mission statement is I come to steal, kill, and destroy. Kind of proud of that. Okay, so here's what I'm thinking. Why don't you, happily married man with a loving family, go commit adultery, destroy your marriage, destroy your reputation, and spend the rest of your life alienated from your children and destroy your testimony and everything else? What do you say?" Who's going to go for that?

The devil's more clever. He'll come and say, "Why don't you just come down to the plain of Ono, so to speak? Why don't you just compromise here? Why don't you just flirt with this other girl there? Why don't you just get into this situation?" So it's always a temptation to compromise. If you invite the devil for tea, it won't be long until he has you for dinner, because that's what happens when you make deals with the devil.

You see, "Oh, it's okay, no, you see, this is going to work out." No, he's wanting to destroy your life. "Come down to the plain of Ono." But Nehemiah knew they wanted to harm him. So he says, "I'm not going to come," and I love his resolve that he has.

Point number two: The devil is persistent, so we must be resistant. The devil is persistent, so we must be resistant. The Bible says resist the devil and he will flee from you. It doesn't say have extended conversations with Satan. See, this is the problem. I've heard some preachers on television and they're having these extended, lengthy conversations with Satan. They're like, "Satan, I say to you right now, and Satan, I want to tell you one more thing, and four more points, and in conclusion, devil..." What are you doing? Why are you talking to the devil?

The Bible tells the story of the powerful archangel Michael, who did not bring a railing accusation against Satan, but simply said, "The Lord rebuke you." Keep this conversation short. I don't want anything to do with you. I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to listen to you. I don't want to come down to the plain of Ono and see what you're offering. I'm drawing the line right now. I'm going to resist you.

Guest (Female): Hi, Pastor Greg. I live in Kansas, and one of these days my hubby and I want to travel to come see you in person. Your messages have been such a blessing in our lives, helping me heal as I dealt with anxiety and deep depression. Listening to you preach God's word helped me get through the battle, and now I feel renewed and free. God bless you, Pastor Greg.

Guest (Male): Do you have a story to share with Pastor Greg? If so, would you let him know? Send him an email: Greg at harvest dot org. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

Greg Laurie: Third point: Take care of your character, and God will take care of your reputation. Take care of your character, and God will take care of your reputation. So now Sanballat changes his strategy with Nehemiah and challenges his personal motives. Go to Nehemiah 6, verse five: "The fifth time—notice this persistence—the fifth time Sanballat's servant came with an open letter in his hand. And this is what it said: 'There's a rumor among the surrounding nations, and Geshem tells me it is true, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel, and that's why you're building the wall. According to his report, you plan to be their king,' he also reports, 'and you have appointed prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim about you, "Look, there's a new king in Judah!" You can be sure that this report will get back to the king. So I suggest you come and talk it over with me.'" Back to that again.

"Come on, let's just get together, let's have a conversation." I don't want conversations with you. So this is an outright lie. The fact of the matter is Nehemiah was very close to the king. Remember, he was the king's cupbearer. He would be an advisor to the king, a friend to the king, a confidant of the king.

In fact, when he told King Artaxerxes he was going to leave for Jerusalem, Artaxerxes said, "Well, how long are you going to be gone?" In other words, "Buddy, I'm going to miss you. I like hanging out with you. I'm sorry to see you go, but I think so much of you, I'm going to underwrite your whole mission and back you all the way." So this is the furthest thing from the truth. This was an outright lie. Today it would be something posted on social media, right? "Oh, here's a new rumor."

I heard this about gossip: "Gossip is news you have to hurry and tell somebody before you find out it isn't true." We love to spread gossip. We don't know if it's true, but we spread it, and it can spread so quickly today. But the interesting thing is Nehemiah was being accused of wanting to take the place of the king when in reality, that's what they themselves wanted to do.

Sometimes people will accuse you of the very thing that they are personally guilty of. It's called projecting. "I think you're this," when in reality, I'm not telling you about you; I'm telling you more about me. Jesus summed it up this way: "Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but you don't consider the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me get the speck out of your eye,' and look, a plank is in your own eye?"

Another paraphrase puts it this way: Jesus speaking, "How can you get the sawdust out of your brother's eye when you have a telephone pole in yours?" People will nitpick on small little things and be so critical of other people when in reality, that may be the problem they themselves are dealing with, and that's exactly what they were doing with Nehemiah. They were accusing him of that.

Commentator Kent Hughes summed it up this way: "We find it so easy to turn a microscope on another person's sin, but we look at ours through the wrong end of a telescope. We easily spot a speck of phoniness in another because we have a logjam of it in our own lives. Anger toward the speck in someone else's life may come from the suppressed guilt over the same massive sin in our own lives." That's a very insightful statement.

Bringing me to point number four: When you come under attack, you need to pray. When you come under attack, you need to pray. I love Nehemiah's response, verse six: "I sent him this reply: 'Nothing like what you're saying is happening; you're just making it up in your head.'" I love that.

This is fake news. This is not true. And I'm not going to dignify it for a moment, and I'm not going to stop what I'm doing for a moment, and I'm not going to come down to the plain of Ono and hang out with all y'all. So just stop asking. But these guys wouldn't give up. They were calling him and texting him and sliding into his DMs and faxing him and sending carrier pigeons and every way they could say this to him, they were doing, and he was resisting them all the way.

Point number five: We need to finish the work that God has called us to do. Verse three, "I sent them this message: 'I am doing a great work; I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it to go down to you?'" Any step away from what God has called you to do is a step down.

God called the prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to it. Jonah did not want to go. God said go, Jonah said no. God said, "Oh?" See, God will always have the last word. But it's interesting, when you read the book of Jonah, you read this: Jonah went down to a ship, and then he went down to the lower part of the ship, and then he went down to Joppa. Down, down, down.

Any step away from God is a step down. I'm not coming down. I'm not going to stop what I'm doing. I'm going to keep this task before me and I'm going to finish it. Winston Churchill, one of the most important figures in modern history, basically fought alone during World War II until the United States entered the war, but he made this statement: "Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never. In nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in."

It was that determination that kept England alive for that difficult time they faced. So now the walls of Jerusalem are completed. Despite the harassment, despite the attacks, they've completed the job. Now we sort of shift gears and we look at a spiritual awakening that happens in Israel. See, they did their part, now God's going to do his part.

There's some things only we can do and there's some things only God can do. God says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," and then here's a promise: "and all these things shall be added unto you." Your part, seek God's kingdom. God's part, he'll take care of you.

Here's your part, Second Chronicles 7:14: "If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways," that's your part, my part, our part. Then God promises, "then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land." So we look at America today. We say we need a spiritual awakening. We need a revival. Okay, God says, "Alright, do your part. Humble yourself, pray, seek my face, and then I'm going to answer your prayer and I'm going to heal your land and forgive you of your sin."

So Israel has done their part. They've rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in a record 52 days. Amazing. Now look at what happens. Nehemiah 8, verse one: "The people assembled with a unified purpose at the square inside the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had given for Israel to obey. And on October 8th, Ezra the priest brought the Book of the Law before the assembly, which included the men and the women and the children old enough to understand. He faced the square inside the Water Gate from early morning to noon and read aloud to everyone who could understand. All the people listened closely to the Book of the Law. And when they saw him open the book, they rose to their feet."

I love this. Hungry people are healthy people. When you go to see a doctor, the first thing he's going to say to you is—well, first thing he's going to be is, "Do you have your insurance card with you?" But after that he'll say, or she'll say, "Tell me, how's your appetite?" And if you say it's not good, that's not a good sign because if you're healthy, you're hungry. And these people are hungry for the word of God.

That's how to know if you're strong spiritually. This is how to know if you're revived spiritually: you're hungry for the Bible. You look forward to Bible study. You want to hear more. When it's done, you go, "Ah, I want to hear some more." That's a good sign.

Guest (Male): Important insight today here on A New Beginning. And it's a good sign that you're listening to this study today. Pastor Greg Laurie has more to come in his message called "Never Give Up." But let's take a step back and ask a basic question. It's important to have a hunger for the word of God, but do you have a hunger for the God of the Word? Have you ever come to the Lord and begun a relationship with him? Pastor Greg, maybe there's somebody listening here who isn't sure that they are a Christian. What would you say to them?

Greg Laurie: I would say that God is just a prayer away. You know, it doesn't take years to become a Christian. It doesn't take months. Frankly, it doesn't even take hours. It can happen so quickly. It just starts with you saying to God, "I know I'm a sinner. I know that you love me. I know that you sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sin and pay for those sin and then to rise again from the dead, and I want him to come into my life."

So here's my question to you: have you done that yet? Because Jesus, who did die on that cross and rose again from the dead three days later, is alive and standing at the door of your life right now, and he's knocking. And he says, "If you'll hear my voice and open the door, I will come in." Would you like your sin forgiven? Would you like to know that when you die, you will go to heaven? Do you want Christ to come into your life right now? If so, why don't you just stop whatever it is you're doing and pray this prayer with me? You could pray it out loud, you can pray it in the quietness of your own heart, but pray this prayer to God. Say:

Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, but I know that you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin, and I turn from it now, and I choose to follow you from this moment forward. I ask all of this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Listen, if you just prayed that prayer, the Bible promises that God has heard your prayer and has answered that prayer. The Bible says if we will confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So God bless you. You've made the right decision: the decision to follow Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Yes, that's right. And listen, as you begin to live this new life, we want to send you something to help you get started off right. It's Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible. It's in an easy-to-understand translation, plus hundreds and hundreds of study helps especially for those who are new to the faith. It'll answer the questions you may have.

So get in touch for your copy of the New Believer's Bible. We'll send it free of charge. Just call 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest dot org and click on "Know God."

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Well next time, more insight from the completion of the job of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. More from our studies in Nehemiah. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.