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Skip Heitzig: They put a crown of thorns on His head, a reed in His hand, and a robe on His back because they were mocking Him, saying that He was the King of the Jews. And they said, “Oh, hail, King of the Jews!” It was all done in mockery. When He was hanging on the cross, people passed by and shouted out, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” All that is done in mockery. Early Christians were mocked. And they were mocked because the idea of a crucified God was abhorrent to the mind of the Roman, the Greek, and the Jew.

The idea of a crucified God. I'm going to put something up on the screen. I want to show it to you. This is from the second century AD, and this is called the Alexamenos graffito. There's a difference between graffiti and graffito. Graffiti is spray paint. Graffito is etching something into stone, and that's what they had back then. There were no spray paint cans. Whoever this artist was is mocking a Christian by the name of Alexamenos who worshipped Jesus Christ. You'll notice that the picture is a picture of a crucified, donkey-headed figure. Underneath it, it says, “Alexamenos worships his God.” It was all done to mock him and mock Christians.

Also, Christians are being mocked at present in the media, in the entertainment world, in the fields of academia. Several years ago, Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, called Christianity a religion for losers. Talk show host Bill Maher said the Bible is comically, stupidly corrupt, and religion is evil. This year at the Paris Olympics, we saw the opening ceremony. Unfortunately, I saw it. It was a drag show mocking the Last Supper. The name of Jesus Christ is scorned, ridiculed, mocked, and used as a swear word.

It does bother me when people will say the name of Jesus Christ as a fill word. Whenever they do, they say, “Jesus Christ!” I always fill it in and say, “is Lord,” because now the sentence is complete. We're not the only ones that notice this. The unbelieving world has even noticed that Christians are the ones out of all the different religious systems that are constantly mocked and persecuted and despised and assaulted. People won't say anything against Islam because they're afraid. They will say anything against Christianity because they're not afraid. They're not afraid because what they get back from us is love, forgiveness, patience. That's what marks a Christian: love.

That also makes us vulnerable to the animosity and the hate because there's no fear of retaliation. Opposition is normal. Opposition is verbal. Let me give you a third characteristic: opposition is continual. Verse 4 doesn't say who prayed it, but I'm guessing it is a prayer by Nehemiah. “Hear, O our God, for we are despised.” Now, let me warn you, this prayer is a little bit edgy. “Turn their reproach on their own heads and give them as plunder to a land of captivity.” I wouldn't want to be Nehemiah's enemies. “Do not cover their iniquity. Do not let their sin be blotted out from before you, for they have provoked you to anger before the builders.”

I'll get back to that prayer. Verse 6 says, “So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.” That is one of the great verses in the book. The people had a mind to work. They get hassled, but they pray and they work. Now what happened? Verse 7 says, “When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, they became very angry, and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion.”

They get mocked, but they pray and they work, and you might think that's all you got to do: pray and work, and enemies are going to go away. Oh no, they won't. Don't think that just because you pray and persist in your work that Satan is going to pack up and go home. He'll just find a different way in. He'll just try a different tactic. Do you recall when Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness by Satan? He successfully endured that temptation by quoting scripture. Luke chapter 4 says, “When the devil ended every temptation, he departed until he had an opportune time.”

The devil waited until he had an opportune time. You might be successful in resisting Satan's assaults and attacks, but like Arnold Schwarzenegger, he'll be back. He'll look for an opportune time to attack again. This time, the opposition intensifies with more people because the wall is being closed. The attack keeps coming. It's continual. In my neighborhood, I've noticed lately, and it's typically around this time, the woodpeckers are out. I walk my dog early in the morning and late in the afternoon, and you can hear these woodpeckers. I love studying them, and I even went home and looked them up online.

The secret to the woodpecker's success is that the woodpecker will peck at a piece of tree, and they'll be at it. You hear them. But if the wood is too hard, he stops. Or if there are no insects, he stops, and he moves just a little bit over and does it again. If it's too hard, he moves over again until he finds a soft spot. When he finds a soft spot, he just burrs in. I find that our enemy is exactly the same. He's looking for a soft spot, a weak spot. He studies our category and notices where we are vulnerable. Opposition is continual.

If you ever want to get insight into the continued strategy of Satan in the life of a believer, read a little book by C.S. Lewis called *The Screwtape Letters*. I recommend it to everyone. It's an easy read. It's written from the vantage point of a demon, a senior demon, tutoring a junior demon on how to ruin somebody's life. It will give you insight into Satan's devices. You'll notice, back to our story, that there are four groups that are mentioned. Essentially what is happening is Jerusalem is being surrounded.

Up north is Samaria. The Arabs are down south; that's where Arabia is. The Ammonite kingdom is to the east of the Jordan River. The Ashdodites—Ashdod is a city in Philistine country—are to the west. North, south, east, and west are enemies that are now getting together and conspiring at the stirring up of Sanballat and Tobiah. This conspiracy is based on mutual hatred. They all hate the Jews. If you did a historic search, you would discover all of these groups hated each other. They were rivals against each other.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. If you hate the Jews, and I hate the Jews, and we all hate the Jews, we're going to have a “hate the Jew” party. We're all going to attack Jerusalem. So they conspired against them. It was their hatred that brought them together. In the New Testament, that is exactly the case with Jesus. He was the catalyst in bringing two rivals who didn't like each other together. One was named Herod, the other was named Pontius Pilate. They were at odds with each other.

Luke 23 says, “That very day, Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other.” What brought them together as friends? They wanted to get rid of Jesus. I bring that up because I have discovered that often God's people find it very difficult working together because we let dumb stuff separate us. Little things that are not even consequential. Whereas the world has no difficulty in uniting in opposition against us. If we're busy taking up the sword and lopping each other's arms off, we're not going to have any energy for the real battle. Opposition is continual. You’ve got to know who we're fighting.

Let me give you a fourth and final characteristic of this opposition: opposition is conquerable. The Bible says we are more than conquerors. There are three strategies you'll notice that Nehemiah employs: prayer is one, persistence is a second, and practicality is a third.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Every day, the generosity of friends like you helps make clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching available to people searching for truth, direction, and hope. This month, we want to thank you with two powerful resources to help you follow God faithfully, even when life feels uncertain or challenged. When you give, you'll receive the *Expound Nehemiah* seven-message CD series with digital download, along with Pastor Skip's booklet, *Overcoming an Anxious Mind*.

Together, these resources show you how God rebuilt what's broken, strengthens you when you face opposition, and gives you peace even in seasons of pressure and waiting. We'll send both resources as our thanks when you give $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com/offer. Now, let's return to today's teaching with Pastor Skip Heitzig.

Skip Heitzig: First of all, notice his prayer. It's mentioned twice. Verse 9 is one place: “Nevertheless, we made our prayer to our God.” But the prayer I'm interested in is the one that is written down for us in verses 4 and 5, the one that is a little troublesome. “Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their reproach on their own heads and give them as plunder to a land of captivity.” Let them go captive to somewhere else. “Do not cover their iniquity. Do not let their sin be blotted out from before you, for they have provoked you to anger before the builders.”

That is a shocking prayer. Who prays like that? That's a Mafia prayer. That's like the Godfather. “I'm going to case you in cement.” Looking through different commentators this week, some of the commentaries are embarrassed at this prayer. They don't know what to do with it. Let me take a crack at it. How do we explain such a harsh prayer? First of all, just because you pray something stupid doesn't mean that God has to answer it. If God answered every prayer we ever prayed, the world would be in a big, bigger hurt.

Just because a child of God says, “God, I'm praying this,” God isn't up there going, “Okay, well, you claimed it and you said it, so I got to do it.” He's God. He's sovereign, and He can veto anything you pray. That's first. Second, you and I should never be afraid to tell God anything that is on our heart. If there's going to be one person you're going to be absolutely honest with, it should be God. Spurgeon said, “There's no secret of my heart that I would not pour into the Lord's ear.” You can be honest with God. He can handle it. He can sift through it.

A third thing is that when he says here, “Don't let their sin be blotted out,” he's not referring to all the sins they've ever committed. He's speaking in particular about the sin of opposing the building of the city of Jerusalem. That's God's city. I would even say something else, a fourth thing I've noticed: Nehemiah is actually praying according to the promises of God. In Genesis 12, God made Abraham a promise to him and his progeny. He said, “Whoever blesses you, I will bless, but I will curse him who curses you.”

Nehemiah is just calling on God to do what God said He would do. If this is your city and this is your covenant, then I'm going to leave vengeance up to the Lord. Vengeance belongs to God. Notice the prayer: “Hear, O our God,” and then he says, “for they have provoked you to anger.” Nehemiah is not provoked to anger because he knows God's provoked to anger. I don't have to get emotionally involved in this. God is moved to anger. God takes this personally.

God takes certain things personally. When God's children are attacked, God takes it personally. When Saul of Tarsus was on the road to Damascus to arrest Christians, he's riding along on whatever horse or donkey he's on. He gets knocked off. He hears a voice from heaven. A very unusual question is asked. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” He doesn't know who is talking. “Who are you, Lord?” The voice says, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” This was a news flash to Saul of Tarsus because he's not after Jesus. He thinks Jesus is dead. He's after people who follow Jesus.

The point being, Jesus says, “You're persecuting me. You're after them, I take it personally.” Notice this: Nehemiah, when he is attacked by the enemy, does he talk to the enemy? No, he talks to God. He doesn't talk to the enemy, he talks to God. I think this is a good pattern. You don't need to talk to the devil ever. There are some meetings I have noticed over the years; they like to call themselves spiritual warfare meetings. We're going to address Satan directly and take control and bind Satan, and we feel so powerful when we do. Satan is not afraid of you at all.

You are not intimidating to him one iota. The only thing that's frightening to him is the God that lives inside of you. Call on Him. Don't talk to Satan. I listen to some people going, “I bind you, Satan, and I want you to know...” What? You're praying to the devil? The Bible says resist the devil, not carry on long conversations with the devil. Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. It's prayer. We prayed to our God. That's the first way to conquer. Second: persistence.

Verse 6 says, “So we built the wall.” You can hear the mortar being slapped on the stones. They keep at it. “The entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.” What do you do when Satan attacks? Keep at it. Keep working. They ridicule, but you keep working. Don't worry about the devil's dogs. Dogs howl at the moon. I've often wondered why that is, and I did a little searching. When there's a full moon, it disorients dogs because typically it's dark out. Now there's more visibility, and they'll howl at the moon because they just don't get a read on what's happening. The howling is actually them communicating with other dogs in the dog community.

What does the moon do when the dogs howl at it? It keeps on shining. What do you do when Satan howls? You keep on shining. Living well is the best revenge, said George Herbert. Prayer, persistence. Third: practicality or protection. Verse 9 says, “Nevertheless, we made our prayer to God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night.” Nehemiah is so practical. He is not so heavenly minded that he's no earthly good. He knows that he's going to pray, but he's also going to guard. He's going to pray, but he's not just going to pray. He's going to pray and set a watch day and night.

The people had a mind to work, they had a heart to pray, they had an eye to watch. Jesus said, “Watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation.” Work without prayer is atheism. Prayer without work is presumption. You want to pray and work. You want to pray and set a watch. Oliver Cromwell used to say, “Trust God but keep your powder dry.” Or we would say, trust God, but lock the doors on your house. You keep your door ajar, and you're inside praying that God will protect it from people breaking in. That's dumb.

Pray but lock your doors. Pray but lock your car. If you're a student, pray as a test is coming up, but study. The student's favorite prayer—there's two of them. First is, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus,” when a test is coming up. The second one is, “God, give me all of the facts that I never studied for so I can ace this test.” That's not going to happen. Opposition is normal, it's verbal, it's continual, but it's conquerable.

During World War II, we had a tremendously skilled but eccentric, edgy general named George Patton. George Patton faced his enemy and the enemy general, the Nazi general Erwin Rommel, in North Africa. Erwin Rommel had written a book after World War I on strategies for battle, which George Patton devoured. He read it and knew the book. Because he knew the book, he knew the strategies of Rommel and he just kind of knew what he was going to do. When they were facing each other in Africa, at one point when the battle lines got close enough that these two generals could see each other, General Patton yelled at the top of his lungs, “I read your book, Rommel! I read your book!”

Because he knew the strategies of Rommel, he was able to defeat him in the Second World War. I've read God's book. This is the book that says we are not ignorant of his devices—Satan's devices. The strategies of Satan are outlined in God's book. Read His book. Learn to fight. Serving the Lord can be hard, but it's worth it, and it beats the alternative.

In the last couple of minutes of our time together, I'm going to ask some of you to defect. Up to this point, you have had a very loose, maybe disengaged relationship with God. It hasn't been authentic. You're not a follower of Christ. You're not in the camp of being a Christ follower. We have a real enemy called the devil. He's not a figment of people's imagination. He's a malevolent, intelligent being with a host of helpers.

I'm going to ask you to defect from that kingdom and join the ranks of the kingdom of God. Give your life to Christ. Surrender your life to Him. Be forgiven of your past. It's the best way to live. Charles Spurgeon said, “I'd rather have Satan as my enemy than as my friend.” Defect and give your life to Christ if you haven't done so.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember: your generosity helps share God's word with people all around the world, offering truth, hope, and encouragement where it's needed most. This month, we'd love to thank you for your gift of $50 or more by sending you the *Expound Nehemiah* seven-message CD series with digital download, along with Pastor Skip's booklet, *Overcoming an Anxious Mind*.

These resources will help you see how God rebuilds what's broken in your life and gives you peace even in the midst of pressure and uncertainty. Give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-1888. We'll see you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig. (Singing) Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the cross. Cast your burdens on His word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.