Love Worth Finding

Guest (Male): What's the symbolism behind the fallen walls in the book of Nehemiah? Listen to Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: Nehemiah is rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Today, we're rebuilding walls. Walls of orthodoxy have crumbled. Preachers today with humanistic tendencies that deify man and deny the Lord and defy the law and defile the land.

Walls of decency have crumbled. The demon-possessed, sex-crazed, money-mad world that we live in is ripe for judgment. Walls of freedom are crumbling, and the noose is getting tighter and tighter as totalitarian regimes around the world are flaunting power. What we need today in this church and in our world are some modern-day Nehemiahs.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding. Adrian Rogers was a beloved pastor and convicting Bible teacher who stressed the importance of rebuilding spiritual walls in our lives. In the book of Nehemiah, the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt despite the enemy's opposition.

Our enemy is very cunning and methodical. Because the Holy Spirit is our ally, we don't have to be ignorant about the devices of the devil. Not only can we know his methods, we can stand against them. If you have your Bible, turn now to Nehemiah chapter 4, as Adrian Rogers reveals the devices of the devil.

Adrian Rogers: I want you to take your Bibles, please, and turn, if you would, please, to the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter 4. I want to talk to you tonight about his majesty the devil, his satanic infernal majesty who is the god of this age, the prince of this world. And the message tonight really is to sound an alarm, to warn you that you have an enemy, and you need to know about him. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Now, our enemy is very deceitful. The Bible tells us in the book of the Revelation that he deceives the whole world. And he's very cunning and crafty. For example, in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 11—don't turn to it, but just stay there in Nehemiah—but in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 11, the Bible says that we're to stand against the wiles of the devil. And the word wiles, *methodia*, is the word we get our word methods from. That is, the devil is very methodical. He doesn't work by happenstance, not willy-nilly. He has a strategy to stop this church.

He has a strategy to ruin your life. The Bible speaks of the wiles of the devil. And in 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 24, the Bible speaks of the snares of the devil. That is, he has laid a trap for you. Now, remember that a snare is hidden. When you want to snare somebody, if you're going to snare a wild beast, for example, you put the snare on the ground and then you cover it with leaves and straw or whatever. So somewhere, sometime, when you least expect it, there is the snare of the devil.

His methods, the wiles, the snares, and then the apostle Paul said, however, in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11, "For we are not ignorant of his devices." That's the third word. Wiles, snares, and then devices. Thank God we don't have to be in ignorance concerning what Satan is up to. You see, dear friend, in our war, our intelligence department, the Holy Spirit, tells us exactly what our enemy is up to. We don't have to be ignorant. And yet so many people are saturated with ignorance concerning the work of the devil.

Now, in the book of Nehemiah, we're going to see what I'm going to call tonight the devices of the devil. Now, these are not fantasies, and the book of Nehemiah is not written as mere history. It is biblically recorded truth, and it is more than an episode of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. It is indeed didactic in that God has given us this book to teach us that we would not be ignorant of Satan's devices.

Now, what had happened is this: that God called Nehemiah as a builder. God called Nehemiah to go return back to Jerusalem and build the walls, rebuild the walls of Jerusalem that had broken down. And so Nehemiah has gone back to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Now, any work for God will receive satanic opposition. Satan works against your life. You say, "Well, he doesn't work against me." Well, don't congratulate yourself. If you haven't met the devil, it's because you and the devil are going in the same direction. You turn around, my dear friend, and you'll have a head-on collision with Satan. He stands against anything that is good and godly and holy.

But thank God we do not have to be ignorant of his devices. To be forewarned is to be forearmed, and I thank God for this book of Nehemiah. Now, Nehemiah is rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. And today we're rebuilding walls. Walls of orthodoxy have crumbled, and Satan today in the world has developed an educated, polished, juiceless, anemic brand of preacher and minister. Preachers today with humanistic tendencies that deify man and deny the Lord and defy the law and defile the land.

Walls of orthodoxy have crumbled, and walls of decency have crumbled. Not since Manhattan Island was sold for $24 has so much filth been sold so cheaply as right here in America. And the demon-possessed, sex-crazed, money-mad world that we live in is ripe for judgment. And walls of freedom are crumbling, and the noose is getting tighter and tighter as totalitarian regimes around the world are flaunting power. And what we need today in this church and in our world are some modern-day Nehemiahs.

Now, let me mention what the devil did to try to stop Nehemiah and what the devil will do to try to stop this church or to try to stop you. I'm going to mention some things. The very first thing is what I want to call derision. Look, if you will, in chapter 4, verse 1. "But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews." Do you see that? Just underscore it. He mocked them. That is, he derided them. That is, he laughed at them. That is, he ridiculed them.

And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria and said, "What do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish which were burned?" Can you hear the sarcasm? Can you hear the biting, withering scorn in the mouth of this man named Sanballat, who hated the work of Christ? Now, what is happening is this: that the devil is trying to laugh God's people away from a work for God.

Have you ever been laughed at for your faith? Have you? I have. I've had people since I was a high school kid to laugh at me because of the things I would do and would not do. You might as well admit the fact that true Christians are going to be the laughingstock of this world. I mean, have you noticed any of the situational comedies on television where they make fun of Bible-believing Christians? Have you noticed that if there is a minister of the gospel, I mean if he is a Bible-believing preacher, he's made to look like some fool, some freak, some fanatic?

All true Bible believers in the eyes of the world are going to be called do-gooders, blue-noses, Puritans, fundamentalists, fanatics, whatever it is. They're going to try to laugh us away from a work for God. My dear friend, I want to tell you that scorn is the work of the devil. Now do you say, "Brother Rogers, there must be something wrong with us if they laugh at us, they don't respect us"? My dear friend, the servant is not better than his Lord, and they mocked and laughed and ridiculed the Lord Jesus.

One of the most poignantly sad verses in all of the Bible is found in the book of Mark, chapter 5 and verse 40, when the Lord Jesus was getting ready to raise a little girl from the dead and the Bible says—listen to it—"They laughed Him to scorn." I'm talking about Jesus. They're holding their sides, they're laughing, literally mocking the Lord of glory. Can you stand up under that kind of ridicule? Can you carry your Bible to work and let them laugh? Can you pray over your meal and let them laugh? It's hard. Ridicule has its sting, and the devil knows it.

Now the response of Nehemiah and his crowd was a wonderful response. Notice what they did in chapter 4, verse 6. "So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work." Now let me tell you what you ought to do when people begin to laugh at you for what you believe. Just go to work for the Lord Jesus Christ, and before long you'll wipe that laugh off their face. Notice, "But when it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth."

No laughter now. My dear friend, there are people in this city who would laugh at the faith that we hold as a church. But we just need to have a mind to work. Just keep on doing what God has called us to do, and before long, when they see what God is doing, their laughter will turn to anger. Notice in verse 9, "Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them." I love it. Here's the laughter, and the people had a mind to work in verse 6, they had a heart to pray in verse 9, they had an eye to watch in verse 9.

And so they went on and built the work because they were more concerned about the approval of God than they were the ridicule of men. I just thank God for men who are not ashamed of Jesus Christ. And I want some of you lily-livered so-called Christian men out here to be bold for the Lord Jesus Christ, and don't you let the devil laugh you out of a work for God. They laughed at Jesus. Let them laugh, and just go to work.

Now, the devil tried derision and that didn't work. So he's not finished yet. Now he tries discouragement. Look, if you will, in verse 10. And Judah said—this is Nehemiah 4, verse 10—and Judah said, "The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall." Now, Judah was inspired of the devil because they were able. But here's a man who says, "We are not able." It seems that the devil always puts some into the ranks of the believers who say it can't be done.

God deliver us from the Judahs. It will be done, but no thanks to them. These people are like a drink of water to a drowning man. I mean, dear friend, I've seen them in every church I pastored. I remember down in the little church that I pastored on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. I was pastoring that church as a seminary student, and we decided we needed a little educational building. I was pastoring that church as a seminary student, and we cleared off a spot and poured a slab of concrete to build an educational building on.

I remember one of the members of that church who came to me and looked at that foundation and was literally angry, angry. And that person said, "What foolishness is this? What foolishness is this? Look at that. We will never build a building on that slab. What a waste of God's money." Now you go down there today, you'll see that building on that slab, my dear friend, because here was an individual who said it can't be done. And God said to my heart it will be done, and it was done.

I remember the same thing in Fort Pierce, Florida, the first church I took after seminary. We decided we needed some space. We needed to raise some money. I remember a dear man—bless his heart, he loved God—but he came to me. He had an expression, "Law me." That's the way he'd say it. His voice would crack. "Law me," he would say. He looked at that. He said, "Law me, we'll never do it." I said to myself, "By the grace of God we will." And my dear friend, we did. We did.

But the devil will try always to put someone around who says that it can't be done. And some of you get discouraged. Some of you Sunday school teachers, you're ready to quit that Sunday school class. You've got a class of bad boys. You say, "Those boys are incorrigible." Well, who do you think needs a Sunday school teacher if it's not incorrigible boys? I mean, dear friend, that's why God put you in that class. You say there's so much rubbish. Well, you can't build on rubbish, but remove the rubbish of anger and pride and temper.

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Discouragement is one of the greatest tools of Satan. And God deliver us from those ministers of discouragement, those human wet blankets. The Bible says in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 9, "Be not weary in well doing." Now let me give you a third device of the devil. If derision would not do it and discouragement would not do it, then he uses actual danger. Look in verse 11. "And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease."

Now, the devil is not against physical intimidation. The devil is not against actually causing bodily harm to the children of God. The devil would like to be more dainty if he could, but the devil will actually threaten you. I have been threatened. In the ministry, I've had my very life threatened. I have received threatening notes and letters and all of those things. And every child of God who will stand up for the Lord Jesus Christ will have someone who will say, "I am going to do you bodily harm." It's one of the devices of the devil.

Well, what did these people do? How did they react to what the devil said that he was going to do? Well, they did three things. First of all, they remembered the Lord. Look, if you will, in verse 14. And the Bible says here, "And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible." That's the very first thing you need to do. When somebody intimidates you, remember the Lord. He is greater than the enemy.

A little boy asked his dad, "Dad, how big is the devil?" And his dad said, "Well, I really don't know." He said, "Well, is he big as I am?" And the dad said, "Well, son, I reckon he is." He said, "Well, daddy, is he bigger than Mommy?" Said, "Yes, son, I think he is." "Well, daddy, is he bigger than you?" The dad said, "Yes, son, I believe he is." The little boy's getting pretty frightened. He said, "Daddy, is he bigger than Jesus?" And the dad said, "No, son, he's not." Then the little fellow said, "Then I'm not afraid of him." I like that.

Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. And what does Nehemiah say to these people who make threats? He says, "Remember the Lord." Remember the Lord, but not only remember the Lord, remember your loved ones. Look in verse 14. "And I looked and rose up and said unto the nobles and to the rulers and the rest of them, Be not afraid of them: remember the Lord which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses."

Remember the Lord and not fight in order to be pugnacious, not fight in order to take more ground, but fight for your loved ones. Be not afraid. Remember the Lord which is great and terrible and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. All that we hold dear is at stake and in the balance. And don't you let the devil intimidate you. You need to intimidate him. The Bible says in James 4, verse 7, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

Well, the devil is not finished yet. Let me give you another of the devices of the devil. Not only danger, but discord. Look in chapter 5, verse 1. "And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews." Now, the devil says, "Well, if I can't get at them with derision, if I can't get at them with discouragement, if I can't get at them with danger, then I'll get at them with discord. I will divide up the body and I will put discord in the ranks."

Now, in this particular chapter, if you'll read, the discord was over money. Many churches have been divided over discord over money, but it could be over anything. The devil loves a church fuss. But the Bible says God hates him that sows discord among brethren. One of the great proofs of the deity of Jesus Christ is the unity of the church. Jesus prayed in John chapter 17 that believers would be one that the people of this world would believe that God the Father had sent the Lord Jesus Christ. John 17, verses 20 and 21.

Now the reason we must stay together is very easily seen if you'll look in chapter 5 and verse 9. Here's what Nehemiah said to these brethren, these brethren who were at one another's throat. "Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?" Nehemiah said we must, we must stay together. And my dear friend, as your pastor, I want to say to you we must, we must stay together.

Now, I'm not going to divide with you and you're not going to divide with me and we're not going to divide with one another over the color of the carpet or the placement of the organ or the size of a building or incidents in a budget or anything else. The only thing that we would ever ever have to take division would be Bible doctrine and moral standards. My dear friend, we can't ever let Satan in any way drive a wedge into our fellowship, and the people said "Amen." And you guard our fellowship with your very life.

The devil is so devisive. The Bible says God hates him that sows discord among brethren. Well, what happened? How did they handle this? Well, look if you will in chapter 5, verse 11. Nehemiah said, "Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them." And they said, "We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest."

Then I called the priests and took an oath of them that they should do according to this promise. Now, what happened is this: that there was a problem that could have caused even greater discord. They had spiritual leadership, they got together, and there was repentance, there was restoration, there was resumption of the work. Let me tell you something, dear friend. There are no problems too big to solve, just people too small to solve. We can solve almost any problem if we attack the problem rather than one another.

Guest (Male): We can solve almost any problem if we attack the problem rather than one another. Does that hit home in your life today? Oh, you don't want to miss part 2 of this message coming up next time. And if you have questions about who Jesus is, what He means to you, how you can give your heart and life to Him right now, go to our "Discover Jesus" page at lwf.org/radio. You'll find resources and materials that can answer questions you may have about your faith. Again, go to lwf.org/radio and click "Discover Jesus."

Hi, this is Kerry Vaughan, and this program has been brought to you by Love Worth Finding, a nonprofit ministry showcasing the powerful preaching and teaching of Pastor Adrian Rogers. We operate solely through the generous gifts of individual supporters just like you. To give a gift today, call 1-877-LOVE-GOD. That's 1-877-568-3463. Or write to us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183.

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We always love hearing about personal encounters with Pastor Rogers. I want to share what one friend wrote recently online. He said, "I'm 71 years old. I met Dr. Rogers after I became a believer at age of 23. I appreciated his leadership within the denomination and have bought many of his books through the years. He has influenced my ministry more than any American pastor."

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