Shield, Sword, Spear, & Shovel

Introduction

It’s great to see you this morning. It is a tremendous privilege to be able to preach the message of salvation. I asked you a question a couple of weeks ago that I want to repeat, actually, two questions. Do you believe that God is at work in your life? Do you believe that God can work through you to powerfully advance his cause in the world? I think those are two very important questions. And this lesson is going to be about those questions that I want you to consider. I want you to pretend something this morning. I want you to pretend that you do not know what I’m about to say. I want you to pretend that you do not know that an acorn planted in the earth could ultimately yield something so majestic as a tree like that you could get the result from an acorn to this.

Our young people probably all knew that. We take that for granted. But look, isn’t that extraordinary? Or what about this? Pretend you did not know that a caterpillar could turn into this wonderful flying creature. This creature with all these legs could end up being this beautiful, majestic flying creature. Sometimes I think we forget how stupendous, shocking, and awesome, God’s creation is. Bill was talking to us in the auditorium about that this morning when he mentioned in passing God’s marvelous design. Look at I want to tell you something else that’s marvelous that we might take for granted. What else is marvelous is when the faithful people of God persevere through trial.

God keeps his word.

That too is a marvel. Despite the fiery darts and assault of the adversary, his insinuation, his intimidation, his invitations to compromise. The faithful stand down all bullies and all threats. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And because they did not love their lives even unto death. The message this morning is from the book of Nehemiah.

You know, when a project starts, everybody gets excited. Because they can envision the end result. And so everybody’s pumped. Let’s go. Let’s build. And we get in the midst of the project. We’re excited about where it’s going, and then we meet all kinds of obstacles and challenges, and there’s work and there’s sweat, and sometimes the excitement begins to wane. Time has come in the days of Nehemiah for critical reflection.

1. Faith and Fortitude Prevails

This morning I want to talk to you about shield, sword, spear, and shovel. From Nehemiah chapter 4. On this occasion, James Hamilton in his commentary observes Nehemiah and the Jews are only seeking to build walls for their own protection. They seek to obey the true and living God of the universe, whose laws are just and fair, and for these acts of goodness the wicked would do violence against them. He further comments on some Psalms. Psalm 510. Hold them guilty, O God. By their own devices, let them fall. In the multitude of their transgressions, thrust them out, because they are rebellious against you. And Psalm 104 and verse 35, let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul.

Praise the Lord. And he observes that these are not isolated examples in the Psalms. I was doing some other reading, and it talked about the glorious tension that exists in the Psalms for praying for enemies and praying for the evildoer and concern for those that are outside of fellowship with God and the cause of judgment of those who persist. Wickedness. And so we reach Nehemiah chapter 4. As the walls are being built, tension comes. There is significant opposition from two sources, Sanbalat and Tobiah. And they’re angry and furious, it says in verse 1, because they were building the wall. This would cause Jerusalem to be stable. This would cause some security within the city. It would keep out the likes of Sambalat and others who wanted to plunder its resources.

And he spoke in the presence, verse 2, of his brothers and the wealthy men of Samaria and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Listen to the ridicule and mocking. Look at this ragtag group of workers in the city. They’re not going to be able to accomplish this. Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble, even the burned ones that the Babylonians had burnt? So often the evil have peers who prop them up. Enter Tobiah, whose name interestingly means the Lord is good. He didn’t really tap in to his heritage. Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and said, Even what they are building, if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall.

Then this. Hear, O our God, how we are despised. Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity. Do not forgive their iniquity. Sort of sounds like the Psalms that we read. Do not forgive their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out before you. For they have demoralized the building. So we built the wall, and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. And while the workers were demoralized, Nehemiah and his people are going to respond in faith. They are going to respond in fortitude, and the work progresses.

Now the opposition grows, and all of them conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it. But faith and fortitude prevails. But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night. Thus in Judah it was said, the strength of the burden bearers is failing. Yet there is much rubbish. And we ourselves are unable to rebuild the wall. And our enemies said, They will not know or see until we come among them and kill them and put a stop to the work. It came about when the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times, got problems. They will come up against us from every place where you may turn.

Nehemiah addresses the fear. I station men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places, and I stationed the people in families with their swords, spears, and bows. When I saw their fear, I have that underlined in my mind. When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people. Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. And it happened as they remembered the Lord, who is great and awesome, as they fought for their families and their sons and daughters and their wives and their homes. It came about when our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan.

Then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his own work. You see, the enemies made one fatal miscalculation. They did not consider God in their plans.

They, the enemies, did not possess a cause greater than their own lives. God frustrated their plan. And in verses 16 and 17, and it came about from that day on that half of my servants carried on the work, while half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows, and the breastplates, and the captains were behind the whole house of Judah. And those who were rebuilding the wall, and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work, and the other hand holding a weapon. Oh, but the work, the work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall from one another. So, whatever place you hear the trumpet, rally to us there, and God will fight.

2. God Saves Through Trust and Route

From this story in Nehemiah chapter 4, and how God worked in the lives of his people, and how he can powerfully work in our lives. The first thing that I would suggest to you from this great story is something about how God saves. God saves through trust and route. Something occurred to me after reading this chapter recently. That God saved at different times in different ways. There was the occasion at the Red Sea where the people are afraid. They’re hemmed in on every side. There’s no seeming exit. There’s no seeming deliverance for their situation. Despite everything that they had seen in Egypt, they struggled to believe that there is a way out, that there is hope. And through Moses, God says, just stand back and watch.

Just stand and see the salvation of the Lord. And the waters deliverance was provided. We talked a few weeks ago about victory in the days of Jehoshaphat. Where again God says, you’re not going to have to fight in this battle. And they respond the way that we should, in the battles that we face. Prayer, trust, and song. And as they turn to God in devotion, God routed their enemies without them even lifting a weapon. But that’s not the norm. Most commonly, faithful participation is involved. I’m reminded of Exodus 17, when Joshua and the armies of Israel are fighting on the plain below. But Moses and Aaron and her are up on the hill, and whether they are going to attain victory or not is dependent on Moses’ ability to hold up a staff.

And his arm begins to fall in weakness. And Aaron and her are supporting his arm. And they prevail. Isn’t that interesting? How God is making his fight for them. The victory that they experience based on the faithful activity of their leader and his supporters on the hill. And then there was victory at Jericho, where the walls fell flat. Well, you know what it was. It was those trumpets that everybody was blowing were so loud. And because they were blowing those trumpets, you know, if you blow trumpets really loud, walls tend to just fall down. That’s been my experience.

I mean, you think you’re inside the city and you’ve already heard about what happened in Egypt 40 years ago. You have heard of this people that is coming. Rahab had heard. And Rahab says, I’m going to side with them. And day after day, circle. This is an odd warfare strategy. And on the seventh day, they circle. Circle. Okay, after about, I think the third or fourth circle, the people in Jericho are going. This is not normal. And on the seventh, as the trumpets are blown, the Lord provides things. It is by faith that they encircled the city. Why did God do it? Why did God have Gideon and his massive army of 300 men? You know, most military victories are one with 300 men. Why does he have them beat the pitchers and shout?

Oh, that so startled the enemy. Try that in your next military campaign. See how that works for you. But they were involved in the process in this battle, like in so many others in scripture that I have cited. Participation was necessary. Notice the emphasis. The Lord will fight for you. Trust. The Lord will fight for you. But they must rally. When someone attempts the breach, we must rally to our brothers and be there to aid, to ward off the adversary and opponents. So it is with our victory. We must supply the faith. We must trust and we must rally to the benefits of our brothers. You know it really serves as a life prescription for the faithful. Nehemiah 4 and verse 9. We prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

First, you look forward and you pray. Second, you move forward and you act. We are saved unto an unfeigned love of the brethren. Our souls are purified in obedience to the truth unto an unfeigned love of the brethren. First Peter chapter one and verse 22. I would like to think that God is working through you and me in a powerful way to assist the salvation of many other souls. You being here today, participating with me. Helps us. You participating with us. Helps us.

We trust God to save us. But we must rally for each other. And rally for our families. We must contemplate God’s greatness. His awesomeness. Power. And then do the next right thing. Without faith, it is impossible to please him. Without faith, it is impossible to please him, for the one who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. There is an African proverb that says, When you pray, move your feet. God isn’t going to win all the battles for us. As we just stand back, like the Israelites were instructed to do at the Red Sea. Just stand back and let the Lord do it all. That’s not what the New Testament is telling us.

Oh, the battle belongs to the Lord. Oh, rest assured that when the battle is won and we hear the Lord’s well done, it will be because of the greatness of our God, his mercy towards us. But we will have fought the good fight, faith. We will have battle. We will have strong. We will have shed blood. We will have sweat and tears as we worked with our hands. Sword in one hand, tool in the other. And isn’t it interesting that the word of God is styled sword of the Spirit? What the Lord has done in me. Let the weak say, I am strong. Let the poor say, I am rich. Let the blind say, I can see what the Lord has done. And in verse 21, Nehemiah 4, it says, and they carried on the work.

3. The Influence of a Godly Leader

We carry on the work. Equipped with sword. Equipped with trust of God. With the shelf. Conclusion. The battles that benefit our character and confidence. He will expect us to step up to the plate and be tenacious. Trust him. I like what someone said. Work like it depends on you. Pray, knowing that it depends upon God. I want to make a couple of observations as we wrap toward a conclusion. I think we need to see something in Nehemiah here. The influence of a godly leader. Nehemiah did not direct people to his leadership style and his skills and how awesome he was as a leader. Oh, he was incredible. When he saw their fear, he directed them to God. He didn’t say, I’m the answer. This is what a good leader does.

A good leader says, it is God who is the answer. It is not about us. It is not all about you. In a culture that is telling you, yes, it’s all about you. It’s never all about you. It’s always all about him. And that’s what the enemies didn’t know. It was all about themselves and their own agenda and what they wanted. It’s not all about you. And don’t post on Facebook like it is.

4. One of Satan's Greatest Tools Is Discouragement

Whether we labor in the word, preaching and teaching, or in our Bible classes. Whether you serve as an elder, as a shepherd of souls. It’s like I have more I want to say about that in upcoming weeks. Our young men need to understand what it means to serve in that capacity as a shepherd. What good shepherds do we have. They remind people that it’s all about them. Because one of Satan’s greatest tools is discouragement. He’s all the time telling us you can’t do it. You can’t win. You’re weak. You’re powerless. You’re incapable of winning. And you know what? He would be absolutely right. If you don’t factor our powerful God.

Pitiful me. I should know better. I should have done better. Just keep going, it’s true. You should have. We get discouraged with ourselves. Other people in this way. Shouldn’t have done that. I’m just, I’m going to quit serving the Lord. These people, they say one thing and do another. Then there’s the people of the world. They’re even worse. Treating me like that. Making my life miserable on the job. I’m so thankful I don’t work for another human. Now, the elders do sort of monitor my work, but then there’s those. Wow, I was I was hoping my circumstances in life would be so nice. You know what I realized? And I realized this last week in Jacksonville. I realize this when I go other places that discouragement is ending.

My favorite sermon that I preach now twenty-one times in five years. Maintain your confidence.

One of the lesson helped her because she felt. Here’s somebody who had been serving the Lord for years and years.

5. The Greater Shield

The battle. Don’t let the devil. Okay. This is the end. Daniel took up some of my time. Shield, sword, spear, devil. You only thought when I mentioned shield that I was talking about the peoples and their shields. I was I’m talking about the greater shield. I go to the Psalms. You realize there are fifteen references to the Psalms of God. A couple of He is my shield. He is my glory, the lifter of my head. He is my shield. He encompasses me with faith. Salvation itself is a shield. He is my defense. For the Lord God is Son and Shield. High school class, what is that? Metaphor, right? Yeah. I haven’t been in there in a few weeks. They were struggling with that. Let’s get back on the figure of the speech, kids.

For the Lord God is a son and shield. The Lord gives grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk? That doesn’t mean everything’s going to fall in your lap, but it does say God will bring.

Conclusion

Now let’s get back to the original question. Is God at work? You believe God is at work. Do you believe that he is powerfully using you to advance his cause for work? You have a faith like that. The Lord God will fight for battles.

As you trust and route. Continue the good work. And because the Lord God is a shield, you should invest in his cause. Why should you seek inclusion in God’s desires for your life? Why should you invest? Why should you trust work? Fight and route. Because what God desires for you is better than anything you have planned for yourself.

You know, this quote is actually taken from the part of the lesson about the enemies in the story. And what the enemies don’t realize. Those who are opposed to God and his work. What they don’t see, and what sometimes we struggle to see is that what God desires for you is better than anything. That you can carve out for yourself. And what Jesus provides is far better than anything you can manufacture. Isn’t it awesome to know? Really, the battle belongs to you. When I think of salvation, not just at its beginning, but at its end. When God decides it’s time for totaling people home.

Trust.