Wall Paper

DEVICES OF THE DEVIL

By Adrian Rogers

Nehemiah 1-6

As a matter of fact, I believe that Halloween is one of the masterstrokes of Satan, to make us believe that all of this is just so much of a fairy tale. And I want to tell you that the devil is real. He's not something to be laughed off and not something to be caricatured, and not something to be joked about. The devil is a decided fact. The devil is a destructive force. But thank God, the devil is a defeated foe. And greater is He that's in us than he that is in the world.

Now, the book of Nehemiah is the story of the rebuilding of the walls around Jerusalem and the people of God saw a task that ought to be done and they said let us arise and build. Now, I want to say that the idea for the building of the walls of Jerusalem did not originate in the brain of Nehemiah, but in the heart of God. And they were simply thinking God's thoughts after him. And it was not Nehemiah's program, it was God's program. And therefore Nehemiah could say if "God be for us, who can be against us?" And so, he said, "the God of heaven, he will prosper us, therefore we his servants will arise and build."

But every time the people of God say let us arise and build, the forces of the evil one say, "let us arise and blast." When the people of God have a mind to work, the enemies of God have a mind to wreck, and the book of Nehemiah, the first six chapters tell of the devices of the devil, the things that the devil did to try to stop the people of God.

Now, the Bible is not out of date, the Bible is not old-fashioned. It's just as modern as today's newspaper and a whole lot more accurate, so if you want to know what the devil is going to do, find out devil has done; there is no need for a child of God who has a Bible to be ignorant of the devices of the devil. Paul said, "We are not ignorant of the devil's devices." By way of review and recapitulation, I want us to see some of the poisoned arrows that the devil had already shot at Nehemiah and some of the tools that the devil had already used to wreck the work of God and some of the dirty tricks that Satan had already pulled from his bag of tricks.

I want us to list the things, and let's just go back for just a moment and look in chapter four, the first three verses. And there we find out in Nehemiah chapter four, the first three verses that the first thing that the devil tried was derision. He tried to laugh them out of a work for God. Chapter four, verse one, the bible says that Sanballat was wroth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews, and he tried by ridicule to drive them away from a work for God. But thank God, Nehemiah did not wither up, he did not fold up because they laughed him to scorn. He realized that any true servant of God is going to be laughed at but he would not be laughed away from a work for God.

And so, the enemy comes with another trick. This time he tried discouragement. Look in chapter four, verse ten. "And Judah said the strength of the bearer of burdens is decayed and there is much rubbish; so that we're not able to build the wall."

The job was halfway done and they got discouraged. And I know the devil would like to discourage me. And I know the devil would like to discourage you. It's all right dear friend, to be weary in the work, but we mustn't get weary of the work. And here, these people were just simply getting weary of the work. They were weighted down, they were wroth up and they got discouraged. And Nehemiah gave the battle cry, "Remember the Lord!" And the people went on and since that trick didn't work, the devil pulled out another one and this was danger. Look in verse eleven. "And our adversaries said, they shall know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them and slay them, and cause the work to cease."

The devil now has stopped playing cute. Now, the devil threatens bodily harm and friend, he's not above threatening you with bodily harm, physical harm, if you take a stand for God. Don't you think that the devil is some soft person. The devil, Jesus said is a murderer. And so, that didn't work, Nehemiah's not going to be intimidated by physical, bodily harm. He put a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other. And he said, let us continue to build. Well, the devil's not finished yet, so he tried something else. He tried discord. Look in chapter five, and verse one. "And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews." Now, the devil said if I can't beat them any other way, I'll give them arguing among themselves. I'll get discord, dissension in the ranks and my motto will be divide and conquer. Oh, the devil loves to start a church fuss. Don't you know he'd love to divide the people of Bellevue. He would, but friend, he cannot, he will not, he shall not, because we belong to our Lord, and Nehemiah taught his people, there are no problems too big to solve, just people too small to solve them. And Nehemiah found out what the problem was that was causing dissention. He faced it, he fought it, he solved it, and the work of the building of the walls went on.

But the devil had tried dissention, he had tried discord, he tried division and that didn't work. The next thing the devil tried was depletion. He tried to take away their resources. Look if you will please in chapter five, verse three. "Some also there were that said, we mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses that we might buy corn because of the dearth. And there were also that said, we have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards."

The devil got them in debt and they were in hock up to their ears and they were facing financial bondage and Nehemiah taught them the principles of financial freedom. It is not God's will for his people to be in financial bondage. And Nehemiah refused to let finances stop the work of God, for our father's rich in houses and land, he holdeth the wealth of the world in his hands. The devil tried depletion, but God's treasuries are still full, thank God if we know how to tap into them. And so, these are the things that the devil had already tried if you've been with us thus far, but now, I want you to notice four more of the devil's dirty tricks. And all of that, believe it or not is by way of introduction. Now, the message.

Alright now, I want you to notice some new things that the devil tried. The next thing the devil tried was distraction, distraction. Begin now in chapter six, verse one. "And it came to pass when Sanballat and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates. That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me saying, "Come, let us meet together and some of the villages in the plain of Ono." But they thought to do me mischief. And I sent messengers unto them saying, I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down, why should the work cease, while I leave it and come down to you? And yet, they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner." Now, what were they trying to do? Well, you see, if the devil cannot defeat us as a roaring lion, the devil will try to defeat us as an angel of light. And what Sanballat invited Nehemiah to was sort of a Camp David, sort of a love in. Out there in a beautiful verit valley, the plains of Ono. He said, well, now, Nehemiah, don't be so obdurant, just come on out here and sit down and we'll talk this thing over.

Now, friend, Nehemiah was a man of God. And he was wise enough to know that while the world may sometimes pretend to be friendly to the work of God, the motives and the method of the world have never ceased. And you notice that Nehemiah said in chapter six, verse two, that they fought to do me mischief. Nehemiah wasn't fooled, ha! Nehemiah knew that there was mischief in the making.

Do you know one of the dangers of any successful work, when a church or a work for God becomes successful in the eyes of the world, and the world can no longer whip it, then the world tries to join it. And the world wants to get in on the good side of the people of God when it looks like their work is going to be successful. At first the world will try to stamp us out, and if the world cannot stamp us out, then the world will try to neutralize us by entangling alliances. They will try to distract us from the main work that God has called us to do. And we need to be aware of that. I told you a long time ago about a bear hunter who was out hunting a big game hunter. And he wanted a bear because he wanted a fur coat made out of bearskins so badly. Finally, he saw his bear, he took aim, and was about to squeeze the trigger when the bear said "Now wait a minute, hold it, don't shoot me, there's no need for you to shoot me, let's go out here in the middle of the road and sit down and talk this thing over. Let's have a little conference. Now," he said, "be reasonable, after all, all you want is a fur coat and all I want is a good meal." They had a talk and when it was over the bear had a good meal and the man had a fur coat. That's exactly what Sanballat was trying to do to Nehemiah. He said, "Now, come on, let's sit down out here in the plains of Ono and let's just simply talk this thing over." But Nehemiah would not be distracted. I like what he's saying. He said, "I'm doing a great work and I cannot."

You know that the devil would love to get you distracted, the devil would love to divert this church from the work that we're doing and the good can sometimes become the enemy of the best. A very noted preacher was asked by President Lyndon Johnson to be his press secretary and that preacher became Lyndon Johnson's press secretary and now that man is sort of a news commentator and everybody says what an honor for a mere Baptist preacher to be right there in the president's office. I want to tell you Mr. Moyer's did not step out. He stepped down in my estimation and, I want to tell you something friend, I had rather, and God in heaven knows this, I'd rather be the pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church than to be the Governor of the State of Tennessee or the President of the United States of America. I mean that with all of my heart.

The devil would love to get somebody, sometimes distracted and get them to step down. Why, some of you mothers, you've been called to raise your family. What a grand and glorious opportunity it is to be a mother and to raise those children for the Lord. But now the world beckons and says, you just come out here. You can be successful in the business world. And that lady steps down, she doesn't step up. She leaves her baby and goes out there to be a success. Now, my hat is off to any woman who has to work to put bread on the table. My hat is off to any woman who has to work to put a roof over the head of her kids. But oh, what a tragedy when a mother will leave her babies in the hands of someone else and leave the work to which God has called her. She ought to say I am doing a great work and the devil's not going to distract me.

Somebody said it use to be that children learned at mother's knee. Now, they learn at some other joint.I see sometimes church workers and they're good church workers, they're deacons, they're Sunday School teachers, they're choir members and they're doing a great work because it's the work to which God has called them. And then the world comes along and beckons and the world gives them some honor. And there's some fraternity, some club, some civic organization that says we need you. And those people are so foolish as to be flattered by this world and they leave the work to which God has called them and they do something that someone can do and leave the work that God has called them to do. They're so honored because they've been elected the first president of the society for the prevention of cruelty to orphan grandmothers with athlete's foot, and they're just so honored that they can now do this. And they get out here and they get neutralized and they leave the work that God has called them to do. God has a plan for your life. God has something he wants you to do and you had better not substitute the good for the best. You'd better find out what God wants you to do and refuse, refuse, refuse to be distracted by the devil. You need to say as the apostle Paul said, "This one thing I do, know what it is that God wants you to do and do it," do it.

Sometimes churches get distracted. Do you know what the job of Bellevue Baptist Church is? It's not building buildings. It's not raising money. It's the great commission to win this world to Jesus Christ, to preach the gospel. It's amazing how many churches have lost the task of evangelizing. They think that every now and then they might evangelize, like that's something nice. Dr. Vance Havner said for a church to major in evangelism, it'd be like a railroad majoring in transportation. Friend, that is our major. God has called us and we dare not, we must not be distracted.

We have a job to do and by God's grace, we'll do it. And if these buildings will help us to do that job, then to that end, they're good. Alright now, the second thing, not only did the devil try with distraction, Nehemiah wouldn't be distracted, they said come on down to Ono. Nehemiah said no, no, to Ono. He just was not coming. "I'm not coming," he said. "I'm doing a great work and you're not going to sidetrack me." And so, if the devil could not win with distraction, the next thing he tried was deformation, deformation, slander. Begin now in chapter six and look in verse five. "Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand; wherein was written, it is reported among the heathen, and Cashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause thou buildest the wall that thou mayest be their king according to these words. And that thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem saying, there is a king in Judah and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words, come now therefore and let us take counsel together."

Never underestimate the devil. Do you know what Sanballat was saying to Nehemiah? Nehemiah wouldn't come down and have a little love in with him and so, Sanballat said, he sent an open letter. Now, before the letters had been sealed, but this was more like a partition. It was more like a letter to the editor. It was meant to embarrass Nehemiah. And this is what it said. It said, "Nehemiah, it is reported," it is reported now, it's just a rumor, the rumor is working see, but "it is reported that what you're doing Nehemiah is, you're trying to set yourself up as king.

You're not really interested in these people. You're not really interested in rebuilding the walls. What you're doing Nehemiah is this, you're simply trying to feather your nest. What you're doing Nehemiah is, you're building a little kingdom for yourselves. You intend to set yourself up as king." And what he did was to slander the motives of the man of God.

Do you know it's always true, when any church tries to do something for God. There are always those who say what about their motives, their motives are wrong. Any preacher who tries to lead his church in a great program. They'll say, well, he's trying to feather his nest. He's trying to build a little kingdom for himself. He's trying to set himself up. The devil's very clever, isn't he? And the devil knows how to use slander and what did Nehemiah do when they began to slander him and even wrote an open letter about it?

What did he do? Well, friend, he just kept on building the walls. I like that. He said, you're wrong. What you say is not true. He simply answered it clearly and plainly and then he went on. Notice verse eight. "And I sent unto them saying, there are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart." In other words, they're lies and I'm not going to run around trying to stamp out every lie.

I like what one great man of God, Henry Ward Beecher said. He said this and I quote. "Life would be a perpetual flea hunt," I like that, "a perpetual flea hunt if a man were obliged to run down all the innuendoes, the inveracities, the insinuations, and the misrepresentations that are uttered against it." And Nehemiah just said, "I refuse to be on the flea hunt."

Abraham Lincoln was a man of God. Abraham Lincoln, I believe, was led of the Lord in what he did. But he had his critics. And here's what Abraham Lincoln had to say. And I quote, "if I were to try to read, much less answer all of the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep on doing it until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything. And if the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing that I was right would make no difference." That's pretty good advice.

You see, you can't be sidetracked and you need not be frightened away by slanders. Anybody who serves God is going to be slandered. The servant is not better than his master. Do you know what they said about Jesus? They said that Jesus Christ was a wine bibber and a glutton and in league with the devil himself. Now, if you live for God in your business, in your school, wherever you are, you might as well get ready for them to impugn your motives. They'll say you go down to Baptist Church for business reasons. You're just trying to make some thing big, this thing, that thing, but listen, don't you let the devil keep you away from work for God by deformation, by slander. God's people always have been slandered and they always will be slandered.

Now, for the third of these dirty tricks that we find in chapter six. After he tried distraction, and after he tried deformation, the third thing he tried was dismay. He tried to make Nehemiah dismayed, to make him afraid, to fill him with fear. Notice if you will in chapter six, and verse nine. "For they all made us afraid saying, 'Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done.' Now therefore oh, God, strengthen my hands. And afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, 'let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple, for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night, they will come to slay thee.'" The devil came to Nehemiah and said, Nehemiah, they're after you, run for your life, run for your life. And tried to put dismay into the heart of the man of God. Isaiah forty-one, verse ten says, "Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." But the devil wants us to be dismayed. The devil is the sinister minister of fear, and if he cannot stop us by slander, and if he cannot stop us by distraction, then he will try sometimes to fill our hearts with fear because fear weakens us. It does indeed. Look in verse nine if you will. "For they all made us afraid saying, 'Their hands shall be weakened.'"Fear will weaken a church. Fear will weaken a preacher. It's hard to serve the Lord with the icy fingers of fear on you. Fear turns your blood to ice water. It weakens your knees and it stops you from the work of God. Are you afraid? Are you afraid that the work might not prosper? Are you afraid of what the devil may do to you if you take a stand for God?

Friend, don't be afraid. Over three hundred and sixty five times, one time for every day in the year, God has said in the bible, "Fear thou not, be not afraid, be not dismayed. I am thy God, I will strengthen thee." The devil loves to make us afraid. He loves to get people cowering. I want to tell you what fear will do. Fear will degrade our Lord. Fear is an insult to God who said, "I will be with thee." Fear will destroy your life. You become like the man who jumped on a horse and rode off in all directions. You won't get anything done. Fear will disturb your friends. Fear is infectious and fear will delight your foes when they see you afraid, it will nerve them, but friend, when they see you full of courage, it will unnerve them. Be thou full of courage.

We need some people today who are not afraid of the devil. Amen. I mean people who are not going to be intimidated. And the devil tried to strike a note, a chord of fears. Did you know that the devil has a special demon who is a demon of fear? Second Timothy chapter one, verse seven, "God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." There is a spirit of fear, a demon spirit of fear. It does not come from God. Are you a worry-wart? One lady said, "don't tell me it does no good to worry, most of the things I worry about never come to pass." My, how the devil wants to make us worry. And to fill us with dismay. Be not dismayed, what ere be tried. God will take care of you. Find out what God wants you to do. What has God called you to do? If God has called you to do it, don't let the devil intimidate you. And so, when the devil could not win with distraction. And so, when the devil could not win with deformation. And so, when the devil could not win with dismay, he tried more thing. He doesn't give up easily, does he? This time the devil tried deception. Perhaps, this was the hardest thing of all for Nehemiah to spot. But I want you now to begin reading in verse twelve.

"Now," they said to Nehemiah, "now you go in the temple and shut the doors behind you and close the doors to save your life because they're coming for you." But notice what Nehemiah said in verse twelve. "And lo, I perceived that God had not sent him." Just underscore that phrase, "I perceived." "I perceived that God had not sent him but that he pronounced this prophesy against me, for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him." He was not a true prophet of God, but he pretended to be prophesying for God. And he pretended to be on Nehemiah's side. And he said to Nehemiah, "Nehemiah, I love you so much." And "Nehemiah, I'm so concerned about you that God has given me a message for you Nehemiah. And this is hot from heaven. You go into the temple, flee in the temple, shut the doors, God wants to preserve your life Nehemiah and God sent me to tell you this. But it wasn't God at all. He was a hireling." And Nehemiah said, "I perceive that God had not sent him." Nehemiah was not going to be deceived by the devil. The devil is the master of deceit. In the Bible it says, "Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God."

Gentlemen, you might as well learn today that a lot of people who pretend to be speaking for God are not speaking for God and the devil has his deceivers all over the city of Memphis, Tennessee, as any other city.

I want you just to put a bookmark in Nehemiah six and turn to Second Corinthians chapter eleven and look in verse thirteen. Paul speaks here of the devil's deceivers and this is what Paul says about them. Second Corinthians eleven, and verse thirteen. "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ," and listen to this next verse. "And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according to their works. Ministers of Satan who appear as ministers of righteousness, false apostles, deceitful workers, when you look for the devil, never fail to look in the pulpits of America.

I was preaching on the devil one time and afterwards a little boy, I suppose he meant well, but he came up to me after the sermon and said, "Brother Rogers, when you were up there preaching, I could see the devil just as plain." Well, let me tell you something friend, don't forget to look in the pulpit when you look for the devil. False apostles, deceitful workers, transformed as angels of light. And I believe that there are pulpits here in this city and every city where people go to worship God and they have a false apostle as the minister. You say, "That's harsh!" It's true, because they don't believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. They don't believe in the blood atonement and they do not believe in the, in the veracity, in the infallibility of the word of God. False apostles, well, in this day and in this age, how are you going to know when the devil, who is so clever, and so deceptive, that he doesn't appear as a boogie man, but as an angel of light.

How did Nehemiah Know? The Bible says that he perceived that this man was not of God. Two ways, you know the bible says, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits where they of God. Number one, what this man told Nehemiah didn't square with the word of God.

You know what he told Nehemiah to do? He said, you go into the temple and shut the doors behind you, and you'll be safe there. Nehemiah said, "I'm not going to sin." He was asking him to sin. Why? Because Nehemiah was what we would call a layman and that part of the temple was reserved for the priest only. Thank God Nehemiah knew the bible. Thank God he knew the word of God and he could take what this man was saying and know it did not square with the word of God.

I'll tell you there's another way. Not only the outward, objective evidence of the word of God, but there's something subjective in me mister. The bible says we have no need that anyone teaches. We have an unction from the holy one. Now, there's just a little bell in me that tingles when I'm hearing the word of God and there's something that jingles when I don't. And I just believe that the holy spirit of God, when we're walking close, will help us to perceive whether or not a man is a man of God or whether he's not a man of God. And oh, dear friends, the bible says believe not every spirit, you test the spirit, you try the spirits, whether they're of God. And so, here the devil tried deception. And oh, how easy it is to be deceived if we're not walking in the light of God's word. You'd better keep your knees on the floor, and you better keep your face in this book in these days in which we are living.

I was reading again something of the life of Charles Lindbergh, who just about fifty one years ago flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean in that little airplane, that little ole twiggy like airplane, the spirit of St. Louis. Seems like it should have been longer than that ago, but he was flying across the Atlantic. And Lindbergh was telling about how when he had just gotten started. Well on his trip he was out over Newfoundland and he was flying in dense fog.

There was a lot of moisture, and of course he had only a compass. He didn't have the sophisticated instruments that our pilots have today. He didn't have an altimeter to show him at what height he was flying and some other things. But he knew the direction he was going.

But he could see that condensation beginning to freeze on his wings and realizing that that ice would build up and sooner or later that little plane would sink, sink, sink, into the sea unless he turned around and went back. Lindberg said he thought to himself, and this great adventure is going to come to an untimely end, and then he thought what shall I do? He had a moment of inspiration and he pulled that stick back and that little plane started to climb up, and up, and up, and up, and up, it seemed like an eternity. He kept climbing, and climbing and climbing and suddenly he burst out into the dazzling sunlight. No more fog, no more moisture. And he flew all the way in the sunlight. Friend, we don't have to fly in the fog.

Oh, let me tell you, we can get near to the heart of God. We don't have to stumble in the darkness, we can walk in light. We don't have to be deceived by the devil, we have the word of God, a light that shineth in a dark place. And the devil would try to deceive us and keep us from doing a work from God. I want you to listen again to what the devil did now, just by recapitulation because ladies and gentlemen, he's going to try it on you. He's going to try it on you this week, so you pay attention. He tried derision, he tried discouragement, he tried danger, he tried discord, he tried depletion, he tried distraction, he tried deformation, he tried dismay, he tried deception, but none of it worked.

Go back to the book of Nehemiah as we close and I want you to see something that will set the joy bells ringing in your heart. Nehemiah chapter six, verses fifteen and sixteen. Now folks, here's something sweet. Put a big star by this... Nehemiah chapter six, verse fifteen. "So the wall was finished." And the devil didn't stop them. So, the wall was finished.

Look at the last part, verse sixteen."And it came to pass, that when our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, that they were much cast down in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God." You want me to tell you what I want as a pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church, mister architect? Do you want me to tell you what I want Mr. Deacon? Do you want me to tell you Mr. Song Leader, what I want as the pastor of this church? The kind of a church I want to pastor? I want to pastor a church that does things in such a way that the people of this world will have to say, "That was of God!" "That was of God, they didn't do that by themselves." "They perceived," the bible, says, "that this work was of God." It could not be explained by promotion. It could not be explained by propaganda. It could not be explained by personnel, it could not be explained by psychology, it could only be explained by the power of God.

Aren't you hungry for people to see something that they say, "This is the work of God?" What's happening down there? God is in business. The world is hungry to see something that cannot be explained. What is there about my life that cannot be explained? What is there about your life that cannot be explained? It is that in your heart and in your life that cannot be explained apart from God? That's what we need.

These are days for us to be supernatural and not superficial. These are days for us to be walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. These are days for the people of God to get a message from God and say, "Let us arise and build and all of the dirty tricks of hell will not stop us, so help us God." And one day, it'll be done and people will say, "We perceived that this is the work of God." And the people of God will sing to God be the glory great things He has done. Let us bow our heads together in prayer.