Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Knocked Down, but Not Knocked Out Msg 516 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Knocked Down, but Not Knocked Out Msg 516 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Turn with me in your Bibles, please, to Nehemiah chapter 4,
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  Speaker 1: where we will begin reading the first nine verses. In
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  Speaker 1: this section of Scripture, we find that just as soon
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  Speaker 1: as Nehemiah and his crew of fellow workmen began to
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  Speaker 1: rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, opposition and criticism broke out.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, those things constantly bombarded them from all sides.
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  Speaker 1: Today we'll discover how a leader should handle the inevitables.
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  Speaker 1: and unavoidable criticism that comes from the outside. Nehemiah's example
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  Speaker 1: teaches us that it's possible not only to stay at
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  Speaker 1: our task, regardless of the opposition, but also to do
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  Speaker 1: it in a way that deepens our walk with God.
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  Speaker 1: Criticism may knock us down, but it doesn't have to
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  Speaker 1: knock us out. So follow along, please. Nehemiah chapter 4,
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  Speaker 1: beginning at verse 1. Now it came about that when
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  Speaker 1: Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became
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  Speaker 1: furious and very angry and mocked the Jews. He spoke
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  Speaker 1: in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy men
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  Speaker 1: of Samaria and said, What are these feeble Jews doing?
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  Speaker 1: Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they
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  Speaker 1: offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they
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  Speaker 1: revive the stones from the dusty rubble, even the burned ones?
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  Speaker 1: Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him, and he said,
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  Speaker 1: Even what they are building, if a fox should jump
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  Speaker 1: on it, he would break their stone wall down. Hear,
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  Speaker 1: O our God, how we are despised. Return their reproach
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  Speaker 1: on their own heads, and give them up for plunder
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  Speaker 1: in a land of captivity. Do not forgive their iniquity,
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  Speaker 1: and let not their sin be blotted out before you,
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  Speaker 1: for they have demoralized the builders. So we built the wall,
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  Speaker 1: and the whole wall was joined together to half its height,
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  Speaker 1: for the people had a mind to work. Now when Sanballat, Tobiah,
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  Speaker 1: the Arab's, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the
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  Speaker 1: repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on, and that
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  Speaker 1: the breaches began to be closed, they were very angry.
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  Speaker 1: All of them conspired together to come and fight against
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it. But we
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  Speaker 1: prayed to our God, and because of them we set
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  Speaker 1: up a guard against them day and night. J. Oswald
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  Speaker 1: Sanders has written a book entitled Spiritual Leadership. It's small,
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  Speaker 1: but it's an excellent work. There are two reasons that
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  Speaker 1: I would recommend it to anyone who is in the
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  Speaker 1: ranks of a spiritual leader or plans to be someday.
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  Speaker 1: First of all, I recommend it because it's thoroughly biblical.
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  Speaker 1: And that's unusual to find a book written on leadership
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  Speaker 1: from a biblical perspective. It's filled with scripture. The second
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  Speaker 1: thing I appreciate about it is that it is practical.
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  Speaker 1: It's thoroughly realistic. For example, the 13th chapter is entitled
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  Speaker 1: The Cost of Leadership. And in the chapter he lists
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  Speaker 1: seven areas where any person, man or woman, will have
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  Speaker 1: to pay a price for being a leader. One of
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  Speaker 1: the seven is criticism. Facing opposition without getting bent out
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  Speaker 1: of shape, I suppose we could say. In the chapter,
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  Speaker 1: he says this about the leader and criticism. No leader
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  Speaker 1: is exempt from criticism, and his humility is nowhere seen
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  Speaker 1: more clearly than in the manner in which he accepts
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  Speaker 1: and reacts to it. Not only is criticism a possibility,
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  Speaker 1: the leader is the target of critical darts that are
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  Speaker 1: constantly thrown in his direction. Someone has said, and has
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  Speaker 1: said it well, that you haven't really led until you
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  Speaker 1: have become familiar with the barbs of the critic. I
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  Speaker 1: think before we get into Nehemiah 4, which talks about
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  Speaker 1: the problem of opposition, we should look first at 2
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  Speaker 1: Corinthians chapter 4. So let's turn first to a New
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  Speaker 1: Testament book to find a promise that may seem like
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  Speaker 1: an unusual one before we look at an illustration of
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  Speaker 1: this promise in Nehemiah chapter 4. I would recommend to
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  Speaker 1: anybody who is serious about becoming any kind of leader
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  Speaker 1: in the church of Jesus Christ, in whatever part of
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  Speaker 1: the body he may be led into, that he make
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  Speaker 1: a personal and serious study of Paul the Apostle. He
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  Speaker 1: wasn't the only one in the first century that God blessed,
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  Speaker 1: but he was clearly the single most significant Christian after
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  Speaker 1: Jesus left the earth during the first century. His life
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  Speaker 1: seems to be something of a pattern that people could
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  Speaker 1: follow after. 2 Corinthians is the book you ought to
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  Speaker 1: study because it is the most autobiographical. Paul talks more
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  Speaker 1: about himself in this book than any of the other
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  Speaker 1: books and all of them put together. So we're not
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  Speaker 1: surprised to read in verse 7 some honest admission about
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  Speaker 1: the ministry. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. meaning
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  Speaker 1: an earthenware jar, a clay pot. He is describing the
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  Speaker 1: treasure of the gospel, and he is saying it is housed,
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  Speaker 1: it is poured into a clay jar, meaning the human body.
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  Speaker 1: We have this treasure, the gospel, in earthenware containers, our
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  Speaker 1: frail human bodies. Why, Paul? That the surpassing greatness of
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  Speaker 1: the power may be of God and not from ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: There's no power, there is no strength in a clay pot.
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  Speaker 1: It's fragile, it's ugly, it often leaks, it is scarred.
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  Speaker 1: The passing of time only makes it crack the worst.
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  Speaker 1: So all the way through, Paul is saying, if there
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  Speaker 1: is any power that's going to be displayed, it will
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  Speaker 1: not be in the pot. It will be in that
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  Speaker 1: which is contained in the pot. The glorious surpassing power
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  Speaker 1: of the gospel that is poured into the pot. And
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  Speaker 1: now Paul says, let me tell you what the life
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  Speaker 1: of the pot is like. Verse 8. We are afflicted
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  Speaker 1: in every way. but not crushed, perplexed, but not despairing, persecuted,
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  Speaker 1: but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed. Always, if
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  Speaker 1: you don't have it underlined, underline that first word. The
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  Speaker 1: life of the spiritual leader is described in verse 10
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  Speaker 1: as always carrying about in the body The dying of Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: The marks of death are always on the life of
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  Speaker 1: the people God uses the most. And the most effectively. Why?
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  Speaker 1: That the life of Jesus may be manifested in the pot.
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  Speaker 1: You see, God is not only interested in blessing people
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  Speaker 1: That which is in the pot. He is interested in
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  Speaker 1: using the pot itself. As an object lesson of the
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  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus. God always puts truth in incarnate flesh. In
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  Speaker 1: human form. God doesn't dangle abstract truth. From the lips
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  Speaker 1: of an angel. He puts truth in a life. And
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  Speaker 1: then he brings that life before people, whether it is
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  Speaker 1: a small Bible class or a group of disciples or
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  Speaker 1: a great Christian school or a mission organization or a church.
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  Speaker 1: He uses individuals in clay pots to display the glory
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  Speaker 1: of God. What is the Lord saying by way of
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  Speaker 1: a promise in verses 7 through 10? This....
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  Speaker 2: Opposition is inevitable, and it is inevitably used of God
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  Speaker 2: in the life of the leader. Opposition is inevitable, always
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  Speaker 2: carrying about the marks of death.
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  Speaker 1: I love the way J.B. Phillips puts it together in
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  Speaker 1: his work, Letters to Young Churches. We are handicapped on
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  Speaker 1: all sides, but we are never frustrated. We are puzzled,
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  Speaker 1: but never in despair. We are persecuted, but we never
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  Speaker 1: have to stand it alone. We are knocked down, but
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  Speaker 1: we are never knocked out. That's what I want to
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  Speaker 1: talk about this morning. I want to talk about the
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  Speaker 1: experience of being knocked down, but not knocked out. Let
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  Speaker 1: me say just another thing before we turn to Nehemiah 4,
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  Speaker 1: the illustration of this fact. God uses every experience on
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  Speaker 1: earth To teach his vessels. Truths for their life. Even opposition.
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  Speaker 1: Look at it like this. A pot that sits in
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  Speaker 1: the sun. All the time. Only gets brittle. And fragile.
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  Speaker 1: But when you add a little rain. To moisten up
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  Speaker 1: the clay. It keeps the pot flexible. It keeps it.
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  Speaker 1: It makes it, in fact, a thing of more beauty.
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  Speaker 1: Constant sunshine can ruin a clay pot, making it more brittle,
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  Speaker 1: harder than it was to begin with. But the addition
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  Speaker 1: of some moisture, some rain, spiritually speaking, some opposition, keeps
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  Speaker 1: it humble, keeps it teachable. Now with that in mind,
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  Speaker 1: that opposition is inevitable and is inevitably used of God
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  Speaker 1: in the life of the leader. Look at Nehemiah chapter 4.
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  Speaker 1: Nehemiah chapter 4. If you're new with us, we are
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  Speaker 1: into this book. Believe it or not. Strange reaction from
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  Speaker 1: people when they hear what you're preaching on. Shared that
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  Speaker 1: just this past week. What are you preaching on, Chuck? Nehemiah. Nehemiah?
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  Speaker 1: What in the world is in Nehemiah? Was the response.
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  Speaker 1: And I said, more than I have time to tell
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  Speaker 1: right now. It is incredible. Now, if you've been with
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  Speaker 1: us from the start, you know that Nehemiah is the
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  Speaker 1: main character, and he has one task. Doesn't sound very spiritual,
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  Speaker 1: but it is God's will for his life, and that's
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  Speaker 1: building a wall around the city of Jerusalem. Now in
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  Speaker 1: the process of building the wall, Nehemiah was led of
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  Speaker 1: God to appoint workmen for various parts of the project.
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  Speaker 1: Some were to build a certain gate, some were to
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  Speaker 1: build a section of the wall, some were to build
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  Speaker 1: down in the south, some were to build up north
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  Speaker 1: of the city, but everybody had a job to do.
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  Speaker 1: That's described in chapter 3. We're overlooking it because it
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  Speaker 1: is a chapter of numerous details that would appeal only
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  Speaker 1: to an engineer. Because we have more than engineers here,
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  Speaker 1: I thought we might skip chapter 3 and go on
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  Speaker 1: to chapter 4. But it's interesting to me that the
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  Speaker 1: Hebrew Bible doesn't end with verse 32, chapter 3. It
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  Speaker 1: goes well into chapter 4, meaning this, that the opposition
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  Speaker 1: we read about in chapter 4 took place while the
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  Speaker 1: wall was being built. God didn't allow the wall to
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  Speaker 1: be built without opposition. It was before the wall was
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  Speaker 1: half its height that they began to be plagued with
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  Speaker 1: the barbs of the critics. Another thing I noticed is
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  Speaker 1: that opposition doesn't begin here. It's been going on since
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  Speaker 1: the project was first born in the mind of Nehemiah.
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  Speaker 1: Go back to chapter 2 in verse 10. When Sanballat
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  Speaker 1: and Tobiah heard about it, it was very displeasing to them.
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  Speaker 1: that someone had come to seek the welfare of the
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  Speaker 1: sons of Israel. Look at chapter 2 and verse 19.
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  Speaker 1: When Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem heard it, they mocked
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  Speaker 1: us and despised us and said, what is this thing
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  Speaker 1: you were doing? Are you rebelling against the king? What
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  Speaker 1: was he doing? He was doing the will of God.
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  Speaker 1: He was building a wall around the city. They didn't
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  Speaker 1: like it. And so opposition broke out. But never do
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  Speaker 1: you find Nehemiah becoming a bitter, angry man. He never
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  Speaker 1: lost his cool. He just stayed at the task. Now
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  Speaker 1: look at chapter 4. The opposition continues. Only now it
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  Speaker 1: takes on strong, heavy emphasis. Notice first of all what
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  Speaker 1: prompted the attack of the critic. It came about that
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  Speaker 1: when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he
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  Speaker 1: became furious. I don't know if that surprises you, but
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  Speaker 1: it does me a little bit, that the thing that
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  Speaker 1: prompted the opposition was that there were signs of progress
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  Speaker 1: and growth and construction. You would think that when people
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  Speaker 1: saw that, my, this small band of people is involved
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  Speaker 1: in doing a massive project, you can't help but respect
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  Speaker 1: them for that. You would think that people would say,
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  Speaker 1: that's all. Those people deserve our respect. No. You see,
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  Speaker 1: the heart of the habitual critic resists change. Change threatens
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  Speaker 1: him or her. It's true in a school. You bring
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  Speaker 1: about changes, and the most critical people in the school
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  Speaker 1: will be those that are the most inflexible. They resist change,
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  Speaker 1: especially things that speak of progress and growth. I cannot
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  Speaker 1: explain why fully, except for some of the things I
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  Speaker 1: want to share as we get into this, but it's true.
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  Speaker 1: It was the change, it was the growth, it was
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  Speaker 1: the progress that that incited the anger of Sanballat. Notice
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  Speaker 1: also where they were when they spoke of this opposition.
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  Speaker 1: When Sanballat heard it, that is, that we were rebuilding
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  Speaker 1: the wall, he became furious. Where was he? Verse 2.
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  Speaker 1: He spoke in the presence of his brothers and the
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  Speaker 1: wealthy men of Samaria. Verse 3. Tobiah the Ammonite was
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  Speaker 1: near him. Now I've skipped from 1 to 2 to 3,
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  Speaker 1: a few things in those verses, because I want you
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  Speaker 1: to notice something that is always true. Critics run with critics.
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  Speaker 1: Before I go any further, let me hasten to add
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  Speaker 1: that not all criticism is of the devil. Not all
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  Speaker 1: criticism is destructive criticism. This obviously was. That every leader
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  Speaker 1: has to measure, is this criticism worth listening to? He
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  Speaker 1: has to determine the source, the motive of the source.
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  Speaker 1: He has to listen with discernment. Sometime criticism is the
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  Speaker 1: very best thing he can respond to. Sometime it is
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  Speaker 1: to be completely ignored. Now in this case, they were
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  Speaker 1: running with critics, and that's true. Gossips run with gossips.
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  Speaker 1: People that won't gossip, a gossip doesn't like to be around.
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  Speaker 1: A person that won't say, hmm, that's right. When a
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  Speaker 1: critic says something critical, they don't want to be around him.
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  Speaker 1: They want to be around somebody that says, you know,
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  Speaker 1: that's right. But the fellow that doesn't want it, he says,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know about that. Have you looked at it
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  Speaker 1: from this point of view? Well, they don't like that.
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  Speaker 1: Sanballat ran with Tobiah and Geshem all the way through
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  Speaker 1: the book. They're close friends. There are some in every
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  Speaker 1: student body. You that are in school know that. Every
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  Speaker 1: student body has a group of critics. You always hear,
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  Speaker 1: usually they're buzzing off to the side. Everybody's excited and
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  Speaker 1: ready to do it. Always got that group. It's amazing.
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  Speaker 1: Every company has a group of critics. As large as
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  Speaker 1: the organization or as small, it seems always to crop
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  Speaker 1: up that there's a group of people that don't like anything.
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  Speaker 1: It's true in a church. In every church there are
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  Speaker 1: people that are resistant to any kind of change. I
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  Speaker 1: have never seen an exception. It's true in mission organizations.
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  Speaker 1: And even among spiritual people like missionaries. There can be
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  Speaker 1: a root of criticism. Just for the sake of being negative.
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  Speaker 1: And you will always find that they band together. Preferably
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  Speaker 1: room together. Even though they're always at odds with each other,
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  Speaker 1: they can't get along. But they would rather run with
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  Speaker 1: each other than a whole bunch of others that look
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  Speaker 1: at things positively. They were with one another. Notice also
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  Speaker 1: what they said. There was no quiet reaction. There was
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  Speaker 1: no mild disinterest. They were mad. Verse 1 says they
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  Speaker 1: became furious. They became anxious. angry. They mocked. Verse 3
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  Speaker 1: gives us some sarcasm. Look at verse 3. Makes you chuckle.
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  Speaker 1: Tobiah was near him and he said, Hmm, even what
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  Speaker 1: they're building, if a fox should jump on it, he
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  Speaker 1: would break their stone wall down. Do you picture that? Why,
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  Speaker 1: the way they're building that wall, you know, a critic
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  Speaker 1: always knows a better way to do it. He's never
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  Speaker 1: involved in it, but he always knows. Sidewalk superintendent, you know.
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  Speaker 1: You've seen guys that never played a one down in football.
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  Speaker 1: Fantastic armchair generals. Quarterbacks, right up to here. Know the
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  Speaker 1: game like the back of their hand. They can't even
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  Speaker 1: hold the ball right, but they know all the game,
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  Speaker 1: all the play. You see it in every group. There's
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  Speaker 1: always somebody who is the pro, but he's not involved.
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  Speaker 1: He'd rather stand back and criticize it. He says, oh,
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  Speaker 1: if a little old fox jumped up, he'd break that
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  Speaker 1: wall down. But you know, he made a mistake. It
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  Speaker 1: wasn't their stone wall. It was God's. Look at verse 3.
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  Speaker 1: He would break their stone wall down. You missed that?
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  Speaker 1: Who designed the wall? God did. He happened to use
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  Speaker 1: Nehemiah as the superintendent. But the designer was God. It
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  Speaker 1: was his wall. Just like Jesus said, I will build
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  Speaker 1: my church and the gates of hell will never prevail
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  Speaker 1: against it. It'll never be stopped because I'm constructing it.
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  Speaker 1: The critic constantly looks at a situation from the human
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  Speaker 1: point of view. Their wall, their plan, their procedure, their arrangement.
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  Speaker 1: And they don't realize from God's point of view, it's
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  Speaker 1: his work. Let me talk to him about some changes
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  Speaker 1: I think ought to come to pass. Before I go
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  Speaker 1: any further, I want to apply this even more deeply.
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  Speaker 1: The thing that impresses me here is that these men,
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  Speaker 1: Tobiah and Geshem and Sanballat, were sarcastic about what appeared
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  Speaker 1: to be insignificant labor and power to do a significant work.
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  Speaker 1: These feeble Jews, verse 2 says, are they going to
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  Speaker 1: restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: they of all people, can they finish? Can they revive
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  Speaker 1: these stones from rubble? If a fox were to jump
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  Speaker 1: on it, little old deal like that, it won't hold up.
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  Speaker 1: You see, the world is so mesmerized with splash, size,
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  Speaker 1: tangible security. that it cannot fathom God's doing an impossible
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  Speaker 1: thing among an insignificant bunch of people. Insignificant from the
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  Speaker 1: viewpoint of the world. The world says, a simple presentation
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  Speaker 1: of the gospel, where one reaches one, don't waste your time.
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  Speaker 1: The husband whose wife is converted says, ah, Dad, she
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  Speaker 1: won't change. You heard that? The parents whose children get
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  Speaker 1: turned on for spiritual things. Parents often say, oh, just wait.
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  Speaker 1: It's just a matter of time. It's like a woman
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  Speaker 1: was in my office not long ago. Not from our church.
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  Speaker 1: Not from our church. And she said, my son is
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  Speaker 1: wasting his education. I said, well, what are his plans?
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  Speaker 1: He's going into the ministry. Oh my, that's what it's
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  Speaker 1: all about. Whatever you may be involved in is the ministry.
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  Speaker 1: And how many parents say, oh, they're not going to
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  Speaker 1: make any money. These feeble efforts, they could get into
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  Speaker 1: the field and then give a lot of money. You
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  Speaker 1: heard that? You don't have to go into it, but
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  Speaker 1: you can get into some great well-paying job. Then you
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  Speaker 1: can give all kinds of money to it. Kind of
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  Speaker 1: a parental cop-out, you know, where I don't have to
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  Speaker 1: give my child to what may be an insignificant thing.
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  Speaker 1: You see, critics come in all sizes and they are
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  Speaker 1: filled with rationalization. They know 17 reasons why something will
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  Speaker 1: not happen and why they will not work. But they
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  Speaker 1: cannot come with a better plan to see that the
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  Speaker 1: job gets done. These feeble Jews building a wall like
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  Speaker 1: that You know what? God's really blessing this church. I
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: don't know if you've noticed. Well, I'm sure you've noticed.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: You've had to deal with it yourself in various ways.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: But he is really blessing here. And frankly, it's his work.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: It really is. It's his obligation. The headaches of it
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: are his headaches, I'm pleased to announce. The burdens of
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: maintaining so many phases of the work are his burdens
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: to bear. He wants to keep us faithful. He wants
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: to keep us fruitful, walking in the Spirit. But he says,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: if you will do that, I will lead you into
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: unbelievable horizons. But you've got to walk by faith. You
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: can't walk by sight. I have said for the last
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: year and a half that my greatest fear is that
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: we would plan too small rather than too big. Knowing
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: all the while the problems connected with size and with
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: advancement and with vision, I perhaps know them more than
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: most preachers. I'm just bent like that. But knowing that,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: I really feel that the concern we ought to have
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: is not that we plan too much, but that we
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: plan for too little. Now with a vision like that,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: a person that looks at life from the human point
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: of view is gonna have real problems. You can expect that.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: But the whole history and thrust of this church and
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: the movement here has been next to incredible. And I
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: think we are at a very crucial point. And I
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: think Nehemiah will talk to us about these from time
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: to time. At points like this, we need to say
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: to ourselves, am I really looking to God for vision,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: for expanse, for direction? Or am I sitting back and saying, oh,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: let's just maintain. That wall had to be built. And
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: I can go just so far as to say something
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: has to be done. And we're on the verge of
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: what it will be, what it might be, and I
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: do not know right now. But oh, how I plead
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: with every meaningful member of this assembly, and those who
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: are a part of it, membership or not, that we
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: keep our eyes very broad Very open. Very positive. Not
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: lacking in discernment, but positive. There's a real difference. Now then,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: let's notice how Nehemiah handled it. There were those opposing
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: points of view that said, let's don't build a wall.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Verse 4. I notice two things that he does in
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: response to the criticisms. The first thing, verses 4 and 5,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: he talks to God about the criticism. He gives the
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: opposition over to God. Hear, O our God, he prays,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: how we are despised. Now the next part of the
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: prayer may surprise you because it is rather unusual. Return
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: their reproach on their own heads. Give them up for
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: plunder in a land of captivity. Don't forgive their iniquity.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: Would you look at that? That's rare. The Bible is
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: filled with forgive our iniquities. Forgive us our sins. Relieve
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: us of our transgressions. Cover over our trespasses. But Nehemiah says,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: don't forgive their iniquity. Let not their sin be blotted
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: out before thee, for they have demoralized you. the builders.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: You see, the channel of communication was prayer. And through
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: the therapeutic process of time on his knees, Nehemiah laid
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: out before God his concern. The last thing many leaders
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: will do is pray. The first thing most leaders will
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: do when attacked is retaliate because leaders are often people
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: of very strong will. You had to have a strong
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: will to build a wall around the city of Jerusalem.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: To face opposition like this, you had to have a
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: strong will, and it would have been quite easy for
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Nehemiah to retaliate. You remember what David said when he
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: took the stone in his hand and he started slinging
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: the sling over his head, walking toward that ugly giant
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: named Goliath? Remember what he said? Said the battle is
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: the Lord's. You could just. That must have been weird
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: for Goliath. As he sees this little tiny guy coming
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: with the sling. Saying something weird like the battle is
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: the Lord's. It put him down. Goliath kind of a
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: fellow was this. And all of a sudden you heard
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: that stone. It was all over. Right between the running lights.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Right on down. The battle is the Lord's. He could
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: have never in his own strength taken on Goliath, but
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: that stone was thrown by God through the arms of David,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: not by David himself. Remember Daniel? Worship the image of
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: King Darius. Worship the image. Daniel didn't say, let me
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: at Darius. Says he slipped away into his home and
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: as he had done at previous times, he fell before
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: the father. And he prayed three times a day. Prayer.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: You are never more successful than when you're on your knees.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: The saint who advances on his knees never retreats, said
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: Jim Elliot. You're under opposition. How much time have you
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: spent on your knees telling God about the enemy? You know,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: I have a living illustration of this. First of all,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: as it is found in Proverbs chapter 15, and then
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: as it is lodged in my memory, which I want
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: to share with you after I show you three verses,
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: that is kind of a negative illustration of this. Proverbs 15,
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: verse 1, verse 28, and verse 29. Look, please. Proverbs 15.1,
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: stirs up anger. What do we do when we have
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: a harsh word given to us? We usually shout louder.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: The last argument in your home kept on because one
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: of you didn't obey Proverbs 15.1. Arguments are never a
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: one-way street. They run in twos, sometimes in packs. But
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: if you want to stop an argument, close your mouth.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: And it's amazing how the enemy will just finally run
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: down without having any back. Backfire. A soft answer turns
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: away wrath. If you want to stir it up, answer
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: back in a harsh way. Look at 28, same chapter.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer. Lord,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: how should I answer this situation? You have to find
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: that out through prayer. The mouth of the wicked pours
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: out evil things. Well, the Lord is far from the wicked,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: but he hears the prayer of the righteous. You want
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: wisdom in knowing how to handle it? Drop to your knees.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: There is an animal called a new. G-N-U. And it
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: is said before he springs, he has a curious nature
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: to drop to his knees and his forelegs. When he's cornered,
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: before he springs back, he drops to his knees and
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: then he springs. It's a beautiful illustration of Proverbs. Before
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: Nehemiah ever said a word to the critic, he was
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: on his knees. Didn't retaliate. I want to say to
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: you that one of the naughtiest situations that a pastor
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: can put himself into is retaliation. He's going to be
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: criticized no matter what. And the worst thing he can
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: do is to try to answer the critics one by one.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: When I was serving a church in Waltham, Massachusetts, not
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: far away was a neighboring church that had an amazing history.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: It had done a job for Christ that was virtually
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: unparalleled in that area. It had been pastored by a
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: unique fellow who is now the president of a school
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: in the East Coast. But at that time, when he
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: went to the church, it was a Terrible mess. People
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: met in the last three rows of the church, and
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: it's a long building. First thing he did, he picked
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: up the pulpit and carried it down the aisle and
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: put it down in front of the first pew where
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: they were sitting, which was the third pew from the back.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: And historians tell me as they made a study of
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: that interesting work, he kept having to move the pulpit
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: back Sunday after Sunday until finally he was almost in
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: the choir loft with people that were everywhere. And he
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: preached the word and he faithfully labored under tremendous opposition,
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: I might add. Bruised and bloody, God graciously lifted him
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: from that situation and took him to a fantastic school
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: that has just gone right on under his guidance. But
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: he was followed by a retaliatory man, a fighter. This
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: man that followed him had two doctor's degrees, was brilliant.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: He had experience, he had traveled, he had had experience
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: as an officer in the military. I knew him when
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: I was overseas. A lot more experience and a lot
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: more brains, I might add, than the first fellow. But
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: as someone put it, he could have begun to move
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: his pulpit back. Until finally, do you know what that
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: led to? He hired police guards to guard who would
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: play the instruments and who would be allowed entrance and
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: exit from the church. And one by one, through one
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: public debate and argument and retaliatory action after another, the
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: church emptied. And I thought, as I drove by and
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: would see six, eight, at the most ten cars, I
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: thought God could write Ichabod across the door of that church.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: Where is the glory of Sure, he won the arguments,
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: but he lost the battle. Now, I want to say
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: to you, it applies to a business. It applies to
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: your home. It applies to your school. It applies to
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: this church. The very first thing that ought to come
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: from criticism is prayer. I am never more effective than
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: when I'm on my knees. Never am I used of
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: God in the minds of my critics more significantly than
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: when I'm praying for them. Now what else do we notice?
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: Nehemiah not only took it to God in prayer, he
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: stayed at the task. Verse 6. So, I love the
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: way he writes it, so... All of this bombardment was
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: coming over this wall that was half built. So we
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: kept on building the wall. And I can just feel it.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: Keep pouring the mortar. Bring in the stone. Yeah, another ton.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Bring them on in. We built the wall. The whole
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: wall was joined to half its height. Why? Because the
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: people had a mind to work. Critics demoralize. Leaders encourage demoralization.
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: When the critics spoke and the workmen heard them, they
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: were demoralized. When the leader stepped up and said, let's
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: look at it God's way, stay at the job, they
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: were back there with those trowels, with their wheelbarrows, with
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: all of those workmen putting together the wood and the
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: mortar and the brick and the stones. You see, nothing
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: excites Satan. Nothing excites the critic more than than for
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: his negativism to result in a lack of progress. The
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: easiest thing to do when one is criticized is to
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: give up. Do you know that most men do not
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: leave the ministry because of lack of money or lack
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: of training or moral charges? They leave the ministry because
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: of public pressure. I could name a handful right now
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: by name. Gifted men who couldn't take the pressure. Some
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: of whom shrunk to the pitiful size of the critic
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: and tried to right every wrong or make right every accusation.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: Nehemiah said, stay at the task of Don't give up.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: Keep building. You could hear them day and night splashing
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: on that mortar, putting the bricks in place. And that
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: just broke the heart of Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem. So
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: you would think they would stop criticizing. Uh-uh. Verse 7.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: Now look at the group. It came about when Sanballat
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: Ashdodites heard it. Good night. That's a bigger group than before.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: We've even added the Arabs in the group. Verse 7.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: They've intensified the opposition. But when they heard that the
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on and that
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: the breaches began to be closed, what did they do? Well,
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: they were very angry. What else? They conspired together to
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: come and fight against Jerusalem and cause a disturbance in it.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: There are some cases where criticism doesn't die down. It intensifies.
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: And this is a case in point. Not only did
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: they expand their troops But they added an intensity in
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: the opposition. They planned a conspiracy. And in the planning
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: of the conspiracy, there was the arrangement to fight and
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: to cause a disturbance, verse 8 says. Well, what did
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: Nehemiah do? Well, I want to remind you that Nehemiah
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: was a very practical man. He was very balanced. He
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: was not so heavenly minded that he was of no
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: earthly good, to say the least. What did he do? Well,
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: as is his custom, verse 9, he intensified his prayer.
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: We prayed to our God. And, I like the addition,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: because of them, we set up a guard against them,
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: day and night. Intensified opposition against the will of God
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: calls for intensified response to the opposer. And here's a
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: case where Nehemiah not only heard it, he prayed, and
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: not only prayed, he said, let's set up a guard
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: against him. Like I think I shared with you the
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: story of the Revolutionary War was the word of the soldier,
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: trust in God, but keep your powder dry. You have
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: a fear that someone is going to break into your home?
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: Lock the doors. Don't just pray about it. It's dumb
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: to have a door open and pray that people won't
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: break into your home. If you want to sell your car,
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: put a sign on it. It's dumb to pray and
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: not have a sign on it. It's incredible to me
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: how impractical people can be, especially Christians. Out of a job, pray.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: Pray like mad. But hit the road. Fill out the resume.
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: Make contacts. Your sales are dropping off. Pray. But make
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: more contacts. Your home is breaking up. Pray. But get
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: with it in areas of biblical instruction on the role
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: of the husband, the role of the wife. You're failing
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: in school and a test is coming. Don't just pray
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: that God will give you, you know, standard prayer of
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: the students. is either, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Or, Lord,
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: I haven't been able to study. Fill my mind with facts.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: And God comes back and says, you lazy dog, you.
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: God blesses the prepared mind. God isn't in the business
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: of putting unknown facts in a lazy mind and giving A's.
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: There's a verse in Proverbs that says, the horse is
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: the Lord. Part of preparation is preparing that horse for
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: battle and getting out in it with the training of
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: a soldier. But the other part is, Lord, make victory possible.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: And Nehemiah put out a guard. We'll read more about
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: that next week as to what it involved. But I
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: want you to see, as a result of this work
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: in Nehemiah's life, three very practical and timeless truths for
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: our lives today. And there's not a person here today,
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: leader or not, that has never known the problem of criticism.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: I think it was Lauren Sandy who said, the greatest
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: problem the Christian will have to endure is the problem
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: of being misunderstood. Misunderstood. And just something as simple as
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: misunderstanding can demoralize your spirit. Here are the three lessons
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: I learned, and we will just underscore what we've said.
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: First of all, it is impossible to lead anyone without
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: facing opposition. The leader must learn to live in the
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: heat of the kitchen. You will. It's an occupational hazard.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: You will face opposition. By the way, they will never
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: write that in the job description. It's amazing, isn't it?
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: Fantastic job offered to the right man. Tremendous salary. Great hours.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: But you got to give your life's blood in the
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: process of doing the job because opposition will just blow
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: you out of the saddle. They'll never tell you that.
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: But you can write that down. That's especially true in
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: the Lord's work. Number two. It is essential to face
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: opposition first by prayer. That's not just a nice cliche,
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: just because you expect a pastor to say that. The
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: first response to opposition must be prayer. It's the single
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: most often overlooked discipline in the Christian life among the leaders. Prayer. Prayer. Third,
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: it is questionable that prayer is all that is necessary
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: if opposition intensifies. That's true of David. He not only
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: prayed when Saul was after him, he ran like mad.
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: And when it intensified, he ran faster. And when it
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: got worse, he hid in more obscure places. You know
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: what I get in all of this, and I'm thrilled
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: that God has helped my clay pot through this process
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: of study. I come up with this, that in most cases,
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: now listen carefully lest you misunderstand or misquote me, in
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: most cases, The critic, the opposer, the pessimist is hardly
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: worth the worry of the leader. In most cases. It's
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: hardly worth the worry. To worry about the critic. You
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: know why? Because there was only one perfect man that
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: came to this earth and lived and died. And they
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: nailed him to a tree. Perfect man opposed all through
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: his life. But he stayed at the task. I was
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: encouraged with the words of Theodore Roosevelt. He wrote this
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: about the critic. It is not the critic who counts.
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: It is not the man who points out how the
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: have done them better. Why, the credit belongs to the
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: man who is in the arena, whose face is marred
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: errs and comes short again and again because there is
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: no effort without error and shortcoming. Who does actually try
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: to do the deed. Who knows the great enthusiasm. The
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: great devotion. And spins himself in that worthy cause. Who
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: at the worst if he fails. At least fails. While
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: daring greatly. far better it is to dare mighty things
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: to win glorious triumphs, though checkered by failure, than to
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: much because they live in the gray twilight that knows
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: neither victory nor defeat. Let's bow together this morning. Shall
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: we do that? Let's close our eyes for a moment.
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: Let's just meditate on those beginning words. It is not
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: the critic who counts. My friend, today, if you are
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: given to criticism, there's something wrong. I'm not saying all
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: of your criticism is wrong. Nor am I saying God
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: doesn't love you and cannot use your life. But I
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: long to have you search your life. Why do you
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: criticize so much? Why are you so negative? So pessimistic?
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: Why are you satisfied to live a life in the narrow,
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: gray twilight of negativism? God's word says we're to build
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: up one another, encourage one another, and so much the
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: more as we see the day approaching. Some wives here
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: today have a terrible negative attitude toward their husbands it's
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: ripping the home some husbands here today are so terribly
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: negative toward their families first reaction is usually no or
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: i'm against it some students here just destroying the unity
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: of the school Some hardworking people here are wasting a
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  Speaker 1: lot of time in their business. Damaging the morale of others.
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  Speaker 1: Now that's not the will of God for you. Some
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  Speaker 1: of you are under the gun of criticism. And you
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  Speaker 1: could preach a better sermon than I have from your life.
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  Speaker 1: There is a place for criticism and there is a
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  Speaker 1: way to do it. That is positive and blessed of God.
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  Speaker 1: For you identify yourself as one who is. Walking with God.
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  Speaker 1: Wanting more than anything else. The good. Of your school
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  Speaker 1: or church or home or work. I plead with you.
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  Speaker 1: Just on the moral basis. of fairness to examine your
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  Speaker 1: critical spirit. Lord, you know us deeper than we will
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  Speaker 1: ever know ourselves. You know our tomorrow as well as
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  Speaker 1: even better than we can remember our yesterday. You know
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  Speaker 1: it all. You know that we have drifted. We've wandered
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  Speaker 1: from where we ought to be. We remember the truth
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  Speaker 1: of the letter to the Romans, all have sinned and
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  Speaker 1: come short of the glory of God. In light of that, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: we don't try to hide that from you. I pray
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  Speaker 1: for those who struggle today with a critical spirit. I
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  Speaker 1: pray for those who've been knocked down by someone who
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  Speaker 1: leveled them with their words. I pray for those who've
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  Speaker 1: never come to know your Son. Especially do I pray
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  Speaker 1: for those without Christ. And in this brief moment of time,
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  Speaker 1: may there be the beginning of a transformation. I pray
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  Speaker 1: that your truth will land hard on our hearts so
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  Speaker 1: that we don't soon forget what we've heard, that we'll
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  Speaker 1: learn how to handle the blows of life in a
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  Speaker 1: better way, and we'll also learn that we can't make
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  Speaker 1: it through life on our own. We need your Son, Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: as our Savior and Lord. So hear us today, our Father,
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  Speaker 1: as we come to you in a vulnerable and honest moment,
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  Speaker 1: and as we thank you for your promise never to
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  Speaker 1: leave us, never to leave us in the lurch, never
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  Speaker 1: to forsake us. So we come today confident that you
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  Speaker 1: will meet the deep needs of our lives. In the
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  Speaker 1: name of Jesus Christ, our Savior.
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  Speaker 3: Amen. Knocked Down, But Not Knocked Out was copyrighted in 1974, 1983, 1990, 2006,
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  Speaker 3: and 2015, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2016
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  Speaker 3: by Charles R.
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  Speaker 1: Swindoll, Inc.
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  Speaker 3: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
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  Speaker 3: commercial use is strictly prohibited.