This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, A Steadfast Church.
Opposition from Satan is always there for the Church—and that does not mean that God is not for us. When you endeavor to let God use you, you are going to meet satanic opposition.
Take, for example, Nehemiah.
The Jews were living in captivity. Nehemiah was a man of God, and when he learned of the terrible condition of Jerusalem, he was heartbroken. He wanted to rebuild the walls.
So they said, “Let us rise up and build.”
But there were some local enemies who did not want it to happen. When God’s man said, “Let us build,” they said, “Let us stop them.”
In the same way, Satan will use his wiles against you and your church. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
But it so happened, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews.
There is no way to stand for Jesus without becoming the laughingstock of this world. Do you think you are better than Jesus? “And they ridiculed Him” (Mark 5:40a). Not only did they mercilessly beat Him; they were laughing while they did it. (See Luke 23:36-37.)
If they mocked the Lord Jesus, they will mock you.
First of all, Sanballat ridiculed the feebleness of God’s people. “And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, ‘What are these feeble Jews doing?’” (Nehemiah 4:2a)
From the world’s viewpoint, the Church does not have any strength. But Christ Jesus started out with twelve unlettered fishermen, and went out against the imperial might of Rome, and the religious bigotry of His day, and turned that world upside down.
Secondly, Sanballat mocked the futility of the task.
“Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish—stones that are burned?” (Nehemiah 4:2b) The Jews were looked upon as impractical visionaries, wasting their time.
Their enemies also laughed at the foolishness of their faith.
Look in the verse above: “Will they sacrifice?” Their devotion to the God of Heaven was a source of ridicule.
What we believe—the inerrancy of God’s Word, the deity of Jesus and His blood sacrifice—people laugh at. It has always been that way. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing” (1 Corinthians 1:18a).
If nobody is laughing at you, perhaps Satan does not think you are worthy of worry. But if you are getting some flack, it just may be that you are over the target.
Jesus said,
Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
If somebody laughs at your faith, rejoice that people can see a difference in you.
Then Judah [one of the Jewish leaders] said, “The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.” (Words in brackets added)
This time, Satan used somebody from the inside. What are the causes of discouragement?
When did this discouragement come to the Jews? When they were half done, right in the middle of the work. (See Nehemiah 4:6.)
You cannot build without stones, and those stones are sometimes buried in rubbish. But you cannot build on rubbish, either.
If the devil cannot laugh you out of service to the Lord Jesus Christ, then he will try to discourage you. Do not let the devil talk you out of work for Christ!
And our adversaries said, “They will neither know nor see anything, till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease.”
What do you do when Satan comes to frighten you? Do what Nehemiah did.
And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”
People say, “Haven’t people been killed for serving Jesus?” Of course they have. That means they won. (See Revelation 12:11.)
Reflect on the issues at stake. Stand firm for Christ Jesus.
Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built.
They were building and battling at the same time. The Bible says be “not in any way terrified by your adversaries” (Philippians 1:28a). To the contrary, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7b). The devil ought to be afraid of you—a man armed in the power and the anointing of Almighty God.
And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren.
Here, these Jews are supposed to be building, and they turn against one another. Satan will try to sow discord among the brethren. That is why we must have a unified Church. There are no problems too big to solve—only people too small to solve them.
Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they thought to do me harm. So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?”
They wanted to distract Nehemiah from the work. Satan will try to distract the Church.
What is our purpose? Why is the Church here? To magnify Jesus through worship and the Word, to move believers in Jesus toward maturity and ministry, and to make Jesus known to our neighbors and the nations.
The devil will try to get us to do something else—to sit down and talk about these things. Nehemiah said, “I can’t.”
Then Sanballat sent his servant to me as before, the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand. In it was written: “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; therefore, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall, that you may be their king….” Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart.”
Have you ever heard anybody say, “That pastor is motivated by personal ambition”? That’s what they said about Nehemiah.
Notice how they spread this rumor: “And Geshem says…” You are never more like the devil than when you spread rumors about godly people.
Satan will do everything he can to get you to come down. And by God’s grace, you are not going to do it!
Nehemiah 2:18, 4:1-18, 5:1, 6:2-8; Mark 5:40; Luke 23:36-37; 1 Corinthians 1:18; Matthew 5:11-12; Revelation 12:11; Philippians 1:28; James 4:7
Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…
