I. Introduction

A. Illustration – Mark Galli wrote, The Battle of Antietam in 1862 lasted for 12 hours and ranks as the bloodiest day of the Civil War, with 10,000 Confederate casualties and even more on the Union side. "At last the sun went down and the battle ended," wrote one historian, "smoke heavy in the air, the twilight quivering with the anguished cries of thousands of wounded men." Though militarily a draw, the mediocre Union General George McClellan was able to end the brilliant Robert E. Lee's thrust into Maryland, forcing him to retire across the Potomoc. How was this possible? Two Union soldiers had found a copy of Lee's battle plans and had delivered them to McClellan before the engagement. In some respects, we are no match for our adversary, Satan, whose wiles we are told to be wary of. But as with General McClellan, our enemy's plans have fallen into our hands. We know his usual strategies—to entice us with lies, lust, greed, and the like. With such knowledge, given us by God's Word, and God's Spirit within, we too can resist the enemy's advances (as cited on PreachingToday.com).

B. That is a powerful illustration of the truth we’re focusing on today. Nehemiah was clued into his enemies plans and fought their deception so that he could keep God’s plan on track. He trusted God to help him defeat deception. Let’s read about it in Nehemiah 6, and I’m reading from the New Living.

C. Nehemiah 5 from the New Living – When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies found out that I had finished rebuilding the wall and that no gaps remained-though we had not yet hung the doors in the gates- 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me a message asking me to meet them at one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But I realized they were plotting to harm me. 3 I replied by sending this message to them: “I am doing a great work! I cannot stop to come and meet with you.” 4 Four times they sent the same message, and each time I gave the same reply. 5 The fifth time, Sanballat’s servant came with an open letter in his hand, 6 and this is what it said: “Geshem tells me that everywhere he goes he hears that you and the Jews are planning to rebel and that is why you are building the wall. According to his reports, you plan to be their king. 7 He also reports that you have appointed prophets to prophesy about you in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Look! There is a king in Judah!’ You can be very sure that this report will get back to the king, so I suggest that you come and talk it over with me.” 8 My reply was, “You know you are lying. There is no truth in any part of your story.” 9 They were just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could break our resolve and stop the work. So I prayed for strength to continue the work. 10 Later I went to visit Shemaiah son of Delaiah and grandson of Mehelabel, who was confined to his home. He said, “Let us meet together inside the Temple of God and bolt the doors shut. Your enemies are coming to kill you tonight.” 11 But I replied, “Should someone in my position run away from danger? Should someone in my position enter the Temple to save his life? No, I won’t do it!” 12 I realized that God had not spoken to him, but that he uttered this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 They were hoping to intimidate me and make me sin by following his suggestion. Then they would be able to accuse and discredit me. 14 Remember, O my God, all the evil things that Tobiah and Sanballat have done. And remember Noadiah the prophet and all the prophets like her who have tried to intimidate me. 15 So on October 2 the wall was finally finished-just fifty-two days after we had begun. 16 When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized that this work had been done with the help of our God. 17 During these fifty-two days, many letters went back and forth between Tobiah and the officials of Judah. 18 For many in Judah had sworn allegiance to him because his father-in-law was Shecaniah son of Arah and because his son Jehohanan was married to the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah. 19 They kept telling me what a wonderful man Tobiah was, and then they told him everything I said. And Tobiah sent many threatening letters to intimidate me.

II. The Truth Shall Set Us Free

A. Last Sunday we saw how Nehemiah’s enemies tried to derail him through ungodly criticism. They resorted to verbal threats and tactics that revealed how much they hated the Jews and their God. And since that didn’t work, they resorted to downright deception. Their lies and innuendoes even went as far as influence peddling in Jerusalem’s government. Verse one of chapter six tells us that the wall had been finished. The massive gate structures still weren’t done, but Jerusalem was now protected by a wall – and it’s much easier to defend a few points of entry at the unfinished gates than it is with no wall at all. Since they couldn’t stop wall construction, Sanballat, Tobiah and the others had to resort to deception to try to get rid of Nehemiah.

B. The first deception seemed innocent enough. Come on out for a friendly chat. Let’s be friends. Let’s let bygones be bygones. We can work together. Satan will always try to deceive us into compromising just a little bit so that he can finish us off. How did Nehemiah respond? Did he try to negotiate? No! Nehemiah spoke the truth, only the truth, and didn’t argue about the details. Whenever we come across anyone attempting to deceive us, our response has got to be to speak the truth and walk away. In addition to teaching us to be critics, which we saw last week is NOT a good thing, our culture teaches us to defend ourselves and argue tooth and nail until we win. When we argue with Satan, we will always lose because he’s a lot smarter than we are. We’ve got to just speak the truth and walk away.

C. The second deception was more overt and more threatening. Sanballat resorted to an outright lie that he intended to undermine Nehemiah’s credibility with the Jews and with King Artaxerxes. Sanballat quoted a rather unreliable source (Geshem) that said that Nehemiah’s goal was to claim the crown of Jerusalem himself. And he threatened to tell Artaxerxes that Nehemiah was going to usurp his authority over Judah. Now it’s important to remember the truth here – Artaxerxes trusted Nehemiah implicitly, enough to allow him to test his wine for poison. So who do you think the king was going to believe? Nehemiah. Again he responded with the truth. He replied, “You know you are lying. There is no truth in any part of your story.” Nehemiah spoke the truth, only the truth, and walked away. But he added one more thing to his efforts. Verse 9 - They were just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could break our resolve and stop the work. So I prayed for strength to continue the work. He spoke the truth, and he prayed for strength. The battle we face in fighting deception is tough and draining, and we’ve got to rebuild our reserves through prayer. Prayer works to defeat the supernatural influence of the enemy in this world. Prayer works to re-center us on to the Source of truth for the entire universe – God. We’ve got to speak the truth, walk away, and pray if we’re going to defeat deception.

D. After this the deceptions started getting a bit more subtle. If Satan can’t deceive us with a frontal assault, he’ll try using a side door or back door to get us to fall. Nehemiah went to visit someone who was supposed to be on his side. He met with one of his fellow Jews in Jerusalem who would benefit greatly from the protection of the city wall. You’d think he’d be able to trust somebody like that. Instead, Shemaiah tried to entice Nehemiah to sin. What was so wrong about entering the Temple and staying in its rooms overnight? According to the Law of Moses, the only ones who could to that were the priests. Nehemiah wasn’t a priest, and because he was tuned into God’s will for his life, he saw right through the deception. There’s a bit lesson in that for us. When we’re tuned into God’s will for our lives, we’re much less likely to be deceived by Satan and his servants. How did Nehemiah respond? He confronted his enemy with the truth. He didn’t argue – he just spoke the truth. Notice the pattern here? He spoke the truth with every deception, and spent time praying for strength, recharging his relationship with God, and that prepared him to resist even more subtle deceptions. We’ve got speak the truth, pray, and stay tuned into God’s will for our lives if we’re going to successfully fight deception. If we don’t, we’re easy targets.

E.Illustration – Catholic author Anthony De Mello wrote, People mistakenly assume that their thinking is done by their head; it is actually done by the heart, which first dictates the conclusion, then commands the head to provide the reasoning that will defend it (as cited on PreachingToday.com). If we don’t defend our hearts by speaking only the truth, spending time in prayer recharge our relationship with God, and building the truth into our hearts and lives, we will fall. We’ve all seen and known many servants of Christ who fell horribly into sin and disgrace because they believed the deceptions that came their way. They didn’t take care of their hearts, so they didn’t stand a chance.

F. I’d like to be able to say that the three strikes rule applies to deception – you know, resist three times and the attacks stop. Unfortunately, that’s not true. Nehemiah was almost continually assaulted with deceptive attacks. Verse 17 – During those fifty-two days, many letters went back and forth between Tobiah and the officials of Judah. 18 For many in Judah had sworn allegiance to him…. 19 They kept telling me what a wonderful man Tobiah was, and then they told him everything I said. And Tobiah sent many threatening letters to intimidate me. Many of the officials in Nehemiah’s own government would tell him how great he was to his face, and then work hard at backstabbing and undermining him behind his back. And, unfortunately, we’ve all experienced that in our own lives and will continue to experience it. There will always be some folks in our lives who just don’t get it – who don’t understand that loving Jesus means obediently doing everything we can to see His will and His plan become a reality here on earth. Because deception is a tool of the enemy and is the antithesis of God’s truth, anything we do for God will be hotly contested. Satan will always use deception to try to take us down. Nehemiah trust God to carry Him through. He spoke the truth, he prayed, and he prepared for more subtle deceptions. But without trust in God to make it right, Nehemiah would have failed. Ultimately, trusting in God is trusting in His truth. Jesus said, in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” He also said, in John 8:32, “The truth shall set you free.” Nehemiah’s message is simple – speak the truth, pray and recharge, prepare, and trust. God will help us know His will and identify deceptions as we spend time in prayer and in His Word, the Bible.

G. Illustration – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book Meditating on the Word, wrote, Because I am a Christian, therefore, every day in which I do not penetrate more deeply into the knowledge of God’s Word in Holy Scripture is a lost day for me. I can only move forward with certainty upon the firm ground of the Word of God. And, as a Christian, I learn to know the Holy Scriptures in no other way than by hearing the Word preached and by prayerful meditation (as cited on PreachingToday.com).

H. Praise God that He has given us what we need to fight deception. Let’s make sure we become a people of the truth.

III. Conclusion

A. Please bow your heads and close your eyes out of respect for each other’s privacy. What is God speaking to your heart this morning about fighting deception? What is He saying to you about becoming a person of the truth? Let’s spend a few quiet moments listening to what the Spirit is saying to us.

B. Again, what’s God been speaking to your heart? Spend a few moments right now surrendering to His truth. And it is an act of surrender to subject ourselves to truth. Then commit to becoming a person of the truth by speaking the truth, praying, preparing with God’s Word, and trusting God to carry you through. Let’s pray.