Nehemiah Bible Study Lesson Snippet
Defense against false prophets: How much do you love the truth?
Neh 6:11 But I said, 'Should a man like me flee? And could one such as I go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.'
Nehemiah's thought was 'And could one such as I go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.' Nehemiah had to judge the prophecy by Gods word. The word of God stated that only the Levites "shall attend to the priesthood for everything concerning the altar and inside the veil...but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death." (Num 18:7) And yes, Nehemiah was not a Levite. Thankfully however, in a time when most of Israel had forgotten the word of God, Nehemiah still knew the word and judged and acted by its truth! Many could learn from his actions today. One question that keeps coming back is just how important is truth? Does it matter what we believe or what is being taught to Gods people? Should we make a deal out of error in the church or just let it ride?
Now this is an important question so I will spend a bit of time on it. On the one hand we should never get to the stage where all we are trying to do is make issues out of tiny errors or cause disagreement in areas where judgment is not allowed. (Rom 14). That is a critical spirit and is plain wrong! I do believe though, that the word of God tells us to watch and guard the truth of the gospel. Jesus Himself is the truth (Jn 14:6) and its the truth of who He is and what He did that sets us free. It is always the action of the enemy to try to corrupt the truth by sowing seeds of error among the true seed. If we end up with a gospel of half-truths, we'll have converts that are half set free! And as we saw earlier, its the belt of truth that holds all the armor together. If your theology is loose, so is your belt of truth and then so is your armor, and then we're back to where we began - with disciples half set free, trying to live the Christian life without the armor (spiritual protection) God provides! And that's when the Christian life becomes a drag and a chore. So lets look at what the word of God says. The next few verses are what Paul wrote to Timothy. Having now come to the end of his ministry, he was passing on important truths for this young leader. I believe that what he stressed most was guarding and preaching the truth!
- 1 Timothy 1:3 'As I urged you upon my departure. stay on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines.'
- 1 Timothy: 4:6 'In pointing out these things (correcting wrong teaching in verses 1-5) you will be a good servant of Jesus Christ, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.'
- 1 Timothy 4:13 'Until I come, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation and teaching.'
- 1 Timothy 4:16 'Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching.. for as you do so you will ensure salvation for yourself and for those who hear you.'
- See also 1 Tim 5:17, 6:2-3, 6:17-18
- 2 Timothy 2:15 'Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.'
- 2 Timothy 3:16 'All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.'
- 2 Timothy 4:1-2 'I solemnly charge you... preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.'
- See also 2 Tim 1:13-14, 2:2, 2:24-26, 3:10-15
I hope you can see where Paul's heart was. Truth is important. A man may say he believes, but if what he believes is a lie, his faith is in vain. Paul described the word of God as being for teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness. Two seem positive, two negative. But they are all for the positive in the long run. Part of biblical love is to correct and train. They go hand in hand. Look at the Fathers love. (Heb 12:5-11)
From: Nehemiah 6:10-14 Sanballat Strikes Back - The angel of light!