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00:01 Good morning church. Everybody comfortable? You all good?
00:07 Excellent. Right, let's begin. This is the eighth and the last
00:13 installment of our study on the book of Nehemiah. And just like just like every good book or every good movie, there's
00:20 uh there's been suspense, there's been action, forbidden romance, right? Uh and
00:26 it's an honor and a privilege to be able to close out the book today to conclude
00:32 the matter. Uh I I wish there was a a happily ever after sort of ending to the
00:37 book but uh as Somi read there isn't right the people turned back into sin.
00:45 Uh and if you remember when I preached on Nehemiah chapter 1, I told you that the books of Ezra and Nehemiah
00:51 originally they used to be one book, right? And both these books, they end in exactly the same way, right? This this
00:58 reformation, celebration, worship, and then the last chapter, people fall back
01:03 into sin. Um yeah. So, uh, as as I as I preach today,
01:12 I'm I'm going to be I'm going to be blasting through anytime we have to read uh through the chapter uh uh through the
01:18 13th chapter of Nehemiah because it's quite a long chapter and uh I think I'm a little bit overtime in uh in the
01:25 amount of time that I need to to preach this sermon. So, if you if you can read along in in your own Bibles, that would
01:31 be great. Um because I'm I'm going to be blasting through when I read. Uh but
01:36 first, let let's pray. Heavenly Father, we want to we want to praise you. We want to thank you, God.
01:43 We're here for you, God. I pray that uh that your name be glorified. God, I pray
01:48 that the name of Jesus be lifted high. Uh pray this, Lord, in Jesus name. Amen.
01:56 Right. So, let me remind you of what has been happening in the past 12 chapters.
02:01 Right? We're in chapter 13, the last chapter. Let me remind you what's been going on. Chapter one, Nehemiah hears
02:07 the bad news about how Jerusalem's walls are broken down. And so he he prays a prayer of confession. Chapter two, he he
02:13 speaks despite his fears to King Ardis Xerxes and requests to go back to
02:19 Jerusalem to build the walls. In chapter three, there's a glimmer of hope, a glimmer of success, right? There's
02:25 families building the wall right in front of their house next to each other in partnership with one another.
02:32 But then in chapter 4, opposition comes along. They are ridiculed and insulted and even threatened by Sanbalat and
02:39 Tobaya, right? Such that half the men had to stand at arms with their swords and their spears and their shields while
02:45 the other half of the men would continue working on the wall. Chapter 5, Nehemiah
02:51 discovers that the Jews are mortgaging out their fields and their vineyards and even their children for food from their
02:58 fellow Jews. And so Nehemiah calls the nobles and officials together and he rebukes them and tells them to fear God
03:04 and not to treat their fellow countrymen that way. Chapter 6, Sandbala and Tobaya
03:10 come up again. They try to lure Nehemiah out of the city to harm him. And when Nehemiah refuses to go, they try to
03:17 frame him for revolt. They say this Ne they spread rumors saying that Nehemiah is trying to become the next king of
03:23 Judah. Chapter 7, the wall is rebuilt and God-fearing leaders are appointed.
03:30 Chapter eight, Ezra reads the law to everyone. For seven days. Wow. For seven
03:35 days, they read the law, praise God, and worshiped him. Chapter nine, the Israelites gathered to fast, mourn, and
03:42 confess their sins. Chapter 10, they decided to make a binding agreement that were sealed. Sealed by the leaders and
03:49 the Levites. Uh and all these people bound themselves under oath, under the threat of a curse,
03:57 saying if we go back into our sinful ways, let God curses.
04:02 Chapter 11, leaders and Levites and some of the Jews move into the city. In chapter 12, there's the dedication of
04:08 the wall where the Jews come to Jerusalem, they sing, the Levites purify themselves and the people and the wall
04:14 and this great celebration, this great revival and reformation.
04:20 And this is where we enter into chapter 13. Okay, you got your Bibles open? You
04:25 ready? Here we go. Chapter 13, verse 1.
04:31 On that day, the book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people. And there was found written that no Ammonite
04:37 or Moabitete should ever be admitted into the assembly of God, because they had not met the Israelites with food and
04:43 water, but had hired Balum to call a curse down on them. Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing. Again,
04:49 I'm sorry that I have to read really fast through this. Um,
04:54 so as Ezra was reading the law to them, they came across Deuteronomy 23, which
04:60 says which calls out two nations, the Ammonites and the Moabites. It
05:06 specifically, it specifically calls out these two nations because of how they treated the Jews, right? So, the Jews
05:13 exited Egypt with God's mighty hand, right? They're moving into the promised land and they come they come across to
05:20 Ammon, the nation of Ammon. And they said to the king of Ammon, "Dear king, we would just like to pass through your
05:26 country instead of having to walk all the way around. We won't turn left or right. We won't we won't even drink
05:32 water or eat food. We just would like to pass through."
05:37 And the king of Ammon, instead of meeting them with hospitality, he meets them with hostility. He brings
05:44 out his armies and he battles with the Israelites. Naturally, without God on
05:49 their side, the Ammonites lost. And so they continue on. They continue on and they they come to the nation of Moab.
05:55 Same thing happens. We would just like to pass through. We won't drink. We won't eat. Just pass through. Can we do
06:02 that? And the king of Moab in again instead of meeting them with hospitality and saying, "Yes, please. Of course.
06:08 Hey, have some water. Have some food." He hires Balam to curse them, right?
06:15 Balam had made a name for himself as some sort of sorcerer, right? So that people who he cursed were actually
06:21 cursed. And so he hires Balam. But God tells Balam, "You can't curse my people.
06:26 You can only bless them." And so Balam says, "Okay, I have no choice." So he blesses the people of Israel. And the
06:32 king of Moab says, "You are of no use to me. If you cannot curse them, you're of
06:38 no use to me. I would have made you rich beyond your imagination, but now just
06:43 get out of my sight. And Balam goes, "Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. Okay, I can't curse them because God said I
06:49 can't." But you want to beat the Israelites. You have to get their God angry with
06:54 them. You have to make them sin. That's how you beat them. This is what you do, king of Moab. Send beautiful women into
07:01 the Israelite camps. They will sin and God will be angry at them. And so I I mean I don't want to get into
07:07 the story but but you understand what I'm trying to say. God promised Abraham
07:13 those who bless you I will bless and those who curse you I will curse. Right?
07:18 And this is a fulfillment of that promise. So this command is for a specific people for a specific reason.
07:26 You see other foreigners were allowed into the assemblies of God. Not Jews could marry other non-Jews. It was not,
07:34 it was okay, right? As long as they adopted Judaism, as long as they
07:40 worshiped Yahweh, as long as they followed the law of Moses, it was okay.
07:46 Right? So, when the Old Testament speaks against marrying wives of foreign nations, it's not because they're of a
07:51 foreign race. It's because they're of a foreign religion. Right? Solomon is a
07:57 prime example of this. You all know the story, right? He has a thousand women. Uh, and he builds temples and high
08:03 places in Jerusalem for them. And so, so notice in verse three, right?
08:09 Notice in verse three what they did in response to this command.
08:15 Verse three, when the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who
08:20 were of foreign descent. Did you get that?
08:27 Under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, they ordered a nationwide decree to divorce their spouses
08:36 and to send them away and and their children as well because they were they were half Jews, right? And to send them
08:41 away, to exile them just because they were foreigners. And Ezra did the same
08:48 thing 15 years earlier. And you can read about this in Ezra 10. Do you notice something terribly wrong with this?
08:57 G God never ever commanded this. He
09:02 never told them to divorce their wives and send their children away.
09:07 In fact, on the contrary, in Malachi 2:6, right, we read this, "The man who hates and divorces his wife does
09:14 violence to the one he should protect." God equates
09:20 God equates divorce with violence. Matthew 19 Jesus said the same thing.
09:27 What God has joined let no man separate. 1 Corinthians 7 says any brother who has a wife who is not a believer and she is
09:34 willing to live with him he must not divorce her. So what's happening in the midst of this
09:40 revival and reformation is legalism has slipped in. Self-righteousness has
09:48 slipped in. Right? They're trying to show God how holy they are. They're trying to be holier than God. They're
09:54 saying, "God, uh-huh. I see this command. Guess what? I'm I'm I'm so
09:59 holy. I'm going to My wife is a foreigner. I'm going to divorce her. I'm going to send my children away. That's how holy I am, God. That's what I'm
10:06 going to do for you, God. They're being pheriseical. They're creating rules and
10:12 regulations that God never gave, and it was all for pretent."
10:20 In a few verses later, you'll see that they fall back into the same sin all
10:26 over again, right? Even though they were so holy and banished, their their their wives and their children, they fall back
10:32 into the same sin. It was all pretend. They chose pretense
10:38 over principle. They chose pretense over principle.
10:43 Verse four. Before this, Elishib the priest who had
10:49 been put in charge of the storms of the house of God. He was closely associated with Tobaya. And he had pro he provided
10:55 him with a large room formally used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles and all the tithes
11:00 of grain, new wine, olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians, and gatekeepers as well as the contributions
11:07 for the priests. The storoom where the temple articles and the tithes are supposed to be stored
11:14 for its workers has been given to Tobaya to live in. Does that name ring a bell?
11:21 Tobaya and Sanbalad. You remember those guys? The people who insulted and
11:26 threatened to kill the Jews as they were rebuilding the wall. This is an enemy of
11:34 God. And yet one of the priests, Elashib, he gives his buddy Tobaya a room in the
11:42 temple, right? Not even in Jerusalem, in the temple itself, a large room. In the
11:49 NIV, it says Tobaya was a close associate, right? In the ESV, it says Tobaya was closely related. So somehow
11:58 someway they were probably close friends or even family. Like it's likely that they were family, right? Given all the
12:04 all the intermarriage that was going on, it's also likely I think that Eliah must
12:11 be getting some sort of kickback from this, some sort of rent in whatever form that is, right? Because this this right
12:19 here is prime real estate. Those of you in the real estate business, right? How
12:24 much does rent go in the holy city and in the holy temple? And it says a large room in the holy temple in the holy
12:31 city. This is city center. This is penthouse.
12:37 Surely Eliashib must be getting some sort of kickback from this. Now, how was
12:43 this allowed to happen under the watchful eye of Nehemiah? We read on verse 6.
12:50 But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem. For in the 32nd year of Ardiserxes, king of Babylon, I
12:56 returned to the king. Sometime later, I asked his permission and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learn about the evil
13:02 thing Elashib had done in providing Tobiiah a room in the courts of the house of God. Nehemiah was gone for some
13:08 time. Right? In chapter 2 it says in the 20th year of King Ardis Xerxes he he comes to Jerusalem. Right? He rules as
13:16 governor for 12 years and then he goes back to serve King Art Xerxes. And then it says sometime later. Sometime later
13:23 he comes back and finds all this wickedness and nonsense going on.
13:29 The Bible's not clear on how long this sometime later is, but with the research that I've done, scholars believe it's
13:35 anywhere between 1 to 5 years, right? So, he rules as governor for 12 years.
13:40 He's gone for 1 to 5 years. He comes back and he finds this going on and he
13:47 is not happy. So, what does he do? Verse 8, I was greatly displeased and threw
13:54 all Tobias household goods out of the room. I gave orders to purify the rooms and put back the equipment of the house
14:01 of God with the grain offerings and incense. Nehemiah throws Tobaya and all
14:08 his stuff out. He doesn't care. Nehemiah is a bit of a bit of a gangster kind of
14:14 guy. I think he's kind of a like an angry lone shark kind of character, right? He sees Tobaya in the temple. He
14:20 can't believe his eyes. This guy used to threaten us, right? And so he throws out
14:26 the couch, he throws out the bed, he throws out his clothes, he throws out his TV, he says, "Get out of here and
14:32 tells the Levites to purify the rooms and put the tithes and the temple articles back."
14:41 But notice again the heart, the heart of Elashib and the heart of the other
14:46 people of Judah who allowed this to happen. They chose promotion
14:52 over piety. They chose promotion over piety.
14:58 Verse 10. I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been
15:04 given to them and that all the Levites and musicians responsible for the service had gone back into their own
15:09 fields. So I rebuked the officials and asked them, "Why is the house of God neglected?" Then I called them together
15:16 and stationed them at their posts. They were supposed to give their tithes to
15:21 the Levites and the musicians and all the other workers in the temple, right?
15:27 And yet when Nehemiah comes back, he sees them working in the fields, plowing, planting, harvesting, maybe
15:34 even selling, right?
15:40 We ought to be thankful for the people who work in the church,
15:47 whether it's whether it's part-time or full-time people who serve in ministries, right? It takes a lot of
15:55 work to put this together.
16:01 Someone needs to clean the floors that we stand on. Someone needs to pay the bills to keep
16:07 these lights and this this aircon running. Someone needs to clean the bathrooms. Someone needs to to organize
16:15 events. Where are your children right now? They're in youth. They're in Sunday
16:20 school. Someone needs to run that. On Saturdays, they're at boys brigade. Someone needs to run that. Buildings
16:27 don't run themselves. People don't pastor themselves. People don't minister
16:32 to themselves. They don't counsel themselves, right? Someone needs to do all that. And
16:39 more often than not, the people who do all that have all the skills necessary
16:45 to make it big and to be successful in the secular world.
16:50 And yet they choose to serve us. So we ought to be thankful.
16:57 We need to be grateful for these people. And these people deserve to earn a fair
17:02 wage, which is why we pass the offering bags around every week.
17:10 So if you know who these people are, if you know who works here full-time, part-time, if you know who your pastors
17:16 are, who your elders are, shake their hands, encourage them, appreciate them,
17:23 be thankful for them. Verse 12.
17:28 All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine, and olive oil into the storms.
17:33 I put Shelomiah the priest, Zadok, the scribe, and a Levite named Padiah in charge of the storooms, and made Hanan,
17:40 son of Zakur, the son of Mataniah, their assistant, because they were considered trustworthy. They were made responsible
17:47 for distributing the supplies to their fellow Levites. Remember me for this, my God, and do not blot out what I have so
17:53 faithfully done for the house of my God and its services." When Nehemiah sees the Levites working
18:00 in the fields, he is enraged. He's furious.
18:06 He calls them back. He stations them at their post and he decrees a nationwide tithe.
18:14 Give these people what they deserve.
18:21 But again, look at the hearts. Look at the hearts of the people of Judah.
18:27 They chose possessions over their pledge. So, let's recap.
18:34 They chose pretense over principle. They chose promotion over piety.
18:43 And they chose possessions over their pledge. Verse
18:49 15. In those days I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath and
18:55 bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys together with the wine, grapes, figs, and all other kinds of loaves.
19:02 And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore, I warned them against selling food on that day. People from Tyra who lived in
19:09 Jerusalem were bringing in fish of all kinds and merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the
19:14 people of Judah. They are breaking the Sabbath. They're
19:20 working on their day of rest, right? And we we understand this. FBC is primarily
19:27 upper middle class Chinese, right? That's what we are. And and nobody gets there by being lazy,
19:35 right? You understand the value of hard work. You understand what it means to
19:42 work overtime. Working on weekends is expected. I mean,
19:47 normal, right? We all understand the the the drive to
19:54 get some extra work done on a Saturday and a Sunday so that our Mondays will go a little smoother or so that we can we
20:00 can impress our boss. You all understand that if you open shop
20:06 on a Sunday, there is profit to be made.
20:11 Now, while keeping the Sabbath is uh keeping the Sabbath holy is is a Old Testament law, right? Which means it's
20:16 no it's no longer binding on us, don't you think that it would be wise to
20:23 consider that it was God who instituted the Sabbath? Out of all the laws that God
20:30 could have given us, right, his top 10 list included
20:35 keeping the Sabbath, resting in him one day of the week. Do you not think it
20:41 would be wise to consider that? What if one day in the week
20:48 when your children ask you to play with you, you would actually play with them?
20:54 What if one day in the week you would cook in and eat as a family?
21:01 What if one day in the week you would read the Bible and pray together as a family? What if one day in the week you
21:08 allowed yourself to sleep in, play football, have a barbecue or a picnic
21:13 with friends? What if one day in the week you allowed yourself to rejuvenate your soul with a Bible in one hand and a
21:20 coffee in the other? What would that do to change the landscape of FBC and our families and
21:29 even our nation? What would that do? I don't know what kind of work you do. I
21:36 don't know what kind of stress you face. I don't know what kind of boss you work for. All I know is that God knew what he
21:45 was doing when he instituted the Sabbath.
21:51 Verse 17. I rebuked the I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this
21:57 wicked thing you are doing? Desecrating the Sabbath day? Didn't your ancestors do the same things so that our God
22:04 brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the
22:11 Sabbath." Why are you doing this again? Was this not part of the reason God sent us into exile in the first place? And
22:18 now you want to store up more wrath against us. What are you doing? Verse
22:23 19. When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not
22:29 open until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gate so that no load could be brought in on
22:35 the Sabbath. Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem, but I
22:41 warned them, "Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you." From that time they no
22:48 longer came on the Sabbath. Nehemiah orders the doors to be shut and
22:54 he puts his own men to stand guard. Don't let anyone in. Don't let anyone in
22:60 or out on the Sabbath. It's a day of rest. We need to keep the Sabbath holy.
23:06 And even when the gates are shut, he looks down from the wall and he sees that there are some merchants who are
23:12 waiting there in some sort of hope that the that the doors would be open. Right. The NIV says, Nehemiah said, "I
23:19 will arrest you if you do this again." You know what the ESV says? The ESV
23:25 says, Nehemiah said, "If you do this again, I will lay hands on you."
23:31 Wow. I told you this guy's some sort of gangster, right? I don't think I I I just picture Nehemiah as this big beefy
23:39 guy, you know, with a big beard and long hair. Because can you imagine a small guy saying, "I'll lay hands on you."
23:46 Right? It just doesn't work. I just picture him as a big lone shark kind of guy with some
23:51 tattoos on his arm. I don't know. Right.
23:56 But he's angry. He's angry that they are disobeying God for what?
24:03 To sell merchandise on the Sabbath. Turn your eyes again to the hearts of
24:10 the people of Judah. They knew the law. They've been taught the law since they
24:16 were little boys and girls. And Ezra read the law to them for seven days.
24:22 They knew the law, but they chose prophet over the presence
24:30 of God.
24:35 Verse 23. Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod,
24:42 Ammon, and Moab. Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples and
24:49 did not know how to speak the language of Judah. What's the big issue, by the way? What's the big issue with this? You
24:55 know, I'm Chinese and I don't speak a word of Chinese, right? I don't speak even dialects, right? You can laugh at
25:01 me. It's okay. I've been called banana for many years now. Okay. But what's the
25:06 issue? The issue is this. If their children could not even speak Hebrew, it means
25:13 that their fathers were so hands off in the raising of their children that they
25:19 could not even speak the language of Judah.
25:24 The raising of the children was left to their foreign wives.
25:30 How do you think this would affect the next generation? Would the next generation of Jews
25:36 know, love, and treasure Yahweh, creator God?
25:42 Would they know, let alone want to obey the laws of God? Would they know of the
25:49 mighty works that God did in rescuing them from Egypt?
25:55 Absolutely not. Absolutely not. This is why it's such a serious issue. Jump to
26:01 verse 28 with me. Verse 28. One of the sons of Joida, son of Elashib, the high
26:07 priest, was son-in-law to Sanbalad, the Horonite, and I drove him away from me.
26:13 You remember Sanbalad? Name ring a bell? Tobayian Sanbalad, the enemies of God
26:18 who threatened Israel as they were building the walls. This evil practice,
26:24 this wicked habit of marrying pagan wives was so rampant such that it even
26:30 affected the family of the high priest. The high priest's grandson married
26:38 Sanbalad's daughter.
26:44 This problem had penetrated right into the deepest recesses of Judah. So what's
26:50 going on here? What's going on? Why Why is this sin being repeated again and
26:57 again and again? Like, are there no beautiful women in in
27:03 Judah? Are they all just really ugly? Are they all rude and and like unckempt
27:09 and and dirty and smelly? Right? Their hair is all messy. There's cornflakes in there. They're walking around like
27:15 zombies. Oh, marry me, men of Judah. Bury me. Right? Is that what's going on?
27:21 What? Why do the men keep flocking to foreign women?
27:29 I don't think there was any issue with the women of Judah. In fact, I found a passage that speaks about them, right?
27:36 You can just write the write the reference down. Don't bother turning it to it. Uh you can study it later. 1
27:42 Peter 3:es 3 to5. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment such as
27:48 elaborate hairstyles or the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the
27:54 unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's
27:60 sight. For this is the way that the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They
28:06 submitted to their own husbands. What are some of the adjectives that you find
28:11 in there? gentle, quiet,
28:17 submissive. Who what kind of man would not want a wife who is soothingly gentle,
28:26 confidently quiet and powerfully submissive? Oh, the poor men of Judah. They had to deal with gentle, quiet,
28:33 submissive women. The poor men of Judah. FBC. How many men here would love to
28:39 have a gentle, quiet, submissive wife? Yeah, that's right. All the hands down.
28:44 That's what I expected. You better keep your hands down. That was a trick question cuz you're sitting next to your
28:50 wives, right? Or you're sitting next to your girlfriends. So now you can say, "Yeah, he's talking about you. He's
28:56 talking about you. That's you. That's you right there." Right? You sly men.
29:04 So what what what was the issue? Why did they keep flocking to foreign women?
29:12 I'll tell you why. For this is the way the holy women of
29:19 the past. Did you get that? Holy women, the women of Judah knew Yahweh.
29:26 They knew and loved and obeyed God. They knew the law of Moses.
29:34 So, anytime the men would want to do a dirty business deal, they would get a dirty look from their wives. Anytime
29:40 they would want to work on the Sabbath or or pocket the tithe or pick your poison, what whatever sin you want,
29:46 right? They would be held accountable by their wives who loved and knew God.
29:56 So, what's the solution? Easy. Find a pagan girl to marry.
30:03 She doesn't care if you work on the Sabbath. She doesn't care if you pocket the tithe. In fact, it's better that you
30:10 pocket the tithe so that some of it can come to her. Right? You marry a pagan wife.
30:18 That means zero accountability. And that's what the men of Judah were looking for.
30:26 1 John 1 6-7. And I I would recommend you write this out of all the references. I would recommend you write
30:32 this one down. You can study it later. 1 John 1 6-7. If we claim to have
30:39 fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the
30:45 truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with
30:51 one another. And the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. I understand that when there is sin in our
30:57 lives, it's easier to remain in the dark. I get that. I've been there, right? The light
31:05 is scary. Over here, it's comfortable in the dark. Out there, it's uncomfortable.
31:11 Here, it feels safe outside in the light. Oh, feels dangerous. It's too
31:16 bright there. It's too bright there.
31:22 I get that no one is ever born with an innate desire
31:28 to be accountable and submissive to a higher authority. I understand that nobody's born with that, right? But out
31:37 in the light is where it's the only place you will find true freedom and joy.
31:46 Don't be like the men of Judah. Don't find ways to continue living in our sin.
31:53 Live in the light. Let's continue reading to see what Nehemiah does. Verse 25. I rebuked them
32:01 and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in God's
32:07 name and said, "You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in
32:12 marriage for your sons or for Israel." But even he was led into sin by foreign women. Must we hear now that you two are
32:19 doing this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women? Again, remember it's got
32:27 nothing to do with their race. It's got to do with their religion.
32:32 They worshiped pagan gods
32:40 and Solomon, like the rest of us, would be swayed in by them to worship pagan
32:46 gods. Right. Nehemiah's gangster character
32:51 comes out again. He beat the men. He pulled out their hair. This guy is great. I lead a I lead a group of about
32:57 five campus guys, right? And uh anytime that they're late for our sessions or or
33:03 they don't do the work that they're supposed to do, I slap them with a fine, right? And some people have told me,
33:08 "Oh, Sam, that's so harsh. That's so mean. Have you read Nehemiah? I should
33:14 be beating them and pulling out their hair. If anything, I'm too lenient, right? Until they get bigger than me,
33:21 then I'll recruit Brandon or someone to do it. But again,
33:28 look at the heart of the people of Judah.
33:36 They chose pleasure over purity. They chose pleasure over purity.
33:44 So, let's recap. They chose pretense
33:50 over principle. They chose promotion over piety.
33:56 They chose possessions over their pledge. They chose profit
34:03 over the presence of God. And finally, they chose pleasure.
34:08 They chose pleasure over purity.
34:16 So, we've come to the end of the chapter and the end of the book.
34:21 And as you can see, it ends on a pretty low note, right?
34:28 Both books, Ezra and Nehemiah, they they end exactly the same way. They have the exact same pattern. The leader goes in,
34:35 accomplishes the goal they they set out to accomplish through opposition. there's great revival, reformation,
34:42 worship, celebration, and then in the last chapter, things take a turn for the worse.
34:51 And so, it's a very it's a very clear pattern what's going on here. Both books exactly the same pattern. And so, we
34:57 have to ask ourselves why why did the author write this? Why? What
35:04 was the intention of the Holy Spirit to inspire the author to write these two
35:10 books in exactly the same way? What's the message
35:16 that we're supposed to get from this? And in preparing for this, in my
35:21 research and and prayer over the text, I I've come up with two two conclusions
35:28 as to why this is the case. Conclusion number one,
35:34 it's a call to repentance. We're supposed to read Nehemiah
35:39 and see ourselves in there. We're not supposed to read Nehemiah and say, "Oh man, these Jews, they just they just
35:45 can't get their act together." No, that's not not how we're supposed to read Nehemiah. We're supposed to read it
35:51 and see ourselves in there. We may not be divorcing our wives and
35:58 exiling our children to show God how holy we are,
36:03 but do we look down on others when they fail instead of showing them encouragement,
36:10 grace, and mercy? Do we sit on our high horse and look down on them? Do we shun
36:16 people who walk through those doors who look different to us, who may not be
36:22 able to navigate the Bible as well as us?
36:29 Is that not legalism? Is that not self-righteousness? Yeah, it is. And we're guilty of that.
36:36 And we need to repent. We may not be neglecting the temple of
36:42 God, right? This place runs great,
36:47 but are we building his kingdom? Do we seek first? As in, do we put as
36:55 our first priority God's kingdom and God's righteousness?
37:01 Are we making disciples? Do we feed the poor, clothe the naked,
37:09 visit the prisoner? No, we don't. And we need to repent.
37:18 We're not breaking the Sabbath because it's an Old Testament law and it's and we're no longer bound by it. I want to
37:23 make that clear. If you work on a Sunday, right, that there's no law in the Bible, right, that that says you
37:30 shouldn't. We live in the New Testament era. Okay? It's not wrong. But do we
37:36 treasure the presence of God? Do we long to dwell in the house of God
37:42 and gaze on his beauty? Are his words sweet and precious to us?
37:54 Do we rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances?
38:00 No, we don't. And we need to repent. We may not be marrying pagan wives so
38:07 that we can live pagan lives, but boy, do we go to great lengths to
38:13 run away from accountability. Man, we will not touch that thing with a
38:18 10-ft pole. We run from accountability.
38:24 As long as the audit reports are clean, I run my business how I want to run my business.
38:30 I will love and date and marry who I want to date, love, and marry. I wear
38:35 what I want to wear. I go where I want to go. I do what I want to do. I spend my money where I want to spend my money.
38:41 Don't you dare tell me how I should live my life, right? Yeah, I'll go to church.
38:47 No, no, no problem. I I I'll bring my family to church. I'll pay my dues, right? But don't get me started on
38:53 joining a small group. Nuh-uh. I don't need that kind of pressure. I don't I don't want people calling me up or
38:59 texting me, where were you last Friday? Why did you miss our meeting? What was going on?
39:05 And don't try and convince my wife to either. And by the way, my my children. No, no, no. They do not want to go to
39:11 boy's brigade. I don't need that kind of pressure in my home having my wife and my kids come back and telling me how to
39:18 live my life. Don't you tell me how I'm supposed to treat my wife and raise my children. That's my business, right? My
39:25 business. you do with your business, right? I'm not going to tell you how to run your business. You do you. I'll do
39:32 me. My business. Your business.
39:39 I don't know what kind of Christianity you have, but it's different to mine because the Bible says, "Admonish one
39:45 another." Colossians 3:16. That requires accountability.
39:52 The Bible says, "All scripture is God brief and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in
39:59 righteousness." 2 Timothy 3:16. That requires accountability.
40:05 It says, "Confess your sins to one another." James 5:16.
40:12 It says, "You have been bought at a price, and you are not your own."
40:20 1 Corinthians 6. We do not want to have anything to do
40:26 with submission or accountability. I hope FBC I hope you hear this. I hope
40:33 that if one day ever if ever I become
40:38 if ever I treat Salomi wrong, if I become abusive,
40:44 I hope that there are some men in here today that will pull me aside. Push me
40:49 up against the wall if you have to to get me to listen and say, "Sam, what are you doing?
40:57 What are you doing? You cannot treat your wife like that. I hope that there
41:02 are some men here in this room today that would do that to me. Isn't that what it means to be in the body of
41:09 Christ? Isn't that what it means to be a member of a local church?
41:15 We do not want anything to do with submission or accountability because we want to live our lives the
41:21 way we want to live our lives and we need to repent.
41:30 Conclusion number two, it's a call to reliance.
41:35 It's an indication that we are in desperate need of a savior. The Jews put
41:41 their seal on an agreement and they said, "God, if we break this agreement, if we go back into our old sinful ways,
41:49 let us be a cursed. You can curse us, God." And even with that with that
41:54 binding agreement, they still fell back into their old sins.
41:59 Don't we see that same pattern happening to us? Right? We we go back to our old
42:06 unfulfilling, toxic, hurtful, unsatisfying sins over and over again,
42:14 don't we? Kind of like a dog goes back to its vomit. Kind of like how flies hover around a heaping pile of dung.
42:20 That's a picture of us. We go back to the things that are hurtful, back to the
42:26 things that are toxic and unfulfilling.
42:32 We don't live the life we ought to live. We can't shake. We can't overcome the sin that so e easily entangles. But
42:39 here's the good news. Here's the good news. God knew that. God knew that. God knew
42:47 that you and I are fickle. God knew that you and I would fail. God knew that you
42:52 and I would be unfaithful to him. And so from the foundations of the earth before
42:58 anything was even created, he had a salvation plan in mind. Your sin, my
43:05 sin, is no surprise to God. See, while we chose pretense, Jesus chose
43:11 principle. To the people who were ready to stone the woman caught in adultery,
43:17 Jesus said, "Let him who is without sin be the first to throw the stone."
43:24 While we chose promotion, Jesus chose piety.
43:31 Do you think that I've come to abolish the law and the prophets? No. I've come to fulfill the law.
43:39 Though we chose possessions, Jesus chose
43:46 what was it? His pledge. Jesus chose his pledge. For
43:54 the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life
43:59 as a ransom for many. He humbled himself. He humbled himself to the point of
44:06 death, even death on a cross.
44:11 Those of you who know your Bibles, you know these are all verses from the Bible. I'm not making this up.
44:21 While we chose prophet, Jesus chose the presence of God. The
44:27 father said about Jesus, "This is my son whom I love. With him I'm well pleased."
44:35 And on the cross, Jesus said, "Eloy, Eloy, Lama Sabaktani, my God, my God,
44:41 why have you forsaken me?" Because for the first time, the first
44:48 time in history past and the last time in all of eternity, Jesus was separated from the presence of God. Jesus was not
44:56 in and under the loving presence of God because God the Father could not stand the stench of our sins.
45:06 While we chose pleasure, Jesus chose purity. Though he was
45:13 tempted in every way as we are, yet he was without sin. Jesus did it all.
45:22 You can't do it. I can't do it. Adam and Eve couldn't do it. All the judges, prophets, and apostles could not do it.
45:29 And so Jesus said, "Okay, I'll do it. I'll live the life you could not live.
45:36 I'll die the death that you deserve. I'll drink the cup of wrath that was meant for you. And when Jesus drank
45:41 every last drop, he said, "It was finished."
45:47 He said, "It is finished." And then he breathed his last. And then he gave up his spirit. Three
45:53 days later, three days later, he rose again. He's now sitting at the right hand of God in glory, calling out to
45:59 you, my son, my daughter. Come to me. Come to me. I've made a way. I've made a
46:06 way. I've earned your forgiveness. I've lived the life you couldn't live. I've done it all. Come out into the light.
46:14 Church, like I said, I know what it's like to be in the darkness. I know it's scary. The light looks scary from where
46:20 we are. I don't want people to see the dirt. I don't want people to see the scars. But you know what there is in the
46:26 light. You know what there is at the foot of the cross? There's other broken people. You're in good company. Right?
46:34 God doesn't choose all the holy people and say, "Okay, you guys go make a church." No. Broken people. This church
46:42 is made up of broken people. It's in the church that you're going to
46:48 find recovering alcoholics, recovering drug addicts. You're going to find divorcees. You're going to find mothers
46:55 who have had an abortion. You're going to find fathers who are violent and abusive. You're going to find children
46:60 who are angry and bitter. You're going to find young men and young women who struggle with pornography and
47:06 samesex attraction. You're going to find the depressed, the anxious, the suicidal.
47:12 You'll find those people in the church because the church was not God picking and choosing holy people. is broken
47:18 people running to the foot of the cross saying, "God, I can't do it. I need you.
47:26 I need your help. I want to have freedom. I want to have freedom. I want to have
47:32 forgiveness. God, I can't do it." And church, hear me on this. Hear me on
47:39 this. at the foot of the cross in the light under the embrace of the father in the
47:46 forgiveness of the son living in the power and the strength of the holy spirit with the saints of god
47:53 surrounding us and we are in repentance and tears
47:59 what hold will sin and satan have on us
48:04 are you hearing this church sin satan temptation
48:09 lust, anxiousness, depression, suicidal thoughts, guilt, shame, they are powerless at the
48:16 foot of the cross because Jesus has forgiven us. There is therefore now no
48:21 condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus.
48:27 That's the gospel. That's the good news. You don't have to do it. You can't do it. I don't have to do it. I can't do
48:34 it. Jesus did it. And he's calling out to us. Come out into the light. Believe
48:40 in me. Trust in me. Have faith in me. I've made a way.
48:45 So you see the book of Nehemiah ends the way it does, I think, because of two reasons. Number one, it's to show us how
48:53 sinful we are. It's to show us the depths of our sinful
48:58 nature, and it's to it's a call to repentance.
49:04 Number two, it's to show us that we are in desperate need of a savior.
49:10 Desperate need of a savior. We can't do it. And it's a call to reliance.
49:17 And while Nehemiah ends on a on a low note, there's hope. There's hope because
49:25 it's it's a small it's a small puzzle piece in the gospel story. And that
49:30 story, my friends, ends in a major major high with people from every tribe and
49:37 tongue and nation in complete and utter adoration and worship of the lamb, the
49:44 son of God, Jesus Christ. Let's pray.
