This morning we will consider Nehemiah chapter 13 verses one through three. So this is the final chapter in this great book. We are going to spend, or the plan is to spend roughly three or four weeks in this last chapter. So we're approaching the end of Nehemiah. Today we're going to look at the first three verses of chapter 13. So Nehemiah chapter 13, beginning in verse one, before we hear God's word, if you would, please join your hearts together with me in prayer. Let's pray together. Our Father and our God, indeed we, beneath the cross, consider the day when heaven and earth will pass away. And we pray, Father, that by your Spirit, you would continually Prepare the hearts of your people to meet our Savior, Jesus Christ. And so we pray, Father, that as we hear your infallible word read today, and as we hear the gospel proclaimed, we pray, Father, that you would do this good work in us. Prepare our hearts to meet our Bridegroom. Prepare our hearts to serve Him in this life. Father, bless us by the power of your gospel. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Nehemiah 13, beginning in verse one. Beloved, this is God's word. On that day, they read from the book of Moses and the hearing of the people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God. For they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. Yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our Lord remains forever." Chapter 12 of the book of Nehemiah, as we mentioned last week, was kind of a climax of the book. Two great choirs of singers on the top of the walls that they had just rebuilt in this renovation project, singing to God. So these two great choirs on the wall singing to God. These choirs were singing along with those who were worshiping inside the walls of the city. They were rejoicing in God's grace and God's mercy and all that he had done up until that point. And they were rejoicing at that time with the joy that could be heard outside the walls of the city. This was towards the end of chapter 12, verse 43. The joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. That is, it was heard by, surrounding peoples, and so there was much joy, and they voiced that joy with singing and rejoicing to God. Now, it was a wonderful picture, a wonderful place to be as God's people, but unfortunately, as we all know, the people of God cannot stay there. Those choirs eventually had to come back down. They had to step off the walls and come back down and live Real life, again, not that that wasn't real life, but they couldn't stay on top of the walls singing. Now the people of God at that time, they would continue to worship together. They would continue to worship on the Sabbaths in particular, but the days rolled on, time rolled on, even after that wonderful moment where they're singing to God. They, like us, the people of God, under Nehemiah's leadership, like us, had not yet reached their final destination. They had not yet reached the end. In this chapter, in chapter 13, we see this reality. We see that as the days rolled on for them, sin rolled right along with them. And that is what is being addressed in this chapter. They had certainly matured spiritually, the people of God, had grown since Nehemiah showed up. They had matured spiritually. They'd grown in grace. But we see very clearly here that the people of God, in every generation, at all times, until Jesus comes, We are always in need of renewal. Always. There's always something that can be reformed within us, within our thinking, within our hearts. That is what this chapter brings out in various ways. We are always, in other words, or in the words of the Apostle Paul, We are always straining forward. We are always reaching forward, striving for that destination, the resurrection. That is what every single one of us are headed towards as believers. And so we are always moving. We are in a state of process as God's people heading towards that goal. Until that day comes, as we live on earth, as Christians, just like in Nehemiah's day, we are in process. We are always striving to forget what lies behind and strain forward towards what is ahead of us. And so again, friends, each day that we wake up to this movement, this movement towards that goal, sin, the power of sin, crouches at the door. It's there every day, ready to pounce on us. It doesn't go away, and it won't go away until Christ returns, or we pass into glory. And this is what we have, again, in this final chapter. This is the ongoing sanctification of the saints in Nehemiah's day. In verse 1, we're reminded that of that which was the driving force, behind this initial renewal in Judah. Remember, Nehemiah shows up. Ezra was there, involved in this as well. And the people of God, they were somewhat lackadaisical in their faith. They were somewhat lazy. Things weren't getting done. New leadership shows up, and they begin to be renewed. They're zealous. their zeal for the glory of God was renewed. But it wasn't just that you have charismatic leaders in place there, though Nehemiah certainly was one of them. It wasn't just that. What was the initial driving force, or what was the driving force that continued to keep this renewal project going? Well, it was, in fact, the word of God. That is what does any work in any generation of God's people. Verse one, on that day, they read from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people. The word of God is active, living among the people of God at this time. They had recommitted themselves to hearing the word and obeying the word. And so it's the word of God that drives this thing forward. Certainly, God, by His Spirit, was directly at work in the hearts of His people. This is for sure. The Spirit was directly at work in the heart of Nehemiah to lead this project. But God's Spirit, friends, never works apart from God's Word. He is always working in tandem with God's Word, in tandem with the principles laid down in God's Word. The Spirit is at work in us, yes, applying the Word of God to you. And so we may try to convince ourselves that God is speaking to us, or that the Spirit is leading us this way or that. But if that leading that you think that you sense is not in line with the standards of God's Word, or if that leading flatly contradicts God's Word, then that's not God's Spirit. That's something else. You're not being led by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God leads His people. He influences us. He incites us to do this or to do that, but he always does it in conjunction with what the Word of God tells us to do or not to do. And so that was what was at work here in Nehemiah's day. The activity recorded here is the Spirit of God moving in the people of God to respond favorably to God's Word. That's what we see at the beginning of this chapter. And what the people heard on this day from God's Word is that No Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God. That is written in Moses. That's what they hear. Now this restriction to not let these certain people into the assembly of God, it's found in Deuteronomy chapter 23. And the reason for this exclusion of these people that is given here in this text, it's the same reason that's also given back in Deuteronomy. For they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them, against Israel, to curse them. That's why they were excluded from fellowship with the people of God. Now we should go back then to look at what this part of God's law meant. Now first of all, you have to understand, or we have to understand, that Ammonites and Moabites were pagan people. They were non-Jewish people, unholy people, who did not have the word of God, did not seek to serve his glory. The assembly of God refers to the gathered community of God's people, Israel. And so you have a holy people that is set apart by God, and you have all sorts of other pagan nations that were not called by God. And it should have no fellowship with the holy people. In this case, in Nehemiah's day, the holy people were the remnant, the remnant that had returned to Judah and Jerusalem after the exile. They were brought back after the exile. This is who God has called to himself, to be holy, to worship him, set apart to obey him and obey his word. Now notice how they hear this in the law and then proceed to remove all foreigners or all non-Jewish people from where? from Israel, verse 3, as soon as they heard the law, they separated from Israel, or from the assembly of God, all those of foreign descent. So you can see there the assembly of God and Israel are virtually equated with one another. And so they hear this in the word, and then they proceed to remove these foreigners from among them, from the assembly of God. Now, assembly, the word assembly, can also refer to, in the Bible more specifically, God's people gathered for worship. And so, Deuteronomy chapter 23, for example, it primarily had that in view. No Ammonite or Moabite was allowed into the gathered community of God's people worshiping God. They were not allowed to be a part of that, though perhaps they could live near to them. They weren't allowed to have fellowship with them in worship. But the point in God's word, though, is this, as it relates to foreigners in the Old Testament. The point in all this is that God is holy. He is holy. He is a holy God. His righteousness endures forever. In worship and in fellowship with God's people, the people of God were not to let anything unholy enter because they were drawing near to a pure and holy God who is light and is without darkness at all. That is the point, not simply because they were foreigners, but because they were unholy, because of their sins. And so that is the main issue in this remembrance of God's law in Deuteronomy. They were to keep themselves pure, unstained from sin. And that is what the Ammonites and the Moabites represented as people groups. And that's what they embodied. A people devoted to sin, to unholiness, to unrighteousness. These were people, the Ammonites and Moabites, in rebellion against God. They were slaves to sin. They did not have God's word. They did not have his promises. They did not have the presence of his spirit in the temple. They were unfit to have fellowship with God. But here in Nehemiah and in Deuteronomy, though, we are given a specific reason as to why they were to be excluded. For unholiness, yes, but then there's a more specific reason, verse two, that comes out from their unrighteousness. It's an action that they did. Verse two, for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam to curse them. Now, what is this talking about? Well, at that time, Israel was on the move. We have to rewind back to before Israel was exiled, before they even entered the Promised Land. Israel had been redeemed from slavery in Egypt. They were on the move. They were heading towards the Promised Land. They were led by Moses. Israel was marching north toward the Promised Land. They were on the east side of the Jordan. Later, Joshua would lead them across the Jordan into the Promised Land. But at this time, Moses was the leader. He's leading this nation north towards the Promised Land. During that march, Moses and Israel had dispossessed the Amorites. They had annihilated the Amorites. They had cut down and defeated the Bashanites. Og was the king of Bashan. And there was about a million of them. Not all of them were soldiers, but there was about a million strong Israelites marching north. Imagine a nation of people with a mighty army that's just devastated Austin, and they're heading towards Pflugerville. This is the image that you get. They are coming. to flatten the next cities that they come into contact with. And so they're getting close to Ammon and Moab, the Ammonites and the Moabites. Now, naturally, as this large nation comes towards them, the Moabites are afraid. Israel is marching forward to Ammon and Moab. And apparently, as this group gets close to them, they have the chance to make peace with them, to give them bread and water. And so the Ammonites and the Moabites had the chance to support the movement of God's people towards the Promised Land, but they didn't do that. Instead of allow safe passage to Israel, they contended against them. And how did they do that? They hired Balaam to curse them. Now Balaam, if you remember from the Old Testament, the book of Numbers in particular is where we get the story of Balaam in a detailed account. Balaam was a dishonest and greedy figure in Israel's history. He is not a good example to follow. For a time, Balaam did hear from God. He was given the ability to speak divine oracles, and this was known among the communities that he was a part of. The Moabites knew of this. The Moabites therefore sought to purchase Balaam. They knew he was a spiritual figure who talked to divinities or a divine person and could therefore possibly summon heaven against this Israelite army that's coming towards them. So the Moabites sought to purchase Balaam. They thought that they could buy off Balaam and use his spiritual abilities that they knew of to curse Israel, to bring a curse upon him and to stop them in their tracks so that they wouldn't come near to their nations. But every time that Balaam opened his mouth to do this, to utter a curse, what happened? Verse two, our God turned the curse into a blessing. And so instead of a curse, the spirit of God spoke through Balaam through several powerful oracles that are recorded in the book of Numbers. I invite you at some time to read through those. Rather than curse the people of God, the word of God confirmed blessing upon this army. No, this army is not cursed. It can't be cursed and it can't be stopped. That is the lesson that the Ammonites and the Moabites learned when they tried to get Balaam to utter a curse against them. God said, they can't be cursed. They're mine. They will be successful. They will be blessed. And so the Ammonites and the Moabites were frustrated in their attempt to stop the Israelite movement. Now what this lesson from Israel's history teaches us here, teaches us today as well and for Nehemiah's people, is that nothing can truly contend against the advancement of God's kingdom in the world. Nothing. Nothing can stop it. No sin, no death, no curse, no wolf in sheep's clothing, though we do have to contend with people like this. Nothing. It will cause damage. These things can cause damage. They can cause pain. But the advancement, the success of God's kingdom in this world cannot be stopped. It will achieve its goal because God is with us. God is leading us. No heresy, no false teacher, no mistake, even on our part, can stop the forward movement of God's church, God's assembly toward what? The resurrection, which is what we just said is where we're headed. Nothing can stop that. That is your goal, your destination. and nothing will get in the way between you and that. And so nothing can stop the movement of God's people towards the resurrection. This is the words from Balaam's mouth, although it was the power of the Holy Spirit that he said back in Numbers. He said this, has he God said and will he not do it or has he spoken and will he not fulfill it? The answer is yes, he has spoken and he will fulfill it. That was one of the ways in which God turned Balaam's curse into a blessing. Now what this means, friends, for God's people in every generation is, among other things, is that when the word of God confronts us, when it approaches our doorstep, like it approached the doorstep of the Ammonites and the Moabites, we should not contend against it. There is movement in you, in your heart, in your soul. God is leading you. The word is confronting you. It is appealing to you to change. And so it is at your doorstep. response should be not to contend against it, not to deprive the movement of the word of God in our hearts with bread and water, as it were, but to welcome it. That is what the Ammonites and the Moabites should have done. They should have supported this movement of God towards the promised land. And this is what the people of God do here. They responded favorably to the word of God. God is moving his people towards holiness, towards a greater righteousness. They hear in the word that they need to do this thing, and so they do it. They remove the pagan peoples from among them so that they might remain holy. And this, friends, is how we are to be before God's word. We are to greet God's word with open arms. We are not to curse it, we are to welcome its presence. Now, what does that mean? What does that look like in our life? Well, of course, it looks like change, true change in the Holy Spirit, or by the power of the Holy Spirit, sanctification, a turning from sin, repentance, ongoing repentance. We also don't exclude people from worship, necessarily, like the Israelites were doing here. On rare occasions, people do get excommunicated or barred from the Lord's Supper for unrepentant sin. That is a measure that the church has to take at times. But we don't bar people from worship necessarily, but we are called to keep sin out of our lives. By God's grace, we are not to let that which is unholy enter into our assemblies, our lives. That is what it means. Now the details play out in different ways for different families and different individuals, but that is what we are to be after, to not let sin, not let things which are unholy enter into our lives, our souls, our fellowship that we have with God. The last thing I want us to consider here is this. God turned Balaam's curse into a blessing. As a result of Ammonite and Moabite disobedience, He commanded that they be kept out of fellowship with Israel. The Ammonites were being punished forever, and the Moabites were being punished forever for trying to contend against God's kingdom. And so they were never allowed to enter into the assembly of God to keep Israel pure and holy. Now, what happened with Jesus Christ? What happened to him? Well, Jesus became a curse. When Jesus was on earth, the kingdom of God was advancing, as it always does, but it was advancing in a way that had not been seen up until this point. When Jesus arrived on earth, he said things like this, is near. It is upon you. It is advancing in a way that you have not seen before because the King is here. The Messiah has shown up. The Messiah is at your doorstep. And this was primarily to the Jews, but the kingdom was advancing. The king of the kingdom is on earth. His feet are walking upon the dirt that they walked on. And so the kingdom had come near. The unbelieving Jews saw this happening. They saw his miracles. They saw his person, his work. They could see it right before their very eyes and they were hearing it. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Did they welcome him though? Did they provide him with bread and water and welcome this new movement of the spirit of God among them? No, of course they didn't. They contended against him, just like the Ammonites and the Moabites. They were no better than pagan peoples from before. They conspired with the Gentiles to put him to death, to curse him, to make him a curse. They hated him, like the Ammonites hated Israel. They wanted to curse them. The Jews, the people of God, before their own Messiah, wanted to curse their savior. That is what happened to Jesus. And they were largely successful in this. The Jews of that day, along with the Gentiles, they got him nailed to a tree where he truly became a curse. He did become a curse on the cross. And it was our sin and the sin of his people that rendered him such. It was our sin that made him a curse, accursed by God, because our sin was credited to him there. He became a curse because we should have been cursed. And he died that way, as a curse, accursed. That's why the Jews felt that this whole scene was so repugnant to them. How can our king be a curse? How can our king bleed to death naked on a cross? He is not our king. But God turned this curse into a blessing. And it was actually through Christ's death, it was through Christ becoming a curse, that God made a way for unholy and undeserving pagans like us to enter into the assembly of God. Ammonites and Moabites, just like us, who would have otherwise cursed the movement of God, cursed Christ. Jesus becomes a curse so that we can come near to him. We can draw near to him in fellowship and worship him. In fact, it is only on the basis of his blood, on the basis of the blood of the one who became a curse, that any person, Jew or Gentile, can draw near to God. And so in that way, God turned a curse into a blessing. That's the gospel, friends. That is the gospel. All those who by faith come to believe and serve this Messiah, who became a curse for us, is made part of forever the assembly of God. And you are now on the move. You're on the move toward the resurrection, which is also what Christ has secured for you and can never be taken away. A divine king who willingly became a curse for you to bring you a blessing. That is what should move you to respond. That is what you hear in the word. a divine king who became a curse for you so that he might bless you, so that in him you might be blessed and become a blessing. That is what we hear every week from the word. And that is something that should move you to respond. You hear this and you respond, I want to be more like my savior. To Christ be all praise and glory now and forevermore. Amen.