Well, please remain standing for the reading of God's word. We will read the entirety of Nehemiah chapter five. You can find it on your or in your pew Bible on page 401. This is God's word. Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. For there were those who said, with our sons and our daughters, we are many. So let us get grain that we may eat and keep alive. There were also those who said we are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine. And there were those who said we have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards. Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers. Our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves. And some of our daughters have already been enslaved. but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards." I was very angry when I heard this outcry and these words. I took counsel with myself and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, you are exacting interest, each from his brother. And I held a great assembly against them and said to them, we, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations. But you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us." They were silent and could not find a word to say. So I said, the thing that you were doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations, our enemies? Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. returned to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them. Then they said, we will restore these and require nothing from them, and we'll do as you say. And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised. I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied. And all the assembly said, amen, and praise the Lord. And the people did as they had promised. Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the 20th year to the 32nd year of Artaxerxes the king, 12 years, neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor. The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration 40 shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people, but I did not do so because of the fear of God. I also persevered in the work on this wall and we acquired no land and all my servants were gathered there for the work. Moreover, there were at my table 150 men, Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us. Now what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox and six choice sheep and birds, and every 10 days, all kinds of wine in abundance. Yet for all this, I did not demand the food allowance of the governor, because the service was too heavy on this people. Remember for my good, oh my God, All that I have done for this people. This ends the reading of God's holy, inerrant, and inspired word. Let us pray together. Our Father in heaven, we ask that you would speak for your servants are listening. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. As I noted, my family was on vacation this past week. And for many years now, we've been going to Amelia Island. It's south of Savannah, right north of Jacksonville. And I don't know if it's intentional or not. I'm not very good at these things. My wife is far better at them. We go down 75 and right past or in Macon, you get on I-16. And it seems to me every single time we get on I-16, some kind of conversation starts up about, remember in college, we both went to Georgia Southern. There's not a whole lot to do on I-16 except for reminisce. And so that's part of the way you make the drive. But we had these conversations about college, you know, You remember this or do you remember that? But there's a story that I, we didn't talk about it this time, but it's one of my favorites that I remember from college. There was a girl, my wife knew her better than I did, but she came and my wife was I think a sophomore or a junior at the time, but this girl was a freshman. So she's just out of mom and dad's home and learning to be on her own. She went to the P.O. box. That's what we used at college. I don't know what they use nowadays. But she went to her P.O. box and received a check and was very excited. She went and deposited it. She cashed it quickly. And she was so excited. She told everyone, I've got free money. I've got a lot of money. And so she was very generous with her money. Some things we won't talk about what she used her money with. But one thing that she did that I thought was interesting is you know at Georgia Southern you would find these parking spots and every so often you'd see these cars littered with these little yellow envelopes. The parking attendants they were notorious for dinging you if you parked where you weren't supposed to park. And so she was so generous she just went around and started putting money in the envelopes for strangers. And then all of a sudden she got a phone call from her mother. Did you get the student aid check. That you got. So what are you talking about. The student aid it's to help pay for school. And it finally dawned on her. That free money. Wasn't so free anymore. It put her in debt. Such debt that she had to work all of college to pay not just for that but for the rest of school. Debt does that doesn't it. It can create all kinds of challenging circumstances. That's what we get here, at least in part. The people are worried at some level of debt. Where are we in Nehemiah? The people of God, they've been building this wall. It's a vision that Nehemiah put before them. They've had some challenges, haven't they? Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, they've opposed the efforts of God's people. They've made it difficult. But the people of God persevered. They kept working. But these outside forces, they seem to stop momentarily in chapter five, don't they? It's no longer an external opposition. Now there's an internal problem. There's an internal force that's preventing the work. Satan does that, doesn't he? When he can't recruit enough people on the outside of the church to oppose it. He often goes inside our doors, doesn't he? The divide and conquer mentality. If we can separate the people of God, if we can create problems, then we can stop the work. But look at what happens. It's interesting, isn't it? They've been building a wall a month, two months. They're somewhat early in. And what does Nehemiah get? He gets an outcry. He gets these complaints that the people are telling him these circumstances. And with it comes these complaints. It's not all from one group of people. It seems to me that there are three different groups of people who are complaining and saying, you need to understand what's happening here. What kind of complaints do we see? What's the group or what's the differing? Well, you get this first group. We have a big family. That's what they're saying, isn't it? We have a big family. We can't seem to feed them all. You might be saying that's true of you too. When we get groceries, we often hide some of them because we would like to eat some of them. We have three boys and they find them. That's not what these people are saying. You understand that, right? They're not trying to hide food from their family. They're saying we don't have enough food. We don't have money. We don't have land. We don't have food. We are utterly dependent on work. This is not PTO. They're not on paid time off here. They're entirely volunteering their services. They're giving up of their profession, and they're building a wall for free. And they're saying, we're hungry. We don't have enough food to provide for our families. Perhaps it's creating tension in the home. Husband and wife, they're arguing about finances. That doesn't happen today, but here, that's what's going on. What are we going to do? There's a mission ahead, and we can't provide for our very own children, our own family. There's no unemployment check. There's stimulus that's coming. Nehemiah, we need your help. What are we going to do? Well, there seems to be a second group. They have some land, but they're mortgaging their field. They have a little bit of money, but they see what's coming. If this continues, we're not gonna have enough to provide. We're gonna lose our food. We're not at harvest, we can't work our fields, we're working on the wall, and if we don't get to harvest, and we have no money, and we cannot buy food, and if we cannot buy food, then we're gonna have to lose more of our land, and eventually we'll lose all of it. And that's far worse than just being in a little bit of debt. We have a real problem. And so some of our children, we've put them in slavery. Now don't get mixed up with those words. You can read Exodus chapter 21. Leviticus 25, God knows how to care for his people. And he instructs his people, when there's problems, church, this is how you care for your people. This is not the same kind of slavery that we know in the United States. This is a very different kind. And so he's saying, people of God, you need to know how to treat one another when there's a problem. But then you have a third group. They seem to have land, they're land owners, but they have a complaint. Did you see their complaint? It's one that you have, I'm sure. Taxes. It's a universal complaint. They're asked the same question that you're asked. How much money did you make? Please send it in. That's what's happening. The great theologian, right? Jimmy Kimmel. Tax season, when ordinary Americans, they send their checks to Washington. Wealthy Americans, they send it to the Grand Cayman Islands. This is the problem. They're being taxed. They don't know what to do. And these are far worse taxes than you and I understand. You recognize King Artaxerxes. These taxes, he would get a derrick. You know how much a derrick is? Probably 30 to $40. But did you read what it looks like for these taxes? 20 million. That's a lot, isn't it? I did a little bit of math. The tax revenue for King Artic Xerxes, 600 to $800 million a year for him. In fact, Alexander the Great, it was said when he stumbled upon Susa, what he found, that would be close to where they were, he found 270 tons of coined gold and 1,200 tons of silver. And that was just one location. So God's people are saying, we need help. We're in trouble. You've asked us to build this wall and we can't provide for some of our basic needs. And so they give you this summary verse in verse five and what are they saying? It's a, well, we're left with one option. Our children are gonna have to be enslaved. But why our children? They're just like your children. They're made of the same flesh, same kind of people. Why are our children treated differently? Now, Nehemiah's answer, I want to caution you, he's not giving you instruction on how to do state legislation. He's giving you instruction as the people of God. How does the church treat each other? We had the privilege of sitting under his preaching for quite some time. Dr. Dale Ralph Davis, if you've ever heard of him, you know he is a fantastic storyteller. I can't begin to articulate how he does it, but he loves a few things in life, at least from his illustrations. He loves baseball. And he loves war, not to be in it, but reading about it. And so he perhaps found this story from another historical book, but he talks about the American Revolutionary War and a battle at Valley Forge. The Continental Army was, well, they were struggling badly. In fact, it was so bad, these men, they were going night after night without clothes, without clean clothes, without proper footwear. They're in Pennsylvania and it's cold. They're staying up all night so they don't freeze to death. One of the commanders looks and he recognizes the condition of some of his soldiers. It's so bad that some of them, well, their limbs are turning black. They're ready and in need of amputation. And then you keep reading, what you find out is the British aren't having the same problem. Because in Boston, they were selling to the British clothes for hard cash, but weren't willing to give it to their own people unless they could make a profit. You see, the shock was they did that to their own people. That's what's going on here in Nehemiah chapter 5. These are not the taxes, the problems of the Persians or the Babylonians. What's happening is God's people are mistreating God's people. They're doing it to themselves. They're hurting their very own. And so, Nehemiah gets word. and he's outraged. He confronts the problem. That's what he says in verse six. I was very angry. Literally, it means it burned me up. I'm so angry that you would treat your own people like this. It's not anger because he heard and now he has to deal with. It's not an anger of preference, you see. It's an anger against objective wrong, objective evil. You're hurting your own people and he's angry. Maybe you think of that verse that the Apostle Paul tells us. Be angry and do not sin. Don't you wanna ask Paul what that meant? What does that look like? I think Nehemiah gives at least a picture. He's angry, and what does he do? Well, he doesn't rush in and open his mouth. He says he consults with himself. He thinks about it. You recognize anger, it's a powerful emotion. Rarely acted on is it rational. I'm a great example of that. I love to be angry and say, well, I'm telling you logically how this works, which then I have to look in the mirror and say, how illogical and rude of me. And what Nehemiah is saying, I must consult with myself. I need to think. It's not so much I just need to cool off. I need to understand what's happening. And as he understands, then he engages. And what does he do? Well, he confronts the people of God, doesn't he? And he doesn't do it in isolation. He does it in public. He gathers an assembly of the people. And he confronts them in their sin to the point in which they don't even have words to say. What he tells them, you're wrong. What you're doing, it's wrong. And you need to change. It's not just a problem and we say, okay, we see the problem. He's confronting and he's saying change needs to happen. But what is the change? Well, he says, stop. Stop exacting interest on the people. Stop earning more money from the people. And then make a promise. He's not just saying, stop. He says, keep your word. Keep your promise. And then he does something very interesting. If you're reading it closely, what does it say in verse 10? Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Is Nehemiah, here he is, he's confessing. I've done it. Now, I would caution you to think, I don't think he was doing as you read in the complaints. I don't think he was lending money and he was charging interest on it. I think he was lending money and he was saying, pay me back when you get a moment. But what is Nehemiah doing before the people of God? Remember, it's not in isolation, it's in public. He's saying, I'm a leader and I make mistakes. but I will make a promise. And I will do it with you. Do you remember back in chapter two, when Nehemiah is trying to gather the people of God to get on board with this vision, this mission? Do you remember what he doesn't say? I have a plan for your life, and here's how you're gonna do it. Do you remember what he says? Let us rebuild the wall. We are suffering shame, derision, and what is he doing here? It could be easy of him, couldn't it? These people were wrong to do that to you. Let's get him. But he puts himself with the people of God again. It's not a, when things are good, we win, but when things are bad, you lose. Nehemiah is saying, I'm making a promise too. I will not take from the people of God. And he does so at the extent of this symbolic act. You read it and you were kind of wondering, what are you doing? He's shaking out his clothes that, you know, they had pockets. They didn't have jeans, right? So they didn't have like front pockets. They had pockets inside their garments. And what is he doing? He's standing before the people of God and he's shaking his garments and all of his coins or whatever treasure he might've had on him is falling to the ground. And he's saying, Well, God, you do that to us as a nation. If we fail to provide for our own and care for our people, may God shake us to of any treasure we think we have. And it wasn't just some like good hype speak. He brought the priests in. He was saying, this is not just a promise that I'm making before you. This is a promise we're gonna make before the Lord. We are calling upon God. We are making a promise, a covenant. that says, we will keep our promise. We will care for our own. And so they do. And the people say, amen. Then you get this interesting dialogue, don't you? Nehemiah, when you look at verses 14 through 19, he's heard the complaints of the people. He confronted a problem, but then he gives you the cause. Why does he do what he does? What you see in verses 14 through 19, it's not some kind of chronological order. It's a diary. Men don't keep diaries nowadays. It's a 30 for 30. We'll call it that. If you don't know what that is, that's an ESPN kind of reference. I don't get to make references often, so there it is. What is he saying? He's giving you the reflection. These are the reasons why I made the decisions that I made. And what is he saying? It cost me a great deal to make that promise. It cost me a great deal to make that promise. Did you see what it cost him? It's 12 years later. That's where verse 14 shows up. It's been 12 years. And he's saying, for 12 years, I've done a few things. What has he done for 12 years? Well, he's become the governor. And as the governor, he has certain privileges. And what are those privileges? He could have a housing allowance. He's got some servants. He gets to have parties. But how are those things funded? Taxes. And it's legal. He was supposed to get the taxes from the people, and he was supposed to send it back to the king, and he was supposed to keep some for himself. This is how I'll make my living. I'll increase my wealth. I'll have these parties. I'll take care of my servants. But what does Nehemiah do? He doesn't take any of that money, does he? He provides what? Out of his own expense for 150 servants. That's not including the officials. That's not including whatever celebrities decided to come through. He didn't host people on the people's dollar. He did it on his own for 12 years. He said, I will not take from the people of God. He takes care of the servants himself. You see this dramatic shift, don't you? The first half of the chapter, it's full of greed. And then you get to this giving generously. How do you go from greed to giving generously? Perhaps he knew what Paul would later tell us. What does Paul tell us in Philippians chapter two about the Lord Jesus himself? Being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but he made himself no reputation. What is Nehemiah doing? He's giving up of his right. But much more, how much did Christ give up his right? You recognize Jesus as God has rights. The throne is his right. To have stayed there is his right. Let's do him. And yet he says no. And he comes down here, the God man, giving up his throne of his pleasures to be man, to then die for man. In the worst of ways, he has rights and yet Christ gave it up. And so Nehemiah is giving you his cause. I want to do something for God's people, but why? He says it twice, because of the fear of God. That's a phrase you've probably heard before. It's definitely not politically correct to use in today's world, is it? Fear is Well, it's not something you're supposed to experience. You're not supposed to be fearful. You're supposed to be feared, but not supposed to be fearful. What is the Bible talking about? It's not just a phrase that shows up in Nehemiah, you see. It was referenced in Sunday school. It shows up in Proverbs. It shows up 120-something times in the Bible. The fear of God, what does that mean? I think it means to take God seriously. There's a little book. Tells you how to study the Bible. Kevin DeYoung, taking God at his word. That's what it's called. It's to take God seriously. When he says that, it affects the way that we think. It shapes how we think and know things. It shapes how we feel things. It shapes how we act. It shapes how we treat other people. It shapes how we worship. When we take God seriously, it changes everything, doesn't it? And that's what it's doing here for Nehemiah. This fear of God, it's changing everything. It's creating an entirely different cause about him. It happened in Isaiah, didn't it? Chapter 6. He sees God in his glory. And it changed everything. You might call it a a beautiful terror. He's afraid because he sees God for who he is. And yet it was beautiful, his experience of the seraphim atoning for his sin to the point in which he's saying, I'll go anywhere, just send me out, I wanna do something. Do you know where else where you see that beautiful terror? You see it at the cross, don't you? In Mark's gospel, chapter 15, you have a Roman centurion, he's standing at the cross. It's a fascinating little story that Mark tells you. At the final words of Jesus, as it is finished, you remember this story, don't you? The earth is shaking, there's an earthquake. And the Roman centurion looks up, one who took place in part of the crucifixion, What does he say? Truly this man was the son of God. He sees the absolute judgment of God being fallen on Christ and recognizes even momentarily the blessing that is falling upon everyone else. But that's what the cross does. Jesus takes a burden and gives you a blessing. It changes everything when you look at the cross. and you recognize the fear of God, it changes everything about you. It changes everything about what you think, everything about what you do, and we can't overemphasize one or the other, can we? It has to be a beautiful terror. If you overemphasize terror, God's your commanding officer, then what happens? You fall into self-righteousness. I have to perform so that he's not mad at me. I'm afraid, I need to clean myself up. But if you focus only on beauty, then what happens? Oh, it's self-indulgent. You have no room for the law of God, what it means to be obedient. You just take and look for the comfortable life. Only at the cross can you have both beauty and terror. What does it do for Nehemiah? He has compassion. He has compassion on them. It's a picture of the great shepherd. You remember when Jesus looks out on the people? He sees their outcry. They're harassed and helpless, he says, doesn't he? And what does Jesus say? You guys need to fix this. You need to get better. No. Jesus says, I have compassion on them. They're in great need. Now, how do you apply a narrative like this? What's the story? What's the point? Maybe we should do what Nehemiah did. Maybe we misunderstand what Nehemiah says. Look in verse 19. Remember for my good, oh my God, all that I have done for this people. What do you think about Nehemiah's prayer? Is that a prayer that you pray often? God, remember me, look at all the good things I've done. Is that what Nehemiah is saying? That phrase shows up several times in the Psalms, mostly from David. And do you know what David is saying? He says, vindicate me, God, according to my righteousness. Now, you're good Christians, you, Your alerts are going off. Wait a minute, how do you say that? What are you talking about? That's impossible. Are we sure we want to pray that? Vindicate me according to my righteousness because I'm good. I have done something. That's not what David's saying, you see. He's talking about a covenantal righteousness. He's saying, you've made a promise, God. Remember your promise. Remember the things, the truths in which you have promised to me. Forsaken all and fallen for you. Remember your promise. Remember your covenant. That's true for all who repent and believe, isn't it? That the promise of the gospel is you will be made right, righteous with God. So what does Nehemiah say? Remember me. Does that prayer sound familiar? Someone else prayed that. Remember the thief on the cross? What was his prayer? Remember me. Remember me, Jesus, when you enter your kingdom. And you understand he's not saying because I'm such a good guy. He's on a cross. What is he saying? You are the most central thing. I see that now. I understand that. It changes everything. Remember me when you enter in. That's what this is, isn't it? The Lord's table, it's a picture. Remember Jesus as he remembers you. That's what Nehemiah's getting at. He's changed his activities. He's changed his living. He's counted the cost. for the cost of being godly. And it actually cost him something, didn't it? It cost him his own financial security. And you understand that godliness is not accidental. We don't believe in accidental righteousness. You don't accidentally just do something right. You don't accidentally fall into the kingdom of God. No, it's a submission. It's a submission to Christ. It's no accident at all, is it? It was intentional. What Christ did was intentional. And what it means to follow Christ is intentional. It's not accidental. And that's what Nehemiah is showing. He's often referenced as a picture of Christian leadership. There are leadership principles, but you recognize Nehemiah is just a picture of biblical Christianity. This is what it means to follow Christ. We count the cost and there is a cost to what it means to be godly. It might cost you financially. It might cost you friends. It might cost you family. It might cost you a profession. It might cost you a lot of different things. But will you be able to pray that prayer? God, remember me. Remember my good work. And not because I'm good. I'm not saved by work. I'm saved to work. Remember me. May we pray something very similar as we recognize there's great value in godliness over being comfortable. Let me pray for us as we prepare for the Lord's Supper. Our God and our Father, we thank you for the truth of your word. We see the trials, the challenges of your people. They gave up professions to be about the work of the gospel. They gave up some securities to focus on church, the community of saints. And when they experienced trials, they confronted things. And they were reminded that they have a God who provides. And so they are to treat each other in accordance with the law, according to righteousness, not their own, but according to the righteousness that is given by Christ Jesus. And so we thank you for Nehemiah, a picture of what it means to be a Christian. We make mistakes and we confess and we return in repentance and faith and saying, help me, oh Lord, to have compassion. Help me, oh Lord, to live in the fear of God. Help me, oh Lord, to live faithfully and to pray, remember me as you would remember your son. Help us to pray that prayer. Even this morning as we would partake in this meal, this supper, help us to be reminded, to be refreshed that you remember, help us to remember. And all for Jesus' sake, we pray it.