Let's pray for God's blessing on our time in His Word, please. Father, we are so blessed to have the words of eternal life and Holy Scripture before us. Open our hearts and our minds to receive their truths with faith and love. Lay them up in our hearts and practice them in our lives. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Please turn to Nehemiah chapter 11. Nehemiah chapter 11. This will be by far the longest scripture reading I have ever done in 21 years of being an elder. But my message to you this morning is gonna focus primarily on chapter 13, but there are a number of important things in chapter 11 and 12 too, so pay close attention to these portions of God's Word. Nehemiah chapter 11, verse one, this is God's Word. Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, but the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of 10 to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine-tenths remained in the other cities. And the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem. Now these are the heads of the provinces who lived in Jerusalem, but in the cities of Judah, each lived on his own property in their cities. The Israelites, the priests, the Levites, the temple servants, and the descendants of Solomon's servants. Some of the sons of Judah and some of the sons of Benjamin lived in Jerusalem. From the sons of Judah, Athiah, the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Ammariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, or the sons of Perez. And Maaseah, the son of Baruch, the son of Kol Hazeh, the son of Haziah, the son of Adiah, the son of Joyarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of the Shilonite. All the sons of Perez who lived in Jerusalem were 468 able men. Now these are the sons of Benjamin, Salu, the son of Meshulam, the son of Joah, the son of Padiah, the son of Coliah, the son of Maaseah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshiah, and after him Gabi and Sali, 928. Joel, the son of Zichri, was their overseer, and Judah, the son of Hassanuah, the second in command of the city. From the priests, Jejiah, the son of Joarib, Jacob, Saraiah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshulam, the son of Zadok, the son of Ma'aroth, the son of Ahithob, the leader of the house of God, and their kinsmen, who performed the work of the temple, 822, and Adaiah, the son of Joram, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzai, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashur, the son of Malkijah, and his kinsmen, heads of father's households, 242, and Amishai, the son of Azarel, the son of Azai, the son of Meshilamoth, the son of Emer, and their brothers, valiant warriors, 128. And their overseer was Zabdiel, the son of Hagadolim. Now from the Levites, Shemaiah, the son of Hashub, the son of Azrakam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bani, the son, and Shabbatai, and Jezebel from the leaders of the Levites, who were in charge of the outside work of the house of God, and Madaniah, the son of Micah, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who was the leader in the beginning, the thanksgiving at prayer, and Bakbukiah, the second among his brethren, and Abda, the son of Shammuah, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun. All the Levites in the holy city were 248. Also the gatekeepers, Actub, Talmon, and their brethren who watched at the gates were 172. The rest of Israel, of the priests and of the Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, each in his own inheritance. But the temple servants were living in Ophel, and Zihah and Gishpah were in charge of the temple servants. Now the overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi, the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Madaniah, the son of Micah, from the sons of Asaph, who were the singers of the service of the house of God. For there was a commandment from the king concerning them and a firm regulation for the song leaders day by day. Pephahiah, the son of Meshezabel, the son of Zerah, the son of Judah, was the king's representative in all matters concerning the people. Now as for the villages with their fields, some of the sons of Judah lived in Kiriath Arba and its towns, in Diban and its towns, and in Jekazbziel and its villages. and in Jeshua, Moladah, and Beth-peleh, and in Hazar-shual, in Beersheba and its towns, and in Ziklag, in Mekana and its towns, in En-riman, and Zorah, and in Jarmuth, Zenoah, Adulam, and their villages, Lachish and its fields, Azekah and its towns. So they encamped from Beersheba as far as the valley of Hinnom, the sons of Benjamin who lived from Geba onward at Michmash and Aicha at Bethel and its towns at Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah, Hazor, Ramah, Getem, Hadad, Zeboim, Nebalat. Lad, Ano, the valley of craftsmen from the Levites, some divisions in Judah belonged to Benjamin. Nehemiah chapter 12. Now, these are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, Sariah, Jeremiah, Ezra, Amariah, Maluk, Hattush, Shekeniah, Rehum, Merimoth, Iddo, Gennathoi, Abijah, Midyamin, Meadeiah, Bilga, Shemaiah, and Joiarib, Jediah, Salu, Ammok, Hilkiah, and Jediah. These were the heads of the priests and their kinsmen in the days of Yeshua. The Levites were Yeshua, Benyui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Madaniah, who was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving, he and his brothers. Also, Bakbukiah and Uni, their brothers, stood opposite them in their service divisions. Joshua became the father of Joachim, and Joachim became the father of Eliashib, and Eliashib became the father of Joedah, and Joedah became the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan became the father of Jaduah. Now in the days of Joachim, the priests, the heads of father's households, were of Sariah, Mariah, and of Jeremiah, Hananiah, of Ezra, Meshulam, of Amariah, of Jehohannan, of Mauluki, Jonathan, of Shabaniah, Joseph, of Harim, Adna, and Meroith, Helkiah, and Idu, Zechariah of Genethan, Meshulam of Abijah-Zichri, of Meniamin, of Moadaiah, Piltai, of Biglah-Shammuah, of Shammaiah, Jehonathan, of Joyarib, Medinai, of Jediah, Uzi, of Salai, Kalai, of Amok, Eber, of Hilkiah, Hashabiah, of Jediah, Nethanel. As for the Levites, the heads of the father's households were registered in the days of Eliashib, Joedah, and Jonathan, and Jeduah. So were the priests in the reign of Darius the Persian. The sons of Levi, the heads of father's households, were registered in the book of the Chronicles up to the days of Johanan, the son of Eliashib. The heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherabiah, and Jeshua the son of Cadmeo, with their brothers opposite them, to praise and give thanks, as prescribed by David the man of God, division corresponding to division. Madaniah, Bacchabokiah, Obadiah, Meshulam, Talmon, and Aqab were gatekeepers, keeping watch at the storehouses of the gates. These served in the days of Joachim, the son of Jeshua, the son of Jazadak, in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest and scribe. Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought out the Levites from all their places to bring them to Jerusalem so that they might celebrate the dedication with gladness, with hymns of thanksgiving, and with songs to the accompaniment of cymbals, harps, and lyres. So the sons of the singers were assembled from the district around Jerusalem and from the villages of the Natophathites, from Beth Gilgal, and from their fields in Geba and Asmaveth. For the singers had built themselves villages around Jerusalem. The priests and the Levites purified themselves. They also purified the people, the gates, and the wall. Then I had the leaders of Judah come up on top of the wall, and I appointed two great choirs, the first proceeding to the right on top of the wall toward the refuge gate. Hoshiah and half of the leaders of Judah followed them with Azariah, Ezra, Meshulam, Judah, Benjamin, Shammaiah, Jeremiah. And some of the sons of the priests with trumpets and Zechariah, the son of Jonathan, the son of Shammaiah, the son of Madaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zakkur, the son of Esau. And his kinsmen, Shammaiah, Azarel, Melalei, Gelalei, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God, and Ezra the scribe went before them. At the fountain gate, they went directly up the steps of the city of David by the stairway of the wall above the house of David to the water gate on the east. The second choir proceeded to the left, while I followed them with half of the people on the wall, above the tower of furnaces to the broad wall, and above the gate of Ephraim, by the old gate, by the fish gate, the tower of Hananel, and the tower of the hundred as far as the sheep gate, and they stopped at the gate of the guard. Then the two choirs took their stand in the house of God, so did I and half the officials with me, and the priests, Eliakim, Maaseah, Minamin, Micaiah, Eluanii, Zechariah, and Hananiah, and the trumpets, and Maaseah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzi, Johanan, Malkijah, Elam, and Ezer, and the singers, with Jezariah their leader. And on that day, they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy. Even the women and children rejoiced so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar. On that day, men were also appointed over the chambers for the stores, the contributions, the first fruits, and the tithes to gather into them from the fields of the cities to the portions required by the law for the priests and Levites. For Judah rejoices over the priests and Levites who served. For they performed the worship of their God and the service of purification, together with the singers and the gatekeepers, in accordance with the command of David and of his son Solomon. For in the days of David and Asaph, in ancient times, there were leaders of the singers, songs of praise and hymns of thanksgiving to God. So all Israel, in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, gave the portions due the singers and the gatekeepers as each day required. and set apart the consecrated portion for the Levites. And the Levites set apart the consecrated portion for the sons of Aaron." In other words, they did everything they promised in Nehemiah chapter 10. Remember, they promised, we're gonna do this. That's what Nehemiah 11 and 12 were all about. All of our Levites, they're gonna be fully funded. We're gonna have worship. We're gonna have teaching. We're gonna have singing. We're gonna celebrate. We're gonna praise God. And that's what they did until chapter 13. Look at chapter 13. On that day, they read aloud from the book of Moses and the hearing of the people, and there was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing. So when they heard the law, they excluded all foreigners from Israel. Now, prior to this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being related to Tobiah, had prepared a large room for him, where formerly they put the grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil prescribed for the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. But during all this time, I was not in Jerusalem. For in the 32nd year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, I had gone to the king. After some time, however, I asked leave from the king. And I came to Jerusalem and learned about the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah by preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God. It was very displeasing to me. So I threw all of Tobiah's household goods out of the room. Then I gave an order, and they cleansed the rooms, and I returned there the utensils of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense. I also discovered that the portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers who performed the service had gone away, each to his own field. So I reprimanded the officials and said, why is the house of God forsaken? Then I gathered them together and restored them to their posts. All Judah then brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. In charge of the storehouses, I appointed Shalamiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Padaiah of the Levites. And in addition to them was Hanan, the son of Zakkur, the son of Madaniah, for they were considered reliable, and it was their task to distribute to their kinsmen. Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my loyal deeds, which I have performed for the house of my God and its services. Verse 15, in those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the Sabbath and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys as well as wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads. And they brought them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I admonished them on the day they sold food. Also, the men of Tyre were living there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise and sold them to the sons of Judah on the Sabbath, even in Jerusalem. Then I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, what is this evil thing you are doing by profaning the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers do the same so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath. It came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, that they should not open them until after the Sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates, so that no load would enter on the Sabbath day. Once or twice, the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem. Then I warned them and said to them, why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will use force against you. From that time on, they did not come on the Sabbath. And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the Sabbath day for this also. Remember me, oh my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of your loving kindness. In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. As for their children, half spoke the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people. So I contended with them, and cursed them, and struck some of them, and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take up their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, the foreign women caused even him to sin. Do we then hear about you, that you have committed all this great evil, by acting unfaithfully against our God, by marrying foreign women? Even one of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Elisha of the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me. Remember them, oh my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. Thus I purified them from everything foreign and appointed duties for the priests and the Levites, each in his task. And I arranged for the supply of wood at appointed times and for the first fruits. Remember me, oh my God, for good. May God bless the reading of his holy word. I've given you an outline there in your bulletin, six points, if you want to follow along that way. First, my way of introduction here. There's a wonderful biblical principle that the people of God regularly seem to forget about. And it's the principle of sowing and reaping. And when it comes to our walk with Christ and our love for God, our day in and day out priorities in life, just like a farmer who plants the seeds that God gave us to reproduce after their own kind, apple seeds beget apple trees and tomato seeds will grow tomato plants and green beans grow green bean plants and orange seeds grow orange trees. You and I reap what we sow as well. There are spiritual disciplines that absolutely must be part of a Christian's life if they're going to thrive and stay close to the Lord. There are things that you and I sow every single day. And they include the reading of the Bible. They include times of private prayer. When you do that, you are sowing seeds that will reproduce according to their kind. It includes participation in the Lord's Supper, fellowship with other believers, being a part of your church's worship and life. Those disciplines are so simple and they're taught us throughout the Word of God, Old Testament and New Testament. The people of God need each other. They need godly shepherds. They need to be fed from the bread of Holy Scripture. They need the Lord's Supper. They need to sing psalms and hymns with all their hearts to the Lord with the people of God gathered in worship just like this. They need to be there when their church gathers for worship. They need to attend the reading and preaching of God's holy word with diligence, preparation, and prayer. They need to have people to weep with, people to rejoice with, people to love. They need to give regularly of their money and their time to the work of God and their church. They need to be vigilant in keeping wicked people out of the church and keeping divisive people and false doctrine out of the church. They need to remember the Sabbath day and be diligent to keep that day set apart, set apart from the other days of the week, especially in the face of an entire nation that has bent on forgetting the Sabbath day and a church culture that's following instead of leading in that regard. God's people must only marry believers. And when they're married, they got to work hard on communicating well, listening well, and loving strongly in those marriages. Praying together every day as a couple, reading scripture together every day as a couple, walking hand in hand as friends, as companions, as confidants. And dear ones, we have watched Nehemiah and Ezra and some of their close friends, along with some very godly priests and Levites. They have focused their hearts, their minds, their hands, and their energies on worshiping and obeying God. hearing from the word of God, letting scripture have primacy in the lives of God's people. And what happened? Because they would not be distracted from that. We saw a vast group of people deeply convicted of their sins and then rejoicing in the grace and the forgiveness of God and wanting to live new lives. They were assured from the Old Testament that the God who has judged you and sent you into exile, He's now allowed you to come back. And He is, as Nehemiah 9 said in that great prayer, He is a God of forgiveness and gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness. Those heartbroken sinners, those tear stained faces, remember they were all weeping over their sins. They learned to trust and rely entirely upon the grace of God, the compassion of God, the forgiveness of God, the mercy of God. And they were assured that God really loved them, that he really had forgiven them. And indeed that this God would never, never forsake them. And once they understood that, once they got all that, once they got all that theology, Their entire society was transformed. So often the church today, let's go transform society. You can't transform society. You need to replace falsehood with truth. God transformed society by regenerating people, by making them alive in Christ, by giving them the new birth. In chapter 10, after they repented, after they were assured of God's grace, they all made a covenant and invoked God's curse on themselves to walk in God's laws. And they said specifically, we're not gonna marry unbelievers. We're not gonna buy and sell from the pagans on the Sabbath day. And we're gonna tithe faithfully to the work of the Levites and the priests and the singers and the temple. And they said the very last verse of chapter 10, thus we will not neglect the house of our God. We won't neglect it. Now, folks, it would really be impossible to overstate the importance of that last sentence of chapter 10. Thus, we will not neglect the house of God. Why do revivals die? Why do they die? Because people neglect the house of God. They neglect the means of grace. They neglect the means of their own preservation. Why do churches die? They neglect the means of grace and the spiritual disciplines. Nehemiah 11 and Nehemiah 12 show us who lived in Jerusalem, who lived outside Jerusalem. But about halfway through chapter 12, did you notice, they have this grand ceremony to dedicate the wall that they had built under Nehemiah's leadership. And they have this huge celebration. See it in Nehemiah 12, 27. You see it? Chapter 12, verse 27. With gladness, with hymns of thanksgiving, and with songs to the accompaniment of cymbals, harps, and lyres. Remember when Nehemiah first got to town, when he first came back, when Artaxerxes let him go and he gets in town, Nehemiah chapter two, the path that he walks, he goes out at night, remember that? And he's kind of checking things out and he sees the wall is destroyed everywhere and it's a big, huge mess. That path that he walked around the city is the same path they walk when they celebrate the wall's completion. And it's amazing, there's two groups. Ezra leads one this way and Nehemiah leads another this way and they meet up in the house of God and sing and worship and praise him for God himself was the one who had helped them rebuild that temple. Even their enemies knew that it was God who had helped them rebuild that wall. And so they had a giant worship service and it's glorious stuff. You see Nehemiah 12, 31. Then I had the leaders of Judah come up on the wall, and I appointed two great choirs, the first proceeding to the right, you see verse 36, and Ezra the scribe went before them. So the guy who helped rebuild the temple, he leads the first choir around one way. And then Nehemiah 12, 38, the second choir proceeded to the left while I followed them with half of the people. So Nehemiah is part of the second choir. It was very fitting that in this celebration to dedicate the wall around Jerusalem, which was keeping them safe from attack by their enemies who surrounded them, Nehemiah and Ezra lead the two groups around the city. They led the two groups around the city. These two men who had poured so much of their heart into rebuilding that temple, rebuilding the wall so the people of God could worship in safety. And that brings us to the closing chapter of the book of Nehemiah, chapter 13. And the key to understanding this chapter The key to understanding this chapter is that Nehemiah was recalled to go back to report to King Artaxerxes. And you remember the old adage, when the cat's away, the mice will play. And now the chapter starts out well with the exclusion of foreigners. They're still hearing from the law. They're still hearing God's word. And they realize that we've got to get rid of these foreigners from our midst. We can't have unbelievers in our midst. But then we hear about some really bad developments. Remember Tobiah the Ammonite? Remember that guy? Let me remind you who this guy is. This man is what the Bible would describe as being a worthless person, a pig and a dog. That's how Jesus would describe him. Tobiah was the man who was disturbed when Nehemiah showed up to town. He was angry that someone was seeking the well-being of the children of Israel. He laughed at them when they started rebuilding the wall. He mocked them while they were rebuilding the wall. He said that even if a fox walks up on it, it's gonna fall over. He was very angry and conspired to attack and kill them all. He led a conspiracy to meet with and then murder Nehemiah. He hired a lying false prophet to try to get Nehemiah to go into the temple to commit a crime that would get him in trouble with all of the Israelites. And he went on a letter writing, smearing, lying, slander campaign against Nehemiah to scare him. That's who this guy is. Yeah, he lives in the temple now. He moved into the temple while Nehemiah was gone. You ever heard of the moving company called two men and a truck? Nehemiah had his own moving company. It wasn't, he didn't need another man. He didn't need a truck. It was just one angry man. What else did we find out? What happened while Nehemiah was gone? Everybody stopped tithing. And what happened? The teachers, these Levites, these great teachers, they all went back to their fields. They got to eat. They left. They had to go back to their fields just to survive. And the people of God start buying and selling on the Sabbath. You see how this all fits together? The word of God is not being taught anymore. People don't care. They go back to violating the Sabbath. They go back to intermarrying with pagans. These are the same people who wept when they heard God's law. And what happened? What happened to them? Well, our great Westminster confession, we all recited it together this morning. Those that are affectionately called by God, those that truly are born again by God's spirit and are justified and adopted into God's family, forgiven and are right with God, they cannot lose their salvation. God will preserve them to the end. And then point three, remember we recited it. Nevertheless, They may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins. So even God's people can fall into grievous sins. And for a time continued therein, whereby they incur God's displeasure, grieve His Holy Spirit, come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts and have their hearts hardened and their consciences wounded, hurt and scandalize others and bring temporal judgments upon themselves. That's exactly what happened here. They neglected giving and thus their pastors and teachers had to go back to their farms so that their families could eat. And thus the word of God was no longer being regularly read or taught. They were not worshiping together. They didn't have worship leaders. They neglected keeping the worst enemy they've ever had in Tobiah from living inside the temple itself. And they began to disregard the Sabbath day and they started intermarrying with unbelievers. It all goes back to that neglect of the word of God, neglecting the means of our own preservation. Look at point two there, let's look at verses one through three. On that day, they read aloud from the book of Moses and the hearing of the people. And there was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing. So when they heard the law, they excluded all foreigners from Israel. Well, at least here, the Bible is still being read to them, and the people are still hearing it, and they still have a heart to obey it. When they would hear something they weren't doing, we've got to do this. When they would hear something they were doing wrong, we've got to stop this. They find out something else they need to do. We got to exclude foreigners from our community. Now that does not mean that they got rid of people like Ruth the Moabite or foreigners that were true believers. Rather, that's a roundabout way of referring to unbelievers in general. Remember, when a person outside of the nation of Israel wanted to join the church, they would be circumcised and their whole household. And Exodus 12, 48 says, and they shall be like a native of the land. They weren't considered to be foreigners anymore. They were citizens of Israel. So that's not what this is talking about. In other words, when a foreigner was converted, they became an Israelite, in effect, just like the rest of them. Just like you and I, we are the true Israel. We are the Israel of God. It was never about genealogical descent. Membership in Israel was membership in the church, and it was always supposed to mean that. But evidently, although they did hear that, they didn't apply that to Tobiah the Ammonite. I wonder why. I wonder why. Oh, it was because Tobiah was married into the right families, you see. At that point number three, I called Toby in the temple. Look at verses four through seven. Now, prior to this, Eliashib, the priest who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being related to Tobiah, had prepared a large room for him where formerly they put the grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils, and the tithes of grain, wine and oil prescribed for the Levites, the singers and the gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. But during all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, I had gone to the king. After some time, however, I asked leave from the king, and I came to Jerusalem and learned about the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah by preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God." Okay, when your high priest is related to your arch enemy, that's never a good thing. We learned this way back in Nehemiah 6. Remember this part? Nehemiah chapter 6, 17. Also in those days, the nobles of Judah, the nobles of Judah. sent many letters to Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came to them. They're like corresponding with each other. They're all big buds with each other. For many in Judah were pledged to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shekeniah, the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshulam, the son of Berechiah. And they reported his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to frighten me. Tobiah, this Ammonite who hated God's people, who tried to murder Nehemiah, he was married into one of the leading families of Israel and his son was too. He's also connected to the high priest. But remember who this guy is and all the wickedness he'd already committed and conspired to commit against Nehemiah and against God's people. How in the world could this happen? How could the man who had mocked all of them, threatened their leader, Nehemiah, conspired to go to war against them, lied to them, lied about them, conspired to murder Nehemiah, hired a false prophet to trick Nehemiah, and they're entering the temple, which only the priests were allowed to do. How does this guy end up living in the temple? As Nehemiah says there in verse seven, Eliashib had done evil for Tobiah by preparing a room for him in the house, in the courts of the house of God. And you can almost hear the rationale. We're just trying to be hospitable. We're just trying to be nice to the guy. Maybe we can win him to the Lord. No, there's some people that are just dogs. I know that's a harsh thing. And you want to suspend thinking that of people as long as possible. But Jesus said, you have to eventually arrive at that conclusion about some people. Nehemiah has a special thing with this guy too. This guy wanted to kill him. Nehemiah was not much for sitting down. Let's sit down over coffee and negotiate and try to understand each other's perspectives. So like all good leaders always do, he takes things into his own hands and acts decisively. Look at verse eight and nine. It was very displeasing to me, so I threw all of Tobiah's household goods out of the room. Then I gave an order and they cleansed the rooms and I returned there the utensils of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense. Isn't that terrible? They removed the tools of worship so that this evil guy could live in the temple. Okay, next point, number four, they stopped tithing. Look at verse 10. I also discovered that the portions of the Levites had not been given them so that the Levites and the singers who performed the service had gone away each to his own field. People stopped giving the money that they had sworn to give so this wouldn't happen. The servants of the house of God who taught the word of God and facilitated the worship of God, they had no choice. They had to go back to their fields so that they could eat. Now we're not told why the people grew cold in these sacred duties, but they certainly did. They certainly, they were all fired up and excited and weeping and crying and now all of a sudden everything's slowing down. You know, this kind of thing usually happens slowly. People just, they just drop off in their church attendance. They drop off reading the Bible. The humdrum of life and the trials of life start kind of getting to them. And they feel empty and hollow inside. They don't talk to very many people. They're not close to people. They don't see the point of going to church. They don't see the point of constantly reading their Bibles. And day after day, their love just turns grayer and grayer. and they start to neglect the means of their own preservation. Just like a person's physical body will wither and die if it's not nourished with food, our souls are very much the same. If we don't feed on the Lord and His Word, we wither spiritually. The problem for us, however, is that our spiritual decline is much less perceptible to us than physical decline. We know right away when we're sick. We don't tend to notice it as much when we're starting to drift away from God. The pastors and teachers and worship leaders of the people, they had not been given what they need, so they went home. And Nehemiah gets back, they're gone. Where are they? They went back to their fields. Why? We stopped paying them. And Nehemiah is very upset about it. Look at verse 11 and 12. So I reprimanded the officials and said, why is the house of God forsaken? Then I gathered them together and restored them to their posts. All Judah then brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. What an iconic question for the ages, for the churches that once held to the authority of scripture and fearlessly preached the whole counsel of God denounced sin regardless of what social media is saying or what the news is saying or what our president is saying. And they proclaim the perfect and all sufficient exclusive work of Jesus Christ to save repentance sinners. So many of those churches now lay waste and they're neglected and they're falling apart and they've been converted into nightclubs or bars or just left fallow. It was starting to happen with the temple itself. But Nehemiah reprimands the officials and he lets them have it. Why is the house of God forsaken? Look at verse 13. In charge of the storehouses I appointed Shalamiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Padaiah of the Levites. And in addition to them was Hanan the son of Zakkur, the son of Madaniah, for they were considered reliable. And it was their task to distribute to their kinsmen. Notice who Nehemiah puts in charge, guys that others considered to be reliable. Proverbs 25, 19, confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joints. Nehemiah needs reliable people, faithful men. And he was starting to see more and more just how few of them he really had. And notice too, I want you to see this. You gotta notice this. With Nehemiah, he just presses on. No matter what the trial, no matter what happens, he just keeps going. This man does what's in his power to promote righteousness and the worship of God. He puts men in place so the Levites and singers are paid so that God's word will continue to be taught and worship will continue to be facilitated for the people. It's always the same folks. It's always the same. People just don't see the value of preaching. They don't see the value of singing God's praises with the gathered assembly and being with God's people. But dear congregation, we must see the value of those things. We must see that. What did Jesus teach us about this? And you shall know the truth, John 8, 32. You will know the truth and the truth will make you free. And where is the truth? When Jesus prayed on the night before he was crucified in John 17, he prayed for his church of all generations. He prayed, Father, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. There in the wilderness, when Jesus was being tempted, he quotes from Deuteronomy 8, verse three, man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Jesus, in his very first long sermon that he preached to a multitude of people in Matthew 5, 18, he said, assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. "'Whoever therefore breaks one of the least "'of these commandments and teaches men so, "'shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. "'But whoever does and teaches them, "'he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. "'For I say to you that unless your righteousness "'exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, "'you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.'" Not one jot or tittle of the law, of God's word can pass away, and the people of God need all of it. They live by it. Moses pleaded with the people, these are not just idle words for you, they are your life. Paul wrote to Timothy, some of the final words that he wrote before he was beheaded. He said to this young pastor, from childhood, you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Why were the Israelites doing all this now? Why were they neglecting the Sabbath, intermarrying with pagans? Because the word of God stopped being taught. Because they weren't hearing it anymore. And because of that, they weren't being corrected. They weren't being reproved by it. And it took Nehemiah to stand up and reprimand, to correct, to reprove them. Why do we need the Word of God? So that we may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Jesus said, My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. Dear ones, if we are professing Christians, if we claim to know God and claim to be reconciled to Him, but we don't see the value of rigorous, in-depth Bible study, we don't see the value of attending public worship on the Sabbath day with the people of God, then have we really heard the voice of our Shepherd? Jesus said in John 10 about His sheep, and when He brings out His own sheep, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. For yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. As believers in Christ, if we really are believers in the Lord Jesus, do we not long to hear his voice? And where else do we hear it but scripture? Where else? People of God know the voice of their shepherd when he speaks. 1 John 3.14, what about gathering with the people of God? The people were staying home from worship. People weren't gathering together to get together to worship God there at the temple. The house of God's being neglected. 1 John 3.14, we know we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. There's no such thing as a true Christian that doesn't love other Christians, that doesn't love their new family that they're adopted into. They love their brethren. What about Scripture? What about the Bible, the text of Scripture? 1 John 2, 5, whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know we are in him. What does that mean to keep his word? It means that what the Bible says, it sticks in your soul. It means that when the Bible is read out loud or preached or taught, you snap to attention because of the one speaking and you love this glorious, forgiving and gracious being. You know, my father had a trick he could do with it. Some people have to use their fingers to make a real loud whistle. He could just do it with his mouth. To this day, I don't know how he does it. It was just blood-curdlingly loud. But he always told me and my sister, if you guys ever hear this and we're in a crowd, I want you guys to come. That means I want you to come here immediately. But he would do that, and my sister and I would immediately snap to attention. Where is that coming from? Not only because it's our father calling us, but if we don't show up soon, he's going to whip up on us. It's the same thing with the Bible. The Christian hears the Bible and hears the voice of their God, their Redeemer, their Shepherd. They want to know what He's saying. Nehemiah is determined to make sure that the voice of God is not silent on earth. And that's why he says, you guys have got to keep these Levites here. You've got to keep the Bible open. You've got to keep hearing from it and reading it. Where the Bible is not read, where it's not preached, where it's not taught, God is silent. And when that happens, the world falls apart, people collapse, sin reigns supreme, the wicked prowl on every side, and vileness is exalted among the sons of men. Why is America becoming the cesspool of iniquity that it is? I wanna tell you something, it has nothing to do with economics, and it has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with elders, pastors, ministers, and preachers who are no longer confident that the preached, taught, and proclaimed word of God is what the world needs. The men who occupy pulpits don't believe the gospel of Christ needs to be preached, taught, and defended at all costs anymore. And so many are knuckling in and they're conceding more and more ground. And the church has retreated from the field of battle in so many areas. And the enemies of Christ occupy so much Christian turf that it's getting to the point that what's left to defend? If you're constantly engaging in pragmatic compromises and the doctrinal areas where Satan is making the most headway, eventually you're gonna give up everything. You're gonna have nothing left. And that is exactly what the mainline churches did a hundred years ago. And it's what we're doing today. Today, the so-called conservatives are doing the same thing. I love Nehemiah. He's one of my heroes now. He's not gonna let it happen. It's not gonna happen while he's got breath in his body. The people have got to have Levites to teach them. They've got to have worship at the temple. They've got to hear the Bible read and taught. And Nehemiah knows they were exiled for these very reasons long ago. Nehemiah doesn't want to see history repeat itself again. Why does Nehemiah know all this? Why is he so passionate? Why does this guy have so much fire in his heart? You know why? Because Nehemiah was a Bible reader. Nehemiah knew the Old Testament backwards and forwards. Remember how he prayed in Nehemiah chapter one? He's invoking promise after promise after promise from the book of Deuteronomy. One other point that must be brought in here as well. I have to emphasize this to you. These Levites that had gone back to their farms, these were really, really good guys. These are great teachers. Remember they did a wonderful job of reading the law to the people and giving the sense of it. The people were convicted and then they assured them that God is gracious and forgiving and compassionate. These were really, really great pastors and teachers. These men knew the Bible and they were great at teaching it. They preached the law and the gospel. They had already been greatly used of God in the lives of so many. Why did they stop paying them so they could continue their essential ministry among the people? Nehemiah asked it in verse 11. Why is the house of God forsaken? Well, they stopped tithing. That was identical in Nehemiah's mind to forsaking the house of God. You know, I was actually thinking about this. I have a file on Dropbox that has everything I've ever preached in it. I've never preached on tithing before. Ever, in 21 years, never preached on tithing. So here it is, tithe. Without preachers and teachers, these Levites, that temple, it's just a building. It's just a building. Remember, dear congregation, it's what happens in here that makes it a church. It's the word rightly preached, the sacraments rightly administered, and God worshiped biblically. Without that, it's just a building. And then we get another one of Nehemiah's desperate heartfelt prayers. Look at verse 14. Remember me for this, oh my God, and do not blot out my loyal deeds, which I have performed for the house of my God and its services. And look at verse 15. And those days I saw in Judah some who were treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain, and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads. And they brought them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I admonished them on the day they sold food. Also men of Tyre were living there, who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the Sabbath, even in Jerusalem. Then I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, What is this evil thing you are doing by profaning the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath day. What they started doing with the Sabbath was nothing new. The prophet Amos rebuked them and actually gives a quotation from the people. The people of God during Amos' day were saying this, quote Nehemiah or Amos 8, verse five. When will the Sabbath be past that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath be over so we can do what we want? And by the time Jeremiah comes along, Jeremiah is the last one. He's the final prophet that God sends them before he destroys them. He tries one last time, Jeremiah 17, 21. Thus says Yahweh, take heed to yourselves and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem, nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day as I commanded your fathers. But they did not obey. nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction. And here in Nehemiah's day, they're doing the same thing. Not obeying, not inclining their ear, stiffening their necks, so they might not hear nor receive instruction. Notice there in verse 15 and 16, there's just all sorts of stuff going on here, you see it? Wine presses are pressing, sacks of grain are being carried on donkeys, wine, grape, figs, loaves, fish, merchandise, and the sons of Judah are buying all of it on the Sabbath day, even in Jerusalem. Here they are in the city that God graciously released them from captivity to come back and rebuild because they were repentant and they're doing it all over again. Look at 19, verse 19 to 21. It came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and that they should not open them until after the Sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the Sabbath day. Once or twice, the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem. Then I warned them and said to them, why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will use force against you. From that time on, they did not come on the Sabbath." Stop there. So Nehemiah, the governor of Jerusalem, he orders the gates to be shut so people can't bring stuff into the city to sell them. So they start camping outside the gate. And obviously this would have been tempting for the people of Jerusalem, I guess, to go out of the city and get some kind of, you know, early bird discount or something like that before the Sabbath ends. And Nehemiah threatens to have them removed by force. He's obviously serious. And the people that are camped out there, they know it. They know he's serious. So they stopped showing up to camp out. Look at verse 22. And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the Sabbath day. For this also, remember me, oh my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of your loving kindness." He prays again to God, I just want you to be glorified, I want you to be worshiped, and I want these people to be obedient to you. Remember all that I have done to try to make that happen. And finally, point number six, verse 23. In those days, I also saw that the Jews had married the women of Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod. None of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people. So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair and made them swear by God, you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. Now that's one way to do catechesis, I guess. You will recite this back to me now. When Ezra brought his group back to rebuild the temple, you know, they did the same thing. Nehemiah 9, it says, they've taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons. So the holy seed is mixed with the peoples of those lands. Indeed, the hand of the leaders and rulers have been foremost in this trespass. So when I heard this thing, Ezra's response is a little different. I tore my garment and my robe and pulled out some of my hair. and beard and sat down astonished. So Ezra tears his own hair out. Nehemiah tears their hair out. Verse 25 says he cursed them. That doesn't mean he was cussing at them or anything like that. Rather, he was quoting scripture at them. You guys were cursed. Your fathers were cursed. Remember when we had that giant worship service? Remember the piece of tabernacles? Remember we all got together and heard the law and you were all crying and we read all this stuff? Did you forget all this stuff already? Remember what God said, if you do this? Nehemiah, we're told, he also contended with them. And that Hebrew term means he strived with them. He contended with them. He was arguing with them. So these people were not contrived. They weren't looking down like, yeah, you're right, we should've. They argued with him so much that he gets into a scrap with them. He gets into a fight. And it was apparently one against a bunch because he pulled out their hair and struck them. And he made them swear by God not to do this again. Pretty amazing. Look at verse 26 and 27, 28. Did not Solomon king of Israel, it gives him a Bible study here. Didn't Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations, there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, the foreign women caused even him to sin. Do we then hear about you that you have committed also this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women? Even one of the sons of Joedah, the son of Eliash of the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sambalat the Horonite. So I drove him away from me." Remember Sambalat and Tobiah and Geshem? These guys have all gotten in with the leadership of Israel now. And we're not given any details other than, I just drove him away from me. A lot came up in this moment. Nehemiah's passionate heart, he doesn't mince words. He tells them you're evil, you're committing evil. You've been unfaithful, he tells them the truth. As we saw last time, when we looked briefly at Solomon, remember Solomon and David and Samson? Folks, I'll say it to you again. Physical attraction and emotion makes people throw caution and reason and godliness out the window sometimes. Don't let it happen to you. Remember these sobering words to all Christian young men of the world. Proverbs 7, 21. With her enticing speech, she caused him to yield. With her flattering lips, she seduced him. Immediately he went after her as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, till an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare, he did not know it would cost his life. Now, therefore, listen to me, my children. Pay attention to the words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, nor stray into her paths, for she has cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were strong men. Her house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death. And the last three verses of the book, you see 29, 30, and 31. Remember them, oh my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. Thus I purified them from everything foreign and appointed duties for the priests and the Levites each in his task. And I arranged for the supply of wood at appointed times and for the first fruits. Remember me, oh my God, for good. What's the takeaway from this? I'll recite it to you again. 17.3 of our confession. Nevertheless, they may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins. That's what happened. Revivals are wonderful. They're surprising works of God. God convicts people of sin. He brings them to Christ and forgives them. He gives them a new desire to walk with the Lord. But listen, if even those who are converted and saved neglect the means of their preservation, They can fall into serious sin and incur the displeasure of God. Let us learn from our forefathers here not to neglect the house of God, never let difficulties, trials, or hardships, or depression, or anxiety, or anything at all call you off of spiritual duties. That's the message of the book of Nehemiah. Let's pray. Gracious Lord and God, what a treasure this great book has been to us. May we receive its truths with faith and love, lay them up in our hearts and practice them in our lives. In Jesus' name we ask, amen.