No Compromise Series

Sometimes I'm driving along and I see a car accident and I say to myself regularly… This is

what I say to myself when I see those things. I say, “That could be me.” When I'm driving in the

snow and I'm driving down the road and I see someone in the ditch, I say to myself, “That could

be me. I need to be careful how I drive.” If I'm driving too fast, or maybe I'm distracted in my

driving, or not paying attention the way I should, I could end up in that same place. Now there

are some wrecks that take place in life, not because of our own fault, just things happen in life.

Someone hits you and it’s not just your negligence. But today, we're going to talk about those

ones that we are responsible for. The things that we do kind of end ourselves in the ditch or in

worse and oncoming traffic. those challenges that we face in our lives that we need to be warned

about. And so I think that as we look at the different challenges in life that people are

experiencing, we say, “That could be me,” because it could be. It’s only by God's grace that

we're not homeless or we're not in a situation that's very dire and difficult. It could be me.

So today as we go to the book of Nehemiah, we're going to see a principle that's true throughout

the Bible. It's the drifting principle is what I call it. The tendency that all of our hearts have to

drift away from the Lord and from the lines that He's created on the road. We drift outside of

those lines and we find ourselves in danger. It's the drifting principle that takes place. We all

need to be warned. We all need to be aware of that. In fact, today, the verse I want to read when

we stand together in a moment is a verse from the book of Isaiah that describes the drifting

principle.

In fact, why don't you stand with me? I want you to read this verse with me. So you’re going to

have to read from the screens here so we're all on the same version of the Bible here. Isaiah 53:6.

Would you please read this with me in unison? Isaiah 53:6. All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us

all. This verse was written 300 years before Nehemiah. Isaiah is the prophet who gives the

clearest definition of the Messiah coming and His purpose and His work. It describes the gospel

right here in this verse. Let's read it again together. Isaiah 53:6 – All we like sheep have gone

astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity

of us all.

You may be seated.

Well, we're at the end of the book. Now last week we talked about the end of chapter 12 and we

saw how the celebration took place. They're basically done with the whole story. Chapter 13 is

like an appendix because what happens we're going to see is that Nehemiah goes back to Persia.

He goes back home now. And he must be gone for…we don't know exactly, but it must be ten to

twenty years the way that things happen in the story. You'll see. You can guess how many years.

But it looks like ten to twenty years he's away and then he comes back to Jerusalem and he finds

that people have drifted. He finds that the revival that took place that we enjoyed so much in

chapter 10 and we saw encouraged in 11 and 12,. Now in chapter 13 he's got to go back and

make some corrections in life. We're going to see three scenes that take place in Nehemiah 13,

three areas that we experience. I would suggest that each of us need to look at those and say,

“That could be me. I need to be careful here.” What are those compromises that the people made

that led them astray?

Nehemiah 13. Let's look at the first one. Starting in verse 1 it says this. Now we're jumping into

the passage here, and we're going to go back and see that Nehemiah has gone and now he's

coming back. But now he starts in verse 1 – On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the

hearing of the people. You know, if you're going to get yourself straightened out, if you're going

to stay on the right path, you're going to go back and read the word. Because when you read the

word, God speaks to us through it.