SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). The Holy Place Promise (vs 4-14).
(2). The Sabbath Promise (vs 14-22)
(3). The Separation Promise (vs 23-29)
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• The story is told of a politician who was photographed for an article in a magazine,
• After receiving the proofs of his portrait,
• He was very angry with the photographer.
• He phoned him up and said, “These pictures do not do me justice!”
• The photographer replied,
• “Sir, with a face like yours, you don’t need justice, you need mercy!”
• TRANSITION: We are used to seeing almost perfect photographs and images of people,
• This is often due to the fact many people edit and photoshop there images.
• By doing that you remove any imperfections and anything you do not want people to see.
• One of the remarkable things about the Bible,
• Is that God never ‘photoshops’ the history of his people.
• It is one of the arguments for the inspiration of the Scripture,
• That unlike may ancient historical records,
• The Bible shows people with all their faults and failings as well as their successes.
• Today we finish our studies in the book of Nehemiah.
• And if you're looking for a "and they all lived happily ever after" conclusion,
• Then you are going to be disappointed.
• There have been some great moments, some great highs in the book of Nehemiah,
• But this chapter contains disappointment, it certainly is not edited or photoshopped!
• It reveals to us another spiritual low in the life of this nation.
Note:
• To understand this chapter (#13),
• You need to realise that the events of verses 4-31,
• Occur after Nehemiah had left Jerusalem, gone back to Babylon (Persia) and returned.
• Back in chapter 2 verse 6, Nehemiah had told king Artaxerxes that he would return,
• And after the wall (and the people) were restored,
• Well, Nehemiah kept his word.
• He returned back to the palace in Susa, the capital of Persia,
• Then sometime later (we don’t know how long),
• Nehemiah was allowed to return back to Jerusalem.
• (Verses 6-7 and also verse 10 make that clear)
Quote: the saying:
“While the cat is away the mice will play”
• That idiom/phrase makes the point,
• Without supervision, people will do as they please,
• Especially in disregarding or breaking rules
• Sadly, that was the case in Judea,
• The people very quickly broke their promises they made in chapter 10.
• And it would require Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem, Judah once again,
• To try and sort the people out.
• We don’t know exactly how long Nehemiah stayed in the palace at Susa,
• Before returning back again to Jerusalem in chapter 13.
• But when he returns (vs 6-7),
• What he finds is not good, it is heart breaking.
Note: Deep Disappointment is written through most of this chapter.
•
• If you and I were the authors of this book,
• We would have finished it at chapter 12, with exciting story of how God’s people,
• Going from strength to strength, growing numerically and flourishing spiritually.
• But instead if finishes with disappointment.
• The people have gone back on their promises and are spiritually weak.
Ill:
• I’m sure you know the game Snakes and Ladders (US= Chutes and ladders).
• You roll the dice, and move your counter,
• And if you land on a square with a ladder you get a shortcut to move higher up,
• But if you land on a snake you go down the board.
• And the worst-case scenario is that you could go all the way back to square one.
• TRANSITION: This chapter has been described as back to square one.
• Sadly, at the end of the book,
• The people are no better off spiritually than they were at the beginning of the book!
• The people have backslidden as a nation.
• They have relapsed into bad habits, sinful behaviour, and undesirable activities.
It really is quite an anti-climax to the end of the book.
• Especially when realise this is one of last chapters in Old Testament history.
• Although we find this book about half-way though our Old Testaments.
• These events actually happened at the time of Malachi,
• Which is the very last book of your English Old Testament.
• Now either Nehemiah or Malachi is the last recorded history book of the Old Testament,
• Scholars are not quite sure which.
Ill:
• The Old Testament in our English Bibles were not put together chronologically,
• i.e. the order in which they were written.
• Instead they were grouped together by their content,
• i.e. 5 books of Law, 12 books of History, 5 books of Poetry, 17 books of Prophecy.
• So, depending on which scholar you read or listen too,
• Either Nehemiah or Malachi is the last recorded history book of the Old Testament.
• And that history ends in disappointment.
• Because the great promises the people made to God in chapter 10,
• That they wanted written down in a document and which they all said, “Amen!” too.
• We are going to see that in this chapter,
• They manage to break them many of them.
Note:
• In each of my three points,
• There is a reoccurring patten,
• They all contain a problem, they all contain a response, they all finish with a short prayer
(1) The Submission Promise (vs 4-14).
Ill:
• David Livingstone (19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873),
• Was a Scottish medical missionary and explorer of the Victorian era,
• Now best remembered because of his meeting with Henry Morton Stanley,
• Which gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
• David Livingstone died from dysentery and malaria on 1 May 1873, at the age of 60,
• His heart was buried at the foot of a tall tree in a small African village,
• (although now under the Livingstone Memorial),
• But his body was buried at Westminster Abbey.
• TRANSITION: The heart of David Livingstone symbolically represented,
• His love and commitment to the people of Africa.
• Quote: Jesus who said (Matthew chapter 6 verse 21).
• “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”
• Sadly, these people had turned their hearts away from God,
• The promises the people made in chapter 10,
• In fact, their final statement in chapter 10 (vs 39) was that,
• They would “…not neglect the house our God.”
• If it was important to God, it would be important to them!
PROBLEM:
• For Nehemiah it is a case of Déjà vu,
• He returns back to Jerusalem only to find two of his archenemies back on the scene,
• The baddies are Tobiah and Sanballat,
• Who have wormed their way back into the religious life of Jerusalem.
• What’s more tragic is that the high priest Eliashib,
• Who should have known better has been badly influenced by them (vs 7b)
“and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God.”
• The long and short of it is that the cheeky Toby (was an Ammonite, not even Jewish)!
• Has set up a penthouse suite in a room,
• That should have been set apart for the things of God.
• He had defiled the temple by his presence and by his actions.
Note:
• The reason these storage rooms were empty and being hired out,
• Was because the people had failed to keep their other promises.
• The people had stopped bringing their tithes and offerings.
• With no tithes and offerings coming in to support the people in ministry.
• The Levites (vs 10) were forced to return home to their villages,
• They needed to work the fields to survive.
“I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and musicians responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields”
RESPONSE:
• Step #1:
• When Nehemiah discovers what has happened, he stormed through the temple,
• And does some serious spring cleaning!
• Verses 7-9:
“I came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God. I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense.”
Nehemiah’s response is quick and decisive,
• Tobiah is thrown out with all his belongings.
• And Nehemiah then has all the temple rooms purified,
• He made them ready for their proper use, the worship of God.
Ill:
• This event reminds me of the time Jesus threw out the moneychangers from the temple,
• (Matthew chapter 21 verse 13).
• “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers”
• TRANSITION: I guess the challenge we have to ask ourselves is,
• What rubbish are we allowing in our temple, making us unclean?
• And will we allow the Lord to throw it out?
Step #2: Nehemiah also rebuked the officials and placed them at their stations.
• “So, I rebuked the officials and asked them, ‘Why is the house of God neglected?’”
• Nehemiah was not afraid to confront people,
• He looked them in the eye and told them the truth.
Step #3:
• Nehemiah chose four men to supervise the treasury & distribute the tithes and offerings.
• (Verse 13).
“I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms and made Hanan son of Zakkur, the son of Mattaniah, their assistant, because they were considered trustworthy.”
• These four men were chosen because they were trustworthy,
• They also represented four groups, priests, Levites, scribes and laymen.
PRAYER:
Verse 14:
“Remember me for this, my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.”
(2). The Sabbath Promise (vs 14-22)
• We have explained what Sabbath (Shabbat) is,
• And talked about why Christians don’t celebrate Shabbat but rather Sunday in previous talks,
• But to remind ourselves of the importance of this day for the Jews,
• Watch this.
Ill:
• What is Shabbat? Intro to the Jewish Sabbath
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/vjmjZWHXKFY
• TRANSITION: Since the days of Moses,
• The Jewish people have tried to be different to all the other nations.
• Did you remember what the barrator said in the DVD clip?
• Shabbat, “It is the single most important building bloc of living a Jewish life”
PROBLEM:
• One way the Jews showed their difference is that they kept a Sabbath day.
• The other nations around them might harvest on Sabbath (the Saturday),
• But not them!
• The Sabbath, for them was to be a complete day of rest.
• It was set apart by God as a time of rest and spiritual rejuvenation.
• (Exodus chapter 20 verses 8-11).
• Even the animals were given a break on the Sabbath,
• (Exodus chapter 23 verse 12).
But Verses 14-16 reads:
“In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore, I warned them against selling food on that day. 16 People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah.”
When Nehemiah returns, that difference, that distinction has gone:
• The Jews promised in chapter 10 verse 31,
• Not to do business on the Sabbath.
• Yet now there was all kinds of trading going on,
• The people were making wine and trading grain, fish and trading all sorts of goods!
• The trading in itself was not the problem,
• They could do all those things on any of the six other days,
• The problem is they promised to prioritise,
• Worship of God was to be more important than money!
• TRANSITION: What do we prioritise over our collective worship of God.
• I use that term carefully, the Jews gave a whole 24hours, a whole day kept for God.
• Too many Christians can’t even give God a couple of hours on a Sunday morning!
Quote:
• Jim Collins,
• Book: ‘Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't’
“Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.”
• Jim Collins wrote that quotation to businesspeople,
• But I think there is a spiritual application as well,
• “Few people attain great lives for God, because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.”
• Every Christian must decide what is best for the spiritual health,
• Although the Sabbath is not ‘The Lord’s day’ (Sunday),
• Similar principles should apply – are we giving time to the things of God and his people?
• And to do that,
• May mean us letting some good and legitimate things go.
• So that we can embrace the best and the excellent!
RESPONSE:
• Nehemiah had not forgotten the peoples promise,
• And he was not about to let them forget it either!
• He responds in three steps.
• Step #1:
• He rebuked the Jews for trading and made them stop (vs 15).
• Step #2:
• He rebuked the nobbles for allowing the trading to happen (vs 16-18).
• He reminds (vs 18) that the violation of the Sabbath,
• Was one of the reasons they went into captivity in the first place.
• Step #3: He took practical action.
• He also appointed his own men (vs 19) to keep the cities gates closed,
• (He obviously did not trust the local in habitants to do this.)
• And when the trades people had their own tactics to trade,
• i.e. They were spending the night queuing outside those gates,
• Ready to get the best pitches for trading/
• e.g. similar to people queuing up for the best deals in Harrod’s sales.
Nehemiah had to deal with that:
• This meant they could also do some illegal trading during the night will corrupt guards,
• Exchanging goods and currency,
• Via baskets being lowered and raised from the top of the walls to the ground and back.
• So, by verbal reprimand and practical action,
• Nehemiah restored the Sabbath back to the city.
PRAYER:
Verse 22b:
“Remember me for this also, my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.”
(3) The Separation Promise (vs 23-29)
• Because they broke their promise to submit to God’s Word,
• They no longer lived separately from the surrounding nations.
PROBLEM:
• In chapter 10 verse 30 the people had promised,
• Not to inter-marry with the other nations around them.
• We explained why in previous studies why the people,
• Were not supposed to enter into these relationships,
• It was not a problem of race but rather religion.
Ill:
• Today, Jews constitute about three-fourths of the total population of Israel.
• The Jewish population is diverse.
• Jews from eastern and western Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Central Asia,
• North America, and Latin America,
• Have been immigrating to this area since the late 19th century.
• Race is not important, but religion is.
• What binds this diverse groups together is their faith.
Ill:
• The Old Testament story of Ruth is evidence that there’s a place in God’s people,
• For those who turn back to the God of Israel.
• Ruth was a Moabitess, from the very nation that was condemned in v1.
• Yet she committed to the true & living God and to his people,
• And she like another outsider, another foreigner Rahab,
• Are part of the ancestry, the family tree of Jesus.
• TRANSITION: It was not a problem of race but rather religion.
• With any outsider coming into the home,
• The danger was they brought with them their religion and idols.
Ill:
• Image if you had been in isolation for weeks to protect yourself from Covid-19,
• (Many watching and listening don’t have to image it is a reality for them).
• You have not been out of your hose for months,
• And there is a knock at the door, it is a relative from a Tier 3 (very high) area,
• They have not been tested and you have no idea if they are safe or infected.
• You know that if you let them into your house you run the risk,
• That they will bring the contamination with them.
• And when you realise, they have or are a carrier for Covid-19, it will be too late.
• TRANSITION: That is what the problem was for these people,
• They let the spiritual contamination of other gods and idols into their homes,
• And it was too late for them to respond before the damage was done.
• On the surface the main issue is mixed marriages,
• But the underlying issue was also the danger of losing their national identity.
• e.g. half of the children of the mixed marriages could not speak the Jewish language.
Notice in verse 27 what Nehemiah is concerned about.
“Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?’”
• Nehemiah makes it very clear that he is concerned about one important thing:
• “Being unfaithful to our God” - That’s what’s behind all of these areas.
RESPONSE:
• Dare I say every leader enjoys verse 25:
• The Living Bible paraphrases it this way
“So I confronted these parents and cursed them and punched a few of them and knocked them around and pulled out their hair; and they vowed before God that they would not let their children intermarry with non-Jews.”
• Now I said, tongue-in-cheek that every leader enjoys verse 25,
• It seems a quick and easy way of solving some problems!
Step #1: He confronts the people.
Step #2: He physically assaults them.
• Today Nehemiah would be looking at a lawsuit!
• The lawyers would be rubbing their hands,
• As their clients make a claim for compensation.
Ill:
• Pulling out a man’s hair or beard was a cultural thing,
• Both Isaiah (50:6) and Ezra (9:1-7) did the same thing.
• 2 Samuel chapter 10 verses 4-5 suggests shaving or removing someone’s beard,
• Was seen as a sign of humiliating somebody,
Step #3: They promised not to inter-marry with the other nations.
PRAYER (X2):
Verse 29:
“Remember them, my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.”
Verse 31b:
“Remember me with favour, my God.”
And finally:
• As you think of the headings I used,
• A simple application should apply to each one of us.
FIRST: The Submission Promise.
• It’s never too late for a Christian to submit to God.
• It’s never too late to start taking God’s Word seriously.
• If you need to renew your walk with God today and stay close in future.
THIRD: The Sabbath Promise.
• It is easy to get knock off track,
• Especially on Sundays through busyness, tiredness and selfishness.
• Keep to the rhythm of life God has created and protect your Sabbath/Sunday.
• The Christian life needs to be lived in the company of other believers,
• There is no room for a ‘Lone Ranger’
• (Even he had Tonto!)
• Let’s get our priorities right,
• Let’s make time for God and his people.
• And you will find refreshment, nourishment, fellowship & guidance for the week ahead.
• The Support Promise. Don’t neglect your giving.
• It’s a sign that you trust God to provide for your own needs.
• Be generous with what he has entrusted to you. Be open handed.
THIRD: The Separation Promise.
• Don’t play around with sin. Don’t get cosy with compromise.
• In our relationships, don’t become yoked with unbelievers.
• Remain distinct. Stay holy.
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=c0S2SqXVM4paAHgE26RoJoS5V1NMyHtA
SERMON VIDEO:
https://youtu.be/9P8KsOYYylg
