Book of Nehemiah Series #14
Nehemiah Chapter 13
Remember Me God, for Good
By Pastor Jim May
Nehemiah 13:1-3, "On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever; Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing. Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude."
As we begin this final message on the Book of Nehemiah, let me say that this has been an eye-opening series. We have seen the Israelites come from slavery back to the rebirth of their nation. The whole process has been a parallel example of the Christian who has backslidden from God and now finds his way back to the foot of the Cross; then onward to a deeper walk with the Lord. All of life is filled with dangers and no dangers are worse than those that threaten to steal your very soul. Let us ever remember the lessons of Nehemiah and continue to walk in victory with Jesus.
One all-important point is that we need not face any of these trials and tests as the Jews did if we will only remember one thing – that keeping ourselves separated from the world, staying true unto God and not allowing the flesh to overcome us, will help us to remain victorious through it all. Though we may fail, we should never fall. Though we live in this world, we should never set our desires only upon it. We must always keep our eyes on Jesus and our hearts on reaching that city whose builder and maker is God.
Nehemiah 13:4-7, "And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah: And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the offerings of the priests. But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king: And I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God."
Here we have the reappearance of an old enemy by the name of Tobiah, whom we thought had been finally defeated, but now we see that God’s people will allow him to cause problems in the nation again. Can anyone remember, from our past studies, what Tobiah represented to each of us? He was representative of the power of the flesh and the temptations it brings through the lust of eye and the pride of life. The power of fleshly lusts and desires for the things that will please this body of flesh is always lying there, just below the surface, just waiting to rise up and cause us problems. It seems that Israel had problems with this enemy just as much as we do in the church.
Looking now at the Book of Nehemiah let me remind you that the walls and gates are fully restored, and many of the exiles have come back to dwell safely in Jerusalem. The law of God is read, and as it is read before the people it brings forth joy and repentance. The Levites are being trained once again and worship in the temple has been reinstituted. With Nehemiah guiding the way, everything is coming back into order and Israel is again living by the truth of God’s Word.
Finally, after over 70 long years of exile and slavery, with Israel lying in ruins under the hand of their enemies, they are becoming a godly nation once again. Surely nothing could stop them now. They were on their way to victory at last. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, something did go wrong – terribly wrong. Perhaps they became a little too over-confident. Or maybe they just dropped their guard for only a moment. For whatever the reason, they had allowed a real problem to develop right in the very heart of the nation.
Inside the temple, in the room that was formerly used to store the offerings for God, sat Tobiah and his temptation, power and control.
Tobiah had been resisted and defeated before but somehow; he had got inside the walls! Before now, even though many on the inside spoke of his good deeds, he was still on the outside. Yet here he was, not only within the walls, but to make matters even worse, he was right in the place where he always saw himself - in the center of the Temple! How could this happen? Surely Nehemiah would have stopped it?
Yes, Nehemiah could have stopped it all, but he didn’t. He was away at the palace of King Artaxerxes, making his report of the work and keeping up with the public relations in order to maintain peace with the Persian Empire. Nehemiah had set everything in order, then left for a short time leaving his leaders in charge of the work, and just a short time later, the Jews had already began to disobey God by allowing the enemy to set up housekeeping right in the very heart of the temple!
We can compare this to the fact that Jesus came down from Heaven, gave His life for you and I, set everything in order for mankind to find and serve God, then was received back to Heaven for a short time. Even after all that Jesus did, mankind still won’t serve Him. As quickly as our eyes turn from Christ, we suddenly become involved in the things of the world.
What happens here is a good example of what happens in our own lives, our church life, and the history of God’s people as a whole.
What happens when the “feelings” of salvation are not there? What happens when we go only on what we feel and not what the Word of God says? Feelings can be a deceiving thing to trust in at best.
We saw earlier that Tobiah, representing our sinful nature, can begin to arise through complacency and pride after a spiritual high or a great victory. What this book also teaches us is that the flesh can take over when we simply let our guard down.
I believe that Nehemiah represents the Lord Jesus Christ, the master builder of our salvation and protector of our souls. When Nehemiah was around, Tobiah didn’t have much of a chance. But unfortunately, there are times when we leave the presence of the Lord, to go our own way for a while, and that’s when Tobiah will find a way to enter our hearts once again.
It’s easy to ’trust the Lord’ and be strong when Nehemiah (Jesus) seems close but what happens when we don’t sense His presence, when our prayers seem to go nowhere and 1ur spirit is weak? The same thing happens to us that happened in Jerusalem; Tobiah begins to reign in the temple!
They moved the true offerings out of the temple and replaced them with the possessions of Tobiah!
Offering God the good of your old nature is not good enough! After eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the human heart was pulled in both directions towards evil and towards being good but was found to be unfaithful and rebellious. Man doesn’t want to have to depend upon God. Most of us who have become Christians know that our good works can’t save us, but we tend to think that once we get saved then it’s our job to grow and live the Christian life. Sure, we’ll pray for ’help’ and ’power’ from God, but in the end we believe that it’s up to us!
If that’s what you believe then it will be very easy to let Tobiah in, and give him a prominent position in the God’s temple. Why not, he’s a good man. He can help with building the church. The flesh seems to come up with some “good” ideas at times. Maybe we use our own abilities and power to build the kingdom of God in our church and lives, then only seek God for the things we cannot do.
Why would a leader of God’s people give Tobiah such a position once Nehemiah had left? Perhaps it’s because Eliashib didn’t realize the true nature of Tobiah. If he did, then Eliashib must have faced some kind of pressure to allow Tobiah in. Sometimes the actions of the flesh are hardly distinguishable from what’s real. Has anyone ever seen someone get into “the flesh” in their zeal for worship? Shouting can be of the unction of the Holy Ghost, but it can also be of the “unction” of the flesh too.
Whatever the reason, one thing is clear. It wasn’t long after Nehemiah left before he was replaced with Tobiah. When we leave the truth of the Word of God behind and pick up the desires of the flesh, it doesn’t take long before we begin to think, talk, act and look more and more like the world.
Our worship takes on a new sound. Our church identity is lost. Before long, you really can’t see any difference between the church and the world at all. Just take a look at some of the hype and ’performances’ that are accepted in the church today as worship, but rejected by God as nothing but a show of the flesh.
It’s funny that sinners out in the world can spot the difference, but we in the church often can’t see it at all. Most of the time Evangelism comes down to using the worlds marketing principles. Psychology has replaced the bible in counseling. Fame and riches are now the will of God for our lives because ’Jesus is extremely rich and we are heirs with him! The worship is usually directed toward the rock band worship team at the front and not toward the Lord Jesus Christ. At the same time we don’t want to give an altar call with music that is soft and low. We don’t want to offend anyone or make them feel convicted. Somehow I just can’t see the church being this way in the days of the Apostle Paul and others.
So why does Tobiah get such a place in the church? I think it is mainly due to the pressure to perform, which comes because of our fascination with numbers in attendance and outward signs of a successful church.
Nehemiah 13:8-12, "And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense. And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them: for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field. Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place. Then brought all Judah the tithe of the corn and the new wine and the oil unto the treasuries."
What did Nehemiah do when he got back? He cleaned Tobiah and his things out of the temple and cleansed it of all of the influence of Tobiah. Nehemiah didn’t care what success or good works Tobiah might have done. If the source of the deeds was the flesh, then God wouldn’t accept the results. The end certainly didn’t justify the means.
Nehemiah, once again had to get rid of the rubbish and re-establish truth. What else could he do? He couldn’t ignore that fact that Tobiah was there and act like everything was fine. He knew that the only way to have real victory in God was to put down, or crucify, the flesh and kick Tobiah right out of the temple.
That is the answer, both for individuals and for churches, because that is the only cleansing that gets to the heart of the matter. A lot of people talk about being cleansed and forgiven because they can clearly see their sin, guilt and hypocrisy, but they only repent of what they do, not what they are. The constant cycle of repenting for sin, and then sinning again becomes a drag because you never get anywhere. It’s just a vicious circle of cleansing, trying harder, blowing it, cleansing, trying harder...
The cleansing that Nehemiah used went straight to the heart of the matter - getting rid of the source of the problem. Nehemiah didn’t simply warn people not to talk or act like Tobiah. He went straight to the temple and cleared the whole place out! Once this had happened, the true offerings could be made to God, and no more would Tobiah’s influence spread within the walls.
We mostly learn to get rid of the flesh through experience. The Bible says that we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We grow in His grace as we see our need and rely upon His strength in our daily walk.
Growing in grace only occurs as we put into action the knowledge that we have gained. Tobiah is not supposed to be in the temple. They weren’t supposed to have anything to do with him, but were to treat him as though he was dead. It makes sense to follow this advice and only present ourselves to God on the basis of life from the dead – on the basis of who God is and not who we are. Do that and Tobiah, or the flesh, will not gain a foothold in your life.
What we need to remember is that we must always rely on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, and the victory that he won for us.
If Sanballat attacks, use the armor of God. But realize that every piece of the armor is an aspect of Jesus’ victory. He is the truth, He is our peace, He is our righteousness, He is our faith, He is our salvation, and He is the word of God.
If Geshem, who represents the things of this world, tries to lure you out, remember the home and the anchor that Jesus is preparing for us, and that we will soon be meeting Him in the air.
If Tobias, representing the desires of the flesh, seems to keep rising up, consider again the resurrection and Jesus’ life in us, and present yourself to God as a living sacrifice, born again by the blood of the Lamb! Don’t give place to the flesh, petting him, giving him what he wants, and falling for his desires, but treat him as though he were dead.
Nehemiah 13:13-31 describes all of the actions taken by Nehemiah to get Israel back on the straight and narrow. For the sake of time we won’t get into it deeply even though volumes could be written based upon his actions.
John 21:25, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen."
Reckoning that Nehemiah is a type of Christ to you and I, we know that Jesus paid the full price for our sin. He established His church and promised that the “gates of Hell”, meaning the powers of darkness, would never overcome it. Jesus came to cleanse the temple of your heart, to build your walls of salvation and to redeem you from the world of sin and make you His own. Though He is gone away for a short time, He is coming again soon.
Will he find us serving Him? Or will he find us allowing Tobiah to rule in our lives?
He is coming for a church that is faithful, watching and ready.
In Nehemiah 13:31, Nehemiah says "… Remember me, O my God, for good."
Nehemiah wanted all of the work that he had done to be remembered when He would stand before God.
If we are to consider this in light of the fact that Jesus is typified in Nehemiah, then we must remember that Jesus is now ascended into Heaven and seated at the right hand of the Father. His work is finished, and will ever stand as a memorial for the salvation of mankind. Because he humbled himself and went to the cross, he is now honored in Heaven forever and has been given all power in Heaven and in Earth.
In our own lives, let us remember that one day we too shall stand before God. If we have learned the lessons well and obeyed the Word of God as found in this book, then we will also stand before God and be remembered for our good works, as well is our faith in Jesus Christ.
That’s when we will hear those wonderful words found in Matthew 25:21, "...Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."
