Destination: Nehemiah 1-13 | Skip Heitzig

[Music] we are looking here at a section of the very wall of nehemiah called the broad wall from the first Temple period so let's study together as we look at the Bible from 30,000 feet in the book of Nehemiah [Applause] now we resume our flight over the Old Testament as we come to the book of Nehemiah a story of courage leadership and restoration my father was a builder when I was growing up he was a man who had vision to see a piece of raw land and think what it could become subdivisions shopping centers housing tracts in fact I remember a phone conversation just to show you how old this is we were in Southern California I was growing up my dad was on the phone and as he was thinking about developing and building he was having a conversation with a friend of his and he said I can predict the day someday in the future when homes in Los Angeles will be at least $50,000 now in those days and no it wasn't BC $50,000 sounded outrageous but you couldn't buy a garage door for $50,000 in Los Angeles things have changed and I remember that he had a vision for developing a piece of property in Orange County he wanted to buy it it was all 11 lemon groves it was called lemon Heights at the time and he wanted to buy it from Orange County and build homes on it and at that time the county didn't have the the for thought or the foresight to think about what could become and so he said here's my plan I want to buy the lemon groves I want to tear down the lemon groves and I want to build homes in Orange County said if you tear down the lemon trees and build homes you'll devalue the property and at that time maybe they were right but he was thinking with vision way down the line now those homes are incredibly priced well Nehemiah was a builder he goes from cup bearer to construction builder in Jerusalem he's not in Jerusalem at first he's in a faraway place of Persia but he also had incredible vision of what could become what could happen with the city of Jerusalem now nehemiah was a contemporary of ezra the last guy that we read about last week but Ezra had been in Jerusalem already 14 years Nehemiah leads the third and final group from the captivity back to Jerusalem remember zerubabbel and then Ezra and now Nehemiah brings the third and final group back to rebuild the city now building is one thing rebuilding something is another thing in fact I would say it's a lot harder to do a rebuild than just to build from scratch and to rebuild a city that has been broken down is a daunting task I remember the two weeks that I spent at Ground Zero after the twin towers fell and I remember the whole city felt this sense of despair I mean you see that pile of rubble and it's such a daunting task to think of removing it let alone rebuilding something all over again and there were firefighters and there were city workers and politicians all of them absolutely dismayed as they thought about their future so Nehemiah goes back to a city that is is very similar thinking that way well there's three basic themes in this book three basic themes and they're all divided in sections chapters 1 through 7 is the first section chapters 8 9 and 10 the second section and then chapters 11 to 13 the third section chapters 1 through 7 the first theme is rebuilding a cities protection rebuilding a cities protection they've been back for a period of time they built a temple but though they have a temple they don't have walls to protect the city so what good does it do to have worship if you don't have the freedom and the security to worship and so he wants to come back and rebuild the walls rebuild the city's protection number two the second theme is chapters 8 9 and 10 that is reviving a city's passion reviving a city's passion nehemiah believes that worshiping the Lord is essential don't just put up a building just don't put up walls in the streets but make sure that people have the right heartfelt activity of praise and worship and everything's in place and then the third and the final theme is chapters 11 through 13 and that is re settling a city's population you're gonna find an interesting problem toward the end of this book they have a city they have walls they have buildings they just don't have people not many people came back even though there were three different returns Jerusalem was a ghost town and so he is going to resettle the city's population well let's look in chapter 1 verse 1 and the first seven chapters rebuilding a cities protection the words of Nehemiah the son of Hokulea it came to pass in the month of Kislev in the 20th year that I was in Shushan the Citadel that's about a hundred and fifty miles north of the Persian Gulf it's in Persia ancient Iran that Han and I one of my brethren and we'll find out in chapter 7 that he was actually one of Nehemiah's brethren an actual blood brother a blood relative came with men from Judah and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped who had survived the captivity and concerning Jerusalem and they said to me the survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach the wall of Jerusalem is also broken down and its gates are burned with fire so it was when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned for many days I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven down in verse 11 at the end of that prayer old lord I pray please let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who desire to fear your name and let your servant prosper this day I pray and grant him mercy in the sight of this man for I was the king's cup bearer this man that Nehemiah speaks of is none other than a guy named art exact sees Longy manis art exact sees Longy Manas was the guy who succeeds King Ahasuerus you go you lost me art exerts ease was hard enough a Hodja where us is even worse a Hodja whereas will be the name that will be mentioned in the next book the book of Esther after a Hodja whereas Dysart exerts ease who is the the son and the stepson of Esther takes the throne and he gives a very important command which we had more time but he gives the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem which sets the time clock for Daniel chapter 9 verse 25 the prophet Daniel in captivity gave the exact date that Jesus the Messiah would come to Jerusalem and present himself as king - the exact date 173,880 days he predicted the Messiah would show up and he did and it's been historically shown don't have enough time to get into that but we will when we get to Daniel so he was the king's cup bearer now as we we briefly mentioned sunday because we used this text to begin our study the cup bearer was the personal secretary or assistant to the king of Persia he had to be cultured he had to be knowledgeable in the law conversant in politics he had to be handsome in appearance and he was very close to the king and very trusted and so he has an end with the king and he hears what is happening in Jerusalem there's a great old saying says large doors swing on small hinges large doors swing on small hinges those little conversations that you have with people you don't know what they're gonna yield you're at the grocery store you're in line somebody asks a question and one piece comes together with another piece leads you to somebody else or to leading that person right there to Christ you just don't know what could come in a natural normal set of events and so here it happens that the cupbearer of the king happens to hear what's going on in Jerusalem and he happens to be the cup Bearer so he's close with the king and one thing leads to another which will lead to the rebuilding of this city so briefly he hears what goes on he sits down to weep he then responds by kneeling down to pray and finally he stands up to work he's gonna go before the king because he feels that since the city is broken down God will use me to fix it when saul of tarsus was on the way to Damascus and he got knocked off of his high horse literally and figuratively he said who are you lord and the Lord said I am Jesus whom you are persecuting and then saul of tarsus asked a question that i wish every single christian would ask what do you want me to do lord some people never really get around to asking that in a meaningful way Lord what do you want me to do what is the rest of my life supposed to be like leave me direct me guide me how can I be part of your plan on the earth Nehemiah was of that sort and so chapter 2 verse 1 it came to pass in the month of Nisan again this is the month not the car this is around March or April the spring of the year in the 20th year of king artaxerxes when wine was before him I took the wine and gave it to the king now watch this I had never been sad in his presence before therefore the King said to me why is your face sad since you're not sick this is nothing but sorrow of heart so I became dreadfully afraid now you might read that and be tempted to go oh what a nice King no he's dreadfully afraid because it was considered the highest crime for a cup bear to be sad in the King's presence it could mean capital punishment they could cut your head off and here was the idea in a person Court they did not want to give the King any reason to be sad they didn't want to have him asking questions about something that would be bad or sad they wanted to keep all sadness away from the king in his court and also if you're working for the king he wants happy people it's like if you work at a restaurant or for a company you don't take your personal baggage into your job or you won't last long for instance if you're a waiter or a waitress and you go up to your table and you go hello what do you want here's a menu you naturally go what's wrong well I'll tell you what's wrong I lost my job you know you just don't do that there and it was even more so a crime in a persian court that's why it says so i became dreadfully afraid and i said to the king may the king live forever it's a good thing to say when your life's on the line may the king live forever because i want to live forever why should my face not be sad when the city the place of my father's tombs lies in waste and its gates are burned with fire do you remember in proverbs 21 it says the king's heart is in the hand of the lord and like the courses of the rivers he he turns it wherever he wishes it's never more true than in what we're about to read and verse 4 then the king said to me what do you request bingo door wide open so what do you want yes but notice this so I prayed to the God of heaven now obviously the kind of prayer that he prayed was let's call it a popcorn he shot a quick one up it wasn't a lengthy prayer in that position he said what do you want and he thought lord help me now give me your grace and then he talked you see you can imagine how it would be if he were to have paused when the king said now what is it you want and Nehemiah said Lord God I beseech thee father of heaven and earth it was like what the king would suspect this guy of treason it wouldn't work so he didn't have enough time for a lengthy prayer however the longest prayer recorded in the Bible will be in the book of Nehemiah but at this time it's just a quick one like ah open door but before I go through it help Lord help and I said to the king if it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in your sight I ask that you send me to Judah to the city of my father's tombs that I may rebuild it now please notice Nehemiah's approach to the king he's very submissive he reverences and respects the position of the king he doesn't say King I'm here to tell you that I'm going to Jerusalem whether you like it or not dude because I'm following God he didn't do that he didn't have an attitude though he trusts God and though his highest authority is God and though as in the book of Acts it says we must obey God rather than men still please notice the respect that this man has for his earthly authority and I believe that Christians should have utmost respect for earthly authorities the Bible tells us to respect the king to pay taxes to respect those who collect from us for a number for those who are employers for for spiritual care those who care for our souls you know sometimes people have an attitude and they have an attitude in the name of God that's what disturbs me the most why were you speeding going 30 miles over the speed limit I'm not under the law well you're gonna get a ticket anyway I don't care what you're under or well I want this ministry to provide such-and-such and if you don't I'll go and start my own church right down the street there is a respect all throughout the Bible for the authority that God has over us especially those who care for our souls so he's very very cooperative with the king and ask very nicely so Nehemiah eventually in this chapter arrives in Jerusalem there's two men that we mentioned a little while ago Sanballat and Tobiah they're agitated at it so verse 11 I came to Jerusalem and was there for three days now again Ezra is already there he's been there 14 years Nehemiah comes they probably meet they probably embrace they catch up if they knew each other I'm sure Ezra was happy to see him then I arose in the night I and a few men with me and I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem nor was there any animal with me except the one on which I wrote Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem doesn't say a word doesn't show everybody his plan doesn't show everybody his card so to speak don't say yeah I'm here because I prayed God sent me the king cooperated and I'm here to build a city didn't say a word and for a few days he just looked he inspected he wanted to see what he's up against he wanted to formulate before the Lord a plan and then he would share it with people and he does share it listen to what aw Tozer what a great author if you've never read his stuff get ahold of it aw Tozer said aimless activity is beneath the Worth and the dignity of a human being the great weight of exhortation these days is in the direction of zeal and activity let's get going is the favorite watchword for gospel workers with the result that everyone feels ashamed to sit down and think and so many people just we got a goal we got to go well where are you going and what are you doing I don't exactly know yet but I know I got to go well just stop sit down think it through pray it through get a god-given plan then go for it he does he rallies the people verses 17 through 20 and as he does sanballat Tobiah and Guiche and the arab are again agitated and they laugh at them verse 19 when sanballat the horror night and tobiah the ammonite official and guiche him the arab heard of it they laughed at us and despised us and said what is this thing that you are doing will you rebel against the king so I answered them and said to them the god of heaven himself will prosper us so therefore we his servants will arise and build but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem so Nehemiah comes prays thinks about it it's got a vision he's got a common goal and he goes for it right so when you got a vision and you have a goal and you rally people together and you're on the same page for whatever project you feel you ought to do you're on your way right no problem after that right no get a clue big problem you've heard of Murphy's Law anything that can go wrong will go wrong well there's a thing called Lucifer's law and that is anything Satan can mess up he will mess up and if you decide at any time in your Christian life to get serious about God or to embark on a mission project or some form of service there's a battle I don't say that to drive you away in fact I hope it will make you say oh really we'll come on I hope it will embolden you but anytime you decide to do service for the Lord it's like a bulls eyes painted on your back you're a target think of David David the shepherd boy life was good for David the shepherd boy David the shepherd boy could go out and tend sheep and sing songs and write worship music and it was great till that Samuel guy had to come over and say David is the next king of Israel and took oil and poured it all over his head and this little shepherd boy was going Oh from that day forward his life changed from that day forward he became the target of Saul really the target of Satan using Saul to destroy God's lineage but it wasn't until he stepped up to the plate to serve the Lord that all of that happened well Jerusalem is the center of God's program here on the earth Nehemiah could have decided to build anywhere in the Persian Empire it wouldn't have been a problem as it was here in Jerusalem and it is a problem chapter 3 let's give it a title let's call chapter three Extreme Makeover Jerusalem style you know this city had a privilege and it was a friend of ours that got to be the recipient were extreme maker makeover came in and four and a half days here in Albuquerque they built a guys home a family's home beautiful wonderful gift they go to Jerusalem Nehemiah from start to finish completes the walls of the city get this in 52 days 52 days the whole wall of the city gets built that's a record record time it gets done now if you were to go to Jerusalem today and I hope some of you will I know some of you will because you've said you will but if you do you'll see piles of stones in a lot of different places walls too but piles of stones and we'll say hey those stones were stones that fell from 70 AD when the temple was destroyed is predicted by Jesus you'll see them they're still there and you'll marvel at it it's really cool to go to Jerusalem and see archaeological digs and piles of stones but it wasn't cool back then they weren't looking in holes going it's really cool just like God predicted the city fell no no that meant their protection or lack thereof they were very vulnerable here but God promised of Jerusalem he said I will put my name there psalm 87 the Bible says God loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob so God is a special interest in this city and so though they feel vulnerable God has a plan and is going to enact the plan as he did through Ezra and zerubabbel now through Nehemiah so they build they begin on the north facing wall of the city and after they're done with the north wall they moved to the west wall and then the south wall and then the east wall and in chapter 3 there's a phrase that is used 16 times it's the words next to next to I could sum it up by saying this here's a dude building next to that dude is this dude he's building here and next to him is this family and next to them is this guy and next to and next to and next to 16 times it's mentioned here as they're building 38 individuals and forty two groups are mentioned in chapter 3 and are identified and here's what I love about it that is the body of Christ we are next to each other and we have we have a part to do we have a portion of the wall to build a Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 12 the body is not one member but many members it's a team moses tried to do all the work himself and his father-in-law there in Exodus 18 watched Moses from morning till sundown doing everything and he come home at night and feel really great about it and his father-in-law Jethro said Moses this is not good you're gonna wear yourself out and you're gonna wear the people out you need a team man one person no matter how gifted can never do the work especially the work of ministry alone you need people next to you and next to you and next to you and and let me just say this church is really great about the next two concept there are so many of you that are involved in different ministries and it's just from the bottom of your heart you just love to do it people notice it I notice it and we're so grateful for every one of you that that volunteers that ministers in some capacity but for others of you some of you still think that church is a spectator sport I come and I watch it's a filling station for me I get filled up and then I leave and I need to get filled up again and then I go and I get filled up well that's good I hope you do but I hope it's more than that back in the early 60s when bud Wilkinson was coaching his football team in Oklahoma and he was being interviewed and the interviewer said mr. Wilkinson you're a very famous coach define football for us define the sport of football and bud Wilkinson said football is 22,000 people in the grandstands who desperately need exercise and 22 people on the field who desperately need rest he said that's football well that's sort of funny but that's sort of what it is all those guys are out watching Hootin and Hollerin and slamming down their beers and they should probably lose a little of that weight and these guys are working working were tanned sweating and they need to rest a lot of times churches that way a lot of spectators and a few people doing the work one of the things I appreciate is so many of you do the work and if God is prompting others of you to do an act of service get on board and be next to and work next to chapter four and five there's more opposition verse one but it so happened when sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall that he was furious and very indignant and he mocked the Jews this is opposition by ridicule and he spoke before his brethren the army of Sumeria I think he wants a military a war campaign and he said what are these feeble Jews doing will they fortify themselves will they offer sacrifices will they complete it in a day will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish stones that are burned do you answer that question will they revive those stones they certainly will eventually it'll be done so Nehemiah hears about that and he prays and in verse 6 so we built the wall and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height for the people had a mind to work now it's not done yet it's not finished but it is joined together and it's about halfway built but he fights the battle in prayer now chapter 4 verse 10 there's more opposition they're discouraged at this point then Judah the people of Judah who came back said the strength of the laborers is failing now watch this and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall boy that's a change a couple chapters ago they were saying yes let's rebuild it we'll do it we're with you they called the pile piles of stones now they're believing the lie of the enemy like in verse 2 when they said will they revive the stones from the heap of rubbish now that's the language the Jews are using this is just a pile of rubbish no it's not these are stones that will be your wall why do you now see those stones as rubbish because they're borrowing the language after hearing enough of it from their enemies they're being discouraged because of it well Nehemiah responds prayerfully but deliberately he breaches the holes that are in the walls where it's vulnerable he encourages the people while does that the enemies say let's attack them they won't know what's happening we'll just come in suddenly and get them verse 14 and I looked and arose and said to the nobles to the leaders to the rest of the people do not be afraid of them remember the Lord great and awesome and fight for your brethren your sons your daughters your wives in your homes and it happened when our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had brought their plot to nothing that all of us returned to the wall everyone to his work chapter 5 there's more opposition you think and more opposition boy boy this is a fight well so is the Christian life to some degree isn't it fight the good fight Paul said endure hardship as a good soldier Paul wrote to Timothy at the end of his life I have fought the fight I finished the course so yea it's slow and there is opposition there is ridicule there is discouragement and now in chapter 5 there's another form of opposition and that is greed the taxes have been raised people are out of money there's famine in the land any loan officer in Jerusalem was charging exorbitant interest rates nehemiah finds out and he rebukes them and corrects the problem in this chapter and sets up stringent accountability measures for the economic woes of the people so finally through more opposition the wall is finished chapter 6 verse 15 a key verse in this book so the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul that's in October in 52 days and it happened when all our enemies heard of it and all the nations around us saw these things they were very disheartened in their own eyes for they perceived that this work was done by God chapter 7 identifies the leaders a list of the citizens are also there for the different land allotments so that's the first part of the book chapters one through seven rebuilding a cities protection the second part eight nine and ten is that revival of or revitalization of a city's passion that is worship I would call chapter eight nine and ten I'm gonna give it another title ready the people the Bible and a Watergate revival that sums up these chapters the people gather they bring out the Word of God the people the Bible they're at the Watergate not the 1974 Watergate Hotel scandal with Richard Nixon this is a different Watergate this is a real gate of a city next to the water supply the people the Bible and a Watergate revival and these people have now finished the construction that's done now it's time for consecration Ezra enters the scene now he's already been there as I mentioned fourteen years he's the spiritual leader verse 1 of chapter 8 now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the Watergate and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had commanded Israel now some of you in a few months are gonna be walking through the streets of Jerusalem so just remember in your mind Watergate and when you're there's ask me words that Watergate we can show you the area there was one source of water that Jerusalem had in those days called the gijón Spring right there in the Kidron Valley and that was at the very lower portion the the south east section of Jerusalem in the Kidron Valley opposite the Mount of Olives there at the Gihon spring is where the Watergate was built so water could be carried into the city so Ezra verse 2 the priest brought the law before the Assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month first day of the seventh month the month is Tishri the first day is New Year's Jewish New Year's it is Rosh Hashanah and he read from it in the open square that was in front of the water gate from morning until midday now just think about that they gather together let's call it church it's a Bible study time the guy reads the book for a few hours it's not like honey Ezra's already been going 45 minutes I think he's done now he goes on and on and on all day long from morning till midday before the men and women and those who could understand and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law probably a six hour worship service verse eight so they read distinctly from the book in the law of God and gave the sense and help them to understand the reading here is the model for expository preaching you read the words of the Bible you explain the sense of it you go to the next you read that portion of the Bible you give the explanation or the sense that's expository preaching that's what these priests along with Ezra did and Nehemiah who is the governor as for the priest and the scribe and the Levites who taught the people said to all of the people this day is holy to the Lord your God do not mourn nor weep for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law and he said to them go your way eat the fat drink the sweet send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared for this day is holy to our Lord do not sorrow for the joy of the Lord is your strength now what what's happening here well here's what's happening as Ezra is reading the law the first five books of Moses right Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers Deuteronomy by the time he gets to Deuteronomy right around chapter 28 chapter 29 chapter 30 as he reads the blessings if you obey you'll get blessed here if you obey you'll get blessed there and then he reads the cursings if you dis Bay if you turn away if you walk away from the law here's the curses that will happen as they heard that they realized how far they have fallen they're under conviction the Bible convicts them and they get it really sad but it's Rosh Hashanah it's New Year's it's the time that they should be in full celebration so that's why I says go your way eat the fat drink the sweet for this day is holy to the Lord our God do not sorrow for the joy of the Lord is your strength what I want you to keep in mind before we move on and finish up the book is the effect of the simple teaching of the word of God even the reading of the Bible can be enough to bring revival in fact there has never been a true revival in the history of the world apart from the Word of God it's what revived under Josiah the king of Judah it's what revives here during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah in the 16th century the Reformation was the revitalization of the Word of God as people were reading it once again I was in India one time and a man sent to his friend he wanted to say we're having a revival but you know the accent in India's is very different he said it so I could hear it and it was in English but he said we are having a rebel and I thought yes they really bring the Bible back and when you have a rebuy below you'll have a revival and they have a rebuy below out there at the water gate and when the people hear the Bible there's a revival in their hearts in chapter 9 verse 1 on the 24th day of this month and the people are still sensitive 24 days later the children of Israel were assembled with fasting in sackcloth --it that's for mourning with dust on their heads a sign of distress than those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all the foreigner and they stood and confess their sins in the iniquities of their fathers and they stood in their place in read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God so three hours there reading the scripture three hours there confessing their sins and worshiping their declaring their dependence this is a declaration of dependence upon God now in Chapter 9 verse 6 through 38 just glance at it that is the longest prayer recorded in Scripture it is Ezra's prayer the longest prayer recorded in the Bible is his prayer and we're not going to go through it but as I read through it what stuck out in my mind is how much Ezra had had studied the scripture and it was based upon what he knew of their history in the Bible because there's quotes from Genesis Exodus Leviticus Deuteronomy Joshua judges Samuel Kings Chronicles all the way through this guy had a grasp on that biblical history and it's reflected in his prayer here's what I'm getting at I hope I pray I trust that you're developing an appetite for biblical truth an appetite for biblical knowledge that you hunger and thirst after it that you might be filled with it like Jeremiah who said I your words were found and I ate them and they were the joy and the rejoicing of my heart you know it's great every time I'm having the opportunity to give a Bible study here and I say turn to in your Bible as you hear that you hear the Bible you know the pages it's like I have told you before I'd like to record it it sounds so good you know I've been in churches before where I was the only person in that church with a Bible the only person the pastor was quoting from a Bible nobody brought their Bible I opened it was following along but they had been so trained and conditioned to not look at the Bible one of the reasons we want you to bring your Bible one of the reasons we could but we don't project the words up on the screen of the Bible is because we want you to look at it in your own copy of the Bible so you know where it is so next time you're going through a trial and you go where's that verse well I think it's in that book and I know it's on the right-hand side of the page about midway down you'll become familiar with it that's how it works if you just see words on a screen you'll never know where it is in your own copy so bring a Bible read it every day and see the words for yourself now chapter 10 is a list of 84 names I'm not going to read them beginning with Nehemiah includes priests Levites leaders those who are affected by Ezra's great words in his great Ministry of reading the law and now they commit together to obey it so chapter 10 verse 29 these all those names that I'm not gonna read have fun with them they joined with their brethren their nobles and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God's law which is given by Moses the servant of God and to observe and to do all the commandments of the Lord our God and his ordinances and his statutes brings us to the third and final section 11 to 13 this is the resettling of a city's population okay here's what's happening a massive relocation program will happen in these chapters there's a problem there's a problem with Jerusalem okay the walls up the temples up they're safe but here's the problem there's more people living outside the city of Jerusalem in little towns around Judah then living inside Jerusalem so it's like a huge ghost town hey we built this cool city nobody's here so what Nehemiah ask people to do get this is to tithe people not money people one out of every 10 people probably by lot has to move from their little town around Judah and go into the city of Jerusalem to revitalize that town a mass relocation verse 1 chapter 11 now the leaders of the people dwelt at Jerusalem and the rest of the people cast lots to bring 1 out of 10 to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city and nine-tenths were to dwell in other cities so chapter 11 lists those families inside and outside chapter 12 the priests and the Levites who returned now what we've been waiting for the whole book the dedication service they consecrate it all to the Lord it's it's the great hoedown of Nehemiah and the emphasis of this dedication is joyful praise now think about those two words that I just said joyful praise I love it when I see God's people engaged in joyful praise they love him and they're not afraid to tell him that they love him and they're not afraid of the person sitting next to them who sees them love him they don't care it's joyful praise in this section singing is mentioned eight times Thanksgiving will be mentioned six times rejoicing seven times and musical instruments will be mentioned three times for chapter 12 verse 27 now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites in all their places to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness both with Thanksgiving and singing with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps verse 43 also that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced for God had made them rejoice with great joy the women and the children also rejoiced so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off they would read the Psalms that's how their worship in Israel at first came about they would read the Psalms of David or of Asaph and as the Psalms were being read or chanted and usually chanted antiphonal II in other words one group would sing apart the other group would seeing the other part there was a group of musicians who would accompany them with music in fact the idea of a psalm is a poem set to music and so they worship with great joy loud they were loud it was heard afar off what's that noise well it's that church over there in Jerusalem making all that noise joyful praise listen to what Martin Luther writes about joyful praise he said next to theology I give to music the highest place and honor he called music the handmaiden of theology and second only to theology also he said this words of Martin Luther how has it happened that in the secular field there are so many fine poems and beautiful songs while in the religious field we have such rotten lifeless stuff I imagine when he said that he was controversial and he said this if any man despises music as all fanatics do for him I have no liking for music is a gift and a grace of God not the invention of men thus it drives out the devil and makes people cheerful then one forgets all wrath impurity and other devices well it's as if Martin Luther was there the day they had this dedication because that epitomized what he just said joyful praise unto God for what he had done well the last chapter is divided into three sections and basically Nehemiah takes care of three problems problem number one supporting the Levites they had not been adequately supported by the people as the Bible required number two the Sabbath was being broken they were selling stuff moving stuff in and out on the Sabbath and number three there was an inner marriage problem with the heathen of the land all three of those are taken care of and there's three verses to note verse 14 22 and 31 and all of them is a prayer he takes care of a problem and he says remember me O Lord for doing this and then remember me O Lord for doing that and then remember me O Lord for doing the third thing and that's the book of Nehemiah now if you were to stand on the Mount of Olives and look right over at the city of Jerusalem Mount Zion the Temple Mount it's still there today the outline of the great temple courtyard from the time of Herod the Great and you stand on the Mount of Olives and just to imagine as you look over that city what happened there in the history what will happen there in the future and you realize the center the epicenter of God's program is taking place has taken place and will take place there in Jerusalem let me sum it up for you this way the city of Jerusalem is the geographic center of the earth biblically once again Jerusalem is the geographic center of the earth biblically you know I grew up seeing maps of the world and right in the center of the map was the United States of America of course we draw the map were in the center not biblically Jerusalem is the geographic center of the earth biblically how do I know this Ezekiel chapter 5 says look I have set Jerusalem in the midst in the middle of the nations all around more than that oh by the way in the Bible when it says north south east and west it's all relative to one city Jerusalem everything's relative to that that's the foundation pin so it's the geographic center of the world of the earth biblically number two Jerusalem is the salvation center of the earth spiritually the only place for the salvation of mankind that was ever purchased was right outside the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem the only place jesus said to the woman of samaria we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews of the Jews you don't get salvation by believing in any religion or figure or city or system but the Christ who died at the city of Jerusalem number three Jerusalem is the prophetic center of the earth or better put the storm center of the earth prophetically every politician still knows that what happens in Israel what happens in Jerusalem is monumental China yep that's important they're gaining economically but what happens in Jerusalem is of utmost important and the and the Bible predicts that the nations of the earth will gather against Jerusalem in the end times but Jerusalem is the glory center of the earth ultimately whatever you hear on the news whatever problems are going on in that part of the world know that it's not going to always be that way and if you think that's right we got to elect the right person and they'll fix it all the mess over there well if you believe that see me in four years I want to have a long talk with you about where to put your trust because no one is going to fix that mess in the Middle East no one except one person the Prince of Peace there will only be peace in the Middle East and I'm not just saying that facetiously or because it sounds like a cool thing to say it ain't gonna happen you will never see peace and if you see a peace contract it won't last very long a lot of them to signed broken sign broken broken broken sign broken for generations but ultimately it will be the glory Center I close with what Isaiah the prophet said it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house the very place Ezra zerubabbel and Nehemiah went to rebuild shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all the nations shall flow into it and many people shall go and say come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us his ways and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem [Music] that's the future that's the future [Applause]

Channel: Skip Heitzig

Views: 1,575

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: How to study the Bible, How to read the Bible, Jesus, Skip, Skip Heitzig, How to know God, Nehemiah, cupbearer, Jerusalem, rebuild, political construction, spiritual instruction, spiritual, strength, opposition

Id: bPOtJLhNB9M

Length: 52min 37sec (3157 seconds)

Published: Mon May 13 2019