1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:05,560 One of the things that happens when you prepare a sermon during 2 00:00:05,560 --> 00:00:10,040 the week is you struggle with coming up with a title. 3 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:14,120 And this morning's title is the danger of compromise. 4 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:22,760 As I was reading Nehemiah 13, I thought, OK, what word best 5 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:29,920 encapsulates the idea or the the the essence of what Nehemiah is 6 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:35,200 trying to communicate here. And I tried to find out what and 7 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:38,040 I want to be a positive. Now the word, the title, the 8 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:39,800 danger of compromise sounds negative. 9 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:42,280 It sounds like it's in the negative side. 10 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:44,520 But then I went through the passage, went through it 11 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:47,720 carefully. While it is a message of warning 12 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:50,680 of what happens when you compromise. 13 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:54,800 And so when I use the word compromise this morning, I'm not 14 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:57,640 talking about a conversation between a man and a wife, 15 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:00,760 husband and wife team and they're debating what color to 16 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:02,640 paint the house. She wants one color, he wants 17 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,440 another or maybe what kind of vehicle they should buy. 18 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:07,560 He wants something that can load up a bunch of stuff in the back. 19 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:08,920 She wants something to haul all the grandkids. 20 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:13,840 You have to compromise somehow. When I use the word compromise 21 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:18,200 this morning, I'm referring to the danger of compromise on the 22 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:22,280 truth of the gospel, the truth of God's Word, the truth of 23 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:26,160 foundational values that we carry in that if we compromise 24 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:29,880 them, our life changes, direction changes, and we're 25 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:33,120 either diminished or impoverished or even go wayward. 26 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:38,680 When compromise has compromise has to do with taking away one's 27 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:41,800 loyalty to to God in this sense in in our sermon this morning. 28 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,040 So when eternal life is compromised in favor of the 29 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:47,360 temporal, that's always a bad move. 30 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:50,960 We do make compromises all the time. 31 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:53,560 Some make a compromise when they hit the snooze button in the 32 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:59,400 morning. 10 more minutes is OK, 1010 minutes less of the day. 33 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:02,560 We make compromises all the time. 34 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,000 And maybe you're here this morning, you've compromised 35 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:09,560 maybe years ago, a decision that's still affecting you 36 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:11,840 today. Maybe it's a financial 37 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:15,560 compromise and you're making payments on something you signed 38 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:19,840 and today wish badly you never had, but you did. 39 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:24,560 Or maybe you are doing something. 40 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:27,400 There's a habit in your life that you would so much like to 41 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:30,960 stop doing. But back some years ago you 42 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:33,400 started doing this, whatever it is you're doing and you should 43 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:35,000 not have. But you did, and you 44 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:36,720 compromised. Now you're doing something you 45 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:38,440 very much would like to stop, but you can't. 46 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:41,760 You're stuck. It's a habit, an addiction, you 47 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:43,520 call it, because you compromised. 48 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:47,440 Or maybe you want to start doing something you haven't started 49 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:50,440 yet, but you'd like to. You need to, you want to. 50 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:53,440 You just can't. You've made compromise after 51 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:55,760 compromise where you gave, where you pushed it out and pushed it 52 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:58,440 out and procrastinated and postponed and and now you can't 53 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:01,240 start because it gets harder as time goes by. 54 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:05,960 It's not working. Maybe you stopped doing some 55 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:08,680 good thing at one time you became convicted of and you 56 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:11,400 started a good discipline and you said you'd never stop doing 57 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:12,840 it. Like quiet time with God in the 58 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:15,440 form of self-discipline. And you got grounded and focused 59 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:17,480 and stable and healthy, in good shape and all the rest of those 60 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:19,320 things. But what happened? 61 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:26,360 Compromises. Or maybe you did one time stop 62 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:27,800 something. You wanted to stop doing it. 63 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:29,920 For years you did stop doing it and you kept that boundary 64 00:03:29,920 --> 00:03:32,720 intact. And somehow, more recently, you 65 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:36,000 stopped keeping the boundaries, and this time it on one little 66 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:40,400 compromise after another, and one little inch after inch, you 67 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:42,440 just slowly compromise and you're back in it again. 68 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,520 When compromise happens, there's no telling where it will take 69 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:49,280 us. So the answers don't compromise. 70 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:54,800 To compromise on one's character, on one's values, on 71 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:57,320 one's goals in life is a trade that doesn't work. 72 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:01,840 It always costs us in the end. Why is life like that? 73 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:04,920 You see, we're born in a sinful world with a sinful nature, 74 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:07,840 sinful characteristics, and that's who we are. 75 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:10,680 We have desires that we shouldn't have, cravings we 76 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,120 shouldn't have, but we have them. 77 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:15,320 We're by human, by nature. We're sinful. 78 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:19,000 The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 17, verse 9, this prophet writes 79 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,800 the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. 80 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:25,520 Who can know it? We're stuck with this in a 81 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:29,200 sense. It's not just wicked, he says, 82 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,440 it's desperately wicked. It's beyond our own selves to 83 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:36,800 even understand it. And many passages of Scripture 84 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:38,880 were instructed to put our trust in God. 85 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:43,120 That takes discipline. When we start trusting in 86 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:45,120 ourselves, we're headed for trouble. 87 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:48,280 Good intentions don't change the heart. 88 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:50,160 It takes surrender, it takes discipline. 89 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,240 Another verse in the Bible, Proverbs 117, says surely in 90 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:59,800 vain, the net is spread in the sight of any bird. 91 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:06,160 I think it's a very telling verse, but it does not seem that 92 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:09,880 way with people, does it? Why does it not say something 93 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:13,200 like this in vain? The advertising industry tries 94 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:14,600 to get people to part with their money. 95 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:20,600 Why doesn't it say that? Or the immoral temptations are 96 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:23,080 all in vain as people refuse to fall for them. 97 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:25,840 Why doesn't it say that? Just think of the multibillion 98 00:05:25,840 --> 00:05:27,240 dollar adult entertainment industry. 99 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:30,920 See if birds flock. If birds would flock into Nets 100 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:35,680 as people fall for temptation, what would happen of the bird 101 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:39,280 world? Think about that for a moment. 102 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:44,480 True, birds don't fly into Nets. That spread in plain sight, 103 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:49,440 obviously, but they don't have the brain capacity of people. 104 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:53,240 But it's frightening how easily people will compromise on almost 105 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:57,840 anything that comes their way. We're so easily lured and 106 00:05:57,840 --> 00:06:01,320 scammed into doing all kinds of foolish things, getting 107 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:03,320 ourselves into traps that destroy us. 108 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:08,560 See, the writer of Proverbs 117 does not say, now this is for 109 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:10,240 the birds. OK, they're birds. 110 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:12,200 You have it. Don't fly into Nets spread out 111 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:14,840 for you. He's writing to people to learn, 112 00:06:14,840 --> 00:06:17,960 teach a lesson. We cannot expect animals to know 113 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:19,960 about traps. But we human beings were blessed 114 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,120 with this thing called a brain and a mind to think. 115 00:06:22,840 --> 00:06:26,360 And yet so often we're worse than the animals. 116 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:32,680 Considering what we do have developed brains for. 117 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:37,160 It's amazing how easily we're duped and scammed when it comes 118 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:39,720 to animal trapping per SE. One kind of trapping really 119 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:42,040 fascinates me. It's called live trapping. 120 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:45,720 In North America, there's this thing called a wild hog 121 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:48,560 infestation, especially in in the states to have this thing. 122 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:51,640 And I like watching videos how they trap those hogs. 123 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:53,600 They have this big circular trap. 124 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:57,320 It's a steel structure like walls and heavy wire mesh and 125 00:06:57,480 --> 00:06:59,680 they have it on steel post. They raise it and it's 126 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:02,840 electronically rigged so that they can trigger it with a phone 127 00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:05,520 or something. And so they raise it up and 128 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:08,920 spread corn around. And then the guy who does this, 129 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:11,600 he leaves the place and has this thing raised up high. 130 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,800 And then with a remote camera and device of some kind, he 131 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:17,960 watches from a distance. And then eventually a whatever 132 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:21,160 you call a herds of pigs come by and they smell the corn and they 133 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:23,360 come by and they're wary. They don't like it. 134 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:26,280 They're they're, they're curious, but not, it's not safe. 135 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:27,840 It's not sure. And so little by little, they 136 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:29,440 get closer and closer underneath. 137 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:33,840 And then they start feeding on the corn and they're skittish 138 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:35,480 and the slightest thing that sets them off and they run away 139 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:38,360 and they come back again. And then they slowly get all 140 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:41,040 getting finally, finally, they're all contentedly feeding 141 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:43,440 happily on the corn. And then the guy with the 142 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:47,120 trigger and down it goes. And the pigs now, and the 143 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:51,000 frenzy. They scream in terror and fright 144 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:53,320 and run in every direction over each other and smashing to the 145 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:54,200 fence. No avail. 146 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:56,280 The closures trapped them. They're stuck. 147 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:58,760 They're doomed. The guy comes with the truck 148 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:01,360 going to pick up a trailer and then kills the pigs and hauls 149 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:04,000 them away. They were deceived into 150 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,040 believing they were OK with feeding under that strange 151 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:08,560 closure. They got caught. 152 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,000 It was too good to be true. Yeah, sure, they were skittish 153 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:15,520 at the start, but the lure and they and the sensors were dull 154 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:17,520 and became complacent. They compromised. 155 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:21,160 Let me change the story a bit. Do you see what would it be like 156 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:23,440 if this guy would mark the pigs, paint them up so he knew which 157 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:26,000 ones they were and they let them go and then kudos, catch them 158 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:27,120 again. He would say, aren't they 159 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:29,320 learning? Don't. 160 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:31,640 Didn't they learn? And then maybe 3 or 4 times. 161 00:08:32,159 --> 00:08:34,760 But guess what? That's exactly what we as humans 162 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:36,880 do. We have the ability to remember, 163 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:39,520 to record, to reflect. And how is it possible that we 164 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:41,559 repeat the same things over and over again? 165 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:44,200 Why don't we learn from the mistakes of our ancestors? 166 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:46,040 Why do we have to repeat them over and over again? 167 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:49,680 Just look at politics in our time, economy in our time. 168 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:53,040 Let's leave that aside. Look at the moral climate in our 169 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:56,320 time. Well, today we're wrapping up 170 00:08:56,520 --> 00:08:58,600 the sermon series in Nehemiah this morning, and we're in 171 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:04,920 chapter 13, and we see how Nehemiah had to again bring the 172 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:07,760 people back to their earlier commitments to serve God. 173 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:11,160 They had done phenomenally well. Nehemiah had come from Babylon, 174 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:13,600 done this great reform work. Ezra had started it earlier. 175 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:16,200 Nehemiah finished it, so to speak, built the wall, dedicated 176 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:18,280 the wall. A lot of good things happened 177 00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:21,880 under Nehemiah. No sooner was he gone, people 178 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:25,600 went right back to the old ways as if nothing had ever changed. 179 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:31,160 We see how easily it is for people to experience God's 180 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:33,600 grace, God's mercies, God's blessings, and this protection. 181 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:37,800 And just as quickly, off they go again to what's convenient, 182 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:40,680 what's attractive, what's what's comfortable. 183 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:44,640 It's compromise. The people had experienced 184 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:45,800 reform. They'd repented. 185 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:48,240 They dedicated themselves. They'd written down the 186 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:51,080 covenant, signed it. They were done with the old 187 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:52,600 ways. It's going to be different now. 188 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:56,120 Nehemiah left for Jude, left Judea, went back to Babylon for 189 00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:57,440 a little while. We don't know for sure how long. 190 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:01,160 Some years didn't stay that long came back there. 191 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:03,800 We find him in chapter 13. Then we're going to pick up the 192 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:07,080 story. It hadn't gone well. 193 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:11,120 The reforms were pretty much done. 194 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:14,320 And there's there's one little piece that we find today in 195 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,360 chapter 13, verse one to to two, actually verse three. 196 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:18,560 I want to read that this morning. 197 00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:22,720 It says here in chapter 1 verse 13, verse one. 198 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,640 On that day they read from the book of Moses and the hearing of 199 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:28,160 all the people. And it was found written that no 200 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:31,880 Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the Assembly of God 201 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:35,600 because they had not met the children of Israel with bread 202 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:38,680 and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. 203 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:41,520 However, our God turned the curse into a blessing. 204 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:45,320 So it was when they had heard the law, they separated all the 205 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:48,880 mixed multitude from Israel. I'm understanding this was 206 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:51,600 before he went to Babylon. So there's a little bit of a 207 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:54,720 little bit of material yet that we didn't cover last time. 208 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:57,520 So in this case, the Jews hear the word of God. 209 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:00,400 By the way, these Moabites and Ammonites are not Israelites. 210 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:03,160 We cannot be together with them. We can't have anything in common 211 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:04,360 with them. They had experienced all the 212 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:06,280 blessings that finished the wall that dedicated the wall. 213 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:08,160 One final little piece was left to do. 214 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:10,960 Separate the yourself from the Ammonites and the Moabites that 215 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:13,920 cannot be part of the congregation of Israel. 216 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:17,400 Well, the reforms didn't last. Nehemiah goes off to Babylon and 217 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:21,560 he comes back and he writes what happened and the and the 218 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:26,960 compromises are insane. Absolutely mind boggling. 219 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:30,800 But then we have to think they're not that different than 220 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:33,680 today. Let's read how it went starting 221 00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:36,720 verse 4. It says Now before this Elijah 222 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:39,280 and the priest, having authority over the storerooms of the House 223 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:42,120 of our God, was allied with Tobiah, and he had prepared from 224 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:44,240 a large room which previously they had stored the grain 225 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:47,600 offerings, the frankincense, the articles, the ties of grain, the 226 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:49,960 new wine and oil which were commanded to be given to the 227 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:52,040 Levites, and singers and gatekeepers in the offerings of 228 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:55,920 the priests. But during all this I was not in 229 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:59,040 Jerusalem, for in the 32nd year of Arctic Circus, king of 230 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:01,040 Babylon, I had returned to the king, so he wasn't there. 231 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:03,880 Then after certain days I obtained leave from the king, 232 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:07,360 and I came to Jerusalem and discovered the evil that Elias 233 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:10,440 ship had done for Tobiah in preparing a room for him in the 234 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:14,000 courts of the House of God. And it grieved me bitterly. 235 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:17,120 Therefore I threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of 236 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:19,080 the room. Then I commanded them to cleanse 237 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:21,680 the rooms and I brought back into them the articles of the 238 00:12:21,680 --> 00:12:25,520 House of God with a grain offering and frankincense. 239 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:29,080 Stop there. Verse 9. 240 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:33,240 What was the first major compromise that happened? 241 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:36,080 And it's interesting Nehemiah mentions this one the first, and 242 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:37,560 it's because it's the the important one. 243 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:40,520 They're all important, the compromise of the priesthood. 244 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:45,080 What is so interesting is that when Nehemiah was gone, the 245 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:48,040 spiritual rot started right back up. 246 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:51,480 And where did it begin? Right at the very core, at the 247 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:55,640 very top. Rot in any place is bad, but 248 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:57,880 especially bad when it's at the center. 249 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:01,520 That's what Satan does. He goes to the core. 250 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:03,840 If he can destroy the leadership, then he's got the 251 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:09,760 whole, the whole place. After Nehemiah had left, it was 252 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:12,040 as if nothing had ever changed. Nehemiah was gone and the 253 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:14,320 priest, the high priest, no doubt we'll find that later. 254 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:17,560 He himself allied himself with someone who had no business 255 00:13:17,560 --> 00:13:19,360 being in part of the Israelites, the Jews. 256 00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:21,440 Tobiah was not supposed to be in the temple. 257 00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:23,400 He was not supposed to be in the congregation at all. 258 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:26,640 He was not even among the Jews. What does this tell us about 259 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:29,440 this high priest? He was not right with God. 260 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:32,320 He was. He was in a position of 261 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:35,840 compromise. He was not doing what he's doing 262 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:37,160 for the right reasons. He was selfish. 263 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:40,600 He was focused on other things than upholding God's honor and 264 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:43,160 glory and reputation. He was focused on the here and 265 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:46,880 now, appeasing and compromising and aligning himself with the 266 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:49,960 wrong people. His life was an example. 267 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:52,360 He was leading the wrong direction. 268 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:58,680 He had formed a connection with Tobiah an Ammonite officially 269 00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:02,200 find that in chapter 2, verse 10 and remember then they were 270 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:05,240 Ammonites were not allowed to be in the congregation. 271 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:08,080 He had clearly violated God's standard. 272 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:11,760 Tobiah was an enemy of the Jews. Elijah embraced him, formed an 273 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:15,360 alliance with him and then he gave him a room in the temple. 274 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:20,400 We're not even not even Nehemiah wanted to go in. 275 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:24,280 In chapter 6, remember one of Nehemiah's enemies tried to lure 276 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:26,280 him into the temple under false pretense. 277 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:28,360 Ivan, you need to protect you. Somebody's going to come to kill 278 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:29,360 you tonight. They'll come to kill you. 279 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:32,800 Nehemiah said I won't go in. He didn't fall for the trick. 280 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:35,240 He refused to enter the temple because he was not a priest. 281 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:38,560 Here's this outsider to buy. He's not just an unbelievable 282 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:40,880 he's he's against the Jews in the lash of the high priest of 283 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:42,920 all people allies himself with him. 284 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:47,080 So he had repurposed the temple for this ungodly purpose. 285 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:50,800 The temple use had been shifted from storing things needed for 286 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:55,240 the Levites to serve to this man who now occupied a place in 287 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:58,520 there. And it happened in a very short 288 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:03,840 time. We don't know exactly how long 289 00:15:04,120 --> 00:15:06,880 Nehemiah had left, but long enough that a lot of things that 290 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:08,320 happened there's some some years. 291 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:11,280 Anyway, it says in verse 8 again and grieved me bitterly. 292 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:14,200 I threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of the room. 293 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:16,760 I commanded them to cleanse the rooms, and I brought back to 294 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:19,560 them, into them the articles of the House of God with the grain 295 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:24,240 offering and the frankincense. When Nehemiah came back, he took 296 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:25,360 action. He dealt with it. 297 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:28,320 He was grieved, he was sad, he was also angry. 298 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:30,320 We'll find out more about that later. 299 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:34,880 I wonder what kind of conversations Nehemiah might 300 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:36,680 have had with Elias of the high priest. 301 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:39,640 Doesn't tell us, but we can assume they were not good ones. 302 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:45,240 Where Elias ship had compromised, Nehemiah kept the 303 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:48,360 boundary. Nehemiah did what needed to be 304 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:53,720 done to bring back to the temple of the things that belong there. 305 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:56,680 So the first compromise recorded was when Elias ship, the priest 306 00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:59,160 made an unholy alliance with Tobiah. 307 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:00,240 Well, there's another compromise. 308 00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:05,360 Let's continue reading verse 10. I also realized that the 309 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:08,440 portions for the Levites had not been given them for each Levite, 310 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:10,720 for each of the Levites, and the singers who did the work had 311 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:14,600 gone back to his field. So I contended with the rulers 312 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:16,760 and said, Why is the House of God forsaken? 313 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:19,840 And I gathered them together and set them in their place. 314 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:24,080 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine 315 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:27,280 and the oil to the storehouse, and I appointed as treasurers 316 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:30,040 over the storehouse Shalamaya the priest, and Zadok the 317 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:33,680 scribe, and the Levites pedaya. And next to them was Hanan and 318 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:36,560 the son of Zakhur, the son of Matanaya, For they were 319 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:39,480 considered faithful, and their task was to distribute to their 320 00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:42,560 brethren. Remember Me, Oh my God, 321 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:45,960 concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have 322 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,400 done for the House of my God and for its services. 323 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:51,600 It was not just the priesthood that was corrupted. 324 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:54,760 The temple ministries have been compromised as well. 325 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:57,640 It was the duty of the other tribes to make sure the Levites 326 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:00,240 would serve in the temple, take care of the ministries, and they 327 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,640 all those things. The Levites job was to to look 328 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:06,680 after the spiritual ministry of the of the of the congregation. 329 00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:09,280 But now the temple was deserted, almost empty. 330 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:11,960 No one or seemingly very few were still doing the work. 331 00:17:12,319 --> 00:17:14,960 This compromise was providing for the Levites. 332 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:16,560 Compromise was providing for the Levites. 333 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:18,880 It was their job to take care of all the ministries. 334 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:21,640 They were in charge. The temple on that day was not 335 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:23,480 just in the Sabbath morning for an hour or so. 336 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:26,920 It was a week, seven days a week that stuff was going on there 337 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:28,400 and people were coming and going all the time. 338 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:30,840 A lot of work was involved. But now it was deserted. 339 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:33,280 Pretty much the Levites who were supposed to be there, well, they 340 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,680 had gotten themselves their jobs back and they were again 341 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:39,320 working. They had not been given the 342 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:41,320 money that was supposed to be theirs, the resources that they 343 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:43,120 needed. And so it says he contended with 344 00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:45,320 the rulers and said, why is the House of God forsaken? 345 00:17:47,360 --> 00:17:49,520 The singers, the worship leaders had been been neglected. 346 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:51,160 The portions had not been given them. 347 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:54,000 And it says in verse 11 he contended with them. 348 00:17:55,360 --> 00:17:57,320 He did not put up with it. He brought the brought the 349 00:17:57,360 --> 00:17:59,640 Levites back, brought the house back in order. 350 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:02,840 We can learn from this. He there's always a trickle down 351 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:07,440 effect when things start to go wrong at the top, when 352 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:11,600 selfishness, greed and control start to take over. 353 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:13,760 It's only a matter of time and everything else starts to 354 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:20,120 struggle and to suffer as well. And it would be safe to say that 355 00:18:20,120 --> 00:18:22,240 earlier in the book, in the previous chapters, when they 356 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:25,000 repented, when they made a covenant at that time, they 357 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,640 would have not believed us all. We'll never do that all we'll 358 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:30,600 never compromising all we're, we're, we're not out of that. 359 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:32,240 That's history. We'll never do that again. 360 00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:37,480 They would have said that, but how strong they were was very 361 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:40,520 quickly revealed by how quickly they fell or how weak they were. 362 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:45,800 They were not beyond rebelling. It's sinful human nature that 363 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:49,960 always tends to be drawn magnetically towards sin. 364 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:54,440 And once we start compromising, we never know where it will take 365 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:55,840 us. So they had compromised the 366 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:58,880 priesthood. They had compromised the temple 367 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:01,680 ministry. Well, what else were they 368 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:05,120 compromising? Let's continue reading verse 15. 369 00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:08,400 In those days, Nehemiah writes, I saw people in Judah treading 370 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:12,720 wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves of grain 371 00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:16,360 that it was, and loading donkeys with wine grapes and figs and 372 00:19:16,360 --> 00:19:18,400 all kinds of burdens which they brought into Jerusalem the 373 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:21,680 Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day 374 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:23,560 on which they were selling provisions. 375 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:27,400 Men of Tyre dwelt there also, who brought in fish in all kinds 376 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:29,920 of goods and sold them in the Sabbath to the children of 377 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:31,400 Judah. And in Jerusalem. 378 00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:35,800 Then I contended, There it is again with the nobles of Judah, 379 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:38,720 and said to them, What evil things is that you do? 380 00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:42,160 What evil is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath 381 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:43,960 day? Did not your father's do thus? 382 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:46,400 And did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on the 383 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:50,160 city, yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the 384 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:52,360 Sabbath. And so it was at the gates of 385 00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:54,680 Jerusalem, as I began, as it began to be dark before the 386 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:58,360 Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to be shut, and charged 387 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:00,920 that they must not be open till after the Sabbath. 388 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:04,040 Then I posted. Then I posted some of my 389 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:06,760 servants at the gate so that no burdens should be brought in on 390 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,040 the Sabbath. Now the merchants and sellers of 391 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:12,040 all kinds of wares lodged outside the city, outside 392 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:14,920 Jerusalem once or twice. Then I warned them and said to 393 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:17,320 them, Why do you spend the night around the wall? 394 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:19,600 If you do so again, I will lay hands on you. 395 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:22,160 From that time on. They came no more on the 396 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:25,000 Sabbath, and I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse 397 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:26,880 themselves. They should go and guard the 398 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:28,480 gates to sanctify the Sabbath day. 399 00:20:29,360 --> 00:20:33,040 And again, Remember Me, Oh my God, concerning this also, and 400 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:35,880 spare me according to the greatness of your mercy. 401 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:40,280 This third thing we see is the compromise of the day of rest. 402 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:44,160 Note, we have the compromises ripple outward from the priest 403 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:45,640 to the Levites. Now it's the Sabbath day. 404 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:48,320 There's no stopping here. The compromise of keeping the 405 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:49,960 Sabbath day holy. That's what they did. 406 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:55,600 What was it that led them to do this, to desecrate the Sabbath 407 00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:58,840 day and work on it? When commentator mentioned that 408 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:01,920 the Jews had come back from captivity, they had become 409 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:07,240 immersed in other cultures, and perhaps these Jews had been used 410 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,960 to working where they were in captivity before, or the nations 411 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:11,440 that had occupied their homeland. 412 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:13,320 Maybe they were working the Sabbath too. 413 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,520 They had been acclimatized, so to speak, in some way. 414 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:19,320 And so now keeping the Sabbath day was a bit of a stretch. 415 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:22,040 Maybe it was something new for many of them that would have 416 00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:23,680 been normal to work on the Sabbath day. 417 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:25,920 But now they had covenanted. They were going to follow the 418 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:27,640 laws of Moses. They were going to go back to 419 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:31,440 the old ways, but now here in Jerusalem, Judea, it made sense. 420 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:37,840 You know, it's, it's money, it's income, but keeping the Sabbath 421 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:39,720 day holy, well, it maybe was conditional, maybe it's not, 422 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:42,440 maybe it's optional. We must put ourselves in these 423 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:44,720 shoes of these people and just try to imagine this. 424 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:46,080 You see, it makes sense in the Sabbath. 425 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:47,560 You know, it makes sense economically. 426 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:49,160 So right? After all, you got to make 427 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:51,800 money, right? That's often the thinking. 428 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:55,400 God strictly commands people to keep the Sabbath day holy. 429 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:58,720 Yet here were the people, the Jews, doing all kinds of manual 430 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:00,280 labor on the Sabbath, the day of rest. 431 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:02,200 Nehemiah saw this. He took action. 432 00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:04,640 He wouldn't tolerate it. He didn't respond kindly. 433 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:06,640 At the end, it says he contended with the leaders. 434 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:09,360 He went to the source. He didn't go to the individuals 435 00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:12,480 who were trading out the grape, the grapes, and hauling that 436 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:13,760 stuff. He said, why are you allowing 437 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:15,160 this to you leaders? Why are you allowing this? 438 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:18,320 He went to the source where the trouble came from, where he 439 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:25,520 needed to go to the leaders. Again, we're seventeen. 440 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:28,200 I contended with the nobles and said to them, what evil is this 441 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:31,040 that you do, that you do? The leaders, the people were 442 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:33,800 doing it, but your fault. It was the leaders who were 443 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:35,840 responsible for how the community functioned. 444 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:39,720 The leaders were the ones where the blame lay that compromised 445 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:43,640 and the people followed along. And I believe it's safe to say 446 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,800 here at this point in time that the leaders were not thinking, 447 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:50,600 OK, let's do evil or let's do something we know is wrong. 448 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:52,600 No, I don't believe that's what happened. 449 00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:54,960 More like, you know, what can it hurt? 450 00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:58,840 What's wrong with it? Why shouldn't we always question 451 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:04,480 marks behind God's commands? It was the leaders who initiated 452 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:05,680 it, and the people just followed it. 453 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,160 That's hard to root out. And it says, you know, the gates 454 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,040 had to be shut. And Nehemiah just ends it. 455 00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:12,920 He stops it. Nobody's allowed to do this. 456 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:14,760 And the merchants and the sellers, they lodge outside the 457 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:17,960 city of Jerusalem once or twice and he warns them and says, I'm 458 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:21,160 going to lay hands on you. He's not talking blessing them. 459 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:23,480 He's talking about I'm going to get physical. 460 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:25,880 Now. This is, I have to say, it was a 461 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:27,040 minute. I struggle with this a little 462 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:29,840 bit. I mean, you're going to now 463 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:33,120 handle these guys or something. Are you going to what do you 464 00:23:33,120 --> 00:23:34,920 handcuff them and haul them off to jail or something? 465 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:39,280 He says, I'll lay hands on you. And for that, those people 466 00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:40,360 worked. They stopped. 467 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:45,520 He's going to use force. The point was, he said we got to 468 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:48,120 keep the Sabbath, the holy guys, and you can't, you can't mess it 469 00:23:48,120 --> 00:23:51,000 up. He had to take strong measures. 470 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,480 Now under the new covenant of Jesus, we don't use physical 471 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:55,400 force in, in, in these spiritual matters. 472 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:58,040 But the point wasn't that time. They were not under the new 473 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:00,120 covenant like we are. And so Nehemiah had to deal with 474 00:24:00,120 --> 00:24:03,480 this. But there's more. 475 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:06,880 You see, the compromise, the priesthood, the compromise, the 476 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:10,720 temple ministry, the compromise, the Sabbath day. 477 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:15,520 There's another one. In those days I also saw Jews 478 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:19,120 who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab, and half of 479 00:24:19,120 --> 00:24:21,360 their children spoke the language of Ashdod and could not 480 00:24:21,360 --> 00:24:24,080 speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language 481 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:29,440 of one of the other people. So I contended with them and 482 00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:31,800 cursed them. I struck some of them, pulled 483 00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:34,680 out their hair. Now he's losing it and made them 484 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:37,520 swear by God, saying, Shall you? You shall not give your 485 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:40,000 daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters 486 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:45,240 for your sons or yourselves. He's frustrated, he actually hit 487 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:46,880 them again. He's not under the new covenant 488 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:48,440 like we are, but this is what he did. 489 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:53,120 Verse 26 Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin by these things? 490 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:56,240 Yet among many nations there was no king like him who was beloved 491 00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:58,520 of his God, and God made him king of royal Israel. 492 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,560 Nevertheless, Pagan women caused him even to even him to sin. 493 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:05,400 Should we then hear of, should we then hear of your doing all 494 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:07,720 this great evil, transgressing against our God by marrying 495 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:12,880 Pagan women? And one of those sons of 496 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:16,200 Jehoiada Joiada, the son of Elijah, of the high priest, 497 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:19,880 there he is, was the son of son-in-law of San Balat. 498 00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:22,840 The horror night intermarriage had already happened. 499 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:27,480 Therefore I drove him from me. See the compromise of marriage, 500 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,680 more compromise again. This was one of the sins that 501 00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:32,240 had been dealt with earlier previously. 502 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,440 But now Nehemiah has been gone. He's come back and it's back in 503 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:37,480 again for some years already. Children are old enough to speak 504 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:39,920 languages. The Jewish men had married 505 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:43,360 foreign women, women of foreign nations that worshipped idols, 506 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:46,880 and from these marriages they now had children and these 507 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:49,680 children on mixed homes was not God's plan. 508 00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:53,040 Little side note here. I've at times wondered when I 509 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:56,240 read the Old Testament why it was that God was so strict. 510 00:25:57,280 --> 00:25:59,040 And we have to say, and we have to tell us. 511 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:03,560 It seems harsh, right? But what is it that makes it 512 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:06,440 such a difficult issue? I cannot help go but go back to 513 00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:10,400 the beginning of Genesis chapter 1-2 and three, when God created 514 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:12,280 marriage between one man and one woman. 515 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:18,240 God called it his image. He intended it to reflect him in 516 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:21,680 anything that violates that is abhorrent to him. 517 00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:26,120 And I think of how harshly God dealt with some of these types 518 00:26:26,120 --> 00:26:29,800 of sins in the in in the Pagan nation, even for his own people. 519 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,960 For example, in the wilderness when the Israelites at one point 520 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:35,560 in time allied themselves with the Moabites, while they're 521 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:37,440 mixed with the Moabites, God was angry. 522 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:39,920 His wrath destroyed many. If you find the story Numbers 523 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:43,680 chapter 25 verse 1 to 9 if you want to read that sometime, 524 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:48,960 Numbers 25, one to 924 thousand people in Israel died for that. 525 00:26:50,120 --> 00:26:52,640 When God created marriage, He intended it to be holy, and he's 526 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:55,640 serious about this. A man and woman, both followers 527 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:58,880 of God, dedicated to him in their marriage and relationship, 528 00:26:59,360 --> 00:27:01,920 but not this mixed marriage stuff here. 529 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:05,840 Now the men had married foreign women, had brought disgrace to 530 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:08,560 God's name by marrying foreign women in Nehemiah's absence. 531 00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:10,840 Nehemiah's response to this instance was more than just 532 00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:13,840 severe. He gets physical, it says in 533 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:14,840 verse 20. Read that again. 534 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:17,200 He says I contended with them, cursed them and struck. 535 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:18,320 Some of them pulled out their hair. 536 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:22,240 They couldn't pull out my hair, but you get the idea. 537 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:25,920 They had long hair. In those days, even men wore 538 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:30,000 their hair long. He says you shouldn't do this. 539 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:36,560 And again, Nehemiah was not as severe as God was in Numbers 25 540 00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:38,320 here. No one got killed. 541 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:41,680 They contended with them. Not a gentle conversation. 542 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:43,520 He was confronted. He was confronted. 543 00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:47,600 He's decisive. We don't know exactly how those 544 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:51,480 meetings might have been. Well, they were not very good or 545 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:52,800 very easy. There was tension. 546 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:56,000 There was friction. I would say this, under the new 547 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:58,120 covenant, under Jesus Christ, we're not calling. 548 00:27:58,120 --> 00:28:00,240 We're not called to go out and physically beat up people. 549 00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:02,520 We're supposed to leave wrath and vengeance to God. 550 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:04,480 But there are times when compromise has gone to such a 551 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:07,320 point where physical just removal is important. 552 00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:10,560 He says in verse 24 again. And one of the sons of Joiada, 553 00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:12,840 the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of San 554 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:14,760 Balat the Horn. And I drove him from me. 555 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:17,840 You have no place here. You got no room gone. 556 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,040 Compromise had reached a level. It had gone past the point of 557 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:24,720 even discussion. He had to go. 558 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:26,440 He had to leave. Didn't matter. 559 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,400 He was a high priest son. I wonder how Eliash felt about 560 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:33,680 that. Maybe it was because he was that 561 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:37,160 close to the to the top authority that he had to go, But 562 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:39,240 Nehemiah put distance between himself and this man. 563 00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:44,160 May sound harsh to us, but that's what compromise led to. 564 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:47,640 Again, today we're not under the old covenant called to hurt 565 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:53,480 people, but at the same time, we have to say the command isn't 566 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:56,120 all that serious. And Nehemiah even made them 567 00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:57,720 swear we're not going to do this. 568 00:28:57,720 --> 00:28:59,320 We're going to, we're going to stay the straight and narrow. 569 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:01,360 Now he drove. He drove this man, one man away. 570 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:05,920 And I wonder how Nehemiah must have felt coming back from 571 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:07,960 Babylon. And there's no good news. 572 00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:11,880 All about compromise and waywardness and all the rest 573 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:15,400 can't have been good. You see, they compromise the 574 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:18,560 priesthood, they compromise the temple ministry. 575 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:23,720 They compromise the Sabbath day, they compromise marriage, and 576 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:25,040 they still believe they're God's people. 577 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:35,040 What's the message for us today? Where do we stand? 578 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:39,600 Nehemiah struggled tremendously with this. 579 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:42,320 Let's read further. In verse 29 he says, remember 580 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:44,880 them, Oh my God, because they've defiled the priesthood in the 581 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:46,720 covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. 582 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:48,760 Thus I cleanse them from everything Pagan. 583 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:51,160 I also assigned duties to the priests and the Levites each to 584 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:53,840 the service and to bring the wood of offering in the first of 585 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:57,640 the appointed times. Remember Me, Oh my God for good. 586 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:02,000 I wonder how tired he was. I wonder what it did to me 587 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:05,680 emotionally. We know he got angry, but here 588 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:09,080 we find his heart. He wants God to remember him. 589 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:11,760 He does this. He does this in a zeal for the 590 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:16,000 Lord. What I do know is that when I 591 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:18,480 was a young believer in a worker and got into pastoral ministry, 592 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:20,920 I had some of this weird idea that we're going to teach 593 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:24,120 everybody, going to train everybody, we're all going to be 594 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:27,640 1 happy, holy Christian family, everybody doing the right thing. 595 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:34,560 Boy, was I wrong. We'll never get there on this 596 00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:37,880 side, folks. We're all in process. 597 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:40,000 We will. We will be perfect when we cross 598 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:41,440 the finish line from here to there. 599 00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:45,960 We keep on repenting, confessing and correcting course. 600 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:49,880 If you hear this morning and are listening, I just want to 601 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:52,720 encourage you don't give up hope, no matter how bleak it may 602 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:55,120 look, how much you've compromised and and want to get 603 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:56,000 back on track. You can't. 604 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,000 You want to stay on track and you're falling off all the time. 605 00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:02,120 It's not permanent. We as a church have experienced 606 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:04,160 in recent weeks some some serious turbulence. 607 00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:11,880 Don't shift focus, don't derail. It can be a stepping stone or a 608 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:13,640 stumbling block, depending on how you step. 609 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:16,880 What gives me hopes? That Jesus Christ is the same 610 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:18,280 today, forever, and He always will be. 611 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:22,760 He has not changed. He died and he rose and He is 612 00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:23,880 today at the right hand of the Father. 613 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:26,240 Father interceding for us. The Spirit is with us. 614 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:29,080 He modeled it for us, living a human perfect life. 615 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:33,800 Nobody else ever did. He's promised us to go with us. 616 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:36,800 He's inviting us, it gives us hope. 617 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:42,560 There's life, life beyond the circumstances He's promised us 618 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:46,240 an eternal presence with God. For now, the journey continues. 619 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:50,160 We should embrace it with joy, anticipation, what the Lord has 620 00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:55,800 for us, not miserably looking what went wrong and why and so 621 00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:57,960 on. Sure, we we have to remember it, 622 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:05,080 but we don't stop. Let's imagine ourselves where 623 00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:07,600 Nehemiah was. He simply wanted the people to 624 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,480 serve, to live for God and follow God's commandments. 625 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:12,840 In the book of Exodus, in chapter 20, we have the 10 626 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:14,400 commandments that are recorded for us. 627 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:21,760 The 10 rules of life that God gave to Moses to write down 628 00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:23,880 teaches people. He said if you live by them, 629 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:26,040 you'll experience blessings and if you don't, you won't. 630 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:29,360 And of course they didn't. They compromised. 631 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:32,040 They experienced punishment and discipline again and again and 632 00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:36,560 again, and God never gave up on them. 633 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:40,040 God has not changed. He's still the same he was when 634 00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:42,760 he wrote There's Adam and Eve in the Garden when he wrote the 10 635 00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:44,960 commandments. He's still the same as it was 636 00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:48,520 when Nehemiah lived, and he's still the same to us today. 637 00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:51,600 Let's begin with, do we love Jesus? 638 00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:54,360 When we love Jesus, we have a starting point. 639 00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:58,640 Then we can start focusing and maybe the compromises will 640 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:02,960 become fewer and less and smaller and we'll win over 641 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:05,640 temptation. We'll stop stumbling so often. 642 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:07,840 I don't know where you're at today. 643 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:10,400 Maybe if you've compromised so much it's gone. 644 00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:11,480 It's hopeless. No, it's not. 645 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:15,480 If there's breath, there's hope. If we surrender our lives to 646 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:18,960 Jesus, he'll redeem us. Not by reversing all the bad 647 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:20,240 financial choices we made. Or we got to. 648 00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:23,520 We got to plod through those. Maybe not bringing back our 649 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:25,960 health that we ruined through substance abuse and neglect of 650 00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:31,480 our body and so on. We got to live with that, maybe 651 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,680 not restoring a bad reputation that we ruined by being a very 652 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:38,520 bad person, but there's salvation, there's surrender. 653 00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:40,560 When we surrender, there's salvation, There's hope, and 654 00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:42,800 there's new life. I will encourage us today. 655 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:44,480 Let's surrender our hearts to Jesus. 656 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:48,240 Let Him fill us with His Spirit, His joy, and let us allow Him to 657 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:52,720 guide our paths and we can win. We don't have to be like the 658 00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:56,280 people in Nehemiah's time in chapter 13 of Nehemiah that 659 00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:59,080 constantly compromised and getting themselves into trouble 660 00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:02,320 all the time. We can stand strong, we can win, 661 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:08,000 we can be victorious. Let us pray, Lord, we're 662 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:13,280 reminded that you are God. We're reminded we're human and 663 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:15,800 we're prone to sin and to compromise. 664 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:20,040 We're reminded that we need You all the time, not part time. 665 00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:23,120 We pray that You will continue to draw us close and remind us 666 00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:26,719 of Your holiness, of Your glory and Your calling on our lives 667 00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:29,639 and our need to constantly repent and turn to You. 668 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:31,880 Thank you Lord, for Your mercy and for your grace. 669 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:34,480 Help us Lord, to see where we compromise and help us to 670 00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:36,600 repent. Help us to walk with You. 671 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:39,239 We ask that Your Spirit will give us your peace in Jesus 672 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:39,480 name.