[otw_shortcode_info_box border_type=”bordered” border_color_class=”otw-black-border” border_style=”bordered” shadow=”shadow-down-right” rounded_corners=”rounded-10″]This sermon is part of our Expository Preaching Collective on the Book of Nehemiah. Follow the link below to know more about What Expository preaching is and Why is it important to us. (Click here)[/otw_shortcode_info_box]
We have come to the end of Nehemiah! It’s been a wonderful process for all of us as we’ve seen God’s love and grace in rebuilding and restoring the hearts of His people. The story on the exterior might seem to be only about rebuilding, repopulating and governance but it was really about renewal of their hearts!
It’s been exhilarating recounting the experiences of Nehemiah, the people of Judah and learning to apply them to our lives. We’ve learnt a great deal on prayer, repentance, purity, obedience, giving ourselves to the work of God, worship, fighting sin, standing firm in opposition.
And yet when we come to the end of the book instead of finishing with a triumphant message, it closes with the sad reality of people’s failing commitment to God.
23 In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people. 25 And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin. 27 Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?”
28 And one of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me. 29 Remember them, O my God, because they have desecrated the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.
30 Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work; 31 and I provided for the wood offering at appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.
This morning I want us all to go to Doctor Scripture for a checkup. Doctor Scripture will be doing a thorough check up of our hearts today. Our prayer is that the truths of this passage will illuminate us to know what’s in our hearts and turn to Christ for him to perform the surgery:
The first thing that we discover about our heart condition is that:
- We are forgetful: Prone to forget our identity in God (v23-27)
23 In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people. 25 And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin. 27 Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?
“Wow! Really?” might be our response when we read this text. These were the same people in Chapter 10 swore…entered into an oath and curse to walk in God’s Law. I thought these were the people who separated themselves from the peoples of the land to the Law of God!
I thought they were the ones who stood for half a day confessing their sins to God and made a firm covenant in writing on a sealed document! Let’s look at Chapter 10:28-39 to see what all they had committed to. By Chapter 13 we find that all those commitments were forgotten and broken.
A couple of weeks back we saw how they neglected the house of the Lord and did not support the priests and the Levites, last week we saw how the people ignored the commandment to keep the Sabbath and now we see how they intermarry with the women of Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.
The Israelites witnessed first-hand how intermarriage with the people these nations always resulted in disobedience to God. Association with these nations always meant that the Israelites were led to sexual immorality and idolatry. There was no good that came out of these relations. It’s like that old sinful indulgence that we immerse in when we seek pleasure and comfort apart from God. Somehow for this sin there’s always an exception. When it comes to this sin we always compromise.
We love this sin so much that we don’t mind ignoring the commandments of God or the commitment to God. Just know that this comes at a huge risk. We learnt a couple of weeks back how our sin damages and contaminates our worship of God. There’s another thing at stake here. Identity!
V24 says: And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people.
Is anything wrong learning another language and culture? That’s why context is essential. In Ancient Times, the way nations used to conquer other nations was not just by power and might but also by teaching them their language and culture. That’s how they would brainwash them in order to make them slaves.
Daniel 1:3-8: 3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family[a] and of the nobility, 4 youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. 5 The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. 6 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. 7 And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
In Daniel’s time we see how the attempt was made to brainwash him and the other Israelites by educating them with the literature and language of the Chaldeans. Not just that, their names were changed: because that would also totally change their identity!
Now we may think…what’s the big deal about identity? Everything! It affects everything you do. Just imagine if you were literally brainwashed and sent out to roam within the city without any ID, what would that be like? Wouldn’t it be disastrous? You wouldn’t know where to go? You wouldn’t know who was in your family? You wouldn’t know what to do? Neither would you know your rights and duties as a citizen.
In the same way if you forget your identity in God, you forget your identity as a child of God, rescued by God to serve God and glorify God! If losing your identity physically is devastating, how much more dangerous is it to lose your identity in Christ?
- You forget that Christ has totally and completely forgiven ALL your sins.
- If we confess our sins, he isfaithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.(1 John 1:9)
- You forget that there is absolutely no condemnation for those who are in Christ! (Rom 8:1)
- You forget that in the presence of God there is fullness of JOY! (Ps 16:7)
- You forget that Christ chose and appointed you to go and bear fruit! (John 15:16)
We miss out on all of that by forgetting our identity! And Satan knows that so from the start he’s always tried to play around with our identity. He asked Eve “Did God really say that you shouldn’t eat of any tree in the garden?” By v5 he convinces her that her identity apart from God is more attractive. And from v6 we see how the whole of humanity and creation fell with that loss of identity.
And just like how Satan subtly tempted Adam and Eve to eat the fruit. He didn’t tell them explicitly that he was trying to confuse their identity in God. Similarly what are some sins we entertain assuming that they are innocent?
For eg: Culture around us will tell us we need to be secular, there’s no harm in marrying an unbeliever. Will you still go ahead and pursue a relationship knowing how it’s going to impact the way you view your identity? Another one, what we watch often on TV or on the Internet heavily impacts the way we view our identity. We may think it’s so innocent. It’s just a TV show. But through the TV show they’ll subtly or overtly express ideas that are so unbiblical and we end up consuming them.
That’s why you see that from the way people dress, to the way people talk and the way people behave…all of that is being influenced by media. As believers we must be careful with what we watch because of the way it impacts our identity.
- We are powerless: No amount of human effort can transform people’s hearts (v25 & 28-29)
25 And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
28 And one of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me. 29 Remember them, O my God, because they have desecrated the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.
Perhaps one thing we can definitely understand from Nehemiah’s ministry is that he was very zealous. In this case however even though the intent was to remove and cleanse the evil that was in the nation, it still was abusive. The last chapter did talk about Nehemiah’s reforms but in his zeal did it actually lead people to repentance? So no matter what he tried, he still couldn’t change people because the problem wasn’t just in their behavior and action, the problem lied in their hearts! SIN!
Jesus clearly understood our hearts and described it perfectly. In Matt 15:19, Jesus says: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person.”
It’s what’s in your heart that needs to be healed first. How have you approached your fight against sin? How have you approached your devotion to God? Is it by doing certain things, by completing a list or is it by having your heart transformed? Have you come to that place where you admit that no amount of human effort can actually change you? Only God can change your heart! If you are in that place waiting, help is there.
- We are self-righteous: We always assume that we are more righteous than who we truly are (v30, 31)
Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work; 31 and I provided for the wood offering at appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.
Nehemiah undoubtedly was active in removing the evil that was in the nation and bringing things to order but he ends the entire episode with no mention of his own faults. We see a humbled and penitent Nehemiah in Chapter 1 where he’s pleading and confessing his own sins alongwith the sins of the people. Now there’s no confession in his prayer.
This happens a lot when you’re leading or discipling other people. Often you’ll think that the passage you read only applies to the person you’re leading. You’re always thinking of ways you can apply that Scripture to the other person. It’s all good but is that Scripture reading you? The root issue is because we often think we’re more righteous than whom we truly are.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8, 9)
The true display of the Spirit’s work in a person’s life is not in the denial of sin but in the growing awareness of sin and repentance! That’s why repentance is not a one-time activity for a believer, it is a continuous lifelong activity until the believer becomes like Christ!
Guess what…even the most hardened unbeliever thinks he is more righteous than he is. That’s why even after the gospel is shared, he won’t budge because he doesn’t think it’s required for him. Only the person who truly sees his sin for what it is knows why he needs Jesus.
Have we identified the sin of self-righteousness in our hearts? Have we been denying the actual presence of sin in our lives or has it been brought to the light in confession?
We’ve just seen three different truths about our human condition: We are prone to forget our identity in God, no amount of human effort can transform people’s hearts, and we think we are more righteous than we are. Where we failed is where Jesus succeeded.
He was completely aware and in sync with His identity with the Father, his effort is complete and can transform people’s hearts, he was the only person who lived a life that was considered perfectly righteous by the Father! Our frail and wicked lives were the reason why we deserved to die. But Christ showed His compassion and love by dying in our place on the cross.
Three days later he rose from the grave to give us our true identity: united with God forever, to give us a new heart and to give us a new righteousness! His own righteousness! We receive it in repentance and faith! If we ask ourselves, which of the three has been the hindrance this past week:
Forgetting our identity, Our Self-Efforts or Our Self-Righteousness? Can we turn from it and run to Jesus receiving what He has already done for us?
Author / Preacher
