In this gripping episode, we journey through the final chapters of Nehemiah’s service. Dr. John Kyle provides detailed exposition on how little compromises can lead to significant spiritual downfalls, drawing parallels with our church lives today. Uncover how Nehemiah addresses the issue of neglect towards the house of God, revives the people’s commitment to their faith, and reestablishes order. This episode is a clarion call for prayerful vigilance and steadfast stewardship among believers.
Welcome to Expository Truths, where we exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with Dr. John Kyle, pastor of Faith Community Church in Vacaville. As Christians, we are called to know the truth and be able to proclaim it. We can know the truth when we know the Word of God, which is precise, without error, powerful, and effective for both salvation and spiritual growth. Let’s join Pastor Kyle as he takes us verse by verse through the book of Nehemiah, an incredible book showing us how God sovereignly used the faithfulness of Nehemiah to lead the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in the midst of many mighty and powerful enemies.
SPEAKER 02 :
Please turn your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 13, verses 4 through 14. Nehemiah 13, 4-14. Now remember, God led Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem and to rebuild the ruined walls of the city, which was an absolutely remarkable task, but even more, God led Nehemiah, along with Ezra, to be the catalyst in bringing the people back to repent in faith in the living God. At this point, the wall has now been finished, and it’s been an amazing month since then, as the people have been celebrating corporately at both the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Tabernacles, and then as they gathered together to observe a national day of repentance, followed by the signing of a covenant where together they committed themselves to honoring and obeying God once again out of their great love for Him. They then made the necessary plan to move 10% of the people into the city of Jerusalem. And then, as we saw, they had a corporate worship service where they celebrated and dedicated the month-old rebuilt wall of the city. Last week, we discovered a problem that the people became aware of as they were reading the Bible. And the good news is that they responded to the Word of God and they obeyed Him, which is always the right response, even when it’s not convenient. Now what? More problems. All right, let’s look. Verse 4. Now before this, Eliashib the priest, having authority over the storerooms of the house of our God, was allied with Tobiah. And he had prepared for him a large room where previously they had stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles, the tithes of grain, the new wine and oil, which were commanded to be given to the Levites and singers and gatekeepers and the offerings for the priests. But during all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, I had returned to the king. And then after certain days I obtained leave from the king, and I came to Jerusalem and discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah in preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God. and it grieved me bitterly. Therefore, I threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of the room. Then I commanded them to cleanse the rooms, and I brought back into them the articles of the house of God with the grain offering and the frankincense. We’ll stop here for now. Nehemiah left Babylon the first time in chapter 2 and he came to Jerusalem. He had the wall rebuilt and he also restored the people back to a vital faith in the Lord. And that all happened within one year. And then Nehemiah was a governor in Jerusalem for 11 more years. He then went back to Persia, probably because that’s what he and the king had agreed upon. And Nehemiah was in Babylon for probably, perhaps, 12 more years. before coming back to Jerusalem. So a lot of time has now gone by between verses 3 and 4 of chapter 13. So at this point, Nehemiah has been gone for well over a decade, but now he has returned. But look, things aren’t going well, no. Things have reverted since Nehemiah has been gone. How does that happen? How do people go from being so on fire for the Lord, chapter 12, to reverting and giving way to sin and giving way to compromise? How does that happen? It happens a little bit at a time. And it seems that once Nehemiah left, that little compromises then began to set in. And as we all know, little compromises don’t stay little for very long. No, little compromises grow. As one said, collapse in the Christian life is seldom a blowout. It is usually a slow leak. And that’s true. Warren Wiersbe said, most Christians don’t jump into sin and get away from the will of God. No, instead, they gradually decline spiritually, and then they find themselves in trouble and wonder how it happened. They leave their first love over time, and they start living for the flesh and not the Spirit. When we least expect it, the germ of sin can enter the system. And he’s right. And that’s why we must always, always, always be on guard today. Note that for most of us, the threat isn’t so much that we should plunge into disaster and sin, but that we should drift into it. See, there are few people who deliberately run into sick, wretched sin, but there are many who day by day drift farther and farther and farther away from the Lord. And it can happen without you even being aware of it. That’s why you need to be constantly on guard. That’s why you need to take heed. And remember that compromise always brings loss. And compromise never ever pays. For when we compromise, we lose something valuable in exchange for something temporary and fading. And it’s never ever worth it. Look, Nehemiah left. And no spiritual leader filled that gap. And soon the little compromises set in and no one seemed to care that much. But they should have cared. Someone should have cared. Even if no one else cared, someone should have cared. Someone should have spoken up. Someone should have had the courage and the love for the Lord to say something and to do something. But no one did. Where was Ezra at this time? We don’t know, it doesn’t say, but enough time has gone by that Ezra very well could have been in glory by now because Ezra, I believe Ezra would have certainly done something for sure. Some commentators actually come down on Nehemiah for not raising up some good and godly leaders to take his place. But how do they know that Nehemiah didn’t do that? I found that… You can invest in people and you can train them up and you can pour your life into them and you can do your very best to raise up people to be bold and strong in leadership. But it’s only when the hard times come that you really see what people are truly made of. And sadly, many people are cowards who give way to the pressure of the crowd. And while they follow well, they lead poorly because they are scared of the consequences of taking a stand for God. And they’re scared of the consequences of taking a stand for truth. So perhaps Nehemiah did indeed raise up leaders to replace him. He did his best to do that. Leaders who look like good and true spiritual leaders, but who caved when the compromises came. Perhaps. But the compromises did come. And now, Nehemiah is back in Jerusalem. Now what do you think? Is Nehemiah going to remain silent when he sees sin in the camp? with what we know of nehemiah i don’t think so look as nehemiah came back to jerusalem after being gone for over a decade he discovered a couple of serious problems first he found out that elijah had made a room for tobiah in the courts of the house of god now please understand that is not good note that verse 4 says before this before what I mean, if before this means before what happened in verse 3, then our timetable is going to be all out of whack. So before what? Well, it’s interesting. Before this in the Hebrew has to do with the face, right? Very interesting. The phrase literally means in the face of this or in the presence of this. So it’s talking about circumstances and not a time frame. In other words, before this means something like in the face of it all. So in light of Nehemiah being gone and in the face of everything that’s going on in Jerusalem, what happened? This, Elisha made a room for Tobiah in the courts of the house of God. and Nehemiah came back and discovered this very serious issue. Look at Nehemiah’s solution. He cleaned out the room. Strong reaction, right? Yeah, it is a strong reaction, but it’s not too strong. Wait till the next couple of weeks. Verse 8, and it grieved me bitterly. Therefore, I threw out all the household goods of Tobiah out of the room. Then I commanded them to cleanse the room, and I brought back into them the articles of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense. So Look, Nehemiah saw what was going on. He then responded quickly by chucking everything out of the room. And then by making sure that the rooms were cleansed, indicating that more than one room was used. And then by making sure that all the proper articles for the room and for the worship of the Lord were put back into place. See, he’s not going to negotiate with compromise. He’s not going to sit back and wait for someone else to do something. No. He loves God too much to let this go. He loves God too much to watch God’s house be defiled. He has to do something. Derek Kinder says, throughout this chapter… Nehemiah stands out from his contemporaries by his refusal to allow for a moment that holiness is negotiable or that custom alone can hallow anything. No. God and God’s glory is what Nehemiah is thinking about and that’s what Nehemiah is sure to uphold. Reminds me of the time when Jesus cleansed the temple. Remember that? John 2.14, in the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and the money changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, Jesus drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away and do not make my father’s house a house of trade. See, the temple was supposed to be a place of worship. It was supposed to be a place of prayer. But as Jesus looked around the temple that day, he saw a madhouse. He saw fraud, and he saw swindlers, and he saw people lying and cheating and stealing others for personal gain. He saw a lot of man-centered, selfish people, and he saw a lot of religious, hypocritical hucksters who were using religion for personal gain. And so he got spiritually angry and he began to drive out those who bought and sold there. He also knocked over the tables of the money changers and the seats of the animal sellers. Jesus then allowed no one to carry anything through the temple and so he made a shambles of their bazaar and he shamed those who were profaning it, rightly so. Hey, we should all feel the same way that Nehemiah felt. We should all feel the same way that Jesus felt. Zeal and passion for God. and zeal and passion against sinful, wretched behavior. A righteous anger when sin is indulged and exalted and when the holiness of God is being mocked. See, we should be angry at ungodly things. Angry at the abuses that are going on around us. Angry at sin itself. Angry at the way that God has profaned among so many people. Angry at injustice and hypocrisy and the like. Not sinfully angry, but righteously angry. Not, I hit him because he hit me first. That’s not an excuse for your sin. Not, I lost my temper because she made me so angry. Don’t try to justify your sin. Not, I put a hole in the wall because I was so upset. That doesn’t give you license to lose control of yourself. And not, I yelled and screamed and said those horrible words because my kid needed to learn a lesson. Don’t blame your kid for your personal sin. Not that. No, but a righteous anger at sin and a zeal for God and for the glory of God. heart in your own life that begins by examining your own self I love Nehemiah’s response that’s how we should all feel about sin and driving sin out is the right way to deal with it see don’t negotiate with sin don’t have a discussion with sin don’t bargain or consult with sin no throw it out get rid of it chuck it Cast it away. Note that throw out doesn’t mean to carefully place. It means to throw out. Which expresses Nehemiah’s zeal and anger in the moment, the same godly anger against sin that Jesus felt. As James Boyce said, deep-seated wrongs are seldom corrected except by people who have first become sufficiently angry. The cool, the complacent, the compromisers don’t change anything. He’s right. Oh, that we would have some angry people here this morning. Angry at sin. Angry at the way that God has mocked. Angry at the consequences of sin. Because they are the ones who battle the hardest against sin in their own lives and who earnestly pursue the life of holiness and godliness. What about you? Problem number two is found in verses 10 through 13. Look. I also realized that the portions for the Levites had not been given them. For each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field. So I contended with the rulers and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together and I set them in their place. Then all Judah brought the tithe and the grain and the new wine and the oil to the storehouse. And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouse, Shalamiah the priest and Zadok the scribe and of the Levites, Padaiah. And next to them was Hanan, the son of Zechur, the son of Madaniah. For they were considered faithful. See that? They were considered faithful. And their task was to distribute to their brethren. So you see what’s going on here? Well, the Levites were the people who were selected by God to lead the people in worship. Talking about the priests and the servants and the singers, the ministers and all things that had to do with the worship of the one true God. Well, the Levites were supported by the tithes of the people of God. And it seems that financial support for the temple and for its administration had declined during Nehemiah’s absence. despite the promise that the people would not neglect the house of God. They made that promise in chapter 11 or 12. It was an empty promise. And perhaps Nehemiah learned of this neglect as he was restoring the storerooms to their proper function. See, the Levites weren’t around. No, they had abandoned their posts and they had gone home to work in the fields because they had to. I mean, they weren’t receiving their tithe and one could hardly blame them for going home to take care of their families by tilling the land. How wretched is this? See, in a fairly short time, The people aren’t taking care of God’s workers, and they don’t even seem to care about the house of God. This shows us the importance of good spiritual leadership, doesn’t it? A good leader is hard to find, and when you find one, keep him. Because look what happened when Nehemiah was away, and then look what happened when Nehemiah came back. See, one good spiritual leader can make all the difference, and that was certainly the case with Nehemiah. But good news. Nehemiah is back, and Nehemiah is going to put an end to these disgraceful and profane proceedings. Look at his response. He contended with the rulers, and he set them in their place. Man, I love that. Verse 11, I contended with the rulers. I said, why is the house of God forsaken? I gathered them together, and I set them in their place. So look, Nehemiah, administered a sharp rebuke to those priests to whom the management of the temple and its services were committed. Why? For the total neglect of their duties and the violation of the solemn promises which they had made to him at his departure. He lit into them with a serious charge of having not only withheld men their due, but of having robbed God by neglecting the care of his house and service. Hey, the rulers who let all this happen, they needed a sharp rebuke. Right? They let sin in the camp. They’re the leaders. They’re the rulers. They needed a sharp rebuke. They needed to be set in their place because what they allowed to happen was very serious and what they allowed to happen was very sinful. Hey guys, you might want to pray about your wretched, sinful… Just pray about it. Hey, buddy. Hey, friends. You might want to think about tweaking things here, you know, maybe. No! No! That kind of approach isn’t going to work. And it’s certainly not going to wake them up. Knock it off! Maybe that’ll work. Knock it off. That’s more like it because this is serious. Stop it. You’re forsaking the house of God, which is a way of forsaking God himself. And the whole nation is suffering spiritually because of you. Stop it. Wake up. Pray about it. Not mocking prayer. Nehemiah’s a man of prayer. He needs to pray. But usually that… pray about it that means don’t pray about it and do nothing about it wake up say it for what it is so they can be clear hey be kind and loving absolutely i’m not saying that but sometimes leaders need to be bold and strong and angry and while not sinning they need to let others know how serious spiritual things really are this is a battlefield this is a this isn’t a playground And too many aren’t serious enough about sin and its consequences in their own lives and also in the church today. Many churches today need Nehemiahs to come in and say a few things and do a few things. Nehemiah helps us out and sometimes it’s good and godly to set people who are indulging in sin in their place so that they can wake up from their slumber. Many Christians are slumbering and playing with sin and they’re not being serious about God and they’re not reading their Bibles like they ought to or praying fervently or coming to church like they should and they have this take it or leave it attitude towards eternal things. Well, I say knock it off and wake up because the time is short and then we die and then what? Only God and the things of God matter. Right? Lord, speak to us. Nehemiah’s solution. He appointed faithful men to fulfill this task. Then all Judah brought the tithe and the grain and the new wine and the oil to the storehouse. So Nehemiah restored things to their proper order. And then look. And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouse Sholemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe of the Levites, Padaiah and Hanan the son of Zechur and the son of Madaniah. They were considered faithful. That’s the key. They were considered faithful. So Nehemiah fired the unfaithful and he restored things to their proper order, rightfully so. And then he appointed faithful men to fulfill that task rightly so. Right? The Lord’s work is serious. And for anyone who isn’t taking it seriously, for anyone who isn’t living up to what God has called them to do, for anyone who isn’t faithful in their calling, then they need to leave and be replaced by those who will be faithful and honor God with what He tasks them with. Look, we’re all stewards of the mysteries of God, right? And every Christian is called to be a faithful steward of those things. We all have specific gifts that God calls us to be faithful to use in His church. Every single Christian does. And we all have a general calling as well to glorify God with our fading lives wherever He has us. And woe to us if we aren’t faithful with those things, especially for those who are involved in the Lord’s work. Are you faithful? And is God pleased? And now things have been restored to their proper order. Why? Because Nehemiah was passionate about God and His glory. And Nehemiah couldn’t sit back and watch sin being exalted and God’s work and His worship being mocked by unfaithful men who were supposed to give God their all in all. We need more Nehemiahs these days. And I pray our church is filled with them. After that, look, this is key. Nehemiah prayed yet again. So no, please understand, I never mock true prayer. I just don’t like fake prayer. Verse 14, Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for its services. Clearly this is his natural reaction to pray to God because this has happened numerous times already and it’s going to happen more. See, instant prayer like this arose because Nehemiah had taught himself the value of prayer by a consistent life of prayer. And these reflex-like responses don’t just occur, no, but they are the result of a life that’s lived in the presence of God day by day. Look, Nehemiah prayed this way here because he was always praying this way and he’s a great example for us today. Do you pray like that? Throughout the Bible, it’s very clear that God’s people are not only called to prayer, but they also must pray if they love Him. They know that if they want to be men and women of God, then they have to pray, and the more prayer, the better. And on top of that fact that prayer is powerful and that prayer is effective, look. prayer pleases the heart of God. Proverbs 15.8 says that the prayer of the upright is his delight. So if our aim is to glorify God, which it is, then prayer should be a massive part of the life of every Christian. See, your prayer life will reveal much about your love for the Lord. As Martin Lloyd-Jones said, prayer is the highest activity of the human soul and therefore is at the same time the ultimate test of a man’s true spiritual condition. There’s nothing that tells the truth about us so much as our prayer life. Does that convict anybody besides me? Remember me, O God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for its services. Guess what? He will indeed remember. And God won’t just remember, but God will reward Nehemiah accordingly. Because anything that we do for God’s glory and for His people’s good based on our faith and love in Him, hey, that has eternal value and that will indeed be rewarded by God later on when we stand before Him when it truly matters. Wisdom says to pray much and to faithfully honor God with your fading life and also to hate sin and to love God and to be passionate about God and the things of God the way Nehemiah was. May God speak to our hearts today. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, help us, O Lord, to be people who take a stand fervent for you, fervent for your truth, for your glory, against sin, angry in a godly sense, without sin, but angry, so that we then battle sin in our own life. and pursue the godly, holy life. Speak to our hearts. Convict us. We love you. We thank you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thanks for joining us for today’s exposition from the Book of Nehemiah on Expository Truths with Dr. John Kyle. To find this Faith Community Church seeks to exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with a commitment to glorifying God through the pure, deep and reaching message of the gospel. Pastor John is the preaching pastor at Faith Community Church of Vacaville, a seminary professor and a trainer of preaching pastors overseas. Join for services at Faith Community Church Sundays at 9 and 1045 a.m. 192 Bella Vista Road, Suite A. To learn more, visit vacavillefaith.org or call 707-451-2026. That’s 707-451-2026. Or visit vacavillefaith.org.
