Unequally Yoked: Nehemiah’s Stance for Purity – Nehemiah 13:23-31a

SPEAKER 01 : 0:08

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 : 0:57

Please turn in your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 13, verses 23 through 30. Nehemiah chapter 13, verses 23 through 30. Now remember, God led Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem and not only be the catalyst in rebuilding the ruined walls of the city, but to also bring the people back to a repentant and passionate faith in the living God, which did indeed happen, and we saw that in chapters 1 through 12. At this point here in chapter 13, many years have now gone by, perhaps even 25 years since the wall has been completed. Remember, Nehemiah left Babylon and came to Jerusalem, and he was the governor there in Jerusalem for 12 years. Chapters 1 through 12 covered less than one year, so there are 11 more years in which Nehemiah continued to be the governor in Jerusalem that we know nothing about. After that time, Nehemiah then went back to Persia, and Nehemiah was there for perhaps 12 more years before coming back again to Jerusalem. So Nehemiah at this point has been gone for over a decade, but now Nehemiah has returned, and look, he’s found some issues. Like what? Well… As we have seen, the people have reverted in their faith. They have given way to compromise. No good leader stepped up and led the people in Nehemiah’s absence. And the people weren’t convicted enough on their own to take a stand, a godly stand for the glory of God. And so spiritual mediocrity and blatant sin has won the day. And we have seen this a number of times already here in chapter 13. Nehemiah’s response to all this sin and to all this compromise, he contends against the sin and he contends against those who are promoting the sin and he does his best to make things right for the glory of God like any true man or woman of God would do. Today we find yet another problem that Nehemiah has to contend against. Let’s look, verse 23. In those days, I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people. We’re going to stop here for now. And here in verse 23, we see yet another problem that some of the people had married pagan women. This issue has come up before, right? Right? It’s been a continual issue throughout Israel’s history, and it’s also been a recent issue. I mean, it came up at the end of the book of Ezra, and it also came up in chapter 10, where the people made a covenant promise before God to never do it again. But here, just a couple of decades later, they’ve fallen into the same sin. Now, please remember that this isn’t a race thing. This is a religious thing. I mean, marry anyone you want, right? From any race that you want, but don’t marry someone who doesn’t share your faith in the Lord, the one true God. That’s the issue. Why? Because sin and compromise always has an effect. Because sin and compromise always comes with a price. See, one sure way of corrupting their faith was through a spiritually divided marriage. One that brought religious compromise into the very center of the home and the family. Look, in the ancient world at that time when two people married, they swapped their idols and gave them a prominent place in their home. For the Israelite, this couldn’t possibly be allowed, not if the people cared about their relationship with their Lord, not if the people truly loved their Lord. Why? Because our walk with the Lord must always be our top priority. And we should be radical about protecting that relationship, our relationship with our Lord. God alone saves. God alone is worthy. And as the one true God who has created us, as the one who has rescued us from eternal wrath, as the one who died to give us life, Life, eternal life, as the one who redeems us from the slave market of sin that condemns us to eternity in hell, and as the one who gives us hope and peace and purpose and grace and love and an eternal inheritance that we don’t remotely deserve. Look, He alone is to be our chief aim and affection, right? Rightly so? He alone. He’s it. He’s the end all. He’s everything. He’s everything. He gives us a real reason to live, even when it’s hard, He alone. Without Him, we have nothing. With Him, we have everything. Without Him, though we have money and houses and cars and fame, we have nothing without Him. Nothing that lasts. Nothing that can truly satisfy. He’s it. And wisdom says that once you have Him, once you know Him as Lord and Savior, once you become a true child of God, by grace through faith in Christ alone, once that happens… Wisdom says to protect and to promote that relationship with utmost care and attention because, again, nothing is more important than that. Nothing. What does that mean? It means that anything that might hinder your pursuit of God, your walk with God, anything that might hinder that, you get rid of that, if possible. But if I do that, I’m going to lose my friends, so… So you have no friends. Friends are way overrated anyhow. And what’s more important? Friends that drag you down and away from God, your chief aim, or God. And knowing Him better and pleasing Him more with the one fading life that you have. Look ahead. Live for the things that truly last, not the things that fade. But if I truly protect my walk with the Lord, then I’m not going to date very many people and I may never get married. Okay. Okay. But isn’t pleasing God worth it even then? Dating a non-Christian isn’t going to do you any good as a Christian. And marrying a non-Christian will have a wretched impact on you and on your children. And it’s never worth it in the end. That’s how spiritual misery happens. And here’s the issue. Do you trust God to care for you as you seek to glorify Him? See, compromise is never the answer. And then there’s this. Another person isn’t the answer either, right? Who’s the answer? God alone. And our call is to draw near to Him and to make Him our all in all. To cast our cares onto Him and then trust Him with the rest. Nothing’s more important than your walk with God. Nothing. But if I truly protect my walk with God, then I’m going to have to give up and battle against those sins that I love so very much. Yeah? Yeah? Man, it’s not easy to battle against sin day by day by day by day. Anybody? It’s not easy. And it’s not easy to lose some of those battles, but to keep repenting and to keep on fighting fiercely against them until the day that you die. That’s not easy, but isn’t he worth it? Sin isn’t worth it. That sin isn’t your friend, whatever sin it may be. No, it wants to make you miserable, which it does in the end anyhow. Fight it. Every day, fight it. Whatever hinders your walk with God, fight it. Because again, nothing is more important than your walk with God. Many Christians don’t live like that’s true, but they are wrong. And they’re wasting their lives away on things that don’t matter as time is flying by. What about you? Jesus said, if anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and then follow Me. And those who love Him, those who understand who He is and what He did for them, they pursue Him as their chief aim and love. And they protect their walk with Him as the most important thing, because again, it is. Israel over the years seemed to forget that fact to their own detriment. And here they are again facing the same problem. Some of the people had married the women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. Talking about unbelieving women from the surrounding areas who didn’t know nor love the Lord. It’s very serious because if you want to ruin your family spiritually, then marry someone who practices another religion or no religion at all. In fact, if you want to ruin a whole people group that was once dedicated to the Lord, then marry someone who practices another religion or no religion at all. See, this sin not only affected these individual families, but it also had an impact on the entire nation because sin has a way of spreading rapidly. And don’t we see that happening here in America today, right now? Sin rolls downhill, and once the ball gets rolling, it gains momentum. The Old Testament had consistently warned the people about this sin, commanding them not to do it, and so does the New Testament. And while the New Testament is clear that there is neither Jew nor Gentile in light of the Gospel, praise the Lord, which means that Christians may marry across racial and ethnic lines, of course, look… Christians may not marry non-believers. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6.14, don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? And what fellowship has light with darkness? What’s the answer? None. So don’t set yourself up for spiritual failure. That is just, that’s folly. Verse 24 shows us how serious the issue was by telling us that half their children spoke the language of Ashdod and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people. Okay, so what’s the big deal about that? Well, it’s a big deal because it reveals the hearts of these people. The language of Judah was Hebrew. And look, the Word of God, the word that they had at that time, was written in Hebrew. So what does it say when your children don’t know Hebrew? It shows us the people’s utter disregard for the God of Israel, the one true God. And instead of the people doing what Deuteronomy 6 says, loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and then doing all you can to diligently teach God’s truth to your children, these people don’t seem to care about that at all. One said, the people are their own worst enemies. They disregard God’s law. And the fact that their children can’t understand Hebrew in order to understand the law of God apparently is of little concern to them. Another note of this. These people are effectively paganizing their children. A single generation’s compromise could undo the work of centuries. And that’s true. It’s a very, very serious issue. Because again, sin rolls downhill. Sin spreads. And even though this might not seem like a big deal by some, just a problem that was on the outskirts, it can quickly become a big problem and permeate the whole society for the bad. And the fact that these children can’t speak the language of Judah reveals the heart and the priorities of the parents. They don’t care that their children know God, and they don’t care whether or not their children know the Word of God. That’s very serious. And if you don’t care about that for your children, then you certainly don’t care about that for yourself, right? I mean, how could you? This is a serious issue. So what’s the solution? Here we go. Verse 25. Pagan women caused even him to sin. Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women? And one of the sons of Joida, the son of Eliashib, the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore, I drove him from me. So, the solution for Nehemiah was to contend with them, right? He contended with them. The word contend here means to strive against, to dispute with, and to even file a lawsuit against someone. And that shows us how serious and passionate Nehemiah is about this. I mean, as usual, Nehemiah can’t sit back and watch sin happen. No, Nehemiah loves God too much, and he loves these people too much. Now remember, Nehemiah is a man with authority. Previously, he was a governor of Jerusalem for 12 years. He then went back to Babylon for a decade, it seems. But now he’s back and he still has authority and he still has the full backing of the king of the empire. And so he contended with these people. He contended with these offenders. How so? Five ways. First, he cursed them, struck them, and pulled their hair. Man, you’ve got to love his passion, right? Come on. Sad to say, and a bit to my dismay, his actions back then aren’t to be considered as a pattern for us today. A little disappointing, right? But his passion certainly is. Certainly. Look, he cursed them. That doesn’t mean that he cussed and swore at them. That’s ungodly. It means that he called them out on their sin. He dressed them down. He rebuked them. He made them feel small. Like they should have felt because of their sin. This could also mean that he called down curses on them from God, which is a way for him to point out their grave sin against the Lord and for God to judge them in light of this sin. So he’s calling their sin out for what it is and he’s not going to let them lie to themselves about it. This is an offense to God and God will judge you for this sin unless you repent. Don’t brush this off as if it’s no big deal. No, it’s a big deal to God. And you are in serious spiritual danger. That’s very good. Nehemiah also struck them. This action had the full weight of his authority behind it. Many believe that this is talking about the legal punishment that some of these people received for so blatantly breaking the law of God. How these punishments were justly inflicted upon these people because they transgressed God’s clear law, and as a result, some of them were beaten with stripes, with whips, according to the law of God. Nehemiah also pulled out their hair. How can you justify that kind of behavior? Well, the pulling out of hair was probably the beard. And it seems that pulling out the hair from the beard of men was a regular form of punishment. See, the loss of a beard was seen as a disgrace, and having this as a form of punishment was a way to embarrass the offender so that they don’t do the offense again. And so it seems that Nehemiah isn’t losing his temper here. He’s not, no, not at all. He’s passionate about God. He’s passionate about the glory of God. And he’s using his authority to punish these lawbreakers appropriately for that culture. And he’s also trying to keep others from doing the same sin. And while this should apply differently today, please don’t put your hands on people. Please don’t go pulling out people’s hair. Don’t do that. But look, his passion for God and his hatred of sin is something to be exalted. He’s an example for us today when it comes to how we would apply His passion for the glory of God. People today think that being nice as they define it trumps being godly. That being nice means that you can’t ever be really angry over sin or speak up about it because you might hurt someone’s feelings. That being nice means that you can’t uphold the righteousness of God. That being nice means that you can’t ever offend anyone by speaking and living the truth of God. But that’s wrong. And while they will know that we are Christians by our love, of course, of course, love isn’t a sappy thing, no. Real love upholds the truth of God, and real love exalts God, and it exalts the things of God, and it helps others to do the same, like Nehemiah did. Hey, woe to the church that the world dubs as nice. Woe to the church that the world loves nice. What of the church that doesn’t offend the sinful world around them because that church is truly speaking the truth in love? What of the church that puts up with unrepentant sin and that preaches a watered-down gospel and remains silent as sin is exalted and as Satan is happy because they want to be seen by the world as nice? What about being godly? Nehemiah got it right, and I pray we apply his passion and zeal for the glory of God in our own lives and in this church. Lord, help us. Second, Nehemiah made them swear, don’t give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons to yourself or yourself. It seems that it was Jewish men who had married these Philistine women, non-believing pagan Philistine women. And so Nehemiah makes the men take an oath that it’s never going to happen again. It’s very serious business because an oath like this was done before the Lord. Now an oath was a solemn promise, a pledge that was made before God himself. And woe to you if you made a pledge like this and broke it. I kind of picture it that after Nehemiah calls them out and dresses them down, he then says, promise me that this is never, ever, ever going to happen again. Promise God that taking foreign and unbelieving women will never, ever, ever happen again. See, those were solemn declarations made under divine sanction that called God himself to be witness to the truth of this statement. Breaking an oath like this was very serious, for when you made an oath, you were, in essence, saying this, May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if I don’t keep this oath. The people then made that very serious oath. So question, should we make vows, promises, oaths, covenants today? I mean, didn’t Jesus deal with this in Matthew 5.33 when He said these words? You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, do not break your oath, but keep the oaths that you have made to the Lord. But I tell you, do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it’s God’s throne, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your yes be yes and your no be no. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one. So that Clears it up, right? That we shouldn’t ever make any kind of vows or oaths or promises, right? Hold on. A little background information is helpful to understand this, the words of Christ here. See, the religious leaders of the day were very hypocritical. They advocated keeping a vow if it was a public vow using God’s name. However, if the vow was made in the course of everyday conversation, referencing only heaven or earth or Jerusalem, then that vow wasn’t really binding. So the people had a loophole. They could lie and they could exaggerate in their conversations and they could lend themselves an air of credibility by saying, I swear by heaven that this is true, even though it wasn’t true. For to them, with their loophole, they weren’t accountable because they didn’t specifically swear by God’s name. And Jesus here is countering that idea. If you swear by something, if you make a vow, if you make a promise, if you make a covenant, you better keep it. So Jesus wasn’t condemning all forms of promises, contracts, vows, or agreements. No. He was speaking against flippant vows and promises. Here’s the verdict. Be careful about making vows, oaths, covenants, and promises either to the Lord or to one another. And if you make one, you’d better keep it because our word, especially as Christians, should be our bond. Third, Nehemiah warned them, verse 26. Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, pagan women caused even him to sin. Should we then hear you doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women? See what Nehemiah’s doing? He now warns the people of their sin by giving them a living example that they all would have known Solomon. Solomon’s sin, the same one that these people had committed, had adversely affected their history in the worst possible way. It had led directly to the division of the kingdom. And so the tragic consequences of one man’s sin has written one of the darkest chapters in the nation’s history. Now remember, Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, but Solomon didn’t heed his own wisdom. That’s where compromise and sin sets in, and that’s what it can do. It can make a wise person a spiritually dumb person. So Nehemiah appeals to the people’s understanding of history as well as their own knowledge of Scripture by reminding the people of the dire consequences that can happen with this very sin. And if it happened to Solomon, who was beloved of his God, then it can certainly happen to you. So don’t open up that door. Note that that phrase, beloved of God, speaks of special favor or privilege, which Solomon certainly had, right? Fame and power and prestige and wisdom. So much. But look, even he couldn’t escape the consequences of this sin. And if that was true of Solomon, how much more them? See, thus the warning. It’s also a warning for us today, right? Not just when it comes to marrying a non-Christian, but also when it comes to how we deal with sin. How we deal with every sin. Sin always has consequences. And when we toy around with sin, it always comes with a price that we will regret. Flee sin. That’s the word for us. Flee sin. Run from sin. We all sin. But when you do, repent quickly and return to God every single time. And if not, danger. What’s the call? Acknowledge sin. Repent of sin. Give that sin over to the Lord and move on with the good work of God, knowing that He forgives all who go to Him with their sin. Time is short. This life is fleeting. And messing around with sin is a massive and regretful waste. And we don’t have time to waste.

SPEAKER 01 : 24:40

Thanks for joining us for today’s exposition from the Book of Nehemiah on Expository Truths with Dr. John Kyle. We’ll be right back. 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.