Shabbat Shalom everyone. I would like you all please to open your Bibles and turn with me today to the 13th chapter of this book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah in English. Now let me remind you that Nehemiah, his name Nehemiah simply means the comfort of Jehovah. Nachum Yah, Nachum or Nechem means the comfort and Yah stands for the Hebrew word Jehovah or Yehovah or the Lord. And we know that this man by the name of Nehemiah really wanted to be a blessing to our own nation Israel, to the people of Israel who returned from captivity in Babylon and needed comfort and needed blessing from the Lord and a man such as Nehemiah was raised by God to minister to our own nation Israel and by application I would like to suggest that we need men and women such as Nehemiah today in these last days of the church age who will be willing to be a blessing to the people of God, and we are so thankful when the Lord raises in our midst those that are really a blessing to us, and we really appreciate our brothers and our sisters who do so.

So please follow me, Nehemiah chapter 13, I'm reading the first 14 verses of this chapter. And so we read, on that day, they read in the book of Moshe, of Moses, in the audience of the people and therein was found written that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God forever because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water but hired Bilam against them that he should curse them however our God turned the curse into a blessing now it came to pass when they had heard the law that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude and before this Eliashiv the priest having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God was allied unto Tuvaiah and he had prepared for him a great chamber where aforetime they laid the meat offering the frankincense and the vessels and the tithe of the corn, the new wine and the oil which was commended to be given to the Levites and the singers and the porters and the offerings of the priests.

But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem. For in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes, the king of Babylon, came I unto the king, and after a certain days obtain I leave of the king and I came to Jerusalem and I understood of the evil that Eliashiv did for Tuvaya in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God and it grieved me sore therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tuvaya out of the chamber And then I commended, and they cleansed the chambers, and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God with the meat offering and the frankincense.

And I perceived that the portion of the Levites had not been given them, for the Levites and the singers that did work were fled everyone to his field. Then contended I 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 brought all Judah, the tithe of the corn and the new wine and the oil, unto the treasuries. And I made treasures over the treasuries Shalamiah the priest and Tzedok the scribe, And of the Levites, Padaiah, and next to them was Hanan, the son of Zachur, the son of Mataniah, for they were counted faithful.

And their office was to distribute unto their brethren. Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for the offices thereof. And this is where I'm going to stop with the passage for this ministry meeting today. We are studying the man, the book called Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a cup bearer in Persia. He was serving the king of Persia with wine, lest someone will seek to poison this king of Persia. This king of Persia, Artaxerxes, one day saw that Nehemiah was really sad because his faith showed that he was not so happy as the past days.

And he asked him, Nehemiah, why are you so sad? And Nehemiah told him, how could I not be sad? Look at the condition that exists in my people's land. Look what is going on among my people. The walls are broken down. The gates of Jerusalem are burnt with fire. And look at the condition that existed. Things are in a terrible situation among my people Israel. So the king, Artaxerxes, loved Nehemiah, and he trusted him. And he said, Nehemiah, okay, you want to go home? You want to go back to the land of Israel? Go ahead. What do you need when you're going to go when you're going to come back set me a time go ahead and lo and behold beloved brothers and sisters artazixis the king of Persia send Nehemiah the comfort of Jehovah and Nehemiah have arrived to the land of Israel and the whole book which we have already covered show us the development of the days that Nehemiah was in the land of Israel in the city of Jerusalem, and how he built the walls around the city of Jerusalem many, many years ago.

It was such an amazing work, in spite of the enemies attacking the Jewish people, seeking to sway them from building the walls around the city of Jerusalem. And with the help of the Lord, they successfully built the wall of Jerusalem, which speaks of protection, which speaks of separation which speaks of being devoted to the God of Israel well that is where we ended in the 12th chapter of the book of Nehemiah and there there was a celebration of the building of. The wall and you could see there was a dedication if you just go back to chapter 12 and read with me verse 27 it says and at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all the places to bring them to Jerusalem to keep the dedication with gladness both with thanksgiving and with singing and with cymbals and with psalteries and with harps there was a celebration beloved brothers and sisters in the city of Jerusalem at somewhere about 445, 44 BC when Nehemiah came with the many who came and they rebuilt that wall.

It took some time and then there was a great celebration and the people of Israel celebrated what have happened in the building of the wall, in the setting up of the gates and things came to be in order. But you see if you and I would have read the book of Nehemiah it would be so nice to end in Nehemiah Nehemiah chapter 12 it looks like really the story has ended with a wonderful story but unfortunately beloved brothers and. Sisters that was really not the end of the story the book of Nehemiah takes us to another chapter to show us that even though things were well for a period of time then when we allow the enemy of God to attack us when we don't judge the flesh when we don't submit ourselves to the authority of the Lord it wouldn't take too long and the enemy seems to catch us and to grab us and pull us down and away from the things of the Lord we find out in this chapter 13 that really the story it's not ended in the way that we would have liked to hear the story and I would like to make my application into our own personal life and I trust all of us here are believers in the Lord Jesus the Messiah because without forgiveness of the person of the Lord for you and I we will never be right with God the Bible teaches us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

The Bible teaches us that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. And I trust all of us can say in our own hearts today, here in this room, I belong to the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, to Yeshua, Hamashiach. But listen, beloved brothers and sisters, even as believers who have accepted the Lord Jesus, who have accepted Yeshua, the Messiah, who died for our own sin, many times in our life we have a time when we depart from the way of the Lord. And yet the Bible tells us, whom the Lord loveth, He chastened us, and He scourges every son that He received.

And sometimes the Lord disciplines us, and He gives us a little spanking. Why? Because he loves us and he wants us to be restored to a fellowship with him, to enjoy his love for us as we have just have sung for God. So loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And therefore sometime the Lord allow us to experience some trial. Well, look what happened here. In chapter 13, we see the sad consequences of a lack of separation from that which is not honoring to the Lord. And we can see that there is consequences when we allow, when Israel allowed, and when you and I as believers allow sin to enter into our life, and when we turn away from the Lord and we do our own thing, it's somehow catching us.

It somehow eventually caused us to suffer loss in our spiritual growth. And so I want you to notice that in chapter 13, verses 1 to 14, we see Israel's lack of separation. And so we begin actually in verses 1, 2, and 3 that the Bible was read. The law was read just like it's read every Shabbat. You're going to go to a synagogue, you will find out that the law is read every Shabbat. The Torah is being read. Bereshit, Shmot, Vaikra, Bamidbar, Dvarim, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. You will notice that there is a cycle that the law is being read in the synagogue, just like it was read in the time of Nehemiah, just like you and I read this today in our meeting.

So notice verse 1 began, we find out of the reading of the book of Moses. On that day, they read in the book of Moshe, the book of Moses. In the audience of all the people, notice that there was a public reading of the word of the Lord. It is so important, that's why when we come every Shabbat, every time we meet together, there is a public reading of the word of God. And the public reading that happened to be here was happened to be reading the book of Deuteronomy. You remember that Moshe gave Israel the law, the Torah, and he wrote, the Lord used, of course, Moses to give Israel the five books of Moses.

And lo and behold, there is a public reading. Now, everybody was listening to the word of God. What does the word of God say? Look what the Bible says. They found out in verse 1, it says, And they read therein, and there was found written that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not come into the congregation of the Lord of Israel forever. By the way, I would like you to turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 23. It says there in verse 3 and verse 4, an Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord forever and then the reason he gives immediately in verse 4 why because they met you not with bread and with water in the way when ye came forth out of Egypt and because they have hired against thee Bilam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia to curse you.

You see when Israel came out of Egypt many years ago 3,500 years ago our own Jewish people were slaves in Egypt and when the Lord had redeemed the people of Israel and brought them out of the land of Egypt on the way as they were journeying towards the promised land just before they've entered into the land guess what happened this group of people in this case in chapter 13 here the ammonite and the moabite did not assist the people of Israel along the way in fact they gave them a hard time. They didn't provide for them bread and food on the way when Israel was hungry when Israel had many needs in those days and instead they inflicted upon them all sorts of things that were contrary to the will of God and not only so beloved brothers and sisters it says in verse 2 of Nehemiah chapter 13 not only so they called a man by the name of Bilaam and they said Bilaam you come here there are some people here that are just coming from Egypt they're on the way to Canaan we would like you to curse these people this nation of Israel in other words beloved brothers and sisters think about this God knows exactly what someone done to his own people and he says wait a minute these people that were supposed to assist the Jewish people when they came out of bondage instead of assisting them they inflicted upon them to go a long way not to be able to enter easier into the promised land not met their need with natural needs such as bread and water but.

Even more than just that they have hired a man by the name of Bilaam and they wanted him to curse the people of Israel now you know God remembers that God knows this very well and that's why God gave a command to Moses and the people of Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 23 he says to them listen Israel no Ammonite and no Moabite will ever enter to be among the people of Israel for the 10th generation and he had their end forever now of course you and I immediately asked the question well wait a minute wasn't Ruth a Moabitish woman well of course she was a Moabitish woman but you see what happened with Ruth Ruth rejected the false gods and Ruth said to Naomi your God shall be my God your people shall be my people and Ruth really truly became a woman of God who loved the God of Israel and therefore she could have come into the congregation of Israel.

But let me make an application for a. Moment. I would like you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 19. You remember what happened in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, where Lot went to Sodom and he lived there and he raised his family in Sodom. And you remember what happened there? It didn't take too long that he became one of the leaders of Sodom sitting at the gate and then God sent these angels of his to go to Sodom to give warning to Lot to come out of Sodom. Sodom is a picture of the world and its system will reject God but Lot's family in a sense kind of laughed at him.

His sons-in-law did not accept what he had to say and really what happened if you remember when those two angels came they appeared as men They went into Lot's house and you remember the whole men of Sodom wanted actually to take these men and to have sexual relationship with them, if you remember that. And then you remember what happened, that those angels blinded all the people of Sodom and took Lot out and immediately told them, listen, take your family and run out of the way, run out because we are going to judge the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. Well finally he went out his two daughters went out with him but there was his wife remember she looked back and instead of kind of running and fleeing out she looked back and she kind of felt like I don't want to leave I'm leaving all what I have there in Sodom and she turned into a pillar you remember that and she ended up to be fixed in one location because she simply rejected the invitation to leave and she looked backwards but you remember what happened in chapter 19 at the end of the chapter that Lot's daughters had caused their father to be drunk and both of them had a relationship with him.

And guess who are the two nations that were born as children of Lot? The two nations, Moab and Ammon. These are the very two nations that God gave a warning to our people Israel a Moabite and an Ammonite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. And you know, there's an amazing lesson, beloved brothers and sisters. The Moabites and an Ammonite are a picture of our own sinful nature. You remember what the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus in John chapter 3? Except a man be born again, he shall not enter into the kingdom of God. The Moabites and the Ammonite is a picture and a type of the human nature that you and I have.

It's like you might say the closest enemy to ourselves is our very own old nature. Even though we became born from above, born again, we belong to the Lord, we really experience in our life how often this old sinful nature constantly seeking to pull us down and to turn us away from the things of the Lord. No wonder the Apostle Paul said, I know that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. And this is a picture of our very own nature. And how often time we are struggling with it. And notice what happened exactly here in the history of our people. Israel often time has struggled when they allow themselves to carry on in their own path, in their own direction, just like you and I many times.

It happened to us in our very own life. And that's why God gave to Israel this warning. Israel, listen to me. I'm telling you, a Moabite and an Ammonite shall not enter into the congregation of Israel. Why? Here is the reason. Number one, they harmed you. And number two, they seek to curse you. When they raised that man by the name of Bilam, he was a false prophet. That on the way, and now I want you to turn with me to the book of Numbers for a moment, chapter 22. And I want you to see what happened in Numbers chapter 22 with that man by the name of Bilaam that Moab and Ammon raised him to come against the people of Israel.

Numbers 22 verse 1 said, And the children of Israel set forward, and they pitched in the plain of Moab, here is Moab again, on this side of Jordan by Jericho. And then Balak, the son of Tzipor, saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was so afraid of the people because there were many and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us as the ox licketh up the grass of the field? And Balak, the son of Tzipor, was the king of the Moabites at that time.

And look what he does verse 5 and on he sent messengers therefore unto Bilam the son of Beor to Petor which is by the river of the land of the children of his people to call him and look what he said to him behold there is a people they came out of Egypt behold they are covered the face of this earth and they abide over against me come now therefore I pray thee and curse me these people and you know beloved brothers and sisters Bilaam sought to curse the people of Israel four times and you notice what it says if you just turn the page to chapter 23 it says and Bilaam said unto Balak verse 1 build me therefore seven altars prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams and balak did as bilam has spoken and balak and bilam offered on every altar a bulak and a ram and bilam said unto balak stand by thy burnt offering and i will go maybe the Lord will come to meet me and whatsoever he shows me i will tell thee.

And he went to the high place and God met Bilaam and notice what it says and he said unto him I have prepared seven altars and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram and the Lord put a word in Bilaam's mouth and he said return unto Balak and thus you shall speak and Bilaam returned unto him and lo he stood by his burnt sacrifice he and all the priests of Moab and he took up a parable and he said Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram out of the mountains of the east saying come curse me Jacob and come defy Israel and so look how beautiful how the Lord works in Bilaam he says how shall I curse whom God has not cursed and how shall I defy whom the Lord has not defined how can i do that God did not curse these people i'm not going to be able to curse these people and God put words in his mouth and notice it said.

In the end of verse 9 Lord the people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations Israel is a unique nation that God had set them to dwell alone not because they are better not because they are superior than other nations of the world is because they are an elect nation and God in His wisdom sought to have them a separated nation that will be a blessing to the nations of the world. But did Israel fulfill what God had intended for them? The answer is no. Because Israel had failed to submit to the authority of the Lord and therefore we find out what happened over the generation to our very own nation, the nation of Israel.

So a Moabite and an Ammonite shall not enter into the congregation of Israel and it is a picture, beloved brothers and sisters, of our own sinful nature which we need to judge on an ongoing basis. And that's why, brothers and sisters, at times we have problems in church congregations and assemblies and fellowship because we don't judge the flesh. And we allow the flesh to rise up. And the flesh, we go with it to school and we go to work and we go home. We come to the meeting and wherever we go, this old symphoniesia is always with us. And that's why as we read Colossians chapter 3, in the reading it says to mortify it, to put it to death.

And as long as we allow it to have its own course, we are always going to lose out. And so the first three verses, Israel needed to separate themselves from the Moabites and the Ammonites. And so notice what it says here in verse 3. Israel acted now by separating from that which was contrary to the will of God. And so we read in verse 3. Now it came to pass when they have heard the law that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude. Now, again, I would like to make an application here for us. You see, the mixed multitude is a problem not because they are mixed multitudes.

It's because they always seem to draw Israel further from the Lord. It's one thing if they have been brought closer to the God of Israel, But it is another thing if the ordinary Israeli being pulled away from the God of Israel. If we will talk about it as believers today in Yeshua the Messiah, we are also called to separate from that which is not consistent with the will of God. It's another thing we want to reach with the gospel. We want to bring people to Yeshua the Messiah. It's one thing to lead a person to the Lord and to have him part of the family of God, But it is altogether another story when that unbelieving individual pull away the people of God out from being in fellowship with the Lord.

And this lesson is really important for us to learn how many a time, brothers and sisters, we've failed the Lord by not submitting to his authority. And here's the condition of Israel in chapter 13, verses 1, 2, and 3. But notice that it's not only this. Because immediately in verses 4 and 5, you can see that there's another reason here that brought about this sad condition among the people of Israel that was a wrong alliance of the high priest with an enemy of Israel. Look at this. And I'm reading verses 4 and 5. It says, And before this, notice that even before this condition existed, El-Yashiv, the priest having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tuvaya.

And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat offering and the frankincense and the vessels, and the tithe of the corn and of the new wine and of the oil, which was commended to be given to the Levites and the singers and the porters and the offerings of the priest. Now look what happened now. Here's a big problem. Because now the high priest of Israel, his name was El Yashiv. It's two Hebrew words. El means God. Yashiv means will return back, will return us back. What a beautiful name. His name was God will turn us back to himself. He will restore us.

But even he, because he was not submissive to the word of the Lord. Look what he did here. As it says, he was allied with Tuviyah. And who was Tuviyah? We have read this many, many times in our study of this book of Nehemiah. Tuviyah was an enemy of Israel. Go back to Nehemiah chapter 2 with me. In verse 10 and 19 we read, in verse 10 he says, When Sanballat the Horonite and Tuviyah the servant, notice he was an Ammonite, When they heard it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. You know, when Nehemiah came to rebuild the walls of the city of Jerusalem, this man by the name of Tuviyah, who was an Ammonite, it grieved him.

He was not happy that the Jewish people came to rebuild the wall and to set up the gates in Jerusalem. Just the same beloved brothers and sisters like many who are opposing the gospel are not happy to see when the body of Messiah is growing and people come in to become part of the family of God. They are not happy. And therefore he was not happy. Notice a little bit further in chapter 2 and verse 19. We read, But when Sanbali the Horonite and Tuviyad the servant of the Ammonites and Geshem the Arabian heard that they laughed us to scorn and they despised us and they said what is this thing that you do will you rebel against the king see when Israel was coming to be ready to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem they were mocking those Jewish people Tuvaya was not a friend of Israel and you know brothers and sisters sometime when we are not careful we allow ourselves to have others who oppose the gospel and oppose Yeshua HaMashiach and oppose the word of God we make alliance with them and we end up instead of drawing them to the Lord they end up to draw the people of God away from the Lord and that's what really happened here this is exactly what happened here and how this Tuvaya managed to be a friend with the high priest and draw him away the high priest should have been you know the one who will give instruction to the people of.

Israel but instead of doing so the opposite have happened now Tuvaya is mentioned many many times in the book of Nehemiah in chapter 4 in chapter 6 in chapter 7 and in here this 13th chapter He mentioned again and again as the enemy of the people of God. And therefore it was wrong by the high priest to make an agreement with him. And where does he put him? Where does he put him? He put him right in the house of God. And he prepared for him a chamber, a room, where all the things that belonged to the work of the Lord used to be there. It says here the meal offering, the frankincense, the vessels, the tithes, the corn, the wine, the oil.

And therefore what was belonged to the Levites, he kind of set it aside and he placed Tuviyah right in the midst of the people of Israel in the temple in the city of Jerusalem. Line. And guess what? No wonder the condition in Israel had been so bad because Tuviah was successful in influencing the people of Israel against the ways of the Lord. Well, verse 4 in the book of Jude says that, for there are certain men crept in unaware, who were before of old ordained unto this condemnation, ungodly men turning the grace of God into lasciviousness and denying the Holy Lord God and our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

It's exactly the same and we know very well that in church history in the assembly history it happened the very same way and many times when we fail it's our own fault when we are not on guard when we're not submitting to the word of God we allow this to happen in the midst of their assembly. So we find out verses 1 to 3, the separation from the Moabites and the Ammonites. We find out in verses 4 and 5, the wrong alliance that happened between the high priest of Israel and Tuviyat, the enemy of the people of God. Well, what do you think Nehemiah. Is going to do? Nehemiah could say, maybe like you and I said, what's the use?

I'm doing my own thing they have gone wrong you know I've been away for a while you know I mean I did my best you know and he could have kind of washed his hands and he could say I don't care let them have their own consequences of what they are doing I was trying my best I did the thing and therefore I'll just leave them alone and he could have gone on back to Persia and leave these Jewish people with their wrongdoing to carry on in their own merry way but Nehemiah was not so brothers and sisters. Nehemiah was a man that was raised by God.

That's why his name called the comfort of Jehovah. He was a man that said, listen, I have decided I'm going to use my life here for the God of Israel, for the people of Israel. I want to be a blessing to the people. Of God. So he acted upon it. He took a decision. And so in verse 6 on, look at this, brothers and sisters in verse 6 7 8 and 9 Nehemiah began to cleanse the temple notice in verse 6 Nehemiah was away from Jerusalem for a while but now he returned back and notice what he says he's very clear here in our chapter in verse 6 he said but in all this time was not I at Jerusalem in other word, all these things that occurred then and there were when Nehemiah was not there.

And you know, it's always like that, isn't it? That's why God raised men among the people of Israel, men and women, godly men and women, to assist our own people. And that's why God raised brothers and sisters in the church age to care for the flock of God. But when the shepherd is not there, the sheep go astray. It's always like that, isn't it? Isaiah said in chapter 53 about Israel, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. That's the way we are. We are like sheep. That's why we need always someone to appreciate. And by the way, I didn't point to that, but you notice here, here is Jerusalem and Israel the land of Israel and you notice the you find the kingdom of moab and the king of amon and when Israel came from Egypt to enter into the promised land and they enter somewhere here they didn't let them enter in they had to pass through the land of moab and amon but.

They didn't let them cross in an easy way and they had those issues that gave them problem the moabite and the ammonite i didn't point to that earlier but this is so interesting to see that and beloved brothers and sisters when Nehemiah left the land he left the city of Jerusalem here is the city of Jerusalem he went back for a little while to the king of Persia because after all he gave him some time and all the time when he was not there trouble have happened that's why you know I tell you the truth. I thank God for godly men that I sat under over the years, that you can see how they watch over their flock, how they care for sound teaching in the midst of the congregation, how they care for the welfare of the brothers and sisters.

And when they are away, they are concerned how the brethren are doing. And thank God for these people that the Lord put into our life to help us because we are all like sheep that are inclined to go astray from. The Lord so Nehemiah began by dealing with the problems and so in verse 6 we find out that he was not there because in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes a king of Babylon came iron to the king in other words he left Jerusalem he went after 12 years that he was in the land of Israel He returned back to Babylon, to Persia, and then he asked for a leave of absent again.

And so he comes back, and what does he see? The Ammonite, the Moabites have crept in. The man by the name of Tuvaiah is now living in the temple. The high priests make an alliance with him. The people of Israel in disarray. The Lord's law and commandments are not obeyed. The people of Israel in a bad state and so he says I'm going to do something about it and so notice in verse 7 upon his return Amaya now understood all that evil and I want you to notice the Bible calls it evil it says in verse 7 and I came to Yerushalayim and I understood of the evil in Hebrew Ra'ah that Eliashiv did for Tuviyah in preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.

He's coming and saying, what is going on, El Yashiv? You allow Tuviyah, who was our enemies all along, he didn't want us to build the walls of the city of Jerusalem, you allow him now to be right in the house of God. You give him a chamber, a room right there when all the things that belong to God, the tithing and so on, not even have a place to be there but to Viya have a place to be there so he was not happy whatsoever and you notice what he did brothers and sisters it says here in the next verse and we are reading now verses 8 and 9 he cleansed the temple in the city of Jerusalem we read it grieved me sore you know he acted in a very you might say aggressive way and so he cast forth all the household staff of Tuvaya out of the chamber and I commended that they cleansed the chambers and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God with the meal offering and the frankincense you know first of all you notice that it grieved him in his heart he was a spiritual man he was a man who wanted to honor the Lord and he hurt him in his heart when he saw listen what's.

Going on God is not honored the people of God are not living for the Lord things are wrong here what is going on I left you for a while and look what's going on this is what you call in biblical terminology righteous indignation you know sometimes we get angry because somebody hurt me and told something bad about you and I and maybe treated you bad and we get angry and sometimes this anger is not righteous at all it's very selfish anger but here beloved brothers and sisters we find out that Nehemiah had what is called righteous indignation he was very very much sad because of what went on here in the temple in Jerusalem so he cast off the household staff of Tuviah out of the chamber he commanded that they will cleanse the chambers and And thither he brought back all the vessels.

Can you imagine what Israel did? They take the vessels that are supposed to serve God. They put it outside the temple. And to bring Tuviyan, they set him with a nice chamber right in the temple in the city of Jerusalem. What a condition have existed there among the people of Israel. Now turn with me please to John chapter 2 and verse 13, 14, 15 and 16. I just wanted to see what Yeshua, the Messiah himself, did when he came to the very same temple some years later. And I'm reading. And the Jewish Passover was at hand. And Yeshua, that is Jesus, he went up to Jerusalem and he found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and dove and the changes of money sitting.

And then verse 15 said, And when he had made scourge of small cord, he drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen. And he poured out the changes of money and overthrew the tables. And he said unto them that sold the dove, he said, take these things hence. Make not my father's house a house of merchandise. Yeshua himself, when he came to the temple, he saw what they were doing at the temple in Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago. And he immediately chased everyone out. He was angry, but it was righteous indignation. It was an anger that was for the glory of the Lord.

It was an anger that was unique because he didn't want those things to happen in the house of the Lord. Well, here it is the same thing. Nechemiah, in some small way, as it says here, he was very grieved. It grieved him so, and he commanded them that they will cleanse the chamber of the house of God. And so you can see that he's acting upon the condition that existed there. And sometimes, brothers and sisters, wondering sometimes about you and I, you know, we are not always so tender and sensitive to realize that when we gather together, we gather around the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah.

He is the center, and we ought to honor Him. We ought to seek to be a blessing to our brothers and sisters. And therefore, we also need to seek to maintain order in the house of the Lord. And the Lord will bless us. The Lord will honor us. When we honor Him, He will honor His own people. Well, let's draw in towards the end of the message for today. In verses 10 to verse 14. Nehemiah restored the portion that belonged to the servants of the Lord. Now look what happened. We read in verse 10 that he noticed what happened to the servants of the Lord. You see, when Tuvaiah came in and when the high priest Eliashiv allowed him to come into the house of the Lord and to have a room in the chamber, well, those who used to serve there, they left.

They couldn't continue. So it says in verse 10 of Nehemiah chapter 13, I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them. For the Levites and the singers that did the work and they fled everyone unto his own field. Now can you imagine the servants, the Levites, instead of serving now in the temple in Yerushalayim, they left the temple. In fact, it says here that they fled away. They probably went because Tuvai had chastened them. And they said, well, we cannot serve the Lord. They were not taken care of by the tithing of the people of Israel in those days. So they left everything and they went, I got to take care of myself.

I got to work in the field. So they left and they ended up working in the field. But they were called to be the servant of God. They were called to be serving among the people of God. You know, the other day I heard that how many pastors in a professing church today leave the ministry because they are not being supported, they are oftentimes being discouraged, and many times they cannot sustain themselves, and they are so discouraged because of the opposition of the people of God that they say, well, I don't need that. I'm going to go back to a secular Job and I'm going to continue on, live my life.

And they are not coming back to ministry. How many spiritual leaders in the body of Messiah today are so discouraged because they are not being able to continue on in the ministry? Can you imagine here the Levites, the singers, had to run away to work in the field because they couldn't keep on doing their own ministry. In verse 11 Nehemiah asked the leaders, why do you forsake the house of the Lord? Then contended I with the rulers and I said, why is the house of God forsaken? As I gathered them together and I set them in their place. Nehemiah was acting upon, he said, look what is going on.

Look at the condition. The people of God are in such a bad shape. The spiritual leaders are working in the field away from doing their work. And look what's going on. And the house of God suffers. And so Nehemiah continues. And now verses 12 and 13. Now the people of Judah, the people of Israel responded. They were pricked in their hearts. And the Lord spoke to them. And so we read that all the people of Judah responded to that. They did not say carelessly, well, we don't care anymore. But you notice there was a response. It says in verse 12 and 13, And then brought all Judah the tithe of corn and new wine and oil unto the treasuries.

And I made the treasurers over the treasuries, Shalamiah, the priest, and Tzedok, the scribe of the Levites, Pedaiah, and next to them was Hanan, the son of Zachur, the son of Mataniah, for they were counted faithful. And their office was to distribute unto their brethren. And you notice they were faithful men. We need so much today, people who are faithful to serve the Lord. Faithful in many areas. You know, brothers and sisters, we know very well that if some of the brothers and sisters would not participate in preparing for this meeting here on every Friday and every Shabbat, we would never have what we have today.

It's because there are faithful brothers and sisters that say, listen, the Lord has privileged me to take responsibility, and I want to do it as unto the Lord. Maybe I'm not appreciated at time enough, but I'm going to carry on and do so. I've decided to serve my Lord, my Messiah Yeshua, and therefore we have been for years having those regular ongoing meetings. And why? It's not because of one man. Is because of many that participated over the years and have been faithful. They say, listen, we are going to carry on with it. We believe that the word of the Lord is taught and we want to honor the Lord and we want to learn from the things of the Lord.

And many have responded to that. And we are so grateful for these brothers and sisters. They're like the Levites here. That says, listen, we're going to come back and do the things that the Lord has called us to do. And so in order that they brought it to the chamber and that the people of God, the servant of the Lord, could be sustained. And so how precious it is. We find that, and now brothers and sisters, listen to the last verse. And I want to kind of conclude with this remark. Nehemiah was asking the God of Israel to remember what he did. Interesting, we find here in verse 14, Nehemiah says, Remember me, O my God.

In Hebrew, zichrali. Remember me, O my God, concerning this. And wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for the offices thereof. Nehemiah kind of turned around, you might say, in a moment of prayer. And you and I might say, well, Nehemiah, don't be so selfish and ask the Lord to remember what the Lord has done for you. Nehemiah, don't do so. But Nehemiah did so because he knew that he wanted to please the Lord and he knew that by praying, that by asking the Lord to remember, he will actually, in a sense, remind God, not that God needed, God will not forget, but to remind God that he is really a blessing to the people of God.

And by saying this, remember me, oh my God, concerning this. He wanted that the Lord will be honored as he served him among the people of Israel. And it's so beautiful to see because the word remember me is mentioned three times in connection with Nehemiah here in this chapter. Notice that in verse 22 at the end, remember me, oh my God, concerning this also. Notice verse 31 at the end of this chapter. Remember me, oh my God, for good. The Hebrew word is zichrali or zechor. Remember. And you know, brothers and sisters, the lesson here that we can learn for ourselves today is that the Lord does know how we live our lives as believers.

You know, one day, we are going to all stand at the judgment seat of the Messiah. This is only for believers. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of the Mashiach. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. And the Lord is going to check with us. He's going to show us what we have done for Him. And you know, many times, unfortunately, when we think of ourselves, many times we lose out the blessings that the Lord intends to give us because we do not live our life for the Lord. But at the judgment seat of the Messiah, only what was done for the Lord will last. Whatever is not done for the Lord will be burned with fire and completely erased because God is not pleased with it.

I was reading this morning one verse of a poem that was written many years ago. And the poem writer wrote, Only one life, it will soon be passed. Only what done for Christ, for the Messiah, will last. And when I am dying, how happy I will be if the lamp of my life has been burnt for thee. You know, brothers and sisters, listen. I know we don't take the time seriously. But we only live one life. Soon every one of us will pass out of this sin and we know it very well. Some of our brothers and sisters who used to sit right in this room are no longer with us.

We're going to have to meet the Lord one day. And the Lord wants to appeal to our own heart. He says, listen, how do you live your life? Is Yeshua precious to you? Do you realize the price that he paid in order to save you? You realize that he died on a cruel tree on a cross for every sin that you have sinned? Do you realize that? And therefore, how do you respond to that? Do you take Yeshua only as your Savior that gives you a ticket to go to heaven? Or do you also take Him as your Master and Lord and the one that is the best friend that you will ever have?

And the Lord wants us to have the Lord Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah, in our life, not only for a season. He wants us to enjoy Him because only one life. And it will soon be passed. Only what done for the Messiah will last. And when you are dying, will you be happy to know that the lamp of your life had been burnt for him? That's the question that we all have to ask ourselves. And that's why Nehemiah says to the Lord, Lord, he says, God, remember me, oh my God, for good. And you know, the Lord will remember everything that we have done for him.

He remembered that and He will bless us when we serve Him, not only in eternity, but even here and now as we bless the people of God and we seek to be like this man by the name of Nehemiah, the comfort of Jehovah. May the Lord help us to serve Him until His soon return.