Shabbat Shalom. Please open your Bibles to Nehemia chapter 13. We read from verses 15 to verse 31. This is the last message on the beautiful book of Nehemia. This Hebrew man that had on his heart to come back from Persia in order to rebuild the walls of the city of Yerushalayim and to set up the gates thereof. And he was so faithful that he did so in his work using the rest of the Jewish people who were in the land. They built the wall and the final chapter 13 is rather a sad chapter because it shows us how failure is rising up again and again among God's people. Whether it is Israel, our people historically, or whether it is among the body of Messiah, among the believers in the church age.

We can see how failure is part and parcel in the lives of God's people and how God desires constantly to remind us to be closer to him. So we read in Nehemia chapter 13 and verse 15. In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the Shabbat and bringing in sheaves and lading asses as also wine, grapes and figs, and all manner of burdens which they brought into Jerusalem on the Shabbat day. And I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein which brought fish and all manner of wear and sold on the Shabbat unto the children of Judah and in Jerusalem.

Then I contended with the nobles of Judah and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do and profane the Shabbat day? Did not your father thus? And did not our God bring all this evil upon us and upon this city? Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Shabbat. And it came to pass when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Shabbat, I commended that the gates should be shut and charged that they should not be opened till after the Shabbat. And some of my servants set I at the gates that there should no burden be brought in on the Shabbat day.

So the merchants and sellers of all kinds of will lodged without Jerusalem once or twice. Then I testified against them and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? If ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the Shabbat. And I commended the Levites that they should cleanse themselves and that they should come and keep the gates to sanctify the Shabbat day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy. In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab.

And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, even him did outlandish women cause sin.

Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil? To transgress against our God, in marrying strange wives? And one of the sons of Yoyadah, the son of Eliashiv, the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanbalat, the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me. Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites. Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed the words of the priests and the Levites, everyone in his business. And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the first fruits, remember me, O my God, for good. This is the word of the Lord.

As we read Nehemiah chapter 13, we find it rather sad in the last days of our people Israel, before the Messiah came. In fact, beloved brothers and sisters, the book of Nehemiah was written at the time when Nehemiah came from Persia. And he returned back, and the book of Nehemiah was written actually as the last book in the Tanakh, in the Old Testament. Of course, we know that the book of Malachi is written at that time as well. But Malachi and Zechariah and Haggai preached to the returned remnant who came back from Persia. And later on, more than 70 years, others came back. Can you imagine? You would assume that things will be rather well after a time of being away from the Lord.

And you find out that in Nehemiah chapter 13, there is rather a sad conclusion here to this servant of the Lord, the book of Nehemiah. 400 years later, guess who is going to come? The Mashiach Yeshua is going to come, and he is the one who will present himself as the Messiah of Israel. After 400 years of silence, the Messiah would arrive, and John the Baptizer will say, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of this world." And unfortunately, when the Mashiach Yeshua came, Israel, as a nation, did not accept him as our Messiah, our Savior, and our Lord. And so, chapter 13 is rather a sad conclusion to the book of Nehemiah.

By the end of chapter 12, they were celebrating the building of the wall. They were marching on the wall of Jerusalem. They were singing praises to the God of Israel. Things were rather well. And then Nehemiah went away for a short time. And when he comes back, what does he find? You notice, by the way, in chapter 13 and verse 6, "But in all this time was I not in Jerusalem. For in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes, the king of Babylon, came I unto the king. After a certain days obtained I a leave from the king. And I came to Jerusalem and understood the evil that was going on there." Now imagine, you can just understand Nehemiah.

Rebuild the wall. He set up the gates. He has encouraged the people of Judah to be restored to the Lord. And things seem to be good for a while. But when he left, it didn't take too long and things have crept in. And the people of Israel, the people of Judah, departed from the ways of the Lord. If you remember, we pointed out to a few things that happened in those days that Nehemiah was not there. In chapter 13, verses 1-3, they took a Moabite and an Ammonite's wives for themselves. Then they made alliance with the priests and some of the people of Samaria that were there.

Then Nehemiah had to re-clean the temple again and to dedicate this to the Lord in verses 6-9. And the last point that we find out in verses 10-14, he restored the portion that belonged to God's servants. In fact, what happened is that God's servants gave up on ministering the word of God among God's people. Judah, the Jewish people, because others have crept in, took their place, and the Levites could no longer serve among the people of Israel. And so now, beloved brothers and sisters, in these verses 15 to verse 31, I want to highlight a few more things that were really problematic when Nehemiah returned and he found out that things were going on in the land of Israel.

The first thing I want you to note is that it was important for our Jewish people of all to maintain and to keep the day that God has dedicated to the nation of Israel, the seventh day of the week called the Shabbat in Hebrew. This is the only name that any day is given in the Bible to a certain day. The words Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday are not biblical names. In Hebrew, we call them the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day, the sixth day. And the only day that has a name in the Hebrew scripture is the seventh day, and it is called Shabbat.

God made a covenant with our people of all, the people of Israel, and he gave Israel as a nation this Shabbat as a sign of the covenant that he made with his beloved nation, the nation of Israel. So when Nehemiah comes back, after being away for a while, not only that things were wrong in other areas, but he discovered that the Shabbat day, which ought to be hallowed by the nation of Israel, was not. And so in verses 15, 16, 17, and 18, he described the violation of the Shabbat day by our nation of all, the nation of Israel. Well, let me tell you, I just came back, of course, from Israel.

And of course, you find that when the Shabbat day comes, the stores are not open. The buses do not run. The people do not go to work. The religious community is going to the synagogue. They do not have any money of work in their life. They don't hold money in their hands. They do nothing of a sort, but simply devoting that day to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's not being done by all our people, the people of Israel, but the conservative people surely devote themselves to keep the Shabbat day unto the Lord. And the rabbis, over the years, the generations, they took the verses from the Bible, and they added certain regulations how to keep the Shabbat day.

And there is about 1500 instructions on how to keep a Shabbat day unto the Lord. But the God of Israel gave clear instruction to Israel how to maintain the day for him. And so you notice, as I'm reading, what Nehemiah tells us in verse 15. In those days, some of the people, instead of devoting this day to the Lord, they find themselves working, carrying all sorts of things, buying and selling on that very day that God had instructed Israel to keep unto him hallowed. Listen to this. In those days saw I in Judah some treading winepress on the Shabbat. And bringing in sheep and lading asses, as also wine and grapes and figs, and all manner of burdens which they brought into Jerusalem on the Shabbat day.

And I testify against them in the day wherein they sold the victuals. Now, can you imagine? The people of Israel who were called to hallow the Shabbat day find themselves buying and selling and carrying and doing all sorts of things on that day that God has asked them under the law, Exodus chapter 20, "This day will be hallowed by you, people of Israel." Look with me in Exodus chapter 20, verse 7. We read in verse 7, "And God said to Israel when he gave them the Torah, the law, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord thy God not will hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." But notice verse 8.

"Remember the Shabbat day to keep it only." "Lekadesh" in Hebrew. "To set it apart." "Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work." But notice how God mentioned the seventh day is, and he's giving it the name here, the Shabbat of the Lord thy God. "In it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates." Verse 11 said, "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Shabbat day, and he hallowed it." "Israel have received a command from the Lord not to do any manner of work on that Shabbat day." But Nehemiah coming back after being away, and what does he see?

"Some treading wine presses, bringing sheaves, lading the donkeys, as also wine, grapes, figs, and all manner of burden, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Shabbat day." So what does Nehemiah have to do? See, Nehemiah lived in the last days before there was a silent of 400 years between the days of Nehemiah and Malachi, until the days when the Messiah has come, and what does he do? He is charging and challenging those Jewish individuals that act in such a way. You know, Nehemiah lived in those days. He understood God's command for them, and he submitted himself to this. And he expected the people of Judah to do so in the same way.

And so he charged them, he testified against them. Notice, he says, "Listen, if the Lord have instructed our people of Israel to keep their day unto him, we must remember that we are to submit to his authority." Now go to Exodus chapter 35. There's an additional instruction for Israel. In chapter 31, he mentioned that this is the sign of the covenant that God made with the nation of Israel. And here in chapter 35, the first few verses, the Lord continued to give instruction to Israel through Moses. And Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and he said unto them, "These are the words which the Lord has commanded that ye should do them." Notice verse 2 and verse 3.

"Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a Shabbat of rest to the Lord." Listen how strict it was. "Whosoever does work therein shall be put to death." Look at verse 3. "Shall kindle no fire throughout your habitation upon the Shabbat day." It was not a suggestion for Israel of all. It was a command. If one does not keep the Shabbat or do any manner of work, he is going to put to death. One could not even light a fire on a Shabbat day. Numbers chapter 15 tells us that he was stoned when he did such a thing on the Shabbat day.

That was even long before the rabbis gave interpretation to this. This was a biblical instruction by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And so Nehemiah is acting upon it. He says, "Listen, this is the command from the Lord, you cannot do so." And so we read in verse 16 that it was not only that the Israelis have done so, but at that time they were mingling and affiliating with the nations around them. In verse 16 we find out that some men from a place called Tyre or Tzor in Hebrew. This is present-day Lebanon. It says they came and they knew that they could do so. And so what did they do?

Verse 16, "There dwelled men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish and all men of wear and sold on the Shabbat unto the children of Judah and in Jerusalem." Can you imagine? You know, they say, "Okay, well, if the people of Judah are themselves buying and selling and working and so on, well, we can do business also." So we're going to bring fish from Tyre, from Tzor, from Lebanon, and also all men of wear, all kinds of things to sell, and we're going to sell them on a Shabbat day. So they bring it to the city of Yerushalayim and they were selling it to the people of Judah, to the people of Israel.

Now, of course, beloved brothers and sisters, if the people of Israel violate God's law or God's word, well, the people of the nations around them will do so the same. For them, it doesn't matter because it didn't apply to them. They say, "Well, we're going to make some business with the people of Judah and we're going to bring the stuff and we can sell it to them in the city of Yerushalayim." I want to remind you that earlier, before Nehemiah had gone to Persia for a while to the king, they already made a commitment that they are not going to violate God's word, but they did it again.

If you just go back in Nehemiah to chapter 10, and notice what it says in verse 31, "In those days the people, the priests and the Levath already made a covenant with God." And we read here in verse 31, "If the people of the land bring wear or victuals on a Shabbat day to sell, we would not buy it of them on the Shabbat or on a holy day, that we would leave the seventh year and the exaction of every death." In other words, they are saying to them, "Listen, they made a commitment already to God, like you and I many times make a commitment to the Lord." "Lord, I'm not going to do so, I promise you, I'm going to commit myself, we are faithful in doing so, but it doesn't take too long and we break our commitment to the Lord." The priests and the Levites and the people of Israel already a few years earlier devoted themselves, they said, "We will not buy and sell from the people of the land who are going to come from Tyre and elsewhere, we are not going to do so." But they violated God's word, it didn't take too long.

"Are we any better? Are we superior to them?" We know very well how often times we as believers in Yeshua the Messiah, in this present day dispensation, fail the Lord many, many times. How often times we are not submitting to His authority, and we are not better, we just can see what Israel have done in the past, we too do so in this present day. And that's why the Apostle Paul said all these things happened unto them. As an example for you and I, 1 Corinthians 10, Romans 15:4 "Whatever things happened a fourth time were written for our learning." We can learn from their experience and apply this to ourselves.

So in verse 15, some of our Jewish people have done so. In verse 16, some of the goyim of the Gentiles from Tyre have done so on the Shabbat day. Now in verse 17 and 18, Nehemiah contended with the nobles of Judah. And so we read, "And I contended with the nobles of Judah. And I said unto them, "What evil thing is this that you do to profane the Shabbat day?" You know, it became an evil. In Hebrew we call it "ra" or "ra'ah". They are doing in violating and maintaining the Shabbat day. That's why sometimes brothers and sisters, some of our Jewish people, and I remember that in my life with my grandfather, who was so strong in keeping the Shabbat day to the extent that he will not allow any one of us that was within his area to violate this.

Shabbat day, you are not working. Shabbat day, you are going to the synagogue. Shabbat day, you are keeping to the Lord. Shabbat day, you cannot do certain things that you do on the six days of the week. And he was so strong in that. His mother as well was preparing the Shabbat. The Shabbat is like a bride that was coming to be accepted by our Jewish people. Over the years it had been introduced in such a way. And so Nehemiah said to the nobles, why are you doing this evil thing, you profaning the Shabbat day. And by the way, those nobles, it's called Chorei Yehuda.

These are the leaders of Israel, the nobles. They did not set the example. And the word contended come from the word Lariv or Ariva. He was fighting and arguing with them because he took the word of God for what it says. And he challenged them. And so he reminded them. You know, brothers and sisters, again, in Israel history, and in the body of Messiah's history, it's the same old story. All the time when things happen to us in our lives that lead us astray from God, it happened before. And if we haven't learned from the past, the Lord will allow us to learn from experience.

And he said to them in verse 18, Did not your fathers, thus, didn't they do the same thing? And did not our God bring all this evil upon us? And upon this city? Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Shabbat. He says, Don't you remember, brethren, he's saying to them, the reason that we were in Babel, the reason that God brought Nebuchadnezzar and sent us to Babel for 70 years, our fathers, is because the very same thing, a disobedience to the word of God. And we, you and I can say this, as believers in the body of Messiah, believers in Yeshua the Messiah, how many times when we disobey the word of the Lord, whether it is in one area or another, that he gave us instruction in the Brit HaChadashah, he allowed us to experience the consequence of disobedience.

And when we don't obey, we know that in our own life, when we don't obey, and we don't learn from mistakes that our fathers have done, or other believers have done in the past, we repeat the very same thing, and then later on we say, Lord, I should have not done that, I should have think before, I should have prayed before, I should have waited on you, I should have submitted to your authority. You remember King Saul, Shmuel had to tell him, obedience is better than sacrifice. Saul, if you would obey the word of the Lord, you would have not lose the kingdom. But he didn't obey and he lost the kingdom.

He played a fool. He thought he knew better than God. And unfortunately we are not different than this. Turn to the prophet Jeremiah with me for a second. He reminded Israel about the fact that our fathers have done so in the past. And that's the reason why they found themselves in Babel, because God has judged the people of Judah when they disobey his word. Look at Jeremiah chapter 17 in verse 21. He says those words. Thus says the Lord, Israel, Take heed to yourself, and bear no burden on the Shabbat day, nor bring it in by the gates of Yerushalayim. Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Shabbat day, neither do ye any work.

But hallow ye the Shabbat day, as I commended your fathers. But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ears, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction. And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring ye no burden through the gates of this city on a Shabbat day, but hallowed the Shabbat day, to do no work therein. Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes, sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, this city shall remain forever.

But brothers and sisters, they didn't obey. Their city was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. The temple was burned by Nebuchadnezzar. Our Jewish people of all were carried to Babel by Nebuchadnezzar. Look what it says in verse 26. And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from the places about Jerusalem and from the land of Binyamin and from the plain and from the mountains and from the south, bringing burnt offering and sacrifices and meal offering and incense and bringing sacrifices of praise unto the house of the Lord. But if ye shall not hearken unto me, to hallowed the Shabbat day and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Yerushalayim on a Shabbat day, then will haikindle, listen to that, a fire in the gates thereof and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched.

Well, in 586 BC, it did happen. Jerusalem was burnt with fire. Our Jewish people end up to be in Babel in Babel because they violated the word of the Lord. And so listen, the Shabbat day in biblical days were commended by the Lord to be kept. And Israel as a nation was obliged to submit to the authority of the Lord. But when they didn't, the judgment of God came. Now again, I know we're living in the last days of the church age and there are many views about the Shabbat. Should the Shabbat be applied to the believers today or not? And all these things, every one of us have our own view.

I'm going to tell you just what I understand from Scripture. Instead, this applied to us today in the body of Messiah. Do you think the Lord will not judge us as he said it to the people of Israel in those days? Anyone will do any man of work on a Shabbat day, shall be destroyed, shall be killed. And so there's no if and but in those days when the Lord gave this command to the people of Israel. God did judge his people and ultimately they found themselves by the rivers of Babylon. But if we will just listen to this situation, understand its application to Israel as a nation and ask the Lord what applied to us.

How can we learn from that? We understand that when we disobey the Lord, whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and he scourges every son whom he received. The Lord will discipline us in various areas that we have clear instruction in the Brit HaChadasha, in the new covenant. When we violate it, he will deal with us as well. And so the first verses, 15, 16, 17, and 18, we find out the violation of the Shabbat day by the people of Israel. And listen, these are the return remnant. It's not only the one who came in when they came out of Egypt. These are the return remnant who already came in, they rebuilt the wall, they set up the gates, the temple was there, and now they are already in this high point of enjoyment of the things of the Lord.

And yet quickly decline comes. And you know why? Because they have a sin nature the same way like you and I have. And unless we are close to the Lord, to Yeshua the Messiah, the sinful nature that we have is capable of leading us astray, just like it led them astray. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, there are so many lessons to learn. And let me just read you a verse from the book of Colossians, how the Lord, through Paul, encouraged us to set our affection on the Lord and His word. Notice that in Colossians chapter 3, Paul said in the first verses, "If ye then are risen with the Messiah, seek those things which are above, where the Messiah sitteth, on the right hand of God, set your affection on things above and not on the things on the earth.

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with the Messiah, with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." In other words, the only way that a believer in Yeshua the Messiah can maintain some measure of separation and the life that is pleasing to Him is only dependent where our affection are. See, they set their affection far away from the Lord, from the God of Israel, and they end up to be led back to the same old habits like you and I when we are setting our affection on other things rather than on our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

Well, brothers and sisters, look what we read now. We are back to Nehemiah chapter 13, verses 19 to 22 now. Nehemiah is acting in promoting the observance of the Shabbat by the Jewish community. And so we read in verse 19. Notice what he does. He first of all commend to close the gates when the Shabbat enters in. It came to pass when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Shabbat before the Shabbat I commended that the gates should be shut and charged that they should not be opened till after the Shabbat and some of my servants set I at the gates that there should no burden be brought in on the Shabbat day.

The first thing that he does, Nehemiah, he first of all shut the doors to enter to the city of Jerusalem just when it gets dark. You see, you know very well that from even to even Israel is to celebrate their Shabbat days. In other words, Shabbat enters in not at midnight. Shabbat enters in already on Friday or the sixth day of the week when it's getting darker and the sun is down. That's when the Shabbat began. And so you notice how carefully, it's so beautiful to see in verse 19 and it came to pass when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark. The Hebrew it says, Ka'asher tzalelu sharei Yerushalayim.

When the gates of Jerusalem all of a sudden became dark meaning that the sun was going down. And Nehemiah said, wait a minute, we are just in preparation for the Shabbat. Let's shut the gates of Jerusalem. You know, it's so beautiful because there is a special feeling that you get in Israel again, especially in Yerushalayim when the Shabbat comes in. Not by everywhere because not everyone specifically takes this seriously but you notice that. Everybody who work leave work in the afternoon. They go to the market to the shuk. They buy food for the Shabbat day. The wife in the house, she already washed all the floors and she prepared because Shabbat is coming.

She set up this nice white cloth on the table and the food is being prepared because Shabbat is coming. coming. And you feel it, your senses. Everybody quickly is in a rush because the Shabbat is coming, the sun is coming down. Let's prepare because God has instructed us to keep the Shabbat. Again, it's very vivid for me in my personal life how my grandmother, my grandfather will prepare for the Shabbat and my parents and I will walk. You don't drive anymore. we would walk to our grandparents for the Shabbat day. The table is set and we all are ready to come to welcome the Shabbat day.

It has a very special feeling for us who experience this in our life. and the men taking their Torah in their hand and they are ready to go for the Friday night Shabbat meeting visit and there they will sing the praises and welcome the Shabbat and the Shabbat will enter in. see what happened all of a sudden the Shabbat was not distinguished from the ordinary day and therefore Nehemiah did one thing first of all let's shut the gates. When the sun is down the Shabbat is going to come in we shut the gates and we will not allow anybody to go in and out on that Shabbat day no selling no buying Jerusalem will be set apart for the God of Israel.

then notice in verse 20 the merchant still tried to sell something. It says in verse 20 so the merchants and the sellers of all kind were lodged without Jerusalem once or twice. You see they still remember hey listen before Nehemiah was here when he was away we were doing business with these Jewish people. We wait to the gates the gates was open we all buy and sell and everything was fine. everything was fine. So they are still coming again. They are sitting there waiting by the gate to see if some of the Jewish people would come and do business with them. But Nehemiah in verse 21 what does he do?

He warns those offenders that if they will do so he will do something about it. and so he says and I testified against them the word A'idah by him and I said to them why lodge ye about the wall? and if you do so again I will lay hands on you from that time forth they came no more on the Shabbat. You know he must have been such a strong man he says listen if you are going to come to try to sell to our own people here standing by the gate if you are going to come I am going to do something about it.

He scared them. And apparently it says here that from this time on they came no more on the Shabbat day. Well they could come on Yom Rishon Sunday on Yom Shini Monday Yom Shlishi Tuesday Yom Revii Wednesday Yom Hamishi Thursday Yom Shishi Friday until the sun is down they can make some business and buy and sell. But not on a Shabbat day. And he warned them as he said here in verse 21 he warned these offenders and apparently they got a hold of it. They took a stand. And then finally we read in verse 22 that Nehemiah commended the Levites and the priests to be cleansed and began to serve.

And so we read in verse 22 I commended the Levites that they should clean themselves and that they should come and keep the gates to sanctify the Shabbat day. See the Levites themselves were not sanctified and ready for their service. And by doing so they themselves allowed the rest of the nation to practice this and now he commended them. The Levites and so on they cleansed themselves they set themselves apart. They sanctified themselves. You see their responsibility was to open the gate to close the gate and to maintain order among the people of Jerusalem. And so this time they cleaned themselves and they would keep and sanctify the Shabbat day by going to the gates doing their business their responsibility and the work that the Lord had called them to and maintain order among the people the people of Israel.

And so you notice brothers and sisters verses 15 to verse 22 how many times the word Shabbat is mentioned in those verses. Verse 15 twice the word Shabbat is mentioned. Verse 16 Shabbat Verse 17 Shabbat Verse 18 Shabbat Verse 19 three times the word Shabbat Verse 21 Shabbat and verse 22 Shabbat you can see that in these verses verses 15 to 22 there was a violation of keeping the Shabbat day that was given to our people of all the people of Israel and Nehemiah set things in order. And so in our present time in which we live in we also need these men and women of God who will help us to set things in order everyone in their spheres.

we need men of God that will rise up and help us all and encourage us and take us back to the word of God so we also in these days seek to submit to the instruction that we have in the word of God in the that apply to us today. Well now notice that not only the Shabbat was a problem problem. There was a second problem that was very major among the people of Judah at that time and in a sense it's kind of sad because this is the conclusion of the book of Nehemiah. You see what we read in verse 23 and 24 the Jewish people married wives of other nations.

it says here in those days again you remember how we began in verse 15 in those days verse 23 in those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod and Ammon and Moab. now again I would like you to understand this is the days in which Israel were commended by God not to marry outside of the nation and therefore they had a responsibility to marry within the nation of Israel and why is it? Not because of the Jewish people were better than the Goyim the Gentiles no because the Jewish people the people of Israel had the living and a true God and because they have the living and the true God they are to marry within the people that believe in the living God and the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob because had they not marry within the nation among those that are from the same nation and the same belief in the true and living God they will be led astray and so the warning of God is so much for the benefit of God's people but God's people but God's people think that they know better than God and that's why they had so many problems we know that from experience in our own lives isn't it?

when we submit to the Lord and listen to His counsel it is always for our blessing but when we don't we end up to pay the consequences so look at this in these verses 23 and 24 it says very clearly that in those days I saw the Jews that had married wives and others of Ashdod and of Ammon and Moab and then it says in verse 24 and their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod and they could not speak in the Jews language but according to the language of each people now imagine the Jewish people were supposed to speak speak the Hebrew language and the Tanakh was given to us in the Hebrew

language so we can worship the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob but when they married wives from Ashdod from Ammon and from Moab eventually they even didn't speak any longer the language that they should have been speaking the word here the Jews language come from the Hebrew word Yehudit the Safa the language of the Yehudim they did not speak this anymore they spoke in the language of the Ashdodite and the Ammonite and the Moabites and it is so interesting how Satan often does that he successfully influenced us in adapting all sort of things you remember when Daniel Hananiah Azariah and Mishael were carried to Babel what do you think King Nebuchadnezzar wanted to do with

them he wanted them to be influenced by his religious system to worship his idols and he changed their names Hananiah Azariah Mishael you remember he changed their name Shadrach Mishach and Eved Nebo these are all God idols so even when somebody is going to call one of these boys he will not call them in the Hebrew name he will call them in the name of the pagan gods and that's why he was very strong about that the Hebrew boys maintained their name Daniel Hananiah Azariah Mishael the Hebrew name that speaks of the God of Israel Daniel God is my judge Hananiah Jehovah had mercy on me Mishael Mishael who is like unto God Azariah Jehovah

is my assister is my helper but no here we find out that those Jewish boys could no longer speak the Hebrew language the Jewish language Satan is so crafty very quickly is successful in leading the people of God astray and that's why we read in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 to be not unequal yorks with unbelievers 2nd Corinthians why?

again I mentioned it many times not because we are better than the unbelieving world it's simply because of our own benefit because later on in life when we have a family and so on and all of a sudden the husband and the wife end up to say no I don't want your God anymore I don't have anything to do with your Bible and your Yeshua I don't want to have my way I know my way and I don't want to have anything to do with you what happened then you pay the consequence then later on you say I play the fool I should have listened and here we find out what happened they ended up

not even able to speak the Hebrew language which the Bible the Hebrew scripture were given to them by the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob they probably not only could read that they could not even speak it and when you think about it brothers and sisters in our case in this present day because believers from every people tongues and nation but when we end up marrying those that are not believers and don't want to follow the truth of the Gospel we end up not being able to speak the things of God in your own home you can't pray you can't read the Bible you cannot mention the name of Yeshua in your own home you

cannot devote yourself to God why?

because my husband or my wife don't want to hear about it and you end up not speaking anymore and then you look back and you say I wish I have listened to the Lord's word see this is so real it is so practical in our life as well and you remember what God said to Israel our people in Amos chapter 3 in verse 3 how can two walk together except they agree we cannot walk together with God or even walk together with others if we don't have an agreement upon the things of God and it is so serious God gave instruction to Israel in Exodus chapter 34 in Deuteronomy chapter 7 not to marry any of the other nations but by doing so they bore the consequences of the disobedience and so we read notice verse 25 Nehemiah contended with them and he cursed them notice that you might say how can you do so Nehemiah?

you curse them?

verse 25b he smote certain of them and he plucked off their hair and he made them swear by God saying ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons nor take of their daughters unto your own son or for yourselves we use the word he cursed them now it is not like you and I today when we hear on the street somebody swearing and cursing somebody else not at all the word for cursing lekalel here he simply said to them this is exactly what is going to happen to you when you will violate the word of God there will be judgment from the Lord the Lord just read Deuteronomy chapter 28 how God said to

Israel if you will not submit to my word cursed you are going to be in the land cursed will be in your home and so on there will be these curses these judgment that will fall upon you as a consequence of disobedience disobedience and so here we find Nehemiah submitting to the Lord and he is saying the judgment will come upon you God ultimately will judge you and notice he smote them and it sounds like he is very rugged and he is pulling up plucking up their hair from their beard must be very painful for him to do so but he was so zealous for God he didn't do it because of pride he didn't

do it because of selfishness he did it for their benefit he so cared for the people of Israel and then notice he said to them ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons nor take your daughters to your sons or for yourselves and you see he is really acting upon the command of God the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to the nation of Israel that Israel as a nation is to be a separated nation unto the Lord their God and by the way when there was someone who was not Jewish who was not Israeli who was not Hebrew believed in the God of Israel like Ruta Moaviyah like Rehab, Rachav they have entered

into the congregation of Israel because they believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but when they not they will end up pulling the people of Israel away and they are going to end up going astray and not anymore worshipping the true and living God and we are saying it for all of our benefits here think about that it is better to think first and pray first before one makes a decision because later on we will find out and we will realize that we did not benefit from the blessing that God had for us because we violated his word knowingly and the Lord is gracious he is always in the business of restoration but

it is still whatsoever men shall sow that shall he also reap this is a principle that we need to take to heart and so beloved brothers and sisters he reminded them of one of the greatest kings of Israel by the name of Shlomo Solomon he said in verse 26 look at the history of even one of the greatest men from among our people he says did not Shlomo Solomon king of Israel sinned by these things yet among many nations was not a king like him who was beloved of his God and God made him king over all Israel nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin you know he took them back to the

beloved chosen king of Israel Shlomo there was no one that was greater in wisdom there was no one that was richer than Solomon no one that was wiser he began so well you remember he prayed and he says God help me that I will know how to go in and out among my people these people these so great people the people of Israel and God said to Solomon Solomon Shlomo because you didn't ask for wealth and for riches and your enemies and so on I am going to give you wealth and I am going to give you riches and I will give you wisdom and I will give you everything everything that you need but

even Solomon failed 700 wives 300 concubines and in fact beloved brothers and sisters turn with me to 1st Kings chapter 11 I want to read that verse here look it says here in verse 1 but King Solomon loved many strange women together with the daughters of Pharaoh women of the Moabites and the Ammonites and the Edomites and the Sidonites and the Chittites of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel ye shall not go into them neither shall they come into you for surely they will turn away your heart after other gods Solomon clave unto these in love verse 3 tells us verse 3 tells us of 1st Kings chapter 11

and he had 700 wives princes and 300 concubines and his wife turned away his heart for it came to pass when Solomon was old that his wife turned away his heart after other gods and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as was the heart of David his father for Solomon went after Ashtaroth the goddess of the Tzidonites and after Milkom the abomination of the Ammonites and Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and went not fully after the Lord as did David his father then did Solomon build high places for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and the hill that is before Jerusalem for Molech the abomination of the children

of Ammon and likewise did he for all his strange wives which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods you see his wives didn't lead him back to the God of Israel but his wife led him away from the God of Israel and Solomon ended up to play the fool are we better than him?

are we stronger than him? we find out very quickly that God shows us that we are no different the only way is to set our affection on the things of the Lord that's the only thing that can help us if we are to be successful in spiritual growth and submissiveness to the Lord now let's go on and just conclude here with those verses notice that it says here in the next verse and I'm back to Nehemiah chapter 13 in verse 27 Nehemiah said to the people who have done so he says listen are we going to listen to this evil that you are doing? he's saying to them in verse 27 shall we then hearken unto you to do all this evil?

to transgress against God in marrying strange wife? he says we are not going to do so the answer is not we are not going to follow your direction we are going to follow the ways of the Lord here's a man that is helping to restore to restore and to build he did not only build walls he did not only build gates but he was building the hearts of the nation he was building the brokenness in their life he was building them spiritually see today we don't have a physical world to build around but we need brothers and sisters to be builders of the spiritual life the broken lives of so many people in the world in which we live in you know there are many believers many Christians who have broken lives who are so discouraged in their lives in the walk with the Lord and given up on the things on the truth of the word of God we are not to look down at them why is it?

there are so many discouragements that came across their life and they need like you and I need encouragement and to be builders and not destroyers it is such a blessing from the Lord to be a builder these days in which we live in in the days of the Laodiceans of the church age in fact in verse 28 look what happened we find out that the high priest's grandson was now married married to Sanbalat the Horonite who was the enemies of the people of Israel to his daughter can you imagine?

the priest now by him violating the word of the Lord his granddaughter now end up to marry the son of Sanbalat he was his son-in-law so you know what happened Sanbalat who was the enemies of the Jews of whom we read in chapter 2 in chapter 4 in chapter 6 who was the enemy of the people of Israel now all of a sudden there is a link see now there is a marriage we are all family Sanbalat was an enemy who crept in and Eliashiv was the high priest of the people of Israel now all of a sudden you have the world comes in among the people of God Sanbalat Sanbalat was successful to enter

in among the people of God and to sow influence among the people of Israel it's amazing and that's why the apostle John says love not the world nor the things that are in the world for all that is the world is the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life which is not of the father but again when the people of God are not careful all of a sudden all of a sudden verse 28 one of the sons of Yehoyada the son of Eliashiv he was the grandson of Eliashiv the high priest he was son in law to Sanbalat the Horonite therefore I chased him from me he chased

him he made a decision and ended up to bring in among the people of Israel the enemies of God you remember earlier in our chapter 13 it's not only the Sanbalat but Tuviah had a room in the temple so God's things are mixed with the enemies of God and they end up no growth and they are ultimately putting things in disorder and that's why the people of God are often so confused that's why sometimes when we look at the brother or sister who want to maintain a separation unto the Lord sometimes we accuse them of being legal but if their heart is right with the Lord they don't mean to be legal they just mean

that they want to submit to the word of God and we are to be thankful for those who want to maintain that which is right among the people of God and so the final conclusion listen to these brothers and sisters in the last verses verse 29 to verse 31 Nehemiah is praying to God and that's what we need to do is to pray to God you and I can pray for each other we can pray for those who are discouraged we can pray for those who have problems in homes and in lives to encourage them and Nehemiah does so now he does so in two things the first thing in verse 29 he is asking

from God to remember them he says remember them oh my God because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites in other words he was praying not so much against them but he was praying Lord God look what these were doing they defiled the priesthood they defiled the Levites and now look what's happening the Levites the priests are not functioning they have allowed these things to happen and he was really praying that the Lord kind of connecting himself with the Lord and he prayed for them and so here we are back to the prayer of Nehemiah he says remember them oh God he said because they have defiled

the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites and then secondly he cleansed he took an action he said then cleanse I them from all strangers and appointed the word of the priests and the Levites everyone in his business so what did he do he cleansed the priests the Levites to prepare themselves for doing the service of the Lord to set things in order and finally beloved brothers and sisters Nehemiah is praying Lord remember me and so we read in verse 31 and the wood offering at times appointed and for the first fruits he says remember me oh my God for good the Hebrew word is zichra Lord remember me because of

what I have done and you know brothers and sisters we do know that there is a day coming that we are all going to stand before the judgment seat of the Messiah for we must all appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah and the Lord will evaluate the life of the people of God and he will remember he will show us the things that we have done for him and the things that were not done for him and the things that were not done for him he will have to burn set it completely aside and only that which was done for the Messiah will remain and that's where the Lord will bless us when

he will remove everything that was not in accordance with his will so what is the lesson in conclusion and we are going to close our Bibles in a moment what do we learn from this book that Nehemiah wrote we learned a few things number one we learned that when the people of God are away from the Lord the Lord is always desiring to restore them back to himself secondly we learned that he is able to raise anyone any brother and any sister in their spheres he is able to raise them and to use them to be a blessing to the people of God he is able to use you he is able to use me

if we are burdened in our own hearts for the welfare of the people of God thirdly we learn that even though we have been restored to the principle that we have been taught in the past like the Jewish people of old our own people to the land and city of Jerusalem there is always a danger in falling back to the old routine we are not better than Israel we are just the same and fourthly even though we fall we are gone astray there is always room for restoration we always are able to come back to the Lord if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from

all unrighteousness the Lord is in a business of restoration and he wants us to be participating in being restored and restoring the work of the Lord among the people of God will you and I be part of this great work that the Lord has may the Lord help us to be participators in the things that the Lord has for us you have been