Spiritual Restoration

Brief Synopsis

1. The Israelites noticed through reading the law that specifically, no Ammonite or Moabite, should enter the temple in worship.

The reason was because these people did not give the Israelites food and drink on their journey.

Instead, they asked Balaam to curse them.

You would remember this in: Numbers 22:2-11.

2. Tobiah made his bed and got cozy in one of the storehouses in the Temple.

The author reminds us that Nehemiah was not In Jerusalem at this time.

Nehemiah was attending to business with King Artaxerxes.

Nehemiah asked the king for a leave of absence.

This shows us that Nehemiah nor the King thought he would go back.

3. Israelites were surprised about his visit to say the least. This is what Nehemiah finds:

A. Tobiah got cozy in a storehouse within the Temple.

Nehemiah threw him out. V.8

B. The Levites were thrown back into working fields because the people were not providing proper sacrifices for them to survive.

Nehemiah rebuked the officials asking them why the house of God has been abandoned. V.11

C. People were working and selling on the Sabbath Day.

The Sabbath Day was declared a Holy day by God.

Nehemiah did what any good leader would do:

He ordered a curfew on the gates entering the city so no one can come in and sell on the Sabbath.

D. Israelites married foreign women and their children did not know the Hebrew language!

This is a big deal as the Pentateuch; first five books in the OT was written in Hebrew!

These are three truths we find in this chapter.

I. God is serious about our purity.

Nehemiah and Ezra made it quite clear through this book just how serious God is about purity.

I want to name what we struggle with the most right now.

FEAR

We cannot be pure before Holy God with fear in our hearts.

I am about to stir some emotion so be prepared. I do this because I love you.

Do you really think you can be pure before Holy God by hating everyone who has different political views than you?

You create a fake chasm in between you and others by doing this.

Have you ever thought even for a second that there could be truth on the other side as well?

When fear grips you, you get angry, indecisive, anxious, and you cannot be pure before God with a fearful heart.

Matthew 6:34 CSB

34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Psalm 34:4 CSB

4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and rescued me from all my fears.

II. God uses leaders to hold you accountable.

Christian leadership is one of the most interesting topics in leadership circles.

Leading someone you don’t pay wages to is much different than leading someone you do pay.

Christian leaders in ministry have long studied how to influence change without having much incentive for them to accomplish the task God wants for them.

This is Christian leadership in a nutshell:

To move God’s people where they are to where they don’t want to go.

In other words, how does one move someone onto God’s will when they don’t want to go there.

I believe Nehemiah gives us some powerful practical tools in this area.

Look at his response to God every-time he corrected a sin and influenced spiritual change in his community:

Nehemiah 13:14 CSB

14 Remember me for this, my God, and don’t erase the deeds of faithful love I have done for the house of my God and for its services.

Nehemiah 13:22 CSB

22 Then I instructed the Levites to purify themselves and guard the city gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this also, my God, and look on me with compassion according to the abundance of your faithful love.

Nehemiah 13:29–31 CSB

29 Remember them, my God, for defiling the priesthood as well as the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. 30 So I purified them from everything foreign and assigned specific duties to each of the priests and Levites. 31 I also arranged for the donation of wood at the appointed times and for the firstfruits. Remember me, my God, with favor.

A. Christian Leaders live a life that can be declared deed and faith driven, even though others sin around them.

B. Christian Leaders know of God’s wrath and recognizes their innocence in spite of wickedness that surrounds them.

C. Christian Leaders commit the people they lead to God for Him to deal with. A Christian Leader understands that only God can change hearts.

ILLUSTRATIONS:

After Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves during the Civil War, he was condemned by the London Times as “a sort of moral American pope” destined to be “Lincoln the Last.”

After Lincoln’s assassination, the paper realized his greatness, saying, “Abraham Lincoln was as little a tyrant as any man who ever lived. He could have been a tyrant if he pleased, but he never uttered so much as an ill-natured speech.”

In the Christian life, there will be times when we must take an unpopular stand—at work, at school, even at church—and stubbornly stick to principle. We will be called all manner of names, but if we’re in God’s will, we will be vindicated, certainly in the next life, but sometimes in this one.

Larson, C. B., & Ten Elshof, P. (2008). 1001 illustrations that connect (p. 478). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

III. Complacency in our spiritual lives can make one numb to the effects of sin.

The Israelites were no doubt complacent in their spiritual walk with God.

This is how you know you are spiritually complacent:

A. Confession and repentance are a rarity.

B. You have more anger in your heart than love and compassion.

C. People don’t seem to flock to you unless it’s your circle of like-minded angry friends.

ILLUSTRATION: After moving to a new state, I went to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get a new driver’s license. The guy behind the desk said he couldn’t help me because my license was suspended.

“There must be some mistake,” I said. “I’ve never done anything to deserve that.”

The civil servant was very civil but said I had to clear up the problem with the State of Massachusetts before he could help me. I hadn’t lived in Massachusetts for ten years, so I couldn’t imagine what was wrong. Five long-distance phone calls later, I found out that when I moved from Massachusetts, I owed part of an excise tax of $2.

That tiny little bill began to accrue penalties and interest. I had to pay that bill plus the cost of a new Massachusetts driver’s license and registration for a car that had long ago become scrap metal before I could become legal in my new home state. The price tag was nearly $300.

The whole thing was embarrassing. It wasn’t so much the money that bothered me; it was knowing that I was on the wrong side of the law for all those years without even being aware of it.

How shocking it will be for those who stand before the God of the universe one day and realize, for the first time, that he holds them accountable for all the wrongs they do.

Larson, C. B., & Ten Elshof, P. (2008). 1001 illustrations that connect (p. 227). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Some of us need to sincerely look into our hearts and search for the fruit of Christianity.

By the way, works do not count.

This is the call to action and invitation today:

Do you have faith like that of a follower of Christ?

If you are a person who is spiritually complacent, you can leave here with a resolve.

The resolve can be spiritual restoration.

This is the hope:

Psalm 51:12 CSB

12 Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit.

God doesn’t use spiritually dead people to shake the gates of hell. God uses broken people who admit that they desperately need Him to advance His kingdom.

Are you spiritually complacent this morning looking to be renewed?

Trust in His Word that says when we cry out to God, He hears us.

Cry out to Him right now and ask for His help and guidance.

Be prepared as the Holy Ghost may reveal sin in your heart that you have to get right.

PRAY