What Good is the Law Anyway?
How Firm A Foundation • Sermon • Submitted
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The Gospel according to Nehemiah
The Gospel according to Nehemiah
What do we need to know about Nehemiah...
Here is what scripture has to say about him
3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”
The mission of Nehemiah is to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
But it was much more than that…
He needed to rebuild the people of God
Really after being in this their 3rd captivity, they needed to rebuild what it was to be a Jew.
The worst thing to happen to the Jews was not the captivities, It was not the slavery (There was some slavery going on… Also some of the Jews did very well running businesses.
What was the worst was the loss of of culture and commitment to God, to Yahweh.
Yes there was a remnant and there were 500-600 Thousand people who somewhere in their past was this faith in a single God.
Not to the many hundreds of small ‘g’ gods but to one to Yahweh
But at that time it was mostly gone. Does that sound anything like our world today? It seems as though our faith is waning and in some instances in gone.
They ended up in captivity because of years and years and generation after generation of neglect and sin.
Dear God… we know that our own community is suffering, we know that we have neglected our relationship to you. For that we ask for forgiveness.
They ignored the goodness of God over and over. Instead they went their own ways and consequently God punished them.
Question #1 - How are we doing as the Bride of Christ?
46% of 21-26 year olds don’t even believe there is a God
Church attendance is at a low; crisis point for 100’s of ministries across our country
2021 - 2000+ “churches” closed every month.
We now live in a post-Christian America. It’s not only Washington and Oregon that are the least churched states in that nation.... It’s all of the states who have seen dramatic drops in church attendance.
Here is the place that we are coming to...
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
We are clearly in the end-times. But this should not be a surprise to us.
We have been here waiting and watching and preparing ourselves for God’s return, for about 2000 years.
I’m not sure that I want Jesus to see us like this… We have a long way to go in following even the most basic of his commands.
Here is the most basic for “asks” from God...
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
What are we doing individually to see this come to pass?
What are we doing corporately to “see His kingdom come?
I’m just going to leave that up for a 1/2 minute...
This abandonment of God is NOT a surprise to God.
It is His church here at First Baptist and it is His church around the world.
He is begging us to come back, he is begging us to make Him #1 in our lives, He wants us to make the center of what we do in Christ.
This is NOT so different from what God wanted from the Jews
Question #2 - What can we do about it?
There a couple of pre-questions that need to addressed first
Do you want to do something about it? Do you see that God’s Kingdom and His ways is inconsistent with our lives and our world today?
What sacrifices are you willing to make to see God’s Kingdom come?
The best way that we have to answer these and many other questions is to look at the past and see what happened.
So we are back to the Book of Nehemiah...
In 597BC the Babylonians took the first exiles. This was 60-80,000 Jews.
They settled among the Babylonians, inter-married with them and diluted the whole Jewish race.
God lost His influence among the people. Even after God commanded them to not intermarry… They of course intermarried.
Question #3 - What happened to the Jews after their captivity?
From these returning Jews there was a resurgence and dedication to the law of God, isolated from foreign influence and centered in Jerusalem.
They returned to correct their wrongs and to lay down another “right.”
The people had to start somewhere in reclaiming their identities… It has to start somewhere!!!
14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.
22 Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.
They tried to come under God’s Grace… for good. It would not last
We, as the remaining members and attenders here at FBC, in our community and in our world.
Partakers of God’s Grace and Mercy. Relying on the finished work of Christ as our only entrance into Heaven.
But still The Law remains...
Why the Law?
19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.
The Law came to INCREASE our transactions
Roman 5.20
20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
Finally the law has only a shadow of the GREAT THINGS to come
1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.
The law is not for the righteous
9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers,
BIG QUESTION: What good is the law anyway?
The remnant that returned to Jerusalem knew that they had to take the law to heart
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
How did the Jews get back in God’s favor? Well it had to start somewhere
Ezra Reads the Law
Ezra Reads the Law
Ezra is reading the Law
Ezra and Nehemiah are one book in the Jewish Bible.
The people have returned from captivity, they are rebuilding the temple and the gates of the city.
The people knew that it was God that delivered them from Babylon and so they at least for a time, returned to worship and obedience of Yahweh.
1 And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel.
2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month.
And a part of verse 3
Nehemiah 8:3 (ESV)
3 And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.
What was the results of this effort?
6 And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
They returned to their first love… God and His ways.
9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law.
You see the people as a group were forbidden from worshipping Yahweh and could only worship the “gods” of the Babylonians.
They were given FREEDOM...
10 Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Now I want to return to our BIG QUESTION
BIG QUESTION: What good is the law anyway?
The law brings wrath — Romans 4.15.
15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
The letter of the law kills
6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Ah… finally we realize the effects of the law on us
9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.
10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.
So it seems that Nehemiah is a recounting of the Jews return from captivity and the rebuilding of the temple and of Jerusalem.
At least for a time they followed the Law and the loving and guiding that God has provided to them.
How is the Book a Nehemiah… The Gospel!!!
We know that no one will be justified by works of the Law
20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
If righteousness was through the Law...
21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
And FINALLY the law made nothing perfect
The Spirit did not come by works but by faith
22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
I do want to return to my very first statement
The Gospel According to Nehemiah
The purpose of the Law was to keep the people in a relationship with God… Through laws!
Nehemiah and Ezra re-introduced the law, allowing Christ to come and replace this LAW with Grace… Listen
Finally… The perfect law, the law of liberty
The “PERFECT” Law
The perfect law is God’s Law. The people could not sort out following God by Faith while at the same time doing the Law
The Christian’s relationship with the law has changed and is refocused on Christ (Rom 10:5–8)
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.
6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down)
7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);
The law of the returning Jews still could not be trusted to bring them into a relationship with Yahweh.
For as soon as God’s proverbial back was turned the people fell back to Legalism, idol worship, worshipping many gods.
Christ came… once for all to forever change that dynamic. There is no longer any law except the law of Christ.
The Law of Christ is this
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
That is the essence of the Gospel… this is the essence of what it was to follow Yahweh some 600 years before Christ.
This is the Gospel of GRACE that Jesus left us with.
Love the Lord
Love His word
Love people
Because if the law had not come… The Gospel of Grace would never have come.
This is the Gospel of Nehemiah...