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Good morning, church family. It is great to be back with you this morning. If you would open your Bibles to the final chapter of the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter 13. This uh this morning is a little bittersweet. This concludes our series through the books, Ezra and Nehemiah. Um Honestly, I think these have been my two favorite books to preach thus far in our church's small lifespan, but they are books of God's faithfulness. That is abundantly clear to me. Um and honestly, the way it shows itself is often not in ways you would you would necessarily expect. Because throughout these books, you see God's faithfulness displayed initially by bringing the people back from captivity, but then continually throughout, as the people continue to fail, continue to sin, yet God is still faithful and he still protects his people. And this passage, this morning, I should say this whole chapter, in my opinion, is one of the good indications for the validity of the history we see in the Old Testament. And here's why. Nothing is sugarcoated. None of the stories in the Old Testament are necessarily fun to read. At least not all of them are fun to read. And that is one here this morning. In all its history, which is the Old Testament, Israel never paints themselves as the good guys. They never paint themselves as deserving or worthy or glorious or anything like that. The Bible shows God's people who they are without him. That is sinful and in desperate need. And that's the kind of people you unfortunately see in chapter 13 of the book of Nehemiah, our sinful nature and its effects on the people and the people of God around us. That's what chapter 13 shows us. So I'm going to preach the entire chapter. I'd encourage you to follow along. Uh it is somewhat long, 37 verses. Uh there should be a Bible in the peaback in front of you, if you don't have one, but also it'll be up on the screen behind me. So feel free to follow along. This is Nehemiah chapter 13. At that time the book of Moses was read publicly to the people, and the command was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God. Because they did not meet the Israelites with food and water, instead they hired Balaam against him to curse them. But our God turned the curse into a blessing. When they heard the law, they separated all those of mixed descent from Israel. Now before this the priest Eliashib had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was a relative of Tobiah, and had prepared a large room for him, where they had previously stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, and the articles, and the tents of grain, new wine, and fresh oil, prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, along with the contributions for the priests. While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign. It was only later that I asked the king for a leave of absence, so I could return to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashab had done on behalf of Tobiah by providing him a room in the court of God's house. I was greatly displeased, and threw all of Tobiah's household possessions out of the room, I ordered that the rooms be purified, and I had the articles of the house of God restored there, along with the grain offering and frankincense. I also found out that because the portions for the Levites had not been given, each of the Levites and singers performing the service had gone back to his own field. Therefore I rebuked the officials, asking, Why has the house of God been neglected? I gathered the Levites and singers together and stationed them at their posts. Then all Judah brought a tenth of grain, new wine, and fresh oil into the storehouses. I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses the priest Shelemiah and the scribes Zadok and Padiah of the Levites, with Hanan, son of Zachar, and Madaniah, to assist them, because they were considered trustworthy. They were responsible for the distribution to their colleagues. Remember me for this, my God, and don't erase the deeds of the faithful love I have done for the house of my God and for its services. At this time I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath. They were also bringing in stores of grain and loading them on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, and figs. All kinds of goods were being brought to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, so I warned them against selling food on that day. The Tyrians were uh were living there, were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise, selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, What is this evil you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? Didn't your ancestors do the same, so that our God brought all this disaster on us and on this city? And now you're rekindling his anger against Israel by profaning the Sabbath. When shadows began to fall on the city gates of Jerusalem just before the Sabbath, I gave orders that the city gates be closed, and not opened until after the Sabbath. I posted some of my men at the gates, so that no goods could enter during the Sabbath day. Once or twice the merchants and those who sell all kinds of goods camped outside Jerusalem, but I warned them, Why are you camping in front of the wall? If you do it again, I'll use force against you. After that they did not come again on the Sabbath. 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. In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashod, Ammon, and Moab. Half of their children spoke the language of Ashod or the language of one of the other peoples, but could not speak Hebrew. I rebuked them, cursed them, beat some of their men, and pulled out their hair. I forced them to take an oath before God and said, You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, or take their daughters as wives for your sons or yourselves. Didn't King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign women drew him into sin. Why then should we hear about you doing all this terrible evil, acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women? Even one of the sons, Jehoidah, son of the high priest Eliashib, had become a son-in-law to Sanbalat the Horonite. So I drove him away from me. Remember them, my God, for defiling the priesthood, as well as the covenant of the priesthood and Levites. So I purified them from everything foreign and assigned specific duties to each of the priests and Levites. I also arranged for the donation of wood at the appointed times and for the first fruits. Remember me, my God, with favor. And the book concludes. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We simply ask this morning that you would reveal your word to your church by your spirit. We pray all of these things for Christ's name's sake. Amen. If any of you have Facebook or maybe on Instagram, you've been following in, I should say, follow my wife or friends with my wife. You may have been following a story of our caterpillar named Nina, named by our daughter. Maria and Carmen found a monarch caterpillar on a plant outside in our backyard. And my wife was super stoked and we wanted to bring it inside, and so we could see the process. Our girls could see the process. That'd be really fun. We had a few scares because Maria had picked it up and moved it. And if you know anything about Maria, that anything could have happened in that moment from the time she picked up the caterpillar. And it liked to play dead because you'd touch it or move it and it would just curl up and stay super still for like 15 minutes. So we thought it was dead at first. But it was just playing dead. Turns out it was fine. So we literally ordered on Amazon like the same day, like a little net thing for caterpillars, and we brought it inside, but then we found out they only eat milkweed, like that's the only thing they will eat. So we had to go to the nursery and call around and make sure that they had milkweed, and then we bought milkweed and brought it back. And then finally, finally, after a few days, the caterpillar's eating so much milkweed, it finally starts to form its chrysalis, which is different than a cocoon, but that's what butterflies do. They use their own skin to perform this protective shell, where they will then come out as a butterfly. So she formed her chrysalis, and everything was great until uh we discover that it's a little brown. It had been about a week at this point, and that's sometimes normal. It can get a little bit brown, but it was really brown. And it was looking kind of wet and mushy, and then there were stringy bits hanging off of it. And so unfortunately, Nina did not make it to the caterpillar stage. Nina died in her little chrysalis, which is very sad. I don't know how to break the news to the girls yet. They still think that she's fine. But we found out further reasons to hate flies. So flies will lay their eggs on caterpillars, and so when they form their chrysalis, those eggs will hatch, and they will literally eat the caterpillar inside its own chrysalis and it dies. It's very common, and that's unfortunately what happened to Nina, our caterpillar. And I know this is a very depressing way to start Sunday morning. So I apologize because caterpillars are beautiful, and monarch butterflies are the most beautiful butterfly. You can argue with me, I guess. But when it forms its chrysalis, anything can happen. And if something has infected it, there's really no going back. And I share this story because this is what's happening in Nehemiah 13. There is a parasite that has entered into Jerusalem. That is the sin of the people. And I share that depressing story because sin does the same thing to God's people. It will eat you from the inside. It will destroy you, and it will infect the people around you. We see that all throughout this chapter. So if you take nothing else away, know this. This is the main idea. I'd encourage you to take notes, please. Our sin, if left unchecked, is deadly to God's people. That's what I see in Nehemiah 13. Our sin, if left unchecked, is deadly to God's people. This is the final, the concluding chapter of the book of Nehemiah. The end to this grand story of Israel's restoration. Why on earth would the author end here with more sin and rebellion? Why end on this chapter? And I'm actually going to reference Paul, because I believe he answers the question for us. This is 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 11 and 12, while he's referencing a different story of the Old Testament, still relevant. Paul says this these things happened as examples, and they were written for our instruction on whom the ends of the ages have come. So whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall. This is a warning Paul is giving to the church. In chapter 13 of Nehemiah serves as that warning to us, a warning that despite all has God has done for us, of which he has done much, that we would not also fall into our sin and temptation, just as the Israelites did time and time again. This chapter is a warning about the deadly nature, deadly nature of your sin. It can infect, and if left unchecked, it can ruin you. We're going to see three aspects to sin in this passage first. We see this in verses 114, 1 through 14. We see sin's effects. I'm not going to reread this section again. I'm going to break it down section by section. But the chapter starts well. Because verse 1, at that time the book of Moses was read publicly to the people. I wish, just in chapter 13, there, right? You don't need to share the rest of what happens. Just pretend everything's fine. The book of Moses is being read publicly to the people. That's great. The command was found written in it. If you're leading the book of Moses, that would be the law. There are lots of commands in the law. So they find this command that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God. Here they're reading verbatim, Deuteronomy 23, 3 through 6. I'm going to read the section that the Israelites are reading at the beginning of chapter 13. No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the Lord's assembly. None of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may ever enter the Lord's assembly. This is because they did not meet you with food and water on the journey after you came out of Egypt, and because Balaam, son of Beor from Pethor, was hired to curse you. Yet the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam. He turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God loves you. Never pursue their welfare or our prosperity as long as you live. Reminder that the separation of the nation of Israel to the surrounding nations was not ethnic but practical. It's because of what they did. They hated God, they hated the Israelites. Do not immerse yourself with them. They hated the Jews, therefore don't hang around them. It's similar, though certainly on a much larger scale, to telling your friends, be careful who you hang around. That's what God is telling them here. Like you better surround yourself with good friends. That's what God is doing. Do not surround yourself, do not integrate yourself with people who hate you. I feel like you shouldn't have to command that. But here we are. And the Israelites, thankfully, respond. Verse 3. When they heard the law, they separated all those of mixed descent from Israel. They said, Oh shoot, they cannot be here. God said they cannot be here. So they took them away and they separated them. Great. They heard the word of the Lord and they listened to his instructions. We actually saw something similar when Ezra was reading aloud publicly, member scriptures, and the people responded to the law. They were worshiping. That's great. But then we read verses four through five. I want to read this for you because it's super hard to understand why this is so bad, why this is so wicked. So I'm going to read verses four and five for us. Now, before this, the priest Eliashib had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. This is before Nehemiah has come back. So Eliashib is a priest, he's son of the high priest. He's put in charge of the storerooms of God, of the temple, but he's a relative of Tobiah and had prepared a large room for him where they had previously stored the grain offerings, frankincense, articles, and the tenths of grain, new wine and fresh oil prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, along with the contributions for the priests. The unfortunate part is we have seen Tobiah before. And Eliashib is related to Tobiah. Again, as a reminder, he was a descendant of Jeshua, the son of the high priest. He is a big deal within Israel. But here's who Tobiah is. At first glance, it doesn't seem like much of an issue, because he's just giving his relative a place to stay. That seems kind, even. But what's wrong with that? Twofold issue, and it snowballs. First, the storeroom itself. It's not just a room, it's not like a closet that they kept stuff. This was for a purpose. You see this in Deuteronomy 14, 28 through 29. I'm going to read it again. Well, not again, for the first time. At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of all your produce for that year and store it within your city gates. Then the Levite who has no portion or inheritance among you, the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, and your city gates may come, eat and be satisfied. And the Lord your God will bless you in all the work of your hands that you do. This storeroom was not just for fun. It was not just a place to keep things. It was where the Levites would store the tithes of the people. It's what the Levites would eat. It was for the priests also. But God says it's also for the outcasts of society, the resident alien, the non-Jew, the fatherless, the widow. It was used as a social good. And if they followed its instruction, the Lord your God will bless you. It's what he says. And so Eliashib's put in charge of this room, this distribution, presumably, and what does he do? Literally throws it out of the temple and moves in Tobiah. Now what's the second issue? Which that's bad enough. What's the second issue? That alone, again, would have been bad enough. But his relative, Tobiah, is an Ammonite who is commanded not to be in the assembly of God, but also, furthermore, he has actively opposed Israel already in this book. I'm going to read a couple passages earlier in Nehemiah, chapter 2, verse 10. When Sanbalat the Horonite and Tobiah, the Ammonite official, heard that someone had come to pursue the prosperity of the Israelites, they were greatly displeased. Same man. But then he mocks the wall that they're building. Nehemiah 4, 3. Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, said, Indeed, even if a fox climbed up what they are building, it would break down their stone wall, making fun of the rebuild of the city. He hates the Jews, he hates their work. Later in chapter 6, we realize he has influence among the people of Judah. Nobles of Judah are communicating with him and sending him information, so much so that all the way in chapter 13, Eliashib, son of the high priest, gives the man who mocked the nation of Israel and wanted the destruction of the walls room in the temple. This is crazy. Like, do you see the issue? Not just the storerooms themselves. It's beside the point. The man who opposes God and his people was an enemy to Israel on the outside and has now what? Been brought inside. He's now in the walls. He has moved within its very gates, of the people he hated, of the temple of God he despises. I love what Spurgeon says on this passage. He says, I'm going to put it on the screen. The process is simple and is seen in this narrative. At the outset of the evil, the heart becomes vacant. The precious stores of the Lord vanish one by one. And there is now room for something else. Heavenly mindedness is gone, and then the heart is ready to mind earthly things. That is what is happening to Israel. Church family, that is also your sin. At first glance, that temptation seems so far off. It's just some crazy guy out there saying that a fox could break down our walls. That's what it is. That's what it seems like. So non-threatening, so distant. But hear me, the second you give your sin any quarter, it is moving in. It is moving in to the middle of your life, threatening everything around you. Just a couple weeks ago, a notable pastor, I'm not going to name names, pastor of a big church, member of a popular organization, gospel coalition, resigned from his pastoral ministry because of inappropriate sexual relationships. Decades of ministry is now gone because quarter was given to sinful desires. All of it, gone. Your sin will kill your love for your spouse. It will kill your ability to parent with grace and patience. It will numb your attitude of contentment. You will want things you shouldn't. It will rob you of joy. It will cause you to covet. It will ruin you. Don't ever think that you are too good for your sinner or so righteous that you don't need to seek out and kill it every single day. It will ruin your life if left unchecked. And look what it comes to in our passage. Because again, it's bad enough just to house the guy there. Already we're breaking a command, but look what it led to. Look at its effects. I'm going to read verses 6 through 11. While all this was happening, while Tobiah was getting space, I was not in Jerusalem. Reminder, Nehemiah was the cupbearer of the king. He had a temporary leave when he came to rebuild of Jerusalem. He was going to return back. And he did. So while all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem because I had returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign. It was only later that I asked the king for a leave of absence, so I could return to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashab had done on behalf of Tobiah by providing him a room in the courts of God's house. I was greatly displeased and threw all of Tobiah's household possessions out of the room. I ordered that the rooms be purified, and I had the articles of the house of God restored there, along with the grain offering and frankincense. Verse 10 Here's what matters. I also found out that because the portions for the Levites had not been given, each of the Levites and singers performing their service had gone back to his own field. Therefore I rebuked the officials, saying, Why has the house of God been neglected? I gather the Levites and singers together and stationed them at their posts. Remember, if the Levites can't perform their temple ministry, no one can do anything in the temple. They were servants of the temple. They ran the whole place. If the Levites can't eat there, the priests can't stay there, there is no ministry happening at the temple. None. That was Israel's center of spiritual activity, literally. And the Levites were their caretakers. And Eliasib was so selfish and so short-sighted that by moving to Biah in, he literally kicked out the Levites of his own temple, stopping any work God was going to do there. Like they just rebuilt this temple. They just rebuilt the walls. People had just moved back then, and literally already it does not take very long for that ministry to grind to a halt. Church family, sin and its accompanying effects will snowball to places you did not think they could. Do not give sin quarter. Do not give it room. Don't give it room to breathe. Don't invite it in. Instead, be like Nehemiah and get rid of it immediately. He kicks Tobiah out. He rebukes the officials, asking why has the God or the house of God been neglected? Then verses 12 through 14. Then all Judah brought A tenth of the grain, new wine, and fresh oil into the storehouses. I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses the priest Shelemiah, the scribe Zadok, and Padiah the Levite, with Hanan, son of Zachar, son of Madaniah, to assist them, because they were considered trustworthy. Remember me for this, my God, and do not erase the faithful deeds, or excuse me, erase the deeds of faithful love I have done for the house of my God and for its services. He didn't just get rid of the man who should never have been there in the first place, but he appointed the right people in the right places so it would not happen again. That's what we must do with our sin. Get rid of it, kill it, yes, absolutely, but then put barriers in your life where you will not fall to that trap again. You have to surround yourself with people who hold you accountable. You have to pursue God in His Word, you have to fellowship with Him through prayer. You must worship Him with your lifestyle. Do not give sin room. I don't know what your hidden temptation is. I don't know. You know, and God knows. Kill it. Do not give it any room. I don't know what that looks like for you. Do what you need to do. So we've seen the effects of sin. Secondly, look at the dangers of sin. Because even still the chapter does not end. There are more issues Nehemiah has to deal with. We see this in verses 15 through 22. And here we see the second wave of sin that has hit the nation of Israel. Ignoring the Sabbath, failing to keep it holy. I'm going to read 15 through 22 for us. At that time, same time, I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath. They are also bringing in stores of grain and loading them on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, and figs, all kinds of goods were being brought to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them against selling food on that day. The Tyrians living there were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise, selling them on the Sabbath, to the people of Judah in Jerusalem. I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, What is this evil you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? Didn't your ancestors do the same so that our God brought all this disaster on us in this city? And now you're rekindling his anger against Israel by profaning the Sabbath. When the shadows began to fall on the city gates of Jerusalem just before the Sabbath, I gave orders that the city gates be closed and not opened until after the Sabbath. I posted some of my men at the gates, so no goods could enter during the Sabbath day, and once or twice the merchants and those who sell all kinds of goods camped outside Jerusalem. But I warned them, Why are you camping in front of the wall? If you do it again, I'll use force against you. After that they did not come again on the Sabbath. Then I instructed the Levites to purify themselves, to guard the city gates, in order to do what? 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. I'm going to read the initial command to keep the Sabbath because it matters. This is all the way back. Exodus chapter 20, one of the Ten Commandments. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. You are to labor six days and do all of your work, but on the seventh day, or the seventh day, is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work. You, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates. For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything in them in six days. Then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy. We've talked about this command often throughout this book in Ezra, because they often break the Sabbath throughout these books, but I must remind us of the importance command. It is not just that God rested on the seventh day, and then therefore we must rest. It is not a command, in so much as it is a gift to the people. God gave the law, commands for people to follow every day, to keep them holy, to keep them separate from other nations. But this is a relief from the law itself. You don't have to do those things today. Today you do nothing, you rest. And yet the people, as they had before being sent to captivity, ignore it. So let's look at what they do. On the Sabbath, they tread wine presses, so making wine, buying, selling, trading in commerce, importing merchandise, buying from people of other nations. This was not a Sabbath. This is Sunday afternoon at Costco. If you ever drive by Sunday after on a Sunday afternoon at Costco, it is full. Like I'm shocked there's not people parking on the roof. There are so many people there. They have an entire marketplace going on on the Sabbath day in the middle of Jerusalem. But I want us to focus specifically on verse 18. He says, Nehemiah to them, didn't your ancestors do the same? So that our God brought all this disaster on us and on this city, and now you're rekindling his anger against Israel by profaning the Sabbath. It seems that Nehemiah is the only one who remembers beyond ten years. The only one. He knows the reason they were exiled in the first place. He knows the evil practices of their forefathers, and more importantly, he understands the holiness of God. We dare not rekindle the anger of God, he says. Remember that God's blessing of his people under the old covenant were directly tied to their upholding of the law. If they did not follow the law, they did not receive blessing. Simple as that. In fact, they received the opposite. This is not to say that God never showed grace. Absolutely, he did undeserved. But he cannot let the nation of Israel go unpunished if they were to continue in sin. So Nehemiah understood this and made an effort to end it, forcefully, if necessary. He puts guards at the gate, he closes it the night before, does not open on the Sabbath. He threatens the Tyrians to stop camping outside, go away by force if necessary. Because Nehemiah understood that potential enemies of another nation meant nothing if God was your enemy. Nothing. And that is the scary reality of our sin. It leads to death. It incurs the very wrath of God. Luke 13, 3, he says, No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all perish as well. It does not matter who you are, Jesus is saying, if you continue in your sin, you will perish. God cannot, not just that he should not, cannot let sin go unpunished. Otherwise, he would not be just. And if your life is never marked by repentance, only marked by sin, God's wrath rests on you. You must repent of your sin. But there is good news, church family. Because you and I have something that the nation of Israel never had. And that is the work of Jesus Christ on your behalf. While we have to understand, and I've tried to communicate the deadly nature of our sin, never forget the atoning work on the cross. Romans 5, 6 through 11, Paul makes it so easy. For while we were still helpless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person. Though for a good person, perhaps someone might dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath? Whose wrath? God's wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation. Our sin is deadly, yes. But through faith in Christ, he grants life everlasting. Thirdly and finally, sin's corruption. Here we see that sin does not stay isolated. Verses 23 through 31, you see its effects on the entire nation as a whole. I'm going to read the end of this book again. In those days I also saw the Jews who had married women from Ashod, Ammon, and Moab. Half of their children spoke the language of Ashod, or the language of one of the other peoples, but could not speak Hebrew. I rebuked them, cursed them, beat some of their men, and pulled out their hair. I forced them to take an oath before God and said, You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, or take their daughters as wives for your sons or yourselves. Didn't King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign women drew him into sin. Why then should we hear about you doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women? Even one of the sons, Jehoiada, son of the high priest Eliashib, had become a son-in-law to Sambalat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me. Remember them, my God, for defiling the priesthood, as well as the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. So I purified them from everything foreign, assigned specific duties to each of the priests and Levites. I also arranged for the donation of wood at the appointed times and for the first fruits. Remember me, my God, with favor. Here again we see the third wave of sin, and this one is not unique. Unfortunately, we have also seen this one a couple times throughout Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra dealt with it, Nehemiah dealt with it, but the issue remains marrying foreign women and giving their daughters to be married by foreign men. I won't spend a ton of time here because we've dealt with this a lot, but it bears reminding this is not a racial issue. This is a sinful, spiritual issue. God gave the command not to marry foreign women. Why? Because he says, they will turn your hearts away from me, toward idols. That is the issue. Your spouse influences you a whole lot. If you marry someone who hates God, chances are these people do not love God, they don't follow his law, they don't love his people, and they in turn would lead the entire nation of Israel away from the God who rescued them and sustains them. To the point. Notice their children don't even speak Hebrew anymore. They speak one of the other languages. Certainly, this is why you see the Levites literally have to translate the law for them because they don't speak Hebrew anymore. Marrying people of foreign nations causes Israel to lose their very identity. Because it's not that just, you know, Hebrew is the greatest language ever and you need to speak Hebrew. That's not the issue. They can't even read the law. They can't study it, they can't pursue God, they can't, they don't know what it says. The loss of language was very much tied to the covenant. If they can't read the law, how on earth are they supposed to follow it? How are they supposed to keep the covenant? They can't. This is not an issue that could just be dismissed. And it got to the point where, and I'll spend some time here, Nehemiah rebukes them, curses them, even beats some of them, to the point of pulling out their hair. I do want to address this because verses like this in scripture are very easy to misunderstand. So I'm going to highlight two realities for you to hopefully clarify this. We live in a very, very non-violent society, praise God. Yes, we have evils, we have violence, we have criminal activity, it's not what I'm saying. But for example, in many states, the death penalty isn't even legal. It's life sentences. We view violence as punishment to be antiquated, unnecessary, extreme, even evil in some cases, which it certainly can be. But that is not the case for nearly every other culture in human history, especially ancient Near Eastern culture. Punishment was often public and it was often physical, almost every time. They didn't have jail or prison. They beat them or did something to them publicly and shamed them and moved on. That's what's happening. So this would not have been necessarily unique. So it may seem shocking to us, absolutely not shocking to them. This doesn't mean that Nehemiah didn't act out of anger or act in extreme. That's certainly possible. We're not told if this was good or bad on his behalf. Scripture does not care. But the only thing I'll say is when you read scripture, sorry, the other thing, specifically a narrative like this, understand that this is descriptive, not prescriptive. This is not telling you to go beat up your enemies and pull out their hair. It is describing something that Nehemiah did. It's not making a moral claim on his actions. It's not validating them, it's not condemning them, it just states what he did. I'll share what I think. Personally, I don't think this is sinful for Nehemiah to do. That's based off my understanding of their culture, my reading of the text, but context is king. These men were corrupting the entire nation of Israel. And what happened when the nation of Israel was corrupted? They lost everything: their home, their nation, their temple, their practices, their land, their families, and they were sent into exile. It is understandable that Nehemiah reacted this way. He left no room for that kind of person. Rightfully so. So I hope that clears it up somewhat. But then he moves to another reminder, that's King Solomon, who essentially the king caused this exile in the first place, at least was the initial domino that fell. The corruption of the dynasty began with him, the splitting of the kingdom began with him, the integration of foreign nations began with him. But he was once, as he says, Nehemiah points out, loved by God. So he's pleading, do not do what he did. We've already seen this happen. Yes, Solomon had the wisdom of God, but he was also sinful, and he gave into his desires because he gave his sin quarter. Solomon is the picture that giving room to your sin is never done in isolation. It always affects other people. Nehemiah even discovers it within the priesthood, the son of Eliashib, man we saw earlier, had married foreign women. Not just foreign, but like Tobiah, actively opposing the people of Israel. It's not like the people who are far away from Jerusalem, they didn't, you know, they lived out in the country, they didn't go to Jerusalem very often, so they didn't really celebrate the festivals, they didn't really follow the law. It's not like those were the people marrying other people. It was the priestly line. It was the people who go to church every Sunday and read their Bible most of the time. It was the people who maybe even teach a Bible study or two. That's the kind of people who were doing this. Your sin never stays isolated, it always corrupts. Sometimes slower, sometimes quicker. But sin infects other areas of your life in ways you don't even realize. We see that in Nehemiah 13. And then the book ends. Just a simple plea from Nehemiah remember me, my God, with favor. That's it. In my opinion, that's no way to tell a story. There's no introduction, there's no rising action, there's no climax, there's no falling action, there's no conclusion, it's just here's what happened. It's not like they lived faithfully ever after, nothing like that. There's even celebrations. Like you saw this big old festival, but they didn't put it at the end, they put it before the end. Why do you think that is? I'm curious what you think. Here's what I think. Because Ezra and Nehemiah were never meant to be the final answer to Israel's sin. Ezra was not the one we just sang about earlier to crush the head of the serpent. Nehemiah was not the one to establish David's eternal kingdom. He was not. Because they cannot change the human heart. They can turn people back to God, they can establish right practices, they can follow the law, they can do great godly things, issue reforms, teach the Bible, celebrate in faithfulness, appoint good people. But they could never remove the Israelites' heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Only Jesus can do that. So I've talked a lot about your sin and the deadly nature of your sin. But, church, family, when you read the Old Testament, when you think about your own sin, and then you're disappointed with the way the story ends or ashamed that you fell into the same sin, first join the club. But second, don't stay there. Because though Nehemiah ends with chapter 13, the Bible does not end with Nehemiah chapter 13, does it? There's a lot left to read. The Bible tells the rest of the story that a man from Nazareth of Galilee, God in the flesh, lived a perfect, sinless life, died the death you deserved, a criminal's death, but because he was perfect, three days later he rose and walked out of the tomb and beat death on your behalf. So if you are ashamed of your sin, fair. Place your faith in Christ and you are washed clean. I just talked about how evil sin is. Guess what? Grace is so much more. If that's you and you have literally never placed your faith in Christ Jesus, or you don't even know, do it this morning. That is the call this morning. Just believe that Christ came, lived, died on your behalf, and simple proclamation of faith in him is enough for salvation. It is sufficient. But if you have believed, I want to give you, this has been like my mantra for I don't know, decades at this point. Because, especially like early in seminary high school, I was struggling with this sin pattern I did not genuinely understand. I was like, how can I claim to be a believer if I'm just gonna keep doing this? Like, I don't I don't understand. So, two things for you, these are reminders for me. Firstly, rest in grace. Just as simple as that. Like you have an eternal Sabbath, that is Jesus. He has done the work for you. It's not one day a week, it's forever. So just rest in his work because he did the work you could not, he fulfilled the law you could not, he lived the sinless life you could not, he didn't give into temptation when you do. Rest in grace. But the second call, strive for holiness. Just two things. We rest, we simultaneously strive. That is the Christian life. It is simultaneously not doing anything because Christ has done it, yet desiring to be holy and striving to be holy, striving to kill your sin, to put it to death, and that is very, very hard to do. We always have a time of response every Sunday. I'd encourage you to use this time. Usually use it for prayer, but if you just want to talk to a neighbor, if you want to find somebody to pray with, by all means, please do it. I'm gonna put a prayer prompt up on the screen too. So if you don't even know what to pray, start here. When you're ready, just come and grab the elements. The only thing I ask here, we're gonna partake in the Lord's Supper together, as we always do. I ask that you be a believer in Christ Jesus, baptize as a believer in Christ Jesus in order to partake. Do not do it if that's not you. There's no shame, it's not a big deal. But please partake when you're ready, and then I'll come and lead us whenever you've returned to your seats. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you for another Sunday to gather and worship. We thank you for the opportunity to worship, something we don't even deserve. But you are passionate about your glory, and I ask that we would also be passionate for your glory, that we would want to see you magnified, both in our life, but in also in our city and in our church. For the sins that we struggle with, please help us. Help us first identify them, to see them as sinful, to hate them like you hate them, but then to put our sins to death and pursue you in holiness. We know you do all of this by your Spirit's power, and I ask that you would, all for Christ's name's sake. Amen.