WEBVTT 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:13.679 Justice and injustice are words that are thrown a lot thrown around a lot in our culture. 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:35.039 Whether it's the news cycles or it's the social media that maybe you you pay attention to or just conversations, if you're kind of awake at all, you've probably realized in the last several years the term justice, the word justice, injustice, injustices, it's kind of everywhere, it seems. 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:36.479 It's filling up the air. 00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:43.359 So much so that there is a term, which I'm sure most of you are all are familiar with, with a social justice warrior. 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:50.640 People who are so committed to justice, social justice, that they're kind of taking on this warrior mentality. 00:00:51.759 --> 00:01:07.439 Now I realize that we're beginning a sermon talking about political things, and depending on who you're listening to today in this day and age, I realize that as a white heterosexual Christian male, that I'm kind of the problem for some people. 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:11.200 By just being born, I am an oppressor. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:15.280 But we're all consumed with this idea of justice. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:24.079 That's a really, really good thing to be talking about, thinking about, to be giving our time to. 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:29.120 This is not a topic that we can just say, well, that's for them to deal with. 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:31.040 That's not my problem, that's their problem. 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:33.120 Let's just kind of throw it out. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:39.280 Justice and injustice is not something that we should ignore. 00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:46.719 Rather, it's something we should be as Christians diligent about seeking justice. 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:50.000 That the injustices are corrected. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:54.560 But you can understand the frustration that comes from all this. 00:01:55.920 --> 00:02:05.120 All this conversation, all this talk about justice, injustice, right and wrong, social justice warriors, and all these things. 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:09.840 But the reality is without God there is no justice. 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:20.400 It's the very simple, basic Christian truth that God is the giver of truth and of law and his will, and he has told us how he wants us to live. 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:23.680 He's the true and right one. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:25.280 He is just. 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:29.759 So without God, there is no justice. 00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:42.560 Now there might be opinions about what is right and what's true, but without a God, those are just opinions, man's opinions, and they're broken opinions. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:03:03.599 And if you have any doubts about that, just look at the 20th century, at communism, when left, for man left to themselves to come up with their own form of justice, the millions and millions of people murdered when justice is left in the hands of men to figure out. 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:08.000 Thankfully, that's not the case. 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:15.840 God has revealed himself, both in general revelation and special revelation. 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:22.960 Now these are kind of theological terms, but general revelation is just saying God has revealed himself in his creation. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:32.240 You cannot go into creation and look at the sky and the stars and the trees and children and think, yeah, there is not a God. 00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:34.639 He has revealed himself. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:40.080 Now, man is great at hardening their hearts against these things. 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:45.039 But there is, as Romans 1 says, this general revelation, God has revealed himself. 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:52.560 And then there is special revelation, which is God revealing himself more fully in his word that we have as Christians. 00:03:53.199 --> 00:04:05.199 It tells us more about who God is, what he's like, what he's doing, what he's called us to, and how we are to live. 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:16.160 Now I would argue that both general revelation and special revelation, and it's clear that there are things set apart that we should not do. 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:21.040 I think these revelations, they they teach us that murder is wrong. 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:22.319 It's just wrong. 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:26.240 It goes against the thing that God has put in us. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:30.240 And there's these wicked acts that people partake of. 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:32.319 We know it's just it's just wrong. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:36.639 And you don't necessarily need a chapter and verse, although it's there. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:43.759 But just God and his goodness and his revelation to mankind says, these things are wrong. 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:50.319 We're to do good to one another, not harm to one another. 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:57.759 As mankind created in God's image, it should be our desire to seek to do good and not harm. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:00.879 But the reality is that we're sinful. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:06.000 We have a broken nature, a sinful nature. 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:11.279 And because we have that nature, our desire has changed. 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:18.639 And in Nehemiah 5, we're going to get into this how the Jews, they're not seeking to do good to one another. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:20.879 They are oppressing one another. 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:23.519 There was great injustices going on. 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:29.839 And Nehemiah steps in to bring justice and to model generosity. 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:34.160 Because of our fallen nature, we are sinful. 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:40.480 We're naturally not just and not generous people. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:50.319 This morning, what we're going to kind of walk through and see is that injustice, it's the natural posture of the human heart. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:55.360 Injustice is the natural posture of the human heart. 00:05:55.920 --> 00:06:00.319 And generosity is a posture of a new heart. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:03.439 Generosity is a posture of a new heart. 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:15.680 And there's this is going to be kind of a long introduction this morning because we're going out of Galatians, we finished that, and I am going back to a series that I began last September through Ezra and Nehemiah. 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:19.920 And we're again we're in Nehemiah chapter 5 this morning. 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:26.079 And this is the story of God bringing his people out of exile back to Jerusalem. 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:31.920 And there's almost most of the sermons through Ezra and Nehemiah series are on the church website. 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:34.319 You can listen to them there if you wish. 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:40.879 But the theme of the series is that God is faithful to renew and restore his people. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:45.519 God is faithful to renew and restore his people. 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:54.000 Now, whether you know this or not, all the Bible, all 66 books, are telling us a story. 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:58.079 They're telling us a story about God redeeming his people. 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:14.160 So from Genesis to Revelation and everything in between the Gospels, the Epistles, the Psalms, the Proverbs, the Minor Prophets, the Major Prophets, all these books, the book of Judges, where you read Judges and you're like, I'm not sure what's going on at all. 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:20.560 They're all telling part of the story of God's redemption of his people. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:22.000 They're all connected. 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:28.480 So the Old Testament is not just a collection of stories that we're going to read and hopefully glean some lessons from. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:32.000 These are scenes in God's story of redemption. 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:34.639 So we need to pay attention to these things. 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:38.079 So a little bit of background before we jump into chapter 5. 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:41.199 The people of Israel were disobedient. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:49.680 So King David, if you're aware, King David was the second king for Israel, and he comes in the year 1000 BC. 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:53.519 This is a thousand years before Jesus is born. 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:55.839 And things are going really well. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:04.319 Things are going well, and then he makes mistakes, and there's a lot of chaos, and his son Solomon comes, and things go very well for the nation of Israel. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:19.519 But then they begin to fall again into disobedience, and they begin to follow their own fleshly desires and their own wicked, sinful hearts, and they begin to rebel against God and not be faithful and obedient to what he's called them to. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:22.720 And this goes on for generations. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:27.600 And God's always seeking to call his people back. 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:29.680 Return to me. 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:30.879 Come back. 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:31.920 I will love you. 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:33.840 I have a covenant, love for you. 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:34.399 Return. 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:38.559 I'll restore, I will fulfill the promises I have for you. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:40.720 Pleading. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:44.480 And with that, through the prophets, he also gives this warning. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:53.919 If you continue in your disobedience, if you continue in your hard-heartedness, in your rebellion, I'm not going to forsake you. 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:58.399 Because I made a promise, I made a covenant with you that I will redeem you. 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:02.320 So I'm not going to forsake you and just throw you away and start again. 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:07.039 But I will lovingly but painfully discipline you. 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:16.320 And that discipline was being taken out of Jerusalem, out of Israel, carried off into Babylon. 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:20.399 And this prophecy, this warning was carried on for years. 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:23.039 And then finally the Lord allowed it to pass. 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:28.240 The Babylonians, led by King Nebuchadnezzar, came in and destroyed the temple. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:33.200 They destroyed Jerusalem and they carried off the people into captivity. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:39.840 This was a heartbreaking time in the story of God's people. 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:43.360 Their rebellion, their hard-heartedness. 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:44.799 God was gracious. 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:50.320 He lovingly disciplined them. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:57.360 And then after that time, and as Jeremiah writes, he says, Listen, I have a plan for you. 00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:03.279 You know that really popular Bible verse, which is true, God says, and I have a plan for you, I'm going to prosper you, and these things. 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:04.960 And we like to kind of make that our own. 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:07.759 Well, it was a promise to the nation of Israel. 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:09.360 It was their promise. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:12.879 And there is an extension that it is a promise for us as God's people. 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:15.600 He is going to bring us into his kingdom. 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:19.840 But Jeremiah was speaking about the people in captivity. 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:22.080 That God was not forsaking them. 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:23.759 He didn't forget about them. 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:33.519 He didn't just kind of let them linger and say, Well, when you're ready, when you're repentant, when you've kind of suffered enough of wrath, then you can come back. 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:38.240 But he said, You'll be there for 70 years and then you'll return. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:41.679 Seventy years came and went and they returned. 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:47.039 And this is the story of Ezra and Nehemiah, the people returning back. 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:57.039 So the year 605 BC, or sorry, in the year 558 BC, they bring the people back. 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:00.399 There's three waves that come back. 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:03.600 The first, there's 50,000 people. 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:07.840 Keep in mind that almost everyone who had lived in Jerusalem before is dead. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:20.720 50,000 people pack up their things, leave what they know to be home, and head to a destroyed land, a desolate land, a land of shame. 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:25.200 And they get back and they start to rebuild the altar. 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:34.240 And they rebuild the altar and they begin to sacrifice on it again to their God, the God of Israel, the one true God. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:39.759 And then opposition comes in and they stop the work. 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:45.759 And there's this theme in here, and I want us just to highlight this briefly. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:50.159 But there's these themes that we see in the story of Ezra and Nehemiah. 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:53.600 One is that we see God's amazing provision. 00:11:53.919 --> 00:12:09.519 If you're familiar with the story, every time there's a group who's in the captive land of Babylon who gets sent over, the king, whether it's Cyrus or Artaxerxes, or Darius, they say, listen, we're just going to give you whatever you want. 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:27.279 These are pagan kings that don't worship the God of the Bible, who have really no care about the God of the Bible, and for some reason they're giving these slaves all these wonderful possessions and money and resources to go back to their land which they were taken from to rebuild their land. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:30.879 This is God's provision for God's people. 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:33.679 God's providing for his people. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:38.159 He provides resources for his people. 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:44.000 The other thing that we, the theme we see throughout this story is this strong opposition. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:48.080 There's always someone opposing God's people. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:53.039 It's always the people of the land, the governors of the land. 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:59.360 The people who are who used to be Israelites, but they have left and they've kind of just kind of hanging out in the area. 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:02.960 And now that the true Israelites come back, they're opposing them. 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:06.240 There's always this strong opposition. 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:12.000 And unfortunately, at times, this opposition, it stops the people from rebuilding. 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:16.159 They stop rebuilding the temple at one point for years. 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:24.080 And then the prophets come in and they say, Why are you living in furnished houses when the temple of God has not been rebuilt? 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:28.639 So they rebuild again, they start the work again, but there's strong opposition. 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:33.120 And then there's a need for diligent obedience. 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:41.039 Because almost every chapter in these stories, the people begin to wander. 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:45.600 They begin to kind of just, hey, we're back in our land, I think we're good. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:50.559 They get comfortable and they stop seeking to be obedient to God. 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:55.200 So there needs to be this diligence in obedience. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:58.159 This diligence in their obedience. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:00.720 Slowly they rebuild the temple. 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:05.759 And then Nehemiah comes on the scene and they begin to rebuild the wall. 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:08.559 And they rebuild the wall in record time. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.399 But when he's coming, there's also a famine going on in the land. 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:17.279 People are starving. 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:23.600 People are mortgaging their land, they're selling their children themselves so that they can eat. 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:27.360 And this is what's going on in Nehemiah chapter 5. 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:29.200 They've just finished the wall. 00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:31.919 It's an amazing feat. 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:38.000 They finished the wall, and then Nehemiah goes on, and we're going to pick it up in verse 1. 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:39.919 1 through 5. 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:47.200 Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:52.240 For there were those who said, With our sons and our daughters, we are many. 00:14:52.559 --> 00:14:56.559 So let us get grain that we may eat and keep alive. 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:05.360 There were also those who said, We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine. 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:13.519 And there were those who said, We have borrowed money for the king's taxes on our fields and our vineyards. 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:20.000 Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children. 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:26.879 Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved. 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:30.080 But it is not in your power to help us. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:32.320 But is it not in your power to help it? 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:37.279 For other men have our fields and vineyards. 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:41.200 So this is the scene that's going on. 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:53.440 And I just want us to realize as we read through those verses that these were these were fellow Jews, oppressing fellow Jews, Israelites, oppressing Israelites. 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:58.639 And that this injustice, it just reveals man's brokenness. 00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:03.840 And we don't have to look very far in our world to see injustice. 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:06.159 It is all around us. 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:10.320 And it just points to the brokenness of man's heart. 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:16.320 And here Nehemiah is hearing, finish the wall, this amazing feat. 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:23.279 And then he just turns around, and there are all these people coming to him saying, Listen, is this not in your power to do something? 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:31.519 We're starving, we're enslaved, or our children are enslaved, we're paying taxes, we've we've mortgaged everything we owned. 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:34.480 Can you not do something? 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:44.080 The people of God were oppressing the people of God, and they knew they were not supposed to do this. 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:56.559 In Deuteronomy 23, 19, it says, You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:05.920 And then also in Deuteronomy 15, this was clear instruction about the heart that they were to have for the poor among them. 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:08.880 Listen to this from Deuteronomy 15. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:24.240 If among you one of your brothers should become poor in your towns, within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother. 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:30.880 But you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:39.279 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart, and you say, The seventh year, the year of release is near. 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:40.640 Just pause there. 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:45.279 If you're not aware of this, in the old covenant, there's this thing called the year of Jubilee. 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:48.559 And every seven years, everything was kind of reset. 00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:54.720 The debts, the negotiations, the land contracts, everything went kind of back to its original owner. 00:17:54.880 --> 00:17:56.640 And so this is what he's referencing. 00:17:56.799 --> 00:18:01.359 Don't take advantage of people because of the year of Jubilee. 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:14.000 I find myself, take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart, and you say, the seventh year, the year of release is near, and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing. 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:21.920 And he cried to the Lord against you, and you and you be guilty of sin. 00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:34.559 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall be shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that your that you undertake. 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:39.200 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:47.200 Therefore I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy, and to the poor in your land. 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:53.839 So this is clear instruction given to God's people generations ago. 00:18:54.400 --> 00:19:03.279 And we know that one of the things that Ezra did when he came in the second wave of exiles returning, is that he began to teach the law thoroughly. 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:07.039 And so these people would have heard this instruction. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:12.960 They would have known this instruction, but yet they're blatantly disobeying it. 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:16.799 They're taking advantage of the poor. 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:21.440 And if anyone understood what it meant to be oppressed, you'd think it would be the Jews. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:24.400 They were slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years. 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:34.400 Then they were, then the whole time when they're in their land, they're kind of being occupied by other people, they're at war with other people, they're fighting, and then they get taken into captivity for seven years, and they kind of finally come back. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:39.440 If there are people that understand what it means to be oppressed, it would be these people. 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:45.039 But yet they turn around and they begin to oppress others. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:49.599 Again, injustice. 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:52.960 It's a theme in the hearts of humans. 00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:56.000 It's a theme in us. 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:03.279 We oppress because we're selfish. 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:07.039 We want what we want. 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:16.960 We want to feel comfortable, we want to feel superior, we want to be satisfied, we want to be pleasured, we want to be entertained, we want to rule our life. 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:19.519 And so we oppress. 00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:28.480 And in our area where we live, there's not this kind of drastic injustices and oppression going on. 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:35.119 There's still in our hearts a desire to oppress others. 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:41.680 Sometimes it's just, I want to be right and I want them to be proven wrong. 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:46.559 I want to see, I want others to see that I'm right and they're wrong. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:48.880 They need to be brought down. 00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:52.079 They need to be humbled, and I'm the one to do it. 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:58.799 It's this looking down on other people as if they are less than us. 00:21:01.119 --> 00:21:04.720 As if somehow we are better than they are. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:11.759 We're worthy of some kind of better treatment or more respect. 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:14.559 And this is not the reality. 00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:21.359 We are all broken and sinful, wicked people before God in our own hearts. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:23.920 So this is in us. 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:25.039 We oppress. 00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:34.400 And if you don't believe me, if you if you don't believe that oppression is just natural to mankind, I just encourage you, go watch kids play. 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:38.640 Just go watch them for a for a little bit of time. 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:47.039 See how quickly kids interact and begin to kind of subvert their will on one another. 00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:48.160 Right? 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:56.799 Or maybe you've had the this sad opportunity to see a marriage dissolve into dysfunction. 00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:59.839 You see a spouse oppressing another marriage. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.119 Spouse. 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:09.599 Or just to examine your own heart as you go to a public place and you just begin to observe and watch. 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:12.319 And you're just kind of people watching, which can be a lot of fun. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:16.960 I mean, but if you're not careful, you begin to make judgments about people. 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:19.440 You begin to think things about people. 00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:20.640 You don't even know them. 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:21.759 You don't know their story. 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:22.640 You don't know what they believe. 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:23.440 You don't know anything. 00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:33.039 And you're beginning to draw this whole assumption about where they fall and kind of your rank and your observation of their value. 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:36.960 And I don't say that to put shame on you. 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:42.240 I'm just saying we have to acknowledge this is a part of our heart. 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:44.880 It's injustice. 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:46.960 We're broken. 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:50.160 And that we're selfish. 00:22:54.079 --> 00:23:01.759 Philippians chapter 2, verse 3 through 5 says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:08.799 But in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:13.119 That isn't an observation. 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:16.000 That's not an opinion. 00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:20.240 That's a command from God to his people. 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:26.880 It goes on, let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others. 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:33.440 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. 00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:35.839 It's yours. 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:44.720 We're reading in the Bible where it says, like, or in Deuteronomy, where it says, listen, you don't be oppressing people because it's God who gave these things to you. 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:46.559 It's God who has redeemed you. 00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:49.359 If there's anything good in you, it's because God has done it. 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:55.920 And because of these things, because of Christ redeeming you, there should be no selfishness in you. 00:23:56.400 --> 00:24:02.400 And so, as believers, we're working to be more and more like Christ. 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:08.400 And we're failing, but we are striving to be obedient to Him. 00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:14.559 So justice reveals our brokenness, but true justice, it reveals God's goodness. 00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:18.240 Look at Nehemiah's response in verse 6. 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:21.039 We're going to 6 through 13. 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:25.440 I was angry when I heard their outcry and their words. 00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:34.480 I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials, and I said to them, You are exacting interest, each from his brother. 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:37.279 And I held a great assembly against them. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:52.079 And I said to them, We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us. 00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:57.599 They were silent and could not find a word to say. 00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:03.119 So I said, The thing that you are doing is not good. 00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:10.559 Ought you not to walk in the fear of God to prevent the taunt of the nations, our enemies? 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:16.400 Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending to them money and grain. 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:20.079 Let us abandon this exacting of interest. 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:36.640 Return to me, return, return to them this very day, their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and their percentage of money, and grain and wine and oil that you have been exacting from them. 00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:44.640 And they said, We will restore these and require nothing from them. 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:46.880 We will do as you say. 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:53.119 And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised. 00:25:54.559 --> 00:26:04.559 I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. 00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:08.640 So may he be shaken out and emptied. 00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:14.480 And all the assembly said, Amen, and praised the Lord. 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:18.079 And the people did as they had promised. 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:25.440 Nehemiah was very quick to respond, forceful in his response. 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:31.119 It says that he took self counsel with himself. 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:33.759 There's not even people around him that he's taking counsel with. 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:35.440 He's just saying, we gotta figure this out. 00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:36.559 Me, myself, and I. 00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:39.839 And he had God's word and truth to work with. 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:42.720 And it brings these charges against him. 00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:48.400 That you're enslaving the very people we have brought back from slavery. 00:26:49.359 --> 00:26:54.000 And then he commands the oppressors to right the wrongs as best they could. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:56.720 He says, You're gonna make this right. 00:26:56.799 --> 00:26:58.640 You're gonna make it right today. 00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:00.880 We're not waiting for another day. 00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:02.480 We're not waiting for another week. 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:04.880 We're not letting you get your affairs in order. 00:27:05.039 --> 00:27:07.200 It's today we will reckon this. 00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:09.680 You're giving back everything that you've taken. 00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:11.119 You will restore. 00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:20.160 And what a picture, just a just a glimpse of when Jesus Christ returns. 00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:26.160 And he says, all things right in a day, in a moment. 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:32.640 And here we are pining away in our life, trying to be faithful to God and to honor him and to be obedient. 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:34.559 But we know that the world is broken. 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:47.039 We know there's injustice, we know there's selfishness and oppression all around us, and our hearts long for this reckoning when God will set all things right. 00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:52.480 And Nehemiah, he gives them this warning. 00:27:52.640 --> 00:28:05.440 He says, if you fail to do this, if you fail, and he gets the priest in to make this a covenant, but he says, if you fail, may God shake out every man from his home. 00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:22.400 The people that God has been preserving, carried off into captivity, brought back, and he's saying, if your heart is going to continue against God, may he shake you out and be emptied. 00:28:23.519 --> 00:28:25.839 You want nothing to do with God. 00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:29.519 May he have nothing to do with you. 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:34.240 This is what we see similarly in Acts chapter 18. 00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:41.440 Paul is trying to share the gospel with the Jews, and they want nothing to do with this. 00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:49.440 It says in verse 6, and when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, Your blood be on your hands, on your own heads. 00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:50.880 I am innocent. 00:28:51.119 --> 00:28:54.559 From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. 00:28:55.839 --> 00:29:03.119 But this sharp word from Nehemiah, this didn't come about because Nehemiah just had a really good moral conscience. 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:07.680 And he was like, Yeah, you know, I just, I feel like intrinsically I just know what's good. 00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:10.160 And this is against that. 00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:14.880 It wasn't just this internal kind of figuring things out. 00:29:16.240 --> 00:29:18.319 He knew what God had said. 00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:21.519 He knew God's desire and his will. 00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:29.519 Oppressing others is wicked. 00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:31.920 It goes against his design. 00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:38.720 Proverbs 14, 31 Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker. 00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:44.400 But he who is generous to the needy honors him. 00:29:45.759 --> 00:29:52.640 Isaiah 1, 17, learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression. 00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:56.400 Bring justice to the fatherless. 00:29:56.640 --> 00:29:58.960 Plead the widow's cause. 00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:09.839 In Psalm 103, verse 6, the Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. 00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:18.799 See what Nehemiah knew is what was going on was not just against one another as two brothers, the two Hebrews. 00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:21.359 It was against God. 00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:24.319 God's design for his people. 00:30:24.480 --> 00:30:27.519 And this brings this outrage from Nehemiah. 00:30:27.759 --> 00:30:33.359 And it reveals that God is the giver of true justice. 00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:37.119 And that God is just and good. 00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:44.960 Nehemiah was serious about correcting the injustices, and he was serious about generosity. 00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:53.920 This last section we're going to look at here, we see that Nehemiah begins to give out of his own wealth. 00:30:54.799 --> 00:31:03.920 Not for his own credit, not for his own fame or for his own name, but for the good of those around him. 00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:05.599 Look in verse 14. 00:31:06.559 --> 00:31:21.359 Moreover, from the time I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the 32nd year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor. 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:32.559 The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their for their daily ration forty shekels of silver. 00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:36.559 Even their servants lorded it over the people. 00:31:37.039 --> 00:31:41.680 But I did not do so because of the fear of God. 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:50.720 I was per I I also persevered in the work on the wall, and we acquired no land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work. 00:31:51.359 --> 00:32:01.920 Moreover, there were at my table one hundred and fifty men, Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from other nations that were around us. 00:32:02.480 --> 00:32:12.079 Now what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox, six choice sheep, birds, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. 00:32:12.319 --> 00:32:22.000 In all this I did not demand the food allowance of the governor, because the service was too heavy on this people. 00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:28.160 Remember for my good, O God, all that I have done for the people. 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:36.559 And it begins, and I want to look at just kind of two verses here. 00:32:36.880 --> 00:32:39.599 The second part of verse 15 and verse 19. 00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:41.839 There's a fear of God. 00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:42.799 Look at verse 15. 00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:48.160 The former governors who were before me laid a heavy burden on the people and took from them for their daily rations. 00:32:49.200 --> 00:32:52.960 But I did not do so because of the fear of God. 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:55.599 And then verse 19. 00:33:13.119 --> 00:33:14.880 Look at all these things. 00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:17.039 He's doing it because he fears God. 00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:17.839 He loves God. 00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:20.240 He seeks to be obedient to God. 00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:27.119 This is a reverent fear that drives us to honor and obey and love God. 00:33:28.400 --> 00:33:31.440 He feared the Lord in a good and right way. 00:33:31.839 --> 00:33:33.759 It drives him to generosity. 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:37.519 It pushes him to generosity because of what God had done for him. 00:33:37.839 --> 00:33:43.599 His generosity also reveals that we see and respond to the needs around us. 00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:48.000 See, he could read the lay of the land. 00:33:49.279 --> 00:33:51.119 People were starving. 00:33:51.599 --> 00:34:01.359 And he had a right as a governor because he was sent from the king of Babylon into the province that was technically still owned and ran by the Babylonians. 00:34:01.519 --> 00:34:09.039 He had a right as the governor of the land to make all the people serve him and to feed him, provide for his home, all these things. 00:34:09.119 --> 00:34:11.039 And he said, no, I'm not doing that. 00:34:11.280 --> 00:34:18.239 Yeah, the society might say that's my right or that's my privilege, but I'm not going to step into that because these people are suffering. 00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:21.519 He wasn't seeking to self-gain. 00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:24.239 He was obviously a very wealthy man. 00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:27.440 He could see the needs around him. 00:34:28.719 --> 00:34:39.599 So we're not supposed to, as Christians, just hoard up for ourselves, but rather to be taking what God has given us and giving it to others. 00:34:40.639 --> 00:34:41.519 This is a blessing. 00:34:41.760 --> 00:34:50.079 As we stand here in the world, we can look out over the last several hundred years and see just the blessing of Christians who have been generous with what they've had. 00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:50.559 Right? 00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:56.960 You look at just America, like almost most of the hospitals were started by Christians. 00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:02.400 Most of the universities in the early days of America were started by Christians. 00:35:02.880 --> 00:35:10.559 Not because we just wanted to dominate the world, but we saw there's a need, there's a need, practical need for people who are who are hurting or in pain. 00:35:10.719 --> 00:35:14.800 There's a need for education, for people to read and to flourish. 00:35:15.280 --> 00:35:17.679 And so you see, people giving to these things. 00:35:17.840 --> 00:35:21.519 You look at humanitarian crises in the world. 00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:28.639 Christians give above and beyond any other group, any other society or religion. 00:35:28.800 --> 00:35:33.039 And we don't do this so we can kind of pat ourselves on the back, like we're really good givers. 00:35:33.519 --> 00:35:34.880 Look at us give. 00:35:35.280 --> 00:35:40.000 No, we just realize that everything we have has been given to us by God. 00:35:40.159 --> 00:35:43.920 It's by Him we have it, and so we're just passing it along for the good of others. 00:35:44.079 --> 00:35:45.760 We're not hoarding it up for ourselves. 00:35:45.920 --> 00:35:51.119 We're not trying to make a name for ourselves, we're passing it along for others. 00:35:52.159 --> 00:35:55.599 Now hear me, I'm not saying it's wrong to have things. 00:35:55.840 --> 00:35:59.519 It's not wrong to be rich with money. 00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:02.800 But seek to be rich in the things of God. 00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:20.960 1 Timothy chapter 6 says, As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides for us everything to enjoy. 00:36:21.199 --> 00:36:32.559 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasures for themselves as God as a good foundation for the future. 00:36:32.960 --> 00:36:37.760 So they may take hold of that which is truly life. 00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:42.639 We're not clinging to our things. 00:36:43.199 --> 00:36:45.679 Nehemiah's not clinging to his things. 00:36:45.760 --> 00:36:47.519 We're not trying to hoard up money. 00:36:47.679 --> 00:36:54.719 It's not wrong to have the money, but we're not looking to that for any kind of hope or for joy or for contentment. 00:36:55.920 --> 00:37:06.639 But rather that we would have good works because of what God has done for us, and that we may take hold of that which is truly life. 00:37:07.360 --> 00:37:08.960 Jesus Christ. 00:37:11.360 --> 00:37:13.360