Skip to content Answering God's Call: Learning from Nehemiah 11-12 Jun 6 · 18 min ...more
Answering God's Call: Learning from Nehemiah 11-12
June 6, 2025 · 18 min
Explore the spiritual legacy of Nehemiah and how his leadership represents a call to the faithful in today's world.
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The Call to Occupy the Holy City 0:09 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Alright. The sun is up, and I'm about ready to go for a run out on the mall. But before we do that, we're gonna look at Nehemiah chapters 11 and0:21 12 verse 2 of chapter 11. And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem. Now this is an amazing time in the history of Israel. The return had been underway for0:33 nearly a hundred years, but it was kinda moving in fits and starts. Alright? The first wave of Jewish exiles returning Jerusalem was in 5 36 BC. Construction on the temple began the next0:45 year, but it wasn't finished until 5 16 BC. Ezra brought the second wave of exiles back in 4 55 BC. Then Nehemiah, which which we've been reading0:57 about, led the third wave in 4 44 BC. Now this entire time, the city walls remained piles of rubble, and the city was exposed and was unprotected.1:10 Now Nehemiah, as we've read, led the effort to rebuild the the city physically, spiritually, morally, and culturally. But now, here we have the city's restored, the people1:22 revived, but few were willing to occupy the city beyond the religious and the civic leaders. So why did some come and and others did not? Well, before we read the chapter1:34 and answer that question, let me say the answer, I believe, has relevance to us today. Many do not want to dwell in the spiritual city of god today for the same reasons for1:46 the same reasons that in that day, they were hesitant and unwilling to occupy the holy city of Jerusalem. Verse 1 chapter 11. Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, and the1:57 rest of the people cast lots to bring 1 out of 10 to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while 9 out of 10 remained in the other towns. Now what do you read here that we've not seen2:09 before? I just mentioned it. Alright. Holy city. Jerusalem had now it had been sanctified and set apart for the Lord. In fact, this description of Jerusalem as of the holy2:21 city only appears before in Isaiah, prophetically describing Jerusalem after the captivity. So this is a new day. Alright? As I said, it's an amazing time in the history of2:33 Israel. Also note that the 10 percent, a tithe of the people, a remnant, were being called to live in the city. God rarely uses a majority, and we should take heart in2:45 that. Verse 2, and the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem. There were some who were willing. They they willingly offered to live in the2:57 holy city. Verse 3, these are the chiefs of the province who lived in Jerusalem, but in the towns of Judah, everyone lived on his property in their towns, Israel, the priest, the Levites,3:09 the temple servants, and the descendants of Solomon's servants. So the bulk of the chapter, as you'll read, contains a list of of the people and where they live.3:20 Now you might want me to stumble through all of those names, but I tell you what, I'm gonna let you read the rest of the chapter on your own. But I do wanna point out kind of 3 important3:32 aspects of this. In the first 8 verses, we find clues that allow us to draw a reasonable conclusion as to why the people were reluctant to occupy3:44 the holy city. And it it really boils down to 1 thing, but 3 aspects of it. It's fear. Or you you so I might well, how how do you know that? First, look at those who occupied the3:56 city and how they were described. Verse 6. And all the sons of Perez who lived in Jerusalem were 468 valiant men. Now4:08 why were they called valiant men? You know, strong, brave, a a force, an army. Alright. Why would they describe that? By the way, just to note, Perez was the son of Judah that he4:20 had through Tamar, his daughter-in-law, which is recorded in Genesis chapter 38. Genesis genealogy in Matthew 1 goes back to Judah through Perez.4:33 Wait. Why do I mention that? Because it's just another reminder of god's amazing redemption that in the line of Jesus is this 1 named Perez. Now they were not the only4:44 ones even among the priest. There were in verse 14, they were as well described as mighty men of valor. So why do we mention that?4:56 Because courage led some to the city, fear kept others out. So 3 aspects of this fear that I believe kept people from occupying the holy5:08 city. And, again, I think it applies to us, the principle here of occupying the kingdom. Number 1 was the fear of surrender to God. The5:20 city was now a holy sanctified city, and they were accustomed to living as they pleased. But you can't do that. You can't do that in the sanctified city. And recall the reforms that Nehemiah led them in in5:32 chapters 8 and 9. They were there would be greater scrutiny of the way the people conducted themselves in the shadow of the temple. You know, many today do not wanna surrender their will to the will of the5:44 father, so they stay outside the city of God. There was not only the fear of surrender to God, but there was a fear of man. Now up until this moment, they had seen the city lying in ruins their5:56 entire lives, a a a reminder of the devastation and the destruction that had happened a hundred and 40 years before. Remember, Nehemiah's description of the city, the gates burned with6:07 fire. As they would go to the temple, they would pass the charred remains of the gates and be reminded of the hostility of those around them. And to live in the holy city would mark them. You know,6:19 it was restored now. The walls were rebuilt, but I'm sure they they remembered what it looked like when they were in the pile of rubbles and these gates were burned. Living in Jerusalem would clearly identify them as6:31 Jewish and mark them. And there was also a fear of the future. The evidence and the stories of the siege that brought down Jerusalem were still vivid. Living outside6:42 in the villages, you could get away or have a a great have greater economic opportunities. You wouldn't be vulnerable to certain, the the uncertainty of the future if history were to repeat itself, which we know6:54 that it did. So fear kept many out, and the city was repopulated only by lots. Many were invited, but few were chosen. The invitation7:06 went out to all, but fear kept most out. So lots were cast to choose the remnant that would occupy the city. Now we cannot allow7:18 fear, fear of surrendering our will to God's will, the fear of man, or the fear of the future to keep us from the abundant life living in the kingdom of God that Jesus7:30 has provided for us. Alright. I do wanna quickly return to those who freely came into the city and were celebrated. In verse 2, and the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem. These7:42 were willing to live courageously, even the priest ready to do battle. By the way, we must be willing to do spiritual battle today if we're going to occupy the city of God. They sanctified7:54 themselves submitting to God under the scrutiny of others, holding 1 another accountable. They were willing to sacrifice their desires and the benefits offered by living among the majority for the8:06 greater purpose of god, serving him and serving others. And that really sets the stage for what we see in chapter 12. Now I know there's another list of names, and it's tempting toHonoring God Through Celebration and Recognition 8:18 sidestep this list like it is a boulder on a hiking trail, but let's let's not. Alright? Now I will say in the past, as I've preached through the book of Nehemiah, you know, many times I I pad8:30 bypass chapter 12 just because it was a list of names. But as I've been leading these journeys through the Bible over the last several years, I realized there are no wasted words in the Bible. Alright? The writers of the8:41 Bible were not doing what some of us did back in our college days when we had to write essays at a certain length and we started filling spaces with word salads. That's not what we have here. Every word of scripture is8:52 preserved for us for a reason, including the various rosters of names. Second Timothy chapter 3 16, the verse that I've quoted before, all scriptures9:04 breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work.9:16 So with that understanding, let's look at this. The walls have been restored. We saw that in chapter 6. The people were have been spiritually revived. We saw that in chapter 7 through 9. And they have begun9:27 to reform their ways, chapters 9 and 10, which by the way is a continual work of God through his word and his holy spirit as we see in the remainder of the book of Nehemiah. It's an ongoing process.9:39 You're not sanctified 1 time. Alright. We're saved. We're sanctified. And then we get to heaven. We're gonna be glorified. That's when the work is complete. It's it's we're a work in progress. Alright?9:51 And we need to keep moving and and being refined by the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. Alright. But at this moment, what we see here in10:03 chapter 12 is there is there has there's been a sea change in the nation. They are back on the right track. They are moving in the right direction. They're returning to a place10:15 of honoring god and the things that god had done and the things that god is going to be doing in their lives. So too often, you know, we fail to to stop and10:27 honor and thank God for what he has done. Alright? There is a time for ceremony and celebration, which includes recognition and honor. And10:39 that's what we have here in this chapter. I mean, think about this for a moment. Why do you think Hollywood has all these elaborate celebrations, you know, the Oscars and all this stuff? Now I totally disagree with what10:49 they celebrate, but they understand that what you celebrate, you get more of. And we need to celebrate the things of God and honor those who advance the work of11:00 God if we want more of it. And this is what we have in the first chapter of chapter 12, a list of the priest and the Levites by name as they returned to Jerusalem from11:12 captivity. Verse 1, these are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel. Now this was a hundred years previous. The sons of Sheathiel and Jeshua,11:24 Sarah Sariah, Jeremiah, and Ezra. Now I'm not gonna read all 26 of these verses, but I am going to point out what I believe is taking place here. Number 1,11:36 they're honoring the lord by recognizing those who serve. Were all these leaders perfect? No. I'm sure they were not. But were their contributions, whether their contributions were large or11:48 small, they were a part of bringing the nation12:03 history with with the Lord when, you know, some of you heard my testimony before. I was I think I was 6 years old before I ever went into a church. It was a small church. I went to a vacation bible school. And I often12:15 pray, thanking the Lord for, for for the pastor, Albert Cook, and and for that church and those most of whom are are gone on to be with12:27 the Lord now, almost all of them. But thank God for their vision of of founding that church. The church is only about 2 years old when I, first attended. And and so just12:39 grateful for that. And I think we need to honor, honor those as we see here who have done the work of of maybe it12:51 was small, maybe small work, but just thanking god for all of those who have come before to bring the nation to this point. You know, Nehemiah,13:02 he recognized that fact, which speaks to really his god honoring humility. He didn't say, look what I've done. He thanked god13:15 for all of those who went before him that enabled him to be at this strategic god ordained point of reestablishing13:27 the nation. He knew it wasn't him. He was just a he he, you know, 1 1 plants, 1 waters, 1 sows, and or or or 1 reaps. And he had the benefit of being there when it was reaping. Not to take13:39 anything away from him. He he was an amazing leader. And and he understood that while the lord used him to accomplish that amazing feat of rebuilding the walls in 52 days, there were those who prayed13:50 around and over that rubble long before the let lord let him to rebuild it. So we just need to keep that in mind. We need to honor those,14:02 honor the lord rather by recognizing those who serve. Alright. Look at verses 10 and 11. And Yeshua, the son, the what? And Yeshua was the father of Jehoiakim.14:15 Jehoiakim, the father of Eliashib. Eliashib, the father of Yehudah. Yehudah, the father of Jonathan. Jonathan, the father of Jeddah.14:27 Now we have here 6 generations of high priest. After the return of Babylon, the chronology of the Jewish people was kept by a succession14:39 of the high priest rather than the kings as the spiritual leadership then began to define the nation. Now, the next we see here in14:51 this chapter is honoring the lord with thanksgiving and celebration. Look at verse 27. And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought the Levites in all their places to bring them15:03 to Jerusalem to celebrate and dedicate with gladness, with thanksgiving, and with singing, with cymbals, with harps, and lyres. Now you can read here, they they create these choirs that walk around the walls of the city.15:14 And here's the picture. Here's what's going on. The city is encircled with praise and thanksgiving to God as the walls in the city are dedicated to the Lord. Now the physical walls of the15:26 city have spiritual meaning. So the spiritual leaders here are leading the way in dedicating this restored city. And and so you have the civil leader,15:38 Nehemiah, attending to not just the physical needs, but also calling and recognizing the role of the church and of the spiritual leaders to do15:50 really the real work. You know, we we the physical had been done, but he understood the spiritual behind it. And and and really, that that's kind of the role I see at the Family Research Council here in our16:02 nation's capital is that we understand the the political and the the policy that has to be done, but also that behind that, the real work is the spiritual. And that's why we work with pastors and16:14 churches to and and and it's why we're doing this bible reading plan It's because if we only attended to the the the physical, we would miss it, and it would just be a16:25 matter of time before those rebuilt walls were rebel again. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. We thank you for the book of Nehemiah. Thank you for his example. And, lord, lord, we celebrate. We we honor16:37 you by recognizing those that have come before us and have laid the foundation upon which we stand, and we celebrate your goodness. And, lord, we dedicate our lives to you. And and and, lord,16:50 we pray that you would rebuild the spiritual walls of our nation, of our families, of our communities. And and Lord, guide us. Continue to lead us on this journey through your word. We pray17:01 this in Jesus name. Amen. Alright. Thanks again for joining me. Let me remind you again, coming up the family Bible challenge, the 21 day family Bible challenge. Encourage17:13 someone else in your family to join you with this 21 day challenge. Text Matthew to 6 7 7 4 2, and, you'll get a link to all the resources. Alright. Until next time. Keep17:25 standing on the word.17:28 Today's study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan available for free at frc dot org slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you17:40 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 The Call to Occupy the Holy City8:10 Honoring God Through Celebration and Recognition
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