Rebuilding the Walls of Faith

All right, welcome in. Good evening. How's everybody doing? Uh, good. Yeah. Well, welcome in. I know evening service, it's a little bit different. Um, different atmosphere. And we've got some worship uh prepared, a few songs uh and we're going to do it a little bit different style, so it'll be fun and exciting. And then, uh, we'll get into the word of God. Um, but first, uh, if you would, let's pray together. Father, we first come on up. Father, we thank you for this evening, God, and for all that you're doing in and through uh across Church Phoenix and in your church around the world. Lord, we are uh grateful really to just be part of what you're doing. God, I pray that you would bless this time of uh fellowship, of worship through music, and as we continue to worship through uh preaching. Lord, I pray that you would bless our time together, Lord, that you would be glorified in everything that we do, Lord. We pray for those who may still be coming uh for safe travels, Lord. And we uh look forward to just hearing from you, God. I pray that you would give us ears to hear what you have to say to us this evening. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. All right, let's stand together and sing. Blessed be your name. The land that is plentiful where streams of abundance flow. Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name. When I'm found in the desert place, though I walk through the wilderness, blessed be your name. Every blessing you pour out, I'll turn back to praise. Though the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. Blessed be your name. When sun shining down on me, the world loses it be. Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name. On the road marked with suffering. Those pain in the offering. Blessed be your name. Every blessing you pour out. I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. You give and take away. Give and take away. I will choose to say, Lord, blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be a glorious name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. To give and take away, give and take away. I will choose to say, Lord, blessed be your name. Oh, hey. In Christ alone my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are still and striving cease. My comforter, my all in all, here in the love of Christ, I'll stand. M there in the ground his body lay. Light of the world in darkness slay. Then bursting forth in glorious day. Up from the grave he rose again. And as he stands in victory since curse has lost its grip on me. For I am his and he is mine. for all with the precious blood of Christ. No guilt in life, no fear in death. This is the power of Christ in me. From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of men can ever pluck me from his hand. Till he returns or calls me home. Here in the power of Christ I'll stand till he returns or calls me home. Here in the power of Christ, I'll stand. Here in the power of Christ, I'll stand. How great the chasm that lay between us. How high the mountain I could not climb. In desperation, I turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night. Then through the darkness, your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul. The end is riches. The end is written. >> Jesus Christ my livinging hope. Oh, could imagine so great a mercy. What heart could fathom such boundless grace? The God of ages stepped down from glory to wear my sin and bear my shame. The cross has spoken. I am forgi. The King of Kings calls me his own. The beautiful Savior, I'm yours forever, Jesus Christ, my living hope. Hallelujah. Praise the one who sets me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my livinging home. Hallelujah. Praise the one who sets me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living. Then came the morning that sealed the promise. Your buried body began to breathe. Out of the silence, the roaring lion declared, "The grave has no claim on me." And came the morning that sealed the promise. Your buried body begin to breathe. Out of the silence, the roaring lion. Declare the grave has no claim on me. Oh Jesus, yours is the victory. Hallelujah. Praise the one who sets me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name, Jesus Christ. My livinging hope. Hallelujah. Praise the one who sets me free. Hallelujah. That has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ my livinging home. Jesus Christ my livinging home. Jesus you are my living hope. Lord thank you that we have a living hope in you God. that we have peace, protection, you fight our battles, God, and that you win every time. Thank you for who you are. You are strong and powerful, that you died for our sins, that we may be reconciled with you once again. God, thank you for your love, your never- ending kindness towards us. God, I pray that we will be open to your word tonight. We may hear your message, that ultimately we may be changed by it. Pray this in your name. Amen. >> Amen. Amen. Amen. You can be seated if you haven't already. Welcome to Sunday night service. Yeah, we don't do this all the time, but we do it sometimes, and it's always a wonderful time when we do. Um, good evening. I am Pastor DJ. If you don't know me, which I'm pretty sure most of y'all would, but hey, you never know. There might be somebody who's never come to church before and the first time is Sunday night. So if uh you don't know me, I'm Pastor DJ. Um and welcome in. If you would open your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 13, and if you don't have one, of course, you know, we have them in the seat back for you. But uh Nehemiah chapter 13. Now although Nehemiah is an Old Testament book, this chapter serves as a very stern warning to even us as New Testament believers. It is a warning. I believe that if Nehemiah could talk to us today, his statement would be a warning. Don't do what they did. Don't make a commitment to God and look back. In fact, we see these warnings in the New Testament, right? Don't do what the Old Testament folks have previously done. Jesus himself gives a threeword warning in Luke 17:32. That three-word warning is this. remember Lot's wife. Remember that. Remember Lot's wife. And in context of Luke 17, Jesus was talking about the coming kingdom of God and warning those who in light of the coming kingdom of God still long for the world. They desire the things of the world in light of the fact that the kingdom of God is coming. And if you remember the story of Lot's wife, do you remember? Jesus said, "Remember Lot's wife." Do you remember Lot's wife? You remember the story? When God decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah over their sin, he gave Lot and his family stern warning. Basically, run for your life. That's the warning, right? Get out now because judgment is coming. And they hesitated. Remember his family? They hesitated so much that the angels remember that were sent had to force them out. Get out now. Get out of the city. In Genesis 19:17, it says, "And as they brought them out, one said, an angel said, escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. escape to the hills lest you be swept away. A clear warning, get out of Sodom and Gomorrah like right now, right? Run and don't look back. And as God brought judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah and rained down burning sulfur from heaven on it, Lot's wife, as you know, looked back. And as soon as she did, what happened? She became a pillar of salt. And you might think, well, what's so wrong with her looking back? Well, you have to know that the word in Hebrew for looking is stronger than like a glance. It means that she gazed intently, that she looked back at Sodom and Gomorrah with a fondness, with kind of a sadness that it's being destroyed. Why? Because she wants to go back. And Jesus uses her as an example because what was true about Lot's wife was she was going to miss Sodom and Gomorrah. And by miss, what we mean is miss the sin and debauchery of Sodom and Gomorrah. That's why she was turned into a pillar of salt. Jesus says, "Remember Lot's wife. Don't long for this world and the things of this world because judgment is coming." And here in Nehemiah chapter 13, all the wonderful commitments the Israelites made to God before in previous chapters when everything sounded hunky dory, everything's looking up, they destroy and break every single commitment that they make in chapter 10. within the span of a couple years, maybe even sooner, but probably within a couple years. Back in chapter 10, the Israelites dedicated themselves to obey God's commands, right? Do what he says, worship him rightly. And all of that is shattered within a couple of chapters. They went back. Lot's wife looked back. the Israelites ran back to disobedience, back to the world, and back to compromise. And my prayer is that as we work through the end of Nehemiah, this chapter 13, that you'll be convicted once more to keep your eyes fixed on Christ and continue to run from your sin to the Savior. Run from the cares of this world to Christ. You say, "DJ, what on earth is the goal of Nehemiah 13 to run from sin to Christ for all of us?" Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this evening. And God, I thank you for uh those that you've brought back this evening to um hear your word. God, I pray that once more that you would be glorified and honored in all that we do and say, and that this would be a time of edification for all of us, a stern warning, a a great reminder to keep running to you and not look back in Jesus name. Amen. Well, I'm going to read the whole chapter. It's 31 verses, but I mean, it's Sunday night's service and there's not a second service waiting, so we got all night. No. But it's rich. And so that's why I'm going to read it. If you'll follow along, Nehemiah 13, beginning at verse one, he says, "At that time, the book of Moses was read publicly to the people. The command was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabitete should ever enter the assembly of God. Because they did not meet the Israelites with food and water. Instead, they hired Balum against them 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, before verses 1-3, before this, the priest Eli had been put in charge of the store rooms of the house of our God. That is looking back to those last verses in chapter 12 there. He was a relative of Tobaya. I hope that that hits you as hard as it should. Problem. We'll talk about it later. But verse 5, and had prepared a large room for him, that's Tobaya, where they had previously stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles, and the tents of grain, new wine, and fresh oil prescribed for the Levite, singers, and gatekeepers along with the contributions for all the priests. While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem because I had returned to King Art Xerxes of Babylon in the 32nd 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 Eliashev had done on behalf of Tobaya by providing him a room in the courts of God's house. That should break our hearts truly. Num. Uh, verse 8. I was greatly displeased and threw all of Tobias's household possessions out of the room. Amen. 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 the frankincense. I also found out that because the portions for the Levites had not been given, each of the Levites and the singers performing the service had gone back to his own field. Therefore, I rebuke 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 the grain, new wine, and fresh oil into the storehouses. I appointed as treasurers over the um storehouses the priest Shelomiah the scribe Zadok and Padiah of the Levites with Hanan son of Zachor son of Mataniah to assist them because they were considered trustworthy they were responsible for the distri distribution of their colleague to their colleagues remember me for this my God and don't erase the deeds of faithful love I have done for the house of my God and for its services verse At that 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 Tyrions living there were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise and 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? Profigning 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 are rekindling his anger against Israel by profaining the Sabbath." Verse 19. 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 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. Yeah. After that, they did not come again on the Sabbath. Praise God. Then I instructed the Levites to purify themselves and guard the city gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this me. 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 Ashdad, Ammon, and Moab. Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, or the language of one of the other peoples, but could not speak Hebrew, which is a serious issue. 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 of Jehoeda, son of the high priest Eliashev, had become a son-in-law to who? Sandalot 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 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. Amen. Verse one can sometimes be a little bit confusing. So I want to straighten that out first. The phrase at that time uh doesn't refer back to chapter 12 like you might like it might sound like it does. Um it actually looks forward to verse 6 and 7 where Nehemiah says he left and then came back again. When he came back and discovered the evil happening, the book of Moses was read again publicly. What was the antidote to sin? The word of God again, right? And what they were reading was Deuteronomy 23. That basically says exactly what verse 1 and two say. No Ammonites or Moabites in the assembly of God. Now perhaps some of you are thinking, "But what about Ruth?" Right? If you know her story, Ruth is a Moabitete who married Boaz and entered the assembly of God. Boaz was a Jewish man. And on top of that, she's in the lineage of Jesus Christ, held in high regard. What we have to remember is that it's this is not about race or ethnicity. This is about idolatry. That's what it's about. What do we know about Ruth? What does it say about her? Ruth 1:16. But Ruth said when she was talking to Naomi, don't do not urge me to leave you or return from following you. For where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and what? Your God shall be my God. When the one true living God of Israel becomes Ruth's God, yes, she still has Moabitete roots and was from the land of Moab, but she's no longer what? An idoltor anymore. She worships Yahweh and can therefore come into the assembly of God. This is why when we interpret scripture, we have to keep the whole council of God so to speak in mind because Exodus 12:48 and 49 says simply this. This is God giving the law. He says, "If a stranger, Exodus 12, shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised." So basically, if a non-Israelite wants to come in and celebrate the Passover, he needs to do it this way. But they can. Then Exodus 12:48 goes on, "Then he may come near and keep it. He shall be as a native of the land." What does that mean? Come on in and worship Yahweh with us. Do it the right way. It says, "But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you. So if a stranger or sojourer, someone not Israelite, wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, wants to worship Yahweh, then they can, but they got to do it right. But they can and then they are welcomed in. But here in Nehemiah 13, they've intermarried with Ammonites and Moabites who have no desire to obey the Lord and are still idoltors. Verse four and five provide a prime example. An Israelite priest Eliashev is now a relative of Tobaya. Tobaya was an outspoken enemy of God and his people. Not only are they related, but Tobaiah has a room in the house of God. This is a problem big time. An outspoken enemy of God is living in the house of God. Remember Tobiiah is the dude that said, "If a fox climbs up these walls, he'll knock it down." And we saw how Nehemiah paraded bunch of dude a whole procession, right? two processions of people up on them walls to show him that he's wrong, I think, and to worship and praise God. But an enemy of God is living in God's house in a large room that, get this, is supposed to What room is Toba living in? He's living in a room that's supposed to store items for worshiping God. Do you see what's happened? Vance Habner once said this quote, "Satan isn't fighting churches, he's joining them." Satan isn't fighting churches, he's joining them." End quote. Ever thought about that? It's exactly what's going on here. What Israel did, what they've done is provide a vivid physical picture of their exchanging God for the world. In verse 6 lets us know that all this happened when Nehemiah was gone. He had stayed in Jerusalem for 12 years. Basically, when you do the math, he stayed there. Well, it says that and then uh we'll get into a little math later, but he stays there for 12 years and he goes back to serve Persia again. And now you say it says Babylon. Yes, that's the location. Persia conquered Babylon, took over as the world empire. King Art Os Cyrus and Arctic Xerxes are there. Nehemiah still a cup bearer in the to the king. He had just gone the reforms in for 12 years in Jerusalem and then went back home to continue to serve. And as you see, he leaves and everything goes wrong. We don't know how long Nehemiah was gone, but I'll tell you, all my research points to about a couple years. He arrived in about 445 BC, stayed 12 years, so that's like 433. Remember, we're going down cuz we're going towards Christ. So 433. And all of my research that I was able to do points to the fact that he went back around 4:30 or 429 BC. So we're talking about three maybe four years have passed. It's not like 20 years have passed or 30 years or Nehemiah's showing back up when he's 100 years old and trying to check it with only a couple years have passed and this is what's going on. All he when he returns he discovers sin not only in the people but in leadership. Someone in Eliah the priest's family married someone in Tobaya the god-hater's family and now the god-hater is living in God's house. Check out Nehemiah's reaction, right? Get out. I like it. Just get out. Nehemiah throws him out and all his stuff out, right? Nice nice couch, Tobaya. Throws it out, right? Oh, like nice chair, right? He's he's literally evicting him from God's house. It's great. It's a wonderful picture. And verse 10, verse 10 tells you why this happened. The house of God was neglected. The people stopped giving the portions to the Levites. So what does that mean? Well, it means the Levites have to live, too. If you're a Levite, you still got to eat, right? You still have to live life. And if they were not going to be supported by the people in order to survive, they got to go out and work their own fields too to live. So what had happened was giving to the house of God stopped which led to service in the house of God waning and pagans made their way in. And so Nehemiah cries out to God to remember him. He's trying, right? He's trying so hard with the rebellious people. But not only has the house of God been neglected, which they promised not to do in chapter 10, but they broke another commitment back in chapter 10. They promised to violate the Sabbath. You could just take chapter 10 and put it next to 13 and trace commitment, commitment, commitment, failure, failure, failure, commitment, commitment, commitment, looking back, going back, running back to sin. And so they violate the Sabbath in verses 15 to 17. And look at verse 19. What are surrounding nations doing? They are camping outside the walls just looking just waiting for a disobedient Israelite to buy from them. Can I suggest to you that Satan's approach is the same? He's waiting for you, ready to indulge your disobedience to God. He'll sell you whatever you want if you're willing to disobey God for it. and he's waiting right out, right outside, just like these enemies of Israel are. Why are they camping outside? Because they know that certain Israelites are taking the bait and willing to disobey God for it, for gain on the Sabbath day. They're waiting outside because they know disobedient Israelites will show up. You don't think Satan's waiting just outside the door waiting for you to uh you know, come over. You can you can violate God's law. Just come right over here, dude. He's wait he's camping right outside of you, right? And I love Nia's Nehemiah's response, right? If you don't leave, I'll make you leave. Right? kind of like the whole ask, tell make uh thing, right? I'm asking you to leave. No. Okay, I'm telling you to leave. No. Okay, you're leaving. Right. Verse 23, you see more inner marriage that was disobedient to God. Another commitment broken from chapter 10. And again, Nehemiah's swift response. Verse 25, rebuke, curse, beating, pulling their hair out. was talking with Roger. He's like, "That's probably your favorite part of the chapter." Huh. Kind of. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. Yeah. It is great. In fact, I didn't even have this in my notes, but I thought of it when we were talking. But if Nehemiah were a pastor today, how well do you think he'd be received? A New Testament pastor, the kind of guy who takes a stand against sin to that degree. I can only hope that I do, right? Let alone Paul, right? If the real Paul showed up in church, how many churches do you think would tolerate his teachings? Not many, in my opinion. I also think many churches have a madeup Jesus in their mind that's not even the one of scripture. Who takes a stand for who a man is and who a woman, who a woman is, all of these things, right? One of Satan's number one tactics is sexual sin. And as we see, Nehemiah doesn't mess around when it comes to dealing with it. But these are people who have given themselves over to sin sexually with other nations. Not even Solomon could resist. Right? That's the example that is given for us. Look at Solomon. Wisest man in the world. Ask God for wisdom. God gives it to him. The nations are astounded by the wisdom of Solomon. And Solomon, man, when he builds that temple, he offers this amazing prayer in the book of Kings that is just phenomenal. And then his heart is led astray by foreign women, right? By sexual sin. He was loved by God, made king, and still fell. If you look down to verse uh 28, one of the high priest's sons married the daughter of Sandbalot the Horonite. You remember him? This is a little buddy of Tobias. Nehemiah 4:1 says, "Now when Sandalot heard that we were rebuilding the wall, this was during the construction. He was angry and greatly enraged and jeered at the Jews. Another Israelite married the fam the the daughter married a family member of another godhater another alliance with an outspoken p pagan hater of God and you'll notice there in verse 22 Nehemiah this time he doesn't ask God to remember him he asked God to remember them he repeats three times Remember me. Remember me. Remember me. One time he says remember them for their disobedience. Their sin. They've defiled the priesthood. God correct it is his cry. So Nehemiah purifies them, assigns duties, makes arrangements, and puts in in God's hands. Remember me, my God with favor. Now, this was a little bit rapid fire. I know we kind of blazed through, but I want to get to the bottom line, which is this. The Israelite people, the Israelites broke every vow they made. We can sum it all up this way. At the end of Nehemiah 10, we will not neglect the house of our God. Nehemiah 13:11. Why has the house of God been neglected? That's a summary of chapter 10 in contrast with 13. I ain't going to neglect the house of God. I neglected the house of God. Right? This is a serious warning for us. Weak commitment, lackluster obedience, lifeless worship. That's what Israel Israelites relationship with God turned into. It was a It was a profession void of devotion. A profession void of devotion. Serious business. Is that your relationship with God right now? Professing Christ with no devotion to him. When Paul was dealing with the disobedient Corinthians, he wrote this 1 Corinthians 3:16-1 17. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. If you're here and you say, "I'm a Christian. I'm a believer in Jesus Christ. You are the temple of God. Are you neglecting it? Are you letting the world into it? A few chapters later in First Corinthians, Paul says, "Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body. But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God? Listen, you are not your own. You were bought for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Why glorify God in your body? Because it's the temple of the living God. That's why. As a Christian, guess what? You don't belong to you anymore. Which is actually great. I don't want to belong to DJ. Belong to Christ. You belong to Christ. And in Paul's second letter to Corinth, he reminded them, "What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I'll be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, because God is your God, therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing. Then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. Right? And then that's the end of of of 2 Corinthians 6. But then sometimes we forget verse one. And verse one of chapter 7 says, "Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. Because you are the temple of the living God. separate yourself from the things of the world. Do we respond to sin with the same passion as Nehemiah does? Cuz I think we should. We should have the same attitude towards idols and sins that creep into our lives. We're the temple of God. When things like that creep in, respond swiftly like Nehemiah does. Are you are we as decisive about getting rid of our idols as Nehemiah is? Because there was no debate. He doesn't him and haw around. There's no compromise. He doesn't say, "Well, I don't want to hurt Tobias's feelings, so I guess he could stay." No, it was get out. You do not belong here. You are defiling the temple of God in the house of God. And when we let idols into our lives, we're allowing the same thing to happen. We ought to be like Nehemiah, right? Get out of here. This is God's house. Now, I'm just talking about this building, but I'm talking about the body of Christ. You are the temple. You are God's house if the Holy Spirit dwells in you. Jesus said in Luke 9:62, "No one, I repeat, no one, no one who puts his h his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." You want to know how to backslide? Stop reading your Bible. Make little compromises with the world. Go out in the middle of the night and meet the enemy. No one will see you breaking God's law. And suddenly you'll find the world and sin have taken up residence in you, the temple of the living God. And then soon you wonder who you've become, right? Well, I was a Christian. I was a strong believer. What has happened to me? Why am I doing this? Why am I saying this? Why am I being this way? Cuz you left your first love. That's why. Because you've allowed sin to take up residence in the temple of the living God, which is you. Are we going to come to Christ only to look for the world over or only to long for the world over and over? Eric Reid, he's a pastor in Tennessee. He once said this. He said, quote, "Most of us have chosen heaven over hell, but not many of us have chosen heaven over earth." I'll say it again cuz I know it's not up here. Most of us have chosen heaven over hell, but not many of us have chosen heaven over earth. It's easy to choose heaven over hell. Of course, no one would want to go to hell. Duh, right? This is a duh moment. Do you want to go to heaven or hell? I want to go to heaven. Duh. No kidding. Of course, that choice is simple. It's easy to give up hell for heaven. Who wouldn't? But how many of us have chosen heaven over earth? How many of us are willing to give up the things of this world for heaven? How many of us are willing to, like Paul says in Philippians, right? I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. Knowing Christ Jesus was just was everything to Paul. Every when you count everything as lust, that means everything. He didn't like give any like well everything but he said everything I count as lost for the sake of knowing Christ. Have you considered that your successes in this world loss for the sake of knowing Christ? Your influence in this world loss for the sake of knowing Christ. money, fame, sex, drugs, alcohol, idols of any kind, the approval of others, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, all of that gone for the sake of knowing Christ. As Paul would say in his own words, all that is rubbish. Rubbish so that we might gain Christ. Don't commit to Christ and keep looking back to the world. The world will never satisfy you. It's just not spoiler alert. I could tell you, right? The things of this world will not satisfy you. Hands down. Take it to the bank. Count it. Right? You can you can keep trying. You'll still feel empty. And you could do this for the next 70 years until you walk into a bibleelving, bible preaching church and give your life over to Christ. You will be empty and unfulfilled by chasing this world. The old hymn, this world is not my home. It goes like this. This world is not my home. I'm just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's open door and I can't feel at home in this world anymore. Isn't that great? Don't put your hand to the plow and look back. Don't look back. Don't go back. Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And you can put the world behind you now, right? Just because it's Sunday night service doesn't mean you can't turn your life over to the Lord Jesus Christ right now. As was noted earlier, we still got water up in this thing, right? Baptize you right now if you want. >> It won't be live stream, but it's being recorded and I'll post it later if you want it. I love Nehemiah 13 because it really draws out the truth of the struggle, right? But I still struggle with my walk in my walk with the Lord. Yeah, I get that. Now, we're we're not called to perfection, but we are called to obedience, right? And when you struggle, when those things of the world are tugging at you, respond swiftly. Cuz if you flirt with it, what good is that? You're going to lose, right? Get rid of whatever is clinging to you, whatever god lowercase G you serve or whatever idol you're dealing with, deal with it swiftly. have a gentleman here at the church who has expressed um a desire to give up smoking and he cannot he tries he tries he tries he tries he tries and it's um just he and he'll ask questions and I'll say you need to deal with it swiftly what do you mean I mean throw it out now smoking you know is debate is it sin is it if it's an idol it's a sin yes and he's like well this is an idol for me you need to get rid of it and he keeps on buying them, right? Keep having them in the car or in your pocket. That's not responding swiftly. A swift response is the garbage can, right? That's that's a good place for that is the garbage can. Throw it out of your house. Throw it out. If you need to get I've said this before, if you need to get a flip phone, get one. Throw your smartphone away if it causes you to sin. Get a flip phone. Respond swiftly to sin. I want to um close us in a word of prayer and then we're going to stand and we're just going to sing a song ac capella. What can continue to come to my mind? Um how many of you guys know the song I have decided to follow Jesus? Old little chorus just a couple of verses. I'll teach it. It's so easy. I'll teach it to you. We won't even have lyrics up, right? Uh cuz we don't have them typed in. But we don't need I'll teach it to you. But there's a refrain that repeats in that song. No turning back. No turning back. So if I could just close with the words of Christ, remember Lot's wife. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this evening. And we thank you for your word and all that you've done in and through this church and how you've used your word, God, like you did in in the book of Nehemiah when Ezra read the law. You've used your word to uh change people's lives, and you continue to do it. My life has been changed by the word of God, by just the the declaration of truth that it is in the midst of a confused world. I pray God that as we continue and start a new series and get into some other things, God, that we would remember what Nehemiah is about. that we would stand for what Nehemiah and Ezra stood for, which is a firm obedience to the word of God and no compromise, no compromise with the world. If God's word says it, I do it this way because God said so. Praise you and thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Well, let's stand together and uh I will I will teach this to you. So the first part is I have decided to follow Jesus. And then there's a second chorus that says the world behind me, the cross before me, I'll I'll I'll lead this along. Right? And then the last one, though none go with me, still I will follow. But if you remember, you'll pick up on it quick. Um the uh kind of the rhythm of it, but let's sing. I have decided to follow Jesus. And I'll turn off my mic once we get going. Uh but I'll I'll start us off. All right, you guys ready? I have to follow Jesus. The world behind me. The cross behind me. The cross. The world behind me. The cross. No turn will follow still turned to follow Jesus. I have to follow Jesus. And Lord, help us to make that true in Jesus name. Amen. You are dismissed. Thank you.