Nehemiah 5 (Part 2) Bible Study (Nehemiah Stops Oppression of the Poor) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Good evening. Welcome to Friday night Bible study. I trust that you value this service or else you wouldn't be here. But I wanna give you a reminder of just how much we should value a service like this. This past Wednesday, we before we prayed, we looked at some verses from Luke 24.

And I wanna do the same here tonight before we worship the Lord in song. These two disciples on the way to Emmaus, so despondent, so heavy hearted, so lost in many ways in their sadness. And then Jesus appears. I love that. They're talking about Jesus and Jesus appears.

They could not perceive him. Their eyes could not see him. And then the Lord says this to these two disciples in Luke 24 verse 25. And he said to them, oh, foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken, was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Christ identified the source of their sorrow and it was a deficiency of their knowledge in the Word of God. They didn't know all that the prophets have spoken. And so he takes it from the beginning and he goes book by book, illustration after illustration, and interpreted the scriptures concerning himself. I wonder how much of our own pain is rooted in that same issue, that we don't know all that God has said in his word. It's not enough to know some of it.

We must pursue the knowledge of all of it. This is the prescription that Christ gives and even shows to us. And that is why we're here on a Friday night looking at the Old Testament because we wanna know all that God has to say, not just the right side of our Bibles. And so we have a great treasure before us tonight. The Lord is going to use his word to minister to our hearts.

So you made the right choice being here this evening. Let's thank him for it. Indeed, we thank you, Lord, because we believe that you are the same Christ that we read up here in Luke 24. And we trust that as we come to you, no matter the condition of our hearts, you are willing to heal us through your word. You're willing to feed us through your word.

You're willing to make yourself known to us through your word. So, lord, we stand in this place, trusting that even if there's only two of us in this room, you're willing to make yourself known. You are willing to reveal yourself. Whether this place is full or not, that is not what determines your manifest presence. It is the hearts of those who are in that place.

And, Lord, we give our hearts to you and we say, oh, as much as we would love to see more and more people here, you are our ultimate desire. We want you to be here more than anybody else. This is our longing, and we pray for it to be real this Friday night. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.

Let's stand together, saints. He's the same Jesus who walked on that road to Emmaus. He's here with us in Barrington, Illinois. Let's worship him for it.

Is greater far than Tom or Ben can ever tell. I find my rest. I find my peace. Peace. I find my love and mercy rest in deed?

Can I find my rest in deed? I will find my rest in deed.

In.

You are Father, our prayer tonight is that we would meet with you, that we would draw close to you, and reminded earlier, Lord, that we want our hearts to burn because we heard from you and from your word. And we ask, Lord, by the power of your spirit that we wouldn't only hear your word being preached and we wouldn't only grow in knowledge, but we would truly encounter you and know you more intimately tonight. And so we ask, Lord, that you would be gracious unto us and that you would draw us closer to yourself. Help us be more like Christ tonight. We give you this night.

We worship you, and we praise your name. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Well, before you're seated, why don't you greet somebody? Isn't it amazing to think that Jesus Christ gave probably the most amazing Bible study to an audience of two people? If you run any kind of ministry, if you oversee any kind of bible study, if you serve children or other life groups or discipleship kind of ministries, never be discouraged about who shows up. Christ showed up when there were two who needed a word from him, and he is willing to show up wherever there is hunger. And I trust that you've come hungry.

Now we're gonna continue to worship in our giving, and so the ushers, you can help us with that, and we're always grateful for your partnership with your finances because, ultimately, our giving is unto the lord. It's unto him and him alone, though he calls us to steward our finance as well. We trust that every penny that comes to Maranon at the Bible Church will be sanctified for the purpose of the gospel and the advancement of his will. So thank you for that. And as that is taking place, allow me to make a few announcements.

We're really covering a lot, this month, and we've done a lot already. But we do have a couple of things to be mindful of here. This upcoming Sunday, two days from now, we have our church picnic, and so you are more than welcome to join us for that. That is open until whenever you wanna leave. So there will be meals prepared.

There will be activities set up, and it will be happening right after the lord's day service this Sunday. Bring a change of clothes. If you wanna bring some side dishes, if you wanna bring some drinks or desserts, or some recipe that, you know, will bless people, you're free to do that as well. And, we're excited to fellowship together. And, we have our upcoming conference just a couple of weeks away, I believe, or three weeks.

I'm losing my sense of time, with the recent changes in our own lives. So it's coming up on August 27, and, you can still register to be at the meetings. The the lodging is pretty much filled up, and we're excited to see all our family and friends from beyond Maranatha Bible Church. There'll be many people coming for the first time, which is even more exciting. And so if you want to be a part of that, you would have to find your own, lodging for that weekend, but the the doors are open for for the meetings especially.

And for that weekend, we don't have services here, because virtually everybody who comes here will be at the conference. And I know that as this church grows, that might look different in the years to come, but, this this year, we're gonna have to do that, like we have in in previous years. So be mindful of that. There there will be no services. That Wednesday, there'll be no prayer meeting.

That Friday of that week, there'll be no, bible study. And that Sunday, there'll be no Lord's Day service here. But everything that's taking place in Michigan will be live streamed. And I know that, it's not the same, but it's better than nothing. And so you can always join us online.

If you didn't know, we have, as I just said, different meetings here during the week. We're here every Wednesday to pray downstairs in our designated prayer room at 07:00. Every Friday, you're here, you know, we're here at 07:00 as well. And on Sundays, we're here at 10:30AM as we are coming to the final chapters of the Book of Revelation, which we will continue this Sunday, should the Lord will, and we're looking forward to seeing Christ return in the verses that we will be looking at this upcoming Lord's Day. Well, let's pray, shall we?

Let's ask God for his help. I know we prayed much, but Jesus said, my house shall be called the house of prayer. So let's look to him together. We look to you now, Lord, as students of your word, and we revere your word. You promise that you will look upon those who tremble at your word, and we choose to do that this night.

And, Lord, we pray as you have met us here so faithfully that you would meet us yet again in great power, with great clarity, and also with a sense of your great love. Lord, we pray that anything that we came into this room with that is not in accordance to your will would be targeted with the truth and would be destroyed and would be swallowed up and would be replaced with the peace and the joy that comes with understanding your word. So, Lord, we look to you and we trust that there will be genuine change as a result of our study this night. We pray that your name would be glorified in our midst. We ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. Let's turn together now to the book of Nehemiah chapter five. Nehemiah chapter five. In Nehemiah chapter one, we were introduced to this man, Nehemiah, as someone who received the news of the devastation of the walls of Jerusalem and the vulnerability of the people of Judah, which brought him very great sorrow. Now in Nehemiah chapter five, we learned that the same Nehemiah receives a different piece of news.

The exploitation and the oppression of certain Jews by the ruling class of other Jews, which brought him great anger. So after this point in our study of this man in his memoirs, it's clear that he was someone who felt very strongly about destitution, sin, and injustice. But at the same time, if you look at chapter one and chapter five carefully, the same man who felt great passions about righteousness and wickedness waited before he acted on those emotions. Nehemiah is the positive example of what we find in Proverbs 29 verse 11 where it says that a fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back. It's amazing how the Bible describes a fool.

And one of the characteristics of a fool is someone who speaks their mind in the moment no matter how they feel. That's a fool. A fool is someone who thinks that they will be more effective, more persuasive if they let everybody in a certain situation know how they feel about a certain thing or a certain person. That's foolish. A wise person, however, may feel certain things, but they know how to manage those emotions.

And they are aware that if they exercise discretion and patience, they can be more effective if they just wait for the right time, the right setting to use the right words. Nehemiah, as we learned last week, reveals to us that there is great value in having the right emotions about certain things. Emotions say something about our convictions to a degree. Emotions are indicative of something deeper on many occasions. But Nehemiah, as we're about to look at in these next set of verses, also teaches us that how we express those emotions are equally important.

Many make the mistake of having the right sentiments, but responding to them in a wrong way, which oftentimes undermines the very thing that you hope to redeem that disturbed you in the first place. But Nehemiah is a man who does not make that mistake. We will discover that this remarkable leader is someone who will allow his righteous anger to turn into a righteous action. That is what we will consider and examine more closely today in the verses that are set before us after he learns that a certain group of Jews were mistreating their brothers and sisters in their own community. So let's begin by reading this together in Nehemiah five.

We'll revisit verse six, though our main text is verse seven, continuing through verse 11. I was very angry when I heard their outcry in these words. I took counsel with myself and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, you are exacting interest each from his brother, and I held a great assembly against them and 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. They were silent and could not find a word to say.

So I said, the thing that you're doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations, our enemies? Moreover, I, my brothers, and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and their percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.

It must have been deeply disturbing for Nehemiah to have to deal with this strife within his own community, especially because there were enemies lurking and looming just outside of the city parameters. Now he has to deal with this potential civil war that's ready to break out. But in light of verse seven, we realize that there's something even more deeply troubling about this whole situation. Why? Because Nehemiah learns that the ones who are accused of this oppression are the nobles and the officials in Jerusalem.

These are not just the upper class but some of the leaders in the community. So it's not hard to imagine how Nehemiah upon arriving to Jerusalem, knew and work with these gentlemen very personally who also perhaps were men that he received counsel from and advice from. And now he discovers that there are those who are actually guilty of this severe crime. And this one verse here in verse seven, that we do not know the extent of their personal dynamics, relationally speaking, we do know at least three things that we can learn. Three things that verse seven teaches us alone.

And the first one is this, Christians in positions of authority are not immune to falling into serious sin. Don't don't miss it. That is who these nobles and officials represent. They are the respected ones. They are those who had some level of influence in their midst.

They're the ones to some degree who are responsible to helping, influencing the others. And instead now, they are responsible for sinning against them. Scandals among church leaders today are nothing new. They have been going on throughout redemptive history. And the main issue at hand here before us is greed.

We we talked about this last week. It's no wonder why one of the qualifications for an elder in a church is to not be a lover of money. Loving money and possessing authority within the sphere of the church is a very bad mix. And one of the reasons is because the people that God has called an elder to care for are instead viewed as opportunities for personal profit. And so they are not pursued as a shepherd pursues their sheep.

They are pursued in order to find a way to manipulate them and trick them and lure them in order to make money off of them. People who love money and hold positions of authority don't see God's people as sheep. They see them as walking dollar signs. And the damage that follows that is often immeasurable. But the main thing that we wanna see here is that those that you think would be men of impeccable character and trust are susceptible to sinning in grievous ways.

It happened in Nehemiah chapter five. It happens in 2026. But a second observation for verse seven alone here is that influential members within a community of faith are never exempt from biblical confrontation. You can imagine how uncomfortable this must have been for Nehemiah. He learns that it's the nobles and the officials who are in the wrong.

These are powerful men. These are wealthy men. These are well connected men. You don't have to turn there, but if you go back to chapter two verse 16 when Nehemiah first arrives in Jerusalem, he is met with and by the nobles and the officials. These were individuals who were established within their community long before Nehemiah arrives on the scene.

And yet, these are the ones who are in the wrong. So you can imagine how approaching them about their sin and confronting them in order to repent would be a daunting task and would require great courage. Nehemiah had that courage. Do you know why? Because Nehemiah understood something so crucial that we cannot afford to miss.

Nehemiah understood that when favoritism is tolerated in a congregation, holiness is compromised. When you treat people better because they are successful or they have status, when you hold them to less accountability because they are able to make some moves on your behalf if you get on their good side, You have created a foothold for sin to enter in and corrupt anything good in that assembly. Nehemiah understood this. James understood this. On your own time, I encourage you to revisit James chapter two verses one down to verse nine where he addresses this very violation.

There were those in the early church who did what? When the rich entered into the meeting, they gave them the best seats. And those who came in shabby clothes, those who are poor, those who are overlooked in society were also overlooked in the church. And you think does that really happen today? Let me give you an example.

I remember just the other day, actually, I revisit a secular interview of a church that I will not name that was one of the most popular churches in America and was rocked by scandal a few years ago. And when they begin to describe what this church was all about, one of the things that they said was, in that church building, they had a designated VIP section for all the celebrities who would come to the service. And who said the Bible was irrelevant? Let the celebrity sit there closest to the stage so they're untouched, undisturbed. And you might be thinking, what would you do if celebrities came to your church?

I would say if they want a good seat, if they want a closer seat, if they want a preferred seat, come to the service early. But what if somebody takes the seat? Well, there are plenty other seats that they can sit in. That's the sin of partiality. That is not God's heart.

Society may treat other people differently based on their economic status or their accomplishments or their achievements. The church doesn't. So Nehemiah understands whether you're a noble or you're one of the poor farmers, we are all held to the same account. We are whole all held to the same standard. God's words sees us all equal at the foot of the cross.

And whenever partiality is tolerated, you can guarantee that other types of sin will come in and destroy anything good in that ministry. Finally, in verse seven, we learn that in some occasions, certain sins within a community must be confronted publicly. Look again at the last part of verse seven, and I held a great assembly against them. Here's a general rule of how sin should be dealt with within the church. If it's private, it should be dealt privately.

The more public it is, the more public it should be addressed. Now there are exceptions to that rule. Sometimes somebody can be sinning privately, and the wider congregation must be aware of it because that individual who is unrepentant poses a threat to the community within the meeting and outside the meeting. Another exception is if a leader who holds a platform within that community sins, well, it demands greater explanation by virtue of their position of authority and the responsibility that they hold. But, generally, if it's private, it should be dealt privately.

And if it's public, well, you have to speak about it to the public. And Nehemiah understands that this sin is no secret. This is not just a corner within Jerusalem that is hurt here. This is widespread. And so he is going to invite these nobles and the and these officials and speak to them in the presence of everybody else.

Is that uncomfortable? Absolutely. Should the church in our context be quick to do that? No. You can do you can do much more harm if you're not careful.

Like Nehemiah, we have to step back and take counsel within ourselves and with others who are trusted voices to say, is this something that we have to deal with on a public level? In this case, it was necessary. And even though it may be unsettling, even though it may cause discomfort, the Bible actually tells us that when such a thing is pursued, there are sanctifying effects that come with it. One clear example of that is in first Timothy five twenty. When Paul is giving instructions about how elders should be approached if there's suspicion for sin.

And what Paul is saying there is, look, you're gonna have many people in the church find different reasons to try to accuse and disqualify an elder. So there is protocol here. You need investigation and you need witnesses. Again, there are exceptions to these things, but generally, that's the case. Satan always finds ways to try to smear the reputations of those who shepherd the flock of God.

So Paul provides screenings and guardrails in order to ensure that such a thing is not taken advantage of. But at the same time, should there be clear evidence that someone like a pastor is in sin? Well, depending on the nature of that sin and sometimes just because they are in that position, first Timothy five twenty says, as for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all. Why? So that the rest may stand in fear.

Let the community see that nobody's above reproach. Let the community hear that there are consequences to sin. So let the conversation be held publicly in order for others to see and realize, okay. Where am I with my sin? Where am I with my walk with God?

Do I do I think that I can actually succeed in concealing this iniquity? This serves almost as a deterrent as well that there are consequences to our actions. There there are relational ramifications when you and I sin. And that's what Nehemiah is teaching here by doing it in this way. One more thought.

You and I have to remember that Nehemiah calling this great assembly puts a pause on what? The rebuilding of the wall. It comes now to a screeching halt, and we would think that's a loss. But no. No.

No. Nehemiah is extremely in tune with the word of God and the spirit of God. Nehemiah understands that there is no point continuing ministry. There is no point resuming in our programs if the people who are involved are in sin. Holiness is more important than building projects.

And what Nehemiah understands as a leader is, if we ignore sin in the congregation, if there is blatant unrepentant issues among members and we don't address it, well, the work is gonna be impacted by that eventually. And ultimately, we're gonna forfeit the blessing of God upon our ministry in the end. So I'm putting a stop to all of this, and we have to talk about it face to face. Nehemiah understands the danger of sin. Nehemiah understands the danger of sin ignored, not just personally, but corporately.

And so he confronts it as we see in verse seven. But what does he say once he gathers everybody? Let's revisit verse eight. And 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. They were silent and could not find a word to say.

So Nehemiah here, as we're about to see, is gonna be very effective in how he approaches this whole ordeal. He thought about how he's gonna say it, what he's going to say, what to leave out, what to include. Remember, verse six says, he was very angry, but he retreated, and he thought and surely he prayed what's the best way to address this. And what we find here is very eye opening. It shows that this problem runs deeper than what we thought in our original study of the first few verses.

What's Nehemiah exposing here? Well, what you find is that Nehemiah, when he came to Jerusalem, had the main mission of rebuilding the walls, but he had other desires. And one of them was to actually spend his own money to redeem Jews who sold themselves into slavery to gentile masters within and neighboring Jerusalem who lent them money and will receive payment back through their servitude. In other words, you have to remember, Jerusalem was ransacked by Babylon. The Jews in large part were removed from the land, went into Babylonia, and over the years, they returned by faith.

A lot of them with very limited resources. And throughout those years, some of these Jews took loans. From who? Gentiles who remained, who actually took over some of the regions in Jerusalem in their absence. And so even when Nehemiah comes, after many decades, after the exiles returned, he learned that some of these Jews were still enslaved by Gentiles.

And so what does he do? I wanna rebuild the walls, but wait, you're telling me some of our brethren are still enslaved? Let's buy them back. Let's redeem them. Here's what's even more splendid about this whole thing.

Nehemiah's actions in that show that he was in alignment with the word of God more than we thought. Did you know the Bible anticipated that his people, God's people, the Jews in the old covenant would come to a point perhaps where they would have to receive loans from those who are not Jews and be enslaved by them temporarily within the promised land. Sojourners who have come in, built businesses, succeeded, and in some cases, found Jews who needed help and received their servitude as repayment. I want you to see it with me in Leviticus 25. Because in this, we see also instructions to the wider community of how to deal with such a scenario.

Look at Leviticus 25, and I'll wait for you to put your finger there at verse 47. Leviticus 25 verse 47 reads, if a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you or to a member of the stranger's clan, then after he is sold, he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him, or his uncle or his cousin may redeem him, or a close relative from his clan may redeem him, or if he grows rich, he may redeem himself. So we can envision how this situation would play out in the context of Ezra and Nehemiah. These Jews are coming back with a lot of them empty pockets, some with their possessions, sure, and they would sell themselves to gentile masters in order to try to restart their lives in the promised land.

And Nehemiah remembers Leviticus twenty five forty seven to 49. He thinks, no. This can't go on. Let's rescue our brothers. But what else is he saying here in Nehemiah five verse eight?

In confronting these nobles and these officials, he's showing that while he and others were busy buying back Jewish slaves, they were enslaving those who have been liberated by Nehemiah and others with their interests and their unrealistic loans and the collateral. All these things are undoing the work of Nehemiah. So he looks at his nobles and says, what are you doing? You're reversing our efforts here. In fact, you can read verse eight in this way that some of these Jews who had Jewish slaves were selling them back to Gentile masters in order to make profit.

This is scandalous. You can see why Nehemiah is is he's infuriated. And they could not say anything to defend themselves. There's a sobering lesson here for us as Christians. You know, it's very possible for professing Christians to counteract the work of other Christians.

I've seen it with my own eyes. Thankfully, not too much. I've heard more with my ears than I've seen with my own eyes. But here you have a person who has been saved from the world, brought into the church, a brand new babe in Christ. And because of some within that church who are spiritually compromised, they reintroduce that poor soul to some of the same temptations that they were delivered from when they were in the world.

That happens. Here you have Nehemiah redeeming others from Gentiles only for them to come back into the community and be enslaved by those who are supposedly of the same covenant. How does that make sense? It happens. And this is why his heart is on fire.

He wants to put a stop to this. And listen. Unfortunately, for some, being ministered to primarily is about recovering from what others have done in the name of Christ to them. That should not be. The church must be a safe haven.

The church should not be a den that's hiding those who enjoy sin and tempt others and lure others from within that camp to nibble on things that they were set free from. I remember preaching at a place, and after the meeting, somebody came up to me so broken, bound in addiction, suffering. And I knew this gentleman from many, many years ago. I hadn't seen him in years. You don't know who this person is.

There's no you can't guess. And I remember asking this person, where did it start for you? Brother, you've known the Lord for so long. How are you at this point? And he said, you know, this church I joined, I got to know the praise team, and they brought me back into smoking weed and drinking again.

Who did? The praise team. Really? Oh, yeah. They would go up there and sing, and we would go hang out during the week, and we would get high.

And that's where I am today. From who? The world? No. From those within.

This is what Nehemiah is facing here. And it takes strong leadership, not legalistic leaders. No. Strong, god fearing leaders to ensure that the church is safe. And so he does something about it, and he's calling them to account.

And he has more to say in verse nine. Let's look at it again. So I said, the thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our god to prevent the taunts of the nations, our enemies? Wow.

We can camp here for the rest of our bible study. Nehemiah gets to the heart of the matter. He looks at the source, and he understands here that the reason why these Jews were taking advantage of the poor Jews is because they lacked one main thing. What is it? The fear of God.

You evidently do not possess the fear of God. You should. Now this is the second time in the book of Nehemiah where reference to the fear of god is made. Does anybody remember the first? You can answer if you know.

Where's the first time where an allusion to the fear of god is made? Do you remember how Nehemiah described those who prayed alongside him when he was still in the palace in Persia when he learned about the destitution of Jerusalem? He says there in Nehemiah one eleven as he's speaking to the lord, describing those who are interceding with him as those who delight to fear your name. That that seems strange, doesn't it? Delight to fear your name.

That's always astounded me. But if you really understand what the fear of God is, you would delight in it. You would pursue it. So the first time is there in Nehemiah one. The second time is here in Nehemiah five.

And in in in total, there are four references to the fear of God in Nehemiah's book. And if you look at each of them, they'll tell you and teach you something different and unique about what the fear of God is and what it produces namely. What do we see here? What does the fear of God produce according to Nehemiah's words in verse nine? Well, look at it once more.

Are you not to are you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations, our enemies? A person who fears God is very mindful of how their walk may impact their witness. It is impossible to claim to fear God and be careless about how your decisions, how your reactions, how your presentation may convey a mixed message to those who are watching and do not believe. A person who fears God regularly ask themselves, is what I'm about to do going to negatively impact my testimony? Is what I'm about to do going to cause those who are already hardened towards Christ reinforce that hardheartedness?

You know, you have people who say, I don't care what people think about me. You should. That's not biblical. It is biblical in this way that you shouldn't care what people think about you when you do right, but you should be very, very aware and mindful of how you making a certain decision may give the wrong message, a confusing message, a conflicting message. Nehemiah shows here that these Jews enslaving their fellow Jews did not think about how this would affect their witness.

The the nation of Israel was called to be a light to the other nations, and the light is very dim here because the fear of God was missing. Here's what Nehemiah is worried about, that all these enemies of the Jewish people who are looking over and seeing how these Jews are acting would come to this conclusion, oh, they're no different than us. They treat each other the same way we treat each other. And this bothered Nehemiah. One of the distinguishing marks of a person who truly walks with God is that they fear God.

They stand in awe of God. They're constantly aware of the presence of God. And this shows up in ways that you wouldn't even think. You know, I was reminded when I was looking at this of the gentleman in his company who come and do our grass on a weekly basis at home. And I don't I don't know if you have that kind of service, but my case, they wait until the end of the season to come and pick up their pay.

And so that was the case a few months ago or last year. And it this was just a habit of mine where I just marked down every week when the gentleman came on the day that he came so that when he came to pick up his compensation, I'll be able to say, yeah, these are the days that you came. I didn't wanna miss a week. I didn't wanna forget. Maybe sometimes I'm out and I didn't know he came by.

And so when he came to the door, he said, hey. I'm here to pick up my pay. And I said, sure. And I pulled out my phone, pulled out my notepad, and I showed him all the days that he came. And he goes, his eyes widened.

He was like, you recorded every week that you came by that I came by? I said, yeah. Because I don't wanna miss anything, and that's easy for anybody to do. So I just want to make sure that you get paid for the work that you you do. And he goes, really?

And I go, yeah. And I did not even think about it. I didn't prepare this. I don't even know he was gonna say anything. But out of my mouth shot out the following, because I fear God.

And he just looked at me, and he and his response was, I I believe in God too. I said, well, that's wonderful. I don't know if he's a Christian or not. And I don't know why he said that, but it just came out of my heart. I fear God.

I'm not looking to cheap you out of 30 or $60 for cutting the grass. You came here every week. You worked hard, and I wanna make sure that I didn't miss a dollar. Because I know, ultimately, God is watching me to see if I am honest and integral. I don't know how you keep tabs.

I don't know how you keep your reports, but I'm held accountable to god almighty. Nehemiah looks at these nobles and these officials, and he thinks accurately about this whole situation. And he says, you don't fear god Because the fear of God will govern your behavior, and it will certainly determine how you treat one another. And as we will see next week, the fear of God has a lot to do with how we handle money and how money handles us. So he says here, you don't fear the Lord.

It's impossible to claim that you do if you're acting in such a way. And I love Nehemiah even more because of this since what he is saying here is actually revealing just how biblically saturated he was. You know, usually, Ezra gets much of the credit of being a man who is in love with God's word, but you can't leave out Nehemiah. He was not a novice in the scriptures. He was somebody who was deeply rooted in God's truth.

He tells them and he calls them to fear the Lord. Does he not? And I believe he is getting this with the backing of God's word. Let me show you what I mean. Go to Leviticus 25 again.

This chapter seems to be so closely related to Nehemiah five. Look at Leviticus 25 verse 36. This is God speaking to his people. Leviticus 25 verse 36. Take no interest from him or profit, but what?

Fear your God. This is God speaking. The antidote, the shield against taking advantage of people with the very same situation we're finding here in Nehemiah five is fearing your God. I believe this is where Nehemiah is getting it from. This isn't spontaneous necessarily.

This is biblically informed rebuke. But fear your god that your brother may live beside you. Nehemiah is bold. And I was thinking to myself looking at how he's doing this and wondering how was he so courageous? How was he so fearless?

And besides the word being his support, which is our ultimate comfort in moments like this, there is something else, and it's found in verse 10. Notice what he says. Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. Now some see Nehemiah's words here as a confession, as an admission of guilt that he too kinda got lost in the culture of compromise here.

It was the norm, and he got sucked into it. So he also lent money and charged a little bit of interest. But that doesn't make any sense. For Nehemiah to be so angry about this news only for him to be also guilty would seem hypocritical. But someone said, no.

He was in the wrong, but he's leading the way into repentance. But that's not what Nehemiah is saying here. I believe what Nehemiah is conveying here is that he and his brothers, his closest associates did lend people money and food, but he did it God's way. Because there was nothing illegal about lending. We learned that last week.

But asking for interest and profit from that lending was in fact wrong. And what Nehemiah is saying here is, look, we lent, but we did not ask for more. Follow our example. Follow our example. Nehemiah could speak with such boldness because Nehemiah was blameless in this area.

And if you and I have a passion for people to come out of sin, come out of compromise, come out of disobedience, we will be ineffective unless we first can show with our own lives that freedom from such sin is possible. We lose a lot of authority and a lot of credibility if we're preaching at others, and they can look back and say, but wait. How about what's going on there? Nehemiah is free from this. He can say, look.

You can look at my life, and I can show you. Yes. We did it the way God said to do it, and we're asking you and inviting you to do the same. It's possible. You don't have to be a slave to your greed.

You can trust God as you take him at his word regarding your finances. He will bless you if you honor him. I've said this many times before. Allow me to say it one more time, please. True authority in teaching, true authority in discipleship, true authority in preaching can only come from authenticity.

When somebody's living it or at least trying to live it though imperfectly seeking to know how God would want them to live, that translates in the way they communicate to others about how they should live themselves. So he had God's word, but he also had a life that proved that it is worth living. Nehemiah is not done yet. He doesn't merely call the people to stop their oppression. He does even more.

He calls them to compensate. Look at verse 11 again. Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them. This verse teaches us something so widely important about repentance. Repentance is more than just apologizing.

Repentance is even more than just determining that you will no longer, by God's grace, continue in a certain pattern of sin. Repentance includes the following. When possible and when necessary to make restitution for the wrong that you've committed, to repair the damage that your sin has caused in others, to repay those that you may have cheated or stolen from or deceived. This is how Nehemiah understands repentance. Not just stop the oppression, not just let's abandon this exacting of interest, give it back.

Give it back. Now restitution is not always possible. And I've met with precious believers who who have been convicted by the Holy Spirit and have asked, how how can I repair the the damage that I've created in other people's lives? And it would be bondage to claim that you have to do all that you can to try to retrace your steps, find those people again, and try to mend what you separate. That's not always realistic.

So it's a case by case, isn't it? But it's especially relevant when our wrong involves possessions and cheating and dishonesty with our wealth. This principle of restitution in repentance is something you find throughout the scriptures. You even find it in the days of Jesus in the gospels. You know who I'm speaking about.

Do you not? Who is the man who promised Christ that he would restore what he had taken? Zacchaeus, you're saying. Yes. Zacchaeus.

And what's so amazing, if you look at Luke nineteen eight and nine very carefully, Jesus said when he was at Zacchaeus' home that salvation has come to this house after Zacchaeus had said, I will give half of my sources or resources rather to the poor, and I will repay fourfold to those I have defrauded. Now where do you get that that number from? Why why fourfold? Well, you can look at it in one of one of two ways. If you look at it at Exodus 22, you read there that if somebody had taken certain property or animals more specifically, they were to restore it fourfold.

So just like Nehemiah, this man Zacchaeus was very much informed by the law. He was somebody who understood what God asked for in the very covenant that he was under. But if you look at Leviticus six, there there are different instructions depending on the crime that is committed. If you are dishonest, if you deceive, if you defraud in certain ways, then you are to repay with one fifth added to it, so 20%. So if you go with the Leviticus six perspective, then Zacchaeus is going above and beyond what the law required concerning his restitution.

So some debate, is he going with the Exodus 22, version or the Leviticus six? Either way, he's obeying God's word. And he is proving that his repentance is genuine because when it came to his sin, restitution was demanded and he showed Christ, I'm willing to pay back. And Christ said, now salvation has come. Not that the restitution was the way to be saved.

The restitution was the evidence that his heart had been touched by God's grace and Christ acknowledges it. So truly repentant heart doesn't just look forward and say, oh, I'll never do it again. When applicable, it looks back and says, how can I restore and repair the harm that I've committed? This is what Nehemiah is asking for, and it's totally in alignment with god's heart. But look again at verse 11.

Return to them tomorrow, this very day. You'll never find God saying repent tomorrow in the bible. You'll never find God saying believe tomorrow. It's always today. So true repentance is also urgent.

It does not justify, does not excuse. It makes it top priority. I must do what god has asked me to do in this situation. This is the kind of repentance that is rewarded. And how do they respond?

They say, we will. Look at verse 12. Then they said, we will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say. Now you would think that would be enough.

I mean, this is this is an achievement. Is it not? To have this kind of confrontation usually doesn't go well. But God's clearly at work here, and the rebuke is received. There's obvious conviction.

And Nehemiah here, I'm sure, is celebrating this response, but he doesn't stop there because he understands human tendencies. He understands that in the heat of a moment, we can make vows and promises. And so he takes it a step further, and he does two things. He calls them to an oath, and he gives them a very strong warning should they disobey. So look here at the rest of verse 12.

And I called the priest and made them swear to do as they had promised. What does that mean? Well, if you're not careful, you might think that Nehemiah is actually calling the priest to repentance as well. In other words, that the priest were guilty just like the nobles and the officials. That's not what that's not what's happening here.

Here you have the nobles and the officials and you have the crowd of people that are hoping for God to intervene in the hearts of their offenders. And Nehemiah says, wonderful. You're going to repay. Yes. We're gonna do it.

You're not gonna delay. No. We're not gonna delay. Okay. Good.

Hey, priest. Come over here. I want you to make this promise in the presence of these ministers who are mediators between us and God. Go. So he's making this more solemn.

He's making this more serious, And I think there's something brilliant about this, and it relates to us. When we have spiritual authority in our life, we create a greater sense of accountability to God. One of the gifts that the church of Jesus Christ is to us individually in our fight against sin is that being involved in the church and submitting yourself under designated God fearing leadership makes sinning harder. I get very nervous when I meet Christians and ask them which church they're a part of, and they go, I go here some days, I go there some days. You make me very nervous.

Because according to Hebrews, you should be able to determine and decide and identify who are your leaders. And the leader should be able to say with the same confidence, these are the souls that God has entrusted to us that we will be held accountable for. You bring greater blessing into your life. You bring greater blessing into your marriage. You bring greater blessing to your children when as a unit, you make this decision, we will walk hand in hand, side by side with those whom God has called, other Christians with spiritual authority.

Notice how the presence of the priest made their vow much more serious. Our commitment to the will of God becomes a lot flimsier the more we distance ourselves from the presence of other Christians, especially Christian authority. So Nehemiah understood this, but he does something more. Look at verse 13. 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, and may he be shaken out and emptied.

And all the assembly said amen and praise the Lord, and the people did as they had promised. So Nehemiah gets a little dramatic here. I'm not gonna show you how he did it, but just envision it. He takes his garment and he shakes it. And he goes, listen.

May God empty you like how I'm emptying my garment here if you don't honor your word. May God shake your world, and may every blessing in it fall out should you walk away from this commitment that you made in the presence of his people. So this is, obviously, a strong warning, and it's meant to instill some kind of reverence. He's invoking a curse to some degree. He's invoking God's judgment should they disobey.

And shockingly, everybody says amen. So be it. Now do you remember how Nehemiah five began? Look at verse one. Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers.

This account starts with a great outcry, and how does it end? Look again at verse 13. And all the assembly said amen and praise the lord. It started with pain. It started with disappointed disappointment.

It started with complaint, and it ends with amens and hallelujahs. Why? For one main reason. Sin was confronted while repentance created worship. They were able to praise God because sin was handled righteously.

Here's one thing that you can be certain of. If a church struggles to enter and experience lively praise and sincere adoration for the lord, one potential reason is that there is unresolved sin in that community that requires the intervention of leadership, and it hasn't happened yet. When relational tension and wrongs are ignored, brushed over, and it becomes known to the church, that will stifle the praise of that church. Sin has a way of silencing our praise. They could not praise until the sin was confronted and repented of, and that's true on a personal level.

Sin when it is tolerated, sin when it is ongoing, sin when it is not confronted with a fierceness will forfeit your worship. One of the first things to go when we have sin in our lives is our praise. Psalm 51 is that great Psalm of David known as his Psalm of Confession. This is when he comes before God after being confronted and rebuked by Nathan the prophet, and he admits his guilt before God. And what's amazing about that psalmist, one of the things that made David's season of sin so painful is that his mouth was zipped shut because of his unconfessed sin.

He could not get himself to worship God in praise and love and adoration because as long as sin lives in our hearts, it suffocates your worship. Let me prove this to you in Psalm 51. Let's turn there together, shall we, as we come to a close here? Psalm 51. Look at verse 14.

David says, deliver me from bloodguiltiness, oh god, oh god of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. Look at verse 15. Oh, lord, open my lips. Open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. What is he saying here?

Lord, I'm confessing, and I'm aware that repentance rekindles worship. This is one of the blessings of repentance. It unclogs your heart. As Acts says in Acts chapter three, repent and turn, therefore, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. I don't know why Christians are so scared of repentance.

It's one of the most beautiful gifts that God has given us. It's one of the most beautiful words in the Bible. Because if you don't have repentance, you don't have a second chance. You don't have a third chance. You don't have a fifth chance.

You don't have a hundredth chance. Repentance makes a way for us to be able to be restored in the presence of God. And here's what's so amazing. Back in Nehemiah five, it says all the assembly said amen. It wasn't just those who are harassed and oppressed.

That would make sense. Right? It would make sense for those who brought their complaint to Nehemiah to shout amen, while the other ones, the nobles and the officials said, can't believe we got caught. That's not what it says. It says all of them did.

And all of them were able to praise the Lord. This is amazing. This is a snapshot of God's mercy. So they were able to praise God, offended and offender. And one of the ways that we can secure heartfelt worship in this church is to take sin seriously.

And one of the ways that you and I can secure our private devotion to the Lord is to see repentance as a gift. They come before him and say, lord, my sin is not worth holding on to if it's going to eliminate my praise. My praise is is is one of the vehicles that brings me the closest I can get to heaven. You know what's amazing? These nobles and these officials that were making money off of the slavery of their Jewish brethren, no indication that they were praising God in that.

How could you? How does it make sense that you have to now repay all that you gained over the years and yet you're able to praise God? Because that's where true joy is found, the will of God, not in how much money you make. They could not sing until this moment because the greatest treasure in life is being near God. The unending fountain of joy is when you are right with God.

And God used Nehemiah to bring a spark of revival in an unlikely situation? Ask yourself today why you must find it difficult to praise God. It can be for different reasons. Not the only one. But is it possible is it possible that you look over to your left and to your right, and you see people be able to be so free in worship, and you can't because there's sin that hasn't been repented of yet?

Let God use this bible study to bring you to a place where he can open your mouth and you praise him in a way that you once knew. Much was said today. Some truths about how to confront, some truths about the fear of God, some truths about church leadership and church structure, such as the beauty of bible study. Whatever truth resonated with you tonight, let's respond to God and thank him for it. Lord, we thank you for this word.

We thank you that in such a close section of scripture, there can be so many glistening truths that await to be uncovered. And, lord, finally, we thank you that that Christ is the greater Nehemiah, who in this case calls for the year of jubilee, calls for all debt to be canceled, calls for freedom. And thank you that in the same way that when we cry out to you, lord, you step into our world and you bring liberation. You deliver us. You deliver us from the ultimate oppressor, the ultimate slave master, Satan, the flesh, death itself.

You bring freedom from these things when we, like in this chapter, cry out to you. Lord, today, if there's anything that is stopping our praise that is related to sin that is not confronted and dealt with by our own hearts, may that change. May we believe by faith that if we just humble ourselves before you, we can leave here with a fresh song and new joy in you. So we seek you now in this place. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. As always, as most weeks, sometimes there are bible studies that demand us to just take our time and speak to the Lord. If you wanna sit in that chair and talk to God about your own heart, maybe even repent. Do it. Do it.

If you wanna stand and sing because you know you're free, join us and do that as well. Let's seek the Lord now. In a few weeks, we're going to look at a much larger revival in the book of Nehemiah where there will be even greater repentance, and it'll be much more emotional than what we saw in chapter five. There will be a lot of tears and there'll be wailing. And what I love about what we're gonna see in Nehemiah eight is how Nehemiah and the other leaders approach these people who have been struck by the truth of God's word and they say, look, look, stop crying.

You've repented. You've made your confession, you've come before God in humility, but rejoice. This is a time of celebration. And that's where we get that famous statement, the joy of the Lord is our strength. Right?

True repentance always leads to joy. True repent true repentance doesn't look like you constantly asking God for forgiveness with your head hanging low and your shoulders shrugged wondering if if he has accepted it. That's not true repentance. You and I have missed it if that's what we think repentance looks like. True repentance will lead to a liberty of the soul that will cause you to effortlessly praise.

So even tonight, if the Lord has ministered to you in in conviction, remember that. That if you need to go home tonight and get before the Lord and say, Lord, I'm wrong here. Eventually, you should be able to praise. And if you come here on Sunday, you should be able to have a stronger voice in your worship when we're called to sing. That's the promise of the Holy Spirit.

That's that's God's heart for us. Let's thank him for his goodness in repentance. Thank you, Lord, that you love us too much to keep us in darkness, and that you use bible studies from time to time to encourage us to examine ourselves. Lord, if we have relaxed in our fear of you, unite our hearts to fear your name. Captivate us again with your majesty and your glory so that everything that we do would be governed by this fear, this awe.

So much so that people who watch our lives would be able to say, that person lives like God is real. We want that more than anything else. We want that more than money. We want want that more than fame and prestige. We want that.

Nehemiah had it. Give it to us. Give it to every employer here. Give it to every father. Give it to every employee.

Give it to every student. Give it to every wife, every husband, every pastor. Give us the fear of God. We invite it. We desire it.

We we delight in it. We thank You, Lord, for a company of people here who truly fear You. May that only grow and may it cause this place to be a safe place for those who want to know You. We worship you now. Bring us again should you tarry into the book of Nehemiah as a family.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. The Lord Jesus be with you. We hope that you can join us this Sunday as we will look at him in Revelation 19 and get a little glimpse of heaven with that picnic afterwards. God bless you.

Have a wonderful weekend. We'll see you then. Take care now.