The Father’s Heart: Love, not Law

By Pastor Kent Hodge

Over and over again, we see that Jesus put people above law and tradition. If we’re to have the heart of God, we need to do the same.

When you go through the epistles of Paul, one of his main topics is our love for one another. I love the scriptures where he uses “one another”. He talks about us as on body, one family, and supporting one another. We get stronger in our support when we see people not doing well in some respect. When we see people in need, our love and our support ought to grow all the more. We need to get behind one another and garrison each other around.

We shouldn’t use the law to count one another out. The law is to lead us to Christ, to show us our need of Christ and of salvation. It’s not there for us to meet together and draw differences between one another. When we see someone failing in respect of Christian things, our compassion needs to go out all the more – we shouldn’t dismiss them as people who just aren’t up to it.

The people we invite for lunch shouldn’t be the people who will invite us back again. The Bible says we are to invite the unrighteous. We should reach out – not in a legalistic way, but we should be prepared to invite people who are different.

We ought to reach out to one another as brothers and sisters in the Lord, and we are a family. The thing which makes us a family is the blood of Jesus – we’re not the same in any other respect, but our differences don’t matter. It’s the blood of Jesus which makes us a family.

Titus 2:11-14

He gave himself to change our hearts and our lifestyle. He wanted a people different from the world. There’s something different about the way we live. We’re not like the world in the way we react to one another. In the world, fellowship is based on sameness – people need to have the same opinions and likes, or else we don’t like them. There’s something above all of that, above these other things – the love of God, the bond of perfection. I need to fellowship with people in the body of Christ based on nothing else other than the love of God.

Titus 2:14-15

Paul told Titus to be very clear on these things. This is what it means to fight the fight of faith, to fulfil your duty as a pastor.

Titus 3:1-2

This is our Christian behaviour and conduct.

Titus 3:3

The people in the world have malice to one another, especially over things they have done in the past. They keep records. They split people up into camps. God doesn’t like to be put in a box. His salvation is for all people. Sometimes we can put God in a denominational box. But we can’t do that. God is for all people and His love is for everyone. In the church, the family of God, we have a different way of live, and we have an example for the world to see – the love of God is working un our lives through the love we have one to another.

Titus 3:4-9

Many years ago my family and I were in a small town in western NSW, in the back of beyond. Ruth’s parents live there. We were at one of the church meetings at the church my in-laws go to. At one meeting, one brother – a young, zealous believer – who was trying to draw distinctions over water baptism. He was making a stand over the age someone has to be when they are baptised. He said he’d had a revelation from the scriptures, and he was prepared to separate from the other spirit-filled believers who didn’t see things the same way. He thought he was doing it for God, but there are other things in the body of Christ which are more important – that we are one family. If people have love and faith in the Lord, and it’s working in their lives, and they are true brothers and sisters, then we should receive one another even if we have minor difference. The most important thing in our lives is people, and what God is doing in their lives.

This brother separated himself and started to have meetings over how old people should be baptised. People like this think they are serving God. But that’s not the issue. The issue is people, that we love one another, and that we see what God is doing in transforming our lives.

John 13:3

John 13:4

He dressed Himself like the lowest person in the house. He lowered Himself below His disciples in what He was about to do.

John 13:5-15

I love the challenge of fellowshipping with believers who are different from myself – and I do all the time. I went to an Anglican church once – a good place with a good pastor. I love variety. I love different traditions. And we ought to be able to handle them, because the substance is Christ, not the tradition. He’s the one who died for us. So let’s not get bogged down by minor issues.

This Anglican church had three queues for wine. I thought they might be for different groups of people. I asked why there were three queues. It turned out one was for wine, one for port, and one for grape juice.

Churches are different. I go to lots of different churches. It’s a challenge, but we begin to look at what fellowship about. What is the family of God about? And we come to see it’s about Jesus Christ and His love for us. He loved each one of us equally, and He died on the cross and gave Himself for us as His church.

John 13:34-35

When we speak of “all men”, we begin at Brentwood. We’re a witness. But what do we witness of? It’s not that I got baptised on the right day and in the right way. Our witness starts in Brentwood, not by ranting and raving and campaigns and good artwork. People will know we are disciples by our love for one another. The world has all these things, but the one thing it doesn’t have is unconditional agape love, family. We have family, and that family is shown by love.

John 15:10-14

We have a friend who has laid down his life for his friends. He was in a cinema when there was a fire. He came out with two friends, but one friend remained inside, and he went back to help, and died. Even in the church today, many would say that was a waste of his life, but not according to Jesus. He was a good friend to us.

I told Ruth these scriptures were too challenging – talking about the love of God and what He says about our lives. I don’t always feel I’m up to doing it. But this is what the scripture says.

Jesus would not allow anyone to put God in a box. He came for the Pharisees, for the publicans, for the sinners. He wouldn’t let people put expectations upon Him because of their traditions. He wouldn’t allow that to happen.

Mark 3:1-2

Here we have someone who needs to be healed. He has a withered hand All the Pharisees were concerned about was whether it was the sabbath day or not – they had their traditions.

One of or brothers is in Egypt currently, preaching at many different kinds of churches. We went there not knowing what to do, and God has opened doors. I believe the Gospel is the only answer. There must be a move of God in those nations.

This man preached at a widows meeting on Jesus from John 3, and there was a lady there who came out for prayer. He said he knew God was going to do something. He stuck his fingers in her ears, and she began to hear. When the meeting was finished, he went out and people began to rush to him. Sometimes they’ve been so enthusiastic, he’s been afraid they’d draw attention to him. The people took him to a house, and an impromptu house meeting began. Then he went to a pastors’ meeting and he spoke to 13 pastors. Then he was taken to a Presbyterian church – all on the same day. He said they wanted to start a five-day meeting immediately. And the only meeting actually arranged that day was the first meeting for the widows.

I tried to encourage him to go to the Coptic church too, but he said the Pentecostals were unsure about that, because you had to kiss the priest’s hand. But there are good Christians in Coptic churches too, and if you have to kiss the priest’s hand to get in there, then do it!

Take the woman who was a prostitute. What someone has done in the past doesn’t matter. What have I done in my past? I’d be counted out on that basis. The challenge for us as Christians is to love one another regardless, and leave room for God to move in their lives.

When we receive one another as Christians and love one another, that gives God’s love space to transform a life. The thing which gets me most is God’s unconditional love for us, that while we were sinners, He died for us. That’s why I serve God – His unconditional love has got my heart.

If others around us don’t seem to be serving the Lord as much as we think they should, we shouldn’t hit them with the Law. When the unconditional love of the Lord gets hold of them, it’ll make the difference.

What I want to draw from Mark 3 is that the person mattered more to Jesus than did the law, the tradition, the sabbath, the issue that the religion people were standing on. The person, the family, the fellowship ... that this person was a child of Abraham mattered more to Jesus than the tradition. Are we not children of God in one family, and isn’t that the issue amongst us a people, and as brothers and sisters in Christ.

In all of the Gospels, it was people that mattered to Jesus, not the law. The two commandments are that we love the Lord with all of our heart – not to check up on how someone else is doing in that respect; and to love my neighbour, people, people, as myself. People are brought to the top. It’s not our traditions and laws and our righteousness which matter. My stand isn’t my righteousness – the blood of Jesus is my righteousness.

In Ephesians 2, Paul is talking about division between Jew and Gentile, which was based on the law. “They don’t eat the food we eat, don’t worship on the same day, don’t have the same traditions.” And so Jew and Gentile were separated under the Old Covenant. But under the New Covenant, its’ not the tradition, but the blood of Jesus which matters.

Ephesians 2:1-10

We are His workmanship – the one who went away and the one who remained. In ancient church history, there was a persecution in Egypt. Some people stood and died in the persecution. Others didn’t. They confessed what they were told to confess, and they survived. After the persecution was over, those who compromised wanted to come back into the church, and those who had stood firm said no. That was a big issue in church history. I don’t have an answer, but we have to give place for God to work, and God can transform and save a life, because He’s done it with me. I’ve compromised, and He’s saved me, so I know He can do it. I have to let God have space to do it.

Ephesians 2:11-12

The wall of the Jewish traditions has been removed out of the way because God wanted to make one family, making Jew and Gentile one.

Ephesians 2:13

He is our righteousness – not our stand on something. I’m not talking about abandoning our standards. I’m talking about the Gospel.

Ephesians 2:14

If God has broken down the wall, how dare we build it up again? How dare we behave as though that wasn’t done by Christ?

Ephesians 2:15

To bring that which was divided by the law ... by fulfilling the Old Testament law, and fulfilling the conditions, He removed those conditions, and His blood became the righteousness of those ordinances. So we now come to Him as one man, based on His body. It’s not our cultures which draw us together, but the blood of Christ.

The enmity was the stand, the divisions. His blood becomes our righteousness and therefore he can make one body based on peace, on agape, on His love for us.

Ephesians 2:16-17

“Far off” – the Gentile, the outsider, the one we reject; “nigh” – those within the church.

Ephesians 2:17-18

The spirit of God who comes to live in us. I don’t have access to God because I’ve done enough good things. If my access was based on that, I wouldn’t have access. But my access is based on grace.

Ephesians 2:19-22

Not through the law, but through the spirit.

Paul is an apostle to the Gentiles, and he’s talking about one body united. We have to forget the laws and traditions, but talk of the blood of Christ instead.

The publicans and sinners ... the publicans were the “church people” – those who were doing His will.

Luke 15:1-3

Jesus gives various parables. He speaks of the lost sheep, as an example of what God’s heart is. He speaks too of the woman who loses a coin, and had a heart for the lost one – and that needs to be our heart too.
v11 gives the parable of the prodigal son. Some people say the parable is concerned more with the prodigal’s brother, not the prodigal himself.

Luke 15:11-21

This must be our passion – to forget about the hundred and go for the one.

Luke 15:22

There’s been a real change of God in the heart. There was a complete turnaround, a change of heart, of nature. It was full and genuine, and the man was filled with God’s spirit.

Luke 15:23-29

The brother recounts the things which the prodigal has done in the past.

Luke 15:30-32

If the brother is really concerned for the Father’s heart, he’d know it was the Father’s heart for the two brothers to be one. It’s not pleasing the Father for us to insist on doing everything just so – what pleases Him is when people are brought together in His love.

In Hosea, it talks of the sins of Israel. Once I was about to exclude someone because of their immaturity and behaviour. And the Lord spoke to me from Hosea, and said “Don’t exclude them, but love them.” My love won’t change someone, but God’s love can work through us. We have all of us gone prostituting away from God.

Hosea 2:16-20

They have gone astray from Him totally, and His heart had been wounded deeply. And yet out of this comes the full love of God, speaking of the rejoicing and salvation to come. He would change their heart and make us lovers of God.

Hosea 3:1

God tells Hosea to take a harlot to wife. This is against the law, I think. But redemption fulfils the law – our guilt under the law. “People who have had problems in their past ... I will love them and change them.”

Ephesians 4:1-2

Forbearing one another in love. Yes, Christians have faults. They’re people. There are hypocrites in the church, but there are more outside.

Philipians 2:1

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

We’re all fellows on the same ship. You may say there’s something wrong with it. Well, fix it! Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Philipians 2:2

“Likeminded” doesn’t mean we agree on the same things. Some people have been taught that if we don’t agree exactly, we can’t have fellowship, but our fellowship lies in the love of Christ.

Philipians 2:3-4

The Matters which Matter

By Pastor Kent Hodge

So many people get caught up on minor points of doctrine which end up dividing us. But God called us to love and care for one another. We need to major on the major.

1 Timothy 1:1-4

There are things which are of major importance to Christians – and they are faith and love. They had people in Ephesus who were debating the peripheral things. You can make a big issue out of small things. People can get in a twist about things and put them ahead of their brethren. But the important thing is our brother and sister in Christ, not the way we worship or whatever. To put these things ahead of the brethren is totally against God’s will. He died that we might be one. His will is that we should be happy together in the Father’s household.

In Ephesus, people were making their righteousness of things which had nothing to do with righteousness. Our righteousness is in the blood of Christ, not in the way we do things.

1 Timothy 1:4

What builds the church up is faith. Godly building is faith. Faith that works through love – that was really Paul’s Gospel.

1 Timothy 1:5

The end of the whole thing is that we love one another. Anything which will hinder that is not according to God’s will and purpose for our life. The end of the matter is that we are brethren and love one another. Jesus said the most important commandment was that you love the Lord God with all of your heart and mind, with all of your strength, with all of your being ... and that you love your neighbour as yourself.

1 Timothy 1:5

“Pure” in the sense of there being just one thing in the heart, wanting to walk God’s way.

These are the main things.

I want to talk about the brother of the Prodigal Son. We’ll get to that later on. But there are many parables Jesus gave. When Jesus spoke about the Prodigal, He was with the publicans and sinners. The sinner was the prodigal son, and the publican was his brother. As far as the Father was concerned, both were His sons, and He accepts both according to His redemption.

The most wonderful thing we have from God is redemption. God’s ability to take someone like the prodigal and by His love alone change their life and heart and make them a new person in Christ. On Sunday we’ll look at Hosea, who was told to take a prostitute to wife. It was a picture of God redeeming Israel. I want to look at how there is power in the Gospel, in the love of Christ, to change someone. I’m not talking about lowering our standards in Christ, but I’m talking about the heart of God and His redemption. Somehow His love is able to work through us in a miraculous way and reach out to people who are living wrong or don’t know Him. There’s a love in us which reaches out to these people whereas others would reject them.

The way we sometimes deal with other people, and the things we say about other Christians, are wrong. We write people off. We speak things which ought not to be said. If God is working in us, the challenge is that there is a love which is able to reach through us and touch other people’s lives.

This thing about the publicans and sinners ... Jesus dealt with this issue many times, and it got Him into trouble, because it wasn’t what the religious people expected of Him.

Mark 3:1-2

I’ve heard people talk about how they baptise only according to specific principles. A man came to me and said he was getting baptised again because they hadn’t used the right words the first time. But you’ve been baptised into Christ when you are born again and repent and turn to Him.

I remember people making a big deal about how old you should be when you are baptised, and it caused a split with other brethren. They thought their doctrine was better than other people’s.

If God was ticking people off about things like this, He would have ticked me off years ago. When we tell people off, there are three fingers pointing back at us. There has to be a different way. And that is the way of love.

I’m not talking about lowering our Christian standards. Truth is truth, righteousness is righteousness. But we’re talking about people, and God changing them as He has changed us.

Mark 3:2-4

These people were taking the letter of the law. But the law furnished us with principles. In the law it talks about a woman who is taken by force. The law says if the woman screams, it’s by force, otherwise it’s by consent. That was a principle for judges to use in courts. But the law isn’t giving the letter there. Maybe the person was unable to scream – maybe their mouth was bound. The judge has to look for the principle of consent. The reason the law furnishes the principle is that God loves the lady. To take the law and kill with it is contrary to the purpose of the law, which was to protect. If we refuse to talk or eat with people, we’re like Peter when he was sent to Cornelius, and initially baulked against it.

Mark 3:4-5

What mattered to Jesus more was the person, not the sabbath. Not the law, but the person the law was made to protect. The Pharisees had turned this around and put the law above fellowship and love and restoration and healing of our inner man, not just our body.

Matthew 12:1-4

One of the reasons for this was that it wasn’t lawful for a king to presume to be a priest. So it was something to keep people out of this. People weren’t born again in the Old Testament and had to go by these strictures. And we also have the division of powers today where the legislature is separate from Parliament etc.

But David wasn’t going against the law here. He wasn’t presuming to be a priest; he was simply hungry. David loved the law, read the word. All the Psalms are about his respect for the law of God. He could see Christ in the law. He could see the shepherd heart in the law. Because of the Holy Spirit on his life, he was able to see this. He wasn’t bogged down in religiosity, but he loved the Lord.

Matthew 12:3-5

God says He wants mercy. Brethren are to be walking in love, not to be divided by doctrine etc. We’re one body redeemed by His blood. In my own life in Nigeria, the more direct I get in my preaching, the more I have to love people.

Matthew 12:6

The Pharisees didn’t like that. They had made a religion out of law, and the temple was the symbol of it.

Matthew 12:7-8

The kingdom is faith that works through love, not a question of abstaining from certain kinds of food and so on. We have liberty, but we don’t use it in a way that might offend people. The main thing is to love our brother. The main thing in our own lives is not the meat, but to love one another. And that’s the will of God for us. We are all baptised into one body and all drink of one brook. That’s the issue. Cornelius and Peter didn’t eat the same meat, but they both drank from the same brook.

At our conference, I asked why, if we all drank together, we couldn’t have a communion. That brought a stunned response. But we were eating of Jesus together. I said I’d invite the Anglican Archbishop to do it. He has been persecuted and stood faithful and true to the Gospel. They have come through persecution. But he wasn’t available. So we didn’t do it.

What we want is one body with spirit-filled reformed theology. I love it. Let’s go on with the Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation.

We are one body and eat of one bread. That’s what matters. Basically we need to exercise patience with one another, so God can move. Give God space to move in someone’s life.

Mark 2:23-28

Mark 2:27

This is one of the things in the parable of the prodigal son. When he came back, the other son recounted all the things that he had done. And that wasn’t what the father wanted. He wanted both sons. Some people have called this the parable of the prodigal’s brother. Jesus was peaking both to the publicans and to the sinners.

The sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath. The law was made to help and protect man, not to destroy him.

If we get someone who has messed up in the past, we don’t want to destroy them with the law. We want to think about how we can move on. When we take the Gospel out into the world, it’s not a perfect world. When I was first saved, I had an issue with restoration. You had to think about all the things you did before you were saved and sort them out. What God says about us is, “Let him who stole, steal no more.” God wants a changed heart and life. If I were to go back and restore everything, I’d have to leave my family. I don’t even know the people any more.

1 Timothy 1:7-9

The law testifies against sinners and protects us. But we know the law is good if it is used lawfully – and that means using it to help and protect, not to pull down.

Walking in Grace

By Dr Kent Hodge

Romans 8:1

We walk by the grace of God and not by the law. Walking by the law means by our own power and ability to keep the law, but walking by the spirit means the life of Christ and the grace of God.

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Romans 8:2

Sin and death is a law – it is something that is not voluntary and that we have to be set free from. We don’t have power over it otherwise. The law of the spirit of life is Christ’s presence in us.

Romans 8:3

The law was only a letter, it had no power. The wonderful love of God, what the law couldn’t do, He did for us through His son Jesus Christ. God in Christ condemned sin in our flesh. He did it. This is the new law. Where the law of sin and death was involuntary, we now have a different law operating in us which is His son, who lives our life through us. We can’t live His life through us, He lives it.

When Jesus was on earth, He was saying this and talking about the law. He stunned the disciples on many occasions, and they asked who could be saved. Jesus said, with man nothing is possible but with God all things are possible. With God it is more than a possibility: it is a new life.

God is the one who condemned sin in our flesh. We have a new destiny in Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:4-9

This is not an exercise that we need to do, but if Christ dwells in us, we are in the spirit, by virtue of being born again.

Romans 8:10

Romans 6:6

What Paul was speaking about was the body of sin. If Christ is in you, the body of sin that controlled your life is now paralysed by your life. it doesn’t mean you will be perfect, but it means you will overcome with Christ’s faith in your life. The spirit is life in us because of His righteousness.

Matthew 19:16

They asked the wrong question. Jesus didn’t correct the question, because the man probably wouldn’t have understood Him. He also didn’t explain, He just answered him according to where the man was.

Matthew 19:16-21

When I was a teenager, we left our church and bought a farm, and went to work on the farm on weekends, so we stopped going to church for a while. Later on I started going back for Bible study groups. The Bible study said to look at Jesus and follow Him. You have to live the Christian life perfectly, and I knew I didn’t have a chance.

When I read this passage, it looked like bad news to me. I thought to myself, I hadn't got a chance. I believe what Jesus was showing this man here:

Matthew 19:22

I believe what Jesus was doing, was putting his finger on the man’s need. He could not be saved by the Ten Commandments; there had to be a Plan B. The default nature of man is idolatry. The idol is basically ourselves. What we are serving is what we can get. We are the god of our life until we get born again. Salvation comes to fix that in our life. It is impossible for the law to fix the need.

We can be set free from who we are and be brought into His fellowship and into life with Him. Only His gift can do that. There is no number of laws that can change one iota of our character.

The issue isn’t what enters into the man that defiles him, but what comes out. There is no amount of law that can change what comes out.

Law and legalism becomes idolatry, because we are worshiping and depending on our own ability.

Matthew 18:23-26

The Bible so accurately portrays the nature of man. Man thinks that outside of the Gospel, he can get right with God somehow. This man underestimated the extent of the law, and he didn’t see how rigorous that law was, and how far short he fell from it. This man thought that if he had time, he would be able to pay. I read somewhere that ten thousand talents is equivalent to something like the debt of a nation. This man overestimated his own ability. He didn’t know the law, and he didn’t know himself.

A lot of Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel was to point these two things out to us, and to give us a proper understanding of the law. It isn’t just paying tithes.
Jesus explained the law. Murdering wasn’t just killing, it also meant to hate. Unless you accept Christ you will die in your sins. Unless you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him. There is no way we can keep the law or take up our cross, without Christ. You can’t get perfection on your own. He preached the law in order to lead us to Christ.

I am crucified with Christ. It is the power that changes our hearts and turns us to God.

Romans 5:15

This grace is much more. Does that mean we will never stumble? No, but this grace will bring us home. It is much more than this world or the devil.

Romans 5:21

Sin is reigning as king in my life, before Christ. There’s nothing I can do about it. I have a new thing reigning in me now. Just as sin reigned involuntarily, and I had no say in my destiny, now I have grace reigning. It brings me to the destiny that God has planned. Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

We are baptised into that fountain and we become an avenue to that fountain in our church. It’s God’s mission and He is moving in our nations.

Nehemiah (Part 9 of 9) - Keep Things in Order

In the final chapters of Nehemiah, we see Nehemiah’s determination that the achievements of the people should not be wasted. We need that same determination. We need to stand for what God wants in our lives and families.

Ezra / Nehemiah really is one book. Often is was bound as such. The two men were both involved with what was going on in rebuilding the walls and the gates of Jerusalem.

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I’ll look at something relevant to us in our situation in what we do as a Christian, or as a Christian parent. There were three returns from the Babylonian captivity. The first was under Zerubbabel when 50,000 returned and the Temple was rebuilt. Eighty years later, Ezra came back with about 1,800 people, and he was involved in reforms of the people, one of which we’ll look at today. And then fourteen years later, Nehemiah came, inspired by God, and as you know, he rebuilt the walls and the gates of Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 8:1

We saw that Ezra read out the law. He was on a platform – everyone could see him, and everyone realised the significance that now the walls and gates had been rebuilt, the law of God would become central once again.

Nehemiah 8:10

This is a phrase you may know.

We saw how Jesus talked to the disciples about fulfilling joy was an encouragement or command – “Ask and you shall receive and your joy will be full.”

I mentioned that perhaps there are things you’ve been asking about over the last weeks and months. God has heard your prayer. Ask, and you shall receive that your joy may be full.

We saw in James that joy can result from our reaction to experiences and pressures in our lives, to circumstances where things seem to be going against – or indeed are going against. That circumstance, that pressure can result in patience – let patience have her perfect work; count it all joy when you meet pressures – not in a masochistic way, but the in the fact that God will provide the solution.

In the following chapters there are various lists, and the people listened to the law …

Nehemiah 10:28-29

There was an oath. At the end of this chapter they sealed their names to the oath – an oath which involved keeping the law of God; not marrying outside; not mixing the marriages; keeping things right; keeping the Sabbath, the holy day; not forsaking the house of our God; keeping to the rules of the Temple; and making sure the Levites were catered for.

In chapter 11 there is a list of those who sealed their names.

Nehemiah 12:27-35

Nehemiah was organising two companies to walk round the walls and then they came into the city and gathered in front of the Temple. There was a rejoicing going on. The work had been completed.

Asaph appears in the Psalms. He wrote ten of them, and this Asaph was his son. Everyone was involved.

Nehemiah 12:36-38

One company was led round by Nehemiah, and the other by Ezra. They came together. Ezra’s name meant help. Nehemiah’s was comfort, emboldening, with strength. They were a good team. Ezra was very conscious of the law and laid it on the line for all of the people., Nehemiah was very practical – good project leader. Now the people are rejoicing with the two companies going round to meet each other.

Nehemiah 12:40-43

In vv 44-47, he speaks of the singers and porters and the maintenance of the right structure for the Temple.

Nehemiah 13:1-3

We have the situation where the work is finished, the rejoicing has happened. The law has been distinctly read. There were thirteen people alongside Ezra who explained the law to the people so they understood it and knew what they had to do.

There was an instant outworking – they were to separate themselves from the Ammonite and the Moabite.

Then Nehehmiah went back to the king Artaxerxes and reported what had happened in Jerusalem. Some time elapsed before he returned to the city to see how things were getting on. Unfortunately, despite the sealing of the oath, despite the reading of the law, things had drifted. All that work had been done to rebuild the walls and gates, and now he returns.

Nehemiah 13:4-5

Eliashib was a priest. He was in charge of the rooms of the Temple. When Nehemiah was away, Eliashib had allowed Tobiah to move in. You may recall Tobiah :-

Nehemiah 4:3

Totally opposite to what Nehemiah was about. We see him again:-

Nehemiah 6:19

This is the person who had been mocking, sending the letters, and now Eliashib had let out a room to Tobiah in the Temple. There was some mixing going on. Incredible!

Nehemiah 13:4-6

This happened while he was away. Now he comes to Jerusalem, and learns of the evil Eliashib had done.

Nehemiah 13:7-9

He couldn’t believe it. Tobiah had been invited in. His household stuff was in the room in the Temple of God, and he was totally contrary to what they were about.

John 2:13-17

Sounds familiar! There was something where there as a mixture going on, even in the use of the Temple. In John, Jesus cleared them out. This isn’t what the Temple is for. You can’t use church as a cover for malpractice, for hidden works of darkness. You can’t use church as a cover for business. And when Tobiah was in the room, Nehemiah was incredulous. How on earth could you have allowed him into this place? And when the disciples witnessed Jesus cleansing the Temple, there was a zeal, fixed, certain, direct – this Temple is not for that purpose.

I know God is faithful – particularly in cleansing and protecting His people. And also He is more than keen for us to treat the Word of God and the things of God seriously.

There’s something about respect for what we come in here to do and to be.

Tobiah’s stuff was just thrown out. And God in His faithfulness will sort things out and bring to light where things need to be brought to light, and there’s a safety, a knowledge that it’s His church and He is sorting things out in His way. But He used Nehemiah in this way.

Nehemiah 13:9-14

What was meant to have happened was that there was as structure and the gifts and tithes were given in, and the Levites, as full-time workers, were to be fed using the money. But people had stopped giving. The result was that the Levites were out working in the fields. As far as Nehemiah was concerned, this flew in the face of all the oaths taken by the people.

First he had come across Tobiah in the Temple. He sorted that out. Now he comes across the fact that the Levites were out working in the fields. So there was a reform – instant reform – which had to happen. There was a structure, a way of life in terms of giving and what should be happening.

In this financial situation we face as a nation, as a world; and in your financial situation, keep your priorities right. Keep the structure right which God has laid down.

After each reform, Nehemiah, said, “Remember me God.” That was the structure he was in.

Nehemiah 13:15-22

Sabbath-keeping. Even people from Tyre brought mouldy fish and were selling it at the gates. There was trade, laxity, drift. They knew the law, what they had signed up to.

This is an old covenant. It refers to the Jewish people. How does it relate to us and our Sunday? What’s your attitude to coming to church on a Sunday? You get to work on time. Sunday? I’ve tried to keep it – this might sound pedantic – I’ve tried to keep it that we start at 10 o’clock. Otherwise people wouldn’t know when things would start. Some of you live within 500 yards of here.

There’s a seriousness about this whole rebuilding of the walls and gates which as far as God was concerned, there was something which then needed tightening up. Not in an overbearing sense, not in the sense of the “thou shalt” with God trying to do someone in. But there’s a way of doing things. There’s a way of having respect for the things of God.

Nehemiah was very practical – he shut the gates so as to stop people going in and out.

Nehemiah 13:23-25

This was tricky. They had been in captivity in Babylon and had got to know the ways of the people there. The law had been submerged to some extent. But now in the reforms of Nehemiah and Ezra, they were dealing with intermarriage of the Jews with the tribes of the land. The parallel for us is … if you’re a parent and your children … if there is the situation where there is something developing where your offspring as a Christian is planning to link up with someone who isn’t a Christian, that won’t work. It won’t. You say, “God is over all. He is love. He’ll sort things out.” There’s a situation where things are clear cut. This is one of them. I’m not trying to dredge the Old Covenant into the New. Light and darkness won’t dwell together. That’s from the New. Be not unequally yoked. That’s from the New – quoted in the New. In a liberalised sense, the walls had been built, and the gates. Tobiah had been sorted out. But there was a drift, and in their liberalised way, it was as though they felt it didn’t really matter.

Probably Nehemiah was talking to children just outside the city, and they were only half Jewish. They couldn’t speak in the language of the Jews, but according to the language of each people. The children were in the world and yet the children were in the church. Specifically he refers to not marrying the outside tribes. If you have offspring who are thinking of getting married, the key question is, will that partner for life be … or is that perspective for life … a Christian? Yes, or no? You may ask who you are to judge. You can’t mess about when it comes to this significant event in a person’s life. And the mixing of marriages was a problem. There were specific rules in the law about the children of mixed marriages. They were to be readmitted after the tenth generation – or in certain cases, after three generations. We’re not into that. What we are into is being aware of what God requires, of what He, in His wisdom and mercy, recommends. Why does He recommend that when it comes to marriage? Because you can’t share your life with someone who does not believe what you believe. You can’t. You can’t manage your money if the one you’re marrying is not involved in the church, doesn’t consider the things of God. So I’m talking particularly about anyone who is thinking of getting married, or any parent whose children are thinking of getting married. You can’t mix it up. You can’t. And as surely as night follows day, the result of that linking up will be a life of compromise. As far as Nehemiah was concerned, there were those who had married wives outside of Israel and it grieved him. What got to him more was what he was with the children – unable to speak in the language of the Jews.

Let’s think about your children. What does this mean where you are half speaking a Jewish language and half the language of a foreign tribe? I think it means that when it comes to our children, it is totally necessary for us to oversee everything. I mean in our homes. It may sound obvious to you. But it really struck me how Nehemiah was struck by this. Where do you draw the line when it comes to the media, to owning the latest phone, when there is such intense pressure to keep up with the latest this and that. I’ll tell you. You draw the line as a Christian, and that line will not budge. I’m not going to try and put that line into hundreds of different circumstances of life. I’m talking about the principle. You can’t mix things up. Probably Nehemiah couldn’t believe it – here were children unable to speak in the language of the Jews. It was half and half. And with your children at home, which is your main area of influence, is it a worldly or a Christian home? Are the pervasive influences from the world, or are they as a Christian home? I know it’s more difficult now to keep track of things – the opportunities to find out about things are more readily available via the internet and so on. Should a young child be able to access the internet from their own bedroom? Should I need to ask that question? It’s not as if there’s a sort of ... “OK if the computer is in the bedroom, I’ll be ok, because I can trust that child.” There are things coming through that computer which are trying to get hold of your child.

Nehemiah 13:23-25

Nehemiah 13:26

That’s quite a sobering passage to refer back to.

1 Kings 11:1-8

That had a direct impact on Rehoboam, Solomon’s son. You can’t muck about, Solomon. At the end of his life, this occurred. Why did Nehemiah quote that? It says that no matter how old we are, we need to be vigilant. No matter how old we are, there are principles we have to adhere to. We need to be open with our God. We need fellowship with God. We need to be reading His word, meeting with other Christians, praying. We need fellowship right the way until He calls us and we see Him face to face. You can’t build up a track record of Christianity and then live on the interest from what you have built up. Day by day until we no longer draw breath, until we are called to glory. No let up.

Is that a gruelling, dismal life? Absolutely not. It’s a wonderful life. But don’t take your foot off the brake or accelerator (!). If you’re driving a car, and that’s your life, you have to keep your eyes open, know where you are going, have petrol in the tank. But if you think that the journey you did yesterday is sufficient to get you through today, you’re going nowhere.

God brought to Nehemiah’s attention various aspects of the way the people were living. He had only been away a short time.

Nehemiah 13:26

Nehemiah 13:27-28

Eliashib had a real problem. He had let Tobiah into the Temple. And his grandson was son-in-law Sanballat, who was the other person who had caused trouble to Nehemiah. Enough was enough.

“But we’re meant to love everyone aren’t we.” We’re a Christian, and the love of God in our hearts reaches out to those in need of Him. I want people to move from darkness to light. But there are ways of living, where the liberalisation of our thinking, where opting out of the rat race results in drift. Little by little, an explanation is made for that, for that. “Ah but you have to remember …” “Ah but look at him – see what he did …” There’s a plethora, a whole load of explanations.

It’s interesting that when Nehemiah got going he said,

Nehemiah 13:25

Compare this with :-

Ezra 9:1-4

They were different. When Nehemiah got upset, he plucked the hair of other people. When Ezra got upset he plucked his own hair! The common denominator between the two was – “What are you playing at? Come on – there’s a way of life you have to live as a Christian.”

The good news is that God knows our hearts, and knows and will honour someone as a parent who wants to get it right for their children. He will honour that. He will protect them. I know some people who, through financial difficulties are having to sort things out for their children away from our school. Let me just confirm to you that the door is open to come back as soon as you like. The bursary scheme is there so we can help in some way. Is the school going to close because of people withdrawing children? Absolutely not. It’s not bravado. God gave us the school. And I anticipate a year from now handing out more certificates to the children.

God knows your heart. He knows the situation with your children, and the situation of your children in your home. And it’s that which I’m zeroing in on. What are you communicating with your children at home? Because what we don’t want is a half way position.

Romans 12:2

Each of you, going forward, myself included, we are to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. How? By not being conformed to this world. Transformed, by the renewing of our mind.

So it doesn’t matter what the external pressures are in my home, it doesn’t matter what the media would promote, what the internet would beckon with. There is a line drawn and I will not budge from that as a parent.

Romans 12:2

I read on Friday the verses where it talks about the New Jerusalem, the church. No need to repair gates or walls there. He is fashioning His church by the washing of water by the word. He is sorting things out. He is bringing people into that wonderful relationship with God, away from the dark paths of sin, away from living a wrong way to living a right way, to having God by His Holy Spirit inside. And there will be more that will come to His church.

Is this the only church? Not at all. We’re a part of His church worldwide. Transformed by the renewing of your mind, the cleansing, washing of His word.
Overall, the Book of Nehemiah is one of triumph. But it underlines in the last chapter, how significant it is for you and me to live right. Don’t respond to that by saying you can’t live right. You can. I’m not trying to force the idea on you. It is God within you which causes you to live of His good pleasure. He is preparing good things for you to walk into. It’s His strength. The joy of the Lord is your strength. That joy for Jesus was the church. Because of that He gave His life for you and me. Are we partakers of that joy here this morning? Yes we are. Is there a way forward for you in the pressures of our life at the moment? Of course!

Nehemiah 13:29-31