God at the Centre: Living Inside the Kingdom - Nov 24, 2024 (Myles Holmes)

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

We're going to turn to Nehemiah chapter 10.

Nehemiah 10 · chapter mention

We're going to be in chapters 10 to 12 this morning, and there's a number of lists in here, and so I'm going to read some sections for us, but would you stand with us as we read from God's Word?

I'm going to begin in chapter 9, verse 38, and I'll let you know the sections that we're reading.

Look what it says in chapter 9, verse 38.

Because of all this, we make a firm covenant in writing.

On the sealed documents are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

Now, in verses 1 through 26 of chapter 10, we find the list of names that were on that covenant, and in verse 28, we pick up the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the land to the law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God's law that was given by Moses, the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and his rules and his statutes.

We will not give our daughters to the people of the land, or take their daughters for our sons, and if the people of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day, and we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.

We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly a third part of the shekel for the service of the house of our God, for the showbread, the regular grain offering, the regular burnt offerings, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed feasts, the holy things, and the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel and for all the work of the house of our God.

We, the priests, the Levites, and the people have likewise cast lots for the wood offering to bring it into the house of God of our God, according to our fathers' houses, at times appointed year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the law.

We obligate ourselves to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree year by year to the house of the Lord, also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, as it is written, and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks, and to bring the first of our dough and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine of the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God, and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our towns where we labor.

And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse, for the people of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the chambers, where the vessels of the sanctuary are, as well as the priests who minister, and gatekeepers and the singers.

We will not neglect the house of our God.

Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring out one of ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine out of ten remained in other towns.

And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem.

Now from 11 verse 3 to 12, verse 26, we have a list of the people who stayed in Jerusalem, and you'll continue to follow along with me in chapter 12, verse 27, as we read from God's Word.

And it says, At the dedication, this is chapter 12, verse 27, at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought the Levites in all their places to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lears.

And the sons of the singers gathered together from the districts surrounding Jerusalem, and from the villages of the Natilphites, also from Beth Gilgal, and from the region of Jeba and Asmavath.

For the singers had built for themselves villages around Jerusalem, and the priests and Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people in the gates in the wall.

Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks.

One went to the south on the wall to the dung gate, and after them went Hoshiah and half of the leaders of Judah, and Azariah, Ezra, Meshelem, Judah, Benjamin, Shemiah, and Jeremiah, and certain of the priests' sons with trumpets, Zechariah the son of Jonathan, son of Shemiah, son of Mataniah, son of Makiah, son of Zakur, son of Asaph, and his relatives Shemiah, Azarel, Milaali, Gilali, Mai, Nathaniel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David, the men of God, and Ezra the scribe, went before them.

At the fountain gate they went up straight before them by the stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall above the house of David to the water gate on the east.

The other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north, and I followed them with half of the people on the wall above the tower of ovens to the broad wall, and above the gate of Ephraim, and the gate of Yeshina, the fish gate, and the tower of Hananel, and the tower of the hundred to the sheep gate, and they came to a halt at the gate of the guard.

So both choirs of those who gave thanks stood in the house of God, and I and half of the officials with me, and the priests Elachim, Maasiah, Minanem, Micaiah, Eloonai, Zechariah, Hananiah with trumpets, and Maasiah, Shemiah, Elazar, Uzi, Jehonan, Milkijah, Ilam, and Ezar.

And the singers sang with Jezrah and their leader, and they offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy.

The women and children also rejoiced, and the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.

On that day men were appointed over storerooms the contributions, the first fruits, and the tithes, to gather into them the portions required by the law for the priests and for the Levites, according to the fields of the towns, for Judah rejoiced over the priest and the Levites who ministered.

And they performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did the singers and the gatekeepers, according to the command of David and his son Solomon.

For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there were directors of singers, and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.

And all Israel, in the days of Zerubabel, and the days of Nehemiah, gave the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers, and they set apart that which was for the Levites, and the Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron.

You can take a seat.

What now?

That was the question that Amber and I asked as we sat in the car after having our first baby and looking back at that thing that was in the car seat and almost feeling like what was happening was illegal.

We felt so unprepared for that moment.

We felt like as we were driving home, we kept looking in the rearview mirror like something something's gotta be wrong here.

We gotta be doing something wrong.

They cannot let people who are so unprepared try to provide life to this tiny human without instructions.

Now, by the way, I was supposed to announce this before.

It's been a hectic morning, but I forgot to say it.

But uh Joel and Megan had their baby.

Baby, yeah, we can cheer for that.

Baby Penelope is healthy, and so is Megan.

And Joel called me this morning when the worship leader um couldn't come.

He said, Am I gonna have to drive down there?

I said, Absolutely not.

No, you can stay there.

And uh they're all healthy.

The baby's somewhere between three and thirteen pounds, somewhere between the size of a baseball and a beach ball.

But I know you guys will ask me for that information, so I just wanted to give it to you there.

Birth is a miracle, though.

Changes everything about your life.

And so we found ourselves in that situation asking this, what like what do we do now?

Now the Israelites in chapter 10 in many ways felt the same way.

After years of Babylonian captivity, after a lifetime of coming out of exile from Babylon into Jerusalem, rebuilding the temple, rebuilding the walls.

Now, in chapter 10, they find themselves in the limits of God's kingdom.

They've arrived.

God has moved kingdoms and rulers to bring them back to this place.

And now you can imagine them looking at the finished walls of Jerusalem, looking at the city that is now empty here in Nehemiah chapter 10, and asking this question: what do we do now?

Nehemiah 10 · chapter mention

And in many ways, it's the same question we ask.

I love what Dennis read this morning in Colossians 1, verse 13, that Jesus has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of God.

Colossians 1:13

Loved one, consider this reality for a moment that you have been transferred to a new kingdom.

You have been given new life, you have a new ruler and a new savior.

And in many ways, when we understand that reality, the question that we then ask is this, what now?

Well, when the Israelites found themselves within the walls of God's kingdom, they got to kingdom work.

They knew that God had delivered them, and they knew that the time was now to do the work that God had given them to do in building and serving his kingdom.

I want you to see this morning that it's no different for us, that the work that the Israelites get to in the walls of Jerusalem is the very work that you and I get to in the walls of the kingdom of light, that if your faith is in Jesus Christ, he has called you into.

This morning I want you to see the kingdom activities that God calls his redeemed people to.

And I want you to notice first that now that we're in God's kingdom, we must be committed to God's way.

It was a commitment to God's way.

Notice this in chapter 9, verse 38.

They say this because of this, we make a firm covenant in writing.

On the sealed documents, are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

Here are the Israelites, now that they're in Jerusalem, the very thing that they do is make a covenant with God.

Now, if you remember from last week, the context of this covenant is that Israel has just spent time together after the feast of booths confessing their sin.

There has been this heartfelt reality of their sinfulness, but alongside this, they understood that though they were rebels against God's law, they were by God's mercy and steadfast love redeemed and forgiven rebels.

That is who we are.

You and I stand on the other side of deserving judgment for our sin, now having standing in the kingdom of light, the judgment has been paid.

You and I, by God's mercy, are forgiven rebels.

Here's the principle the Israelites show us.

When the reality of God's forgiveness grips our heart, there's only one appropriate response, and the response is to make covenant commitment to the Lord.

Jesus gets to the heart of this.

You remember the parable that Jesus told of the man who was forgiven a great debt?

And this man being forgiven much, then went to someone who owed him a much smaller amount and was unforgiving with that person.

And Jesus rebuked this man, saying, Shouldn't you have also had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you?

And the point of the parable is this is that the mercy of God should have transformed his lives, and so it is for us that the mercy of God should transform our lives.

It should refresh us, it should give us a desire to live according to his will.

He says, by no means.

How can we who died to sin still live in it?

In other words, he's saying the gospel comes at you and transforms you in such a profound reality that now everything is different.

Now, listen, this is really important for you and I because we live in a culture where we are often so afraid of legalism that we are afraid to even talk about commands, we're afraid to even talk about works of righteousness.

And in many ways, that is often right.

I I have no doubt that within this room, there are some who are caught within the condemnation of legalism.

For some of you, your daily battle is this battle with God where the more righteous you are, the more like you feel like you can perform for God, the more you feel his love.

But I want you to understand this morning that the gospel, it protects us from legalism.

You say legalism says, I'll obey so that God will love me.

The gospel says, I obey because God loves me.

Obedience is in both these things.

This is the heart of what the Israelites say.

You notice this in verse 38 of chapter 9, he says, Because of all this, because of all this, we make a firm commitment to God.

And as we apply God's word to our lives, I want you to understand that the call to obedience in our life, the call to apply the commandments of God in our life, it doesn't come to us as condemnation.

So that if you ever leave the preaching of God's word and you feel like, man, I'm just I'm just such a horrible Christian, and all that exposed for me is how bad I am, I want you to understand that the gospel that you've convinced yourself is not the gospel at all.

That is legalism.

Instead, the way that the Bible compels us to obedience is through mercy.

What does Paul say in Romans chapter 12?

Romans 12 · chapter mention

He says, I er I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by what?

He says, by the mercies of God.

I appeal to you by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.

What interesting language.

Sacrifice there is difficult, it is painful, it is hard, it is picking up your cross, an instrument of torture in order to follow Jesus Christ.

But Paul says, What can I do to appeal to you to obedience?

I can appeal to you by the mercies of God.

It is a mercy to follow God, it is a mercy to obey God.

So that in chapter 10, verses 1 to 27, we have a list of names of the people who had committed themselves to the covenant.

But notice there that in verse 29, as they come back to describing the covenant, they say that they all with knowledge and understanding, verse 29, join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God's law that was given by Moses.

Isn't that interesting language?

I don't know about you, but I would be very hesitant to use that language, wouldn't you?

You know, I'm willing to commit myself to something.

But the Israelites are so serious about their commitment that they they they commit themselves to both a curse and an oath to follow God's way.

Why do they do that?

Well, because the gospel tells us this.

The gospel tells us that the greatest thing that we could do for ourselves is live in obedience to God's command.

I was reading Psalm 112 this week, and and the psalmist there in the first verse says, Blessed is the man who greatly delights in your law.

Other words, happy is the man, the greater delight in your law, the greater willingness to follow in obedience, the greater happiness in your life.

The gospel informs us of this that when you choose to sin, you choose to suffer.

When you choose obedience, you choose God's blessing.

So as much as you commit to God's, to walk in God's righteousness and to stay away from unrighteousness and to put to death in you the sin that remains, you are committed to a life of blessedness.

You are committed to a life of happiness.

And so understand this morning that the call to obedience from the gospel, it comes to us like the instructions would come to a cancer patient.

If you're to go into your doctor and have some you know horrible disease that is leading to your death, and and you were given instructions that could provide healing and hope for you, you receive those instructions with joy.

These are instructions that lead to your healing, and sometimes it's painful, but if it means that you'll be healed, then it's received with joy, and obedience is like that to us.

This is the prescription of the doctor of Jesus Christ who comes and wants to restore our lives to him.

There's healing and obedience, there's joy in it.

So with joy, we surrender ourselves to the prescription of our doctor.

Well, I want you to see in Nehemiah chapter 10 a number of the commitments that the Israelites make to God.

Nehemiah 10 · chapter mention

Notice first that there is a commitment in our relationships required.

There's a commitment in our relationships that's required.

In chapter 10, verse 29, we see that the Israelites are making this commitment to align all of their relationships with God's design.

And you'll see there in verse 29 to 30 that they pledged to walk in God's law, and the reality of this was a reality of not intermarrying with the nations that were surrounding them.

They were going to stay committed to God's people.

Now, this wasn't an ethnic preservation, rather, it was a covenant preservation.

It was preserving the people of God so that God's kingdom could then grow.

And you see all throughout scripture that every time God's people turn to the surrounding pagan, that's the important word there, pagan nations, that what they do is they invite into their nation curses.

This is why the call remains in the New Testament to marry only in the Lord.

But the broader principle of this that Paul's teaching us this morning is this, that our relationships, they reflect our commitments.

Whether it's marriage, whether it's friendship, whether it's broader relationships, the people that we intermingle with reflect the commitments and the values that we have in our lives.

God wants us to understand that aligning our relationships with God's will will lead us to greater faithfulness.

It's why Jesus said to his followers that if anyone does not hate his father, his mother, his wife, his children, his brothers and sisters, yes, even their own life, they cannot be his disciple.

What is Jesus saying here?

Not that you have to hate people, but he's saying this that if there is any relationship that pulls you out of the path of God's righteousness, then you cannot follow Jesus with that.

You can't serve two masters.

So we evaluate this morning.

Are the relationships that you're in, are they being used to draw you closer to Christ, or are they pulling you away from him?

In your marriages.

Husbands, are you loving your wives the way that Christ has loved the church?

Are you sacrificially pouring yourself out for her with the goal of her spiritual flourishing?

Wives, are you respecting and supporting your husbands as unto the Lord?

Fulfilling the commands that you have been given as bride.

What about your friendships this morning?

Are the people that you regularly spend time with, are they leading you to greater and greater holiness?

This doesn't mean that we don't hang out with unbelievers, but if if your unbelieving friends are the ones that are rubbing off on you, and you are not the ones that are rubbing off on them, then those are relationships that you need to reevaluate.

What about your relationship with your boss or your work?

Is your boss your greatest fear?

Is your work your ultimate treasure?

Or are you working unto the Lord?

It's a commitment of our relationships.

I want you to notice also, though, that it's a commitment in our time.

So in verse 31, the people they commit themselves to the Sabbath.

To take the Sabbath.

And this wasn't about rule keeping.

It was about trusting God.

You can imagine for an agrarian culture how difficult it would be to take a day off.

I mean, we understand that.

In our work, work, work culture, the hustle life says there's no days off that you grind every day.

And in a life where keeping the land is your life and your money and your food, it would be incredibly difficult one day every week when all the nations are still working.

It would be incredibly difficult to stop.

You know, we live out in the boonies, and so we see farmers working all the time.

And there are times where it's pitch black and the lights are on in the tractor and they're still working.

Why?

Because farming requires a lot of work.

And to take time off of it requires trusting God to say, God, this isn't about me, this is about you.

And I trust that you're going to be able to provide for me even though I'm not working for you.

Well, time, our commitment to use our time in a way that honors God, it also reflects our commitments.

So that if you were to show me your calendar this morning, I could show you in reality what you are committed to.

And so the question for us this morning is this have you sought God's mercy in your time this week?

Can I ask you this?

Can you reflect on this?

How has your time in the Word been this week?

I'm talking totals here.

This is not for legalism.

I'm talking this for like, have you sought, have you committed time, minutes, hours to seeking God in his word this week?

Does your time reflect that God's word is a commitment to you?

How has your time this week been spent in serving other people, whether it's the church or your family?

On the reverse, how much of your time has been spent in the pursuit of hobbies?

How much of your free time is spent with your mind wandering to these places that just provide no spiritual benefit for you?

Again, this is not condemnation.

This is grace.

God's given us time, and we can use our time to commit ourselves to Him and experience the blessing of obedience.

Notice also, though, that this is a commitment of my treasure.

A commitment of my treasure.

You know, I feel the need, I don't do this very often, but um I feel the need right now just to maybe hit a pause on this sermon.

So we're just gonna hit a big pause button here, okay?

It's on the, you can't see it right here, it's on the pulpit, though.

It's just a big pause button right here.

And I can sense in this room right now, there's just like this, I don't even know what to call it, like this deadness.

And uh, you know, it's been a crazy week, and I'm sure most of you guys are probably sick as well, because given how the church has been going this week.

But we're in God's word right now, and there is so much fruit for us, and we can really waste this time.

We you know, I've done it before, and we've all done it before.

But would you join with me and just pray and ask God to make this the most fruitful time for us right now?

Let's let's pray before the Lord.

Father, this is uh us bowing before you and God declaring what Jesus said that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

And God, together I pray that your people would even pray this in their own hearts now, Lord, to say that we cannot do this alone.

Lord, we need your word.

We need you to speak life, we need your spirit to resurrect us.

And God, there are weeks where our focus is is so weak.

And God, we can't we we're so distracted by the things that are going on or even by the spiritual warfare that's happening in our midst.

God, that we we cannot hear you through all the busyness.

And so by the power of your spirit, we bow before you right now, Lord, and ask that in this moment you would do a supernatural work.

God, you speaking to us is supernatural.

It's with the same power and authority that you said, let light shine in the darkness in Genesis 1, that you need to speak to us now and shine in the darkness of our hearts so that we can see the glory of Jesus Christ.

And so, God, we pray for it.

Lord, we pray that you would move in power.

We depend on you.

And we pray this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ.

And all God's people said, Amen.

Amen.

I want you to notice it's not just a commitment of our time, it's a commitment of our treasures.

Here in verses 31 to 35, the the Israelites, time and time again, they they pledge their first fruits, their tithes, their offerings to support the work of the Lord.

Categorically, they go through every single thing in their life, and the principle is this that they are going to give their best of their harvest, of their livestock, of their income.

They are gonna show by their lives that the treasures that they have there are not their own.

It's not as though God owns a small percentage of the things they have.

God owns a hundred percent of it, and their commitment to God is to give a portion of that that God owns back to him.

Now, listen, I can already feel right now that as we talk about finances, anytime we do it, there, you know, we kind of tense up in the room.

Oh, here we go.

We're gonna talk.

Because we feel guilty about it, don't we?

Let's be honest.

You know, I don't have to think about a creative way as a pastor to get around the guilt.

Let's just be honest that often when we talk about finances, we just know that we are not giving enough and we feel guilty about it.

But I want you to understand here again that nowhere in the scriptures does it say you must give or Jesus will not love you.

That is legalism.

And we can put that to death by the power of the gospel this morning.

It's legalism.

But what the scriptures do is continually come back to this reality that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

It is a grace to us to be able to give our finances to the Lord.

It is an invitation for us to trust on the Lord and to walk in the nearness that can only come when we say, God, you got this, and I don't know how I'm gonna make it apart from you.

Over and over and over, scripture gets to this.

Proverbs chapter 3, verse 9 to 10.

Proverbs 3:9–10

This is my favorite, my favorite verse about giving.

Proverbs chapter 3, 9 to 10.

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

Let me read it for you.

Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce.

There it is again, the first fruits principle, giving what the Lord gives to you, giving the first of it to him.

Listen to the promise, though.

Then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.

Who doesn't want vats bursting with wine?

Don't you want that?

21st century, that just sounds like a huge mess to clean up.

And some of you guys are like, listen, I got enough kids, I got enough Cheerios to clean up.

I don't need to be cleaning up vats bursting with wine, but you get the principle here.

The principle is that it's more blessed to give than it is to receive.

This is why Paul says in 2 Corinthians that giving is a it's a grace of God.

See, there's real blessing that comes to us when we care more about the standard of giving than we do about the standard of living.

And so we ask ourselves this morning: are we giving out of the abundance of what God has given to us?

This is not a condemnation.

If you are feeling condemned right now, you are not hearing the gospel.

Satan is filtering out the gospel from you.

This is not condemnation, this is grace.

It is a grace to give.

Jesus said it, it is more blessed to give than it is to receive, but money can suck the life out of your soul if you care too much about it.

Whether you have too much or you have too little, you cannot serve two masters.

It's a commitment to our treasures, giving it to Him.

Notice, lastly, in this first point, that it's a commitment to service.

And can I just say that in so many ways, as the Israelites dedicate themselves to supporting the work of the temple and bringing it to support the priests who minister and serve the house of God, I am reminded of all the ways that our church does this so well.

You know, this morning, as so many people were dropping like flies in the ways in the running of this service, I had a number of other people come up and say, Hey, you know, you could have used me.

And even in kids' ministry, it's running because other people stepped up and said, Hey, I'm I'm here to serve the Lord.

And in so many ways, you need to be so encouraged.

The Lord is working in the midst of our church, and he is giving us a heart of service.

And yet we need to continue to ask ourselves, are we participating in the blessing of serving God's people?

Reminded this reality, the church, the church needs us that we are all part of the body.

That if this church were a hundred miles, it would be an absolute mess.

A body with a hundred toes would be the most absolutely disgusting thing you could imagine, as important as a toe is.

And so each of us have been uniquely gifted, uniquely fitted for what?

Not for different Netflix shows, for God's service, for the expansion of his kingdom.

Committed to service.

I want you to see the next point here, though, that life in the kingdom requires a consecration to God's work.

Life in the kingdom requires a consecration to God's work.

I'm devoted to the work that God wants to do in the kingdom.

Now, what I want to do for a moment is I kind of want to nerd out on the Bible with you.

Will you guys do that with me for a second?

Give me like a nod.

Give me like a thumbs up.

Can I get like a thumbs up and a nod?

Nice.

Give your neighbor just like a punch in the arm for a second.

No, I'm just gonna do that.

We're gonna start doing uh red-eye espresso shots in the uh in the um coffees out there, and then just we'll all be shaking, but we'll be like paying attention to the word, and it'll be so good.

Life in the kingdom requires devotion to God's work, and so this is what we're understanding.

The gospel comes to us with the force of a Mac truck, it changes everything about our lives, and it changes all of our allegiances.

At least it should, right?

Sometimes it doesn't.

You remember in the first Exodus when the people of God were taken out of Egypt, and you know, all these powerful miracles happen in the ten plagues, and then they're delivered through the giant walls of water, but they pass to the Red Sea, and then the water comes crashing in on their enemies that they could never deliver themselves from.

And you think, like, what should happen next?

They should be blown out of their minds, they should give their lives to the Lord, but what do they do?

On the other side of the Red Sea, they're complaining.

Hey, let us go back there.

And part of your mind is like, What are you doing?

The gospel should change everything.

There should be an eagerness, even to be in the desert, where the Lord is providing you this manna and this water.

There should be an eagerness to even be there in light of what God has done.

In the second Exodus that we see here in Nehemiah, as God's people are brought out of the exile of Babylon, we see something totally different.

Although it won't last, and we'll see that next week, the redeemed here are eager to commit to serving God's purposes.

And so they get back to the city.

And in Nehemiah chapter 12, verse 7, we're told of a problem that the Jerusalem wasn't filled with people.

Nehemiah 12:7

There's no one living in Jerusalem.

The temple was done, the walls were done, but it doesn't matter if you have a sports car, if no one drives it.

And so in chapter 11, what we find is the people are solving that problem.

The goal of God is that the city of God be filled.

So in Nehemiah chapter 11, then, they cast lots.

Nehemiah 11 · chapter mention

This is an Old Testament way of submitting to the Lord's sovereignty.

And then they respond willingly and joyfully in giving up their homes in the surrounding area, and those who are called to Jerusalem, they go to Jerusalem and live there.

Why do they do that?

Because they understand something that you and I need to understand: that from the beginning of the creation of this world, God's plan has been for there to be a city of God, which he rules over, and it is populated by his people.

Adam and Eve, this is where I want to nerd out with you for a moment.

I love this kind of stuff.

This is called biblical theology.

Adam and Eve lived in the garden and they were perfect, right?

But they were not complete.

They had a work to do.

Adam and Eve were in the garden, and there was eschatology.

Do you know that?

They talked about future things.

They talked about the time where the garden would cover the whole face of the earth.

You remember that in Genesis 1?

The garden had walls, and you read through Genesis and it's really interesting.

It talks about the boundaries of a garden.

And the point here is that just as God in Genesis 1 had brought order to chaos, so now Adam and Eve are on God's planet, and they are like co-kings, vice regents on God's planet, and they are to do what God did in Genesis 1.

They are to bring order to the chaos that is the garden, but then to expand the garden until the garden of God looks like a city of God that covers the whole face of the earth and is filled with God's people.

Now, Adam and Eve fail, but this is always still the plan.

So that when it comes to Noah, and then there is a refreshing of humanity, the plan is still that the people of God would be multiplied in the land that God created.

And you start to hear the story again and again and again.

What happens when Abraham comes?

Well, the promise is not new.

What God says to Abraham is what he wanted to do in Adam and Eve.

He's going to give him a land, just like the garden was, and in that land, he is going to multiply his people just like the intention of the garden was.

And those people are going to be a blessing to all nations, so that they all come into the city of God that one day covers the face of the earth.

This has always been the plan.

This is why the people of Nehemiah go then into Jerusalem to fill it, because remember in Zechariah, remember when we went through Haggai and Zechariah, and everyone's like, why are we going through Haggai and Zechariah?

Well, in the vision of Zechariah, the people are coming into Jerusalem, and there's this great problem.

There's too many people in Jerusalem.

They're all crammed in there.

So they break down the walls because the city of God is getting so big.

And in Revelation 21, would you turn there with me as we continue to nerd out on the Bible?

Revelation 21.

And this is not nerding out, this is just blessing the Lord as we know his word.

At the end of all times, John sees heaven.

And look with me at Revelation 21, verse 1 to 4.

Revelation 21:1–4

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, and the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

And I saw a holy what?

City.

New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

And later you can study verses 9 to the end of 21, and there you see a description of that city, of what the streets will be like.

Loved one, God's plan is no different now.

God wants to use you to populate his holy city.

This is why Paul says that you are citizens of heaven, because by faith you are already in the city of God, living as God's people, under God's rule.

You are in God's holy city, and you are citizens of heaven who act as ambassadors of God, of Jesus Christ Himself, who then go out into the earthly city and seek by the preaching of the gospel to snatch people from that earthly city that will one day be condemned and destroyed and bring them then into the holy city until the holy city covers the face of the earth and God reigns as the king.

You know, I was recently I was in the States for a conference.

Anytime I go to the States, I feel like I need to become like an honorary American because there are some things.

Now listen, I know there's a lot of messed up things there, and I'm not just gonna, I'm not, I'm just gonna pretend like that doesn't exist for a moment, and we're just gonna talk about the great things.

I go to Target and I specifically go to the food aisle, and I think, why do I live in Canada?

There are snacks that you couldn't even like dream of if you imagined some of the flavors of like Pop Tarts they have.

It's like a whole aisle, it's just devoted to Pop Tarts.

And I think this is heaven, they've got it figured out.

And there is like a there is like a thing going through our church now that's like this American tree.

It's taken over half of the small groups, it's called puppy chow.

And if you don't know what it is, you are blessed because this stuff is so addictive.

But it's this American tree, it's taking over by storm.

It's like the crack cocaine of small group treats.

It's from America, though, and it's it's America coming into Canada.

And I've landed in parts of Southern America before, and as soon as you land and get off the plane, it's the the weather is so amazing, you just think, why does why do we live anywhere else?

We especially think that in November in Canada.

But I want you to understand the principle I'm getting at here is that In N Out needs to open up a chain in Canada.

That is what I'm no, I'm just kidding, that's not what I'm getting at at all.

I'm getting a little distracted here.

But here's what I want you to see, and if you don't know what an In N Out is, then you're gonna experience something awesome in heaven.

You have something to long and hope for.

But here is my point: when we experience something good about another culture, we long for others to experience it.

And and how much more is that true of what God is calling the church to be?

You have tasted heaven, and the church is an embassy of heaven itself, so that what we are to be is an aroma of life to the world through Jesus Christ.

Augustine says this in his book, The City of God.

The city of God is the true city, and it is being built even now.

The church, as it gathers the people of God, represents the beginning of that city.

We are pilgrims on a journey to the eternal home.

And T.

Wright is correct as he applies this to the church.

He says, the church is not here simply to save souls or to provide a private space for religious activity, it exists to bring new order into being.

The reign of God in Christ, the establishment of his kingdom on earth, beginning now and continuing into eternity.

And where does this begin for us then?

It begins in our identity.

Do you see yourself as a citizen of heaven who has been given a job as an ambassador to reach into the city of earth while it still remains and call people to the eternal city of God?

Lord help us.

Lord help us to see that before we are anything else, we are children of God given a task to go into the world and to preach the gospel and to see people one to the city of God.

God has one plan.

God has one plan to reach Newmarket, He has one plan to reach Uxbridge, He has one plan to reach Stoweville, He has one plan to reach Bradford, Annisville, whatever.

He has one plan to reach that city, and it is the people of God.

And so we need to be devoted and consecrated to his work.

Well, how do we do it?

I want you to see this lastly.

It leads to our next point that life in the kingdom requires that we celebrate God's worth.

After the list of those who had committed to live in Jerusalem through the end of chapter 11 and into the beginning of chapter 12, we see this extraordinary celebration take place in the city.

And as we read that, you know, you're probably distracted by me trying to pronounce these Hebrew names and often just trying to fake it until you make it.

That's the best advice I can give after preaching through Nehemiah.

If you just say it fast, then you hope for the best.

But some of you guys are smarter than me and you know that I'm just faking it.

We would often read something like this, and sort of sleepiness falls over us because there's a lot of things we don't understand.

But if you can read scripture with your imagination, understanding what was really happening, like we always need to do, what you understand here is that there is this amazing celebration happening.

It's astounding.

Like literally, look at verse 33 of chapter 12 with me.

They offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy.

The women and the children also rejoiced, and the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.

There's no microphones.

This isn't the neighbor on your street just pumping their speakers too loud, but the alone in their garage.

This is Jerusalem that has been so transformed by what God has done in them, verse 33 says, that they are celebrating with this joy that is heard far away.

Okay, like literally, the illustration of this is us singing with such fervor and celebration of what the Lord has done, that people out on the street there are hearing what's happening in here, and they're so amazed that they're coming out on the street and saying, What is that ruckus in there?

And isn't it true that if the gospel has truly taken a hold of our hearts, shouldn't it be that way?

Shouldn't it be the thing that excites us most?

So that there certainly is a level to our worship, a volume to our worship.

The gospel had so taken root in their lives that the product was this unmatched, unseen joy.

What did their joy look like practically?

I want you to see this really quickly.

Notice in verse 27, it's it's worship.

They're bringing their instruments led by the Levites, they're offering praise to the Lord.

Verse 30, there's this sort of devotion to purity.

The Levites purify themselves as they get ready for the service of the temple.

Verse 31, there's a practice of gratitude.

And so you have, you know, practically, we could talk about the worship of God's people, we can talk about the pursuit of holiness.

Verse 31, there's this gratitude where the leaders bring offering of thanks to God.

Verse 44, again, giving.

They give to the temple needs.

And so in order that God's work can continue, there's worship, there's devotion, there's gratitude, there's giving.

These are four responses that you and I could dig into and get really practical on right now.

But what I want you to see really quickly is to look past this and see that the heart of this is that the gospel has transformed them.

You see that in verse 43.

They are rejoicing with this great herd, far away rejoicing, because God made them rejoice.

Israel's rejoicing was rooted in the good news of what God had done for them.

That despite their sinfulness, they were forgiven and redeemed.

And without that central truth of God's faithfulness and devotion to them, despite their rebellion, there would be no worship, there would be no devotion, there would be no gratitude, there would be no giving.

And that is why in some of us there is none of this.

That's why in some of us there's not a heart of worship.

Why there's not a heart of devotion, why there's not a heart of gratitude, why there's no heart of giving, because the gospel has not taken root in us.

You know, we're working through this with our kids right now, and I mean, you know this about kids if you have young kids.

There's not a ton of gratitude in their lives.

Some kids are looking at their parents right now, they're like, oh no, I've been found out.

Oh no.

You know, and even on the way here, you know, I was coming in here alone, and often our van is a sanctuary of silence.

Um, but this morning, coming in here by myself, I said, we're gonna make this zone, this van a party van.

And so we were, you know, going by the kids, they each got to pick a song, we're bumping tunes, like eight songs in.

I've lifted another Pokemon theme song three times.

And I say, okay, we're gonna turn it off, and you know, we're like turning on a mu lock, so we're gonna be here soon.

And immediately there's crying for more, more, more, more, more, more, more.

And what am I doing right now?

I'm just venting, I don't have any point to this.

No, I'm just kidding, there is a point.

I I would expect that my kids would be discontent with what they've received.

Because that they are still being shaped by the Christian worldview that every gift that is given to them is a gift of God.

And they certainly are still waiting to be impacted by the gospel so that they can actually receive the good gifts that God has made with joy.

I would expect that, because the gospel hasn't taken root in their lives.

But let me tell you what doesn't make sense.

For those who say that their life has been transformed by the gospel, that the that they understand that they were once rebels and yet they live without joy.

And the proof is in that they don't worship, and when they do, it is a pitly worship that they give to the Lord.

They don't purify themselves in holiness and obedience to the Lord.

They don't practice gratitude, and they do not give.

The gospel is a source.

That's why Jesus said in John 7, verse 37 and 38 Whoever is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

John 7:37

Whoever believes in me, as the scriptures have said, rivers of living water will flow within them.

That is the center, it is God's belief.

The belief in Jesus Christ.

And so listen, the the center of what God wants to do through this church is not a pragmatic plan.

The center of what God wants to do in your life as a disciple of His, there's no seven steps to a highly effective disciple of Jesus Christ.

But the heart of what God wants to do through you is to experience the transformative power of Jesus in your life.

And when that happens, I want you to understand that your witness will be unstoppable.

It will be unstoppable.

My brother is not a Christian.

And he's far from it.

In fact, when he was here, he looked at this through that drum surround and he said, Why is there a fish tank on the stage?

So the church is something unknown to him.

But over the years, if anybody's walked along the life change of myself and my mom as the only Christians in the family, he's seen it.

And as we've had conversations about the gospel, he's he's told me that he wishes he could believe in God.

And that he even, you know, in his circle of friends will argue for the existence of God and the reality of goodness of Christianity.

He will argue for it because of the transformation that he's seen.

Well, why does he do that?

He does it, and you know, we've talked about this before.

He does it because he's seen the transformation.

And through the transformation, his heart has softened enough to consider the reality of it.

Now, we have had gospel conversations about his where he's at and his belief.

But I want you to see that the foundation of the gospel being spoken to him is the transformation of the people of God that he sees.

And so often you and I, we put it backwards in our evangelism, don't we?

Both these things are important.

Transformation is important, and preaching words of the gospel is important, but often we put all of the power into the preaching of the words of the gospel.

And I want you to understand what you say to people will never be sufficient.

That's one of the major reasons why we don't evangelize, because we just say, I don't need, I don't know what to say.

And I want you to tell you, it does not matter.

What you say will never be good enough to save someone.

Why?

Because people are in darkness and they need the word of God.

They need God who said, Let there be light to shine a light in the darkness.

Not you.

What can your voice do to bring a dead person to life?

So nothing you say will ever be enough, but listen, what God will use is the transformation of your life so that people see in you a sweetness, a glory that they want for themselves.

Jesus commended us to good works for this very reason that people might see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.

And so understand, you will never have a practical perfectly crafted argument, but the undeniable evidence of a life transformed by the gospel will not be able to be ignored by anyone.

The gospel, it roots itself in you and it radiates out and draws others in.

So that our lives become like the woman at the well who saw Jesus and she immediately, knowing almost nothing about Jesus, said, Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did.

That you've been transformed.

And so I ask you this morning Do you have that kind of transformation in your own life?

Have you been so changed by Jesus that those around you can't help but notice and wonder what's different?

That's the kind of witness that changes the world, and it's the kind of witness that cannot be silenced.

Because it's anchored in the life-giving power of the gospel.

This is the witness that we now turn to God in as we worship.

What a wonderful opportunity we have to do what Israel did.

And I'm going to invite the worship team up now to lead us.

What a wonderful opportunity we have to do what Israel did.

To sing, to celebrate with joy.

Church, if he's brought you into the walls of his kingdom, called you to church, to commitment, to consecration, and to celebration.

And we turn to him now to celebrate his gospel.

Father, we thank you.

God, thank you for what you have done.

God, we respond to you now to give you praise for the work that you have done.

And God, we thank you, Lord, that you have told us that the joy of the Lord is our strength.

That your heart is for us and that you have uh delighted to save us so that your name might be glorified.

God, we give you all the praise.

Thank you.

We sing to you now because of how good you are.

We praise the name of your son.

Amen.