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Refocus, Rebuild, Revival (p8)

Refocus, Rebuild, Revival (p8)

Nehemiah 13

Nehemiah 13:1-14

  1. What went wrong?

Tolerance overtakes truthfulness:

  • Tobiah was an enemy of God and then married into the family of the high priest and had a room in the temple. The temple was defiled and Eliashib was tolerant of sinfulness
  • We need to ensure that the house of God is kept holy, it’s not about focusing on pointing out the sins of the rest of the world but focusing on God’s house and family and not being tolerant of sin in here.
  • In Revelation 2:19-20 Jesus challenges the church to be holy and set apart.

 The feelings of people overtook honouring God:

  • Jesus offended people in his ministry and the gospel is offensive to some. We shouldn’t worry about people’s feelings over honouring God in proclaiming truth.
  • I think Tobiah ended up in the temple think because no one wanted to upset or offend him.
  • It’s God’s truth that’s to matter above anything else.

Lost sense of the seriousness of sin:

  • The high priest had obviously not been close to God as otherwise this wouldn’t have happened.
  • God hates sin because it separates us from him and from one another.
  • Sin ruins lives and causes misery and pain.
  1. What’s the right response when people mess up?

Righteous anger:

  • Nehemiah 13:7-8
  • It’s okay to be angry at sin, evil and injustices in this world.
  • Righteous anger reflects the heart of God, righteous anger is anger in the right way.

Action:

  • Nehemiah 13:8-9
  • He throws out Tobiah’s stuff, he cleanses the temple. Then in verse 9-12 he fills it with Godly things.
  • After we’ve repented, let’s then fill our lives with good and Godly things.

Pray for God’s favour:

  • Nehemiah 13:24
  • He prays God would reward and remember what he’s done, as it wasn’t a popular change.

Nehemiah saw that Israel was in a mess, so he left his comfortable home, came to Jerusalem and did something about the problem. But, as we read later in the bible, it wasn’t long before the Israelites did the same thing again.

Jesus also saw us in a mess and came and did something about it, but this time Jesus has dealt with sin once and for all on the cross.

Do you fully appreciate what Jesus has done for you?

How do you respond to sin in your life/world?