If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah, I was going through it for a while, and then we stopped for a while, and I went through another chapter or two, and actually I got to studying, I think it was Thursday or Friday, and I think it was Thursday evening, and I was looking at chapter 11 and 12. Chapter 11 and 12 is quite a lengthy chapters. Chapter 12's got 47 verses. And chapter 11's got 36 verses, and it's got, oh, probably about 300 names in there that probably very few and rare people can pronounce. And so I was going through that and going through that, and I almost come up with a sermon, come all the way to the end of actually developing a sermon. on chapters 11 and 12 and I went to Sermon Audio and I noticed that Nehemiah 11 was on Sermon Audio and I turned it on and it was me preaching on Nehemiah chapter 11 so I kind of zoomed through it a little bit and guess what it had chapter 12 on there too, I'd already preached it. But I had a different message that was what I preached before but I thought We're not going over the names again at this point. So we are in chapter 13, which actually closes out the book of Nehemiah. Kind of refresh your memory because it's been a while since we have been here in the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was the cupbearer for King Artaxerxes. And you remember as he was a cupbearer, cupbearers often would take the drink or eat the food, and if they died, then the king would not partake of it. So that's what Nehemiah's job was while he was in captivity. He heard about how Jerusalem was pretty desolate. He heard that the walls had not been repaired, and he heard that the gates were all torn down still. And just the city was in disarray because of neglect, and because when they got captured and they tore everything down, nobody rebuilt it back up. And it burdened his heart tremendously. If you read about it in chapter 1, you could see how he heard from Hanani, how these situations had come to pass, and because of that, he prayed. He surveyed the walls. He got permission from the king to go to Jerusalem, and he looked over the situation. He saw the walls in disarray, and what he did, he rallied the people. They were all throughout the country. And they rebuilt the walls and the gates and they did it within 52 days. That's a vast project when you're going all the way around the city of Jerusalem. But you know what? They did it and they accomplished it because they all worked together and they worked hand in hand. Great things can be done when we do the work of God and we do it as a body of believers. If just one or two are doing the work, or three or four are doing the work, you know what, it's kind of like we got a handicapped body. But if everybody's involved in the work, whether it's through prayer, whether it's lending a hand, whether it's giving, whatever it might be doing, you know what, great things can be done for the Lord our God. Here, what Nehemiah did, he had this wall rebuilt by the people, and he did it in the face of opposition. You remember there was one Sanballat. Sanballat the Horite. The Horites were actually people that dwelled in the area of, oh, I can't think of the name of the area. Drew a blank. They were in the area where the Edomites were. Actually before Edom conquered that area which was a mountainous area and they lived in caves, they lived there before Edom. They were Canaanites and they were heathen people. They did not know the Lord God. Here was Sanballat of that lineage. There was another one in opposition to them named Tobiah. you think of him, he also come from the Moabites, another heathen nation. And what we find We saw in chapter 10, you probably don't recollect this, you can look back in it, in verses 30, 31, around in there, they covenanted together that they would be obedient unto the Lord, their God. It was a spiritual revival after they rebuilt the walls and the people were excited and they were led by Nehemiah and Ezra. Ezra was the scribe at the time. The last we were in Nehemiah, they were actually dedicating the walls, that's what you see, in chapter 11 and 12. They were serving together. They accomplished much. And at the end I just want you to notice what it says in chapter 12 in verse 43. And I notice I highlighted that the last time I spoke on it. It says, Also that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. The wives also and the children rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off. In other words, because God had done a great work through them, it brought them great joy. God caused them to have great joy. Not only them, but also the children had great joy. Wasn't it good to see those children with great joy tonight? I wish that joy was contagious. I wish y'all would have started doing the hand signs, but you didn't do it. Next time, next time you're gonna have to join in with them. The joy is contagious. Here, as we read in the Scripture, when you have the joy of the Lord, it ought to be contagious. It ought to be something that if you're a child of God, you ought to have the joy of the Lord as your strength. And when we come in here and when we sing and when we hear the Word of God, you know what? People ought to hear outside of these walls the joy that we have for the Lord our God. He is a great God, and He has done great things, and you know what? He's gonna do even greater things, I believe, in our lifetime. People outside of these walls need to hear that. I believe we need to raise the roof. I know there was one fella that was a little handicapped, I'll just put it that way. He visited our church one time and he couldn't come back. I think he had a little autism and it's because the noise was just so loud with the singing. Well, I say, praise God, let's keep raising the roof. You know what? If people can't stand the praise of God, we're gonna keep praising. Now, I understand some people have Some people have problems with loud noises, lights, different things, and it can cause problems. But here I do believe with all my heart, we ought to praise the Lord with all of our being. And people ought to hear that we are serving the one true living God. Nehemiah, as we approach chapter 13, he went back to Persia. And when he went back, he was there for, actually in Jerusalem as governor for about 12 years. That's probably the last time I preached in Nehemiah, 12 years ago, maybe not. But he was governor for 12 years and then he returned to Persia. And when he returned to Persia, we don't know exactly how long he was there, probably 6 to 12 years, somewhere in that time space I would reckon. And while he was gone, different things happened. So that's what we find in chapter 13, and we're gonna go over chapter 13. Notice what it says first off in the first three verses. The first three verses gives God's commandment, and notice what it says. On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people, and there was found written that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God forever. Because they meant not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but they hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them, howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing. Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude." Here in this chapter, what we find in these first three verses, the writer is alluding back to a commandment that God gave back in Deuteronomy 23, verses 3 and 4. God's covenant was with Israel. The Ammonites and the Moabites They were against God's people. They would not let them pass through the land. And here, Balaam was hired to pronounce a curse and what happened? God turned that curse into a blessing. upon His people. So here's what the writer is writing and he's referring to a statement that happened probably about a thousand years previously before this time that we're reading here. Now for the Ammonites and the Moabites, because they were not in covenant with Israel or with God, they had to turn from their false gods to follow the one true and living God. In other words, where it says the Ammonites and the Moabites could not come into the congregation of God forever, that's because they worshiped false gods. Now if one turned from their false gods, they could follow the Lord God. Let me give you a case in point. There was Ruth, the Moabitess. Not only did she start following God, but she's also founded the lineage of our Lord Jesus Christ. So you remember what the Word of God says when God spoke to Abraham way back in Genesis chapter 12. He says, I will bless those that bless thee, and I will curse those that curse thee." And here's where we find that coming into play in this passage of Scripture. Israel could have said, you think about this, as they're looking at God's commandment concerning the Ammonites and the Moabites, Israel could have said, well, we really ought to love everybody. We really ought to accept everybody. We'll just let them join us. Or they could have said something like, well, you know what, we're really supposed to tolerate all people, and we ought to tolerate them and just let them in. Now you know what? That sounds a lot like what's going on in our world today. We've got to lower our standards just a little bit because you know that happened a long time ago. That happened all the most a thousand years ago when Balaam's curse was pronounced into a blessing. But times have changed. Here's man's reasoning. Because times have changed, you know what? We need to do what's appropriate for our day and time. Here is where the children of Israel started compromising. When you start to compromise the truth of God's Word, that's when you start down the slippery slope of error. And once you start down that slippery slope, let me tell you something. I don't know how many of y'all have ever slid down a mud hole. I've done that before and it wasn't fun because you can't stop if it's real slippery clay like mud and it's wet. You know what, you slide till you hit bottom. That is often what's happening to many churches in our day and time. Nehemiah had to contend with the mixed group, the mixed multitude. Notice what it says in the latter part of verse 3. These are the people, this mixed multitude, that came in with Israel. They associated with Israel, but they did not have any commitment with Israel. They wanted the blessings, but there was no commitment to the Lord God. That's the way a lot of people are in our day and time. They want God to bless them. Well, you pray for me, pastor. Pray for me, pastor. But you know what? They don't want anything else to do with God. All they want is God bless me, God bless me. Here's the way. You know, times don't change. You look at way back then. You look in our day and time. Here we have the mixed multitude. You know what? Moses in the wilderness had the same mixed multitude. They were a mix that didn't want anything to do with being committed to God. You know what? In our day and time we have people who call themselves Christians but they cuss like a sailor. They live like a heathen and they act like they've never met the Lord God and they probably hadn't. We have the same mixed multitudes as we go out in our worlds today. I want you to notice here is the commandment and the people of Israel obeyed the commandment of God. But after Nehemiah left and he left for a few years, those left behind in Jerusalem started to compromise. And I want you to notice where it started. In verse 4 in chapter 13, the Word of God says, And before this, Eliashib, the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah. And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine, the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the offerings of the priest." Here, Eliashib, who was the priest and very possibly the high priest at that time, he favored Tobiah. Now here, I want you to notice We need to know the potential areas of where people are slipping today and where we might possibly slip also. This brings that out in some way. I want you to notice in your own thinking, I want you to think just over the past three years, look how far morally our country, our nation has slipped. Let me tell you, we have gone down a slippery slope as a country. Not only this country is like Brother Steve brought out, the Western countries, they've all forsaken God. Godless. How sad that is. We've got godliness in our government, godlessness throughout the nation, and godlessness in other nations also. How does this happen? You've heard the story about the proverbial frog, haven't you? You know, you put frog in water, and you put him on a pot, and put him on the stove, and you know what? All of a sudden, that water becomes warm. That frog goes swimming around, swimming around. Ooh, this is good warm water. And pretty soon, that frog is cooked. Give you another illustration. I remember cooking crab when I was down in Myrtle Beach and I lived on the ocean. Right when I lived by the ocean, I was getting poor and hungry and I went out crab hunting and I got me some crabs. I didn't know the first thing about cooking a crab. I put them crabs in that pot and that water started boiling and things started coming up like that. Well, there's certain parts of crabs you can't eat. And I knew there were certain parts, but I didn't know which part it was. So, but anyway. You know what? It's the slow process that gets you. Those crabs eventually cooked just like a frog would in a pot. And that's the way compromise is also. It's so subtle and it goes so easily along that before long you've done slid down the slippery slope. Nehemiah, when he comes back, what he sees, he recognizes the areas where they have slipped. And the reason he recognized that is because he was in the Word of God. You know what, that's why we've constantly emphasized over and over again, you've gotta be in the Word of God. You've gotta know where we stand and don't change where we stand. We cannot compromise when it comes to God's Word. Notice how they compromise. We'll go into depth with what we saw there in verses four and five in a minute. But notice first off, they compromised in their doctrine. God's command was that no Ammonite, Moabite, should come into the congregation. Here's Tobiah. Tobiah actually wrote letters against Nehemiah. He actually withstood them building the wall and tried to stop them from building the wall. And here he's got a place, apartment you might say, right in the temple of God. Now you know what? That's preposterous. How did he do that? How did he get an apartment in the temple of God? Notice what it says in the latter part of verse 4, because Eliashib was allied unto Tobiah. That word allied, when it talks about being allied, it means possibly related to. Possibly related in marriage? We don't know exactly for sure. But there was some relations there that caused an alliance. Tobiah's name actually means God is good. So he probably backed up what he did by saying, well, Tobiah, he's for God. His name means God is good. The problem is they compromised. I was talking to someone. run into a situation where you have a friend that's of a different belief and they don't want to confront the other person about their false belief because it might hurt your friendship or your relationship if you're in a family. Let me give you a case in point. Catholicism teaches a way of salvation that is by works. They believe salvation is within the Church. We believe as God's people, God's Word, which is salvation is in Christ and in Christ alone. If you have family or friends that are Catholic, you might not want to bring up the point that salvation is in Christ alone and your belief in the church is false religion. Because you can see how that might cause a rift. You can see how that might cause a problem. Does anybody ever run into that within family or friends? You might hear something like, well, we can just focus on what we agree on. You ever heard that? We'll just highlight what we agree on. We won't talk about the other things. Let me tell you something. If the other things are essential things, you better be focusing on the essential things. Don't let people dictate to you what you say and what you do, and don't let them downplay you because of your belief. Well, you just are hard-headed, and you're just stubborn, and you just want your way, and you don't want to listen to anybody else. Let me tell you something, you better be careful who your friends are. We are called, as Timothy was in the New Testament, to guard the trust. That which has been entrusted to us, if you're a child of God, you're to guard that trust. That means you're to keep it, you're to protect it. Don't let it dwindle away, don't compromise. If you have friends, that make you compromise on your beliefs or make you silent because of your beliefs, let me tell you something there are some you need to avoid. Because if they're dictating how you can witness and how you cannot witness, they don't need to be in your life. Let me tell you that's a harsh point because that means we might have to get some friends out of our lives if they don't want to hear us witness. God has called us to be a bold witness, and I believe we need to be. Here we have that compromise in God's Word right in verses 4 and 5. I want you to notice they also compromised even further. Notice it says in verse 6, but in all this time was not I at Jerusalem. Now this is Nehemiah talking, for in two and the thirtieth year of our desert seas, king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained a leave of the king. I came to Jerusalem and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. And it grieved me sore. Therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers and did their broad eye again the vessels of the house of God with the meat offering and the frankincense." Notice that the compromise started with leadership. The compromise started with leadership, but it also led to financial compromise. Usually when you compromise in one point, you're going to let other points start to slip in your life. In verse 10, he says, I perceived that the portions of the Levites, that would be the tithe, had not been given them. For the Levites and the singers that did the work were fled everyone to his field. They stopped collecting the tithe. So the Levites had to go to work out in the field. Then I contended with the rulers and said, why is the house of God forsaken? I gathered them together and set them in their place. Then brought all of Judah the tithe of the corn and the new wine and the oil unto the treasuries. I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shalamiah the priest and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Padiah. And next to them was Hanan, the son of Zechur. the son of Mataniah, for they were counted faithful, and their office was to distribute unto their brethren." Here were the priests. They were being neglected because the giving was being neglected. Now here it's talking about tithes. I've often mentioned from this pulpit, the tithe was a tenth. I believe the tithe is a standard. I do not believe a tithe is demanded personally. I believe we ought to give unto the Lord out of the abundance of the heart. Let me give you a passage of scripture over in 1 Corinthians chapter 16. And 1 Corinthians is the 16th chapter. And down in verse 2. 1 Corinthians 16.2 says this. upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. In other words, as God prospers you, that's how you ought to give. You know what? A tithe is kind of like a little standard. I believe personally you ought to give above and beyond the tithe. The Lord loves a cheerful giver. That means one who gives hilariously, one who loves to give because giving is a blessing. It's not that I have to give my 10% and I give my 10% and that's it. You see, that can become a rote thing. Well, I'll just write my 10th and that covers it. I've done my duty. It's not a duty to give, it's a joy to give. There's a big difference between having to and wanting to. Now I'll tell you New Life Baptist Church is a giving church. I'm thankful that there are giving people. They give from the heart and it's not giving grudgingly. If you gotta give grudgingly, don't give. You know what, God don't need it if you're giving grudgingly and He knows your heart. But let me tell you this, this shows where compromise has started in your heart and your life if you start compromising in your giving. Compromise affects people's giving. Listen to what it says over in Malachi. In Malachi chapter three and down in verse eight. Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me, but you say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. you are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation, bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the window of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Let me ask you, do you believe God can pour out of His windows of heaven blessings so much that you cannot receive it? Do you think He would do that more abundantly upon your life if you just give a tithe grudgingly or if you give out of the abundance of the joy of your heart because you love the Lord? You know what? I believe the more you give, it shows the more you trust the Lord. Notice the compromise hit other areas. In verses 15-22, there's sanctification. They were supposed to be a set-apart people. That's what sanctification means. It means to be set apart unto God. Their sanctification started getting compromised. In verse 15, the Word of God says, in those days, saw I in Judah some treading winepresses on the Sabbath. and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses, as also wine, and grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. Their dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the Sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. notice the compromise. The Sabbath was to be a day set apart unto God. There was not to be any buying or selling. The Jewish people, they were prepared the day before and prepare extra to cover the Sabbath so they would not have to do anything as far as taking away their devotion unto the Lord on the Sabbath. But here's what happened. They started selling the figs and the grapes. Can you imagine? What kind of excuses they would use? Well, my figs will go bad if I have to keep them another day. Well, my grapes, they will be no good the next day. I got to sell them today. And so the people started compromising and letting them do it. They had fish. I remember in Trinidad they would have a man come around on a bicycle and he'd have a cooler on his bicycle and they'd sell fish. down through the town. You could stop and buy fish, fresh fish right off the ocean. You can hear the excuses. If I leave these fish out in the sun all day, you know what them fish are going to smell like the next day? Anybody know what fish smells like? After it's been sitting out. We're not talking about ice back in this day and time. They didn't have a cooler back in that day and time. They didn't have a deep freeze. They had heat. Well, These fish are going to go bad. They're going to stink. You can imagine how they tried to rationalize their compromising. Is it not the same today in our day and time? How many people put their business before the worship of God? How many people put the almighty dollar before the worship of God? How many people put their pleasure before the worship of God? You know what? Churches ought to be packed out. But you know what? Too many people compromise. And once compromise starts, you continue to compromise more and more things. Here is what happened in Jerusalem, and it's the same thing that's happened in our day and time. There's a lot of churches that have closed doors. You know why? People stopped attending. They closed doors because only those that are up in years are going to church. and pretty soon they'll die off and there ain't nobody there. How come we're not taking the gospel out to a lost and dying world? You see what compromise does? It's a sin that creeps and creeps and takes more and more till eventually it gets all into your home. And here's what we find in the Word of God. Their homes were compromised. Listen to what it says. Verse 23, In those days also I saw Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, Naaman, and Moab, and their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. They had compromised their marriages. And the Word of God tells us in the New Testament, do not be unequally yoked with an unbeliever. Here's what we find in our day and time. You think about it, when young people get together, many, I'm not saying all, but many are not committed to the Lord. They may have made a profession of faith, and what will they do? Well, I'm gonna get with this girl, and we're just gonna have a good time. We're not gonna get serious or nothing. Pretty soon you have a baby. You're not married. You've got problems. Now you've got to get married. Then you start fussing. Then you get a divorce. Then you have children that have a split home. Then you have children that start taking on the characteristics of their parents. The morals compromised. Someone might start dating someone else. A young girl might start dating a handsome young man. And they might think, I'm going to do some missionary dating. I'm going to lead them to the Lord. That's what I'm going to do." Well, ain't that a good thought? You know what that's going to happen? It's going to be like an albatross around your neck. They're going to pull you down. You know what? It's easier for a sinner to pull a child of God down than a child of God to pull a sinner up. It's like trying to pull somebody up a tree, and they're trying to pull you down the tree. You know what's going to happen? I guarantee if it's me up there on top of the tree, I'm coming down. I'll be pulled down. Don't compromise. Oftentimes with young people they had the questions, well how far can we go? How far is too far? It's often like the illustration, you're driving, if you're driving a car and Brother Josh got his new Corvette, no he didn't, but imagine if he did. And he's going to drive around these mountainous roads where it's only like a lane and a half. You know how some of these Kentucky roads are. And I'm going to drive around them too. Well, we're going to see who can drive the closest to the edge. Well, I get my car and it starts spinning wheels and all of a sudden I go off the edge. Well, you know what happens if it's a mountain? Well, I guess you shouldn't get that close to the edge. You know what? You don't drive that way. You don't drive to see how close you can get before you fall. You don't see how far you can go in dating before you fall into sin. We've got a wrong view of sin. Sin desires to take your life. It desires to consume you. When morals are compromised, there are repercussions that will come upon your life, and not only in your life, but look at the generation that's coming up that you brought into the world because you compromised. I can tell you of some broken homes. Now their kids are just like the world. It is sad. because we don't see the seriousness of sin. Nehemiah saw it. Nehemiah was a man of God. He was one who stood for the truth. How serious did Nehemiah take that compromise? How serious did he take that sin that he saw going on when he came back Let me ask you, can you compare yourself with the same situation? How serious do you take sin when it goes on around you? Let me give you an illustration. If I were going to take you to the hospital with me visiting, and we go to visit, and I put a mask on, and you don't see me put the mask on, and we go in the room, and you're talking, and you're cutting up with the patient, and we get out of the room, and I tell you, oh, that person had a very contagious disease. I meant to tell you early, but I just forgot. But don't worry about it. You know, you loved them. All of a sudden, you become sick. Did I really show that I loved you by not telling you? Beware. You know, if I keep truth to myself, I'm not showing you love. People are going to label you as haters. They're going to label you with all kinds of names when you speak the truth. Believe me, I've been called some names. I'm not going to repeat some of the names I've been called. But when you take a stand for truth, people are not going to like it. Here is Nehemiah. What he did, he saw the problems. Before you confront, Nehemiah is a very harsh example. At least on surface, he's a very harsh example. We'll look at how harsh Nehemiah was, but let me tell you something, sin is deadly and we need to treat it as deadly. In verse 7 it says, he came to Jerusalem, he understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah. He saw, in verse 10, I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them. In verse 15, in those days I saw in Judah some trading wine presses on the Sabbath, bringing in the sheaves and selling on the Sabbath day and working on the Sabbath day. In verse 23 he says, "...in those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, Ammon, Moab." Marrying people that didn't know God. And then they have offspring. And notice the offspring. Here's what happens. They couldn't even speak the Jewish language. You know what that means? They could not read the Word of God. They knew not Hebrew, they did not know the Word of God. Why is that? Because the homes were compromised. Nehemiah saw the facts. In our day and time, let me give you a word of caution concerning the facts. If you're going to confront somebody, make sure you got all the facts. I remember preaching one time many, many years ago when I was young, green behind the ears, still green back there a little bit if you wanna look. But I remember preaching and I remember getting on the congregation about, and I was filling in, I was not a pastor at the time. I was getting on the congregation about not visiting and how people did not visit and there was nobody showing up for visitation when we had a certain visitation night. After that service, a deacon took me aside and he says, Did you know me and so-and-so went out this night of the week and we do it every week and so-and-so and so-and-so goes out too. They do this another time in the week and you know all of a sudden I realized I didn't have all my facts straight. So in my confrontation I tried to disappear. I could not do it. Make sure you have the whole picture before you confront somebody. You hear what I'm saying? If you don't got all your facts straight, that's what's happened with a lot of the news that's happened in our land. When somebody gets killed, we often jump to the gun and accuse somebody and we don't know the story. We don't have the facts. Why was there riots back a couple years ago? Because people jumped the gun and did not have the facts. And you know what? The newspapers pushed it. Media pushed it. And it caused division. Get your facts before you confront. Here's what Nehemiah did. He saw, he saw, and he saw. And you know what him seeing all that sin did? I'm gonna give you a mild word of what he did to him. It agitated him. You know what an agitator is? If you buy a washing machine, you often get an agitator in it. You know what the agitator in the washing machine does? It makes, if your washer's off balance, it'll make it go all over the place. It'll make your washer walk across the floor. It's supposed to loosen the dirt, I guess, in the clothes and everything else. It agitates the clothes so it gets the clothes clean. Here's Nehemiah's soul. It is agitated. He is upset because of the sin. So in verse 8 he says, "...it grieved me sore." Therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber." You hear what? Nehemiah went into his apartment in the temple and took all of Tobiah's stuff and just threw it out. Get out of here! Nehemiah, he dealt seriously. He was not going to let him compromise. and he commanded that they cleanse the chambers and thither brought again the vessels and restored it like it's supposed to have been. Look down in verse 11. Then contended I with the rulers and said, why is the house of God forsaken? I gathered them together and set them in their place. Nehemiah meant business. When people are in sin and they have compromised and their lives are a wreck, Here's what sin does, and here's how Nehemiah confronted them. He set them in their place. I like that. Look in verse 17 and 18. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah and said unto them, What evil thing is this that you do and profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus? And did not our God bring all this evil upon us and upon this city? Yet you bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath. In other words, what led you into captivity, you're turning around and doing it again. He confronted sin. Look in verse 25. and I contended with them." Now these are the ones that married ungodly women. I contended with them and cursed them. That means he didn't say foul language, he pronounced a curse upon them. Make sure you got that straight in reading the Word of God. Nehemiah pronounced a curse upon them and he smoked certain ones of them. You know what? He hit them. Wake up! Can you imagine? Can you imagine your preacher coming to you and smacking you side of the head? What are you doing living in sin?" And he plucked off their hair. Now if you're like Brother Spencer, that means beard. He pulled the beard out. You know, Nehemiah was dealing with them. And he made them swear by God, saying, You shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. Then he gives the illustration of King Solomon, how he did the same. Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God, and marry strange wives? And one of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib, the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me." In other words, he ran him out of the place. Get out of here! And he kept chasing him. He ran him off. He ran after him after he ran him off. In other words, Nehemiah hated sin. He hated sin so much that he confronted sin. Now I don't recommend you go pull somebody's hair out and smack them inside the head. Nehemiah was very confrontational. I do believe we are to be angry in sin not. I do believe we can have righteous indignation But one thing I do believe also is that we as God's children, we don't hate sin like we ought to hate sin. You compromise a little bit and then some worse thing comes along and you accept that little sin and the worse sin you condemn. Case in point, look at homosexuality. Homosexuality has become more acceptable because of the transgenderism. Let me tell you something, both of them are ungodly sins. It's against Almighty God and how He has created us. It's against the very image of God in whom we're created in the image of. It's blasphemy to God. Don't get in the flesh. Now, let's balance Nehemiah's confrontation out a little bit. I want you to look back in verse 14. Nehemiah said, "'Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for the offices thereof.'" Here's a word I want you to record in your brain. the good deeds. The word good deeds in Hebrew is chesed. Some of y'all that might ring a little bell, but you can't quite rung it loud enough. Chesed is talking about the loving kindness. What Nehemiah was doing, he was doing it out of loving kindness. Look over in verse 22. And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy, or thy chesed, thy lovingkindness." You see what Nehemiah is doing here? He's acting out for the glory of God. He's confronting sin because sin is so rampant. We often just turn the other cheek. This goes kind of hand in hand with what we said this morning. Remember the passage of scripture of how we ought to be intercessors. If you see someone in sin, you don't go around gossiping about it, you pray for them. There comes a point, if you see that person continue in sin, you need to confront. I'm not talking about it in a harsh way, but in loving kindness, because you're concerned for their soul. There's a way of confronting and turning people off, and there's a way of confronting and trying to restore them. There's a difference there. If I come to you and you're in sin and I confront you and call you a heathen and a nut and you're practicing foolishness, I just call you all kinds of names that are biblical. You know what? That's not in love. My responsibility is to go and try to restore one who has gone into sin. What you see here in this passage of Scripture, Nehemiah, throughout what he is doing, he's interjecting prayers. Verse 14, there's a little short prayer which we just mentioned. Verse 22, there's a little short prayer there that he mentions. In verse 29, there's a little short prayer. He's praying to God. In verse 31, there's another short prayer. Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, the covenant of the priesthood, and the Levites. Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed the wards of the priests and Levites, every one in his business, and for the wood offering at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good." Through all that Nehemiah was doing, he was communing with God. He was talking with the Lord. When you confront someone concerning their sin, always have the awareness of the presence of God in your midst. Don't lower yourself to the level of the sinner. You're in the presence of God as you confront. Call upon him to help. Here what we see in chapter 13, as you close out the book of Nehemiah, it would have been good if Nehemiah had ended in verse 43 in chapter 12, where they're all rejoicing and rejoicing and the children are rejoicing and the joy of Jerusalem sounded out even through a far off. People could hear it out in the country, but it doesn't end there. This shows how easily you and I can backslide. How easily we can compromise and fall back into sin. It only takes a little bit and pretty soon a little bit is a little bit more. And pretty soon you get hardened to that little bit and a little bit more to where you have to do it a little bit more. That's the way sin is. It's like the old saying used to be, still is, I guess. Sin will take you farther than you want to go. You know what? It'll hurt you deeper than you ever think. The pleasures of sin for a season will come back and bite you. We ought to hate sin as God hates sin. We ought to love righteousness as God loves righteousness. And we ought to show the love of God to a lost and dying world that's full of sin. And I'm not talking about browbeating them because of their sin, but we need to make them aware that they're sinners and they're in the hands of an angry God. And his day of wrath is coming. We don't say that to scare them. We say that because it's a fact, it's the truth. And we're concerned for their souls. We don't say it out of hate, we say it out of pity for them. We need to pity lost people. Some people, I look at them and they're so worldly. I think, how has so much of the world got a hold of you? I mean, they're consumed. Every other word's a cuss word. They've done every type of mutilation to their body you can think of. It's because sin has become a way of life. A little compromise will take you a long way. May we as God's people be grounded and rooted in the word of God, always ready to take a stand and give an answer for the hope that lies within us. May we be a people of truth that are not scared to share the truth, but may we be bold in our witness. I'm telling you as a fact, people need the Lord. And if you don't want to tell them, you know what that means? You don't care if they're dying and going to hell. It's a harsh statement. Do you care enough to tell them about Jesus Christ. May God burden our hearts as we see how sin consumed God's people in the Old Testament. You know what, it's happening today in our day and time too. May God have mercy upon us. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our Father in heaven, We come before you and we see the way mankind is all down through the ages. In some ways things are constantly changing and in some ways things just never change. Lord, we ask that you'd help us to hate the things you hate and to love the things you love. to reach out in love to those who are in a world of sin, the untouchables. Help us to reach out and show your love. Help us not to be ashamed to confront when we need to. Lord, we pray that you would help us to do that according to your loving kindness. May we take a stand when there's so many around us that are falling. We'll be careful to give you the honor, the glory, and the praise. For Christ's sake, amen. We're gonna sing He Leadeth Me as an invitation hymn. As Brother Spencer comes forward to lead us in this song, I'm gonna ask you very simply to respond as the spirit of God's working in your heart and your life. There are things you need to confess, make right with God, do it. Don't put it off. The more you put things off and the more you put things off getting right with God, the harder your heart becomes. And the harder your heart becomes, the more rebellious you are in your sin. May you get right with the Lord. Brother Spencer.