1 On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, 2 for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them—yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3 As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent. 4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, 5 prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. 6 While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king 7 and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. 8 And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. 9 Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.

10 I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field. 11 So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations. 12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. 13 And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and as their assistant Hanan the son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for they were considered reliable, and their duty was to distribute to their brothers. 14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.

15 In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food. 16 Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself! 17 Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? 18 Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” 19 As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. 21 But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. 22 Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.

23 In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people. 25 And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin. 27 Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?”

28 And one of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me. 29 Remember them, O my God, because they have desecrated the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. 30 Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work; 31 and I provided for the wood offering at appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

The Setting

Today we come to the final episode in the book of Nehemiah. It is a sad chapter because the people fail to keep their covenant with God. But also an important one. Without this chapter, we would be entirely misled about God's work of renewal—how it works, how it is maintained, where it is found. Without this chapter, we would be decimated by failures of our own because we would fail to look to God for his ongoing renewal.

To understand this episode, we need to grasp the timeline. Nehemiah, you might remember, had been installed as the governor of Jerusalem. But Nehemiah had another job as a key official to the Persian King Artaxerxes. Nehemiah's journey to and work in Jerusalem was made possible by the king's radical generosity—for twelve years, Artaxerxes allowed Nehemiah to serve as Jerusalem's governor (Nehemiah 5:14).

The book of Nehemiah does not detail those twelve years—it instead focuses on the initial rebuilding of the city's walls and the reviving of God's people. But the time came for Nehemiah to return to Persia. So Nehemiah went back to King Artaxerxes in Persia and left the people in Jerusalem with the local leadership.

After some time—we don't know how long, but it must've been a few years at least—Nehemiah asked for a leave of the king who allowed him to go back to Jerusalem (6-7). His heart was in Jerusalem. He longed to get back to the holy city, the place he'd spent twelve important hears. Graciously, the king granted his request, and sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem once again.

So Nehemiah went back to the holy city for one last hurrah. He'd had a long career—first working his way up the Persian power structure, then as the governor of Jerusalem, and then again in Persia. He is probably around sixty years old at this point and on the tail-end of his career.

The covenant Nehemiah had signed with over eighty others looms over this passage (Nehemiah 10). Years earlier, they had all said they would not marry unbelieving people, would keep the Sabbath, and would tithe and give other support to the temple worship. One can imagine Nehemiah anticipating these practices and that holy society during his eight-month journey from Persia to Jerusalem.

The Problems

But when Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, his hopes were dashed because the people were in spiritual disarray. They'd broken every vow of that signed covenant, so Nehemiah immediately went to work. He presents in this episode as an old and mature man walking in close step with God, humbling committing his work to God while helping to (again) renew the people of God. They had broken all three vows they'd made to God, so Nehemiah set out to correct each problem in the people.

The first problem Nehemiah discovers is that the house of God has been forsaken. The closing line of their covenant had said:

Nehemiah 10:39 (ESV) — 39 "We will not neglect the house of our God.”

But when Nehemiah arrived, he was shocked to discover that Tobiah—one of his main opponents—was living in Jerusalem. As an Ammonite, he was forbidden from being there, and, as the first few verses show us, everyone knew this. But he was not just in Jerusalem— he was in the temple itself! He had been invited there by Eliashib the priest (4). Tobiah had become a relative of Eliashib's through marriage, so Eliashib decided to take a chamber that was meant to store offerings for the priests, clear it out, and lend it to Tobiah as an apartment (5).

And, speaking of offerings, Nehemiah discovered that the temple servants weren't being paid because people weren't giving (10). So the temple staff had to go home to their fields and work the land—otherwise, they would starve!

The second problem Nehemiah discovered was that God's Sabbath was being profaned. They were making wine on the Sabbath, buying and selling on the Sabbath, and trading with foreigners on the Sabbath (15-16). Without the Sabbath, Israel would lose its distinctiveness and eventually fade into the nations. And previous generations were forced into captivity after ignoring the Sabbath for long periods, so these people endangered their future and the future of their children with their disobedience. Disaster loomed!

And the third problem Nehemiah discovered was that God's people had been marrying unbelievers from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab (23). One of the sons of the priests, in the line of the high priest, even married the daughter of Nehemiah's main rival—Sanballat the Horonite! (28). The fallout from these marriages was that half of their children could not speak the language of Judah (24). This concerned Nehemiah, not because he was a xenophobe, but because these children couldn't learn about God and his covenant if they didn't speak the language of God's people. The covenant community was destined to die if they didn't hand it down to the next generation, but they couldn't as long as the next generation couldn't understand the covenant—especially if the priesthood went along with them!

Nehemiah's Response

Nehemiah responded to all three problems aggressively and straightforwardly. I don't think anyone would've called Nehemiah "a nice man" or "a gentle soul" based on these interactions. In our modern time, being nice is thought of as the essence of godliness, but there were plenty of times Moses, David, Paul, or Jesus were not nice—and could not be nice—as they accomplished God's purposes.

When Nehemiah discovered God's house was forsaken—that Tobiah lived in a temple storeroom and the temple workers weren't being paid—he was very angry (7-8). This righteous anger led him to throw all Tobiah's belongings out of the chamber, cleanse the chamber, and bring the storage vessels back into the chamber (8-9). He then confronted the officials, appointed a new treasury department, and restarted the tithing system (10-13).

When Nehemiah saw God's Sabbath was profaned, he warned everyone about their disobedience before he confronted the nobles in charge while he was gone (15-17). He reminded them of their history—they went into captivity for the same behavior! He then commanded the doors should be shut and even stationed his own staff and then Levites at the city gates to make sure tradesmen did not enter on the Sabbath (19-22). He warned them, "If you (try to break the Sabbath again), I will lay hands on you" (21). Old man strength!

And when Nehemiah saw how God's people were compromised through intermarriage with unbelieving foreigners, he confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their (beard?) hair (25). He forced them to take an oath not to practice this sin anymore, reminding them that even the greatness of Solomon was destroyed by foreign women (26). Then he chased the young priest, a descendant of Eliashib who had married Sanballat's daughter, away from his presence (28).

At each stage of Nehemiah's work, he privately prayed to God. He said:

Nehemiah 13:14 (ESV) — 14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.

Nehemiah 13:22 (ESV) — 22 Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.

Nehemiah 13:31 (ESV) — 31 Remember me, O my God, for good.

Our Lesson

But what are we to make of this ending to the book of Nehemiah? Is this meant to be a downer? Should we walk away thinking renewal is impossible? Do we wish the story had ended with the high note of chapter twelve? Let's consider three lessons from this text today.

Lesson #1: We Should Hope In God's Continuous Renewal

The first lesson is that we should hope in God's continuous renewal. Nehemiah, in this passage, is still God's man, messenger, and minister. He is an instrument in God's hand. Rather than see this as a depressing end to an otherwise glorious story, we should rejoice that God is unlike Hollywood, at least for now.

What I mean is that if we were to write the story, we might wish to end the story on the high note of chapter 12. They praised God on top of the walls they'd built. People moved back to Jerusalem. And they had committed to a future with God. All was good.

Until it wasn't. But even though they broke their covenant with God, he didn't break his covenant with them. They were his people—a nation meant to bless all the nations—and he would work to fulfill that promise in their lives. So he sent Nehemiah at the tail end of his career and ministry to revive and renew the people one more time.

This is grace, church. It shows us God's longsuffering nature—he is slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. And even though we might expect or hope for perpetual enthusiasm, God does not. One day our ultimate resurrection and renewal will come, but today were are beset with the peaks and valleys of life. In both the highs and lows, we are to pursue the newness of life that is ours in Christ, but God knows we are in a constant battle between flesh and Spirit.

For this battle, we must determine to feed the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit so that we might not gratify the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). This means that when we feed our inner person with Spirit things—things like the Word, prayer, or fellowship—we are giving the Spirit the nutrients required to bear fruit from our lives. By walking in the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit comes out—"love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23). But when we feed the flesh, the works of the flesh dominate—"sexual immorality, impurity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these" (Galatians 5:19-21).

But what I am trying to point out is that God is aware of this battle and is continually at work to renew us. The Father gives us his Word and calls us into his family. The Son gave us his righteousness and lives to intercede for us today. And the Spirit is our helper who explains God to us and works to bring us into further Christlikeness.

But we must know that God is at work in this way. He looks for people like Nehemiah's generation—people who wanted to walk with him but were struggling—and he works to bring them back to where they want to be.

Remember King David? He was a God-hearted man but endured a ferocious battle with his flesh. In one of his worst episodes, he became guilty of both murder and adultery. And while in silence, when he thought no one knew, God knew and did what he could to rescue his man. Even before sending Nathan the prophet to confront David, God was at work. David said to God about that season:

Psalm 32:3–4 (ESV) — 3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

Even the book of Acts—the glorious story of the launch of the church—is filled with the ups and downs of God's people. The Spirit moved mightily, and the gospel went to the nations, but there was also corrupting sin in the church, divisions instead of love, prejudices that slowed the gospel, arguments that led to bitter splits, and carnality and legalism that threatened to divide God's people.

So wavering is expected. Therefore we should not judge those who waver. As Jude said:

Jude 22 (ESV) — 22 And have mercy on those who doubt...

But mercy is not the natural way we like to respond to believers who doubt God's goodness, doubt God's plan, or doubt God. We often want to cut them off for good, but God is working to draw his beloved home. He always wants the prodigal to come home.

I said we should rejoice that God is unlike Hollywood, at least for now. But all the fictional happy endings point to an inward longing in the human soul—a longing certainly placed there by God. One day, all our stops and starts and restarts will be replaced by our final resurrection—and we will never fail again. The ending will be happy. And it will only be the beginning of an enthusiasm for God and one another that never fades.

Lesson #2: We Should Welcome God's Interruptive Renewal

The second lesson is that we should welcome God's interruptive renewal. In this passage, the people had steadily drifted away from God and their covenant to him. Hebrews says:

Hebrews 2:1 (ESV) — 1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

But the people of Jerusalem had not paid attention—instead, they drifted away. Still, God was faithful. As Paul said:

2 Timothy 2:13 (ESV) — 13 If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

So God interrupted them with Nehemiah's jarring responses as a mechanism to wake them from their slumber. Apparently, it wasn't the time for gentle words and nudges towards holiness, but a time for bold confrontation. It's like God said to Nehemiah, "OK, old man, go get UFC on these guys." I mean, Nehemiah was trying to wake people up from a deep spiritual sleep—they had no idea how far they'd slipped! So Nehemiah acts like a pitcher of ice water thrown onto an oversleeping teenager. Time to get up, son!

If God did not interrupt our lives, especially when we are off track or drifting from him, we would be like children who are never disciplined. You know the kind—never told no, eating whatever they want, sleeping wherever they want, wearing whatever they want, watching whatever they want. Animals! And we all silently wonder what they will be like as grown-ups. But God is a good parent, so he enters the scene when needed and interrupts our way of doing things.

Sometimes this is jarring. I'm sure many of you have stories of rebellion against God where he allowed something drastic to shake you off your course. But often, God does this in subtle ways—a word of wisdom or knowledge, a truth from Scripture, an example of godliness is someone else—these can all shake us from the doldrums of our lives.

And sometimes God will interrupt us with a Nehemiah—a person who will confront us like Nehemiah confronted his generation. They might be a pastor, a friend, a spouse, or a mentor, but when they come into your life, don't resist them. Though Nehemiah appeared harsh, he was God's gracious gift to those people.

And sometimes, God will use you as a Nehemiah for those in need. I'm not suggesting you curse anyone or tear out beard hairs—leave that to the professionals—but there are times God will use you to rescue others. As Jude said:

Jude 23 (ESV) — 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

There is a story from the book of Acts that captures this interruptive method of God. The church had gotten off to an amazing start, and thousands were coming to Christ in Jerusalem. Prayer meetings were intense, miracles were happening, and new believers were added to the church daily. People were selling properties and homes and donating the money to the communal living fund.

One day, two married church members decided to make a donation of their own. They sold a piece of land, but they didn't want to give all the proceeds away. This was fine, but what wasn't fine was that when they gave, they acted as if it was 100% of the sale price. The money was their own. They were free to keep it or sell it or give it. What they were not free to do, however, was tell everyone they'd given all when they'd only given part. That was the sin of hypocrisy—a leaven that can quickly spread through and kill the church.

So God interrupted them. Peter received a word of knowledge about what they'd done—and they still lied about it—and both of them dropped dead right there at the gathering. That was not a normal day at church! But this was God's way of breaking into their normal proceedings—proceedings that included the cancer of hypocrisy. He needed to stop them and simultaneously tell the next thousand generations that hypocrisy is to be avoided at all costs.

And how do you think they responded to God's interruption?

Acts 5:11 (ESV) — 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

And with the fear of God refreshed in their midst, they went onto a new surge of power and fruitfulness. So, because it is helpful and lifegiving, let's welcome God's interruptive renewal of our lives.

Lesson #3: We Should Look For God's Lasting Renewal

The third lesson is that we should look for God's lasting renewal. As I said, there is something gracious about God's willingness to continually restore and renew his people. But is there any hope for true and lasting change? Are we doomed to a Judges-like cycle of revival followed by compromise followed by defeat followed by repentance followed by more revival? Is there any permanency to the renewal God works in us?

Yes, though we must continually walk with God to receive it, there is the possibility of permanence on this side of eternity! To the Corinthian church, Paul taught that the Old Covenant of Moses and the Law was a ministry of death and condemnation that is being brought to an end and fading away. But, he said, the New Covenant Jesus brought is the ministry of the Spirit (not death), a ministry that gives righteousness (not condemnation), and the covenant that exists in permanence (2 Corinthians 3:7-11).

The differences between Moses and Christians embodies the difference between the two covenants, Paul said. He wrote that when Moses went to spend time with God, his face would glow. But, since the glow would fade, Moses covered his face with a veil. He didn't want the other Israelites to be discouraged by the fading glory (2 Corinthians 3:12-13). But, Paul said, we Christians can take the veil off before God and keep it off because he permanently transforms us by the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

And this is a major lesson the book of Nehemiah leaves us with. Nehemiah's leadership and the people's energy couldn't produce true and lasting change. But they had been promised a day when God would change them from within by writing his law on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33-34). Jeremiah and Ezekiel had made them these promises before and during their captivity in Babylon, and now Nehemiah's generation is back from Babylon! Still, however, the law was not written on their hearts. Still, they failed. They had not received the inner change promised to them.

So Nehemiah ends by pointing us to a future fulfillment. I have more to say about this next week, but for today I want you to know the answer is in Jesus. When he came, he brought with him the path to forgiveness, transferred righteousness, and permanent transformation.

You see, we can whip ourselves into an emotional frenzy about God at times, but our flesh cannot produce anything real. We cry during the worship songs or feel inspired during the sermon or committed to God during the invitation.

But—at the end of the day, just as it is at the end of this book—we must look to someone outside ourselves. Over and over again, we must look to Christ for lasting renewal. We must abide in him. When we do, he abides in us, and his life renews us and produces fruit through us—the fruit of character, the fruit of transformation, the fruit of impact in the lives of others. But it's all Jesus. And Nehemiah points us in his direction.