Is an easy day to get excited for. We are so excited for the families. You know, it's a great day when the freezes are sitting in the front row. No, it's good. We are so excited for the for these three ladies, Alexa and Lexi and Evelyn. We are so thankful for God's work in your life and we are looking forward to hearing their testimonies here in a little bit. And to all of you who are visiting, family members, friends, we're glad that you are with us this morning. Nothing screams meaningful baptism sermon like a list of names.
But I trust that even in this there will be some encouragement for our hearts this morning. So if you have your Bibles, would you turn with me to Nehemiah 11. We're going to look today by no means exhaustively. But we're going to look today from at verses 11:1 through to 12:26. So if you have your Bibles, you can go there to Nehemiah 1. As you're turning there, who remembers the Sears catalog? Okay, kids, if you're looking around, you're like, you'll see people with their hands above a certain vintage.
Might mean nothing to you, but for those of us of a certain vintage, it brings back a warm memory for the soul. So, but without order, that memory would have never happened. So, Richard Sears was a railroad agent in Redwood, Minnesota, and he began to figure out a bit of a plan. He would order watches from the manufacturer. He would then ship those down the line to folks on the other end who would then sell them to local people and ship the proceeds back to him.
And so he began to see there was a business to be done here. And so that led to this mail orderer company. A few years after he started it, he was joined by a man named Alva Robbuk. And the Sears Robbuck Company began and they began to produce right off the hop a catalog. And very quickly it became a 300page catalog where people could order various things and have it shipped to them. However, Richard Sears was a terrible organizer.
Can I get an amen? >> That is me. And so, as the orders began to roll in and he could not keep up with it and he was overwhelmed and stressed by these things, he began to burn the order forms as they came in because he simply couldn't keep up. Not a good business plan. But along came a man named Julius Rosenwald and he was a master administrator. And so Julius Rosenwald took over that part of the company and put structure and orderliness to the various elements of the company such that it began to take off.
And by 1908, about a decade or so after the the formation of the company, Richard Sears was no longer part of the company. Even though he left on good terms, but he was no longer part of the company. Julius Rosenwald was now the overseer of it because of his organizational ability, but he knew he was smart enough to keep the thing that made the Sears company the the Sears company, and that was that catalog. And so for years both in America and in Canada that became part of our culture. It's no longer the case, but it was for those of us who remember.
But it would never have happened had there not been organization put to it. Well, today in Hebrew Hebrews in Nehemiah 11 and into 12, we're going to see much organization and much structure to make the the function of society in that land work well. And so we're going to look at a little bits and pieces of that section here today. To start with, I want to look at the first three verses of chapter 11. One of the things we see right off the bat as they were repurposing and resettling the land, repopulating particularly Jerusalem, we see the importance of sacrifice.
First three verses of chapter 11 say this. Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of 10 to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine out of 10 remained in other towns. And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem. These are the chiefs of the province who lived in Jerusalem. But in the towns of Judah, everyone lived on his property and in their towns.
Israel, the priests, the Levites, the temple servants, and the descendants of Solomon's servants. So, what we see here is the importance of repopulating Jerusalem. Now, if you were here through our series, you remember a number of weeks back, Pastor Bryce preached through Nehemiah 7. And there we have a some genealogies listed for us. And then from chapter 8 through to this point, it was like that was interrupted because they came to the seventh month where they took part in the feast of booths and they read the the law and they had this prayer of confession and now it's like Nehemiah is like he's saying now where was I?
And he's reminding them of how the Lord re settled the land. And we read here that the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem. It's the very first thing we we see. But Jerusalem outside of the leaders had no one else living there yet. And in fact, if you go back to chapter 7 and in verse four, listen to what we read here. The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few and no houses had been rebuilt.
And so, can you imagine? They had built a temple. Now, as we've seen through Nehemiah, they've built the walls, but that's about it. The rest of the city, it seems, is lying in ruin still. There's no houses built yet outside of perhaps the leader homes, but that's that's all. They need people to return. We they need them to return for various purposes. Partly to rebuild it, probably most importantly to rebuild it, to rebuild homes and residential neighborhoods and what have you.
They need people to come to for the sake of carrying out commerce. They need people to come who can help oversee the temple and care for the things of God that way. They needed people to come for the sake of military strength. Look at what we read in verses 6 and 8 and 14. Verse six, the sons of Perez who lived in Jerusalem were 468 valiant men. Verse eight, his brothers, men of valor. 928.
Some of you might have a footnote by that. That's a fun footnote. We can talk about that later if you want. Verse 14. Their brothers, mighty men of valor. 128. They needed these people to come in part to protect the city. What's the first place that's going to be attacked? Is it going to be the countryland or the city of Jerusalem? The city of Jerusalem, obviously. And so they needed people to come and repopulate the land for specific purposes. And so what did they do?
Well, people didn't want to go there. And you might say, "Really? They didn't want to go to Jerusalem?" Well, let me ask you. All of you who live right now on acreages, all of you who live on farms and you love that lifestyle and I say to you, "Okay, we're selecting you to go live in downtown Calgary." Right? You get what I'm saying? You'd be like, "Nuh-. Mm- no, I'm not doing that."
That's kind of what we're talking about here. They were living as we read there and and we read throughout the letter, there are those living in smaller communities and towns or on the farms and that's where their livelihood is. That's where their families feel safe and secure. There's they go to Jerusalem, it's a wasteland right now. It's broken down. And even when they build it up, imagine this. There's going to you know what it's like to be in a city that your your privacy is greatly diminished. The busyiness overwhelms you.
All that goes with city life. And so they're saying, "I don't think so." So they cast lots. Now the lots were a biblical system. We see them in many places throughout scripture, specifically the Old Testament. Bleeds a little bit into the New Testament, but then once the the cannon of scripture is closed, it appears that the lot system no longer is in effect. But they use lots lots in the scriptures. Numbers 26 as an example. In Proverbs 16, it says the man cast a lot and the Lord directs his steps. So lots were a biblically approved system in this era.
And so they're casting lots. One out of every 10 had to go live in the city. That's what we read here. Now look at what we read in verse two. And the people blessed. If you have an NIV, it will say the people commended all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem. It appears that there were those even though they would not have preferred to do that, who sacrificed and willingly said, "Okay, we'll go."
And the people blessed them. The people commended them. They were thankful for them to make such a sacrifice for the greater good of all the people of the nation. That is a good thing and it's a biblical thing. We see this throughout the entire Bible. In fact, worship almost ex almost almost not always but almost always is attached in some way to sacrifice.
Sacrifice is part of the life that pleases God. We see this throughout scripture and even as we come now into the New Testament. We see how commendable it is that we sacrifice for others. We put others ahead of oursel. Most importantly, we sacrifice to put the will of God ahead of the will of man. Go with me if we will to Philippians chapter 2. In Philippians chapter 2, we see a very familiar passage if you've grown up in the church.
In fact, at our elders meeting yesterday, Pastor Joe walked us through this passage. But there in verses 3 and four, we read this. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. This is the Christian life. Romans 12 says, "Our life should be a living sacrifice." Look what we read in Hebrews 13. You can either go there or just listen.
But in Hebrews 13 15 and 16, we read this. Through him, then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. The Christian life is one of sacrifice. Why? Because it is a reflection of the one we serve.
Think about this. There is a on top of the highest hill in Toledo, Spain. There is a 16th century fortress known as the Alcazar. In the civil war of the 1930s, the Alcazar became a battleground where the loyalists and the nationalists were fighting it out. Fighting it out, pardon me. The nationalists were holding fort in that fortress. During a a particularly powerful moment in that war, the nationalist leader received a phone call from his son who had been captured by the loyalists.
And the son said to his dad over the phone, "Father, if you do not surrender the Alkazar to them, they're going to kill me." So the man thought about it. He weighed it all out. And after a long pause and with a heavy heart, he said, "Well then, son, die like a man." He put the greater good of the people ahead even of his own son. He he was willing to sacrifice his son for the good of all of all of his people.
Well, is that not a picture of the gospel? Our father sacrificed his only son Jesus for the good of his people. He paid the ultimate price, the ultimate sacrifice so that you and I could have our sins atoned for that we could have our sins paid for in full because we couldn't do it ourselves. We're sinners. We fall short of his glory. And so God being so merciful, so gracious, would give his only son sacrifice for you and me.
This is the very essence of the gospel. In Isaiah in that glorious chapter, Isaiah 53, listen to what we read in verses 4-6. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.
And with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. The sacrifice of the son. Hebrews 12 says, "For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, sat down now at the right hand of the father. He has defeated sin and death, but it came at great cost at sacrifice.
1 Peter 2 says, "He bore our sins in his own body on the tree." This is our savior. This is the one that you will hear these three ladies speak of. The one who gave himself to purchase them out of hell to give them eternal life. Who sacrificed. And we who understand that gospel, we who who c who get it, we our lives should be marked by sacrifice. When we understand the gospel, these folks here in Nehemiah, there were those who willingly sacrificed.
They gave up a lot for the greater good of their people. And we who understand the gospel, what Christ gave up for us, we should have our lives marked by sacrifice for God's glory and for the good of all of our brothers and sisters. Now, it doesn't end there. In addition to the sacrifice we see here, we also see in this text a lot of orderliness. Let me read I'm going to read you a pile of verses. They're going to pop up here. I'm just going to go bang bang bang bang bang through them just from our text.
Here in Nehemiah 11:12 verse 4. And in Jerusalem lived a lived certain of the sons of Judah and of the sons of Benjamin. Verse 7, and of the sons of Benjamin. We have this list here. Verse 10, of the priests, and it lists them in verse 15. And of the Levites, and it lists them in verse 19, the gatekeepers, and it gives the gatekeepers who watch the gates. Verse 25, as for the villages with their fields and some of the people of Judah, and it goes through this list of people who were in this area.
12:1, these are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel, the son of Sheiel, and Yeshua. And it lists these priests and Levites that originally came. Verse 8, and the Levites, and it lists them. In verse 12, and in the days of Jehookim were the priests, heads of the father's houses. And it lists them. Verse 22. In the days of Elashab, Joya, Johannan, and Jado, Jedua, I'll say Juda. Sure, let's go with that.
The Levites were recorded as the heads of their father's households. So too were the priests in the reign of Darius the Persian, and lists them, "These things are not here to bore us. These things are here to instruct us about what? Well, God is meticulous in detail. God is a God of order. Now, not only that, he knows all of their names.
If you don't, if look at this and look all these different genealogies, all these different lists, and then think to yourself, God knows all their names, which means what? He knows my name. The God of creation knows my name. Isn't that astonishing? He knows all their names, but he's also meticulous in detail. Now, I'm going to give you a moment of transparency here. For those who know me, this is not going to be a revelation.
I struggle with detail and I struggle with detail oriented conversation. So I I don't mean this in any ill way, but if if someone comes to me and tells me a story with enormous detail, I am trying with all of my might to pay attention, but it's a struggle. I I really am trying, but I I I have a hard time not tuning out. That's a me issue.
It's not a you issue. It's a me issue. But I struggle with detail. But I'm going to say to you, those who are detailoriented are a blessing. We need them. God is a God of detail and he cares for his people in such a way that he gives structure. And I will say this, it doesn't please God for us to wing it in our worship. Unplanned, unprepared worship or work for the Lord is not honorable to him.
Go with me if you will to 1 Corinthians 14. Lest you think I'm lying to you. In 1 Corinthians 14 starting at verse 33 or I'll I'll go to verse 33 and then and then verse 40. Verse 33 says, "For God is not a God of confusion but of peace." And then verse 40, but all things should be done decently and in order. Now if you read through 1 Corinthians and specifically 12134 that's talking about how we are to worship the Lord as a gathered people in the local church and it is very evident that there should be an orderliness to this.
It would seem that the Corinthian church was not doing that. There was chaos reigning and we see that still today. Chaos reigns in many churches. It doesn't take much to go online and find those services as an example. Rather than carefulness and orderliness, we'll see churches that favor spontaneity and extemporaneous utterances with no order, with no structure. That does not please the Lord. Our God is not a God of chaos. And in fact, when when chaos reigns in the church, it actually dishonors the Lord.
That is why we make it our aim here at Gateway Bible Church to be orderly. We do everything we can to prepare for a Sunday morning service week in week out so that there is an orderliness to it. And some would say, well, that does that not negate from the the natural awe and wonder of God? I would say A, no, it doesn't. B, it actually magnifies the awe and wonder of God when we when we come with structure and order. Why? Because our hearts are now ready. We've prepared ourselves. Our mind is ready. We're coming prepared to hear from the word of the Lord.
Our countenance is in a state of readiness. And most importantly, orderliness and structure ensures the protection of sound doctrine and godliness. And so these people here in Nehemiah, we see a lot of order. And we through throughout the whole Bible, God is a God of order and not of chaos, not of confusion. And so we should look at that and realize this is what he means for our lives too. We I'm talking about the corporate service, the corporate worship service.
When we gather, there should be an order there, but there should also be an orderliness even to our lives. We should order and structure our lives in such a way that that God is well pleased by that. So, I encourage you to that end. One more thing I want to notice. It's easy to miss it in here. When you read through Nehemiah 11 and into into 12, there's a lot of focus on making sure the people praise him. Let me take you to a few verses here.
11 verse1 17 Mataniah the son of Micah the son of Zabi the son of Asaf who was the leader of the praise who gave thanks and it goes on from there in verse 23 there was a command from the king concerning them and a fixed provision for the singers as every day required in 12:8 the Levites Yeshua, Binui, Cadmile, Sherobiah, Judah, and Metaniah, who with his brothers was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving.
And in verse 24, and the chiefs of the Levites, Hashabiah, Sheriah, and Yeshua the son of Cadmile, with their brothers who stood opposite them to praise and give thanks to the commandment of David, the man of God, watch by watch. You see this? Why is this scattered throughout? Why is Cuz they're resettling the land. They're getting everything set back up. And over and over and over again, we have this instruction that there should be those who make sure that praise is taking place.
Well, remember the land is in shambles. The land is not well. The city is torn down. They're coming to build upon rubble. And if you've been with us through Ezra and Nehemiah, you know that they have opponents. They have those who are against them. And if you know anything about the history of Israel, even to this day, Israel always has those who oppose them. And so what are you going to do when everything is against you?
The cities and tatters, right? We have to move to this place and rebuild and uproot our lives. And this is the very center of where all the enemies are going to attack. Really, what keeps your heart from being deflated and discouraged and defeated? Praise. Praise is what we need. Now, anyone, anyone in this room who is a believer can praise the Lord when things are good.
We all like to Today is a day of joy. I imagine you who are families of these three young ladies, today's a day of great praise. It's not probably taking you a whole lot to praise the Lord in your heart today. And that's a good thing. And to Alexa and Lexi and Evelyn, today's a great day, a day that you should find great joy in. It's an exciting day. But not every day is going to be like this. Jesus said in John 16, "In this world, you will have trouble."
It's a reality. We will have trouble. What do you do when trouble comes? We should still praise. Hebrews 13, I read it to you earlier. We should bring a sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. When the bottom falls out, when it seems like everything is crumbling, it's then that we need praise more than ever. If you find yourself naturally angry all the time, anxious, worrisome, fearful, I would ask you, how's the praise in your life right now?
Are you bringing a sacrifice of praise before our God to keep your heart from drifting away from him? And sometimes it can our hearts can even drift so far away from him that we begin to worship and idolize other things than him if we are not regularly practicing praise and thanksgiving before our God. In Isaiah chapter 42, listen to what we read here in verses 5-10.
Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it. I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison from the prison, those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord, that is my name. My glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare before the spring, and before they spring forth, I tell you of them. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants. So he says, I'm not going to give my glory to another. I do not share glory.
And so then two verses later, he says, "Sing to the Lord." What is it that God uses in part to keep our hearts from drifting away? Singing, praising him, thanking him. Everyone in this room has a hard life at times. Everyone. Is that a reason to stop praising him? No. A. No. B. If every if anything else, it should be more of a reason to praise him to keep our hearts a right to remind oursel of gospel truth because the gospel never changes.
Your circumstances are going to change every day, every season, but the gospel doesn't. And we praise him for the truth. We praise him for the gospel. We praise him for the foundation that we lay our lives upon. And the people here needed to have those who would lead them in song, lead them in thanksgiving, lead them in praise, so that their hearts would remember even in the hardship, this is my God. This is who I serve. I will not be deterred. I will hold fast. There was a one of the many terrible battles in the civil war and there was a dying confederate soldier who asked to see the chaplain.
He knew he was near death. So the chaplain was told about this and he assumed when he would come that this man would be asking him to for various pray prayer requests maybe that God would spare his life or whatever. And so he went in anticipating that. But what he got was a great surprise. There's the man lying there near death. And first thing he said is, "Well, can you cut off a piece of my hair and just take that to my mother?" So he did. They cut a piece of hair off.
And then after that, he said, "I'd like you to kneel down and I'd like you to just offer a prayer of thanksgiving." The chaplain was surprised by this. He said, "Thanksgiving. You're a dying man. What would you like me to thank him for? And this is what the man said. For giving me such a mother. Thank God that I'm a Christian. And thank God for giving me grace to die with. And thank God for the home that he has promised me on the other side.
And so that chaplain knelt down and prayed a prayer of thanksgiving with great gratitude before that man went home to be with his Lord. We always have a reason to praise the Lord. And so as we look at this text, we should ask the Lord, God, would you order my heart? Would you order my life in such a way that I would bring to you a sacrifice of praise day unto day, week unto week, year unto year, moment by moment, season by season, order my heart to praise you, whether it's easy or whether truly today it's a sacrifice that he would keep my heart in that right place.
Because as we're about to sing, he is our rock and our redeemer. That doesn't change. Let us praise him for who he is. So, Father, I pray that today you would set our hearts that way. That we would fix our hearts on praise. Today, Lord, we praise you for your redemptive work in the lives of these three precious young ladies. And we pray that all the days of their life, it would be they would their lives would be spent exalting you and making much of you.
But we know that hardship will come. And when it comes, Lord, we pray that their hearts, just as our hearts, would be turned to praise, that they would be reminded of the gospel in which they stand. That you would exalt and glorify and make much of your great name. We thank you that you are indeed our rock and our redeemer. And we put our hope in you. And we come to you with grateful thanksgiving for who you are. And may our lives be marked by sacrifice in such a way that your name is made much of in us and through us.
And so to God be the glory. Great things you have done. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Let's dance together.
Transcribed automatically from YouTube captions, so names and words may be misheard.
