Hope From the Word

Guest (Male): With an important word of warning, here's pastor Bill Lubkeman.

Bill Luebkemann: God tells us in the New Testament, that as believers, we're not to be marrying unbelievers, not to be unevenly yoked together with an unbeliever. And by the way, I believe that applies in business as well as in marriage and probably in some other areas. You're going to start a business, better think twice about having an unbeliever as a partner. Cuz what are you going to do when they want to cheat on the taxes and you don't want to? And that's just one example of many. Do not be unevenly yoked together with an unbeliever, because in any kind of situation like that, you're going to pull them up or they're going to drag you down.

And unfortunately, it seems that more often than not, it's them dragging you down.

Guest (Male): We appreciate the signs that are posted along the highway, warning us of hazards that are ahead. But do we appreciate the warnings that are given to us in scripture? That's especially difficult if scripture tells us not to do something we want to do. Hello and welcome to Hope from the Word, a ministry of Calvary Chapel of Marlton with pastor Bill Lubkeman. Nehemiah chapter nine recounts a time of great repentance and revival for the people of God. To help ensure that it continued, they got into the Word once again and committed to keeping it. A good example to follow, wouldn't you say?

For more on this from Nehemiah chapter nine and verse 28, let's join pastor Bill.

Bill Luebkemann: But after they had rest, they again did evil before you. Therefore, you left them in the hand of their enemies so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they returned and cried out to you, you heard from heaven and many times you delivered them according to your mercies and testified against them, that you might bring them back to your law. Yet they acted proudly and did not heed your commandments, but sinned against your judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. And they shrugged their shoulders, stiffened their necks, and would not hear.

They be conquered. And then they would cry out to God. And he would come in and and deliver them. And the lamb would have rest, and then they'd get fat again, stuffed full of all the good things of life. And before you know it, a few years would go by, they'd be doing evil again. And then God would abandon them again. And then they would be oppressed again, but then they would return and cry out to him, and he would hear from them, and he would deliver them again. And then they were free for a while, and then they got oppressed again and because they stopped following God again and back and forth it went like a yo-yo, up and down.

Like we'll find a clover. Should we or shouldn't we? Should we or shouldn't we? We love God, we don't love God. We love God, we don't love God. He always wanted to bring them back to his law. Yet they acted proudly, constantly showing forth or saying or acting like they don't need God. We don't need you, God. We don't need your commandments. We're not going to follow your judgments. Which if a man does follow them, he'll live by them. They said they shrugged their shoulders. We don't care. Stiffen their necks. We're not going to put up with your authority, God.

We're going to do what we want. And would not hear. Yet for many years you had patience with them and testified against them by your spirit in your prophets. Yet they would not listen. Therefore, you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless, in your great mercy you did not utterly consume them nor forsake them, for you are God, gracious and merciful. This went on for many years. Look, we have patience with somebody for a week or two or a month or maybe just a day or maybe just an hour. Or sometimes a matter of minutes.

God had patience with them for hundreds of years, hundreds. Anybody that says God is quick to judge hasn't read the Bible much. He gave the Canaanites and the people of the land 400 years to change their mind. Sometimes an unbeliever will say, why did God allow them to kill all those people? Well, they're the people he gave 400 years to follow him. We would never think of giving somebody 400 years for anything there. We wouldn't give somebody 40 years or even four years, or probably not even four months. And in spite of all that happened to them, they followed him, they didn't follow them, they love them, they love them not, they love them, they love them not.

In spite of that, in because irregardless of all that, because of his great mercy, he never utterly consumed them, nor forsook them. He could have walked away and said, that's it, I'm done. He told Moses at one time, you know, Moses, I'm going to get rid of all these people and start over again with you. Moses said, don't do that. After the flood when the rainbow came, God said he would never destroy the earth by water again. That doesn't mean he can't destroy it some other way. He could have utterly consumed them, forsook them, said, that's it, 70 * 7, 490 * I'm not giving you another time.

But he didn't. He never said the end. The Jews are still God's chosen people to this very day. Why? Because God is gracious and merciful. And when we compare ourselves to him, we we don't even know what those words mean. Gracious and merciful. We can't even define them in our dictionary based on any of our actions. Verse 32. Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and awesome God, who keeps covenant and mercy, do not let all the trouble seem small before you that has come upon us. Our kings and our princes, our priests and our prophets, our fathers, and in all your people from the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.

However, you are just in all that has befallen us, for you have dealt faithfully, but we have done wickedly. They are they praying now as they begin to wrap up and come to a conclusion here. Therefore, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God, in other words, not one of the great gods, not the greatest God, but there's other gods who are less great. Not a God that's mighty but not mighty enough or awesome but not awesome enough. He is the great God, the mighty God, the awesome God, the only God, the God who keeps covenant and mercy.

In other words, he keeps his promises. He is true to his word. Today if you're signing a contract with somebody, that you better have make sure every single thing is written down. If it's not written down, it don't apply. When it comes to time to deliver, you say, hey, you said you were going to do this. Oh, sorry, it not in the contract. I never said that. What are you talking about? He's the God that keeps his covenant, keeps his mercy. Do not let all the trouble seem small before you that has come before us.

In other words, give us a break. All these things that have happened to us, don't let it seem small. It's not small, it's major. Our kings and princes, priests and prophets, and our fathers, but all the people from the days of Assyria to this day, don't don't let this seem minor. However, you are just in all that has befallen us, for you have dealt faithfully, but we have done wickedly. Every trouble we've had is because we deserved because you promised us if we did X, you would do Y. If we did A, you will do B.

If we followed you, you know, you'd bless us. Sorry to throw the algebra in there. You know, if you don't follow God, then he's going to deal otherwise with them. He's not going to bless them. You are just and all that has befallen us. We're only getting what we deserve here. For you have dealt faithfully, but we're the wicked ones. Neither our kings nor our princes nor our priests nor our fathers have kept your law, nor heeded your commandments and your testimonies which with which you testified against them. For they have not served you in their king or in the many good things that you gave them, or in the large and rich land which you set before them.

Nor did they turn from their wicked works. There's no one here, the leaders, the kings and princes, priests, and our fathers, they have not kept your law. They have not followed your commandments. They have not paid any attention to your testimonies with which you testified against them. Look, the law and the commandments were written down that they knew what they were, but when they didn't follow them, God sent prophets to give a testimony against them to say, hey, you're not doing that right. That's not what God wants. They didn't heed that either. They have not served you in their kingdom.

In no way do they give you the credit for this great kingdom that you've given them here. They don't serve you in the many good things that you gave them. They don't give thanks to you. They don't know, they don't recognize you and and thank you for what you've given to them. Or in the large and rich land which you set before them, they don't they don't give you heed there. They don't give you back the first fruits of their land. They don't acknowledge you as God. You've given them many good things. What have they given back to you?

You can tell a lot about what someone believes about the Lord by how much they give to him. There's lots of people that say they can talk all day long about their great faith. But if you're not putting God first in your giving, it says volumes about what you really believe. Do you really believe that all the things you have came from him? Are you giving back the first part of that to acknowledge that? Or do you keep it all for yourself cuz you don't have enough? Or in the many good things that you gave them or in the large and rich land.

All the goodness and blessing that they had. Furthermore, they didn't turn away from their wicked works. And here we are, verse 36. Servants today. And the land that you gave to our fathers to eat his fruit and his bounty. Here we are, servants in it. This was our land. You gave it to us and now somebody else owns it. We were conquered. The king of Babylon carried us away. Now it's a different king now, but they're still servants in their own land. They were living there all right, but it wasn't theirs. They were having to pay a hefty amount of taxes.

We are servants in our own land. The land you gave to our fathers to eat his fruit and his bounty. You gave the land to us so that we could partake of it, so that we could eat of it. So it would be ours and you blessed us with it and look where we got ourselves now. We don't even own it anymore. We're servants in it. And it yields much increase to the kings you have said over us because of our sins. Also, they have dominion over our bodies and our cattle at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

You know, when when the good crop came in, they couldn't save it for a rainy day. They were sending it off to the king. It yields much increase to the kings you have set over us. And why? Because of their sins. For the king has dominion over their bodies and their cattle at their pleasure. In other words, the king could say whatever he wants. They didn't own themselves basically. And we're in great distress, and because of all this, we make a sure covenant and write it. Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests seal it. We're going to make a covenant with you.

We want to follow you. We're going to serve you. We're going to make this right. Now those who placed their seal on the document were Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah and Zedekiah, Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, Pashhur, Amariah. These guys were all different leaders. They were the priests. Look down in verse eight. It says these were the priests. The Levites, Jeshua son of Azaniah, Binnui the son of Henadad, their brethren. Goes on to list the brethren of them. And then we get down to the leaders of the people in verse 14. So basically we have here Nehemiah who's the governor, and then we have the priests, and we have the Levites, then we have the other people who were leaders of the land.

And besides that, besides the priests and the leaders and the Levites and the governor, besides that, verse 28 says, now the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding, these joined with their brethren their nobles and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our God and his ordinances and his statutes.

We would not give our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land nor take their daughters for our sons. If the peoples of the land brought wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we would forego the seventh year's produce and the exacting of every debt. These people all signed up to return to the covenant. You saw the leaders, the Levites, the priests, and all the rest of the people here, the gatekeepers, singers, Nethinim. All these people and including their wives, sons, and daughters, and everyone who had knowledge and understanding.

They set themselves aside. And they entered into this curse and oath thing. In other words, we're going to follow your law, Lord. And we're and we're praying that you'll bless us. And if we don't follow it, then we're believing that you're going to curse us. This law of God which was given by Moses to observe all the commandments and the ordinances and the statutes. One of which was to keep themselves separated from the people of the land. And that's why they said we would not give our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land nor take their daughters for our sons.

Look, it's very simple there. When a Jew married one of these pagans, one of two things was going to happen. See, the pagan person was going to become Jewish or the Jewish person was going to become pagan. And unfortunately, it was more often the latter. That's why God tells us in the New Testament that as believers, we're not to be marrying unbelievers, not to be unevenly yoked together with an unbeliever. And by the way, I believe that applies in business as well as in marriage and probably in some other areas. You're going to start a business, better think twice about having an unbeliever as a partner.

Cuz what are you going to do when they want to cheat on the taxes and you don't want to? And that's just one example of many. Do not be unevenly yoked together with an unbeliever, because in any kind of the situation like that, you're going to pull them up or they are going to drag you down. And unfortunately, it seems that more often than not, it's them dragging you down. See, a Jewish person living with a Gentile in the same house married to them. Well, how is the Jewish person going to, for example, keep the Sabbath when the Gentile doesn't care about that?

And how is the Jewish person going to stay ritually clean when they're perpetually unclean from being around a Gentile? Some people say you Christians are too narrow-minded. You think you're better than everybody else. But you know, when two people of two different religions marry, even if neither one is a Christian, either A is going to convert B or B is going to convert A or else neither one of them really believes very much. I mean, it's possible for two people of different religions who are not really believing in anything to marry. And just if they don't believe in it, just doesn't have any impact on it.

But if you're a Christian and you have strong desire to serve God and do things his way, you'll come into conflict continually with a mate who doesn't see it that way. And if you're a businessman and the same thing. They chose not to give their daughters as wives to the peoples of the land nor take their daughters for their sons. And by the way, they wouldn't do any business on the Sabbath day. The Gentiles of the land, they to the to them the Sabbath was just any other day. They wanted to buy and sell and transact business on that day.

We won't do it. Look, the Bible doesn't say we can't transact business with unbelievers. That they would conduct business with unbelievers. They would buy and sell with them, just not on the Sabbath. And look, and following all the other ones of God's laws also. Uneven weights and measures. Something the Lord speaks about over and over and over again, unjust weights and measures. That's where in your bag you had, you know, two different weights to represent, say, a pound. One's a little more than a pound and one's a little less than a pound. And and when you're selling something, you put the one that's a little less of a pound on the scale, so you're selling the person, you're shortening them a little.

But when you're buying, you put the one a little more than a pound on the scale to make sure you're getting more than what you are paying for. God hates stuff. It's hard to believe there's too many businesses in America that don't cheat on their taxes. I I'm sure there are there are plenty, but it it seems like it is so prevalent. How could we team up with unbelievers who are not as convinced as we are that they should follow the laws of the land? They wouldn't do it here. They made a covenant with God and an oath.

Also, we made ordinances for ourselves to exact from ourselves yearly 1/3 of a shekel for the service of the house of our God. So they put together a tax here. And by the way, it had been half a shekel, and in Jesus's day it was up to half a shekel again. It seems like here they were having a recession, you know. Here they were in Jerusalem building the wall, trying to get the economy started. It seems like they lowered it a little bit. But they agreed among themselves, we're all going to chip in 1/3 of a shekel for the service of the house of our God, for the showbread, for the regular grain offering, for the regular burnt offering of the Sabbath, the new moons, and the set feasts, for the holy things, for the sin offerings, to make atonement for Israel and for all the work of the house of our God.

They chipped in. Perhaps not unlike the way we chip in for the running of the church today. We cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people for bringing the wood offering into the house of our God according to our fathers' houses at the appointed times year by year to burn on the altar of the Lord our God as it is written in the law. They cast lots for who's going to bring the wood in. And you didn't have to be consecrated to do this. Anybody could do it. See, it says the priests, the Levites, and the people.

Even the ordinary person could gather up some wood and bring it in and contribute it to the running of the house of God, so that they could make the offering on it. And we made ordinances to bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all fruit of all trees year by year to the house of the Lord to bring the firstborn of our sons and our cattle as it is written in the law and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God.

They committed to bring the firstborn of everything. And how often today we give the last to God? Well, it's excess. It's leftover. We don't really need it. So we'll give it to God. They gave the firstborn. You know, you could very well say, we've been waiting for these cattle to have offspring for a long time and and we need we need meat. And we need some milk. And we need to keep the first ones for ourselves. And later on when we get more, then we'll give it to God. But that's not what they did. They gave to God the first.

To bring the first fruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit from all kinds of trees, the new wine and oil to the priests of the storerooms of the house of our God and to bring the tithes of our land to the Levites, for the Levites should receive the tithes and all our farming communities. Beyond all that, they brought the tenth, a tithe meaning a tenth. They brought the tenth of everything to the Levites that they might receive it. That they would give back to God in saying, we acknowledge that this came from you, that our crops came from you, that our animals came from you, and we are going to give you back a tenth of that because we believe it came from you.

And we believe that you can give us more. And by the way, giving to God cuz you want to get more, I don't think that's right. That's what some of the TV preachers say. Give to us cuz you're going to get more. One's even been quoted as saying, give us your grocery and how many poor people have been defrauded do by liars and thieves who fleece the flock of God that way. We give to God out of respect for him, out of an acknowledgement. This came from you, Lord. And we're going to give back some of it to you right off the top, right at the beginning, so that we can we can say to you, we believe and we know this is coming from you.

Sometimes people say to me, should we tithe on the gross or the net? I said, well, if you tithe on the gross, you're putting God first. If you tithe on the net, you're putting the government first and God second, so you decide. If you give at the end and you then you put everything else ahead of God. And the priest, the descendant of Aaron shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes. And the Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithes to the house of our God to the rooms of the storehouse.

So the priests, the Levites collected that tithe and they gave to the priests a tenth of the tenth. For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain of the new wine and the oil to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are, where the priests who minister and the gatekeepers and the singers are, and we will not neglect the house of our God. You say, well, they were giving wine and grain and oil, not money. Well, their economy worked in these terms. They didn't have the division of labor and the specialization that we have now.

We work each person. We have a fancy economy now. But while we still have it, we all do the things we know how to do or we like to do or that we were called to do or that we were trained to do or that we know something about it. And then our economy works on a system of money where we can use that to buy other things that we I would much rather sit at my keyboard and write programs for people and get paid some money that I can then pay the car mechanic with.

I would much rather do that than get under the hood myself and get all greasy and dirty and bang my knuckles as I unhook things and and probably when I put them back together all the part off too many parts. Put them all back together and up, what are these extra parts? Where do they go? I used to get under my car and change the oil and everything. Now I don't fit under my car anymore. But besides that, I'd rather do something that I know how to do so that I can pay somebody else who knows how to do that to do it and they won't mess it up.

Look, our economy is different than what they had there, but we should still be putting God first in all that we do and all that we Now the leaders of the people dwelt at Jerusalem. The rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to dwell in Jerusalem, the holy city, and nine tenths were to dwell in other cities. So the Jerusalem, there's more people than could fit in the city. And nine tenths of them couldn't live there, but the leaders could live in Jerusalem. And then one tenth of everybody else could live there, so the city would be filled.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Hope from the Word. We're currently in the study of Nehemiah. You can hear this message or more Hope from the Word with pastor Bill Lubkeman by going to ccmarlton.org. Pastor Bill's messages can also be found by downloading the Hope FM app on your smartphone or tablet. Or if you prefer to listen via podcast, you can find Hope from the Word wherever you find your podcasts. We'd love to have you join us at Calvary Chapel of Marlton either in person or online. Our Sunday service begins at 10 a.m. And there's a Wednesday evening service at 7.

To catch us online, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel of Marlton or just go to our website for the link at ccmarlton.org. And if you'd take a moment to write to pastor Bill, it would be such a blessing to us. We're thankful each and every time we hear what God is doing in our listeners' lives, and we want to pray for you too. Either email us through the website at ccmarlton.org or call 856-983-1662. We'll continue our study in Nehemiah next time on Hope from the Word with pastor Bill Lubkeman, a presentation of Calvary Chapel of Marlton.