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Weimar University

Don Mackintosh

Walking in the Fear of the Lord

So let's just bow our heads and ask God to be with us. Father in heaven thank you today that we can again study your word. We ask a blessing on our brief time together in Christ's name. Ah, amen. We've been studying the book of Nehemiah. And Nehemiah is was a layperson who God used in a powerful way and he actually is related to the captivity in Babylon that some of us have been studying about as we've gone through Daniel chapter one through five so far this week. And we'll also be looking at Daniel chapter six as well. But let's look here in Nehemiah chapter five today, Nehemiah chapter five, briefly today. Now our scripture reading today was what some have called the golden rule. How many of you have ever heard of the golden rule? Okay, let me give you some scenarios because some people have Id different ideas about what the golden rule is. Golden rule option number one, he who has the gold rules, you laugh, but people that have gold kind of think that. Number two, he who has the gold doesn't have to follow the rules. Number three, do unto, unto others as you want to do. Or number four, do unto others as you would have them do unto you which option you're in church. So you say four. Okay, good. But with that in mind, let's look at the book of Nehemiah because option number one and two and three were what were in play in the book of Nehemiah chapter five. There was a great outcry verse one of the people and their wives against the Jewish brethren. You know it's bad when there's an outcry, but when the wives join in the outcry, that's serious Because you gotta go home and confront the wife. Oh, and she's upset it's gonna be bad at home and bad in the public. So the, the husbands and wives were crying out against their Jewish brethren. So this was a fight within the church, you might say wasn't fight outside, it was inside. And there were those who said, we are sons, our daughters, our many. Therefore let us get grained that we may eat and live. Somehow they were running out of food. Why? There was some who said, we have mortgaged our lands. Whoa, how many think that sounds? Sounds like a problem. Mortgaged our lands, our vineyards, our houses that we might buy grain because of the famine. And there were those who said, we have borrowed money from the king for the king's tax on our lands and vineyards. And now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children. Indeed we are forcing our sons and daughters to be slaves. And some of our daughters have been brought into slavery and it's not in our power to redeem them. For other men have our lands and vineyards. And these other men were who People in the church. So what was happening here? They were all working to rebuild that wall. They were all working to come outta depression into recovery as a people. And to do that, they were rebuilding the wall. And yet some of the Jewish brethren who were better off financially, whether better positioned financially, were taking advantage of those who were not as well off. And as a result, they couldn't feed themselves. They had to borrow, they had the mortgage, they sold their lands, they sold their kids, and they were in slavery. And even worse, have you ever been taken advantage of? Yes. By rich people? How many of you have ever been taken advantage of by rich people? How many? You know how to raise your hands by the way. I would say everybody should be raising your hand because there's very wealthy people that control the television. There's very wealthy people that control Netflix. There's very wealthy people that control all the stuff that might be leading to your depression or aiding in it. There's all kinds of people that control controlled substances. These are wealthy people. Yes or no? Yes. And our people today enslaved, yes, 90% of the hydrocodone is, is is ingested in America. People are addicted to all kinds of things and maybe they're open to it because they're depressed. But what was happening in that city of old was he who had the gold was ruling, no way out my way or the highway my way or starvation. And by the way, he who has the rule gold was not following the rules. Have you met people use their wealth so they don't have to follow the rules. And that was a totally against the rules of God who said, don't charge interest to your brethren. Don't charge interest. Don't try and make a buck because they're down. Don't be a lone shark. Don't take advantage of your brethren this way. So what did Nehemiah do? Verse six. I love Nehemiah. This guy is like telling yourself the truth.com. Here he is. Then I became very angry when I heard their outcry and I heard these words and after serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and the rulers instead of them, each of you is exacting usy in others interest from his brother. So I called it a great assembly against them. He didn't just talk to him. He says, okay, I'm calling an assembly against them. And I said to them, according to our ability, we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. And now indeed will you sell your brethren? I mean, we just got people out of balin in these other countries and now you're selling and buying your brethren. Then they were silenced and found nothing to say. Sometimes the truth is so obvious, you just have to Shut up. Then he continues. Verse nine, what you're doing is not good should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the re reproach of the nations and our enemies. I also and my brother and my servants and lending them money and grain. So I'm lending them to pay you. Please let us, that's generous to say us. Please stop this usy Restore. Now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive grows, their houses, and a and a hundredth of the money in the grain, the new wine and the oil that you have charged them. So what was it that Nehemiah did? He became angry when he started to see through what was happening, what was being done to manipulate. He had a righteous indignation. And it says he seriously thought about what he needed to say. He was not hasty. Have you ever met people that are just hasty in their speech? They're always the first one to speak. They take the air completely out of the room. And as you listen, what they're saying has not been thought through. Have you ever been in that situation? And Nehemiah was not that kind of guy. It says he gave serious thought. Now that word serious is a serious word when you look it up. It literally means he consulted and counseled with others before speaking or acting, which means he probably was consulting with his best friend who as we know from Nehemiah chapter 1 23 and four was who? God, some other ways. He prayed before he spoke and then he personally rebuked the nobles and the rulers. And this according to scripture, was actually a demonstration of love. Those I love, I rebuke and chase in not enough to rebuke, but also to teach a different way. That's what chasing means. So what Nemiah was doing actually on behalf of the people, was demonstrating what? Demonstrating what? Demonstrating what? Love. How of You're thankful for neo mylike figures that will stand up against baloney. Amen. Look, you come to wimar to different programs, come to the New Star program. You don't come there to hear, you know everything in the supermarket's good. Just eat whatever. There's no bad foods. They're all just turned into chemicals anyway, go ahead, eat what you want. No, you're gonna die like everybody else very soon. But in the New Star program that this isn't, say the dairy industry is telling you some lies and they tell you the cheese you eat is the cheese you wear. These are harsh truths and they tell you the truth and you go, wow, I got a new start because somebody finally told me the truth. And you can't even say anything. You're silence. What about the depression recovery program? You come to the program and you hear Dr. Deli go, oh no, can't eat that. Oh no, can't drink that. Oh no, shouldn't watch that. Oh no time to get up. Oh no time to go to sleep. And there's all this science and then there's a scripture and you're going, huh? Yes silenced. But you go, Hey, what I was doing is not working cuz I'm depressed. That's why I'm here. How many of you are thankful for the Dr. Leys of the world? How many of you thankful for the Nehemiah type figures of the world? And this is what Nehemiah did. He said, look, those I love, I rebuke and chase. He had no problem talking to all the rulers and whatnot. Look, I've seen Dr. Nelly go to conferences with all kinds of physicians and he makes these presentations and all going late, they called a great assembly against him. Public explained what they were doing or why it was wrong, wasn't a time of speculation. He said, this is not a time for speculation When someone's sick, when someone's in trouble, when someone's working to build the wall, don't try and take advantage of them. Did you notice that his reasoning was not political, it was not financial, it was not spiritual, it was spiritual. I've never been in a room where people say, well we can't afford that financially. When even though that's not a spiritual good reason, you've never been in a room like that. And sometimes the spiritual things in life are put aside for supposed financial concerns. When really that's not a financial issue. It's not an economic issue, it's not a political issue, it's a spiritual issue. And what was the spiritual issue here? What did he say? Should you not walk in the fear of our God? How many wanna learn how to walk in the fear of God? Proverbs 1923, the fear of the Lord leads to life and he who has it will abide in satisfaction. He will not be visited with evil. How many gonna walk in satisfaction? Man, bottom line was his reasoning was not political. It was not financial. It was spiritual. You should walk in the fear of God. Now that doesn't mean fear of God has financial ramifications and even political sometimes, but was leading was the spiritual. In other words, gold does not rule. God rules those with gold should not flout, but follow the rules they should do unto others as they would have them do to them if they were in a similar situation. And his own life was such that it could be pointed to as an example. He said, look, I'm not doing this kind of thing. Please stop. Please restore their land. Please restore their money. And it was so compelling. It says that they were chark, they were silent means to be not only deaf but dumb to leave off speaking that had nothing to say. That's the kind of rebuke that is positive. Those who I love, I do what rebuke and chase. And once the Bible say in Proverbs, turn at my rebuke and I will do what? Pour out my spirit upon you. How many you want the Holy Spirit poured out on you, Then you are asking God to rebuke you because you're not gonna come up with it on your own. Some of you paid like 10,000 bucks to be here this week to be rebuked all week. Please rebuke me. Let me know. I'm stumped. Now, the layer to see in church doesn't like rebuke. It says, no, no, I'm rich and Chris with good, I'm good. They might even tell you, Hey, please don't, don't, don't preach such stern hard messages that rebuke me. I'm okay. But they're naked, wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, depressed, and they need recovery. Amen. So they said, what did they say after this? Where's verse 12? And we gotta start wrapping up here. They said, we will restore it. We will require nothing of them. We will do, as you say, this rebuke was so powerful, so comprehensive, so deliberate and such a compelling, and you might say loving way, that they just couldn't say anything, but okay. Alright. You're right. You are right. I will restore. I will repay. I'll do everything you say. Amen. How many want to have that kind of spirit if God actually shows you something you should do? It's was the power. Oh man. I've got two pages of notes left. But we're not doing 'em because we're gonna close up here. You know how hard that is for a preacher to say, we will restore, we will require nothing from them and we will do, as you say. But did he trust them? No. He said, I called the priest and required an oath of them that they would do according to this promise. So he goes, okay, that's good. That's good. You said you set up gonna do this. That's Great. Sign on the line. How many of you have ever been married? Did you have to sign anything? Oh yes you did. Did you have a service where everybody was invited? Her family. Your family, all kinds of people. They're all there witnessing. Now you sign the paper, you said I do. You said it. I saw you. I saw you. Because it's not enough to just say it. You gotta say it. You gotta do The vow. Woo. Do we live in a time of true speakers and vow breakers? You know, if you invest enough time with a spouse that they know all your problems, don't get rid of them because they're the only one that's like God in your life. They know everything about you. Yeah, they're gonna remind you hopefully in love unless you've alienated them. But you know, I was with a couple not so long ago, husband was on hospice. I visited him last week of his life. I was singing songs to him and talking with him and and he said to me, I've loved my wife all my life because of lust. She is good looking. And when I first saw her, the reason I wanted to marry her was for a lustful thoughts. But over the last three weeks, she's taken care of me. I can't move. I can't walk. She's cleaning up all of my excrements. She's rolling me over and I realize this woman loves me. This is the last week of his life. I realize now she has self-sacrificing love for me. I realize what agape love is and I wanna love her back that way. I said, why don't you tell her that? Why don't you tell her that? So she came in the room, he said, I need to tell you something. And right in front of me, he said, yeah, I want to tell you that I love you the wrong way, our whole marriage, our whole life, but I now love you with agape love. <unk>. She said, what does that mean? She didn't know. I explained it to her. I said, this is what that means. And they cried. They kissed each other on that week. He died. How in the world would they have ever known that if they gave up on the investment, if they gave up on the vow, how do you think vows are important? And that's why Nehemiah said, I rebuke you. And they said, are you right? And he said, what? Sign the vow. Sign the vow. You see, this is why these things in the Christian Church are not really, they're not just like, okay, well they're getting baptized today. Oh, isn't that nice? No, that's more than nice. That's making a public vow. Amen. Not my way, but God's way. How many think that's important? Because as they do that, as people do that, that frees them up from so much other stuff. I made a decision, mom, my life is actually much simpler and more powerful than ever before because now I'm focused. I have a vow that I've made. I don't have time to read the rest of the chapter, but you should because it ends with a picture of Nehemiah. Nehemiah didn't just say, I'm gonna rebuke you. He lived a life. The end of the chapter, he said he was feeding 150 people a day at his table. He was helping people all the day and all night. He never stopped building the wall and neither did his servants. He was committed. He had signed a vow and he was going through with it. So the chapter ends with a whole bunch of people that were vow breaking and taking an advantage of others, but ends with a picture of Nehemiah who is faithful in the building of the wall into the vows he's made. How many of you wanna be faithful to the vows you've made? How many thankful the vow that Jesus made to you. He said, I'd rather be cut in two than to lose you. I'd rather be cut in two. So do not see you in the kingdom. How many say hallelujah to a God like that? This media was brought to you by audio verse, A website dedicated to spreading God's word through free sermon, audio, and much more. If you would like to know more about audio verse or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audio verse.org.

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Walking in the Fear of the Lord

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