You can have joy that has nothing to do with the circumstances. In other words, you can have joy in the worst of times.
Dr. Tony Evans says real joy runs deeper than your situation. It's rooted in something the world can't explain. It is a divinely supplied peace that unbelievers can't figure out. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.
It's easy to let fear or fatigue keep us quiet about our faith. But what happens when we choose to stand up and celebrate God's goodness out loud? Today, Dr. Evans takes us to the top of the wall in Nehemiah's day, where those who once mocked God's people were silenced by the undeniable proof of His power. Let's listen and discover why real joy isn't rooted in feelings or circumstances, but in faithfulness. There are a number of observations I want to make from this passage.
First of all, I want to look at the prerequisite for celebration. Verse 27 says, now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. They're dedicating the restructuring of the wall or the stabilizing of their community. The rebuilding took place back in chapter 6, but they don't get around until the dedication to the beginning of chapter 12. The question on the floor is, why did it take six chapters from the time that the walls got right to the time that the people dedicate the walls? Why didn't they do it as soon as the walls were up?
Because when God dedicates things, He must always first be able to dedicate people. See, the walls were right, but the folk were wrong. They still had sin that they had gone unaddressed. They still had injustice in society that had gone unaddressed.
They still had unrighteous leaders that had gone unaddressed. You cannot dedicate a thing, as we'll see further in a moment, until you first dedicate the people who are running the thing. God never honors the thing until the people related to the thing are right.
So that was the prerequisite. Now, part and parcel of this celebration was the praise aspect, second half of verse 27. So they might celebrate and dedicate with gladness with the hymns of thanksgiving, with the songs, to the accompaniment of cymbals and harps and lyres.
This is going to be a big event. When God has been active in your personal life, family life, church life, or societal life, He deserves to be praised. How can the redeemed of the Lord be quiet when you know God has done something?
That is, unless you believe God didn't really do it, you did it yourself. When you understand who God is and what God has done, He deserves to be praised. And so the people are now preparing to praise Him.
Look at the participants. It says in verse 27 that they sought out the Levites from all their places. They got the clergy together and brought religion back at the center of the life of the people. And so once they center God at the hub of the culture, you see the church and state separate institutions, but yet singularly moving in a direction, because while you may separate institutions, you can never separate ideology.
And the ideology that governs a society, or as we put it in philosophical terms, a society's worldview, its posture, its mental belief about itself, and that relationship to God will determine a society's ability to function. Now, let's look at the purification, verse 30. And the priests and the Levites purified themselves. They also purified the people, then they purified the gates and the wall. The Hebrew word purify means to clean up or cleanse.
In this case, they would wash their clothes, take a bath, wash their bodies, and then take the blood of the sacrifices and sprinkle them for an offering for their sins. In other words, they were getting clean before a holy God. When we talk about the word holy, you got the holy land, you got the holy Bible, Jerusalem is the holy city, Christians are called holy ones, you're called saints, holy ones. That word means to be set apart. It means to belong to God.
Now, let me tell you a secret. You don't belong to you if you're a Christian. If you name the name of Jesus Christ, you don't belong to you anymore. The Bible says you have been bought with a price, and the price was the precious blood of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ, the New Testament word for purify, sanctified you.
He set you apart for his private use. The Bible says that the leaders first and then the people sanctified themselves. In other words, they made themselves clean before God. Now, one of the great doctrines that many people don't understand is the holiness of God. God is absolutely holy.
He doesn't tolerate any sin. A little sin on earth is open scandal in heaven. God is holy. That's why when we come before the presence of God, we've got to clean up our act. We can't be unholy and then jump in front of the presence of God. You can't go with unconfessed sins and expect God to accept your worship. God is holy.
He has a divine standard that he does not compromise. And so the first thing that they did was they what? They purified themselves.
They got themselves clean. Getting ourselves clean today means to confess our sins before holy God and walk in righteousness. And when we fail to do so, confess the lack of walking in righteousness that we are clean before holy God. God does not excuse sin.
He makes provision for it, but he never excuses it. God is holy. It says, and then they purified the gates and wall. In other words, what they were saying is that this wall represents the protection of our community.
And this gate represents the security of our community. And because we have now purified ourselves before you, we want you to purify the thing that you have given us that leads us to the procession. Verse 31, I have the leaders of Judah come up on top of the wall. I appointed two great choirs.
The first proceeding to the right, verse 38. The second choir proceeded to the left. So you've got one choir going counterclockwise. Another choir going clockwise. And they're having a big celebration on the wall.
Now, that may not seem like much to you, but what this means is that this is a big wall. I mean, you've got whole choirs and the nation is following, walking on a wall. What are they doing?
Well, I'll tell you what they're doing. They are demonstrating visually a panoramic view of what God had done. They said, let's climb on top of God's blessing.
Let's get up here where God's blessing is. Secondly, they reflected their unity. They all operated in the same flow. Thirdly, they all converged on the temple. They all came to the temple, verse 40, and then the two choirs took their stand in the house of God, and so did I and half of the officials with me. In other words, the celebration wound up at the central place, and the central place was the temple, and the temple represented the presence of God. God is to be at the center of everything in a person's life, a family's life, or a culture's life, if it is ever going to see God work in its context.
Now, that leads to proclamation, verse 43. And on that day, they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy. Even the women and the children rejoiced so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar. God had given them great joy. You know, far too many of us are joyless as Christians. We don't have any joy. But part of why we don't have joy is because we don't understand joy. First of all, I'm not talking about happiness.
You can be a rank sinner and be happy. Joy is spiritual tranquility provided by God. That's joy. Now, let me tell you what joy is not. Joy is not circumstantially related. In other words, you can have joy in the worst of times. You can have a doctor tell you, you're sick and still have joy. You can run out of money and still have joy. You can have joy that has nothing to do with your circumstances.
Now, don't get me wrong. God may bless you and thus give you joy, but even when he's not, quote, unquote, blessing you, you can still have joy because joy is spiritual tranquility provided by God unrelated to your circumstances. That's why the Bible says that Paul, when he was locked up in chains, had the joy of the Lord.
That's why Paul says in Philippians 4, rejoice from the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. What he's talking about is a divine tranquility that God provides that transcends your circumstances whereby he gives you a relaxed inner peace that is not conditioned by your external circumstances. In fact, the Bible says that this is a peace that passes understanding, and the reason that it passes understanding is nobody can figure out how you can be at peace at a time like this. You've got your world falling apart, and they say, I don't know how you can handle that, girl.
Well, I don't know how you can stand that. It is a divinely supplied peace that unbelievers can't figure out. That is what God is talking about, and that is the joy that they have here. They are rejoicing in the Lord. Now, please notice what's giving them joy. So that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar.
Now, that little phrase there, if you read it too quickly, you'll miss it. The joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar. In other words, these people were up on this wall doing it.
I mean, they were excited. They were marching around the wall, and they were just moving and singing and praising, and all of a sudden, the ripple of the noise went way out. Dr. Evans will return in just a moment to remind us how far God had brought them despite the mockery and doubt they faced along the way. First, though, I want to let you know that this powerful series of lessons we've been presenting from Dr. Evans on the book of Nehemiah is available in its entirety as our thank-you gift when you make a contribution to support the ministry of the alternative. Along with all 15 messages in this two-volume collection, we'll even include an additional bonus, a copy of Tony's compelling book, One Nation Under God. It's a timely resource that lays out a kingdom approach to turning our culture around, starting not in Washington, but in the hearts of God's people. Visit us today at tonyevans.org to request this special package, or call us at 1-800-800-3222 for assistance from our resource team. I'll have our contact information for you again after part two of today's lesson and this.
I urge you to take this course. Dr. Craig Evans, renowned expert on the New Testament, serves as the special guest lecturer for the Tony Evans Training Center course on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible. It covers very important ground, what they are and what they're not. One of the most significant archaeological finds of the 20th century, the Dead Sea Scrolls provide unparalleled insights into the accuracy of the Bible. These ancient manuscripts offer a treasure trove of historical and spiritual significance. They preserve for us the Hebrew Bible and shed light on the teaching of Jesus and the major contributors to the New Testament. The scrolls open a vivid window into the life and beliefs of the Jewish people during the time of Jesus. You will understand the Bible and Jesus and Christian origins better than you ever have before. Take your first step as an honorary amateur archaeologist. Dive into the Dead Sea Scrolls with special guest lecturer Dr. Craig Evans. Discover this and other fascinating biblical studies at tonyevanstraining.org.
Explore the kingdom anytime, anywhere. If you recall, way back in chapter 4, the enemies of Israel came out and made fun of them. They said, you're not going to be able to build this wall.
In fact, Tobiah said, if a fox bumps into it, it will fall over. In other words, he was making fun. Anybody ever made fun of you when you're trying to do right? Anybody ever made fun of you when you're trying to obey God? Anybody ever put you down and say, you're never going to make it, you can't do it?
Anybody ever discourage you from doing right? Well, they tried to discourage Nehemiah and told him a little fox was going to knock over their wall. So you know what they do when they build a wall? They get on top of the wall and start marching. They get on top of the wall and start marching. They may even skip the step.
I don't know. But they got on the wall, and they started marching. Now, what you know what they were saying? They were saying, Tobiah, look at this.
Fox this. Tobiah, check out what God has done. He not only has a wall that a fox can't knock over, he has a wall that a whole congregation can walk on.
What he was doing was showing off the blessings of God. If somebody's discouraging you from keeping on keeping on, stay faithful to God, because he's going to let your enemies become your footstools, okay? People who make fun of you for wanting to do right, one day some of you ladies are living moral lives, and it seems like the more moral you live, the worse things get. It seems like the more the purer you try to live for God, the more other people who are doing any other thing they want to make fun of you.
Oh, but when God gives you your guy, and you got his arm walking down the street, you'll be able to walk and go, look at this. In other words, stay faithful to God. When you stay faithful to God, when your change comes, then it will be far off, and they're going to be talking, and they're going to be telling the story.
Some of you are faithful at work. You're serving God as best you know how, and they're passing over the promotions, and you wonder how far God is. It looks like a fox could knock over your world, but stay faithful to God, and at the proper time, God is going to let your enemies become your footstool and say, look at this. Look at this. They told me, they said, I had some people tell me, you can't build a church off of expository preaching. You can't build a ministry off of teaching the Bible. Well, look at this.
Look at this. God is good, and God is able to make his grace abound, but only if you're dedicated. I'm not here to tell you, and anybody who tells you this, that living the Christian life is easy, you know they're not spiritual. You know they're not spiritual, because it's not. I mean, to try to live holy is hard. I mean, sometimes living the Christian life is hard. Praying sometimes is hard. Getting on your knees and fighting for what to say to God. Sometimes picking up the Bible is hard. Oh, but if you take a stand for God, the enemies from afar off will hear one day and will know that God has dealt mercifully with you.
Mercifully with you. The Christian church, if it would take a stand for God, then the secular society afar off would look at us and say maybe they were right all the time. But how can they believe us the way we act? How can they believe that we're any better than they are when we can't solve race problems in the church and we've all got the same father?
See, that is the folly of racism among Christians. Because if I ask you, who's your daddy, you're going to name the same person as my daddy. And if you got the same daddy, you're in the same family. You're in the same family. And just like all kids in one family are not alike, all kids in God's family are not alike. And all of God's kids are different. But there's one thing that marks us all, and that is we got the same daddy.
Same daddy. That's why there is no place in the Christian church for racism. That's not the case for non-Christians, but the Bible says the devil is their daddy. That's why we can't never expect them to solve it like Christians can, but we've got to think biblically.
We're going to address the problems that we face and not apologize for such a position. That's why you have to have a standard. You've got to have a standard, something that sits in judgment of our culture. And that's why you have people who won't criticize their own culture. They won't criticize their own culture.
They won't criticize their own culture. Never mind that it's wrong. He's a brother.
He's part of my race. Never mind that God has spoken on the subject. That's secondary to the fact that we all ought to be one. Yeah, but by what standard?
You've got to have a standard. And so the people proclaim, and it becomes a testimony to the community at large of the power and presence of God. When Christians really become Christian, sinners can't help but see it.
Finally, the provision. Verse 44, And on that day men were also appointed over the chamber of the stores, the contributions, the firstfruits, the tithes, to gather in them from the fields of the city the portions required by law for the priests and Levites, for Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who served. When they got right with God, they got back to what they were supposed to be doing. When they got right with God, they prioritized things. They began to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. They stopped robbing God. They stopped taking the money that belonged to God and keeping it for themselves. They stopped leaving God to last, called firstfruits. They began to bring to Him what He deserved first and then kept what they were supposed to have last. They got the order of worship in line. They stopped being stealers and robbers of God because they saw God as God should have been seen.
So they began to make provisions. See, if you really understood, if we really understood what the church is and if we really understood the impact that we would make, then it would be no problem getting people to serve. It would be no problem getting Christians to give. It would be no problem getting them to invest in eternal things.
Why? Because they understand and realize the importance of getting God's program out front rather than in the background. It's not that you live in your world and then you got another world over here. This is your only world. There are only two kingdoms, the Bible says. There is a kingdom of light and a kingdom of darkness, and everything you do relates to one kingdom. The tragedy today is Christians are trying to live in two kingdoms. They're trying to service God and service this world order at the same time, and you can't do that. We have a desperate need today for people who will put God's agenda first and watch God invade their agenda.
These are tough days, and we're facing some cataclysmic options. And we will either be caught standing still and watching on the sidelines while men who do not know God become the influencers, or we will so position ourselves as a Christian community that we will now begin to set the agenda for what racial relationships ought to be, for what economic prosperity ought to look like, for what politics ought to be like. Most politicians do not view that God is right when he says in Romans chapter 13 that the Bible says politicians are ministers of God. The Bible clearly states that, yet men do not want that. They do not want God to be a governing force in the morality of our day. And so people make their choices based on majority rule, based on what most people think rather than whether something is right or whether something is wrong. And we've got to do something about that.
That's why we've got to have godly people in the positions of power and authority who are able to make those delicate distinctions. But it means we're gonna have to be focused. We're gonna have to stop giving excuses and become focused, like the lady who was the famed violinist at New York's Carnegie Hall, when she was asked how she had become so skilled, she answered, she said, I've become so skilled by planned neglect.
She said, I plan to neglect anything that was not related to this goal. And what we need are some Christians with planned neglect, to neglect anything that is not in line with glorifying God in my life and using my talents and skills to give him glory. Dr. Tony Evans, with a challenge for us to make decisions rooted in God's truth and glory. Now don't forget to take advantage of the exclusive resource offer I mentioned earlier, all 15 messages from both volumes of Tony's sermon series on the book of Nehemiah, along with his insightful book, One Nation Under God. They're yours with our thanks when you make a donation to help keep this listener-supported program coming your way. Just visit tonyevans.org to make the arrangements or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222, where team members are standing by to assist with your request. That's 1-800-800-3222, or online at tonyevans.org. And then one final reminder, the latest episode of Stories from the Storyteller is now available in Best Dressed. A party mix-up leads to a powerful lesson about the king's banquet and being ready for God's invitation. It's the perfect time to introduce the kids in your life to this inspiring animated series. Watch it now at tonyevanstv.com.
That's tonyevanstv.com. As Nehemiah's story draws to a close, he offers one final word, an appeal for God to remember His faithful service. Tomorrow, Dr. Evans unpacks that heartfelt request and challenges us to embrace an attitude of investing our resources in ways that carry an eternal impact. Be sure to join us. .
