God's Master Plan For Your Life Sunday -- April 15, 2018 Protection Is A Part Of His Plan - Part 8 Pastor Theone Maupin, Jr. Nehemiah 13:23-31 Background: God has a master plan for your life--a preferred design and display --a blueprint. How can you try to build your life without first consulting the brilliant Architect of life, the One who created you for a wonderful purpose? His master plan for your life is so much bigger than you. In this series, God's Master Plan For Your Life, my sincere desire is that you'll learn practical steps for discovering and then living out God's master plan for your life. You are God's house. The Apostle Paul said it this way: "... Apollos and I work together for God, and you are God s building. God was kind and let me become an expert builder." (1 Corinthians 3:9-10 - CEV) The book of Nehemiah is a manual with the principles that God uses in rebuilding our lives. And, just as God led Nehemiah by giving him the priorities that he needed to rebuild Jerusalem, God is also willing to help us reinstitute principles essential to living a life of faith, Godly priorities and character. As we progress in this series, please spend time with Nehemiah. Listen to his prayers. Hear the passion in his heart for his family and fellow citizens to be restored relationally, physically and spiritually. God is still speaking His Master Plan to those who have a heart to hear and understand God's commitment to us and the response that He asks for. It's interesting that the first gate that Nehemiah restores is the Sheep Gate. The Sheep Gate is the gate through which the sheep passed who either were to be sold, or had already been sold, to be offered as a sacrifice. God is concerned that His people have shepherds - good shepherds. The second gate is the Fish Gate. God desires that his people have a passion to become fishers of men. The third gate is the Old Gate which represents our need to return to the "old paths." (Jeremiah 6:16) They are the truths that God has given in His Word that He intends to bring to order and blessing to our lives. The next several truths aren't depicted by a gate, but by principles. God wants His people to experience victory in their lives. Because that's His desire, He also equips us with everything that we need to have victory! Next in the process of the restoration of Jerusalem is that "Blessing is a part of God's plan for your life." God is a good Father and He wants to bless His children. It is God's will for our lives that we experience rest, the kind of rest that only He can give. It is a principle that God established in the fourth commandment. Rest is not only a command, but a blessing and a benefit that only comes by living according to God's plan. The third and final principle that Nehemiah re-establishes in Nehemiah 13 is the requirement that His people to live in accordance with His will so that they would know both His blessing and protection! God loves all people; every nation, tongue and tribe! Moreover, He wants all of them to come into a genuine relationship with Him. However, doing so requires that they not willingly compromise their commitment to honor Him in every area of their lives, but especially in marriage. Word Meaning: The name Nehemiah literally means "Comforter." He is a type, or symbol, of the Holy Spirit.
P a g e 2 It's important to remember that the reason that God implemented the principles of the tithe and the Sabbath is because He's a good Father and He wants to bless His children! Nehemiah 13:23-25 (NKJV - emphasis (23) In those days I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. (24) And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people. (25) So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves. THERE ARE TWO PRIMARY REASONS WHY GOD INSTRUCTED NEHEMIAH TO RE-ESTABLISH THE PRINCIPLE OF FORBIDDING MARRIAGE WITH FOREIGNERS AND NON-JEWS: I. It was never about race. It wasn't about race, it was about religion! God's heart has always been for all people! Mark 11:17 -- Then He (Jesus) taught, saying to them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations?'" (NKJV - clarity and emphasis Mark 13:10 -- And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. (NKJV - emphasis Matthew 28:19 -- Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (NKJV - emphasis Deuteronomy 7:7 -- The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; (NKJV - emphasis God does not favor one nation or one race above any other nation or race. The reason that He chose Israel is so that He might get everyone in the Kingdom! Genesis 12:3 -- "... And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (NKJV - emphasis Galatians 3:8 -- And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, In you all the nations shall be blessed. (NKJV - emphasis Word Study: The word that is translated as "nations" in the New Testament is the Greek word "ethnos." From it we get our English word "ethnic." God was saying: "Israel, the reason that I'm choosing you is because My heart is really for everyone. I'm going to set My love on you and bless you so that every nation will want to become the nation of God."
P a g e 3 1 Samuel 16:7b -- "For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. (NKJV - emphasis Revelation 5:9 -- And they sang a new song, saying: You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation," (NKJV - emphasis Revelation 7:9 -- After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, (NKJV - emphasis God looks at the heart. He loves people, all kinds of people. Heaven will be filled with people from every nation, tribe, people and tongue! To be prejudiced means to have pre-judged. You've made a judgment about someone before you know anything about them. II. It was always about protection. Deuteronomy 7:3-4 -- Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. For (Because) they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; (NKJV - clarity and emphasis Nehemiah 13:26 -- Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin. (NKJV - emphasis 1 Kings 11:1-8 (NKJV - emphasis and clarity (1) But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites (2) from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely (unquestionably, certainly, absolutely) they will turn away your hearts after their gods. Solomon clung to these in love. (3) And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. (4) For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David. (5) For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. (6) Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father David. (7) Then Solomon built a high place (temple) for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. (8) And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
P a g e 4 Solomon built one temple for God; and he built many temples for demons. He built a temple for each of his foreign wives (1 Kings 11:7-8). Ephesians 5:21 -- Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (NIV - emphasis How could you give your heart to a Satan worshipper and it not affect you? A There were two primary reasons why the sons of Israel gave their daughters to these foreign nations. 1. Protection: They didn't want that nation to attack them. (It's difficult to attack a nation where your grandkids live.) 2. Provision: They wanted to do business with them. Protection and provision can only come from the Lord! B. Daughters were often treated as property (chattel) in those days 1. Providing your daughter in marriage to a foreign ruler was primarily a business deal. 2. Marriages weren't rooted in love, but in fear. a. Fear of invasion and slavery. (Slaves were actual property who could be bought, sold, traded or inherited.) b. Fear of poverty. Malachi 2:11 -- Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah has profaned the LORD s holy institution (marriage) which He loves: He has married the daughter of a foreign god. (NKJV - emphasis and clarity Malachi 2:11 -- Judah has cheated on GOD a sickening violation of trust in Israel and Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the holiness of GOD (God's institution) by falling in love and running off with foreign women, women who worship alien gods. (MSG - emphasis and clarity There are two fathers: the Father of light and the father of darkness. There is the Father of truth and there is the father of lies. Here in Malachi 2, God is saying that Judah has desecrated the holiness of marriage and has married the daughter of Satan. 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 (NKJV - emphasis (14) Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? (15) And what accord has Christ with Belial (Satan)? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? (16) And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
P a g e 5 God will protect you if you'll let Him. But, you must be willing to live by His principles, one of which is, "Be watchful of who you make alliances with. They might draw your heart away from God."