Okay, this evening we're going
to bring our message from Nehemiah chapter 12. And specifically,
I'm going to take a good look at verse 43. Let's read Nehemiah
12, 43. Also that day, this is the day
of dedication. The day they dedicated the wall
that had been completed. They dedicated the wall unto
the purpose of God. And that day they offered great
sacrifices, and as they offered great sacrifices, they rejoiced. They rejoiced in the Lord, for
God had made them glad. God had made them rejoice with
great, great joy. Their wives, their children,
they also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even
many miles away. They heard this great worship
service going on. I'm taking the title for the
message from verse 43. God made them rejoice with great
joy. May the Lord be pleased this
evening to cause us to rejoice. May God make us to rejoice in
our heart with great joy. They offered great and many blood
sacrifices unto the Lord. And they were made to rejoice
in the redemption of their soul. That's what they were rejoicing
in. They were rejoicing that their sins were put away. They
were made to rejoice in the pardon of God upon the blood of atonement
being made for their sins. And we know that all of that
points to the Lord Jesus Christ. Is not that true with us today?
We do rejoice in God's mercy to us in Christ. Ephesians 1,
7 says this, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. And
then three times in that chapter he said, to the praise of the
glory of his grace. Now these people in that day
had many reasons to rejoice. had many reasons to rejoice and
to be thankful. They had been delivered from
70 years of hard bondage and captivity. They're in a strange
land in Babylon, knowing that their home town of Jerusalem
had been destroyed, knowing that they were carried away and many,
many thousands had been killed and many were carried away into
captivity. with no way to escape, having
no ability, no power, no way to escape. And then the Lord
one day raised up a pagan king by the name of Cyrus. God even
named him 200 years before he was born. God named him and God
told him and decreed what he would do. You remember, God stirred
the heart of Cyrus and he set the people free and God gave
that pagan king a command to those people to go back to Jerusalem,
go back home and rebuild that temple and institute blood sacrifices
again unto the Lord. What an amazing turn of events. God raised up a man to set them
free. They were blessed in many ways
with leaders like Zerubbabel, who is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is in the human lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord came from David, Solomon,
down through Zerubbabel. If you look at his humanity,
son of David, They were blessed with leaders like Zerubbabel,
like Ezra, the ready scribe of God, like Nehemiah. Nehemiah
was a man of great courage and faith, was he not? In the face
of hard, hard opposition. He stayed steadfast and faithful,
committed to the work of the Lord. They were blessed to rebuild
the temple of God, to return to worshiping the true and living
God around the blood, upon the mercy seat. You remember the
Lord said in Exodus 25, He said, I will meet with you and commune
with you above that mercy seat or around or upon that mercy
seat. And we know that mercy seat where
that priest went into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement
and put blood on that mercy seat. We know God said there I'll meet
with you and we know that all of that is a picture of Christ
who is our mercy seat. That's where God meets us in
reconciliation and in mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. They were blessed in so many
ways, were they not? No wonder they're giving thanks.
No wonder they're rejoicing in the Lord. They were also blessed
to rebuild the wall that wall of protection around the city
of Jerusalem. And remember they had great opposition
from Sanballat, from Tobiah, and from Geshem, who laughed
at them, who mocked them, who tried to discourage them from
building the wall. Nehemiah just kept right on working.
And when they attacked them, They were building the wall with
one hand, had a sword in the other hand, ready to fight or
to build. Whatever came their way, they
were ready. Ready. They were blessed in so
many ways. You remember the work was completed
and it was a tremendous work. 52 days. Amazing. That's an amazing construction.
You talk about a deadline. They met it. And God blessed
them in so many ways. They were blessed, you remember,
in chapter eight, in the reading and hearing of the word of the
Lord. They had that great meeting and the reading of the word from
morning till evening. And they had that great revival
around the word of the Lord. And then in chapter eight, verse
10, the joy, it says, the joy of the Lord was their strength.
The joy of Jehovah was their strength. As I said then, repeat
it once more, the joy of Jehovah is the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember? The Lord speaks from heaven and
said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And then in Proverbs chapter
8, the Lord Jesus Christ has always been the delight of the
Father. Daily He was His delight. Now we see in this chapter, Nehemiah
chapter 12, there was a dedication under the wall, and there was
much thanksgiving. Did you notice that as we read
down through this chapter? Look back at verse 8 again. There
was Cadimel, Sherobiah, Judah, Matanah which were over the thanksgiving. These men were set forth as leaders
in this thing of giving thanks unto the Lord. Again down in
verse 24. to praise and to give thanks
according to the commandment of David, the man of God, ward
after ward, tribe after tribe, family after family. Verse 27,
again we read, at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they
sought the Levites out of their places to bring them to the dedication,
to keep the dedication with gladness, both with Thanksgiving. Well,
there was much Thanksgiving going on. Down in verse 31, Then I
brought up the princes of Judah upon the wall, and appointed
two great companies to them that gave thanks. And they went upon
the wall worshiping God. Over in verse 38, the other company
of them that gave thanks went over against them, and I after
them. They went upon the wall giving
thanks unto the Lord. Down in verse 40, so stood the
two companies of them that gave thanks in the house of God, I
and half of the rulers with me, that is, I, Nehemiah. Down in verse 46, who in the
days of David and Asap of old, there were chief singers. and
songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God. What just impressed
me was I read this chapter and read it over again. At the dedication
of the wall, what were they doing? Giving thanks unto the Lord. We read a moment ago over here
in 1 Thessalonians. Don't turn, let me just read
it to you again. Chapter 5, Rejoice Evermore. Pray without ceasing,
in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you." Boy, these folks were doing the will of
God, were they not? Rejoicing, praising, and giving
thanks unto the Lord. Evidently, they used many of
the Psalms of David, as it says there, the days of David and
of Asap, Many of the Psalms that they were using, and I thought
of just a few Psalms, if you want to turn with me you can,
find Psalm 100, Psalm 100 verse 4, Psalm 100 verse 4, and there
are many Psalms that we could read about the thanksgiving unto
the Lord. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving.
and into His courts with praise. Be ye thankful unto Him, and
bless His name, bless His name, bless the name, bless the name
of the Lord, and give thanks unto the Lord. Again, look at
Psalm 118. Psalm 118, and you could turn
to a hundred different places in the book of Psalms. Psalm
118, verse 1, Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, For he is good,
because his mercy endures forever. And then, of course, you can't
leave out Psalm 136, turn over there. Verse 1, O give thanks unto the
Lord, for he is good, his mercy endures forever. O give thanks
unto the God of gods, for his mercy endures forever. Oh, give
thanks to the Lord of lords for his mercy endures forever. Giving thanks unto the Lord. He's worthy of it. Worthy is
the land that was slain to receive all honor, glory, and blessing
both now and forever. And we as believers of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, We too have very much to be thanked
before, and to rejoice in, and we can add that word, much more. Much more. Much more. Rejoicing
evermore, praying without ceasing, and in everything, giving thanks
unto the Lord. When I'm having a good day, I'm
having a bad day. When I'm up, when I'm down. When
I'm sad, when I'm happy. Giving thanks unto the Lord always. And then I thought of this verse
in Colossians chapter 1. Giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light in Christ, who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, giving thanks unto the Father. And then Colossians chapter three,
we read this. And let the peace of God rule
in your hearts, to the which also you were called in one body,
and be ye thankful. If there's anything that ought
to be said of a believer resting in the Lord Jesus Christ, is
thankfulness. Oh to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter
bind my wandering heart to thee. Now in the dedication of the
wall, Nehemiah divide this great host of priests and Levites upon
the wall, and divided them into two companies. One led by Ezra,
who was a ready scribe, the priest of God, and the other led by
Nehemiah. We know that Nehemiah was the
governor, right? Verse 36, it tells us that, and
verse 38. But I thought about this. Both
Ezra and Nehemiah are pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ezra
the ready scribe, the Lord Jesus Christ is the priest, he's the
king, and Nehemiah the governor, and we know the Lord Jesus Christ
is the captain of our salvation, he is the chief shepherd, the
good shepherd, the only shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. And the government shall rest
upon his shoulders. I was listening Sunday morning,
listening to the radio program, our radio program here, When
I get done studying, I come over early Sunday morning. I listen
to the radio program at 8.30. And when it's over, I get in
my truck and head back home for breakfast. And I was listening
for just a moment to the preacher that follows me. And he said,
and here's what he said, he said, The government will be upon the
shoulders of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of these days, he's gonna
rule. I thought, oh, what's he doing now? He is the governor
of all things right now. A child is born, a son is given,
and the government's upon his shoulders. And the increase of
his government, there shall be no end. We're not waiting for
the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ in some kingdom down the road,
and talking about that millennial kingdom, the Lord reigns right
now. He always has. Now think about
this though. This was a great high day in
Jerusalem. They were so blessed in so many
ways. And according to one of the readers
that I look after, Matthew Henry, estimated This was about 400
years before the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I thought about this, and
here's the thought that crossed my mind. Sad to think what has
become of Jerusalem today, even in the day in the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ, some 400 years after this day of Nehemiah and
the dedication of the wall, even when the Lord Jesus Christ came
to Jerusalem in that day, oh, he found such, such terrible
things going on in the name of God. But think about Jerusalem
today. Think about that nation today,
nothing but an empty shell of its former glory. You remember
we read from Luke 13, the Lord said, your house is left unto
you desolate, empty, barren, and dead. The Lord has cut off
that barren tree, bear no fruit. That nation which had no fruit,
Forty years after the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, just a
mere forty years, the Romans came and they were in control,
but the Romans came in the year of 70 A.D. and they destroyed
that place. They leveled that place. They
killed and crucified nearly every Jew they could find. I read one
account of that destruction that they crucified so many people
that they actually ran out of trees. They ran out of wood. They couldn't find any more wood
to hang anybody up. They just slaughtered so many
people. And the Lord says, And He told
them people about that day that was coming. Let me just read
it to you. Matthew 24, we're going to study
it in Luke 19. But in Matthew 24, the Lord says
this to His disciples. Listen. And Jesus went out and
departed from the temple, And his disciples came to him to
show him the buildings of the temple. I mean, they were impressed. Lord, look at these buildings
of the temple. And that was the second reconstruction
of the temple. It wasn't even the temple that
was reconstructed in Ezra's day. And the Lord said unto them,
See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there
shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not
be thrown down." That wall that was built, leveled again, leveled
again, for their rebellion and sin against God. Now, that brings us down to verse
43, Nehemiah 12, verse 43. For a few moments, I want us
to camp around Verse 43, and again, glean a few gospel nuggets. They offered, it says there,
also that day they offered great sacrifices. That is, they offered
many blood sacrifices that were made unto the Lord. It's always
the blood on the altar of the Lord that is sacrificed unto
the Lord, that is acceptable before the Lord. And we know
all of that tells us about the importance of Christ and the
shedding of His blood. Christ, He is our altar. The
altar sets the sacrifice apart. And Christ is our sacrifice. He came, He didn't bring the
blood of bulls and goats, did He? He brought his own blood
and sacrificed for us. It's much like they did when
the temple was rebuilt. When they dedicated a temple,
turn back to Ezra, Ezra chapter 6. verse 16, verse 15, Ezra 6, verse
15. And this house was finished on
the third day of the month, Adar, in the sixth year of the reign
of Darius. And the children of Israel, the
priests and the Levites and the rest of the children of the captivity
kept the dedication of this house. And they offered at the dedication
of the house of God a hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, 400
lambs for a sin offering for all Israel, 12 he goats, according to the numbers of the
tribes of Israel." Now, they offered many, many sacrifices. You remember when we studied
over in 1st or 2nd Kings, I can't remember which, when the Temple
of Solomon was completed, how many thousands of animals were
sacrificed? unto the Lord, showing the great,
great thankfulness of their heart." Now, they offered hundreds, even
thousands of animal sacrifices, but we know the blood of an animal
cannot take away the sin of a fallen man. We know that the blood of
bulls and goats cannot take away sin, but it did picture the way
of substitution and satisfaction in the Lord Jesus Christ. John
the Baptist came along and identified the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who did take away our sin by the sacrifice of himself. Studying a message today, a TV
sermon by Brother Mahan from 1 John 3, verses 1-5, but it
reminded me again that verse in verse 5 of John
3, 1 John 3, 5, He was manifested to take away our sin, and in
Him is no sin. That's why He came. He came not
to make an effort to put away sin. He didn't come to try to
attempt to put away sin. He came and put away the sin
of His covenant people by that one, not many, sacrifices By
the one offering, He perfected forever them that are sanctified. The glorious sacrifice of Christ
was not offered many times, but only once. One sacrifice got
the job done, didn't it? One sacrifice for His Israel,
for His people. Call His name Jesus, He shall
save His people from their sin. We also know without the shedding
of blood there is no remission. God requires that His law be
honored, and that is only done through the Lord Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. That's why we always are busy
about preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We also
know that God still says, when I see the blood, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. When I see that blood sacrifice,
applied to your heart by the power of God, justified by His
blood. When I see the blood I'll pass
over you, it is only the great atonement of Christ that God
is satisfied with. So much so that He said, their
sin, remember Hebrews 10? Hebrews 10, was it verse 17?
Their sin and their iniquity will I remember no more. Now that's an atonement. That's
an affectionate atonement. And then Jeremiah said this,
"...in those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none, and
the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found." It's just not
that the Lord covered them up, He put them away. He made an
end of our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Well, I will pardon
them whom I reserve. Now here's the second thing.
God made them to rejoice. You see that? They offered great
sacrifices. Great many sacrifices. And every
one of those sacrifices pointed to the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And God made them to rejoice
with great joy. Great joy. There was great joy
to be, and there is, there is making application to us. There
is great joy to be experienced in the gospel of God, the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is great joy to be experienced
in the gospel of the grace of God. And we experience that joy. We experience that joy, don't
we? We are the true Israel, which worship God in the Spirit, that
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and we have no confidence in the
flesh. And then Paul said in that same book, Philippians,
and the whole book is taken up with rejoicing in the Lord. He
says in chapter 4, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I
say, rejoice in Him. Oh, we have great reasons, don't
we, to be thankful and to rejoice in the Lord? Let me give you
four reasons, I'll let you go home. four reasons, and I'll
let you go home. First one is this, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. God's not angry with
us. We have peace with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and we're complete in Him, and He made
peace for us with His own blood. He reconciled us unto God and
reconciled God unto us. We have peace with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through Him. He made peace for us with His
own blood. Rejoice in Him with great joy.
And we do, don't we? Secondly, we have in the Lord
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, we have a justifying righteousness
before God. That's why we say with the Apostle,
we count everything else lost, dung and ruined, that we may
win Christ and be found in Him, not having our own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, Blessed
is the man whom the Lord imputed righteousness without work, saying,
Blessed are they whose iniquities are covered. Blessed is the man
whom the Lord will not impute sin. Sin not imputed to you? No. Charred to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He bare our sin in His own body
on the tree. Thirdly, we have right now the
total and complete eternal, complete forgiveness
of all our sins. All of our sins. The blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all our sins. And we can say original sin,
talking about Adam's transgression that was imputed and reckoned
to us, We talk about actual sin. 1 John 3 verse 4 says, For sin
is a transgression of the law of God. We've all sinned and
come short of the glory of God. Sin of omission, where I should
have done and did not. Sin of commission, things that
I should not have done, I should not have done and did. Sin past, Sin present, sin future. That covers it. If you think
of anything more, let me know. All sin, the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all our sin. As I said to you earlier,
the blood atonement of Christ is so effectual and so prevailing
and so powerful that God Almighty who knows all things said their
sin and their iniquity will I remember no more. That's good news. And we rejoice in Him with great
joy, don't we? We have in Christ right now an
eternal inheritance, the inheritance of all grace now and glory forever. Now don't turn, let me get this
for you because we just had this in our Bible study last Sunday
or Sunday before. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, Romans 8, 14, they are the sons of God, For
we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
we have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. Behold what
manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should
be called sons of God. And if children, then heirs of
God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with
him, that we may be also glorified together with him. We have an eternal inheritance
that will never be taken away. You know, you can be an heir
or be written in on somebody's will, last will and testament,
And somebody in the family could contest that will and go over
here to town and contest that will and have it changed. This
will and testament of the Lord Jesus Christ can never be altered,
can never be changed. We read about it this way, Peter
puts it this way, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten
us into a living hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept
by the power of God. Kept. We were by nature, children
of wrath, even as others, dead in sin, but God, who is rich
in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when
we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ, and
made us sit together in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. No
longer children of wrath, even as others, but now sons of God.
Sons of God by his love, He loved us with an everlasting love,
therefore with loving kindness does he draw us to himself. We
are sons of God, children of God by his choice. The Lord said,
you didn't choose me, but I chose you. We are sons of God and children
of God by his call. He called us out of darkness
into his marvelous light, that we should show forth the praises
of him who called us. And we are now children and sons
of God by his grace. It's God who saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace. Also that day, they offered great
sacrifices. And they rejoiced, for God had
made them rejoice with great joy. Their wives also, their
children rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard way
off. Now, think of the joy of the
new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven. What joy that'll
be. This is just the foretaste of
glory to come.