The sermon delivered by Scott Brown focuses on Nehemiah 12, where the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem is celebrated with great joy and thanksgiving. It highlights the roles of the priests and Levites, who were instrumental in leading worship and maintaining the spiritual heritage of the people. The passage reflects a hundred-year journey of the exiles who returned from Babylon, overcoming hardships and threats while rebuilding their community. The dedication ceremony involved music, singing, and sacrifices, symbolizing true joy stemming from God's greatness. The sermon emphasizes the importance of understanding this joy as genuine, contrasted with the fleeting nature of fake joy. The narrative points forward to Jesus Christ as the ultimate fulfillment of the priestly role, demonstrating that true worship and joy are found in Him. The sermon concludes with a call to rejoice in God's provisions, both historically and in the present, and to maintain a church that is Bible-saturated, musical, thankful, pure, and visible.

If you could turn to Nehemiah 12, starting in verse 1. Now these are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel, the son of Sheltiel and Jeshua. Saraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, Amariah, Maluk, Hattush, Shekiniah, Raham, Merimoth, Iddo, Genethoi, Abijah, Mejamen, Maadaya, Belgah, Shemaiah, Joyerim, Jeddah, Salu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jeddah. These are the heads of the priests and their brethren in the days of Jeshua. Moreover, the Levites were Jeshua, Benui, Kadmiel, Sherabiah, Judah, and Mataniah, who led the thanksgiving Psalms, he and his brethren.

Also, Bakb'akiah and Huni, their brethren, stood across from them in their duties. Jeshua begot Joachim, and Joachim begot Elishaib, Elishaib begot Joyada, and Joyada begot Jonathan, and Jonathan begot Jaduah. Now in the days of Joachim, the priests, the heads of the father's houses, were of Saraiah, Mariah, of Jeremiah, Hananiah, of Ezra, Meshulam, of Amariah, Jehonah, of Melakku, Jonathan, of Shabaniah, Joseph, Melikou Jonathan of Shebaniah Joseph of Haram Adna of Marrioth Okia of Iddo Zechariah of Ginnathon Meshulum of Abijah Zikri the son of Minjaman, of Moadiyah Pilthai, of Bilgah Shamua, of Shemaiah Jehonatham, of Joyerib Matinah, of Jeddah Uzi, of Salai Kalai, of Amak Ebir, of Hilkiah Mashabiah, and of Jadaiya Nethanel. During the reign of Darius the Persian, a record was also kept of the Levites and priests who had been heads of their fathers' houses in the days of Eliashib, Joyda, Jehanan, and Jaduah. The sons of Levi, the heads of the fathers' houses until the days of Jehanan, the son of Eliashib, were written in the book of the Chronicles.

And the heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Cadmeo, with their brothers across from them to praise and give thanks, group alternating with group, according to the command of David, the man of God. Mataniah, Bakbacaiah, Obadiah, Meshulam, Talman, and Achab were gatekeepers, keeping the watch at the store rooms of the gates. These lived in the days of Joachim, the son of Jeshua, the son of Josadach, and in the days of Nehemiah, the governor, and of Ezra, the priest, the scribe. Now, at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought out the Levites in all their places to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgiving and singing, with symbols and stringed instruments and harps. And the sons of the singers gathered together from the countryside around Jerusalem, from the villages of the Nidaphaethites, from the house of Gilgal, and from the fields of Giba and Asmaveth, for the singers had built themselves villages all around Jerusalem.

Then the priests and the Levites purified themselves and purified the people, the gates and the wall. So I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall and appointed two large thanksgiving choirs. One went to the right hand on the wall toward the refuse gate. After them went Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah and Azariah, Ezra, Meshulam, Judah, Benjamin, Shemaah, Jeremiah, and some of the priests sons with trumpets. Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mataniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zakur, the son of Asaph, and his brethren, Shemaiah, Azuriel, Milali, Gilali, Ma'ai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God.

And Ezra the scribe went before them. By the fountain gate in front of them they went up the stairs of the city of David on the stairway of the wall beyond the house of David, as far as the water gate eastward. The other Thanksgiving choir went the opposite way, and I was behind them with half of the people on the wall, going past the tower of the ovens as far as the broad wall, and above the gate of Ephraim, above the old gate, above the fish gate, the tower of Hananael, the tower of the hundred, as far as the sheep gate, and they stopped by the gate of the prison. So the two thanksgiving choirs stood in the house of God, likewise I and half of the rulers with me, and the priests, Enochim, Messiah, Benjamin, Micaiah, Ilonai, Zechariah and Hananiah with trumpets. Also, Masi'iah, Shemaiah, El-Azhar, Uzi, Jehonan, Malkijah, Elam, and Azir.

The singers sang loudly with Jezariah the director. Also, that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. The women and the children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off. And at the same time, some were appointed over the rooms of the storehouse for the offerings, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions specified by the law for the priests and Levites. For Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who ministered.

Both the singers and the gatekeepers kept the charge of their God and the charge of the purification according to the command of David and Solomon his son. For in the days of David and Asaph of old, there were chiefs of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. In the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah, all Israel gave the portions for the singers and the gatekeepers, a portion for each day. They also consecrated holy things for the Levites, and the Levites consecrated them for the children of Aaron. Let's pray.

Lord God, we come before you And we thank you for this wonderful Lord's Day that you have brought us together to worship you with thanksgiving, with joy, with songs of praise. And God, now as we turn to hear your word proclaimed, I pray, God, that you would give each of us attentive hearts and minds. Open up our ears, God, that we may hear and understand your word. And God, I pray that what we see in this text would be true of us, that we would rejoice because you have made us rejoice with great joy, that the men and the women and the children here would all rejoice and that the joy of this church would be heard afar off, because you have made us joyful. Be with our Elder as he brings your word, God.

In Christ's name we pray, amen. As we arrive here in Nehemiah chapter 12, much has happened to these exiles who came out of Babylon after their 70 years of captivity. And now when we pick up the story here in chapter 4, they've been in Judah for a hundred years, and a lot has happened, and God has continuing His work with them. But you know, all through this period of time as we've walked through Nehemiah, you know they've experienced lots of hardships, some really heartbreaking things have taken place There have been threats from the outside and famine that has come upon these people and they're in the midst of a famine now, and from the inside they had, you know, faltering faith and people going to sleep spiritually and just laying down their tools and not building the wall anymore. They did that for 16 years in the early part of this narrative.

And even as this restoration and Reformation was going on, some of the brethren were not behaving lovingly toward their brethren. So There were all kinds of difficulties in the midst of this great reformation. It was a great reformation, by the way. And this is a 117-year chronicle of the reformation of the exiles who returned from Babylon after those 70 years. And so now, in the passage that we're in, a month after the wall has been completed, the wall is now being dedicated.

And even in the midst of these troubled times that you experience and that I might experience, there are times when the people of God need to stop and give thanks and look back and look around and look to the future. And that's what we find here in this passage. And in Nehemiah 12 here, the wall is dedicated, and we read in verse 43 that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off. And what had happened is that you had a great God who gave them a great sense of his presence and they sacrificed great sacrifices and God gave them great joy. All of those are connected.

The greater God is to you, the greater the sacrifices you'll give and as a result the greater joy there will be. That's really what we find all over the Bible. And so God has done marvelous things, you know, for these people in spite of their current economic and social upheaval and the threats that they're under. And so what we have is in chapter 12 is about a hundred year look back, a moment of time that looks back to the times of the Reformation since the captives returned from Babylon. And so there's this great dedication, and the people are identifying with the Reformation.

And of course, all this points forward to Jesus Christ, our great high priest who fulfills really every part of this. We'll see how he does that later on in our time. I want to direct your eyes to verse 43, if you could look there with me. This is a reformation of great joy because God was great in their midst. Also that day, they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy the women and the children also rejoiced so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off You children count how many times joy or rejoices in that one verse.

Well, that's really the heart of the text This is this this is really the central message of this of this passage of Scripture It was a reformation that God did in the hearts of people. It was real, it was true, it was true joy. You know, in anything in life there are always two versions of it. The things that we want and need the very most always come in two different kinds of packages to us. The true package and the fake package.

And there's true love and there's also fake love. There's true joy and there's also fake joy. This is a picture of true joy here in this passage and You know this there's a way that you can have a particular kind of fake joy in this world, I'm gonna connect it with silliness and But this this is this is a church that had a real joy. You know, when you fill your own life with silliness, you might get laughs, but you don't get a life. But these people had a life, and this chapter really shows you what their life was and it's really a very beautiful and encouraging one.

Okay, look at the outline in front of you. As you can see, I've divided into three sections And then finally a section of application which I hope to spend quite a bit of time on after we walk through it. The first section is a picture of rejoicing in the legacy of the Levites and the priests over the past 100 years, and it's a list, a long list, and we're going to actually walk through the list quickly That's verses 1 through 26 the second the second Section is this joyful dedication of the wall with singing and music and you'll find that in verses 27 to 43 and the third section is their joyful obedience in providing for the worship of God. You see a great diligence to provide for the worship of God and the work of the priests and the Levites and the gatekeepers and everybody else who's involved in the worship of God. And so what you find in these three sections, in the first section, you find this faithful generation of priests and Levites who served the people of God for a hundred years, they look back.

That's important. If you're going to be a person who rejoices with true joy, it really is important that you can look back and see the providence of God in all that He's provided. They look back a hundred years. And then the second, in the second section, it's this dedication of the wall with singing and music. And what they're doing is they're now looking around at what God is doing among them now.

And if you want to have true joy, you should do that You should be able to look and see how God has provided for you now and then finally this in the last section Joyful obedience and providing for the worship of God now. They're looking forward they're really ensuring that the worship of God will be financed and that the things that surround the bringing of the Word of God and the worship of God and the blessings of God to the people in gathering the people, that those things are provided for, the people are provided for, the facilities are provided for, everything is provided for. And so you have you have a picture of these people who are saying we're going to provide this. Now you'll find in our next instruction in chapter 13 that they actually stopped doing this because Nehemiah left for 12 years and he came back and he found out that they had stopped doing it because that is something that does happen among God's people they forget to provide abundantly for the worship of God So that's a that's sort of a bird's-eye view of it. But again, but again they are rebuilding the ruins of their lives.

They're returning home and it's a long way home isn't it? You return home and you confess your sins and you trust that Jesus Christ is your only hope for salvation. And then you find out that it's a journey home, that there's a highway of holiness. This is a picture of a 117-year highway of holiness for these people, and so it's very valuable to us. But we cannot forget verse 43.

They're offering great sacrifices because God made them rejoice, and they had great joy as a result of it. That's the that's sort of the cascading waterfall that you find. God puts it in their hearts and then they rejoice with great joy because they're making great sacrifices. Okay, now we're gonna walk through these sections. So if you would, I hope your Bibles are open and your eyeballs are on the text, and we're going to, I'm gonna walk you through this first section where we see the rejoicing in the legacy of the Levites and the priests over the past 100 years.

So beginning in verse 1, in verses 1 through 9, these are the names of the priests that came up with Zerubbabel and Yeshua back at the very beginning. This is the first wave of the exiles out of captivity who came back about a hundred years ago. So that's a list of those priests there. And notice it's the list of the heads of the priests and their brethren in the days of Jeshua. That's in verse 6.

So verses 1 through 7 really give us the heads of the priests during Zerubbabel. Then in verses 8 and 9 there are Levites of the first generation. Verse 8, moreover, the Levites were Jeshua, Benui, Cadmiel, and so forth, and they were leading the thanksgiving Psalms, he and his brethren. So this legacy of thanksgiving and singing and instruments, that was happening right at the beginning when they rebuilt the altar and then they rebuilt the temple. These are the things that were happening in the beginning and these are the people who did it.

Their names are important. God raised them up for a particular purpose and they did it and they and then it didn't stop with them in verses 10 and 11 you see the succession through the generations that they had they had children and there there was jeshua begot and he's having children now and now the next generation and then the next generation So it's this picture of the first generation coming back, but then there's a faithful remnant that followed their parents' faith. So there's a list of those there in verses 10 and 11. It's interesting, it begins with Jeshua. You remember who Jeshua was?

Well, of course, he was the first...he was the first priest that came back from captivity. But 1 Chronicles chapter 6 verse 14 tells us that he was the son of the high priest who was first carried away to Babylon. And so he now is picking up where actually I believe it was his grandfather left off. And so then there are the names of the next generation of priests. We saw the Levites.

The next generation of priests is in verses 12 through 21. And so there's this generational progression that fathers have taught their sons and their sons are continuing on in the faith. And then when we get to verse 22, we find the Levites in Nehemiah's time. Now, do you see the word Darius in there in verse 22? During the reign of Darius, the Persian, a record was also kept of the Levites and priests who had been heads of their father's houses in the days of Eliashib, Jehoiada, and so forth.

And they were written in the book of Chronicles. So these are references. There's another record we don't have, the record of Darius the king. We think it's Darius the king. And he kept a record of these things.

And you notice in verse 24, there's this beautiful picture of their antiphonal singing. You know, there's one on one group on one side singing to the group on the other side who are singing to a group on the other side. A very beautiful way of singing praise and giving thanks, which is what you read very specifically in verse 24. With their brothers across from them to praise and give thanks, group alternating with group, according to the command of David, the man of God. Don't forget to notice that language, according to the command of David, the man of God.

How many times have we encountered a phrase like this in Ezra and Nehemiah? Well, there's more about that later, I think, particularly as we enter into the application. So what you find here is that you have a generation that's praising God for the previous generations in verses 1 through 26. Verse 44 gives us a very interesting phrase, for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who ministered. In other words, they're rejoicing over their priests and Levites they're so thankful what God did that God brought this first wave back and their children continue to serve they they they they loved their priests and their Levites as they looked back.

They looked back with appreciation for them. Now I want to give you four important things that this first list teaches. First of all, the priests and the Levites represent God-regulating worship. They ordered their worship according to what God had prescribed. That's why the priests and the Levites are doing what they're doing.

They didn't just appoint these random people, They were actually offices and appointments according to the Word of God. And we've encountered this many times. And so now, why this list again? We've already read lists like this. But they're looking back, giving thanks for those that have gone before before them.

They are a Spiritual heritage of them and let me just take it a little step further They're also your spiritual heritage. These are these are your spiritual fathers and mothers because they were the ones that God used to keep worship alive in the world so that when so that when the time was right you began to worship God you know the gospel came to my wife's family on the island of Barbados in the 18th century. And they, her, her ancestors were there on the island of Barbados and some missionaries came, you know, on a rickety old boat and preached the gospel. And that was the beginning of the gospel in her family. Well, why was the gospel preserved, you know, until the 18th century?

The same way it was preserved in this century here. God, God ensures that He will keep His seed alive, and He will keep saving people from one generation to the next. And He uses means. Here He used the priests and the Levites, and today in the New Covenant He uses really an upgraded version of the priests and Levites to carry on the preaching of the gospel and the ministry of the people of God. So what else is distinctive about this list?

The first thing is that these priests and Levites represent God regulating worship. Secondly, the presence of the priests and Levites points to God's faithfulness in preserving his people. This is a documentation of God's faithfulness and we stand on the shoulders of others who came before us and these are these godly ancestors I think what they should do for us is it should cause us to make make lists make your own list make it today make a list of the people God used to bring you to Jesus Christ all the different means and individuals that He used. There are many, you know, what figured into your salvation? Here's the short of it.

A lot of stuff figured into your salvation. There were lots of influences and broadcasts and people and writings and who you know you you just in God had it that you would just bump into them in your life and it's worth remembering it's worth documenting and I we should we should think about this in terms of Hebrews chapter 13 verse 7 remember those who rule over you who have spoken the word of God to you, those whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So in this recounting of priests, there's a Thanksgiving about it and they're being rejoiced in. You know, we can rejoice in those who came before us.

You know, we can rejoice in Adam and Seth and Methuselah and Noah, and we can rejoice in the priests that God provided in this time. You know, it just has caused me to think this week about different influences in my life that I'm so thankful for. The first preachers that I listened to, and I would listen to them for hundreds of hours, and I loved them. They were my spiritual fathers. So the third thing that's distinctive about this list is that these priests are types of Jesus Christ.

That might be one of the most important parts of this. There's an unbroken line of priests from the very beginning, from one generation to another, God is faithful to provide priests. And that's why in the book of Hebrews we learn that Jesus Christ is a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Jesus Christ is the priest eternal behind the priest's temporal. And all these priests really point to Him, to Jesus Christ and to Christ alone.

And it's such a wonderful thing to think that God has always provided priests for His people for the atonement of their sins. And Jesus Christ is our high priest as we've come to him to worship him in spirit and in truth. And then the fourth thing I'd like to identify of what's distinctive about this list is that we are also a kingdom of priests. So this Imagery of priesthood is something that has tremendous meaning in the new covenant. It has expanded meaning.

That's why it's called a better covenant with better promises and by the way better priests and God has now expanded his priesthood in a way that was really unexpected. And in 1st Peter we learn that we are a kingdom of priests to offer sacrifices unto God. And We as priests represent the offering of Sacrifices of love toward God in this world. That's why God has put us here. That's why God has made us a kingdom of priests We're not a priest just like Jesus Christ We are not priests just like the priests of the Old Covenant.

We are different in that in very particular sense, but we are a kingdom of priests. Fathers also perform a priestly role after the pattern of the priesthood of the priests in the Old Testament, that fathers have this role to perform in order to communicate the glory of God in their generation. Okay, so this first matter is a rejoicing in the legacy of the priests over the past 100 years. That's the first section. Now let's move to the next section, beginning in verse 27.

Now this is the dedication of the wall with singing and with music. Notice that Nehemiah is now speaking in the first person. Now at the dedication of the wall, verse 27, of Jerusalem, they sought out the Levites in all their places to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness. There's gladness written all over this chapter. Both with thanksgivings and singing, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps.

And the sons of the singers gathered together from the countryside around Jerusalem from the villages of the nataphathites from the house of Gilgal and from the fields of Giba and Asmaveth Now look at the end of verse 29. For the singers had built themselves villages all around Jerusalem. Wow. Hey, a lot's happened in a hundred years. Singing has been on the upgrade in Judah.

And now the singers are gathering together in villages. This is the priority they were giving to this ministry here. Then the priests and the Levites purified themselves and purified the people, the gates and the wall. Now, in this chapter singing is mentioned eight times, thanksgiving six times, rejoicing seven times, musical instruments of various kinds three times. So this is what the people of God did and as it turns out this is what the people of God do in the New Covenant.

But this joyful singing is something that is prominent. Now, in verse 31, we encounter two large thanksgiving choirs. So I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall and appointed to large thanksgiving choirs. Now children, do you know what a choir is? Do you know what a choir is?

If you don't know what a choir is, here's what a choir is. It's a bunch of people singing, but they're not just singing, okay? They're not just doing their own thing. They have somebody that's leading them, and that person is a choir director. And by the way, we read the name of one of the choir directors, or the primary one later on.

But what the choir director does, are you ready? I want you to hear this. They help the people sing more beautifully. That's what they do. More heartfeltedly and more beautifully.

That's what the leaders of the choirs did and that's what leaders of choirs do now I I Think that when we sing together, it's it's somewhat like that We are like a choir before God, and we're singing to one another. You know, in the New Testament, we are teaching one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. We're doing very much of this what was done there, but in a better way, in a very beautiful way. So you have two large thanksgiving choirs, and if you notice, they're now, they're up on the wall. And one choir is led by Ezra, look at verse 36, and His brethren Shemaiah and Azarell and so forth with the musical instruments of David the man of God Ezra the scribe went before them.

Okay, So they're up on the wall now, they've got all these musical instruments. Where did they get the instruments? Oh, they copied the ones that David used. That's what they did. They used those instruments.

They wanted to be faithful to this time where God revealed to his people how they ought to worship Him in spirit and in truth. And so they made David's instruments. You know how long ago that was? Over 500 years, almost 600 years before. And they're copying 600-year-old instruments, The instruments of David.

Now they had the instruments of David already. We know that from earlier accounts. But so they're on the wall. That's one thing. If you can picture that, they had the instruments of David, you know, lutes and harps and liars and all kinds of things like that, and Ezra the scribe went before them.

So Ezra's leading this one choir. You got Ezra on the front of one choir. Then The other choir is led by Nehemiah. Look at verse 38. The other thanksgiving choir went the opposite way and I was behind them.

Now, I, that's Nehemiah, he's speaking in the first person. I was behind them with half of the people on the wall going past the Tower of the Evans as far as the broad wall and above the Gate of Ephraim, above the Old Gate, and he describes how the choir moved. Now, the choirs are moving around the wall in opposite directions, and they're going to finally meet, and they're going to come down from the wall. One seems to come down at the Water Gate, and they come down and they go to the temple, and they're all singing before the temple. I think It's interesting that the Water Gate is mentioned because you remember what happened at the Water Gate a few chapters back?

In chapter 8, we read it this morning. We've been reciting it for weeks for a reason. They were at the Water Gate and they heard the Word of God For six hours and then they spent the rest of the day Meditating on it and that touched off a month where they were reading the Word of God by my calculation eight days Eight days like that during that month It was the Word of God that caused this revival and they came back down and they began singing right there at the temple. So Nehemiah is leading this temple, this other group, and then the two choirs meet in verses 40 through 42. So the two thanksgiving choirs stood in the house of God.

Likewise I and half of the rulers with me and he names the priests and then Look at the very end of verse 42, and the singers sang loudly. They were singing loudly, right? You know, now sometimes, you know, when I'm singing with children, they sing, they sing loudly And it's a wonderful thing most of the time. Sometimes they sing loudly because they're singing silly. So you shouldn't let them sing silly.

But singing loudly is something to be praised, to sing with all your heart. That's what they were doing. And they were singing loudly with Jezrechiah the director. Oh, there's the director right there. He's leading the choir.

Jezrechiah. And Oh, it would have been so good to be with Jezehiah gathered together as the people of God. And then, and then in verse 43, the capstone verse, the central verse, the interpretive key, I think, to this entire passage of Scripture, and that, also that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced for God had made them rejoice with great joy. The women and the children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off." Now, there are a lot of all kinds of questions that might be raised, you know, from this passage. Are we allowed to use instruments today?

Our answer is yes. I'm not going to spend the next 30 minutes explaining why, you know, why we're not exclusive Psalmist and why we use instruments. But I want us to pause again, as we have many times in this section and talk about rejoicing. And I don't ever want us to forget the context within which this rejoicing took place. This rejoicing did not take place when everything was going perfectly.

This rejoicing did not take place when they were safe. It did not take place when they were financially secure. It did not take place when everything was right with every person in their life. It didn't. It took place because it arose as a result of the work of God in their hearts, no matter what state these people found themselves in.

This is the beauty and the brilliance of Jesus and his work in our lives, and that is that it doesn't matter where you are, It doesn't matter where you were, and it doesn't matter where you're going, because God knows. And you can rejoice because God is in control. And now, you can rejoice for three reasons that are implied in Nehemiah 12, and here they are. You can rejoice because God has ordered your past. You can rejoice because God is governing all your short-term situations, and God has covered all of your long-term liabilities.

You can rejoice because of that. You know, that's why the most prominent command in the Bible, the most often repeated command in the Bible, is fear not, because God, God is good and he is bringing many sons to glory but you don't want to wait until everything's right before you rejoice. If you do, you'll never rejoice and you'll always rejoice on the wrong foundation. You'll be rejoicing because of things that fail in this life. You'll be rejoicing because it's a fake joy.

You're rejoicing just because of some form of fleeting silliness. But There's a kind of joy that lasts and there's a kind of joy that's real. Because you're always served two different packages of joy in this world. One of them is real and the other one's not. This one here is real.

And so here the wall is dedicated and it's set apart for a particular purpose. And this wall has been built on the heels and in the midst of many trials and tribulations. And that should tell us something too, is when God is building his church, there will be trials and tribulations. You know, I think, you know, when I first became a Christian, I pretty much thought, you know, once you became a Christian all your troubles would be over. Well, I found that not to be true because God was doing something greater in all of our lives and He used those trials and tribulations, which is why the Lord says, you know, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks.

You know, that's why He said to rejoice in your trials, because the testing of your faith produces patience. He wants more beauty from you than you could ever get from your silly pursuit of your own happiness. So you have these three sections, rejoicing in the legacy of the Levites and the priests over a hundred years. Let's do the same. Secondly, a joyful dedication to the wall with singing and music.

And then thirdly, joyful obedience for the worship of God. Now as we get to this third section, the joyful obedience and providing for the worship of God, in verses 44 to 47, I'd like us to see a number of things here. First of all, in verse 44, there are these responsibilities that are taken up. And at the same time, some were appointed over the rooms of the storehouse for the offerings, the first fruits and tithes to gather into them from the fields of the cities, the portions specified by the law for the priests and Levites, for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who ministered. So now they're planning for the future.

They're planning for the future prosperity of the people of God by providing for the worship of God by maintaining storehouses, bringing resources into the storehouses so that they can be distributed to support the singers and the gatekeepers and the priests and the Levites and all those functions that are necessary. So they're obeying what Moses told them to do to provide for the ministry. And Then in verse 45, you see that they're not just faithful in their temple responsibilities, but there's faithfulness in their purification. Both the singers and the gatekeepers kept the charge of their God and the charge of the purification according to the command of David and Solomon his son. And so they purified themselves and they set themselves to holiness.

They wanted everything in their lives to be holy, every part of it. And then they were faithful in songs and praise and thanksgivings to God. Look at verse 46. For in the days of David and Asaph of old, there were chiefs of the singers and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. That's what they were doing.

They were financing joy of the people. That's what they were doing. And they were, they were making financial provision for singers of songs so that praise and thanksgiving to God would be perpetual among the people of God and then you see their faithfulness in providing even further in verse 47 in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah all Israel gave portions for the singers and the gatekeepers, a portion for each day. So they'd been doing this since the days of Zerubbabel. Now a hundred years later, they're in the days of Nehemiah.

So this provision had been going on, you know, during this hundred-year period, and they are continuing it. And then finally they were consecrating the holy things. They also consecrated the holy things for the Levites and the Levites consecrated them for the children of Aaron. So this heart of faithfulness caused a desire to offer great sacrifices and God gave them great joy. And so I'd like to give us some applications here that flow from this.

You know, what can we learn from this situation? We should always remember 1 Corinthians 10, that all these things were written for our example, to teach us not to be idolaters. In other words, not to teach us not to drift off into our own ways and start doing our own thing in the church, but to do the things that God has prescribed for the church. You know, we live in an era and age of creativity where everybody wants to do something creative, but God actually calls his people back to a heritage. He calls his people back to his commands, and so what can we learn from this situation so that we don't go our own way and live our own way in this church or any other church that we might be a part of for the rest of our lives?

So I'd like to give you several of these things. What kind of church was this? First of all, it was a Bible-saturated church. It was a Bible-saturated church. This Reformation came because of the reading of the Word of God, And they had been saturating themselves in the Word of God for many days during this month.

And now when we come to the end of this period, they have most likely spent about eight entire days reading the Word of God, beginning in chapter 8 verse 1. And if there would be real joy in a church, it would arise out of the saturation of the Word of God in that church. People say, well, why do I feel so dead? Another question we should ask when that crosses our minds, why? Why am I?

It may have to do with what you were reading this week or what you were watching. It may have to do with what you were reading this week or what you were watching. It may have to do with what you were even watching last night. Some of you might have thought the worship was really dead here today, but it's because you were looking at pornography last night and you're a stick man. You're a ghost.

There's nothing in your soul. You've been depriving your soul of every good thing and so you wonder why things just aren't the way you wish they would be. So, but saturation with the Word of God creates a happy and joyful people. It's very important that we recognize what we are feeding into our souls and into the souls of those who are put under our charge, because God has…He's provided this way of His Word to energize and fill his people with joy, and he does it by his word. The second thing about this church, it was a musical church.

It's amazing how much celebration and music was associated with this worship, and Nehemiah is talking about singers and songs nine times. He's leading a group of singers around the wall. He's very involved and it really is a reflection of so many other places in the Bible, you know, in Psalm chapter 40 verse 3, Psalm 87, and many other places, Psalm 48, Psalm 132, these are pictures of exuberant and joyful singing with musical accompaniment. And so this was a musical church. They even had cities for musicians.

You know, when I read that, it kind of scared me a little bit. I wondered, man, all those musicians in one place, you know, they need a little balance, don't you think? Well that was just my corrupt way of thinking, but there was a tremendous emphasis there, and they were drawing from the past, they were drawing from the law of Moses, they were drawing from David. You know, they were like the singers and the players who were mentioned in the Psalms who said, all my springs are in you. Their springs were in God and they were singing and they were playing, you know, there for the people of God to engage them.

And you know, in our times, the church is deeply divided over music, and it's mainly because I think because of the division of the generations and the entertainment industry, we've so segregated our society, We've so fragmented our society with education and entertainment and marketing that you all you have these very small subsections of people now and they cannot relate together and they cannot relate together in worship and it's not it's not a good thing but that's not what you have here this the children and the wives and everybody there's no generation gap here in this music you do in this scene you don't have the contemporary service and the the traditional service you don't have the cowboy church and you don't have The jazz church you just don't have that Because that wasn't the focus But when you divide the generations the way our society has divided the generations You divide a church and you really hurt worship in the church and you end up with a group of people that really are idolatrous about their music and they can't reach back to the past or maybe they can't even reach to the to the present because the because the sound got a little bit too big in their minds.

But this is refreshing. That's not what was happening here. You know, there were no worship wars going on. There was no generation gap here. Isn't that great?

Don't you just want that? I do. Where, you know, every tongue and tribe and nation, Jew, Gentile, Greek, slave, free, rich, poor, wise, foolish, Every color, every culture can worship together because Jesus Christ is the center of that worship. We see fulfillments and explanations of this in Colossians 3 and Ephesians 5. I'd like you to open up to Colossians chapter 3 because I think I just want to suggest that Colossians 3 15 through 17 sums up what we read here.

Verse 15, Colossians 3, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which also you were called in one body and be thankful. So it's a thankful church here in Colossians 3, verse 16. Let the Word of Christ dwell richly, dwell in you richly in all wisdom. It's a picture of a church saturated with the Word of God Richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord and whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through him this is a New Testament picture of this Old Testament passage where there were people are there they're thankful they're filled up with the Word of God, and they're teaching one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. They're singing, actually singing to one another, teaching.

That's what the antiphonal choirs were doing. They were teaching one another on each side. And then in Ephesians chapter 5 is another, I think, pivotal fulfillment text beginning in verse 17, therefore do not be unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God." It's a very similar picture that we find right there in the Old Testament. This is a good example of 1 Corinthians 10, that these things are shadows and pictures and examples for us.

And there they are. So not only do you have a musical church, you also have a thankful church. Now I want us to notice the specific and itemized way that they went about giving thanks. They were counting their blessings priest by priest, and they were remembering. They were counting because they had been recounting.

They had gone back in time, and they were documenting God's faithfulness in their lives through the Levites that God had provided. This is a great day to give thanks for the spiritual heritage that God has given you. And every person who names the name of Jesus has a history. They have a story. And you know what?

It goes right back to these priests here because the reason you're a Christian today is because God kept his seed alive in the world and these are your these are our spiritual spiritual parents and so you might think of think of those who are in your life so it was a thankful church you know in just a few minutes we're going to celebrate the Lord's Supper. Do you remember what Jesus did in the Lord's Supper? He did it before the bread and He did it before the cup. He gave thanks. So we're going to follow in his footsteps.

We're going to give thanks. We're going to give thanks. And then it was a pure church, the fourth thing. They purified the gates, they purified everything, they wanted the holiness of God to cover everything that they were touching. It's a picture of David when he said, created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right Spirit within me.

Cast me not away from Thy presence." But, you know, and by the way, this is the city where Jesus will enter for the purification of sinners. You can't miss the purification theme in this passage. This is a city of purity and holiness. Jesus Christ enters the city for holiness of His people and He makes Himself a sacrifice for sin. And then, it was a joyful church in the midst of tribulation.

That's the fifth thing. It was a joyful church in the midst of tribulation. You know, Nehemiah had gone from weeping to rejoicing. Remember, he was, When he first came from Susa or Shushan, he was weeping, and now he's rejoicing. God has done great things among his people.

And then the sixth is that this was a Bible-regulated church. They embraced God's authority over worship. Twice, Nehemiah points out in this chapter alone that they were they were worshipping according to the command of David. Now this evening we're beginning a section in our confession, the Baptist Confession, on the church. It's a remarkable and beautiful chapter.

I hope you can all come. The church of Jesus Christ is the center of God's activity in the world. And this confession that we've embraced makes it very plain that the church is to be regulated by God and by God alone. And it explains that from the beginning of the Bible to the end. And then it was a providing church, number seven.

It was a providing church. It's a church which provided materially for the worship of God. It's a church that took their money and they brought it in and it was put in storehouses and it was used to take care of all everything having to do with the worship of God. Churches should set aside lavish amounts for the spread of the gospel, for the for the training of preachers, for the sending of missionaries, for the spreading of the gospel in local communities. We should be gathering it into the storehouse.

And that's what they did here. The people offered their money and then they appointed people in the church They appointed leaders in verse 44 to make sure that the priests and the Levites and the gatekeepers and the singers were provided for I think there's a possibility that what we see here is the shadow of the office of deacon in the church, where they take care of these funds and they distribute them. And then finally, number eight, it was a visible church. It was a visible church. Where were they?

On top of the wall singing. And they could be heard far, far away. The sound of rejoicing was heard. Who knows how far away it was, but it was a long distance away. They were proclaiming the glory of God with all their hearts to everybody within those walls and who had gathered there.

And you know, they were a thankful people, and they were a thankful people because God did something with them. God gave them priests and Levites and gatekeepers and singers that went back to the old paths. They went back to the Word of God to find everything that they would do. And you know, God provided Yeshua and Zerubbabel at the beginning of the century and now He's raised up Ezra the man who loved the law of God in his heart and to teach it and to do it in Israel and Nehemiah to continue this reformation but all of these leaders all of them all of them took the people back to the old paths. And they really were a fulfillment of what Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 6, ask for the old paths and walk in them.

And then you will find rest for your souls. Thus says the Lord, Stand in the ways and see. Ask for the old paths where the good way is, and walk in it, then you will find rest for your souls. But in the days of Jeremiah they said, but we will not walk in the old paths. It's changed though.

The captivity, The trouble, the judgment has turned their hearts, and they're now walking in the old paths and God's work has been blessed in them. And so, you know, all of these things really speak of the fact that God is seeking worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. And all along the way throughout history, from Genesis all the way to the end of history, God has promised that he would provide atonement for his people and He's he has provided it in Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ alone God sent his son into the world to save sinners He he sent his son He sent his son for the joy of his people. And they sang and they played musical instruments and they experienced jubilation and they worshiped in spirit and in truth and they obeyed the commands of God for worship and it was a reformation of rejoicing and we learn here that it's a great God in your heart that causes you to give great sacrifices, which creates great joy. And the Lord's brought this to us at this time for a purpose, for sure, that we would examine ourselves in all these things, that we would rejoice, that we would look back, that we would check our own hearts to see where we are in the midst of all these things that we're in.

We've been told already that the joy of the Lord is your strength, And it's true. And that's why the Lord Jesus Christ said, He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." And I think in that statement Jesus takes us back to that fundamental principle in life, and that is that Everything in life comes in two packages. It either comes in the real package or the fake package. And the only way to have life is in the real package. And it's in the worship of God in Spirit and in truth through Jesus Christ who made himself a sacrifice for our sins, who became sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God.

And that's what Nehemiah chapter 12 is all about. Would you pray with me? Lord, Lord your words are true and they're perfect and they're beautiful and we pray that you would fulfill all of them in us here in this place. In Jesus' name, amen.