The sermon, delivered by Scott Brown, explores Nehemiah chapter 11, focusing on the repopulation of Jerusalem. It highlights how leaders and people willingly relocated to the city, emphasizing the spiritual significance of dedicating oneself to God's work. The sermon underscores the importance of Jerusalem as a holy city that symbolizes the joy and spiritual rebirth of God's people. It draws parallels between the historical repopulation and the Christian journey, portraying Jerusalem as a metaphor for spiritual restoration and the ultimate heavenly city. The speaker encourages listeners to reflect on their legacy and commitment to God, urging them to willingly offer themselves for the advancement of God's kingdom.

I'll be reading from Nehemiah chapter 11, starting in the first verse. Now the leaders of the people dwell at Jerusalem. The rest of the people cast lots to bring out one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem. The holy city in nine-tenths were to dwell in the other cities. And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem.

These are the heads of the province who dwell in Jerusalem, but in the cities of Judah. Everyone dwelt in his own possession in their cities, Israelites, priests, Levites, Nathanaim, and descendants of Solomon's servants. Also in Jerusalem dwelt some of the children of Judah and some of the children of Benjamin. The children of Judah, Athiah the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalel, of the children of Peres, and Mesea, the son of Baruch, the son of Kolhaza, the son of Hizaya, the son of Adya, the son of Joyerib, the son of Zechariah, the son of Shaloni. All the sons of Peres who dwelt in Jerusalem were 468 valiant men.

And these are the sons of Benjamin. Seilu, the son of Meshulam, the son of Joed, the son of Padaya, the son of Koliah, the son of Messiah, the son of Ethel, the son of Jeshaiah, and after him, Gabai and Saliah, 928. Joel, the son of Zikri, was their overseer, and Judah, the son of Sanuah, was second over the city. Of the priests, Judiah, the son of Joyarib, and Jeitjin, Sariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshulam, the son of Zedok, the son of Marrioth, the son of Ahetub, was the leader of the house of God. Their brethren who did the work of the house were 822, and Adaiah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashur, the son of Melchadja.

And his brethren, heads of the father's houses, were 242, and Amishai, the son of Azariel, the son of Azzi, the son of Meshilmoth, the son of Emmer, and their brethren, mighty men of valor, were 128. Their overseer was Zabdiel, the son of one of the great men. Also of the Levites, Shemaiah, the son of Heshub, the son of Ezrakim, the son of Heshubiah, the son of Buni, Shabbathai, and Jezeban, of the heads of the Levites, had oversight of the business outside of the house of God. Mataniah, the son of Micah, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, the leader who began the thanksgiving with prayer. Bakbukhaya, the second among his brethren, and Abda, the son of Shemua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthan.

All the Levites in the holy city were 284. Moreover, the gatekeepers, Akkab, Talman, and their brethren who kept the gates were 172. And the rest of Israel, of the priests and Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, everyone in his inheritance. But the nethanyim dwell in Ophel, and Zihah and Gishba were over the nethanyim. Also the overseer of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzi, the son of Bani, the son of Heshubiah, the son of Metaniah, the son of Micah, of the sons of Asaph, the singers in charge of the service of the house of God.

For it was the king's command concerning them that a certain portion should be for the singers, quoted day by day. Pethahiah the son of Mehezebel, of the children of Zerah, of the son of Judah, was the king's deputy in all matters concerning the people. And as for the villages with their fields, some of the children of Judah dwell in Kirjath Arba and its villages, Diban and its villages, Jacobzil and its villages, and Jeshua, Melada, Beth-Palat, Hazer-Shu'el, and Beersheba and its villages, and Ziklag and Makana in its villages, and An-Rimmon, Zora, Jarmuth, Zenoah, Adulam and their villages, and Lakish and its fields, and Ezekiah and its villages. They dwelt from Beersheba to the valley of Hinnom. Also the children of Benjamin from Giba dwelt in Micmash, Ija and Bethel and their villages and Anathoth, Nob and Ananiah and Hesor, Ramah, Getaim and Hadeid, Zebuim and Nebelet and Lod, Ono, in the valley of craftsmen.

Some of the Judean divisions of Levites were in Benjamin. Father in heaven thank you Lord for your word which comes to us in your scriptures oh God. I pray that your word would transform us Lord that we would be about your business as these men were who gladly went to dwell in the holy city to rebuild Jerusalem. Oh God as my brothers have talked about and prayed may we have our hearts set on the New Jerusalem and the restoration of true worship, O Lord, in your house. May your name be glorified in Jesus' name.

Amen. I was asked a while back by a young seminarian who was asking pastors questions of what has been my greatest comfort in the ministry. And that answer was so easy. And my greatest comfort in the ministry has always been to have the Word of God, because it's the Word of God that does everything. It's the only thing that we have.

It really is, and it's such a blessing that God has given it to us. And so we have it, you know, here again this morning before us in Nehemiah chapter 11. And Nehemiah chapter 11 is about the populating of a city for the joy of the whole earth. And it's a story of a city reborn so that sinners might be born again. It's a city that is restored so that the people of God would find refreshment in the house of the Lord.

It's a story of a city that's being rebuilt so that we could have a picture of what it means to be brought into a city where all of your tears are dried for all eternity. And so it's a very significant chapter for us, even though it is filled mostly with these names of people. And it shows the work of grace in a people's life, and It's summarized by this statement in verse 2. They willingly offered themselves to populate a holy city for the holiness of the Lord, so that a place would be on the earth to declare the glory of God and to gather people together to hear the gospel of God, to be comforted, to be cared for, to be equipped for the work of the ministry, and really to be a picture of heaven that is to come. And so this this chapter has its focus on the resettlement of Jerusalem.

In Nehemiah chapter 7, we learned that there weren't very many houses in the city, there just weren't very many people there. And here we find the remedy to that problem. And the remedy was a difficult one, and people had to move out of the countryside. They had to leave their farms and their homes. Remember, these people had been there for over a hundred years now after they had come back from captivity, And God was calling them into a city to strengthen it and to restore the worship of God in that city.

And in many ways, it's a picture of a people who are turning to God and they're forsaking the world and they're throwing their lot in Jerusalem, and they're prioritizing the worship of God over all the opportunities that they have out there in the countryside as nice as it might be. And this is their legacy. They offered themselves willingly. And that should cause us to ask, is that my legacy? Is that your legacy?

Is that the legacy of the people in this church that are gathered here together? They offered themselves willingly. Those are beautiful words because they really speak about something that's bubbling up in the hearts of those people. They offered themselves willingly, and their hearts cry, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. And I think it should also help us to ask, is there anything that's keeping me from investing in that city?

Is there anything keeping me from the investment that is reasonable as a service of worship before God to invest in that city. And I think also this chapter would cause us to ask a number of underlying questions. You know, have I trusted in Jesus Christ? Have I left everything and followed Him? Have I thrown my lot in with the Church of Jesus Christ, or am I just dancing around the periphery of it?

Have I prioritized the worship of God? Now here in Nehemiah 11, this just ain't any old city. This is Jerusalem, and it's the city that is really designed to teach us about the city of God in all of its manifestations. And this city was meant to be, quote, the joy of the whole earth, that when people gather into that city, what happens when people explode out of it? It's joy.

They go and they fill the earth with the joy of the Lord. And this is Mount Zion, and it's a city reborn to perform a function for those who would be reborn and those who would be restored as a result of the work of that city or that church. And of course, as we've been going through from Ezra, now all the way, we're almost at the end of Nehemiah. It's a story of people who are returning from ruin, they're returning from captivity, and they're entering into a city of blessing and they're they're designing to rebuild the worship of God. That's the first thing you must do if you're gonna rebuild your life.

You've got to rebuild your worship and and that's what they do here. So This repopulation that we read about in chapter 11, it really speaks of something greater. It speaks of the church and it speaks of the gathered saints in heaven for all eternity. As 1 Corinthians 10 says, it is an example for us that we might be taught not to be idolaters. It is a shadow of things to come.

When we read about this city in Nehemiah 11, we have to be clear what we're reading about. It is a historical city with real, live people who entered it, but it's also a picture of a greater city, and there are real, live people that relate to it as well. Now, To read a concise statement of the purpose of the city, I want you to turn to Hebrews chapter 12 and find verse 22. Hebrews chapter 12, open your Bibles there. I think it's very important that we understand the meaning of this city, and there are many places that we could go at the bottom of your outline.

There are several passages of Scripture that I hope to somehow touch on as we go through this instruction this morning. But in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 22, we see this picture of Jerusalem coming and we read in verse 22, but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God. When you come to Jesus Christ, you come to a city, that's the meaning, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly of the church, to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks to better things than that of Abel. See that you did not refuse him who speaks." So to come into the city is to come to Jesus, it's to come to the people of God, it's to come to the angels, it's to come into eternity, It's to step out of the earthly and into the heavenly kingdom. So that's what we are talking about when we talk about Nehemiah chapter 11.

Now, I feel like we need to sort of recalibrate ourselves as where we are in this story. You know, we're at the end of Nehemiah, but I want to remind us of where we are in this story. Now, remember there are three waves of returnees of captives, and here we're at the very end of the story of these returnees. Now also this is the post-exilic period. This is the period of time in the history of redemption where the people have returned from captivity from Babylon.

So this is the post-exilic period and we have these prophets, the post-exilic prophets Malachi, Haggai, and Zechariah, the post-exilic prophets they spoke to the people who came back from exile so that's the period of history that we are in remember Abraham at 2000 BC David at 1000 BC the Babylonian captivity at 586 BC and in chapter 11 we are at 445 BC. When we get to chapter 13, it's going to be 12 years later because Nehemiah goes back to Susa. He goes back to Persia and he comes back 12 years later, and we read about that in chapter 13, and in chapter 13 it's 433 BC. Just to get your sense of history here, This is, you know, 433 years before Jesus Christ returned, comes the first time after the Babylonian exile. Now, it's been a hundred years since the first wave of returnees came, And the first return was in 538 with Zerubbabel and Jeshua, the high priest, Zerubbabel, who, as you know, cleaned up the rubble of this broken down city and of its walls.

And they came back with 50, 000 people at that time, and they set themselves to do the very first thing that must be done. They rebuilt the altar. They rebuilt worship. You cannot rebuild your life until you rebuild the worship of God and reset what you worship. And then they encountered all kinds of opposition by, guess who?

Not a surprise, the Samaritans, the ones who didn't like to have the worship of God regulated by God. They called themselves Christians and used a lot of Christianese, but they really didn't like to be regulated by God. And then in the second wave was when Ezra came. That was 80 years later from the time of the first returnees in 457 BC. And Ezra comes to return.

Ezra returns to rebuild the people of God by the Word of God. Remember, Ezra set himself to know the Word of God, to practice it and to teach it and to do it in Israel. And he deals with problems in marriages and the intrusions of paganism and the pollution of the people, and about 2, 000 people come back with Ezra. Then the third return was with Nehemiah later, just a few years later. Nehemiah comes.

He appears before Artaxerxes, and he's given enormous resources to come back and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem because he's received reports from his brother that the walls are broken down and the people are hurting big time. And he wants to go back and Artaxerxes gives him a blank check pretty much to go and rebuild the people and to rebuild those walls. And so that's where we are here. Nehemiah rebuilds the walls. He finishes the walls in 52 days.

This is just some short period of time, a month or so, after the walls have been rebuilt. In the next chapter, the walls are dedicated. The city is dedicated, and we'll deal with that next week. But I just wanted us to understand where we are in this storyline, and we're really very near the very last testimony of the Old Testament before the intertestable mental period. And so you have these waves of restoration that are taking place.

I believe these are pictures of the way God restores local churches, and it's the same way that God restores people's lives. He does it over a long period of time, and He brings various things into their lives to restore them. There are many seasons in our lives that God uses to care for us and to change us. And you know, you could probably identify the different seasons of your life and how God brought one wave after another of instruction to teach you his ways and to deliver you from the idolatries that you'd embrace that maybe you weren't even aware of. And, you know, this is progressive sanctification.

But here, with these three waves, I think we have over a 117-year period, you have a picture of how God works in your life. You become a Christian and, well, God's not finished with you yet, thankfully. He's not. And I don't know where anybody might be this morning. You might be in a season of tenderness before God.

You might be in a season of forgetfulness before God. You might be in a season of forgetfulness before God. You might be in a season of even rebellion or hardness against God, and you're running red lights everywhere. And you might be in a season of dullness or distraction or impurity. You know, God knows exactly where you are in this season of life, and I pray that God will take His word here to apply it to that season that you're in now, because God is about the restoration of His people, and He does it partly through his church and through the gatherings of his people as we find here, God is rebuilding a city in order to rebuild his people and to finally wipe every tear from their eyes.

And so this passage brings us to a sense of God's working in our lives and how he does it through the restorations that he works in his church as he is doing in our lives now. And so let's enter into this text here. You can see the outline. We've talked about the big picture of this passage. We've talked about sort of where we are historically in it.

And then now let's talk about the details of the repopulation of this city. Well, the first thing we encounter is the method of repopulation. That's verses one and two. And then the second thing that we encounter in this passage are the people who are identified. Primarily, Judah and Benjamin, these two tribes, are used of the Lord to rebuild this city.

And then there are various priests and Levites who are mentioned after that. And then I'd like to like us finally to turn to some lessons that we can learn. Okay, so let's jump into the text and talk about the method of repopulation that God ordered for these people, verses one and two. Now, the leaders of the people dwelt at Jerusalem, the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to dwell in Jerusalem, the holy city, and nine-tenths were to dwell in other cities. And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem." Now, there were reasons that people were not moving into the city.

We're not told what reasons. We can speculate why they didn't want to move into the city, but it's nothing but pure speculation. You could probably give as good a list as I could to explain that. And you know, we could talk about the poor economy. We could talk about the low population, the inadequacy of the business climate for prosperity.

But it was very important that that city was populated, that commercial life would be strong, and that the worship of God would be restored in that city. And how was the city to be repopulated? Well, the language in the Hebrew is a little bit difficult, but my view is that there are two things that happened. There were those who willingly offered themselves, but there were those that lots were cast. And when those lots were cast, they moved in willingly.

That's how I think the language reads. Even though the lots were cast, they moved in willingly. They did it with joy. They did it with all of their hearts. God gave them grace.

He gave them a spirit of devotion and desire, and they moved in to that city. Well, casting lots, what is casting lots? You know, Maybe some of the younger people in here want to know what it means to cast lots. Well, I think it was even just yesterday at the Father-Son retreat for choosing teams, somebody flipped a coin. They flipped a coin to find out who would go first in a particular activity.

And the heads in that case were going to go first and the tails were going to go last. That's casting lots. Or Maybe your father has said to you, who gets to go first? Pick a number between one and 10. Or maybe you've seen someone get involved in drawing straws, and The short straw either gets the short into the deal, or maybe the short straw gets the best part of the deal.

But these things seem to be random. But God makes it very clear that nothing is random in his world. Nothing is of luck. There's no such thing as luck because of God's mastery over every detail of every part of life. Proverbs 16, 33 says, the lot is cast into the lap, but every decision is from the Lord.

This was a decision from the Lord through the casting of lots. I'm not going to get into a long discussion about the merits and the demerits of casting lots. I hope you don't do it very often. I'll just leave it at that. But this, they offered themselves willingly.

The same, it's the same word that Moses uses in Exodus 25, of the free will offering. It arose out of love toward God in their hearts. They wanted to do it. It was a free will offering, and they offered themselves willingly. Now, Sometimes even the people of God need a little kick to do what God wants them to do, a little bit of compulsion.

And he used this means of the casting of lots to just sort of push them in the direction they wanted to go within their hearts. And so they did that thing. And we see here that they were they were praised while they willingly submitted to the method of selection there were those who who praised them for for doing such a thing it was admirable even though it was difficult and they were praised for it you know this is we see this kind of thing in all kinds of areas of our society. You know, if you've ridden on an airplane any time recently, you'll know that most stewardesses and airline pilots are going to congratulate the military who are flying back from combat. And they might even lead in applause because it's thought that they've done a remarkable and wonderful thing.

And so it's right to praise those who've done something difficult and have dedicated themselves to something good. And I think that's what we have. You have people who are saying, Lord, here am I, send me. They might have needed a little nudge because God's people often need a nudge. And this lot casting was just the nudge that they needed to bring them into that holy city, to build a holy life there.

And I think that they were saying, Lord, here am I, send me, take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold. And so they entered into the city. You know, They were willing to experience some significant change. I think we should mark that. They were willing to experience what some would call loss.

They were willing to set aside some of their comforts. And likely Some of them were setting aside their livelihood and having to build a new life there in that city and to start over. There would be no farming of wheat and barley and grapes and olives and vegetables that they were used to cultivating out there in the countryside. And were they obligated to move in? It doesn't seem like they were.

I think rather it's an illustration of a church that is excelling still more. They're going, They're running the gauntlet. They're doing everything they can, and they're leaving their earthly comforts to go to places that might be even more difficult. It's true, too. I mean, it's one thing to live right smack dab in Jerusalem where the sacrifices and the priests and the leaders are all walking around, and everything is really heightened in its intensity toward the worship of God.

Everything is. It's not so much like the countryside where there's not so much of that going on. It's different. So it's the people who want to live a different kind of life. And in some ways, they're leaving civilian life to live a life of even greater focus and dedication.

The word holy appears here in this passage a couple of times in verse 1 and verse 18, and they're wanting to build a holy city, which is the desire of every Christian, not only that there would be a holy heart and a holy church and a holy family, but there would also be a holy city. This is the heart of a Christian which desires the holiness of the Lord to spread everywhere. And so is this our legacy? They offered themselves willingly. And is our hearts cry, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.

For what? To receive the ordinary means of grace. To hear the word of God, to pray, to be among the people of God, to participate in the ordinances of God, to do the things that are of God. This is the impulse that they had. They wanted to do those things, and those things are always so beneficial.

And so, they're streaming in the city to experience the blessings of God willingly offering themselves. And so they really are a picture of heaven, and they are a picture of the gathered church. Now the people are also identified, and I'd like us to just bounce through these names because there are particular things that are said in the midst of this narrative. I'd like you to have your Bibles open because I'm going to call out particular things in these sections. Now first of all, you'll notice a focus on two tribes, Judah and Benjamin.

These are the tribes of the first and the greatest king, King David. These tribes also are types of Jesus Christ. The tribes which moved into the city appointed Jesus Christ, the Son of David. These were the families of David. And so these people are identified, you'll see these various numbers, 1, 200 priests, you know, called mighty men of valor and 284 Levites and 172 gatekeepers and all kinds of people.

Now, in this chapter, we encounter another long list of people. And for some reason, God doesn't want us to forget that he's dealing with people with a real function in a real kingdom. And so Nehemiah lists several lists of people, and they're really long lists. Each list serves a purpose. Now, I'm estimating that by the time we finish Nehemiah, we as a church right here on Sunday morning have probably spent 50 to 70 minutes just reading names, depending on how fast the reader read them.

Because you can read these lists and they can take eight minutes, or if you read them saunterly, it can take 10 or 12 minutes. You know, so.