In the sermon titled 'Dedicating the Wall With Great Joy,' Jason Dohm discusses Nehemiah 12:27-43, focusing on the dedication of Jerusalem's wall. The dedication involved Levites, musicians, and two large Thanksgiving choirs, emphasizing gladness, thanksgiving, and singing. Dohm highlights three key themes: dedication, purification, and celebration. Dedication involves acknowledging God's hand in achievements and committing them to His glory. Purification is necessary, even for good works, symbolizing the need for spiritual cleansing. Celebration is marked by joyful worship, with music and singing playing a crucial role. The sermon urges believers to acknowledge God's goodness, dedicate all aspects of life to Him, and engage in boisterous worship. Dohm draws parallels between historical practices of Israel and contemporary Christian life, emphasizing the importance of standing on the shoulders of past generations and expressing joy in worship.

Our sermon text is Nehemiah 12 verses 27 through 43. 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 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 village of the Natophathites, from the house of Gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Asmaveth for the singers had built themselves villages all around Jerusalem. Then the priests and 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 Hoshea and half of the leaders of Judah and Asariah, Ezra, Mishulim, Judah, Benjamin, Shemaah, Jeremiah, and some of the priest sons with trumpets. Zechariah, the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaah, the son of Mataniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zachar, the son of Asaph and his brethren Shemaah, Azarell, Millalai, Gilalai, Maii, Nathanael, Judah, and Hanani with the musical instruments of David the man of God as 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 Watergate 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 Hananel, 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 the half of the rulers with me, and the priest, Eliakim, Measeeah, Minjiman, Micaiah, Elieowinai, Zechariah, Hananiah with trumpets. Also Measeeh, Shemayah, Eliezer, Uzai, Jehohanan, Melchizedek, Elam, Izer. The singers sang loudly with Jezrehiah 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. The title of the sermon this morning is, Dedicating the Wall with Great Joy. That's a good summary of what's in our text. It's a dedication of the wall. But it happens with joy.

So much joy is in the text from start to finish. Last week we had this list of names and it was a couple of family trees. It was family trees or genealogies of priests and Levites. So we hit another one of these long genealogies. Lots of names, hardly any of which we even recognize in any way.

So you come to this genealogy and you say, what do I do with this? What's the preacher supposed to do with another family tree in Ezra and Nehemiah? I thought there were three things that we should pull out of those genealogies. The first thing was the importance of the priests and the Levites. Anytime you see priests and Levites, you know it's important because worship is important.

And because the priests and the Levites were important to worshipping God. The second thing that I thought should be said about last week's text was the legitimacy of the priests and Levites. When you look at the Old Testament worship, it was so carefully prescribed by God. God said who could do what in his worship. And so I wouldn't be free to go and do the work of a priest because I'm not of the line of Aaron, or I wouldn't be free to go do the work of a Levite because I'm not in that tribe.

God has said how he wants to be worshiped, and so worshippers should be really careful to worship God that way. Then the third thing I thought was important in the text was the continuity of the generations. Anytime God gives space in His Word to a family tree, we should just recognize that God desires for there to be a continuity of faithfulness and worship that goes from one generation to the other. And we're not the first generation that's ever lived. Human history didn't begin with the day of my birth, but in every generation God has raised up people to worship Him and He's taught them to be faithful.

He's discipled those people. And we should stand on their shoulders so that we see farther and we go farther than we would have. God has given us a great treasure in raising up faithful men and women throughout the centuries. We shouldn't start from scratch in every generation. We should stand on the shoulders and the faithfulness of those that God has been faithful to in previous generations.

This week we have the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. And it's an important time, but it's a really joyful time. In fact, when you read the text you'd have to say it's boisterous and it is unrestrained. So it is a religious time, it is a worship time, but when we think of religious worship times we generally think of something a lot more sober-minded than what's in the text. This is really boisterous.

It's heard a long ways away. There's a ruckus in the text this week. And so, there's no somber religion to be found in our text. It's just not there. We should have times of somber religion where we're aware of our sins, where we're aware of the greatness and the majesty of God, so we bring sober-minded intensity to our worship.

But if that's all our worship ever is, then we have missed the mark. That's one of the things I want to take away from the text. Let's not miss the mark by always being sober-minded in our religious worship. Sometimes it should be boisterous. Sometimes it should be quite unrestrained.

Sometimes it should be heard far off because God is worthy of boisterous worship. He really is. So go to the text. Let's go to the text in prayer. God, I pray that you would help us to present our bodies to you as a living sacrifice.

It's such a reasonable service for those who have been recipients of your grace to now turn around and to offer the life that you've given us back to you. Help us. God I pray that you would help us to be a people who are filled with joy so that sometimes we do have quite boisterous unrestrained worship. Oh God you are worthy Help us to see your worth in the text. Pray it in Jesus' name.

Amen. So here's the road map for our time. I'm going to spend a few minutes talking about what is in the text, just a quick exposition of what we have before us in the text. And then I want to move to three things that are in the text and develop those three points. Those three points are dedication, purification, and celebration.

So if you're taking notes on your handout and you're filling in blanks, those are going to fill in the blanks. Dedication, purification, and celebration. So let's start with what's in the text. I want to go back a few chapters and read Nehemiah chapter 6 verses 15 and 16. I think our text today follows right on the heels of what Nehemiah chapter 6 verses 15 and 16 says.

So the wall was finished on the 25th day of Elul in 52 days. And it happened when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes. For they perceived that this work was done by our God." In Nehemiah chapter 6 verses 15 and 16, those verses I just read, the wall of Jerusalem has been miraculously completed. So fully repaired and rebuilt. Two miles of wall, probably a little more than two miles of wall.

Many areas needing to be totally rebuilt and the rest needing to be repaired. All of that happening in 52 days. Friends, that is a miracle. And everyone recognizes that it's God. Even their enemies, even the surrounding nations.

So forget about the people of God who learn over time to recognize the hand of God in things. You didn't need the people of God for this. You didn't have to be trained to recognize the hand of God in this. When The nations around, the pagan nations surrounding them, see that two miles of wall have been rebuilt and repaired in 52 days. You didn't take a rocket scientist to know that this was God who did it.

So even the pagans say, we're really disheartened because God is with them. God did that. And then after that, many things happened. Ezra reads the law before the people all day long and the people hearing about the righteousness of God and being convicted of their sins, they weep. Then they have the feast of tabernacles and they have this time of public confession where they confess their sins before God and ask him to be merciful and faithful.

And then they all enter into a covenant publicly together to walk in God's law. And then they repopulate Jerusalem. So all this has happened between the completion of the wall and now where we are in chapter 12. They actually took a tenth of the population from the surrounding areas, one family out of ten, would, chosen by Lot, would come and relocate to Jerusalem So it would be a strong city. You need more than just a wall to have a strong city.

You need to have a vibrant population. So they bring a tenth of the whole province to come live. But there's unfinished business. They did all those things. Those were wonderful things.

I enjoyed studying all those things. But there's unfinished business, so now they come back to it and they attend to the unfinished business in our text. It's time to dedicate the wall. So what do they do? They seek out the music man.

They seek out the Levites. That's exactly what the text says. They sought out the Levites. And it's clear from the text that you have to have these Levites for a good celebration. The celebration of God's faithfulness, God's goodness, God's favor on them, and completing this two miles of wall in fifteen days is not going to be complete, it's not going to be what it should be, unless you bring the music man.

So go get the singers from everywhere. They've located themselves in little pockets, cities and villages around Jerusalem. So you go get them from everywhere and you bring them for the dedication of the wall. You can't have a celebration as it should be without the music men. So they go get the music men.

Nehemiah intends the dedication to be, and I'm quoting directly from verse 27, Nehemiah chapter 12 verse 27. Nehemiah intends for the dedication to be with gladness, both with thanksgiving and singing. So we get the full picture here. It's a dedication of the wall. God miraculously had them complete in record time.

And what should characterize this dedication? Gladness should characterize with it. It should be a bunch of happy people coming together to give thanks for what God has done. And they're supposed to be thanksgiving, hearts of gratitude should come and engage in the dedication of this wall, and they're supposed to be singing. So that's why they've called for the music men.

In verses 28 and 29, we get a list of places that they get the Levites from. We have the Natophathites. Now the Natophathites, It sounds like a really exotic family, but it's not a family at all. It's actually a location. Netophah is a village right on the border of Bethlehem.

So when you see the Netophathites, they've been essentially brought from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. Bethlehem is only four and a half miles outside of Jerusalem. Did you know that? The wonders of Google. Bethlehem is four and a half miles from Jerusalem.

And then we have Gilgal is named. Gilgal is right on the border of Jericho. Jericho is 17 miles away from Jerusalem. It's actually the furthest town that's mentioned in our text. Everyone is brought from 17 miles away or closer.

That would be from where we are to the near side of Raleigh. Not very far away. They're not having to go far to bring them in. And then we have Giza and Asmaveth are named. And these are a couple of towns that are six miles north of Jerusalem, so again close.

And Nehemiah brings the Levites in, the music men, the singers and those who play instruments, for the dedication and the celebration of what God has done. He appoints two large Thanksgiving choirs. These Thanksgiving choirs are going to go up on the wall and they're going to go opposite ways on the wall. One Thanksgiving choir going counter-clockwise, one going clockwise, and then they're going to meet, come down off the wall at the temple, and go into the temple for the dedication. So one of these large Thanksgiving choirs is made up of half of the leaders, half go with one, half go with the other.

It's made up of priests, it's made up of sons of the priests who have trumpets, they'll be blowing those trumpets, and it's made up of Levites who are playing all kinds of instruments. And then Ezra the scribe, yes that Ezra, the Ezra of the book of Ezra is going to be with the first large Thanksgiving choir and they're going to go one way on the top of the wall and then the other is going to be very similarly constituted. You're going to have half the leaders, you're going to have priests, trumpet blowers, Levites, and that Thanksgiving choir is going to have Nehemiah. So one has Ezra, the other has Nehemiah, these two great men of God that we've been studying for something like a year now, I suppose it's been. Now I want you to remember something.

I want you to remember how chapter four, Nehemiah chapter four, opens. At the beginning of Nehemiah chapter four, the people of God are being mocked. They've begun rebuilding and repairing the walls. And the pagans outside are looking and laughing. So we have Sanballat and Tobiah.

Sanballat is a Samarian. He's probably the governor of Samaria at this point. And he says, What are those feeble Jews doing? He's laughing at these weak Jews and their efforts to make repairs that haven't been made to the wall for 150 years. It's been 150 years since Nebuchadnezzar came and wrecked Jerusalem and the walls are still in disrepair and he sees this weakened people and he just laughs at the efforts that are happening.

And his friend Tobiah the Ammonite is there and he says, they're working but if even a fox goes up on the wall and will just fall right back down again. This light, light footed fox will go up and sort of skitter across the top of the wall and it will come tumbling down again. So they are just laughing and having a big time. But now 52 days later the wall is done and they're disheartened because God has put His hand upon them and allowed them to do things that they never would have been able to do outside of the favor of God. So Tobiah had said, if a fox goes up on it, it will fall down again.

But now we have two great multitudes. We have two large Thanksgiving choirs along with the leaders, along with the people going up on the wall and going in opposite direction and the wall is just fine because God has blessed the people. When they join at the temple the text says that there is loud singing. So here is another indication from the text that we have sort of some boisterous worship happening, some unrestrained joy happening in the worship of God. And Jezrehiah is directing what's happening in the temple.

So from now on if you want to call Taylor Jezrehiah I just have no objection to that at all. He might but I won't object. And in the final verse in verse 43 it says that they offer great sacrifices and that everyone from great to small is rejoicing because God made them rejoice with great joy. In verse 43, When you read it, you see that they've lost all choice in the matter. They have to rejoice.

They're not going to be able to do anything else because God has given them hearts full of joy, so they're just going to have to rejoice. The men are, the women are, the children are, everyone is going to have to rejoice because it is so obvious how good and kind and faithful God has been to them. Now I am going to move on to the three things I want to pull from the text, the dedication, the purification, and the celebration. But I want to begin by saying that all of these are very historical, meaning that if you go back to the earliest days of Israel's history, God dealing with this family essentially as a people through centuries, You just see these three things over and over again. Dedication is part of the history of Israel from the earliest days.

Purification is part of the history of Israel from the earliest days. Celebration is part of the history of Israel from the earliest dealings of God with this nation. Dedication, Solomon's temple is dedicated. Massive sacrifice, massive joy in this dedication. The second temple we saw dedicated.

Many things are dedicated in the history of Israel. Purification In Exodus chapter 20, the giving of the law, the people are supposed to wash their clothes and purify themselves before God gives them the Ten Commandments. When the tabernacle is complete and the priests are going to be set in place to do their work for the first time, and the Levites are going to be set in place. Moses makes a sacrifice and he sprinkles everything in the tabernacle. The lampstands get sprinkled with blood.

The altar gets sprinkled with blood. The priests are sprinkled with blood. Everything is purified. In many places throughout the history of Israel we see that. And then celebration is everywhere in the Old Testament.

I don't even need to say that. All I need to say is that there's a festival tithe in the Old Covenant, meaning that the people are supposed to set aside 10% of all of their increase to celebrate before the Lord. And so you're going to consume 10% of everything that God gives you. You're going to consume it during the three feasts of the year. God wants you to put aside 10% to celebrate before the Lord.

And So I could spend the whole time saying, see, dedication here, here, here, here, in the Old Testament, see, purification here, here, here, in the Old Testament, see, celebration here, here, here, here, but I'm not going that direction. I'm just going to stop here and say it's historical. You'll find all these things all through the history of the Lord's people. Number one, dedication. The whole text is about dedication, isn't it?

When you look to the definition of dedication you find two things. One, to commit something to a particular purpose. You dedicate it for this, to commit it to a particular purpose. Or to honor a particular person. We dedicate this to this person for their contributions.

Here's an example of both of those. Our missions and church planting fund. So our church now has a missions and church planting fund. We, as often as we can, we're squirreling away a little money over there, hoping one day it will be a lot of money and we can do something great with it. It's committed to a particular purpose.

We're trying not to touch that money. We want to save it for this one thing. It's dedicated. Here's an example of the other definition. Many buildings are named after a person.

Many buildings, particularly if you go on a university campus, it'll be this person's hall. And that's either because they've made a unique and very valuable contribution or they've given a lot of money or both. In this case, the Lord's people are doing both. They're committing this wall to a very particular purpose, the glory of God, the protection of the Lord's people, and they're dedicating the wall out of honor for God and to commit the whole thing into his hands. So let's consider the absolute necessity of both of these things with respect to the wall.

We're going to look at both of those parts of the definition of dedication and we're going to tie it right to what we see with the wall and why they would dedicate this wall. First, acknowledging God. The dedication of the wall is an acknowledgement of God that this is a result of his goodness, his faithfulness. I was thinking about yesterday's wedding. Now, what if I just went on and on about how great it was and just talked about it, just kind of minute by minute what happened during the wedding and sort of just took credit for it.

I never thanked anybody else for the contributions and I just met and going on and on about the wedding I made it sound like it was it was the result of me and I never acknowledged the people who did the work okay there that wedding was videoed I wasn't videoing the wedding I didn't prepare for that I didn't do it I won't do the post-production work on it. There were flowers, beautiful flowers there. I didn't arrange one of them. There was a fantastic reception. I had nothing to do with the reception.

I didn't bake the cakes. I didn't pull the stuff together. I didn't decorate. I didn't make ready for it. I didn't do the teardown and the cleanup afterwards.

The grandmothers and the great grandmothers were making silk corsages. Do I need to say I didn't have anything to do with the silk corsages? There was music. There was beautiful music in there. I had nothing to do with either the selection or the performance of the music.

There were speakers. I didn't do that. There was a dinner after the rehearsal the night before. I shudder to think how much went into the dinner the night before. There were ushers there who made it a pleasant experience for the people who came and were part of the wedding.

I didn't do any of that. But let's just say I went on and on and never thanked anybody for those contributions. And by the way, I've only named a few of the many contributions that were made to the wedding yesterday. Let's say I never thanked anybody for that and I made it sound like the wedding was a result of what I did. Somebody eventually would just punch me in the nose.

I would have it coming. How much more God, How much more inappropriate would it be for us to go on and on about things as if it was attributable to us and not acknowledge God. Is it my life? Did I make myself? Is it my time?

Have I preserved myself to this point in time, provided for myself? Did God preserve me and bring me here? Did God provide what I needed to be here? Is it my talents, if anything gets done out of my labors, is it my talents, did I give myself those gifts? Did I give myself the abilities that I find myself having in this life?

Is it my strength? And on and on and on. No, it's not my life, God made me. It's not my time, God sustained me and provided for me. It's not my talents.

God has given me any ability I have. It's not my strength. God has given me life and breath and strength to do the things that I do. The shame of it is that I don't do more with what I've been given. Not deserving praise for what I've done.

In Romans, Paul builds a systematic theology of the gospel. And here's where he begins in Romans chapter 1. He begins with people who don't have the gospel. So Paul begins his systematic theology of the gospel with people who don't have it. And he describes this death spiral and here's where the death spiral happens for those who are without the gospel.

In Romans 1-21 He says they did not glorify him as a God nor were they thankful. So this is at the root of rebellion against God. It's bad enough that his creatures don't obey his good laws. So he's the creator and he's given good laws. And it is bad that they won't obey those good laws.

But what's worse is what's behind it. Because what's behind the disobedience is a heart that doesn't want God to be God. It's a heart that won't acknowledge God as God. It's a heart that wants to be God. God, you can't govern me.

I govern me. And it's a heart that's not thankful. It's a heart that wants to take credit and say, I made myself. I sustain myself. These are my talents.

This is my strength. So sin is bad, but what's behind the sin is worse, which is a heart that won't glorify God as God and won't be thankful to God. So it's incredibly essential that the people of God, after God has been so faithful and so kind and given them the ability to do things that they could never do in their own strength to stop and acknowledge God and dedicate the wall with hearts of thanksgiving to God. That's the first part of what it means to dedicate something. Now the Second, committing the wall to something very specific.

In this case, it's committing the wall to his glory, that he would receive the honor from there being a wall. Now, remember how Nehemiah the book starts. It starts 1, 500 miles away from Jerusalem in the capital of Persia. And Nehemiah is not in Jerusalem. Nehemiah is actually a very important person in the empire.

He's the cup bearer of the emperor. He's a confidant of the emperor. He's a close advisor to the emperor. And He gets a report. What's the report?

That those in Jerusalem are there in great distress and reproach. So the wall is the source of that in Nehemiah 1. It's the source of the great distress and reproach. The walls broken down and the gates are burned, the people of God are exposed, and it's a disgrace. The wall being repaired represents a reversal of that.

That now the people of God are going to be able to take their place as a special nation and the worship of God is going to be able to proceed as God has prescribed it. God will be worshiped in a right way now. And the Lord's people will be strong, and there will no longer be a reproach. The wall should be committed to the glory of God, because that's why God did it. That's why God brought Nehemiah from 1, 500 miles away, and a place of prominence in the Empire and put him in Jerusalem to lead the effort to do this.

It's for his name's sake. That's why God does everything. That's why God does everything. For His name's sake. It's not so that we'll be great, it's so that He'll be known as great.

He does great things through His people so that people will say, God did that, just like we saw with the wall. And He'll be praised and honored. Remember what Jerusalem was called twice in chapter 12, last chapter. It was called the Holy City. Jerusalem is not like any other city or every other city.

Jerusalem is special. God made His name dwell there. He put the temple there. David was the king there. Jesus is coming here.

So it's a holy city. God is restoring Jerusalem as a holy city, as a truly set apart city. So it's committed, it's committing this wall to glorify God, to bring honor to God. Furthermore, listen to Psalm 127. These are very famous verses, but I'm going to give them to you again.

Psalm 127, verses 1 and 2. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat bread of sorrows, for so he gives his beloved sleep." In other words, you can build your wall and you can set watchmen on it and you can wake up early and stay up late. It's only good if God is in it.

It's only good if God builds that wall. It's only good if God is with the watchman. You can get up as early as you want to. You can stay up as late as you want to. You can build the wall as high as you want to, you can build it as thick as you want to.

If God's not in it, you might as well not have a wall at all. So they should build the wall. It is in obedience to God for sure. But The wall doesn't reduce their dependence on God. They're as dependent on God when the wall is complete as before it was complete.

So here they come and they're committing it to His glory and they're putting the future of this city in His hands. This is part of the dedication. God, the future of this city, they're acknowledging that the future of Jerusalem and The future of this wall is in the hands of God so it is looking back and saying God you did this We thank you for doing this, but it's also looking forward and saying God This is committed to your care if you don't If you don't care for this city, we're lost. That's part of the dedication. Now how does this apply to us today?

By the way, if you're taking notes on the handout, you've got a place for application at the bottom. You can just start jotting applications here, I'm not coming back to it at the end. So we'll just sprinkle them in, you can put them down there if you want to. Okay, broadly, it obviously means that the Lord's people should acknowledge God in everything and commit everything to Him. So when we look at what the people are doing, in Nehemiah chapter 12 we say we should do that too.

We should acknowledge God in everything. We shouldn't be a proud people who think we've made ourselves and given ourselves strength and given ourselves ability. We should acknowledge that all this comes from God. Every good and perfect gift comes from above. That's the book of James somewhere.

I don't remember exactly chapter and verse. It all comes from God and he should be acknowledged for it. It's not right to just let it pass by, the good things pass by, without having thankful hearts and giving God the praise that he deserves for his goodness and his faithfulness. And We should commit everything to His hands. We've been memorizing this.

Romans chapter 12 verse 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. They're doing this in Nehemiah chapter 12. When they dedicate the wall, they're presenting themselves as living sacrifices. This is your city, this is your wall. The future is committed to you God, we're totally dependent upon you God.

So in a general sense we should do that. Now how do we make that more specific? Well here are a few thoughts. You've got to make your own list of ways that you should acknowledge God. Stop like they're doing in Nehemiah chapter 12.

Stop. Take a deep breath. Acknowledge God for his goodness and his faithfulness. So how do you do that in your own life? Here's a few ways that I should do this in my own life.

Offerings. Janet and I received really good patterns from our parents. So we sort of give automatically. Meaning we get paid, we offer. And it's just the pattern.

Okay, but many years you just write the check and put it in the plate, end of story. There's a better way to go about that. We're trying to do better in this to gather around the check. To acknowledge God and say, say, stop, take a deep breath and say, God, we have something to give because you've given us an abundance. We're giving out of our abundance.

You've been so kind in the way you've provided for us. Here it is. Again, we had everything we needed this month, and now here is an offering back of just a little portion of it to you. Thank you God. I would encourage you next time, next time you give, stop.

Take a deep breath and do that. Just acknowledge. Just say out loud what you know already. Gather around the check. We have new babies around here all the time, don't we?

It's a blessing. When we have new babies, we don't do official baby dedications here, but we should do unofficial ones, that's for sure, at least, to acknowledge that children are a blessing. God gives children. He opens and closes the womb. It's a blessing anytime a baby is added to a family.

It's a sign of the blessing in favor of God. We should stop, take a deep breath, and acknowledge that God did this and that it's a blessing. God, Thank you. A new person in our family. It's a gift.

We know it's a gift from you. We know the future depends on you for this baby. What about a new house? I know many times when we gather, hoard together to move somebody into a new house, we didn't do this with the Templetons. I was thinking about this, maybe they haven't already done it, maybe they'll do it now, but we should gather anytime you move into a new house and say, God, thank you, thank you for putting us here, giving us what we need.

God may this house be to your glory. May you superintend everything that happens in this house over the years, however long you give us here, may it be a place of joy and respite for your people and evangelism for those who don't know you, may they come here and know you. Here's one, how about hardships? So up to this point we've been thanking God for His blessings. How about the dedicating of our hardships to Him?

James chapter one begins that way, consider it all joy my brethren when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work. You may be Perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Hardships are actually gifts in disguise. God sends you hardships to teach you, to wean you off of the world.

We love the world too much, So how are we going to stop loving the world? Well, we'd like to just read a book about not loving the world. Give me the not loving the world book. I think that's 1 John. Give me that book and I'll just read it and then I won't love the world anymore.

Well that's not exactly how it works actually. It takes more to wean us off of the world and make us not love the world. Sometimes it takes hardships to teach us that God is sufficient. He's all we need, that His grace is sufficient. Sometimes He puts a thorn in our flesh to teach us that His grace is sufficient.

We shouldn't love the world, that we should really love Him because His joys are the best joys. It would be totally appropriate if God brings you into a time of particular hardship to dedicate the hardship to him, to give thanks for the hardship and say, God, I know you sent this not as a curse but as a blessing. Okay that was number one, dedication. Here's number two, purification. One was dedication, two is purification.

Look at me, look with me at verse 30. Don't look at me. Look at the Bible. Nehemiah chapter 12 verse 30, then the priests and the Levites purified themselves and purified the people, the gates, and the walls. So there's this mass purification that starts with the priest purifying themselves, and then they purify all the people, and then they purify the wall and the gates.

Now what is that about? That seems a little odd to me. After all, it wasn't sin to build the wall. What are they purifying from here in the text? This is before the dedication really happens.

It's purification really and dedication. So it wasn't sin to build the wall. Actually it was the opposite of sin. It wasn't disobedience to build the wall. It was obedience to build the wall.

What exactly needs to be cleansed in this picture? You have a people being obedient and God uses them and produces a good result, what are we purifying? Here's the problem. The wall is not the problem. The builders are the problem.

It was built by sinners. They were obeying God, but they were still sinners when they were building this wall. And they still needed to be washed. We don't know whether it was water or blood or how they went about it, but the text goes out of its way to say before the dedication there was purification. This is a holy city.

This is the holy city of a holy God. And this is an act of worship. The dedication is an act of worship. You don't just come into the presence of this God with your hat on and chewing gum, figuratively speaking. This is a holy God.

You're not the buddy of this God. You're a sinner and He's the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the one who has spoken everything into existence by just a word. Everything you know and see within one week He just spoke into existence. He didn't work with materials, he just spoke. He's holy.

He's nothing like us. We're going to worship him. We must be purified. Here's what Isaiah 64 verse 6 says. This is such an important verse in the Bible.

Isaiah chapter 64 verse 6. But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. We are all like an unclean thing. So Isaiah wraps all humans ever born up together and says all of us are like an unclean thing. Best to the worst.

We don't see ourselves that way. We like to compare. But we're comparing with God. So I might be able to compare myself with you and come out okay, or you might be able to compare yourself with me and come out okay, but we cannot compare ourselves with God and come out okay. We're all like an unclean thing to Him.

All our righteousness, the things that we're proud of, the things that we think we can bring before Him and offer to Him, He says, that's a filthy rag to me. This jolts us. We're not used to thinking that way. We're proud of those things. We assume we've done well.

It's because we think so little of God. It's because we think so much of ourselves. We do better to think soberly of ourselves and of God who is holy from eternity past to eternity future has never defiled anything in any way. That's not like us. I thought of an example that we can all relate to.

Daniel chapter 1. The backdrop is that the people, because of their sins, have been taken into captivity. They were in Jerusalem and now they're in Babylon and they're at the mercy of King Nebuchadnezzar. This king of kings. The Bible calls Nebuchadnezzar king of kings and it's true.

He was the king of an empire. There were many kings that he was a king over. And now you have Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and they're in captivity and King Nebuchadnezzar wants some servants so he takes the best of the captives. He segregates the best out for himself. He takes the young and the strong and the smart and the good looking and he physically alters them.

They're in the charge of the chief of the eunuchs. What does that make them? I think that makes them eunuchs. I think it is most reasonable to assume that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are physically altered to be eunuchs so they are not a risk around the king's wives and the king's concubines. He takes the best and he physically alters them and he renames them.

Your Hebrew names won't do. You get Babylonian names and for three years the best, smartest, strongest, best looking are trained in the languages and wisdom of the empire. Just because you're the best, smartest, strongest, doesn't mean you're ready. You have three years of language training and the wisdom of the empire, and then one by one the king interviews you and interviews you and interviews you and interviews you and says, okay, you few are suitable to serve me. Now think about this.

All that's been done, the best and the brightest have been taken and trained for three years and physically altered and then weeded down to just a few to serve the king. And now here comes the town drunk. And because he's drunk, he asks to be put at the front of the line to serve the king. Now knowing what you know about Nebuchadnezzar, what would he say of the town drunk? Put this man to death.

This defiled drunkard wants to come to the front of the line after all these men had been through, after the preparations for making them ready to serve me. Now the most defiled man in town wants to come to the front of the line and wants to serve me. I am the King of Kings. I am the Lord of Lords. Kill this man." Brothers and sisters, without purification, No matter the good work that's being contemplated, you are the town drunk.

Do you understand that? Do we understand that? Without cleansing, Without the blood of Jesus Christ that washes away all our defilements, it would be like us as the town drunk coming before God who made everything and saying, Turn to Hebrews chapter 9. The intent of this is not to make us feel bad about ourselves. The intent of this is so that we understand how precious the blood of Jesus is.

Jesus takes us from being the town drunk who would come stumbling before the king of kings ready to offer something to him and serve him in some way. And it cleanses us and actually makes us ready to serve him. Hebrews chapter 9. I want to read verses 11 through 22. And I want to argue that the purification in Nehemiah chapter 12, It just points forward to what the author is speaking of in Hebrews 9.

It's just a picture. It's a shadow of what is beautifully illuminated in Hebrews 9 beginning in verse 11, but Christ came as high priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he entered the most holy place, once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

And for this reason he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption of transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. Therefore, not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.

Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry, and according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. There's no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. So the writer of Hebrews says all these things are types. The old tabernacle, all The vessels of ministry that needed to be purified with blood, they're all types. They point forward to heavenly things and they're fulfilled in Christ.

The need for purification just points to Jesus and our need to be cleansed by His blood. So we see in Hebrews chapter 9 the link between purification and dedication. That purification is a necessary prerequisite. Necessary means you can't do without it. Prerequisite means it has to happen first.

You don't dedicate things to God unless purification has happened. Because if you do, it's like the drunk coming before Nebuchadnezzar and stepping in front of the people who have been made ready, rigorously made ready. It's the blood of Jesus Christ that makes us ready to serve God. You can't skip that step. Purification is a necessary prerequisite.

And yet, our need is ongoing, right? So it's not that we're sprinkled with the blood of Christ and then we never sin again. We keep needing the cleansing. We keep needing to be cleansed by God. And so it is here.

These are people, many of which in Nehemiah chapter 12 are alive in God, have been forgiven of their sins, and yet, when it comes time to dedicate the wall, they purify. They start by purifying. Our need is ongoing. We don't stop needing the blood of Jesus. How does this apply?

It's so obvious. Am I in Christ? Or am I the drunk who's come to try to serve the King of Kings, to offer up something to Him, not realizing how defiled I am because I'm out of my senses. You have to have a sense of your defilement so that you'll run to Jesus for cleansing. Unless you Feel how far short, how defiled everything that you have to offer is.

You've only been thinking on the human plane, you've been comparing yourself to your neighbors, and you're glad that you stack up well to the people you despise, but you've no thought for God and how holy He is. Once God shows you that, you are ready for purification. Here's the other application. Do I think soberly about my good works? So let's say God is using you to do miraculous things like repairing two miles of wall in 52 days.

That's fantastic. You could never do that on your own. God is working in your life in a wonderful way. Okay, are you full of yourself now? Or do you realize that all of this happens because of the purification and that wasn't your work?

The thing that makes our works acceptable isn't that we're righteous. The things that make these things acceptable to God are that they're offered through the work of his Son. It's an external righteousness. Romans chapter 3 makes that so clear. Philippians chapter 3 makes that even more clear where Paul says that our works are cleansed in Christ.

Number one was dedication, number two was purification, finally celebration. Celebration. I want to go back to our text. I want to read the first verse and the last verse. That's where we find all the good celebrating.

So let's read verse 27 and then verse 43. Nehemiah chapter 12 verse 27. Now 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 thanksgivings and singing, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps. Now skipping to the last verse, verse 43. Also that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy.

The women and children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off." Friends, of all the people on earth, we should be the happiest. Christians should be the most full of joy. If you understand the holiness of God and you understand the desperate condition of man and you understand that it is the work of Jesus Christ laying down his life for sinners, then you'll be full of joy. How can you not see your desperate state and then know that someone has done what you would have been unable to do if God had given you a thousand lifetimes but it's been done on your behalf and you can just enter into the work of another and be cleansed and be free before God. You can come into His presence with joy and boldness.

When you realize what's been done for you, if you just repent and believe the Gospel. The demands of the Gospel are part of this is to repent and believe. That's it. You don't do anything. Even faith is a gift.

Okay, there are four things about celebration in the text. Number one is God is the source of it. Look at verse 43 again. They rejoice for God had made them rejoice with great joy. They find themselves without an option.

They have to rejoice. They have to be happy in God. Both because God had given the circumstances which just cry out for joy, and also God gave them hearts of rejoicing. God is the source of the joy. And so really, in a way, they're just simply recognizing reality.

God's been good to them and they're just recognizing things as they are. God is faithful and good and kind and has given us this great victory we could have never given ourselves. And they're happy. Number two, everyone enters into the joy. The joy is not for some.

The joy is for all in Nehemiah chapter 12. There are the men, there are the women, there are the children, there are the leaders, there are the priests, there are the Levites, there are the musicians. Everybody is entering into the joy. That's how it is in God's kingdom. Joy's for everybody.

Everyone receives and so everyone is happy. Number three, notice how unrestrained it is. People are hearing the commotion from a long ways off. I grew up in Greenville, North Carolina, where I grew up a mile and a half away from the stadium, from the football stadium. East Carolina University is there.

So I grew up a mile and a half away from the stadium, from the football stadium. East Carolina University is there. So we grew up a mile and a half. And on football Saturdays, when something really good or really bad was happening in the stadium, either the Pirates were scoring or getting scored on, Back in those days they got scored on a lot more than they scored. Unfortunately, they're better now.

You can hear it. You just be outside and you can hear the roar. I think the stadium at that time held 30, 000 people. There's a lot more participating in the joy in Jerusalem at this time. So we lived a mile and a half away, something good happens in the stadium, and there's just this rising roar that you can hear really easily a mile and a half away.

I wonder how far away you could have heard it. I don't know. This is what's happening. There's a roar happening around Jerusalem. Think of the testimony to those around of the goodness of God as they dedicate this wall.

Then finally, I'm going to stop here and I'm going to spend a minute developing this one. The place of music and singing. There's great rejoicing, there's celebration here in Nehemiah chapter 12. Now look at the place of music and singing. Here's a quiz.

If you spend a lot of time in the text, you'll know the answer. Who has the prominent name in the text? Who has the prominent name in the text? Is it Nehemiah? The book is named after Nehemiah.

It's not Nehemiah. Is it Ezra? Ezra is the other spiritual giant in the book. It's not Ezra, it's David. It's David.

David has been dead hundreds of years by now, but he is the prominent name in the text. In verse 36 it is the musical instruments of David the man of God. In verse 37 it is the city of David and the house of David. There are musicians in the text who trace their lineage back to Asaph. Asaph is another Psalm writer, like David is, and he was appointed by David to lead the praise before the Ark of the Covenant day and night.

Around the clock. There are supposed to be praises to God before the Ark. David appointed Asaph. It's David's fingerprints that are all over this celebration. Now, who's David?

David's the warrior, king, musician, songwriter, man after God's own heart. David is a warrior, right? He slayed Goliath, cut his head off with his own sword. He is king. He was a shepherd, but then God made him the king, and he was the mightiest king of Israel.

He was a musician. Remember he played his harp, and it calms King Saul when an evil Spirit would come upon him. He was a songwriter. David has written a greater part of the Psalms, which is the songbook of the Bible. David wrote many of those.

He was the man after God's own heart. Christian men, Christian men who are listening. Do I have your attention? This is what we need to be. Warrior, musician, songwriter, men after God's own heart.

Hard as a rock in some ways. David was hard as a rock when it was time to face enemies and protect the Lord's people. We should be too. But he was soft as the wool on the sheep he was shepherding at other times. He was a tender hearted man.

He was writing poetry and songs. And you could believe that David sang with all his might. He danced with all his might. Men, we need to be like this. We need to be so full of gusto when it comes time to worship God and song.

Here's how it works in churches. Women love to sing. And a few men who were raised to sing like to sing, and the rest sort of mumble in the background. Singing's not for guys. David was the warrior king.

He was not ashamed to sing with all his might. Jesus sang. I'm now going to give you two examples of where Jesus sang and two commandments where Paul commands us to sing. Are you ready? I'm going to do it fast because I'm out of time.

Oh wow, am I out of time. Too bad. First example of Jesus singing. Matthew 26. We're in Matthew 26 almost every week.

I quote out of Matthew 26 every week at the Lord's Supper. It's where Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper. Right after what I read almost every week in Matthew 26 verse 30 it says, and when they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of olives. Who led that hymn? Jesus led that hymn.

The text doesn't say it, but Jesus led everything with the disciples. He might have delegated. It's possible, I suppose. I think Jesus led that hymn. For sure you know he was singing.

Now here's the best one. Hebrews 2 verse 12. Just jot down that reference. We're not going to go there. Just jot down Hebrews 2 verse 12.

The writer of Hebrews there is quoting Psalm 22. So Psalm 22 is one of the most magnificent messianic Psalms, meaning a Psalm that prophecies about Jesus. It talks all about the crucifixion in Psalm 22 in great detail and it's at a time when crucifixion wasn't even a part of the life of Israel. But God knows the future and so God can do that. Psalm 22 is a magnificent psalm about the Messiah, about the Savior.

The author of Hebrews is quoting from that psalm and he attributes this to Jesus, I will declare your name to my brethren. So let's get the pronouns straight. I, Jesus, will declare your name, the name of God his Father, to my brethren, to believers. Jesus will declare the name of God the Father to his brethren, believers. In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to you.

Hebrews 2 verse 12 says that Jesus will lead the singing of the brethren in praise to God the Father. If you need more than David, man, to sing with gusto, then take Jesus. Jesus is going to lead the praises, the singing praises to God among his brethren, those who have been saved by his blood. So we're not singing as some sort of a man-made tradition. We're singing because singing has always been one of the key ways that God's people have praised Him.

Now here are the two commandments where Paul commands the Lord's people to sing. Ephesians 5.19. Speak 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. Paul commands us in Ephesians 5, 19 and 20, that was 19 and 20, to speak to one another through these songs. So what Paul is saying is it's actually more than singing that's happening when you're singing.

You're speaking to one another about wonderful things of the Lord when you sing. Speak to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. So here's another thing that's going on when you're singing. You're making melody not just with your mouth but in your heart. Your heart is singing.

The question is, has God made your heart sing? If you've been redeemed, you should have a heart that sings. There should be melody in your heart. Secondly, Colossians 3.16. Paul says this, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching in all wisdom.

Teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. So it's a very similar verse and here Paul says that it's one of the ways in which the word of Christ dwells richly in your heart. Do you want the word of Christ to dwell richly in your heart? Would you like that? Okay, well then sing to one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

It's one of the ways that we take the Word of Christ into our hearts. And isn't it true that it's one of the best ways to memorize Scripture? Learn songs with scripture. The Word of Christ will dwell with you richly if you're singing good songs, theologically rich songs. And then it says, that verse finishes with this, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

It's one of the ways where we give expression, outlet to the grace that's in our hearts. God puts the grace there. It should work its way out through singing. How does this apply? We should be quick to celebrate God's goodness.

This shouldn't be foreign to us. If you want to have a compelling life in your home, you've got to celebrate the goodness of God. It's just that simple. Your home life, my home life, is either going to be compelling or not compelling. Meaning, will our children want to walk in our footsteps?

If we give them a compelling life in God, chances are the answer will be yes. If we don't, chances are the answer will be no. So we can't be foreigners to celebrating the goodness of God. It should be happening all the time. We acknowledge His goodness.

It's part of a compelling life in the Lord. And we should sing with gusto. We should sing with gusto. Because David sang with gusto. Because Jesus sang with gusto.

Because Paul commands us to sing with grace in our hearts to the Lord. Prominent themes from the text, dedication, purification, celebration, and it's just important. Every one of those is just as important for us today as it was to those who lived in the time of Nehemiah chapter 12. Let's pray. God, I do thank you for this text.

Pray that we would be a people set aside to your own glory, that you would be pleased to take control of our lives and do things in us and among us it would bring glory to your name. Oh God fill our hearts with singing and fill our mouths with singing and praise to you in Jesus name. Amen.