In the sermon 'Connecting With A Faithful Generation,' Jason Dohm explores Nehemiah 12:1-26, focusing on the importance of genealogical records of priests and Levites. These records highlight the faithful generation that God raised up from Babylonian captivity to establish worship in Jerusalem. The sermon emphasizes the significance of the priesthood and Levites, their roles in Old Testament worship, and the importance of worship being conducted according to God's prescriptions. Dohm argues that understanding the genealogical records helps us appreciate the continuity of God's work through generations. He also draws parallels between the Old Testament priesthood and Jesus, who fulfills the ultimate role of High Priest. Believers today are considered a royal priesthood, tasked with living holy lives. The sermon encourages Christians to stand on the shoulders of past faithful generations and stresses the regulative principle of worship, urging us to adhere strictly to scriptural guidelines in our worship practices.

Today's sermon text is Nehemiah chapter 12, 1 through 26. Now these are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua. Jeremiah, Ezra, Amariah, Maluk, Hattush, Shekiniah, Rehum, Merimoth, Edo, Ginnathoi, Abijah, Mijamin, Ma'aydiah, Bilge, Shemaiah, Joyerib, Jediyah, Salu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jediyah. These were the heads of the priests and their brethren in the days of Jeshua. Moreover, the Levites were Jeshua, Benoai, Kadmi, Al-Sharabiah, Judah and Mataniah who led the thanksgiving Psalms, he and his brethren.

Also, Bakbu-Gaia and Unai, their brethren, stood across from them in their duties. Jeshua begot Joachim. Joachim begot Eliashib. Eliashib begot Joida. Joida begot Jonathan.

And Jonathan begot Jedua. Now, in the days of Joachim, the priests, the heads of the fathers' houses were of Saraiah Meriah, of Jeremiah Hananiah, of Ezra Meshulam, of Amariah Jehonah, of Melichu Jonathan, of Shebeniah Joseph, of Harim Adna, of Mariam Helki, of Edo Zechariah, of Ginnathon Meshulam, of Abijah Zikri, the son of Mijamin, of Moadaiah, Pityah, of Bilge Shemua, of Shemua, I'm sorry, of Shemiah Jehonathan, of Joirib Matanai, of Jediyah Uzzay, of Salai Kalai, of Amok Eber, of Hilkayah Hashabiah, and of Jediyah Netanel. 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, Jehoiada, Johanan, and Jaduah. The sons of Levi, the heads of the father's houses until the days of Johanna, the son of Eliashah, were written in the book of the Chronicles. And the heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua, the son of Kadmiel, 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, Bakbukayah, Obadiah, Meshulam, Talmud, and Akkub 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, in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest, the scribe." The title of the sermon this morning is, Connecting with a Faithful Generation. Here in the time of Nehemiah, in Nehemiah chapter 12, they're looking back a hundred years at the generation that God raised up in Babylon in captivity in a foreign land under a pagan king to bring them back and to begin to build a culture of the honor of God and a culture of godliness in Jerusalem. So we are looking back at this faithful generation, looking back a century. Last week we finished chapter 11 And the end of chapter 11 had the different cities in Judah and Benjamin that were populated.

They were the population centers for the tribal territories of these two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. And I launched from that to what the Apostle Paul says in Acts chapter 17. In Acts chapter 17 the Apostle Paul says that God has determined pre-appointed times and boundaries for His people. Consider that for a minute. We're getting that at the end of Nehemiah chapter 11.

The Lord's people are distributed in these cities in Judah and Benjamin. And Paul would look at that, really does look at that in a way in Acts chapter 17. He says that's not random, that's not the lottery. God has determined Pre-appointed, meaning before time, the times and the boundaries for his people. He puts his people at a certain place and at a certain time.

This should give us such joy and confidence as his people to know that us being here now isn't the lottery. It isn't the roll of the dice. It is God determining pre-appointed times and boundaries. That's beautiful. I love the application.

We should live with confidence in our generation because God has put us in our generation. We should fight the fights that we are in now because God wanted us in these fights. If He didn't want us in these fights, He would have had us born in a different time and in a different place. This week we return to the topic of worship. Is that what you got out of all those names?

Worship? Well, the reason I say that is because it is about priests and Levites. And Priests and Levites exist for the worship that God prescribed. I say the worship God prescribed because if you don't get anything out of the Old Testament, get this, that God has said how he wants to be worshiped by his people. With great precision, isn't that what you get out of reading the book of Leviticus and Numbers and on and on?

God has determined how he wants to be worshiped. He cares how he is worshiped. And he doesn't want his people to be careless about how they worship, because he said, worship me like this. We see that here. So when we come to these genealogies of priests and Levites, We've got to tie that to worship, because that's why priests exist, that's why Levites exist.

Because God has said, worship me like this, and these are the people I want to use in these roles for my worship. As we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. Father, here we are, objects of your compassion, given a day to rest and to worship. So we're thankful for that. We give you thanks that you have allowed us to come apart from our normal occupations for a day and to rest.

And to make ourselves ready for the week to come by slowing down. And to worship, to consider you, to fix our affections upon you, and express our love for you. You loved us first, now we love you. God I thank you that we can stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us, who you raised up to be faithful in their time and in their place. Help us to gain so much from looking at that stream of the faithful.

And to stand on their shoulders so that we can see farther and go further than we would have, had they not been faithful in the life that you gave them. Thank you for this. I pray that you would help us to glean this from this text in Jesus' name. Amen. Here's the roadmap for the rest of our time.

I want to begin with what is in the text. If you're filling in blanks on the handout, text is the blank. What is in the text? It'll be a really quick exposition of the text, actually, because I don't have a lot to say about these names in particular. But I do want to examine the contours of the text and talk about what is there in the actual words that we have in EMI chapter 12, verses 1 through 26.

That's a lot of verses for us on a Sunday. We'll talk about what's there. Then I want to talk about three things. The importance of the priesthood and the Levites, the legitimacy of the priesthood and the Levites, and then the continuity of the generations. So that's where we're headed.

First, what is in the text? What are the contours of this text? If you look at these 26 verses, I think what you find is six little subsections, and here they are. In verses 1 through 7, you have bookends in verses 1 through 7, meaning you have something at the leading part that introduces it in a really clean, clear way. And then at the very end you have another bookend that gives a summary of that section in a really clean, clear way.

Let's look at this. Nehemiah chapter 12, the first part of verse 1. Read along with me as I read it. These are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua. So, very clearly and concisely we are introduced.

We are looking back a hundred years to These two leaders who brought back the first wave of captives out of captivity, out of Babylon. Now, at the end of verse seven, if you skip to the end of this subsection, the end of verse seven, you see this. These were the heads of the priests and their brethren in the days of Jeshua. So again we are pointing back to that generation a year earlier and these are the heads of the priests. These are the prominent priests.

These are the leaders of the priests. So in between that clean introduction and that clean summary, you have these two leaders that brought the people back, Zerubbabel, who wasn't a priest, he was actually of the tribe of Judah, and Jeshua. And these are grandsons. You remember that from our study of Ezra? Zerubbabel is the grandson of the last king of Judah before they went into captivity.

So Zerubbabel is not just average Joe who God happens to make the leader back. He is a very specific man. He is of the tribe of Judah. He is of the tribe of kings. He is of the family of kings.

He is the grandson of the last king before the captivity. And, Joshua is the same. He is a priest, and he is the grandson of the last high priest that served before the people were taken into captivity. So it's the grandson of the king and the grandson of the high priest. And now as they come back, it's the leader and the leading priest again.

So after these two leading men, we get 22 names. And again, the summary statement at the end of chapter 7 tells us who they are. They're heads of the priests. They're prominent priests of those who came back from captivity. Two quick notes.

You see the name Ezra and you see the name Jeremiah among these 22 priests. It's not that Ezra and it's not that Jeremiah. So when you look at those 22 names and you see Ezra, It's not Ezra as in the book of Ezra, he's 85 years later. And we keep hitting this challenge week after week, which is the same name used for different guys. So the same with Jeremiah.

It's not that Jeremiah. It's a Jeremiah, he's an important man, but he's not the prophet. That's the first subsection. Leading priests. Then in verses 8 and 9, I think you have another subsection that is distinct.

And you get the same of the Levites. So the first section priest, the second section Levites, same generation. Back a hundred years, the time of Zerubbabel and Jeshua, but this time not the priests, but the Levites. And you have a list of eight Levites, who were leading Levites, prominent Levites. And if we went back to Ezra chapter 2, where we got the genealogies of this generation from 100 years back that came back from captivity.

In Ezra chapter 2 verse 40 you get a listing of some Levites and there are two names that cross over. It's a shorter list in Ezra 2 and that genealogy and it's an extended list here. You get more leading Levites here in Nehemiah chapter 12. The first section was priests, the second section is Levites, both from 100 years ago. The third section is verses 10 and 11.

Very straight forward. Six generations of high priests. Starting with Jeshua, the grandson. Six generations of high priests. And the first three are Jeshua, Joachim, and Eliashib.

And That brings us to where we are in Nehemiah. So three high priests spanning a hundred years. The fourth little section of this text is verses 12-21. In verses 12-21 you have the following generation of priests. If you try to match up the first section with verses 12-21, what you find is, remember the first section had 22 priests.

What you find is, 21 out of the 22 renamed as fathers and then their son is given. So it is just the next generation. The first section was 22 priests, they were prominent, they were leaders of the priests. This section in verses 12-21 is who their sons were who became leaders in the next generation. There's one that's missing.

If you're curious, it's Hattush. He is named in this first generation of priests but is not given a son in this second grouping, probably he didn't have any sons. That's a logical explanation. If you do go through the trouble of matching up the first group with this group in 12-21, you're going to find seven really minor changes, meaning it's almost the same word, but a letter or two is different. We've encountered that as we've gone through Ezra and Nehemiah in a number of different places, variations of the same name, so we shouldn't be disturbed by that.

And then one major change, if you're matching them up, Rehum from that first list becomes Hareem in the second list. Those names don't look anything alike. But the sequence is exactly the same before them and after them. So I think it's logical to say it is the same person but referred to with a different name. If you want to reject that view, that's fine with me.

I can't prove it. Then the next subsection, the fifth subsection is verses twenty-two and twenty-three. This is really interesting. This subsection in twenty-two and twenty-three, The author references alternate genealogical records. Meaning, I think, there's more to know about these genealogies.

This is a summary, this is a subset of the genealogies that could be referred to. It's abbreviated, it's summarized. To the original readers of the book of Nehemiah, they actually would have lived in centuries that had access to the alternate genealogical records that are being referred to by the author. There are two of them. One is a genealogical record kept during the time of Darius the Persian.

And then the other alternate record is the Book of the Chronicles. Almost all of the commentators agree that when it says the Book of the Chronicles, it's actually talking about records of genealogies that would have been kept in the temple, and not the Book of First and Second Chronicles. So I'm not sure how important that is, but the commentators are very unified on that. I'm happy to accept that. So, interesting.

Verses 22 and 23 give us alternate genealogical records. If we had lived in the early centuries that had access to the book of Nehemiah, we would have been able to go back and find more genealogical records that were relevant to what's being put before us in Nehemiah chapter 12. Then finally, you have one last subsection in verses 24-26. It's the following generation of the leading Levites. Just as two generations of priests are giving, starting 100 years ago, and then giving their sons, the same is done with the Levites.

There's an earlier section that gives the generation that came back with the leading Levites, that came back with Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and now in these last three verses, verses 24, 25, and 26, we are giving that follow-on generation their sons as well. What is the big picture? Why in the world is this in the middle of Nehemiah? Why are we backtracking a hundred years? I think that the author is building a genealogical bridge.

I think the author of Nehemiah is building a genealogical bridge. What is a genealogy? It's the family tree. Our author is reconstructing the family tree back to a point in time and giving us those at that point in time in a faithful generation that God used in a mighty way who led the people of God in the worship of God. So He is building that genealogical bridge, reconstructing the family tree back to this point in time, and saying, look, God raised up a mighty generation, and they served Him and honored him in their lives.

Okay, now the three points. Number one, the importance of the priesthood and Levites. Clearly in this text, if you're filling in blanks on the handout, it's importance. The importance of the priesthood and the Levites. Just in our studies of Ezra and Nehemiah, think how much space has been given to the genealogies of the priests and the genealogies of the Levites.

How important are priests and Levites and their descendants? Where they came from? As important as worship. If you want to know how important this is and why it's here, think of how important worship is. Why do I say that?

Well, think about the Old Testament sacrificial system. Think about the Old Testament temple worship. The worship that God prescribed. God under that covenant said, I want to be worshiped in this way. Now think about how central to that priests and Levites are.

That's why it's here. That's why it's so important. Because worship is important and because God had said how he wanted to be worshipped and because priests and Levites are central to how God said he wanted to be worshipped. Remember, what is Israel? Israel is a holy nation.

Out of all the nations of the earth, God said, Israel, you're mine. What is Levi? Levi is a holy tribe within a holy nation. God out of twelve tribes put his hand on that tribe and said, You're my tribe, I'm setting you aside, so that I'll be worshiped in the way that I want to be worshiped. What is Aaron?

What is the family line of Aaron? It's a holy family within a holy tribe within a holy nation. God put His hand on this family and said, You're mine. And He set them apart for His worship. So the priesthood is the holy of the holy of the holy.

A holy nation, a holy tribe, a holy family. The priests and the Levites are important because they are both to be teachers of the Word of God. Here's why priests and Levites matter. And here's why where they came from in reconstructing the family tree, here's why that's important. Because they were to be teachers of the Word of God.

God set aside this tribe and this family to teach His people His Word, to reveal Himself to His people, so that they would know what was good and right. Here's what's said of the priests in Malachi chapter 2 verse 7. This is God saying of the priests, They are my teachers. Malachi chapter 2 verse 7, For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, And people should seek the law from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. In Malachi chapter 2 verse 7, God says, if you need to know my word, you should be able to go to the lips of a priest.

That's where you'll find it. He is my messenger. God has set aside priests to teach His people His word. Here's where it's said of the Levites. In Deuteronomy chapter 33 verse 10.

Deuteronomy chapter 33 is very near the end of the life of Moses. He's blessing the people, tribe by tribe, a blessing for each tribe. And this is what he says of the tribe of Levi in Deuteronomy 33 verse 10. They, Levi, shall teach Jacob your judgments and Israel your law. Levites teach Jacob the judgments of God.

They teach Israel the law of God. And then it goes on to say, They shall put incense before you, and a whole burnt sacrifice on your altar. So we have in Moses' blessing of the tribe of Levi, both the teaching function of the Levites and the serving in worship function of the Levites. And we've seen this already repeatedly in the book of Nehemiah, haven't we? There have been multiple readings and explanations of the law of God in the book of Nehemiah, and who is doing that, priests and Levites.

So they are filling the function that God has given them in teaching the people of God, the words of God, incredibly important. Priests in particular are important in Old Testament worship because they sacrifice for the Atonement of sin. So why do priests matter? Because people are sinful. Because sin requires blood for atonement.

To make the wrong of sin right, Blood has to be shed. That's why priests are important. Of course all this just points to Jesus Christ, but in the Old Testament that's the picture God had given them. And priests are central to it. If the people are going to be cleansed of sin, blood has to be poured out and it's the priests who are pouring out the blood in the sacrificial system.

Levites in particular are important because they Help the priests. There's not enough in this one family, in the family of Aaron, to do all that has to be done in the ceremonial law, in the old covenant law. Too much for one family. So there's a tribe behind them to help them in the work that God has given them to do. And Levites in particular are important also because God has given them specialized functions which are essential to worship.

See if this sounds familiar. Levites, singers, gatekeepers. Do you remember that progression? We keep seeing it week after week. I don't know how many times since the start of our study in Ezra and then Continuing into Nehemiah, how many times have we seen that?

Levites, singers who are Levites with specialized functions, gatekeepers who are Levites with a specialized function. That's why they're important. Now here's a placeholder for next week. Are you ready? I'm starting next week's sermon now.

Singing. The Levites and their singing. Sons of Asaph. Asaph, not during the time of Levi, not even during the time of Zerubbabel and Jeshua, a hundred years ago, Asaph is hundreds of years ago during the time of King David. Asaph was a Levite, and King David set aside to lead singers before the Ark of the Covenant all the time.

Praises were to be sung to God before the Ark of the Covenant all the time. And Asaph was to lead that effort. And now the sons of Asaph, Way down at the end of the branch on the genealogical tree, the family tree, are the sons of Asaph, still singing, still leading the people in praises of God. Singing has been so prominent we haven't talked much about it. So I'm putting a stake in the ground to say we're talking about singing next week.

It's time to talk about singing. We keep hitting it and I keep brushing over it. But no more next week singing. Turn to Ezra 3. We are in Nehemiah, the book before it is Ezra.

And Ezra chapter 3. I want you to see something from the early chapters of Ezra that overlaps with today's text. Ezra chapter 3. I'd like to read verses 10 and 11. The first wave has come back from Babylon.

The first captives have come back to the promised land and are beginning to settle in Jerusalem and the surrounding territories. And when the seventh month comes, they meet and the altar is rebuilt. But now in verse 10, now after the foundations of the temple had been laid, I'd like to read Ezra chapter 3 verses 10 and 11. And notice how much it overlaps with our text this week. Ezra chapter 3 verse 10.

When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord according to the ordinance of David, king of Israel. So they are doing this because of the ordinance of David, the king of Israel. What David had commanded. That is just like our text this week. That is why they are doing it in Ezra chapter 3, and That is why they are doing it in Ezra chapter 3 and that is why they are doing it in the time of Nehemiah because David commanded it to be done.

Now verse 11, and they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever toward Israel. Then all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid." So here in Ezra chapter 3, We have Levites leading the people in praise and doing responsive singing. We see that at two different points in our text in Nehemiah chapter 12. Singing opposite one another. That is exactly what we see in Ezra chapter 3.

Responsive singing and leading the people to praise God through song. More on that next week. Finally, I want us to consider Hebrews chapter 7. So turn there. Turn to Hebrews chapter 7.

Anytime you study about priests, you have to short circuit to Jesus Christ. Priests should make your brain automatically think about Jesus, who is the fulfillment of the priesthood, and that's said so clearly in Hebrews chapter 7. So they have their own meaning in the Old Testament books, and that's valuable and good, but it should also make us fast forward in our minds in time to the time where the priesthood will be fulfilled in Jesus Christ. This is Hebrews chapter 7 verses 23-25. Hebrews chapter 7 beginning in 23.

Also there were many priests because they were prevented by death from continuing. In other words you have to have generation after generation after generation after generation of priests. Why? Because they keep dying. But He, Jesus, because He continues forever as an unchangeable priesthood.

Therefore, he is also to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them." The office of the priesthood is an intercessory office. The priests would stand as representatives of the people on behalf of the people to offer blood as an atonement. You needed generation after generation after generation after generation after generation of them because they kept dying, but Jesus didn't keep dying. Jesus was raised from the dead and now He lives through all eternity to intercede for His people. Right this minute, Jesus is seated at the right hand of His Father interceding for you and me and the rest of His people.

And so, He has fulfilled the intercessory role of the priesthood. How do we know that Jesus is the fulfillment of the priesthood? There are no more priests. There are no more priests who fill the function that the Old Testament priests. Why?

Because there was one sacrifice for all. You don't need to do it anymore. We don't need generation after generation of priests anymore. Jesus is doing it. He filled the function and is filling the function.

He is high priest. Not of the line of Aaron, but of the line of Melchizedek. That's why the priests and the Levites are important. Of all those other reasons, I think I gave four or five reasons, the most important one is it points forward to Jesus who fulfills the priesthood. He is High Priest forever.

That was the importance of the priesthood and the Levites. The second point is the legitimacy of the priesthood and the Levites. If you are filling in blanks on the handout, legitimacy. Because God cares how He is worshipped, He has prescribed the roles that the priests and the Levites would play. And because priests are a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, Legitimacy matters greatly.

You can't just say you are a priest and start doing the work of a priest. God has said not only what priests will do, but who priests will be. If you are not a son of Aaron, you don't engage in that word. Why? Because God said, only sons of Aaron engage in that word.

So God does care how he's worshipped. And priests are a type of Jesus, a picture of Jesus. So the legitimacy of a priest is of utmost importance, because if you start messing with the legitimacy, you start messing with a picture of Jesus Christ. No, no, no. We're back in Nehemiah.

I'll flip back a couple of pages to Nehemiah chapter 7. Nehemiah chapter 7 is definitely related to today's text in the sense that it is a recounting of Ezra chapter 2, and it gives the genealogy of those who came back from captivity a hundred years earlier. So it's similar to today's text in that way. In Nehemiah chapter 7, towards the end, beginning in verse 61, we have people who can't show that they're in the family tree. They can't show that they belong on the genealogical bridge, the reconstruction of the family tree.

So this is the part of that genealogy that deals with the people who can't demonstrate that they are of Israel. Nehemiah chapter 7, verse 61-65. These were the ones who came up from Tel-Mela, Tel-Harshah, Cherub, Adon, and Emmer. They could not identify their father's house nor their lineage, whether they were of Israel. The sons of Deliah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nakoda, 642.

And of the priests, okay, so in verse 63 it goes from the general, people who couldn't show they were Israelites, to the very specific, those who said they were priests but couldn't prove it. Verse 63, And of the priests, the sons of Hibiah, the sons of Chaz, the sons of Barzalai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzalai, the Gileadite, and was called by their name. These sought their listing among those who were registered by genealogy, but it was not found. Therefore, they were excluded from the priesthood as defiled. And the governor said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things, till a priest could consult with the Urim and Thummim.

So Only a priest can eat of the most holy things. These people are applying to be priests, to be able to eat of the most holy things, and to be able to partake of that work. They go to the book. Is your name in the book? As a descendant of Aaron.

They can't find their names in the book. So they are excluded as defiled. Look at that in the second half of verse 64. They were excluded from the priesthood as defiled. Defiled by what?

Defiled because they couldn't prove they were sons of Aaron. And only the sons of Aaron can engage in the work of the priesthood. Why? Because God cares how he is worshipped, and because the priesthood points to Jesus. Jesus has no defilements.

All of Jesus' credentials to be your high priest check out. None are missing. If you look for Jesus' name and his credentials about being your high priest, you find them all checked. He meets them all. And so you can't have priests whose credentials don't check out.

That's why it matters. That's why they're actually considered as defiled with respect to the priesthood, just because they're in the wrong family. You may think, wow, that sounds pretty uptight, but understand what's at stake. This is a type of Jesus. Don't mess with the pictures of Jesus Christ.

He fits the bill. He meets all the criteria. So must those who picture the ministry that He is going to perform and fulfill later. Here's two things for us that I think we should get out of this point. First is the regulative principle of worship.

Simply stated, here is the regulative principle of worship. Everything we do in corporate worship must be clearly warranted in Scripture. In other words, we are not at liberty to do things in this time in our corporate worship that we can't find a straight line to in the Scriptures. We think it's the best idea in the world, but we can't find it in Scripture. We're not at liberty to do it.

We're regulating ourselves. It's the regulative principle of worship. Meaning We're regulated by Scripture. We're restricted by what we find in Scripture. If we don't find it in Scripture, we can't do it.

We're not at liberty to do it. Because Jesus Christ is the head of the church, and so Jesus Christ tells the church how they should worship. This is an anchor. This is an anchor. Like an anchor to a ship.

So the ship is a local church. And the anchor is the Bible. And being regulated, confining yourself, restricting yourself to only the things that you see in Scripture. Now, Those who don't embrace this, by the way, most of the Christian world does not embrace the regulated principle of worship. Wow, I wish I had a whole Sunday to develop this.

It really needs a whole Sunday. Soon, soon. We'll do it soon. If you don't embrace this, you say, that's so uptight. That is going to keep you from making progress.

That's going to keep you from making progress. Because there are things that aren't forbidden anywhere in the scripture, and you withhold yourself from them, and you could have gotten further with those things. So in life that would be true, but in worship that's not true. In life there are so many categories where we can innovate, where creativity is a virtue. Worship is not like that.

Worship is not for our creativity. Worship is for the object of worship to say how he wants to be worshiped. Not for us to say how we'd like to worship. How we think he should be worshiped, how we can draw people to worship. That's not our function.

Our function is to be faithful. So Progress for us in worship isn't how can we innovate, how can we be creative. Progress for us is how can we be more faithful. God's given us these simple practices, How can we be more faithful to those practices? Brothers and sisters, that is progress.

Not innovation, not creativity in the category of worship. Progress is growing in faithfulness. It's an anchor. The regular principle of worship is an anchor. And we see it in Nehemiah chapter 12.

If your name is not on the list, you don't function as a priest or a Levite. Why? Because God said so, so we restrict ourselves to what God has said. It's a protection. It's a blessing.

It will keep you from drifting without knowing it. That is why you have an anchor. You have an anchor so that you don't end up miles away and never realize the creep that was happening. The drifting that was happening. Here is the second thing for us, I believe, out of this point.

The priesthood is fulfilled in Jesus. He's our High Priest forever. We will never need another one. And yet, at the same time, not in contradiction to that at all, we are all priests in the New Covenant. You don't have to be of the line of Aaron in the New Covenant.

If you are a believer, you are a priest. Here is what Peter calls us, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people. Do you remember that from 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9? 1 Peter 2, 9. We are a chosen generation and a royal priesthood.

Not just priests, but royal priests. Royalty priests. What an honor. Aaron is not even my great-great-great-great-grandfather. But that's not necessary.

What is necessary? Saving faith. If you have saving faith, you're not just a priest under the New Covenant, you're a royal priest. Because Jesus was priest and king, and you're his brother. Mind-blowing stuff.

Wonderful. Wonderful. So the question for us is, are we legitimate? Are we holy? Remember, the priests are a holy family of a holy tribe of a holy people chosen out of the world.

Three times holy. A holy of the holy of the holy. Are we holy? We're called to be holy. We're supposed to be a holy people set aside for God's own pleasure.

What does that mean? That we are well behaved? That we've been able to cobble together a respectable Christian life, whatever that means on the outside, no! Many people have cobbled together respectable Christian lives and their hearts are far from God. They care nothing for God, even though you think they're very respectable and so do I.

But their hearts have no affection for God. It's about the affections of your heart. The promise of the gospel is a new heart. That the heart of stone is removed and the heart of flesh, a warm heart, a soft heart is given to you. And the things you used to love, you are learning to hate.

And the things you used to hate, you are learning to love. Your affections are changing. You love the Lord. And yes, it works its way out. Yes, our lives should be different, but you can't always tell by the outward man.

The question is, what's going on in the heart? If you have a new heart, if you don't have new affections, let me just declare with all the confidence I can muster, you don't have a new heart. If you don't have new affections, If you don't love things that you used to not love at all, and if you don't despise things that you used to love and chase after all the time, you don't have a new heart. Notwithstanding, some of the old still remains. I'm not saying Christians aren't at war internally.

No, Christians are at war internally. There's still a flesh that wars against the Spirit. So I'm not intending to teach anything that contradicts that. There's a war going on in this man, and I'm sure if you're a believer there's a war going on within you as well. So the question is, are we really standing in the stream of the godly, looking back a hundred years.

That's what's happening in Nehemiah chapter 12. They're looking back a hundred years and asking the question, are we standing in the stream of the godly? Look how God mightily used this generation. And he raised them up and made them faithful to him. Are we standing in that stream?

Okay, so we had the importance of the priesthood in Levites. We have the legitimacy of the priesthood in Levites. Finally, we have the continuity of the generations. If you're taking notes on the handout, continuity of the generations. Earlier as I was summarizing verses 1-26, I said that our author is building a genealogical bridge.

He is reconstructing the family tree back a hundred years to the generation of Zerubbabel and Jeshua. Now turn back to Ezra chapter 1. Ezra chapter 1. So this is the very beginning of the account of the people being brought out of captivity. Ezra chapter 1.

Let's look at verse 5. This is right after the proclamation of King Cyrus that the people can return. Now verse 5. Then the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, that is who we are talking about in Nehemiah 12, with all those whose spirits God had moved arose to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. So they've got this mighty task before them.

God has commissioned them to go back, not just to go back, but to go back and build His house for His worship. He might be worshiped in the way that He has prescribed in the temple. So they are supposed to go back and do this great work of rebuilding the temple. Now who goes back from verse 5? Who goes back?

Those whose spirits God had moved. Not everybody in Babylon came back. Those whose spirits God had moved, God raised them up to come back and rebuild His temple for His worship. God did that. So we are looking at an incredible generation.

And why were they incredible? Because God moved on their spirits. God raised them up and made them faithful to him. He stirred them up to make them want to come back and totally turn their lives upside down after 70 years in captivity and rebuild lives. And now they're willing to just leave all the normalcy that you can develop in a new place in 70 years, several generations, and come back to rebuild the house of the Lord.

God did that. Look at Ezra chapter 3. Let's flip over one page to Ezra chapter 3. Now this first wave is back in Jerusalem. We have this in Ezra chapter 3 verses 1 and 2.

And when the seventh month had come and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. Then Jeshua, the son of Josadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, arose and built the altar of God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. Here they are doing the exploits that God stirred them up and their spirits to do. Exactly the people who are in our text today. The priests, the Levites, Joshua and his brethren, Sarubabel and his brethren.

This is an incredible generation. No wonder they're pointing back to this generation. God raised them up for a mighty work and they did it. They were faithful to it. Now in Nehemiah chapter 12, they can look back and see God's kindness and faithfulness to that generation.

If you were in the time of Nehemiah, a hundred years later, and you're looking back and you know the stories, you've heard the stories, and you're just overwhelmed with the kindness and faithfulness of God. What does that do to you? You can look back to a hundred years ago and see a faithful generation and know that it was God who did that. God was kind to them. God was faithful to them.

What does that do to you? You anticipate God's kindness and faithfulness in your generation. You look back and say, this is a testimony of God. God is kind because He was kind to them. God is faithful because He was faithful to them.

I anticipate His kindness and faithfulness to me. Because that's the kind of God He is. What a blessing to be able to point back and be inspired to faithfulness in the current generation. That's what's happening in Nehemiah chapter 12. They're looking back and it is to inspire them to be faithful, to see that God called them to something great and they did it.

They saw it through at great personal cost to themselves. They saw it through. Brothers and sisters, let's build that. Let's build that here. Let's build that together.

I'm looking at many first generation Christians. Not all. We might be half and half in the room. I'm looking at so many first generation Christians. I just want to encourage you first generation Christians who are still having to deal with all that baggage.

Go! Don't stop! You first generation Christians, a hundred years from now, if we are faithful, our great grandchildren will look back and they will be inspired because they see the kindness and the faithfulness of God in our lives and they'll anticipate the kindness and faithfulness of God in their lives because of what they see. This is what we're trying to do here. We're trying to stay the course.

We're trying to be faithful with whatever God gives us. We're trying to not give up in the face of whatever opposition that is in our lives because if first generation Christians will be faithful, their great grandchildren will bless their memory. It will matter to our great grandchildren. We'll never meet them, probably. Some of you got started early.

Your great-great-grandchildren, I guess. Applications. Three. Three applications. Love and honor the great high priest.

I'm so glad we're in a priesthood passage that makes us think about Jesus and his faithful priesthood. Love and honor the great high priest Jesus Christ. We don't need any more. The old generation after generation after generation, they kept needing more because they kept dying. This high priest will never die.

He is risen from the dead. He has conquered death and He is at the right hand of God interceding for His people. A priesthood passage should make us think of Jesus and rejoice in His priesthood. Listen to 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 5, For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. If anyone tells you there's a need for a priesthood, you take them to First Timothy chapter 2 verse 5 and tell them, you're wasting your time with your priests.

And you're blaspheming Jesus Christ. Because only one mediator is needed between God and man and the position is filled forever. It is Jesus. We don't need priests. We are priests if you have saving faith in Jesus Christ.

You are a holy nation. You're a royal priesthood. Number two. We must continually be looking to regulate our corporate worship by the Word of God. We must continually be looking to regulate our corporate worship by the Word of God.

We must continually be looking to regulate our corporate worship by the Word of God. Brothers and sisters, this has to do with being satisfied with the ordinary means of grace. In other words, have these simple practices that God has given to us, are they enough? Many look at them and despise them and say they're not enough and so they displace them with innovations. May we look at the ordinary means of grace, these really simple practices.

And may we be satisfied and have confidence that God has given to His people everything that they need and He doesn't need their creativity. I said that in a very particular way. We must continually be looking to regulate. Okay, because innovations are always trying to creep in. Always.

I mean, Do we think innovations are not going to try to creep in here? Do we think we don't have innovations that we haven't even recognized yet? Are you crazy? Of course they're going to try to creep in. Of course we have them, and hopefully we'll squeeze more of them out over time and be left with the ordinary means of grace that are sufficient for God's people.

Third, and finally, we should stand on the shoulders of the godly who have gone before us. It's such a disease to think that human history started on the day of your birth. That is a fatal disease. It doesn't have to be fatal. I find myself slipping into this trap all the time.

But generations, for hundreds of years, God has raised up people to pursue Him, to study His Word, to look into the difficulties. If we think we have to figure everything out from scratch and can't stand on the shoulders of hundreds of years of the godly, It doesn't mean we treat them as if they are apostles, or we treat their writings as if it were scripture. Just saying we are not the first ones to wrestle with the difficulties of Scripture. That's all I'm saying. We can stand on the shoulders of Godly from 100 years ago, 200 years ago, a thousand years ago.

I think that's what they're doing in Nehemiah chapter 12. How do we do that? Here's a couple of practical ways. Take inspiration from them. I think we should load our bookshelves with missionary biographies.

I think we should load our bookshelves with biographies of the godly who God raised up like Nehemiah chapter 12, looking back a hundred years and saying, remember Zerubbabel, remember Jeshua, remember what God did through these men and women, maybe God will be pleased to do something like that through us. Fill your bookshelves with biographies of the godly and take inspiration from it. Isn't it inspiring to read those? It's incredibly inspiring. See The perils that they stared down and didn't blink because they trusted God, that fortifies us.

Here's another way. Learn from them. Learn from their doctrine. Learn from their practice. Let them help us as we wrestle with things that have been wrestled with for hundreds of years.

We're not the first generation that ever lived. Next week is the dedication of the wall and we have Thanksgiving choirs in next week's text. I'm already looking forward to it. Also looking forward, we're headed to 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians next. I bought my first commentaries.

I can't wait to get my hands on them. I bought three commentaries for those books. I'll Start working on that. Let's pray. God, you have been kind to so many generations.

Help us to draw strength from that. Help us to look back on the people who you were faithful to hundreds of years ago. And you raised them up and you used them in a mighty way for your glory. Help us to look at that and to hope that you would do the same this time in this place. Thank you for Nehemiah chapter 12.

In Jesus name, Amen.