The sermon by Jason Dohm, titled 'What God Does', focuses on the miraculous completion of Jerusalem's wall in 52 days, attributing this feat wholly to God's work rather than human accomplishment. It contrasts the experiences of believers and unbelievers, where believers' sins are forgotten and their good deeds remembered and rewarded by God, while unbelievers' sins are retained and their deeds overlooked. The sermon emphasizes the importance of recognizing God's hand in the work of Nehemiah, urging believers to remain faithful and discerning in their alliances, especially avoiding intermarriage with non-believers, as seen in the subversive interactions involving Tobiah. The speaker calls for a trajectory away from worldliness and towards holiness, asserting that God works mightily through a holy people to glorify His name.

The title of the sermon this morning is, What God Does. And the reason that I've titled the sermon that is I'm hoping to keep my eyes focused and our eyes focused so that we can marvel at what has really happened in this 52-day period. It's quite miraculous. It's not really an accomplishment of man when what happens in our text has happened at the rate at which it has happened. So I just want us to marvel at it.

And I also just want us to attribute it wholly to God. This is what God has done. And It would be wrong to go away from the ending of the work and not marvel and praise God for what he did in these 52 short days. It would be wrong to not attribute it just to the hand of God. This was the working of our God and if our breath isn't taken away then something's not right, something's wrong.

So I hope that will happen today. I hope our breath will be taken away by what God is able to do among the people who will turn their face to him. That's really the whole point of what I'm trying to do with this text today. Last week the title of the sermon was, a God who remembers and forgets. We see in Nehemiah that Nehemiah calls on God to remember his good deeds and to remember the evil deeds of his enemies.

You might think, well Nehemiah is very unrighteous to do that it just doesn't seem right that you would call on God to remember the good things that you've done but the bad things that he did the bad things that your enemy did but When we look at the council of scripture, we find that Nehemiah is not being unrighteous at all. He's recognizing what the Bible teaches. What the Bible teaches is a beautiful and yet terrifying mirror image. And It's either beautiful or terrifying depending on which one of the mirror image you represent. For believers, our sins are forgotten.

Yet everything that we've done that's consistent with his word that's been done for his glory is Remembered by God and he rewards us for it So it's the best of all worlds for those who trust in Christ every sin blotted out and for forgotten by God every sin parted from us as far as the east is from the west. But every good thing, everything that was consistent with his word and done for his glory is remembered and then rewarded at the right time. It couldn't be a better world for the believer. But the unbeliever is the exact terrifying mirror image of this. For the unbeliever, every sin is marked and retained and remembered by God.

There is no forgetting it in the mind of God. Every sin retained. And then everything that was done good, Every kind act to a neighbor or a loved one a child or a spouse is is passed over because even though it was Good in the sense in the human sense in the sense that it might have been loving on the human plane or it might have relieved some sort of suffering, something like that. It wasn't done for the glory of God, and so God doesn't even retain that. It doesn't go into your account as merit.

So it's such a beautiful picture for the believer, with all our sins passed over and blotted out and everything we've done for his glory remembered and rewarded in due season but it's such a terrifying thought for those who are out of Christ every sin retained and the wages of sin is death and you just get eternal death for all of your sins everything that you thought was good passed over This week the text is so straightforward. There's this very obvious division of the text. We really have two things fundamentally in the text. First in verses 15 and 16 we have the completion of the wall and an opportunity to marvel at it what God has done. And then secondly in verses 17 through 19 we have ongoing subversive interaction between Tobiah and the nobles of Judah.

So I say ongoing subversive interactions. Something that's subversive is working secretly to decrease Nehemiah's influence over the Lord's people and to increase Tobias influence. So they're working secretly, in this case it's passing letters back and forth, working secretly to minimize Nehemiah's influence. That's the subversive interaction and it's ongoing. We've already seen it and we're seeing it again in this week's text.

As we go to the text let's go to the text in prayer. God I thank you for the great privilege of working with you and for you for your glory in this earth. You don't need one second of our labors to accomplish all of your will. Nothing depends upon us. It all depends upon you.

And yet, you call us, you equip us, you sustain us, you strengthen us, and you make us your co-laborers. This is such a kindness Lord. God I pray that you would do this in a mighty way in my own life, in the life of my family, in our life together as a little what seems to be such an inconsequential little local church but these things in your hands are not inconsequential. You are able to use the weakest, the frailest, the smallest things to bring yourself glory. In fact, you're more likely to use those things because you receive the praise when you do that.

So this gives us hope, God. Oh come and work in us for your glory. That the name of Jesus Christ might be lifted up and known and praised we ask these things in his name amen so the first division of the text is verses 15 and 16 Hopefully you still got your finger in Nehemiah chapter 6 verses 15 and 16. 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 this section we have completion of the work and how it affected their enemies.

So if you're filling in blanks on the handout, it's completion and affected. Completion of the work and how it affected their enemies. Depending on the calendar used, there are two competing calendars at the time. They're a little offset from one another. The 25th of Elul is either late September or early October.

So there's a really narrow window, and it doesn't really matter which it is. It's either late September or early October. And we're given the duration of this project, and it's a massive project. It's the rebuilding and repairing of two miles of wall that in some places is eight meters thick. 52 days for a project like that is a breathtaking speed.

It's breathtaking speed. I've worked on some projects in my life that at the time I thought they were big projects. They were nothing compared to this. Just nothingness. Just nothingness.

And so in 52 days this this two miles of wall that has been in shambles for 150 years has been rebuilt and repaired, and now Jerusalem can be defended against its many enemies. Charles Fentium in his commentary references archaeological excavations on the eastern hill of Jerusalem. They are constructed very roughly. It's wall from this time period and it's rough construction. In other words, done for speed.

Even the archaeological excavations bear witness to this. This was not done for beauty and aesthetics. This was done for speed. The point was to get it done. To do it well, to do it right, but to get it done quickly.

And even the archaeological excavations bear witness to this. It's for speed, not for beauty. The modern mind, when we think about this, the rebuilding and repairing of two miles of wall in 52 days, the modern mind is impressed and we're ready to churn out the book, the leadership secrets of Governor Nehemiah. This would be a best-seller. It's probably been written.

I don't know. I should have looked for it. The leadership secrets of Nehemiah. Do the things that Nehemiah did and you can get the results that Nehemiah got and live your best life now. After all it's been about six months since Nehemiah received leave from the king and now the mission is accomplished, this massive mission.

So he's traveled from Shushan to Jerusalem and assessed the situation and rallied the people to the work and prepared for the work and deployed 40 work crews and all in 52 days the mission has been accomplished. So it would be very natural to say, wow, look at the leadership of this man. But that is not what the surrounding nations said. Okay, so we shouldn't, if the surrounding nations know better than that, then we have to know better than that too. Remember, the surrounding nations are all enemies of God.

We have Sanballat in Samaria to the north. We have Gashem in the Arabs or the Arabians as the King James says. To the south we have Tobiah and the Ammonites to the east, we have Ashdod and the region of the Philistines formerly to the west. They are surrounded to the north, south, east, and west by their enemies. The enemies see that the work has been completed in 52 days, and what do they say?

That was God. That was not simply superior leadership. There was a hand, the hand of God behind that. Even the enemies know how to interpret the data. The data is, though they scoffed and mocked and made every attempt to put a stop to it in 52 days this great work got done.

That couldn't have been just great leadership. That had to have been God and they're correct about that. And this is the great theme of Nehemiah so far of what we've been studying. In chapter 2 verse 8, Nehemiah recognizes that it was the good hand of his God upon him. This is Nehemiah's words, the good hand of God was upon me when the king grants him his request.

In chapter 2 verse 12, Nehemiah relates to the Jews that God had put it in his heart to do these things. In other words, when he comes to Jerusalem and he makes the assessment And now he's ready to rally the people to the work. He says, God put it in my heart to do these things. This isn't my own thoughts or own ideas working themselves out. God has made my heart burn to see Jerusalem restored.

In chapter four, verse fifteen, Nehemiah says, God brought their plot to nothing. They've been plotting to attack Jerusalem, but it becomes known. So they're ready, and they show themselves ready for the fight. The enemies back off, and Nehemiah says, God brought their plot to nothing. This has been the great theme of Nehemiah so far.

It was God, it was God, it was God who did these things. That's how a mighty work gets done, it's God. It's not a feat of human accomplishment it was God who stirred up Nehemiah and brought him from 1500 miles away to rally the people do this work it was God who gave the people a mind to work Remember that phrase out of chapter four verse six, the people had a mind to work. Why was that? A lot of times people don't have a mind to work.

They did here. Why? God is why. It was God who saved and preserved their unity when disunity threatened them in the middle of the project in chapter 5. MacArthur says this in the notes of the study Bible, God works through faithful people, but it is God who works.

You can't come and see the works of faithful people and say look at the faithful people. No it's the wrong interpretation. You see the God behind the faithfulness of the people and say that is God that's the hand of God working to bring glory to his own name. God does work through faithful people that's true there's nothing wrong with believing that and knowing that as long as you finish the sense but it is God who works it is God who makes the people faithful to begin with what was the result of this the enemies that are surrounding Jerusalem and Judah now see a fortified city all the way around and what's the result they were very disheartened in their own eyes they were very disheartened in their own eyes remember back to chapter 4 in chapter 4 verses 1 through 3 Sanballat is calling them the feeble Jews. And he's mocking.

And Tobiah jumps in, he joins in and says, this work that they're doing, if a fox, If a light-footed fox jumps up on that wall, it will fall down. In chapter 4 verses 1-3, the enemies of God are great in their own eyes, and the Jews were despised. Now it has been flipped on its head. Enemies were happy to mock. The enemies were feeling like they were on safe ground to mock the Lord's people in chapter 4.

And the Jews were despised in their eyes and they were puffed up. They were lifted up in their own eyes they were great in their own eyes but now it's reversed they're looking in awe on what has transpired over the last less than two months and how Jerusalem that was in great distress and reproach now has been restored. They're ready to take their place in the region. And they're looking at this in awe and they're attributing it to God. This week Benjamin Netanyahu addressed our Congress.

It was like it was on Monday or Tuesday. And I did hear that speech and I plucked this out of it because I thought, wow, for us to be in this text this week, this quote just reminds me of this. Benjamin Netanyahu said this to our Congress, I can guarantee you this, the days when the Jewish people remained passive in the face of genocidal enemies, those days are over. The wall says the same thing to Sanballat and Tobiah and to Gesham, to those in Samaria, to the Ammonites, to the Arabs, to the Ashtadites. The days when you have the Lord's people under your thumb in great distress and reproach those days are over the wall is declaring it and God has given them the wall as a gift of his mercy and his kindness The party is over for the enemies of God.

For 150 years it had been safe to reproach and distress the Lord's people and today on the 25th of Elul it's not safe to reproach the Lord's people because of the hand of God. Consider what Paul writes in Galatians chapter 6 verse 9. Galatians chapter 6 verse 9 says it all about our text and let us not grow weary while doing good for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart and let us not grow weary in doing good for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart if there's ever a description of what these 52 days represent it's Galatians 6 verse 9 Why will we reap if we don't grow weary? Because perseverance always gives you the outcome you're looking for. No, because God is faithful.

That's why. This is not a self-help hint. Paul in Galatians 6 9 is not giving us a self-help hint to help us continue on in the work so that we always get the result we want. He's saying that God is faithful. He's not commending us and our perseverance.

He's commending a faithful God whose heart is always turned towards his people, always inclined towards his people, always inclined towards his people. Think of all of the opportunities to lose heart that we've seen in these 52 days. At the end of chapter 2 the works just begun and they're already being accused of rebelling against the king. The work has just started and the enemies of God are already rattling their sabers. At the beginning of chapter 4, the Text says that the enemies are furious and very indignant.

They're calling the Jews feeble They're saying that a fox could knock down their work in the middle of chapter 4. They're conspiring together To come in among them unknown before they even recognize it and to kill them to stop the work. The strength of the laborers was failing, remember that in the middle of chapter four? It said they had sort of this song or saying that they're about to buckle under the weight of the work and they're having to work with one hand and hold a weapon in the other, and they're sleeping in their clothes. Think of the end of chapter 4 where Nehemiah says, stop going to home at night and stay in Jerusalem.

These work crews have been coming in from the surrounding villages outside of Jerusalem many of the workers coming from outside and Nehemiah says we have to stop we need to stay in Jerusalem so at the first beam of the sunlight in the morning to the last beam we can just work and we can stay at the task that God has given us. This is a time of extreme hardship and focus. Remember chapter 5 where the rich have been exploiting the poor to the point where some people are having to sell their children to pay their taxes. They're charging usury to their brothers. Remember chapter 6 we've got these letters being written inviting cordially inviting Nehemiah to former Philistine territory right on the edge of Judah.

To me, five times they did this. Remember the hiring of the false prophets. How discouraging that must have been to know that people within Jerusalem who had a reputation for hearing from God were for sale against the work and what God had wanted to accomplish. There's this constant flood of discouragement but Nehemiah kept moving forward the people kept moving forward Nehemiah kept trying to be faithful people kept trying to be faithful they didn't lose heart and they reaped in due season in fact now we're learning in our text it was the enemies who lost heart. Don't lose heart.

Don't grow weary in doing good. In due season you'll reap if you don't lose heart. In fact, your enemies might be the ones losing heart. If we look back to verse 9, chapter 6 verse 9, for they were trying to make us afraid, saying their hands will be weakened in the work and it will not be done. They'll be discouraged and stop working.

Now, therefore, oh God, strengthen my hands. This is exactly what happened Nehemiah's prayer from verse 9 God strengthen my hands God strengthen our hands for the work God answered those prayers and their hands were strong for the work and they did a mighty work and now their enemies are the ones who are disheartened. The enemies who had done so much to dishearten them have it come back on their own heads. It's really funny if you think about it. Look at what God did.

God was blessing His people. God was faithful to His people. God was helping His people. God was shielding his people. That's why the sermon is titled What God Does because we look at this mighty work and we say that was God.

God did that. And I ought to declare that God is an unchanging God. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He helped His people always in the past. He helps his people always today.

He will help his people always in the generations to come. God is the strength of his people. God is the might of his people and he works in his people to bring glory to himself in the earth. That's what God does. I was reading in my Bible reading plan this week, I was reading in Numbers.

In Numbers 23 we have Balak and Balaam. Balaam is a Moabite king. And Balaam is sort of a sorcerer prophet guy. It's hard to nail down exactly what he is. He's not a pure prophet for sure, but he is hearing from the Lord, but it's also wrapped up in sorcery.

And in Balaam's second prophecy, you remember Balak wants to hire Balaam to curse the Lord's people because this king's afraid. He's got this multitude on his doorstep And so he hires the sorcerer prophet to curse the people. But Balaam says, I can only say what God says. And God keeps causing Balaam, who's been hired to curse, He keeps causing Balaam to bless the people instead. And in his second of three prophecies, he says this, this is God saying this through Balaam, it must now be said of Jacob and of Israel, oh what God has done.

This is numbers chapter 23 verse 23 so Balaam's before this pagan king and he's prophesying and he says It must now be said of Jacob and of Israel. Oh what God has done he has this multitude on his doorstep and he's afraid of them and God says through this prophet you just have to acknowledge I did this I brought this people out of Egypt I've sustained them to this day I've brought them to the doorstep to your doorstep God has done this this is the six thousand year history of the Lord's people oh what God has done in sustaining them and helping them and being faithful to them in raising them up to bring his own name glory in the earth. However long the Lord Jesus tarries this will be the same story until that day. God will be faithful to His people. He'll help His people.

He'll raise up his people to do mighty exploits, not so that they will be known as great, but so that he will be known as great. So that the name of Jesus Christ would be lifted up and known, that the glory of the earth, that the glory of God would cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Now let's look at the second part of the text. We're in Nehemiah chapter 6 now verses 17 through 19. Also in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came to them.

For many in Judah were pledged to him because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of Ere and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Mishulam the son of Barakiah. Also they reported his good deeds before me and reported my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to frighten me. In this section, Tobiah and his allies in Judah, That's what it's about. So if you're filling in blanks, Tobiah and his allies in Judah and what's going on with them.

The starting point is this, Tobiah shouldn't have allies in Judah. He should not have one ally in Judah. So something's wrong from the start here, but he does. And the reason why is intermarriage. The big problem from Ezra is back.

Ezra is maybe 13 years back. So a decade back they had to deal with these mixed marriages that have brought such reproach on the name of God. And now it's a problem again. And so because of the intermarriages we have this correspondence from the nobles of Judah to Tobiah and from Tobiah back to the nobles of Judah. Letters are flying in both directions.

He shouldn't have allies in Judah but he does have allies in Judah and it's because of the mixed marriages. The text is very clear about that. Now the names here are incredibly significant. You can get the main thrust of what's happening without the names but you don't get the depth of it without looking at the names. We've been seeing Tobiah multiple times in the book of Nehemiah.

We know how he operates. But he's a man with a good Hebrew name. He has a Hebrew name. And it means Jehovah is good. So he's a God-hater but he's not a straight pagan in the sense that he does have a Hebrew name and it means something wonderful.

His name means in Hebrew Jehovah is good and he had a son he married a Jewess he married into the people of God so to speak. Married Shekinah as a daughter and they had a son and they gave their son a great Hebrew name. Jehohanan means Jehovah has graced. Jehovah has graced. It was a man with a great Hebrew name who had a son and with a great Hebrew name.

He married into the nation so to speak and named his son something after Jehovah. What's not to love about those names? Jehovah is good. Jehovah has graced. Ezra chapter four tells us what's not to love about that.

Flip back to Ezra chapter 4. You'll remember this as soon as you see it. I think this is exactly what's happening here. Ezra chapter 4 verses 1 through 3. This is when the first wave of captives have come back from Babylon and they're ready to build the temple.

And there's an offer to help in Ezra chapter 4 verses 1-3. Let me read it. Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the Lord God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel in the heads of the father's houses and said to them, Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do. And we have sacrificed to him since the days of Aserodon king of Assyria who brought us here. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers houses of Israel said to them, You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God, but we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel as Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us this has already happened this is a rerun we serve the Lord God us too me too I serve the Lord as you do let's work together this is as old as time there have always been people who have volunteered their services to the people of God saying me too you serve the Lord I served the Lord too we're awash in it today okay It's not for Ezra 4 and Nehemiah 6, it's for all time.

There will always be someone saying, me too. There will always be someone who is named Jehovah is good with a son named Jehovah has graced who wants in. This is the essence of breaking the third commandment. Listen to Deuteronomy 5 verse 11 and Exodus 20 verse something. I don't know.

From the Ten Commandments This is the Third Commandment. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. The essence of breaking the third commandment isn't mixing the word God with a cuss word, although that's included. It's not the essence of breaking that commandment isn't using the word God as a swear word or using it flippantly that's included it's part of it but it's not the essence of it is to profess and then deny with your life to take the name of God upon yourself, Christian, me too, and then deny it in what you say and what you do. That's the most dangerous version of taking the name of the Lord your God in vain, to take his name upon you and then to deny him in the things that you say and do.

The nobles refused to recognize the distinction. A guy with a great name with a son with a great name comes and says me too and they didn't draw the line like Zerubbabel drew the line. Zerubbabel did it just the right way. No. No.

Yeah. I see how you serve the Lord our God and your ten other gods. Okay. That's not us. You thought that was us, but that's not us.

We have one god. The nobles here refuse to recognize the distinction, and so they end up pledging their loyalty to a God-hater. We've seen Tobiah at work. Is he or is he not a God-hater? He is.

That's not what his name says. That's not what his son's name says. But his life tells the story. What he says and does tells the story. And these alliances once made run deep and they are hard to terminate.

We are going to see Tobiah in chapter 13 living in the temple. Okay so there's the temple and on the outside of the temple there are these storage rooms and one of these storage rooms has been allocated to Tobiah as living space. Okay So know when you refuse to make the distinction and you allow yourself to be unequally yoked how deep these alliances are and how hard they are to terminate once you've made them. It's one of the key things we have to learn from the book of Nehemiah. Now lest you think it could never be you, Consider these father-in-laws, Shekiniah and Mishulam.

These two men among the Lord's people who gave their daughters to Tobiah and his son Jehohanan. We have Shekiniah the son of Arrah. There's not much on him and it's hard because the name Shekiniah is used in First Chronicles, in Ezra, multiple places, in Nehemiah, and it's a common enough name you don't know whether they're the same person. So I don't have much to say about Shekiniah, but I have some to say about Mishulam the son of Barakiah, because Mishulam the son of Barakiah matched with his father, Mishulam matched with the same father, is used in chapter 3 verses 4 and verse 30. Now remember chapter 3 was about the building and repairing the wall And you remember there were 40 teams working on 42 sections of wall.

That's what chapter 3 is. And so there are two teams that work on an extra section of wall. So all 40 teams have a section of wall and then two of those teams have a second section. One of those is led by Mishulam, son of Barakiah. He restored the wall outside his own dwelling in verse 30, but he has another section of wall that he's leading the team in verse 4.

So you see Mishulam the son of Barakiah in chapter 3 verse 4 and in chapter 3 verse 30. He seemed to have a zeal for the work and he has a mixed record in the book of Nehemiah. In other words it's not all bad he gave his daughter it was sinful for him to give his daughter to be married to Tobiah's son no matter what he was named in Hebrew but it's not all bad about Mishulam the son of Barakaiah in the book of Nehemiah he's working He has a zeal for the work that's being done. We know this about Tobiah. He's a schemer.

He's a deceiver with a great name. Jehovah is good. Maybe Mishulam, the son of Barakiah, was just undiscerning. He does seem to have a zeal for the work. Maybe he was just undiscerning.

We must be very discerning in our alliances. This goes across all of life. It starts with marriage. Can you imagine a closer alliance than marriage? But we have many alliances on people we work with, cooperate with, do things with, live with.

Do things with, live with, we must be very discerning, unless we fall into the same trap. Don't think this can't happen to you. Don't think this can't happen here. Finally in verse 19, we find out that those who were pledged to Tobiah, they had given themselves to loyalty with this man are doing two things. First, they are bearers of pro-Tobiah propaganda.

Children, here's what propaganda is. It's misleading information used to push a viewpoint. It's the use of misleading information to push a viewpoint. So now there's pro-Tobiah. Tobiah is good propaganda, misleading information.

And the intent is to reconcile Nehemiah to Tobiah. So Tobiah's great aim was to frustrate the plans and cause the work not to be done, but now the work's done. And so now the attempt is to reconcile Tobiah and Nehemiah. So the first thing that they're doing is they are bearers of pro-Tobiah propaganda. The second thing that they're doing is they're acting as a source of information for Tobiah.

This is not surprising. In what we've seen in Nehemiah so far, Tobiah knows a whole lot of what's happening in Jerusalem. We've seen how well connected he is. He even knows how to hire false prophets who have the ear of Nehemiah. So these nobles are serving as an information source for Tobiah and all his mischief.

Listen to Proverbs 28 verse 4. I think Proverbs 28 verse 4 hits the nail on the head on the sin of these nobles. Proverbs 28 verse 4, those who forsake the law praise the wicked. Those who forsake the law praise the wicked but such as keep the law contend with them. These nobles of Judah, according to Proverbs 28 verse 4, should have been contending with Tobiah.

They should have been at war with Tobiah. We should never praise the wicked. It's those who forsake the law that praise the wicked. We're not at liberty to praise the wicked. We should contend with them because they hate our God.

Two applications. Two applications. They're the really obvious ones. The first is a question. What might God be pleased to do through you, through your family, through our church, if we're careful to be faithful over a long period of time?

That's a big if. If we're careful to be faithful over a long period of time. That's a big if. If we're careful to be faithful over a long period of time. What might God do here?

What might God do through your life? What might God do in through the life of your family? What might God be pleased to do through this little church? If we're careful, you have to be careful to be faithful over a long period of time. I'm confident that this miraculous thing that's happened, the repairing of a two-mile wall, the rebuilding of a two-mile wall in 52 days is the culmination of careful faithfulness over a long period of time in the life of Nehemiah, in the life of these people that God has raised up and given a heart to work.

In Philippians chapter 4 verse 13 the most ill-treated verse in the Bible probably Philippians chapter 4 verse 13 is I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Paul has just said, yes, God has taught me how to suffer well. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It's usually used in a much happier context than that for your ability to conquer the world or do whatever. That might be an application, but Paul has it in the context of suffering. So you should think rightly about that verse.

The point is, what does God do? He works through his people to glorify his name. He does mighty exploits through his people to show that he can and does. He takes the weakest, most fragile, and He makes them something very different than that. And then He works exploits to them to show that He is, and that He's faithful, and that He's mighty.

He brings glory to His name that way. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. My family can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Our church can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. What might God be pleased to do if we are careful to be faithful over a long period of time?

I hope we're content, But I hope we're not satisfied. Do you know what I mean by that? The Bible commends contentedness. But if we don't have a burning in our hearts to see God do something amazing here and something's missing, I want our hearts to burn to see God do something amazing here. Not so we'll be famous, but so that Jesus Christ will be famous here.

If we're satisfied, we should repent. Okay, That is a lack of faith. That is called unbelief if we're satisfied and if we would be satisfied to see God not not save another soul not do anything else among us Then what's already been done? We should repent of that. It's unbelief What might that look like here Well, I think we should start with the things that we're already doing.

What would more prayer mean? What would more preparation mean? What would more intentionality mean in worship and discipleship in our homes? Oh really? Like think about that.

What would it mean if we were more prayerful about worship and discipleship that happens in our home or if we were better prepared for the worship and the discipleship takes place in our homes or if we were more intentional we're more proactively intentional about the worship and discipleship it takes place in our homes I don't think we have to create a new category and do new things. I think there's so much opportunity for what we're already doing. I'm not saying we should stop there, I'm saying we should start there. More prayer, More preparation, more proactive intentionality in our worship and discipleship at home. What would it mean for our families?

Would that make us more useful or less useful? That's a rhetorical question. How about our three weekly outreach, outreaches? The two nursing homes and the abortion clinic. What would more prayer, what would more preparation, what would more intentionality mean for those?

Would it likely mean more fruitfulness or less fruitfulness? That's a rhetorical question. What about the things we're engaged in in Malawi? Both face-to-face and at long distance. What would more prayer do there?

What would more preparation do there? What would more intentionality do there? If we start there and don't stop there, what could the future look like if we don't stop there? If we don't send a missionary on the field in the next three to five years, I'll be very disappointed. Why shouldn't we?

We either have to go or help someone go. Right? That's what we learned in Ezra. It's either go or help. So, if you're not getting ready to go, get ready to help.

Our congregation may be banding together with one or two other like-minded congregations, but our congregation should be sending a missionary to a corner of the world in the next three to five years. If not, why not? Maybe your family should go. Maybe your family should be sent. Are there too many good churches here?

We're a church plant, shouldn't we plant another one or two or ten or as many as the Lord would give us the resources for. I want to be content and thankful for all that God has done for us, but don't let us be satisfied and not dreaming dreams for God's glory. Number two, we must be a distinctive people. In our text it's intermarriage that threatens the distinction between the godly and the ungodly so that you have people among the Lord's people who are promoting Tobiah. Tobiah!

The most ungodly man with a great name. Nothing will derail our usefulness like worldliness. And how you get worldly is you just make alliances with the world. And it goes way beyond marriage. Nothing will keep me or my family or our church from being useful.

Now don't get me wrong, we're not going to stop God from accomplishing His will. The question is will we take up the privilege to be used to bring glory to Him? I don't think the number of elect are in jeopardy. Turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 6. We'll end at 2 Corinthians chapter 6.

We just have to keep this always in front of our eyes. Because worldliness is always pressing in to my heart. To my family's life. To our church. Worldliness is always pressing in.

The day that you're done grappling with worldliness is the day of your death and not one day sooner. The world is going to be trying to press us into its mold until the last breath and then you're free of it forever. But until then we grapple. Second Corinthians chapter 6 verses 11 through 18. Oh Corinthians we have spoken openly to you our heart is wide open you are not restricted by us but you are restricted by your own affections.

Now in return for the same, I speak as to children, you also be open. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial?

Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? In what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people.

Therefore, come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. I will be a father to you and you shall be my sons and daughters says the Lord Almighty. Here's the question we should always be asking ourselves in what way have I yoked myself with unbelievers? In what ways have I yoked myself with unbelievers?

Especially in the day in which we live with all this technology and all these different ways into our houses. Okay it wasn't this way 200 years ago. There were only a couple of ways into your house now there are a thousand there are a thousand sources for your music and what you watch and what you read the sources are endless Identify ways in which you're yoked with God haters. They don't love you. They're not your friends.

They're not our friends. They hate our God. And we yoke with them. And this church is too worldly. How do I know that?

Because I'm too worldly. And my family's too worldly. And my family's too worldly. We just have to be on a trajectory, always on a trajectory away from the world. And the world is always going to try to bend the trajectory back.

Okay, it's going to be a constant battle until our last breath. Put yourself on a trajectory away from the world. I'm not even going to touch a specific application here. I'm just saying make sure your trajectory is away from the world. That's what the people of God should be.

They should be on a path away from the world and towards more and better with God. It doesn't happen in a day. I get it. I understand. I've been walking with the with the Lord for 30 plus years now and I'm still too worldly.

God works mightily in a holy people. That is what God does. God glorifies himself by doing exploits through a holy people. May he make us a holy people. Let's pray.

God, when we evaluate our affections, we're greatly humbled before you. We know that we ought to love you with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, all of our strength. But when we when we inspect we find other affections. Help us Lord I pray that you would come and help us. If we don't have the desire to be holy, God at least let us have the desire to have the desire to be holy.

Help us to thirst after a desire for holiness. I pray that you would put us on a trajectory away from the world. Help us not to be restrained by our own affections. Affections that have so much room to be sanctified and conformed into the image of our Lord Jesus. Oh help us to be conformed to that image.

We ask you for help in Jesus name. Amen.