Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Love, Loans . . . and the Money Crunch Msg 716 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Love, Loans . . . and the Money Crunch Msg 716 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Please turn with me in your bibles to Neomiah chapter five.
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Speaker 1: It's in this chapter. Will begin our reading at verse one.
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Speaker 1: But before I do that, you recall in our last
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Speaker 1: message how Neomiah had masterfully addressed the criticism that came
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Speaker 1: from his enemies. Well, today's passage uncovers an even more
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Speaker 1: complicated task, and that's allaying the criticism and fears that
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Speaker 1: had arisen among his own people. You see, new sounds
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Speaker 1: of discontentment were erupting within the partially completed walls of Jerusalem.
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Speaker 1: By now, money problems were opening up deep conflicts between
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Speaker 1: the people, threatening the completion of their god given task
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Speaker 1: to build that wall around the old city. Whatever you're
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Speaker 1: dealing with, whether it's finances, money, budgets, shortfalls, or lines
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Speaker 1: of credit, whether balancing the family checkbook or the nation's budget,
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Speaker 1: everybody in leadership has to cope with two things, money
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Speaker 1: problems and personnel issues that invariably arise. This is a
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Speaker 1: good time for me to give you a little background
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Speaker 1: on this issue. For many years, the Jews of Nehemiah's
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Speaker 1: day had been gradually returning from exile to live again
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Speaker 1: in their beloved city of Jerusalem. But though the people
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Speaker 1: were free. Jerusalem's economy had not recovered since being destroyed
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Speaker 1: by the Babylonians way back around six oh six BC.
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Speaker 1: All business, trade, and farming had been either ruined or
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Speaker 1: disrupted by that catastrophe. And so now that struggling economy
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Speaker 1: opened a fault line that ran right through the center
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Speaker 1: of Israel's economic structure into the people's pocket books. Such
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Speaker 1: a fissure could easily split open if the wrong kinds
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Speaker 1: of pressures were applied, and you could imagine that happening.
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Speaker 1: As those pressures began to build up, Israel's families began
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Speaker 1: to fracture. Their cooperative will was breaking down and breaking apart,
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Speaker 1: and people began to blame each other in a potentially
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Speaker 1: disastrous upevil, almost a civil war between them, at least verbally. So.
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Speaker 1: So the wall rebuilding project ground to a temporary halt
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Speaker 1: while their leader, Neemiyah guided them to a godly solution.
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Speaker 1: Now keep all that in mind as we read our
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Speaker 1: passage today. I want you to notice how Neemiah handled
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Speaker 1: that very delicate and touchy situation. Let me read Neamiah five,
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Speaker 1: beginning at verse one down through verse thirteen. Now, there
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Speaker 1: was a great outcry of the people and of their
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Speaker 1: wives against their Jewish brothers. For there were those who said, we,
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Speaker 1: our sons and our daughters are many. Therefore let us
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Speaker 1: get grain that we may eat and live. There were
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Speaker 1: others who said, we are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards,
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Speaker 1: and our houses that we might get grain because of
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Speaker 1: the famine. Also there were those who said, we have
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Speaker 1: borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and
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Speaker 1: our vineyards. Now our flesh is like the flesh of
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Speaker 1: our brothers, our children like their children. Yet behold, we
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Speaker 1: are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves.
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Speaker 1: And some of our daughters are forced into bondage already.
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Speaker 1: And we are help because our fields and vineyards belonged
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Speaker 1: to others. Then I was very angry when I heard
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Speaker 1: their outcry and these words. I consulted with myself and
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Speaker 1: contended with the nobles and the rulers, and I said
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Speaker 1: to them, you are exacting usury. It's the word for interest.
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Speaker 1: You are exacting usury, each from his brother. Therefore I
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Speaker 1: held a great assembly against them. I said to them, we,
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Speaker 1: according to our ability, have redeemed our Jewish brothers who
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Speaker 1: were sold to the nations now would you even sell
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Speaker 1: your brothers that they may be sold to us. Then
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Speaker 1: they were silent and could not find a word to say. Again,
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Speaker 1: I said, the thing which you are doing is not good.
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Speaker 1: Should you not walk in the fear of our God,
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Speaker 1: because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies. And likewise, I,
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Speaker 1: my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain.
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Speaker 1: Please let us leave off this usury. Please give back
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Speaker 1: to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their
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Speaker 1: olive groves, and their houses. Also the hundredth part of
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Speaker 1: the money and of the grain, the new wine, and
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Speaker 1: the oil that you are exacting from them. Then they said,
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Speaker 1: we will give it back and will require nothing from them.
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Speaker 1: We will do exactly as you say. So I called
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Speaker 1: the priests and took an oath from them that they
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Speaker 1: would do according to this promise. I also shook out
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Speaker 1: the front of my garment and said, thus, may God
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Speaker 1: shake out every man from his house and from his
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Speaker 1: possessions who does not fulfill this promise. Even thus may
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Speaker 1: he be shaken out and emptied. And all the assembly
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Speaker 1: said amen, and they praised the Lord. Then the people
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Speaker 1: did according to this promise.
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Speaker 2: I feel a little bit like the Egyptian mummy this
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Speaker 2: morning pressed for time, So I think we should get
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Speaker 2: right into Neemiah Chapter five, Turn five six preachers loose
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Speaker 2: on you, then we take up all the time telling
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Speaker 2: you about prayer requests. So we better get right on
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Speaker 2: with it and look together at the first verse of
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Speaker 2: the fifth chapter of Niemiah. Anybody whoever says the Bible
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Speaker 2: is irrelevant, out of date, not in touch with us culturally,
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Speaker 2: has never read the Book of Niemiah carefully. I'll tell
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Speaker 2: you I am seeing every day, every moment I spend
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Speaker 2: in the book more and more practical truth. For example,
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Speaker 2: just ahead of you next week will be how to
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Speaker 2: handle promotions. All of us face the problem of emotions.
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Speaker 2: A few people face the experience of promotion. How do
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Speaker 2: you handle it when you get promoted to a higher position?
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Speaker 2: And that's right here in the last part of chapter five.
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Speaker 2: The first part of chapter five talks about money. I
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Speaker 2: don't suppose there's anything more real, concrete, difficult to face
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Speaker 2: and handled carefully than the problem of money. Many a
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Speaker 2: Christian is losing his testimony daily because of a mismanagement
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Speaker 2: of his cash. And so we're going to get some
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Speaker 2: insight from what God has to say about that in
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Speaker 2: chapter five to begin with. Will you notice in chapter five,
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Speaker 2: verse one the complaints, as far as the historical situation
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Speaker 2: is concerned, there were three complaints that came as the
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Speaker 2: wall began to be built. I find in verse one
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Speaker 2: that there was a great outcry of the people. I
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Speaker 2: suppose we could call this the first strike. Seriously believe
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Speaker 2: it's the first time in all the Bible that because
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Speaker 2: of money people struck. You don't find the job being built.
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Speaker 2: They put a temporary halt on it, and you could
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Speaker 2: just see as it were people walking back and forth
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Speaker 2: with billboards on strike. Now the complaints were three, and
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Speaker 2: they are listed for us carefully by Nehemiah in his journal.
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Speaker 2: Verse two is the first complaint. There were large families
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Speaker 2: that didn't have enough to eat. We have many children,
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Speaker 2: they said, many sons and daughters. Let us get grain
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Speaker 2: that we may eat and live. There was a second
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Speaker 2: complaint in verse three, those who had property who were
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Speaker 2: having to mortgage their land to pay for the spiral
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Speaker 2: spiraling inflation problem. Others said, we are mortgaging our fields
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Speaker 2: and our vineyards and our houses that we might get
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Speaker 2: grained because of the famine. Then there was a third
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Speaker 2: complaint Verses four and five, those who were borrowing to
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Speaker 2: pay their expenses but couldn't pay back their debts. We
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Speaker 2: have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields
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Speaker 2: and our vineyards, and now our flesh is like the
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Speaker 2: flesh of our brothers, our children, like their children. What
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Speaker 2: that means is we are just like those brothers of ours,
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Speaker 2: still in captivity. We have become captive to the problem
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Speaker 2: of finance. We can't pay back what we've borrowed. We
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Speaker 2: are in a terrible tailspin. The downward twist is breaking
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Speaker 2: our neck. We can't carry it out. As we'll see
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Speaker 2: in a moment, it was because they had been charged
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Speaker 2: such exorbitant interest rates. Now the three reasons for the
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Speaker 2: complaints are also in these same verses. Look carefully, William.
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Speaker 2: Verse three is the first reason we are mortgaging our fields,
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Speaker 2: our veneyards, and our houses that we might get grain
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Speaker 2: because of the famine. Reason number one, there was a famine.
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Speaker 2: Why was there a famine because of an instant overpopulation
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Speaker 2: in a city that had not been tilled and cultivated
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Speaker 2: to carry on the demands of those that moved there,
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Speaker 2: to build a wall. There was the practical problem of
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Speaker 2: many people suddenly coming into the city building a wall
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Speaker 2: and having to have enough to eat for themselves and
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Speaker 2: their families, and the crops couldn't sustain it. Added to
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Speaker 2: it with the famine apparently a drought lack of rain
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Speaker 2: which had been over a period of time, and they
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Speaker 2: couldn't maintain the demand in the produce. The second reason
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Speaker 2: is in verse four, we have borrowed money for the
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Speaker 2: king's tax. There were too many taxes exacted from them
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Speaker 2: by art Exerxes. You see, even though art Exerxes lived
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Speaker 2: in Susa, over in Persia, he owned the world, the
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Speaker 2: known world of the Bible days. And because they moved
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Speaker 2: eight hundred miles away doesn't mean they were out of
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Speaker 2: the realm of taxes. You may move from Florida to California,
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Speaker 2: but you've seal got taxes to pay. In fact, you've
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Speaker 2: got more taxes to pay now they have experienced that problem.
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Speaker 2: There's a third reason. We hinted at it a moment ago.
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Speaker 2: It's clearly implied in verse five. Because of the high
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Speaker 2: and inappropriate taxes, that is, I should say interest on
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Speaker 2: their money. Because of the high and inappropriate interest rate,
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Speaker 2: which caused them to sell their children and themselves into slavery.
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Speaker 2: Verse five. We are helpless because our fields and vineyards
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Speaker 2: belonged to others. What does it mean? Literally? Yes, they
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Speaker 2: couldn't pay, and so their creditors said, will take that
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Speaker 2: piece of land, will take this piece that vineyard will
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Speaker 2: be ours. And when they run out of land, then
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Speaker 2: they started on their children. Will take this one for
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Speaker 2: our slave, and that one for our slave. So the
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Speaker 2: work ground to a halt. Let me ask you right now,
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Speaker 2: is the Bible up to date? Does it sound like
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Speaker 2: a broken record? Overpopulation? The promise of a famine. If
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Speaker 2: you're into the reading world of our day, you're reading
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Speaker 2: about a famine that's coming. I'm no prophet, Thank god,
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Speaker 2: I'm not able to tell the future. Some people wish
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Speaker 2: they could. I'm glad I can't tell the future. But
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Speaker 2: everything I read these days, of any kind of in depth,
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Speaker 2: serious analysis of tomorrow for this world is the constant
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Speaker 2: reminder of a famine. And it's just like a Midwest
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Speaker 2: tweet field when it catches fire. It's just sweeping, and
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Speaker 2: it will come, they say, across the ocean. It's the famine.
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Speaker 2: High taxes, interest rate, that's higher than ever, it seems,
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Speaker 2: since the time of the Second World War, and there's
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Speaker 2: no promise it will break. Inflation that's spiraling out of sight.
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Speaker 2: I don't know if you do a lot of purchasing
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Speaker 2: in the raw materials. I guess a number of you do.
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Speaker 2: But I was amazed recently in the purchase of some
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Speaker 2: lumber within the past fourteen months. Fourteen months, this lumber
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Speaker 2: has two and a half times increased. And so I
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Speaker 2: said to the one I was trying to buy it from,
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Speaker 2: trying to buy it from, What in the world do
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Speaker 2: you have to say, is I'll be glad to show
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Speaker 2: you my cost. And he showed me his cost, and
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Speaker 2: it's off the page of the graph. He says, my
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Speaker 2: profit isn't that much great, In fact, it's less, but
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Speaker 2: my cost factor is off the page. The inflation is
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Speaker 2: spiraling out of sight. I'll tell you Verses one through
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Speaker 2: five sound like Tomorrow's Wall Street Journal. They really do.
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Speaker 2: That's another case. It's another problem. Look at the leader's
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Speaker 2: reaction in verse six. Then I was very very angry.
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Speaker 2: Reminds me of my response at the lumberyard, but it
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Speaker 2: was a different reason. I was very angry when Neemiah
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Speaker 2: when I learned or when I heard their outcry, when
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Speaker 2: I heard them griping and complaining, and as it were
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Speaker 2: stopping the job that they were called to do, I
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Speaker 2: got mad. I was angry. Now the question comes, why
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Speaker 2: was Nehemiah angry when he heard their outcry. Shouldn't a
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Speaker 2: leader be given to compassion when people complained? Not always,
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Speaker 2: sometime the very best response is anger. Now, let's notice
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Speaker 2: the reason for the anger. I want to let you
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Speaker 2: look at the handbook, the Heavenly Handbook of the Jews.
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Speaker 2: We're living in the day of Grace, the day of
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Speaker 2: the Church, and so we looked disparagingly unfortunately on the law.
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Speaker 2: We shouldn't. It preserved the people of Israel. Not only
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Speaker 2: did it tell them thou shalt not, thou shalt not,
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Speaker 2: and also told them thou shalt and they had a problem.
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Speaker 2: They had no problem with erosion, they had no problem
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Speaker 2: with social disease, they had no problem with the many
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Speaker 2: plagues that came into the families of the foreigners. Because
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Speaker 2: the Heavenly Handbook of the Law said this is the
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Speaker 2: way you can be distinct. Everybody else in the world
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Speaker 2: lives this way. But let me show you, and just
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Speaker 2: practical things such as a plan for sewage and how
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Speaker 2: to handle it, a plan for refuge and how to
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Speaker 2: deal with the criminal, a plan for living a just
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Speaker 2: godly life as a family. Practical things. Now, that's why
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Speaker 2: Nehemiah got mad. He said, you're not reading the handbook.
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Speaker 2: Look at it. Exodus chapter twenty two and Deuteronomy chapter
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Speaker 2: twenty three. Find both of those. Give you about ten
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Speaker 2: minutes to find Exodus twenty two and Deuteronomy twenty three.
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Speaker 2: They're not very familiar to the saint of the twenty
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Speaker 2: first century. They should be. We are not necessarily under
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Speaker 2: this handbook today, but we would do well to pay
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Speaker 2: close attention to God's guidelines that are set forward in
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Speaker 2: this meticulously preserved and articulated pattern of truth. Exodus twenty two,
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Speaker 2: and then put your finger in Deuteronomy twenty three. So
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Speaker 2: we'll flip from one passage to another. When you get
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Speaker 2: to twenty two of Exodus, fine verse twenty five, God
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Speaker 2: is speaking to Moses. Literally, God spoke in a voice
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Speaker 2: that Moses heard these words. If you lend money to
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Speaker 2: my people, to the poor among you, you are not
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Speaker 2: to act as a creditor to him. You shall not
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Speaker 2: charge him interest. Wait a minute, don't read what it
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Speaker 2: doesn't say. He says, as far as my people are concerned,
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Speaker 2: who are they the Jews? If you find one that
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Speaker 2: is in a poor financial situation, don't act as a creditor.
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Speaker 2: When you lend, lend without interest, don't charge him interest.
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Speaker 2: I look at Deuteronomy twenty three, verse nineteen. You shall
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Speaker 2: not charge interest to your brother. Literally followed you interest
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Speaker 2: on money, on food, or anything that may be loaned
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Speaker 2: at interest. You may charge interest to a foreigner that
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Speaker 2: is a non Jew, but to your brother you shall
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Speaker 2: not charge interest. I read that to my banker, and
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Speaker 2: he will not listen to verse twenty. Why does he
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Speaker 2: say it so that the Lord your God may bless
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Speaker 2: you in all that you undertake. What does it mean
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Speaker 2: so that you might be a distinctive people. I will
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Speaker 2: bless you, and you don't have to charge interest to
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Speaker 2: your own brother. You will maintain a distinctive that will
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Speaker 2: cause the foreigner the rubbish chief and pull on his
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Speaker 2: beard and say, how in the world can that nation continue?
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Speaker 2: And your answer is the Lord our God provides our
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Speaker 2: needs without interest among ourselves, because you will be distinct
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Speaker 2: the Lord your God will bless you and all that
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Speaker 2: you undertake. In between Exodus and Deuteronomy is a passage
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Speaker 2: in Leviticus chapter twenty five that also, I am sure
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Speaker 2: was in Nehemiah's mind Leviticus right after Exodus, Leviticus twenty five,
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Speaker 2: verse thirty five. Leviticus twenty five, thirty five. I know
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Speaker 2: we're doing a lot of digging for a moment, but
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Speaker 2: it's necessary to see why Theemiah was angry twenty five
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Speaker 2: thirty five. In case auntryman, that is the same Hebrew word.
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Speaker 2: A brother of yours, a fellow Jew, becomes poor and
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Speaker 2: his means with regard to you falter, then you are
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Speaker 2: to sustain him like a stranger or a sojourner, that
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Speaker 2: he may live with you. Do not take interest from him,
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Speaker 2: but revere your God, that your brother may live with you.
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Speaker 2: You shall not give him your silver at interests, nor
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Speaker 2: your food for gain. Don't give him one bushel of
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Speaker 2: grain expecting one and a half back, give him one
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Speaker 2: for one. I am the Lord, your God, who brought
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Speaker 2: you out of the land of Egypt to give you
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Speaker 2: the land of Canaan, to be your god. Now let's
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Speaker 2: go on, and if a countryman of yours becomes so
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Speaker 2: poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you.
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Speaker 2: You shall not subject him to a slaves, sir. He
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Speaker 2: shall be with you as a hired man. There's a
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Speaker 2: difference in a slave and a hired man. A slave
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Speaker 2: has no will of his own, makes nothing. Is a tool,
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Speaker 2: an instrument in the hand of the slave owner. If
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Speaker 2: he chooses to kill him, there isn't even a charge
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Speaker 2: for murder. He's like a It's like breaking the handle
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Speaker 2: of a hoe. He just an ignorant slave. Don't you
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Speaker 2: make my people's slaves, says the father. He will be
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Speaker 2: with you as a hired man, as if he were
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Speaker 2: a sojourner, with you until the year of jubilee, meaning
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Speaker 2: what at the end of At the year of jubilee,
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Speaker 2: let him go. Every fifty years the Jews enjoyed that
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Speaker 2: beautiful family reunion as a jubilee time. There was flushed
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Speaker 2: out of the ranks of those cities of refuge, as
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Speaker 2: well as those places of hired servants the free men
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Speaker 2: for the Jews to enjoy. Now Nehemiah chapter five, Nehemiah
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Speaker 2: got angry. Let me tell you why he got angry.
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Speaker 2: He knew the principles of the Heavenly Handbook the Law,
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Speaker 2: and they were threefold. Number one, it is not wrong
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Speaker 2: to lend money to a non Jew for interest. Number two,
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Speaker 2: it is not wrong to lend money to a Jew.
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Speaker 2: Number three, it is wrong to lend money to a
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Speaker 2: Jew for interest or with interest, and involved in that
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Speaker 2: is the whole problem of slavery. It is wrong to
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Speaker 2: make a slave out of a fellow Jew or his family,
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Speaker 2: regardless of the heavy indebtedness. Okay, he got mad because
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Speaker 2: they knowingly ignored and disobeyed God's word. That's why he
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Speaker 2: got mad. That's a reason to get mad. Some people
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Speaker 2: say to me at times, Well, you preach as though
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Speaker 2: were to never get mad. You've never heard me say that.
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Speaker 2: You know why you ought to get mad. When God's
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Speaker 2: word is broken. That ought to make you so mad,
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Speaker 2: ought to make you mad at yourself, ought to make
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Speaker 2: you mad at those that break it. It ought to
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Speaker 2: make you angry, righteously indignant that God's beautiful pattern is violated.
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Speaker 2: And I see it violated every day of my ministry,
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Speaker 2: not only in my life, but in the lives of others.
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Speaker 2: And it's difficult to maintain a sweet spirit and a balance.
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Speaker 2: When you see individuals relating such things as how they
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Speaker 2: use their tongues, or how they use their moral lives,
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Speaker 2: or how they respond to direct counsel from the truth,
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Speaker 2: it's difficult to maintain a sweet, balanced spirit as God's
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Speaker 2: word is violated. Nehemiah seethed with anger. At the root
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Speaker 2: of the word verse six is the idea of burning
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Speaker 2: Chaurah means to burn down inside. Now look at the
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Speaker 2: next word. I love this. Verse seven says, and I
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Speaker 2: consulted with myself. I'm so glad that's in there. If
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Speaker 2: he hadn't consulted with himself, he just said line up.
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Speaker 2: You know that he didn't do that. He got mad.
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Speaker 2: He gave it over to God, and he said, Lord
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Speaker 2: help me right now. Thomas Jefferson wrote out a decalogue
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Speaker 2: for living. Did you know that one of the ten
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Speaker 2: commandments for Jefferson's life, by which he lived was when
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Speaker 2: angry count to ten, when very angry to one hundred.
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Speaker 2: Mark Twain changed that when angry account to four, When
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Speaker 2: very angry, swear that's bad counsel. Now don't leave right now,
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Speaker 2: because that's not the answer from God. Nehemiah, when very
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Speaker 2: angry consulted with himself. He got all alone with God.
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Speaker 2: And the Hebrew word means to give oneself advice, to
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Speaker 2: counsel oneself. That's the very best thing to do when
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Speaker 2: you get mad. Oh, if the walls of my study
26:47
Speaker 2: could speak, I'd be finished. I want you to know
26:50
Speaker 2: that this morning you need to have a place where
26:57
Speaker 2: you can lay it out before God in all the
26:59
Speaker 2: emotion of or so and the best place to get
27:03
Speaker 2: angry is on your knees. Oh, nobody hears but God.
27:08
Speaker 2: And that marvelous therapeutic that comes with sharing with God
27:13
Speaker 2: the hurt and the anger, so that you consult with
27:17
Speaker 2: yourself before you face the situation head on. Now the
27:21
Speaker 2: look look at the solution. I consulted with myself. Then
27:27
Speaker 2: the little particle translated and could just as well be translated.
27:31
Speaker 2: Then then I contended with Notice who he talked to,
27:37
Speaker 2: the nobles and the rulers. Why then, Well, they were
27:42
Speaker 2: the fellas with the money. They were the guys exacting
27:46
Speaker 2: the interest from those that didn't have it. They were
27:51
Speaker 2: the ones responsible. I appreciate the fact that Nehemiah doesn't
27:55
Speaker 2: penalize everybody. He goes to the source of the problem.
28:01
Speaker 2: It always bothered me one great concern I had in
28:05
Speaker 2: the military is that when one person did something wrong
28:08
Speaker 2: and didn't own up to it, everybody got penalized. To
28:13
Speaker 2: this day, I can't understand the fairness in that. It
28:17
Speaker 2: concerns me. To me, it's kind of an intellectual cop out.
28:21
Speaker 2: Since I can't determine who did it, everybody gets punished.
28:25
Speaker 2: God says to Nehemiah, go to those that are responsible,
28:30
Speaker 2: and so he calls in front of him the guys
28:32
Speaker 2: with a heavy wallet, and he puts them in front
28:36
Speaker 2: of him, and he faces them with the violation. Three accusations.
28:41
Speaker 2: Notice them carefully. Number one, you are charging interest to
28:46
Speaker 2: fellow Jews. That's wrong. That's verse seven. You're exacting usury
28:52
Speaker 2: from your brother. Number two, you are allowing the permanent
29:00
Speaker 2: slavery of the Jews. Verse eight, that's wrong. Verse nine,
29:08
Speaker 2: you're losing your distinctive in the eyes of the nations
29:11
Speaker 2: around the thing that you are doing is not good.
29:16
Speaker 2: Should you not walk in the fear of God? Why?
29:19
Speaker 2: Because of the reproach of the nations our enemies, those
29:25
Speaker 2: gentiles are looking on. That's what he's saying. You guys
29:29
Speaker 2: are over here making a bundle, and these guys across
29:32
Speaker 2: the way are looking on saying they know better than
29:36
Speaker 2: we are. In fact, the whole job is shut down.
29:39
Speaker 2: Sand Ballot probably had a feast that night when he
29:42
Speaker 2: heard they shut the job down because of the strike.
29:46
Speaker 2: Nothing in the world thrilled sand Ballot and cut crowd
29:49
Speaker 2: of his than to see the job shut down because
29:51
Speaker 2: of internal strife. You know who applauds the greatest when
29:56
Speaker 2: churches split. Oh my people in your office that don't
30:03
Speaker 2: know Christ, neighbors that said, ah, knew it would happen.
30:08
Speaker 2: Just enough time, and they'll cut their own throat. And
30:13
Speaker 2: neo Mia says, oh, this isn't good, and what happens.
30:17
Speaker 2: Look at verse eight. Look at this beautiful response the
30:21
Speaker 2: end of verse eight, top of the page. Then they
30:24
Speaker 2: were silent and could not find a word to say.
30:30
Speaker 2: You know, that's the very best response when you're under
30:33
Speaker 2: deep conviction. That's why at the end of every one
30:36
Speaker 2: of our services we have a time of silence. We
30:41
Speaker 2: have a time for individuals in God's family along with
30:45
Speaker 2: the speaker, to say to God in quietness, Lord, you
30:49
Speaker 2: have made me aware of wrong. That's a biblical pattern.
30:55
Speaker 2: Nathan had the unenviable task of pointing his finger at
30:59
Speaker 2: David and saying to that murderer, that adulterer, that hypocrit,
31:04
Speaker 2: you were the man. And then David was silent. Samuel
31:11
Speaker 2: faced Saul with his inappropriate response. He didn't follow through
31:17
Speaker 2: with God's orders, and Samuel said, you're not the king.
31:21
Speaker 2: And the last part of the chapter says Saul went
31:24
Speaker 2: to his own house in Gibea silence. God spoke to
31:29
Speaker 2: Jonah and said, do you have a reason to get mad? Jonah?
31:33
Speaker 2: And there is silence. There's something about the convicting work
31:38
Speaker 2: of the Holy Spirit that brings silence. And these people,
31:43
Speaker 2: as they listened to Nehemiah were honest enough to face
31:49
Speaker 2: the word of God and say that is inappropriate. I
31:53
Speaker 2: am wrong. Now, a good leader doesn't stop with rebuke.
32:00
Speaker 2: He talks about how to correct it, beginning at verse ten.
32:04
Speaker 2: That's what we read. How do you correct the problem
32:08
Speaker 2: like this number one? You determine to stop it. That's
32:12
Speaker 2: verse ten. Please let us leave off this interest plans
32:19
Speaker 2: to stop it. Have people say, what's the first step
32:23
Speaker 2: in applying God's word? When I am under conviction, I say,
32:27
Speaker 2: make plans to stop it. The area of wrong. Number
32:32
Speaker 2: two makes specific plans to correct it. As quickly as
32:38
Speaker 2: possible Verse eleven. Please, he says, give back this very day.
32:46
Speaker 2: Look how quick he is. Make it right. Now, give
32:52
Speaker 2: back those fields, the vineyards, the houses, and the olive groves,
32:56
Speaker 2: and the interest from the grain and the wine and
32:59
Speaker 2: the well that you are exacting from them. When God
33:03
Speaker 2: says to you, you know, friend, that's wrong in your life.
33:07
Speaker 2: God doesn't say, I'll take a rain check on it
33:09
Speaker 2: and talk to you about it ten days from now.
33:11
Speaker 2: God says, deal with it now. I think that's why,
33:16
Speaker 2: at the end of a service we have the most
33:19
Speaker 2: appropriate time to make decisions, because He's built us to
33:24
Speaker 2: a climax where we realize in our lives it's wrong.
33:28
Speaker 2: Now's the time to stop, arrange plans in the life
33:32
Speaker 2: to correct it. But oh the heart resists change. Give
33:36
Speaker 2: it enough time and the sands of time will just
33:39
Speaker 2: sift away. Hone it off, take away the sharp edges
33:42
Speaker 2: of raw edges of criticism or rebuke in our lives,
33:47
Speaker 2: and we'll go right on the same way. Are you
33:51
Speaker 2: measurably any different than you were this time last year?
33:55
Speaker 2: Could your husband or wife, our closest friends sit down
33:57
Speaker 2: and write out six or seven air of distinct change
34:02
Speaker 2: since last year in your life. You see what I mean.
34:07
Speaker 2: That's the thing that concerns God the most. Neomiah said,
34:12
Speaker 2: now you men pray about it. Didn't say, you men
34:14
Speaker 2: pray about it and think about it. Will meet in
34:16
Speaker 2: a week from now. He says, do it now. The
34:20
Speaker 2: third thing, declare your plans for correction in a promise
34:25
Speaker 2: before God verse twelve. I called the priest and took
34:30
Speaker 2: an oath that they would do according to this promise.
34:36
Speaker 2: Look at that. He called the priests in the men
34:41
Speaker 2: who represented them to God in this Jewish economy, and
34:45
Speaker 2: he said, men line up, and he had the rulers
34:49
Speaker 2: and the rich on the other side, and he said,
34:53
Speaker 2: you men, make the promise to these men, and you
34:56
Speaker 2: men before God. Remember that was a public thing. Wouldn't
35:01
Speaker 2: that be something a public declaration? I promised before God. Fourth,
35:11
Speaker 2: I see here in the plan of correction, realized the
35:15
Speaker 2: seriousness of a vertical promise, which is called in scripture
35:19
Speaker 2: a vow. That's verse thirteen. I shook out the front
35:24
Speaker 2: of my garment, and I said, thus, may God shake
35:27
Speaker 2: out every man who forgets this promise. That's verse thirteen.
35:35
Speaker 2: Harlan Caayton was a high school friend of mine that
35:37
Speaker 2: was just as mean and rugged and ugly as he
35:40
Speaker 2: could possibly be. He was a full back on offense,
35:45
Speaker 2: and he was a linebacker on defense, and in the
35:47
Speaker 2: meantime he ate little children on the side, just for
35:51
Speaker 2: the sake of being honree. The strange thing is that
35:55
Speaker 2: Harlan Caayton had come to know Christ, but he was
35:58
Speaker 2: living in open sin and rebuke. He was wild. He
36:04
Speaker 2: owned a boat. He used to zing around Galveston at
36:08
Speaker 2: his own pleasure, preferably in the middle of the night,
36:12
Speaker 2: which was so much like him. And in the middle
36:15
Speaker 2: of the night, going full speed with that fifty horse power,
36:18
Speaker 2: which was big back in the dark ages when I
36:20
Speaker 2: was a child zinging around the west end of Galveston.
36:25
Speaker 2: He hit a set of rocks and he flipped, and
36:28
Speaker 2: a storm blew in a squall, and the only thing
36:30
Speaker 2: he had to hang on to was a big barnacled rock,
36:33
Speaker 2: and he raked up and down these barnacles for several
36:37
Speaker 2: hours as blood spread, and he scared the death of
36:41
Speaker 2: sharks with that blood out there. He says, Oh God,
36:46
Speaker 2: if you will please deliver me from this, I'll serve
36:49
Speaker 2: you the rest of my life. I'll make my life right.
36:52
Speaker 2: I'll give you my life anything. I'll even be a preacher.
36:56
Speaker 2: You make all kinds of vows when you're up and
36:59
Speaker 2: down on a barnicle rock like that. And so God,
37:04
Speaker 2: in his marvelous grace sent the coastguard right in picked
37:07
Speaker 2: him up. Two days later. Harlan Katon forgot all about that.
37:14
Speaker 2: He healed up, but he told me later. We're best
37:16
Speaker 2: of friends. Said to me later, he says, every time
37:19
Speaker 2: I took my shirt off, the scars were a mute
37:24
Speaker 2: reminder of my promise to God. But I'd put him out.
37:29
Speaker 2: I'd shower, and I'd towel off in a hurry, and
37:31
Speaker 2: I'd turned my back from the mirror because those scars
37:34
Speaker 2: that rake up and down my body just said to me,
37:37
Speaker 2: you made God a promise. And by and by, through
37:44
Speaker 2: an interesting chain of events, he had a head on
37:46
Speaker 2: collision in his car. Wonder he wasn't killed. Terrible scar
37:51
Speaker 2: across his face, across his neck, lost part of the
37:54
Speaker 2: use of one of his arms, some of his organs
37:57
Speaker 2: were terribly impaired. Guess what he's doing today. It's right,
38:04
Speaker 2: he's preaching the gospel today. The scars and all you know,
38:08
Speaker 2: he says, every time I shave, I'm reminded that God's
38:11
Speaker 2: promises are taken seriously. Man, I wish we had time
38:21
Speaker 2: to drive this home. Let me put it all together
38:24
Speaker 2: in a simple little package. First of all, let me
38:27
Speaker 2: say this, God is pleased when we handle our money wisely.
38:36
Speaker 2: So many Christians are excellent in areas of public ministry,
38:41
Speaker 2: but behind the scenes and the handling of their money
38:44
Speaker 2: their reproach to the nations. George Bowman bowma N has
38:53
Speaker 2: written a simple book called Here's how to Succeed with
38:56
Speaker 2: Your Money. Forgive the title. It has very little to
39:00
Speaker 2: do with The book sounds like a success plan, a
39:02
Speaker 2: big deal. You invest five and make five million. Nothing
39:06
Speaker 2: to do with that. It's a simple plan that works.
39:08
Speaker 2: If you don't have a plan, consider this one. Here's
39:12
Speaker 2: how to succeed with your money. That's really helped us
39:17
Speaker 2: in our family, not only wisely handling the expenditures, but
39:22
Speaker 2: wisely handling the savings and the investment of such establishing
39:27
Speaker 2: enough so that God gets his proper amount. In your
39:30
Speaker 2: life it may be ten percent. In other lives it
39:33
Speaker 2: should be fifteen, twenty, twenty five percent. It's beyond me
39:39
Speaker 2: that anybody thinks that they can live without any plans forgiving,
39:45
Speaker 2: when the Lord makes it so clear that it's a
39:47
Speaker 2: part of his plan, the wise handling of our savings,
39:51
Speaker 2: our having, our investing, our spending, our giving. Pleased with that,
40:01
Speaker 2: he devotes thirteen verses how important he feels it is.
40:08
Speaker 2: There's something else prolonged. Personal sin takes a heavy toll
40:15
Speaker 2: on the public work of God. I don't care who
40:21
Speaker 2: you are. The wheels of God's judgment grind slowly, but
40:26
Speaker 2: they grind exceedingly fine. Great pastor in Pittsburgh, Clarence McCartney,
40:37
Speaker 2: had a spiral stairway that led to the pulpit, and
40:39
Speaker 2: he said, when sin was in my life, it followed
40:42
Speaker 2: me all the way up the stairs till I got
40:45
Speaker 2: in that pulpit, and that robe didn't clean the steps
40:50
Speaker 2: behind me. Sin follows you around like a snake. There's
40:56
Speaker 2: sin in your life and you're trying to carry on
40:58
Speaker 2: a public ministry. Get it up, it lay it out
41:03
Speaker 2: before God, or get out of the ministry. Get away
41:07
Speaker 2: from what you're doing until it's cleaned up. You know,
41:12
Speaker 2: I don't find a word about the building of the
41:14
Speaker 2: wall and the thirteen verses of Neemiah five, because there
41:19
Speaker 2: was no building. You don't build while you're on a
41:22
Speaker 2: spiritual strike. You just maintain the miserable status quo. Third,
41:32
Speaker 2: correcting any problem begins with facing it head on. Some
41:38
Speaker 2: of us are past masters at skirting and skating. We
41:45
Speaker 2: get to thin ice and it hurts. We say, well,
41:47
Speaker 2: that's good. I'm glad my wife's here. She really needs
41:49
Speaker 2: to hear that today. Or here we go again, same
41:53
Speaker 2: old harangue preachers on it again. Or let's go on
42:01
Speaker 2: to something positive. The negatives really aren't for me today.
42:04
Speaker 2: Let's face it positive. No, when you find wrong in
42:07
Speaker 2: your life, you face it head on. I really get weary, honestly,
42:12
Speaker 2: of myself and of others, saying, well, you know that's
42:16
Speaker 2: the way I am. If it's wrong, then it's wrong.
42:22
Speaker 2: If it's your temperament, get it out, work on it.
42:27
Speaker 2: If you lack faith, work on it. You claim all
42:31
Speaker 2: the power of the Holy Spirit, and you say, God,
42:34
Speaker 2: take over, change this wrong. I'm sick of this habit.
42:39
Speaker 2: It's a bad reaction. Well, you know, I'm always I'm
42:43
Speaker 2: given to being angry. I just get mad, easily take
42:47
Speaker 2: care of it. Well, I'm given to drink. You know
42:51
Speaker 2: how it is. I You know, man, I have a trouble.
42:54
Speaker 2: I get on a binge about every third weekend. Deal
42:57
Speaker 2: with it. I'm given to homostsectuality. It's a problem, you know.
43:01
Speaker 2: That's the way we are, just a little sickness. It's
43:04
Speaker 2: sain deal with it. And I'll say in this book
43:09
Speaker 2: that we're studying, if there's one thing Neomiah does, he
43:13
Speaker 2: deals with wrong. He doesn't skate. And the final thing
43:21
Speaker 2: I discover in this passage is correction is carried out
43:24
Speaker 2: most effectively when we make a promise, preferably a public promise,
43:31
Speaker 2: sharing it with someone who knows us well. All if
43:35
Speaker 2: God leads you publicly to your Sunday school class or
43:39
Speaker 2: to a group, nail it down, lay it before. There's
43:46
Speaker 2: a little village in Upper Saint Clair, just north of Pittsburgh.
43:50
Speaker 2: Some of you may have seen the village back in
43:53
Speaker 2: nineteen fifty eight. They built the neatest little red brick building.
43:57
Speaker 2: This red brick building was to be both there please
44:01
Speaker 2: headquarters as well as their fire department and their city hall.
44:06
Speaker 2: And they were so proud of it because it was
44:08
Speaker 2: the result of sacrificial giving and planning and building. After
44:13
Speaker 2: a long period of time, they finally put it together
44:15
Speaker 2: and they had a ribbon cutting ceremony. About six three
44:20
Speaker 2: hundred and some odd people were there, about all the
44:23
Speaker 2: residents of Saint Clair. Within less than two months they
44:29
Speaker 2: began to notice some ominous cracks in the sight of
44:31
Speaker 2: this red brick building. By and by, the windows wouldn't
44:35
Speaker 2: shut all the way, and they would let in that
44:38
Speaker 2: frigid air from the winter outside. Before long they couldn't
44:43
Speaker 2: be closed at all. Then the door became a jar,
44:47
Speaker 2: and the floor shifted and was no longer even the
44:53
Speaker 2: roof leaked. Within a matter of a few more months
44:58
Speaker 2: it had to be demolished, to the embarrassment of the
45:01
Speaker 2: builder and to the disgust of the taxpayers. Somebody did
45:06
Speaker 2: some analysis and they found out that since Upper Saint
45:09
Speaker 2: Clair is near a mining village, the blasts that were
45:13
Speaker 2: taking place around had, for some reason followed a stratum
45:17
Speaker 2: that led to this particular building, and down imperceptibly beneath
45:24
Speaker 2: the foundation. There were small shifts and changes and drops
45:31
Speaker 2: until the whole foundation began to crack, and you couldn't
45:36
Speaker 2: feel it, you couldn't even see it from the surface,
45:41
Speaker 2: but quietly and down deep there was a weakening problem
45:49
Speaker 2: where they finally had to ride across the door of
45:52
Speaker 2: that building condemned not fit for public use. And I
46:02
Speaker 2: read the account of Upper Saint Clair. I think, my
46:05
Speaker 2: that not only fits Saul's life and Solomon's life, and
46:12
Speaker 2: the life of others in scripture, it fits some christians lives. F. B.
46:19
Speaker 2: Meyer has said, no man suddenly becomes base. It is
46:23
Speaker 2: a quiet and lengthy process. Some of you are involved
46:30
Speaker 2: right now in the beginning of foundational cracks, and the
46:36
Speaker 2: windows of your life aren't closing too well. And it's
46:40
Speaker 2: a tendency, as the taxpayer would have it, Just pull
46:43
Speaker 2: them down a little harder. Before long they won't close
46:48
Speaker 2: at all, and then the conscience will say, oh my,
46:52
Speaker 2: you've lived with it that long. Just put on a
46:54
Speaker 2: heavy coat, you can handle the weather, and the doors
46:58
Speaker 2: won't close. And before long all you are is a shell.
47:07
Speaker 2: Whether it's money matters or moral matters, our personality matters,
47:14
Speaker 2: our laziness or procrastination are open and designed. Sin or
47:23
Speaker 2: gossip or whatever may cause you to be terribly vulnerable
47:29
Speaker 2: when you were pressed and cause you to thank God,
47:32
Speaker 2: don't matter was never brought upon your back, so that
47:36
Speaker 2: you're wrong was brought public. I'll tell you God is
47:40
Speaker 2: saying this morning, deal with it now, right now. This
47:51
Speaker 2: is a strong message, and I think it's needed.
47:58
Speaker 1: About with me for the next few moments. Let's all
48:03
Speaker 1: of us remove from ourselves any defensiveness, any resistance, any reluctance,
48:10
Speaker 1: and let's open ourselves to our God. Let's be willing
48:17
Speaker 1: to seek his forgiveness and the release that comes when
48:21
Speaker 1: He forgives us. I'm reminded of the proverb that says
48:25
Speaker 1: he who covers his sin shall not prosper, but whoso
48:29
Speaker 1: confesses and forsakes them. Did you hear that and forsakes
48:35
Speaker 1: them shall have mercy? That is written to God's people. Now,
48:42
Speaker 1: let me say a word to you who are without Christ.
48:46
Speaker 1: There's no way you can forsake your sin in your
48:49
Speaker 1: own strength, in your own flesh, so don't even try.
48:54
Speaker 1: I want you to know that Jesus Christ has paid
48:57
Speaker 1: the complete penalty for your sins. He has taken away
49:03
Speaker 1: all of the guilt and shame connected with your sin
49:07
Speaker 1: when he died on the cross, And all you find
49:11
Speaker 1: now before the Living God as you place your faith
49:14
Speaker 1: in Christ, is God's love and forgiveness and security and
49:18
Speaker 1: grace and full release from those things that have haunted
49:23
Speaker 1: you and troubled you for so long. So I invite
49:27
Speaker 1: you right now, in the depth of your heart, to
49:30
Speaker 1: trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, personally and fully. If
49:37
Speaker 1: you are a believer, perhaps this passage of Scripture has
49:41
Speaker 1: reproved you in the area of your finances or maybe
49:46
Speaker 1: your moral life. God says, don't stop with that reproof.
49:51
Speaker 1: Don't just go there, lay it all before the one
49:54
Speaker 1: who can forgive you, confessing everything to him, and then
50:00
Speaker 1: make plans for change by making a promise before the
50:05
Speaker 1: Lord as you get under way with a new game plan.
50:09
Speaker 1: Let's do that, okay. Let's pray, Father, thank you for
50:14
Speaker 1: speaking to us in such a personal way in this
50:17
Speaker 1: practical area of our love and our loans and our
50:21
Speaker 1: money problems. Thank you for saying what needed to be
50:24
Speaker 1: said and for preserving it in an ancient book named Nehemiah.
50:29
Speaker 1: I pray for those who've never met your son that
50:32
Speaker 1: they will turn to him right now. I pray for
50:35
Speaker 1: those who know the Lord but have wondered no longer
50:38
Speaker 1: walking in the light as he is in the light.
50:42
Speaker 1: I pray that as a result, they will know a
50:45
Speaker 1: new beginning and a release from the things that have
50:48
Speaker 1: held him captive for too long. Hear our prayer today,
50:52
Speaker 1: our Father, and know that we are trusting you for
50:56
Speaker 1: change in the name of Jesus Christ. I pray Amen.
51:04
Speaker 3: The preceding message, Love Loans and the Money Crunch was
51:08
Speaker 3: copyrighted in nineteen seventy four, nineteen eighty three, nineteen ninety two,
51:14
Speaker 3: thousand and six, and twenty fifteen, and the sound recording
51:18
Speaker 3: was copyrighted in twenty sixteen by Charles Rswindahl, Inc. All
51:23
Speaker 3: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
51:27
Speaker 3: use is strictly prohibited.