Tabor Baptist Church

• Chapter 7 is a diving line in the book
• Up to chapter 7 - building the walls
• From chapter 7 - building up the people of God, a spiritual reformation
• Nehemiah appointed people to serve in the temple
• Nehemiah was concerned about spiritual leadership
• As a church we must always focus on the spiritual before the physical
• As Christians we are to love our neighbour and have social concern
• Titus 3:8
• This must never eclipse the preaching of the word of God
• We are a people how must always seek the Kingdom of God
• Nehemiah understood that certain matters needed to be addressed
• v3 - vigilance
• v5 - a register (and updated in Ezra)

Vigilance from attacks from without

• Nehemiah would not be caught off guard
• He could just have relied entirely on God but he recognised there was human responsibility
• He appointed watchmen on the walls and guards at peoples home
• How are we to be vigilant in the Church of Jesus Christ?
• The Bible says 'watch and pray'
• We must combat false teaching
• We are not to be policing others but to be caring for others
• We are a member of a family, of a body
• It matters what is going on in the lives of others
• Caring in a loving way
• We can give advice to others
• Guards in front of their own home
• We have responsibilities in our home
• We should meditate on good and noble things
• What we do, what we talk about, what we watch
• Do we know what is happening in our children's lives?

Good order from within

• Our own lives need to be ordered well, the church of God needs to be ordered well
• The register must have been encouraging to them
• Certain people had to be kept out if they were not true Israelites (e.g. some of the priests - v64)
• God is a God of order
• God wants things to be done properly
• We are not organisational like the world
• We are a family
• We are not regimented like an army
• We are not to be too legalistic but also not too lax
• Membership lists
• Isn't the criteria simply to be born again?
• The doorway to the universal invisible Church is new birth through the Holy Spirit
• We need to identify to a local church
• How can you come under oversight if you are not committed to a local church?
• How can you come under pastoral care if you are not committed to a local church?
• We are not to be legalistic
• Perhaps people have been through previous church splits
• Relationships might prevent people from becoming members
• We are to be loving
• Good order is important in the work of God
• 'The letter kills but the Spirit brings life'

What does it mean to be on God's register?

• It is one thing to be on the register of a local church but it is a far bigger thing to be on God's register
• Baptism, church membership, being a deacon do not guarantee a place in heaven
• Rev 21:1-8 details certain people who will be excluded from heaven
• How do you become part of the people of God?
• Gen 3 (fall of man), John 3 (you must be born again), Rom 3 (justification by faith)
• John 1:12-13 - those who have received The Lord Jesus Christ
• Have you received Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour?
• We must be born again, the heart must be changed
• John 3:3 - you must be born again
• John 3:5-6 - you need the washing of the Holy Spirit
• John 8:39-44 - you are children of the devil
• Gal 3:6-7 - having faith makes you a child, not your lineage
• Gal 4:30-31 - we are either the child of God or a child of sin
• Has the Spirit of God entered your life?
• If so you will want to serve The Lord Jesus
• If so there will be a noticeable change in your behaviour
• There is a wonderful promise for you - you will be in the presence of the Saviour forever
• If not you will be cast out as you have not trusted in the word of God