Who’s In? Who’s Out?
November 12, 2017

Scripture: Nehemiah 7:5-73

2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Is this true even of a list of names?

The names listed in Nehemiah 7 belong to those who first returned to Jerusalem 90 years before Nehemiah arrived in the city. These people are described in Ezra 1:5: “Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem.”

God has a list of names in His book. These are His people, the ones close to His heart.

Daniel 12:1: “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.”

Luke 10:20: “Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Revelation 20:12: “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.”

I. The people in God’s book are servants.

A. The people that God loves and that love God are those who love to serve others. Look at some of the roles of serving that those who returned to Jerusalem filled. There are priests listed in vs. 39. Then you have Levites serving God in vs. 43. You have singers praising God in vs. 44. You have gatekeepers protecting people and the temple in vs. 45. You have temple servants in vs. 46-56 whose job was to help the Levites serve. And finally you have Solomon’s servants in vs. 57-60, who also helped the Levites serve.

II. The people in God’s book are holy.

A. The issue of who lived in Jerusalem was holiness (vs. 61-66). We as God’s people are set apart for God. We belong to Him. But some of the Jewish people had married non-Jews. And those non-Jews worshiped idols. They did not worship the one true God. So these people with a questionable ancestry could not live or serve in Jerusalem which was God’s holy city. The people of God needed to realize who they were and what they were in Jerusalem for.

III. The people in God’s book are generous.

A. We see the generosity of some of the people who returned to Jerusalem in vs. 70-72. The people who were written in the book in the archives in Jerusalem were very generous.

Application:
Are you in God’s book? If so, be focused on making your way to the New Jerusalem by living a life of servanthood, holiness, and generosity.

Sources:
Commentaries by Derek Thomas, James Hamilton Jr., and Nancy Guthrie.