Pulpit Exchange

It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching tosave them that believe (1 Corinthians 1:21).So they read in the book in the law of God distinct-ly, and gave the sense, and caused them to under-

stand the reading (Nehemiah 8:8). Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneththe countenance of his friend (Proverbs 27:17).

Volume 9, No. 3 Issue # 903

When we consider the preser-vative nature of Scriptural fel-lowship lines, we probably firstof all think of preserve and/or fel-lowship lines. What do we wantto preserve? To preserve is “tokeep from harm and danger anddamage and evil,” or “to keep upor carry on, and to maintain.”These are all very truthful if wethink of fellowship lines and whywe have fellowship lines. It is

because we want to keep thechurch from harm, damage, dan-ger, and so on. To preserve is tosafeguard. We do not pass judg-ment or are censorious, althoughthat might be included. It mightappear that way at times, or itmight even be the case some-times that we need to pass judg-ment for a certain thing.Nevertheless, our goal and aim isto preserve. We want to preserve.

The

IN THIS ISSUE

The Preservative Nature ofScriptural Fellowship Lines

Fellowship

The Preservative Nature of

Scriptural Fellowship Lines 49

Book Reprint

Seven Laws of Teaching 69

Youth Book Reprint

Judith 7072

The Pulpit Exchange

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turbed for many years. He was awealthy wholesale merchant ofdry goods. Under his able man-agement, the income hadincreased yearly. The businesswas growing and had been espe-cially successful of late. Butmaterial welfare was not themain object in the life of Mr. andMrs. Weinberg. Their greatesttreasures were three love l ydaughters who filled the hearts oftheir parents with joy and delight.

The ambition of the parentswas to give their girls the besteducation and, what was evenmore important, to instill intothem the good old Hebrew cus-toms and principles of life, toplant into the hearts of their chil-dren the faith in the blessedJehovah, Who in times past hadgreatly helped all true and faith-ful Israelites.

The family We i n b e rg hadamong their ancestors a goodmany fine, stalwart rabbis, whohad jealously protected andguarded their fathers’ religioustradition. Rightly this family wascalled the bearer of religious lifeof which there were only a fewleft among this nation, which islosing its religion more andmore.

There were times when Mr.

and Mrs. Weinberg were sad andsorrowful because God had notgiven them a son and heir whowould continue their old family.The greatest grief in a Jewishfamily is the absence of a son,who has to pray after his father’sdeath for the latter, to increasehis happiness in the hereafter.H ow eve r, such moments wererare, as their three lively girlsalways succeeded in scatteringthe clouds of sorrow. With theirmerry chatter, they filled thehearts and home of the parentswith joy and happiness as littlebirds fill the air in spring withtheir chirping.

Judith, the oldest of the three,and the beloved pet of the family,was a special joy to her parents.She had developed her abilitiesearly and proved to be morecapable than the others. Theearly delight and interest of littleJudith in religion and her manyearnest questions about God, tooearnest for her age, kindled thehope in the hearts of her fatherand mother that she would laterbecome a “true bearer” of theirreligion and the traditions of theirfathers. Often she would ply herparents with questions about thedetails of the ceremonial side ofthe religious life.

7150

Vol. 9 No. 3, Issue # 903. The Pulpit Exchange is a compilation of writ-ten sermons without commentary, published as often as possible, in theinterests of promoting sound preaching in our conservative Anabaptistchurches. All sermons have been transcribed and printed with permission.Names are removed so that we can focus on the message and content ratherthan on a certain speaker or style. (Names will be published in the nextissue).

Messages have been selected on the basis of topic rather than the speak-er. Messages have been selected from congregations or speakers within theBerea Amish Mennonite Fellowship, Conservative Mennonite Church ofOntario, Conservative Mennonite Churches of York and Adams Counties,PA., Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Church, Mennonite ChristianFellowship, Nationwide Fellowship Churches, Ohio Wisler Mennonite,Washington-Franklin Mennonite Conference, and certain selected unaffili-ated Amish Mennonite congregations.

We welcome submission of recorded sermons, topics, school meetings,writer’s meetings, and special conferences by ministry and laity (whererecording is permitted) provided permission has been obtained by thespeaker for the recording. Submissions must have a title, the name of thespeaker and the congregation responsible for recording (date would behelpful).

Published by Door of Peace Publications/Les Éditions «Porte-de-Paix» aconservative Amish Mennonite/Anabaptist publisherc/o Keith G. White, P.O. Box 104, Blyth, Ontario Canada N0M 1H0

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That is why we need to have fel-lowship lines. That is why weneed to know who we can fel-lowship and with what we can-not, when there are dangersinvolved and so on.

We want to protect the churchfrom harm, danger, and evil. Wewant the church to be pure, clean,and holy. Therefore, we think ofpreserving more than to judge.People might say, “Why are youso judgmental? Why can you notaccept this group over here? You

are judging.” We hear that allalong, all the time. Be that as itm a y, our aim is to preserve .Even though there are pressureslike that we cannot lower ourstandards or go and fellowshipwith things that are questionableor unScriptural.

We need to deal with sin inorder to preserve. Yes, we wantto preserve the Church. T h eChurch is Christ’s glorious pos-session. It is Christ’s most cher-ished treasure, we could say.

There is nothing in this worldthat the Lord cherishes more thanthe Church. We are responsiblefor preserving that, to have clearfellowship lines, to know what isin the church, and if there is sinthat will be dealt with.

We are held accountable forthat as leaders in the church. Yes,we are. Ephesians 5:27 says“That he might present it to him-self a glorious church, not havingspot, or wrinkle, or any suchthing; but that it should be holyand without blemish.” That iswhat the Lord is looking for inthe Church. We as leaders in thechurch are also looking for thechurch to be without spot orwrinkle and that there would notbe any sin. There is no room forany sin in the church, is there?No, there is not. The churchneeds to be kept without spot orwrinkle “that it should be holyand without blemish.” Paul says,“For I have espoused you to onehusband, that I may present youas a chaste virgin to Christ” (2Corinthians 11:2). We cannot beespoused to one and then go andcourt with another. The Lord willnot accept that. Christ will notshare His love with another.

We need to understand what isthe ch u rch, and where is thechurch and it needs to be holy,pure, and blameless. The churchis preserved for Him and Him

only. The bride which is theChurch is preserved for theBridegroom Christ Jesus. Thebride is espoused to theBridegroom Christ Jesus. TheChurch cannot go all over theplace and court with somethingelse then with Christ and be inf e l l owship with, and minglewith, almost anyone, anywhere,and anything and still maintain arelationship with the Lord. Thatwill not happen. If that would beour experience then we couldrelate that to a wedding here inthe earth, in the church — oneman and one woman courtingtogether. If that woman wouldgo and court all over the placethen maybe come home after awhile and say, “Well, yes I loveyou. I want to be near to you. Iwant to be with you,” but then goon and court something elseagain. When would there ever bea wedding? I say there would notbe.

It is the same in the Church.We will not experience the wed-ding supper of the Lamb if wewill be going out all over theplace and courting another thanJesus Christ. That is right. Wewill not make it to heave n .Therefore, we need to realize thenecessity of the purity in theChurch and that we need to pre-serve it. Our calling is to pre-s e r ve. W h a t ever it take s

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THE LIFE in the home of Mr. Weinberg was happy and undis-

(8)Find illustrations in thecommonest and most fa m i l i a robjects suitable for the purpose.

(9)Lead the pupils themselvesto find illustrations from theirown experience.

(10)Make every new fact orprinciple familiar to your pupils;try to establish and intrench itfirmly, so that it will be availablefor use in explaining new materi-al to come.

(11)Urge the pupils to makeuse of their own knowledge andattainments in every way that ispracticable, to find or ex p l a i nother knowledge. Teach themthat knowledge is power byshowing how knowledge reallyhelps to solve problems.

(12)Make every advance clearand familiar, so that the progressto the next succeeding step shallin every case be on know nground.

(13)As far as possible, choosethe problems which you give toyour pupils from their own activ-ities, and thus increase thechances that they will be real andnot artificial problems.

(14)Remember that yourpupils are learning to think, andthat to think properly they mustlearn to face intelligently andr e f l e c t ively the problems thatarise in connection with theirschool work, and in connectionwith their life outside of school.

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Youth Book Reprint (continued)

Judith

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Happy Days of ChildhoodII. RefugeesIII. Seek and Ye Shall FindIV. Persecuted for Christ’s SakeV. Dedicated to the LordVI. The Youthful Martyr

IHAPPY DAYS OF CHILDHOOD

The Beloved Daughter-— In the Country — Discourse of the Rabbis— Who was, “Yeshua”?

The Beloved Daughter

Rules for TeachersThis law of knowledge, thus

explained, affords to the thought-ful teacher rules of the highestpractical value. It offers clearguidance to those who are teach-ers of children and anxious thattheir task shall be well done.

(1)Find out what your pupilsknow of the subject you wish toteach to them; this is your start-ing-point. This refers not only totextbook knowledge but to allinformation that they may pos-sess, however acquired.

( 2 ) M a ke the most of thep u p i l s ’ k n owledge and ex p e r i-ence. Let them feel its extent andvalue, as a means to furtherknowledge.

(3)Encourage your pupils toclear up and freshen their knowl-edge by a clear statement of it.

(4)Begin with facts or ideas

that lie near your pupils, and thatcan be reached by a single stepfrom what is already familiar;thus, geography naturally beginswith the hometown, history withthe pupils’ own memories,morals with their own con-science.

(5)Relate every lesson as muchas possible to former lessons, andwith the pupils’ knowledge andexperience.

(6)Arrange your presentationso that each step of the lessonshall lead easily and naturally tothe next.

(7)Proportion the steps of thelesson to the ages and attain-ments of your pupils. Do not dis-courage your children with les-sons or exercises that are toolong, or fail to rise to the expec-tations of older pupils by givingthem lessons that are too easy.

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From the Previous Issue:

1944 — The Turning Tides in the Mennonite ChurchFrom a message by Luke SensenigWednesday, November 29, 2000

Thirty-Fourth AnnualMinisters’ Bible Study FellowshipNumidia Mennonite Bible School

Book Reprint (continued)

The Seven Laws of Teaching

CHAPTER VTHE LAW OF THE LESSON (continued)

Scripturally, we need to do that.In Acts 20 we have Pa u l ’s

admonition to the Church leadersat Ephesus. We see how he had aburden for the Church. It is nec-essary that we have a burden forthe Church, and for the well-being of the Church. We mustdesire to see the Church growand prosper. We must do all wecan in order that it will grow andprosper, and in order that it willremain pure and holy and blame-less and without spot. A c t s20:18, 19 says, “And when theywere come to him, he said untothem, Ye know, from the first daythat I came into Asia, after whatmanner I have been with you atall seasons, (19) Serving theLord with all humility of mind,and with many tears, and tempta-tions, which befell me by thelying in wait of the Jews.” Paulhad a great burden for theChurch. He desired that theywould grow even though hewould leave. He desired that theChurch would go on and prosperand that the Lord’s blessingwould be upon it.

Paul gives the leaders instruc-tion as to what to do in verses 27,28. “For I have not shunned todeclare unto you all the counselof God.” Can we say that thisafternoon? Have we been doingthat to “declare . . . all the coun-sel of God,” to the people? And

he says, “(28) Take heed there-fore unto yourselves, and to allthe flock, over the which theHoly Ghost hath made you over-seers, to feed the church of God,which he hath purchased with hisown blood.” We see a greatresponsibility here. We arecharged with this same charge totake heed, first of all, unto our-s e l ves. Where do we stand?What is our personal relationshipwith the Lord? Yes, how do Istand personally with the Lord?Then, it says, “and to all theflock, over the which” . . . who?The “Holy Ghost hath made youoverseers, to feed the church.”

We see the responsibility here,and how Paul was concerned thatthe church leaders would takeheed. Paul was concerned whatkind of fellowship they wouldh a v e, what kind of diet theywould have, what they wouldfeed on. Paul had a concern forthe church that they would be fedthe right things and that theywould be able to grow in theirChristian experience. He desiredthat they would be clean, clear,and holy, without spot, andblameless. Paul had that clearvision of the Church. Paul saidthat is the way it should be. Welikewise need to realize the needof taking heed. We simply needto open our eyes such that wewill see the dangers, and that we

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would have a burden for the peo-ple, for the Church, Christ’sChurch, the Lord’s Church. It isnot our work, but it is the Lord’swork. Therefore, we are stew-ards of the things that are entrust-ed into our care. We need to takeheed because the Holy Spirit hasset us over, to be overseers andwe need to feed the church.

For further introduction, Peterhas a great concern for theChurch. 2 Peter 1:12–15 says,“Wherefore I will not be negli-gent to put you always in remem-brance of these things, though yeknow them, and be established inthe present truth. (13) Yea, Ithink it meet, as long as I am inthis tabernacle, to stir you up byputting you in remembrance;(14) Knowing that shortly I mustput off this my tabernacle, evenas our Lord Jesus Christ hathshewed me. (15) Moreover Iwill endeavour that ye may beable after my decease to havethese things always in remem-brance.”

Peter is saying, “I want toalways remind you of the truthsof God’s Word, of these things,of the present truth. Yes, eventhough you know them a longtime already, but yet I realize theneed. I am reminding you againand again of the dangers that sur-round you and of the importanceof keeping the church clean, of

the importance of clear churchfellowship lines.” He wanted toremind them again and again.Then, he says, “Not only nowwhile I am with you, but after Ihave passed from this life and Ihave gone to my reward. Then Istill want you to remember thesetruths.” That is a tremendoustruth which we want to keep inour minds as we think of fellow-ship lines.

Where will our posterity beafter our decease, after we haveleft this life? We have a lot withthat today where they will betomorrow, and we are responsi-ble for that. We need to preservethem, while there is something topreserve. Certainly there is andwe need to do that. As we thinkof fellowship lines, we need topreserve. Where will our poster-ity be tomorrow? We want themto remember the truths that wehave taught. We want them toknow.

Many of our churches are quiteyoung. Some are older. Do wehave a burden that those fellow-ship lines will remain the way wehad them at the beginning of thec o n s e r va t ive movement? Ourf e l l owship movement, are weconcerned that it will remainScriptural? Is there something inour minds that we want to pre-serve that we started out severalyears ago? Certainly, in each one

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have my home clear of that,” buthow about his congregation? Arewe too judgmental if we woulddraw our line on that? Or, howwould we weed things out likethat if there would be some?Fellowship lines that preserve.

In closing, I would just like toread a few verses. This goes withthe thought that we had before,about our posterity. It is worth-while to look at a few verseshere. 2 Timothy 2:2 says, “Andthe things that thou hast heard ofme among many witnesses, the

same commit thou to fa i t h f u lmen, who shall be able to teachothers also.” That means proba-bly your son, or your son’s sonthat there will be a continuationof the same teaching, of the sametruths of God’s Word such thatthe same thing will be preservedfor them. That is right. Verse 22says, “Flee also youthful lusts:but follow righteousness, faith,charity, peace, with. . .” whom?“With them that call on the Lordout of a pure heart.” May theLord bless His Word.

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Numbers16:26 6516:33 65

Nehemiah1:11 542:8 552:10 552:19 562:20 564:1–3 564:9 574:10 574:11 584:16–23 596:1–3 586:7–9 596:19 598:1 608:2, 3 61

8:4 618:5, 6 618:8 6110:29 6113:1 6213:2 6213:4 6213:7–10 6313:15 6313:25 6413:28 64

Matthew26:40 5726:41 57

Acts5:11 655:13 655:14 6620:18, 19 52

20:27, 28 52

1 Corinthians5:6 665:7 665:13 66

2 Corinthians11:2 51

Galatians5:9 66

Ephesians5:11 665:27 51

2 Timothy2:2 682:22 68

2 Peter1:12–15 53

Scripture References

WarningsCutting Down the Wrong Trees — Deuteronomy 20:19, 20 ❑

702 Peril of Battle Weariness, The ❑

Peril of the Process of Accommodation, The ❑

reading sound Christian books.If we are careless, and if we

compromise, or we could say ifwe are simply a little lax, thatmeans we are compromising alittle already. “Why? This isnothing. Why be so censorious?Why be so judgmental?” Then,we are compromising already.We need to have that always inmind. We could also say aboutwhere we go to fellowship. Letus get a little more specific. Abrother made the remark that “Itis not the most liberal or the mostconservative groups where mostpressure will come from.” Well,where will it come from then?We sometimes use the expres-sion, “halfway houses” [or modi-fied conservatism]. T h ey arechurches that do not have clearstandards. They are churchesthat do not clearly teach, or donot have a clear teaching ondress, hair, and casual wear.Sports cars, musical instruments,radios and young people who arenot in subjection. Are we judg-mental if we draw the fellowshiplines there? Are we too judg-mental to say that we cannot fel-lowship with people like that?

We might turn the questionaround. Do we want to haveradios, let us say in five or tenyears from now? I am sureeveryone will shake their headno. I, at least, hope so. Then, we

must have those fellowship linesclear. We cannot go and courtwith people who say “A radio —that is nothing.” We might aswell tolerate that. We might aswell give into that. We cannotcourt with that kind of thing andthink and try and fool ourselvesthat five or ten years down theroad we will still be clear of thatthing. That is simply one exam-ple. That goes for all the otherthings that I mentioned.

We need fellowship lines thatpreserve. What about going toworldly weddings? Yes, our rela-t ives have a wedding that isworldly as can be, can we go? “Itis my sister, or my uncle,” orwhatever it is, or “my niece.”Should we not go and at leastshow some love? Well, it is themost worldly wedding. It mightbe in a church, but it is the mostworldly wedding, and it is themost abominable thing in thesight of God. Here all the peopleare sitting together and praisingthe Lord and saying, “Well, theLord bless this union,” and so on.Can we have part in that? No, wecannot. We want to preserve.Therefore, we must. It mightseem judgmental, but we need todraw the line and say “No.” I donot see any other way.

How about a minister in ourpulpits where they have thesethings? He himself says, “Oh, I

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of our hearts and minds arethings that we feel we want topreserve. We want to keep thosethings. We do not want to growlax. We want to keep. Again,when we have passed from timeour little children, our youngpeople, when they grow up wewant them to have a soundchurch.

Many times people have said,“Wait fifteen, twenty or, twenty-five years then you will see it.Your church will be down theroad into apostasy like all theother churches.” I do not believethat because the Church of Godwill remain. We need to havefaith that it will continue on. Yes,it will, but do we have a vision?Do we realize the need of pre-serving something today if wewant to have a church tomorrow?We cannot simply let the thingslip and then expect to have achurch tomorrow. It cannot bedone. No, we need to have thatburden.

Nehemiah shows us sev e ra lthings that he faced in his daysand how he worked with some ofthose things. There is much thatwe could say about Nehemiah.We want to simply skip throughseveral chapters and then drawout a few points. Nehemiah hada vision of the Church, or wecould say, he had a vision ofJerusalem how it lay in waste.

Further, he had a vision of what itwould be like if that wall wouldbe rebuilt. He wanted that wall tobe rebuilt because he had a desireto see Jerusalem being built upand then to be preserved. He hada burden for the work. He want-ed it to be built back up so that itwould be a place of safety.

1) Nehemiah brought this bur-den to the Lord. He prayed thatthe Lord would guide and directin this matter. He was in captivi-ty but he called on the Lord toopen a way that he could go backto Jerusalem and build that wall.In Nehemiah 1:11 he prayed likethis, “O Lord, I beseech thee, letnow thine ear be attentive to theprayer of thy servant, and to theprayer of thy servants, whodesire to fear thy name: and pros-per, I pray thee, thy servant thisday, and grant him mercy in thesight of this man. For I was thek i n g ’s cupbearer.” He calledupon the Lord to direct the heartof the king that if he would askfor a leave to go back toJerusalem to build the wall thatthe king would be intreated ofhim.

We see here how the Lordheard that prayer. Nehemiahprayed with a burden on hisheart. He desired from thedepths of his heart that the wallcould be rebuilt. That was verynear and dear to his heart. He

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wanted to do all that he could inorder to rebuild that.

The church today needs to bevery near and very dear to ourheart. We need to realize the ter-rible situation that the churchwould be in if the walls would beall broken down — that the fel-lowship lines would all be brokend own. Where would we betoday? Why, the church wouldlie in waste. We need to call onthe Lord to help us if it needs tobe rebuilt such that it will berebuilt, and if it is up that it willstay up. Yes, we need to call onthe Lord, and the Lord will hearbecause it is His desire that theChurch will be preserved.

In Nehemiah 2:8 we see howthe Lord answered that prayer.The last part of the verse says,“And the king granted me,according to the good hand of myGod upon me.” Nehemiah hadthe priv i l ege to go back toJerusalem and start a work onthat wall.

2) If things seem to go rightthen the enemy will also bearound. We dare not fool our-s e l ves or think that we areexempt to the enemy getting ahold of us or that he cannot touchus. He certainly is restricted —his head is bruised — he cannotoverthrow the Church — by nomeans. Yet, he will do his utmostto try and come in to work havoc,

to get us discouraged, and to getpeople’s attention to draw themaway from the truth. We are inthat day and age. We have anenemy that will try and do that.We need to reckon with that.Here, the Lord opened up theway for the walls to be rebuiltand yet the enemy was there too.The enemy came and tried hisutmost to get the people discour-aged or to mock them, or what-ever way he came. He came indifferent ways — Sanballat andTobias — they came in differentways. They tried one way oranother to somehow break downthe courage so that the peoplewould give up.

Let us look at some of them.The enemy sought to hinder inNehemiah 2:10, “WhenSanballat the Horonite, andTobiah the servant, theAmmonite, heard of it, it grievedthem exceedingly that there wascome a man to seek the welfareof the children of Israel.” Todaytoo, our enemy is grieved exceed-ingly to see men building thechurch. He is doing his utmost totry and get us discouraged. Letus not think that we are exemptof that because he is trying everyway he can. Thanks be to Godthere is a victory and we will seethat also.

3) We see how Nehemiahanswered this enemy. The enemy

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join himself to them: but the peo-ple magnified them.” T h a tmeans that people who do notmean business will not come andknock on our doors and try to bepart of us. We need to have thatclear. Fellowship lines need tospeak to the people. If someoneplans to continue on in sin and hecomes and wants to join himselfto us, I wonder where we stand.Why would a person want to joinus and bring in sin? Apparently,he is seeing something amongstus that he figures his sinful situa-tion might not be that bad. Hereit says, “And of the rest durst.” Inother words, of the rest no onedared to join themselves to theChurch.

Yet, we see the next ve r s e(verse 14), “And believers werethe more added to the Lord.”B e l i evers were added to theLord. We talk about believers’baptism. Believers were addedunto the Lord. It was not peoplewho have a wishy-washy idea ofChristianity, are not sure of theirsalvation or simply trying some-how or another way to get intothe Church. No, that needs to beclear. Believers were added untothe Church — “Were the moreadded to the Lord, multitudesboth of men and wo m e n ,”because of clearness of teaching.

“A little leaven leaveneth thewhole lump” (1 Corinthians 5:6;

Galatians 5:9). We hear that alsoand we might as well hear itagain. “Purge out therefore theold leaven” (1 Corinthians 5:7).“Therefore put away from amongyourselves that wicked person”(1 Corinthians 5:13). “Have nof e l l owship with the unfruitfulworks of darkness, but ratherreprove them” (Ephesians 5:11).We cannot have fellowship withunfruitful works of darkness. Weh ave much to preserve. T h eChurch of Jesus Christ.

We can think of the work thatour church is involved. Let usthink of for a moment, say ourpublishing work — the publish-ing houses. We need to encour-age our brethren that are involvedin that to censor and to judgevery closely the material to beprinted with this preserva t ivethought in mind. We want to pre-serve our sound teaching pro-gram in the printed page. As itgoes forth to all the world aroundthat it would be a sound cleartone that is coming forth toeveryone who will be in hearingdistance or that will get a hold ofthis material, whether otherschools or our own. We need tobe on guard that this will be pre-s e r ved even after we aredeceased. It must be preservedso that our children will have thep r iv i l ege of attending soundChristian day schools and also of

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A few more instances in theScripture where clear fellowshiplines were drawn because of sin.In Numbers 16 we have theaccount of Korah, Dathan, andAbiram, men who spoke againstleadership and the leaven spread.That is exactly what is happeningtoday. If people are allowed tocontinue on and to sin in the con-gregation, or to speak up againstleadership disrespectfully likethese people did, the leave nspreads. God says here.“Separate yourselves from thesewicked men” [Numbers 16:26].“Do not fellowship with thesew i c ked men. Draw the line.Those men you cannot be with.They will draw you away fromthe truth.” Do we have that asclear as that — questionable fel-l owship — things that areunScriptural that we simply, andabsolutely separate ourselve sfrom them? God says thatSeparate yourselves from thesewicked people. We know whathappened. The ground openedup and the people were swal-lowed. They “went down aliveinto the pit” (Numbers 16:33),because of disobedience to theWord of God.

“And he spake unto the con-gregation, saying, Depart, I prayyou, from the tents of thesewicked men, and touch nothingof theirs, lest ye be consumed in

all their sins.” We will be con-sumed the same way if we will becareless. We cannot do it. Weneed to be separate from sinfulsituations such as that.

A few things in the NewTestament. Acts 5 we say is anaccount where the Church disci-plined sinners (and it was) afterAnanias and Sapphira were dealtwith. A fellowship line wa sdrawn “And great fear came uponall the church” (Acts 5:11).Ananias and Sapphira were dealtwith “And great fear came uponall the church.” That is the way itneeds to be too. We need to out-line clearly what our fellowshiplines are, with whom we can fel-lowship with and which peopleneed to be dealt with. Sinnersneed to be put out of the church.That needs to be clear and weneed to work toward that. Then,there will be great fear among therest of the people, like it was inthis case. It was an extreme casewe say. Nevertheless, sin alwaysleads to death. It does not matterwhat kind of sin it is. We mighttalk about smaller sins or bigsins. It does not make any differ-ence. Sin always leads to death.We need to deal with that assuch. Then, it says, “great fearcame upon all the church.” Thatis what will happen today.

Another thing it says in verse13, “And of the rest durst no man

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was grieved that there was a manwho rose up and would rebuildthe wall, or seek the welfare ofthe children of Israel. We areseeking the welfare of our peo-ple. We are seeking the welfareof our children. We want to be atwork. We want to preserve theChurch. We are at work. Wehave an enemy that is grievedwith that. Let us answer theenemy the way Nehemiah didtime and again. Nehemiah 2:19,“But when Sanballat theHoronite, and Tobiah the servant,the Ammonite, and Geshem theArabian, heard it, they laughedus to scorn, and despised us, andsaid, What is this thing that yedo? will ye rebel against theking?” They laughed them toscorn. We can expect that todaytoo. People might laugh us toscorn. “Why are you so narrow?Why do you think it is so impor-tant?” and all kinds of things.

What kind of answer didNehemiah have for them? Hesaid, “Then answered I them, andsaid unto them, The God of heav-en, he will prosper us; thereforewe his servants will arise andbuild: but ye have no portion, norright, nor memorial, inJerusalem” (verse 20). I see herethat Nehemiah was very strict,very stern, we could say. Whatwas he trying to do, or what washe doing? He had in mind to pre-

serve the Church, we could say.He had in mind to preserveJerusalem. That is what his con-cern was. He said, “ye have noportion, nor right, nor memorial[with us].” “The God of heaven,he will prosper us; therefore wehis servants will arise and build.”That is the determination weneed to have. We, his servantswill arise and build, regardlesswhat the enemy tries to do to us.Are we convinced that we wantto do that to preserve the truthsthat we have? We, His servants,together work to preserve thetruth.

In Nehemiah 3, the wall wasbuilt. It is outlined there howthey were building it. We willnot look into that. The enemywas not ready to give up at thattime yet. Although Nehemiahhad given him a very clearanswer, yet the enemy was notfinished. He came again andagain. That is the way it is todaytoo. The enemy seeks to hindera gain and again. Nehemiah4:1–3 says, “But it came to pass,that when Sanballat heard thatwe builded the wall, he wa swroth, and took great indigna-tion, and mocked the Jews. (2)And he spake before his brethrenand the army of Samaria, andsaid, What do these feeble Jews?will they fortify themselves? willthey sacrifice? will they make an

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end in a day? will they revive thestones out of the heaps of therubbish which are burned? (3)Now Tobiah the Ammonite wasby him, and he said, Even thatwhich they build, if a fox go up,he shall even break down theirstone wall.” We see here that isliberally mocking — mockingthe people of God. “Do youthink they will fortify them-selves? Do they think they arethat strong? Do you think theyknow that much? Do they thinkthey have all the answers?”

That mocking sounds ve r yfamiliar today. A lot of peopleare saying the same thing. “Well,what do these people think?They have all the answers foreverything, and all they are doingis going around and judging.Everybody is wrong and we areright.” Let them say what theywant, but we want to be con-vinced that we are following thetruth and that we are building theChurch. We need to have thatclear.

4 ) Nehemiah 4:9 says,“ N evertheless we made ourp rayer unto our God,” —“Whatever they said we madeour prayer unto God” “. . .and seta watch against them day andnight, because of them.” Whereis our watch today? It says thatthey “set a watch against [theenemy] day and night, because of

them.” It was because of theenemy that was constantly tryingto get their minds off the work.Therefore, they watched. Again,that is the way we need to do it.We need to watch day and night.“What, could ye not watch withme one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)Jesus said when He was out inthe garden praying. He came andfound the disciples sleepingwhen He came back. “Watch andpray, that ye enter not into temp-tation” (Matthew 26:41). Wedare not do anything lessbrethren and sisters. Why? It isbecause of the enemy. T h eenemy is there. That is why. Wecannot lower our standards. Wecannot lower our fellow s h i plines. We cannot do it. We needto keep them right up, and watchand pray that the enemy will notget any entrance, not at all, not inthe slightest way. We do not haveany room at all for any influencewhatsoever from our enemy. Noroom. No room at all.

5) Cleaning house. We seethat in Nehemiah 4:10. “AndJudah said, The strength of thebearers of burdens is decayed,and there is much rubbish; so thatwe are not able to build the wall.”Things need to be cleaned up andcertainly there might be that. Ifthe enemy is hard at work, weneed to also think of within. Theenemy might be without, bu t

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careless and the fellowship lineswere not kept. We still need tocry out against sin. We still needto go back and clean house.

14) We need to be in the placewhere God has called us to be.One thing I was thinking of whenI was studying this was thatNehemiah went away a while,and what happened at home?Most of us are not at home thisweek. Do we know what is hap-pening at home? We are not onlymeaning our physical presencebut our influence that we leavewhen we are there and in whatev-er way. We need to hold ourhand on the pulse of the congre-gation. We need to know who isin charge in our absence. Weneed to know that it is a soundman who will keep fellowshiplines where they need to be, andthat he will address sin — whatneeds to be dealt with. We darenot be negligent at home and runall over the world and forg e tabout our work at home. We arenot getting any place if that iswhat we plan to do, or if that iswhat we are doing.

We need to keep house athome, but we also need to go outinto the outermost part of theworld and preach the Gospelthroughout the wo r l d .Nevertheless, we cannot neglectthe responsibility at home.Notice what happened where, in

the absence of Nehemiah. It wasa sad situation. Yet, Nehemiahwas very strong. He carried outvery strong discipline and we donot know what all happened afterhe cleaned out, but he took somevery strong measures.

In Nehemiah 13 let us notice afew things what he did. What didhe do? Was he judgmental? Washe censorious? Or, did he have aconcern to preserve? Well, hewanted to preserve. That is whyhe took these sharp measures.Nehemiah 13:25 says, “And Icontended with them, and cursedthem, and smote certain of them,and plucked off their hair, andmade them swear by God, say-ing, Ye shall not give your daugh-ters unto their sons, nor take theirdaughters unto your sons, or foryourselves.” Yes, he carried outvery sharp discipline measures.He realized it needed to be done.Then, in verse 28 it says, “Andone of the sons of Joiada, the sonof Eliashib the high priest, wasson in law to Sanballat theHoronite: therefore I chased himfrom me.” It was different fromwhat God had outlined it shouldbe. Nehemiah had a burden forGod’s people. He chased thisevil person from him. He couldnot be part of it anymore. Itneeded to be dealt with, and invery severe measures, we couldsay.

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where up until then they had themeat offering, the frankincenseand the vessels and so on, in themost holy place. He brought thisman right into this place wherethey were not allowed to enter inat all. Yes, he brought him rightinto the holiest place, we couldsay.

Today, we might say that heallowed him to preach. I do notknow what application we couldmake. I am sure there could bed i fferent ones. Neve r t h e l e s s ,Tobiah, the man whom God hassaid was not supposed to enter in,was right inside. That was verysad. The people broke theirpromises. They said that theywould keep all these covenants,all these promises, and that allfell by the wayside because ofone unfaithful leader, because ofone unfaithful man. He wa scareless about fellowship linesand the whole thing broke down.That is a very sad position.Nehemiah was grieved when hereturned. He came back andcleansed the house. Nehemiah13:7–10 says, “And I came toJerusalem, and understood of theevil that Eliashib did for Tobiah,in preparing him a chamber inthe courts of the house of God.(8) And it grieved me sore:therefore I cast forth all thehousehold stuff of Tobiah out ofthe chamber. (9) Then I com-

manded, and they cleansed thechambers: and thither brought Iagain the vessels of the house ofGod, with the meat offering andthe frankincense.”

We see Nehemiah cleaninghouse. He put out the sin and theman that was involved. He putthem out, and everything that hehad brought in, and brought backagain the vessels of God, and thethings that belonged in the houseof God. He was very sorelygrieved at all the things that hesaw. The people had promisedthat they would not trespass andthey would not buy and sell onthe sabbath day. Nevertheless, hesaw people treading the wine-press on the sabbath day [seeNehemiah 13:15], which they sofaithfully promised they wouldnot do. Nehemiah saw mixedmarriages which they also saidthey would not do, they wouldnot be involved in that. Thepriests had fled because theywere not giving the priests recog-nition anymore, which they alsohad promised they would do.

We see the effect of an unfaith-ful man who did not hold the fel-lowship lines in a place that heneeded to keep them, and thepeople were gone, sad to say,very far away. We need to cryout against sin like Nehemiahdid, even though there mighth ave been someone who wa s

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what is happening inside? Hemight have come in unawares —whatever. There might be rub-bish in the way. We need to cleanthat out in order to gain the victo-ry and continue on.

6) Nehemiah 4:11 — “And ouradversaries said, They shall notknow, neither see, till we come inthe midst among them, and slaythem, and cause the work toc e a s e.” The enemy still wa sscheming and they wanted tocome right into the midst withoutthem realizing that they werecoming. Dearly beloved, I againsay that is what he is tryingtoday. In the church of JesusChrist we are aware of what ishappening. We need to be awarewhat is happening such thatSatan will not be able to play thattrick on us to come in unawaresome place and spoil us. Again,that is a reason why we need tohave these fellowship lines clear.If Satan is around trying toscheme those things, we need tok n ow what is happening.Nehemiah knew that. The enemycould not come in unawares. Hedid not creep in unawa r e s .Nehemiah knew what was hap-pening. Therefore, he could havethe victory again.

7) In Nehemiah 6:1–3 theenemy is using another method.“ N ow it came to pass, whenSanballat, and Tobiah, and

Geshem the Arabian, and the restof our enemies, heard that I hadbuilded the wall, and that therewas no breach left therein;(though at that time I had not setup the doors upon the gates;) (2)That Sanballat and Geshem sentunto me, saying, Come, let usmeet together in some one of thevillages in the plain of Ono. Butthey thought to do me mischief.(3) And I sent messengers untothem, saying, I am doing a greatwork, so that I cannot comed own: why should the wo r kcease, whilst I leave it, and comedown to you?” These men had avery good scheme to come out tothe plains of Ono and simply dis-cuss the matter peacefully. “Whycan we not reason a little bit?You know, we are not that farapart. After all, we are all goingto the same heaven. Do you notexpect to go to the same heavenas what I am?” There are allkinds of questions people areasking today. “Why so fa rapart?”

He knew that the enemythought to do him mischief. Sadto say, people today sometimesdo not realize that the enemy istrying to do us mischief and theygo about and reason with theenemy. “Maybe it is not thatimportant. Maybe we can fellow-ship a little bit here and there.”No, let us realize that our enemy

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is thinking to do us mischief. Heis trying to break down thechurch and we are not going eventhough he might have a soundreason and it looks very good onthe surface. We are not goingalong with our enemy’s ideas.We cannot do that. We need tostay clear from that altogether.

8) Nehemiah 6:7–9, “And thouhast also appointed prophets topreach of thee at Jerusalem, say-ing, There is a king in Judah: andnow shall it be reported to theking according to these words.Come now therefore, and let ustake counsel together.” — “Whycould we not sit down and dis-cuss this thing through.” (8)Then I sent unto him, saying,There are no such things done asthou sayest, but thou feignestthem out of thine own heart. (9)For they all made us afraid, say-ing, Their hands shall be weak-ened from the work, that it be notdone. Now therefore, O God,strengthen my hands.”Sometimes Satan comes in a sub-tle way and tries to break downour fellowship lines. He tries tobreak down conviction in thechurch such that there would notbe any reserve. It almost seemsto sound reasonable. “Look at thereasonable program these peoplehave here. Why would we notsimply go out there and serve alittle bit maybe? Why would we

not simply allow our young peo-ple to go and fellowship with acertain congregation? Oh yes, itis questionable but after all, theygive us such good counsel, andwe are not that far apart.”

That is the time when we needto call on God that He wouldstrengthen our hands and that wewould not give into that kind of asoft reasoning. Then, we need tocall on the Lord that He wouldstrengthen our hands, and Hewill. Yes, He will. We know howTobiah sent letters to try to makehim fear in Nehemiah 6:19. Yes,Tobiah tried to make Nehemiahfearful. We are thankful for thetestimony that Nehemiah left.

9) As we think of preserving —the preservative nature ofScriptural fellowship lines, thereneeds to be unity. Unity is a mustto preserve. I also appreciatewhat Nehemiah had to say aboutthat. Nehemiah 4:16–23 says,“And it came to pass from thattime forth, that the half of myservants wrought in the work,and the other half of them heldboth the spears, the shields, andthe bows, and the habergeons;and the rulers were behind all thehouse of Judah. (17) T h eywhich builded on the wall, andthey that bare burdens, with thosethat laded, every one with one ofhis hands wrought in the work,and with the other hand held a

59

of God, and to observe and do allthe commandments of the LORDour Lord, and his judgments andhis statutes.” The people werecommitted to the cause. Theywanted to do whatever it took.They wanted to be faithful to theteachings of Ezra and Nehemiah.Whatever it took they promisedto be faithful.

12) They promised not to bemixed with the people of the landin verse 30. There would be nom i xed marriages. T h ey said,“We promise not to do that, or tosell and buy on the Sabbath day,”because it was outlined in theLaw that they were not supposedto do that. They said, “We willnot do it.” They brought all thefirstlings to the house of God.T h ey were committed to thecause. “Preserve the priesthood,”they said. They would do that.“Respect the priesthood.” Theypromised very boldly to do all ofGod’s cause. They were willingto go all the way.

13) Calamity overtook thembecause of compromise. A verytragic thing happened. We wantto look a little bit at that yet. Thatwas a sad situation. T h eAmmonites and Moabites werenot allowed in the congregationof God. We read that very clear-ly here in Nehemiah 13:2. Itgives the reason why they werenot supposed to. “Because they

met not the children of Israelwith bread and with water, buthired Balaam against them, thathe should curse them: howbeitour God turned the curse into ablessing.” We know the accountand will not go into that. For thatreason these were not allowed inthe house of God that they“should not come into the con-g r egation of God for eve r ”(Nehemiah 13:1). They were notallowed to go in.

However, when Nehemiah wasgone (he had promised the kingthat he would go back after awhile) Eliashib the priest hadoversight of the house of God.To me, it seems that Eliashib andNehemiah must not have beenunited very well, or else Eliashibwould have continued to teachthat what Nehemiah had.Eliashib was careless. Hea l l owed Tobiah to come rightinto the house of our God. “Andbefore this, Eliashib the priest,having the oversight of the cham-ber of the house of our God, wasallied unto Tobiah” (Nehemiah13:4). Yes, he was allied. Hewas joined to him, or he had afriendship with Tobiah. He hadnot cut clear lines with Tobiah.The fellowship lines had notbeen clear. Consequently, some-thing very precious broke down.Eliashib brought Tobiah rightinto the chamber of the house,

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a clear ringing tone. There is noother way.

Nehemiah 8:2, 3 says, “AndEzra the priest brought the lawbefore the congregation both ofmen and women, and all thatcould hear with understanding,upon the first day of the seventhmonth. (3) And he read thereinbefore the street that was beforethe water gate from the morninguntil midday, before the men andthe women, and those that couldunderstand; and the ears of all thepeople were attentive unto thebook of the law.” People wereattentive. There needs to be ateaching program, a sound, clearteaching program. The Wo r dneeds to be brought out before allthe congregation, before all ourbrethren and sisters, our youngpeople and our children, all needto clearly understand what doesthe Word say? What is the teach-ing of the Word? It needs to bedone. We are preserving. Wewant to keep that safe such thatthere will not be damage or dan-ger involved but that everyonewill be preserved. We need tohave a clear teaching program.

Nehemiah 8:4 says, “And Ezrathe scribe stood upon a pulpit ofwood, which they had made forthe purpose.” Ezra was at a placewhere people could see, andwhere people could observe him.There, he held forth the Word of

life clear and true for everyone tosee and for everyone to hear.What is meant by what wepreach? What is meant by themessage that you preached lastSunday? Did the people know?Was it crystal clear to everyone?It needs to be.

“And Ezra opened the book inthe sight of all the people; (for hewas above all the people;) andwhen he opened it, all the peoplestood up: (6) And Ezra blessedthe LORD, the great God. Andall the people answered, Amen,Amen, with lifting up theirhands: and they bowed theirheads, and worshipped theLORD with their faces to theground” (Nehemiah 8:5, 6).They were taught. Then, in verse8, “So they read in the book inthe law of God distinctly, andgave the sense, and caused themto understand the reading.” Itwas distinct and they gave thesense. The people promised thatthey would do whatever it took tobe faithful to the Lord.Nehemiah had led them to awonderful place.

11) In Nehemiah 10:29 thepeople promised to do all theLaw. They made a covenant, wecould say. “They clave to theirbrethren, their nobles, andentered into a curse, and into anoath, to walk in God’s law, whichwas given by Moses the servant

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weapon. (18) For the builders,every one had his sword girdedby his side, and so builded. Andhe that sounded the trumpet wasby me. (19) And I said unto thenobles, and to the rulers, and tothe rest of the people, The workis great and large, and we areseparated upon the wall, one farfrom another. (20) In what placetherefore ye hear the sound of thetrumpet, resort ye thither unto us:our God shall fight for us. (21)So we laboured in the work: andhalf of them held the spears fromthe rising of the morning till thestars appeared. (22) Likewise atthe same time said I unto the peo-ple, Let every one with his ser-vant lodge within Jerusalem, thatin the night they may be a guardto us, and labour on the day. (23)So neither I, nor my brethren, normy servants, nor the men of theguard which followed me, noneof us put off our clothes, savingthat every one put them off forwashing.”

We see here a united force thatNehemiah had to go forth andstay the enemy, and to do whatwas necessary to stay the enemy.They were united. They were asone man. Nehemiah 8:1 says,“And all the people ga t h e r e dthemselves together as one maninto the street that was before thewater gate.” That is a must for ustoday if we want to preserve our

churches. The ministry must beunited 100%. I do not see anyother way than a 100% unitedministry in the congregations top r e s e r ve. If we cannot thinka l i ke then we are defeatedalready in a measure. If there isnot unity, if we find ourselves ina situation where the ministry isnot 100% united, there will beneeds. We need to be united ifwe want to keep up those fellow-ship lines in a safe place. Thereis no way that we will be pre-serving the church if there willnot be that. May God help usthat there would be a united forcegoing forth.

We think of a congregationalbasis. However, it is also neces-sary on a larger scale, churchesone to another, between congre-gations. There needs to be unityworking for the same cause,holding forth the same truth. Weneed to do that.

10) There needs to be clearteaching. That also was takingplace in Nehemiah’s day. Theyhad a clear teaching program. Itis so necessary for us today thatwe will understand, that peoplewill understand what is meantwith what is said and that we willnot lead them in the dark. Weneed to point out clearly whatdoes it mean? What do theScriptures say? What will hap-pen if there is sin? It needs to be

60

a clear ringing tone. There is noother way.

Nehemiah 8:2, 3 says, “AndEzra the priest brought the lawbefore the congregation both ofmen and women, and all thatcould hear with understanding,upon the first day of the seventhmonth. (3) And he read thereinbefore the street that was beforethe water gate from the morninguntil midday, before the men andthe women, and those that couldunderstand; and the ears of all thepeople were attentive unto thebook of the law.” People wereattentive. There needs to be ateaching program, a sound, clearteaching program. The Wo r dneeds to be brought out before allthe congregation, before all ourbrethren and sisters, our youngpeople and our children, all needto clearly understand what doesthe Word say? What is the teach-ing of the Word? It needs to bedone. We are preserving. Wewant to keep that safe such thatthere will not be damage or dan-ger involved but that everyonewill be preserved. We need tohave a clear teaching program.

Nehemiah 8:4 says, “And Ezrathe scribe stood upon a pulpit ofwood, which they had made forthe purpose.” Ezra was at a placewhere people could see, andwhere people could observe him.There, he held forth the Word of

life clear and true for everyone tosee and for everyone to hear.What is meant by what wepreach? What is meant by themessage that you preached lastSunday? Did the people know?Was it crystal clear to everyone?It needs to be.

“And Ezra opened the book inthe sight of all the people; (for hewas above all the people;) andwhen he opened it, all the peoplestood up: (6) And Ezra blessedthe LORD, the great God. Andall the people answered, Amen,Amen, with lifting up theirhands: and they bowed theirheads, and worshipped theLORD with their faces to theground” (Nehemiah 8:5, 6).They were taught. Then, in verse8, “So they read in the book inthe law of God distinctly, andgave the sense, and caused themto understand the reading.” Itwas distinct and they gave thesense. The people promised thatthey would do whatever it took tobe faithful to the Lord.Nehemiah had led them to awonderful place.

11) In Nehemiah 10:29 thepeople promised to do all theLaw. They made a covenant, wecould say. “They clave to theirbrethren, their nobles, andentered into a curse, and into anoath, to walk in God’s law, whichwas given by Moses the servant

61

weapon. (18) For the builders,every one had his sword girdedby his side, and so builded. Andhe that sounded the trumpet wasby me. (19) And I said unto thenobles, and to the rulers, and tothe rest of the people, The workis great and large, and we areseparated upon the wall, one farfrom another. (20) In what placetherefore ye hear the sound of thetrumpet, resort ye thither unto us:our God shall fight for us. (21)So we laboured in the work: andhalf of them held the spears fromthe rising of the morning till thestars appeared. (22) Likewise atthe same time said I unto the peo-ple, Let every one with his ser-vant lodge within Jerusalem, thatin the night they may be a guardto us, and labour on the day. (23)So neither I, nor my brethren, normy servants, nor the men of theguard which followed me, noneof us put off our clothes, savingthat every one put them off forwashing.”

We see here a united force thatNehemiah had to go forth andstay the enemy, and to do whatwas necessary to stay the enemy.They were united. They were asone man. Nehemiah 8:1 says,“And all the people ga t h e r e dthemselves together as one maninto the street that was before thewater gate.” That is a must for ustoday if we want to preserve our

churches. The ministry must beunited 100%. I do not see anyother way than a 100% unitedministry in the congregations top r e s e r ve. If we cannot thinka l i ke then we are defeatedalready in a measure. If there isnot unity, if we find ourselves ina situation where the ministry isnot 100% united, there will beneeds. We need to be united ifwe want to keep up those fellow-ship lines in a safe place. Thereis no way that we will be pre-serving the church if there willnot be that. May God help usthat there would be a united forcegoing forth.

We think of a congregationalbasis. However, it is also neces-sary on a larger scale, churchesone to another, between congre-gations. There needs to be unityworking for the same cause,holding forth the same truth. Weneed to do that.

10) There needs to be clearteaching. That also was takingplace in Nehemiah’s day. Theyhad a clear teaching program. Itis so necessary for us today thatwe will understand, that peoplewill understand what is meantwith what is said and that we willnot lead them in the dark. Weneed to point out clearly whatdoes it mean? What do theScriptures say? What will hap-pen if there is sin? It needs to be

60

is thinking to do us mischief. Heis trying to break down thechurch and we are not going eventhough he might have a soundreason and it looks very good onthe surface. We are not goingalong with our enemy’s ideas.We cannot do that. We need tostay clear from that altogether.

8) Nehemiah 6:7–9, “And thouhast also appointed prophets topreach of thee at Jerusalem, say-ing, There is a king in Judah: andnow shall it be reported to theking according to these words.Come now therefore, and let ustake counsel together.” — “Whycould we not sit down and dis-cuss this thing through.” (8)Then I sent unto him, saying,There are no such things done asthou sayest, but thou feignestthem out of thine own heart. (9)For they all made us afraid, say-ing, Their hands shall be weak-ened from the work, that it be notdone. Now therefore, O God,strengthen my hands.”Sometimes Satan comes in a sub-tle way and tries to break downour fellowship lines. He tries tobreak down conviction in thechurch such that there would notbe any reserve. It almost seemsto sound reasonable. “Look at thereasonable program these peoplehave here. Why would we notsimply go out there and serve alittle bit maybe? Why would we

not simply allow our young peo-ple to go and fellowship with acertain congregation? Oh yes, itis questionable but after all, theygive us such good counsel, andwe are not that far apart.”

That is the time when we needto call on God that He wouldstrengthen our hands and that wewould not give into that kind of asoft reasoning. Then, we need tocall on the Lord that He wouldstrengthen our hands, and Hewill. Yes, He will. We know howTobiah sent letters to try to makehim fear in Nehemiah 6:19. Yes,Tobiah tried to make Nehemiahfearful. We are thankful for thetestimony that Nehemiah left.

9) As we think of preserving —the preservative nature ofScriptural fellowship lines, thereneeds to be unity. Unity is a mustto preserve. I also appreciatewhat Nehemiah had to say aboutthat. Nehemiah 4:16–23 says,“And it came to pass from thattime forth, that the half of myservants wrought in the work,and the other half of them heldboth the spears, the shields, andthe bows, and the habergeons;and the rulers were behind all thehouse of Judah. (17) T h eywhich builded on the wall, andthey that bare burdens, with thosethat laded, every one with one ofhis hands wrought in the work,and with the other hand held a

59

of God, and to observe and do allthe commandments of the LORDour Lord, and his judgments andhis statutes.” The people werecommitted to the cause. Theywanted to do whatever it took.They wanted to be faithful to theteachings of Ezra and Nehemiah.Whatever it took they promisedto be faithful.

12) They promised not to bemixed with the people of the landin verse 30. There would be nom i xed marriages. T h ey said,“We promise not to do that, or tosell and buy on the Sabbath day,”because it was outlined in theLaw that they were not supposedto do that. They said, “We willnot do it.” They brought all thefirstlings to the house of God.T h ey were committed to thecause. “Preserve the priesthood,”they said. They would do that.“Respect the priesthood.” Theypromised very boldly to do all ofGod’s cause. They were willingto go all the way.

13) Calamity overtook thembecause of compromise. A verytragic thing happened. We wantto look a little bit at that yet. Thatwas a sad situation. T h eAmmonites and Moabites werenot allowed in the congregationof God. We read that very clear-ly here in Nehemiah 13:2. Itgives the reason why they werenot supposed to. “Because they

met not the children of Israelwith bread and with water, buthired Balaam against them, thathe should curse them: howbeitour God turned the curse into ablessing.” We know the accountand will not go into that. For thatreason these were not allowed inthe house of God that they“should not come into the con-g r egation of God for eve r ”(Nehemiah 13:1). They were notallowed to go in.

However, when Nehemiah wasgone (he had promised the kingthat he would go back after awhile) Eliashib the priest hadoversight of the house of God.To me, it seems that Eliashib andNehemiah must not have beenunited very well, or else Eliashibwould have continued to teachthat what Nehemiah had.Eliashib was careless. Hea l l owed Tobiah to come rightinto the house of our God. “Andbefore this, Eliashib the priest,having the oversight of the cham-ber of the house of our God, wasallied unto Tobiah” (Nehemiah13:4). Yes, he was allied. Hewas joined to him, or he had afriendship with Tobiah. He hadnot cut clear lines with Tobiah.The fellowship lines had notbeen clear. Consequently, some-thing very precious broke down.Eliashib brought Tobiah rightinto the chamber of the house,

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where up until then they had themeat offering, the frankincenseand the vessels and so on, in themost holy place. He brought thisman right into this place wherethey were not allowed to enter inat all. Yes, he brought him rightinto the holiest place, we couldsay.

Today, we might say that heallowed him to preach. I do notknow what application we couldmake. I am sure there could bed i fferent ones. Neve r t h e l e s s ,Tobiah, the man whom God hassaid was not supposed to enter in,was right inside. That was verysad. The people broke theirpromises. They said that theywould keep all these covenants,all these promises, and that allfell by the wayside because ofone unfaithful leader, because ofone unfaithful man. He wa scareless about fellowship linesand the whole thing broke down.That is a very sad position.Nehemiah was grieved when hereturned. He came back andcleansed the house. Nehemiah13:7–10 says, “And I came toJerusalem, and understood of theevil that Eliashib did for Tobiah,in preparing him a chamber inthe courts of the house of God.(8) And it grieved me sore:therefore I cast forth all thehousehold stuff of Tobiah out ofthe chamber. (9) Then I com-

manded, and they cleansed thechambers: and thither brought Iagain the vessels of the house ofGod, with the meat offering andthe frankincense.”

We see Nehemiah cleaninghouse. He put out the sin and theman that was involved. He putthem out, and everything that hehad brought in, and brought backagain the vessels of God, and thethings that belonged in the houseof God. He was very sorelygrieved at all the things that hesaw. The people had promisedthat they would not trespass andthey would not buy and sell onthe sabbath day. Nevertheless, hesaw people treading the wine-press on the sabbath day [seeNehemiah 13:15], which they sofaithfully promised they wouldnot do. Nehemiah saw mixedmarriages which they also saidthey would not do, they wouldnot be involved in that. Thepriests had fled because theywere not giving the priests recog-nition anymore, which they alsohad promised they would do.

We see the effect of an unfaith-ful man who did not hold the fel-lowship lines in a place that heneeded to keep them, and thepeople were gone, sad to say,very far away. We need to cryout against sin like Nehemiahdid, even though there mighth ave been someone who wa s

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what is happening inside? Hemight have come in unawares —whatever. There might be rub-bish in the way. We need to cleanthat out in order to gain the victo-ry and continue on.

6) Nehemiah 4:11 — “And ouradversaries said, They shall notknow, neither see, till we come inthe midst among them, and slaythem, and cause the work toc e a s e.” The enemy still wa sscheming and they wanted tocome right into the midst withoutthem realizing that they werecoming. Dearly beloved, I againsay that is what he is tryingtoday. In the church of JesusChrist we are aware of what ishappening. We need to be awarewhat is happening such thatSatan will not be able to play thattrick on us to come in unawaresome place and spoil us. Again,that is a reason why we need tohave these fellowship lines clear.If Satan is around trying toscheme those things, we need tok n ow what is happening.Nehemiah knew that. The enemycould not come in unawares. Hedid not creep in unawa r e s .Nehemiah knew what was hap-pening. Therefore, he could havethe victory again.

7) In Nehemiah 6:1–3 theenemy is using another method.“ N ow it came to pass, whenSanballat, and Tobiah, and

Geshem the Arabian, and the restof our enemies, heard that I hadbuilded the wall, and that therewas no breach left therein;(though at that time I had not setup the doors upon the gates;) (2)That Sanballat and Geshem sentunto me, saying, Come, let usmeet together in some one of thevillages in the plain of Ono. Butthey thought to do me mischief.(3) And I sent messengers untothem, saying, I am doing a greatwork, so that I cannot comed own: why should the wo r kcease, whilst I leave it, and comedown to you?” These men had avery good scheme to come out tothe plains of Ono and simply dis-cuss the matter peacefully. “Whycan we not reason a little bit?You know, we are not that farapart. After all, we are all goingto the same heaven. Do you notexpect to go to the same heavenas what I am?” There are allkinds of questions people areasking today. “Why so fa rapart?”

He knew that the enemythought to do him mischief. Sadto say, people today sometimesdo not realize that the enemy istrying to do us mischief and theygo about and reason with theenemy. “Maybe it is not thatimportant. Maybe we can fellow-ship a little bit here and there.”No, let us realize that our enemy

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end in a day? will they revive thestones out of the heaps of therubbish which are burned? (3)Now Tobiah the Ammonite wasby him, and he said, Even thatwhich they build, if a fox go up,he shall even break down theirstone wall.” We see here that isliberally mocking — mockingthe people of God. “Do youthink they will fortify them-selves? Do they think they arethat strong? Do you think theyknow that much? Do they thinkthey have all the answers?”

That mocking sounds ve r yfamiliar today. A lot of peopleare saying the same thing. “Well,what do these people think?They have all the answers foreverything, and all they are doingis going around and judging.Everybody is wrong and we areright.” Let them say what theywant, but we want to be con-vinced that we are following thetruth and that we are building theChurch. We need to have thatclear.

4 ) Nehemiah 4:9 says,“ N evertheless we made ourp rayer unto our God,” —“Whatever they said we madeour prayer unto God” “. . .and seta watch against them day andnight, because of them.” Whereis our watch today? It says thatthey “set a watch against [theenemy] day and night, because of

them.” It was because of theenemy that was constantly tryingto get their minds off the work.Therefore, they watched. Again,that is the way we need to do it.We need to watch day and night.“What, could ye not watch withme one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)Jesus said when He was out inthe garden praying. He came andfound the disciples sleepingwhen He came back. “Watch andpray, that ye enter not into temp-tation” (Matthew 26:41). Wedare not do anything lessbrethren and sisters. Why? It isbecause of the enemy. T h eenemy is there. That is why. Wecannot lower our standards. Wecannot lower our fellow s h i plines. We cannot do it. We needto keep them right up, and watchand pray that the enemy will notget any entrance, not at all, not inthe slightest way. We do not haveany room at all for any influencewhatsoever from our enemy. Noroom. No room at all.

5) Cleaning house. We seethat in Nehemiah 4:10. “AndJudah said, The strength of thebearers of burdens is decayed,and there is much rubbish; so thatwe are not able to build the wall.”Things need to be cleaned up andcertainly there might be that. Ifthe enemy is hard at work, weneed to also think of within. Theenemy might be without, bu t

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careless and the fellowship lineswere not kept. We still need tocry out against sin. We still needto go back and clean house.

14) We need to be in the placewhere God has called us to be.One thing I was thinking of whenI was studying this was thatNehemiah went away a while,and what happened at home?Most of us are not at home thisweek. Do we know what is hap-pening at home? We are not onlymeaning our physical presencebut our influence that we leavewhen we are there and in whatev-er way. We need to hold ourhand on the pulse of the congre-gation. We need to know who isin charge in our absence. Weneed to know that it is a soundman who will keep fellowshiplines where they need to be, andthat he will address sin — whatneeds to be dealt with. We darenot be negligent at home and runall over the world and forg e tabout our work at home. We arenot getting any place if that iswhat we plan to do, or if that iswhat we are doing.

We need to keep house athome, but we also need to go outinto the outermost part of theworld and preach the Gospelthroughout the wo r l d .Nevertheless, we cannot neglectthe responsibility at home.Notice what happened where, in

the absence of Nehemiah. It wasa sad situation. Yet, Nehemiahwas very strong. He carried outvery strong discipline and we donot know what all happened afterhe cleaned out, but he took somevery strong measures.

In Nehemiah 13 let us notice afew things what he did. What didhe do? Was he judgmental? Washe censorious? Or, did he have aconcern to preserve? Well, hewanted to preserve. That is whyhe took these sharp measures.Nehemiah 13:25 says, “And Icontended with them, and cursedthem, and smote certain of them,and plucked off their hair, andmade them swear by God, say-ing, Ye shall not give your daugh-ters unto their sons, nor take theirdaughters unto your sons, or foryourselves.” Yes, he carried outvery sharp discipline measures.He realized it needed to be done.Then, in verse 28 it says, “Andone of the sons of Joiada, the sonof Eliashib the high priest, wasson in law to Sanballat theHoronite: therefore I chased himfrom me.” It was different fromwhat God had outlined it shouldbe. Nehemiah had a burden forGod’s people. He chased thisevil person from him. He couldnot be part of it anymore. Itneeded to be dealt with, and invery severe measures, we couldsay.

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A few more instances in theScripture where clear fellowshiplines were drawn because of sin.In Numbers 16 we have theaccount of Korah, Dathan, andAbiram, men who spoke againstleadership and the leaven spread.That is exactly what is happeningtoday. If people are allowed tocontinue on and to sin in the con-gregation, or to speak up againstleadership disrespectfully likethese people did, the leave nspreads. God says here.“Separate yourselves from thesewicked men” [Numbers 16:26].“Do not fellowship with thesew i c ked men. Draw the line.Those men you cannot be with.They will draw you away fromthe truth.” Do we have that asclear as that — questionable fel-l owship — things that areunScriptural that we simply, andabsolutely separate ourselve sfrom them? God says thatSeparate yourselves from thesewicked people. We know whathappened. The ground openedup and the people were swal-lowed. They “went down aliveinto the pit” (Numbers 16:33),because of disobedience to theWord of God.

“And he spake unto the con-gregation, saying, Depart, I prayyou, from the tents of thesewicked men, and touch nothingof theirs, lest ye be consumed in

all their sins.” We will be con-sumed the same way if we will becareless. We cannot do it. Weneed to be separate from sinfulsituations such as that.

A few things in the NewTestament. Acts 5 we say is anaccount where the Church disci-plined sinners (and it was) afterAnanias and Sapphira were dealtwith. A fellowship line wa sdrawn “And great fear came uponall the church” (Acts 5:11).Ananias and Sapphira were dealtwith “And great fear came uponall the church.” That is the way itneeds to be too. We need to out-line clearly what our fellowshiplines are, with whom we can fel-lowship with and which peopleneed to be dealt with. Sinnersneed to be put out of the church.That needs to be clear and weneed to work toward that. Then,there will be great fear among therest of the people, like it was inthis case. It was an extreme casewe say. Nevertheless, sin alwaysleads to death. It does not matterwhat kind of sin it is. We mighttalk about smaller sins or bigsins. It does not make any differ-ence. Sin always leads to death.We need to deal with that assuch. Then, it says, “great fearcame upon all the church.” Thatis what will happen today.

Another thing it says in verse13, “And of the rest durst no man

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was grieved that there was a manwho rose up and would rebuildthe wall, or seek the welfare ofthe children of Israel. We areseeking the welfare of our peo-ple. We are seeking the welfareof our children. We want to be atwork. We want to preserve theChurch. We are at work. Wehave an enemy that is grievedwith that. Let us answer theenemy the way Nehemiah didtime and again. Nehemiah 2:19,“But when Sanballat theHoronite, and Tobiah the servant,the Ammonite, and Geshem theArabian, heard it, they laughedus to scorn, and despised us, andsaid, What is this thing that yedo? will ye rebel against theking?” They laughed them toscorn. We can expect that todaytoo. People might laugh us toscorn. “Why are you so narrow?Why do you think it is so impor-tant?” and all kinds of things.

What kind of answer didNehemiah have for them? Hesaid, “Then answered I them, andsaid unto them, The God of heav-en, he will prosper us; thereforewe his servants will arise andbuild: but ye have no portion, norright, nor memorial, inJerusalem” (verse 20). I see herethat Nehemiah was very strict,very stern, we could say. Whatwas he trying to do, or what washe doing? He had in mind to pre-

serve the Church, we could say.He had in mind to preserveJerusalem. That is what his con-cern was. He said, “ye have noportion, nor right, nor memorial[with us].” “The God of heaven,he will prosper us; therefore wehis servants will arise and build.”That is the determination weneed to have. We, his servantswill arise and build, regardlesswhat the enemy tries to do to us.Are we convinced that we wantto do that to preserve the truthsthat we have? We, His servants,together work to preserve thetruth.

In Nehemiah 3, the wall wasbuilt. It is outlined there howthey were building it. We willnot look into that. The enemywas not ready to give up at thattime yet. Although Nehemiahhad given him a very clearanswer, yet the enemy was notfinished. He came again andagain. That is the way it is todaytoo. The enemy seeks to hindera gain and again. Nehemiah4:1–3 says, “But it came to pass,that when Sanballat heard thatwe builded the wall, he wa swroth, and took great indigna-tion, and mocked the Jews. (2)And he spake before his brethrenand the army of Samaria, andsaid, What do these feeble Jews?will they fortify themselves? willthey sacrifice? will they make an

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wanted to do all that he could inorder to rebuild that.

The church today needs to bevery near and very dear to ourheart. We need to realize the ter-rible situation that the churchwould be in if the walls would beall broken down — that the fel-lowship lines would all be brokend own. Where would we betoday? Why, the church wouldlie in waste. We need to call onthe Lord to help us if it needs tobe rebuilt such that it will berebuilt, and if it is up that it willstay up. Yes, we need to call onthe Lord, and the Lord will hearbecause it is His desire that theChurch will be preserved.

In Nehemiah 2:8 we see howthe Lord answered that prayer.The last part of the verse says,“And the king granted me,according to the good hand of myGod upon me.” Nehemiah hadthe priv i l ege to go back toJerusalem and start a work onthat wall.

2) If things seem to go rightthen the enemy will also bearound. We dare not fool our-s e l ves or think that we areexempt to the enemy getting ahold of us or that he cannot touchus. He certainly is restricted —his head is bruised — he cannotoverthrow the Church — by nomeans. Yet, he will do his utmostto try and come in to work havoc,

to get us discouraged, and to getpeople’s attention to draw themaway from the truth. We are inthat day and age. We have anenemy that will try and do that.We need to reckon with that.Here, the Lord opened up theway for the walls to be rebuiltand yet the enemy was there too.The enemy came and tried hisutmost to get the people discour-aged or to mock them, or what-ever way he came. He came indifferent ways — Sanballat andTobias — they came in differentways. They tried one way oranother to somehow break downthe courage so that the peoplewould give up.

Let us look at some of them.The enemy sought to hinder inNehemiah 2:10, “WhenSanballat the Horonite, andTobiah the servant, theAmmonite, heard of it, it grievedthem exceedingly that there wascome a man to seek the welfareof the children of Israel.” Todaytoo, our enemy is grieved exceed-ingly to see men building thechurch. He is doing his utmost totry and get us discouraged. Letus not think that we are exemptof that because he is trying everyway he can. Thanks be to Godthere is a victory and we will seethat also.

3) We see how Nehemiahanswered this enemy. The enemy

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join himself to them: but the peo-ple magnified them.” T h a tmeans that people who do notmean business will not come andknock on our doors and try to bepart of us. We need to have thatclear. Fellowship lines need tospeak to the people. If someoneplans to continue on in sin and hecomes and wants to join himselfto us, I wonder where we stand.Why would a person want to joinus and bring in sin? Apparently,he is seeing something amongstus that he figures his sinful situa-tion might not be that bad. Hereit says, “And of the rest durst.” Inother words, of the rest no onedared to join themselves to theChurch.

Yet, we see the next ve r s e(verse 14), “And believers werethe more added to the Lord.”B e l i evers were added to theLord. We talk about believers’baptism. Believers were addedunto the Lord. It was not peoplewho have a wishy-washy idea ofChristianity, are not sure of theirsalvation or simply trying some-how or another way to get intothe Church. No, that needs to beclear. Believers were added untothe Church — “Were the moreadded to the Lord, multitudesboth of men and wo m e n ,”because of clearness of teaching.

“A little leaven leaveneth thewhole lump” (1 Corinthians 5:6;

Galatians 5:9). We hear that alsoand we might as well hear itagain. “Purge out therefore theold leaven” (1 Corinthians 5:7).“Therefore put away from amongyourselves that wicked person”(1 Corinthians 5:13). “Have nof e l l owship with the unfruitfulworks of darkness, but ratherreprove them” (Ephesians 5:11).We cannot have fellowship withunfruitful works of darkness. Weh ave much to preserve. T h eChurch of Jesus Christ.

We can think of the work thatour church is involved. Let usthink of for a moment, say ourpublishing work — the publish-ing houses. We need to encour-age our brethren that are involvedin that to censor and to judgevery closely the material to beprinted with this preserva t ivethought in mind. We want to pre-serve our sound teaching pro-gram in the printed page. As itgoes forth to all the world aroundthat it would be a sound cleartone that is coming forth toeveryone who will be in hearingdistance or that will get a hold ofthis material, whether otherschools or our own. We need tobe on guard that this will be pre-s e r ved even after we aredeceased. It must be preservedso that our children will have thep r iv i l ege of attending soundChristian day schools and also of

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reading sound Christian books.If we are careless, and if we

compromise, or we could say ifwe are simply a little lax, thatmeans we are compromising alittle already. “Why? This isnothing. Why be so censorious?Why be so judgmental?” Then,we are compromising already.We need to have that always inmind. We could also say aboutwhere we go to fellowship. Letus get a little more specific. Abrother made the remark that “Itis not the most liberal or the mostconservative groups where mostpressure will come from.” Well,where will it come from then?We sometimes use the expres-sion, “halfway houses” [or modi-fied conservatism]. T h ey arechurches that do not have clearstandards. They are churchesthat do not clearly teach, or donot have a clear teaching ondress, hair, and casual wear.Sports cars, musical instruments,radios and young people who arenot in subjection. Are we judg-mental if we draw the fellowshiplines there? Are we too judg-mental to say that we cannot fel-lowship with people like that?

We might turn the questionaround. Do we want to haveradios, let us say in five or tenyears from now? I am sureeveryone will shake their headno. I, at least, hope so. Then, we

must have those fellowship linesclear. We cannot go and courtwith people who say “A radio —that is nothing.” We might aswell tolerate that. We might aswell give into that. We cannotcourt with that kind of thing andthink and try and fool ourselvesthat five or ten years down theroad we will still be clear of thatthing. That is simply one exam-ple. That goes for all the otherthings that I mentioned.

We need fellowship lines thatpreserve. What about going toworldly weddings? Yes, our rela-t ives have a wedding that isworldly as can be, can we go? “Itis my sister, or my uncle,” orwhatever it is, or “my niece.”Should we not go and at leastshow some love? Well, it is themost worldly wedding. It mightbe in a church, but it is the mostworldly wedding, and it is themost abominable thing in thesight of God. Here all the peopleare sitting together and praisingthe Lord and saying, “Well, theLord bless this union,” and so on.Can we have part in that? No, wecannot. We want to preserve.Therefore, we must. It mightseem judgmental, but we need todraw the line and say “No.” I donot see any other way.

How about a minister in ourpulpits where they have thesethings? He himself says, “Oh, I

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of our hearts and minds arethings that we feel we want topreserve. We want to keep thosethings. We do not want to growlax. We want to keep. Again,when we have passed from timeour little children, our youngpeople, when they grow up wewant them to have a soundchurch.

Many times people have said,“Wait fifteen, twenty or, twenty-five years then you will see it.Your church will be down theroad into apostasy like all theother churches.” I do not believethat because the Church of Godwill remain. We need to havefaith that it will continue on. Yes,it will, but do we have a vision?Do we realize the need of pre-serving something today if wewant to have a church tomorrow?We cannot simply let the thingslip and then expect to have achurch tomorrow. It cannot bedone. No, we need to have thatburden.

Nehemiah shows us sev e ra lthings that he faced in his daysand how he worked with some ofthose things. There is much thatwe could say about Nehemiah.We want to simply skip throughseveral chapters and then drawout a few points. Nehemiah hada vision of the Church, or wecould say, he had a vision ofJerusalem how it lay in waste.

Further, he had a vision of what itwould be like if that wall wouldbe rebuilt. He wanted that wall tobe rebuilt because he had a desireto see Jerusalem being built upand then to be preserved. He hada burden for the work. He want-ed it to be built back up so that itwould be a place of safety.

1) Nehemiah brought this bur-den to the Lord. He prayed thatthe Lord would guide and directin this matter. He was in captivi-ty but he called on the Lord toopen a way that he could go backto Jerusalem and build that wall.In Nehemiah 1:11 he prayed likethis, “O Lord, I beseech thee, letnow thine ear be attentive to theprayer of thy servant, and to theprayer of thy servants, whodesire to fear thy name: and pros-per, I pray thee, thy servant thisday, and grant him mercy in thesight of this man. For I was thek i n g ’s cupbearer.” He calledupon the Lord to direct the heartof the king that if he would askfor a leave to go back toJerusalem to build the wall thatthe king would be intreated ofhim.

We see here how the Lordheard that prayer. Nehemiahprayed with a burden on hisheart. He desired from thedepths of his heart that the wallcould be rebuilt. That was verynear and dear to his heart. He

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would have a burden for the peo-ple, for the Church, Christ’sChurch, the Lord’s Church. It isnot our work, but it is the Lord’swork. Therefore, we are stew-ards of the things that are entrust-ed into our care. We need to takeheed because the Holy Spirit hasset us over, to be overseers andwe need to feed the church.

For further introduction, Peterhas a great concern for theChurch. 2 Peter 1:12–15 says,“Wherefore I will not be negli-gent to put you always in remem-brance of these things, though yeknow them, and be established inthe present truth. (13) Yea, Ithink it meet, as long as I am inthis tabernacle, to stir you up byputting you in remembrance;(14) Knowing that shortly I mustput off this my tabernacle, evenas our Lord Jesus Christ hathshewed me. (15) Moreover Iwill endeavour that ye may beable after my decease to havethese things always in remem-brance.”

Peter is saying, “I want toalways remind you of the truthsof God’s Word, of these things,of the present truth. Yes, eventhough you know them a longtime already, but yet I realize theneed. I am reminding you againand again of the dangers that sur-round you and of the importanceof keeping the church clean, of

the importance of clear churchfellowship lines.” He wanted toremind them again and again.Then, he says, “Not only nowwhile I am with you, but after Ihave passed from this life and Ihave gone to my reward. Then Istill want you to remember thesetruths.” That is a tremendoustruth which we want to keep inour minds as we think of fellow-ship lines.

Where will our posterity beafter our decease, after we haveleft this life? We have a lot withthat today where they will betomorrow, and we are responsi-ble for that. We need to preservethem, while there is something topreserve. Certainly there is andwe need to do that. As we thinkof fellowship lines, we need topreserve. Where will our poster-ity be tomorrow? We want themto remember the truths that wehave taught. We want them toknow.

Many of our churches are quiteyoung. Some are older. Do wehave a burden that those fellow-ship lines will remain the way wehad them at the beginning of thec o n s e r va t ive movement? Ourf e l l owship movement, are weconcerned that it will remainScriptural? Is there something inour minds that we want to pre-serve that we started out severalyears ago? Certainly, in each one

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have my home clear of that,” buthow about his congregation? Arewe too judgmental if we woulddraw our line on that? Or, howwould we weed things out likethat if there would be some?Fellowship lines that preserve.

In closing, I would just like toread a few verses. This goes withthe thought that we had before,about our posterity. It is worth-while to look at a few verseshere. 2 Timothy 2:2 says, “Andthe things that thou hast heard ofme among many witnesses, the

same commit thou to fa i t h f u lmen, who shall be able to teachothers also.” That means proba-bly your son, or your son’s sonthat there will be a continuationof the same teaching, of the sametruths of God’s Word such thatthe same thing will be preservedfor them. That is right. Verse 22says, “Flee also youthful lusts:but follow righteousness, faith,charity, peace, with. . .” whom?“With them that call on the Lordout of a pure heart.” May theLord bless His Word.

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Numbers16:26 6516:33 65

Nehemiah1:11 542:8 552:10 552:19 562:20 564:1–3 564:9 574:10 574:11 584:16–23 596:1–3 586:7–9 596:19 598:1 608:2, 3 61

8:4 618:5, 6 618:8 6110:29 6113:1 6213:2 6213:4 6213:7–10 6313:15 6313:25 6413:28 64

Matthew26:40 5726:41 57

Acts5:11 655:13 655:14 6620:18, 19 52

20:27, 28 52

1 Corinthians5:6 665:7 665:13 66

2 Corinthians11:2 51

Galatians5:9 66

Ephesians5:11 665:27 51

2 Timothy2:2 682:22 68

2 Peter1:12–15 53

Scripture References

WarningsCutting Down the Wrong Trees — Deuteronomy 20:19, 20 ❑

702 Peril of Battle Weariness, The ❑

Peril of the Process of Accommodation, The ❑

Rules for TeachersThis law of knowledge, thus

explained, affords to the thought-ful teacher rules of the highestpractical value. It offers clearguidance to those who are teach-ers of children and anxious thattheir task shall be well done.

(1)Find out what your pupilsknow of the subject you wish toteach to them; this is your start-ing-point. This refers not only totextbook knowledge but to allinformation that they may pos-sess, however acquired.

( 2 ) M a ke the most of thep u p i l s ’ k n owledge and ex p e r i-ence. Let them feel its extent andvalue, as a means to furtherknowledge.

(3)Encourage your pupils toclear up and freshen their knowl-edge by a clear statement of it.

(4)Begin with facts or ideas

that lie near your pupils, and thatcan be reached by a single stepfrom what is already familiar;thus, geography naturally beginswith the hometown, history withthe pupils’ own memories,morals with their own con-science.

(5)Relate every lesson as muchas possible to former lessons, andwith the pupils’ knowledge andexperience.

(6)Arrange your presentationso that each step of the lessonshall lead easily and naturally tothe next.

(7)Proportion the steps of thelesson to the ages and attain-ments of your pupils. Do not dis-courage your children with les-sons or exercises that are toolong, or fail to rise to the expec-tations of older pupils by givingthem lessons that are too easy.

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From the Previous Issue:

1944 — The Turning Tides in the Mennonite ChurchFrom a message by Luke SensenigWednesday, November 29, 2000

Thirty-Fourth AnnualMinisters’ Bible Study FellowshipNumidia Mennonite Bible School

Book Reprint (continued)

The Seven Laws of Teaching

CHAPTER VTHE LAW OF THE LESSON (continued)

Scripturally, we need to do that.In Acts 20 we have Pa u l ’s

admonition to the Church leadersat Ephesus. We see how he had aburden for the Church. It is nec-essary that we have a burden forthe Church, and for the well-being of the Church. We mustdesire to see the Church growand prosper. We must do all wecan in order that it will grow andprosper, and in order that it willremain pure and holy and blame-less and without spot. A c t s20:18, 19 says, “And when theywere come to him, he said untothem, Ye know, from the first daythat I came into Asia, after whatmanner I have been with you atall seasons, (19) Serving theLord with all humility of mind,and with many tears, and tempta-tions, which befell me by thelying in wait of the Jews.” Paulhad a great burden for theChurch. He desired that theywould grow even though hewould leave. He desired that theChurch would go on and prosperand that the Lord’s blessingwould be upon it.

Paul gives the leaders instruc-tion as to what to do in verses 27,28. “For I have not shunned todeclare unto you all the counselof God.” Can we say that thisafternoon? Have we been doingthat to “declare . . . all the coun-sel of God,” to the people? And

he says, “(28) Take heed there-fore unto yourselves, and to allthe flock, over the which theHoly Ghost hath made you over-seers, to feed the church of God,which he hath purchased with hisown blood.” We see a greatresponsibility here. We arecharged with this same charge totake heed, first of all, unto our-s e l ves. Where do we stand?What is our personal relationshipwith the Lord? Yes, how do Istand personally with the Lord?Then, it says, “and to all theflock, over the which” . . . who?The “Holy Ghost hath made youoverseers, to feed the church.”

We see the responsibility here,and how Paul was concerned thatthe church leaders would takeheed. Paul was concerned whatkind of fellowship they wouldh a v e, what kind of diet theywould have, what they wouldfeed on. Paul had a concern forthe church that they would be fedthe right things and that theywould be able to grow in theirChristian experience. He desiredthat they would be clean, clear,and holy, without spot, andblameless. Paul had that clearvision of the Church. Paul saidthat is the way it should be. Welikewise need to realize the needof taking heed. We simply needto open our eyes such that wewill see the dangers, and that we

52

There is nothing in this worldthat the Lord cherishes more thanthe Church. We are responsiblefor preserving that, to have clearfellowship lines, to know what isin the church, and if there is sinthat will be dealt with.

We are held accountable forthat as leaders in the church. Yes,we are. Ephesians 5:27 says“That he might present it to him-self a glorious church, not havingspot, or wrinkle, or any suchthing; but that it should be holyand without blemish.” That iswhat the Lord is looking for inthe Church. We as leaders in thechurch are also looking for thechurch to be without spot orwrinkle and that there would notbe any sin. There is no room forany sin in the church, is there?No, there is not. The churchneeds to be kept without spot orwrinkle “that it should be holyand without blemish.” Paul says,“For I have espoused you to onehusband, that I may present youas a chaste virgin to Christ” (2Corinthians 11:2). We cannot beespoused to one and then go andcourt with another. The Lord willnot accept that. Christ will notshare His love with another.

We need to understand what isthe ch u rch, and where is thechurch and it needs to be holy,pure, and blameless. The churchis preserved for Him and Him

only. The bride which is theChurch is preserved for theBridegroom Christ Jesus. Thebride is espoused to theBridegroom Christ Jesus. TheChurch cannot go all over theplace and court with somethingelse then with Christ and be inf e l l owship with, and minglewith, almost anyone, anywhere,and anything and still maintain arelationship with the Lord. Thatwill not happen. If that would beour experience then we couldrelate that to a wedding here inthe earth, in the church — oneman and one woman courtingtogether. If that woman wouldgo and court all over the placethen maybe come home after awhile and say, “Well, yes I loveyou. I want to be near to you. Iwant to be with you,” but then goon and court something elseagain. When would there ever bea wedding? I say there would notbe.

It is the same in the Church.We will not experience the wed-ding supper of the Lamb if wewill be going out all over theplace and courting another thanJesus Christ. That is right. Wewill not make it to heave n .Therefore, we need to realize thenecessity of the purity in theChurch and that we need to pre-serve it. Our calling is to pre-s e r ve. W h a t ever it take s

51

THE LIFE in the home of Mr. Weinberg was happy and undis-

(8)Find illustrations in thecommonest and most fa m i l i a robjects suitable for the purpose.

(9)Lead the pupils themselvesto find illustrations from theirown experience.

(10)Make every new fact orprinciple familiar to your pupils;try to establish and intrench itfirmly, so that it will be availablefor use in explaining new materi-al to come.

(11)Urge the pupils to makeuse of their own knowledge andattainments in every way that ispracticable, to find or ex p l a i nother knowledge. Teach themthat knowledge is power byshowing how knowledge reallyhelps to solve problems.

(12)Make every advance clearand familiar, so that the progressto the next succeeding step shallin every case be on know nground.

(13)As far as possible, choosethe problems which you give toyour pupils from their own activ-ities, and thus increase thechances that they will be real andnot artificial problems.

(14)Remember that yourpupils are learning to think, andthat to think properly they mustlearn to face intelligently andr e f l e c t ively the problems thatarise in connection with theirschool work, and in connectionwith their life outside of school.

70

Youth Book Reprint (continued)

Judith

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Happy Days of ChildhoodII. RefugeesIII. Seek and Ye Shall FindIV. Persecuted for Christ’s SakeV. Dedicated to the LordVI. The Youthful Martyr

IHAPPY DAYS OF CHILDHOOD

The Beloved Daughter-— In the Country — Discourse of the Rabbis— Who was, “Yeshua”?

The Beloved Daughter

turbed for many years. He was awealthy wholesale merchant ofdry goods. Under his able man-agement, the income hadincreased yearly. The businesswas growing and had been espe-cially successful of late. Butmaterial welfare was not themain object in the life of Mr. andMrs. Weinberg. Their greatesttreasures were three love l ydaughters who filled the hearts oftheir parents with joy and delight.

The ambition of the parentswas to give their girls the besteducation and, what was evenmore important, to instill intothem the good old Hebrew cus-toms and principles of life, toplant into the hearts of their chil-dren the faith in the blessedJehovah, Who in times past hadgreatly helped all true and faith-ful Israelites.

The family We i n b e rg hadamong their ancestors a goodmany fine, stalwart rabbis, whohad jealously protected andguarded their fathers’ religioustradition. Rightly this family wascalled the bearer of religious lifeof which there were only a fewleft among this nation, which islosing its religion more andmore.

There were times when Mr.

and Mrs. Weinberg were sad andsorrowful because God had notgiven them a son and heir whowould continue their old family.The greatest grief in a Jewishfamily is the absence of a son,who has to pray after his father’sdeath for the latter, to increasehis happiness in the hereafter.H ow eve r, such moments wererare, as their three lively girlsalways succeeded in scatteringthe clouds of sorrow. With theirmerry chatter, they filled thehearts and home of the parentswith joy and happiness as littlebirds fill the air in spring withtheir chirping.

Judith, the oldest of the three,and the beloved pet of the family,was a special joy to her parents.She had developed her abilitiesearly and proved to be morecapable than the others. Theearly delight and interest of littleJudith in religion and her manyearnest questions about God, tooearnest for her age, kindled thehope in the hearts of her fatherand mother that she would laterbecome a “true bearer” of theirreligion and the traditions of theirfathers. Often she would ply herparents with questions about thedetails of the ceremonial side ofthe religious life.

7150

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Messages have been selected on the basis of topic rather than the speak-er. Messages have been selected from congregations or speakers within theBerea Amish Mennonite Fellowship, Conservative Mennonite Church ofOntario, Conservative Mennonite Churches of York and Adams Counties,PA., Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Church, Mennonite ChristianFellowship, Nationwide Fellowship Churches, Ohio Wisler Mennonite,Washington-Franklin Mennonite Conference, and certain selected unaffili-ated Amish Mennonite congregations.

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That is why we need to have fel-lowship lines. That is why weneed to know who we can fel-lowship and with what we can-not, when there are dangersinvolved and so on.

We want to protect the churchfrom harm, danger, and evil. Wewant the church to be pure, clean,and holy. Therefore, we think ofpreserving more than to judge.People might say, “Why are youso judgmental? Why can you notaccept this group over here? You

are judging.” We hear that allalong, all the time. Be that as itm a y, our aim is to preserve .Even though there are pressureslike that we cannot lower ourstandards or go and fellowshipwith things that are questionableor unScriptural.

We need to deal with sin inorder to preserve. Yes, we wantto preserve the Church. T h eChurch is Christ’s glorious pos-session. It is Christ’s most cher-ished treasure, we could say.

Pulpit Exchange

It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching tosave them that believe (1 Corinthians 1:21).So they read in the book in the law of God distinct-ly, and gave the sense, and caused them to under-

stand the reading (Nehemiah 8:8). Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneththe countenance of his friend (Proverbs 27:17).

Volume 9, No. 3 Issue # 903

When we consider the preser-vative nature of Scriptural fel-lowship lines, we probably firstof all think of preserve and/or fel-lowship lines. What do we wantto preserve? To preserve is “tokeep from harm and danger anddamage and evil,” or “to keep upor carry on, and to maintain.”These are all very truthful if wethink of fellowship lines and whywe have fellowship lines. It is

because we want to keep thechurch from harm, damage, dan-ger, and so on. To preserve is tosafeguard. We do not pass judg-ment or are censorious, althoughthat might be included. It mightappear that way at times, or itmight even be the case some-times that we need to pass judg-ment for a certain thing.Nevertheless, our goal and aim isto preserve. We want to preserve.

The

IN THIS ISSUE

The Preservative Nature ofScriptural Fellowship Lines

Fellowship

The Preservative Nature of

Scriptural Fellowship Lines 49

Book Reprint

Seven Laws of Teaching 69

Youth Book Reprint

Judith 7072

The Pulpit Exchange

Sermons transcribed and avail-able on various topics.

Volumes 1 – 8 available.Back Issues Available

Ministry TopicsSpecial Meetings Available

Book Reprints are available• 100 Lessons in Bible Study• A Talk With Church Members• Bible Wines: Laws of

Fermentation• Christian Attire• Christianity and Dress• Christ, The Apostles and Wine• Dress: A Brief Treatise• The Ideal Christian Home• The Ministry• The Temperate Life• Wordly Conformity in Dress

New Series:Practical NonconformityVol 1 — The Christian, Cards,

Contests, Games, and OtherAmusements.

Others Currently in Progress:10 CommandmentsExposition of ColossiansNonresistance MeetingsWriter’s MeetingsLiterature EvangelismVarious Fellowship MeetingsGarden City Confession of Faith

Children’s book:The Folly of Procrastination

Full Catalogue available

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