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Renewing Our Covenant: Lessons from Nehemiah's Time - Chapter 9
June 4, 2025 · 14 min
Reflecting on Israel's historical return to God and what it teaches us about renewing our own commitments to follow the Lord.
Series Stand on the Word - Audio On Demand June 4, 2025 · 14 min · Stand on the Word - Audio On Demand
Reflecting on Israel's historical return to God and what it teaches us about renewing our own commitments to follow the Lord. ...more Show the full description Show less Reflecting on Israel's historical return to God and what it teaches us about renewing our own commitments to follow the Lord.
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Confession and Covenant 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to stand on the word. Thanks for joining me this morning as we read Nehemiah chapter 9, stand and confess. Verse 3, and they stood up in their place, and they read from the book of the law of the0:21 lord, their god, for a quarter of the day. For another quarter of it, they made confession and worshiped the lord their god. So as the people heard the word of god, their hearts were stirred, and they responded with0:32 weeping as we just read in chapter 8. Well, here we read that the outcome of the proclamation of God's word was that their hearts were changed, and the people actually entered into a written0:43 covenant with 1 another to follow the Lord. Now here's something that's very important. The word of God must be at the heart of the local church. Okay? So this is not just for the Old Testament.0:55 It's for us here and now. Now Now if you're in a church where the word is simply an addendum to the preacher's thoughts or the word is just referenced as supporting the ideas in a feel good sermon, I'm gonna tell you1:07 right now you need to find a new church. As followers of Christ, we need to be in a local church where the word of God is central. It's the focus. In chapter 8, they were observing the Feast of the Tabernacles,1:19 which was a time to celebrate the deliverance and the provision of the Lord. So they were told not to weep, but to allow the joy of the Lord to be their strength. Now 2 days after the1:31 Feast of Tabernacles, we have a solemn time of fasting, which leads to a confession of their sin against God, a confession of their history with God, and a confession of them returning to1:43 God. So let's start verse 1. We look at this confession of their sin against God. Now on the 20 fourth day of this month, the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in1:55 sackcloth and with earth on their heads. Now this was, by the way, just within the first year of Nehemiah arriving back to Jerusalem. Verse 2. And the Israelites separated themselves from all2:06 foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. So notice they separated themselves from the foreigners among them. Apparently, there were some who2:18 had not followed through with the repentance that we read about in Ezra chapter 9 and 10, or they had relapsed and were once again marrying foreign wives. So, again,2:30 this separation, it sounds harsh to our conditioned or I should say compromised ears. Part of their sin before God that they had to face was this these2:42 marriages that took place with members of the surrounding nations, causing them to depart from the worship of the 1 true God. This directly illustrates what Paul writes2:54 in second Corinthians about being unequally yoked. But it also illustrates the separation that should should exist between believers and the world. As we talked about before,3:06 Jesus said we're in the world, but we're not of the world. You know, Paul in second Corinthians chapter 6 verse 17, therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and3:17 I will receive you. So there's this call to be different, to be set apart, sanctified. Alright. Verse 3. And they stood up in their place, and they read from the book of the law of the lord their god3:29 for a quarter of the day. For another quarter of it, they made confession and worshiped the lord their god. Now in Romans chapter 2, Paul writes that god's goodness or his kindness leads us to repentance. And this is3:41 what we see here as they have just finished 1 of the 3 pilgrimages, 1 of the festivals that came after the harvest, a time of celebrating god's blessing. They were celebrating the grace and the3:52 provision of God, and now there is this this call to repentance. The 8 priests listed here may have alternated or the congregation may have actually4:04 broken into smaller prayer groups. But what we see next is a confession of who God is. So they confess their sins. Now they're moving into a time of confessing who God is. Look at verse, latter part4:16 of verse 5. Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. You are the Lord,4:28 you alone. You have have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their hosts, the earth and all that is on it, the sea and all that is in them, and you preserve all of them, and the host of heaven4:40 worships you. I mean, just look what he talks what they they they declare about God. God is lord alone. God is the creator of all things. God is the sustainer of all things. God is the 1 to be worshiped. They began4:53 this time by worshiping God, which included a declaration of praise for his character and for his nature. And then they move to confessing their history with God.5:04 Verse 7, you are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you and5:16 made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise,5:28 for you are righteous. And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry at the Red Sea, and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants, and all the people of5:40 his land. For you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers, and you made a name for yourself as it is to this day. So from here through verse5:52 35, the people are given a history lesson covering the beginning to the present state of their nation, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Now this is not new. We've seen this pattern over and6:04 over before of teaching the people who God was, what he had done for them, and then what he requires from them. Scholars suggest that Ezra actually wrote this prayer.6:16 This is a prayer. Ezra wrote the prayer and he prayed it before the people or that the the the people were divided into smaller groups and the priest read this prayer prepared by6:27 Ezra. So they were unified in the focus of their prayer as recounting God's faithfulness and their repeated faithlessness. Right? Now through the Bible, we find this periodic recounting6:40 of Israel's history, like Joshua chapter 24, Psalm 1 0 5, even Stephen's sermon in Acts chapter 7. This was probably top of mind at this moment as they had just finished the6:52 feast of the tabernacles. This was a large portion of the7:05 history, this is important. Okay? And I've mentioned this before, but look, if it's important, repeat it. Okay? And I've mentioned this before, but, look, if it's important, repeat it. Okay? Our history shapes who we are7:14 because it directs our future. This is why there's been such a tremendous effort to rewrite our history as a nation and remove or diminish the role of Christianity in the form nation and remove or diminish the role of7:24 Christianity in the formation of our nation, which serves to strip us of our identity and allows the creation of a new 1, which then shapes our future. This is this7:35 was understood and articulated by George Orwell in his novel 19 84 where he wrote this, who controls the past controls the future,7:47 who controls the present controls the past. Okay? This is why over the last hundred years, a little bit more, there has been an intentional effort to rewrite America's history8:00 so that the future can be shaped into something totally different than the vision of our founding fathers. Right. Verse 20,8:11 you gave your good spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouths and gave them water for their thirst. Now here in the Old Testament, we get a glimpse right here in verse8:23 20 of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to instruct. Alright? We have that in the New Testament. That's why Jesus said he was sending the helper, the comforter, the 1 who would lead us into understanding the8:35 truth. Now in verses 26 through 31, we see the repeated pattern of the children of Israel, turning from God, being chastised as a nation, and then8:47 returning back to God. And then the cycle starts all over again. Look at verse 26. Nevertheless, you were disobedient and rebelled against you and nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and8:59 cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets who had warned them in order to turn them back to you and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore, you gave them into the hand of your enemies who made9:11 them suffer and in the time of their suffering, they cried out to you, and you heard them from heaven. And according to your great mercies, you gave them saviors who saved them from the hands of their9:23 enemies. So he's really speaking at times of the judges where they slipped, you know, into being oppressed by the surrounding nations. They would cry out to God, and God would raise up a leader9:35 who would lead them out. But it was a a cycle repeated over and over. The third and the final portion of this prayer is confessing their return to God. So they confess9:46 their sins. They confess the faithfulness and the nature of God, and now they're confessing their desire to return to God. Verse 32. Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty,9:58 and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets,10:12 kings of Assyria until this day. That was when the the first kingdom fell. The northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians, and then, later, the southern Babylonians. Verse10:24 36, behold, we are slaves this day. In the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. So here they were in the land that God10:36 had given. They were back, but they were not free. And this was the land that God gave them, and its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sin. So they were having to pay10:47 these taxes. They were having to to give of what they produced to the kings, foreign kings to whom they were paying tribute. And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sin. They rule10:59 over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress. Because all of this, we make a firm covenant in writing. On the sealed documents are the names of our11:11 princes, our Levites, and our priests. Now notice here, this is important. There was no shifting of the blame or rationalizing their situation. They took ownership. They took ownership of where they11:23 were. They connected their present situation with their persistent sin as a people. This was not 1 of those if I've offended you, god, we're sorry. I said we have sinned against you, and we11:35 ask for your mercy. Knowing their history with God and his faithfulness and his mercy enabled them to confess their desire to return11:47 to him boldly. And we have that same opportunity. We can approach the throne of grace boldly, and we should confess our sins. And God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us11:59 from all unrighteousness as John writes. So father, we thank you for your word and thank you for the encouragement we find once again in the book of Nehemiah. And and, lord, I pray that if there are any of us that12:11 maybe something that is separating us from a relationship with you, maybe a persistent sin. Lord, I pray that we would confess it, forsake it, turn to you, and even12:23 write it down as they did on a covenant saying, lord, we pledge ourselves to you, and we will walk according to your will by the power of your holy spirit. So, father, I pray that you12:34 would continue to lead us on this journey through your word, challenging us through the presence of the holy spirit to live for you. We pray and ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.12:46 Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning. And, again, let me remind you of the 21 day family Bible challenge coming up June the eleventh. I know you're on the journey, but this is a great12:58 time to invite someone else to join us on this journey. Just 21 days. Right? 21 days. Challenge them for 21 days to go through the book of Matthew. You can find out more about it. Text Matthew to 6 7 7 4 2.13:10 That's Matthew to 6 7 7 4 2. You'll get a link if you take the challenge. I know you're already on the journey, but you can take the challenge as well. Then you can send it on to a friend so that they can join as well.13:21 Alright. Until next time. Keep standing on the word.13:26 Today's study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you13:38 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Confession and Covenant
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