Wednesday Evening Services 7 PM - Nehemiah 9-10 - Repentance and Renewal - Pastor Ryan Nichols

He said, are you paying attention? It's a good one. It was a good one. Give me just a second. Good evening, everybody. My guitar strap fell off. But we're still here, and we're ready to go. Good evening, everyone. Good to see you all. I love when things like that happen. It just kind of helps us all become a family again. It's not that serious. We're all just here to worship together.

Am I right? Amen. Thank you, Tam. That's my actual family right there.

Do we stand for Wednesday night? If we don't, we should. Let's stand for the first one. Yes, thank you. Okay, Lord, we thank you for this time. God, we just thank you for who you are, for all that you are doing in our lives, in us, and through us, Lord, even when we can't really tell what you're doing, Lord, and maybe when we don't understand it either. God, we know that you are good, and we can trust who you are.

And what you are doing, that it will work out for our good and your glory, Father, in that everything has a purpose. Everything has a reason. Lord, and may we see each circumstance, each situation as an opportunity to grow closer to you, Lord, to learn more about you, God, and to become more like you, God. So I ask that you just make us aware of your presence tonight, Lord, and help us to see you.

Amen. Amen. As we ought, God, and to revere you as we ought. Lord, so we thank you, we love you, we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen. Just continue to speak to us, to show us yourself, hear about you. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah, chapter 9. Nehemiah, chapter 9.

So I've entitled the message tonight, Repentance and Renewal. We said ultimately that once we got to chapter 7, it was really a restoration of the heart. Nehemiah and the children of Israel had rebuilt the walls of Israel, or rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. And as they rebuilt those walls, they brought the security back to the nation physically. But now they needed that restoration spiritually.

And so that's what began to take place, particularly in chapter 8. Because in chapter 8, they got back into the Word of God. They got into the law. And they read the law. They called everyone together. And as they read the law, they were moved by what God had done. They were moved by what God had done. They were moved by what God had done. They were moved by what God had done.

They were moved by what God had to say. And not only did they respond by being moved by what the law said, but then they obeyed. And they celebrated that Feast of Booths. And as we come to chapter 9, kind of this celebration of the reading of the book of the law continues as the people begin to confess their sins. And so there's two things we'll look at in chapter 9.

We're going to look at repentance. And so in chapter 9, verse 1, it says this. Now on the 24th day of this month, which is the 7th, the 7th month, same one that was in chapter 8. This is a few days later. On the 24th day of this month, the sons of Israel assembled with fasting and in sackcloth and with dirt upon them. The descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners.

And they stood and they confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And while they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God. And for a fourth of the day, and for a fourth of the day, they confessed. And they worshiped the Lord their God. Now this is a fantastic scene that we see take place. Again, this is probably a couple of weeks later from when they celebrated the Feast of Booths.

And they just keep coming back together because God's Word has been really doing its work in their hearts. And so as they gather together on this 24th day, we see that the first thing that they do is they humble themselves. And they humble themselves in three ways. Number one, they fast. And this was not necessarily a fasting of trying to seek God's will. This was a fasting of, hey.

Our nation has ended up in the place that we are right now because of our sin. And so brokenness over past sin caused them to say, we're not going to eat today. We're just going to focus on repentance. We're going to focus on the Lord. It was a way to physically humble themselves before the Lord. The second thing they said that they did is they wore sackcloth, which is like a rough burlap bag.

In other words, the creature comforts of life are not what are important to us right now. What's important to us is humbling ourselves before the Lord. And of course. The third thing that they did in the New American Standard, it translates it dirt. Some of your translations may say sackcloth and ashes. And the idea is that they would literally throw ashes on themselves to humble themselves before the Lord.

But what they were doing physically was a picture of what God had been doing in their heart spiritually through the tenderizing work of the word of God. But as they came together, it says they separated themselves from the foreigners. And as they stood together in an assembly, it says that they began to confess their sins. They began to cry out to the Lord the things that were wrong, not only in their own lives, but what was wrong in the nation.

And this is going to be a very powerful moment for the nation of Israel. Because what they're ultimately going to do is is re-covenant themselves to to following the Lord, recommitting themselves to following the Lord the way that they're supposed to. But listen, renewal can't take place until repentance takes place. And repentance can't begin in our lives without confession.

Now, this doesn't mean that. We need to stand up and everybody needs to start confessing their sins in here. That's a move of the spirit that he wants to do. He can do that. Confession takes place between us and the Lord. Confession takes place between us and Jesus because he is our ultimate high priest. And as God's spirit begins to move on us, there is something very powerful about us confessing those sins to the Lord.

But can I say something that is true? There's something about during the time of you and the Lord and dealing with confession. There's something about verbalizing our sins. Yeah. Have you ever noticed that? It's one thing to think it in your head because when you think it in your head, it doesn't sound nearly as bad as it does when it comes out of your mouth.

But when that sin comes out of your mouth, you then have to hear it with your ears because you've owned it with your mouth. And you're like, well, that really does. That sounds really, really bad. That's a that's a bad place for me to have ended up. And it's very powerful because sometimes we need that humbling moment for those words to actually come out of our mouth so that we hear it with our own ears.

And we realize the total depravity. Depravity of sin in our lives, because that creates a heart that is tender towards repentance. And so so they all stand in their place and they and they're confessing their sins. But notice they're even confessing the iniquities of their fathers, not because those sins are theirs to own, but because those are the sins that have brought them to this place today.

And I want you to notice what it says in verse three. It says, while they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the Lord. This is not the third time that we see that they spent. A great. Deal of time reading from the law of the Lord. And you're going to notice it says for a fourth of the day. They stood and they read the law of the Lord.

Now, this is just the daylight hours. We're talking this is anywhere from two to four hours that they stood there and they read the law of the Lord. And I just want you to think about what God's word was doing, that they just they craved more of it. The more that it was given to them, the more it was read to them, the more that they they desired. They were developing that taste for God's.

Word and it says, and then for another fourth of the day, they confessed and they they worshiped the Lord, their God. This is just the ultimate revival that's taking place there. And I'll remind us all of what revival really looks like. Revival is not always some exciting moment where everybody gets excited and jumps around and sings at the top of their lungs.

Sometimes it ends in that. But revival always begins with tears in our eyes and brokenness in our heart and oftentimes knees on the floor. That's really where revival. Begins and and sometimes I think the revivals that that we see today, we got to be a little bit careful because because sometimes they can be a little bit counterfeit. Matter of fact, there was a book that came out at one point in time called Counterfeit Revival.

Fascinating book about sometimes what is called revival, but is oftentimes just really an emotional movement and emotional moment when really true revival begins with the understanding of sin in our hearts. And so as they gather for this time. Of confession of sin. We're now going. We're going to see a prayer of repentance. It says in verse four. Now on the Levites platform stood Jeshua, Bonnie, Cogmail, Shebaniah, Bunny.

That's a fun name. It's probably Boonie or something like that. I don't say Bunny. Sherebiah, Bonnie and Chinani. And they cried with a loud voice to the Lord. They're gone. The Levites, Jeshua, all those guys said, arise and bless the Lord your God forever and ever. And from this point through the rest of the of chapter nine is a prayer. And I want to point out a couple of things about this prayer.

The first thing I want to point out is this is the longest prayer recorded in the Bible. Interestingly enough, you can read it in probably less than ten minutes. And yet it's an incredibly powerful prayer. And I think there's a really good reminder in there for us. Sometimes we think powerful prayers means it takes a really long time. We have to remember that a powerful prayer is not about how long or how many words you use.

It's about the condition of your heart before the Lord. And these priests that stood and read this prayer. Or recited this prayer, all depending on how you look at it. Their hearts were right before the Lord. But the second thing that I want to point out to you about this prayer is that this prayer is ultimately a rehearsal of the history of Israel. And in this rehearsal, it points out two things.

It points out God's faithfulness in spite of Israel's waywardness. God's faithfulness in spite of Israel's waywardness. And so it starts off like this. The way prayer should start. It starts off with praising the Lord. It says, middle of verse 5 there. Oh, may your glorious name be blessed and exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are Lord. You have made the heavens and the earth.

The heaven and the heaven of heavens with all their hosts. The earth and all that is on it. The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them. The heavenly host bows down before you. One of the most beautiful ways to start off in your prayer is to start off praising God. Praising God just simply for the character of who he is. And he brings out three things of the character of God.

Number one, he describes God as the exalted God. There in verse 5. Oh, may your glorious name be blessed and exalted above all the blessing and praise. In other words, of all the so-called gods in the world, God is the most exalted. Because he's the one true living God. The second thing that he points out in this praise to the Lord is that he is creator God.

That he is the God who has created everything in the world. Spoken into existence. And it's wonderful to start like that. Because once you remember that God is the creator God, you are reminded that there is nothing too hard for God. That there's nothing outside of his scope of ability. If he can speak the world into existence. But the third thing that he points out.

Is that he is the life-giving God. Notice what it says. Middle of verse 6. The seas and all that is in them, you give life to them. And the heavenly host bows down before you. Because he is the author of life. Not just physical life. But he's also the author of spiritual life. Which is exactly what he's going to continue to point out. We carry on in verse 7.

And it says this. You are the Lord God who chose Abram. And brought him out from earth. And brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees. And gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you. And you made a covenant with him. To give him the land of the Canaanite. The Hittite. The Amorite. The Perizzite. The Jebusite. And the Girgashite. To give it to his descendants.

And you have fulfilled the promise. For you are righteous. He goes back to the very beginning. Almost like what we've done in Hebrews 11. Right? He goes back to the beginning. Reminds not only the people that are listening to this prayer. But also just reminds himself as he prays to the Lord. You're the God who started this whole thing. You're the God who called Abram when he was in a land that was far away.

And you brought him to this land. The land you promised to give him. And you took him from Abram to Abraham. Exalted father to the father of many. And you did for him what no one else could have done. Because you made him that exalted father of many descendants. And you kept your promise. You fulfilled your promise. Why? Because you are righteous. He goes on from there to continue with the story in the book of Exodus.

He says. You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt. And you heard their cry by the Red Sea. You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh. Against all his servants and all the people of his land. For you knew that they acted arrogantly toward them. And made a name for yourselves. And made a name for yourself as it is this day. You divided the sea before them.

So that they passed through the midst of it on dry ground. And their pursuers you hurled into the depths. Or you hurled into the depths like a stone into raging waters. He goes back to Exodus. And reminds them and himself and God of what God had done for them. I always think it's interesting to point out in verse 9. Where it says. You saw their affliction. And you heard their cry.

So you performed great signs. I always appreciate that. Because I'm reminded that God sees what goes on in our lives. And God hears the cries of our heart. And then God acts on behalf of us. We don't always see it in the moment. But it's always fascinating to look back on life. And be able to see that God saw what was going on in your life. And he heard the cries of your heart.

And this is what he performed for you. As a sidebar. John Corson pointed out something interesting in his commentary. And I've kind of taken this to heart. And I may actually undertake this as a little bit of a project. He said it's always good to carve out some time in your life. Where you can go back and chronicle the faithfulness of God. Throughout your life and your walk with the Lord.

To go back and chronicle what God has done for you. Because often times in the midst of life. We can forget all of the things that God has done. And so we can struggle to have faith for today. He said but if you really take that time to chronicle. What you find is it's one of the greatest faith builders you've got. And one of the greatest praise builders that we have.

To go back and remember those things. And so he says God heard. God saw. And then God performed great signs and wonders. And you made a name for yourself as it is this day. I found that line interesting as well. Because if you remember. When Moses came to tell Pharaoh. To let my people go. Pharaoh said two things. Number one he said I don't know who your God is.

And number two he says I will not let your people go. And it's interesting because by the time it was done. God had made a name for himself. And Pharaoh knew exactly who God was. And he let his people go. And so he says you made a name for yourself. As it is this day. And then he goes on through the wilderness wondering. You divided the sea before them. And cast their.

And their pursuers you hurled into the depths. Like a stone into raging waters. With a pillar of cloud you led them by day. And with a pillar of fire by night. To light the way for them in which they were to go. Then you came down on Mount Sinai. Spoke with them from heaven. You gave them just ordinances and true laws. Good statutes and commandments. So you made known to them your holy Sabbath.

And laid down for them commandments. Statutes and laws. Through your servant Moses. He says not only did you part the Red Sea. But you gave us the pillar of cloud by day. And the pillar of fire by night. Again he's pointing these things out. Because he is reminding the people of God's faithfulness. We'll deal with the waywardness in just a moment. But God always provided a way for them.

And guided them all the way through the wilderness. And of course even provided his law. So that it would be a revelation of the holiness of God. It says in verse 15. It says in verse 15. You provided bread from heaven for them for their hunger. You brought forth water from a rock for their thirst. And you told them to enter in order to possess the land. The land which you swore to give them.

God was faithful all through their wilderness time. To always be there for them. To give them everything that they needed. All of the food that they needed. Even though there was really nowhere that they could grow crops. All of the water that they needed to drink. Even though there was not always a source of water. God always provided it. And he was always faithful to them.

Bringing them into the land that they were to inherit. And you would think after all of that faithfulness. We wouldn't have to read what we're about to read next. But in spite of all of God's faithfulness. It says. But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly. They became stubborn and would not listen to your commandments. They refused to listen. And did not remember your wondrous deeds which you had performed among them.

So they became stubborn. And they appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. If we just stopped at verse 15. It all sounds really good. Right? Everything was great in the wilderness. Except if you've read the book of Numbers. You know that that's not what happened. They were not always doing what they were supposed to do. It says. But our fathers acted arrogantly.

Matter of fact. They got to a place where they tried to appoint a leader to take them back to Egypt. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that? Can you imagine life getting so hard that you go. I want to go back to the way it was before when I was living in slavery. What a bunch of morons. Right? And it's easy for us to look at the children of Israel and go.

How could they have done that to themselves? Until we look in a mirror. And we go. Oh that's how. That's how they could have done that to themselves. Because sometimes I do the same thing. Right? And sometimes you do the same thing. Things get difficult. And we default to what was easy for us at one point in time. Forgetting that what we now say was easy for us at one point in time.

Was actually slavery that we were living in. And we say. I'm just going to go back to that. Because it felt so good when we were in Egypt. I had so much good food that was there. I had so much variety of food while I was there. And there was always a place to sleep. And there was always water to drink. Sure I was a slave. But I had everything that I needed.

So they appointed even a leader to take them back. And I love this. I highlighted all these places. I highlighted all these places in my Bible. They said. But you are a God of forgiveness. Gracious and compassionate. Slow to anger. Abounding in loving kindness. And you did not forsake them. I don't know why this is ministered to me so much today. Because I have this underlined and highlighted several places.

But there is just something about the fact that it says. They acted stupid. And you still loved them. They did everything wrong. And acted in rebellion. And yet you did not forsake them. And I think that in our lives. It is so good to remember that God is always graciously waiting for us to return to Him. God is always graciously waiting for us to come back to Him.

Anytime we find ourselves wondering from the truth. And we can so rest in the faithfulness of God. I was just reading in Ezekiel this week. Two different places. And I forget the chapter. I think it was 18. But I could be wrong on that. Two different places. He said. I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. I have no pleasure in that. Instead what I want is.

I want for people to repent. That is what I actually want. I want people to come back to me. And this is what we see here with this faithfulness of God. It says in verse 18. Even when they made for themselves a calf of molten metal. And said. This is your God who brought you up from Egypt. And committed great blasphemies. Segwaying from. You didn't forsake them.

Even when they made a foreign God. And gave Him the credit for delivering them from Egypt. You still didn't forsake them. You ever put your trust in something besides God? You ever found yourself going. I think this is actually what I am going to trust in right now. And God is so gracious. And God so graciously swipes that right out from underneath of you. And then it says this in verse 19.

You in your great compassion did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud didn't leave them by day to guide them on their way. Nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way in which they were to go. At any point in time God could have said. I am done with you people. And I am not going to be your God anymore. I am no longer going to guide you.

I am no longer going to protect you. I am just going to leave you to your own way. But He doesn't do that. He doesn't do that with the children of Israel. He continues to be their God. And even though sometimes they failed to see that He was the one that was perfect. Can you imagine what it must have been like for them to ignore God in the wilderness. When every day you have like a shade tree living over you in the desert.

Right? Like you are in the middle of the stinking wilderness. And you are not getting sunburnt every single day. Because you have this cloud resting over top of you. And you are like. I sure wish God would show up. Do you think God is ever going to show up and prove Himself to us? And everybody is like. Do you think that is where the cloud is? Or at night time you go to lay down.

And there is this pillar of fire back there. I just picture this roaring fire. You know the sound. The beautiful peaceful sound the fire makes. And they go to sleep to that white noise every single night. And they are like. I sure wish God would show up for us. And God never stopped. Even though that is how they acted. He continued to be faithful and not forsake them.

It says you gave. Verse 20. You gave your good spirit to instruct them. Your manna you did not withhold from their mouth. And you gave them water for their thirst. Indeed 40 years you provided for them in the wilderness. And they were not in want. Their clothes did not wear out. Nor did their feet swell. This is why it is good to go back. And write things down.

This is why it is good to go back and chronicle God's faithfulness. Because you know what I bet they did not realize in the moment. They did not realize that they were wearing the same pair of Jordans for 40 years. And they did not outgrow them. And they did not wear out. And they looked as clean and crease free as they did the day when they left. They were wearing the same clothes for 40 years.

And they did not wear out. Now that is one thing for like. For like the parent to be wearing the same clothes for 40 years. But have you ever tried to clothe a kid? Right? Every six months you are like. Oh dear God. Stop growing. Like what. My youngest daughter. God love her. Her legs. I do not even know what to do with this. Her legs grow every single day.

My legs have not grown for 35 years. Right? I am not really making that up. I think I was somewhere around the age of 11 when they stopped growing. And so I do not know what that is like. I have been wearing the same length of pants ever since. And I am like. Well I guess we are going to buy you new pants this week as well. Because those do not fit you anymore.

They are shorts now. 40 years. But they did not notice it in the moment. You know how I know that? Because they kept rebelling against God. But when you take time to look back and go. I did not realize that that was God with me the whole time. I did not realize that that was God taking care of me this entire time. It makes you kind of doubt his faithfulness.

But he is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not.

He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. He is not. us all these years this is what joseph said god was going to do for us and here we are in the land god is so faithful verse 24 so their sons entered and they possessed the land and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land the canaanites you gave them into their hand with kings and

peoples of the land to do with them as they desired and they captured fortified cities in a fertile land they took possession of houses full of every good thing hewn cisterns meaning wells vineyards all of all of groves fruit trees in abundance so that they ate were filled and grew fat and reveled in your great goodness you remember what the fear was in the book of numbers why they wouldn't go in the first time we can't go in there there's giants in the land they have they have chariots and there are walled cities we can't go in and do that and so they had to wander in the all that time but when they went in god took care of all of the things that they thought were too hard for them because of his faithfulness.

Unfortunately, we get to see what happens next. But, ah, I hate those in the Bible. But they became disobedient, and they rebelled against you, and they cast your law behind their backs, and they killed your prophets who had admonished them so that they might return to you, and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore, you delivered them into the hand of their oppressors, who oppressed them.

If you're following along in your mind in the timeline of the Bible, we've now entered the book of Judges. We just finished the book of Joshua because he brought them into the land, and they defeated the cities. Now he's referring to the book of Judges. Remember, they found themselves caught in that vicious cycle of sin where they would fall into sin, some form of idolatry.

They would forget about God, and they'd fall into idolatry. And so God would have to judge them. He'd have to. He'd have to take them to the spiritual woodshed. And that usually meant allowing one of their enemies to overtake them. And God had to do this because those whom God loves, He chastens. Those whom He loves, He disciplines. And so God brought discipline into their lives.

And as He brought discipline into their lives, notice what happens in the middle of verse 27. But when they cried to you in the time of their distress, you heard from heaven. And according to your great compassion, you gave them deliverance. Deliverers who delivered them from the hand of their oppressors. Isn't that great? But when they cried to you in the time of their distress,

you heard from heaven, and you brought them deliverers to deliver them from all the oppression. Because God continued to be faithful in spite of the waywardness of the children of Israel. At any point in time, God could have said, I'm done. They're not my people anymore. But He just kept being faithful to them. It says, But, oh, I hate those. But as soon as they had rest,

they did evil again before you. Therefore you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried to you, you heard from heaven. And many times you rescued them according to your compassion. And you admonished them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted arrogantly and did not listen to your commandments.

But they slandered you. Yet they slandered you. Yet they slandered you. And they sinned against your ordinances. By which, if a man observes them, he shall live. If you're an underliner, I think that's a great line to underline. That if a man observes them, he shall live. Because that's what God's Word is for us. When we observe God's Word, we are truly living life.

When we obey what God's Word has to say, life is truly coursing through us. Because to live according to what God has for us is real life for us. It says, of course, they turned a stubborn shoulder and they stiffened their neck and would not listen. However, you bore with them for many years and admonished them by your spirit through your prophets, yet they would not give ear.

Therefore, you gave them into the hands of the people of the lands. Nevertheless, in your great compassion, you did not make an end of them or forsake them. For you are a gracious and compassionate God. So after he's rehearsed this history, he starts to draw it to a close in verse 32. Now, therefore, O God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who keeps covenant and loving kindness,

do not let all the hardships seem insignificant before you, which has come upon us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people from the days of the king of Assyria to this day. However, you are just in all that has come upon us. For you have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly. For our kings, our leaders, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandment and your admonitions with which you have admonished them.

But they in their own kingdom, with your great goodness which you gave them, with the broad and rich land which you've set before them, did not serve you or turn from their evil deeds. Behold, we are your slaves today. We are slaves today. And as to the land which you gave to our fathers to eat of its fruit and its bounty, behold, we are slaves in it. Its abundant produce,

its abundant produce is for the kings whom you have set before us because of our sins. They also rule over our bodies and they serve our cattle as they please, so we are, and over our cattle as they please, so we are in great distress. He sort of wraps it up by saying, God, you were just in doing this because you gave us every blessing we could have ever imagined. We threw it back in your face and lived exactly like we wanted to.

And that's why we're in the place that we're in today. Yes, we're back in the land, but ultimately we are still slaves to a foreign entity. We are still slaves to foreigners because of the way that we lived. God, we ended up here because of our waywardness, but you continue to show your faithfulness and that brings it all to verse 38. Because of all this, we are making an agreement in writing

and on the sealed document are the names of our leaders, our Levites, and our priests. After he rehearsed the nation, the history of the nation of Israel, in all of their waywardness, and after he rehearsed the history of the nation of Israel in all of God's faithfulness, he says, and this is why we're here today. We have been wayward. You have been faithful and we want to recommit ourselves to following you.

We want to recommit, renew our covenant that we've made with you because we have done it wrong in the past. We're gonna do it right now. I've heard people say before, I don't see recommitments to the Lord in the Bible. And all I can think is, have you read the Bible? Because that's exactly what this is, you know? Well, I'm recommitting my life. Well, you know, recommitment's not really in the Bible.

Pretty much the entire thing is a recommitment to the Lord because that's what we go through in life is sometimes we fall into things we shouldn't be a part of. And when we fall into things we shouldn't be a part of, we recommit ourselves to following the Lord. And so there's two things I think that we should really take away from chapter nine of the book of Nehemiah. Number one, don't give up on the people that are around you.

Sometimes we know people in our lives who struggle in areas of sin, who struggle to really get their lives right with the Lord. We see the waywardness in their lives. Perhaps it's a child, perhaps it's a friend, somebody that you're close to, and they just can't, they just can't figure it out. They have moments where they're walking strong with Jesus and they have moments where they're incredibly wayward in their lives.

Can I tell you, don't give up on those people because in spite of their waywardness, God continues to show himself faithful. God will continue to show himself faithful in their lives. We were just reading with my girls last night in the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 12, the height and the depth of Abram's life, right? So Abram comes into the land and follows the Lord.

He follows God wholeheartedly by establishing himself in the land that God had promised God. God promises him the land and shows him what God's going to give him. He builds an altar to the Lord and he worships him like Abraham is doing it. He is following God until things got hard. There was a famine in the land and so he went down to Egypt and when he went down to Egypt,

he lied about his wife and then he got caught in the lie. And then he had to go back to the promised land with his tail tucked between his legs. I told my girls, I said, listen, once you stop following God, sins tend to tumble upon each other. One sin leads to another, leads to another. But God is always one step away. God is always one step away once you fall into those sins

and all you have to do is get back to where God wants you to be. All you have to do is come back to God. Get back to the promised land where you're supposed to be and God starts back over again because your failures don't nullify God's faithfulness. And that brings me to my second point. Don't give up on you. Don't give up on you. Sometimes in our lives, we see areas of stumbling and failure.

Sometimes we see areas in our lives where we get wayward sometimes. And we may not tell anybody else in the world about it, but we know what's going on on the inside of us. We know the areas where we struggle the most. And sometimes we can go, Lord, I've been so wayward. I don't know if you can still love me because of this. And God says, of course I do. I'm never going to forsake you.

That's the promise that he made to us. I will never leave you. I will never leave you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. So get back to where you need to be. That's what this is for the nation of Israel. Getting back to where they belong. And so, in chapter 10, I'm not going to read through the names of all the signers. It says, now, on the sealed document

were the names of Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hekeliah, and for the next 27 verses, he's going to name all the people that signed it. You should go back and read it. I'm not going to read it to you. Now, verse 28. The terms of the covenant. Now, the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, thank God we didn't name all of them, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants,

and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, to the law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, and all those who had knowledge and understanding, are joining with their kinsmen, their nobles, and are taking on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God's law, which was given through Moses, God's servant, to keep and to observe all the commandments of the Lord our God and His ordinances and His statutes. They said, we are making a covenant today, a covenant of a curse and an oath. Now, that language goes all the way back to the book of Deuteronomy, where Moses told them when they get into the land, you need to put two people on opposite mountains. One will pronounce the blessings of keeping the law.

One will pronounce the curses of failing to keep the law. They're like, we're going back to where we started, we're getting the nation back to where it started, the blessings and the cursings of obeying God. And there's three main things that they're going to get back to when it comes to this. Number one is given to us in verse 30, that we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons.

The first thing that they say is that as we recommit ourselves to the Lord, there will be purity in our relationships. There will be purity in our relationships. God had told them lots of times, don't intermarry with the people of the land. Don't intermarry in those situations because they will lead you astray. And probably the greatest example of that is Solomon.

Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived. Solomon, the guy who had more than anybody could have ever imagined as far as God's blessing is concerned. And so we read one commentary about Solomon. But Solomon loved many foreign women and when he was older, they turned his heart from following God. They turned his heart from following God to idolatry. And so there was to be purity in their relationships.

They said, that's what we're going to do. We're going to be pure in the way that we handle our relationships. The second thing it says is that there was going to be purity in business. Notice what it says in verse 31. As for the people of the land who bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or a holy day

and will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt. He already did that. He dealt with them on the aspect of usury with debts. But they say, we won't buy or sell on the Sabbath day, which is what the law said. And we will not deal with the land in the Sabbath year, which is part of why they spent the amount of time in Babylon that they did.

Remember, they were told that every seventh year they were to give the land the rest. Only for 490 years in the land, they never gave the land the rest it needed. And so God said, you are going to be in captivity for 70 years. To give the land the rest that it needs and to teach you to trust, which is exactly what that Sabbath year was supposed to do. And so they say,

we're going to have purity in the way that we deal with business. And then number three, it says that they will care for the house of God and honor God with their finances. Verse 32. We also placed ourselves under obligation to contribute yearly one third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God, for the showbread, for the continual grain, offering for the continual burnt offering, the Sabbath, the new moon, the point of times for the holy things, for sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, all the work in the house of the Lord.

Likewise, we cast lots for the supply of the wood among the priests and the Levites and the people so that they might bring it into the house of our God, according to our father's households at fixed times annually to burn on the altar of the Lord, our God, as it is written in the law. They said, we are going to prioritize the house of God. We are going to prioritize the house of God because that was where they met God for worship. In other words, God was going to take first place in the nation, not only in the way that they took care of the house of God to be the place where they worship, but also in their finances.

Notice what it says. And that they might bring the first fruits of the ground and the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of the Lord annually to bring to the house of our God, the firstborn of sons. And, and cattle and herds and flocks as it is written in the law for the priests who are ministering in the house of our God. We will also bring the first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine, the oil to the priests at the chambers of the house of our God and tithes of our ground to the Levites for the Levites are they who receive tithes in the towns.

The priest, the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes and the Levites shall bring up the 10th of the tithes to the house of our God, the chamber of the storehouse for the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution to the grade of the great, the new wine, the oil to the chambers. There are the utensils of the sanctuary, the priests who are ministering, the gatekeepers and the singers. Thus, we will not neglect the house of our God. And so after the time of repentance, they make this time of renewal.

They say, listen, we've repented. Now, this is what we are going to do to pursue the Lord. And can I say in our lives, we not only need aspects of repentance, but sometimes we need aspects of renewal. It's one thing to stop doing certain things in our lives. That's repentance to turn away from. It's a whole other thing to have renewal in our lives. It's a whole other thing to say,

now I am going to pursue these things. And if you're just going to stop doing one thing, I promise you're going to fall back into it. That's why, we are told to flee youthful lust and to pursue God. Because it is in the pursuit of God that true change takes place in our lives. It is in the pursuit of God that renewal truly takes place for us. And so, as we come to the end of chapter 10,

they're in a very good place as far as the nation is concerned. They are getting back on track and being exactly who God has called for them to be. So next week, we'll continue on with the story. Of Nehemiah. Let's pray. Father, we come before you. And Lord, I thank you for these examples in scripture. And I pray God that you would move as you see fit in our hearts and in our lives.

And Father, I just ask that that we would be a people who are patient with those around us and a people who are patient with ourselves. I thank you that you are the faithful God in spite of our waywardness. Thank you that you are the faithful God in spite of our failures. Lord, that you continue to love us and not forsake us even, Lord, when sometimes that's exactly what we deserve.

Thank you for your grace. Thank you for your mercy.