5-5-25 Nehemiah 10:1-39a – The Power of Community Covenant

SPEAKER 01 : 0:08

Welcome to Expository Truths, where we exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with Dr. John Kyle, pastor of Faith Community Church in Vacaville. As Christians, we are called to know the truth and be able to proclaim it. We can know the truth when we know the word of God, which is precise, without error, powerful, and effective for both salvation and spiritual growth. Let’s join Pastor Kyle as he takes us verse by verse through the book of Nehemiah, an incredible book showing us how God sovereignly used the faithfulness of Nehemiah to lead the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in the midst of many mighty and powerful enemies.

SPEAKER 02 : 0:57

Please turn your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 10, verses 1 through 39. Nehemiah 10, 1 through 39. Now remember, God led Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem and to rebuild the ruined walls of the city, which was a truly remarkable task. But even more, God led Nehemiah to be the catalyst in bringing the people back to repentant faith in the living God. Remember, after the wall was finished, the people gathered together in Jerusalem for the Feast of Trumpets. Two weeks later, they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles. And then, just a couple of days after that, the people again gathered together to observe a national day of repentance where they fasted, mourned, wore sackcloth, put dust on their heads, and then prayed an amazing prayer of repentance and confession in chapter 9. that offered an incredible survey of Old Testament history. Here’s a summary of the prayer. God is merciful and good. We are rebellious and bad. Even so, God has not forsaken us. How good is that? In light of that, they’re now humbly calling out to their merciful God for rescue and for deliverance from their Persian oppressors. See, they know God’s character, and so even though they know they don’t deserve it, they are still humbly asking God to forgive them and to deliver them. But if not, look, it seems clear that even if they don’t get delivered, they are still going to repent and seek to glorify God in their home and in their lives. They then make it official. Verse 38. Because of all this, we make a sure covenant and write it. Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests seal it. And that’s what they did. They made a covenant with God. See, collectively, they were convicted of the demands of Scripture. Corporately and personally, their sins have been exposed. They then expressed their sorrow and repentance over their sin by wearing sackcloth and putting dirt on their heads, which was a good sign. But it wasn’t enough just to say that they were sorry. No, they needed to express the sincerity of their desire to serve the Lord wholeheartedly and passionately. See, there’s been a lot of spiritual fervor going on, both joy in the Lord and mourning over their sin, which is good. Emotion is good, but you can’t live on emotion alone. No, because after you come down from that mountaintop experience, which you will certainly come down from, you have to face a daily grind again. What are you going to do then? So the people need to be sure to lay out a specific plan to put the truth of God’s Word into daily practice. Okay, how do you do that? Well, the answer lay in this covenant renewal treaty. This has been done before in their past and a conviction of their waywardness encouraged a desire for a new beginning. Such resolve for consecrated lives was marked by a formal covenant on their part to follow the Lord with all their hearts. Note that Biblical covenants generally followed a very discernible pattern, and at its core, a covenant contained a commitment, a solemn promise to follow the Lord at all costs, which we will see, even when it’s costly. What a time for them. Look what happened. Verse 1. Those who placed their seal on the document were Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hakaliah and Zedekiah, Sariah, Azariah, Jeremiah, Peshur, Amariah, Malkijah, Hattush, Shebaniah, Maluk, Haram, Merimoth, Obadiah, Daniel, Ginnathon, Baruch, Meshulam, Abijah, Mijamin, Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaiah. Those were the priests. The Levites. Jeshua, the son of Azaniah. Benui, of the son of Henadad and Kadmael. Their brethren. Shebaniah, Hodijah, Kalida, Peliah, Hanan, Mekah, Rehob, Hashabiah, Zakur, Sherabiah, Shebaniah, Hodijah, Bani, And Beninu. The leaders of the people. Parash. Pahath-Moab, Elam, Zatu, Bani, Bunny, Asgad, Babai, Adonijah, Bigvi, Adin, Adder, Hezekiah, Azer, Hodijah, Hashem, Bezai, Harith, Anathoth, Nabai, Meg-Piash, Meshulam, Hazir, Mesh-Ezabel, Zadok, Jaduah, Pelatiah, Hanan, Ananiah, Hosea, Hananiah, Hashab, Halohesh, Pilhah, Shobek, Raham, Hashabnah, Masaiah, Ahijah, Hanan, Anan, Maluk, Haram, and Banna. A couple of names are very interesting. Parash means flee. Babai in verse 15 means pupil of the eye. Adon in verse 16 means voluptuous. Ador in verse 17 means lefty. And then Hasum in verse 18 means broad nose. That’s nice. So look, these are all the people who place their names on the seal of the document. See, they wrote up an official covenant document and a seal signified a legal assent to that written document. So this is a very, very serious thing, a very official thing. The seals here refer to the signatures of these leaders. See, covenants need to be signed in order to take effect. Kind of like a marriage certificate and how the marriage isn’t official until that certificate is signed. Same thing going on here. Now, the thousands of people who were there in Jerusalem at this time, they couldn’t have all signed the document. And so representatives performed this signing ritual. Who were these 84 people? First were the civil leaders. Two of them are listed, Nehemiah and Zedekiah. We know Nehemiah, right? We know him well. Nehemiah was a previous cupbearer to Artaxerxes, king of Persia. But because of God’s good hand on Nehemiah, Nehemiah had come to Jerusalem and now he’s the governor. Being the governor required a number of civil servants along with a sort of police force and that would cost money. And so taxation was necessary to do all of that, as one noted. As a governor, he has a mansion. As a governor, he has an honorage of civil servants, 150 of them. He has a stipend. He has a food allowance, a food allowance that didn’t come from the purse of King Artaxerxes, but it was a food allowance that was levied upon the people for his own office and for the needs of the governorship of Jerusalem. So that’s his right to do. But if you remember, Nehemiah didn’t make the people pay for any of that through their tax dollars, but instead, Nehemiah paid for it all himself. All of that. Many believe that Nehemiah took no money whatsoever for being the governor, not even a salary. But again, he paid all of that himself for 12 years from his own resources. That shows us that Nehemiah must have made a lot of money as a cupbearer to the king of Persia, King Artaxerxes in Shushan. And Nehemiah used that wealth, think about this, not for himself, not really. He used that wealth to honor God and to bless those who were less fortunate than him. He signed the document, so did Zedekiah, who was Zedekiah. It seems that Zedekiah was an official who worked alongside Nehemiah, who was also Nehemiah’s chief secretary, that’s the belief. Who else signed the document? 21 priests. Now remember, priests were select men from the tribe of Levi who were called to lead in worship and to serve as mediators between God and men. These 21 priests were certainly men of God who were intent on leading by example. Question, why isn’t the high priest mentioned, Eliashib, who took a leading role in rebuilding the wall? And why isn’t Ezra mentioned, the priest, scribe, and man of God, who was really the great spiritual leader at that time of the people? Here’s why. because they both belonged to the family of Sariah, who’s the third person named to have signed the document. So Sariah represented both of those men who were certainly a part of the ceremony, even if they didn’t get to sign the document. Who else signed the document? Levites. The Levites were also men from the tribe of Levi, who assisted the priests. All Levites were to be priests, but not all Levites were priests.” Of the 17 Levitical names, some are family groups and some are individual names. These guys too were spiritual leaders and they too set a great example for the people as they came and signed this very important document. Finally, family leaders and some others signed the document, verses 10 through 14. Their brethren in verse 10 refers to fellow Levites. And the leaders of the people in verses 14 through 27 refers to family representatives. Families who helped rebuild the wall. New families, perhaps some who had newly come to Jerusalem. And others who had probably been here for a while, they too signed the document. Note that this is no arbitrary list. Instead, this is very purposeful, and all these who signed the document represented the whole community, and it signified that they were all to adopt the Word of God as the authority for their lives. Look, the leading government leaders signed it. The leading spiritual leaders signed it. The leading families signed it. And it really represented everyone in Jerusalem and in Judah as a whole. They said, this is our commitment. This is our covenant as a people. This is our promise as a people. This is what we are now doing, all of us. We’re committed to this. So what were they committed to? This, to walk in God’s law, verses 28 through 31. Look at what it says. It says, Now the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and all those who had separated themselves from the people of the land to the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding, these joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses, the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our God and His ordinances and His statutes. We would not give our daughters as wives to the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons. If the peoples of the land brought wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day, and we would forego the seventh year’s produce and the exacting of every debt. That’s some of their commitment. We’re going to see more of it, but that’s some of it. So look, You have the leaders signing a covenant that represents all the people, and the people know it, and the people responded accordingly by joining their leaders in making this covenant. Look, the other priests and Levites joined those who signed the covenant. The gatekeepers joined in as well. The gatekeepers were very important people because they were the guards who were stationed for protection at the city and at the temple gates. A gatekeeper had to be trustworthy and alert for any signs of trouble, and a gatekeeper who was lax in his duties could bring ruin to an entire city. Well, the gatekeepers were all in regarding this covenant. The singers also joined in. The singers dwelt in chambers in the temple or by the temple, and their job was to sing to God, to lead in singing to God, to write songs, and to teach others to sing to God in heartfelt love and worship and praise to God. And look, they did this day and night for the glory of God. Now, singing for singing’s sake isn’t worship. And singing because it’s simply like a song isn’t necessarily worship either. But singing from a heart of love, a song that honors God, that greatly pleases God. I once heard a preacher say that dead men don’t sing. But we certainly should as those who are spiritually alive, right? Eagerly, from the heart. To the God whom we love for His glory? Words that honor Him, full of passion and love? I mean, that’s certainly a part of corporate worship. Not only a part, but a good part. So I say, sing out to God. And because you love Him, sing eagerly to God. Sing loudly to God. Sing out of love to God. And hundreds of scriptures tell us to do that. The singers were all in on this covenant. The Nethanim also joined in in full agreement with this covenant. The Nethanim were temple servants who assisted the Levites in doing the more mundane worship duties. These guys were the ones who stayed late. They emptied the garbages. They plunged the toilets. They did the jobs that no one else wanted to do, but they did it because it was for the Lord, see? No job was too small for them because when they did their menial jobs, it was all an act of worship to their Lord God Almighty. I’ll do it because it’s for God. And God was certainly pleased. So, you’re not a preacher. So what? So what? Will you serve God and His people? See, God sees, right? God knows. God cares. And God is pleased when all His servants who serve Him Serve him from the heart. So you’re a Nethanim, a helper of a helper of a helper. Well, be the best Nethanim you can be and bask in the warm smile of God. What could be better than that? the Nethanim joined in full agreement with this covenant. And then there were all those who separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and everyone who had understanding, they joined in too. That could be a reference to recent converts to Judaism, or else it could be referring to the many Jews of the land who agreed with this covenant. See, Separation from the peoples of the lands means separation from the ungodliness of the pagan people around them. So all these people are taking a stand against ungodliness and against sin, and they’re separating themselves from the sinful worldliness that surrounded them. Yes, but not only that, they’re turning to God and to His Word, which was what true repentance looked like. Clearly, these people are all in. I mean, their intent, their hearts are right, and their focus is on eternal things. Clearly, I love that. See, this means that their intent on conforming to the will of God as communicated to us in the Scriptures. It means that they are intent on obeying God and on letting God’s Word dictate their beliefs and their behavior. It means that they are sensitive to sin and to sinful influences. And they’re committed to battling sin and to pursuing holiness in their lives. And look, they’re committed to this not only for themselves, but for their entire families, wives, sons, daughters, and everyone who had knowledge, everyone who had understanding. What a time. What a time. The nobles also joined in fulfilling this covenant. The nobles were the prominent people of the city, the powerful people of the city. And here they are, all in with this covenant to the Lord. See, everyone is in agreement here. And it’s truly an amazing thing that all these people are fully intent on truly repenting of their past sins and on getting right with God today. See, he’s the focus. His glory is our aim. His pleasure is our goal, rightly so. And look what they’re doing, verse 29. They’re now entering into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses, a servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments that the Lord our God and His ordinances and His statutes have given to us. So, see what they’re doing? In making this covenant… the people are really formally agreeing to accept a curse from god if they didn’t obey his law what does that mean i mean curse that’s a scary word isn’t it curse it’s not so scary here because here the people are simply agreeing to accept any consequences that come to them if they break their covenant if they fail to do what they say they are committed to doing in other words They will fully accept God’s discipline of them if they fail to keep this covenant, and they will accept the consequences that come to them if they fail to obey as a form of God’s correction to bring them back to Him. But here they clearly don’t anticipate that happening, no. They fully intend instead to heartfully do everything that they are now committing to. What’s that? To walk in God’s law. and to observe and to do all the commandments of the Lord our God and His ordinances and His statutes. So this here is really a general commitment to obey the Word of the Lord, to observe all that God tells us to do in His Word. That whatever God’s law said, they now desire to do. That whatever it was, they’re making a wholesale, unapologetic, unreserved commitment to observe and to obey what God’s word says. Right? And that’s good, right? I mean, that’s the heart of a true believer, isn’t it? I mean, we love Him, and so we obey Him. That’s how it works. We love Him, and so we earnestly want to know Him and glorify Him with our fading lives. Hey, what’s the first response for any people who have veered away from God? or repentance, right? Which always reveals itself with true obedience. And the first way to obey is to go to God’s Word, which reveals who He is and what He wants from you, and then to seek Him through heartfelt prayer, and then everything else really flows after that. See, a return to God always involves a return to His Word and to prayer with active obedience to His good commandments to follow. And note this. Note that if you’ve made a commitment to truly, truly follow after God and you aren’t hungry for God’s Word and you’re not diving into the Word of God, then your commitment is mere lip service and your commitment won’t last. Not if you’re not committed to the Word of God. See, it won’t last. Because true commitment always involves a heartfelt return to the Word of God. which is living and active and powerful. And it’s the means of truly maturing you in your faith through the working of the Holy Spirit. What about you? Are you serious about God? If you’re serious about God, then you’ll be serious about the Word of God. Note this too. These people here in Nehemiah 10 aren’t trying to win God’s favor. If we’re good, then maybe God will like us. If we’re good, then maybe God will be nice to us. That is not what they’re doing here. This is all love going on here, which is the right motive. This is the response of a heart that is full of God and full of the Lord’s mercies to them. See, they’re coming now with hearts that are welling over with a sense of God’s love and favor and grace and forgiveness to them. And they’re saying, take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. We love you, Lord. We turn back to you. We only want you. We seek your face. We glorify you alone. Here we are. We lovingly obey you. That’s it. Because we love you. Christians today follow Jesus for many reasons. Many are bad. They hear things like this. Follow Jesus and your life will get better. Okay, sounds good. Then I’ll follow Jesus. But when things don’t get better, they run. Follow Jesus and the money will flow and you’ll get that raise. Okay, sounds good. But when the money doesn’t flow, when they don’t get that raise, they leave. Follow Jesus and He’ll fix all your problems, but when the problems persist, they run. Follow Jesus and He’ll make all your selfish dreams come true. You can’t beat that. And when those selfish dreams don’t come true, they dump the Lord for something else. How about the truth? How about the truth? You and I, We are wretched sinners who deserve to go to hell because of all our sin for the wages of sin is death, eternal wrath. Why? Because sin committed against an infinite and eternal God is worthy of infinite and eternal wages. And if God doesn’t punish sin, then He wouldn’t be a just and righteous God. No, holy God must punish sin, every single sin. However, because of God’s amazing grace and through faith in Christ alone, because of what He did on the cross in the sinner’s place for all who believe when He died, look, God punished Jesus for our sin as believers instead of punishing us. Jesus became the believer’s substitute for sin. And so he died so all who believe could live, be forgiven, be declared righteous, and go to heaven forever instead of hell through faith in Christ alone. And now, as those who have been saved by grace, look, you have the privilege and honor of living for the glory of God. Right? This God whom you love. This God who saved your lost soul from wrath at such a high cost. What an honor! And guess what? It won’t be easy. And in fact, it’ll probably be much harder for you. And it will mean some suffering because of your faith in Christ. And you will be persecuted for your faith. And there will be a price for following after the Lord and for obeying Him in the midst of this wicked and depraved generation. But look! You can glorify God. And what’s better than that? You can please Him. You can honor Him. Glorifying and pleasing the God who saved your soul. Why do you follow Him? How could we not say along with these people in Nehemiah chapter 10, we love you, Lord. We turn back to you. We only want you, Lord. We seek your face. We glorify you alone. Here we are, Lord. We lovingly obey you, even when it hurts and even when I have to suffer for it, even if I have to die. You’re worth it, Lord.

SPEAKER 01 : 24:23

Pastor John is… Church of Vacaville, a seminary professor and a trainer of preaching pastors overseas. Join for services at Faith Community Church Sundays at 9 and 1045 a.m. 192 Bella Vista Road, Suite A. To learn more, visit vacavillefaith.org or call 707-451-2026. That’s 707-451-2026. Or visit vacavillefaith.org.

SPEAKER 1 : 25:58

Thank you.