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Sermon
of 06-28-03
Nehemiah 10 - Sealing our Covenant with God
by Dr. David Farmer, pastor
Scripture 2 Timothy 3:16
Today we look at chapter 10 of Nehemiah. We have already looked at the first nine chapters. In addition, hopefully we have learned a little from these nine chapters. Our Scripture according to the Apostle Paul says,
"All Scripture is inspired by God." In other words, all of Gods Word has practical application for our lives today. And all of it, means even the list of begat names, half of which most of us cannot pronounce. All Scripture also means even the chapters that we cannot understand. Every word in God's Word has a purpose for us today. Would you agree with me?
Perhaps, some may have found the stories of Nehemiah boring and feel they did not help you. However, for others, maybe these chapters have had just the opposite affect on you. For those that have not been with us since we started this 13 part series, you need to know we have been tracing the steps to recovery from spiritual ruin or damage using the book of Nehemiah.
The first seven chapters tell the story of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. We allowed theses chapters to teach us how to restore our defenses, how to rebuild the walls and the gates of our lives. We allowed these chapters to help us understand how to close the gaps where the devil has beaten us down through either some outward practice or an inward attitude, that has hurt our relationships with others.
Then, beginning with chapter 8 and on through the middle section of the book, we have been looking at the need for a change of outlook in our lives. We saw how to renew our minds, how to be reinstructed in the truth, how to correct our thinking, moreover, how to try to learn to think as God thinks. In addition, in order to do that, it involves a careful hearing of the Word of God.
Remember when we looked at Israel standing before the Water Gate and listening, hour after hour, to the reading of the Scripture in chapter 8:3? That is what changed the nation and the people. And as we apply this same concept to our own lives, it involves, hearing the Word of God and obeying Him, confessing sins to God and praising Him for His wonderful goodness.
This will bring us to a natural outcome, which is commitment to a total new lifestyle. And we find this in chapter 10, even though it actually begins with the closing verse of chapter 9.
Listen as I review a little from last week verse 9:38; "And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto
it."
This is a wonderful display of the need, which many people felt they needed. What did they do? They sealed their covenant with God. Did you make a covenant with God last week when we studied chapter 9? The covenant we discussed was walking in God's ways. Obey His laws and keep His Commandments. Remember I showed that to seal your covenant was very simple. Listen to John 14:15 again;
"If ye love me, keep my
commandments." That is all there is to it. To seal your covenant with Jesus and the Father is keeping His commandments.
This is what the people do here in chapter 10. Chapter 10 starts with a list of those who signed this new covenant or agreement with God in behalf of all of Israel. Notice in verse 1 that it is Nehemiah himself who signs it first.
10:1 Now those that sealed [were], Nehemiah, the Tirshatha, the son of Hachaliah, and Zidkijah,
10:2 Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah,
10:3 Pashur, Amariah, Malchijah,
10:4 Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch,
10:5 Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah,
10:6 Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch,
10:7 Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,
10:8 Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah: these [were] the priests.
10:9 And the Levites: both Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel;
10:10 And their brethren, Shebaniah, Hodijah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan,
10:11 Micha, Rehob, Hashabiah,
10:12 Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah,
10:13 Hodijah, Bani, Beninu.
10:14 The chief of the people; Parosh, Pahathmoab, Elam,
Zatthu, Bani,
10:15 Bunni, Azgad, Bebai,
10:16 Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin,
10:17 Ater, Hizkijah, Azzur,
10:18 Hodijah, Hashum, Bezai,
10:19
Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai,
10:20 Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir,
10:21 Meshezabeel, Zadok, Jaddua,
10:22 Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah,
10:23 Hoshea, Hananiah, Hashub,
10:24 Hallohesh, Pileha, Shobek,
10:25 Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah,
10:26 And Ahijah, Hanan, Anan,
10:27 Malluch, Harim, Baanah.
Then there follows in verses 2 to 8, 21 names who are called priest according to chapter 12:2 to 7. Starting in verse 9 to 13, we have a group of Levites who serve the temple who also sign this agreement. Then in verse 14 to 27, there is a group of the leaders, who sign it.
Then finally, in verses 28-29, we have the common people signing the agreement;
"And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinims, and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, every one having knowledge, and having understanding; V:29
They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into 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 Lord, and his judgments and his
statutes;"
These people saw a need for changing their lifestyles to the point they would be keeping God's Laws fully.
In the remainder of the chapter, beginning with verse 30, we find the six specific promises the Israelites made. I would like to summarize them for you first and then we will look at them a little closer. First, they committed themselves to avoid the unequal yoke in their marriages. Second, they promised to observe the Seventh Day, Sabbath, and the seventh year Sabbatical. Third, they promised to provide money, grain and animals for the offerings of the temple. Fourth, they promised to bring the first fruits of their crops, their herds, their flocks, and their firstborn sons to God. Fifth, they promised to pay ten percent tithe of all their income, their crops and wealth to the temple. Sixth, they promised to attend faithfully to the House of God. Ok, now let us look in more detail at these commitments.
First, their promise to avoid being unequal yoke. Listen to verse 30;
"And that we would not give our daughters unto the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our
sons:"
That may look unfair, but there is an excellent reason for this promise. The Israelites were living in an area that was fully of immorality. There was the practiced public lewdness everywhere. The heathens sacrificed their children to their pagan gods. So to protect the Israelites from these dangerous practices God instructed them not to intermarry with the heathens. It was though intermarriage that their faith in God would be destroyed. This is what happened to King Solomon.
Solomon, the wisest person who ever lived, had 300 marriages and 700 concubines with foreign women who lead him away from God. Paul repeats this advice in 2 Corinthians 6:14-16;
"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers, for what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever, or what agreement is there between the temple of God and
idols?"
Many Christians throughout history have ignored this counsel and married another of a different faith. While a few marriages make it and some even join the church later, nevertheless, the vast majority have problems or end up in divorce court.
And, I know that there is not any guarantee that if you marry a Christian of the same faith you will have a happy home. However, the odds are much more in your favor if you do. The odds are that if you disobey this command from God, and by the way, it is a command not a suggestion, but if you marry outside your beliefs chances are you are opening a door to heartache and misery.
I wish I had more time to speak on this subject but we need to continue.
The second thing the Israelites promised is to observe the Seventh Day Sabbath and the seventh year Sabbatical. Listen to verse 31;
"And if the people of the land bring ware or any victuals on the Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy it of them on the Sabbath, or on the holy day: and that we would leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every
debt."
As Seventh - day Adventist, we know that God requires us to take time out from our everyday activity to rest and worship Him. Listen to the fourth Commandment from Exodus 20:
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. V:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: V:10
But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
V:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed
it."
This is the longest of all 10 Commandments. God is very clear what He requires from His people. And there is no verse in the Bible that says different or that God has changed His day of rest and worship.
We all know that if we do not rest physically our bodies will wear out much faster. The Children of Israel needed to be reminded that they were to keep all of God's Commandments including the fourth.
They also promised that during the seventh year, the land would not to be worked. In Leviticus 25:18-22, God promised that He would bless the land so much, that it would produce enough fruit for three years.
"Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.
V:19 And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety. V:20
And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:
V:21 Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. V:22
And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old
store."
This was God's way of proving to the people He would take care of all their needs. And He will do the same for us today too. Philippians 4:19 says;
"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus." Friend, our God is a God of supplying needs. And that was what the sabbatical year proved.
The third thing they undertook was to provide the money, the grain and the animals for the sacrificial offerings. Listen to verse 32-34;
"Also we made ordinances for us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God;
V:33 For the showbread, and for the continual meat offering, and for the continual burnt offering, of the sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make an atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. V:34 And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, after the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the
law."
The people recognized their need for offerings and sacrifices. The history of Israel clearly reveals that the nation had a great emphasis on shedding the blood of animals. This was to help them never to forget the cost of their redemption and forgiveness. Blood shed meant a death had occurred. God was teaching His people that sin was such a serious matter that only a death could cure it.
The Bible says in Hebrew 9:22; "the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no
forgiveness." Each sacrifice pointed to the coming of the Messiah. And Jesus did come and redeemed the world from sin. 1 Peter 1:18-19 says:
"We are not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold,... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot."
The fourth thing was the promise the people would bring their first fruits of their crops, herds, flocks, and even their sons to God. Listen to verses 35-37;
"And to bring the firstfruits of our ground, and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, unto the house of the LORD: V:36
Also the firstborn of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in the law, and the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks, to bring to the house of our God, unto the priests that minister in the house of our God:
V:37 And that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our
tillage."
God wanted to teach the people who believed in God to give only their first and best of everything they owned. The Bible says in Exodus 13:11-16, this was the way God wanted the parents to teach their children that God brought them out of the land of Egypt and they belong to Him.
"And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as he sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee,
V:12 That thou shalt set apart unto the LORD all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the LORD'S.
V:13 And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.
V:14 And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: V:15
And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem.
V:16 And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of
Egypt."
Paul tells us the same thing in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? V:20
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." God owns us and we owe Him everything.
The fifth thing is the matter of the tithes, or the tenth part of their wealth. Listen to the last half of verse 37 to 39:
"And that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage.
V:38 And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house.
V:39 For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the corn, of the new wine, and the oil, unto the chambers, where [are] the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, and the porters, and the singers: and we will not forsake the house of our
God."
The prophet Malachi says in Malachi 3:10; "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD, that I will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing such as you are not able to
contain."
The paying our tithe is the only promise I know of where God says to test and prove Him. God says be faithful in our tithes and watch to see if He does not bless us so much we can't build enough storehouse to hold all our blessings. God ordained the tithes to be used for the support of the ministry. However, we must be careful why we give back to God what is already His. The motive of our giving is God's primary concern. Our offering does not mean a thing to God unless it is given with a cheerful spirit and a thankful heart.
Know your motive when you give to God and His church. Do not give to receive. But God promises that if we give for the right reason - we will receive.
The final and sixth promise is found in the last part of verse 39: Listen;
"we will not forsake the house of our
God." This is the peoples promise to faithfully attend the worship services of the temple.
All through the history of Israel, the temple was called "the house of God." It was in the temple where Gods Shekinah Glory was found. And today, it is in our heart where we should first find God. If God is not in our heart first, then you will not find His Spirit here in His house.
However, if God's Spirit lives in our heart, then when you come to His house you will feel His presence here also. Coming to church is much more than putting your hands in your pockets and giving. It is much more than singing a few hymns and listening to a sermon. It is coming to meet with God. This again is what having an agreement or covenant with God is all about. And it is not hard. Paul says in Philippians 4:13;
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens
me." God is calling for a people to be obedient to the things that He commands. That is what the children of Israel discovered. And it is what I hope you have discovered too. I pray that you are one of the people that God calls His child. Jesus says in 1 John 2:3-6;
"And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. V:4
He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
V:5 But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him.
V:6 He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He
walked."
When we continue, we will look at chapter 11 where we find the account of Nehemiah's actions in repopulating Jerusalem.
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