Nehemiah 9-10

Covenant and Compassion

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Welcome to God’s Word for You, a ministry of Sharon RP Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.Sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life.

Well, please turn over in your Bibles with me to the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter 9. Nehemiah chapter 9 can be found on page 436 of your provided pew Bibles. Nehemiah chapter 9 and we're actually going to be looking this morning at both chapter 9 and chapter 10 together. Nehemiah chapter 9 through chapter 10. You're going to have a temptation, this is a longer passage, to zone out. I’m warning you. But all this is one document. All this is one unit. It's God's Word. It converts sinners. It saves souls and enlightens the mind and it deserves attention. Pay attention, Nehemiah chapter 9:

“Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads. Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God. Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God. And the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said:

““Stand up and bless the Lord your God
Forever and ever!

““Blessed be Your glorious name,
Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!
You alone are the Lord;
You have made heaven,
The heaven of heavens, with all their host,
The earth and everything on it,
The seas and all that is in them,
And You preserve them all.
The host of heaven worships You.

““You are the Lord 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,
And made a covenant with him
To give the land of the Canaanites,
The Hittites, the Amorites,
The Perizzites, the Jebusites,
And the Girgashites—
To give it to his descendants.
You have performed Your words,
For You are righteous.

““You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt,
And heard their cry by the Red Sea.
You showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,
Against all his servants,
And against all the people of his land.
For You knew that they acted proudly against them.
So You made a name for Yourself, as it is this day.
And You divided the sea before them,
So that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land;
And their persecutors You threw into the deep,
As a stone into the mighty waters.
Moreover You led them by day with a cloudy pillar,
And by night with a pillar of fire,
To give them light on the road
Which they should travel.

““You came down also on Mount Sinai,
And spoke with them from heaven,
And gave them just ordinances and true laws,
Good statutes and commandments.
You made known to them Your holy Sabbath,
And commanded them precepts, statutes and laws,
By the hand of Moses Your servant.
You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger,
And brought them water out of the rock for their thirst,
And told them to go in to possess the land
Which You had sworn to give them.

““But they and our fathers acted proudly,
Hardened their necks,
And did not heed Your commandments.
They refused to obey,
And they were not mindful of Your wonders
That You did among them.
But they hardened their necks,
And in their rebellion
They appointed a leader
To return to their bondage.
But You are God,
Ready to pardon,
Gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger,
Abundant in kindness,
And did not forsake them.

““Even when they made a molded calf for themselves,
And said, ‘This is your god
That brought you up out of Egypt,’
And worked great provocations,
Yet in Your manifold mercies
You did not forsake them in the wilderness.
The pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day,
To lead them on the road;
Nor the pillar of fire by night,
To show them light,
And the way they should go.
You also gave Your good Spirit to instruct them,
And did not withhold Your manna from their mouth,
And gave them water for their thirst.
Forty years You sustained them in the wilderness;
They lacked nothing;
Their clothes did not wear out
And their feet did not swell.

““Moreover You gave them kingdoms and nations,
And divided them into districts.
So they took possession of the land of Sihon,
The land of the king of Heshbon,
And the land of Og king of Bashan.
You also multiplied their children as the stars of heaven,
And brought them into the land
Which You had told their fathers
To go in and possess.
So the people went in
And possessed the land;
You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land,
The Canaanites,
And gave them into their hands,
With their kings
And the people of the land,
That they might do with them as they wished.
And they took strong cities and a rich land,
And possessed houses full of all goods,
Cisterns already dug, vineyards, olive groves,
And fruit trees in abundance.
So they ate and were filled and grew fat,
And delighted themselves in Your great goodness.

““Nevertheless they were disobedient
And rebelled against You,
Cast Your law behind their backs
And killed Your prophets, who testified against them
To turn them to Yourself;
And they worked great provocations.
Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their enemies,
Who oppressed them;
And in the time of their trouble,
When they cried to You,
You heard from heaven;
And according to Your abundant mercies
You gave them deliverers who saved them
From the hand of their enemies.

““But after they had rest,
They again did evil before You.
Therefore You left them in the hand of their enemies,
So that they had dominion over them;
Yet when they returned and cried out to You,
You heard from heaven;
And many times You delivered them according to Your mercies,
And testified against them,
That You might bring them back to Your law.
Yet they acted proudly,
And did not heed Your commandments,
But sinned against Your judgments,
‘Which if a man does, he shall live by them.’
And they shrugged their shoulders,
Stiffened their necks,
And would not hear.
Yet for many years You had patience with them,
And testified against them by Your Spirit in Your prophets.
Yet they would not listen;
Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
Nevertheless in Your great mercy
You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them;
For You are God, gracious and merciful.

““Now therefore, our God,
The great, the mighty, and awesome God,
Who keeps covenant and mercy:
Do not let all the trouble seem small before You
That has come upon us,
Our kings and our princes,
Our priests and our prophets,
Our fathers and on all Your people,
From the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.
However You are just in all that has befallen us;
For You have dealt faithfully,
But we have done wickedly.
Neither our kings nor our princes,
Our priests nor our fathers,
Have kept Your law,
Nor heeded Your commandments and Your testimonies,
With which You testified against them.
For they have not served You in their kingdom,
Or in the many good things that You gave them,
Or in the large and rich land which You set before them;
Nor did they turn from their wicked works.

““Here we are, servants today!
And the land that You gave to our fathers,
To eat its fruit and its bounty,
Here we are, servants in it!
And it yields much increase to the kings
You have set over us,
Because of our sins;
Also they have dominion over our bodies and our cattle
At their pleasure;
And we are in great distress.

““And because of all this,
We make a sure covenant and write it;
Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests seal it.”

“Now those who placed their seal on the document were: Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah, Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaiah. These were the priests.

“The Levites: Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, and Kadmiel.

“Their brethren: Shebaniah, Hodijah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, Micha, Rehob, Hashabiah, Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, Hodijah, Bani, and Beninu.

“The leaders of the people: Parosh, Pahath-Moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, Hodijah, Hashum, Bezai, Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, Ahijah, Hanan, Anan, Malluch, Harim, and Baanah.

“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 peoples of the lands 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 Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes: We would not give our daughters as wives to the peoples 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.

“Also we made ordinances for ourselves, to exact from ourselves yearly one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: for the showbread, for the regular grain offering, for the regular burnt offering of the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the set feasts; for the holy things, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God. We cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for bringing the wood offering into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at the appointed times year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God as it is written in the Law.

“And we made ordinances to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of the Lord; to bring the firstborn of our sons and our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks, to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God; to bring the firstfruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit from all kinds of trees, the new wine and oil, to the priests, to the storerooms of the house of our God; and to bring the tithes of our land to the Levites, for the Levites should receive the tithes in all our farming communities. And the priest, the descendant of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes; and the Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the rooms of the storehouse.

“For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine and the oil, to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are, where the priests who minister and the gatekeepers and the singers are; and we will not neglect the house of our God.”

One document. One document. All of that is one whole piece. And I promise you, we didn’t read for a quarter of the day. It might have felt like that, but Nehemiah 9 and 10 are one document, a covenant that the people enter into before God. A contract that the people enter into with the God of the universe who had come into covenant with them.

And so this morning, we want to think about who this God is who makes these covenants and how the people are relating to that covenant making and keeping God. And as we look at that, you will come to see that God, it is the Lord, who is gracious and compassionate. And we are to cling to that compassion. So I'd like to start with just this question: What is a covenant? Have you ever bought a house before? Some of you have. When you bought your house, you went to the bank and you made out an agreement for how you were going to buy that house. They were going to give you something, that house and the land, and in response, you were obligated to give to them a certain amount of money every single month. And it was a contract between the two of you. Often these contracts are called covenants. When spouses marry each other, they make promises to one another. I will do these things and you will do these things and we are committing to these things together and it is a covenant together, binding before God and man. And this is what the Israelites do here, they make a covenant.

But in the covenant, you have different parts in Biblical covenants. The first is that long history. There's a narration of the history of what's come to pass, what has led up to this point in making the covenant. And also, throughout that narration of the history, what we find is confession of sin. In Biblical covenants, there is both a narration and a confession of sin. There's also an identifier of who the parties are: God Himself and His people. And last is those promises in a covenant. And we find those in chapter 10 when the people promise, they make five different promises. Promises to bring in the tithe, promises to bring in the firstfruits, promises to bring wood for the sacrifices, promises to keep the law of God. They make promises to God because He had made promises to them. This is renewal of this covenant.

And mixed in, as we look at specifically chapter 9, to start, I'd like you to move your eyes down to the second part of verse 5. Nehemiah 9:5, as we see who this God of the covenant is. Nehemiah 9:5, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God forever and ever! Blessed be Your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise! You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, the heavens of heavens, with all their host, the Earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You.” Who is the God of the covenant? He is the Lord alone! He is the creator and the master of everything. He is the one who sits high, enthroned, above the heavens. He is the Sovereign One who's able to come into covenant with them and make these promises.

But we find out more than just His excellency. We also find about how He deals with people. Look down with me at verses seven and eight, “You are the Lord God, who chose Abraham, and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before You, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites.” God is gracious to Abraham. Abraham is just living out his life in Ur. Abraham is just living in the land of the Chaldeans. And what does the God, the maker of the universe, do? He condescends to Abraham and He makes a covenant with him. Abraham doesn't deserve this. Abraham isn't righteous in his own life. Abraham doesn't somehow find favor in the sight of God because of who he is, but he's just living, and God makes a covenant with him to give him the land, that promised land. He also gives him another promise that we see is fulfilled later in the chapter to give him descendants, more descendants than are the numerous stars in the sky.

But as we keep going, we find that God is also, verse 17, the last half of verse 17, “but You are God.” And how does God interact with men outside of covenant keeping, or in light of His covenant keeping? God is ready pardon. God is ready to forgive. God is gracious and merciful. I'd rather the translation, the New King James version here says “merciful”, a better word for that is “compassionate”. These three words here used, God is ready to pardon, gracious, and merciful, are only used of God. These are three attributes that God, in His Scriptures, only uses for Himself. Gracious, merciful, and compassionate. That is the God you serve. The one who is ready to pardon, to forgive you of your sins, who is gracious to you, and compassionate.

But more than just that, He is also slow to anger. He is abundant in kindness, and He does not forsake. This is who the God is, when it says that He is abundant and lovingkindness, this is hesed. This is His faithfulness, His devotion, His graciousness to His people. That even though we might be fickle people, He's not quick to anger with us, but He is slow, He's compassionate, He’s merciful and He's gracious. The Israelites recognize something about themselves all throughout this story, don’t they? We see this cycle in the story. God is faithful, God brings His covenant, but how do the people respond? Rebellion. God is compassionate, God is loving, and how did the people respond? Rebellion. God saves the people, God delivers them, He rescues them, and how do they respond? The text tells us they shrug their shoulders, stiffen their necks, and they go about their iniquities. They put God's law behind their backs. God is always looking down upon them. God is always looking at His people. God is always mindful of what is a need and He’s gracious to His people, but how often do we find this in our own lives, this cycle that we rebel against Him. And that we have to cry out for Him to rescue us. And yet when we rebel and we cry out for rescue, He restores us and what do we find ourselves doing again the very next day? How quick are we to forget His law? How quick are we to put beside, behind us, to go back into the old paths? See, the Israelites knew who they were. This is the point of this covenant ceremony is they recognized it's not just their fathers who had sinned in Egypt. It's not just their fathers who had sinned and cried out when they were at the Red Sea. It's not just their fathers who turn their heads against God in the wilderness. It was not just their fathers who ignored God's law when the kingdom of David was still around. It was them.

Do you recognize that the Scriptures are talking to you? All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Every single one of us, every single day, sins in thought, word, and deed. We are those who must cry out for God's mercy. We are those who must rely on God for grace. We are those who look to God's longsuffering and His being slow to anger. That He would be gracious to us.

This is what the Israelites recognize. It is not just their fathers, but it's them. And where do they go to? Did they run to the law to find mercy? Did they run to the law to find grace? Do they run to their own righteousness to have right standing before God? No. No, there's one word, as I was translating these two chapters, out of the Hebrew this week, I was surprised by this one word coming up again and again and again and again and again and yet again. And that's that word I said I don't think the New King James does justice to it. It's not gracious and merciful, but it's compassionate. God is compassionate. The word in the Hebrew is rahum. He is compassionate. He is the one that when His people cry out, He hears them. When His people pray to Him, and they lift up their heads to heaven, He is always there like an eager father, waiting and ready to care for them. God is always compassionate, always there.

But don't just take my word for it. I want you to see this. Nehemiah 9:17, “But You are God, ready to pardon, gracious and compassionate.” Verse 19, “Yet in Your manifold compassions You did not forsake them in the wilderness.” Verse 27, “Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their enemies, who oppressed them; and in the time of their trouble, when they cried to You, You heard from heaven; according to Your abundant compassion.” Verse 31, “Nevertheless in Your great compassion You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them; for You are God, gracious and compassionate.” Do you see it? The Israelites are saying in this covenant, “God is giving us this model of a covenant before us to show us that He is the one who hears the cries of His people.” When we say that He alone is Lord, that we fall short of His glory, and we cry out to Him for rescue, He is there for you. He is compassionate. He knows what You're going through, for His eyes are always upon you. He knows in those times when you feel like you have just utterly failed Him, but He's compassionate towards you.

What do we find in chapter 9? After they've made this confession of sin and they’ve said who God is and the type of God He is, they seal it. That's what most of chapter 10 is. The first 27 verses are all about the Levites, the priests, the nobles, and then after that it says all the people: the women, the children, everyone who had understanding affixed their seal to that covenant saying that this is truly my sin. And You truly are my God. Let me ask you: if you were asked today will you own the Lord as your Lord? Would you affix your seal to it? If somebody wrote this type of confession out for our sins, would you sign your name to it? Do you recognize that you yourself are a sinner in need of grace and compassion? I'm going to suppose to you that your parents, that your forefathers and foremothers, did. I'm not just going to suppose to you, I'm going to show you. This is the heritage you have. This piece of paper is from 1871. Two pieces of paper. You can look at it later, I'll put it on the table. This is the covenant your forefathers and foremothers signed with a confession of their own sin and of a declaration of God's kingdom. This is the pattern that has happened again and again where people affix their signatures. These are the signatories of this church. Will you today renew these types of covenants in your own heart? Will you in your own mind declare that the Lord is the God of your soul and the master of the universe? Will you confess your own sin and affix it by your prayers unto the Lord that He is your only rescue, He is your only strength? See, we don't just have a covenant. We don't just have a covenant like they had. See, in chapter 10, the only covenants that they had that they could look back to is Mount Sinai. But we read something before we got into the sermon from Hebrews chapter 8.

I want you to turn to the book of Hebrews. We’ll start at Hebrews 7:20. In Hebrews chapter 7, page 1,066 of your pew Bibles, “And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: “The Lord has sworn and will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek’”)”, and verse 22, “by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.” See, they have fixed their seals to a covenant, not only confessed their sins and relied on God for a promised mercy, but we are the inheritors of a better covenant, where Jesus Christ is the seal of our covenant. And he's sealed it in His very own blood. Luke chapter 22, “This is the covenant in My blood.” This is what we did last week when we took the Lord's supper.

And Hebrews 9:15 pushes the idea further. “And for this reason Jesus is the Mediator of a new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” Jesus is the seal, the prophet, the priest, the king, the mediator, the propitiation, that everything necessary that you might inherit eternal promises of the covenant of grace. That is why we call the Scriptures outline a covenant of grace, because even here in Nehemiah chapter 10, they were found wanting in this covenant. Yes, it was a high point in the life of Israel, but, brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ is the mediator of even a far better covenant.

So let me ask you this morning: Are you committed to His covenant. For some of you, you have been committed to that covenant a long time, but you might have grown cold towards that covenant. Will you confess your sins and bow before the Lord of the universe? For some of you, you have never made this covenant. Children, we long for the day, children, we long for the day, children, we long for the day, when you will come before the congregation and say, “He is my Lord, and I am a sinner needing of His grace. And I take hold of the reins of that covenant. It is my faith.” That is our desire for you, children. Will you come into covenant with God? Will you confess that He is Lord? Will you cling to His righteousness? Will you depend upon His mercy and His compassion? This is what Nehemiah 9 and 10 teach us as a model that drives us to Christ and brings it home for our hearts.

I want to end with a quote from a covenanter’s diary in 1856 when she took communion for the first time. And then a final question. Sabbath, October 25th 1856, “this day for the first time I have sat down at the table of the Lord. In doing so, I have publicly professed to cast in my lot with the people of God. Now joining myself, no, joining myself to the Lord. Oh Lord! Help me and enable me not only to do so professedly, but indeed, in truth, to give my heart to the Lord. What am I that you should condescend to make a covenant with me? Who am I but a poor sinful woman of the dust? Oh, I pray this condescension increases my humility and gratitude. I have this day set the seal to a covenant by which I engage this time henceforward to consider myself as the Lord's to spend and be spent for Him, to repent of my sins and leave them off forever. Notwithstanding they may at times prevail against me, yet, by God's help, I shall never again serve sin to fulfill the lusts thereof. To be diligent in my devotional duties in reading and secret prayer morning and evening as God enables me, to imitate the meek and gentle spirit of Christ. And by no provocation, giving way to the evil passions of my own soul.”

Would you go home and write such a covenant? Would you go into your prayer closet and make this type of profession to your Lord? This is the model that God gives us how we interact with Him. He's come into covenant with you. Will you, this day, renew or for the first time, affix your own seal that you are a believer in that covenant of grace?

Let's pray: “Oh Lord, we thank you that you are God alone. We thank you, Lord, that you are the one who is gracious and merciful, compassionate, long-suffering, and abounding in loving-kindness. Lord, we thank you that you hear our cries. You cast away our sins. Father, please, make this covenant not just something that we profess with our mouths, but know in the very pits of our souls. Father, please, press upon us by your Holy Spirit the truth of who You are and the grace You extend. In Jesus’s name, amen.”

Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon RP Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website: Sharonrpc.org. We’d love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa 52640. May God richly bless you this week.