Friends, keep your Bibles open at Nehemiah 8.
We're looking at Nehemiah 8, 9 and 10 this morning.
Let's pray.
Gracious Lord, in the words of your psalmist,
we ask that you would open our eyes
that we might see wonderful things in your law.
Father, we pray that we would delight in your word
and that we would delight in obeying your word
and we ask it by your grace.
Amen.
Let me tell you about two court cases.
Both have to do with driving offences.
Case number one, a man is pulled over by the police
for driving at 191 kilometres an hour.
His breath test revealed his blood alcohol reading
was four times the legal limit.
He was charged and then eventually he was released on bail.
Four hours after being released on bail,
he was pulled over again.
His breath test result was exactly the same.
Four times the legal limit.
Case number two, 23-year-old man is in court
charged with manslaughter and culpable driving.
Trying to overtake, he ran into an oncoming car
that killed two people.
The judge said one thing was in his favour
and interestingly enough,
so did the family of those who he killed.
He said that they were struck by his genuine remorse.
We know there's a big difference between those two attitudes.
A difference between true repentance and empty words.
So what might that look like for the people of God
as they return from exile, settle back into their home
after a long, long history of ignoring God?
Have they learnt from their past mistakes?
Will their lies reveal genuine remorse?
The story so far is that the wars are built,
the city is populated, leadership is in place,
the community life is ordered,
people are setting back into normal life again,
but the work of Nehemiah that he had come to do
had only just begun.
Chapter 8 verse 1 says it's the first day of the seventh month.
It's the day of the Feast of the Trumpets,
something similar to our New Year's Day.
A good day for the people of God to have a new start
as they look forward to the future.
Very significantly we read in chapter 8 verse 1
that the people gather as one people
and they ask Ezra the priest to read to them the law of Moses,
the same law that they had neglected for so long.
And notice that there are men and there are women,
all who could listen and understand.
They gather for the reading.
There was potentially a creche,
but there certainly wasn't a Sunday school
and there wasn't a movie put on for the teenagers
down by the dung gate.
The whole community gathers
for the reading of the word.
Verse 3 says,
the reading went for five hours.
And verse 5 says that they stood for it the whole time.
And verse 3 says,
all the people listened attentively to the book of the law.
There is a respect here for God's word.
Notice too the response to the word of God in verse 6.
Ezra praised the Lord, the great God,
and all the people lifted their hands and responded,
Amen! Amen!
Amen!
Then they bowed down and they worshipped the Lord
with their faces to the ground.
Bowing down is a posture that signifies their submission,
corporate submission to the word of God,
the authority of the word of God.
The people of God are here relearning the law
that they had rejected for so long.
They are making the scriptures
the guiding principle of their lives.
Is that not what we confess here?
The Bible for us,
to be the guiding principle of our lives,
it's written on our walls.
One of our core values is Christ-centered Bible saturation.
It says the Bible alone is God-inspired,
infallible,
and unerring means of speaking to humanity.
The Bible is essential for knowing God
and transformation of life.
The Bible is our standard for faith and conduct
and leads us to treasure Jesus Christ.
We believe that right thinking
fosters right living,
and we value teachable hearts
that are earnest and intense
and passionate about the things of God.
Like them,
our response to the word of God
is not meant to be a mere intellectualism.
They praise God.
They want God to change them
and to change us.
God's word here is informing the minds
and reaching the hearts of these exiles.
These exiles start to grieve in verse 9.
It says,
all the people
had been weeping
as they listened
to the words of the law.
Everyone who gathered was guilty.
Their offense was tragically universal,
deeply serious,
and inescapably personal.
Amazingly though,
the gathering was urged
to dry their tears.
Verse 9 says that
Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levite
said to them,
whoa, whoa, whoa.
This day is a sacred day
to the Lord your God.
Do not mourn or weep.
They tell them to stop mourning
and instead
go off and have a party
with some great food
and the best drink
because the end of verse 10,
the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Why do they tell them
to stop weeping
and start rejoicing?
How can they find joy
when all the conviction
of their centuries
of rebellion
came flooding in
as the word of God is read?
How?
Well,
the same word of God
also reveals the remedy
to their sin
because every year,
10 days after celebrating
the Feast of the Trumpets,
the people of God
gathered together
to celebrate
the Day of Atonement.
This day
is the annual public declaration
of God's mercy.
The atoning sacrifice
was offered.
The people would
metaphorically
pin their sins
on a scapegoat.
The scapegoat
was cast out
into the wilderness.
It was a visible sign
that they were clean
from all of their sins.
All their sins
would be fully,
immediately
and irrevocably
pardoned by God
on the Day of Atonement.
Of course,
each year
the Day of Atonement
anticipated
a greater scapegoat
who would truly,
fully,
completely carry
the sins of all people
and that day came
on the first Good Friday
when God's Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ,
carried our sins
on the cross
in his sinless body.
And that's why
for these returned exiles,
the weeping and sadness
of verse 9
is balanced
by the joy
and the gladness
of verse 12.
The people of God
are again starting
to live
under the control
of the Word of God.
Verse 14,
I think,
expresses it
with a beautiful simplicity.
They found written
in the law
which the Lord
had commanded
through Moses
that the Israelites
were to live in booths
during the feast
of the seventh month.
They discovered
something
from the Word of God
that they didn't know
was there,
that they neglected.
And what they discovered,
most likely,
they'd been looking
at Leviticus 23,
was that the following
the Day of Atonement
on the 10th
of the seventh month
was the Feast of the Booths
on the 15th day
of the seventh month,
also known to us
as the Feast of the Tabernacles.
They saw it,
they'd been ignoring it,
and so they did it,
they celebrated it.
The Feast of Tabernacles
called the people of God
to look back
to the wilderness wanderings
and remember God's provision
of water from a rock,
from a dying, thirsty people,
for a dying, thirsty people.
They're also to remember
God's presence with them
in the pillar of the cloud
during the day
and the light that led them
to the promised land
at night time.
Verse 16, 17 is entering.
It says that they hadn't celebrated it
from the days of Joshua,
son of Nun.
That's a long gap.
Joshua led the wilderness wanderers
into their new home
after the rescue from Egypt.
And the next time
this festival is celebrated
is when the exiled people of God
are brought back to their home
and established again
in the land
as the people of God.
They are meant to see the parallels.
God has again committed
a mighty act of salvation.
God has again committed
a mighty act of salvation
and he has rescued his people
and brought them to their home.
And this feast
was to remind
these returned exiles
that their confidence
is not in walls.
It's not in the city.
It's not in even
the strong leadership
of Nehemiah and Ezra
and others
but in their great
and awesome God.
The Lord Jesus celebrated
the Feast of Tabernacles
in John chapter 7.
On the last day
of the feast
he stands up
and he says
if anyone is thirsty
let him come to me
and drink.
Whoever believes in me
as the scriptures
has said
and I believe
when he says
the scriptures has said
he was looking at
Nehemiah 8 and 9
streams of living water
will flow from within him.
By this he meant
the spirit
whom those who believe
in him
will later
were later to receive.
Jesus
on the Feast of Tabernacles
makes an extraordinary claim.
It's an offer
to anyone
and whoever
believes in him.
Jesus claims
to fulfill
all that the
Feast of Tabernacles
points back to
and anticipated
in the future.
Jesus is the one
true rescuer
who will provide
for our most
essential need.
Spirit of God himself.
Jesus is the
giver of the Spirit
as God's
ongoing presence
with the believer
as the guiding
toward truth
and the rich source
of eternal life.
That is what he promises
those who believe
in him.
Our confidence
is to be
in the Lord Jesus.
So the rediscovery
of the word of God
leads to covenant
renewal
on the
day of the
Feast of the Booths.
And then there's
another
service
celebrated
on the very
next day
of the Feast
of the Booths.
This time
it's a six hour
service.
And this time
there will be
repentance.
Nehemiah
chapter 9.
We notice
there that
Ezra's prayer
from verse 6
dominates the
chapter.
And his
prayer
surveys
the history
of Israel's
relationship
with Yahweh.
Verses 6
to 15
in chapter 9
lists the goodness
of God
in creation,
in choosing
Abram
from all the
peoples,
in hearing
the cry
of his people
in Egypt,
in delivering
them with
his awesome
power,
in giving
his law,
in providing
bread from heaven
and water
from the rock
and telling
them to take
the land.
Verse 16
gives the
contrast
that people
acted
arrogantly.
They become
stubborn and
refused to
listen.
They refused
to remember
God's goodness
and they even
tried to go
back to
Egypt.
And then
comes a
list of
God's added
mercies in
spite of
Israel's
disobedience.
Verse 17,
you are a
forgiving God,
gracious and
compassionate,
slow to
anger and
abounding in
love,
therefore you
did not
desert them.
And more
than that,
he didn't
just desert
them,
he pursued
them with
goodness and
mercy again
and again
and again.
Verses 20
to 25
says,
God gave
his good
spirit to
instruct them.
He gave
them manna
and he gave
them water.
For 40
years their
clothes did
not wear
out.
They
overcame
kingdoms.
They
entered and
possessed
the land.
They
had cities
and fertile
land.
They
had houses
and cisterns
and vineyards
and olive
grows and
fruit trees.
The end
of verse 25
just sums
it up.
They
reveled in
the goodness
of God.
Like a
dog rolling
in something.
Oh,
this is
great.
Contrast
to the people
of God.
Verse 26
in their
response.
But they
were disobedient
and they
rebelled
against you.
They
put your
law behind
their backs.
They
killed
your
prophets
who had
admonished
them in
order to
turn them
back to
you.
They
committed
awful
blasphemies.
God's
response.
Verse 27,
you handed
them over to
the enemies.
You oppressed
them.
But when
they were
oppressed,
they cried
out to you.
And from
heaven you
heard them.
And in
your great
compassion,
you gave
them deliverers
who rescued
them from
the hand of
their enemies.
The people's
response,
verse 28,
but as
soon as
they were
at rest,
they again
did what
was evil
in your
sight.
Then you
abandoned
them to
the hand
of their
enemies so
that they
ruled over
them.
God's
response,
verse 28,
and when
they cried
out to you
again,
you heard
from heaven
and in
your
compassion,
you delivered
them time
after time.
And again
in verse
29,
you warned
them to
return to
your law,
but they
became arrogant
and disobeyed
your commands.
They sinned
against your
ordinances,
by which a
man will
live if he
obeys them.
Stubbornly they
turned their
backs and you
became stiff
necked and
refused to
listen.
But again,
God's response
in verse 30,
for many years
you were
patient with
them.
By your
spirit,
you admonished
them through
your prophets,
yet they
paid no
attention,
so you
handed them
over to the
neighbouring
Gentiles,
neighbouring
peoples.
And yet this
is what I
mean by
inexhaustible
grace.
In verse
31,
Ezra says,
in your
great mercy
you did
not put an
end to
them or
abandon
them,
for you
are gracious
and a
merciful God.
The focus
right through
this prayer
is on God's
faithfulness,
mercy and
goodness in
the face of
Israel's
rebellion,
sinfulness and
failure.
It is a
history lesson
in
inexhaustible
grace.
Notice
that the
language
shifts in
verse 32.
Ezra now
prays in
the first
person plural.
Now
therefore,
O our
God,
the great,
mighty and
awesome God
who keeps
his covenant
of love,
verse 33,
in all
that has
happened to
us.
You have
been just.
You have
acted faithfully
why we
did wrong.
Ezra's
prayer is
not just a
history lesson.
He brings
it right
down to
present
ownership of
failure and
acknowledgement of
God's goodness.
His prayer
here is an
implicit plea
for mercy.
Verses 36
and 37
twice state
the condition
of God's
people as
being slaves.
They are in
great distress,
it says.
They might be
back now in
the promised
land, but
they are still
under foreign
control.
And so
Ezra's prayer
is implicitly
asking God,
have your
mercies dried
up?
Have your
great
compassions
ceased?
Will you
now forsake
what you
have refused
to forsake
all these
centuries?
Notice
that they
don't direct
God to
do anything.
They don't
know what
the outcome
will be.
They do,
however,
commit to do
something themselves.
Have a look
at verse 38.
this is the
great renewal.
In view of
all this,
all what?
All the
century-longs
of great,
mighty,
awesome,
covenant-keeping,
loving work
of God.
In view of
all this,
we are making
a binding
agreement,
putting it in
writing,
and our
leaders,
our Levites,
and our
priests are
fixing their
seals to
it.
They confess
their failure.
They ask
God for
mercy,
but they're
not taking
that mercy
for granted.
In view of
God's mercy
from the past,
they commit
themselves to
covenant
obedience in
verse 38.
The details of
what they commit
themselves to
are in
chapter 10.
they make
six pledges
in chapter 10
and they
all have to
do with
the law
and the
temple.
Time doesn't
permit to
go into
all the
details,
but the
pledges of
commitment
have to
do with
how these
people are
to rightly
relate to
God.
My friends,
this is
willed,
principled,
binding,
written,
corporate
agreement to
pursue the
covenant
together.
God's
inexhaustible
grace through
history is
the basis
of this
covenant
renewal.
The return
to covenant
faithfulness is
not just seen
in walls being
built.
And it's not
just seen in
the reverence
for the word
of God.
Not even in
grieving over
sin.
They're all
part of the
covenant
renewal.
What is
needed is
a return
to God
in relationship
of obedience.
These
pledges are,
if you like,
the fruits that
show repentance.
Their
brokenness of
heart is
not content
to simply
moan and
groan,
but it
whips out a
pen and a
piece of
paper and it
makes a
list of
how it
will be
revealed in
repentance.
The
centuries of
God's
faithful
mercy and
provision to
the faithless
and ungrateful
people has
stirred the
returned
exiles to
renew their
commitment to
their covenant
with Yahweh.
Their return to
the covenant is
seen in their
faithfulness to the
covenant
requirements.
just before
his death on
the first
Easter,
the Lord
Jesus said he
was establishing
a new
covenant.
Luke 22
verses 19
to 20
records the
occasion.
It says he
took bread,
gave thanks and
broke it,
and he gave
it to them
saying,
this is my
body given
for you,
do this in
remembrance of
me.
In the same
way after the
supper he took
the cup saying,
this cup is
the new
covenant in
my blood
which is
poured out
for you.
The apostle
Paul picks
up Jesus'
words in
1 Corinthians
11.
He picks
them up to
a church
that is
declared to
be the
people of
God,
but you
could hardly
tell by the
way that
they lived.
Verse 23
of 1 Corinthians
11 says,
the Lord
Jesus on the
night he was
betrayed took
bread,
and when he
had given
thanks he
broke it and
said, this is
my body which
is for you,
do this in
remembrance of
me.
In the
same way,
after supper he
took the
cup saying,
this cup is
the new
covenant in
my blood,
do this
whenever you
drink it in
remembrance of
me.
Notice first
of all that the
Lord's Supper is
about remembering
the Lord Jesus
and all that we
have in him.
As his covenant
commitment and
obedience is so
much about
remembrance.
Jesus is the
fulfillment of
centuries of
God's grace and
patience and
mercy and
goodness and
kindness, and
Paul calls this
church of
Corinth to
remember Jesus,
remember the
gospel.
But reading on,
we see that the
Lord's Supper is
also about
covenant renewal.
Verse 26 says,
whenever you eat
this bread and
drink this cup,
you proclaim the
Lord's death
until he comes.
When you partake
in the Lord's
Supper, you are
declaring your
allegiance to the
Lord Jesus and
commitment to a
covenant relationship
with him.
And when we read
on further into
1 Corinthians 11,
we know that this
is a very serious
commitment.
Therefore, whoever
eats the bread or
drinks the cup of
the Lord in an
unworthy manner,
will be guilty of
sinning against the
body and blood of
the Lord.
A person ought to
examine themselves
before they eat of
the bread or drink
of the cup.
For anyone who
eats and drinks
without recognizing
the body of the
Lord, eats and
drinks judgment on
themselves.
When we take this
bread and we take
this cup, we are
saying amongst
other things, I
remember the mercy
and the forgiveness
of the Lord
Jesus.
And so to take
this bread and
to drink from
this cup, while
acting like sin
doesn't matter,
despising other
people, cherishing
and nurturing secret
sin, malicious
talk, slander,
gossip, judging
motives, embellishing
the truth, greed,
ingratitude, sharing
information that's
not yours, sarcasm.
That's to profane
the covenant.
it's taking the
Lord's Supper and
instead of renewing
the covenant in
that moment, you're
blaspheming against
the covenant.
covenant.
And that's why the
Lord's Supper is
never to be an
automatic, unthought
through, ritualistic
outward form.
In recommitting
ourselves to him, he
calls on us to
examine our lives, to
make sure that we
make much of our
sin so that we
would mourn it
rather than conceal
it or excuse it
and so that we
would repent of
it and pursue
change.
Friends, this is so
essential for us.
It is the
difference between
genuine remorse
and empty words.
And genuine
remorse is at the
heart of covenant
renewal.
At the end of
Nehemiah 9, Ezra
turns the attention
on the people
standing right
there in front of
him and including
himself in that.
They had a long
history of God's
goodness and mercy
expressed to them.
They instead had a
long history of
having unrepentant
hearts and lack of
change and renewal.
Ezra, in praying
this prayer at the
end, knew his place
in history.
Do we?
This is a church
that has a
Bible teaching
history that we're
proud of.
We sit in the
biblically rich
reformed evangelical
tradition.
We've had many
great names in our
pulpit.
We have access
to the very best
of Christian
literature,
conferences,
Bible colleges.
We are part of a
diocese with a
very strong
doctrinal and
gospel heritage.
We have access
to any number of
Bible translations
in the English
language.
We have the
word of God.
We know the
word of God.
It's even on
some of our
laps.
And for those
who it's not,
make sure it is.
Some of the most
sobering words of
scripture are in
Matthew chapter 11
where Jesus
pronounces judgment
on two cities
amongst God's
people who did
not repent when
they were confronted
with the Lord
Jesus, the word
of God.
He said to
them, it
would be better
off for those
other two pagan
cities up to
the north who
have never been
experienced the
gospel, never
even had me in
their midst.
It would be
better for them
on the day of
judgment.
The principle
is, he
who has been
given much, much
is expected.
Imagine Jesus
saying on the
day of judgment,
woe to you
Chatswood, it
would be better
for Kabul
Afghanistan than
for you on the
day of judgment.
Or, woe to
you St.
Paul's Chatswood,
it would be
better for the
Lakemba mosque on
the day of
judgment than it
would be for you.
some very
sobering words.
And in case
you think I
am removing
myself from
this, there's
some very
sobering words
for me
personally in
James chapter
3 verse 1,
not many of
you should
presume to be
teachers, my
brothers, because
you know that
we who teach
will be judged
more strictly.
every time I
call others to
obedience as I'm
calling you to
right now and
don't do it
myself, I'm
compounding
judgment for
myself.
To those who
have much, much
as is expected.
When I call us to
renew covenant
faithfulness with
Jesus, what I'm
not saying here
this morning is
take a deep
breath and say,
here goes, I'm
going to give it
my best shot, I'm
going to pull up
my socks.
That's legalism.
That's not what
I'm calling you
to.
What I'm saying
is in view of
the history of
God's grace and
mercy, with such
a God as this,
there is hope
that I will get
the help that I
need and when I
fail and repent,
he will forgive
me and take me
back.
I will continue
to press on in
the promises
that I have
made to live
in such a
way that I'll
proclaim the
Lord's death
until he
returns.
The grace of
the Lord Jesus
fuels our
covenant renewal.
So friends,
I'm going to
lead us into a
time of covenant
renewal now.
As I've said,
do not make
much less of
your sin.
As we do
this, I'm
very much
reminded of
two things
that are at
the heartbeat
of Charles
Simeon's
spiritual life,
a growing
downward in
humility and
a growing
upward in
adoration and
communion with
God.
I once said
in a sermon
that the
remarkable thing
about humiliation
and adoration in
the mind of
Charles Simeon is
that they were
inseparable.
They go
together.
For him,
adoration of
Christ only
grew in the
freshly ploughed
soil of
humiliation for
sin.
He actually
labored to
know his
true sinfulness,
not to excuse
it, not to
make less of
it.
But he had
no fear of
turning up every
sin in his
life and looking
upon it with
grief and with
hatred because
he had such a
vision of
Christ's
sufficiency.
And so with
those words,
words from God
fresh in our
mind in the
example of
Charles Simeon,
will you bow
your heads and
pray with me?
Great and
awesome God,
we confess our
sins this day.
You have been
gracious not only
in the great
moments of
redemptive history,
but in our
small history,
pouring out
reformation and
revival in the
lives of many.
You have given
us your spirit,
drawing us to
yourself.
You have been so
good to us,
Father.
You have given
us the Bible,
preachers,
community group
leaders,
courses,
literature,
conferences,
theological
colleges,
mission societies,
strong churches
and constant
exposure to the
communion of the
saints.
All in the part
of a world where
there is relatively
little strife
compared to many
parts and
comparatively many
freedoms compared to
many parts.
We can just get in
our car and go to
Courant.
You are so good to
us.
But we have been
wicked.
We have not feared
your word.
We have not acted
as if we believed
the promises or
trembled as if we
feared your
judgment.
We enjoy all the
trinkets of a
passing society and
have not lived with
eternity's values and
views despite the
warning you have
given us,
our Lord.
We have loved
ourselves.
While confessing
that we are to
love you with all
of our heart and
our soul and our
mind and our
strength and to
love our neighbours
as ourselves,
so many of our
decisions reveal
that we don't.
They have really
been bound up with
self-interest and
self-fulfillment and
family promotion.
We love money more
than service.
We want self-fulfillment
more than self-doubt.
We entertain
ourselves to death.
We have so many
things to do that we
can't do the
important things.
We have often
drifted towards
prayerlessness.
We've got multiple
Bibles that are
hardly read, a
domesticated gospel,
little passion for
holiness and
righteousness,
worship and the
glory of God.
We've drifted
towards coolness in
all things of the
faith so that we
exercise them with a
sense of duty but
no longer a delight.
We've become two
people.
Outwardly there is
still a kind of
conformity to
expected piety
while inwardly we
succumb to jealousy
and rivalries.
Our pleasures are
bound up with who
wins in the football
or shopping or the
opera or travel,
much more than they
are bound up with
someone coming to you.
Sometimes, Lord, we
even doubt your
word.
We go through the
motions but we no
longer believe that
Christ is building his
church.
We confess, Lord God,
that frequently we
succumb to
covetousness.
Some of us dishonour
our parents.
Some of us really do
not hunger for purity
of mind or heart.
We make little of some
sin.
We make excuses for
our failure.
We point the finger
and we blame others.
We're affronted when
someone points out to
us the obvious sin
that we harbour.
We hear your voice
saying, be holy for I
am holy but it does
not stir us.
We don't grieve over
sin as you do.
But you are holy
and you are pure.
Will you not
forgive us our sins,
most mirthful Father,
by the merits of the
Lord Jesus Christ?
Will you not renew a
right spirit within us?
Will you not renew your
covenant faithfulness to
us?
Have mercy on us
and revive us,
we pray,
for the glory of your
name.
Amen.
Affście B woh tu
to the heavenly
new
work and
you
can
see.
Let's
see.