Sermon Tone Analysis

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Nehemiah 10:1-39
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Stephen Caswell © 2000
 
Cleaning Out The Cobwebs
 
In a certain church, there was a man who always ended his prayers with, /And, Lord, clean the cobwebs out of my life!
Clean the cobwebs out of my life!/
One of the members of the church became weary of hearing this same insincere request week after week, because he saw no change in the petitioner’s life.
So, the next time he heard the man pray, /Lord, clean the cobwebs out of my life!/ he interrupted with, /And while you’re at it, Lord, kill the spider!
/
 
Two weeks ago we how Israel confessed their sins to God.
The Levites reviewed the nations history.
They acknowledged the */Greatness Of God/*, the */Goodness Of God/* and the */Grace Of God/*/./
They asked the Lord to be gracious and merciful and forgive them.
We finished last time by seeing that their desire to renew the covenant with God.
/But were they sincere in doing this?/ It’s one thing to offer the Lord a passionate prayer of confession, such as we have in chapter 9, and quite something else to live an obedient life after we say /Amen/.
Three things indicate that their repentance was genuine.
I.
Submission To The Word Of God
II.
Separation As The People Of God
III.Support For The House Of God
 
/Firstly/  Submission To The Word Of God
/ /
/a.
They signed/
/ /
When God brought Israel out of Egypt He made a covenant with them at Mount Sinai.
The people promised to obey God's Law.
They took an oath before God to seal their agreement.
Unfortunately the people broke the covenant about 40 days later.
In fact Israel renewed their covenant with God a number of times.
Now this remnant desired to seal the covenant a fresh with God.
*They were willing to submit to God's Word.*
They had determined to obey the Lord.
*Nehemiah 9:38-10:1* /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,/
 
With Nehemiah’s name heading the list, 84 persons put their seal on the covenant that they made with the Lord.
This list included Priests, Levites, and the Leaders of the People.
Many other citizens subscribed to the covenant.
All the people who had heard the Word of God read and explained were committed themselves to obey what they'd heard.*
*
 
/b.
They Were Serious/
 
Putting a seal on this document was a serious matter because it meant taking a solemn oath before the Lord.
Perhaps they remembered* Deuteronomy 29:10–13:* /All of you stand today before the Lord your God: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones and your wives...that you may enter into covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath, which the Lord your God makes with us today, that He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob./
*Numbers 30:2 says this about oaths.*
/When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said/.
Since an oath involved the name and possible judgment of God, it was not to be taken lightly.
Jesus warned against using empty oaths, and Solomon gave a similar warning.
But Israel was sincere.
They were broken before the Lord over their sin and wanted to make amends.
Submission - The Use of Broken Things - / Vance Havner /
 
God uses broken things.
It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength.
It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume -- it is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.
Application
 
/Should believers today bind themselves with oaths as they seek to walk with the Lord and serve Him?/ Probably not.
Our relationship to the Lord is that of children to a Father, and our Father wants our obedience to be based on love.
I don’t know of any examples in the New Testament of believers taking oaths of obedience to the Lord.
Our obedience should be a joyful response to all that He has done for us in Christ.
However I believe that we should evaluate our progress in the Christian life on a regular basis.
We need to ask ourselves if our commitment to Christ has grown or become less over the last year.
If we have gone backwards we need to humble ourselves and repent.
Jesus said this to the Church at Ephesus.* Revelation 2:4-5:* /Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
*Remember* therefore from where you have fallen; *repent* and do the first works; or else I will come unto you quickly, and will remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
*Alexander Whyte*/ said, /The victorious Christian life is a series of new beginnings.
How is your Christian life going?
Are you growing or going backwards?
/*Perhaps you need to recommit your life to Christ today!
*/Is the Lord touching your heart now?
How will we respond to Him? *Will we humble ourselves and submit to God's Word?*/
/ /
/Secondly/ Separation As The People Of God
 
*Nehemiah 10:28*/ 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/
 
*/Separation/*/ is simply total devotion to God, no matter what the cost./
The Jews separated themselves /from/ the peoples around them and joined /to/ the Lord and His Word.
They also united with their brothers and sisters in promising to obey the Law of God.
Separation that ignores God and other believers is /isolation/ and will eventually lead to sin.
Only the Holy Spirit can give us the kind of balance we need to live a godly life in this ungodly world.
Marriage Is Separation Not Isolation
/ /
When a man and woman get married, they separate themselves from all other possible mates and give themselves completely to each other.
It is total commitment motivated by love, and it is a balanced decision: We separate from others so that we can give ourselves to our life’s mate./
/We still share with many other people, but we don't do anything to hurt our loved one.
The legalist wants to live by rules, but that style of life only keeps you immature and is dependent upon external pressure.
The only way to grow in a balanced life is to give yourself totally to God and follow Him by faith.
The Holy Spirit working within enables us to live in the world yet not be of the world.
Separation means being holy, or set apart for God's service.
Two special areas of concern were mentioned: */Marriage/* and */the Sabbath/*.
/ /
/a.
Marriage /*Nehemiah 10:30*/ We would not give our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons; /
/ /
/How could a Jew, married to a Gentile, observe the dietary laws or celebrate the annual festivals?/
He or she would be continually ceremonially unclean.
There would be constant conflict between the husband and wife, then occasional compromise, and finally complete conformity; and the Jewish mate would have abandoned their spiritual heritage.
/Why would Jews want to marry pagans in the first place?/
Apart from affection, which should have been controlled at the outset, maybe they married for social status or to get ahead in business.
Like some believers today who marry unbelievers, these Jews may have argued that marriage would give them opportunity to convert their mate to the true faith.
*/The truth is 99% of the time it is the other way around./*
God had a great purpose for Israel to fulfill, and the Jews’ compromise with sin polluted the nation.
This in fact happened many times through out Jewish history./
*What does the Bible have to say to Christians considering marriage?*
/*1 Corinthians 7:39 */A wife is bound by the law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes; *only in the Lord*.
/*2 Corinthians 6:14;*/ Do not be *unequally yoked* together with unbelievers: For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?
and what communion has light with darkness?
/
 
The Bible says that Christians shouldn't marry non Christians.
/Why?/
Because the non Christian will lead the Christian away from the Lord.
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