In his sermon, Jason Dohm emphasizes the importance of responding to God's mercies by presenting ourselves as living sacrifices, as outlined in Romans 12:1-2. The sermon draws parallels between the Israelites' covenant renewal in Nehemiah 10, where 84 representatives sealed a covenant to obey God's law, and the call for Christians today to commit to loving God through obedience. Dohm highlights three key aspects of Romans 12: the necessity of offering our bodies as living sacrifices, the reasonableness of such an offering in light of God's mercy, and the importance of resisting conformity to worldly pressures. He underscores the urgency of acting on spiritual convictions promptly, using the metaphor of striking while the iron is hot. The sermon encourages Christians to reaffirm their commitment to God, akin to renewing wedding vows, and stresses that genuine love for God should manifest in transformed lives that resist worldly influences.

Now, those who placed their seal on the document were, named Maya, the government, the son of Halakaya and Siddhakaaya, Shreya, Asaraya, Jeremiah, Bashur, Amaraya, Malkaiha, Hattush, Bashur, Amariah, Malakaiha, Hatush, Sivanaya, Maluk, Harim, Mirimod, Uvadaya, Daniel, Giniton, Baruch, Ginnaton, Baruch, Meshulam, Abijah, Mahamen, Maasaiya, Bilgai, and Shemaiya. These were the priests. The Levites, Jeshua, the son of Asaniah, Vinoy, the son of Hennadad, and Cadmiel. The Breton, Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kalita, Piliah, Hainan, Micah, Rehov, Hashabiah, Shabaniya, Hodaya, Kalita, Kalaya, Hainan, Maika, Rehov, Hashabaya, Sakur, Sherebaya, Shabaniya, Hodaya, Bani and Bini-Biniyum. The leaders of the people, Parosh, Fatimah, Elam, Zatu, Bani, Benuai, Asgad, Bibi, Adonarja, Bigbib, Aiden, Atta, Hesikaia, Ashur, Hudaia, Hodija, Hashpun, Besaya, Hadib, Enatot, Nebeiai, haspun besaya hadib anatot nebeye mash makh fiyash meshullin kesir meshihabir sarug hadwa lataaya hannan anaya Hamehr.

Mashi' habeir. Sarukh. Hadoor. Lehtiah. Hanan.

Anayah. Housheah. Hananayah. Hashub. Halokhej.

Pilha. Shobik. Reihum. Hashbanah. Maasayah.

Haeyah. Hanan. Anan. Halokhez, Pilha, Shobak, Reihom, Hashbanah, Maasaiya, Ahayya, Hannon, Anan, Maluk, Hadim, and Manah. Now the rest of the people, the priests, the levies, the gatekeepers, the singers, the netanym, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons, and the daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding.

These joined with their reading their novels and entered into a course 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. Amen. So having to read one of the name passages is a form of church discipline. We're not sure exactly what Jorge did, but I'm sure he did something to draw that assignment. He did very well.

Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 12. Romans 12, verses 1 and 2. I want to return there and begin the sermon there. Romans 11 is about the great mercy of God and the grafting end of the Gentiles. Probably everybody in this room is more Gentile than not.

So Romans 11 ought to be a precious chapter for us. Millennia past. In all likelihood, we would have been passed over. We never would have even had access to the oracles of God, what God has said is true. But in Christ now, Gentiles who believe have been grafted in in much greater numbers than ever before in history.

And that's a blessing that we are partakers of. So then Paul begins to speak about this great mercy of God which has been shown, and which is extended to the ends of the earth now. And he says that that mercy, those great mercies of God ought to result in something very specific. So this brings us to Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. Follow along as I read.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." I want you to notice three things in these two verses. Here's the first thing. The mercies of God are to have a result. Paul says that very clearly here.

The mercies of God are to result in the presentation of my body as a living sacrifice. In other words, God pours out His mercy on me, and in response to His mercy, I ought to offer back my body, my life, my all as a living sacrifice. The result of God's mercy should be holiness. Again, if you translate in your brain, holiness to self-righteousness. Sweep that away.

Holiness just means I'm God's. I exist so that He might be praised. That's the first thing I want you to notice. The mercies of God are to have a result. The presenting back to God of our bodies as a living sacrifice.

Being holy to God. Here's the second thing I want you to notice. This result is described as simply a reasonable service. Paul goes on to describe the desired result, that you'd be holy. And He doesn't think it's a lot to ask.

Offering all that you are, locked stock and barrel to God because of His mercies, doesn't seem like much to Paul. He calls it, He describes it as a reasonable service. In other words, if you've received that much mercy, if you deserved this and got that, then offering yourself back as a living sacrifice is a very reasonable service in Paul's mind. It should be in our mind as well. Here's the third thing.

Part of this is resisting conformity to the world. Everybody who's ever been born faces the same thing. The pressures of the world trying to press us into a mold so that we look like the world. We look nothing like Christ. We look everything like the world.

All the pressures are brought to bear of the world, the flesh, and the devil to force us into a mold so we look like the world. So if you're going to offer your body as a living sacrifice, you have to resist conformity to the world. Instead of being pressed into the mold of the world, we're to be transformed by the renewing of our mind so that we do the will of God and prove that it is good. This is part of our result, our impact on the world. Instead of being conformed to the world and looking like everybody else in the world, we are different.

We are transformed by the renewing of our mind and then we do the will of God which no one else in the world is doing and we prove that it is good and God receives glory because we prove that God's will is better than anything else that is offered out there. Now, those three things. When I turn today's text over in my mind, in other words as I'm studying, so that I'll be able to preach, and I just consider what's this about. My mind keeps coming to Romans 12, verses 1 and 2. So throughout the course of the sermon, I'm going to keep tying it back to Romans 12.

I think this is about the mercies of God resulting in our offering ourselves back to Him as living sacrifices, and how reasonable this service is, and how this means that we're not conformed to the world. I think our text in Nehemiah, I think Paul is sort of giving an exegesis of Nehemiah chapter 10 in a way. Alright, that's our introduction. Let's pray. God, I thank You for Your mercies.

When we think of Your mercies to us in Christ, it humbles us and it makes us happy. I pray that these mercies that are so abundant And so apparent would have this great result in our lives that they would cause us to be living out of a deep well of thankfulness and gratitude to you for those mercies. And it would mean that we're always, every day, offering ourselves back to you. It would be such a reasonable service in our eyes. We would always have had the better part of the deal in our mind.

These mercies are priceless to us. And so to offer our lives back to you would be a small thing. And that this would help us not be like the world. Oh God, please come and use the truths of Nehemiah chapter 10 for this purpose. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

So I'd like to begin the exposition of Nehemiah 10 by backing up one verse. So I think if we back up one verse we get the context of chapter 10 verses 1-29. So now we are backing up one verse to chapter 9 verse 38. Follow along. And because of all this, we make a sure covenant and write it.

Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests seal it. This is the making of a covenant. If you're filling in blanks on the handout. It's making covenant. The making of a covenant.

Verse 38 begins with these words, and Because of this, and because of what? And because of everything that came before, verses 5b-37. It was this great prayer that was made, a unified prayer made by these Levites, in a loud voice so that people could hear and enter into the prayer. And because of this, because of all the things that were just said, because of all the things that were just prayed to God, we are entering into a covenant. Here are those verses, this prayer summarized.

One, it's the greatness of God. It's praying to God His greatness. Your glorious name is exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are God. That's how the prayer starts.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. This great prayer begins with the hallowing of God's name by saying that His name is exalted above all blessing and praise and that He is alone. There is no one like Him. And then, the rest of the prayer, once we get beyond this great acknowledgement of the goodness and greatness of God. The rest of the prayer is about the faithfulness of God to His people, even in the face of the sinfulness of that people.

So all The rest of it is encapsulated in that summary. The faithfulness of God to His people, even in the face of the sinfulness of that people. In other words, the people keep being sinful, but God doesn't abandon them. Their sinfulness doesn't drive him off. He keeps being merciful and he keeps being faithful even though they persist.

They are determined to be sinful. And He is determined to be faithful and merciful. So this is the 1700 year history of the people of God up until the time of Nehemiah. 1700 years. The people determined to be sinful.

And God determined to be faithful and to keep bringing them back, to keep them as a people, and to keep them as objects of His mercy. Why? Is He waiting on them to be faithful? Clearly not. You might say that in one generation, but you can't say that across 1700 years.

If he was waiting, he would have stopped sometime in there waiting. But his faithfulness never was contingent on their faithfulness. So he's made them the objects of his mercy. And he's going to persist. He's determined to keep bringing them back, to keep driving them to repentance.

What is their response to this? They look back on 1700 years of the history of their people. What is their response to it? To make a sure covenant and to write it. Saying it is not going to be sufficient.

They want to write it and seal it. They want to pledge themselves to be faithful to it. In other words, they are taking action. They have acknowledged their history and now they are taking action. Sentiment is good.

Feelings are good. To this point, we've had so much sentiment and feeling from the people. And you can tell it's heartfelt. This is not hypocritical sentiment. They're weeping.

They clearly have sorrow over their history of sin and over their sin. They know it's not all historic sin. They know that they have hearts that are sinful. There's sorrow being expressed over that. There's sackcloth.

There's a lot of sentiment and there's a lot of feeling. Is good to start there, but they are not about to finish there. They are not about to stop there. This is a good pattern for us. Here is what Matthew Henry says.

I think it is insightful. It gives us a good view of what is really happening here. Matthew Henry says, they struck while the iron was hot. Do you know what that means? That means when you're doing metal work, you heat up the metal until it's red hot, and that's when you can work with it.

That's the time to put the hammer to it to shape it while it's red hot. If you don't strike while it's hot it starts to cool down and the metal ceases to be pliable and you're just hitting metal. It's not moving at all. A metal worker knows you have to strike while the iron's hot. When you see it's red, that's the time to bring the hammer down on it, because that's the time when it's pliable and it can be reshaped.

So that's what he's talking about. They struck while the iron was hot and immediately put that good resolve in execution when they were in a good frame lest if it should be delayed it might be dropped. This is how it works. You hear a very convicting sermon and you better strike while the iron's hot. You better strike while you're pliable, while you're in a good frame, as Matthew Henry says it.

Because if you delay, the metal cools off and nothing ever comes of it. So this is the counsel of our text. It's to strike while the iron's hot. They're full of sentiment, they're full of feelings, and they're good. And Many of the works in our lives start that way, but if you end with feeling and sentiment, you are done.

There will be no change in your life. You have to strike while the iron is hot. When you see that the metal is red, then you bring the hammer to bring a change to the form. You have to do it then, or you'll never do it at all. Hasn't this happened to you?

Both ways. Hasn't it happened where you've heard something that was very convicting, you were cut to the heart, and you thought, I need to take this up tomorrow or the next day or something like that, and the metal cooled off and it just lost all its momentum. Hasn't that happened to you a bunch of times? It's happened to me a bunch of countless times. All the momentum's lost, and that sermon that had just had you weeping, just ends up, you can't even remember why you were weeping.

What did he even say? And you've had other times where probably because of that experience, you're cut to the heart, you've wept, because you've seen your sin so clearly, and you think, I've got to do something right now. I've got to tell somebody before I leave this building. I need to go to my brother and make this commitment, this thing that the Lord has laid on my heart, so that delay doesn't cause it to come to nothing. And the act of going and just saying the Lord is impressed on your heart and what you are convinced you need to do about it propels you into actual change and into action, motion.

So it seems like this is what is happening here. They have had all this sentiment and these deep feelings. They want to lock it in. They want to lock in what the Lord has been doing among them as they have read the Word of God and seen their sin and acknowledged the history of His faithfulness. They want to change and be different.

They want to make a firm public commitment to change and be different. Another thing that we see in verse 38 is that representatives, on behalf of everyone who is entering into the covenant are sealing the covenant. So the nearest thing to our Consciousness to this would be a wax seal, a wax seal on a document that you would impress your mark into to say that it was you. A few of the commentators say that at this time on a document you would have pliable clay, soft clay, and you would press your mark into that. So very similar to what we think of as a seal.

But our modern-day equivalent in 2015 would be signing on the dotted line. This signature. So a few, we'll see how many, a few are going to act as representatives. We're all entering the covenant together, and so our leaders are going to stand forward and represent us and put their mark on the covenant. So it's going to be the leaders of families and the Levites and the priests.

Now does this have a relationship to Romans 12, 1 and 2? Absolutely. The recitation, the prayer to God is all about the mercies of God. They're acknowledging how kind, merciful, faithful God has been even in the face of 1700 years of determined, persistent rebellion. So it's the mercies of God and knowing that God is good and not waiting for them in order to be good.

That has brought them. And because of all this, we make a sure covenant and we write it. We present ourselves as living sacrifices. I do think that's what's happening here. We present ourselves.

We've seen your faithfulness. You've been so merciful. We want to be yours. We want to enter into a covenant to obey you. Now we're into chapter 10.

Verses 1-27. I'm not going to re-read all those names, but this is those who place their seal on the covenant. So if you're taking notes, if you're filling in blanks on the handout, it's seal covenant. Those who place their seal signed on the dotted line in a sense on the covenant. Verse 1 says, now those who placed their seal on the document were, and then you get the list.

So here's the list. There are 84 names. 84 men who are sealing the covenant. Who are putting their mark in the soft clay is probably what's happening. So that they're definitively tied to having made this commitment on behalf of all the rest of the people.

Here's who they are. Number one, Nehemiah. There's one Nehemiah. He's the governor. He leads.

He's the first name. There are 22 priests. There are 17 Levites. And There are 44 leaders of the people equals 84. You'll notice this follows the genealogies.

We've hit several genealogies. One in Ezra chapter 2 when we were studying Ezra. And then another in Nehemiah chapter 7. They're really almost exactly the same. Nehemiah chapter 7 is just recounting what was in Ezra chapter 2.

So they're almost identical. And this follows them, right? You have the governor at the beginning of those two genealogies, and then it goes to the priests, and then it goes to the Levites, and then it goes to the heads of families. So this is very much like those genealogies. The list begins with Nehemiah.

So we're seeing here, again, for the however manyth time in the book of Nehemiah that he's a leader in more than name. Nehemiah is not just a title holder. He's really leading. So he signed first. He is the first to seal this covenant.

What's the most famous signature in American history? John Hancock. It comes immediately to mind. The Declaration of Independence and then at the bottom there's this big bold name, John Hancock, which is two or three times bigger than any name. I was looking at the image this morning, having googled it.

There it is, John Hancock. The rest are hard to read, but not John Hancock. He was a merchant. He was one of the wealthiest men in the colonies. He had the most to lose from a revolution and He wanted to put his name in there just as big and bold as he could and Nehemiah is doing that Okay, Nehemiah is John Hancocking the covenant by leading and to be the first to sign, so to speak.

Then there are 22 priests, these men in the line of Aaron, these men who are given the duty to lead the people in the worship of God. They are next. Here is one of the things that all the commentators say, why no Ezra? Ezra chapter 7, we are introduced to Ezra, and that chapter takes the time and the pains to prove that he is a direct descendant of Aaron. So there is no doubt about it.

Ezra is a priest. There is no doubt about it. Ezra is a priest. There's no doubt about it. Ezra is not one who sealed this document.

Why not? We don't really know why not. It's puzzling. He was just there. He was just there reading the law of God in chapter 8.

But he is not one who does it here. Alternate explanations are proposed. Here is one. He is not the head of the family. These are family heads and that Ezra is actually represented by a family head.

So he's not the one to seal it, but he is participating in the covenant. Here's another alternate explanation. He's indisposed. He's either sick or he's having to travel or something like that, so he's just not there to do it. We don't really know why, but you can't pass over this without remarking that somebody that you would expect to be sealing the covenant is not sealing the covenant.

I don't have a great explanation. Then There are 17 Levites who are sealing the covenant. Many of the same names as chapter 9 verses 4 and 5. Remember, in chapter 9 verses 4 and 5, these Levites are climbing the stairs to the stairs of the Levites, or the Levite platform, to declare this prayer of acknowledgement of God's greatness and faithfulness. These appear to be many of the same names.

Of course, That's tricky to analyze because there are names that are very common that we keep seeing. So it's hard to know whether it's the same person or another person with the same name. So I won't spend much time trying to dissect that because it's fruitless. You just can't know. But it's worth noticing that many of the names of Levites who are sealing, those same names appear in chapter 9 verses 4 and 5, as those who stood before the people to pray this coordinated prayer.

This brings us to Matthew 23. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 23. Matthew 23 is the chapter where Jesus drops the hammer on the Pharisees. It's woe to you, woe to you, woe to you, woe to you. I think there are eight of them.

Woe to you scribes and Pharisees. Here's one of them, Matthew 23 verses 1-4. Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do. But do not do according to their works, for they say and do not do.

For they bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." And then Jesus goes on in the rest of the chapter to essentially demonstrate what a curse it is to have men like this out front. What a curse it is to have men out front who call for things that they are not willing to do themselves. The reverse of this is what we are seeing in Nehemiah chapter 10. You have Levites who are called to lead in righteousness, putting their seal on the clay. Willing to be out front to commit to the things that they are charging the people to do.

That's a blessing. So one is a curse and one is a blessing. It's a curse to have men out front who tell people to do things they are not willing to do. And it's a blessing to have what we see in Nehemiah chapter 10, to have men out front who tell people to do things they are not willing to do. And it's a blessing to have what we see in Nehemiah chapter 10, to have men out front who are willing to put their names to the things that they call on their brethren to do as well.

We see 44 leaders of the people. These leaders are easily comparable to the genealogies in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7. These parallel genealogies that match each other so very closely. 20 of the names that are sealing the covenant appear, 20 of the names in the Genealogies in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah chapter 7 appear among the 44. So 20 of the 44 appeared in that genealogy.

My understanding of this is that these represent big branches on the family tree. If you look especially at the beginning of this list of 44 leaders, you're going to see names that appear in the genealogy back in Ezra 7, which was from 100 years ago. So I think the right understanding of this is these are prominent families and the head of the family way upstream on the family tree is the ones who are named here. So let me summarize this section. These 84 men are acting in a representative capacity.

They're not the only ones, by any stretch of the imagination, we'll see that so clearly in 28 and 29, they're not the only ones entering into the covenant. Many, many, many more people, men, women, and children are entering into the covenant as well. But these 84 men are acting in a representative capacity and signing on the dotted line on behalf of their families or on behalf of other priests and Levites. Here's what the ESV says. The ESV study Bible has a note to this effect.

The long list of those who put their names to the covenant is designed to show that the entire community, priests, Levites, and lay leaders was wholeheartedly behind it. It shows the breadth of agreement on entering into this covenant. These are prominent people in the community. Many of their names have appeared before in Nehemiah. Now to verses 28 and 29.

We can read these verses, they don't have all those names. Nehemiah chapter 10, verses 28 and 29. Follow along. Now the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the nethanim, 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." In this section, the rest of the people join in the covenant.

If you're filling in blanks on the handout, it's people join. The rest of the people join in the covenant. Verse 28 begins with these words. Now the rest of the people. So there are more priests than the priests that were named that sealed the covenant.

There are more Levites than the Levites who sealed the covenant. And there are gatekeepers, and there are singers, and there are nethineim. Many translations render nethineim temple servants, because they were those who served the Levites who served the priests. These are groups of Levites with particular functions. So I'm just reviewing what we've seen a few times in Ezra and Nehemiah, that gatekeepers are Levites and singers are Levites.

And so Those are all part of the Levitical tribe. Then we see this phrase, all those who separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God. So you have all those who can prove that they are Jews. We've been through the genealogies and that was the point of the genealogies. It's to find out who those who could prove that genealogically, family tree wise, you could prove that you were Jews.

But those are not the only people who are entering into the covenant. There were many who were not taken into captivity, who remained in the land. Intermarriage was a famous problem. Many engaged who stayed, we're talking almost 200 years later now, there's been intermarriage. And there are many who are not pure blood Jews.

So the text is indicating that those who are not pure bred genealogically, they're welcome to enter into the covenant if they separate themselves from the peoples of the land to the law of God. Turn back to Ezra chapter 6. I want to point out that this is just a repetition of what we've already seen, which is that people can be grafted into Israel. There is hope if a hundred years ago your father married outside of Israel. There is hope that you can be grafted back in.

We saw that happening in Ezra and we are seeing it now happen in Nehemiah. In Ezra chapter 6, the temple has just been completed and dedicated. So finally the temple is whole. And this is right after the dedication of the temple. Ezra chapter 6, look at verses 9 through 21.

And the descendants of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves. All of them were ritually clean. They slaughtered the Passover lambs for all the descendants of the captivity, for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. Then the children of Israel, who had returned from the captivity, ate together with all who had separated themselves from the filth of the nations and the land, in order to seek the Lord God of Israel." So even in the celebration of the Passover in Ezra chapter 6, those who could prove themselves to be part of Israel genealogically were joined in the celebration of the Passover Feast, by those who had separated themselves from the filth of the nations.

So you're being separated from something. What is the something? The filth. The filth of the nations. You've said, that is my heritage, I'm turning my back on that heritage.

I used to love those things, I used to be hip deep in all that filth, but I'm turning away from that. So there's a turning away from something that's happening here in Ezra chapter 6 and in Nehemiah chapter 10. The filth of the nations is being forsaken in favor of. So it's a turning away from that to what? To the law of God.

To God's ways. It's an acknowledgement that the ways of the world are filth, and the ways of God are good and right and their peace. It's a forsaking of that and embracing this. That's what we see in Ezra chapter 6. From something to something.

I keep coming back here. We've come back to Ezra chapter 6, 19-21, what I just read, many times. Why do I keep coming back here? Because this is the result of conversion. It's worth making a hundred times this point.

It's the result of conversion. It's not what's saved, what saves. Blood atones. Blood saves. But when atonement has been made, you used to have that heart, now you have this heart.

You used to have a heart of stone. Now you have a heart of flesh. You used to be hip deep in the filth of the nations, but now you have forsaken that. You are embracing the ways of God progressively for sure as it works itself out in your life. But not by profession.

By profession you are saying, I forsake that and I embrace this. And it takes a while to work out in your life. That happens a lot more slowly than the profession. But you cannot be saved unless you forsake and embrace. You cannot.

It's repent and believe, right? It's always been repent and believe. You have to forsake the filth of the nations, and you have to believe, you have to embrace that God's ways are peace, and take upon you the work of Christ by faith. So this is what happens when you are saved. This brings us back to Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2.

The mercies of God are lavished on you. You have on you the guilt of the filth of the nations. And then God comes and washes away every last stain. And then you offer yourself back as a living sacrifice and your life begins to change and looks different. If You can't say, my life looks different.

You should look back and see if that wasn't fraudulent. A new heart blooms in new affections. If your affections never change, and you still love the same stuff you always used to love, you don't find these things beginning to work to the outward things, then you have to wonder, was that ever legitimate? So you're not conformed to the world. Back to Romans 12 verses 1 and 2.

You receive the mercies, you offer yourself as a living sacrifice, and then you resist the pressures that are pressing you into the mold of the world, trying to get you to look like the world like you always used to look. Wives part of this covenant? Absolutely. Explicitly. Our daughters part of this covenant?

Absolutely. Explicitly. It says that they are. The text says it explicitly. And So again, those who sealed the covenant, don't get it wrong.

It's not 84 people in the covenant. It's 84 representatives, 84 husbands who are representing their wives and their daughters and their sons too. It's not about gender. The covenant is not about gender in any way in Nehemiah. Finally, we see this phrase, Everyone who had knowledge and understanding.

The wives are partaking in the covenant, the daughters are partaking in the covenant, and everyone who had knowledge and understanding. Here's what Matthew Henry says, it's the nail on the head. Everyone who had knowledge and understanding must covenant with God. As soon as young people grow up to be capable of distinguishing between good and evil, and of acting intelligently, they ought to make it their own act and deed to join themselves to the Lord." This is so important in Christian families that we keep saying this. I'll repeat the last part of what Matthew Henry said.

As soon as young people grow up to be capable of distinguishing between good and evil and of acting intelligently, how young is that? Pretty young. Matthew Henry says, as soon as you can distinguish between good and evil, and can act intelligently, they ought to make it their own act and deed to join themselves to the Lord. Children, you cannot ride the coattails of your parents' faith into the Kingdom of Heaven. God has no grandchildren.

He only has children. God has no grandchildren. Only children. So children, our exhortation to you is, own it! Own it!

Own it for yourselves. You must own it! Your parents' faith will not save you. It brings many blessings into your life. It keeps you from many sorrows.

That's not the same thing as being in the Kingdom of Heaven. Don't confuse the benefits of having Christian parents with being saved. It's a fatal error. Confusing the benefits of having Christian parents with being in the Kingdom of Heaven is a fatal error. It will cause you your soul.

You must own it for yourself. You must own Christ and His work for yourself. In that sense, your parents doing it has no value for you. Not one of your sins will be forgiven by your parents believing in Christ. Verse 29 says, They entered into a curse and an oath.

Listen to Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 13 about oaths. In Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 13, God through Moses says, You shall Fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name." So you are to fear God, you are to serve God, and you are to take oaths in His name. In other words, If you ever take an oath, whenever you take an oath, it must be in His name. Not in the name of the temple, or the altar, or Jerusalem. I'm starting to bring in teaching from the Sermon on the Mount now, overlaying it on Deuteronomy 6.

But the point is, it must be in the name of God. What are you doing when you take an oath in the name of God? You're calling Him to witness. This is the nature of an oath. An oath is you and another person, and you're making a commitment, but you're saying, God, you're the witness of this commitment, and you're the guarantor of this commitment.

In other words, you judge it. If I don't keep my part, or she doesn't keep her part, you judge it. You're the witness, and in an ultimate sense, you're the one to make it right if I default on my commitment, or if she defaults on her commitment. So you're inviting God to witness it and to bring judgment if it's not kept. We've already seen this in a very real way in Nehemiah.

So flip back to chapter 5, Nehemiah chapter 5. In Nehemiah chapter 5, they're right in the middle of the wall building, but then contention breaks out, because those who had resources were lending with usury to those who were in desperate need. And so, those who have been defrauded cry out for justice and Nehemiah intervenes. Look at this, Nehemiah 5, verses 12 and 13. So Nehemiah has confronted them about this sin, defrauding their brethren, and they react.

So they said, We will restore it and will require nothing from them. We will do as you say." Then I, Nehemiah, called the priests and required an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. Then I shook out the fold of my garment and said, So may God shake out each man from his house, and from his property who does not perform this promise. Even thus may he be shaken out and emptied. And All the assembly said, Amen, and praised the Lord.

Then the people did according to this promise. So this is what it means to enter into a curse and an oath. Nehemiah is doing this in chapter 5. Those who have defrauded the people enter into an oath. Nehemiah insists that they enter into an oath, that they will return and they won't take any more interest.

He says, okay, you've taken the oath, God is the witness of this oath, he shakes out his garment as sort of a pictorial example of what he is calling on God to do to anyone who would break this oath. May God empty out of their house just like the shaking out of a garment, may He shake you out of your house, you don't keep the oath. That is what it means to enter into a curse and an oath. So what are they entering into a covenant to do? To walk in God's law.

And then it expands on that, talking about statutes and ordinances, talking about the Lord being their Lord, but it all falls under the heading of to walk in God's law. It's so easy to come to this and to say The covenant is about keeping the rules. We're going to bind ourselves together. We're going to keep the rules! They are saying they're going to keep the rules.

There's no dispute on that. But you have to translate that. That is not the heart of this at all. They are saying they are going to keep the rules. The heart of it is though that they are going to love God by obeying Him.

Don't think that's a stretch. Look across Scripture. Deuteronomy chapter 5, the Ten Commandments. Deuteronomy Chapter 6, the beginning of a long exposition of the Ten Commandments begins with what? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

Ok, here's the first commandment. Here's how it works out. Here's the second commandment. Here's how it works out in life. Here's the third commandment.

Here's how it works out in life. But it all begins with, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is the first and great commandment, says Jesus in Matthew 22. So they are binding themselves together to keep the rules, yes, but the heart of it is they are binding themselves together to love God by obeying Him. Romans 13, 10, Paul says, love is the fulfillment of the law.

When we don't go for the heart of the matter, and it just ends up as there's a covenant to keep the rules. We are cheating ourselves. We're cheating ourselves and making ourselves no more the rule keepers. Oh The rules are good. Let's keep the rules.

I'm not saying anything bad about rule keeping. As long as there's a heart in it. As long as it's not hypocritical rule keeping that just satisfies my neighbors, but I really am cold-hearted and really with no desire to honor God in the keeping of His laws. It's to love God by obeying Him. That is the heart of the covenant.

This is simply about love for God and having a real genuine expression of it. If there is real genuine love then there must be a real genuine expression of it. It always works its way out in life. You can counterfeit it. You can make me think you love God because of how you live your life.

That's not the same thing. But real, genuine love for God always works its way out little by little by little into the life until you look nothing like you used to look. Your life looks nothing like your life used to look, you really have turned your back on the filth of the nations. And it's because you love your Redeemer. You've received the mercies, and so you've offered yourself back as a living sacrifice.

And it means that you resist conformity to the world. We're back to Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. Here's one final point about verses 28 and 29. This is a covenant to keep the covenant. That's what we have here.

We do not have a from scratch covenant here. That was Sinai. That's Exodus 20. This is a covenant to keep the covenant that's already in existence and still in force. It does not replace Sinai, it reaffirms Sinai.

We're going to keep that covenant to which they were already duty bound, but there's great value in sealing it, in reaffirming it. It's similar to renewing wedding vows. This happens not infrequently where people on their whatever anniversary will renew their wedding vows. It doesn't mean that they weren't in force the day before. It means that maybe because it's a milestone anniversary, or maybe it's because you're coming out of a time of great trouble and trial in your marriage, and You want to set that trouble and trial aside and say, we want to reaffirm what is already in place.

You should think of this sort of along the same lines as renewing wedding vows. We want to return and renew our commitment to the things that we are already bound to. That's why most commentators when they look at Nehemiah chapter 10 call it a covenant renewal. This is not unique. Throughout history, many times since Exodus 20, many times since Sinai and the giving of the Ten Commandments, the people of God have renewed the covenant and entered into a covenant to keep the covenant.

That's what's happening here. Here's an example. 2 Kings 23. This is a really precious example. You've got to love almost everything about Josiah.

Josiah, His history is so sweet in many ways, becoming a king at eight years old, and then his faith will be on so many of the other kings. This is Josiah in 2 Kings 23 verse 3. Listen to this. 2 Kings 23 verse 3. Then the king, this is Josiah, stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book.

So he makes a covenant to perform the words of this covenant that were written in the book. The Pentateuch, the Torah. So he's making a covenant to keep the covenant. And here is how this verse ends, 2 Kings 23 verse 3, the very end. And all the people took a stand for the covenant.

That is what is happening in Nehemiah chapter 10. They are taking a stand for the covenant. It is not that it was not already in force, it was already in force. But they are entering into a covenant to keep that covenant. They are taking a stand for the covenant.

It's not that it wasn't already in force. It was already in force. But they're entering into a covenant to keep that covenant. They're taking a stand for the covenant, just like Josiah and the people during the time of Josiah did. So in 28 and 29, all the people who are represented by those who sealed the covenant are making a broad covenant.

We're going to obey it all. We're going to walk in the laws of God as God would give us grace. So they are committing broadly. Next week as we get into additional details of the covenant, we are going to see that there are some specifics that they specifically commit to, and they are areas of struggle. So there are particular areas where they've been particularly unfaithful to the covenant.

And they want to call these out specifically to say, in this trouble spot from the past, we're going to obey this. In this area of struggle from the past, we're going to obey this in sequence. That's what we'll see next week. Okay, two applications. Two applications.

Two applications. Number one, This is about firm, resolved commitment to love God through obedience. That's what we saw in chapter 9 verse 38. A sure covenant in writing. Firm commitment, resolved commitment to do what?

To love God through obedience. There should be sentiment. There should be feeling in our faith. I don't want a Christian walk with no sentiment and feeling. God forbid that our hearts would not be stirred up by our faith.

What a blessing it is, but I don't want to stop there. Sentiment only, feeling only, faith isn't really faith. It's not saving faith. It yields nothing in your life. We should start there, but we shouldn't stop there.

We should be yielding and re-yielding and re-yielding and re-yielding and re-yielding and re-yielding. I have a friend from the church we were in 20 years ago. I heard somebody ask him one time, when was the last time you re-dedicated your life to the Lord? That's not really terminology we use around here, but man and where I came from, that's terminology we'd use all the time. Rededicating your life to the Lord.

So he asked this friend that, when was the last time you did that? And he said, this morning. I thought we were supposed to do that every morning. Amen! Offer your body as a living sacrifice again this morning, and you'll need to do it again tomorrow morning, and the morning after that, and the morning after that, because of who we are, because our hearts are prone to wander.

Yield, and then re-yield, and then re-yield. In thinking about firm resolved commitment to love God through obedience. That is one thing I love about baptism. It's such a clear line. Are you going to identify with Christ in front of God and everybody?

Baptism gives you a line to step over where you used to say my history is the filth of the nations but I'm stepping over a line that I never want to step back over again. I am laying claim to the provision of Jesus Christ for all that filth. And He's mine and I'm His. Let me say this, if you've not taken a firm public stand to forsake every hope in this world but Christ, what are you waiting for? Firm, decisive stand to own Christ and to be owned by Christ.

What? What are you waiting for? Don't you know that that's life? To own Him and to be owned by Him is life and joy and peace, cleansing. He'll be your king.

And what a king. A king who dies for his people. Are you waiting for something better than that? Can you even imagine it? Number two.

We still do this. They are entering into a covenant in Nehemiah chapter 10. We still do this. I think that's good that we still do this. It's rare that we do this, and I think it's good that it's rare, especially when you see what Jesus says about taking oaths, and James says about taking oaths, it should be rare.

It is not a small thing to call God as witness and say, send curses if I don't keep my end of the bargain. Does it even need to be said that we shouldn't do that lightly? We shouldn't be doing this every day, every week, every month. Our oaths where we call God as witness should be few and far between. A wedding is a good time for one, a wedding is a great time for one.

How about this? How about joining a church? You sign a membership covenant. A membership covenant. Now, what's fundamental about the membership covenant is the new covenant.

If you take away the New Covenant, we have no basis whatsoever to be bonding ourselves like this, except for the covenant that Jesus sealed with His own blood. And when you read our membership covenant, is that a start from scratch covenant? No way! I think it's 60 New Testament references on our membership covenant. So you read the membership covenant and it says, you know, we'll live together like this, parentheses, scripture reference, scripture reference, scripture reference, scripture reference.

These are things that God requires of His people. We're supposed to live this way together anyway. So in theory, we should live together exactly the same way whether we do or don't have a membership covenant, because God has said, My people live together this way. So why do we do it? It's to acknowledge and publicly commit to these things.

We acknowledge, God, you have told us to live together this way. We see it. God, you want us to commit to live together this way. I'm not assuming anything. You're saying You will.

I'm saying I will. There's value in that. Again, it's nothing compared to the New Covenant. It must be founded on the New Covenant. But it is good to acknowledge and publicly commit to the things that the Lord has given to His people to do.

Let me end where we started. Listen one last time to Romans 12, 1 and 2. Paul writes, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. God, I thank You for Your mercies.

Serve as this great foundation for offering ourselves back to You. There's nothing to offer without Your mercies, Lord. It makes it such a reasonable service. God, I pray that You'd help us not to be conformed to the world, to Turn our back on the filth of the nations to cross over the line and embrace Christ and His work, and then to follow Him for Your glory. May it be so in Jesus' name, Amen.