A Covenant With The God Of Heaven (Part 1)

Review

Turn to Nehemiah 10

As the Levites lead the people in prayer, they showed us that prayer is more than making request of God. Prayer is equally about praise.

Praise includes declaring who God is - even when we want to worry about our problems.

Praise includes remembering what God has done for us - and its to remind us that He is true to His character even through our problems.

At the end of Nehemiah chapter nine, the Jewish people made a commitment to renew their covenant to the Lord. Chapter ten, where we’ll begin today, is all about the details of that covenant.

Introduction

Read Nehemiah 9:38-10:1, 28-29

I recently read a newsletter from a missionary couple who have served for many years on the island of Pohnpei in the Micronesian Islands. God gave them one child - a son who faithfully served with them there. He recently graduated from highschool and he enlisted in the US Navy just last month.

When a young man or woman enlists in the armed forces, the moment comes when they must raise their right hand and take an oath. I saw a picture of that young man in that very moment during the enlistment ceremony. The words that he said may sound simple, but they are anything but casual: they pledge to defend the Constitution, to obey their commanders, and to faithfully serve—even at the cost of their own lives.

That oath is not a suggestion. It’s not a “try it if you feel like it.” It is a solemn, binding covenant. Breaking it carries serious consequences, because the oath represents loyalty, sacrifice, and honor before the nation.

In Nehemiah 10, the people of Israel entered into something even more solemn than a military oath. They weren’t pledging allegiance to a flag or a nation—they were binding themselves to A Covenant with the God Of Heaven.

This morning we are going to consider the people of the covenant and next week we will consider the points of the covenant. Today we will see who made this commitment to the Lord and next week we’ll see what they promised Him that they would do.

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The people of the covenant - Nehemiah 10:1-28

What follows in verses 1-28 is a list of 84 members of the Jewish leadership who signed their names as a commitment to abide by this covenant. This was a legal document, signed by the leadership and ratified by the people.

Who were these people of the covenant?

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Civil and religious leaders

Whose name was first on the list? Nehemiah

In the years before this, I don’t think that in his wildest dreams did Nehemiah ever imagine that he would be serving as the governor of Judah and leading a spiritual revival among his people that lived there! Wow, look at what God can do with a cupbearer from Shushan the palace!

Application: Look at what God can do with someone who is willing to do whatever God tells him to do, no matter how much it stretches his faith.

If God can take a cupbearer and turn him into a construction project manager, a governor, and a spiritual leader, surely He can take you, Christian, and do tremendous things through your life as well! God doesn’t look for gifted people or great people. He looks for surrendered people.

Application: When it came to leadership style, Nehemiah was not a “do as I say and not as I do” kind of guy. He lead from the front. He lead by example. That’s what real leaders do. Men, that’s what we must do.

Verses 2-8 is a list of the priests

Verses 9-13 is a list of the Levites

Verses 14-27 is a list of the Jewish nobles

Application: Just take a moment and think about this, men, would your name have been on this list if given the option? Would you have made this commitment? Would you have been a leader in making a commitment to the Lord?

Now I can think of two possible ways you might answer that.

One is, “Why sure I would have.” And if that’s you, then I would follow up and ask, “how are you a leader in making and keeping commitments to the Lord today? When’s the last time that God worked in your heart and you committed in some way to obey Him?”

You might also say, “Pastor Tim, I’m not a civil or religious leader like Nehemiah and Ezra were, so this doesn’t really apply to me.”

Read Nehemiah 10:28

I read that list there and I see that many more people were involved in this covenant besides just the civil and religious leaders. There were porters (that was the gatekeepers), there were singers (those that served in the temple worship), and the Nethinims (they were servants in the temple). So you might say that there was lay leadership that made this covenant also. There were people from all walks of life that made a vow to keep this covenant or this commitment to the Lord.

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Families - verse 28

You know, throughout human history there’s been all kinds of legal documents that have been signed that for different reasons weren’t worth the paper they were written on.

Well, this covenant wouldn’t be worth much unless the families got on board. The leadership could push it in their messaging all day long, but this covenant wouldn’t really happen unless the families themselves committed to making it happen.

Application: In the same way, this year I can preach about commitment to the Lord until I’m blue in the face but nothing’s really going to change until individual families get serious about it and say, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

That’s what would have to take place in order for these people to keep their covenant with the God of Heaven.

Young adults let me say something to you: you may or may not have a family as that verse in Joshua says, but you better have that mindset.

You better have a mindset that says, “it doesn’t matter what choice everyone else makes, I am going to serve the Lord! I am going to seek Him and walk with Him!”

But then there was one more group that we see among the people and we don’t want to overlook this one. In human terms, they would have been the least important among this crowd, but in terms of this covenant, they were vital.

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Children - verse 28

I sometimes marvel at the imagination of a child.

Sometimes children express their imagination by coloring pictures. My kids will grab a blank sheet and before you can blink they will have covered it with all kinds of bright colors that invariably will represent cars and dinosaurs or princesses and unicorns.

Sometimes children will express their imagination by the funny things they say. I should write it down when it happens, but I know that on more than one occasion one of my kids has come up to me and said the funniest things and it all sprang from their fertile imagination. Parents, you may have memories of that also.

Children are sometimes minimized as the least among us simply because of their childishness, but I don’t want you to miss the fact that children were present at this important event where this legal document was signed and this covenant was made.

We see this group where verse 28 says, “sons”, “daughters”, and “every one having knowledge, and having understanding.”

In other words, this covenant with the God of Heaven included all those who were old enough understand it and commit themselves to it.

Now why were the children so important? Here’s why: this covenant would not have longevity unless the next generation took it seriously also.

Application: This local church will not have longevity unless the next generation takes it seriously also. Train your kids in the way of the Lord!

Christianity in America will not have longevity unless the next generation takes it seriously also. Parents, you want the kids downstairs to grow up to be God-fearing, righteousness-loving Christian young adults? Then you better teach them and model it for them, because that is the only way it will happen. When they hear me preach about walking with the Lord, it is up to you to model that concept for them.

They need to see you reading your Bible.

They need to hear you leading the family in prayer.

They need to hear you ask God for specific things so that they can see specific answers to prayer.

They need to see real Christianity in shoe leather. You won’t always model it perfectly. It will require you to humble yourself and to ask their forgiveness when you do wrong, but it will go a long way toward ensuring the next generation walks with also.

It is chiefly the father’s responsibility to raise them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord - Ephesians 6:4.

Not the pastor’s.

Not the Sunday school teacher’s.

It is the father’s and then the mother’s responsibility.

The children in this crowd would not take this covenant with the God of heaven seriously and it would not have longevity unless they were taught it by their parents.

I know I’ve mentioned about it recently, but if there’s anything that I take seriously it is the longevity of this church. No pastor worth their salt ever wants to see the church that they pastor become a statistic. Not now. Not ever. But it can happen to any church if the next generation is not raised to be committed to the Lord.

The only way this church will have longevity is if the people of the church - leaders, families, young adults, and children - will personally commit themselves to the Lord.

Conclusion

What took place in Nehemiah chapter ten was in some respects like the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The covenant was a legal document that was adopted and ratified by the Jewish people.

On July 4th, 1776, the Constitutional Congress formally adopted the Declaration, but it wasn’t until August 2nd that it was signed by most of the delegates. By signing that document, they formally pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. In so doing, they carried the awesome weight of certain war and of a new nation upon their shoulders.

I think that was something like the gravity that these Jews felt as they signed their names to this covenant.

They were the people of the covenant. They were God’s people. They were called by His name.

In like fashion, we are God’s people today by adoption at the moment of salvation. John 1:12 tells us that if you are saved, you have been adopted into the family of God. You are His son or daughter now. You bear His name. Be committed to Him in every area of your life. And if you are not, then let today be the day that you make a covenant with the God of Heaven.

Invitation