So we turn here to Nehemiah 10, and as we turn here, we see a record of names. We begin Nehemiah 10 with this record, and it shows a full-orbed effort here, that it's coming from every person behind this act of covenant. We see all the leaders, the prominent leaders, and these names are names that you may be familiar with. We've heard these names listed before. These leaders are recorded here as those who desired to serve the Lord, to turn from their sin. You saw, as we read in Nehemiah 9, verse 38, it's because of all of this, because of this long history of sin, because of this struggle, because of our recent failings, because of all of this, we make a firm covenant. And the leaders lead it, but then we see the rest of the people, all of them there, join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter in. And the language there is enter into a curse and an oath. And we see a corporate experience of covenanting to endeavor to be faithful before the Lord. As we seek to look at this passage tonight, we're going to look at two sections. We're going to look at a general understanding of covenanting. What is covenanting? Why is that important? What does that mean? How are we to apply that today? So a general statement, and my word for that is commitment in your repentance. We are to repent with commitment. And then our second section will be more of the particulars that are listed out here. And even the text itself moves from this general desire to be faithful to all of God's law, and then it moves to some particulars. And as we look to those particulars, we're going to see that these are things that are to have us set apart. that we are to live holy lives, lives set apart to be holy, distinct from those around us. And so our repentance had to have something of of a consecration to it, of a setting apart our whole lives unto God. So repent with commitment and with consecration. Our first point here, repent with commitment, covenant before the Lord. our own tradition in our denomination. We are the covenanters. We ought to be somewhat familiar with this concept because of our history. I find our testimony is helpful at the very beginning. As we open our testimony, we see this paragraph recognizing what it means to covenant, to make corporate covenants, social covenants. It says, Israel frequently responded to God by covenanting with Him to live in faithfulness to the covenant given through Moses, or to bring about reform after apostasy. These were solemn agreements between the people and God that they would observe His revealed law in particular circumstances in their day. Though these are covenants, they are to be distinguished from the covenants given by God to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Israel, David, and from the new covenant. So we see there that there is a practice laid out before us in God's word that as a corporate identity, as the body of God's people, there were times where it was appropriate to endeavor to greater faithfulness, either in response to God's law laid out before them or in light of recent apostasy. as a way to turn back. And isn't that our definition of repentance? It's turning away from sin and turning to righteousness, to obedience, to holiness. I think a helpful illustration is the safety quarters that you might see as you're driving across the country or on the freeways. There are places that are safety quarters where your fines for violating the traffic laws are doubled. It's not as though outside of safety quarters, you're allowed to do whatever you want. You're allowed to speed and that there's no penalty for reckless driving or speeding. But there are particular areas where a group, an association has decided this is a dangerous area where there's likely accidents and so we're gonna double the penalty. We're gonna really make it illegal to speed and drive recklessly. When we covenant, when we make oaths that God is witness to, or we make vows to God and make a covenant before him, it's not as though we're adding something new that we weren't bound to before, but rather in light of struggle, in light of personal weakness, in light of past weakness, corporate weakness, or as a means to endeavor to greater faithfulness, we add a double, requirement upon ourselves. We're now bound to that covenant that we make and we're bound to the original law. And that's why we can never bow or covenant to do something apart from God's law. We can never have those things at tension with one another. It's always to flow out of obedience to God as he has prescribed. So we are to be have a commitment in our repentance. Particular particular danger requires greater intentionality in response. In verse 38 of chapter 9, we see that this covenant flowed out of particular sin. It's because of all of this that we make a firm covenant in writing. Literally means cut a firm pledge. In verse 29 of chapter 10, we see language here, that they desire to walk in God's law, to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord, our Lord, and His rules and His statutes. That is a good summary verse for what is going on here. There's an emphasis on God. It's repeated. God's law. The Lord. Our Lord. This is something that He desires. We are seeking to live lives in response to Him. In love with Him. In obedience to Him. And those verbs there, walk, observe, do. This is not merely an assent to the existence of a law. It's not merely acknowledging that there's a law that is out there or there's a God who cares about these things, but it's saying, I'm going to have a personal relationship with this law of God. I'm going to breathe it in and breathe it out. I'm going to walk in it. I'm going to observe it. I'm going to do it. It's personal. It's intentional. It's devoted. not a distant relationship, but a whole life commitment, walking in it. As we think about how do we apply this, one way is if you are struggling with a particular sin, if there is a sin that you just can't seem to shake, it can be appropriate to write a covenant, to get it in writing. I confess my sin, this is wrong, and I am seeking to be faithful. I will commit myself to no longer sin in this way. This can be a helpful means of fighting against sin, putting it to death, pursuing holiness. This is kind of this is a practical, committed strategy, and that's often needed when you're struggling in sin. You need to acknowledge it, you need to expose it, and you need to get intentional about it. and making a covenant, even sharing it with those who can hold you accountable, can be a helpful way to attack sin that is difficult, that has caused particular struggle. Also, we know that corporately, as a denomination, we have made covenants like what we see here in Nehemiah 10. The last covenant we made as a denomination was in 1954, where we renewed the covenant of 1871. As a denomination, we saw that there had been failings as a denomination and failings as a society in our country. And we committed ourselves to be distinct from the trends that we were seeing in society around us as a country. And we put it down in writing that we would hold ourselves to God's word. Again, it wasn't that we were making new laws or creating new things that we are now bound to that we hadn't been bound to before by God's word, but we were being intentional and corporately so that we're gonna hold each other to these things. And we did that because we see that exhibited in scripture. It is a biblical practice. We are to have a commitment in our repentance. And it's good to do that corporately, to do that as a body, to be committed to the things of the Lord, to recognize weaknesses and endeavor to faithfulness very intentionally, very openly, showing this is our weakness. Here we are, we're gonna endeavor to do better. So be committed in your repentance. Secondly, we move to some particulars here and we see a consecration, a setting apart, Some distinction required. As this remnant from exile confessed particular sins, they also set to turn to particular obedience. Repentance is not just a general declaration of obedience, but it is concrete and it is to be tailored to the situation. as we think about the repentance that we might have to make as individuals where we wrong someone. We used the example last week that so often our confession is just that vague, I'm sorry, and there's no particular to it. And particular confession ought to say, I'm sorry for that particular thing I did that was wrong against you. That was wrong of me, I need your forgiveness. And then as we seek to repent, we should have particular fruit. I'm gonna go out of my way to show my grievance over that sin, that I'm burdened by that sin and that I am desiring to rebuild trust. I'm gonna do particular things that are related to the way in which I wronged you. So often we want our fruits of repentance to just do the things that we are inclined to do. I'm going to go out and buy the flowers rather than doing the difficult work of going out of my way to show with my actions my repentant heart. I'm going to do the things that I was already doing. I'm just going to do it more visibly. Here's where I'm good. Don't hold my sin against me because I'm succeeding in these areas of life. But our repentance ought to match our confession. We have to recognize that when we sin against someone, we need to be very intentional to rebuild what was broken. And you do that by matching where you failed, by doing particular things of obedience where you were at previously sinning, harming. And so we see this, and we see three examples. We see marriage, Sabbath, and tithing. With marriage, we see that they were to not give their daughters to the peoples of the land and that they were to not take daughters of the land for their sons. So it was going both ways. And from that, we get an inclination that what was at heart here was a desire to be set apart. They weren't gonna send their daughters into the lands, into the pagan lands, and they weren't gonna have the daughters of the pagan lands into their lands. They wanted to remain distinct, to preserve that remnant. Being set apart. The marriage was not a racial issue. We know that there was, we've looked at this before as we looked in Ezra, at heart wasn't an issue of racial intermarriage, but religious intermarriage. That God's people were to be set apart by their faith. There was a concern for intermarriage that is echoed by Paul in the letter to the Corinthians of being unequally yoked. And they know, and even as we saw in Nehemiah 9, that when they were open to marrying those who did not believe in God, it corrupted their worship. It led to idolatry. And so they were covenanting, we are not going to fall into that trap. With the Sabbath, God has made us to work six days and then to rest. That's the pattern laid out in His Word and in His actions. The commandment to reserve rest is a merciful commandment. God is caring for us, that we would not burden ourselves with our work, that we would rest. We are not designed to work 24-7. We need rest. There's mercy there, that we would live how we are designed to live. And it reflects the God in whose image we are made. God himself created in six days and then rested on the seventh. He didn't do that because of any physical limitation himself. It wasn't that he was tired and he needed to rest, but he rested because he had accomplished what he had set out to accomplish and he was in control. He had done it. He had created it and he could now rest. It was created and now he rested. Our own rest reflects a faithfulness in God's sovereign control. Our well-being, our happiness, our success in this life is not primarily dependent on our own ability, our work. However hard we try, our success, our happiness, our comfort in life is dependent upon God's sovereign work, his control. And so we rest recognizing he's got it under control. With both of these things, with marriage and with Sabbath, there is a recognition of who God is, that we as people under God do not need to take things into our own hands. You can think about the Jews that were coming out of exile. They might've thought we need to marry so that we can get treaties with the people of the land, that we can buy favor. that we can raise the social ladder, climb up that social ladder, and we'll do that through marriage, an easy way and a common practice. You see that throughout history. Or with Sabbath, the people of the land are coming in with their goods and we want to buy from them. We'll see later in Nehemiah, this was a particular temptation, a particular struggle. Everyone around us is selling things on the Sabbath. This is when business is done. This is when we can do business and get ahead. Both of those things reflect, a failure to do those things reflect a faith in man's ability rather than in God's promises. Both are heavily related to distinction, to being set apart as holy. We don't work as the people around us work. We don't marry the people who do not love God. what we do with our desires, with our passions, with our love, what we do with our rest and our leisure and our recreation, with our whole life, it is all to be defined by God and brought into conformity with His creation, with His good, His created order. It's determined by God. Both are related to viewing things from a heavenly perspective rather than an earthly perspective. This earth and its comforts and our worldly success is not more important than submission to God. We ought to be willing to forgo what makes worldly sense and appeals to our fleshly desires out of a love for God, out of a commitment to obedience to him. So marriage and Sabbath set apart holy, that flows into tithes. giving to the service of the house of our God. First fruits of the harvest of the first fruits of the fruits and of the flocks and of dough and wine and oil. Bring it all to the Lord. And initially, God instituted that the practice of tithing to provide for the Levites who had no trade to bring in income, and so the people were to provide for the Levites with a tithe. They were to care for the spiritual responsibilities of the people, and so the people would care for their physical responsibilities. We see that in Numbers 18. Under the new covenant, the tithe continues to support the work of the church, to support the things where people are set aside, called to work, that is concerned with the spiritual needs. And so tithe supports that work, supports the mercy ministry of the church. At its core is an affirmation of the house of God. It ends, it concludes that section with this phrase, we will not neglect the house of our God. That is a good commitment, a good covenant. Do not neglect the house of the Lord. We can think about this historical context. These people are coming out of exile. They've just recounted their corporate history of sin, and now they make a covenant not to fall into the same traps. We must be holy, and that is evidenced by marriages, Sabbaths, and not neglecting the house of the Lord. We must not devalue the things of God, His law, His commandments, His rules and His statutes. We must not devalue for the sake of earthly pleasures. It is the character of repentance, turning from the things we wrongly desired and treasured and pursued and turning to right desires and pursuits. As Christ said, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. We are to have that heavenly mindset. tithing recognizes that we care more about the kingdom of God than our own earthly comforts. We set aside the first fruits we give as we are able out of gratitude, out of trust in God's sovereign hand. And all of this is done, not because we have a needy God who needs his people to tithe so that he can be successful in what he wants to do, that he's somehow dependent on our generosity. It's not that the priests are power hungry and have used their dogma to manipulate God's people to get about funds for themselves, for their own efforts, their own careers. Although I'm sure it could be abused. It's not that God is unable to create for himself. You can think about the initial givings, the free will offerings to the temple. God mercifully allowed God's people to be involved, to participate, to give of themselves to the work of the kingdom. God could have created from nothing the most amazing temple that we cannot even imagine. And yet he allowed God's people to be part of that work. And he allows us to continue to have the blessing of giving, of being generous, of turning from our own comfort and giving to those in need, of giving to kingdom work. This is what it looks like to walk in the commandments of God, to not just assent to God is doing something out there, but I want to walk in it. I want to be in relationship with the commands of God, to live it out. Hard hearts act adulterously. Hard hearts forsake the wife of your youth. Hard hearts are not willing to observe Sabbath days that are to be set apart for God and the things of God. Hard hearts are greedy and unwilling to give financially to the Lord, to give talents and time to the Lord. Hard hearts doubt the existence of God. They doubt the value of God. They doubt whether He should be a priority in our life. That is a hard heart. And as the people of God demonstrate, we ought to turn from the things that reflect hard hearts and we are to turn to teachable hearts, turn to obedience, endeavor to be faithful. Tithing reflects a trust in God, reflects a generous and selfless heart. In Malachi, the Jews argue that there's no point in serving God because the wicked succeed in life. Why should we give to the Lord? Why should we tithe when the wicked around us are gaining such wealth God's response in Malachi is that a scroll of remembrance ought to be written that that lays out how God has been faithful throughout all time to his people. Very similar to what we see in Nehemiah 9. God has been faithful despite our faithlessness. And out of that ought to flow a desire to have whole lives, not just Sunday morning lives, not just lives that when we're in our devotions, we're happy to sit for a moment and give to the Lord, but whole lives where our desires, our loves, our passions, our comforts are all brought into submission to the Lord. That is what it looks like to repent to turn from sin, to turn from that old man, that old creation that was corrupted by the fall, and turn to the new, to live lives that demonstrate a love for the Lord. It's holistic, and we see that demonstrated here. It's fully orbed. Every area of life, your work, your marriage, your families, your practices, your weekly patterns, your finances, all brought into submission to the Lord. We are to not neglect the house of the Lord. You think about what that fundamentally is saying that for the Old Testament, the house of the Lord, that is where they went to receive atonement for sin. For us, for all people at all time, we must not neglect our need for atonement before the Lord. We need to have our sins atoned for. We must trust the Lord's plan for reconciling a people to himself, his plan of redemption. God's people must not neglect the atonement he is offering for his people. we must place our trust in the atoning sacrifice of Christ. This is the basis for lives of obedience. This is the basis for living committed, consecrated lives of repentance because of Christ's atoning work. So be committed, consecrated in your repentance. Bring your lives, all your life, into submission to the Lordship of Christ. Let's pray to that end. Please pray with me. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for its encouragements and reminders. We do pray that you would convict us. Help us to be edified by your teaching. We pray that you would work in our lives, that we would bear fruit as we go out from here. We do pray for those that could not be with us this evening, help us to have opportunities to share with how you've worked in our lives this evening, to encourage them to come, to not neglect your house. We pray that you would work in all of our hearts, that even as we sit here, that we would not neglect you in our spirit. that we would live lives that love you, that love to gather and worship you, love to submit to your law. We know that we need your help in this, Father. We pray that you do so in our lives, and we pray in Jesus' name, amen.