April 27, 2025 • 43 mins
What if the change you’ve been praying for isn’t meant to happen around you—but in you?
In A Promise and a Signature, part of The Passion Project series, Pastor Mark Medley explores Nehemiah 10 and the deeply personal process of spiritual transformation. While the early chapters of Nehemiah focus on rebuilding walls, chapters 8 through 10 reveal God’s true renovation project: rebuilding His people from the inside out.
Mark traces how transformation begins when we encounter the Word of God. In Nehemiah 8, the Israelites rediscover Scripture, and it cuts through apathy like a sword. As they listened, conviction stirred. In chapter 9, that conviction led to heartfelt repentance. They weren’t just sorry—they were surrendered. They owned not only their sin but the generational patterns of rebellion that had marked their history.
Then comes chapter 10, where the people draw up a covenant—signing their names to a fresh commitment to God. They vowed to honor Him in every area of life: their relationships, their time, their business practices, their finances, their worship. Their zeal was real. Their desire to change was genuine.
But Mark doesn’t stop there. He points out what history reveals: they would fall short again. Their passion couldn’t carry the weight of lasting obedience. Paul’s words in Romans 7 ring true: “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep doing.” We’ve all been there.
So what’s the answer?
Mark points us to the better covenant—sealed not with ink, but with blood. The new covenant in Christ isn’t dependent on our promises to God but on His promise to us. As Hebrews puts it: “I will put my laws on their hearts… I will remember their sins no more.” Jesus is the one who both initiates and completes our faith.
If you’ve been exhausted by trying harder, this message is for you. Let go of striving and receive what Jesus has already accomplished. Believe the promise. Live from the promise. Because real transformation begins where self-effort ends.
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Mark as Played
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Episode Transcript
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Mark Medley (00:04):
So I want to begin with a question, and the
question is are you praying forsomething to change in your life
?
This is the question that theLord laid on my heart this week
earlier, and it's pretty amazing.
I think this is what he's doingin this service already, isn't
it?
Are you praying for somethingto change in your life?
(00:25):
That's the question.
And most likely God wants tochange us more than our
circumstances.
Sometimes he intervenes,remember.
He comes in and does things wecan't do.
Sometimes he interacts,interacts, he works with us to
(00:50):
do things, and sometimes heinteracts, he works inside of us
.
Whether anything changes or not,something changes and our
perspective changes, and whatwe're really talking about in
this book of Nehemiah is reallya process of change.
How do things change?
That's what we're reallytalking about in this book of
Nehemiah is really a process ofchange.
How do things change?
(01:10):
That's what we're talking about, and we've been through
chapters one, through seven, andthat was all about building a
wall, and chapter eight began adifferent kind of construction
project, and it's inside ofGod's people.
And that's us, us right.
So we had in chapter eight, wehad the word of God rediscovered
.
In chapter nine, we had thischange of heart, this repentance
(01:35):
, and in chapter 10 we're goingto see this fresh commitment to
God.
There's a there's a process.
Okay, this happens in a certainorder.
So Kelly was great a few weeksago teaching us about how the
Word of God was rediscovered,and Ezra read the Word of God
(01:56):
and the power and the Word ofGod that awakens our heart.
The Word of God awakens ourfaith.
It like wakes us up and ithelps us to see clearly and it
brings an encounter with Godthat changes us on the inside
and then, as we are going to seetoday, it changes things on the
outside as well.
But what brings change is thatthe Word of God interacts with
(02:22):
your heart and it bringsrepentance.
It works in us.
A repentant heart.
It changes us.
This is where every changehappens.
It starts here, it starts hereand it comes out.
Whatever it is you want tochange.
So the word of God.
You know what the Bible saysabout.
The Bible says about the Bible.
(02:49):
It says that it's a hammer andit breaks in pieces the rocks.
It says it's a sword.
It's two edged and it doesn'tmatter which edge you're using.
It cuts.
It cuts all the way down to thethoughts and the intents of our
heart, all the way into who wereally are, because the core of
our will and our decisions arewhat change our entire life.
The Word of God goes down there.
It's not here only, it's allthe way down there.
(03:11):
What's more important, by theway?
Information or transformation?
I think you're right,transformation, but you really
can't have transformationwithout information.
Right, so they go together.
But if you have informationwithout transformation, what
good is that?
And so this is what we'retalking about a process of
change.
(03:31):
The Bible says that the word ofGod reveals our hearts, it
changes us.
It says that it's perfect, itconverts the soul.
It says that it's foreversettled in the heavens, it
stands forever, it will neverfade away.
Jesus said sanctify them byyour truth.
Your word is truth.
There's a sanctifying processthat comes from here into us.
(03:55):
In fact Jesus.
In chapter 5 of Ephesians, paulsays that Jesus washes his
church with the water of theword.
He's washing us.
He's going to wash us thismorning I think he already has
washed us this morning and he'swashing.
This is what he's doing.
He's cleansing us.
And the psalmist says your wordI've hid in my heart so that I
(04:18):
may not sin against you.
Do you get that?
There's an object, the word,there's an action.
I hid it.
There's an object, the word,there's an action.
I hit it.
There's a place in my heart.
There's an outcome.
The result is I won't sinagainst you.
You see this process of change.
God's word always does what hewants it to do.
In fact, let me read this toyou from Isaiah 55.
(04:39):
He says this For, as the rainand the snow come down from
heaven and do not return there,but waters, the earth he says
this to me empty, but it shallaccomplish that which I purpose
and shall succeed in the thingfor which I sent it.
(05:06):
God's word always does what hewants it to do.
It's doing that right now, thismorning in my heart.
It's doing that this morning inyour heart.
It's powerful, it's living andit's powerful and it's doing
something.
Okay, so it starts with theword of God, chapter eight right
, and what happened after that?
You're praying for something tochange in your life.
(05:29):
The word of God brings arepentant heart, it works in us
a repentance heart, andrepentance is the process of
owning our sin.
And that's what they did inchapter nine.
And this is so great.
What a great job that Scott didtwo weeks ago, talking to us
about that in chapter 9.
It was a response.
The people understood this cycleof sin that had been going on
(05:51):
in their forefathers for yearsand years, and they repented for
it.
They owned their sin, they cameto God.
They also saw not only thefailure of their forefathers,
but they saw the faithfulnessand the kindness of God In the
midst of all that.
He's kind to us even when wefail, and his kindness leads us
(06:18):
to repentance.
This is beautiful.
This is the heart of our Godhere.
It's not his condemnation leadsus to repentance, it's his
kindness.
Our sin condemns us.
We don't need a condemner.
We have the devil and we haveour own selves condemning
ourselves.
We have the word of God thatshows us our heart.
The kindness of God bringsrepentance.
(06:39):
It's beautiful.
So, by God's grace, they'reable to get perspective and
they're able to respond to that,and chapter 10 is the carrying
out of that response.
Word of God.
Repentance, now what?
Now what?
Because the Bible says thatrepentance looks like something.
It says bring forth fruit,works that are fruit, the fruit
(07:01):
of repentance.
Repentance looks like something.
There's something that God istaking us into, not just out of.
He wants to release this gripof sin in our life, take us out
of this bondage.
But there's a land he's takingus into, out of bondage, into
something okay.
So here, chapter 10, this isthat response.
(07:22):
They're ready to enter intothis covenant of repentance and
this construction project is notonly the walls surrounding the
city but the hearts of hispeople.
So are you aware that God isconstantly doing construction?
It's kind of like Alcoa Highway, I think.
Basically it will be done, butmaybe not in my lifetime.
(07:47):
I think my grandchildren willsee it Constant.
There's like these orangebarrels all over our hearts and
God is like constantly bigflashing signs.
There's something going on here.
Right, he's always doing it andhe's doing it through the word
of God and repentance, changingmind that changes our lives.
(08:09):
Are you praying for somethingto change in your life?
This is the way it happens.
So in chapter nine, what we sawis that they're recounting the
history of Israel.
They recounted the calling ofAbram, the covenant that God
made with Abram and how God sawthe affliction of the people in
(08:30):
Egypt and drew them out, and theMosaic covenant, the law and
the sacrifice, because wecouldn't keep the law and the
choice to follow or not, all ofthose things.
But their fathers did notfollow.
But God was ready to forgiveand they turned away again.
But God was patient andfaithful to his promise and they
(08:54):
turned away again and Godrestored them.
And it's over and over and over.
So now we come to chapter 10.
Here we are, and chapter 10starts with 27 verses of names.
There are 84, as best I couldcount, 84 names.
They're all very real.
Go for it, I will not 84 names.
(09:20):
These are real people with realstories, real lives, and
they're real important and theirnames are real hard to
pronounce.
So I'm going to let you go homeand read those names if you
want to.
All those 27 verses I'm goingto skip and I'm going to start
at verse 28, if you'll read withme.
(09:42):
The rest of the people.
So all those names, all thosenames were the leaders of the
priests and the Levites, but nowthe rest of the people, that's
everybody the priests, theLevites, the gatekeepers, the
singers, the temple servants andall who have separated
themselves from the peoples ofthe lands to the law of God.
(10:03):
Their wives, their sons, theirdaughters, all who have
knowledge and understanding,join with their brothers, their
nobles, and enter into a curseand an oath to walk in God's law
that was given by Moses, theservant of God, to observe and
to do all the commandments ofthe Lord, our Lord, and his
(10:24):
rules and his statutes.
We will not give our daughtersto the peoples of the land or
take their daughters for oursons.
And if the peoples of the landbring in goods or any grain on
the Sabbath day to sell, we willnot buy it from them on the
Sabbath day or on Holy Day andwe will forego the crops of the
seventh year and the exaction ofevery debt.
(10:46):
We also take on ourselves theobligation to give yearly a
third part of a shekel for theservice of the house of our God,
for the showbread, the regulargrain offering, for the regular
burnt offering, for the Sabbath,new moons, the appointed feast,
the holy things and all thesins offerings to make atonement
for Israel, for holy things andall the sins offerings to make
atonement for Israel for all ofthe work of the house of God.
(11:09):
We, the priests, levites andthe people, have likewise cast
lots for the wood offering tobring it.
They're going to cut wood andbring it in, bring it to the
house of God, according to ourfather's houses, at times
appointed, year by year, to burnon the altar of the Lord, our
God.
As it is written in the law, weobligate ourselves to bring the
(11:32):
firstfruits of our ground andthe firstfruits of all the fruit
of every tree, year by year, tothe house of the Lord.
Also, to bring to the house ofour God, to the priests who
minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and
our, the priests who minister inthe house of our God, the
firstborn of our sons and ourcattle, as written in the law,
the firstborn of our herds andour flocks.
To bring the first of our doughand our contributions of the
(11:53):
fruit of every tree and the wineand the oil to the priests, to
the chambers of the house of ourGod.
And to bring to the Levites thetithes from our ground, for
it's the Levites who collect allthe tithes in all of our God.
And to bring to the Levites thetithes from our ground, for
it's the Levites who collect allthe tithes in all of our towns
where we labor.
And the priest, the son ofAaron, shall be with the Levites
when the Levites receive thetithes and the Levites shall
(12:15):
bring up the tithe of the tithesto the house of God, to the
chambers of the storehouse forthe people of Israel and for the
sons of Levi, shall bring thecontribution of grain and wine
and oil to the chambers wherethe vessels of the sanctuary are
, as well as the priestlyminister and the gatekeepers and
the singers.
We will not neglect the houseof our God.
(12:38):
So help us, god.
They drew up a covenant and theyhad all these leaders sign it.
84 of them signed it, theleaders in the name of all the
people of Israel.
It's like a declaration ofindependence.
Right, you got this.
(12:58):
And down at the bottom, you gotall the names.
Right, they're signing it.
This is it, this is ourdeclaration.
It's not a declaration ofindependence, it's a declaration
of intention.
We're going to do it.
And look what they said.
So if you look at, you kind ofbreak this down.
They basically what they weresaying was every part of our
(13:22):
lives we're going to give to you.
The first thing they said is myrelationships are submitted to
God.
Okay, so we're living with amind toward the things that
influence us.
When they say we will not takethe sons of the other lands or
the daughters as our sons' wives.
We'll not intermarry.
(13:42):
What they're doing is they'resaying we're going to be
separate, we're going to bedifferent people, we're going to
live differently, we're notgoing to be influenced.
That's what that was aboutInfluence from other places.
We're going to build a wall.
We're going to build a wall, abig, beautiful wall.
Sorry, I don't know, it justcame into my head.
(14:05):
That's not a politicalstatement.
We're going to build a wallaround our hearts.
Can we edit that?
I'm just kidding.
We're going to build a wallaround our hearts so that
influence doesn't come inside.
Being careful what are youletting in your gate to
(14:27):
influence you?
That's what I'm asking thismorning.
What is it?
What are the influences?
What voices do you allow tospeak into your life?
Music, what podcasts arespeaking into your life?
What YouTube videos?
What YouTube sermons?
Lord have mercy.
Some of those are not goodeither.
You have to line it up besidethis and say is it good or not?
(14:52):
What is it?
What kind of gossip?
What things are you allowing topersuade your thinking and
living other than the word ofGod?
We're going to keep ourselvespure from sin and sinful
influences.
Okay, that's also that's partof it.
Watching who is influencing mylife, number one.
(15:14):
Number two this also has to dowith relationships.
We're going to be careful tosanctify marriage.
Marriage is crucial to God.
This is God's first thought man, wife together, from that
family, from that all ofhumanity.
This is God's first thought.
It's marriage, and so we'regoing to sanctify this thing.
(15:36):
No intermarriage with paganpeoples.
So we're going to be faithfulin our romantic relationships.
Interesting what Rodney said,what everyone said this morning,
we're going to be faithful inour romantic relationships and
our sons and daughters.
This was addressed to theparents because in those days it
(15:57):
was the parents who set up therelationships.
Right, it still happens in someparts of the world.
I was with, a few months ago,my friends in India and Sri
Lanka.
These pastors, every one ofthem, had arranged marriages.
They did not choose their wife.
Every one of them, theirparents chose their wife for
them and I don't know, from whatI saw, it was working out
(16:19):
pretty good.
How much faith do you have inyour parents?
I don't know.
I mean today, I mean ourculture.
Maybe they would have, maybethey would have.
You know, this may have beenaddressed to the individual, but
in that culture it wasaddressed to the parents.
The parents.
We will not let our, we willnot give the people of other
(16:42):
nations to our sons anddaughters.
Okay, you know.
So what I'm saying is can wesanctify our romantic
relationships?
Can we sanctify our love life?
I mean, it's something like youget baptized and you, like you,
like you, just all of you aregoing under the ship.
You're holding that one handout.
That ring finger ain't goingunder the water.
(17:03):
It's like I'm going to hold thering finger out of the water
because I don't want to givethat to Jesus.
You can have it all, jesus.
Have it all, except who I'mgoing to marry.
Man.
That's the beginning of a lotof woeful tales.
Right there, my ring finger'sgoing under the water too.
(17:26):
One man, one woman, united infaith and values, coveting
together forever.
That's marriage.
Lord, we will sanctify marriage.
That's the first thing.
Second thing is we'll sanctifyI'm going to sanctify my time
(17:47):
and my business practices.
They belong to God.
We will not do business on theSabbath.
Two things, number one.
Number one keeping the Sabbath,which is a commandment with a
promise, which is the gift ofGod.
Sabbath, sanctifying time todetach, to stop work, to rest in
(18:14):
God, to delight in God.
That's Sabbath and that is agift.
Man is not made for the Sabbath, the Sabbath is made for man.
This is not a law, this is ablessing and we're going to
sanctify it.
That's what they say we'regoing to.
We're going back to it.
Sabbath holy.
Sabbath is holy.
Living in rest, living inmargin Okay.
(18:35):
So stopping to rest Okay.
But this also speaks ofbusiness.
We're not.
If anybody wants to come andsell us their stuff on the
Sabbath, we will not do it.
This is their covenant, even ifit makes no business sense.
I'm going to honor God in mywork.
And here is where I have tothrow some kudos to our friends
(19:01):
Chick-fil-A, because this is notcorporate sponsorship.
We get no money from this, okay.
But Chick-fil-A I just lookedit up this week McDonald's has
over 43,000 stores worldwide.
They're everywhere.
Chick-fil-a only has about3,200, 3,200.
(19:23):
So McDonald's makes more moneyoverall, but Chick-fil-A's
average unit volume, which isrevenue per store, is way higher
than McDonald's.
They're killing it Almost threetimes higher.
Revenue per store, okay.
Per location, okay.
So if you were going to?
(19:43):
Okay.
So if you're a banker and I'm abusinessman, and I come to you
and I say, hey, I got this greatidea.
I want to sell chickensandwiches.
By the way, chick-fil-a soldover half a billion chicken
sandwiches last year.
I don't know where the chickenscome from.
That's a whole other question.
That's a lot of chicken man, Idon't know.
(20:07):
It kind of disturbs me to thinkabout that.
I'm not sure.
But okay, they sold, okay.
So I've come to you and I'mgoing to say I've got this great
business plan and this is it.
Oh, it looks really good.
Quality and service, and thisis it.
Oh, it looks really good.
You know quality and service.
And this is it.
We're going to do this thing.
Except, you know, I've got onething that we really have as a
(20:28):
value, and that is that we'regoing to.
You know, for almost two monthsout of the year, we're shutting
down.
We're going to be a businessthat doesn't do business for 52
days out of the year.
Are you going to lend me moneyfor that business?
I don't know, maybe not, butChick-fil-A is killing it
(20:50):
because God honors those whohonor him.
So you should try that.
My time and my businesspractices are submitted to God.
The last thing is all that Iown is submitted to God.
I'm going to bring, I'm goingto live with open hands.
That's really what they'resaying.
I'm going to live withgenerosity.
I'm going to give to the houseof God.
That's what they're saying.
(21:12):
This is their point ofreference for serving God.
They're going to bring it infreely, bring the first fruits
of all that we have which comesfrom the Lord, which already
comes from the Lord in the firstplace.
He gave it all.
We're just giving a little backto him.
That's all.
Produce, livestock, bread,fruit, wine, oil, everything,
everything that we need to live.
(21:34):
We're going to give back to Godfor the purpose of the house of
God, for everything that'sgoing on there, to support
everything that's going on therethe bread offering, the grain
offering, the burnt, offering,the wood, the Sabbath, the new
moons, the appointed feast, oilfor the holy things, all of
(21:54):
these things.
And we're going to bring thetithes into the storehouse.
We will not neglect the houseof God, which is being rebuilt.
First the walls, now the houseof the Lord being rebuilt.
So after the project, the wallis being built.
That's done.
After the project, we're goingto continue in a long obedience.
(22:16):
A long obedience.
It's just not a project.
This is our lives.
We're giving it all.
Okay, all right, we're going togive, submit to God, my
relationships, my time, mybusiness practices and
everything I have.
That's pretty good, isn't it?
Is that something we should do?
Yeah, it should.
(22:37):
Yeah, it's great.
They were literally promising toset apart everything to god.
And they say at the end ofchapter nine because of all this
, we make a firm covenant inwriting.
We're gonna do it.
We're gonna do it.
Our fathers could do it, butwe're gonna do it.
We're writing this out, we'resigning it with all of our
(23:00):
leaders.
We're making a solemn, solemncovenant with you.
We are serious this time, god.
This time we're gonna do it.
It's a good thing, right, butrealistically, does anybody
really believe that it's goingto change like that they're
going to be any different fromtheir fathers, that they could
(23:23):
keep the commands that theirfathers could not keep?
I mean, was it real?
Was that really doable?
And in the end, they didexactly what their fathers did.
They made a promise and theyfailed to keep not only their
own expectations but the actualcommands of God themselves.
And there's not one of us inthis room that can't relate to
that.
(23:43):
We all have experienced thiskind of good intentions falling
short.
Right, all of us have, andsometimes it leads to
frustration, like, why even try?
It just keeps failing.
Why should I even try?
And even the apostle Paul feltthis tension in himself.
(24:04):
Let me read this to you, inRomans, chapter seven, for I do
not understand my own actions.
I love, I love Paul.
He's real.
This is a man who plantedchurches, who raised the dead,
who healed the sick, who sawJesus, who went to the third
heaven, who saw things hecouldn't even.
This is him.
(24:24):
I don't even understand my ownactions, for I do not do what I
want, but I do the very thing Ihate.
Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it
is good.
The law is good.
So now it's no longer I who doit, but sin that dwells in me.
That's the problem, for I knowthat nothing good dwells in me,
(24:48):
that is, in my flesh, for I havethe desire to do what is right,
but not the ability to carry itout.
For I do not do the good I want.
But the evil I do not want iswhat I keep on doing.
Now, if I do what I do not want, it's no longer I who do it,
but it's sin that dwells in me.
That's the problem.
So I find it to be a law thatwhen I want to do right, evil
(25:13):
lies close at hand, for Idelight in the law of God in my
inner being, but I see in mymembers another law, waging war
against the law of my mind andmaking me captive to the law of
sin that dwells in my members.
That's the problem.
Oh, what a wretched man that Iam.
(25:34):
Who will deliver me from thisbody of death?
And it doesn't stop there,thank God, thanks be to God
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
He's speaking, a reality forall of us.
But we're not stuck there.
You turn the page and chaptereight starts with this promise
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that, though the spirit of lifein Christ Jesus makes us free
from the law of sin and death,the spirit of God dwells in us,
and so we can be free from that.
So Romans 6 and Romans 8 showus the great news that we can be
free from that.
Romans 7 helps us to connectwith it, because we all feel
that frustration.
And Paul is teaching thereabout a better covenant, the
(26:20):
covenant that God makes with us.
It's not our promise to dobetter.
I'm going to do it this time.
I'm going to do it.
It's God's promise to change myheart, to deal with the sin, to
change me inside and cause meto follow after him.
And the writer of Hebrews saysit this way this covenant I will
(26:43):
make with the house of Israel,after that time declares the
Lord God's making a covenantwith us.
I will put my laws in theirminds, write them on their
hearts.
I will be their God, they willbe my people.
And then, in chapter nine,verse 14 and 15, how much more
then, will the blood of Christ,who, through the eternal spirit,
(27:03):
offered himself unblemished toGod, cleanse our consciences
from the acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the
living God?
For this reason, christ is themediator of a better covenant,
and here's what I want you toget this morning.
(27:26):
They wrote this down.
They made a promise, they madean oath, they called a curse on
themselves if they did not keepthis promise.
We're writing it down in ink,lord, before you were serious.
Or whatever they wrote with.
I don't know, was it ink, Idon't know.
Whatever it is.
They wrote it down.
It's something that passes away.
I know that we're going to doit.
(27:48):
Here it is.
And God says I'm going to dosome writing of my own.
I'll cleanse you with the bloodof my son, son, and I'll write
my law on your hearts.
You see, here's the problem.
The covenant that they weremaking was based on what they
(28:09):
would do, not on what God hasdone.
It was signed by ink, by theauthority of their own names and
their own will.
But listen to what happensthrough Christ.
In the same way also, he tookthe cup after the supper saying
this cup is a new covenant in myblood.
(28:32):
This better covenant is acovenant that's written in blood
, based on the works of theperfect one, jesus.
Are you praying for something tochange in your life?
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You may have to make a shift.
The old covenant was based onour performance and our
deserving.
The better covenant, the newcovenant, is based on the work
of Jesus and it's aboutbelieving and receiving.
It's really important thismorning if you're praying for
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something to change in your life.
So you see, god's covenant withAbram was that he would give
him a land.
That's covenant with Abram wasthat he would give him a land,
that he would give him a name,he would give him a nation and a
blessing.
And he said you just had towalk before me, be separate,
come apart and be holy, similarto these promises that these
people made that we read aboutthis morning.
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But it's important for us tounderstand that this covenant
was a covenant that God madewith Abraham.
Abraham didn't come to God andsay, hey, I got an idea.
Nor did Moses, nor did David.
They didn't come with theirideas.
God initiated the covenant.
What these people wererecommitting to was not a
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relationship on their own terms.
You don't negotiate your owncovenant with God.
You submit to the covenant thathe offers you.
We align with what he says,what he's established.
So it's not me and God have ourown thing going, man, when I
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hear that, I just think thesepeople know nothing about God or
the Bible, or themselves orhuman nature.
They know nothing or they'renot thinking about it at all.
Me and God, we understand eachother.
We don't make him into ourimage.
We don't conform him to ourthoughts.
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We're made in his image.
Our problem is we try to makehim in our image, and that's a
that is a problem.
No, we accept the covenant hemakes with us.
Listen to the words of aPharisee, a leader of Israel who
knew this law most of it bymemory, maybe all of it by
memory the apostle Paul.
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Here's what he said about thisRomans, chapter 10, verses one.
Through four Brothers, myhardest desire and prayer to God
for Israel is that they may besaved, for I bear them witness
that they have a zeal for God,but not according to knowledge,
for being ignorant of therighteousness of God, they seek
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to establish their own.
They did not submit to God'srighteousness, for Christ is the
end of the law forrighteousness to everyone who
believes.
To everyone who believes.
So a question have you beentrying to establish your own
righteousness before God?
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Follow-up question how's thatbeen going for you?
Has it brought the change inyour life you've been hoping for
?
There's a new covenant that'swritten in blood.
I think the deal is all at theroot of really probably human
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existence.
But in our hearts, deep in ourhearts, we all have a struggle
for righteousness and identity.
We really want to be right andwe're trying to find our
identity in something and welong and we work for acceptance
and approval and security andsignificance and even provision
all these things we're longingfor.
But sin has separated us fromGod, who created us to find all
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of those things in Him andanything that we look to to
provide those things for us.
Besides, god is an idol.
We're looking to someone else.
God is here, but we'vedisplaced him and put something
else above him, and we'relooking for our identity or our
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righteousness or our security insomething else.
And that includes our own works, sometimes our own performance,
so we pretend that we're betterthan we are.
Sometimes we try to perform togain the acceptance that we
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already have in Jesus.
Okay, so we're going to let theword of God do some work in our
hearts.
I'm going to read a passage fromHebrews 10.
It's a little bit long, if youwant.
If you're praying for change inyour life, it's going to be
worth reading it.
Okay, hebrews, chapter 10.
Speaking about the work ofJesus, starting at verse 5.
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Consequently, when Christ cameinto the world, he said
sacrifices and offerings youhave not desired, but a body you
have prepared for me.
In burnt offerings and sinofferings, you've taken no
pleasure.
Then I said behold, I've cometo do your will, o God, as it's
written of me in the scroll ofthe book.
Behold, I've come to do yourwill, o God, as it's written of
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me in the scroll of the book.
When he said above, you haveneither desired nor taken
pleasure in sacrifices andofferings and burnt offerings
and sin offerings.
These are offered according tothe law.
Then he added Behold, I havecome to do your will.
He does away with the first inorder to establish the second,
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and by that, by that will, thewill of God.
We have been sanctified throughthe offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all, andevery priest stands daily at his
service, offering repeatedlythe same sacrifices which can
never take away sins.
But when Christ had offered forall time a single sacrifice, he
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sat down at the right hand ofGod, waiting from that time
until his enemies should be madea footstool for his feet.
For by a single offering he hasperfected for all time those
who are being sanctified.
And the Holy Spirit also bearswitness to us.
For after saying this is thecovenant that I will make with
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them.
After those days, declares theLord, I will put my laws on
their hearts, I will write themon their minds.
And he adds, I will remembertheir sins and their lawless
deeds no more.
Where there is forgiveness ofthese, there's no longer an
offering for sin.
Where there's forgiveness ofthese, there is no longer an
offering for sin.
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We don't have to make anoffering.
Therefore, brothers, since wehave confidence to enter in the
holy places by the blood ofJesus, by a new and living way
that he has opened for usthrough the curtain that is
through his flesh, and since wehave a great high priest over
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the house of God, let us drawnear with a true heart, in full
assurance of faith, with ourhearts being sprinkled clean
from an evil conscience and ourbodies washed with pure water
from an evil conscience.
And our bodies washed with purewater.
Let us hold fast to theconfession of our hope, without
wavering, for he who promised isfaithful.
This is good news.
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What is our confession?
We're going to do it this time,god.
I'm writing it down, I'msigning it.
I'm going to do it this time,god.
I'm writing it down, I'msigning it.
I'm going to do it.
Dug on it.
No.
Our confession is he isfaithful.
Jesus is faithful.
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When I am unfaithful, he isfaithful.
Should we desire to live in theway that God commands?
Of course.
Are we able to pull this off inour own power?
Of course not.
So Paul says to Timothy inchapter 2 of 2 Timothy, verse 13
, if we are faithless, heremains faithful, for he cannot
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deny himself.
This is how change happens.
We repent and we believe.
God takes away our heart ofstone.
He puts into us a heart offlesh, he puts his spirit inside
of us.
He causes us to follow.
He causes us to follow.
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We're not signing a declarationof independence, we're not
signing a declaration ofintention.
We're not signing a declarationof intention.
We're signing a declaration ofdependence.
I know that sounds un-American,probably, but a declaration of
dependence because he whopromised is faithful.
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These restored children ofIsrael had good intentions about
recommitting to God and obeyinghis law, but they couldn't do
it within themselves.
You know, jesus was asked onetime basically, what's the one
thing I need to do to grow or tobe right with God?
Or we could say, what's the onething I need to do to grow as a
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Christian?
And in John, chapter six, thecrowds ask him that what shall
we do to do the works of God?
What does God want from us?
And here's what he said.
They said to him what must wedo to be doing the works of God?
Jesus answered them this is thework of God, that you believe
on him whom he has sent.
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This is the work of God.
This is it.
Yeah, we strive to do what'sright to make our time holy, to
make our business practices holy, to give our love lives to
Jesus, to separate everything tohim.
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We strive for that.
This is what we want.
This is in our hearts becausehe's put it there.
But the way you get it, the waychange happens, is repenting and
believing.
This is the first words, firstwords of Jesus was repent.
This is the message of thegospel Repent and believe the
good news and this is the goodnews this morning.
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Every command of scripturepoints us to our own inadequacy.
It points us to the holiness ofGod and it points us to the
privilege of God and theprovision of God that he has
made for us.
It causes us to look to Jesusas the one who forgives our
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disobedience and enables ourobedience.
This is what it says.
Look unto Jesus.
He's the author, he's thefinisher.
You get that.
He's the author, he's thefinisher.
It's real important.
You get that.
He's the author, he's thefinisher.
It's real important.
I have to tell you I didn'tgrow up that way.
I grew up in a church culturethat is jesus is the author, I'm
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the finisher, and you knowthat's kind of our default
setting anyway, and sometimesthis is what we've been taught.
But this is not what the biblesays.
He's the author and thefinisher, he's the alpha, he's
the omega.
He who began a good work in youwill be faithful to complete it
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to the day of Jesus Christ, andthat's why he gets the glory.
He gets the glory, wow, praiseGod.
So are you praying for somethingto change in your life?
Here's the process of change.
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The word of God convicts us.
I identify the surface sins.
I allow the Holy Spirit to showme the idol, the root sins of
those things.
I repent, I believe in the workof Jesus and I worship Jesus
for the victory over that idoland I look for scriptures to
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build myself a tower of truth torun to whenever there's some
kind of temptation.
That's it, and God, who began agood work, will be faithful to
complete it.
Okay, I want to pray for you.
I think this is God'sannouncements this morning.
The announcement is it isfinished, the work is done.
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It's done.
It's done.
Our work is to believe.
So, father, you know us, youknow our backgrounds, you know
what we've been taught, you knowour tendencies, you know the
pride of our hearts and we wantto perform, or we want to
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pretend that we're somethingwe're not, and all those are
just fancy ways to go aboutestablishing our own
righteousness, and, lord, that'snot what we want.
We want to live in therighteousness that you have
provided us in Jesus.
You have, through your body,through your flesh, through one
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sacrifice for all, made us rightwith God.
So, god, would you just do thework inside, would you just
reveal to us this stuff, lord?
Give us an apocalypse, arevelation, not of what is going
to come, lord, but what hasalready been done.
Give us an understanding, lord,and help us to understand, to
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repent and to relieve, toreceive your power.
You're the one that enables ourobedience and, god, I thank you
that, as we're walking in, thatyou allow us to share that with
other people too.
This is going to take your HolySpirit to set our habits, our
thinking, right, lord, but we doit.
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We change, we turn, not in theink on paper, lord, but with the
blood that was shed that thisnew covenant is written in.
We turn to you.
We thank you for what you'vedone, and may our lives give
glory to you, maximum glory toyou, in all that we do.
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In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
So I want to begin with a question, and the
question is are you praying forsomething to change in your life
?
This is the question that theLord laid on my heart this week
earlier, and it's pretty amazing.
I think this is what he's doingin this service already, isn't
it?
Are you praying for somethingto change in your life?
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That's the question.
And most likely God wants tochange us more than our
circumstances.
Sometimes he intervenes,remember.
He comes in and does things wecan't do.
Sometimes he interacts,interacts, he works with us to
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do things, and sometimes heinteracts, he works inside of us
.
Whether anything changes or not,something changes and our
perspective changes, and whatwe're really talking about in
this book of Nehemiah is reallya process of change.
How do things change?
That's what we're reallytalking about in this book of
Nehemiah is really a process ofchange.
How do things change?
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That's what we're talking about, and we've been through
chapters one, through seven, andthat was all about building a
wall, and chapter eight began adifferent kind of construction
project, and it's inside ofGod's people.
And that's us, us right.
So we had in chapter eight, wehad the word of God rediscovered
.
In chapter nine, we had thischange of heart, this repentance
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, and in chapter 10 we're goingto see this fresh commitment to
God.
There's a there's a process.
Okay, this happens in a certainorder.
So Kelly was great a few weeksago teaching us about how the
Word of God was rediscovered,and Ezra read the Word of God
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and the power and the Word ofGod that awakens our heart.
The Word of God awakens ourfaith.
It like wakes us up and ithelps us to see clearly and it
brings an encounter with Godthat changes us on the inside
and then, as we are going to seetoday, it changes things on the
outside as well.
But what brings change is thatthe Word of God interacts with
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your heart and it bringsrepentance.
It works in us.
A repentant heart.
It changes us.
This is where every changehappens.
It starts here, it starts hereand it comes out.
Whatever it is you want tochange.
So the word of God.
You know what the Bible saysabout.
The Bible says about the Bible.
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It says that it's a hammer andit breaks in pieces the rocks.
It says it's a sword.
It's two edged and it doesn'tmatter which edge you're using.
It cuts.
It cuts all the way down to thethoughts and the intents of our
heart, all the way into who wereally are, because the core of
our will and our decisions arewhat change our entire life.
The Word of God goes down there.
It's not here only, it's allthe way down there.
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What's more important, by theway?
Information or transformation?
I think you're right,transformation, but you really
can't have transformationwithout information.
Right, so they go together.
But if you have informationwithout transformation, what
good is that?
And so this is what we'retalking about a process of
change.
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The Bible says that the word ofGod reveals our hearts, it
changes us.
It says that it's perfect, itconverts the soul.
It says that it's foreversettled in the heavens, it
stands forever, it will neverfade away.
Jesus said sanctify them byyour truth.
Your word is truth.
There's a sanctifying processthat comes from here into us.
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In fact Jesus.
In chapter 5 of Ephesians, paulsays that Jesus washes his
church with the water of theword.
He's washing us.
He's going to wash us thismorning I think he already has
washed us this morning and he'swashing.
This is what he's doing.
He's cleansing us.
And the psalmist says your wordI've hid in my heart so that I
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may not sin against you.
Do you get that?
There's an object, the word,there's an action.
I hid it.
There's an object, the word,there's an action.
I hit it.
There's a place in my heart.
There's an outcome.
The result is I won't sinagainst you.
You see this process of change.
God's word always does what hewants it to do.
In fact, let me read this toyou from Isaiah 55.
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He says this For, as the rainand the snow come down from
heaven and do not return there,but waters, the earth he says
this to me empty, but it shallaccomplish that which I purpose
and shall succeed in the thingfor which I sent it.
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God's word always does what hewants it to do.
It's doing that right now, thismorning in my heart.
It's doing that this morning inyour heart.
It's powerful, it's living andit's powerful and it's doing
something.
Okay, so it starts with theword of God, chapter eight right
, and what happened after that?
You're praying for something tochange in your life.
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The word of God brings arepentant heart, it works in us
a repentance heart, andrepentance is the process of
owning our sin.
And that's what they did inchapter nine.
And this is so great.
What a great job that Scott didtwo weeks ago, talking to us
about that in chapter 9.
It was a response.
The people understood this cycleof sin that had been going on
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in their forefathers for yearsand years, and they repented for
it.
They owned their sin, they cameto God.
They also saw not only thefailure of their forefathers,
but they saw the faithfulnessand the kindness of God In the
midst of all that.
He's kind to us even when wefail, and his kindness leads us
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to repentance.
This is beautiful.
This is the heart of our Godhere.
It's not his condemnation leadsus to repentance, it's his
kindness.
Our sin condemns us.
We don't need a condemner.
We have the devil and we haveour own selves condemning
ourselves.
We have the word of God thatshows us our heart.
The kindness of God bringsrepentance.
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It's beautiful.
So, by God's grace, they'reable to get perspective and
they're able to respond to that,and chapter 10 is the carrying
out of that response.
Word of God.
Repentance, now what?
Now what?
Because the Bible says thatrepentance looks like something.
It says bring forth fruit,works that are fruit, the fruit
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of repentance.
Repentance looks like something.
There's something that God istaking us into, not just out of.
He wants to release this gripof sin in our life, take us out
of this bondage.
But there's a land he's takingus into, out of bondage, into
something okay.
So here, chapter 10, this isthat response.
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They're ready to enter intothis covenant of repentance and
this construction project is notonly the walls surrounding the
city but the hearts of hispeople.
So are you aware that God isconstantly doing construction?
It's kind of like Alcoa Highway, I think.
Basically it will be done, butmaybe not in my lifetime.
(07:47):
I think my grandchildren willsee it Constant.
There's like these orangebarrels all over our hearts and
God is like constantly bigflashing signs.
There's something going on here.
Right, he's always doing it andhe's doing it through the word
of God and repentance, changingmind that changes our lives.
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Are you praying for somethingto change in your life?
This is the way it happens.
So in chapter nine, what we sawis that they're recounting the
history of Israel.
They recounted the calling ofAbram, the covenant that God
made with Abram and how God sawthe affliction of the people in
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Egypt and drew them out, and theMosaic covenant, the law and
the sacrifice, because wecouldn't keep the law and the
choice to follow or not, all ofthose things.
But their fathers did notfollow.
But God was ready to forgiveand they turned away again.
But God was patient andfaithful to his promise and they
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turned away again and Godrestored them.
And it's over and over and over.
So now we come to chapter 10.
Here we are, and chapter 10starts with 27 verses of names.
There are 84, as best I couldcount, 84 names.
They're all very real.
Go for it, I will not 84 names.
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These are real people with realstories, real lives, and
they're real important and theirnames are real hard to
pronounce.
So I'm going to let you go homeand read those names if you
want to.
All those 27 verses I'm goingto skip and I'm going to start
at verse 28, if you'll read withme.
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The rest of the people.
So all those names, all thosenames were the leaders of the
priests and the Levites, but nowthe rest of the people, that's
everybody the priests, theLevites, the gatekeepers, the
singers, the temple servants andall who have separated
themselves from the peoples ofthe lands to the law of God.
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Their wives, their sons, theirdaughters, all who have
knowledge and understanding,join with their brothers, their
nobles, and enter into a curseand an oath to walk in God's law
that was given by Moses, theservant of God, to observe and
to do all the commandments ofthe Lord, our Lord, and his
(10:24):
rules and his statutes.
We will not give our daughtersto the peoples of the land or
take their daughters for oursons.
And if the peoples of the landbring in goods or any grain on
the Sabbath day to sell, we willnot buy it from them on the
Sabbath day or on Holy Day andwe will forego the crops of the
seventh year and the exaction ofevery debt.
(10:46):
We also take on ourselves theobligation to give yearly a
third part of a shekel for theservice of the house of our God,
for the showbread, the regulargrain offering, for the regular
burnt offering, for the Sabbath,new moons, the appointed feast,
the holy things and all thesins offerings to make atonement
for Israel, for holy things andall the sins offerings to make
atonement for Israel for all ofthe work of the house of God.
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We, the priests, levites andthe people, have likewise cast
lots for the wood offering tobring it.
They're going to cut wood andbring it in, bring it to the
house of God, according to ourfather's houses, at times
appointed, year by year, to burnon the altar of the Lord, our
God.
As it is written in the law, weobligate ourselves to bring the
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firstfruits of our ground andthe firstfruits of all the fruit
of every tree, year by year, tothe house of the Lord.
Also, to bring to the house ofour God, to the priests who
minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and
our, the priests who minister inthe house of our God, the
firstborn of our sons and ourcattle, as written in the law,
the firstborn of our herds andour flocks.
To bring the first of our doughand our contributions of the
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fruit of every tree and the wineand the oil to the priests, to
the chambers of the house of ourGod.
And to bring to the Levites thetithes from our ground, for
it's the Levites who collect allthe tithes in all of our God.
And to bring to the Levites thetithes from our ground, for
it's the Levites who collect allthe tithes in all of our towns
where we labor.
And the priest, the son ofAaron, shall be with the Levites
when the Levites receive thetithes and the Levites shall
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bring up the tithe of the tithesto the house of God, to the
chambers of the storehouse forthe people of Israel and for the
sons of Levi, shall bring thecontribution of grain and wine
and oil to the chambers wherethe vessels of the sanctuary are
, as well as the priestlyminister and the gatekeepers and
the singers.
We will not neglect the houseof our God.
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So help us, god.
They drew up a covenant and theyhad all these leaders sign it.
84 of them signed it, theleaders in the name of all the
people of Israel.
It's like a declaration ofindependence.
Right, you got this.
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And down at the bottom, you gotall the names.
Right, they're signing it.
This is it, this is ourdeclaration.
It's not a declaration ofindependence, it's a declaration
of intention.
We're going to do it.
And look what they said.
So if you look at, you kind ofbreak this down.
They basically what they weresaying was every part of our
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lives we're going to give to you.
The first thing they said is myrelationships are submitted to
God.
Okay, so we're living with amind toward the things that
influence us.
When they say we will not takethe sons of the other lands or
the daughters as our sons' wives.
We'll not intermarry.
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What they're doing is they'resaying we're going to be
separate, we're going to bedifferent people, we're going to
live differently, we're notgoing to be influenced.
That's what that was aboutInfluence from other places.
We're going to build a wall.
We're going to build a wall, abig, beautiful wall.
Sorry, I don't know, it justcame into my head.
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That's not a politicalstatement.
We're going to build a wallaround our hearts.
Can we edit that?
I'm just kidding.
We're going to build a wallaround our hearts so that
influence doesn't come inside.
Being careful what are youletting in your gate to
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influence you?
That's what I'm asking thismorning.
What is it?
What are the influences?
What voices do you allow tospeak into your life?
Music, what podcasts arespeaking into your life?
What YouTube videos?
What YouTube sermons?
Lord have mercy.
Some of those are not goodeither.
You have to line it up besidethis and say is it good or not?
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What is it?
What kind of gossip?
What things are you allowing topersuade your thinking and
living other than the word ofGod?
We're going to keep ourselvespure from sin and sinful
influences.
Okay, that's also that's partof it.
Watching who is influencing mylife, number one.
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Number two this also has to dowith relationships.
We're going to be careful tosanctify marriage.
Marriage is crucial to God.
This is God's first thought man, wife together, from that
family, from that all ofhumanity.
This is God's first thought.
It's marriage, and so we'regoing to sanctify this thing.
(15:36):
No intermarriage with paganpeoples.
So we're going to be faithfulin our romantic relationships.
Interesting what Rodney said,what everyone said this morning,
we're going to be faithful inour romantic relationships and
our sons and daughters.
This was addressed to theparents because in those days it
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was the parents who set up therelationships.
Right, it still happens in someparts of the world.
I was with, a few months ago,my friends in India and Sri
Lanka.
These pastors, every one ofthem, had arranged marriages.
They did not choose their wife.
Every one of them, theirparents chose their wife for
them and I don't know, from whatI saw, it was working out
(16:19):
pretty good.
How much faith do you have inyour parents?
I don't know.
I mean today, I mean ourculture.
Maybe they would have, maybethey would have.
You know, this may have beenaddressed to the individual, but
in that culture it wasaddressed to the parents.
The parents.
We will not let our, we willnot give the people of other
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nations to our sons anddaughters.
Okay, you know.
So what I'm saying is can wesanctify our romantic
relationships?
Can we sanctify our love life?
I mean, it's something like youget baptized and you, like you,
like you, just all of you aregoing under the ship.
You're holding that one handout.
That ring finger ain't goingunder the water.
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It's like I'm going to hold thering finger out of the water
because I don't want to givethat to Jesus.
You can have it all, jesus.
Have it all, except who I'mgoing to marry.
Man.
That's the beginning of a lotof woeful tales.
Right there, my ring finger'sgoing under the water too.
(17:26):
One man, one woman, united infaith and values, coveting
together forever.
That's marriage.
Lord, we will sanctify marriage.
That's the first thing.
Second thing is we'll sanctifyI'm going to sanctify my time
(17:47):
and my business practices.
They belong to God.
We will not do business on theSabbath.
Two things, number one.
Number one keeping the Sabbath,which is a commandment with a
promise, which is the gift ofGod.
Sabbath, sanctifying time todetach, to stop work, to rest in
(18:14):
God, to delight in God.
That's Sabbath and that is agift.
Man is not made for the Sabbath, the Sabbath is made for man.
This is not a law, this is ablessing and we're going to
sanctify it.
That's what they say we'regoing to.
We're going back to it.
Sabbath holy.
Sabbath is holy.
Living in rest, living inmargin Okay.
(18:35):
So stopping to rest Okay.
But this also speaks ofbusiness.
We're not.
If anybody wants to come andsell us their stuff on the
Sabbath, we will not do it.
This is their covenant, even ifit makes no business sense.
I'm going to honor God in mywork.
And here is where I have tothrow some kudos to our friends
(19:01):
Chick-fil-A, because this is notcorporate sponsorship.
We get no money from this, okay.
But Chick-fil-A I just lookedit up this week McDonald's has
over 43,000 stores worldwide.
They're everywhere.
Chick-fil-a only has about3,200, 3,200.
(19:23):
So McDonald's makes more moneyoverall, but Chick-fil-A's
average unit volume, which isrevenue per store, is way higher
than McDonald's.
They're killing it Almost threetimes higher.
Revenue per store, okay.
Per location, okay.
So if you were going to?
(19:43):
Okay.
So if you're a banker and I'm abusinessman, and I come to you
and I say, hey, I got this greatidea.
I want to sell chickensandwiches.
By the way, chick-fil-a soldover half a billion chicken
sandwiches last year.
I don't know where the chickenscome from.
That's a whole other question.
That's a lot of chicken man, Idon't know.
(20:07):
It kind of disturbs me to thinkabout that.
I'm not sure.
But okay, they sold, okay.
So I've come to you and I'mgoing to say I've got this great
business plan and this is it.
Oh, it looks really good.
Quality and service, and thisis it.
Oh, it looks really good.
You know quality and service.
And this is it.
We're going to do this thing.
Except, you know, I've got onething that we really have as a
(20:28):
value, and that is that we'regoing to.
You know, for almost two monthsout of the year, we're shutting
down.
We're going to be a businessthat doesn't do business for 52
days out of the year.
Are you going to lend me moneyfor that business?
I don't know, maybe not, butChick-fil-A is killing it
(20:50):
because God honors those whohonor him.
So you should try that.
My time and my businesspractices are submitted to God.
The last thing is all that Iown is submitted to God.
I'm going to bring, I'm goingto live with open hands.
That's really what they'resaying.
I'm going to live withgenerosity.
I'm going to give to the houseof God.
That's what they're saying.
(21:12):
This is their point ofreference for serving God.
They're going to bring it infreely, bring the first fruits
of all that we have which comesfrom the Lord, which already
comes from the Lord in the firstplace.
He gave it all.
We're just giving a little backto him.
That's all.
Produce, livestock, bread,fruit, wine, oil, everything,
everything that we need to live.
(21:34):
We're going to give back to Godfor the purpose of the house of
God, for everything that'sgoing on there, to support
everything that's going on therethe bread offering, the grain
offering, the burnt, offering,the wood, the Sabbath, the new
moons, the appointed feast, oilfor the holy things, all of
(21:54):
these things.
And we're going to bring thetithes into the storehouse.
We will not neglect the houseof God, which is being rebuilt.
First the walls, now the houseof the Lord being rebuilt.
So after the project, the wallis being built.
That's done.
After the project, we're goingto continue in a long obedience.
(22:16):
A long obedience.
It's just not a project.
This is our lives.
We're giving it all.
Okay, all right, we're going togive, submit to God, my
relationships, my time, mybusiness practices and
everything I have.
That's pretty good, isn't it?
Is that something we should do?
Yeah, it should.
(22:37):
Yeah, it's great.
They were literally promising toset apart everything to god.
And they say at the end ofchapter nine because of all this
, we make a firm covenant inwriting.
We're gonna do it.
We're gonna do it.
Our fathers could do it, butwe're gonna do it.
We're writing this out, we'resigning it with all of our
(23:00):
leaders.
We're making a solemn, solemncovenant with you.
We are serious this time, god.
This time we're gonna do it.
It's a good thing, right, butrealistically, does anybody
really believe that it's goingto change like that they're
going to be any different fromtheir fathers, that they could
(23:23):
keep the commands that theirfathers could not keep?
I mean, was it real?
Was that really doable?
And in the end, they didexactly what their fathers did.
They made a promise and theyfailed to keep not only their
own expectations but the actualcommands of God themselves.
And there's not one of us inthis room that can't relate to
that.
(23:43):
We all have experienced thiskind of good intentions falling
short.
Right, all of us have, andsometimes it leads to
frustration, like, why even try?
It just keeps failing.
Why should I even try?
And even the apostle Paul feltthis tension in himself.
(24:04):
Let me read this to you, inRomans, chapter seven, for I do
not understand my own actions.
I love, I love Paul.
He's real.
This is a man who plantedchurches, who raised the dead,
who healed the sick, who sawJesus, who went to the third
heaven, who saw things hecouldn't even.
This is him.
(24:24):
I don't even understand my ownactions, for I do not do what I
want, but I do the very thing Ihate.
Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it
is good.
The law is good.
So now it's no longer I who doit, but sin that dwells in me.
That's the problem, for I knowthat nothing good dwells in me,
(24:48):
that is, in my flesh, for I havethe desire to do what is right,
but not the ability to carry itout.
For I do not do the good I want.
But the evil I do not want iswhat I keep on doing.
Now, if I do what I do not want, it's no longer I who do it,
but it's sin that dwells in me.
That's the problem.
So I find it to be a law thatwhen I want to do right, evil
(25:13):
lies close at hand, for Idelight in the law of God in my
inner being, but I see in mymembers another law, waging war
against the law of my mind andmaking me captive to the law of
sin that dwells in my members.
That's the problem.
Oh, what a wretched man that Iam.
(25:34):
Who will deliver me from thisbody of death?
And it doesn't stop there,thank God, thanks be to God
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
He's speaking, a reality forall of us.
But we're not stuck there.
You turn the page and chaptereight starts with this promise
(25:57):
that, though the spirit of lifein Christ Jesus makes us free
from the law of sin and death,the spirit of God dwells in us,
and so we can be free from that.
So Romans 6 and Romans 8 showus the great news that we can be
free from that.
Romans 7 helps us to connectwith it, because we all feel
that frustration.
And Paul is teaching thereabout a better covenant, the
(26:20):
covenant that God makes with us.
It's not our promise to dobetter.
I'm going to do it this time.
I'm going to do it.
It's God's promise to change myheart, to deal with the sin, to
change me inside and cause meto follow after him.
And the writer of Hebrews saysit this way this covenant I will
(26:43):
make with the house of Israel,after that time declares the
Lord God's making a covenantwith us.
I will put my laws in theirminds, write them on their
hearts.
I will be their God, they willbe my people.
And then, in chapter nine,verse 14 and 15, how much more
then, will the blood of Christ,who, through the eternal spirit,
(27:03):
offered himself unblemished toGod, cleanse our consciences
from the acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the
living God?
For this reason, christ is themediator of a better covenant,
and here's what I want you toget this morning.
(27:26):
They wrote this down.
They made a promise, they madean oath, they called a curse on
themselves if they did not keepthis promise.
We're writing it down in ink,lord, before you were serious.
Or whatever they wrote with.
I don't know, was it ink, Idon't know.
Whatever it is.
They wrote it down.
It's something that passes away.
I know that we're going to doit.
(27:48):
Here it is.
And God says I'm going to dosome writing of my own.
I'll cleanse you with the bloodof my son, son, and I'll write
my law on your hearts.
You see, here's the problem.
The covenant that they weremaking was based on what they
(28:09):
would do, not on what God hasdone.
It was signed by ink, by theauthority of their own names and
their own will.
But listen to what happensthrough Christ.
In the same way also, he tookthe cup after the supper saying
this cup is a new covenant in myblood.
(28:32):
This better covenant is acovenant that's written in blood
, based on the works of theperfect one, jesus.
Are you praying for something tochange in your life?
(28:53):
You may have to make a shift.
The old covenant was based onour performance and our
deserving.
The better covenant, the newcovenant, is based on the work
of Jesus and it's aboutbelieving and receiving.
It's really important thismorning if you're praying for
(29:15):
something to change in your life.
So you see, god's covenant withAbram was that he would give
him a land.
That's covenant with Abram wasthat he would give him a land,
that he would give him a name,he would give him a nation and a
blessing.
And he said you just had towalk before me, be separate,
come apart and be holy, similarto these promises that these
people made that we read aboutthis morning.
(29:36):
But it's important for us tounderstand that this covenant
was a covenant that God madewith Abraham.
Abraham didn't come to God andsay, hey, I got an idea.
Nor did Moses, nor did David.
They didn't come with theirideas.
God initiated the covenant.
What these people wererecommitting to was not a
(30:00):
relationship on their own terms.
You don't negotiate your owncovenant with God.
You submit to the covenant thathe offers you.
We align with what he says,what he's established.
So it's not me and God have ourown thing going, man, when I
(30:22):
hear that, I just think thesepeople know nothing about God or
the Bible, or themselves orhuman nature.
They know nothing or they'renot thinking about it at all.
Me and God, we understand eachother.
We don't make him into ourimage.
We don't conform him to ourthoughts.
(30:42):
We're made in his image.
Our problem is we try to makehim in our image, and that's a
that is a problem.
No, we accept the covenant hemakes with us.
Listen to the words of aPharisee, a leader of Israel who
knew this law most of it bymemory, maybe all of it by
memory the apostle Paul.
(31:04):
Here's what he said about thisRomans, chapter 10, verses one.
Through four Brothers, myhardest desire and prayer to God
for Israel is that they may besaved, for I bear them witness
that they have a zeal for God,but not according to knowledge,
for being ignorant of therighteousness of God, they seek
(31:25):
to establish their own.
They did not submit to God'srighteousness, for Christ is the
end of the law forrighteousness to everyone who
believes.
To everyone who believes.
So a question have you beentrying to establish your own
righteousness before God?
(31:47):
Follow-up question how's thatbeen going for you?
Has it brought the change inyour life you've been hoping for
?
There's a new covenant that'swritten in blood.
I think the deal is all at theroot of really probably human
(32:07):
existence.
But in our hearts, deep in ourhearts, we all have a struggle
for righteousness and identity.
We really want to be right andwe're trying to find our
identity in something and welong and we work for acceptance
and approval and security andsignificance and even provision
all these things we're longingfor.
But sin has separated us fromGod, who created us to find all
(32:34):
of those things in Him andanything that we look to to
provide those things for us.
Besides, god is an idol.
We're looking to someone else.
God is here, but we'vedisplaced him and put something
else above him, and we'relooking for our identity or our
(32:57):
righteousness or our security insomething else.
And that includes our own works, sometimes our own performance,
so we pretend that we're betterthan we are.
Sometimes we try to perform togain the acceptance that we
(33:18):
already have in Jesus.
Okay, so we're going to let theword of God do some work in our
hearts.
I'm going to read a passage fromHebrews 10.
It's a little bit long, if youwant.
If you're praying for change inyour life, it's going to be
worth reading it.
Okay, hebrews, chapter 10.
Speaking about the work ofJesus, starting at verse 5.
(33:40):
Consequently, when Christ cameinto the world, he said
sacrifices and offerings youhave not desired, but a body you
have prepared for me.
In burnt offerings and sinofferings, you've taken no
pleasure.
Then I said behold, I've cometo do your will, o God, as it's
written of me in the scroll ofthe book.
Behold, I've come to do yourwill, o God, as it's written of
(34:00):
me in the scroll of the book.
When he said above, you haveneither desired nor taken
pleasure in sacrifices andofferings and burnt offerings
and sin offerings.
These are offered according tothe law.
Then he added Behold, I havecome to do your will.
He does away with the first inorder to establish the second,
(34:21):
and by that, by that will, thewill of God.
We have been sanctified throughthe offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all, andevery priest stands daily at his
service, offering repeatedlythe same sacrifices which can
never take away sins.
But when Christ had offered forall time a single sacrifice, he
(34:44):
sat down at the right hand ofGod, waiting from that time
until his enemies should be madea footstool for his feet.
For by a single offering he hasperfected for all time those
who are being sanctified.
And the Holy Spirit also bearswitness to us.
For after saying this is thecovenant that I will make with
(35:05):
them.
After those days, declares theLord, I will put my laws on
their hearts, I will write themon their minds.
And he adds, I will remembertheir sins and their lawless
deeds no more.
Where there is forgiveness ofthese, there's no longer an
offering for sin.
Where there's forgiveness ofthese, there is no longer an
offering for sin.
(35:26):
We don't have to make anoffering.
Therefore, brothers, since wehave confidence to enter in the
holy places by the blood ofJesus, by a new and living way
that he has opened for usthrough the curtain that is
through his flesh, and since wehave a great high priest over
(35:46):
the house of God, let us drawnear with a true heart, in full
assurance of faith, with ourhearts being sprinkled clean
from an evil conscience and ourbodies washed with pure water
from an evil conscience.
And our bodies washed with purewater.
Let us hold fast to theconfession of our hope, without
wavering, for he who promised isfaithful.
This is good news.
(36:08):
What is our confession?
We're going to do it this time,god.
I'm writing it down, I'msigning it.
I'm going to do it this time,god.
I'm writing it down, I'msigning it.
I'm going to do it.
Dug on it.
No.
Our confession is he isfaithful.
Jesus is faithful.
(36:31):
When I am unfaithful, he isfaithful.
Should we desire to live in theway that God commands?
Of course.
Are we able to pull this off inour own power?
Of course not.
So Paul says to Timothy inchapter 2 of 2 Timothy, verse 13
, if we are faithless, heremains faithful, for he cannot
(36:55):
deny himself.
This is how change happens.
We repent and we believe.
God takes away our heart ofstone.
He puts into us a heart offlesh, he puts his spirit inside
of us.
He causes us to follow.
He causes us to follow.
(37:15):
We're not signing a declarationof independence, we're not
signing a declaration ofintention.
We're not signing a declarationof intention.
We're signing a declaration ofdependence.
I know that sounds un-American,probably, but a declaration of
dependence because he whopromised is faithful.
(37:38):
These restored children ofIsrael had good intentions about
recommitting to God and obeyinghis law, but they couldn't do
it within themselves.
You know, jesus was asked onetime basically, what's the one
thing I need to do to grow or tobe right with God?
Or we could say, what's the onething I need to do to grow as a
(37:59):
Christian?
And in John, chapter six, thecrowds ask him that what shall
we do to do the works of God?
What does God want from us?
And here's what he said.
They said to him what must wedo to be doing the works of God?
Jesus answered them this is thework of God, that you believe
on him whom he has sent.
(38:21):
This is the work of God.
This is it.
Yeah, we strive to do what'sright to make our time holy, to
make our business practices holy, to give our love lives to
Jesus, to separate everything tohim.
(38:43):
We strive for that.
This is what we want.
This is in our hearts becausehe's put it there.
But the way you get it, the waychange happens, is repenting and
believing.
This is the first words, firstwords of Jesus was repent.
This is the message of thegospel Repent and believe the
good news and this is the goodnews this morning.
(39:04):
Every command of scripturepoints us to our own inadequacy.
It points us to the holiness ofGod and it points us to the
privilege of God and theprovision of God that he has
made for us.
It causes us to look to Jesusas the one who forgives our
(39:25):
disobedience and enables ourobedience.
This is what it says.
Look unto Jesus.
He's the author, he's thefinisher.
You get that.
He's the author, he's thefinisher.
It's real important.
You get that.
He's the author, he's thefinisher.
It's real important.
I have to tell you I didn'tgrow up that way.
I grew up in a church culturethat is jesus is the author, I'm
(39:47):
the finisher, and you knowthat's kind of our default
setting anyway, and sometimesthis is what we've been taught.
But this is not what the biblesays.
He's the author and thefinisher, he's the alpha, he's
the omega.
He who began a good work in youwill be faithful to complete it
(40:08):
to the day of Jesus Christ, andthat's why he gets the glory.
He gets the glory, wow, praiseGod.
So are you praying for somethingto change in your life?
Here's the process of change.
(40:29):
The word of God convicts us.
I identify the surface sins.
I allow the Holy Spirit to showme the idol, the root sins of
those things.
I repent, I believe in the workof Jesus and I worship Jesus
for the victory over that idoland I look for scriptures to
(40:54):
build myself a tower of truth torun to whenever there's some
kind of temptation.
That's it, and God, who began agood work, will be faithful to
complete it.
Okay, I want to pray for you.
I think this is God'sannouncements this morning.
The announcement is it isfinished, the work is done.
(41:16):
It's done.
It's done.
Our work is to believe.
So, father, you know us, youknow our backgrounds, you know
what we've been taught, you knowour tendencies, you know the
pride of our hearts and we wantto perform, or we want to
(41:36):
pretend that we're somethingwe're not, and all those are
just fancy ways to go aboutestablishing our own
righteousness, and, lord, that'snot what we want.
We want to live in therighteousness that you have
provided us in Jesus.
You have, through your body,through your flesh, through one
(41:57):
sacrifice for all, made us rightwith God.
So, god, would you just do thework inside, would you just
reveal to us this stuff, lord?
Give us an apocalypse, arevelation, not of what is going
to come, lord, but what hasalready been done.
Give us an understanding, lord,and help us to understand, to
(42:24):
repent and to relieve, toreceive your power.
You're the one that enables ourobedience and, god, I thank you
that, as we're walking in, thatyou allow us to share that with
other people too.
This is going to take your HolySpirit to set our habits, our
thinking, right, lord, but we doit.
(42:44):
We change, we turn, not in theink on paper, lord, but with the
blood that was shed that thisnew covenant is written in.
We turn to you.
We thank you for what you'vedone, and may our lives give
glory to you, maximum glory toyou, in all that we do.
(43:05):
In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
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