Rededicating Lives - Nehemiah 8 to 11

Is there a particular place and time in your life when you were born again? Did you complete all the steps that are spelled out in the different books of the New Testament that everyone must take in order to be born into the new spiritual life of a Christian? In a recent lesson, I gave you a list of essential things you must believe and do in order to be saved. If you know that you are a born again Christian, you have completed the beginning point of a new life in Christ—but you have not completed the race. Your life is still ahead; God now expects you to love, worship and live for him daily. God knows all about our sinful nature and he understands that there will be times when Christians fail in some way—and he established a plan that we can use to regain our sin-free position in his sight—it is simply a sincere prayer of repentance and rededication.

A sinner, lost and undone, can not rededicate their life. The [RE] in front of dedicate means that you are dedicating your life again; you are REdoing something that has already been done at least one time. Accepting Christ is the beginning point and that is our first dedication of our life to Christ. When we sin—and not if we sin—Jesus expects a repentant heart to seek forgiveness and he expects us to rededicate our life to him. I can not give you a perfect plan; a step by step way to rededicate your life. I do know that it is somewhat like being saved in that it is a personal relationship between you and the Lord, and the Holy Spirit will counsel you and help you do what the Lord would have you do.

In every church that I have been a member of there have been a few of the members that heed the alter call during revivals and other spirit filled messages. They rededicate their lives to Jesus either by their actions, by speaking to the pastor, or sometimes by addressing the congregation. Their reasons will vary but it is not my place or your place to condemn their actins in any way…Only God knows the sincerity of their heart. Others may choose to go in private to the pastor or some respected friend and seek guidance in how they can live in a right relationship with Christ. Still others may prefer to go into their secret place, close the door, and talk directly to our Lord and Savior, asking the Holy Spirit to guide them to higher heights and lower depths in their life in Christ. Finally, there are some that seldom pray a prayer, either privately or in public that they don’t ask for forgiveness for their sin or sins of both omission and commission. If this person is sincere in the request they are making for forgiveness then it automatically carries with it the intent to rededicate their life to Christ and do better next time. Jesus Christ is the Lord of ‘second chance’ nothing in a Christian’s life pleases him more than for us to tell him that we will try hard to love him more and not sin against him.

Now we will go to the book of Nehemiah and study the plan for rededication in his day. The one thing you must realize is that these people were still under the Old Covenant and they requested Ezra to bring God’s law to a special assembly and read it to them. They would in turn measure their past actions against the law. It was their rule. They could hear the law explained and it told them where they had committed sin...and they always were guilty because it was impossible for any man to keep the law in a perfect way.

The second thing you must realize is that we are under the New Covenant which has been revealed and explained in the New Testament. It is equally important for us to read, study, or have the New Covenant explained to us. God’s people are no longer saved by the law and making blood sacrifices that only pointed to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Now we are saved by God’s grace through our faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Christ did not do away with the law, but he did fulfill the law. This means that the Ten Commandments are still as valid today as they ever were…we are to keep the commandments, not to be saved, but because we are saved; and we are expected to be obedient to his teachings.

Ezra comes on the scene again in the year 444 BC. The last time he was mentioned was in the year 456, and I have not been able to find where he has been for the last twelve years. This is the first time he is mentioned in the book of Nehemiah. More than likely, Ezra made a trip back to his place in Babylon…he may have still owned property back there. In the beginning of the eighth chapter he is called on to bring the Law of Moses into the new city. Ezra and Nehemiah were contemporaries, working together at this time. Ezra was the priest and scribe and the religious leader, while Nehemiah was governor, the political and administrative leader. In those days the scribe was not only the religious leader but he acted as a lawyer settling disputes—he was a consultant to both the governor and the people. Scribes were the highest educated of all the people so they were called on to teach the law.

You will remember that the people had intermarried and broken the law and were involved in sinful worship when Nehemiah arrived. Now the huge task of Ezra was to bring back to the people the teachings of the Law of Moses and establish it as the law of the land. He probably used the Pentateuch, the first five books of the bible. These were God’s people who had drifted away into sin. They now realize they have made this mistake and they asked Ezra to bring forth the book of the Law and read it to them. [Most of the people were uneducated and could not read…and copies of the Law were limited so that only the scribes had copies.]

This occasion turned out to be an open space revival much like an old time brush-arbor revival in America. Israelites were accustomed to worshipping in connection with their temple, but in this case they built a high platform for Ezra to stand on so he could be seen and heard by the crowd. It took place outside of the temple and this was because Ezra wanted both men and women and children to hear and learn the Law. As you know—if they were inside the temple—there were separate areas for men and women.

Ezra expected both men and women to REDEDICATE THEIR LIVES [which made this an example for us to study today]. The Jewish people had known God every since their ancestors left Egypt. Many times they had drifted back into sin only to be punished. Now this generation that is present are ready to repent of their sins and rededicate their lives to God.

This revival meeting started at daybreak and lasted until noon. There were no pews, and the Bible says they stood up and listened to Ezra and the priest. Do you think that First Baptist members would be willing to stand for six or seven hours to hear the pastor explain the new covenant and what it means to be save by grace through faith? When they heard Ezra read and the priest explain the meanings—they began to weep. He may have been reading from Deuteronomy where the many curses were placed on the people who had violated the Law. At least some of them had committed the same sins and realized that the same kind of punishment could come their way if they did not repent and rededicate their lives to God.

Then Ezra pleaded with them not to weep; instead they should rejoice in the fact that they were given this chance to rededicate to God. He told them that this was a holy day unto the Lord and they should rejoice and not weep...that they should find a new joy in their fellowship with the God of their strength.

The last part of chapter eight explains how they built booths and kept the feast…this was according to the Law. They lived in these booths seven days while they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles. This was seven more days of preaching and teaching of the Word. And then on the eighth day Ezra called them back to the open revival grounds. This was some revival! It started on the second day of the month, and on the twenty-forth day of the same month they had the final alter call.

The beginning of the 9th chapter explains how the people gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting ashes or dust on their heads. True repentance and rededication is actually a picture of the acts in redemption. There are three scenes in every act and they are: a] God’s goodness and his love for people, b] people sinning and turning away from God, and c] God’s forgiveness and offer of restoration. The redemption story has three acts also and they are: a] John 3: 16, b] we are all sinners by nature—all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and c] God’s forgiveness and gift of salvation. It appears to me that redemption and rededication are first cousins…and they may be twins.

The people made a covenant and put it in writing and the priest and others placed the seal on it. The first twenty-seven verses of chapter ten is a list of those that sealed the covenant. Was there a difference in the people? Did they change? The rest of chapter ten tells us that they started paying their tithe, observing the Sabbath, and keeping their covenant made with God.

Did they continue to keep the covenant they had made? No. The book says that Nehemiah completed his work there and returned to his home where he stayed for about a year and then he returned and found some things in Jerusalem in bad condition.

If any of us have drifted away from God to the extent that we feel that we should rededicate our life to God now or next Sunday at church…should we do it? Yes. If we do it—does that mean that we will never drift away again? No. The blood of Christ forgives us of our sin, but it does not remove our sin nature. He that says he has no sin is a liar and has no truth in him.