This is the Bible Book Club, the book of Nehemiah.

Welcome to the club.

Last episode on chapter 8 of Nehemiah, the people of Judah are rallying to the cause.

With the finished wall, they see God's hand upon them,

and they want to know more, more about God. So they asked Ezra to read the book of the law to them.

Their response was an increase in faith. They worshipped God. They began to understand what it meant to

obey the law and took it to heart. They were

convicted of their sin for disobeying and they turned to God in repentance. The result of learning

God's plan and turning to him was overwhelming joy. Then they took their first step in keeping

the law. They discovered that several holy

days were approaching, and one, the feast of tabernacles, was a great place to get back on track.

They celebrated the week-long ceremony as a unified community. Well, with all that reading,

the return exiles and Judah are coming to grips with the reality that they are no

different than the

Israelites who wandered around for 40 years in spiritual wilderness. They were sent into exile for all

the same reasons as their forefathers. The realization was humbling. But it led them to the right

response. The right response to conviction is repentance.

Repentance is the act of turning away from sin to God, accepting that God forgives you, and living from

then on free from sin's power. However, would any of this have happened if they had not read the law? No, and that is the power

of sin without the law. You don't know what you do is wrong. The law defines or reveals sin.

The apostle Paul said it like this. In Romans chapter 7, verse 7, I would not have known

what sin was had it not been for the law, for I would not have known what coveting really was

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