Nehemiah 9 The Great Turn Around
- Read Nehemiah 9
A few days ago I posted a picture of an old Chevy pickup driving down the road. It must have had an old bench seat because through the back window you could see a man driving. Sitting right beside him was his wife, and the man had his arm along the back of the seat around the neck of his wife. The caption said, “Some people are richer than they know.”
The point being, it isn’t the material things you have that really matter, it’s the relationships.
The first guy to comment said, “Man, what I wouldn’t give to have my old step side chevy pickup with 3 on the column again.”
The second one said, ’65 to ’67 were some great years for those trucks.”
The third one said, “Agreed, those were some good years.”
I’m sitting there scratching my head thinking, “Are these guys trying to be funny or are they really that thick?”
It doesn’t matter what you own or how much you have accumulated, if the love and the closeness is gone, and some would give anything to have it back again.
What is true of our relationships with our spouses, with our family and with others, is even truer of our relationship with the Lord. If that closeness, if that intimacy, if the sweetness of that relationship with the Lord is gone, then everything else loses meaning and purpose.
The Israelites under Ezra’s leadership returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple. Under Nehemiah’s leadership they have rebuilt the walls of the city. They have cleaned up the rubble, rehung the gates, and rebuilt their houses. They are safe, secure, and becoming comfortable, but something is missing. The close, sweet relationship they had with their Creator is gone.
Do you remember what Jesus said to the church in Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2? He said, ““Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: Thus says the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands: I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars. I know that you have persevered and endured hardships for the sake of my name, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you[b] and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet you do have this: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Jesus said to the church in Ephesus, “I know you have stood up against evil. I know you are doing some good things. I know you have tested the preachers and weeded out those who are not teaching or preaching truth, but I still have something against you. There is still something I’m not happy about. You don’t love Me like you used to.”
In 1646 and ’47, a group of English and Scottish theologians and lay people got together in Westminster with the goal of getting the churches back closer to their Christian faith in how they lived their lives. In their work they asked the question, “What is the chief end of man?” And they answered that question, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
You see my friend, we were created by God and for God. We were created to have a relationship with Him, and when we do not have that relationship, or when that relationship is not as close or intimate as God intended, there will be an emptiness in our lives and in our hearts that nothing can fill.
You can rebuild a city. You can build a new home. You can have a great job. You can take great trips. You can have great toys, but if there is not a close relationship with the One Who created you and for Whom you were created, there will always be something missing.
Some of you remember Kirk Cameron, who used to star in the TV show, “Growing Pains.” Kirk said, even at the height of his success, when his career was doing well, and he was making lots of money, and people were clamoring to see him, he said, “Even in the midst of all of that, there was a time each night before he fell asleep when he knew something was missing.” That missing ingredient was a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Israelites have a new temple. They have new walls and gates. They have a newfound respect from the people around them, because the walls were rebuilt in 52 days, and their neighbors new that couldn’t have happened if God wasn’t working in the situation. They had all of that going for them, and yet the void remained.
And let me tell you my friend, if you do not have a personal and growing relationship with Jesus Christ, there will always be something missing in your life. There will be an itch you cannot reach, a thirst you cannot quench, a hunger you cannot satisfy.
So the people said to Ezra in Nehemiah 8:1, read to us from the book. Read the Bible to us.
Let me tell you my friend, if you want restoration, if you want filling, if you want closeness, if you want meaning in your life, and a closeness to God and a fulfillment of the thing for which you were created there is no better place to start than in scripture.
There are other places you can search for God. You can look for God in creation and you will see His hand there.
1. The heavens
You can look to the heavens and see the countless stars. In 2016 a study of images from the Hubble space telescope led scientists to estimate that there are 2 trillion galaxies in our universe. If each of them contain the same 100 billion stars there are in our galaxy, the Milky Way, that means there 200-billion-trillion stars in the universe, and the Bible tells us that each of those stars sings the glory of God.
> Psalm 19:1-6 The heavens declare the glory of God,?and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. Their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming from his home; it rejoices like an athlete running a course. It rises from one end of the heavens and circles to their other end; nothing is hidden from its heat.
> Romans 1:18-20 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known[a] about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.
The Bible tells us that the heavens and all creation testify to the presence and power of God, but that is not the best place to find Him.
You can look at the human body, and see God’s work there.
2. The Human body
Every time I go to the doctor, I wonder, how in the world could someone in the medical profession not believe in God? They might believe in the wrong one, but how in the world could they not be a believer when every day, day after day, they have to examine our bodies and realize there must be a Creator because there is no way all of this could happen by accident.
Kids and young people may not understand, but as we get older we begin to realize how many things have to be just right in order for our bodies to work.
Gladys has to put drops in her eyes multiple times a day to keep the pressure in her eyes down so she won’t get glaucoma. As a young person, who even thinks about eye pressure?
You have to to have the pressure in your eyes just right. You have to have your blood pressure just right. Too high and you start blowing gaskets. Too low and you pass out. You have to have your iron levels just right. There’s a lining in your stomach that regulates how much iron you take in. Too much and it can damage your liver and other organs. Too little, and your blood suffers.
You go into a doctors office and they have all of those charts hanging on the walls showing all the body parts you have that could be broken. And you realize all the wiring that has to be done just right, so your brain can send signals to every part of your body to make sure they are running correctly, and then you look at the circulatory system and realize how all of that has to be done just right so everything gets fed, and gets oxygen, and has the trash taken out, and you realize that the One Who created our bodies knew what He was doing and designed us very well.
We see new subdivisions going up all around us. We see the land being cleared, and the water lines being laid in the ground, and the sewer lines being buried, and the electrical lines being installed, and the storm water and retention ponds being planned, and the roads being leveled and paved and see the houses being constructed and we know that an engineer planned all of this.
And then we look at Chris and Sooner’s new baby Blossom, and we say, there must be a God, to have designed and created something so intricate and so beautiful.
No wonder David declared in
> Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
You can find God in creation and you can find God in the design of the human body, but there is no better place to find God than in His scripture for of it He says, “
> Isaiah 55:8-11 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,?and your ways are not my ways.”?This is the Lord’s declaration.
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“For as heaven is higher than earth,?so my ways are higher than your ways,?and my thoughts than your thoughts.
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For just as rain and snow fall from heaven?and do not return there?without saturating the earth?and making it germinate and sprout,?and providing seed to sow?and food to eat,
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so my word that comes from my mouth?will not return to me empty,?but it will accomplish what I please?and will prosper in what I send it to do.”
My word will not return to Me empty but it will accomplish what I please.
My friend, if you want to find God, if you want that closeness again, if you want revival, if you want to return to your first love, there is no better place to start than in your Bible.
> James 1:23-24 Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.
Our Bibles are like mirrors. They show us what we are really like. Our Bibles show us a need for a Savior. Our Bibles tell us about a loving heavenly Father. Our Bibles tell us about a Savior Who loved us enough to die for us. Our Bibles tell us about a Savior who was crucified, though He did nothing wrong. Was buried and rose again on the third day. Our Bibles tell us about a Savior Who is preparing a place for His followers. Our Bibles tell us about a reunion that will take place one day, and they tell us about what we are supposed to be doing between now and then.
And notice, they didn’t just read their Bibles one time and then abracadabra, everything was like it was supposed to be. No, They came back again and again, because this thing was real to them. They wanted a change. They were tired of the empty pretend, being people of God in name only.
They said, we want a change. We want the real thing. We want that closeness. We want the miracles our ancestors told us about. We want to see You work in our lives and in our nation like You did in the old days.
A while back I had someone call me crying, “Brother Gene, I want to know God. I want to believe. What do I do?
> Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.
They studied the Bible. The first reading was in chapter 8 verses 4-8, and the people celebrated because they could sense that God was doing something. Then they had the Bible read to them again in 8:14-15, and they responded with obedience, celebrating the week of the tabernacles, like God had commanded them.
Now they’re coming back a third time. They want to learn more about God and about His expectations.
- Read Nehemiah 9:3
They read their Bibles again. And this wasn’t some little read a verse and feel good about myself kinda situation. They were there for a firth of the day. Notice if you will how they came.
HOW THEY CAME
- Read 9:1
1. They were focused - They come with a focus on God, so they fasted. They said, “Lord, no physical things have brought the satisfaction, the fullness, the filling, the closeness we want. We are willing to give up these things in order to hear from you. Lord, I want you to know that I am serious and that You are important to me. So they didn’t eat.
Have you ever gotten so busy that at the end of the day you realize that you haven’t eaten? You were busy. You were focused so you missed a meal.
These people were focused on some changes taking place. These people were focused on their nation being restored and the closeness to God being made like it was back in the days of Moses, and Joshua, David and Solomon. They said, we’re willing to give up some things in order for change to occur, so they gave up some meals.
They were focused.
2. They were humble - They were wearing sackcloth and ashes. They didn’t come with their fancy clothes. They didn’t come wearing their jewelry and all of their fancy attire. They came wearing sackcloth, with ashes and dirt thrown in their hair.
They said, “Lord, we aren’t trying to impress You. There is nothing we have that either You have given us or You have given us the strength and ability to make or earn. Lord, it’s all about You.
There is a reason the pharisees read their Bibles and didn’t learn anything. It’s because they didn’t read their Bibles with humility. They read their Bibles with pride, thinking about all of the rules they were keeping.
Do you remember the account of the publican and the pharisee?
> Luke 18:9-14 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth[e] of everything I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me,[f] a sinner!’ I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
They approached their Bible as created beings approach their Creator.
They were focused. They were humble. They were separated.
3. They were separated
- Read 9:2
God had called them to be a separate people. Over the decades and more, they had intermarried, and intermingled with the people living around them. Over time, they had adopted some of those peoples’ ways. They had begun to live like the world instead of living as the people of God.
They had begun to dress like them and talk like them, and tell the same jokes they told, and use the same language they used, and listen to the same music they listened to, and spend money the same way the world did. They hadn’t been setting aside a day of rest and worship. They said, “Lord, we find that life unfulfilling. We don’t want to live and act like people who don’t know You. We want to live differently. We want to talk differently.
> 2 Corinthians 6:17 Therefore, come out from among them?and be separate, says the Lord; do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you.
So they came before the Lord and said, “Lord, we don’t want to live like the world anymore. We don’t want to compromise our morals, our values, or our standards anymore. Yes Lord, we have messed up, but we want to put that stuff off and return to You once again.
Oh my friend, I praise the Lord that we serve a God of second chances.
> Zechariah 1:3 So tell the people, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: Return to me—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—and I will return to you, says the Lord of Armies.
Return to Me and I will return to you.
We remember the account of the prodigal son. Jesus tells us that the young man was reared well. He grew up in a Godly home with Godly parents. But somewhere along the way he took a wrong turn. He got his mind on the world. He wanted to live like the world, and party, and have a good time. So he left the Godly home he was reared in, and went forth into the world. And he had a good time for a while.
My friend, let me tell you, sin can be fun for a while. No one ever said otherwise. If it wasn’t fun, people wouldn’t do it. If it wasn’t fun, it wouldn’t be so alluring. If it wasn’t fun, it wouldn’t be so tempting.
So he went into the world, left all he had known and lived like the world. Then a famine came, his money was gone and the party was over, He found himself hungry and feeding pigs, something no Jewish person would ever imagine themselves doing.
“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. –” ? R Zaccharias
And let me tell you, pig pens can come in all forms and fashions. It can be a literal pig pen, or it can be a palatial home in Heathrow. It can be rescue mission in a bad part of town, or the biggest house in the fanciest subdivision. It doesn’t matter how you dress it up, what kind of window treatments it has or if it has granite countertops, a pig pen still stinks.
But, praise God, while in the pig pen, the Bible tells us the man came to his senses. He realized that this is not where he wanted to be. This was not the life he had intended. So, he decided to go home to his father.
When he was within sight of the house, he discovered that his dad had been looking for him all along.
The Father, seeing him coming up the road, ran to him, rushed to hime. He wrapped His arms around his wayward son and crushed him to His breast.
He put a new suit of clothes upon his body. Sandals on his feet. A ring on his hand, and He slaughtered the fatted calf.
The Bible tells us that the very angels of heaven rejoice at the turning of one lost soul.
Even so does our Heavenly Father rejoice when one of His children returns home.
4. They were honest
- Read 9:3
They confessed
They were honest about themselves and about where they were in their walk with God.
Let me tell you my friend, there will never be forgiveness and fullness until you are honest about your need for a change. . . .
5. They were excited.
- Read 9:3
They worshipped.
When you see yourself for who you really are, when you confess your need for a Savior, when you are separate from the world, not living like them anymore but with renewed heart and purpose, it frees your heart and your soul to praise the Lord like you never have before.
David, after sining with Bathsheba, cried out to the Lord, in Psalm 51, “Restore to me the joy of my salvation.”
Then in verse 14 & 15 he declares, “ Save me from the guilt of bloodshed, God—God of my salvation—and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
Cleanse me and I will sing. Oh, when the load of sin and guilt is lifted off of us, what joy returns to our hearts.
You remember that song, “Since Jesus came into my heart?”
What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought?Since Jesus came into my heart;?I have light in my soul for which long I have sought,?Since Jesus came into my heart.
Refrain:?Since Jesus came into my heart,?Since Jesus came into my heart;?Floods of joy o’er my soul like the sea billows roll,?Since Jesus came into my heart.
Oh my friend, there is joy in restoration. There is joy in a renewed relationship with Jesus Christ.
