Sermon Brief
Date Written: March 1, 2013
Date Preached: March 3, 2013
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Building with God
Sermon Title: Anatomy of a Confession
Sermon Text: Nehemiah 9:1-2 [ESV] Read NOW
1On the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting, wearing sackcloth, and had put dust on their heads. 2Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the guilt of their fathers.
Introduction:
1 John 1:9 is a promise that states if we are willing to confess our sins, God is willing to forgive us and cleanse our hearts and souls of any unrighteousness! But do we fully understand what it means to ‘confess’ our sin to God?
What does the world think of confession? Many hear the word confession and think this… [show angry nun picture]
But in reality, today confession is often viewed as something we have to do AFTER being caught! It is like owning up to some sort of action or deed on our own!
Usually the only SORROW that takes place is that we are sorry we got caught! People may confess their deeds but only when caught AND most will NOT confess any guilt for those deeds…
Many want to say it was someone else fault that they were doing what they were doing… but the only sorrow portrayed is that they were caught and did not get away with it!
You may have heard someone say this, “Well, I am sorry you had to find out about this, but I am NOT sorry for what I did…”
My friends that is NOT a real confession! This is NOT the confession that God desires! When it comes to sinful acts in our lives our confession must be REAL! Confession, in the Bible is much different… in chapter 9 of Nehemiah this morning we will see what I believe to be the anatomy of a confession…how confession SHOULD LOOK!
However, before we get to that, let’s take a look at what was going on in the lives of these people at this time:
They HAD been in exile, but now they were back!
They HAD been oppressed by ‘bullies’ around Jerusalem, but now they had overcome them!
They HAD been living in an unprotected city, in fear and shame, but NOW they had a wall of protection and the shame was fading away!
They HAD believed their enemies were invincible, but they had seen them vanquished by God’s intervention!
They HAD seen Godly leadership and a God-sized miracle happen before their very eyes!
They HAD just worshipped together in their ‘reborn’ city and had just experienced the JOY of God’s blessing during the Festival of Booths!
These people could see where they HAD BEEN and they realized where God had brought them. They knew and understood that they did NOT deserve God’s blessing because they knew and understood that they had failed God on many occasions… but YET God was still merciful and gracious… God was there WITH them and He was reaching out TO them… providing rescue FOR them!
The reading of God’s word in ch8 and their rejoicing in God’s blessings led these people to a sense of conviction… They understood that they had been negligent of God and sinful in their hearts, but that God had remained faithful… WHAT COULD THEY DO? How were they to react to God’s mercy and grace?
We find that their reaction was a heart of repentance and confession! Let’s look throughout this chapter to see what their confession consisted of and how it applies to US as believers today!
The first thing I see from the people here is that they had…
The Posture of Remorse in their lives
They had a willing recognition of their need to repent
In v1 we find that they initiated this action. They assembled together out of conviction of God’s spirit. They did so without compulsion from the religious leaders, but out of conviction by God to seek his forgiveness!
They had a willing preparation of their hearts to repent
They understood the need for repentance and they knew that repentance does NOT simply happen, but repentance can only truly come from a willing and broken heart. So the very first thing we can see here was a total willingness to confess their sin…
So often this is the most difficult hurdle to cross for us as humans… we NEVER want to say that we were wrong… we never want to admit our ‘wrongness’ – it is human nature to resist this, but here we find these people were willing to submit to God’s word and surrender their hearts to Him! They were willing to confess their sin!
Another thing we can see was that they had a willing heart to PREPARE themselves FOR confession! They understood that to confess their sin that their heart must be right, and it was NOT! So they ‘prepared’ themselves for confession!
They prepared their hearts for confession by fasting and covering themselves with sackcloth and ashes… now most of us know about fasting… the denying of food or some other pleasure for spiritual gain, but what about this sackcloth? Ashes?
Well this was a means of relaying their remorse for the sin in their lives! BUT this was MORE than simply confessing sin to God and being remorseful in their hearts!
To put on sackcloth and ashes meant a PUBLIC display of extreme remorse or repentance or grief for a thing. This was a PUBLIC act that revealed to ALL that they were remorseful for the sin in their live!
SO often today our idea of confession is a silent prayer to God about our sin… and MOST of the time we are probably very generic in that prayer! “God forgive me where I have failed You!” and it is NOT “God forgive me for ________” and we tell God what our sin is…
How often do we travail at the altar over our sin? For many, they do NOT want anyone to know that they are dealing with sin in their lives… “It’s a private matter preacher… no one else needs to know about it!”
Well no one needs to know the details BUT we ALL are here for each other… to lift each other up in support and encouragement… to hold each other accountable!
We MUST be willing to OPENLY confess our sin to each other… We should be willing to PUT on the sackcloth and ashes in our confession on sin! These people were willing…are we?
They had a willing confession of sin to repent – v.2, 16-18, 26, 28-29, 33-35
Now this may sound a bit simple to many of us but these people were willing to CONFESS sin and seek repentance FOR that sin…it was NOT that they had been caught and felt they MUST confess… it was that they KNEW they had sin in their lives and they came TO God with confession of that sin.
The RIGHT thing here is not so much their actions as it was the attitude of their heart! Yes their actions were right and appropriate, but what I see here is that they were doing it for the RIGHT reasons!
Are we willing to confess our sin and seek repentance? These people were willing and we find this listed in many places in this chapter!
I believe the one specific KEY to this is that they were WILLING as a people… willing to recognize their need of repentance, willing to prepare their hearts FOR repentance and finally willing to ACTUALLY confess and repent! This was a matter of Corporate submission to the Word of God!
But not only do we see recognition of a remorseful life, but we can also see…
The Proclamation of a Redeeming God
So often we have our issues and troubles and we confess our sin and we leave the praise of God OUT of the equation… these people understood the NEED for them to recognize God for WHO He is!
First we find the people proclaiming God above ALL things.
“From everlasting to everlasting we PRAISE Your glorious name…” was the cry from the people! God is great and greatly to be praised!
This was a general call to praise by the people TO God! A general lifting up of God and His greatness! They recognize the sovereignty of the Lord and that He is so much ‘other’ than them… they lift up His glory! However, they then begin to praise God in a more specific manner:
The people proclaimed God’s power - v.6
YOU ALONE created! YOU ALONE sustain life! You alone bring life to all of creation! We know and recognize this and so we worship you! You are all powerful!
Their cry here was that God had spoken Creation into existence and so He could meet their needs… He had power over all!
When we are faced with difficulty and strain in our lives, and we need to come to the realization that WE cannot do it on our own… we have the power of God at our disposal… the very ONE who spoke creation into being is able to meet our need… to forgive our sin!
They proclaimed God’s providence – v.7-8
God called Abraham and had a plan for the nation of Israel. God was over all and in control of all… He was provident over all things and they recognized that providence and his ordering of things!
When it comes to confession, do we recognize God for HIS providence? Many times we don’t recognize God’s overall place in our lives! He is not there simply to DELIVER us, but He has been there from the beginning… He has a plan for our lives! Are we willing to surrender to that plan?
The people proclaimed God’s protection – v.9-13
The people were ready to confess their sin, but they understood that God was their protector… God was their deliverer! They thanked God for His protection!
How often do we get so caught up in life that we take God’s protection in our lives for granted… we RUN to Him for things we desire and want, but when it comes to protection, many times we believe we are the source of our own protection…
We must realize that God is there and God has His sovereign and provident hand protecting us as we walk with HIM! Just ONE more reason to confess our sin to Him!
The people proclaimed God’s provision – v.15, 21
In these 2 verses we find the people professing thanks to God and praising God for his provision to them as a people! God always provided for them… it may NOT have been just exactly what they had wanted BUT He had never forsaken his duty of providing for them in their time of need!
As we prepare our hearts for confession, we should praise God for His provision IN our lives! You may WANT some things that He does not allow you to have, but God has always promised to meet our needs…and when we are in need He wants us to lean on Him!
The people proclaimed God’s pardon – v.27
Finally as these people were preparing their hearts for confession they praised God for his promise of pardon in their lives! [read v27 here] “…they cried out to You, and You heard from heaven, in Your abundant compassion You gave them deliverers who rescued them…”
When we are in a sinful state and cry out to God, He has promised that He would deliver us… When we are in a difficult situation we can cry out to God and he will deliver us supernaturally OR he will use others to meet our needs!
How often do we give up on God’s help because He doesn’t do things in a miraculous way… God will use the simple things of life to deliver His message and rescue! We must understand that God has promised pardon to all who cry out on His name!
Are you ready for confession today? Are you preparing your heart for confession today? Today we have seen how the people of Israel were ready… These people recognized their NEED for confession and they PRAISED God for being an All powerful, provident, protector who provides for us and pardons us when we cry out for Him!
The key to this particular section of this chapter is that the nation PROCLAIMED GOD and we see a definite Corporate Acknowledgement of God and His awesome presence and power!
They were remorseful in their lives… recognizing their NEED of repentance!
They proclaimed the redemption of a loving God who had promised to meet them where they were and pardon their sin… but finally we see that there was…
Their Pronouncement of Repentance
How often do we pray to God and leave OUT the part where we actually REPENT of our sin? We may confess our sin, but do we actually go into REPENTING our sin before God?
I have been guilty of this… where I talk to God about my sin, but then I just take it for granted that God is going to do what He needs to do to forgive me and cleanse me… I believe God calls on us to not only confess our sin, but pronounce our repentance FOR that sin!
Preacher, aren’t you splitting hairs here? Isn’t confession of sin the same thing as seeking repentance FOR that sin… Well I guess you could say it, but here is how I see it!
Let’s say you have hurt your friend with words or some deed against them… You understand you have hurt them and you go to them and you say!
I want you to know that I know I hurt you… I have done wrong against you… WHAT IF YOU JUST left it at that? You have confessed your sin to them… shouldn’t they just take it for granted that you want them to forgive you?
I believe we should then say, “Will you please forgive me?” EVEN when we know that they are our friend and that they have probably already forgiven us in their hearts… this act of contrition on our part ASKING for forgiveness lets them know we mean it when we say we are sorry for our actions!
Here in this chapter we find that …
The people pronounced God’s faithfulness – v.17b, 19a, 27b, 30-31, 33a
They understood that the God they were about to confess to was a God of faithfulness toward them. Their ancestors had been sinful in the past, they had been sinful in their lifetime, but God had always been faithful to the nation of Israel!
When we realize the faithfulness of God, it is MUCH easier to confess our sin to Him! When we realize that He will NOT leave us or forsake us… it is easier to come to Him with our break downs and faults!
God WILL not leave us… NOR forsake us and we must understand that so we can fully confess and ASK for repentance of our sin, but we also must be like these people in that…
They actually pronounced confession of their sin…
from the past – v.16-17, 26, 28, 29b
They acknowledge the failure of those who had come before them… I want us to understand that they were not pointing the finger of blame for their predicament at their ancestors… but they were acknowledging that their ancestors had been sinful and rebellious!
We must recognize that we are NOT in this all alone and that the sins of others AFFECT us! We cannot and do not live in a vacuum…when we sin it affects others and the sins of those who have come before us has an effect on us! It is NOT the reason for our sin, but it does have an effect on us!
They also realized that…they too were guilty of sin!
For the present – v.33-37 (We, Us, Our…)
Look at the language of the latter part of this chapter, specifically in v.33-37 where they use language like we, our and us…
They understood that they TOO were guilty of sin and rebellion against God and needed to confess THEIR own sin as well!
How often do WE see our situation here at Oak Park as something created by OTHERS from the past… We may think that we are hurting now because of the sins of those in the past… they didn’t do this or that… they fell short of God in this area or that area…
BUT we do NOT lay ANY of the share of blame for our situation at our OWN feet! People we must be willing to confess that WE have sin in our lives and we MUST be willing to confess that sin and seek repentance from God!
Are you willing to go to God this morning and seek His forgiveness and REPENT of your sin? God is willing to hear you…. He is waiting on you to submit and surrender to Him!
But the people here did not want ONLY to say they repented, they wanted ALL to know what they had done… they wanted a record that showed this is what they were willing to do!
This was NOT so they could ‘toot their own horn’ but this was to hold them and future generations accountable… so that they would NOT return to the way of sin!
They said that they were going to SIGN a ‘binding agreement’ before God and be a witness to it themselves!
This document was basically a VOW from the people to God
The people pronounced their vow to serve/be faithful – v.38
A vow of faithfulness in serving God! A vow to be the people God had called them to be! A vow to abstain from sinful actions and NOT allow sinful desires to overcome them!
A vow that God would be FIRST in their lives… that they would NOT seek their own desires but God’s desires!
The KEY to this was that the people were willing to publically PRONOUCE their desire for repentance before God and others… Here we find a Corporate BELIEF in God AND a Corporate plan of ACTION!
So what about Oak Park? What can we do? Well I believe that like these people in Nehemiah’s day… we find ourselves:
Like we HAVE been in exile, but now they we believe God has us BACK and ready to go!
Like we have been oppressed by the enemy, but now we beginning to overcome!
Like we have been serving in an unproductive and irrelevant church, shamed and afraid our service was useless, but NOW we have begun to see God move in our midst and in this community and the shame is fading away!
It is like we believed that the Enemy was invincible, and that we could NOT overcome, but NOW we have seen him put down and God is moving and intervening in our fellowship!
We have seen God bring in leadership and we have begun to see a God-sized miracle happen before our very eyes in that we are going to baptize at least 24 people this year!
Since the beginning of this year we have seen a greater number of visitors and people in worship and we have ENJOYED a resurgence in our worship time… we have experienced the JOY of God’s blessing so far this year!
The fact is that God IS blessing in our fellowship and we see more and more now where we have failed Him and where we have fallen short of what he wants from us as a fellowship… WE must confess our sin and seek repentance for that sin from God!
We must prepare our hearts by acknowledging our sin, by acknowledging God’s sovereignty and by calling on Him to forgive us as we REPENT of our sin!
Are you ready to repent this morning? If you are, I am going to call on you to do something that possibly NO other pastor in this church has done… but I am going to call on you to step out of your comfort zone and PUBLICALY confess your sin and seek repentance in the form of coming to this altar and signing a pledge to God!
This pledge is a promise to God FROM YOU TO HIM! It is both an individual act on your part, but also a corporate act on OUR part!
Come sign this pledge where you CONFESS your sin to Him… where you REPENT of your sinful heart/lives to Him… where you pledge to serve Him in submission and obedience!
If you are visiting this morning… I want to say that this pledge is also for YOU because we are ALL in the same family! God’s family! If you want to come forward and sign this pledge I encourage YOU to do so as well! It shows that you understand God’s calling on your life and you are willing to surrender and submit to that calling!
If you are here today and do NOT know Christ as savior… Let me share that He wants you to be a part of His kingdom and He has His arms open wide for you to come to Him, but you must come with a confessing heart and a spirit that is willing to fully surrender to Him as Lord of your life!
Are you ready to come this morning? As Bro Herb comes and his musicians come to lead us in our time of confession and repentance… I call on you to surrender today! Won’t you come?
