A FAITHFUL GOD FACES A FAITHLESS PEOPLE
Nehemiah 9:1-37
S: Courage
Th: Brave Hearts
Pr: WE MUST HAVE THE COURAGE TO CONFESS SIN.
?: What? When we confess sin, what do we confess?
KW: Truths (about God)
TS: We will find in our study of Nehemiah 9:1-37, five
truths about God we acknowledge when we confess our sin.
The _____ truth about God we acknowledge when we confess sin is His…
I. PEERLESSNESS (5-6)
II. PROMISE (7-8)
III. PASSION (9-25)
IV. PATIENCE (26-31)
V. PERSISTENCE (32-37)
Version: ESV
RMBC 16 Mar 03 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Notebook: Confession (half-hearted)
A Dutchman in Amsterdam felt that he needed to confess, so he went to the local priest. "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. During World War II I hid a Jew in my attic.”
"Well," answered the priest, "that’s not a sin."
“But I charged him 20 Gulden for every week he stayed there.”
"I admit that wasn’t good, but you did it for a good cause."
“Yes, but I haven’t told him that the war is over."
Is your confession only half-hearted?
It seems to be in the human condition an unwillingness to face up to all that is wrong with ourselves.
We tend to hide the whole truth.
Now, before we go any further with this thought process, let’s back up into the context.
TRANSITION:
We have been studying the book of Nehemiah.
The beginning of our study focused on the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem.
And…
1. Context: Now that the rebuilding of the wall has been completed, it is time to rebuild faith.
There is an interesting parallel that I want us to notice today.
Jerusalem had broken walls that needed to be rebuilt.
In the same way, the people of Jerusalem had broken hearts that needed to be rebuilt.
They needed to recapture their spiritual lives and rediscover the importance of confession, adoration, reflection, and commitment.
Last week, when we studied chapter 8, we saw that the people of Jerusalem have rediscovered the wonder of Scripture.
And we saw that…
2. Embracing and enjoying God’s Word has become an essential element of their faith.
They heard God’s Word and obeyed it.
Again, they were rebuilding their spiritual lives.
They were listening to God through the proclamation of His Word.
They were understanding God better and His intentions for them by listening to the plain Word spoken.
This leads us to our text today, for…
3. When we have the courage to hear God’s Word, we will respond with genuine sorrow over our sin (1-4).
As we noted last week, God’s word is powerful.
When we read it or hear it with a spiritual mind and heart, we are going to be challenged.
It is going to bring us into His Presence and we are going to gain a new understanding about Him and be convicted about how we have wandered from God’s path.
And this is the very thing that happened to the listeners in Jerusalem.
[1] Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. [2] And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. [3] And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God. [4] On the stairs of the Levites stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani; and they cried with a loud voice to the LORD their God.
As we can tell by their response, this was not some just vague feeling they were having.
They understood perfectly that they had failed God.
And they were unafraid to show it.
We see here in the text that they fasted, which is not fun, since God has created us with hunger and thirst.
We go against our very nature when we fast.
They also dressed in sackcloth, which was a goat-hair garment that irritated the skin severely.
They deliberately made themselves uncomfortable.
And it is this demonstration that teaches us that…
4. WE MUST HAVE THE COURAGE TO CONFESS SIN.
As I consider the actions of the people of Israel, it makes me consider this…
What trouble do I go to demonstrate the seriousness of my own sin?
Again, they would physically demonstrate the gravity of their sin by wearing itchy clothes, heaping dirt on their head and going hungry.
This was serious business.
They had offended God, so it was time to face the ugliness of sin head on.
But this is not really the typical practice by any stretch of the imagination.
You see…
5. We must recognize that we often label our sin as common faults and mistakes.
When we do something wrong, we tend to trivialize it.
We say things like, “I’m only human.”
“What do you expect…perfection?”
Or we excuse it as something that is not important by saying, “It is just a small thing.”
The truth is, that no matter how small a sin may seem to us, it offends our holy God.
It is an insult from His creation.
Not only that, every sin mars us.
Every sin deforms us, messing us up, taking us further away from the joy of our original design.
This is why we must demonstrate the courage to hear God’s Word.
For when we hear it, listen to it and understand it, we begin getting the perspective we need in order to rightly confess our sin.
You see…
6. We are only truly confessing when our perspective about God is correct.
As we come to verse 4, we see the Levites lead the nation in prayer.
And as they pray, they enlarge the people’s perception of God.
They are seeing God as He truly is.
So…
7. We will find in our study of Nehemiah 9:1-37, five truths about God we acknowledge when we confess our sin.
As we give consideration to this very lengthy prayer, note what a brilliant mosaic of Biblical quotations, recollections and images it gives us.
These men use a rich vocabulary, often quoting Scripture or alluding to it.
So, let’s now consider what they teach us about God…
OUR STUDY:
I. The first truth about God we acknowledge when we confess sin is His PEERLESSNESS (5-6).
[5] Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.” [6] “You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.”
Before the prayer begins, the exhortation is to get up!
It is time to stand up and bless the Lord!
And to recognize this important truth…
God has no rivals.
He is without peer.
There can be no comparison.
God is beyond our thinking, being both infinite and eternal.
He is the great and awesome God of creation.
ILL Notebook: God (who does art…)
A Sunday School teacher began her lesson with a question "Boys and girls, what do we know about God?"
A hand shot up in the air. "He is an artist!" said the kindergarten boy.
"Really? How do you know?" the teacher asked.
"You know - Our Father, who does art in Heaven..."
Yes, He is the creative Creator God (who does art in heaven…and earth).
Yet, somehow, the God with no rivals and no peer, finds Himself in competition with the inferior things man decides to worship.
By replacing God with other priorities, we make Him unimportant.
Our worship of prosperity, pleasure and power marginalizes His importance and uniqueness.
You know, any ineffectiveness we have as a church is not really due to technique, organization or our style of worship.
Ineffectiveness comes when our understanding and our experience of God does not infiltrate our lives.
Too often, we seek to bring God down to our level and, in turn, we have not raised our worship to His.
So instead of worshiping an uncommon God without rival, our God is common and ordinary.
Let us confess our sin, therefore, and acknowledge that He is our God and He has no rival worthy of our worship.
II. The second truth about God we acknowledge when we confess sin is His PROMISE (7-8).
[7] You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. [8] You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.
At creation, God did not just create and then stop.
He continued to work.
And He continues to work wisely, skillfully and powerfully in the world today.
So it is here we learn that…
The reliability of God’s word is guaranteed by the integrity of His character.
The Levites continue to pray, using the example of Abraham.
God chose Abram, and then changed him to Abraham, promising him that he was man that was going to make an impact.
His children, both physically and spiritually, were going to fill the world.
Through him the world was going to be blessed.
And this promise is true.
It was true as they prayed and it is true now.
So, we must take comfort in this…God does what He says He will do.
His Word is good and right.
So even when His Word tells us we are going the wrong way, we can listen, for His promise is good to those that place their faith in Him.
III. The third truth about God we acknowledge when we confess sin is His PASSION (9-25).
Although, we are only looking at a few verses here, I encourage you to read the whole passage later to understand the depth of this point.
[9] "And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, [10] and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. [11] And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters. [12] By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go. [13] You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, [14] and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. [15] You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.
[16] "But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. [17] They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. [18] Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ’This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, [19] you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. [20] You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. [21] Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
[22] "And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan. [23] You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. [24] So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. [25] And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.
First, let us note that…
1. God works His love and His power in perfect combination.
When God saw that the Israelites were in distress in Egypt, it was His love for His people that motivated Him to move.
Love saw the suffering of the slaves, but it was God’s power that did something about it.
And as He moves to save, it is His uniqueness that stands out.
He identifies Himself as “I am who I am,” meaning “He has always been and will always be.”
Because God holds such a passion for people, He wins for them, defeating an inferior rival (Pharaoh).
One would think, though, that such a story in one’s history would convince people for all time that only God ought to be served.
But as we read Israel’s history (and reflected in this prayer), we know that this was not the case.
These people were not a loyal bunch.
Nevertheless…
2. What makes God’s love so amazing is the repeated waywardness of humanity throughout history.
Throughout their history, there is a persistent repetition of disloyalty.
But we should not err in pointing the finger alone at Israel.
It is a waywardness that continues to infect the human race.
It is a matter in which we also guilty.
ILL Notebook: Complain (child at beach)
There was a child and a doting grandmother walking along the beaches of Florida one day. All of a sudden, a gigantic wave rolls in and sweeps away the child. Frantic in her distress, the grandmother cries out to God: “Oh, please God, save my grandson.” And in short order another wave rolls and deposits the boy at her feet. Inspecting the child closely to see if there were any cuts and bruises, the woman angrily looks toward heaven and shouts: “When we came, he had a hat.”
We truly can be an ungrateful people.
Yet, His passion and generosity are not just observed in what He does for is.
They are also seen in what God has not done.
We must confess our sin, because He does not withdraw His Presence.
He does not withhold His provision, though we deserve much different treatment.
IV. The fourth truth about God we acknowledge when we confess sin is His PATIENCE (26-31).
[26] "Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. [27] Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. [28] But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. [29] And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. [30] Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. [31] Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.
The story of Israel (and our own) is a sad one of lovelessness and indifference.
Nevertheless…
God patiently absorbs the disloyalty of His people.
Do note how God is treated…
His people did not just merely ignore Him.
They deliberately defied Him.
When God sent prophets, they even took steps to ensure they would not have to listen.
They ridiculed God’s prophets and even killed some of them.
Nevertheless, God is tenaciously loyal, in spite of our persistent evil.
To show the kind of passion and patience that He has for mankind, God accused Israel of being an unfaithful partner who had been generously forgiven for an illicit affair.
Instead of being grateful for such grace and mercy, the affair is repeated, over and over.
God makes the point that though human beings can hardly bear to forgive such a betrayal once, God fully forgives and delivers time after time.
V. The fifth truth about God we acknowledge when we confess sin is His PERSISTENCE (32-37).
[32] "Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. [33] Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly. [34] Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. [35] Even in their own kingdom, enjoying your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. [36] Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. [37] And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.
God deliberately pursues after us so that we will turn away from our failure and to His compassion.
God does what He has to do.
He does not and will not give up on us.
This was true for these people.
They were being driven back to God, not out of retaliation, but because of a promise of persisting love.
God used this trouble to drive these self-sufficient people into the arms of a loving God.
APPLICATION:
1. Our goal should be to see and understand God as He is.
And it is good news for us!
We serve a generous God.
He is reliable, unchanging, compassionate, and merciful.
He possesses a grace that keeps forgiving.
He never meets a lost cause or a hopeless case.
He never comes across someone who has used up their quota of sin.
But this good news should never, ever make us lazy about sin!
In fact, it should be incentive for us to take it seriously.
For…
2. When we see God right, the irreverence of our life comes to the fore.
You see, God’s holiness exposes our impurity.
God’s generosity condemns our greed.
God’s faithfulness uncovers our betrayals.
God’s love reveals our self-centeredness.
And so, we must eliminate the excuses and accept the responsibility for what we have done and what we do.
3. WE MUST HAVE COURAGE TO CONFESS OUR SIN.
You know, as I mentioned in the beginning, we often fail to take our sin seriously.
We attempt to make it less than it is.
We heap our sins together labeling them as common faults, weaknesses and mistakes.
Then we excuse ourselves, because every one fails at one time or another.
But when we understand God as He is, sin is not something we should trifle with.
This is not playtime.
It is not a time to be half-hearted in our admission.
It is time to confess and to be specific.
For our sins need to be identified as the distinctly individual, personal, and damaging transgressions that they are.
And though it will hurt us to expose ourselves in this way, it is only for a time.
For afterwards, the true and everlasting joy awaits, and it is this joy only fools reject.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Let us courageously confess our sin…for we serve a God without peer; and He alone is worthy of our worship; therefore, let us set aside and remove any of our foolish rivals that take His place.
Let us courageously confess our sin…for we serve a God who is passionate for us; He keeps seeking us while we are looking elsewhere; let us set aside our trivial pursuits and be satisfied in His loving arms.
Let us courageously confess our sin…for we serve a God who patiently keeps coming for us, doing what He has to do to get us to come; let us set aside our wandering hearts and embrace the joy of His will!
Now may the God of peace equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
