Nehemiah Series - Sermon 13

The Levites ascend about the people and lead them in a summary confession of history. It would be this confession of history that they would command that the people should always bless the Lord.

One valuable lesson we can already glean from this, is that our history contains a power that will bring our hearts to desire to confess our sin and His grace.

History is truly His-story! A story that draws us to Him in CONFESSION.

1) What Should Confession Look Like?

A. When we think about confession, what comes to our mind?

Someone who has committed a crime.

Before someone takes the witness stand, what are they asked to promise?

Confession is often centered on an admission of guilt.

B. Let’s take a survey of the text and discover what confession looked like in Nehemiah’s day:

Section 1 — (vv.5-6) God alone is creator and sustainer of all things.

Section 2 — (vv.7-8) God should be blessed for His sovereign election of His covenant with Abraham and his descendants.

Section 3 — (vv.9-12) God should be blessed because he delivered His people from affliction, defeated their persecutors, reminded them of His greatness, and provided direction and protection.

Section 4 — (vv.13-15) God gave them His law, provided food and water continuously, and gave them the promise of possessing the land.

Section 5 — (vv.16-21) Their ancestors became proud, stubborn, and did not obey God’s commandments; they forgot about God’s miracles; they chose another leader and embraced their past bondage; God continued true to His covenant and provided continual pardon, grace, mercy, and kindness

Section 6 — (vv.22-25) God allowed them to conquer the land; they were able to conquer kingdoms and nations; God multiplied their children; they procured rich land, houses full of goods, plenty of clean water, and abundance of vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees.

Section 7 — (vv.26-29) In spite of the people’s rebellion, God sent many judges to deliver them from their enemies.

Section 8 — (vv.30-31) God in His extended patience, sent many prophets to expose their sin and lead them back to holiness.

Section 9 — (vv.32-37) Speaks of Ezra’s day and the need for the nation to repent and confess sin.

Nehemiah 9:38 “38 And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.”

C. So, what can be said about confession from them?

When does confession begin?

Confession begins when you discover the truth of Scripture and apply it to your life.

Confession is not about pretending but being completely transparent.

Nehemiah 9:33 “33 Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:”

There are no excuses! (have you ever tried to come up with some of them?)

There is only admission of the people’s continual guilt and God’s continual goodness.

We must ask ourselves, “What sticks out as the main theme of this chapter of confession?

Yes, they most certainly confessed their sin and that of their forefathers.

Yet, the confession of their sin IS NOT the main theme!

There are far more verses describing God’s faithfulness, grace, mercy, longsuffering, patience, goodness, provisions, protections, comfort, sustaining power, etc.

Illustration: In a movie or play, there is the lead actor and supporting actor. Confession of God’s character is the main theme and confession of people’s sin is the supporting theme.

What does the Hebrew verb “to confess” mean?

It means more than just admitting your guilt.

It more accurately means “to acknowledge, to affirm, to recognize”

In other words, tell the whole truth; the truth about you and God.

Don’t overlook what the people are doing here:

They told the truth about their guilt with the powerful backdrop of the truth about God.

The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 11: Ezra / Nehemiah / Esther Confession—Telling the Whole Truth

Look again at the structure of vv. 6–37:

• God’s greatness in creation, covenant, redemption (6–15)

• The people’s hardening of their necks (16–17a)

• God’s grace (17b)

• The people’s idolatry (18)

• God’s mercies (19–25)

• The people’s disobedience (26)

• God’s discipline and salvation (27)

• The people’s evil (28a)

• God’s deliverance (28b)

• The people’s stiff necks (29)

• God’s patience, judgment, and mercy (30–31)

Why do we often times separate our confession of sin from our confession of God’s greatness?

I think there are some benefits from combining the two:

2) Benefits From Telling The Whole Truth

A. It reveals to you the real corruption and guilt in your life

Question: How many of you have spent time persuading your conscience to be okay with certain sins?

Examples: selfishness, rebellion, disobedience to God, hurtful words and attitude, judgmental thoughts, bible reading, time in prayer....

We have forgotten how to be broken over our sin!

We look down on Peter’s betrayal, but we fail to commend him on his brokenness over his betrayal.

Your sin is heartbreaking and grievous to God.

B. It motivates you to confess your sin

You will discover a greater freedom in confessing to God the truth about yourself.

Nehemiah 9:17-19 “17 And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not. 18 Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; 19 Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.”

Quote: “Without question, God is holy. He cannot tolerate sin; nor can sin tolerate God. While God’s holiness underscores the foulness of our sin, the mercy of God invites us to confess our sin. The very nature of God beckons us to tell Him the truth.” Mark Roberts and Lloyd J. Ogilvie, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, vol. 11, The Preacher’s Commentary Series (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1993), 252.

Quote: “My God is excellent. He has a great reputation. He has dealt with sinners like me millions of times. I know I can trust my God.” Because based upon such a confession, we can then conclude with Calvin, “Let us not delay to come to God himself.” — John Calvin

C. It reminds you of God’s character and provision

Notice these verses: 17, 28, 30, 33

D. It brings the cross back into focus

How can you combine the two and not end up with your heart refocused on the cross?

Quote: “The love of God means Calvary, and nothing less; the love of God is spelt on the Cross and nowhere else. The only ground on which God can forgive me is through the Cross of my Lord.

We trample the blood of the Son of God under foot if we think we are forgiven because we are sorry for our sins. The only explanation of the forgiveness of God and of the unfathomable depth of His forgetting is the Death of Jesus Christ. Our repentance is merely the outcome of our personal realization of the Atonement which He has worked out for us.” — Oswald Chambers

Conclusion

So as we have seen in chapter 8, revival begins with understanding the contents of scripture. However, in chapter 9 we have learned that revival continues when our confessions to God speak both of our guilt and God goodness.

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