Confession Time | Nehemiah 9:1-21

INTRODUCTION: Susan Hodgson returned from her vacation to find her Atlanta family property demolished by mistake. The house, which had been vacant and boarded up for about 15 years, was reduced to rubble. Picture.

Demolition is needed during construction - our church building we will be breaking apart the ground. pulling down walls in order to build something new.

TENSION: There is something separating you from God specifically the type of relationship that you want from God and that is your sin. Sin builds a wall between you and God. We often feel like where is God, how come I can’t see him. All the while we are building a wall.

Nehemiah 9:1–2 ESV

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.

After festival of the booths.

They were mourning, they are mourning because of their sin and the results of their sin.

confessed their sins - to say the same thing as. To be in agreement for. Confession does not mean sitting in a small box with a priest.

ILLUSTRATION - Joke - Husband confesses on death bed to affair, wife says that I know, that’s why I poisoned you.

Confession means to say the same thing. A confession start with acknowledging how Great God is. Sin is only sin if we there is a target. The target is God and His Holiness.

Confession tears down the walls that separate us from God.

While Nehemiah built the physical walls, He was also tearing down spiritual walls.

Levi POOP STORY

Nehemiah 9:3–4 ESV

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.

Quarter of the day - 3-4 hours of reading scripture, 3-4 hours of confessing sin and worshipping God. Notice the order. We confess our sin then worship.

ILLUSTRATION - Levi, I’m sorry. How do you do confession for that long? They were starting to get to the heart. It isn’t foused on the act. I don’t really care that Levi took a toy. I care that I develop his heart.

Nehemiah 9:5–8 ESV

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. 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.

Bless the Lord - They were recognizing who God was.

You made - He is the creator of everything.

If God made it, he is in charge of it. He sets the rules. - Often times we complain “Oh, that is a waste of time or old fashion or doesn’t apply to me....” But he is the creator.

God’s rules are for our good.

Every one of God’s rules are for your good. Just like a parent has rules primarily to protect the child.

God chose Abram - Abram was a pagan. He wasn’t chosen because Abram was awesome, in fact it was quite the opposite. God uses those who are weak and don’t have it together. Praise the Lord, because that is me too! So He picked us then we fall short , but he still loves us.

You found his heart faithful - When God called Him, Abraham was faithful, not perfect, but faithful. What made him faithful? A heart that would repent and go back to God.

Give his offspring - He gave him the land. Look at them now. They are still there.

You have kept your promises, for you are righteous - He keeps his Word.

Nehemiah 9:9–15 ESV

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.

You saw the affliction/heard their cry - God sees your affliction and sees their affliction.

performed signs and wonder - They cried out to God. God moved. This still works like this. God sees us. But he only hears us if we actually cry out to Him.

ILLUSTRATION - NOSY NEIGHBOR KNOCK ALL NIGHT....OR MY KIDS KEEP CALLING OUT TO ME. (MAYBE, MOM, MOM. NO I NEED MOM, MOM JOSH IS LOOKING AT ME. “

You made a name for yourself - The reason why God did these things was to make a name for himself. God delights in taking care of his family. Illustration - I take pride in taking care of my family.

divided the sea before them, Pillar of cloud you led them - How nice owuld it be to have the exact way you should you go? But don’t forget they were wondering in the wilderness.

When we remember how good God is we understand how far we fall short.

Have you ever looked at your spouse and thought how in the world did I ever deserve you? (haha some of you think, what did I do to desrve this? haha) When I think about how wonderful God is it puts myself in perspective.

them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them - Remember they did not deserve any of it. ILLUSTATION - DAD ARE WE RICH, YOUR MOTHER AND I ARE RICH, YOU HAVE NOTHING!

Nehemiah 9:16–21 ESV

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.

After all those good things that God has done for them, they disobeyed.

PResumptionsouly - is the word to heat things up when cooking, saying they were hotheads. As soon as things did not go your way you say well I’m not doing this.

ILLUSTATION - SOCCER PARENTS? Actually you are missing a player. that’s like us, we blame God without realzigin we were the problem. (keep short I think)

This is the story for all of us. God is good and we go sin.

Good Spirit - They did not have the name for Him yet, the Holy Spirit so they called Him the Good Spirit to instruct them.

The Lord is good even when we aren’t.

The Lord did not depart from them. Even after all that. They were complaining, any day He could have said no more food and they starve to death.

I would have gone poof there goes the cloud haha....

Wilderness discussion: They were in teh wilderness thinking how dumb is it that I have to be here, but why were they there? Becuaes of their sin. Yet even then God didn’t abandon them.

Confession tears down the walls that separate us from God.

(Obedience builds walls of protection around us). This confession started with first confession how great God is. When we realize that ....we realize how not great He is.

CONCLUSION:

Revelation 3:20 ESV

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Romans 8:35–39 ESV

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.