National Repentance

The Set up

As we humbly come to this chapter after:

The wall has been completed

The wall was fully functioning

The word of the Lord has been read to the people

We get to a chapter that is all about the goodness, the amazing grace of God.

In this chapter we see a very long prayer that is offered, even longer than the one Jesus offers in John-17.

This prayer will give us the history of Israel

The majesty of God as well as the depravity of man

The people’s response to the great kindness (9:17), great mercy (9:31), great goodness (25, 35), great provocations (18, 26) and that all resulted in great distress (37)- leading to great national repentance.

This chapter, this prayer, is broken down in 3-parts:

The greatness of God (9:1-6)

The goodness of God (9:7-30)

The grace of God (9:31-38)

Our Passage

Nehemiah 9:1–2 NASB95

1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them. 2 The descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

Nehemiah 9:3–4 NASB95

3 While they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God. 4 Now on the Levites’ platform stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Chenani, and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God.

Nehemiah 9:5–6 NASB95

5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah, said, “Arise, bless the Lord your God forever and ever! O may Your glorious name be blessed And exalted above all blessing and praise! 6 “You alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You.

Anything stick out to you in this passage?

When the people assembled, who were the people? And, what did they do (v.1)?

The sons of Israel are the ones who assembled.

Fasting, sackcloth and placed dirt on themselves

What did they do (v.2)?

Separated from foreigners, stood and confessed sins and iniquities of their fathers.

How did they split up their time (v.3)?

Stood 1/4 of day reading from the law

They confessed and worshiped the Lord their God in another 1/4 of the day.

In (vv.4-5) we see the leaders on the platform, what did they do (v.4)?

In (v.4) they cried with a loud voice to God.

Look again (v.5-6) What did they cry with a loud voice?

God is to be blessed, exalted

He alone is God, made all things, that even the heavenly host (angels) know it and bow down.

Note: We will get into (v.6) more next week, but the intro to it today within our passage.

The Assembly

Nehemiah 9:1–2 HCSB

1 On the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting, wearing sackcloth, and had put dust on their heads. 2 Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the guilt of their fathers.

We just came from a time where it was the Feast of Tabernacles ended two days before (Redpath) and the law was read to the people. It is now just after and the people still want to hear more.

God’s word brings conviction; conviction lead to confession

The fasting was done in sackcloth with dirt upon them.

Fasting shows their lowly, humble state.

Lightfoot said:

“They considered themselves so poor before God that they took no food. They also wanted to say, ‘we are so troubled by our sin that food seems unimportant.’”

Have you ever been grieved, convicted that everything else was not important?

Fasting in sackcloth

rough fabric much like a burlap sack. Again turning to Lightfoot:

“Again, this was to show their complete poverty of spirit before God. They also wanted to say, ‘We are so troubled by our sin that the normal comforts of life are unimportant.’”

Dust on their heads. This again showed their lowly state, humble state, troubled state.

Yes of course this would not be all people, for some would not humble themselves just like today. Some might go through the motions but their heart was not truly convicted. Others truth did come to God with a truly humble repentant heart.

Repent of sins, and fathers iniquities

They had to admit they sinned, missed God’s mark.

Not only that they had to admit they came from sinful ancestors. Remember they were known for calling them “sons of Abraham” but even he was not perfect.

Repentance is not a one and done thing, it is a continual thing. This humble repentance helped faith to grow.

“Repentance grows as faith grows. Do not make any mistake about it; repentance is not a thing of days and weeks, a temporary penance to be got over as fast as possible! No it is the grace of a lifetime, like faith itself. Repentance is the inseparable companion of faith.” (Spurgeon)

An assembly who separated themselves

Hold on, need to go back for a moment.

They were there for hours. Their services were not watch the clock for 60min an done. In days past there were Gospel meetings, revivals that went on for days, even weeks. That has trimmed down to 3-4 days, to 1-2 days, or in our case here, we have not had a gospel meeting in 6 years. Yes, we are talking about that right now.

We sing “take time to be holy” but are not people who lean in, listen up and want more even if it goes over an hour.

Do we make hearing God’s word a priority?

Do we make meeting with God’s people a priority?

Do we come expecting and engaging when we come together?

The confession and repentance would be incomplete if not for the hearing the word and worshipping the Lord God.

God does not want us to confess our sins and stay in a broken place. We confess so we can be freed, and in freedom we come to worship.

It was in their brokenness of heart that led them to humbly as an assembly of true Jewish people to come before God to hear from God and then turn to God in a prayer of remembrance, repentance, and joy!

“God’s greatness is seen i the fact that he receives our worship (vv.1-5). True worship involved many elements: hearing the scriptures, praising God, praying, confessing sin, and separating ourselves from that which displeases God.” (Wiersbe)

(Transition) this leads us to our next point this evening, who is there offering up the prayer.

Those leading the congregation

Nehemiah 9:4–5 HCSB

4 Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the raised platform built for the Levites and cried out loudly to the Lord their God. 5 Then the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah —said, “Stand up. Praise Yahweh your God from everlasting to everlasting.” Praise Your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.

We have a list of the men on the platform, important for God names them.

They had purpose to lead, help the people come to confession and repentance.

God may use people to help you when it comes to confession and repentance.

Tradition is they did not offer the prayer, but were there when Ezra the priest recited the prayer.

Tradition right? I do not know, but we do know that those on the platform were important to God for He names them.

You are important to God for when you hear, believe, confess, repent and are born again He writes your name in His book of life!

Tradition again says that this is the longest prayer in the bible, yet only takes about 6.5 minutes to say it.

It is not about the number of words. Prayers do not need to be long to be glorious, powerful, or effective.

Bless the Lord . . . beginning of the prayer

Nehemiah 9:5–6 HCSB

5 Then the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah —said, “Stand up. Praise Yahweh your God from everlasting to everlasting.” Praise Your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. 6 You alone are Yahweh. You created the heavens, the highest heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them, and the heavenly host worships You.

We are only getting the set up for the prayer now, tonight, more to follow the next couple of weeks.

Prayer is a part of worship. Worship involved the word of God so we can know the God of the word.

“The better we know the Scriptures and respond to them, the better we will know God and become like Him. . . any worship service that ignores the scriptures will not receive the blessing of God.” (Courson).

God’s greatness is seen in the fact that He alone is God (9:6)

God’s greatness is evidences in that He created the universe (9:6)

When God wanted to encourage man, He pointed man to His creation to remind them He made it all (check out Isa40, on your own).

God’s greatness is shown in His providential care for His creation (9:6)

From the Sparrows (Mt10:29) to the cries of the raven (Ps147.9) who is hungry. He knows the stars of the sky, and named them (Ps147:4) and knows the number of hairs, or lack thereof on your head ((Lk12:7); now let this verse sink in (Ps145:16)

Psalm 145:16 NASB95

16 You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

Finally, God’s greatness is seen in the fact that even the host of heaven worship Him (9:6).

One more quote tonight before we pray and praise Him.

“And we have more cause to praise Him than they do! We have been saved by the grace of God and shall one day be like the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not just servants; we are children of God (1Jn3:1-3) and will dwell with Him forever!” (Wiersbe)

look at the time, see if we have a few minutes to prayer and praise.