Remembering God’s Faithfulness
Notes
Transcript
Good morning!
Please keep your bibles open with me to Nehemiah Chapter 9. I am grateful to be back, and especially grateful to Pastor Wayne for filling in for me last week. I was put on a medication that I had a pretty bad reaction to, and needed to recognize that I wasn’t in a place where I would do any good in trying to bring the Word myself. I thought Wayne did a great job tackling a sermon within a series he hadn’t been in previously - so we praise the Lord for Wayne and his willingness to come and minister to us last week.
Remembering God’s faithfulness renews God’s people.
Confession and Worship (9:1-15)
Consistency in Covenant (9:16-25)
Calling on God’s Mercy (9:26-37)
Confession and Worship (9:1-15)
Confession and Worship (9:1-15)
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 iniquities of their ancestors.
3 While they stood in their places, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day and spent another fourth of the day in confession and worship of the Lord their God.
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. Blessed be the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting.” Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.
6 You, Lord, are the only God. You created the heavens, the highest heavens with all their stars, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them, and all the stars of heaven worship you.
7 You, the Lord, are the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and changed his name to Abraham.
8 You found his heart faithful in your sight, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Girgashites— to give it to his descendants. You have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous.
9 You saw the oppression of our ancestors in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea.
10 You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, all his officials, and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly they treated our ancestors. You made a name for yourself that endures to this day.
11 You divided the sea before them, and they crossed through it on dry ground. You hurled their pursuers into the depths like a stone into raging water.
12 You led them with a pillar of cloud by day, and with a pillar of fire by night, to illuminate the way they should go.
13 You came down on Mount Sinai, and spoke to them from heaven. You gave them impartial ordinances, reliable instructions, and good statutes and commands.
14 You revealed your holy Sabbath to them, and gave them commands, statutes, and instruction through your servant Moses.
15 You provided bread from heaven for their hunger; you brought them water from the rock for their thirst. You told them to go in and possess the land you had sworn to give them.
In Hebrew culture, wearing sackcloth and fasting were a sign of contrition - what we would call repentance for sin. We see from the outset of our passage that they are mourning - and in verse 2, it says specifically that they were confessing their own and and the sins of their ancestors against the Lord.
We know from the time we’ve spent together in the Lord’s Word the amount of emphasis God places on confession in the lives of believers. It isn’t comfortable to admit when we are wrong, but it is imperative we do!
Charles Spurgeon once said,
It does not spoil your happiness to confess your sin. The unhappiness is in not making the confession.
Charles Spurgeon
We want to be right with God, and that requires that we admit when we have done wrong and stand before Him in openness and honesty about our indiscretions. How would we relate to our spouses and kids if the only thing we ever got from them was a facade they wear to keep up appearances of being happy? God wants our hearts and true selves - which includes the bad! He wants to cleanse us from that, but He wants us to bring it to Him nonetheless!
Imagine how fervent the relational heart of God is that He wants to be part of our brokenness too? My wife tells me that I do really well from the pulpit when it comes to being open and honest about emotion - but when I get in a one-on-one conversation, that handling other people’s emotions probably isn’t my strongest suit - and I can understand and appreciate where she is coming from. There are times I have felt like I have barely begun to understand my own emotions, but trying to walk with other people and their emotional struggles was a little beyond my grasp. It wasn’t until I started experiencing a lot of my health struggles that I felt like I was able to empathize and sympathize with people more - it wasn’t until I faced my own mortality that I was able to really grasp the concept of sitting with people and being there - not having to have the right words, but just being there and understanding - to some level - what they were going through.
But God wants all of us - our joy, our hurt, our celebration, our mourning, our happiness and sorrow - God wants us to stand before Him with all those things - and that includes the very hard task of confessing our sins to Him.
It is much like the Psalmist said in
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not conceal my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
Confession isn’t about punishment, it is about being honest with the Lord, honest with yourself and aligning your heart and mind to God’s. When we refuse to call our sin what God calls it, we are out of alignment with Him - we are putting ourselves in a stature of opposition against the Lord and that is a place we absolutely cannot allow ourselves to be.
Confession is the act of realigning ourselves with the Lord and relying on Him for the total restoration He promises us through Jesus Christ.
We see the Jews focus on repentance and griving over their sin, as we have seen in the previous chapter, when Ezra, Nehemiah and the Levites encouraged them not to mourn - and now look at what happens! In verse three, we see that they were spending time in the word, moved specifically to a time in confession and worship.
Their time of repentance only inspired them to proclaim in praise to God all the mighty deeds he had done in Isreal! How he guided them out of the hands of Pharoah and the Egyptians - how he guided them through the wilderness and reproved their people in preparation for the Promised Land.
Friends, confession should remind us of the holiness of God - the mercy of God, the grace of our God poured out on us through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ! Are we like these Jews? Do we own up to our sins when we mess up? Are you like me sometimes and maybe dwell too long on the shame and guilt of that sin - or do you bring it to Jesus so He can release you of that guilt and shame because He already bore the punishment for it on the cross?! Christ looks at you to say, “Do not condemn yourself for something I have already forgiven!”
Confession should be a vehicle to praising the Lord for the amazing things he has done in our lives! Has God split the Red Sea for you to flee from Pharoah? I know there are some older folks here today, but I think its safe to assume none of you were there! But I do know one thing: If you are saved, God did something even bigger than parting the sea, He bridged a gap that separate you from Himself so that He could save you from your sin! It was His love that motivated Him! It was His own glory that motivated Him! It was by His own will that He did everything needed for us to be saved - He did that!
A good question may come of this, “Well, Pastor Chuck - what do I need to do to be saved?” or “How can I know for sure I am saved?”
Great questions! According to Scripture, there are three things we need in order to have assurance of our salvation - ready?
Recognize your sin and inability to save yourself
Believe that Jesus Christ died and rose to atone for your sins
Trust in Christ alone for forgiveness and righteousness
If you honestly see yourself here - especially having trusted Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness - and you have the indwelling Holy Spirit convicting you of your sin - urging you to confess to the Lord - you can praise the Lord for His saving work in your life!
However, it is also important to point out what doesn’t save you:
Going to Church
Serving the Church
Charitable acts or good works
You would be surprised how many people I talk to who believe they are saved and going to heaven because they round up their spare change in the Taco Bell drive thru! When it comes to the nature of man compared to thh nature of God,
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
When you dig into the Hebrew words used here, the meaning of “filthy rags” is actually shown to be something that cannot be discussed in polite company. Sufficed to say - the Lord has a strong opinion about the value of our works compared to the weight of our sinfulness: we could never hope to crawl ourselves out of the hole we’ve dug. We can either stop trying and tuckering ourselves out, or we can admit the gravity of our situation and call out to Him for help. Luckily, He already knew we were down there and brought a rope to pull us out!
When we confess our sin, it should remind us of the soveriegnty and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. There’s a song I love by a band called Ten Shekel Shirt, and I would like to share it with you.
“Much” by Ten Shekel Shirt
“Much” by Ten Shekel Shirt
Confession is often linked in our mind to failure, but the way the Lord works it out, confession is the path to forward moving progress. In order for us to get passed our sin, it needs to be dealt with - and dealing with that through confession and reliance on the Lord for restoration should naturally lead us to a place of worship and praise.
Remembering God’s faithfulness renews God’s people.
Consistency in Covenant (9:16-25)
Consistency in Covenant (9:16-25)
16 But our ancestors acted arrogantly; they became stiff-necked and did not listen to your commands.
17 They refused to listen and did not remember your wonders you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love, and you did not abandon them.
18 Even after they had cast an image of a calf for themselves and said, “This is your god who brought you out of Egypt,” and they had committed terrible blasphemies,
19 you did not abandon them in the wilderness because of your great compassion. During the day the pillar of cloud never turned away from them, guiding them on their journey. And during the night the pillar of fire illuminated the way they should go.
20 You sent your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst.
21 You provided for them in the wilderness forty years, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.
22 You gave them kingdoms and peoples and established boundaries for them. They took possession of the land of King Sihon of Heshbon and of the land of King Og of Bashan.
23 You multiplied their descendants like the stars of the sky and brought them to the land you told their ancestors to go in and possess.
24 So their descendants went in and possessed the land: You subdued the Canaanites who inhabited the land before them and handed their kings and the surrounding peoples over to them, to do as they pleased with them.
25 They captured fortified cities and fertile land and took possession of well-supplied houses, cisterns cut out of rock, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. They ate, were filled, became prosperous, and delighted in your great goodness.
Here we see a stark contrast - the Israelites are acknowledging the wickedness of their ancestors against the Lord and pointing out God’s unyielding patience, mercy and grace on them. They sin, but God continued to bless them over and over again. They are looking at the reality of the situation in a way that is hard and uncomfortable - in a way that reminds them of where they came from, but reminds them even more of how consistently God has loved them through everything.
Have any of you ever felt like God had abandoned you? Where you would know in your mind that God says He’ll never leave you nor forsake you, but you felt like He did in your heart? I wont lie to you, family - that was a big reason why I wasn’t able to stand behind this pulpit last week - I was afraid I would die under the weight of my own hypocrisy if I stood up here to tell you how awesome the Lord is when I was feeling in my heart that maybe God had forgotten about me. Luckily for me, I know a big part of how I was feeling was because of a medication they put me on for my headaches and I’ve been able to wean myself off of them enough to come back to my better senses - for the most part.
But in the Old Testament, we see a dance between God and Israel where Israel plays a game of hard to get, and God pursues her vehemently. Do you remember the illustration he gave us with the prophet Hosea? Hosea was a prophet who was commanded to marry a prostitute named Gomer. Gomer strayed on her husband over and over - time and time again, and God guided Hosea to love and pursue her continually. It was meant to be an illustration indicting Israel for chasing after other gods and abandoning their covenant at any give opportunity.
What picture do we get from Hosea? What do we see from the Lord our God? Consistent love in the midst of constant sin. And this is similar to how things are today - Christians are not nearly disgusted enough by our sin - we are too comfortable with it! We have our excusable sins - gossip, slander, malice, pride, envy, gluttony, you name it! But all the while, Christ sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us on our behalf.
Charles Ryrie once said
The consistency of God’s character guarantees a secure salvation.
Charles Caldwell Ryrie
Because He is consistent, we can be sure of the salvation He has promised!
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us,
5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!
I want to encourage you to trust in the Lord - whatever it is you may be going through. There are times it is difficult and seemingly impossible to see with any kind of trustworthy perspective - but one thing we do have to draw on is the amazing consistency of the Lord to prove Himself worthy of all honor, glory, majesty and power. He has proven that enough that it shouldn’t be a struggle for us to understand - but sometimes life and our burdens seem so much that we can’t remember the goodness we’ve seen in the past.
That why it is so important to intentionally remember what the Lord has done in our lives. It is easy for us to think about how hard things are now, but how about all the other times God has totally come through for us? Are we going to do God so dirty as to forget what He’s done because things are hard?! No!
11 I will remember the Lord’s works; yes, I will remember your ancient wonders.
12 I will reflect on all you have done and meditate on your actions.
13 God, your way is holy. What god is great like God?
Remembering God’s faithfulness renews God’s people.
Calling on God’s Mercy (9:26-37)
Calling on God’s Mercy (9:26-37)
26 But they were disobedient and rebelled against you. They flung your law behind their backs and killed your prophets who warned them in order to turn them back to you. They committed terrible blasphemies.
27 So you handed them over to their enemies, who oppressed them. In their time of distress, they cried out to you, and you heard from heaven. In your abundant compassion you gave them deliverers, who rescued them from the power of their enemies.
28 But as soon as they had relief, they again did what was evil in your sight. So you abandoned them to the power of their enemies, who dominated them. When they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven and rescued them many times in your compassion.
29 You warned them to turn back to your law, but they acted arrogantly and would not obey your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, which a person will live by if he does them. They stubbornly resisted, stiffened their necks, and would not obey.
30 You were patient with them for many years, and your Spirit warned them through your prophets, but they would not listen. Therefore, you handed them over to the surrounding peoples.
31 However, in your abundant compassion, you did not destroy them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and compassionate God.
32 So now, our God—the great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant— do not view lightly all the hardships that have afflicted us, our kings and leaders, our priests and prophets, our ancestors and all your people, from the days of the Assyrian kings until today.
33 You are righteous concerning all that has happened to us, because you have acted faithfully, while we have acted wickedly.
34 Our kings, leaders, priests, and ancestors did not obey your law or listen to your commands and warnings you gave them.
35 When they were in their kingdom, with your abundant goodness that you gave them, and in the spacious and fertile land you set before them, they would not serve you or turn from their wicked ways.
36 Here we are today, slaves in the land you gave our ancestors so that they could enjoy its fruit and its goodness. Here we are—slaves in it!
37 Its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have set over us, because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please. We are in great distress.
This section is best summarized in verse 36 - “Here we are… slaves!” They are acknowldging the distress they are in, having confessed their sins; having been brought to a place of worship through remembering all the Lord has done; and now they bring their need to the Lord - asking Him to rise up on their behalf again and do something about the plight in which they’ve been found. Their resources are going elsewhere and they need the Lord’s intervention.
While 36 is a good verse to summarize the Israelite’s position, verse 33 is better to summarize their posture before the Lord:
33 You are righteous concerning all that has happened to us, because you have acted faithfully, while we have acted wickedly.
There it is. Israel has repented and God has restored them to covenant relationship with Himself. So they are calling out to God asking Him to continue in His consistent love for them and deliver them from the great distress they were in.
13 The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
Remembering God’s faithfulness renews God’s people.
Conclusion
Conclusion
This season has been particularly hard on lots of people. I’m thinking, obviously, of the medical hardships that some of us have been faced with - how tumultuous it really is navigating illness while life doesn’t just stop around us while we recover - there are still bills to be paid and mouths to be fed. Or how some of us have had to deal recently with the passing of a loved one, leaving an empty hole where life used to exist. We all know that sin is a deadly cancer the entire human race needs to confront - an in our passage today, we saw the Israelites take (probably) one of the healthiest approaches to sin a community can take in all of Scripture - they collectively confessed their sin, the sins of their people that caused their exile in the first place, but then they remembered and celebrated the faithfulness of God.
If I am to be completely honest with you, I have recently been in a crisis of faith that is deeper than anything I’ve experienced in my 24 years as a Christian. I allowed my mind to wander the trail of everything that had been taken away from me, inciting me to anger with God instead of taking the example of the Jews here - repenting from my sin and remembering all the amazing things God has done for me. A part of that was the reaction from the medication and the psychological effects it had - increased aggression, less patience, quicker temper, etc. Praise the Lord I will be completely off it tomorrow and can work on letting my mind get back to a place of balance!
However, unfortunately, there has already been damage done in terms of my thinking process that encouraged me to look at myself as God’s victim instead of someone who He redeemed through the blood of His Son. Perspective isn’t something we can just turn on and off - it takes time and some mental backtracking to unpack and undo some of that damage. That is the path I am on this week and will be on for a while - but that is one of the reasons I love being able to get into the Word with you every week - I was specifically called to task this week by the reminder of the text: that Remembering God’s faithfulness renews God’s people. I don’t want to put words into your mouths, but I know I am a man in need of God’s renewal! How about you?! I need the Lord’s goodness and mercy in my life, Amen?!
What the Israelites help us to remember is that our sin is a barricade between us and the Lord. Christian - if you are in unconfessed sin and are allowing your heart to grow hard, you are cutting yourself off from the presence of the Lord! We remember the words of John
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The path passed our sin is through the act of confession. When we acknowledge our sin as sin - calling it what God calls it and come to Him with our faults in hand, He forgives us and cleanses us from that sin! With that barricade out of the way, we remember the faithfulness of God in our lives - what He has done for us - where we might be if He weren’t in our lives and allow that to remind us of the movement of God’s hand in our lives.
This is definitely not always as easy said as it is to do - that’s part of the Christian journey that we are walking through together. Perfection is an unreachable pipe-dream, so we need to be careful about the standards we hold ourselves to and others as well. Paul knew this well. In regards to perfection, he said:
12 Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead,
14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.
Let’s pursue the prize together, keeping in mind that Remembering God’s faithfulness renews God’s people.
Let’s pray.
