Nehemiah 06 - Restoration and Confession
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Nehemiah: Restoring A Nation:
Nehemiah: Restoring A Nation:
“Restoration & Confession”
INTRODUCTION
If you have your Bible and would like to follow along, please turn to .
REVIEW OF LAST LESSON
In our lesson during the first hour this morning, we began to look at the restoration of the people to the Lord in - their process of getting back to where they needed to be spiritually.
The people assembled together at the water gate in Jerusalem. They showed great initiative, asking Ezra to bring the law of God to them and to read it for them from the rise of the sun till mid-day as they listened attentively. While they were listening to the word, there were levites giving the understanding of the passages that were being read. After hours of listening attentively and respectfully, they were emotionally moved. There was mourning and joy. Joy that they could hear God’s word and understand it. Mourning over reminders of why God sent His people into captivity and destroyed Jerusalem, and mourning over being confronted by their own sin. This happened on the first day of the seventh month. Then on the second day, some came to study the law even more with Ezra’s help. They learned about the Feast of Tabernacles that was supposed to be observed during the seventh month. They obeyed the law of the Lord and proclaimed to all the people that this feast needed to be held for 8 days. They built temporary tabernacles as commanded in the law, and during the eight days, they assembled together to read the word more. The zeal, respect, and willingness to obey the word showed their heart for restoration.
PRAYER & CONFESSION
For our lesson today, I would like to consider with you. In this chapter, I believe we see the natural response to spending time in God’s word — responding to the LORD’s word with prayer and confession.
They have been spending a lot of time in God’s law during the seventh month. That does not change in this chapter. They spend a lot of time both reading from the law and praying at this time. Look at verse 3:
“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.” (, ESV)
The demeanor of those who attended this assembly was not one of rejoicing, but mourning. They humbled themselves before the mighty hand of God, and they wept, they mourned, they fasted in sackcloth and ashes because of their sins and the sins of their forefathers.
The prayer that is recorded in chapter 9 is just one of many prayers that were prayed during the quarter of the day they focused on confession and worship.
TWO THEMES
The prayer that is recorded here focuses on two main themes that I would like to consider with you before we think about some applications later in the lesson
WHO GOD IS
First, let’s consider their confession of God’s faithfulness to His people. God had promised to His people and what He was willing to give to His people.
God promised to give them the land (8); In order to give them the land, he needed to deliver them from Egypt. So through many miraculous signs and wonders he saved them (10); He led them to Mt Sinai to bless them with His regulations, laws, decrees, and commands While they travelled through the wilderness, He gave them bread and water (15); And he brought them to the border of the promised land in order to enter it (15);
He did all of this, but the people still rejected Him time and time again. They were stubborn and rejected His laws. But time and time again He was willing to show mercy. He did not turn His back on them. He was long-suffering with them, and He continued to give.
He still led them through the wilderness with the pillars of cloud and fire (19)He still gave them His good Spirit to instruct themHe still provided for them manna and water (20). He sustained them for 40 years in the wilderness.And then He gave the next generation military victories and multiplied their descendants. He gave them the land as He had promised.
They continue praying through the history of Israel in verses 26-30, showing how during the time of judges, God was willing to show mercy when the people returned to them. Verse 31 really sums up all of this very well:
“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.” (, ESV)
The Lord delighted in being a giver. He delighted in being gracious and merciful, and He was and is always faithful to the covenant promises He makes to His people, whether that mean He punishes them or shows mercy to them.
The first 31 verses of this prayer of confession talk about who God is and what He has been willing to do for his people in times past, and it is based on these things that they speak with him about their state.
THEIR HUMBLED STATE
It is based on these facts that they now can come before the LORD with a confession of their own state.
They don’t try to separate themselves from their ancestors who had acted wickedly against the Lord. They understood that the circumstances that they were in was because of the rebellion of their ancestors, They were still suffering many of the side-effects of the rebellion of previous generations, but they knew that even now they were not innocent themselves. They were in need of mercy. They had sin. There were laws that they had not been obeying, just like their fathers. We see at the beginning of the chapter that they had not separated themselves from the people of the lands around them. They were still allowing the nations to negatively influence them, and because of this, they were still in distress.
What is interesting about this prayer of confession is that all they do is confess how good God is and how bad they are, but they never really plead for mercy or forgiveness. Their desire for mercy doesn’t really need to be put into words. They just humbly come before the Lord with prayer and fasting and repentant hearts, trusting in the Lord to continue to do as He has always done — that He will continue to be faithful in forgiving His people whose hearts are restored to Him.
APPLICATION
The remnant here gives us a great example of what a humble confession look like. Their prayer is God-centered. They understand the only reason they can pray to God, let alone receive His mercy is because of His faithfulness to His promises, not theirs. They show their utter dependance on the Lord, and they show their desire to change in devoting themselves to the covenant.
Confession is so important in our lives if we are going to seek restoration in ourselves and if we are going to help others be restored. It is so important to remember who God is, how He has been faithful, and our own desperate dependance on God for mercy both physically and spiritually, and it is just as important to confess these things to God.
In , John says that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (, ESV)
John gives this statement after talking about how God is the light — how in Him there is not any darkness. He is always Holy. He is always faithful. He always does that which is good and right. But then you compare ourselves to that perfect standard, and we are reminded of our need for mercy because of the times we fall short of the standard. We are desperate for His mercy so we can continue in fellowship with Him and so we can grow in our relationship with Him so we can be more like Him in His faithfulness.
And John’s words here in show that there is a need for us to be specific in our confession. He says to confess your sins, not to confess you are a sinner, not to confess that you have sinned in the past. He says to confess your sins. If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive your sins.
This is hard to do. We don’t like to make ourselves vulnerable. There is a reason why James had to tell Christians to confess your sins to one another in . If left to ourselves, we are going to keep it all to ourselves. We don’t like to show others that we have problems. We don’t want others to think that we cannot handle things, so we keep it to ourselves. And even when we pray, we may not be willing to really open up and tell God what we have done even though He already knows every ugly detail.
As long as we keep our sin to ourselves, there will not be healing. It will weigh on us and tear us down. illustrates this idea well.
“3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer… 5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin…” (, ESV)
David learned from experience that it is always better to be open and honest with the Lord about what we do against Him so we can receive restoration. There is great blessing in receiving God’s mercy — in having the weight of the sin taken off of our shoulders — to have the sin no longer counted against you.
Also, I believe it is important to see what David says at the end of verse 2. He talks about the blessing there is for the one, “in whose spirit there is no deceit.” David shows us exactly what we are doing if we are not open and honest about our sin. If we are not confessing our sin, there is deceit within us. As David tried to cover up his sin with Bathsheba instead of confessing it to the Lord, he was being deceptive. He so badly didn’t want others to find out. He thought he could keep everyone from finding out. But he couldn’t.
Until we learn to be open and honest with each other and with the Lord, restoration cannot happen. Forgiveness cannot happen. Mercy cannot be received. We need to confess our sins while God still gives us the opportunity to do so.
CONCLUSION
“1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” (, ESV)
Do you have a heart that desires restoration? Do you as the remnant in understand the faithfulness and greatness of God?
We serve a God who is just — who keeps his promises. And this includes His promises to bring judgment to those who continue in sin and are unwilling to repent and to confess their sin. We cannot hide our sin from the LORD. He sees it all. God is just, but He is also a God who is merciful. If we confess our sins, He will faithfully show mercy as He has promised. He will bring restoration. He will forgive our sin, and He will help us to be transformed into the image of His Son.
If there is anything we can do for you today to help bring restoration, we want to help you do so today. If there is anything we can do to help you, why don’t you make your need known as together we stand and sing?
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