(Nehemiah 9:22-31) The Story of God's Patience (Part 2)

INTRODUCTION:

Lamentations 3:22–23 ESV

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

This verse is well know to us because of the song - Great is thy Faithfulness. (109)

This was a favorite verse of Thomas Chisolm - who wrote the hymn.

Lamentations 3:22-23 describes One of the often overlooked truths of God - He is patient.

We are so often focused on his sacrifice - we forget that God is more than love. He is patient.

We struggle so much with forgiveness and patience - that we forget God loves us with patience.

Guilt can often be so overwhelming - we forget that God loves us with patience.

And as we consider the Bible’s teaching - we are called to Patience.

Galatians 5:22 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Proverbs 14:29 ESV

Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.

So I challenge us to consider God’s Patience.

- We have been looking at Nehemiah 9:16-31 for a few weeks.

- Last week we examined God’s patience in the wilderness. (v. 18-21)

This week I challenge us to two more monumental examples of God’s patience -

Nehemiah 9:22–31 ESV

“And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan. You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness. “Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.

As I suggested last week -

PROP: God is Exceedingly Patient.

Trans: and we will look at two more monumental examples of God’s patience.

*********************Prayer*******************************

The First monumental example of patience from last week:

(1) Israel Choose Idolatry at Mount Sinai. (Neh 9:18-21; Exodus 19-20, 32)

The second monumental example of patience:

(2) Their Rebellion After the Conquest (The Time of the Judges and the Kingdom). (Neh 9:22-30a)

The history of Israel after they conquered the promised land is a great sign of God’s patience.

ILLUSTRATION:

I want you to think of a time when you were given a great gift, or maybe you gave a great gift.

When we are given something important and valuable - there some expectations that with that gift.

For example, You give your a child a nice new dresser.

Are there not expectations for how they are to use that dresser?

I a few years back I bought my daughter a dresser.

And sure enough I have an expectation for:

Her clothes to be put away.

She was to be careful not to scratch it.

To keep the handled tight on it.

The gift came with certain expectations.

Imagine giving your daughter a dresser,

and then finding it all scratched up.

And her clothes thrown on the floor.

How might mom or dad respond?

That is enough to make your blood boil.

Because the gift came with certain expectations.

Consider now our text.

(a) God gave Israel a great gift.

The Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 15:7) and the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 33:1-2) promised Israel the land of the Canaanites.

And Ezra recounts the giving of that land.

Nehemiah 9:22–25 ESV

“And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan. You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.

[For more information on - Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan, see Numbers 21:21-35.]

What does this passage teach?

Heshbon and Bashan are nations Israel conquered when they refused to let them pass to the promised land.

A Few million people filled a land up in a just a few generations.

They were to take possession of the land of Canaan.

Not a land empty and devastated,

but they were able to take whole cities and orchards.

It is one thing to conquer a nation, it is but another to be able to take over their homes, and food, and wealth.

If we had a description of Israel between the Exodus and the Exile - how might you describe that history?

V. 25 “So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.”

Not their great goodness, But God’s goodness.

Israel rested in the incredible goodness of God.

Now that is a gift - God was good and kind to Israel.

And what expectation came with that gift?

That they Worship the Lord as the on true God,

they would obey his law,

and listen to his prophets.

But what we see in this period of time is the opposite.

Israel’s history can be described as a - Cycle of rebellion by Israel and patient mercy by God.

Our text records the incredible kindness of God-

God’s Grace to the Children of Israel (v. 22-25)

Their return to sin (v. 26-27a)

Nehemiah 9:26–27 ESV

“Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies.

(Now some of this history is going to overlap)

Because v. 26 talks about prophets being killed,

but v. 27 talks about a saviors who came.

This word savior is probably better translated as deliverer.

and describes the Judges.

This same word is used in Judges 3:9.

Judges 3:9 ESV

But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

Notice the cycle repeats itself again after that.

God’s Mercy (v. 26, 27b)

Their Return to Sin (v .28a)

Nehemiah 9:28 ESV

But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies.

God’s Mercy (28b)

Return to Sin/ God’s Mercy [Many Times] (v. 29-30)

And then our final cycle serves as a broad description of this cycle. “Many Times” is a key word.

Nehemiah 9:29–30 ESV

And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

(b) What does this section teach? God was patient with Israel despite their wicked and rebellious history.

The history of Israel in the time of the Judges and on up to the exile was rebellion.

But what was the root cause of their rebellion.

Judges 21:25 summarizes this period

Judges 21:25 ESV

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Just take that theme - and run the course of history.

>>>>>Even past the book of Judges.

Rather than seeking the goodness and wisdom of God found in the Law;

They choose to do what is right in their own eyes.

Which really means - they choose to do what ever their flesh desired - regardless of whether God said it was foolish or not.

Scriptures teaches that sin blinds us,

and so often we think what we are doing is right.

But what we are doing is right in own blinded eyes,

What we are doing is actually sin and foolishness - and many times God even says so.

Proverbs 1:7 ESV

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

In essence, Israel blinded by pride and sin - did what was right in their eyes; and foolish in God’s eyes.

- that was Israel’s problem;

- and that is our problem at times.

As we consider why Israel rejected the covenant -

we should also ask why we fail to apply the Gospel.

Because we are blind doing what we think is right -rather than letting Christ transform our lives.

Ephesians 4:20–24 ESV

But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

EXHORTATION:

To make a short note of application regarding our sin - we must recognize we need God’s wisdom, not ours.

- We need to focus more on what God says is right, then what I think is right.

- We need to focus more on what God says we ought to be doing, then on what we think we ought to be doing.

To often our lives are defined by what I think and not by what God thinks.

But today I don’t want to focus so much on their sin, but on resting in God’s patience.

What did God do every time they called out to him?

Judges 2:18 ESV

Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them.

Israel in stubbornness did what they thought was right,

but God in his love showed them patience and mercy.

And perhaps you are sitting there - and saying -

But God wasn’t very patient when he sent them to the exile.

I believe this text actually counters that idea -

The third monumental example:

(3) Their Unworthiness in the Exile. (Neh 9:30-31)

Neh 9:30-31 seems to focus in on God’s grace at the time of the exile.

Nehemiah 9:30 ESV

Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

If it was up to human nature - what would you have done to Israel.

I am done sending these enemies in to bring your heart back to me.

I am Now ready to just cut you off.

The nation of Israel is gone. Get out of my sight.

ELABORATION:

We might have said -

I brought you out of Egypt,

and then you worshipped a Golden calf.

You took my blessings and then -

You broke my covenant.

I answered your cries for help and then -

you went back to your sin.

I sent prophets to warn you and then -

you killed them.

I am done messing with you-

(Like an umpire) you are out of here.

But God’s plan was greater then that because his love is greater then that.

Nehemiah 9:31 ESV

Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.

The return from the exile, the period we are talking about, is another monumental example of God’s patience.

In fact, that is perhaps the main thrust of this prayer.

CONCLUSION:

So,

PROP: We ought to rejoice at the exceeding patience of God. TRANS: And this text gave us 3 monumental examples of God’s patience.

(1) Israel Choose Idolatry at Mount Sinai. (Neh 9:18-21; Exodus 19-20, 32) Yet God showed patience.

(2) They Rebelled After the Conquest (The Time of the Judges and the Kingdom). (Neh 9:22-30a) Yet God showed patience.

(3) They Were Unworthy in the Exile: (Neh 9:30-31) Yet God never forsake them.

Many ways - Israel’s story is a story of wickedness.

It is a story of spitting in God’s face.

It is a story of murders and thieves.

It is a story of adultery and hate.

And that would be the story if that is all that happened.

But Israel’s story is also a story of patience - God’s Patience.

[[[This is what we often forget, but need to remember about God]]]

We so often live expecting people and situations to be perfect now, but God’s work in our lives is actually a process.

If it wasn’t - why did God allow Israel to keep going back to sin.

If it wasn’t - then why do we wait for Christ to return.

If it wasn’t - then why do we need to forgive one another.

If it wasn’t - then why are called to confess our sins to God.

Because God’s work in our lives cannot be summed up in a single moment,

but over a life time of patient love.

ILLUSTRATION:

I think of the process of teaching a child to ride their bike.

You don’t just show up one day and say - ok, I showed you what to do>>> go ride it.

Kids have to learn to ride their bike.

So for every kid that can ride their bike there was parent - who patiently walked beside them until they figured out.

God is patient like that, walking beside us; helping us become more like Christ.

May we remember that God is walking alongside -

Our Children

Grand Children

Spouse

Friends and family.

Ourselves.

God is patiently loving us through our ugliness,

and so we ought to love others the same way.

God’s patience is one of the reasons we ought to get up in the morning to serve Jesus.

- Because he is willing to be patient with us;

we ought to get up every morning ready to get back up on the bike and live for Jesus

- Because he is willing to be patient with us;

we ought to get up every morning ready to forgive people who hurt us.

May we live in the wisdom of God’s patience.

We are going to dismiss singing - great is thy faithfulness (109)

May we leave praising and rejoicing at the patience of God.

Resource Questions

(a) Why is God’s patience in Israel’s profound? How does v. 16-17 and 31 summarize what it means that God is patient?

(b) Did Israel earn God’s patience of forgiveness? Did Israel’s faithfulness keep God’s patience and forgiveness?

(c) How should the knowledge of God’s patience be lived out in my life? How should God’s patience effect my relationship with others?

(d) How does God’s patience model for us how to parent our children?