Nehemiah - God Restores the Humble

Introduction:

Bible: Turn with me in your Bibles to

Transition to the Text: This is the unfinished business of Nehemaih 8:9

Nehemiah 8:9 ESV

9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law.

Nehemiah 9:6-37 is a long prayer. There are 176 recorded personal prayers in the OT. 9 Prayers are recorded in Nehemiah alone. I have to be honest, I wouldn’t want my prayers recorded. They are often disjointed and scattered. There is no eloquence in my prayers. But the prayers in the Bible are a beautiful story of God’s love for His people and a beautiful reminder that we serve a God who hears. The prayer at hand here is the fullest retelling of the old testament in the old testament. And what does it say? In spite of our sin, God is merciful and loving.

is a long prayer of confession. There are 176 recorded personal prayers in the OT. 9 Prayers are recorded in Nehemiah alone. I have to be honest, I wouldn’t want my prayers recorded. They are often disjointed and scattered. There is no eloquence in my prayers. But the prayers in the Bible are a beautiful story of God’s love for His people and a beautiful reminder that we serve a God who hears. The prayer at hand here is the fullest retelling of the old testament in the old testament. And what does it say? In spite of our sin, God is merciful and loving.

9:5-31 Is history. We aren’t going to read all of this but I highly recommend that you do so on your own time as it is powerful.

5-15 Speaks of Who God is and what He has done through creation and in His love for His people.

Now 5-15 Speaks of Who God is

16-31 Speak of the ongoing relationship with God and His people. Rebellion met by discipline followed by repentance followed by mercy followed by more rebellion and so on.

We are going to read 32-38 because it details how a people will respond to their history.

Nehemiah 9:32–38 ESV

32 “Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. 33 Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly. 34 Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. 35 Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. 36 Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. 37 And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress. 38 “Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

Nehemiah 9:

Big Idea: Turn to God in humility and He will restore your soul.

We are in great distress - 9:37

They want the pain to stop. So they make a promise that if they can hold their part of the bargain

And we know that it is our fault.

They are depending on the God who showed mercy to their fathers to show mercy to them now.

This is the unfinished business of Nehemaih 8:9

Longest recorded prayer in all of the Bible.

mourning and confession doesn’t save you.

Now right off the bat, this is important for us because, God does not change. So the same mercy and forgiveness and grace offered to them is available to us. We need not be afraid of God.

We are saved by grace through faith alone.

It is appropriate to confess our sins to God and others.

The same God who showed grace to our sinful fathers will show grace to us.

Jesus is coming.

And if Jesus had not come, we would be in one horrible and endless cycle of failure.

Jesus finished the story of sin that reconciled the tension between our rebellion and God’s mercy and Grace.

Big Idea: Let proper mourning lead to joy!

As we read the book of Nehemiah, we know that it is history. But’s also part of our history. And since God is the same God today as He was then, we can be confident that the same mercy extended to them will be extended to us.

1. Confess your sin. (Nehemiah 9:32-34)

Explanation: Now a brief definition of sin. Sin is missing the mark on God’s standard. And what is that standard?It’s the Law. Reading the book of the law had forced the people realize that they and their ancestors had failed to keep God’s law. They were in trouble. Even if they admitted it, how would God respond? Would this finally be it? The last straw? However what they find it God’s word is encouragement. In spite of the great sin of their fathers they read about in the Law, they also read about how God has a long history of showing grace.

Illustration: Some of us really struggle with feelings of worthlessness as though we can’t do anything right. And because of this we feel that no one will accept us…least of all God. But none of us has the corner on the sin market. No matter what you have done, another believer has done it too. And guess what? God’s grace has covered it.

There are these auto insurance commercials on YouTube between videos called the “Farmer’s Insurance Hall of Claims.” And it shows you all these ridiculous claims that they have scene and covered. Like parking your car in the high tide area, driving a car into a pool in someone’s backyard. a gopher stealing a wedding ring and your dog lighting your house on fire. And they are trying to get your business by saying that no matter what you do with your car, they have a history of covering it.

is sort of a Hall of Mercy in which the people recite the things that their fore-bearers have done and how God has shown mercy. So if God has a history of showing mercy, then you and I can be shown mercy too. But it starts with admitting that you have failed and asking God to show mercy.

Romans 7:15–24 ESV

15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Application: Why is it so hard to admit that we sin? Why do we feel like every other Christian has it together while we are struggling? Somewhere along the way, we have been told that we have to be so strong that we can never show weakness. We need to let that go. We need to embrace our brokeness and in so doing learn to fully depend on God.

If this chapter is any encouragement it is that we are in good company with people throughout history who sin, fail, fall short. When we admit our sin, we are not met with punishment and anger, but we are met with grace and mercy. It is OK to be vulnerable with God and others.

2. Our sin will never outweigh God’s grace. (Nehemiah 9:35-36)

Explanation: The Old Testament seemingly begins and ends with a question and a tension, “Will man’s sin ever outweigh God’s mercy?” Now for these people hearing the Law and then praying the law, it is very clear that in spite of God’s love and mercy for his people, they keep sinning. It’s a vicious cycle that many of us look back and say how in the world could they be that dumb. How could they make those mistakes over and over again? Of course we have our own sin that we struggle with. And let’s face it, only Christians struggle with sin. The rest of the world has fully given themselves over to it. It’s not about justifying it or simply ignoring it. Just because God is gracious does not mean he doesn’t care. We should be constantly at war with our sin, but when we fall, God’s grace will cover us.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 ESV

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Jer 31:31-

In , we see 6 examples of their disobedience and 6 expressions of God’s response in grace and mercy.

Let your circumstances draw you closer to God’s mercy.

Now as a Jew, you might have been listening and been asking yourself, how long can this go on? How many times will we break out covenant with God and He will show mercy?

Like I said, I imagine that many of us have a sin that we struggle with that we want to stop but for whatever reason we keep on returning to it. And we might ask, how long will God continue to put up with me? Is this the time God will turn his back on me?

The answer is, our sin will never outweigh God’s grace.

You see it might be easy to look at the constant cycle of sin and God’s merciful response and focus on the sin. But there is something else going on here. You see God, in spite of the sin, continues to show mercy. And once of the things we know about God is that He is consistent. He will consistently show mercy.

Illustration: Paul actually talks about this in:

Romans 5:20–6:2 ESV

20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Romans 5:20-6:1

Where sin abounds grace abounds more because God will not be outdone. But lest we think this is a licence to sin he reminds us in the beginning of chapter 6 that we should pursue holiness.

Application: There is nothing that you can do to get God to turn His back on you. When you are His, He always responds with grace and mercy.

We will all continue to struggle with sin until Jesus comes back. Until then, when you fall, allow God to pick you back up. Keep pushing back into God, don’t be afraid that this last sin is the last straw. God has a long history of showing His children love and mercy and you, if you are His, are no exception.

What father would turn his back on His children?

Oh and that means that if we are God’s we don’t have the right to withhold forgiveness from our brothers and sisters in Christ.

It may seem harsh but:

Matthew 6:14–15 ESV

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

As we are forgiven we ought to forgive others.

Transition: Now as you admit your sin and as you embrace the forgiveness of God, we maybe tempted to say, “I promise, I’ll never do that again.” But let’s always remember that the same God who saved us also sustains us. We can’t do anything on our own.

We need to remember that:

3. We can’t obey God in our own strength ().

Illustration: It seems like everytime we go grocery shopping, both of our older girls want to help out. There was this one time Emily really wanted to carry the watermelon. But try as she may she couldn’t pick it up under her own strength. It was too heavy. But at first she refused to ask for help. After a while she finally gave up and said, “Daddy will you carry it?” Of course I will.

Perhaps you have been trying to carry a burden or a sin that is too heavy for you. God is ready and willing to carry it for you. He’s waiting for you to give up and turn it over to Him. That’s the God we serve, who loves us and is always willing to show mercy to us. But we need to let go. Let go of trying to overcome sin on your own. Let go of trying to be good enough on your own. Let go of trying to measure up. You can’t. And you don’t have to. Look to Jesus who came that you might have a new heart.

Explanation: Now in verse 37, we get to the heart of their concern. We are in great distress and we know it’s our fault. So with this in mind, they promise they will do better this time. In verse 38, the Israelites renew their commitment to obeying God’s covenant. Anyone else find that odd? We just experienced 1,000 year retelling of Israeli’s dysfunctional cycle of disobedience met equally by God’s mercy. There are extremely low odds that they are going to get in right this time. This wasn’t going to work and they had to have known it. Kind of like Millenials! We will succeed where every generation before us failed! But here is where the grace of God is so amazing…he knew it too! And how do we know He knew it? Because Jesus was still coming.

Around 70 years before this, Jeremiah the prophet even said that to break the cycle of sin was going to take a miracle. The people would never be able to follow the law under their own strength no matter how hard they tried. God would have to make a way! Listen to the words of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 ESV

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

God acknowledges that they broke His covenant. So a New Covenant was needed. One that God would enact by HIs power and we would receive by His grace. They needed a new heart. They needed to become new creations. Otherwise we are all doomed to continuously repeat the same cycle.

Perhaps you have been trying to carry a burden or a sin that is too heavy for you. God is ready and willing to carry it for you. He’s waiting for you to give up and turn it over to Him. That’s the God we serve, who loves us and is always willing to show mercy to us. But we need to let go. Let go of trying to overcome sin on your own. Let go of trying to be good enough on your own. Let go of trying to measure up. You can’t. And you don’t have to. Look to Jesus who came that you might have a new heart.

Application: If the Old testament were to end be the end of the story it would be the most tragic story ever. It really would end with that question, will God’s mercy ever run out?

And the answer is NO.

Jesus is coming.

3. Though we may feel helpless, God is able.

But thank God that we have the New Testament where Jesus comes and while he was without sin, he became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. and through this he ushers in that new covenant that Jeremiah talked about where the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and transforms us so that we can in the power of God truly have victory over sin.

First Jesus had to deal with our sin. So he came to earth as a baby born of the virgin Mary. Then he lead a perfect life being tempted in all the ways that we are tempted, only because He is also God He did not sin. Therefore he became the perfect sacrifice for our sin. As a man, He dies for the sin of all of God’s people. So when we put our faith in that sacrifice, we are saved and receive the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us and gives us the power over sin. And day by day, we are becoming more and more like Jesus.

Jesus is coming.

But repeatedly the New Testament reminds us that the first step is confession of sin.

And if Jesus had not come, we would be in one horrible and endless cycle of failure.

Jesus finished the story of sin that reconciled the tension between our rebellion and God’s mercy and Grace.

So for us on this side of the cross let us be thankful and let us run full into Jesus.

And that brings us to the Lord’s Table which was the first enunciation of the New Covenant..

Reflection: Lord’s Supper

The Lord’s supper is a reminder of how God dealt finally with the sin of the world.

What do I want people to most take away from this?

Our sin isn’t a deal breaker with God. In fact, it’s why He sent Jesus. To permanently deal with sin.

The New Covenant as Jeremiah states that God now accomplishes both our righteousness and his grace when we fall.

1 Cor 11:23-

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.