Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction:
Bible: Turn with me in your Bibles to
Transition to the Text: This is the unfinished business of Nehemaih 8:9
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:
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.
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.
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.
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