Praise and Repentance

Introduction

How many of you know someone who is a hoarder? Maybe you are the hoarder! There are many people out there who simply cannot get rid of things, whether it be pictures, clothes, furniture or documents. One such example is Kenneth Epstein. He and his mother had a home in Las Vegas and they were known hoarders who had been cited by the police a couple of times in the past. Whenever Kenneth’s mother passed away, though, his hoarding problem took a turn for the worse. He had so many things kept inside his home that there was literally no room for him to walk around his house! The way that he got around was by crawling on the top of his mountain of stuff. Whenever the police got word of this, even the hoarding specialists were shocked at what they discovered!

You don’t have to be a hoarder to understand the idea of things building up progressively. You know this with snow and with mail. If you don’t go collect your mail, it will quickly add up and clutter your mailbox. Likewise, if a ball of snow begins to roll down a hill, it will quickly become larger and larger. Things simply add up. Sin and guilt are no different. Think of each and every sin that you’ve ever committed - you can’t do this, it is impossible to remember it all! Think if all of this sin accumulated over this time period and that you had this massive weight of guilt over your head 24/7. It would be a crushing weight. The only thing that keeps this from crushing and destroying you is the mercy of God.

What we saw in was that the people heard the Word of God, they rejoiced and then they obeyed it. What we are going to look at tonight in is that God’s people continue to gather for revival by reading the Word, praying/confessing their sin and repenting of it while praying for God’s mercy. If you are a sinner, you can identify with this passage. The prayer in will be a prayer that will mean something to you if you’ve ever dealt with the “dirty laundry” in your own life. What we see is that the time of the festival of booths is over and now comes the time to read the law and weep in response to their sin.

Nehemiah 9 NASB95

1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them. 2 The descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 While they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God. 4 Now on the Levites’ platform stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Chenani, and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God. 5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah, said, “Arise, bless the Lord your God forever and ever! O may Your glorious name be blessed And exalted above all blessing and praise! 6 “You alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You. 7 “You are the Lord God, Who chose Abram And brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees, And gave him the name Abraham. 8 “You found his heart faithful before You, And made a covenant with him To give him the land of the Canaanite, Of the Hittite and the Amorite, Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite and the Girgashite— To give it to his descendants. And You have fulfilled Your promise, For You are righteous. 9 “You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, And heard their cry by the Red Sea. 10 “Then You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, Against all his servants and all the people of his land; For You knew that they acted arrogantly toward them, And made a name for Yourself as it is this day. 11 “You divided the sea before them, So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground; And their pursuers You hurled into the depths, Like a stone into raging waters. 12 “And with a pillar of cloud You led them by day, And with a pillar of fire by night To light for them the way In which they were to go. 13 “Then You came down on Mount Sinai, And spoke with them from heaven; You gave them just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and commandments. 14 “So You made known to them Your holy sabbath, And laid down for them commandments, statutes and law, Through Your servant Moses. 15 “You provided bread from heaven for them for their hunger, You brought forth water from a rock for them for their thirst, And You told them to enter in order to possess The land which You swore to give them. 16 “But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly; They became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments. 17 “They refused to listen, And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them; So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But You are a God of forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness; And You did not forsake them. 18 “Even when they made for themselves A calf of molten metal And said, ‘This is your God Who brought you up from Egypt,’ And committed great blasphemies, 19 You, in Your great compassion, Did not forsake them in the wilderness; The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, To guide them on their way, Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go. 20 “You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, And You gave them water for their thirst. 21 “Indeed, forty years You provided for them in the wilderness and they were not in want; Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell. 22 “You also gave them kingdoms and peoples, And allotted them to them as a boundary. They took possession of the land of Sihon the king of Heshbon And the land of Og the king of Bashan. 23 “You made their sons numerous as the stars of heaven, And You brought them into the land Which You had told their fathers to enter and possess. 24 “So their sons entered and possessed the land. And You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, And You gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, To do with them as they desired. 25 “They captured fortified cities and a fertile land. They took possession of houses full of every good thing, Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves, Fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, were filled and grew fat, And reveled in Your great goodness. 26 “But they became disobedient and rebelled against You, And cast Your law behind their backs And killed Your prophets who had admonished them So that they might return to You, And they committed great blasphemies. 27 “Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their oppressors who oppressed them, But when they cried to You in the time of their distress, You heard from heaven, and according to Your great compassion You gave them deliverers who delivered them from the hand of their oppressors. 28 “But as soon as they had rest, they did evil again before You; Therefore You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they ruled over them. When they cried again to You, You heard from heaven, And many times You rescued them according to Your compassion, 29 And admonished them in order to turn them back to Your law. Yet they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances, By which if a man observes them he shall live. And they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen. 30 “However, You bore with them for many years, And admonished 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. 31 “Nevertheless, in Your great compassion You did not make an end of them or forsake them, For You are a gracious and compassionate God. 32 “Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness, Do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You, Which has come upon us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers and on all Your people, From the days of the kings of Assyria to this day. 33 “However, You are just in all that has come upon us; For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly. 34 “For our kings, our leaders, our priests and our fathers have not kept Your law Or paid attention to Your commandments and Your admonitions with which You have admonished them. 35 “But they, in their own kingdom, With Your great goodness which You gave them, With the broad and rich land which You set before them, Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds. 36 “Behold, we are slaves today, And as to the land which You gave to our fathers to eat of its fruit and its bounty, Behold, we are slaves in it. 37 “Its abundant produce is for the kings Whom You have set over us because of our sins; They also rule over our bodies And over our cattle as they please, So we are in great distress. 38 “Now because of all this We are making an agreement in writing; And on the sealed document are the names of our leaders, our Levites and our priests.”

The Gathering (1-4)

Again, what we see is that the people gathered on the 24th day of the month. We think that this would have been October 31, 445 BC. What the people are going to do is mourn their sin and repent of it. It is interesting to see, from last week, that the people immediately felt guilty of their sin but they did not express the conviction for a whole month later because of the occasion. They gathered and celebrated the festival like the law required, and now they came back together to deal with their sin together.

Have you ever experienced this? Have you ever been convicted of your sin at a time where you can’t really deal with it? Maybe you were witnessing to a co-worker or a family member and they said something along the lines of Christians being judgmental or hypocrites and you feel convicted yet you cannot really fall on your knees before God and confess your sin because you are in the middle of witnessing to someone who desperately needs the truth of the Gospel. The point and takeaway for us today as we see this text is that whenever we experience a similar situation, we must go before Him and repent of whatever “unfinished business” we have like the Israelites to here.

In the text that follows, we see that they separated themselves as descendants of Israel and those who are not. This is crucial because these people are going to confess their sins as the people of Israel. They will confess their own sins and the sins of their ancestors. Their prayer will show that they and their ancestors had everything they could have ever needed yet they appreciated nothing at all. The people are called to bless Yahweh as their God and they did this while they stood and read the Word. They allow God to speak through His Word - this is extremely important and necessary for revival to break out, our foundation must be the Word of God! Also, we see that they read a lot of God’s Word, not just a section or a brief portion. There are times where we can read a small portion of Scripture but there are other times where we should read a large portion to understand and get a greater perspective of Scripture.

Praise and Confession (5-37)

One of the most interesting things about the following section of Scripture is that the people praise the name of God by summarizing the entire Old Testament up until this point. We will see several key stories and passages in this upcoming section. If you ever are told to summarize the Old Testament, is a very appropriate place to turn to and suggest for someone to read. We see the following things in this section, creation, God’s blessing of Abraham, the Exodus, the Wilderness story, the Canaanite Conquest, the period of the Judges, the time of the Prophets and the Exile.

Creation: Verse 6 shows a quick summary of creation. Verse 5 started this passage of praising God for all things and here they praise God for creation. He created everything there is. Whenever we talk about the need to praise and honor God, we must start with creation because He made everything. The people are getting ready to confess their sins and they must first acknowledge who God is and why He is worthy. The question for us today is do we praise God for His power in creation? Do we praise Him for what He has provided for us in creation? Materials for our homes, air to breathe, animals to eat and water to drink.

Covenant with Abraham (7-8): First we saw praising God, next we saw creation, now we see God’s covenant with Abraham. We know that from that God called Abram and changed his name to Abraham. Here in verse 8 we see that he was faithful in God’s sight. We might ask the question, well is Abraham faithful because He believed God or because His heart was faithful? We see in verse 7 that God chose Abraham. This happens before verse 8 where we see that his heart was faithful. This is vitally important for us to understand because we believe that our good works of faith don’t save us, only a relationship with Christ does. In the Old Testament what we find time after time is that people are only faithful whenever they believe in God. So, what you might say here is that God chose Abram, changed his name to Abraham and then found his heart faithful. Sounds similar to Paul. Then we get into the covenantal part of this relationship. In we know that Abram cut an animal in half and passed through the pieces. We read that and think why on earth would someone do that? Well we see in verse 8 that this was his part of this covenant. God made a covenant with Abram. We see from Genesis that God is the covenant keeping God and that is emphasized throughout this text and especially in verse 8 as we see that God kept His promise and is righteous. God does what He says He will do. Do we believe that? Sure, we read about it, but do we believe that in our lives? We certainly should.

Exodus (9-21): The fourth part here is the Exodus story. We find that God remembered His covenant with Abraham and He heard the cries and groans of His people in Egypt. We see in verse 10 that God sent the plagues upon those who had arrogantly treated the Israelites. These people were facing distress and they cried out for deliverance. God heard their cries. This is significant because we see in verse 37 that the people of Israel are currently crying out to God and are in distress. They are praying for Him to hear their cries.

Next, we see that verse 11-12 talks about the Red Sea and guided the people through the wilderness. This is a crucial thing for these people to remember - nothing can stand in the way of Yahweh God. Not a sea, not an army of fierce soldiers. Not even the most powerful leader in the world! The only way that these people can have power over God’s people is if God grants the power to them and if He allows it to happen.

Next we see the giving of the law. We talk about the law being bad because it is impossible to keep it, however it was given as something good. It was supposed to give the people a way to please Him. These are good laws and that is what we find here in . We see in verse 14 that the sabbath was given as well another commands and statues so that people could dive into His Word and worship Him. We see that God gave them bread, water and He promised them victory in the promised land. This should have been all that they needed to enter in and conquer because of what He had done for them in the past, yet we see in verse 16 that the people of Israel acted arrogantly. This was their sin. and 14 tell us the story of how the Israelite spies went into the land and came back with a report of what they found. Many said that the land was great but there were giants in the land and that they would not be able to defeat them. 2 spies (Joshua and Caleb) said that they should trust God’s promise. Yet, the people did not enter the land and they acted arrogantly and became stiff-necked. What a testimony. The Egyptians were arrogant against other people but the Israelites were arrogant against Yahweh, God. They had gone through this incredible season of blessing and experiencing the presence of God at every turn, yet when the time came for them to have faith, they rejected it. Not only this, but they refused to listen or remember what God had done.

Do you want to have conviction for your sin? Do what Israel did not do! Look at what God has done in your life. Look at all the good things that have happened. Understand everything that He has given to you and understand that even right now you have the ability to understand and study His Word - be thankful and trust in Him in whatever season of life you’re in today.

We see that they wanted to return to their slavery in Egypt in verse 17. God literally freed them from Egyptian bondage and heard their cries. What is the response of these people a short time later? To go back to being slaves! We think that this is silly, but that is exactly how sin is, church! It is senseless and stupid. Sin makes us do things that are irrational and dumb. God has liberated these people from slavery yet they want to go back to being slaves instead of following Him into the promised land. We have been set free from sin and death, yet we often choose sin over what God would have us do. This is a natural human thing - disobedience is our natural human condition. But the great news comes next: “God is a forgiving God!” Aren’t you thankful of this? Even when the people made a golden calf and worshipped it instead of God, He was slow to anger and rich in love. He forgave them and did not abandon them. God is good towards His people. This is great news! Even whenever they were in the wilderness, God provided and gave them food and water. Even though these people kept on messing up, God was faithful. Just as we continue to mess up and sin today, God is faithful and He provides for His people. Trust in Him today!

The next thing we see is the Canaanite Conquest in verses 22-25. Thus far all of these events have come from the Pentateuch (first 5 books of the Bible) and now we get to the book of Joshua. God has kept His Word here. He promised this land to Abraham and He gave it to the descendants of Abraham and they possessed the land. This was a rich land and the people of Israel had everything they could want. They were in the promised land, they were out of bondage and out of the wilderness, so how would they respond? Let’s look to verse 26.

Rebellion: They respond with rebellion. This is the history of Israel, time after time. God is good to Israel and Israel simply rebels against Him. This is how the story of Joshua ends and brings us to the time of the Judges. They took all of their prosperity for granted. How often do we do this in our own lives? Certainly, we do our fair share of this time after time.

Verses 27-28 show us the time of the Judges. The Judges gives us a 4-step cycle time after time. 1) Disobedience 2) God hands them to their enemies 3) Cry out to God 4) God hears and delivers them. I love verse 27 because we see this. Israel cried out to God in a time of need and God heard them. The thing that we can takeaway from this verse, though, is the fact that we often don’t cry out to God until a situation arises where we are under oppression. Why do we do this? Often times, I think, that we genuinely think that we are fine or that we can handle something on our own and that we don’t “need” God’s help until things get really bad. As verse 28 shows us, the people went back to doing evil and they were handed back over to the hands of their enemies. This cycle happened many times.

Next we see the times of the Prophets in verses 29-30. The Prophets warned them to turn back to the law. We’ve talked about this. Whenever Israel was doing what they were called to do, they experienced Covenantal blessings. Whenever they disobeyed, they experienced Covenantal cursing. This is what we find throughout the major and minor prophets. The people of Israel heard this, rejected it often and responded with more and more sin! Does your life identify with Israel this evening? Do you find yourself hearing the Word and simply rejecting it and increasing in sin? I think that we all do in some capacity. We’ve seen the great things that God has done in our lives, yet we continue to live in sin and reject His Word. We see that these people turned a stubborn shoulder and stiff necks to the Lord and did not obey Him. God has warned them, He spoke through the prophets yet the people continued to do things their own way. This is a warning for us. We know that we are living in the covenant of grace, a time where God’s wrath is delayed in a sense and where the Gospel presentation is to be shared with others around the globe. We see that this season of exile happened, but it was not the end of the story.

Mercy: Exile but not finished (31). Again, even though the people disobeyed and rejected Him time after time, God did not abandon them and was rich in mercy. Whenever we look back at our failures and at our “dirty laundry” it can be very easy for us to get discouraged and disappointed in ourselves, however we see that the response should instead be to use our weaknesses to highlight the mercy of God. We can either get down on ourselves or thank God for the fact that He shows mercy to us even when we fall short of the mark. We should celebrate His lovingkindness today.

This passages ends with a confession of sin. They know that they have done things that are wrong and that God is certainly right. The people mention that everyone has sinned. Everyone is guilty - we know this to be true in the New Testament from , but we see this all the way back in as well. We also see that God was patient and good with them and showed mercy even when they were unfaithful to Him.

Slavery/New Covenant

Nehemiah concludes this section by talking about the current situation the people of Israel find themselves in. They are crying out for deliverance from this great distress. They are asking for God’s mercy to be displayed on them like it has in the past. The people not only ask, but they also commit themselves before God in verse 38. They are prepared to make a covenant before God to hold themselves accountable.

Conclusion

If you are here tonight and you have a severe weight of sin bearing down on your head, there is hope because Jesus Christ bore the weight of your sin on the cross. He died for you! says that it was the will of God to crush Him. Trust in Him today to do what His Word says that He will do. Know that He will show you great mercy and compassion. Look to Christ and know that no wrath exists for those who are in Christ Jesus as tells us.

If you ever are in a situation where you need to summarize the Old Testament in a short period of time, consider using as your “go-to” passage next time. See how God’s mercy is great and is something that we should share with others as well today. Remember the cycle of sin and realize that we must repent of it and walk in obedience today.